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Burrell Ellis expressed his gratitude as he spoke to the press on Wednesday, after being reinstated to his position as DeKalb County CEO. A jubilant Ellis told supporters and consitutents, "I want to thank all of the citizens who stopped me on the streets and gave me well wishes. At this point I just want to savor the moment and move as God directs."
Original Charges and Conviction
Ellis had been suspended from office since July 2013, when he faced criminal charges for extortion. Ellis was accused of pressuring a Cobb County company, Power and Energy Services, to donate money to Ellis' 2012 re-election campaign. DeKalb District Attorney Robert James argued that Ellis threatened to end the company's $250,000 contract with the county if the donation was not made.
When Ellis was suspended, Governor Nathan Deal appointed then County Commissioner Lee May as Interim CEO. May remained in that position until this month.
In July 2015, Ellis was found guilty of the extortion, along with three perjury counts, and sentenced to 18 months in prison. In March 2016, Ellis was released from jail but remained suspended as his case was still on appeal.
Read the Supreme Court decision in it's entirety here.
Conviction Overturned
On Nov. 30, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned Ellis' conviction, stating that Ellis had not received a fair trail ""based on certain evidentiary errors that occurred." The Supreme Court ruled that the trial court erred in allowing a Grand Juror to testify at Ellis' trial in support of the State's efforts to prove the perjury charges against him. In regards to the extortion charges against Ellis, the Supreme Court found that Ellis should have been allowed to present evidence demonstrating his interactions with vendors whom he did not pressure for donations. Based on this ruling, the case has been returned to the local court, but it is not yet clear is the district attorney's office will seek a new trial.
"I am enjoying the day and meeting with constituents. I feel completely vindicated."
While Ellis is enjoying feelings of vindication, he has far more than that to be happy about. It has been reported that Ellis is entitled to back-pay amounting to $104,380, after taxes and deductions—pay which was held during his suspension. However, Ellis now has less than 3 weeks remaining in his term, which ends on Dec. 31.
Michael Thurmond
Newly elected CEO Michael Thurmond will take office in January. From 2013 to 2015, Thurmond had served as the interim superintendent of the DeKalb County School District, the third largest district in the state of Georgia. Previously, Thurmond had served six years in the Georgia Senate and 12 years as state labor commissioner, becoming the first non-incumbent African American to be elected to statewide office in Georgia. Due to his success at turning around struggling departments and organizations, Thurmond has gained the reputation of being a "fix it" specialist.
Indeed, ongoing allegations of corruption and mismanagement recently led several state lawmakers, including Governor Deal, to consider eliminating the DeKalb CEO position altogether. However, the prospect of Thurmond taking over the position seems to have quieted such efforts.
DeKalb Corruption
Thurmond will assume leadership of a county which, in addition to chronic complaints of administrative dysfunction, has had a history of corruption scandals. Perceptions of corruption in the county were so widespread that Interim CEO Lee May hired two investigators, former Attorney General Mike Bowers and Richard Hyde, to conduct an investigation. However, when the report concluded that there was rampant mismanagement, May dismissed the report and lashed out at the investigators.
The Burrell Ellis case was just one of many that outgoing DeKalb District Attorney Robert James successfully prosecuted. However, during the democratic primary in May, James' opponent, Solicitor Sherry Boston, emphasized the fact that James needed two trials to get the Ellis conviction. She also highlighted the ongoing corruption in the county and examples of James himself needing to reimburse questionable public expenditures and being fined for late campaign finance filings. Boston won the primary and was unopposed in the general election, meaning she will soon become the new district attorney. It will be in her hands to decide whether to pursue a new trial for the charges which are still pending against Burrell Ellis.
When asked about the possibility of a new trial, Ellis replied that he is not focusing on any pending charges and that he is "just living in the moment."


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Hello my fluffy chocolate mousses with strawberries on top!
I hope you're having an amazing week. Mine is great so far. I went to watch Dumbo yesterday! And I wiped away a couple of tears! When I got home, I even looked for my Dumbo (a fluffy stuffed animal I got from my BF a good 13 years ago) and hugged it to fall asleep… Those cute little blue eyes and cute ears. I felt like protecting the cute little baby! Have you seen it yet? I've been collecting all the real live Disney movies, so I'm pretty stoked about Aladdin and The Lion King coming out!!!
Anyhows, today I have another look for you, that I did with my 2nd favorite palette of the moment: The Unicorn Hearts palette by Revolution. We all know which palette wins the first place, now don't we ;D. What I really like about this palette are the dreamy princessy shades, which are mainly purples and pinks! I can understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, but Revolution has a lot of other palettes to chose from!
Here comes my girlie pink look!
- You know the drill, sweep some neutral blending shade over the lid.
- Apply a deep pink on the outer corner and blend out well.
- With a flat shader brush, apply a shimmery pink shade.
- Apply some more of that deep matt pink and blend it out over the shimmery pink shade.
- Time to add some monochromatic pearly pink in the inner corner.
- Deepen the look with a dark purple in the outer corner.
- Add some more pink in the outer corner and blend well. If necessary add some more of that dark purple. Then add a blue violet shade on the lower lash line.
- On the ouder edge of the lower lash line, I added a deeper royal blue, to deepen it.
- I then lined my eyes and gave it a couple coats of mascara.
I finished off with:
- Blush: I Heart Makeup Peach & Glow
- Lips: YSL Volupté Plump-in-colour in Insane Pink
You either love or hate pinks and purples. But I absolutely live for these shades! Especially with this combo. I don't know what it is about having the lower lash line wear another shade, but I find it to be so flattering. Such a fun way to wear color, don't you think?!
Beautifuls, enjoy the rest of your week! Be positive, push down negative thoughts, be curious and enjoy the moment!

subset: commoncrawl


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Checking in on the state of Big Sky
Town hall meeting scheduled for April 11
By Taylor Anderson, Big Sky Weekly Assistant Editor
How is the school doing and when will its new changes be implemented? What is the real name of Route 64 in Big Sky? What is the status of the $24 million Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center Big Sky applied for?
Big Sky community leaders will address residents during a town hall meeting in the Big Sky Chapel April 11 from 1–3 p.m.
School board chairman Loren Bough will represent the Big Sky School District, which recently changed its name from Ophir School District, addressing the crowd via video from Russia.
Bough will likely cover recent curriculum changes implemented at the behest of Superintendent Jerry House that increase graduation requirements from the current 22 credit minimum to 27–32 credits. House and a three-person committee also recommended the school district change its 99-year-old name from Ophir to Big Sky, for branding purposes.
It's not clear whether Bough will address the issue of space and growth in the school. The board has spoken to the school's likely future use of modules for classes, and board member Barbara Rowley has said permanent infrastructure isn't yet needed and may not be for years. That issue will likely come up in future board meetings.
Gallatin County GIS representative Alan Armstrong will discuss the potential name change of Route 64 in Big Sky from Big Sky Spur Road to Lone Mountain Trail. A recent email poll showed residents prefer the entire road from the intersection at Highway 191 to Jack Creek Road be called Lone Mountain Trail, and that the town stick with a single name for clarity. Big Sky Town Center project manager Ryan Hamilton indicated that maps might need changing with a name change.
A group representing the push to win a bid for host of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center—led by Hamilton—will update attendees on the $24 million project. Big Sky is among a short list of towns in final consideration for that project.
Town Center master developer Bill Simkins set aside a parcel of land for that project's development. An announcement is expected on April 30.
The Big Sky Chamber of Commerce board of directors will close out the meeting with an update on marketing projects the group has started. The first, a wayfinding, signage and monument effort—also organized by Hamilton—has been more than a year in the making. Town leaders have been working with the Montana Department of Transportation on branding signs that would organize the various villages in Big Sky through green circle, blue square and black diamond labeled street signs.
The Chamber will also highlight its five-year marketing plan that has emphasized incorporating Big Sky to Yellowstone National Park as well as summer marketing. A/D Creative Group, the Billings-based group contracted to market the town, will present its findings to those in attendance.
The group will close the meeting with an update on recent staff changes. It hired four new employees to supplement the work of Robin Brower-McBride. The hiring followed a Chamber study that showed it was "woefully underfunded in its human resources."


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By Laura Barbosa
(CNN) — Four-year-old Norah Wood of Augusta, Georgia, went with her mother to the grocery store to buy some birthday cupcakes. She ended up changing a life.
It started late last month with some simple kind words she shouted to a lonely older man in the aisle. He was taciturn and "stone-faced" Norah's mother, Tara Wood, told CNN on Thursday.
"Hi, old person!" Norah yelled from her cart. "It's my birfday today!"
The man's face lit up.
"How old are you today?" he asked.
They chatted briefly and even exchanged hugs.
"It was only a 10-minute encounter at the grocery store, but it felt magical and divine," the mom said.
Mother and daughter left with a happy memory, and a photo Norah insisted her mother snap.
That could have been the end of the story. But it is actually the beginning of a special relationship.
When Tara Wood posted that photo on Facebook, someone recognized the gentleman, passed along his contact information and wrote, "That's the first time I've seen that man smile since his wife died."
Dan Peterson, 82, lost his beloved wife in March and fell into deep depression. Six months later, he had his chance encounter with Norah at the store.
"That day, I was going through a day of self-pity. I was just feeling sorry for myself," he told CNN. "But she changed it."
With a fresh shave and haircut, Peterson invited the mother and daughter to his home.
In the weeks since, the Wood family has built a loving relationship with the man they call "Mr. Dan."
He plans to spend a day around Thanksgiving with Norah, her parents and six siblings.
"She has shown me a depth of love, a depth I didn't know existed," Peterson told CNN.
"If you just take the time to notice people, you never know how you can positively impact a life," Tara Wood said.
™ & © 2016 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.


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"Crazy bunch of people, demystifying education engagement & management"
Founded by Ivy League Alumnus and two Eduprenurs in 2013, MeetUniversity.com is the passion and technology driven platform for Study Abroad Counseling, University/Course Search and Application Process. The trio identified the demand in the Indian market for an easy, unbiased and personalized university/college search and application consulting portal mentored by Study Abroad Experts.
Our core Team Members, advisors and associates have studied and worked in countries like UK, USA, Europe, Australia – we have been there and done it ourselves. We understand the expectations and requirements of the Indian students; and similarly we have got in-depth knowledge about the study abroad process.
It's all online – time and cost-effective. Our Mentors & Advisors – have been to top and prestigious institutes like University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of New South Wales, Utrecht University etc.
We help you to get admitted at not just a foreign university, but at your dream university. We know what it takes to crack the tests (SAT / GRE / GMAT / IELTS / TOEFL) and beat the competition. We offer personalized mentoring and customized admission assistance according to your needs, including premium services.
Get connected with Universities, Current Students and Alumni directly for first-hand information, reviews, experience and success stories. Get in-depth information through our blogs, videos and webinars.
For Universities: Student discovery is not a problem anymore with MeetUniversity.Com. Get ideal / shortlisted right student profiles. We are the largest university personalization portal of India, no one knows it better how to reach out to the right student audience than us.
We help students to connect directly with list of top universities in Australia, USA, UK, Canada, Singapore and Dubai. Fair, independent, unbiased advise to make your college selection process a joy ride instead of a confusing & frustrating process. Multiple modes of connect with students, in sync with your recruitment strategy. We work with multiple universities world over. Get in touch with us to understand how we can get you the ideal student matches.
MeetUniversity.com came together because we saw nothing changing and students still confused. The best way to get advice was hard to find. So we decided to take things in our own hands, offer free expert guidance, scholarships & exam preparation for IELTS, GRE, GMAT and many more - backed with verified & relevant data to help you to meet universities for study abroad.
We're proud of our team and always looking for more people with a similar passion & experience for online marketing. If that's you, email us at firstname.lastname@example.com our team


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Montenegro active vacation
Tailor make a ten day activity vacation in the mountains of Montenegro. Stay in wooden mountain huts and enjoy optional and included activities such as high altitude hiking, fly fishing and white water rafting.
Podgorica Mrtvice Canyon Komovi mountain hut (1600m) Grebaje Valley Accursed Mountains Prokletije National Park Durmitor National Park Ðurdevica Tara Bridge Nevidio Canyon White water rafting on the Tara River Optional: fly fishing in Plav and hike to summit of Crna Glava (2139m)
715To959 excluding flights
Description of Montenegro active vacation
Price information
Departure information
This trip can be tailor made throughout the year to suit your requirements
Travel guides
Montenegro punches above its weight. It might be small and sparsely populated, but its scenery is big, bold and dramatic and its a paradise for wal...
You know those triathlon competitors who are small and strong, indomitable and inspiring? Well Montenegro is a bit like one of them. And it is only by...
Vacation information
Dietary requirements:
We can cater for vegetarian and vegan diets.
Responsible Travel
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) vacation so that you can travel knowing it will help support the places and people that you visit, and the planet. Read how below.
PlanetAccommodation providers are given support and advice from our staff on all aspects of providing excellent facilities and services in line with the principals of sustainability. All service providers are encouraged to promote the Reduce, Recycle, Re-use principals of waste management (through our Zero Waste NGO work). Also, all the accommodations we work with are locally owned, almost only small-scale accommodations owned by families.
We have created a Sustainable Tourism Guide especially for Montenegro that we send to all our guests before departure, encouraging them to take with them reusable bottles and bags as recycling rate in Montenegro is very low. We also give them concrete advise how to behave respectfully while in the nature and also to join us in educating locals on sustainable practices.
We do employ only local guides (specific to the regions you visit) and we give our employees excellent working conditions and fair wages, as well as empower them with in-house and external training opportunities (please feel free to ask them yourself how satisfied they are with working for our company!) :-)
We create encounters between the guests and the local community. We have selected great families and persons for our guests to meet. The authentic warm way of welcoming guests in Montenegro is always what people remember the most when they leave the country after a trip with us.
Skadar Lake is a National Park so by paying entrance fees (included) guests enhance the further development of environmental projects which is of our great interest as well.
Transfers are provided by recognized service providers licensed by the government of Montenegro. All vehicles are eco-rated and chosen for their respective high compliance. This itinerary was designed to minimize excessive vehicle travel and to promote interaction with the natural environment. Guests are given options to reduce their carbon footprint on the tour and educated on the principals of responsible travel.
PeopleBy traveling with us you will ensure ongoing economic benefits, alternative employment and income opportunities for local people and businesses.
As this itinerary includes travel through countryside of the country it provides an excellent opportunity for unique interactions between visitors and the local people. Your hosts family are for centuries living in the area, and the passion for the area is being passed from generation to generation. Visitors support the local people by both being a guest and through the purchase of local produce.
Visitors contribute to the education of local people and stakeholders by providing a cultural exchange between guests and hosts. It can foster understanding between people, this increases the chances for people to develop mutual sympathy, tolerance and understanding and to reduce prejudices and promote the sense of global brotherhood which we strongly enhance.
Tourism also helps to raise local awareness concerning the financial value of natural and cultural sites. It can stimulate a feeling of pride in local and national heritage and interest in its conservation.
Popular similar vacations
Activity vacation in Montenegro
From £695 - £795 7 days excluding flights
An active villa vacation at stunning Lake Skadar, Montenegro
Montenegro self drive vacation
From £895 - £1195 15 days excluding flights
Explore the coast and stunning interior of Montenegro
Montenegro activity vacation, adrenaline adventure
From 900 - 950 8 days excluding flights
A Fantastic Adrenaline Adventure Fun Vacation


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The situation of your company today is the result of decisions made in the past. What you decide to do (or not do) today determines where your business will be tomorrow.
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy. It may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of the strategy. Strategic planning is an important aspect of strategic management. It is executed by strategic planners or strategists, who work with clients to ascertain the best way forward to maximise the ROI and leave the competition behind.
Effective Strategic Planning leads to better, smarter business decisions. You need a clear, well thought-out plan to drive long term growth. Our practical Strategic Planning process is specifically tailored for small business.
Strategic Planning for Small Business The situation of your company today is the result of decisions made in the past. What you decide to do (or not do) today determines where your business will be tomorrow.
The purpose of Strategic Planning is to define the vision, set targets, and decide in which markets the company will be active, and which markets will not be pursued.
Effective, open-minded Strategic Planning that honestly explores all strategic options can give your company a real edge over the competition.
Strategic Planning is about 'brains' over 'brawn', making better informed, smarter business decisions based on sound market data. It involves carefully examining the current state of your business, what's working and what isn't, understanding markets, customers, competitors and trends that may impact your business.
Given the importance and the impact of Strategic Planning on long term growth, the company's executives should consider strategy development as one of their main priorities.
Strategic Planning is not just for large companies with deep pockets. In particular, smaller companies can benefit from Strategic Planning. Small companies don't have any resources to waste and need to be smart about which opportunities to pursue and which ones to ignore.
However, small company managers are typically not that well versed in conducting a formal Strategic Planning process. This means that small companies need to rely on external expertise, strategic planning consultants to guide them through the Strategic Planning process.
Our Strategic Planning process is practical, effective and results-oriented. It is very well suited for smaller companies with limited time and resources that want results fast.
Our practical approach to Strategic Planning is aimed at rapidly developing an understanding of the state of your business, identifying and evaluating your options, making rational decisions, and then taking the appropriate action.
The Strategic Planning process develops answers to the key questions that are fundamental to the future of your business:
- What are the best growth opportunities?
- Which markets should we be in?
- Which markets should we not be in?
- How can we beat or avoid the competition?
- What will the future look like?
- Which trends will impact our business?
- Which threats do we need to think about?
- How can we accomplish our goals?
We avoid getting stuck in 'analysis paralysis' and vague discussions about Mission, Vision, and Values. In our practical Strategic Planning process we cover topics such as:
- Core competencies
- Industry and market dynamics
- Competition
- Market opportunities
- Customer wants and needs
- Trends
- Target markets
- Suppliers
- Opportunities
- Scenario planning
- Risk mitigation
- Action plan
- Resources required
- Budget and timeline
- Metrics
- Accountability and authority
In the end, the process leads to rational, fact based, strategic decision making based on a sound understanding of the marketplace and the best growth opportunities for your company.
To develop good strategy you need sound market intelligence, robust analysis, objectivity and the courage to make decisions based on incomplete information. What you don't need are endless academic analyses that go far deeper than necessary and endless 'what-if' studies. We keep it simple and results oriented.
That said, keep in mind that Strategic Planning is a process, not an event. It's important to take the time to do it right. Rushing through the planning steps and not carefully evaluating the strategic options puts everything in jeopardy.
The tangible deliverable of the Strategic Planning process is a highly actionable plan with clearly stated goals and their rationale, action items, time lines, budgets, as well as roles and responsibilities. The action plan is not a fancy document that ends up collecting dust on the bookshelf, but it's your company's play book, ready to be executed.
Results you can expect from the planning process:
- Well defined long term goals
- You'll know what's important and what isn't
- Target markets and your best customers
- How to improve your competitive position
- Better use of company resources
- Clarity about priorities
- A clear action plan for implementation
- More innovation
- No more 'idea of the month'
- Less crisis management
- You'll be prepared for the future
- Peace of mind, knowing where you're headed
Are you looking for new ways to grow your small business? Our practical approach to Strategic Planning can help.
Please contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your goals and objectives and to find out more about how we work.
JFK: Most Famous Strategic Plan: "We will put a man on the moon before this decade is out"
The long-term aim was very clearly set "put a man on the moon". The timeline was also very clearly set "by the end of this decade". The problem was at the time of the strategy statement, the rockets were not manned and were exploding on take off at a rate of 3 in 5.
So the scientists, engineers and planners, had to work back from the end goal and create a strategic plan of what needed to be developed and tested. The placement of a man on the moon required 3 people; 2 on the moon lander "the Eagle", whilst one remained in the orbiter going around the moon.
They needed a multi-stage rocket with sufficient power to carry the astronauts, the lander and the module that was required to return to earth. Therefore they had to develop the Saturn5 Rockets.
Prior to the Saturn 5 rockets, they needed to have a 2 man rocket so they could lift off with 2 people and allow them to test other extravehicular activities, hence the Gemini project.
Prior to Gemini, the rockets had to become a lot more stable and stop exploding on take off.
This approach to setting the end goal, creating the steps from the end point backward to the starting point is what almost guarantees the delivery of the end point. It also sets the strategic plan apart from the business plan. A business plan is a wish list of where you would like to be; a strategic plan is where you will be if you implement the steps in order.


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Friday night Natalie, Ryan, Missy and I went on a haunted ghost tour thing with pyschic medium Kelli Miller. She has an office in ElkHorn and offers tours - you gather some friends (and strangers), jump on an actual school bus, and then Kelli and her staff take you to three "haunted" places. Kelli tries to get some ghosts to pay attention, and then all 40 of the bus riders try to take pictures and catch them.
We went to Kelli's office around 630pm and checked in. Upon check-in, we got a little baggy with a black rock (to protect us), Indian sage (to protect us) and a small flashlight. There were about five people working there and they would be going on the tour with us. One was a little too bossy and demanding for my liking, but I guess there has to be one of those in every group.
Anyway, around 7pm we got on the bus and headed to our first stop - the Bellevue Cemetery. This was pretty scary - I mean, it's a freaking cemetery at night time - but I did not capture any spirits with my camera. One girl did, and Natalie doesn't think she did, but she did, too.
We walked around there for awhile, summoned some ghosts, and then got back on the bus and headed to what I think was the scariest place - Jewell Park. Apparently there used to be a rodeo there, and one of the cowboys died in the arena so he is still riding his horse everywhere. Kelli asked for some volunteers to stand in the middle of the field so she could ask the spirits to come stand with us, so Natalie and I headed out there. We felt the chills, and both got a weird dull headache, but, again, no spirits were captured by camera. It was really weird, though, how instant this ice cold chill came to our backside. My ass was an ice cube.
After that, we headed up into this foresty area to get to the top of a hill, where there was a deserted playground. This was the scariest part to me, because at the top of the swing set were a bunch of children's shoes, like wrapped around the bar. Kelli said she doesn't know what they are for. Missy said it is gang related. I think children were hung by their shoelaces and then fell down and died and are now haunting Bellevue. But what do I know.
On the way back down the hill, we GOT LOST. I mean, not totally lost because obviously we were still moving downward and there were only so many places we could end up, but it was scary. The leader kept stopping and questioning where we were. And Kelli, who was walking right in front of me, kept smacking something away from her head and saying "quit touching me". I mean, it could have been bugs or small wildlife, but let's get real - it was totally ghosts fucking with her hood and hair.
After that we stopped for snacks and a bathroom break, and then we headed to Council Bluffs to go to the Rails West Museum. Maybe I was just tired at this point, or bored, or over it, but I was not impressed with this stop at all. It was definitely my least favorite, and I was not scared at all. And of course, it's where we stayed for the longest time. There was just something so cheesy about the way Kelli and her minions were sitting in one of the train cars, "talking" to these two ghosts.
Still, even though I was not scared at all during the last stop, that still didn't stop me from being scared all night and not sleeping at all. Even though I put my black rock right on my nightstand.


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Studies show students that are educated in and/or have taken music courses have better performance levels in college, especially in reading and mathematics. Typically, music and art courses are not valued up to core courses corresponding to math, literature, or science fiction. Music is among the world's greatest economic markets, if it be instruments or tunes being purchased on iTunes. Music training can enhance people's motor and reasoning skills. Kids who have had more than three or more years of musical instrument courses performed better than those who haven't in their skills to determine differences in sounds and in their fine motor skills. Since the ancient ages of development in a child's life are the most significant, music education has been demonstrated to boost a child's learning ability. Music has a positive effect on behavior, shows better performance in academics and instruction, and assists with child growth.
Music could be inspiring to anyone who's prepared to lend an ear. Both emotions associated with music are perceived and felt emotions. Sometimes people can understand the emotions depicted by a piece of music without really feeling them, which explains why some folks enjoy listening to music that's deemed sad instead of music with an upbeat pace without really feeling sad. 1 study demonstrated that after hearing a brief bit of music, people were more likely to have no emotions or stay neutral. When listening to music that's associated with violence or danger, people aren't likely to show violent behavior after listening to it.
People today use music in various ways. It's used as an escape to express ideas and feelings, or it may serve the purpose of comfort and amusement. Not just for amusement purposes, music is also a valuable part of many social and cultural activities. Used and incorporated by films, TV shows, orchestras, operas, athletes, dancers, and ordinary everyday people, music plays a significant part in the modern society and everybody uses it in their own special way.
Also useful with all the creative sides of people's brains, ambient sound level music is ideal for moments when folks want their creative juices to flow quickly. Moderate or greater sound levels increase the problem in mind processing. Creative thinking is subsequently impaired since the mind and thought process is overwhelmed and can not process any given information economically. Music selections like classical or jazz music have a calming effect on the mind due to its slower tempo and normally low sound level.
Various types of music therapy have been shown to show immediate progress in patients' response degrees, calm them down, and bring their level of anxiety to a all-time low. Stroke patients showed a immaculate improvement in their visual attention when listening to classical music. A number of studies have shown that those children that are developmentally respond quite well to audio programs and their breathing and speech disabilities enhanced over time. By way of instance, when patients' use these skills in treatment, it can help to develop hand and breathing mouth coordination. "Music is saying; pure expression. Without a guitar, I am like a poet with no hands,".
Choices of music can predict somebody's personality. Classical music lovers are believed to have a top self-esteem, are imaginative, introverted, and at ease. Studies also show couples who took the time to understand each other's ten favourite songs provided enough information about their character traits.
As music intentionally exercises the brain, in addition, it helps people physically exercise and get fit. Listening to music while getting the body in shape can't just raise one's endurance by 15 percent and increase one's heart rate, but in addition, it makes the tiring process more enjoyable for people who may not exactly understand the pleasure in exercise.
Art and music apps being eliminated from common core program is an issue that has begun to impact the whole nation. In an alarming rate, performing arts and music courses, clubs, and associations are being cut throughout the nation in an effort to save money for items which are often viewed as more important to these colleges. 1 thing which ought to be taken under account before cutting these programs is how significant musical education is not to only kids in elementary and middle school, but also high school students and even adults. An endless number of research have people who learn to play an instrument or course sing-a-longs impact how children learn and process the information they learn daily. Music courses can involve clapping hands, stomping feet, dancing until from breath and singing on top of your lungs. This brings the fun back in learning and makes school more enjoyable for kids. These budget cuts which are happening throughout the country are taking away the opportunities to learn through different mediums away from kids. They are not able to understand how to work together like they would in a large group in a music course, or learn simple tasks such as taking turns like they would when sharing tools are being passed around for a tune performance. This causes the students to miss out on creating particular vital social skills they need in their life which are important in the development of their learning skills throughout their life.
The arts and music discipline generates more jobs than almost any other area in the career market. Producing an estimated 37 billion jobs for the country with a yield money value of $3.4 billion, it's apparent the financial significance of fine arts and music in our market. Arts and music education are compulsory programs in countries that are rated higher than the United States in their mathematics and science test scores. Federal funding for arts, music, and humanities earns about $250 million annually, in contrast to the National Science Foundation, which provides more than $5 billion annually. In an analysis of lower class, higher poverty schools in Chicago, those schools which were involved at the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education made a big amount of progress in closing the massive gap between low and higher income students' academic achievement levels. Preparing students for the real world, the arts teach individual thinking, freedom of creativity, flexibility, the ability to learn new skills, how to become innovative, the way to work well with others, builds an understanding of diversity and the amount of different cultures in the world, contributes to technological proficiency, and instructs the problem solving abilities necessary for the workforce and career fields they plan on joining in the future. College also provides many scholarships for those students which are musically inclined, innovative, and educated. The arts are one of the six subject areas that the College Board recognizes at a pupil that has hopes of linking their faculty. Music classes are also over sixty six percentages of majors in any college or higher education past high school program.
Music advancement is often regarded as a gift and something one is born with, but due to the wide assortment of music usage, everyone can learn how to love music and participate.
Music is a means of knowing.
Music comes naturally to many people. As some might be more advanced than others, most of us adhere to tapping our toes at some stage or humming a tune. It's reported to be considered that music dates all the way back to the cavemen period, possibly because the time being is when language began growing for humans. Music can be made with anything and all you've got around you. All it requires is an object to produce the noise with and a set of ears to listen to.
Studies have shown that when kids learn how to play an instrument or become involved with class sing-alongs impacts how they learn and process knowledge. As everyone is born with the capability to learn their native language, everybody is born with the capability to learn how to play and understand music of all sorts. From the moment a child is born, until about age six, it's crucial for a child to understand how to identify pictures and representations for the information which they acquire during the important times of the learning and schooling experiences during school. Kids with training in music often test better on language and reasoning abilities, which entails studying and understanding visual images and information that's received from the mind.
Studies show that children who have over three decades of more of audio training with tools or vocally perform better educationally than people who don't. It gives children capacity to be open to new experiences, lets them come out of the shell and be more comfortable with themselves and their environment, and provides them the emotional stability they want to live life in a constructive and powerful way. People were thought to begin singing as early as language developed. With that said, it would make sense for a kid to learn songs training around the exact same time that they start to learn how to speak. According to Thomas Armstrong, "Intelligence is galvanized by involvement in some sort of culturally valued action and that the person's growth in this kind of action follows a developmental pattern; every action has its own time arising in early youth." Music is just as important in a child's period of growth and learning as learning the alphabet or counting from one to ten.
The excellent thing about music is that it may be integrated in everyday life in so many ways. Even the alphabet that's learned at the first time of our lives is taught through song. Giving the letters a solid pattern makes it a lot easier to remember and raises the quantity of fun and pleasure in learning and teaching the young people of our generation. Psychologists, neuroscientists, and experts have started to discover that music does more for kids than bring them pleasure. Additionally, it helps their brain cells create the connections which are necessary for everyday living and learning. "After all we ask our children to read Shakespeare, why don't we teach Mozart? He considers that the five ways people communicate and arrange thought isn't just in words and letters, which is our language, but also through symbols and numbers which is math. Music activates the very same synapses in the brain that mathematics does and can enhance one's ability to comprehend and analyze visual information. Math has a crucial involvement in music when it comes to reading sheet music and counting how many notes along with the beat of songs. Fractions can be applied to notes like quarter, half, and whole notes. By way of instance, five and eight equals thirteen, eight and thirteen equals twenty one, thirteen plus twenty one equals half four, etc and so on. This sequence can be understood in piano scales, whereas the C scale on the piano includes 13 keys from C to C.


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Welcome to the Tyndale House Publishers career center!
It is our desire to provide you with opportunities to use your talents and skills to minister to the spiritual needs of others through products consistent with Biblical principles. For more than 50 years, Tyndale has had the same mission: to help people discover the life-giving truths of God's Word in language they can relate to and understand. Today, our books and Bibles are trusted by millions of readers across the globe. Life-changing insight. Captivating stories. A legacy of serving those in need.
We all have a role to play and we'd love for you to join us! Some positions within our team require agreement with our Statement of Faith.


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Digests » 119
Tutorial: Using Entity Framework Core as an In-Memory Database for ASP.NET Core
One of the most exciting features in the new version of Entity Framework (Entity Framework Core 1.0) is the addition of an in-memory data provider. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to set up the Entity Framework Core InMemory provider and use it to prototype a simple ASP.NET Core API.
this week's favorite
What's new in Git for Windows 2.10?
Most importantly, Git for Windows v2.10.0 has been released. Download it here. Or look at its homepage. Let me take this opportunity to mention a couple of highlights.
Introducing Continuous Delivery to .NET
Continuous delivery is important today no matter what your stack. Learn here how to do it in the .Net world.
Analysing .NET Memory Dumps with CLR MD
If you've ever spent time debugging .NET memory dumps in WinDBG you will be familiar with the commands shown below, which aren't always the most straight-forward to work with!
Excel Messenger: A Terrible Experiment In VBA
It was a slow day at work and another intern suggested finding a way to send messages discreetly between our computers on the local network.
In this post, we will briefly talk about the Stopwatch class: Which kind of hardware timers could be a base for Stopwatch. High precision timestamp API on Windows and Linux. Latency and Resolution of Stopwatch in different environments. Common pitfalls: which kind of problems could we get trying to measure small time intervals.
Join over 23,900 readers for a free weekly email with fresh news, articles and tutorials.


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For over 40 years, the Children's Defense Fund has been a leader in providing the latest national- and state-level data on children and policies. We invite you to view reports, fact sheets, and issue briefs created by our national and state offices. Some of our most notable publications include The State of America's Children®, Portrait of Inequality, and Ending Child Poverty Now. Our factsheets and briefs span many areas: child poverty, income and wealth inequality, housing and homelessness, child hunger and nutrition, child health, early childhood, education, child welfare, juvenile justice, and gun violence.
ResourcesBen Dawson2018-08-09T11:58:36-06:00


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A group of poliçe officers in plain clothes detained Mehmet Aydın, the mayor of Mardin's Savur district from the pro–Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP), and then hung a Turkish flag on the facade of the municipal building.
Police teams reportedly conducted a search at the municipal building on Friday and seized some documents. Media reports stated that police simultaneously raided Aydın's house.
Detention warrants were also issued for 5 others as part of the same investigation.
Turkey's Interior Ministry appointed trustees to many municipalities in Turkey's eastern and southeastern regions, replacing democratically elected pro-Kurdish mayors with government-appointed figures.
On Feb 25, 2016, trustees have been appointed to Savur municipalities governed by the DBP, the state-run Anadolu Agency and Doğan News Agency reported.


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Mar 20, 2020, 09:00 ET
PLEASANTON, Calif., March 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- StratusWorX, a first mover in converged platform IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, Disaster Recovery and Security, announced today it will offer its turnkey Cloud Workspace service to non-profits, healthcare providers, and small businesses, free for 6 months for up to 10 users, with no commitment required. Additionally, the free package will include Microsoft Office with Microsoft Teams, a premier communication & collaboration platform. StratusWorX will also provide free migration of an organization's software and data.
StratusWorX is a highly automated, turnkey Cloud Workspace service that requires little to no IT expertise. Rather than building and supporting laptops for every employee, including customizing, troubleshooting, upgrading and refreshing hardware and software to meet individual demands, IT administrators can quickly provision a virtual desktop with pre-licensed software that meets each employee's unique requirements without the need for fancy machines. Employees gain ultra-secure access to their applications, files, shared folders, and email, from any device including laptops, thin clients, tablets, and smartphones.
"As organizations transition their employees to work from home to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, our team at StratusWorX is focused on easing the transition by offering our turnkey Cloud Workspace service and our expertise to help organizations securely connect their workers to the applications and data they require to stay productive," said Alok Sharma, president and CEO, StratusWorX.
With StratusWorX, organizations can use their current software licenses or IT administrators can add software from a comprehensive library using a simple app-store menu. The service automates software license management, including automatic patch and software updates. It requires minimal RAM and hard drive space, thereby lowering the cost of employee hardware and extending the life of older machines by leveraging the power of the cloud. StratusWorX further optimizes IT spend by eliminating costs related to managing IT infrastructure, such as cooling, storage, security, and rent. For more information about this offer, visit https://www.stratusworx.com/freeoffer/.
About StratusWorX
Founded in 2014, StratusWorX is the first-of-its-kind converged platform of IaaS, SaaS, DaaS, Disaster Recovery and Security. The StratusWorX Cloud Workspace platform includes the fast provisioning of software, compute, storage, security and disaster recovery through a simple app-store menu that requires little to no IT expertise. StratusWorX provides enterprises and SMBs with a simple-to-use, ultra-secure, single sign-on to an unlimited number of software applications through a multi-cloud access manager. Businesses can fully configure Windows and Linux workspaces in the cloud in minutes, rather than hours or days, to dramatically increase efficiency and reduce costs through automation. Business users gain the freedom and flexibility to access their desktops from any device, anywhere, anytime, for increased productivity. For more information, visit www.StratusWorX.com
SOURCE StratusWorX


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Max Parrot Snowboard Training
Max Parrot is an Olympic Slopestyle silver medalist and 5 times X Games gold medalist. He was recently in Whistler and we caught up with him to see how he trains when he isn't on the slopes.
Check the full edit below to see what went down.
(Riding: Max Parrot. Film/Edit: Adison MacDonald. Filmed At: Whistler Bounce)
As you probably know, Max is one of the best snowboarders on the planet and dominates contests all over the world with his smooth style and consistency to land some of the hardest tricks. This guy absolutely rips!
In his off season, Max keeps refining his technique and style. It's no surprise, he loves the Tramp Board for all his jump training and the Jib Board for his jib training. Check out the gallery below and grab your very own training set up now.
Max tweaking out a proper Japan Grab. Get the pencils out and take some notes on how to really tweak it.
Max locking in and styling it out.
We're giving you $15 off your whole order so you can get the same gear pro snowboarders train with. Use coupon TRAINLIKEAPRO.
Happy shredding!
Snowboard Addiction
Our Goal Is To Improve Your Riding


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Author: Laurie Wetzel
eBook, 327 Pages
Published in 2015 by Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal Fantasy
Synopsis: After surviving an attack from a demon that killed her friend, Maddy Page thought the worst was over.
It's not.
Word is spreading through the supernatural world about Maddy, the mortal girl with rare gifts. Some want to use her powers; others want to destroy her. One wants to protect her—her boyfriend, an angel named MJ.
MJ knows that the demon that attacked Maddy was sent to collect her by someone very powerful. Someone he has tried and failed to stop before. MJ can't beat him, but he will do whatever it takes to keep Maddy safe, even if it means turning his back on his own kind.
My Review: Okay, I liked this book as much as I liked Unclaimed. I probably read it even faster, as I needed some answers! The story of Maddy and MJ flows easily to this second book in the series. It's almost as if they are one book, which I appreciate. Sometimes you dig into a sequel and you are either inundated with information you already know, or you are completely lost from the start. That doesn't happen here. It is a seamless transition.
Wetzel's writing is still on par. In this book Maddy and MJ are still desperate to be together while at the same time unable to completely trust each other with their secrets. Maddy is trying to learn more about herself and her abilities, and MJ is trying to prevent all out war on earth.
When I got to the end of the book, I was shocked. Not by the story (although there is plenty of tense moments), but because I wasn't ready for it to end! I actually went back a page and then forward and couldn't believe I was staring at the Acknowledgements! I wanted, no, needed to know what happens next! Quite a cliffhanger we are left with. I am sure the 3rd book will be worth the wait, but time will drag on until then.
Another great book by Ms. Wetzel. Please hurry with #3!
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author free of charge in exchange for an honest review.


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Mens Lipogaine is a unique custom minoxidil formulation that contains the maximum minoxidil strength approved by the FDA. Lipogaine is a proprietary blend that not only has minoxidil but also contains both possible DHT blocking ingredients as well as ingredients which may stimulate hair growth. The DHT blockers contained in Lipogaine are azetinol, saw palmetto extract, beta-sitosterol, oleic acid, and linolenic acid. The growth stimulating ingredients are biotinyl-tripeptide, niacin, and apple polyphenol. On top of all those beneficial added ingredients, Lipogaine contains biotin, niacin, and vitamin B6 and B12.
Whether you are a first time user of minoxidil or have been using regular 5% minoxidil for a while, Lipogaine is for you. As a new user you can start using Lipogaine knowing that you are using a product that contains an ingredient that is FDA approved for hair growth but also added ingredients to maximize your fight against hair loss. If you are a long term user and notice regular 5% minoxidil formulas are losing their effectiveness you may want to start using Lipogaine for men. Many users also use both, for example using a product such as Kirkland or Rogaine once in the day and Lipogaine for the second application.


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You may be remembered the post I wrote in September about Gianvito Rossi. I went to Biondini on the Champs-Elysées in order to see the collection but they didn't receive it and furthermore didn't know a lot about it. Well, I was thinking about a trip to Milan (I think a lot about Milan...) and finaly there's no reason to wait until there because Gianvito Rossi settled down in Paris, rue du Mont Thabor, about two weeks ago in one of Maria Luisa's boutique. A beautiful and spacious shop, in a powder pink and beige harmony, where you feel so comfortable that you just want to sit down and try all the shoes on.
I like the idea that if someone comes with you, he can have a good time reading Guido Crepax's Valentina adventures and don't bother if your fitting takes times. For those who don't know Crepax works well let's say that he had great talent to design shoes as you can see in this post by Pinupmania.


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NESEL Assignment Help
NESEL Assignment Help
NESEL was first developed and designed in the in scandal project which was being run in 1993. It is basically said to be a parallel programming language as it amalgamates many other algorithms, functional and array programming. In the ever revolutionizing environment of information technology, this language is also changing and adopting the new patterns. The ideas behind NESEL are modernized and changed after some intervals and the two of the main ideas behind NESEL these days are mentioned bellow:
The main guidelines given to the designers of NESEL were to make it easy and portable parallel programming language. The algorithms in NESEL were designed to be very sophisticated as well as brief to make it short and snappy. Our NESEL Assignment Help will guide you through all the problems that you may face throughout your course. We mean to give a helping hand to students who are the victim of extra burdens of studies and work at the same time. Handing over your assignments and projects to us will surely decrease your stress level and you can focus on your work and other class activities.
At Students Assignments, we have thoroughly covered the following topics of NESEL in NESEL Homework Help:
2. Parallel operations
3. Nested parallelism
4. Sparse Matrix Multiplication
5. Planar Convex-Hull
Fulfilling the pledges services:
Students Assignments provides the superlative services for NESEL Assignment Help to our customers and we focus on being sincere to our customers at any cost. We have a proper return policy and do not get payment for plagiarized or wrongly done homework if there is any but we have a record of doing perfect work at the same time. We do not believe in just running the business but we focus on making long term relationship with our customers because these relationships end in developing unbreakable trust between us. This bond with our customers is the only thing on which we rely for the success of our business.
Native English speaking writers:
We employee only those people who are native English speaker and there are strong reasons behind this rule. Only native English speakers can properly communicate with our customers for NESEL Homework Help and this communication has a very important role in delivering the right thing to customers. Poor communication skills can lead to disastrous results for customers as well as for us because nothing can be done after the deadline is finish.
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If you have any question in your mind, please don't hesitate asking from because we will give you the best possible and satisfied options to choose.


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Wilmington still can't reach deal on ballpark plan
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The ballpark and baseball in Wilmington. It is certainly not a short story, and now with no final agreement, City Council cannot vote at its meeting Tuesday.
"It's a lot of details to work out," Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said. "We thought we would have it by the 29th. We thought we'd have it by the first meeting of September. But is looks like we will have to have this delayed. One of the commitments we made as a council is that we would investigate this thoroughly. We are going to go through the contract line by line. There are items in there that we agree with, and there are items that we do not agree with."
This week we learned Ripken Design, which the city once considered to do a feasibility study on baseball in the Port City, talked with county leaders about the possibility of building a ballpark and retail complex along the Cape Fear River. But what about the city?
"I haven't heard anything from the Ripken group," Saffo said. "Right now the only group that we have out here is the Braves and Mandalay. That's the exclusive that we are working with. Mandalay has an exclusive to this area, and to take care of this area, if they want to give up that option and bring in the Ripken group, that would be another discussion for another day. Right now our agreement is with Mandalay and the Braves, and that's who we are working with."
The agreement with Mandalay and the Braves, though, gives that group exclusive rights to explore bringing a minor league baseball team to the city. The Ripken discussion with the county was only about developing a ballpark.
The mayor calls the negotiations with Mandalay and the Braves a work in progress, and he believes that the city is moving forward. The vote on an agreement has been moved back to the September 18 council meeting.


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Taxicab Geometry
Angles / Trigonometry
Length / Area / Volume
The Taxicab Metric
Other Resources
News / Updates
Kevin's Corner
Geometric Figures > Circles
Having changed the Euclidean metric, even very simple geometric figures take on new forms. The circle is the poster child for taxicab geometric figures.
One description of a circle is the set of all points equidistant from a fixed point. To begin investigating the shape of a circle in taxicab geometry, we could begin with two points and try to understand how to move off of one of the points to another point while keeping the distance to the second point constant.
Therefore, begin with two points (Figure 1). If we begin moving from one of the points in a horizontal direction towards the other point, the taxicab distance will get smaller. To keep the distance constant, we must move in the vertical direction an equal amount to increase the distance and compensate for the horizontal movement. So, distance is kept constant by moving along lines of slope 1 or -1.
FIGURE 1: Finding a path in taxicab geometry to keep
the distance to a fixed point constant.
Extending this observation, we see that the set of all points equidistant from a central point is now a square with its edges oriented 45 degrees to the horizontal (Figure 2).
FIGURE 2: A taxicab circle of radius 1.
The Equation of a Circle
For a circle of radius r centered at a point (h,k), any point (x,y) on the circle must be a distance r from the center. This is simply the definition of a circle. So, using the taxicab distance formula, the distance from (h,k) to a point (x,y) on the circle is
This is the general equation for a taxicab circle of radius r centered at (h,k).
The Value of π
If we maintain the Euclidean definition of the constant π being the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, we see from the unit circle in Figure 2 that the value of π in taxicab geometry is πt = 8/2 = 4.
Circumference of Circle
The circumference of the unit circle in Figure 2 is C = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8. If the radius of the circle is r, we have the general formula for the circumference of a taxicab circle which strikingly resembles the Euclidean formula for a Euclidean circle:
[1] Euler, Russell and Jawad Sadek. The πs Go Full Circle, Mathematics Magazine, Vol. 72, No. 1 (Feb 1999), pp. 59-63.
[2] Krause, Eugene F. Taxicab Geometry: An Adventure in Non-Euclidean Geometry, 1975.
Question or comments? Email the .
Taxi cab clip art courtesy of DailyClipArt.net


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Bags review: trends, colors, size
Hello you bag addicted,
For the love of handbags, I checked almost all collections from the latest Fashion Weeks and put together the best designs, sorted by trends.
Trends for the 2015 bags
Here are the most important things to have in mind when buying a new bag this year.
- Match the bag with your coat, blazer or entire outfit.
- Strong colors! Don't be afraid and choose red, yellow or electric green for your handbag.
- The two-colors (or double zipper) handbags will be a hit!
- Fur bags and cross-body bags are still in, but check the photos for more tricks!
- Clutches are either small, as phone cases, or very big
Check out the photos and see where you can buy what!
Match your bag with your coat
Two colors bags
Bucket and Fringed Bags
Strong colors
Crossbody bags
Fur handbags
Waist belt bags
When it comes to clutches there are too extremes: they are either as small as a wallet or phone case, or almost as big as a normal handbag. The trick with the big clutches is to hold them under your arm as if they were something not so important (makes you appear cooler!)
Which style is your favorite?


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In the mid 1800s, not many (non-native) Americans had ever been west of the Mississippi. When Frederick Law Olmstead visited the west in the 1850s, he remarked that the plains looked like a sea of grasses that moved "in swells after a great storm." Massive herds of buffalo wandered the plains. Cowboys shepherded cattle across long stretches of no man's land. It was truly the wild and unmanaged west, but it was all about to change, due, in large part, to one very simple invention that would come to be known as "the devil's rope."
From the colonial era through the early 19th Century, the middle of the United States was populated mainly by Native Americans and a growing population of cowboys, or "cattlemen" as they were often called. Most of the American west was divided into "territories" and, apart from Texas, most of the land was owned by the federal government. The middle swath of the country was so unexplored that it was often labeled on maps as "The Great American Desert."
Courtesy of Joanne Liu from her book Barbed Wire: The Fence that Changed the West.
Govee Smart Humidifier
4L Large Capacity
This 4L smart humidifier from Govee is Wi-Fi enabled and can be set to turn on with a schedule or even voice-controlled with Alexa or Google Assistant. They also are great for aromatherapy. Just add your favorite essential oils like lavender or eucalyptus to the base chamber to transform your living space into a cozy, soothing atmosphere.
Then in the mid-1800s, a notion of manifest destiny swept the nation—the idea that the United States could, and should, span coast to coast. The U.S. government wanted farmers to move west, because farmers, unlike cattlemen, would establish communities and build permanent settlements. In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, offering 160 acres of free land to anyone who settled and farmed it for five years.
Credit: W.D. Johnson, 1897.
Would-be settlers started heading west in droves but they quickly encountered a problem: fencing. In that great "sea of grasses," there weren't many trees to use for lumber, so although the land was fertile, there was no way to stop the many cattle from trampling and destroying crops.
Farmers tried using thick and thorny Osage orange hedges for fencing, but they take about five years to grow, making them largely impractical.
Osage orange. Credit: Steven Serveringhaus.
Settlers also tried smooth wire fencing, but the cattle could bust through it. People were getting frustrated; many abandoned their homesteads.
Fencing became a hot topic among newspapers, agricultural publications, and the government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture the Land Office published a study in 1871, which found that it was impossible to settle the west because of a lack of fences.
But then came the solution: barbed wire.
Credit: Logan King.
Many different patent applications for barbed-wire-like fences were filed around this time. The below image shows some of the various designs:
Courtesy of The Devil's Rope Museum.
But the barbed wire design that ultimately won-out and caught on was by Joseph Glidden. His design had sharp metal barbs twisted around a strand of smooth wire, with a second intertwined piece of wire so that the barbs couldn't slide around.
Patent drawing for Joseph F. Glidden's Improvement to barbed wire.
Glidden's design took off, and by 1876, his company was producing nearly three million pounds of barbed wire annually.
Joseph Glidden, as featured in Prairie Farmer magazine in 1884.
Before barbed wire divided up the west, the cattlemen had mostly been watching and laughing as the farmers struggled with their shrub-fencing. Before the settlers arrived, the west operated under "the law of the open range." Though it was never officially legislated, "the law of the open range" was respected and understood widely in the west. Cattlemen needed the land to be open so that cattle had access to grazing lands and water. This was especially true during the long trail drives cowboys did to move cattle to larger cities where they'd be put on trains for export to the east coast.
Credit: National Park Service.
Barbed wire fences were in direct contradiction to "the law of the open range" and also could injure or maim cattle. There were attempts design a more "humane" barbed wire – it was made to be easier for cattle to see and avoid, but it didn't catch on.
The blocks of wood in this design were meant to help cattle see the barbed wire. Courtesy of The Devil's Rope Museum.
In any case, the cattlemen weren't happy, and relations became tense between farmers and cattlemen.
The musical Oklahoma! even has a song about this tension, "The Farmer and the Cowman":
The chorus of the song implores all "territory folks" to stick together, but in reality cowboys and farmers wouldn't become friends for a while. The cattlemen resented the farmers as they put up more and more fences. And that's what lead to the fence-cutting wars.
In 1881, cattlemen started cutting down fences that farmers were putting around land that they didn't have a rightful claim to. The cattlemen cut fences at night with masks on, and they formed fence-cutting gangs with names like The Owls, The Blue Devils and The Land League. Eventually, the gangs would start cutting legally-erected fences as well. Most of the damage thereof was in property value, but a few shooting deaths were attributed to this feud.
Credit S. D. Butcher, 1885.
Eventually the federal government and the state of Texas intervened, and the fence cutting died down around 1885.
Credit: Forest and Kim Starr.
But the fencing off of the west didn't just disrupt the cow population—it also had an effect on buffalo herds. During the 1800s, the buffalo that roamed the American West died off in huge numbers, in part because settlers were killing them for their hides, but also because barbed wire impeded the buffalo's access to grazing lands and water.
Before white people lived in the west, there were an estimated 65 million buffalo roaming the plains. By the end of the century, there were fewer than a thousand.
Pile of bison skulls to be used for fertilizer. Circa 1870 Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.
The extinction of the buffalo in turn ruined an entire way of life for the Native American tribes that followed the migration of the buffalo. Native Americans ultimately came to refer to the wire as "the devils rope."
By the end of the century, the west was covered in "the devil's rope," And shortly thereafter, Europe would also be covered in it, but in a very different context. In World War I, barbed wire would become infamous in trench warfare; in World War II, barbed wire became the emblem of concentration camps.
Japanese prisoner of war in 1945.
Barbed wire's history has mostly been about control, possession and separation but there is one instance where barbed wire was used not to separate us, but to connect us.
Right around the same time that barbed wire was invented, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. At first, telephone companies were laying telephone wire in cities, but they weren't interested in the rural market. Still, farmers also needed phones, which meant that they needed a network of wires to connect the farms. Barbed wire fences could serve this purpose. The barbed wire couldn't transmit a signal quite as clearly as a nice insulated copper wire, but for many years, they did the trick. A dozen or so farms might be connected on one system and for about 25 dollars, farmers could buy a kit to rig themselves into the network. In 1907 there were 18,000 independent telephone cooperative serving nearly a million and half people. Because of this, farmers were some of the earliest adopters of telephone technology.
Credit: Matt.
By the 1930s, the national Bell Telephone system had penetrated into the remote rural regions of the West and Midwest. Farmers no longer had to create their own telephone collectives, and barbed wire went back to doing what it does best: keeping us in, keeping us out.
99% Invisible, the greatest podcast of all time, is a tiny radio show about design, architecture & the 99% invisible activity that shapes our world. You can Like them on Facebook here or follow them on Twitter here. To subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, head over here.
This post has been republished with permission from Roman Mars. It was originally published on 99% Invisible's blog, which accompanies each podcast.


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This Unique Restaurant In Alabama Will Give You An Unforgettable Dining Experience
There are lots of places to get amazing food in Alabama, but did you know that Alabama is also home to one of the world's most unusual restaurants? Atmosphere is very important in a restaurant, and the Rattlesnake Saloon in Tuscumbia has the ultimate atmosphere.
The land has been in the Foster family since the 1930s, and the cave where the restaurant now sits was once a hog pen. Lucky for us, the Fosters created the nearby Seven Springs Lodge, which of course, needed a saloon. Over the years, the restaurant evolved into the Old West-themed saloon you'll find now. It may have a Western theme, but there's plenty of Southern Hospitality. Guests rave about the good food, good service, incredible views, and lots of live music.
Since opening as the Rattlesnake Saloon n 2009, it has been featured in several publications and has become one of the area's top attractions. The saloon is open February through November, Thursdays through Saturdays, and on Sundays as well, from April through September.
Still not sure if you want to visit the Rattlesnake Saloon? Check out some photos of the restaurant below:
For more information or to plan your visit, check out rattlesnakesaloon.net.
Have you ever visited this unique Alabama restaurant? What do you think is the most unique restaurant in Alabama?


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Our recent Club Officer's Training was held at Gamuda Learning Centre courtesy of the Gamuda TMC who also happens to host Division D Kahuna Aaron Chan (the thumbs up guy in the pic below) - Thank you for your generosity and leadership.
DUTM TMC Officers turned up in full force for this training and we all had a fun time learning our roles and responsibilities as well as making new friends.
When Toastmasters take their roles seriously.🔺
The D'Utama TMC Officers full contingent plus a couple of former ones 🔺
Taking up office allows you to the opportunity to expand your horizons further and then some. Talk to us if you want to know more.
Until the next COT,
The D'Utama Team.


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Select Trip
Select Date
Your details
Lunch on the boat.
with Güi Güi beach view.
and see wild sea animals very close range.
After you have made your reservation ,you will receive an email with your ticket and a Code,that you can either print out or show the code at the pickup.
We understand that you might want to change your date ,afterall you are on holiday and everything should be easy!Call us and we try to change the date for your excursion.


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100% Guaranteed - 60 Days
Our rock solid guarantee makes sure you're completely happy. If you're not absolutely thrilled with this course, refund or exchange it for up to 60 full days. Try it out, you have nothing to lose!
Our community demanded it, and we're proud to announce it's here! The Serum Jumpstart Sound Design Masterclass is our most epic and insane project ever.
Our whole team has been working furiously on this Masterclass for over a year now and the result is something UNPRECEDENTED. We did months of research into advanced learning hacks and built this technology into Serum Jumpstart.
All these hacks accelerate learning, increase understanding, and activate new neural pathways in your brain. You'll learn more about sound design in Serum, faster, and more completely than any other course.
You'll also know with confidence that you'll remember what you're learning and be able to apply it when it counts in the studio. After taking this course you'll be able to:
The goal of Serum Jumpstart is to have sound design become your new SUPERPOWER, so Warp Academy spent months researching the best way to learn this difficult, but essential skill. You see, it wasn't enough for them to make "just another course" on Serum. This needed to be an absolute masterpiece, and anything less was unacceptable.
They studied how people best learn new languages and complex skills. Their research took them on a wild journey! It revealed special techniques to hack the learning curve and ensure that what you're learning is stored in long-term memory. It's not what you learn, but what you can REMEMBER, that matters.
It wasn't easy building a Masterclass to these standards. Serum Jumpstart took over 4 times longer to build than a regular course. Why? Read on friend…
Serum Jumpstart uses a cutting-edge format called "micro-learning" where each video is a bite-sized chunk (5 minutes or less) and only on a single, focused topic. This means you can easily crush a couple of videos and make real progress towards your goal – even when you only have a few moments.
This Masterclass uses another special ninja-technique called "spaced repetition". Key information is given to you not once, but FOUR times. This means that going through the course only once gives you as much knowledge as going through another regular course four times over. It helps the information sink in faster and more deeply for long-term recall.
We also discovered that your brain stores memories in three ways: seeing something, hearing something, and then doing it. When you integrate all three of these learning styles, you maximize the number of neural pathways you're building and the memory is "stickier".
Serum Jumpstart uses a special combination of video instruction, audio examples, and – most importantly – specific and structured practice exercises. This activates all three styles of learning and builds the strongest memories.
Bottom line? All these hacks accelerate learning, increase understanding, and activate new neural pathways in your brain. You'll learn more about sound design in Serum, faster, and more completely than any other course.
You'll also know with confidence that you'll remember what you're learning and be able to apply it when it counts in the studio. We're so sure of this that we guarantee it. If you don't get these results within 60 days, we'll fully refund you.
Let us ask you this…
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, then this is EXACTLY why Serum Jumpstart was built. It's so much more than an "online course". It's a complete system to transform your skills as a sound designer.
Before You Begin
Module 1 | Welcome to Serum Jumpstart
Module 2 | Serum Introduction and Overview
Module 3 | Oscillator Panel A and B
Module 4 | Additional Oscillators
Module 5 | Filters
Module 6 | FX
Module 7 | Modulation
Module 8 | Audio Rate Modulation
Module 9 | The Mod Matrix Window
Module 10 | Global View
Module 11 | Wavetable Creation
Module 12 | Reverse Engineering Presets
Module 13 | Completing Serum Jumpstart
Warp Academy is an amazing spot for producers to learn the skills they need to succeed as quickly as possible. Sound design, songwriting, mixing & mastering, they've got tons of expert-level training from pro instructors. If you're serious about music production, Warp is a smart move.
- Nick Middleton | The Funk Hunters | Westwood Recordings
I would describe Warp Academy with one word. Wisdom. To me, knowing the facts as well as having the experience to back up those facts is the essence of wisdom. And at Warp Academy you're learning from professionals who not only have their facts straight, they also have real life music industry experience. Get wise at Warp!
- Slynk - DJ / Producer / Youtube Educator
Warp Academy has long been in my top 5 for spots to learn how to produce electronic music. Their attention to detail and clarity of expression makes their work extremely easy to digest. See for yourself why they've risen above the crowd. You won't regret it.
- iLL.Gates | Producer Dojo
I love working with the professional and talented people at Warp Academy. If you're looking for fast, actionable info about music production, then this is the place to start. Regardless of your skill level, these guys have you covered with awesome training, sounds, and software.
- Tom Frampton | Audio engineer | CEO, Mastering the Mix
Warp Academy is ideal for someone to learn from the ground up and at their own pace. They have some of the best instructors and are experts at everything related to music production. I always learn something new when I watch their videos. Warp Academy represents the "music production masterclass" concept at it's very best.
- David Starfire | Music producer | SUBPAC Ambassador
I've learned so much from the team at Warp Academy. They are a world-class music production community that has tutorials, courses, live-streams, and trainings to take your production to the next level. Warp Academy's trainers are seasoned professionals with vast knowledge and experience.
- Jesse Brede | Gravitas Recordings & Gravitas Create Founder


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It's the heat of the summer and the last thing you probably want to do is turn on your oven. I got the idea to make a dessert dip when I had a Dip Party at work. Everyone made their own dip, but to my surprise there were only three dessert dips including my own. I made a Samoa Cheesecake Dip for a work party, and let me tell you it was a huge hit. If you're not a coconut fan, any dip on this list is sure to be a crowd pleaser on a hot summer day, or for your next Netflix binge.
1. Cookie Dough Dip
This dip tastes just like chocolate chip cookies without turning on the oven. You can dip pretzels, graham crackers, or even pre-baked chocolate chip cookies if you'd like.
2. Peanut Butter Brownie Dip
Chocolate and peanut butter, is there really any better combination? This is the perfect dip for the brownie and peanut butter lover in your life.
3. Dunkaroo Dip
This dip will bring back memories from one of your favorite childhood snacks. Plus, it's super easy to make with only three ingredients.
4. Warm Apple Pie Dip
A deconstructed apple pie perfect for those who specifically love the filling in an apple pie and for those just eager to get into the fall spirit. And the crust gets made into chips perfect for dipping.
5. Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Coconut, and Yogurt Dip
This dip is the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Plus, it's healthy for you! Best served with homemade banana chips, or any fruit of your choosing.
6. Coconut Key Lime Cheesecake Dip
Key lime pie is the perfect summer dessert, but you can nix the oven in the summer heat and opt for this delicious dip instead.
7. Cannoli Dip
If you grew up in an Italian family, you know nothing beats cannolis. Especially the filling. Make this dip to satisfy your cannoli craving.
8. Mug S'mores Dip
I'm sure you all know of the famous oven-baked s'mores dip. Beat the heat (and the time) by using your microwave to make this dip.
9. Samoa Cheesecake Dip
This dessert dip is a take on one of your favorite Girl Scout cookies. It's full of caramel cream cheese, hot fudge, and toasted coconut.
10. Cookies and Cream Dessert Dip
This dip will satisfy your craving for cookies and cream ice cream. Dip in waffle cone pieces or Oreos for an added bonus.
11. Peanut Butter and Peeps S'mores Dip
Okay, so you are going to have to cheat and use your oven for this dip. There's nothing better than a skillet s'mores dip, especially if it's made with peanut butter cups and Peeps.
12. Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Dip
Chocolate and peanut butter lovers rejoice because this is the perfect dip for you. This dip is incredibly simple, and I bet you won't be able to resist eating it right from the bowl.
13. Chocolate-Dipped Oreo Cheesecake Truffles
Although this isn't technically a dip, you are dipping something. These Oreo balls were a huge hit at my Dip Party so I definitely nominate them to be on this list of dessert dips. Super easy and delicious.
14. Oreo Peanut Butter Dip
If you've made it to the bottom of this list you're probably thinking, another peanut butter dip? But this isn't just another peanut butter dip; this is one of the most popular dips on Pinterest. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself.
15. Red Velvet Cheesecake Dip
For all the red velvet lovers out there, this dip is perfect for you. This dip uses a red velvet cake mix and requires only five ingredients.


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Scoble's FriendFeed List Highlights Tablet PC Freaks
I'm honored to be a freak. So is Rob. The ubiquitous Robert Scoble has created a ""hand-picked list of the people who provide the most interesting tech blogging/tweeting/FriendFeeding.†Rob and I both made Scoble's list. It is good to see that Scoble is still something of a Tablet PC freak (he was a big advocate back in the day), as he listed a number of other Tableteers he follows including the First Family of Tablet PCs, Lora, Layne, and Loren Heiny, and James Kendrick.
Scoble's list is a who's who of tech bloggers, many of whom I regularly follow and quite a few who get linked to regularly on the pages of GBM.
FriendFeed is becoming an intriguing aggregator of information as it allows users to compile a feed of info from blogs, Twitter, Identi.ca, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and others from 43 services. It can be noisy at times, but it can also be an effective way of following the content and personalities of those you are interested in now that many publish content on a variety of platforms.
GBM has a room in FriendFeed, and you can follow myself, Rob, Matt Faulkner, and Truc Bui on our personal feeds as well.
So, from one freak to another, thanks, Scoble.
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4 Marketing Mistakes Hospitals Should Avoid At All Costs
As competition in the online healthcare market continues to increase, hospitals should avoid these digital marketing mistakes in order to keep the upper hand.
Inbound Marketing for Medical Devices: Mistakes to Avoid
More and more companies are turning to an Inbound marketing strategy as we approach 2015 and the Medical Device industry is no different. An important aspect to any marketing strategy no ...
3 Great Topics for Physicians New to Podcasting
Podcasts can be a great way for physicians to create relevant, engaging content for patients. Podcast content can be integrated into a variety of the physician's existing marketing efforts, such as a website or social media. If you have a physician ...
5 Strategic Digital Options for Medical Device Marketing
Today's medical device manufacturers are in a state of evolution. Although they are part of a $350 billion dollar industry that provides products to a growing aging population, government changes to Medicare reimbursement and increased competition ...


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A young thief of Fagin's who is always joking and laughing, Bates undergoes a moral transformation in the novel: from ironic young criminal to defender of goodness after Bates realizes Sikes has killed Nancy. Bates ends the novel having given up crime and taken on a series of difficult jobs, working in the fields.
Charley Bates Character Timeline in Oliver Twist
The timeline below shows where the character Charley Bates appears in Oliver Twist. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
The Dodger returns to the apartment with a "sprightly" boy he introduces to Oliver as Charley Bates. Fagin asks what the Dodger and Bates have "made" that morning, and the Dodger... (full context)
Fagin then plays a "game" with the Dodger and Bates, wherein he puts on a large coat, filled with trinkets and baubles, and challenges the... (full context)
Chapter 10
...plays the "wipes" game with Fagin, but is not allowed to accompany the Dodger and Bates on their work. Finally, Fagin allows Oliver to go out with them, since there has... (full context)
...Dodger steal the old man's handkerchief out of his pocket, and immediately the Dodger and Bates run away. Oliver is horrified and doesn't know what to do. He quickly realizes where... (full context)
Bates and the Dodger, to avoid suspicion, also raise the cry of "Stop, thief!" shouted by... (full context)
...drags Oliver to the police station nearby. The old man follows along. The Dodger and Bates slink merrily away, undetected, knowing they have framed Oliver for their crime. (full context)
Chapter 11
...culprit. The bookseller states that he saw two other boys with Oliver, the Dodger and Bates, and that they conspired to steal the handkerchief—Oliver had nothing to do with it. Fang... (full context)
Chapter 12
...chair. The narrator takes advantage of Oliver's faint to describe the whereabouts of the Dodger, Bates, and Fagin. (full context)
The Dodger and Bates have slipped away from the scene of the crime, and once they are clear of... (full context)
Chapter 13
Fagin yells at the Dodger and Bates, asking what has become of Oliver; the Dodger finally replies that Oliver has been taken... (full context)
...Pentonville. Nancy takes this information back to Fagin, who dispatches Sikes, Nancy, the Dodger, and Bates to find Oliver and Brownlow, before Oliver tells the gentleman any information about Fagin and... (full context)
Chapter 16
...and Sikes eventually lead Oliver to a new safehouse, where Fagin is now hiding with Bates, the Dodger, and the other boys. The Dodger and Bates see Oliver from out the... (full context)
Oliver leaps up and tries to escape the apartment. Fagin, the Dodger, and Bates run after him. Sikes tries to send his dog after them, but Nancy blocks the... (full context)
Bates and the Dodger take Oliver's nice clothes and switch him into shabbier ones. Bet arrives... (full context)
Chapter 18
Slowly, the Dodger and Bates begin visiting Oliver in the locked room, and Oliver shines the Dodger boots and does... (full context)
The Dodger and Bates ask Oliver why he doesn't simply apprentice in the trade of thievery with Fagin, but... (full context)
Bates and the Dodger sing the praises of the criminal lifestyle, and the Dodger tells Oliver... (full context)
For the next several weeks, Fagin surrounds Oliver with Bates and the Dodger, hoping they can convince Oliver to give in to a life of... (full context)
Chapter 25
Back at Fagin's apartment, Bates, the Dodger, and Chitling are playing hands of whist, a card game, with one another.... (full context)
The Dodger and Bates continue teasing Chitling about Bet, as they believe Chitling has taken a liking to her.... (full context)
Chapter 39
...into a fight, for which neither is strong enough, and Nancy faints just as Fagin, Bates, and the Dodger enter—they help Nancy and get her water, while Sikes inquires as to... (full context)
As Fagin begins his explanation, Bates and the Dodger empty food for Sikes and Nancy out of their sacks. Sikes is... (full context)
Chapter 40
...to Fagin; Monks saw Oliver on the street on the day when the Dodger and Bates robbed Brownlow (by coincidence), and from this time on Monks promised Fagin money if Fagin... (full context)
Chapter 43
Charley Bates comes to Fagin to inform him that the police have additional evidence against the... (full context)
Fagin's description of the Dodger's fame seems to assuage Charley a bit, and they realize they need someone to witness the Dodger's trial. No one... (full context)
Chapter 50
...management of the Cripples have also been arrested (along with Noah and Charlotte), and that Bates, still free for now, is on his way to the safehouse. (full context)
...bounding into the safehouse, followed some hours later by Sikes, who now resembles a "ghost." Bates, who has arrived at the safehouse in the interim (between the dog and Sikes), will... (full context)
Bates attempts to grapple with Sikes and turn him over to the authorities himself. He cannot... (full context)
Chapter 52
...can barely sleep. He begins hallucinating that he is still commanding the group of boys, Bates and Oliver included. Then Brownlow arrives with Oliver, and Fagin wonders why they have come... (full context)
Chapter 53
...once managed. Giles and Brittles stay on to help in the Maylies' new home, and Bates, having repented for a life of crime, takes on a series of difficult jobs, mostly... (full context)


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Yesterday we briefly looked at the definition of blessing and intentionality, both vital starting places, and essential on our journey into the realm of power-blessings (see here).
Today, we look, briefly (and it is only a brief overview of a vast theme), at the energy behind such blessings, what it is, and why and how it can be visualised.
'Your longing desires to take you towards the absolute realization of all the possibilities that sleep in the clay of your heart; it knows your eternal potential, and it will not rest until it is awakened. Your longing is the divine longing in human form.' John O'Donohue
There is a school of thought that says the universe is a 'vast sea of energy'. Not just 'up there' and out in the furthest reaches of the galaxy and beyond, but also in the space and locations we inhabit, and, indeed, the matter out of which we are made. All of it is energy of one sort or another.
That means that we're part of the universe and have access to its power. But, there's more. Ken Wilber calls us 'holons'. A holon (Greek: ὅλον, ὅλος, holos, meaning "whole") is something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. The word was used by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine (1967).
Part and yet whole/all.
'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25;40b, The Book
We have our own intrinsic energy some say, and others might say the whole lot is 'borrowed' and comes from somewhere else, but it seems that we can share that energy, and it can be depleted, and be refilled. Refilled, from where? Opinions abound about 'external' sources.
Our energy? Another energy?
Some might not put too time into wondering where this source is, so long as the cycle of energy use, depletion and refilling is accomplished. Others, might say it comes from Universal energy, those who are from a sylvanic persuasion might say the energy comes from elementals or nature around us, others might say it comes from somewhere else, such as from angels or other benevolent beings of importance to the individual).
In each of these, if pressed, one would get a 'picture', or at last a good description of the source. Ofcourse, imagination comes into play here. Those who believe in a Universal energy store-house might picture a galaxy or the vast reaches of space, elemental energy-users might imagine a welcoming forest or forest inhabitants, an elemental and so on.
External and yet, internal.
'The most important matter for a practitioner is to be able to break through the veil of the material plane in order to enter the ultimate dimension and see the interconnection between us and all other phenomena in the world around us.' Thich Nhat Hanh,
So, when I put forward an 'Ouranic store-house' of energy 'above' us, and I do, I'm using picture-language, imagination and metaphor to describe something that, as those others already mentioned have found, is difficult to put into words, and we may well be describing exactly the same thing in different ways. So, please don't be upset if you have a different view to me – we can still learn from each other, and support each other.
It's metaphorical.
Ouranos is Greek for the sky, or some would say heaven (and therefore, the Source, for me, is God. However, the use of the word 'God' is much overused in our society, so I go 'further' and would say the Source is the Christ – who manifested 'himself' initially 15 billion years ago, and works also through the universe, nature, events etc), and for me this is apt. That's where, I believe, all real power and energy comes from. That's my metaphor.
Ofcourse, the more I describe that sore-house 'place', the more inaccurate my description will be. Who can sum up the infinite vastness and majesty of spiritual places, such as heaven, using mere words? Rhetorical question. If we can imagine it, it must be much more.
But, (somewhat cheekily) I'd like to declare that I visualise that heavenly or ouranic store-house of energy as a wonderful meadow, tall with ripe corn, just waiting to be harvested by anyone that needs or wants it, and the Field-Owner is happy with you and I harvesting its energy – infact, it is grown for that specific purpose.. Now, ofcourse, it is more that that, but maybe on this occasion an insufficient 'picture' is better than none? Metaphors really are important.
What if earth
Be but the shadow of Heaven, and things therein
Each to other like, more than on earth is thought?'
John Milton, Paradise Lost
However, you describe it, I do believe we can 'tap' into that energy to fill (or refill) ourselves with the express purpose of passing that energy, those power-blessings on to others. There are a number of ways to 'tap' into that energy, such as one (or maybe a mixture) of the following
- meditation (kataphatic)
- good works
- visualisation/imagination
- intentionality
- ritual (and you might like to get an inkling of power-ritual in this article poem – click here)
- liturgy
- prayer
- meditation (apophatic) etc.
So, for instance, in using ritual I unusually use my imagination and enter, liminally, into that blessing-place; and also physically might wear something special, or light a candle or ring a bell to signify the entering of sacred space. All metaphors – but important because they declare intentionality. Never diminish the imaginal (realm) or (physical) ritual, or liturgy. They open and close the path to amazing energy, and are the 'carrier waves' of power-blessings (as we will see tomorrow).
So, such energy comes from that store-house, for me it's an ouranic store-house, but it's more! Energy sounds so impersonal, just a matter of physics and mathematical equations, but I believe it's more.
Whether one accepts the idea of an Ouranic store-house, Universal store-house, elemental store-house etc, I do believe it's more than just being zapped with energy. The Giver is Personal, the Power is Personal, it's deeply experiential and meaningful, and our use of it as a conduit to other people, animals or nature etc is Personal.
That has repercussions when seeking that energetic infilling or refilling ourselves and using it for others. Responsibility is not a word that many like, but with tremendous power, responsibility is needed.
'Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely invoke? [We are like] children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness…we should all be wearing crash helmets.' Annie Dillard, Teaching A Stone To Talk
How to exercise that power, the ways and how to do so responsibly is the theme of tomorrow's article/blog.


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Michael Caine Has Finally Revealed The Truth Behind Inception's Ambiguous Ending
When you boil it down, ambiguous movie endings are just short-change. Derelictions of duty by writers and directors who can't be bothered to tie up their own loose ends.
Still, at least they allow you to pontificate at the pub for hours on end. And no film over the past decade has inspired as much debate as Inception, Christopher Nolan's mind-bending dreamscape thriller. The fates and realities of Leonardo DiCaprio's crack team were left up in the air by the end of the film, and fans have been speculating ever since.
Until now, that is. Michael Caine, who starred in the movie as Professor Stephen Miles, shed light on the last few seconds of the movie during a recent Inception screening in London.
"When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it, and I said to him, 'I don't understand where the dream is,'" Caine explained.
"I said, 'When is it the dream and when is it reality?' He said, 'Well, when you're in the scene it's reality.' So, get that—if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream."
Caine's involvement in the last few minutes of the movie means that, after all these years, Leo finally has his happy ending. And so do you.
This story originally appeared on Esquire.co.uk.
* Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.