How Custom Retail Software Solutions Can Help Retailers?
The retail sector is always bustling with countless sales, inventory management, and more. Over the years, it has experienced a technological revamp that has transformed the retail sector for good. The retail industry has integrated some innovative technologies that have made the sector extremely competitive. These changes in the technologies increased the demand for custom retail software development.
The retail sector has a number of operations that need to be handled daily; having a custom software solution enhances productivity and helps in customer engagement, which ultimately translates to significant revenues. Entrepreneurs are constantly investing in various custom retail software solutions as they know this market genre will roar in the coming years.
Custom Retail Software: What it is?
Customised software, it is also referred to as bespoke software, are the programs that are developed specifically for an organisation, person, or group. These types of software consist of custom features, functionalities, and much more that serve the requirements of a specific organisation or a person. Custom software is extremely popular in current times as everyone wants a name for themselves or their businesses. A software or an app perfectly tailored to your expectations will have a more significant impact on your users than a ready-made piece of software. It serves numerous sectors of the market, including retail.
Retail custom software solutions help many retailers across the world manage various aspects of their businesses, such as inventory management, payments, etc. With a custom solution, retailers understand the needs of their customers based on their shopping behaviour. This software helps retailers in managing their payments, enhance sales, streamline processes and much more. They are available according to different domains, a number of features and are fully customisable as per your needs.
Recommended Read – How to develop bespoke inventory management software?
What are the Types of Retail Software?
A custom retail software solution can change the pace of your retail business in terms of revenue and number of sales. Before investing in such development, you should be aware of the various types of available retail software solutions. Choosing the right software that meets your business’s requirements is the key to receive a great ROI. Here are some of the common types of custom retail software solutions.
AI-based Retail Apps
Artificial intelligence never fails to amaze us with its unending list of capabilities. The retail sector helps retailers bridge the gap between physical and virtual sales, reduce cost, improve efficiency, etc. It also enhances the speed of decision making which is a key factor in the retail world. Here’s what you can do with AI-based retail apps.
- Inventory planning
- Recommendation engines
- Upsell and cross-sell channel marketing
- Market segmentation
IoT based Retail Software
IoT based software is used in enhancing the overall customer experience right from the product selection to checkout, with the help of data collection and digital connectivity. Retail stores are being automated with the help of IoT and are known as smart stores. From smart carts to automated payments, these smart stores have it all. Here’s what you can do with IoT based retail software.
- Automated store checkout
- Beacon-integrated smart retail stores
- Supply chain software
Making better decisions instantly is the key to stay competitive in the retail sector. From offering relevant discounts, convincing customers, remembering their birthdays accumulates to a ton of data. Retailers use big data analytics software to streamline operations, improve business decisions, retain customers, optimise the supply chain, and ultimately save capital. Here’s what you can do with big data retail analytics apps.
- Insightful analytics
- Data aggregation tools for retail businesses
- Data analysis apps for targeted marketing
AR/ VR-based Retail Apps
Retail is indeed one of the most competitive fields of the world’s economy. Delivering AR and VR products and services have changed the way customers shop. Retail businesses with AR/VR-based apps have created deeper engagement, enhanced customers’ shopping experience, maximised ROI and drove up sales. Here’s what you can do with AR/VR based retail apps.
- Advanced In-Store Experience
- In-Store Navigation
- Unique Product search experience
- Home In-Store Experience
Machine Learning Chatbots
Advanced chatbots are creating opportunities for retailers to enhance their customer’s experience. Based on machine learning and AI, these smart chatbots help the users select the perfect product that suits their needs. With a ton of customer data, retailers can train them as per their specific strategy. Here’s what you can do with machine learning chatbots.
- ML Model development, training, and tuning
- Data aggregation, processing, and analysis tools
- Improved recommendations
- Enhanced customer service
Why Invest in Custom Retail Software Development?
The retail sector deals with millions of customers regularly and records over billions of sales each day. Serving so many customers daily with ease made possible with retail industry software solutions. Data suggests customers don’t want to wait for more than two minutes for their turn or to purchase a product. They don’t wait for a product to get back in stock for a longer time, and if the issue persists with a specific retailer, they don’t visit them again. These facts clearly show the importance of upgrading to a custom retail software solution to stay in the competition. Recent market surveys state, retail software development market size was over 23.1 billion US dollars in the year 2019 and will increase to 26 billion dollars by the year 2024. Constant innovations in the field of retail industry software solutions have increased the popularity of custom software development. If you are looking to start your custom retail software development process, this might the right time.
Custom Retail Software Solutions: How it can help Retailers?
Whether it’s retail or any other sector of the economy, the main intent is to enhance the return on investment. Custom software development helps in customising the way customers shop and present them with something unique to keep them interested. It not only increases the sales ratio but also leaves a remarkable effect on productivity that ultimately translates to increased annual revenue. The rate of net profit is directly proportional to the ROI; hence with an increase in profit, ROI will also increase.
Reduced Cost of Operation
It is up to the business what tasks they want their custom software to perform. Since it will perform some of the tasks on its own hence, the operation cost will decrease up to some extent. With efficient software, you can perform daily operations such as billing, recommendations, etc., with a fewer number of human resources. In various retail stores, the cashier’s job is done by smart software that exchange payments with customers. To make the most out of your custom retail solutions, ask your software development company to integrate the features required to perform certain specific tasks of your business.
Optimum Customer Satisfaction
Along with uplifting your sales graph, your custom software solutions will deliver an amazing shopping experience to the users, which compels them to visit again. These software allows you to track the movement and their browsing patterns to better understand their needs and pitch them the exact product they are more likely to buy. Getting custom recommendations will enhance the trust of the customers in your business. Apart from the right recommendations, automating the whole store will enable customers to check out faster, which will add an extra point in your business’s favour.
Extensive Promotion & Marketing
Promotion and marketing are mandatory in the retail sector as goods will not sell themselves until you promote them. If your marketing strategies are not that good, your business may experience a significant loss in revenue. With this custom software, you can get extensive promotions and marketing. Integrate the sharing feature and allow users to share their favourite products right from your app or software; it will get you free publicity that will generate significant customer engagement.
Smart retail solutions have come a long way in the last few years. Now you can monitor your business’s operations in real-time with custom made software. You can manage the billings, inventory, send notifications, and much more. Remote monitoring not only saves your time but also enhances overall productivity. You can ask your retail software development company to integrate a central dashboard in your software that allows you to monitor every operation from one place.
The world is shopping on ultra-realistic online platforms. If you want to stay in the competitive arena of the retail sector, it is better to take your retail store online. Customers find online shopping extremely feasible. With AR and VR integrations, they can try the products virtually for a better understanding. With custom software development, you can take your store online with e-commerce integration. Online stores have no geographical boundaries and allow you to cover a greater market. With correct software and effective promotion strategies, your business can make it to the top in no time.
The Final Takeaway
The retail sector has many challenges, and with custom software development, your business can gain the attraction of users and convert it into great revenue figures. Innovation is technology is simplifying every industrial process; make sure to use this to your advantage.
Matellio can assist you with effective custom retail software development. We have a team of proficient engineers and experts that are highly trained in their genre. We specialise in delivering custom solutions to businesses that match their expectations precisely. Our high client retention rate states the level of customer satisfaction we deliver. Transform your retail business with our custom solutions; book a 30-min consultation call now!


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University of Massachusetts Lowell-Coburn Hall Renovation & Expansion
One of the earliest buildings on campus, Coburn Hall has been a prominent school landmark since its construction in 1897. Having served a central role in the history and physical landscape of the university, there was a desire to restore this aging structure to better and higher use. In response to this unique opportunity, CBT designed the next Coburn Hall to be an innovative center for research, exploration, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The project includes the comprehensive renovation of the existing 50,000-square-foot building and a contemporary 15,300-square-foot expansion. The building houses the university’s College of Education and Psychology Department. In addition to faculty offices, work rooms, event hall, and assorted labs and observation suites, the design also features innovative demo-spaces for education and psychology students to experiment with different presentation and communication strategies to stretch academic understanding of learning and teaching methodologies.
Coburn Hall is a significant contributor to the university’s South Campus Quad, aligning with the adjacent College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Health Sciences, and Graduate School of Education. A fresh reflection of the university’s goals and mission, Coburn Hall is a supportive new incubator for student success.
Want to work with us? Get in touch.

domain: design


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The $193 billion Teachers' Retirement System of Texas (TRS) in Austin added two new alternative investment allocations last month, officials announced this week.
Within private equity, the Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VIII was selected as a large-buyout strategy offering international exposure to emerging markets. The $150 million commitment was awarded to Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia Group, which collected $200 million in 2019 for its BPEA Bluebonnet Partners. The latest fund is . . .
Unlock this article instantly, along with the rest of our premium content and daily, weekly and monthly newsletters. We offer pay-as-you-go monthly subscriptions and discounted annual subscriptions with additional benefits: access to Alternatives Watch Research articles and our Annual Investor Compendium.

domain: news


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Wine tourism and winery trips are very much appreciated by tourist and travellers, becoming a fantastic way to discover our country diversity. Spain is the biggest vine-growing area in the world, with more than 1 million Ha of plantations with diverse terrains and climatic conditions. In terms of production we are the third, and the second global wine exporters after France.
In Spain you might find lots of famous and interesting wineries all over the country, from the North to Southern Andalusia, from Mediterranean coast to Portugal borders. Vines may be found growing in quite desert areas, next to the sea, or in landscapes blanketed by snow, but generally, vineyard development benefits from a warm and relatively dry climate with lot of sunlight and long summers.

domain: geography


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One of our favorite taquerias in Santa Barbara is La Super Rica. This is the place that Julia Child who lived in Santa Barbara put on the global map. The lines were as usual long, and everyone was patient.
We wanted to enjoy their super delicious white chile rellenos and their guacamole. They had their takeout tech perfected. Our lunch is staying warm in the oven as we finish our conference call.

domain: food


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A 100% recycled handmade silver moon necklace with a hammered texture and clear cubic zirconia embellishment.
This rustic moon pendant is 2.5 cm wide with a 2.7 cm drop and hung on a recycled silver 18" chain, if you would prefer another style or size please contact me.
Choose a recycled pillow box or gift box ready for giving. The perfect eco friendly gift for space lovers. Items are posted in recycled and recyclable packaging.
Postage on this item is free special delivery.
I handcraft every item in my shop.Please bear in mind that the appearance of colours may vary on different screen


An under-the-radar altcoin is defying a wobbly crypto market after igniting its own uptrend and printing sizeable gains this week.
Akash Network (AKT) is a decentralized open-source cloud network that supports decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and organizations, as well as machine learning, blockchains and artificial intelligence (AI).
The project’s native token, AKT, surged from a weekly low of $0.319 to a high of $0.462, marking gains of more than 44%.
Akash Network’s price jump happened this week as the project worked on artificial intelligence testing on its testnet.
Explains the project’s Twitter account,
“The Akash GPU Testnet has completed an incredible week of progress. Multiple leading AI models were tested on an Nvidia A100 via the Akash GPU Testnet, bringing Akash one step closer to creating the AI Supercloud…
All of this effort leads to the Incentivized Akash GPU Testnet, which will bring in the community to provide GPU compute, deploy and benchmark models, and create deployment specs – while earning rewards for participating.”
An Nvidia A100 is a high-powered graphics processing unit (GPU).
Akash Network founder Greg Osuri noted last week that the testnet is now hosting AI apps.
“Akash GPU Testnet now hosts amazing AI apps like AutoGPT, BabyAGI, and Stable Diffusion, flawlessly leveraging a decentralized GPU market.
This is the first instance an Opensource Supercloud can host Opensource AI.
When the mainnet launches in a few weeks, it’s not difficult to understand why there is a chance we’ll run out of GPUs with the current levels of demand to run these models.”
Generated Image: Midjourney
Read the full article here


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The Pontoon Palace|
Hosted by: Rich Pontius
A good natured but incorrigible bin-digger becomes embroiled in an early morning plot to present a rich panoply of deep folk, heavy rock, psych, country, jazz and pop, all the while indulging his boundless zeal for mischief and romance.
Breakfast of Champions|
Hosted by: Tim, Ted, Becca, Erik, and Jon
Start your morning off right with a bowl full of sugary sweet pop goodness, sprinkle on some tasty punk influences, and help yourself to the buffet of sumptuous soundscapes, melancholy melodies, quirky cadences and raucous rock.
Twitter Feed: @bocwmbr
Late Risers' Club|
Hosted by: Joanie, Mook, Mark, L-Train, Ron, and the Tuesday Alumni
It's like sewing your ear to a vacuum cleaner.
Twitter Feed: @laterisersclub
Lost and Found|
Hosted by: Mark Francis, Lawrence Azrin, Bob Dubrow, Brother Wayne, Christopher Vyce. Alex McNeil
Rock, pop, and soul from the ’60s and early ’70s, but not the same old songs you hear every day on commercial radio.
Hosted by: Chuck Rosina, Bruce Sylvester
An eclectic journey from traditional roots music right up to the present day. Folk, blues, bluegrass, rock, R&B, jazz, reggae, and beyond. Songs looking at social justice issues. Local artists too. Roots music without bounds or barriers.
Hosted by: Kennedy Compound
The Jazz Volcano (JV) serves up a seismic eruption of music featuring Jazz, Dixie, Big-Band, and a little blues too. The program will showcase all vocalists -- jazz greats, legends, and of course the Diva's with some hidden twists and turns.
WMBR Nightly News|
Hosted by: WMBR News Department
News and analysis from independent journalists around the country, as well as local news and events in Cambridge and Greater Boston, featuring voices not often heard in the mainstream media.
Hosted by: L-Train
Electronic variety show: It's not necessarily dance music and it's not necessarily not dance music. Radio Ninja has been bringing you car commercial music since 2003. #radioninjasince2003
Twitter Feed: @l_train
Nonstop Ecstatic Screaming|
Hosted by: Thao
Two hours of sound designed to split your skull open, break your brain, and pop your funk. Bloopity bits and bobs, plinkety plonk, drone, skronk, assorted noise, a bumping beat here and there, etc.
Hosted by: Teep
The undercurrent of electronix presented via a live-mix moodmat.
Upcoming shows: Oct 5, Oct 19
Twitter Feed: @sewersounds
Out of Your Orbit|
Hosted by: Claire McLellan-Cassivi
A grab-bag of music that may or may not be out of your orbit. This show spans genres, decades, countries, and languages depending on whatever has caught my ear that week.
Upcoming shows: Sep 28, Oct 12

domain: artistic


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2015 Cultural Diversity in the Arts Recipients honoured February 22 at Edmonton Arts Council’s Winter Social!
“The City of Edmonton, through the Edmonton Arts Council, established the Cultural Diversity in the Arts program in 2014 to recognize that artists from all parts of the world enrich Edmonton’s cultural scene. Artists from these communities can apply to any Edmonton Arts Council program, but many also face cultural, linguistic or historical barriers to accessing support. The intent of this program is to provide an entry point, to help these artists begin to overcome those barriers, to pursue their professional artistic work and develop connections to the greater Edmonton arts community. “
Read more about the Recipients: Malcolm Azania, AKA Minister Faust, Shreela Chakrabartty,Rubén Contreras, Yong Fei Guan, Todd Houseman, Shumaila Hemani, Juan Lopezdabdoub, Emmanuel Osahor, Elsa Robinson, and Artstrek parent Amena Shehab.

domain: sociology


How to use Wazuh to find and report running software affected by log4j vulnerabilities. The script included here is a modified version of the script developed by the security company Intezer. In this version of the script the output is formatted to JSON and appended to Wazuh’s active responses log file.
Wodle Command configured to run periodic security scans in all required machines. Wazuh remote commands execution must be enabled in the Wazuh agent.
Bash script to be run via wodle command will find .jar extension in running processes, including Docker images.
The process ID, log4j version, JNDI enabled condition and process command line will be collected.
The output is formatted to JSON and appended to the agent’s active responses log file.Github Jan 2022


Woman’s Hour – Darkest Place (single) (Luv Luv Luv Records)
Following their acclaimed double A-side single ‘To The End’ / ‘Our Love Has No Rhythm‘ on Parlour Records, which we reviewed back in March, London-via-Kendal four piece Woman’s Hour are set to release a new single, ‘Darkest Place’.
The new single will be their first for the excellent Luv Luv Luv Records – home to Florence and The Machine, Splashh, and IO Echo amongst others.
Blending post-punk aesthetics with R&B sensuality, Fiona Burgess, William Burgess, Josh Hunnisett and Nicolas Graves – p/k/a Woman’s Hour – have quickly become one of the hottest tipped acts for 2013.
The aforementioned double A-side single showcased the band’s distinctive brand of deeply atmospheric but finely tuned synth driven pop. Imagine a cross between The xx (melodically more so than sonically) and Jessie Ware and you’re on point.
On “Darkest Place”, mixed by producer Richard Formby (Darkstar, Wild Beasts), we hear the band exhibit a sense of melancholy and fragility. A subtly melodic number with understated vocal hooks, “Darkest Hour” is indeed the band’s darkest tune yet leaving behind the R&B flavors heard previously.
Atmospheric as ever – just check out the largely instrumental final minute and a half – “Darkest Place” is a mid-tempo number characterized by its layers of 80’s synths, coloured by gentle piano tinkering, while capped off with Fiona’s soft, dreamy vocals.
“Darkest Place” offers another glimpse at this exciting new act.


VA to pay for all emergency mental health care starting next week
Starting Jan. 17, all veterans will be able to access emergency mental health care free of charge at any Veterans Affairs medical facility or outside clinic, regardless of whether they are already enrolled in department health care services.
Department officials announced the new policy on Friday as part of nationwide efforts to prevent suicide among veterans. According to the latest department data, about 17 veterans a day die by suicide.
Article Credit: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs


*Please Note!! Many of our pictures are stock photos provided to us by the manufacturer and do not necessarily
represent the actual item being purchased. Please verify this picture accurately reflects the product described
by the title and description on this page before you place your order.
New In Box MARLIN 410 Lever Action Shotgun.
The model 410 is built around an 1895 frame. It features a 22" barrel
with a folding open rear, and a high visibility green fiber optic front
sight. The barrel is cylinder bore, and it fires all 2.5" 410 shells
(only), including rifled slugs. Its walnut stock features a pistol
grip, cut checkering, a blued steel forend cap, and a rubber butt pad.
Capacity: 4 (5 with some brands)
Action: Lever Action; Side Ejection; Solid Top Receiver
Stock: Walnut Pistol Grip; Cut Checkering; Blued Steel
Forend Cap; Rubber Butt Pad
Stock Finish: Touch Mar-Shield Finish
Barrel: 22" with Cylinder Bore
Barrel Finish: Deeply Blued Metal Surfaces
Sights: Open Rear, High Visibility Green Fiber Optic Front
Overall Length: 40.5"
Weight: 7.25 lbs.


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- The three SHS students who set the naval officer ablaze in an attempt to steal his car have been remanded
- They were charged with separate yet several counts of charges for the heinous crime they committed
- The three teenagers are expected to reappear in court on Tuesday, January 14, 2022
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The three teenage Senior High School (SHS) students, who were arrested for allegedly burning the Naval officer who was operating as a bolt driver have been remanded into police custody.
The court has adjourned the case to Tuesday, January 14, 2022.
According to a Citinewsroom report, the three boys were slapped with several criminal charges by a Sekondi District Court.
The first accused person, Adolf Eshun was slapped with the count of abetment of crime with regards to robbery.
Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with all major Ghana news
The other two, Patrick Baidoo, and Joseph Lord Nii Adjei Oninku were hit with four counts of charges including conspiracy to commit crime – attempted robbery, causing unlawful damage and murder, and attempt to commit crime -robbery.
The prosecutor, Inspector Jennifer Acheampong, presenting the facts to the courts said 18-year-old Adolf, on December 22, 2021, ordered a bolt ride for Patrick, 19 years, and Joseph, 17 years because they were stranded.
It later emerged that the two burnt the deceased, AB1 Okyere Boateng who is also a Naval Officer after he resisted an attempt to take his vehicle away.
3 teenagers in police grips for allegedly burning naval officer to death
YEN.com.gh earlier reported that three teenagers between the ages of 17 and 19 were in police grips, for allegedly setting an uber driver who happened to be a naval officer ablaze.
The three suspects, who hailed the ride to Bakado near Sekondi reportedly poured fuel on him and set him ablaze with the intention of stealing his vehicle.
The victim, LS Okyere Boateng, died on Friday, December 24, 2021, at the 37 Military Hospital, where he was receiving treatment for severe burns.
The Western Regional Police Command’s Public Relations Officer DSP Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, said the suspects, all students and aged 17 and 18, confessed to committing the heinous crime.
Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in

domain: law


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Meaning and definitions of lime green, translation in Albanian
language for lime green with similar and opposite words. Also find spoken pronunciation of lime green in Albanian and in English language.
What lime green means in Albanian, lime green meaning
in Albanian, lime green
definition, examples and pronunciation
of lime green in Albanian language.

domain: agronomy


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The Rugby Festival of Culture 2018 is under way, and my part in it is twofold.
Along with many other artists, I have one of my paintings displayed in a shop window.
Mine is in the florists "Flowers by Pauline" on Regent Street, and they have done
a marvellous window dressing in colours to complement my painting.
I've also spent two days in the Rugby Shopping Centre,
demonstrating in pastel drawing - part of the "Artists at Work" feature.
It was quite a busy spot, and plenty of people came by, so I was able to talk to
them and explain my work, and received many favourable comments.
It has been one of the hottest summers for years, so it was a pretty warm job,
but luckily my trusty parasol kept off the worst of the sun.


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Muddy meets: Morag McLaren of Cooper Hall, Frome
Just before Christmas I went to a sell-out, standout concert by jazz pianist Jason Rebello in Frome’s stunning, purpose-built music and performance space the Cooper Hall. The acoustics were perfect and the setting, in the grounds of a beautiful old Somerset house, idyllic.
Cooper Hall is a creative haven for all sorts of musicians (not just jazz), both established and up-and-coming (rising star trumpeter Laura Jurd was here recently), to perform, rehearse and compose. I grabbed a few minutes with the creative force behind it, professional singer and teacher, Morag McLaren…
What book’s on you bedside table?
The Magus by John Fowlds; it’s old fashioned, quality story-telling, a quirky, strange take which is a joy to pick up.
If you hadn’t been a singer, what would you like to have done?
A ‘nose’ or perfume designer; I’m obsessed with perfumes and scent.
In a fire, what would you rescue?
I’d risk my life for my dogs – I’ve got a labradoodle and a schnauzer.
What’s the best film you saw last year?
All the way, an HBO biopic about the presidency of Lyndon B Johnson after the JFK assassination. I’m fascinated by the era.
What luxury could you not live without?
I love clothes and jewellery but I feel naked without perfume.
Which eight tracks would you take to a desert island?
Richard Strauss’ ‘Four Last Songs’ sung by Gundula Janowitz (a reminder of student days); Bach’s Double Violin Concerto 2nd movement; the theme from The Mission by Ennio Morricone; James Taylor’s ‘Gaia’ (first LP); Sting’s ‘Field of Gold’; Maria Callas’ ‘Casta Diva’ from Norma; ‘I like a little sugar in my bowl’ by Nina Simone; and Rod Stewart’s ‘Maggie May’ (first snog).
What three words most annoy you?
‘Trump/pence’ which I’m counting as one, just makes me feel sick. ‘Controversy’ because I can never decide how to pronounce it and people saying ‘hey’ all the time.
Your favourite restaurant?
Are you muddy or stilettos?
Muddy through and through, I can’t walk in stilettos. Kitten heels are as far as I go.
Upcoming events at Cooper Hall include an International Women’s Day concert on Sun 12 March. See their website for more details and other performances and workshops.
Cooper Hall, Selwood Manor, Jacks Lane, Frome BA11 3NL, Tel 01373 471854. cooperhall.org

domain: entertainment


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Flying In The Sky
What is man’s oldest dream? What can birds do that only humans dream of?
Yesterday I made a day stop in Bucaramanga, the beautiful town that’s known for it’s paragliding. The owner of the company saw one of my panoramas in a hostel in Medellin and immediately invited me to his hostel and paragliding company. Since I was heading down south after exploring the north of Colombia, I thought I might as well stop by.
And was it worth a days stop in Bucaramanga? Oh, dear child, it was:) They strapped me onto the harness and we quickly took a couple of running steps before the wind took us on a journey away from earth, Edinson and me. Amazing. Breath taking. A huge Wow! inside my young mans brain was everything I could think of. The feeling of seeing our planet from a birds point of view and also flying over it together with our smaller bewinged and feathered friends is not meant to be experienced in words, but in air. We flew for half an hour and then our feet once again touched mother’s green green grass.
I love flying, in any forms. I guess that’s a part of exploring places and feelings I haven’t experienced before, hence my love for travelling.
After taking some photos and exchanging them for salt (no, actually pesos, but the word salary actually comes from back in the days when you got your salary in salt) I took another night bus to Bogota where I am at the moment.
Soon another bus will have me inside her for 22 (twenty two) hours before spitting me out in Ipiales, just by the border to Ecuador.
Till then fellow humans, take care.
The take off and landing site at Colombia Paragliding in Bucaramanga.
This is from last weeks trip to Tayrona National Park, amazing just walking around in the jungle looking for things to see. The draw of luck showed me a big snake, hundreds of lizards and, crabs, a cayman and much more from the animal life.
This is from Parque Berrio in Medellin taken about 1,5 weeks ago.

domain: travel


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Hope your all having a fab weekend!
Today I just want to share some pics of this Ikea stool that I picked up.
As much as I give out about having to go to Ikea they do have fantastic items that you can paint and upcycle.
This was a really quick project and I think it took me longer to assemble than it did to paint.
For anybody going to chalk paint classes this autumn then this would be a great piece to bring.
As usual I got too excited to paint and forgot to take a before pic.
You can find the details for this stool here.
A tip if you are heading to the Dublin store, this is located in aisle 5 location 41 not location 31 that is on the display stool on the showroom.
Which at first I thought it was out of stock but found it when i wandered further down.
Assembly is actually quite simple and if I can do it then so can you!
However it may put you in a bad mood and your kitchen may look like a bomb just went off if your anything like me.
I used Autentico in the shade frozen fountain. I am still using the same liter pot of paint that I used on the upvc door and on my toilet door.
For anyone who missed it you can find my tutorial on painting upvc here.
This shade gives great coverage so you use less so the tin is lasting me forever!!.
I just gave two light coats of paint and got the coverage I wanted.
You could get really crafty and do decoupage or effects with colored waxes but as this was for displaying items I went with a block color.
For me I wanted the step stool for display, I think it would be so pretty dressed up for a wedding or a tea party. You can see from the pic below that its really handy and folds and comes with a clip so it can be hung on the wall.
I wanted it to display my frames as they were piling up in the kitchen and wanted them to look pretty for when people dropped by to collect them.
This little ladder would be gorgeous for displaying at a market for any of my fellow crafter’s.
It would look very cute with some cupcake stands on it.
Let me know what you think and if you have gotten creative with any of your Ikea finds.
Don’t forget to leave the link to your blog in the comments section.
Thanks for stopping by,

domain: hobby


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In California, 2016 race recalls another campaign
A restive electorate, a staid establishment Democrat and a flamboyant celebrity running as a Republican and promising to blow up the status quo.
As Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump crossed California at the end of last week delivering a preview of their expected general election battle for the presidency, many of the state’s voters can’t help but feel that they’ve seen it before.
It was 13 years ago that Californians endured a surreal recall election that ousted Democratic Governor Gray Davis and installed action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger in the executive office.
California’s experience shows how celebrity can create a familiarity with voters that traditional politicians struggle to achieve, and how intense anger with the existing order can embolden voters to take a leap of faith to send a message to the establishment.
Davis, now a Los Angeles-based attorney who remains active in state politics, said he began telling friends and associates last November that Trump would most likely be Clinton’s opponent in the general election.
“Being a wealthy celebrity means people think they know you. They think they know where you’re coming from, and it’s a nice advantage to have,” Davis said in an interview. “I believe to my core that Hillary will be president. But I do think this: The old rules have gone out the window.”
Tuesday’s primary in California will close out the presidential nomination races for both parties. (Washington, DC, will hold a Democratic primary the following week that won’t have an impact on the race.) Trump has already sewn up the Republican contest. Clinton is expected to clinch the Democratic nomination over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders when voting in California and five other states is done.
The state, which hasn’t voted for the Republican president candidate since 1988, isn’t likely to be a battleground in November. But Clinton and Trump both used it as a venue to launch their most direct and blistering attacks on each other to date as the general election fight was engaged.
Speaking Thursday in San Diego, Clinton mocked Trump’s rhetoric as “dangerously incoherent” and said his policy pronouncements are “just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies.” Later in San Jose, Trump said Clinton should be jailed for her use of private e-mail while secretary of state. “The fact that they even let her participate in this race is a disgrace to the United States,” he said.
As it was in California in 2003, the national candidates in 2016 are running in an atmosphere of voter frustration with the economy, anger with the establishment and feelings of powerlessness against special interests. California’s recall also took place against a backdrop of changing demographics and cultural norms. It drew its most concentrated support from white men and from pockets of the state, such as the Inland Empire and Orange County, where traffic, infrastructure challenges, housing and job prospects were chronic concerns.
“I do see some similarities,” said Lee Olavides, 49, a salesman from Chino Hills, who voted to recall Davis and replace him with Schwarzenegger. Olavides said he leans Republican but has mixed feeling about how to vote in the presidential race.
“If it’s Trump, will his stubborn, kind of off-the-cuff reactions be a reality, or is it more for show and will his business sense come through and will he make a difference?” he said. “With Hillary, all the stuff you read and hear about, will it affect her running the country?”
The attraction of Trump’s promises of major change is offset in his mind by memories of Schwarzenegger’s tenure.
“I thought he’d make a bigger difference,” Olavides said of the former governor. “Looking back now, whoever we put in are just the puppets of the House and the Senate. Their hands are tied.”
Travis Holmes, 60, of Altadena, who voted to recall Davis, said he also was disappointed that Schwarzenegger “ended up backing away” from fights. But he doesn’t regret his vote and said he still likes candidates who promise assertive action.
“I’ve been Trump all along,” Holmes said. “He came out of the bullpen saying things that make sense. We’re seen as such wimps everywhere around the world.”
Despite Trump’s reality-TV credentials, Holmes said he’s concluded that “Trump is not Hollywood; he’s a New York businessman.”
Davis said he doesn’t believe what happened to him in the recall foreshadows Clinton’s fate in November, in large part because Trump is a less controlled and more polarizing candidate.
“Arnold was a more disciplined campaigner and his politics were essentially a centrist — maybe just a hair to the right,” Davis said.
Schwarzenegger, through a spokesman, declined to comment.
Dan Schnur, a longtime Republican political consultant who directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, said there are significant differences as well as parallels.
“Arnold was a much more classic moderate; Trump’s obviously something much different – a nationalist, an isolationist,” Schnur said. “That said, there’s a lot of similarities in terms of structure. There were three types of voters who were attracted to Schwarzenegger: celebrity-seekers, conservatives who hated Democrats and populists who hated all politicians. Both of them attracting support from a lot of voters who are a lot more conservative than they are.”
Clinton, at the same time, confronts a challenge that Davis said worked against him. Clinton is a familiar public figure after spending eight years as first lady, eight years in the U.S. Senate and four years as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. She’s embraced Obama’s legacy in her primary campaign and Republicans are portraying her as running to serve Obama’s third term.
“It’s very hard for popularity to endure beyond two terms,” said Davis, who had won a second term only months before the effort to recall him forced him to effectively run a third campaign.
“There was just no enthusiasm for Davis and that’s the problem Hillary faces,” said Shaun Bowler, a political science professor and associate dean at the University of California at Riverside.
In interviews, voters in California had one thing in common no matter where they stood on the political spectrum: low expectations.
“I’m a Democrat, but I believe whoever wins, it’s going to be the same,” said Daniela Soto, 35, a bus driver who moved to California from Texas in 2003 as the recall campaign was underway. She didn’t switch her state registration in time for the vote. Soto said she’s excited to support Clinton’s candidacy this year and to try to elect the country’s first woman president, but that in her heart, “I don’t think the country’s going to change. Not even if Trump wins. Nothing’s going to change.” Bloombergcalifornia, Clinton, Trump


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Art Nouveau is commonly known as a unique architectural style that makes frequent use of floral motifs and ornate curls. While the roots of this style can be traced to the regions of Zlín and Luhačovice, this area is also home to a unique take on it – the folk Art Nouveau style of Dušan Jurkovič.
While folk Art Nouveau might seem like an elusive concept to many international visitors, the best way to get your bearings is by heading over to the museum right in the center of Luhačovice (Muzeum luhačovického zálesí). The majority of buildings designed in this style can be found right on the colonnade, as the famous architect is credited with the modernization of the spa complex and the renovation of many buildings here. Several of his creations, some of which even feature original furniture, have been declared cultural heritage, undergoing repairs and reconstructions. Book a room here, or just sit down for a cup of tea, coffee, or a spa wafer.
Valašské Klobouky is the birthplace of Hubert Gessner, a famous architect and author of beautiful Art Nouveau buildings that grace the streets of this tiny town to this day. The first ever Art Nouveau building on the Czech territory is the residence of Josef Bratman, located just off the main square. Look for other houses, such as U Slunce, Jana Horného, Růžičkův dům and the annex of Besední dům, although the Art Nouveau facade on the last one has sadly been lost to the ages.
We have no shortage of castles and châteaux, either! Scattered across the land you’ll find ancient keeps built to safeguard the Moravian border, quaint hunting lodges, vast noble estates-
Unique Tomas Bata Memorial, Czech Pavilion at Expo 2015 in Vizovice or buildings of famous architect Eva Jiricna. Architecture in Zlin, Luhačovice or Vizovice is worthless to visit.
the unique style of Wallachian log cabins. These little houses made of wooden beams used to line the village roads and city streets in all the land. Few have survived to this day.
The regions of Zlín and Luhačovice have amassed quite a collection of these. This comes as no surprise since Tomáš Baťa built all of his Zlín in the spirit of this intriguing style of modern architect
The city of Zlín is a one-of-a-kind civil engineering project. A factory within a garden, a city within a factory. There’s an order to everything, whether it is the small brick working-class houses pl


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I raced that day as well! Last heat in the SS class but I think most people were effectively SS or close to it that day. As you said, I didn't care much about braking that day. Even in the last heat it was easier to veer off into deep snow on the downhills than try to get any traction while braking. There was none to be had!
It looks like the packed snow slowly got churned into some kind of frozen mud-grass soup.
True story: Yesterday we had a mud fest of a CX race. It poured all morning and straight through our day of racing. Needless to say, by the time the 1/2s got onto the course, it was nasty.
Rivers of standing water that you had to pedal through were all over the course, along with thicker mud sections.
For the record, I switched back to my drop bars and BB7s. After the couple laps of riding in a pack and being forced to use more brakes than I desired, my lever started traveling closer and closer to my bar. By halfway through the race my rear brake lever was bottoming out on my bar and gave me 10% power.
Starting then and every couple laps there after, I would have to reach down and turn in my pad adjusters as I would run the barriers.
Needless to say, my pads were literally wearing out before my eyes.
On the last lap, I flatted a tubular and rode the the pit for a swap. I jumped on my 1985 schwinn cimarron with 1990s XTR Vs and finished the race.
The XTR brakes on the final lap worked awesome and provided all the power I needed to get around the course fast. Granted, in mud, you dont need to ton of power. Just enough to scrub the smallest amounts of speed to make the corners smoothly.
I guess this all reinforces my previous post. In yesterdays experience, discs slowed me down more than my Vs(no puns intended!)
Hydros are self adjusting.
But yes, I have experienced that on my BB7's in soupy muddy MTB races. Not peanut butter mud, but very very watery mud.
Okay, one full race season of disc brakes under my belt. Want to know what I think?
Overkill. Disc brakes increase bike weight by a pound and offer hardly any actual benefits to racing. They have extreme power, but that isnt used in cross. If you are slamming on your brakes every turn, you are doing it wrong.
This has been my take away from the 2012 race season as well.
The only other positives that I think are worth adding is that you can stay in the hoods the entire race which is really comfortable and good for handling and that my hands don't get nearly as tired after a full race.
Otherwise, agreed that disc in CX is overkill and generally not worth the added weight.
I'm back on canti brakes with new pads and cables and I am loving it. Maybe next year I'll build up another CX disc bike but make sure the frame is something much lighter than steel to make up for the added weight.
99% of the problems and questions posted here would be answered if people actually walked into a bicycle shop and asked

domain: sports


Calcium Powder in Asphalt and Concrete Introduce Recently on the one hand most of the domestic mine crushing and industrial sand making plants produce a large amount of limestone powder waste high content of limestone powder in the production process which not only pollutes the environment but also wastes raw materials so how to turn waste limestone waste into treasure is important...As a leading global manufacturer of crushing equipment, milling equipment,dressing equipment,drying equipment and briquette equipment etc. we offer advanced, rational solutions for any size-reduction requirements, including quarry, aggregate, grinding production and complete plant plan.
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Gold ore whose types of deposits are diverse and complex is the mineral assemblage of gold. With features of chalcophile affinity and high melting point, the gold ore includes conglomerate type, porphyry type, quartz vein type and volcanic rock type, etc.
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Calcium Powder in Asphalt and Concrete Introduce Recently on the one hand most of the domestic mine crushing and industrial sand making plants produce a large amount of limestone powder waste high content of limestone powder in the production process which not only pollutes the environment but also wastes raw materials so how to turn waste limestone waste into treasure is important
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Construction ceramsite production equipment The rotary kiln is the main equipment of the current production of lightweight aggregates Ceramic sand production can be summed up as fragmentation ingredients grinding granulation calcined preparation finished cooling screening packaging and other processes Calcination stage is very important
Driven concrete pile which is typically precast and prestressed sometimes makes for an economical foundation in certain areas such as Florida and California in the United States where casting yards are available Figure 238Square concrete piles from 60 to 90 cm are commonly used with larger sizes up to 3 m that are less common but used for major bridges
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text:
3 edition of Theses theologicæ found in the catalog.
Written in English
|Series||Eighteenth century -- reel 7008, no. 06.|
|The Physical Object|
|Number of Pages||16|
Type: BOOK - Published: - Publisher: eBook Partnership Get Books Divine Renaissance Volume II opens with a call to the Soul to take flight from the world's clamour, reach the Sanctuary of Being, and stand in the Great Silence of the Presence goes on to reveal riches upon riches concerning the Mystery of Prayer, the Ascent. Besides numerous volumes of dramas, epigrams, biographical sketches, etc. Bidermann wrote many books on philosophy and theology. Amongst the best-known are: Amongst the best-known are: Theses Theologicae ();.
Theses theologicae de actibus humanis tam naturalibus quam supernaturalibus praesidebit F. Ferdinandus Achte. defendent. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this. Rare early book: Theses Theologicae by Robert Barclay Estimate: $ - $1, Sold: $ Letherbound book: Early volume on Florida in Spanish Estimate: $ - $1, Sold: $1, Rare leatherbound books: Flore des Serres et .
Key tool for locating theses and dissertations is ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (full text electronic access to many theses published since the ’s, and a select number from earlier years).. Resources focussed on listing Religious Studies theses include. American Journal of Islamic Social Studies (BP 1.A48) - each issues contains a section listing Doctoral . Theologian, b. , in Buckinghamshire, England; d. 28 Feb., , at St. Omer's, was a member of the ancient Catholic family of Darrell of Scotney Castle, Sussex, being the only son of Thomas Darrell and his wife, Thomassine Marcham. He joined the Society of Jesus on 7 Sept., , was professed 25 March, He wrote: "A Vindication of St. Ignatius from .
gift of the sun
Pillar 1 vs. Pillar 2 under risk management
Lust for Shoes
Monetary incentives and work standards in five cities
The merchant of Venice.
Resolution And Decisions Adopted By The General Assembly During Its Fifity Eighth Session Resolution (16 Sept- 23 Dec 2003)
Building the future
Occupational radiation exposures in Canada.
This book contains two works--the Theses Theologicae and An Apology Theses theologicæ book the True Christian Divinity. Both were written by Robert Barclay, an important 17th century Quaker. Barclay was an ardent Quaker and friend of other notable Quakers such as William Penn and George : Ebook.
COVID Resources. Reliable information about the coronavirus (COVID) is available from the World Health Organization (current situation, international travel).Numerous and frequently-updated resource results are available from this ’s WebJunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle.
Theses theologicae: or The theological propositions, which are defended by Robert Barclay, in his apology for the true Christian divinity as the same First printed about the year, () [Barclay, Robert] on *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.
Theses theologicae: Theses theologicæ book The theological propositions, which are defended by Robert Barclay. This book contains two works--the Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian were written by Robert Barclay, an important 17th century Quaker.
Barclay was an ardent Quaker and friend of other notable Quakers such as William Penn and George Fox. A Table of the Authors Cited in this Book. Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity — Robert Barclay.
ALANUS Amandus Polanus Ambrosius Ansbertus Ambrosius Mediolanensis. Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI, (Early English books online) Digital version of: (Early English books, ; ) Stock number CL ProQuest. Eisenhower Parkway, Ann Arbor, MI For May we are, in essence, featuring two books of the month: Gabriel Powel’s De adiaphoris theses theologicæ ac scholasticæ, printed in London by Robert Barker inand a manuscript leaf from the Tables of Toulouse, dated to the 15th century.
Powel’s book is a work on adiaphora, or religious Barker was a successful printer in London who. Creeds of the Churches offers, in one comprehensive volume, the major Christian statements of faith from biblical times to the present.
The third edition has been updated to include the Athanasian Creed, the London Confession, the Frankfurt Declaration, and the Lima Text, among others. A brief introduction to each creed explains its place in the developing theology of the.
Jacob Bidermann ( – Aug ) was born in the Austrian (at that time) village of Ehingen, about 30 miles southwest of was a Jesuit priest and professor of theology, but is remembered mostly for his plays. He had a talent for writing plays that began comically, with loud talk and clowning around, and then turning the tables on his characters, and switching to.
Try the new Google Books. eBook - FREE. Get this book in print. AbeBooks; On Demand Books; Amazon; Find in a library siècle Soutenance Spanheim sub præsidio subjicit synode de Dordrecht tbeses Théodore de Bèze Théodore Tronchin théologie theses dedicatæ Theses ex Theses theologicæ Turrettini typis Fabri typographie Vaudois vendredi.
Proposals for printing a third edition of a book intituled Ludovici Le Blanc Theses theologicae with considerable additions. [London]: Moses Pitt.
MLA Citation. Pitt, Moses. Proposals for printing a third edition of a book intituled Ludovici Le Blanc Theses theologicae with considerable additions microform Moses Pitt [London] 1 Since then, a few very abridged versions have been published, and a book called Barclay's Apology in Modern English, edited by Dean latter leaves out a great deal of what Barclay wrote and contains numerous errors in rendering Barclay's meaning: a fuller critique of it can be found in an Appendix to this volume.
2 Do not be afraid of the old-fashioned verb. Theses Theologicæ de primatu B. Petri, Aberdeen,4to. Holinesse to the Lord (a sermon in the "Funerals" of Bishop Patrick Forbes), Aberdeen,4to; reprinted, Spottiswoode Society,8vo.
Diverse Select Sermons,"Aberdeen. Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity [ThML] This book contains two works--the Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity.
Both were written by Robert Barclay, an important 17th century Quaker. Barclay was an ardent Quaker and friend of other notable. Each month we will profile a book from our rare books collection, describing its content, history and provenance. May: Gabriel Powel’s De adiaphoris theses theologicæ ac scholasticæ,and a manuscript leaf from the Tables of Toulouse, dated to the 15th century.
This note criticizes M. Wolter's thesis which states that the expression "in those days" of Lk 2,1 refers to 1,80, i.e., to the time that John the Baptist grew up in the wilderness, and that between the birth of John and that of Jesus there must have been several years. THESES THEOLOGICÆ.
THE CLERGY, OF WHAT SORT SOEVER, UNTO WHOSE HANDS THESE MAY COME; BUT MORE PARTICULARLY To the Doctors, Professors, and Students of Divinity in the Universities and Schools of Great Britain, whether Prelatical, Presbyterian, or any other.
: Christian Books: Theses Theologicae And An Apology For The True Christian Divinity: Theses Theologicae And An Apology For The True Christian Divinity - Robert Barclay.
Title Page INTRODUCTION Short account of the Life and Writings of Robert Barclay, published at Philadelphia, in theses theologicae To the clergy of what sort soever unto whose hands these may come, but more particularly to the doctors, professors, and students of divinity in the universities and schools of Great Britain, whether Prelatical, Presbyterian, or any other: R OBERT B ARCLAY, a servant of the Lord God and one of those who in derision are.
THESES THEOLOGICÆ. THE FIRST PROPOSITION. Concerning the true Foundation of Knowledge. THE SECOND PROPOSITION. Concerning Immediate Revelation. THE THIRD PROPOSITION. Concerning the Scriptures. THE FOURTH PROPOSITION. Concerning the Condition of Man in the Fall.
FIFTH AND SIXTH PROPOSITIONS. Robert Barclay - Theses Theologicae And An Apology For The True Christian Divinity Amy Wilson-Carmichael - Things As They Are Samuel John Jerram - Thoughts On A Revelation Sheldon Dibble - Thoughts On Missions Cyprian - Three Books Of Testimonies Against The Jews Frances Bevan - Three Friends Of God Jonathan Swift - Three Sermons Three Prayers.
Theodore Beza & Antoine de la Faye Theses Theologicae in Schola Genevensi Propositions and Principles of Divinity Propounded and Disputed in the University of Geneva by Students () XL. Principles Concerning Repentance 1. Seeing the wickedness of man's nature is such, that not only no man can perform the Law of God, but not so.texts All Books All Texts latest This Just In Smithsonian Libraries FEDLINK (US) Genealogy Lincoln Collection.
National Emergency Library. Top American Libraries Canadian Libraries Universal Library Community Texts Project Gutenberg Biodiversity Heritage Library Children's Library. Open Library.

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Rebeca Spiegel - Vancouver, BC
Rebeca Spiegel (she/her) works as a full time assistant editor and as a freelance digital illustrator. She moved from Brazil to study film at Capilano University. Since then, she’s worked in many different genres and styles, brainstorming creative solutions in post-production, art department, and stop-motion animation. As a writer and director, her work is inspired by magical realist films such as Pan’s Labyrinth, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Amelie.


Good and bad Olympic nationalism
Chicago — In addition to being postponed for a year, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have been the subject of controversy. According to a recent survey, 78% of Japanese citizens believed the Games should be canceled, due to concerns over the pandemic. Since then, Japanese media have shone the spotlight on the fact that not all visiting athletes (including 100 from the United States) are vaccinated against COVID-19.
Added to these unprecedented public health problems are perennial political problems, such as the common complaint that the Olympics encourage nationalism or chauvinism. Each event produces a confrontation on the number of medals expected between major contenders such as the United States, China, Japan, Great Britain and Russia (which participates in the Tokyo Games as the “Russian Olympic Committee”, following the country’s ban for doping).
Political regimes around the world recognize that sport can strengthen national identity and that the Olympics, in particular, can confer status on the world stage. Governments have long used the Games to tell their citizens, “We made it. In 1936, Hitler took full advantage of the Olympic Games in Berlin, which had been chosen to host the 1931 Games, two years before the National Socialists came to power. In 1964, the Japanese used the Tokyo Olympics to signal their full rehabilitation after World War II. And in the 1980s, the Olympics became Cold War football, with the United States boycotting the Moscow Games in 1980 and the Soviets boycotting the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
The political value of the Games is one of the reasons why governments are willing to pay so much to host them. China spent $ 40 billion to $ 44 billion, more than any country in history at the time, to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. It was then overtaken by Russia, which spent around $ 50 billion to host the Sochi Olympics in 2014. Between breaking the spending record and annexing Crimea the same year, Russian President Vladimir’s approval ratings Putin have duly soared.
There is no doubt that international sporting events can amplify the more unpleasant aspects of nationalism, as in the case of the 1936 Games in Berlin. Historically, the Games have also reminded the conquered of their lost sovereignty. Until 1924, Polish athletes could only win medals by representing other countries. And for generations, athletes from forcibly annexed Soviet republics, like the Baltic states and Ukraine, were forced to represent the Soviet Union or not to compete.
But not all feelings inspired by international sporting events are bad. A collective desire to win can lessen discrimination against minority groups, such as when the American establishment recognized the talents of Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in athletics at the Berlin Olympics, inspiring generations of black youth. Americans. And more recently, tennis star Naomi Osaka’s phenomenal ability has pushed many Japanese to overcome traditional ethnic and gender prejudices. Osaka’s lighting of the Tokyo Olympic torch will have significant social ramifications across Japan and even all of East Asia.
Sports competitions also provide opportunities for a new country to establish its sense of national belonging. In 1992, Nelson Mandela’s participation in the Barcelona Olympics symbolized South Africa’s exit from apartheid. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Croats came together to cheer on Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević and basketball star Toni Kukoč; and Belarusians today can be proud of biathlete Darya Domracheva and tennis star Victoria Azarenka.
Finally, international sporting events also offer unique opportunities for patriotic nation building in countries with internal divisions. For example, researchers have found that qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Cup significantly reduces ethnic conflict in sub-Saharan African countries, as participation provides citizens with a shared and reduced experience. mistrust between ethnic groups.
Certainly, while the International Olympic Committee recognizes 206 National Olympic Committees, only 14 countries represent almost half of the 11,326 athletes participating in the Tokyo Games. These 14 countries are all part of the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) except China and Russia, which have the second and eleventh largest GDPs in the world. Unsurprisingly, the same 14 countries dominate the medal count and the news cycle.
Still, the Games mean a lot to the 192 other countries that we don’t hear much about. For these smaller, newer, or poorer countries, the Olympics are not about winning the most medals or claiming superpower status. Rather, it is simply a matter of sharing the experience of participation. The Games offer national validation and unity, and therefore a chance to build economic and political stability.
The 52 Games that have taken place since Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern Olympic Games have produced many undesirable consequences. But they have also proven to be a positive force in many countries, especially those that seem less important in terms of medals and geopolitical power. Project union
Nancy Qian, professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, is the founding director of the China Econ Lab and the China Lab at Northwestern.
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Unformatted text preview: 7. What is displacement in terms of a car engine and why does it mater? 8. What does adding intake and exhaust valves to an engine do? 9. What are three advantages and disadvantages to having an eight cylinder engine when compared to a four cylinder engine? 10. What is an internal combustion engine supposed to do and what does it do best?...
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- Spring '11


This operator is used to increase the value of variable by one. It works with single operator. This can only increase the value of variables. It cannot increase the value of constants and expressions. x++ and y++ are valid statements but 5++ is an invalid statements.
The functionality of the following statements is same. All these statements are equivalent. These statements increase the value of x by 1.
In the prefix form of increment operator, the increment operator is written before the variable.
Let a = ++x. In this situation the meaning of this statement is this, that it increases the value of x by 1 and after that it assigns that value to a.
In the postfix form of increment operator, the increment operator is written after the variable.
Let a = x++. In this situation the meaning of this statement is this, that it assigns the value of x to a and after that increases the value of x.
using namespace std;
c = a++;
d = ++b;
cout<<"value of c: "<<c<<endl
<<"value of a: "<<a<<endl
<<"value of b: "<<b<<endl
<<"value of d: "<<d;


Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is going through –Lungfish, “8.14.2116”
The Los Angeles Times recently ran a two-part expose (1,2) on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest charitable foundation in the world. Like all foundations, the Gates foundation (founded by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates) invests its assets in stocks and bonds in order to generate the income it uses to fund its projects. These two tasks are intentionally kept apart, so that the investment arm can concentrate on making money and the charity arm can worry about doing good works. But the LAT found that even while the Gates Foundation is fighting AIDS or predatory lending with its public programs, the investment wing of its operation is investing in the very same companies that cause these problems. Millions of dollars of the foundation’s money are tied up in companies like Ameriquest, which is implicated in predatory lending, and Eni, an oil company which is a major polluter in Nigeria. In the latter case, the Times profiled a child who had received a polio vaccination because of the Gates foundation, but had developed respiratory problems because of a nearby Eni operation.
This kind of hypocrisy leads many people to support the concept of “socially responsible investing”, or SRI. The idea behind SRI is that foundations (and other large investors like state pension funds) should invest only in companies that have good records on issues such as environmentalism or labor rights. But there are a number of problems with SRI. Bradford Plumer in the New Republic gets at some of these in his commentary on the LA Times article. For one thing, no one agrees on just what constitutes “social responsibility”–so, for example, Coca-Cola ends up on some SRI indexes for its charitable works, which apparently make up for its support of union-busting Colombian death squads. For another thing, there’s no clear evidence that SRI actually changes corporate behavior. The movement to divest from South African companies during the anti-apartheid struggle is often cited as the exemplary case, yet Plumer cites a study which suggests that the divestment campaign had little effect. In the cases where SRI has been successful, companies have concluded that they can comply with the demands of activists without too much harm to the bottom line. But it seems that when social responsibility and profits come into conflict, profit still wins out.
Plumer’s conclusion is that “government action is often the only thing that can dramatically alter corporate behavior”. And this is surely correct. But there is a deeper lesson here as well. The Gates foundation is the ludicrous extreme, but it demonstrates the limitation of all private charity. Since most private charities are dependent on foundation funding, they are ultimately dependent on private investments. And the goal of private investment has to be the maximization of profit. This leads to the specific problem of companies which do evil, as the LA Times showed. But even when the worst companies are screened out, it also leads the more general problem of encouraging the push to turn everything into a commodity and a for-profit business, even things that shouldn’t be. This is related to the basic capitalist fallacy that if people have more money and have to spend more money, they are better off than they would be if they had less money but got more things for free (or cheap).
For example, the Times uses prescription drugs as one of its case studies. The Gates foundation subsidizes AIDS drugs in Africa, even as it invests in pharmaceutical companies that restrict access to those drugs with their monopoly pricing schemes. It would be in the interest of humanity for drugs to be developed by publicly funded laboratories (as many useful drugs already are) and then made available as cheaply as possible. This would entail the decommodification of pharmaceuticals, the elimination of many useless copycat drugs, a reduction of drug company profits, and therefore a reduction of the income stream that is available to private foundations. It would also look like a reduction in the Gross National Product, and would therefore be a Bad Thing from the perspective of bourgeois economics. But from a socialist perspective it is an advance in human freedom. Not more charity, but less need for charity, is what we demand…
So as Plumer’s article asks, is SRI a sham? Well, it may be a useful tactic in some circumstances, but in general the time of activists is probably better spent building political power.


Combating Wireless LAN MAC-layer Address Spoofing with Fingerprinting Methods
- Güenther Lackner, Udo Payer, Peter Teufl
- International Journal of Network Security ico_openaccess SCOPUS
- in 2009
- Cited Count
Unwanted use of wireless networks has become a wellknown problem in recent years. One attempt to solve this problem is the use of access control lists, which are associated with accredited MAC addresses. But since MAC addresses can be spoofed very easily, improved mechanisms are needed to attest the uniqueness of a dedicated wireless station. Today, all known approaches are based on the idea to generate NIC-speci¯c pro¯les derived from invariant NIC-characteristics. In doing so, unique features are either extracted from RF-components or from the timing behavior of the MAC-chip. To give a review and to classify all proposed approaches, we start with a short introduction to all underlying ideas and will conclude with a comparison of these mechanisms.
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Discover more from Asia Sentinel
Malaysia’s Leading News Portal Imperiled by Lawsuit Reversal
On Jan. 12, a Malaysian appellate court overturned an earlier High Court ruling in favor of Malaysiakini, Malaysia's leading independent news portal, in a defamation case initiated by a politically connected mining operation for remarks at a press conference by opponents of the mine.
Malaysiakini must now pay a crippling RM200,000 in damages and RM150,000 in legal costs, to the Raub Australian Gold Mine (RAGM), financially threatening the publication and raising concerns that the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak is behind the court’s reversal.
The subscription-based website has launched a public campaign seeking contributions to meet the court costs. “Our lawyers will be applying for a stay pending appeal. For that to happen, we need to have the money ready," editor-in-chief Steven Gan said in a statement on the site. And should the stay be not granted, we will have to pay RM350,000 (US$89,000) in the coming weeks. Otherwise, RAGM can take winding-up proceedings against Malaysiakini.”
Neither Gan nor Premesh Chandran, the publisher, would speculate on whether the appellate decision was reversed at the request of the government. However, over the years, the relationship between Putrajaya, the seat of the Malaysian government and the alternative news outlet, the country’s most influential, has been fractious at best, and hostile at worst.
The decision by the Appeal court to reverse the lower court ruling exonerating the news poral has set tongues wagging over whether Najib ordered Malaysia’s notoriously malleable courts to put Malaysiakini out of business prior to what political analyst say may be a tough election for the ruling Barisan Nasional, or national coalition.
Malaysiakini has, since its inception 18 years ago, been a particular thorn in the government’s side, attracting hostility from Najib and members of his cabinet. It has been the frequent target of police intimidation and rallies fomented by forces aligned with the United Malays National Organization, the country’s most powerful political party.
"It is totally unacceptable that journalists can be charged for covering a press conference,” said Daniel Bastard, head of the Asia-Pacific Desk of the press advocacy NGO Reporters Sans Frontières. “The right to information is a fundamental right, and Malaysian authorities must finally take it into account. It is listed as a fundamental right by the United Nations, ASEAN and the Commonwealth -- Malaysia must consider lining up with international standards regarding this matter."
RSF, Bastard said, “demands the Malaysian government to give guarantees concerning the political independence of the court of appeal. It is very worrying to see this trend where first-instance justice decisions concerning press freedom are reversed by the Appeal Court. It gives the impression of a pro-government court whose decisions are politically motivated, and whose ultimate goal is to muzzle whistle-blowers and overly curious journalists."
The case brought by RAGM has its roots in a press conference that Malaysiakini and another website, Free Malaysia Today, (FMT) were invited to cover in Raub, a small town in Pahang state north of Kuala Lumpur.
The use of sodium cyanide, a known toxic chemical, to extract gold from tailings, was alleged to have caused a variety of health problems among the villagers of Bukit Koman, a village near Raub. After Malaysiakini published three news reports and two video clips, on Sept. 5, 2012, RAGM sued the news portal for defamation.
The company said that it had taken all reasonable precautions to ensure the health and safety of the workers and residents, dismissing allegations that sodium cyanide was hazardous to Bukit Koman residents and arguing that "unsubstantiated and baseless allegations" had confused the villagers and protesters.
RAGM’s beneficial owner is said to be Peninsular Gold, whose chairman and main shareholder is a politically well-connected Malaysian capitalist, Andrew Kam Tai Yeow. Kam was secretary-general of the Malaysian Chinese Association, the ethnic Chinese political party in the Barisan Nasional or ruling national coalition in the 1960s. Furthermore, RAGM enjoyed preferential tax status. It has since ceased operations and started liquidation proceedings.
In 2016, the High Court dismissed RAGM's suit and said it had failed to prove malice. Eight months later, the appellate court overturned the High Court ruling and said that Malaysiakini's defense of its reportage didn’t hold up.
"The settlement offered by RAGM's lawyer, Cecil Abraham, and the gold mine, to FMT required only an apology, but when it came to Malaysiakini, they wanted an apology and money," said a source who declined to be named. "During the court hearing, [Abraham]s and the gold mine used FMT's apology against Malaysiakini. They claimed that FMT had apologized, but not Malaysiakini, and therefore Malaysiakini was being indolent and irresponsible.
"RAGM's lawyers failed to mention that they had demanded both an apology and a huge sum in damages from Malaysiakini. Clearly, the action by Cecil and the gold mine was to bleed the paper."
A year after the protest march, three individuals who had led the rally and were also members of the Ban Cyanide Action Group (BCAC) were sued for defamation, by RAGM.
They were the chairman, Wong Kim Hoong, vice-chairman, Hue Shieh Lee, and secretary, Hue Fui How. RAGM claimed that the three had defamed them through their statements in two news articles, which both Malaysiakini and FMT had published.
When Wong and Hue Fui How apologized to RAGM in open court, the company withdrew its suit. Hue Shieh Lee elected to continue her legal battle, and in 2016, the High Court ruled that RAGM had failed to prove that her statement against the gold mine, was a malicious falsehood.
"It is difficult for RSF to accuse the Court of Appeal of issuing a judgment to prevent the villagers from demanding compensation for their damaged health,” said RSF’s representative Bastard. “However, the facts are clear: villagers will think twice before asking for compensation. This is a crude example of how violations of press freedom can affect every aspect of every society. This is why RSF firmly condemns the judgment by the Court of Appeal and shows its full support to Malaysiakini reporters, who were just trying to do their work - as the High Court recognized in the first instance."
Villagers, he said, “can let independent local and foreign journalists investigate on their damaged health, so that awareness can be raised around their case."
There are three strands to this story. The harassment of Malaysiakini is not just an attack on press freedom. Its punishment is also a warning to other newspapers to tread warily, when reporting on Najib and UMNO.
The Appeal court verdict is also a means of intimidating the general public. Those who dare to protest an injustice, or the effects of pollution in their locality, or corruption, or become a whistle-blower, will find themselves subject to a lawsuit, with substantial costs, in addition to incarceration.
As Malaysians go to the polls this year, they know that a free press, which can report without fear or favor, is a fundamental requirement for democracy; but this is the least of Najib's concerns.
Sarawak Report's editor, Clare Rewcastle-Brown, in an article titled, "Without A Free Media Malaysia Will Slide Backwards Fast,", said "The difference between being a modern, progressive country and a tin-pot regime, where potential investors fear they cannot rely on the rule of law, can be quantified by the extent to which there is a free media and a government that can tolerate criticism.
"If Malaysia starts to use the courts to close down media that is doing its job, and airing the grievances and concerns of the people, then the world will start to recognize it as a wild country which is only suitable for risk takers and resource-grabbers who are willing to risk losing their investment. The rest will steer clear. That would be a tragedy for a country which has made so much progress and could have a great future".
RSF's Bastard said, "Intimidation of journalists, humiliation, harassment and denial of access to information are common practices amongst government officials around the world who want to muzzle fearless journalists.
"Malaysiakini is recognized as an independent news outlet which doesn't let its editorial line to be dictated by the government. This is precisely what is press freedom.
"Denouncing powerful people when it is necessary and legitimate in a report should not lead to reprisals. This is also totally unacceptable. And this is all the truer in an electoral context."
Najib has learned from the previous general-election that he must tie-up many loose ends, before the country's 14th General Election (GE-14), which must be called by August. Gagging Malaysiakini is perhaps one of those "loose ends."


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Exhibition area planning:The exhibition area of Haisi Expo is about 160,000 square meters. Comprehensive exhibition.
"Doing business, talking about cooperation, going to Guangdong"
The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Fair (referred to as “Haisi Expo”) was established in 2014 to create a high-quality project to implement the national “One Belt, One Road” strategy and establish an international image of “doing business, talking cooperation, and going to Guangdong”. . After five years of cultivation and development, the Haisi Expo has gradually developed into an exhibition platform with strong influence in the countries and regions along the “Belt and Road”. The pace of internationalization, branding, specialization and marketization has accelerated, and the international “friend circle” "And the influence is growing.
Exhibition area planning:
The exhibition area of Haisi Expo is about 160,000 square meters. The planning of the exhibition area is as follows:
1. Comprehensive exhibition. It plans to set up three exhibition areas, including the national exhibition area along the “Belt and Road”, the city exhibition area of Dawan District of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and the domestic province and city exhibition area.
2, professional exhibition. Planning and setting up 4 professional exhibition areas, including the modern agriculture and food processing industry exhibition area, advanced manufacturing exhibition area, modern service industry exhibition area, marine economic exhibition area.
Organizer: Guangdong Provincial Council for the Promotion of International Trade
Organizer: Guangdong Provincial Department of Commerce, Guangzhou Municipal People's Government, China Foreign Trade Center
Executive unit: Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Guangzhou Cooperation Office, Guangzhou Trade Promotion Association
Cooperation with Guangdong Ksourcing Exhition Co., Ltd.:
Entrusted by the organizing committee, since 2015,Guangdong Ksourcing Exhition Co., Ltd.is responsible for the exhibition of the international pavilion exhibition and procurement organization of the exhibition, organizing the participation of national enterprises from Singapore and Malaysia, and each group of nearly 100 exhibitors participated
2019 Haisi Expo (click image for details)

domain: economics


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The Unspeakable, by Kate Walters
25th February – 17th March 2023
Private view: Friday 24th February, 17:30-19:30
Open Wednesdays to Saturdays 12:30-17:30
‘Trauma is the necessary encounter with an unavoidable catastrophe.’
Kate Walters’ exhibition of watercolours and oil paintings, accompanied by sketchbooks and poetry, gather together works from the past twenty years as she has moved closer to, and away from, traumatic events in her life.
Kate has recently begun to focus on her inner child, supplying her with a number of sketchbooks in which she can explore, as Little Kate, many partially remembered events, and the pathways to healing that creativity and attention can bestow. These paintings explore the important roles of eros, bodily knowing, dreaming, animal protectors and shamanic knowing in penetrating the areas revealed by awareness brought through trauma.
The exhibition will also be accompanied by a new essay by Kate's friend and collaborator, Jesse Selkin.
‘Catastrophe is a word that comes from two ancient Greek words. The first, kata, means ‘down, downwards’ and the second strophe, ‘a turning’. A turning down, upside down, inside out, a reversal….(where/when)….all expected triumphant futures are destroyed.’ (Jesse Selkin)
Based in Cornwall, Kate trained in London, Brighton and Falmouth in Fine Art. Her paintings, films and drawings have been exhibited in Jerwood Drawing, Royal Academy, RWA, Discerning Eye, Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange. She has been represented by Arusha Gallery since 2014. Kate is fully trained in classical shamanism and she teaches workshops which explore the worlds of trauma and the numinous.
For more information head to www.katewalters.co.uk


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Wearing White Howlite absorb your anger-or another’s anger that is directed toward you. It helps to overcome critical or selfish behavior. It is a super-calming stone and many people use it to relieve anxious thoughts.
Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.

domain: psychology


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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — New numbers paint a bigger picture of just how damaging last week’s riots were in Minneapolis.
The fires and looting started Wednesday night after false rumors spread about an officer-involved shooting that was actually the suicide of a murder suspect on Nicollet Mall.READ MORE: Missing And Murdered Indigenous Persons Day Recognizes 'Generation Upon Generations' Of Families With Lost Loved Ones
The city says at least 133 buildings were damaged during the chaos, with some housing several businesses.
The carpet at the Franklin-Nicollet Liquor store was replaced less than a month ago. Owner Mike Moore swapped it out, fixed the broken windows and restocked the shelves after looters invaded his store in May. It all happened again last Wednesday night.
“They went through the inside and just broke anything they could,” Moore said.
He watched people clear out his store. The damage this time was worse than the last one. Moore estimates half-a-million dollars in losses — on top of the $250,000 from last time.
“You wake up thinking, ‘What’s next?’ Every time the phone rings, you think, ‘Oh darn, what’s going to happen now?’” Moore said.
He expects most of it to be covered by insurance. And he’s lucky, because aside from insurance, help may not be coming.
The state’s request for FEMA funding was denied, so was the appeal. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says it doesn’t have direct assistance for business owners like Olson who were hit by the unrest. This is because the Minnesota legislature didn’t approve any additional resources for that specifically. The state’s commerce department can help with some insurance snag, and the SBA has low-interest disaster loans.READ MORE: DNR: 2 Bald Eagles Found Dead In Northern Minnesota Last Month
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is doing things like waiving permit fees, but admits his requests for rapid federal and state aid have not come through.
“if it happens again, I really don’t know what my plan is,” Moore said.
He’s less concerned about reopening Wednesday, and more worried he won’t be able to cash out his retirement after 40 years in business.
“I don’t know if it’s sellable, to tell you the truth,” he said. “It’s a nightmare. It’s a vicious nightmare.”
Here is Mayor Frey’s full statement:
Earlier this year our team deployed targeted, no-interest forgivable loans for small businesses and this summer we reallocated funding to our commercial property development fund – another key economic development tool. We are also working with businesses and waiving permit fees while providing stepped up levels of technical assistance. But with hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue in the city budget this year alone, we have asked for rapid federal and state aid to support our small businesses. Unfortunately, that support has not come through. We will got to the mat for our local businesses and wont’ quit until we are back on track.
Minneapolis officials say businesses impacted by the unrest in May and June can access SBA property damage and economic injury loans. They are still evaluating the steps for businesses hit last week to apply for similar relief. Small business teams and BTAP resources are available for people to get help with their insurance applications. All fees for recovery have been dropped.Police: Man Found Dead Inside University Of Minnesota Fraternity House


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- AGA Allianz Global Assistance Mondial Assistance03.Dec 2015
Inclusive / Diverse
As an American subsidiary of a foreign company, it only went as far as the parent company required them, not considering local competition. American companies are far more advanced on diversity than European ones, except for this subsidiary.
Suggestions for improvement
- Treat employees the same way world wide rather than getting away with the minimum according to local legislation
What I like about the company
It is part of a large international group, people work hard, and they are intelligent.


text: High Quality AAA Lemon Yellow Quartz faceted Teardrop Earrings. These are a soft cheery earthy lemon yellow in color. The french earwires are 14k solid gold or 14k gold filled or sterling silver - you choose. The gemstone size is 19x33mm, 50 carats. Earrings hang 2 inches, nice large size. Fancy faceted pointed teardrop cut. The mannequin shows the relative size and how they will hang. Shipping is Free!


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From Dust to Dawn: The Phoenix Cycle of Civilizations
The embers of empires glow in the twilight, whispering tales of their rise and fall. From the colossal monuments of ancient Rome to the sprawling megacities of our modern era, civilizations have bloomed and faded, leaving behind echoes of their triumphs and follies. But within this cycle of dusk and dawn lies a potent truth: the end of one civilization is often the prologue to the next.
The Inevitable Dusk:
No civilization is eternal. Internal pressures like inequality, corruption, and environmental degradation can sow the seeds of their own demise. External forces like natural disasters, pandemics, or invasions can deliver the final blow. Yet, within these ashes lie the fertile grounds for something new.
The Seeds of Renewal:
Even amidst the ruins, pockets of resilience and innovation flourish. Dissenting voices challenge the old order, new technologies emerge, and communities band together to forge a different path. These nascent shoots, nurtured by the lessons learned from the past, push through the cracks in the crumbling foundation, laying the groundwork for a new beginning.
The Crucible of Transformation:
The transition from one civilization to another is rarely smooth. It is a crucible of upheaval, where old paradigms crumble and new ideas struggle for footholds. This period of chaos can be a breeding ground for both conflict and creativity, testing the mettle of humanity and pushing us to evolve.
The Dawn of a New Era:
From the ashes of the old, a new civilization takes shape. It inherits the knowledge and mistakes of its predecessors, weaving them into the tapestry of its own identity. This new society may grapple with vastly different challenges – climate change, resource scarcity, or even the integration of artificial intelligence – but it carries the torch of human spirit, forever seeking progress and striving for a brighter future.
The Phoenix Cycle:
The rise and fall of civilizations is not a linear progression, but a cyclical dance. Each era lays the groundwork for the next, a phoenix rising from the ashes of its predecessor. As we stand at the potential precipice of our own civilization's transformation, it is crucial to remember this cycle. We must learn from the mistakes of the past, nurture the seeds of innovation, and embrace the inevitable change that awaits us.
The end of one civilization is not the end of the story. It is a chapter break, a turning point in the grand narrative of humanity. Let us approach this turning point with wisdom, courage, and a spirit of collaboration, for in the crucible of change lies the potential for a future brighter than any we can imagine.
This is not merely an article; it is a call to action. It is a plea to step into the role of architects of the next era, to learn from the past, embrace the present, and build a future that is just, sustainable, and filled with the promise of a new dawn. The embers of our current civilization may be dimming, but within them lies the spark of a thousand tomorrows waiting to be ignited. Let us rise to the challenge and become the phoenix that soars from the ashes.

domain: literature


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Black History should be celebrated every month not just one – but unfortunately, that is not the way it is.
Keeping with the times, I thought it only fitting to profile a fashion mogul whose life was cut too short, but left a massive impact just the same. Willi Donnell Smith was a 40’s baby. 1948 to be exact – he died in 1987.
Williwear, his fashion company was worth a reported $25 million at the time of his death – not bad for a humble boy raised in the city of brotherly love. New York Daily News Fashion Critic Liz Rittersporn called him the most successful black fashion designer in fashion history.
So how did he do it?
Smith studied fashion illustration at Philadelphia College of Art. He then won two scholarships to attend Parson’s School of Design. As a freelancer, Smith worked with Arnold Scaasi, and Bobby Brooke’s Sportswear Company. After several stints at other companies, Smith and his sister Toukie Smith started their own label; the same Toukie who is with Robert DeNiro.
After the label flopped, Smith partnered with Laurie Mallet to create Williwear. And like a fashion phoenix, Smith rose from the ashes of a failed business to become a fashion force to be reckoned with.
But that was only the beginning. “I remember being proud when he first come onto the scene. It was the first time that I saw a black designer,” said Lency Whitaker, a Philadelphia area designer of the luxury line, FEMI.
Some designers excel at one gender and merely succeed at the other – Smith was able to gain notoriety in both genders with career highlights that read like a divine Vogue profile.
“He was who I wanted to be like – I was done with words,” said Juanita Beasley a board member for the Philadelphia Network of Designers who will be honoring Smith at the organization’s gala on June 7, 2009. “My own dreams became attainable because I could identify with him. He made it possible for people like me,” Beasley adds.
And with Smith’s impressive and self-proclaimed, “Street Couture” he established himself as a permanent staple in the business. Street Couture indeed – Smith also provided all of the designs for Spike Lee’s, School Daze.
While some designers were designing for a certain type of people, Smith designed for the everyday man and woman.
But that didn’t mean that Smith designed only for the everyday man and woman. His designs were as versatile as they were wearable – appearing on the backs of Kennedy kin, and comic books.
For Caroline Kennedy’s marriage to Edwin Schlossberg, the suits for the groom and his groomsmen were Williwear exclusives. And for those comic bookers that come across this column on their way to the funnies, the dress that Mary Jane Watson wore for her marriage to Peter Parker in the original Spider-Man comic series was from the Williwear collection – Williwedding if you will.
Willi Smith was at the height of his career at the time of his passing – which no one expected. Though Smith looked weaker in his last days, those that knew him thought that exhaustion was the source.
In 1983, Willi was honored with the Fashion Critic’s Coty Award for Excellence in Women’s wear. Two years later, he won the Cutty Award for Excellence in Menswear.
At 39, Smith, who was openly gay was said to have contracted shigella and pneumonia as a result of AIDS while on a textile shopping trip in India. Smith was said to not have been aware that he had the disease – but died shortly after.
“I still haven’t seen a Black designer with as much impact as he,” said Whitaker. Mallet assumed control of the Williwear imprint and stayed on until 1990 when the company filed for Chapter 11.
In 1996, the brand was said to have been re launched with designer Michael Shulman at the helm for a collection exclusively available at the chain retailer TJ Maxx.
In a New York Times obituary for the designer, writer George James quoted Smith as saying, “I don’t design for the queen. I design for the people who wave as her as she goes by.”
Indeed Willi Smith was and still is the standard for designers Black and White.
RankTribe™ Black Business Directory Fashion News


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