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Inner Light Coaching
When we are whole and working with our full integration of self, with our energies directed to our highest and best purposes, we begin to experience a consistent expansion towards positive growth in all areas of our lives.
Who do I serve?
You, the one who gets things done. The one with grit, tenacity, and ambition.
People look to you to see projects and initiatives through from start to finish. You manage teams with finesse, and you embrace a coaching mindset, for yourself, and those you lead. You are smart, adept, agile, and a few steps ahead of the game.
But there are cracks starting to show from the strain. Your powerhouse of mission, vision and focus has started to flicker.
Questions today slowly arise from the center of your being, and for the first time in a long time, you feel uncertain, confused, and a little unclear. Is it time for a change? What's next down the road from here?
You may also feel that somewhere within you, are your answers to your deeper purpose, your soul journey, and the ability to navigate your life by a deep inner knowing.
In working with me, I will support you to unpack and investigate where the unrest resides, and from there coach you to cultivate the path for what is emerging as you have grown, changed, and evolved. As adults we may not be students in school any more, but we are still constantly evolving, shifting, and changing. What served you 5 years ago may no longer be right for you now, how will you shift back into your own learning and growth?
Working with me is not just having someone help you to reach a goal for career, home or relationships. Fundamentally, I help my clients to bring about full life, health, work, family, and relationship alignment that births expansion beyond what may have initially been desired. When we are whole and working with our full integration of self, with our energies directed to our highest and best purposes, we start to live and lead our lives with grounded confidence.
We all come from different stories, backgrounds, and situations that forge who and how we are today. My tools of the trade are meditation and mindfulness. I also work with energy, automatic writing, and symbolic insight. I use and share these tools to my clients as we do an overview of your life path, where you've been, where you are, and where you might want to be in the future.
I will help you to tap in to your own inner knowing and support you in building skills in discernment, boundary setting, and acute mental, physical and psychic energy management. You will start to understand your challenges as teachers, failures as reasons to celebrate, conflict as insight, and the world as an expansive, abundant, and immensely supportive place to live.
You will begin to navigate with a deep feel for undercurrents that run cross-ways from what you might see in front of you. Most importantly, you will build a relationship of trust, love, and respect for what you already have within you. You will unwrap the gifts that you were born with, and bring them to light.
You will add your light to the world and we will all benefit from it.
I'm empathetic, compassionate, intuitive, solution-oriented, and I see the forest for the trees.
If I were to use psychic terms, I am clair-sentient, meaning that I pick up on feelings and emotions deeply. I understand quickly where people are coming from, and often, symbolic images come to my minds eye readily as conversation unfolds.
As an empath, I am careful not to take on other people's energy as my own, and I have, and will teach you, different energy tools to clear your energy so that you too can to strip away what is not yours and what is not serving you.
While I am your coach, I will use the full suite of my skills and abilities to listen deeply to your patterns, stories, and beliefs. From here, I will confront them. Coaching is a confronting process. As I support you to actively engage with the programs you are running, you actively will own your transformation, building your own skills in discernment, boundaries, and energy management as we go along.
In working with me, you have an intuitive coach as a guide on your side. As we work together, you will build your own latent gifts and skills to the forefront and begin to tap into your higher purpose, and offer a long-view of your life path that is not readily available when we are tangled in the day to day.
However, it is in how you shift meeting the day to day that will bring to fruition your true alignment. Working with me will help you to find grounding amidst chaos while also building your tolerance and resilience for discomfort, uncertainty, and change.
You will build, through practice and experience, a relationship with faith, trust, and spirit (or your higher power, or God, there are many names), and begin to relish in the joy of unfolding mystery.
This is not a fast road.
This is the gentle unfurling of spring leaves.
This is the slow hum of insects over a mountain lake when no one is there to witness the sound.
It is also the shaking loose of false foundations, torrents of rain, and lightening storms that take your breath away.
It is not for the faint of heart.
Work with me.
I engage with committed individuals ready to do the work of emerging into their highest and best purpose.
Clients I take on are coachable. They are ready and willing to push themselves.
Working with a coach is not the same as working with a counselor or therapist. Working with a coach is more akin to a coach and athlete relationship. You have the capacity for greatness, say in long-distance running. You have the will, determination, grit and personal resolve within you, and even though you know it's been 5 years since you even ran one mile, you know that if you do the work, you'll run the marathon.
You work with a coach to help you through challenges of growth and unexpected surprises as you move from one-mile to 26.2 miles. As a running coach helps you develop your training regimen, your eating plan, your cross training schedule, and helps you refine your gait, highlights your strengths, and work on your form, I will do the same for you in the arenas of your life.
Coaching is a commitment. An athlete does not train with a coach three times then say, "Cool! Got it, done, gonna DIY it myself now and get into the Olympics next year." (And of course, there are always a few folks who do get there this way, if this is you, RUN WITH IT).
But if you're like most folks, you've already been trying to DIY it for awhile now, and it seems like it might be taking a lot longer than you'd hoped.
If this is you - I feel you.
I am a hard and fast do-it-yourself fan. But I have learned. Here's a short story to illustrate my point.
In my mid-20's, I was convinced I could learn to telemark-ski on my own (after having been a snowboarder, not even a skier) with a few pointers from friends. Two seasons, maybe 40+ ski-days, and many bruises and frustrating backcountry touring sessions later, I finally signed up for lessons from an expert.
Over the course of my lessons, I was transformed from a fumbling (but brave!) novice telemark skier into someone who could flow, fly low, and link turns down the mountain. I had the capacity to ski well within me the whole time, but didn't know how to tap into it. My husband (then my boyfriend), was amazed at my improvement. Skiing with him (already a gorgeous skier) was suddenly fun and way less stressful.
This is what coaching is - it's guidance from someone who's been there, can see the challenges, help you course correct, build skills and strengths, and see you to linking gorgeous turns down the proverbial mountain of life. It is so fun, so worth it, and so worth your investment in yourself.
As you consider working with a coach, take a few moment to consider these points:
How much you are willing to invest in yourself to get through from where you are to where you want to be?
How much is your time and energy worth to do the work well, and really get what you want out of your life?
How much would you pay to be where you want to be right now?
What is it costing you right now with stress, confusion, added sick days, and small fixes trying to bandaid over what really isn't working?
The constant little fires? The nagging feelings that this has got to stop, shift, and change?
What is that worth to you?
Be honest, be real. Write those numbers down right now before you read further.
Add it all up.
Then ask yourself, are you worth this investment?
You're worth it.
I work with clients weekly for 12-weeks for 60-minute sessions virtually via phone or by Zoom.
Together we will:
set your foundation with your personally tailored plan and roadmap
build your practice and skills in psychic, physical, and mental energy management
build your practice and skills in creating and maintaining healthy boundaries
hone your ability for discernment
grow your intuition and connection to inner-knowing through different tools suited to your particular interest and capacity
As I also maintain a consulting practice I take on only 3 - 4 coaching clients at a time in order to have the bandwidth to prioritize and focus on those who commit to their coaching journey with me.
I will open a waitlist if I do not have current openings.
Each 12 week commitment is $2499
The fee is payable up front once as a lump sum of $2499, or clients can select to pay a monthly invoice for $849/month ($2,547 total).
As you consider working with a coach keep these things in mind. What will you save as a result of taking care of this now, rather than 5 or 10 years from now? Where can you possibly grow and flourish if you start the work today, rather than "later"?
"I came into this work really craving one on one discussions that went deep. Where I could set down the balls in the air and take stock of my priorities and goals. I also wanted to work with someone who wasn’t following a strictly prescribed model, but who excelled in being agile and personal. Someone who brought joy and an inquisitive spirit to the table. Fortunately, I found just this person with Ellen.
Working remotely by phone was great – I actually really loved the distance and intimacy that a phone call creates. There were times that I could be more vulnerable than I might in person. I loved starting calls with a guided meditation, it is so key!
My sessions with Ellen allowed me to move at a pace unique to where I was at each day. I loved having sessions focused on homework and moving forward with key questions, and I also deeply appreciated the flexibility to have unstructured sessions that simply met me where I was at.
As I move forward after working with Ellen, each day I feel an intentional practice is becoming habit. I ask myself, how am I showing up in this moment? What does generosity and curiosity look like right now? As this habit of inquiry becomes deeper and more ingrained in my day, I find myself laughing more, standing taller, and having more grace with myself and others."
Jessica McDonald / Associate Director / Greenbelt Land Trust
"Ellen gets it. She knows the fear that comes from launching forward to pursue your dreams and understands that taking one motion after another requires courage.
In sessions with Ellen some of the most useful moments are when she repeats back what she hears me saying while nudging me forward.
She's intuitive and gives me visual descriptions of what is possible that help me think of new possibilities and opportunities that I had not thought of before.
She is sharp, enthusiastic and brings humor to the work."
Dr. Tia H. Ho, PhD, MST / Founder & CEO / Finding Mindful Now
"Ellen was recommended to me while I was searching to come more into my power and discover how I wanted to expand in my career. Ellen immediately saw my monkey mind and called it - compassionately and lightheartedly.
In the sessions I had with her, she introduced me to a completely different method of decision making, for me, cutting out my chatter. She provided me with tools to center myself and get to the root of my values.
I am still digesting what I learned and practicing the techniques we co-created (an important way she coaches, listening to her clients internal wisdom).
Meeting with her was a pivotal point in my path - learning to listen to myself and feel my decisions, rather than scramble to "figure them out." Thank you, Ellen!"
Hannah E. / Affordable Housing and Resident Engagement Specialist / Oregon
"I worked with Ellen over a few months in a trying time in my career. Having someone to recognize my wave-length where personal growth and awareness was concerned kept me accountable to mygoals and the processes needed to reach them.
Ellen helped me to identify resisting thoughts and behaviors which blocked my progress and gave me tools to change my habits on a moment to moment basis.
Every session was like talking to my best friend who just "gets me". Like a slingshot of positivity, Ellen was an amazing coach."
Dacia Arnold / Author / Colorado

domain: psychology


SJC Headlines Beach Preservation National Conference
St. Johns County was the headline presenters at the recent 37th annual National Conference on Beach Preservation Technology featuring County Commissioner Henry Dean and Coastal Management staff speaking about the six coastal management projects started in 2023 and four additional projects planned for 2024/25 totaling more than $70M in various beach preservation, dune repair, and shoreline stabilization efforts. St. Johns County has 42 miles of Atlantic coastline and manages 32 miles of shoreline, with more than 17 miles designated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as critically eroded.
District 5 County Commissioner Dean kicked off the national conference with a welcome message. Dean has served as County Commissioner since 2016. According to the County’s Coastal Management Department since 2016 the St. Johns Council Board of County Commissioners has authorized the completion of seven projects and placement of approximately 4.8M cubic yards of sand. Funding of $83M has come from the Federal government, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency, and $13.5M from the State of Florida.
Costal Management staff led by Coastal Environment Project Manager Stephen Hammond and Manager of Coastal Management Damon Douglas showcased the six coastal projects started in 2023, with four being completed, as well as the four additional projects kicking off in 2024/25. They noted that St. Johns County’s beach management projects have also resulted in record results for nesting sea turtles along the County’s coastline. In 2023, the county announced it hit triple digits for nesting green sea turtle with 133.
The national conference was presented by the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association (FSBPA) and held at the Embassy Suites St. Augustine Beach from Feb. 7 – 9, 2024. Attendees invited to participate included professional engineers from federal, state, and local governments, elected officials, academic researchers, tourism planners as well as coastal biologists and geologists.
The FSBPA was organized in 1957 at a meeting of 37 local government and university leaders concerned about the growing problem of beach erosion that had virtually destroyed important resort beaches such as Miami Beach. They recognized that erosion was a statewide problem that couldn’t be handled by individual cities and counties alone. The first acts of the newly created FSBPA were to persuade the 1957 Legislature to get the State of Florida involved in beach preservation.


Five key moments snap’ .p.. roadshow video - , As the parent company of snapchat prepares for one of the most anticipated market debuts of the year, it tells its own story.. Miranda kerr joins fiancé evan spiegel snapchat ipo, Snapchat ceo evan spiegel took the company public on thursday – and the tech star’s fiancée miranda kerr couldn’t have been prouder. hitting the new. While weren’ , snapchat revolutionized social, Once known for its disappearing messages, snap, the parent of snapchat, has moved into news and, with spectacles, consumer devices..
Snap ipo: complete bearish case avoiding investing, This story appeared modern trader republished permission. largest ipo years, snapchat filing . http://www.businessinsider.com/snap-ipo-the-complete-bearish-case-for-avoiding-investing-in-snapchat-2017-2 Snapchat files biggest tech ipos years, Snapchat filed initial public offering, sources familiar situation tuesday, puts messaging app step closer biggest .. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-snapchat-ipo/exclusive-snapchat-has-filed-confidentially-for-its-ipo-sources-idUSKBN13A2RD Snap: snap - stock quote news - cnbc, The bankers snap' ipo totally botched price, facebook exec 14 sep 2017 - cnbc.. https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SNAP


My 1999 Jeep Wrangler Sahara's check engine goes on and off and when it goes on, the oil gauge drops to zero and the jeep just barely drives. It does this after about five miles.
1999 wrangler's engine light comes on and goes off. When it comes on, after
driving about 5 miles, the oil gauge drops to zero and the jeep just chugs
along. I got an oil change and it ran great for about two days, now the same
Get a reading on the code to see what it says. Did you change the filter and the oil or just the oil? A collapsed filter could cause low oil pressure. If you really have low oil pressure, driving the car will ruin the engine.
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domain: artistic


P l a c i n g large sump (1) at rear of engine (2), put on oil pan (3).
When put back, throttle return spring bracket will
be mounted on two cap screw holes (5).
D o not put capscrews in two
P u t in 28 capscrews and lockwashers (4).
capscrew holes (5).
END OF TASK


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An Iowa Senate subcommittee approved a $2 million additional state appropriation Monday for the states Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which has seen heavy demand because of a cold winter and soaring propane prices. The measure now goes to the Iowa Senate Appropriations Committee.
Sens. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, and Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, both backed the Senate Study Bill 3137, which is sought by a host of groups, including the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, AARP, the Iowa State Association of Counties, and others. In the Iowa House, Democrats have said they plan to seek an additional $1 million for home heating aid, although the proposal faces an uncertain future.
Lana Ross, a lobbyist for the Iowa Community Action Association, said about 86,000 households participated in the low-income heating assistance program last year, and about 10 percent heated their homes with propane. State officials and the propane industry have done everything possible to ease the problems which has included high prices and a shortage of propane. she said. While the cost of propanehas beendeclining slightly, it is nowhere close to what it was before this crisis, she said.
Sen. Dennis Guth, R-Klemme, declined to immediately back the bill. He suggested the committee may be responding prematurely to the propane issue, noting that many experts have described the shortage of propane as primarily a distribution problem. He said that in a few weeks, its possible the cost of propane could drop significantly and that a smaller amount of state money could address the problem. He also suggested Iowa churches couldaddress the situation by seeking donations to help low-income Iowans paytheir heating bills.

domain: finance


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A newly refurbished, boutique hotel located in the heart of West London, only few minutes walking distance from Shepherds Bush underground station. Ideal for shopping lovers at Westfields. Hotel is well connected with transport links to lots of restaurants, theatres and London Attractions and airports.
Bright & airy dining room
Comfotel GRN Shepherds Bush serves traditional, cooked, hearty breakfasts daily in the bright and airy dining room. There is a great selection of international restaurants just steps away.
The spacious modern rooms at Comfotel have private bathrooms and flat-screen TVs. Rooms also feature tea/coffee facilities and mini refrigerators, and ironing facilities are also provided and with free Wi-Fi.

domain: travel


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Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Jacquie, Jul 24, 2008.
This is my sweet cat,Annabelle.
What to do? This poor, beautiful kitty has been hanging around my place for a couple of months. He (?) is very skittish...runs away if he sees me coming from inside the patio door. I've been putting food out for him, and he'll come and eat and leave, so I assume he has SOMEplace that he can keep warm and dry.
So it snowed a few times, and I made a makeshift "house" for him...put the food under it hoping that if he had to go in there to eat he would think, "Oh hey! It's warm and dry under here! I think I'll stay!" But no.
He's getting a little bit used to me, I think. He knows if the bowl is empty and he looks in here at me that I will come out and fill it, but he still runs next door when I come outside.
Now today it snowed hard all day. I've been out there three times tonight, sweeping the snow away from my patio so he can easily walk through and sweeping the snow away from the little house and making sure the bowl is full and under the cover.
*sigh* I guess he's got street smarts and will be okay. I have to think that. There's nothing else that I can do.
I'm calling him...
Isn't he gorgeous?
oh my goodness he is so handsome! i love long haired tabby cats and the house you made for him is very cute. especially being a long haired cat, he seems to be in very good condition. no matted dirty hair or anything, he probably has a home somewhere. i dont like when people let their kitties run free without a collar, causes worry from people who think there is a homeless cat. theres probably no harm in feeding him, and maybe over time he will warm up to you and make friends.
That's what makes me think he's lost...he's too pretty to be out all the time. I've seen him out in the pouring rain in addition to the snow. And I've seen him kind of hunkered down under the trees nearby when it's been so cold these past several nights. I don't think he has a home where they are letting him out.
First off Smokey he is gorgeous and certainly by looking at him he certainly looks like someone lost pet. Have you thought of putting a pic of him in your local paper to see if anyone knows him?
Also, have you talked to your Humane Society or animal rescue people to see if you can borrow a humane trap to try and get him.
Just some thoughts on how you might be able to help him even more
He's a beaut Smokey!
i finally uploaded some more pictures of my foster kittens! in the first bunch i posted a while back they were about 3 weeks old, in these ones they are 9-10 i think.
wilson doesnt like doing homework either
i heard a strange noise and turned around to find this on top of the curtain rod!
house has outgrown his favourite napping place
showing off his almost heart shaped patch
foreman and house trying to help with the laundry
foreman feels the same way about parasitology as i do
although i really hope they got homes quickly so they didnt have to stay in the shelter long, a part of me cant help but want them to still be there so i can continue to foster them when i get back
allmaple they are just too cute I love the one on the curtain rod :guffaw:
I have a real silly rabbit, Oscar. When I come down in the morning, he actually greets me (just like a dog). He stand up straight and he won't stop until I say something to him. He can jump very high! He actually jumped out of his cage once. I was getting him food, so I let the lid open for a while. All of a sudden he was standing next to me. He also can have his racing moments. He starts racing trough his cage, like a stark raving made rabbit. But I read that it means that he's happy (in his case very happy, he's like roadrunner). Oscar also gives bunny kisses. He licks you (again, just like a dog). Apparently that means that he's comfortable with you. So my conclusion, I have a silly but very happy rabbit. Here are some pictures I took when Oscar thought he had to hide in the hay.
If you're wondering what the blue thing is he's sitting in. That's his toilet, but off course he uses it as a bed.... :wtf:
Squeakers is my 16 year old calico. I adopted her when she was 6 weeks old. I had been fostering her for the Toronto Humane Society and she stole her way in my heart. By the time I was supposed to bring her back, I was smitten with her. There was no way I could not adopt her. She has been with me through thick and thin. My daughter and I love her so.
Now I am waiting to her some test results, but the vet suspects the news is not good. I am not ready to say goodbye.
At least he knows someone cares My aunt in Wisconsin been feeding what she calls "outdoros" for a couple of years just be very careful she recently has also been attracting other critters like raccoons and possums He is a cute cat though
Awwww...Squeakers has had an AWESOME life with you all these years! It's hard to say goodbye, but it's one last good thing you can do for her after all she's done for you over the years. You are doing what's best for her...something she can't do for herself and depends on you to do. I know it sucks tho. Been there myself.
:lol: Oh, the raccoons and possums were here before he came anyway! And let's see....what else has come up to my patio to visit? I've seen groundhogs, skunks, rabbits, deer, a turtle, moles, chipmunks, an owl, a hawk, and mice! And I live in town! :lol:
I have a blanket on a lawn chair out there, and for the past few days Snow Kitty has been sitting there a lot, making himself at home. He still runs behind the fence when I bring the food out, but I think it's progress.
We're due for some more snow this weekend tho.
Cougar is my sister's cat and this is her Tribute to MJ:
I'm sorry to hear about Squeakers. I know how hard it is to lose a pet, because they're just not a pet. They're family and like a child. You gave her a great life and like Smokey said, you have to do this one last thing for her. No matter how hard it is.
I am NOT looking forward to when I'll have to put my Rogen down.
It's been a long 2 years or so, but we took Thomas in for his final follow-up exam this morning. He's been given a clean bill of health for the first time since the tumor was found around 2 years ago. I just gotta say that the girls at this vets office were amazing (our vet wasn't qualified to do the surgery and sent us to one who was). We didn't think we were going to have him for much longer and now he's been given a clean bill of health. :beer:
Separate names with a comma.

domain: pet


Clark Brothers Instrument’s pressure gauges are used in military, industrial, mechanical, vehicle and electrical applications. We have air pressure gauges, fuel pressure gauges, heavy duty pressure gauges, international pressure gauges and many more. Visit our website today for more information.
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The Internal Revenue Service on Friday apologized for flagging conservative groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.
Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax-exempt organizations division, disclosed the practice at a tax conference sponsored by the American Bar Association. The IRS later officially issued a mea culpa in a statement, saying that while “mistakes were made,” its actions weren’t politically motivated.
Law Blog rounded up some notable reaction to the news.
Ezra Klein at the Washington Post says the real concern is which groups the IRS wasn’t targeting:
The problem wasn’t that the IRS was skeptical of tea party groups registering as 501(c)4s. It’s that it hasn’t been skeptical of Organizing for America . . . .

domain: news


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text:
Numerical analysis of shape transition in graphene nanoribbons
MC Wang and C Yan and L Ma and N Hu and GP Zhang, COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS SCIENCE, 75, 69-72 (2013).
Graphene nanoribbon (GNR) with free edges can exhibit non-flat morphologies due to pre-existing edge stress. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we investigated the free-edge effect on the shape transition in GNRs with different edge types, including regular (armchair and zigzag), armchair terminated with hydrogen and reconstructed armchair. The results show that initial edge stress and energy are dependent on the edge configurations. It is confirmed that pre-strain on the free edges is a possible way to limit the random shape transition of GNRs. In addition, the influence of surface attachment on the shape transition was also investigated in this work. It is found that surface attachment can lead to periodic ripples in GNRs, dependent on the initial edge configurations. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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domain: literature


text:
BY JONATHAN SHUGARTS REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — A city police sergeant who was fired last month for improperly chasing an ATV rider was arrested Thursday in Naugatuck on domestic violence-related charges.
Charles "Skip" Shepherd, 56, was charged by Naugatuck police with third-degree assault and second-degree reckless endangerment after his ex-wife told police he hit her with the door frame of his SUV when he drove off while they were having an argument earlier this week.
Shepherd denied the claim, telling police his ex might have made up the allegation because he threatened to call they were having an argument earlier this week.
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Located on picturesque Thorburn Lake at the border of Eastern and Central Newfoundland, The Lakeside at Thorburn is a 4-Season resort. Surrounded by amazing landscape and beautiful scenery, The Lakeside offers an opportunity for visitors to enjoy the great Newfoundland outdoors. Newfoundland and Labrador is a province rich in culture and overflowing with great people and fun. The Lakeside is owned and operated by a Newfoundland family. They all live at the resort and are involved in planning, development, day-to-day operations, and guest experiences. The Lakeside is their home and they want every guest to feel it is their home away from home. The family has a great love for the outdoors and the many wonders the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has to offer. They are pleased to share their knowledge and experiences and to help their guests create memories of their own.
Stay . Relax
For those who like a little extra comfort, we offer accommodations in a 9-room renovated motel with efficiency rooms, standard rooms, and many amenities. Guests preferring the outdoors are offered a 100-site campground with serviced and water only sites. The park has a comfort station with paid showers and laundry facilities for our guests to use. We also have a cook house, recreation room and convenience store.
Looking for some relaxation or romance? Soak in our hut tub, lounge on the beach, take a stroll or take the canoe out on the lake. Ask about our special Romance Package.
At The Lakeside we are all about play. Actually, we love it! The adventures awaiting you will entertain guests of all ages. Those with a need for speed will have a blast driving go-karts, snowmobiling or tube riding and water skiing on scenic Thorburn Lake. Younger children will enjoy wiling away their time at two playgrounds and participating in craft and outdoor activities. Those who enjoy a leisurely pace may lounge on the sandy beach, or explore the lake in a canoe, kayak, rowboat or pedal boat – all available for rent. The resort’s two enclosed pools ensure a day of fun can’t even get rained out while vacationing here.

domain: geography


text:
People Helping People
One of the core principles of credit unions everywhere is, "people helping people." It's something that is easy to say, but not as easy to perform. Health Care Family Credit Union staff work every day to help our members with their financial questions and situations. Embracing this principle is what makes us different from other financial institutions.
Service Sets HCFCU Apart
Every member's situation is unique. Our staff take the time to understand your situations and pain points from other financial institutions; then show you the solutions you're looking for. We have the resources to help you reach your financial goals, including a robust financial management software, and the convenience services you expect like Mobile Deposit.
Health Care Family Credit Union takes pride in the way we treat all of our members. Helping people is our passion, let us prove it to you.

domain: economics


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What is Provigil?
Provigil or also known by its generic name ‘Modafinil’, is a special type of medication that enables its user to stay awake. In simple terms, it promotes a feeling of ‘wakefulness’ by altering the naturally present neurotransmitters (chemicals) in the brain.It is a solution for people who experience excessive sleepiness that is caused as a result of narcolepsy, sleep apnea or sleep disorders caused due to work shift. Although, if you are suffering from skin rash or some sort of an allergic reaction, then Provigil is a strict no. It is known to cause skin severe reactions in the form of rashes. It is advisable to consult your doctor before taking these tablets. It is also extremely important for you to discuss any sort of diseases that you are suffering from related to liver, heart, kidney etc. before hand with your doctor or consultant in case you are thinking about going for this medication.
Before taking this medication:
If you are suffering from the following diseases then Provigil is not the medicine for you:
- Angina (chest pains)
- Cirrhosis or other liver related problems
- Kidney disease
- High blood pressure, heart disease, a history of heart attack
- History of mental illness
- History of drug addiction or alcoholism
It is not a known fact if this medication is harmful for unborn child; hence it is unadvisable to give a pregnant woman this medicine in order to avoid any sort of pregnancy related complications. Although, it has proven to make birth control less effective.
How to take Provigil?
In order to avoid any confusion or side effects, a strict consumption of the medicine as advised by your doctor is recommended. Do not take too much or too little than the prescribed dosage. Never share it with any other person as it is a habit – forming drug.
Usually consumed in morning with an aim of preventing day time sleepiness. It can also be taken one hour before going for your daily work shift if you are looking to combat work time sleep disorders. You can also take it with or without food for a period of twelve weeks or less. Just like any other tablet keep it away from moisture and heat and store it in a cabinet at room temperature. Since this drug is easily addictive, make sure that you do not go over the prescribed quantity under any circumstances.
If you experience difficulty in breathing, swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat then it is advisable to seek immediate emergency treatment.
You will need to stop Provigil consumption if you experience the following side effects:
- Skin rash ; blisters ; skin peeling
- Trouble in swallowing ; sores in mouth
- Shortness of breath ; fever
- Dark urine
- Swelling in legs
- Depression ; anxiety ; suicidal thoughts
- Hallucinations ; aggressions ; unusual thoughts or actions
- Nausea ; diarrhea
- Uneven heartbeats ; upset stomach

domain: medical


Foundations increasingly are augmenting their traditional grantmaking role by engaging in direct charitable activities, a new report says.
The Foundation Center has published the results of a recent survey, “More Than Grantmaking: A First Look at Foundations’ Direct Charitable Activities,” that examines the use of operating programs by more than 900 of the 3,000 largest foundations in the U.S.
Operating programs include direct charitable activities like convening conferences for a broad audience, providing grantees with technical training, and encouraging foundation staff to serve in board or advisory roles to other nonprofits.
Nearly one in four foundations surveyed have such operating programs. In justifying this trend, many cited a desire to promote organizational effectiveness in their grantmaking, while others emphasized the opportunity to build capacity and collaboration efforts among their grantees.
Examples of operating programs included in the report reflect this variety of motivations.
Some efforts target specific grantee populations, while others serve the wider community, like the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s program for vulnerable children or The California Endowment’s One-e-App online enrollment program for health and social services.
This non-traditional role in all its facets seems to be growing among foundations, the report says.
Of the 684 independent and family foundations surveyed, six in 10 said they had expanded the scope of their direct-service activities in the past five years, and three in four believe the practice is spreading.
Foundations with large endowments proved more likely than smaller foundations to operate their own programs, with half of those with annual giving averaging of $10 million or more reporting doing so.
Yet community foundations were by far the most likely of the group to have operating programs.
Among community foundations, more than six in 10 percent reported engaging in direct-service activities, compared to one in four independent or family foundations, and fewer than two in 10 corporate funders.
Virtually all respondents with operating programs were professionally staffed.
“These activities represent an increasingly hands-on approach by foundations and explain in part their need for professional staff,” Loren Renz, report author and senior researcher for special projects at the Foundation Center, says in a statement.
Established in 1956 with the goal of increasing philanthropic transparency, the Foundation Center connects nonprofits to grantmakers and provides them with tools and information through their research, education, and training programs.


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Ash And Thorn (2020 Ahoy) #1 (Mature) (NM)
Shipping calculated at checkout.
The apocalypse is nigh! The world needs a Champion, and the only heir to a sacred mystical lineage is...a little old lady? Meet Lottie Thorn, reluctant savior of the world, and her also-elderly trainer Lady Peruvia Ashlington-Voss. They might not look it, but these women are prepared to take on any Big Bad that comes along. But first, perhaps a nice cup of tea?Every AHOY comic also features extra prose stories and illustrations.
Cover photo is a stock photo and does not picture the actual copy available for sale.Ahoy Comics (W) Mariah Mccourt (A) Soo Lee (Ca) Jill Thompson


text:
I’m Noche Diaz, I’m a national spokesperson for the Revolution Clubs. I’m going to start off by expressing appreciation for those who have come, those have been part of signing this statement demanding a reversal of this denial of the permit—Reverend Wulf, Reverend Nathaniel, Emanuel, and all the other people who have signed this letter that has been sent. And I want to say a couple of things about June 12th.
What is the message that has gotten these LA Sheriffs all shaken?
June 12th, we’re going to be starting at LA Southwest College, LA on Western and Imperial. We’re going to be marching through this neighborhood, and ending at this sheriff’s station. This march is open to everyone who wants to see a different world. Everyone who cannot stand the way things are and have the heart to fight for something worth fighting for.
What we have already heard about these sheriffs—the murder of Dijon Kizzee and Andŕes Guadardo, and the other 300 people they have killed over the last 21 years, the day in, day out terror that they inflict on the people in this neighborhood who describe feeling as if they’re going through their lives hunted like animals—this would be reason enough for us to be marching on June 12th to demand “Revolution, Nothing Less,” to show the world that we are getting organized for revolution, nothing less. Unfortunately, though, it is not the only reason we are marching.
The fact is that today, very literally we can say, there may be no future at all, and certainly there is certainly no future worth living for, if we continue to live under this system. But on June 12th, we’ll be marching these streets to show everyone that there is a purpose and a future worth living and fighting for—revolution, nothing less. On June 12th, we will not be marching here to beg these oppressors to murder us a little bit less or to be a little bit nicer as they carry out their oppression and terror. We won’t be doing that because we understand, and people more broadly need to understand, that these sheriffs and the police just like them, not only in this city but across this country, and the military of the United States around the world, enforce a system of capitalism-imperialism, of oppression and madness, here and throughout the world. People need to understand that, and people need to be and people need to see a force that is fighting for a whole different world. A future without white supremacy, male supremacy, the demonization of immigrants, the wars for empire, and the destruction of the environment and the planet we live on.
People need to become, and people need to see, a force that is preparing, that is building strength and organizing forces, for a time when millions can go up against this system, bring it down through a revolution, and dismantle and defeat the violent instruments and tools that enforce this system. We’ll be marching on June 12th through these streets to show people we don’t have to look to and follow the leaders that are trotted out in front of us, that keep us playing around for centuries, with changes that help only a few while keeping this whole thing going.
We’ll be letting people know there is leadership to look to and follow if you want to get free, and that’s Bob Avakian, who’s got a way to end all this madness. Recently, Bob Avakian commented on the 100-year anniversary of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the white racist riot and massacre of Black people in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And looking at that incident and the whole history of this country, Bob Avakian said, the question is not if this whole system needs to go, it’s how soon can we get rid of it. And June 12th, we’re bringing those days closer.
June 12th, we’ll be marching these streets because people need to be, and people need to see, a force that is getting ready to actually get rid of this system. And this is totally legal. What we are doing June 12th is not only very legal, it’s very needed. We are training people now to be a disciplined and determined force, to not get provoked into foolishness that these sheriffs will try to start. We are training people to be disciplined and determined to not back down or back off from this goal of emancipating all of humanity.
As our Points of Attention in the Revolution Club say, Number 6, we are serious about an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive and vicious conflicts of today. And because we are serious, at this stage, we do not initiate violence, and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people. And I say this because the reasons that these sheriffs have given to deny us a permit for June 12th are ridiculous. The idea that they don’t have enough resources and police to police people to allow them to be able to speak out, is ridiculous on its face. It’s embarrassing to even talk about here. And two, the idea that over this last year, they talk about “unruly” protests—let me tell you about unruly, how people and property were destroyed.
Dijon Kizzee was murdered, first of all. And people who came out to protest the violence of these sheriffs were met with more brutality and more terror. A comrade in the Revolution Club was urinating blood for days after marching in these streets and being hit by rubber bullets and being attacked by these police. And for them, to be able to declare any protest against their violence as “unlawful assembly,” to attack it the way they did, and then to use their violence to declare that people don’t have the right to march in the streets any more, is not just hypocrisy, it is deadly fascist logic that we all need to oppose.
Nobody should accept this bunch of unruly, out-of-control white supremacist, gang-infested LA Sheriffs determining who gets the right to march around. Nobody should accept a future that people like that are trying to bring into being where people’s rights are shredded or essentially made meaningless by this kind of circular logic of an open dictator and oppressor. And we, all of us, should refuse to accept slavery in any form, and be organizing to put an end to all oppression. And June 12th, that is why we are going to be marching in the streets. That is why this permit should be granted… because we’re not just going to be in a corner somewhere, or giving them excuses to attack people who march, when they see people who they brutalize every day marching in the streets together with people from all over the city, demanding a whole different world. We can’t allow them to use any excuse or pretense to attack that, when people are already beaten down so much already. When they lift their heads, everyone should be at their side and at their back and say, we are standing together. And this march should go through these streets. And we should be loud, and we should have a truck. And we should take the streets.
So June 12th, this is the message, this is what we are doing. And this is why we demand a reversal of the decision to deny the permit for the Revolution Club marching on June 12th. In fact when we seize power, people who oppose our rule will have every right to march, to protest against us—and the opposition against us will even be funded—look at the Constitution of the New Socialist Republic of North America, authored by Bob Avakian. There has never been a founding document like this on history.
But coming back to this June 12th—under this system: This is why we express our appreciation and thanks to everyone who have stood together with us in demanding a reversal of this decision—not just for our right to speak, but for what kind of future and what kind of society, and what kind of means we’re going to have to even fight for a different world. Thank you, sisters and brothers.
When we seize power, it's going to be radically different...
Bob Avakian on Constitutions, law, dissent, intellectual and cultural ferment, and the right to protest… for a radically different world!
Editors Note: Bob Avakian (BA) has done tremendous work, and forged breakthroughs on what the law needs to enshrine in principles for a just society. Here are just a few samples:
Some excerpts by and about BA on Law, Justice, and Ending Oppression and Exploitation
[In regard to the Constitution for a New Socialist Republic in North America, which he authored, BA writes:]
It is a fact that, nowhere else, in any actual or proposed founding or guiding document of any government, is there anything like not only the protection but the provision for dissent and intellectual and cultural ferment that is embodied in this Constitution, while this has, as its solid core, a grounding in the socialist transformation of the economy, with the goal of abolishing all exploitation, and the corresponding transformation of the social relations and political institutions, to uproot all oppression, and the promotion, through the educational system and in society as a whole, of an approach that will “enable people to pursue the truth wherever it leads, with a spirit of critical thinking and scientific curiosity, and in this way to continually learn about the world and be better able to contribute to changing it in accordance with the fundamental interests of humanity.” All this will unchain and unleash a tremendous productive and social force of human beings enabled and inspired to work and struggle together to meet the fundamental needs of the people—transforming society in a fundamental way and supporting and aiding revolutionary struggle throughout the world—aiming for the final goal of a communist world, free from all exploitation and oppression, while at the same time addressing the truly existential environmental and ecological crisis, in a meaningful and comprehensive way, which is impossible under the system of capitalism-imperialism.
“It has to be said—and cannot be overstated—that, in the world today, there can be no just society without the rule of law; there can be no rule of law without due process of law; and there can be no due process of law without the presumption of innocence (and that presumption of innocence must be real—and not a farce, as it is in this society).”
- Bob Avakian on the Law, Justice, and Ending Oppression and Exploitation
- Constitution, Law, and Rights—in capitalist society and in the future socialist society
Selections from the writings of Bob Avakian including excerpts from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)

domain: sociology


text:
By Jeremy McDonald
TIGARD, Ore.–It was a tough way to go down for the South Salem Boys Basketball team versus Tigard after a great finish to the season entering Tuesday’s match-up on the road as the Saxons battled hard against a Tigers squad that towered over them in front of them during the course of the game.
But, they found a way to compete.
Down 8-2 to start the game with Tigard coming out firing, South answered with the help of Jaden Nielsen-Skinner to build a 24-21 lead late in the second quarter as the sophomore scored eight of his 16 points in the first quarter to spark the Saxons rally and motivation.
“That’s how we are,” said Nielsen-Skinner on the first half. “We always end up starting slow, but we always come out fast. We just battled back. That’s the way we always do.”
Though the Tigers finished the first half on a 6-0 run to take a 27-24 lead, you could tell that South was in a dogfight to advance to play in the OSAA 6A Second Round on Friday evening.
But, the Saxons were momentarily stunned as Tigard came out punching to push their lead to over double-figures by the mid-part of the third quarter.
What got them refocused was a Tyler Wadleigh trey to get it to within single-digits that was followed by Gavin Baughman’s inspiring play as the junior scored eight of his 16 in the third quarter as.
And though the scoreboard read Tigers 47, South Salem 37, the Saxons looked as if they were one or two big defensive stops away from a fantastic rally entering the fourth quarter.
“I just want to get our team going and I know I can get the big guys off balanced because they couldn’t keep up with me,” said Baughman on his performance. “So every time, I just pulled up and hit that little jumper.”
They got as close to eight in the fourth frame, but the height of the Tigard squad in front of them that set the pace to start the second half to help keep momentum in their favor kept South from getting any closer as the Tigers ended the Saxons season 66-54.
“It’s upsetting, but we have to move on,” said Nielsen-Skinner.
“It hurts,” adds Baughman. “We prepared hard for this game, just come out short, it’s stings.”
Nielsen-Skinner adds that the goal every year is to go to the Chiles Center at the University of Portland in the Elite Eight with how successful the program’s been over the years.
And, adds Baughman, for them to get back their his senior year and Skinny’s Junior year; it starts with this off-season.
“We just have to get better this off-season,” said Baughman. “Work out more, get the whole team in (and) workout out. Not necessarily just at South but anywhere, text some open gyms. Get together and play to against the best and AAU.”
One thing is for certain, this feeling that they have right now entering the offseason well before they wanted; this will help them get back to the Elite 8 and the Chiles Center once more and make a deep run at the 6A State Title.
There is no doubt that South Salem will be back in 2017-2018.
SAXONS SCORERS- Baughman-16. Nielsen-Skinner-16. Wadleigh 11. Brown-5. Galbreath-3.Ellis-3.
Follow Jeremy McDonald on Twitter at @J_McDonald81 or like jmcdonaldmedia on Facebook!


Rats On The Run has been growing. And following the announcement of a new writing collective, the newest brainchild of Right Chord Music, it’s a pleasure to say we’re involved.
What ROTR Says…
Rats On The Run is now pleased to be working with a new Right Chord Music initiative. A collection of independent artists and influencers, all in one place and waiting to listen.
Music is about building networks, sharing new sounds and ideas. The more ears that hear you the better!
Every submission sent in goes to all blogs and teams that have been chosen to work with RCM. And we’re glad to write right along side them.
What RCM Say…
Top 10 ranked indie music blog, RightChordMusic.co.uk (RCM) are inviting independent music blogs, freelance writers, playlisters, DJs and live promoters to access their central submissions hub as part of a new initiative called the Right Chord Music Indie Collective.
Now when musicians submit music via rightchordmusic.com they could end up with multiple reviews or offers of promotion. “The Indie Collective allows us to collectively champion and support more incredible new music, all from one free submission,” explains RCM founder Mark Knight.
So who’s in this collective so far?
Electric Ear Candy . Euphonixx . Iraina . Music In Isolation . Scary Canary . We Make Music . & of course, Rats On The Run. A new networking growing from the ground up.


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From one deeply flavorful chicken broth, F&W's Grace Parisi creates four exceptional soups. More Chicken Soup Recipes
In a stockpot, combine the chicken and neck with the water, quartered onion, chopped carrots and celery, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, parsley springs and thyme sprigs and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate. Discard the skin. Pull the meat off the bones, cut it into 1/2-inch pieces and refrigerate.
Return the bones to the pot, partially cover and simmer for 1 hour, until the broth is richly flavored. Strain the broth into a clean heat proof bowl and rinse out the pot. Return the broth to the pot and boil over moderate heat until reduced to 8 cups, about 30 minutes. Season with salt.
In a large saucepan, heat the vegetable oil. Add the sliced onion, ginger, tomatoes, curry powder and tomato paste and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the broth, coconut milk and banana and bring to a boil. Season with salt and cook over moderate heat until the banana is very tender, about 30 minutes. Add the chopped chicken and cilantro and simmer until just heated through. Ladle into bowls and serve.

domain: food


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Would you paint a picture to match the sofa?
I think I still have a LOT of no-no’s from back then. I had a weird conversation with a friend who said “I am prepared to try any sort of painting as long as…” (and here I mentally said, it does not sacrifice my artistic integrity) but she said “as long as I think it is financially viable” Another lesson!
The same friend told me that the in-colour this year is muted greys and it would be good to paint to complement this. This makes me feel that I live in the dark ages, still not even thinking of market trends.
When I painted the pebble paintings I thought it was a natural. zen-like, personal expression; and original (in that I have added letters in the same way I did to the original pebbles). I also thought it was very saleable and important that it is archival. Each pebble is unique, has words added, and is mounted on blocks painted and sanded and properly finished with Annie Sloan paint. They are sealed to withstand bathroom damp. I painted about 20 of these.
I had them at Art in Action in August 2014 and sold one. Someones said they were overpriced as they are bathroom art (as opposed to sitting room art). There is a lesson in that which I have taken on board. Another person wanted the edges to all match. I loved the variation and thought mix ‘n match is good.
I offered them to a gallery in Burford in November 2014, but they said that as it was winter they should be shown during summer!
Later I had them at Artweeks in May 2015 and sold four (one to my granddaughter Isabel, with a commission from Harriet (6) to do an H). I balked at selling paintings to my own granddaughters but their Mum said “They have money burning in their pockets and I’d rather they bought your paintings than more fluffy toys”.
- If you do different letters on paintings you hugely reduce the chances of selling them. Better to do droplets, feathers etc. on pebbles than letters, as people will only buy a letter if it is their initial. But I am a lettering artist – weep!
- Something like this has to be properly marketed in a nice gallery to give it a sense of value so as not to be confused with mass-produced prints.
- Framed pictures sell better than block-mounted pictures.
- Prices people are prepared to pay relates to the room the work is destined for. Bathroom art should be the cheapest and living room art the most expensive. This is obvious to most people (except me).
- Oil paintings are perceived to have more worth than watercolour paintings, even though I think wateroclours takes more skill. This judgement is based on having done oils for 4 years as a student.
- Prints (e.g. lino or screenprinting) are confused with giclées, and are sadly underrated. It takes 20 times longer to do a run of 10 prints than to create a painting.
- The colours need to harmonise with the room and this season’s colour schemes.
- The subject matter sells best for its emotional appeal more than its artistic merit, so a recognisable landscape is more likely to sell than a general one. (This does not apply to me, as I am not a landscape artist, but I saw it happen with a colleague’s work). In calligraphy, recognisable text – preferably poetry from schooldays e.g. Wordsworth’s Daffodils, sells best.
- It is very hard to sell work at a fair like Art-in-Action – not surprising as there is so much to be tempted by! But it’s good exposure and a very good way to guage what people respond to, even if they don’t buy. I guage largely through my cards which give a fair reflection.
- Pictures are seasonal. Pebbles sell well in the summer. Snowdrops sell in springtime. Snow in winter…
- Thistles are more popular than lilies. Teasels are more popular (and nicer) than pictures of roses. Roses, however are nicer in the garden than teasels. Its just that its very difficult to paint something that’s near-perfect and make it look more splendid!
- Portraits are only desirable if they are your family or celebrities, or tell a story.
- Portraits of animals only sell to people who have that specific breed.
I still have masses to learn – can anyone offer any shortcuts or inside information?
And here’s a thing! Someone told me about a botanical artist who said that when there was one painting that she could not shift, instead of marking it down, she reframed it in a much fancier frame, and hung it in the centre of her display. It always went quite quickly!
But I am pleased to see that my calligraphic dance figures are very popular. I’m just not sure how they fit into what I have learnt!


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According to the Institute of Elevator Studies, the most offensive lift journey of all time took place on April 9 2017 in Leeds, when a group of touchy academics were on their way up to a colloquium. By the time the lift doors opened at the 11th floor there were 37 calls for various occupants to make a formal apology.
By comparison, the recent occasion in San Francisco, when a professor was ordered to apologise for asking someone to press the button for the ladies lingerie floor, was a paltry matter.
The Great Leeds Umbrage, as it has come to be known, began on the second floor, when a postgraduate student entered the lift and mimicked the recorded sing-song female voice which informed them (unnecessarily)...
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A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry declined to remark specially on the scenario, telling reporters at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday to contact the relevant division.
A consultant for the Ministry of Commerce didn’t answer to an earlier request for remark.
Prolonged Approach WTO dispute settlements can typically be a drawn-out process, and the results are not predicted to be recognized for months at minimum.
A recent scenario involving China and The usa took about two yrs, with a panel ruling in September that the US broke worldwide laws when it imposed tariffs on Chinese merchandise in 2018.
Relations in between China and Australia have been fraught given that 2018 when Canberra barred Huawei Systems Co. from setting up its 5G network on countrywide protection grounds, and worsened this year immediately after Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government termed for an global inquiry into the origins of coronavirus.


I first heard about Microsoft’s Photosynth technology about a year ago. It uses computers to stitch together photos to create interactive panoramas. The more photos used, the more interactive the panorama is.
The biggest use for something like this is an event where you have lots of people taking photos on their own that you can feed into the system.
Lets see, what happened today that might be cool to play around with this tech?
Oh yeah, the election in front of the U.S. Capitol.
CNN is way ahead and put one up, its pretty cool and you should check it out:


Homegrown in Denton, Texas, this power trio bring their own version of bluegrass music called “Skunkgrass” to the stage. Boxcar Bandits draws from a deep well of Americana Music with a mixture of bluegrass, swing and country. You will be up and moving by 3:00 pm!
Boxcar Bandits: North Texas Skunkgrass power trio and friends, homegrown in Denton, TX since 2006. Equally at home at a beer joint or concert hall, back porch or street corner, the group melds bluegrass, old-time, western swing and country with the sounds of string band instruments to create their signature Skunkgrass sound. Boxcar Bandits’ first album, “Smells Like Grass” was released in 2008, and a live set, “Live at Dan’s Silver Leaf”, was released in 2011; both are available on Break-a-Pick Records. Their third release “Ballads to Deep Gap: A Tribute to Doc Watson” will be available on June 9th, 2016
From 2010-2015 the Boxcar Bandits had a weekly residency in Denton, first at Dan’s Silver Leaf, next at Hailey’s, and then at Mulberry Street Cantina. The band continues touring throughout the United States. They have also opened for such acts as Junior Brown, John Cowan, Greensky Bluegrass, Mountain Sprout, Packway Handle Band, Milkdrive and Cornmeal. In the Fall of 2012, the Boxcar Bandits were nominated for a Dallas Observer Music Award in Best Roots/Americana category.


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Adam Levine News
Blake Shelton named People magazine's 'sexiest man alive'
Kate Coyne, People magazine's executive editor, appears live on "GMA" to discuss how they chose this year's cover man.
Blake Shelton is named People magazine's 'sexiest man alive'
I expect the pump starting with People Magazine naming the 2017. Sexiest man Ella and. Of course she thought it was going to be him phone this year the crown goes to the country superstar. Billy Shelton. The 41 year old Oklahoma native joked that the magazine must be running out of people. A lot of
Blake Shelton is named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive
Blake Shelton has been named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2017. According to the magazine , the singer was shocked by the news, and joked that the editors were "down to somebody who is somewhat symmetrical." He also said that he couldn't wait to rub the honor in the face of his friend
Maroon 5 and Kelsea Ballerini embrace pop on new albums
Maroon 5 ’s “Red Pill Blues” (Deluxe Edition) **1/2 With every album, Maroon 5 gets further away from the rock band they once were in the “Songs About Jane,” era, and instead, seem to be fully embracing pop. "Red Pill Blues," the band's sixth studio album, has a relaxed, chilled style that gives it
Dick Van Dyke apologizes for his cockney accent in 'Mary Poppins'
let's celebrate a little "Pop news" right now with Lara. You got it. We start with Dick Van Dyke begins our news this morning. Love him. Hollywood legend. So, dick is hoping that he's finally off the hook for something that he did back in 1964. Over the weekend the 91-year-old legend apologized for
Adam Levine's wife Behati Prinsloo pregnant with couple's second child
Adam Levine 's wife Behati Prinsloo is pregnant with the couple's second child, the model announced Wednesday on Instagram . Prinsloo shared a photo of herself in a bikini, displaying a her pregnant stomach. She captioned it, "ROUND 2 ROUND 2 A post shared by Behati Prinsloo Levine
Fifth Harmony wins big at Teen Choice Awards; Bruno Mars unveils new video
It was a big night Sunday for Fifth Harmony at the 2017 Teen Choice awards . The group took home surfboards in the categories of Choice music group and Choice summer group. Their latest single, "Down" with Gucci Mane, was awarded Choice song: Group; and their fans, the Harmonizers, were honored as
Fan arrested after rushing stage at Britney Spears concert
Jesse Webb, 37, was held down by Spears' backup dancers at her Las Vegas show before being dragged off the stage and arrested for trespassing.
What to expect from the MTV Movie and TV Awards 2017
It's the awards show that's given us Zac Efron shirtless, Snoop Dogg smoking onstage with Kesha, along with tons and tons of onstage kisses. The MTV Movie and TV awards are set to air from Hollywood tonight. When the nominees were announced last month, the horror film written and directed by Jordan

domain: entertainment


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Why and how it works
Two of the greatest barriers stopping people to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle is that they rarely feel they get something back for doing so and that it is extremely hard to see improvements in the environment due to individual actions. Both barriers are related to the lack of feedback, which in turn is essential to make people feel motivated to adopt and sticking with a new behaviour. In comparison making changes in our diets and starting to exercise generally pays off quite rapidly. The example below illustrates how something as simple as a happy face can motivate more people to act green.
The extent to which people experience positive feedback is strongly related to social norms. If having and driving a car is considered to be the norm in a community, trying to change this behaviour by giving people feedback can be outweighed by losses in social status and appreciation from the community and family members.
Recommendations for implementation
The fact that something as simple as a happy face can act as a strong motivation for people to uphold a green behaviour opens up for many simple and relatively cheap activities that can be carried out, both in small and large scale and in many different settings. Furthermore, providing feedback does not only involve rewards. It can also be information that helps people to grasp the effect of their individual and collective choices. The One Tonne Life -project carried out in Sweden during 2012 is a concrete example of how to give such feedback to a single family. The project has inspired a municipal real state company in the city of Uppsala, Sweden, to develop a large-scale project called Klimatsmart together with one of the biggest grocery stores in Sweden.
Example: Using a happy face to encourage low energy consumption
In a series of studies about the impact of social norms carried out by American psychologist Robert Cialdini and colleagues, one involved testing people’s energy consumption can be affected by information about how their neighbours perform. The experiments showed that when people get detailed information about how they perform compared to their neighbourhood people tend to adjust, also when they have the lowest energy consumption. Cialdini and his crew wanted to see whether giving people positive feedback could eliminate this negative effect.
In 2005 several hundred households in the City of San Marcos in the US were monitored for four weeks during which they received two door hangers delivered one week apart. Each hanger displayed information about how much energy, in kWh/day, the household had used in the previous week, information about the average energy consumption in the neighbourhood during the same period and some suggestions of how to reduce their energy use. In the first trial, all households were given the same signs. In the second trial the households were divided in four groups. Half of the households with lower than average energy use received a hanger with a happy face. Similarly, half of those with the highest energy consumption got a sad face on their second hanger.
Three weeks after receiving the second door hanger, the households with the lowest energy consumption who did not receive a happy face had increased their energy use with ten per cent. Among those who got the simple feedback, however, the increase was only 1 per cent. Furthermore it was shown that the households with the highest energy consumption and who got a sad face on their hanger decreased their energy consumption more than those who did not get this negative feedback.
In 2008 the City of Sacramento started sending monthly home electricity reports to 35 000 randomly selected residential customers where comparison to similar households were given and positive feedback was given by either one or two smileys to those that performed better than average. Six months after the pilot begun it was shown that the targeted households had reduced their electricity use by two percent more than the control group (60 000 customers). As a result of this study a new company called Opower was formed. Their idea is to cooperate with energy companies to give all their customers this type of regular feedback together with the energy bills.


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The rythym of rebirth and regeneration named by the africans after the snake, because the snake can shed its skin each year and appear to be reborn…and so the guan guanco became the rhythm of rebirth and regeneration
i think my heart changes color according to who/what is touching it, but most days my heart is a tender, yet passionate, deep purple color with golden veins
Fun Fact: when I was a little girl my favorite baby doll was a beautiful black water baby….
Acting like you want to know someone forever, that’s the part that matters.
I wish it was possible to list myself as interested in neither men, nor women on Facebook…..
After years and years of the emotional abuse, a beautiful, wise queen finally whispered to the young girl not to take it personally. She explained to the young girl that she was allowed to stand up for herself. And she reminded the young girl not to swallow the poisonous words but to swallow strength instead.
So the young girl swallowed that strength and never looked back.
generalization of any kind is dangerous
one of the best things about life is those people that you just happen to cross paths with…so many things could have prevented you from ever entering each others lives and yet you interact with them (however brief or long) and your entire reality is altered. It could simply be that person whose blog you really related to, or the best friend you’ve known your whole life whose parents just happened to go to the same med school as yours, or the girl you thought was annoying in high school but turned out to be the person you can be completely yourself around, maybe it’s that awkward yet attractive man you ended up playing beer pong with who you might have fallen for, or the girl who dressed as Dorothy for halloween that ended up being your neighbor, maybe its the curly-headed shy girl who happened to be in your cabin your first year at summer camp, it’s the dude who made fun of you in freshman year but who you ended up being able to tell everything to….I think you get where I’m going with this. I have beautiful people in my life (some of you are definitely included in that group!) and I feel truly blessed to have been exactly where I was, when I was, and doing whatever I was doing to have allowed all these relationships to occur. mahalo nui loa to all those who have shared their light with me, trust that I don’t take that for granted.
I have an etsy but there isn’t anything on it right now. Butttt, I do custom orders!
If I ever do make enough to start selling, I’ll post the link.
hating yourself isn’t gonna get you anywhere…what good has it done you so far?
use that powerful energy elsewhere
….that awkward moment when you unfriend someone on Facebook and they try to re-friend you
We are not story-tellers. Our stories are the tellers of us.
If you want someone in your life you have to show it
too all the people saying shit about how “amy deserved it” blah, blah, blah
would you say the same about hendrix? joplin? cobain? morrison? or anyone else that died too young from an illness that plagues so many people, people you probably know and love?
yeah….didn’t think so
i listen to a lot of brazilian musicians, bossa nova, and music that’s inspired by brazilian music such as; azymuth, jackson conti (madlib & mamao), astrud gilberto, joao gilberto, bebel gilberto, sergio mendes & brasil ‘66, luiz bonfa, eumir deodato, and antonio carlos jobim to name a few
now why da fuck you gotta be anon for dis???


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Editor’s Note: The following article was published on the website of The Catholic Esquire. It has been rep-published with permission from the author Marc Zarlengo, Esq.
Regardless of whether or not you believe the Coronavirus/COVID panic currently sweeping across the fruited plain of the United States is an overblown media-hyped creation or is a real, deadly concern we must respond to on a world-wide scale, the impact of the stay-at-home orders issued by state and local authorities in response has sparked some very serious and grave constitutional questions—especially concerning the First Amendment’s supposed guarantee of the free exercise of religion.
More specifically, the question often raised by many Americans staring at an unprecedented level of restrictions on a vast array of liberties in the name of “flattening the curve” is how can the government prohibit religious gatherings of people, such as attending Mass on Sundays, when the Constitution prohibits infringement on the free exercise of religion? Isn’t a prohibition on attending church an obvious infringement on the exercise of religion?
The simple answer is of course it is an infringement on the exercise of religion, that’s not even disputable. The real question that Catholics and others of faith must ask from a constitutional perspective is why isn’t the government required to make an exception in these state and locally ordered stay-at-home orders for attending religious worship services on Sundays?
The answer to this question is because the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) said the government is not required to make exceptions (although they can) in laws to accommodate religious practices so long as the governmental restrictions are generally applicable to everyone, and does not single out religion itself.
For practicing Catholics, this issue not only impacts our ability to participate in in the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass and to receive sacraments, but very much could impact the final destination of eternal souls! So, we need to understand how we got to this point by looking at the key 1990 SCOTUS case of Employment Division v. Smith. By understanding this case, we can understand why “freedom of religion,” as supposedly enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, is nothing more than an open invitation for governmental control of religion and the Catholic faith to such an extent that it constitutes a rejection of the social kingship of Christ. And then we can ask, what should our response be?
Employment Division v. Smith (1990)
The Smith case involved two Oregon men, Alfred Smith and Galen Black, who were fired from their jobs at a drug rehab center because they were caught ingesting peyote (a spineless cactus plant with psychoactive properties) for religious purposes at a ceremony sponsored by their Native American church. Use of peyote was considered a criminal act under Oregon law. Smith and Black applied for unemployment benefits with the state and were denied because the Employment Division found they were fired for work-related “misconduct”, which disqualified them under Oregon law for unemployment benefits.
Smith and Black appealed the denial of benefits on the grounds that the State of Oregon infringed on their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion because peyote was an important ritual and authentic religious practice. The case ultimately ended up before the Supreme Court. Its opinion, authored by Justice Antonin Scalia (surprisingly to some), concluded that Oregon’s prohibition on the use of peyote did not infringe on Smith and Black’s rights under the Free Exercise clause in the First Amendment.
What’s important to understand about the Smith decision is not only that the State of Oregon was found to have the constitutional authority to restrict the religious practices of members of a Native American church, but the reasoning behind the decision. Now that Catholics (and other Christians) are facing extensive restrictions on religious gatherings under stay-in-home orders, the analysis contained in the Smith opinion exposes the reality that the free exercise of religion results in nothing more than a grant of power to the secular government over religion!
Interestingly, none of the Court members rejected the idea that government could restrict certain religious practices. The legal question was whether the government had to first show a “compelling interest” before doing so, or whether the government simply had blanket authority to do so. The Court ultimately agreed with the latter position and determined that
- “the right of free exercise [of religion] does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes (or prescribes) conduct that his religion prescribes (or proscribes).”
In other words, so long as a law applies to everyone generally and does not single out religion for a restriction, then the fact it may affect the ability of a citizen to practice his religion does not relieve him from complying with the law.
What the Smith decision on a practical level means for Christians of all stripes is that when your religious practice conflicts with a generally applicable civil law, then the civil law trumps your religious belief and you have to obey the government command. The government doesn’t even need to provide a compelling civic or public safety reason to infringe on your religious belief—it just can. For Smith and Black, Oregon didn’t have to show peyote ingestion was a dangerous practice, all it had to show was that it criminalized peyote use for everyone.
How did Justice Scalia and the rest of the Court’s majority reach this conclusion? The reasoning was quite simple and logical given the principles upon which the United States was founded. If it was any other way, according to Scalia, the government and its courts would have to engage in the next to impossible and inappropriate task of reviewing and analyzing the nature and importance of a claimed religious practice in relation to whatever religion was at issue. Scalia went on to state,
- “Any society adopting such a system would be courting anarchy, but that danger increases in direct proportion to the society’s diversity of religious beliefs, and its determination to coerce or suppress none of them. Precisely because ‘we are a cosmopolitan nation made up of people of almost every conceivable religious preference,’ [citations omitted] and precisely because we value and protect that religious divergence, we cannot afford the luxury of deeming presumptively invalid, as applied to the religious objector, every regulation of conduct that does not protect an interest of the highest order.”
There is the reasoning—because we in the United States believe in a diversity of religions and are opposed to the idea of government interference or review of individual religious practices, of which there could be an infinite variety, we cannot expect the courts to assume otherwise valid civil laws to be invalid because anyone can make up any religion and claim it as “their” religious practice. That indeed would seem to make governing for the civil authorities impractical if not impossible.
At the risk of putting words into Justice Scalia’s mouth, he also seems to be saying that getting into the business of determining legitimate versus non-legitimate religious practices violates a fundamental principle of freedom of religion or interference from government in a nation that prides itself on diversity. The consequence of not having an established religion, such as Roman Catholicism, is that ALL religions have to be presumed valid, regardless of how evil or destructive they are. That is why as a practical matter, all claimed religions are bound to follow the civil, secular laws if law and order is going to be maintained. The trade-off is that while all religions are allowed to exist and operate to some extent, including Catholicism, they must subordinate themselves to the civil authorities on some areas of conflict in order for everyone to live in peace and harmony. That’s the theory anyway, and it was an idea most of the Founding Fathers agreed with.
A Catholic Response to the Smith Case
The problem from a traditional (and authentic) Catholic point of view with all of this, is that the underlying premises accepted by the Court are fundamentally flawed and necessarily result in the rejection of both the divine and natural law as expressed in Christ’s social kingship.
First of all, as Catholics we believe there is only one, catholic and apostolic Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself, that can be historically traced back to Christ, and that there is no salvation outside of the Church. Therefore, we cannot support a system that seems to promote or support the idea that God wills the diversity of religions, nor that a valid civil authority can be structured on any teachings contrary to the will of God.
Of course, other religions may say the same thing. But from a Catholic perspective, it doesn’t matter what the other religions believe in this regard. WE have a duty to Christ and to follow His commands and teachings while attempting to convert those who do not believe.
Given what Americans have been taught about fundamental “American principles” that value a diversity of religions, pluralism, and separation of church and state, the Smith decision would seem inevitable and reasonable. However, we know from both Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition that God does not favor a diversity of religions or the separation of His Church from the civil state in the way protestant and enlightenment political theorists conceived of it.
Secondly, Catholics cannot in good conscience agree to put the law of the state above the God’s laws when they are in direct conflict.
While I am not going to attempt a full and complete treatment of the social teaching of the Church with respect to Church-state relations, it is sufficient to state here that there has always been a recognized division of authority between the civil (temporal) state and the Church, and yet both the state and Church are subordinate to Christ as King.
We see this clearly in Christ’s response to the pharisees when He tells them to “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” (Matthew 22: 17-22). Clearly, there is a sphere of power belonging to the Church and another one belonging to the state. Saint Paul explains that civil authority, i.e. the power of the state, indeed does and should command obedience from its citizens. He explains this is because the power or authority the civil ruler holds is given to him by God: “Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God.” (Romans 13:1).
This is important to remember when we consider Christ’s social kingship: ALL authority, including both civil and ecclesial, ULTIMATELY comes from God. Christ reminds His followers that “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18). Christ is the “the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.” (Apocalypse 19:16).
Because all authority ultimately comes from Jesus Christ, He is the ultimate “Law Giver, whom obedience is due” says Pope Pius XI. And while His kingdom is a spiritual one, Pius reminds us that
- “It would be a grave error, on the other hand, to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in his power.” (Quas Primas, 17).
We learn from St. Thomas Aquinas that Christ’s authority takes the form of Divine Law, natural law, and ecclesial law. The civil (or positive law) is man created law but because all authority comes from God, justice will not allow for any conflict between the civil law and God’s laws. At the end of the day, should there appear to be a conflict between civil commands and God’s laws, the citizen is justified in defending “their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against the abuse of this [civil] authority within the limits of the natural law and the Law of the Gospel.”( CCC para. 2241, citing to GS 74, § 5.)
Contrast these principles to those set forth in the Smith case described above. They are inherently incompatible. The Smith opinion, without making any distinction or exception for the teaching of Christ or the Church, held that a civil (man-made law) of general applicability must be obeyed even if such law restricts the ability of the citizen, i.e. Catholic Christian, to engage in religious worship. According the Supreme Court, the civil law trumps religious law—for the Church, God’s laws trump civil laws when in conflict.
Application to Stay-At-Home Orders
Putting all this together, and circling back to the original question of the validity of stay-at-home orders, we can conclude that although it is the opinion of the Supreme Court and many “constitutionalists”, including politically conservative ones, that there is no legal problem with ordering Catholics to stay away from Mass and receiving sacraments, faithful Catholics should not comply with the civil authorities in the event the civil authority issues an order that contradicts God’s laws.
While the Church itself certainly has some authority over how the sacraments are administered, many believe the ability to access the sacraments and attending Mass, the highest form of worship, is in fact a matter of divine and natural law which cannot be abrogated by any civil authority. Some canon lawyers have opined that even Bishops cannot prohibit attending Mass or reception of sacraments on an open-ended, general basis.
If someone challenged the stay-at-home orders in court based on a violation of the Free Exercise clause, he would likely lose because the government will claim the order are not intended to single out religious worship but apply to the public generally. This would follow from the Smith decision.
But even if the stay-at-home orders are laws of general applicability, which I would argue they are not because of the numerous exceptions contained in them including for abortion clinics and liquor stores, as faithful Catholics we are bound to give due honor and worship to God as a matter of justice. That is, we owe God proper worship in the matter He provided to us through centuries of tradition handed down. We also must take care that our souls and those of our family members receive the graces they need for eternal salvation. These are matters of divine and natural law. The secular government does not get to decide who and when we receive graces or worship the Lord, regardless of whether they think Mass attendance will pose a public danger. That is a matter reserved to Christ and His Church authorities to decide after careful consideration and prudential judgments.
Sadly, this situation will arise more and more as American jurisdictions and their leaders become more secular, atheist and divorced from Christian influence. Many of the secular authorities desire as much as any religious sect to impose their will and beliefs on others through government because their secularism is their religion. We are facing this in a way never seen before now as stay-at-home orders are preventing Catholics from attending Mass and receiving sacramental graces.
[Yes, legalists, I know God is not bound by the sacraments, but WE are bound by the sacraments, and we should never presume upon God or take it upon ourselves to dispense with the need for sacraments because some atheist governor tells us to.]
As Catholics, and especially the shepherds of the Church, we should know our duty is first and foremost to Christ, regardless of the opinion of the Supreme Court, mayors, governors or health boards. In light of Supreme Court precedent and these civil orders resulting in the systematic destruction of all types of civil liberties, including religious ones, this world-wide crisis seems to provide an opportunity for all of the faithful to learn about Christ’s Kingship and reconsider with a skeptical eye some of our “founding” American civic principles that have set the stage for the current crisis.

domain: law