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I've tried to keep my private life as private as possible when it comes to what I blog about, I can't really describe why. I don't know if it's because I'm someone who likes to hide my feelings away and play miss sunshine all the time or whether it's because I don't want to bring attention to the bad parts of life or maybe it is because I want my blog to be a happy place. I write a lot of blog posts from the heart, about personal things, grief, unhappiness, you name it, it is most likely in my drafts. I find writing therapeutic, there are two things I do when I become engulfed in my emotion; I write about them or I listen to music that feels what I am feeling, it's my coping mechanism I suppose you could say. I'm not one to share my feelings, I never want to bother people with my feelings, so when my emotions begin to bubble I lock myself away with my laptop and my headphones and I let it out, but lately I've wanted to open up a little more and I guess it is a result of the past year.
2018, the year of grief, success and growth. So 2018 has been a weird one for me. It was the first year we will begin and end without my beautiful nephew. My nephew, Aaron was born with a terminal illness and passed away at the age of four last May. After he passed, it was hard, very hard, my life, my family, the world changed for me. I wanted to pretend it wasn't happening and so I applied for a masters degree, I threw myself into achieving a distinction, I went to university every single day almost, when I wasn't at university I was doing university work. I never wanted my mind to be empty, if it was empty I'd overthink, I'd realise what was happening in the world, that he wasn't here and I'd break down. I told myself I did it for him, I went out to achieve a masters because I wanted to succeed in life for him because he never got the chance, and yes, it is partly true, I still want to do well in life because he never got to, but I was lying to myself. I did my masters because I couldn't accept the pain, I wanted a distraction, by focusing on university 24/7 my mind never got a minute to think about anything else.
I finished university in April/May of this year, handed in my dissertation in August. Then came the hunt for a job, my mind continued to stay busy, little did I know, my mind was about to go blank. I got a job, a job I adore with people I adore and from nine until five every evening my brain is buzzing with content plans, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and office jokes, but once I get home at 6pm, suddenly there is nothing to do. There are no essays to write, no work to bring home, I have all of this free time, then I have 48 hours of a weekend where I am free to do whatever I please. A whole year and five months after my nephew's passing suddenly I was smacked in the face with the grief I had been pushing away. That's not to say that I didn't grieve all that time, of course, I did, but not in the way it has hit me recently. Filing away all my grief, my upset, my hurt into that little box for all those months made it explode and suddenly I am a tonne more emotional, not just in the way I grieve but in everything, I cry at everything from adverts to poems to Instagram captions.
I was suddenly overcome by how short life is, by how important happiness and love are and by how nothing in life is ever guaranteed. I find myself thinking about my nephew a lot and as much as I cry, I am happy because I experienced him, his beautiful presence, his inspiring life and not many people can say that. I cry a lot, probably more than normal, but I guess that's what you get for pushing your feelings away for so long. I am happy to be sad because I am alive and I can feel. I am 22 years old and I hopefully have an entire long-winded future ahead of me, but I also may not and that's bloody scary, but it also means that I should be happy while I can, I should feel while I still can, I don't want to waste my time, I don't want to cry over boys who are too dumb to see how bloody fantastic I am because I want to live, I want to live for Aaron, I want to succeed and travel and fall in love and enjoy my life because I know that every second of it he will be there, maybe up there in that place people call heaven or maybe just in my heart, but he's there and he's going to experience it all with me, every smile, every tear, every scream, every emotion that life can possibly give me because life is so precious and beautiful and I only wish he could have experienced more of it.
It's been one hell of a year, I have tried to deal with the grief as it comes, but it can be overwhelming at times, I put on my brave face, I cry myself to sleep at night and I let it run its course because I want to grieve forever, I never want there to be a day that goes by when I don't think of Aaron and the love, light and inspiration he brought upon this world. I will carry my grief with me forever, but I will also be happy and succeed because I know it's what he would want because I know he is rooting for me. So, what does 2019 hold for me? I have no clue. Maybe I will fall in love, maybe I will win the lottery, maybe I will be hit by a bus, who knows? I mean let's all hope that last one won't happen, but no matter what happens I want to be happy, I want to be surrounded by people who cheer me on, who believe in me, who I connect with. I don't want to waste my time, I don't want to lose sight of my big picture, I don't want to rush into anything either, I want to always trust my gut and trust that my guardian angel has my back like he has this past year. He was there for me getting my distinction and he was there for me getting my wonderful, wonderful job, so I know he has my back and I trust him to lead me to happiness.
I've always been an ambitious person, I've always wanted to be successful and do amazing things with my life, it's why I've always worked so hard because I am ambitious and I want to make something of myself. I never want to be someone who relies on others for anything, I am often told I am too stubborn and independent. I want to make my own future, I want to make my own money and buy myself a treat every now and then, so I work hard. Sometimes that hard work pays off and this year I got a job working in a wonderful social media marketing agency. I felt like everything I had been working towards was suddenly beginning to pay off in some way. It's hard for me to describe this year, to talk about it, decide whether it was good or bad because it was both, at different times and at the same time. I feel like I am a completely different person than the one who entered this year. I've grown in so many ways, I have taken control of my emotions in ways I can't even understand myself, I have succeeded in life and made moves towards becoming the person I want to be. I have grown in confidence, I am starting to become happy in just being me, I am learning that yes, I have my bad habits and my flaws, but I am also really quite funny, I'm intelligent and I am so much more than those annoying quirks or the visible flaws that bug me so much.
So, if I could summarise 2018 in one word it would be growth, the year of growth and I am very excited for 2019 and all the wonderful wonderful opportunities it holds. Where will I be this time next year? I don't know, I literally have no plans for what I want to happen in 2019, but I am ready to take on another year. To live my life to the best of my ability to do everything Aaron never had the chance to, for both him and I.
I usually ask a question here, but I don't even know what I would ask, but if you are ever going through a tough time and need someone to talk to please do not hesitate to get in touch. Whether we've spoken before or not, email me or find me on social media:


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This year a thousand Palestinians were honored by the king for their family members trying to murder Jews.
Fatah's Facebook page describes the reception as "A full reception with red carpets, roses and sweets for Palestinian martyr families as soon as they arrive in Mecca for the hajj as guests of the custodian of the two holy mosques, a reception befitting the sacrifices of their martyrs."
Saudi Arabia might not like Hamas very much, but it doesn't mean that it is against terrorism against Jews.

subset: commoncrawl


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For two months late last year, entrepreneur Eric Simons toiled -- and squatted -- at the Palo Alto campus of America Online: eating, exercising, showering, laundering his clothes, and sleeping in dark nooks, all while trying to keep his life habits a secret.
Now, Simons, 20, is openly sharing the gritty details and offering an explanation that's partly an apology, partly a tale of how an extreme innovator can blend in so easily with other Silicon Valley workaholics.
"I had no money, no place to go. My closest family was in Chicago. The only reason I stayed there was none of my friends had available couches," Simons told msnbc.com Thursday.
He initially had full permission to be on the AOL property -- and even wore an access badge -- via his acceptance into Imagine K12, a for-profit incubator based at AOL's campus. The outfit mentors and funds entrepreneurs with a passion for education. Simons and his business partners were given $20,000 by Imagine K12 to develop a startup company to help teachers. But when the incubation money ran dry, Simons decided to stay, move in, and complete his mission.
"I could have packed up and gone home but then I wouldn't have been able to build a project, launch it and meet with investors," he said. "It was always going to be a short-time thing."
While working each day on the idea that later became classconnect.com, Simons poached the snacks that AOL offers its employees -- mainly Ramen Noodles and Trail Mix. After leaving his desk, he would shower at an AOL gym (which offers shampoo and soap) and sometimes wash his clothes at a campus laundromat. Long after dark, he would curl up on one of several couches tucked into remote hallways.
"The security guys would walk by and just assume I was working late -- which, technically, I was," Simons said. "They thought he's just working really hard (like a lot of people at AOL) and taking a nap before he goes back to work again."
Because security guards changed shifts at midnight, he said, his 24/7 presence wasn't seen as strange. Simons still isn't sure why -- as he slept at 6 a.m.on Monday, Dec. 19 -- an AOL security guard screamed, "This isn't a dorm!" and ordered him to leave the premises. He did. Immediately. He also was stripped of his access badge.
But Simons was allowed later to return to his desk. From that point on, he said, he only was denied access to the building's third floor where the couches and snacks are kept. These days, he still goes to the Imagine K12 office for meetings.
A call to AOL's corporate communications office seeking comment on Simons' secret stay was not returned before this article was posted.
But Simons' squatting paid off.
Eventually, he convinced a Silicon Valley venture capitalist to invest $50,000 in ClassConnect. The website serves as an online hub where teachers can share and find lesson-planning ideas.
"The reason I stayed there was entirely not by choice -- if I wanted to make this startup succeed," Simons said.
The VC funding had one more benefit. Simons now rents a house in Palo Alto.
A tip of the hat to CNET.com, which first reported on Simons' squatting stretch.


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My name in Caroline Hamilton BA (Hons) MA and I'm an Australian-born historian and curator specialising in early twentieth century ballet and the evolution of dance costume. I initially trained as a costume maker for ballet and have worked with companies in Canada and the UK.
I have researched and written extensively on ballet and costume including contributing writer for Ballet: The Definitive Illustrated Story (London: Dorling Kindersley, 2018) and Anna Pavlova: Twentieth Century Ballerina (London: Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2012).
In 2018 I was a research fellow at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts, USA) cataloguing the archive's historic costume collection, and costume curator for the exhibition Dance We Must: Treasures from Jacob's Pillow, 1906-1940.
I am currently a technē PhD candidate between the University of Brighton and Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. My doctoral thesis examines the design and impact of the short-lived ballet company Les Ballets 1933 through the surviving costumes and ephemera.
You can follow my archival adventures both on my Instagram @_travellinghistorian and my blog Adventures of a Travelling Historian.


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Recent school massacres have heightened the attention of communities throughout the nation, and Loveland is no exception. We on the Loveland City Council take the responsibility for the safety of our students seriously, and I am certain the Thompson School District does as well.
I write to call your attention to an aspect of the students murdering fellow students that is largely absent from the discussions. The issue that is largely unaddressed is the impact first-person shooter video games have had on virtually training our youths to kill. I invite the reader's attention to the book by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, "Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill." The opinion of many is that Lt. Col. Grossman is one of the foremost authorities in the field of human aggression and the roots of violence and violent crime, including school massacres.
I spent a career in the military. In my experience, the first thing is to define the problem and then apply appropriate actions that will mitigate or alleviate the problem. The cry for the banning of a particular weapon or repeal of the Second Amendment does neither. That is not to say that our hands are tied and nothing can be done. I believe there are actions that will eliminate the risk to our children in all communities. But, it requires the action of the kids as well as the parents.
A little history: In 5,000 years of recorded history, 500 years of weapons using gunpowder and 150 years of repeating weapons, never was there an instance in which a student committed multiple murders in a school environment until 1975. In that year a student in Canada committed the very first act of multiple murders killing a fellow student, a teacher and himself. Later in the 1970s a high school girl murdered two adults and wounded 13 students at a school in San Diego in 1979. In the decade of the 1980s two more instances of school massacres occurred, one in Finland and one in the United States. School massacres exploded during the 1990s.
So what changed from 1975 on? What is different is the advent of video games, specifically the first person shooter video games. The single link among all the school shooters is their obsession with first person shooter video games. For example:
• The Columbine murderers were devoted players of Doom, achieving "berserk mode."
• The Sandy Hook murderer logged 83,496 kills in the video game Combat Arms, including 22,725 headshots.
• In West Paducah, Ky, in 1997, the 14-year-old murderer was obsessed with violent games. He had never fired a gun before he stole a pistol and shot eight of his classmates with five headshots and three to the upper torso.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman is one of the foremost authorities regarding school shootings. He states: "There is a generation out there that has been fed violence from its youngest days and has been systematically taught to associate pleasure and reward with vivid depictions of inflicting human death and suffering. These young people are coming to our old folks' homes, our movie theaters … our kindergarten classes, our little league games, our hospitals, and day care centers."
Lt. Col. Grossman is not alone in his warnings. The American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry signed a joint statement: "At this time, well over 1,000 studies … point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children."
School boards throughout the nation have banned guns from our children's schools, even concealed carry by those responsible for the safety of the kids. In the vernacular of my military experience — they have created a target rich environment.
What do the murderers want? They want success and need only two things.
•Helpless victims that can't fight back.
•No one who has a gun.
That is exactly what every gun free zone provides for the murders.
We, as a community, need to each take the action we can to protect all in our community. Students, parents, school board, City Council, citizens all have a role in ensuring the safety of our children. As a community we need to stand united to take on the billion-dollar video game industry that capitalizes on the marketing of killing. Space does not permit specifics at this time.
Steve Olson is a member of the Loveland City Council, representing Ward III.
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AV Homes is reworking a concept plan the developer filed recently for its new 82-acre, transit-oriented community just north of the new Poinciana SunRail Station.
The plan calls for a maximum of 300 single-family and 400 multifamily residential units on the property that was part of the Poinciana Office and Industrial Park.
The developer already converted its industrial vesting rights on the property for the residential entitlements. Now it's seeking another amendment to carve out a 1.9-acre commercial lot on the east end of the property, fronting Poinciana Boulevard. If approved, the parcel would carry an entitlement for up to 20,000 square feet of neighborhood commercial uses.
The plan was on the agenda for Wednesday's Development Review Committee, but it will likely be continued to a later meeting. The plan received a cool reception from county planners, as indicated by their written comments.
John Adams, an entitlements specialist for Rj Whidden & Associates who is working with AV Homes, told GrowthSpotter the developer is voluntarily making some minor changes to the concept.
He said the bigger issue -- and what's holding up PD approval -- is the fact that Osceola County still has not adopted an ordinance regulating development standards around SunRail stations. And it doesn't have a Station Area Plan (a transit-oriented master plan) for the Poinciana site.
The station is scheduled to open in 2018, along with two other stations in Osceola one in south Orange County, as part of SunRail's Phase 2 extension.
County planners have asked AV Homes to file a Station Area Plan. But Adams said the developer has no ownership interest in several key parcels that are contiguous to the station. Complicating matters even more, those undeveloped parcels have vested rights that conflict with the county's Transit Oriented Development goals.
"They're industrial properties," Adams said. "The site immediately next to AV homes is vested for industrial uses. Without their cooperation, it's impossible for us in the private sector to actually do a plan on someone else's property."
But that's just one of the issues staff members raised in their comments. The county's engineering department wants AV Homes to provide street connections to the Knightsbridge PUD, which adjoins the property on the north and east.
Adams said Knightbridge is in Kissimmee's jurisdiction, and the city approved it without connecting streets to the AV Homes property.
"I can't stub out streets to something that doesn't exist," he said.
County planners also objected to AV's plan to gate the community, saying private roads are "not justified," and they pointed out the lack of pedestrian and bike trails.
"This PD does not show any internal roadways, sidewalks or pedestrian trails," staff wrote. "Please indicate how, and where these facilities will connect internally, as well as to adjacent future development and the adjacent SunRail Station. Bicycle and Pedestrian connections should remain open to the public to maintain an interconnected grid of multiple modes of transportation."
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com or (407)420-6261, or tweet me at @LKinslerOGrowth. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.


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The life story of Jabulani Ngcobo has baffled many South Africans as well as others that are interested in the events happening in the country. This is because before he turned 26, the young man who is said to have come from a poor family was able to become a millionaire and is now living a champagne lifestyle; throwing lavish parties and showing off his wealth online to his followers.
According to the man himself, his wealth is as a result of his forex trading and investment in the South African stock exchange. Not many people, however, buy this story as it is believed his wealth was ill-gotten or as a result of fraud. Time has somewhat proven this to be true to an extent as the man nicknamed Mr. Cashflow was in 2019 sentenced to six years behind bars for defrauding another person.
Jabulani Ngcobo Biography
Jabulani Ngcobo was born in KwaDabeka on the 29th of May, 1985. Little is known about his early life and education, particularly in regards to where he polished his ability to trade stock and forex. The only thing that is known about him in this regard is that he matriculated from Langa High School in Clermont.
While trying to find his feet in life, it is reported that Jabulani worked at Toyota for a period of eight months where he was charged with carrying doors. After leaving the job, he started a debt collection company in 2006 before later venturing into a stock market-related business with the launching of Cash Flow Pro in 2009.
Jabulani Ngcobo has since been involved in different businesses, motivational speaking, and stock exchange lectures among other things. He has held seminars in different towns across South Africa as well as other southern African countries like Botswana.
What is His Net Worth?
Jabulani Ngcobo's net worth is not exactly known to the public even though he has been widely described as being among the richest young people in Durban. This stems from what he shows off on social media; purchasing luxury vehicles and taking trips to exotic locations around the world.
On one of his birthdays, he reportedly spent a million Rand to celebrate and was quick to show it off on the internet. Pictures of what is said to be his home have further been displayed all over the internet, with evaluations of the property being put at R2.5 million. The New Germany home is said to soon be a thing of the past as the flashy Durban native looks to build or buy a home that fits his style.
Read Also: Pravin Gordhan Family, Net Worth, Biography of Ex-Finance Minister
Jabulani Ngcobo has found himself embroiled in numerous controversies that are related to his wealth. The first time he had to answer questions in that regard was in 2009 when he spent R1 million to celebrate his 26th birthday, prompting security and financial crime agencies to raise eye brows.
In 2011, the Reserve Bank investigated him for possibly running a pyramid scheme. According to some reports, the alleged multi-million Rand pyramid scheme had more than 1000 investors who were promised between 10% to 30% returns on their investment. During the investigation, the prince of Zululand distanced himself from Jabulani who was a co-director of his company, Drop Down Investment.
While nothing concrete had been found against him in the other investigations, another report was published in 2016 linking Jabulani's alleged scam business with actress Simphiwe Ngema.
A man who claimed that Jabulani had defrauded him of R5000, accused Ngema of luring clients to the investment. While the rumor mill was spinning, the actress was quick to step out and deny any link between her and the company. She made it clear that the only link between her and the company was that she was paid and booked to give motivational talks in some lectures organized by the alleged defrauder. She further reiterated that she is not an ambassador for any of his businesses. Other actresses to have since distanced themselves from him include Motlatsi Mafatshe and Winnie Ntshaba.
Jabulani Ngcobo had previously said that all the accusations against him are concocted and forwarded by his competitors. While many have doubted his story, a few have believed him and stuck by his side as he fought his cases. In 2017, he was acquitted of fraud, theft, and money laundering by Randburg Magistrate's Court.
Things, however, did not go his way in 2019 when he and his partner Mzabalazo Dlamini were found guilty on several counts of fraud by the Specialized Commercial Crimes Court in Durban. They were both sentenced to six years imprisonment, two of which were suspended and a fine of R200,000 wholly suspended for five years.


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All-flash array a major growth driver for the company
Plans to expand enterprise partner network
BENGALURU, India – May 8, 2017 – TechnoBind, India's first specialised distributer for data and the associated domains, today announced that the company recorded an impressive 100 percent growth in revenue in financial year 2016-17. The company also revealed its go-to-market plans for FY 2017-18, with an ambitious goal to achieve a two-fold increase in its top-line.
TechnoBind is the first specialist distributor in the Indian IT channel space for data, with unique offerings around Data Storage, Data Protection, Data Management and Data Security. It currently has partnerships with more than 400 enterprise channel partners and is aiming at expanding its partner network further in new markets and Tier-2 and 3 cities.
"Last fiscal was an important phase in our growth journey as we forayed into new segments in storage, signed new partnerships, while focusing strongly on the enterprise segment in the country. We witnessed a tremendous growth in software-defined storage and hybrid data storage. We significantly strengthened our technical and sales force in the last fiscal, and were privileged to be recognized with awards for our services in various markets," said Prashanth GJ, CEO at TechnoBind.
BFSI, Pharma, Retail, e-commerce, Hospitality, Government and Education are the key focus verticals and revenue contributors for the company in India. On the solution side, TechnoBind won major deals in the areas of Software Defined Storage, Enterprise Backup as well as End-Point Backup and Security solutions like Encryption and IRMS in FY 2016-17.
"This year, cloud, mobility and software- defined-storage will be our core areas of focus. We are in the process of building a set of services with our partners around these technologies, which will help them accelerate market adoption," added Prashanth.
TechnoBind also offers consulting services for organizations to help them focus on reducing costs, mitigate risk and improve productivity along with maximizing returns on investments.
About TechnoBind
TechnoBind is the first Specialist Distributor in the Indian IT channel space, offering a hybrid distribution model placed synergistically between broad-based and niche distribution, to deliver high business value for its reseller partners. TechnoBind helps partners to implement solutions, which solve specific business pain points arising out of the rapidly changing facets of technology for businesses.
TechnoBind through its dedicated Cloud Services Business Unit is helping partners get their customers to adopt cloud. By employing the right strategy to harness benefits from cloud computing offerings, TechnoBind can help partners to be a part of this cloud journey of their customers thereby being relevant even when the on-premise to cloud shift happens.
The company's sole focus has been on technologies that help the customer handle his Data and the associated challenges of Data Treatment. It is part of a large 20-year old business group having a turnover of Rs 200 Crore (USD 40 Million) and has a presence across major cities in India – Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad.


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CONCERNS HAVE BEEN raised about the lack of funding given to projects in the northwest as part of a new programme that aims to assist young people with disabilities upskill and find employment.
At the start of the month, the government announced that €16 million was being allocated across 27 projects.
The Ability Programme aims to support over 2,600 people aged 15-29 years transition from school to further education, training and employment.
Census 2016 figures show that the employment rate for people with disabilities of working age is 36.5%, compared with 72.8% for people of working age without a disability.
The minimum grant is €200,000 and the maximum grant is €750,000. The majority of the projects which received funding are in Dublin and the surrounding areas. No projects in the northwest received funding.
iCARE, a Donegal-based organisation which provides support and respite for people living with autism, released the below map which highlights the locations of the projects being funded – 13 of the 27 are based in Dublin.
The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) said the likelihood that an application would receive funding was based on its overall quality and "the number of applications from that county".
iCARE jointly applied for a grant with two other Donegal-based organisations, the Bluestack Special Needs Foundation and Extern, in January. Their application was the only one from Donegal.
In a statement, iCARE manager Liam Gill said the groups were "extremely disappointed to be turned down for this funding, but more disappointed when we examined what areas through Ireland received funding".
"We do not think any of these organisations are less deserving than us, but we do believe that the allocation is not spread out throughout Ireland fairly.
Are there no young people with disabilities north of Dublin or Galway?
The three groups in question are "in urgent need of funding", he said.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Gill added: "The fact that above Roscommon no one was successful in getting funding is really, really disappointing. Believe it or not, there are a lot of young people and adults with disabilities up around this direction too."
Noting that 13 organisations in Dublin received funding, Gill said: "I'm not saying for one second that they're not worthy organisations but people in other areas need to be taken into consideration too."
He said the feedback the Donegal organisations received about their application included criticism that they only included "a limited response from clients, carers and parents".
Gill said this is "a joke in itself" as "some of our young people are nonverbal", adding: "That was another kick in the teeth, we weren't happy with that."
The three organisations had applied to receive a €750,000 grant over a three-year period. The money would have been spent on career guidance and employment advice workshops as well as upskilling programmes and other supports.
Gill said it costs about €100,000 annually to run the iCARE centre, the vast majority of which comes from grants and fundraising by "parents who are exhausted".
There's a lot of anger … It just feels like we're forgotten about up here all over again.
"Our community is really resilient, surviving up to now providing respite for younger children. Now they're forgetting about older people too. It's like the government thinks, 'They can just get on with it.' It's not good enough. It's rural Ireland that really needs [the funding]."
Person-centred supports
The objectives of the Ability Programme include:
Pobal, a non-profit organisation that works on behalf of the government, has been contracted by the DEASP to manage the programme including the application and evaluation process for the proposals received.
A spokesperson for the DEASP said: "Following an extensive information campaign (including information events held in Cavan, Dublin and Limerick) and an application process, the Ability Programme attracted applications from 59 projects.
"A detailed and independent assessment process was undertaken by Pobal."
Pobal awarded scores out of 100 for all applications, with scores being assigned to each proposal based on a weighted marking system linked with the scheme's evaluation criteria as follows:
"Only projects receiving a score of 60 or above were deemed by Pobal to be of sufficiently high standard to be recommended for funding.
"On this basis, Pobal recommended 27 projects as being suitable for funding; this represents some 46% of the proposals received."
The spokesperson said these recommendations were accepted as they were made by Pobal "on the basis of the above objective criteria only, which were communicated to all applicants equally".
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Making a difference
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.
Applicants who believe Pobal's recommendations are unfair can appeal a particular decision.
"The assessment process was based on the material provided by the applicant as to how they proposed to address the objectives of the scheme in line with award criteria as set out above. This process was applied irrespective of where the application originated.
Therefore, the likelihood that an application based in an individual county would receive funding was based on the number of applications from that county and on an objective assessment by Pobal of the quality of that application.
The spokesperson said, of the 59 applications, organisations from 22 counties were represented.
"There were 13 counties in total (including Donegal) for which only one application was received. There are other counties for which an application was received but not recommended for funding who are not in the northwest (such as Carlow, Clare, Westmeath, Waterford).
"It is also important to note that while some of the successful applications came from organisations that are headquartered or based in particular locations, some of the projects will be providing services beyond that county in which they are based, and in some cases providing services across the country," the spokesperson said.
When asked about how the funding was allocated, a spokesperson for Pobal told us: "While recommendations for funding are provided by Pobal based on strict criteria laid down in the programme guidelines, the Department for Employment Affairs and Social Protection is responsible for processing final decisions.
"Pobal does not comment on specific programmes or decisions made by the Department."
Increase in funding
Initially it was expected that funding for the programme would amount to €10 million over a three-year period.
However, a DEASP spokesperson said, given the quality of the proposals received, this funding was increased to €16 million to support all 27 projects recommended by Pobal.
Speaking at the announcement earlier this month, Employment Minister Regina Doherty said the funding "seeks to directly address the barriers faced by young people with disabilities" and help those who are willing and able to work "to navigate their individual transition period into employment".
Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath said that funding the projects was part of the government's response to delivering on commitments in the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (2015-2024).
"For all of us a key period in life is that transition period between school and education or employment, as we seek to follow our own individual career paths. This transition period, as we know, can be difficult for people with disabilities," McGrath said, adding that the projects in question will help young people "achieve their own employment ambitions".
The initiative is co-funded by the Irish government and the European Social Fund as part of the ESF's Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020.
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text: SuperUser Account / Monday, July 1, 2019 / Categories: Water Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights: Smart Irrigation Starts With Smart Choices Jim Lauria As we celebrate Smart Irrigation Month, it's a great time to highlight not only smart technologies, but the smart people and smart decisions behind them. One remarkably smart tool that ties all three of those elements together is the Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights by Dr. Charles Burt of the Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) at the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo. Dr. Burt's documents (http://www.itrc.org/reports/index.php) —a general Bill of Rights and specialty sheets that focus on microirrigation and soil and crop monitoring—skillfully guide customers through the complicated maze of decisions that leads to a sound choice of irrigation systems. From system uniformity and water requirements to pump curves, off-peak pumping, backflow prevention and pressure relief, the step-by-step checklist surely provides pressure relief for farmers, homeowners and commercial property managers seeking irrigation solutions. But perhaps the most important advice—the elements that really put the "smart" into "smart irrigation"—are the questions that guide customers to qualified irrigation dealers. There is plenty of great irrigation equipment in the marketplace and brilliant sensors that allow control, finesse and efficiency beyond the wildest dreams of the last generation of irrigation experts. But none of those tools are particularly smart until they have been assessed by an irrigation expert. The true finesse and efficiency of modern systems, the potential of the tools, can only be achieved when the sizing, siting, specifying and service are in the hands of trained irrigation specialists. So when the first box in the Bill of Rights asks about the formal training, references and the Irrigation Association certification, it makes a strong statement about irrigation as a science. Before the document digs into design parameters, it highlights the qualifications of the designer—and it underscores the value of certification by our national industry association. Of course, the California Agricultural Irrigation Association (CAIA) involvement complements that, too. The document goes on to end with a section on warranties. But like the rest of the Bill of Rights, the warranties portion goes deeper. It is clear from the questions that it is important to deal with a full-service dealer, and obviously beneficial to work through a supplier who provides installation, start-up and adjustment. That emphasis on the relationships between customers and qualified irrigation professionals is beneficial not just to our customers, but to our industry. In the Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights, Burt includes a vital question: "what are the options for future upgrades?" After all, anyone who has watched the irrigation industry grow from siphon tubes to sprinklers to today's smart systems recognizes that keeping up with new technology and embracing its benefits is smart indeed. Of course, some aspects don't change with the introduction of the latest controller or dripper—like the value a trained professional delivers. As our industry celebrates Smart Irrigation Month and Independence Day in July, it's a perfect time to also celebrate ITRC's Irrigation Consumer Bill of Rights—and to embrace the responsibilities that Dr. Burt has highlighted in the documents along with the spotlight he shines on professional excellence in irrigation. Previous Article How to Cannibalize Your Own Technology Next Article Dangerous Waters in a Changing World Print 642 Rate this article: No rating Please login or register to post comments.


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AÂ new study by the Federal Communications Commission found that the number of black-owned television stations – which was already anemic at 1 percent – slid even lower. Seven-tenths of one percent of TV stations have black owners.
Asian ownership declined to half of one percent last year, while the share of Latino-owned stations inched up slightly to 2.9 percent. The numbers for radio aren't much better: whites own nearly 80 percent of all AM and FM stations. The F.C.C. is considering easing some of its regulations on cross-ownership, which critics say will make it harder for people of own stations.
"Providing a count of who owns what is the first step, but the FCC should not proceed with its proposed rule changes without answering those questions," said Craig Aaron, the president of the media watchdog group Free Press said.  "Past research shows these communities are the ones that are harmed most by further consolidation, particularly the proposal the FCC is poised to adopt."


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Experto's blog
Visita de la UP Las Palmas GCSubmitted by Experto on Thu, 28/03/2019 - 14:26
Fotos de la visita del Colegio de CarreteríaSubmitted by Experto on Fri, 05/05/2017 - 12:25
Visita del CEPA La Isleta y Lomo ApolinarioSubmitted by Experto on Tue, 18/10/2016 - 10:41
Visita de un grupo de Las PalmasSubmitted by Experto on Thu, 21/04/2016 - 07:41
II Season of Concerts with Organ MusicSubmitted by Experto on Mon, 21/03/2016 - 14:37
The XVIII th Century Organ brought from Germany is considered the most valuable possession of the Church of San Vicente Ferrer. Here, you can listen to all the concerts celebrated in 2010.
The Apple Festival: Festival of Regional Interest for TouristsSubmitted by Experto on Tue, 26/03/2013 - 10:03
In the resolution 239 on 27th April 2011, the Tourism Vicecouncil of the Canarian Governtment gave this distinction to Valleseco for its Apple Festival
GRAN VALLE CIDER HAS BEEN INCLUDED IN THE BRAND GRAN CANARIA GOURMETSubmitted by Experto on Wed, 14/03/2012 - 14:43
Gran Valle Cider has been included in the new brand Gran Canaria Gourmet
IV Goat's Gastronomic WeekSubmitted by Experto on Mon, 18/07/2011 - 10:05
IV Goat's Gastronomic Week in the restaurants of Valleseco. Enjoy our best dishes from the 18th to 24th July 2011
About the AppleSubmitted by Experto on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 13:07
As someone who lives daily in Valleseco, I want to comment on an innovative initiative which could prove very interesting for the municipality. Valleseco City Council is encouraging the implementation of industries linked to the cultivation and processing of the apple, ie for the production of sidra, compotes, jams, vinegar and brandy.


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Wet Picnic
Hat Fair
Saturday 4th July 2015 | 2pm | Cathedral Outer Close, Winchester
The Review
The show begins with a blast of lift music and three happy hosts wheeling in piles of suitcases to get us into place. We are told we are about to see 'The internet live'. They tell us they want to make a connection with us, which they literally do by shaking our hands and chatting to us. We learn quite quickly that all these smiles are to hide a more sinister side to the internet. We are given cookies which we are told will track us. We also hear the T&Cs in which our children could get taken away. A member of the audience is brought on stage, which we learn is a plant and subsequently has his life ruined because of a mistaken comment where he suggests killing all cats. This journey is portrayed through dance, visual gags and audience interaction.
The moment in the show which really works is the introduction of David, the man who we think is an audience member. He says he is not internet connected in anyway and the staged annoyance and disbelief of this from the hosts is presented in such a way we all think it is improvisation. This is so convincing that when I did find out he was a plant and he started dancing I thought, 'God he can dance well'. This technique made me care about this character. I sympathised with him. His comments lead to death threats, violence, his girlfriend leaving him and his mum winding him up. I really cared, more than I would if I knew he was an actor from the start. I felt like he was one of us, which did bring home the point – that it is very easy to have something you say online be taken out of context.
While the opening and the bringing up of David was very strong, I found that much of the show was not on the same par. Some of the visual gags were smart and I did enjoy the moment with giant twitter birds. However some of the dance routines seemed slightly wedged in. Although the high octane performances did make these moments charming and fun to watch, I would think about how important they are within the structure. The ending was slightly disappointing. David is welcomed into the world of the internet but we were not sure if the piece had actually ended. They opened up with such a strong world it would have been lovely to be able to say good bye to this world properly – maybe with the return of the lift music, possibly with David having a sinister smile ready to welcome the next poor soul into the internet.
I did admire the choice of topic. I have not seen a street show try to tackle the internet before and thought that the twee aesthetic did well to highlight the underlying sinister nature. However I think more hints of life in a suitcase could be plotted amongst the show to make the final metaphor clearer.
The Response
Suitcases has a real charm about it, although it doesn't quite re-reach the introduction of David moment – which is a fabulous coup de theatre and did completely take me by surprise. I really had no idea he was a plant. So utterly fooled was I by the Green Meanie's slow death for having chosen the one person in the audience with absolutely nothing to share, that I was up for following this ensemble's journey not just into web hell but anywhere. Sadly nothing else in the show was quite as clever as this and much of the currency earned slowly dwindled over the next half hour – though not entirely. The dance sequences were amusing and performed with real gusto and when they pulled a real audience member out, they handled this well, incorporating 'David's Wife' into a series of vignettes all to be posted online. The end happened without it really being an end, or at least I wasn't sure that it was an end which left me with "Oh was that it?"
I'm not entirely sure who Suitcases was aimed at, though I suspect it wasn't the front row of three, four and five year olds. There were enough mad antics to keep their attention though I suspect many of the finer nuances of the shows themes were lost on them. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of examples of shows that appeal to young kids whilst also throwing adult snacks to their parents – except that I'm not quite sure there was enough for the parents to get their teeth into, a least not in the second half of the show which seemed to jump from one wacky dance to another, without contributing much more to the show's development. I certainly lost interest. All that said, pulling David out of the audience was a moment of pure genius and one that I won't forget. This was the first outing for the show and I would be very interested to see how it grows and develops with each outing.
When adding your comments, please feel free to challenge the writers whilst considering what you liked about the shows and what you would like to see more of.
I am: Audience Member
Agreed that the plant business was the best thing about this show and that the end – in fact the (lack of?) shape of the whole piece – was disappointing. I did like their energy too. While the subject of being a meme is pretty contemporary, a lot of the 'internet live' sequence was pretty dated, something you might have seen (and have been funny) in a show 5 or 10 years ago, but now demanded a bit more. Some new tech, even? The sets/props were nice, tho' i was left wondering what suitcases or indeed the title had to do with it: maybe that was an earlier stage of the devising process, all traces of which should have been dropped. An able company but I think a disappointment after their previous work: tho', point taken, this was a premier – tho' from the tightness of performance you wouldn't have known…


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LONDON, United Kingdom, Jan 23 – Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri is confident Gonzalo Higuain can be the short-term solution to his side's need for goals and urged the Argentine to earn a permanent move to the Premier League.
Higuain sealed a loan move until the end of the season on Wednesday from parent club Juventus having spent a troubled first half of the campaign on loan at AC Milan.
Sarri has fond memories of his one previous season together with Higuain when the striker scored a record 36 Serie A goals in a single campaign.
Now he hopes Higuain can reignite Chelsea's spluttering attack and earn a long-term switch to Stamford Bridge in the process.
"For sure, he is one of the best strikers in my career," said Sarri, who will have to cope without Higuain for Thursday's League Cup semi-final, second leg against Tottenham.
"It's up to him, I think. He has to score, first of all. I think that for a long-term contract, he has to do very well.
"He has to play. He has to score. He has to be useful for the team."
After an excellent start to Sarri's reign in charge, Chelsea have stumbled since losing for the first time under the Italian against Spurs at the end of November.
A run of four defeats in 11 Premier League games has coincided with Sarri's decision to move Eden Hazard into the middle of his front three with the Belgian's impact limited.
Higuain has struggled since being forced out of Juventus in the summer by the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring just eight times in 22 appearances for Milan.
Sarri, though, believes he is the best proven goalscorer Chelsea could have added this month.
"Higuain usually is able to score 25 or 30 goals every season," he added.
"As I told you before, in the market in January it's very difficult to secure a very important striker.
"Gonzalo was in a situation that we could try to buy him, and so we decided to try for Higuain."
However, Sarri explained that decision was in part forced by Alvaro Morata's desire to leave Chelsea.
The Spaniard cost a then club record £60 million ($77 million) when he signed from Real Madrid in July 2017, but now seems set for a loan move to Atletico Madrid to make way for Higuain.
"I think that Morata is a very good player. I think that Morata has the characteristics for playing in my team," added Sarri.
"But Morata, one month ago, said he wanted to play in another team. So it was really very difficult for him to give us the 100 percent for his mental situation, I think.
"From the physical and technical point of view, he is a very good player and suitable for my football. But the situation changed in the last month. So we needed to change."


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Writing is easy. You only need to stare at a piece of blank paper until your forehead bleeds.
– Douglas Adams
There's only one way to write a first draft. Step 1: Sit down. Step 2: Write.
I can already hear you screaming, "But it's not that easy!" Oh, wait. That's me.
When Emerald Barnes approached me earlier this week and asked if I would write a guest post for her blog, Dreaming Awake, I was incredibly honoured and excited. But what to write? Since Laura Stanfill recently wrote a guest post about revisions, it made sense (in a backwards kind of way) that I should put together a post about writing a first draft.
It went something like this:
There's only one way to write a first draft. Step 1: Sit down. Step 2: Write.
Hmmm… I thought. Emerald may have been wanting something a little more… wordy.
So I thought about it a little more, and remembered something a non-writer friend asked me a few years ago. I'd been explaining how important it is to just write, without editing, second-guessing, or correcting anything during a first draft. She looked at me seriously and asked, "Why would you bother spending so much time on it if you're just going to write it badly?"
So please, pop on over to Dreaming Awake today, where I answer that question in my guest post, The First Draft: Five Good Reasons to Write it Badly.


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Gilliauna on Etsy is a shop absolutely bursting with items and color - what a great find! It's probably the best stocked shop I've come across, and it takes beading and bling to a new dimension, with everything you could want in bookmarks, rosaries, lanyards, eyeglass chains, zipper pulls, purse charms and so on, as well as earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces. The shop motto, like mine, is all about adding a bit of color to your life, and helping to recycle at the same time, as many of the vintage items on offer use parts from charity shop purchases where the profits go back to the community.
Gilliauna is a US citizen, but lives and works in British Columbia. She has over 20 years experience in making jewelry (and you can see this from the designs) and sells on Artfire and from her blog as well as from her Etsy shops.
Definitely visit the blog - it's updated most days and there are Etsy picks, giveaways, shop features and of course, lots more information about Gilliauna makes.
With so many items to choose from, and the emphasis being on color, I decided to pick a rainbow from Gilliauna's shop. Click on any of the pictures to visit the store. You may have to move fast, though, if you want any of these items, as not only is there a huge inventory, this shop is also very popular with Etsy buyers, with over 250 sales since opening just over a year ago, and fantastic positive feedback too - a real Etsy success story!
You can find out more about Gilliauna by following these links:
Facebook - http://facebook.com/BitsnBeadsbyGilliauna
Blog - http://www.colorfulartisanjewelry.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/gilliauna
Flickr - http://flickr.com/photos/gilliauna
deviantArt - http://gilliauna.deviantart.com
Tumblr - http://gilliauna.tumblr.com
The Meandering Musings Blog - http://www.handmadeshoppingguide.com


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Brennan Manning and Contemplative Spirituality
In The Signature of Jesus, Manning teaches how to suspend thought. He instructs his readers methodically:
[T]he first step in faith is to stop thinking about God at the time of prayer.
[C]ontemplative spirituality tends to emphasize the need for a change in consciousness … we must come to see reality differently.
Choose a single, sacred word … repeat the sacred word inwardly, slowly, and often.
[E]nter into the great silence of God. Alone in that silence, the noise within will subside and the Voice of Love will be heard.46
If one could draw a spiritual tree of both Manning's and Foster's mystical heritage it would look like this: from India—to Alexandria— to the Desert Fathers—to Thomas Merton—to them; and now, through them and others like them—to you. What it should look like is: from the triune God—to His holy prophets and apostles—to you. Very simple! That, my friend, is the decisive factor of this controversy.
I am aware that Foster and Manning both say things that would stir the heart of any Christian. But the issue here is one of mysticism. Is their mysticism legitimate? Biblical meditation and prayer, as found abundantly in the book of Psalms, is not to stop thinking about God but rather to think intently on God and to direct all our thoughts toward God. The following statement by William Shannon quoting Merton leaves an inescapable conclusion:
The contemplative experience is neither a union of separate identities nor a fusion of them; on the contrary, separate identities disappear in the All Who is God. (emphasis mine)
In essence, he is saying there is only one big identity—God. This is more in tune with core shamanism than Christianity, yet Manning embraces Shannon. In Leviticus 19:31, God says "I am the Lord your God." Only God possesses God's identity. Any other teaching is heretical.
I challenge the Christian community to look at the facts surrounding the contemplative prayer movement and see its connection to New Age occultism and Eastern mysticism. Just because a writer is emotionally stirring, sincere, and uses biblical language does not necessarily mean he or sheadvocates sound, biblical truths. (From A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen, 2nd ed., pp. 88-89)


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Breast Asymmetry
Obviously, the goal of a breast enhancement is to create equal breasts in size, shape and "feel." Few women are blessed with two perfectly shaped breasts by nature. Most women have some form of breast asymmetry. Not only do most breasts appear different, but the underlying foundation of the breasts (the chest wall made from the thoracic ribs) is almost always different on each side.
Poor breast shape may also be the result of an implant size that isn't appropriate (too large or too small), a contracture process that distorts the breast, or the wrong type of implant or wrong position of the implant above or below the muscle. Even side sleeping can displace a breast implant toward the middle of the chest wall compared to the other side.
The bottom line is that it is often quite possible to improve shape and symmetry, and the procedures available to an expert surgeon are extensive. Modifications of the breast implant, implant pocket and the actual breast itself can improve symmetry. Consulting with several highly regarded and experienced surgeons will help clarify the issues at hand and give you a good idea which procedure might be best for you.
Having said the above, sometimes the enemy of "good" is "better"—that is, seeking higher degrees of improvement in breast shape may result in complications leading to an outcome worse than what you started with. As long as you consult with a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon with the right expertise in this area, your concerns regarding unsatisfactory breast shape should be appropriately addressed.


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Yellow squash is actually called summer squash and are those that have been harvested whilst they are immature when their rind is still edible.
Most yellow squashes have a bushy growth habit and their name refers to the short storage life, unlike winter squashes.
So can hamsters eat yellow squash?
Yes, they can eat yellow squash.
However, don't feed them too much as it may make them sick otherwise.
How much yellow squash should I feed to them?
Just cut it up into small pieces that they can handle well in their paws. Two or three at a time will suffice for them.
They are more of a treat than a regular food, so feed once a week at the most is more than sufficient for them.
Make sure the rind and the seeds are stripped away and only feed the flesh to them.
Some hamsters will enjoy it, some won't so don't worry if they won't eat it.
There are much better vegetables for them to eat than yellow squash.
If they do happen to leave it, just take it out before it starts to rot and dispose of it.
For more foods that hamsters can and can't eat, check out our hamster food list.


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google ad sense 728 x 90
"Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making"
Art Review | 'Comic Abstraction'
Visions That Flaunt Cartoon Pedigrees By Roberta Smith
(reprinted from the NY Times with some additional images)
The trouble with too many museum theme shows is that they begin with a viable idea and, through lack of institutional commitment, curatorial imagination or old-fashioned connoisseurship, fail to fulfill their promise.
This untitled 1990 painting below by Michel Majerus is among the works in MoMA's new exhibition:
So it is with "Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making," a sometimes perky but inoffensive and ultimately dispiriting exhibition of recent artistic endeavor at the Museum of Modern Art. Organized by Roxana Marcoci, curator of the department of photography, it brings together nearly 30 works in drawing, painting, sculpture, video and installation made over the last 16 years by 13 artists who borrow one way or another from comic strips, cartoons and animation.
The motor behind this show is a big idea: the lively and essential contamination of abstract art by popular culture that began with the Surrealists but has greatly expanded during the last 30 years. It could be argued that most new abstract art since the late 1970s has had comic aspects. After all, ironic self-awareness is one way that abstraction has dealt with the resurgence of representation and the splintering of the modernist trajectory.
A wall text outside the show's first gallery lies in wait. It announces that the works on hand use the conventions of comics "not to withdraw from reality but to address perplexing questions about war and global conflicts, the loss of innocence and racial stereotyping."
But in the end the works here are mostly cute, neat and perfectly pleasant, implying a view of contemporary art as mildly titillating but basically toothless entertainment. Thankfully there are some exceptions. For example, "Crazy Conductor," a 1993 drawing on chalkboard by Gary Simmons, conveys the nasty racial caricature implicit in many animated cartoons. (Mr. Simmons's 1996 "boom," however, is simply a big, beautiful explosion — too close to its source, merely lifted without comment.)
Four paintings by Ellen Gallagher skewer Minimalism in general and Agnes Martin in particular with expanses of bug eyes and blubbery lips. At once gorgeous and barbed, these works are the most sustained and substantial efforts here, but their motifs are most potent in the smallest and earliest canvas; the others are elegant dilutions.
Sue Williams's all-over paintings look similarly benign from a distance. Draw near, and you discover that her attenuated Pollock-like patterns roil with suggestions of body parts, bodily fluids and sexual couplings. Whether this payoff compensates for the emaciated effect of the work as a whole is debatable; it certainly lacks the punch of Ms. Williams's nonabstract, savagely comical early feminist paintings, one of which appears in the catalog.
But otherwise too much here operates in some kind of vacuum, far from the madding crowd of ambition, recent art history, life or a deep engagement with the primary vehicle of visual experience, which is form. In little of it can you sense the force of a first-rate, profoundly engaged, here-for-the-duration artistic sensibility. This is because too many of the selections are early, sometimes promising work that never amounted to much, or are transitional, anomalous, derivative or tangential to the show's theme.
In the case of Inka Essenhigh, Arturo Herrera and Julie Mehretu you have early works of limited promise that has so far not been fulfilled. In the case of Franz West and Polly Apfelbaum you have works that are charmingly whimsical but irrelevant to the show's focus. Mr. West's four small plaster and iron sculptures, called adaptives, are available for handling. Fun. "Blossom," Ms. Apfelbaum's stained-velvet Process Art floor piece, is named for one of the superheroic cartoon Powerpuff Girls and can therefore be construed as feminist. So what?
Like Ms. Gallagher, Philippe Parreno excerpts and repeats, but uncompellingly. His helium-filled Mylar "Speech Bubbles" from 1997 hover overhead, a dour, derivative meld of Claes Oldenburg and Yayoi Kusama plus Andy Warhol's silver pillows. The caption rationalizes: They were once used as signs by protesters who wrote slogans on them.
Speech balloons also figure in Rivane Neuenschwander's altered comic book pages, where they are blanked out with white (or occasionally blue) and the rest of the panels are bright monochrome colors. They provide some welcome if relatively pure visual intensity, regardless of what the label says about the cultural significance of the comics used. They might be better bigger, but then that would invite comparisons with Roy Lichtenstein, early Warhol and John Wesley.
Which is the problem with the efforts of Michel Majerus, a German artist who died in a plane crash at the age of 35 in 2002, especially if you factor in early Peter Saul and Albert Oehlen. A series of small canvases from 1996 have their comic moments, the best being a strange cross between an eye and an explosion. But the painterly fragments of images, words and letters of "Eggsplosion," from 2006, could have been made in the 1950s or early '60s. Best known for large, scrappy painted installations, Mr. Majerus clearly had talent, but not the time to find himself.
The megastar Takashi Murakami is represented by two paintings that feel like excerpts of his own work. "Cream" and "Milk" (seen below) are sparse, mural-size cartoon renderings of flung liquids that function best as backdrops to anime-inspired male and female figures that are present only in the catalog. Their markedly unabstract bodies are shown expelling the liquids implied by the paintings' titles.
More comic installation than comic abstraction, Juan Muñoz's "Waiting for Jerry" consists of the soundtrack of a "Tom and Jerry" animated cartoon: a cacophony of inferred chases, sneaks, skids, crashes, plops and general hysteria. Emanating from a lighted mouse hole cut in the old-fashioned molding of a small, dark room, it echoes throughout the show. The work is a refreshing anomaly, given the usual heavy-handed humanism of Mr. Muñoz's figurative sculpture, but notice what engages you. I'll bet it's the appropriated soundtrack. Wonderfully complex, it bounces back and forth between descriptive and abstract, and represents the kind of concentrated thought and work that is missing from too much of this show.
"Comic Abstraction" would have benefited from more space, nerve and historical awareness. The catalog establishes no context for the origins of the comic in art, which gained speed with Pop Art. Also worth mentioning if not including in the show itself are artists like Mr. Oehlen and Carroll Dunham, both of whom are younger than Mr. West.
Especially pertinent is Mr. Dunham, whose automatist, Disneyesque excursions into the hormonal sublime, made in the 1980s and early '90s, may be our moment's richest, most disturbing, most perplexingly real works of comic abstraction. The efforts of several artists in this exhibition are nearly unimaginable without Mr. Dunham's precedent.
Below is an example of Carroll Dunham's work:
Other artists whose work would have vitalized this show include Lucy McKenzie, Pipilotti Rist, Amy Sillman, Gary Hume, Josh Smith, Thomas Nozkowski, Chris Ofili, Monique Prieto, Joanne Greenbaum and, finally, Udomsak Krisanamis, whose work from the mid-'90s has a stand-alone power, even if it has yet to develop.
Beyond the big solo retrospectives that MoMA handles with expert aplomb, too many of the museum's recent exhibitions have a veneer of political piousness that limits and shortchanges everything: art, artists, the public and the institution itself. In MoMA's efforts to go beyond a formalist, linear view of modernism, the museum often seems to confuse sincere political intent with genuine, groundbreaking artistic quality.
No wonder it ends up showing shallow, label-dependent art rather than work that offers deeper, more contradictory encounters. Art becomes a kind of one-liner. The viewer looks a little, reads a label, says "I get it" and shuffles on. If you are new to art, you don't know what you are missing. If you aren't, you feel had.
"Comic Abstraction: Image-Breaking, Image-Making" continues through June 11 at the Museum of Modern Art, (212) 708-9400.
Please donate
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text:
Using VI tool for editing config files.
How can I select all the text in a file (around 1000 lines), copy it, then paste into Google Docs?
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Using VI tool for editing config files.
How can I select all the text in a file (around 1000 lines), copy it, then paste into Google Docs?
The simplest and fastest way is to use: : % y + and then go over to Google Docs (or wherever) and paste. Explanation:
Another way is g g " + y G but you will likely admit that the above is faster and easier.
:%y+, and i get
E488: Trailing characters
Jul 27, 2016 at 20:51
Many given replies also yank the selection, which I was not looking for.
I'm using ggVG for this purpose (needs to be run on normal mode). This command only selects the whole text inside the document.
I've even remapped Ctrl+A for this purpose, since I don't really need to increment an integer with the shortcut (default Ctrl+A map).
Just add this into your
map <C-a> <esc>ggVG<CR>
It has
<esc> first, to make sure the user is in normal mode.
ggVG, but
gg0vG$ might be more appropriate since it more closely replicates the 'normal' Ctrl+A operation.
Sep 22, 2016 at 12:02
You can use
cat file and then select output and copy and paste if you need to paste it into your browser.
For vi this is how you can select all text and write it into a new file:
shift v -- visual mode
shift g -- jump to eof
"*y -- yank select text
:e my_new_file -- create a new file
"*p -- paste into a new file
In theory this should work on both Linux and Windows - I tried it on a Mac but it doesn't work.
cat file is the way to go. The
shift v method only copies to Vi's internal buffer.
Dec 30, 2010 at 17:31
USE ggVG. type "gg" to go at top of the test Then type VG.
I am using Vim 7.4 in CentOS-7 environment. Which worked me for selecting all the text is
Then just
p in the next file where I want a full copy.
You can use cat command.
cat copyfile > pastefile
This git repo has some other useful commands too.
depending on whether + or * is the system clipboard. (On many unixes, + is the mouse selection buffer for middle-mouse-clicking, and * is the system clipboard).
For a Mac, use pbcopy (pasteboard copy):
cat file.txt | pbcopy
The contents of file.txt are now on the clipboard for pasting into another application (e.g. browser).
You can also paste the contents of the clipboard into a file using pbpaste:
pbpaste > file.txt
While this doesn't involve vi specifically it does achieve the same goal on a Mac.
If you're using a linux desktop, you could load it into the clipboard using xclip or xsel. For something that size you might just want to use the upload feature in google docs.
Another way would be:
You press v key on your keyboard and turn VIM to VISUAL
Then select all text by scrolling down
^+ INSERT to copy
SHIFT +INSERT to paste the text wherever you want on Google Docs.
Without using vi, you can upload text to google docs using their API and cURL.
See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Accessing_the_system_clipboard for options on how to do this. (if compiled in "* should refer to the system clipboard). There are also instructions there for how to use xsel with vim.
Use the following command.
cat <your file name>
It will echo the content of file. Now select, scroll, copy, paste.
Game Over
cat bobis.txt


text:
Dataset: Series 3A: POC, PON, Chl a
Data Citation:
Passow, U., Laws, E., D'Souza, N. (2020) Series 3A: Multiple stressor experiments on T. pseudonana (CCMP1014) - Chlorophyll, particulate organic carbon and particulate organic nitrogen. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). (Version 1) Version Date 2019-06-17 [if applicable, indicate subset used]. doi:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.771594.1 [access date]
Terms of Use
This dataset is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
If you wish to use this dataset, it is highly recommended that you contact the original principal investigators (PI). Should the relevant PI be unavailable, please contact BCO-DMO (firstname.lastname@example.com) for additional guidance. For general guidance please see the BCO-DMO Terms of Use document.
View, Subset and Download DataBCO-DMO is preparing to move to a new data access system that provides more functionality and features. This system, called ERDDAP, is free and open source with a strong and growing user community. Currently, we are providing the following data access and download capabilities for datasets as we work through our legacy data holdings. These capabilities will soon be available for all data at BCO-DMO:
Data Access
- GeoJSON. Try it out at geojson.io
- Ocean Data View format
Give Us Feedback
Do you have thoughts, questions or constructive feedback about data access at BCO-DMO? Let us know: feedback [at] bco-dmo [dot] org
Temporal Extent: 2018-07 - 2018-12
Collaborative Research: Effects of multiple stressors on Marine Phytoplankton (Stressors on Marine Phytoplankton)
Principal Investigator:
Uta Passow (University of California-Santa Barbara, UCSB-MSI)
Co-Principal Investigator:
Edward Laws (Louisiana State University , LSU-SC&E)
BCO-DMO Data Manager:
Nancy Copley (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)
Version Date:
Release Date:
Current State:
Final no updates expected
Series 3A: Multiple stressor experiments on T. pseudonana (CCMP1014) - Chlorophyll, particulate organic carbon and particulate organic nitrogen.
The experiments were designed to test the combined effects of CO2, temperatures, and light on growth and photophysiology of the diatom T. pseudonana CCMP1014 in a multifactorial design. This dataset contains measurements of extracted chlorophyll, particulate organic carbon (POC), and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) made over the course of the experiments.


text:
On behalf of residents, I recently raised the deteriorating condition of Hillside Terrace's roadway with the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and asked if there could be some immediate patching of the worst-conditioned parts but also if the council could consider full resurfacing of the roadway this financial year.
I am pleased to say I have had the following positive response from the Roads Maintenance Partnership :
"This street is classified as having a maintenance hierarchy 4b carriageway which means it receives a formal safety inspection every 32 weeks, it was inspected in mid January and no actionable potholes were identified. However, a small area of patching was identified for inclusion in a future patching programme. I have arranged for this street to be inspected today and one number actionable pothole was identified which will be repaired as a Cat 3 within a target of 28 days.
Hillside Terrace is recommended for inclusion in the 2015 carriageway resurfacing programme which has been prepared and issued for review and comment to Senior Management."


text:
This week's prompt: Pleasure
100 words, no more no less
He lays beside me smiling, the twinkle in his brown eyes captivate my heart. He reaches for my face and I gingerly kiss his fingers. His body is warm curled up next to me. I rub his nearly bald head. I return the smile and he giggles, kicks my belly. Grabbing his pudgy toes, I tickle his feet. His full laugh is contagious. He tries to roll away but finds himself face to face with a bearded man. The man opens his big hazel eyes, a familiar twinkle takes me breath. The man whispers, "Lil Man, she was mine first."
10 thoughts on "100 Words: Pleasure"
Evenstarwen says:
What a beautiful picture of love! Contentment and happiness flows off the page. Wonderful!
barbara says:
lovely word picture – as a gramma to 7 and mama to 2 I am a total sucker for such. THANK you for sharing. 🙂
Tara R. says:
A sweet portrait of a young family.
Nicollette says:
What a lovely snapshot of pleasure! I absolutely love it and I love the tickling of "pudgy toes." It reminds me of what my mother would do to me when I crawled into her bed during the early mornings!
Katie B.W. says:
At least I know I come by it honest. This is beautiful.
AuroraLee says:
Another great twist. Very sweet. 🙂 Nice work!
aplaceforthoughts says:
What a sweet post!
Velvet Verbosity says:
Both charming and heartwarming…nice piece as we slide into the holidays. 🙂
Jenn says:
Yes, I'm REALLY behind on my blog reading but just had to comment on this post-it made me smile (and maybe even tear up a little) 🙂
Beautifully written my friend!
Comments are closed.


text:
Looking for a fun way to amp up your race training? Why not sign up for a virtual run where you can help a good cause AND get a fun medal?!
RAD Reader Angela is hosting the Runner of Steel Virtual Run benefiting the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, which is dedicated to curing spinal cord injuries and improving the lives of those that live with paralysis. The race is only $20 to enter and you get this super cool die cast medal!
So what do you have to do to enter the virtual run and get this fun medal? Just go to the Runner of Steel event page and enter your information. Once registered, you will be emailed an official race bib and you will have until the end of September (yes, September!) to complete the run. You can run any distance you want. Make it a full marathon, a 10K or just a mile run around your neighborhood and you'll get your medal! 100% of the proceeds will go to the foundation and your medal will be sent to you by the end of September.
Virtual runs are a great way to add some variety to your training. I took part in the Kick Ass 5K Virtual Run earlier this year to support the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Even though it wasn't my best run (one of my worst actually!), I was proud to wear that bib and support a cause that is very important to me.
So why not sign up and be a super hero for someone in need?!
Have you every participated in a virtual race?


text:
My synagogue held a comedy night. This is a night where anyone can get up on stage, stand in the spotlight and share their greatest stories or jokes in an effort to leave the crowd doubled over and gasping for air (in a good way, of course). Well, on this particular night, they were slightly short on people willing to test their abilities to strike the crowd's funny bone, so I agreed to help them out and signed up for a slot.
I really wasn't worried about it as I have this one piece that has always brought about a positive response from the audience, so I already had the material I needed. All I had to do was present it and wait for the smiles and laughter to erupt before me. This was going to be an easy gig, I thought to myself. Turns out that I was wrong. Horribly and tragically wrong.
Before I even stepped one foot on that stage, I even questioned whether the material I had chosen was right for the audience in attendance that night. Certainly, the people there appreciated a good punch line or they wouldn't have shown up. However, maybe the content I planned to use wasn't right for them. Was it? Wasn't it? Ugh!
With no time to change my plans and come up with new materials, I simply went on stage and started my original piece. And when I hit a line where everyone always laughs (and I mean always), I paused and…nothing. No roaring laughter. Not even a chuckle. Just deafening silence.
As my eyes quickly scanned the crowd in the hopes that my ears had somehow deceived me, all I saw was a bunch of blank stares looking back at me. Have you ever heard the phrase "deer in headlights"? Well, I was obviously standing in front of a herd and my headlights were brighter than LEDs on a dark and moonless night. I had just bombed.
Now, herein lies the problem. I was already part of the way through my monologue, so it wasn't like I could just switch gears and change stories. No, I really had no option other than to finish what I had started, knowing full well that I wasn't going to impact my audience the way I wanted. Not only had my bomb gone off the first time, it was going to go off again and again and again until I could drag my bruised and bloodied body off that stage and put this whole event behind me.
Admittedly, closer to the end of my time in front of the crowd, I did get a couple of little chuckles. Honestly though, that didn't make me feel much better. That night was definitely the worst I'd ever experienced in my on-stage career. And although my material was good, which had been proven by the number of laughs it had garnered from crowds before, it wasn't the right material for this crowd. It wasn't ever going to elicit the response I had hoped for. Essentially, I was barking up the wrong tree.
Although this was a good lesson for me personally, it was also a good lesson for me professionally. When it comes to business, you won't ever be able to sell someone something they don't want. For instance, if someone is looking for silver, you can work your hardest to sell them gold, however you're just wasting your time. They want silver. So, they're not going to buy until you can place a shiny gray bar before them.
Certainly, this was one of my most humbling experiences. It was also one of my biggest learning experiences as I now fully understand that the only way to reach your audience is to know them. Know what they want. Know what they need. And offer it to them.


text:
HAN Arts & Leisure with Sally Sanders, Steve Coulter and the "Reel Dad," Mark Schumann, take a look at movies, the arts and other events going on in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Westchester County, New York — and the surrounding area.
It's a 'Hollywood' theme on the Thursday, Jan. 28 edition of Arts & Leisure.
Reel HAN is all about the Coen Brothers. Sally and Steve discuss their favorite Coen Brother films, in honor of the upcoming release of "Hail, Caesar!" There is a lot of excitement surrounding the release of "Hail, Caesar!" starring George Clooney, and a number of other Hollywood A-listers.
Later in the show, Trumbull resident and musician Steve Gaspar, of The Hollywood Allstars, is live in studio. The Allstars are playing a World Cancer Day Concert at the Fairfield Theatre Company's StageOne on Thursday, Feb. 4.
The band features an impressive and diverse cast of top flight musicians. Opening for The Hollywood Allstars is five-time New England Award nominee Recording Artist Frank Viele.
The Hollywood Allstars World Cancer Day Concert will celebrate the strength of survivors and honest the lives of those who lost their battle with the disease. You can buy tickets online at fairfieldtheatre.org.
The HAN Network, formerly known as Hersam Acorn Newspapers, is the exclusive FCIAC broadcast partner through the spring of 2018. HAN Network's broadcasting division replaced HANRadio.com with a new focus on live video streams of high school athletics along with the Network's news and lifestyle programming.


text:
Is there something wrong with me that I ate 1/2 of the wok of noodles. OMG this is sooooo good. If you want to keep it lite use only a 1/2 pound of filet as stated in the recipe but if you want to totally rock someone's world use a pound of filet. Ok I'm off to the treadmill now after eating this delicious Malaysian recipe.
Serves 3-4
Olive oil spray
¾ lb dried flat rice noodles
½ lb beef tenderloin
1 teaspoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons low-sodium, fat free beef broth
4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1-2 teaspoons Sriracha chili sauce
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cups eggplant, diced
6 oz button mushrooms, sliced
1 cup bean sprouts
Soak the rice noodles in warm water to cover for 30 minutes and then drain or cook according to the packages directions.
Cut the eggplant in ½ inch wide pieces lengthways. Put salt and pepper on both sides of the eggplant and put on a rack for about 60 minutes. This will draw any excess water in the eggplant out. Rinse after the 30 minutes and chop into ½ inch dice.
Slice the filet mignon across the grain into strips 3 inches long by ½ inch wide.
In a bowl, combine the cornstarch, salt, sugar, baking soda, 1 tablespoon water and beef strips and stir to mix. Cover and marinade in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
In another bowl, stir together the beef broth, fish sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chile sauce and set aside.
In a wok or large sauté pan over high heat, spray the pan with a little olive oil and add 1 teaspoon canola oil and heat until very hot. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for 4 seconds. Add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes and then add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add the egg plant and stir fry for about 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. If the vegetables start to stick add 2 tablespoons beef broth to the pan and deglaze before taking them out of the wok or pan. Transfer the vegetables to a large bowl.
In the wok, spray the pan with olive oil spray and add 1 teaspoon canola oil and return the pan to high heat. Remove the beef from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. If there is any marinade left in the bowl discard the marinade. Add the beef strips to the hot wok pan and stir fry for about 2 minutes on each sides or until the beef is lightly browned. Sprinkle a little kosher salt and pepper to the beef. Transfer the beef to a separate plate covered.
Return the wok or pan to high heat and add the fish sauce mixture. Bring to a boil and add the noodles and the stir fried vegetables. Cover and simmer until half of the sauce has been absorbed by the noodles, about 2 minutes. Uncover and return the beef to the pan and add the bean sprouts. Cook for 1 minute and serve warm.


text:
Welcome to the cure for 'Stinkin Thinkin'
You already possess the SKILLS... to discover your own greatness!
(Click on any image to enlarge.) #2-136-Tuesday
Think of the 'IQ Morning Report' as... "Breakfast for your Brain"
At any moment in time.. the very next decision you make has the power to change the course of your life forever.
How to enter a room like a "BOSS" (and leave a lasting impression)
From: New Inceptions by JC Preston on Facebook
From: New Inceptions by JC Preston on Facebook
Let's face it... Charisma Matters
business helped confirm that looks could determine a leader's success. Rather than switching careers to plastic surgery, John asked: how can leaders go beyond being "faced" to connect with their audience via words and actions? John found an answer: charisma. John will show what charisma is, how it can be measured, and why it matters, from the U.S. presidency to the most frugal communication medium ever used – Twitter.
Polishing Your Communication Skills
Do-It-Yourself Learning (in the Internet Era)
a former Google employee, and one of the core organizers of Google Business Groups, Dhaka.
Two more short "Build-A-Better-Life" videos from "Peak Performance Experts"
It's not what you do every once in awhile
that takes you where you want to go in life,
it's what you do everyday of your life.
(To watch the video click anywhere on Dr Gilbert's image.)
(To watch the video click anywhere on Ben Gay's image.)
Special Invitation from Legendary Sales Trainer, Tom Hopkins
Question? What would it take to MOTIVATE you to...
LEARN to the max, so you can EARN to the max?
LEARN to the max, so you can EARN to the max?
Would the idea of owning a V-8, 454HP, jet powered speedboat like this be enough to motivate you?
Tell us what we can do to help you... Turn your dreams into your realities.
Call us any time with... Questions, Suggestions, Comments & Feedback
Voicemail Hotline - (941) 227-6277 Thank you!
The Newsletter that helps you to 'Build-A-Better-Life'
---((( All Subscriptions - $1.00 for the first 30 days! )))---
LINKS to... Additional Learning Opportunities...
Science says listening to soft music in the background increases productivity.
Productivity Music - Station #1 - Station #2 - Station #3
"The only real disability in life is a BAD ATTITUDE!"
The 'IQ Morning Report' a daily, 6 times a week, video newsletter designed to make it quicker and easier for anyone to ---LEARN MORE--- so, they can ---BE MORE---- so, they can ---DO MORE--- more so, they can ---EARN MORE---. Everyday, the 'IQ Morning Report' is always loaded with IDEAS to improve all the tomorrows of your life. If you know of someone who needs or wants MORE out of life, please tell them about the "IQ Morning Report'. Thank you! Jim Vaughan, Editor
The "IQ Morning Report" is published by Jim Vaughan
Featuring... "Ideas to improve all the tomorrows of your life."
[LEGAL] The IQ Morning Report is a website that exist for educational purposes. The architecture of these sites is a link directory, linked to audio, print, photography, and video content, freely available to anyone who searches for it. The primary benefit we offer is to save time for our "build-a-better life" subscribers We are proponents of the ownership rights of copyrighted materials Our lead in and link to content on your site, in our opinion, falls under the "Fair Use" clause of copyright law. Fair Use, noun, (in US copyright law) the doctrine that brief excerpts of copyright material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without the need for permission from or payment to the copyright holder. Should you or your company own copyrighted material that we link to and you would prefer we not do so in the future, send us an email and we will cheerfully, immediately, comply with your request. email@example.com
Some of the training courses we talk about on this site offer affiliate marketing programs meaning, if you buy from them we are paid a commission. Nothing you will see on this page was chosen for that reason. If we believe in the program, we added it to the site. Our long term reputation for excellence is far more valuable to us than any short term commissions we might earn from a sale. If you are not 100% satisfied with any vendor, please let us know. We can make that vendor disappear faster than we were able to add them. Jim Vaughan, Editor
"Shared & Pinned" images from Facebook & Pinterest.


text:
Dearest Heavenly Father, You know how much pleasure I get from thanking You for the many ways You've blessed me. The old hymn "Count Your Many Blessings" comes to mind, but so does the fact I couldn't possibly name all of my blessings. In fact, some of them are things I don't even know about.
But one thing I often thank you for–and now seems like a good time to do it–is for making me who I am.
You could've made me a girl. Thank You SO much for not doing that!
You could've had me born at any time in human history to any set of parents in any part of the world under any set of circumstances. But You allowed me to be born to a couple whose identity I will likely never know and adopted by Ben and Virginia Bruner. And You've kept me from having any great desire to waste time and money searching for my birth parents.
You placed me in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. While America was still great and in the process of becoming great again.
You didn't make me handsome; You knew that would make me vain. But neither did You make me ugly or repulsive to look at. In spite of my physical weakness, I'm in no way disabled. And despite the number of conditions I take medicine for, I consider myself to be in reasonably good health. I don't expect that to change today as I celebrate my seventy-second birthday.
You gave me intelligence. Not so much that I would abuse it, but enough to do the things You've wanted me to do. And You've given me creativity and writing skills. Not enough to be sidetracked by success, but enough to touch the people You've wanted my writings to touch.
That's true of my music as well. You didn't make me a good enough singer, guitarist, or song writer to succeed in ways You never intended, but You've allowed me to share my songs in churches, nursing homes, prisons, migrant camps and to sing on mission trips to Australia, England, Wales, Nicaragua, and Romania, where the blessings I received were undoubtedly far greater than the blessings I bestowed.
Even at seventy-two, I'm thankful that You are still helping me to grow in ways that please You. Jesus set a tough example to follow, but how blessed I am to be a member of Your Family and dedicated to trying to live the way You want me to live. And, no matter how much I enjoy life on earth, I'm even more thankful that I have eternity with You to look forward to. So, although I might be apprehensive of what the death process will be like, I'm blessed not to actually fear death itself.
Lord, I could just keep going. I could thank You that I'm not too tall or too short, that developing diabetes type 2 has motivated me to lose seventy pounds and to keep them off, and that remarriage has proven so much more wonderful than I could possibly have expected or asked for.
But let me conclude this prayer of thanks for making me who I am by thanking You for giving me the idea of sharing these thoughts with the people who read my blog posts.
What about you? Are you thankful for who God has made you to be? How about sharing a comment.
I'll be back again next Sunday. If you'd like to receive my posts by email, go to "Follow Blog via Email" at the upper right.
Best regards,
Links you might be interested in:
- Roger's other blog, As I Come Singing
- Roger's website, RogerBruner.com
- Roger's free Christian lead sheets
- Roger's books on Amazon


text:
Browning's FN-licensed Model 1900 pocket .32ACP was a world first and defined the general shape and layout of a slide operated handgun. It's popularity led to "Browning" serving as the word for a semi-automatic pistol in many regions, like we say "Kleenex" today.
We take the ubiquitous pistol slide for granted these days but at the time all of these "obvious" features were quickly patented and represented a major stumbling block for competing designs. Patent-dodging explains quite a few odd looking firearms from the early years such as the Winchester 1911 S.L. "Widowmaker" shotgun, early "zig-zag" revolvers to avoid Colt's patents, and here the Dreyse avoiding the patents of the Model 1900.
Now, much of the frame and breech block of this pocket-sized blowback pistol is extremely similar to the 1900. A casual observer can see the general layout, grip angle, overall dimensions, safety operation and placement, and cartridge are meant to capitalize on the Model 1900's recognition in the market. At a glance the Dreyse is a likely candidate for a lawsuit!
The Dreyse does have a breech face integrated into a moving metal assembly that slides along the frame in order to operate the pistol. But, the shape is radically different. Instead of covering the whole top of the pistol, the Dreyse's "slide" is an exposed bar roughly 2/3rds of the length of the gun. Despite appearances it is not set on a rail inside the upper frame and is merely latched down at the front by a barrel bushing and at the rear by the sliding breech block. Looking down from the top, we can see the bar drops down at the breech block and this rounded step is matched to the rounded back of the inside of the frame, creating a sturdy slide stop when firing. Having avoided Browning's Slide, the Dreyse also includes a recoil spring set around its fixed barrel which, if not for the pronounced cocking bar, would make it a more compact design. An additional, last minute improvement was the inclusion of a latch at the rear which allows the frame to be broken open for ease of cleaning.
Sold commercially these pistols did well but they were more often ordered by police and military concerns. In the lead up and during WWI, thousands were acquired for the German war effort. In the post-war economy Dreyse production halted, but the guns were extremely robust and reliable given their simple manufacture and ease of service. They served on with police and military forces in the 20's and 30's and a great many were used in non-frontline positions in WWII. Because they were so common with the rear echelon a great many were captured by U.S. forces moving through Germany and their handy size made it a simple matter to carry one home with our without permission. For this reason, despite their relatively small production numbers (~250,000 compared to over 2,000,000 Lugers) they are quite common in the collectors market.
A little bit more about the Dreyse can be found at C&Rsenal.