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Think Outside Your Mental Models
When Colin Crook took over the top tech spot at Citicorp Inc., in late 1989, he thought he had it made. Working under legendary CEO John S. Reed, Crook had landed the CTO job at the country's largest bank. Fat with profits, Citicorp had an unbridled ambition to become the world's first global consumer-banking brand. At the time, he recalls, it was hard to imagine anything going wrong. In a few short months, however, he didn't have to use his imagination.
By the summer of 1990, it became apparent to the company, as well as to its shareholders and lenders, that Citicorp was in the midst of a mind-boggling capital crunch. Aggressive loans made to developing countries were faltering. And the company's leveraged-buyout and commercial real estate-lending businesses were under siege as a result of a weakening U.S. economy. Citicorp stock, once the best bet in the business, shed 51 percent of its value in just three months.
To say that Crook's perception of his new employer had changed is to grossly understate the professional anguish the prominent CTO underwent. "It was a phenomenal transformation," he remembers.
Eight years later, Crook left Citicorp in considerably better shape than he found it. And he credits his ability to adapt his "mental models" to the changing reality of the company's business climate. Thanks to Reed, a flexible and naturally curious CEO, and eight long years of cost-cutting, consolidation and forward-thinking technology decisions, the bank, renamed Citigroup Inc. after its 1998 merger with Travelers Group, once again enjoys an exalted status in the banking world.
Since his retirement in 1997, Crook has been working as a senior fellow at the Wharton School of Business, conducting research on so-called "mental models"the preconceived hypotheses by which people, including most business professionals, make decisionsand how those mental models can be altered to create adaptable businesses. Crook credits his own ability to change his thinking for some of the successes he enjoyed while engineering the technology turnaround at Citicorp throughout the 1990s, an effort that included aligning IT with the company's business goals and integrating its far-flung systems. And his research findings are lucidly explained in his recently published book, co-authored with Yoram Wind, entitled The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business (Wharton School Publishing, 2004).
Executive Editor Dan Briody tracked down Crook in the midst of his worldwide book tour to learn more about life at Citicorp and the role of mental models in modern business.
CIO Insight: Life at Citicorp didn't turn out the way you expected when you first took the job, did it?
CROOK: When I arrived, toward the end of 1989, Citicorp was this large, very successful financial institutionarguably the most profitable in the world. And I worked for CEO John Reed, who had a great reputation and hired a great group of people. Then suddenly, within about 18 months, we were in this sort of existential threat, and by that I mean a threat to the very existence of the bank. We were in very, very serious trouble. Even the government was worried about us.
And all of this engendered the most phenomenal journeyor transformationthat anyone could be fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to be engaged in. And it totally changed the public perception of what a CTO could do.
What was your role in that transformation?
When I joined the company, every unit was very successful, or at least they appeared to be, and so from a technological standpoint, we had classical stovepipes. Every line of business did its own thing. We had about 200 data centers around the world. Can you imagine that?
We had this fantastically disparate set of networks, all the software was different, and all the systems were duplicated left, right and center.
So as CTO, it started out as a major headache, looking at this and saying to the chairman, "Listen, this doesn't make a lot of technical sense, but also, and more important, it doesn't make a lot of business sense." So we began to engage in dialogues with all these lines of business. But to be blunt, all these guys had what I would now call mental models, which were "I'm running a very successful business, so get lost."
Then the financial picture changed?
Yes, then came the existential threat. John Reed told the company that we're going to have to do a turnaround, and that we're in desperate trouble. And suddenly the technology imperative became a corporate imperative, and it devastated all these parochial self-interests. Now, because the chairman said we have huge problems, it suddenly changed everybody's view of life.
So that gave you a mandate for technology change?
Correct. Three things happened that contributed to that. The first was this existential threat. I know it's horrible, but it's the most wonderful imperative to change things that simply could not be changed before. I mean, 200 data centers is ridiculous. And that was consolidated to around 20.
The second thing was that we needed to have one customer experience around the world, and you can't do that with 200 systems. We wanted to recognize the customer, any time they touched the bank anywhere, whether in Tokyo or London or New York.
And the third thing was that the world was in the midst of major technological change with the emergence of distributed computing. It was the alignment of these three things that suddenly made the CTO's job at this massive company actionable.
Were you able to cut costs while moving the technology forward?
We did. We're talking about 100 million customers. We're not talking about a few thousand accounts. So we had this massive data consolidation. Through that, we were able to integrate customer credit cards with retail banking and so on, so you could look at all the accounts online and integrate them. But the most important thing we did was to take out enormous costs, which, of course, was the whole reason for doing this. So because we were standardizing our software and eliminating all these duplicated banking systems, we took a lot of costs out of development groups, out of operations, and out of the technical infrastructure.
Let's talk about your book. What exactly is a mental model?
Mental models are the internal predetermined hypotheses you have about the way your world works. A mental model is the way you make sense of the world. People think that the way they operate is that they come into a situation and they look at it as though it is data, and then they analyze the data and make absolute sense of it.
But all the research has shown that the brain is hypothesis-driven, which means that people say, "Here's how I think the way things work"it's already predetermined in your head. Then you look at the data. The problems arise when the data really doesn't match your speculation, your hypothesis.
Are mental models a bad thing?
No, it's just the way we operate. That's why we're so successful. Evolution has given us this capacity to quickly size up a situation in less than a second and decide upon a very effective course of action. We're phenomenal at doing this. Computer scientists have tried to emulate and to recreate these capabilities, and it's extremely difficult.
But they can be limiting.
Absolutely. Especially when you begin to get experience, and that is the big threat for senior managers. "Been there, done that; been there, seen that." They start to categorize anything that's going on around them on the basis of their experience.
How is changing your mental model any different from "shifting your paradigm" or "thinking outside the box"?
We're looking at this in a comprehensive way based on the latest thinking in neuroscience and complexity theory. John Seeley Brown said, "It's more important now to make sense than to make products." That's a hell of a good phrase. The difference here is the mental-model approach that we've adopted gets down to a real core basis of how we work, and it's avoiding the fad issue, which we're all so vulnerable to.
This is pretty abstract stuff. Do you think CIOs can use this concept?
This is all based upon the research we did at Wharton. We put an immense amount of effort into giving lots of examples, in order to give it real, hard, practical traction, because we're a business school, and we're focused on actionable concepts.
So you're absolutely correct that the neuroscience and the underlying theory is quite, well, extremely complicated. The real issue, though, is how to make it communicable to practitioners. We wanted to make a cookbook, and not something that becomes so esoteric that people put it down.
What self-limiting mental models do you think CIOs suffer from today?
I think the CIO still suffers from being painted into a corner and not understanding the business issues. The profession has defined itself in a very unfortunate way, andat least it's my mental modeltechnology is so pervasive that the practitioner of IT has really got to become much more of a renaissance person, rather than the narrowly defined sort of person that used to be, say, the classic 1980s model.
What mental models are holding industries back today?
We were talking to the guys in the entertainment industry in Hollywood last January. Everything has changed in this business: the very business model, the way they thought about the consumer. And the consumers themselves have changed. All of a sudden, there were millions of self-empowered consumers, a lot of them very young people, sharing files. And this has become a major technological issue. But it's also a cultural issue and a major business issue. And guess what? The CIO ought to be right in the thick of those kinds of discussions.
Apple has finally come out and done something innovative. But a lot of the entertainment industry simply couldn't come to terms with the way the world was going. This is a classic mental model: Something's going on and I don't get it.
So much of a CIO's time is spent on day- to-day problems. How can they get the broader perspective they need to address these bigger issues?
When you're a CIO, you have to handle multiple sets of demands. You have to reprioritize and refocus constantly, according to the shifting dynamics of what's happening in the company. So what we prescribe is shifting the areas of focus until you make sense of it. When you want to take action, you pull back and look at the context. Then once you've got the context, you focus in again. It's called zooming in and zooming out.
If you don't understand the context of what the hell you're doing, you get into big problems. You have to discard this idea that there's only one absolute priority in your company. The world is simply too complicated. So if you're a CIO, you have to spend time making sure you know what's going on around you. At Citicorp, I had a program where once a quarter I would take John Reed to hang out for a day with interesting people. The idea was to keep plugged into what's going on in the world.
Any examples of companies in the IT industry that have changed their mental models?
It's a well-known example, but let's take Microsoft and the Internet. It was a classical mental-model example, whereby the lines of business really didn't want to come to terms with the Internet. And yet a lot of technical people inside Microsoft got it.
It took the chief architectwhich is what Gates's job really was even before he redefined himselfto go away for a couple of weeks and then come back and announce the vision. And suddenly everybody said, "Well, now we get it," because the chairman, Gates, this charismatic figure, suddenly got it. Then he transformed Microsoft. If they had not done that, this would have been a major, major issue for Microsoft.
And we'd be living in a Netscape world.
This article was originally published on 12-01-2004


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As dad captured, people from all over the world come to offer their Aloha, respect and solemn prayers to Pele and the wondrous power of Mother Earth. Gin is a popular offering. Sometimes I help Pele open the bottles people leave for her. Of course I share some with her. My boys found Simba the Lion in the rocks to the left of the vent. Good job! I am teaching them to recognize ho'ailona around them and to be observant...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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REAL ESTATE- ON THE BLOCK- Halls of Ivy: Big house has room to rumble
Address: 700 Ivy Farm Drive
Neighborhood: Ivy Farm
Asking: $740,000
Assessment: $624,900
Year Built: 1979
Size: 3,526 fin. sq. ft., 1,480 unfin.
Land: 2.98 acres
Agent: Marjorie Adam, Marjorie Adam Team Realtors 434-817-9573
Curb Appeal: 8 out of 10
In our market, it's easy to understand why sellers don't want to throw money at random upgrades like cabinetry. Why would they, when it's such a personal thing that buyers will likely change anyway? Even with the original cabinets, however, this cusp o' the '80s family home is spacious with enough amenities and storage to suit a large brood.
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This home has lots of shared living space. The family room off the foyer is high-profile, with a wood-burning fireplace and windows on three sides, but off the kitchen a small den is more private. A built-in desk with shelving is functional, and there's another fun feature that's practically invisible: a projector-based home theater system; window treatments hide the pull-down screen.
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Each week, a brave local seller invites the Hook to provide an impartial, warts-and-all look at their real estate listing. E-mail yours today!


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Assalaamu alaikum wa rahamtullahi wa barakaatuhu
The word "Al Hady" occurs twice in Al Baqara Ayaah 196.
I remember Dr Ayman mentioning something about a common mistake whilst reading this word and stopping on it, but can't recall the full details.
Could you elaborate please?
Jazaakallahu khairan.
Wassalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu
Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
We are not fully aware of what his eminence Ash-Sheikh Dr. Ayman, may Allah preserve him, mentioned about the word , but can speak on our own account about common mistakes or cautions needed when reading this word.
The word , or with different voweling: actually occurs three times in the aayah, and needs some care when reading in continuum to make sure the qalqalah of the is pronounced with no kasrah, and then the appropriate vowel put on the letter .
When stopping on the word however, extra special care needs to be taken, and this word is "heavy" to pronounce when stopping on it such as in the phrase:
(Al-Baqarah 196) .
There are two points that need to be taken into consideration when stopping on this word, the sukoon and qalqalah of the with no accompanying jaw or mouth movement and the saakinah following the saakinah. The reader then needs to take care to pronounce the qalqalah correctly, with no kasrah, and then make collision of the middle of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, ie, the articulation point of the without prolonging the , since there is no lengthening here.
A good way to practice stopping on this word is to say it up to the saakinah with the qalqalah several times, and then try and add the saakinah without changing the sound of the qalqalah on the .
The most common mistake then, when stopping on the word is putting a kasrah on the and prolonging the so that it becomes two vowel counts in length, or one of the two mistakes. Of course, these mistakes must be corrected by the reader since they change the vowels on the letters.
Wa iyyaaakum. Wa assalaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.


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EDMO brings together fact-checkers, media literacy experts and academic researchers to understand and analyse disinformation, in collaboration with media organisations, online platforms and media literacy practitioners.
Media Motor Europe (MME) is a brand new project aiming to become the "meeting place" between the supply side (ICT tech and deep-tech startups, scaleups and SMEs) and the demand side (Creative and media corporates, SMEs and Media houses) and offer the opportunity to SMEs and startups/scaleups to shape together with the Media houses and enterprises the industry models of tomorrow offering better
FogProtect delivers new and advanced architectures, technologies, and methodologies for ensuring end-to-end data protection across the computing continuum, from cloud data centres through fog nodes to end devices. The FogProtect solutions are generic and can be used in multiple contexts to support many types of applications and services.
Data plays a critical role in the validation of facts and finding new stories - provided that data can be easily analysed and understood. Getting the "gist" of a data source and quickly finding out what questions can be answered, is still a challenge.
IDIH – International Digital Health Cooperation for Preventive, Integrated, Independent and Inclusive Living is a project funded under the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, bringing together prominent organisations from EU and five Strategic Partner Countries, i.e.
The aim of SMART BEAR is to integrate heterogeneous sensors, assistive medical and mobile devices to enable the continuous data collection from the everyday life of the elderly, which will be analysed to obtain the evidence needed in order to offer personalised interventions promoting their healthy and independent living.
Digger is a project co-funded by Google under the Digital News Initiative programme, in which ATC joins forces with Deuthche Welle and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT) for creating tools that will help media organizations detect deepfakes and fight visual disinformation.
WeVerify is a project co-funded by the European Commission, which aims to develop intelligent tools for assessing the trustworthiness of digital content found online. A key output will be a collaborative, decentralised content verification, tracking, and debunking platform which aims to detect disinformation. By analyzing social media and web content through cross-modal content verification, social network analysis, micro-targeted debunking and a blockchain-based public database of known fakes, WeVerify will address the advanced content verification challenges and expose fabricated content.
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YDS Project (Your Data Stories), a project co-funded by the EU under H2020-INSO-1-2014 ICT-enabled open government programme aimed to meet the citizen and business needs by putting open data into good and innovative uses, promoting data use, re-use and re-purposing, ultimately enhancing transparency and corruption fighting.
SYMPHONY, a project co-funded by the EU under the 7th Framework programme, aims at providing a set of innovative ICT tools in strict cooperation with stakeholders and policy-makers, involved in the project to devise appropriate scenarios and modelling requirements.
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The PADGETS project (Policy Gadgets Mashing underlying Group Knowledge in Web 2.0 Media) aimed at bringing together two well established domains, the mashup architectural approach of web 2.0 for creating web applications (gadgets) and the methodology of system dynamics in analyzing complex system behavior.
OurSpace is based on the idea that the active involvement of young people in the process of socio-political decision-making plays a very important role in our societies. Therefore, OurSpace, aims to contribute towards bringing the EU closer to the youth by improving their role within the democratic system of the EC through the use of ICT.
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The vision of IASIS is to turn the wave of data heading our way into actionable knowledge for decision makers. This will be achieved by integrating data from disparate sources, including genomics, electronic health records and bibliography, and applying advanced analytics methods to discover useful patterns.
EVOTION project (EVidenced based management of hearing impairments: Public health pΟlicy making based on fusing big data analytics and simulaTION), a project co-funded by the EU under H2020-SC1-2016 aims to develop an integrated platform supporting: (a) the analysis of big datasets of data such as Hearing Aids usage, noise (TTS) episodes, audiological, phys
City4Age (Elderly-friendly city services for active and healthy ageing) will create an innovative framework that can be deployed by European cities: ICT-enhanced early detection of risk related to frailty and Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCI); ICT enhanced intervention that can help the elderly population to improve their daily life and also promote positive behaviour changes.
BD2Decide aims to develop a more precise prognostic prediction than the ones currently used in Cancers of Head and Neck Region (HNC), which targets to implement the first-line treatment in order to maximise the therapeutic results and minimise the impacts of HNC therapy.
HealthBail, a project co-funded by the FI-ADOPT project under the FI-WARE programme, aimed to address the needs of the general public to have direct and immediate access to recommendations and best practices in order to formulate a healthy attitude in their everyday activities and shape a wellbeing behaviour by establishing a preventive social and personal awareness in order to effectively defe
m-RESIST Project (Mobile Therapeutic Attention for Patients with Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia), a project co-funded by the EU under H2020-PHC-26-2014 Programme aimed to develop a therapeutic program that draws on the support of mobile devices to actively involve patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, to make them capable of self-managing their own illness, as well as to support t
Tackling societal concerns through collaboration in key technology areas is today's challenge for both the EU and the USA. It is at the same time a generator of business opportunities and a source for wealth creation and growth.
EAST-HORIZON is a support action funded under the FP7 EU programme that aims to assist ICT R&D policy dialogue between Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) partner countries and the European Commission, paving the path for EU-EECA successful strategic partnerships.
CONNECT2SEA is a support action funded by FP7 EU programme aiming at strengthening cooperation in ICT between Europe and Southeast Asia countries. The project will pave the way for jointly addressing important societal challenges and core technologies at the research, innovation and policy levels under HORIZON2020 and relevant SEA regional and national programs.
In the age of smartphones, video sharing platforms and social media, news events tend to generate large amounts of video content, which news and media organizations could exploit to develop novel revenue paths. However, selecting relevant content and embedding it to news stories, in a way that adds value, is a manual, labour-intensive, time-demanding task.
SOMA is a Coordination and Support action aiming to provide support to a European community that will jointly fight disinformation. SOMA will support experts in their work against disinformation providing them useful infrastructure and connection with a wide community of experts to collaborate in specific tasks.
SOMA will provide:
The amount of digital content available to creative industries is growing exponentially, driven by the ubiquitous use of smartphones and the proliferation of social media.
Digital technologies have transformed media content production and distribution in the global entertainment and media industry over the last two decades. The market is forecast to continue to grow over the next five years, and is currently estimated to be worth just over $2 trillion.
Diversity is one of the strengths of the European media industry. Europe is scattered with media companies, large and small, representing an enormous amount of cultural diversity. This is certainly also true for the European news production and publishing industry, a subset of the European media sector.
ATC is joining up efforts with leading academic and commercial organisations in the context of the EU-funded RADON project (Grant Agreement: H2020-ICT-2018-2- 825040) to unlock the benefits of serverless function-as-a-service (Faas) computing for the European software industry. The project started in January 2019 and will last for 30 months.
The new data-driven industrial revolution highlights the need for big data technologies to unlock the potential in various application domains. In this context, emerging innovative solutions exploit several underlying infrastructure and cluster management systems.
DICE was a collaborative research project which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 644869. The purpose of the project was to define a development methodology and related tools to accelerate the development of business-critical data-intensive cloud applications.
HEADS project, co-funded by the EU under the 7th Framework programme, leveraged Model-Driven Software Engineering and generative programming techniques to provide a new integrated software engineering approach which enables the advanced exploitation of the full range of diversity and specificity of the future computing continuum.
ASCETiC is a project co-funded by the EU under the 7th Framework programme to provide novel methods and tools to support software developers aiming to optimise energy efficiency and minimise the carbon footprint resulting from designing, developing, deploying, and running software in Clouds.
Most legacy applications are unsuitable for running on the cloud due to a lack of scalability, security and compliance features. However, companies often cannot easily replace them as they are crucial to their performance, continuity and offering. Migrating to a cloud infrastructure can bring cost, performance and strategic advantages.
myShopNET Project (Personalized consumer goods e-commerce platform), a project co-funded by the European Union's COSME Programme (2014 - 2020) aims to develop a platform for creating online shops for the commercialization of personalized consumer goods, supported by technological solutions such as co-design programs with real-time 3D visualization of customized good
Industry 4.0 is the next developmental stage in the organisation of the manufacturing value chain. ICT-based systems will play a major role, mainly by creating a virtual copy of the physical world and facilitating decentralised structures through Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS).
EASY-IMP is a research project co-funded by the European Commission, under the FP7 Programme Theme "FoF.NMP.2013-5: Innovative design of personalized product-services and of their production processes based on collaborative environments".
Ecology and wearable functionality in garments can co‐exist. Add this up to a consumer‐centered business scenario, where you will be able to configure your wished sensors or monitoring devices, and also the degree of eco‐friendliness of your outfits and enjoy smart, natural and healthy garments.
To stay successfully in business, textile and clothing companies nowadays need to be able to issue new fashion collections in a short time. However, the product development represents a bottleneck, since several physical samples have to be developed to judge the design. This is costly and time consuming.
The ARTISAN project envisions significant reductions (at least 10%) in energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the European Textile Industry by integrating data-capturing technologies, process-based energy measurement and real-time optimization of operations.
The PASSAGE project aims to develop a "Capability Management Platform" providing Textile and clothing industrial associations with a set of validated products and services enabling their affiliated SMEs to efficiently manage the existing know-how and skills together with new competences taking the technological evolution into consideration.
SERVIVE Project was launched to foster the implementation of flexible production alternatives to the standard mass production systems and the development of innovative web-based services that will enable customers to purchase corresponding products with larger flexibility, less perceived risk, and more enjoyment.
The FASHION-ABLE project aims at providing the European fashion SMEs, namely those focused on innovation and customization, with technologies enabling flexible, eco-efficient production of personalised products.
In the past trust was one of the drivers that lead to a self-reinforcing cycle of (largely beneficial) socio-economic activity facilitating distribution, sharing and collaboration. However, trust in the Internet and in Internet-based applications is eroding.
Aniketos is about establishing and maintaining trustworthiness and secure behaviour in a constantly changing service environment.
A4Cloud focused on the Accountability For Cloud and Other Future Internet Services as the most critical prerequisite for effective governance and control of corporate and private data processed by cloud-based IT services.
PoliVisu is a three-year long Horizon 2020 project that will transform local transport systems, making them more optimised, resilient and citizen-centric.
ADAMO, a project co-funded by the frontierCities project under the FI-WARE programme, aims to cover the lack of ICT software for effective management on touristic services.
OpenTransportNet (OTN) created collaborative virtual service hubs that aggregate, harmonise and visualise open transport-related data to drive the rapid creation of innovative new applications and services.
Periphèria applies creativity and Future Internet Technologies to address the sustainability issues of your city.Share your experience, discuss and co-design citizen-driven project ideas to make your city a better place to live and work.
The European Platform for Intelligent Cities"- is more than just an IT platform - it is a one stop shop were medium sized Cities in Europe (50.000 – 500.000 inhabitants) can find real, affordable solutions (products and services) to materialize the "Smart Cities" concept in an highly achievable and cost-effective manner.
Citadel on the Move will unite Europe's leading local government organizations with Living Lab experts, ICT specialists and expert SMEs in a common effort to harness the power of 'Open Data' and User-Driven Innovation Systems to develop 'high speed' Mobile Applications that can be shared by citizens across Europe.Nowadays, mobile phones are widely used and hold the key to ensure e-inclusion of


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Automating the delivery of application-generated documents and notifications by email is not new.
But, its use is severely impacted when you need to exchange information that is sensitive and needs to be sent:
Intuitive mobile viewing experience
Now you can safely extend your existing workflows to external recipients.
Capture data from your business processes, encrypt it, then transmit it to the appropriate recipient. The recipient can open the data locally, regardless of the computing environment they use – cloud, mobile device or PC.
Then allow the user to add information to the document, return it back to you and automatically ingest it into your application system.
And track each step.
The result: streamlined delivery of information directly to the recipient; reduction in hard copy mailing costs; reduction in cost and time of capturing the information back into your databases; demonstrable adherence to privacy regulations and policies.
Consequently, call center costs reduce and customer loyalty improves.
This technology is used today in many industries, including Government, Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare and Education. Applications include the delivery of:
Legally-required distributions
Business process improvements
The solution requires nothing new for the user to learn, leverages your existing technology investment and can be used as a lights-out, secure cloud-based software-as-a-service operation.
The solution is modular, so you can select and prioritize:


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Combining huge open environments, daredevil acrobatics and vehicle based stunts, Damnation takes the shooter vertical. Set in a fictional steam-punk era influenced by the American Civil War, players become hero Captain Hamilton Rourke and embark on an immersive journey of revenge in a country ravaged by an apocalyptic war.
Taking advantage of Rourke's incredible dexterity, players are challenged to negotiate their own path through Damnation's open, epic and vertigo inducing levels. With miles of awe-inspiring landscapes flooded by enemies, players scale imposing buildings, leap across chasms and engage in spectacular gunfights against ruthless, intelligent AI who will hunt down Rourke and his fellow Peacemakers, attacking from all angles.
They can choose to plot precise attacks using Damnation's unique Spirit Vision to unveil hidden enemies or steam in all guns blazing, taking charge of a range of unique vehicles, from wall-riding motorbikes to steam-punk inspired armoured trikes.
Utilising the unique scale and height of Damnation's environments, multiplayer provides deathmatch and capture the flag, complimented by innovative new game modes. Up to eight players engage in thrilling shoot-outs where firepower and agility combine in beautiful maps where players can kill or be killed from any direction. Seamlessly blending action, strategy and combat, Damnation delivers a breathtaking and frenetic gaming experience.
• Use Spirit Vision to locate allies and enemies
• Wield an array of powerful steam-punk inspired weaponry
• Do battle in frenetic multiplayer matches
Dolby 5.1
1-2 Players
Network Features
2-8 Network Players
Network Play
See it in action


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Welcome Furniture's fully assembled Knightsbridge 6ft headboard. This range is stylish and contemporary, with a huge choice of product models and colour choices. Please look at the colours we can offer you in different combinations.
We offer free UK delivery on all products costing £500 or more. On products costing less than £500 a small delivery charge applies which will be shown in the checkout. For full details on our delivery policies click here
Payment Options
Here at The Place for Homes we offer several finance options in order to spread the cost, simply select the Close Brothers Retail Finance option at checkout and you can apply on line. For more information click here
Returns Policy
If you're not totally satisfied with your purchase from The Place for Homes we do offer a returns policy, for full details on this please click here
Staingard Protection
We are able to offer Staingard Protection on all of our sofas and armchairs that we sell at The Place for Homes, for further details please click here


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BOSTON � State senators on Tuesday approved a bill that would make juveniles convicted of first-degree murder eligible for parole after serving between 20 and 30 years in prison.
Amendments that would have raised the minimum threshold for parole to 35 years or to 25 years were defeated, the latter by a single vote.
The bill represented the latest effort by lawmakers to reconcile Massachusetts law with rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the state's highest court that said mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional
Under the measure, teens convicted of first-degree murder before their 18th birthday would become eligible for parole after serving at least 20 years, but not more than 30 years. Senators did approve one amendment requiring the full 30-year wait for murders committed with extreme cruelty.
Two MetroWest cases that could be affected by the proposed sentencing change are those of Marquise Brown and John Odgren. Both were convicted of first-degree murders they committed before they turned 18.
Brown, of Marlborough, was 17 when he shot and killed his friend Tyriffe Lewis at Callahan State Park in Framingham on Aug. 22. 2012. Odgren was 16 when he stabbed and killed James Alenson, 15, in a bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Jan. 19, 2007. Brown has not been sentenced, but Odgren was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole after his conviction in April 2010.
When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court�ruled in December that those who committed murder as juveniles could not face a life sentence without the chance of parole, Brown's lawyer, James Boudreau and Odgren's lawyer, Jonathan Shapiro, applauded the ruling.
"It's a great result for juveniles," Boudreau said on Dec. 24. "It's fabulous. Think of all those kids who have been sitting in prison since they were 16 years old, for 20 or 30 years."
That day, Shapiro said, the SJC agreed with the same argument he made at Odgren's sentencing, that sentencing a juvenile to life in prison without parole was a violation of Odgren's protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
The state, which has no death penalty, has in the past mandated life without parole for all first-degree murder convictions regardless of age. Juveniles age 14 or older can be tried for murder as adults.
Under the bill, judges must give inmates convicted of first-degree murder before their 18th birthday a chance to go before the state parole board no sooner than 20 years, but not longer than 30 years into their sentences.
Senators, on a 23-16 vote, defeated an amendment proposed by Republican leader Bruce Tarr that would have required 35 years to be served before parole eligibility. A later amendment calling for a 25-year threshold was rejected on an even narrower 20-19 margin in a chamber where Democrats hold an overwhelming majority and close votes are relatively unusual.
"We literally hold the direction of lives in our hands, we hold public safety in our hands, and we hold the integrity of the judicial and criminal justice systems in our hands," Tarr said during the debate.
Senators did back one amendment that would require juveniles convicted of murder with extreme cruelty or atrocity to serve the full 30 years before parole eligibility, a compromise which may have convinced Tarr and other lawmakers to support the bill on the final vote.
Currently, more than 60 inmates in Massachusetts are serving first-degree murder sentences for crimes committed as juveniles. The parole board has begun reviewing their cases, but the bill would not be retroactive to apply to them.
Sen. William Brownsberger, a Watertown Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, noted the strong opinions on both sides of the issue and said the 20-30 range represented a middle ground.
"People who are looking at this from both perspectives, (those) who think this bill is too harsh and those who think it is too lenient, will recognize that there is a great diversity of views ... and that we have made a great effort to hear that range of views," Brownsberger said.
Sens. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Linda Dorcena Forry, both Boston Democrats, voted against the bill after saying they preferred a lesser period for parole eligibility.
Joshua Dohan, youth advocacy director for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, said his organization also supported a lower threshold but praised lawmakers for including additional rehabilitative services in prison.
Staff writer Norman Miller contributed to this report.
Parole OK'd for juvenile lifers
BOSTON � State senators on Tuesday approved a bill that would make juveniles convicted of first-degree murder eligible for parole after serving between 20 and 30 years in prison.


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IMF Research Bulletin, March 2002 »
Volume/Issue: 3/1
Series: IMF Research Bulletin
Author(s): International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.
Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
Publication Date: 13 March 2002
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5089/9781451929331.026
Keywords: income distribution, macroeconomic policies, income inequality, international monetary fund, transition economies
Articles reviewing IMF research on dollarization and on the relationship between macroeconomic policies and income distribution; country/area study: The Euro Area; summaries of Second Annual IMF Research Conference...


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I watched a TV show in the 60's; I think it was a British show; I guy with blond hair about 50; He was surrounded by tools; art tools and things; cream colored desks and tables to lay out projects.
Taking action;
Ive rarely talking about this; taking action.
Taking action.
I have a desire; So; I create in my mind what it would look like to take action; I have this idea; I want to go to the park. I then say; why? I want to sit at the bench; so a new set of thoughts shows up of me sitting at the bench. Next; a thought of looking at that ducks. next Id like to ride my bike around the park; so I ride my bike around the park in one of my visualizations. I then decide its time to go home. And its all in my head; I never left my apartment; and thats the problem.
In my mind; I create a visual first of what I want to do; but I stay in my head. and then adjoining thoughts join the group of throughs after I suggest doing something in the real world; the action never gets taken; it gets turned into a thought and I visualize that thought; and other thoughts join it. By the time Im done; Ive lived out 100 thoughts in my head. Ive answered a thought with a question; and then a question in my head with a thought; and Ive called that living. And so; I can sit in my apparent all day long talking to myself and other people I've created in my head; talking to them and answering them and never leaving my mind. It kept me safe and in a dysfunctional environment; I lived in a dissociative state with all my needs getting met in my head. At one point it got so bad I was answering phone calls in my head and breaking appointments in my head; and in reality; never touched a real phone or talked to someone; but I thought I did.
Heres the point; I want to change; I want to make a desire and take action. My mind is a dysfunctional thought. So; this is my next step; scary stuff. Just talking about doing this scares me; to take action on a desire; this scares me.
Dissociative disorder being addressed:
Im having success beating dissociative disorder. 5 1/2 years ago; I started studying success based thinking; the thinking processes of the extremely rich; those with Billions of dollars; its starting to pay off. not with money; not yet; well; maybe.
Today in a meeting was the first. I began to wake up. Im been pushing it for some years. I write stories as ive already experienced them. How long does it take to see effects as Im suggesting; severe years of work for me. Ive written thousands of stories and affirmations; thousands. The stories are basic and small; and if you see my writing; it looks like fast gibberish. I write like this on paper for several reasons; it gets the general point across and no one knows what Im writing; its always better who slow down and write precise words for their in-depth feeling to the story and the control of the direction to the story; However, innately, I had this feeling that if I just kept at it; I would surface on my own with Gods help; and thats whats happening and its happening today; and its without anyone one from the past; regardless of being completely thrown away when young; My long suffering is slowly lowering; the intensity; its slowly going away.... Its not gone by any means; However, its going away.
Im writing about my Asian soulmate; Im writing different stories; stories of being with her for one year; as if Ive been with her for one year; stories concerning 12 things we've done together. I imagine my pen is a phone. I left it up to my ear and listen; and I imagine a friend is telling me he saw us together and how great we looked together. And I write stuff like this all the time; everyday; with the hopes and desire and effort that the universe has to change me and make me ready for my Asian soulmate; and that is happening.
Asian soulmate.
I do attract women when Im working on my Asian soulmate stories. They show up all around me; and in one day in a small town, suddenly I can have 4 different encounters with Asian women from nowhere... Women with an Asiatic background showing up. The problem is; thats not interaction; However, I might get close; Ive had them as close as a foot away; but no verbal contact with those lately. Im trying to make a point.
Im been up close to these women at the store or coffee shop or library or walking down the street or........
The problem is; Ive attracted women next to me but not intimately.
I needed a way to break out; to be able to talk to anyone again. I needed the confidence to feel good about myself up and around people; and I think its happening; the universe is creating it for me; bringing me back to my higher self. And its happening; What does this mean; it means confidence around others.
I need to be with different groups to meet my Asian soulmate. I cant do it from where Im at; I have to be lifted to higher peeks to meet the kind of women In interested in; the kind of women I want are at the highest part of the tree; way up on top; Im not interested in bottom fruit. No thanks. Nothing wrong with the fruit on those lower branches; and Ive eaten of that fruit before; However, Ive been their; Im not looking to start out with someone just figuring themselves out; I know what I want; Now I have to figure out where that fruit tree is located. And one way of knowing is to start with my local fruit trees and work my way south or west or who knows.... Start!
The point is; the work is paying off its waking me up to many possibilities where before I was scared.
Its a great start and I can feel the relief. And its that feeling one gets when his family has helped him when young; but mine never did; they throw me away for ever... So this is a marvelous thing.


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Volkswagen will add the A5-platformed Tiguan ute to the list of veedubs that get the R Line treatment at this year's Essen Motor Show. Other than this press image we don't have much in the way of details, but from other R Line vehicles we can assume that the revised body kit, wheels and interior bits can be added onto your Tiguan with whatever powerplant you (and by you we mean some European dude) choose.
We'll know more when the Essen Motor Show kicks off at the end of this week, but in the meantime feel free to enjoy the uber-white VW. [VW via WorldCarFans]


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Thursday, August 12, 2010
A birthday gift from Hot Lips
(If you've already gone out and purchased the hippopotamus I asked for, don't worry – I'll still accept it).
Most of the time, I don't feel right accepting gifts. I already have the most amazing family on the planet, an incredible husband, a great house, and a really nice bra collection. I'd rather have people just donate their money to charity.
Sometimes though, a loved one will surprise me with something that makes me laugh so hard I totally get over myself and my aversion to gifts.
Case in point, here's the birthday card I received from my 80-year-old grandmother, the woman I've affectionately called Hot Lips for as long as I can remember:
And the inside of the card...
In case you can't read it, Hot Lips is asking me to take her with me to see the male strippers. Seriously, is she the coolest grandma in the world or what?
Then there's the gift. This is intended to hang next to my front door, something that will happen just as soon as I convince Pythagoras I wasn't requesting birthday nookie when I said, "can you please nail this?"
Suffice it to say, I've been giggling all morning.
What are some of your favorite birthday gifts? Did you ever get something so clever or so bizarre that you just have to share? Please do in the comments!
I'll be supervising the hammering.
Um, wait...
34 comments :
- Michelle Wolfson said...
Happy birthday!!! I promise not to call. :)
Just so I know, about how many years will it take before you think I'm not cursed?
- August 12, 2010 at 8:38 AM
- Sierra Godfrey said...
God your Grandma is cute.
What a treasure to still have her!
I know you know that.
Incidentally, I feel compelled to point out that the card used "insure" when it meant "ensure." This is no way is a reflection on Hot Lips, nor Hot Lips' ability to choose a great card (cause it's great), but rather a pedantic and admittedly obnoxious commentary on the misuse of the word "ensure."
Wait....I'm right on that, right? Cripes.
- August 12, 2010 at 8:40 AM
- Linda G. said...
ROF,L! May I just say again how much I adore your grandmother? Would you consider renting her out? I promise I'd return her in reasonably good condition.
And Happy Birthday again! Have fun getting hammered. ;)
- August 12, 2010 at 8:45 AM
- Elizabeth Ryann said...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! That is awesome.
- August 12, 2010 at 8:50 AM
- Kadi Easley said...
Happy Birthday!!
I haven't gotten a gift like that, but a few years ago I was working in Richland, Washington and I decided what my mom needed for Mother's day was a tumble weed. She'd never seen a real one and lord knows you couldn't take a step without tripping over one or drive a mile without hitting one with your car.
The gift was a huge hit. She squealed when she opened it and when she called to thank me she was still laughing. It was the best mother's day gift ever. I think I enjoyed it as much as she did.
Just a note--if you ever decide to mail a tumble weed, wear gloves while you are stuffing it in the box. Nobody told me they have stickers. :)
- August 12, 2010 at 8:53 AM
- Patty Blount said...
I LOVE your grandma! How cute is this? Take me with you...
Love the gift, too. I actually did leash my kids when they were little. They outran me - usually in opposite directions - so it was the only way to keep them safe. Judge if you must.
Have a wonderful birthday.
- August 12, 2010 at 8:56 AM
- Danica Avet said...
Happy Birthday here too! Your grandmother sounds like the best. Maybe she'd be interested in hitting the clubs with me?
My birthday was Sunday and when I checked my e-mail this morning, my sister had given me a gift card to Amazon. I was just about squealing with excitement. Books? For me??? Really? (Forget that I got another gift card on Sunday since I already used it...) It's an addiction. I think there's a program for it, but who wants to be cured of reading?
- August 12, 2010 at 8:58 AM
- Lynda Elkin said...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I got a tiny white g-string with a picture of Jesus and the caption "What would Jesus Do"? printed on the front of them. Still have them, can't bring myself to wear them though. :) If waxing hurts, I can't imagine being struck by lightening there.
- August 12, 2010 at 9:01 AM
- abby mumford said...
Happy Birthday!
It sounds like cleverity and humorosity run in the family. And I'm sure the second part of the gift (the nailing part) was exactly what Hot Lips expected would happen.
Enjoy your day!
- August 12, 2010 at 9:06 AM
- Dr. Goose said...
Daisy's grandmother was a compulsive hoarder and had 15 cats living in the maze of boxes and junk. She would box up items laying around her house for gifts. One Christmas I received a pot handle with cat hair attached. It was lovely.
- August 12, 2010 at 9:10 AM
- Delia said...
Grandma's awesome. Happy Birthday.
- August 12, 2010 at 9:11 AM
- Jessica Lemmon said...
Thank you *so* much for posting that - I needed the laugh! Now updating my bucket list:
-send awesomely funny card to a young 'un when I'm 80.
- August 12, 2010 at 9:16 AM
- Kathryn Rose said...
Happy birthday, fellow Leo!
Nothing as funny as your Grandma's card, but I did get to go swimming with the dolphins in Cancun with my husband and my family for my 22nd birthday. That was pretty sweet. And slippery!
- August 12, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Geez. *My* grandmother never asks me to take her to see male strippers. I'll have to have a word with her about that.
- August 12, 2010 at 9:36 AM
- Penelope said...
Happy Birthday!! What a sweet grandma with a fantastic sense of humor you have. :) Enjoy using the tools!
- August 12, 2010 at 9:57 AM
- Regina said...
That was priceless. Sounds like great birthday gifts to me. My sister once tried to throw me a surprise birthday party once, but on my way into the restaurant I kept running into people I knew and it eventually gave things away...lol
Enjoy your day and your family.
- August 12, 2010 at 10:08 AM
- lora96 said...
Your grandma sounds like mine. I adore her and want to be her when I grow up. When I was in college I dropped by her house, then said, I'm going to wal-mart can I bring you anything?
Without missing a beat she said, "You can bring me a good looking man and a sack of cash."
PS I love and adore presents. I want a sign like that. A lot.
- August 12, 2010 at 10:40 AM
- Summer Frey said...
Your grandma is awesome! But I'm not surprised. :)
And I love that sign. I've seen and snickered at many similar ones.
Happy birthday! Looking forward to the meteor shower you've arranged for us all to enjoy.
- August 12, 2010 at 10:47 AM
- Shadow said...
Happy birthday hon!
Grandma Hot Lips sounds like a blast. Wish I had one like her.
Have an awesome day!
- August 12, 2010 at 10:56 AM
- Kadi Easley said...
My favorite sign in a coffee shop. "Unattended children will be give an espresso and a puppy".
- August 12, 2010 at 11:05 AM
- Elizabeth Flora Ross said...
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great one! :)
- August 12, 2010 at 11:08 AM
- Elizabeth Flora Ross said...
Happy Birthday! Hope you have a great one! :)
- August 12, 2010 at 11:08 AM
- Jen J. Danna said...
Your grandmother is absolutely awesome! May we all have that much spirit and spunk when we are that age.
Happy birthday!
- August 12, 2010 at 11:48 AM
- Cherie Reich said...
Awesome card from your grandma!
Happy Birthday!!
- August 12, 2010 at 1:48 PM
- Becky said...
Happy Birthday, Tawna! It sounds like your grandma is a hoot. The apple didn't fall far from the tree there!
- August 12, 2010 at 3:08 PM
- Trina said...
I always keep my kids on a leash. How else would the dog walk them?
Happy Birthday!
- August 12, 2010 at 4:07 PM
- TAWNA FENSKE said...
Holy, cow...have been busy with birthday festivities all day, but thanks so much to all of you for making me feel even MORE festive!
Michelle, I'm kinda thinking I'll never answer the phone if you call on my birthday. How does that sound?
Sierra, yep, I noticed the ensure/insure thing as well, and I'm assuming that's why the card ended up at the Dollar Store (where grandma buys all her cards, as she should!)
Linda G, sure, I'll rent out Hot Lips. She doesn't like to fly. Will you consider traveling to Oregon & carrying her back to your place via rickshaw?
Elizabeth Ryann, thank you! Are you trying to rent my grandma, too?
KD Easley, too funny! In my marketing-geek life, I once coordinated a photo shoot for a company that wanted tumbleweeds in the pic. Though they're plentiful around here, I had never actually collected them & transported them in my car until that day. It's been 10+ years and I've still never gotten all the stickers out of my backseat.
Patty, it always seems a little odd to me when I see kids on a leash, but then I see youngsters that try to dart out in front of cars & think, "yep, I get it."
Danica, happy birthday! People can never go wrong w/ a gift of books.
Lynda, that's hysterical! I once bought political g-strings for every female member of the family that said, "read my lips - no more Bush." They were a hit.
Abby, you are correct - the apple didn't fall far from the tree :)
Dr. Goose, you made me snort ice water on my keyboard. Sounds like a scene from Nat'l Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation."
Delia, thank you! Grandma is indeed awesome!
Jessica, great idea! I should stock up on those cards to make sure I can send them to at least a dozen people in about 40 years.
Kathryn, oh, that does sound lovely!
Simon, that's because your grandma is too busy doing Jello shots with my grandma. She doesn't have time for you.
Penelope, Hot Lips is a trip, that's for sure!
Regina, the only surprise party anyone's tried to throw me went EXACTLY like that!
lora96, aren't spunky grandmas the best?
Summer, believe it or not, this was the first time I'd seen a sign like that. Cracked me up from the first moment I saw it.
Shadow, woah, it kinda tripped me out to have you comment right after Summer. Is this a bad omen?
KD Easley, funny, I saw that exact sign in a shoe shop just yesterday.
Elizabeth Flora Ross, thank you! I've been enjoying it so far.
Jen, heck, I hope to have half her spunk at half her age!
Cherie, I have a feeling she spent a long time finding exactly the right card. I think she succeeded!
Becky, Hot Lips is definitely a hoot. She doesn't seem to be slowing down much in her advanced years, either.
Trina, do they get biscuits for sitting & shaking, too?
Thanks for reading, guys!
- August 12, 2010 at 8:08 PM
- inkgrrl said...
Happy Happy Happiest Birthday!
Sun isn't up so I hope this counts for the day and not belated :-)
- August 13, 2010 at 1:30 AM
- Unknown said...
Ha! Your grandma is awesome! Happy Birthday! :)
- August 13, 2010 at 7:12 AM
I tried really hard this week to remember your birthday, and I still forgot. Ugh. Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! And your grandma rocks!
- August 13, 2010 at 2:36 PM
- ethan1066 said...
its my girlfriends birhtday coming week and i am still confuse about her birthday present..this time i want it to be special ..and memorable.
- August 14, 2010 at 2:52 AM
- Jason said...
I absolutely love that sign! I need to get me one of those...or the one that says something about unsupervised children will be given a free puppy and an espresso (not my puppy, but some puppy).
- August 14, 2010 at 5:22 PM
- Squeaky said...
i know it's a bit late, but happy birthday anyway! :D
just have to share, since you asked: the funniest (christmas) gift i ever received was from a friend who bought one for all of her girl friends. unwrapping a SheWee on Christmas morning had me laughing so hard that i almost had to use it! ;)
- August 30, 2010 at 6:01 AM
- janettenoel said...
Tawna! How have I never read your blog. Holy awesome! I really needed this today.
- November 24, 2010 at 2:20 PM


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Mar 18, 2020
Washburn Public Observing
Completed in 1881, the Washburn Observatory was a major research facility for about 50 years. Now over 100 years later, the Observatory's original 15-inch diameter achromatic refracting telescope (over 20 feet in length!) still provides great views of the heavens despite the considerable light pollution on the University of Wisconsin campus. If you are interested in visiting this historic observatory, please follow the link to the right for information about free regularly-scheduled public observing sessions led by University of Wisconsin astronomy graduate students.


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Campbeltown Airport are looking to recruit a Female Casual Ground Security Operative.
£9.56 per hour
0 hours/permanent.
As a ground security operative you will be involved in searching passengers, their baggage and maintaining security at Campbeltown Airport.
You'll have previous experience within a customer service environment and an ability to work with integrity and confidentiality. You'll be trained to conduct body searches as well as searches of hold and cabin baggage. You'll patrol internal and external areas as directed therefore an element of outdoor working is applicable to this position. You'll have a flexible approach to working patterns as our shift pattern includes weekends and unsocial hours.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills will ensure you effectively communication with passengers and integrate successfully into the current security team.
You'll be employed on a casual basis with no guaranteed hours per week, however you will be offered and required to work a minimum of one shift per month in order to maintain competence.
Females only need apply as this is a genuine occupational requirement in accordance with The Equality Act 2010, schedule 9, part 1.
Please apply online at http://www.hial.co.uk or complete the standard hial external security application form and return to email@example.com. The closing date for applications is 12noon on Wednesday 25th June 2014.


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Publications \ The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener \ Winter 2002-2003
Mike & Margie Shannon - A Consciously Evolved Lifestyle
By Jean English
Margie Shannon's father would approve of the life that his daughter and son-in-law, Mike Shannon, have built on the north side of Frye Mountain, at 1000-feet elevation, in Knox. The solar-, wind- and propane-fueled house, the productive garden, and the water conservation measures would meet his standards, and the fuel-efficient Honda Civic hybrid in the driveway would amaze him.
Cultivating Community Links Kids to Food Systems
By Alice Torbert
Anyone engaged in organic agriculture, on any scale, discovers sooner or later that organic practice involves more than simply avoiding pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Members of MOFGA are doubtless quite familiar with the idea of farming as an ongoing process involving the long-term health of the soil, the groundwater, and the local ecosystems as well as of the crops themselves. Craig Lapine and Richard Rudolph have taken this principle of interdependence in food production a step further. As the co-directors of southern Maine's Cultivating Community, an innovative program combining agriculture, education, and service, they have broadened the organic process by linking the physical and psychological health of local human communities to the health of the ecosystem as a whole.
Cathrine Sneed and The Garden Project
By Dorene Pasekoff
Standing in a welfare line with two children in San Francisco, Cathrine Sneed wondered how someone like herself could make the world a better place. Over two decades, Sneed appears to have found her answer through the process of reconnection; first, by creating the Garden Project to help released prisoners reconnect to themselves and their communities by growing food for those who have none; and second, by harnessing the accolades The Garden Project has received into an arena where she connects the "outside" to those who languish in and out of our nation's prison system.
Saving Heritage Turkeys
By Bob Hawes
During 1996 and 1997, the seasonal poultry hatcheries in the United States were surveyed in cooperation with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) to determine the status of the non-commercial varieties of domestic turkey. Why worry about turkeys? There is certainly no shortage of these breasty birds in your local supermarket during the holiday period – or nearly any time of the year, for that matter. But are these holiday turkeys produced from a broad genetic background as their numbers would indicate? Probably not. Only three major companies in the world own 90% or more of the commercial breeding stock.
Organic Cranberries Win Over Abandoned Racetrack
By Rhonda Houston (Tate)
It's a Saturday morning in late September. The remnants of a tropical storm have blown through, leaving crisp, new air, blue skies and a sun that can still warm, even in its post summer state. Entering a farmhouse through the back door, which is, after all, the only true way to enter a farmhouse, a wearied traveler is welcomed by the crooning of James Taylor. Apples, picked from the ancient tree outside, are being prepped for pie, and a bottomless cup of coffee steams on the counter. All of this, brought to you by Pat and Mike, or Mike and Pat, depending on who's talking.
The Working Horse & Oxen Association (WHOA) represents more than the interaction between human and draft animal; it also represents a way of life. The association demonstrates, through the use of affordable, low-tech harvesting – in this instance harvesting hay – how draft animals can partner with small farmers to accomplish many farm tasks using traditional techniques, low impact practices, and non-fossil fueled equipment.
Rustic Russian Gourmet
By Jean Ann Pollard
It was glorious! — the great Dvina river so still, so broad between its red banks of gravel and sand, and the grass and birch trees on the flat plain all around so green by contrast. And then there was the pungent scent of wood smoke, and we scrambled off the riverboat to see a long, low table laid with starched linen, glass, and cutlery, surrounded by logs on which to sit. All in a meadow smelling of strawberries and flowers. With a woman bending over a black iron pot, which dangled from a tree limb held by two firm posts over a hot fire. Of course, there was Vodka waiting. Because we were in Russia! It was July.
Mushrooms – More Than Just a Pretty Face
By Norma Jane Langford
In a world gone mad, it's comforting to know that the oldest mushroom society in North America is alive and well; still sending out 450 copies of its bulletin; still sponsoring a full season of walks, forays, banquets, conferences and trips; and still finding converts among the young.
What Do Call Centers and Maine Farms Have in Common?
By John Piotti
Members of MOFGA don't need to be reminded of the value of small farms to our local communities. Indeed, most of you reading this article already appreciate how Maine farms contribute to the local economy, how they preserve open space and protect wildlife, and how – when the farms serve local markets – they often save vast amounts of energy and water over food produced far away.
Grow Your Own Odd Alliums
By Roberta Bailey
Onions are the beginning of almost every meal, a cook's greatest ally. As a kitchen gardener I work hard to grow a variety of onions. Mesh bags of pungent bulb onions and braids of sweet Cippolini onions (the open-pollinated, Italian heirloom onion) hang from the beams, ready for the soup pot or sauté pan. Outside my kitchen door chives and scallion-like Welsh onions grow in large clumps. A few steps beyond grow clusters and rows of shallots, potato onions and leeks. Though the bulb onion is the workhorse of the North American culinary world, many other Alliums deserve a gardener's attention.
The Mindset of Holistic Animal Health
By Diane Schivera
Holistic Health Care necessitates a frame of mind that differs from that of allopathic medicine. I have been reminded of the importance of that requirement often lately. One case was a question on ODiary about hairy heal warts. Odairy is a electronic mailing group that allows organic dairy producers to interact by email.
Marketing Page: Agricultural Support Program Update
By Susie O'Keeffe
When we began talking about the need to give more structure to the nontechnical support that MOFGA provides its farmers and gardeners, board members and growers expressed different ideas about how we should formalize this effort.
Solanum Tuberosum – America's Favorite
By Jean Ann Pollard
Once upon a time Maine was covered by ice a mile high. Every school kid knows that. What most of them don't know is that even on the fringes of North America's ice sheet, and in the cold, high Andes of Peru, a nutritious root vegetable called the potato provided people with food. Belonging to the same group of plants as nightshade, its hardiness made it the equivalent of corn, the New World's other starchy staple grown in warmer areas.
Thyme – The Herb of Courage
By Deb Soule
Several varieties of common thyme, Thymus vulgaris, are grown for their aroma and visual beauty, but the upright garden thyme with pink flowers is the one most commonly used for medicine. The Latin Thymus is thought to be derived from the Greek word thymus, which means courage. Native to the Mediterranean region, thyme has a long history of use both as a culinary and medicinal herb.
Alliums – Seasoning Foods with Bulbs from the Soil
By Roberta Bailey
"Garlic," says the French writer Raymond Dumay, "is peasant, rustic; the onion is urban. The onion brings to the kitchens of the cities a little of the countryside. The onion offers always, and especially in winter, a little of the springtime of the soil, preserved in its bulb." Rustic or urban, the onion and some of its 400 relatives are omnipresent in all cultures and their foods.
Caffeine Foils Snails
Fall-Sown Green Manure Mulches Potatoes in Spring
Fruit Fly Control
Great Biocontrol Info Site
Maple Syrup Tips
Marketing with B&Bs
Spray Weeds With Vinegar?
Fresh, Delicious, Creative Meals on All Maine Tables
President's Letter, by Eric Rector
I garden because I love to eat. I know that the very best meals I will ever cook and eat start with a shovel and some seeds.
Our Next Agriculture
By Russell Libby, MOFGA Executive Director
It seems to me that elections are as good a time as any to step back and look at what's ahead — or at least to try to set some clear goals for the future. Since I'm writing without the advantages of knowing who won, these goals for Maine agriculture and for organic agriculture within Maine don't have anything to do with a particular candidate. Indeed, much of what is accomplished day to day happens outside the governmental sphere.
Jacksons' Book Connects Food Systems with Ecosystems
By Jean English, Editor, The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener
The most significant book I've read in a long time is The Farm as Natural Habitat – Reconnecting Food Systems with Ecosystems, edited by Dana L. Jackson and Laura L. Jackson and with a foreword by Nina Leopold Bradley.
Reviews & Resources
Control for Life Extension – A Personalized Holistic Approach, by Valery Mamonov
Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden, by Diane Ackerman
Eating to Save the Earth: Food Choices for a Healthy Planet, by Linda Riebel and Ken Jacobsen
Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, by Toby Hemenway (Diana Chace, Montpelier, Vermont)
Low-Impact Forestry: Forestry as if the Future Mattered, edited by Mitch Lansky
Dirty Business
The Global Banquet: Politics of Food
Strong Roots, Fragile Farms


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At the laying of the cornerstone for the building on October 13, 1932, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes stated, "The Republic endures and this is the symbol of its faith." The building was designed on a scale in keeping with the importance and dignity of the Court and the Judiciary as a coequal, independent branch of the Federal government and as a symbol of "the national ideal of justice in the highest sphere of activity." Sixteen marble columns at the main west entrance support the portico and on the architrave above is incised, "Equal Justice Under Law." Capping the entrance is the pediment filled with a sculpture group by Robert Aitken, representing Liberty Enthroned Guarded by Order and Authority. Cast in bronze, the west entrance doors sculpted by John Donnelly, Jr., depict historic scenes in the development of the law. The east entrance's architrave bears the legend, "Justice the Guardian of Liberty." A sculpture group by Herman A. McNeil is located above the east entrance that represents great lawgivers, Moses, Confucius, and Solon, flanked by symbolic groups representing Means of Enforcing the Law, Tempering Justice with Mercy, Carrying on Civilization, and Settlement of Disputes Between States.
The Supreme Court Building is located at 1st and East Capitol Sts., NE. Self-guided exhibits on the main level are available for touring Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. Lectures on the Supreme Court are presented on the main level every hour on the half-hour, Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. For more information call, 202/479-3000.
* The White House, U.S. Supreme Court Building, U.S. Capitol, and related buildings and grounds are legally exempted from listing in the National Register of Historic Places, according to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.


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It takes two to pull on a wishbone
Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know - Pema Chödrön
Stories & essays on art & creativity
~ The More The Merrier ~ Quench Your NEWS Thirst! ~ Shopping online, read Tweets on global news by @jerayawara and get your FREE Google Android Mobile Apps here: https://onerazz.com (Time Zone: GMT +8) Let Bygones Be Bygones, You Scratch Me ~ I'll Scratch Yours, Keep Smiling!
"Professionals do work and ship art." That is my aspiration!
Chris Sterry expressing views and thoughts on disability issues and other interests.
Thoughts on programming...
Quantum Technology, AI, ML, Data Science, Big Data Analytics, BlockChain and FinTech
Thoughts lacking in rigor
School of Knowledge Transfer
Where the world meets DevOps
AI Technology & Industry Review
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AI,machine learning , Data science and Big data solutions
Ideal Math = [(中文 + English) * Français] ^ IT
DeepLearning , ConvNet , Resnets , Artifical Intelligence , Machine Learning
a random walk through Computer Science research, by Adrian Colyer
Learn more about machine learning, deep learning, artificial intelligence, Python and more.
Software Is Eating the World
The evolving IT landscape
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Zest for Learning... into the rainforest of teaching
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This blog is all about entertainment and info Sports, IT tips and tricks, fun, health,exercises , top newest, oldest trending things in the world.
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Antroposofisch tijdschrift voor politieke en maatschappelijke vraagstukken van deze tijd
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This site is Al about latest news update about technology and many more.
Economic progress, social justice, individual liberty


text:
Les CDs ordinaires seront envoyés sans boîtier uniquement.
Il cd sara spedito senza custodia ,ma con copertine avanti e indietro, e se c è il libretto.Io non spedisco nessuna custodia.
Esta es una edición en caja de plástico pero el CD lo envío sin caja
This is a JEWEL CASE version
But CD will be shipped with NO jewel case.
I sell off my own CD collection.
It is relatively large.
Please check up my forthcoming adds to this site.
Mostly all my CD's are in perfect condition but some of them
are not new,some discs are slightly scratched and marked,
some inlays have slight signs of wear.
BUT ALL CD's ARE PLAYABLE!
If you have any questions concerning the condition of this CD e.t.c. please contact me.
I send off my CD's without jewel cases,only well packed disc and inlays (arts).
New And Used (like NEW) CDs.
Common CDs will be send ONLY WITHOUT JEWEL CASES.
ECONOMY SHIPPING METHOD (= surface mail) may be applied ONLY to shipping within Europe .Important note to ALL THE BUYERS (NOT FROM EUROPE):If you choose ECONOMY SHIPPING method your items will be sent via GROUND MAIL d ... Voir plus


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Although it is difficult to put our finger on why older, restored houses are considered by many to convey a much stronger feeling of homeliness than modern properties, restored historical homes retain a dual character. On the one hand, they are a valuable testimony to a world in which we lived and built differently; and yet, on the other hand, they are perfect for modern life and meet all of our current needs. The motto of Fernando García Molinos, of FGM Arquitecto, is
new life for old houses. He has been commissioned to rehabilitate this rundown but charming period property with the help of the owners. The result? A perfect relationship between past and present.
After remaining uninhabited for some time, this building in Valencia, Spain, was in very poor condition. The walls had been damaged by moisture, and the wooden beams were rotten in parts, so the architect decided that the structure need to be strengthened.
The new facade is a perfect epilogue to the renovated interior. As we see in the photograph, captured by Ben Lustenhouwer, white has been chosen as the main colour for the exterior, and has been combined with blue around the door and in the window wells. The window on the second floor has been enlarged to increase the flow of natural light inside the home.
In this image, it's clear to see the poor state of the kitchen before the refurbishment took place. It's evident that the house had been vacant for an extended period of time. After coating the walls and reinforcing the structure, the potential of this room was rediscovered…
The change in the kitchen is impressive. The timber cabinet doors and restored shutters provide a rustic touch to this townhouse. Not forgetting, of course, the broad wooden beams on the ceiling, or the stairs to the right of the image, which despite the renovation, maintain their original essence.
As mentioned, the owners of the house were fully involved in the reform and provided much of the manpower, playing a large part in the success of this renovation. Here, we see an interior that does not want to say goodbye to its history. Contemporary furniture design and structural elements contrast with rougher elements, responsible for rural air in the room.
The bedroom is a warm and simple room without extravagance. The frame of the bed is hidden by the bedspread, giving centre stage to the wooden beams and dark woodwork which contrasts with the white walls and ceiling.
On the top floor of the house, there was a lot of work to do. The deterioration of the walls is easily noticeable and the state of the plaster reveals that extensive work must be carried out before the attic is habitable again.
The renovated attic looks completely different, but retains the essence and character of the old building. From the point of view of ecological efficiency, townhouses are buildings with a very low maintenance thanks to the simplicity of their structure. This attic has been insulated so that it will be warm in winter and cool in summer. We're sure the occupants enjoy cosy evenings by the fire in this newly created seating area, too.
If you've enjoyed this project, why not take a look at the following ideabook: Revival of a 16th century farmhouse.


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Australian Small Business Directory
Small Businesses Nearby
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Small Business Listings by State
Tell Your Marketing Story
Latest Small Business News
Latest news for small businesses in Australia, plus marketing tips.
Coutts Crossing
Filter Options Sort by: Newest FirstOldest First Title Title (desc) Distance Rating Random Most Reviews Review Rating Bookmarks Add Listing Sorry, there were no items
Coutts Crossing
Marketing Tips for Growing a Small Business The year 2020 has been very unkind. Many businesses, small and large, have suffered losses with some even
Coutts Crossing
Have you listed your small business in online local directories and niche directories? If you haven't yet, then you probably aren't maximising your search engine


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I am using GeoTools to find area and intersections of shapefiles. GeoTools uses the JTS geometry library (Vivid Solutions) and that has functions to getArea() but unfortunately I am not able to determine the units. Basically I get the multipolygon and iterate through the GeometryCollection and getArea() on each individual geometry within.
All documentation suggests the units are returned based on what the input data is. But unfortunately my original shapefiles do not have the .PRJ file (I even created one) and also programmatically tried to reproject to an equal area projection (with a standard Molleweide projection via a wkt file and set to meter units) but the returned area just does not make sense.
Any thoughts on what the units maybe? Or is this the right approach to computer areas of shapefiles?


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HVAC inverters dedicated to fan and pump control
BFI H3 inverters for HVAC
BFI H3 include IP20, IP55 and IP66 inverters for HVAC, maritime and other industrial applications, and set a new cost competitive standard for dedicated fan and pump control. Ease-of-use and innovative design combined with robust performance provides powerful flow control and reliability in a compact drive.
Multiple pump control
Pump station control with no PLC/pump control units
IP55 enclosures
Dust-tight and ready to washdown
In-built PID controller
With both pump and energy efficient features
BACnet interface
In-built building automation fieldbus as standard


text:
CREW TV brings you closer to the industry's
most influential leaders and thinkers. Click on the videos below to watch the interviews:
Don Campbell, shares some of his insights on the Canadian investment landscape in the latter half of 2011.
Video transcript below:
Don Campbell, President, Real Estate Investment Network
Don Campbell: Sure if you talk about the US, if you are really looking at the US market, I see that it is over 44 billion dollars of Canadian money over the last two years into that US market and it's very interesting, the majority of that money has not been investigated. Nobody has done the diligence before they got over the border. Maybe they are really great articles, they get excited about the brothers, uncles, sister who's bought down there and more importantly they see that it's cheap and the worst thing you can do is buy an investment, especially a piece of real estate because it's cheap.
What you need to look at is the underlying economic fundamentals and when you do the analysis all the way from 1970 till today you find that the US real estate market is not cheap. As a matter of fact, it is right back to on trend, which means that now you are finding that the price that you are paying today is the price that it's actually supposed to be selling for. So sure it's cheap next to the bubble prices, but at the end of the day if you know what you are looking for and you know how to analyse you will find that we are back to trend, we are not cheaper than it should be.
Okay, here's the thing, we are entering Canada's economic decade right where this hurricane is twirling around and so we are not immune to it. But what we need to know is that we've got food, fuel, fertiliser and forestry which we have talked about before on this site and now we have got that 5th F, which is called Fiscal foundation and Canada when you start to compare the economic fundamentals against most of the other countries in the world, you will see how stable we are from a foundational point of view. And that foundational point of view will allow us to weather the storm much better than others.
Now let's take a look at the in migration and now the economic fundamentals of the provinces across the country and you are going to see that the west is going to outperform economically because there is more food, fuel, fertiliser and forestry out in that region and the Ontario market is seeing a lots of immigration and what the western states are seeing, western provinces are seeing is that more in migration from other provinces. The job growth is out west, which means it's going to attract more population, which means there is going to be more rental demand and at the same time you are going to see more increase in values on real estate.
If you are going to be investing in Ontario you need to have a long time line because it is going to have to weather this economic storm that's going around the world more than out west. Now that being said, Ontario was not a one contiguous market. You've got cities like Hamilton, you've got cities like Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, you got those areas that are going to outperform GDP, population growth and income growth and there are other places in Ontario. So make sure when you are looking at Ontario, you are looking at it in little pieces. I suggest you look at the [barrier] really a growth corridor. I think you look at Kitchener and Cambridge as you too and of course Hamilton is a great spot for growth. Look at where Toyota is going to spend 500 and something million dollars revamping their plants, therefore creating stabilising the jobs. That's where you want to look rather than winding up around the block thinking that you are going to get a great deal buying a condo.
But when the US market continues to go through its turmoil we are not immune. The nice thing is it's not 1970. 1970 they sneezed we caught a cold, we would go into recession just alongside them as we found out in this last big deep recession that they went through, we kind of dipped into recession but came out of it, because we had a much more diverse market now and also that the demand for our commodities is also very strong around the world. That doesn't mean that around the world is buying from us, it means that the place of our commodities where we are selling to our regular customers is higher, therefore more profitable, therefore more job creating.
So now that we have diversified a lot more in this country economically, we've got a strong foundation, we are absolutely, I don't know if you saw this article recently where we become a great white tax haven. You know the great white north, here we are and we become considered a tax haven for the wealthy. We are also becoming the place for people to park their money in this time of turmoil. We have seen billions of dollars around the world coming here because it's safe, secure and most importantly boring and that's what you want in your investments, you want a boring investment. Chasing money is going to lead up to the end of a cliff. So that's what the nice thing about Canada is. We are not immune but we are starting from a much stronger position than Spain or Portugal or UK or US or Japan or Vietnam, Australia even, [will all be] in a much better place.
Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Devin P. McComb has joined the firm's Seattle office as a partner in the Real Estate & Land Use practice
Grimsby skyline to be reshaped by tallest buildings in city: two-tower residential complex
Connect Asset Management Challenges the Financial Community to Invest in Downtown Toronto Real Estate for a Good Cause


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Love Spells in France
Love spells in France are my most famous requests in the course of my spell casting profession. I have cast and customized many types of love spells in France which brings about pleasurable emotional feelings between two people. My love spells can be used to bring back lost lovers, reunite lovers, reconcile marriages, stop a divorce, make someone fall in love with you, heal a broken heart and so much more. Please keep in mind that all my real love spells in France are 100% customized and personalized to your…Read More