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“What top supply chains have in common?” is not a secret potion anymore.
After a 10-year absence from the Top 25, hardware retailer Home Depot made it back onto the list, thanks in part to the emerging popularity of omni-channel distribution. Home Depot’s introduction of 18 rapid deployment warehouses and three direct fulfillment centers will, the company claims, allow it to ship products to 90% of U.S. households within 48 hours. As Gartner’s analysts also note, the retailer has put into place a vendor source program aimed at tapping into VMI stocks.
Every year for the past 11 years, Gartner has conducted a poll of its own analysts, as well as a peer group of 200 or so supply chain practitioners and experts, to determine which companies have the best supply chains.
Not every company in the world is considered, of course, as Gartner begins the ranking process by focusing solely on public companies, since some of the metrics that go into the rankings are based on publicly available, audited financial data such as three-year weighted return on assets and three-year weighted revenue growth. And not every public company is considered, either, as Gartner narrows the field to companies in the manufacturing, retail or distribution sectors.
But, the field gets winnowed even more before any serious consideration is given to individual companies because Gartner does not include energy company, or oil & gas, or mining, or metals, or shipbuilders, or entertainment, or IT, or logistics companies or transportation companies, or utilities. Also, Gartner has some weird biases against certain companies and how exactly they make their money. That’s why you won’t see supply chain giants like IBM, Disney, UPS or FedEx in the Top 25 list. So, it’s not really a ranking of the Top 25 Supply Chains in the world so much as it’s a look at 25 public manufacturers and retailers who are really good at supply chain management.
With those rather large qualifiers taken into account, the Gartner list has been a pretty reliable benchmark for the past 10 years.
As observed in the past, the notion that these 25 companies have the very best supply chains in the world is a flawed concept from the very get-go since there are so many exceptions to the rankings. For instance, only large, multi-national, public companies are part of the Top 25. Also, many of the companies you would immediately think of as being supply chain experts (UPS, FedEx, IBM, Disney, Google, et.al.) are omitted from consideration for one reason or another.
The CSR scores immediately raise a flag when you discover that Amazon’s score is 0.00, which probably cost the online retailer a chance to repeat as #1 this year, mostly because Amazon doesn’t issue a CSR report as many other public companies do.
How To Stand Out From The Rest?
- Look beyond foundational knowledge
One needs to develop skills by leaning on others who have experienced these pains firsthand. This experiential know-how is a springboard to develop more holistic solutions that ultimately create value for your customers.
- Align business strategy and ethics
Consumer picks up a product, being assured that the physical good comes with the implicit values. While cutting cost is extremely important, sacrificing business ethics isn’t favourable. So, one must bear that in mind for all people- and product-related decisions to be made along the way.
- Develop financial acumen
Financial acumen involves much more than cost-reduction programs. One must consider company’s cash flow as the fuel that keeps operations running and total inventory as your biggest opponent on the positive cash flow mission. In order to excel in financial acumen, one must develop a data-driven financial mindset and learn to become comfortable discussing supply chain levers and their impact on the company’s financial performance.
- Communicate to influence
When speaking to shift leaders about next week’s production plan, thinking about their needs and pressures, as well as how proposed changes may benefit them is essential.
- Innovate through new technologies
Planning, production, delivery, service. It seems straightforward on paper, but professionals know the complexities involved across the supply chain, and nothing ever goes 100 percent according to plan. Minimizing risk, cutting cost and planning for the unexpected is the difference between good and great supply chain managers.
To the contrary, if a “master” company were to fall out of having a top five composite score for long enough, they would lose this designation and be considered as part of the Supply Chain Top 25 ranking in the same way as any other company in our study. All of that said, both of last year’s inaugural masters, Apple and P&G, qualified for this category again.
Apple continues to succeed by offering platforms that ecosystems of partners build upon to meet customers’ needs, whether that relates to core product features such as access through touch-based security, media content and applications or third-party accessories that convert its products into smart diagnostic devices or payment terminals.
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) giant P&G is our other returning master. P&G received a top five composite score in 2016, marking an impressive nine out of the past 10 years for this accomplishment. For the majority of its products, P&G is running an end-to-end synchronization program.
Every part of the supply chain operates based on the daily cadence of consumption, in some cases triggered by demand at the shelf. Supply chain also plays an active role in P&G’s move toward common product and packaging platforms, where standards are set globally and a more limited menu of options is selected regionally, as required.
The supply chain team brings data and analysis skills to the process, with the ultimate goal of increasing the value that each active SKU contributes to the company.
Both Apple and P&G continue to offer advanced lessons for the supply chain community.
The Top Seven Drivers
We have a new No. 1 this year. Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch CP giant, has steadily moved up the rankings over the past several years and is very well regarded by both the peer and analyst voting panels due, in part, to its willingness to share best practices with the broader supply chain community. The company is a role model when it comes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and scored a perfect 10 out of 10 on our new CSR component.
Returning at No. 2 is McDonald’s. The well-known restaurant chain staged a comeback in 2015, paring unprofitable locations and menu items and introducing its popular all-day breakfast offering. McDonald’s supply chain actively participates on both product and menu category teams to help shape the portfolio and better plan for new initiatives. McDonald’s
Amazon dropped to No. 3 after its first ever appearance at No. 1 last year. The main driver was Amazon scoring zero out of 10 on our new CSR measure. The company is known for having a secretive culture that has historically extended to a lack of transparency on supply chain sustainability and governance performance measures. Amazon, of course, continues to be a leader when it comes to innovation in its products and supply chain.
Intel remained in the top tier of the ranking this year at No. 4, based on a relatively high return on assets (ROA) and strong opinion poll scores. Intel’s supply chain is also acting as a test bed for new products offered by its IoT group, using this technology to improve the visibility and coordination of complex inbound capital equipment deliveries and outbound product shipments to customers.
Rounding out the top five group this year is H&M at No. 5. The Swedish fast-fashion retailer climbed two spots on a combination of extremely strong three-year weighted average ROA (25.3%) and revenue growth (16.3%) and a nine out of 10 for CSR, reflecting its strong record in sustainability and workers’ rights. In 2015, its founding family launched the H&M Conscious Foundation, which presents a Global Change Award as a fashion industry innovation accelerator for sustainable clothing.
Movers and Shakers: No. 6 through No. 15 At No. 6, is Inditex, Spain’s leading fashion retail group best known for its Zara brand. Inditex posted similar strong performances in three-year weighted average ROA (16.7%) and revenue growth (11.2%) and scored nine out of 10 for CSR. The Zara brand has been quite successful in its e-commerce business, particularly in the U.S. Inditex’s culture is very team-oriented and focused on having talented practitioners run the business using best-in-class processes versus the personality-driven cultures often found at fashion houses.
Networking pioneer Cisco is No. 7. Concurrent with Cisco’s changing of the guard at the CEO level last year, it created a new role managing both supply chain operations and the IT group, reflecting the high use of technology in managing supply chains. One area where Cisco has leveraged technology along with process improvement is in supplier collaboration.
Keeping It Evergreen
What differentiates the leaders is that they have moved beyond the discussion phase to make the hard changes that are required throughout the organization.
- Outside in focus. Most companies think they are demand driven and focused on the customer, but the two concepts are not identical. You can be focused on the customer from either an outside-in or inside-out mentality. Leaders start with the customer experience of their supply chain and work their way back through their supply chain designs for an appropriate, profitable response.
- Embedded innovation. Indicates a supply chain’s close integration into product lifecycle management both internally and with up and downstream partners. There is also the ability to innovate supply chain practices. This means not only adopting and adapting others best practices, but also breaking the rules, defying conventional wisdom and writing new rules for the supply chain community, as a whole. These companies are not afraid to experiment, fast fail in some areas and drive competitive advantage in others.
- Extended supply chains. More mature companies are managing multi-tier networks with strong visibility and agility to support rapid changes in demand or disruptions in supply.
- Excellence addicts. Are never satisfied, even if their performance in an area would be considered world class by objective standards. Most often there is an underlying culture driving this behavior and strong governance mechanisms managed through centers of excellence.
In the years past, these “top 25” type of lists are basically popularity contests, which accounts no doubt for Apple appearing at the top of the list for the past six years (by way of comparison, note that just a few years ago, when Blackberry was the cellphone of choice for business users, RIM was sitting pretty in the Top 10, but now is nowhere to be seen on the list. Fame, even in the supply chain, can be fleeting.)
Reason For Apple’s Fall
As technology is dynamic, so must be the firm. Taking the widely applicable example, considering the U.S market, Samsung was a nobody in the mobile phone arena, since Blackberry dominated the game as a niche player in business phones. As years passed by, Apple gained significance with its “touch” magic and mind-blowing designs. Facing a stiff competition by Apple, Blackberry disappeared in its looming shadow as they could not upgrade their technology and research. Soon, it was outdated as majority of the cell phone users switched over to Apple and the upcoming Samsung devices.
But, to many’s surprise, Samsung brought in its unmatched variety and user-friendly philosophy into being, which definitely pinched Apple there. From scooping up the #1 share in 2010 in Gartner’s annual top supply chain ranking list, it has shown no visibility in that of 2016, reason being its classification in the low quality product category.
In identifying the market needs and arriving at the relevant solution is not everyone’s cup of tea. Jayem Logistics analyses that the Apple supply chain perhaps lacks product range, whereas BlackBerry has taken a backseat due to poor advertising strategy and meek approach towards upgradation of their app store and designs.
Hence, Android wins the worldwide popularity vote, with its seamless user interface.
Retail giant Walmart covers the whole gamut of supply chain initiatives, from omni-channel distribution to sustainability scorecards to the Walmart Advanced Vehicle Experience, a hybrid, aerodynamic tractor-trailer prototype.
One of the goals of the list, according to Stan Aronow, research vice president at Gartner, is “to offer a platform for debate, learning and helping the supply chain community push the envelope of innovation in its contributions to the global economy.
After all that whittling down, only 298 companies worldwide are eligible for the Top 25 list, so if a company makes the initial cut, they’ve got better than an 8% chance of making the Top 25, assuming everything else is equal (which of course it isn’t, since the vast majority of companies in the final list are household names). As Gartner admits, the list of companies that make the Top 25 are mostly consumer goods and high-tech companies. Industrial manufacturers in particular have a tough time cracking the list, and not a single automotive firm is on the list.
According to Gartner, the three trends that all supply chains had to deal with over the past year, and that the best companies dealt with better than most, were resiliency (particularly dealing with the Japanese earthquake and tsunami), simplification (i.e., reducing complexity in product design) and the shift to multilocal operations.
“Many companies focus primarily on supply chain execution,” Hofman says. “With ever-increasing unpredictability of demand, leaders also focus on improving their ability to sense changes and patterns in their environment—changes in demand, design, supplier risk and more—earlier than their competition.”
“In designing your own supply chain strategy, take a cue from the leaders: Work outside-in, starting with your customers and working your way back and around your network of trading partners to design a profitable response,” O’Marah says. “Remember that one size does not fit all, define how many supply chain types you have, and design a customized response for each.”


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Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has terminated the agency’s Disinformation Governance Board and rescinded its charter.
Mayorkas officially ended the Department Homeland Security board Wednesday after the DHS advisory committee issued an interim recommendation last month that “there is no need” for the board.
The latest advisory report released Wednesday stated: “There is no need for a separate Disinformation Governance Board. But it is our assessment that the underlying work of Department components on this issue is critical.”
Homeland Security does not ” have the authority to silence or sanction anyone’s speech,” but should instead focus on determining whether “publicly disseminated disinformation impedes missions assigned to the agency” and “disseminating correct information,” the advisory council stated.
“With the HSAC recommendations as a guide, the Department will continue to address threat streams that undermine the security of our country consistent with the law, while upholding the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of the American people and promoting transparency in our work,” Homeland Security stated.

domain: news


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On Tuesday (4th July), we welcome Cowdenbeath to the MGM Timber stadium for our first home pre-season friendly match of the season. Kick off 7:30PM.
This match is included within 2023/24 season tickets and all season ticket holders will be emailed their match ticket before Tuesday.
Admission prices for non-season ticket holders have been confirmed as follows:
Adults - £5
Under 16s - Free
Please note, there will be no cash turnstiles in operation and supporters are strongly encouraged to purchase their tickets online in advance. Online sales are available right up until kick off. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone by calling 01333 426323 or directly from the club office.
Those unable to attend the match in person can watch via East Fife TV for £5.
Only half an hour to get a ticket online for this weeks Goldmine Lotto draw. The jackpot is £300!!
Good luck everybody
East Fife FC is proud to announce the launch of 2 limited edition products to mark our 120th anniversary.
Starting with our gold-plated coin. We have only 120 available (number 1 will be retained by the club) and will be highly sought after. These will be priced at £40.
The second item is a limited edition 120-year anniversary scarf (different from those included as part of the presentation box) that will mark historic achievements in our rich history and will be priced at £20.
Any coins/scarves not sold will then be released on general sale. You can add your name to the waiting list for these products below.
We’re delighted to announce the signing of Ross Philp on a 1-year deal.
31-year-old Ross can play in a number of positions but mainly at right back or on the right side of midfield. He came through the youth ranks at Heart of Midlothian before turning professional with Alloa Athletic in 2009 where he spent 3 seasons. Following a season out through injury, Ross signed for Kelty Hearts for a first spell in 2012, moving on to Bo’ness in 2014 before returning to New Central Park in 2017 and was a key part of the side that won 4 league titles in 5 seasons.
Manager Greig McDonald: “I’m delighted to bring Ross to the club. He’s a local lad whose experience and versatility will be a great asset to the team.”
Welcome to Bayview Ross!
We’re pleased to confirm that our Club Open Day will take place on Saturday 24th June at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium.
An open training session will take place from 12:30pm when supporters are invited to watch the session from either the stand or The Jeek Fleming Lounge.
This will be followed by an opportunity to meet the players and management team from 1:45pm before a question and answer session with Manager Greig McDonald and the Board of Directors from 2:15pm.
We hope to see as many of you there as possible.
After what was a highly competitive season 2022/23 in Lowland League Development League for our Under 20s side, we will be entering the forthcoming campaign with a new management squad in place.
Scott McBride and Kevin Liddle have moved on to pastures new and everyone at East Fife Football Club thanks them for their effort & time over the last couple of seasons.
We’re delighted to announce the appointment of Neil Paylor as the new Head Coach of our Under 20s. Neil currently holds the UEFA B Licence and is awaiting confirmation of attaining his A Licence. Neil joins us from Dunfermline Athletic where he was Academy Coach at Under 18s & Under13 level and last season was also Head of Opposition & Performance Analysis at cinch League 2 winners Stirling Albion.
Neil has also previously held the positions of Assistant Manager at Kirkcaldy & Dysart FC and First-Team coach at Raith Rovers Ladies & Girls FC.
Neil will be assisted in the role by Roy Barnes who was involved with East Fife Community Football Club for over 7 years and has latterly been coaching with St. Andrew’s United Under 20s. Roy holds a UEFA C Licence with the SFA and brings local knowledge to the role as he lives in the area.
Both Neil & Roy will be working closely with the first team management team, and we welcome them both to Bayview.

domain: sports


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Last Updated on 26 June 2022 by Ray Plumlee
Health magazines and health talk shows are always talking about body fat and how it correlates with BMI (Body Mass Index.) The body mass index determines if we are underweight, overweight, average, healthy, overweight or obese. If you do not want to go to the doctor to find this out, using a body fat caliper is just as useful. This is a tool that measures your body fat without feeling anxious in a doctor’s office.
First, it is important to understand that calipers don’t directly measure body fat. Instead, these tools pinch the skin in different areas of the body to measure a person’s body fat. Essentially, the caliper is taking measurements on the skin fold that it’s pinching. Then, from that selection of skin, it processes an estimation on how much body fat a person has. This percentage is calculated in a wide variety of ways, however. A person’s age, gender, race and fitness level all go into the calculation.
There are up to ten places you can use a caliper to test your body fat. These include the biceps, triceps, sub subscapular area (below the shoulder blade), thigh, iliac crest, abdominal, calf, chest, axilla (upper chest) and the supraspinale. In order to test these areas, ask a friend to help. It’s going to be next to impossible to reach all these areas by yourself. Our bodies just aren’t designed to go every direction.
Next, to pinch your skin, make a C with your free thumb and index finger, pulling it outward. Try not to include any underlying muscle. It’s also important to use the same piece of skin each time you use the caliber. This way you get an accurate reading on how much fat is within your body. With your dominant hand, place the jaws of the caliber onto your pinched skin, pressing down until you hear a click. This means the caliper is measuring your body fat.
You’ll want to make sure that you record all the measures you take with the caliber. It’s a good idea to take three measurements per area. They should only differ by 1-2 mm. Keep these measurements in a notebook or on your computer. That way, you have an ongoing record of how your body is improving over time. These measurements are going to fluctuate, too, based on which formula you use. To avoid too much difference, use the same formula or ask a health care professional which formula is most accurate.
If you exercise regularly, a fat caliper is a good way to measure your body fat outside the doctor’s office. It’s also a more relaxing way to do it. We all want to be healthy and calipers help to keep us on track. It’s a good motivator to tell us how far we have come—and, at the same time, how much further we have to go. Don’t let fat calipers discourage you from exercise but rather motivate you that much more to work towards your fitness goals.
Jennifer Olson is a professional freelance writer. She is a published author on Amazon as well as a blogger. Meanwhile, Jennifer is a 5-star rated professional proofreader, editor and article writer--offering her writing services on Fiverr.com.

domain: medical


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Puffed Grain Goji Granola - 3 servings
Tax included. Shipping not included.
Inspired by Jessica Prescott of Mama Goodness, this recipe is outrageously delicious and packed with a ridiculous amount of fun puffed grains such as quinoa and rice and a good amount of rolled oats as well as a healthy mix of seeds.
This granola is high in fibre, iron, calcium, carbohydrates, protein, omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin A, C and Bs and anti-inflammatory. The right amount of sweet and wholesome flavours. It will not disappoint and you will be asking for more, more, more.
Ingredients: Coconut Oil, Agave Syrup, Oats, Puffed Quinoa, Puffed Rice, Flaked Coconut, Pumpkin Seeds, Almonds, Chia Seeds, Linseeds, Hemp Seeds, Cinnamon, Vanilla, Salt, Dried Cranberries, Goji Berries
Contains gluten and nuts.

domain: food


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Jonah Hill (Finally) Joins Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained
06.15.12 by Ryan
Jonah Hill is one of several actors who either dropped out or refused a role in writer-director Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Django Unchained. Yet — unlike Kurt Russell, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Kevin Costner — Hill is back in.
Last November, Hill said his busy schedule didn't allow him to accept an undisclosed role in Tarantino's "Southern" movie. It was believed at the time that Hill had been offered the role of 24-year-old Scotty Harmony, whose father purchases the slave Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) — the wife of protagonist Django (Jamie Foxx) — for him before she is lost to plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Today, Deadline reports that Hill is back in the cast, but not as Scotty Harmony. According to the report, Hill is cast in yet another, undisclosed part.
After earning an Academy Award nomination for Moneyball, Hill has been making a concerted effort to find more dramatic roles. He recently joined director Martin Scorsese's adaptation of The Wolf of Wall Street, opposite DiCaprio. With Foxx and Christoph Waltz playing an unlikely duo seeking their own personal revenge agendas, expect Hill to end up as one of the pair's many victims... Though you never know, Hill could be playing a more humorous role instead. His next movie, the comedy The Watch, opens July 27th.
Consider Django Unchained a bloody gift under the tree — the movie opens December 25th. Hill joins a cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson (The Avengers), Don Johnson (Machete), Tom Wopat (Dukes of Hazard), James Remar (Warriors, Dexter), James Russo (Public Enemies), and Walton Goggins (Predators).


Amazon announced a model equipped with a new touch display of Echo, a speaker with voice assistant, tomorrow
Although Amazon's audio assistant 'Alexa' speaker 'Amazon Echo' has not landed in JapanAmazon's biggest hit item in hardware historyIt has become. In April 2017, Echo's camera with a camera that will make you a fashion leader "Echo Look"Has also appeared, but furthermore Amazon was reported to be planning to announce Echo of the high-end model.
Amazon Plans to Unveil New Echo - WSJ
Amazon's touchscreen Echo with video calling can be announced tomorrow - The Verge
According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon will announce a new high-end model Echo equipped with a 7-inch touch screen tomorrow (May 9, 2017 local time). The new Echo is supposed to support a video call function with a touch screen and a front camera, so it seems that internet calls like Skype can be easily used in the house.
Also, it is expected that the image leaked as the new Echo will not only support the screen but also the camera, so it will support the Echo Look function as well.
The price of the new Echo is expected to be over 200 dollars (about 23,000 yen) or more,EchoIt is $ 149.99 (about 17,000 yen), a small versionAmazon TapThere are 129.99 dollars (about 15,000 yen), mobile sizeEcho DotIt seems that it will be the highest device among the lineup of 49.99 dollars (about 5600 yen).
The Verge commented, "While Apple and Google and others are promoting the proprietary voice assistant, Amazon is advancing the spread of Alexa by favorably offering several kinds of Echo."
· Additionally written on 2017/05/10 10:00
Amazon announced the "Echo Show" with 7 inch touch screen. As with Echo, Alexa, a digital assistant for speech recognition, is installed and various operations are possible just by talking to each other. Since it became attached to the screen, it is possible to do various things more than ever, such as checking movies, news, etc. and enjoying video calls.
A movie that shows how to use such Echo Show has been released, and if you look at it you can see what kind of terminal it is in one shot.
Introducing Echo Show - YouTube
The Echo Show's main unit price is $ 229.99 (about 26,000 yen) and will be shipped on June 28th in the US.
Introducing Echo Show - Amazon Official Site


Innovative radio boosted by CPB funding program
The sound of modern African music. San Francisco's inventive Duck's Breath comedy troupe. A West Virginia station's showcase of folk performers. The ``magical realism'' of Latin American writers. If this list doesn't sound like standard radio fare, that's partly because it's a sampling of a big boost public radio has recently received.
The Radio Program Fund - a project of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) - is giving $3.3 million to launch 11 innovative series that will be produced and aired on various stations around the country in the coming months.
``I think it's the largest unrestricted competitive program fund in the history of public radio,'' said Christopher H. Madden, who runs the Program Fund, by phone from his Washington office. ``Our responsibility is to find the best ideas that are out there - from people who can execute them creatively and artistically - and fund those projects.''
Other choices include a new-music review, a Latin American news service, an electronic newsmagazine of minority issues, and other promising subjects.
Mr. Madden calls them ``risk ventures.''
``We can help a program get started,'' he says, ``get on its feet, let it move out into the marketplace, and if the stations [around the country] wish to, they can purchase the program, and we can move on to something else.''
In 1985, the public radio stations collectively asked CPB to let its funding of national programming be done through the individual stations. So now, programs like ``All Things Considered'' and ``Morning Edition'' are bought directly by these stations. But the stations also proposed that CPB keep for itself a fund of about $3 million for national program production. The result was the new CPB project: the annual National Program Production and Acquisition Grants (NPPAG).
Madden says there were four priorities: projects ``that may not initially succeed in the public-radio marketplace; that will take programmatic risks; that will yield one major news service or series; and that will increase the national audience targeted by the producer.''
At first, Madden explains, ``we didn't know whether there'd be five projects or 50.... One year there are lots of station-based productions, another year lots from National Public Radio. Over the years it will sort itself out. This year happens to have a reasonably nice balance to it.''
Not all the shows funded are brand new. One of them, for instance, is ``Fresh Air'' - a live interview format with writers, actors, composers, and other artists - which has been on a Philadelphia station for 11 years. ``[Host] Terry Gross has picked up renown for her ability as an interviewer,'' notes Madden, ``and has subbed for Susan Stamberg on `All Things Considered.' It's been on a weekly half-hour basis nationwide. The question is: How would it work on as daily basis? How can we tie that in to local station program requirements? What's the investment required?''
The decision was not only to make ``Fresh Air'' daily, but to extend it to an hour.
With all such program choices, says Madden, ``the goal is that it be available nationally.... We insist that it be put on the Public Radio Satellite Interconnection System.''
The choices were made with the help of an advisory panel of 10, ranging from station managers to a deputy city representative.
``They read all 172 proposals,'' Madden recounts, and from their initial choices ``we came up with 60 projects that looked pretty good. Then we invited them to gather over four or five days, and ... they made a series of recommendations. I came to some tentative conclusions, talked with producers about maybe amending their projects a bit here and there, then came up with final decisions.''
Next year, says Madden, the process will take place all over again.


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Rajasthan's Public Works Department minister Yunus Khan moved a Motion in the House, which was passed with a voice vote.
On Monday, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had announced the withdrawal of the controversial bill, which had invited sharp criticism and protest from opposition, rights groups and others.
The Bill, introduced in the last assembly session, sought to protect serving and former judges, magistrates and public servants in the state from being investigated for on-duty action, without its prior sanction.
It also barred the media from reporting on accusations of such wrongdoings till the government sanctions a probe.
The ordinance was promulgated by the Rajasthan government on September 6, 2017, and the Bill was introduced in the Assembly on October 23, 2017.
On October 24, amid sharp criticism from all corners, the Bill was referred to the Select Committee for review.
The ordinance, after the Bill's introduction in the Assembly, was valid for a six-week period and it lapsed in December 2017.
Get the latest election news, live updates and election schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on ndtv.com/elections. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates from each of the 543 parliamentary seats for the 2019 Indian general elections.


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Wielder of Legacy [General]
Benefit: Choose an item of legacy you possess (from the Weapons of Legacy supplement). You gain the benefit of the Least Legacy, Lesser Legacy, and Greater Legacy feats for that item, and do not suffer the personal costs from using this item.
Special: If the item is lost, sundered, or otherwise unusable, you may choose a different legacy item instead of your old one by meditating over the new legacy item for at least 8 hours. At the DM's discretion, characters with this feat may be required to fulfill the rituals associated with the item to unlock its next level as appropriate, though they are not required to fulfill any experience or monetary cost in order to go through with the ritual.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Character Options → Feats

domain: hobby


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PAWsitive, Professional, Easy
Sniffy is backed by certified dog trainers and behaviorists. The training is based on setting your dog up for success while using proven, positive-reinforcement, and non-punishment training. It is professional and effective as well as easy and enjoyable.
Field experts who care about you and your dog

domain: pet


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Les Misérables doesn't hit theaters until Christmas Day, but several critics are already offering up their opinions about the upcoming movie musical.
"As a faithful rendering of a justly beloved musical, Les Misérables will more than satisfy the show's legions of fans. Even so, director Tom Hooper and the producers have taken a number of artistic liberties with this lavish bigscreen interpretation," writes Variety's Justin Chang. "Devotees of the stage show will nonetheless be largely contented to see it realized on such an enormous scale and inhabited by well-known actors who also happen to possess strong vocal chops."
Over at the Hollywood Reporter, Todd McCarthy notes, "Director Tom Hooper has turned the theatrical extravaganza into something that is far less about the rigors of existence in early 19th century France than it is about actors emoting mightily and singing their guts out," adding that "Anne Hathaway dominates the early going, belting out anguish as the doomed Fantine."
Robbie Collins from The Telegraph says the film is "a heart-soaring, crowd-delighting hit in waiting" and also gives high praise to Hathaway: "When she half-sings, half-sobs 'I Dreamed a Dream,' hair cropped and eyes shining like Maria Falconetti, Hooper captures her performance in a single, unblinking, breath-catching close-up. This will be the clip they show before she wins her Oscar."
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye insists "Hugh Jackman gives the screen performance of his career in this five-star movie musical extravaganza."
Julie Stone of Newsweek enthusiastically calls the film "an absolute masterpiece, a triumph in cinema. It will win Best Picture and Oscars for Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway."
Adds Showbiz 411's Roger Friedman: "This now becomes the Titanic of this year's awards season, the epic to beat."

domain: entertainment


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domain: finance


- Provides a highly automated and easy-to-use solution for SAS-3 configurations from 1.5 Gb/s to 12 Gb/s
- Performs tests in conformance with T10 SAS-3 specification as described by the UNH-IOL SAS-3 Physical Layer Test Suite
- Support for equalization tests requiring the SAS3_EYEOPENING script
- Support for SAS-3 Targets and Initiators
- QualiPHY automated test framework provides connection diagrams, automated oscilloscope operation, and report generation
The QPHY-SAS3 Test Solution provides automated control of the SDA 8 Zi-A and LabMaster 10 Zi oscilloscopes for performing all of the transmitter physical layer tests as described by the T10 SAS-3 specification. This specification covers targets and initiators running at 1.5 Gb/s, 3.0 Gb/s, 6.0 Gb/s, and
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is the serialized version of the popular SCSI standard. SAS is primarily used for server class storage at speeds of up to 12 Gb/s.
QPHY-SAS3 covers tests from Group 1 (TX OOB Signaling and AC Coupling Requirements), Group 2 (TX Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) Requirements) and Group 3 (TX NRZ Data Signaling Requirements) of the test specification. Additionally, QPHY-SAS3 supports the required SAS3_EYEOPENING measurements.
These capabilities make QPHY-SAS3 an all-inclusive automated test suite that meets the requirements for 1.5 Gb/s, 3.0 Gb/s, 6.0 Gb/s and 12.0 Gb/s SAS transmitter compliance testing.
Out of Band (OOB) validation
OOB validation ensures that the maximum noise during OOB idle, OOB burst amplitude, OOB offset delta, and OOB common mode delta are all within the specification limits.
Spread Spectrum Clock (SSC) validation
SSC validation requires long memory and specialized analysis functions. QPHY-SAS3 can precisely track SSC profiles through multiple cycles in real time. SSC modulation frequency, deviation, balance and DFDT are all measured.
Tx Emphasis measures precursor equalization ratio (Rpre), postcursor equalization ratio (Rpost), VMA, and VHL using the SAS3_EYEOPENING script.
QPHY-SAS3 Makes Compliance Testing Easy
The use of Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) in transmitted signals is an optional feature of the SAS-3 specification. When SSC is enabled, measurements such as frequency modulation rate and deviation must also be verified per the specification. The QPHY-SAS3 software works in conjunction with the deep memory and powerful analysis library of Teledyne LeCroy oscilloscopes to greatly simplify this verification process. Clock recovery circuitry and clock extraction via Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs) is another significant design consideration. Flexible clock recovery options allow for the replication of virtually any real receiver PLL configuration enabling the simulation of “what if” scenarios. Jitter results can be measured exactly as the receiver would see them.
Advanced Debug Capability
If a compliance failure is found, Teledyne LeCroy’s SDAIII-CompleteLinQ serial data analysis package is available to help find the root cause quickly and easily. SDAIII-CompleteLinQ has the ability to perform Eye and Jitter measurements on up to four lanes and is fully integrated into the oscilloscope application software. In addition, the software includes tools that provide insight into Eye and Jitter parameters making it easier to identify sources of problems.
SDAIII-CompleteLinQ includes simultaneous multi-lane serial data, eye, jitter, noise and crosstalk analysis, and integrates the Eye Doctor II toolkit for equalization and channel/fixture de-embedding and emulation.
QualiPHY is designed to reduce the time, effort, and specialized knowledge needed to perform compliance testing on high-speed serial buses.
- Guides the user through each test setup
- Performs each measurement in accordance with the relevant test procedure
- Compares each measured value with the applicable specification limits
- Fully documents all results
- QualiPHY helps the user perform testing the right way—every time!


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Events: Close to You
Events In: All Locations
Nov 11 12:00 PM
RockFest 80's Music Festival: Ace Frehley, Night Ranger & Sebastian Bach - Sunday Admission Miramar Regional Park Amphitheater, Hollywood, FL
About Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Bach tickets are on sale now and they are selling quickly! If you�re a fan of rock music then act fast because the 2018 Sebastian Bach tour is a hot seller. Browse concert tickets for Sebastian Bach tour dates and get ready to rock.


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The former house and garden of a visionary artist and activist has inspired a new Tweed collection.
Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, has given rise to four new yellow and black checked tweeds designed by Romney Tweed, a social enterprise based on Romney Marsh.
The wool comes from a single breed, often single flock, Romney sheep which have grazed in the area since the 7th century.
It is spun and woven in Yorkshire.
The latest collection was inspired by the bright yellow window and door frames at the cottage.
Collection designer and Weaver-in-Residence, Rosie Green said: "We are proud to showcase the Prospect Collection as a love letter to the distinctive Prospect Cottage and the shingle which surrounds it.
"The Prospect Collection honours the resounding legacy of the cottage, in a year when the notion of home has been so important.”
Last year, Prospect Cottage was the subject of the biggest arts fundraising campaign in history.
More than £3.5 million was raised to rescue the building, which belonged to artist, filmmaker and LGBT icon Derek Jarman.
Jarman, who died in 1994, is thought to be one of the most influential figures in 20th-century British culture.
He moved to the cottage, which sits in the shadow of the power station, in 1986 following his diagnosis of HIV and lived there until his death in 1994.
Romney Tweed, based on a farm in Old Romney, was founded in 2014 by Pat Alston. Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, it ran courses teaching people to weave.
It also runs outreach schools’ projects and design competitions with college students which are currently being run remotely.
It hopes to continue the weaving courses, outreach projects and competitions face-to-face after lockdown.

domain: artistic


These ceramic coated headers from Doug Thorley are one of the easiest ways to extract power from your Tundra. Polished silver ceramic coating ensures long life, lower under-hood temperatures, and will not discolor like chrome coatings do.
Another break through for Doug Thorley Headers for people with the Toyota Tundra. We have developed a long tube header with some amazing results. Take a look at our dyno and the video and see what potential there is in that motor once you unleash the beast with our headers. Made in the USA and are a race only product. The Tri-Y' systems while reduced back pressure, lower engine heat and lessened weight are all added benefits of this design.
Contact our Tech Support Line for further information at 928-855-6341. Check out
www.LCEngineering.com for New Products, Tech Articles, Specials & Monthly Newsletters!


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Detroit Pistons guard Saddiq Bey on Tuesday called the experience of participating with the USA Basketball select team very beneficial for his development.
Bey, who was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team, was among 17 players named to the select team that opened training camp this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. The select team is practicing and scrimmaging daily to prepare the U.S. national team for the Olympics.
The experience for Bey and the rest of the select team will serve as a valuable opportunity to learn from some of the best players and coaches in the world. They will have the chance to pick the brains of Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and others.
“It is very beneficial to be able to play different guys and a different role,” Bey said. “Just being able to adapt and run other systems and other sets and learn from different people. There is a lot of wisdom here and a lot of experience here, so I think it is very beneficial to learn from some of the best.”
For Bey, the invitation to compete with the select team was a surprise. He had not participated in any earlier Team USA events, but he certainly welcomed the opportunity to help prepare the national team.
“It was a surprise,” Bey said. “It is my first time being a part of a USA event so it’s a blessing and an honor. Once I found out, I was ecstatic for the opportunity and continue to work and trying to be the best I can and help the main team bring home the gold.”
Bey averaged 12.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 70 games this season while setting the Pistons rookie record for most 3-pointers made. His 175 3-pointers marked the third-highest by any rookie in NBA history, and he also had the most games with at least six 3s with five.
It's that time! 🇺🇸 #USABMNT practices are underway in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/RYYk7HLZEl
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 6, 2021
The U.S. will be among five countries that will play five exhibition games in Las Vegas prior to heading to Japan for the Olympics. The Americans will face Nigeria on July 10; two games against Australia and one apiece versus Argentina and Spain will follow.
Preliminary play in the Olympics, which will feature 12 teams across three groups, will begin July 25 and run through Aug. 2. The quarterfinals will start on Aug. 3 and consist of the top two teams in each group from the preliminary phase.
The semifinals will take place on Aug. 5 with the gold and bronze medal games on Aug. 7.
This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!


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It can be heated to produce 2-trifluoromethyl-3H-quinazoline-4-thione in the presence of reagent molecular sieves and solvent CHCl3 with reaction time of 2 hours. It is an important organic intermediate used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and dyestuff fields.
Chia-Yang Shiau, et al. Reactions of 2-aminothiobenzamide with isocyanates: a new synthesis of 2,3-dihydroimidazo[1,2-c]quinazolin-5(6H)-one and 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrimido[1,2-c]quinazolin-6(7H)-one. J. Heterocycl. Chem.,1989,26(3), 595-596.
R. Morrin Acheson, et al. Synthesis and X-ray crystal structures of 2,3-dihydro-2-mercapto-2,1,3-benzophosphadiazine-4(1H)-thione 2-sulphide derivatives.J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2,1985,(12), 1913-1917.
Hazard Statements: H302-H315-H319-H335
Harmful if swallowed. Causes skin irritation. Causes serious eye irritation. May cause respiratory irritation.
Precautionary Statements: P280h-P305+P351+P338
Wear protective gloves/clothing. IF IN EYES: Rinse cautiously with water for several minutes. Remove contact lenses, if present and easy to do. Continue rinsing.

domain: chemistry


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Hey y’all! Happy Sunday. I’ve been recovering from a cold and a hangover but am feeling pretty spry and ready to design and illustrate. I have a new pin in mind I’m going to start right away, but had some modern nature illustrations on my mind with nice 90’s palettes. There’s also free shipping on Society6 right now with the code FREEFALL until midnight tonight.
Visit my Society6 page here.
Check out the new designs below:


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GLASS BLOWING STUDIO & GALLERY
Creating beautiful art from fire is something that is inspiring to many, yet it is an ancient skill that few practice today. Since 2015, Vandalia Glassworks in St. Paul has provided a complete hot shop, cold shop and gallery to area glass artists and customers in the Twin Cities area.
Kind words from our customers, arts community and students.
I had such a fantastic experience with my first project at Vandalia Glassworks. My instructor could not have been more patient, kind, and engaging. She had a wealth of glass working knowledge and practical suggestions. I will definitely be signing up for more classes.
A great gift I got for my aunt. Vandalia also kindly wrapped it when they shipped it, so I didn't have to have it shipped twice.
The staff was amazing, very kind. I had a cremation piece made and it is so beautiful. It was done very quick and was even better than I imagined.
My family took the glass paperweight class. Wonderful experience. Instructors provided a thorough demonstration to illustrate the steps. They were very helpful for our attempts at producing glass weights.


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Cocaine worth Sh598 million destroyed at DCI headquarters in Nairobi
Cocaine with a street value of Sh598 million was on Wednesday destroyed at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Kiambu Road in Nairobi.
The destruction, which took place at the Forensic Lab Incinerator, saw the hundred kilograms of cocaine, which was impounded from a Briton and a Kenyan at Kilindini Port, Mombasa in 2016.
CONCEALED AS SUGAR
The drugs were allegedly concealed as sugar from Brazil en route to Kampala.
Milimani High Court Judge Luka Kimaru oversaw the exercise attended by among others, Interior minister Fred Matiang’i, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji and DCI boss George Kinoti.
Also present during the exercise were analysts from the Government Chemist. Legal procedure demands their presence during such activities.
Before the drugs were destroyed on Wednesday, officials from the Government Chemist conducted a test which confirmed that the drugs were indeed Cocaine and had to weigh them to confirm they were still intact.
Mr Jack Alexander Wolf Marrian, the grandson of a colonial Cabinet minister, and Mr Roy Francis Mwanthi allegedly trafficked 99,721.8 grammes of cocaine concealed in a container in Mombasa, on July 29, 2016.
The two were however, acquitted in January this year when the DPP Haji applied to have the case withdrawn.
No reason was given, with his prosecutors only indicating that they were not ready to proceed with the matter.
Justice Kimaru had been hearing the case before it was withdrawn.
The destruction followed acquisition of a court order by the anti-narcotics unit.
According to British newspapers, Mr Marrian, is the son of Lady Campbell of Cawdor. His maternal family own Cawdor Castle in Scotland and is a large-scale sugar trader who had been living in Kenya for a long time until his arrest in July 2016.

domain: law


Multiple Award-Winning Soakat Gospel Minister Queen Leticia, also known as QueenLet releases single titled “HOLY FIRE”. According to Testimonies from individuals, both... Read more
Full List Of Nominees For The 6th Edition Of The Ghana Music Awards UK. Below is nominees for Ghana Music Awards UK 2022. HIPLIFE/HIP HOP ARTISTE OF THE YEAR Black Sherif Amerado S... Read more
Soakat Gospel Musician, QueenLet has grabbed four nominations from USA Rhema Awards Global 2021/2022. When one mention Soakat, the person who comes in mind is multiple award-winnin... Read more
Multiple award-winning Ghanaian Gospel musician, Queen Leticia, popularly known as QueenLet, has released a new single titled Windblow, featuring Nigerian gospel star, minister Jim... Read more
Widespread reports early Tuesday indicated that popular legendary high life musician, Nana Kwame Ampadu has passed. He died at age 76. In an interview With Hitz FM on Tuesday morni... Read more
Profile And Biography Of Nana Kwame Ampadu; Birth, Life, Family, Career, Hobbies, Achievements, Awards & Death [Photos - Videos]. Read more
The report reaching GhanaSky.com shows that, there is a controversy about the new released song by Diana Hamilton ‘Awurade ye‘. According to GhanaSky.com analyst, nine... Read more
Report reaching GhanaChurch.com analyst, the multiple award-winning Gospel Singer, Diana Hamilton releases new single ‘AWURADE YE ‘ – DO IT LORD. According to Dia... Read more
wqe gv Mօnᥱy doubler and spiritualist, Dr Patience Asiedua, popularly known as Nana Agradaa, has been arrested. Nana Agradaa, known for her moneymaking ritual, ‘sika gari’, was arr... Read more
Ghanaian international gospel artiste is working very hard to capture the attention of Ghanaian music lovers with her inspiring lyrics. QueenLet who wants to become one of the pill... Read more
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QueenLet releases “HOLY FIRE” (Video+Lyrics)
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Liverpool vs Real Madrid Live Stream – UEFA Champions League Final 2022
Osinachi Nwachukwu’s Death: FG files 23-count charge against husband, Peter Nwachukwu.
Birthday Sale: Basic Plan only $2.65/mo. for 36 months!
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I’ve been making things for more than two decades. I come from a long line of strong, crafty women. I am always reading or writing, and I always have a notebook on hand. For fellow notebook lovers, I offer hand-stamped, one-of-a-kind notebooks. I love fulfilling custom requests and have supplied special notebooks for weddings, showers and birthday parties. Feel free to contact me with your questions or requests.
- Born on December 7
- Joined January 14, 2010


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Manila, Philippines – Supreme Court Associate Justice Arturo Brion proclaimed on Tuesday the official result of the recently held Licensure Examination for aspiring lawyers in which 1,174 examinees beat the 73% passing rate imposed on October 2013.
5, 593 examinees were screened at the University of Santo Tomas where they completed the four consecutive Sundays of examination.
Earlier in August, the high tribunal imposed examination guidelines which helped the examinees prepare in advance and be able to pass the procedures. The guideline includes the restriction in using proper English in the essay portion which comprises the 80% of the questionnaire. The challenge was tighten as examiners anticipate a construction of 5-6 words in a sentence which is a 10-point item each.
20% in the questionnaire was a multiple choice with five-fact situation.
According to the Supreme Court, 13.3% of the examinees would have passed the considered “most difficult” Licensure Examination if they retained the previous year’s passing grade of 75%.
The said court confer to aid the concern by considering the difficulty and type of exams, the structure of the grades obtained by all examinees, and the precedents upon finally adjusting the passing rates to accommodate higher number of passers.
In year 2012, examinees must reach a passing rate of 17.76%, a 12-year low compared to the 2013’s 73% passing grade. On the other hand, adjustment of passing rates alters from time-to-time as various factors are being considered. 31.95% was the passing rate on 2011 and 20.26% during the 2010 bar.
Meanwhile, on top of the 2013 bar was Nielson G. Pangan, a University of the Philippines College of Law student who got 85.80% of passing grade.
At his back was the UP Law Dean Danny Concepcion who proposed to the Supreme Court Committee for the trimming of subjects covered in the exams with the purpose of maximizing students’ time on studying the global or international law practice rather than conventional subject matters.
“There is a need of modernization. Students should study courses which can make students become competitive in the region”, Concepcion explains.
The 1,174 passers are expected to have their oath taking on April 28, 2014 at the Philippine National Convention.


text: Bud Ballinger earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Texas Tech University in 2000. While in graduate school, he worked in a maximum security psychiatric prison hospital and a juvenile detention facility. He completed a pre-doctoral internship in 1999-2000 at Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse. Following internship he accepted a full-time position at Madison County Mental Health Department and worked for eight years as the coordinator of forensic services. The duties of this position included serving as the Mental Health liaison to the courts, corrections, and law enforcement, providing or supervising evaluations and treatment for sexual offenders and other mandated clients, and supervising the team responsible for the sex offender treatment program. Dr. Ballinger opened a part-time private practice in 2007 and at the end of 2008 left full-time employment with Madison County to enter full-time private practice providing consultation, forensic evaluations, and courtroom testimony. The majority of his cases involved assessing sexual offenders and making treatment and supervision recommendations including recommendations regarding civil management under Mental Hygiene Law Article 10. In 2013, he was hired by the NY State Office of Mental Health to develop an intensive prison-based sex offender treatment program in Marcy, NY. He continues to work in the prison-based program, which treats high-risk sexual offenders who are likely candidates for civil confinement. He has served on the Advisory Board for the Madison County Children’s Advocacy Center and the Madison County Youth Board. He has served on the Alliance Board since 2010 and on the NYS ATSA Board since 2011. He is the current president of NYS ATSA.


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These are all words that define the days between the Virginia gathering and the time I would end up seeing Austin, Drew, and Naomi again. Directly after the Virginia gathering, I settled into a sort of sadness that seemed to linger in my life. I missed them and I honestly had no idea when or if I would ever see them again and that upset me. Until, however, Austin and Drew began talking about hosting a gathering at their home in October. Naturally, we started making plans, but October was six months away. Real life had to happen in the meantime.
Real life for Austin and Naomi meant starting new jobs and working long hours. For Drew, it meant continuing his college studies and, as for me, I was just trying to finish up my final college courses before my enrollment ended in July. All that I had left was finishing my Shakespeare and Algebra courses and they proved to be a challenging and eclectic mix. Our everyday lives progressed, but one thing that had changed in our friendship since Virginia was that there was a freeness and easiness that we didn’t have before. We texted often and we all knew that the others were missing us just as much as we were missing them. It helped us feel close and connected even though we were all aware that there was a drift that was starting to occur at the same time.
On May 28, 2013, I officially finished my Bachelor’s of Arts degree and was immediately left in an in-between season that I hadn’t anticipated. I wasn’t sure what exactly to do with myself or my time and even though I knew that it was time to start pursuing my biblical counseling studies, my courses didn’t start for several months. That summer was immensely challenging for me. I had wrapped up so much of my identity in school work that suddenly being graduated left me feeling very lost indeed. I filled that void with rekindling old dreams and making independent plans for my future and dreaming about bold new paths and trying things I had always wanted to try but never had the opportunity to before. All of that did nothing to cure the growing pains, though.
That summer was the one I spent listening to countless Broadway soundtracks. It was the summer where I discovered my favorite song and performed it at my voice recital. It was the summer when I traveled to the East Coast for a wedding. And it was the summer when I finally visited New York City for the first time.
That summer was the one that made me reevaluate everything … including my friendship with the “nuts.”
As much as I valued my friendship with Austin, Drew, and Naomi, I decided that I couldn’t allow that friendship to dictate the direction of my life. I wanted to see them, but I also began to question if or how they would fit into my future life. I now wanted to move to New York and spend a year or two in the city and there was no room for Austin and Drew in those plans. There was still plenty of room for Naomi, though, who had offered to move there with me. After a year of focusing so much time and energy on those friendships being of utmost importance to me, they were moved a bit lower on my priority list as I began to look at them in the perspective of long-term plans. No longer were those people in Illinois and Pennsylvania at the forefront of my mind as I shifted gears and started pursuing other paths. I was drifting in another direction completely until October finally arrived and I got to see them all again.
“I’m not afraid of stopping,
This end could be my start.
I wanna live a life and not just play a part.
I’ll walk into the sunset,
I’ll sail across the sea,
The final word the last you’ll hear of me
-from the musical Catch Me If You Can


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Chimee Nnaji is here with his first official single “If You Go”. His sensational voice is one you don’t wanna miss. Remember this talent! He’s going places!
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My wife is looking for a new digital camera. It should be reliable and simple to use. We currently have a Cannon A95 AiAf that is 4 years old and beginning to falter (cover jamming/other weird issues. We don't need anything state of the art, just a good workhorse for a dirty environment. I do take a lot of photos and prefer to not use proprietary software for uploading. I am happy with the performance of the Cannon but have never used any other brand. Am I missing anything?
IMG_3843 by barnstormerbikes, on Flickr
I recently purchased a Canon S90, for biking, and am very happy with it. Why not head over to the dpreview forum and read some of the reviews for various compact cameras, and decide the size, price, and features you desire. One feature missing from the S90 is an optical viewfinder. This makes it difficult to compose shots with the sun behind you as it washes out the screen. Otherwise this camera is just fine for my needs.
Canon dpreview: http://tinyurl.com/6p3xs
What sort of money are you looking to spend? I picked up a Canon G11 for about $500 last year and it's a very competent piece of kit, although it has features a lot of people will never use.
The image quality is very good - Luminous Landscape did a comparison of the images taken by the G10 (the predecessor, which also hit the market around $500) and a digital medium format setup costing about $50,000. Under optimum conditions and printing up to about 11x19 inches the two produced results that professional printers and photographers struggled to tell apart.
Take a look at the Panasonic LX-5. Fast 2.0 lens, 24-90 zoom and relatively compact. I use a Nikon SLR with good prime lenses and in good light the Panasonic holds its own. I was choosing between the Canon S95 and the Panasonic an the Panasonic just felt better in my hand.
Thanks for the suggestions, I think we hope to spend under $400 but you know how that goes when you start shopping.
I just picked up a Casio EX-Z750. It's an older camera but it gets smashing reviews everywhere you look (amazon, cnet, ken rockwell, dpreview). I also use an Olympus e-510 DSLR, some old 35mm P&S cameras that are fun, and a Minolta x-700 35mm SLR with many lenses.
The Casio is just too easy to take a long anywhere, anytime.
For dirty environments and cycling, I really like the Pentax Optio W-series -- waterproof, small enough to fit in a jersey pocket, the lens zoom and focus are all internal so there's nothing to stick or jam.
I currently carry the older W60 model, it rides in my jersey pocket every day commuting in Seattle rain.
Santa is leaving the new W90 under the tree for my wife, under $200 new at Amazon this week.
Pentax Optio W90Attachment 183281
How are the picture quality and flash performance? Specifically, the chromatic aberration and flash balancing?
Originally Posted by jputnam
I have an Olympus 790SW and I desperately want to replace it. The 790SW has some of the most dreadful chromatic aberration I have ever seen. And the flash can either be used for x-rays or it doesn't light up anything at all. About the only thing this camera does well is resist the elements and take macro shots. But that is it.
Originally Posted by slide23
You can find a lot of pictures from the W60 in my flickr stream,
The flash is reasonably good for an on-camera flash only an inch from the lens -- light balance works well, but it's still nearly dead-on.
I too also have the Pentax W series camera and love it. Soon as you turn the power on you are ready to take a picture. No lens that extends and retracts.


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RIC S. BASTASA
The Urge To Write - Poem by RIC S. BASTASA
it is when there are butterflies in my belly
that my hands become pens
and when all these butterflies have flown away
all the words retreat in the sockets of my eyes
i become blind with all these thoughts
i am neither myself nor yours. I am no one now.
I am nowhere too. I am lost and cannot be found.
Asleep, just tired asleep in my dark room.
Comments about The Urge To Write by RIC S. BASTASA
Read this poem in other languages
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
Still I Rise
The Road Not Taken
If You Forget Me
Edgar Allan Poe
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening
I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You


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Tried out Killzone: Shadow Fall’s multiplayer yet? Pretty mean isn’t it? Don’t go running back to the warm embrace of Call of Duty just yet soldier. Man up, and check out our Sunday Seven Survival Tips to leave behind your days as a snivelling recruit and be reborn as a feared harbinger of doom. Failing that, maybe we can make that kill/death ratio a little less pitiful.
I don’t know why, but the vast majority of players seem content to respawn from the default base over and over, with a tiresome slog back to the action. Who the hell has the time for that crap? For Vekta’s sake, equip some spawn beacons to your support classes. With this ability, you can deploy a spawn point anywhere in the map for your team. It can be destroyed by enemy fire, but it doesn’t expire if you die and you’ll get loads of points when your teammates spawn on it. Be careful not to drop it in front of enemy turrets or in wide-open spaces though.
There’s too much of a mentality of ‘someone else will do it’, just change class for one spawn and do yourself -and your team- a huge favour and drop a beacon. Or carry on going for a long jog that ends in being shot in the back time and again.Click here to read more...
At last night's VGX awards (formerly the VGA's), Titanfall showed up to the party and unveiled two new classes of Titan gamers can look forward to piloting when the game lands in March on the Xbox One, 360 and PC.
Before today, we'd only seen and played as one regular Titan. To mix things up a little on the battlefield we will now have the Ogre and the Stryder to choose from too. The Ogre class is your choice for high damage output and resistance, but at the cost of speed. So it come's as no surprise that the Stryder model is the opposite, sprinting around the battlefield and using nimble jet-thrust dodge moves to get the upper hand against slower opponents, although this means they will have the weakest armour of the Titans.
See them in action below with a new pair of trailers.Click here to read more...
Metro: Last Light was a big improvement on the original game, with some of the best atmosphere you're likely to see in an FPS. Taking place in post-apocalypse Russia, you see the devastation on the surface with the mutants and underground in the Metro where people are at their worst as various factions fight to rule.
Thanks to jaystan at HotUkDeals.
Far Cry 3 is one of the best FPS games on the market and is fantastic value for money with such a huge world to explore, a great story and some excellent gameplay that includes some of the best stealth around. Oh and lots of guns, naturally. Uplay are practically giving the game away at this price and this edition comes with an extra 40 minutes of gameplay in a couple of extra missions.
Thanks to tehwabbit at HotUkDeals.
If you're not upgrading to next-gen anytime soon, then any FPS multiplayer fans should get all over this as it's £2 cheaper than anywhere else and includes the China Rising DLC pack , giving you an extra four multiplayer maps. Battlefield 4 offers one of the deepest multiplayer experiences out there thanks to its huge maps and vehicular warfare including tanks, jeeps and choppers. If you're not bothered about the DLC, Tesco are selling the standard edition (PS3 / 360) for £25, but we recommend getting the ShopTo deal for the extra maps.
Thanks to darkknight32 at HotUkDeals.
Can you put a price on happiness, on fun, on experiential immersion? That's what games do , to a certain extent. How much is a good game worth to you? What do you expect for your £30-50?
Last year I wrote a lengthy piece ranting about this industry's preoccupation with game duration -- that is to say, the "length" of a video game. This is a relatively arbitrary concept, of course, given that people go through games at varying velocities, some with the skill and drive to strive for speed from the outset, some preferring a more languid approach.But it's a key consideration for consumers in particular, that much is understandable. Games are expensive, especially these titles for new platforms, and getting value for money is a key consideration.
This is part of the reason Call of Duty is so damn popular: it's a comprehensive content package.
But the reason I bring this up is because I've just finished Killzone: Shadow Fall -- a game let down by hideous pacing and far too much wave-based padding. A game that squanders the promise of its opening levels with the repetition of bumping off streams of gormless AI mannequins over and over again in its second half. Here's what I said in my review:
The first couple of hours of Killzone: Shadow Fall hint towards a game that might just play as well as it looks. And it looks phenomenal. But sadly, the game falters and falls rather quickly, crushed under the weight of its own ambitions, and it retreats to the safe banality of staid FPS conventions for a second half that's all filler, no killer. It's a great game to show off the power of the PS4, a magnificent spectacle, and its Custom Warzones hint towards the possibility of a bright future; but it's just not that fun to actually play.
Now the reason I bring up game length rather than talking about the lack of ideas is because of a quote from Killzone: Shadow Fall's Lead Designer, Eric Boljes, made post-launch. In an interview with AusGamers, Boljes acknowledged the mixed reviews that the game has received, but stated that he felt this is the best Killzone game Guerilla have ever made:Click here to read more...
Developers: Guerilla Games
Publishers: Sony Computer Entertainment
Hot damn, Killzone: Shadow Fall is pretty. Really pretty. It's so pretty, in fact, that my very first act as protagonist Lucas Kellen was to rush to a balcony and gawp at the stunning vistas before me. Unfortunately, though, I was on the run from the Helghast at the time, and dawdling was inadvisable. I'm pretty sure I hold the current record for swiftest demise when it comes to this game.
The point is, of course, that Killzone: Shadow Fall really looks like a next-gen game.
It gallops along in clear, crisp 1080p at 30fps in singleplayer, and 60 in multiplayer, and Guerilla Games have thrown colours into the mix, which makes a nice change from the decidedly military tones of previous installments. An early mission sees you trotting about in a lush green forest to discover what happened to a missing scout battalion. Later on, as you find yourself in Vekta City, the urban landscape unfolds in beautiful fashion, with alabaster monoliths giving way to skyscrapers of vanilla marble and shimmering glass.
The lighting is phenomenal. From glorious sunsets that see stars melt into the horizon, to rich neon hues in more urban environments. There's a hint of lens flare in some shots, occasionally specks of dust and dirt on the camera that add to the framing, as surfaces glimmer and gleam with reflections. Every single frame of Killzone: Shadow Fall is a feast for the eyes, and if you want a next-gen game to drop your jaw with sublime prettiness, then this is it. It's a testament to the artistic craft of Guerilla's designers that you want to move through the game at a relatively languid pace just to enjoy the sumptuous visual detail. The PS4 gives this game the grunt, but the art team deserves real credit for making the tight corridors of a city's shanty built out of shipping crates just as visually engaging as the beautiful, sweeping shots of Vekta that greet you as the opening credits roll.Click here to read more...
Gamersgate are currently holding their Holiday Sale, and this deal from their current set of offers is certainly a highlight worth bringing to your attention. Overall there's a saving of around £3 compared to the next cheapest offer elsewhere.
As always, the Battlefield experience is at its best on the PC. Its single player campaign may not be the finest in the industry (although it has improved, a little) but its superior multiplayer suite compared to the previous entries in the series, as well as a host of revamped social features and the return of the Commander role, makes BF4 one of the best FPS shooters this year.
Crysis is a series that always best played on a PC, especially if your rig is packing some serious horsepower. Set in a near-future New York that's been reclaimed by nature (yes, we're thinking of Enslaved too), the action against the alien squidbots is all sorts of fun. As with other 2013 games, it's all about the stealth and bow and arrow attacks. Sure, you can go loud and play it like all the other FPS games on the planet, but we promise you'll have more fun playing it like a stealthy ninja. Actually, that's a good rule for life in general. #Be more ninja.
Thanks to sejm at HotUkDeals.
The price continues to tumble for Infinite, with this being the cheapest we've seen the PC version for. Overall this deal from GameFly will save you nearly £15, which is an absolute bargain.
Is it the masterpiece we waited so patiently for? The jury is still out on that one despite it being months since it release, but in our review Matt described it as "a thoroughly engrossing rollercoaster ride in a crumbling, thought-provoking paradise." For just over a fiver, I'd say it's worth entering Columbia and finding out for yourself. Thanks to jmss @ HUKD!
Well it looks the the Xbone and PS4's release is finally have an affect on the last-gen software sales, as as the price for the latest Call of Duty game is down to quite the bargain. It will save you around £9 over the cheapest offer elsewhere, and also comes with the Freefall map for MP modes.
While the multiplayer modes are limited in number, and the social features are lacking as well, it's the same COD-like experience with Ghosts. Basically, if you're looking for some no-nonsense shooter fun (now with added dog) you'll probably find enjoyment with Infinity Ward's latest. Thanks to oUkTuRkEyIII @ HUKD!
Don't worry readers, we don't see this sort of high price being the norm for long with PS4 and Xbox One titles. It's the same at the start of every generation. If you haven't pre-ordered a PS4 bundle with the game, this is currently your cheapest offer to get the game in time for launch. This is shaping up to be one of the top titles on Sony's new machine and is by far my most anticipated title on PS4. Fingers crossed I'll be playing it this time next week. If Matt asks, I'm ill though, got it?
At less than a tenner, now's a good time to start rounding up that FPS to-do list before you make your way towards next-gen. It's all about the stealth and bow and arrow attacks in Crysis 3. Sure, you can go loud and play it like all the other FPS games on the planet, but we promise you'll have more fun playing it like a stealthy ninja. There are some some fun hunter modes online too.
Thanks to oUkTuRkEyIII at HotUkDeals.
Click here to read more...
Our judgement on DICE's latest efforts has already been given, with us giving it an 8/10, but reading about and actually seeing it in action are two very different things, especially when basking in the visual glory of the PC version. As such, we decided to give you a video review that demonstrates why we feel Battlefield 4 is a title anyone interested in FPS titles or multiplayer games in general should pay attention to. Watch the video by hitting the jump.
Next-gen may well be here, but if you're not yet ready to take the plunge but still want to try out DICE's latest FPS, this is a great deal for the Xbox 360 version. You'll save £10 if you take advantage of this offer from The Game Collection.
The console version may well be restricted to just 24 players online, but DICE's efforts this year provide a superior multiplayer suite compared to the previous entry in the series thanks to a host of social features and the return of the Commander role. This purchase also comes with the China Rising expansion, which is nice. Thanks to rachelsquires31 @ HUKD!
Here we have an excellent deal for the definitive Borderlands 2 experience for those who have yet to experience the latest adventure on Pandora. There's quite the saving to be had by using the voucher code above considering the amount of content you get.
So what do you get? All of the major DLC packs released so far, which includes Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, both Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Packs, the Mechromancer and Psycho characters, Creature Slaughterdome, Collector's Edition Pack, Premiere Club, and a number of character customisation skins and heads. Thanks to Spark @ HUKD!
I have a confession to make – I didn’t really enjoy the Battlefield 4 multiplayer beta. Something about the Siege Of Shanghai map didn’t really grab my attention, and after a few games on it I was ready to uninstall. As such, I wasn’t really filled with enthusiasm when Matt threw the review copy of BF4 in my face. Still, I had enjoyed the previous effort from DICE – not quite to the same level as the Bad Company games, but it was still enjoyable from a multiplayer perspective. However, before I jumped into that, I felt I should get the single player campaign out of the way.
You see, we here at Dealspwn felt that the previous instalment’s solo effort was… well… I’m going to put this diplomatically - not good. For whatever reason you want to pick, be it jumping narrative perspectives, rat stabbing insta-fail sections, pointless jet plane sequences, and a lack of memorable plot or characters, the end result was not exactly DICE’s finest work. So it’s with some relief that I can say the single player campaign for Battlefield 4 is an improvement. It’s not quite the blockbuster DICE were probably hoping for, and it by no means can hold a candle to the multiplayer side of things, but key issues have been addressed to make it not so much of a yawn-fest.Click here to read more...
Infinity Ward’s latest shooter, Call of Duty: Ghosts, hit the shelves this week and has again proved a big success, although not to the same degree as previous titles. There’s been a drop in sales, albeit one which could be explained by players waiting for next-gen versions later this month. The critical reception has taken a hit too though as the series dips into the ‘dreaded’ yellow zone on Metacritic with a current average of 75 instead of the usual 80-90 range. Our very own Mr. Lester gave the game a 6/10 rating.
Much of the criticism has been aimed at the game’s single player element, which is surprising, given that Infinity Ward should know what they’re doing by now. Have they become lazy? Are we expecting too much? Have our tastes changed? Or do we just want to get on with the multiplayer?
Well, today let’s tackle the single player side of Ghosts, by looking at what’s strong and what’s wrong with it. My experience and thoughts are based on my recent complete playthrough of the campaign on the PS3.Click here to read more...


text: This pepper variety originated in Bangladesh near the homeland of the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper). We acquired our original Naga Morich pepper seeds from a Pakistani gentleman who had brought them over from the “old country”. The Naga pepper does resemble the Ghost pepper with a less earthy flavor profile but a similar level of heat. Prolific bushy plants that average about 36″ in height. Naga peppers have a pimply but smooth skin. They are a fairly thin-walled chili approximately 2-3″ with only a small number of seeds. Pods start out green and turn bright red at maturity. Classified as a super-hot pepper. On the Scoville scale these peppers are around 1,000,000 SHU, one of the only known naturally occurring peppers to reach this level of heat. Excellent when used fresh but can also be dehydrated to create an extremely hot seasoning powder. A Bengali friend of mine tells me that her favorite use for the Naga is to chop up a single pod to mix with tomato sauce when making a pizza. Don’t miss out on a natural super-hot and pick up these Naga Morich pepper seeds.