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We as humans walk around the world thinking that we are the ones who are forging are destinies. We believe that if we work a little harder, push a little further, that we will get the outcome we are yearning for. Wrong. Our destinies are already drawn for us. No matter how hard we try to make it our own, we are the universe's bitch.
Chapter 1 - What the Persephone?
I hear steps coming up the stairs. "What happened sweetie?"
"I'm turning into an alien" I shout back as a response.
"Why are you screaming so-", she pauses at the bathroom door. Her eyes begin to widen and her breath hitches at the sight of me. Same mom, same. Suddenly her expression completely changes. "It's time," she voices sadly.
"What-", I couldn't finish my sentence. As I stare at my reflection my blonde hair starts to morph into a medium brown, starting from the roots down. Not only is it changing colors, but it's also growing thicker and more voluminous, exterminating the lifeless strips that always made my hair fall flat. What the hell? My hair finishes its "self-makeover" by tainting the tips of my newly brown mane lavender, similar to an ombré look. Not going to lie this is pretty hot, still effing freaky, but hot nonetheless.
I start to fiddle with my hair and notice that my eyes are no longer dark blue. The irises are now turning the same pastel lavender to match the tips of my hair. Seriously, what's up with all the purply transformations? I lean in and bump my head with the lights connected to my mirror. To top it all off I'm about 5'10 now, instead of my respective five by five inches "Mom, what the hell is going on?"
"You may want to sit down for this," she says as she leads me towards the edge of the bed. I sit down expectantly, while touching my face for any new involuntary alternations. My mom resembles what a teenager looks like on a Saturday night after they snuck out and got busted...guilty. Boy do I not like that face. She's still standing and walking back and forth while mumbling words only she can hear.
"Mom! I'm a little freaked out here and you're not helping", I clamor quickly.
"You're Persephone," she says all of a sudden after a pause.
"What do you mean I'm Persephone?"
"Persephone, goddess of spring and rebirth," she says hesitantly. Looking like she finally grasped onto her courage she said, "This is going to be a bit confusing, so bear with me".
"I have a feeling I'm not going to like this".
"You know about the Olympians, right?" I nodded. Of course I do, my history teacher Mr. Johnson, talks more about Zeus and the Athens than Abraham Lincoln and the Cold War. Boring. "Well, they aren't just myths".
"So you're saying that Poseidon is real?"
"Very real".
"Okaaay...". I'm glad my mom has been dating after my dad died, but her dating Mr. Johnson is not helping her stay mentally stable. Now he has has her thinking Gods and Goddesses exist. "What does that have to do with me turning into an alien?"
"You're not turning into an alien Primrose, you're turning into Persephone," she responded sadly. At my confused look she said, "I will explain just let me gather my thoughts".
"Oh you better gather them alright," I retort. She gives me an almost berating look.
"Here's the deal. Gods and Goddesses have always existed and they've always been among us mortals. They change the course of people's lives and are responsible for earth's evolvement". She's breathless but continues to speak. "Every five centuries the Gods and Goddesses embody a different body".
"What do you mean? What do they do while in the body?"
"Primrose calm down and just listen," she speaks softly. "After the five centuries are up, the Gods and Goddesses choose another body. The old body they occupied just dissipates when they are no longer being used".
"Meaning...?" I'm not going to lie that I rise up a little bit because although I'm freaked out, this is quite interesting.
"The body is only able to last that long because of the immortal abilities the Gods and Goddesses posses but after they leave the body, the body decays instantly, as it should have long time ago as a mortal". That makes sense, I guess. "Each God or Goddess does what their traits and powers require them to do."
"Why do they embody a human body and not stay in their true form?"
My mother lets out a stressed breath. "Because their size is too monumental to roam around earth in their true form," she replies. "Their entity is sort of transferred to the human of their choice and their true bodies are left untouched in Athens, Greece."
"Very intriguing story mom. I'm not sure I believe it yet but as of right now, why don't I look like myself anymore?" Sure the whole Greek myth is fascinating but I can't go to school looking like this without a semi-believeable explanation. If the alien story is proven to be right, I can even be swimming in millions due to my alien-y existence by tomorrow... I like where this is going. I pray for the alien theory.
"You're physique has changed because you're features are being combined with Persephone's."
"So Persephone had crazy lavender eyes and hair?" I imagine her and the others to look very classical and rather boring, not funky and fruity.
"Solstice will explain that to you," she says and waves me off.
"Who's Solstice?" I know squat about Grecian mythology with the exception of a couple of things, but I know for a fact I've never heard of a "Solstice" before.
"She's Aphrodite, like you," she whispers. Like me? Whoa wait, am I an alien, Persephone, or the sluttiest Goddess of all? At my look of confusion my mother sighs and proceeds to spilling out more nonsense. "You are Persephone but during the change after the last five centuries, Persephone and Aphrodite fought to take over your body. Persephone won but since Aphrodite was in your body for a while you have traits from her." So, I'm an alien, Persephone, and the slutty Goddess.
I look at my ever so secret keeping mother to ask more questions but am surprised by the depressed look on her face. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"The fact that you have them both makes your situation all the more complicated", she says. Oh. This should be good and by good I mean bad.
"Persephone is the Goddess of spring and rebirth therefore required to be eternally pure," she voices. I give her a look of encouragement since I can feel her hesitation. "Meaning you can't have... sexual relations."
So, I wasn't expecting that bit. I wasn't exactly hoping to get laid anytime soon but damn. Never? I have never actually given that a thought, but now the things I could be missing on come racing through my mind. Whatever. I'm cool with that, no one has ever evoked such feelings in me anyways. Reading my moms face has easily become my most praiseworthy talent and right now I'm reading there's more to this. "Just go on."
"Thing with this is that since you do have traits from Aphrodite, you tend to be very... well... sexual," she says. "When you kiss him you'll feel it all over body. When you fall in love with him, it'll utterly consume you. Just his proximity will cause major strikes of... arousal and passion". She looks down and then back up at me her eyes a solemn blue.
Now I see how much I don't look like my mother anymore. Sure
the resemblance is there, but we could pass as long distance relatives instead of as mother and daughter. Wait... "Who's the 'him' you are referring to?"
"Rogue," she simply replies. She sighs and then says, "He's the current incarnate of Hades".
"I don't know this guy and you're talking about how I'm going to jump his bones?" Most secretive slash irresponsible mom award goes to my mother. She's crazy. "I'm not going to fall in love with anyone, especially the Ruler of the Underworld," I exclaim. I'd probably end up dead if I stuck around with this guy, not to mention he's probably demonic and creepy looking. I shiver at the thought.
"Oh honey but you will," my mom says. She looks at me then and has an "I'm sorry" expression written all over her face.
"What do you mean I will? You don't know that." I didn't like the sound of that. I don't have to do anything, much less fall in love. When did my life become such a mystical mess? Well about ten minutes ago but it all feels to be dawning on me now.
"You don't have to and I'm not sure you will due to the animosity between the past Persephone and Hades incarnates, but I'm warning you because there's this thing written somewhere about you and Rogue."
"Warning me? Me and Rogue? Mom,
I haven't even met this guy and probably won't so it doesn't even matter," I say.
"That's the thing you will meet him, along with the other incarnates and supernaturals," she replies. "There's this school for the supernaturals. Vampires, witches and warlocks, ghosts, werewolves, and Gods and Goddesses being at the top of all things out of this world. You will meet him and the others there."
"So there's a school now too," I voice bitterly.
My mother stands up and grabs my hands, pulling me up to stand in front her. "Life for you is going to be different now and we must learn to adjust." No shit.
"You need to give me an explanation so I could feed the people when I go back to school," I say. The hair is easy to explain but the eyes... not so much. You might be thinking how can I not be extraordinarily mad at her right now, but don't worry I'm getting there.
"You're not going to your old high school anymore. You have to attend Mystia Boarding High." You see, now I'm pissed.
"What the hell is a 'Mystia'?" My mother gives me a berating look at my choice of words but frankly, I don't care. She should've started with the fact that I'm not going to finish high school along my friends anymore.
"It's the school I'm talking about," she replies.
"Where is this super freak school?"
"It's located in Calabasas, California. Very secluded area. Although it's a boarding school, you'll will be staying at Solstice's house." Now I'm rooming with strangers, too. This is just rich.
"How long have you known for?" Clearly this isn't knowledge you just acquire when your daughter starts morphing into a Goddess. My mother looks down ashamed. "How long?"
"When I first found out I was pregnant. Jay told me. But it wasn't a sure thing. You weren't displaying the known factors that certified you to be an incarnate," she responds. What? "About a week ago I started noticing thing in you. You started looking a bit older, which happens at this stage of an incarnate's life. The hue of your eyes were different. And plants started growing all around you," she finalized. What the hell?
"You knew? Jay knew? How could he have known something like that? You knew him since then? Isn't he a mortal?" At this point I'm shouting.
"There are some people that have 'the knowing' which allows them to innately come with knowledge about this stuff, but they are still mortal."
"You know what, I don't want to hear from you anymore," I say as I stand up. "Come back to talk to me in a few days after I'm a little less pissed at you."
My mom looks at me and just stares. She seems to be taking in my new looks and she smiles a tiny smile. "You are so beautiful Primrose." Now she's trying to compliment me to soften things up, this woman is incredible. "I just want to tell you that I love you and that you need to pack."
"If you loved me you would've- what do you mean pack?"
"You're moving in with Solstice as of tomorrow. After the transformation occurs you are required to go and join the others," she exclaims. My mother moves towards my closet and pulls out my empty luggage bags and says, "I'll book your flight for tomorrow morning."
I'm leaving already? I didn't even have the time to properly decipher what my mom just revealed and I'm already being thrown into a whole other world. Then I notice that my mom talked singularly and pluralized. "Why does it sound like I'm the only one leaving?"
"Because you are. I'll meet up with you there in a few months ," she replies as she goes to one of my drawers. Granted I was mad at my mom, pissed, but I still wanted her with me. This officially sucked. "Finish up, I'll be booking the flight."
With that last sentence she left. With that last sentence she officially considered me a goddess and not just her daughter. Persephone. I am Persephone's incarnate and I'm sure this is going to be one hell of a ride.
Hades Berothed
Hades' Betrothed
Girls are like tires, after you have used them enough and gotten where you need to go, you change them. Right now I was eating out Britney Samson. Blonde, big tits, and great mouth. Once I finished her off, she was so eager to tend to my own needs. I like that, when girls give more importance to my needs rather than theirs. She started working me as I started watching some space documentary on the Discovery Channel.
All of a sudden the door to my home theatre opens with a loud bang. In comes in a shirtless Gregorio with Britney's twin sister trailing behind. "They found her!"
Britney kept on doing her business and I asked, "Who?"
Britney's twin, Brandy, kept pushing her bare chest towards Aaron to grab his attention. He looked down at her and gave her a scowl, to which she responded by cowering down. I chuckled quietly. "Persephone's incarnate," Aaron exclaimed with a smile threatening to break out on his face. I quickly pull myself out of Britney's mouth and zip up my pants.
"Britney give me some privacy with Aaron will you," I instruct. Britney pouts her lips but obeys almost immediately. Britney walks up the stairs while Brandy roams around the room. Aaron and I go the bar. I take a seat on the stool and Aaron fixes us a drink. "How do you know this?"
"Gabrielle told me over the phone just now," he said digging through the counters. "She's coming over here now to talk about her and shit. She's excited."
Pissed. I'm pissed as hell. I thought that I'd be the first Hades incarnate to not have a stupid Persephone incarnate prying around. "I don't want her here," I grumbled.
Aaron chuckled. Handing me a glass of rum and clinking it with his he as states, "Dude there's nothing you can do about that and you know it." Bullshit. I do what I want. Someday I'll be ruler of the Underworld and no one can take that away from me.
Ten minutes later I'm sitting with Aaron in one of the theatre seats when I hear Gabrielle chirping like a bird on cocaine. I swear that girl is always happy. Despite her being a pain the ass sometimes, she's cool people. "Did you guys hear?!"
"Yes, Gabrielle we heard, from you actually," Aaron said mocking his cousin's tone. He smiled without looking back at Gabrielle and said, "How much Adderall did you have this morning?" Gabrielle took a pillow and threw at Aaron's head but he caught in time, with his vision still fixed on the TV screen. I might be good at combat but Aaron is kick ass at that and everything else war related. He is literally a killing machine.
"Stop being an asshole Aaron," I hear Solstice say. Aaron has his back turned, so Gabrielle nor Solstice can't see his face. I, on the other hand, can and I most definitely noticed the glow of his eyes. Solstice can't come into a room without giving Aaron a mini heart attack. His breathing gets all heavy and everything. Good thing that when he finally faces her he puts on his usual 'I don't care' facade, so he doesn't give himself off. He will never ever admit it but he's completely in love with her. Falls in love and on top of that with the incarnate of Aphrodite. Smart move.
I turn around to see Solstice dropping her expensive purse on the bar counter. She then takes a seat in the chair across from me and gives me an expectant look. I expect her to start but she just keeps looking at me.
"What?!" Her scrutiny is bothering me and she knows it. "Talk Solstice will you," I grumble.
Aaron comes up from his seat and sits next to Solstice. She looks at him and then rolls her eyes. Aaron chuckles and faces me. "Hold on," Solstice exclaims. She whistles and Brandy turns to look at her. "Beat it." Brandy gives her a sour look and then huffs and puffs up the stairs. "Really?" Solstice looks at Aaron and he innocently shrugs.
Impatient as hell I yell, "Solstice what do you know about the Persephone incarnate?"
Solstice takes a deep breath. "I don't know much, I mean she literally just turned." That's weird, most incarnates are born with the God or Goddess within them. "Her mum noticed the change was about to occur soon, so she contacted me last week to alert me. As as she turned she called Mrs. Ivory and then she called me to notify me that she will be here tomorrow." Tomorrow? I find this out and now I'm supposed to already have her here? To hell.
"Why didn't you tell me that there was a Persephone incarnate?" Solstice really loves having her secrets.
"No one knew," Solstice said. Crossing her legs she continued, "Only I knew because we weren't sure if she was going to morph or not and if she did they figured I, as the full Persephone incarnate, would be able to help her. We're always born with the Gods in us so we weren't sure if she was a fluke just showing symptoms of the change or the real deal. That's why it was all hush hush." That makes sense but I still would've like to know beforehand. I would've made her a rules to follow handbook.
Gabrielle flashed in the seat beside me pink light all around her silhouette and added, "Forget that. I just got a text telling me her name is Primrose Anders." I hate when Gabrielle does that shit. As Goddess of the Rainbow, she can flash in and out of places in at the speed of light. I also hate how quickly people find out shit in our school and how they spread it even faster. "Her name is pretty! She's probably pretty too. I mean Aphrodite wanted to take over her body so she has to be beautiful," Gabrielle says all in one breath. Yeah yeah.
"So this Primrose character is the only other person to have to Gods in them like me," I remark. Huh. Wait... "She's morphed with Persephone and Aphrodite?" She has one eternally virginal Goddess and one eternally sexual one inside her... Poor girl.
Solstice laughs out loud. "Yes yes. I feel so bad for her. Not the bit where she has two goddesses merged into her, although that out to be bliss complicated, but the part where she can't have sex!" Solstice throws herself backwards on the chair and then tries to recover her breath. "Persephone overrules her body though, so it isn't that bad but it does make a good laugh."
"Whatever. Her situation doesn't concern me. Only thing does concern me though is my throne and she's not having it," I voice sternly.
Aaron looks at me and laughs. "I'm pretty sure she won't have enough hands to handle all the Greek stuff plus fight you for the throne," he says. Well that better be the case. No matter what she's dealing, the minute she crosses my sight, I'm going to enforce the rules.
Solstice stands up and utters, "I'll leave you guys to your reckless screwing ways. I'm pretty sure the blondies up there are entering and re-entering the same bathroom without your help." With that she leaves and Gabrielle follows suit.
Aaron turns to me after checking out Solstice and exclaims, "This year is going to be so much fun."
We'll see about that.


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Some highlights of this policy:
• Students must wear shoes, sneakers, or dress sandals.
• All students should be covered from the shoulders to the mid thigh.
• Pants should fit securely around the student's waist (with no undergarments displayed.)
• Boys must have sleeves on their shirts.
• Girls must keep tops covering upper body area. No undergarments should show.
• No biker chains or studded jewelry can be carried with students.
• Makeup for cosmetic reasons, not makeup for display or drama purposes.
• Federal Law prohibits any type of garment that states alcohol, tobacco, or drug products or that degrades one's race, religion, sex, or personal status.
The dress code will be enforced uniformly and consistently throughout the school year.

subset: commoncrawl


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June 21, 2017
The Kings and Ducks both lost defenseman in the NHL Expansion Draft on Wednesday night. The Las Vegas Golden Knights selected Brayden McNabb from the Kings, and Clayton Stoner from the Ducks.
In addition, the Ducks traded defenseman Shea Theodore to Las Vegas, and in exchange, the Golden Knights agreed not to select Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen or Josh Manson.
Under the Expansion Draft rules, Las Vegas was required to select at least one player from each of the 32 NHL clubs. However, since some teams had trouble deciding which players they wanted to protect from selection, they made trades with Vegas, like the Ducks did, sending them additional players so other unprotected players could not be selected.
In the case of the Ducks, they were forced to leave talented defenseman Vatanen and Manson unprotected, caused by having several players on their team with no-movement clauses, which forced them to protect those players.
Stoner was injured for much of last season, and carried a cap hit of $3.25 million. That's a big win for Anaheim. However, Theodore was a promising young defenseman that needed to be traded in order to prevent the loss of two very talented young defenseman.
In the case of the Kings, there were several players who were candidates to be selected by Vegas such as forward Trevor Lewis, Kyle Clifford, Nic Dowd, and possibly even Dustin Brown. However, the Golden Knights chose the young, hard-hitting defenseman McNabb.
The loss of McNabb gives the Kings an additional $1.8 million under the salary cap. Although the Kings can bear the loss of McNabb's talent, they were likely hoping a higher salaried player like Brown would be taken.


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Guest Blog: Effort efficiency. What makes the most difference?
The brass tacks of deciding to do something good for the environment are really, honestly, how much bloody effort it will take. Can I be bothered to cycle everywhere even if it's raining? Can I find a way to make quinoa taste interesting? We all have a limited time on this planet, and a limited amount of effort each day outside of the basic struggle of just carrying on with everything so being faced with a constant barrage of information and opinions on how you can and should be doing something to help the environment can be tiring but most of all lead to just finally caving into one or more 'causes' either because of peer pressure or the amount of marketing that particular cause receives.
Here's a mischievous thought: What if the choices you make are not the product of careful examination of all the options and that you may make a bigger difference with less effort if you just checked the facts and your own lifestyle first?
Here's a really interesting paper which goes into detail about what government and school textbooks tell us about how we can make a difference to the environment and compares it with what changes actually make the biggest differences.
1: Wynes & Nicholas (2017)
It turns out none of the biggest western governments (and educational systems) suggest having one less child as a way of emitting sixty times less carbon than eating a plant-based diet. They don't even mention eating a plant based diet for that matter. But they do all agree that we should switch to reusable shopping bags, a practice which is less than 1% as effective per year as not eating meat.
I don't want to suggest that anyone should stop recycling, composting or insulating their houses, but these moderate to low benefit practices can be harmful in that they give one the impression that they are doing something really beneficial when their efforts could be doing so much more good elsewhere as well. I also understand and agree that plastic waste production is not the same as carbon emissions, but to me the outcome of carbon emissions is far more harmful to us than the build up of plastics. We must direct our efforts wisely because our time is short. Here then is a list of the most beneficial things you can do:
1. Have one less child
Most people don't seem to consider their genitals as weapons of mass destruction however there isn't a single argument for any method of avoiding global catastrophe that can't be brought back to reducing the number of humans on the planet. Hans Rosling sets out a compelling case for how population growth is shifting regionally and will (along with improving living standards) plateau. Part of that levelling off requires each of us to consider our motivations and capacity for having kids and if we do how many is a responsible number.
2. Live car free
Buying and owning a car generally means owning a big lump of fairly expensive stuff that spends most of its life sat still and not doing its job. Having access to a car generally means it will get used when a walk or short cycle ride could have completed the journey. A bit like going vegan it is almost entirely impractical to one day throw your keys away and buy a bus pass so first think about your needs and what solutions are a best fit for your area. There is no one solution so your car replacement may be a combination of several other modes of transport. The average cost of owning a car is between £160 and £300 per month depending on how you buy one, so if any of the following seems like an expensive solution bear in mind how much you will be saving without a car on the road.
- Grocery deliveries: Losing the car shouldn't mean having to forage for food. Deliveries by supermarkets or local initiatives aren't as expensive as having a car and can be greener by having one van doing a round trip rather than multiple cars doing return journeys to and from the shops
- Car share: If you live in a city a car sharing scheme like Zipcar might be a solution for times when you have stuff to carry
- Cycle: Get fit whilst saving cash and the environment. Gumtree and Shpock are great places to find cheap used bikes locally and there are lots of solutions for carrying cargo and children with trailers and kiddy seats
- Motorbike: Although still using dead dinosaur juice for power, being able to get through traffic means they run for less time so you wont ever be late! From scooters to superbikes there are motorised two wheelers for all budgets
- Public transport: Depending on where you live this may be a pleasure or a bit grim. Either way local bus or trains might link up your commute giving you a cycle/train/cycle journey
- Car rental: Car owners sometimes need to do longer 100+mile journeys but so infrequently it can work out cheaper to hire a car for these occasions or let someone else drive and go by train
3. Avoid one transatlantic flight
The real statement here is avoiding one long haul flight per year. Unless you have family flung across the globe this is probably the easiest one to achieve off the bat by spreading those long distance breaks across a longer time and looking into vacating domestically. Alternatively a road trip is a much greener alternative!
4. Buy green energy
Suppliers like Bulb offer a super-simple way of going green. Simply switching suppliers means your lights still come on just as before, except they are now powered by %51% wind with the rest coming from hydroelectric and biogas. The cost is no different to a non-renewable supplier and the best part is you've saved more carbon each year than if you became a vegan.
There you go; you've done it, saved over 65 tonnes of CO2 per year with a few lifestyle choices. Some of them take some serious thought and planning but you haven't had to reach for the tofu. Yet.
Simon lives in Whiteley with his lovely wife and two children. He has a sense of humour as dry as an exquisite white wine on a summers day. Simon previously owned an off the grid scuba diving resort in Indonesia with his wife where he met our co-founder. His favourite eco product hails from his South East Asian days… the bum gun. In his own words "it makes my botty sing with the happy voices of a thousand uncut trees".


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Jack Daniel's Racing today announced its 2013 V8 Supercars endurance driver line up for all three of the season's enduros.
David Russell and Karl Reindler will join Todd and Rick Kelly respectively to steer the two Jack Daniel's Nissan Altimas.
Russell and Reindler (pictured left to right) will drive for the team at Sandown, Bathurst and – with the international driver format no longer compulsory – on the Gold Coast.
Both drivers are comfortable at Nissan Motorsport, albeit in its former guise as Kelly Racing.
Russell returns to the team after driving at Bathurst with Rick Kelly last year, finishing a credible 15th.
"It's great to have 'Coighty', as we call him, back in the car, we've spent a little bit of time together in the past in the one car, so to team up again is fantastic," Todd said.
"To have some continuity with a familiar face is for me, extremely important. We can basically jump in the car and take off from where we left off the last time we drove together at Bathurst.
"We don't have to learn what each other likes, or learn what a new person is like to work with, so it's pretty much jump in and get straight down to business with David, which I'm really looking forward to."
Russell was equally pleased to spend his third year with the team.
"It's a very exciting time obviously with a factory team, the first time I've been involved in a factory team, so to be teamed up with Todd is a great opportunity," Russell said.
"We get on very well, I've raced with him before and I've got some unfinished business from last time I was with Todd. We were in a really good spot and unfortunately things didn't go our way.
"I think it's time to turn the tables and go and get a very solid result for Nissan Motorsport."
Reindler drove full time for the squad throughout 2012 and both he and Rick are looking forward to sharing an Altima.
"Karl in my opinion has got a little bit of unfinished business within our team, we had him last year as one of our drivers and particularly towards the later part of the year, he really found his straps and did a fantastic job," Rick said.
"It's been tough for him not to be in the car full-time this year, but for him to join myself at the three endurance races is a good opportunity for Karl to jump back in and show that he can do a fantastic job as he did last year.
"For us it's a great opportunity to get a strong result, I think that Karl and myself as a pairing is as strong as anyone else out there and it certainly gives us a chance of getting a good result."
There will be plenty of interest surrounding Jack Daniel's Racing's 2013 endurance season, with Nissan returning to Mount Panorama to compete in the Bathurst 1000 for the first time since its controversial victory in 1992.
"I'm really looking forward to teaming up with Rick for all three endurance races this season, obviously I was with the team last year, so I'm comfortable with how everything works," Reindler said.
"Having the opportunity to be part of the Nissan factory team when it returns to Bathurst for the first time since 1992 is a huge deal, and I think Rick and I have got a great chance of getting a really strong result.
"I get on really well with Rick and we are a similar build, which makes seating position and things like that a lot more simple, I just can't wait to get in the car."
Russell and Reindler will have the opportunity to drive the Jack Daniel's Nissan Altima during the designated co-driver practices sessions later in the year.
The first endurance race of the season is the Sandown 500, from September 13-15. The team then has almost a month before the all-important Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 from October 10-13, while the Armor All Gold Coast 600 will run from October 25-27.


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Law firm Ramsdens Solicitors has announced the appointment of David Bradley to the new position of non-executive chairman.
Mr Bradley, pictured with managing partner Paul Joyce, was previously UK managing partner and global head of the employment practice at DLA Piper, where he spent almost 30 years. He remains a consultant to that firm.
In addition to his legal work and practice, he is also a non-executive member of the board of Sheffield Hallam University.
Mr Joyce said: "We are delighted to welcome David to the firm. His experience and expertise will be vital in supporting us on the next stage of our growth.
"I am proud of what Ramsdens has accomplished over the past 10 years and David's extensive business experience and his advice and guidance will be invaluable as Ramsdens continue to go from strength to strength."
Mr Bradley said: "Ramsdens is an excellent, progressive law firm with traditional values and I am looking forward to working with the partners during the next stage of its development."
His role as non-executive chairman will focus on the development of an agreed strategy and working with the partners and leadership team to help implement that strategy.
Ramsdens is based at Edgerton and has offices across Kirklees and Calderdale.


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Coconut With Braids
Regular price $13.99
So many textures will drive your parrot crazy in love with this parrot toy! Perfect for medium birds such as African Greys, Caiques, and similar sized birds. All earth friendly materials satisfied your bird's instincts for chewing, preening and foraging. A coconut shell holds three cotton strings with different materials for you bird's entertainment (wood, cardboard, vine balls, and more!) and if that's not enough three woven straw strings will alleviate your parrot's boredom, if there is anything left!


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Every time 007's Watch saved his Life
This post on 007 Watches May contain spoilers
James Bond is without doubt the world's most famous "not so secret" agent, everyone knows his name. The man of legend was first conjured up in 1952 in the Book Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, a well-known author who was himself a naval intelligence officer. To date there have been a whopping 25 movies (not counting spin-offs) and over the course of these movies, bond has killed well over 300 people. He has done so using everything, from guns, helicopters, electricity. Q branch has also made sure that the man is more endowed than inspector gadget in the gadget department, he has owned everything from remote controlled cars, jet packs, laser cameras and explosive tooth paste.
This blog post however is all about James Bond's watches. Ever since the 1962 release of Dr.No the Rolex Submariner was always the iconic James Bond watch, Ian Fleming himself stated that a James Bond watch had to be a Rolex, unfortunately though for the first five movies at least, they didn't do much apart from tell time.It wasn't until 1965 and the release of Thunderball that James Bond got his first Gadget watch in the form of Breitling which also doubles up as a Geiger counter. Although this didn't save his life in a dramatic fight sequence, it helped James Bond find atomic warheads that wouldn't have done his health any good if they had gone off.
When in 1973 Roger Moore starred as James Bond in Live and Let die, the watch gadgets finally started to get a little more sophisticated and boy was it good timing for Mr Moore! During a fight with the villain Kananga, Bond ends up tied to a crane which dangles and slowly lowers them into a shark tank. Bond uses the watches, magnetic power to remove a gas pellet from his shark gun and cuts through the ropes allowing him to have a hand to fight with Kananga, resulting in one of the strangest movie deaths of all time.
In the 1979 Moonraker Bonds Seiko contains detonator cord, which bond uses to blow through a wall, save the girl and escape the heat of a rocket launch. Of course he finishes the scene off with a quote "Bang on Time". Bond is captured and left to die beneath the rocket engine bays as it prepares to launch, this is when he makes his daring escape, just as the flames lick at his heels.
The era of the Pierce Brosnan as Bond, is without doubt the most gadget ridden, especially in the watch department. Every single Omega that Brosnan wears, comes with either a grappling hook, a remote detonator or a laser, every single one used in a daring escape. The grappling hook watch is used to escape from large pits where he and his girl have been left to die, the laser watch is used to cut through floors or ice and the detonator watch with no explosives is sneakily used to crack a glass jar containing a grenade without a pin holding it closed and causing it to explode. Brosnan is without doubt the king of watch gadgets.
Lastly we come to Daniel Craig. The most recent Bond, featured in 4 movies, the most recent of which Spectre, was the only one to feature a watch gadget. Was this used in a daring escape? Of course, this time the watch itself is an explosive, the timer is started by twisting the bezel. In true Bond fashion he is tied up being tortured in front of one of his many girls, he cuts himself loose and throws the explosive at the feet of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, literally saving himself from the jaws of death.


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Memory Drawing: Perceptual Training and Recall
- Publisher: Velatura Press, LLC
- Publication date: 2013-03-09
- Language: English
- Pages: 138
From the Introduction:If you think about it, all life drawing and painting is at some point being done from the artist's memory, even if that memory is only a few seconds old. Every time the artist takes their eyes off of the model or scene and looks at their paper or canvas, their visual memory is involved. What if that artist's visual memory was highly trained? That artist might need the model for a shorter period of time, or she might have a more productive time when the model is in pose. He might be better at painting all of the fleeting effects that nature throws at us when we are landscape painting en plein air.Although I encourage you to consistently engage in memory-drawing practice, it should not supplant your regular art exercises. Memory-drawing ought to be done in addition to your regular art training, not instead of it. In a perfect world it would be integrated into traditional arts instruction, but the reality is that you will most likely be training your visual memory on your own.Memory Drawing: Perceptual Training and Recall exists to guide you in doing just that. It will also help you improve your abilities to remember fleeting effects, seize essentials, and even enhance your imagination.
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|Place of Origin
|1MM TO 3MM, 8 to 16 MESH
|A" Grade, "Commercial" Grade, "B" Grade.
|25Kg Net weight in natural white poly bag inside Corrugated Box. (Customize)
|14 Metric Ton (10 % + / -)
|25 Metric Ton (10 % + / -)
Additional Information
|Pipavav Port, Mundra Port
Our entire range is value for money, as it is quality guaranteed, sold after a string of quality control tests, and is relied on by many. Due to our streamlined packaging system, we are capable of meeting both standard and customized packing needs of the clients. Moreover, we make use of quality packaging material.
Microbiological :
Application & Uses of Dehydrated Garlic Minced : Dehydrated Garlic Flakes is widely used in Just a few teaspoons of minced garlic granules goes a long way to make soups, sauces, dressings, and meat rubs more flavorful... These dried garlic minced can also be reconstituted or softened in hot water and used in place of chopped garlic in your cooking. Pizza making, adding as ingredients in various spicy products, masala making, pickles, making of vinegars. Demanded for adding flavor in dry soups mixes, sauces, vegetable mixes, stuffing mixes and fast foods, the offered garlic flakes are vastly sought after.


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Need Help?
Need Help?
Be creative with these Holiday Ribbon choices. Customize a ribbon roll to match the theme of your next celebration party. Or design your own present tags, awards or party favors out of badge ribbons.
Choose from full color ribbons, badge ribbons and ribbon rolls to make your wedding absolutely perfect. Personalize any of these ribbons with your wedding date or other important information.
Meetings and conferences are held at many companies for employees and others vested in their company. Utilize these personalized ribbons to promote an idea or to acknowledge someone important during any event.
From ribbon rolls to badge ribbons and everything in between, use ribbons to advertise a store sale or add promotional material to any event. Custom ribbons and stock ribbons are available to meet every promotional need.
Ribbons have long been a tradition at conventions to promote, advertise and maximize brand recognition. Add a logo or slogan to a ribbon roll or choose from custom or stock badge ribbons to promote your brand.
Use this variety of award ribbons at any summer or music festival. They are also great for any type of state or county fair. Common use includes dog and horse shows, and horticulture fairs. Each high-end award ribbon can be custom made and ordered.
Stock ribbons are highly useful to recognize achievement in a classroom, for academic competitions, at sporting meets, or for any scholastic event. Every award ribbon comes in a budget friendly selection for all academic and scholastic needs.


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Engineering | Posted 8.28.18
The asphalt industry has a new resource for information from the West Coast and Pacific region: The PacCoast Smooth Ride Sentinel blog. The blog is managed by the Asphalt Pavement Alliance (APA) Pacific Coast Regional Council and draws information from state asphalt pavement associations and asphalt mix producers in the region. More


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Size XS is 42cm, best suited to 3-6 months of age.
The legionnaire hat is built for comfort-so much that kids forget they are wearing it! This makes it the best style for hat-haters and babies to wear while in prams and baby carriers. Made with super-stretchy and lightweight cotton jersey for a perfect fit keeping your little ones head cool under the hot Australian conditions & rated UPF50+ excellent protection!


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Brad Torgersen Explains the Impractical Lightsaber (that looks practical)
Awhile back the conclusion was made by Shamus Young that in real life lightsabers would not be weapons but power tools. I agree. Now leaving aside that the full utility of a laser sword that completely lacks a stun setting and whose default effect upon the human body is insta-amputation and possibly cauterization is only realized when one has mystical powers, laser swords are just more useful when wielded as a tool, not a weapon. One can, without careful control, hurt oneself far more likely and completely than he would someone he i
ntends to harm.
Now lightsabers thus far in on-screen canon lack hilts or cross-guards, more or less similar to various samurai swords, like katana. I do not recall any lightsabers with guards for the users' hands in the anything from the Marvel Comics, the Expanded Universe, or any of the apocrypha. This may or may be not be much of an issue because when lightsabers' blades lock they apparently do not slide. I may be wrong about that point.
Recently, and by recently I mean last year the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Star Wars film was released. One of the most contentious and hotly debated features was the lightsaber with the red lightsaber blade hilts. This almost looks practical in that the laser blades could potentially block an attack and protect the hands. This looks like it could happen. It could not happen. Someone could still attack the mechanism itself and slice through, as noted science fiction author Brad Torgersen explains:
those perpendicular shafts would be like huge self-stabby hazards for the wielder. Plus, the second an opponent's saber beam slides down the crossguard beam, the opponent's beam hits the mechanism proper, thus slicing *through* the mechanism (and the wielder's hand) thereby rendering the crossguard pointless.
Remember when I said that the lightsaber is a greater danger to the user than the attacker? This LightBroadsword idea just would not work.
Let us see the upcoming film disprove this point.


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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
|Smart electrostatic crop spraying using remote sensing technology
|Al-Mamury, Murtadha
|Balachandran, W
Al-Raweshidy, H
|Mobile robot;Comsol software simulations;Solidworks, image J and 3D printing softwares;Artificial insects and cotton plants;Image processing
|Issue Date:
|Brunel University London
|For this thesis, smart spraying robot was designed, constructed and tested to validate the concept of smart pest control. Electrostatic charging of sprayed pesticide was realized in a spray nozzle design that improved plant coverage and reduced wasted pesticide as well as soil pollution. A thorough investigation into electrostatic spraying was conducted, which was accompanied by extensive simulations and experimentation. The results obtained from the simulation experimentation on industry standard electrostatic spray system (ESS) nozzles along with laboratory testing of these nozzles, detecting spray coverage using water sensitive paper and additional optical spray visualization methods gave the necessary insight and experience required to develop a new spray nozzle. Additional COMSOL simulation and experimentation were carried out on a Fan Hydraulic Spray Nozzle (FHSN), the results of which allowed for the effective addition of electrostatic induction capabilities, thereby transforming the (FHSN) into Electrostatic Induction Spray Nozzle (EISN) which is one of the prime parts of the smart spraying system. SOLIDWORKS software was used in the designing parts of this nozzle which were then manufactured using a 3D printer. An AL05D robotic manipulator and a TTRK tracked platform from Lynxmotion ™ were the mini mobile robot components selected for the feasibility study of the smart electrostatic crop spraying system. This mobile robot was equipped with a CCD digital camera, a range detector, and path mark detector to provide the necessary sensors required by the smart electrostatic spray system. A Windows™ based mobile computer in addition to an ARDUINO™ based orksmicrocontroller system were chosen to provide the computational power required by the system. These were arranged in a master – slave configuration, with the main processing for images and motion being conducted inside the master computer using programs created by Matlab smart ™ software. The execution of motion commands and the operation of the range and path mark detection along with operating the spray nozzle were performed on the slave computer using C as the programming language. The manufactured smart electrostatic spray system moves along cotton crop rows with a camera that scans the selected plant for pest infestation on the upper and lower surfaces of plant leaves. When a pest is detected, the spray nozzle is targeted on it at the appropriate distance, and a burst of pesticide destroys it. The results of experiments have shown that using the electrostatic induction system improves coverage 3 to 4 fold and reduces soil contamination by 2 to 4 fold. The system has plenty of room for performance improvement, and future development will make it adaptable for application to other crops and applications.
|This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University London
|Appears in Collections:
|Electronic and Computer Engineering
Dept of Electronic and Computer Engineering Theses
Files in This Item:
|Adobe PDF
Items in BURA are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.


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Dark Country is an upcoming multichain American gothic Collectible Card Game (CCG) with support for WAX, EOS, Ethereum, and TRON. Create, own and manage in-game items cards that are yours to keep forever. Dark Country is expected to launch a closed Early Access in April and a public beta in Q2, 2020.
Before we continue with the Dark Country Presentation, we have a special code for you with a 20% discount. Go to my items -> Enter Gift Code -> type DF-6861-0DA8-06. You will also receive a free common cards pack.
Players have the true item ownership of all cards in their deck and can use them with no restrictions. You can use them in any mode in order to proceed with the game, sell or trade them with other players or even destroy them.
Dark Country Game Modes
The development team aims to create a game that goes far beyond the CCG/TCG standards, with community input and mods, it's a game that might be worth your attention.
Auto Battler
This mode is similar to Battlegrounds mode in Hearthstone where you can build your army before each round form cards in your deck. In every round, you will have a verity of options to improve your hand.
The Auto Battler is also called Auto Chess and it was originally introduced by a Dota 2 player.
Living board CCG
In this mode, you might find your self in the processes to defend your land or even better, conquer other's land. This mode will open the full potential of your in-game items by combining both strategy and tactic elements.
In the Living Board mode, you will be challenged to build a deck based on the battlefield and by defending the mana sources, you will get a significant advantage over the enemy player.
eSports Tournaments
Who doesn't like tournaments? Dark Country will create an Esports pool with 10% from all earnings from the presale going directly in it. The presale will last until the end of 2020 and there will be three different tournament types.
Weekly tournaments: Claim unique items and sometimes, rewards from the eSports pool.
Regular tournaments: These types of tournaments will take place on a regular basis and the prizes will depend on the community output.
Annual tournament: The annual tournament will be held once a year. This is expected to be the most anticipated event by Dark Country will a lot of prizes for the participants and of course, the grand prize for the winner.
Items Interoperability
Like we said at the beginning of this article, Dark Country is a cross-chain game, meaning that you will be able to play using various blockchains. But, what about the items? In which blockchain will they exist?
The answer is simple, if you have for example an Ethereum item (ERC721), you will be able to migrate it to another blockchain and token standard protocol through the game. That way, you can switch blockchain for your assets and sell in them in the appropriate marketplaces, or have all the NFTs under a single wallet.
Co-creation platform
Dark Country team asked their selfs a question: "What if gather all the community ideas of its own content, mode or even game in one platform?"
And the truth be told, Moba games, as well as other genres inspired by the community, Dark Country seems to understand this and the team is going to provide all the necessary tools to players in order to create their own modes, with their own rules and settings.
Early adopters can claim cards from the Exodus Card Series with 100 exclusive cards that will be available until 02/14/2020. After that Dark Country will not ever sell again this type of cards and the only way to acquire them is from other players. Please note that you won't be able to open packs before April, 2020.
|Starter bundle
|10 Rare Packs
1 Legendary Pack
Life-Giving Booster
Random Bonus*
|Mega bundle
|10 Rare Packs
3 Epic Packs
2 Legendary Packs
Reviving Booster
Early Access Invite
Random Bonus*
|Rare Card Pack
|5 Cards With 1 Rare Card Guaranteed
|Epic Card Pack
|5 Cards With 1 Epic Card Guaranteed
|Legendary Card Pack
|5 Cards With 1 Legendary Card Guaranteed
|Mythic Card Pack
|5 Cards With 1 Mythic Card Guaranteed
Each pack is guaranteed to have one card, equal to a pack rarity. Other 4 cards are randomly distributing with next probabilities: Common 65%, Rare 30%, Epic 4%, Legendary 1%
Immortal Games
Dark Country is under development by Immortal Games, a team of eight members and Oleh Mykhaylovych as the CEO. Oleh has worked in the past for Prospectors game and he's currently the CEO of both Immortal Games and Dapplica, a company that specializes in dapp development. Dapplica has contributed to both Prospects and Wax Blockchain development. The full team can be found in the Dark Country website.
Find Out More About The Dark Country Game Lore
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Home Security Alarm System Features
All kinds of home security systems have their own designs and features and many of them also have similar ones like access monitors, a control panels, some sirens, a keypad for people to have control on, and also sometimes a control station. All of these basic features are necessary in order for homes to be protected from different thieves and so on, and there are also a few homeowners who would opt to actually buy those systems with some advanced features for added protection since they might have their own really expensive belongings at home. Some security alarm systems that most homeowners would use for some other purposes that could fit their situation would be those that have in them some smoke detectors, a panic button in case they need it, some glass break detectors, and motion detectors as well.
Usually, people would associate a home security alarm system with that of a burglar alarm system. It may be actually true that the whole responsibility of these home security alarm system lies on the fact that your home should never be crashed by burglars and thieves, we all do not know how much other things these systems can actually do for us. The system is basically made and is of existence because of the fact that your home needs superb protection against bad factors of the environment surrounding it. The systems have been invented and made for those home to utilize in order for them to also have some protection or something that could warn them when a fire is about to conquer a house. This is the very reason as to why some homeowners want to have their home security alarm systems be coupled with a smoke detector in order for their families to prevent themselves from suffering because of fire. The house will be avoided from burning since the smoke detector will tell you if something is wrong with regards to the heat, the temperature, or the atmosphere of the house.
Homeowners also like to have their own glass break detector to be working with their home security alarm system at home for some very obvious reasons. The glass break detector has this ability to immediately see if a glass window breaks, and will signal everyone in the house of such happening through activating the security alarm system. These kinds of features are really helpful for families to have their home guarded since these features have the capacity to also tell if someone or some stranger has suddenly opened the glass window without anyone knowing. This will effectively guard your home against burglars who like to open windows and break glass doors.


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I support this Guidance Document
I support this Guidance Document
Religious based homophobia cannot replace sound science. As a Virginia Assistant State Director for American Atheists AND as parent of a gay transgender son, I oppose all legislation designed to destroy the pershonhood and individuality of anyone, young people included. It is hard enough for these children because they are bullied, harrased, or even worse. We need to support our children not teach them that who they are is wrong. That will cause trauma, which in turn will cause further damage and could even trigger mental illness. It is time that we ban the barbaric practice of conversion therapy which has shown to be detrimental and harmful to our youth.
There is no credible evidence that any type of psychotherapy can change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, conversion therapy poses critical health risks to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer young people, including depression, shame, decreased self-esteem, social withdrawal, substance abuse, risky behavior, and even suicide.
Nearly all the nation's leading mental health associations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy have examined conversion therapy and issued cautionary position statements on these practices.
We must stop with this religious based homophobia and let kids be kids, raised with love and support for who they are, and let's show them that they matter, and not try to convince them that they are something they are not and bad or sinful if they just want to be themselves. That is TRAUMA and hurtful.
e over this text and enter your comments here. You are limited to approximately 3000 words.


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Jeremy Renner: A brief history
A quick look at the career of one of Hollywood's biggest stars
A notable career
1971 – Renner is born in Modesto, California, to mother Valerie Cearley and father Lee Renner, who managed a bowling alley. He is the oldest of seven siblings.
1995 – Makes his inauspicious big screen debut gave little indication of the heights he would later rise to. National Lampoon's Senior Trip was critically panned and bombed at the box office. Renner's role as slacker student Mark 'Dags' D'Agastino did at least lead to a few TV roles over the next few years though.
2002 – Makes his first major critical success, playing the titular serial killer in David Jacobson's Dahmer. Renner admitted after filming that he had found playing Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed and dismembered at least 17 people during a 13-year reign of terror in Milwaukee, emotionally draining, but he at least picked up an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.
2005 – Confirms himself as a festival favourite with his role as a mentally ill neo-nazi skinhead in Van Fischer's unlikely romance Neo Ned. Renner landed Best Actor at the Palm Beach Festival for this one.
2009 – Takes his career to an award-winning level in The Hurt Locker. Renner is nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars and picks up a Screen Actor's Guild nomination alongside another 42 nominations.
2010 – The Hollywood Reporter names Renner one of the new actors who are pushing to be Hollywood's "new A-list". The next few years would see him land major roles in super hero blockbusters (Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2011) and big budget action flicks (Bourne replacement Aaron Cross in 2012's Bourne Legacy and Tom Cruise's new sidekick in the Mission: Impossible franchise from 2011), while still remaining true to his festival roots with roles in films like David O Russell's multi-award winning 2013 drama American Hustle.
Updated: August 7, 2017 05:46 PM


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Business information, opening hours, how to reach and other information. You can read or write a review about the Rolston House in Haslemere SURREY.
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Thu: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Fri: 11:00am - 6:00pm
Sat: ClosedHours shown on the website may be different from the present. Details of the operation time, please call 1 428 652 851. If you know the exact time you can specify it by editing this page.


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Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) on Friday expressed deep anger following reports that Kenya Navy officials allegedly spotted four fishermen who got lost at sea but refused to rescue them.
This comes following a story aired on Citizen TV Thursday night where Malik Mbwana, the captain of the boat that drifted to the deep sea on December 9, revealed that – after a week – they saw a team of navy soldiers patrolling the sea and asked for help, even water to drink, but they (navy) refused to help them.
They hence stayed at sea a while longer, surviving on salty water and dry raw fish, until 17 days later when they found themselves near Ngomeni village.
They were rescued and rushed to Malindi sub-county hospital where they were later discharged after medical checkup and re-united with their families.
The story has since evoked angry reactions from Kenyans online, with Kenya Navy trending top in the country on Twitter for the better part of Friday.
Lucky To Be Alive: Four fishermen missing for 17 days found alive at sea. Their boat ran out of fuel and drifted, in Ziwayu, Kilifi
They fed on 58Kgs of lobster and fish they had caught
They were rescued, treated at Malindi sub-county hospital#Tonight@lillian_muli pic.twitter.com/ZXFUSscrVX
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) December 26, 2019
Kenya Navy is a disgrace to patriotism. These guys Just abandoned Four fishermen in deep sea even after the fishermen begging them to save them or even give them just a drop of water. This is what you get for selecting individuals based on dental nomenclature instead of IQ & EQ.
— BRAVIN™ (@BravinYuri) December 27, 2019
So why do we have navy in the first place if they can't perform such a crucial rescue? These men would've died then? Shame on you Kenya Navy pic.twitter.com/cbd1ZpNYp2
— Bel Akinyi (@BelAkinyii) December 27, 2019
Dear Kenya Navy,
The same fishermen you left stranded,go through hard times and struggles to pay taxes so that you can get allowances and salaries.
You have proved that all of you are a bunch of clowns.
As Kenyans,we are watching.
Maybe waiting a signal from ancestors.
— Yuvinalis KE?? (@KidWakanda) December 27, 2019
Kenya Navy found those fishermen that survived for 17 days stranded in the deep sea on their 9th day dying of thirst and hunger drinking sea water but they left them to die, no amount of begging persuaded the Navy crew to rescue or even give them food & water. We are doomed!!
— Frank Mtetezi ??? (@FrankMtetezi) December 27, 2019
2019 is the year Kenya Navy proved their role is to only entertain the president. Not even sure this bunch of clowns can ward off enemy attack ? ? ?
— Gladiator in jeans ?? (@eduzmi) December 27, 2019
Kenya Navy neglected their fellow Kenyans in distress not for an hour or two. For a freaking 17 days in the middle of nowhere ????. Enyewe sisi kama Kenya ni Mungu anatulinda. Yaaaani!!!!!!! Taxes. . ……
— Martin's AKETCH ???? (@Aketch_Aketch) December 27, 2019
The Government of Kenya spokesperson is Col (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna, who also happens to be a former KDF spokesperson. He's always quick to appear on tv to clarify a few things whenever there's an opportunity to wax lyrical. For him to keep quiet on this Kenya Navy fiasco tells a lot.
— Gabriel Oguda (@gabrieloguda) December 27, 2019
We should cut the budget of Kenya Navy by half. Also, they must be prevented from wearing those white uniforms. Let them wear same uniforms as Kenya Police or NYS. Our Navy has proven to be more useless than soup made from shadow of a starved bedbug. Bure Kabisa!
— Bishop of Hope (@NdegeSerikal) December 27, 2019
Don't give us that Kosokoso of Kenya Navy following orders. Do you need orders to give someone a bottle of water? You people should stop defending those incompetent Kenya Navy folks. They had a chance to redeem themselves after the Likoni drama but now I see why they failed.?
— BRAVIN™ (@BravinYuri) December 27, 2019
Kenya Navy score card 2019:
1. Killing unarmed boda boda
2. Failure to rescue a lady and her daughter and there after failure to retrieve the body for almost 10 days
3.Refusing to rescue fishermen because they didn't have orders to do so
Bravo!!!! Amazing ??????
— Martin's AKETCH ???? (@Aketch_Aketch) December 27, 2019
After thorough consideration I've decided I will not castigate Kenya Navy until I hear their side of the story. What if the don't know how to swim? You know qualifications for Kenya navy are; kujuana, kitu kidogo, mbio, dental arrangement, kujuana tena, pesa ingine zaidi.
— THE INCREDIBLY TERRIBLE! (@allen_arnold) December 27, 2019
Kenya Navy hawana utu. How do you abandon fellow citizens in the deep seas even after begging for water to quench their thirst! I'm glad that the four fishermen survived the harsh condition they underwent. Ni Mungu tu. I wonder what criteria is used to recruit these empty heads!
— Suzanna OWIYO – OGW (@SuzannaOwiyo) December 27, 2019
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On 6 October 2016, the ExoMars mission control team at ESA's centre in Darmstadt, Germany, conducted their final simulation training to prepare for this month's arrival at the Red Planet.
Under the watchful eye of Flight Operations Director Michel Denis, the team was taken through a series of realistic simulations that rehearsed what happens when ExoMars/TGO and the Schiaparelli landing demonstration module arrive at Mars on 19 October.
The team is actually a 'team of teams' – a number of spacecraft operations engineers working under the spacecraft operations manager, supported by diverse specialists from areas including flight dynamics, ground station operations, software and network support, and simulations and training as well as the ExoMars team from ESA's technical centre in the Netherlands.
Teams from the builder of the Mars orbiter, Thales Alenia Space – France, and the builder of the Schiaparelli lander, Thales Alenia Space – Italy, also took part in the 'sim'.


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Fact checked by Robert Carlson, MD
ProscaVax vaccine incorporates scientifically proven and clinically validated treatments for cancer.
Patented technology developed and or acquired by OncBioMune is used in the production of this prostate cancer treatment.
The intellectual property consists of multiple technologies combined with laboratory and clinical procedures that provide new insight into the treatment of cancer.
ProscaVax is a therapeutic cancer vaccine candidate for prostate cancer patients.
The vaccine incorporates scientifically proven and clinically validated treatments for cancer.
ProscaVax is administered by intradermal injections.
Clinical Trial NCT02058680: Phase 1A/1B Study of PSA/IL-2/GM-CSF Vaccine for Recurrent Prostate Cancer in Hormone Naive and Hormone-Independent Patients (PSA)
This study is investigating the safety and efficacy of a vaccine directed against prostate tumor cells. The researchers are interested in evaluating the safety and tolerability of the vaccine, and the effects of the vaccine on survivability, time to measurable disease, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level in the blood, and the immune response to the vaccine.
Eligible patients include those with recurrent prostate cancer as shown by elevated levels of PSA, although there is no evidence of tumors that are measurable by imaging studies. In addition, to be eligible patients must have prostate cancer that either has not been treated by hormonal therapy or is not responsive to hormonal therapy.
Data from a phase 1/2 clinical trial of the therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine:


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Despite being near the least popular actor to play James Bond (the least honor goes to George Lazenby), Timothy Dalton turns in a very good role in "The Living Daylights." And, this 1987 edition of British Agent 007 (James Bond), has a number of pluses going for it. First, it has almost nonstop action and almost no carousing. Second, it has the most advanced special gimmicks for Bond's disposal, which adds to the excitement. And third, it has a complex plot with mystery, intrigue and many twists. All of that makes for a very entertaining film. And, Dalton as Bond has a wry cynicism combined with a smile that says he sees through his adversary of the moment. All of the cast are quite good in this Bond thriller, with the possible exception of Jeroen Krabbe. He plays General Georgi Koskov over the top, with such flamboyance at times that even the most naïve viewer would have trouble believing he could be in the Soviet KGB. This film had a nice touch of the Afghan revolt and the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989). It has a smashing chase scene with Bond and Kara Milovy (played by Maryann d'Arbo) in the special weapons car evading and disrupting what looks like half the Russian army. And it has a fantastic fight scene in the air between Bond and Necros (played by Andreas Wisniewski) holding on to just netting around a pile of opium bags suspended below the open ramp of the transport plane. Lots of action and intrigue, and even more globetrotting than usual make this a very entertaining and enjoyable film. It's definitely one of the best plots of the entire Bond series.
The Living Daylights
Action / Adventure / Thriller
The Living Daylights
Action / Adventure / Thriller
James Bond is living on the edge to stop an evil arms dealer from starting another world war. Bond crosses all seven continents in order to stop the evil Whitaker and General Koskov.
Downloaded 58,472 times
August 9, 2019
Tech specs720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
Movie Reviews
One of the best action and intrigue plots of the Bond series
Bond Fifteen
Movie Review: "007: The Living Daylights" (1987) Producers Albert R. Broccoli (1909-1996) and Michael G. Wilson bring in actor Timothy Dalton to succeed Roger Moore (1927-2017) in the legendary role of James Bond aka "007". Director John Glen stays true to even more realistic elegant visual image system as "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), which brings the "007" back to beauty and excellency embedded in highly risky stunt work from parachute base jumping, a car chase with all-famous Aston Martin model V8 vantage (manufactured between 1977-1989) sliding over frozen lakes, further features as an overly-done metal-splicing laser, missile rockets and an afterburner engine before enterting a highly weaponized showdown including an interior gunship fight to the death, keeping "The Living Daylights" as one of the most suspenseful picture in the "007" movie series. Most beautiful as stylish customes by reprising designer Emma Porteous as down-to-earth production design by Peter Lamont in his fourth assignment for a James Bond movie, establishing splendid charms with leading actor Timothy Dalton's bold to cool interpretation of "007" being the initial MI6 high-class spying assassin with the "Licence To Kill", sharing reminiscence to Sean Connery in "From Russia With Love" (1963). Actress Maryam d'Abo, at age 26, portraying the versatile character of Kara Milvoy, presents herself with a range from cello-playing to sniper-rifle-pointing along with entering the action with James Bond in a fulfilling desert storm finale furioso, where "007" hunts down an arm trader duo, leading from actor John Rhys-Davies as suit-wearing East-Block cold-war-benefiting entrepreneur Pushkin to Joe Don Baker as war-item-collecting, gun-slinging character of Whitaker toward a convincing interior shot-out with Bond. © 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)
Dalton proves his worth as the franchise was thankfully taken in a refreshingly different direction
Dispensing with much of the camp formula that Roger Moore brought to the film series, The Living Daylights took the franchise in a different direction with it's more serious, gritty approach. It was definitely a bit over due seeing as the old formula had begun to grow stale. Timothy Dalton is after all a far cry from Moore's more cheeky and saucy Bond, and thankfully so. Gone is the nudge nudge wink humour that wouldn't have been out of place in a Carry On movie, although there are still the odd moments of humour, but certainly not as frequent. This is a more unassuming, intense Bond than Moore although Dalton still manages to bring much of the self assured confidence we've come to expect from Ian Fleming's iconic creation, and for my money is the most underrated in the role. While the tone is different many of the same ingredients still remain. The punchy theme tune, eye catching foreign locations which range from Gibraltar to Afghanistan, and his array of high tech gadgets, with of course some wonderful, showstopping action sequences. This is of course not forgetting the requisite Bond girl with Myriam D'abo at the time being the latest actress to carry on the tradition. A refreshingly unconventional choice, she is never the less an inspired one as Czech Cellist Kara Milavoy. She's charming and instantly likeable in the role, bringing a sweet naivety to the part and the chemistry between her and Dalton is immediately felt. What is also rewarding is how writers Richard Maibaum (who worked on 17 Bond movie scripts) and Michael G. Wilson actually give this outing a plot of substance, steering away from the power mad megalomaniac trying to take over the world routine. Here we have a story more rooted in reality with 007 assigned to assist in the defection of a high ranking Russian General named Koskov. When he is recaptured Bond sets out to learn why a friend of the general's was previously sent to assassinate him, and in doing so uncovers an elaborate plot involving American arms dealer Brad Whittaker. For the most part the plot is absorbing and I felt drawn in to the complex nature of it, although unfortunately it does eventually becomes overly complicated and convoluted. Some of the acting from the smaller bit part actors is pretty poor at times, and It also doesn't help that Jeroen Krabbé and Joe Don Baker while not awful, aren't menacing enough as the movies villains. Brad Whittaker is portrayed as too much of a buffoon to be convincingly dangerous and Koskov is just a smarmy, obnoxious fool. Andreas Wisniewski however does make a memorably imposing, formidable presence as the relentless assassin; Necros and is arguably one of the best Henchman in Bond history. There is more reliable support from regulars Robert Brown and Desmond Llewellyn, with Caroline Bliss making a decent if unremarkable Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell was always going to be a tough act to follow), as well as solid turns from Art Mallick and John Rhys Davies. What is unusual about this outing is that we don't see the usual bed-hopping from Bond as we did in any of the previous movies. His affections remain solely with Kara throughout the movie, and even then they are never seen to sleep together. There seems to be more of a genuine love story here and an underlining melancholy in so much as we the audience know, that it's obviously not going to last as by the next movie the relationship will have ended and Bond will have moved on. Although not one of the best of the movies, The Living Daylights is still enjoyable and certainly better than the so so; A View to a Kill, which indicated that something had to be done to inject something new in to the old formula, and for the most part this film did precisely that.


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Nvidia reports huge first quarter revenue growth
Nvidia has published the financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year for 2019. Overall revenue for the quarter was US$3.21 billion, up from US$2.91 billion in the previous quarter. However, the standout statistic is the 66% year-over-year growth that the company has experienced. Data-center requirements have helped boost the total, as Nvidia's president and CEO, Jensen Huang, pointed out:
Our datacenter business achieved another record and gaming remained strong. At the heart of our opportunity is the incredible growth of computing demand of AI, just as traditional computing has slowed. The GPU computing approach we have pioneered is ideal for filling this vacuum.
The report offers some other interesting statistics. Gaming revenue totaled US$1.72 billion, while the data-center revenue was US$701 million. Nvidia expects the good results to continue, predicting revenue of US$3.10 billion (plus or minus 2%) for the next quarter. There is no mention of the now dead in the water GPP, and with graphics cards finally heading toward suggested retail prices it's likely gaming revenue for the second quarter will remain strong.
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Friday, November 16, 2018 - 11:10
Mr. Kamal Gopinath, Freelance Journalist and PR & Brand Communication Consultant in a private company, addressed the undergraduate students of B .Sc. Visual Media and Int. M. Sc. Visual Communication of School of Arts and Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Mysuru campus, on the trends in Online Journalism, on November 15, 2018. The power of internet to post messages online instantly and the need for journalists to develop a nose for news were highlighted in his talk.


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Our Mission
Kids In The Middle empowers children, parents and families during and after divorce through counseling, education and support.
Our Promise
KIds In The Middle promises healthier futures for children of divorced families.
Our History
The Agency opened its doors in 1977, providing Group Counseling for Children whose families are experiencing trauma due to parental separation, divorce, and remarriage. Since that time, our services have expanded to serving the whole family, including parents. Kids In The Middle has an unparalleled base of knowledge and relevant experience offering the most comprehensive, expert counseling in this specific mental health field.
We have a passion for children. We know that children of parental separation and divorce adjust much better when they are able to share their feelings with other children. We also know that children cope more effectively when their parents are involved. By working with parents, we help them settle themselves emotionally and learn how to help their children. Most importantly, we help parents reduce conflict, communicate and co-parent to provide their kids with safe, loving homes. Parents need not have been married to utilize our services.
Families come to us not only during the divorce process. They also find our services helpful even after many years have passed. Kids In The Middle provides a safe, confidential and objective place for children and parents to work through family transition issues. For more information about our counseling services, call (314) 909-9922 to speak to one of our Clinical Coordinators.
Our Story
Check us out on YouTube.


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Today was Thanksgiving Day back home. After our breakfast buffet, our bus took us to to Sicily's west coast, where we stopped to explore the ancient Greek site of Segesta, the location of a magnificent Doric temple and a hilltop theater. We enjoyed a light breeze as we hiked.
This was followed by a visit to the home of Maria Grammatica, Sicily's most famous pastry chef. Because Maria's mother could not care for her when her husband passed on in the early 1950's, Maria was sent to live at an orphanage that was run by nuns. The sisters supported themselves by baking, and that is how Maria learned their baking secrets.
At Maria's home, the buffet table before us was unbelievable. It contained platters filled with fresh ricotta, eggplant alla parmigiana, eggplant caponata, caprese salad, roasted potatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, a vegetable couscous, arancini stuffed with either prosciutto and cheese or with meat and veggies, olives both green and cured, stuffed peppers, sun dried tomatoes, bruschetta, cauliflower fritters, a vegetable frittata, and a platter of cheeses and cold cuts. This was quite a Thanksgiving meal! My ancestors would never have left Sicily if such a bountiful feast had been available to them!
After the feast, I picked up a copy of Maria's biography/cookbook. I came to a recipe called Biscotti al Fico, fig biscuits. It begins, "Fig-filed biscuits like these are made all over Sicily at Christmas-time, but they are known by different names, such as cudderedde, nucatoli, and bucellatini." Nucatoli! My name! My cookie! There it was! With great excitement, I showed the page to Nick. I ran to Maria and explained (in Italian; she speaks no English) that my name was Nucatola, like the nucatoli cookies. I ran to the others in our group to share my excitement. My wish had been fulfilled!
Next came a baking lesson. I was the first volunteer. Maria made her own almond paste in an enormous machine. We made two kinds of cookies. The first was made of almond paste rolled in sugar, called "Nuns' Tits." The recipe is not in Maria's book. The second, very similar, is called "Belli e Brutti"meaning Beautiful and Ugly. I do have that recipe. After that, we made cannoli with fresh ricotta, decorated with homemade candied orange peel. Although we had just consumed an enormous meal, we had to taste both cookies and the cannoli. They were heavenly!
Soon it was time to leave Maria's house for the bus ride to the town of Erice. We noticed that the light breeze was now a fairly strong wind. Upon departing the bus, the wind was even stronger, at least 40 mph with higher gusts. Still, we knew that on our tour, we would be out in all kinds of weather. Several of us braved the wind and the uphill climb, deciding to hike to the summit, where the Castello di Venere stood. The castle was built by the Normans in the 12th century over a Temple of Venus built by the ancient Elymians. We pulled each other the final few steps to the castle, feeling a sense of accomplishment because we had achieved our goal, only to discover that the castle was locked! We made our way through the town and found Maria's bakery shop among the few stores that were open because of the lack of tourists. We reached our bus, and off we went to Trapani.
I would describe Trapani as a "designer" beach resort town. It was filled with a juxtaposition of ancient churches and very contemporary shops and restaurants. We learned that our hotel was once a convent. We decide to explore the town. We ran into two other couples from our group, Barbara and Bob from California, and Carol and Wendell from Canada. All of us decided to search for gelato, but we discovered that only one restaurant had seating for the six of us. Although a few hours earlier we had eaten enough to feed a village, Nick and I shared a smoked fish platter and Prosecco.
Nick said there was a dramatic storm during the night with lots of lightning and thunder. I heard nothing. We took more than 13,000 steps and climbed the equivalent of 111 flights of stairs that day!


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Patriots' Josh McDaniels expected to be named Colts head coach, report says
A day after it was reported that New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia was likely heading to Detroit, it looks like we know where Josh McDaniels will be going next season.
The New England Patriots offensive coordinator is expected to be hired by the Indianapolis Colts as their head coach, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.
"The Colts have held strong with their pursuit of Patriots OC Josh McDaniels and that is expected to be his choice when an offer comes," Rapoport said.
McDaniels returned to New England during their 2011 playoff run and replaced Bill O'Brien as offensive coordinator in 2012. During his latest tenure, McDaniels was a part of two Super Bowl championship teams and has the potential to notch a third title before heading to Indiana.
McDaniels' and Patricia's departures from the Patriots leave two openings on the Patriots coaching staff once their season is over. There is no word on who potential candidates would be at this time.


text: The much awaited release on the late singer, Amy Winehouse, Amys documentary release date has been announced. The upcoming documentary telling the story of Amy Winehouse will be released in the U.K. on July 3.This documentary will release weeks before her fourth death anniversary. The first official teaser poster for the film Amy was unveiled on Wednesday.The first minute-long trailer debuted at Universal Music Groups pre-Grammy brunch in February. The doc was announced in 2013 and is directed by Asif Kapadia. The British filmmakers 2010 documentary Senna got two BAFTA and this is the second much talked about documentary of Asif.Amy uses unseen archive footage and previously unheard tracks of the late singer.Winehouse shot to international fame with her second album Back to Black, and died in 2011 from accidental alcohol poisoning at age 27.About two years ago we decided to make a movie about her -- her career and her life, he said. Its a very complicated and tender movie. It tackles lots of things about family and media, fame, addiction, but most importantly, it captures the very heart of what she was about, which is an amazing person and a true musical genius, said Universal Music UK CEO/chairman David Joseph.


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- n. - An expression of openmouthed astonishment
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Welcome to the Computer Vision Group at RWTH Aachen University!
The Computer Vision group has been established at RWTH Aachen University in context with the Cluster of Excellence "UMIC - Ultra High-Speed Mobile Information and Communication" and is associated with the Chair Computer Sciences 8 - Computer Graphics, Computer Vision, and Multimedia. The group focuses on computer vision applications for mobile devices and robotic or automotive platforms. Our main research areas are visual object recognition, tracking, self-localization, 3D reconstruction, and in particular combinations between those topics.
We offer lectures and seminars about computer vision and machine learning.
You can browse through all our publications and the projects we are working on.
We won the ECCV2020 "3D Poses in the Wild" Challenge!
See the MeTRAbs paper on our approach and check out the code on GitHub.
|Aug. 23, 2020
We have one paper accepted at the British Machine Vision Conference (BMVC) 2020:
|July 29, 2020
We have two papers accepted at the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) 2020:
|June 24, 2020
We have one paper accepted at the Workshop on Towards Human-Centric Image/Video Synthesis, IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPRW'20)
|April 21, 2020
We have three papers accepted at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2020:
|Feb. 24, 2020
We have three accepted papers at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2020:
|Jan. 31, 2020
Recent Publications
STEm-Seg: Spatio-temporal Embeddings for Instance Segmentation in Videos
Existing methods for instance segmentation in videos typically involve multi-stage pipelines that follow the tracking-by-detection paradigm and model a video clip as a sequence of images. Multiple networks are used to detect objects in individual frames, and then associate these detections over time. Hence, these methods are often non-end-to-end trainable and highly tailored to specific tasks. In this paper, we propose a different approach that is well-suited to a variety of tasks involving instance segmentation in videos. In particular, we model a video clip as a single 3D spatio-temporal volume, and propose a novel approach that segments and tracks instances across space and time in a single stage. Our problem formulation is centered around the idea of spatio-temporal embeddings which are trained to cluster pixels belonging to a specific object instance over an entire video clip. To this end, we introduce (i) novel mixing functions that enhance the feature representation of spatio-temporal embeddings, and (ii) a single-stage, proposal-free network that can reason about temporal context. Our network is trained end-to-end to learn spatio-temporal embeddings as well as parameters required to cluster these embeddings, thus simplifying inference. Our method achieves state-of-the-art results across multiple datasets and tasks.
3D-MPA: Multi Proposal Aggregation for 3D Semantic Instance Segmentation
IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2020
We present 3D-MPA, a method for instance segmentation on 3D point clouds. Given an input point cloud, we propose an object-centric approach where each point votes for its object center. We sample object proposals from the predicted object centers. Then we learn proposal features from grouped point features that voted for the same object center. A graph convolutional network introduces inter-proposal relations, providing higher-level feature learning in addition to the lower-level point features. Each proposal comprises a semantic label, a set of associated points over which we define a foreground-background mask, an objectness score and aggregation features. Previous works usually perform non-maximum-suppression (NMS) over proposals to obtain the final object detections or semantic instances. However, NMS can discard potentially correct predictions. Instead, our approach keeps all proposals and groups them together based on the learned aggregation features. We show that grouping proposals improves over NMS and outperforms previous state-of-the-art methods on the tasks of 3D object detection and semantic instance segmentation on the ScanNetV2 benchmark and the S3DIS dataset.
DualConvMesh-Net: Joint Geodesic and Euclidean Convolutions on 3D Meshes
IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2020 (Oral)
We propose DualConvMesh-Nets (DCM-Net) a family of deep hierarchical convolutional networks over 3D geometric data that *combines two types* of convolutions. The first type, *geodesic convolutions*, defines the kernel weights over mesh surfaces or graphs. That is, the convolutional kernel weights are mapped to the local surface of a given mesh. The second type, *Euclidean convolutions*, is independent of any underlying mesh structure. The convolutional kernel is applied on a neighborhood obtained from a local affinity representation based on the Euclidean distance between 3D points. Intuitively, geodesic convolutions can easily separate objects that are spatially close but have disconnected surfaces, while Euclidean convolutions can represent interactions between nearby objects better, as they are oblivious to object surfaces. To realize a multi-resolution architecture, we borrow well-established mesh simplification methods from the geometry processing domain and adapt them to define mesh-preserving pooling and unpooling operations. We experimentally show that combining both types of convolutions in our architecture leads to significant performance gains for 3D semantic segmentation, and we report competitive results on three scene segmentation benchmarks.


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A Place to Grow Learning Blog
Preschool & PreK Learning Through Theme Study
What makes a house a home? Ask a group of preschool children this question and you're likely to get a million different answers. And not one will be wrong. So how do you help children understand a complex question with a lot of moving parts to the answer? Theme study.
Facilitating preschool learning requires unique and creative techniques that help young children break down intricate concepts. Immersion into theme curricula helps them to really think about topics of discussion and better understand subjects as a whole.
At A Place to Grow (APTG), theme study has been a part of our curriculum since 1995. We credit the success of this program to the collaboration and participation of teachers, students, and parents. APTG's theme study is a 3-month long curriculum focusing on a single topic that touches upon all aspects of literacy, art, math, and science. It envelopes fine and gross motor skills, as well as social and emotional development.
Sample Themes for Preschool and PreK Learning
- A Specific Season
- Community or Neighborhood
- Fitness & Health
- Occupations
- Ocean, Seaside, or Beach
- Stars & Sky
- Animals
- Vacation & Holiday
- Sports
- Insects
- Jungle or Forest
- Gardening
- Environment
- On the Farm
- Food
Preschool & PreK Class Activities
Creative and analytical learning disguised as fun and engaging activities are at the heart of our theme studies. APTG uses shapes and colors, existing artwork and original designs to decorate for each individual theme. We read books and create our own stories based on what the children discover.
Discovery is an important aspect of the process. Investigations, collections, and hands-on sensory play are critical to learning. Children immerse themselves in the topic though activities that include movement and dance, and complementing music and sounds heard in class throughout the day. We encourage our parents and families to participate as guest readers, preparing special foods, and sharing items for interactive show-and-tell.
This year's theme at APTG takes a look at "HOME," and concludes with a deeper understanding of what makes a house a home. From animal nests, dens, and dams; to people living in houses, apartments, and igloos, they explore the different physical spaces as well as the similarities. It's this look at the collective environment that helps them to better understand the attributes of a home.
A Place to Grow theme study gives our PreK and preschool students the opportunity to acquire knowledge, as opposed to a specific skillset. It fosters collaborative and critical thinking that creates a framework for young children to make sense of their experiences. We value this time, and the children very much look forward to this part of our preschool curriculum as another way to unite our community through learning and play.


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Well known for its breath-taking coastline, Whitehead has set up a new rowing club, ready to ride the waves of the Antrim Coast.
Members of Whitehead Coastal Rowing Club had been operating out of the Yacht Club since 2017 but are now embarking on a new voyage themselves as a standalone club.
With stunning views stretching as far as Scotland, it's easy to see why the new club already has over 30 members ready to take to the open water.
Part of the Antrim Coastal Rowing Association, it's the fourth club in the Antrim area. It meets 2-3 times a week, with a variety of levels, from racers to casual rowers.
Lenny Entwistle, the club chair, said: "Whitehead Coastal Rowing Club is an exciting new cross-community venture bringing the sport of coastal rowing back to Whitehead bay.
"Rowing is an excellent entry level method of getting people on the water, where they will enjoy making new friends and at the same time improve their health and wellbeing. We welcome all abilities and even have a guide dog Quaker as a member who accompanies keen rower Terry Hopkins.
"We will also be training for a series of fun regattas along this stunning Antrim coastlines. The sport is one which brings with it a strong cultural heritage and people are delighted to have an opportunity to revisit an activity which has not been witnessed across the Whitehead shoreline for more than seventy years."
The club is over 18s at the moment but are hoping to start a junior section in the coming months, and welcome anyone with experience to come and help out. They will also be fundraising for boats in the coming weeks as they are currently borrowing from other local clubs.
Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Cllr Lindsay Millar said: "Rowing is a great way to keep fit, get some fresh air, or clear the head after a stressful day. The water hereis among the best in the world, from Whitehead Bay, the lighthouse, to the Cloughan Jetty, what better opportunity to take in the gorgeous scenery here.
"The club has really set out its stall as an activity for everyone and I can't wait to hear all about the relationships they form up and down the coastline. Whitehead has a rich maritime history going back centuries, so it is great to see this getting a new lease of life for generations to come."
For more information check out Whitehead Coastal Rowing Club Facebook page or email firstname.lastname@example.com


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East Coast Artists Dance Center is Long Island's newest and most innovative dance center. Two of Long Island's most sought after dance teachers are now bringing you the...


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Pichler Family History
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Pichler Name Meaning
German (Bavaria, Austrian Tyrol): topographic name from pichl, pühl 'hill'; in Tyrol it tends to be a habitational name from a farm named with this word. North German: nickname for a drinker, from an agent derivative of Low German (Westphalian) picheln 'to drink'.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
Similar surnames: Bichler, Piehler, Kichler, Picker, Dichter, Pickler, Lichter, Eicher