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Privacy Policy
Policy regarding the processing of personal data
(pursuant to article 13 of EU Regulation 2016/679 "GDPR")
As the Controller for the processing of personal data within the meaning of EU Regulation 2016/679 "General Data Protection Regulation", Ober Alp S.p.A. hereby informs on the following provisions regarding the protection of persons and other subjects as to the processing of their personal data. The processing of personal data is subject to the principles of correctness, lawfulness, transparency as well as the protection of confidentiality and the rights of the data subject. Personal data may only be collected, processed and used in accordance with the provisions of the aforementioned regulation and the confidentiality obligations contained therein.
1. Data subjects
Data subjects are those persons who provide their data to one or more companies of the "Oberalp" group in the following manner:
· by registering on the websites of the Oberalp Group (Brand – Salewa, Dynafit, WildCountry);
· by registering for and using different services of the Oberalp Group;
· by purchasing goods through the websites of the Oberalp Group;
· by contacting (via telephone, fax, e-mail, etc.) the Consumer Care office of the Oberalp Group;
· by subscribing to the brand newsletters of the Oberalp Group through the websites;
· by registering for the outdoor events periodically organized by the Oberalp Group for its brands;
· by participating in online and offline competitions;
· by participating in partnership operations with third-party firms and
· by making purchases during the sample sales, periodically organized by a company of the Oberalp Group.
Part of the Oberalp Group are Ober Alp S.p.A (IT), Oberalp Deutschland GmbH (D), Oberalp Austria GmbH (A), Salewa Sport AG (CH), Salewa Polska Sp.Zo.o.(P), Salewa Czech and Slovakia SRO (CZ and SL), Salewa France SARL (F), Salewa Iberica S.L. (E) and Oberalp UK Ltd. (UK).
2. Purposes of processing
The personal data provided will be processed for the following purposes:
a) Use of the services offered by the Oberalp Group - fulfilment of the purchase contracts concluded in the online store
The personal data of the data subjects are processed in order to enable those persons to use the services and to fulfil and carry out the sales contracts concluded in the online stores. In particular, the data will be processed for the following purposes:
· customer management;
· after-sale assistance;
· settlement of disputes;
· customer billing history;
· measurement of customer satisfaction;
· tax or other legal requirements.
The processing of personal data in connection with the purposes mentioned under lit. a) is necessary to ensure the correct management of the business relationship. The provision of personal data is mandatory in order to fulfil and carry out the above-mentioned purposes. The personal data that must be disclosed by the data subject are marked with an asterisk.
If the data subject does not provide or provides incorrect and/or incomplete mandatory personal data, the Controller cannot guarantee the performance of the service and/or the fulfilment of the contract.
The processing is carried out based on art. 6, par. 1, letter b) GDPR and, limited to compliance with tax and accounting legislation, on the basis of art. 6, par. 1, letter c) GDPR.
The personal data processed for these purposes will be processed for a period necessary for the provision of the services and/or for the fulfilment of the sales contract concluded with the data subject and thereafter as long as permitted by law.
b) Market studies and statistical purposes
For these purposes, the data are processed exclusively in anonymous form, meaning that an identification of the person concerned is no longer possible.
c) Direct marketing
The personal data will also be processed, with the consent of the data subject (art. 6, par. 1, letter a) GDPR), for the following marketing purposes:
· sending the brand newsletter of the Oberalp Group (Brand Salewa and/or Dynafit and/or WildCountry) and newsletters informing about sample sales events;
· sending periodic commercial communications regarding products and services offered by a company of the Oberalp Group;
· promotional activities also related to the transmission of advertising and promotional material.
The provision of data for the purposes mentioned under lit. b) and c) is not mandatory and the refusal by the data subject to consent to the processing for this purpose will have no negative impact on the business relationship with the Controller. The person concerned may revoke his/her consent at any time.
For the purposes of direct marketing, the Controller also processes and evaluates data regarding the data subject's purchase behaviour and the use of websites of the Oberalp Group in order to carry out a profiling of data subjects which is used solely for sending personalised advertising material based on the interests of the data subject.
For the purposes of direct marketing, the personal data of the data subject are processed until the previously given consent is revoked. The personal data processed for the purposes of profiling, including data on purchase behaviour, are processed in accordance with the cancellation policy of the Oberalp Group, in any case only for the maximum time permitted by law.
3. Method of processing
The personal data may be processed in the following ways:
· processing of data through completion of factsheets, coupons and questionnaires;
· processing by computer and automated means;
· manual processing through paper-based archives;
· processing of data collected by third parties;
· transfer to third parties for processing operations.
The data will always be processed in accordance with the principles set out in art. 32 GDPR.
4. Disclosure/Transfer
The personal data provided will be kept at the headquarter of the Controller and will only be passed on to persons who are in a position to provide the necessary services for the correct handling of the business relationship with the data subject and the fulfilment of the contract, always under guarantee of the protection of the rights of the data subject.
The personal data provided will be processed only by personnel expressly authorized therefore by the Controller and specifically by the following categories of processors:
· Group Administration,
· Group IT,
· Group Brand & Marketing,
· Group Business Development,
· Group Logistics,
· Group Retail BU,
· Group Distribution BU.
The personal data provided may be transferred to third parties solely for the purposes described above, and specifically to:
· forwarding agents, carriers, delivery services, mailing providers, logistics firms;
· consultants and professionals, in one-off disclosures or as part of a course of dealing;
· banks and credit institutions;
· providers of IT services.
The personal data provided by the data subject may be transferred within the Oberalp group, namely to Italian and foreign companies of the Oberalp group.
The personal data may be transferred and disclosed to public bodies, for example police or courts, only in cases permitted by law.
5. Data Controller
The Controller for the processing of personal data is Ober Alp S.p.A. with offices at Via Waltraud Gebert Deeg n.4, 39100 Bolzano (BZ), tel. +39 0471.242.900, e-mail: [email protected].
6. Data Protection Officer
The Controller has nominated a data protection officer for the entire Oberalp Group. The data protection officer can be contacted via: e-mail: [email protected], tel. +39 0471.242.900.
7. Rights of the data subject
The data subject has the right to obtain from the Controller access, communication, rectification, integration, updating, cancellation and portability of personal data concerning him/her, as well as the right to exercise in general all the rights provided for in chapter III of the GDPR, as indicated below:
Chapter III (art. 12 - 23) GDPR
a. access to personal data: the data subject has the right to obtain information free of charge about the personal data held by the Controller and processing of said personal data, as well as to obtain a copy in an accessible format;
b. rectification of data: the Controller will correct or supplement incorrect or inaccurate data, including data which has become incorrect or inaccurate due to a non-carried out update, on the basis of a notice received by the data subject in this regard);
c. withdrawal of consent: if the processing is carried out on the basis of a consent previously given by the data subject, the latter may withdraw consent at any time, without this, affecting the lawfulness of the processing provided before the withdrawal;
d. erasure of data ("right to be forgotten"): the data subject may request, for example, erasure when the data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or processed or when they have been processed unlawfully,when they have to be deleted in order to fulfil a legal obligation, when the data subject has withdrawn consent and there is no other legal basis for the processing, or when the data subject objects to the processing;
e. restriction of processing: the data subject may request this in certain cases: - where the accuracy of the data is contested, within the time necessary for verification; - where the lawfulness of processing is contested and the data subject opposes to erasure; - need to use the data for the data subject's rights of defence, while they are no longer useful for the purposes of processing; if there is opposition to processing, during the time the necessary verifications are carried out - the data will be stored in such a way as to be restored, but, in the meantime, they are not available for consultation by the Controller except for the sole purpose to verify the validity of the data subject's request or its objections.
f. objecting in whole or in part to the processing for legitimate interests: in certain circumstances the data subject may nevertheless object to the processing of his/her personal data, in particular, if the personal data are processed for purposes of direct marketing, the data subject has the right to object at any time to the processing, including profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing. When personal data are processed for purposes of scientific or historical research or for statistical purposes, for reasons related to his particular situation, the data subject has the right to object the processing, unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest;
g. data portability: if the processing is based on consent or on a contract and is carried out by automated means, upon request of the data subject, the latter will receive in a structured format, commonly used and machine-readable, the personal data concerning him and may transmit them to another controller, without hindrance by the Controller to whom he provided them and, if technically feasible, may obtain that such transmission is made directly by the latter;
h. lodging a complaint with the supervisory authority (the territorial competent supervisory authority of data protection).
To exercise the rights indicated above, the person concerned may contact the Controller by post or by e-mail at the addresses indicated.
8. Updates
The Controller reserves the right to update this policy regarding the processing of personal data at any time for organizational reasons or in order to comply with new legal regulations. It is therefore recommended to visit this page regularly and to check the date of the last change indicated at the end of the page.
The last update of this policy was made on the 23/05/2023.


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This clip for AMC's new reality show "Immortalized" introduces Coney Island artist Takeshi Yamada and his world of rogue taxidermy. It's exciting to see our friend and his sea rabbit Seara, who are among the Boardwalk's most recognizable eccentrics, on the cusp of TV stardom.
"People love freak show. People are attracted to freaks," says Yamada as he shows off the taxidermied oddities in his Museum of World of Wonders. "I am one of the most famous freak show gaff masters. A freak show gaff master's job is to make fake creations such as Fiji Mermaid, Chupacabra, Hairy Trout, those kind of things…"
In the unscripted series, Yamada is one of four "Immortalizers" who will face off against challengers in a taxidermy competition. "I had a great time creating truly monumental scale and spectacular rogue taxidermy monsters for this TV series," Yamada told ATZ in an interview ("Coney Island Taxidermist Takeshi Yamada in AMC Reality Show," Nov 29, 2012). "Immortalized" consists of eight, half-hour episodes and premieres on Thursday, February 14 at 10pm.
Related posts on ATZ…
December 8, 2011: Takeshi Yamada's Jersey Devil Set for Bell House Taxidermy Contest
December 7, 2010: Art of the Day: Freak Taxidermy Skull by Takeshi Yamada
September 18, 2010: Photo of the Day: Takeshi Yamada's Freak Baby Museum at San Gennaro
September 24, 2009: Photo Album: Coney Islanders and Carnies at San Gennaro

subset: commoncrawl


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Today Samsung uncovered its latest rugged smartphone with the Galaxy Xcover 2.
A follow-up to last year's Galaxy Xcover, the Galaxy Xcover 2 is built for the outdoors with a dust and sand proof case. The battery cover also has a lock mechanism to prevent it from popping off when dropped.
The case is water resistant up to one meter, which goes along with the 5-megapixel camera that can now operate underwater.
The Galaxy Xcover 2 also has a GPS enhanced with a global navigation satellite system which Samsung claims offers 20 percent more accurate location tracking.
Samsung's tough new smartphone
While the Galaxy Xcover 2 is well-equipped for the elements on the outside, the inside is a fairly standard mid-range handset with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The 4-inch WVGA display is covered in Gorilla Glass for added protection, packing inside a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of memory that can be expanded with a microSD card by up to 32GB.
The rear 5-megapixel camera also has an LED flash, which can double as a flashlight, while the front of the smartphone also has a VGA camera.
Most of the Galaxy Xcover 2's specs were revealed earlier this month through Samsung's leaked 2013 mobile roadmap, which also let us know that Samsung plans to launch the rugged smartphone in February.
Today's announcement didn't elaborate on those launch plans, but with MWC 2013 around the corner this likely won't be the last heard from the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2.


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I used to wonder why old people liked to talk about the past. Now that I am in the "old people" club, I totally get it. It has little to do with not being progressive or keeping up with the times or even wanting things the way they were. and everything to do with fond memories. I mean, who doesn't want to visit great memories? Especially around Christmastime. I don't necessarily remember visions of sugar plums dancing in my head but I sure remember spritz cookies, Russian tea cakes and homemade fudge. Since I was a product of The Greatest Generation and a Baby Boomer I didn't have to worry about The Great Depression and other atrocities, me and my siblings had it pretty good.
I remember the giant Sears catalog along with a few others in our household becoming dog-eared as we searched the "Wish Book" as it was called for the perfect gift to ask Santa to bring us. In reality maybe we got one or two items on our list and it is doubtful the items ever came from Sears as my parents were Montgomery Ward shoppers, but it didn't matter. The fun was in the wishing and looking and dreaming (geez, I think that was a 1960's song). Anyway, the anticipation of maybe getting a thing or two on our Santa's list kept us on relatively good behavior for at least a few weeks and undoubtedly a blessing for our folks who barely had to utter "naughty or nice" to keep us in line.
Most moms didn't work outside the home in those days so my mom got into the swing of Christmas by stenciling Christmas decorations on our window panes by dabbing a sponge dipped in liquid pledge (odd but true) that formed Santa, trees etc. Then she baked up a Christmas cookie storm and hid the cookies from us because she didn't want them all gone before Christmas. We were always pretty sure my Dad got some early cookies though. She also always made us nightgowns or pajamas that were usually red flannel with really dumb looking Little-House-On-The-Prairie sleeping hats (the book not the TV show) so we could take an equally dumb picture in front of the Christmas tree. She always gave us these pajama things on Christmas eve along with slippers. One year I got beautiful blue fluffy, furry slippers. I was thrilled not to once again get the slipper socks which were the norm back then. Imagine getting excited about a pair of slippers? This is why we call it the good old days.
I remember we went Christmas caroling with the kids on my Chicago city block even though most of us couldn't carry a tune. About a month before Christmas the only music teacher on the block and probably the only parent who felt up to the task would contact our parents and ask them if we wanted to participate in Christmas Eve caroling. I don't ever remember being asked by my parents if my sister and I wanted to do this, I just remember going over to the teacher's house (one house down ) for "practice," a few times before the big night. I do remember her telling me I needed to sing from my diaphragm and that I sounded nasally. And I do remember thinking I was into dancing not singing and people would just see a bunch of cute neighborhood kids singing and not necessarily care if they sounded like a professional choir.
We only went to houses on our block where we knew people well or that had kids in the singing group. Some people gave us candy or hot chocolate, it was great to be out at night on Christmas Eve as a kid and some people even gave us money. I remember one time a guy named Moose Krause, who was the brother of the policeman, who lived next door to us and was visiting, giving the music teacher $20.00. That was a lot of money back then, it was the late 1950's. We all figured it would be divided up amongst us singers who were freezing out butts off singing in the snow. But our music teacher had other plans for the money and told us it should go to our neighborhood Catholic church collection box at midnight mass. The Christmas spirit took hold of course and we all agreed she was right. It wasn't until years later and talking to my Dad that I realized that Moose krause was the athletic director of Notre Dame and a huge notable athlete in his own right. My Dad was talking to him for quite a while on the front porch that one Christmas Eve and for my folks, who would go to Notre Dame games quite a bit in those days, meeting Moose was a big deal. For us kids the big deal was yet to come, Santa Claus was coming to town.


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Sales to hit this Fourth of July weekend
It's a Spree Country
Yes, it's Independence Day. Shouldn't you be out barbecuing or something?
Well, it's a good thing you're here, because there are a ton of sales happening throughout the weekend. We rounded up as many as we could below. If you don't start taking advantage of them now, well…
No point in having a day off then, is there?
Local Stores and Websites
Who: Allison Izu
Deal: 20 percent off all shorts online with the code 4THJULYSHORTS.
When: Through Monday.
Who: Basique Threads, Ward Warehouse
Deal: 10 percent off one item, 15 percent off two items, 20 percent off three or more items. Consignment clothing and jewelry excluded.
When: Ends today.
Who: Collins & 8th, 560 Pensacola St., Suite 105
Deal: 20 percent off select shorts in store (Saturday and Sunday only) and online.
When: Through Sunday.
Who: Eden in Love, Ward Warehouse
Deal: 20 percent off anything red, white, or blue.
When: Through Sunday.
Who: Fighting Eel (all locations)
Deal: 20 percent off all clothing in store.
When: Through Sunday.
Who: Gillia
Deal: 30 percent off everything online.
When: Ends today.
Who: La Muse, 1156 Nuuanu Ave.
Deal: 20 percent off select sandals.
When: Ends today.
Who: Lily Lotus, 609 Kailua Rd., #102
Deal: 30 percent off two or more signature print luxe and burnout tops in store and online, plus an extra 10 percent off the sale rack in store only.
When: Ends today.
Who: Maya Bella Boutique, 111 Hekili St., #108
Deal: Buy any two shorts and get $14 off your purchase (all sales final).
When: Through Sunday.
Who: Milieu, 94-1235B Ka Uka Blvd.
Deal: 25 percent off everything excluding consignment items.
When: Today, 9 a.m.-noon.
Who: Olive Boutique and Oliver Men's Shop, 43 and 49 Kihapai St.
Deal: 15 percent off all clothing.
When: Ends today.
Who: Panacea Designs
Deal: 20 percent off everything online with the code THEBIG4TH.
When: Through Sunday.
Who: Pacific Home, 420 Ward Ave.
Deal: 20-50 percent off storewide and 20 percent off custom orders.
When: Through Monday.
Who: Roberta Oaks, 19 N. Pauahi St.
Deal: 15 percent off anything red, white, and blue in store and 15 percent off everything online with the code FIRECRACKER.
When: Ends today.
National Stores and Websites
Who: Ann Taylor
Deal: Extra 40 percent off sale items in store and online, plus 30 percent off full-priced purchases online only with the code HELLOSUMMER.
Who: Anthropologie
Deal: Extra 20 percent off sale items online. Prices as marked.
Who: Dolce Vita
Deal: 15 percent off everything online with the code HAPPY15.
When: Through Sunday.
Who: Juicy Couture
Deal: Extra 50 percent off sale items in store and online.
Who: Loft
Deal: Extra 60 percent off sale items online.
Who: Madewell
Deal: Extra 30 percent off sale items and free shipping online with the code HAPPY4TH.
When: Through Monday.
Who: Rebecca Taylor
Deal: Extra 25 percent off sale items online with the code RTJULY4TH13.
When: Through Monday.
Who: Theory
Deal: Extra 25 percent off sale items online with the code EXTRA25.
When: Through Sunday.


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MODELS: RicoRacer Flux & Valentine (Sachy) Rexen
PHOTOGRAPHER: RicoRacer Flux
***New Release Mesh Cardigan from Strip'd Fashion called "AERYK".
The Aeryk Cardigan comes with a hud where you have 10 cardigan options, 10 Shirts and 10 Ties…so you have a lot of different looks to choose from. I love this school uniform look. I think it is very cool and cute. It takes me back to my younger school days back in high school at a private Catholic school where we had to wear uniforms. The amazing thing about this cardigan is that you can have so many combinations to create your perfect look. It comes with a hud that allows you to change the color of the cardigan, shirt and tie. As always, it is very affordable.
Flagstore – maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jellybeans/78/204/2002
Zenshi Store – maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Zenshi%20South/177/52/30
MP – marketplace.secondlife.com/p/stripd-Aeryk-Cardigan/4356458
***New Unisex hair "DURA #39" by Dura (Chiaki Xue)
I chose this new release hair from DURA called DURA #39 unisex for boys and girls. It is the perfect hairstyle for that "Rebel without a Cause" look. It is carefree and windblown. The perfect hairstyle for winter where you let your hair grow a little longer. It comes in a variety of colors and as always, it is high quality. Thank you Chiaki Xue. ❤
Remember the younger school days of feeling like a rebel? You feel untouchable and you think "Life couldn't get any better".
Life was so carefree and full of promises. You wake up each day with wonder and a sense of adventure.
Skipping school and hanging with the "IN" crowd, doing naughty things. Smoking in the bathroom and making out behind the bleachers.
Breaking hearts and playing with LOVE like it's a new discovery. Dreaming of the future where you can be what you want to be.
Staying up all night believing that all dreams come true and planning to see the world in grand style.
Those were the days and here's hoping you still believe in your dreams and you never lost that sense of adventure. ❤


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For someone of my vintage this is probably a fairly obvious choice for one of my #SaturdaySongs memories. But I'm not apologising for that: this was the first UK top ten hit by the Beatles, and the way it stormed into the British consciousness – and then the world – was unheard of before then. I would argue that despite there having been many artists who have since sold records by the truckload, the way for them to do this was paved by the Beatles. They weren't the first major pop music act, but the floodgates opened on the back of their popularity.
Let me take you back to when the song was released. This was on 11 January 1963 and, a week later, I along with probably most of the UK population saw them perform it on the TV programme Thank Your Lucky Stars. At the time, the UK was two weeks into the worst winter we have had in my lifetime: it started to snow on Boxing Day, 26 December 1962, and we didn't see the ground again until three months later, in March. Transport networks were less plentiful than today in any case, but those that we had were paralysed by the severe weather, so we had little else to do other than stay indoors and entertain ourselves as best we could. I do remember that the school bus managed to run most days though – there's no justice in life, is there!
I was 9 at this time, and had been interested in pop music for a year or two, but the Beatles were an eye-opener. In those days our exposure to pop was on a much smaller scale than today. In the UK we only had 2 TV channels, which had very little in the way of pop music programmes, and the BBC's national radio networks weren't really geared up to younger audiences. The only commercial radio station available to us was Radio Luxembourg, which was so difficult to pick up that you had to be really dedicated to persevere with it – and when you finally did manage to tune in, it was like listening to music being broadcast from another galaxy, transmitted through a high-powered wind tunnel. But it was all we had, and we listened in our droves. The national UK broadcasters gave us the occasional pop artist as a guest on the variety shows which were popular at the time with our parents and other assorted oldies: you know the sort of thing, an awful comedian, a magic act usually involving a few doves, 'comedy' acrobats and jugglers, songs from the musicals performed by people we'd never heard of, the hideously racist and patronising Black And White Minstrel Show. And now and then, we'd get a pop artist.
Prior to the Beatles this would be the likes of Cliff Richard or John Leyton. It's a surprise that I ever got interested in music, really, after an introduction like that! The radio stations were no better: the BBC had three networks, only one of which – the Light Programme – played popular music, and even then it was usually cover versions by the in-house orchestra rather than proper records. The long-running Top Of The Pops TV show was nearly a year away (it started on 1 January 1964) and the BBC didn't reorganise its radio networks until 1967, after the runaway popularity of pirate stations, which began broadcasting from rusting old boats in the seas off the UK shore, around 1963-4 I think.
Here's today's song:
The sound and video quality has degraded a little over the 50+ years since then, but I wanted to share a live version to give you an idea of the kind of hysteria that the Beatles generated, if you weren't around in those days. Please Please Me was the Beatles' second single in the UK, after Love Me Do reached no.17 in autumn 1962. It reached no.2, and led the way for a string of UK and worldwide number ones, starting with From Me To You, its follow up. Whenever I hear this I'm transported back to those magical days of my childhood, to the times when my little sister and I used to play and sing along, using our toy tennis rackets as guitars, and were convinced that we sounded far better than the BBC's anonymous concert orchestra singers. With hindsight I doubt that we did, but we were living a dream, and that is one of the wonderful things about music, and why I have chosen this song this week. I hope it brings back memories for you, too.


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10 years of Girls on the Run: A look at last year's accomplishments, hopes for the future
School begins in less than a week. Our fall Girls on the Run season begins in less than a month. This year will mark Girls on the Run of Gaston County's 10th anniversary. Now seems an opportune time to both reflect on the highlights and accomplishments of the 2012-13 school year and look forward to the promise and excitement that a new year brings.
Girl on the Run is a transformational physical activity-based, positive, youth development program for girls in grades three to eight. We teach life skills through interactive lessons and running games. The program culminates with girls being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5K running event. The goal of the program is to build confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness.
Meeting twice a week with small teams of eight to 15 girls, our volunteer coaches teach life skills through fun, engaging lessons that celebrate the joy of movement. The 24-lesson curriculum includes three parts: understanding ourselves , valuing relationships and teamwork, and understanding how we connect with and shape the world at large. Over the course of the program, our girls develop and improve competence, feel confidence in who they are, develop strength of character, respond to others and themselves with care and compassion, create positive connections with peers and adults and make a meaningful contribution to community and society.
In fall 2012, Girls on the Run of Gaston County sponsored 64 teams at 49 sites, served 722 girls and supported 180 volunteer coaches. In spring 2013, the program sponsored 35 teams at 30 sites, served 434 girls, and supported 100 volunteer coaches. Twenty of the 21 qualifying Title I schools in Gaston County hosted teams, and we added Webb Street School as a new site. Our program included teams at the Erwin Community Center and the West Gastonia Boys & Girls Club.
We participated in a practice 5K each season. In the fall, we journeyed to Charlotte International Airport, where we actually ran on a runway with airplanes taking off and landing overhead. For some of our girls, this was their first trip to an airport. This spring, we pounded the pavement of the Historic York Chester neighborhood with thousands of other runners and walkers in the Community Foundation's Run for the Money, an event which benefits more than 100 local nonprofits, including Girls on the Run.
We also sponsored two Girls on the Run 5Ks: a fall event in Historic Downtown Belmont and a spring event in Lineberger Park. Both events included music, refreshments, Happy Hair, finish line medals and prizes for the participants of the No Fizz Challenge, our month-long GOTR challenge to drink water and avoid soft drinks.
We held our first annual Coach Appreciation Banquet held in the new Environmental Center at the Schiele Museum. Helping make the event a success were Creative Solutions, On The Border and Splat! We recognized coaches for seasons of service.
We enjoyed support, discounts, sponsorships and donations from other businesses and organizations this year. We wish to thank CaroMont Health, our 2012-13 program sponsor. In addition, we are thankful for support from the Belmont Downtown Merchants, the Charlotte International Airport, the city of Belmont, the city of Gastonia, the Community Foundation of Gaston County, Complete Eye Care, Facet Foundry, Garibaldi Realty, the Gaston Family YMCA, Great Clips, Hannon Orthodontics, the Links, Lowes Foods, Medical Center Pharmacy, Parent Teacher Magazine, Pharr Yarns, PR Race Management, South Point Pet Hospital, the String Bean of Belmont, Summit Eye Associates, Town and Country Garden Club, Treescape and Walk and Run Belmont.
It was a year of special recognitions for Girls on the Run as well. The Glaxo Smith Kline Foundation honored Girls on the Run of Gaston County with the 2012 Child Health Recognition Award. Nia Williams, from Sadler Elementary School Girls on the Run, was one of 12 national winners in the Secret's Mean Stinks Essay Contest.
And then there was Social Madness, a national social media competition sponsored by The Business Journal. Competing on behalf of Girls on the Run, Summit Eye Associates defeated all other Charlotte regional teams and was the only North Carolina team to make it to the Final Four; their goal was to win the $10,000 prize for Girls on the Run of Gaston County. In a demonstration of "super, super girl power," the four-doctor, all-female optometry practice and Girls on the Run-Gaston held a Social Madness Marathon at The String Bean in Belmont from noon until midnight on the final day of the competition with live coverage by WBTV. While Summit Eye was eliminated in that round, the recognition the campaign brought to our organization and the support generated from across our county, the country and even abroad was priceless. And Summit Eye was undaunted. Immediately after the results of the competition were released, Summit launched a local challenge to raise $10,000 or more for Girls on the Run, encouraging supporters to send tax-deductible donations to the Community Foundation of Gaston County through Aug. 31.
The String Bean joined the challenge this past Friday, again with a social media angle. Owner Chad Hutcheson pledged a $1 donation to Girls on the Run for every new "like" on The String Bean's Facebook page, up to $1,000, through Aug. 31.
We are 10 years old this year! And we plan to celebrate!
First, the fall season begins the week of Sept. 16. Program registration opens Aug. 26. For more information about participating sites, practice days and times, and registration details, visit our website, www.gotrgaston.org , email us ( firstname.lastname@example.com ) or call 704-862-5341.
Moved by what you've read? We encourage you to get involved. Our organization would not exist without the hundreds of volunteer coaches who mentor our girls twice a week for 12 weeks each season. We still need coaches for our fall season. You do not need to be a runner to be a coach; you just need to want to make a difference in the lives of the young women of our county. For more information about coaching, visit our website or contact us.
If you would like to become involved but are not able to coach, there are many other ways to support Girls on the Run: committee work, office assistance, 5K volunteers, and more. Again, contact us.
We are in the beginning stages of planning our 10th Anniversary Gala, which will take place after the first of the year. Stay tuned, and if you're inspired, join our planning committee. Our dream is for this event to celebrate the achievements of our council and the support of our community, but, most of all, to shine a spotlight on our amazing girls.
Finally, what about the boys? We at the Gaston County Health and Human Services Department are asked that question every day. Now we have an answer. This year, hopefully this fall, our department will introduce Let Me Run, a research-based character development program involving running, to our county. Like Girls on the Run, Let Me Run Inc. was founded in Charlotte. Let Me Run of Gaston County will be the first affiliate organization in the country. We are currently looking for coaches, sponsors and partners. We are confident that Gaston County will step up to enthusiastically support this program just as it has Girls on the Run. We know we will not be disappointed.
It was been an eventful year for Girls on the Run, and we anticipate a remarkable 10th anniversary year upcoming. One of the core values of Girls on the Run is to express joy, optimism and gratitude through our words, thoughts and actions. As we look back on an extraordinary 12 months and look forward with excitement to our 10th anniversary year and the introduction of Let Me Run, we are indeed filled with joy, optimism and gratitude. Thank you, Gaston County.
Kathleen Boyce is director of Girls on the Run in Gaston County.


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Mini Bus Hire in North Hykeham
Here at coach hire we are a minibus hire company, one with a mission to save the people of North Hykeham money on coach rental. Having been sharing our sizeable fleet of small, medium and large coaches for many years, we know a thing or two about what makes a great Minibus Hire service. From friendly drivers and clean vehicles to the standard of the vehicle, we ensure every box is ticked and every customer is happy.
Our fleet of coaches
Having been supplying the area with a service such as Mini bus hire and Coach & Minibus Hire, we became incredibly in-demand by those planning important events. As a result, we invested heavily in our fleet, ensuring we have availability throughout the year. So, whether you are looking for an executive coach for a business trip tomorrow or wedding Minibus Hire for next summer, our fleet can accommodate your every need.
Other popular occasions for Minibus Hire include:
- School trips
- University outings
- Corporate events
- Sports matches and race days
- Airport transfers
- And much more
It is also worth noting that it's not just North Hykeham we can offer our services in, with our fleet found travelling the roads of Lincolnshire day in, day out.
For more details and information on how to book Minibus Hire contact us for an informal chat.


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Lexmark Carpet Mills
About Lexmark Carpet Mills
Carpet for every style, so you can make a space your own...
We believe carpet should never be boring, and that your home deserves the best. That's why our yarn system, which weaves color thoroughly through each strand that makes up your carpet, outlasts the competition...
… Meaning your carpet colors will remain vibrant long after others would have faded.
Whether you're seeking the subtlety of neutral patterns or the richness of vibrant colors or modern styles, our mission is to help you make your space whatever your heart desires.
Carpet is comforting and classic. Area rugs are enticing and space-enhancing. And Lexmark Residential would love to create with you.
Lexmark Residential believes you deserve something different...
Lexmark was born from a passion to produce quality carpet for the hospitality industry. 18 years later, in 2011, we realized we could bring that same sense of unparalleled service and product to homes across America.
As the carpet manufacturer, we can provide an enormous variety of carpets from subtle to statement-making. Because carpet isn't just a cover for your floor. It's the groundwork for your life – and the memories that will be made there.
Today, Lexmark Residential prides itself on providing customers with extraordinary carpets at an affordable price.
NOTE:Exploring Flooring Inc does not carry every style of Lexmark Carpet Mills . Check with them first about a particular product or to see if your product choice is available for special order.
Paul Cleary, CEO, Lexmark Carpet Mills - Part 1
Paul Cleary talks about the history of the company, its entrée in the hospitality market and later involvement in the retail market as well as its decision to enter the extrusion and twisting sector. http://www.floortrendsmag.com/talkfloor
Watch Video Visit Website


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Dynamics C5 2014 | Welcome MiniApp
Ok, I guess it is officially announced now as you can read in Erik's post.
Although it is hard to find english content and many people probably have questions, let me share what I know about C5 2014 and NAV 2013R2.
Most annoucements of C5 2014 are danish as you can see if you google it. That's simply because it has always been a danish local product. Like we have exact in the Netherlands and Quickbooks in the USA.
With this release Microsoft has decided to merge the products C5 and NAV. That meaning C5 will still be called C5 but uses the NAV core to run on.
One of the questions Erik rises in his post is what functionality Microsoft will offer with C5. Although I cannot firmly answer that question I can make a good guess.
Usability has always been an issue with Dynamics NAV or Navision. The product is 80-95 procent finished and Microsoft expects partners to add the missing 5-20 percent. (Some add more).
So if you want to merge a product like C5 which is usable out of the box, you cannot use NAV without making it more usable. To Microsoft has the issues of usability of the base products that many partners have had for the last years.
If you have a chance to download NAV 2013 R2 (many of you will have that chance soon when it is released) you should find new objects called "Mini *Something*" and a new Role Center called Small Business.
This role center provides access to the "Mini App" which is a simplified way of using NAV for small businesses.
As for myself, I have been using this featurepack for my own accounting in the last six months and it is great.
Let me show you some examples
1. Creating Customers and Vendors
When I create a new Sales Invoice, I do not have to select an Invoice number, the system generates it for me. And when I select a customer that does not exist, it asks me if I want to create this customer
If I say yes, it asks me what sort of customer I want to create
This is just a small example
2. Statistical Information
When opening the Customer Card You can directly access information about the customer with visual support
Now this post can be a mile long if I start describing all the functionalities in the Mini App but I hope you get the message.
I am extremely exited about this new feature pack and I hope that this will be launched outside of Denmark soon.
Until now the features have been shipped with NAV 2013 R2 CTP builds so I expect that also all NAV partners can benefit from this investment.
Design Patterns
This new way of creating features in Dynamics NAV (C5) requires a new way of thinking. New Design Patterns.
In Antwerp on NAVTechDays there will be a session about the new design patterns that will show best practices on how to program in NAV (C5) to realize a new user expecience.
Good luck to all the C5 partners and welcome to our community!


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2 new infections in Michigan from bad steroids
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan health officials have reported two more infections in the past two weeks linked to contaminated steroids supplied by a Massachusetts pharmaceutical company.
The Michigan Department of Community Health says at least 246 people have been infected with illnesses including fungal meningitis that are part of a national disease outbreak. The steroids are used in injections to treat neck and back pain.
The department reports that at least 15 people have died in the outbreak, unchanged from two weeks ago.
By Friday, the department says there have been 68 cases of fungal meningitis, 154 epidural abscesses, one stroke and 23 peripheral joint infections in Michigan tied to the steroids.


text: Developing good penmanship takes practice. Sailing Samantha helps kids practice writing capital and lowercase "S" in cursive on this worksheet. Kids trace the letters and then write their own. They also trace a cursive sentence featuring the letter "S." This worksheet helps your child learn to write legibly in cursive, allowing correct spacing between letters in a word and words in a sentence.


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Donna Barry & Jose Pombo
Donna Barry and Jose Pombo, founding principals of Phoenix-based architecture firm Substance Design Consortium, will join the corporate leadership of HMC Architects as a result of a merger between the two firms. Barry joins the firm as design principal, while Pombo will serve as associate principal and senior project manager.
Barry and Pombo founded Substance Design Consortium in 2007 and have focused their practice on creating high-performance architectural solutions that maximize program requirements while responding to the natural environment. Their concentration on public and community-based facilities will complement HMC's 71-year history of specialization in the justice, healthcare, education, and civic markets.
Substance Design Consortium will merge with HMC's existing Tempe, AZ., office, led by principal-in-charge Erik Hanson and design principal David De Valeria. Hanson will continue to manage the combined downtown Phoenix studio.


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Hi Everyone,
Thanks for being here. I appreciate it. A lot! ❤
Here are a couple of my latest e-book reads that you might like.
Unhappy Endings is certainly a fitting title for this collection of three flash fiction stories. The endings are also unexpected. In Sylvia's World a young woman dreams of escaping from a marriage to a man who has little interest in her life. In the middle story, Cleopatra's Slippers, the author takes us into curfews and the thorny moral question of the right to die from a teenage daughter's viewpoint. The last story, Emmaline, lets us draw our own conclusion on a sixteen year old girl's pregnancy.
These days, I've been finding myself pressed for time and so the flash fiction format was perfect. Unhappy Endings provided me with my literary fix and boosted my imagination.
This is not the first time Judy has been on my blog. You can read more about her on my series How I Got Published and on her interesting website.
Unhappy Endings will be a free Kindle download from Dec. 1 to Dec. 5. Her collection of short stories, Live Free or Tri, will be free on Kindle at the same time. She's hoping to get some Amazon and Goodreads reviews!
I was initially attracted to this debut mystery novel because of its setting. I have been following Jet Eliot's Travel and Wildlife Adventures blog for some time now and so I felt that I could count on a vicarious Australian escape. The author's description of snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef is worthy of any good travel book. Then there's Jet Eliot's grasp on Australian nature, the cacophony of jungle sounds in the rain forest and her casually inserting Aussie words such as the chocolate covered pastry named the Lamington – the same name as her protagonist – Anne Lamington – a perky, middle aged-woman whose curiosity leads her to sleuthing.
Wicked Walkabout is a mystery, much in the style of the classic who-dune-its. Lately, I tend to lose interest very quickly on the many novels I've been coming across. Not so with this book. The author did a terrific job of holding my interest. I liked the characters in the book and loved the relationship of the protagonist with her police officer son back in America. I suspect that in her 2nd installment of the Anne Lamington series – The Golden Gate Graveyard – we'll be hearing more about her son.
You can read more about Jet Eliot here.


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Part 2
Here we go picking up where we left off picking on and picking faults, discrepancies and blatant lies all while trying to maintain our sanity by making light of what will result in the kick-off of President Obama's long ago promised and much anticipated by extreme leftists and haters of all things America who agree with the President that the problem with the world has been and always was an America that was too powerful, too imperialist, too influential, too concerned and too interventionist even when America seldom kept the lands they liberated returning the greatest majority back to their former governance or to the people to choose their own future with any and all assistance they required in instigating a governance which was chosen and would continue to be chosen by the people in free, open, honest elections where the actual votes mattered and the government was answerable to the ballot box. This President decided that the United States remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan was detrimental to the free choices of the people and was there as a conqueror imposing America's will onto the people so he removed the United States troops and the vast majority suffered not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but across the Middle East and North Africa as while President Obama had no trouble allowing governments to be overthrown, he saw no role for the United States in preserving the possibility for change if only there was some means of preventing the fracturing in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and starting now in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The sole saving grace in the MENA revolutions was Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power before they could cement their Islamist Sharia nightmare and cast Egypt into another Iran like power except this time Sunni and the Sinai Peninsula is still in open revolt and lawlessness threatening both Egypt and Israel and potentially Jordan and western Saudi Arabia while assisting Iran in arming Hamas even further. So, now let's get back to the speech after this commercial interruption.
"Medical research is critical; we need the same level of commitment when it comes to developing clean energy sources. Look, if anybody wants to dispute the science around climate change, then have at it. You will be pretty lonely." Then he listed a litany of organizations, branches of government, the military, and so on. Does anybody know what the unifying thing was about that list? Yes, you right here……. Yes, that's it; they are all financed through the government or are completely beholden as a branch of government. This has been the ugly truth about the climate change debate. Firstly, nobody is claiming that climate does not change as that would be preposterous. What is debated is whether it is predominantly anthropomorphic or whether nature has the far greater effect. Guess which one received the mountain of funding from the United States, United Nations, European Union, and had entire companies whose existence and budget only comes from government and they still manage to go bankrupt, see yesterday's just above the picture in the article, there is only one. We could argue that right here and never get through the speech so one argument and we'll move on. Take all the pollution caused by humankind and add to that all the pollution caused by the herds of animals and pets of humankind and add all the pollution caused by factories and power plants, even the coal plant a week Chinese ones with no scrubbers or filters belching pollutants needlessly because they are immune to criticism or pollution control requirements and balance that against the 550 active volcanoes of which an average year has 60 eruptions of which 2/3 are active and constantly erupting such as Stromboli, Kilauea, or Sakurajima. Guess which side of the equation produces more greenhouse gasses and pollutants into the atmosphere, hint, mankind has only once in modern history beaten an erupting volcano on the fly using water pumps, granted, very large water pumps and every last one from Greenland to Britain and beyond was a harbor village in Iceland who slowed and then redirected the lava flow, tens of thousands of cubic yards of lava flow away from directly striking their town losing less than 10% of the buildings. And volcanoes are not the largest producers of greenhouse gasses for which we are very thankful. Anyone know the molecule which generates the greatest amount of greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, and would you like to ban it? We hope not as it is dihydrogen-oxide and the oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of this chemical whose denotation is H2O, yep, water is the greatest producing molecule in the atmosphere that remains a secret because if people ever realized that the oceans beat volcanoes by a factor of hundreds or more and volcanoes beat humanity with all its effects by a factor of thousands then the whole climate change is America's and the developed world's fault would be forever buried, but they want to use climate change to change the way you live and then limit your travel demanding you get a license to travel after you pay for a thousand trees to be planted and other garbage coming in the future the way things are heading. So, onward and let's see the next subject.
President made a statement that the United States has cut foreign imports of oil by 60% which he made to sound to be due to renewable energy production and ignored the influence that tripling oil production, largely due to fracking, and the Dakota's oil boom. An intentional aside, he threw out "gas under two bucks (nice common language rather than the formal dollars) a gallon ain't (see last comment) bad either" a great little tool politicians use to make a comment, usually to their favor, appear as they just thought of it and threw it out off the cuff, trust one who dabbled in politics, it was on the teleprompter including a signal word to denote its delivery. Enough trees great, cars bad. The "world we preserve," oh gag me with a spoon.
We are now going on to discuss how to keep America safe without isolationism or triumphalism as we cannot be the world's police. And I have to ask, why not, it had been working somewhat before you broke the entire machine because you were raised in a bubble. The United States spends more on their military than the next eight nations combined. Possibly valid but that is comparing apples to oranges. The United States also spends more on water pipes, telephone equipment, power lines, than those same eight nations, but so what. Let's talk percentage of GDP to military spending and my bet is that then Israel spends more than the United States. As long as we are making comparisons, my bet is the United States, for the time being as China is about to get into these areas placing their own systems in orbit, but the United States spends more on weather satellites, GPS satellites, satellites to monitor weather on the sun, space telescopes, probes working on or around other planets, and way more on satellites still broadcasting data to Earth from beyond the heliosphere and currently traversing the heliosheath while approaching the so called the heliopause.
He feels the need to remake NATO. First is protecting Americans, as it should be, because terrorist network, yes, he actually said terrorists, somebody probably told him the value of not hedging when talking about violent extremists, and he named al-Qaeda and ISL which is close to the point, because even a handful of terrorists who care little for human life, including their own, can do a lot of damage. No argument here except I would bet he will refer to the small number part in some future argument where he will claim that it is just a small, insignificant number of violent extremists. Well, well, so we sure do not need to push away vital allies in this fight, please tell me this is not where Turkey, or worse, Iran are coming into view, please. The coalition he formed is taking care of Syria which would work better if Congress would authorize use of force in Syria. Further, Iran has been prevented from gaining nuclear weapons and stamped out Ebola in Africa and established trade in Asia if only Congress would act. He claims that we can rid the world of Malaria which could have been accomplished with the judicial and targeted use of DDT back fifty years ago, but because of overuse of DDT by permitting wide swath spraying of even some urban areas to cut down on insects resulted in undernourished birds having overly thin shelled and thus unhealthy eggs. If we had limited the use to only areas where there were stagnant waters, then the judicial use instead of carpet bombing every suburb in America would not have so denuded the areas of insects that it so adversely affected the birds. I can remember the trucks coming every three weeks and spraying unbelievable amounts of what they referred to as bug spray, but our parents knew it was DDT, the chemical which allowed the building of the Panama Canal along with penicillin; but once we were done in the tropics, why continue to allow an inexpensive and easily produced pesticide to continue use worldwide just to rid the world of malaria. But now we must finish the job of eradicating malaria. Why did we refuse to finish the fight a half century ago and saved how many millions of lives? Lives matter even in the poorest of nations where malaria had been a scourge across Africa, South and Central America as well as Asia but not on temperate Europe and America, so ban DDT and watch these continents suffer needlessly. Can you tell this one has stuck in my craw for quite some time?
Our glorious future can only happen if we work together and have rational and constructive debates, fix our politics, and now, trust between the citizenry. I fear where he is about to tread. It doesn't work if we think our opponents are motivated by malice, are unpatriotic, trying to weaken America. Democracy doesn't work when we fail to compromise, when basic facts are contested, listen only to those who agree with us (then what am I doing here?), public life withers when only the most extreme voices get all the attention, and breaks down when the average person doesn't think their voice matters, that the system is rigged in favor of the rich, the powerful or some special interest. And we learn that President Obama has regrets and this is one of those few he has about his Presidency, wish I could say the same. He has noticed that the division and relations between the parties had gotten worse instead of better. Talking to the American people he instructs us that it is not enough to change a Congressman or a Senator or even a President to make politics better, we need to change the system. We need to stop drawing congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters and not the other way around, let a bipartisan committee (we think as it was applause overshadowed), reduce the influence of money in our politics so a handful of individuals or (unintelligible) our elections, stutter stutter stutter if campaign finance reform cannot pass muster in the courts, then we have to find another solution, (damn the Constitution and full steam ahead). He can't do these things on his own, the last time he complained about that he did do it on his own. Look out America, Obama has seen your future and you are going to become a tribal society fighting and killing instead of voting because he has seen it. Um, ah, no, and here we go into the philosophical rhapsody in his view of what is right, imagine an America where there are no differences, no races, no ethnicity and no religion too. Imagined an America where rah rah rah and the son who comes out for who he is and the father who loves him, the woman who waits forever to vote, the new immigrant who votes for the first time and the State of our Union is strong, um, okie dokie.
It was shorter than his usual but could have been even shorter. I want a President who simply does what the constitution requires, send a report to Congress, written so that they can review where their President who they will need to work along-side and determine where the nation is going in his opinion and they should reply either directly or through whatever channels they need to abide and oblige. Then for the State of the Union Address, as the press will have already posted the report to Congress for any citizen to read, can simply give an emotional and concise speech delineating what he desires and addresses any urgent events or state of the world which he believes the people need to know the President's views and where he can sway people. That way the report can be lengthy with figures and breakdowns of every little thing and be completely factual or his opinion and go into greater depth than the presentation. As it stands now, the President will actually make two, if he is wise, State of the Union reports, the copy of this speech and the actual SOTU report as a document of greater length and detail than he would ever wish to deliver to the nation. As this system is currently, that second report, if such does exist, will remain unseen by the people and even if the media were to get a copy, the odds are it would never see print or online unless bloggers or other new media types were to have access. The President will never be giving another SOTU address and for that both he and we are likely grateful.
What is actually far more interesting are the rumors floating around which inform us that President Obama will be touring far more than the fifty-seven states he once claimed were the United States, as now he is campaigning for an entirely new position which will present an interesting problem. He wants to be the next Secretary General of the United Nations. He really thinks he should run the world. This has been the funniest rumor I have run across in years and what makes it even better is it would be even funnier if it is for real. Honest, I think President Obama would make a much better Secretary General of the United Nations than he was President of the United States. If President Obama really thinks that Secretary General is a higher post than President of the United States, he will need to have a serious session with people who know better. The Secretary General of United Nations makes pointless speeches, usually unfortunately ever so much longer than necessary, that's one qualification he has. He needs to enjoy being powerless, not an Obama strong suit. He would have no military and would need to rely completely on his speech delivery to make his point and win the day. They will make sure his translator to the hard of hearing is an actual translator and not some wanna-be comedian. He will get to visit one-hundred-ninety-three nations and the nonfunctional Palestinian Authority. He would still be dead within fifteen minutes of a Gaza visit. He would still be persona-non-grata in Egypt. Turkey's Erdogan would remain his best friend. He would have the privilege of dealing with Prime Minister Netanyahu even more often and with less influence or power. He could spend great amounts of time in Europe where the politics are presumably more to his liking. He could have two five year terms which is greater job security than his last job where he will be summarily fired after eight too long years of pain and anguish because the Congress would not play fair and just do as they were told, well, except for parts of those first two dreamy years. As Secretary General nobody anywhere will do as they are told, oh the additional anguishes. As Secretary General may he will have miseries like that of a thousand nights shared in a Bedouin tent with a camel. As Secretary General he can make his best speeches even though no one will listen, not even the chair (thank you Neil Diamond).
That is a good one to leave in and go listen to Neil Diamond's Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show.
Beyond the Cusp


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A Most Delightful Map
Think about this: You wake up in New York City, decide to go for a stroll, head east after breakfast, and a short time later, still on foot,you find yourself in Morocco. Three hundred million years ago, you could have done that! There was no civilization back then, no cities, no countries, no people, but the land was there, so take a look at this map.
It pictures the Earth during the late Paleozoic, when all land was clumped into one contiguous mass called the supercontinent Pangea — but in this version they've plopped a modern political details on top, so click the "enlarge" button, and fantasize with me. Start by finding the United States. Then locate New York and you'll see, back then, smooshed up against Long Island was ... Morocco!
I love this map. I found myself taking imaginary walks that made me giggle.
Who wouldn't want to wait for a traffic light in Perth, Australia, cross the street, and suddenly be in Bangladesh? (Yes, you'd have to imagine the traffic light, the street, the people and the wild change in clothes, but the goof is, there'd literally be a spot where the two places met and you could step across it.)
Or: I'm seeing myself on the edge of Mozambique with a beach towel, (today I guess it would be a beach), and I get up, walk a few paces and instead of being in the Indian Ocean — I'm in Antarctica! I know, I know, I wouldn't meet a penguin, not back then, but I'd know thatone day there'd be penguins there, so every hike would be a weird cosmic joke. That's my kind of hike.
Another fantasy: I'm sitting in Cape Town, South Africa, staring at Argentina just up the block, and watching a trickle of water suddenly appear at the corner. Over the years it widens and widens and widens until it becomes the Atlantic Ocean, and I'm thinking "There goes the neighborhood."
This map has sad and happy surprises. Saddest is Iran. Poor Iran. Back in the day, that country was in three different places, thousands of miles apart. Sort of like Humpty Dumpty. One slice sat along the Persian Gulf. But the capital Tehran, was nowhere near. You'll find it in the upper right, way, way, north, next to an ancient and no-longer-existing ocean. Iran took millions of years to pull itself together.
But the happy surprise is Florida. Today it's an isolated peninsula, sticking out of the ocean, just above sea level. But back in the Paleozoic, it was the place to be, if you liked company. You'll find it right in the center of this next little map, in green, right next to Conakry, Guinea, where Cuba and Puerto Rico are clumping close, Brazil is a stone's throw south and Sierra Leone a few miles east, so if you run in a big circle, you can play tag with three future continents and a bunch of Caribbean islands on the same day. This is what a good map can do — it can entertain. Who needs Disney World when you can do this?
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Ash Cool Wedge Sneakers, $235 (the black and white seem to be sold out everywhere)
Remember when I blogged about the ever growing trend of celebrities sporting sneakers? Well, I went ahead and took my own advice and got myself some kick ass kicks. I mean, it's very rare that we, ladies, win out. Something that is in style as well as comfortable? Yes, please! I like the look of super casual sneakers with an ultra feminine frock or short shorts. (I love contradictions, remember?).
So, I got a pair of these Ash wedge sneakers, but have yet to take them on their maiden voyage . I can't decide if I love them or loathe them. From the front, I adore them… but then I turn to the side… and I kind of abhor them.
The wedge makes me feel like I'm wearing lifts in my shoes… kinda like Tom Cruise. I'm just wondering: does the wedge make a shoe that should be so nonchalant look altogether fussy? Shall we just stick to good ol' fashion flat sneakers, like my Reebok Dibellos? They have been cool for the past 125 years, afterall. To me, putting a wedge in an athletic shoe is kind of like pretending Drake never played Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi. But that's just me. Thoughts?
Play ball!


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Nov. 30, 2009— -- Seattle area police began conducting aggressive operations tonight, raiding homes of suspected cop killer Maurice Clemmons' friends and family, hoping to round up people they believe helped Clemmons evade capture.
More than 36 hours after he allegedly walked into a Lakewood, Wash., coffee shop and killed four police officers in what officials described as an assassination, Clemmons was still at large, despite a massive manhunt throughout the Seattle area.
Police said Clemmons was armed, possibly with several guns, and was wounded. Calling him "dangerous," they said, is an understatement.
Earlier this evening, police said they believed that Clemmons was still alive, despite likely having suffered a potentially fatal wound in the shooting Sunday morning, and that his family and friends had helped him get away from the police hunting him.
Pierce County Sheriff's Department spokesman Ed Troyer told ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV that the raids tonight were being carried out "to collect evidence against him and against those helping him evade us."
"Our ultimate goal is to get him into custody, but a part of that plan going to be to make everybody's life miserable that's helping him. And if they want to go down one by one, that's fine with us," Troyer said. "And our goal by doing this is to take everybody out of the equation that's helping him. That way, he'll have nobody left, and have to fend for himself."
A search of a Seattle house for Clemmons came up empty today, after police locked down a neighborhood for several hours and a SWAT team surrounded a house, believing the suspect was holed up inside. Police fired teargas into the house in an effort to coax or force Clemmons out.
When there was no response, police sent in a robot to determine whether Clemmons was inside. SWAT team members followed shortly after. Police told ABC News that there are indications that Clemmons, who was believed to have been injured in the shooting, had been in the house, but had slipped away.
Even after the 11-hour standoff ended, there was still a massive police presence in Seattle's Leschi neighborhood, with six blocks blocked off and police from several agencies methodically combing area homes and backyards. The area was described as hilly and wooded, providing lots of hiding places.
A nearby elementary school was closed. The University of Washington, located several miles away from the Leschi area, also sent out a text and e-mail alert warning that Clemmons might be in the area.
A warrant has been issued for Clemmons arrest on four counts of murder and the reward for information leading to an arrest has also been bumped up from $100,000 to $125,000.
Clemmons, 37, has a gunshot wound to the abdomen that could be fatal if untreated, police sources told ABC News. That information came from associates of the suspect who helped him overnight and were later picked up by police.
Authorities say Clemmons had no ties to the house he was believed to have been hiding in and that they believe he was dropped off in the neighborhood Sunday evening.
Troyer said Clemmons is their "number one suspect" and the only man authorities are looking at in the shooting deaths of three Lakewood police officers and one sergeant at the Forza Coffee Shop, south of Tacoma.
A police source has told ABC News that they have recovered the murder weapon. Though more than one gun was recovered, they believe he used only one in the attack, a semi-automatic handgun.
Authorities said the attack was a planned ambush.
"We don't believe he was targeting them in particular," Troyer said. "We just believe he was out to kill some police officers execution style."
Police learned after the attack, Troyer added, that Clemmons had bragged to others the night before the shooting that they should watch the news "because he was going to go kill some cops."
Troyer said people who heard Clemmons' alleged warning called in the tip to police after the shooting.
"They are people they were hanging out with the night before," he said. "They didn't believe him and thought he was crazy."
Troyer said police have interviewed the people who heard the threat, but would not release their names or comment on their identities other than to say they were acquaintances of Clemmons.
Washington Police Fault Arkansas for Maurice Clemmons' Release
Troyer said police narrowed in on Clemmons as a suspect Sunday, their suspicions solidified by news that Clemmons was suffering from a gunshot wound.
The Lakewood Police Department is a small force and the deaths represent a loss of 10 percent to 15 percent of the department. The four officers killed were parents to a total of nine children. Their deaths, Troyer said, should never have happened.
In a news release, the sheriff's office said Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated robbery and theft. Clemmons also recently was arrested and charged in Pierce County in Washington state for third-degree assault on a police officer and second-degree rape of a child.
Clemmons had been released from custody six days ago, bonding out despite an outstanding warrant from Arkansas, where he was pardoned by then Gov. Mike Huckabee nine years ago after serving 11 years of a potential 60-year sentence.
Troyer faulted the state of Arkansas for not acting on the outstanding fugitive warrant for Clemmons after Washington police notified them that he was in custody.
"We know here in Washington we didn't do anything wrong," Troyer said. "We've arrested him multiple times."
In a statement released overnight, Huckabee called the murder of a police officer "the worst of all murders in that it is an assault on every citizen and the laws we live within."
"Should he be found to be responsible for this horrible tragedy, it will be the result of a series of failures in the criminal justice system in both Arkansas and Washington State," Huckabee said, saying that Clemmons met the conditions for commutation and parole at the time. "It appears that he has continued to have a string of criminal and psychotic behavior but was not kept incarcerated by either state."
Marion Humphrey, the Little Rock judge who urged clemency for Clemmons in 2000 told ABC News today that he was horrified and hurt that the man he recommended for leniency would be accused of such a crime.
"I did what I did, and I stand behind what I did. I regret what has happened and I acknowledge responsibility for what I did," Humphrey said. "At the time he appeared to me to be a person who was trying to get his life back together."
Humphrey, also a Presbyterian minister who presided over Clemmons' wedding, said his consideration was based on his belief in mercy and Clemmons' age at the time.
After the attack, Troyer said, an electronic monitoring device put on Clemmons by the bond company was found to have been cut off his ankle.
Police said the suspect in the shootings walked up to the counter as if to place an order, then pulled a gun out of his coat and began firing. In a last ditch effort to stop the attack, one of the officers was said to have struggled with the shooter, fighting him out the door of the coffee shop, and possibly getting off a few shots at the gunman, until the officer was shot and killed.
Troyer said over the weekend that the officers were working on their laptops, preparing for the start of their shifts when the shooting started.
"There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform," Troyer said.
The officers were identified as:
• Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39. He had 13 years of law enforcement experience, and is survived by a wife and 3 children.
• Officer Ronald Owen, 37. He had 12 years of law enforcement experience, and is survived for his former wife and a daughter.
• Officer Tina Griswold, 40. She had 14 years of law enforcement experience, and is survived by her husband and two children.
• Officer Greg Richards, 42. He had eight years of law enforcement experience, and is survived by his wife and three children.
Troyer estimated that a couple of hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and multiple surrounding police agencies in the area were at the crime scene, with some coming on their own time.
Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack. All were being interviewed by the Pierce County Sheriff's investigators.
"Some are in shock. They are very upset," Troyer said. "They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened."
The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle. The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.
Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was OK and being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was for the families of the police officers.
"I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me," said Carpenter, of nearby Gig Harbor.
Troyer said the Lakewood officers were two blocks outside their jurisdiction, and the coffee shop was a popular place for officers from surrounding jurisdictions to meet and share information.
ABC News' Megan Clark and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Click here to return to the "Good Morning America" Web site.


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Comic books browse by: Shop category:
Scenarist Sébastien VastraAvailable series in store category "Comic books"
Sébastien Vastra in the COMICLOPEDIA
"Sébastien Vastra is the author of the fantasy series 'Mâchefer', that started in 2001 at Vents d'Ouest. He has won several comics contests, such as the contests held in Le Havre (1995), Cain (1996), Amiens (1997 and 1998) and Rouen (1998 and 1999). At the comic festival of Rouen in 1999..." [ Read more ]


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Energy & Power
The Museum's collections on energy and power illuminate the role of fire, steam, wind, water, electricity, and the atom in the nation's history. The artifacts include wood-burning stoves, water turbines, and windmills, as well as steam, gas, and diesel engines. Oil-exploration and coal-mining equipment form part of these collections, along with a computer that controlled a power plant and even bubble chambers—a tool of physicists to study protons, electrons, and other charged particles.
A special strength of the collections lies in objects related to the history of electrical power, including generators, batteries, cables, transformers, and early photovoltaic cells. A group of Thomas Edison's earliest light bulbs are a precious treasure. Hundreds of other objects represent the innumerable uses of electricity, from streetlights and railway signals to microwave ovens and satellite equipment.
Model, LNG Carrier Methane Shirley Elisabeth
- Description
- Liquid natural gas (LNG) is composed mostly of methane (80–99%). For shipping, it is chilled to -260°F, at which point it is condensed into a liquid 1/600 of its original volume. It is transported globally in this form aboard ships with insulated containers that offload it at special terminals.
- LNG tankers have been around the United States since 1959, when the first cargo was exported from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to England. There are around 200 LNG tankers in service in 2007, and nearly that many more are on order at specialized shipyards to meet the globe's growing demand for this source of energy.
- LNG tankers have completed more than 40,000 voyages without serious incident; they have the best safety record of any category of commercial shipping. However, they are among the world's most expensive and difficult ships to build.
- Methane Shirley Elisabeth is one of the newest types of LNG tankers, having been delivered to its owners in March 2007. Its double hulls, separated by six feet of seawater, protect the four gas tanks, which are refrigerated and insulated to maintain the -260°F temperature. The tanks, or membranes, consist of layers of stainless steel and other materials alternating with thick foam insulation. The insides of the membranes are lined with stainless steel, corrugated in two dimensions to prevent the frozen gas from sloshing around inside.
- Date made
- 2006
- maker
- Samsung
- ID Number
- 2007.0205.01
- accession number
- 2007.0205
- catalog number
- 2007.0205.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Of course it's no secret that I want to be a farmer. Rick and I joke about it almost daily, and, very un-jokingly, we work hard putting up produce from the CSA, growing our own in the garden, raising the chickens and generally learning all we can about living on the land.
Getting chickens was a baby step. We started with four and moved up to seven. They eat a lot. And they poop a lot. And for the first year, we didn't get a lot of eggs, but spent a lot of money on building them a coop. Now we know more, and we're getting lots of eggs, and though they're messy and dig holes, we are glad to have them, and thinking of better ways to do things with them.
Part of the reason why we decided to be working members on Monroe's farm, was so that I could get a taste of what went into this pipe dream. Every week last year, Rick sent me off to Kersey with the admonition to pay close attention to what Jerry said, and to ask him about ______. He wanted me to pick Jerry's brain weekly. Did he grow Brussels sprouts? When did he plant potatoes? How do you know corn is ready to harvest?
A week or so ago, a working member friend, Tracy, posted an article about taking A Farm Vacation on her Facebook page. At the moment I first saw it, I was tired from processing food and working, and thought, "Vacation! What? Farming's hard work!" And it is. But after the trip to Palisade last weekend, I've changed my mind. I want to take this vacation myself.
Palisade was so beautiful. The Western slope of Colorado is sunny and warm and the towns charming. Rick and I saw an orchard for sale and picked up a flyer. Ah – we could live here, and we could grow this. If only we had more [money, and] time to sit here and pick Buck's (the owner of the orchard where we harvested peaches) brain on how to do it all. If only we could stay here and give it a try for a while before investing in property.
I really love having H (and now E too) out there on the CSA farm every week. While his biggest thrill is playing with the other kids, catching toads and feeding the pigs, I have the opportunity to remind him that those pigs will become pork chops, and those toads eat the bugs that destroy crops. He gets excited when we move from the barn to the fields, and he plays behind us in the rows, eating melons, catching "buggies" and pulling weeds. He is gaining an understanding of where food comes from. And this means so much to me.
A few months ago, I read a blog post called This Place We Know by Sharon Astyk. Sharon is a beautiful writer, and the post is quite long, but it really captures something. I want my children to understand where their food comes from and what happens on a farm. That a farm is more then a cutesy place where cows say moo and pigs say oink.
And I know, now days, I'm not the only one who feels this way. Here are a couple of articles that have appeared recently on people dreaming of the simple life: one from Utne Reader: The Organic Farm Fantasy Meets Reality and on Mother Earth News: Skills for Farming.
I envision my boys growing up in an agrarian life style. Being connected to the earth and to our food connects us with God. The Maker made this and made us. The grocery store has broken the connection for most of us.
Seeing my boy pick a peach or nectarine and delighting in that sweet first bite before he's even taken a step away from the tree is amazing. There's no lesson about fruit coming from tree needed when he picks it himself.
In our home, we don't have many conversations about limiting candy. You're more likely to hear, "No, you've had enough carrots," or "Ok, but this is the last tomato before dinner." And these statements don't make me sad. Last night as Rick prepped green beans for going into the freezer, we worried about Henry eating so many beans that he'd spoil his dinner cooking in the oven. And he did! This is a good problem to have, we've decided. For Henry, going to the garden to pick (and graze) tomatoes brings joy. The fruit of spring's labor is wonderful.
When he sees us tilling the garden, he knows it's to get it ready for the plants. When he plants a seed, and then gets to see it grow into a plant and then the plant grows a flower, and the flower grows a zucchini, he gets it. There's not a lot of explaining to do. And compost is an opportunity to show him how we give back to the ground to keep the circle going. The eggs are a reason to be kind to the chickens. Sharing scraps with pigs makes the pigs happy and helps them get ready to be a delicious meal in the fall. Happy animals make better food. Happy chickens lay tastier eggs.
It's funny to think that just a few years ago, I had never gardened before. Rick was the one who wanted a place for a garden when we bought our home. He had grown up with it. I think he may have thought twice about that first garden if he had know what it would spiral into. 🙂
I've always wanted to be in the country, to be on land. I grew up doing 4-H, wishing I had a horse. I even made Rick promise that I could have a horse after we got married. But I had never thought about farming or growing things until that first garden. Now I've gotten carried away. I want my own beehive, my own milking cow. Steers for beef, chickens and ducks for meat and eggs, a turkey to raise for Thanksgiving. And fields full of veggies and fruit, melons and squash. Fruit trees. Grain. I want it all!
I don't think Rick was prepared for the fallout of that first little veggie patch. Certainly not for the chickens. Sharon Astyk wrote another post to this effect. Rick and I could relate to her guide, "So You (Don't Particularly) Want to be a Farmer" on more than one account. It's a guide for the spouse/partner/family member of a person who has been bit (hard) by the farming bug. The post had us both laughing out loud, for it was so very true. Despite planting the seed with that first little garden patch, Rick got dragged into this wanna-be farming thing against his better judgement.
For example, the chicken thing was all my idea. I used phrases like "think of all the money we'll save on eggs!" to convince him. Our very first egg from our very first chicken had to be (ever so gently) pried from the vent of that hen… she was egg bound. And who did it? Not me… HIM! I was afraid of hurting her. He saved the day. And I'm sure he resentfully thought me a madwoman!
But most especially one line at the end of Sharon's post hit home for Rick and I and this crazy pipe-dream of owning a farm together:
"Sometimes there's nothing more to dream of than being yoked together in the same harness, on the same land and doing the same good work for all the days of your life."
Rick and I continue to be members of the CSA because we are still learning things, and because we have become addicted to the beautiful food that comes from Jerry's land. We still ask questions, pick brains, read book after book.
We've so much to learn, although I feel we've also learned so much. Winter squash is harvested after the vines fall, melons are sweeter if you limit their water. This is how you store potatoes and canning isn't quite as hard if you're doing it with a friend.
But the best thing we've learned from growing things together: Seeds sown in love produce sweeter fruit.
Excerpts cross posted at BlogHer.com and monroefarms.blogspot.com


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Environment Low Level Pesticides
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We have the largest global network of laboratories in the world. Call us today and be sure your products are safe and meeting industry standards.


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2010 Ferries Tickets Discounts
Ferries Comments
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Kythnos Ferries: Ferry and Ships to Kythnos Island - Greek Islands Cyclades Greece
Travel information for Ferries.
Ships and Ferries to Kythnos - Cycladic Islands.
Kythnos and the Cyclades in general are connected
to the ports of Piraeus and Lavrio. From Kythnos
you can also visit the nearby Cycladic islands of
Kea, Syros, Kimolos, Serifos, Sifnos, Milos etc.
In addition, there are ferry connection from Kythnos
ferry to the islands of Crete, Rhodes, and basically all Dodecanese and East Aegean Islands via a third island.
Your trip to Kythnos can be with a conventional ferry boat, by Highspeed or Flying dolphin depending on
the day, the time and the ferry company you wish
to travel with.
If you select to visit Kythnos with the conventional
ferry your trip will take about 5-7 hours while with
a Highspeed ferry 3.5-4.5 hours depending on how
many ports the ferry will call at on the way.
Ferries from Piraeus to Kythnos run all year round
on a daily basis. In summer of course there are more departures to choose from.
1. Piraeus - Kythnos - Serifos - Sifnos
Kimolos - Milos - Folegandros
Sikinos - Ios - Santorini
2. Milos - Kimolos - Sifnos - Serifos
Kythnos - Piraeus
3. Lavrio - Kea (Tzia) - Kythnos - Syros
Paros - Naxos - Folegandros - Sikinos
Ios - Thirassia - Santorini - Anafi
4. Lavrio - Kea (Tzia) - Kythnos - Syros
Serifos - Sifnos - Milos - Kimolos - Tinos
5. Lavrio - Kea (Tzia) - Kythnos - Syros
Paros - Naxos - Ios - Sikinos - Folegandros
Kimolos - Milos
6. Kea (Tzia) - Kythnos - Syros
Attention !
The above mentioned information is subject to alteration. To be sure about correct schedules, departure and arrival times of conventional and highspeed ferries check the ONLINE Booking System.
Kythnos Ferries Cycladic Islands
Ships and Ferries to the island of Kythnos in the Cyclades
Travel Information for ferries to Kythnos. Island of Kythnos Cyclades.
ON LINE Booking System for seats and tickets in real time.
Starting your reservation through the online booking system you can select to have your tickets
sent to you or to collect them from the port office on the day of departure about 2 hours
before departure simply by giving your reservation code and showing your ID card.
We wish you a pleasant trip!
Italy - Greece Ferry Bookings ONLINE
Ferry Schedules, timetables, Ferry availability, ticket's cost, ferry info and services
Greek Islands Ferry Bookings ONLINE
Ferry Schedules, timetables, Ferry availability, ticket's cost, ferry info and services
Α multileg reservation allows you
to combine 2 to 4 domestic routes
(routes within Greece) in one reservation,
even if the selected departures are
operated by different ferry companies.
Travel Guide Kythnos Island Cyclades Greece
The beaches of Kythnos are considered among the best in the whole of the Cyclades.
You can swim at the beach of Loutra or in the south, at the beach of MERICHAS renowned for its crystal waters. This is a natural bay with fine sand on the coast, full of red, earth, blue and white colours like those that dominate the Aegean. In the village there are many different kinds of shops for fun and all your needs.
Quite closeby is Martinakia. The boats leaving MERICHAS make excursions to the islet of San Lucas with fine sandy beaches. You can also go on foot as the privately owned island is linked to Kythno by a narrow strip of sand.
The beaches of Episcopi and Apokrousi are interesting and windless. The island has several beaches where you can swim every day at a different beach. Examples include: Houlakia, Antonides. Afissos, Gaidouromantra, Merichas, Aghios Stefanos.
For those looking for sand and deep green waters, the ideal place is Agios Sostis, which is north of the island, 2 km from the hot springs. It is considered among the best beaches in the Cyclades.
Travel by ferry to all Greek Islands
Make your ferry reservations now ...from the comfort of your home !


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Some of my students are busy creating slideshare presentations, that we will be able to mill around, listen to their thoughts, and discuss ideas via Slideshare zipcast. The exciting thing about this is also the opportunity to help them develop new ways of managing online tools -AND images for work like this.
A tweet this morning from friend Darcy Moore asking Dean Groom (yes, he's a friend too!) about image attribution in his recent blog post reminded me that I should crosspost my tip to my students about my favourite image attribution tool right here too!
Here it is:
I promised a while back that I would share some more interesting ways to manage your image work online. Tips and tricks abound, but this one from Alan Levine is the niftiest around, so I've decided to share it first.
cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photo shared by Sebastián-Dario
So what am I talking about? Well of course, as you prepare your presentation (or indeed work on other image-related tasks in your professional work) one of the things you are doing is noting where the image comes from and providing a hyperlinked attribution. If, like me, you are backed into a corner for time, then you will most certainly end up at Flickr. (Even if not in a rush I still prefer to use FlickrCC, and think laterally in my search terms! I also love the new things it throws up for me.)
There are a few reasons for this:
1. You can store your own images at Flickr and build your own collections
2. You can 'favourite' other peoples CC. images (something I regularly do as I collect images for my various bits of work)
3. Now you can also install a nice GreaseMonkey script to make the image attribute even easier.
Here's what it's about – read on, only if you are keen for an adventure!
Alan Levine has written a Flickr Attribution Helper – a browser script that embeds easy to copy attribution text to creative commons licensed flickr images. Greasemonkey is an add-on for Firefox browser. Once Greasemonkey is installed, you have the ability to add all sorts of magical things to the functionality of your browser.
To be honest, the only one I have ever added is Alan's Flickr Attribtion Helper – but its insanely useful! See the image above – that red tee-shirt and the attribution were simply copied from the HTML box and pasted here in the blog! Done in one go!
Stephen Ridgeway, from New South Wales Australia, created a video that explains how to use the Flickr CC Attribution helper (thank goodness – a blog post by itself would never do it!). Download and install the Flickr Attribution helper (after you have installed Greasmonkey). Then watch the magic happen every time you go to a Flickr image!
Related Articles
- Find Free Images Online (heyjude.wordpress.com)
- 20+ Great Greasemonkey Scripts for Improving Your Twitter Experience (chicagosocial.wordpress.com)
- Flickr Still Beats Facebook for Photographers (blogs.photopreneur.com)


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Downtown Vancouver at dusk from Stanley Park – including Canada Place (left) and the new Trade and Convention Center.
Downtown Vancouver Panorama photographed during Blue Hour (Purchase)
-click to enlarge-
I have photographed downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park a few times in the past – with fair but not spectacular results. When my first DSLR was new I would try to photograph the skyline well after sunset. At that time of day there isn't much contrast between the dark buildings and the sky, so these photographs did not turn out very well. I learned that if you photograph during "Blue Hour" there will be much better contrast between the dark buildings and the sky – with much better results! Blue Hour is the period of time between total darkness in the sky and sunrise or sunset. Just like the "Golden Hour" this may not actually last an hour. In Vancouver at this time of year I think the blue hour lasted about 20 minutes facing southeast though there was still good blue light facing west for about another 10 minutes after that.
This Panorama, taken during the blue hour after sunset, shows a dark sky but you can still see the profile of all the buildings. Much better than a photo taken when the sky is really dark!
FYI – if you ever photograph downtown from Stanley Park near the Nine O'Clock Gun is the location I made this photograph. I was still there at 9 o'clock… with a few others who had gathered to hear its blast. Well, this isn't a cap gun, the shockwave was dramatic even though I was standing 50 feet away. There were some tourists and teenagers who were standing right next to the wire cage that houses the gun, and one passerby tried to get them to plug their ears or step away from the thing as it was almost 9. This sage advice was ignored and when the gun went off there was a lot of screaming and even some tears due to the noise. If you are out there photographing near 9 o'clock and the red flashing lights go off – plug your ears!