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There's a time and a place for everything and right now it feels so right just to be out in the open, in the country, enjoying nothing but good clean fresh air and good clean fun. Where little changes except for the seasons and there are no decorations except for natures own way of trimming the trees and embellishing the landscape.
Black Friday fever has struck the world, the US tradition has reached our shores, although I doubt Rochefort went too crazy and if you mentioned it to any local in our village they wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. Just across the Channel in the UK there were people queuing overnight to grab a bargain in many of the large cities including London, Edinburgh and Manchester. I read that in Singapore the lines started at 11am the day before for those intent on nabbing a windfall on Orchard Road, Asia's most famous shopping street. I've shopped there once and remember the streets being a little humid, to say the least!
But the feeding frenzy, like most things, has it's counterpart, Green Friday, and this derivation is slowly making a little headway in France, including protests in some cities against the form of mass consumerism that Black Friday represents.
Whatever you did, whether you shopped till you dropped or just stayed well clear, there is thankfully now the tiniest lull before the OTHER festivities begin in earnest. And for me this is a wonderful time to just enjoy this colourful season for what it is, a beautiful turning point when the leaves are losing their grip on life and burn bright with the angst of their departure from this world. While the green cathedral spaces of summer foliage are a wonderful cool tonic during the heat of July and August, I have always found the melancholic russet tones of autumn a cathartic background for family thoughts – it's almost as though I start to think of Christmas and a new year with my favourite people in mind; not just my children and Roddy, but also others who are no longer with us. I suspect the notion of everything about me fading and disappearing is a natural way to remember those who are no longer with us.
I may not have put this quite how I wanted, but in essence autumn always reminds me of the good things about my favourite people; thoughts that are tinged with a slight tear of sadness, which I think is what provides the catharsis, for I believe that grief is good for the soul in small doses. It drives away sentimentality and often leaves behind a fresh space one can fill with positivity. Does that make sense?
On a long country walk in autumn, I find myself often starting a conversation with someone, "Do you remember….."
The largest gathering of people we saw yesterday were the regular faces at the boulangerie, a crowd of sage bread-buyers who discuss the weather with the same intentness the English do, but who also always feel qualified to comment on the patisseries as though they have made them themselves. The French truly are a race of food-lovers, and I refer not to the Michelin starred restaurants, but to the ordinary household that makes wonderful food out of basic ingredients adapted to traditional recipes – where perhaps a marmite containing a soup of faves beans, peas, onion, a ham hock and perhaps a little carrot, may simmer long enough through a half closed window that a passerby may stop for a second and sniff the air in appreciation, and then nod approvingly before rushing across the road for their baguette. It is a country where one can learn how to cook something in a quite surprisingly different way from the very person who sells it to you; it's a country where an innocent question across a market stall may end with a dozen people offering advice.
Our afternoon saw us out above the marais, surrounded by silent still water
and trees ablaze with colour, fields green with the tender young growth of winter wheat and vines reduced to naked skeletons.
I imagine we were surrounded by unseen creatures, with hundreds of pairs of hidden eyes observing us from the undergrowth. Thankfully though, the only soul we saw was a lone hunter who stopped to ask if we had seen his dogs, a rather forlorn look on his face appeared when we said we had heard nothing, and his little white Renault van disappeared up the track with a clatter of stones and a scattering of mud about our boots, leaving us alone again in echoing tones of rusting leaves and sunlight.
The weather has turned chilly; crisp and clear, just how I like it. The meteo, my daily forecasting bible, has snow in store for mid-week. That's right, SNOW. I couldn't believe it when I saw the two tiny white symbols that translate to 'expected white stuff', and my heart started beating just a little bit faster, I felt like a child entering a candy store. Should I tell the children and build up their hopes, or keep it to myself? Because in reality the chances of actually seeing a snowflake are almost zero, for we never get snow here! I decided to keep quiet, there was no point in getting them all excited for nothing. And having said that, at supper last night I just had to blurt out, "They forecast snow this week!!" loudly enough to bring complete silence for a couple of seconds before delighted faces burst into animated chatter. Now, of course, I know I have jinxed it for sure!
But still, it's cold enough for me to wear gloves and to make a November walk exhilarating, the type where you return to a warm house and really appreciate the crackling log-fire, where cheeks turn instantly rosy and fingers tingle. All in all, autumn is a wonderful season for many people, a time of remembrance perhaps, a time for preparedness also, but above all a time for a family to gather itself together again and remember what each of us should be for each other.
I hope you have or, depending on where you are, have had, a wonderful Sunday. x


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Warhammer Underworlds' bravest doggo appears!
Warband review strikes again with an early preview of the Godsworn Hunt! Games Workshop were kind enough to give me these guys (and gals) for free to do an in-depth article on. So how do the Mirrored City's newest mortal inhabitants fair?
Led by the war shaman Theddra of the Black Fang, her and her fellow Darkoath mortal companions seek out the fallen city of Shadespire to each claim the life of a Stormcast Eternal as a great sacrifice to the Chaos gods.
With her interpretations of her mystical visions, they navigate the Mirrored City for their quarry. The warriors of the Godsworn Hunter march mercilessly on to fulfil their Blood-Oath to the Ruminous powers.
The Godsworn Hunt contains 6 miniatures consisting of 5 humans and 1 faithful Chaos-tainted doggo. Some may not like the aesthetic but I really enjoy Games Workshop's take on the Chaos barbarians who have dedicated themselves to the Ruminous powers. All individuals but still tied as a whole thanks to similar design hallmarks.
My favourite has to be Shond but all the poses are great, each representing the character of the models while capturing how they look in the heat of battle. All are ready to pounce, just moments before unleashing the killing blow.
The warband comes in a lovely shade of Skaven brown. Once again the models are highly detailed with small revealing character trinkets here and there. They are fragile in places being lithe humans so you'll just have to be gentle when putting them together.
The Fighters
The Godsworn Hunter are the first 6 fighter warband (just missing numbers of 8, 2 and 1) which gives you a lot of choice.
Theddra is a level 1 wizard leader with only 3 wounds and a single dodge. While fragile, she goes from 2 damage to 3 damage when inspired while consistently hitting on 2 smash. She's a reliable melee fighter but is very much a glass cannon.
She lacks a ranged innate magic attack so you'll have to rely on gambit spells to get the most out of her. I would have liked Theddra to be 2 dodge when inspired but it makes sense for this wizard (shaman?) to not be so defensive while hitting quite hard.
Next is her inspire mechanic which the whole warband shares. Inspiring upon playing an upgrade is incredibly strong and opens up a lot of avenues for her. The important thing to note for now is that she goes from a level 1 wizard to a level 2 upon inspiring.
She's definitely a fragile fighter but can be built to hit hard in combat or become the best wizard in the game.
Grundann is the
Conan brute of the group. Wielding the choppa brutal axe of a fallen Orruk who tore out his left eye, this barbarian is one not to be messed with.
At first glance he's a second Theddra only without the wizard level. They even share similar stats upon inspiring except for the fact that he gains 5 movement. Grundann is your main reliable hitter. The fighter you either charge in first with or set up kills for while not risking the loss of your leader.
Jahathra is a woman with a massive spear and a love for punk rock. Apart from being in mosh pits, you can find her softening up the enemy or finishing off wounded targets who have ran away in shame.
The Javelin is important to talk about as she starts of with a threat range of 7 which goes up to 8 when inspired. She's like Farstrider only more balanced. Her spear is one use only but is 2 damage on the charge and always hits at 3 fury. She may seem weak but she's one of your most reliable fighters without upgrades. Just remember she does only have 2 wounds.
Shond is the guy with a massively long blade (he isn't compensating). At 3 wounds he's another consistent brawler for the Godsworn Hunt and hits fairly well at 2 fury with 2 damage.
Upon inspiring Shond really shines. Defence goes from dodge to block (he learns how to parry) and his attack becomes 3 fury with cleave! Combine with Concealed Weapon for a 42.13% chance to crit and do 4 damage with that great cleave. He's also a good use for What Armour? Just consider using him.as a fighter to finish off opponents if you can give him supports while uninspired.
Ollo is the man with the bow and yet another ranged fighter for the Godsworn Hunt. With that 7 hex threat range he can consistently plink away at targets near or far. He's just a bit unreliable with 2 fury.
Inspired Ollo is a different beast however. He gains an extra dodge whereas his attack becomes 3 fury with cleave (they really hate Stormcast). He's a prime target to get inspired early to become a consistent damage dealer for the warband.
Finally, he's here for you. It's the last member of the Godsworn crew. Grawl is the bravest and most noble of all Warhammer Underworlds' creatures. He is the goodest of all boys and faithful companion to Ollo. Did you know that Grawl is blind? He ploughed on through this disability and developed an extra set of nostrils to help him and his warband (this is all seriously true, his model has no eyes). He's like Daredevil except not a lawyer and not cancelled.
Grawl isn't too impressive stat-wise at first. 2 fury, 1 damage, 1 dodge, 2 wounds and can't have attack action upgrades or hold objectives. When inspired he gains movement 5 from 4, 2 dodge and a 3 fury 1 damage attack. His greatest use is as bait and to set up charges with Ollo (especially due to the faction cards), not as a sacrifice! He's such a good boy after all.
The Cards
We both know why you're here. You want them delicious cards. Well I aim to not disappoint! Like all my review I'll be going over the warband specific cards first along with which ones I think stand out for being amazing. As before these are all my own views honed over months of competitive play and endless crits.
Faction Objectives
Dark Rewards: Not entirely easy and glory intensive. Would have preferred it to say 3 or more fighters.
Glory of Damnation: If you love the universal Chosen Champion, you'll love this. It's alright but I don't like Chosen Champion in general.
Faction Objectives – Top Picks
A Worthy Deed: Only Zarbag's Gitz and the Godsworn Hunt lack 4 wound fighters but seeing as Deathly Fortitude and Sudden Growth are basically in every deck this is not an issue. Exceedingly good.
Magical Apotheosis: Pledge yourself to Tzeentch! A simple double channel spell to score immediately is great, you just need an upgrade.
The Oaths
Now Oaths need to be discussed on their own. They take standard universal cards and apply a new twist. Reveal them at the start of any action phase and you earn an additional glory point upon scoring said card.
It makes said cards go from okay to amazing while adding another layer of tactical confusion to your opponent. For example reveal one at the start of the game and then sit on it until the end of the game and see if your opponent remembers! Just remember score immediates can scupper your oath plans at times if they're drawn mid-action phase.
Oath of Conquest: Conquest was already alright but at 3 glory it becomes even better. A great inclusion for aggro players.
Oath of Murder: If you like killing enemy leaders then this is for you. 2 glory makes it a safer bet than Victorious Duel and easier to score.
Oath of Denial: 4 glory Denial. That's so goooood. Difficult to score now with Faneway Crystal and Hidden Paths but still a very solid choice to build your deck around.
Oath of Annihilation: 6 glory is very tempting but still a win more card. Perfect for all you dedicated aggro players.
Oath of Supremacy: It's Supremacy but even better. 4 glory is a huge swing that can be scored in any end phase. Reveal it and go for it or reveal it to bait your opponent and go for the kill! Combine with Supremacy and Our Only Way Out for traditional objective play use at a greedy 9 glory.
Faction Gambit Spells
Warding Eye: Not bad if you're looking for more defence and 2 dodge (3 for certain fighters) is nothing to snuff at.
Faction Gambit Spells – Top Picks
Ensare: Persisting -1 movement is huge. Make that Mollog slower and Grimnir cry. A lot of applications to make a big target that bit easier to deal with.
Glimpse the Future: A simple attack re-roll as a single channel is great for this warband and their many fury attacks.
Enfeeble: Combine with Ensare for max hilarity. Bring Mollog down to 2 damage as well as the mighty Gurzag. The fact it persists is even better.
Faction Gambit Ploys
Brutal Sacrifice: This is an interesting card. I don't like it because I don't want to give my opponent a free glory so I get a free upgrade while also losing a fighter. If you're happy sacrificing your fighters then go for it, combine it with Martyred to even out that glory difference.
Faction Gambit Ploys – Top Picks
Oathsworn Attack: The universal Determined Effort. Stack both cards to have Haymaker with none of the drawbacks.
Fearless Strike: A ploy version of Helpful Whispers. Use for those key charges you need to make alone.
Hunting Pack: The warband has access to a lot of pushes and getting those double supports as crits is huge, especially when combined with Concealed Weapon.
Heel: The best push card in the game! Push Grawl up to 8 or 10 hexes! Just hope your opponent doesn't run Mirror Move. Also keep Ollo alive.
Dark Destiny: A faction version of the universal card On Your Feet. Your fighters will die a lot and this will help keep them around longer.
Faction Upgrades
Enchanted Collar: Boost Grawl up to 3 dodge! Nice but I prefer Acrobatic.
Grundann's Path: Makes Grundann extra reliable but I feel he hits hard enough already. For those who like that guaranteed punch.
Point-Blank Shot: Stop! Or my Ollo will shoot! An interesting upgrade but I would focus on keeping him out of charge range in the first place (when applicable).
Faction Upgrades – Top Picks
Path to Glory: One of the best upgrades in the game. +1 wounds and dice is amazing, said fighter just needs an upgrade first. Still it makes Theddra and Grundann extremely powerful.
Ensorcelled Javelin: Replace that spear with a MAGICAL spear! Not only that but it has cleave as well. Very good.
Chaos Boon: Extra damage is great when Incredible Strength is restricted. Just don't put it on your 3 wound fighters.
Trained Killer: Homing support is great. Makes Ollo even more accurate and can synergise with your other fighters and ploys for future attacks.
Theddra's Path: Channel innates are great.
Shond's Path: With 3 fury he'll have a decent chance for ROLLIN' SOME CRITS! Maximise it with this if you want to put Concealed Weapon on someone else (with Path to Glory) or just stack them.
Seized Trophy: A free upgrade that turns a kill into a inspire. Very useful and can help make space in your power deck for more ploys/spells.
Universal Cards
It's now time for all those universal cards you're all itching to see.
Universal Objectives
Indomitable Defender: Not great for this warband but great for Mollog, Grimnir and Gurzag. Just more of a niche use than anything.
Hoarder: Having 9 unspent glory at the end of the game can be difficult so if you don't like spending glory then this is for you.
Devastation: It's very tough to score but becomes better if your local meta is populated with swarm warbands. Killing 3 fighters in a single action phase can just be difficult at times.
Peerless Fighter: A card made for me. Seriously though it has a use with Potion of Rage but it still incredibly difficult to pull off. OR IS IT?? (Yes)
Thin Their Ranks: A slightly more achievable objective compared to Devastation as it cab be scored at any time. Better for those dedicated aggro players.
Seize the Initiative: I would have been okay with this actually if the stipulation wasn't that you had to win the roll-off. Imagine rolling 3 crits only for your opponent to do the same and deny this card.
Our Powers Combined: Works on attack or defence rolls but still to unreliable.
Magical Mastery: Successfully casting 6 or more spells is very tough. Only use as Cursebreakers with a dedicated power deck to gambit spells.
Universal Objectives – Top Picks
Longstrider: It may seem weird at first unless you're a Mollog's Mob player. However combine this with Ready for Action for that free move or Tyrant's Command and Potion of Grace to remove said move tokens. It's a very good objective if you plan around it for easy glory.
Aggressive Comander: Do you like going first all the time? Get rewarded for it! Like Escalation you'll have to tailor how you play by switching up when you go first or second. I really like this card. I wonder if there will be one for the reverse…
Scorched Earth: Do you play Ironskull's Boys or Garek's Reavers? Like using Abasoth's Unmaking? Then this is for you! Punish those objective seekers with an added glory for yourself!
Universal Gambit Spells
Razormaw Swarm: If you can roll crits then this is for you. 2 damage scatter is very good but I think this would have been better as double focus.
Arcane Recall: Once again if you can ro crits this is very powerful. Bring back Abasoth's Withering or Vital Surge!
Universal Gambit Spells – Top Picks
Arcane Transposition: It may just be Confusion as a spell but it's easy to cast and opens up a lot of options for dedicated spell decks that need to get off as many spells successfully as possible.
Sphere of Ghur: Easy to cast for +1 dice to attack. Just remember to use it immediately otherwise your opponent can use it.
Unfocused Blast: A single channel to do potentially 3 damage to a single fighter or a crowd of targets. Just remember to point the scatter token with the smash symbol at the target you want to get hurt.
Universal Gambit Ploys
Incredible Leap: Be the Free Willy you know you are. Better for low movement fighters but not a necessary pick.
Death Grip: Good to trap enemy fighters where they are I suppose but I fail to see the use outside of trapping Chainrasps.
Death Frenzy: Like Death Throes but with an area of effect. Mirror of Spite is just better though.
Universal Gambit Ploys – Top Picks
Ephemeral Form: Great for use with warbands that only have single dodges, you can also use this to get around cleave or weaken an enemy fighter with 2 or more blocks.
Spirit Sacrifice: Like Damning Pact but an extra dice instead of damage. Combine to get huge rolls for casting spells.
Universal Upgrades
Disturbing Presence: Interesting but adjacent fighters can always just attack your or move away instead.
Distracting Blow: Very situational but semi-reliable anti-magic.
Strong Arm: I would not spend an action when you can just knockback via attacking instead.
Regenerative Charm: Just like Regeneration but not a fan of a card that is useless if drawn in phase 3 and unusable in phase 1 to benefit from.
Universal Upgrades – Top Picks
Blessing of Argentine: Stick on your leader and enjoy as your opponent's fighters slowly hurt themselves. Great for Mollog.
Archer's Focus: Awakened Weapon but only for range 3 or greater attacks. A certain bird is going to love this…
Arcane Savant: How to make Theddra a level 3 wizard, equip this to her while she is uninspired and enjoy your level 3 wizard leader. Even then the Cursebreakers will love it for making Ammis or Rastus a level 2.
Arcane Focus: Spend an action to get an innate focus. Huge. Suddenly Sorcerous Insight doesn't seem so hard anymore.
Nullstone Spear: Shadeglass Spear is nice but doesn't stick around, this covers that problem with an added re-roll against wizards instead of +1 damage on a crit.
Tome of Offerings: My inner aggro is showing. This is soooooooo good. Chain it off of your score immediately aggro objectives for big glory gains. Love it.
Now we come to the part everyone loves! As before I'll go over a deck with Nightvault only cards and then one for all the cards available. The former will include cards from Mollog's Mob expansion so check that review when it's out 😉
Remember they're more of a basis for you to build on and adapt, not the best deck for said warband.
Nightvault Only Cards
Playstyle: Flex (Aggro and Hold Objective)
This gives you a balanced aggro approach so you can sit back to glory-up then go in for the kill. Use Ghoulish Pact as a free inspire and Pit Trap for extra damage off any fighter.
All Available Cards
Playstyle: Flex (Aggro and Hold Objective)
The deck is an improvement over the Nightvault only deck by adding cards such as Spoils of Battle and Change of Tactics to get those easy inspires. Last Chance is an upgrade to Dark Destiny giving you more survivability.
Playstyle: GOOD BOI
Grawl is the best and this deck personifies that. Use the other fighters as bait and put 8 out of 10
cats upgrades on him to make him the best boi he can be. Kill your enemies and become the alpha.
Final Thoughts
Godsworn Hunt are a tough but very customisable warband that can be geared for almost any playstyle whether it be hold objective heavy to making Theddra a monstrously powerful wizard. They're not easy to master and are a daunting task for those new to the game but become very powerful in the right hands.
Remember that your upgrades function as 2 cards in 1, just like how "choose" ploys work for Skaven. Every upgrade inspires a fighter while also giving them an additional effect. Exploit the free pushes from the faction and universal cards to set up supports and kills. If you can do all that reliably, you're in for a winner.
Would I buy this? Yes. Despite getting it for free the Godsworn Hunt are very fun to play and the cards available for use are very well-chosen that will be useful for any player. So what are you waiting for? Preorder your copy today here so you can get the best doggo in all of Warhammer.
Tune in for my next article which will be all about Mollog's Mob. It's dank and full of crits.

subset: commoncrawl


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Potsdam elementary students collect treat for Potsdam graduate troops
Saturday, December 8, 2012 - 5:01 pm
Lawrence Avenue Elementary School fourth grade students recently collected candy, toiletries and various items for a Treats for Troops project. The items collected from this community service project will be sent to several Potsdam Central School graduates who are serving in the military.From left in front are Dylan Monette, Keira Moore, Logan McCargar. In back: Ethan Plague, Lauren Russell, William Moulder, Katie Cowen, Kayla Giffin


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I really like this Derek Lam denim shift dress. By "really like," I don't mean "am willing to pay eight hundred dollars for it at Net-A-Porter" — "really like" in that price range is more along the lines of "was willing to rip the page out of Harper's Bazaar and blog about it".
The jeans stitching and the cap sleeves are lovely. (How lovely? Net-A-Porter even has a video — for eight hundred bucks I think the model should have done a little soft-shoe act, too, but what do I know?) I do wish — wait for it — that it had pockets, but hey, probably the bepocketed version costs $900, right?
Does anyone know of a commercial pattern that is similar? I wanted to say there was one on BurdaStyle, but I can't find it now. Pointers gratefully appreciated.


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Johnny Sauter surges to win trucks race at Martinsville Speedway
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Johnny Sauter passed Jeb Burton for the lead on a restart with 17 laps to go Saturday and won the NASCAR truck race at Martinsville Speedway.
It was his second victory in as many races in the series this season.
Sauter earned his eighth career victory in the series, and second at Martinsville.
"Two for two starting out. This is unbelievable," Sauter said in Victory Lane.
He got there by passing Burton, the pole-sitting rookie making just his seventh start in the series, on the outside following a restart on lap 234, and then holding on as the field behind him battled.
Likely challengers included rookie Darrell Wallace Jr., who was seventh in the field on the restart, and Kevin Harvick, who was 12th.
Both had tires that were 50 laps fresher than the leaders, but with Matt Crafton and Timothy Peters among the drivers also in contention, they dueled while Sauter drove away to win by 1.888 seconds.
Crafton rallied to finish second and Burton was third, followed by Peters and Wallace, another rookie.
"I had to time it just right. That's the key," Sauter said of his pass for the lead.
The move was part of a calculated tire strategy that worked to perfection. Sauter and his crew chief, Joe Shear, noticed that the 0.526-mile oval was not developing the rubber buildup as it came off tires, keeping it harsher than normal and making it imperative to protect his tires for a final surge.
Sauter said he spent the first half of the race driving at about 80 percent, trying to maintain a respectable place in the field and stay in position to make a run for the front when the time came.
"At about 40 or 50 to go, I put the hammer down and just started picking them off," he said.
The performance drew high praise from Shear.
"He's not really known for saving equipment," he said of Sauter.
Crafton, who like Sauter was not a factor for much of the race, said his team deserved the credit for his finish.
"We dropped the green and I was good for about five laps, and then it was just done," he said of his truck, necessitating several stops to pit road for adjustments. "We just made it a practice session."
It worked.
"We kept making methodical changes and it was there at the end," Crafton said.
The day was especially eventful for Burton, the rookie who said he wept when he won the pole in track record time on Friday, and had the dominant truck for much of the day, leading a race-high 154 laps.
He also engaged in a brief battle for the lead with Ron Hornaday, a four-time champion in the series, and eventually ran into the back of Hornaday, sending the veteran slamming into the wall.
"I ran in a little too hard and got into him. There's not much else to say," Burton said.
He also thought he cost himself a chance by trying to win the race too early, on a restart after Wallace, Harvick and several other contenders had just pitted for tires, dropping well back in the field but sure to surge forward.
"I thought it was 40 to go and it was actually 60 to go," Burton, the son of former NASCAR driver Ward Burton and nephew of Jeff Burton said.
It was his seventh start in the series, and second at Martinsville. He was 13th last fall.
"We came a long way in a year's time," Burton said.
Hornaday rallied to finish 10th.


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24m | Alan Burkitt-Gray
Practically, all members of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have voted for China Houlin Zhao to continue as the Secretary General for the second and final four years.
At the same ITU meeting in Dubai, members of the US elected Doreen Bogdan-Martin as Director of the ITU Telecommunications Development Office (BDT's French name).
This means that it will continue to influence the agency's policies and rules to promote telecommunications in developing countries. He is the first woman to take the lead in the ITU's 153 years, which is the United Nations.
Zhao gained 176 votes from the member states at a meeting that began last Monday and continues for another two weeks.
Bogdan-Martin was in competition with his choice, but comfortably won the 95-nation vote. Zimbabwe's Cosmas Zavazava received 66 votes and Nigeria William Ijeh received 16 votes.
Zhao, an IT and communications engineer who has completed various ITU leadership positions, will begin his second term on January 1, 2019. Its first term began in 2015 and has since campaigned for governments to support telecommunications industry.
"We're still connecting," he said. "We will strengthen partnerships to bring together the common vision of a connected world, where information and communication technology is a good source for everyone."
Zhao supported the election of Bogdán-Martin to the BDT and received support from the US government. He worked for 1993 at the US Department of Commerce when he was assigned to BDT at the first World Telecommunication Development Conference in 1994. During the past 25 years, he continued his work at the BDT in Geneva.
"I will ensure that BDT takes advantage of the public and private sector membership and a unique combination of its relationship with international organizations and institutions," he wrote in the candidate's statement.
"BDT will engage in a culture of cooperation, including external investors, operators, technology companies, development banks and expert bodies."
Zhao said that his priorities were called "Four Is" – infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusion. "We need to upgrade the existing ICT infrastructure and extend it to reach those badly-connected or connected areas," he said. "We need to invest bigger investments both from the state and the private sector and create a good investment environment. We need both technology and business innovation. We should not leave anybody.
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Yesterday I went to Pastor Ivan's church in the kindergarten. Some of the newer team members were surprised and a bit dismayed to hear that I was going to a different church than the team. But the head of OCE (Operation Capitals of Europe – oceprayer.com) was not dismayed. I have joined the team often enough that he knows I don't go off on my own without a very good reason. I had already told him about the visit Wednesday to Pastor Ivan's church and praying for the pastor, so I think he wasn't surprised to hear that I wanted to return to encourage the pastor some more.
It encouraged Pastor Ivan very much to see me there, and he asked me to speak briefly to the church about my ministry. One surprise was the musical talent in that little church. I don't often hear music that good in much bigger churches. I suggested to Zuzana that they should cut a CD. Books and CD's make good fundraisers, and I believe that this little church is going to grow. They will need to be ready for growth.
Zuzana told me that my visit encouraged the whole church. Afterwards we caught up with the rest of the team for lunch and then we went to the castle. At the castle we broke up into prayer teams for various concerns: business, families & children, art & culture, Israel, and an intercessory team that remained in the castle and prayed for all the prayer teams.
I chose Israel, so we took a walk to the site of the biggest synagogue in Bratislava. It had been right beside the largest cathedral—St. Marten's also known as the Dome of St. Marten. There was only one other synagogue right beside a cathedral in all of Europe, the one by Notre Dame. The Communists tore down the synagogue to build a bridge, but also to send a message about religion.
It was a very good time of prayer, and the anointing was so strong that at one point a blind man's guide dog led him right into the middle of our prayer circle. At another point a man with a German Shepherd walked past us. The dog barked and barked, but interestingly, he was muzzled in a wire muzzle. Since one of the Slovaks was praying at the time, I didn't want to interrupt to point this out, but I think it is significant—prophetically showing that the Nazi spirit would never again threaten the Slovakian Jews.
One woman prophesied over me, saying that I have been called to be a blessing to the Slovakian believers, and to the unbelievers as well. I confirmed that my calling is to support the Body of Christ here in Slovakia and throughout Europe, and through them to reach the lost. So it was very cool to be confirmed by this prophetic word. And I have a Slovakian word for how it made me feel: FEE-ha! I don't know how it's spelled, but that's it phonetically. It means WOW! It's my new favorite foreign word.
Afterward we joined the team of intercessors that had prayed for all the teams. They went to Slavin, the World War II monument and cemetery, atop the other hill in Bratislava. There we found 5 young skaters (for those over 30, that's skateboarders). One woman (not one of our group) had just finished hollering at the skaters, telling them that it was disrespectful to be skating in a cemetery. Instead of leaving, they simply sat and waited for her to leave, and that is how we found them.
Upon arriving there, I felt an almost overwhelming desire to dance. Someone pointed out the woman and said that dancing in a cemetery would probably offend her, too. But, since others also felt moved to dance, we decided that the thing to do was to dance in a quiet and subdued way. As we worshiped and prayed, we danced mostly with our hands and swaying, but the desire to dance became stronger and stronger for all of us, until it broke out in a joyous dance. I think it is perfectly acceptable to dance in a Nazi cemetery. Dance is a sign of victory, and the Kingdom of God is indeed victorious over the Nazi spirit. Hallelujah!
When we finished, we turned our attention to the skaters, who had remained just a few feet from our group. They had seen and heard all of our worship and prayers. One man, who I call Dancing Joe, approached them and began to tell them about Jesus. One woman told me that he has such a funny, friendly style that it completely disarms people, and they love to listen to Dancing Joe. The skaters laughed together with him, and although they just shrugged when he asked if he could pray for them, DJ took their shrugs to mean OK, so he prayed for them. And we left with them all smiling and waving goodbye to us. The crabby woman had left, so they began to skate again.
One member of the team had brought a shofar with him, and he was stopped by an American Jew, who asked what our group was doing. So he told the man about finding his Messiah, Yeshua (he's a Messianic Jew).
It was a lovely day! I feel such hope for Slovakia. God is good!


text:
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text:
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA
Message Transformation Guide
Legal Notices
The information contained in this documentation is subject to change without notice.
JBoss Inc. makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. JBoss Inc. shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
Java™ and J2EE is a U.S. trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Microsoft® and Windows NT® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Oracle® is a registered U.S. trademark and Oracle9™, Oracle9 Server™ Oracle9 Enterprise Edition™ are trademarks of Oracle Corporation. Unix is used here as a generic term covering all versions of the UNIX® operating system. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.
JBoss, Home of Professional Open Source Copyright 2006, JBoss Inc., and individual contributors as indicated by the @authors tag. All rights reserved.
See the copyright.txt in the distribution for a full listing of individual contributors. This copyrighted material is made available to anyone wishing to use, modify, copy, or redistribute it subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License, v. 2.0. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT A WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License, v. 2.0 along with this distribution; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
Software Version
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA
Restricted Rights Legend
Use, duplication, or disclosure is subject to restrictions as set forth in contract subdivision (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause 52.227-FAR14.
Table of Contents
Contents iv
About This Guide 5
What This Guide Contains 5
Audience 5
Prerequisites 5
Organization 5
Documentation Conventions 6
Additional Documentation 7
Contacting Us 7
Introduction 8
Overview 8
Smooks 9
Introduction 9
The Smooks Transformation Model 9
Message Profiles 10
Integration 11
SmooksTransformer Configuration 11
Smooks Resource Configurations 12
Manual Resource Configuration 13
JBoss ESB Administration Console 13
Console Home Page 14
Use Case 1: Defining an XSLT Fragment Transformation 16
Introduction 29
Binary Format Transformations 30
Introduction 30
About This Guide
A common obstacle encountered during Enterprise Integration is that of bridging the gaps created by the fact that business constructs from different application domains representing the same data are typically represented through different data formats. Bridging this gap is one of the key features of JBoss ESB, as well as the subject of this guide.
This guide is most relevant to engineers who are responsible for using JBoss ESB 4.2 GA installations and want to know how it relates to SOA and ESB principles.
This guide contains the following chapters:
Chapter 1, Overview: An overview of the message transformation solutions provided by JBoss ESB..
Chapter 2, Smooks: Using the Smooks Transformation Management Framework to manage your message transformation logic.
Chapter 3, XSL Transformations: Performing message transformation XSLT.
Chapter 4, Binary Format Transformations: Performing binary format transformations.
In paragraph text, italic identifies the titles of documents that are being referenced. When used in conjunction with the Code text described below, italics identify a variable that should be replaced by the user with an actual value.
Emphasizes items of particular importance.
Text that represents programming code.
Function | Function
A path to a function or dialog box within an interface. For example, "Select File | Open." indicates that you should select the Open function from the File menu.
( ) and |
Parentheses enclose optional items in command syntax. The vertical bar separates syntax items in a list of choices. For example, any of the following three items can be entered in this syntax:
persistPolicy (Never | OnTimer | OnUpdate | NoMoreOftenThan)
A note highlights important supplemental information.
A caution highlights procedures or information that is necessary to avoid damage to equipment, damage to software, loss of data, or invalid test results.
Table 1 Formatting Conventions
In addition to this guide, the following guides are available in the JBoss ESB 4.2 GA documentation set:
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA Trailblazer Guide: Provides guidance for using the trailblazer example.
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA Getting Started Guide: Provides a quick start reference to configuring and using the ESB.
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA Programmers Guide: How to use JBossESB.
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA Release Notes: Information on the differences between this release and previous releases.
JBoss ESB 4.2 GA Administration Guide: How to manage the ESB.
Questions or comments about JBoss ESB 4.2 GA should be directed to our support team.
JBoss ESB supports message data transformation through a number of mechanisms:
Smooks: Milyn Smooks is a Fragment based Data Transformation and Analysis tool (XML and non-XML). It can also be thought of as a management tool that allows you manage transformations across your entire message set using techniques such as message profiling. It supports transformation logic implementation through raw Java, XSLT, Groovy and more.
XSLT: JBoss ESB supports message transformation through the standard XSLT usage model.
ActionProcessor Data Transformation: Transformations involving binary data formats are most easily performed through implementation of the org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.ActionProcessor Java interface. The org.jboss.soa.esb.actions package (in the "Listeners" module) has a number of out-of-the-box ActionProcessor based transformers.
Milyn Smooks is integrated into JBoss ESB as one of it's out-of-the-box data Transformation solutions. Some of the terms and concepts presented in this section of the document may require you to refer to the Smooks documentation.
As outlined on the Milyn Smooks website, Smooks is a framework for both "Implementing" and "Managing" a flexible XML (and non-XML) data Transformation solution across an enterprise message set.
From an "implementation" perspective, Smooks' goal is to provide a framework in which messages can be transformed using the transformation technology most appropriate to the transformation required e.g. it may be easier to transform one part of the message using XSLT and another part using raw Java code.
From a "management" perspective, Smooks' goal is to provide a framework in which an "enterprise message set" can be "profiled", with transformations being applied based on these profiles. In this way, transformation resources can be more easily reused and transformation configuration can be reduced. More on message profiles later.
Smooks achieves its goals by applying a processing model different from that applied by the likes of XSLT.
With XSLT, message transformation is performed in batch and "targeted" at a "whole" document i.e. at the document level. In general, XSLT transformations are thought about, defined and applied with the whole message in mind.
Smooks applies (targets) transformation logic at the element level i.e. at the document fragment level. Smooks transforms the "whole" message through the application of multiple "mini" transformations that have been "targeted" at specific message fragments. Smooks uses a message's "profile set" to decide whether or not an individual "mini" transformation should be applied to a given message fragment. So what is a message "profile"?
Central to how Smooks functions is the concept of a message "profile". A message profile is simply a unique name applied to a group of messages to which common transformation resources1 need to be targeted.
So how does the concept of a message profile map into the world of JBoss ESB Transformations? Within the context of JBoss ESB, message transformations are performed in order to make a messages "produced" by one entity "A", "consumable" by another entity "B". We refer to this interaction as a "Message Exchange", with entities "A" and "B" being the "Message Exchange Participants". Therefore, all JBoss ESB Transformations are defined in terms of a "Message Exchange". They are defined with respect to the two Participants involved in that Message Exchange, as well as the message typing information associated with the message being exchanged between the 2 participants2. Therefore, the 4 properties of all Message Exchanges are:
from: Message producer participant name,
from-type: Message producer message type (message type produced),
to: Message consumer participant name,
to-type: Message consumer message type (message type consumed),
It is these 4 properties that map JBoss ESB messages into the Smooks world of "Message Profiles". Each one of these properties translates directly into a message profile.
As you can imagine, multiple messages can potentially share an intersecting subset of profiles. Using the 4 message exchange based message profiles above , JBoss ESB can specify and target all transformations that need to be applied to all messages "from" (produced by) a particular message exchange participant using a single set configurations. In this case, the details relating to the transformation requirements of the message consumer (where the message is going to "to") can be handled by a separate set of configurations targeted at the "to" and/or "to-type" message exchange profiles.
Smooks is integrated into JBoss ESB through an ActionProcessor class called org.jboss.soa.esb.actions..convertersSmooksTransformer.
SmooksTransformer actions are configured into a listener action pipeline in the standard way as follows:
<action class="org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.converters.SmooksTransformer"
From this you can see that the SmooksTransformer requires 4 properties, corresponding directly with the JBoss ESB message exchange profiles mentioned earlier. How to create these Transformation Resource Configurations is outlined in the following sections.
Smooks is configured (transformation resources are targets) using a set of XML configuration files listed in a file called "smooks-cdr.lst". The folder containing this file must be specified in the classpath i.e. this file must be in the root of the classpath.
The smooks-cdr.lst file simply specifies a set of Smooks resource configuration URIs to be loaded into the Smooks context. Each list entry URI can load a configuration set over the standard protocols supported by the java.net.URL class ("http", "file" etc), with the addition of support for loading resources from the classpath. The following is a simple example of the smooks-cdr.lst file:
# Load from the classpath – note "classpath" is the default protocol...
# Load over http – from the JBoss ESB Admin Console...
The individual files should not be interpreted as being separate transformations; this is purely a configuration grouping scheme. Having them all in a single XML file might not be so easy to navigate or maintain. It is the combined contents of these files that matters. They constitute an effective Smooks Configuration "Database".
JBoss ESB offers 2 methods of creating Smooks Configurations:
Manual creation of the XML configurations and their listings in the smooks-cdr.lst file.
Through the JBoss ESB Administration Console.
Both these options are available to JBoss ESB at the same time i.e. you can have most of your configurations maintained through the JBoss ESB Administration Console, while at the same time having a small subset maintained manually. This is possible simply because Smooks (and therefore the SmooksTransformer) loads it's configurations as XML streams via the URI set listed in the smooks-cdr.lst file, with the JBoss ESB Administration Console making the configuration set under its control available over HTTP (http://<host>:<port>/jboss-esb-console/transform/smooks-config.jsp). As outlined above, HTTP is one of the protocols supported by the smooks-cdr.lst file.
The best reference on manual creation of Smooks Resource Configurations can be found on the Milyn Smooks website.
The JBoss ESB Administration Console is the easiest way to create Smooks Resource Configurations. This application is a J2EE Web Application. This application persists all configurations to a database using the Hibernate persistence framework. The application currently runs on JBoss Application Server ONLY3.
In order to use the ESB Administration Console, it needs to be packaged (from the release distribution) for your local environment. Here are the steps to packaging, deploying and configuring the console application4:
Open a command terminal.
Change directory to the "tools" folder of your expanded JBoss ESB distribution.
run "ant"5.
Answer the environment specific questions presented by the script.
On completion of the script execution, copy "jboss-esb-console.war" from the root of the distribution "tools" folder to your JBoss App Server "deploy" folder. If this script produces a "jboss-esb-console-ds.xml" Datasource descriptor file, be sure to also copy this file to the JBoss App Server "deploy" folder.
Once the application is deployed and running, the required database tables will be automatically created in the target Database (by Hibernate). Populate these database tables by running the tools/CONSOLE-import.sql script. If deploying to Hypersonic, this step is not required.
That's it!
Direct your browser to the following URL:
There are a number of useful Flash demonstrations available online at JBoss Labs. Some of these Flash demos are also packaged inside the Administration Console application itself – available on the "About" page.
Smooks Configurations maintained by the Administration Console can be loaded by the SmooksTransformer by specifying the following URL in the smooks-cdr.lst file:
The following sections illustrate how to create Smooks Resource Configurations through the Administration Console.
The Console Home appears as follows:
The basic steps involved in defining and targeting any Smooks Configuration through the Admin Console are the same:
Create the Message Exchange Participants. This is done through the "Manage Message Exchange Participants" wizard off the console main menu. Obviously, this only needs to be done once for the lifetime of each participant. If the participant is a Service, use the Service Logical Name. Otherwise, simply make up a meaningful unique name for the Participant (e.g. the component name).
Configure the Message Contracts associated with each Message Exchange Participant . This is done through the "Configure New Message Contract" wizard off the console main menu. This is basically a process of defining the types of messages that a Participant can produce or consume6.
Set the active Message Exchange for the browser session. This sets the Message Exchange to be associated with all future transformation configurations made on this browser session. If not already set, the console will automatically redirect the user to set the active Message Exchange.
Configure and target the new Resource. This is a 4 step process:
Select "Configure New Resource" from the console main menu.
Select a template upon which to base the new configuration. For example, if you simply wish to specify an XSLT transformation, select one of the XSLT Resource templates from the list.
Fill in the template. This may include setting execution parameters for the resource.
Target the new resource configuration at a Message Exchange (and Fragment within the message). The Message Exchange details will be pre-populated based on the active Message Exchange selection, but can be manually tweaked in order to widen or narrow the selection.
Obviously, steps 1 and 2 do not have to be repeated for every configuration, as well as the fact that the Message Exchange is set on the browser session. Therefore, the typical usage scenario, for the most part, would involve multiple iterations of step 4.
This usage example will outline how to define an XSL Transform for an XML message fragment and target the transform at the message fragment for a specific "Message Exchange".
So in this example, the message exchange properties are as follow:
We have a Coma Separated Value ("text/csv:fullFillOrder") message produced by "DVDStore:OrderDispatchService" which needs to be transformed into a "text/xml:recordOrder" message for consumption by "DataWarehouse:OrderTrackingService".
This means we need to define 2 Message Exchange Participants ("DVDStore:OrderDispatchService" and "DataWarehouse:OrderTrackingService") and 2 Message Contracts associated with each of these Participants.
Message Exchange Participants are created and maintained through
the "Manage Message Exchange Participants" wizard:
Once the Message Exchange Participants are defined, the Message Contracts associated with these Participants can be defined through the "Configure New Message Contract" wizard.
the contract for the "text/csv:fullFillOrder"
message "PRODUCED" by "DVDStore:OrderDispatchService":
the contract for the "text/xml:recordOrder"
message "CONSUMED" by
The new
Message Contracts can then be reviewed from the "Manage
Message Contracts" view:
We are now ready to add the XSLT Transform and target it at the message fragment on the Message Exchange. We do this through the "Configure New Resource" wizard. At this point however, we haven't set the active Message Exchange for the browser session. To do this simply click on the link to access the "Configure New Resource" wizard. You'll notice that instead of this wizard being shown, you will be redirected to set the Message Exchange for the browser session. Just click your way through the screens to select the message exchange we wish to target (click the links and then press the "Continue.." button):
the "from" message exchange properties (the from
the "to" message exchange properties (the "to"
the selected message exchange and press "Continue" to
start creating the resource configurations:
verifying the active message exchange and pressing "Continue",
you'll be brought to the "Select Message
Transformation/Analysis Template" page.
As outlined above, the first step in creating a transformation configuration is always that of selecting a configuration template upon which to base the configuration. However, before continuing, we need to decide on how to handle this message to get it from the CSV format produced by "DVDStore:OrderDispatchService", to the XML format consumed by the "DataWarehouse:OrderTrackingService". To do this we will need to configure 2 resources and target them at the Message Exchange:
A CSV SAX Parser Configuration: This will "suck" the CSV record(s) into a W3C DOM, allowing the records to be transformed into the "DataWarehouse:OrderTrackingService" XML format using XSLT.
An XSLT Configuration: This will perform the transformation on the DOM produced by the CSV Parser to produce the "DataWarehouse:OrderTrackingService" XML. In this case, the "fragment" we will target will be the whole message, simply by targeting the root of the DOM.
To configure a CSV Parser for this message, select the "CSV Message Parser" template (1st in list). This will bring you to the "Configure New Resource" form, from where you can configure the CSV fields, and target the Parser Configuration at the Message Exchange as follows:
"Set" on the "fields" execution parameter
and enter the "DVDStore:OrderDispatchService" Order CVS
field name mappings:
the "fields" parameter has been added to the
configuration you will be brought back to the "Configure New
Resource" form:
"Target Configuration..." to move on to the "Target
New Configuration" form:
Note how the "Message Exchange Useragent Expression" is pre-populated with the details of the selected message exchange7. Just press "Save Configuration" to complete the process of creating the CSV Parser Smooks Configuration. You will return to the Console Home Page.
"Manage Configurations" and you will be able to see the
new configuration:
Next we need to create the XSLT configuration and target it at the same Message Exchange. Note that when this resource is applied by Smooks, the CSV message will be in a W3C DOM. The XML representation of this DOM will be of the following form (see Smooks CSVParser Docs):
<cvs-set> <cvs-record> <name>Tom Fennelly</name> <address>Ireland</address> <productid>V1234</productid> <quantity>3</quantity> <cvs-record> <cvs-record> <name>Joe Bloggs</name> <address>England</address> <productid>D9123</productid> <quantity>7</quantity> <cvs-record> </cvs-set>
configure an XSLT Transform Configuration to transform this message
on the selected message exchange, click to access the "Configure
New Resource" wizard again (screen shot above). This time
select the "XSLT (Templatelet)" template (towards the
end of the list). Once you select the template you'll be brought
to the "Configure New Resource" wizard, from where you
can fil in the template:
On this resource you need to set 2 Execution Parameters: "resdata" and "action".
Set the
"resdata" parameter. Note, with the XSLT Templatelet,
there's no need to define all the stylesheet – see Smooks
Set the "action" parameter to "replace" (see Smooks docs).
adding both Execution Parameters, press the "Target
Configuration..." button and move on to the "Target New
Resource Configuration" form. This time you'll notice that
the "Execution Selector" field is empty and needs to be
populated. We want to target this XSL Transformation resource at
the root the CSV Order DOM i.e. the "csv-set" element:
Note again that the "Message Exchange Useragent Expression" is pre-populated for the current Message Exchange.
"Save Configuration" to complete the process. At this
point you can return to the "Manage Configurations"
form to review the configurations you just added:
In order to allow the SmooksTransformer JBoss ESB ActionProcessor to leverage these configurations, simply make sure the smooks-cdr.lst file (in the root of the classpath) contains a list entry of http://<host>:<port>/jboss-esb-console/transform/smooks-config.jsp. where host and port refer to the address of the running Admin Conosle application.
An SmooksTransformer action configuration to execute these resources on this message flow would appear in your ESB Listener Configuration as follows:
<action class="org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.converters.SmooksTransformer"
XSL Transformations
following sections illustrate how to create Smooks Resource
In this release of JBossESB, XSL Transformations are supported through Smooks. In later releases we will be supporting XSLT natively. Support for XSLT can be provided by creating a custom org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.ActionProcessor implementation.
Binary Format Transformations
Binary Transformations are currently supported through custom implementation of the org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.ActionProcessor interface.
JBossESB is shipped with a number of out-of-the-box binary transformers e.g. org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.ObjectToXStream and org.jboss.soa.esb.actions.ObjectToCSVString.
1 The definition of a "transformation resource" applies to anything that can be targeted at a message profile and used in the course of that message's transformation. Typically this will be units of transformation "logic" (XSLT, Java), but is not limited to that. They can also be things like profile-based parameters or configurations.
2 Note that any message exchange participant can potentially produce or consume multiple message types
3Tested against version 4.0.5.GA of the JBoss Application Server (EJB3 installed).
4Note that these instructions are specific to building the console deployment from a release distribution i.e. not from source.
5Before running the "ant" command to package the console application for your environment, be sure to set the JAVA_HOME (JDK5) and ANT_HOME (v1.6.5) settings in your environment.
6 Note that a Participant can potentially produce or consume more than 1 message type.
7Note that we could target the CSV Parser configuration at just the 1st half of the message exchange i.e. to cover all message exchanges where the source message is a "text/csv:fullFillOrder" message produced by "DVDStore:OrderDispatchService".


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50 Shades of Discreet
About a month ago, I sat in a coffee shop writing early in the morning, when I glanced at the screen of the man sitting next to me. He had a website with very scantily dressed women on it. I was taken aback, not by the content, but the fact he was willing to do this in a cramped coffee shop.
Boundaries dude?
Now here is a confession. I am reading 50 Shades of Grey by E. L. James, the first in a trilogy that at the time of writing are #1, #2, and #3 on Amazon's Bestseller List. I share this fact to point out that I am probably not the only one reading it.
I have the novel on my kindle and, well, it has served as bedtime reading. Last week, I traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, home of the Arc, the Cardinals and Budweiser. It also has a terrific children's museum with a shark pool that you can toss your child in with ease.
My journey home was long and arduous, and I soon finished my magazines, exhausted my laptop battery and turned to my kindle. In the growing darkness, I curled up against the window and read 50 Shades of Grey.
On the second flight, I sat next to a young (female) lawyer who was reading litigation books and (I suspect) not happy to sit between two middle-aged guys, one of whom was trying to make conversation (the other guy, btw). On the third flight, I was placed next to two women who were discussing their church. I was self-conscious.
There is nowhere to hide your laptop screen but a kindle has only words. It occurred to me that with the advent of eReaders, people cannot discern what you are reading. There is no visible book cover. You are in your own world, anonymous and unaccountable.
I share this because I have recently read about a growing and flourishing erotic book business, spurred by short stories sold at $0.99 for the eBook. I wonder whether this has been because people are searching for more channels to explore their sexuality or because there is now a medium to read anonymously.
What excites me (bear with me) about this is the possibility that people will read books that are more risky politically. Perhaps someone growing up in a Christian family will dare to read about evolution, a gay teenager can find material to guide him/her through a turbulent journey, or an addict read a self-help support book on the train. We have seen how Twitter has played its part to overthrow oppressive regimes, how about the eReader?
But while the Internet and eReader can help push the boundaries of personal and political exploration, looking at erotic photos at Starbucks remains off limits.
Have a great weekend.
Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist and A Gardener's Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (@alonshalevsf).


text:
Last fall I was invited to a dinner in Houston hosted by Concha Y Toro to introduce their 2009 flagship wine, Don Melchor. The winemaker, Enrique Tirado, would be hosting the event which included a vertical tasting of the wine. It sounded like a fabulous event, but without much notice, I couldn't get away. Fortunately for me, the company representing *Don Melchor, Gregory White PR, knows how to make a great impression. As a consolation, they sent me a bottle of the 2009 to try at home.
So I did what any food-loving, wine-loving person would do. I researched the menu from the event and did my best to create a meal worthy of the wine. I invited some friends, those friends, that I knew would really appreciate the wine and we made our own event.
Grown in the Puento Alto Vineyard in the Maipo Valley of Chile, on vinestock that hails from the Bordeaux region, the fruit in this wine has the potential to rival any Cabernet from around the world. Enrique Tirado's natural talent and dedication to research have elevated the wine to cult status. Each final blend is tasted with Jacques Boissenot, one of Bordeaux's most well-respected consultants. Old world vines, new world soil, old world methods, new world research. It is truly an expression of the best of both worlds.
According to the Examiner article, the wine worked really well with roast lamb with fennel. So, I headed to the local Farmer's market to get a couple of racks of French cut grass-fed Lamb rib from I.O. Ranch, well worth the extra stop if you are in the Austin area. And if you don't, they ship! From Johnson's Backyard, I picked up fennel, turnip, and carrots. My goal was to use what I knew about the wine and to bring out earthy notes with the root vegetables. I used my brother-in-law's rack recipe.
Sear the lamb rack on high heat, 2-3 minutes per side.
Coat the rack with a combination of goat cheese and Dijon mustard. Then coat in seasoned (rosemary, salt and pepper) Panko bread crumbs.
Cover the tips with foil so they don't burn. Roast on a rack at 400 degrees until medium rare. (20min depending on size)
For sides I boiled and mashed equal parts turnip and Yukon gold potatoes with horseradish, milk, butter, salt and pepper.
I roasted whole carrots with sliced fennel, leeks, olive oil, salt and pepper for about 45 minutes.
When the lamb was roasted, we pulled it, let it sit for about five minutes, sliced it and then drizzled it with au jus, frozen from the Christmas Prime rib, which I reduced.
We decanted the wine for about an hour. Aromas of black fruit, cassis and berry. Spice, tobacco, and cocoa. The flavors echoed the aromas with big, smooth fruit, velvety mouthfeel, layered finish. The elements of spice and tobacco were there but in balance with the fruit. It paired beautifully with the dish. The earthy lamb and turnip, the sweet fennel and carrots, the richness of the au jus with the soft tannins. It was fantastic.
This wine is in the very special Weekend Wine (or holiday) category with a price point of $125. As I've said before though, if you are cooking at home, you can justify a splurge in the wine realm. Rack of Lamb and Don Melchor at home or a crowded Prix Fixe chicken dinner and paying $75 for a $25 bottle on Valentine's Day? No contest.
It is hard to rival the experience of delving into new wines with the winemaker, especially wines of this caliber. Of course I wish I had been there. But I will also say, it is hard to compete with dinner at home with those you love. Many thanks to the people at Gregory White PR for the invitation and for allowing me to "join" from the comfort of my crazy home.
*This wine was provided as a media sample by Gregory White PR. The opinions are my own.


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This video sparked the stream of conciousness that follows. Please watch before reading.
Historically, aside from all the wins and losses and eliminations and playoffs and naming of a World Series champion this year…going forward the record books and baseball landscape are going to look a bit different as they are about to lose two of their East coast mainstays, Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium. One with simply a new building and one with not only a new building but a new name. Depending on how things go this weekend, as of end of day Sunday, Shea Stadium will cease to exist as the home of the New York Mets. As a kid who grew up on the East Coast, this is where I've seen most of the baseball games I've gone to. When I went to the game the other night I couldn't help but feel sad that this place was no longer going to exist. You could tell fans around the ballpark were already thinking about the fact that Shea would no longer be around too. Hard not to with fans taking pictures for their own favorite memory spots inside and outside of the stadium, as well as the organization's countdown to the final home game.
There's a certain vibe that can be felt in a ballpark. Some don't exactly share the same amount of history as others do. Either they haven't been around as long or haven't had the same amount of successful, memorable seasons as other teams have had in their ballparks. Wrigley and Fenway will now be the last two remaining stadiums from the OLD days. They are classics…historical landmarks in the fabric of the baseball society. With every new cookie-cutter stadium that is built and named after some stupid cell phone company or bank, the closer we get to losing a large part of what has made baseball what it is today. The venues that the game has been played in. Think about it. Some of you may have moved with your family at some time in your life. Left the house that you grew up in. Left the only home you and your family have ever known. It's a sad thing to go through. I know because I've fought my family on them doing so for a long time now. I'm sure eventually it would be best for my parents to move out of the house that is now a little too big for them and its been a little selfish on my part to request that they stay. People say, "What's the big deal? It's just a house. You'll still be family no matter where your parents live and regardless of whether you'll be able to go back to the only home you've ever known or not, it's about where your family is that makes a house a home, not the actual house itself". That may be true, but then why does it matter so much to so many that nothing does change and that you're able to keep the same house forever? It's because that's where all your history lives and breathes. And as baseball fans, our fellow fans become our baseball family and our stadiums our baseball family's home.
Root for a team long enough and you don't even need to know the people around you at the ball game. Just the simple fact that you wear the same team colors and have laughed and cried at the same history of the team together is all that matters. When it comes to being a baseball fan, that's what matters. The memories. And the memories will always be there. It just doesn't feel the same though when you think about the fact that the tangible place in which those memories took place will be gone forever. And for baseball fans that have had to go through this around the country, it's a very sad thing. Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium and every other ballpark that has been shut down over the years because it was simply to old and out of date to invest in and carry on, had fans that went through the same thing New York Yankees and New York Mets fans are going through now. The memories live on but the tangible home of those memories soon to be lost forever. That is a sad thing. One of the biggest necessary evils of the game I suppose. Let's just hope Wrigley Field is never added to the list and that Cubs fans never have to experience this kind of loss.


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- Processes
- Analysis & Instrumentation
- Cleaning, Polishing & Grinding
- Cooling
- Cryogenic Preservation
- Cutting
- Fish Farming
- Freezing & Cooling
- Gas Installations
- Heat Treatment
- Inerting
- Modified & Controlled Atmospheres
- Melting & Heating
- Moulding, Foaming, Forming & Extrusion
- Petrochemical Processing & Refining
- Pharma & Biotechnology
- Process Chemistry
- Water and Wastewater Treatment
- Welding
- Welding Related Processes
Normal air has a carbon dioxide concentration of 340 ppm. This is insufficient for producing the best yield. Plants usually require carbon dioxide concentrations of between 600 and 1,000 ppm. Supplementary carbon dioxide is particularly important when using artificial lighting. If the concentration of carbon dioxide is allowed to fall, growth is halted and artificial lighting provides no benefits.
When extra carbon dioxide is added to greenhouse air, the tomato, cucumber and lettuce yield improves by up to 25-30%, or even more. Cut flowers and potted plants also benefit from carbon dioxide fertilization. Carbon dioxide not only increases yield, but also produces an earlier harvest and improves plants' resistance to disease and pests.
Carnations can bloom up to one month earlier. Lettuce is ready for harvesting weeks earlier, while tomatoes in tomato sprouts can ripen a week sooner than usual. Carbon dioxide fertilization pays off, as clearly indicated by several studies and practical experience.
In greenhouses heated by burning propane, carbon dioxide is obtained as a by-product, but often at the wrong time of day. Carbon dioxide is needed most at midday, when extra heat is seldom needed. The heating system must be able to store this heat, and release it during the cold hours of the day. There is always the risk of incomplete burning, resulting in the formation of NOX, which is very harmful to plants.
If a greenhouse heating system cannot store heat, adding pure carbon dioxide to the greenhouse air is usually the best solution. This also helps to avoid the moisture problems produced by burning propane. One kilogram of propane generates 1.6 kilograms of water vapor, which condenses into liquid water. Such water won't go away by itself.


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Corporate Training's $70+ Billion Dirty Secret
According to analyst Josh Bersin, US companies spent well over $70 Billion for employee training in 2013. Analysts predict that amount is will be significantly greater in 2015.
These are the kinds of statistics one might expect C-suite executives to pay attention to. So it's odd that they seem not to be paying much attention to the ROI for corporate training.
It's abysmal.
Leading experts have studied the subject at length; the statistics they provide differ. Some say there are too many variables to allow for "one-size-fits-all" statements about how much training is retained, and how quickly it is forgotten. They note the variety of training goals and audiences receiving the training, as well as differences in training delivery methods.
Having said this, there is general agreement among experts in the field that that corporate training's success rate is, shall I say, "poor."
One of these experts is Dr. Art Kohn, who has done a great deal of work on "the forgetting curve" and its effect on training retention. He's also the recipient of not one but two Fulbright Fellowships for work in Cognitive Psychology and Educational Technology. In a recent article in Learning Solutions, he wrote the following:
It is the dirty secret of corporate training: no matter how much you invest into training and development, nearly everything you teach to your employees will be forgotten…this investment is like pumping gas into a car that has a hole in the tank. All of your hard work simply drains away.
The fact is that this "dirty secret" is really not secret at all.
The research and resulting articles about this have been out there for years. Yet there's not much evidence that corporae executives are acting upon it, despite its its obvious and critical importance to the bottom line.
Bersin's research also shows an explosive growth in technology-driven training, including self-authored video, online communication channels, virtual learning, and MOOCs. Worldwide, formal classroom education, now accounts for less than half the total training "hours."
According to Bersin, mobile devices are now used to deliver as much as 18% of all training among what he calls "highly advanced companies."
Does this mean that employees are using their iPads to access Udemy courses? If so, is there a significant difference in retention rate for employees who have information presented by a live trainer while sitting in a room with 20 fellow workers… versus those who receive it on mobile phone the subway on the way home at night… compared to someone being trained via iPad while sitting in the living room after the kids have been put to bed?
We won't have statistics to provide answers to those questions for some time.
But corporations should be watching closely to see if new methods of delivering training result in a dramatic increase in retention among employees once they're on the job — because if Kohn is right, even achieving a whopping 400% increase in retention will mean that after just one week, the average employee will still be retaining only about half of what is needed on-the-job.
That's hardly a stunning success rate.
Research has made it abundantly clear that the basic premise that drives corporate training is fatally flawed.
It's abundantly clear that the training corporations are currently providing to their employees is not succeeding in providing them with the information they need to do their jobs properly the first time. So why does corporate America keep throwing good money after bad, trying to find a "patch" or download an "updated version"?
It's as if a purple elephant with pink toenails is standing next to the coffee table and corporations are only willing to acknowledge that there's an "unusual scent in the air."
My next blog will give more compelling facts to show why a major change in corporate training is needed.


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Recently, I blogged about my first ISTE conference experience. After having some time to reflect, I want to share a few more thoughts and questions that have continued to bounce around in my head.
The theme of all of these ideas is the search for consistency from one's educational philosophy to practice. I think many educators feel that their teaching philosophy is one that focuses on the student. It is a philosophy that values engagement, creativity, open-ended inquiry and exploration, as well as empowerment and respect. A philosophy that entails fostering collaboration and sharing among students and the creation of projects and meaningful products. Yet, when we step back and examine our practice, often times parts of this philosophy are missing, especially when it comes to practicing these tenets amongst ourselves. When we gather as educators, shouldn't we practice our philosophy with one another?
Today, we talk about flipping the classroom but when will we flip the conference? While many of the ISTE conference materials were made available online during or after the event, they were rarely distributed prior to sessions in a way that would allow attendees to show up ready to discuss and engage in the material. ISTE was an amazing and rich experience but I believe it could have been even richer if there were less lecture and unidirectional dialogue in sessions and more collaboration, sharing, and discussion. In watching the post-conference Twitter feeds and blog posts, I'm continuing to learn so much content and I almost wish the content could be distributed before/after the conference so that sessions would be freed up for debate, sharing, questioning, and collaborative thinking.
The conference is such a unique opportunity for collaboration, creation, and communication across disciplines and roles, as people travel thousands of miles to gather face to face in one place. It seems like the perfect opportunity for people to sit down and deepen relationships, move beyond tools to think about their purpose and plan for technology use. It could be a chance for groups to make concrete plans and next steps about what we can each do for our own professional growth in using educational technologies and how we can share what we've learned to make a difference in our districts, our schools, and our classrooms.
We ask our students not to be consumers of media and technology tools but to be producers and creators of innovative works and collaborative products. What are the products that we each created at #ISTE12 that we can use to contribute to our local communities and the larger global education community?
One product could easily involve the many tools, resources, and ideas that were being shared across sessions, disciplines, and devices. I would love to see more unified collaboration and sharing, especially when we have so many tools at our disposal (e.g., Twitter, Google Docs, Evernote notebooks, Symbaloo mixes) to help each of us to share notes and links in real-time during the conference and asynchronously after it ends, so we can take advantage of being part of such a thoughtful community. I'm also guilty of curating my own tools, resources, and ideas from the conference and I understand that we each might be gathering specific resources for specific goals but I wonder if it's still possible to share more and duplicate our work less. I was so excited to see this new compilation of posts with ISTE 2012 reflections and this Google Doc full of collaborative notes. I know many Google Docs and other backchannels were shared out during the conference and I hope we can gather them all in one place.
In addition to curating these resources for ourselves, I think it is just as important to document our learnings from the ISTE conference for others who could not attend or had not heard of the conference. While at ISTE, in a session where I ended up knowing most of the content, someone asked me why I was tweeting. I replied that I wasn't tweeting for myself, I was tweeting for my PLN.
As an educator inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, I believe deeply in the power of documentation to prompt reflection, demonstrate learning, and capture inquiry. I also believe that we need to model and practice what we are looking for in our classrooms and from our students. So I work to create products to document my own learning (e.g., blog posts, tweets, pinboards) so I can share it with others and engage them in a discussion about how, when, why, and if various tools and approaches I have learned about would fit in various educational settings. I worked hard to tweet throughout the conference but I was disappointed at the seemingly small number of people I saw tweeting through sessions and sharing out their ideas, tools, and questions.
I know (but at times struggle to remember) that social media, while an amazing tool for professional development and networking, is still new to many. I want to help use tools like Twitter to demonstrate to others how one person, attending one conference, can affect so many when knowledge is captured and shared globally online.
I know one blogger (@engaginged) was recently discussing the challenge of breaking into the key networking areas at ISTE and as a newbie myself, I found this to be true. I appreciated his challenge to try and find a way to connect everyone at the conference into the same conversation and maybe, if more of us begin to tweet, blog, and share openly during the conference, there will be more space for inclusion and collaboration. And maybe to give things a little push, ISTE could even consider partnering new attendees with mentors who have experience in using tools to share during the conference, visiting the various networking lounges, and migrating new relationships to online spaces so they can continue after the conference. What do you think, would you want an ISTE mentor?


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Rapid City (Lakota: Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; "Swift Water City") is the second most populous city in South Dakota and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek, where the settlement developed, it is in western South Dakota, on the Black Hills' eastern slope. The population was 74,703 as of the 2020 Census.Known as the "Gateway to the Black Hills" and the "City of Presidents" because of the life-size bronze president statues downtown, Rapid City is split by a low mountain ridge that divides the city's western and eastern parts. Ellsworth Air Force Base is on the city's outskirts. Camp Rapid, part of the South Dakota Army National Guard, is in the city's western part.
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LOS ANGELES, May 18 (UPI) — A lawyer representing the estate of Michael Jackson's manager has emails the pop star's lawyers said could be key in the wrongful death trial against AEG Live.
The emails from Jackson's last manager, Frank DiLeo, were presumed lost when DiLeo's laptop went missing after his death in 2011.
David Regoli, a Pennsylvania lawyer representing DiLeo's estate, said the laptop had been recovered and he would submit any emails pertaining to the case after combing through them, CNN reported Friday.
Lawyers for Jackson's mother and three children hope the emails will support their claim DiLeo was beholden to concert promoter AEG Live and not the pop star, the report said.
Jackson's family is suing AEG for wrongful death, alleging the company was at fault because it failed to hire an appropriate physician for Jackson, and then neglected to supervise the singer properly.
AEG has maintained Jackson handpicked Dr. Conrad Murray — who is serving a four-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter for administering lethal levels of propofol and sedatives to the singer in an effort to help him sleep as he prepared for a high-profile concert residency in London. AEG said Jackson kept his sleeping problems a secret.
Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).


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Sankt Hallvards vei 3, port 8
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The next morning, in conversation with Chief Steward Phil, he liked very much the thought of tailor-made slacks too. He asked if I wouldn't mind taking care of the transaction for him. I offered a smile attached to a 'No problem chief!' and so he scribbled his measurements on a slip of paper and handed it to me with a few dollars from his wallet.
It may be only the 2nd time I went ashore but it felt like I'd already done it a hundred times. Hot and muggy was the forecast for, like the entire time I would be here so naturally there was an ongoing thirst for ice cold beers! 🍻
Upon reaching shore, my first order of business was a detour to the Indian shop delivering CS's order and measurements. I was told 36 hours should see all the slacks ready.
The first establishment we chose to walk into had a few people sitting at the bar, others were seated at tables; the majority of bodies being young Vietnamese girls and music played crisply out of a jukebox up against a side wall. No sooner we sat down at a table, we were flocked by some of these girls.
In what sounded like their best broken English they'd proposition us to buy drinks for them. They took our drink requests which would only be beer 🍺 and went up to the bar. No hard liquor or sodas even were served here.
It would seem the sodas were reserved for drink in the cafés. I gotta say, these bars certainly knew how to grab their share of business from the foreign visitors! 🍹 The girl's drinks we bought for them (later we learned) was simply colored water and each one cost near twice the amount of our beers!
In our socializing I learned the power of the American dollar in Việt Nam; approximately $5.00 would cover feeding their entire family for a week and the impression we all got was they'd pretty much do anything for these dollars.
Some girls smoked our cigarettes and others did not but all were quick to light ours for us. They were skilled in giving a nice little massage here and there, arms, shoulders, neck and/or running their fingers through our hair.
I smiled big when I looked at one of the guys across the table from me … his eyes closed in sheer delight and grinning away as the girl on his lap was massaging his brain!
The one girl attentive towards me began massaging my head, gently pulling on my hair (which I had lots of it), of course it felt nice.
The guys and I continued to talk amongst ourselves for the most part as we could tell they weren't about to leave our company so easily. It was of little matter to them as they too conversed amongst themselves.
"Tonight you stay with me and you pay," one would say to her guy and another would verbally climb over that (sometimes literally) and using as persuasive a voice as possible, "No! You come with me!" We each heard this approach circulate around our table.
🍻 After a few beers and a considerable amount of dollars later, I noticed it was getting dark. We all agreed it was time for food. A couple of us made sure to keep an eye on the time, curfew is definite, there was only one boat back and make no mistake, we'd best be on it!
The girls collected a few dollars from each of us and a couple of them went quickly outside, coming back with some freshly prepared chicken for us to eat.
It was made in a street kitchen just outside the bar. Of course they ate with us. The chicken was flayed open, seasoned, cooked between two racks over an open flame and it was delicious. 🍗
"Now we go home." they'd say to us, gently tugging at our arms. "No, no! We've got to get back to our ship!" protested a couple of the guys; definitely speaking for all of us in the group.
We promised them we'd return tomorrow and breaking free at last, we headed as swiftly as possible through the town and down to the beach.
We remained in the Qui Nhơn harbor for just over a week. The best description of my daily routine on the ship; same, same.
Every early evening almost immediately following the dinner shift and next morning's prep, I'd scurry down that rope ladder to catch the boat into town.
Returning to the same bar as before, these girls who overnight became our friends, were waiting for our return.
On the fifth day I picked up the slacks; lookin' good! After the shopkeeper showed them to me, I paid him and he wrapped them up so nicely, knowing they would have to travel a very long way.
I asked him to wrap up the Phil's slacks separately. I noticed the shop had some postcards amongst their wares so I bought a few; one for Diana and my kids and some for the family in Fiji.
Back at the bar which we had made our own for the week, our company had now become more like one on one, no longer flanked by many. We'd play the jukebox, dance with the girls, eat chicken, socialize, drink beer, and generally let our hair down as it were; wanting only a little bit of fun and relaxation.
We remained diligent to the curfew at the end of every evening and always managed to wiggle away from our friends just in time.
A couple of days before our ship pulled up anchor, I was able to send out those postcards from our ship's post office. By now I was confident that half of my 'war-zone pay' salary, the 1st paycheck, was already on its way to my family in Santa Monica, via the pay center in New York.
You know I felt great that I was providing for my family even while on this other side of the world but I never thought my life would go down a path like this one.
While I cannot even compare to the soldiers' lives here in Việt Nam at this time, I certainly was learning to understand a small piece of it.
A coastal town located in central Việt Nam, Quy Nhơn wasn't established as a city until 1986 and it is home in the Bình Định Province.


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I post reviews of books where I give a no-spoilers description of what the book is about and what I felt whilst I read it and ultimately what I thought of it. I don't post stars on this blog as I feel stars are too simplistic when it comes to describing the journey you went on when you read a book. Although I do post star ratings on books in Goodreads and Amazon, as is the accepted convention.
My Reviews
My tastes have been more eclectic in the past but presently I'm in a place where I enjoy good psychological and literary thrillers that show a depth of understanding of human nature. Likewise my reviews have undergone metamorphosis since I first started posting them in 2013, which reflects the growth I have had, and continue to have, as a blogger, reader and reviewer.
I have suffered from OCD for many years and as a result typos, discontinuity, inconsistency, implausibility and lack of attention to detail annoy me. When I read a book I do weigh up errors against the overall flavour of the book. I have discovered a number of new authors whilst book blogging and feel like part of the book blogging community, who are always here, always supportive and never make my book problems feel like something out of the ordinary.
I write this blog to reach out to fellow bibliophiles, OCD sufferers and Pulmonary Hypertension patients like me, whom I would otherwise not meet due to geography and I am grateful for their camaraderie and candour when it comes to my blog.
To contact me about book reviews please write to me at firstname.lastname@example.com. after reading my Guidelines page of what you need to do to submit a book review.
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