Below you can find the prices for the "accommodation + ski pass" packages for Briancon/Serre Chevalier & Sestriere/Italy for winter 2018/2019. The packages include: accommodation 19-26.Jan.2019, 6-days ski pass for Serre Chevalier ski area (251 km) plus one day skiing in Sestriere and Via Lattea (400 km) in Italy.
Bus transport and insurance are optional.
The price for the bus transport includes: bus transport Sofia – Briancon – Sofia, one day trip to Sestriere in Via Lattea (Italy), highway and tunnel fees.
The price of an empty place in any of the apartments is 120 EUR (if you want to keep some of the beds empty).
When booking there is a first payment of 120 EUR per person (235.20 lv.) payable within a week after submitting the booking, but not later than the deadline of the respective booking period.
– deposit of 260-400 EUR for the apartments – this is ONLY a deposit and you will get it back at the end of the stay if everything is OK with the apartment. If there are damages, missing inventory, the apartment is not cleaned at check out or the premises regulations haven't been kept a part or the whole deposit will be kept.
The car parking in Aigle Bleu (Briancon) is 25 Eur/car/week (for people with cars).
Bed linen and spa access are included in the package price.
For details of the payment procedure, please, check out our Payment section.


Translating strategy into a small set of specific principles is the crucial first step in designing an effective model.
Business historian Alfred Chandler proposed his thesis in 1962, observing that successful companies evolve their organizational structures based on their strategies. Chandler described how four American conglomerates that dominated their industries from the 1920s onward shifted from a functional, monolithic organizational form to a more loosely coupled multidivisional structure in order to address the challenges of growth and diversification.
Chandler's insight that the organization must evolve to support strategy still holds true. But the challenge has become more complex as organizations must now be designed to support many more growth avenues, including new products, new steps of the value chain, new geographies, new customer segments and new channels.
Too often, companies make one of two missteps. Some fail to evolve their organization quickly enough to match a shift in strategy. A European technology company, for instance, stifled the growth of an innovative product by keeping it highly integrated with the existing core business, which starved it of the resources, management focus and flexibility needed to realize its potential.
The second mistake is to move full steam ahead with a new organization design that does not match how the business will actually create value. Consider the financial services company that moved from multiple independent divisions to a more integrated model in order to encourage cross-selling. Gearing the organization around this relatively small opportunity added complexity, slowed decision making and distracted the divisions from realizing major growth opportunities in their individual businesses.
The crucial first step in designing an appropriate operating model is to translate the strategy into a set of design principles—simple yet specific statements defining what the organization must do to enable execution of the strategy. A carefully drafted set of design principles, typically between 7 and 15 statements, helps align the leadership team around objective criteria for designing the operating model. This approach can apply to an entire company, a business unit or an individual function.
Focus on the specific sources of value in the business. For example, a historically US-centered food company that was expanding internationally established a principle to "ensure a strong focus on our high-priority growth markets." And Olam International, the Singapore-based commodities trading company, has a clear principle of optimizing the supply chain right up to the farm gate. As a consequence, Olam makes sure that local managers give relationships with local farmers the highest priority, because those farmers start the value chain.
Explain which capabilities are essential to fulfilling strategic goals, such as "support a repeatable product design process that balances customer requirements and technical feasibility" or "allow us to easily add and subtract businesses." The latter principle, for instance, would infer an operating model that maintains minimal integration across its business units.
One beverage company identified winning with 25-year-old male customers as a strategic priority. So one of its design principles highlighted insights into these customers and point-of-sale execution as two capabilities the operating model needed to emphasize.
Where firm culture plays a major role, aspects of the culture can be called out. One company that runs an online marketplace and has grown through many acquisitions has a principle to "preserve the entrepreneurial spirit that had driven our past success." This statement guided the new model to include business units with leaders retaining many of their general manager responsibilities.
Practical use of design principles comes when a senior executive team evaluates different operating model options. One service company had spent a decade acquiring businesses to build a global powerhouse, but its operating model did not fully leverage the company's scale or global capabilities in activities such as common purchasing or branding. The executive team split into two factions, one arguing for a strong country-based model while the other pushed for a more centralized model.
So the team drew up, and aligned on, seven principles aimed at improving local strength and flexibility while using global scale to better advantage. Based on those principles, senior leaders could objectively evaluate four operating model options, and the process allowed them to make a clear choice of a matrix model with functions leading in select areas where scale and expertise mattered, such as procurement and branding. The model also specified mechanisms to promote collaboration with the countries (see Figure 2).
Aligning the senior executive team on principles before getting into debates on operating model solutions ultimately will accelerate development of the model. Senior leaders themselves need to spend sufficient time debating, refining and then using the principles so that they take full ownership. Delegation simply does not work.
First, they're grounded in facts in order to bring objectivity to a charged environment. When companies decide their operating model needs to change, the discussions that follow can degrade into emotional defenses of the status quo. Principles informed by a fact-based strategy encourage impartiality, highlighting gaps and forcing difficult choices.
Second, they're specific enough to help senior management make trade-offs. A large industrial company decided to redesign its operating model several years ago, and the senior team spent substantial time articulating design principles. But the CEO worried that some principles were too generic to help them evaluate different operating model options. "Can any of them equally apply to a dog food company as to us?" he asked.
Tripping up on these three characteristics can derail the process. And there are a few other pitfalls that leaders should anticipate and avoid (see Figure 3).
Ultimately, strong, specific design principles underpin all successful operating models. Construction of a house proceeds most effectively when the owner, architect and general contractor have detailed discussions first about the important design features and resolve potential problems before construction starts. Similarly, writing and debating the principles for an operating model design gives senior executives a chance to address the most vital issues, identify potential problems and resolve ambiguity. Strong design principles synthesize choices that leaders have made about what matters most. That precludes unnecessary debates from reopening later on.
Moreover, they endure. One manufacturing company that redesigned its operating model five years ago still uses the same principles to explain the model to employees as well as to test the merit of proposed additional organizational changes. The best principles serve as a constant beacon when the operating model is implemented and as it evolves.
Marcia Blenko is an advisory partner with Bain & Company's Organization practice. James Root is the leader of the practice in Asia-Pacific. They are based, respectively, in Boston and Hong Kong.
A preemptive approach to cost containment can make operations far more effective, not just leaner.
Operating models are an important bridge between strategy and execution.


text:
Ralph Parkinson Sr. accepts congratulations and the trophy from IMCA flagman Larry Shipley while track steward Hal Meyer presents the checkers. - Beetle Bailey Photo
Spencer, Iowa (September 12, 1975) – The International Motor Contest Association's point race for the grand championship sprint cars was tightened, two new records were set, and Ralph Parkinson Sr., of Kansas City, won the 30-lap feature here at the Clay County Fair on Friday afternoon.
The racing activities got underway with Bill Utz of Sedalia, Mo., the defending IMCA sprint car national champion, establishing fast time in qualifying. He made the one-lap circuit with a time of 24.04 seconds around the half-mile dirt oval. Parkinson Sr. had sixth quickest time, which, with the inverted top six start, gave him the pole position for the feature event.
Parkinson would grab the lead at the wave of the green flag and never look back, leading all 30 laps in a dominating performance.
The racing action took place for second and third positions which were held by Jan Opperman of Noxon, Mont., and Utz. The two veterans raced nose to tail for almost the entire race with Opperman frustrating the champion at every turn.
Dick Forbrook of Morgan, Minn., who was running behind Utz, challenged the duo only once and settled for fourth place.
Bob Thoman of Higginsville, Mo., Opperman and Dick Morris of Sioux City, Iowa, were heat winners and Gene Kester of Odessa, Mo., grabbed the consolation. Bill Mellenberndt of Sioux Falls, S.D., won the STP trophy dash.
1. Ralph Parkinson Sr., Kansas City
2. Jan Opperman, Noxon, Mont.
3. Bill Utz, Sedalia, Mo.
4. Dick Forbrook, Morgan, Minn.
5. Bill Mellenberndt, Sioux Falls, S.D.
6. Sonny Smyser, Lancaster, Mo.
7. Daryl Dawley, Sioux Falls, S.D.
8. Jim Edgington, Fairmont, Minn.
9. Gene Kester, Odessa, Mo.
10. Dave Engebretson, Sioux Falls, S.D.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Olympic Odyssey
Tucson will be well-represented in the smoggy, controversial Beijing games
By Tom Danehy
Nacey Nymeyer is a great kid, a real role model for homegrown, take-no-shortcuts Tucson athletes--and she has a good shot at winning an Olympic medal in Beijing.
Tucson transplant Bernard Lagat apparently has never felt fatigue in his entire life and could win more than one medal, running in two nasty-long races.
And Abdi Abdirahman, who attended Tucson High School, Pima Community College and the UA, is in great shape and has an outside shot at a medal, running in an even nastier-long race.
Meanwhile, the U S. softball team--chock-full of Tucsonans, UA players and Coach Mike Candrea--stands to dominate the world and run itself out of Olympic existence by pounding all comers into submission. Tairia Mims Flowers, also a homegrown Tucsonan, will be part of that softball team for the second straight Olympic Games. She's a fantastic person, but we tend to ignore her, because she committed the blasphemy of going to UCLA to play college ball. In the world of softball, that's infinitely worse than going to Arizona State.
There. Now, after getting all of the good and positive stuff upfront, I must now add that, for those of us who will be paying attention to these games from here, these Olympics will almost certainly be the lousiest in three decades. And were it not for the fact that the United States didn't even go to the Summer Olympics in 1980, because President Jimmy Carter wanted to make a statement about the host Soviet Union having invaded Afghanistan (what was he thinking?!), these might very well be the crappiest Olympics ever!
Here's a local note for you: Dee Dinota was a longtime Canyon del Oro softball coach and one of the most popular educators in the history of Tucson. When she was in high school out on Long Island, Dee actually made the 1980 U.S. Olympic team in handball, a bizarre game that will probably be on the Olympic docket forever, while softball and baseball get dumped. She's one of the many Americans whose Olympic window of opportunity slammed shut with the official boycott of the games.
If the Montreal Olympics of 1976 were Austin Powers, these 2008 Olympics would be The Love Guru.
Here are at least 10 reasons why these games are going to stink on toast:
1. The worst air pollution in the world!
2. Rampant professionalism, which cheapens the event.
3. Drug use.
4. Men posing as women.
5. Terrible traffic.
6. Kobe Bryant is playing.
7. Government paranoia.
8. Police paranoia.
9. Official racism.
10. Pathetic efforts by the government to hide how bad things really are.
I realize that the first six sound like a trip to Los Angeles, and the last four are like the Bush administration, but these things are all together in one place, and that place is Beijing. Of course, things might turn out to be just lousy and not horrible, but that's not the smart money. I get the feeling that, when all is said and done, somebody from the International Olympic Committee is going to get in front of a microphone, and his voice is going to sound just like Mr. Carlson's did on WKRP in Cincinnati when he said, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
It took China a long time to get the Olympics. Japan had them in 1964, and South Korea did in 1988. China put the full-court press on, but despite the fact that they were bidding during the time of open bribery of IOC members, the country still couldn't get it done. It came close for 2000, but the IOC went with Sydney, Australia, instead. The 2004 games had been promised to Athens, but after that, the IOC ran out of excuses and shrugged in acquiescence.
This is not to say that China hasn't gone all out for these games. It's amazing what a centralized government and an almost endless supply of near-slave labor can do. The venues are spiffy. Whether the competition will be equally impressive remains to be seen.
If we'll be able to see anything.
Lacey Nymeyer is a coach's dream, one of those rare first-to-arrive, last-to-leave kids who understands the equation involving hard work and ultimate success. She's been putting in long hours in the pool for years now, and it has paid off, big-time. This past spring, she led the UA Wildcats to their first-ever national championship in women's swimming. (Not long after, the UA men duplicated the feat by giving the school its first men's title in the sport.)
Nymeyer's puckered fingerprints were all over the national-championship trophy. She won individual events, anchored relay teams and screamed herself hoarse rooting for her teammates. She was named an All-American for the second straight year.
But that was just the prelude to what was to come. As soon as she returned from the triumph at the NCAAs, she started training for the Olympic Trials. Her regimen was brutal, but in her events (the freestyle sprints), hundredths of seconds mean the difference between first place and eighth. She knew that she had to shave time off her best-ever efforts, because she would not only be facing the best collegiate swimmers, but also people who didn't have to get up every morning and go to class.
In Omaha, she first swam the 200-meter freestyle, her worst event. "I went out fast and tried to burn people out in the first 100," she says. But she eventually faded and finished out of the money. Then came the 100--her best event. She posted a monster time in the first round, a better time in the semis and then swam her fastest 100 meters ever (54.02) in the finals. Even so, it was only good for third place, putting her behind the mildly legendary Natalie Coughlin and the wildly overhyped Dara Torres. (Being on the dark side of 40, I suppose I'm supposed to root for the 41-year-old Torres, but I'll pass. While I don't think she's juiced, she admits to having had six figures' worth of surgery and has a full-time stretching coach!) The top two finishers make the Olympic team, but in that event, the top four make up the 4-by-100 relay team. However, Nymeyer also will get a chance to swim in the 100 after all, because Torres decided to step aside to focus on the relay.
So Nymeyer is a national champion and an Olympian in the same year. "It's amazing," she says, her somehow nonchlorinated eyes sparkling as she does so. "The NCAAs were amazing, but the Olympics are the ultimate."
Forecasters have the relay team challenging Australia for the Gold Medal.
When the Olympics are over, she'll return to the UA to finish her schooling. She actually wants to become a middle school teacher, which is the equivalent of a guy saying, "If I could choose any job in law enforcement, I want the graveyard shift as a prison guard." Middle school is where she thinks she can do the most good, because that's where kids start sliding into bad physical habits that will haunt them for life ... like slouching while watching TV.
NBC owns the rights to televise the Olympics, and through its family of networks, it's going to try to get its money's worth. The media giant claims that there will be 3,000 hours of coverage, which is amazing, since there are only 360 hours, total, in the time that the games will be contested. It's actually 1,400 hours of television and 2,200 hours of online coverage, which is still more than 360 (unless Halliburton is doing the counting).
Besides the mothership, stuff will also be on MSNBC, with Keith Olbermann proclaiming the "Worst Athlete EVER!"; CNBC, with Jim Cramer just yelling a lot; the USA Network, interrupting its lineup of Monk reruns; Telemundo, suspending its telenovelas for soccer coverage; Universal HD, which is just way cool; and two made-up networks--the NBC Olympic Basketball Channel, where we'll once again be able to watch our supremely talented athletes struggle to beat shorter and slower guys who play team ball, and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel, which nobody will watch.
There will even be a couple of hours of coverage on Oh! The Oxygen Network. It will probably star Melissa Gilbert and/or Virginia Madsen. Actually, the channel will cover some gymnastics and equestrian stuff. At my house, we've had the digital-cable package for two or three years now, but I don't know if we even have Oxygen. I hope we never find out. (I know we have Telemundo, because my son likes to watch the female newscasters with the sound off.)
The real problem with the television coverage is that there is a 15-hour difference between Tucson and Beijing. If you're reading this at noon, it's already 3 a.m. tomorrow morning in Beijing. In the old days, networks could just tape everything and then show it in the United States during prime time. (When the U.S. hockey team pulled off the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, New York!, they even tape-delayed that. I was watching an NBA game, and the announcers suggested than fans might want to tune in to the hockey game. They didn't give the score or even say that the U.S. had won.)
Nowadays, with technology being what it is, and bloggers and news junkies having nothing better to do, there will be no secrets and no blackouts, and all the really cool stuff will be happening when we're in our REM cycle. We'll have to avoid the news, make sure there's a CD on in the car and not talk to anybody. Just like most Republicans.
The network knows that its numbers will be down; it happens whenever there's a huge time difference. It really can't be helped. What they're hoping for is at least a few good stories so they don't have to manufacture things. Not that they won't try.
One story they won't have to manufacture is that of Tucsonan Abdi Abdirahman--war refugee, late starter, semi-local kid and now a national champion. He was born in Somalia, a place in Africa whose national motto should be, "At least we're not Eritrea." The history of that entire region is grim, and so it came that his father decided the get his family out of harm's way. They went first to Kenya and then finally to the United States.
Abdi attended Tucson High and never gave athletics a thought. It was at Pima that a friend suggested that Abdi try running a race. He did so in long pants and boots--and finished second. "I know it sounds silly," he says in a lilting voice that sounds as though he could be announcing arrivals and departures at a train station in Mumbai, "but it's true. I didn't have the proper equipment. I always knew I could run (distances), but I didn't know it would be any kind of big deal. I was as surprised as anybody."
In no time at all, he was a member of the Pima cross-country team and was winning the state junior-college cross-country championship (twice). He branched out into track and settled into the longer distances.
After Pima, he moved on to the UA, where he finished second in the nation in cross-country and then won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Pacific 10 championships.
In 1999, he finished third in the U.S. outdoor championships, but had to relinquish the honor, because he wasn't yet a U.S. citizen. (You would think that somebody would have checked on that beforehand.) He earned his U.S. citizenship and went on to make the U.S. Olympic team in both 2000 and 2004.
This past June, he easily won the 10,000 meters at the Olympic Trials. It partially made up for the disappointment he suffered at the Olympic marathon trials last November in New York City.
"That was one of the worst days of my life," he recalls. "I had done all that training at (Northern Arizona University's Center for High Altitude Training) in Flagstaff, and I was ready. I really wanted to win that race."
But a painful hip flexor bothered him the entire day, starting out as a barely noticeable annoyance and then building into a gait-changing pain that eventually took its toll on his entire body. He had to drop out after 18 miles.
"I was at first feeling bad for myself. But then I heard the news."
The news was that his friend and close competitor, Ryan Shay, had suffered a fatal heart attack at around the 5-mile mark. He and Shay had both trained in Flagstaff, and it hit him hard. "At first, I couldn't believe it. It still doesn't make sense that somebody can be in that great of shape and suddenly die. It's not right."
Failing to make the team in the marathon put added pressure on Abdirahman to finish in the top three in the 10,000 meters. He won his second-consecutive national championship in the event in April, but that didn't guarantee him anything.
He continued to work at altitude and began working with Bernard Lagat, a product of Kenya who went to Washington State and then settled in Tucson, partly because of its year-round training possibilities and partly because his college coach (and now personal coach) James Li is currently the cross-country coach at the UA.
Lagat, who will be competing in both the 1,500 and 5,000 events in Beijing, is known for blowing by people in the last 200 meters, crushing many a spirit in the process.
"I've always admired Bernard's kick," says Abdirahman. "I don't know what I used to think in the beginning. I guess I thought I didn't need a kick."
Abdirahman's coach, longtime UA coach Dave Murray, concurs. "(Abdi's) strategy was always to just go out fast and run people into the ground. His success speaks for itself, but when you get to the top level in the world, you might just need something more."
(Interestingly, Murray declined to go to Beijing, even though it would have been all-expenses-paid. He didn't know where to begin to list the reasons for passing on Beijing, but said that if Abdi is still running in 2012, he'll accompany him to London.)
So, Abdirahman worked out with Lagat, and the two of them kicked some serious boo-tay at the Olympic Trials. Lagat won both of his events, and Abdirahman ran his competition into the ground--and showed a bit of a kick at the end as well.
He gives partial credit to his adopted hometown: "I love Tucson. If I'm gone for more than a few days, I miss the weather. I'll always live in Tucson," says Abdirahman.
He also cites his diet of red meat and Gatorade. "I hear the stories from vegetarians, but meat makes me strong. Red meat gives me the strength to do what I have to do."
He doesn't eat fast food or even go out to restaurants much. But he does like to barbecue. "Oh yes," he smiles, "barbecued steak is the best. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it."
A perfect day for Abdirahman is a long run, followed by a shower, then a leisurely meal. He likes to cook and then eat a barbecued steak while watching his favorite movie, the Denzel Washington sci-fi pic Déjà Vu. He thinks that the movie is wonderfully complex, and he especially enjoys watching co-star Paula Patton's (ahem) performance.
I mention that Patton is married to her high school sweetheart, white soul singer Robin Thicke. It has nothing to do with anything. I just wanted to hear him say, "Oooohhh, really?" as though he had just learned that the train from Calcutta is behind schedule.
Still, Abdi is a loooong shot at the games. While he is the fastest American in the event, he only has the 16th-fastest time in the 10,000 meters this year. On the plus side for him is the fact that 14 of the 15 runners with faster times include seven each from Kenya and Ethiopia, and only three from each country will be in Beijing. (The other is from Eritrea.)
He'll have to run a perfect race to medal, but stranger things have happened. The favorite is Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, who might also be the sentimental favorite. Bekele's fiancée died of a heart attack while on a training run with him.
Abdi's not looking forward to the conditions in Beijing. He's heard the stories and seen the pictures, but nothing can prepare him for the real thing.
Beijing has the worst air pollution in the world. The absolute worst. Worse than Sao Paolo, Brazil, where the heat-island effect sometimes causes the temperature in midtown to be 50 degrees higher than in the jungles at the city's edge. Worse than Tokyo, the world's most populous city. And three times worse than Los Angeles.
When it comes to air pollution, 16 of the 20 worst cities in the world are in China, and the pollution levels are up 50 percent in the past 10 years. One-third of the rain that falls in the country qualifies as acid rain, and 70 percent of the nation's rivers and streams have water that isn't safe for human consumption.
The unhealthy level for air quality is 100, a number that's considered moderate for Beijing. The city recently had a breezy rain that scrubbed the air clean for a brief time. The number dropped to 44, but by the next day, it was 69 and climbing rapidly. Rumors are that American Olympic officials are considering having athletes wear specially made masks when not competing.
When Olympic officials expressed concern, China's response was to move the smog sensors out of downtown and into the city's far outskirts. One guy carrying a sensor backed up so far that he tripped over a weapon of mass destruction.
The bad air probably won't hurt people who do short-burst events (gymnastics, sprints in track), but will wreak havoc on those who have to perform for long periods of time (soccer players, distance runners). One scientist in Australia is predicting that someone will die from the bad air. That may be a bit extreme, but the world-record holder in the marathon, Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, says he will skip the games entirely rather than risk doing permanent damage to his lungs.
The air will probably hurt track and field (which the official Beijing Web site refers to simply as "athletics") a lot. There probably won't be many records set, but records are overrated as long as the competition is good. But the competition will probably suffer as well.
At least Gebrselassie will spare himself the humiliation of trying to get a drink in Beijing. A couple of weeks ago, Chinese authorities went around to bars and taverns near the Olympic Village and warned proprietors not to serve drinks to blacks or Mongolians. (It's been 40 years since John Carlos and Tommie Smith did the famous black-power salute at the Mexico City games.) Lord knows what the authorities would do with someone who's half-black and half-Mongolian. Probably call out the tanks.
As someone who loves sports and the Olympics, I'm going to watch--a lot--but my expectations are pretty low. I hope nobody gets hurt badly; I hope the Tucsonans do their best; and I hope no knuckleheads try to disrupt the games.
Chicago is on the short list for the 2016 games. (Chicago was actually awarded the games in 1904, but gave them away to St. Louis to be run in conjunction with that city's World's Fair. That sort of thing probably won't ever happen again.)
Nobody knows if the United States will get the Olympics again any time soon, but it's a good bet that they won't go back to China for a while.
It's not like there's going to be The Love Guru: Part Two.


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text:
Political Op-Eds Social Commentary
Planned Parenthood video an ugly mirror for America
By Timothy Stanley
Published 9:50 AM EDT, Thu July 16, 2015
Timothy Stanley: Anti-abortion group's video may be edited and misleading
But it horrifyingly points up what an abortion entails, he says
Stanley: Video reflects casualness that troublingly masks truth of what we do
Editor's Note: Timothy Stanley is a historian and columnist for Britain's Daily Telegraph. He is the author of the new book "Citizen Hollywood: How the Collaboration Between L.A. and D.C. Revolutionized American Politics." The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
This is one horror movie that stays with you long after you've seen it. An anti-abortion group has released a video that it says shows a Planned Parenthood official discussing the sale of organs and tissue. Planned Parenthood says it's heavily edited and misleading – and it might be right.
But, frankly, the detail is up for lawyers to debate. What matters about this video is what it appears to reveal about the reality behind America's sanitized image of abortion; the reality of what an abortion is and how it morally compromises us all.
Timothy Stanley
Planned Parenthood protests that the video of Dr. Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, shows her talking about the organization's participation in tissue donation programs.
At several of their self-described "health centers," women are invited to donate tissue for scientific research. It's voluntary, perfectly legal and not for profit. Planned Parenthood says that costs for transportation of the material are reimbursed, and that this is what Nucatola is talking about on the tape.
All of this may well be true. But it skips over the bigger ethical questions that the video raises. It's like watching Hannibal Lecter discuss making a human casserole and protesting that all the ingredients were provided willingly.
For starters, Art Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University, has directed our attention to a part in the video where Nucatola describes doctors using ultrasound to know where to grab the fetus to preserve certain organs. Says Nucatola: "We've been very good at getting heart, lung, liver because we know that, I'm not going to crush that part."
Caplan told CNN: "In abortion the primary goal is to give the safest abortion possible. Your sole concern has to be the mother and her health." By contrast, Nucatola gives the impression that Planned Parenthood is "modifying" the way that a termination is carried out to pass on the tissue – and that's hugely unethical.
Planned Parenthood accused of selling organs
Then there's the nature of the dialogue itself. Nucatola sips wine, describing the destruction of fetuses with a frighteningly casual air. Even if you regard abortion as a tragic necessity, or the donation of tissue as a potentially helpful byproduct – there's something immoral about the way in which it is all discussed over a salad.
"I'd say a lot of people want liver," she says, before going on to throw out euphemisms for how they are protected from the forceps: "I'm gonna basically crush below, I'm gonna crush above, and I'm gonna see if I can get it all intact." And when the vulgar subject arises of the price of these body parts, she talks like an expert in public relations: "They just want to do it in a way that is not perceived as: This clinic is selling tissue. This clinic is making money off this. In the Planned Parenthood world, they're very, very sensitive to that."
Sensitivity is indeed at the center of the ethical issue the video raises.
Planned Parenthood is sensitive to us getting the wrong idea about what it does. But we're sensitive about not having to find out.
Whoever thinks about the reality of abortion unless they actually have to participate in one? Whoever considers the crushed organs: the hearts, lungs and livers? We all prefer to mask this truth behind euphemisms, of which Planned Parenthood is simply the market leader. Reproductive health centers. Medical services. Procedures. Anything but calling it what abortion really is – the obliteration of a fetus.
Now, we may argue that sometimes abortion is necessary or a matter of privacy between a woman and her doctor. But that shouldn't stop us from being honest about it. On the contrary, what's troubling about modern society is its habit of dressing up difficult things in comforting language – discouraging people from dwelling too hard on the realities of what they are doing.
We've been too casual for too long about some of the terrible problems that lie around us – be they abortions or the poverty and desperation that can drive women to seek one.
The Planned Parenthood video holds up a mirror to a society that has become compromised by horrors that it regards as "every day." The face of 21st-century America is Nucatola's: discussing pulverized lungs and hearts between mouthfuls of salad.
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Session 4 was just about perfect. I really just loved it.
First, the workshopping, while it still took an hour, did not overtake the class. Cat even got to talk about horror, which is a rare opportunity in the class; people tended to prefer non-horror F&SF. The closest I could come to appreciating a horror piece in class was, "It was like an episode of Doctor Who." This is not entirely unfair, since Doctor Who does cover horror, sometimes quite elegantly in a psychological way despite the show's inherent cheeziness.
Second, I think we have the right idea now with sharing the now-longer exercises on Google+ rather than waiting for class, because we just don't have time to read them out, and this way everyone can admire (really! Peeps here are talented) everyone's work. Everyone was so worried about the expository lump exercise (from Ursula K. Le Guin's Steering the Craft), and it turned out well after all.
Third, Cat got to talk about the class's topics in detail: dialogue and description. I appreciate this a lot; much of what was discussed was new to me, even though I've read quite a few writing books. For instance, neurolinguistic studies as applied to dialogue, and what description needs to accomplish. I must admit I'm also pleased these days to see misleading advice from various sources get mythbusted—not that Cat does this on a regular basis, but there are writing books out there that tell you to use dialogue as infrequently as possible. This was busted via many examples, including Terry Bisson (who has written pure dialogue stories) and Connie Willis (whose dialogue carries many of her stories, and very well at that).
Fourth, the homework terrifies me: take a piece you're not satisfied with, rewrite it, and think about how you're rewriting it. I think this is a great thing, because homework that terrifies usually takes you places, like the expository lump. I'm noticing that the exercises are getting harder with each class.
The thing about me is that I really do revise a lot; I revise while I'm writing, which is supposed to be a sin, but hey, if it works that's all that matters, whether or not people tell you that it shouldn't. I think this is actually how the folks who produce "perfect" first drafts work, as discussion after class seemed to point out: if they get stuck, they go back and revise.
I've just never really thought about what I've been doing.
I really need to start thinking about what I'm doing more often.
I'll add another thing: Cat's classes seem to have unblocked something in me. Probably because of the exercises, I've been writing stories other than what is tentatively called Seal Tales. I've even been writing with an eye towards publication.
After class, I took a walk. I stopped by our bookstore and bought Steering the Craft (it's not available for the Kindle), and haven't regretted it thus far.


text:
'The Great War' Through a Cartoonist's Eyes
(Courtesy W.W. Norton & Co.)
The bloody battles of World War I have been memorialized in classics such as "All Quiet On the Western Front" and through the verse of poets like Wilfred Owen. Now, cartoonist Joe Sacco revisits those trenches with his newest work, "The Great War," a 24-foot long drawing depicting the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, called the bloodiest 24 hours in the history of the British military. Joe Sacco and journalist and historian Adam Hochschild join us to discuss the art and impact of The Great War.
The Great War by Joe Sacco from WW Norton on Vimeo.
More: A Panorama Of Devastation: Drawing Of WWI Battle Spans 24 Feet (NPR)
More: About the book "The Great War" (WWNorton.com)
Joe Sacco, cartoonist, journalist and illustrator of "The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme"; his other books include "Palestine" and "Footnotes in Gaza"
Adam Hochschild, journalist and author of "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion: 1914-1918"; he also wrote the introduction to "The Great War"


Arrested on April 12, 2008 was Genaro Sotelo-jimnez. The Sotelo-jimnez was arrested by Crook County Law Enforcement. He is 506 tall, weighs 175 and has brown eyes. Bond was set at unknown amount for the charge because Sotelo-jimnez is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Police agencies listed here may assist with more information including court dates: Crook County Law Enforcement.
DISCLAIMER: Arrest records of Genaro Sotelo-jimnez are public documents and are provided here for informational purposes only. Publication here does not mean that Genaro Sotelo-jimnez has committed a criminal offense, it is only a record of arrest. This information may not be used to determine Genaro Sotelo-jimnez's eligibility for credit, employment, housing or other business transactions. Contact the law enforcement officials in Crook, Oregon for further information on Genaro Sotelo-jimnez's legal status. All individuals on this website are considered innocent until proven guilty.
Genaro Sotelo-jimnez is a -year-old Male.
When was Genaro Sotelo-jimnez arrested?
According to Crook County Law Enforcement, Genaro was arrested on April 12, 2008.
Is this a mug shot of Genaro Sotelo-jimnez?
Are any other mug shots of Genaro Sotelo-jimnez available?
Additional mug shots of Sotelo-jimnez Genaro may be available from Crook County Law Enforcement.
How tall is Genaro Sotelo-jimnez?
How much does Genaro weigh?
Genaro Sotelo-jimnez weighs 175 lbs.
What color is Genaro's hair?
What is Genaro's eye color?
Sotelo-jimnez Genaro's eyes are brown.


text:
R.E.W. Reynolds: still making cycling shoes after 95 years
R.E.W. Reynolds has been making cycling shoes since the 1920s and for 2016 is extending its range to include SPD offerings.
Paul Norman June 15, 2016 9:01 am
With Eroica Britannia taking place this weekend, R.E.W. Reynolds' classic cycling shoes are likely to be a popular item. They're still handmade in Northampton, the UK's quality shoemaking heartland.
Watch Eddy Merckx in action in 1975
The R.E.W. Reynolds bike shop was founded in the town in 1921 and sold bicycle frames made from the tubing of the same name, although the companies were not related. But R.E.W. Reynolds diversified into other cycling essentials too and although it stopped making frames in the 1980s, the cycling shoe business still exists.
>>> Eroica Britannia 2015 in pictures
The company's mainstay is its Classic Road shoe. A lace-up design with leather uppers and soles, it includes a rubber insert to prevent the shoe slipping on the pedal when riding without clips. The outer side of the upper includes a second layer of leather at the forefoot to prevent toe straps from becoming uncomfortable. There's also a resin panel in the sole under the forefoot to distribute pressure from a classic quill pedal and a steel shank running the length of the sole to increase stiffness and pedalling efficiency.
>>> Are lace-up cycling shoes here to stay?
Classic shoe is designed to be comfortable with clips and straps
The Classic Road shoe is sold in men's and women's sizes, with the all-black variant costing £149.00. Men's shoes come in whole sizes between 6 and 12, while women's are available between sizes 3 and 8. The shoes are also available at the same price with orange or red stitching and laces.
>>> Cycling shoes buyer's guide
For a bit of variety, R.E.W. Reynolds also offers coloured variants: for £169.00 you can buy the Classic Road in brown or for the Bianchi rider, in celeste.
For 2016 the company is extending its range. There's a new Goodyear welted variant of the Classic, where the upper and sole are stitched together rather than being bonded.
Brogue shoe and boot have a sole which accepts SPD cleats
And a new tan leather cycling brogue with a rubber sole which accepts SPD cleats for clipless pedals will be available as a shoe or a boot for just shy of £300. David Smith, the company's owner, tells us that they're designed to be stiff enough to cycle in but still comfortable for walking. The idea is that you can commute to work then wear them all day in the office, so you don't need to carry a change of shoes with you.
R.E.W. Reynolds will be showcasing its new range at Eroica Britannia and is also backing its shoes by taking part in the ride.
All photos courtesy of R.E.W.Reynolds
Katusha-Alpecin finish the stage two team time trial of the 2019 Tour de France (Sunada)
Katusha-Alpecin boss denies rumours that team will fold
Peter Sagan wins stage five of the 2019 Tour de France (Sunada)
Peter Sagan puts difficult spring behind him with Tour de France stage victory
10 July 2019 106th Tour de France Stage 05 : Saint-Die-des-Vosges - Colmar ALAPHILIPPE Julian (FRA) Deceuninck - Quickstep, Maillot Jaune Photo : Yuzuru SUNADA
Five talking points from stage five of the Tour de France 2019


Browse the listings below and refine your search to help you buy Retail Businesses for sale in Longfield, Kent. Alternatively, set up email alerts and/or start a new search. Daltonsbusiness.com is the UK's largest online marketplace of businesses and franchises for sale.
New Ash Green. Kent. T/O £93,000. Well established since 1982. Excellent reputation. Wide range of products including hardware/household items.Huge potential to increase T/O. Low rent. Leasehold. Bus £30,000 including stock.


text:
Q: OpenGL Normals don't work? I'm working on a OpenGL project and I want at least a little lighting in it.
I'm trying to use OpenGLs built in lighting for a while now but I'm not having much success.
Models I load have their correct normals (calculated by Wings3D) attached to vertices in that order:
loop all faces {
    GL.Normal3(...);
    GL.TexCoord2(...);
    GL.Vertex3(...);
    ... (two more in same order, faces are all triangles)
}

Models do have some Material calls prior the GL.Begin(BeginMode.Triangles) like:
GL.Material(MaterialFace.FrontAndBack, MaterialParameter.AmbientAndDiffuse, new float[] { 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f });
GL.Material(MaterialFace.FrontAndBack, MaterialParameter.Specular, new float[] { 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f });
GL.Material(MaterialFace.FrontAndBack, MaterialParameter.Shininess, 99.0f);

Here are the first three normals of the first model loaded (credibility check) n(x,y,z):
0(0.6331236,    0.428246439,  0.6447942)
1(0.507037938,  -0.6987222,   0.504677951)
2(-0.768829644, -0.494915247, 0.404919624)

This is how I set up lighting:
GL.Enable(EnableCap.DepthTest);
GL.Enable(EnableCap.Blend);
GL.Enable(EnableCap.ColorMaterial);
GL.Enable(EnableCap.Texture2D);
GL.Enable(EnableCap.Normalize);

GL.ShadeModel(ShadingModel.Flat);

GL.Enable(EnableCap.Lighting);
GL.Enable(EnableCap.Light0);
GL.Light(LightName.Light0, LightParameter.Position, new float[] { 0.0f, 1000.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f });
GL.Light(LightName.Light0, LightParameter.Ambient, new float[] { 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f });
GL.Light(LightName.Light0, LightParameter.Specular, new float[] { 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f });
GL.Light(LightName.Light0, LightParameter.Diffuse, new float[] { 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f });
GL.Light(LightName.Light0, LightParameter.SpotExponent, 0.0f);

Objects react on the settings being played around but all faces sadly have the same brightness.
Am I missing something or am I doing anything wrong?

A: Setting the Ambient light to {1,1,1,1} means that everything will be fully lit, regardless of direction from the light. Try setting the Ambient values lower (e.g. 0.2f), so that the Diffuse component can have some effect.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Cyberconnect2 released new trailers and screenshots of its upcoming self-published game Fuga: Melodies of Steel.
This time around we take a look at the flow of battle and the ability to change formations, which effectively changes the weapons available on the mega tank Taranis.
The third video focuses on the characters and you need to manually activate English subtitles with the cc button.
We also get plenty of screenshots and artwork showing the first two chapters of the game, the Taranis, the characters, the formation feature, and skills.
You can check everything out below.
If you're unfamiliar with Fuga: Melodies of Steel, you can read the story below and watch the previous trailers.
The game is coming for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on July 29, 2021.
"The story takes place on a floating continent, an archipelago of both small and large floating islands where two species known as Caninu and Felineko live.
Malt, a young Caninu shepherd, lives with his little sister Mei in Petit Mona, a little village located in the Free Lands of Gasco.
Over the course of a single night, the Berman Empire invades and throws the village into the flames of war.
Malt and his friends manage to get away thanks to their families who were subsequently captured and taken away.
Escaping to a mountain cave, Malt and the other children discover a gigantic tank called the Taranis. They jump aboard, heading out on a journey to save their families!"
The post Fuga: Melodies of Steel Gets New Gameplay Trailers & Screenshots Showing Battle, Characters, & More appeared first on Twinfinite.
Mourinho says one Liverpool star is 'so important' it was worth taking him to the Euros despite fitness concerns


text:
Q: C#: remove items from an ArrayList with foreach or for loop? I am quite a noob both with programming and programming with C# (I have learned some basic Java before). I am trying to play around with C# in Unity3D, and I have a question:
Is it better to use for-loop instead of foreach iteration to remove any items in an ArrayList?
Both seems to work for me. Foreach produce slightly less coding but the discussions on the Internet seems to be favoring for-loop. Which is better and why?
for-loop version:
public void RemoveUnitFromList(GameObject Unit) {
    if (SelectedUnitList.Count > 0) {
        for (int i = 0; i < SelectedUnitList.Count; i++) {
            GameObject ArrayListUnit = SelectedUnitList[i] as GameObject;
            if (ArrayListUnit == Unit) {
                SelectedUnitList.RemoveAt(i);
                // some other codes
            }
        }
    }
}

foreach version:
public void RemoveUnitFromList(GameObject Unit) {
    if (SelectedUnitList.Count > 0) {
        foreach (GameObject ArrayListUnit in new ArrayList(SelectedUnitList)) {
            if (ArrayListUnit == Unit) {
                SelectedUnitList.Remove(ArrayListUnit);
                // some other codes
            }
        }
    }
}

Edit:
Either of the code snippets above works fine for me. I only want to study the difference between the two.
However, changing in new ArrayList(SelectedUnitList) to in SelectedUnitList did not work:
public void RemoveUnitFromList(GameObject Unit) {
    if (SelectedUnitList.Count > 0) {
        foreach (GameObject ArrayListUnit in SelectedUnitList) {
            if (ArrayListUnit == Unit) {
                SelectedUnitList.Remove(ArrayListUnit);
                // some other codes
            }
        }
    }
}

Edit2:
The above code could produce the following error:
InvalidOperationException: List has changed.
System.Collections.ArrayList+SimpleEnumerator.MoveNext () (at /Users/builduser/buildslave/mono-runtime-and-classlibs/build/mcs/class/corlib/System.Collections/ArrayList.cs:141)
Mouse3.RemoveUnitFromList (UnityEngine.GameObject Unit) (at Assets/Scripts/Mouse3.cs:216)
Mouse3.Update () (at Assets/Scripts/Mouse3.cs:85)

Let me explains more. The method functions dynamically in game. The SelectedUnitList is an ArrayList used to collect selected unit in a RTS game. The method removes the deselected units from the ArrayList, so Unit could be 0, 1 or more.
Edit3 (last time):
Thank you all for all the information provided. I think @Seminda in the comments answered my question.

A: From MSDN documentation on foreach Loop:

The foreach statement is used to iterate through the collection to get the information that you want, but can not be used to add or remove items from the source collection to avoid unpredictable side effects. If you need to add or remove items from the source collection, use a for loop.

Reference to your code, note following thing:
See details about the ArrayList. It is usually better to use List. Lists not only avoid boxing or unboxing, but they also lead to clearer and less bug-prone code.
UPDATE:
foreach (2nd snippet in your question) works because you initialize new ArrayList.
foreach (GameObject ArrayListUnit in new ArrayList(SelectedUnitList))

You have initialized redundant ArrayList and used it just for iteration. But when you remove from ArrayList within foreach loop it is from actual ArrayList i.e. SelectedUnitList.
Conculsion:
Use for loop to avoid redundancy and removing from the ArrayList.

A: Both of these are going to be problematic.  I would stay way from using foreach, depending on whether a full copy of the array is made or a shallow copy you could get an error such as "Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute. removing list item".  I think in this case the foreach will work as a deep copy is created.  However for large lists this could be inefficient, you can remove items from the array without having to create a copy of the entire array.
I'm guessing there's only one item in the SelectedUnitList that matches Unit?  Otherwise the first bit of code using the for loop will fail.  Instead you'd want...
public void RemoveUnitFromList(GameObject Unit) {
    if (SelectedUnitList.Count > 0) {
        for (int i = SelectedUnitList.Count -1; i >= 0; i--) {
            GameObject ArrayListUnit = SelectedUnitList[i] as GameObject;
            if (ArrayListUnit == Unit) {
                SelectedUnitList.RemoveAt(i);
                DeactivateProjectorOfObject(ArrayListUnit);
            }
        }
    }
}

This code loops backwards removing items such that the next item iterated to is not affected by the removal of the item in the previous iteration.
Assuming there is only one item matching game unit....
GameObject arrayListUnit = SelectedUnitList.SingleOrDefault(u => u == unit);
DeactivateProjectorOfObject(arrayListUnit);
SelectedUnitList.Remove(unit);

Also I don't know what's going on with Unity developers but you really need to start reading some guidelines on coding standards.  No coding standard I've seen has variables starting with a capital.
http://m.friendfeed-media.com/fc2fd89c8be6ace85f7bacedb14181d76ba6c8be

A: I you plan to perform processing on each object as you decide to remove it, my preferred method is to build a list of items to be removed while doing the final processing, then in a separate loop, remove the items. Also look into using typed lists (System.Collections.Generic.List<>). Untyped lists are just asking for problems at runtime if you accidently get something of the wrong type added to the list. Typed lists get you compile time protection to eliminate that problem.
I have to ask -- if you are passing in a specific game object to be removed, why do you need to loop though anything at all ?? ArrayList.Remove takes an object parameter, and you really should never have the same game object in your selected unit list twice in the first place. If you do you really need to add some checking to the code that builds the SelectedUnitList to prevent adding duplicates. Also.. is it safe to call DeactivateProjectorOfObject twice on the same object if you do happen to have a duplicate ??
In that case your code boils down to:

    public void RemoveUnitFromList(GameObject Unit) {
        DeactivateProjectorOfObject(unit);
        SelectedUnitList.Remove(unit);
    }

A: It is the same. In most cases I'm using foreach, because I produce less code. I use for only if I want to delete/add some items for current collection.
You can modified a little bit your code if you want to be precise:
public void RemoveUnitFromList(GameObject Unit)
{
    if (SelectedUnitList.Count == 0)
        return;

        foreach (GameObject ArrayListUnit in new ArrayList(SelectedUnitList))
        {
            if (ArrayListUnit != Unit)
                continue;

                SelectedUnitList.Remove(ArrayListUnit);
                DeactivateProjectorOfObject(ArrayListUnit);

        }
    }
}


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1 What Is Natural Life Garcinia Cambogia?
2 Who Is The Business Of Natural Life Garcinia Cambogia?
3 Natural Life Garcinia Cambogia Ingredients – Are They Uninjured & Impelling?
4 Natural Life Garcinia Cambogia Review- Does It Rattling Wreak?
Who Is The Business Of Natural Life Garcinia Cambogia?
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text:
PEPE CABRERA OPENS ITS NEW ARCHITECTURE STUDIO IN VALENCIA
Design and Avant-garde elegance coexist in the new architecture space of Pepe Cabrera in Valencia with the more traditional side of his own way of working. Sculptures at the entrance recalling the square of the Denia building, and inside, clean and free spaces divided into two blocks and combined with hidden rooms in built-in closets.
Entrance of the new Pepe Cabrera architecture and design studio in Valencia.
Pepe Cabrera opens its new architecture studio in Valencia next to Tetuán Square, thus coexisting the sculptures of the square with those of the anteroom of the premises that also serve to display the product.
The already existing building located in Denia is now joined by these two premises next to the Tetuán Square in Valencia, where the Bancaixa Foundation is located. It is about two blocks, similar to the three cubes that make up the Denia building, also with different functionalities and content. This new studio thus follows the same already existing pattern, although with the own characteristics of the Valencia building, which is around 140 years old.
In the rehabilitation of the two spaces the classic essence has been preserved, putting in value the materials and the Valencian architecture, taking out the baked clay solid facing brick, the wooden beams and joists and respecting the revolts with the stripping of the old paintings that the premises have suffered.
Sculpture that we can find in the anteroom of the premises dedicated to offices. Author: Rafael Carrió.
From the studio in Denia we have been carried out works at the national level for more than twenty years, but especially in the capital of Turia and that is why the brothers Paula and Nacho Cabrera made the decision to open this new space that adds one more step of experience to their trajectory. The objective is none other than to offer greater proximity and customer service, as well as a plus of internationality to the Studio, since Valencia is the third capital of Spain, a city open to both the Mediterranean and Europe and the Capital of Design 2022.
In one space is the architecture and interior design studio, in which all the facilities are not visible, since some are hidden in a large closet.
The second premises is occupied by a furniture exhibition dedicated to the Italian firm Minotti, wher the producto breathes thanks to the intervention that has been carried out in the space.
The best brands of furniture, lighting, decoration or kitchens, among others, have always accompanied the touch of sensitivity and personality of Pepe Cabrera. In the new Valencia studio, one of the two premises is dedicated to the contemporary furniture brand Minotti. This elegant Italian firm has a showroom that has become a point of reference for the brand in the Spanish "Levante" region, since Pepe Cabrera is the exclusive representative of Minotti throughout the province.
The brand represents similar values to those of Pepe Cabrera, a fusion between tradition and innovation. The Italian brand is known for the finish of its work done with the precision and love of a craftsman, while using the most advanced technologies, designs and materials at our fingertips. The result, a simple, elegant, sophisticated and modern producto, as well as classic and clean. A piece of furniture with a soul that creates spaces with life.
The offices of the architecture studio combine both the workspace and the spirit of the firm Pepe Cabrera.
In another of the spaces are located the offices of Pepe Cabrera, a clean and open workplace in which a perfect networking environment is generated to surround yourself with great professionals in the sector. Combination of aesthetics and technique that are also a good sample of the creations that are offered to the client and that give a security value in the finishes.
This is Pepe Cabrera, a content that evolves within a continent that was designed to be able to generate these synergies. This is the spirit that Pepe Cabrera created with his wife Ana and that the Cabrera Gil family has inherited and in which they have put so much effort. Both Paula and Nacho Cabrera, both architects, have established Pepe Cabrera as one of the most complete architecture and interior design studios in the Valencian Community. And this has been thanks to their experience in analyzing market needs and the ease of adaptation of his creations to the current moment.
Paula and Nacho Cabrera have managed to create a work team that currently numbers 30 people, dedicated to architecture and interior design projects.
That project that Pepe Cabrera and Ana Gil started in 1971 with a first decoration studio in Denia, turns 50 years into an expansion movement of a brand that has never lost its essence and has known how to adapt to the new needs of the market.


Turning a house into a home is a gradual albeit painstaking process. Home improvements and making fixes is just a tiny part of making the space more amenable to live and raise a family. However, the likelihood of us spending the rest of lives in one house is highly improbable. So, before selling a house and moving into another one, having things to fix is a given.
When you are living in the house, procrastinating repairs to do is understood. Most times, those pending repairs just become the little things we come to love about the house. But before selling a house, those things you must fix pile up and end up burning a hole in your pocket.
One of the cheapest and easiest home improvements you can make before selling a house in slapping on a new coat of paint on it. It even helps modernise the look of the house and gives it a new vibe altogether. It is a DIY activity and you do not even need a professional painter to make it work. Go in for lighter shades when painting before selling because that appeals to more people. You also don't have to paint every room in the house. Just focus on the rooms that have a dark coat of paint. In case the house has wallpaper, remove it before selling a house. Using a wallpaper only dates the look and feel of the house.
Focus on the kitchen – Most people consider the kitchen as the beating heart of a house. Making the kitchen pristine should be on the top of the list to things you must fix. But do not pour all your money into revamping the kitchen. Only make those repairs that are financially viable. That means check the pipes and water pressure and make it one of the first repairs to do in your list. Also, don't make any changes unless your real estate agent says they can get that money back when selling the house. Add a new coat of paint, install new fixtures if and when required and replace countertops before selling a house. It goes a long way in lining money in your pocket when the house is sold.
Of all the things you must fix, the bathroom should be your top priority. The rule of thumb is to fix it up and make improvements to it till it resembles something you would buy. Small repairs to do like fixing a leaky faucet or a running toilet go a long way in assisting the chances of the house being sold quickly. Adding missing tiles and cleaning out the grout also helps a great deal. If the bathroom has old wallpaper, kindly remove it and apply a new coat of paint to it as well when painting the whole house. Whenever a potential buyer inspects a house, they focus more on the kitchen and the bathroom so that is where majority of your home improvements should be focused on too.
Focus on the exterior – When anybody comes to buy a house, the first thing the buyers witness is the exterior of the house. It should be one of the key things you must fix before selling a house. While a white picket fence and a swing may seem like an ideal setting in a movie, it is not the case in real life. Trim those bushes regularly or hire someone to do it, fix that fence and plant more grass in the yard if the need so arises. Also, plant some flowers of different varieties. Nothing invites a person to a house more than dozens of beautiful flowers. But don't invest money in trying to landscape. That costs a lot of time and money. Something you may not have if you plan to move real soon.
A few other things you should inspect before selling a house are: check if the central heating is working or not, check whether the roof is leaking or not and check for other structural issues in the house.
The real estate market being what it is, investing in home improvements is the best way to get the most out of your old house so that you can invest in a new place. If the list of things you must fix is long and you want to cash out quickly, you may consider a selling it to a real estate investor. Even in that case, there are some primary repairs to do before you choose to shake on it.


text:
Bishop Felton Edwin May – 1935-2017
Posted by on Feb 27, 2017
Bishop Felton Edwin May, who served the Baltimore-Washington Conference from 1996 to 2004, died on Monday, Feb. 27.
Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, resident bishop of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, said, "It is with deep regret that I have learned that Bishop Felton Edwin May, a giant of The United Methodist Church and a faithful servant of God, has joined the Church Triumphant. I urge us all to actively keep his family and all those who loved him in our prayers."
Bishop May is survived by his wife of 53 years, Phyllis May, a retired educator; and two children, Daphne May Brown and Felton May II; and eight grandchildren. Condolences can be sent to 3315 Oak West Drive, Apt. 123, Ellicott City, MD 21043. Emails can be directed to Daphne May Brown at .
Arrangements will be announced as soon as they are available.
During his time at the BWC, Bishop May lead several ministry initiatives, including "Saving Stations," which were tent-style meeting places to address the scourge of alcohol and drug addiction in Baltimore.
Bishop May was born in Chicago and raised in the Baptist Church. According to a 2001 article in the Baltimore Sun, Bishop May was baptized in the Woodlawn Baptist Church. "The musically inclined bishop studied piano and dreamed of becoming a doctor," the article noted. "To make ends meet in college, he did part-time office work at a Reform synagogue. That synagogue's rabbi, Louis Leopold Mann, is largely responsible for May … becoming a Methodist. Mann, a liberal and early civil rights activist, recommended May in the mid-1950s to a nearby Methodist pastor who wanted to integrate his church.
"That pastor soon had May leading Sunday school and services for a junior church for the congregation's children," the article reads.
"And then I began to read Methodist literature and its social witness, and it made sense to me. I felt I was called by God to do that," the bishop said.
After receiving a B.A. from Judson College, Bishop May was ordained deacon in the Northern Illinois Conference by Bishop Charles Wesley Brashares. He served two appointments in Chicago: St. James Church and Maple Park Church, a new church start. He then transferred to the Peninsula Annual Conference, where he served as associate executive director of the Methodist Action Program in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1970, he was ordained an elder by Bishop John Wesley Lord after receiving an M. Div. Degree from Crozer Theological Seminary. In the Peninsula Conference, he also served as pastor of Ezion-Mt. Carmel Church, Wilmington, superintendent of the Easton District and director of the Conference Council on Ministries.
He was a delegate to the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference from 1972 to 1984, and a delegate to General Conference from 1976 to 1984. After his election to the episcopacy in 1984, he was assigned to the Harrisburg Episcopal Area where he served until 1996. In 1996, he was assigned to the Washington Episcopal Area. After retirement in September 2004, he accepted the position of Dean of the Harry R. Kendall Science and Health Mission Center at Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Arkansas.
In 1990, he served as Bishop-on-Special Assignment to organize and coordinate the United Methodist Bishops' Initiative on Drug and Alcohol Abuse and Violence in Washington, D.C. Bishop May served as a member of the General Council on Ministries, the General Board of Global Ministries, and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. He also served as chair of the National Shalom Zone Committee, the Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence, the Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation, the General Board of Global Ministries' Finance Committee, the Northeastern Jurisdiction Board of the Multi-Ethnic Center, the Advance for Christ and His Church Committee, and the Council of Bishops' Emerging Issues Committee.
In 1999, Bishop May served as a member of the White House Presidential Mission on Children Orphaned by AIDS, which traveled to Africa. The mission's study of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa led to a Clinton Administration recommendation that U.S. spending in response to the crisis of AIDS worldwide be increased by $100 million. He was also a participant in the White House's Faith Leaders for One America Initiative, the UN Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, and the Camp David Presidential Retreat Interfaith Chapel Committee.
Bishop May received honorary degrees from Lebanon Valley College, Lycoming College, Wesley College and Rust College.
In Lieu of flowers, please give memorial gifts to the following: Project H.O.P.E., Feeding Hungry Children, Theressa Hoover United Methodist Women, C/O Dr. Etta Carter, 6403 Shirley Drive, Little Rock, Arkansas 72204; or to the Africa University Development Fund, Post Office Box 340007, Nashville, TN 37203.
*Some of the information for this obituary came from www.umc.org.


How hard is it to learn how to make right and left turns on a scooter?
But, personally, I didn't find it hard at all to learn how to turn. You just turn the handlebars. No need, really, to lean on a scooter, like you do on a motorcycle.


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BOOK EVENT: Palestine is Throwing a Party and the Whole World is Invited
Posted on September 16, 2021 by Thayer Hastings
PALESTINE IS THROWING A PARTY AND THE WHOLE WORLD IS INVITED: CAPITAL AND STATE BUILDING IN THE WEST BANK
Thursday 23 September 2021: 1-2:30PM ET, 6-7:30PM UK, 8-9:30PM Palestine
Register here and join on Facebook.
Join Mezna Qato (University of Cambridge), David Harvey (CUNY Graduate Center), and Kareem Rabie (University of Illinois, Chicago) in conversation about Rabie's new book Palestine is Throwing a Party and the Whole World is Invited (Duke University Press 2021).
In 2008, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad invited international investors to the first-ever Palestine Investment Conference, which was designed to jump-start the process of integrating Palestine into the global economy. As Fayyad described the conference, Palestine is "throwing a party, and the whole world is invited." In this book Kareem Rabie examines how the conference and Fayyad's rhetoric represented a wider shift in economic and political practice in ways that oriented state-scale Palestinian politics toward neoliberal globalization rather than a diplomatic two-state solution. Rabie demonstrates that private firms, international aid organizations, and the Palestinian government in the West Bank focused on large-scale private housing development in an effort toward state-scale economic stability and market building. This approach reflected the belief that a thriving private economy would lead to a free and functioning Palestinian state. Yet, as Rabie contends, these investment-based policies have maintained the status quo of occupation and Palestine's subordinate and suspended political and economic relationship with Israel.
"Palestine Is Throwing a Party is a brilliant, carefully researched, and thoughtful book. Kareem Rabie uses the lens of urban planning and development to show us how global processes of unequal capital accumulation, racialized labor and property regimes within Israel/Palestine, and the managerial rule of Palestinian technocrats and capitalists collaborating with Israel all persistently reproduce the violent systems of settler-colonial expropriation in Israel/Palestine since 1948." — Laleh Khalili, author of Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula
"Drawing on his exceptional knowledge and understanding of Palestine, along with a considerable amount of original, innovative, and detailed fieldwork, Kareem Rabie presents thought-provoking insights on the question of urbanism in Palestine. This extremely interesting study makes an important contribution." — Adam Hanieh, author of Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East
Kareem Rabie is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of Illinois, Chicago and visiting fellow at CUNY's Center for Place Culture and Politics; and Committee on Globalization and Social Change.
Mezna Qato is Margaret Anstee Fellow at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. She is a social historian of Palestine and the Palestinians, and was previously Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Fellow at Columbia University, and Junior Research Fellow in the History of the modern Middle East at King's College, University of Cambridge.
David Harvey is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City University of New York (CUNY) and author of various books, articles, and lectures. He is the author of Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism (Profile Books, 2014), one of The Guardian's Best Books of 2011, The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2010). Other books include A Companion to Marx's Capital, Limits to Capital, and Social Justice and the City. Professor Harvey has been teaching Karl Marx's Capital for nearly 40 years. He was director of the Center for Place, Culture and Politics from 2008-2014.
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics, the Department of Anthropology at the Graduate Center and LeftEast. It is free and open to the public.
This entry was posted in Video and tagged capital, Development, Palestine, Political Economy, real estate, State Building, West Bank by Thayer Hastings. Bookmark the permalink.


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Q: Using gzip_compressor yield different file sizes I used gzip_compressor() to have compressed output file. I used two methods for this purpose. The common part is
std::ofstream traceOut;
traceOut.open("log.gz", std::ios_base::out);
struct traceRec {
  traceRec(uint64_t c) : cycle(c) {};
  uint64_t cycle;
};
void writeTrace(traceRec &rec)
{
  boost::iostreams::filtering_ostream o;
  o.push(boost::iostreams::gzip_compressor());
  o.push(traceOut);
  // METHOD 1 OR 2
}

Method 1
I use
 o.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(&rec.cycle), sizeof(rec.cycle));

With this implementation, the file size is 380K!!
Method 2
I use
 traceOut << rec.cycle << std::endl;

With this implementation, the file size is 78K!!
So why they have different size?? Another thing is that if I don't use the gzip_compressor and directly write to the file
std::ofstream traceOut;
traceOut.open("log.gz", std::ios_base::out);
...
traceOut << rec.cycle << std::endl;

The file size will be 78K.
So there are two problems:
1- Using or not using gzip_compressor has no effect on file size
2- Different implementations for using gzip_compressor yield different file sizes
Any idea about that?

A: operator << is likely using the textual representation of the number, while the write method take the complete variable size.
So if you have for example a cycle that's "13", in the "write" case, you'll consume 8 bytes, while you'll consume only 2 in the textual representation.
When compressed, the effect is even more dramatic, because when writing numbers as text, only 10 characters are used, (very very low entropy), so it's highly redundant and compressible.
On the other size, if your cycle counter is often very big (> 99999999), then the write method will gives better compression.


I want to make a tube that is coloured red that fades to transparent at one end. Is this possible. Or a tube that fades to black at one end. Any ideas? When I use the gradient tool (the logical option) the tube always seems to gradient around rather than along the tube. I guess i am missing something simple.
Change the axis of the gradient. On what axis is your tube created? Not how it is oriented in layout, but how it was modelled.