text:
Reading the Water: Fly Fishing, Fatherhood, and Finding Strength in Nature (Hardcover)
By Mark Hume
Temporarily Out Of Stock - Can Be Ordered For You, Takes Extra Time.
"A father shares the joys of fly-fishing with his daughters. In this eloquent memoir ... Mark] Hume vividly conveys the sensory details of their adventures and the stunning surroundings ... A heartfelt, beautifully written celebration of the wonders of nature and comfort of family."--Kirkus STARRED Review
Fishing was Mark Hume's passion since he was a young boy, a lifeline through a childhood marked by his family's frequent moves. When he became a father, he knew he wanted to pass on his love of water, fishing, and the natural world to his daughters. Most of all, he wanted to give them hope for their future even as they were coming of age during uncertain times.
As soon as they were old enough, Mark taught his girls how to read the water and see the patterns in nature. He showed them how to cast, how to catch fish and release them, and--only when needed--how to kill them. He discovered that fly fishing and fatherhood require many of the same skills: patience, flexibility, and the knowledge of when to reel in and when to let go.
Illuminating and heartfelt, Reading the Water is a much-needed, positive story about a father raising daughters, and a meditation on finding faith in a deep connection with the natural world.
Mark Hume is an award-winning environmental journalist and author of four books, including the acclaimed River of the Angry Moon. He was formerly a national correspondent and columnist with the Globe and Mail, BC bureau chief for the National Post, and a senior correspondent with the Vancouver Sun. Based in Vancouver, he has fly fished in British Columbia for fifty years.
Publisher: Greystone Books
Nature Therapy
MP3 CD (August 9th, 2022): $31.95
Compact Disc (August 9th, 2022): $36.95


Do you know all of the web applications your employees are using? Do you know how many files are being sent to people outside your organization?
Do you know the amount of company data that is being accessed on mobile devices?
Do you know the number of people who have Global Administrator accounts or access to confidential data?
Do you know how many password reset calls your Help Desk receives?
A troubling 47% of the IT and business leaders we survey are compromised in these areas. Our clients' employees use more mobile devices than ever before; that means more company data out in the world— potentially unprotected and at risk. At any moment, you're one lost device or wrong email address away from a security breach.
Here at Champion Solutions Group, we understand the challenge. Our team has years of hands-on experience helping the world's largest and most innovative companies develop effective mobile security solutions. Through an approach that's built on an arsenal of research-backed tools and assessments, Champion's proprietary approach to security and technology has been keeping customers' information secure since the beginning of the mobile device revolution.
We also know that mobile security is about more than devices or fancy security protocols. Champion's approach is highly customized, and we work with your team to identify your most important business processes and assess how they can be optimized. From there, we launch highly targeted mobile initiatives that might include everything from custom application development protected by the latest authentication techniques, to new security policies that help your team get more done from wherever they are.
Every app you release, every program you access, and every piece of data you send over mobile will be backed by the most effective Enterprise Mobility Security program possible for your company's unique needs.
Champion Solutions Group has over 35 years of expertise in delivering customized information technology solutions across all platforms for midsized to large organizations. Our people want to work with your people. For more information, visit www.championsg.com or contact us at 800-771-7000 to learn how our proven methodology can help your organization increase productivity, reduce costs, and mitigate risks.


text:
Список депутатов Верховного Совета Узбекской ССР 10 созыва

Депутаты Верховного Совета РСФСР Узбекской ССР 10 созыва работали с 1980 по 1985 годы.

Всего 510 депутатов.

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Ссылки
 https://web.archive.org/web/20160806104748/http://knowbysight.info/1_UZBEK/13459.asp

1980 год в Узбекистане

Списки депутатов Верховного Совета Узбекской ССР

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The University of Nottingham (UoN) is renowned for its prowess as a public research university, delivering vocational and research courses and studies to over 45,000 students across the World, from the UK to the far east. The university receives over £100million per year in research grants and contracts, representing a large proportion of their income.
With lockdown in place, UoN were searching for a solution to ensure that their undergraduate and post-graduate students could continue to access specialist applications whilst studying from home.
Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) delivered by UoN and CoreAzure is enabling different areas of the curriculum including engineering, mathematics and science.
WVD is helping to deal with the inequalities and disadvantages between students by providing a standard managed remote desktop solution.
Number of users:
We provided the following products and services:
Azure Labs
With the UK and many countries around the world in lockdown, UoN were looking for a solution to enable staff and students to continue to work and feel supported whilst working remotely and securely from home and to limit the disruption to teaching and learning services. The solution had to;
Replicate the staff and student's on-campus desktop experience
Provide effective access to complex and resource hungry applications
Deal with the inequalities of different device and access types and IT literacy
CoreAzure worked with a group of universities and Microsoft to develop a common proposition that would streamline and simplify the WVD deployment and rollout.
Our solution to UoN focused on;
Design assurance to provide confidence that WVD is secure, reliable and able to scale as adoption ramps and reliance increases
The review and validation of the UoN roadmap to assure the approach, to validate investment choices and facilitate delivery prioritization
Assisting UoN in the definition and creation of a service wrapper (outline Managed Service specification)
We are using Microsoft's WVD to allow students and staff to remotely access the applications they need during the lockdown period. The solution mitigates potential inequality and disadvantage between students as a consequence of the technology they have available to them, providing a standard managed offering. This ensures the University provides access to all the required tools, when used in conjunction with online teaching and learning techniques, to enable the university to continue to effectively provide teaching and learning services during this challenging period.
Simon Swinburne, Enterprise Architect (Platforms & Technologies, Research, IS)
Like all Azure-based services, UoN now only pay for what they use
UoN's management overheads have been minimised because the management plane is PaaS-based
The built-in security features provide a platform that UoN's staff and student users can trust

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Uncaught RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded I'm sometimes getting an error in my chrome console saying 'Uncaught RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded'  I'm not sure what is causing it but I believe it is to do with a JavaScript setInterval method I'm using in my .js file.
I'm using the setInterval method to hide a sticky top nav after 4 seconds of inactivity by the user, the sticky nav reappears after the user moves their mouse or makes a keypress.
Also, while the below code is working as described in Chrome, in Firefox it only works once, i.e. the sticky nav is hidden once & reapears on mouse/keypress but does not disappear again.
What may be causing this error?
Why is Firefox behaving differently to Chrome?
I think may be making an error in how I'm using the setInterval method.  In the code below, I set the interval at the beginning & clear the interval once the user clicks on the nav button (i.e. .mk-nav-responsive-link), I then re-start the interval method when the user clicks on the nav button to close the menu.
<!-- CODE ABOVE OMITTED FOR BREVITY -->

    // Hide Nav on User Inactivity START
    var userInactivity = 1;
    var userInactivityInterval = setInterval(function(){userInactivityTimer()},1000);
    function userInactivityTimer(){
        if(userInactivity == 4 && jQuery(window).scrollTop() > (vh/8)){
            jQuery('.mk-nav-responsive-link img').fadeOut();
            userInactivity = 1;
        }
        userInactivity = userInactivity+1;
//        console.log(userInactivity);
//        console.log(jQuery(window).scrollTop());

        jQuery(document).bind('mousemove keypress', function() {
            jQuery('.mk-nav-responsive-link img').fadeIn();
            userInactivity = 1;
        });
    }
    // Hide Nav on User Inactivity END

    // CUSTOM DROP DOWN MENU TRANSITIONS START
    jQuery('.mk-nav-responsive-link').toggle(function() {
      // RESPONSIVE FIX TO SHOW THE ENTIRE DROP DOWN MENU ON SMALL HEIGHT SCREENS
      if (jQuery(window).height() < 405) {
            jQuery("#mk-responsive-nav").css('height','581px');
            jQuery("#responsive-nav-bg").animate({
            top:'0',
            height:'575px'
          },175, 'linear');
        } else {
            jQuery("#responsive-nav-bg").animate({
            top:'0',
            height:'100vh'
          },175, 'linear');
        }
      jQuery(".mk-desktop-logo").attr('src',"/wp-content/themes/jupiter-child/images/EW-logo-white.png");
      jQuery(".mk-nav-responsive-link > img").attr('src',"/wp-content/themes/jupiter-child/images/x-close-menu.png");
      jQuery(".mk-nav-responsive-link > img").css('padding-top','0');
      jQuery(".mk-nav-responsive-link > img").css('padding-right','0');
      jQuery('.mk-go-top.on').css({'display' : 'none'});
      jQuery('.mk-desktop-logo').css({'position' : 'fixed'});
      clearInterval(userInactivityInterval);

    }, function() {
        jQuery("#responsive-nav-bg").animate({
        top:'87px',
        height:'0'
      },250, 'linear');
      if (jQuery(window).width() < 405) {
            jQuery(".mk-desktop-logo").attr('src',"/wp-content/themes/jupiter-child/images/EW-logo-responsive.png");
        } else {
            jQuery(".mk-desktop-logo").attr('src',"/wp-content/uploads/EW-logo.png");
        }
      jQuery(".mk-nav-responsive-link > img").attr('src',"/wp-content/themes/jupiter-child/images/burger-menu-icon.png");
      jQuery(".mk-nav-responsive-link > img").css('padding-top','10px');
      jQuery(".mk-nav-responsive-link > img").css('padding-right','5px');
      jQuery('.mk-go-top.on').css({'display' : 'inline-block'});
      jQuery('.mk-desktop-logo').css({'position' : 'relative'});
      userInactivityInterval = setInterval(function(){userInactivityTimer()},1000);
    });
    // CUSTOM DROP DOWN MENU TRANSITIONS END

<!-- CODE BELOW OMITTED FOR BREVITY -->

A: You need to move your mousemove event out of the interval function. You're killing your CPU by rebinding the event every second. This event only needs to be bound once.
Remember that it's expensive to bind events on a large scale. Try to minimize your bindings at all times.
You only bind it once. #YOBO

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Philadelphia, Nov. 9, 2017 – Using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to model autism spectrum disorder (ASD), researchers at the University of São Paulo, Brazil and University of California, San Diego have revealed for the first time that abnormalities in the supporting cells of the brain, called astrocytes, may contribute to the cause of the disorder. The findings, published in Biological Psychiatry, help explain what happens at a biological level to produce ASD behavior, and may help researchers identify new treatments for patients with the disorder.
"This new use of pluripotent stem cells suggests that neurobiological approaches to autism based solely on abnormal neuronal development may fail to account for complex interplay of neurons and astrocytes that may be an underappreciated component of the biology of this disorder," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.
"The article highlights for the first time the influence of astrocytes in ASD, revealing that astrocytes play a fundamental role in neuronal structure and function," said Beltrão-Braga.
Importantly, ASD has been a challenging disease to model using iPSCs because of its complexity. Several genes have been linked to ASD, but their contributions remain unknown, and genetic differences between patients have made it difficult to understand the cause and develop treatments for the disorder. But in this study, the ASD subjects were selected because they shared similar behaviors, rather than similar genes. According to Beltrão-Braga, this means the findings could provide a new alternative strategy for treating ASD symptoms, independent of the patient's genotype.
The article is "Modeling the interplay between neurons and astrocytes in autism using human induced pluripotent stem cells by Fabiele B. Russo, Beatriz C. Freitas, Graciela C. Pignatari, Isabella R. Fernandes, Jonathan Sebat, Alysson R. Muotri, and Patricia Cristina Baleeiro Beltrão Braga https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.09.021. It appears in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier.


text:
Torre de Santa Margarida és un antic monestir, i posteriorment masia, ara en ruïnes, que és un monument protegit com a bé cultural d'interès local del municipi de Barcelona.

Descripció
És un conjunt monàstic rural, emplaçat al mig d'una boscúria, a una franja del sector occidental de la serra de Collserola, que limita amb el terme de Sant Feliu de Llobregat, dins del terme de Barcelona però ja dins de la vall de Sant Feliu.

Es tracta d'un conjunt d'edificacions de línies rurals senzilles, bastides en diverses èpoques, conservant alguna construcció romànica, com el cos lateral destinat a capella, destacant una finestra d'aquell període.

També es poden veure una galeria amb una finestra, restes de dependències de tipus agrícola, algunes de semiderruïdes.

Al seu entorn s'hi poden contemplar àrees d'horta, conreats fins no fa gaire.

Història
En aquesta vall, coneguda com a Valldonzella, a principis del  existia una casa gran anomenada Torre de Santa Margarida.

Posteriorment s'hi bastí una capella romànica dedicada a la Verge Maria, que fou posada a cura d'una confraria d'oblates.

L'any 1226, el Bisbe de Barcelona, Berenguer de Palou, feu donació del cenobi a l'Orde del Cister, que hi establí una comunitat de monges. Més endavant, a causa dels perills que comportava l'aïllament del lloc, es traslladaren al barri de la Creu Coberta, situat fora de la muralla de Barcelona, a prop del Portal de Sant Antoni, i després de diferents trasllats, la comunitat és des del 1913 al monestir de Santa Maria de Valldonzella.

Actualment aquesta finca és propietat de la Mancomunitat de Municipis de l'Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona, havent estat l'anterior propietari un tal Josep M. Aymar, resident a Madrid, que fou Secretari de l'Ajuntament de l'Hospitalet de Llobregat.

Referències

Enllaços externs

Edificis de Sarrià - Sant Gervasi
Monestirs cistercencs de Catalunya
Monestirs de Barcelona
Serra de Collserola
Masies romàniques de Catalunya
Masies de Barcelona
Patrimoni monumental de Sarrià - Sant Gervasi


A 19-year-old man from Colchester has been arrested on suspicion of murdering Saudi Arabian student Nahid Almanea.
Essex Police said the teenager was initially arrested overnight on Thursday following reports by a woman that a man attempted to grab her as she jogged through the town.
He was then arrested shortly after 4pm on Friday in connection with the investigation into the murder of Nahid Almanea, 31, who was knifed to death on Tuesday.
Almanea was stabbed 16 times as she walked to Essex University on June 17.
Essex Police said in a statement: "We have arrested a 19-year-old man from Colchester in connection with the investigation into the murder of Nahid Almanea. The man was initially arrested shortly after midnight today for a separate offence of assault.
"His arrest followed a report from a woman that while she was jogging near Peache Road, Colchester at around 10pm, on Thursday June 19, a man had approached her and tried to grab her. She was able to fight him off and made her way home and then immediately contacted police.
"Police searched the area and a man was subsequently arrested and taken into police custody. Following further enquiries he was then further arrested shortly after 4pm today in connection with the murder investigation."


Gantry 5's layout manager utilizes a drag and drop interface, providing an easy mechanism for modifying positions.
Gantry 5's administrative interface has been completely rebuilt from the ground up to meet the needs of tomorrow's developer, todays.
Kraken is built with a responsive layout, which means it will expand and contract accordingly to the size and resolution of any screen.
Style elements of the Kraken theme, such as links, font or background colors.
Content placed in the Offcanvas section will appear outside of the main viewport.
Gantry 5 utilizes Twig - a flexible, fast, and secure template engine for PHP.
YAML makes it easy to create blueprints for back-end configuration options.
Kraken is worth its weight in gold, just fantastic!
- Alex Simon, Think Kraken Co.
Extraordinary. Kraken is by far my favorite theme.
Kraken cannot be ignored, it is a design for the ages!
- Derek Abels, Love Kraken Inc.


text:
Hundreds of Families Ask State for Help to Leave Gaza Border Homes
More than 120 rockets and mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Monday, four of them landing in built-up areas.
Nir Hasson
Gili Cohen
Shirly Seidler
Jack Khoury
Mortar damage at the entrance to one of the communities bordering the Gaza Strip.Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz
Some 300 families from communities near the Gaza Strip asked the Defense Ministry for help in evacuating their homes on Monday, as heavy fire on southern Israel continued. The total number of families that have applied for assistance to leave the border area since Friday is now 700.
Mosques Used for Military Ops, Say Hamas POWs
Abbas to Unveil Diplomatic Plan
Operation Protective Edge, Day 49
The New Traitors
The IDF said Palestinians fired about 125 mortars and rockets at Israel yesterday, of which 95 landed in Israel. Another 13 were intercepted by the Iron Dome system.
The evacuations began after a mortar shell killed 4-year-old Daniel Tragerman in his house at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Friday. So far, 400 families have been moved to youth hostels and facilities run by the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's Soldiers. Altogether, the National Emergency Authority has prepared about 1,000 rooms, and one resident of a Gaza-area community said demand exceeded the supply.
Many evacuees are remaining in the south, but have relocated to communities farther from the border, out of range of mortar fire.
The National Emergency Authority has begun considering what do about schooling for the children, since the school year starts on Monday. One possibility is to open classrooms in the facilities where the families are staying. Another is to have the children attend local schools.
Many southerners still object to the term "evacuation," insisting that the temporary move be called "a breather" instead.
"Nobody has abandoned, is abandoning or will abandon the kibbutz," said Assaf Artel of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
But Anat Hefetz of Kibbutz Nirim disagreed. "We always call ourselves evacuees and refugees," she said. "We shouldn't whitewash it with words like 'breather' or 'taking a break.' These aren't people who need a vacation; they're people who need to defend their lives."
Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports about the possibility of a cease-fire in Gaza. Two senior Islamic Jihad officials who are members of the joint Palestinian delegation to the truce talks in Cairo said yesterday that a cease-fire announcement would come within hours. But Hamas said no real progress had been made in the talks, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' office also said it had no idea where Islamic Jihad got this idea.
Sunday night, senior PA officials had sounded more optimistic, saying they expected Egypt to announce a cease-fire of unlimited duration very soon. But Hamas denied that report as well.
One Israeli was lightly wounded by a mortar fired at the Eshkol Regional Council yesterday; no siren sounded before the shell landed. Another mortar damaged a high-voltage wire, leaving several communities in the area without electricity. Other rockets and mortars also caused property damage, including to a pool and soccer field in Eshkol and a mall in Ashdod that was hit by shrapnel from an intercepted rocket.
Gaza war
Gaza rockets


In this blog, we will be talking about Calgary Catholic Schools.
Schools are located in many of the neighbourhoods in the City of Calgary. CCSD is the largest Catholic school district in Alberta, serving more than 56,000 students serving the city of Calgary, Airdrie, Cochrane, and Chestermere.


By: Shenieka Reid- Transaction Listing Coordinator, Keller Williams Realty Jamaica.
Keller Williams Jamaica Realty is truly excited by the idea of having Artificial Intelligence (AI) 'KELLE' app launched in its diaspora. The fast-paced nature of our industry requires any simplicity and ease to assist our agents at hand. We can ask in-depth transaction – related questions and receive responses within seconds.
'KELLE', like Keller Williams Reality (KW), has been built by agents for agents to give our Real Estate Agents the feeling of security, as our personal data will remain closer to home. As a new application, we are working to share details about its capabilities and are ready to make it useful while it gathers knowledge entered into its database. Like any other form of AI app, we need to use it and ask it different questions for it to be more useful in answering Real Estate – related questions quickly.
We've managed to research the 'KELLE' app and found out some of its features which will save our Real Estate Agents TIME. These features include: accessing your contacts so that you can send them messages within the app, keeping abreast of upcoming events, reminders to follow-up with referrals, the opportunity to track the how much Growth Share and or Profit Share earned for the month or even for the entire year, pull up listings in your desired area and get detailed information about the desired properties, etc. We practice Time Management here at Keller Williams Jamaica and believe that any app that will be able to help us target and reach our goals is an app worth the excitement. This highlights how effective and time efficient this app is. Some of our own agents here in Jamaica have expressed their excitement of its introduction.
The Keller Williams Jamaica Team has been buzzing with excitement as they anxiously await their chance to put 'KELLE' to good use. Many of us are familiar with Artificial Intelligence applications from Apple ('Siri'), Google (Google Assistant) and Amazon.com ('Alexa') and can appreciate how these applications have brought everyday tasks to the tip of the fingers, making life much simpler. The Real Estate Industry is a very aggressive one and requires prompt responses and consistency.
Our Keller Williams Jamaica Culture thrives on effective communication and its amazing how 'KELLE' will help us connect more with first, second, or even third time buyers and sellers. It supports our WIN-WIN approach, and it exemplifies how driven and united the Keller Williams Realty Team is worldwide. We are looking forward to rolling out this and many more new applications and tools like this one.


Cedar Down Farm is a small scale, ecological farm in the loving care of Jeff Boesch and Leslie Moskovits. We grow certified organic vegetables for weekly farmshares through our Community Support Agriculture (CSA) program. Our farming methods aim to support and enhance the health of our soils and contribute to the health and sustainability of our local ecosystem. Our farm is certified organic and we do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. Each season we are improving our farming methods to take into account new methods and emerging research on soil health and ecological sustainability. Our farm is human-scale using a mix of hand tools and small tractor power.
Extensive cover cropping and minimized tillage.
Crop Rotations – to interrupt pest and weed cycles, maintain soil structure, and manage soil fertility.
Addition of Organic matter- such as composted manures, and plant material through plow down crops.
We also work to provide a healthy habitat for insects, birds and animals by supporting many wild spaces, wetlands and forest on the farm.
We seek to provide an equitable and enjoyable work environment for ourselves and our staff and we grow vegetables for CSA because we believe it is an equitable and sustainable way to deliver the highest quality, most nutritious vegetables to our community. CSA is a community-building model of farming and food distribution that guarantees that community members have access to fresh, healthy food while sustaining farms and farm livelihoods. The CSA model supports open communication between us and our community of eaters and maintains transparency so that members know exactly how their food is being grown.


Well, this is a fine thing: Cartoon Network has apparently decided to not only prevent me from seeing any further trailers for Mega Man: Fully Charged on their YouTube channel, but they've also disabled the ones that I could previously see, which likely means both the official Mega Man: Fully Charged channel and Cartoon Network's clips are moot links outside of the United States.
According to the latest batch of episode descriptions, "Aki must set aside a petty rivalry with Bert Wily (wow, let that one sink in. --LBD) in order to stop Chemistry Man from wreaking havoc at Silicon Central's Field Day."
From that, I assume the guy in the thumbnail (the only thing I can see) is Chemistry Man. I assume he does... stuff. Probably chemical stuff.
He looks like he might be a fun character. Maybe.


Inspecting and collecting data on existing and new construction including additions and losses to taxable property, as well as continually studying and analyzing the local real estate market to determine property value as of tax day, which is December 31 of each year.
Maintaining the Property Record Cards for all properties, consisting of name, address and/or legal description, including building sketches, legal descriptions, square footage and year built, etc.
Maintaining all Principal Residence Exemption filings, Rescissions and related records.
Maintaining the mapping system by processing all approved splits and combinations of property, including the issuance of parcel numbers.
Providing the means of assessment appeal through the March Board of Review and correction of mutual mistakes of fact or clerical error through the July and December Boards of Review.
Preparing and defending all assessment petitions to the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
Preparing all reports, forms and warrants mandated by the State of Michigan and Livingston County Equalization Department.
Preparing all Special Assessment Rolls as required, pursuant to State Law and Township Board Resolution.
Personal Property Statements are filed with this office.
The department provides property data to local realtors, fee appraisers, lenders, taxpayers and the general public daily.


Made from 100% cotton, their quilted surface ensures that theyre ultra soft, absorbent, hygienic and dont leave any messy fibres behind. Whats more, their sealed edge means theyre easy to remove from pack, while their strong fibres prevent tearing.
Specially designed to make your beauty routine easier, Swisspers round make-up pads are ideal for removing and applying your make-up, lotions, nail polish and cleanser.
Use to apply cleaners and lotions, remove nail polish and make-up, clean cuts and abrasions and baby care.


text:
Верхня Заїмка () — село Північно-Байкальського району, Бурятії Росії. Входить до складу Сільського поселення Верхньозаїмського.
Населення — 597 осіб (2015 рік).

Примітки

Села Бурятії

Населені пункти Північно-Байкальського району


text:
Black Sky Thinking
The Ides Of Merch: Why Venues Need To Stop Ripping Off Musicians
Sean Adams , April 20th, 2022 07:16
Touring is not as lucrative as you might think. Are venues really taking 30%+ commission on merchandise? Artists have had enough. Sean Adams explores how attitudes are changing
Above and beyond the setlists and soundchecks, touring is tough and requires a lot of focus on the pennies and the pounds. Whether we're talking about an eleven album deep doom-metal trio trying to make a living, or newbies who are simply trying to avoid making a loss, touring requires the construction of a web of planning, such as savvily pre-booking Premier Inns on their advance rate or deciding between four or seven hours sleep (knowing the difference is often several hundred pounds saved on cheaper flights).
Whether bands play to 500 people or 50,000, being able to predict the right number of medium-sized T-shirts to print so they don't sell out (or get saddled with hundreds of pounds of left over stock) is boring but more important than ever.
Like any small business, understanding a profit and loss spreadsheet is crucial to live music. If you can't get cancellation insurance due to COVID and fuel prices are continuing to rocket, every single hoodie and hand to hand record sale counts more than ever. So, aside from knowing how to impress a crowd, being able to set reasonable prices for merchandise to generate maximum sales and a decent profit, is more integral to a successful tour than it has ever been.
However, since live music slowly returned after lockdowns, artists from support band level to circuit headliners like the Charlatans and veterans like Peter Hook, have used their social media channels to call out venues for cutting into their income from selling merchandise.
Based on the reaction to tweets like this, fans have been understandably shocked and angry to learn that venues take this kind of cut. As was I when I first encountered the practice at one venue while on tour with Ed Harcourt.
"We'd like you to meet Derek, he'll be selling your merch tonight…"
That's very kind of you, I thought. It's been a long drive to get here and this will give me a chance to have a walk after sound check. I also won't need to take the float to the toilet with me.
"he'll take 20% of all sales…"
"…and if sales are less than £50, we will discuss how he's paid…"
We were a week into a UK tour and as a fresh faced artist-manager, who was also tour manager, driver, merch seller, in-car DJ and emotional support service, this commission structure felt quite (there's probably a beautiful French or Japanese word for this) "unexpected".
Having promoted gigs from an early age in my hometown of Weymouth, my false sense of confidence that I knew what the hell I was doing instantly turned into a cartoonish gulp of confusion. Panicking a little, I hugged an increasingly heavy box of 27 medium, 19 large and 10 extra large t-shirts…
This sprawling multi-million grant funded arts institution wasn't anything like the grassroots venues to which I was usually accustomed. So I piped up, politely:
"It's ok, I'll do the merch myself."
The stare I was met with by the promoter was a mixture of 'Aw bless' and 'Are you serious?' as they began explaining this was "standard venue practice" and I would have to pay the sweet looking retiree regardless, as it was in the contract, which clearly I had either not read nor understood. Usually I left such things to a tour manager, which we couldn't afford on this lap of the UK.
There's a lot of jargon and complexity in the live music industry and boy oh boy is there a lot of "non-negotiable" small print. Dive into that and sometimes you'll discover an accumulation of items promoters will add to the costings of a show. This kind of practice is rare at 200-700 capacity venues, but as you step up from Hebden Bridge Trades Club and Exeter Cavern into big brand sponsored academies, iconic institutions, and theatres, you notice the ker-changes.
At many grassroots venues there's an independent owner, who is often also the promoter. When you move up to larger venues, it's far more likely the venue is being hired by an outside promoter (sometimes from an affiliated subsidiary company, who also seem to take some of the mysterious 'booking fee') and every penny from the bouncers to laundering the towels, is on a spreadsheet of show costs. It's at this level where venues tend to charge a commission to sell merch, which is perhaps understandable when there are ten different merch points dotted around The O2 arena.
For many artists, it's when they begin to transition to larger capacity venues as a support act that they discover not everyone is slogging away just for the music, the musicians, and the fans.
The sight of a stitched logo on a polo shirt soon becomes a red flag that someone seemingly lovely, who's offering to hold a door for you (rather than help carry anything, obviously) has a calculator running in their head. With each box you lug in, the numbers in their eyes flick up-and-up like the digital read out on a post-Brexit service station petrol pump. Or, as Gavin Miller from WorriedAboutSatan puts it: "It reminds me of that Simpsons episode where they shoot the Radioactive Man movie in Springfield, and the mayor and police chief just gouge the film crew for stuff like 'leaving town tax' and a tax on 'not wearing puffy pants'."
After spending two years of pandemic time cooped up at home – a time when many have become even more interested in various social justice issues – many musicians have emerged increasingly suspicious of practices that have become part of the everyday "normal" of touring. Many are wondering aloud, has it always been like this, and is it time for a more equitable approach?
Perhaps a combination of Bandcamp's no commission Fridays and all the fundraising artists did during lockdown has also made some of these business practices, which take from the artist's cut of their T-shirts, hoodies and record sales, begin to feel even more absurd, or as Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai puts it, "like theft".
"Artists have fronted campaigns during lockdown," explains David Martin from the Featured Artist Coalition. "Artists have done benefit shows, raising money for venues or for festivals. In lots of cases that money is not going directly to support artists, but it's artists that fronted lots and lots of the stuff that supported the industry." He continued "look at the UK's cultural recovery fund, most of that money went to bricks and mortar businesses. It didn't go to freelancers and it didn't get to many in the artist community. I think some practices do feel different now."
Featured Artist Coalition (or FAC for short), whose members span from acts playing their first gigs to stadium stars, have long pursued the issue of venues taking a cut of merch, but in recent months this campaign has ratcheted up, causing many venues agreeing to give 100% of the merch money to artists. Over 350 venues have already signed up to the FAC's directory and as well as the great grassroots venues like Leeds Brudenell, The Bullingdon in Oxford and Glasgow's Hug & Pint, there are also some bigger names making this artist-friendly pledge, like The Troxy in London.
Aside from ownership of these spaces, one key difference is that in the smaller venues, the artist or someone in their crew will sell the merch. But at these much bigger venues, it's often (but not always) personnel provided by the venue who will staff the merch desk(s).
"Small venues very rarely ask for anything," points out Mercury-nominated Hannah Peel, who is yet to tour extensively post-lockdown. "I remember some venues taking a 20% cut, even as the support artist, and they didn't supply any staff or help at all. It's challenging when you're getting paid an absolute minimum daily rate to perform in large venues and then having to pay [an extra] commission. I was thankful to be touring solo. It's not possible to make it work with larger groups unless [you are] subsidised by a label."
It's tough out there, as David Brewis of indie-pop heroes Field Music – who in the past have headlined venues like the Barbican (who recently signed the 100% to artists pledge) and Shepherd's Bush Empire – confirms: "I know there's an idea floating 'round that bands make loads of money from selling T-shirts and that may be true for bigger bands but it's never been true for us."
He explains: "We can cover our costs and make a few quid to put in the pot but that's about it. It's not a money spinner. At a less well-attended show, that £30 fee for a merch seller might take us into the red. And a 20% cut from the gross makes it impossible to sell records - I don't feel like we can charge a tenner for a CD or £25 for an LP when I know full well the cost on Amazon is two thirds of that price. Once the venue's cut and the VAT come off, every sale would be at a loss."
Of course, unlike Field Music, it's easy for Amazon to dodge paying their fair share of taxes. But they're not the only ones doing well at the moment. Confusingly, the record industry is actually booming… but for whom?
With sales of physical music up by 16.1% according to the latest IFPI report, readers might feel that this article is splitting hairs, given that things are looking up. However, there's not much trickle down from the likes of Spotify's Daniel Ek, who is reportedly investing $200 million in Joe Rogan, Barcelona FC and war tech rather than giving more money to musicians.
It's not just the platforms raking in vast sums: Lucian Grainge, the head of Universal Music Group (UMG) recently received a "stonking" £123 million bonus. Meanwhile, a recent Guardian investigation discovered that UMG receives a share of Academy Music Group's (AMG) profits from the sales of merchandise. These sales at O2 Academy venues are outsourced to company trading as Concessions Management International Ltd., which is part of Universal's Bravado merchandise division. The report found that AMG and UMG take a cut, even if the act whose merch is sold is not signed to UMG.
For a long while, there's been a refrain of 'artists make their money from live' to offset conversations about poor streaming royalties. If the record business really is now booming – the BBC reported that the global music market was worth $26bn in 2021 – not many musicians seem to be sharing in the wealth.
While platforms such as YouTube, Spotify and TikTok are great for building an audience, it likely has not slipped your attention how challenging it is to make even a few million streams turn a profit.
There are hidden marketing costs involved in generating these streams. Then the streaming income goes to a record label, who are taking anything from 50% (if they're a nice indie label) to over 85% share if they're a major. The standard deal structures mean that labels do not pay the artist anything until they have covered their costs ("recouped"), including the advance they essentially loaned the musician against sales to record the music in the first place. To sell CDs and vinyl on the road, artists need to procure them at more or less the same 'dealer price' as record shops buy them.
In short the record biz is complicated. It's not easy to make money from recorded music, which is why artists are often living off of their Bandcamp sales (and why Bandcamp Fridays with zero commission was a godsend to artists during the pandemic, paying out $73 million to artists). Likewise, merch money earned on the road is essential to the musician's survival, as it covers the costs of gear, visas, transport and so on.
What the cliché 'artists make their money from live' theory omits is the years of investment of both time and money before they earn even minimum wage from playing to 500 to 2,000 people, based on 200 nights playing live per year. And the reality is, due to the geographical concentration of fanbases and competition from other acts for ticket money, most musicians at this level only end up performing 20 to 50 shows per year.
In some cases, if the musician's latest album has done well, some of those gigs will attract a £3,000 to £5,000 festival appearance fee. This may sound like a lot until you consider that the fee needs to be divvied up between a band, factor in the van hire (often £120 or more a day with an extra £50 to £100 on fuel), £150 to £300 for someone to do sound (in order to ensure the whole thing doesn't sound awful after a desultory five minute festival line-check. Oh, and not forgetting the 20% booking agent commission. (Solo artists often end up paying £130 to £350 per day to professional musicians to be in their band. (There is more on fair fees for musicians here.) Plus if the musician is not doing a run of dates – it's harder to tour between May and September aka Festival Season – they'll need, say, a week of rehearsals to ensure their 30-minute slot is impressive. And that's just playing some shows in the UK. Let's not begin to get into the costs of visas to play in the USA or Europe.
After a few years off the road doing "a real job", it shocked me to read this tweet from the manager of Belfast rock troupe New Pagans, who scored an enviable support slot opening for nineties rock behemoths Skunk Anansie at some of their UK and European shows
"The Brixton show was really confusing," admits Belfast-based artist manager Charlene Hegarty who works with New Pagans. "Before we start, I just want to clarify, when we got the final show settlement the total merchandise concession was 25% plus VAT, which in real terms was 30% of our sales total, not 45% as had been previously suggested. However, venue commission should be an optional 'service' – not a profitable imposition."
Had they not expected this, then? "Initially we were told there was no merch concession for us on any of the shows on the Skunk Anansie tour. The source of that information seemed trustworthy at the time, but as it turned out it wasn't true. This was a major problem as we didn't learn this until the first night of the tour. All our budgets and forecasts were now out the window."
If you've learnt anything so far, it's that budgets and cash flow are crucial to touring. Hegarty continues: "Each night, we would arrive at a venue, ready to plead or do battle on merch fees. German venues seemed to be much more understanding than other countries on the tour. The uncertainty was a real rot in our foundation as we were depending on merch fees to help us break even. Profiting was a dream we had put to bed long ago when we factored in boats, van hire, rising fuel costs, carnets and the most basic two-star hotels each night."
"At the Brixton show, we didn't need a seller, the band always prefer to sell their own merch and I was there to tend to the station while they played on stage. We know our own merch better than anyone." This is something that comes up time and time again speaking to artists, especially those doing support slots, who understand that time spent selling merch is as important as the time on stage. It's not just about upselling, it's about making a connection to fans both old and new.
She adds: "However, the in-house merch team took our stock and the closest we could get was standing outside the merch area after the show to talk to anyone who wanted to say hello to the band. We are morally opposed to venues taking a cut but given the lack of notice or awareness of this we had no choice but to have them sell it and let them take a cut for doing so. We needed any income we could get, the show was running at a loss so the best we could hope for was to mitigate the damage."
These commissions have become the norm. Zola Jesus told me that around world "venue merch sale cuts are such a standard part of touring now, and they can cut into our profits to such an extent that I've sold shirts out of the back of my tour van more times than I can count." Like most artists I spoke with, she caveated this comment: "I understand that venues need to survive too, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the artists."
The Barbican
This understanding of being part of an ecosystem is something that David Martin from the FAC picked up on several times in our conversation. Whilst artists (and the network of fans that supports them) have budgets, so do venues. As well as space in the venue, staff is often provided to sell the merch. "If there's a cost, we understand that" he says. "We appreciate that there can be costs to things, but we're way beyond that when you've got 25% or 30% or 45% commission being charged. This conversation has been around a long time and it's time it was addressed."
Commission, as opposed to a cost, which varies from venue to venue, is being addressed by venues signing a pledge to give 100% of the money to artists. "It's a really simple campaign. It's a really simple ask," he continues. "It's self policing. A sort of fan policing because if you're going to stick your name down then an artist will police it if then the venue start charging someone commission. And fans will start tweeting about it!"
As Charlene Hegarty points out "It's completely unfair and we need bands at all levels of their career to stand up against it to put an end to it. Our issue is how venues have zero liability and profit richly on narrow margins."
She explains the maths of the merch desk: "For example, on a £25 LP sale, our label take £13.20 (fair enough, they are trying to recoup their investment, we have a very artist friendly deal with a great label). The venue take £7.50, they have no responsibility for paying for stock, they are only open to profit, no risk. The band then earn £4.30. Almost half of what the venue takes but the band have all the costs to get to the show plus the years of work that goes into that LP."
"As for tees. If we sell a tee for £15. We pay £6 to print it. The venue takes £4.50. And we take £4.50. Again the venue profit as much as we do but without any of the liability involved in the design, print or delivery costs." It all adds up doesn't it? Of course, if you're a massive act the economies of scale outlined in this BBC piece mean tees get cheaper and artists can consider fair trade & eco-friendly options like vegan inks, re-milled materials, or take the risk of commissioning multiple designs without passing too much extra cost onto fans.
In an attempt to hack around escalating costs and venues nibbling away at their income, artists have found short term solutions. Dry Cleaning alerted fans using the Dice app that they would be selling merch at a nearby pub. Meanwhile, artists such as Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly are experimenting with geo-located merch apps such as Hawkr, which gives fans a discount on their order based upon their location. Some acts will provide a "click and collect service", meaning they get their poster, hoodie or vinyl shipped to them.
Meanwhile, the 100% venues campaign carries on apace. "What we've found," adds David Martin from the Featured Artist Coalition, "is that this is really pissing off fans, who weren't aware this was happening. Our mission is to simply make things a little bit fairer. We are in conversations with some of the bigger venues and some of the bigger companies." Will you be ramping up your campaign? David nods and confirms "We're not going to be going away!"
Learn more about the FAC's 100% Venues here
MORE FROM SEAN ADAMS
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Replay: CBS 6 News at 5 CBS 6 TV Schedule
US Border Patrol arrests continue to drop in August with approximately 51,000 migrants arrested
Posted 10:15 pm, September 4, 2019, by CNN Wire
Preliminary data indicates that US Border Patrol arrested around 51,000 people on the US-Mexico border in August, according to a Border Patrol source familiar with the data.
The August numbers show a consistent decline in arrests since the spring and come as the Trump administration has pushed forward numerous controversial policies intended to help stem the flow of migrants arriving at the southern border. An influx of migrant families and children, predominantly from Central America, strained resources along the border as severe overcrowding took hold earlier this summer.
Border Patrol apprehensions, a measure of illegal crossings, dropped around 30% from 71,999 in July to around 51,000 in August, according to the preliminary data.
Homeland Security acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Wednesday, appearing alongside President Donald Trump in the White House, said that preliminary border statistics indicate "a reduction of over 50% from May to today." The statistics will be released early next week.
The August numbers mark a significant decrease since the high in May of more than 130,000 arrests, but it still remains higher than any month in the past two fiscal years. Many migrants arriving at the southern border turn themselves into Border Patrol after arriving on US soil.
Politico first reported on the August apprehension numbers. Customs and Border Protection, which releases monthly border arrest numbers, does not comment on preliminary data.
McAleenan on Wednesday also praised "continued partnership with Mexico," regional support from Central American countries to combat irregular migration as well as enhancing security at the border.
Trump added, "The wall is being built. It's going up rapidly."
The administration has replaced and revamped sections of wall, but as of August no new miles of wall had been built where none previously existed.
Trump also thanked Mexico for its efforts to reduce illegal migration to the US border, claiming that "they have 25,000 soldiers right now protecting our border and they've done a fantastic job."
Last month, the Trump administration informed Congress of plans to shift at least $155 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund to support its policy of returning some migrants to Mexico to await their immigration court proceedings in the US.
Defending the administration's move to reprogram FEMA funds to the US-Mexico border even in the midst of Hurricane Dorian, Trump on Wednesday said, "We need help on the border, the numbers are really good."
On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper authorized the diverting of $3.6 billion in military construction funds for 11 wall projects on the southern border with Mexico, according to defense officials and a letter from Esper to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The move was immediately slammed by lawmakers. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the decision "a slap in the face" to service members.
Last month, acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan said that, while the situation was improving, "we are still in a full-blown crisis," referring to the high number of arrests in July.
A US Border Patrol official last month said a combination of factors contributed to the drop in arrests this summer, including Mexico's enforcement efforts and the continued rollout of the Migration Protection Protocols, whereby migrants are returned to Mexico to await their immigration proceedings.
"All of these things together (are) helping" the official said.
ICE arrests dropped in the past year amid southern border crisis
NYT: Trump suggested shooting migrants in legs, building snake-filled moat
After arrests of protesting doctors, border agency digs in on refusal to vaccinate migrants
Trump administration reaches 100-mile mark for border wall
11 Chinese migrants found hidden inside furniture, appliances in moving truck
Liquid meth found inside transmission fluid, coolant containers
Trump says US is building a wall in Colorado — a state that doesn't border Mexico
Teen accused of using remote control car to smuggle meth across border
2 arrested after 'smoke' devices launched during Carytown protest
Lawmakers call lack of vaccinations at the border 'unconscionable' in letter to CBP
Federal judge blocks use of billions of dollars in Pentagon funds to build border wall
EXCLUSIVE: Border Report gets first look at new wall at South Texas wildlife refuge
7 die from flesh-eating bacteria linked to black tar heroin


Pest Control In Frisco, TX: Are You Making Your Home A Bug Magnet?
Experts in pest control in Frisco, TX know that bugs, like burglars, choose homes to invade that are easy targets. If you've noticed that your pest problems seem to be growing, take a look around your home to see if you're putting out the welcome mat for termites, spiders, roaches and more.
If the outside of your home is littered with debris and overgrown shrubs and grass, you're asking for pest problems. A number of pests, from termites to rodents, live in the shade and cover of overgrown brush and yard debris; if the shrubs and debris are next to your home, it gives these intruders an easy way to move from the outside to the inside. Be sure to trim shrubs and trees that come into contact with the outside of your home, and clear debris away from the foundation. Check any rarely-used sheds or outbuildings for beehives and wasps nests.
Most pests, even mice, can squeeze into very tiny openings to access your home, which means you should seal even the smallest openings. Apply weather stripping to all of your exterior doors; use caulk to seal windows, utility line access points, dryer vents, cracks in the foundation, fascia boards and wall boards. Check window screens to make sure they fit snugly, and look for tears. Put mesh screens over your chimney and over attic and crawlspace vents.
When you call for pest control in Frisco, TX, the first thing they'll advise you is to check for excess moisture around your home. Like you, pests need water to survive, so they'll naturally be attracted to water sources like leaking faucets outside your home, leaking pipes under your home and water puddles under sinks inside your home. Call a plumber to fix any leaks in and around your home and be sure to move your air conditioner's drain hose away from your foundation.
Spiders and rodents love your clutter, especially if it's in rarely-disturbed places like basements, attics and garages. Cardboard boxes, piles of newspapers and other mounds of unused belongings make great hiding places, so be sure to make a periodic sweep of your home, not only to look for pests, but to declutter and purge.
In addition to water, pests need food, and if you're neglecting to clean up food debris anywhere in your home, you're ringing the dinner bell for them. Make sure to keep kitchen counters and floors clean of crumbs and dirt and wash dishes regularly. Store dry goods in airtight containers to keep out cockroaches and weevils. Re-bag or throw away pet food that might be left out overnight. Keep your indoor and outdoor trash in cans or containers with heavy lids and make sure the lids are always closed.
No matter what measures you take, you'll never be able to keep every pest out of your home. When you find yourself with a pst problem, call us at Safe Pro Pest Control in Frisco, TX at (972) 435-0700. You can also visit us online at www.safepropest.com to learn more about our services and to find valuable coupons.


Double bass music falls into three main categories, including classical, jazz and bluegrass, and rock and pop. The classical category can be divided into orchestral, chamber and solo music. Each type of double bass music puts the bass in a specific musical role and has stylistic distinctions.
The first type of music a double bass usually plays is classical. Most commonly, the bass plays as a member of an orchestra. Its role typically is to complete the bass or lowest line of the music, and in this capacity it frequently plays the same music as the cellos, just one octave lower. This, along with the fact the bass usually doubled the bass line of the harpsichord continuo part in baroque music, is why the instrument is called the double bass. Each orchestra usually only needs two or three basses, so people who want to play this type of music have to practice seriously to pass competitive orchestral auditions.
Bassists also can play in chamber ensembles. This type of double bass music sometimes places the double bass in a prominent melodic role, but more often it is a supporting instrument. String quintets are common, but orchestration is dependent on the specific sounds the composer wants. Woodwinds often are paired with strings.
Double bass music also can fall into the jazz and bluegrass category. In this type of playing, bassists usually have much more active lines compared to orchestral works. They make greater use of specific sequences to create a "walking" part, outlining chords or moving by step or half step to create better movement and propulsion of the chord sequences. Jazz double bass players also use other techniques such as slapping to create different effects not normally found in the classical style. Even though an electric bass guitar could play the same lines, some groups prefer the double bass because of its characteristic sound.
The last category of double bass music is rock and pop music. In most groups, the electric bass guitar is the preferred instrument over the double bass, partly because the bass guitar blends well with the rhythm and lead guitars, creating a more uniform sound. When the double bass is used in rock and pop, it typically is done in a rather eclectic way, with players performing feats such as twirling the bass for visual effect. Often, double bassists who play in these genres use an electric double bass, which can be amplified and has a very minimal shape to reduce the instruments bulk and weight.
One note about the various types of double bass music is that with some exceptions, jazz, bluegrass, rock and pop forgo the use of the double bass bow, and instead, the bassist plucks the strings with his fingers. This is more characteristic to bass guitar playing and helps bridge some stylistic gaps. In classical playing, bows are the norm, regardless of whether the performer is playing solo or with a group.


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Formula One >
Michael Schumacher's former teammate Eddie Irvine sentenced to 6 months jail time
Former Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine has landed himself in trouble after a night club visit. The ex-F1 driver has been sentenced to 6 months in an Italian jail after an incident in a Milan night club.
Irvine, who's 48 years old, probably won't serve any actual prison time following his arrest for brawling with other night club goers as his sentence won't come into effect until the whole appeal process has been completed and in these types of cases, Italian officials tend to suspend such short sentenced. The other person involved in the incident, Gabriele Moratti, 35 year old son of Milan mayor Letizia Moratti was also handed a 6 month sentence following the pair's altercation which happened back in 2008.
According to reports, a text message sent by Irvine to an unnamed woman who had just ended a relationship with Moratti was the catalyst for the fight in the Hollywood disco. Both parties reported each other to the authorities which is why they ended up in court on trial for injury in a case that took more than 3 years to resolve. A report from the BBC shows that both parties were found guilty in a verdict of "mutual injury". Both men said that the other used a glass during the incident that happened in the club's VIP section, but other details of the case haven't come out.
Irvine, who raced for Jordon, Jaguar and Ferrari in F1 spent 4 seasons as Michael Schumacher's number 2 for the Italian super car maker between 1996 and 1999. We're surprised that there haven't been any messages of support for Schumacher following his skiing accident. Although Irvine was no doubt treated unfairly as Schumacher's number 2, others in his position like Rubens Barrichello have offered their support as Schumacher fights for his life.
Formula One,
F1,
skiing,
Michael Schumacher,
Schumacher Fighting for Life After Skiing Accident
Schumacher apologies for Grand Prix mishap
Bang on the Button
Rules were made to be broken


The 2017 online writing exchange was fun for me. My mentor taught me a lot about about writing. He taught me to look for unneeded details, and to keep details that help the reader envision the story. He also taught me to go into detail for parts that people that haven't heard the story before wouldn't understand. I think my mentor best suited me because we have a lot in common and he related to a lot of things in my stories.
My mentor also made me feel more confident with my writing. He commented on parts telling me that he liked them or that I did a good job using words in sentences. He would never comment on random parts, only on parts he liked or that he thought needed a little changing. I like how my mentor does things, because how he's giving me advice and helping me is easy for me to understand.
Five years ago on a sunny, summer day, I was attacked by my best friend's dog. That moment taught me that the unexpected can always happen. That one moment has taught me to be more aware of my surroundings. I am a lot more careful about looking at what's around me. I'm not paranoid; I'm just cautious now.
"You and I both know I always am." He chuckled and we continued walking.
As soon as we got over to his house, he told me to wait outside.
"I need to grab something quick," he said. I stood next to the door waiting for him. The next thing I knew, his dog, Gunner, jumped from around the corner and bit my leg. I fell to the ground. Gunner leaped and went for my face. I used my one good leg to kick his face away. It's a good thing I did, or I might not even be here today. He went for my other leg instead, and just before Gunner was going to strike again, Sean ran out and tackled the dog.
"Mom, get out here NOW!" Sean yelled. His mom came rushing out from the house picked me up, put me in her car, and drove us over to my house. Sean jumped in quick after stopping Gunner. I looked down and saw the dog had taken a huge chunk of skin out of my leg. I saw a muscle in my leg pumping and about passed out. We got to the hospital and I was rushed into the emergency room right away. I looked down and saw blood dripping down my leg. I screamed in agony as the doctors started stitching my legs up. They gave me a pillow to hold if I needed to squeeze it. After the stitches were put in, some police officers walked into the room and asked me some questions. After their questions, I got my blood pressure taken.
"You won't be able to walk for a while, but you should be able to get around with crutches in a couple of days. Until then, just lay down, watch TV. Your mother will have to help you since you won't be able to stand up and walk to get things." My mom nodded in agreement, and we left.
We pulled up to the school a few days later. I opened the door and stuck my crutches out.
"Be careful!" My mom called.
"Ok I'll try!" I waved back with a smile. I made my way into the school and right away people were asking questions.
There is one reason I didn't like having crutches, and that is the fact that I was the center of attention at school for a couple weeks. I don't mind the people asking me questions, but when EVERYONE at the school is talking about it, it makes me uneasy. There were a couple of times I about fell because of the slippery floors, but Sean and Lance were there to catch me if I was about to fall. I had my crutches for about one month and I still never got used to them.
This whole experience was really, really crazy. I learned a lot from this part of my life, but the one thing that I will never forget that I learned from this experience is that the unexpected can happen.
There is only one person in this world that can make me laugh or smile no matter what. That person would be my grandpa. He always knows exactly what to do to make someone smile. He makes me laugh a thousand times a day. He is the coolest grandpa ever. He might not be able to run and throw a baseball, but he still can get down to some hip-hop. He tries to make everyone else happy, because that's the thing that makes him the happiest. He is the best.
My grandpa has gray, messy hair that he can almost never tame. His old eyes tell stories. They have seen a lot. His amazing smile never fades. His long arms are covered in scars, from when he was in the army. The button-up shirts he wears suits him very well. His legs, covered, but still battered, still work fine. His shoes are his favorite, maybe because they are the only ones that are big enough actually fit his feet.
My grandpa's sense of humor never dies. He's as funny as people can get. He could be the funniest man on Earth. Behind Jim Carrey of course. He always randomly says something that sounds like it could be a word, but never is. It's as random as how they pick the number for bingo. It always makes me laugh when he does this. He doesn't do it because he has a problem, he usually does it when it's quiet and he wants people to laugh and talk. He loves listening to other people's stories. He loves hearing how relatives are doing and how his friends are doing. He is really a super kind-hearted man. He can be like a monkey though, funny most of the time, but serious when he needs to be.
When I got attacked by my friend's dog, I had to get stitches. My grandpa was the first person to call me afterwards to make sure I was ok. When my brother, my grandpa, and I got into a roll-over car accident, he got a bump on his head from hitting the roof. He still asked my brother and I if we were ok and got us out of the car first before he even checking to see if he had all of his limbs. He cares more about his family than he does himself. Now if that isn't selfless man, I don't know what would be.
and if one of my friends are sad, I'm always there to help them and ask if they want to talk about it.
know what he would do without me. He's my hero.


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Fernandinho: City had Barca worried
By RSN Admin - 7 March 2014, 17:14
Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has claimed that his side had Barcelona 'rattled' in their Champions League first leg clash.
The Premier League outfit lost 2-0 to the Blaugrana in their Last 16 match, but ahead of their second leg next week, the Brazil international has insisted that, if the opening game is anything to go by, his men can come away with a positive result.
"I tell you," he said to The Guardian. "We had them worried. We managed to put them under pressure and there were situations in which the Barcelona guys didn't feel confident to try to use their passing game.
"They were rattling the ball to where their noses were pointing. We rattled them.
"We were good going forward and a bit more luck could have changed that game. Even with that harsh decision to send [Martín] Demichelis off we could have still have left the pitch in a better situation.
"Barcelona built a respectable advantage and they are a tough team to beat at home. But we need to try.
"We might not get out of there with qualification for the next round, but it will be quite important to leave Spain at least with our heads held high."
Tags Fernandinho Manchester City
Pep Guardiola speaks of his "huge gratitude for Barcelona" when asked about Messi
Manchester United join the race to sign Spanish international Adama Traore
Barcelona plot double January swoop for Gini Wijnaldum and Eric Garcia


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-U.S. Role in the World
July 2, 2004 by tokyoprogressive Leave a Comment
A briefing on U.S. military Interventions
by Zoltan Grossman
….One of the most dangerous ideas of the 20th century was that "people like us" could not commit atrocities against civilians. German and Japanese citizens believed it, but their militaries slaughtered millions of people. British and French citizens believed it, but their militaries fought brutal colonial wars in Africa and Asia. Russian citizens believed it, but their armies murdered civilians in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere. Israeli citizens believed it, but their army mowed down Palestinians and Lebanese. Arabs believed it, but suicide bombers and hijackers targeted U.S. and Israeli civilians. U.S. citizens believed it, but their military killed millions in Vietnam, Iraq, and elsewhere
Every country, every ethnicity, every religion, contains within it the capability for extreme violence. Every group contains a faction that is intolerant of other groups, and actively seeks to exclude or even kill them. War fever tends to encourage the intolerant faction, but the faction only succeeds in its goals if the rest of the group acquiesces or remains silent. The attacks of September 11 were not only a test for U.S. citizens attitudes' toward minority ethnic/racial groups in their own country, but a test for our relationship with the rest of the world. We must begin not by lashing out at civilians in Muslim countries, but by taking responsibility for our own history and our own actions, and how they have fed the cycle of violence.
Killing Civilians to Show That Killing Civilians is Wrong: A Briefing on the History of U.S. Military Interventions.
A BRIEFING ON THE HISTORY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS
http://www.zmag.org/grossmanciv.htm
Some other readings that will help you understand why so many people around the world have less than warm feelings about the government of the United States. If you are in Japan, consider why many people feel helping the U.S. in Iraq is the same as getting into bed with the devil. All by Zoltan Grossman.
A CENTURY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS:
From Wounded Knee to Afghanistan
(revised 09/20/01)
http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/interventions.htm
History of bio-chemical warfare
http://madison.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1519
New US Military Bases: Side Effects Or Causes Of War?


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Last updated: 05:15 PM ET, Thu February 06 2020
State of Business Travel Survey Reveals 'Work-Life Blending' Vital to Workforce Satisfaction
Features & Advice	National Car Rental Laurie Baratti February 06, 2020
PHOTO: Businesswoman working on her laptop in the park. (Photo via iStock/Getty Images Plus/Artfully79)
National Car Rental has just released the results of its third annual State of Business Travel survey, which examines the emotions, perceptions and behaviors of frequent business travelers. Its findings offer clues about the evolution of modern-day workers' pursuit of that ever-elusive ideal 'work-life balance.'
With the so-called 'Bleisure' phenomenon particularly prevalent among today's business travelers, it is seriously worth examining modern-day professionals' tendencies toward progressively blurring the lines between their careers and personal lives.
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National's 2020 State of Business Travel survey showed that while 67 percent of respondents still attempt to draw a line between their work and personal lives, 65 percent believe that to be an unrealistic goal. Instead, over half of those polled find themselves co-mingling career-related demands with their personal activities, and visa versa, rather than trying to maintain a strict separation.
In a socio-economic climate where Baby Boomers are increasingly extending their careers, while Gen Z'ers are just launching theirs, we find ourselves amid a four-generation workforce; with Baby Boomers, Generation X'ers, Millennials and Gen Z'ers all expressing their own unique perceptions of work versus personal time.
Still, the work-life blending trend seems to have permeated across every age group. There are still some discrepancies; for instance, the survey found that Millennials (86 percent) are more likely to engage in bleisure travel than Gen X'ers (76 percent) and Baby Boomers (73 percent).
PHOTO: Business travel with a view (photo via DaniloAndjus / iStock / Getty Images Plus)
The now-widespread capability, enabled by technology, to take work with us wherever we go dictates that modern professionals adopt a more work dynamic schedule, for which the fluid 'work-life blending' approach is a more natural fit.
The survey indicates that this shift to blending is actually increasingly endorsed by executives and senior leadership members, 65 percent of whom said that they prefer to intermix their personal and professional lives. In fact, senior/executive leaders are nearly twice as likely (50 percent) to extend their business trips to include leisure time or build a vacation around their business trip (40 percent) than non-management professionals.
National's data also indicated that fewer people felt the need to downplay the incorporation of leisure activities within their business travels to their bosses and coworkers than they did a year ago.
From among a set of 995 frequent business travelers drawn from Lucid's Federated Sample market research panel of U.S. consumers between the ages of 25 and 65, 81 percent reported that they'd engaged in some form of bleisure travel. This might include incorporating leisure activities into business travel (61 percent), extending business travel into leisure trips (41 percent) or booking a vacation around a business trip (33 percent).
PHOTO: Combining business travel with leisure time. (Photo via iStock/Getty Images Plus/Chinnapong)
The majority of bleisure travelers surveyed believe that business travel contributes to success in their careers, as well as enabling them to build important relationships that they couldn't form otherwise. Those who traveled for business also reported higher overall satisfaction (91 percent) with their experience than non-bleisure travelers (79 percent). 79 percent of businesspersons said they're more likely to volunteer for a work trip if they're able to extend their stay, a nine percent increase over last year's results.
"In an increasingly connected and mobile world, we're seeing employees—and business travelers, in particular—finding new ways to balance their work and personal time," said Don Moore, senior vice president of global business rental for Enterprise Holdings, which also owns and operates National Car Rental, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Alamo Rent A Car. "As we enter this new decade of the 21st century, National's research suggests this shift in thinking. Instead of trying to meet unrealistic expectations, we're actively seeking ways to blend work and leisure to achieve both life and career satisfaction."
For more information, visit NationalCar.com.
For more information on National Car Rental
For more Features & Advice News
Travel Industry Welcomes President Biden, Vice President Harris
How Will the Incoming Biden Administration Affect the Travel Industry?
Travel Industry Steps Up To Help Fight COVID-19 Pandemic
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Literally, Darling » Blog » Alex DeLeon » Music You Need To Know: The Cab
Music You Need To Know: The Cab
by claire
Celebrities Are Our New Imaginary Friends
Something that I am a major fan of musically is the band or artist who is overwhelmingly talented but under the radar. Sometimes it's better to have access to this talent before they take off and become the "next big thing." One of the bands that falls under this category is Las Vegas native band The Cab. Consisting of front man Alex DeLeon, bassist Joey Thunder, drummer Dave Briggs and guitarist Chantry Johnson, this group never ceases to amaze me with the talent and overall impression they give fans. The Cab was one of those bands I found years ago on iTunes on the sidebar under "Suggestions" and, in the beginning, I thought nothing of it when I only downloaded one song from their debut album, "Whisper War." Fast forward to the end of summer 2011, and their sophomore album, "Symphony Soldier," was released. There is not a single song on this album that would not be categorized as perfection. The overall album flowed so well together, and the songs were so relatable; not to mention so phenomenal co-writing for certain songs (Bruno Mars, Adam Levine and Pete Wentz, to name a few). Following this album, The Cab went on multiple tours, making themselves very available to meet fans. They try their best to incorporate their fans into all that they do, including an Instagram contest tying together fan participation with their newest music. I had the opportunity to see them three times between 2011 and 2012, and it was an incredible show each night. Oh also, let's throw in that they went on the Asian/Australian legs of the Maroon 5 "Overexposed" tour. It's hard not to root for these guys in the business.
In addition to success in the pop-rock scene, The Cab also has these insane connections to other artists, which can only boost their credibility. This mainly comes from Alex DeLeon being an incredible songwriter who pens for a wide variety of groups. Most recently, his well-known friends include Zayn Malik of One Direction and the band 5 Seconds of Summer. His black-and-white themed Instagram oh-so-casually introduces you to the lavish lifestyle that he so humbly lives. One day he posts a picture from his bed talking about songwriting, and the next he is having a crazy night filled with other band members and Victoria's Secret models. DeLeon can be connected to quite the plethora of musicians/their posses, which makes it interesting that this band hasn't seen more light among the industry.
At the end of April, the band released an EP, "Lock Me Up" consisting of songs that are a bit different from their already existing catalogue. Although the songs are a bit heavier on the synthesizing, DeLeon's voice works well with the path they are going with this album. While listening to it, I was already envisioning how exactly they would present these songs live. The Cab is one of those bands that plays as well live as the recorded album. It's rare that a band these days can translate from studio to stage without sounding a bit off, but man, they do it well. I highly suggest giving them a listen if you haven't already.
Recommended songs:
"Angel With A Shotgun" (Symphony Soldier)—My all time favorite Cab song. After one listen, it will be stuck in your head for at least a day. The tempo combined with the lyrics makes for an undeniably amazing song.
"Vegas Skies" (Whisper War)—A throwback to their first album, this is without a doubt one of the most emotional Cab songs, but it's so romantic. Definitely a go-to song for long car rides.
"Zzzzz" (Whisper War)—By far the most underrated song of theirs. Another "Whisper War song," but by far one of the best they've released. Incredibly catchy refrain, but so hauntingly relevant.
"Numbers" (Lock Me Up)—Very Justin Timberlake-esque with an interesting metaphor for love.
"Her Love Is My Religion"(Symphony Soldier)—DeLeon's vocals are really exercised on this track in addition to a backtrack that races just like a heartbeat when you're so in love with someone and you can't contain it anymore.
Alex DeLeon bands Chantry Dave Briggs Joey Thunder new music pop-rock The Cab
claire May 16, 2014
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Monthly Meeting Info Page
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HSA Board Page
Recap of HSA OCTOBER 9, 2022 Face-to-Face Meeting At Kojak's Fine Foods
Attention: HSA Members
We had a wonderful turn out for our October 9, 2022 Face-to-Face Meeting at Kojak's Fine Foods. We want to thank the 24 members for taking the time to spend their Sunday afternoon with us. We hope everyone enjoyed it.
Mark Winters was the Master of Ceremonies and did an excellent job of keeping everyone involved and interested. Thank you, Mark. HSA members, Ray Wyatt and Pam Grisham, recently attended SWRFA (Southwest Regional Folk Alliance) in Austin, TX and gave an interesting talk on their experience and review of the organization. There was so much to learn from the many SWRFA workshops throughout the day and they highly recommend going to at least one of their yearly events. They found it to be a great place to meet other songwriters from near and far. Thank you so much Ray and Pam. Everyone enjoyed your presentation.
We also enjoyed listening to the 9 songs that were presented at the meeting and sincerely appreciated the audience for their amazing comments and feedback to the songwriters. The area for uploading songs will close on Friday night, October 14, 2022. There are 11 songs currently uploaded for the month of October. Members who are registered may continue to review and comment on all of the songs posted on the website at www.houstonsongwriters.net through Friday night, October 28, 2022. If you have some time to add your verbal and written comments made at the meeting to the songs on the website, that will also be appreciated. Please visit the website for additional information concerning the Song Revision Dates and Voting Dates for Song of the Month.
We appreciate your membership and continued participation throughout the year. If you have any questions, please contact us at contact@houstonsongwriters.net.
Houston Songwriters Association
HSA JANUARY 2023 SONG OF THE MONTH VOTING IS NOW OPEN
Dear Members, The HSA January 2023 Song of the Month Voting is now open through Tuesday night, January 31, 2023. TO VOTE, go to the website at www.houstonsongwriters.net, click on the Members Area and
Recap of HSA JANUARY 8, 2023 Face-to-Face Meeting At Kojak's Fine Foods / Annual Renewal Membership
Attention: HSA Members We had a wonderful turn out for our January 8, 2023 Face-to-Face Meeting at Kojak's Fine Foods. We want to thank the 25 members for taking the time to spend their Sunday aftern
HSA ON-LINE JANUARY 1, 2023 MEETING / FACE-TO-FACE MEETING / ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES
Attention HSA Members, We wish everyone a very Happy New Year! Our Houston Songwriters Association's January 2023 On-line Meeting is now open! You can view the schedule for the January submissions, et
contact@houstonsongwriters.net


Wish you all a very happy new year!! We would like to give you guys a big thank you for being with us and we hope 2019 will be a new beginning for Seeed as well as our Seeekers. This year hopefully will be filled with sparkling new ideas which will be turned into amazing new products. As you all know, Grove is an ecosystem which keeps growing at Seeed. At the beginning of 2018, the Grove ecosystem already had around 150+ modules, including sensors, communication, displays, inputs & outputs, actuators, accessories and kits for different platforms and they kept growing big in 2018. Now let's spend some time to look back at what we have done so far for Grove.
8 years ago, in 2010, Seeed launched "Grove" to the public and the Grove Starter Kit was released during that time.
By the end of 2011, we successfully finished manufacturing more than 60 Grove modules.
In 2014, the 100th Grove product was released which is the Grove Starter Kit for Arduino and this is the most popular Grove Kit to date. In 2015, we cooperated with many famous companies including MTK, ARM, TI, Particle, Intel, Intel, AWS, Microsoft and Acer to create many different kits.
In 2017, the Grove – Mini PIR motion Sensor was released and interestingly, this is the 200th Grove sensor. This sensor is very suitable for motion detection applications. We started 2018 in a colorful way by releasing the Grove Variable Color LED v1.1. This module is very simple to use due to the three changeable resistors on board where you can quickly change the color of the LED. After that, we released 10 more products including modules and kits until April 2018. These are the products that got released.
In April, we planned to do something very exciting for the Grove ecosystem. We decided to have a plan called "Grove 100+" where we aimed to manufacture more than 100 Grove modules to further expand the Grove ecosystem and finish by mid of 2019.
Three proximity sensor modules got released in July after implementation of the plan. Grove – Time of Flight Distance Sensor(VL53L0X) is a high speed, high accuracy and long range distance sensor based on VL53L0X. On the other hand, the Grove – Digital Distance Interrupter 0.5 to 5cm(GP2Y0D805Z0F)(P) and the Grove – Digital Distance Interrupter 0.5 to 5cm(GP2Y0D805Z0F) are infrared proximity sensor modules based on GP2Y0D805Z0F. The Grove – Time of Flight Distance Sensor(VL53L0X) stands out from the other two because it can measure absolute distances up to 2m whereas the Digital Distance Interrupters can only output a 1(High) or a 0(LOW) when the object enters the measurement range, which is 0.5 – 5cm. For the version with the letter "P", the lens and the grove interface are on different sides whereas for the version without the letter "P", the lens and the grove interface are on the same side. At the beginning of September, we started a campaign called "100+ Grove Modules Wish Campaign" where our Seeekers were able to submit ideas, inspirations and designs for a new Grove module and then the top 10 voted submitted ideas were planned to turn into real Grove modules. Also, through this campaign, 10 winners were awarded an Arduino UNO, Base Shield, and 3 new Grove modules as well. The top 3 winners were Gabriel Alejandro, Naveen Kumar, and Al Edwards. This campaign helped us a lot to execute the Grove100+ plan in a very efficient way because we believe that our community is the key to our growth and success and we really appreciate everyone that contributed in this campaign.
We also started doing giveaways in 2018 because we love you guys and your project ideas. Currently, there is a giveaway going on for the Grove Starter Kit for Arduino and if you guys want to win this awesome Starter Kit at the start of this year, click here to learn more. Also, these giveaways will keep coming in 2019, so stay tuned with us to win more Grove modules and expand your Grove collection!
We started releasing products on every Tuesdays according to the "Grove 100+" plan and started making videos and upload on YouTube for every product that got released and named the event as #newproductsTuesday. Click here to check out the whole playlist of the event on YouTube. So guys, stay tuned on our YouTube channel by subscribing, since these videos will keep coming in the future during the time the Grove100+ plan is active and also we release many different videos of interesting projects as well.
So far, we have released around 58 Grove modules after the plan was implemented and here is a quick look at them.
At the start of August, we released 3 exciting Grove – LED button modules with colors Red, Yellow, and Blue. These are very fun to use buttons where you can change the LED lighting pattern just by simple coding!
We were excited to release 6 Relay modules including 2 SPDT Relays with 2-Channel and 4-Channel and 4 Solid State Relays based on Omron relays with 1, 2, 4 and 8 Channels respectively. The Solid State Relays stand out from the SPDT Relays because they have no physical contacts and therefore there are many advantages such as faster switching speeds, no sparking, increased lifetime and silent operation. On the other hand, SPDT Relays work both for AC and DC whereas Solid State Relays don't.
We released very interesting modules to light up and shine your next projects. These include 3 colorful waterproof RGB LED strips with 30 LED/m, 60 LED/m and 144 LED/m all using WS2813. Even though we've had LED strips on our bazaar, these are the first Grove compatible LED strips and the Grove port makes them very easy to use. Also, we released Grove – RGB LED Stick (10-WS2813 Mini) and the Grove – RGB LED Ring (20-WS2813 Mini) which are based on WS2813 and they are very fun to use. In addition, we released a cool Grove – LED Matrix Driver, Grove – Red RGB LED Matrix w/ Driver and Grove – RGB LED Matrix w/ Driver where the two Matrix modules are based on 8×8 to light up your new ideas with color in 2019.
We also released 3 exciting new switch modules including Grove – Mech Keycap, Grove – 6 – Position DIP Switch and Grove – 5 – Way Switch. The Mech Kepcap has a built-in RGB LED where you can change the pattern of the LED simply by code and also it is a mechanical switch; so that means you can use many of these to make your own mechanical keyboard! The Grove – 5 – Way Switch gives you a joystick-like interface in a smaller package. So this means you can build your own game controller! The Grove – 6 – Position DIP Switch is a great multi-channel control switch which uses I2C to transmit data.
We released five new motion sensor modules as well and these modules differ from each other in terms of accuracy and functionality. Three of the sensors (Grove – 3-Axis Digital Accelerometer ±16g Ultra-low Power (BMA400), Grove – Step Counter (BMA456) and Grove – 6-Axis Accelerometer&Gyroscope (BMI088) ) are based on chips by Bosch Sensortec whereas Grove – IMU 9DOF (lcm20600+AK09918) is based on chips by InvenSense and AKM and Grove – Vibration Sensor (SW-420) is based on SW402. Both Grove – 3-Axis Digital Accelerometer ±16g Ultra-low Power (BMA400), and Grove – Step Counter (BMA456) feature 3 – axis accelerometers where they are useful in detecting different types of movements such as Walking, Running, Standing still and also step counting. The power consumption of BMA400 is extremely low compared to BMA456. On the other hand, the Grove – 6-Axis Accelerometer&Gyroscope (BMI088) features a 16-bit 3 – axis accelerometer and a 16-bit 3 – axis gyroscope and is suitable for drones, robotics and industrial applications with challenging performance requirements. The Grove – IMU 9DOF (lcm20600+AK09918) features a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and a 3-axis electronic compass. This amazing sensor module is great to use in smartphones and wearables. Finally, the Grove – Vibration Sensor (SW-420) is a highly sensitive, non-directional module with onboard sensitivity adjustment where it can be used in vibration sensing applications.
We released seven different environmental sensing modules with six being able to sense temperature and one being able to detect the air quality. Grove – Temperature, Humidity, Pressure and Gas Sensor (BME680), Grove – I2C High Accuracy Temperature Sensor (MCP9808) and Grove – I2C High Accuracy Temp&Humi Sensor (SHT35) are all able to measure normal environmental temperatures while communicating through I2C interface. Grove – Temperature, Humidity, Pressure and Gas Sensor (BME680) stands out from the other two because it not only measures temperature but can measure humidity, pressure, and gas as well, which is really cool. Grove – I2C High Accuracy Temperature Sensor (MCP9808) and Grove – I2C High Accuracy Temp&Humi Sensor (SHT35) both can measure temperatures at a much higher accuracy than the BME680, and SHT35 can also measure humidity. The most accurate sensor out of these sensors is the SHT35 with an accuracy of ±0.1 °C. On the other hand, Grove – 1-Wire Thermocouple Amplifier (MAX31850K) and Grove – I2C Thermocouple Amplifier (MCP9600) are able to measure very high temperatures while Grove – 1-Wire Thermocouple Amplifier (MAX31850K) communicates via Digital interface whereas Grove – I2C Thermocouple Amplifier (MCP9600) communicates via I2C interface. The major difference between these two modules is Grove – 1-Wire Thermocouple Amplifier (MAX31850K) can only support K-type thermocouples whereas Grove – I2C Thermocouple Amplifier (MCP9600) can support K, J, T, N, S, E, B, and R type thermocouples.
We also released a K-type thermocouple wire which is 1 meter long, to use with these amplifier modules. Another interesting module is the Grove – Infrared Temperature Sensor Array (AMG8833). It can support temperature detection of a two-dimensional area: 8 × 8 (64 pixels) and has a maximum detection distance of seven meters. This is a perfect module to make your own thermal camera! The last module under this category is the Grove – Laser PM2.5 Sensor (HM3301). This all-new laser dust detection sensor is able to detect the dust in the air in real-time which uses laser light scattering technology and therefore the readings are accurate, stable, and consistent.
We partnered with Microsoft to release the Azure Sphere MT3620 Development Kit to support rapid prototyping and enable developers to experience Azure Sphere technology. After that, we released a Grove Starter Kit for Azure Sphere including an MT3620 Grove Shield.
Also, we made a demo to show that the Azure Sphere MT3620 can be connected to various different devices while providing a very secure cloud connection. In this demonstration, we used four Grove modules and a device which has it's own MCU (An Arduino connected with a fan). The Grove modules that we used here are the Grove – Temp&Humi Sensor (SHT31), 4-Digit Display, Slide Potentiometer and Relay. Also we used MT3620 Grove Shield to connect all the Grove modules to the MT3620.
Later we released 3 new single-color 16×2 LCD modules with Black on Yellow, Black on RED and White on Blue. These modules are very cost effective when compared with the Grove – LCD RGB Backlight and we manufactured these modules based on our customer feedback.
We released 3 awesome touch sensor modules with Grove – Round Force Sensor (FSR402) being a force sensor whereas Grove – 12 Key Capacitive I2C Touch Sensor V2 (MPR121) and Grove – Capacitive Touch Slide Sensor (CY8C4014LQI) being touch sensors based on capacitive touch. Grove – Round Force Sensor (FSR402) is an interesting module where the resistance changes with the applied pressure on the sensor. Greater the pressure, smaller the resistance and vice versa. On the other hand, Grove – 12 Key Capacitive I2C Touch Sensor V2 (MPR121) has 12 capacitive keys with 8 channels being alligator interfaces where you can simply plug alligator cables to it. Grove – Capacitive Touch Slide Sensor (CY8C4014LQI) is a very fun to use touch slider and has seven capacitive touch elements as well as seven LEDs which correspond to each element. We also provide a cool acrylic case to prevent from false trigger when using this sensor module.
We started off November with two very exciting Hats which are the Grove Base Hat for Raspberry Pi and the Grove Base Hat for Raspberry Pi Zero. These HATs stand out because of the very low cost compared to GrovePi+. Both these HATs use an STM32F030 as ADC and they support more than 60 Grove modules. Grove Base Hat for Raspberry Pi has 15 Grove connectors with 6-Digital, 3-Analog, 3-I2C, 1-UART, and 1-PWM and provides an 8-Channel ADC. Whereas the Grove Base Hat for Raspberry Pi Zero has 8 Grove connectors with 2-Digital, 3-Analog, 1-I2C, 1-UART and 1-PWM and provides a 6-Channel ADC.
Also, we released 2 driver boards; one for servos, which is Grove – 16-Channel PWM Driver (PCA9685) and one for DC and stepper motors, which is Grove – I2C Motor Driver (TB6612FNG). Grove – 16-Channel PWM Driver (PCA9685) is based on NXP PCA9685, which is a 16-Channel, 12 bit I2C PWM driver. This board can drive up to 16 servos with the external power supply. Grove – I2C Motor Driver (TB6612FNG) can drive two DC motors up to 12V/1.2A or drive one stepper motor up to 12V/1.2A. Both these driver boards can easily work with Arduino via the Grove I2C interface.
We also released Grove – I2C UV Sensor (VEML6070), which is an advanced ultraviolet light sensor that can directly output data via I2C interface. It can most effectively detect light within the wavelength range of 320-410nm and converts solar UV light intensity to digital data. Then we released Grove – Coulomb Counter 3.3V to 5V (LTC2941)which is an interesting module to attach to your projects to monitor the battery charge status of a connected battery. This module has a charge accuracy of 1% and it's operating range is suitable for single-cell Li-Ion batteries. The Grove – Optical Rotary Encoder (TCUT1600X01) is another module we released to detect the motion, speed, and rotation. This includes an IR emitter and 2 phototransistor detectors located face-to-face with a distance of 3mm.
At the end of December, we released three all-new proximity sensor modules. The Grove – 2-Channel Inductive Sensor (LDC1612) is based on LDC1612 by Texas Instruments and can detect the proximity of conductors nearby (especially metals). This sensor enables the performance and reliability benefits of inductive sensing to be realized at minimal cost and power. Grove – Adjustable PIR Motion Sensor is an easy to use Passive Infrared motion sensor, which can detect motion of infrared objects up to 3 meters. Also, the output time and the detection distance range can be easily adjusted via the onboard potentiometers and this sensor has low power consumption. Grove – Human Presence Sensor (AK9753) is also an infrared motion sensor which can also detect motion of infrared objects up to 3 meters but this sensor stands out from the Grove – Adjustable PIR Motion Sensor because of the existence of four quantum IR sensors and an Integrated Circuit. Therefore it can not only detect the motion of an infrared object, but also the relative position where the IR object moves. So now, it's the beginning of 2019 and we plan to do more and more for Grove during this year. Hopefully, this year will be a brand-new year with brand new ideas for even more products that will come into life. Again, we give a big thanx to our community who has always been by our side contributing to their best to help us grow bigger and bigger.
Hope this new year brings you'll joy, happiness, good luck and good fortune in everything that you'll try to accomplish!