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Get Ready For A Brand-New Taylor Swift Music Video ASAP
It's been nearly two months since Taylor Swift surprised everyone by announcing that her newest album, Reputation, would be coming out by the end of 2017. And now, there's only a few weeks to go until the highly-anticipated record is released on Nov. 10. Already, fans have gotten to hear two songs off Reputation, "Look What You Made Me Do" and "Ready For It," along with a music video for the former track. And as of late Thursday night, Swift has dropped a third track, called "Gorgeous" — so naturally, it's only a matter of time before the "Gorgeous" music video release date comes upon us.
Of course, there's no guarantee that we're even getting a music video to go along with the new song, but it definitely seems likely. For one thing, as said before, "Look What You Made Me Do" already got its own music video, and not just any music video; the four-minute clip has achieved nearly 600 million views, and inspired countless essays and thinkpieces about its meaning and mysterious references. And although "Ready For It" didn't get a music video, it still wouldn't be at all surprising if "Gorgeous" gets one anyway, since that's fairly common for singles, especially ones released by Swift.
Even more, there's actual proof that a music video is on its way, although it's not totally clear yet whether or not it's the video for "Gorgeous." Earlier in October, The Telegraph reported that Swift was spotted filming a video in different locations around London, possibly all places she'd visited with her rumored boyfriend, the English actor Joe Alwyn. No other information about that video has been released just yet, but it's certainly likely that it's going to be for "Gorgeous."
Even more, there's already a lyric video, above. As for when the actual video will come out, that's anyone guess, but one would think that it'd be pretty soon considering the album's upcoming release. It'd make sense for Swift to release the video as soon as possible, in order to give fans and critics plenty of time to react and form their theories. That way, there won't be any overlap between people's time responding to the music video and their time responding to Reputation when that album has its full release in November.
Now, if only we know what exactly a "Gorgeous" music video will look like. The song is an airy love song that could certainly go along well with a sweet, romantic music video, perhaps featuring Swift's reported real life love, Alwyn. Or perhaps there'll be a Tom Hiddleston lookalike starring in the clip, considering that several lines in "Gorgeous" seem to reference Swift's very famous ex and their short-lived relationship.
Whatever route Swift chooses to take for this upcoming music video, it's clear that she has plenty of options. And whatever she does choose, you know fans and critics alike will eat it up, as it's practically impossible for Swift to release a song or music video (or, let's be honest, even the smallest of teasers on Instagram or Twitter) without everyone obsessing over what it could possibly mean. For better or for worse, Swift knows exactly how to get people talking, and you gotta give her respect for that.
So hopefully, we'll get a "Gorgeous" music video soon, so the discussions over its meaning and references can begin. A new Taylor Swift album is on the horizon, and that means that the next few weeks (or months, really) will be absolutely filled with what feels like the entire population analyzing every word and image that Swift chooses to send our way. This video seriously can't come soon enough.

subset: commoncrawl


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Many iGoogle alternatives have popped-up on the web over the last eighteen months or so. I was never a big iGoogle user so I didn't miss it when it went away. That said, iChrome is an iGoogle alternative that I can see myself using on a daily basis. iChrome uses and iGoogle-like interface to display your calendar, notes, apps, favorite sites, and more whenever you open a new tab in Chrome. I'm constantly opening new tabs so iChrome is going to put things in front of me all day long.
H/T to Lifehacker.


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It Is Possible To Sell Your Commercial Property Quickly
Real estate property is certainly a stressful activity, even though this it not the initial transaction many who are experienced in commercial property sometimes think it is just a little overwhelming, too. These article enables you to help make informed decisions about commercial property, through the very beginning to end.
Use a camera to consider pictures. Ensure the picture shows the defects (for example spots on the carpet, holes on the wall or discoloration in the sink or bathtub).
Location is the most important factor in deciding on a commercial property to acquire. You should consider many things, like the neighborhood the property is found in. Compare the growth of the property's neighborhood to similar neighborhoods around the country Real Estate Photographer Vaughan If one makes a great investment in actual estate, it is beneficial for you to make sure that your premises is within a location that will still be growing in five to ten years.
In comparison with purchasing a home, purchasing commercial real estate property requires more hours, money and paperwork. Bear in mind though that the arduous nature on this process is simply stepping stone to improve dividends yielded from the hours and cash you invest.
Your investment might be very time consuming at the beginning. It may need time for you to find an opportunity that may be profitable, and afterwards, you might want to wait around for repairs and remodeling before you can start monetizing your investment. Don't quit, this method will take time and you just need to show patience. Your rewards will come later.
List your real estate property at the realistic price. There are a variety of several factors which go into determining a property's value.
One major part of commercial real estate deals is inspections. When property you take part in will be inspected, make a plan to verify the legitimacy for each inspector. You need to be especially diligent with regards to hiring a pest management service, several individuals who are employed in this field aren't accredited. Ultimately, this can assist you to bypass larger, higher priced problems.
Establish what you require before searching in commercial property. You ought to write a listing of which features are most important to you. For instance, do you need a specific number of restrooms, a particular level of sq footage, or perhaps a conference room?
Emergency repairs needs to be an increased priority on the list. Talk to the landlord about handling of emergency repairs so you know who to call in that situation. Know about the response time period of emergency personnel, and be sure to get their contact information handy. Work together with your landlord to create a contingency plan in the event that an unforeseen disaster occurs this will assist you to avoid customer care or pr nightmares.
Borrowers must order appraisals with commercial loans. If somebody else orders an appraisal for yourself, your budget might not exactly accept that appraisal. Be properly prepared by ordering the appraisal directly.
Including the most sophisticated commercial property hunter may be challenged when searching for a whole new investment. Consequently articles such as this exist to make it a bit easier when thinking about buying commercial property..


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Disney CEO Bob Iger let the frog out of the bag at the company's annual meeting in Kansas City today. "Somewhere in my mind I know that work is being done on a sequel," he said, before stopping himself saying he didn't know how much has been disclosed about a second 'The Muppets' movie. Iger added, in response to a question, that design work is "just beginning" for the Avatar attraction planned for Animal Kingdom in Orlando — and "in all likelihood" it won't open until 2015. He says the company is "working on some concepts" to introduce attractions involving Marvel characters. They're also "kicking around ideas" to enhance the presence of Pirates Of The Caribbean and Cars at the parks. "It would be tough to do walk-around characters" for Cars, he said.
Disney Shareholders Support Exec Pay, But By Lower Margin Than Last Year
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Glamour model Katie Price has been charged with bad driving and fined $3000 dollars, after losing control of her vehicle in a February accident.
Price was driving her husband and two children to Euro Disney in her massive pink horsebox, when she was pulled over by the police who allegedly saw her talking on her mobile phone.
At a magistrates' court hearing, the former Page 3 model denied using her phone at the wheel on that February day, reported Daily Mail online.
Explaining why the truck swerved as the police patrol followed it Price said, "I'm a typical woman driver. It's a massive great lorry and I just wasn't used to driving it."
Mid Sussex magistrates found her guilty of the charge of not being in proper control of the vehicle, gave her three penalty points to add to seven already on her licence and fined her $1800 and ordered her to pay $1200 costs.(PTI)


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Introducing Reply and TexAu integration
The two consecutive steps of any sales process, lead generation and engagement are closely connected.
First of all, what's the point in getting those leads if you don't proactively engage them with personalized, tailored outreach?
Secondly, targeting relevant, pre-qualified leads will make your outreach much more effective.
The problem here is that no business can rely on a single source of leads to fill their pipeline. There are thousands of great opportunities you can find on Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, or any dedicated lead generation platform you might be using. How do you get all of them directly into your SEP?
This is where tools like TexAu come in handy.
Lead generation made easy
TexAu is a powerful lead generation tool that helps you automate a wide variety of manual tasks on social media and, as a result, generate high-quality leads faster.
Using a simple and easy to use drag-and-drop interface, you can build custom workflows to automate some of your routine tasks:
- Extract data from any social media platform including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Quora, Pinterest, etc.
- Perform actions like sending messages, sending connection requests, and perform cross-platform drip campaigns.
On top of that, TexAu perfectly fits into your sales stack, offering 1000+ integrations via Zapier as well as a number of native integrations - which now include Reply.
Let's take a closer look at how you can make the two work together to further optimize your lead generation process.
Getting started with Reply and TexAu integration
The native integration allows you to push data directly from TexAu to your Reply account and put it to use with multichannel outreach campaigns.
Getting started with the integration is easy - it only takes 3 steps:
Get the API key
To obtain the Reply API key, go to the Settings tab -> API Key in your account and copy the existing key or generate a new one.
Add the API key to you TexAu account
Go to your TexAu account -> Variables -> New variable to create a global variable for the Reply API key to avoid copying and pasting it in every Recipe you create later.
Create TexAu Recipes
Once you add the API key, TexAu will dynamically fetch the available sequences. To get started, just select the required campaign by clicking on the insert variable button.
You can now map the email field from the Spices you have used to automatically add the leads to your Reply.io sequence. Just run your Recipe to see the results.
Please note: Since the email is a mandatory field, the Reply.io integration will only work with the Recipe where you are getting emails in the results of any Spice.
How to make the most of Reply and TexAu integration
To help you understand the potential benefits of this integration, let's consider some of its practical use cases. Namely, here are three Recipe ideas to level up your lead generation and engagement with the TexAu and Reply integration.
1. Reach out to prospects from a list of companies
If you have a list of company names in a certain domain or location, you can easily convert them into a targeted emailing list to engage with a cold outreach campaign using TexAu and Reply in 4 easy steps.
- Find websites by the list of company names (using Company Name to Domain Spice).
- Extract prospect emails from each website on your list (using Extract Emails From Website Spice).
- Enrich the contacts by sourcing data from their LinkedIn profiles (using Scrape A LinkedIn Profile Spice).
- Import those leads to a Reply sequence (using Add a Lead in Campaign on Reply.io Spice)
2. Send emails to LinkedIn group members
You can also source the list of targeted leads from a relevant group on LinkedIn and engage them with a personalized sequence. Here's how:
- Extract the list of LinkedIn group members - 8,000 maximum (using Linkedin Group Members Spice)
- Find emails for each lead on the list (using Find Email Using LinkedIn Profile Spice)
- Import the contacts list into a Reply sequence (using Add a Lead in Campaign on Reply.io Spice)
3. Engage Quora profile followers with personal email outreach
Quora is another area of opportunity for B2B lead generation. Using the TexAu and Reply integration you can identify and engage your (or your competitor's) followers:
- Save the list of profile followers - 5,000 maximum (using Extract Quora Profile Followers Spice)
- Dig a little deeper by extracting all the details from those Quora profiles (using Scrape A Quora Profile Spice)
- Find email addresses of each lead on your list (using Find An Email Address Spice)
- Add leads into Reply sequence (using Add a Lead in Campaign on Reply.io Spice)
Ready to take it for a spin?
Lead generation and sales engagement are extremely effortful and time-consuming tasks that however are fundamental to any sales process.
By putting those mundane tasks on autopilot with tools like TexAu and Reply, you will be able to focus more on interacting with the engaged, warm leads and closing the deals.
What's more, having all of your automation tools work as a unified system, seamlessly syncing the data and triggering actions across your stack, can help you make your sales process even more efficient.
So don't hesitate to start your TexAu trial today and see your pipeline filling up with targeted, warm leads right away!
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Thank you for your interest in Reply!


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U. S. high school students are taking harder classes, receiving better grades, and from every indication in recent data, leaning much less than their counterparts fifteen years ago. Go figure. All the talk about spending more money and about improving testing and teacher standards and the end result is that two decades of educational reform may not have improved things overall.
The U. S. Department of Education released two studies Thursday that raised very tough questions. David Driscoll, the commissioner of education for Massachusetts, notes, "I think we are sleeping through a crisis." He called these two new studies "stunning." Two means were used for this study: (1) A standardized 12th grade test, and (2) An analysis of the transcripts of 2005 high school graduates.
The fascinating thing is that students in 1990 had a GPA of 2.68 and in 2005 it rose to 2.98, and this included students taking more college preparatory courses than ever before. 12th grade reading scores have been dropping steadily since 1992. So, what are students learning in college prep classes? As for math fewer than 25% scored in the "proficient" range.
This study involved 900 U. S. schools, including 200 private schools! 26,000 transcripts were used. The chief of curriculum for Chicago high schools said, "We know the root to solving the problem is having more rigor in classes." But how? We already have teachers who fear their students, killings in our schools, and armed guards in most U. S. high schools. What next? The fact is few leaders, and especially politicians and educators, have real answers. The system is broken. Do parents and citizens have the will to fix it? I have my doubts. Such problems call for Christians to make a difference. Talk about a cultural opportunity, here is a huge one. But most of us have run away from public education, condemning it with John Dewey and his ilk to the pit. Even if we do not want our children in the public system can we afford to form ghettos for Christians and ride this storm out to its long term conclusions?
The movie Amazing Grace comes out this weekend. We desparately need a Wilberforce-like leader (or hundreds of lesser known but similarily courageous leaders) to begin to work for the real education of our children or our values will be entirely lost in a few more decades.


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Kiley May has many different identities. She's Mohawk and Haudenosaunee. She's an actor, artist, and storyteller. And she's a transgender, two-spirit woman.
Two-spirit is the term some Indigenous people use to define their sexual, spiritual or gender identity. It's taken May a while to embrace all of these parts of herself. She told HuffPost Canada there was a lot of transphobia and homophobia in the communities where she grew up.
But, she's invested in finding the gender fluidity that's part of her history. Many traditional Indigenous ceremonies were less gendered, before the religious influence of colonial contact, than they are now: "There's always been room for crossing genders," May said.
May was able to connect with community, once she arrived in Toronto. Many people helped her in her transition, and she hopes she can offer that same inspiration to younger generations.
"Transitioning is a form of art, and it's my greatest artwork to date," she said.
Watch the video above to hear more from Kiley May.


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Why "Perverse Incentives" Are Hurting the Solar Market
Growth in residential solar panel installations has sputtered in recent years and an eerie parallel from a decade ago — namely elements of the mortgage crisis — may be part of the reason.
Much was made at the time about solar installations breaking record numbers and asserting itself as a much more integral part of energy consumption. But following a high-water mark reached in 2016, the pace of solar installations has fallen off. The same holds true for residential installations.
As an infrastructure ratings analyst with 30-years of experience in various parts of the industry and working with a variety of intermediaries and institutions, I can see that the increased availability of capital, low or zero upfront costs to the homeowner and not tying in other lenders can encourage more unethical activity as it did at the local level 10 years ago. Transparency for homeowners suffered causing less-informed decisions. And we're starting to see the same thing for homeowners with solar installations.
No doubt rate restructuring and diminished financial incentives have played a part in cooling appetite for solar installations. But one possible answer worth discussing in greater detail appears to be perverse incentives. Despite the benefits solar installations have presented to both individuals and companies, even good public policies can be abused and hurt the less-informed consumer and, as such, warrant vigilance and improvement.
There is a lot of money to be made with solar installations. And localized programs dangle the promise of lower energy bills over time like a carrot to consumers. There are solar subsidies in states like California and New Jersey that encourage the use of solar, with California now making it a requirement beginning in 2020 for new homes to have solar electric systems in place. However, numerous instances of unrealized promises and hardships driven by inaccurate forecasts, asymmetric information or less than ethical sales practices from middlemen are putting the brakes on this rapidly growing sector. Long Island provides an example where a good idea to save energy costs could become problematic without enough guardrails in place to protect it.
Related public policies that have also had unanticipated problems are the Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. Implemented under state legislation, PACE programs allow home and commercial property owners to fund energy-efficient retrofits at no upfront costs to them. Many companies and individuals have seen the net benefits. However, there are some who did not have all the information at their disposal that are now saddled with debt they cannot afford or are now tied down to their home for longer than they would have liked.
Part of the reason may be because the moment there's a government-sanctioned program in place, people will inevitably find ways to abuse it.
Proof of this has surfaced in California in recent months with loan defaults on PACE loans rising substantially. Additionally, there has been evidence of homeowners taking out loans for solar panels they cannot afford because some contractors are not being transparent with homeowners on how to pay for them. The state, in response, has proactively taken steps to tighten protections for homeowners from opportunistic solar installation operators by passing state legislation to reform the PACE program.
What risks do these solar power transactions present for homeowners? What costs and constraints does it create? Whom does the responsibility of maintaining solar panels rest with? These are some questions that need to be answered.
Homeowners have been entering into solar panel leases with clear environmental benefits and no costs, which seems like a win-win. A closer look, however, shows that the lessor has a senior lien on the property until the solar installation is paid for and there is no clear process to ensure that the property can support what effectively is a new loan on top of an existing mortgage. The leasing decision also usually excludes the original mortgage lender and may impact the ability to sell the home. This is important because the typical home is sold every seven years, while solar leases may extend for 10–25 years.
One way to help prevent these perverse incentives from metastasizing would be a dedicated, independent and robust audit system created by the government to ensure that its policies are achieving the desired result. The dilemma here, however, is that no government wants to create a regular check on itself. Why? Because it opens the door to criticism, and not always the constructive kind. An independent audit system would allow a program to be tweaked positively. And while there would be an incurred cost to that, it is a necessary cost. The total investment in renewables in the US is in the billions so spending a few percentage points to ensure that the money is well spent seems well worth it.
Hard sell tactics by some less scrupulous localized players that helped precipitate the mortgage market crisis of over a decade ago are emerging in greater numbers in the solar market. Aside from the clearer near-term benefits, what longer-term risks does solar power present for homeowners? What is the dividing line between homeowner and solar equipment provider for maintenance, property damage and liability? What are the impediments and costs to early termination? These are some questions that need to be answered upfront for homeowners to help prevent a good idea from turning into a bad idea very quickly.
An abbreviated version of this article was first published on www.forbes.com


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How to Use a Business Credit Card to Control Cash Flow
Table of Contents
Does your business have cash flow problems? The credit available on a card is an excellent way to receive a short term loan and some room to manoeuver. The benefits of credit cards for small businesses outweigh the disadvantages if used correctly. Here are some key points to managing your cash flow using a credit card.
Keep business and personal expenses separate
You will add to your workload if you have to spend time sifting through statements to sort through what is a business vs. personal expense. You should also keep the receipts separate to avoid sifting through them. Receipts are best stored in an organised fashion and I for one cannot recommend Shoeboxed high enough for this.
Pay by card when possible
Easier reconciliation, reduced bank charges and easier preparation of accounts are some of the key benefits you will enjoy when paying by credit card. Stores offer extended interest free payments when purchasing large items, which is a cash flow benefit. And don't forget to talk to your banker. Always look for better banking services and you'll find financial solutions tailored to your personal and business needs.
But always repay on time
You might get up to 55 days to pay off your purchases, but if you don't actually repay your debt and let it roll over, you're going to incur interest. And it probably isn't going to be at a low rate, particularly if you have a credit card with rewards.
Interest free periods
Find out what your card's cut off days are and time your purchases accordingly. This allows you to maximise your free credit period. Keep the cash you save in a high interest rate savings account until the payments are due.
Manage your cash flow
Most businesses make the majority of their sales during the first and last weeks of the month. If you don't manage your cash flow properly, you will run out of money before you make more. Businesses with irregular income can put everything on their cards and wait till the end of the month when the money has piled up. This could mean the difference between having a little cushion and an overdrawn account.
What to do before applying for a business credit card
- Find out how limits are set and how to control your employee's spending.
- Note when payments are due and set up a direct debit to cover the minimum.
- Have a look around at what's available. For comparison, Clydesdale Bank offer business credit cards with up to 56 days interest free on purchases as well as all the usual business class features.
Rounding up
While using a business credit card is a common business practice, remember that nothing beats astute management. Do not spend more than you have and keep up to date records. If you are having problems managing your cash flow, consider hiring a professional to manage your accounts and keep your business in the black.


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Use of Designated Hitter Gaining Momentum in Baseball National League
"The National League, (NL) is considering the use of the designated hitter (DH)", stated John Mozeliak, the general manager of the St. Louis cardinals, and MLB Players Association chief Tony Clark.
The designated hitter (DH) is a position only in the American League, currently, where a hitter is not playing on the field but hits for the pitcher as his position. They have the designated hitter in the All Star Game always instead of the pitcher hitting.
It turns out that most general managers of their baseball team in the National League are getting angry. Most of them do not like how the pitcher has to hit, even though this has been happening in the National League for as long as it has existed. It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when the change the rule for the National League, reported sportingnews.com
John Mozeliak, GM of the St. Louis Cardinals, stated,"I do feel like there were time I could look all of you in the face it is a non starter, it is not being discussed at the owner level or GM level. But over the past year it has. I am not suggesting you are going to see a change, but I definitely think the momentum has changed," stated Cardinals GM John Mozeliak, reported ESPN.go.com
"John Mozeliak had always had interest in the DH in the National league. He has liked the idea even more when his star pitcher, Adam Wainwright, tore his achilles tendon while he was hitting. Wainwright ended up coming back for a short time in the postseason," reported espn.go.com
This is more than likely happening because they have made each league fifteen teams. This means that there will be interleague play everyday. Most General Managers think in the interleague game there should be a DH instead of always having a DH, reported sportingnews.com


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Solving the mainframe risksFebruary 26, 2020
Contrary to what people have been claiming for years, the mainframe is still alive. Not from a luxury position but because in most of the cases it is running complex, custom made, mission critical applications.
Although the mainframe itself is still functioning well in terms of technology an increasing number of risks are emerging that organizations have to deal with one way or another.
In the era of IoT in many organizations the mainframe is more connected to internet services and is as such more vulnerable for cyber-attacks. It is estimated that these risks will only increase. In case of such an attack, the mainframe may be infiltrated or even taken down with major consequences.
Lack of baby boom mainframers
The most mainframers are baby boomers and they are rapidly retiring. Despite the efforts of IBM to educate a new generation of mainframers the number of pensionados exceeds the new entrants by large numbers. Due to this lack of skills the limited available resources are all allocated to keeping the mainframe running and there's no time for innovation. In this case the risk of failure is high, and organizations are hoping and praying that there won't be any serious failures to the system as they do not have the staff to solve it.
The limitations of outsourcing
While outsourcing mainframe maintenance may seem a solution, you do not want to solely depend on an external party that ends up knowing your applications better than you do.
Specifically, when the mainframe is at the heart of your business, you need to be in control.
Data analytics
There's a ton of valuable data on the mainframe. A lot of customer data has been gathered over the years. This data is an important source of business information which helps build a competitive advantage and forms the basis for innovation. However, it is hard to get it off of the mainframe and integrate it with modern analytics applications. This could potentially weaken a company's market position and its ability to timely adapt to changing market conditions.
The complex important stuff remains
While the most standard applications have long been migrated off the mainframe. The more complex and important mainframe applications, applications that have been developed or customized in house a long time ago remain. Often, the programmers that created it have already left and there's little to no documentation available. The available options: rewrite, move to standard out of the box application are either very time consuming, way too expensive or extremely complex and thus risky.
So, what is the right solution?
At Asysco we have over 35 years of experience. In our approach we migrate all the code, any data structure: whether flat/index files or hierarchical, network or relational databases to a relational database (choice of Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or DB2). We convert JCL/WFL/ECL/shell scripts to VB Scripts or Windows PowerShell and any other operational component like interfacing, security, batch scheduling, user management and so on, to their Windows based equivalents.
Our AMT platform uses intelligent and adaptive conversion algorithms (Asysco intellectual property) that prevent code bloat (typically no more that 20% code expansion) and has an extremely low conversion defect rate (industry leading benchmark). Paired with integrated and automated testing tools, this ensures that 100% automated conversion is achieved in just a few iterations ("code drops") minimizing the impact of the migration as much as possible.
By all means, talk to companies we have worked with and hear it from the horse's mouth:
Customer Reference videos


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Quincy Compressor has been setting standards for the air compressor industry since 1920, with innovative, reliable products backed by some of the most comprehensive warranties in the business.
- Help recommend the best Quincy air compressor for your needs and budget
- Provide comprehensive air compressor service and maintenance
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- Provide useful maintenance and troubleshooting tips
- Act as your one-stop source for Quincy sales, service, and parts
Whether you have questions about which product is best for you or need help with an air compressor you already own, trust Brehob to be the advisor and partner you need.
Shopping Cart Icon Buy Online or Evnelope Icon Talk to an Expert
Here are just a few of the Quincy products Brehob supplies, services, and maintains from our locations in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, Columbus (OH), Detroit, and Elkhart (IN).
- Rotary Screw Air Compressors
- QGV Series: 40 – 200 HP
- QSI Series: 50 – 350 HP
- QGS Series: 5 – 100 HP
- New! QGD Series: 15 – 60 HP
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- Vacuums
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- Flow controllers
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When it comes to decreased efficiency, air leaks are a common culprit—in addition to leaking air, they also tend to leak money! Identifying these leaks when they happen and resolving them quickly will make a big difference in your bottom line. Check out Qunicy's latest video on how to avoid the "hiss" and prevent leaks in your air compressor system:
And remember Brehob performs compressed air audits and provides 24/7/365 emergency service to help you stay on top of these issues.


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The Rape Of Nanking (now Nanjing) was an atrocity of the first order. Simply put, it was Genocide. And under Chuan's insightful directing, his film was more: It reveals the paper-thin barrier between the tender and savage parts of most of us. At the time, 1937, and especially once WWII began, we Americans simply demonized the Japanese as being mere animals.
Chuan deserves great credit for his ability to understand and depict humanity as it really is. Even the rare exceptional individual, as noted by Milgram, was present in the body of Sargent Kadokawa who was so filled with revulsion by what his countrymen were doing that he blew his own brains out.
After six weeks of killing and raping, depending on the source, some 50,000 to 300,000 Chinese lay dead, including women and children. This was inconsistent with prior Japanese history. As a people, they enjoyed a high degree of personal safety; as warriors, they were disciplined and exemplary soldiers. In China, all that broke down. Underfed and mistreated by their own officers, their historic discipline disintegrated.
Alone among filmmakers and authors alike, Chuan sees through the superficial fabric and reveals humanity for what it really is: A species at war with itself. Our jungle and savannah heritage simply did not prepare us for civilized behavior. As Milgram and Zimbardo so ably proved and foretold events to come, our dominant and obedient tendencies are at eternal war with our parenting and altruistic selves--while our genes for cooperation aid and abet each side in the internal conflict most of us experience whether consciously or not.
When that inner conflict is recognized and dealt with species-wide, peace on earth can become reality. For more on the Nanking genocide see: Lu Chuan Talks About Nanking, or Daily Motion, and also the 13 October 2011 issue of the New York Review, page 27.
Posted by RoadToPeace on Sunday, October 09, 2011.


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Pine Valley Apartments in West Valley City
keyboard_arrow_rightAvailable Apartments
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With high-end water pumps, water rides, slides, pools, mini golf, laser tag, and rock climbing, Seven Peaks is your place for fun!
With a Megaplex Theater, dozens of shops and department stores, and dining options, Valley Fair Mall offers you fine dining and shopping, just minutes away from your new home at Pine Valley Apartments.
With a capacity of 20,000 seats, the USANA amphitheatre hosts events, concerts, and outdoor attractions. The amphitheatre is a staple of West Valley City, and offers breathtaking views of the Wasatch Mountain Range.
Pet Friendly
Life is better when you have pets! Conveniently located near beautiful parks and trails, Pine Valley is the perfect place for you and your pets to have a healthy and active lifestyle. For many of us, our pets are family. Pine Valley in West Valley City, UT is a pet-friendly apartment complex and invites you and your family to enjoy living in this peaceful community where everyone's needs are met, including your pets.keyboard_arrow_rightView our Pet Policy
Every apartment at Pine Valley offers the space and comforting qualities you need to make your apartment the home you've always desired. Our modern 2 Bedroom apartments give you the ability to choose from a variety of floor plans that will surely meet your highest expectations. The amenities offered at Pine Valley provide residents with all the necessities of easy living and floor plans for every lifestyle.keyboard_arrow_rightView Available Apartments
Located in the heart of West Valley City
3598 South 4200 West West Valley City, UT 84120keyboard_arrow_rightGet Directions
Live in Utah, Love your Apartment
Enjoy living in your new apartment home where you will feel valued. Our community is quietly tucked away while still conveniently located to great shopping at Valley Fair Mall, restaurants, schools, convenient public transportation, and more! Spend quality time here with family and friends around our designated bbq spaces, playground or large grassy areas.keyboard_arrow_rightVisit Our Apartments


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► Swim parallel & close to shore. Here is just a small selection of useful tips and advice on staying safe on and near the water. A broader range of helpful suggestions on being 'water aware' can be accessed through the 'Guides' category at the main Irish Water Safety website.
It's never too late to learn to swim. Help protect yourself and your family from drowning by taking up Irish Water Safety's swimming and Lifesaving classes around the county. View safety messages
Click to go to


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Story/essay-writing contest at Stormcloud.
FRANKFORT, MI (December 3, 2014) – Stormcloud Brewing Company is hosting a story/essay-writing contest to celebrate the official release of their Cherry Rye Dubbel entitled, "Gerald's Talking Dog."
Every beer at Stormcloud has a story. Sometimes Brewmaster Brian Confer will share it, while others are kept secret. Because every dog has its day, Stormcloud is accepting writing submissions to tell the untold tale of "Gerald's Talking Dog."
Framework: Each essay submission should be a creative undertaking, meant to whelm, overly, and entertain, beginning with the following:
- Title: Gerald's Talking Dog
- First line: "Gerald's Talking Dog loves cherries. That's all he talks about…"
The rest is up to the writer, to spin the tail in 500 words or less.
Submissions: All essays are due by noon on Thursday, December 11, 2014. Email submissions to firstname.lastname@example.com or print it and drop off at the pub. One legibly-typed submission per person. Each entry must include the entrant's name, email address, telephone number, and age. There is no fee to enter. Winners will be announced Saturday, December 13.
Top Dogs: Three lucky dogs will have their stories chosen to be presented to the Stormcloud Nation during a formal reading in the pub on Saturday, December 13 at 7:30 pm. Live music from Elberta-based trio Alfredo will follow.
Prizes: 1st place: $25, t-shirt and growler fill. 2nd place: $15 and growler; 3rd place: growler.
The contest's Judge Panel includes Jeff Smith, Editor of Traverse, Northern Michigan's magazine and MyNorth.com; Bob Butz, award-winning book author and essayist and a regular commentator on eco-political topics for Interlochen Public Radio; Jordan Bates, co-owner and editor of The Betsie Current; StormClouders.
Stormcloud Brewing Company opened in June 2013 just two blocks from Lake Michigan in the lakeside town of Frankfort, Michigan. A small brewery specializing in Belgian-style brewing, Stormcloud offers approximately 20 beers on tap in addition to a full menu of flatbread pizzas, small plate appetizers, soups/salads, charcuterie plates, and specialty popcorn.
Charla Kramer, Special Events Coordinator


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FERGUSON, Emma
Born October 6, 1917, died peacefully January 7, 2005
Predeceased by husband Percy Ferguson in 1996 and granddaughter Laurie Ferguson in 1977. Emma is survived by her three children: Edna Holts, Dave Ferguson (Lou), and Joan Anderson (Bernie); 9 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; brother Melvin Engen, and numerous nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life will be held from 1-3 pm Sunday, January 16, 2005 at Nanoose Place, 2925 Northwest Bay Road, Nanoose, B.C. In lieu of flowers, donations to the charity of your choice in Emma's memory would be appreciated. FIRST MEMORIAL FUNERAL SERVICES 250-754-8333


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Tiger 5K & Fun Run – May 28, 2016
Join the Northwestern Lehigh Educational Foundation for the annual Tiger 5K Run and Fun Walk!
Regular Registration Ends April 30th is $25.00 for Adults (10+), and $20.00 for Child/Student
Late Registration – Including race day is $30.00 for Adults and $25.00 for Child/Student
Register by May 10th to receive a long sleeve moisture wicking event shirt!
Fore more information and/or to register click on the link below.


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From the country's southern outer area let us pass to the eastern region, to Samara Gubernia. Let us take Novouzensk Uyezd, the last one investigated; in the statistical report for this uyezd we find the most detailed classification of the peasants according to economic status.[1] Here are the general data on the groups of the peasantry (the data that follow cover 28,276 allotment-holding households, numbering 164,146 persons of both sexes, i.e., only the Russian population of the uyezd, without Germans or farmsteaders—householders who farm both on community land and on separate non-community farmsteads. The inclusion of the Germans and the farmsteaders would considerably heighten the picture of differentiation).
The concentration of agricultural production turns out to be very considerable: the "community" capitalists (1/14 of the total households, namely, households with 10 and more draught animals) possess 36.5% of the area under crops—as much as do 75.3 %, the poor and middle peasantry put together! Here, too, as always, the "average" figure (15.9 dess. under crops per household) is absolutely fictitious and creates the illusion of universal prosperity. Let us examine other data on the economy of the various groups.
Thus, in the bottom group there are very few independent peasant farmers; the poor peasants have no improved implements at all, while the middle peasantry have them in insignificant numbers. The concentration of animals is still greater than the concentration of area under crops; the well to-do peasants evidently combine capitalist livestock raising with their large-scale capitalist cropping. At the opposite pole we have "peasants" who ought to be classed as allotment-holding farm labourers and day labourers, for their main source of livelihood is the sale of their labour-power (as we shall see in a moment), and the landowners sometimes give one or two animals to their labourers to tie them down to their farms and to reduce wages.
It goes without saying that the peasant groups differ not only as to the size of their farms, but also in their methods of farming: firstly, in the top group a very large proportion of the peasant farmers (40 to 60%) are supplied with improved implements (mainly iron ploughs, and also horse and steam threshers, winnowing machines, reapers, etc.). In the hands of 24.7% of the households, the top group, are concentrated 82.9% of the total improved implements; 38.2% of the households, the middle group, possess 17% of the improved implements; 37.1%, the poor, possess 0.1% (7 implements out of 5,724).[2] Secondly, the peasants with few horses are compelled by necessity to carry on "a different system of farming, a system of economic activity" entirely different from that of the peasants with many horses, as the compiler of Returns for Novouzensk Uyezd says (pp. 44-46). The well-to-do peasants "let their land rest . . . plough in the autumn . . . plough it again in the spring and sow after harrowing . . . roll the ploughed land when the soil has aired . . . plough twice for rye," whereas the badly-off peasants "do not let their land rest but sow Russian wheat year after year . . . for wheat they plough in the spring once . . . for rye they provide neither fallow nor ploughed land, but merely break the surface before sowing . . . for wheat they plough in the late spring, and as a result the corn often does not come up . . . for rye they plough once, or merely break the surface and not at the proper time . . . they plough the same plot of land unwisely year after year, without allowing it to rest." "And so on and so forth without end," the compiler concludes this list. "The facts enumerated concerning the radical difference between the farming systems of the better- and the badly-off peasants result in grain of poor quality and bad harvests for the latter and comparatively better harvests for the former" (ibid.).
But how could such a big bourgeoisie arise under the agricultural community system? The answer is supplied by the figures for land possessed and in use according to groups. The peasants in the section taken by us (76 households) have a total of 57,128 dess. of purchased land and 304,514 dess. of rented land, of which 177,789 dess. are non-allotment land rented by 5,602 households; 47,494 dess. of the allotment land rented from other village communities are held by 3,129 households, and 79,231 dess. of the allotment land rented in their own village communities are held by 7,092 households. The distribution of this enormous area of land, constituting more than 2/3 of the peasants' total area under crops, is as follows (see Table on p. 89).
We see here an enormous concentration of purchased and rented land. More than 9/10 of the total purchased land is in the hands of 1.8% of the households, the very richest. Of all the rented land, 69.7% is concentrated in the hands of peasant capitalists, and 86.6% is in the hands of the top group of the peasantry. A comparison of the figures on the renting and the leasing-out of allotment land clearly reveals the passage of the land into the hands of the peasant bourgeoisie. Here, too, the conversion of the land into a commodity leads to the cheapening of the wholesale purchase price of land (and, consequently, to profiteering in land). If we determine the price of one dessiatine of rented non-allotment land we get the following figures, counting from the bottom group to the top: 3.94; 3.20; 2.90; 2.75; 2.57; 2.08; 1.78 rubles. To show what mistakes the Narodniks fall into by thus ignoring the concentration of rented land, let us quote by way of example the arguments of Mr. Karyshev in the well-known symposium The Influence of Harvests and Grain Prices on Certain Aspects of the Russian National Economy (St. Petersburg, 1897). When grain prices fall, with an improvement of the harvest, and renting prices rise, the entrepreneur renters, concludes Mr. Karyshev, have to reduce demand and hence the renting prices had been raised by the representatives of consumers' economy (I, 288). The conclusion is absolutely arbitrary: it is quite possible that the peasant bourgeoisie raise renting prices in spite of a drop in grain prices, for an improvement in the harvest may compensate for the drop in prices. It is quite possible that the well-to-do peasants raise renting prices even when there is no such compensation, reducing the cost of production of grain by introducing machinery. We know that the employment of machines in agriculture is growing and that these machines are concentrated in the hands of the peasant bourgeoisie. Instead of studying the differentiation of the peasantry, Mr. Karyshev introduces arbitrary and incorrect premises about an average peasantry. That is why all the conclusions and deductions similarly arrived at by him in the publication quoted are of no value whatever.
Having ascertained that diverse elements exist among the peasantry, we can now easily get clarity on the question of the home market. If the well-to-do peasants control about 2/3 of the total agricultural production, it is obvious that they must account for an incomparably larger share of the grain on sale. They produce grain for sale, whereas the badly-off peasants have to buy additional grain and sell their labour-power. Here are the data:[3]
We suggest that the reader compare the arguments of our Narodniks with these data regarding the process of the formation of the home market. . . . "If the muzhik is prosperous, the factory flourishes, and vice versa" (V. V., Progressive Trends, p. 9). Mr. V. V. is evidently not in the least interested in the social form of the wealth which the "factory" needs and which is created only by the conversion of the product and the means of production, on the one hand, and of labour-power, on the other, into a commodity. Mr. N.–on, when speaking of the sale of grain, consoles himself with the thought that this grain is produced by the "muzhik farmer" (Sketches, p. 24), that by transporting this grain "the railways live at the expense of the muzhik" (p. 16). Really, are not these "community-member" capitalists "muzhiks"? "Some day we shall have occasion to point out," wrote Mr. N.–on in 1880, and reprinted it in 1893, "that in the localities where communal land tenure prevails, agriculture based on capitalist principles is almost completely absent (sic!!) and that it is possible only where communal ties have either been entirely broken or are breaking down" (p. 59). Mr. N.–on has never had this "occasion," nor could he have had, for the facts point precisely to the development of capitalist agriculture among "community members"[4] and to the complete adaptation of the notorious "communal ties" to the farms of big crop growers that employ labourers.
The relationship between the peasant groups proves to be absolutely analogous in Nikolayevsk Uyezd (cited statistical returns, p. 826 and foll.; we leave out those living away from home and the landless). For example, 7.4%, the rich households (having 10 and more draught animals), comprising 13.7% of the population, concentrate in their hands 27.6% of the total livestock and 42.6% of the rented land, whereas 29%, the poor households (horseless and one-horse), comprising 19.7% of the population, have only 7.2% of the livestock and 3% of the rented land. Unfortunately, the tables for Nikolayevsk Uyezd, we repeat, are too scanty. To finish with Samara Gubernia, let us quote the following highly instructive description of the position of the peasantry from the Combined Returns for Samara Gubernia.
"...The natural increase in the population, augmented by the Immigration of land-poor peasants from the western gubernias, in connection with the appearance in the sphere of agricultural production of money-grubbing speculators in land, has with every passing year complicated the forms of the renting of land, raised its worth and converted the land into a commodity which has so quickly and immensely enriched some and ruined many others. To illustrate the latter point, let us indicate the area cultivated by some of the southern merchant- and peasant-owned farms, where the tillage of 3,000 to 6,000 dessiatines is no rarity, while some practise the cultivation of 8-10-15 thousand dessiatines of land, renting several tens of thousands of state-owned land.
"The existence and the growth of the agricultural (rural) proletariat in Samara Gubernia are to a considerable extent the product of recent times, with their increasing production of grain for sale, rise in renting prices, ploughing up of virgin and pasture land, clearing of forests, and so forth. The landless households throughout the gubernia number 21,624 in all, whereas the non-farming ones number 33,772 (of those households that have allotments), while the horseless and one-horse households together number 110,60 families, with a total of 600,000 persons of both sexes, counting five and a fraction persons per family. We take the liberty of counting these, too, as proletarians, although legally they have a share of communal land; actually, these are day labourers, ploughmen, shepherds, reapers and similar workers on big farms who cultivate 1/2 to 1 dessiatine of their own allotments so as to feed their families who remain at home" (pp. 57-58).
Thus, the investigators regard as proletarians not only the horseless peasants, but also those who have one horse. We note this important conclusion, which fully coincides with that of Mr. Postnikov (and with the data in the classified tables) and points to the real social-economic significance of the bottom group of the peasantry.
[1] Statistical Returns for Samara Gubernia, Vol. VII, Nolvousensk Uyezd, Samara, 1890. An analogous classification is also given for Nikolayevsk Uyezd (Vol. VI, Samara, 1889), but the data are much less detailed. The Combined Returns for Samara Gubernia (Vol. VIII, Pt. 1, Samara, 1892) contains only a classification according to size of allotment, the unsatisfactory nature of which we shall deal with later on.—Lenin
[2] It is interesting to note that from these very data Mr. V. V. (Progressive Trends in Peasant Farming, St. Petersburg, 1892, p. 225) concluded that there was a movement by the "peasant masses" to replace obsolete implements by improved ones (p. 254). The method by which this absolutely false conclusion was reached is very simple: Mr. V. V. took the total figures from the Zemstvo returns, without troubling to look at the tables showing how the implements were distributed! The progress of the capitalist farmers (community members), who employ machines to cheapen the cost of producing commodity grain, is transformed by a stroke of the pen into the progress of the "peasant masses." And Mr. V.V. did not hesitate to write "Although the machines are acquired by the well-to-do peasants; they are used by all (sic!!) the peasants" (221). Comment is superfluous.—Lenin
[3] We identify with the sale of labour-power what the statisticians call "agricultural industries" (local and away from the village). That by these "industries is meant employment as regular and day labourers is clear from the table of industries (Combined Returns for Samara Gubernia, Vol. VIII): of 14,063 males engaged in "agricultural industries," 13,297 are farm labourers and day labourers (including shepherds and ploughmen).—Lenin
[4] Novouzensk Uyezd, which we have taken as an illustration, reveals a particular "tenacity of the village community" (to use the terminology of Messrs. V. V. & Co.): from the table in the Combined Returns (p. 26) we find that in this uyezd 60% of the communities have redivided the land, whereas in the other uyezds only 11 to 23% have done so (for the gubernia 13.8% of the communities).—Lenin


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We will see if this is only an exit from the consolidating US catalog and magazine market for Bertelsmann or whether there are greener pastures elsewhere for the Arvato book business as well. In any case, it is probably not good news for equipment makers if one can buy three plants full of well maintained production equipment for $100 million.
The press release talks about an "adjusted EBITDA after anticipated synergies"-multiple of less than four, let's say $25 million plus. That probably means the three substantial factories with their over 1,800 employees generate quite a bit less than that today, which tells us something about the continuing price pressure in the industry.


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The chestpiece is inspired by a film (and works very nicely with his body), and the rest is all original, designed by the wearer, and tattooed by Alan at Bill Claydon's Tatttoo World in Fayetteville, NC.
The chestpiece is inspired by a film (and works very nicely with his body), and the rest is all original, designed by the wearer, and tattooed by Alan at Bill Claydon's Tatttoo World in Fayetteville, NC.
dude, that is awesome! extra points for the dragon theme :D
Definitely cool looking.
God thats fuckin hott!!!
wow! :)
Awesome tats even if they look a little like the Mortal Combat logo.
I generally don't really like the big and burly sort of guy, but the tattoos/physique combo really works. Nice.
verrry nice tat!!
looks great on him..plus nice abs..
Aaaah! There's a Lain poster in the background! That makes this guy (and his tats) more awesome!
That is exactly the kind of first (and probably only) tattoo I want.
Huge, fairly simplistic, and totally badass.
Any idea which movie inspired the front?
it's from reign of fire. the original tattoo is more detailed and IMO even more desirable than this one. congrats
reminds me of "American Psycho".
that one is amazing! i love it, especiall the back view, very impresing. *nods*
Isn't this from "Reign of Fire"?
umm… this is deifnitely REALLY hot…
can i keep him? hehe
That is so stunning, and the poster of Lain is a plus!
I assumed it was Red Dragon inspired, but i havent seen Reign of Fire. I heard that movie sucked?
Reign of Fire is great if you want a cheesy post-apocalypse war movie with dragons. If that doesn't sound good, skip it. Personally I liked it but I'm easily amused and grew up playing D&D.
it looks really cool but somthing seemed off about it and when I enlarged it it looks like the tattoo has been photo shopped on, it looks like it would make a nice tattoo but this one looks fake, the lines in the stomach run straight and don't swope in on his abs plus there is no difference in how the light shines off the tattoo in spots where there would be,(the light shines off his skin but not where the tattoo is).
It's from the movie Reign of Fire I wanted that tattoo so bad ever since I saw it any way I could contact him let me know by email [email protected] I've been trying to find a tattooist that would do it right I'm scared that any other would mess it up I just want to know where he got it done.
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Climate change is destroying important archaeological remains that have been frozen for thousands of years, a study has shown.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh's Business School looked at examples of damaged remains frozen in permafrost in the Altai Mountains in central Asia, in sea ice in Alaska and in glaciers in the Rocky Mountains.
They found that all three sites were under threat. Thawing represents a risk to the Altai burial mounds, they say, which contain the only frozen tombs in the world – those of Eurasian nomadic horsemen – and hold treasures such as gold and ancient carpets.
They also discovered that coastal erosion caused by retreating sea ice is damaging remains in an Inuit village in Alaska, including a fourth-century coastal cemetery.
And melting glaciers in the Rocky Mountains are threatening Native American human remains and artefacts such as hunting tools, weapons and clothing.
"Warming climates are expected to lead to more melting ice, and we need to take action to safeguard ancient treasures, says the university's Dr Dave Reay.
"Long-term efforts are needed to locate archaeological remains that are at risk, and research how best to care for them. We must also consider the political and cultural implications of preserving important relics."
He is calling for the creation of a global organisation to maintain a record of vulnerable sites and coordinate efforts to conserve items that are at risk, particularly indigenous remains.


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This was my horoscope for the week of Dec. 30, 2010 from Free Will Astrology:
Decades ago, the U.S. built a network of sleek expressways to make it fast and easy for cars to travel between cities. But like many of America's impressive engineering feats, this one took little account of what the human soul might enjoy. Ugly buildings or empty spaces surround many of those roads. Visually, the difference between I-95 in Georgia and I-74 in Illinois is negligible. "The Interstate highway system has made it possible," said Charles Kuralt, "to go from sea to shining sea without seeing anything." You cannot afford to let this be your operative metaphor in 2011, Cancerian. Your potential for rapid, extensive progress is sizable, but it would be a mistake to barrel along with your eyes fixed on the prize in the distance as you neglect what's happening along the way. Be both global and local; romance the details as you revel in the big picture.
This actually does speak to me because I'm working on a few major endeavors that have the chance of making me so goal-oriented that I get blinded by the prize and miss the journey and exit ramps that lead to important and exciting adventures – namely my quest for a master's degree and career in community development, and my quest for a husband (yes, I said it).
So I shall resolve to keep an open mind and explore my options. I will revel in my journey and the big picture of what all this means – that I'm living my life in the here and now.
And what may come in 2011? I'll set some goals, of course, but let's first take a look at 2010 goals to see how that generally pans out:
- Move back to MN – CHECK!
- Start grad school – CHECK!
- Take an epic trip to either Sweden & Norway for a mother-land roots journey, or India to involve a service project of some sort – NOPE! SAVE FOR A FUTURE DAY
- More yoga! – CHECK! (although not enough)
- More Minneapple in the Big Apple and MN Culture Club; then something else related when I move to MN – CHECK on NYC, but still not figured out in MN
- Foster my senses of home, community and friendship – this is sort of "out there" but I mean it! – CHECK, I think…
- Music in some way, including ukulele and singing – inspiration needed here – CHECK, at least with Grace and our uke jams but I need more music in my life in MN
Goals for this year:
- Explore and build my life in MN
- Travel to NYC, Seattle and Spain, at the least
- Get a paid summer internship in the field of Community & Economic Development
- Get involved in the community in some or multiple ways
- Make time for things not school-related, including friends, dating, yoga, crafting, music, cooking
- Do well in school
- Maintain my friendships with the folks who live far away
- Foster new and long-standing relationships here in MN
That's the generic list for now. I like the reminder of that horoscope for the first week of 2011 – keeping an open mind and heart even though my path could be straight and narrow.


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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
My snooty sixth form application
Reading this letter back made me laugh out loud; I don't remember being such a snooty or aloof teenager but perhaps I was! I think it's somewhat hilarious that I was quoting what appears to be entirely fictional latin in this application and somewhat shameful that I dismissed my classmates so readily. And as for A-level biology echoing my out of school interests, well aren't all teenage boys wholly focussed on biology, or at least female anatomy?
For the record it was made clear that I wasn't welcome to stay in sixth form to experience 'feeling A-levels'. The Mrs. Hart mentioned is one of my retrospective heroes - she told my parents that the school system was horribly suffocating my development! Awesome. I did go to Suffolk College to study a course that would have resulted in me training as a nurse, and it was probably the best thing that could have happened to my development, not least because while at Suffolk College I met some of my dearest friends, and my wife!
Dear Mr.________
I am writing to you to confirm my hopeful entry into the Sixth Form (term starting September 1993) Both my parents and Mrs.Hart are behind me concerning the application that I put forward at the beginning of this year although my choice of subjects may well be changed. My current choice would be Biology and perhaps English but as I have mentioned above my second choice could well change in the future.
One of my several reasons for choosing the Sixth Form to further my education is that as I am still unsure about which career to pursue I am adopting a 'Vatianole' attitude, ie education for education's sake in two subjects that I enjoy and have great interest in as far as my out off school hobbies are concerned. I hope to be accepted into this sixth form and I am trying to prove that I am able to work as I hope my recent minor review shows.
I have greatly enjoyed my CPVE course that I have taken part in over the last year but with out wishing to sound rude I am now realising that I am perhaps more able than some of my classmates and I feel that A-levels will enable me to perform to my true potential.
I have also applied to Suffolk College but this is very much my second choice.
Yours sincerely,
Posted by Andrew Culture at 12:34 pm
Labels: school work, sixth form
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NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 25 – Kenyan lawmakers have finished up a three-day tour of the oil production facilities in Nigeria, where they learnt tips on how to effectively prepare the country to handle oil and gas resources.
The study tour was meant to help the lawmakers keep abreast with practical means of lawmaking following the discovery of oil and gas resources in Turkana and other parts of the country, as they prepare laws to govern oil and gas resources in the country.
Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi said Kenya chose Nigeria due to its successes and pitfalls in managing petroleum resources.
"We came to pick lessons from Nigeria especially what to do and what not to do. Our plans are to look at afresh the New Nigeria Petroleum Industries Bill, which is before the parliament. We want to look at it and see how we can modernise our Exploration and Petroleum Act," he explained.
"What we have is a political and oil management curse. To avoid this pitfall, what we look forward to do is to ensure that oil money is used on a three win basis- for the host country, for the host community and the win for the oil company," he added.
Compared to Nigeria, Kenya has continued to walk the long and difficult journey for nearly six decades now in its efforts to search for oil and gas deposits in its four sedimentary basins Lamu, Mandera, Anza and Tertiary Rift which have a combined surface area of about 485,000 square kilometers.
Speaking during the tour, Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Energy Nicholas Gumbo said, "What we are taking home is how to share oil revenues. Most oil conflicts revolve around sharing of oil revenues and environmental protections."
Kenya's energy legislation – currently in the works – lays emphasis on local communities to ensure that those affected by the exploitation of this natural wealth will be effectively compensated.
The laws that govern oil resources sector came into existence in 1980, but there have been efforts to modernise the laws.
Kiraitu was part of a high-profile delegation, including the Chairman of the Parliamentary Energy Committee Eng Nicholas Gumbo, Wajir West MP Adan Duale, Labour Minister John Munyes, Turkana South MP Josphat Nanok and Turkana East MP Ekwe Ethuro.
Other government officials included the Ministry of Energy PS Patrick Nyoike, Chief Geologist in the Ministry Hudson Adambi and Camac Energy officials.
"The success of oil exploration does not come in isolation without attendant challenges," Murungi noted.
"You will appreciate that unless properly managed, the stakeholders' issues can bring the oil and gas operations to a disruptive halt," he added.
Director of Department of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria Osten Olorunsola advised the lawmakers to think on areas to invest oil and gas revenue before the drilling of oil and exploitation of gas begins.
"Think where to invest oil revenue before drilling starts. By doing this you will have avoided all pitfall and conflicts that come with oil and gas money," he urged.
He also encouraged the participation of local communities, while drafting the framework.
"What you have to keep in mind when drafting the law is communities' participation, value additions of all oil products, environmental protection, modern oil and gas infrastructure network and avoidance of duplication of roles," he said.
The Kenyan delegation engaged the National Petroleum Investment Management, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists and Camac Energy On-Shore drilling plant.
Camac Energy Chairman and CEO Kase Lawal told the Kenyan delegation to learn from Nigeria's mistakes in order to develop the best policies in Africa.
"We would like Kenya to become a case study in Africa where everyone can say indeed Africa can exploit their natural resources and get it right," he said.
However, Murungi assured oil investors that the Ministry has employed diplomacy in handling stakeholder issues via a series of meetings organized to have them put the issues on the table for an ultimate amicable resolution of the issues raised.
"It is of extreme necessity that any issues that can lead to disrupting or delaying operations must be handled expeditiously and in a manner that will assist oil companies to not be exposed to unnecessary financial risk," he said.


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CAP Reform – "Rural Jobs" should mean more than farm jobs
Updated: Jul 1, 2020
VirtualVet is an agtech start-up operating from a family farm. Our aim is to create high quality rural jobs offering a compliance support service to farmers and data collection service to the wider agri-food and animal health industries. To make our vision a reality, a few things are required: Internet connectivity & government agencies to fully embrace the potential of digital technology and the concept of data sharing. There is a wealth of innovation and creativity in rural areas; and there are a lot of important food safety and environmental protection services which need to be developed for farmers.
Prof Alan Matthews, in a recent blog on CAP reform presented some practical and sensible measures to promote rural jobs, of which the following, in particular, caught the eye:
"Preventing unfair practices where they occur and ensuring an equitable distribution of value added and risk along the food supply chain is yet another example."
In our case, VirtualVet reduces the risks of failed compliance for medicines recording errors during farm audits and inspections. We reduce the risks of food contamination from on-farm medicines along the agri-food value chain. This service is valuable to the wider agri-food and animal health industries. We offer our services free to farmers, taking away a stress and replacing it with a supportive service. We sell access to the required information to the appropriate agencies and organisations on behalf of the farmer. So far, the four members of staff have three MBAs and one BA. We interviewed a fifth member of staff this week, willing to start work next month after final exams in her Masters of International Business. All are happy to work on a farm – albeit from the comfort of an office in the farmhouse!
We are by no means an exception nor an anomaly. We are just one of hundreds and thousands of potential employers in rural areas across Europe dedicated to serving and protecting farming, food and the environment. But for CAP to really contribute to the growth of high skilled rural jobs, and sustainable agriculture, DG AGRI must work with the Digital Agenda, with the Circular Economy priorities and, in our case, with DG SANTE on the implementation of the new Animal Health Law. The digital economy offers the data flow regulations required for companies like ours. DG SANTE needs the competent authorities in member states to embrace near real-time surveillance.
The future is bright for rural economies if the bright lights are allowed to shine!
I strongly advise those interested to invest twenty minutes and contribute to the CAP Reform consultation here.


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Global average pooling 2D
This block performs exactly the same operation as the 2D Average pooling block except that the pool size (i.e., Horizontal pooling factor x Vertical pooling factor) is the size of the entire input of the block, i.e., it computes a single average value for each of the input channels.
The 2D Global average pooling block takes a tensor of size (input width) x (input height) x (input channels) and computes the average value of all values across the entire (input width) x (input height) matrix for each of the (input channels).
The output is thus a 1-dimensional tensor of size (input channels).
When to use global average pooling
Use global average pooling blocks as an alternative to the Flattening block after the last pooling block of your convolutional neural network. Using 2D Global average pooling block can replace the fully connected blocks of your CNN.
For more information, see Section 3.2 of Min Lin, Qiang Chen, Shuicheng Yan. Network In Network.


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Judd Apatow's new directorial effort, Funny People, has the potential to be Oscar-winning and cringe-inducing in equal measures. The plot concerns a standup comedian named George Simmons (Adam Sandler) who's become a mega-star via his roles in bad Adam Sandler-type movies. One day, out of the blue, he discovers he has acute leukemia. Faced with a poor prognosis, George gets back on stage, mentors a struggling young funny man (Seth Rogen), and reconnects with the love of his life (Leslie Mann), who's married to somebody else.
If that sounds like an unholy combination of Terms of Endearment ("you laugh, you cry"), All That Jazz (a real-life show-biz maven wallowing in a fiction of his own demise) and the 1980 weepie Ordinary People … well, it might have been. Luckily, however, Apatow lacks the conviction to take Funny People to the depths of bathos. Instead, he's done his damnedest to cram two or three movies into the film's two-and-a-half-hour running time. One of those movies is pretty good.
The good part — which dominates the first hour or so — involves Sandler's evolving relationship with Rogen's character, Ira Wright (né Weiner), a cherubic nerd who clenches up onstage and gets funnier when he improvises. A deli sandwich maker by day, Ira sleeps on the futon of his serenely fatuous sitcom star friend (Jason Schwartzman) and endures the needling of a third roommate, Jonah Hill, who tells him he's lost too much weight to be funny. (Wrong, though Rogen sure has slimmed down.) When Ira is forced to follow George's surprise appearance at a comedy club, he manages to annoy and amuse the big star in equal measures. George asks him to write some material, and a beautiful friendship is born.
Well, sort of. Famous people can be difficult people, particularly when they're famous for being funny. The alarming thing about Sandler as a comedian is that he can't seem to turn his juvenile shtick off, even when he's brimming with hostility. His silliness has a shrill, aggressive edge that Apatow exploits skillfully in scenes where George hazes Ira or mocks the doctor who's attempting to give him bad news. And Rogen, playing slow on the uptake here, makes a fine foil.
When they're together, or when Rogen is just shooting the shit with his roommates (shades of Knocked Up), the movie is frequently hilarious. (There's even a funny girl [Aubrey Plaza] for Ira to flirt with.) But then George and Ira head to Marin County to win back George's ex, Laura, and the movie goes off the rails.
When Apatow featured his actress wife (Mann) and their real-life kids (Maude and Iris Apatow) in Knocked Up, mother and daughters played their roles admirably. But when they appear here for an extended domestic interlude in which George discovers the happiness he's been missing, the whole thing just feels self-indulgent. As George and Laura contemplate taking a drastic step together, it's hard not to shake your head along with Rogen's character and say, "She's just a crazy actress, man."
Part of the problem is that, while Mann's character is definitely off kilter, she's not a funny person. It's something of a relief when Eric Bana, as her husband, turns up with a broad Crocodile Dundee accent and gives the most entertaining performance of his American film career. If he'd turned on this madness in Star Trek, he could have rivaled Ricardo Montalban.
By this time, though, Apatow has lost his focus, and he never gets it back. What he has here is material that's simply too ungainly. Funny People might have worked better as an ambitious TV miniseries like the ones the BBC still makes — longer than a feature, but not forced to drag on indefinitely. As it is, the first hour flies by, the last 40 minutes or so feel interminable, and the big emotional payoff never arrives, for better or worse. But, hey … maybe it'll all make sense in the four-hour director's cut.


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The Dangers of Providing Client Comfort Letters
Every few years, the issue of providing clients with comfort letters – or verification documents – rears its head among our members. Regulators or banks often look for verification that certain items within a financial statement (e.g., revenue) or a tax return (e.g., income) is "right" and they want a CPA to verify it. AICPA members have even received requests for comfort letters from adoption agencies, health insurance providers and state taxing authorities.
According to the AICPA's Professional Liability Insurance Program, examples of third party verification information requested by lenders and loan brokers include:
- Confirmation of a client's self-employment status;
- Verification of income from self-employment;
- Verification of a self-employed borrower's business ownership percentage;
- Profitability or sustainability of a self-employed client's business; and
- The impact on a self-employed client's business if money is withdrawn to fund the down payment on a real estate purchase.
CPAs are often drawn to the profession by its service-oriented nature. Our clients may believe that comfort letters are just part of the services we provide, not realizing what we can and might not be able do. In some situations, we may simply have to say no and offer an alternate solution. It may be best to tell clients that, while you support their ambitions, you cannot provide certification in the way a comfort letter request asks – especially in matters regarding solvency.
According to AICPA Technical Practice Aids on lender comfort letters, in response to a request to confirm client information in connection with a pending loan application, an accountant may provide a client with various professional services that may be useful with a financing. Those services include an:
- audit, review, or compilation of financial statements;
- examination, review, or compilation of pro forma financial information;
- examination or compilation of prospective financial information; or
- agreed-upon procedures report, as long as the agreed-upon procedures do not provide any assurance on matters related to solvency.
To find information on these requests by banks or other parties, why you should decline and how to go about doing it, visit the AICPA's Financial Reporting Center. You'll find guidance from various AICPA resources, including AON.
Finally, know that the AICPA is supporting you. We address all requests that are brought to our attention. We've reached out to several financial institutions and regulatory agencies to educate them on what CPAs can and cannot provide on behalf of clients – and have had many successes. For example, we are making strides with the Farm Service Agency, which has required that beneficiaries of certain farm programs present proof that their adjusted gross income does not exceed specified limitations. Program beneficiaries may provide "certification" from a CPA or other third party as an alternative to providing actual tax returns as proof.
It makes sense to deal with these issues at the national level so I encourage you to bring these types of request to our attention. Feel free to contact me directly at firstname.lastname@example.com, if you have concerns in the future.
Susan S. Coffey, CPA, CGMA, Senior Vice President – Public Practice and Global Alliances, American Institute of CPAs.
Signing image via Shutterstock.


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By: Blaire Cache
October 16, 2018
Logan B3's has a hot new track out! Read about it and listen below, Gas Maskers.
Southern music maker Logan B3 has just released a jaw dropping new single aptly titled "I.L.U." This luscious, funky electro pop tune has our lips smacking and hips shaking from all of the goodies "I.L.U." has to offer. It's almost impossible to pick a favorite flavor out of this tune, as it progresses so cohesively! This song is a great goodbye to summer as we finally shift into autumn. The smooth grooves and fun beats make us yearn for the sun and warmer days. Thankfully, we think this song just might be enough to hold us until 2019.
Are you digging this jam as much as we are? Let us know on social media today at: @gasmaskmagazine. As always, stay tuned for more of the best music around!


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LicenseeContact Person
Isao Takahashi
Contact Us Email
Contact Phone Number
Sales Territories
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden
Isao Takahashi
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden
TOSA is the wholesale company that sells products with a focus on gift and toy trade.
TOSA provide minimum-sized Mumins as fridge magnets, mobile jewelry and the like. These items are perfectly suited for boutiques. Why? Because they do not require big storage space. Some little space close to the cashier is perfectly enough!
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.


text: So you're going to build the next killer app? That's awesome! Flexible hosting solutions from Google, Amazon, Rackspace, and many others make it really easy to get started. You can reuse powerful open source libraries and services to focus your efforts on developing something unique. Ideally your technology choices support your application's architecture and your business model. Ideally you can scale up or out as your needs change. There are so many good technology choices, so which one(s) do you pick? This presentation focuses on storage technologies. It is a mixed database and architecture talk. We will examine some of the popular storage and processing technologies such as PostgreSQL, MongoDB, SQLite, Hadoop, and others. We'll play match maker and try to pair up the model each technology is ideal for. Do you need a small footprint for mobile devices? Do you low latency for web or mobile applications? Do you need a high degree of redundancy? What proportion of the time does your application read vs. write data? Do you need to optimize CPU for processing large data sets? Do you need to minimize bandwidth or disk space? What about support for spatial data types and spatial functions? After attending this talk, you should have a good idea of some of the important factors in choosing your data storage technology and a rough sense of some of the great open source options available to you.


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By Justin Edwards
This is a must read special report from Lighthouse Trails Research regarding Rick Warren's new Daniel Plan for his Saddleback Church. It may be the most clear evidence to date of the direction Warren is leading his followers into contemplative spirituality and mysticism (CSM). If you are a supporter of Rick Warren or attend his church, I implore you to prayerfully consider what is being presented to you here. He is opening the door to a tsunami of deception for all who follow him and his models. Will you continue to blindly follow this man, or test him against the Word of God like the Bereans?
Special Report: Rick Warren's New Health and Wellness Initiative Could Have Profound Repercussions on Many
By Lighthouse Trails Research
(HT: to Joe Schimmel for providing photos and video at his Cup of Joe blog)
Just ten days after Lighthouse Trails posted its last and most important article of 2010, Rick Warren's "Apologetics" Weekend Should Apologize for Representing "Another Gospel,"we must issue this Special Report regarding a year-long event that will be kicking off at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church on January 15th, 2011.
Near the end of 2010, Rick Warren announced that Saddleback Church would be entering "a Decade of Destiny." He told his congregation that they would be focusing on several key areas, one of them being "health and wellness." The "Daniel Challenge" or the "Daniel Plan" is Saddleback's new health "initiative." On Saddleback's website, it states:
God's Prescription For Your Health.
Be a part of this transformational debut to be a healthier you!
The kick-off event is next weekend, January 15. We'll hear from world-renowned doctors on a plan to get healthy and stay that way in the new decade.
Who are the "world-renowned doctors" that will be helping to kick off Saddleback's Decade of Destiny? Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. Mark Hyman. The video on the website states that this program has been "Exclusively Designed for Saddleback Church by Three of the Leading Health Specialists in America."
Let us get right to the point: The three doctors who have put together a 52-week health program for Saddleback congregants are absolute advocates and proponents of not just eastern-style meditation but actual eastern meditation and much, much more as this article will reveal. Right off, let us say that if you are thinking perhaps that these doctors will only advise Saddleback on legitimate health advice (exercise, healthy eating, etc.) take a look at this video (taken place at Saddleback, see below) between Rick Warren and Dr. Daniel Amen. Amen intends to help Saddleback participants to have good "brain health," which he firmly believes comes from meditation. In this video, he openly discusses meditation with Rick Warren.
What are the spiritual underpinnings of the meditation these three doctors are propagating? This report will lay it out for you.
It is the nature of this meditation that sets Dr. Amen apart from any other individual that Lighthouse Trails has ever written about concerning Rick Warren. In a 6-CD set called Create a More Passionate Night, Dr. Amen has teamed up with advanced certified Tantra educator, T. J. Bartel. It is important that you visit Bartel's website to better understand the nature of what he stands for. By the way, when you hear Bartel say "Namaste," this means the god in me bows down to the god in you. We have discussed tantric sex in a number of Lighthouse Trails articles in the past, such as one called "What's Sex Got to Do with It?" Please refer to this article if you are unfamiliar with this spiritual practice. In essence, Tantra or tantric sex is the use of Hinduistic-type mysticism during sexual intercourse. Please listen to what Ray Yungen has to say about Tantra and the serious implications of it:
Tantra is the name of the ancient Hindu sacred texts that contain certain rituals and secrets. Some deal with taking the energies brought forth in meditation through the chakras and combining them with love-making to enhance sexual experiences.
Once completely off-limits to the masses of humanity, Tantra, like all other New Age methodologies, is now starting to gain increasing popularity… The potential to impact a very great number of people, especially men, was brought out in an article by a sex worker who incorporates "Tantric Bodywork" into her services… she has turned to Tantric Union to give her clients what she feels is not just sex but "union with the divine." …Now the "multitudes of men" who come to her get much more than they bargained for. In the past, wives and girlfriends needed only to worry about sexually transmitted diseases from cheating husbands and boyfriends, but now their men may instead bring home spiritual entities! (For Many Shall Come in My Name, Yungen, pp. 115-116)
We are sorry to be so frank – but we must – we are dealing with Rick Warren, "America's Pastor" and one of the most, perhaps THE most, influential evangelical leaders today. And in just a few days, he will be starting a 52-week health program that has been designed by Dr. Amen, a tantric sex activist! Dr. Amen expresses his strong feelings about tantric in his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body:
In my book, "The Brain in Love," I wrote about Tantric sexual practices, and was fascinated by the concept… I wanted to experience it for myself and thought it would be a wonderful way to enhance my relationship with my wife, Tana… T.J. Bartel… became our teacher… I felt as if I had to share his knowledge with everyone I knew." (p. 283)
Everyone he knows? Will that include Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, and even overflow to thousands of Purpose Driven churches? That could potentially be millions of people. On the video interview with Rick Warren and Dr. Amen, Warren states that Dr. Amen's resources would be available for those attending the seminar this coming weekend. In almost all of the "resources" by Dr. Amen, he advocates eastern meditation. In some of the books, he devotes many, many pages to meditation practices. On page 238 of Amen's Making a Good Brain Great, he states: "I recommend an active form of yoga meditation called Kriya Kirtan. It is based on the five primal sounds saa, taa, naa, maa, aa." He tells readers to repeat these sounds for 12 minutes straight.
Christ is your God-essence or the Self, as it is sometimes called in the East. The only difference between Christ and presence is that Christ refers to your indwelling divinity regardless of whether you are conscious of it or not, whereas presence means your awakened divinity or God-essence. (p. 104)
For more on Eckhart Tolle and the great awakening that New Agers seek after for the planet, read Warren B. Smith's 4-part article, "The Great Heretical Idea: Oprah and Eckhart Do the New Age Shift." Dr. Daniel Amen talks about Tolle's The Power of Now in his book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body, calling Tolle's book "extraordinary."
Dr. Amen's meditation technique of choice is Kriya Kirtan, as we stated above. This is a form of kundalini yoga (see his book, The Brain in Love, p. 146). Those who have studied with discernment the New Age know that kundalini (or serpent power) is the spiritual "energy" behind meditation. Ray Yungen explains the relationship between kundalini and the chakras:
The chakras act as conduits or conductors for what is called kundalini or serpent energy. They say this force lies coiled but dormant at the base of the spine like a snake. When awakened during meditation, it is supposed to travel up the spine activating each chakra as it surges upward. When the kundalini force hits the crown chakra, the person experiences enlightenment or Self-realization. This mystical current results in the person knowing himself to be God. That is why kundalini is sometimes referred to as the divine energy. According to New Age proponents, all meditative methods involve energy and power, and the greater the power, the greater the experience. ("FMSC," pp. 76-77)
Dr. Mark Hyman, one of the three doctors who "designed" the "Daniel Challenge" for Saddleback, is another strong advocate for mystical meditation. In his book, The Ultramind Solution, Hyman emphasizes meditation, saying that it doesn't matter what religion one has to benefit from it (p. 322). Dr. Hyman suggests that "Mindful meditation is a powerful well-researched tool, developed by Buddhists" (p. 384). On the front cover of The Ultramind Solution, sits an endorsement by Dr. Mehmet Oz, the third doctor who will be training Saddleback on health.
Last February, Lighthouse Trails posted a piece titled "Dr. Oz Tells Millions of Americans: ʻTry Reiki!'" In January 2010, Dr. Oz brought a Reiki master onto his show to demonstrate Reiki and then ended the show saying, "try Reiki" as the #1 "Oz's Order." It would make sense that Dr. Oz would tell his viewers to try Reiki – his wife is a Reiki practitioner. One press release related:
Reiki Masters across America and the world had cause for celebration on January 6 when Dr. Mehmet Oz revealed his Ultimate Alternative Medicine Secrets for 2010 during his nationally broadcast afternoon talk show. He ranked Reiki #1. Dr. Oz said, "Reiki is one of my favorites, we've been using it for years in the Oz family, and we swear by it."
During the Reiki attunement process, the avenue that is opened within the body to allow Reiki to flow through also opens up the psychic communication centers. This is why many Reiki practitioners report having verbalized channeled communications with the spirit world. (cited in "A Time of Departing," p. 97)
Recently, we posted a YouTube video that describes the spiritual consequences of practicing Reiki. The person doing the video told the story of one woman who, after practicing Reiki, came into contact with 35 spirit guides and was unable to rid herself of them. They told her they would be with her forever. If you have not yet viewed this 10 minute video, it is imperative that you do. (Good Fight has embedded this video below for your convenience.) Reiki is a catalyst or channel, as stated earlier, into the spirit world. This is not a silly, nonsensical ritual with no meaning. This is serious stuff!
How serious (is Reiki)? Consider this: A book titled The Instruction, written by Ainslie MacLeod, is described by the publisher as the following:
Have you ever sensed that your life has a deeper, more meaningful purpose–but don't know what it is? If so, you're not alone. To help you and the millions like you, psychic Ainslie MacLeod's spirit guides have given him a systematic approach to uncovering who you really are–and the life your soul has planned for you. They call it "The Instruction." Now, for the first time, this unique teaching is offered as a step-by-step program for realizing personal fulfillment. The Instruction will take you through ten "doorways" to unveil the life plan your soul created before you were even born.
Make no mistake about it – Reiki, meditation, tantric sex – these are very powerful mystical experiences that have the capability to delude and deceive those who are involved with it. While many of the health ideas these three doctors share in their books and DVDs are legitimate (exercise, vitamins, and good diet, etc.), these doctors firmly believe in meditation and want to make it widely accepted and embraced and have interwoven this belief into their programs. As Dr. Amen admitted himself, he wants to tell everyone he knows about meditation. Rick Warren and Saddleback are in danger, as could be the millions who Rick Warren influences.
We urge all discerning believers to contact their own pastors and any other pastors or leaders they know to warn them about what is taking place in the name of wellness and fitness in the church. We urge you also to contact ministries who have, in one way or another, either through consent or silence, supported the "new" spirituality that is trying to enter the church and tell them where it leads. The wellness and fitness aspect of this is just another face of this whole movement that is impacting our entire culture.
In this plea, consider what Roger Oakland stated at the end of Faith Undone:
There are still pastors and churches dedicated to proclaiming the truth. Find out where they are and support them. If you are in a location where this does not seem to be possible, seek out materials that are available from solid Bible-based Christian ministries and hold Bible studies in your homes.
When Jesus returns, He will not find a utopian world filled with peace but one in shambles, unrest, violence, and war for having forsaken the Word of God, the true Gospel, and the One true God. Rather than being a time when He will praise the world for discovering its christ-consciousness, He will come as a Judge and powerful King (p. 230).
Let us hold fast to the truth, and in considering the fact that compromising our spiritual health and wellness is never the right avenue to physical wellness, remember the words Paul spoke to the Romans. He did not tell them to entertain spirit guides, practice mantra meditation, yoga, or Reiki. This was his instruction to believers:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. –Romans 12: 1-2
As important as physical health may be, we must remember that our bodies are only temporal. Yes, we should take care of them, but in the process we should not do as Esau did and sell out our spiritual heritage for a bowl of pottage.