The Skullblaka stirred up a buzzard's nest wherever it planted its beak into an azure marsh. Squirrels, toads, termites, boars and honey badgers rallied around the obnoxious posturing of this ancient head — an SUV among primates, but this was no paleolithic Dodge model. Bone density meant unbreakable – something like thermite and solar plexus plastic boasting 'the might to withstand magma craters, and other praetorian phenomena' while Model-T's chugged down the eco-streets like well oiled platypuses. Politeness was not a part of the Skullblaka's programming. "The great blockhead" as it was addressed hissed at the foxes and the tiny snakes, slinging dirty looks toward them when they'd pass down the creek, on water or on foot.
It neither ate nor slept, nor would it put up with any heady resistance from the creatures of the forest fauna – even the quiet ones that were in search of happier sentiments. Twice, Tilda the Black Bear caught a porcupine spike-laced torpedo in her side. Out for a look at some beehive neighborhoods, she paddled away in pain, furious at the Talking Head that simply would not shut up. There was no enchantment involved in this area of woodland, no endorsement from a Lothlorien that was formerly civilization, torn from its crystalline high chair when food was cooked on command and didn't have to be roasted over the fires of modesty. This was Sherwood Forest not, nor a metropolis. Natural races ran these lands, barring the hostile artifact stuck in the future – not so much the past. Skullblakas were irritable, though not without a sense of survivalist humor. For instance, when it would use deciduous animation to pit pythons and jaguars against one another in a Quetzalcoatl-like death match in the trees, a cruder version of the Jungle Book cartoon was born. "Mowgli … mostly … surrounded by brainless animals," so they quipped.
And so the orangatans and the leaf ants and the hawks disregarded its place in the ecosystem, for it was indeed a strange misnomer to these residents, utterly unwanted in this tranquil refuge. A tumor that nature would soon be rectified when monsoon rains came, as the Skullblaka rusted to death. Hard headed as its inventors, it couldn't bother the native animals with demeaning slurs anymore, or environmental neglect. Hollow-minded, quantum sapped, nevermore magic gone.


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ONLY four months into 2018 and the Beyond Travel Group subsidiary Sri Lanka & Beyond is noticing the first holiday trend of year emerging.
Rather than just visiting one country when jetting away for an international adventure travellers are exploring two countries with this trend particularly popular among those bound for Sri Lanka who are making side trips to the Maldives.
"We knew Sri Lanka was going to be one of 2018's hottest destination, and the Maldives is always popular for those seeking a decadent stop-and-flop vacation, but we didn't expect so many customers would be keen to combine the two,'' says Sri Lanka & Beyond general manager sales and marketing Bryce Crampton.
"But given the air links, improving infrastructure, unique experiences, magnificent cuisine, and destination hotels in both Indian Ocean locations it's no surprise people are incorporating Sri Lanka and the Maldives when they find time to head away on holiday.
"Those looking to savour the Maldives – after hearing about the idyllic location for so many years – are embarking on our Taste of Sri Lanka & the Maldives itinerary which is a private 10-day tour that includes a relaxing stay on an exclusive Indian Ocean atoll.
The destination experts at Sri Lanka & Beyond are also crafting bespoke itineraries taking in Sir Lanka and the Maldives, or India for those keen to jet north to the Subcontinent, with these combination tours allowing travellers to experience the enigmatic destinations for a unique perspective.
For more information visit sri-lanka-and-beyond.com.au or phone 1300 599 005.


text:
Paguristes oxyophthalmus is een tienpotigensoort uit de familie van de Diogenidae. De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1959 door Holthuis.

Diogenidae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Orland-based nonprofit exceeds fundraising goal for working family subsidy program
Funds will help with daycare costs and unexpected emergencies
Working families are not always able to receive financial support when unexpected emergencies occur. In response, H.O.M.E., an Orland-based shelter and multi-faceted nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness and improving low-income families' quality of life, recently developed a new subsidy program for working families in need.
"The new program is designed to assist parents with daycare costs when no other assistance is available," said Tracy Hair, executive director of H.O.M.E. "The subsidy will also help low income families who experience financial difficulty, but do not meet the state's eligibility guidelines for support programs."
H.O.M.E has exceeded its $8,000 fundraising goal for the program, with meaningful contribution from H.M. Payson, The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Castine (UUCC Opportunity Fund), and other community members.
Learn more about H.O.M.E.'s mission here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Star Wars (1977), (aka Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope) is one of the most popular, profitable, entertaining, and successful science fiction/action - adventure/fantasy films of all time. The film, shot mostly on location in Tunisia, Guatemala and Death Valley (California), advanced special-effects technology to a degree unseen before, with computerized and digitally-timed special effects. It ultimately helped to resurrect the financial viability of the science-fiction genre, a category of films that was considered frivolous and unprofitable, and brought the phrase "May the Force be with you" into common usage.
Pre-Star Wars director, USC graduate, and writer George Lucas had begun his career as director of the science-fiction film THX 1138 (1971), an expanded version of a prize-winning feature film he made while studying film at USC. It was produced by American Zoetrope and executive-produced by Francis Ford Coppola. He went on to direct and co-write the immensely popular American Graffiti (1973), a nostalgic story about California teenagers in the early 60s. It took four years for Lucas to develop his next film - this astounding cult film about "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." from 20th Century Fox.
The modestly-budgeted production (of about $11 million) from the TCF/LucasFilm production company, made in Britain, was based upon Lucas' recollections of Saturday afternoon matinees, serials, and comic strips, usually with cliff-hanging endings.
The mythological tale of space-age heroism (fighting Evil for the sake of Good) featured memorable characters - a benevolent ex-Jedi Knight (Guinness), an imprisoned Princess Leia (Fisher) of the peace-loving Rebel Alliance, two comical robotic droids (R2D2, named after a piece of film editor's jargon - Reel 2 Dialog 2, and C3PO), a smuggler/mercenary space-pilot (Ford), a beastly creature named Chewbacca (a Wookiee), and an idealistic young boy (Hamill) who becomes trained in the righteous ways of the Force in order to rescue the captured Princess from the evil Empire's Death Star and the dark forces of the Empire, led by evil Darth Vader (voice of James Earl Jones/David Prowse).
The impact of the first film in the series was enormous - tremendous profits helped to generate funding for Lucas' state-of-the-art special effects factory known as Industrial Light and Magic (built in Marin County north of San Francisco), and merchandising associated with the film encouraged an entire marketing industry of Star Wars-related items (i.e., toys, video games, novelty items at fast food restaurants, etc.). In a revolutionary approach to Hollywood film-making and merchandising, Lucas had wisely accepted only $175,000 as his writer's/director's fee in return for the much more lucrative forty percent of merchandising rights for his Star Wars Corporation.
The 20th Century Fox film set box-office records and was a critical success. However, this appealing film was criticized for encouraging a boom in spectacular (but sometimes drab) special-effects laden blockbusters (with thin plot lines) for decades after. It soon became the most commercially-successful film ever made (and held the record for many years). Prophetically, a few years later, the Soviet Union became the 'Evil Empire' during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan, and Reagan proposed a strategic space-defense program (or SDI - Strategic Defense Initiative), dubbed "Star Wars" in November 1985 by the media. Although Lucas went to court to protect his title, he lost the case.
It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won in six (mostly technical) categories: Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, and Best Visual Effects. Its other four nominations were for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Alec Guinness), Best Director, and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. The film was also awarded with a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects for the creation of the alien, creature, and robot voices (Benjamin Burtt, Jr.). It was the first feature film to be screened in Dolby Stereo.
The Rebel Alliance has attacked the tyrannical evil Galactic Empire, daringly stealing secret plans to the Empire's new battle station, the Death Star. In the opening view, the small Rebel ship belonging to Princess Leia, who possesses the secret plans, is chased across the screen by a large, wedge-shaped Imperial Star Destroyer cruiser of the evil Galactic Empire. Turbolasers strike the Rebel ship's shields and cause its passengers to be buffeted around in a corridor, including two robot droids, a tiny, round barrel-shaped, whistling and bleeping computer robot named R2-D2 (Artoo Detoo) (Kenny Baker), and its robotic pal, the constantly talking, tall gold-plated C-3PO (See Threepio) (Anthony Daniels). [C-3PO is clearly modeled after the female robot in Lang's Metropolis (1927).] Armed soldiers run down the hallway. Nervous as explosions rock the ship, C-3PO is pessimistic about their escape from the Imperialistic Forces, because their main reactor has been shut down: "We're doomed. There'll be no escape for the Princess this time." R2-D2 whistles and bleeps a response. Their ship is sucked into the underbelly of the huge, armored space vehicle by a tractor beam.
Rebel soldiers take their positions at the end of the corridor, preparing to defend the door from an assault. The crippled transport Rebel ship is boarded by an advance guard of white, ceramic-like, space-armored stormtroopers, the Emperor's elite soldiers. A fierce laser-gun battle is fought in the hallway, quickly lost by the Rebel defenders as more and more Imperials charge into the smoking corridor. When control is secured, the leader of the cruel and villainous forces appears - black-garbed, helmeted and faceless Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader (David Prowse, with a deep, breathy voice supplied by James Earl Jones). The two robots escape the crossfire by running across the hallway.
Fighting back against the Evil Empire is slim, white-robed Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), the leader of galactic Rebel Alliance forces. C-3PO hides from the invading troopers and loses sight of R2-D2. Turning a corner, the golden droid notices a young woman dressed in white - Princess Leia - transmitting the blueprints or plans for the Death Star battleship along with an S.O.S. plea, into the data system face plate of her computer robot R2-D2. When R2-D2 is located, C-3PO worries that they will be sent to "the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who-knows-what!"
After a valiant and brave fight, the Rebel ship is brought under Imperial control. On the bridge of the captured ship, Darth Vader confronts the Rebel officers, searching for the intercepted transmissions of the Death Star's plans, but he fails to find them in the transport ship's main computer system. He ruthlessly holds one of the unresponsive Rebel officers by the throat and lifts him with one hand, crushing his throat with an iron grip and tossing him to the side. Vader orders his troops to find the plans and bring him the passengers: "I want them alive." Soon after, the Princess is confronted and refuses to surrender. She fires her blaster at the stormtroopers, but is apprehended and taken captive prisoner by Vader's forces.
R2-D2 insists that the two robots enter a restricted area and escape in a lifepod from the ship, bleeping about a "secret mission" and "plans." Threepio refuses to join his droid pal in the cramped spaceship pod, worrying about deactivation for disobedience until an explosion changes his mind. Regretting his decision to follow R2-D2 into the escape module, the two are permitted to jettison away from the stricken Imperial cruiser by Imperial navigators because no "life-forms" are scanned aboard. The two robots escape without harm.
Princess: I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.
Darth Vader: You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. Take her away!
Vader's Assistant: Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the rebellion in the Senate.
Vader: I've traced the Rebel spies to her. Now she is my only link to finding their secret base.
Assistant: She'll die before she'll tell you anything.
Vader: Leave that to me.
Lord Vader orders one of his troops to generate a fake distress signal from the Rebel ship, and then broadcast to the Senate that all the Rebels aboard were killed. Vader is informed that the stolen battle station plans are not aboard the Rebel ship, and that no transmissions were made from the ship. Vader deduces that the plans were hidden somehow by the Princess aboard the jettisoned pod during the battle. He sends a detachment to retrieve the escaped pod and recover the plans: "There'll be no one to stop us this time!"
The two robots crash land their lifepod on Tatooine, a backwater, arid, desert-like planet. There, they wander away from the space pod, lost on the planet's rolling sand dune surface. With a comical "Laurel-and-Hardy" type friendship, C-3PO tells his pal, "We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life." Then he mutters: "What a desolate place this is." C-3PO stubbornly decides to split off from his partner after admonishing his pal's beeps: "Don't get technical with me." They go off in different directions, R2-D2 toward a low lying range of rocky mountains in the distance, and C-3PO across miles of hot desert toward the horizon in the opposite direction.
C-3PO blames his misfortune and being lost on his partner: "That malfunctioning little twerp. He tricked me into going this way, but he'll do no better." He spies a reflective piece of metal, a transport, and he summons it, believing it will save him. Meanwhile, traversing through the desolate, hilly terrain, R2-D2 is spied upon by pairs of eyes from the inner darkness of a cave. When a minor rock slide is noticed, R2-D2 whimpers with a child-like sound. Then, the robot is stunned by the blue magnetic rays of a gun, fired by some "Jawas," small, short, yellow-eyed, brown-cloaked, gremlin-like scavengers and scrap/junk collectors of the planet. With a groan, R2-D2 topples over onto the ground, short-circuited by the electrical bolt.
Immobilized, R2-D2 is deactivated and deposited at a tank-sized vehicle called a sandcrawler, a gigantic rolling factory. A restraining bolt is attached to his outer shell to keep him from escaping. An enormous suction device swallows him up, magnetically lifts him up and dumps him in the holding area in the interior of the sandcrawler. There, as he recovers from the paralyzing effects of the beam, he is reunited with C-3PO in the large junkpile. Stormtroopers quickly track the lifepod and find tracks going off in different directions. They discover a fragment of metal plating in the sand: "Look sir, droids."
Owen: Can you speak Bocce?
Having heard enough, Owen shouts: "All right, shut up!" and he agrees to buy C-3PO. A whining R2-D2 is abandoned when Uncle Owen chooses a different, smaller red droid along with C-3PO. To R2's delight, the droid short-circuits as it is led away, a faulty unit with a "bad motivator." C-3PO recommends the "prime condition" of the blue R2 unit, a "real bargain." And so, the two droids are bought together. Humorously, C-3PO tells his pal: "Now, don't you forget this! Why I should stick my neck out for you is quite beyond my capacity."
In his uncle's garage, Luke cleans up his two new droids by giving them a decontamination bath, although he dreams and longs to be in other distant worlds: "It just isn't fair...I'm never gonna get out of here!" C-3PO asks if he may offer assistance to his new owner. Luke replies: "Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this rock!" The young boy describes how far they are from the center of everything: "Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from." While cleaning R2-D2, Luke notices the droid's carbon scoring: "It looks like you boys have seen a lot of action." C-3PO agrees: "With all we've been through, sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are, what with the Rebellion and all."
R2-D2 bleeps and squeaks, trying to mislead Luke into thinking the image is nothing but a malfunction and a display of old data. Luke wonders about the miniature lady and her message: "Who is she? She's beautiful." C-3PO translates the beeps and blips of R2-D2 for Luke when the droids decide that they can trust their new master: "He says that he's the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a resident of these parts. And it's a private message for him." Luke has actually heard of a strange hermit with a similar name, Old Ben Kenobi who lives out beyond the Dune Sea. Luke considers listening to the entire message: "It sounds like she's in trouble. I'd better play back the whole thing." But the message cannot be played in its entirety, as C-3PO interprets: "...the restraining bolt has short-circuited his recording system. He suggests that if you remove the bolt, he might be able to play back the entire recording."
Deciding that the droid is too small to run away, the restraining bolt placed on R2-D2 by the Jawas is removed. Instantly, the message and the lady disappear. R2-D2 stubbornly refuses to play it again - the message will only be played for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke is interrupted, called to dinner by his aunt. C-3PO scolds his companion: "Just you reconsider playing that message for him." During the dinner conversation, Luke tells his uncle: "I think that R2 unit we bought might have been stolen...I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning it. He says he belongs to someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi. I thought he might have meant Old Ben." Both of Luke's relatives turn silent. Luke's uncle, believing "that wizard's just a crazy old man," instructs Luke to erase the memory of the robot the next day because the droid now belongs to them. Luke worries that Obi-Wan may come looking for his robot, but his father answers: "He won't. I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father." [Luke is an orphan, cared for by his aunt and uncle.] Luke excitedly asks: "He knew my father?" Owen refuses to answer and wishes the subject dropped: "I told you to forget it."
Luke wisely changes the subject, mentioning his intention to transmit his application to the Academy in the present year if the droids work out satisfactorily. Owen objects, wishing him to apply the next year after another harvest season: "Harvest is when I need you the most. It's only one season more." After Luke stalks out frustrated, his Aunt Beru (Shelagh Fraser) shows some understanding of the boy: "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him." Owen agrees: "That's what I'm afraid of."
Outside, white-robed Luke stands on a small rise, watching Tatooine's twin suns setting near the horizon. [Tatooine has a binary star system - therefore, he can watch two sunsets every night.] He believes he may never fulfill his dream of piloting a starship to distant worlds, never escaping from the dry arid desert of Tatooine. Returning to the robots in the garage, Luke finds C-3PO hiding and scared: "It wasn't my fault, sir! Please don't de-activate me!" According to C-3PO, R2-D2 is "faulty, malfunctioning. He kept babbling on about his mission" and then wandered off into the desert night. Luke scans the horizon with a pair of electro-binoculars equipped with night-vision, but R2-D2 is nowhere to be seen. Luke decides they must wait until morning to search for him: "It's too dangerous with all the Sand People around...That little droid's gonna cause me a lot of trouble." C-3PO concurs: "Oh, he excels at that, sir."
The next morning, without telling his uncle, Luke and C-3PO give chase into the desert after runaway R2-D2 in a jet-propelled landspeeder, a vehicle which skims a foot off the ground. They are watched from high on a ridge by two dangerous, nomadic warriors called Tusken Raiders (Sand People), riding on shaggy, elephant-like creatures. The landspeeder quickly catches up to R2-D2, who immediately senses and urgently warns them that there are "several creatures approaching from the southeast." Luke guesses Sand People are attacking. He grabs his laser rifle and binoculars and runs to a nearby hill to look for them. As he scans the land, one of the Sand People rises up in front of him with a battle-axe. Luke blocks some of the blows, but is knocked to the ground as the Raider shrieks and raises his axe. Luke faints and is dragged down to the landspeeder where a group of Sand People plan to ransack his vehicle. R2-D2 hides in a small crevice in the rocks.
Ben: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time.
Ben (smiling): Oh, he's not dead. Not yet.
Ben: Well, of course I know him. He's me. I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born.
Luke: Well then, the droid does belong to you.
Ben: I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. Very interesting.


text:
Center for Research Libraries: Home
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The CRL is a non-profit consortium of of colleges and universities that makes rare scholarly materials available to member institutions. University of Manitoba's membership in the CRL provides students and faculty with access to millions of volumes of research material rarely held in university libraries. CRL collections include both original documents and reproductions available in digital format and microforms. All physical items can be requested through the Libraries' Document Delivery service.
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The Center for Research Libraries offers valuable topic guides covering the key research areas covered by CRL collections. The guides outline resources based on material types, for instance: news, government publications, official gazettes, and dissertations, as well as specific topics, such as: Canada, WWII, socialism, Middle East studies, or human rights. Many of the guides also include recommended online resources and an overview of the research landscape pertaining to that particular field of study. To keep up to date on new CRL collection initiatives visit the News page or sign up to receive CRL Connect emails.
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We support the Fair Company initiative to help trainees gain a fair internship.
The Fair Company initiative is Germany's largest and best-known employer initiative for young professionals and students.
For BEUMER this includes exciting and challenging tasks, participation in projects as well as participation in day-to-day business. Of course, our interns receive a fair remuneration. The aim is to prepare our trainees for working life and to give them a realistic job description.
A successful internship can be the first step for a start at the BEUMER Group!
If you would like to augment your theoretical knowledge with some valuable practical experience, an internship at BEUMER Group is an excellent way to do it. We'll be glad to get you involved in interesting tasks and projects. Those who show dedication are welcome to take on responsibility!
You can be an intern in any department - business or technical. We also offer pre-study and basic practical experience of the kind required by universities.
Apply for an internship online! If you don't see a position that's right for you, feel free to send us an unsolicited application. Tell us what area of work you're interested in and what you would like to learn.
The best way to demonstrate your knowledge is to write a bachelor's, master's or "Diplom" thesis. Our specialists will help you to enhance your knowledge, and both of us will profit. You'll benefit from our know-how, and we'll benefit from the theoretical knowledge that you apply in practice. The general procedure is for you to name the area in which you want to write your thesis. We'll decide whether we see a topic in this area that would be interesting to explore.
If you already have some ideas, why don't you see if we're interested. Just send us an unsolicited application with some specific suggestions.


text:
Laura Aragó
Organisation: La vanguardia
It's challenging, demanding and frustrating (sometimes). I felt data journalism was a bit like this 8 years ago when I made my first steps as a recent graduate student and I still feel quite the same about it. And somehow it's part of the magic: each article is an opportunity to explore new techniques for turning data into stories. The precision offered by the data, stills seems to me the best way to explain the changes in our society. And most important, to report what consequences it has on citizens.
I have dedicated almost my entire short professional career to data journalism. Most of it working as a full-time employee at La Vanguardia, a Spanish newspaper based in Barcelona. Founded in 1881 it is considered one of the oldest newspapers in the Iberian Peninsula and currently has about 200 hundred journalists on staff. Despite its long journey in paper format, it has a short history -almost 2 years- as a first digital newsroom.
As the only member of the data unit in the newspaper the last six years have been an endless roller coaster: I have learned how to be a better journalist, how to code (or at least try it) to offer some kind of interactivity to articles, how to get the most out of data analysis, and how to convince managers that it was necessary to invest more resources in data journalism.
During these years a network of excellent professionals around the world, always willing to help, and a constant flow of wonderful examples of data journalism have been an engine to continue learning. Whenever possible, I have tried to turn numbers into human stories that help potential readers to better understand what a bunch of numbers mean. And I have found in cartography a powerful tool to locate these stories about the territory.
Description of portfolio:
In almost all articles I've used public data from institutions; R and QGis to download, process, clean and analyze data; html and javascript to make the data visualizations. Described below:
Demographic imbalance: The most populated square kilometer in Europe. Demographers say that talent always emerges in the most populated places. If the concentration of population is synonymous with creativity, then the neighborhood of Florida, in L'Hospitalet, and that of Clignancourt, north of Paris, are its greatest exponents. Florida and Clignancourt, the two most populated places in Europe, live parallel realities a thousand kilometers apart: more than 50,000 inhabitants in just one square kilometer, a community of neighbors that perfectly embodies the melting pot of cultures that coexist in Europe and the same soundtrack, the drill. Tools: R, javascript, mapbox and datawrapper
Public transport vs private: The car continues to be the most effective means of transport in the large Spanish cities. Thousands of citizens choose, every day, to leave aside public transport and move around in a private vehicle. And it's not surprising: economic reasons aside, in the big Spanish cities you can get almost ten times farther by car in 15 minutes than by public transport. Urban areas are stuck between an insufficient public transport network and a network of roads clogged with cars. In a context of climate crisis and energy emergency, the commitment to public transport is running late and the time to build a network at the level of the great European capitals is running out. Tools: qgis, mapbox, javascript, observable, illustrator. Laura (analysis, dataviz) and Carles (writing).
How sea level rise will affect your city. Tool: qgis, mapbox, javascript, datawrapper.
Smothered renters: one in four have trouble paying rent. There is a broad consensus that establishes that a family should not spend more than 30% of their income on rent in order to cover the rest of the expenses with a minimum of comfort. When this figure exceeds 40%, families enter a situation of risk and high residential stress. In large cities, such as Madrid and Barcelona, a quarter of the population lives in areas where rent eats up, on average, more than 30% of household income. Tools: r, mapbox, scrollama, javascript.
Catalan elections: Vox (the far right party) takes root in the lost ground of Ciudadanos. Explain the increase of the far right in the catalan territory. Tools: python, r, mapbox, datawrapper.
The Generation gap. Stopper generation: the broken axis of the social elevator. There are two generations – the X and the millennials- who have difficulties developing their lives due to the existence of a previous generation that acts as a buffer: they concentrate decision-making positions in companies, administration , universities, unions and the cultural world and, as a consequence, slow down the professional promotion of later generations and artistic, intellectual and political renewal.
Campaign against Covid: The WHO global vaccination target will not be met until 2030. To reach 70% in the summer of 2022, the current rate of vaccination should be multiplied by nine. Tools: excel, rstudio, datawrapper. Conducted with Carles Villalonga (writing and analyzing) and me (analyzing and data visualizations).
2021 closes with twice as many deaths from Covid than in 2020. At least 3.5 million people have died from covid throughout 2021. It is the balance left by this second year of the pandemic and doubles the figure for 2020, which was around 1.8 million deaths. Tools: r, svelte, javascript, datawrapper
This is how urban areas have grown: check what year your building is // Barcelona has the oldest housing stock in Spain. Tools: r, mapbox, javascript, illustrator
stories.lavanguardia.com/no-utilizar/20210613/40664/el-kilometro-cuadrado-mas-poblado-de-europa
stories.lavanguardia.com/sociedad/20211102/45351/coches-vs-transporte-publico
stories.lavanguardia.com/sociedad/20210909/42516/como-afectara-a-tu-ciudad-la-subida-del-nivel-del-mar
stories.lavanguardia.com/economia/20211016/44541/inquilinos-asfixiados-uno-de-cada-cuatro-tienen-dificultades-para-pagar-el-alquiler
stories.lavanguardia.com/politica/20210217/35470/trasvase-ciudadanos-y-vox
stories.lavanguardia.com/vida/20210130/32572/generacion-tapon
stories.lavanguardia.com/sociedad/20211205/47356/el-objetivo-de-vacunacion-mundial-de-la-oms-no-se-cumplira-hasta-2030
stories.lavanguardia.com/sociedad/20211228/47672/el-2021-cierra-con-el-doble-de-fallecidos-por-covid-que-en-2020
www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20210711/7592129/asi-han-crecido-areas-urbanas-consulta-ano-edificio.html


Tuck this Candy Cane Cookie Cutter in stockings, leave them in coworkers' desks, or tie them to loved ones' holiday packages. This 3-inch red plastic cutter measures approximately 8cm in length. It is an imperative addition to an existing collection of fine cookie or biscuit cutters. It also is a fun, culinary accent for anyone who loves food or the holidays! Give this to a young friend on your gift-giving list to encourage their enthusiasm for working in the kitchen and learning to bake. Such a simple shape, the candy cane is the perfect shape to ice, decorate, and enjoy during the Christmas season. Try creating your own baked canes with red and white cookie icing. Kids will love them, and adults will gobble them up! Pair this cutter with a holiday cookbook for a great gift to take to exchanges or secret-swap gift events. Everyone will love the thought and enjoy the whimsical little candy-cane!


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2 entries bag Hall of Fame award in this year's Belenismo sa Tarlac Xmas décor contest
By Glen Ramos
File Photo: Winner of the Hall of Fame award for the municipal category – the Belen of Capas town. (AI/MTVN)
MANILA — Two entries in this year's "Belenismo sa Tarlac 2020" won the Hall of Fame Award particularly the municipality of Capas for the municipal category and SM Prime Holdings for the Non-Municipal category.
Other winners were Mcdonald's Capas for the monumental category and the Belen of the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi for the church category was declared as the winner.
For the Community Category, the grand winner was "Belen Ning Macara," an entry from Molave, San Isidro, Tarlac City.
Hall of Fame winner for the non-municipal category – SM Prime Holdings, Inc.
The "Belenismo sa Tarlac" is a yearly competition showcasing the best Belens made from various recyclable materials and assembled in various versions through the cooperation and resourcefulness of residents in a community.
A total of 30 entries have joined this year's "Belenismo" competitions. Winners are selected from five categories namely (1) municipal, (2) non-municipal, (3) monumental, (4) church and (5) community.
Winner of the monumental category – Mcdonald's Capas Branch
Among the judges for this year's event were Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista and Tarlac Heritage Foundation of mother and daughter team in Ms. Isabel and Dr. Isa C. Suntay.
The province-wide contest was started in 2007 by Rev. Fr. Alex Bautista, head of the Diocese of Tarlac Commission on Cultural Heritage of the Church who obtained the support of Ms. Isabel Cojuangco-Suntay and daughter Dr. Isa C. Suntay of the Tarlac Heritage Foundation.
Winner of the church category – Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi
Since then, it became an annual event with the objective of making the province of Tarlac as the "Belen Capital of the Philippines."
Apart from the traditional lantern or "parol," the Belen is another important Christmas symbol to Filipinos. It can be found usually assembled in front of the house adorned with multi-colored lights to accentuate the scene of "the Nativity."
Grand winner of the community category – "Belen Ning Macara" from Molave, San Isidro, Tarlac City.
The "Belen" also known as "the Nativity" symbolizes the birth of Christ in a manger. (MTVN)
"Belen Ning Macara, "Belenismo sa Tarlac 2020", Tarlac City
BOC NAIA intercepts 35k+ tablets of dangerous drugs worth P1.8M
Region 3 PNP can respond better now with 36 brand new vehicles – RD De Leon


The status of a student's withdrawal affects how or whether they may be readmitted.
If a student has withdrawn in good academic standing, the student will be eligible for fellowship funds, tuition scholarships and, if qualified, for loan funds upon readmission. A timely application (set by the student's department) is necessary, however, in order to ensure that funds are available.
Students who are suspended for academic reasons, who withdraw in questionable academic standing, or who withdraw while on academic probation must present positive evidence of the ability to resume satisfactory progress when applying for readmission.


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Q: How do I assign values from an array to x in a for-loop? I need an explanation as to why my code works in a certain way and not the way I want it to,
Dim x As Variant
Dim LetterSht As Variant

 LetterSht = (Array("First Letter", "Second Letter", "Third Letter"))

    For x = LBound(LetterSht) To UBound(LetterSht)

When I was putting this together I thought I could assign the array values First Letter, Second Letter and Third Letter to x, but this simply labels x as 0, 1 and 2?
The array LetterSht does hold the values as LetterSht(0) = "First letter" and so on so I expected x to also be First Letter, I'm clearly not understanding something, any help would be appreciated.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


As for political backing from the General Assembly, and the UNC system Board of Governors, "I think we've got the right amount of support" for the move, he said.
He added that the airport hasn't been part of the university's "core mission" since 2011, when the fleet of airplanes that belongs to the Area Health Education Centers moved from Horace Williams to Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
The latest push to close Horace Williams surfaced in September, thanks to administrators in UNC-CH finance office. They contend the field is costing the university $7,000 a month to operate.
The airport's long been a flashpoint in town-gown relations, with neighborhood activists and town leaders alike arguing that its presence is too much of a safety risk.
Prevailing winds generally dictate that airplanes take off to the west, toward Carrboro and the pastures near the Calvander crossroads.
But occasionally, they flip and compel takeoffs to the east. There, the flight path takes planes over Phillips Middle School and Estes Hill Elementary School. There's little to no vacant land nearby a pilot could use for an emergency landing in the event of a mechanical failure or other emergency at low altitude.
University officials say they worry about "increasing liability" because of the proximity of the schools and the town's residential development.
Trustees in 2005 joined Moeser in recommending the field's closure, but at that time they said the move should only occur when UNC-CH was ready to start development of Carolina North. To date, no such development has occurred, thanks in part to the 2008 recession and more broadly because the university hasn't had the money to go through with the project.
Despite the university's position and the town opposition, the field's always had a good bit of political support, most recently from the likes of former state Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson.
Advocates of retaining it note it's far from uncommon for small airstrips to operate in the shadow of major airports like RDU, offering a base to private pilots who'd otherwise have to compete with the airlines for parking and air space.
Apodaca's also questioned the university's economic argument, noting that UNC's own moves to cut down on the number of planes based there reduced the field's customer base. Moeser terminated a long-standing basing arrangement between the airport and a local flying club, and the move of AHEC reduced the number of operations further.
Horace Williams Airport dates from the 1930s, and has some national history behind it because it served as a U.S. Navy pre-flight school during World War II. Former President George H.W. Bush trained at the school before serving as a torpedo-bomber pilot in the Pacific, and former President Gerald Ford was a ground-based physical fitness instructor there.
Though he wasn't a pilot, Ford also has the distinction of having crashed in an airplane there, at least once and maybe twice.
He was on a plane that was destroyed in a bad-weather heavy landing late in the war, after he returned to the U.S. after serving as an aircraft-carrier navigation officer in the Pacific. And he's said to have wrecked a Piper Cub he and a couple of friends acquired during their stay in Chapel Hill in hopes of learning to fly on their own.
Cochrane said the presidential ties and the airport's history have come up when he's been lobbied him to retain it.
But "I've said we're not keeping it because of the past," he said.


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Margaret Mahy's stories come to life on the screen
November 28, 2012 November 28, 2012 / zackids
Two absolutely wonderful DVDs are released today that celebrate legendary New Zealand author Margaret Mahy and her magical tales. Margaret may no longer be with us but her stories live on and these new DVDs give an insight into her writing and present her stories and poems as they were intended.
Margaret Mahy's Rumbustifications takes us inside Margaret's home in Governor's Bay as she reads 5 of her stories and 11 of her favourite poems to her grandchildren and pets. It's quite intimate and you feel like you are actually sitting right in front of her as she reads. The stories and poems that Margaret reads are ones that children and adults alike will be familiar with and you might even discover a new favourite story. Margaret performs her stories and poems as she imagined them and they sound spectacular rolling off her tongue. I especially love her performances of Down the Back of the Chair and Bubble Trouble and The Boy Who Was Followed Home is now one of my favourite stories of hers (I hadn't read this before and I can't believe I missed this). What I loved most about this wonderful production are the magical additions to her stories. Many of them have had animation and sound effects added after the reading has been recorded, so each of the things 'down the back of the chair' actually pop out of Margaret's chair and end up crowding the screen. In 'Summery Saturday Morning' animated geese actually chase Margaret's dog. None of the animations get in the way of your enjoyment of the story, but make it even more special. It is thanks to Margaret's long-time friend, Yvonne Mackay, that we can now enjoy Margaret's enchanting readings on DVD for the very first time.
Margaret Mahy's Rumbustifications is the perfect gift for the whole family this Christmas. I can imagine everyone crowding around the TV and being held captivated by Margaret's reading. It's available in NZ wherever DVDs are sold at $19.99.
A Tall Long Faced Tale is an incredibly interesting and detailed documentary about Margaret Mahy that's aimed at adults. It was recorded for TVNZ's Artsville programme several years ago and is now available on DVD for the first time. In this 70 minute documentary Margaret is interviewed by her most iconic and exciting animated characters, the Lion in the Meadow, David from The Witch in the Cherry Tree, Mother Pirate, and author Elizabeth Knox. I loved these appearances by her characters as it was a quirky interview technique and I wondered who would pop up next. A wide range of subjects are covered, including memory, identity, motherhood, magic and the universal appeal of her stories. As well as the characters from her picture books, some of the characters from her young adult novels make an appearance and ask her about the stories they feature in. Some of the illustrators that Margaret worked with throughout the years talk about Margaret and her magical stories, including American illustrator Steven Kellog (The Boy Who Was Followed Home), English Jenny Williams (The Lion in the Meadow, The Witch in the Cherry Tree), and Quentin Blake (Nonstop Nonsense). I loved the way that the interview ends with Margaret walking down the wharf with her characters by her side, and Elizabeth Knox's final question is one of the most fantastic interview questions ever – 'If you were given 3 wishes, either selfish or unselfish, what would they be?' I'm sure you will be as surprised as I was with her answers.
A Tall Long Faced Tale is a must-watch DVD for all teachers, librarians, and anyone who loves children's literature. It's available in NZ wherever DVDs are sold at $24.99.
Thanks to Chris from Production Shed.TV for sending me copies of these wonderful productions.
Check out these videos from Margaret Mahy's Rumbustifications and A Tall Long Faced Tale and keep an eye out on the blog for a chance to win your own copy of the DVDs.
authors, books, children, Interview, New Zealand
A Tall Long Faced Tale, documentary, DVD, interview, Margaret Mahy, Margaret Mahy's Rumbustifications, New Zealand, Rumbustifications, stories, storytelling
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AudioQuest Appoints New Director of Education
AudioQuest has appointed Shane Buettner to the newly created position of director of education. Shane Buettner. Buettner most recently served as the editor-in-chief of Home Theater magazine for the past three years, and prior to that was video editor a
RS Staff ⋅ Feb 23, 2011
AudioQuest has appointed Shane Buettner to the newly created position of director of education.
Shane Buettner.
Buettner most recently served as the editor-in-chief of Home Theater magazine for the past three years, and prior to that was video editor at The Perfect Vision.
"My career in consumer electronics has been dedicated to achieving the ultimate in music and cinema reproduction, and sharing that quest with others," Buettner said. "I have always embraced AudioQuest's core philosophies as an integral part of this pursuit. I'm thrilled to be part of the team and I am looking forward to working with all the AudioQuest people around the world."
Mitchell Klein Honored as the 2019 CEDIA Lifetime Achievement Recipient


People and Careers Operations Technician Jess Slavin recognised for her commitment to SPIRIT values Jessica Slavin is an Operations Technician, mother of two and a recent recipient of a workplace recognition award for personal dedication in the workplace.
Timor-Leste Training & Internship Program provides in-depth industry insight for Timor-Leste graduates The 14 participants of the Timor-Leste Foundational Skills Training and Internship Program recently enjoyed a tour around our Darwin LNG (DLNG) facilities.
Jessica Slavin is an Operations Technician, mother of two and a recent recipient of a workplace recognition award for personal dedication in the workplace.
The 14 participants of the Timor-Leste Foundational Skills Training and Internship Program recently enjoyed a tour around our Darwin LNG (DLNG) facilities.
Working with and understanding hazards is essential for those working in the LNG industry. With close to 200 personnel onsite at the Australia Pacific LNG facility on any given day, having process safety awareness is essential.


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Best of 2014 World Cup In Brazil: Games, Goals, Underdogs and More
Abe Asher July 17, 2014 World Cup, World Cup 2014 3 Comments
The people who don't steadfastly admit that the 2014 World Cup in Brazil has been the best ever edition of the great tournament will at least grant this: It's the best World Cup in "recent memory."
Or, in other words, this may not be the best World Cup ever but I can't remember a better one.
It has been an incredible month. It's been the event the World Cup needed, just as ridiculous claims that the Champions League was growing bigger and relegating the World Cup to a place of lesser importance.
Never has the passion, drama, and heartening value of the World Cup been higher. Now, it's time to celebrate the best of what we saw in Brazil. World Cup 2018 can't come soon enough.
Best Game – Brazil 1, Chile 1
This was the first game of the knockout stage, in Belo Horizonte. After a terrific group stage, there was a question of how the latter stages of the tournament would follow up the opening act.
Immediately, the pace was furious in a cauldron of ear-shattering noise and nerves in Belo. Brazil started well, and David Luiz got the opener inside twenty minutes. But as Chile grew into the game and Alexis Sanchez got the equalizer, the tension became unbearable.
Brazil's World Cup campaign – always so emotional and so fragile – hung by a thread for the world to see.
And just as the game appeared destined for penalties, Piniella of Chile unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot that crashed off the bar. Brazil were that close to going out of the tournament. If that wasn't cruel enough on Chile, Gonzalo Jara hit the post with the decisive fifth penalty, and Brazil survived.
It was jaw-dropping and frantic. Brazil were fun at this World Cup, even if they weren't that good.
This was an all-time classic. Perhaps it won't get its due because of Brazil's spectacular end in this World Cup and Chile's lack of star power, but this game shouldn't be forgotten.
Honorable Mention: Netherlands 5, Spain 1; Uruguay 2, England 1; Brazil 2, Colombia 1; Germany 7, Brazil 1.
Best Underdog – Australia
The Aussies were doomed, remember? They faced a Murderer's Row of Chile, Holland, and Spain in a Group of Death with a new manager and their worst team in a decade.
But much like the United States, Australia have a certain deranged competitive spirit and heart that make them impossible not to adore.
Against Chile, the Aussies barely looked professional after they went down 2-0 inside twelve minutes. But thanks to a signature monster leap from the terrific Tim Cahill, Australia pulled themselves back into the game and had Chile on the back-foot for a solid 40 minutes.
Cahill even put in the equalizer with an even better leap in the second half, but it was ruled out for offsides. In the end, Chile got an insurance goal and won 3-1. But the Australians made their country proud – and would make their country even prouder by leading eventual third place winners the Netherlands 2-1 after a Milo Jedinak penalty.
Unafraid to attack – often to the tune of their own ruin – Australia's brave performance was a joy to watch.
Honorable Mention: United States, Algeria, Costa Rica
Best Goal – Tim Cahill v. Holland
Speaking of Australia, Tim Cahill's equalizer against the Netherlands was the most astounding and best goal of the 2014 World Cup.
Taken with his weak foot, on the run from a 42.5-yard lofted pass, just a minute after the Netherlands opened the scoring, Cahill roofed his volley. There was no question from the moment he hit it and ran to the corner flag for his signature goal celebration that we wouldn't see better in the tournament.
Honorable Mention: James Rodriguez v. Uruguay; Jermaine Jones v. Portugal; Lionel Messi v. Nigeria; Robin Van Persie v. Spain, David Luiz v. Colombia, Mario Gotze v. Argentina
Best Fans – USA
It's become part of the narrative now around the United States' 2014 World Cup campaign around the world, especially around England and in Brazil: The American fans were awesome – and we know there are now a lot of new ones.
The reports of the rapturous support from all around Brazil – including the Amazon outpost of Manaus were remarkable, and it was fantastic to hear chants of "U-S-A" and "I Believe That We Will Win" ringing around the four stadiums the Americans played in.
With famous support from the likes of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and public viewing parties and Twitter hash-tags, the whole world is now feeling a shade of giddiness about the potential of moving the 2022 tournament to the US.
Honorable Mention: South American countries
Best Manager – Vahid Halilhodzic, Algeria
In a tournament with few truly standout coaching performances – though Louis Van Gaal did his fair share of self-promoting, intentionally or not – Halilhodzic wins this award because of redemption – for himself, and his team.
In 2010, Halilhodzic guided Ivory Coast to the World Cup, but was sacked just months before the tournament was set to start so the Ivory Coast Federation could let Sven-Goren Eriksson reap the benefits of Halilhodzic's work.
Meanwhile, Algeria went to the World Cup with the most negative mindset of any team at the tournament – including North Korea and New Zealand – and got bounced with one point and not a single, solitary goal for their fans to celebrate.
It was an awful display, equal parts pitiful and disgusting. Halilhodzic got the job in 2012, and turned Algeria around.
Qualifying for the World Cup, the Algerians did their nation very proud indeed. After a strong showing in an opening 2-1 loss to Belgium in which the Algerians led for the majority of the match, Halilhodzic's team crushed South Korea 4-2 with a series of perfectly executed counter-attacks and exquisite passing play.
A gutsy 1-1 draw with Russia took the Algerians through, where they took eventual champion Germany to extra time in the Round of 16.
Halilhodzic's masterful squad rotation and calming influence kept his team fresh and ready throughout their four games, and although the President of Algeria asked him to stay, the Bosnian manager has moved on to Trabzonspor. Algeria will do well to replace him adequately.
Honorable Mention: Jorge Luis Pinto, Costa Rica; Louis Van Gaal, Netherlands; Miguel Herrera, Mexico, Jose Pekerman, Colombia
Best Save – Guillermo Ochoa v. Brazil
Guillermo Ochoa had an out-of-body experience against Brazil in both team's second group game of the tournament. His incredible save on Neymar's header that was halfway across the goal-line by the time he started his dive was both jaw-dropping and a sign of things to come.
Honorable Mention: Tim Howard v. Belgium; Keylor Navas v. Greece; Manuel Neuer v. Brazil
Best Drama – Germany 7, Brazil 1
It will be the game from this World Cup that transcends generations. The next time Brazil host the event, they'll be talking about this game – just as we talked about the host nation's 2-1 loss to Uruguay from 1950 at length in this tournament.
We've just never seen a team in a position like Brazil – in the semifinal, the host, the favorite, and the most storied footballing nation ever – go to pieces like that. It was 5-0 inside the first half hour. At least Spain waited until the second half to fall apart, and had the decency to do it in their first game.
Brazil were always a fragile team living on emotion and adrenaline and a sense of duty. But when they came apart, they came apart spectacularly. The dam broke. And we'll never forget it.
Honorable Mention: Luiz Suarez's bite against Italy; Netherlands 5, Spain 1; John Brooks goal against Ghana; Georgios Samaras penalty against Ivory Coast; Silvestre Varela equalizer against USA; Tim Krul against Costa Rica; Mario Gotze winner against Argentina.
Other Bests:
Best Goalkeeper – Manuel Neuer, Germany
Honorable Mention: Tim Howard, USA; Keylor Navas, Costa Rica; Guillermo Ochoa, Mexico, Jasper Cillessen, Netherlands
Best Defender – Mats Hummels, Germany
Honorable Mention: Ezequiel Garay, Argentina; Daley Blind, Netherlands; Ron Vlaar, Netherlands
Best Midfielder – Toni Kroos, Germany
Honorable Mention: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Germany; Sami Khedira, Germany; Javier Mascherano, Argentina
Best Forward – Neymar, Brazil
Honorable Mention: Arjen Robben, Netherlands; Thomas Muller, Germany; James Rodriguez, Colombia; Lionel Messi, Argentina
Best Commentator – Ian Darke
Honorable Mention: Jon Champion, Derek Rae
Best Venue – Rio
Honorable Mention: Cuiaba, Manaus, Natal, Sao Paulo
Abe Asher
Abe Asher lives in beautiful Portland, Oregon. He fell in love with the intensity, stakes, and unrivaled spirit of football during the 2006 World Cup. Abe supports and covers the Portland Timbers locally, the USMNT nationally, and the American game and national team football at large for World Soccer Talk. Abe is on Twitter @abe_asher.
Huw Roma July 17, 2014
I take it the author of this article was not present for any of the truly great world cups from 1970-86. If he was he'd certainly be embarrassed of his claim that Brazil-Chile was a 'serious classic.' That makes me cringe. Just because Chile hit the post in the last minute? Brazil were dire in that game and McManaman spent the whole second half rightfully saying how poor the game was. The constant claims about how great this world cup was are wearing extremely thin. It was the best since 1998, but that's all.
Rob W. July 18, 2014
More of this! I loved this post. And I miss the cup already
withdrawal …aaaah
Johnny Tsunami July 18, 2014
Australia as the best underdog story? Did Australia play in a group with three former champions and won the group? Did they make it to the quarterfinals when nobody in the world gave them a shot. Costa Rica was by far the best underdog story of the cup.


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Banner opens new urgent care in Downtown Phoenix
Marcy Jones' Reports
PHOENIX (FOX 10) - Downtown Phoenix is continuing to expand, and with so many jobs in the center of Downtown Phoenix, Banner Medical has decided it's the perfect spot to open a walk-in urgent care. The idea is for those who live, work, and play in Downtown Phoenix will have a spot to pop in when the unexpected happens.
There's never a convenient time to have a health-scare, whether that be a common cold, sprained ankle, or something worse, but now, there is a convenient place to go with the new Banner Urgent Care in Downtown Phoenix.
"Our other clinics are spread out throughout the Valley and in Tucson and Colorado banner is committed to bringing healthcare services to where they live and where they play but also where they work," said Dr. Robert Rohatsch, CEO of Banner Urgent Care and Occupational Health Services.
The new clinic marks Banner's 47th location. The idea is to be quick, convenient, and ready for those who need medical attention.
"Being right downtown where folks are coming to work is important because people spend 8-10 hours a day at work and life happens to us whether we're at work or at home and minor injuries pop up throughout the day and we're happy to be able to serve folks and get them back to work in a timely fashion," said Dr. Rohatsch.
Dr. Rohstsch says since opening a week ago, the urgent care is already pretty busy.
"We're reasonably busy, a lot of folks we're seeing have actually come from this building and buildings right around here, most of the folks are walking in or taking the light rail in and coming in during work hours and we're happy to be able to serve them in this fashion," said Dr. Rohatsch.
He says the response online has been positive as well.
"We follow our google reviews and like most people, we're getting some delightful comments and that's our job," said Dr. Rohtscha.
The clinic is open now.
Stimulus checks loaded onto debit cards causing confusion for some
San Tan Valley woman missing since Jan. 11 found alive six days later


Are container homes allowed in my area?
In any area, it is always best to check first with your local municipality, especially in major cities.
In most counties they are allowed.
Yes. We can customize any container to a customer's needs and must haves.
What type of foundation does a container home require?
Is installation included in the price of the home?
responsible for connecting the plumbing and electrical to the unit.
The price of delivery will depend on the location and cost of permitting.
Do you build containers for commercial use?


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Help at hand as school expenses mount
Tauranga Budget Advisory Services > Budgeting News > Help at hand as school expenses mount
January 23, 2016 TBASBudgeting News0
Back to school uniform purchase. Ashleigh Keach, 13, Karla Keach, and Brooke Keach, 10. Photo/George Novak
Parents could be forced to fork out as much as $400 for a new school uniform and Bay school principals and community agencies are geared up to help families who are struggling to pay back-to-school expenses.
It's a big cost that does need to be budgeted for, and it can be particularly hard for families who haven't done so…
Diane Bruin, Tauranga Budget Advisory Service co-ordinator
Forking out between $200 to $400 for a new school uniform, as well as paying subject fees, stationery and school donations, can be a huge struggle for many families.
More parents are opting to spread their payments throughout the year to ease the burden, some taking advantage of automatic payment plans offered by schools and some uniform shops.
NZ Uniforms Tauranga store manager Tracy Biddle said this week had been non-stop for the store.
"This year there has been a noticeable increase in customers coming in who have recently moved into the area wanting to kit out their child or children," she said. The store was stocked with uniforms for 19 Tauranga schools.
On average it would cost parents of a new school starter $200 for a primary school uniform and $400 for a high school uniform, depending on the school uniform criteria, she said.
Ms Biddle said the store introduced a Uniform Club card about 18 months ago, to assist parents in budgeting for the uniform expense, which had proved highly popular.
"It allows parents to pay a weekly or fortnightly amount into a special account, ready for use when required," she said.
Tauranga Boys' College principal Robert Mangan said his school had a couple of funding options to help parents struggling, including the Old Boys' Welfare Fund.
"The last three days we have assisted a couple of families with uniform costs and the parents have assured us they will pay the cost off by automatic payment.
"We're more than happy to assist parents and have an automatic payment plan available if families are struggling to meet some of their school fees."
Mount Maunganui Intermediate principal Lisa Morresey said the school worked hard to keep expenses down, and operated a payment plan for needy families.
"At the end of the year some families donate their senior child's uniform back to school, which is a great help. The uniforms are laundered and put up for sale in our second-hand uniform shop.
"Funds raised from the sale are put into a special fund which is used to assist parents who need help to cope with school costs. We also keep a portion of the donated uniforms back to assist students who need our support."
Mrs Morresey said the school bought stationery in bulk to reduce this cost.
She urged parents in financial strife not to be embarrassed to let her know.
Merivale Primary School principal Jan Tinetti said: "We always have a payment plan option available for those parents who need it and keep our costs down as much as possible."
One way the school reduced uniform costs was to sell polo shirts at $10 each, available from the school office, and stationery packs ranging in price from $12 to $20.
"We also have a number of people who regularly donate money to the school to help out parents they know will struggle to meet their child's school expenses. It's a great help," she said.
Ms Tinetti said the school fee donation was set at $15 per child and was capped at $20, although struggling families were not expected to pay it.
Tauranga Budget Advisory Service co-ordinator Diane Bruin said January and February were the busiest months for the service.
"Clients have started coming in seeking help, particularly to pay for clothing and uniform costs.
"It's a big cost that does need to be budgeted for, and it can be particularly hard for families who haven't done so, or those still dealing with the aftermath of the Christmas holiday."
Travel costs were another "biggie" for students who lived in areas where there was no other means of transport to and from school but the bus, she said.
Work and Income grants are available to help some families meet their back-to-school costs.
-by Sandra Conchie, Bay of Plenty Times
-Tauranga Budget Advisory Service Contact Details
children, cost of living, school costs
City Makes Top 10 Most expensive List
New Life beckons after years on streets
Black Friday blues are still yet to come
KiwiBuild eligibility: Couples can earn up to $180,000
How To Reduce Your Back-To-School Uniform Costs


Enjoy a swim in our sun-soaked outdoor pool, or head inside for a climate and humidity controlled indoor pool. Both offer full twenty-five yard lap lanes and dedicated spaces for just taking a dip.
Both pools even have their own whirlpools.
Please note that a lifeguard will only be on duty at select times.
Interested in aquatic fitness? You have come to the right place. Explore the multitude of classes and activities geared to every level of swimmer.
The pools at Midtown feature designated lap swim, open swim, and group swim times. Make sure to check our monthly pool schedule as you plan your swim at the Hotel at Midtown.
Please see full schedule for open lane details.
Pop over to Chromium's poolside service bar to enjoy a bite to eat or a cold drink while you lounge on our pool deck.


Different Dialogues | In conversation with His Excellency T.P. Seetharam – Ambassador of India to the United Arab Emirates.
Different Dialogues : In conversation with His Excellency T.P. Seetharam – Ambassador of India to the United Arab Emirates.
In conversation with His Excellency T.P. Seetharam – Ambassador of India to the United Arab Emirates.
Diplomatic Profile – Ambassador T.P. Seetharam has previously served as Indian High Commissioner to Mauritius. He has handled India's bilateral relations with countries in Europe as well as the European Union in New Delhi as Additional Secretary, West Europe and as Joint Secretary Central Europe. In Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, he was Minister (Disarmament) dealing with Conference on Disarmament. He has worked as Deputy Chief of Mission in Bangkok (Thailand) and dealt with UNESCAP. He also served in Indian Embassy in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). He was Press Secretary to President of India Mr. K.R. Narayanan. Ambassador Seetharam has considerable experience in China; in Southern Africa having worked in Lusaka, Zambia and having helped open Indian offices in Windhoek, Namibia as well as in Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa.
Months on end pass, I do not visit Abu Dhabi – though I would like to be there. The relived moments in Abu Dhabi are the quick flashes of an ever-changing landscape consisting of new, tall buildings coming up. I guess, it is the same old green-blue sea that exists there, on whose shores I have leisurely walked by the way of the iconic landmark: The Corniche. Perhaps, the space there, too, must have evolved to suit the expansion of the capital city of UAE.
On my recent trip to Abu Dhabi, I was meeting India's Ambassador to UAE – His Excellency, Mr. T.P Seetharam. The value of my privileged meeting was meant to be enormous… the reward of an interview for my multi-national readers; the other factor was to derive insight regarding the ongoing global turmoil – which has shaken communities, worldwide.
I know that brilliant analysts, leaders, medical teams, journalists, who are determined to be the best guides possible are becoming more and more concerned with the horrific developments. So am I! So am I – as an ordinary, but, a responsible citizen of the world. Therefore, His Excellency T.P Seetharam with his large and specific vocational background would be the ideal person to offer me understanding from different angles. And that he surely did!
The Dubai-Abu Dhabi road stretches by 165 kms, a distance that can be covered in 1 hour and 45 minutes. As I began my car journey, my mind began finding fresh thoughts on the beginnings of these two biggest cities of UAE – Dubai and Abu Dhabi. I was thinking of the rich, firm bond between the two ruling families – the Maktoums and the Nayhans. They witnessed the collapse of the pearling industry, and went through sizeable difficulties during World War I and the Depression Era in the 1920's and 1930's. All that is behind, and steadily things have developed in the most mannerly way. Today, UAE is a role-model-country for other nations to admire. And as an Indian, I do love my second home – Dubai!
So, one April afternoon I was on my way to receive a knowledgeable sermon from the most important person, representing my country, India. To put it poetically, it is the wise who are best to open the ears of others, because their words come from the spirit of light.
His Excellency, Mr. T.P Seetharam vividly depicts a warm, cheerful memory as to why he chose to become a career-diplomat. His older brother was a diplomat, and while visiting him in Tokyo, the trip provided young Seetharam a lofty guideline for his own future… a future that must have kept enhancing the sensitive component within him to nurture human relationships and diplomacy; so, he followed his brother's footsteps.
Before coming to UAE as Ambassador of India, Mr. Seetharam has previously served as Indian High Commissioner to Mauritius. He has handled India's bilateral relations with countries in Europe, as well as the European Union in New Delhi as Additional Secretary, West Europe and as Joint Secretary Central Europe.
During our dialogue, we were talking about just how he is enjoying his work in UAE, and what mattered, globally, to bring about the process of peace in the conflict-ridden regions. So, there were definitely two parts to my interview.
'In UAE, we have a large Indian community, there are almost 2.2 million Indians over here. So, it is all about time-management. As the ambassador, my presence at the various programmes is vital. Understandably, it is demanded.' Mr. T.P Seetharam tells me with a smile.
When Mr. Seetharam mentioned Beijing, my interest deepened because I was already aware that he has studied the Mandarin language – at the time of his joining the service. He chose learning Mandarin, as a part of the compulsory foreign language. His stay in Beijing had made him a fluent speaker. He says, 'Language comes back to you. What you forgot can come back, especially, the spoken language'.
It was absolutely fascinating to find out from him the points of comparison between Mandarin and the English language. I gathered the most interesting aspects from Mr. Seetharam! The Mandarin is far more complex than English. Its script is different, the grammar is different, and the 'logic' of the language is different; objects are all in the neutral gender, the concept of singular and plural is non-existent… one chair, two chair, three chair – yes, that's how it goes the Chinese way! The verb also does not get influenced. So, in the overall context of things: "Long time no see" – is a perfect sentence according to the Chinese language principles!
Mr. Seetharam is a Chinese (Mandarin) speaking officer of 1980 batch. He was Director General of India-Taipei Association (2007 – 2009) and has worked with Indian Embassy in Beijing (1990 – 1992) and Indian Commission in Hong Kong (1982 – 1984).
I completely got the logic behind the humour-term… yes, 'localitis' did sound like a disorder!
Born in Valliyil family in Kayamkulam, Kerala in 1956, Ambassador Seetharam is married to Deepa of Elenkath family in Trivandrum. They have a son Navneeth, and a daughter Devi. While Navneeth is in the sphere of Hotel & Hospitality Management, Devi is a professional artist – a painter.
I learnt, Deepa took to learning different art forms – while the family was posted in Switzerland, Africa and in China. She learnt: Porcelain painting, Decoupage, and Chinese style ink drawing on paper. Currently, Ambassador Seetharam and Deepa have started with the unique concept of promoting Indian artists in UAE. They have informal art events under the canopy of: Art at India House in Abu Dhabi.
I can imagine the conviction and hard work of the diplomats who continuously create bridges of connectivity for their respective countries with the rest of the world. The traditions of their vocation keep the hard demand on them to be extensively positive and intelligently sharp. The other part is the strictness of discipline! By the time they are all set and settled… it is time to move on – being content to shift to any city of the planet. A city that is geographically lower or higher, harsher or nobler, that cannot be a whim to reject or decorate. Whether it is peace or war – diplomats have to embrace life with courage and optimism.
Another significant emphasis from me was to find out from Mr. Seetharam about the deeply moving conditions of intense conflict… conflict, based on several factors, which is eating into the souls of so many countries – be it Libya, or, Iraq, or, Syria, or, Yemen, or, Ukraine. I could name Africa and Afghanistan, too, in this disastrous category where human life is perishing by the day. What about the unrest in the rest of the world!
'What's going on, Your Excellency?' I asked Mr. Seetharam with a sense of confusion and hopelessness. In truth, the every-day-events of the world have been playing havoc in my daily life… as if they are my personal problems. How upsetting is that!
Mr. Seetharam was referring to his posting in Indian Embassy in Phnom Penh- Cambodia during 1992 – 1993.
Mr. Seetharam's words had a certain power which was in parts erasing a portion of my hopelessness. 'Do you think all this hatred and violence will end soon? What's United Nations doing?' Mr. Seetharam replied in the same tranquil voice, 'I cannot foresee things. I can't predict – but I can see trends from day to day observation. United Nations does good things in its own way – like, the socio-economic sector, health sector. It has the International Labour Organization. It has its Economic Council'.
'So, Mr. Seetharam, can I go with a hope that human catastrophe will come to an end? This is my final question to you'. I said. He answered, 'We have so many examples, or, ways of reaching solutions. I have seen this in China, and South Africa – where they found their peace, eventually, from utter hopelessness. There are good lessons around us, and we need to pick from those particular circumstances. Good people want to do good things. The urge for peace-development prevails over bad times. We have examples of sages, philosophers, statesmen'.
I felt so relieved hearing these words from Ambassador Mr. Seetharam! My mood had found the anchor of hope for myself, I felt a sense of consolation. 'Your Excellency, it is wonderful to benefit from your sound views,' I said with gratitude.
The interview gave me new grounds for exploring… like a man who is lost, and quite suddenly finds a way to review a better tomorrow. Now I was a changed person – that's how I felt.
I surely know that Zabed from Bangladesh valued the worth of peace and stability – as much as I did. One day, something better would emerge – like how the leaders of UAE have shaped something dazzling and beautifully peaceful, out of the sandy dunes of the Empty Quarter.
Q 1. What has been the turning point of your life?
A. I was Assistant Professor of English at Madras Christian College when I decided to take the Civil Services Examination, inspired by an older brother who was already an Indian diplomat. That turning point brought me on to a career path which has eventually brought me to UAE.
A. Go back in time and start all over again as a diplomat exploring other parts of the world I missed this time.
A. I hope to return to the academic world, share my experiences and insights with the younger generation and offer them an opportunity to make more informed choices about their own lives.
The diarist, Geeta Chhabra had taken the interview in June 2015 in Dubai-UAE.


In 1980-93, the Bialowieza population of Wolves survived and increased, most probably due to a constant immigration of Wolves (on average, two immigrants per year) from the vast forests adjoining BPF to the east.
....In this paper we analyse a nearly 150-year record of population dynamics of Wolves in the Bialowieza Primeval Forest. Due to the status of BPF as a royal hunting forest of the Polish kings (fifteenth-eighteenth centuries), and then the Russian Tsars (nineteenth century until 1915), and special protection measures in the twentieth century, Bialowieza Primeval Forest is the best preserved lowland forest in Europe.
From the fifteenth to the end of the eighteenth century, BPF was protected as the royal hunting forest of Polish kings. In the nineteenth century and until 1915 (under Russian rule), it became a protected forest for royal hunts of the Russian Tsars....In 1921, the most valuable and nearly untouched oldgrowth located in the heart of BPF was proclaimed the Bialowieza National Park. (In the 1970s this Park became UNESCO's Man & Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.) The remaining part of BPF underwent economic exploitation of timber until 1941.
In 1945...the new state border between Poland and the Soviet Union (Belarussian SSR) divided BPF into two parts with different management rules. In 1981, this border became a real barrier to ungulate movements, because the Soviets built a 2.5 m.-high wire fence along it. It was proved that Wolves and Lynx could cross this construction.
The oldest document regulating the rules of hunting Wolves in Bialowieza Primeval Forest is the Management Plan of Primeval Forests in the Brzesc Region by J. Szczepanowski in 1796. It stated that foresters watching the forest and game were not allowed to hunt for any game except for Wolves and, to do that, they were permitted to keep five hounds. The pelts of killed Wolves were sent to the Treasury. This and other documents provide evidence that it was an old custom to hunt Wolves in order to prevent too much damage to the livestock of local peasants (before the end of the eighteenth century, the vast forests of Bialowieza were practically not settled, but they were encircled by small villages).
In 1846, in the whole Grodno [province]...Wolf control was commanded and bounties (3-4 roubles per Wolf) were paid whenever the ears and tail of a killed Wolf were presented to the local officers. In 1847-52, in the region embracing BPF, bounties for 210-220 Wolves were paid. This campaign reduced the number of Wolves, but did not exterminate them. When the Tsar Alexandr II came to BPF for a royal hunt in 1860, within a few days 17 Wolves were driven from various parts of the Forest to the large hunting enclosure.
Detailed game-management reports from 1903 to 1914 are not available, but it is known that extermination of Wolves as a measure for protection and promotion of ungulates was conducted until 1915, when the German army invaded Bialowieza. The years of World War I (1915-18), the October Revolution (1917-19) and the Polish-Soviet War (1919-21) were times of political chaos which were disastrous for the forest and ungulates, but good for predators. Wolves recolonized BPF very quickly. In 1919-39, the whole BPF was again under Polish rule. Soon the Forest became a place of diplomatic hunts for the Polish president, invited politicians and monarchs. Wolves were valued trophies of the hunts, and, after 1928, a subject of more intense reduction.
....After 1945, when the new Polish-Soviet border divided BPF, game-management rules were different in each part. In the Belarussian part, since 1946, the Wolf has been intensively fought against as a pest. Hunts with "fladry" have been the dominant method of hunting, supplemented by sit-and-wait hunts at carcass bait. The most intense persecution, aimed at complete extermination, took place between 1946 and 1971. Year-round hunts for Wolves are still practised.
In the Polish part, intense Wolf control...was imposed in 1946-65, as in the rest of Poland. In the 1980s, after the Wolves recolonized the Polish part, they were hunted for sport in rather small numbers. Since 1989, the Wolf has been protected in the entire Polish part of BPF.
During the last 150 years, the density of Wolves in Bialowieza Primeval Forest varied greatly. Periods of high density (around 1820-40, 1870-80, 1925-30 and 1945-48) occurred after uprisings and wars....Maximally, in various years, from 7.2 to 9.1 Wolves/100 km2 were recorded. Declines of Wolf numbers and prolonged periods of lows were always caused by deliberate persecution by humans. Very low densities of Wolves occurred in 1882-1915 and 1958-72.
In the last decade, the fact that Wolves were little affected by humans in the Polish part (40% of BPF area) saved the Wolf population from eradication and even allowed for a slow increase in numbers despite the very intense hunting on the remaining 60% of BPF area (the Belarussian part.)....In the 1990s, the density of Wolves was about 40% of the highest densities recorded. The increase phases of Wolf population...were due to both reproduction of the local survivors and immigration (although evidence for immigration is circumstantial only). The latter process was especially important after 1915 and 1970, when practically no local Wolves survived.
Data from 1980 to 1993 allowed for detailed analysis of the influence of heavy hunting pressure on demography, social structure, and general performance of the Wolf population. In the Belarussian part of BPF, where Wolves were shot year round, there was a clear monthly variation in intensity of Wolf hunting. Seventy per cent of all Wolves killed by people were shot in December, January and February during traditional snowtracking-driving hunts with "fladry". Nine per cent of all Wolves killed were pups taken from their natal dens in May-June.
....[H]unters shot one or two Wolves during a drive hunt, irrespective of the pack size. Thus, the lower number of Wolves in a pack, the lower the chances of a single Wolf to survive. In packs of five to seven Wolves, 72% escaped...and in packs of three to four Wolves, 55% of individuals escaped....It means that after a drive hunt, a pack of three to seven Wolves lost one or two members. Only 21% of single Wolves and 42% of Wolves in pairs came out alive....Many survivors were, during the course of the same winter, driven again. By the end of winter, some packs were eradicated and others lost some members.
In the Belarussian part of BPF, the mean pack size in the late autumn was 4.0 Wolves (a pack of four was the most common). By the end of the intense hunting season the mean pack size was 2.3 Wolves, pairs occurred most often, and a high proportion of single Wolves (on average 14% of Wolves) occurred. In contrast, data on pack size in the Polish part of BPF, where no hunting took place, showed that packs were on average 4.2 and 4.3 Wolves from November to January, and their size declined somewhat (to 3.6) by the mating season in February, when many pairs were temporarily separated from their packs. The share of lone Wolves did not exceed 5% of all individuals, and some of them were wounded survivors of the hunts conducted in the Belarussian part of BPF.
We...predicted that, on average, 6.25 young per mother were born (range 3-8). The rate of mortality was highest at the early stage of pup life. If only the natural factors are considered, 3 months after birth, the mean litter size was 3.1 (50% mortality). Only 2.6 pups/litter survived by November when the winter hunting season began (58% mortality), and 2.2 pups/litter reached 1 year (65% mortality). However, 11 out of 40 litters recorded were robbed by humans; 39 of 134 pups (29%) were lost due to this factor. Therefore, the actual survival of pups was lower by 29%, and it was 2.2 pups/litter after 100 days and 1.8 pups after 200 days, i.e. when the winter hunting season began. Only 1.6 pups/litter would reach 1 year (74% mortality). In the Belarussian part alone, the survival of pups was still lower, because many juvenile Wolves were shot in winter. Because 35% of shot Wolves are juveniles, we estimated that only about 15% of pups (0.9 pup per litter) would reach 1 year.
In the Polish part of BPF, where only negligible hunting for Wolves occurred in the 1980s, breeding of local Wolves, despite low survival of pups due to frequent den robbing by humans, gave a surplus of individuals (annually about four Wolves) that had to leave the Polish part of BPF. In the Belarussian part, where heavy hunting took place every year, the numbers of Wolves were lowest in April before the birth of young. Breeding could not compensate for mortality. Annually, six Wolves per year must have immigrated to the Belarussian part of BPF. There was an unrestricted exchange of Wolves between the Polish and Belarussian parts, so the "surplus" Wolves from the Polish part could reinforce the heavily exploited Wolves in the Belarussian part.
In the whole BPF, in 1980-93, on average 32 Wolves were recorded on 1 January and 22 (70%) survived until early April, when the Wolf population reached the seasonally lowest numbers. In May, soon after pups were born, an average 72 Wolves lived in BPF, but a month later, these numbers had already declined to 44 (by nearly 40%) due to natural and human-caused mortality of pups....Annually, two Wolves must have immigrated to BPF from the surrounding forests....Two undoubted cases of immigration (both from the east) were recorded in the Belarussian part of BPF: a pack of five Wolves in February 1985 and a pack of 11 Wolves in December 1989.
During the last millenium, European Wolves coped with increasing human pressure and humans believed they had to cope with continuous danger from Wolves. In some parts of central, eastern and southern Europe, with vast forests and a relatively low density of human population, Wolves have survived and maintained their ancestral habits. Unfortunately, most of the copious literature on Wolf ecology in the European part of the former Soviet Union, and from other countries (this paper included) has two weak points: (i) scientific data were collected as a "side activity" of Wolf control programmes, and (ii) areas subject to studies were not forgotten wilderness sites, where Wolves live more or less on their own, but they were protected areas (mainly "zapovedniks" or game reserves in the former....) where Wolf control was a compulsory rule not only during the nation-wide Wolf campaigns but continually....In recent years, because of a breakdown of the former system of forest and game management, Wolves received much less attention from humans in the exploited forests than in the forests with an official protection status. Thus, the functioning of the Wolf population shown in our paper is not fully representative of the entire situation of Wolves in the deciduous forests of Eastern Europe....At present, killing of Wolves in the Belarussian part of BPF is far more intense than in other large forests of Belarus.
....[I]n the Polish part of BPF...both non-official and official protection of Wolves in Bialowieza were always ahead of such decisions in Poland as a whole. In Bialowieza (the Polish part), Wolves became fully protected in 1989, whereas in the whole north-east Poland they got a status of a protected species only in 1993.
Despite these specific features of Bialowieza Primeval Forest, we believe that this paper reveals very typical features of the ecology of Wolves in Europe, especially their performance under human pressure that varied from negligible to severe, and the consequences of human impact on Wolf populations.
....Throughout winter, Bialowieza packs lost, on average, two members. In a few cases of severely persecuted packs, the two or three survivors broke apart and the pack ceased to exist. The most intense winter hunting (in February) coincided with the mating season. Pups were most often born to a "pack" of two Wolves. It was also observed that a lone female had to care for her young.
Litter size at birth was high, as typical for Wolves in Eurasia, but survival of pups was very poor. Harrington et al. (1983) showed that, when prey was abundant, survival of pups until December was positively correlated with the number of helpers, i.e. yearlings which remained in a pack and participated in bringing food to young. We think that because packs were very small, malnutrition was the primary cause of the natural mortality of pups in the Belarussian part of BPF. Moreover, a strong local tradition of taking small pups for "pets" (in both Polish and Belarussian parts) or to get a bounty (Belarussian part) further worsened Wolf breeding success. Wolf pups taken by people were kept at farms, in yards, or temporarily even in flats in the...nearby town of Hajnowka. Most of them died very quickly. Some were kept for a few months until their biting, digging, and notorious howling made the owners pass them to someone else or simply let them go. The chances of a released or escaped pet Wolf surviving in the wild are practically none.
....Finding of Wolf dens by people is facilitated by a high "conservatism" of Wolves in their choice of den site, which most likely results from both the use of the same den by one pack year after year, and from the scarcity of good sites in the lowland deciduous forests. For instance, the site near Krynica village in the Polish part of BPF is known to have been robbed of pups in 1975, 1992 and 1993. Mech & Packard (1990) reported that a suitable den site can be utilized by generations of Wolves for centuries. In the forests on Obol River (NE Belarus), dug-outs made and used as shelters by local people during World War II were often occupied by Wolves soon after the war and some of them, subsequently "repaired" by Wolf digging, are still used to this day as breeding dens.
Heavy prolonged exploitation causes "rejuvenation" of the Wolf population, a fact reported from Russia in the decades of the most intense extermination of Wolves. Mech (1988) reported that wild female Wolves can still breed at the age of 10 years....In the Belarussian part of BPF, the oldest shot Wolves were 4-5 years old. It indicates that social structure is being broken again and again and a pair...has very little chance to stay together for over 1 year. Many problems remain unknown, e.g. the fate of lone Wolves by early spring after the winter hunting season is over, the participation of young females in reproduction, etc.
....In their struggle for existence, Wolves have several strong points (high fertility, mobility, very flexible social structure and amazing stamina that allows them to recover from gun-wounds, poachers' snares, etc.) But they also have some inherent weaknesses that make them vulnerable to human pressure: vocal activity that allows hunters to localize packs and young, conservative use of den sites year after year and, especially, the "irrational" fear of a loosely hanging barrier of pieces of red cloth which, once discovered by humans a few centuries ago, let them master an effective method of Wolf extermination*.
During the last two centuries, Wolves in Bialowieza were four times relieved from human impact and quickly grew in numbers. Such fluctuations of numbers with still increasing amplitude have been the most typical feature of Wolf ecology during the last millenium in Europe. The oldest Polish chronicle has reported that, in 1039 AD, after the ravaging incursion of Brzetyslav, the duke of Czechs, into Poland, Wolves denned in the desolated cathedral of Gniezo, then Poland's capital. In 1939, Wolves in Poland got their last opportunity to thrive. Only recently has there been a chance that Wolves will do well due to rational protection by humans rather than due to human engagement in intraspecific combats.
Observations from the Polish part of BPF in 1980-93, when Wolves were little affected by humans, indicated that an increase of Wolf numbers began with an increase in pack size, which was especially well documented in BPF (from a lone Wolf in 1983 to a pack of eight wolves in 1992), and then the number of packs increased. Territorial behaviour of packs and availability of prey are two crucial factors limiting Wolf numbers.
Recently, McLaren & Peterson (1994) analysed the population dynamics of olves, Moose, and the growth dynamics of balsam fir on Isle Royale, and found that this three-staged linked system exhibited cycles of 16-18 year periodicity. Labutin (1960) showed that the Yakutian population of Wolves that feed predominantly on the Blue Hare followed the 9-12 year cycles of hare numbers. Would the Bialowieza population of Wolves cycle, if it had been undisturbed by humans? Probably, it would not. The population of Wolves in Minnesota and Yakutia were parts of one predator-prey systems (Wolf-Moose and Wolf-Hare), whereas in the deciduous forests of Europe Wolves used to coexist with three-five species of ungulates....In Bialowieza, Wolves specialized on Red Deer, the dominant species in the ungulate community, but they also prey on Roe Deer, Wild Boar, and Moose. In 1800-90, when Red Deer were absent from BPF, Wolves survived on other ungulates (including European Bison) and were able to maintain high density when human pressure was small.
The human-made fluctuations of Wolf numbers in Bialowieza had, none the less, profound consequences for ungulate numbers....In large areas of Europe and Asia, where Wolves were exterminated, densities of ungulates began to grow at unprecedented rates following the eradication of Wolves. Also, the recent recovery of Wolf numbers, that began in BPF around 1970, has been taking place throughout eastern Europe and in Russia. Therefore, it seems that, by each extermination of Wolves lasting long enough to suppress their numbers, humans unintendedly created excellent conditions for recovery of Wolves at their earliest opportunity.
Figure 1: Bialowieza Primeval Forest; schematic map of BPF with divisions into forest administration units.
Figure 2: Correlation of Wolf numbers in the Belarussian and Polish parts of BPF in 1946, 1950, 1958, 1961-64; correlation of the numbers of Wolves killed annually and the numbers of Wolves in the whole BPF in 1946-71.
Figure 3: Long-term dynamics of Wolf density and hunting harvest in BPF (1847-1993).
Figure 4: Dynamics of Wolf numbers (surveyed by snowtracking) and hunting harvest of Wolves in the Belarussian part of BPF, exploited forests of the Polish part, and the strict reserve of Bialowieza National Park in 1946-93.
Figure 5: Monthly distribution of Wolves killed by humans in 1980-93 in the Belarussian part of BPF.
Figure 6: Fates of Wolves hunted in 1980-93 in the Belarussian part of BPF.
Figure 7: Variation in the pack size of Wolves in winter in the Polish part of BPF (Wolves not hunted) and the Belarussian part (Wolves intensively hunted).
Figure 8: Litter size of the Wolf in relation to the consecutive days of pups' life.
Figure 9: Seasonal population dynamics of Wolves in BPF...in 1980-93.
Appendix 1: Numbers and harvest of Wolves in the Polish part...and Belarussian part...in 1946-73.