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When the Android tablet guidelines came out, the team at Remember The Milk had already been thinking about a redesign for Remember The Milk their feature-packed to-do list app; never forget the milk (or anything else) again.
What they did
"We took this as an opportunity to think about how we were going to approach Android tablets differently from a user experience perspective," says Omar Kilani, Co-founder of Remember The Milk. "The guidelines were a helpful resource, and with the extra screen real estate tablets afford, users have the opportunity to see all of their data in context and drill down on more items."
In addition to the basic changes to bring the app to tablets, the team also came out with a number of other goodies — including a new set of widgets and richer notifications, and more ways to provide an immersive experience for their users. And importantly, following the guidelines meant they could deliver a single APK for phones and tablets.
Following the update of the Android app, in part to meet the tablet design criteria, Remember The Milk saw an 83% increase in tablet installs. They also noted that Nexus 7 was theat most popular Android device for the app.
Omar Kilani, concludesd that "For us, designing for tablets was an investment that has really paid off."
Get started
Find out more about creating a tablet version of your app by reviewing the Tablet App Quality guidelines and growing your user base.


text: Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646 1,875 Posted January 17, 2017 Jersey Bratt (my significant other) went with me to Wartrace today and she shot 8 stages, I timed her and offered suggestions. And she's not mad at me!!But we went through 2 100 rd boxes of ammo and that made me grumpy that we didn't have more. I'm pushing her gently to shoot her FIRST match on Sat. Get off the LAWN Imis Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites

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USA Data Center
A top-of-the-line USA data center
We are working with a top-class data center located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It has all of the conditions that we need to utilize our custom-made internal network with its unique equipment setup. The data center has a great help crew working 24x7 to monitor the server network and offer well timed assistance in critical situations.
Also, it is important to note that the USA based datacenter provides superb network connectivity with the world. This ensures top web site loading rates for all websites and apps working on our US Linux semi-dedicated servers.
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With the ambitious mission to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth, Babylon Health, an AI-powered smartphone app, was founded in January 2013 and launched to the public in April 2014. The company's app, available on iOS and Android devices, allows users to book a video consultation with a doctor or a therapist, send photo or text messages to get answers to quick questions, track their health, and store basic health information like family health history, medication history, and allergy information. Users can order tests via the app too.
The app currently has more than a million users and last year, the company said it would invest $100M to hire more than 500 researchers, scientists, and engineers to develop the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.
Already having a presence in Africa through Babyl Rwanda, Babylon Health is looking to expand worldwide, as seen from its partnership with Prudential, one of the largest providers of medical insurance in Asia. Through an email interview with Mobihealth News, Dr Ali Parsa, founder and CEO of Babylon Health, shared about the company's expansion plans in Asia Pacific, and what disruptive innovation in healthcare means to him.
What are Babylon's expansion plans for the Asia Pacific market? What opportunities and challenges do you see in the market?
Asia Pacific is one of the biggest markets for us. The opportunities of working with so many fantastic organisations and having the potential to make a difference to the healthcare of billions is humbling. Inevitably that comes with challenges, for example we'll be starting by working in 15 different languages across 11 countries with different health environments through our partnership with Prudential.
Perhaps the greatest challenge will be ensuring that we know what our users want and need in each country. We need to understand distinct cultures, and deliver in a way that works best for that location. We could have the best service globally, but if we don't make it locally relevant and appropriate, it will be a waste of effort.
The theme of the HIMSS Singapore eHealth & Health 2.0 Summit is 'Disruptive Innovation for value-based healthcare.' What does disruptive innovation in healthcare mean to you?
Despite spending trillions of dollars on healthcare annually, billions of people are being left behind. Half of the world's population doesn't have access to basic healthcare. And for those of us who are lucky enough to live in countries with good healthcare services, accessibility and affordability is still a chronic problem. The current system is designed to handle problems as and when they occur, with patients receiving treatment based on diagnosis of their symptoms. 'Sick care' would be a better way to describe this structure.
We believe it is possible to use the new advances in technology to make healthcare accessible and affordable for everyone on Earth. That means harnessing technology to start addressing a shortage of doctors. We are giving people access to medical advice around the clock, every single day of the year, and we are driving down the price as we do it.
But what if we also use technology to focus on prevention over cure? What if we were to think about our health in a much more holistic sense? We are already taking the first steps but by bringing in technology like biomarker trackers from wearables, or implantable and ingestible electronics, we could address the whole body and pay more attention to basic lifestyle factors - like diet and exercise. This way, we would be in a much better position to tackle some of the root causes of the world's most common conditions.
Babylon is working with companies like Tencent, Samsung and Prudential Asia through licensing its AI-powered health assessment software. Could you share with us the reasons behind collaborating with technology and insurer companies?
We love to collaborate and build partnerships. Alongside digital-first clinical services and software licensing, they are a key component of our business.
We aim to deliver the best value end-to-end health service available, providing the best clinical outcome and patient experience at an affordable price, and we know that other businesses need and want to licence our technology. By making it easy for them to integrate our tech, and by partnering with leading organisations across the world, we serve more people. Learning from each new user enables us to enhance and refine our services, which in turn continues to drive up the quality of our service.
Babyl Rwanda has surpassed 2 million members as of May 2018, representing about 30% of Rwanda's population. Could you share with us some of the latest developments with Babyl Rwanda and lessons/best practices that could be replicated in other markets such as Asia Pacific?
Our work in Rwanda, as Babyl, is a source of inspiration to us all. Babyl complete some 2,000 consultations a day, work with over 450 health clinics and pharmacies, and over 90% of users consistently report they are satisfied or very satisfied with the service. Babyl has been such a success that we are exploring ways to expand the model across East Africa.
And given this is a country where only 5% of people have a smartphone and 20% don't have any mobile phone, we made our services work for the 75% who have a feature phone. The way we look at it, we have shown how we can successfully deliver comprehensive digital-first clinical services in one of the richest countries in the world, at the quality they expect. We have also delivered that same quality in one of the world's economically poorest countries, at scale, and at affordable prices. For us, now, almost every other country lies somewhere in between.
We've learned how to provide what the client needs - not just what we think they want - and that can be replicated everywhere.
What are your thoughts on the newly formed NHSX, the joint organisation for digital, data and technology formed by the NHS?
The idea behind NHSX is fantastic. It is trying to bring the benefits of modern technology to every patient and clinician, and aims to combine the best talent from government, the NHS and industry. Its aim, just like ours, is to create the most advanced health and care service in the world, to free up staff time and empower patients. NHSX will help us have the open, collaborative discussions we need, since we are all in this together.
All the NHS systems need to be able to talk to each other, and we have to have open platforms so that anyone can help create services.
NHSX will also help drive regulation in a way that helps bring about positive change, whilst maintaining high standards. Babylon strives to be an industry leader, operating at the gold-standard and beyond. We do this because we think it's right and because it's best for patients and clinicians, so we are great supporters of anything that brings these standards to the whole industry. We have to ensure we have the right regulations to build the best health service that we can, which gives patients what they want and need.
You mentioned in an interview that the ultimate goal for Babylon is for healthcare to be in the hands of every human being. How long do you think it will take to achieve this goal?
In the Middle East there is a saying that if you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans. We don't know what the future will hold, but we know the potential is enormous.
We are witnessing an inflection point. New technologies, seminal advances in medicine, and a radical cultural shift in populations worldwide are coming together. There are new opportunities that impact every part of our old healthcare models. We can fundamentally rethink every challenge – even ones that were hitherto untouchable. When you look at it as a whole, we are already witnessing the first major steps on the journey towards affordable, accessible healthcare for everyone on Earth.
Dr Ali Parsa is a keynote speaker at the upcoming HIMSS Singapore eHealth & Health 2.0 Summit from April 23-24. Registration still open and you can register for the event here.


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A reminder that the IOG monthly social meeting will be held tonight, Monday, 9th July, from 20:00 in the upstairs rooms of The Thomas Wolsey Freehouse, located at 9 St Peter's Street, IPSWICH, IP1 1XF, near the Old Cattle Market Bus Station. Parking can be found at the nearby Cromwell Square and Cardinal Park car parks and across the road from St Peters.
Both members and newcomers are very welcome.


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Life Raft (T6), Classic Rafts, Single Tube, FAA Type II, 6-Man With FAR 135 KIT With 406 ELT
USA: FAA TSO-C70a Type II Approved
Germany: LBA No. 40.320/7
Japan: JCAB No. 535.
Classic Non-Transport Category Aircraft. For air taxi, corporate and general aviation. Single Tube. Compact, lightweight. Constructed of neoprene coated nylon. High tech inflation system. Competitively priced.
Rated Capacity: 6 Persons
Overload Capacity: 9 Persons


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Meet The All New & Exclusive (SVR) Stolen Vehicle Recovery System
Our (SVR) Stolen Vehicle Recovery System has achieved dramatic advancement over the traditional ground based tracking systems, which rely on specialty equipped police cars and towers to randomly search the regional areas for a radio signal from a stolen vehicle. Instead, this Mobiletrace SVR Device offers an interfaced GPS satellite tracking and GPRS cellular data transfer system, which is the most advanced tracking & recovery system on the market.
With our Stolen Vehicle Recovery System you can expect 24/7/365 Full Nationwide Coverage with Dedicated Stolen Vehicle Recovery Specialists only a phone call away. Using Custom Software with Google Earth our SVR Specialists are able to pin-point the exact location of your vehicle and notify the local authorities for you. The Recovery process of your vehicle could start soon after the vehicle was stolen.
Vehicle theft is a common occurrence across the United States. Recently reported by FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, on average a vehicle is stolen every 90 seconds. This means more than 700,000 vehicle's or more are stolen every year.
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First the (SVR) Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is installed into the vehicle by the Dealership. The Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is equipped with both Global Positioning System (GPS) and Cellular (GPRS) Technology, which allows Nimbo servers to pinpoint the exact location anywhere in the U.S. as long as a cellular signal is available and the Stolen Vehicle Recovery System is operating properly.
- Once you notice the vehicle has been stolen you will contact the Stolen Vehicle Recovery Hotline.
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Speak with your Dealer about the Details…


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In the long run of my studies on the histories of old and fairly recent societies of the world, I discovered something that keeps repeating itself in the course of Man's stay on Earth.
While Science and Discoveries tend work to open people's eyes to the world and sharpen their consciousness of the environment, Politics and Entertainment tend to take our minds off most things that really matter – and often determine our fate. The thing is, often times, politics and entertainment are the tools used by the elites (primarily) to keep us blind to events that we normally should not only be aware of but tackle gravely.
[Modern Day]. Climate change may have only been some decades old discovered by man. It is a serious phenomenon that we should tackle of course. But, while true scientists in our society look into the past of our environment; comparing it with the present; and analysing the changes they observe so as to predict the future, quite a handful of the planet's well-wishers preach the climate change omen to the world in the aim of letting more people know about the consequences and what help we could render.. The people who run the governments that run the world know that climate change is now majorly contributed to by anthropogenic means – through processes that profit them so much, so they use politics and entertainment again to bribe away our minds.
The end of this path does not bode well for us. It was the same end that met the people of Pompeii in AD 79. They were busy of course watching gladiators fight in the arena, and playing intoxicating Roman politics. (can't say that was only what they were doing in their time) but they didn't pay serious heed to the daily rumblings of Mount Vesuvius (I can only guess that they probably didn't pay heed enough). They could've consulted previous records of geologic activities in other parts of the world- after all the Romans conquered a lot of civilizations and took charge of their libraries. But the government that ruled over those empires were more interested in politics and making fortunes out of entertaining combats, they couldn't let the fear of the mountain erupting prevent people from coming to watch and making them more money. So the inevitable eventually occurred and the city of Pompeii was buried under volcanic ash along with probably 90% of its people.
What lessons can we learn from History? Well, never to repeat the bad ones. 🙂


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Kings of Denim
Mani Bains has been creating collections for some of the worlds best design houses and brands across the globe. After mastering his skills from the best craftsmen in the industry, it was time to launch his own inspired collections. Kings Of Denim and Diva Jeans, born in 2016 from an obsession and pure love, aiming to take denim into the future. The ultimate African born Luxury Premium denim brand is here. Innovative flair, characteristic design and superb quality are the cornerstones of our philosophy. From the humble wash houses in the hills of Osaka Japan, to high tech laundires across California, Europe and Asia, we honor the craft of creating beautiful jeans.
We also take our responsibility to protect our planet, people and future seriously. Our "One World" project is an endevour set up to bring together sustainable practices in manufacturing, across the supply chain. Sowing the seed from the beginning, we strive to work with sustainable materials from organic cotton to recycled plastics. The project aims to eliminate all hazardous chemicals and processes from our production, and to use natural washing techniques wherever possible, from sun bleached and air dried to the latest advancements in organic biodegradable enzymes, our world matters. The project also works to ensure we have a responsible supply chain where everything is considered including fair wage, ethical working practices and helping sustain the future of the industry in developing communities around the world.
Wonderful denim, exquisite T's, tailoring to die for, and accessories that are out of this world, what more could you want?


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World Congress of Sports & Exercise Medicine 2018
The World Congress of Sports & Exercise Medicine's (WCSEM2018) Programme Features Over 30 leading experts from 7 different countries
WCSEM18 programme will explore current research and practice in Sports & Exercise Medicine.
Recognised for CPD by Irish College of General Practitioners and the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine, UK (FSEM)
12.5 CPD Credits 1.5 GMS study leave days
The conference registration fee includes:
Access to the conference sessions
Access to the exhibition and posters
Conference programme and delegate bag
Tea/coffee breaks and light lunch each day.
Conference website :https://www.wcsem.org/


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We've been improving our branches to make access easier for everyone. We assess our branches' physical accessibility and look for improvement opportunities as part of future refurbishment schemes. Where possible, all of our new and refurbished branches have been designed with the following features:
- Automatic or power assisted doors
- Layout and signage designed with suitable colour contrast to assist our partially sighted customers
Hearing induction loops
We have hearing induction loops in all of our branches, in addition to providing fixed loops on some of our counter positions.


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Brought to you by Seahorse magazine, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to
Designing The Future
While final preparations and team announcements continue for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, the event's leadership team are working in parallel to map out the race's future. The edition after this one, the 14th, will be contested in brand new One Design racing yachts designed by France's Guillaume Verdier and built under the direction of the Persico boatyard in Italy, race organisers announced today.
Verdier has joined the Volvo Ocean Race Design Team and is currently working with the race on the crucial issue of whether the new boat will be a monohull or multihull. The final decision on the proposed designs will be announced on 18 May at an event in Gothenburg, the home of the race's owners and title sponsors Volvo.
Verdier is the 'quiet' achiever who has been involved in most of the leading designs right across the sport in recent years - from giant multihulls like Gitana's Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, to be launched in July, through Team New Zealand's current America's Cup flying multihulls to maxi-monohulls like Comanche, and the leading Vendee Globe IMOCA 60 foiling projects such as Hugo Boss and Banque Populaire VIII.
The monohull-multihull question is just one of a series of key decisions that will be finalised in the coming weeks and announced at the 18 May event in Gothenburg, Sweden. Together, the announcements will form the most radical shake-up of the Volvo Ocean Race since it began life in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race.
"Conceived in 2011, the current fleet of boats was built to be competitive for two editions," said Volvo Ocean Race CEO Mark Turner. "We need to move now on the future boats to keep all our options open on boat type and design.
On the decision to award Persico the lead role in the building of the boats, rather than the Consortium approach used for the Volvo Ocean 65s, Nick Bice, the race's Chief Technical Development Officer, said: "The Consortium did some good work last time around to produce such matched boats, but we prefer to contract this time with a single builder, who in turn will undoubtedly sub-contract a number of other builders around the world to achieve the build in time and to budget. Persico have been a strong partner over these past few years, and we are delighted to be working with them again."
Spithill Wary Of Team New Zealand's Radical Catamaran
Team New Zealand have their opponents guessing with their late arrival to Bermuda.
Their absence has created an air of anticipation and kept their rivals guessing, including Australian Spithill who is seeking a third consecutive America's Cup at the helm of the ultra-rich American syndicate.
"We haven't seen New Zealand. We have a lot of people down there watching them [practice], but until you get that boat next to you, we don't know," Spithill told luxury lifestyle magazine Town & Country in an America's Cup preview article.
Spithill was initially sceptical when Team New Zealand unveiled their move to have cycling pedestals replace the traditional arm-powered grinding stations to fuel the systems to operate the massive wingsail and foils.
He felt the extra power generated would be compensated by the time lost moving "cyclists" from one hull to the other in manoeuvres.
But the Kiwis have continually refined those systems, believing there is no difference in moving their crew around the boat.
Team New Zealand have purposely timed their arrival late, happy to work on their development at home unlike last time when they revealed their foiling abilities too early, allowing teams to copy them and Oracle to eventually outdo them.
Team New Zealand believe their radical pedal approach will be too complex for opponents to replicate at this late stage.
No Let-Up For Yacht Club De Monaco
J/70 European Match Race Tour - M32 Mediterranean SeriesAct 1
After an incredibly busy winter of regattas, there's no let up at the Yacht Club de Monaco which hosts two regattas that have never been organised before in the Principality, starting tomorrow: J/70 European Match Race Tour and Act 1 of the M32 Mediterranean Series.
YCM is organising a stage of the European Match Race circuit on J/70s made available by the Club. A reminder that with 17 boats flying the flag in the Monaco J/70 Class Association, the Principality has one of the most active and largest fleets in Europe.
Among 8 European teams this weekend, two are representing Monaco: Pierrik Devic associated with Max Bulley and Philippe Buchard alongside François Brenac.
A two-time French Match Racing Champion, the experience of François Brenac will be key but they face stiff competition against an international field, notably the Austrian team led by Max Trippolt, four-time Austrian champion in this discipline.
Adding to the spectacle on the water, a fleet of seven M32s will be competing in Act 1 of their Mediterranean circuit after a busy winter season that included several appearances in the Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series. These 9.68m all-carbon one-design catamarans are designed to engage the public in an intense format that is easy to follow with several back-to-back races of 15 minutes each day. The public can watch the show from the main harbour wall (depending on weather conditions).
Among the favourites is the YCM's own Guido Miani (Team Neverland), sailing on home waters, who finished 2nd in the 2016/2017 Monaco Sportsboat Winter Series season after 25 races. He will be firing on all cylinders to set the pace at this first stage of the M32 Mediterranean Series.
Solo Concarneau - Guy Cotten Trophy
The 37 Figaro Beneteau 2 started this Thursday April 6 at 15:08 in summer conditions on the Solo Concarneau - Guy Cotten Trophy 2017. For this second event of the French Elite Racing Championship, solo sailors will have to deal with Varied conditions, worthy of spring, with many transitions to be managed on the course of 270 nautical miles of this 41st edition.
After a few hours of racing, Yann Elies led the fleet ahead of Gildas Mahe and Nicolas Lunven. The progress of the boats is to be followed on the updated map every 15 minutes.
UNICEF Team In Clipper Round The World Yacht Race
Unicef, the world's leading children's organisation, will once again have a team entry in the 40,000-nautical mile Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, one of the planet's toughest endurance challenges, which starts this August.
The cost of the team entry has been donated by the race organisers to Unicef UK, the Official Clipper Race Charity. The 2017-18 Race will mark the second consecutive edition that the organisation has been gifted one of the event's twelve 70-foot yachts, which will represent Unicef and its work to make a safer world for children as the teams race around the planet.
Clipper Race CEO and co-founder William Ward said: "As the Clipper Race approaches its twenty-first year of operation, I feel very fortunate to be in the position where I can gift the cost of a team entry to our official charity partner, Unicef, to support its vital work around the world.
"Just like the race and its intrepid crew and partners, Unicef has a truly global reach, working around the world to save the lives of the most vulnerable children, work that myself and the crew got to see first-hand during the last race edition. Not only do I hope that we can raise more funds and exceed our previous £323,000 total raised but that together we can continue to positively impact the lives of more children in danger."
Approximately 700 crew members from more than 40 nationalities will participate in the Clipper 2017-18 Race and fundraising to help keep more of the world's most vulnerable children safe from danger has already begun, with an increased target of £400,000 set by the Clipper Race organisers.
Scugnizza Rule 69 Case
Jury decision is now posted on
Industry News
Stephen 'Sparky' Park has been presented with a boats.com/YJA Special Award for services to the sport of sailing. The award was presented by Barry Pickthall, Chairman of the Yachting Journalists' Association and former Chairman Bob Fisher at a lunch held at the Royal Southern YC this week.
Park has been the RYA's Olympic Team Manager for the last four Olympiads and led Britain's world-beating sailors to amass an unprecedented 23 Olympic and Paralympic medals during this period.
Olympic sailing medalists Giles Scott, Iain Percy and Paul Goodison all sent video messages from Bermuda where they are training to compete in the America's Cup starting on May 26, and Helena Lucas, who won Gold and Bronze medals under Park's management at successive Paralympic Games, was equally effusive during the lunch.
Park has been recruited to lead Britain's Olympic cycling team where he will introduce some of the coaching methods developed during his time in sailing.
Specialist sailing apparel manufacturer Zhik has been selected by team AkzoNobel as its official technical clothing partner for the upcoming edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.
AkzoNobel is the world's leading manufacturer of the organic peroxides that are used as essential ingredients to produce the type of hi-tech fabrics that feature in Zhik's products.
Commented Zhik CEO, David Crow: "We are extremely excited to partner with such an innovative and forward-thinking company as AkzoNobel for the Volvo Ocean Race. Our world class, hi-tech performance yachting gear, combined with AkzoNobel's drive for innovation and its winning culture, mean this is sure to be a superb partnership."
Bart Milczarczyk, global head of design at Zhik, said the opportunity to collaborate with the team AkzoNobel sailors made the partnership all the more unique and innovative.
Founded in 2003 Zhik's range of wetsuits and dinghy gear completely changed the design approach for performance clothing and have been rapidly adopted by sailors across the globe.
Since then, Zhik have taken the same 'clean sheet' approach and are pushing strongly into the yachting apparel from coastal cruising to extreme ocean range, and also into paddling and watersports.
It's the start of an exciting new era for Discovery Yachts with a management-led buyout headed by the Managing Director Sean Langdon, following the retirement of the company's founder and Chairman John Charnley.
The new team heading up the highly-respected British luxury cruiser brand, are looking to build on the company's successes. Discovery have ambitious plans to expand the current range with the launch of a new 48ft luxury cruising yacht in early 2018 as well as adding another brand into the mix for the Discovery Group.
Discovery Yachts has seen a promising start to 2017 and so far this year has secured £2.3 million in new orders
Sean Langdon has been Managing Director of Discovery Yachts since August 2016 during which time he has worked closely with John Charnley on the succession of this highly sought-after brand. Sean has a long association with the marine industry and recently spent three years as the Sales & Marketing Director for a well-known European production yacht brand.
Dual Olympian and three time World Champion sailor Sarah Ogilvie (nee Blanck) has been appointed to the Australian Sailing Board and will join the Athletes Commission as the Board representative.
Recognised as an exceptional dinghy sailor, Sarah competed at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008 finishing fourth in both; she won three World Championships and numerous Australian and State Championship titles. Sarah was co-Captain of the Australian Sailing Team in 2008 and has been recognised as Sailor of the Year and Australian Junior Athlete of the Year.
Sarah's term as an Appointed Director runs until the Annual General Meeting in October 2018 and was agreed at the Australian Sailing Board meeting held on 5 April 2017.
Kim Andersen, World Sailing President, welcomed IOC President Thomas Bach and Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) President Francesco Ricci Bitti to Aarhus - the Sailing Capital of Denmark - at the ASOIF annual dinner for the International Federations at the SportAccord Convention on Monday 3 April.
The ASOIF dinner, jointly hosted by World Sailing, world governing body of the sport, allows senior officials from the international federations of Olympic sports to network and share best practice in advance of the SportAccord Convention.
Overlooking the racing areas that will be used at the Aarhus 2018 Sailing World Championships, the evening held a sailing theme. Guests were welcomed to the venue, the Varna Palace, with the Nacra 17, fitted with the foiling configuration, and the Danish 49erFX that won bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on display, allowing officials to view the equipment first hand.
Meanwhile on the water, Danish kitesurfers, 49er sailors and RS:X competitors put on a demonstration directly in front of the venue.
World Sailing released its new strategic positioning at the end of 2016 putting sport, nature and technology at its core. The stronger and contemporary brand identity came to life on the evening with insightful literature and technology in action displays, showcasing innovation within the sport.
The positioning resonated well with sailors, coaches, sailing fans and sports fans and attendees on the evening that included Pavel Kolobkov, Russian Minister of Sport and IOC Members Alexander Zhukov, Juan Antonio Samaranch and Sergey Bubka gained further insight into World Sailing with a showing of the governing body's brand film.
Click here to view - www.sailing.org/tv/41067.php#.WOM3dI4lFZI
Letters To The Editor -
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Adrian Morgan:
We sorely miss Magnus and his perceptive take on all things sailing, so sharpen your quill. My point was simply this, and it's worth repeating. I am not decrying those who champion the new America's Cup boats, the spectacle or the speed - it is the future and like your nine year old son, we must embrace it (like Brexit) - but to call four guys bulked up to pump handles or spin pedals the best or even the greatest sailors is to traduce all those such as Armel, Alex, Francois etc. "The sheer physicality is on another level...", says Magnus.
For sure, but the others are fully rounded sailors, who employ skills in sail trimming, navigation, weather lore, helmsmanship, reefing, sail changing, storm tactics and all the other skills required to make a sailor, let alone the greatest or best sailor. I hate hyperbole. One thing I do agree on: the lack of real drama, versus the anodyne, highly controlled drip feed of mundane information.
* From John Burnie:
Jock Wishart challenged - so I should probably respond.
Bosham - in the Optimist fleet. The boat had white topsides and the underwater surfaces were yellow. It had a name - just on the waterline - but it was quite difficult to see or read the odd letters. When the boat was capsized and inverted you could clearly read "Sunny Side Op".
* From Euan Ross:
The Great Sound of silence
The America's Cup conversation has been immeasurably poorer since Magnus absentmindedly chewed on the business-end of his pen, while musing on yet another salvo of entertaining invective. We can live with cats; I've had a few little ones.
That's not really the issue any more; even if the latest crop of round-the-World record breakers have buggered the 'wow factor' by making tea and washing their socks at comparable speeds off Cape Horn. But, if Magnus fired up his old blog now, he would soon run out of juicy gossip to dissect.
In past times, World-class BS sparked genuine outrage. Now we are simply outraged by a Defender who has effectively shut down the competitors' dialogue on pain of God-knows-what.
A raft of draconian measures has been engineered to sanitise the "news" as it trickles out of the ironically named 'Great Sound'.
And, unfortunately, as far as the repeated boast that the crucial differences between each team's foil sections and wing control systems are only revealed to the "expert eye"; well, of course, they are not really apparent to anyone.
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
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The Last Word
The more you find out about the world, the more opportunities there are to laugh at it. -- Bill Nye
Editorial and letter submissions to
Advertising inquiries to Graeme Beeson: or see www.scuttlebutteurope.com/advertise.html


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This is the complete Spanish translation of the Complete Guide to Decorating with Ceramic Tile——America's best-selling book on tile installation. Like the English edition, this book features complete instructions for all types of ceramic tile installations for floors, countertops, walls, and even decorative outdoor applications. A perfect reference not only for the growing market of Spanish-speaking DIY homeowners, but also for the established and growing community of Spanish-speaking tradesmen.
Creative Publishing international (CPi) is a worldwide publisher of how-to books. The company's current retail offering includes over 300 titles on topics covering home improvement, home decorating, sewing, crafting, hunting & fishing, and photography. Over the past 15 years, CPi has developed high-quality photography step-by-step books with nationally recognized brand partners like Black & Decker and Singer.


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Summer 2014 at TopGolf
Blanket forts and spiked hot cocoa are fantastic, but most of us are starting to wonder, "When the heck will I see the sun again?" Snow, ice and the general feeling of hypothermia permanently setting in are ensuring that this coming summer will be welcomed with excessive enthusiasm.
What this summer will be like at TopGolf½
Hot Days (and Dates) As soon as jorts and tanktops are a possibility, everyone will be busting out their summer clothes and sporting anything and everything that doesn't resemble a parka. The prediction: no amount of heat or humidity will stop TopGolfers from gettin' out and gettin' social!
Late Nights That's right. Beer specials will be embraced as everyone and their cousin hits the best place open til 1 or 2 a.m. on weekends. (I'm still talking about TopGolf.) Pitch black can't stop the party on our super-lighted tee lines.
LOTS of TopGolf After what has quite possibly been the most ridiculous winter, TopGolf will be swarming. There literally is no better way to kick off summer than playing unparalleled golf games while a live DJ spills beats that inspire even your most uncoordinated friends to bust a move (those beer specials had nothing to do with it).
Golf Bag Fishbowls 60 ounces of liquid love is the dictionary definition of these TopGolf signature souvenir drinks. Arriving at your bay or bartop with massive bendy straws and flags to match, these partner drinks will be keep a smile on your face and the bartender a busy bee.
Fear not, TopGolf fans. Summer and the cure for your cabin fever are just around the corner!


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I've posted on my Facebook about it, but I thought I should hop on here and mention how saddened everyone at WrestleCrap.com is about the passing of Matt Osborne. It seems ironic that many times folks who don't really understand what the site is all about think that we must have inducted the wrestling clown, but that was never the case.
The original Doink, the HEEL Doink, was one of the greatest wrestling characters ever.
And that wouldn't have been the case without Osborne behind the grease paint.
Look, I know that Osborne was more than just Doink. I chronicled the saga of Big Josh, the lumberjack who wasn't allowed to carry an ax, in the early days of the site. And I know that he was at the first WrestleMania. But his greatest fame was as Doink. And I cannot possibly overstate how fantastic he was in that role.
Remember when he hit Crush with a phony arm? Vince has never been more outraged. Heck, he thought Doink pulled his arm out of its socket!
One of my favorite matches of all time was Jerry Lawler versus Bret Hart at SummerSlam 93. Everything about it was perfect: Bret was a fiery good guy, Jerry Lawler a completely scummy heel…you'd think adding anything would have watered it down. Instead, Doink shows up, and it gets even better.
So thank you, Mr. Osborne. My thoughts and prayers are with your friends and family.
You will be missed.


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While all three Valkyria Chronicles took turn-based SRPG combat and gave it a little bit more of an action twist, Valkyria: Azure Revolution goes the other way — it takes the skeleton of an action RPG and adds just a touch of turn-based flavor. In between the hacking and slashing and fast action, bringing up the an alternate menu of special moves offers the same time stopping afforded by the original Valkyria games.
Just as before, characters can take all the time in the world to decide exactly where to throw their grenades, aim their rockets, or whatever. Doing certain things in combat can cause psychological reactions in your enemies. For example, if I recall correctly, striking down a squad leader early can make other soldiers panic and hesitate during the heat of battle. Good stuff.
Players control one character while AI handles the other two, though players can change which one they're controlling at will. I might assume there's some level of AI customization or guiding, but the demo either didn't include or I just forgot to check or… nah, I'll stop bullshitting you, I didn't even think about it. But hey, that must mean the AI companions weren't fucking up my program, right?
My objectives were similar to most missions in previous Valkyria games: I was to invade enemy territory and take over their outposts. In Azure Revolution, this involved less strategy and more hack-n-slash, but the gist was familiar.
TGS Hands-On Preview Valkyria Azure Revolution
It all built up to a fight with a big mechanical spider. I could attack legs or the central head, but neither gave me much visual or audio feedback as to which plan was preferred, so I have no idea if my success took longer or shorter than usual. Something about the flow of this game felt off. It's one of those things I'm not a good enough word smith to explain — especially not when I'm trying to crank things out as fast as possible. It was fun, but it wasn't hitting that sweet spot I've become so accustomed to with Valkyria.
Maybe, after something like 400 hours spent with the previous games, this new system was bound to feel strange? On paper, it shouldn't be a problem, but in my hands, the flow of the action felt too jerky. I say this while realizing, of course, the stop-and-go style is part of what makes the Valkyria trilogy of strategy RPGs unique and fun in the first place.
Even though I mowed down goons and then killed a big boss, the fight and result didn't bring the satisfaction that often comes with that — and, as always, we have to say that this could be an issue between me and the game or a byproduct of it just being a demo. Sorry if you get tired of me saying stuff like that about trade show demos, but it needs to be pointed out.
Overall, I leave Tokyo Game Show feeling good about Valkyria: Azure Revolution, but not great. Appearing on PS4 and Vita, it's expected to hit Japan in January of next year, but doesn't yet have an official release date outside of its home country.
I played the PS4 version and didn't notice the Vita version at the show, so I can't compare performance.


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Samaritan Help Mission (SHM) is a Voluntary, not for profit organization based in Tikipara slum of Howrah (West Bengal) in India.
Tikiapara has a predominant Muslim population accounting for almost 80% of the total population.
Samaritan Help Mission was established in 1991 and is committed to work for the emancipation and empowerment of poor children of the area who previously have been involved in various nefarious activities and local women who lack opportunities to join the main stream of life through education and vocational training.


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throughout history, pet bird's diets consisted mostly of seed. Due to advances in nutritional knowledge and manufacturing processes, pet birds can now enjoy pellets, which are much better than seed diets.
- Balanced nutrition- Pellet diets contain balanced levels of nutrients, ensuring complete and balanced nutrition. Unfortunately, seed diets cause nutritional problems. Many seeds are high in fat and low in the nutrients needed.
- Pelleted foods contain a wide variety of ingredients.
- Species targeted nutrition- Pellet foods are usually formulated for specific bird species. This will help feed your bird the exact levels of protein, fat, fiber, and other nutrients it needs to live a long happy life.
- Less mess- Seed diets create a mess, pellet diets have little to no mess. They are completely edible and therefore less likely to end up all over the floor or on the bottom of your bird's cage.
- Reduced need for supplements- Pellet diets contain most of the necessary amounts of vitamins and minerals for good bird health, usually making supplements unnecessary. However, your bird may still require nutritional supplements. Consult your veterinarian before supplementing your bird's pellet diet, .
Sprouting is one of the best ways to ensure your bird gets some of the best nutrition available, made fresh by Mother Nature. There are so many advantages to sprouting, it's unbelievable. Seeds have been supplied with all of the nutrients, energy and information needed to become a plant. Thus, when sprouted, seed has the nutritional value of the plant but in a
more concentrated form. Considering the fact that parrots are much smaller than people, this packs a huge wallop of nourishment for your bird in the sprout's tiny package.
Sprouted or germinating seeds presents the simplest method of providing your birds with fresh greens. They are a healthy food addition for all birds, but are absolute necessity for the feeding hen and for the newly weaned young. Sprouted or germinated seeds are usually more easily accepted by "seed addicts" than fresh fruits and vegetables.


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We've introduced you to a number of amazing cosplayers, and I'm thrilled to to introduce you to yet another, Charles Battersby. This guy does all the things. He not only cosplays, but he's also a writer, actor, podcaster, and activist–and more. You can catch him on a few panels at NYCC this year, but for now, meet Charles!
How did you get into cosplay?
I've always been a theatrical person, so dressing up seemed to be the natural thing to do at a comic convention. I started by cosplaying as Catwoman, because I loved the interpretation of the character in the Tim Burton movie. I also made an outfit based on the Julie Newmar 1960's version of Catwoman. From there I went on to do other characters I liked, like Dark Phoenix and Wonder Woman.
Do you sew your costumes from scratch?
Now I sew most of them from scratch. When I first started cosplaying I would repurpose store-bought items and clothing. My first Catwoman outfit was bought at a fetish boutique, and I hand-sewed in white cord to make it looked like the one worn by Michelle Pfeiffer.
It can be intimidating to make an outfit from scratch but, after making a few items, it gets easier. You learn the limitations and functions of your sewing machine better, and you slowly amass tools and skills.
I use patterns for most of the items I make. Some of the pattern companies have cosplay departments, and you can also use historical/Halloween/dance costume patterns to approximate outlandish outfits from comic books and video games. Eventually you end up with a bunch of easily repurposed pattern pieces.
Where do you get most of your cosplay inspiration?
I start with characters that I love and identify with. Sometimes I'm drawn to a character or franchise just because of the character design – Ciel Phantomhive's pink ball gown got me into that anime.
I also like to recreate characters from video games. The better games can keep you playing for dozens or hundreds of hours. When you identify with a character that strongly, you want to bring elements of their life into the real world. Some of my game design friends have even said that they keep cosplayers in mind when designing the characters.
Sometimes I'll take characters that I admire, then re-imagine them as something more "fashionable". I love Captain America, but his outfit isn't exactly kawaii. So I created my own version of Captain America as a Victorian girl, and added the most iconic elements of his outfit to a cute blue dress.
What are some of the best things cosplay has taught you about yourself?
I've learned that I can do it. I had the idea for a half-Cinderella / half-Belle character years, but I never believed that I could make something so complicated and elaborate. I made two versions of the "Cinderbelle" dress, because I didn't like the way it turned out the first time, and it turned out much better on the second try.
Some of my other ideas seemed insurmountably difficult at first. My post-apocalyptic Fallout costume has a harness with an armored shoulder piece. I wanted it to look like it had been assembled from scavenged materials in a ruined world, and I ended up painting foam rubber to look like leather, and making a custom holster and bandolier to hold a "Mad Max" shotgun that I made. It was a lot of effort, and I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but it turned out great.
Do you find that, when you're in cosplay, you sort of take on the attitude and confidence of that character?
I'm horribly shy in the real world, but as soon as the costumes go on, I'm in character! I often cosplay as princesses, and people just love princesses! It's hard to be an introvert when you're wearing a tiara and a hoopskirt, and little girls are screaming "Hi Cinderella!" at you.
Other characters do give you feeling of confidence. When you have a shotgun strapped to your hip, and you look like you just fought your way through an army of mutants, then people tend to get the hell out of your way and avoid eye contact. Unless they're fans of the character – in which case they'll run across a convention floor just to hug you.
You've started an activist group to raise awareness for transgender issues in gaming called Press XY. Have you found the cosplay community more accepting to transgender cosplayers and other non-binary cosplayers than the gaming world?
Actually, the gaming world is extremely accepting of transgender people, and so is cosplay. There are lots of games that allow players to explore gender identity by creating customized characters. It's also been understood for a long time that the game industry has a high percentage of openly transgender people as both designers as well as consumers.
Cosplay is great way to explore identity (gender or otherwise). There are plenty of transgender characters, and there are lots of "Crossplayers" who specialize cosplaying as characters of the opposite gender.
Where can we find you online?
You can find me on my website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I host a podcast about post-apocalyptic fiction, and I write a web series set in the world of the Fallout games.
Thanks to Charles for chatting with. Let me know some of your burning cosplay questions in the comments!
All photos are from Charles Battersby's personal collection, and have been used with permission.


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Nín hǎo to all you legendary email subscribers. Welcome to my July finance report, as prepared from a lower bunk at a hostel in Hong Kong.
As usual, I'll share with you all the details of my finances below, along with a few notes that I think you'll find interesting.
But before we get to that, let me throw out some of the many kindnesses that came my way last month. All told, they ended up saving me a good chunk of money or just making my life better in some shape or form.
Paid in Kindness
Thanks to…
- Oh for recommending a nearby print shop so I could get my Chinese visa stuff printed.
- Johann for lending me a slack line, and for the great Parkour training.
- Andrew for recommending I hold my iPhone up against a wall when recording my videos, to help prevent shake. So simple, so effective!
- Dean, Mitch, Kai and Spyros for the legendary masterminding.
- Matt and Jack for some excellent sprint training. Also gotta thank Matt for some excellent training in real-world combat techniques. Subscribe to his YouTube channel for lots of practical health and fitness tips.
- All the people on the BKK Expats Facebook group. They've helped me out quite a bit with several requests.
- A couple of cool people who kept me company at the Chinese visa place, was waiting in line for way too long!
- Elderly gent at my apartment building in Bangkok who held the front door open for me one fine evening.
- Mike at the J.C. for buying my old laptop with no hassles or haggles, and for gifting me a pen 🙂
- Steve S for the immense amount of Thai business knowledge he dropped on me at The Royal Oak.
- Rob N for recommending Harry Cloudfoot's blog to me. Got some great rock climbing tips on there.
- Kitty, Julien and Tanai for hooking me up with business contacts in Bangkok.
- Andre P for coming to meet me in On Nut and telling me all about doing business in Thailand.
- Emmett Cooke for gifting me a copy of The Lean Startup 🙂
- Tom for meeting up with me in Bangkok for some good chat.
- Terry for meeting up with me for coffee and dropping a ridiculous amount of knowledge about Thai business culture.
- David and his Spanish buddy at the rock climbing gym, who showed me a few tricks for improving my skills on the wall.
- British chap Jay, who attended a first aid course with me in Bangkok and treated myself and another participant to lunch.
- Carlo and Florence for treating myself and Johnny to a meal and drinks in Bangkok. Great seeing more Irish people taking the leap and embarking on the travel lifestyle.
- Jeff for meeting up with me for coffee on a Thursday afternoon and dropping a ridiculous amount of business and culture knowledge about Thailand.
- Chris for sparing time to meet for coffee and chat about his experience living in Thailand.
- The Tharakiree Hotel in Khao Yai, for letting us check out three hours late 🙂
- Owen B for the thoughtful email exchange and book recommendation.
- Tina for taking the time to do a little Toastmasters research project on my behalf and send me the results.
- Uli from Germany, who I met one day at the rock climbing wall. He gave me some great tips on technique and training.
- My aunt Mary for the heads up on the Irish Blog Awards, and everyone who nominated me 🙂
- Random lady near Ari BTS in Bangkok who helped me find a restaurant.
- Johnny for the free Elite membership to HotSpot shield.
- The great people at Second Chance Bangkok, who came and picked up a bunch of stuff I wanted to donate.
- Kind elderly gent at a bank in Bangkok who was happy to count up all my small change and hand me over some crisp notes.
- A chap named Raman at the rock climbing gym in Bangkok, offering to belay for me.
- The two friendly security people at the Bangkok MRT station as I was leaving Bangkok, asking me where I was from and chatting nice for a while.
- Dude on the train to Nong Khai who offered me the spare seat beside him so I didn't have to type lying down in my bunk bed.
- Simon and his sister from Canada, who I met at the Nong Khai train station and proved good company on the way to Vientiane.
- Nice receptionist lady at the RD Guesthouse in Vientiane who let me shower and store my bag there for the bargain price of 10k lak.
- Cool people at Sinouk Cafe and the Via Via restaurant in Vientiane who happily changed currency for me.
- Old dude at the restaurant beside my hotel in Hanoi, who took some pictures of me enjoying my first meal in town. Ditto for the English lady on the bus to Hanoi who snapped similar.
- Dave, Nikki, Liam, Lauren and the rest of the gang from the 24-hour bus from Vientiane to Hanoi. Definitely helps when you can share a rough journey like that with cool people.
- Alfred, the Vietnamese chap who made sure we didn't get scammed at the bus station in Hanoi.
- Carlo and Catherine, from San Fran and Montreal respectively, who let me sit and chat with them for a good hour my first night in Hanoi. Carlo was also kind enough to set up and snap this pic of me selling bananas in the street.
- Tang Tang, the Vietnamese lady who was selling those bananas and let me take her place for a while. Poor woman had massive bruises on her shoulders from carrying fruit around all day. Tough life.
- Spanish couple at my hotel in Hanoi who finished up their brekkie in a hurry so I'd have a place to sit and eat mine.
- Kitty for all the loveliness 🙂
- And thanks to everyone who read, commented, and shared my writing during the month of July. You People make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside 🙂
(Note: The risk of listing out such kindnesses is that I may forget someone who was very kind to me during the previous month. My apologies if you did me a good turn and I haven't mentioned you above. It's not that I don't appreciate your generosity; more likely that I just had a brain fart.)
Okay, let's move on to the more numerical form of currency. Keep in mind that I spent most of the month living in Bangkok, but took one weekend trip in Thailand and traveled overland to Hanoi at the end of the month. Diving in…
July Expenses
Food and Drink
|Pubs, Coffee Shops, Restaurants, Take-aways
|€ 452
|$ 598
|€ 177
|$ 234
|€ 629
|$ 832
About the same as last month. I usually eat two meals at home each day during the week, grab lunch or dinner at a restaurant, and then go a bit nuts with restaurants at the weekend. That will likely change next month though as eating out in Hong Kong figures to be a bit more expensive.
Housing and Utilities
|1 month rent for On Nut apartment
|€ 391
|$ 517
|Water and electricity bills at On Nut apartment (June + July)
|€ 60
|$ 79
|2 nights at A Dong Hotel, Hanoi
|€ 25
|$ 33
|3 nights at Tharakiree Hotel, Khao Yai
|€ 24
|$ 32
|Apartment cleaning
|€ 17
|$ 23
|1 hour at RD Guesthouse, Vientiane
|€ 2
|$ 2
|Telephone charge at On Nut apartment
|€ 2
|$ 2
|€ 521
|$ 688
Also about the same as I spent last month. That one hour at RD Guesthouse was so I could take a shower and get freshened up, didn't need to spend the night as my bus to Hanoi was leaving the same day.
|1-Month scooter rental in Bangkok
|€ 61
|$ 81
|Agency fee for Chinese visa
|€ 48
|$ 64
|Vietnamese visa
|€ 48
|$ 64
|Laos visa
|€ 26
|$ 35
|Chinese visa
|€ 26
|$ 35
|Car fuel
|€ 24
|$ 32
|Bus: Vientiane to Hanoi
|€ 19
|$ 25
|Train: Bangkok to Nong Khai
|€ 17
|$ 22
|Bangkok BTS (skytrain)
|€ 12
|$ 16
|Khao Yai park entry fee
|€ 10
|$ 13
|Shuttle train and taxi from Nong Khai to Vientiane
|€ 10
|$ 13
|Scooter fuel
|€ 9
|$ 12
|Bangkok taxis
|€ 4
|$ 5
|Passport photos
|€ 4
|$ 5
|Bangkok Metro
|€ 2
|$ 3
|Printing for visa documentation
|€ 2
|$ 3
|Minibus to Old Quarter in Hanoi
|€ 2
|$ 2
|Scooter parking
|€ 1
|$ 1
|Highway tolls
|€ 1
|$ 1
|Vietnamese border fee
|€ 1
|$ 1
|Currency exchange fee fee
|€ 1
|$ 1
|€ 328
|$ 434
Somehow down from last months' numbers of €442/$575. Visa fees were a killer. No regrets about using the agency to get my Chinese visa though. They ask for much less paperwork than the embassy 🙂
Business Expenses
|S6 Personal Assistant
|€ 1,139
|$ 1,505
|SWB writers
|€ 333
|$ 440
|SWB Personal Assistant
|€ 95
|$ 125
|AWeber email marketing
|€ 23
|$ 30
|€ 18
|$ 24
|Ecwid shopping cart (for $50 Blogs, monthly subscription)
|€ 14
|$ 18
|PayPal fees
|€ 11
|$ 15
|Facebook boost post (for free book promotion)
|€ 8
|$ 11
|Amazon Web Services (ebizfacts.com CDN)
|€ 3
|$ 4
|€ 1,644
|$ 2,172
Down a bit from €1,833/$2,385 in June. I'll tell you more about the S6 and SWB projects further down. Other notes…
Affiliate links
I link to everything I use so you can go ahead and check out the products and services for yourself. However, I only become an affiliate for products and services that I actually like and am happy to recommend. If you click through and buy something via my affiliate links, it doesn't cost you anything extra, but I get a percentage of the sale price. Please don't buy anything unless you have a clear need for it.
Gifts and Donations
|Donation to The Ethical Volunteer
|€ 650
|$ 885
|Donation to In Search of Sanuk
|€ 76
|$ 100
|€ 726
|$ 985
Up from last months' donation total of €656/$853, but still a little short of the goal to donate 15% of my income each month. So far this year I've donated €3,861/$5,103, which works out to 14.3% of my income.
The Ethical Volunteer
This was the first time I donated to The Ethical Volunteer. I watched the video on their Indiegogo fundraising page and was really impressed by what they're trying to do. There are far too many "voluntourism" organizations out there nowadays trying to profit off people looking to volunteer abroad and doing more harm than good in the communities they claim to help. TEV is aiming to fix that broken system. They've only got a couple of days left to raise money for their campaign. Head on over and watch the video and see if you'd like to contribute.
Miscellaneous Expenses
|First aid and CPR course in Bangkok
|€ 134
|$ 177
|Parkour personal training (3 lessons)
|€ 121
|$ 160
|1-month membership to The Racquet Club gym, Bangkok
|€ 104
|$ 138
|Cop bribe in Bangkok
|€ 48
|$ 64
|Phone credit
|€ 42
|$ 55
|€ 26
|$ 35
|€ 20
|$ 27
|MacBook Pro repair
|€ 20
|$ 27
|€ 10
|$ 13
|Book: Third Circle Theory
|€ 10
|$ 13
|Book: The Multi-Orgasmic Man
|€ 9
|$ 12
|Book: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
|€ 8
|$ 11
|Book: You Are Not So Smart
|€ 8
|$ 10
|Book: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"
|€ 7
|$ 9
|Book: 98.6 Degrees
|€ 5
|$ 7
|Subscription to Raam Dev's Journal
|€ 5
|$ 7
|Athletic tape
|€ 5
|$ 7
|Rock climbing belayer
|€ 5
|$ 6
|Book: Choose Yourself
|€ 4
|$ 5
|Leech protector leggings
|€ 4
|$ 5
|€ 4
|$ 5
|iTunes movie rental: Despicable Me
|€ 4
|$ 5
|iTunes movie rental: Side Effects
|€ 4
|$ 5
|€ 2
|$ 3
|€ 2
|$ 2
|€ 1
|$ 1
|€ 612
|$ 808
Up a bit from the €571/$743 I spent on miscellaneous last month. I bought quite a few books for the long trip to Hong Kong. A few other notes…
First aid and CPR course in Bangkok
This was one of my functional fitness goals for the year. Learned quite a lot in the one-day course, and I now have a much better idea of what to do in a medical emergency. If you're in Bangkok yourself and would like to take the same course, you can find details here. Ask for Steve and tell him Niall sent ya!
Parkour personal training
Also part of my functional fitness training. I was taking twice-weekly classes with Parkour Generations Asia in Bangkok, but to learn how to drop safely from a height of 10 feet, I had to get some personal instruction. My trainer Johann was excellent and had me jumping off a 10-foot height and landing in a roll within three hours of lessons. You can see video of one such jump over on Facebook.
Cop bribe in Bangkok
This sucked. I was pulled over for riding my scooter in a bus lane, which I didn't realize I was doing. The cop told me I had to go to the police station and pay a 2,000 baht fine, and have my license taken away for a month. I asked if I could just pay the fine there and then, and of course he accepted because what he wanted all along was the bribe. Stupid me never tried to haggle him down on the price though. Being underslept and frustrated after a morning wasted at the Chinese embassy, I just wanted to get the situation over with. A few days later I fixed me up a bribe wallet, which should get me off the hook a lot cheaper next time.
Expense Summary
|Food and Drink
|€ 629
|$ 832
|Housing and Utilities
|€ 521
|$ 688
|€ 328
|$ 434
|Business Expenses
|€ 1,644
|$ 2,172
|Gifts and Donations
|€ 726
|$ 985
|Miscellaneous expenses
|€ 612
|$ 808
|Total Expenses
|€ 4,460
|$ 5,919
Down a little from last month's totals of €4,664/$5,919.
July Income
Away from the minuses and on to the pluses…
|Sigma 6 project
|€ 3,235
|$ 4,275
|SWB project
|€ 793
|$ 1,049
|On Nut apartment deposit refund
|€ 563
|$ 744
|MacBook Pro sale
|€ 242
|$ 320
|Mysterious deposit in my Irish bank account
|€ 67
|$ 89
|Scooter deposit refund
|€ 48
|$ 64
|$50 Blogs
|€ 38
|$ 50
|Reader donations (muchas gracias!)
|€ 17
|$ 23
|Amazon book royalties
|€ 17
|$ 22
|How To Live A Life Of Travel affiliate payment
|€ 8
|$ 11
|Total Income
|€ 5,028
|$ 6,647
Up a bit from last month's total of €4,538/$5,904, and actually a personal best for income in a single month. I'd never cracked the €5k mark before. Of course not all of that income was "earned", as big chunks came from the sale of my old laptop and getting some deposits back. But hey, I'll take what I can get!
Sigma 6 project
I can't reveal too much about this money-making endeavor. Reason being that it's a partnership that was offered to me on condition that I don't go blabbing about the whole thing. All I can say is that it involves selling advertising on travel blogs, and my assistant is handling most of the workload for me nowadays. Taking away the expense of my assistant, the profit here was €2,097/$2,770 for the month of July, down significantly from June's total of €3,029/$3,941.
SWB project
This is the SEO Writing Business (SWB for short) I've been running for a few months now. I set a goal in my last finance report that the business needed to pull in a profit of at least $500 in July, otherwise I'd pull the plug and move onto something else. Well, subtracting expenses from revenue in July I end up with a profit of $484, but the $125 I paid my assistant was for work done in June. Not accounted for above is the $424 I paid her at the start of August for work done in July. So really the profit for July was more like $185, which just doesn't cut it. My assistant has already wound down the business and I'm now officially moving on. I will say though that I still believe SEO writing is a lucrative business. My experiment was to see if I could set up a system, hire an assistant to do all the day-to-day stuff, and barely do anything myself. Unfortunately, that didn't work very well. My assistant was great, but I believe the business required a month or two of hard hustling from me to really get it running smooth, and I simply wasn't willing to invest that much time and effort in it.
Where that leaves me
I had €7,052/$9,174 to my name at the end of June. After applying the most recent exchange rates (I have accounts in both Dollars and Euros), that had decreased slightly to €6,960/$9,199. Taking into account all my July income and expenditure, my total bank and cash balances now work out to €7,499/$9,911.
Here's how I'm doing so far this year:
- €1,439/$1,970 in January
- €1,275/$1,655 in February
- €262/$337 in March
- €70/$92 in April
- €1,762/$2,290 in May
- €126/$164 in June
- €568/$728 in July
- €1,816/$2,380 overall
Outlook for August
Not gonna be a cheap one! I've already paid out a good chunk to my assistants and dropped a hefty deposit and payment for a room rental here in Hong Kong. Add to that the money I'll be spending to take twice-weekly Krav Maga classes in August, plus the general high cost of living here in HK, and the expense outlook ain't good.
Income-wise, hopefully I'll be able to at least crack the $4k mark, though I never really can predict how things will go with the Sigma 6 project. I do plan to spend much of August hunched over a desk working my ass off on several new business projects. Maybe all that work will lead to some extra income. At the very least, it should keep me off the expensive streets of Hong Kong.
Feedback welcome
Thoughts? Questions? Speak up in the comments below.


text:
Could Doan be on the Canucks radar come deadline time?
With the Coyotes deal falling apart. Could Doan want a move to Vancouver. He only signed in Phoenix because he was told the team was staying
— hockeytraderumors (@hockeytraderumo) February 1, 2013
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