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EU projects
The situation of countries in the neighbourhood of the EU has a great influence on ensuring a high level of safety within the European Union. EU institutions and Member States take measures to support security systems of selected third countries. The support carried out by means of projects covers mainly training and exchange of experience.
- Eastern Partnership Police Cooperation Programme
- Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace
- Modern concept of Human Resources Management in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia
- Prague Process and Targeted Initiative
- Strengthening Armenia's Migration Management Capacities, with Special Focus on Reintegration Activities in the framework of the EU-Armenia Mobility Partnership
- Fighting Irregular Migration in Moldova project (FIRMM)
- Projects of the European Crime Prevention Network
Eastern Partnership Police Cooperation Programme
The cooperation between UE and Eastern Partnership countries, i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus[1], Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine is conducted on the base of Eastern Partnership initiative. European Commission, trying to pull this cooperation into the most possible practical dimension in relation to security issues decided to launch the Eastern Partnership Police Cooperation Programme.
On 12 July 2013 DG Development and Cooperation at the European Commission call for proposals for the EuropeAid/134044/C/SER/Multi for Eastern Partnership Police Cooperation Programme.
The Polish Ministry of the Interior together with the Cooperation Fund and the Consortium Partners: Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Sweden as well as the International Centre for Migration and Policy Development (ICMPD) applied for the project and as a result of tender procedure the final agreement between European Commission and the Consortium members was signed in 30 December 2013.
Project has started in March 2014 and will end in March 2018. Its budget is around 5 million Euro.
The main goal of the Program is to support the law enforcement institutions of Eastern Partnership countries in practical aspects of fighting organised, cross-border crime as well as closer cooperation with EU countries law enforcement institutions thus contributing to the whole cooperation in the region. The results planned to be achieved in are to increase networking among EU and Eastern Partnership countries' police authorities, and between EaP countries themselves.
Poland together with the Consortium Partners would like to achieve this goal by a series of activities in the form of study tours and exchange programmes; advanced training as well as advanced/on the spot training and operational meetings for joint investigations related to fighting cross-border crime. This will allow the law enforcement of the beneficiary countries to enlarge its knowledge, increase competences and practical skills in fighting organized crime.
The knowledge and experience sharing is not only one way street, what constitutes one of the biggest values of this Program. The Consortium experts, supported by EU institutions like Europol obtain valuable information from the beneficiaries about the problems, difficulties and successes they have with fighting cross border crime and building modern and effective law enforcement.
Poland - Key Partner of the consortium, formed in the Ministry of Interior a structure for daily management of the Programme's issues. The Eastern Partnership Coordination Unit sets out both the content and the calendar of actions to allow for smooth implementation. The financial issues are dealt by the Cooperation Fund, an experienced and recognised Polish foundation which has a vast experience in management of the EU fund. The participation of the beneficiaries in the Programme is free and travel arrangements, accommodation and daily per diems for the participants are covered by the Programme.
Within the framework of the Program each of the EaP country creates a partnership with a consortium member, i.e. Ukraine formed a strategic partnership with the French Ministry of Interior, Georgia with Lithuanian Ministry of Interior and Azerbaijan with the German Ministry of Interior. Finally both Armenia and Moldova concluded a strategic partnership with Polish Ministry of Interior. These partnerships are formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding.
Once the partnership is created, each of the EaP country formulated their needs and areas of interest during the series of inception visits. The consortium members also agreed between themselves what areas of competences they will share with EaP countries as they would meet best their particular knowledge and experience.
As a result of these actions an Action Plan is drafted taking tailored to transfer the relevant experience between the European Union and the law enforcement authorities of EaP countries in the form of study tours and exchange programmes; advanced training as well as advanced/on the spot training and operational meetings for joint investigations, with particular attention given to practical actions.
The Action Plans are divided into following main groups:
- Fighting organised crime
- Fighting trafficking in human beings
- Combating drug trafficking
- Combating economic crime – money laundering
- Fighting terrorism and cyber crime
- EU Fund Management
- HR management in law enforcement
- Forensic and data bases
- Data protection
Each of these areas are divided into actions, with the calendar, number of participants and STEs, and detailed description of the results to be achieved.
To set an example, in the Moldova Action Plan 27 actions has been planned: starting from data protection, EU fund management, strategic management of law enforcement, through fighting organised crime, economic crime, finishing with wide range of forensic. Activities concerning EU fund management ended: (study visit in Poland 23-28 November 2014) and its continuation in Chisinau (17-21 March 2015), and the first set of data protection trainings (30 March – 3 April 2015). Next activities, follow up of data protection training, are planned for the end of May 2015 in Chisinau. In Chisinau also the nest Steering Committee of the Project is being planned for the mid October 2015.
Once a year all the stakeholders meet at the Steering Committee in order to evaluate the Programme. First Steering Committee was held in Warsaw on 16 October 2014.
Bilateral component - Specification of thematic areas
The most important thematic areas of the Program are as follows:
Fighting organised crime in particular of crossborder character – in this thematic area the wide range of trainings, exercises and practical operational activities have been planned dealing with methods of fighting crossborder crime, new investigation techniques, mutual legal assistance, joint investigation teams, international investigations, investigative tactics and technics.
Fighting trafficking in human beings – in this bloc of subject the focus is on special investigative techniques; labour and sexual exploitation of women and children.
Combating drug trafficking – covers wide range of activities, starting form investigative techniques and operational activities, practical operations, controlled delivery, forensic, synthetic drugs, fighting illegal drugs, and control of legal drugs and precursors market.
Combating economic crime – covers countering financial crimes, money laundering and corruption; VAT frauds, cards frauds, bank system abuse, installation and development of integrated databases for money transfer intelligence collection, assets recovery, analysis and requirements for data exchange, with particular attention given to new investigation techniques and technologies, anticorruption procedures.
Data protection – covers trainings on legal and organizational aspects of data protection, especially in the law enforcement activities, system of gathering, storage, monitoring and supervision of personal data, responsibility for revealing and protection of sensitive data.
Fighting terrorism and cybercrime – covers new investigative techniques, chain of evidence, web side monitoring and cooperation on that subject with Europol, cyberattacks, internet frauds, child pornography in internet.
Forensic and data bases and new technologies – covers wide range of activities present in all Action Plans, different forensic examinations, drug profiling, DNA profiling, phonoscopy, ballistics, as well as the methods of trainings for forensic practitioners.
HR management in law enforcement – covers efficient and modern human recourses in law enforcement, ethics, psychology, communication, new methods of recruitment and trainings in Police forces.
EU Fund Management – covers topics concerning legal and procedural aspects of effective applying and use of EU funds, building administrative structures, efficient management and financial settlings.
Multilateral component
The Component 2 of the Eastern Police Cooperation Programme has multilateral character. All the beneficiary states will take part in a cycle of nine target oriented projects, related to combating specific type of cross-border crime or to assisting in police management issues. The results to be achieved in the Component 2 are to increase networking among EU and Eastern Partnership countries' police authorities through working out a concrete changes into procedures and legal system of the beneficiaries' law enforcement.
The first set concerning Practical aspects of combating serious transnational / cross border crime will comprise the following topics:
- Fighting trafficking in human beings
- Combating drug trafficking
- Combating economic crime – money laundering
- Combating counterfeit goods
- Fighting terrorism
- Fighting cyber crime
The second set of project related to Management of law enforcement institutions will cover the following subjects:
- Police management – management standards
- Professional ethics / combating corruption
- Forensic/ data bases
The implementation of the thematic blocks is to be prepared by the Leading Partners, who are members of the Programme consortium. The Leading Partners will develop the training content and will organise tutoring study visits. Particular focus will be put on facilitating the transfer of knowledge within relevant authorities including training of trainers.
The division of the projects between the Leading Partners is as follows: Leading partner for topics concerning drugs – is Poland, for economic crime – France, for counterfeiting goods and terrorism is Lithuania, for cybercrime – Germany. Subject concerning forensic and databases will be covered by Poland. German partner is also leading strategic management of human resources subject.
Project has an opportunity to became a crucial instrument of support for the reform of LEA in beneficiary countries and approach public order institution to EU standards. It is the most visual sign of the European Union practical approach to security issues in cooperation with Eastern Partnership Countries.
The Programme fulfils the idea of security in its most practical aspect, i.e. through trainings and common work of law enforcement officers the best practices are exchanged and, in this difficult area of security, the trust increases.
Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace
Since 2014 the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Poland, by participating in the international consortium, has the possibility of applying for the involvement of Polish experts in urgent short-term actions in third countries related to organised crime. These operations may include assistance activities in the following areas: illegal trade, drugs, weapon, human trafficking, money laundering, counterfeiting of medicines, cybercrime.
On the 11 March 2014 r. the Regulation (EU) No 230/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council established an Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace for the years 2014–2020 replacing the Instrument for Stability which was in force between 2007 and 2013.
The Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace is one of the key external assistance instruments that enable the EU to take a lead in helping to respond to emerging crises or threat of a crisis around the world.
The activities under the Instrument are carried out by different entities: EU agencies, Member States, NGOs, the UN and other international organisations.
Modern concept of Human Resources Management in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia
Since 2004 Polish public administration units and institutions with the Mandated Body (MB) status can take part in the implementation of twinning projects as donors of assistance. Under the IPA programme (Instrument for Pre-Accesion Assistance) a twinning project financed by the European Commission titled 'Modern concept of Human Resources Management in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia' (No. SR 12 IB JH 02) has been announced.
The overall objective of the project is to strengthen institutions in the area of justice, freedom and security in line with EU acquis.
The direct purpose of the project is the development of overall institutional capacity to manage the human resources system effectively and efficiently.
The project consists of three components:
- adoption and implementation of new procedures and legal framework required for the functioning of a modern system of human resources management;
- restructuring of organisational units in line with principles of modern concept of human resources management and strategic documents (strategy, action plan supported by new IT tools);
- promotion and implementation of modern procedures of human resources management in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, in line with a relevant international standards.
In 2013 r. the UK Home Office, in the role of the project leader, and the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Poland, in the role of the junior leader, won the tender for the implementation of the above mentioned project. The project is planned for 24 months.
Prague Process and Targeted Initiative
The Prague Process, in which 50 countries are currently participating (European Union / Schengen Area, Eastern Partnership, Western Balkans, the Central Asia, Russia and Turkey), is considered in the European Union – together with the Eastern Partnership – as the main filed of EU cooperation with regard to migration in the eastern and south-eastern directions. Since December 2010 Poland has played the leader role of the Prague Process. The European Commission allocated EUR 3.6 million for the performance of tasks in the framework of the Action Plan under the Prague Process Targeted Initiative.
On 2 August 2012 the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Poland and the European Commission signed a contract for the performance of tasks related to the implementation of the Prague Process Targeted Initiative, i.e. for the project 'Support for the Implementation of the Prague Process and Its Action Plan'. The project implementation will last three and a half years.
The main objective of the project implemented jointly by Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Hungary and International Centre for Migration Policy Development, ICMPD, in Vienna is to strengthen cooperation on migration and asylum between the Prague Process participating states. Within the framework of the project the expert-level dialogue and exchange of information among states participating in the Prague Process will be strengthened, mainly through the development of cooperation between the National Contact Points, including the organisation of expert-level thematic meetings. The so-called knowledge base which consists of migration profiles of the Prague Process participating states and includes basic information describing their migratory situation will be expanded. The interactive map of Eastern migratory routes (i-Map East) will be updated.
Four pilot projects have been so far implemented under the Targeted Initiative which covered objectives set out in the Action Plan of the Prague Process. Poland together with Romania and Slovakia, was responsible for the project on illegal migration; the Czech Republic – for the project on migration and development; Hungary – for the project on legal migration; Sweden and Germany – for the project on asylum and international protection.
The fifth project under the Prague Process Targeted Initiative
The project 'Establishing identity and/or nationality of irregular migrants' will be implemented by a consortium of 12 Prague Process states. The coordinators of this 14-month project are Poland and Romania. Activities will be financed from the resources allocated by the European Commission for the financing of the Prague Process Targeted Initiative.
In the framework of the project implemented between November 2014 and December 2015 there are foreseen three expert-level workshop on practical aspects of identification of personal data of immigrants who infringed provisions on entry and residence of foreigners as well as on exchange of best practices on the personal data protection during establishing foreigners' identity and on ensuring the efficiency of the international cooperation, including the cooperation with states of migrants' origin.
Additional information on projects implemented under the Prague Process Targeted Initiative are available on the website: http://www.pragueprocess.eu/
Strengthening Armenia's Migration Management Capacities, with Special Focus on Reintegration Activities in the framework of the EU-Armenia Mobility Partnership
The project 'Strengthening Armenia's Migration Management Capacities, with Special Focus on Reintegration Activities in the framework of the EU-Armenia Mobility Partnership' is implemented in Armenia by a group of EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania) under the leadership of France. The project is implemented as a Targeted Initiative financed from the funds of the European Commission in the framework of the EU-Armenia Mobility Partnership to which Poland is a party.
The objective of this project implemented between 2013 and 2016 is to strengthen the Armenia's administration in activities aiming at providing assistance to returning migrants and at ensuring their continuous reintegration. Moreover, also efforts are taken in order to ensure the positive impact of migration on Armenia's development, inter alia, through intensifying the cooperation between the Armenian administration and the diaspora. An important part of the project is a cooperation in promoting legal migration, including the circular migration.
Additional information on the project are available on the website:
'Fighting Irregular Migration in Moldova' project (FIRMM)
The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Poland takes part in an international project for Moldova: 'Fighting Irregular Migration in Moldova' (FIRMM). The project, prepared at the request of Moldova, is a practical implementation of the EU-Moldova Mobility Partnership. The project beneficiary is the Moldovan government administration involved in the governance and control of illegal migration. The project coordinator is the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). Except from Poland the following states are engaged in the project: the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Switzerland. Poland is represented by experts from the General Headquarters of Border Guard who are involved in the project. The project is co-financed from the European Commission funds. The funds allocated to the project were used for the part covering workshop and training as well for the purchase of equipment and software for the Moldovan Border Guards.
The main objectives of the project are:
- to consolidate the operational and analytical capacities of the Central Unit of Analysis and Information under the Bureau of Migration and Asylum to fight illegal migration;
- to strengthen the relevant central and local authorities in order to improve the detection of illegal migrants within the state territory;
- to improve the skills of law enforcement agencies and judiciary with regard to the EU standards, including respect for human rights in cases related to illegal migration;
- to support the negotiation of readmission agreements between Moldova and selected third countries.
The project implementation was launched in January 2013 and is scheduled to last 30 months.
Projects of the European Crime Prevention Network
Regarding its participation in the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN), Poland announced in 2015 its involvement in the following projects:
1. 10th Countrywide PaT Stopover: is a project implemented as part of the Polish National Police Headquarters' Programme "Prevention and You" (PaT) in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior.
The countrywide "Prevention and You" Programme of the Polish National Police Headquarters was launched in 2006, and in 2007 was entered into the Bank of Good Practice of the government programme for limiting crime and anti-social behaviours "Safer together", implemented by the Ministry of the Interior. The main idea behind the PaT programme is to build a countrywide community of young people promoting the trend towards the life without addictions. By 2015, 85 PaT youth groups were created, and over 300 thousand people participated in the project across the entire country. The programme is dedicated to secondary school pupils and parents of young people of school age. The PaT Programme is based on creative peer prevention activities (youth for youth). It encourages the dialogue between parents and their children. The Programme also develops the countrywide youth community which aims at promoting the trend towards the life free from violence and addictions, especially related to drugs and other psychoactive substances. Values promoted under the Programme include among other: health, culture, relations, social sensitivity and freedom from addictions. Each year, the PaT Stopover brings together young people involved in activities related to living without addictions.
The 10th PaT Stopover was be held at the National Stadium in Warsaw on 23 June 2015. Many attractions are planned during the Stopover, such as screening of films on prevention, presentations of prevention groups from across the country, workshops, discussions, and the "PaTosfera" street parade.
As a valuable project the 10th PaT Stopover received the patronage of the EUCPN, who has also its exhibition at the event.
2. "Improving Poland's capacity to prevent trafficking in human beings": is a project implemented by the Department of Migration Policy in the Ministry of the Interior in close partnership with the Council of Europe.
The project primarily targets people who are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of trafficking in human beings and other forms of exploitation – young people making employment-related decisions and possibly deciding on economic migration, as well as entrepreneurs and their clients who may consciously or unconsciously benefit from the work or services provided by victims of trafficking in human beings. The project is implemented by the Department of Migration Policy in the Ministry of the Interior, which organises the activities of the interministerial Committee for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings, responsible for coordinating actions to prevent trafficking in human beings. The Council of Europe plays the role of the project partner.
The following actions are implemented under the project: study concerning the awareness on trafficking in human beings in Poland, social campaign concerning the risks related to trafficking in human beings, screening of films on trafficking in human beings, printing of the Council of Europe's educational comic book "You're not for sale", and guest lectures for students held by experts from the Council of Europe.
EUCPN website: http://eucpn.org/
[1] Consistent with the Project Manager's decision the implementation of the Programme for Belarus was suspended. On March 2015 it has been decided that Belarus would take part in activities of Component 2 without activities concerning development of databases/forensic.


text: #bigbinkshow – How many Celebrities do you know that will get a fan to come on stage after they punch them? This happened while 50 cent was performing as he went to the audience to give dap to a female fan and she pulled him to get closer and he came back with a round house left!! But the the crazy part was 50 Cent asked her to come on stage to twerk and she came!!!!

subset: commoncrawl


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Gaming industry giants Electronic Arts have been in the news a lot lately. From telling the fans that their micro-transaction approach was working and that disapproving voices were a "vocal minority" to winning the Worst Company in America's "Golden Poo" award, EA have been on a roll when it comes to making gamers ornery.
The latest came from Chief Creative Officer Richard Hilleman telling GamesIndustry International that video games aren't a mass market entity and that it's "fringe". He also mentioned that it would be ideal to merge video gaming with television to form a strong mainstream entity and that by being one and the same with TV gaming could be comparable to TV programs and big screen movies.
Hilleman also said that "TV is where gamers go when they put down their mobile devices, making the platform (television) an attractive business opportunity for the company."
The question that should be raised is: Would game quality suffer if say some of our favorite companies decided to go for the mass market? Would these companies make games specific for the mass market—which some already do. If the beloved AAA titles were to cater for the mass market (i.e.: casuals) then it's a given that gameplay and the appeal that brought the game to dance in the first place would suffer.
Casuals are what make up the mass market; social and mobile games are pretty much their segment of the gaming universe outside of the party games that make their way onto consoles and games based on Disney movies. Games could be created just to draw in that market of fans, but chances are it's those trademark titles they'll want to make appealing.
This could also mean that TV programs based on the games would be a step that a company such as EA would like to take. This wouldn't be a bother, after all one of my favorite shows growing up was The Super Mario Bros. series of shows by DiC Entertainment. Why haven't we seen more Super Mario Bros. cartoons? Honestly.
The only gripe that could come from a TV show based on a series is that fans of the show would only reference the show when seeing something game related. It's a minor annoyance, of course. Just take a look at any YouTube video for Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas and see how many "Supernatural!" references pop up. The same goes for knowing any other song only from playing a game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero.
Go on, have a look. The article isn't going anywhere, there's still much left to say on this.
From a marketing standpoint, if the show is a hit that could easily reel in people to buy the game. Of course that would move consoles too if they don't have that, but that's larger task given the prices of games and consoles as they stand now and how much they will be when the other two pieces of the big three enter the fray. The other thing with this though is that it would be best if the fans of the show were at least closer to that circle of core gamers than deep in casual gamer territory.
Core gamers will purchase a FPS (first person shooter) that is 90% similar to last version, the special edition game, the special edition console with the game skin on it, the shirt, the standee, the tournament fighter control pad, the expansions, the DLC, and the bundle. In the case of the show, they would likely get the box set for the season as well. They would also put in the time to play the game online regularly and rack up those trophies and move up the leader board. That isn't guaranteed with casual gamers even with great advertising and a top notch show. At best they might get box set. It's not indicative of all casual gamers, but the vast majority wouldn't put out the large wad of cash to support the franchise.
All of this which the core gamer—the ones who truly love gaming and their chosen franchises—are doing; that's what keeps the industry afloat. It's what has grown it to the point where companies can continue putting games and—in the cases of some companies—put out largely the same game as the last one and milk fans with DLC of stuff that should be in the game to begin with.
The way to look at this is that what Richard Hilleman is suggesting is merely a way to make money on the industry, but not really add anything to the overall experience. Or rather I should say "at least nothing good" for those of us who are already here and aren't going anywhere.
EA's comments like this, blaming the fans for their Worst Company in America win, and dismissing the vocal fans that actually provide input on their games as opposed to those who just play what is put out there as "the vocal minority". EA should listen to the fans, not just read the criticism and get defensive and dismissive, but listen and see why whenever there is EA news fans scoff and roll their eyes.
Sure you can't see them do it from comments, but it's surely not hard to imagine eye rolling, scoffing, obscene gestures, and foul language being used. Even from comments online foul language is doled out like candy at a festival.
While it's likely to be a change that the fans won't be able to stop and will have to just accept or move on, it would really benefit EA to listen and not tell fans what they want as if the majority speaks for all of them. They're called a silent majority for reason.


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Regulations for the proper use of artificial intelligence are almost as inevitable as the rise of AI itself — but the way it'll be done is far from clear.
"This isn't as simple as just 'trust,' " said Kay Firth-Butterfield, project head for AI and machine learning at the World Economic Forum's Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. "This is more complex, because the technology itself is very fast, changing all the time, and is complex as well."
Firth-Butterfield and other policy experts weighed in on the challenges of regulating AI, and dropped some hints about the road ahead, today at the Carnegie Mellon University – K&L Gates Conference on Ethics and AI in Pittsburgh.


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For the Winter 2009 issue of The Hudson Review, the quarterly's editors have assembled a primer on non-English works from around the world. This "Translation Issue" is a heady collection, featuring excerpts from seemingly every genre and time period: classics like Antigone and Le Cid up through A Doll's House; 19th century Japanese and Russian poetry; elegant contemporary reviews on books about language; and much, much more. Such a phenomenal swath of literary history in a single volume can't help but whet the appetite for more translated works (works that Utne, incidentally, has been championing for some time).
- Published on Jan 30, 2009


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As a leading producer of motorcycle insurance, Aegis General understands that brokers and agents require help in providing products to this nationally underserved market. For enthusiasts, choosing the right insurance policy is very much like choosing the right motorcycle; they need something to fit their needs and lifestyle, but are very concerned about finding a policy that fits within their budget.
Liability coverage
Being involved in an accident while riding a motorbike can be extremely dangerous, especially if your client has a passenger on their bike. They're going to need liability insurance that covers bodily injury and property damage that they may cause to other people involved in an accident. As a broker, you need to deliver coverage (where applicable) that includes guest passenger liability, which provides protection in the event that a passenger is injured on the motorcycle.
Collision coverage
They will also need collision coverage where the insurance company pays for damages, minus any deductible, caused when your client collides with another vehicle or object.
Collision insurance usually covers the book value of the motorcycle before the loss occurred.
Comprehensive coverage
The comprehensive coverage pays for damages, such as fire, theft or vandalism, or any event other than a collision. Otherwise, it is similar to collision coverage with regards to the deductible, and only covering the book value of the motorcycle. As a side note, most comprehensive and collision coverage only covers the factory standard parts on the motorcycle, so if the owner has added on any optional accessories, such as chrome parts, a custom paint job, etc., agents or brokers should look into having them obtain additional, or optional equipment coverage.
Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage is another important consideration since it covers damages to your client and their property when caused by another driver who either doesn't have insurance (uninsured) or doesn't have adequate insurance (underinsured) to cover the damages.
Finally, you may want to interest your clients in ways that they can receive discounts on coverage. Training courses, maintaining a good driving record, even multi-bike discounts are some ways to lower their premiums. Aegis General wants to do their part to get your clients the coverage they need at a price they can afford.


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Two of the greatest works of ancient literature—the Iliad and the Odyssey —are credited to a Greek poet named Homer. However, Homer is a shadowy figure, and some scholars doubt that he ever existed. They suggest that the two epics, which tell of the Trojan Warf and the events surrounding it, were woven together by generations of storytellers. Others, however, believe that one poet—perhaps Homer—could have gathered traditional legends and stories told for centuries and created the two great works of literature.
In any case, the ancient Greeks named Homer as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey Stories about the poet suggest that he lived in Ionia, a region on the west coast of Anatolia (present-day Turkey). The dates of his life are uncertain, possibly in the 800s or 700s B . C .
According to tradition, Homer was a blind poet who wandered from place to place telling tales of legendary heroes, gods, and goddesses. It was customary in that period for performers to sing or chant such tales while playing a lyre or other musical instrument. If Homer was, indeed, a wandering performer, he would have relied on voluntary contributions of food, money, and other goods for his support.
epic long poem about legendary or historical heroes, written in a grand style
lyre stringed instrument similar to a small harp
Whether or not Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two works had a profound influence on Western culture and education. To the ancient Greeks, they were a source of moral lessons as well as a symbol of Greek unity and achievement. The philosopher Aristotle, author of the Poetics, praised Homer highly. A number of later writers, such as the Roman poet Virgil*, modeled their own works on the style and patterns of Homer's epics.
See also Greek Mythology ; Iliad, the ; Odyssey, the .


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CollegeFootballNews.com Preview 2017: Big 12 Team's Quarterback Situation & Ranking
Going into the summer, what's the quarterback situation and ranking for every Big 12 team?
[wibbitz id="baef64ab1b7f94537b349ca7dd6cd872c" autoplay="true"]
– CFN College Football Preview 2017
Not every quarterback battle is settled, but where does each Big 12 team stand at the most important position? The ranking is based on the entire quarterback situation.
Quarterback Rankings & Situations
AAC | ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA
IND | MAC | MW | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Big 12
10. Kansas
Everyone took off. Montell Cozart bolted for Boise State, and Ryan Willis took off to be part of the logjam of options at Virginia Tech. Former Washington State Cougar Peyton Bender transferred over and should be a great bomber if he can hold off Carter Stanley, who saw a little time last season.
And the starter will be … Peyton Bender, Jr.
– Kansas 2017 Preview
9. Iowa State
The situation got cleared up in a big way. Last year's rotation is now a one-man show with Jacob Park owning the job now. And why? Joel Lanning went from being a good, tough part of the equation to a whale of a middle linebacker with all-star upside.
And the starter will be … Jacob Park, Jr.
– Iowa State 2017 Preview
8. Kansas State
Jesse Ertz stayed healthy and showed just how good he could be. Now he's the Kansas State heart-and-soul star of the offense. Alex Delton is a nice-looking backup option who can move.
And the starter will be … Jesse Ertz, Sr.
– Kansas State 2017 Preview
7. Baylor
With Jarrett Stidham going off to be an Auburn Tiger, the door is open for Zach Smith to take the job by the horns after stepping into the void last season. However, Arizona transfer Anu Solomon is a talented option with good mobility, and Charlie Brewer is a young option, but …
And the starter will be … Zach Smith, Soph.
– Baylor 2017 Preview
6. Texas Tech
No big deal. Just replace Patrick Mahomes, the most talented pro quarterback to play in the Texas Tech system since it turned into this. Nic Shimonek is the next man up, but the 6-3, 225-pounder doesn't have the same arm as Mahomes – no one does – while JUCO transfer McLane Carter is a big bomber who'll be groomed for next year.
And the starter will be … Nic Shimonek, Sr.
– Texas Tech 2017 Preview
5. West Virginia
Okay, Will Grier, are you ready to finally do this? The Florida transfer is supposed to not only step in for Skyler Howard, but make the position even stronger. Chris Chugunov is a nice No. 2 option, but the season is all about Grier's production.
And the starter will be … Will Grier, Jr.
– West Virginia 2017 Preview
Can former Texas A&M transfer Kenny Hill be more consistent? He wasn't the problem last year, but he wasn't quite as dominant as he needed to be. It's his offense to run, while Grayson Muehlstein is a solid veteran backup option.
And the starter will be … Kenny Hill, Sr.
– TCU 2017 Preview
3. Texas
Shane Buechele is the absolutely, positively, no question about it starter for new head man Tom Herman … maybe. Herman wasn't shy about expressing his love and affection for star recruit Sam Ehlinger, who might get a shot if Buechele isn't getting things moving. There's no 18-wheeler, Tyrone Swoopes around anymore to bang it in from the goal line.
And the starter will be … Shane Buechele, Soph.
– Texas 2017 Preview
2. Oklahoma State
OSU head coach Mike Gundy has never been afraid to rotate his quarterbacks, but he's not taking Mason Rudolph of the field. Rudolph might not be rated as highly as Sam Darnold or Josh Allen by the NFL types, but he's not all that far behind. Waiting in the wings is Keondre Wudtee, a tall, thin passer who can run a wee bit.
And the starter will be … Mason Rudolph, Sr.
– Oklahoma State 2017 Preview
1. Oklahoma
Baker Mayfield will be deep in the Heisman hunt, but he might not turn out to be the most talented quarterback on the roster. One-time Texas A&M super-recruit Kyler Murray will fight it out with Austin Kendall for the No. 2 job – and the 2018 starting gig.
And the starter will be … Baker Mayfield, Sr.
– Oklahoma 2017 Preview
Quarterback Rankings & Situations
AAC | ACC | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA
IND | MAC | MW | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt


text:
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Happy Valentine's Day!
17 comments:
- SoSoBella said...
happy heart day to you too!!!! hope to be in the desert soon. would love to see you :)
- February 14, 2012 at 10:37 AM
- K J D said...
too true :)
thank you for your lovely comments btw... you always make me smile!
- February 14, 2012 at 11:02 AM
- Daniele Valois said...
Gorgeous! How ever did you control yourself???
- February 14, 2012 at 11:07 AM
- Daniele Valois said...
uh, I just blew my day too! but oh so yummy goodness in my tummy right now. Ok...back on!
- February 14, 2012 at 11:36 AM
- Valerie-Jael said...
Have a great day! Just been eating some chocolate here! Hugs, Valerie
- February 14, 2012 at 11:52 AM
- Jenny said...
How delicious Kristin... love the red heart... and the quote...
Happy Valentines Day...
Jenny x
- February 14, 2012 at 2:01 PM
- Mandy said...
lol...right back at you...xxx
- February 14, 2012 at 2:09 PM
Mmmm. That is all ;)
- February 14, 2012 at 2:51 PM
- Netty said...
Chocolate definitely makes our love grow stronger..........mmmmmm that cake looks good. Happy Valentines Day Kristin, x
- February 14, 2012 at 3:06 PM
oh my my my, yum!
Happy Valentines Day
- February 14, 2012 at 5:31 PM
- E Makes Art said...
oh yummy! chocolate makes everything better :-) Happy Valentine's Day to you too!! The show was fantastic!! I was going to bug you to go there, but the week just flew by so darn fast, next thing I knew it was a few hours before the show, lol!! I will tell more later and be back to check the posts I missed...
- February 14, 2012 at 5:59 PM
- Scarlett Clay said...
You can say that again! What a yummy cupcake,too, I love chocolate in any form! :)
*well, since you asked (lol)I was talking about my fav choc. bar in the world...The 'Lindt Excellence' Dark with a touch of Sea Salt. They sell them at our corner store and my husband and I share one every Sat. night. :) Hope you had a great day!
- February 14, 2012 at 8:46 PM
- joanna said...
That looks so yummy! Hope you had a beautiful Valentine's Day.
- February 15, 2012 at 4:46 AM
- Unknown said...
This is so true.
- February 15, 2012 at 6:56 AM
- Unknown said...
And to you art friend! Trusting that you had a blessed and loving day and that all of your days are filled with art and love. *smiles* Norma
- February 15, 2012 at 10:46 AM
- ArtSings1946 said...
Ooops, I'm a day late. Happy belated day to you. Love the quote ... but then I love Charlie Brown.
Happiness to all.
- February 15, 2012 at 12:05 PM
- Alexandra MacVean said...
Uhhh.....nummy! Love the gum drop heart. :)
I hope you had a lovely day yesterday. Hugs
- February 15, 2012 at 3:18 PM


text: This feature affects only photographers in CA. It allows you to avoid paying CA sales tax when you are ordering prints for resale to your customers. First, you need to set up your account by contacting your account manager and faxing a copy of you Seller's Permit. Then, log into your account and make sure to check the "Tax Exempt" checkmark on the Shipping Address page when placing your order.


text:
Search Engine Deoptimization
I now present to you an alternative view of SED…Search Engine Deoptimization. And yes, you read the title right. Please don't excommunicate me from the web community. I promise…I'll be good (well, maybe not).
Sometimes there are cases where search engine optimization can really bite you in the butt (ouch, that hurts). An optimized site can bring you unexpected and unwanted traffic (e.g., bad press of an executive). It can even bring you expected but unvaluable traffic (keep reading).
Case and point. I always lead product / service reviews (especially when they are new and no one has written about them) with product / service names. Because I have a pretty strong PageRank and a decent number of inbound links, it means I get into the search engines and often receive traffic from searches.
One such example was my review of Project Playlist. For a long time, I was the #2 or #3 result for the the query "project playlist." Since February, I've received approximately 13% of all my traffic from people querying "project playlist."
But guess what? These visitors were a waste of my bandwidth and time. I no longer wanted them here. They stayed on my site for about 16 seconds on average. They barely looked at anything else. They weren't subscribing to my RSS feed.
Not that I had to but I did a quick check and did not see any backlinks from Google, Yahoo!, or Technorati. **I decided to de-optimize my post on Project Playlist. **I changed the post title by removing "Project Playlist" from it. I changed the post URL and removed the "project-playlist" part of it. I also unlinked the phrase "Project Playlist," which linked to their website.
Three weeks after my deoptimization, my numbers are looking much better. For starters, that's because my Project Playlist post dropped to mid page two on the Goog. My overall bounce rate has decreased by 6.5%, the average visitor time on my site has increased by 18%, and my pages / visit have increased by 13%. To be fair, my overall site and search traffic is down – but I expected that.
RIP parasitic Project Playlist web visitors…and good riddance. Long live SED.
Join thousands reading my insights on remote strategy, leadership, & operations.


text:
Going back in time: I started the Portland Yarn Crawl with Sharon and Cathy from Lantern Moon. We had a tentative itinerary for the day, which turned out to be too ambitious. But we had fun trying.
We started the day at Close Knit. It was crowded with lots of knitters and yarn, and beautiful display garments that made me want to knit a lot more. I picked up Interweave's Knitting Traditions special issue. It's beautiful, full of history. I've seen some of the content before, in issues of Piecework, but overall I think there's enough there to justify the $14.99 price tag.
Ann gave me my first peek in a raffle basket. Up 'til now, I've been posting other people's pictures of them! Lots of great stuff in there.
We met Susan from Texas, who fell in love with this Lantern Moon Sapa Messenger bag. I think it went home with her. I love the embroidery on these; it's very traditional, and Lantern Moon provides a way for this handwork to continue.
After Close Knit, we made our way to the Naked Sheep Knit Shop. We found Brad there, knitting with really big Lantern Moon needles. Brad is owner Cheri's husband, and he's the creator of the Portland Yarn Crawl logo.
He's also in charge of the yarn bombing outside the shop. (Check out the cute car, too.)
I really liked his sweater, and was trying to figure out how the garter stitch stripe tucked behind the stockinette. Cheri clued me in: slipped stitches! She made the sweater; isn't it fun?
We took a lunch break at ¿Por Que No? on Hawthorne, and then headed to Happy Knits. And how could you not be happy in here? A lot of beautiful yarn, including a ton of MadelineTosh. Sarah was wearing a sample of the Caireen Shawl from Knitty. Hers is knit in MadelineTosh Pashmina, which is sport weight 75% superwash wool, 15% silk, and 10% cashmere. It was so lovely that I bought a skein (the purple skein called Curiosity that you see her holding) to make this shawl.
But I only bought one skein, and when I looked at the Ravelry project page (knit by Lise, menagerie on Ravelry), I found out that she used 1.2 skeins. I'll have to ponder where to skimp…and while I was poking around on Ravelry and Knitty, I found another shawl by the same designer (Susanna, IC), Annis, which is also very pretty. Not sure there's enough for that, either, but a girl can dream…
From there we went down the street to Yarn Garden, which always feels like home to me. Way back in the 1960's and '70's, my uncle had a salon in the easternmost storefront of this building. Michele Beauty Salon, named after me, his first niece. Sweet, huh?
I met Annie, the Yarn Garden blogger. She's owner Jo's daughter, and completely charming.
We had hoped to get out to the west side, and then south to King City, but by this time it was 4 p.m. and we needed to get to the reception at Pico Accuardi Dyeworks by 5. Time to wrap this day up! This was my first visit to their new space. Stevanie and Deb were fabulous hosts. Deb made an assortment of chocolate truffles. (Do you know she owns a restaurant, too? Check out Gino's in Sellwood.)
Lorajean (Knitted Wit) shares space with Pico Accuardi, and she was there, too. She and Teri were having a good time re-skeining yarn.
I met Christina, who was buying my Pacific Shawl pattern. (Thanks for hosting my patterns, Lorajean!)
I also met Donna, of Plover Designs Jewelry. I bought a pair of earrings from her, after seeing how pretty they were on Deb. No picture, they're a present for someone. I already have one of her shawl pins; I test drove one at TNNA, and it kept my shawl where I wanted it, and was good looking, too.
We met up with Phyllis Howe, organizer of the yarn crawl. It was sweet to meet her in person! She and Sharon talked knitting.
And that's the sum total of my yarn crawling. I made it to 7 out of 20 stores. I'm going to have to try harder next year…but I had fun!


text:
Apply for your individual, Family, or Group Guam Visa by utilizing our secure online service.
Step 01
Apply Online
In this step Need to enter your correct information into the online form to process your travel eVisa.
Step 02
Pay & Confirm
Review your information to make sure that all are correct. Then you need to choose the payment method.
Step 03
Receive Visa
After finishing step 2, please check your email for the e-Visa confirmation link and in PDF format.
Anyone traveling to Guam needs a visa, regardless of whether you're travelling for tourism or Business, for a year out or for a new life as a permanent migrant. The Guam visa system is one of the world's most advanced. ETA provides authorization to travel to and enter Guam and is electronically linked to your passport.
We provide a Quick, Easy, and Secure process to obtaining your India e-Visa with concierge services. Our advisers check your Guam Application before submission on multiple occasions to ensure no error has been committed for authorization.
Our secure online system, with just 3 simple steps: Fill Application, Pay Online and Get e-Visa authorization via email- all required, before you can safely travel to Guam.
Calculate your Guam eVisa Before Applying.
Foreign nationals from the following countries with a valid passport are eligible to apply online for an Guam eVisa:
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Quick & Secure:
Accuracy, security of your documents, We provide a Quick, Easy, and Secure process to obtaining your e-Visa. It takes just 5 minutes to apply online.
Our application service is simple to use, hassle-free with a focus on accuracy. Our advisors check your Guam Application before submission on multiple occasions to ensure no error has been committed for authorization. In case of information inaccuracy at the point of data entry, an advisor from our follow-up team will contact you via email/phone at your convenience, to allocate 24×7 Email updates and support.
eVisa provides 3 levels of processing: Premier, Elite, and World Concierge, and our processing service includes weekends & national holidays to suit your travel needs.
If you do not satisfy the requirements for applying ETA online, please apply through a travel agent, airline, or Guam visa office. If you are not available for an ETA VISA, you can still apply for another electronic visiting visa.
It is important that you are very careful when you enter your personal details. You will have an opportunity to review all the details you have provided and can change the details at any time until you confirm all details as correct.
If you have made an error, it is important that you correct it before proceeding. Once you have confirmed the details, your credit card will be debited for the non-refundable service charge.
If you find out later that you have made a mistake, you will need to make a new application (and incur another service charge). We cannot change the details on an ETA once it has been issued.
Note: If your ETA details do not match your passport details you might experience delays when boarding your aircraft or be refused entry into Guam.
No. You do not need to arrange your transportation into the country before applying for an ETA. Whether you are traveling by boat or plane, it's okay to apply for your ETA anytime before or after your confirmed ticket.
Typically, a visa takes anywhere from 2 days to 15+ days to process in the Guam Embassy/Consulate depending on the consulate that we need to send the application. The processing time for a visa is dependent on several factors and can change without notice at the consulate's discretion. Please refer to our service selection page for the most up-to-date processing times for Guam visas.
Guam is located in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, 1600 miles east of Manila and 3808 miles west (and about 8° south in latitude) of Honolulu. Guam is part of the Mariana Island chain, an archipelago that extends about 450 miles north of Guam
All visitors to Guam, entering without a U.S. visa are required to fill a form named I-736. This form is valid for a total of seven days.
No. If you have a family member, you will have to apply for an application. Even if your child is traveling under your passport, they will need their own application.
Yes, kindly use his/her ID information alongside your personal information when completing the online application form. Please use your child's (dependants) identification data requested at the time of completion when adding another traveler to your application. There are no exceptions regarding age.
All US Citizens require a visa and a US passport to travel to Guam, whether for business or tourism. MOST foreign nationals require a visa. We can help you to obtain a visa as well as a US passport.
No, visitors arriving from the mainland of the U.S. can enter with proof of citizenship and a photo ID card.
We provide assistance with an aim to reduce your time spent and minimise difficulties experienced with online and offline Visa application processes, which will be in turn verified by our advisory team to avoid any decline of approval.
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Turkey is a fascinating destination with a culture of friendly people. It is a destination…
A Turkish Visa is a permit to enter and stay there for a specific period…


text:
Yield: 8 Servings
3 lb tomatoes, peeled and seeded
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 c buttermilk
1 tbsp olive oil
1 avocado, mashed to a puree
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot pepper sauce
1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
sour cream, plain yogurt, or creme fraiche
Puree tomatoes in a food processor or food mill, then press through a sieve to remove seeds. In a large mixing bowl, beat the pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, buttermilk, and oil. Toss pureed avocado with 1 tablespoon lemon juice to hold the color. Add the avocado,
remaining lemon juice, and parsley to the tomato mixture; stir to mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and a generous number of drops of hot pepper sauce. Refrigerate several hours before serving. At serving time, taste soup for seasonings. Ladle into individual bowl and have guest garnish their portions with cucumber and sour
cream. Pass hot pepper sauce around to add more piquancy.


text:
There are several advantages to building your individual computer. The board might also require a 4 Pin connector to energy the CPU. Nevertheless, I`ve choosen the CF-card as an alternative of a regular IDE harddrive, mainly because of the eight-bit mode that can be used with CF-Card in true-IDE mode. On your gaming laptop, take into account a video card that can support such latest 3D rendering methods in the software world.
Install the CPU, memory and warmth sink or cooler. Nevertheless adding a video card to a system with on board video can enhance system efficiency. The soiled secret of PC assemblers is that they typically have proprietary hardware created which is not as well used, reviewed and analyzed as the standard available elements.
First we'll set up the power supply. Trendy mainboards have so much built-in on them that there's a trend in the direction of less PCI slots in mainstream computer systems. Here there will probably be a line between AMD and Intel processors, after which inside each processor model, there will probably be another line between what collection processor the main board helps based mostly on the processor socketâ€.
Motherboard: That is the massive circuit-board trying thing with all the sockets on it. The CPU, the RAM, the drive cables, the graphics card and other stuff all plug into it. It seems very sophisticated and dangerous, but don't let it scare you. One of many important and neglected elements of the pc system is the ability provide.
The CPU was not compatible with the motherboard. A lot of the cabling has been eradicated by manufacturers hardwiring ports to the motherboards. The components inside a computer are the central processing unit (CPU), general processing unit (GPU), random entry memory (Ram), storage, motherboard, and the ability provide.
I connected the keyboard, mouse and monitor and ready to hit the power button for the first time. The new COMPUTER will develop into my new each day driver and it'll function a brand new encoding machine for future anime initiatives and hopefully reduce down encoding time in half.


text:
SEASIDE PARK, N.J. — A year after Hurricane Sandy inundated the East Coast with record flooding that left 159 people dead, residents of hard-hit New Jersey and New York shore communities still have a ways to go in rebuilding damaged homes.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) began his day at the beach town of Seaside Park, where homes were flooded by up to three feet of water when the storm roared ashore.
It was hit again by disaster in September when wiring damaged by the flooding sparked an enormous fire that destroyed several blocks of boardwalk that had been rebuilt after Sandy.
Christie recalled how, in the immediate aftermath of the storm that damaged about 650,000 homes along the coast — with New Jersey, New York and Connecticut hit the hardest — he had estimated it could take two years to recover.
"We're about halfway there," Christie told firefighters and local officials Tuesday. "We all have to acknowledge that there are still thousands of people out of their homes."
Throughout the Northeast, many residents are still coping with damaged homes and waiting for some of the $48 billion in federal aid pledged for rebuilding, which officials have acknowledged has been paid out slowly.
On Monday, federal officials announced plans to release a second $5 billion round of funding from the Sandy relief fund, for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island. The money is for rebuilding and repairing homes.
Sandy, a rare late-season tropical storm, made landfall at slightly below hurricane strength, but its winds extended over 1,000 miles, causing a storm surge that flooded downtown Manhattan and long stretches of the New Jersey shore, leaving millions in the dark — some for weeks.
The floodwaters breached New York's subway system, which was partially shut down for almost a week. For weeks, many residents struggled to find adequate supplies of gasoline as power outages left homes dark and cold and filling stations closed.
Residents of New Jersey shore cities from Ocean City to Jersey City planned to stand along the coast with flashlights at sundown Tuesday for a commemoration called "Light Up New Jersey."
Sandy also prompted officials across the region to rethink storm preparedness.
In June, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) proposed a $20 billion plan to help the city better prepare for storms, including measures new flood walls andbuilding up beaches, which can be natural barriers.


text:
Getting started with publish-subscribe messaging systems
Note: In this article we are using "publish-subscribe" in the context of software architecture.
What is Publish-Subscribe?
Publish-subscribe is a messaging facility. It describes a particular form of communication between software modules or components. The name is chosen to reflect the most significant characteristics of this communication paradigm.
In simple communications, software modules communicate directly with each other using structures and media that are understood by all parties. As the communications needs have become more complex or demanding, other communications architectures have evolved. Publish-subscribe is one of these and only one of many.
The Central Ideas of Publish-Subscribe
- Software components do not necessarily know who they are communicating with.
- Producers of data publish that data to the system as a whole.
- Consumers of data subscribe to and receive data from the system as a whole.
- Information is labelled so that software modules can identify the available information. This label is often referred to as the topic.
Figure 1: An example of a publish-subscribe system. (Source: Nuvation Engineering)
Other Common Publish-Subscribe Ideas
Note: Not all publish-subscribe systems make use of these concepts.
A central software module takes care of managing and matching all the data, the publishing, and the subscribing. This is commonly termed the "broker". Brokers may sometimes be a network of cooperating software modules, and the software modules that use the services of the broker are referred to as clients.
Clients that publish and subscribe often "register" with the broker in order to manage communication paths, authenticate clients, and to facilitate other housekeeping tasks.
Message delivery to subscribers filtered by content as opposed to topic. This can be used instead of or in conjunction with the topic. This is only implemented by a few Publish-Subscribe systems.
Data can be "persistent", meaning that the last published data for a particular topic will be available to subscribers that register on the system after the publisher last published the data.
Example: Home Heating System
Here is a small example of a system that could be built using publish-subscribe. It is a home heating system. It has a temperature sensor, a heating unit, and a central control unit.
The data (topics) are:
- Temperature in the house. Published by the temperature sensor and subscribed to by the central control unit. Has the value of the current in-house temperature.
- Heating Request. Published by the control unit and subscribed to by the heating unit. Has the value of either "On" or "Off".
Pseudo-code for the temperature sensor:
Register as a client.
Forever loop:
Read the temperature
Publish the "Temperature in the house" value
Wait for a time interval
Pseudo-code for the heating unit:
Register as a client
Subscribe to the "Heating Request" topic
Turn off Heating
Forever loop:
Wait for a "Heating Request" datum to be published
Turn the Heat on or off in accordance to the published value
Pseudo-code for the control unit:
Register as a client
Subscribe for the "Temperature in the house" topic
Forever loop:
Wait for a "Temperature in the house" datum to be published
or for a change to the minimum temperature that is desired
Compare temperature with desired minimum
Publish a "Heating Request" datum with the appropriate value (On or Off)
Advantages of Publish-Subscribe
- Loose Coupling: Each client does not have to know about the other clients and can focus entirely on the data in question.
- Dynamic Network Topology: Individual clients can join and leave the system and their location in the network is not normally relevant.
- Scalability: The media used for this networking is usually TCP/IP and thus can be local to a single machine or distributed across the entire cloud. Data volume issues are not magically solved by this system, but experience has shown that considerable data volume can be managed quite well. Any data volume improvements tend to be centralized in the broker modules.
- Existing Solutions: While not an advantage of the publish-subscribe system itself, there are a number of existing solutions, some of which are open-source, so developers do not need to rewrite the whole system from scratch. They can concentrate on the functions of the client and simply make use of the communications framework.
Disadvantages of Publish-Subscribe
The largest disadvantages are a side effect of the main advantage, loose coupling, and can generally be identified as message delivery issues.
- Client Presence: Since neither the publishers nor the subscribers know of the presence or absence of cooperating clients, it is possible for data to go missing unless mechanisms are implemented to handle this.
- Decreased Data Flexibility: Modifying the publisher and the structure of the published data is more difficult to coordinate.
- Data Volume Instabilities: When large amounts of data are handled it can result in networking instabilities and issues.
What You Need to Use Publish-Subscribe
- An underlying network that can be used for the communications.
- Access to a broker module or system – this can be local or external.
- Code that allows clients to communicate with the broker. Usually this would be libraries that clients invoke according to the API for them.
- All the other obvious things, such as the equipment to run the client software on, the required software development tools, etc.
Popular Publish-Subscribe Systems
- MQTT: This is an open-source, public, protocol standard. A large selection of brokers exists, including open-source brokers (such as Eclipse Mosquitto) and licensed brokers (such as IBM WebSphere MQ). Some brokers are currently running in the cloud as public-hosted test servers.
- DDS: Another open-source, public, protocol standard. However, this protocol is "peer-to-peer", and does not rely on broker services. A "brokered" implementation is possible using DDS but is not necessary.
- Amazon SNS: A paid commercial implementation managed by Amazon as part of the AWS ecosystem.
- XEP-0060: This is an extension to the XMPP protocol for generic publish-subscribe functionality. XMPP is a free open protocol standard with clients, servers and libraries available in the open-source domain.
Open Source?
Data Persistence?
Yes 1
Multiple Brokers
No 2
Amazon SNS
Many 3
Table 1 : Comparison of publish-subscribe systems (Source: Nuvation Engineering)
Table 1 Notes
- There are both free and commercial implementations.
- While brokers can be created, the DDS implementation is for peer-to-peer communications with discovery mechanisms.
- In the specification, all examples of using the protocol are shown as xml snippets.
Creating Your Own System
If you don't want to use an existing system, you can roll your own. The advantage is that you can do it exactly the way you want to do it. The disadvantage is that it will probably take you longer (and with more pain) to implement it.
Common Options in Many Publish-Subscribe Systems
Client Registration
Almost all brokers use a client registration mechanism. This can be very simple or more complex. This facility is used for security (clients must pass authentication), for keeping track of subscriptions and published data (including purging of obsolete information), and other bookkeeping tasks.
Persistent Data
When a publishing client loses connection with the broker it can be accidental or deliberate. In some cases, subscribers still want to know the last published information on a particular topic. If this option is in effect, the broker will be able to forward the last published data on a particular topic to subscribers, even when the publisher is no longer connected to the system.
Client Continuity
When clients lose connection with the broker it can be a short-term communication problem. In some cases, there are mechanisms that allow a client to re-connect with the broker and re-establish the same session that was already in progress.
Delivery Assurance
When you have loosely coupled systems depending on networked communications, there is the possibility of data being lost in transit. An often overlooked, but possibly critical, adjunct is some form of delivery guarantee. Some publish-subscribe systems have configurable delivery guarantee levels – also commonly referred to as "Quality of Service". Depending on the system, some data loss can be acceptable, but in other systems it can be fatal.
Publish-subscribe is not a magic solution for every system, however, when it matches the needs of the system in question it can be a very attractive tool in your arsenal. We hope that this article has helped you get a good high-level understanding of what publish-subscribe is and how it can meet your needs.


text:
Never Give Up: The Jon Hershberger Story
BREMEN, Ind. - Never give up. Those are the three words that caused two paths to cross on one basketball court.
The first path traveled by college freshman, Lauren Hill, a girl diagnosed with a rare and deadly form of brain cancer right after she turned 18.
All she wanted to do was play her first college basketball game.
The second path traveled by Bremen's Jon Hershberger, a local referee that helped make Hill's wish come true.
And, although Hershberger may not have 10,000 fans screaming his name, he does have a special group of girls in his life that inspire him to never give up.
It's minutes before game time at Bremen High School. But before the first pitch is thrown, Coach Hershberger has something to say to his team.
"This speech is by a young softball player named Sarah Nowicki," says Hershberger as he reads aloud a passage from his iPhone.
It's a speech that stands for more than the game played on the field.
"You taught me I can always take more than my body thinks," reads Hershberger.
It's a speech that puts Hershberger's life into perspective.
"You taught me that winning isn't always everything," Hershberger says.
A speech he hopes the young ladies on his softball team will cherish.
But before he finishes this speech, we must all understand his story.
"I played four years of baseball and four years of football here in Bremen," says Hershberger.
He's a sports fanatic who grew up playing high school sports alongside his two brothers.
"So, I wanted to follow in their footsteps but I wanted to be better."
It was that competitiveness that brought him to Bethel College.
"I was part of a national championship team," says Hershberger.
And after college, this UPS worker by day, didn't want to say goodbye to sports just yet.
Hershberger went to a developmental camp to train to be a referee. Now, he officiates NAIA women's college basketball.
"It's been a big part of my life," says Hershberger.
And that's what brought him to Xavier University's sports arena in Cincinnati on November 2, 2014.
"You look and say 'Wow!' 10,000 people," says Hershberger.
10,000 people were in attendance for this Mount Saint Joseph versus Hiram College basketball game.
A present-day David vs. Goliath. A true underdog story.
David played by college freshman Lauren Hill.
"She was an amazing 18-year-old girl," says Hershberger.
Goliath: a rare form of cancer that destroyed most of Hill's brain. As her condition worsened, she only had one wish.
"Just play one time, that's all she wanted," says Hershberger.
The coaches and officials wanted to make that night special for Lauren. So, they made sure at the jump ball, Lauren could make what would be her first and only play.
"She had to shoot left-handed because she had no motor skills on her right," says Hershberger. "She takes the dribble and lays it up with her left hand and it went in."
The shot is scored and the emotion that followed is worth more than the two points on the scoreboard.
"Seeing her teammates run out on the floor, her coach jump up and down for joy, I'll never get rid of that image," says Hershberger.
It was a moment in history that would bring a tear to anyone's eye.
"That will never be taken away from me," says Hershberger.
It was a moment in Hershberger's life that was special for a different reason. Like Lauren, Hershberger has cancer.
"To fight this disease, I gotta be as strong as I can," says Hershberger.
Back in 2009 at a dental check up, dentists found something alarming on the roof of his mouth.
"It's called adenoid cystic carcinoma," says Hershberger.
It's a rare condition that caused him to lose some of his front teeth and the feeling on parts of his mouth and tongue.
Doctors tried their best to get rid of it.
"I went in for surgery for over 14 hours."
Add to that, hundreds of miles spent in a car driving to and from Ann Arbor for top of the line care.
"I live with pain on almost an everyday basis," says Hershberger.
But nothing compares to the pain Hershberger felt when he first learned his cancer was incurable.
He's faced with only a 15% chance to live the first 5 years, but Hershberger says he lives with it for his family, and the countless young men and women he's coached and officiated for for two decades.
"I can't go anywhere," says Hershberger.
And as if just being at this game wasn't enough, Hershberger took a rare opportunity to touch one more life.
"I knew the pain and suffering that she had to go through," says Hershberger.
Switching uniforms from a man in charge of the rules of the game, to a man trying to break the rules of a deadly disease.
"She started crying, I started crying," says Hershberger. "I told her I was a cancer survivor."
His message to Lauren was simple, borrowing a phrase from legendary Coach Jimmy V.
"Don't give up. Don't ever give up," says Hershberger.
That's a phrase Lauren fought with until she died this past April at the age of 19 when her cancer took an ugly turn.
"It's too bad that other people didn't get to meet her," says Hershberger.
Although she's physically gone, Hershberger carries her memory with him always.
"I wouldn't trade any of my experiences for the world," says Hershberger.
Hershberger's disease is truly a life-long battle. He undergoes treatments at what he calls the best cancer facility in the country, about three hours away in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
And he's not slowing down. He will continue to officiate and coach. So, you might see him on the sidelines of your favorite team's game.


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Photo by Ryan Stang
Deerhunter made a recent appearance on BBC Radio 6, where Bradford Cox chatted with host Marc Riley about their new album, Fading Frontier. During the interview, they covered Buzzcocks' "Why Can't I Touch It". Listen to it here via Brooklyn Vegan; the cover begins right before the 1:19 mark.
Read our interview with Cox.
Watch the band perform "Nothing Ever Happened" at Pitchfork Music Festival:


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Last Update: September 7, 2012
Dragon Boats and DeterminationThis past Saturday my wife encouraged me to take a day away from SCUBA diving to watch the Naha Haari, Dragon Boat races, at Tomori Port in Naha. While even though the sky was cobalt blue and the water as flat as a pool table I was NOT disappointed missing a day of diving! In fact watching the teamwork and determination of the Naha Haari motivated me to consider doing this myself, but that is another story. Read More!
El Sol de Noche meets Soul PowerParadise Factory, an agency that organizes music events presents party ¡°El Sol de Noche¡± at About Caf¨¦, and a week later at Love Ball, both in Naha City. The party is based on the concept that wide variety of people from different generations can enjoy the same music. Read More!
Elevator (House,Techno)Date: May 18 Place: 3F start at 10 p.m. Read More!
Torii Friendship Festival this weekendSummer kicks off with a bang at Torii Station Friday, at 5 p.m. Read More!
East Meets West Art ShowAmerican and Okinawan artists, taking inspiration from the contrasts and contradictions of Okinawa, will be displaying the best of their aesthetic creations this weekend at the Plaza House Shopping Center. The Artists Guild of Okinawa, currently comprised of 12 artisans, will offer their best works in various mediums for sale and for the enjoyment of visitors who attend the free East Meets West art show. Read More!
Teaching Kids in Japan: The young and the restlessI thought I was going to have everything under control. I had taught English to adults and older children for almost two years. Read More!
Thats why DakarayohIf theres one thing that Okinawans know how to do, thats to throw a party. Good food, song and drink is as essential to nourish an Okinawan body and soul as is the air we breathe. Read More!
Mihama nightmareWhat used to be a nice walk in the park is gone, taken away from us. The noise of vehicle traffic keeps me up. Read More!


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My homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter(Year B) as preached during the 9.30am Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Hamilton. The readings for today were Acts 9:26-31; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8.
"Confronted by the Truth of Jesus Christ, of his death and resurrection, Paul's life is changed forever. We, too, are confronted by the Truth of Jesus Christ as we continue to celebrate Easter. Will our lives also be changed?"


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"Well It Worked, Didn't It?"
I'm constantly amazed by the misrepresentations, lies, and trickery sales people use to reach a customer–either to get a customer to answer the phone or to arrange a meeting. Every time, I think I know all the approaches and can protect myself from the offending sales person, someone gets through my defenses and with some sort of new trick.
Not long ago, I got an email from a sales person asking for a few minutes of my time. I decided to speak with him, primarily because in his email he said, "I was speaking to Mr. So and So, and he said I should really talk to you, that you would be very interested in speaking with me." Turns out Mr. So and So (I just call him So) is a very close friend. He used to work for me a number of years ago, and we continue to find excuses to work together.
The appointed time came, when he called I asked, "How do you know Mr. So and So? What work have you done with him?" There was a short pause, and the sales person responded, "Well, I really don't know Mr. So and So, but I'd like to talk to you about……….."
"Hold on, I said, you mean you lied to me about your relationship with So to get me to accept a call?"
Without a beat, the sales person responded, "Well it worked, didn't it?"
Normally not at a loss for words, I was stunned for a moment. The sales person was caught in an obvious lie, and didn't seem chagrined or concerned about it. He had the audacity to rationalize his lie with "Well it worked, didn't it?" (Haven't I hread something about the end justifying the means?)
I couldn't help myself, rather than hanging up, I decided to go into attack mode, I kept speaking with him.
I responded, "Well, I'm not sure, it depends what your objective is. What are you trying to achieve?"
This took the sales person back for a moment, "Well I'm trying to reach people to pitch my products and get you to them."
I decided to break things down a little (I really am a jerk when you get down to it), I asked, "Let me understand better, was your objective to get people to answer the phone and have a conversation with you or was your objective to find customers that might want to buy your product and engage them in a conversation to buy–ultimately getting an order?"
Poor guy was getting a little frustrated, he had lost control, all he wanted to do was pitch his product. He stuttered, "Well I have to get people on the phone first, then I want to try to sell my product."
So I asked, "So is that working now?"
He replied quickly, "If you give me the chance to talk, I can explain my product to you."
I interupted him, "Did you come up with this prospecting technique yourself or is this something your management has asked you to do?"
"We all do it, our managers tell us to do whatever it takes to get someone on the phone," he replied. I could tell he saw recognized his prospects were plummeting and I was just taking his time.
Anticipating that we were coming to the end of our call, I asked again. "You said your approach to me worked. all I want to know is, Did you achieve your objective?"
He was pissed at me, so he flared up, "Well I got you on the phone didn't I?
I responded, "You are absolutely right, if your objective was to get me on the phone you achieved that. But you told me you were trying to find customers that would be interested in buying from you. Do you think your approach allows you to achieve that objective?"
He must have gotten a second wind, I do give him credit for audacity, he replied, "Well I have you on the phone, if you just give me a chance to tell you about my product, I'm sure I could get you to buy."
I stopped him. "No, it's pointless to continue. You lied to me to get me on the phone. You could never sell me anything because our short relationship was based on your attempts to deceive me–so you haven't accomplished your objective and your approach reallydidn't work. Presumably you don't get paid if I pick up the phone and answer your call. You only get paid if I buy. So you have failed miserably."
Well the conversation stopped.
His approach while a little more extreme than other approaches I've encountered, unfortunately is far too common. Sales people–being mis-directed by their managers or some so called sales guru employ whatever techniques possible to get someone to answer a phone and engage in a conversation. They feel a flush of success (and probably pay the "guru") based on getting people to answer the phone. They rationalize their tricks with the excuse, "Well it worked, didn't it?"
Somehow, they miss the point. For sales, the goal isn't to get someone to answer the phone. The goal is to find and interest customers in what you are selling. Their approach never achieves that goal.
For a free peek at Sales Manager Survival Guide, click the picture or link. You'll get the Table of Contents, Foreword, and 2 free Chapters. Free Sample
Crazy story, Dave.
I may actually be a bigger jerk, when you come right down to it. I've been critiquing telemarketer/prospecting calls, at home and work, for years. My goal is to get them to hang up on me. I usually start by objecting, seeing what they say, and then segueing into a review of their approach and techniques. It usually works (getting them to hang up), but not before we get through the litany of unbelievably stale sales training cliches, that I still can't believe hang around.
– You don't want to find a way to save money?
– I understand how you feel, Mr. Kunkle. A lot of my… (feel, felt, found)
– Not interested? Of course not, Mr. Kunkle. How could you be. I haven't even had a chance to tell you about…
– Blah, blah, blah
Interestingly, the B2C calls at home usually are filled with more of this. And although the training those callers got was crappy, at least they were trained. The B2B calls at work are much more haphazard. Occasionally someone will call who is quite subtle and skilled, but usually, they are clueless and as blunt as your caller. On the bright side, not many turn out to be such admitted liars. Charlie Green could use this one as a case study on how NOT to be a trusted advisor.
By the way, run a grammar/spell-check, Mr. Brock. You and I share a trait of not editing our posts well enough. I am a notoriously good editor of OTHER people's work. 😉 Everybody needs to have *some* talent, I guess.
This is great. Mike and Dave, it is funny to have professional insight on how to make a "professional" sale. Almost provides us with the responsibility to critique the unknowing salesmen. Provides outlook on what not to do as a sales professional… and furthermore provides us with blog content 🙂 Thanks for the great read David! And love the comment Mike
Good information. Wraps up how stubborn, hypocritical and selfish people are. That's why I don't bother cold calling. I enjoy helping people, but my time as a Marine has grown a disgust for civilian attitudes and respect. If I have solicited my product, developed a need, and they have not showed an ounce of interest, then I keep it movin'. Semper fidelis.
David – Thanks for sharing and reaffirms why the first action I take with any client is to review or establish written positive core values.
Maybe it is me, but there appears to be a lot more desperation out there within the small business community specific to securing sales.
I too sometimes accept those types of calls just to appreciate how not to interact with a potential customer.
Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Many of us have been working for years with sales organisations to get them to work in a consultative manner with their clients and coach their salespeople to achieve better results. What we overlook from our lofty world is that probably the great majority of salespeople still work for high pressure, minimal training, no coaching, no support, hire and fire organisations. No wonder they do whatever they can and think "Well it worked, didn't it?".
In some ways it's extremely depressing to see we still have so much work to do. Maybe next time we all receive a call like that we should try a bit of coaching, so the next prospect gets a better outcome.
Terry hood