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The industrious James Grant recently published a book about the 1920-21 Depression. It has received enthusiastic reviews in the Wall Street Journal and Barron's, was the subject of an admiring column by Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson, and was celebrated at a Cato Institute panel discussion, luncheon, and book-signing event. The Cato extravaganza elicited a dismissive blog post by Barkley Rosser which was linked to by Paul Krugman on his blog. The Rosser/Krugman tandem provoked an unhappy reply on the Free Banking blog from George Selgin who chaired the Cato panel discussion. And the 1920-21 Depression is now the latest hot topic in the econblogosphere.
I am afraid that there are multiple layers of errors and confusion that are being mixed up and compounded in this discussion, errors and confusion derived from basic misunderstandings about how the gold standard operated that have been plaguing the economics profession and the financial world for about two and a half centuries. If you want to understand how the gold standard worked, what you have to read is the book by Ralph Hawtrey entitled – drum roll, please – The Gold Standard.
Here are the basic things you need to know about the gold standard.
1 The gold standard operates by creating an equivalence between a currency unit and a fixed amount of gold.
2 The gold standard does not require gold to circulate as money in the form of coins. That was historically the case, but a gold standard can function with no gold coins or even gold certificates.
3 The value of a currency unit and the value of a corresponding weight of gold are necessarily equalized by arbitrage.
4 Equality between a currency unit and a corresponding weight of gold does not necessarily show the direction of causality; the currency unit may determine the value of gold, not the other way around. In other words, making gold the standard of value for currency affects the demand for gold which affects the value of gold. Decisions made by monetary authorities under the gold standard necessarily affect the value of gold, so a gold standard does not somehow make the value of money independent of monetary policy.
5 When more than one country is on a gold standard, the countries share a common price level, because the value of gold is determined in an international market.
Keeping those basics in mind, let's quickly try to understand what was going on in 1920 when the Fed decided to raise its discount rate to the then unprecedented level of 7 percent. But the situation in 1920 was the outcome of the previous six years of World War I that effectively destroyed the gold standard as a functioning institution, even though its existence was in some sense still legally recognized.
Under the gold standard, gold was the ultimate way of discharging international debts. In World War I, belligerents had to pay for imports with gold, thus governments amassed all available gold with which to pay for the imports required to support the war effort. Gold coins were melted down and converted to bullion so the gold could be exported. For a private citizen in a belligerent country to demand that the national currency unit be converted to gold would be considered an unpatriotic if not a treasonous act. So the gold standard ceased to function in belligerent countries. In non-belligerent countries, which were busy exporting to the belligerents, the result was a massive inflow of gold, causing a spectacular increase in the amount of gold held by the US Treasury between 1914 and 1917. Other non-belligerents like Sweden and Switzerland experienced similar inflows.
Quantity theorists and Monetarists like Milton Friedman habitually misinterpret the wartime inflation, and attributing the inflation to an inflow of gold that increased the money supply, thereby perpetrating the price-specie-flow-mechanism fallacy. What actually happened was that the huge demonetization of gold coins by the belligerents and their export of large quantities of gold to non-belligerent countries in which a free market in gold continued to operate drove down the value of gold. A falling value of gold under a gold standard logically implies rising prices for all other goods and services. Rising prices increased the nominal demand for money, which more or less automatically caused a corresponding adjustment in the quantity of money. A rising price level caused the quantity of money to increase, not the other way around.
In 1917, just before the US entered the war, the US, still effectively on a gold standard as gold flowed into the Treasury, had experienced a drastic inflation, like all other gold standard countries, because gold was rapidly losing value, as it was being demonetized and exported by the belligerent countries. But when the US entered the war in 1917, the US, like other belligerents, suspended operation of the gold standard, thereby accelerating the depreciation of gold, forcing the few remaining countries on the gold standard to suspend the gold standard to avoid runaway inflation. Inflationary pressure in the US did increase after entry into the war, but the war-induced fiat inflation, to some extent suppressed or disguised by price controls, was actually slower than inflation in terms of gold.
When the war ended, the US went back on the gold standard by again making the dollar convertible into gold at the legal parity. Doing so meant that the US price level in terms of dollars was below the notional (no currency any longer being convertible into gold) world price level in terms of gold. In other belligerent countries, notably Britain, France and Germany, inflation in terms of their national currencies exceeded gold inflation, requiring them to deflate even to restore the legal parity in terms of gold. Thus, the US was the only country in the world that was both willing and able to return to the gold standard at the prewar parity. Sweden and Switzerland could have done so, but preferred to avoid the inflationary consequences of a return to the gold standard.
Once the dollar convertibility into gold was restored, arbitrage forced the US price level to rise to so that it would equal the gold price level. The excess of the gold price level over the US price level level explains the anomalous post-war inflation – everyone knows that prices are supposed to fall, not rise, when a war ends — in the US. The rest of the world, then, had to choose between accepting US inflation, by keeping their currencies pegged to the dollar, or allowing their currencies to appreciate against the dollar. The anomalous post-war inflation was caused by the reequilibration of the US price level to the gold price levels, not, as commonly supposed, by Fed inexperience or incompetence.
To stop the post-war inflation, the Fed could have simply abandoned the gold standard, or it could have revalued the dollar in terms of gold, by reducing the official dollar price of gold. (I ignore the minor detail that the official dollar price of gold was then determined by statute.) Instead, the Fed — whether knowingly or not I can't say – chose to increase the value of gold. The method by which it did so was to raise its discount rate, thereby making it easier to obtain dollars by selling gold to the Treasury than to borrow from the Fed. The flood of gold into the Treasury in 1920-21 succeeded in taking a huge amount of gold out of private and public hands, thus driving up the real value of gold, and forcing down the gold price level. That's when the brutal deflation of 1920-21 started. At some point, the Fed and the Treasury decided that they had had enough, having amassed about 40% of the world's gold reserves, and began reducing the discount rate, thereby slowing the inflow of gold into the US, and stopping its appreciation. And that's when and how the dearly beloved, but quite dreadful, depression of 1920-21 came to an end.


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Dark Chocolate Macadamia Cookies (makes 24 cookies)
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
6 Tbsp. coconut nectar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl combine almond flour, coconut, sea salt and baking soda. In a separate bowl whisk together coconut oil, coconut nectar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until thoroughly combined, stir in chopped macadamia nuts and dark chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets about 2″ apart. The dough may seem slightly crumbly, just press it together and flatten it once on the cookie sheet, they will hold together once baked. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown on top. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Although these cookies are excellent warm they really are best after they are completely cooled and in my opinion even better on day two! Store in an air tight container.
This recipe is shared at:
Fight Back Friday, Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love, Wellness Weekend, Make Ahead Monday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesdays

subset: commoncrawl


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Philippines Single Parents Helping Single Parents
HELLO FELLOW MOMS and Dads, LETS ALL WORK TO HELP EACH OTHER OUT. THIS SITE IS A PLACE FOR QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED,AND TIPS TO HELP US MOMS, and Dads ALSO FEEL FREE TO PASS ON CLOTHING,COUPONS, BOTTLES DIAPERS ECT AND ALSO SEARCH FOR WHAT YOU NEED. ISO=IN SEARCH OF AND IHA= I HAVE A BEING A MOMMY and Daddy IS A GIFT:LETS ALL WORK TOGETHER
This show is for Single Parents Helping Single Parents. This is an online community for sharing, helping, Volunteering and giving advice. Our Blogtalkradio Community caters to single moms and single dads who are seeking help, advice and guidance to building successful family's. Our Blogtalkradio show is a rich resource for those Single Parents seeking advice from other Single Parents who have overcome and beat the odds! Our guests give their personal testimonies and inspire other single parents who struggle daily with being single parents. Our show provides expertise, advice, from Single Parents to Single Parents about parenting, relationships, health, fitness, business, from pregnancy, child-rearing, babies, prpreschoolers to teens all the stages of your's and your babies lives. We have information about Single parenting that can help your family grow strong and healthy and to help your relationships with your family flourish.
Join us in our shining hour as our team of volunteer Single Parent gurus help other Single Parents, overcome and beat the odds in our Mission to help other Single Parents Build Healthy, Happy, Family relationships one Single Parent at time.
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This incredible opportunity to help other Single Parents how to truly overcome the odds of Single parenting . You will Help Single Parents learn how to give their children the opportunity to have Healthy, Happy family relationships. .
This is a platform for Single Parents to Help Single Parents learn how to work together to build Healthy Family Relationships for the best interest of their Child or Children.


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In Stock
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Our All-in-One collections are designed to keep baby comfy & cosy. Made from 100% cotton & featuring integral scratch mitts to protect baby's skin, as well as feet grips up to 24 months, our jersey All-in-Ones are durable & retain their shape after washing, lasting you & your little one, even longer.
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I have good days and bad days since my mother's unexpected passing. The "immediate must do activity" is over and it's back to picking up your life. I try not to think too far ahead. Like to the other dreadful things to follow, like dealing with her house and personal possessions.
I haven't been motivated to play anything since re-subscribing to EQ2. I think about playing and am excited about building my Wizards' Sactum. At the end of the day when it comes down to it, I'm just too drained. It would take me longer to log in and get started than my current attention span. I've also slacked off lots on sewing for the same reason. Well that and the fact of using a sewing machine with your mind wondering leads to lots of nasty little injuries like the couple I'm sporting now.
What has wrangled more of my attention recently is creating wire wrapped rings. I'd already experimented with button rings as part of crafting in real life. Expanding into wire wrapped has revealed even more avenues of creativity. The real boon is that a ring can be started and completed in an hour or less, which is about all the enthusiasm I can muster some evenings. In a small burst of crafting expression I created two rings based on sci-fi fictional settings - one MMO and one television series.
Rose of New Eden
Rose of New Eden is based on EVE Online and the characteristics that draw me back to that game in cycles. I miss the striking contracts of its stark beauty, darkness, serenity and lurking danger. EVE is as simple as or as complex as, its beholder. Finishing this ring reminded me of the serial fiction I'd started here, "Shadows of New Eden". More than adding to the storyline, I've become intrigued by the idea of creating a ring named, Red Alice.
Inara Serra III, Firefly Inspired
I worship Firefly and Serenity. This is an upgrade to an earlier ring I created. This version uses a Swarovski pearl and includes an insert band for more impact. I could totally see this as her wedding ring.
Am I crazy to be fashioning rings after sci-fi settings and/or characters? I certainly could be insane. But it was fun and in the end, I have two real-life items to appreciate.
Incoming shameless plug… You can purchase your own copy from my Etsy Shop. *smile*


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Bored of straight cut tops? Try this frilled hem top featuring a crew neckline and short sleeves. The seamed bodice will accentuate your curves and give an alluring flare to your waistline. Perfect for a fun filled day, this top will reveal your mood. The back zip fastening makes it easy to slip it on. Ideally paired with skinny fit jeans, all three available colors will set your mood for the day!
Cotton 65%, Polyester 35%
|36 cm
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|Bottom width x2
|116 cm
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|60 cm
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Molly-Dress ships worldwide, provides tracking number & insurance.
|Standard Shipping
|6-12 days
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Shipping cost will be calculated (based on bag weight) after you add items to shopping cart and choose the country of delivery.
Note if you are not 100% satisfied with your items you can return or exchange them. Please check our simple return & exchange policy here.
Just received parcel, nice deep orange, flared dress, need also blue color of that style!:)
– Elizabeth, Cranford, United States
Love this dress and the entire Molly store, received after 5 days, definitely will buy here again.
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– Hannah, Melbourne, Australia
I've heard about Molly from my friend; tried and like it so much; lovely dress, lovely store.
– Shuo, Vancouver, Canada
© Molly 2012-2015


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Expand Your View with Multi-Display Video Adapters USB 3.0 / 2.0
The Diamond Multi-Display USB Video Adapters are the perfect solution for multi-tasking. These adapters make it easy for you to expand your view by having access to much more work-related content than ever before. Need extra monitor real-estate? These adapters let you spread out your on-screen content across multiple monitors effortlessly. With added monitors, your productivity level will soar and standards for work practices will be set at an all-time high.
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Semistandard Generalized Tableaux
We want to take our intertwinors and restrict them to the Specht modules. If the generalized tableau has shape and content , we get an intertwinor . This will eventually be useful, since the dimension of this hom-space is the multiplicity of in .
Anyway, if is our standard "reference" tableau, then we can calculate
We can see that it will be useful to know when . It turns out this happens if and only if has two equal elements in some column.
Indeed, if , then
Thus for some with we must have . But then we must have all the elements in each cycle of the same, and these cycles are restricted to the columns. Since is not the identity, we have at least one nontrivial cycle and at least two elements the same.
On the other hand, assume in the same column of . Then . But then the sign lemma tells us that is a factor of , and thus .
This means that we can eliminate some intertwinors from consideration by only working with things like standard tableaux. We say that a generalized tableau is semistandard if its columns strictly increase (as for standard tableaux) and its rows weakly increase. That is, we allow repetitions along the rows, but only so long as we never have any row descents. The tableau
is semistandard, but
is not.


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"I will be running the Boston Marathon in April 2015 at the age of 50."
That was my quote in my very first Boston or Bust 2015 blog back in November 2011. I had run one marathon and had the bug to do another. I wanted to do something BIG for my 50th. And then along the way some terrorists reignited my passion to run Boston. And then another thing happened; I got inspired in a whole new way being selected to joint the Melanoma Foundation of New England Running for Cover Boston Marathon team. Back to Back Boston's in 2014 and 2015.
The person in the picture with me during this year's race at mile 17 is Mark Buckley. He was matched with me this year as part of the Melanoma Foundation of New England's (MFNE; www.mfne.org) Patient Match program. Mark is fighting (and winning) Stage IV Melanoma. And to see him at this point in the race wearing the cheesehead I had given him was just wicked awesome! (Note: he says he got lots of strange comments from his fellow Pats fan runners passing by. I can only imagine.)
I've learned many things along the way leading up to running this year's Boston Marathon at age 50. Most have been tips on training and running marathons and such. But I have to say the highlight of these past two years has been my involvement with the MFNE and most recently making this new Boston friend and seeing him beat this disease. On the Friday before heading up to Boston he texted me about a CT scan and they said they had found a spot on his brain. Needless to say, that is usually not good. But today, he texted me the good news; the lesions on his brain were just prominent blood vessels in the scan. And the tumor in his abdomen had shrunk another 24%. I couldn't be happier for Mark. We're going golfing this fall!
This year's race was cold, rainy and windy. I cramped like I've never cramped before. But I was able to run with my running "guru" from my neighborhood – Patrice Combs. She put up with my kind of pace (hers is like several minutes per mile faster) and my cramping. And we finished together at the exact same time of 4:15:18.
I'll probably be running Boston again and will most certainly be continuing to support the Melanoma Foundation of New England. I want to thank each and every person who donated to this great cause. I raised $17,287 this year and the team as a whole raised $362,347! I'm so thankful to all of my friends, family and business sponsors equimedia and Orange Theory Fitness Alpharetta.
No more miles to go. It's the end of this goal and the end of this blog. On to the next goal (just have to figure out what that is)…
BOB (Paul)


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Gartner released its 2017 Contact Center as a Service Magic Quadrant today and placed Talkdesk in the Visionary slot. This is a huge deal for us here at Talkdesk, and everyone is thrilled. We are the youngest company ever made it to this MQ, and the inclusion is a great recognition of our hard work and innovation.
I got many questions during the last few days and figured out it is better if I answer them all at once.
Is it a big deal? Yes, it is. Enterprise Software purchase is still a complicated and laborious process. Most markets have dozens if not hundreds of possible solutions. The buyers need to sort through all of them, compile tons of information, dive into features, check references. Gartner is doing a lot of this legwork for the buyer and by that simplifies the purchase process. Continue reading "Talkdesk is part of Gartner's MQ. What's the big deal?"


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From The BPS Ed Tech Team:
By Andy Marcinek
After a long wait, Google Drive is now available for the iPad with the full functionality of the web-based version of Google Drive. To refresh, Google Drive is the new name for the Google Docs Suite. This suite includes Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Forms, and Folders.
The updated version of the Google Drive app allows you to create, collaborate and edit documents with ease on the iPad. Before, this process was rather cumbersome through the mobile view and desktop interface on the iPad, however much has changed with this update. Users can also upload photos and video right to Google Drive directly from the iPad. This will allow students to upload video projects and photos immediately.
The best update to arrive in version in Google Drive version 1.1.0 is the editing option. Users can edit much easier and with a cleaner interface. Plus, the editing and collaboration features are much faster through the Google Drive App. Users can also see who is editing on the doc at the same time. In addition, docs can now be accessed offline as well. Users can edit a doc offline and once it hits a wi-fi connection, the doc will sync with Google Drive and save in the cloud. This feature will happen automatically or via the refresh button in the upper-right hand corner of the home screen of the app
The Google Drive app also gives users the ability to organize their entire Google Drive. Users can create and share a folder as well as create and share a doc through this app (at this writing only docs can be created directly through the app). Also, users can move docs to folders and organize their entire Google Drive from the iPad app.
While creating presentations, spreadsheets, and forms is still unavailable, I imagine this feature will be added soon. Even though you cannot create presentations, spreadsheets, and forms directly from the app, users can still view these documents within the app. In addition, users can open a Google Spreadsheet and access the "open in…" feature from the app that will allow users to open the spreadsheet in supported apps (such as Notability, Evernote, Dropbox, etc.). For presentations, users can view and present from the app, but not yet create a presentation directly from the app. Again, I imagine these features are not far behind this update.
Users also have the ability to share a doc directly from the app and can access a populated contacts list from simply typing in the first letter of the email. The share feature also allows the doc owner to set permissions for "can edit", "can comment", and "can view". The doc owner can also toggle viewing permissions and completely remove a user from the doc.
If you've struggled with Google Docs on the iPad in the past, this is update will make your life and classroom work-flow more enjoyable. This is not a perfect update, but it is a giant step in the right direction for those of us using Google Apps for Education in a 1:1 iPad environment. If you have any questions about this update, please visit the help desk for assistance.


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While people on my social media the night I'm writing this are probably annoyed that I'm trying to double dip on the love for my recent award, this blog post is more about creating something to show my children in 30 years.
A rather grandiose fantasy that, in execution, will make my reference to a small social media post in 2019 superfluous. If you weren't already questioning the slight absurdity of my future self's apparent decision to show the children whom I may or may not even have by 2049 — while Replicants are running wild — a blog post about an award I won rather than showing off the physical award.
Though that's all a little too absurdely analytical for what is essentially a self-congratulatory post.
This afternoon I discovered that the story I wrote with Jennifer Garcia about restaurant health inspections around Cal State Fullerton won first place in the "Non-Breaking News Story" category for schools with 10,000+ students at this year's California College Media Association Awards.
That's a mouthful!
Because this was the big enterprise piece I co-wrote for Comm 471, featuring the interactive map I was incredibly proud of creating, I'm very happy to see it get the recognition it deserves — he said post-receiving the award.
This is actually the second year in a row I've had the pleasure of receiving an award from the CCMA ceremony, though I wasn't invited to the event this year. Nor did I find out from the DT staff in attendance on March 2.
Which is odd, but I'm willing to chalk it up to being disconnected from the team running the paper right now.
When I loaded up the ol' résumé to update it with a brand new award, I discovered there were a few other places left unfurnished on my October 2018 draft.
For instance, some actually substantial information on the kinds of things I've gotten to do as the SPJ Secretary at Cal State Fullerton:
Might also add that my name was included in a published editorial through the Daily Titan, but I haven't quite decided on that yet.
More importantly, I finally added in a brand new section for event planner, as I have been not-so-subtly teasing my intension to do in recent posts.
The Honors Program secretary also sent out our advertisement poster the other day, so I can officially share that sweet piece of digital paper:
I'll be throwing this puppy out on my social media sometime soon.
Though, again, that won't matter to anyone reading this 30 years down the line. So…
That's pretty much been the positive vibe of my day in a nutshell. While I was stuck at school all day for classes and meetings, I found out that I won a pretty huge award! Plus, I made some other kid's day when he saw my Master Sword umbrella and very loudly exclaimed, "I fucking love college."
Quite reminiscent of me during Freshman or Sophomore year seeing some kid walk around with the Pokéwalker peripheral from Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver.
Oh, and on top of that, we also played old text adventure games in my gaming class:
All-and-all, not too much to complain about.
Technically I do actually have something to complain about in a post-post aside.
I've been a bit extra spotty on my "daily" blog writing lately, and I just wanted to address that as a result of school really kicking my ass between midterms, honors project writing and internship junk.
Hopefully it'll pick up again with this weekend hosting a new Fire Emblem banner and my trip to the cinema for Captain Marvel, but if it doesn't I'll apologize in advance here.


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Note the following excerpt from the first page of the Treaty of Kars: "The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, on the one side, and the Governments of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia (SSRA), the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic (ASSR), and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia (SSRG), on the other side…" ratified in Yerevan, September 11, 1922. This in itself is explanatory, that Armenia was not a free and independent country at the time of the ratification, therefore, the above treaty is null and has no value by the international law.
(Treaty of Friendship between Turkey, the Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic, and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia)
Done in Kars, October 23, 1921
Ratified in Yerevan, September 11, 1922
(Original in French and Russian)
The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, on the one side, and the Governments of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia (SSRA), the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic (ASSR), and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia (SSRG), on the other side, Agreeing on the principle of the fraternity of the nations and on the right of the peoples to dispose freely of their destiny; desirous to establish cordial affinity and sincerely amicable relations between them, based upon reciprocal interest;
Have decided to enter into negotiations, with the participation of the Government of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), to conclude a Treaty of Friendship and for this purpose have appointed as their plenipotentiaries:
The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey:
Kazim Kara Bekir Pasha, Deputy to the Grand National Assembly from Adrianople and Commander of the Eastern Front; Veli Bey, Deputy to the Grand National Assembly from Bordour; Mouhtar Bey, former Undersecretary of State for Public Works; Memdouh Shevket Bey, Turkish Plenipoteniary Representative in Azerbaijan;
The Government of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Armenia:
Askanaz Mravian, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs; Poghos Makintsian, People's Commissar for Internal Affairs;
The Government of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan:
Behboud Shahtahtinskiy, People's Commissar for State Control
The Government of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Georgia:
Shalva Eliava, People's Commissar for War and Navy; Alexander Svanidze, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and People's Commissar for Finance;
The Government of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic:
Jacques Hanetzky, Plenipotentiary Representative in Lithuania,
Who, having communicated their powers that have been found to be in due form, have agreed as follows.
Article I
The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Governments of the Socialist Soviet Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia consider as null and void the treaties concluded between the Governments which have previously exercised sovereign rights over territory actually forming part of the territory of the Contracting Parties and concerning the above-mentioned territories, as well as the treaties concluded with third states concerning the Transcaucaucasus Republics. It is understood that the Turkish-Russian Treaty signed in Moscow on March 16, 1921 (1337) will be exempted from the terms of this Article.
Article II
The Contracting Parties agree not to recognize any treaty of peace or other international act imposed upon one any of them against its will. In virtue of this agreement, the Governments of the Socialist Soviet Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia agree not to recognize any international act concerning Turkey which has not been recognized by the National Government of Turkey, actually represented by its Grand National Assembly. (By the term Turkey is meant, in the present Treaty, the territories included in the Turkish National Pact of January 28, 1920 (1336), developed and proclaimed by the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies in Constantinople and communicated to the press and to all States). For its part, the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey agrees not to recognize any international act concerning Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia that may not be by the respective Governments of these countries, actually represented by the Soviets of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
Article III
The Governments of the Socialist Soviet Republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, recognizing that the system of capitulations is incompatible with the free life of the national development of all countries, as well as with the full exercise of sovereign rights, consider as null and abrogate the exercise, in Turkey, of all offices and rights included in this system.
Article IV
The northeast border of Turkey (according to the map of the Russian General Staff, on a scale of 1:210000.5 verstes to the inch) is determined by the line which, beginnin at the village of Sarp on the Black Sea, passes by the Mt. Khedis Mga, the watershed line of at Mt. Shavshet- Mount Kana Dagh; from there, it always follows the former northern administrative borders of the sanjaks of Ardahan and Kars, the thalweg of the Arpachai River and that of the Arax as far as the mouth of the Nijni Kara Su river. (For details of the border and questions pertaining to it, see Annexes I and II and the map enclosed, signed by the two Contracting Parties. In the event of discrepancies between the text of the Treaty and the Map, the text of the treaty shall prevail over the map).
A mixed commission of delimitation, comprised of equal number of members, with the participation of a representative of the RSFSR, is directed to determine in detail and to establish the actual border of the state, and to erect boundary markers. (Annex IV: the map). [not reproduced]
Article V
The Turkish Government and the Soviet Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan are agreed that the region of Nakhichevan, within the limits specified by Annex III to the present Treaty, constitutes an autonomous territory under the protection of Azerbaijan.
Article VI
Turkey agrees to cede to Georgia suzerainty over the town and port of Batum, with the territory to the north of the frontier, indicated in Article IV of the present Treaty, which formed part of the district of Batum, on condition:
That the population of the localities specified in the present Article shall enjoy a greater measure of local administrative autonomy, that each community is guaranteed its cultural and religious rights, and that this population may introduce in the above-mentioned places an agrarian system in conformity with its own wishes.
That Turkey be assured free transit through the port of Batum for commodities and all materials destined for, or originating in, Turkey, without customs duties and charges, and with the right for Turkey to utilize the port of Batum without special charges. For the application of this Article, a commission of representatives of the interested Parties shall be created immediately after the signing of the present Treaty.
Article VII
The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the Government of SSRG agree to facilitate the crossing of the border by the inhabitants of the bordering zones, on condition of the observance of the customs, police, and sanitary regulations which shall be established in this regard by a mixed commission.
Article VIII
The Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and and the Government of SSRG consider that it is necessary for the inhabitants of the bordering districts of two countries to make use of summer and winter pastures on the other side of the border, and agree to accord to these inhabitants the right to cross the border with their animals and to avail themselves of the customary pasturage. Customs formalities, and police, sanitary, and other measures applying to border crossings shall be determined by a mixed commission.
Article IX
With the view to assuring the opening and free passage through the Straits for the commerce of all peoples, Turkey and Georgia agree to submit the definitive elaboration of the international regulations for the Black Sea and the Straits to a subsequent conference composed of delegates from the littoral states, unless the decisions there reached encroach upon the sovereignty and security of Turkey and of Constantinople, its capital.
Article X
The Contracting Parties agree not to admit upon their territories the formation or sojourn of organizations or groups pretending to assume the role of government of the other country or a part of its territory, nor the sojourn of groups having for their purpose war against the other country. It is clearly understood that the Turkish territory mentioned above in the present Article is the territory under the direct civil and military administration of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
Article XI
Nationals of each of the two Contracting Parties, residing in the territory of the other Party, shall be treated in accordance with the duties and obligations decreed by the laws of the country in which they reside, with the exception of those concerning the national defense, from which they shall be exempt. Questions of family right, inheritance, and legal capacity are also excepted in the present Article, and shall be settled by a special agreement.
Article XII
The Contracting Parties will apply the most favored nation rule to nationals of one of the Contracting Parties residing in the territory of the other. This Article does not affect the rights accorded reciprocally by the Soviet Republics to citizens of allied Soviet Republics on their territory, as well as to the rights accorded by Turkey to nationals of the Moslem states allied with Turkey.
Article XIII
All inhabitants of territory that was part of Russia before 1918, and over which the sovereignty of Turkey is affirmed, shall have the opportunity, if they desire to relinquish their Turkish nationality, to leave Turkey freely, taking with them their possessions and goods, or the proceeds of their sale. Likewise, all inhabitants of territory whose sovereignty has been ceded to Georgia by Turkey shall have the opportunity, if they desire to relinquish Georgian nationality, to leave the territory of Georgia freely, taking with them their possessions, goods, and capital.
The inhabitants mentioned in the above sentences shall be granted a deferment of one month from military service, beginning on the date on which they shall have signified in due form their intention of leaving the territories in question.
Article XIV
The Contracting Parties agree to conclude, within the period of six month from the signature of the present Treaty, special arrangements with regard to the refugees of the wars of 1918 and 1920.
Article XV
Each of the Contracting Parties agrees to promulgate, immediately after the signature of the present Treaty, a complete amnesty to citizens of the other Party for crimes and offenses committed during the course of the war on the Caucasian front.
Article XVI
The Contracting Parties agree to effect reciprocally, within the period of two months after the signature of the present Treaty, the repatriation of former military and civilian prisoners residing in the territory of one of the Contracting Parties.
Article XVII
In order to ensure the continuance of relations between their countries, the Contracting Parties agree to take, in a common agreement, all the measures necessary to maintain and develop as quickly as possible railway, telegraphic, and other communications, as well as to assure free transit of persons and commodities without any hindrance. It is understood, however, that the entry and departure of travelers and commodities will be governed by the full application of all the regulations established in this regard by each of the Contracting Parties.
Article XVIII
With a view to organizing commercial relations and regulating economic, financial, and other questions necessary to strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries, a commission of representatives from the interested countries shall convene at Tiflis immediately after the signature of the present Treaty.
Article XIX
The Contracting Parties agree to conclude consular conventions within the period of three months from the signature of the present Treaty.
Article XX
The present Treaty, concluded between the Governments of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, shall be subject to ratification. The exchange of ratifications shall take place at Yerevan within the shortest possible time.
The present Treaty shall enter into force immediately after the exchange of the acts of ratification, exception being made to Articles VI, XIV, XVI, XVIII, and XIX, which enter into force immediately after the signature of the Treaty.
Northeast Frontier (follows verbatim Annex 1(a) of the Turkish-Russian Treaty of March 16, 1921)
The northeast border of Turkey is fixed as follows (according to the map of the Russian General Staff, on a scale of 1:210,000.5 verstes to the inch):
The village of Sari on the Black Sea, Mt. Kara-Shalvar (5014), crosses Chorokh to the north from the village of Maradidi, passes to the north of Sabur, Mt. Khedis Mga (7052), Mt. Kva-Kibe, village of Kavtareli, line of watershed Medzibna Mountain and Mt. Great-Kessun (6468), follows the line of the watershed Mt. Korda (7910), goes along the western part of the ridge Shavshet to the administrative border of the former Artvin district, goes to the Mt. Sari Chai (Kara-Issal) (8478), summit of the mountain Kviral, then follows the administrative border of the former Ardahan district by Mt. Kana-Dagh, thence, turning to the north, goes to Mt. Tlil (Grmani) (8357), and following the former border of Ardahan, goes to the northeast of the village of Badela, to the river Poskov-Chai, and follows to the south aling this river to a point to the north of the village of Chap Chakh, then it leaves the river, follows the watershed to Mt. Airlian-Bashi, goes over the Mts. Kella-Tana (9709), reaches Mt. Kasris-Seri (9681), and follows along the river Karzamet Chai until it reaches the river Kura, thence it goes along the line of the watershed of Mt. Kara-Ogli (7259), whence, dividing in two parts Lake Khazapin, it goes to the elevation 7580, then to Mt. Geg-Dagh (9152), goes over Mt. Uch-Tapoylar (9783), and Mt. Taila-Kala (9716), ridge 9065, where it leaves the border of the former Ardahan district and passes over the Mts. B. Akh Barba (9963), 8828 (8827), 7602, goes to the east of the village of Ibish, reaches elevation 7518, and then Mt. Kizil Dash (7439) (7440), village of New Kizil-Dash (Kizel-Dash), passes to the west from the Karamemeda, goes to the river Jambushu Chai (which is to the east of the village of Delaver, B. Kikli, and Tikhnis), and through the village of Vartanli and Bashi-Shuragel; following the above-named river, it goes to the river Arpa Chai to the north of Kayalala, from there follows all the time the thalweg of the river Arpa Chai and arrives at the river Araxes, following its thalweg to the mouth of the river Lower Kara Su.
Withdrawal of Troops in Arpa-Chai and Araxes Regions (follows verbatim Annex 1(b) of the Turkish-Russian Treaty of March 16, 1921)
Taking into consideration that the border line, as it is shown in Annex I, is the thalwegs of the rivers Arpa Chai and Araxes, the Government of the Grand National Assembly undertakes to remove the line of block-houses to the distance of 8 versts from the Alexandropol-Yerevan railway line in the district of the Arpa Chai river, and to the distance of 4 versts from the above-named railway in the district of the river Araxes. The lines which enclose the above-named districts are shown below: the district of the river Arpa Chai at sections (a) and (b) of Paragraph 1, and the district of the river Araxes in Paragraph 2.
Paragraph 1: District of the river Arpa Chai
(a) To the southeast from Vartanli, to the east from Uzun-Kilisa over Mt. Bozyar (5096), 5082-5047, to the east from Karmir-Vaik-Uch-Tapa (5578), to the east from Arzaz Oghlu, to the east from Ani, reaches Arpa Chai to the west from Yeni-Ki.
(b) Leaves Arpa Chai to the east from elevation 5019, goes straight to elevation 5481, at the distance of 4.5 versts, to the east from Kizil Kula at 2 versts, to the east from Bojali, and then the river Digor Chai, follows along this river to the village of Duz-Kechut, and goes straight to the north from the ruins of Karabat and to Arpa Chai.
Paragraph 2: District of the river Araxes
A straight line between Kharaba Alijan and the village of Suleiman (Diza).
In the districts bordered on one side by the line of the Alexandropol-Yerevan railway and on the other by the lines which are 8 and 4 versts from the above-named railway, the Government of the Grand National Assembly undertakes not to build any fortification and not to keep the regular army except the number which is essentially necessary for the maintenance of order and security. Those lines are not in the above-named districts.
Territory of Nakhichevan
Village of Ourmia, from there by a straight line to the Azerdaian station (leaving it to SSRA), then by a straight line to Ms. Dash-Burun west (3142), watershed of Mt. Dash-Burun east (4108), crosses the river Kyahaanam-Darassi to the south of the inscription "Rodne" (Boulakh) (South), following the watershed of Mt. Bgarsik (6607) or (6587), and from there follows the administrative border of the former districts of Erivan and of Sharur, Daralagyaz, by the elevation 6629 to the mountain Kemurlu Dagh (6839) or (6930), and from there to the elevation 3080, Sayat Dagh (7868), village Kurt Kulag (Kyurt Kulak), Mt. Gamessur Dagh (8160), elevation 8022, Kuri Dagh (10,181), and the eastern administrative border of the former district of Nakhichevan.


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First flight of JL-3 nuclear missile conducted in November
China carried out a flight test of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile last month that will carry multiple nuclear warheads capable of targeting most of the United States, according to American defense officials.
The launch in late November was the first time the Chinese military flight tested the Julong-3, or JL-3 missile that will be deployed with the next generation of ballistic missile submarines, said officials familiar with the test who said it appeared successful. Julong is Chinese for Big Wave. Continue reading


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TEL AVIV, Israel, July 15 (UPI) -- As John Kerry struggles to breathe life into an expiring Mideast peace process, Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's internal security service, has publicly chastised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for failing to make a real effort to secure an agreement with the Palestinians.
In a remarkable, hard-hitting analysis published by The Jerusalem Post, Diskin, a longtime critic of Netanyahu's policies and an influential figure in Israel's security establishment, warned that the Jewish state is fast approaching "a point of no return" that will inevitably lead to disaster.
"There is no alternative but to enter into a diplomatic process with the Palestinians, here and now, despite the anxieties and the numerous risks," he wrote.
"Without such a process, we will certainly cross the point of no return, after which we will be left with one state from the river to the sea for two peoples," he observed, referring to the Jordan River, the eastern boundary of the occupied West Bank, and the Mediterranean.
In the absence of a two-state solution, the Jewish state and West Bank would be merged into a single state, dominated by Israel and the 400,000 Jewish settlers
But there are widespread concerns that for the 4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, this would be an apartheid state in which the Arabs would be secondary citizens.
"The consequences of such a state, for our national identity, our security, our ability to maintain a worthy, democratic state, our moral fiber as a society, and our place in the family of nations would be far-reaching," Diskin warned.
Many Jews fear that given the higher Palestinian birthrate, Jews would soon be overwhelmed by non-Jews.
The stalemate is widely attributed to Netanyahu's dogged refusal to stop expanding Jewish settlements the West Bank despite repeated entreaties from Washington, or make any meaningful concessions that would restart long-stalled talks.
Despite hopes the 1993-94 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians would lead to an independent Palestinian state next to the Jewish state, progress toward an agreement has been zero despite the efforts of the U.S. Secretary of State.
There's growing concern that Palestinian frustrations have built up to such a level that a new intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation, is shaping up.
Twice Palestinians have risen up against Israel, in 1987-93 and 2000-2003. Both uprisings crushed, with thousands of casualties, most of them Palestinian.
Diskin, head of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service, in 2005-11; Meir Dagan, former director of the Mossad foreign intelligence service; and former military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz have all warned recently that it's just a matter of time before the West Bank explodes.
"We're on the verge of the third intifada," Mofaz declared in January. "The fuel vapor can already be sensed in the air."
The relentlessly expanding settlements, protected by the army, and slicing the territory seized from Jordan in the 1967 war into an archipelago of Palestinian enclaves, have become the central and most inflammatory issue.
Right now, there are 121, some the size of small cities, and 102 unauthorized "outposts" that are tolerated by the Israeli government. These occupy 42 percent of the West Bank.
"The idea that a Palestinian state will be formed in the land of Israel has come to a dead end," Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, leader the hardline Jewish Home part in Netanyahu's rightwing coalition, declared in June.
"Today there are 400,000 Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria" -- the biblical name for the West Bank that Orthodox Jews claim was given to their people by God – "and another 250,000 in eastern Jerusalem."
Kerry has visited Israel five times since March in a so-far futile effort to secure a face-to-face meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. His diplomacy foundered largely on Netanyahu's refusal to halt settlement expansion.
Diskin, along with other military and intelligence figures, is also a fierce critic of Netanyahu's threatened airstrikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure. He rebuked him on both counts in the Post.
"Whoever is adept at constantly drawing 'red lines' for the Iranians would be better off taking a look at his next-door neighbors rather than those on the other side of the far-off, darkened hills," he wrote, "for doing so would reveal to him that it is here, right here, where we are nearing the point of no return."


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'Alexander de Grote'.
Bart Proost got his degree in Fine Arts from the PHIKO in Hasselt in 1999. He began his career working as a graphic artist in the Antwerp area. He is a Plastic Arts teacher with the WICO campus of the St-Hubertus school. In addition, he does illustration assignments for publishers, companies and associations. His comical strip about Alexander the Great appears in P@per, the comics supplement of Brabant Strip Magazine. In 2011 he was appointed municipal artist-in-residence of the city of Lommel for a period of two years.
The Lommel environment in Proost's short story 'De tocht' (P@per, 2011).


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Learning on the Go: Mobile learning grows up
Mobile learning is experiencing a perfect storm that creates the ideal environment for growth. When we combine sophisticated mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad, the Kindle, and all their competitors, with workers who spend hours each day engaged with their mobile devices at work and at home, and with new applications being developed by the minute, we create the perfect opportunity for unprecedented growth. According to the Maisie Organization, Mobile learning is growing, but certainly not reaching its potential:
- 24% of respondents currently deploy some mobile learning in their organizations.
The most common transactions on a mobile device currently include placing and
receiving organizational phone calls (98%), emails (91%), and text messages (83%).
- Many use mobile devices for writing/word processing (68%) and to deploy audio
podcasts (63%).
- 73% of mobile learning today is not integrated with an LMS.
- 52% of respondents use in-house resources to develop mobile learning.
- 53% of mobile learning initiative funding comes from a Training department.
How might organizations and education institutions use mobile learning in the future? Provide links or examples of current applications and also ideas for new ways that we can benefit from mobile learning.


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By Ann M.
Last month, my client, Ann, traveled en femme via commercial airline for the first time. Here she shares her experiences and emotions, providing us with inspiration and insight into the life of a trans-woman.
The satisfaction of accomplishing a substantial personal goal, any nervousness about spending the next eight hours fully cross-dressed in public with no way to back out, or thoughts about my long term future were pushed out of mind by the absolute frustration of trying to get to Dulles airport during rush hour when accidents were tying up traffic in both directions.
The poor woman inside my GPS went into conniptions as I tried alternate routes, my ears straining for any helpful nuggets from the traffic reporters on the radio, and making abrupt turns when it looked like traffic was gridlocked ahead. I never heard the word "recalculating" so many times. The sweet, nice woman I feel that I am deep inside gave way and I drove like a suburban tiger mom trying to get her kids to soccer practice.
The reason for all this was that I was finally taking, for me, the big step of flying on a commercial flight as a woman. I needed to travel for personal reasons and decided now was the time. My journey across the transgender spectrum has been a series of baby steps, each building on the other. Each time, as I have experimented with pushing the boundaries just a little further, I have found that I feel right when I let my femininity shine and I have been very pleasantly surprised by the many positive reactions I have received. Each time has validated who I am and shattered my own limits and fears.
This time, I would be working without a safety net. Once I checked my bag with my boy clothes, there would be no turning back. I would have to wait in line, go through security, and sit next to whomever took the seat next to me on the flight. While I expected things to go smoothly, my mind was filled with the "what ifs…" I also entertained fantasies such as a cute guy sitting next to me who found me adorable, but I didn't expect that to happen either.
Shopping, Accessories, and Makeup
To allay my fears, I prepared for my trip almost obsessively, as is my wont when trying something new to expand my boundaries. I had bought a new foundation garment from Classic Curves International that gave me curves proportional to my body. I happened to find a perfect top, bought three pairs of jeans before I was satisfied (checking to see what might show when bent over to take my shoes off at security) and searched for the right accessories. I tried everything on to make sure I had my look down and carefully packed so I was sure I didn't forget anything.
The last thing I wanted was to draw attention because of a makeup problem. While I consider myself reasonably proficient at doing my own makeup, I didn't want to take any chances, so I scheduled a make over with Beth Taylor before my flight. I knew that not only would I leave her studio looking fabulous, but that with her warm, accepting personality and positive energy, I'd be feeling good inside as well as looking good outside.
I was a little behind schedule when I got there, so Beth got right to work. Don't know about anyone else, but I find it so soothing and relaxing to have someone applying my makeup as I sit and chat. It makes me feel like a model getting ready for a photo shoot.
The great thing about Beth is that she "gets" trans-women of all varieties. She creates an absolutely safe space where one feels free to let down her guard and revel in all things feminine. While her business is makeup, she really is a confidante, coach, friend, and advocate, who, oh by the way, can create the look you have always dreamed of but never thought possible.
Ticket Counter, TSA, and Airborne!
So what about the flight?
After I left Beth's, feeling fantastic, and fighting the traffic, I made it to the airport with enough time that I wasn't too stressed about making my flight. I am quite tall, so I stand out in a crowd, and noticed I did get a few looks from passerbys, but for the most part everyone was wrapped up in their own business or didn't notice me.
There turned out to be no line for the ticket counter, and I checked my bag. I showed my ID, which has my male name and photo. The woman at the counter said I might have a problem at security, but I told her I had looked up the TSA policy for transgendered passengers and had a letter from my therapist explaining why I was traveling as a woman.
The TSA screeners didn't blink an eye. I showed my boarding pass and ID at two checkpoints and was called "ma'am" in spite of what my ID said. I did get a pat down after the scanner, and they didn't even ask me if I wanted a male or female screener, they just sent me to a woman.
As I waited for my flight, I was struck by my lack of feelings about what I was doing. Everything had been so routine, that it just seemed like any other commercial flight. I sat in the waiting area feeling very ordinary and very comfortable. Since the flight was only about a quarter full, I had a row to myself and settled in to relax for the flight. I had a glass (okay, a plastic cup) of wine, and was a bit surprised that the flight attendant never asked me to pay for the drink.
After we landed, I wanted to document my accomplishment, even though by that point I was wondering why I had thought it was such a big deal. I asked the flight attendant to take my picture to which she enthusiastically agreed. She posed me in front of the Southwest Airlines logo on a bulkhead and took several photos. We started chatting, and I told her that it was my first time flying en femme, to which she replied, "Now I'm really glad I didn't charge you for the drink!" All the other passengers had long since left, and the pilots looked like they were ready to leave, so the flight attendant wished me good luck on my journey to womanhood.
Hotel Room Reflections
I took the shuttle to my hotel and checked in, again showing my male ID, and again receiving nothing but respectful and empathetic courtesy from the clerk at the desk. We chatted a bit, she told me about breakfast, and I found my room. While it pained me to have to remove the beautiful makeup Beth had applied, it felt great to take off my wig, earrings, and all the other accouterments I use to tell the world that there is a girl under here.
As I lay in the bed, reflecting on my experience, I was struck by how underwhelming it had all been. I was simply one woman among thousands of drivers that afternoon trying to get somewhere in the area with the second worst commute in the nation. I was just another airline passenger going through the routine of boarding a commercial flight. I was the glass of red wine in row 32, the lady going to the Quality Inn, the guest in room 231. When my gender did come up as a result of my ID not matching my presentation it was treated as a minor discrepancy and quickly resolved.
I had spent weeks thinking about what I was going to do, planning, shopping and building my resolve to carry through with traveling as a woman, but afterwards, it seemed like a very ordinary, rather dull, exercise in getting from one city to another. And that was the most validating, wonderful experience I could have dreamt of.


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Welcome to Staunton's warm friendly family home situated in a quiet residential area of Howth Peninsula.
We are 2km from the fishing village of Howth and 10km from Dublin City centre. Dublin Airport and Dublin Ferry port are each a twenty minute drive form our home.
Howth village with its fishing boats & yachts boasts a wide variety of top class restaurants as well as a beautiful area for long cliff walks, fishing or golf.
If you want to enjoy the hustle and bustle of Dublin city - the 31 Bus stop is only five minutes walk from the house, or the DART train is just a mile away. We recommend the Hop On - Hop off bus tour as the best way to see Dublin if your time is limited (see www.dublinbus.ie).
See what some of our visitors had to say on Trip Advisor.
Our home, where the family have lived for over 30 years, is a detached dormer bungalow in a quiet residential area on the Howth Peninsula.
We have a strict no smoking rule in the house, but for those who wish to "indulge" we have built a special outdoor deck area away from the main house.
We have a beautiful rose garden to greet you at the front of the house and an equally nice garden with apple and pear trees at the rear.
We have 3 ensuite double / twin bedrooms and 1 standard double / twin bedroom...
Read more >
Howth Village & Marina, Malahide Castle and Dublin City Centre on your doorstep...
Children = 12 years & under


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content creators
pieces of content
people reached
We needed to demonstrates the functionality, quality and sustainability credentials of the brand through content, with an iconic adventure essential at the heart of it, the Kathmandu backpack.
The solution, was to link each content creators' story and adventure through one single product – a backpack. More specifically Kathmandu's Litehaul 38L Carry-on Pack.
We engaged content creators from New Zealand and Australia to contribute to a multi-level campaign that generated content for both their own channels as well as for Kathmandu's.
The influencer content reached over 100,000 people and Kathmandu's content piece reached international audiences through Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, broadening Kathmandu's brand awareness
Kathmandu "The Power of 3"
Dentsu Media
Utilising customer data, we transformed Kathmandu's Winter Sale media approach, optimising for real time consumer, weather, and conversion data to exponentially grow sales.
A New Zealand First for PlaceMakers and Google
Finding a first to market digital solution to help PlaceMakers maintain a high performing e-commerce channel.
Social | Shortland Street 30th Anniversary Social Activation
For Shortland Street's 30th Anniversary TVNZ looked to pull out all the stops to help bring some excitement to this landmark occasion in NZ broadcast television.
TVNZ #IsoCareKits
Lockdowns suck, and with so much of our isolation entertainment coming from our televisions, TVNZ saw an opportunity.
Creative | ASB "Borrow the All Blacks"
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ASB were challenged to step up to plate for small businesses. So we thought, what if we fronted up with one of the most tightly regulated sponsorship properties in ...
Creative | Bunnings and Touch NZ
Dentsu creative were engaged to support the second year of the Bunnings Sponsorship of Touch New Zealand.
Creative | Rangitikei Free Range
Creative | Meridian, Turbine Pale Ale Launch
To launch Turbine, Dentsu Creative developed a PR strategy that built awareness of Turbine's story as a love letter to windy Wellington and turned Garage Project's two taprooms in Auckland and W...
Movember "A Moment Against Silence"
We leveraged the All Blacks to reframe a moments silence to a moment against silence to get the nation talking about the national tragedy, which is the devestating suicide statistics amongst Kiw...
Creative | Designing a contactless service for Subaru.
Designing a contactless service for Subaru.
Creative | Calocurb
If there were a medal for being the most obese and overweight country in the OECD, New Zealand would get a bronze.
We were engaged from day one, as Calocurb's brand, marketing and technolog...
Creative | Tower Insurance
Tower were seen as just another insurance company: traditional, painful and host to archaic claim systems. So Tower set out to make things simple. They simplified their process, customer intera...
Creative | Meridian
For over a decade, Meridian has been committed to providing renewable energy to Kiwis. However, with all energy brands vying to demonstrate their commitment to the environment our key point of ...
Media | Accor, Bidding Strategy Alignment
Helping a global brand adopt in a local market, and to compete against changing digital booking behaviour.
iProspect: Mercy Radiology
Being first in market to launch booking capability for medical imagery and screening. Helping Aucklanders find the right medical screens and scans, aiding them to speed up tedious booking proces...
Davanti: Auckland Council
Auckland Council services over one million people in the greater Auckland region through three primary customer channels – digital, person-to-person, and face-to-face interactions.
Davanti: Ministry of Education
On behalf of the Ministry of Education, the Education Infrastructure Service (EIS) invests around $500m per annum in planning and delivering infrastructure services and facilities to New Zealand...
Davanti: Leading Edge
Leading Edge Communications is a fast paced Sales Channel Management company offering telecommunications sales and support services to some of NZ's leading enterprise and SME organisations – kee...
Media | Les Mills on Demand
Locally driven technology product, pushed globally increasing expansion and driving growth
Media | Air New Zealand, A Fantastical Journey
The safety video is usually the least-interesting part of a flight. Air NZ needed theirs to be engaging pieces of content on and off the plane.


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The interface between God and human beings is fraught with potential both creative and destructive. It is uncharted territory where we wander, sometimes alone and sometimes with companions and while we might pay attention to the stories told by those who have more recently gone before us, our constant and most useful guide is Torah.
Torah teaches us the boundaries others have met, the pathways our predecessors have taken, gives us a glimpse into what we might be looking out for.
To some extent, we could call Torah a manual for those who wish to undertake a spiritual journey. But it is a limited manual. It offers no guarantees about reaching the desired destination, it offers some advice sketches out some road signs and extends the hope that as others have done, then so maybe can I.
This limited manual can be a great comfort, but it also creates many problems for us. We have a desire to know "how to do it", we want to be told that if we behave in a certain way we will reach such-and-such a place. We often want to have concrete guidelines like all those recipe books and television programmes that state very clearly "if you follow my instructions you will have a perfect cake every time". Increasingly I am asked how to do something or is something allowed or forbidden, not out of curiosity and a genuine need to explore, but because people are seeing religion as the repository of the skills needed to achieve – or rather they are seeing rabbis and priests as the people who hold the secret and can either open or close the door to God.
There is a second problem in modernity – we have forgotten how religious language works, we are so goal centred we pay too little attention to the process, we have lost understanding of symbolic language and our sensitivity to metaphor and allegory is blunted in our need for certainty. The chain of tradition in which generations told the stories they had heard from their ancestors and fed their descendants with the 'hiddushim' the innovations they had found, has been disrupted and dislocated. The multiple varieties of ways to understand the torah text that can be seen in Midrash, in the aggadic texts recorded in Talmud, in the rabbinic commentaries on bible and on each others works – they might be recorded but their meaning is often either misunderstood or completely lost.
I am not talking here about the knowledge of Hebrew – indeed there are certainly many more people fluent in the language alive now than ever before – but rather about the understanding of religious process, of symbols and thought processes and of whole concepts that unspokenly underpinned the midrashic and aggadic texts .
Rather than admit to ourselves that our understanding is weakened, it seems to me that we have created structures that make sense to our modern minds and our need to know the recipes, and we try to ignore or dismiss the rest of our tradition as being archaic or irrelevant or magical thinking.
So how does one get back into the living meaning of Torah in order to be able to delve deeper into our spiritual search and come closer to the God who revealed Godself with such clarity to our ancestors that it seemed they were meeting almost face to face.
One way certainly is through studying the Hebrew text, examining the original words both with and without the overlay of rabbinic commentaries in order to reveal the clusters of meanings that are embedded in those words.
Another way is to personalise the text, to find its echoes resonating within our own souls and to extend the meanings into our own experience.
In traditional rabbinic exegesis, these two methods go hand in hand, creating a dynamic and relevant understanding of Torah, to help us use the 'guide book' in our own spiritual journey.
Sidra Tetzaveh is, on the surface, a continuation of the instructions about the Mishkan, the physical structure erected by the Israelites in the desert as a constant symbol and reminder of the presence of God. There are instructions about the building followed by the details of the priestly garments, the anointing of the priests and the offerings they are to bring.
The challenge is to find the relevance to us – progressive Jews who have given up the special status of the Cohanim, who have a real revulsion against animal sacrifice, who have expunged the prayers for its return and for the return of the Temple with all of its offerings, hierarchies and structures from our prayer books.
The relevance to us can be found once we begin to look past the minutiae of the detail of the ritual and let the text speak to us. We are dealing here with the creation of symbols that speak of the presence of God and of the boundaries that will prevent us from getting too close to a power that could overwhelm us so that we lose our own self. We are looking at creating a conduit, to find ways to relate to God. And this is an age old problem every generation must address.
In Sidra Tetzaveh we see the making of a structure that will operate through time and space, connecting the outer world and the inner one, involving both action and prayer, uniting us as one people while at the same time connecting each one to God. It was a structure for its time, one we can hardly comprehend, yet we continue to read it because it has things to teach us still.
The verse which begins the sidra "v'ata tetzaveh et b'nei Yisrael, v'yikhu elecha shemen zayit zach katit l'maor leha'a lot ner tamid" You shall command the children of Israel that they will bring pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually" is an important one for us. Each of us has a responsibility to keep alight a ner tamid, a continually burning light. Each of us has the responsibility to do it for ourselves, to keep a spark alive in our own souls and our own lives.
The ner tamid in a synagogue is usually explained as being a symbol of the continuing presence of God, and we have taken the idea of externalising it by having one in every synagogue, hanging over the Ark. A light is kept burning in every synagogue to be an outward sign of the light that is burning in every Jewish soul.
Sometimes the symbolism can take on a new and even painful dimension – I remember hearing a survivor of the Shoah, Hilda Schindler, describe how after Kristallnacht in Berlin she saw the ner tamid of the Fasanenstrasse Synabobe burning brightly on the ground.
There are other symbols in this sidra – the anointing and ordaining of the priesthood whose special task is to take care of the boundaries between the Jews and God, and whose economic and functional dependence on the Israelites only points up their special task rather than diminish it – a task that we now have in our own homes and study houses. There is the focus on the garments of the High Priest, on which we model the clothes for the Sefer Torah, and so once again remind ourselves that people and objects can function at the interface of God and humanity.
Our texts speak in many languages in order to make their meaning available to us. It is improper of us to try to distil down the lessons, to accept that there is only one accepted meaning that is taught by someone else and should not be challenged. The beauty of traditional Judaism and the beauty of contemporary progressive Judaism is that we have refused to join in the process of passively accepting the judgements of others.
My first synagogue President, Mervin Elliot z"l used to say that for us Reform Jews tradition had a vote but not a veto. I liked the pithiness of the language when I first heard it, but now some thirty years later I appreciate more the acceptance of the past and the willingness to explore the present and the future that is embedded in it.
When we come across texts like those in Tetzaveh we can either treat them like a manual or recipe book, decide that those people who are descendants of the Cohanim must have some special power and role that we cannot decipher, and walk away from the challenges of how we build the bridges and the protective structures whereby we can come close to God in this day and age. Or we can take up the challenge, see a product of its time have something that can speak to us today, transmuted perhaps or extended or even echoed, and create the Judaism that does the same work today that the mishkan and priesthood did in biblical times. We can remind ourselves that we are supposed to be (as we read only a few chapters earlier) "a nation of priests and a holy nation". Each of us can take on the role, keep alight the ner tamid in our own places and lives, and find that each of us has something to teach, each of us has something to offer the community, each of us protects and nurtures the spark of divine in the world.
(sermon given 2017 lev chadash)


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The Showdown continues. In the Showdown, we pick a topic, argue both sides, and then present the results to you. Today, Ben and Frank discuss whether or not Blizzard should be breaking up the single-player campaign of StarCraft II.
Ben: The news is all over the Internet: StarCraft 2 will no longer be a single game, but a series of three titles, each one focusing on one of the races. Players will start with the Terran campaign, with the Protoss and Zerg campaigns coming further down the line. Blizzard may release a game a year, or it could be a significantly longer wait. Multiplayer fans don't need to worry, however, as each game will come with all three races to be used online or during LAN play.
The main question is "Are we being ripped off?" Blizzard is now a part of Activision, and if there is one thing Activision knows it's how to continually release updates to its popular franchises. Guitar Hero updates, expansions, and portable versions have already begun to be released in a steady stream, and it would not shock me to see many more World of WarCraft expansions coming down the line in the coming years. I'm not saying the games won't be good, there simply isn't enough information out there, but I will say that I'm pretty sure someone at Activision-Blizzard wondered how to squeeze the most money out of this franchise, and turning one mega-game into three releases is an easy way to do it. Why? Because I'm like most of you in that I'll complain about it endlessly, but still buy every update.
Frank: Far be it for me to declare myself an authority on Blizzard. What I do know about the company, though, is it has become popular is because it produces good products. It's as simple as that. This whole conspiracy theory that Activision is somehow the puppeteer to me seems counter to what Blizzard stands for. Blizzard has been doing quite well for itself for a long time—well before the merger—and that's something Activision likely wants no part in fuddling with. The bigwigs are just sitting back and collecting their portion of Blizzard's pie, which is so delicious that it need not be tampered with.
What a lot of people seem to be overlooking is that Blizzard has already confirmed that each campaign will be roughly 30 missions long—that's the same length as the entirety of the original StarCraft. Combined, the three campaigns taken together will be nearly 100 missions strong, all finely-crafted with the trademark attention to detail and quality that has made Blizzard one of the few bright lights in the dimming PC market.
This isn't a case of paying full price for three incomplete products. In fact, this is just the standard Blizzard fare. Look to past Blizzard releases to see how this strategy really isn't entirely different from what the company has done before: they've just been more up front about it from the get-go. No one complained when Brood War came out that the original StarCraft was an incomplete ripoff.
Ben: The original StarCraft didn't feel like an incomplete ripoff because you got to play each of the three races in turn in a story that was actually fun to play through. This time, you'll play through the Terran missions and then... just stop. Knowing that more is coming in a year or more. I would have much rather have had Blizzard work on 10 or 15 really great missions for each race and then do the same thing across three games. That still would have been a money grab, but I would have felt much better about it.
And saying Activision had a hand in this isn't a conspiracy, Activision-Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick is very upfront about his plans to monetize every franchise under his umbrella as hard as possible, and it doesn't get much bigger than StarCraft. While I don't think Kotick is someone cackling madly while lighting his cigars with $100 bills, I do definitely think that there were many conversations about how to maximize StarCraft's profits, and this was the solution that was deemed acceptable to the parent company and not so onerous that Blizzard would get in trouble with its fans. People who rely on the single-player to learn the tech-tree and each race, however, are now somewhat left in the dark.
Frank: While I can understand that there may be reservations given that the breadth of the experience won't be there in the first launch, which is the Terran-focused campaign, there's always the option to just wait for the campaign that you actually want if you're committed to a specific one. Otherwise, the game includes the full, "Zerg-alicious" multiplayer experience as well, so it's not like you're not getting your money's worth either way you slice it.
Here's what those who are complaining should ask themselves: would you rather wait another few years and pay, let's say at the upper end of the scale, $150 for the entire trilogy box set with all of the content, or have the option of picking up each piece of the trilogy individual as they are released? Just because I liked The Empire Strikes Back more than A New Hope doesn't mean I didn't appreciate A New Hope for what it was and its crucial role in my enjoyment of Empire. I think the same thing is going to happen with the StarCraft II campaign pieces. You may not like the Terran as much as the Zerg, for example, but having a well-developed and fully-fleshed campaign in one that shares the overall story with the others will only enrich the experience across the board.
To me, this just sounds like gamers are getting huffy and puffy over nothing. They want to give you more content and more quality, and somehow, that is detestable. I'm all for criticizing poorly-conceived downloadable content and poorly-priced digital distribution wares, but we're talking about three separate, retail-caliber products here and not one game hacked down to episodes. Look at Half-Life 2. No one seems to have a problem with it now, after the dust has settled.
What say you, readers? Is Blizzard on the right track with this decision to break up the campaign? Or is this a sign that the old faithful PC developer is getting greedy in its old age?


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Discovering Poland Warsaw, Gdansk, Torun, Wroclaw & Krakow
About Poland
Embark on an in-depth journey through Poland. Tour the thriving capital city of Warsaw. Reborn after World War II, it is again one of Europe's great cultural centers. Walk the meandering lanes of historical Krakow where you will see Wawel Castle, once home to the kings of Imperial Poland. The somber history and tragic reality of Auschwitz is unveiled during a moving visit. Behold the Black Madonna while visiting the Jasna Gora Monastery. Discover Polish culture at a folklore dinner and show in Krakow. Make tasty gingerbread in Torun. Stand on the dock where union workers formed the Solidarity Anti-Communist movement in 1989 in Gdansk. Explore the ancient city squares and UNESCO World Heritage sites of Torun, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Gdansk, and Krakow.


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Sacramento: 5 free things for visitors to do
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Located near the center of California, Sacramento is an ideal launching point to visit some of the state's most popular destinations.
Drive two hours to the west, there are beaches, the Bay Area and the Napa wine country. Head east, Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada mountains and numerous ski resorts are within a short drive.
But Sacramento also has plenty to offer for those who want to stick around in the valley. The city even just placed No. 14 on a Forbes list of America's coolest cities. Here are five free things to do in the Californian capitol.
Old Sacramento
Sacramento was a hub of the Gold Rush days in the 1800s, and many structures from that era have been preserved along the eastern bank of the Sacramento River just west of downtown. Among the historic buildings are the 1849 Eagle Theatre, the 1855 Big Four Building and the 1853 B.F. Hastings Building, which was once home to the California Supreme Court.
The buildings are part of Old Sacramento State Historic Park, and you can wander around for free and admire the old facades. The park is also home to several museums, including the California State Railroad Museum and the Sacramento History Museum, which do charge admission.
The iconic Tower Bridge is just to the south along the river, where sea lions can occasionally be seen from the bank.
State Capitol
Built from 1860-74, California's Capitol is one of the most beautiful in the U.S., a must-stop for anyone visiting Sacramento. The majestic dome was built to look like the U.S. Capitol and the interior is filled with ornate details like marble floors, carved wooden shutters and Corinthian columns. Free tours are available and the California State Capitol Museum is a great way to see some of the history of the building. The grounds are worth checking out, too, 40 acres filled with trees and plants from around the world — many with labels telling what they are.
The city's free annual Farm-to-Fork Festival, this year planned for Sept. 27, takes place on the Capitol Mall to highlight locally grown food, and is part of a larger Farm-to-Fork Celebration, Sept. 13-28.
William Land Park
Known to the locals as Land Park, this 166-acre park just south of central Sacramento is a great place to go for a stroll, have a picnic, feed some ducks or take a nap under one its massive trees. There's an outdoor Shakespeare theater, numerous athletic fields, jogging trails and plenty of restaurants nearby. The park also is home to the Sacramento Zoo, a golf course and Fairytale Town for the little ones, though there are fees for those attractions.
American River Parkway
The 23-mile bike trail runs along the American River to Folsom with dozens of access points. The wide trail is great for cyclists, runners and hikers, with countless dirt trails along the river for horseback riding and mountain biking. The river is also popular for rafting and fishing. The parkway also teems with wildlife, including deer, turkey, otters and skunks.
Fabulous '40s neighborhood
Once the terminus for Sacramento's defunct streetcar network, the Fab '40s area is known for upscale, custom-built homes between J Street and Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento. Many of the homes were built in the early 20th century and have a wide range of architectural styles. The area, filled with unique restaurants and shops, is not far from downtown. During the holidays, the Fab '40s are a must-see for Christmas lights.


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There is more to my gardening than coffee grounds. Just a little.
I went on a fruit tree spending splurge from a heritage nursery in late April, and took delivery in middle of July. It was a long wait to get these babies.
The collection comprises:
Lapin Cherry
Simone Cherry
Gala Apple
Pink Lady Apple
Black Genoa Fig
Fuji Persimmon
Manzanillo Olive
This is what the Lapin looks like about 1 month into the ground.
Amazing how quickly the new growth started on this one, and the others are also starting to show signs of waking up. Always a concern when getting dormant, bare rooted trees, the question I first asked was 'are these all dead?'
Here is the full view of the Lapin, and over time I will provide updates as to how its going.
I'm continuing to add to the collection, with a lemon tree about to go into the ground (will wait for mid September and the onset of Spring), and a black current, blackberry, and sultana grape all ready for new growth and beautiful home grown fruit.
There is something about having a fruit tree and the commitment for it, a bond. I'm putting in the time to provide the best conditions for these plants to mature, and to protect them, and in turn they will reward me with many years of sustenance. That is the kind of long term investment that binds us to the earth, and hints to mysteries of the natural world that I was unaware of for most my life.
What are your thoughts on having fruit trees around the house – Do you have a favourite, or just starting out like me?
Related Articles
- Coffee Grounds and Pepino (groundtoground.org)
- Are there any fruit trees that do well in cold weather? (greenanswers.com)
- Lessons From the Fruit Trees (nathansnode.wordpress.com)