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The anti/non- union would need a plan to do this – right? Below we offer excerpts from our years of on-going research that validate this statement.
Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) and their surrogates would need to:
- Have a primary starting point along with a structure and strategic plan. Labor Law Study Group started in 1965. In the fall of 2000, the Construction Users Roundtable came into being, which speaks for the top end-users of construction, and is part of the Business Roundtable. This direct and unbroken lineage has as its mission the transfer of the union contractors and skilled membership and training of the Building Trades to the non-union. A great white paper for you to consider is:
- Reorganize and centralize the construction industry. Enter the Construction Manager working at all times for the end-user in the late 70's. The Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) started in 1982 and is the dominant association with 29 chapters & 14,000 members thru-out all of construction.
- "And the enforcement mechanism used by the Roundtable was the threat of its enormous purchasing power which it held continually, though usually silently, over the heads of the contractors. They intended to gradually establish non-union contractors to undercut the economic position of unionized employers and through the strategic use of their purchase orders, the large consumers would insure their control over the contractors, both union and non-union." JC Turner, General President of the Operators
- Quietly make new friends on the Hill – what we now call the Right to Work Committees and Groups, ABC, ALEC, Heritage Foundation, Tea Party, etc. providing both direct and indirect funding.
- Form Government Relations & Litigation Committees to vigorously fight every pro-worker form of rights at the bargaining table. We see the fight to repeal Davis-Bacon & court decisions limiting our right to picket, giving union contractors the right to set up non-union companies and the right to repudiate their collective bargaining agreements and much more, like 25 RTW states with the likely hood of them increasing, is higher than them decreasing for the foreseeable future.
- Empower and use to CURT's purposes and ends groups like the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), and Construction Industry Roundtable (CIRT) (this is not CURT, but a quasi-relation). Google this entity, go to the "About" tab and look at the pull down menu under "Members". Most of our unions' big partners' construction firms are there! WHY? National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have actively opposed the use of PLAs, particularly for government projects. 21 states ban PLA's with another 20 working hard to get there, and 9 states encourage some form of use. Not good numbers for the unions.
- Transfer union contractors via double breasting and strong enticements with purchase orders, bid shopping and other strategies. While technically stuff like bid shopping et al is illegal, it is rampant and uncontrolled.
- Openly recruit solid journeypersons with skills and leadership to the non-union via hard core recruitment firms, such as ihirebuildingtrades, Tradesmen International, Trillium and several others which are all growing. These are recruitment firms, not the temporary firms, some can be both – which are transferring skilled trade's members who are unemployed, underemployed, not in the political click or working on the road for long periods of time. Many seasoned union skilled tradespersons are faced with one or more of the above scenarios due to contracting work opportunities and hours!
- To transfer those skills, and to know those union members who the non-union recruits by name, they need information gathered by the construction manager or a surrogate running the jobs. Add to this the fact that union Building Trades have all their eggs in very few baskets, especially those gated and controlled jobs which require big time info on all aspects of the tradespersons on the job, especially their work history, credentials and temperament. How do you think the recruitment entities know who to precisely go after? Those recruited are then a pathway to other union tradespersons and also the clients of the union contractor!
- Leverage modularization and technology advancements in construction delivery. Significant areas of construction are both contracting in hours needed to do a job and the number of contractors needed (minus 1099's) – in spite of $1 trillion of construction spending. The construction industry is also consolidating due to successful union and non-union companies being "rolled-up" into regional and national firms. The overwhelming majority of these parent roll-up firms are non-union.
- Let/drive the Building Trades unions to handle most of the recruitment, training and HR on a host of hiring issues for the transfer of the "blue chip" hands – from minority, local hiring initiatives, veteran's preference, drug testing, professional standards, etc. Then, due to the contraction and consolidation of union job opportunities, along with rising non-union market share, the non-union contractors recruit directly and thru recruitment agencies workers who have been trained and vetted for placement. All of the HR activities have been conducted and paid for by the union members one way or another. We are continuously told what is needed, so we do all the heavy lifting. This is a great deal for the end-users to then recruit and transfer those targeted workers.
- CURT understands the legal and business consequence of collaboration and relationship building, with the endless meetings to discuss "what they need & will pay for", dictated to us because of the inferior (for unions) one-way relationship and declining market share. Labor-Management co-operation, CURT's Tripartite Initiative (CTI) and other alliances for the purpose of collaboration are ruses and also in the hard numbers, of NET market share development over the last 2 decades. If Knowledge is Power – then this is the gateway into the inner workings of union decisions. It allows anti/non-union to dilute/derail actions of the unions in the form of professional relationships with legal constraints, mostly in the form of recognition and enforceable secondary limitations that have legal consequences and constraints. "If" it was the 2-way win/win relationship they describe, our "net" market share would be stabilizing and/or increasing. EVERY single sector that CURT represents has ingratiated themselves at our meetings, giving us awards, and plying their silver tongues, while every sector continues to erode with a "net" overall decline of unions on their jobs. The only exception are the 2 major areas in North America – British Columbia & the Gulf Coast. What appears for now to be long term relationships in those 2 areas will be eroded over time?
- Win constant give backs. Starting in the early 70's with agreements such as the National Maintenance Agreements et al, to the present with new classifications and major modifications, have not arrested the decline of market share. Mergers of locals, underfunded pensions, trades infighting, aging of the work force in unions are all substantive erosions of the Building Trades' future viability internally especially if all we have is Value on Display and letting the customer ultimately decide if and when they want to use the Building Trades.
- Removing General Contractors from many bigger jobs in several sectors, using bundled delivery systems like Construction Manager at Risk (CMR) or others. The General has had the CBA with many trades, and as they go bye–bye, so do the CBA's.
- Maintain a stable of anti-union law and consultant firms. We may not want to acknowledge them, but the dozen or so that operate very successfully are also on point when needed, either pro-actively or reactively. When anyone needs to lawyer up, they have a blueprint to work from. These groups, CURT and the Construction Managers have been using our strategy of Value on Display and collaboration to beat us since 2004.
- Produce books, consultants and lawyers who train on how to be even more professional, create a Brand, and collaborate. This puts the future of the middle class and our families solely in the hands of management. They ultimately decide "if" they want to use the union Building Trades or not! For example, Breslin's 127 page, 14 font, double spaced fluff piece on business strategies was published in January of 2003. You may want to reconsider whose business strategies this approach has served? Contrast that to our 474 pages of research, some of which is before you. Also if you saw the timeline of dates from 1965 till the present, no right thinking person in the Building Trades leadership can ignore its structure and probable outcome should we continue the status quo or marginal changes to a failed strategy.
It is hoped that the new General Presidents of the IBEW, SMART, IUPAT and Ironworkers will reconsider how their organization raise market share. Perhaps the other unions and state and local Building Trades leaders will also work the numbers back as we have done. We are a HOUSE of CARDS and CURT knows it!
Are we working hard – damn right we are? However zoom out to 35,000 feet and for the last 20 years we have been giving ground everywhere. It is hoped that the leadership isn't so enamored with the power lunches and great venues all these labor-management meeting are held at, to act on their oath. "To leave the trades better than we found it"
For those that feel that we just have to educate more, or we are the best kept secret, or it's just going to take a little longer, or how the non-union is impressed when they learn more – snap the hell out of it. Every number says we are being played – case closed!!
New York City and the huge non-union market share developing there, is the last template needed by CURT and their surrogates to then go after the last pockets of commercial work in other cities, and it's well under way already. Talking and collaborating with everyone is used against us, and is killing us!
Legally and lawfully going after the end-user and construction mangers clients, credit and social footprint will reverse market share decline! That's what we do here at Labor Rising and more!
"if you see a good fight – get in it"
Danny L Caliendo
Labor Rising Group


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Auto Insurance for Seniors
Jumping into your convertible is one of the best ways to take advantage of your golden years. While you have enjoyed watching your auto insurance rates drop as you get older, they start to get more expensive once you hit 65. However, there are many steps that you can take to help save money on your auto insurance premiums as you get older, including:
- Take a safe driving class – there are many safe driving courses that are available that are specifically geared towards senior drivers. Some of the course are available online, or you can take a class in person. Check with your insurance company to see which courses will help you save the most.
- Choose the right vehicle – your auto insurance rates are largely determined on the type of vehicle that you drive. If you are in the market for a new car, make sure to get insurance quotes for the type of cars that you are considering. Typically, vehicles that do not have a high price tag and are cheaper to repair will help you save the most.
- Protect your vehicle – installing the right anti-loss devices, such as alarm systems, disabling devices, and vehicle tracking systems can help to save you money since your vehicle is less likely to be stolen.
- Drive less – the less that you are on the road, the lowery our auto insurance premiums will be since you will be less likely to be involved in an accident. Consider carpooling with friends and family if you are going somewhere, or simply enjoy quite time at your house.
Contact the insurance professionals at Bell Black Insurance in Rexburg, Idaho for all of your auto insurance coverage needs as you reach your golden years. We will work with you to make sure that you have the protection that you deserve, all at the right price.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Yup, I'm cool with that, too. Best, -jay On 03/16/2017 11:00 AM, Sylvain Bauza wrote: > > > Le 16/03/2017 14:12, Chris Dent a écrit : >> >> (This message is a question asking "should we fix this?" and "if so, >> I guess that needs spec, since it is a microversion change, but >> would an update to the existing spec be good enough?") >> >> We have a small wart in the API for creating and updating resources >> classes [1] that only became clear while evaluating the API for >> resource traits [2]. The interface for creating a resource class is >> not particularly idempotent and as a result the code for doing so >> from nova-compute [3] is not as simple as it could be. >> >> It's all in the name _get_of_create_resource_class. There is at >> least one but sometimes two HTTP requests: first a GET to >> /resource_classes/{class} then a POST with a body to >> /resource_classes. >> >> If instead there was just a straight PUT to >> /resource_classes/{class} with no body that returned success either >> upon create or "yeah it's already there" then it would always be one >> request and the above code could be simplified. This is how we've >> ended up defining things for traits [2]. >> > > > We recently decided to not ship a specific client project for tricks > like that, and we preferred to have a better REST API quite well documented. > > Given that consensus, I think I'm totally fine using the PUT verb > instead of GET+POST and just verify the HTTP return code. > > >> Making this change would also allow us to address the fact that >> right now the PUT to /resource_classes/{class} takes a body which is >> the _new_ name with which to replace the name of the resource class >> identified by {class}. This is an operation I'm pretty sure we >> don't want to do (commonly) as it means that anywhere that custom >> resource class was used in an inventory it's now going to have this >> new name (the relationship at the HTTP and outer layers is by name, >> but at the database level by id, the PUT does a row update) but the >> outside world is not savvy to this change. >> > > Agreed as well. > > -Sylvain > >> Thoughts? >> >> [1] >> http://specs.openstack.org/openstack/nova-specs/specs/ocata/approved/custom-resource-classes.html#rest-api-impact >> >> [2] >> http://specs.openstack.org/openstack/nova-specs/specs/pike/approved/resource-provider-traits.html#rest-api-impact >> >> [3] >> https://github.com/openstack/nova/blob/d02c0aa7ba0e37fb61d9fe2b683835f28f528623/nova/scheduler/client/report.py#L704 >> >> >> >> >> __________________________________________________________________________ >> OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) >> Unsubscribe: OpenStack-dev-request at lists.openstack.org?subject:unsubscribe >> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev >> > > __________________________________________________________________________ > OpenStack Development Mailing List (not for usage questions) > Unsubscribe: OpenStack-dev-request at lists.openstack.org?subject:unsubscribe > http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev >


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Short, approximately 12" cable, used to connect a Wilson Cellular Cell Phone Antenna to a cellular phone.
Compatible with: Motorola Entice, W766
NOTE: The port for this phone is located underneath the battery door. You will need to drill a hole in the battery door in order to access the port.
Additional Information - Antenna Port Locations
If you already have a cell phone antenna:
If you currently own a Wilson Cellular Cell Phone Antenna, FME ARC Wireless Freedom Antenna or other FME/Female cell antenna, this antenna adapter will connect directly to it. If you have another brand of cell phone antenna you may need an additional adapter:


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- Press Release
- Oct 1, 2022
Lockheed Martin Appoints Lt. Gen. (Ret) Michael A. Hamel as President Of Commercial Ventures
NEWTOWN, Pa., Dec. 18, 2013 – Lockheed Martin Corporation [NYSE: LMT] has appointed Lt. Gen. (Ret) Michael A. Hamel as President of Commercial Ventures, a major line of business within Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC). Hamel reports to Rick F. Ambrose, Executive Vice President of LMSSC.
Hamel succeeds Linda Reiners, who was named Vice President of Corporate Ventures. Hamel is responsible for leading and growing commercial satellite communications, remote sensing, and wind energy programs, driving program execution across existing commercial programs and managing related launch campaigns. A major focus of his role will be providing design-to-cost and design-to-schedule solutions that address customers' requirements for agility and affordability.
"Lockheed Martin has been the leader in providing cutting edge solutions for national security space and civil space customers for decades," said Hamel. "We recognize that a more robust commercial business is essential in driving commercial products and practices throughout our organization, to reduce cost and schedule and deliver best value. I'm very excited to lead Commercial Ventures as we accelerate our cultural change that will benefit both commercial and government customers."
Before joining Lockheed Martin, Hamel was Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Relations for Orbital Sciences Corp, where he was responsible for leading Orbital Science's strategic planning, product and business development, government relations and corporate communications. He served in the U.S. Air Force for over 30 years in a broad range of space operations as well as development, acquisition, policy and command positions. Hamel concluded his military career in 2008 as a Lt General. In his later years in the Air Force, Hamel was Commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space, Commander of the 14th Air Force, served in senior command and staff positions at HQ USAF and AF Space Command and was Military Advisor to the Vice President on defense, arms control, non-proliferation and space policy.
Hamel holds a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a M.A. in Business Administration from California State University. He is a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Program in National and International Security at Harvard University. He is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also serves on the Board of Directors of several corporations and advisory groups.
About Lockheed MartinHeadquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 116,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation's net sales for 2012 were $47.2 billion. For more information, visit www.lockheedmartin.com.


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|2 - 4 players
|average 60 minutes
|Published in 1967
|View on boardgamegeek.com
|Card Game
|Hand Management Trick-taking Betting/Wagering
Trick-taking card game for three in which players must sacrifice cards from their hands to bid the number of tricks they will take. It uses a standard deck of cards, shorted to 6 through Ace in each suit, plus one Joker. (A more recent version of play omits the joker.) To bid, lay aside three cards from your hand; the suit of those cards determines how many tricks you must take (each club is three tricks, heart two tricks, spade one trick, diamond zero tricks). Score one point per trick you take plus a bonus if you make your bid exactly. For an additional bonus, you may offer to declare by turning your bidcards face up at start of play, thus declaring your target and revealing more information about the lie of cards. For a higher bonus, you may also offer to reveal. This involves not only turning your bid-cards up but also then playing with your hand of cards exposed on the table before the opening lead. While designed for three players, the four-player version is faithful to the original but played with a standard 52-card deck. Two- and five-player variants also exists, but they employ a dummy hand and a 500 deck, respectively.
|Total Games Played on NemeStats:
|Total Gaming Groups With This Game
|Average Players Per Game


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Hi this is Juhi,I have a card to share for this month's theme. I have chosen Column 3 (C3) as my favorite four. This is my first craft project in our new house, my craft supplies are still not unpacked fully so had to make it with limited supplies.
Column 3 goes something like this:
Stitching, Paper Piecing, Banners/Flags/Penchants/Charms, Patterned Paper.
Please visit this post for details about this month's theme and challenge.
Thanks for visiting.
Supplies used:


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See our video services!
At The Guide Liverpool, we've been helping businesses promote themselves and reach new clients and customers for years. Our professional video crew can help you increase engagement, interaction and revenue by presenting your business to a wide audience with a creative, exciting promotional video for use on multiple online channels.
Here are 10 top keep your going…
"This is a story of boy meets girl but you should know up front, this is not a love story…" begins the droll narrator of Marc Webb's quirky comedy. From the opening frames of (500) Days Of Summer, we are acutely aware that this romance on the sun-dappled streets of New York City has no happy ending. Love can be uplifting and inspiring, but it can also be cruel and unforgiving.
Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber's polished screenplay defies conventions and expectations at every turn. Chronology is intentionally fractured to juxtapose contrasting episodes in a relationship, which unfolds over the course of 500 tumultuous days. Tart one-liners are tossed hither and thither and director Webb even conducts a glorious song and dance sequence through Central Park complete with an animated bluebird that recalls a frolicking Amy Adams in Enchanted. Scriptwriters Neustadter and Weber cannot resist a cute, upbeat coda.Love is a battlefield but some survive the melee.
Brevity is the soul of writer-director Christopher Nolan's harrowing wartime drama. In his shortest feature since acclaimed 1998 debut Following, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker crafts a stunning mosaic of personal stories of hard fought triumph and agonising defeat against the sprawling backdrop of the largest evacuation of allied forces during the Second World War.
Nolan adopts a stripped back approach to storytelling that jettisons dialogue for long sequences. He sets our nerves on edge in a hauntingly beautiful opening scene and steadily tightens the knot of tension in our stomachs until we are physically and emotionally spent.
Pulses race in time with composer Hans Zimmer's terrific score, which includes a soft percussive beat like a clock ticking down to doomsday, and a new arrangement of Elgar's melancholic Nimrod from Enigma Variations. By keeping his script lean, Nolan allows us to remain white-knuckle taut in our seats for the duration.
Comic whirlwind Jack Black ramps up his manic energy to gale force 10 in a fast-paced fantasy adventure based on the series of children's books by RL Stine. Directed with brio by Rob Letterman, Goosebumps is a wicked delight, packed full of spooks and scares that should have adults jumping out of their seats almost as often as little ones.
Explosions of comic book violence, including a slip-sliding tussle between the Abominable Snowman and high school students on an ice rink, are orchestrated with black humour and vim. Darren Lemke's lean script barely pauses for breath between eye-popping set pieces but still finds time to flesh out a compelling teenage love story that remains the right side of sickly sweet.
Digital effects are impressive, seamlessly integrated with live action to conjure scenes of large-scale destruction including a runaway Ferris wheel and a town under attack from a giant praying mantis. A tricksy treat.
Before Mean Girls and Clueless, there was Heathers. Written by Daniel Waters, this delicious black comedy directed by Michael Lehmann relishes the tribal warfare between high school cliques. More than 30 years after the titular coterie of bullying harpies first sashayed into view, Lehmann's picture has lost none of its power to shock and delight, laden with instantly quotable dialogue ("Did you have a brain tumour for breakfast?"; "I love my dead gay son") that has been endlessly imitated but seldom outshone.
Winona Ryder plays the fourth member of the eponymous harem until she has an unfortunate altercation with Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) at a party. Battle lines are drawn and in the ensuing melee, Veronica and oddball J.D. (Christian Slater) kill Heather with drain cleaner and stage her demise as a suicide.
The queen bee is transformed into a martyr and Veronica's plan spirals wildly out of control. How very.
Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett, The Help explores the touching relationship between two black maids in 1960s Mississippi. Written for the screen and directed by Tate Taylor, the film is an embarrassment of acting riches, anchored by tour-de-force performances from Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. The latter deservedly won an Oscar for her portrayal of fiercely outspoken maid Minny, who is renowned for her chocolate pies.
Every role is perfectly cast including Sissy Spacek in scene-stealing form as an outspoken southern matriarch with faltering memory, who delights in her racist daughter's humiliation. The Help marries strong and often wickedly funny performances with a sharp writing and heartfelt emotion, evoking an era of social upheaval and racial tensions.
The script is littered with delicious one-liners ("Love and hate are two horns on the same goat… and you need a goat!") ebbing and flowing between various storylines, much like the Pearl River that cuts through the state and washes away so many sins.
A lightning bolt fashioned from coloured plastic construction bricks almost strikes twice in The LEGO Movie 2. Set five years after the award-winning first film, Mike Mitchell's briskly paced, uproarious and imaginative sequel is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that Mad Max might begrudgingly call home, where plastic characters from the LEGO and Duplo universes live in perpetual conflict.
Scriptwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, masterminds of the award-winning 2014 original, show a delightful disregard for convention as they lampoon the Marvel and DC Comics universes and swathes of pop culture.
The Twilight saga, velociraptors from Jurassic Park, show-stopping film musicals and John McClane from the Die Hard series (voiced by Bruce Willis with tongue wedged firmly in cheek) provide hearty laughs amidst expertly-staged action sequences. Digitally rendered visuals, which mimic the imperfect movements of stop-motion animation, are laden with in-jokes that demand a second viewing.
Two hapless singletons are mired in a Groundhog Day-style time loop in director Max Barbakow's award-winning confection, which embraces the tropes of a feelgood rom com and proves you can always crowd-please with smart writing and well-matched leads.
Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti spark instantly as the disinterested wedding guest and inebriated maid of honour, who throw caution (and their clothes) to the wind at the end of Palm Springs nuptials, only to discover they are condemned to repeat the same booze-sodden day for eternity. With each reset, their characters alter behaviour to hopefully rewrite the future. However, director Barbakow and screenwriter Andy Siara are one step ahead of them, throwing unexpected curveballs to keep everyone on their toes and prevent a neat central conceit from feeling stale.
The final act is a tad messy but a show-stopping dancefloor sequence and Samberg and Milioti's zinging rapport guarantee goofy grins for most of the 90 minutes.
Life begins at 34 in director Alex Thompson's award-winning comedy drama about a rudderless singleton, who confronts deep-rooted fears and insecurities after she fumbles her way into a position of responsibility caring for a six-year-old girl. Saint Frances coolly navigates hot button topics, abortion, postpartum depression, breastfeeding in public, with understated elegance and candour.
The script, co-written by Thompson and lead actress Kelly O'Sullivan, revels in the minutiae of everyday life and, refreshingly, does not blow out of proportion the central character's stumbles on her way to hard fought self-enlightenment. The menstrual blood-soaked aftermath of a one-night stand, which might be played for gross-out giggles or discomfort in clumsier hands, is a catalyst for genuine tenderness.
Pacing is deliberately slow to allow contemplative words to breathe and the cast to fully inhabit richly drawn roles including a star-making turn from wunderkind Ramona Edith-Williams, who strikes a perfect balance between cuteness and precocity.
School Of Rock is Dead Poet's Society with electric guitars and an attitude – a rumbustious romp for the entire family with a central message about following your dreams, no matter how ridiculous, far-fetched or seemingly unattainable.
At the film's heart is a mesmerising, tour-de-force comic turn from Jack Black as a supply teacher, who instils his kids with his sense of wonder, joy and childish enthusiasm. He is hysterical and interactions with a talented young cast are impeccably timed. "Freddy, what do you like to do?" he asks one boy. "I dunno… burn stuff?" replies Freddy (Kevin Alexander Clark) dryly, who gradually comes out of his shell as a bad boy drummer.
Screenwriter Mike White builds tension gradually, reaching a crescendo with a stomping battle of the bands showcase that will have you laughing, cheering and shedding a tear or two all at once. To quote Dewey: "Now raise your goblet of rock!"
A star is reborn in the third remake of the rags-to-riches fairy tale, which originally starred Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. The 21st-century twinkling doesn't emanate from pop chameleon turned Oscar-nominated actor Lady Gaga, who is luminous as a naive and vulnerable ingenue rocketing into the musical firmament.
No, the film's retina-searing ball of light is Bradley Cooper as her grizzled mentor and lover. The Philadelphia-born leading man nestles confidently into the director's chair for his debut feature but he truly dazzles in front of the camera, drenched in the sweat and self-loathing of a booze-soaked showman, who is staggering towards the precipice of oblivion.
Cooper rocks and rolls in exhilarating concert sequences and performs his character's signature tracks with gravelly-voiced aplomb including a duet with Gaga on the Oscar-winning ballad Shallow. Screen chemistry between the leads is molten and you can almost feel the heat rippling off the screen in breathlessly choreographed bedroom scenes.
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2019 The Guide Liverpool


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Erin Somers was the top Leitrim performer as she finished an excellent ninth in the U11 Girls race at last Sunday's GloHealth Master, Intermediate and Juvenile B Cross Country in Tuam.
Almost 1,000 athletes were treated to a real cross country test over the rolling hills of the Palace Grounds in Tuam and North Leitrim AC's Erin Somers was the county's outstanding performer on the day, finishing a fantastic 9th place in the U11 girls race, winning an All-Ireland medal in the process.
Erin showed true grit and determination and was always in contention from the start. She was followed by a much improved performance by both Emily Conlon in 33th and Ellie Filan in 61st place. Ella Foley unfortunately twisted her foot and was unable to finish the race.
Hugo Filan from North Leitrim AC showed a return to form with an outstanding 29th place in a very competitive U11 boys field. Hugo was up with the front runners for the first half but just fell back a little towards the end.
The North Leitrim AC U13 girls team also showed great improvement with a fine finish for all four girls. Ella McDaid 44th, Sarah Brady 54th and Lara Mulvaney 56th made the running and only finished a few meters outside the medal positions in a tight finish.
Rachel Conlon came home in 75th position in field of over 100 runners. The team finished a creditable 11th in the club competition. Also in the U13 Girls race were the Ballinamore AC duo of Ellie O'Rourke who finished in 33rd place and Kate Gilheany in 61st. Leitrim finished up fourth in the County positions.
Leitrim Athletics AGM
The county's five clubs attended last Thursday's AGM of th Leitrim County Board AAI in Carrick-on-Shannon which saw the end of an era when Ballinamore's Padraig Griffin stepped down as an officer, having served the board for fifty years.
Chairperson Patricia Griffin welcomed all the delegates and had a particular welcome for Drumshanbo which were represented for the first time in almost twenty years. She complimented all the athletes who took part in competition and particularly those who achieved success at national level.
Patricia singled out Laura Reynolds who continues to perform so well at international level and both Eanna Madden and Gerard O'Donnell who won titles at the National Senior Championships in Santry last July. She also complimented Liam Feely for his achievement in the Dublin City Marathon and Patrick Montgomery who did so well in the National Underage Cross Country Championships before Christmas.
The following officers were elected: Chairperson Patricia Griffin (Ballinamore); Vice Chairperson P.J. Leddy (North Leitrim); Secretary Anne Mulvaney (North Leitrim); Treasurer Paddy Croal (North Leitrim); PRO: Trevor McDaid (North Leitrim); Child Officer Mary Kenny (Ballinamore).
Mary O'Donnell (Carrick-on-Shannon) was confirmed at Leitrim County Board representative on the recently reconstituted Sports Partnership.
The County Board decided to set up a sub committee of one representative from each club to examine and make representations to it on structures and organisation within the county.
The meeting was addressed by Declan Boyle, Co-Ordinator of Leitrim Sports Partnership, who outlined arrangements for this year's Primary Schools Sports Hall Competition.
The Connacht U12-19 Indoor Championships will be held in Athlone on Saturday February 28, and Sunday March 1. A meeting of the Connacht Council will be held in McWilliams Hotel, Claremorris, on Monday night next at which details will be finalised.
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It's Not About Having All the Answers
by John F. Graham
Socrates taught us that questions are the most powerful form of communication. It is not only a great way to teach, but a great way to communicate in many situations.
A teacher will ask lots of questions and get the students responding and sharing ideas gently leading the group to the logical conclusions. Today veteran sales representatives, attorneys and professors frequently use questions to explore and guide the listeners in a desired direction.
Many have heard of the Socratic Method of using questions to control an outcome, but few of us really remember to use it on purpose. I challenge you to make one simple change in you communication. Simply use the questioning method to get yourself unstuck.
Carry on communicating as you always do. Just remember when you are in a tough spot and find yourself unsure of what to say next – ask a question. We all find ourselves at a loss for words from time to time. Ask a question.
When I meet someone new, I most always ask, "Where are you from?" This tends to open doors to all kinds of conversational options. I find this easy. But what if your boss says, I am really unhappy with the way this turned out? Our mind naturally wants to find excuses to save our hide. But what if you asked a question instead – For example: "How could I have reached a better conclusion?" Sure your boss could still scold you, but better to appear eager to learn and advance than to make excuses.
Gently stated and well placed questions will give you more control and wisdom.
John F. Graham is Co-Founder of Accelerated Professionals. Accelerated Professionals is a course for young professionals that bridges the gap between business operations and the board room. If you're looking to increase your prospects of moving from support staff to management, our short 6 week course will give you the boost you need to present yourself confidently and get the executive staff to lean in when you speak.


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Children and their families are at the center of all we do.
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PLEASE NOTE: Because the health and safety of our patients, families, visitors and staff is of utmost importance to us and to prevent the spread of the virus causing COVID19 illness, new visitation restrictions are now in effect.
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Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
225 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60611
Research at Lurie Children's is conducted through Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute. We focus on improving child health, transforming pediatric medicine and ensuring healthier futures.
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Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute has moved onto the campus of its medical partners creating the promise of greater impact for pediatric research
⚠ COVID-19 INFORMATION: Resources, Vaccine Information/Información sobre las vacunas
Snow City Arts is an award-winning, independent nonprofit organization that educates and inspires children in hospitals through the arts. We visit Lurie Children's four days a week to address children's developmental and educational needs through the arts. Our team of professional artists provides one-on-one instruction in:
Children typically work with individual instructors at their bedsides, but when they're well enough to leave their rooms, they can participate in workshops in the Art Room in the Family Life Center , which is a medical-free zone where creativity, experimentation and education are encouraged.
Snow City Arts, while arts-based, puts the focus on learning and uses our student workshops and evaluations to integrate state and national standards in subjects like:
By integrating standards into lesson planning and assessment, we're able to ensure that children in the hospital are learning skills that are in line with the lesson plans at their schools. At the end of each semester, with approval from parents, we send reports and art-filled portfolios to home schools to consider for credit.
Snow City Arts provides opportunities for the artwork produced by the students to be publicly featured in temporary and permanent galleries and installations. To see Lurie Children's very own permanent installation, visit the 12th floor hallway near the Family Life Center.
Artwork has also been featured in Snow City Arts-produced gallery shows and in exhibitions at various venues, including:
Patient artwork has also been recognized in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and on every major television network. You can even view some of the movies patients have made on Skylight TV.
The White House and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities underscored the importance of our programming in 2007 by honoring Snow City Arts with the prestigious Coming Up Taller Award. It also recognized us as one of the 15 best youth programs in the U.S. In 2008, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized us for our "outstanding arts in healthcare" programs and profiled us as a national Best Practices organization.
It is a pleasure to work with Lurie Children's to provide the highest quality arts-based learning opportunities for patients. If you'd like to learn how to become part of our mission, find out how you can get involved and help support our work.


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The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants was created in 1999 by the Commission on Human Rights, pursuant to resolution 1999/44.
The main functions of the Special Rapporteur are :
(a) To examine ways and means to overcome the obstacles existing to the full and effective protection of the human rights of migrants, recognizing the particular vulnerability of women, children and those undocumented or in an irregular situation ;
(b) To request and receive information from all relevant sources, including migrants themselves, on violations of the human rights of migrants and their families ;
© To formulate appropriate recommendations to prevent and remedy violations of the human rights of migrants, wherever they may occur ;
(d) To promote the effective application of relevant international norms and standards on the issue ;
(e) To recommend actions and measures applicable at the national, regional and international levels to eliminate violations of the human rights of migrants ;
(f) To take into account a gender perspective when requesting and analysing information, and to give special attention to the occurrence of multiple forms of discrimination and violence against migrant women ;
(g) To give particular emphasis to recommendations on practical solutions with regard to the implementation of the rights relevant to the mandate, including by identifying best practices and concrete areas and means for international cooperation ;
(h) To report regularly to the Human Rights Council, according to its annual programme of work, and to the General Assembly,
In the discharge of these functions :
(a) The Special Rapporteur acts on information submitted to him regarding alleged violations of the human rights of migrants by sending urgent appeals and communications to concerned Governments to clarify and/or bring to their attention these cases.
(b) The Special Rapporteur conducts country visits (also called fact-finding missions) upon the invitation of the Government, in order to examine the state of protection of the human rights of migrants in the given country. The Special Rapporteur submits a report of the visit to the Human Rights Council, presenting his findings, conclusions and recommendations. See Country Reports
© The Special Rapporteur participates in conferences, seminars and panels on issues relating to the human rights of migrants as well as issues press releases.
(d) Annually, the Special Rapporteur, reports to the Human Rights Council about the global state of protection of migrants' human rights, his main concerns and the good practices he has observed. In his report, the Special Rapporteur informs the Council of all the communications he has sent and the replies received from Governments. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur formulates specific recommendations with a view to enhancing the protection of the human rights of migrants. Upon request of the Human Rights Council the Special Rapporteur may also present reports to the General Assembly. See Thematic Reports
Furthermore, in September 2008, pursuant to Resolution 9/5, the Human Rights Council requested the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of Migrants, other special procedures of the Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay special attention to cases of arbitrary detention of migrants, particularly of migrant children and adolescents. Likewise, it encouraged the Special Rapporteur to continue to examine ways and means of overcoming obstacles to the full and effective protection of the human rights of migrants, including national and international efforts to combat the trafficking of persons and smuggling of migrants, in order to achieve a better comprehension of the phenomena and to avoid practices that could violate the human rights of migrants.
The Special Rapporteur also reports to the General Assembly.
To read more about the role of the Special Rapporteur, and to access Annual Thematic and Country Reports, visit the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner here.


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Panel Maintenance and Disc Handling for VOD108 Mobile DVD Player
|How should I handle the discs that are to be played in my VOD108 Mobile DVD Player?
Disk Maintenance:
|How do I load and play discs properly on my VOD108 Mobile DVD Player?
|Proper Disc Use:
(NOTE: Both the unit and the disc are coded by region. If the regional codes do not match then the disc cannot be played. This DVD player is set to Region Number 1, if it is the wrong region code, the unit will display "WRONG REGION".)
|What are some ways to maintain the LCD Panel on my VOD108 Mobile DVD Player?
|LCD Panel Maintenance:


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I became interested in the I-Ching about six years ago when a friend introduced me to it. I decided the best way to learn about it was to use it as a divinatory aid. I quickly learned how to ask questions receive answers using 3 chinese coins. I went through a whole year where I consulted the I-ching every day. This method taught me well about each hexagram and their subtle meanings. More so than simply reading the book could have achieved.
If you don't know the basics about this 5000 year old book, google it. I highly recommend getting to know this work. It will always be there to help guide you for the rest of your life. You will not regret this decision.
I have tried many different versions of the text, but generally use Richard Wilhelms.
Terence Mckenna used the I-ching to create a time wave theory. His work is most inspiring.
"It's clearly a crisis of two things: of consciousness and conditioning. These are the two things that the psychedelics attack. We have the technological power, the engineering skills to save our planet, to cure disease, to feed the hungry, to end war; But we lack the intellectual vision, the ability to change our minds. We must decondition ourselves from 10,000 years of bad behavior. And, it's not easy." — Terence McKenna, This World…and Its Double


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Independent oil and gas exploration and production company Stone Energy Corporation, which emerged from bankruptcy last month, announced on April 28 that President and CEO Dave Welch has retired. Welch, who had been with the Lafayette-based company for 13 years, also informed the board that he was stepping down as a director.
James M. Trimble, an independent director for the company, was elected interim president and CEO by the board of directors. The board also appointed Keith Seilhan, formerly the company's senior vice president – Gulf of Mexico, to the new post of chief operating officer.
In a press release, board Chairman Neal P. Goldman thanked Welch for his years of dedication to the company. "He led the company with integrity and prioritized safety and environmental protection in all of Stone's operations," Goldman said, adding that the board is confident Trimble is "the right leader to guide the company into a new period of shareholder value creation. He is a proven and highly-respected oil and gas executive with decades of industry experience."
Trimble has more than 35 years of energy industry experience, having served as president and CEO of PDC Energy from 2011 to 2015, a period the press release describes as "exceptional growth and value creation for PDC shareholders." Before that he founded and/or led several private oil and gas companies focused primarily on drilling in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Trimble served as the senior vice president of exploration and production for Cabot Oil and Gas for 17 years. He has a degree in petroleum engineering from Mississippi State University.
Seilhan was named senior vice president-Gulf of Mexico in January 2015 after serving as vice president-deep water for the two prior years and deep water projects manager beginning in July 2012. Before joining Stone Energy, Seilhan filled various senior leadership and operations roles for Amoco and BP over his 21-year career with those organizations.
Stone (NYSE: SGY) also has offices in New Orleans and Houston.


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If you are a tech enthusiast residing in Lagos, it's probably easy to believe the notion that tech is the new oil. However, in the city of Port Harcourt, you may be forced to have a rethink — oil is clearly winning the game at the moment.
Yet, after spending a few days in Port Harcourt last month, on the Techpoint Innovation Tour, it was impossible to miss the increased frenzy in the tech community in the area — some individuals have made a firm resolve to foster the growth of the tech ecosystem in Port Harcourt and their efforts are gradually paying off.
Leo Ata and Ebibote Omobo, the co-founders of elitePath, a software company that trains developers and digital marketers in Port Harcourt, are one of these individuals with a passion to transform the tech scene in the oil city.
Borne purely out of the desire of its founders to create a more active and engaging tech community in Port Harcourt, elitePath is positioned to fill the gap in the technology sector in the city and in Nigeria at large. Leo and Ebibote share their story and prospects for the future in this interesting chat.
Onyinye Uche (OU): What exactly happens in elitePath?
Leo Ata (LA): elitePath is a software company that saw a need and gap in the technology sector in Port Harcourt and decided to bridge the gap by training developers from ground zero to industry standard. Basically, we just give people a roadmap in their software careers. We also offer digital marketing training and build software applications for clients too. We also plan on expanding our portfolio courses as time goes on
We do not have enough developers here in Port Harcourt and the ones we have are not as fully as engaged as they should be. Many developers here work remotely but not outside the shores of the country, and some of them need up to date skills to get these opportunities. That is part of our mission.
For the web development course, we train the students for 12 weeks, and graduates of the course will work with us for another 6 months before we fully deploy them or link them to other companies to work with.
OU: Why did you choose Port Harcourt?
Ebibote Omobo (EO): I grew up in Port Harcourt and I studied computing, software engineering and web development in Malaysia. I noticed that many IT students that travel there do not want to come back to Nigeria, but I had a different mindset.
We are lagging behind when it comes to IT in Nigeria. We don't really have developers and the few we have are doing their own personal stuff. Nobody wants to work with the government or do something that will help Nigeria as a whole.
So when I came back in March this year I realised that everything IT is happening in Lagos. I got an opportunity to work in Lagos and Abuja but I declined the offer because I felt that Port Harcourt is also a big city and an open market and if we can put all our efforts into building it, we can actually compete. We feel like the Port Harcourt tech community is not being taken seriously, so we have to stay here.
This is a big city and tech is possible here and we need to echo it, bring people and work with them to see how we can make Port Harcourt tech ecosystem grow.
OU: How did both of you come together to build elitePath?
EO: That is one miracle. When I came back, I had this passion to meet developers in Port Harcourt. I searched online but I didn't really find people. One day, a girl sent me a message on social media after discovering that I was a programmer from my profile and shared her difficult experience learning programming.
She also mentioned that there was a friend that was helping her and I told her I was interested in meeting him. That was how I connected with Leo on Facebook. After three days, we met at a fast-food joint and we started holding frequent meetings afterward.
OU: So how has building the Port Harcourt tech community been, have you experienced any challenges?
EO: The challenge is to get people out on their feet. Getting people out of their comfort zone cannot be done in a year or two. The whole idea behind elitePath initially was to host an event in Port Harcourt with our own money because of the passion we had for the tech ecosystem. We wanted the event to bring out developers because we didn't really know a lot of them.
When you do other events here, millions of people turn up, but when it comes to tech events, you can count the attendees. Everybody is doing events but people are not even aware of these things. So when you say "Oil to tech", they don't care because they don't even know what you are talking about.
So during the course of planning and research, we realised that we may not be able to get a lot of people to attend the event. But if we try to build them, teach them how to do these stuff, then the people we have taught can start talking about it and showing their works to others.
So we are looking into grooming people from secondary schools and even universities. We feel it's very effective when you build the younger generation from the grassroots.
So first of all, we need to preach it to people, teach people these things and they too can pass it on. Then when you start organizing tech events, we can bring out massive people. So we are trying to bridge that gap
OU: So what are the requirements to get into elitePath?
LA: We like to go by a very simple model — if you can read and comprehend, we can teach you to code. I have literally seen people go from zero — knowing only how to boot the computer — to writing software applications.
So anybody who is literate, by literate I mean, if you can read, write and comprehend, you can definitely learn how to code because programming is more about how you think and logically applying tech to a solution. You just need to get the right environment, the right drill, the right training and you are on your way to excel.
Students are also required to pay a fee of ₦90,000 which is cool. I know of places that collect well over ₦200k, but Port Harcourt is a new market and we want people to appreciate and have value for what we are doing. So the money is not even relative to the amount of knowledge or innovation pushed out
OU: I still think that some literates may not be suited for a career in programming? So what happens if people like these start the program and find out that they don't really want to code?
LA: I don't think anyone's natural instincts is to instantly love seeing words arranged funny. So it's not the love for how codes look but the ideology behind creating something out of nothing, writing software — that is what keeps people.
It is very common to get started and give up down the line. Beginners are likely going to encounter technical challenges and nobody likes looking stupid. And it is at that breaking point that you know if you will learn or quit.
But It all boils down to the environment and the people around you — that is what keeps you moving. Consistency too — you may not get it instantly the first time but there is nothing you keep doing consistently in the right way that you won't get better at.
EO: Everybody thinks programming is very hard, so we are trying to make it flexible. I learnt it the easy way, and I am trying to use my curriculum and my method of learning these past years to make it easier for people.
OU: Some people predict that salaries of developers may soon plunge because of the increasing number of software developers? Do you agree?
LA: In the laws of economics if supply exceeds demand then price will drop. But in this situation, this is not the case. I once read a study, I think it was carried out in UCLA, which revealed that in the next ten to fifteen years, the number of people graduating with computer science degrees will be around a 100, 000 and the number of jobs for developers will be well over ten times that number. So the IT industry will actually need more developers to ease the workforce.
And we are in a field where your personal development is key — the desire to keep learning and keep pushing. So what matters is the quality of developers. Just like there are a lot of tailors, event planners, cake designers and makeup artists, yet the best of the best still get the best jobs and the best pay. It's the same thing with developers and the market for developers is not limited to only the shores of Nigeria.
So if Nigerian companies want to pay you very little and you are sure of your skills, you can find a remote job with a company that pays well outside the country.
OU: How is elitePath currently being funded?
EO: From the start to this point, we the co-founders have funded it. We are goal-driven people and we believe that sometimes when you have excess funds you may become too relaxed and miss your goal. So we want to get to a certain extent before we start considering external funding.
OU: What are the prospects for the future?
LA: We are targeting at least 150 developers a year starting from 2018, so we're looking at 500 in the next 5 years. We want to grow and expand exponentially and bring out the best possible developers that will be valuable in all corners of the globe.
We would also like to make sure that everyone aged 12 and above, living and residing in Port Harcourt will in one or another go through elitePath in their journey through the technology world
EO: We launched elitePath officially in September and the future looks exceedingly bright. We are thinking long term so we are not expecting profit immediately. In Nigeria there are problems everywhere, you either complain or find solutions. Our ideas are channeled towards solving Nigeria's problem, not just the business aspect.
The developers we train join us immediately and work with us on these long-term projects to achieve it. The only challenge is getting people to train, but we believe that will be sorted out with time. We have developed a strong online presence and we have become technology evangelists.
OU: Can you tell us about some of these future projects?
EO: I chose an online voting system as my final year project in school knowing the flaws in the Nigerian election process. I did it for my SRC elections in school, what we call SUG here, and so I am looking at expanding that project here in Nigeria. That is one project we are currently working on but we are also looking at improving other systems including hospitals and the police force.
We know that everything is politicised in Nigeria and these projects may not be appreciated now, especially since it is coming from a small company. But one day, a government that will embrace IT in Nigeria will emerge.
We just want to keep building these projects and advancing gradually, while we work on other smaller projects that can provide the necessary funds for our future projects. We also intend to work with companies to build APIs that can interact with mobile devices.
The goal is to build something that won't only help our company but the country at large. So we are not very concerned about making profit right now.


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The title of this poem is crucial because it lets us know that the poem is spoken by Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. The epigraph, then, is a little piece of history: it's from Shakespeare's will, and tells us that the only item that he left for his wife in his will was their "second best bed." Score.
Anne Hathaway begins the poem by describing that second best bed mentioned the epigraph. She imagines that the bed is a "spinning world," filled with fanciful and beautiful things, like castles and clifftops. She describes Shakespeare's words as shooting stars, and then compares her and her husband's bodies to a whole bunch of poetic words like rhymes and echoes. And just to make it a little weirder, she tells us that she sometimes dreamed that he had written her, the same way he had written his plays. They had real romance and drama, though.
Finally, to clear things up, Anne says that their guests slept in their best bed, while she and her husband used second best one. (How generous.) Now, her husband lives on in her memory: she holds him in her mind, the same way he held her on their second best bed. Aw.
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Me (Dave) again. Kim is taking the next two weeks.
Today I'm going to talk about Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Well, okay, not really. I'm actually going to talk about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.
Why not? Pride and Prejudice may be my favorite Jane Austen novel so far (having read that one, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey thus far), but what would I really have to say about it that hasn't been said already? Pride and Prejudice was on our list, but we'd already done two Austen novels. Though I think it is a moving story of how imperfect humans (in other words, all) fall in love fully of sparkling wit, manners comedy, and a wonderful depiction of English society at that time, that's all been said.
So why not let that all stand and look at Pride and Prejudice and Zombies instead?
(For those following along in The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was 3rd for Kate Atkinson, 5th for Michael Chabon, 6th for Robb Forman Dew, 4th for Alice Hoffmann, 5th for Norman Mailer, 1st for Claire Messud, 6th for Iain Pears, 9th for Ian Rankin, and 8th for Adriana Trigiani.)
After all, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies pretty much takes the original text and morphs it as it goes along, adding in zombies and such. It isn't exactly a complete retelling, since so much of the framework is there. It's more of a recasting, where it's the background that has been recast as the English countryside overrun with zombies.
To give an example, let us compare the original Austen 3:16 (little wrestling joke there) from Pride and Prejudice:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
with that from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a zombie in possession of brains, must be in want of more brains.
Little differences.
I enjoyed reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies more than I expected. Grahame-Smith manages to keep enough of Austen's work alive in this while still creating an interesting new imagining. The framework is pretty much intact, but still creatively done with the addition of zombies.
The zombies can get a bit gimmicky, but then there is the Austen framework to fall back on. Admittedly, it doesn't quite hit the heights of the heart or wit of Austen's original, but I don't think that would have been possible and this certainly wasn't intended to be that kind of book.
The references to China and kung fu are a bit repetitive and overdone, and Grahame-Smith tries to stick in some sexual humor that seems horribly out of place for the characters. Still, overall I enjoyed myself. I think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies's interest is somewhat limited to those who know Austen, as there's no joke otherwise, but who doesn't to at least some degree?
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies manages to hold a conversation with Austen, and most decent literature is a really conversation with the world in one way or another…particularly with the rest of the world of literature. Grahame-Smith manages in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to do something both interesting and fun.


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Dematic is a world leader in intelligent logistics solutions for the manufacturing and distribution industries. Dematic's innovations help organizations improve supply chain performance and its IT systems optimize distribution efficiency, and productivity. Sydney is Dematic's headquarters for South East Asian, Australian, and New Zealand operations, and also provides IT support for some Asia-Pacific (APAC) requirements. Locally, Dematic's activities include product research and development, and manufacturing.
- Dematic's Australia office
- Headquarters for Asia-Pacific operations and some IT support
- 600+ users
- Insufficient backup system
- Lengthy recovery times
- Congested network
- Insufficient archiving capabilities
- Barracuda Backup
- Barracuda Message Archiver
- Barracuda Load Balancer
- Easy to install and configure
- Reduced backup time to less than six hours
- Reduced recovery time to less than one hour
- Eliminated network congestion
- Facilitated faster discovery
The Changing Face of Backup Technologies
Dematic's APAC CIO Allan Davies' existing backup solution was no longer meeting their needs, with backup time inflating to 48 hours. "Most CIOs face the same challenge that we had," Davies explains; "backup technology continually changes. Old technologies couldn't keep up with the quantity, nor the window of time available to conduct backups.
Backing Up to the Cloud
Although Dematic is 75% virtualized, on occasion, Davies needed to be able to recover project data on systems that have been installed 15+ years ago. Davies decided Dematic's next backup solution would be to a secure cloud.
He found Barracuda's cloud-integrated backup solution, designed to protect physical and virtual environments. Barracuda's offering included software, appliance and offsite replication. Not only did Barracuda Backup reduce the required backup time to under six hours, retrieval was reduced to under one hour—a huge improvement.
Davies liked the simplicity of the solution. "It provided peace of mind that we knew where the data was loaded. It was simple to install and configure, and I liked that with Barracuda's subscription model, the device will be replaced every four years," he says.
Removing Congestion from the Network
As Barracuda's consultants worked with Davies, they noticed an opportunity to significantly enhance Dematic's disaster recovery capabilities, eliminating a four-hour delay—the loss of half a workday.
They implemented the Barracuda Load Balancer to automatically redistribute service requests to the disaster recovery site, in the event of a disaster affecting the primary Sydney data center. They'd gain immediate access to the disaster recovery facility, improve overall throughput on the local network, and alleviate congestion.
Archiving for Legal Discovery
Within a few months, Davies approached Barracuda again; this time, about replacing Dematic's old archiving solution. "When you have a positive relationship with a technology provider, you are both always looking for opportunities to improve," says Davies. At the time, Dematic's older archiver addressed only 50% of users' archive email, equivalent to 1.2TB to reduce the volume of network traffic that has an impact on data circuits between their headquarters and their disaster recovery site. Barracuda's Message Archiver offered a way to reduce email storage requirements. When integrated with Barracuda Backup, it would share messages and services, as well as facilitate faster discovery. "Legal discovery was the primary reason for needing an archiving solution. Most legal discovery these days is contained within the email system. The one discovery request we had involved rebuilding a Lotus Notes system and it took months to complete," Davies recalls.
- Allan Davies, CIO APAC, Dematic
"After that experience, we deployed an archiving solution and it was great. Unfortunately, the solution deteriorated under this particular vendor's new ownership," explains Davies. "We felt there was little choice but to remain with them. That is, until I saw the Barracuda solutions; its archiving functionality would be a godsend for any future discovery requests, plus it would help keep track of emails."
A major attraction of the Barracuda offering was its user interface on mobile devices, which Davies describes as "far more advanced than our old solution." Davies was adamant that the archiving solution had to be accessible via any of the devices used within the company, including companyissued, and BYO PCs, notebooks and smartphones. Barracuda Message Archiver was deployed in May 2014. "It was very user-intuitive and easy to set up in just two days, compared to our old archiving system that took seven days to set up," Davies adds.
Optimizing Network Traffic and Protection
Davies next project was to optimize traffic across the network to ensure business-critical applications would provide the best user experience and restrict traffic to non-critical applications. He also wanted to improve his network protection against emerging threats and vulnerabilities. Again, he turned to Barracuda and implemented the Barracuda NG Firewall, enabling him to see granular reports and their network traffic, prevent real-time attacks, and maximize business efficiency.Davies says he enjoys working with Barracuda because, "They are still young and with that youth, there is enthusiasm and a willingness to embrace new technologies. They are agile with their solutions and always customer focused. We are confident in their commitment and ability, and we'll be evaluating more of their technologies as needs arise," he concludes.
By the end of the first month of working with the solution, Davies knew it could deliver exactly what Dematic required, a good end-user experience, be intuitive to use, available across multiple devices, be low maintenance, and allow for flexible search capabilities. Davies met his requirements with Barracuda and he cancelled arrangements with the previous archiving vendor.
Barracuda en quelques mots
Protecting users, applications, and data for more than 150,000 organisations worldwide, Barracuda Networks has developed a global reputation as the go-to leader for powerful, easy-to-use, affordable IT solutions. The company's proven customer-centric business model focuses on delivering highvalue, subscription-based IT solutions for security and storage. For additional information, please visit barracuda.com or follow us on Twitter@barracudaEMEA.
About the Barracuda Backup
Barracuda delivers easy cloud-connected Backup. Barracuda Backup is the unified, cost-efficient data protection solution for your physical and virtual environments. Backup software, local storage, and remote storage is integrated into a solution that can be rapidly deployed in under an hour. Cloud-based central management enables seamless multisite administration and rapid local or remote recovery prevents data loss and minimize down time. Barracuda Backup is a complete backup solution with remote storage that is easy to buy, install, and manage, all backed by our live 24/7 customer support experts.


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Small Press Spotlight: Small Beer Press
I love new things. I bought a Kindle the first day I could. I go to film festivals and dig around for underground music. In my reading choices, I try to do the same. Although I don't always succeed, I've tried more and more to read new writers and new perspectives. But, like the music and film industry, publishing has a limited risk tolerance. Not only with unknown authors, but also with unconventional narratives and controversial subjects. The result is a disproportionate number of progressive titles come from the small nimble presses that dot the publishing landscape outside the conglomerates in New York City and London.
But, what is a small press?
Traditionally, a press that reports sales of less than $50 million is small. I'm sure Tachyon Publications and EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing would happily take $49 million in sales and hold on to the small moniker. A more applicable definition might be publishing less than 10 titles a year. Now I'm ruling out Night Shade Books, Subterranean Press, and a host of even smaller publishers who, in the new digital world, have much more extensive catalogs than they did even five years ago. What's the answer then? Perhaps the best definition today would be a press without the resources of a larger publishing enterprise. That excludes Pyr and Angry Robot, who are both backed by non-fiction publishers. Given both have a fairly large presence in the genre readers' consciousness already, I'm willing to go with it.
And that gets to the crux of what I hope this column will achieve. How many wonderful small press titles don't find a readership because they lack visibility? Limited publicity budgets (if any) and books that don't fall into traditional marketing niches, challenge small presses to get the word out through conventions, 'zines, and, in the modern world, blogs. Word of mouth remains the best way to sell books, but the mouth piece has changed, no longer the well informed bookseller who helps identify diamonds in the rough. It's become a big box book world, reliant on algorithms and advertising to break through.
With that in mind, SF Signal approached me to ask, and maybe answer, important questions about the small press world. Why they exist and how they make ends meet. At the end of it, I hope to have generated some word of mouth about the excellent work being done by these presses around the world.
I begin with Small Beer Press, founded by husband and wife Gavin Grant and Kelly Link who first teamed up in the late 90's under the Hugo-nominated zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. I have no idea what a rosebud wristlet might be, but it sounds smart. Still publishing the zine, Link and Grant have expanded their domain to include chapbooks, original novels, and short story collections. Since Small Beer opened its doors twelve years ago, the pair have published over sixty titles.
While I mentioned above that small presses struggle with awareness, it isn't necessarily with the insider crowd. Small Beer is a great example of being widely read in literary circles. They've had work nominated for the Impac Prize, Story Prize, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards; and been chosen as best of the year by Booklist, Time Magazine, Salon, Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Locus. It goes to say that people who know good fiction, know Small Beer. I wonder though how many readers of this article could tell me a book they've published?
Before I received an e-mail from a Small Beer publicist, I couldn't have named one. Not one. They offered me a copy of Maureen F. McHugh's new short story collection After the Apocalypse. I recalled McHugh had been nominated for a Hugo ten years ago (China Mountain Zhang), but with no recent work to speak of, I figured it was another tiny press hoping for attention. I accepted the review copy with little hope I would finish it.
How uninformed I felt when upon finishing McHugh's collection. I dubbed it the best piece of fiction released in 2011. It's a proclamation I stand by to this day. Some have agreed with me (to one degree or another), including the Shirley Jackson Award jury which recently awarded McHugh with the Best Single-Author Collection Award for 2011. Even so, I fear it was not read nearly enough.
A gut reaction to that proclamation might be to blame the press and McHugh's modest following. I'm sure both played a role, but short fiction isn't an easy sell anymore. Not that less short fiction is being written, that doesn't seem to be the case, but the demand to read it has eroded (or at least to pay for it). Major publishers seem to produce fewer anthologies each year, and single author collections have gone the way of the dodo. Tor has even gone so far as to publish dozens of shorts for free on Tor.com. Among the magazines, there's an impression that their primary readers are writers who want to be published in them. But, for those readers who still crave the format, short fiction collection have become a niche in which small presses have found success.
Small Beer Press exemplifies this as well as anyone, providing an outlet for short fiction savants like McHugh, Ted Chiang, Carol Emshwiller, Nancy Kress, Ray Vukcevich, Kelly Link, and Karen Joy Fowler. They've also given a home to the odd and obscure. Hal Duncan, author of the critically lauded Vellum and Ink, recently published An A-Z of the Fantastic City with Small Beer. It's a travel book of fictional (and not) places, and, I would think, unpublishable by a larger press.
Beyond these more niche pieces, Small Beer also manages a line of original novels, many by authors recognizable even to casual readers. John Crowley, Ursula K. LeGuin (translator), Ellen Kushner, and Elizbeth Hand highlight the field, but Small Beer has brought new perspectives as well. One such is Karen Lord's Redemption in Indigo, a 2010 release that's gaining new popularity with her recent nomination for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (also newly released in the United Kingdom from Jo Fletcher Books).
Lord's novel marries Caribbean and Senegalese traditions into a fable not dissimilar in tone to José Saramago's Cain, which likewise deploys humor and parable-like set pieces to peel back layers of myth. It's a beautiful work of fiction that symbolizes Small Beer's eye for talent, but also their unique perspective that trends toward fabulism and progressive points of view.
Looking ahead, I find more to get excited about with short story collection from Ursula K. LeGuin, Elizabeth Hand, Peter Dickinson, and Kij Johnson. Most significant of all though, is a new LeGuin translation of Angélica Gorodischer's Trafalgar. While I can't speak to the quality of the translation or the novel, I believe one of the great frontiers that remains in genre fiction is the importation of it from other countries. The English speaking world has been exporting genre fiction to the world in droves, but it has been a largely one way street. I hope that Small Beer and LeGuin's commitment to Gorodischer's work might be the beginning of a larger movement by small presses to fill a need as yet unmet.
I hope this article won't characterize Small Beer Press as a clearing house for things big publishing doesn't want. That's a misrepresentation of the highest order. Instead, I would say they publish the things big publishing can't and won't. In some cases because the economies of scale make it impossible, in others because they don't dare. Too often the mistake is made that small presses are the publishers of last resort for authors and agents as they're rejected by New York City. The reality is that publishing is a business, one that de-emphasis risk and glorifies saleability. That line of thinking ignores, in some cases, the art of the written word, and the breadth of perspective available if we'll only look for it. I'm excited that Small Beer Press is searching for these perspectives. The least we can do is keep an eye on what they find.


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
2018 Police Recruitment from City of Holland on Vimeo.
Are you looking for a department that feels like a family, and you know everyone you work with? Are you looking for a department where each shift focuses on teamwork, where there is a variety of specialty teams to pursue, and there is a focus on regular, realistic training? Do you want to work where there is a focus on the community and where you can participate in building relationships and going beyond just reacting to dispatched calls?
Holland DPS is a place where you can stay busy responding to calls, initiating enforcement and investigations, and following up on cases.
How about a career with the Holland Department of Public Safety, Police Division? The Holland area is a great place to live, work and raise a family, with a vibrant downtown, beautiful lakeshore, excellent parks and outdoor recreation options, and several great school systems.
We are looking for quality people who share these core values with us:
This is who we are and what we stand for.
Apply to join our team, and check out our specialty areas that you can pursue during your career:
To apply click here


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Expert Solar Water Heater Installation & Repair in Honolulu, Kapolei & Entire Oahu Island, HI
Solar power is becoming the norm in many regions of the country. Now, you can even install solar panels on your roof to heat water delivered directly to a storage tank. The plumbing industry is continually innovating for the better. Homeowners and businesses seeking cost-effective water heating solutions are living in the best time.
Great plumbing experience!!!
Why Solar is a Good Idea
Solar water heaters, also known as solar domestic hot water systems, are a cost-effective solution to generate hot water for an entire household. These systems may be used in any climate, and sunshine – the primary fuel source – is entirely free!
Your average solar water heating system includes a storage tank and a series of solar collectors – mounted on the roof or otherwise. There are two types of systems: active, which uses circulating pumps and controls, or passive, which does not. Either one is a smart choice for today's homeowners.
Most solar water heaters require a well-insulated tank. Each tank has an additional outlet and inlet connected to and from the collector. In a two-tank system, the water heater preheats water beforehand. In a one-tank system, the backup heater is combined with the storage in a single tank. Depending on space requirements, you may opt for either setup. There's no wrong answer here!
Overall, solar-powered heating solutions are becoming an efficient and cost-effective tool. Those who make use of such a system often enjoy exponential savings throughout the year. Your cost of installation will be quickly recouped over time as your monthly utility bills will decrease.


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Day 5 in Seoul: A Day of Rest
Tuesday was a lazy day in Seoul. We got coffee, walked around, ate, browsed shops. My legs were still sore, so we took the afternoon off and hung out at the guesthouse. That evening for dinner, we met a blogger J. had been in touch with. She had been living in Seoul for four years, and had a lot of advice and stories to share. She also introduced us to a wonderful local restaurant we wouldn't have known about otherwise.
Greens drying in the sun.
Blue trim, red door.
Old building.
Stone stairs.
Another garden spider.
Looking over rooftops.
Old lady walking down hill.
Poster shop of K-Pop.
Monk in a rush to get somewhere.
Chilies drying by a garage door.
Junk store.
Cloths drying outside a salon.
Basket truck.
Kimchi platters.
Soup of massive, delicious dumplings.
More ducts.
J. outside a store.
Funny mural.
Dead bird.
Egg delivery.
A symbol from peaceful to hateful, simply by rotating the camera 45°.
Egg tarts.
Inside a restaurant that only served two dishes: steamed pork and kimchi stew.
The pork was spicy, supple and delicious.
The soup was spicy and soupy.
Two good Korean meals and relaxing are fine by me, especially when they allow time for legs to recover. I needed to save my energy for one last day of Seoul adventure.


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Matewan (1987)
Directed by John Sayles
Genres - Drama | Sub-Genres - Political Drama, Americana, Ensemble Film, Social Problem Film | Release Date - Aug 28, 1987 (USA) | Run Time - 130 min. | Countries - United States | MPAA Rating - PG13
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Synopsis by Norm Schrager
Independent filmmaker John Sayles creates one of his more artistic works with this period feature about a volatile 1920s labor dispute in the town of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan is a coal town where the local miners' lives are controlled by the powerful Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company practically owns the town, reducing workers' wages while raising prices at the company-owned supply and grocery. The citizens' land and homes are not their own, and the future seems dim. When the coal company brings immigrants and minorities to Matewan as cheaper labor, union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) scours the town to unite all miners in a strike. As the crisis grows, strikers and their families are removed from their homes by two coal company mercenaries (Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp, both also featured in Sayles' Eight Men Out (1988)), and the situation heads toward a final shootout on Matewan's main street . Sayles' simple but telling screenplay brings to light the treatment of immigrants and minorities in the early 20th century South, and it draws sharp parallels between the Matewan labor battle and the Civil War some 50 years earlier. The visual feel of the film is real West Virginia backwoods, with much of the credit going to legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler, whose warm, rustic lighting belies the anxiety and terror felt by the oppressed townspeople.
striker, bishop, boss [employer], coal, conflict, family, immigrant, killing, labor [work], labor-relations, leader, mercenary, rebel, rurality, scab, sheriff, thug, union [labor union], union-dispute
High Artistic Quality


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Report: IU makes final six for 2015 center Nick Marshall
Class of 2015 Lexington (Tenn.) center Nick Marshall, one of Indiana's top frontcourt targets, trimmed his list to six schools on Sunday and the Hoosiers are still in the running.
According to Glenn Elrod of GamecockCentral.com, the 6-foot-10 Marshall is still considering Connecticut, Indiana, Memphis, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Marshall also had offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia Tech, Kansas State and Ole Miss.
Rated the No. 125 prospect in the latest 247Composite, Marshall, who played AAU for Under Armour affiliated Team Thad, emerged as a target for Indiana in July as the staff tracked him at various events across the country.
In late July, Marshall's high school coach, Andrew Hicks, told Inside the Hall that IU's recruiting message seemed to be resonating well.
"I think one of the things that interests him about Indiana is the history," Hicks said. "We're going to sit down and talk style and fit, but one of the things they're stressing as far as his recruitment is the success they've had with bigs that can run the floor and do multiple things. So that's definitely something I think will pique his interest because he fits that mold at this point."
Two of Indiana's other top targets for the class of 2015, guard Shake Milton and forward Juwan Morgan, will take official visits to Bloomington in late September.
Filed to: Nick Marshall


text: Google's nifty "instant previews" feature that was introduced to desktop browsers in November last year has finally made its way to the small screen on our mobile phones. Android (2.2 and above) and iOS (4.0 and above) users will get to use this time (and bandwidth for those who have limited data plans) saving feature when searching on Google with their phones. All users have to do is enter the search term in the box like they normally do, and then hit search. The regular results page will appear, but this time there will be a magnifying glass next to the search result. Hit it and an "instant preview" window will pop up, giving you thumbnails of the first page of search results. Try it now by going to Google on your mobile device. Hit the break to watch a video of Google Instant Preview in action on the mobile phone.


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The Paradis Latin is a theater at number 28, rue du Cardinal Lemoine, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The closest métro stations are Cardinal Lemoine and Jussieu. It was first built in 1803 and was initially called Théâtre Latin. It burned down but was rebuilt in 1887-1889 by Gustave Eiffel. It was closed around 1900, but was partially reconstructed and reopened in 1970. It is now a cabaret and goes by the name it received in January 1889, Paradis Latin.
In the heart of Paris, in the fifth arrondissement, a stone's throw from Notre-Dame and the Panthéon, 300 metres from the Tour d'Argent restaurant. Metro: Cardinal Lemoine or Jussieu. Parking: Maubert Saint-Germain.
A Completely Modular Room
In a quiet and delicate atmosphere the hall designed by Gustave Eiffel welcomes you every evening for an unforgettable show.
Mythical, and historic, it has crossed the ages and continues its legendary path with its 700 seats, its bar, its gilding and masterful metal architecture, not to mention its sumptuous hand painted cupola…
Main Room - Up to 500 people A room classified as a heritage site by the City of Paris.
The mezzanine - The Mezzanine at the Paradis Latin is more intimate with an excellent view of the stage. The maximum capacity is 200 people.
Angels Bar - The Mezzanine overlooks the Angels Bar. The maximum capacity is 50 people.
Nico's Bar - The maximum capacity is 20 people.


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Seasonal Splendor by Twin Mom Scraps
Seasonal Splendor by Twin Mom Scraps
Such sweet photos! I like the banner border on the top and the clusters with the raccoon by the photos. The diagonal paper piece on the bottom with the additional animals is a nice touch.
Great pictures, love how you placed the little racoon element against the stick so it almost looks like part of the picture. The placement of the journaling is fabulous and the banners across the top are great.


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KINGSTON, R.I., July 27, 2017 — A newly published article by a University of Rhode Island nursing professor tackles the complexities and controversies surrounding the Affordable Care Act, including efforts to replace the current law, the role of politics in policy-making and relevance to nursing, other health professions, patients and policymakers.
"What's at Stake in U.S. Health Reform: A Guide to the Affordable Care Act and Value-Based Care," by Betty Rambur, professor of nursing and the Routhier Endowed Chair for Practice in the College of Nursing, appears in Policy, Politics & Nursing Practice, a quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal published by SAGE Publications Inc. that explores the multiple relationships between nursing and health policy.
Rambur analyzes recent health policy reforms, delineates possible financial and patient care impacts of changes to the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare," and describes recent congressional efforts to replace the law. Rambur breaks the complex policy into clear and distinct components and encourages nurses of all political persuasions as health care leaders and advocates for their patients to know the issues and engage with lawmakers.
"This article is among the best reviews of the Affordable Care Act. Professor Rambur provides unusually clear explanations of the law and the nuances of recent legislative proposals. Readers will be able to engage in discussions with policymakers, patients and clinicians based on evidence and facts," said Sally Cohen, editor in chief of Policy, Politics & Nursing and a clinical professor at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing.
Indeed, the publisher's assessment that this is a timely, important and influential analysis has led it to promote the article on Twitter and other social media venues across the nation and world. The publication of this important analysis and synthesis could not be more opportune, given the deliberations in Congress at the moment, Cohen observed.
The article offers a clear understanding to a highly complex and politicized piece of federal legislation that influences the lives of almost all Americans, she added. Regardless of one's political persuasion, occupation, and socioeconomic position, this article illustrates the implications of various reforms that are on the congressional agenda, Cohen noted.
Rambur notes that modern nursing includes care coordination and redesign, management and use of data as a tool to guide action and appreciation of financial and quality metrics that drive revenue needed to deliver care, making it critical that nurses understand all facets of health care policy reform.
"Nurses' thoughtful analysis of the issues and communication with members of Congress could be important in explaining the impact of the federal laws and proposals on patients and quality of care," Rambur explained.


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If you are yet to pick up the Samsung Galaxy S II and are looking for a few more incentives to do so, you may be interested to know that the handset will come with a bonus level of the popular Angry Birds game, exclusive to Samsung's latest smartphone.
The device is already widely available to buy in most parts of Europe, but Samsung are now preparing to launch the highly popular handset in the US and other parts of the world, with three of the main US carriers each getting their own variants of the Galaxy S II, similar to what occured with the original Galaxy S smartphone.
Now here's the part where Angry Birds work their magic into the launch of the device in other regions. Samsung has teamed up with Rovio to include a secret level which can only be accessed on the Samsung Galaxy S II, as reported from TechTree. The level will come in the form of the Angry Birds Pignic update and players will have to find a golden egg to unlock the level.
Rovio has made things easy for you though by releasing a video which explains how to unlock the secret level exactly, so perhaps it is not so secret after all. You'll find the video below this post, and you can see that the hidden level contains some Samsung Galaxy S II-like features and even the logo is included there just to give Samsung some bragging rights.
For die hard fans of Angry Birds, we have a feeling that a hint of jealousy is going to creep in for sure, knowing that you can only access this level on the Samsung Galaxy S II. It's a major coup for Samsung though and even though it's hard to believe, we have a feeling that this exclusive feature alone is going to help to secure a few extra sales.
However, if you have a rooted device, we predict that it won't be long until someone figures out how to get this secret level running on other Android handsets, as it doesn't seem too hard a task to achieve. Check out the video below and let us know what you think of it.
As an owner of a different handset, does the idea of a new level of Angry Birds exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S II frustrate you? We'll let you know if Rovio make this level available to everyone else – we doubt it though.
*Identifying Monetised Links - outgoing links that we monetise are marked with an '*' symbol.


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Moses: A Very Human Leader
Va'eira (Exodus 6:2-9:35 )
"Amram married Yocheved, and she bore him Moses and Aaron" (Ex. 6:20).
It is interesting that even though we all know who Moses and Aaron are, before the Torah begins to recount the 10 plagues in Egypt, we need to be told about their birth. Further, we are told that their father eventually dies and that Moses and Aaron both die a natural death.
One of the ideas behind this is that the Torah is concerned that people may start believing that Moses and Aaron are divine and that they were the source of the miracles. The Torah wants us to remember that, ultimately, God is the creator and source of life and all that's in it.
Furthermore, the Torah points out their shortcomings and mistakes, reinforcing the notion that no man is divine and infallible. Moses and Aaron were chosen as the medium through which God brought his blessings to the world; they were not the source. We should all remember that whatever blessings we have, we are just the conduit through which God has chosen to bring those blessings to the world. Just as Moses is described as the most humble man who ever lived, we shouldn't get carried away with our successes. We just need to remember and appreciate how lucky we really are.