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Netflix Instant vs. Hulu Plus vs. Amazon Instant Video
Services like Netflix Instant, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video offer a massive amount of content to watch at a low monthly cost. It's really a fantastic way to provide extensive entertainment options to an entire family. Trying to figure out which subscription service to use while sticking to a frugal entertainment budget? Check out our updated 2014 breakdown of the three most popular streaming video services:
Price: Amazing Instant Video
With Amazon recently moving its Prime package up from $79 to $99, it essentially makes the difference in price between the $96 cost of either Hulu Plus or Netflix a wash. However, if we add in the bonus of getting free shipping on all of your Amazon Prime shopping – something that is a near-vital necessity in today's online shopping paradigm – Amazon comes out on top.
As an added bonus, signing up for Amazon's service can also get you deals on the purchase of current seasons of shows you can't find on other sites like The Walking Dead, which isn't a part of the Hulu Plus universe.
Supported devices: Amazon Instant Video
We're giving this one to Amazon as well, due in no small part to the recent launch of the company's own streaming device, Fire TV. Hinted at for years, the Fire TV debuted to mostly favorable reviews in April. The box hosts all three services in our showdown, but debuted with a voice-operated search feature exclusive to Amazon Instant and Vevo, accessible through the microphone atop the device's slick control wand. More recently, Fire TV added the Hulu Plus library to voice-operated search, along with Crackle, and Showtime Anywhere, but Netflix is still off the list.
That said, all three services are offered on almost every streaming device in the land, and Netflix often stands as the easiest to access on Blu-ray players, DVRs, and TVs given the wide array of such devices that feature its bright red button right on the remote. Still, having its own hardware gives Amazon a slight edge, and could lead to the creation of more bonuses for choosing its service on the in-house device in the future.
To discover the full list of compatible devices for each service, check out the home pages of each here: Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime Instant.
Interface/Ease of use: Netflix Instant
Netflix software has always offered a pretty impressive user experience – depending on the device with which you chose to connect to the service, that is. But as you may have noticed, in November big red got way more intuitive on many newer devices, adding easier search functionality, more engaging and accurate content info for shows and movies, and a slick new design with an intuitive carousel. The update originally launched on newer HDTVs, gaming consoles, Rokus, and Blu-ray players, and has since made its way to other devices including most laptops and desktop computers.
The upgrade was a re-design from the ground up which not only allows Netflix to offer a congruent experience across multiple platforms, but also allows for singular upgrades for all included devices when Netflix adds a new feature or option to the site.
Hulu Plus has made some upgrades to its lineup recently as well, making searching and finding the "Shows You Watch" even easier, while Amazon comes in third with its more scattered interface. Again, we'll add a caveat here to say that searching for Amazon content is optimized on the Fire TV with voice command prompts, but that applies to a limited populous at this point.
Mobile applications: Netflix Instant/Hulu Plus
While each mobile application has pros and cons when streaming over LTE or 3G, both the Netflix and Hulu Plus applications stand out when it comes to content discovery, speed / quality of video playback over Wi-Fi, software stability, and the continuity of the layout design between smartphone, tablet, computer and home theater device platforms.
All three services are compatible with iOS devices like iPhones and iPads, as well as Amazon's Kindle Fire devices. Netflix and Hulu Plus applications can also be found on Windows 8 mobile devices and Nook tablets, while Amazon Instant still lags behind there. And there's another glaring omission in the Amazon Instant lineup, as well: Android. While there are workarounds for the tech-savvy on some devices, the service does not have a natively compatible app for the world's most popular mobile platform. That alone puts Amazon far behind its peers in the realm of mobile compatibility.
Audio/Video quality: Netflix Instant
Netflix is on the front lines of high-resolution streaming, taking strides to offer "Super HD" 1080p streams, in addition to 3D streams for subscribers with 3D capable televisions. Alternatively, Hulu Plus and Amazon subscribers are limited to a maximum of 720p for streaming content. However, availability of Netflix 1080p streaming is dependent on the speed of your Internet connection and can also be affected by the provider itself.
Netflix streams started slowing to a snail's pace on Internet service providers that did not take advantage of its Open Connect system, Netflix's in-house solution to more slowing streaming speeds, until independent deals were made with big players like Comcast and Verizon. The deals set a troubling precedent of payment for faster streams which allow for higher resolution video, which Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has since denounced. Regardless, slowing speeds means trouble for HD. To see where your provider stacks up, checkout Netflix's monthly speed index archives.
In addition to 1080p, Netflix has begun quietly rolling out its proposed 4K/UHD resolution streams, beginning with episodes of its original series House of Cards. The 4K streams met mixed reviews upon release do to stability and compression issues, and the feature will depend even more heavily on access to high-fast internet connections, as well as limited access to a small selection of compatible 4K/UHD TVs and streaming devices at present. Still, Netflix is a veritable pioneer in the 4K streaming landscape.
As for audio quality, Netflix offers Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound encoding on the majority of content in addition to 7.1 encoding on select content. By comparison, Amazon offers 5.1 encoding on select content, and Hulu Plus is limited to stereo sound, despite many network television shows offering 5.1 surround sound during the original broadcast and the Blu-ray disc release.
Volume of content: Netflix Instant
Definitely the most value for your dollar when looking specifically at content alone, Netflix Instant offers the largest content library of the three services. While Netflix lost content from Starz a couple years ago, the company has aggressively continued to build out the library of television shows in addition to popular films from the past thirty years.
Analysts estimate that Netflix's content library is roughly double to triple the size of Amazon's library, though the company has made a push to catch up. Netflix's vault is also larger than Hulu's library, but the type of content that's available on Hulu is significantly different than what's available on Netflix. Regarding the retail giant, don't discount Amazon based solely on the content volume. Strategically speaking, Amazon is attempting to pick up television shows and movies that have expired on Netflix in addition to snagging exclusive access to popular shows like Downton Abbey and Falling Skies.
Release date: Hulu Plus
If you are the type of person that absolutely wants to see the latest episode of a new show the week that it airs on a major network, you really can't go wrong with Hulu Plus. While the availability of new episodes is often dependent on the network, the majority of new episodes are available the following day after the show airs.
Of course, the ability to catch the newest shows right away comes anchored to a massive caveat: commercials. Users who pay for Hulu Plus do so knowing they will have to watch a stream of ads, which has only grown more frequent as the service has expanded. To compound the issue, many of the ads are on re-feed over a single series, which means binge watchers will see the same commercials over, and over, and over again.
Alternatively, Netflix's add-free service doesn't add previous seasons of shows until the new season of a show begins. That time frame ranges from three months up to an entire year based on the agreement between Netflix and the studio that created the show. Over on Amazon, you can purchase the latest episodes for a premium price. However, if you watch tons of network programming, it's smarter financially to go with the Hulu Plus subscription over paying $1.99 on Amazon ($2.99 for HD) for the latest episode of shows like ABC's Once Upon a Time or NBC's Law and Order: SVU.
Original content: Netflix Instant
If you had asked us a couple years back which company won the crown for original content, we would have said Hulu Plus hands down. Battleground on Hulu Plus was a witty, entertaining political drama, Morgan Spurlock's A Day In The Life was a solid documentary and even Kevin Smith's Spoilers had some high points. The only content that Netflix rolled out during 2012 was Lilyhammer, a mildly entertaining drama about a mobster (Steve Van Zandt of The Sopranos) in the witness protection program.
But times have changed. As Netflix has made serious moves (and laid out serious money), it has released a growing list of shows in the last two years that have gained favor from critics and audiences alike, including House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, American Horror Story, and others, have easily vaulting Netflix into first place. And perhaps more importantly, Netflix programming has garnered respect that echoes outside of the burgeoning world of online content, as House of Cards became the first show of its kind to win an Emmy in 2013. In the near future the company is putting out even more cash for content, including a reported $200 million for a host of shows from the Marvel universe.
Still, this race is far from over, and it has proven to be a marathon rather than a sprint. As original online content gains more street cred, Amazon and Hulu Plus have both doubled down, announcing a bundle of new shows for their lineup for 2014. While Netflix is king right now, there is still plenty of room for competitors to expand as viewers – and advertisers – increasingly look online for new and innovative original programming.
Bonus Round
- Hate commercials and advertisements? Go with Netflix or Amazon Prime. Neither service requires you to watch commercials in order to watch content; completely opposite from Hulu Plus. However, you will have to put up with some awkward Sony PlayStation plugs when watching House of Cards.
- Need subtitles? Go with Netflix. By the beginning of 2014, the company finished an agreement to subtitle all of its content.
- Will the kids be watching? If you need parental controls, all services are fairly limited in regards to options for limiting content to specific members of the household. However, Netflix does have an option to limit the MPAA / TV ratings on content as a universal setting. Be aware that changing that setting can take up to eight hours to appear on all connected devices. In addition, Hulu recently launched a Kids lock feature on the mobile app that allows parents to lock out mature content before handing a smartphone or tablet over to their child.
Are you not entertained?
If licensed television and movie content, current network shows and original series aren't enough to keep your attention, considered allotting a portion of your monthly entertainment budget to renting new release movies on Vudu. While you could rent the same movies from Amazon's premium side of Instant Video, the audio and video quality is exquisite on Vudu's service.
Offering pristine 1080p video and 7.1 surround sound on many titles, the service is perfect for new release movies. In addition, users can download films on devices with storage capacity and have 30 days to start watching the film. The 720p version of a new release is priced at $4.99 and the 1080p version is typically priced at $5.99 per rental.
Jumping back to subscription services, keep an eye on startup service Redbox Instant as the year progresses. While the current streaming movie options definitely don't stack up to the content library found on Amazon or Netflix, the ability to rent four discs a month for free from Redbox kiosks may be enough of a benefit to justify the $8-a-month fee for streaming service. However, be wary that device support will slowly roll out over 2013 as the service gains users. At the moment, Verizon and Redbox have only rolled out an application for the Xbox 360.
What do you really want to watch?
All of these pros and cons aside, the decision to subscribe to any of these services rests on what types of shows and movies that you and family members living within your cord cutting household enjoy watching. If you are on an extremely frugal entertainment budget, consider taking advantage of Hulu Plus's referral program to earn extra weeks for free and make sure you watch deal sites like SlickDeals or FatWallet for flash deals on prepaid Netflix cards.
However, if your budget allows it, you should also consider subscribing to all three services in order to gain access to the maximum amount of streaming content. At a bit less than $23 per month (approximately $275 per year), you will have access to a wealth of brand new network content on Hulu Plus, a boatload of older television shows and movies on Netflix and Amazon, a variety of original content coming out of all three services as well as the added benefits that come from subscribing to Amazon Prime.


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Blawgosphere purists are in an uproar about the practice of some lawyers who use ghostwriters to write material for their blogs. I don't see what the big deal is. Does anyone really protest when a newspaper prints unsigned editorials? It's the masthead that matters.
I confess to a wayward youth. I ended up at Columbia in graduate school with a cushy fellowship but no idea whatsoever of a career path. So I taught for a few years, until I realized that I did not like teaching. My first job after ten years of college and graduate school was editorial writing. I wrote for two Connecticut dailies for a period of five years.
It was a great job in some respects. I'd waltz into the office about nine or so and read a bunch of newspapers. There'd be a mid-morning editorial board meeting, lunch and then an afternoon to research and write an opinion for the editorial board. But it used to grate on me to write anonymously. I envied the columnists who wrote under their own names. I'd rather be George Will or Charles Krauthammer than, as I was, The Hartford Courant or the Waterbury American.
A decade ago, I finally got a chance to become a columnist. Granted, my readership is small, and I am not syndicated coast to coast. I appear weekly in s small legal newspaper, The Connecticut Law Tribune. But I have regular readers, and I enjoy it.
But what is it that I enjoy about it? In part, it is the act of writing. There is intrinsic satisfaction in organizing impressions and trying to find just the right way to put something. But I am no stylist. I'm a first-draft kind of guy. My opinions aren't literature. When I was an editorial writer, I always squabbled with the editors.
But I also enjoy the influence that comes from having a column.
A few summers ago, I decided to quit writing. I wrote a farewell column, and was set to move on. I was stunned by the number of folks who called or wrote to express disappointment; even judges, whom I routinely prod, expressed regret. One asked me to reconsider and to continue writing. So I resumed the column.
Such influence as I possess is a mystery to me. I think it is in part a function of longevity. Writing weekly for a decade creates an expectation that I will be around for a while. But, tell me, truly, would anyone really notice if I hired a ghostwriter to mail my opinions in for me? Wouldn't my influence by the same?
I am aware of a Connecticut lawyer who does just that. A professional journalist writes pieces for him, and then sets about seeking to place them in publications. The journalist even arranges television appearances for the lawyer. Sure, at some level this offends the purist in me, but what, really, is the problem? Isn't the lawyer doing what newspaper editorial pages do all the time? He wants influence, so he hires a writer, slaps his name and mug on the column, and appears to be a wise and well-written soul.
Blogs provide instant gratification for the scribbling class. It yields influence of a sort, too. We can all become columnists sans editors. Blogging is a great way to express yourself, to strut your stuff, to cast what shadow you can. If some lawyers want to hire ghostwriters to help them splash in this puddle of quick and easy thrills, let them. There is nothing deceptive about endorsing the work product of another and making it your own: I have associates write briefs for me all the time, but once my name goes on the brief, I signify that I had adopted their work as my own.
So ghost on, I say. Let the purists fuss and fret. It doesn't really matter in this the most transient of all written worlds. We're all here for reasons all our own. That others read at all is the thrill.

subset: commoncrawl


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It's a sign of the times and a testament to consumer demand when one of the largest home renovation stores is helping to boost clean transportation technology.
Home Depot, which is now offering 30 different types of electric vehicle (EV) charger models for sale online, up from 5 in 2011, according to a recent TreeHugger article.
Some of the brand names of EV chargers Home Depot now offers to consumers include: Siemens, Eaton, General Electric, Leviton, and Schneider.
Prices for EV chargers range from $699 to $7,999, depending on the model, charge, and function.
Besides not running on fossil fuels (a huge plus), one of the benefits EVs have over vehicles run on fossil fuels is that they can replenish on energy more often and more easily thanks to the fact that they are parked the large majority if the time. As Treehugger notes:
"This means that if you have a way to charge where you park (at home, at the office, in the parking lot of businesses, etc), you can drive off with a full charge almost all the time. This is a completely different dynamic from gas and diesel vehicles, and it does a lot to mitigate the shorter driving range of EVs (for now — batteries improve every year), and for longer distances, super-fast public charging stations are already starting to be built (including the amazing free-to-use Supercharger network by Tesla).
As the popularity of electric vehicles continues to advance, so will the growth of electric chargers, which are expected by 2020 to increase to 11.4 million units, according to a Pike Research report.
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OverviewSky Dance – is a massively scalable, secure infrastructure framework that enables companies of all sizes to build, deploy and manage advanced applications and services across any device to take full advantage of today's 'Internet of Things,' or 'smart' technology market. Sky Dance enables the creation, scale and management of apps of all kinds incorporating voice, video, messaging, data, and other technologies . Sky Dance forms the basis for a suite of device agnostic, innovative solutions from Sky Networks. RESTful APIs allow easy integration into existing front and backend systems or mobile applications.
When building Sky DANCE we began by selecting from best-of-breed open source technology from a number of open source projects such as freeswitch, kamailio, redis,postgres and others. To build Sky DANCE we added our own industry expertise to make a complete solution that is easy to administer, operate and expand. This included adding important features like an integrated GUI, pre, mid and post translations on calling and called numbers, in-memory databases, built-in redundancy for call processing and database operations, reporting, monitoring, call tracing and a RESTful API to make integration with existing CRM and other backend solutions simple. Our APIs include all the APIs inherited from the projects in the solution as well as our own APIs. Important features such as SIP-I/SIP-T and MGCP support are also available.Sky DANCE solutions are available on popular virtualized environments such as Amazon's AWS or VMWare or they can be delivered as a stand-alone solution running on prebuilt servers running CentOS or Ubuntu. Sky DANCE systems can be as small as a single server with 250 simultaneous calls or as large as a distributed multi-state or country network operating with a central administration point. This means when selecting Sky Networks and our Sky DANCE solutions you can start from whatever size you're currently at and grow as big as your dreams without the fear of being stranded with a solution that hasn't been tested or won't scale.
The Sky Dance Architecture consists of a set of core functionality consisting of:
- A SIP Proxy
- Infrastructure Components
- Reporting
- RESTful APIs
- A Session Controller
- Database
- Process monitoring/management
Optional components can be added to the "core" offering to add functionality. These components include the SS7 gateway, SkyPhone, Sky Director or customized applications built to spec.


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DeChambeau to make Professional debut at RBC Heritage
Rising Star turning pro following The Masters
HILTON HEAD, SC (WJCL) One of the brightest shining stars in the game of golf will be making his professional debut in the low country.
Reigning U.S. Amateur and NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau will make his professional debut at the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing.
DeChambeau making the announcement at Harbour Town Golf Links Tuesday morning.
"It's going to be an honor to play here," said DeChambeau.
The 22-year old will compete in the Masters as an amateur. He will then officially turn pro and head to the 48th annual RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island.
Since leaving SMU back in September, DeChambeau has played in seven professional events as a tune up for when he turns pro. He made the cut in six of those "tune up" tournaments.
DeChambeau has received a sponsors exemption into the RBC Heritage.
The tournament is set for April 11-17.


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|Nasir el-Rufai
A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has said that a former Vice-President, Abubakar Atiku, lied when he accused him of imposing the Pentascope management contract on the defunct Nigeria Telecommunitions Limited.
El-Rufai was the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprise when the Federal Government entered into a contractual agreement with a Dutch firm, Pentascope, to manage the nation's telecommunications firm, NITEL, on the eve of the privatisation carried out by the Obasanjo administration.
El-Rufai said that Atiku, who was Chairman of the National Council for Privatisation, gave a written approval to enter into a contractual agreement with Pentascope to manage NITEL on February 21, 2003.
El Rufai whose allegations were contained in an electronic mail on Monday, signed by his Media Advisor, Mr. Muyiwa Adekeye, said that Atiku's memo on the Pentascope's management contract with NITEL dated February 20, 2003 was raised by a director of the BPE in charge of the duties of the Director-General at the time.
|Atiku Abubakar
The former minister explained further that the Pentascope deal was made following what he described as a competitive selective process following an earlier decision that a management firm be engaged to prepare NITEL to operate like a private firm in addition to preserving its assets.
He added that the terms of the contract with Pentascope made it a duty for the BPE to set up an executive committee to monitor the operations of the company on a daily basis.
According to him, the management contract was terminated in 2005 because it was frustrated due to lack of effective supervision by the BPE and other key players in the Ministry of Communications and the NCP under Atiku's leadership.
He said, "On Pentascope, we see the same pattern of muddying the waters with falsehood. As chairman of the National Council on Privatisation, Atiku gave his approval in writing on 21 February 2003 for the management contract with Pentascope to be signed.
"The memo on which Atiku minuted his approval, BPE/I&N/NT/MC/DG/280, is dated 20th February 2003, and was initiated by the director of BPE that was covering the DG's duties at the time. By the virtue of the high office he then held, Atiku knows that Pentascope was not foisted on NITEL but emerged from a properly advertised and competitive selection process.
"After the failure of the first attempt to sell NITEL, it had been decided that there was the need for a management contractor to keep the momentum of preparing the company to operate like a private entity and to preserve its assets. Pentascope resumed in NITEL on 28 April 2003, shortly before el-Rufai left the BPE to become a minister.
"The Pentascope contract terms included obligations by the BPE to monitor the contract, and for the NITEL Board to set up an Executive Committee to supervise day-to-day operations in NITEL. Between the new BPE leadership that neglected its responsibilities, the NCP which Atiku chaired and which failed to supervise the BPE and the bureaucrats and politicians around the Ministry of Communications, the management contract was frustrated and terminated in 2005."
El Rufai's reaction followed an allegation by Atiku in an interview with Sunday, that el-Rufai, as the DG of the BPE defied wise counsel to foist the Pentascope management contract on NITEL.
Atiku had alleged that el-Rufai ignored public outcry against his choice of Pentascope to manage NITEL even when it was proved that the foreign firm was financially incapable and lacked the competence to manage the telecommunications firm.
The former VP had said, "On Pentascope, one would have expected your paper to direct the questions to el-Rufai himself. The Pentascope scandal was one of the issues investigated by the National Assembly and it accused el-Rufai of ignoring wise counsel by imposing the company on NITEL.
"Despite proven allegations that Pentascope was not financially capable and technically competent to handle NITEL management contract, the former Bureau of Public Enterprise Director-General ignored public outcry and forced the Dutch company on NITEL.
"Before the coming of Pentascope, NITEL was making an estimated N100bn profit annually. However, as soon as Pentascope took over, NITEL's profits were nose-diving incredibly.
"With telecoms stakeholders, the National Assembly and the Nigerian public insisting that the imposition of Pentascope on NITEL was ruinous to national interest, the Federal Government eventually cancelled the management contract against el-Rufai's desire."
El-Rufai, who also commented on the NITEL GSM contract involving Ericsson and Motorola, denied Atiku's claim that his brother was on the board of Motorola.
He also debunked the claim that the contract was split, adding that it was awarded to Ericsson, "but at the lower price submitted by Motorola, because of Atiku's intense lobby and smears deployed to advance Ericsson's bid."
He alleged that Atiku and his then ADC, Abdullahi Yari, spoke on several occasions to him to favour Ericsson in the bid.
He said that Atiku had a responsibility to explain to Nigerians why he was pushing for Ericcson to get the offer.


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San Francisco, d. 1992
SFDS, suicide by hanging
Robert Powell was the Vice-President of the Hanx. He was devoted to his wife Wendy, and could often be seen biking around the city, giving her rides in his basket. When she passed, he put on a cheery face, but friends were highly concerned about him. There concerns proved correct when one night, no longer wanting to live without Wendy, he decided to take his own life. He was a good-humored and warm-hearted man and is still missed to this day. -America
To my friend,
Once again I am perplexed by that unanswerable question where do they go when they are gone? If I knew, I'd fax you a message and that is: that you are missed, by me and a lot of other people. We respectfully followed your wish by throwing your earthly remains off the Golden Gate bridge, you made one helluva splash, then floated gently away with the out-going tide. Well, wherever you are I hope they have beer, 'cause I know you and Wendy will be right next to the tap...forever
your pal,


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Lyon take a 3-1 lead to Bordeaux for their Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg – see all the betting here.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hailed Lionel Messi as the world's best player after his four-goal haul ended the Gunners' Champions League hopes.
Barcelona won 4-1 at the Nou Camp to complete a 6-3 success on aggregate in the quarter-final tie.
"I believe we lost against a team that is better than us and that has the best player in the world," said Wenger.
"Once he's on the run, Messi is unstoppable. He's the only player who can change direction at such a pace."
However, Wenger felt his side had contributed to their own downfall against the defending champions.
"Over two games, we conceded cheap goals," said the Frenchman. "They didn't have to work hard enough. When you have players like Messi (against you), you can pay for any mistake."
Messi scored four goals in a match for the first time in his career to set up an intriguing meeting with Jose Mourinho's Inter in the last four.
Barca manager Pep Guardiola described the Argentine's performance as "awesome", and praised the human side of the Argentinian.
"The good thing is about Messi is that tomorrow he will get up and look for the affection of his people and his team-mates," he said. "I like the love he has for football and his anonymous character.
Meanwhile, Gunners keeper Manuel Almunia was equally effusive about Messi and Barcelona.
"We were beaten by a brilliant player and a brilliant team in general," said the Spaniard.
"You have to try to anticipate what he's going to do, but it's so difficult because he can do what he wants.
"It's difficult to stop these kind of players. He couldn't score in the first leg, but he was great tonight."
Messi sought to play down his personal contribution to the defeat of Arsenal.
"What I did isn't so important but the performance of the team as a whole is what counted," said the 22-year-old.
"It wasn't a good start for us but thankfully everything worked out well in the end and I'm just really happy that we won the game."
Lyon take a 3-1 lead to Bordeaux for their Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg – see all the betting here.
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Impact of High Density Orchards in Crop Efficiency, High Yield and Fruit Quality
DOI: Views 1776 Downloads 0
The gardening, flowering, and orchards planting are an integral part of Islamic culture and civilization, which can be still seen in different cities of Pakistan and around the globe. It seems cogent to remind that in this divine look of Muslim various fruits like Apple, Grapes, Dates, and Pomegranate, etc. has been discussed along with their nutrition values. Apart from it in Islam horticulture, tree plantations have been described as an act of worship as it entails in mankind betterment (Nawaz et al., 2007). The cultivation of fruit plants is a thin edge of increase in Pakistan with every passing day. The orchards of grapes, Apple, Peach, Guava, Apricot, Mangoes, and dates are available around in Pakistan at various ranges.
As Pakistan is a good producer of fruits so it is to be pointed out that about 8 – 9 Lac hectares of agricultural land of Pakistan has been covered by orchards from which we obtain 72 Lac tons of fruits yearly. In Pakistan our basic problem is that our growers are not fully conversant with the most modern, intensive cropping, and harvesting techniques due to which our per acre yield is adversely affected which limits to 8.23 Tons per acre in comparison to 20 – 25 Tons per acre of western countries which is very low (Nasir et al., 2006).
The agricultural experts, on the basis of their research, knowledge and experience pointed out the weaker areas for low productivity i.e. more or extraordinary distance between plants, sowing of potentially less yield varieties, less immunity against any attack or infection, less use of rootstock and pre and post-harvest losses (Monga et al., 2011). According to agricultural experts in order to increase the per acre yield of orchards, apart from traditional agricultural practices we have to adopt modern techniques for the production enhancement (Athani et al., 2009). The experts suggested few modern strategies i.e. more use of dwarf varieties fruit plants, reducing the interplant distance in order to transplant maximum plants, excellent use of rootstock, minimize pre and post-harvest losses, reliable and most efficient transportation routes for supply chain, and dense cropping (Bassal, 2009). In European counties, by adopting these techniques many farmers are planting 5000 to 9000 per acre in order to enhance their fruit productivity (Zekri, 2000). As the number of fruit plants increases, the productivity gets a boost due to less height and the fruit season starts earlier which increases the farmer income thrice, which is an ultimate gain.
Arshad, I., 2019. Impact of High Density Orchards in Crop Efficiency, High Yield and Fruit Quality. PSM Biol. Res., 4(2): 87-88.
Athani, S.I., Dharmatti, P.R., 2009. Effect of plant density on growth and yield in banana. Karnataka. J. Agric. Sci., 22(1): 143-146.
Bassal, M.A., 2009. Growth, yield and fruit quality of 'Marisol' clementine grown on four rootstocks in Egypt. Sci. Horticult., 119(2): 132-137.
Monga, P.K., Aulakh, P.S., Kaur, N., Arora, P.K., 2011. Effect of high-density plantation on tree growth, fruit yield, and quality in Kinnow mandarin. J. Res. Punjab Agric. Univ., 48(1): 40-42.
Nawaz, M.A., Ahmed, W., Iqbal, Z., Khan. M.M., 2007. Evaluation of high-density plantation on vigor and yield in kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulata B). Inst. Hort. Sci., Uni. Agric. Faisalabad, Pakistan., 1(1): 87-92.
Nasir, M.A., Aziz, A., Mohar, T.A., Ahmad, S., Rehman, M.A., 2006. Effect of plant spacing on the growth and quality of kinnow under Sargodha climatic conditions. Sarhad J. Agric., 22(1): 37-40. Zekri, M., 2000. Evaluation of orange trees budded on several rootstocks and planted at high density on flat woods soil. Proc. Fla. Stat Hort. Soc., 113(1): 119-123.
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http://www.andrewdchristie.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Andrew_Christie.png 0 0 Andrew Christie http://www.andrewdchristie.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Andrew_Christie.png Andrew Christie2018-03-13 12:52:482018-03-13 12:57:39Instagram & Video
Instagram & Video
If you use Instagram there are easier ways to promote your work. Assign a budget to a post, create a link for people to see. Content on Instagram can link from any account, the controls on creating a sponsored content are easy. The versatility of Instagram with it's ease of use are great. Images, short video tune people into ideas that relate to business.


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The official video for Altaturneringen 2016 is here. Check it out.
When in Alta
Altaturneringen is far from the only thing Alta has to offer. The northern lights and the midnight sun are two extraordinary natural phenomena, in itself worth the trip. In addition you can go hiking in the mountains, experience Sami culture, see reindeers or take a look at some of the rock carvings listed as UNESCO world heritage.
Although winter conditions in Alta may not encourage football activity, it should not rule out a winter adventure. Snow mobile safari, dog sledding and visiting the Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel are just some of the great experiences awaiting you.
Have a look at our Alta taster:
Go to Visit Alta for more information and travelling advise.


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A Powerful Awakening...
to attract Spiritual souls. Those that are ready to do the work they seek.
-Divine Universal Communication Guidance
-Divine Universal Communication Guidance
-Awakening LIGHTworker Online Worhshops
-Awakening LIGHTworker Online Worhshops
-Conscious Vegan Recipes for Sensetives
-Conscious Vegan Recipes for Sensetives
Reiki Attunements/Sessions
Reiki Attunements/Sessions
-Simple Meditation Classes
-Simple Meditation Classes
Awakening to Oneness
Oneness Blessings also known as Deeksha is a non-denominational transfer of Divine energy. Oneness is the connection people share with each other, to nature, to the universe and to a higher source. To be one with the universe is a balance and harmonious feeling of contentment and peace. This is our natural state, our souls are born connected to Oneness however it is our cultures, parenting, and conditioning that create this separation as we grow older. The purpose of this unique and specific blessing is to awaken in people over time the experience of Oneness, to shift their consciousness
After receiving the Oneness Blessings, Divine energy will 'work' through a person's needs to help them cleanse any problems that are not allowing them to ascend spiritually.
The Blessing stimulates and activates the parts of the brain that experience joy, happiness, bliss and divine love and deactivates the parts of the brain that experience suffering.
It initiates a neurobiological change in the brain that, when complete, enables the senses to be free from the interference of the thinking mind
It is 100% safe to receive the Oneness Blessing.
Who can offer the Oneness Blessing attunement to others?
The Oneness Blessing can be transferred by anyone who has received the transmission and training during a special process at the Oneness University in India or at the new Oneness University campus in Fiji. These people are referred to as Oneness Facilitators.
How often is it recommended to receive the Oneness Blessing?
It's helpful to receive the Blessing frequently, even on a weekly basis. But at the same time it's important not to expect our lives to be transformed as if by magic - with ourselves as passive bystanders. The Blessing is most effective when it meets with your inner willingness to grow, to be self-aware at all times, and to awaken to a highest spiritual potential. Regular Blessings are deepened by a daily practice of meditation and a holistic balanced lifestyle.
Sandy Fabiola is a certified Oneness Blessing Giver, she is authorize to give the Oneness Deeksha. CONTACT HER ABOUT RECEIVING THE ONENESS BLESSING FOR YOURSELF OR A GROUP OF PEOPLE.


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Public Transport
To reach Lytham St. Annes by bus please contact Blackpool Transport Services for details of which buses run to the town on: 01253 473000.
Stagecoach North West also provides services and these can be contacted on: 0870 608 2608.
National Express Coach Services run throughout the year. These can be contacted on: 08705 808080.
Transport Timetables can be picked up from any Local Tourist Information Centre.
Lytham St. Annes is easily accessible by car and the direction given takes you to the town centre.
At the western end of the M55 motorway exit junction 4, follow the A5230 Progress Way, which then directly leads into the A5230 Squires Gate Lane.
On reaching the end of this road at Starr Gate turn left into A584 Clifton Drive North and this will take you directly into Lytham St Annes.
Lytham St. Annes is easily reached by trains from Preston.
Trains leave Preston station every hour and takes about 30 minutes to arrive at St. Annes. You can also reach Lytham St. Annes from Blackpool South Station; these trains are hourly and on average take 8 minutes.
For National Rail enquiries call: 08457 484950 or visit: www.nationalrail.co.uk


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Mom for the Win
"Mac n cheese, please. Every day, please. For the rest of my life, please." He's almost two. And he's never said those words exactly…yet. But, I know they are exactly what he means! My son is addicted to mac n cheese. It's like the only thing he wants to eat lately.
Now, to be fair he does love his fruit. But even that can change from week to week. Last week he loved cuties. He couldn't get enough of those little baby oranges. I'm telling you, he was shoving whole hands full of those slices into his mouth. While I'm freaking out that he is going to choke! But this week…nope. Not a one. Won't touch them. Same goes for the vegetables, but it's worse. He may try one bite then he's like… "Naaaaa….thanks, but a big NO THANKS! Just go find some more of that mac n cheese, Mom!"
So how does a mom sneak vegetables into a toddler's diet? Anyone? I think I may have found the answer! The other day I was shopping at our Kroger grocery store picking up some organic bread in the freezer section. I looked up and what did my eyes see? Chocolate Muffins!
I know what you are thinking? Chocolate muffins are not vegetables. But guess what?! The first two ingredients in these chocolate muffins was zucchini and carrots! *insert church choir singing* The chocolate ones looked so good but so did the Blueberry Oats. So I grabbed a box of both!
These fabulous muffins are from Garden Lites and my little guy loves them! Besides being full of veggies, these muffins are also gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free. Plus they come in individual wrappers so I can take them on the go.
I always throw a snack or two into my purse every morning before heading out the door. Because a hungry toddler is no mama's friend! 😉[bctt tweet="I love that my son is throwing a fit in the grocery store — said no mom ever!"]
I found my Garden Lites Muffins at Kroger. You can find yours in the freezer section of the nearest Publix, Stop & Shop, Giant, Shop-Rite, HEB, or Costco. And before you go shopping, be sure and grab this $1.00 off coupon found HERE.
So how do you sneak veggies into your little ones diet? Have you ever tried Garden Lites muffins before?


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Communications Minister to Open Conference
As investment agencies worldwide turn their attention to promoting the benefits of their locations for building datacenters or outsourcing, a new player in Southeast Asia – Iskandar – is beginning to consolidate its position in this increasingly competitive arena.
Just two weeks from today, government representatives, businesses, and international experts will gather in Johor, Malaysia for the enterprise datacenter conference Datacloud South East Asia co-sponsored by BroadGroup and the Distributed Computing Inustry Association (DCIA). At this event, Datuk Ismailbin Ibrahim, CEO of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) will make the organization's claim as the next big datacenter opportunity for this expanding sector in Southeast Asia.
The event will be officiated by Dato' Sri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Communication and Multimedia, Malaysia. In addition, Dato' Sri Idris Jala, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and CEO of the Performance Management Delivery Unit (PEMANDU), Malaysia is speaking on Malaysia's journey in the Economic Transformation Program and how datacenters are positioned as one of the sectors identified to contribute to the national gross income of Malaysia.
Johor's geographic position at the tip of Malaysia, directly across from the Singapore Straits, provides easy access from the island state and importantly offers a wealth of land. In support of its vision, the conference will hear from representatives of operating companies to discuss datacenter deployments, fiber connectivity, and the critical issue of energy supply. They will also hear from the government agency responsible for driving inward investment in the tech sector.
The conference to be held in Iskandar, Johor, Malaysia, on April 8th and 9th, is enhanced by the presence of a range of international experts including Markku Lepisto, Technology Evangelist, APAC, Amazon Web Services; Christophe Maisonnave, Data Center Facilities Strategies Services Manager, Hewlett Packard; Shinya Kukita, Chief Engineer, Global Business Unit, NEC Corporation; John Murray, Chief Executive Officer, Brunei International Gateway; Gautam Saxena, Director, Head of Asia Media & Telecom, Merrill Lynch; and Zou Xiaoteng, Chief Engineer of Data Center Infrastructure Solution, Huawei Technologies; as well as other experts. The event will also host a special Finance and Investment symposium.
A key objective of the conference is to provide a current assessment of the datacenter sector in the region, as well as new business opportunities, how far the sector has moved in valuations, current and future risks, and forward outlook for IT infrastructure assets. It covers cloud, a comparative analysis of data governance across the region, finance and investment, new technological innovation such as modular datacenters, and a special panel on enterprise criteria in selecting sites for datacenter locations. Datuk Ismail Bin Ibrahim, CEO, Iskandar Regional Development Authority, Iskandar Regional Development Authority will present a vision for the region.
"The event is important not only to Malaysia but also to the South East Asia region as Iskandar increasingly takes a position as an alternative hub for hosting and colocation. Combined with the existing Data Center Hub in Cyberjaya, Malaysia is poised to be the regional hub for cloud and content services," commented Dato' Yasmin Mahmood, CEO, MDeC. "Bringing together users and business leaders with an expert academy of speakers, the event also has a content rich agenda and high business networking values."
"This is a much needed opportunity for datacenter businesses and investors in Southeast Asia to assess opportunities outside of Singapore, so far the dominant market in the region," commented Steve Wallage, Managing Director, BroadGroup Consulting and Chairman of the Conference. "Growth in the datacenter sector has been sustained globally and our forecasts suggest tremendous expansion in south-east Asia in the coming years. Johor's proximity to Singapore and the availability of land certainly presents a powerful proposition."
"As cloud computing continues to expand globally, this phenomenon is driving demand for new regional datacenters while at the same time as it is providing enormous new opportunities for growth to enterprises of all shapes and sizes. This conference is timely and valuable to all interested parties," added Marty Lafferty, CEO of the DCIA.
Designed for regional and international enterprises who are invited to attend the conference on a complimentary basis, the organizers will also host a tour of Johor and the proposed datacenter sites, and arrange for delegates to meet government and agency officials during their stay. Please enquire at firstname.lastname@example.com for tickets.
About BroadGroup
BroadGroup is an Information Media Technology and Professional Services company. BroadGroup supports companies in making their important decisions on market strategy and conducts commercially sensitive due diligence. Working closely with its clients, BroadGroup provides a value chain of research, publications, consulting, and conference services focused on datacenter, cloud, and IT Infrastructure. To learn more, please visit www.broad-group.com.
About the DCIA
The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA), established in 2003, is an international non-profit trade organization with the mission to commercially advance cloud computing and related technologies.
Its member companies are industry-leading software and solutions developers, broadband network operators, content rights-holders, and service-and-support firms.
The DCIA conducts such activities as business development, market research, conferences and expos, industry communications, working groups, advocacy initiatives, standards setting, and also publishes the weekly online newsletter DCINFO. To learn more, please visit www.dcia.info.
DCIA Media Contact
Kelly Larabee
2838 Cox Neck Road
Suite 200
Chester, MD 21619


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ISPO Munich will open its doors on February 5th.
Dear colleagues and friends!
Russian Outdoor Village will start working at the major professional exhibition of sports products and services ISPO Munich 2017 in Munich on February 5, 2017. Russian Outdoor Village is a united stand of the leading Russian producers of sports clothes and outdoor equipment. The stand is organized at the initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation within the framework of the national light industry development program.
TM "ICEROCK" continues working on equipment made of composite materials, carbon fiber in particular. We will show the whole range of carbon fiber ice axes and tools at the booth, including a new product of winter season 2017 - ice tool SPARK.
Meanwhile at the factory all resources are dedicated to "GNOME". Market launch is around the corner.
The Russian stand at ISPO Munich 2017 will work till February 8, 2017. Hall A1, stand 522.


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Can a solo lawn care business owner make $100,000 a year?
How much can you make as a solo lawn care business owner? That's a very good question and one that many new lawn care business owners want to know. Knowing such a number can help you figure out if you are doing well or maybe you need to charge more. One of the Gopher Lawn Care Business Forum Members asked "Do you think that a solo operation could pull in $100,000 per year? If not, then what?"
There was a great many responses to this question that I want to share with you in order to give you a well rounded answer. Here are some of them.
- "Yes that can be reached. But what is your cost going to be? Not only money, but time with your family and friends. You'll never get to 100K by working Mon-Fri 8 hours a day (solo that is). It is not just a J-O-B it is a different kind of life.
You need to sit down and budget, budget, budget."
- "You would have to be working at least 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. The only area that I can think that it could be reached more easily would be in installations, compared to maintenance."
- "During my last ten years in business, I worked mostly alone, running a ztr tractor on (mostly) big lawns. I spent a lot of time experimenting, trying to maximize effiecincy and profits. The result is an operation I have come to call "High Efficiency Lawn Mowing."
Briefly, at 1990's prices, I found no problem in grossing $400-plus per day and netting $300-plus. In peak conditions — hot and dry — I did considerably better.
Since I was getting on to retirement age, I only worked about three days a week. Remember you still have to have time to fish. But you can extrapolate from these figures what you could do full time."
- "I have never seen a solo lawn care business operator make less than 35-40% of gross unless he is one that has to have the newest, best equipment and brand new trucks every two years, and also has cheap prices.
To answer the original question, a healthy gross for a solo lawn care business owner would be around $150k gross, which should give him over $90k net (then he would take his salary out of that).
I do know for a fact that a solo lawn care business owner with the right prices, equipment, and routes could EASILY do $100k gross in 40 hour weeks, year after year.
I am pretty much still considered solo because I do most of the work myself and just have a helper that runs another lawn mower on big properties, and run the trimmer + blower on small properties. Although I am not near $100k gross YET, it is because I have other priorities that hinder the business."
- "I think it depends a lot on your competition, and the prices in your area. I do work in a city about 45 minutes away from here and 2 guys in 9 hours gross $1,000 that day… Another end of town on another day of the week the same 2 guys in 6 hours only gross $450. I have realized that the smaller paying days are necessary, until the routes fill up in that area… so I am patient. We work about 40 man hours per week in the summer, and plow in the winter and we will gross about $100,000. I bet we only pulled $30,000 out together in earnings though. But we choose to buy equipment as needed. So we bought a trailer, blower, trimmer this year, that we will not need to buy again next year. We also paid off our ZTR this year, so next year will be more net and hopefully more pay!!"
- "In my area I could net around $50k out of $100k. All area's are so much different though."


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Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission Heading Toward Final Days
The end of this spring's Oklahoma legislative session created what could potentially become a historic change in the relations between the state and its 39 tribes. HB 2172, which effectively dissolved the 43-year-old Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission, will transfer this body's authority solely to the executive branch.
HB 2172 states that the governor's office has until December 1, 2011 to appoint an Oklahoma Native American Liaison who is of at least ¼ Indian blood. Language in the bill provides the potential for the Liaison to become "Secretary of Native American Affairs," although there is no guarantee for this to become a permanent cabinet-level position. Primary duties for the Liaison will include the negotiation of agreements and the monitoring of tribal-state compacts. Also included in the bill is the creation of a Native American Cultural and Educational Authority with seven appointed members.
According to reports from the Tulsa World, Oklahoma tribes only had six days notice about this bill. However, OIAC executive director Barbara Warner, an enrolled member of the Ponca Nation, said this has been attempted by previous legislatures.
"It's not necessarily this administration," said Warner. "This administration was one that was successful in writing a more effective bill." This bill passed on May 20 and was signed into law by Governor Mary Fallin, R-Okla.
Created in 1967, the OIAC consisted of a nine-member board appointed by the governor with state senate approval. Four members were selected from tribes who lived in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Eastern Oklahoma Region, four members were selected from the BIA Southern Plains Region, and one was an at-large appointee. A Chair and Vice-Chair was then selected from this body, with an executive director to run day-to-day affairs. The OIAC also had ex officio members and an advisory committee of up to 15 members.
With budget cuts, the OIAC staff consisted of two members—Warner as executive director and an administrative assistant, Angela Atauvich of the Comanche Nation. Although it was at times only a two-person staff, they knew how to work around budget cuts.
Read More
"Indians are used to being poor," Warner said jokingly. "We knew how to survive."
At press time, the OIAC staff's duties include working with state personnel on a full audit and cataloging office equipment to meet a final work day of June 30, which would be the end of the OIAC fiscal year. Warner said they were also sorting through which files and equipment was better suited for donation to the Oklahoma History Center, based in Oklahoma City on the state capitol grounds.
According to Warner, items such as state-issued cell phones are to be turned over to the governor's office, with incoming calls on landline phones to be forwarded to the governor's office. The OIAC website will also direct visitors to contact the governor's office.
"Serving as an advocate for positive state-tribal relations has been our greatest accomplishment," Warner said about her term as executive director. "When I started here 18 years ago, the climate up on the Hill was extremely cold. We had unbelievable bills that were being introduced that would affect tribes and Indian citizens. We had a lot of friends up there that stopped all of those things."
Warner said that she hoped Oklahoma's tribes and the state government would continue to foster a stronger relationship. However, she also said that she is "really concerned about some of the issues that are coming up that will cause barriers or gaps between the state and the tribes." For Warner, the primary issue for Oklahoma tribes was water rights, sharing a statement she attributed to current assistant secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk that "Ninety percent of all the water in Oklahoma belongs to the tribes."
Warner said that she will continue her tribal advocacy work after June 30, in addition to spending time with family.
"I'm the primary caregiver for my 90-year-old mother who's still very active," said Warner. "I'm going to spend more quality time with her. I have a brand new six-month-old granddaughter, Anna Ross. I'm going to spend some time with her. I've always worked in the realm where I'm dealing with Indian issues. I'm going to continue that."


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Once again, we're in the LSE1000 Companies to Inspire Britain!
For the second year in a row, Alderburgh Ltd has been included in the London Stock Exchange Group's 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain Report, which showcases the UK's most inspiring and fastest growing companies.
To be selected, businesses have to demonstrate positve growth in revenue over the last thee years and outperform their sector peers. The resulting report is a unique and varied list of the UK's most dynamic companies, and we're thrilled to have been selected again for inclusion in the report.
We're very lucky to have a dedicated, hard working team at Alderburgh, everyone contributes to the company's success and we're very proud that our combined efforts and achievements have been recognised once more!


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A total of 2161 Sephardic Jews, descendants of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula expelled from Portugal in the 16th century, have acquired Portuguese nationality since 2016, according the Institute of Registries and Notaries.
Since March 2015, when the law granting Portuguese citizenship to Sephardi Jews came into force, 12,610 applications were submitted, 466 in that year, 5100 in 2016 and 7044 in 2017.
In 2015, no citizenships were granted yet. In 2016, 431 citizenships were granted and in 2017, 1730 citizenships were granted.
Sephardi Jews which are citizens of Turkey and Israel were the majority of those who received the Portuguese citizenship.
In 2016, 271 Turkish citizens and 81 Israeli citizens were granted Portuguese citizenship. In 2017, 968 Turkish citizens and 457 Israeli citizens were granted Portuguese citizenship. In total, until 31.12.17, 1,239 Turkish citizens and 538 Israeli citizens obtained Portuguese citizenship.
This legislative initiative is aimed to strengthen Portugal's ties with the Jewish community and to recognize its heritage.
Translation from the original in Portuguese found here


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I did my neurotic writer-in-the-middle trick this weekend. No, not that one with the pens. Shh.
I saved my WIP, currently standing at 45K, which is close enough to the middle for me, as a new doc, then messed around until I found a font weird enough to look totally unfamiliar, changed the text color to electric blue and the background to black, blinked a few times, reminded myself I was not on an old-school gaming site, and then read everything I had.
It gets in the way of forward progress. I know this. It means I sit there scrolling, nitpicking, fixing grammar and spelling mistakes and formatting, and obsessing over synonyms. It makes Inner Editor very happy, which I know is not how Inner Editor should feel at midpoint. She ought to be weeping hysterically into a cold cup of tea and clawing at the bulletproof plexiglass wall between her and all those dangling modifiers and plot holes I can't see just now, and which will make me cringe the whole way through revisions. I know all this.
And yet, that middle-of-the-book pause is good for me, I swear. I've done it during the past two novels, and I expect I'll do it during the next twenty (and the way these ideas keep smacking me upside the head, the next twenty are a pretty sure thing right now). Because I hate-hate-hate the middle of the book, as I have said too many times: I hate the way I write, I hate my plot, I hate my schedule. I doubt every word I type, and I'm sure no scene I scrape out of the bottom of my subconscious is worthy of that pretty blank page. Even the stuff I feel good about, I doubt. The middle is crazytime for me. I have very little confidence in anything dead center of a book. I don't know where the words are coming from. Even if I'm following my outline to the letter, which I often am not, I can't tell where the hell I'm going. The Long Dark Night of the Novel. It sucks rocks.
So I stop. I alter the appearance of the WIP until it's as close to unrecognizable as possible. I pin my eyes to page 1, and sip coffee and compulsively chew on pistachios and scroll, stopping occasionally to fix some embarrassing mistake. And damned if it doesn't actually start out decently and get better the further I go. I'm not writing tripe after all. These scenes are connected to each other. There are themes in the subtext. There's character development. There's increasing tension. I sort of look like I almost (gasp!) know what I'm doing, as long as you pay no attention to that nail-biting freak behind the keyboard. It's not perfect, and already I can see some of the weak points… but it doesn't suck. It's actually, you know, pretty okay for a first draft.
I forget this part every time. I am always surprised by it. I pause to get perspective on the story: I end up getting perspective on me. As weird little habits go, I guess it's a good one.
So, for this Monday, lets hear it: what little habits get you though the middle/end/beginning of you book, wherever you hit the wall?


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How Artificial Intelligence Is "Disruptifying" Medicine
Today, I'm introducing the next generation of our precision medicine mega trend. And I consider it to be one of the biggest innovations of the 21st century.
I call this new tech field "living technology."
It has attracted legendary tech investors like Bill Gates, Peter Thiel and Eric Schmidt.
The Food and Drug Administration says it's set to "transform medicine."
And this technology is expected to grow 4,300% by 2025, while saving countless lives.
This marriage of tech and medicine stands to conquer leukemia, lung cancer, blindness, multiple sclerosis and more.
We know our readers love these kinds of win-win opportunities.
Like Stan K., who wrote in:
I was so surprised yesterday with a 188% gain on your recent recommendation. But you know what was even more rewarding? That they were successful with 100% of muscular dystrophy patients in clinical trial. It's a 100% win for all. Thanks!
And Jessica E., who said:
I truly believe your recommendations touch on more than just making money. I'm up a whopping 175% on a company in the business of helping people stricken with illness. Thank you for picking stocks that make such a difference in people's lives.
So, what is living technology?
Artificial Intelligence at Work
Living tech is already disrupting the stagnant pharma market.
Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) by one company have finally given the pharmaceutical industry the tremendous AI computing power it needs.
Without getting too technical, this allows drug manufacturing times to speed up from years to months.
That means drugs get tested faster, get to market faster and save lives faster.
This is truly a win for science, for medicine and for humanity.
These kinds of feel-good investment opportunities are among my favorite to recommend.
You can take advantage of biotech breakthroughs like living tech by investing in the Alps Medical Breakthroughs ETF (NYSE: SBIO).
Paul Mampilly
Editor, Profits Unlimited


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The opening in 1989 of the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal marked the beginning of a concerted effort by port operators and railroads to create intermodal transfer facilities to handle freight going into and out of land-constrained ports. The inland port has also become a prime location for light manufacturing and distribution.
Over the years, 47 companies have moved into the area to take advantage of the inland port, and those firms have invested more than $950 million in plant and equipment and have created more than 8,500 jobs, port spokesman Jay Stecher told Transport Topics.
Based on that success, the number of inland port projects has grown considerably during the past decade. Here's a rundown of some major completed projects and proposed new facilities:


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ULTRA - Poster Art
Our lovely design agency, b14, just finished the poster for our upcoming performance ULTRA. Photographer: Christian Bang.
Click on these links for tickets at the various venues:
18 March 2016: Norrlandsoperan, Umeå, Sweden
22-23 March 2016: Dansstationen, Malmö, Sweden
5-9 April 2016: Dansehallerne, Copenhagen, Denmark
12 April 2016: Vara Konserthus, Vara, Sweden
15-16 April 2016: Bora Bora, Aarhus, Denmark


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Atlanta's Deja Vu: Falcons Blow Lead Late In 4th Quarter
By Matthew Asher
If there was a way for the Atlanta Falcons to simply play the first half of a football game twice, they'd be one of the most feared teams in the NFL. Since that's never going to happen, the Falcons need to learn how to close out the game early in the second half because a close loss like Sunday's can kill a season.
This is one of those frustrating games because looking at the statistics, Atlanta didn't do a bad job but couldn't hold on to the lead. Falcons fans may want to take solace knowing that the team that denied them a trip to last year's Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers, are also just 1-2.
The Good
Atlanta's running game gets an A
Steven who? With Atlanta's newest running back on the shelf for a few weeks, backups Jacquizz Rodgers and Jason Snelling did everything they could to give the Falcons the win. Rodgers and Snelling combined for 29 rushes totaling 139 yards. 'Quizz picked up 86 rushing yards, a new career high and Snelling added four catches for 58 yards and a touchdown to give him 111 total yards.
Osi Umenyiora gets an A
Last week Osi recorded his first NFL interception, this week he was back to what he does best: sack the quarterback and force fumbles. Osi was responsible for two of Atlanta's five sacks on Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill and one of the two fumbles he forced was recovered by Atlanta leading to a quick touchdown in the third quarter.
The Bad
The Falcons in the fourth quarter get an F
It's become par for the course lately with Atlanta jumping out to a two-plus score lead in the first half and then giving it away in the second half. Atlanta's one scoring drive in the final quarter was a decent 65-yard drive, but it only netted them a field goal.
Atlanta had the chance to put the game out of reach with a good 64-yard drive late in the fourth quarter, but after Matt Bryant missed a 35-yard field goal (after making a 52-yard kick earlier in the game). After the missed field goal, Miami was able to drive the ball 75 yards in 13 plays to score the eventual winning touchdown with less than a minute to go.
The Ugly
Atlanta's special teams get a D
Kicker Matt Bryant made his first three field goals but shanked his fourth attempt late in the fourth quarter. Until that kick, Bryant had made his last 16 field goal attempts. Matt Bosher had just two punts and the first one was a disaster. With Miami going all-out for a block, Bosher's kick went just 30 yards. Add a 10-yard holding penalty and it was a net punt of just 20 yards.
The return game for Atlanta wasn't any better. Harry Douglas had three punt returns netting just three yards. The costly one came late in the third quarter when Douglas was hit during the return and fumbled it, setting up Miami inside Atlanta's 20-yard line which was converted into a touchdown just three plays later.
Atlanta returns to the Georgia Dome September 29 where they will host the 3-0 New England Patriots for Sunday Night Football. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 pm ET.
For more Falcons news and updates, visit Falcons Central.
Matthew Asher is a freelance journalist. From an early age, sports have played a major role in his life. He graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in Journalism. After college he spent 2 years working with CNN Sports and still occasionally writes sports articles for several publications both in the United States and Canada. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
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text: Jeff Pulver, VoIP evangelist, conference planner, and gadget guy, says Las Vegas's free Wi-Fi filters: Ports blocked, me buckos, when you're stuck trying to leave CES. You can do Web, but you can't do telnet, instant messaging, or voice over IP, Pulver writes. There's ugly, ugly weather in Las Vegas right now, and one colleague reports that there's a three-hour line at the airport just to check in.


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Flexible near-real-time multi-sensor monitoring and short-term forecasting to support security management at major events
The increasing number of mass events poses new challenges for civil safety management. The aim of the project MONITOR is to combine airborne and terrestrial acquisition systems and also multi-sensor networks to construct a comprehensive overview of the situation. The envisioned developments enable near real-time observation of human motion patterns and short term prediction for early detection of critical situations such as excessive human densities, spatial bottlenecks, or starting turbulences on a mass event. This information supports necessary safety or even evacuation actions. In addition all measured and analyzed data is archived in a geospatial database for documentation purposes as well as for debriefing and analysis after the event.


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Have you ever sat down to write a list of what you want?
People don't become rich by magic. Some get lucky but everyone needs hard work to stay there. There are so many opportunities to be wealthy in the world today. It is so much that you wonder how people are poor. An offer to make millions pass by them every day. But they never take notice. They keep seeking money and where they can be paid. They make fun of things that can make them millions. Then, they wonder why they are not rich.
- The falsehood about getting rich
- The offer to make millions
- How to get what you want
- What do you want?
- Why do you want it?
- When do you want it?
- An idea of how to get it
- Conclusion
The Falsehood About Getting Rich
Too many people believe lies about the life of affluence and it holds them back. They think they know what the rich life is about.
You don't know what it's like to be wealthy until you are
Life doesn't become different because you have a lot of money. Not at all. Your life just becomes magnified and you have a lot of options. Money makes you an amplified version of yourself. If you build your life around the idea that $1 million will change your life, you will probably get depressed when you get it.
The excitement of a rich life is not in the money. If the money excites you, it won't be long before you realize the money is not enough. The excitement of being rich is tied to what you have always wanted to do that you are now able to do. You will quickly discover that using money to put a smile on someone else's face is one of the most amazing things ever. And that is how money buys happiness.
The interesting thing is that if you are not committed to putting a smile on people's faces before you make big money, you will not be committed to it after you have made the big money. The money will not change you, but it will cause you to reevaluate all your choices.
If you find it difficult to give from the little you have, you will find it difficult to give when you have much
Why is this important? It is because you create abundance for yourself by demonstrating abundance. If you don't make that internal transition, you may be lucky but your personality will keep betraying your efforts to stay wealthy.
There are many ways to get rich. But there is only one way to get rich sustainably:
You become a person of abundance to create abundance
The big falsehood regarding finances is the idea that a lot of money will make you rich. The real truth is that rich people end up with a lot of money.
The Offer to Make Millions
I watched a documentary about a billionaire recently that got me thinking. Guess what he does? He is a fish farmer that specializes in salmon. That stayed with me for a while. If you told the average person in the world today who wants to be rich to go into fish farming, the person will probably look at you like you are nuts.
This reminded me of a story I read in a book by Tony Robbins a few years ago. Tony called up this brilliant investor and asked him what he was investing in at the moment. And the investor said, "nickel". And Tony was like, "what?"
Average people miss the obvious in search of the fancy. Anything can be turned into a million-dollar business. But people want to be successful and follow the crowd at the same time.
You cannot be successful by following the crowd. You have to see what no one else sees and do what no one else is willing to do
Stop trying to buy stocks in Apple. Stop trying to buy bitcoin because it's the cool thing people do with their money now. Look for your own "nickel". And you won't have to look much before you find it.
Making millions in any venture is not about what you do, rather it is about your dream for what you do. Most people make the mistake of copying channels that have made other people rich. That will only lead to frustration. There is a better way.
How to Get What You Want
There is a way that is almost guaranteed to get you what you want if you follow it. But most people just let themselves get seduced into other things and take their eyes off the goal.
If you don't have a dream, you will live for another man's dream
To get what you want you have to know what exactly you want, why you want it, when you want it, and an idea of how to get it.
What Do You Want?
As simple as that sounds, many people haven't thought about it. Let me challenge you to write a list of 7 things you want to happen for you between now and the next 5 years. Just do it. You will be surprised about the things you want that you don't know you want.
Anyone who wants to be rich must know exactly what they want. Your wants allow you to know how big your dream should be. It is not about what kind of business to start, rather it is about how high to scale it. The foundations you erect for a duplex is not the same for a skyscraper.
You need to know exactly what you want. Be as specific as you can
Everything begins when you realize what you want.
Why Do You Want It?
If you say you want to have a $50M business, you need to ask why you want that. The only way to be sure that you are desiring the right thing for yourself is to understand why you desire that thing.
If you desire something and you go after it so ferociously, then all of a sudden you lose interest completely. You would be lost and confused as to why you lost interest. But if you know why you had that goal in the first place, you would not be confused.
There is always an emotional event attached to our goals. You need to find the emotional thing that makes your goal something that excites you. This is so that you can know what it is all about.
It is not about the goals, it is about how what you do (after you achieve the goal) makes you feel
Haven't you heard of men who built a thriving business and lost everything after the wife dies? The emotional thrill that the wealth was for is no more, and hence there is no reason for the goal anymore.
If you know what your reason is, you can know when this change happens and you can reevaluate your life and find new reasons. There is always a reason to live. But you must find sound reasons for your goals.
In some cases, you discover that the reasons that are driving your goals are not reasonable. And that saves you a lot of time and energy. So, you find reasons that you are emotionally invested in and make your goals based on them.
When Do You Want It?
A goal without a date is a wish. You must have a deadline for your goal. Otherwise, you will be no different than the average person who wishes for money. Wishing doesn't work.
Goals with deadlines work
How you are going to achieve it is not the point at this stage. Set a deadline even before you know how you are going to achieve the goal. Let that date be a constant reminder of where you want to be.
Set a date and believe it is going to happen by that date.
An Idea of How To Get It
Start with the little idea you have. Focus on doing the little you know and as you go further, you will realize how to connect to your dream.
If you want a $50M business as an example, don't neglect the $5K business you had to start with. If you leave the $5K and start looking for the $50M business, you will never find it. You get going with what you can find first, then open your mind for insight.
At the initial stages, business is not about how to do something differently. You need the right people. You need a hungry market. You need dependable partners. If you skip steps on your own path to success, it is often accompanied by a painful lesson later. Just trust the process.
You can't connect the dots by looking forward. Don't even try to connect the dots looking forward. The promises of people will fail you. It most likely will not happen the way you are expecting. But you can be sure of one thing; it will happen if you stick with the goal and remain emotionally invested in it.
And when you start making millions, you would discover that the business that brought you the fortune has always been very close to you. You have probably walked around the concept a few times but for some reason, you didn't see it the way you now do.
The secret of making millions is not on the TV being discussed by financial experts. The path to your millions is different from another person's path. Never try to do what someone else is doing just because you want the money and results they have. Make your own goals from the things that drive you.
Many people would laugh at this strategy of becoming millionaires by targeting what they want. Yet, they have miserable lives and will not try it. Don't make fun of what can change your life. Just do it.
P.S. Now that you are through with the article, write down 7 things you want between now and the next 5 years. Do it now!


text: Daily admission packages will be available to visit Acoma Pueblo "Sky City" and the Sky City Cultural Center & Haak'u Museum. The admission package includes the pueblo tour, Haak'u Museum admissions, and a camera permit. We invite everyone to come spend some quality time with family and friends, and learn about the living history of the Acoma people. Our Yaak'a Café offers delicious traditional style meals and contemporary style menu selections. Visit and shop in our Gaits'i Gift Shop.


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And now, another episode of DANGEROUS ART!
Now on view in the enormous Turbine Hall of London's Tate Modern museum is Colombian artist Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth, of which the curators write:
Doris Salcedo's Shibboleth is the first work to intervene directly in the fabric of the Turbine Hall. Rather than fill this iconic space with a conventional sculpture or installation, Salcedo has created a subterranean chasm that stretches the length of the Turbine Hall. The concrete walls of the crevice are ruptured by a steel mesh fence, creating a tension between these elements that resist yet depend on one another. By making the floor the principal focus of her project, Salcedo dramatically shifts our perception of the Turbine Hall's architecture, subtly subverting its claims to monumentality and grandeur. Shibboleth asks questions about the interaction of sculpture and space, about architecture and the values it enshrines, and about the shaky ideological foundations on which Western notions of modernity are built.
Shibboleth, to be blunt, is a Great Big Crack in the Floor. It is a large, open and obvious crack, the sort you should not step on if you value your mother's back nor step in if you value your own. It is there for anyone to see, plain as day. Indeed, the entire point of Shibboleth is to be there for all to see: it's art, after all.
And yet, no matter how clearly recognizable a potential danger may be, some will inevitably fall prey to it, as reported by the Times Online:
[T]he casualties have been mounting up at Tate Modern in London, where
15 people were hurt viewing Shibboleth 2007 in the first four weeks after its opening.
Beginning as a crack, Shibboleth widens and deepens as it snakes across the gallery's Turbine Hall, until in some places it is large enough for a toddler to fall into. Staff have been detailed to monitor visitors wandering around the hall, but a Freedom of Information request by The Times has revealed that their efforts have not been entirely successful.
Four of the 15 accidents, some of which resulted in minor injuries, have been reported to the Health and Safety Executive. The museum has considered using Perspex glass to cover Shibboleth 2007, which . . . runs the full 167 metres (548 feet) of the cavernous hall.
One has to feel for Dennis Ahern, the Tate's head of safety and security, who is obliged to strike a balance between respecting the nature of the work and managing the risks of injury and resulting liability claims that it poses. As Ahern reported to his colleagues:
'With Shibboleth this hazard differs from equitable ones in that physical protection measures which would normally be applied to a gap of this nature are not deemed appropriate due to its artistic nature.'
The museum is no stranger to injurious art installations, as the Times also notes:
Tate Modern is facing four other legal claims arising from other incidents, mostly related to the giant slides that last year occupied the hall.
[Hyperlink -- to giant slides! -- added.]
All of which inspires Decs&Excs to a flight of cautionary verse, which the reader can perhaps imagine performed as a patter-song in the manner of Noel Coward or Gilbert & Sullivan:
There's a crack in the floor of the Tate;
At the Tate there's a crack in the floor:
It winds through the Hall
From the door to the wall
And it's really too big to ignore.
But some won't, as they say, "Mind the Gap."
They'll fall down and their limbs will contort.
And each injured visitor's
Chosen solicitor's
Ready to take Tate to court.
So don't say that you haven't been warned,
Should you visit the Tate Modern premises.
Artistic effusion
Can lead to contusion --
Beware! for the crack is your nemesis.
- Original link, to this BBC report, via TIME Magazine art writer Richard Lacayo, who visited Shibboleth in October and wasn't all that impressed.
- In vaguely-related British employment law news, Emma Clarke, the "voice of the Tube" who can be heard throughout London urging travelers to "mind the gap" has been terminated for posting mock versions of such announcements on her personal website. Perhaps she can obtain a position at Tate Modern for the remainder of Shibboleth's run.
- Decs&Excs appreciates the difference between solicitors and barristers and knows that it is the latter who would more likely take one to court. We hope we may be forgiven for having sacrificed precise accuracy on the altar of rhyme. This too is art, of a sort.
- Previously, on Dangerous Art! . . .
Upper: Tate Modern - Shibboleth, photo by mla_digital via Flickr under Creative Commons license.
Lower: Shibboleth 005 by Lucia Fernandez, via Flickr, under Creative Commons license.


text: California Congressman Devin Nunes' family immigrated from the Azores and because of his interest in Portuguese culture and traditions he is willing to help bring LUSO to theaters. The film meet with the Congressman at this office in Washington, DC and discussions regarding his involvement to bring this historic story to the silver screen. MORE DETAILS


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Where To Start In Your Redesigning Check List
Undertaking home remodeling projects yourself is a wonderful way to generate a customized homes that accommodates your needs while conserving money as well C-Bus Installer Buckinghamshire & Berkshire Please read on for what you ought to know to perform all your redecorating plans.
If you are intending a serious project, employ someone professional to make the plans.
Unless you are a professional, your plans might not exactly contain the correct function. Professionals get the skills essential to develop smart plans that conform to area building codes.
Do your research in the event you can't afford an interior designer. You may get a great deal of information and inspiration from books, magazines and websites. A magazine layout may serve as the inspiration for your very own home's design. You might also find some helpful home improvement information that helps save money.
Consider setting up radiant heat tiles. These tiles use electricity to generate enough heat to warm your feet. Luckily, it's very easy to set them up yourself if you are able to adhere to instructions. The final result is really a project that you could continually add upon in the future or inform the following tenants in order that they may achieve a number of the work themselves. The first steps inside a winter bathroom will leave your toes grateful for all the work.
Paint and spackle can cover the holes left within your walls after you have hung pictures or paintings. Get the spackle at your local redesigning shop. When the holes are small, you won't need so much spackle. The small holes could be full of spackle using simply a bobby pin. Smooth the spackle when have successfully completed the hole. Paint within the area. Any holes within your walls will disappear just before your vision!
It's an easy task to organize products in your garage using clear plastic totes. Just sort your items by type for quick and easy retrieval. Provide the boxes labels and stack them. It is really an inexpensive means of cleaning the garage and prevent bugs and rodents from damaging your belongings.
Always shut of the gas before beginning a property improvement in the kitchen, near a gas fireplace or near the boiler. It is important that you simply take extreme care in these types of repairs. A fire could damage you and your efforts in almost any project.
Homes by having an appealing view can sell for far more than like houses out there. That beautiful view is not an investment but more of an additional pleasure of your investment. For this reason, potential customers in the foreseeable future may well not look at the view as spectacular while you do, so those buyers are not as likely to consent to price which is increased as a result of view.
Using these tips you happen to be ready to improve the look and value of your residence. You could make your home look beautiful while meeting your preferences inside a satisfactory fashion. If you have your time and energy, you may make your house the house of your dreams..


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This is a little rant about something I read on a book review blog the other day. The reviewer in question slammed a story because one of the characters didn't know what GPS was. It was suggested in this review that anyone under the age of 70 should know what GPS is, and therefore the author didn't know what she was doing.
I find this interesting. I'm forty; I still run every morning, still have a thirty-two inch waist, and have been told I could pass for someone in his thirties…well under the age of 70. I own two cars and both have GPS. I have an iPhone with apps for GPS. And I honestly could not tell you, in detail, what the hell GPS is about or how to use it.
Because I don't care. I don't need GPS at this point in my life, and frankly I'm not even sure I ever will. I know it's some kind of navigational tool. I would imagine it comes in handy for people who travel for work, especially in sales. I'm not knocking GPS. But I'm a writer. I work at home. I know how to drive into to New York and find the Lincoln Tunnel without any problems at all. I rarely take the Holland, but could find it just as easily if I had to. I know how to get to any place between Maine and S. Beach Miami without any problems at all. I know how to get to the airport and the train station. If I need specific directions, which is rare, I stop and ask for them. Or, print out directions from google.
I'm sure there will come a day when I do need GPS. I like knowing that it is there just in case I ever do need it. I've even been telling myself that I have to sit down and learn how to use it…just in case that day comes when I need it. But at this point, GPS isn't something I need.
Now, this is interesting. My parents are retired therapists. They have GPS in both their cars, plus on their iPhones. They are both over 70 and they both use their GPS all the time. In fact, they don't go anywhere without turning it on. They know so much about GPS it could put you to sleep.
My point is that I don't see how a character in a book not knowing what GPS is should be relevant to a book review. As an author, there are things the reader should take for granted and not question. If an author thinks a character shouldn't know what GPS is, I don't think it should be questioned. I just finished a mystery romance where a character didn't know how to operate his GPS. I explained why he doesn't know how to operate it. But I don't think it's fair to assume that just because most people care about GPS the rest of the world should care.
And when I see reviews like this, those that pick out snitty little things like GPS, I can't help but wonder what kind of person the reviewer is. What would make a person think this way? To assume we all know about GPS, and then condemn an author for not thinking this way. But more than that, if I had been reviewing that particular book, I would have been more concerned about the author's poor use of dialogue tags…there were adverbs in every example in the review. I would have been more concerned about the author's use of said bookisms…he grumbled, mumbled, and stumbled, three lines in a row, no joke. But the last thing I would have cared about was that the character didn't know what GPS is.


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2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the American Society for Cybernetics, which was incorporated in Washington DC on the 6th August 1964.
The ASC conference this year will be a major celebration. The theme is "Living in Cybernetics". The main event (4th to 8th August inclusive) will celebrate "ASC cybernetics in the present" through paper presentations themed using Stuart Umpleby's "Several Traditions of cybernetics" (4th and 5th August); "ASC cybernetics in the past" through addresses from many past presidents and other long term members (August 6th) developing our timeline; and "ASC cybernetics in the future" through workshops developing (re-)views of how cybernetics and education may come together to help make a better world (August 7th and 8th). We intend to generate a publicly available web resource from the "ASC cybernetics in the future sessions". Papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of Kybernetes. The reports back from the past presidents and others will be published in Cybernetics and Human Knowing.
As has been our recent practice, we will hold a pre-conference meeting on 3rd August; and a post-conference meeting (on 9th August). Conferees may attend these events without charge. There will also be arts events (with offerings from conferees). Washington DC is a wonderful place in which to base a holiday and from which to tour: there are suggestions for these activities as well as much else on the conference web site.
So please visit www.asc-cybernetics.org/2014 to find more information, apply to join us, to submit a paper abstract for consideration, or just to express interest.
Our conference will be held shortly after the 2014 conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, which will be at the same venue (The School of Business at George Washington University) from 27th July to 1st August. There are discounts for those attending both: please see the Fees and Payment page on the conference website for details.


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When Monique Steele sings, listeners consistently sense God's presence. Her remarkable range and vocal dexterity allow her to vividly express her love for Christ. She has shared the stage with Earnest Pugh, Marvin Sapp, Darryl Coley, BeBe Winans, Donnie McClurkin, George Duke, Richard Smallwood, Joey Kibble of Take 6, Maurette Brown Clarke, Denyce Graves, and John Stanley, just to name a few. Monique has also performed as a soloist in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Jamaica, Canada, and across the United States in venues such as The Kennedy Center.
Monique currently serves as the interim Director of Music for 19th Street Baptist Church located in Washington, DC, the oldest black church in that city, and was blessed to perform for President Barack Obama and his family. Born in Montreal and raised in Alberta, Canada, Monique was influenced by the music of both her Jamaican parents and the many styles of music available to her in Calgary.
As full-time music ministry is not easy, Monique is soliciting your financial support in raising $25,000 to defray production-related costs as she embarks on her next studio project. Please join Monique on this new journey and sow a financial gift in the box below.


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"Am I Too Picky?" 3 Gay Dating Tips for DatingAdvice.com
June 15, 2020
I've been a professional dating coach and matchmaker for over seven years now, and people don't hire someone like me if they are happy with the current state of affairs in regard to their love life.
A lot of singles come to me because they want me to be their investigator. It's my job to identify and recognize their roadblocks. They pay me to point out certain things in their behavior that may cause hurdles in their dating practices.
Many clients will ask me, "Mason, do you think I'm too picky?" I will say that if you ask that question, chances are, you already know the answer. Here are my top three signs that you may be pickier than you think.
1. Instead of Dating Someone as They Are Now, You Want to Date Who They Will Become
I feel like we are always seeking a partner who can be our best cheerleader, psychologist, and strategist. However, I find that some men only wish to date someone who has attributes they either don't have themselves, or fills a deep need or insecurity.
Relationships will also have a balance to them, and it's my personal belief that everyone wants to meet their equal in some capacity.
A friend of a friend I often run into at social events always talks about wanting to date someone 15 to 20 years younger. I think we can all agree that a 25-year-old doesn't have a lot in common with a 45-year-old.
He always knew and recognized that he would be the provider in the relationship. When I had conversations with him, he would always say that he was picky. His pickiness would always be to his detriment, and his dating woes would always sound familiar.
Our mutual friend said to me in private that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I told our friend he should at least date a guy in his 30s who has somewhat of an established career but also has the exuberance of extraversion and youth that our friend admires. That extraversion and youth is what he was attracted to in men in their 20s.
…to continue reading, please visit the full article HERE.