Alexa had discovered the truth about her life, and her destiny, when she was nine years old. Since then? Well, since then she'd just been waiting to discover if provenance and circumstance would ever align to seal her fate.
She accelerated out of the curve and punched the gas pedal down in frustration. According to her mother, her date with destiny was well past due. They had come for her mother when she was twenty-two years old. Taken her grandmother at nineteen. Alexa was already twenty-six and feeling like the last girl without a date to the prom.
"What the hell are you waiting for?" She screamed into the night air, her window open in defiance of the cold, spitting rain that hit her face. Like the rest of the Pacific Northwest, living along the Oregon coast in winter was like living inside a cloud where the sunshine never penetrated and raindrops hovered in the air, content to allow humanity to live among them.
Stretch jeans and knee high boots kept her legs from getting too cold. Her long hair was woven into a braid that she'd pulled forward over her right shoulder. Like most Oregonians, she had learned to dress in layers. Plain cotton t-shirt under a sweater, and everything covered by a thigh length rainproof jacket with a hoodie.
Only her face and hands were exposed, and cold. But she welcomed the rush. Her brother, David, had offered her the keys to his car for a spin, and she had jumped at the chance, desperate to get away from her three year old niece's birthday party. Her entire family was there, all four of her younger brothers, two of her brothers' wives, two beautiful nieces, and her parents. All chatting and happy and planning their lives. Living their lives.
Alexa downshifted to rev up the engine and dug her boot heel into the carpeted floor matt so she could press her foot to the accelerator. Hard. The car's back tires fishtailed around a sharp curve. She didn't slow down. She smiled.
The problem wasn't the cake or kisses, it was the inevitability that hung over her head and kept her separate from all of them. According to her mother, Archivers were part of a race of immortal aliens that tracked and recruited humans who were different. Humans like her. The Archivers tracked her family's lineage for one very incredible reason, the women in her family could survive travelling through time. So, her mother, her grandmother, and the incredible women who came before, her matriarchal line, had been tracked and recruited, like a secret army, to protect the Earth from disasters. Some of those disasters had been the result of mankind's own mistakes. But others? The Archivers claimed that Earth was simply caught in the crossfire, that in some cases, humanity's suffering was caused by a war between the Archivers and their enemies.
Who those enemies were and exactly what they wanted was where her mom got a bit fuzzy on the details.
She raced around a tight curve and headlights flashed in front of her, appearing out of nowhere. Her heart jumped as the roar of wet tires on pavement preceded three cars speeding past her, one right after the other.
That fuzzy area had always made Alexa nervous. From the day her power had manifested, her mother had offered lots of information, but no real answers. Who were the Archivers? Where were they from? Who were they fighting? How long had they been on Earth?
And how was it possible that no one knew they were here? Where was the all-powerful government surveillance system? And not just the U.S. What about Russia or China? Was all of Europe clueless as well? Or did they know and choose to keep it secret in some massive, international conspiracy?
And just how many Timewalkers were there? Women just like her. Marked and waiting.
Alexa loosened her death grip on the steering wheel and lifted her right hand to rub her chest where she knew the birthmark colored her skin. Her mother insisted it was a mark of honor, of a higher calling.
She pushed the car until the wheels broke contact with the pavement and she started to lose control. Recovered. It was reckless and she knew it. She was tired of waiting, tired of wondering if every good-bye she said to her family would be the last.
Just tired. She couldn't date, couldn't fall in love, didn't dare make plans beyond tomorrow. All she could do was train. Train with guns, with knives, and in hand-to-hand combat. Endless training. She memorized history books and kept herself in shape. And she waited.
With a sigh, she slowed the car to a reasonable speed and looked for a turn out area with enough room to turn the car around. It was time to go back to the party, and the cake, and three year old kisses that made her heart hurt.
She flipped the car around and turned on the radio, worn-out by the thoughts chasing their tails in circles inside her head.
She didn't see the delivery truck until it was too late. Blue, gold and white decorated the truck's hood and trailer with the logo of a local brewery. The driver was collapsed over the steering wheel so she couldn't make out his face. He had a dark baseball cap on his head, which had slumped to the side to be caught between the top of the steering wheel and the side window.
The truck was heading straight at her.
Alexa swerved and accelerated, trying to dodge the truck before it could hit her in the much smaller car. The truck's cab and front wheel sped past her and her heart leapt. Maybe she could make it.
The bottom of the white trailer was even with the top of her head. She sped past it, her right tires hitting the gravel on the edge of the road. The steering wheel jumped in her hands as the car tried to get away from her. A couple more feet and she'd be gone, hundreds of feet down into the roaring surf.
A wall of rotating black appeared next to the driver's door, then slammed into the car. The airbag exploded, knocking her head back and breaking her hold on the steering wheel. The smell of burnt dust and wet tires filled the car.
The gravel caught and tugged at the right tires and the car went into a spin as the truck's back end pushed the car over the edge.
Her head reeling from impact, time seemed to stop as the car hung suspended, half over the cliff.
Then her stomach was in her throat as the car started to fall.
Love Ms. Callahan's books! Can't wait to read this one!


The Men's league currently administers hockey for some 380 teams from over 100 clubs across 8 Midland counties. It's structure consists of area divisions within leagues of 1st XI, 2nd XI, 3rd XI, and Central sides.
Within these pages you will find all you need to know about Midlands Men's Hockey including League tables and fixtures, along with key club information and contact details.
The fixtures archive goes back to 2002/2003.


text:
Never mind the Russians. Democracy's real social-media threat could be homegrown
By Alex Boutilier, Marco Chown Oved, Craig Silverman and Jane Lytvynenko
Thu., Feb. 7, 2019timer5 min. read
The Star and BuzzFeed News are investigating the ways political parties, third-party pressure groups, foreign powers and individuals are influencing Canada's political debate in the run-up to this fall's federal election. This is the first report.
Like many people who've worked in Alberta's oilsands, Craig Collins is concerned about the future of the industry and his own employment.
So to earn additional income, Collins developed a lucrative side-hustle building job ad websites and growing their associated Facebook presence. He's earned more than $50,000 building and flipping job search websites over the past three years.
But as the employment dried up in the oilsands, so too did his ability to create online businesses built around advertising those jobs. Late last year Collins launched a new website, YellowVestGroup.com and began promoting it on a Facebook page and group he created.
Sharing Islamophobic memes along with images of the so-called "yellow vest" anti-carbon tax protests in Canada, the page attracted more than 7,600 fans while the associated Facebook group had more than 2,700 members.
Collins kept his name off of the site and used fake profiles to manage the associated Facebook presence. But a Toronto Star/BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered how he applied internet marketing skills to capitalize on the yellow vest movement's social media presence.
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He funnelled followers from two Facebook pages and a group to the related website that earns revenue from ads, as well as to an online store where they could buy t-shirts, mugs, and stickers with yellow vest slogans.
In his effort to promote what he considered "real news," Collins also published a story on his website that inaccurately connected a moratorium on new work camps outside Fort McMurray to plans for a new mosque. The misleading story generated close to 15,000 shares, reactions and comments on Facebook.
The threat of foreign entities using social media to meddle in elections has prompted Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould to create a committee to alert Canadians about potential interference in this October's election. But while attention has been focused on countries such as Russia, people like Collins demonstrate how simple it is for anyone to adopt a fake identity and use social media to sway public opinion — even if only to make a buck.
"Don't make me look like I'm trying to scam the yellow vests. I was there (online) to help them get a better name," Collins said in an interview Tuesday. "All I see is hard-working folks trying to make a change."
Collins said he was simply trying to create "a support website to show real news other than the fake stuff you're seeing" about the yellow vest movement in Canada, and that he never intended to mislead anyone. He also said he never intended to sell YellowVestGroup.com.
"You can't sell that, nobody would want to buy that," he said.
When the Star and BuzzFeed News brought the accounts to Facebook's attention, it removed the Yellow Vest Group page and the associated Facebook group, citing its policy against "misrepresentation." The company also removed profiles used by Collins and another person to administer the page and group, citing the same policy violation.
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University of Ottawa professor Elizabeth Dubois said the motivation behind the creation of viral political content — whether economic or partisan — is almost beside the point.
"When we talk about the way people learn about politics and develop their political information, when we're talking about that media environment, it doesn't actually matter a tonne what the people creating the content had as their motive," said Dubois.
"The impact of that information which capitalizes on anger or fear, spreading virally, is a thing that's potentially a threat to the democratic system."
Collins's yellow vests operation was small scale compared to the Canadian movement's main Facebook group, which boasts more than 100,000 members. But it's emblematic of the tactic that keeps Canadian intelligence agencies, political operatives, and elections authorities engaged in preparing for the 2019 election up at night.
Since U.S. intelligence agencies' findings that Russia attempted to tip the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Donald Trump's favour, democratic countries have had to contemplate the threat that their electoral systems could be gamed by hostile foreign powers on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
As the person responsible for the Liberal government's efforts to safeguard the integrity of the 2019 vote from threats both foreign and domestic, Gould is in the midst of negotiations with the social media giants.
"While social media and digital platforms create forums that allow Canadians to engage in a dialogue about important issues, they also have a record of being manipulated to spread disinformation, create confusion and exploit existing societal tensions," a spokesperson for Gould said in a statement.
"We expect these companies to take concrete actions to combat manipulation and we believe in supporting digital literacy tools for Canadians to help them recognize how and when malicious actors exploit online platforms, and how to avoid being susceptible to online manipulation."
Collins's "Yellow Vest Group" page attracted thousands of followers on Facebook, but at least some of the protest movement's adherents were less than convinced of the operator's commitment to the cause.
"This page has nothing to do with the real Yellow Vest movement," one reviewer wrote.
"The Yellow Vest movement is about government accountability and the will of the people. This page is just some racist anti-Muslim trash."
Collins said he doesn't have anything against Muslims but called Islam "a scary religion."
He also suggested he might relaunch his site under his own name now that he's been publicly connected to it. He said he still wants to help change the perception of the Canadian yellow vest movement, and to make people aware of the jobs being lost in the oilsands.
"I worked in those camps that were affected (by the moratorium). Those 27,000 displaced people — I'm one of them."
Craig Silverman is the media editor of Buzzfeed News.Jane Lytvynenko is a reporter for BuzzFeed News.
Alex Boutilier is an Ottawa-based reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @alexboutilier
Russia, Facebook

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
import stampit from '@stamp/it'
import * as R from 'ramda'
import profiler from './profiler'
import { parseCode, getFunctionsFromAst, getAllContainerNodesRecursive, getAllChildrenNodesRecursive, printAst, addTextToNode, replaceNodeInAst, getNodeForFirstFoundType, getInnerMostFunctionNode, getMetaData } from './astBackedEditing'
import { getFunctionByText } from 'ast/compareFunctions'

let File = stampit().deepProps({
    id: undefined,
    syntaxError: undefined,
    text: undefined,
    unformattedText: undefined,
    ast: undefined,
    hasConnectedError: undefined,
    functions: undefined,
    functionsMap: undefined,
    functionsTreeRoot: undefined
}).methods({
    init({id, unformattedText}) {
        this.id = id

        // create formatted code
        let {error: syntaxError, ast} = parseCode(unformattedText)
        if (ast) {
            this.text = printAst(ast)
            // refresh ast from formatted code
            let {ast: astFormatted} = parseCode(this.text)
            this.ast = astFormatted
            let {functions, functionsTreeRoot} = getFunctionsFromAst(this.ast, this.id)
            functions.forEach((node) => {
                // create text for each function at start, because recast can't
                // keep all formatting when parsing code snippets instead of code
                // in file
                node.text = printAst(node)
                // and use this as editor text, so we don't start with "dirty" editors
                node.unformattedText = node.text
            })
            this.setFunctions(functions)
            this.functionsTreeRoot = functionsTreeRoot
            // set text in node
            this.ast.text = this.ast.unformattedText = this.text
        } else {
            this.text = unformattedText
            this.setFunctions([])
            this.functionsTreeRoot = {
                children: [],
                isRoot: true
            }
            this.syntaxError = syntaxError
            this.hasConnectedError = true
        }

        this.unformattedText = this.text
    },
    getMetaData() {
        return getMetaData(this)
    },
    setFunctions(functions) {
        this.functions = functions
        this.functionsMap = R.zipObj(functions.map(R.prop('customId')), functions)
    },
    updateFileAst(newText) {
        let stop = profiler.start('- file text update')
        let {error: syntaxError, ast} = parseCode(newText)
        if (syntaxError) {
            // broken code, wait for working code
            this.syntaxError = syntaxError
            this.unformattedText = newText
            this.hasConnectedError = true
            stop()
            return
        }
        this.syntaxError = undefined
        // error of the whole this is now gone, because this is the only editor which can be edited and change the error state
        this.hasConnectedError = false

        this.ast = ast
        this.text = printAst(ast)
        // add unformatted text for editor
        this.unformattedText = newText
        this.ast.text = newText
        this.ast.unformattedText = newText

        let {functions, functionsTreeRoot, removedFunctions} = getFunctionsFromAst(this.ast, this.id, this.functions)
        this.setFunctions(functions)
        this.functionsTreeRoot = functionsTreeRoot
        stop()
        return {
            removedFunctions
        }
    },
    updateFunctionAst(newText, oldFunction) {
        let newFunction

        let stop = profiler.start('- text update')
        let {error: syntaxError, ast} = parseCode(newText)
        if (syntaxError) {
            let oldFunctionWithError = {
                ...oldFunction,
                syntaxError,
                unformattedText: newText
            }
            // broken code, wait for working code
            let updatedFunctions = this.functions.map(f => {
                if (f.customId === oldFunction.customId) {
                    // update node with new created one
                    return oldFunctionWithError
                }
                return f
            })
            this.setFunctions(updatedFunctions)
            this.hasConnectedError = true
            stop()
            return {
                nodesToUpdate: [oldFunctionWithError],
                node: oldFunctionWithError
            }
        }

        // error of this file is gone
        oldFunction.syntaxError = undefined
        // error of the whole file is now gone, because this is the only editor which can be edited and change the error state
        this.hasConnectedError = false

        // ast parsing wraps text in other nodes, because it parses it
        // standalone and out of context of original text
        newFunction = getNodeForFirstFoundType(oldFunction.type, ast)
        if (!newFunction) {
            // not found, uh oh?!
            throw new Error('old node type not found')
        }

        // add formatted text for function node comparision
        addTextToNode(newFunction)
        // add unformatted text for editor
        newFunction.unformattedText = newText
        // save old id, because it is still the same function
        newFunction.customId = oldFunction.customId

        // replace ast of old function, with ast generated from newText, in file ast
        this.ast = replaceNodeInAst(newFunction, this.ast)

        // update file text with merged ast
        let fileText = printAst(this.ast)
        this.text = fileText
        this.unformattedText = fileText
        this.ast.text = fileText
        this.ast.unformattedText = fileText

        // get functions to compare, current changed one can't be matched
        let functionsToCompare = this.functions.filter(f => newFunction.customId !== f.customId)
        // update functions and port props from already known functions
        let {functions, functionsTreeRoot, removedFunctions} = getFunctionsFromAst(this.ast, this.id, functionsToCompare)
        this.setFunctions(functions)
        this.functionsTreeRoot = functionsTreeRoot

        // collect function nodes to update by walking up the linked list of
        // containing functions. This list is now up to date after running
        // getFunctionsFromAst
        let containerNodesToUpdate = getAllContainerNodesRecursive(newFunction.parentFunction)
        let childrenNodesToUpdate = getAllChildrenNodesRecursive(newFunction.children)
        let nodesToUpdate = containerNodesToUpdate.concat(childrenNodesToUpdate)

        stop()
        return {
            nodesToUpdate,
            node: newFunction,
            removedFunctions,
        }
    },
    findFunctionAroundCursor(node, cursor) {
        let innerFunctionNode = getInnerMostFunctionNode(node, cursor)
        if (!innerFunctionNode) {
            // can't find inner most function node, perhaps because code is not parsable
            return
        }
        let innerFunctionText = printAst(innerFunctionNode)
        let foundFunction = getFunctionByText(innerFunctionText, this.functions)
        return foundFunction
    }
})

export default File

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


ROAD MAP MACAU maps of Macau 33460.
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text:
GoodFirms Research >
WhatsApp for Business: A Detailed Guide
WhatsApp has come a long way from its launch. WhatsApp has a certain dominance in the daily lives of people and that's why the platform offers massive opportunities for businesses. More than 2 billion people around the world are currently using WhatsApp and the number is increasing everyday. Such a huge user base means businesses not using it are missing out on a significant potential customer base.
WhatsApp as a platform constantly tries to improve the user experience. So, with the aim of helping business users, WhatsApp Business was launched. WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business apps have some similarities as well as some differences. The similarities between these two are that they both have almost the same interface, are free to use, and can be connected to a single number. The differences on the other hand make WhatsApp Business an upgraded version of the standard chatting app. Some of the additional features are the business profile, product catalog, messaging automations among others.
Now, marketers believe that WhatsApp Business has the potential to take the business communications to a new level of engagement. GoodFirms surveyed 560 small and medium businesses who use the platform. The outcome is crucial information on why and how small businesses are using the tool.
Why Do Small Businesses Use WhatsApp?
Messaging channels such as SMS and Messenger still play an important role in the communication strategy for any business. But with the changing times, employing WhatsApp as a part of the messaging strategy can prove to be a game-changer. It will soon become a crucial tool to remain competitive. This is mostly because of the host of advantages that the platform offers to small businesses.
The primary reason small businesses use WhatsApp is that it allows higher engagement (55.5%) from customers. WhatsApp is an easy mode of day-to-day chatting, and people frequently open and respond to messages on the platform. Moreover, as all the business accounts are verified by WhatsApp, customers have the assurance that they are not conversing with an imposter. All of these factors result in a higher engagement rate.
53.4% of small businesses use WhatsApp as it gives a personal touch to communication. But WhatsApp enables businesses to give a personal touch to the communication by personally responding to the queries or offering personalized discounts to the customers. Not only that, but when businesses respond with empathy to customers' problems, it comes across as trustworthy and reliable.
52.9% of survey participants are using the platform due to the growth opportunities it offers. WhatsApp Business app helps businesses to grow by allowing them to meet customers where they are. All the communication barriers are removed as the platform is free to access and already has a huge user base. A business can also share all the latest information, offers, and solve customer issues all in a single place. If used correctly and to its maximum potential, WhatsApp Business can improve the profitability of businesses by a significant margin.
Most Businesses Use WhatsApp for Customer Support
SMS and Email have been the most common channels that businesses use for connecting with customers. They are effective in their own way but not enough in an omnichannel way. But for conversational purposes, the WhatsApp Business app plays a multi-faceted role. Small businesses are majorly using their WhatsApp business account for customer support (67.1%).
Strong brand relationships with their customers is the holy grail for any business. One of the ways to form such relationships is through efficient and personal customer service. The WhatsApp Business app comes with several features that will enable superior communication with customers. These features include quick replies, labels, automated messages for greetings, and many more. Apart from the features, it is an easy and affordable option to connect with a global customer base.
WhatsApp Business API is still developing as a platform for businesses. However, the key to success in marketing is to carve a niche on a platform before it becomes overcrowded. As WhatsApp for Business has started growing in popularity, 51.8% of small businesses already use it for marketing.
One of the prime examples of this is Financial Times who shares free content on WhatsApp. The subscriber-only publication shared two free articles daily on its WhatsApp group and ended up gaining more conversions than other social media platforms.
Lastly, very few SMBs (11.1%) use WhatsApp Business to sell directly to their customers.
How Do Small Businesses Use WhatsApp Business?
Every small business will have a different set of resources that it can spare. When it comes to using WhatsApp for business, they all cannot be using it in the same way. As per the GoodFirms survey, the majority (47.3%) of the businesses chat personally with their customers on WhatsApp.
One of the biggest advantages of communicating personally with customers is that they will get satisfactory answers to their queries as there is a human at the other end giving solutions to their problems. They will end up trusting the business more.
About 38.6% of small businesses use a chatbot or automation tool for their WhatsApp business account. That's because it enables them to offer quick solutions to customer problems as and when they face problems. Mousumi, an SEO & Content Writer from Kommunicate, elaborates on the advantages of using a chatbot.
Mousumi says, "Customers expect a business to be available 24/7. It is not easy for a Small Business owner to resolve customer queries instantly or set up a customer support team. In this situation, small businesses can take the leverage of a chatbot in WhatsApp. In WhatsApp, small business owners can add chatbots to help businesses reduce customer service costs by implementing conversational solutions like the welcome message, thank you messages, ordering instructions, payment information, and discounts."
There is also the option to hire customer service representatives to communicate with the customers. 14.1% of small businesses do so. However, not every small business can afford to hire customer service representatives.
"A dedicated customer service professional is always best if WhatsApp is used within an omnichannel solution that connects all contact channels into one single dashboard," suggests Chris Thomas, a Digital Marketing Executive from Talkative, "That way, customer service representatives can use WhatsApp alongside other channels like live chat, chatbots, and video chat. It's one of the best ways to ensure a seamless online experience for your customers."
Which WhatsApp Features Do SMBs Focus On?
WhatsApp allows businesses to create next-generation experiences with some of their most out-of-the-box and customized features. The platform's features go beyond the usual customer service. The goal here is to lay the foundation for conversational commerce.
WhatsApp for business makes a lot of this easier with its available features. The most popular feature is its business profile. 98.6% of businesses voted this is an important feature.
The profile page in WhatsApp Business is way more upgraded than the normal version of the platform. The business profile features:
Link to website
As it is the first thing that customers will see when they connect with the business, ensure that it contains all the necessary information and appears professional.
For 91.3% of surveyed SMBs, the broadcast feature is an important one too. The feature allows businesses to send bulk messages to a group of users at a time. The biggest advantage is that any content is allowed to be broadcasted in a WhatsApp Business app. So, businesses can send promotional messages too.
However, there are some limitations with the feature. Firstly, the business needs to create a broadcast list, and secondly, the broadcast lists are limited to 256 contacts. A way around this limitation is the restriction is for a single broadcast list. A business can make multiple broadcasts lists to remove the communication barrier.
Contact Labels is another important feature. 61.4% of SMBs voted in its favor. This feature helps businesses in managing communication with customers. A contact label could either have a single contact or multiple contacts. You can set up to 20 labels as per certain preferences like order, location, or new customers.
Where Do SMBs Promote their WhatsApp Presence?
It is not enough for small businesses to just be present on WhatsApp. It is also essential that their target market is aware of their presence.
A business needs to know where to promote its WhatsApp presence. "When looking to market their WhatsApp presence, SMBs should promote their service depending on their target audience and their intended use of the app," says Chris Thomas.
He gives an instance, "Customer service representatives using WhatsApp may find it most useful to advertise the service on the business's homepage and social media. On the other hand, if an SMB has a brick and mortar store and they're using WhatsApp to update their customers, in-store promotion using banners and QR codes are a great option."
58% of SMBs believe social media platforms are the best place to do that.
The Head of Marketing at Photo AiD, Karolina Mlodzka, states a simple reason to use social media platforms. Karolina said, "WhatsApp Business is a fundamental tool for the user experience in your business. I would integrate this button into networks like Facebook and Instagram. Social media has reached a significantly high penetration rate, and the channels mentioned above are among the most used worldwide."
A business's website is usually the first place of interaction between the brand and customer. So, it only makes sense to create awareness about the WhatsApp presence on the official website. 53.6% of small business owners agree with this idea.
Ansh Gupta, CEO of BuySellEmpire, discusses why websites and social media platforms are where the WhatsApp presence should be promoted.
In his opinion, "Your website is one of your most important assets, so it is vital that you include all information regarding your business there. This includes all your promotional strategies, so your WhatsApp presence should be highlighted on your website. Other social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn should also be used to promote your WhatsApp presence. The main reason for this is that the majority of WhatsApp users tend to use these platforms, so you'll be reaching out to a large number of relevant users, increasing your chances of landing clients through the promotions."
There are also 40% of SMBs that don't promote their WhatsApp presence anywhere. One of the reasons for this is that they initiate conversations with their customers through their WhatsApp Business account itself. So, it becomes easier for future communication. There are also SMBs that collect customer's contact information through various channels and confirm with them their preferred channel of communication. In both cases, SMBs don't need to promote their WhatsApp presence and can directly start conversations with customers.
What Kind of Branded Content SMBs are Using on WhatsApp?
Different types of content work for different kinds of platforms. There is no one size fits all approach to using content on social media platforms. The WhatsApp Business app is no exception. Until now, WhatsApp was more of a personal communication app. Keeping that in mind, specific types of content will work best to capture the audience's attention. 99.1% of SMBs use text as primary content type for WhatsApp communication, which is obvious.
The second most used content type is the image. 93% of survey participants use photos and images.
A Sales & Marketing Manager at Premier Title Loans, Jessica Chase, mentions what kind of photos and images can help a business increase their conversion rate on WhatsApp.
She said, "People generally don't want to read long paragraph-style messages because it takes too much time and effort, so pictures and images are the best kind of content to send through WhatsApp. They can do so by taking pictures of promotional content or customer-specific products. For example, if a customer couldn't purchase a product because it was out of stock, they can send a picture of that product reshelved and invite them to come get it."
Videos are a popular form of content on almost all platforms. They are proven to increase the conversion rate or engagement rate for businesses irrespective of the platform. In the case of WhatsApp for business, too, 38.4% of SMBs believe that videos work for them. However, there is a common misconception surrounding videos that not everyone can produce videos, and it requires a substantial amount of financial resources to create one.
Flynn Zaiger from Online Optimism offers a tip about this common misconception regarding video production.
"In a more visual world, images and videos are the best way to produce engaging content on social media. If you've never produced a video before, don't stress about it. Any modern smartphone can take great video. Low production values often do far better on social media than highly produced pieces. If you're looking for that extra edge on your photography, or videography, consider purchasing a basic tripod and ring-light to help you set the scene," said Flynn.
There is one thing to note here. As much as customers enjoy visual content and engage with it, businesses also need to ensure that they are not overdoing it. Sending a limited amount of messages or visual content is the key to sustain in the long run.
Whatsapp has become a popular platform for personal and business use due to its reach, free usage, and multiple types of messages exchanged on the platform. Due to all these reasons, the Whatsapp business app can be one of the most powerful customer engagement channels, especially for businesses that want to operate globally. Right now, Whatsapp is onboarding businesses only after verifying and approving their profiles. So, SMBs should launch their business profiles as soon as possible to get the edge over their competitors.
As appealing as using Whatsapp for business sounds, there are certain tips and tricks here too. Businesses need to understand that they still need to maintain a professional front on their Whatsapp business account. Moreover, just because they have access to personal numbers of customers, they cannot send all sorts of messages throughout the day. There has to be a limit to the number of messages/content being sent. If managing business WhatsApp becomes overwhelming over time, then there is always an option to automate certain tasks with the help of automation tools.
To sum up, it can be said that if used correctly, a WhatsApp business app can enable businesses to reach new heights of success without burdening them financially or in terms of resources.
About the WhatsApp for Business Survey
GoodFirms surveyed 560 SMBs to get detailed insights into how small businesses use WhatsApp business.
The survey participants belonged to various business types - 34.8% of brick and mortar, 36.8% of online businesses, 22.3% of hybrid businesses, and 6.1% of others. Similarly, the participants were from a range of business sizes too.
15.4% of single employee businesses, 28% of businesses with 2-10 employees, 29.1% of businesses with 11-50 employees, 18% of businesses with 51-250 employees, and 9.5% of businesses with 251-500 employees.
The participants were mainly male (56.4%), female (36.4%), and the remaining 7.1% declined to respond. When it comes to their age group, a significant number of them were Millennials (49.3%), Generation X (32.9%), and Baby Boomers (17.9%).
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Alan Langdon made no secret of fleeing Kawhia under cover of darkness
5 Jan, 2017 10:42 PM 3 minutes to read
Kawhia man Alan Langdon and daughter, Que, haven't been seen since December 17. Photo / Supplied
By: Belinda Feek
NZ Herald reporter based in Hamilton
belinda.feek@nzherald.co.nz@ought2bee
Alan Langdon was open about his quest to flee Kawhia so that he couldn't be found - but he didn't mention 6-year-old daughter, Que, in his plans.
A Kawhia resident, who did not want to be named for fear of retribution, said in the end Langdon made no secret of his big trip - packing up his 6m catamaran while the local school's prizegiving was being held at the town hall next door.
Langdon and Que have not been seen since sailing over the Kawhia bar in relatively calm conditions on December 17, last year.
Police have searched the coastline stretching from Wellington to Cape Reinga in the west, and Cape Reinga to Bay of Islands in the east out to 35 nautical miles.
Although there have been "a number" of unconfirmed sightings of a similar vessel - a 6.1m Wharram-design catamaran, painted white, with white sails and the number T878 in black on the sail - in the upper North Island, but there hasn't been any since the new year.
Police haven't ruled out Langdon tripping across the Tasman but they described that as a "foolhardy" thing to do.
Kawhia man Alan Langdon made no secret of this plans to flee in his boat, pictured above, However, no mention was made of daughter, Que. Photo / Supplied
The resident told the Herald today that Langdon had openly talked about fleeing the country under the cover of darkness.
"He just said 'I'm just going to take off in the middle of the night and no one will know which direction I go'.
"Apart from saying that and the fact that everyone watched him load up so much gear, that's about it."
Langdon told people they were heading to the Bay of Islands but by the amount of gear he was packing, including many sealed buckets of items, it was obvious they were going away for a long time.
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Langdon told locals he was dropping his daughter off to her mother, Ariane Wyler, but they would later learn that she was nowhere near that part of the country and was on holiday in Switzerland at the time.
Langdon was an extremely competent sailor, she said.
"He could sail a fence post around the world that guy. But he is blase about it."
He loved sailing so much he almost became melancholy when he wasn't on the water.
"He was more sad than anything. He just wasn't himself without a boat. He's not a person that is good on the land for long."
But she was worried for his and Que's safety as she understood he didn't have a lot of safety gear on board.
"He's got no back-up outboard and I don't know if he's got an Epirb [emergency locator beacon]."
Like everyone else in Kawhia, she had known Langdon all her life and said he was a doting dad. Que had a strong personality of her own but was very friendly yet happy in her own company.
Although the weather was nice the day they left, there was a reasonable swell as bad weather was looming off the coast.
She said the Kawhia community had closed ranks and didn't appear to be co-operating much with Australian child recovery expert Col Chapman who visited the town yesterday.
She couldn't understand why as a young child's safety was at risk.
As for why he fled when he did, Langdon had spent many months on land and was also annoyed with the custody battle over Que.
"He loves his daughter. He will die looking after her."


Cross Country - Ran a 25:18 (6k) at the GLIAC Championships and finished in the top 60 competitors. Finished fourth in the 5k at the Bay College Invitational with a time of 20:21. Her fastest 5k of the year was a 20:01 run on September 9 at UW-Parkside. Ran the 6k at the MSU Spartan Invitational, Roy Griak Invitational, and Lewis Conference Crossover with her fastest time being a 25:06 at MSU on September 15.
Indoor – Appeared in the mile on five occasions and ran in the 3,000-meters three times during the indoor season. Earned a victory in the mile at the Pointer Invite with a time of 5:25.36, her season best. Recorded a top-time of 11:07.56 in the 3,000-meter run at the SVSU "Jet's Pizza" Invite.
Outdoor – Ran in the 1,500-meters twice during the outdoor season, earning a top time of 5:12.35 at the Spartan Invite. Also competed once in the 5,000-meters, finishing in 19:29.02 at the GVSU Al Owens Classic.
Before NMU: Led hear high school team as a captain for two years and received All-Conference Award in her last three years as well as Academic All-State Award her senior year.
Personal: Daughter of Betsy and Jesse. Born on May 28th, 1999. Majoring in Spanish and Internationa Studies.


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A lInfern de Dante Alighieri, part de La Divina Comèdia, la Malebolgia o la Malebolge () és el vuité cercle de l'Infern. Traduït de l'italià, Malebolge significa "rases malignes". La Malebolge és una gran caverna amb forma d'embut, dividida en deu rases o séquies circulars i concèntriques. Cada rasa és dita bòlgia (bolgia, italià per a "bossa" o "rasa"). Hi ha llargues calçades elevades des de la circumferència exterior fins al seu centre, representades com rajos creuant una roda. Al centre de la Malebolgia es troba el nové i últim cercle de l'Infern.

Referències
 La traducció d'Allen Mandelbaum de lInfern, publicada per la University of California Press el 1980

Enllaços externs
 "Dante's Inferno: Circle 8" resum a la University of Texas

Infern (Divina Comèdia)
Escatologia cristiana

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


TÜV Rheinland has commissioned a new steady state solar simulator provided by PSE AG in the Cologne Solar Testing Centre. The test bench is to be used for measuring photovoltaic modules, thermal solar collectors and combinations of both technologies – known as PVT modules – for the first time in a sun simulator.
The combined simulator will allow us not only to save time and set-up costs but also to attain maximum reproducibility of the measured results. This is impressively confirmed by the first measurements, commented Ulrich Fritzsche, Specialist Coordinator for Solar Thermal Collectors at TÜV Rheinland.
promises and meet the service guarantees made by manufacturers.
For the new TÜV Rheinland test bench, the Freiburg-based company PSE AG constructed the lamp holder, the lamp area with artificial sky and the mobile collector platform. Another supplier built the module test table, while Atlas MTT GmbH provided the high-performance lamps.
darkens the test surface within only a few seconds. This is something we are especially proud of".
The 12 MHG lamps provided by Atlas MTT GmbH have a controllable radiation power of up to 1,200 watts/sqm. An artificial sky simulates natural long-wave radiation exchange so that the heat of the lamps does not affect the measured results.
The high-performance radiation devices are integrated in a lamp holder, with an automatic positioning in height and angle. In conjunction with the mobile test table, this allows the TÜV Rheinland inspectors to implement various test designs using angles between 0° and 45°. As the photovoltaic module and thermal collector test surfaces require different alignments for the measurements, two independent test tables are needed. The test surface for the collectors is 2,500 mm x 2,500 mm, while photovoltaic modules can be measured on a horizontal surface of 3,500 mm x 2,500 mm. This means it was possible to implement the lamp area and test table requirements resulting from the different standards for collectors and modules in a single test bench.


Adidas 350 Boost Yeezy "Private Black"
Adidas x Kanye West seem to be just warming up their collaboration. First Launching time and time again the 750 Boost in Clay Grey that sold out like a breeze. The second installment brought a more summer and comfort look with a low key profile the 350 Boost in Off White. But now we witness the historic third release of the famous Yeezy and powerful design of Kanye West. What better way to think West then doing a reverse musicology twist from light to dark. As we hype up the Yeezy release their is one thing in everyone's mind "How many seconds to sold out ?"
(Must meet at least 1 requirement / in store only) 1. Come in wearing your 3 stripes or any adidas gear.
2. Bring a previous/new Private receipt.
As we tackle all the obstacles on trying to get the Yeezy, this shoe might just be one in a million chances, so from all of us at PRIVATE good luck on your hunt, and run to our stores cause today is the last day to summit your lucky ticket, thanks for stopping by the blog and remember too Like, Share, and Comment. Stay Fresh !


Changes have been observed in the ice sheets and ice shelves around Antarctica, with glaciers retreating in West Antarctica and melting of the underside of ice shelves to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Floating ice shelves help to stabilise the Antarctic ice sheet, by restricting the flow of glacial ice from the continent to the ocean. Warm ocean water penetrating below the ice shelves of the West Antarctic ice sheet is destabilising a number of glaciers, increasing the Antarctic contribution to sea level rise. Latest estimates for the Antarctic ice sheet show a loss of 2720 ± 1390 billion tonnes from 1992 to 2017, corresponding to an increase in global mean sea level of 7.6 ± 3.9 mm (approximately 10 per cent of the total). Melting of the Greenland ice sheet has increased dramatically, from an average of 34 billion tonnes (Gt) per year during 1992–2001 to 215 Gt per year over 2002–2011.
Changes in sea ice have little direct impact on sea level because sea ice is frozen sea water that floats and when it melts it returns the original volume of water to the sea. However, the presence or absence of sea ice can influence the climate and can also be an indicator of wider climate changes.
Changes in Antarctic sea ice are complex, with statistically significant increases in extent and seasonal duration in some regions—particularly in the Ross Sea, between 160° E and 150° W—and decreases in others— particularly to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula in the Bellingshausen Sea. The duration of the sea-ice season has changed by up to four months over the 38 years of record in these regions. Sea-ice extent around Antarctica has significant inter-annual variability.
Trends in the length of the sea-ice season each year (in days per year) around Antarctica, 1979–2017. The Antarctic land-mass is shaded grey. Each year sea ice around Antarctica expands (or advances) from a minimum extent in February to a maximum extent in September. Duration is a measure of the number of days that a particular location contains sea ice.
The ice sheets and ice shelves of Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice due to a warmer climate; sea-ice extent has reduced in the Arctic.
Between 1979 and 2014 the net sea‑ice extent showed a positive trend, with substantial regional variations, however since then sea-ice coverage has been predominantly below average. Over the long term, sea‑ice coverage responds to large‑scale atmospheric and oceanic changes. The overall increase in sea‑ice extent since 1979 has mostly been attributed to changes in westerly wind strength. The largest recorded wintertime extent of approximately 20.2 million km 2 was recorded on 20 September 2014, closely followed by the lowest recorded summertime extent of approximately 2.1 million km 2 on 1 March 2017. These trends and the large variability are due to many factors including changes in winds over the Southern Ocean and near the Antarctic continent, and changes in ocean surface temperature and salinity. More observations are needed to determine if the recent decrease in sea-ice extent is the start of a long-term trend or a short-term change.
The sea-ice extent in the Arctic Ocean has decreased 3.5–4.1 per cent per decade since satellite records began in 1979. The four lowest wintertime maximum Arctic sea-ice extents in the satellite record have all occurred in the past four years. The record low minimum Arctic sea-ice extent occurred in September 2012.
Antarctic and Arctic sea-ice extent (shown as the net anomaly from the 1981–2010 average) for the period January 1979 to May 2018 (106 km 2). Thin lines are monthly averages and indicate the variability at shorter time-scales, and thick lines are eleven-month running averages.
Why are Australia and the Earth warming?


Breakfast was simple but delicious. Staff very friendly. Room very clean and the villa is beautiful.
Owner is friendly. Hotel is decent.
Lovely place, the stay was great. And though it is a bit out of the centre, they greatly make up for it with an organised pick up on arrival, and drop in the centre for dinner. The one advice I would give guess, is that if they want slightly non standard tours of Angkor, (ie Not small-loop, large-loop, sunset temple) they should discuss with the owners, who are lovely, as the staff caters mainly to prefabricated solution. That said most of the staff was really trying to help, just learning.
The friendly staff obviously, service and hospitality at it's best. 2 free short trips during my stay for everyday!
During my stay, the owner herself (I guess) can be more than helpful. She has borrowed me a guide book for the trip, provided me the city map, and even showed me how to get cheap & great food! Her hospitality is definitely worth mentioning. She even prepared breakfast-to-go for me knowing i was gonna depart to catch sunrise at 5AM in the morning. I guess small hotel has it's perks, as they pay more attention to your needs.
It's nice clean and tranquil place. I'd stay for two nights and find it relaxing after a long day-trip. The hotel provide good breakfast, spa and massage, laundry service, and has minibar with kettle and hair dryer in room. Blanket and bedding are clean. Though location is far from centre, they provide free transportation from hotel to town once a day which is convenient. I'll definitely will go back to stay there if I'm in Siem Reap again.
It;s a bit away from the centre, but they offer free rides which is nice. Sakara and her husband are great hosts, and very helpful. At times it felt like a b and b, as there was rarely anyone at the reception, if that matters to you.
Our stay was great! The driver came to pick us up at the airport on time. Once we got there we booked the Angkor Wat tour for the day after at a very reasonable price. The staff is extremely helpful and make you feel a very special guest. They have a good breakfast and a free tuk tuk service twice a day. I would definitely recommend this hotel.
Sakara looked after us so well. She arranged great tuk tuks for exploring Angkor Wat. The drivers were knowledgeable and polite. She even let us shower before our flight and after we'd been to a temple in the morning. The breakfasts were fabulous too and all the staff were really helpful.


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Clusia dukei är en tvåhjärtbladig växtart som beskrevs av B. Maguire. Clusia dukei ingår i släktet Clusia och familjen Clusiaceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Malpigiaordningen
dukei


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The laser ablation systems can be designed to stand-alone or for integration into any manufacturing process that requires cleaning of parts prior to another operation.
Compact and versatile new L-702 and L-702SP Spindle Alignment Lasers help manufacturing plants cut costs and boost productivity.
It's one of three new products from the company.
Tulip Standard and Tulip Professional are two new cloud-based plans from Tulip. At $95 and $195 a month, respectively, these plans make Tulip available to small and medium-sized manufacturers instantly, from any web browser.
GAM's new GPL zero-backlash planetary gearboxes provide high precision and rigidity for horizontal and vertical robotic and motion control applications.
Three key traceability-related products from Omron Microscan are now being released as part of the company's extensive automation solutions.
New FQSFP series improves signal integrity and architectural flexibility.
Beads offered in range of attenuation across a wide frequency range.
The Intel RealSense D400 product family includes two depth-sensing cameras: the D415 and D435.
Products receive EN 45545-2 certification for fire behavior requirements.


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Vatican Financial Institute (IOR) - ZENIT - HSM
Annual Report of Institute for Works of Religion
Financial Statements Audited by Independent International Auditing Firm Mazars
June 08, 2020 16:41Jim FairVatican
For the eighth consecutive year, the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) publishes the Financial Statements in its Annual Report.
The 2019 Financial Statements have been audited by the independent international auditing firm Mazars.
The Institute for Works of Religion — commonly known as the Vatican Bank — provides financial services to the Vatican City State and to the Catholic Church worldwide. In its operations, it works to ensure adherence to "the ethical and social principles of Catholic Teaching" in its management and in the "investment policies of its own account" and "those of its clients".
On 28 April 2020, the Board of Superintendence of the Institute unanimously approved the 2019 Financial Statements. In accordance with the Statutes, they were submitted to the Commission of Cardinals highlighting the soundness and the strength of IOR financials (capital and liquidity level) and its compliance with international best practices. In line with the indications of His Holiness Pope Francis, the Commission of Cardinals decided again this year for a full distribution of profits.
Key financial data for the Institute in 2019 are the following:
Euro 5.1 billion (Euro 5 billion in 2018) of client assets of which 3.4 billion are assets managed for third parties or under custody;
Euro 38 million (Euro 17.5 million in 2018), as a net result illustrating the risk-based and faith consistent investment process applied to manage IOR balance sheet;
Euro 630.3 million of net equity after distribution of profit as at 31 December 2019. In addition, IOR maintains a strong liquidity level with a Liquidity Coverage Ratio LCR of 443% and a Net Stable Funding Ratio NSFR of 1008%.
During the year, the IOR said it has continued to strengthen its senior management team and increased its investments in IT including those related to the membership of the European SEPA payment platforms.
View the full report here
June 08, 2020 16:41Vatican
Jim Fair
Jim Fair is a husband, father, grandfather, writer, and communications consultant. He also likes playing the piano and fishing. He writes from the Chicago area.
Personal Objects of Martyr of Communism Fr. Popiełuszko Exhibited
Pope Francis Appoints Bishop of Astorga, Spain


The only motive of AJT Software Labs was to become the best Travel Portal Development Company in Hongkong. Our aim was not just to provide the Travel Portal development, Travel Technology Solution, Travel Booking Engine Development, Travel Booking Software, Best B2B and B2C Travel Portal Development, Job Board Development, Hotel Reservation System, GDS/XML/API Integration, 3rd Party Flight Integration, E Commerce Portal Development Services, Airline Reservation Software design to the market but also to educate our clients, to get the best possible solutions in the market. There are numerous suppliers in the market today who would lure you by their inventory.
As the best hongkong travel technology company, we have had real time experience in training and teaching our clients to choose wisely the wholesalers and getting the best deals out of their investment. Best travel agencies software providers and travel portal development in hongkong have to be "the best" in all spheres.


She went aground en route to scuttling in the Rottnest graveyard on Friday 10 Feb 1939 when the towing hawser got caught around the launch Myrtle's propeller in the surge from the heavy swell. The barge was cut away, and drifted ashore at Henrietta Rocks, while a passing launch towed the Myrtle into Thompson's Bay. As SHARK was being scuttled anyway, there was no real pressure to recover her, and indeed nothing further was done.


Modernity is supposed to be committed to improve the lot of mankind and reduce the gap between haves and have-nots. It is presumed that development is inversely proportional to poverty. With increasing development destitution will decrease, and ultimately development will remove forever all poverty at all corners of the world. But the emerging scenario shows that the presumption is illusory. For societies which have experienced unprecedented prosperity during the last few decades, have not been able to eliminate either poverty or destitution within their borders.
Is the philosophy and this model of development flawed?
Can one stick out one's neck and claim that the dominant model of development, whatever it can or cannot do, will not remove poverty?
Could it be that in all large multiethnic societies, once the number of poor dwindles and they can be ignored during elections, the political parties are left with no incentives to pursue the cause of poor?
Observation: Those living in relative prosperity develop a vested interest in not doing anything for the poor.
Large-scale destitution is often a direct result of urbanization and development. It usually follows the destruction of commons and the shared life-support systems of the poor. That is why the most glaring examples of destitution are not found in traditional isolated, tribal communities. But among the poor communities moving into urban slums, among daily wage earners in industrial cities, or among landless agricultural laborers when agriculture begins to be industrialized. They are the ones who are unable to cope up with the demands of an impersonal market and a modern political economy.
Inference: Poverty in non-modern societies did not necessarily mean starvation or collapse of life-support system, because life styles in those societies were not fully monetized and the global commons were relatively intact. Even with no income, one could hope to survive at a 'low' level of sustenance. The community and partly nature took care of the needs of the poor, especially given that those needs were not many.
Destitution now means zero income in a fully modern contractual political economy. In an impersonal situation where individualism reigns, in the absence of cash income, one cannot fall back upon the global commons, either because it is exhausted or depleted or because it has been taken over by the ubiquitous global market. Neither can you live off the forest or the land nor can you depend on the magnanimity of your neighbors.
Observation: The difference that separated the life styles of the rich and the poor began to disappear simultaneously with development. That distinction protected the latter from complete destruction and loss of dignity. In many Afro-Asian societies, the rich lived in brick and concrete houses; the poor lived in mud houses. The rich wore expensive clothes or western dress; the poor had two pairs of traditional clothes. They wore one set when they washed the other, but they could stay reasonably clean. The rich ate well, the poor ate poorly, but they did eat. In sum, the poor survived and constituted in some cases a significant presence in society.
Rich-Poor version: In developed societies, the poor have everything the rich have. Only they are its fourth rate, down market version. The difference between the two classes becomes less cultural and more economic. In an American slum, the poor have the same thing the rich have - a broken television set purchased in a garage sale, shabby blue jeans made by some unknown low-brow clothiers, and even a sofa set with springs coming out of the upholstery. Go to the poorest Bangladeshi village or African tribe and you will find the rich and the poor living differently. But they do not have the usual features of a first world slum - large scale drug addiction or alcoholism, high crime rates and pathetic dependence on means of mass communication for interpersonal linkages or entertainment.
Conclusion: That safety net now lies in tatters all over the world. The poor are increasingly not only poor, they are destitute. Development may have sometimes decreased poverty, but it has done so by increasing destitution. All exceptions to this rule are either due to the ability to extract wealth through formal or informal colonialism or through ruthless authoritarian exploitation.
It can be argued that other forms of social change also do not remove poverty, and therefore, we have no option but to live under a developmental regime. But no system becomes morally acceptable on the ground that human ingenuity has not yet found a better system. Nor does any system acquire the right to snuff out alternative possibilities by virtue of the fact that earlier systems were worse.


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Barry's Reviews---"The Five Silver Buddhas"
THE FIVE SILVER BUDDHAS (1935) by Harry Stephen Keeler
reviewed by Barry Ergang
I knew Harry Stephen Keeler by name only until I read about his eccentricities in Bill Pronzini's hilarious Gun in Cheek a number of years ago. When I came upon a copy of The Five Silver Buddhas, also several years back, in a used-book store, I bought it but didn't get around to reading it until very recently.
The 281-page novel chiefly concerns one between-jobs newspaper reporter named Penn Harding who, on his way to propose marriage to Neva Edgecomb, daughter of wealthy Chicago steel magnate Bradley Edgecomb, stops in at an auction and purchases a pocket-sized silver image of the Buddha—one of five—that is supposed to be a how-sei-gei, a good luck charm. What makes the item unique is that the Buddha has his hands over his eyes. After leaving the auction, Harding stops at the laundry owned and operated by Fook Wong, who tells him the image—because it's of a "blinded" Buddha—is actually a mo-sei-gei, a bad luck charm.
Before the reader learns what kind of bad luck befalls Harding, Keeler treats him to the fates of the possessors of the other four images. These narratives consume quite a few chapters, especially the one concerning burglar Tim Waldo, but except as demonstrations of bad luck, they are completely irrelevant to the main plot, which in itself is little more than a short story expatiated upon via Keeler's astoundingly turgid, digressive prose style.
But back to Penn Harding. He visits the Edgecomb mansion, apprehensive about whether Neva will accept his proposal, and is surprised to see uniformed policemen posted at the front and rear of the house. Admitted by Jelkins, an English butler of cold demeanor, Harding joins Neva in her father's study. The Japanese houseman, Tano, brings them glasses of grape juice and chocolate walnuts, exchanges some friendly words with Harding, and departs. Harding proposes to Neva, worried she'll reject him because he doesn't want to accept her father's offer to work in the steel business, and is happily surprised when she agrees to marry him.
Bradley Edgecomb is out of the house on a business appointment when Harding arrives, but returns not long afterward. In the interim, Neva explains that her father's appointment is with fatally ill metallurgist Peter Cron, who has developed a formula for making steel virtually impregnable. "Steelcron," as the formula is known, will enable Edgecomb to manufacture steel plates for American battleships, thus making his company superior to his bigger competitors and making him that much wealthier.
On the way back to the rooming house where he lives, Harding is accosted by thugs. Still later, someone invades his room in the middle of the night. Subsequently, Harding is hauled in by the police, accused of stealing the Steelcron formula from the safe in Edgecomb's study, since he was the only person, other than Edgecomb himself, the police know for a certainty came and went that night. A piece of damning evidence pointing to him has been found in the safe.
The remainder of the story concerns Harding's efforts to prove himself innocent—as additional obstacles confront him—and uncover the identity of the culprit who's framed him. As new events unfold and more information comes to light, the story gets delightfully sillier.
As I mentioned earlier, the novel is 281 pages long. Yet on page 147 the reader sees
a "challenge to the reader" that wouldn't exactly have Ellery Queen eating his heart out since neither Harding nor anyone else solves the mystery until quite late in the second half of the book. I couldn't tell you if it's fairly-clued. This is one of those stories you don't try to figure out; you just coast along with it.
As William Poundstone points out at his website, to read Keeler is to experience the literary equivalent of watching a film by Edward D. Wood, Jr—who, by the way, wrote a few pulp novels himself. Which is to say, Keeler is so bad he's good.
The Five Silver Buddhas could serve as a primer on how not to write fiction, particularly of the mystery/suspense variety. For instance, Keeler has the habit of letting one character relate in dialogue information to another which the other already has—this for the benefit of the reader. Since Keeler uses the omniscient viewpoint much of the time, this amateurish method is unnecessary.
He throws in at least three "had-he-but-knowns."
Keeler's idiosyncratic prose is a commingling of what he probably thought of as "literary" with the slang of the day. He's overly fond of incomplete and complete sentences that wander herky-jerkily all over the map before getting to their predicates. He loves the exclamation mark, no doubt imagining it heightens impact on the reader.
Here's a passage from Chapter Three, which details the mo-sei-gei of Ivan Kossakoff, a serial strangler in possession of one of the Buddhas, who's stalking his next victim:
"She certainly ought to be along soon. For her life, so he'd found, was as regular a thing as a train time-table. It was right here, in fact, that he had first seen her, a number of evenings before, as she strode briskly home after her dinner. Which dinner, he'd found, was invariably eaten in the little basement French tea-room a half block or so up the street. An expensive 'dump,' too. A 'buck' for a 'table de hoat'—with wine! She was a tall dark girl—28 years, perhaps, in age—maybe more. Either she was disregardful of Chicago hold-up men—or else, as was most probably the case, she knew she was perfectly safe on a well-lighted street at 8 o'clock in the evening. For the diamond that glistened in each of her ear-lobes was the real thing—and Ivan prided himself that he knew scintillations—when he saw scintillation! For hadn't Aunt Sonya Vointskaya, when he'd been a boy there on Goose Island, had at least half a dozen real diamonds—and given them all to the Russian Church, too, when she died, the damned old bitch? No, these earrings were, as Ivan put it, the 'McCoy'—showing that he knew the argot of his native-born criminal brothers as well as he knew jewelry. The ear-drops were, in fact, as 'good stuff' as the dinner ring—the 'hoop,' as Ivan called it—that always reposed on the middle finger of this girl's ungloved right hand. To be sure, she had Ivan more or less puzzled. But because the big first-floor rear room to which she always repaired after eating her dinner—and immediately went to bed in, and alone, moreover!—was in a theatrical rooming house just a few blocks further south on Washington Square, Ivan guessed that she might be a 'kicker'—a 'burleycue gal,' that is—or maybe a 'chorine'—now at leisure—but one whose 'daddy,' during some previous 'affair'—had 'iced her' generously. And even 'padded her purse' as well. Though she might be a principal, at that. An actress. A 'warbler' maybe...."
The quirky Keeler style sorely dilutes his efforts to generate either convincing characterizations or suspense.
The book teems with racial and ethnic stereotypes, and occasional slurs. Keeler evidently never learned that extended passages of dialect pull readers out of the story as they try to decipher what foreign-born characters are saying. Thus we have the German rooming-house owner Mrs. Schempelwitz (whose scene goes on for pages!): "'Oh—vun derrible ding vass happen' on Soud Stade Sdreed tonide. About vun block down. Unt agross der sdreed from diss site. A man vot vas [sic] run a Shinese oction vass killed deat—by masked holduppers.'" (Why there's an apostrophe after "happen" is beyond me, unless it's a typo, of which the book contains plenty.)
"'Me no know a single tling,' declared Fook Wong, his lips shut so firmly that they made virtually a line as straight as the one between Euclid's famous two points. 'Know not'ing. Nev' see 'im befo'.' He shrugged his shoulders with magnificent insouciance. 'Oh—mabbe goo' luck, Mista Haldling. Mabbe—how-sei-gei. Mebbe [sic] blad. Gloddamn blad. Mo-sei-gei. Who know? Not me.'"
Here's Tano, the Japanese houseman: "'The eegn'rant Chinese,' he went on, 'to soch a fine race like we Japs—for we consider the Chinese mongrel dogs, fit to do but as you say your friend do—iron shirts—yes they believe impleecitly that images of Buddha breeng luck. Now me, I am American-born Jap—an' am myself beyon' soch superstitious state....'"
Hilda, the Swedish maid: "'I guess he dittent go by Elyin....He say you sen' him from County Yail Beelding to get a paper from your room.'"
The French Mr. Boissevain: "'Zis ees eet, Shief! Wan of zee five, annyway. Our nombaire for eet—one hondard and zirty-five—eez on zee bottom. Only so leetle you 'ave to 'ave beeg glass like zees wan of mine for to see. Zee ozzer four, zey was nombaired in same way, but from wan hondard and zirty-seex to wan hondard an' zirty-nine eenclusive.'"
Keeler's publisher could have used a good copy editor. Mispunctuations and spelling errors abound.
It's unlikely that modern readers could devour one Keeler title after another unless they're masochists. If The Five Silver Buddhas exemplifies his work—and from what I've heard, it's tame in comparison with later books—his books have to be regarded as the same kind of once-in-a-great-while "guilty pleasures" as Ed Wood's movies.
For additional information and examples of Keeler's work, check out the Harry Stephen Keeler Society.
As always, for more on this novel or The Golden Age of Detection surf to http://tinyurl.com/yu8p2f
Barry Ergang © 2007
Currently the Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine and First Senior Editor of Mysterical-E, winner of the Short Mystery Fiction Society's 2007 Derringer Award in the Flash Fiction category, Barry Ergang's written work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. For links to material available online, see Barry's webpages.
Posted by Kevin R. Tipple at 10:55 AM
Reviewing: "Deadly Beloved" by Max Allan Collins
Reviewing Children's Books
Barry's Reviews--"Fast One" by Paul Cain
Merry Christmas and A Mouth Full Of Bullets
Reviewing: "Fire Prayer" by Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Reviewing: "The Marathon Murders" by Chester Campbell
Talking Politics
Barry's Reviews--"Ellipsis" by Stephen Greenleaf
Helping The Kids
Barry's Reviews--"Swan Dive" by Jeremiah Healy
Barry's Reviews--"The Burglar In The Library"
Earl Staggs Reviews: "Deadly Sins-Deadly Secrets"
Reviewing: "Carols and Crimes, Gifts and Grifters"...
Reviewing: "Murder New York Style: 21 Stories By ...
Small Caliber Reviews---"Hundred Dollar Baby"
Small Caliber Reviews: "SPIDER MOUNTAIN"


Hope this is a duplicate post.  Been out of the loop with storm.  Amazing story!
Also Sunday I had a Sharp Shined Hawk in my Dogwood with a Squirrel who wasn't having him there. For the past few days I have had lots of Chickadees, Titmice, Cardinals galore, Blue Jays, White Throated Sparrows, Song Sparrows, House Sparrows, Juncos, more Mourning Doves than I have ever seen, but only 3 Starlings which is the most I have seen in WEEKS!  The Chicks, Titmice, Cardinals and Jays have been enjoying the window feeder on my 2nd floor kitchen window and window sill that I keep stocked with sunflower seeds.  The rest are feasting on the popcorn and bird seed I throw out the window several times a day.


text:
Norman Smith PS
Village in the hills
Born in 1949, Norman Smith was brought up in Berkshire. As a student, he studied Art and Design in Bristol, which led to a teaching qualification, he and his wife travelled to India and the Far East, eventually arriving in Australia, where he taught for three years. He returned to teach in England, before deciding to paint full-time in 1987.
Norman lives and works in Oxfordshire with a studio on the edge of the Berkshire Downs. His work is predominantly pastel, a medium which is suited to the use of bold and gentle colour to depict the changing moods of the landscape. His technique is to apply solid patches of pure colour in thick layers that create a heavy textured effect, treating this medium much like oil paint.
He is greatly attracted to coastal and marine subjects as these offer different challenges, a tremendous variety of colour and constant movement. More recently, he has reassessed his approach by concentrating on new and restricted palettes, together with an attempt to develop a stronger more vibrant image. This has led to the greater use of oils as a medium to further this approach.
He is a regular exhibitor at the Pastel Society at the Mall Galleries in London, winning the Longley Prize in 1999. In 2000, he was the winner of the Inscribe Prize and in 2001 won the Thompsons Gallery Award.


text:
The Sick Lion
A Lion, unable from old age and infirmities to provide himself with food by force, resolved to do so by trickery. He returned to his den, and lying down there, pretended to be sick, taking care that his sickness should be publicly known.
The animals expressed their sorrow, and came one by one to his den, where the Lion devoured them.
After many of the beasts had thus disappeared, the Fox discovered the trick and presenting himself to the Lion, stood on the outside of the cave, at a respectful distance, and asked him how he was.
"I am not so well," replied the Lion, "but why do you stand without? Pray enter within to talk with me."
"No, thank you," said the Fox. "I notice that there are many prints of feet entering your cave, but I see no trace of any returning."
Moral: He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others.
posted in Fox, Lion | 11 Suggested Morals
The Man and the Lion
A Man and a Lion traveled together through the forest. They soon began to boast of their respective superiority to each other in strength and prowess.
As they were disputing, they passed a statue carved in stone, which represented "a Lion strangled by a Man."
The traveler pointed to it and said: "See there! How strong we are, and how we are stronger even the king of beasts."
The Lion replied: "This statue was made by one of you men. If we Lions knew how to erect statues, you would see the Man placed under the paw of the Lion."
Moral: One story is good, until another is told.
posted in Lion, People | 2 Suggested Morals
The Donkey, the Fox and the Lion
The Donkey and the Fox, having entered into partnership together for their mutual protection, went out into the forest to hunt. They had not gone far when they met a Lion.
The Fox, seeing the imminent danger, approached the Lion and promised to arrange the capture of the Donkey if the Lion would pledge his word not to harm the Fox.
The Fox went back to the Donkey and, assuring him that he would not be hurt, the Fox led the Donkey to a deep pit and arranged that he should fall into it.
The Lion, seeing that the Donkey was secured, immediately grabbed the Fox, and attacked the Donkey at his leisure.
Moral: Don't give up your friends to someone stronger than you to save yourself.
posted in Donkey, Fox, Lion | 26 Suggested Morals
The Kingdom of the Lion
The beasts of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but was as just and gentle as a king could be.
During his reign he made a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league, in which the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Goat, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and unity.
The Hare said, "Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong." And after the Hare said this, he ran for his life.
Moral: It takes more than the ruler's decree for the subjects to obey.
posted in Lion | 2 Suggested Morals
Lion and the Mouse
ONCE WHEN a Lion was asleep a little Mouse began running up and down upon him. This soon wakened the Lion, who placed his huge paw upon him, and opened his big jaws to swallow the mouse."Pardon, O King," cried the little Mouse: "forgive me this time, I shall never forget it: who knows but what I may be able to do you a turn some of these days?"
The Lion thought this idea of the Mouse being able to help him so funny, that he lifted up his paw and let him go.
Some time after, the Lion was caught in a trap. The hunters who caught him wanted to carry him alive to the King. So they the Lion to a tree while they went in search of a waggon to carry him on.
Just then the little Mouse happened to pass by, and seeing the sad plight which the Lion was in, went up to him and soon gnawed away the ropes that bound the King of the Animals.
"Was I not right?" said the little Mouse.
Moral: Little friends may prove great friends.
posted in Lion, Mouse | 35 Suggested Morals
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For the Bengal Classical Music Festival 2016, a generative system was developed in order to visually encapsulate the essence of Eastern classical music. A symbol – the statue of a musician sitting at peace – was chosen as the core element of the system to generate facets of design unique to each performer's music. The lighting of the statue, different for each generation, reflects the various times of day and night when a raga (a mode of Indian classical music) is played. The original version of the statue was scanned and virtualised in 3D for this custom generative system.


For the fourth year in a row, Dr. Vitt has been named a Top Doctor in New York City by Castle Connolly.
We are the premiere Direct Primary Care practice in NYC.
I went into medicine with the intention of developing enduring, trusting, and meaningful long-term relationships with my patients.
Today's medical-insurance-pharmaceutical-industrial complex places essentially zero value on the doctor-patient relationship. The bureaucracy treats you not as a human, but as a number, a billing code, a dollar sign. We all have had terrible experiences. Simply put – the current system is inhuman.
I created my practice to care for a community of humans.
After all – medicine is by its very nature the most human of professions. We evolved in small groups where relationships were everything – and that tribal circuitry remains with us. What most differentiates us from our hominid ancestors and our primate cousins in the wild – what makes us human – is the deep complexity of our culture. Behaviors. Beliefs. Emotions. Humans are beautifully complicated.
Expertly addressing matters of health and illness from a truly human perspective (the biopsychosocial model as I teach my medical students) requires a human relationship. Building a meaningful doctor-patient relationship requires time, communication, and trust.
With these ideals in mind, we've transitioned to a Direct Primary Care membership model. This innovation liberates us from corporate-centered healthcare's nonsensical, opaque, impersonal, and expensive approach to primary care. It permits me to realize my professional vision and sustain a human-centered practice. The cost is less than your monthly smartphone bill. The benefits are tremendous. Explore the site to learn about our community and how to join.


Nelson, New Zealand – October 6, 2018 – Campbell Wilson of Christchurch became the first ever NZ Young Piper of the Year, receiving NZ$1,000, at the inaugural New Zealand Young Piper of the Year Solo Piping Competition. There were two sections to decide the title: a competition of familiar graded piobaireachd and light music events during the day, and a concert style contest in the evening for those in the Under-21 MSR and Hornpipe & Jig events.
The NZ Young Piper of the Year award was determined by the Piobaireachd (submit two) and the MSR (submit two).
Following contestants' MSR, they played a Hornpipe & Jig that was streamed live on Facebook.
Campbell Wilson holds his presentation cheque for winning the 2018 NZ Young Piper of the Year competition, with other prize-winners looking on.


Before you bet with your bookie, you should analyze the match using H2H stats for Borussia M'gladbach II vs Straelen .
Do you predict Borussia M'gladbach II or Straelen to win? Submit your soccer prediction based on 1x2, Asian Handicap, Total Goals Over/Under, HT/FT, DNB, Double Chance or Correct Score to Tipsters Competition and you could win a prize if you are the top 10 winners.
Borussia M'gladbach II v Straelen predictions can be derived from the H2H stats analysis.
You could check the H2H stats based on Borussia M'gladbach II home ground. Alternatively, you could view the past results based on Straelen home ground.
The graph compares the results of Borussia M'gladbach II and Straelen in Regionalliga.
See also: Borussia M'gladbach II vs Straelen live score for In-Play soccer results. Hear sound alert whenever there is a goal or red card.
Borussia M'gladbach II are in the 4th position of Regionalliga.
Straelen are in the 14th position of Regionalliga.


Using technology tools to build intentional connections with others, to pose and solve problems collaboratively, and to strengthen independent thought is key to building digital capacity for teaching and learning. This module explores tools for online collaborations. It offers ways to create and extend professional and personal learning networks (PLNs) through collaborations within, across, and between disciplines.
Build PLNs to collaborate and share knowledge with colleagues within, across, and between disciplines.
Assess how your educational approach is currently enhanced by your collaborations.
Explore ways to build or augment PLNs.
Identify strategies to extend professional connections beyond your institution or peers.
Experiment with digital tools that may be used to build PLNs.


Business is booming here at the 'Toad. Christmas gift orders have arrived in spades, and invites to participate in local booths and holiday bazaars.
Best of all, two nearby gift shops have asked for my work!
As I said, a busy season.
My fingers are churning out as quickly as they can around my already full family schedule. ❤ Best to keep things in order of importance, always.
Sweet, simple hats fit the bill.
I've designed a half dozen cute new hats to fill our local shelves and keep precious small heads warm this winter.
A darling double-crochet with big-button panache and a fpdc, bpdc finish.
Phew, it's been a busy few weeks. And warm! Cooler temperatures have finally returned and I look forward to my upcoming couch-and-yarn time.
Happy hooking! Until we meet again!
It has been a month of family time, and little crochet!
And now we are counting down the days til school begins.
I do love fall. But not quite yet.
Today's project share is my own design! I love custom commission work.
A lion, she said, and his name would be Leo.
I really couldn't be more pleased with the results! But I did have a false start at the beginning.
I thought to chain and length and work around both sides in a bit of a rectangle. But it didn't work the way I wanted, so I referred back to the pattern I was thinking of and started again.
There. A round bottom, that was better. Then I followed the pattern more closely for arms and legs. He worked up quickly.
Sewing them on is always a bit scary: a crooked or backward appendage can mean starting over, ugh!
These came out just right on the first try, happy day!
Now for the fun part, the MANE.
I knew I wanted to try the loop stitch, something I'd seen but hadn't yet explored. Could I do it? Yes, thanks to YouTube. I found an excellent tutorial and away I went. I soon had a darling cap of curls for my little lion.
The face is another crucial stage. Every stitch affects the end result and expression. I chose a quiet afternoon and formed my design slowly.
Now to manage attaching the head to neck. That one is tricky too!
Success! Now where did I put that hair?
Here it is! Sweet little lion. I felt a bit as if I had given birth.
Such a pleasure to create.
The only thing I changed was the head. I made another bottom instead of a dragon snout, then added a face, hee hee.
And the family was so kind as to send me a picture, once it had been gifted. What a darling boy!
Next week, the matching blanket! It is nice to fall back into routine after a busy, fun-filled summer. Ahhhhhh.
Glorious is the word for it. Sultry summer days, long and lazy. Cool a/c and family movie nights. Weeks of camp, and camping, and just plain family time. Lots of it.
It's almost too hot to crochet. Only almost!
I've been meandering around multiple projects and finishing nothing.
But it's nice to have the time to enjoy it!
I did finish this little gem today.
She's Frank O'Randle's Mini Rings of Change, a free pattern on Ravelry.
The baby nursery colors were lavender and green, lovely! But I couldn't resist adding the aqua and coral. They are just too trendy right now. I love this quadruple brights combination.
In other fun, my daughter had a special day of sewing with a dear friend, and finished her darling monkey quilt top. Now to find a backing!
I hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am mine.
Happy summer! And happy crocheting.
I hadn't a minute to spare for weeks. Then, after careful list-making, diligent stick-to-it-ive-ness and just plain hard work, I finished the rest of my must-do's in time for a few blissful hours of crochet.
Such a sweet reward for my efforts.
Adding a little pink as I arrived at the shell skirt portion of the cardi.
My second attempt, using just 30 stitches to start, and increasing every stitch — it curled so much it looked like a flower! 😀 Definitely too many stitches in that second row!
My third attempt looked promising.
I will be using it again! It would make a pretty matching hat, too.
The self-striping color work came out nicely for the skirt, but gave me a time when it came to the sleeves! I ended up cutting after a few rows, switching back and forth between sleeves until they came out even.
Success! A pretty little flower for a pop of color and I have the perfect sweet baby gift.
The larger hook size kept the yarn snuggly soft: 5mm was the magic size for me.
a larger size. This one is about 0-3 months.
Hello and happy weekend! Remember the lovely dress and my promise of the soon–to-be-coming hat pattern to match?
I have that hat pattern for you today!
Thankfully it worked up the way I remembered, so I quickly jotted down my notes.
Rnd 3: SL St to next CH 1 space. CH 3, DC, CH 1 in CH space, then 2dc, CH 1 in each CH space around. SL St to join at top of CH 3.
Rnd 4: SL st to CH 1sp, CH 4 (counts as dc, CH 1 of first v-stitch), then DC again in same St. (V-stitch made). Make DC between 2dc of previous round. *Make v-stitch (DC, CH 1, DC) in next ch 1 space, then DC between 2dc from round 3. Repeat from * around, join with SL St the 3rd CH of beginning CH 4.
Rnd 5: SL St to CH 1space, CH 3 for first DC, then DC, CH 2 2dc to make first shell. Make shell (2dc, CH 2, 2dc) in each CH 1 space around. Join with SL St to top of CH 3.
Rnd 6-9: repeat round 5.
Rnd 10: make 8dc in each CH 2 SP around, SC-ing between each shell from Rnd 9.
For flower, see link above.
And there you are! I have a dozen crochet projects to get to, and only an hour or so to spare this evening. I wish you happy hooking!
Off to more crochet adventures I go!
and just perfect for crochet!
I have despaired of ever hearing back from the tablet repair shop (the third shop I've tried, mind you). That optimistic estimate of two days turned into a call a week later– us to them, not the other way around!– only to hear, "Oh, we haven't started on it yet, still waiting for a cable," WHAT?!?
So I capitulated to my need to record precious family moments and shelled out the cash for an inexpensive digital model. Sigh of relief. The blog continues.
Even more happy news: we got to see our precious twins this week! Well, the children did. They stopped by to visit while I was at work, but the children were home from school and, oh, happy reunions all around.
I easily saw where it had come apart, but could I re-crochet the loops or was it a sewing job? I did manage to hook and loop it back together, hurrah! They will be so pleased.
Fun with the new camera: I just love this shot I caught of my V-Stitch, playing with settings on my new camera. COLOR.
Updates on a few projects hanging around the house…oh, bliss!
I am in a bit of Unforgettable frenzy…I made a special trip to the city a few weeks ago and bought a dozen skeins of color I can't get in town: Stained Glass, Echo, Sunrise and Polo.
My third daughter picked her colors for these…I have hopes of making one for each family member, but after two evenings of trying to assemble them, my hopes are rather dashed that I will be able to complete even one. I need to google this…the toe just isn't quite right and the directions on assembly are little or no help.
4) And the owl hat, all fixed up!
But these turned out rather sweet. They are loosely based on a pattern I found online that no longer seems to exist. Thankfully I had printed a copy and was able to convert it to my preferred yarn weight and hook size.
Note: ch 2 at beg of row does not count as hdc.
Double crochet back post: (dcbp) yarn over hook and draw up a loop around post of next st at back of work inserting hook from right to left. (Yarn over hook and draw through two loops on hook) twice — 1 dcpb made.
Single crochet 2 together: (sc2tog) *insert hook, yarn over and pull through, repeat from * in next st, keeping loops on hook, yarn over and pull through three loops on hook.
Row 1: 2 sc in 2nd ch from hook. 1sc in each of next 3 ch. 2 sc in each of next 2 ch. 1 sc in next ch (place marker on last st). 2 sc in each of next 2 ch. 1 sc in each of next 3 ch. 2 sc in last ch. 19 sc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 1. 2 sc in first sc. 1 sc in each sc to 2 sc before marked sc. 2 sc in each of next 2 sc. 1 sc in marked sc. 2 sc in each of next 2 sc. 1 sc in each sc to last sc. 2 sc in last sc. 25 st. Turn.
Row 4: Ch 2. 1 hdc in each sc to end of row. Turn.
Row 5: Ch 2. 1 hdc in first st. 1 dcbp in next st. Repeat to end of row.
Row 6: Ch 1. Sc in first 8 st. Sc2tog 7 times. Sc in last nine st.
Row 7: Ch 1. Sc in first 8 st. Sc2tog 4 times. Sc to end of row. Finish off, leaving long tail for sewing.
Strap: ch 9. Turn. Starting in 2nd ch from hook, hdc to end. 7 hdc.
Sew up sole and back of shoe. Sew strap to either side of shoe.
100% washable, super soft and super cute baby shoes! Voila!