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Growing up, there are a lot of things the world will forgive you for. Even in your 20s, there are a lot of mistakes that will be chalked down as 'youthful exuberances'. But at 30, the world sees you as a full-blown adult and a simple 'I am sorry' will not make up for a lot of things.
I am yet to approach the big 30 but I am beginning to learn about some of the habits that I need to cut as it is becoming increasingly difficult to apologise for them. Call it my strategy to prepare for the future or whatever, but I will be sharing some habits that need to be broken before you clock 30.
- Waiting for a 'sign' before you begin living – Honey, at this point, you should already know that life is not waiting for you. Figure out what you want to do with your life and begin today to do what you need to do to realize your dream of the future.
- Not giving back – Make time to volunteer for charity. Look around you to see what you can do selflessly for those around you. Start sowing seeds that will add to your 'goodwill bank'. This is one of the best investments you can make for your future.
- Fighting with your loved ones – Especially your siblings. No relationship is perfect. You will probably have disagreements with your siblings, but you need to learn to forgive easily.
- Saying 'YES' to things you don't want or need – And vice versa. Always remember that it is your life and nobody's. Your happiness should come first. If there is something that people expect from you that you can't live up to, politely let them know that you can't honour that expectation rather than being unhappy while doing it.
- Running late – No matter how hard this is to break, a simple conscious decision to better manage your time will go a long way to help you avoid running late for any engagement, formal or informal.
- Not having a financial investment portfolio – This should have been number 1 but I did not want to hit you with the 'extremely serious' stuff first. So, if you are approaching 30 and you haven't started investing or making plans to invest in your finances, honey, take a seat, pick up your phone and start making the necessary phone calls.
- Being afraid to ask for what you want – Whether in your career or relationship, what you want matters as much as the next person. Demand for what you want, and if you truly deserve what you want, don't be scared to ask for it or make tough decisions to get it.
- Not returning calls and messages – In this age of technology and applications that can work as assistants, you have 'almost' no excuse not to return your calls or messages. Just a short message apologizing for missing that call and asking for a better time to schedule the conversation with that person will suffice.
- Not investing in your health – This is a big 'NO'! Regular visists to the Doctor, exercise, and conscious healthy meal decision can go a long way in making the rest of your life better.
- Attend functions that you have agreed to attend – Everyone in the world is busy too. If you know you won't be able to hang with the girls, let them know ahead of time rather than calling in 20 minutes after you have agreed to meet them to say that you cannot make the date.


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If you're looking for a durable yet more economical flooring option, then you may want to discuss vinyl flooring with the experts at Armstrong Flooring Specialists. Vinyl floors are capable of successfully resembling numerous other floor types like stone or solid hardwood. Vinyl flooring is also more economical than other types flooring.
The relatively low price of vinyl flooring is because it's actually made from a mixture of materials. A great feature that goes along with its low cost is the non-porous nature of vinyl. This makes it very simplistic to clean and properly maintain. For this simple reason, vinyl flooring installation is ideal for high traffic areas.
Vinyl flooring is also exceptionally durable when compared to other floors. Vinyl inherently can sustain years of use, and this makes it especially useful in commercial areas. Vinyl also has great resilience. Resilience is a feature of flooring that measures its softness under a person's foot and how much "give" it provides. Having more "give" makes vinyl flooring a great idea for high traffic and commercial areas.
Vinyl Flooring Installation
The professionals at Armstrong Flooring Specialists will ensure that your vinyl flooring is installed properly and to your exact specifications. We start by bringing numerous vinyl samples to your home for you to choose from. This keeps you from having to make several trips to a home improvement store to find the perfect flooring for your home.
After you've made your choice, our professional installation crew will handle the removal of heavy furniture and appliances for you. We do this at no additional charge to you so that you can focus on whatever else you may wish to focus on. Our technicians will also remove your old flooring before finally performing your vinyl flooring installation. They'll even dispose of the old flooring for you and provide and install any baseboard and quarter round trim that may be needed. After the job is completed, our crew will make sure to put your appliances and furniture back in their rightful spots.
If your home or business could use luxurious and long lasting flooring on a budget, give us a call at Armstrong Flooring Specialists today so we can handle all of your vinyl flooring needs.
Our Service Areas:
We Service All Of Central Ohio Including…

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I had earmarked today as the day I was going to attempt to up the distance I was running. It was a beautiful morning, so around 9 am I set off to do five miles or so. I had my Garmin 405 with me so I'd get an accurate distance measurement. Unfortunately, today I had to run without the company of the magnificent Peggy-Dog, because the route wasn't all on off-lead ground and it was also probably too hot for her to run for an hour.
I knew the route I was going to take, but I wasn't sure of the exact distance. As it turned out it was pretty much bang on five miles, and I ran for about fifty minutes in total. And that included a little stop to say hello to a gorgeous German Shepherd too! It was a great run, I felt good all the way round, and despite the extra distance it wasn't a problem. In fact, if anything, running five miles again is like getting back to Distance Basecamp when I look back on the running I've done.
Last night I decided – actually, I decided days ago, but last night I beat my apathy – to put up for sale all my decent, sellable PlayStation 3 games: Uncharted 2, Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, FIFA 10, MAG. I haven't played anything on my PS3 for nearly a month now and I decided I may as well have the cash instead. I am considering using it to part-fund a PSPgo, but now that we've – Gillibobs and I – bought Jay-Z tickets for June, I may use the cash for that instead. Not really very interesting, I know, but it's all I got today.
And now it's time for tea. Any runners out there – or people that do any form of exercise – will know there's nothing like the hunger you get from physical exertion. Bring on the chicken casserole!


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With Konami announcing Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain last month, the company has decided the new hero of its upcoming game will be Big Boss, a.k.a Naked Snake, and not Solid Snake. But Solid Snake has had quite the legacy, which is why Konami is announcing they're bundling nearly the entire collection of Metal Gear Solid games in one easily digestible collection.
The Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection will be released on the PlayStation 3 this June and will feature Metal Gear Solid, the HD Collection versions of Metal Gear Solid 2 &3, the "Trophy Edition" of Metal Gear Solid 4, Peace Walker and VR Missions. The collection will also include two Ashley Wood digital graphic novels. There's no word on an exact release date or pricing for this collection of six games in one package, but we do know it will be released in both North America and South America. Hopefully all of this makes more sense to you than the trailer for Metal Gear Solid 5 did as I certainly still have nightmares as to what exactly I saw in its debut trailer.
Filed in Metal Gear Solid, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PS3 and Sony.. Read more about


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Clandulla Weddings
Clandulla Barn Weddings
For your dream country barn wedding! At "Clandulla Weddings" we provide a dedicated team from start to finish! Our team has been hand-picked for their ability to perform at the highest level… from the girls that take care of you every wish in accommodation to the gardener who puts his heart into making this a wedding to remember – all are at your beck and call on your special wedding day.


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Adult patients may elect to use nitrous oxide to reduce anxiety during dental treatment. The nitrous oxide is given through a small breathing mask which is placed over the nose, enabling relaxation without inducing sleep. You will smell a sweet aroma and experience a feeling of well-being and relaxation. Since nitrous oxide can sometimes produce a feeling of giddiness, it is often called "laughing gas." It has the effect of raising the pain threshold and may make time appear to pass quickly.
As soon as the mask is removed, the effects of the gas wear off within 5 minutes. Although we find the use of nitrous oxide extremely helpful for many patients, it may not be a covered insurance benefit. Nitrous oxide can be used during most dental and cosmetic dental treatments
[content_box style="golden" title="Did you know?"] We make every effort to reduce anxiety during dental treatment and nitrous oxide provides crucial help in many instances. [/content_box]


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Dr. Terrance A. Rust, DDS
Meet Redding CA Oral Surgeon, Dr. Rust
Call Dr. Rust's office today at Redding Office Phone Number 530-223-6000 to make an appointment.
My name is Dr. Terrance A. Rust. I was born and raised in Redding, California. I'm a Board-certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon who received my undergraduate degree in Basic Science from The University of Oregon and my Doctorate in Dental Surgery degree from St. Louis University. I completed my residency in New York City. After completing residency I was an associate in the oldest established practice in the country in New York City, I then returned to my home town here in Redding. I am a diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons as well as the International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and belong to a number of organizations including: the American Associations of Dental Anesthesiologists, the American College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the American Dental Association and the California Dental Association.
I have devoted my professional career to all aspects of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with special interests in the treatment of Facial Trauma, Removal of Impacted Wisdom Teeth and have authored articles on bone grafting and orthognathic (facial bone ) surgery as well as Implants for the replacement of lost teeth. I have continued to keep abreast of the latest developments in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. I enjoy still to this day teaching at the University of Pacific Oral Surgery Dept. I was an Eagle Scout, captain of the Swimming team, swam in the NCAA's championship for the University of Oregon. I received the Oral Surgery Award and was President of my Senior Class in Dental School. I am very very proud to be an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and have enjoyed every day coming to work.
My hobbies include Riding motorcycles in the dirt and on the street, Snow skiing, still learning to Golf, fly fishing and donating time to charity Oral Surgery here and around the world. I've been married for 44 years to my wife, Beverly . We have three great girls, Tara, Tracy and Tristen and six grandchildren.


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This will be a fun, but competitive, round-robin team tournament. Our goal is to have a great day of Squash while raising money for the cancer centers!
Each team will consist of Four (4x) team members with each participant in a minimum of three matches. (The number of games per match will be determined by the number of registrants participating in this event). Teams can consist of players of varying skill. Every point counts in this event.
The competition will be tiered based on skill level of play. To facilitate this, as part of the registration process each participant will be required to submit their skill level:
Novice Skill Level
Intermediate Skill Level
Advanced Skill Level
Participants are welcome to:
Start your own team or Join an existing team. Teams may consist of players of varying skill.
Register to participate as an individual. In this instance, you will be assigned to a team
If your registered team has fewer than four players we will do our best to fill the team with individual registrants.
Saturday, June 2, 2018: Friends and family are welcomed to join us at the Charlotte Squash Club as spectators free of charge – join us for good food, great company and a Squash exhibition game!
- 9:00am: Registration/Check-in open. Breakfast is served.
- 10:00am: Start of match play
- 12:30 – 2:00pm: Lunch is served/Play with the Pros
- 1:00 – 2pm Cancer Research Expert talks about Cancer
- 2:00pm Match play resumes
- 4:30pm Match play concludes
- 4:30pm – 5.30pm Exhibition Game featuring Nosherwan Khan
- 5.30pm Awards Ceremony
- 6:00pm Event to conclude
**6.00pm onwards** social at club, food and drinks cost $10 pp
Fancy the chance to play the best? How about bragging rights that you have played against a well-recognized professional squash player such as Nosherwan Khan?!
SQUASH Cancer offers an exclusive number of slots for participants to learn from the best! During the lunch break between match play on Saturday, May 12 (12.30pm – 2.00pm), for a $50 donation you'll have the chance to go head-to-head with a Squash Pro for 10-15 minutes.
Slots are available on a first-come, first serve basis. Each registrant has the opportunity to sign up/pay for Play with the Pros as part of their registration process.
This is an exclusive opportunity to see top US Squash players in action on the court here in Charlotte, NC. This event is free to attend so please invite your friends and family!
Donations are tax-deductible as permitted by tax regulations:
- Levine Institute of Cancer Research tax ID 56-6060481
- Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center tax ID is 26-4812335


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Dresser Saddles
Style 91 Service Saddles are made with high grade ductile iron bodies with either zinc plated steel stirrups or stainless steel straps. Style 91 saddles are designed to shape themselves to the pipe during installation for maximum support, and to eliminate loading stresses.
Dresser Saddles fit a variety of sizes to fit different applications and needs.
Dresser's Couplings work with a variety of size ranges and materials. Depending on the type of coupling, certain piping materials are needed to ensure a quality seal.
Steel Pipe - The standard forged piping components for ambient and high temperature. Steel pipe comes in many different styles and compositions for any condition.
Ductile Iron Pipe - Cast iron pipe was superseded by ductile iron pipe. Made of ductile cast iron, it is commonly used for potable water transmission and distribution.
Cast Iron Pipe - Cast iron pipe is a pipe which has had historic use as a pressure pipe for transmission of water, gas and sewage
More Information Coming Soon


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Simon & Schuster. 688 pages. $35.
Imagine taking your small boat out onto a bay early one morning, and seeing whales as far as the horizon. Big whales. Breaching. Spouting. Creating lovely rainbows in the vapor above their heads. Huge mother whales — three times longer than your boat — swim up and lift their heads out of the water so they can look you in the eye. They lean so close you can touch their soft, rubbery skin. Soon, the mothers nudge their calves closer, and they reach their heads up to each outstretched hand. They seem to enjoy being caressed.
Again and again, as Dick Russell tells the dramatic story of the gray whales that migrate between Mexico's Baja Peninsula and Alaska each year, he returns to the incredible connections formed when humans visit them in their breeding waters in and near Mexico's San Ignacio Lagoon. Christopher Reeves, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president of Mexico, even hard-nosed scientists — all seem to succumb to the mysticism of forming connections with such great beasts, and then find their lives unalterably changed.
There is a lot going on in this book. For some it would be too much. But Russell's passion and craftsmanship come through on every page. On one level, he tells a story that could be the foundation of an epic movie:
Gray whales return from the brink of extinction to thrive off the West Coast. They become the focus of a multimillion-dollar whale-watching industry as well as help sustain a handful of indigenous tribes who still hunt them. Along comes Mitsubishi with secret plans to create the world's biggest salt production plant around the San Ignacio Lagoon and build a mile-long pier directly across the whales' migratory route.
Only a few hundred local people would be affected. Most are poor fishermen. But the locals don't want this project. Nor do Mexican environmental activists, who voice their dissent in a political culture where such opposition can be physically dangerous. Some international environmental groups join the fray and the battle is under way.
In the end, Mistubishi backs down and the locals celebrate with an emotional feast.
There's more. Russell quotes liberally from the observations of Capt. Charles Scammons, a Maine whaling captain who wrote so accurately about the grays' behavior and lives that his observations are still sound 100 years later. He follows the whales' migration route. He covers the controversial and well publicized hunt by the Makah tribe like a seasoned journalist. He provides graphic descriptions of killer whales attacking grays, homing in on their calves. He spends time with indigenous people throughout the whale migration regions. He even crosses the Pacific to look in on the handful of grays that migrate along the Russian coast.
This book says a lot about people, and much of it is good. Russell, a key figure in the movement to restore striped bass on the East Coast, introduces a number of scientists, native Americans, activists, and just regular folk who decide that whales are important and that they can do something to help them.
At one point, Russell quotes an expert who says the whales' breath smells like cabbage. Another likens it to cauliflower. He draws his readers so deeply into the lives of these animals and the people who care about them, you might feel ready to voice your own opinion.
Peter Lord is a Journal reporter specializing in the environment.


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The astrology for this week of November 26th through December 2nd of 2018 reminds us that in Yogi Berra's famous words: "It ain't over 'til it's over".
This week can begin with us having all flags flying, optimistic, confident and fully engaged with holiday spirit. We might feel as though we are walking on sunshine with nothing going wrong, everything going right.
Such an attitude would be our preferred state of being, or would it? Some people, some cultures, prefer to negate the sunshine and focus instead on seeing the dark side. Our perspective and our disposition are akin to the half glass of water. Either we see the glass as half full or as half empty, always our choice.
Even to the Eeyores, the early part of this week could seem pleasant and upbeat.
The mid-part of the week could have us enlisting our creative talents, willing to step onto center stage and express our ideas and our opinions.
While the tendency early in the week may be towards the inspired and the exuberant, it would be wise to keep in mind the suggestion: 'moderation in all things'.
Our tendency early in the week might veer more to the immoderate with indulgence and extravagance and excess being our companions as we begin the week and through the first half of the week.
We could be scrambling towards the end of the week, trying to tie up loose ends before we come into the weekend. With so much going on, we need to be certain not to allow anything to fall between the cracks. The more we can think outside the box, employ time management skills and expedite our obligations, the less likely we are to trip ourselves up by hastily juggling any number of things.
The weekend might have haunting memories of some of the intensity we may have experienced back in mid-October. Retrograde Mercury backs into Scorpio and Venus exits its own Sign of Libra to enter a Sign of its Detriment, Scorpio. We may feel that we've been here before, and certainly the energy configurations can seem reminiscent of the mid-October period. People may be less effusive in their conversations, prone to being jealous and questioning anyone and everyone regarding their motives and their intentions.
We could be reviewing elements of our past, but let's not get too grumbly or secretive. It's holiday season and time to lighten up.
This week is bookended by the sublime and the ridiculous. We start off feeling good about things, open and expansive in our mood and behavior, and devolve over the weekend into a liability of hiding out and closing off.
Monday, November 26th – Over the Top – Neptune, Lunar T-Square, Pluto, Venus, Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars. Monday starts the week with a thrust of energy. We may be upbeat and enthusiastic to get going, but it would be wise for us to consider where we're going and what we're doing. Putting the proverbial cart before the horse might be our propensity with an assumption that by means of confidence and determination we can move mountains. Monday begins the week with the Moon in Cancer and the Cancer Moon today trine Neptune and the Moon triggering a Cardinal Sign T-Square as the Moon opposes Pluto and the Moon squares Venus. The Sun conjuncts Jupiter, and Mercury squares Mars. Although we can be highly optimistic and might assume that everything will work out the way we wish it would, our concept of reality and true reality might prove to be at odds. This is a day when it would be wise for us to plan and schedule before launching forward. Once we get going today, there may be little to stop us. We could easily skip over significant details, which could be like our building a house of cards with a liability to all fall down. We need to curb our enthusiasm and strategize our steps. We may have a great deal that we want to do today, and it would be wise to use our time management skills and devise an expeditious itinerary before storming out the door.
Tuesday, November 27th – No Stopping Us Now – Uranus, Jupiter, Mercury, Sun, Mars, Saturn. Tuesday begins with the Moon finishing its transit of Cancer in the early morning hours and the Moon squaring Uranus. The Moon then moves into Leo where today the Leo Moon trines the three Sagittarius-transiting planets of Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun. The Sun conjuncts Mercury, Mars sextiles Saturn, and Mercury conjuncts Jupiter. Our attitude often determines our outcomes, and such a truth may be seen on this Tuesday. We are likely to be in an expansionary mood and ready to take on the world. Optimism and confidence can go a long way in achieving our results, but due diligence and strategic planning beforehand would prevent us from leaping before looking and as a result possibly avoiding a nasty bang crash. If we would take the time to strategize and plan before we move forward, then we could come up with the right template by which to accomplish our goals. Certainly we have the enthusiasm and optimism today to make our wishes come true. We just need to devise a focused plan of action by which to achieve successful results. We might be willing to operate on a 'wing and a prayer' today, but our journey is likely to be far less anxiety provoking and far more productive by flying on two wings with itinerary in hand.
Wednesday, November 28th – Resting on Laurels. After two hectic, even frenzied days but days when we could have been feeling at the top of our game, Wednesday gives us a reprieve, a time when we can take a breather from the accelerated pace and amped up rhythm we might have had going on over the past two days and that we might reengage tomorrow. The Moon continues its transit through Leo, but the Moon makes no connections to the planets today. This is a day for us to bask in the glow of our sunshine. We might choose to take in some fun events or luxuriate in the warmth of our own 'feel good' disposition. This is a day when we can pick and choose what we wish to engage or possibly take this day as a 'mental health' day and do nothing at all. Anyway we slice it, this is a 'ME' day. With the Moon transiting Leo we have a Fire Grand Trine by Sign with the Moon in Leo, Uranus in Aries and the Stellium of Sun, Mercury and Jupiter all in Sagittarius. We can participate in creative activities but all with the understanding that the individual 'I' comes first today. Let's enjoy whatever catches our fancy today. We're likely to be back on the fast track tomorrow, so today is a day to just enjoy ourselves.
Thursday, November 29th – Catching Up But Dropping the Ball – Venus, Uranus, Lunar T-Square, Mercury, Jupiter, Sun, Mars, Saturn. Yesterday might have been a pleasant 'time out' from whatever we have to do. We could have stepped away from routine matters, pressing concerns. Thursday turns up the heat once again. We begin the day in the early morning hours with the Moon completing its transit of Leo with the Moon sextile Venus and the Moon trine Uranus. We might feel that we are operating on greased wheels, akin to the first two days of the week. Unfortunately, as the Moon moves into Virgo, we start to hit some bumps in the road. The Virgo Moon today triggers a Mutable Sign T-Square with the Virgo Moon squaring the three Sagittarius-transiting planets of Mercury, Jupiter and the Sun, and the Moon opposing Mars. The saving grace would seem to be the Moon trine Saturn. Thursday is a day when we might experience the truth to the saying 'haste makes waste'. We could easily get carried away with the ratcheted up, intense, nervous energy that may have us running around, trying to accomplish many things, but with a liability of covering too many bases without doing so mindfully or effectively. If we would harness the energy rather than get carried away by it, then we can deal with any number of things, but harnessing the frenzied and frenetic energy might be beyond our capability or our disposition. This is a day when we may be enraptured by all the bright and sparkly things without considering the content of the appealing packaging.
Friday, November 30th – Who's on First, What's on Second – Neptune, Pluto, Venus, Uranus. Friday continues with the Moon transiting Virgo with the Moon opposing Neptune early in the day, and the Moon trine Pluto later in the day. Venus opposes Uranus. This Friday is a day when we could be filled with good intentions. We might want to bring closure to various matters before we start the weekend. We may still be reeling from yesterday's madcap romp, which can flavor how we start this Friday. Instead of seeing all the things we need to do, it would be wise for us to devise our plan of action. Although we could start this day dazed and confused, as we move through the day we have a better chance of prioritizing our activities and focusing on the truly significant. Even if we start the day running around in circles wondering what to do first and with whom to do it, we get a better handle on matters as the day progresses. We do have to be wary of a battle of wills in the evening hours. Our personal interests may not jibe with someone else's intentions. We might see characteristics in someone that brings us up short, an unfamiliar aspect to them that we could recoil against. Let's be aware that just as we may find something objectionable in someone, they too could find something objectionable in us. It's important that we not act on our opinions or judgments until we have further evidence. Keeping things light and enjoying our social interactions are far better than getting critical and judgmental.
Saturday, December 1st – Too Much, Too Little – Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury Scorpio. Early on this Saturday, Mercury retrogrades back into Scorpio and out of Sagittarius, ending the Stellium of three planets in the Mutable Fire Sign. The Moon completes its transit of Virgo and sextiles the Scorpio Mercury. The Moon then moves into Libra where today the Moon sextiles Jupiter and the Moon squares Saturn. This is a day when we may be scooting along until the wind is knocked out of our sails. Although our mind can be incisive, cut to the core, yet fully aware of the specifics, we could be like an accordion whereby early in the day we're expanding our activities and our involvements. We may feel as though we have everything under control and able to add ever more to our play list. Later in the day, we might feel the need to pare down our action list with a realization that we have planned on taking on too much and the recognition that we have our usual responsibilities to address. From the expansion early in the day, we could go into contraction mode later in the day. This Saturday can be like a Goldilocks day of too much and too little until we find the balance point.
Sunday, December 2nd – More Me Than You – Sun, Pluto, Mars, Venus Scorpio. The day begins with the Libra Moon sextile the Sun. After yesterday's whipsaw of too much, too little, this Sunday could begin with us feeling better about things. We can be looking at the upside of things, more appreciative of the momentary balance we might attain. Such a 'feel good' disposition, however, may not last long into the day. Venus exits its own Sign of Libra to enter Scorpio, a Sign of Detriment for Venus, where Venus is not at all comfortable. Relationships could sour, as we take a more secretive and jealous disposition in regard to our interactions with other people. If we are seething during the mid-day, we need to let go of any feelings of paranoia or jealousy. Otherwise, we could build things up in our mind that may be released in unsavory ways. Late in the day, the Sun squares Mars and the Libra Moon squares Pluto. We could become a little too self-absorbed and misinterpret other people's actions or statements. It is suggested that we watch our tongue and restrain our actions, since the evening hours could be explosive. Let's keep in mind that things occurring are not always about us. This day calls for us to take a deep breath, count to ten and consider ramifications to our decisions and actions and avoid acting precipitously.


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Hyper-local emergency/crisis blogging – be prepared: In times of local crisis, the importance of having an active blogging community becomes very apparent. There are so many people outside an area who are desperately seeking information — any information — from the ground, so even if power and web-access is out in a city, the information being shared is much needed. (One of the reasons I blog hurricanes is that all of my family (including inlaws) live within one-mile of the Florida or Alabama gulf coasts.) In addition to the standard "meet-ups" that are popular among bloggers here in Nashville and other cities, I suggest that some emergency preparation might be a good thing for bloggers to discuss before the need arises. I'd be happy to point to any examples or list of emergency-blog planning suggestions that exist. Feel free to e-mail me some, or add to the comments below. And I'd be happy to assist in helping Nashville bloggers organize for such an effort.
Update: Josh Hallett makes a good point. It's time for local public information officers to get to know their hometown bloggers.
Update II: Jeff Jarvis is testing blogging via Treo so he can be ready to blog anytime (I recall he used to blog from church). In Josh's post linked to above, he notes his Blackberry has continued to work when all else failed.


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3 Designers Tips from Someone With Experience
Benefits of Hiring the Ramsey Commercial Interior Designers
Interior design is a term that is usually used to refer to the act of aesthetic preferences inside the building. It is appropriate to say that the interior design is all about adding beauty to the building. A structure that has been set up to serve for many purposes is well known as the commercial building. There are a number of building that could be used as examples of the commercial building and they are the offices, restaurants and the warehouses. What is referred to the commercial interior design is all about the adding of aesthetic preferences to such building.
Getting the qualified personnel to help out with the commercial interior designing is usually the best decision that one could make. Ramsey Commercial designers they are the best examples of the professionals who offer good services. The kinds of services that are …


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Revenge, they say, is a dish best served cold.
That seems to be the view of the Russian government, as it contemplates how to respond to pleas that it join Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members in cutting oil production. Many expect the coronavirus outbreak to trigger a demand slump.
Talks between Russia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have dragged on all week in Vienna as Moscow has resisted signing on to output reductions, delegates told Bloomberg News. With the market already looking well-supplied, OPEC's technical experts are said to have recommended a cut of 600,000 barrels a day — considerably deeper than internal analysis that the virus will reduce demand by around 400,000 daily barrels for about six months.
Russia has its own immediate reasons for standing pat. The country's oil output last year hit its highest level since the days of the Soviet Union, reaching around 11.25 million barrels a day. What's more, it's now in a situation that historically only Saudi Arabia and a few other Gulf countries have enjoyed, with spare capacity on hand — in the region of 500,000 barrels at day, enough to give it a role as a swing producer for the world.
There's also deeper historical symmetry to what's happening — one embedded in the five-decade struggle between Russia and Saudi Arabia for supremacy in the global oil market.
Oil played an under-appreciated role in the fall of the Soviet Union. As the USSR's industrial and agricultural economies started to falter in the 1970s, it was an oil boom that kept the nation's head above water. Buoyed by the sharp rise in prices as a result of the 1973 and 1979 oil crises, the country opened up vast petroleum reserves in Siberia. The hard currency earned paid for grain imports to feed a burgeoning urban population, as well as funding its ruinous war in Afghanistan.
That spending was largely financed by Saudi Arabian restraint. With demand from wealthy oil importers collapsing as a result of the new, higher prices and supply from non-Gulf producers surging, the kingdom cut output by nearly two-thirds through the early 1980s in an attempt to re-balance the market and lift prices. Something had to give — and the result was disastrous for Moscow.
"The timeline of the collapse of the Soviet Union can be traced to September 13, 1985," according to Yegor Gaidar, the economist and politician who drove many of Russia's wrenching reforms in the early 1990s. On that date, Riyadh's oil minister, Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Yamani, abandoned the policy of supporting prices and elected to flood the market instead. Saudi Arabia, as the lowest-cost producer, was able to survive. As my colleague Clara Ferreira Marques wrote recently, the high-cost USSR was dealt one of many mortal blows.
"Oil production in Saudi Arabia increased fourfold, while oil prices collapsed by approximately the same amount in real terms" after the Saudi move, Gaidar later wrote. "As a result, the Soviet Union lost approximately $20 billion per year, money without which the country simply could not survive."
From one angle, the past 30 years of Russian energy policy has been a long, slow grind back to the position it enjoyed in 1985. Shorn of its oilfields in newly independent republics in the Caucasus and central Asia, it took until 2007 for output to move above 10 million barrels a day again. Nowadays, even exports are level-pegging with those from Saudi Arabia, despite Russia's far bigger domestic economy. This time, though, the tables have turned.
While Saudi Arabia can still boast some of the lowest production costs in the world, its bloated spending means that it needs a price of about $85 a barrel to balance its budget, compared with about $50 in Russia. Neither country is a major debtor, but Saudi Arabia's borrowing, projected by the International Monetary Fund to hit 41% of output by 2024, is far more of a burden than Russia's. Like Russia in the 1980s, Saudi Arabia can't feed itself, depending on imports for 88% of its food supplies. Riyadh even has a military quagmire in Yemen to parallel the Soviet Union's disastrous foray into Afghanistan.
There remains a good chance that Moscow will eventually bow to the wishes of OPEC members and cut production. As my colleague Liam Denning has written, Russia is famous for falling short on its promises of output restraint — indeed, it regularly makes noises about quitting the OPEC+ arrangement altogether. Still, at current prices of $53.76 a barrel for Urals crude, even Russia could do with more of a fiscal cushion.
Both nations will then face a deeper problem. While Moscow and Riyadh were focused on their unhealthy relationship, the U.S. has in recent years overtaken both countries to become the world's leading producer. Worse still, oil demand itself is fast approaching a plateau.
The world's energy markets will change drastically over the coming decade. This is no time for two of the biggest producers to be consumed by a decades-old rivalry.


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For all the worrying about my running speed in my last post, last week things sure turned around. I had decided not to worry so much about the long run pace and marathon coming up, and instead I focused on some faster runs during the week. This was mostly due to lack of motivation in getting out of bed on those mornings. But the result was confidence building, speedy for me miles.
Tuesday, I ran a warm up mile, and then went for three miles near 5k pace. I really don't even know what that pace is anymore; it's been so long since I've run one. I hoped to run near the eight minute range, but my splits were actually 8:45, 8:22, and 8:33. It may not have been the pace I wanted, but it was a good little workout nonetheless.
On Thursday, another late start, I decided to do half mile repeats with quarter mile recovery. While slower than previous times, I managed to run this one consistently. My splits were: 4:01, 3:59, 4:00, 4:00, 4:00, 3:59. That was a huge win for me, and another boost in my confidence.
Monday and Friday were easy run days, so I focused on slowing myself down, not looking at my watch, and paying attention to my breathing. I think slowing down on these days definitely helped me to have better workouts.
I also believe it was part of what set me up for a great long run on Saturday.
Saturday morning, I got up late (again) and immediately had to shorten my long run from 20 down to 18 miles. I needed to be home before 9:00 and my daughter's district swim meet was that day as well. I don't know if it was the urgency to finish by a certain time, or the fact that I went to bed before 9 pm on Friday night, but I had no trouble running under 9:30s the whole time. I started out with the first five miles averaging 9:25, and then met the group around mile 8. I ended up with several miles under 9:00 range and then as I ran home to finish, my pace slowed some. Overall, I was completely surprised that I was able to pull off this run with this average pace. Maybe I woke up my muscles with the speed work earlier in the week. It also helped that the weather was beautiful. It was in the high 40s when I started, and I was in long sleeves and shorts. By the end I was pushing up my sleeves and sweating. It was great!
I think that might have been one of my fastest 18 milers ever!
After finishing with my core and strengthening, there was a swim meet on the schedule. I watched my oldest daughter swim her fastest times ever in the freestyle and backstroke. She will be going on to the regional meet this weekend as part of the 400 relay.
Sunday, the weather was beautiful again, so the bike came off the trainer and I headed outdoors with my ten year old son. The only problem was I obviously forgot how to unclip from my pedal and when we stopped in a parking lot, I fell right over. We had to cut our ride short so I could go home and clean it up. My husband asked him if it scared him when I fell. He said, "Once I knew she was ok, no. I've seen her do it before." Yes, yes he has. One day I won't have to remind myself to unclip before I lean. So I will probably stay out of the pool this week until my leg is not so yucky. The worst part is right below my kneecap, which is affecting the bend of my knee. I'll spare you a picture of that.
I did part of my Monday run on the treadmill because I didn't know if it would alter my gait – it didn't. But I did put off some post run strengthening such as donkey kicks. That's okay though. It's race week!
I'll be heading to the Hot Chocolate 15k on Saturday. I've never done this race, so I'm looking forward to it. Also, the hydration sponsor is Nuun, and you all know how much I love that!
Have a great week!


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Welcome to issue No. 6 of #MenopauseMinute
Hey everyone! How are you today? It's Monday and this means it's time for another Menopause Minute.
In this minute, I bring to you Dr. Holly L. Thacker
Dr. Thacker is the founder of the Cleveland Clinic Women's Health Fellowship.
She is currently the Professor and Director of the Center for Specialized Women's Health at Cleveland Clinic, and Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University.
In this 2-minute video Dr. Thacker explains skin and hair changes during menopause, and offers a list of vitamins she recommends to help us with these adjustments.
**Please keep in mind that you should never take anything, or stop taking anything, without consulting with your own doctor.
That's a wrap! If you like what you see here please share it. Repost it! Reblog it! Pin it! Tweet it! And please join the conversation by commenting.
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A melting pot of live music this month in the City.
Though it's the shortest month of the year, there's a lot to love about February, and we're talking about music. Pop, rock, folk, R&B, Latin, country, you name it. 90s hit maker Babyface swoons at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on Valentine's Day (February 14), folk pioneer Don McLean charms at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill on February 19 and The Gaslight Anthem rock on at two shows, one at Webster Hall on February 26 and another at Terminal 5 on February 28.
Few Latin artists have bragging rights of calling themselves global icons, but Marc Anthony has proved this time and time again with over 25 years in the spotlight and one of the Top 10 highest-grossing tours of 2013. His breakthrough as a household name came during the late 90s Latin wave starting with 1999 hit "I Need To Know" followed by "You Sang To Me." The New York native of Puerto Rican descent plays across the Hudson River at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on February 14 for the Cambio del Piel Tour with special guest Tito "El Bambino." Anthony is the top-selling tropical salsa artist of all time, earning two Grammys and five Latin Grammys over the years with 12 million albums sold. With his soaring, operatic-like vocal tone, lovers and singles alike can expect plenty of dancing, lively trumpets and horns and some romantic ballads on this amped up Valentine's Day evening.
July 1, 2015 New York's own "Piano Man" will break the lifetime record for the most performances ever at Madison Square Garden, with his 65th date. This hot ticket is one of the most sought-after in New York, part of Billy Joel's on-going sold-out monthly residence, sharing an American songbook arguably more recognizable than any other over the last half century. The Bronx native will play February 18 (and another date each month through July), impressing at hometown shows with upbeat hits including "Only the Good Die Young," "Big Shot" and "Uptown Girl" along with ballads "She's Always A Woman" and "She's Got A Way." Fans will probably agree it's almost a rite of passage in New York live music to hear this action-packed set including the crowd-pleaser "New York State of Mind" in unison.
Grab the nearest cowboy hat or boots and "Cruise" on over to Madison Square Garden on February 25 for country music's hottest duo Florida Georgia Line. Florida Georgia Line's major breakthrough ("Cruise," which features Nelly on the remixed version) is the best-selling country song of digital history. The guys (Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley) have consistent platinum status scoring several No. 1s with every single released in the Top 5 on the country charts, with cheerful, party-friendly songs like "Get Your Shine On," "Round Here," "This Is How We Roll" and "Sun Daze" as well as equally-powerful songs like "Stay" and the newer "Dirt," which have deeper life lessons at the core. Tyler and Brian may be known for being a part of the rise of "bro-country" but their anthemic music crosses genres and has a hands-swaying-in-the-air-sing-a-long quality that is perfect for a stadium or arena.
Jamie Cullum is not quite as well-known in the states, but he should be. The British jazz-pop prodigy is the best-selling jazz artist of all time in the UK, a landmark he reached when second studio album "Twentysomething" impressed with originals, standards and covers. Fast-forward to 2015. With several albums behind him, Cullum recently released "Interlude" in January and launched The Jazz Tour, which stops at the Beacon Theatre on February 5. Jamie Cullum recently opened for Billy Joel on several dates including Madison Square Garden, and he's not just a singer-songwriter, but a showman and true entertainer with a voice that soars and uplifts, especially solo at the piano. Some of his top standards include "Singin' In The Rain" and "I Get A Kick Out Of You" while he's known commercially for his cover of Radiohead's "High & Dry" and "These Are The Days" medley with his jazzy cover of Pharrell's "Frontin.'" One of the biggest treats besides top-notch jazz is Cullum's unpredictable cover choices which range from Nat "King" Cole and Sufjan Stevens to Snoop Dogg and Rihanna, and he's been known to mash-up Beyonce's "Single Ladies" with The Beatles' "Come Together" backed by one of the tightest bands in the biz.
(Photo Credit: Jeremy Cowart)


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The Rev. John always draws us into our services with such evocative prayers that not only seek out our deepest yearnings, but give us the words to speak which we cannot say ourselves. Because of this I am tempted to reproduce them as they were prayed in the service but space does not permit. So here is some of each:
Call to Worship
(Abingdon Worship Annual 2018)
The light God shines forth in Jesus Christ changes everything... This is good news indeed.
Jesus says, "Now is the time!"
Startle us, God, from our busyness and routines. Show us how very close your Kingdom is.
Jesus says, "God's kingdom is at hand!"
Deliver us, God, from faith in our own strength. Free us from the traps of violence, dishonesty, and greed.
Jesus says, "Receive the good news from God!" Embolden us, God, to trust you anew. For we are as fragile as breath, and draw our strength from your mercy and compassion.
Opening prayer
Loving God, in this season of Epiphany, your kingdom has drawn close— so close we can almost touch it. Help us see that we already live under your rule of peace. May our worship today draw us closer to you and to one another.
God, we know that you alone are unshakable. You alone are our stronghold and our refuge. You deliver and glorify us, yet we fail to love and glorify you in return. We live as if we can save ourselves, as if we can be our own stronghold and fortress against the storm. Yet we are fragile as breath. We are consumed by our desires to succeed and dominate. We blindly strive to get our way, and are greedy for all sorts of wealth.
And so, we confess our failings to you and to one another, trusting in your forgiveness and your grace. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
Beloved, God repays us according to our deeds, and yet in Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear. Trusting God with everything, we rest in God's faithful love. Allowing Christ to change our hearts and our lives, we find God's strength and hope.
Thanks, be to God!
The Peace
God alone gives us peace, a peace that is trustworthy and sure. Greet one another with the good news of peace in Jesus Christ.
Peace be with you!
In the service that followed we worshipped in practical ways, the announcements giving evidence of our Christianity lived out in our church and out in the world and the offering our worship with our gifts for God's work around us.
The Readings looked at God's warning to Nineveh in Jonah and Jesus calling of the disciples in Mark:
In both readings the people spoken to responded immediately and wholeheartedly. Of
course in the case of the people of Nineveh the threat of dire consequences motivated their jump to action but even though there was no threat to the fishermen to whom Jesus spoke, in each case the people involved knew they had heard the voice of truth.
course in the case of the people of Nineveh the threat of dire consequences motivated their jump to action but even though there was no threat to the fishermen to whom Jesus spoke, in each case the people involved knew they had heard the voice of truth.
I have always wondered about the response of those fishermen. They were poor enough, making a regular income, so why were they so ready to give that up for no guarantee of income at all? And what about their families? My only conclusion has been that Jesus' word carried with it such authority and truth that the men had no alternative other than to obey.
When Jesus spoke to those fishermen, he promised that they would fish for more followers. That is Jesus' word of truth to us, but have we responded as quickly and as wholeheartedly as did the fishermen? Have we risked all for the only thing that matters?
In Rev. John's talk to the children, he recalled the paperboys calling out from street corners, promising that if we bought their papers, we would be able to "Read all about it!"
When people see us, when people hear us, when people interact with us…are they able to "Read all about it?" Does anyone even know we are followers of Jesus of Nazareth?
And are we so convincing that anyone would ever act with such quickness as the people of Nineveh did?
Of course, God allows for our less than stellar performances. God can speak in other ways to anyone who is seeking the truth, but we do have our part to play.
Rev. John used a DVD to play a prayer, part of which said:
You have come down to the lakeshore seeking neither the wise nor the wealthy,
But only asking for me to follow. You know full well my possessions.
Neither treasure nor weapons for conquest, just these my fish nets and will for working…
But only asking for me to follow. You know full well my possessions.
Neither treasure nor weapons for conquest, just these my fish nets and will for working…
O Jesus, you have looked into my eyes; kindly smiling, you have called out my name. On the sand I have abandoned my small boat, now with you, I will seek other seas.
Go forth and share the good news from God.
God rewards us and our deeds, not with doom, but with mercy. In circumstances both difficult and joyful, God remains our place of safety.
Go forth and proclaim God's kingdom.
The world as we know it is passing away. We belong to God's kingdom, which is coming and now is.
Now is the time to be the good news.
We go forth to tell the world the good news of the strength and mercy of our God.
Hymn 779: "May the feet of God walk with you"


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When Lana Daniels, a simple girl from Georgia inherits an olive farm in Tuscany, her world is turned upside down. Now she has to decide to stay or sell. To add to her problems, she meets the foreman, Romeo Russo, the most handsome, infuriating man she's ever met, but together they're like oil and water. Romeo doesn't want her here. When strange accidents start happening on the farm, they have to work together to solve the mystery. But can Romeo get past his distrust of her? Will she make the right choice?
Tuscany (#SYTYCW15) (Solstice Publishing) Coming Sept. 30th!Romance
It's official, Tuscany is being published through Solstice Publishing and will be released on September 30, 2016, so come by and check it out. Fall in love with Tuscany! This book made it to the Top 55 of the SYTYCW15 Contest with Harlequin! So chec...


text: Today I applied a liquid residual treatment around the exterior perimeter, windows, doors, and soffit areas of your home. I also inspected and serviced both exterior rodent devices and moderate activity was noted at this time. Please allow two weeks for treatment to be effective. If you have any problems or any questions feel free to give us a call. Thank you


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Jobsuche in Neuseeland
In Neuseeland gibt es viele saisonale und temporäre Jobmöglichkeiten für Work & Traveller – wir erklären Euch nachfolgend die üblichen Bereiche.
Willing Workers On Organic Farms (WWOOF) is a world wide network where volunteers (so called WWOOFers) in a form of cultural exchange live and work on a organic farm and learn about the skills of organic growing and the area they are visiting. Farm work or WWOOFing is very popular for backpackers. In return for free food and accommodation you can work on a farm doing 4-6 hours work a day.
Before a host will accept you as a guest you must become a member of the WWOOF organisation. Our Auszeit Neuseeland Work & Travel module includes a free WWOOF membership and you will receive your WWOOF account details from us.
For more information visit: wwoof.nz
Usually in return for free accommodation you can get yourself a job in a backpacker hostel (mainly cleaning and reception duties). This is a great way to meet new people and maybe to score some free activities.
Every year the New Zealand fruit industry employs thousands of seasonal workers to assist with the harvesting and packing of fruit crops. Employment in the New Zealand fruit industry is available year round; however the peak requirements occur between December and May.
Usually no experience is necessary for starting an orchard job as you will get on the job training. While accommodation is often arranged with near hostels some orchards offer cheap accommodation that gives you the chance to save some money (don't expect luxury apartments though!).
You can expect to earn NZ$200 to NZ$400 per week. Pickers get paid by the quantity of fruit they pick and packers usually get hourly wages. It would be useful to have a car because most orchards are situated out of town.
To work on an orchard you will need a valid work permit (your Working Holiday Visa), an Inland Revenue (IRD) Tax Number, and a New Zealand bank account for your wages.
A good level of physical fitness is required for most positions especially the outdoor work in the orchards. We recommend that you plan to work a minimum of several weeks to allow for a period of training and to maximise your earnings. Most positions require you to work Monday to Friday, eight hours per day. During the harvest season longer hours of work may be required but there is also the opportunity to earn more money.
Harvest Regions: Northland – All Year Round, Auckland – January to May, Waikato – January to May, Bay Of Plenty – All Year Round, Gisborne – November to May, Hawke's Bay – November to July, Nelson – December to May, Marlborough – December to May, Canterbury – December to May and Otago – December to May.
Bar and restaurant work is available in nearly every place in New Zealand – as waitressing staff, kitchen hand or bar staff. Some prior experience is a big advantage!
HelpX is an online listing of farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpacker hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term and work in exchange for food and accommodation.
Primarily HelpX is provided as a cultural exchange for working holiday makers who would like the opportunity during their travels abroad, to stay with local people and gain practical experience.
The helper works an average of 4 hours per day and receives free accommodation and meals for their efforts. Some hosts only offer accommodation and therefore usually ask for less help in return.
To participate in HelpX you need to sign up as a helper and create your own profile.
During the winter season a variety of job opportunities are available in ski resorts. New Zealand boasts some of the world's most beautiful mountain ranges and offers some of the best skiing in the southern hemisphere. If you are tired of backpacking and want to settle somewhere for a while, the winter ski season is a good time to do it. Because the ski areas aren't the huge on-site ski resorts that you'll find in Europe and North America, the norm is to stay in a nearby town and commute daily to the slopes. The slopes are just as good though and the nearby towns offer plenty of après-ski action! The NZ ski season runs roughly from the middle of June to early October but you may find some ski areas opening earlier and going later, depending on weather and snow conditions.
The North Island is dominated by volcanic-slope skiing and most people head to Mt. Ruapehu, which is one of three massive volcanoes that make up Tongariro National Park. Whakapapa and Turoa are the two main ski fields there.
Most of the skiing in New Zealand is on the South Island and the majority of international skiers head to the towns of Queenstown and Wanaka. The major ski resorts in this area are Coronet Peak, Cardrona, Treble Cone and The Remarkables. Also nearby is the southern hemisphere's first specialised freestyle resort, Snow Park. Further north on the South Island, and certainly not to be overlooked, are Mount Hutt and Porters, both situated in the Canterbury region. The Nelson Lakes National Park also offers skiing opportunities and the Canterbury region has plenty of smaller club fields too which are accessible to the public.
Wie finde ich in Neuseeland einen Job?
- Daily Newspapers: It is best to look in a local newspaper for regional job offers. Every bigger city in New Zealand has its own newspaper. If you are looking for a job Wednesday and Saturday editions are best. Usually the ad will provide you with the name of the contact person and a phone number.
- Going door-to-door: Shops and cafes will sometimes have signs up to say there are vacancies. Just go inside, introduce yourself and talk to the owner. Sometimes it helps just to ask – there might be jobs available if you are lucky.
- Notices on Boards: Check out notice boards in hostels, supermarkets, Information Centres, libraries, pubs and cafes.
- Signs on the road: This is particularly for orchard (fruit-picking) work. Just drive along the roads where the orchards are located and watch out for signs saying "Now hiring", "Vacancy" or something similar. During the picking season there will be a lot of signs along the road saying that orchards need fruit-pickers. If you don't have a car, just call in at orchards to see if they have work.
Lebenslauf - Curriculum vitae (CV)
Bevor es für Dich in Neuseeland mit der Jobsuche losgehen kann, solltest Du einen Lebenslauf (in Neuseeland bekannt als Curriculum Vitae, kurz "CV") verfassen wie er in Neuseeland üblich ist (ohne Foto, ohne Geburtsdatum etc.!). Du kannst Dir dazu gerne diese Vorlage herunterladen und entsprechend anpassen.
Sobald Du Deinen CV erstellt hast, kannst Du ihn an unser Team schicken, das diesen dann Korrektur liest und Dir Feedback gibt.
Dress code
No matter if you are WWOOFing, fruit-picking or working in hospitality – wear the right dress for the right job! Here is a quick Kiwi dress code guide:
It's pretty conservative in New Zealand's offices: Dark trousers, white shirts and a tie for gentlemen; coat, skirt, pumps and nylons for the ladies. Kiwis tend to be "overdressed" in the office and wear what Europeans would consider for going to the opera. Check major shopping streets in NZ at lunch time to get an idea – then go shopping for your office dress.
If you want to work on a farm pack 2-3 old, long trousers (if possible cotton) and 3-4 old, long-sleeve shirts. Or stock up on cheap clothes at discounters like The Warehouse. After the job you can usually bin your stuff.
Make sure to get some cheep, compact and comfortable work shoes. Solid work boots are a must – don't use your expensive hiking boots! You can buy solid and cheap work books at The Warehouse.
In contrast to farm work, you can work on NZ's construction sites in shorts. Make sure your work boots come with a steel cap though. Unfortunately you have to pay around NZ$ 150 for them but without you are not allowed to work on construction sites. Usually you will get all other necessary gear, including a helmet, at work.
Slip, slop, slap and wrap
No matter if you are fruit-picking, working on a construction site or kayaking – always wear something to cover your shoulders and head! Because of the high UV rate in New Zealand you can get sun burned within a few minutes. Apply sun block regularly – even the toughest Kiwi blokes do it!


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The Washington Early Music Festival returned in force this weekend, and with 32 events scheduled over the space of 29 days, the largest in scope it has ever been. Festival director Constance Whiteside said that the organization even turned away some groups that wanted to perform, in the interest of keeping the event, staffed by volunteers, at a manageable size. While in past years it has focused on a single country's music, the theme this year is "Vices and Virtues," which opens up a wider field of possibilities.
On Sunday afternoon St. Matthew's Cathedral hosted one of the festival's most high-profile acts, the Baltimore Consort. The program, called "The Ladyes Delight," featured only a few of the dance tunes from the group's CD of that name, focusing instead on ballads and other dance pieces from the 16th and 17th centuries. The ensemble's fragile sound, with the melody mainly in the treble viol and a breathy, low transverse flute, was often murky in the cathedral's large space. Mindy Rosenfeld's virtuosic turns on higher-pitched flutes and one magnificently odd French branle — played on three whining crumhorns — set one's foot tapping the most.
Most of these pieces were of an extremely light nature, reeling by and vanishing almost instantly from memory. Mezzo-soprano Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, known for her work with the vocal quartet Anonymous 4, had a pleasantly simple tone, at her best in Thomas Campion's melancholy lute song "Oft have I sighed," a moving lament that provided greater musical interest than the other strophic ballads she sang. Countertenor Daniel Moody sang with a sweet, melancholy sound in Jehan Chardavoine's setting of Ronsard's "Ode à Cassandre," a celebrated version of the "Carpe diem" poetic theme going back at least to ancient Rome.
Downey is a freelance writer.


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SITTWE, Myanmar: Myanmar's military has assured the United Nations of "harsh" action against perpetrators of sexual violence, state media reported on Tuesday, as UN envoys traveled to Rakhine State where the military conducted a widely criticized crackdown.
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Rakhine State to Bangladesh to flee a military crackdown launched in August that the United Nations and others denounced as "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
Many of the refugees arriving in Bangladesh recounted incidents of killings and rape but Myanmar largely rejected those reports as well as the accusation of ethnic cleansing.
It said its forces were engaged in a legitimate security campaign in response to a string of Rohingya insurgents attacks on the security forces.
The Security Council envoys arrived in Myanmar on Monday after visiting refugee camps on the Bangladesh side of the border, and government leaders in Dhaka.
In Myanmar, they met separately with Myanmar government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing.
"Sexual violence (is) considered as despicable acts," the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper cited Min Aung Hlaing as telling the envoys.
The military was "taking harsh and stronger actions against such offenders," he said.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, in her meeting with the envoys, pledged to investigate any credible accusations of abuse, said diplomats who attended.
During the nearly hour-long meeting, Suu Kyi, noted Myanmar's difficulties in transitioning to rule of law after decades of military dictatorship, said the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Suu Kyi's civilian government has no control over the military.
Myanmar civilian government spokesman Zaw Htay was not immediately available for comment.
Tuesday is the final day of a four-day visit to the region by the UN Security Council team.
The Security Council asked Myanmar in November to ensure no "further excessive use of military force" and to allow "freedom of movement, equal access to basic services, and equal access to full citizenship for all."
Earlier on Monday, the council envoys met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who asked them to press Myanmar to take back "their citizens."
Hasina said the refugees should return "under UN supervision where security and safety should be ensured."
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of the refugees within two years but differences between the two sides remain and implementation of the plan has been slow.
Suu Kyi's office also said in a statement that cooperation was needed from Bangladesh on the repatriation of refugees.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has for years denied Rohingya citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as health care. Many in Myanmar regard Rohingya as illegal immigrants from mostly Muslim Bangladesh.
Source: Arab News


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Easycabs mobile application updates with real-time cab monitoring and traffic information features
With Real Time monitoring of cabs booked via the mobile application, the customers can now monitor the location of their cabs on real time basis. Easycabs customers can track the location of the cab once it has been assigned through the Mobile booking application. Customers won't have to bother for any follow-up calls, with the app they will know the exact location of the cab and when will it be reaching the pickup location.
The live updates on traffic which is powered by Traffline.com will facilitate the Easycabs customer with the traffic situation on their way enabling them to sketch out a different route to surpass the traffic.
You can download the app for Android over here, BlackBerry over here, and Nokia over here.The EasyCabs mobile application feature is available for service to customers in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.


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Tofarati Ige
Actress Ada Ameh was heartbroken in October 2020 when she lost her daughter, Aladi Godgift, who was over 30 years old. Ameh had appeared inconsolable after the sad incident but with the passage of time, she seems to be getting over it and moving on with her life.
In an interview with Sunday Scoop, the actress stated that her late daughter made her a better person in many ways. She said, "In the space of some years, I lost four members of my family. It was in 2018 after the death of my younger singer, Ajuma, who was a football coach, that I discovered I was suffering from depression. I had not even healed totally, when my daughter passed away. My family members, friends and colleagues stood by me and supported me with prayers. Empress Njamah became like a small mother to me. We have known each other for over 22 years. It has just been by the grace and mercy of God.
"I miss my daughter so much and I still have a large picture of her in my living room. My daughter died as an adult and we practically grew up together. I had her at the age of 14. She was more of a friend to me, than a daughter. It is not something I can ever forget. Even if I give birth again tomorrow, I cannot replace her. She was irreplaceable. She made me a better person. The way I value and appreciate people was because of her. In many ways, she made me who I am today. If I did not have her, perhaps, I would not have been the person I am today. She gave my life a new meaning and she made my journey much easier (cries)."
During the week, Ameh had also lambasted a former Big Brother Naija contestant, Ka3na, for lampooning a fan that tattooed her name on her body. Reiterating her stance on the issue, she said, "Nigerians like to emulate the western world and there's nothing bad about it, provided it is a good thing.
"The girl in question, Ka3na, actually wrote on Twitter that she wished a fan would tattoo her name or image on their body. That means she encouraged it. And a young lady, who is a fan of hers, took up the challenge and did it. I don't even think the fan did it because she wanted anything in return from her.
"(What Ka3na did) is not the best way to treat one's fan. After she responded that way to the fan, the young girl actually attempted suicide. It is very important to have self love. I put myself first before any other person. I wouldn't love to carry anybody's face on my body, not even my daughter that passed on. I have friends who put tattoos on their bodies and now, some say if they had known, they would not have done it."
Ameh also maintained that she would not encourage any fan to draw a tattoo of her. "No, I would not do that. I am a Christian and I believe in the word of God," she said.
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Blue Devils try to hold ground: Rematch with Miami impacts ACC standings
DURHAM — Duke has become a long shot to claim part of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title.
Now holding on to second place could be a chore for the Blue Devils.
Miami, which has secured the top seed for the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, can claim its first outright championship tonight by defeating Duke in a matchup of top-5 teams on the national level.
"Miami has been the best team in the league this year," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of the Hurricanes, who have 10 road victories this season.
If the Blue Devils fail to win in this rematch, they might not even have sole possession of second place in the ACC by the end of the weekend.
All ACC teams have three regular-season games remaining.
Duke is coming off Thursday's late-night 73-68 loss at Virginia. Miami's last road venture resulted in a 15-point setback at Wake Forest.
That gave Duke, which held the No. 1 ranking when it was blasted 90-63 by Miami on Jan. 23, a glimmer of hope of notching the regular-season league title.
"I'm not surprised when anyone loses," Krzyzewski said. "People lose because people are playing good teams and we have a good league. To me, the story about them is how much they've won, not that they've lost a game. They've had a terrific year, just a sensational year."
Even after last Saturday's upset loss at Wake Forest, Miami was in good position. Of its last four games, only tonight's assignment comes on the road. The other three were set for home against teams in the lower part of the ACC standings, already defeating Virginia Tech and next week's games against Georgia Tech and Clemson.
Duke is in the middle of a stretch of three games in six nights.
"Scheduling-wise, it has been a very weird month for our basketball team regarding preparation and other teams' preparation for you," Krzyzewski said at the start of the week. "This week is a difficult one. We won't get a good preparation day on Friday, then we play on Saturday."
Duke forward Ryan Kelly, who hasn't played since early January because of a foot injury, was in uniform and took part in warm-ups at Virginia. His status for tonight is unknown — at least to the public.
"They're playing great without Ryan Kelly," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. "If he comes back, that's just another weapon in their arsenal. … Ryan is a terrific player, and I'd be very, very happy for the young man if he's able to get back and play. It's his senior year, and he deserves every opportunity to play at this time of the year."
-- Krzyzewski has won 878 games as Duke's coach, one short of the 879 won by Dean Smith as North Carolina's coach. They rank second and third all-time among Division I men's coaches for victories at one school behind Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (911).
Who: No. 5 Miami (23-4, 14-1) at No. 3 Duke (24-4, 11-4)
When: 6 tonight (ESPN)
Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham
Series: Duke leads 15-4, though Miami won 90-63 on Jan. 23 at Coral Gables, Fla. Miami has won the last two meetings, winning in overtime last season in Durham.


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We travel to experience new places, people and their way of Life which is why I try to embrace every opportunity/holiday I have ever since I caught the travelling bug.
Living in Southern Nigeria has also made me want to explore places around me and this led to my visit to Akwa-Ibom state during the last Muslim holiday.
Akwa Ibom State has been on my bucketlist for like forever, well it's 'forever' all thanks to procrastination. The funny thing is that it's just like an hour 45minutes from Calabar (the place my country has made my home for one year by fire by force; but I am enjoying the place sef; Lol).
My friends who live in Akwa Ibom state all offered their help in making my trip come to pass and stress-free; thumbs up to them! After several research which I always love to do before travelling, phone calls and messages I arrived the Land of Promise on the 1st of September, 2017. The bumpy roads and many check points made the trip slightly longer than normal.
My next call was to head to my Friend/Host's house whom was an amazing and hospitable host during my holiday. She is Mbong of Milliam Takon . On my way to her House, I stopped by the Ibom Plaza and also had the opportunity to see the Ibom connection which is one of the tourist attractions in the state.
On arrival at my Friend's house, we did a lot of catching up, talking on various things and soon after we had to get ready as fortunately for me there was a world cup qualifying match between Nigeria and Cameroon that was being held at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo. I was actually very excited cause this was a new experience for me; who ever says no to new and fun experiences?
Not like I know so much about football but it was time to practice the little I know and support my Country.
Lo and behold, Nigeria won the match with a victory of 4-0 to cameroon. I screamed at every goal, tried to record as much as I could as I was excited! My snapchat and Instagram followers can testify. Plus, you can also follow me on Instagram Here so you don't miss the fun
After the match ended, people tried to take pictures with the footballers but it was so much struggle. As for me it turned out to be a mini photo-shoot thanks to Kaycee!
After my mini photoshoot, I saw a few friends from University whom I had not seen since graduation and it was a great time catching up and thereafter we headed home to rest after a long and adventurous day.
The next day right after I had a great breakfast thanks to my host, I spoke with my other friends whom are in the state and we planned to meet at the Ibibio Union museum which I suggested to them that I had found on my many researches and looked forward to visiting it as i said in my post Here how I would love to visit more museums.
The Ibibio Union Museum is actually located at the State Unity park on Udo Udoma Avenue slightly opposite the Central Bank.
Unfortunately, the museum at the time of my visit was actually empty due to certain issues that happened there; I was a bit sad cause it was one of the places I looked forward to going to. Nonetheless, my friends and I still made the most of our time there as it even started raining and we actually just played around and took pictures of course; you already know
We thereafter, went to the Ibom Tropicana Entertainment Centre which is also another tourist attraction of the state and home to the Cinema too where we ended up seeing Girl's Trip which was a great movie. I was quite disappointed as the most part of this centre which is quite beautiful is empty and for whatever reason, I think the government should do something about this place soon.
Coming up in my next post would be details of my final days in the state which includes my Visit to the bridge of no return and also a cost breakdown as my trip was based on a Budget.
I hope you enjoyed reading this first part of my Holiday. Please let me know what your thoughts are in the comments section and If you have visited Akwa Ibom state, I would like to know how your experience was!
Don't forget to like this post, share with your loved ones and subscribe to the blog!
Many Love from your favourite Ajala!


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Pilot Study Awards
About the Award
Investigators often struggle to find funding for innovative approaches to scientific questions because their new ideas may not yet be in the scientific mainstream. Each year we support multiple pilot studies with $75,000 each to pave the way for new avenues of ovarian cancer research and to expand our understanding of the disease.
Award Details
Two-year awards at $75,000 each, Pilot Study Program awards will support investigator-initiated projects in all areas of ovarian cancer research. In addition, projects designed to analyze data from already funded clinical trials will be considered.
Funds are for direct costs only; institutional overhead and indirect costs will not be included in the award.
Application Process
All application materials should be submitted through proposalCENTRAL, by the application due date. Applicants who do not already have an account in proposalCENTRAL must register for an account prior to beginning application. Once logged into proposalCENTRAL, search for Rivkin Center in the Grant Opportunities tab and select the appropriate grant.
Applications will only be accepted during the open competition window and will not be considered after the deadline. The completed application must be validated to ensure all materials have been submitted. Signature pages must be printed for a wet signature (not an electronic signature) from the named institutional official which can then be uploaded. To ensure a successful submission has taken place, confirm that the status of the application has changed to "Submitted."
Our 2023 grant cycle will be announced in December 2022.
University of Glasgow / Imperial College London2016 Pilot Study Award: Utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 Technology to Generate Improved Murine Models of Ovarian High Grade Serous Carcinoma
Dr. Iain McNeish developed much needed ovarian cancer mouse models that mimic the genetics of ovarian cancer in humans using the cutting edge CRISPR/Cas9 genetic engineering technology. The mouse models have single or combined mutations in genes known to be mutated in ovarian cancer, including Brca1, Brca2, Pten, Tp53 and Nf1. Dr. McNeish showed that the mouse models behave similarly to human cancers in response to known chemotherapy drugs. This study helped create critical tools that have been shared with 50+ labs worldwide. It will provide the basis for preclinical testing of new drug combinations and for understanding how ovarian tumors develop.


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Konecranes has won a repeat order from one of Genoa's leading multipurpose terminals, Terminal San Giorgio S.r.L. (TSG), for a Konecranes Gottwald Model 7 Mobile Harbour Crane. The order was received in the first quarter of 2018, and the crane will be commissioned in June 2018 in Genoa.
The mobile harbour crane will handle containers, general cargo and project cargo in the multi-purpose terminal. It will be prepared to use power from the port's grid in the future for more eco-efficient operation. This will reduce the crane's energy consumption and eliminate exhaust emissions locally.
The diesel-electric crane will be TSG's second Model 7 mobile harbour crane. The first one began operation in 2013. TSG's Managing Director, Maurizio Anselmo, explained: "Our existing Model 7 crane from Konecranes, with its high level of performance and reliability, has helped to enhance our handling capacity. Moreover, the competence and availability of the local Konecranes service team has been impressive. This is why we opted for a Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbour Crane again. Together, the two versatile cranes will help us to fully exploit the potential of our terminal, which is the premier multi-purpose terminal in the port of Genoa."
Konecranes Port Solutions' Regional Sales Manager, Gino Gherri, said: "This order from TSG confirms the positive market development in Italy. Terminal operators are investing in their infrastructure with an eye on state-of-the-art technology, and many of them are opting for our design and concept. We are pleased to strengthen our presence in Italy's biggest port, Genoa, where terminals are experiencing an increasing demand for high-quality services."
According to Konecranes, the Model 7 crane in the G HMK 7608 variant provides a strong lifting curve with a maximum lifting capacity of 150 t, and an outreach of up to 54 m. For particularly efficient container handling, it will be equipped with a twin-lift spreader providing a lifting capacity of up to 60 t under spreader.
Read the article online at: https://www.drybulkmagazine.com/ports-terminals/17042018/konecranes-wins-repeat-order-from-italian-multi-purpose-terminal/


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If you are a .NET developer and want to start using or just explore Node.js, in this post I will provide you with initial guidance. I will make a practical comparison of .NET and Node.js, focusing on similarities and differences to provide you with a frame of reference for further learning. In Part 2 of this blog post we will introduce Node.js frameworks, tools, and coding practices.
Node.js is a server side programming framework based on JavaScript. It is open source and cross-platform (runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Solaris). The project was started by Ryan Dahl in 2009 and has quickly grown in popularity. Just like .NET framework, Ruby on Rails, or Python, it provides rich enough ecosystem of functionality to support creating modern web applications. Unlike .NET Framework, Node.js focuses primarily on IO-bound workloads (e.g. web servers, orchestration engines) and is rarely used for CPU intensive applications (e.g. image processing, complex computation). Given that web programming is the primary scenario focus of Node.js, the Hello, world samples usually take the form of a simple HTTP server:
var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-type': 'text/plain' });
res.end('Hello, world!');
Subsequent sections will focus on key aspects of Node.js to compare and contrast them with .NET framework.
High level architecture##
One of the key differences between .NET/CLR and Node.js is in the underlying architecture. CLR is a multi-threaded runtime, while Node.js executes application code on a single thread within a process. Work scheduling in CLR focuses on assigning CPU time to threads, taking into account thread-blocking operations, and is abstracted away from the developer for the most part. In contrast, Node.js code execution is driven by a central, single-threaded event loop which executes non-blocking event handlers on that thread. Event handlers implemented by the application must be non-blocking. If they perform CPU blocking operation or computation, subsequent events will starve. For example, if you made a blocking API call within the message handler of the_Hello, world_ HTTP server above, your web server application would be unresponsive to HTTP requests that arrived while the computation is taking place. Developers must be much more aware of work scheduling in a Node.js application than in a .NET application.
Impact on APIs##
The most visible manifestation of this design difference is in the shape of the APIs .NET and Node.js offer. While .NET usually provides both blocking and asynchronous (non-blocking) API versions for long running IO operations, Node.js offers almost exclusively asynchronous APIs. For example, reading a file in .NET may be implemented in a blocking fashion with:
var contents = File.ReadAllText("myfile.txt");
or in a non-blocking fashion using TPL and async\await (or more traditional async APIs in .NET):
var contents = await File.OpenText("myfile.txt").ReadToEndAsync();
In contrast, Node.js only offers an asynchronous API for reading files:
fs.readFile("myfile.txt", function (error, content) {
// ... do something with content
The example above demonstrates a pattern asynchronous APIs in Node.js often follow: the
fs.readFile API starts an asynchronous IO operation of reading a file, and invokes the callback function specified as the second parameter only when that operation completes. At that point the content of the file is already in memory and can be provided to the application without blocking.
(Note that there actually is a blocking version of the file reading API in Node; however, its use in practice is limited to narrow scenarios that do not require the process to remain responsive to other events).
Impact on scalability##
The second important implication of the key architectural difference between .NET/CLR and Node.js is in how applications scale out.
When you write a .NET web application, you typically don't have to do anything special about scalability until your application cannot be accommodated by a single server VM. CLR's multi-threaded scheduler knows how to fully leverage multi-core CPUs of modern servers, allowing code in your application to execute in parallel on multiple cores of a single machine.
In contrast, Node.js is running application code on a single thread per process, and therefore cannot fully leverage multi-core CPUs using just one process. A Node.js developer faces the scalability problem much earlier than a .NET developer: as soon as the capacity of a single CPU core is insufficient to handle the application logic. Fortunately Node.js makes it easy to scale out your application to multi-core CPUs using the built-in cluster module, optionally with the added management features of strong-cluster-control. Using cluster, with a few extra lines of code you can spawn multiple child processes, each running the same application code. If your application has a network listener (e.g. an HTTP server), all spawned processes will be listening on the same network port, and the operating system kernel will load balance new connections across the spawned processes. That way, a Node.js application can fully leverage the CPU power of a multi-core, multi-CPU server. The strong-cluster-control module by StrongLoop enhances cluster with the ability to monitor child processes, throttle their restarts in case of frequent failures and control the cluster through an API or command line tool.
The fact that a Node.js developer must design for scalability much earlier than a .NET developer has another advantage. Designing for scalability early usually results in cleaner application architecture. Many of the mechanisms a developer would use to scale out to multi-core servers would be used verbatim to scale out to a multi-server web farm. For example, scaling out to multi-core servers often requires a mechanism to externalize application state, something a similar .NET application can simply accomplish with shared in-memory state (with complexity that usually manifests itself only later in the form of race conditions and deadlocks).
.NET Framework comes pre-installed on modern Windows operating systems. As long as the version of the framework matches your needs, your .NET application can immediately run on those systems.
In contrast, Node.js must be explicitly installed. Fortunately, Node.js has a much smaller and portable runtime than .NET Framework. The core Node.js runtime on Windows is a self-contained executable less than 7MB in size (as of Node.js version v0.10.28). Given that, it is not unreasonable to re-distribute the Node.js runtime along with your application, especially if you have a dependency on a particular version.
A .NET developer has access to functionality built into the .NET Framework itself as well as third party .NET components distributed as NuGet packages. In Node.js, consistent units of functionality are packaged asmodules, which are then imported into the application using the
require function.
A rich set of Node.js modules is built into the Node.js runtime itself, and part of the single executable file representing the runtime (
node.exe on Windows). The built-in modules range in functionality from file system operations, to process management, cryptography, clustering, to creating TCP, HTTP, and UDP clients and servers. In essence, one can already get a decent mileage out of the built-in modules. You can get an idea of the functional span of the built-in modules by looking at Node.js API documentation.
One of the key strengths of the Node.js ecosystem however is in the thriving open source community providing Node.js extensions. The central repository of these extensions is npm. As of this writing, there are over 70k modules on npm (compare this to over 20k NuGet packages for .NET Framework). The span of functionality offered by npm modules can only be characterized as everything under the Sun: you will find modules that allow communication with most SQL and NoSQL storage solutions, messaging systems, MVC and REST frameworks, templating engines, protocol implementations, etc. Although this is not a requirement, the de-facto pattern Node.js community follows is that a module published on npm also hosts its source code on GitHub.
npm modules are versioned using the semver versioning semantics. Following this semantics is important to allow the system to choose the correct version of a module during automatic module installation (seeconfiguration).
Using npm modules in your Node.js application requires them to be installed, similarly to installing NuGet packages for a .NET application. Every Node.js distribution or build contains an npm package manager. This is a command line npm client application (written in Node.js itself) that allows you to search, install, manage, and publish npm modules.
Installing a Node.js module is simple. Let's use the ws module to implement a simple WebSocket server in Node.js. You will also notice that the source code of the module along with its documentation are on GitHub ateinaros/ws, which is the pattern followed by vast majority of Node.js modules. First, install the module:
npm install ws
Notice that a
node_modules\ws directory was created on disk. This is where the module code is stored and where the Node.js runtime will load it from when the application runs.
At this point you can import the
ws module using the
require function within your Node.js application and implement your WebSocket server using APIs it offers:
var ws = require('ws');
var wss = new ws.Server({ port: 8080 });
wss.on('connection', function (connection) {
connection.on('message', function (message) {
Notice how the result of the
require function is assigned to the
ws variable. This mechanism allows you to create your own namespace for the APIs exposed by the
ws module by making them available as functions and properties of an object whose name your application controls. This mechanism is similar to using alias directives in .NET, except it is much more commonly used in Node.js applications and modules.
All but the simplest Node.js applications and modules contain a configuration file called
package.json. The primary purpose of this file is to specify the name of the package, its version, and to declare dependencies: other Node.js modules that a particular module requires to function correctly. These aspects of the package.json are similar to the manifest embedded in .NET assemblies. Other roles this file plays include specifying custom post-installation steps, ways of running tests, or development time dependencies. The full specification of the package.json file explains the capabilities in detail.
"name": "myapp",
"version": "0.1.0",
"dependencies": {
"express": "0.4.2",
"mongodb": "> 1.2"
The minimalist
package.json file above specifies myname as the application name, sets the version number to 0.1.0, and declares that the application depends on the express and mongodb npm modules. Module dependencies can require a very specific version of a module (e.g. 0.4.2) or provide a more relaxed version constraint (e.g.
> 1.2). In general applications should be as specific as possible in declaring module versions. When comparing module versions, the semver semantics applies.
The package.json file is read and interpreted not by the application itself, but by the npm client tool than manages npm modules. In particular, calling
npm install in a directory that contains a package.json file will ensure that all modules the component depends on are available in the environment; missing modules will be obtained from the npm repository. Running
npm install is part of a typical workflow of deploying a Node.js application.
Unlike the .NET configuration file, package.json usually does not specify any application settings. Node.js application settings are commonly passed to the application through environment variables. Some applications introduce their own, file-based mechanisms of specifying settings. Typically these files use JSON or YAML formats, which are easy to parse in JavaScript and easier to work with for a human than XML.
In Part 2 of this blog I will explore frameworks, tools, hosting, and coding practices of Node.js.
What's next?##
- Ready to develop APIs in Node.js and get them connected to your data? Check out the Node.js LoopBack framework! We've made it easy to get started either locally or on your favorite cloud, with a simple npm install.</span>


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Howard Gordon continues to put the 24 gang back together for the upcoming Fox event series. Jon Cassar has signed on to executive produce and direct multiple episodes of 24: Live Another Day, including the first two episodes. Cassar was a producer–director on the series from Seasons 2-7 — he directed 59 episodes including the TV movie 24: Redemption and won two Emmys and a DGA Award for the series. "I'm very happy to be renewing my relationship with the 20th Century Fox TV and Imagine family and am excited to call 'action!' again on the set of the resurrected 24," Cassar said. "Considering I was not involved in (the final) Season 8, this new 24 event series gives me the chance for closure on a show that is very important to me." Said Gordon: "Jon was a profoundly integral part of 24 creatively and culturally. It doesn't feel like it would be 24 without him, and we're all just really thrilled to be working with him again." Cassar is the third 24 alum to join 24: Live Another Day, joining Gordon and David Fury. Several others are in the process of making deals, including co-creator Bob Cochran, Evan Katz and Manny Coto. Cassar's recent credits include Continuum, Person Of Interest, Revolution, Terra Nova and Fringe and he directed and produced the miniseries The Kennedys, which also garnered him a DGA Award. He is with Paradigm and Industry Entertainment.
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