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Join me at Happy Hands every Friday afternoon in term time at Kingdom Come Soft Play! One class will run from 1pm, we sing, dance, shake our sillies, pop bubbles and lots more! Pop along, no need to book – just turn up! £4.50 per child includes entry to soft play, siblings £2.


text:
Chairman Takano Announces Bicameral Agreement on House-led Veteran Suicide Prevention Legislation
Introduces Veterans' COMPACT Act featuring 9 provisions that complement Senate's Efforts, including the Veterans ACCESS Act
Jenni Geurink (202-819-4684)
Miguel R. Salazar
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Chairman Mark Takano (D-Calif.) released the Veterans' Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care, and Treatment Act of 2020, or Veterans' COMPACT Act, featuring 9 provisions that complement the Senate's Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act to reduce veteran suicide. This package, which includes Chairman Takano's Veterans Acute Crisis Care for Emergent Suicide Symptoms (ACCESS) Act to ensure veterans in crisis can receive emergency mental health care regardless of cost, will address gaps in current law and better address the angles, factors, and intersections that may lead to suicide. These provisions will be featured at the Committee's markup on Thursday, September 17, move quickly to House passage next week, and the Senate has agreed to pass the package in full.
"For months, this Committee has been dedicated to developing comprehensive veteran suicide prevention legislation to work in tandem with Senate efforts and deliver legislation that would help prevent veterans from falling into crisis and reduce veteran suicide," said Chairman Mark Takano. "Today, I am proud to announce we have reached an agreement with Senator Moran and our Senate colleagues that will include passage of S.785 and our bill, the Veterans' COMPACT Act.
"Our nation's veterans deserve the very best we can offer, and I am pleased that at our legislative hearing last week, we discussed many possible solutions for how we might finally significantly reduce suicide and improve the overall mental health of our veterans' community.
"This agreement will make real progress towards reducing veteran suicide, but our work is not finished. I look forward to building on nearly two years' work to continue improving the lives of those who have served our country, and do our utmost to prevent veteran suicide."
Provisions included in Veterans' COMPACT Act would:
1. Care for those in crisis - Provide acute crisis care for emergent suicide symptoms (ACCESS Act) - Chairman Takano (D)
2. Help veterans build networks of support - Create a pilot program on information sharing between Department of Veterans Affairs and designated relatives and friends of veterans regarding the assistance and benefits available to the veterans - Rep. Peters (D)
3. Track outcomes of VA's outreach to transitioning servicemembers- Conduct an annual report on the Solid Start program of the Department of Veterans Affairs - Reps. Robin Kelly (D) & Mast (R)
4. Tailored education for family members - Create an education program for family members and caregivers of veterans with mental health disorders - Reps. Finkenauer (D), Curtis (R), & McKinley (R)
5. Outdoor Recreation Task Force - Make an Interagency Task Force on Outdoor Recreation for veterans-- Reps. Adam Smith (D) and Chris Smith (R)
6. Comprehensive Exams for Veterans - Contact veterans that have not had contact with VA in 2 or more years to encourage them to receive comprehensive exams so that they continue their eligibility for coverage of emergency care not related to service-connected disabilities- Rep. Lee (D)
7. Require annual VA Police de-escalation and crisis intervention training - Reps. Rice (D) and Pappas (D)
8. Analysis to meet needs of homeless women veterans - Conduct a gap analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs programs that provide assistance to women veterans who are homeless - Rep. Brownley (D)
9. Women Veteran Usage Report - Provide a report on locations where women veterans are using health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs - Rep. Brownley (D)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It was after his victory at the Battle of Losecoat on the 12th March 1470 that Edward ordered his horseshoe to be made, and you can see by the size of it his monetary gift was a large one.
When the kings horseshoe was complete it would have been highly decorative, painted in red and gilded with gold. The plaque at the very top would have held the royal coat of arms and the flat band in the centre is thought to have been a line of white roses of the House of York, painted onto a red background, as you can see below in the second photograph.
back ground. The family were of Norman stock from the town of Ferrieres Saint Halaire. Henry Ferrers is thought to have overseen the work of farriers during the preparations in the run up to the invasion of England, his brother William was killed at Hastings. Henry was rewarded with Oakham and other manors in England, however their major holdings were in Derbyshire. The last of the Ferrers to hold Oakham was Isabel de Ferrers, wife of Roger Mortimer, it passed out the family on her death in 1257 and was held by the crown and a number of families in the intervening years. At the time of the Battle of Losecoat Oakham was held by the Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and it was following the execution of his son Edward in 1521, that the first written reference to this tradition can be found.
You may be wondering why the horseshoes on the Ferrers coat of arms and Edward's horseshoe are presented upside down, this, I was told, was to stop the devil building a nest in them!
This unusual and unique collection over two hundred and fifty horseshoes is housed at Oakham Castle, a great hall built at the end of the 12th century by the progenitor of the Ferrers family.


Livelihood Centre for Disability & Development Program (LCDDP) Pakistan is one of the leading rights-based cross-disability focused organizations in Pakistan.
LCDDP is registered with Joint Stock Companies under section 4 & 12 of the Societies Act, XXI of 1860. LCDDP has been providing range of quality services to people with disabilities since June 2006.
In Pakistan, LCDDP is known for its remarkable work on Economic Empowerment of people with disabilities-the key to social inclusion and advocacy for promoting rights of people with disabilities.
LCDDP envisions a society in which people with disabilities can enjoy equal rights and have equal opportunities to fulfill their potential. LCDDP's mission is to enable people with disabilities for improving their quality of life and to campaign for removing barriers that hinder them.
LCDDP is Executive Member of Community Based Inclusive Development Network (CBID-N), Core Group Member of Age Disability Task Force (ADTF) and a disability flagship Member organization to SAARC Initiative to End Violence Against Children, called SAIEVAC as well as its local chapter NACG in Pakistan.


Abstract: This study employs a stated choice experiment to identify producer preferences for contracts to produce a risky bioenergy crop. The study develops a theoretical framework that takes into account subjective risk preference and perception information while also accounting for heterogeneous status-quo (i.e., current crop) alternatives. Results from our Random Parameter Logit model indicate that price, biorefinery harvest, and establishment cost-share all had significant positive effects on the probability of a producer accepting a contract, whereas contract length have a negative effect. The study also finds evidence of significant preference heterogeneity in producer preferences for biorefinery harvest, yield insurance, and contract length. Incorporating subjective risk perception and risk preference information, as well as accounting for heterogeneous status-quo alternatives in the decision framework improves overall model performance.
More papers in Working Papers from Mississippi State University, Department of Agricultural Economics Contact information at EDIRC.


text:
module MicroRb
  module Clients
    class Http
      include Base

      def self.call(uri:, service:, method:, params:, klass_response: nil)
        response = decode(post(uri, options(service: service, method: method, params: Array.wrap(params))))

        return klass_response.new(response.to_h.symbolize_keys!) if klass_response

        response
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Where Am I Now When I Need Me
Hearing myself think
Scenes We'd Like to See #7: At the Publishing House
It's the big Tuesday afternoon acquisitions meeting, and the whole editorial department, editors and junior editors, have gathered around the big conference table to try and convince the Sales and Publicity department to buy Turns in the Wauwinet Road, a new novel by Desmond Harris, whose last novel Panacea failed to live up to the promise of his smash debut, the 2004 Bascomb Prize-winning The Virgins of West Fourth Street.
Turns has a number of strikes against it, from the point of view of the sales mandarins: it's long, almost twice as long as the accepted length -- 200,000 words, or around 550 pages, even with wide margins and small print. Paper is expensive and this is the age of the 140 character tweet: no one wants to read a long book any more. Any exception the editorial staff wheels out – A Suitable Boy, Lonesone Dove, Infinite Jest, A Man in Full will be contemptuously dismantled as the one that proves the rule. Besides – Harris is no Vikram Seth, no Larry McMurtry , no David Foster Wallace … and especially no Tom Wolfe. His last book flopped! It didn't even earn out its advance! It's been a long time since Virgins, which only took off after the movie version, anyway. No one made a movie out of Panacea (Cancer victims touring the third world looking for folk remedies and witch doctors? Please.) No one is going to make this sappy romance into a movie, either. One of the editors, the new guy, Paul Antonowsky, jokes, "Right -- it's Bridges of Madison County meets To The Lighthouse." But the bean-counters have never heard of Virginia Woolf's masterpiece and think the editor is talking about some travel book. It's not worth trying to explain, especially since Seth Glazer (the irritable new editor in chief) is glaring at him: a stare cold enough to frost a magnum of champagne, which he doesn't have and isn't likely to need any time in the near future. But Antonowsky has already kicked over another rock and there are more sales-related problems squirming around under there.
Doug Cranepool, the Head of Distribution and Sales, sums it up:The book is fancy. It's confusing. It's full of flashbacks and flash forwards and a flashbacks inside flashforwards – or something. The sales team can't figure it out. They can't sell it. The woman is a chain-jerking bitch, the hero is a spineless wimp. "No one's gonna wanta spend three weeks reading about this geek who spends twenty years chasing some one- night stand he should have dumped the morning after he met her."
Then Carol Toscana starts talking. She loves the book. It made her laugh and cry – sometimes in the same sentence. "That's what I'm saying." Cranepool pounces. "It's confusing. Make me laugh. Or make me cry, You do both at once I don't know what the fuck is happening. Pardon my French."
"I had no idea you spoke French," Carol says.
Seth Glazer gives her the stare.
She tries another tack: "It's a book club book. It's an Oprah book."
"There aren't any Oprah books anymore. That train left the station a year ago."
"Okay, okay, but I mean – it's a book women will love and talk about and give to their friends."
"But we want people to buy it, not share it around. This little doorstop is gonna have to sell fifty thousand copies just to break even. And that aint happening."
This all feels very familiar. Every editor at the table has had a favorite project shot down by this same crass calculus; and some of them have seen the rejected novels and memoirs go on to be huge successes for rival publishers. But that doesn't seem to diminish the power of these squinting, passionless little pessimists, who everyone suspects never actually read at all.
Still, something is different today and that something is Seth Glazer, a recent hire from some little University Press, an author of a book on writing called "Hear Yourself Think" and before that a beloved and embattled Professor of English literature at Brandeis. No one is quite sure how he got the job, but he's managed to scare everyone in the editorial department and all the editors are hoping he'll do the same for Sales. They've been waiting for a month, but he's been in Europe, at the Frankfurt Book Fair among other places. This is first acquisitions meeting.
And the wait is over.
"That's enough," he says. "I think we've gotten off on the wrong track. We're all a little confused about our jobs. So I'm going to clear that up for you. The people on this side of the table are the editorial department of this venerable publishing house. They read through the hundreds of agent submissions we get every year and choose a few titles they think are worthy to be published. To do this they exert the full force of minds shaped by decades of word besotted reading, and top flight liberal arts educations, their critical acumen sharpened by the composition of critical theses and Doctoral dissertations on books like To the Lighthouse, which, I should like to make clear at this juncture, is not a picture book guide to Coastal Cape Cod. In short: they pick the books. Your job, gentlemen is to sell the books they pick. You are salesmen. You are neither professors nor critics. You job is not to analyze or interpret. Your job is to move merchandise. This is not an MFA workshop. It's a business. When you tell me 'I can't sell that book' you are saying that you expect to fail. Well, I expect you to succeed. The paper in front of you details our spring list, including Turns in the Wauwinet Road -- all 200,000 confusing pages of it. Your mission is simple: go out and sell these titles to bookstores. If you can do that, you will be good salesman, and I'll make sure you get handsome bonuses at the end of the year. If you can't do that, you will prove to me that you are in fact BAD SALESMEN and you will be fired. That is all. Go out and do your jobs. And never ever again pretend for one moment that you can do mine."
The sales staff, dazed and humbled, shuffle out of the room. The editors break into spontaneous applause. Maybe they'll have some use for that magnum of champagne after all.
Posted by Axel at 12:59 PM No comments: Links to this post
Mildred Pierce: Masterpiece in the Making
The critical consensus on the Todd Haynes Mildred Pierce HBO miniseries that began on Sunday night (and continues for the next two weeks) is that it's slow and plodding and unimaginatively faithful to a corny and old fashioned book. The critics unanimously prefer the 1945 movie, directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) and starring Joan Crawford (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?). The black and white film zips right along, they agree, not despite but because of the drastic changes wrought by Curtiz and a team of screenwriters that included an uncredited William Faulkner. They gutted the first half of the story and threw in a lurid murder to keep things moving. I guess they thought that Mildred's story just wasn't compelling enough to stand on its own, and today's critics seem to agree.
For my money, they're all wrong, all the way down the line.
I've only seen the first two parts, which take us about 125 pages into a roughly 300 page novel, but so far it's spectacularly good, rigorously faithful to the James M. Cain novel yet visually gorgeous and flawlessly cinematic. There's a general sense in Hollywood that being overly true to a n adapted book doesn't work. Film versions of books as diverse as 1984 and The Great Gatsby and Sophie's Choice seem to bear this out. But Cain was made for the movies. His dialogue snaps like a starched shirt in a stiff breeze. The blistering exchanges in the miniseries come directly from the book without one word altered. This exchange with Mildred's neighbor Mrs Gessler, for instance, on the subject of Mildred's recent divorce:
"I don't know. I feel as though I'd picked his bones. First the kids, then his car, and now the house and -- everything he's got."
"Would you kindly tell me what good the house would do him? On the first call for interest he'd lose it, wouldn't he?"
"But he looked so pitiful."
"Baby, they all do. That's what gets us."
With her husband gone, Mildred needs a job and winds up working as a waitress. Her real skill is cooking – she sells pies and cakes out of her house. But she can't make enough with small time catering to support her two children, Moire (called Ray) and Veda. Ray is a little spot of sunlight and the girl who plays her in the miniseries, Quinn McColgan, is fresh and funny and delightful She seems like an actual child, without the crust of precocious self-awareness that hinders so many other professional kids. Ray doesn't even appear in the original film, so there's no comparison to make in her case. But the rest of the cast shines in comparison to their predecessors. Guy Pearce as Monte Beragon makes his dissipated playboy both sad and glamorous in a way that Zahary Scott never managed. But of course the real casting coup of the new version is Kate Winslet.
Winslet is the opposite of Joan Crawford: where Crawford was cold, Winslet is warm; where Crawford was self-contained and calculating, you can see every emotion rising up inside Ms. Winslet and blooming on her face. You were a little scared of Joan Crawford; you fall in love with Kate Winslet -- and that makes all the difference.
This passion and transparency sharpens the scene where Veda confronts her mother about her job. Veda, a blithe arrogant little snob at age eleven, has given her mother's waitress uniform to their house-keeper. The cruel, baiting justification: it couldn't be Mildred's, so why not give it away and put it to some use? They fight, Mildred spanks her, they both apologize and then you literally see the idea forming behind Winslet's eyes, as Mildred realizes, in a dangerous flash of inspiration, the only way to win back Veda's respect: she'll start her own restaurant. Veda loves the idea; she knows there's money there, and nothing else matters to her. Mildred is on a roll: she took the waitressing job to learn the business –- it's research! And the funny thing is – she has learned the business. Watching Mildred become a skilled waitress has its own specific exhilaration. The second installment of the mini-series begins with her practicing the art of carrying four plates at once in her bedroom , her own plates weighed down with stones.
I hesitate to say more about the story itself, since despite the critical rap that the show is slow paced and uneventful, the first two hours feature a wild cascade of events, some thrilling, some tragic, with the highs and lows sometimes only moments apart. But events are just the superstructure, the rebar of plot. We care what happens to Mildred and her daughters because of the vivid characters, rendered through crackling dialogue, profoundly nuanced performances and meticulous direction. Todd Haynes shoots much of the movie through window glass or reflections in mirrors, keeping us at a crucial distance. We need to step away from the tragic parabola of Mildred's life, it's so much like our own – as lovers, as lonely divorced people, as parents, as workers struggling with an economy just like the one in the film. It's eerily familiar that Mildred's husband made and lost his fortune in a housing bubble grotesquely similar to our own.
We're only two fifths of the way through the story. If Todd Haynes can maintain this level of passion and artistry and I suspect he can (Veda is about to grow up into a truly appalling Evan Rachel Wood), then HBO will be successful – Emmys for everyone -- and I'll be happy. We'll have a new version of record to replace the trashy Michael Curtiz version. And best of all -- James M. Cain would be proud.
Hate Month
March is Hate Month on Nantucket – miserable weather and cranky people and not enough money and too much to do.
That's fine with me. I hate everything these days. I've become a hater. Hate is the new love. Hate is the new black. I hate republicans, wholly owned by corporate interests, who make obscenely rich greed monsters richer, I hate the greed monsters and their spoiled children and overweight entitled friends who make waitresses cry when their steak is over-cooked. I hate the steaks themselves, even though I eat them, and the industrial cattle processing with its sick cows and antibiotics and its lake sized waste pools.
I hate the corporations who take the tops off of mountains and the corporate spokesmen who explain why It's okay. I hate the drugs they advertise on television with their freakish lists of side-effects and the doctors who prescribe them and the druggists who sell them and the suckers who ask their doctors if Dipraximil "is right" for them. The price is right, that's all that matters.
I hate Democrats who pretend to be better than Republicans, and then do the exact same stuff because they're owned by the exact same people. I hate the stupid reality shows on television and the bad comedies and the jaded pukes who write and direct them, and the fools who watch them. I hate other people's dogs, crapping on the sidewalk. I hate my dog crapping on the rug.
I hate stupid people who think they're smart and dull people who think they're interesting. I hate people who think they can write, and people who think they can sing and people who think they can drive. Newsflash: your stories are trite, your song is off key and you're supposed to signal before you switch lanes and cut me off. I hate the cars choking every highway in the country and I drive one so I hate myself, too. But not enough to ride a bike.
I hate 24-hour cable news channels that can only tell one story a day. There was a tsunami in Japan, but there was also a 100,000 person rally in Madison Wisconsin yesterday. I hate Scott Walker, taking out his tax breaks on working people and Chris Christie doing the same thing and all other politicians working like wage slaves for the top 400. I hate the top four hundred individual people who own half the wealth of this country. Let's just give it all to them and they can be Pharaohs, with a nation of slaves. We can build their pyramids.
I hate the South. I hate the bigots who wish they still had slavery, and the slimy rhetoric they use to cover that up. I hate the Supreme Court. I hate Scalia and his lapdog Clarence Thomas especially. I hate all branches of government now.
I hate cops and I hate criminals. I hate everyone who gets a perverted kick out of exercising any little trivial power they have over someone else. I hate insurance agents and DMV clerks and elementary school crossing guards. You don't get a pass because you're protecting the children, asshole . I hate the new religion of protecting the children. I hate the body armor they have to wear just to ride a bike. I hate new parents who think they did something special. You didn't. You did the most ordinary thing on the face of the earth. I hate people abuse kids and people who neglect kids and people who brag about their kids and people who encourage their kids for doing nothing, "Oooo, what a good breath you took, Bobby! You're the best breather in the whole world! You're going to get a big gold breathing star and some cake!" I hate cake, and all the stuff that pretends not to be cake, like muffins. Muffins are cake. Corn bread is cake. Don't eat it for breakfast. I hate eating. I hate the tyranny of it. We're all addicts. "Oooo, if I don't get more food I'll die." I hate grocery stores with that blood-sucking lighting and over air-conditioned climate control, and seeing all the people I don't want to talk to in the vegetable aisle. I hate the industrial vegetables they sell and the waxed fruit. When was the last time you got a decent apple at the grocery?
I hate the seasons, and I especially hate the change of seasons. I hate daylight savings time. I just lost an hour of my life again. So I get it back in the fall? Who cares? Daylight Savings should be for those industrial farmers only. I hate winter, it's cold and miserable. I hate summer just as miserable but hot. I hate spring -- it makes me want things I can't have any more. I hate autumn -- it reminds me of death, and I hate death more than anything. I hate snow, it's just about shoveling and trudging and watching little kids have fun and feeling old. I hate rain, it just means leaks and floods and water down your back and wet socks. I hate sunny days, too, Blue skies – is that really the only color they could come up with? Sunny days make me want to stay home from work and play; rainy days make me want to stay home from work and read in front of a fire. So I guess I hate work most of all. And I hate being lazy, but I don't have the energy to change.
I even hate ranting about how much I hate everything. Hate is exhausting, I don't know how all those 'hate groups' manage it. Hate is a full time job. The pay is terrible. No benefits. No overtime. No vacations. To hell with it. I quit.
I'll start loving things again. I'll start over, starting now. I'll start with good coffee and some high speed internet.
We'll see how long it lasts.
American Idol: The Good, The Bad and the Off-Key
It was a long slog tonight on the 'big stage', with good singers choosing bad songs and bad singers making random noise that involved dramatic runs, emotive squinting and trite gestures. The gap is widening between the talented singers and the stage weight.
The nadir of the evening had to be Thia Megia sounding pathetically clueless, calling Carlie Chaplin Charlie "Chapman" and obviouslyhaving no idea who he was. He wrote the song you're singing, sweetie. He also happens to be one of the most significant figures in the history of film ... which does extend back before 1990.Tough to believe! But most of these kids have never even heard a Beatles tune. As far as her singing goes ...Thia has a pleasant, unremarkable voice. I can hear Simon snarling "Forgettable".
I'm writing on Wednesday night because I'm sure I'll forgotten most of these kids' performances by tomorrow morning.
The other losers -- Ashthon Jones, singing a tedious Diana Ross song in a dress so unflattering it belonged on the red carpet at some interminable awards show; Karen Rodriguez wheezing through an unintelligible Selena number, Pia Toscana singing some generic song in a generic dress looking generically pretty and bringing to mind e.e.cumming's famous adage, "The opposite of aesthetic is anesthetic.Pia was a major shot of novocaine last night ... which came in handy when listening to Stefano and Naima. Stefano sang a bad Stevie Wonder song, prancing around the stage with moves he must have learned by correspondence course; Naima was even more energetic but she seems to have learned the lyrics phonetically. She did make me appreciate the difficulty of singing and dancing at the same time -- a problem many professionals solve by lip-synching. Alas, Naima wasn't permitted this option.
I don't even know what Paul MacDonald did, or what he was singing, but it looked bizarre and sounded original, which is more than I can say for most of the other singers. The jury is still out on this oddball.
Lauren Alaina was fun, singing a throw-away Shania Twain song (She's really your favorite singer? That's tragic) and Haley covered a La Ann Rimes cover of a little known Patsy Cline tune. To her credit, she seemed to know that. She even knew who Patsy Cline was. Good for her.
Scotty Mcreery chose to perform a Garth Brooks dirge. Too bad because Garth Brooks is just bad -- or, not even bad, just boring and mediocre and over-rated. How about some George Jones next time, Scotty? Or Willie Nelson or Hank Williams? Or anyone other than Garth Brooks? That was a waste of talent, and unlike the judges, I sensed that Scotty felt uncomfortable up there for the first time.
Jacob Lusk sang a forgettable R Kelly song, with a full chorus. He's obviously a show favorite; and he's good, but he too needs better material.
The clear winners were Casey Abrams and James Durbin, both doing Beatles songs. Casey sang "A Little help from My Friends" and chaneled Joe Cocker, right down to the arm gestures. Durbin did McCartney and sounded great.
So ...an uneven group with a clear top six who need to find some decent songs next week. And the judges need to get tough. Even Iovine, who was supposed to be the imported hard-ass, has nothing but mild praise for everyone. It's sweet enough to put the average viewer into a diabetic coma. Simon Cowell was the insulin, and I need an IV drip after this love-fest.
Apparently the show wasn't live tonight. No one was 'ready', they said. Who cares? Some chaos and mistakes would have livened things up a little.
Go live, or go home.
Most of all don't lie about it. The kids struggled like professionals tonight.
The amateurs were behind the camera.
Trickle-Down Economics, the Weather Channel & Me
It seems like a trivial matter, but the Weather Channel has changed it's format: "Local on the Eights", at least in my locality, has become "National on the Eights" with high tech graphics, glittery rhomboid flip screens, statistics about every city and section of the country … everything but the one thing I watch the Weather Channel to see: my local weather. Wind advisories, tide charts, sunrise and sunset times and what the chances are for a snow storm tomorrow. I have no idea why the geniuses at the Weather Channel made this change, though it seems to fit in with several general patterns: new is better, shiny video is more fun than information, and the problems and even the weather of any given small community just doesn't really matter.
What really hit home, what made the issue seem so much more significant, was my response: I grumbled and complained and continued to watch. What was I supposed to do? Send an e-mail, write a letter to some monolithic media corporation owned by some other even more monolithic multinational corporation, and ask them to accommodate me? They have no interest in accommodating me. It's a perfect metaphor , it sums up everything else, all the economic and political dead ends our country has built for itself since the end of World War II, when Dwight Eisenhower warned against the "military industrial complex". Well, it's the military-political-industrial-media complex now, with the same goals but with vastly more sophisticated tools at its command. I'm told to vote, but in my bones I know my vote means nothing and that even if I went in to politics and gave my liofe to the kind of change I long for, I would probably wind up like those Wisconsin Democrats, fleeing my own state to fight legislation I loathe and despise. Today I read that those brave legislators will soon return, the dreaded quorum will be achieved and Governor Scott Walker's cruel, senseless union busting budget plan will be forced on the electorate of that bruised and battered state. And why? To solve a budget crisis? There would be no budget crisis if not for Walker's scandalous tax cuts. But that's the old voodoo economics, the trickle down hat trick: starve the beast. Suck the treasury dry with tax cuts then claim poverty and sacrifice the working poor to balance the budget. And this is no conspiracy, no secret plan hatched by a shadowy cabal in a back room. They brag about it!What did George Bush say at one of his fund raisers "The rich asnd the super rich ... or as I call them: my base."
The worst part is, I'm one of the few people in the nation who actually benefits from trickle down economics – these titans of economic fraud, these beneficiaries of global ponzi schemes, take their blackmail bailout money from the taxpayers and write themselves giant bonuses and spend the booty on – renovating their summer houses, among other indulgences. They hire me to paint the new kitchen and strip the floors of the new addition and so I find myself in the perverse position of rooting for them to stay wealthy and keep gutting the rest of the country. Supposedly 400 people have as much wealth and property as half of the rest of the population combined. What's scarier than that statistic? Most of them summer on Nantucket.
And I make my living off of them. But my livelihood actually refutes the whole sleazy theory. These new hedge fund robber barons aren't taking their ill-gotten gains and starting new businesses, and opening new factories and "innovating" and expanding the economy. They're faux-painting the guest cabin on their new yacht. Like a dog's favorite tree, I happen to be in the direct line of fire of that famous trickle. Everyone else just continues to suffer with the dead grass, the poisoned soil and the reek of waste.
In other eras, this kind of wanton savage greed eventually brought down corrupt regimes whether it was the court of the Russian Czar or Louis the 14th. . But those oligarchs were crude and inept. They didn't have KFC and flat screen TVs and the NFL. They understood the "bread and circus' concept but could never perfect it in practice. They had propaganda, but they didn't have the ubiquitous media chorus big money can buy today. It seems like they may have finally created the thousand year Reich. Only the total collapse of the system, when there is no more tax money to bail out the next mindless orgy of naked avarice, or when the ecosystem collapses from limitless abuse can bring this power structure down, and the sad truth is, it will take all of us with it when it goes.
The only hope I can see is to outlaw political ads on television, as cigarette ads were outlawed so long ago. This would put a chisel into the works of a finely tuned mechanism: if politicians could be independent if they didn't need the millions and millions and millions of dollars they spend on grotesque attack spots like this one:
"Steven Axelrod says he'd 'blog for free' but he accepts 'tips' and runs ads between his posts! What else is he lying about? Steven Axelrod: bad for Open Salon, bad for the Internet, Bad for America. I'm anonmyous and I approved this ad."
Without the cash sucking black hole of televion attack ads, politicians could campaign the old fashioned way and govern the country according to their actual beliefs and the needs of their constituents, not the whims of the Proprietors who hold the wallet and the remote.
But that will never happen. So I'll just continue to scribble the occasional rant here, and watch the Weather Channel. It's scary out there – lots of floods and hurricanes and tornadoes. Thank goodness for Jim Cantore and the gang. I have no idea what the humidity or the temperature is on Nantucket this morning, but it's 56 degrees in Detroit and there's a chance of rain in Atlanta.
I guess I'll have to settle for that.
Scenes We'd Like to See #7: At the Publishing Hous...


BRIDGEWATER, NJ - Social media and its usage may be proving a problem in Bridgewater Township, if discussion at a recent town council meeting is any indication.
Council president Matthew Moench said that the town's administration has been taking down comments from the municipality's Facebook page that were not liked. Moench added that if the Facebook accounts being used to post comments are determined to be fake or otherwise unverified, then the comments can be deleted.
But the catch, he said, is how to determine if accounts are indeed false or unconfirmed.
Moench asked about the township's standard for deletion if a comment is not profane, and questioned whether every comment posted would be subject to such scrutiny.
Moench asked if background checks are performed, ostensibly on the social media accounts. Naples said they are sometimes, and that any questions that arise are run by the legal department.
Moench said he would like to know what the standard is, while councilman Filipe Pedroso said he wants to receive copies of all the deleted comments.
"I believe they're subject to OPRA," said Pedroso of the Open Public Records Act, in regards to all of the township's social media sites.
"I find this very troubling," he added.
Pedroso also asked what is considered to be insulting language. He said that censoring public comments is "a slippery slope," and added that he doesn't want the township to do that.
"A government website should not be censored," said Nagy, who added that there are three profiles that are making disparaging remarks.


The first Thursday of August the United States celebrates National IPA Day. This style of beer originated hundreds of years ago in London and has become wildly popular in the past few decades here in the USA. In the 1700s pale ales were being exported to European troops and merchants in India but were spoiling on the long journey.
The solution was to add more hops to the brew and increase the alcohol levels, as both act as methods of preservation. This style began to gain popularity in the United States in the 1990s and is now one of the most popular varieties of microbrew in America today.
This lactose New England style IPA is juicy, hazy and low in bitterness. This brew can be found a hop and skip from the Orlando International Airport.
Take a walk on the dark side with this Black IPA from a brewery in downtown Orlando. Malty, roasty, with a hoppy finish.
A highly rated 8% Imperial IPA from an awesome new brewery in Sanford, Florida.
A juicy, aggressively dry-hopped IPA from a brewery in the SoFa District of Winter Park.
This New England style DIPA was originally brewed for the company's 2 year anniversary and is back in year 3!
A 10% double IPA will make your taste buds sing with its citrusy hop character and a malty backbone.
This golden colored IPA was brewed with a generous amount of Falconer's Flight hops from a brewery in Orlando's Hourglass District.
A 6% IPA from Winter Springs and a tribute to the Devil's Chair in Cassadaga.
This DIPA is deceptive - it drinks easy and you wouldn't guess it has a 9% ABV (until you start to stagger).
A classic IPA, this 6.7% DeBary beer has a nice balance and a big hop aroma and flavor.
Orlando's microbrewery scene is hoppin'! For more information on great places to grab a local pint check out this 10 Craft Beer Bars & Breweries article.


text:
Wednesday, 19th March 2014
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is, so far, uncomfortably, uncannily close to the plot of my thriller, Die By Wire.
But a lot of comments have been made about the absence of terrorist "chatter" and claims of responsibility. But maybe that's the point.
Maybe the mystery IS the terror.
That was the point I made in Die By Wire.
My evil mastermind knew that it's hard to top 9/11. People get inured … one more hijacking. One more building on fire. Been done. The shock gets absorbed.
Especially so because people push back against someone they can identify, can blame, can hate. Identifying someone to blame offers closure, psychological release where healing can start.
But making aircraft simply disappear gins up fear and distrust. The uncertainty of NO closure can be more painful and last longer than a spectacular blast.
This is the monster under the bed. It's a primal, visceral fear. And that's why I chose that for Die By Wire.
My evil mastermind in Die By Wire also knew that this visceral fear and uncertainty could financially cripple airlines. The billions and billions of economic damage done to the Great Satan Crusaders creates real global damage that exceeds a 9/111.
It's also a great way to make money. My criminal genius in Die By Wire devoted as much time to the financial aspect as to the actual mechanics of making multiple wide-body aircraft disappear. He was a canny old evil fox with the best positions in the debt and equity markets to make money on the disaster. And that makes millions … perhaps billions to fund even more creative terror.
Who was short on Malaysia Airlines stock before the disappearance?
And the pilots do not need to be in on the scam. My bad guys hacked the GPS, signals electronics and crashed the fly-by-wire computers in a very controlled manner.
In reality, civilian GPS is unencrypted and can easily be spoofed by third parties. The fly-by-wire computers are harder, but it has been demonstrated that they can be hacked with an Android phone.
Some links about all that here: Malaysia Flight 370: Here's How Hacker/Hijackers Can Do It (http://lewisperdue.com/?p=4444).
If something comes along that can shake the foundations of the flying public's faith in airline safety, then airlines and governments can't afford to let you know.
That's why the government was trying to kill DBW's hero and heroine as they struggled to save the passengers on the multiple aircraft that the villain was going to disappear into the ocean.


During my early days of consulting, my clients wanted to be on every new and exciting social media platform. They wanted to have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Tumblr—and the list keeps going.
I wasn't a pessimist. And I most certainly wasn't lazy. I was merely being strategic.
And it's the same advice I'd give today.
Now that the newness of social media is slightly worn, more and more businesses understand the impact being on just a handful of social media channels.
Because the social media channels you should use are the ones that you can do right.
By right, I'm not just talking about time and dedication. For your social media strategy to really flourish, you must know how that channel works and if it's really the best direction for your strategy.
How do you decide on which social media platforms are right for your business or brand?
While the digital social landscape has changed over the past 10 years, there are still dozens of social media platforms (the complete list here) for you to choose. And 600+ social media tools for measuring your success.
Not every social media channel is fitting strictly by what product or service your sell.
For example, a company that doesn't have a visual product or service probably shouldn't be on image-driven Instagram. And higher education usually isn't cut out for Pinterest.
To decide which social media platform is right for you, first look at your business. How do you want to convey your product or service on a digital platform?
Still stumped? See what your competitors are doing on social media. Which channels are their most successful? Which ones are their least?
You shouldn't replicate their behavior blindly. Think of it as a starting place for deciding which social media channel is right for you. Note why some channels work, then decide if that's the best decision for your business.
You probably know your target audience like the back of your hand. You know their age range, their buying habits, their buyer's journey, how they spend their time and their birthdays.
Just kidding on the birthdays.
Knowing this will help you choose which social media is right for your business or brand. Because you must know what experience your target audience desires (and expects) not just from your business, but also the buying experience for this product or service.
How does the digital fit into their buyer's journey? Where do they expect to find you early in the funnel and during the final decision-making moments?
That's where you should be.
This will also help you decide on how to engage with your target audience on these social media channels.
What are your marketing goals this year? Your quarterly goals? Besides increasing sales, of course.
Do you want to amplify brand awareness? Boost customer loyalty? Increase website traffic and leads? Educate your target audience? Become a thought leader and a trusted authority in your industry?
You must know what end result you expect from your marketing strategy before selecting social media platforms right for your business. Because the desired end result determines how you want to get there.
Now, look at each social media platform through the lens of its capabilities. Does it allow you to achieve the goals you want to reach?
This evaluation process is worth doing on a regular basis. Marketing goals change. Target audience behavior changes. Even industry expectations change.
And social media platforms are ever-changing. They oscillate between effective and not so much. Some are popular today—then out of existence tomorrow.
No matter how the social landscape changes, there's no set list of social media platforms you should be using. It's up to you to decide what's right for your business.
How do you decide which social media channels are right for your business or brand? Share your strategy in the comments section below.


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It is the purpose of the Kenton County Public Library to Preserve Yesterday, Enrich Today, and Inspire Tomorrow for the residents of Kenton County. To achieve this purpose, the Board and staff of the Library are dedicated to providing the highest quality services to meet the educational, informational, and recreational needs of our diverse community. A strong materials collection is the foundation for these services.
The public library plays a critical role in a democracy by providing a full range of information and culture enabling an open exchange of ideas required for the operation of a free society. Thus the Library's Board and staff are committed to providing materials for the interest, information and enlightenment of all people in our community. With the community becoming ever more diverse, offering a collection that includes various points of view and represents widely diverse backgrounds and values benefits the community and the Library.
The Library staff will make every effort to provide information freely and fully to everyone in our community. While the Library restricts the circulation of some materials rated for adult audiences and uses an Internet filtering device in an attempt to limit the availability of sexually explicit material, any additional restrictions on a child's use of the Library's materials is the responsibility of the parent or guardian.
Due to the ever increasing volume of information and the limits of public financing, the Library is unable to acquire and house all the information available, so decisions are required for determining which materials will be obtained and/or retained in the Library's collection. The purpose of the Collection Development Policy is to guide the staff in selecting materials for the Library collection and to inform the public about the principles on which selection is made. The policy also serves as a guideline for determining which gift books to accept, which materials to rebind, which lost or worn out items to replace, and which materials to weed from the collections.
The Kenton County Public Library Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for materials acquired by the Library. The responsibility of selection of materials is delegated by the Library Director to various staff members who select and/or coordinate selection of materials, through the Collection Development Department.
A. Opening the door of learning to preschoolers. Materials selected in this area will assist in introducing preschoolers to the vast array of knowledge available in the Library and in their world.
B. Independent learning center. The Library will attempt to provide resources for individuals who are pursuing learning and information outside traditional educational pathways. A wide range of topics and formats will be available in an attempt to fulfill this need.
C. Support of learners in all formal education centers. While no attempt can be made to purchase all curriculum materials, the Library will strive to maintain a materials collection that complements collections of other educational institutions in our area. Materials may be selected for the Library's collection for potential use in research.
II. Stimulate Imagination. Popular materials. As a result of this commitment, much emphasis will be placed on purchasing as many current, high demand, high interest materials in various formats as the budget allows. Often these items will need to be purchased pre-review on the basis of demand or anticipated demand.
III. Connect to the Online World. Reference. Materials selected for this area provide ready access to factual information on a variety of subjects of interest to public library patrons and include both print and non-print formats. Electronic resources will be emphasized in order to provide access equally from all locations and remotely when possible.
IV. Know Your Community Past and Present. Local history and genealogy. It is the Library's goal to collect and maintain the region's definitive collection of Northern Kentucky history and genealogy. As many resources as possible will be collected and archived in this area, with emphasis on Kenton County and Northern Kentucky. Because of the nature of the materials and the difficulty of duplication, most of this collection will be located at the Covington Branch. As technology and funding allows, however, materials in this collection will be digitized and made available at the other locations and remotely.
Various standing order plans which are set up because of the nature of the information or popularity of authors.
Certain selection criteria are used when evaluating all acquisitions, whether purchased or donated. Several of these criteria and combinations of criteria may be used when considering materials. Materials are evaluated on the significance of the entire work rather than individual parts. An item does not need to meet all of the criteria to be acceptable.
c. Inclusion of indexes, bibliographies, etc.
e. Special features such as index, charts, maps, etc.
Each area of the collection has individual needs when considering materials to be selected. Generally speaking, popular demand is a strong consideration in selection of items for the collection. Emphasis will be placed on the timely acquisition of best sellers and other heavily marketed popular items. The Library holds membership in OCLC Interlibrary Loan Service, SouthWest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries (SWON), and Kentucky Virtual Library, which enables the Library to satisfy patron demand for other materials from a broader base than its own collection.
Public demand is the primary criteria in selection of fiction. It is selected to satisfy recreational reading needs of the adult public and the Library sets no arbitrary standard of literary quality. Taking into account that adults vary greatly in education, interests, tastes, and reading skills, the Library attempts to select items which are of interest to a wide audience of users. Literary classics will also be purchased. Paperback fiction is added through gifts, and some paperback fiction is purchased. The paperback format of a book is purchased when hardback editions are not available or to provide additional copies of popular titles.
To further meet the high demand for current bestsellers A Quick Pick Collection was added to KCPL in July, 2011. The specially marked items of adult fiction, non-fiction, and adult and juvenile DVDs are non-holdable, non-renewable, and circulate to patrons on a first come, first serve basis.
Nonfiction materials are added with consideration of the various backgrounds, abilities and levels of education which are identifiable within the community. Local needs and interests of the members of the community are also considered. Currency of topic and information will be the key factor in selection of this area of the collection.
Emphasis will be placed on unabridged books on CD, both fiction and nonfiction, for adults and children.
Material in this area is selected to appeal to young adults of middle school through high school age. The Young Adult (YA) fiction collection is a transition from juvenile to adult material and must particularly relate to needs and interests of adolescents. Some duplication of juvenile or adult fiction titles may occur as a result of this interest level. Emphasis is on popular material but less popular items which show excellence in content or style are also included, such as award winning books. Paperbacks are purchased extensively to supplement the hardback collection. Nonfiction for this level is selected for its YA content and reading level. These materials may also be duplicated in the Adult or Children's nonfiction collections.
Material in this area is selected to serve recreational and informational needs and interests of children from infants into middle school. Some duplicates of young adult titles may occur as a result of this interest level. A variety of print and non-print materials are selected for all levels of children's understanding and reading abilities. The basic criteria listed above are used in selection with emphasis on appeal to children and educational contribution. Fiction is equally as important as nonfiction, and literary quality is a primary criteria in selection. Special attention is given to award winning books, while popular/in demand titles or series are also purchased. Paperbacks are purchased extensively because of their appeal and to supplement the hardback collection, and also for ease of transport to other locations.
Materials in this area are acquired in order to provide ready access to factual information. Selections include but are not limited to almanacs, directories, encyclopedias, and indexes. Materials in such non print formats as microfilm, microfiche, electronic resources will also be included. Particular attention is paid to accuracy and currency of the information. This collection is non-circulating.
The Library provides downloadable materials for both the adult and juvenile collections. Collection Development works with the Digital Branch Librarian to select appropriate vendors to supply this content. Materials for this collection are chosen using the same criteria listed above for the physical collection.
Increased emphasis will be devoted to acquiring web based reference sources in order to insure currency and more widespread access to information. Databases in this area are selected by the Digital Branch Librarian in order to provide access to quality information to all Library locations as well as patrons outside the Library when available. The databases in this collection are frequently updated. The varieties of databases selected are also intended to serve all ages of information seekers.
The goal of the Kenton County Public Library in this part of the collection is to provide the most comprehensive and in depth Kentucky collection in the area, documenting the political, cultural and economic history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky with a strong emphasis on the Northern Kentucky Region, especially Kenton County. KCPL is the major repository for this material in Greater Cincinnati. Types of materials which are collected include books, microform, photos, maps, paper ephemera, pamphlets, online databases, and music.
The library also collects genealogical materials that will assist patrons in researching their family history. The geographic focus of this collection is the Commonwealth of Kentucky, with a strong emphasis on Northern Kentucky and Kenton County.
The majority of these collections are non-circulating.
Emphasis is placed on the collection of maps pertaining to Kenton County and Northern Kentucky. Included are road maps, government maps, and other special topic maps. Maps of other areas of Kentucky are selectively acquired as are general U.S. and world maps which do not appear in atlases.
Large print material is selectively acquired to meet general recreational and informational reading needs of adult and juvenile visually impaired patrons. Material is purchased for use in the Homebound program as well as by the general public and some selection may be based on the needs of homebound users.
The library does not generally attempt to collect textbooks. They will be acquired only when they supply the best or only information available on a subject. They will not be acquired or duplicated to satisfy the demands of a particular institution or curriculum.
The library acquires periodicals in order to provide recreational reading, to provide information supplemental to the book collection, and to provide material that is not yet and may never be in book form. Selection criteria for periodicals are the same as those for books and other materials. The Library participates in the Kentucky Union List of Serials which enables the Library to reach beyond the scope of its collection to satisfy patron demand. The Library will rely heavily on electronic sources for back issues.
Newspapers are acquired for recreational reading, to meet reference needs, and to provide current information. Subscriptions are held for most local, selected major Kentucky, and national newspapers. Complete back files will be maintained at the Covington Branch only for certain local papers of Kenton County, Covington, and Newport. The preferred method of keeping these records will be on microfilm.
The Library acquires government publications which are important for reference or popular reading and study. Emphasis is placed on documents pertaining to Kentucky and especially to Kenton County. As a State Data Center Affiliate, the Library receives and maintains a collection of U.S. Census material pertaining to Kentucky, Kentucky demographic information, and other statistical data. Local full depository libraries are located at Northern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
(CDs, DVDs, and video games) are selected by the A-V Specialist to supplement the traditional print collection and to provide information and entertainment not available in print format. In addition to the general selection criteria, particular consideration is given to composition, production quality, appropriateness of format to subject, and ease of use.
Music on CDs: Emphasis is placed on a wide range of popular music for both adults and children. Music CDs with a 'Parental Advisory' label will be classified as CD-X, and will not be loaned to people under the age of 18 without expressed permission from a parent or caregiver.
Video games: Emphasis is placed on popular, classic and award winning video games for both the Adult and Children's departments. Ratios of games systems purchased will follow current system demand. Video games rated 'Mature' will be classified as VG-X and will not be loaned to people under the age of 18, without expressed permission from a parent or caregiver.
Other non-print sources of information or entertainment may be considered for inclusion in the Library's collection as demand and technological advances warrant.
The Library has several special collections to meet the unique needs of certain portions of the community. These collections include, but are not limited to, book club kits, curriculum packs, new readers materials, the Racing to Read van collection, and the Spanish collection.
The Library maintains a website on the World Wide Web which contains information about the Library, provides access to the Library's catalog, and allows each patron access to his or her own circulation record. Patrons may renew items and place holds through the website. The site also provides links to various other informational websites and an electronic collection which has been determined by the Digital Branch Librarian to be of interest to patrons. These sites on numerous subjects are examined and collected by various staff members and submitted to the Digital Branch Librarian who makes the final decision about inclusion on the Library's website. Criteria for selection will be the same as other materials.
In 1997 the Board of Trustees authorized the use of an Internet filtering device to filter sexually explicit material. From time to time sexually explicit websites which evade the filter may need to be blocked manually. Upon request by library staff, the Digital Branch Librarian will review the site and determine whether it should be blocked. The site may be reviewed if requested by staff or patron using the Request for Reconsideration form attached to this document.
The Library accepts gifts with the understanding that only those items which meet the selection criteria will be added to the collection. Gifts of local material are encouraged. The Library accepts donations of magazine subscriptions provided the magazine meets the criteria listed above. Donated magazines will be placed in an area designated for that purpose. These materials will not be cataloged or processed. They will not be listed in the Library's database nor will backfiles be kept. Gifts of out of date material, unneeded duplicates and items in poor physical condition will not be added to the collection. The Library reserves the right to dispose of donated material as it deems most appropriate. The Library cannot make a commitment to keep any materials on a special shelf or otherwise separate from the main collection, or to establish special conditions or policies for their use. Memorial and other cash donations intended to purchase material will be used to purchase items that are mutually satisfactory to the donor and the Library.
With advancements in technology, changes in format will continue to occur. Availability of materials in a particular format is subject to change. The Library staff considers use, demand, collection needs, and market availability in these purchasing decisions.
The popularity of certain materials demands that multiple copies, and sometimes multiple formats, be purchased for the collection. Experience has determined that titles by certain popular authors will require multiple copies be purchased initially, often by way of standing orders. Duplicate copies of titles by popular authors in other formats such as large type and audio will be purchased when available. Sometimes this may be determined by patron requests for titles in various formats. The number of holds on popular titles is also monitored on a regular basis to determine if more copies will need to be purchased to reduce waiting times for patrons to receive these titles.
Once an item has been accepted as qualifying under the selection policies and criteria of the Kenton County Public Library, it will not be removed from the collection at the request of those who disagree with it unless it can be shown to be in violation of these policies and criteria. A form to be used if an item is challenged is appended at the end of this document. Completed Request for Reconsideration forms should be returned to the Director of the Library. The Director will appoint a committee to consider the challenged material and present a recommendation on the request. The Director will make the final decision regarding the material. The requestor may appeal the decision to the Board of Trustees.
Most items for the collection will be purchased through approved vendors. Some items will be purchased directly from the publisher, such as Thorndike large print books. Other items that are available only online will be handled on a case by case basis. Generally, used items will not be considered for purchase by the Collection Development and Acquisitions departments. Self-published items will be purchased only when they meet the requirements of the Collection Development Policy.
An item may be bound or rebound if it is unique or important to the collection.
Patrons may purchase a replacement copy for an item only if it is a new, exact copy of the original item, with an ISBN that matches the existing record in the library's system. NOTE: This is not a recommended procedure.
When A-V materials are returned with missing or damaged discs, the patron will be charged a standard rate for each missing part. The current rate shall be $10.00 per missing or damaged disc.


Unique opportunity on the island of Aruba. Fully licensed Aruban VBA. Turnkey operation only 1 year old. Selling because the partnership is being dissolved. Nine flat screen TVs with a 120 inch projection screen on the patio. Seats 65 inside and 74 outside on the custom built terrace. There are nine years left on the lease. We are located one block off the main high rise strip where there are nine major hotels with literally thousands of rooms. We are currently set up as a sports bar but it could be altered to any type of drinking and dining venue. Business only, no real estate.
Location on map is default location for this island and is not representative of the exact location of this business. It is only to confirm the location of the island.
I am interested in this property. Please send me more information!


Building, ominous orchestral adventure with haunting male latin choral chant.
Urgent strings building with sinister brass melodies and timpani, transitioning to slower pace and sombre atmosphere with military snare.
Lonely, unsettling piano and string opening, turning more hopeful with electric guitar and piano introduction, building with epic distorted guitar and drums.
Dramatic orchestra with intense, urgent percussion, powerful brass and epic choir to finale.
Inspirational, emotive piano melody gaining momentum with orchestral build and dramatic percussion.
Fantastic, epic orchestral journey with panoramic strings, drums and stirring brass.


Lil Jill Ornamental Pear is bathed in stunning clusters of white flowers with fuchsia anthers along the branches in mid spring before the leaves. It has olive green foliage throughout the season. The glossy oval leaves turn an outstanding purple in the fall. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.
Lil Jill Ornamental Pear is a deciduous tree with a more or less rounded form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
Lil Jill Ornamental Pear will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 3 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 50 years or more.


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Home / Blog / Voices of Women in Tech: Highlighting Women in Cloud
Voices of Women in Tech: Highlighting Women in Cloud
Raman Kang, Women in Tech World • Dec 21, 2021
"Be curious and learn to learn. It has always worked for me! I also believe that it's never too late to learn something new."
Rekha Rao-Mayya, Sales Leader ISV and Digital Native Businesses (DNB) at Amazon Web Services.
A really big assumption that people have about the technology industry is that you have to have a tech background to enter the field. That's absolutely untrue. The tech sector has opportunities to grow at any stage that you can start from anywhere, even in the cloud. Suppose you ask people how they got into tech; you'll get different answers from everyone - we know this because we had the opportunity to ask five very talented women how they got into the cloud and got five different answers.
Take Rekha for example, she was asked to prepare a presentation about technology trends - this sparked something in her that led her on a learning journey to working in cloud. Meanwhile Sonia Singh, Director of Sales at ISV/DNB at AWS had no intentions of entering tech. She wanted to change career paths to an industry with growing opportunities. Much like Delynn O'Sullivan, Senior Account Manager at Carbon60 wanted to go into an industry with the most future potential for her sales career. Maria Ellis, AWS Partner Sales & Development knew she wanted to take on a new challenge and prepared herself for it so when the time came for that job interview, she was ready. If you ask Mency Woo, Director of Enterprise & Public Sector at OpsGuru, a Carbon60 Company, she'll tell you she's been in cloud for over 12 years.
Five women, five different stories, all working in the same industry. We asked them about their experiences, how they got to where they are and the advice and resources they have for others, here's what they said:
Rekha Rao-Mayya
Sales Leader ISV and DNB at AWS
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rekhamayya
How did you get into the cloud?
In late 2007, I was asked to present to a large group about future technology trends. To prepare for the presentation, I dove deep into research and came across an article on the "Top 10 Disruptive Technologies of the Decade." Cloud computing was on the list. This piqued my curiosity. Interestingly, the report mentioned AWSand how Amazon had launched a game changing, market making computing model with AWS. Little did I know that I would be fortunate enough to work for AWS! I started learning about Cloud computing, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) and started my learning journey.
What is one piece of advice you would give to women looking to get into the cloud industry?
Be curious and learn to learn. It has always worked for me! I also believe that it's never too late to learn something new. Technology is ever-changing. Make the learning journey fresh and new every day.
What is one of your favourite resources (or tools) for learning more about cloud computing?
AWS Educate program is a great resource. AWS offers Cloud computing training for all levels of knowledge seekers, and there are many free courses.
Maria Ellis
Partner Sales & Development at AWS
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaellis/
I, too, am a Prime Member! How 'things' got from one place to another fascinates me. I decided I wanted a career where I could continue learning and building from the ground up. I spent the summer preparing and learning all I could about the Cloud, reading, talking to partners and understanding the technology. When an opportunity emerged to interview at AWS, I was knowledgeable and ready to take on the challenge.
Confidence is key! Demonstrate your expertise, get certified to ensure your relevance and differentiate yourself. Be genuine; surround yourself with champions that will help you succeed and give you honest feedback. Find a mentor! Give back by paying it forward. Cloud is fast-paced. Change is inevitable (and fascinating) ...so roll with it!
AWS provides career-based certification paths via podcast. Learning modules with A Cloud Guru and Udemy offer great examples to prepare you for the initial CPC certification and on to associate-based accreditations.
Sonia Singh
Director of Sales - ISV/DNB at AWS
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/soniasingh11
Before getting into tech, I worked in finance and as an educator. I had no intentions of working in the tech sector. I was teaching and travelling around the world for five years and then decided that I wanted to come back to Canada and change careers. I had two primary goals in mind: find a new job that offered lots of opportunities in a growing field and transfer my skills to a new career. My mentor helped me see that my teaching skills were transferable to tech sales. For example, teaching a topic to a class of students was the same as presenting a product to a customer in a business setting. From there, my mentor and I worked on a shortlist of companies, and he helped make recommendations and referrals. The rest is history.
Perseverance and purpose are essential. There are times where you will want to give up, but you should keep on going and seek guidance from your supporting cast. You never know what could happen in the future. Giving up too early could set you back even further. Research future trends and pick untapped areas that offer tremendous growth potential.
I always have two to four internal and external mentors that I bounce ideas off and learn from at any given time.
Extra: What is essential to know for people just getting started within the tech industry and looking to get into the cloud?
Find a role model, mentor and/or coach early. This will put you years ahead.
Advocate for yourself. Don't assume others know your background, capabilities and skills.
Continuous learning is critical - read, join tech groups, listen to podcasts, create a solid supporting cast and learn how to transfer your skills from a different career into tech. You will likely change careers several times throughout your career.
Be patient, set clear goals and manage your expectations.
Delynn O'Sullivan
Senior Account Manager at Carbon60
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/delynno
After returning from a year-long overseas backpacking trip, I met with a college friend to understand which industry would have the most future potential to pursue my sales career. Technology was the answer. I signed up with multiple recruiters, but the best reference was reaching out to my network. In 1999, I was introduced to a new start-up, where there were only two of us for the first few months, apart from the investors. Colocation and Internet B2B were the product lines. Over the next 20+ years, the company added cloud and Security Services to its portfolio while experiencing various acquisitions. This past year an acquisition led me on a different product path. However, I realized that I missed the cloud Conversation. I have since moved to a new company, Carbon60, which specializes in all things cloud, with the differentiator being in-house expertise from start to finish for our clients' cloud journey.
Network, Network, Network. Attend events, and even if you meet just one new contact, it will be worth it. Also, it should never just be about what you need. The relationships should always aim to be reciprocal. Request informational meetings, but make sure you have done your homework, and you are not just asking your new contact basic questions. Their time is valuable. That person could be a future advocate or referral for you. Learn from others whenever you can.
As I am in a sales role, the resources combine selling/consultation techniques and product training. Many company sites provide course modules as well as certifications. Additionally, sites such as Udemy offer a wide variety of course options.
Women in Cloud (daily updates about programs, events, mentorship and industry news)
TechCrunch & Betakit for information, other job sites such as Indeed and LinkedIn provide a good reference on who and what roles are being hired.
Mency Woo
Director of Enterprise & Public Sector at OpsGuru, a Carbon60 Company
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mencywoo/
I first got into the cloud in about 2009 as a software release engineer in a start-up company wholly built on AWS. I was responsible for developing a toolkit to build, deploy and test in different environments and maintain the high availability of the application on AWS. After experiencing how straightforward it was to provision and manage cloud resources using script and automation, I have hit the point of no return. I haven't been away from the cloud ever since.
Don't be afraid to try! Starting a project on the cloud is often a lot easier than you think. There are a lot of Youtube videos, blogs, walkthroughs that offer step-by-step learning. Cloud providers also provide free credits and resources to help you with experience -- take advantage of that.
As a beginner, I recommend courses on Udemy or Coursera. But savvy on the cloud requires staying up-to-date with the latest innovations: daily doses of Hacker News, Reddit and Twitter generally help.
We want to thank Rekha, Sonia, Maria, Mency and Delynn for sharing their expertise. Their answers prove whether you've been working in tech for years, just getting started or thinking about where to take your career next, everyone can work in tech. You don't have to start in this industry to get here; you can start from where you are, make a pivot, take a completely different path - there's no one way to end up in this field or a sector, and there's room for everyone, even up there in the cloud. If you're looking to get into the cloud industry, check out job openings at OpsGuru here.
About Women in Tech World:
Women in Tech World is a national nonprofit organization that is dedicated to creating community action plans and educational programming to support and advance women within the tech industry. WiTWorld has listened to over 1,600 voices from Canadian women and men in the tech industry, resulting in the largest qualitative data set about women in the Canadian tech space. Women in Tech World is both collaborative and inclusive and welcomes all professionals in tech, including stakeholders, advocates, and allies.
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How to Look After Your External Hard Drive?
Care for an external hard drive is really quite simple as you will see from the information provided below. Given that it is simple and easy to take care of your portable hard drive and the potential disasterious consequences of not doing so, we highly recommend that you follow the advice provided and avoid having to come to Affordable Computer Repairs and Service for a data recovery job.
The portable hard drive needs to be placed flat on a sturdy surface.
Make sure the device is not placed anywhere where it could be accidentally dropped or knocked off say the desk.
Keep the drive away from the area where you might place your cup of coffee or soft drink, you really, really don't want to spill liquid on your external hard drive.
Hard drives also need to be kept away from any magnets including your PC speakers. Hard drives also doing like extremes of temperature, nor do they like moisture. If your HD is active a lot of the time a small fan can be used to keep the temperature of the device down. A fan is also a solution if the work area is hot and humid such as a particularly unpleasant Brisbane summers day if you don't have air conditioning. Also you should not keep your external HD on a surface that retains heat such as a towel or other cloth items, or even paper. When you are not using your external hard drive it is recommended that the drive be stored in a cool place.
Portable drives also do not like vibrations so this is a second reason why storing next to speakers is not recommended.
It is important that there is sufficient air flow area around the air vents of your portable HD. The air vents themselves also should be regularly cleaned to remove dust. You can use an air can to do this.
One simple way to care for an external hard drive is to never just pull out your drive from the USB port. Doing so can damage your HD. Always use the option to eject the drive. This also has the added benefit that a power surge which can occur without using the eject option will not occur this will protect not only your data but the device itself. Finally when removing the connection from your USB port you should hold it by the cable connector not the cable itself.
An important fact not known about regarding the care of an external drive is to not use the drive for frequent casual saves. To extend the life of your device it is best to put all the files you wish to back up in a single folder and then transfer the folder itself.
It is not only the hard drive that you need to care for but the cable as well. This includes such simple things as ensuring that the cable connection has not come loose. If the device cable is not securely plugged into your PC it can result in interruptions of your file transfers which you may not be aware of and which can in fact damage your external hard drive over time.
As stated before using a single external HD as your only means of storage is not sufficient if you want to be really sure that you are not going to lose data. One solution is to back up onto another external drive, taking care of that drive too. Another solution is to use a cloud back up service. A second partition on your internal hard drive is a further option. Whatever you do, don't rely on just one storage solution, use at least two.
This article on How to Care for an External Hard Drive has been written by Affordable Computer Repairs and Service a Brisbane based computer repairs business located in Coorparoo on the southside of Brisbane. There are plenty more articles on our website which you may also wish to read. It goes without saying that if you live in Brisbane and have a problem with your portable hard drive, you laptop, PC, notebook or Mac we are more than happy to assist you.


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Human-machine teaming a key ingredient for success in security operations centres
By Sara Barker, Tue 1 Aug 2017
Cybersecurity is not all about the machines and technology that power it, but also how human-machine teaming are pushing the boundaries of threat analysis.
McAfee released a report last week that showed how security operations centres (SOCs) have evolved to be on the cutting edge of threat hunting.
The report broke down security teams into four levels of development: minimal, procedural, innovative and leading.
McAfee defines threat hunters as professional members of a security team that examine threats by using clues, hypotheses and experience from researching cybercriminals.
As threat intelligence within an organisation becomes more sophisticated, firms are able to get better leverage from their investment in threat intelligence by emphasising local, private and paid intelligence sources, the company states.
The report also found that advanced SOCs devote 50% more time on threat hunting than their counterparts.
The collaboration between humans and machines, known as human-machine teaming, has also developed from the need for a focus on professional threat hunters and automated technologies.
The report says that 71% of 'leading' threat hunting organisations are using human-machine teaming, compared to those SOCs that operate at the minimal level (31%).
71% of advanced SOCs were able to close breach incident investigations in less than a week. 37% said they closed investigations in fewer than 24 hours.
Novice hunters can only find the cause of 20% of attacks, while leading hunters will find the cause of 90%.
"Threat hunters are enormously valuable as part of that plan to regain the advantage from those trying to disrupt business, but only when they are efficient can they be successful," comments McAfee's VP of corporate security products, Raja Patel.
As SOCs combine human and machine power and become more mature, they are more likely to spend time customising tools and techniques, automating parts of the attack investigation process, use a sandbox 50% more than entry-level SOCs and spend 50% more time on actual threat hunting.
McAfee also says that the threat hunters themselves are key to deploying automation in security infrastructure. They must select, curate and often build the security tools and then turn them into automated processes through customisation.
McAfee has furthered its encouragement of human-machine teaming, pledging support to OpenDXL.com, an independent collaboration portal for OpenDXL.com.
The portal was created to provide access to ideas and resources for application integrations.
The company believes that the combination of threat hunting and automation forms the basis of human-machine teaming, which is a critical strategy to preventing current and future threats.
"It takes both the threat hunter and innovative technology to build a strong human-machine teaming strategy that keeps cyber threats at bay," Patel adds.
McAfee's study gained responses from more than 700 IT and security professionals whose jobs include threat hunting. Respondents were from Australia, Canada, Germany, Singapore, the UK and US.
1 in 10 servers and web apps vulnerable to Log4Shell>>