text:
By Farooq A. Kperogi
In the past few weeks, I have received no fewer than 10 emails from readers of this column asking questions about how the Higher National Diploma (HND) compares with American post-secondary educational qualifications.
Does the United States have the HND or its equivalent? If no, do American universities accept HND graduates from Nigeria and elsewhere for graduate studies without requiring them to take remedial courses? Or do American universities also look down on HNDs like Nigerian and British universities do?
The straightforward answer, which derives from my personal experience with the American university system, is that the HND is treated almost exactly like a bachelor's degree here. I know of many Nigerian and Canadian HND graduates who have been admitted to the master's degree (and later PhD) programs of many American universities without undergoing remedial postgraduate diploma courses. (In any case, American universities don't offer postgraduate diplomas).
The closest and most recent Nigerian HND graduate I know of who is pursuing a master's degree at a U.S. university as of the time writing this column is a man who graduated from the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu, with an HND in mass communication. He is, incidentally, studying for his master's degree in communication at the University of Louisiana—my alma mater.
I once narrated the story of an HND graduate from Canada whose qualification was mistaken for a master's degree at the University of New Orleans. This confusion arose, perhaps, because in American English "diploma" is the generic word for a document certifying the successful completion of any course of study. It's equivalent to what we call "certificate" in British and Nigerian English. (Even the document certifying the completion of the PhD is called a "diploma" here).
Given that background, it's easy to understand how a "higher diploma" would be mistaken for an advanced degree. But that's not the only reason why HNDs are not discriminated against in American universities. There are at least four other reasons.
First off, let it be known that the American university system has no concept of the HND. Institutions of higher education here just award associate, bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees. Associate degrees are awarded only by "community colleges" after two years of study. They are, in some sense, equivalent to our Ordinary National Diploma (OND) or, perhaps, British and Nigerian "A" levels.
Universities and colleges award bachelor's, master's, and PhD degrees. Although the word "college" is the generic term for what we would recognize as "university" in Nigeria (Americans describe people as "college-educated" if they have at least a bachelor's degree) schools designated as "colleges," for the most part, only award bachelor's degrees.
Now, it is also usual for American colleges and universities to have the word "polytechnic" in their names even though they bear no resemblance whatsoever with the British and Nigerian concept of polytechnic. For example, 15 miles north of Atlanta, there is a school called the Southern Polytechnic State University, which awards bachelor's and master's degrees in technical and vocational fields, the humanities, the social sciences and the sciences.
Other popular American universities with "polytechnic" in their names are, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (often just called Virginia Tech), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (where Dr. Gabriel Oyibo of GAGUT infamy teaches), California State Polytechnic University, etc.
So when somebody comes to America with a qualification from a "polytechnic," it's likely to be regarded as the equivalent of a university degree since universities in America, as you have seen, can also be known as "polytechnics." That's probably the second reason why HNDs from Nigerian polytechnics and elsewhere are not discriminated against here.
The third possible reason why HNDs are not discriminated against by many U.S. universities is because the qualification is awarded after four years of post-secondary education. When you add to this the fact that these "higher diplomas" are given by "polytechnics" (a name often associated with universities here) it's easy to understand why HNDs are easily accepted as the equivalent of a bachelor's degree.
Now, compare this with the experience of Indians whose bachelor's degrees from universities are never accepted as the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree precisely because it takes only three years to get a bachelor's degree in the social sciences and humanities in India. An Indian master's degree is accepted as the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree. That's why every Indian here has a master's degree.
Lastly, as I once mentioned on this page, admission to graduate schools in U.S. universities is often the result of a multi-faceted process. The most important of this process, however, is getting an acceptable score in the Graduate Records Examination (GRE). So even if you have an HND but received very high scores in the GRE you have a greater chance to get into graduate programs in U.S. universities than someone with a first-class degree from a university but with low GRE scores.
In the UK from where we inherited the tradition of HNDs, polytechnics have been discontinued since 1992. They have all transmuted into universities both in name and curriculum. As you would expect, HND holders still face discrimination in UK universities. In other words, U.S. universities are more welcoming to HND graduates than UK universities are.
Next week, I will write more on the idea of the polytechnic and how we can rescue it in Nigeria.
I receive scores of emails every day from people who read this article. Please note that I am not an admissions officer and can't help anybody find admission into any American university. Write directly to the universities you're interested in and ask if they accept HND as the equivalent of a bachelor's degree.
I will not respond to emails asking me to help or advise with names of schools in America that accept the HND as an entry qualification for graduate studies. In any case, the related articles below answer most of the questions I often receive from readers.
On the Parity of Esteem between Universities and Polytechnics
Studying in America: What You Need to Know
Funding Your American Education
Looking at American Education with Nigerian Eyes I
Looking at American Education with Nigerian Eyes II
Looking at American Education with Nigerian Eyes III
Looking at American Education with Nigerian Eyes IV
Posted by Farooq A. Kperogi at 7:23 PM 11 comments: Links to this post
Labels: American colleges and universities, education in Nigeria, Farooq Kperogi, HND, postsecondary education, Weekly Trust
Louisiana is America's Happiest State; New York Its Unhappiest!
A new research has just shown that Louisiana, one of America's poorest states, has the happiest people in the country and New York, one of the nation's most prosperous states, has its unhappiest people. Georgia is 19. Interesting finding. Read the full story below:
Happiest States Revealed by New Research
Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience.com – Thu Dec 17, 2:05 pm ET
Ever wondered if you'd be happier in sunny Florida or snow-covered Minnesota? New research on state-level happiness could answer that question.
Florida and two other sunshine states made it to the Top 5, while Minnesota doesn't show up until number 26 on the list of happiest states. In addition to rating the smile factor of U.S. states, the research also proved for the first time that a person's self-reported happiness matches up with objective measures of well-being.
Essentially, if an individual says they're happy, they are.
"When human beings give you an answer on a numerical scale about how satisfied they are with their lives, it is best to pay attention. Their answers are reliable," said Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England. "This suggests that life-satisfaction survey data might be very useful for governments to use in the design of economic and social policies," Oswald said.
The happy-states list, however, doesn't match up with a similar ranking reported last month, which found that the most tolerant and wealthiest states were, on average, the happiest. Oswald says this past is based on raw averages of people's happiness in a state, and so doesn't provide meaningful results.
"That study cannot control for individual characteristics," Oswald told LiveScience. "In other words, all anyone has been able to do is to report the averages state-by-state, and the problem with doing that is you're not comparing apples with apples because the people who live in New York City are nothing like the individuals living in Montana."
Rather, Oswald and Stephen Wu, an economist at Hamilton College in New York, statistically created a representative American. That way they could take, for example, a 38-year-old woman with a high-school diploma and making medium-wage who is living anywhere and transplant her to another state and get a rough estimate of her happiness level.
"Not much point in looking at the happiness of a Texas rancher compared to a nurse in Ohio," Oswald said.
The happiest states:
1. Louisiana
2. Hawaii
3. Florida
4. Tennessee
5. Arizona
6. Mississippi
7. Montana
8. South Carolina
9. Alabama
10. Maine
The scientists caution, however, that the top spot, Louisiana, might not reflect current levels of well-being since the data were collected before the disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina. They are confident that data for the other states does accurately reflect happiness levels.
See the full list of 50 states (and the District of Columbia) here.
Happiness measures
Their results come from a comparison of two data sets of happiness levels in each state, one that relied on participants' self-reported well-being and the other an objective measure that took into account a state's weather, home prices and other factors that are known reasons to frown (or smile).
The self-reported information came from 1.3 million U.S. citizens who took part in a survey between 2005 and 2008.
"We wanted to study whether people's feelings of satisfaction with their own lives are reliable, that is, whether they match up to reality - of sunshine hours, congestion, air quality, etc - in their own state," Oswald said.
The results showed the two measures matched up. "We were stunned when it first came up on our screens, because no one has ever managed to produce a clear validation before of subjective well-being, or happiness, data," Oswald said.
They were also surprised at the least happy states, such as New York and Connecticut, which landed at the bottom two spots on the list.
"We were struck by the states that come at the bottom, because a lot of them are on the East Coast, highly prosperous and industrialized," Oswald said. "That's another way of saying they have a lot of congestion, high house prices, bad air quality."
He added, "Many people think these states would be marvelous places to live in. The problem is that if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a non-fulfilling prophecy."
Would you be happier in another state?
Using both the subjective well-being results, which included individual characteristics like demographics and income, and the objective findings, the team could figure out how an individual would fare in a particular state.
"We can create a like-to-like comparison, because we know the characteristics of people in every state," Oswald said. "So we can adjust statistically to compare a representative person hypothetically put down in any state."
This new research will be published online on Dec. 17 by the journal Science.
Posted by Farooq A. Kperogi at 2:38 PM No comments: Links to this post
Labels: Happiest states in the US
Louisiana is America's Happiest State; New York It...


***Raising Attabury: A Contemporary Christian Epic-Novel (The Grace Series Book 5) (Deal, Not Free) by Staci Stallings. Price: $0.99. Genre: Christian African American Romance Deal of the Day, Sponsor, USA Today Bestselling Author, Can God's Love really Save a Broken Desperate Marriage. Rated: 4.9 stars on 178 Reviews. 533 pages. ASIN: B06W2FV26R. USA Today Bestselling Author Staci Stallings.
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text:
#ifndef BIGINT_H
#define BIGINT_H

/**   @file bigint.h
      @author Paul Talaga     // Change me!
      @date 11-23-2013        // Change me!
      @version 0.01

      This BigInt class implements an infinitely long non-negative integer, with 3
      mathematical operations possible:  addition, subtraction, and equality comparison.

      BitInts can be initialized via a long, or a string of digits (ascii).

      BigInts can be retrieved as a string of digits or converted to an unsigned long.

      */

#include <string>
#include <vector>

using namespace std;

/**
  * Class representing a integer class capable of very large non-negative numbers.
*/
class BigInt{

public:

  /**
    * Default constructor initializes to 0
    */
  BigInt();

  /**
    * Creates a new BigInt from an unsigned long integer
    */
  BigInt(const unsigned long& number);

  /**
    * Creates a new BigInt from a string of ascii digits.  Throws exception if value is negative.
	  * Only needs to handle digits representing an integer, nothing larger.
    */
  BigInt(const string& number);

  /**
    * Create a new BigInt from another one. (Copy Constructor)
    */
  BigInt(const BigInt& number);

	/**
	 * Destructor
	 */
	~BigInt();

  /**
    * Return true if the sent BigInt has the same value as 'this'.
    */
  bool isEqual(const BigInt& number);

  /**
    * Return the Bigint as a string of digits.
	  * Extra leading 0's is OK.
    */
  string getAsDigits();

  /**
    * Return the Bigint as an unsigned long.  Causes an exception if BigInt is larger than unsigned
    * long supports.
    */
  unsigned long getAsLong();

  /**
    * Adds/subtract another Bigint to the current one and changes 'this' object.
    * ('this' - number) for subtraction
    * If subtraction would result in a negative value, throw an exception.
    */
  void add(const BigInt& number);
  void subtract(const BigInt& number);

  private:

	// FILL ME IN IF NEEDED

};

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
StudyStay
St Christopher's at Palace Hotel
10-12 Grand Junction Road, Brighton BN1 1PN, England
Providing modern accommodation with private bathroom facilities, St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel Brighton is situated in the centre of the city just steps from the beach, The Lanes and Pool Valley Coach Station.
Click here to book St Christopher's at Palace Hotel
St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel Brighton is located on Brighton seafront, just minutes from the sea, Brighton Pier, Royal Pavilion and the city's many restaurants, bars, cafes and night clubs. St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel Brighton even has its own bar and night club - the Junction - open 'til 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, so you won't have to go far for a great night out. You can grab tea, coffee and toast before you head out for a busy day of sunbathing, sightseeing and studying.
Brighton St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel is conveniently situated next to Pool Valley Coach Station - Brighton Train Station is also within easy reach. All of the rooms at Brighton St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel have private bathroom facilities, free bed linen and under bed lockers. Rooms range from 4 beds to 10 beds, with a total of 48 beds, and internet access is available. Hostels in the St Christopher's group are safe and clean and the staff are familiar with backpackers' needs.
Where is St Christopher's at Palace Hotel Located?
St Christopher's at Palace Hotel is located in City Centre, Brighton Regional Map, Local Map
Many language schools are within walking distance, including St Giles College Brighton, EF International School of English Brighton and House of English. Brighton St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel is also just a short stroll from the University of Brighton's Grand Parade campus. The Moulescoomb and Falmer sites are easily accessible by bus or train, as is the Falmer site of the Universty of Sussex.
Brighton is the nearest station to St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel Brighton. Gatwick Airport is just a thirty minute train journey away and Central London is within a fifty minute journey on the fast Southern services to Victoria.
During your stay at Brighton St Christopher's Inn at Palace Hotel you can catch a concert at the Brighton Centre, admire the fishes at the Sealife Centre, or shop 'til you drop in The Lanes - all of which are within a short stroll of your hostel. The beach is just over the road and Brighton Pier is only a stone's throw away. To get a fix of architectural splendour you can visit nearby Royal Pavillion, transformed into the Indian-style building you see today by John Nash in the nineteenth-century.
Please note: if you are booking for more than 1 person you can request to be placed in the same dormitory, but this cannot be guaranteed. If you are making a group booking you can request to share an entire dormitory, but it cannot be guaranteed that you will all be placed in the same dormitory and have the room to yourselves.
St Christopher's at Palace Hotel Facilities
Non-Smoking Rooms On Request
Looking for Group Accommodation in Brighton? Get an instant quote now
StudyStay - Your specialist provider of group accommodation for students and school groups since 2001. Offering quality hostels for groups in Brighton, hotels for groups in Brighton and long stay accommodation in Brighton at discounted prices for large groups.
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London, E15 2ST.
Bookings International

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Proving that a parameterized curve in 3D is an ellipse and calculating its shape parameters Consider the following closed curve in 3D, parameterized by $\theta$:
$$
\begin{align}
x &= A\cos(\theta) \\
y &= -2A\sin(\theta) \tag{1}\label{xyz} \\
z &= -C\sin(\theta-\phi)
\end{align}
$$
Two questions:

*

*Is this curve an ellipse? When I graph it, it certainly looks like one. How can I prove that?

*Assuming the answer to (1) is affirmative, what are the shape parameters (e.g. semi-major axis, semi-minor axis) of this ellipse? How do I calculate them?

Here's what I've done so far.

*

*It's easy to verify that the curve lies in the plane normal to $(2C\sin\phi, C\cos\phi, -2A)$.

*The curve lies on the surfaces
$$
4x^2+y^2=4A^2 \\
(\sin^2\phi)x^2 + (\sin\phi\cos\phi)xy + (\cos^2\phi/4)y^2 - (A^2/C^2)z^2 = 0
$$
so presumably it is their intersection. But I don't know why the intersection of these surfaces must be an ellipse.

*The distance from the origin is
$$
\begin{align*}
r^2 &= x^2+y^2+z^2 \\
&= A^2\cos^2\theta + 4A^2\sin^2\theta + C^2(-\sin\theta\cos\phi+\cos\theta\sin\phi)^2 \\
&= (A^2+C^2\sin^2\phi)\cos^2\theta + (4A^2+C^2\cos^2\phi)\sin^2\theta - 2C^2\sin\phi\cos\phi\sin\theta\cos\theta \\
&= \frac12 (A^2+C^2\sin^2\phi)(1+\cos 2\theta) + \frac12 (4A^2+C^2\cos^2\phi)(1-\cos 2\theta) - \frac12 C^2 \sin 2\phi \sin 2\theta \\
&= \frac12 (5A^2+C^2) + \frac12 (-3A^2 + C^2(\sin^2\phi-\cos^2\phi))\cos 2\theta - \frac12 C^2 \sin 2\phi \sin 2\theta \\
&= \frac12 (5A^2+C^2) - \frac12 (3A^2+C^2\cos 2\phi)\cos 2\theta - \frac12 C^2 \sin 2\phi \sin 2\theta \\
\end{align*}
$$
so
$$
\frac{d(r^2)}{d\theta} = (3A^2+C^2\cos 2\phi)\sin 2\theta - C^2\sin 2\phi\cos 2\theta.
$$
Setting $d(r^2)/d\theta = 0$ gives
$$
(3A^2+C^2\cos 2\phi)\sin 2\theta - C^2\sin 2\phi\cos 2\theta = 0
$$
or
$$
\tan 2\theta = \frac{\sin 2\phi}{3A^2/C^2+\cos 2\phi}.
$$
This gives the local extrema of the distance function and should be a step towards finding the semi-major and semi-minor axes. In theory, I should use this equation to substitute back into Eq. \eqref{xyz} and be able to get a semi-major axis and semi-minor axis vector. But it looks computationally hard and I decided not to try to proceed further without asking this question first.

Am I heading in the right direction? Is there a way to proceed that is not as computational? (At least for the proof of (1); I expect that (2) is going to get computational at some point no matter what.)

A: Here is a way which is indeed non-computational.
You surely mean $4x^2+y^2=4$ which is in 3D the equation of an elliptical-based cylinder, belonging to the category of quadric surfaces. It is well known that the intersection of a quadric with a plane is a conic curve. As this curve is bounded
$(|x|\leq A, |y|\leq 2A, |z|\leq C)$, it can be neither an hyperbola nor a parabola ; it remains only the case of an ellipse.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


to these later plays, and even less has addressed their structural relevance to Joyces work. This type became prominent with regard to Hong Kong in the period preceding re-integration into the People's Republic of China (Pe-Pua., 1998 but continues today affecting increasing numbers of countries. HOW forms OF migration changing? Winters Tale has been particularly overlooked, alarm bells for civilization essay and that Stephen and Blooms frequent corrupted references to this text have important implications for. In classical immigration countries, the expectation of long-term cultural assimilation proved illusory, with ethnic communities maintaining their languages and cultures into the second and third generations. The production closed down for the weekend. For instance, when the German government stopped labour migration from Turkey in 1973, flows continued and grew in the shape of family reunion, asylum-seekers and illegal migrants which all used transit paths and community infrastructures established in the previous period (Martin, 1991). Globalization undermines many of the core features of the nation-state. Ulysses, seemingly surface allusions to the romances are in fact essential to the novels interests in redemption, art and most importantly language.
Use technical terminology and such techniques as passive voice where appropriate. They therefore present a powerful challenge to traditional ideas of nation-state belonging (Bauman, 1998). If this person were reading your application essay, what would most impress him or her? So, the essay equal opportunities specific characteristics of migration changed in the current conditions of globalization. The latter cause of migration is qualitatively different from the search for economic improvement, which is a constant feature of migration (Spencer, Sarah). Pick two to four main topics for a one-page essay. I know the difficulty Kaiser had closing the last two sluiceway gates on the Guri Dam in Venezuela. Think of the essay as not only an answer to a specific question but as an opportunity to introduce yourself, especially if your program doesn't interview applicants. There will be days this winter when the humidity will drop to ten, seven, four. These flows tend increasingly to be organized through transnationals networks of the most varied kinds, ranging from intergovernmental organizations and transnationals corporations through to international NGOs and global criminal syndicates (Held., 1999). I keep watch on evaporation behind the Aswan in Egypt. A kind of prank Salinger plays on the reader is the couching of his narratives in the authorship of the fictional Buddy Glass and the creation of a Glass superstructure of linked stories.
International migration has always aided in cultural exchanges and -notwithstanding the challenges raised when individuals, groups and communities of different cultures, ethnic groups and religions live together- it is reasonable to expect that it will continue to forge multicultural spaces and spread ideas and values. Between 19, international migrants accounted for about one quarter of the developed world's population growth. This can undermine state control policies and reduce the efficacy of traditional modes of migrant incorporation into society (Castles, 2000).


text:
HomeStrainsCrystal
with Crystal
Crystal Near You
Crystal is an award-winning powerhouse strain that's a combination between well-known heavy hitters Northern Lights and White Widow. The plant is bushy yet tall, leaning slightly towards indica (60/40) and producing powerful buds that contain as much as 25% THC. The strain goes down with sticky-delicious confidence and comes out smooth and sweet. It's hugely effective at nudging out racing thoughts and negative feelings. Continue reading to learn more about the award-winning Crystal strain and its unique effects.
The Crystal flavor combines pine and fruit terpenes for a refreshing inhale while the smoke smells like pine but with a touch of gas. If you enjoy sugary yet pungent strains, Crystal might be your new favorite. The strain even won the Highlife Cup in 2002, which is the prestigious Netherlands competition that pits the classiest strains against each other for dominance in different classes. Coming out on top, even just once, is why Crystal speaks for itself.
The high of this strain starts a little slow, but as it creeps in, Crystal invigorates its users from their brains, out through their necks, and into their limbs. Consumers love this strain for its ability to calm nerves and quell troubled thoughts while warming them up all over. If you find yourself racing, anxious, and negative, Crystal could prove to be a calming companion.
Cotton Mouth
Traumatic Stress
The plant itself grows in a bushy sativa-like structure that also grows substantially in its final phases (up to 200cm), producing a space-dependent high-yielder that experienced growers will really be able to utilize. Its buds are large and sticky, coated in white crystals and red pistils. The strain is suited to warm climates and produces around 22 oz of bud outside and 15 oz inside. Expect a harvest in the first week or two of October if you decide to let Crystal run wild.
Despite its euphoria-inducing, calming presence and fruity yet pungent flavors, Crystal is known to cause dry mouth and eyes. Keeping water and the occasional snack on-hand will not be a mistake as you let Crystal work its magic. It's not going to come on strong and fast, but give it a minute and Crystal has potentially one of the most invigorating highs around. This cerebral and smooth smoke goes wonderful with late afternoons relaxing with loved ones or by yourself – pair this strain with a good movie you don't mind sleeping through and you'll find out why it's been winning awards for 20 years now.


text:
Home » Joy shared that she checked the online articles on the day her dating news with Crush broke out
Joy shared that she checked the online articles on the day her dating news with Crush broke out
August 25, 2021Last Updated: August 25, 2021
Red Velvet Joy retold what she did on the day her dating news hit the headlines.
On August 24, Red Velvet members Wendy, Irene, Joy, and Yeri joined seulgi in the live broadcast that she hosted, "Seulgi.zip", which was aired on Naver NOW.
During the show, each member presented the questions about themselves in turn while other members had to guess the correct answers. When it came to Joy's turn, she asked, "What was the first thing that I did when I came home yesterday?"
Irene immediately shouted, "You searched for your name – Joy". Wendy said, "You looked at your phone". Yeri guessed, "You looked up things that happened on the Internet".
A day before the live broadcast (August 23), Joy and singer Crush were officially confirmed to be dating.
Joy was embarrassed at the answers from the members; she jokingly complained, "Why did you give me this question?". Actually, the correct answer on the script was 'Joy practiced the lines to prepare for the shooting of her new drama'.
However, Joy admitted that she acknowledged the dating news; she said, "I did see everything on the Internet". Seul Gi responded to Joy, saying, "Everyone saw it, right?", changing the mood of the live broadcast.
crush Red Velvet Red Velvet Irene Red Velvet Joy red velvet wendy Red Velvet Yeri
Photos of a girl group member's school days that were posted online by her alumni
GOT The Beat made their comeback with "Stamp On It": Low album sales and digital achievements signal a not-so-bright future for the group
The outfit is cute, but the abs… Fans were surprised by a Red Velvet member's unexpected body
Red Velvet Irene placed 2nd in Star Ranking's Female Idol category, steady popularity
Singer and actor Do Kyung-soo shows unexpected relationship with Zico in Zico's latest "Give Me A Minute" interview segment
How Min Hee Jin is being a double-edged sword for New Jeans, fans are concerned about the pedophilia and malicious comments


text:
Home / World News / Grand Tour star Richard Hammond given green light to build huge garage at £2m castle for car collection
Grand Tour star Richard Hammond given green light to build huge garage at £2m castle for car collection
GRAND Tour host Richard Hammond has been given the go-ahead to build a huge garage to store his car collection at his £2million castle home in Hertfordshire.
The 50-year-old launched a bid to pull down an old stable block and build the new structure after thieves were able to make off with tractor parts during a recent break-in.
Hammond lives at the Grade II* listed Bollitree Castle, near Ross-on-Wye, with wife Mindy, 47, and teenage daughters Willow and Isabella.
An application made to Herefordshire Council over the summer said that the existing storage blocks at the property "fall short" of the family's needs.
The new blocks will be used to store ride-on mowers, a tractor, a number of Land Rovers, and equipment for horse riding as well as Hammond's car and motorbike collection, the Hertford Times reported.
It will also include space to be used by the gardeners and other staff employed to maintain the 31-acre estate.
Design images appear to show two planned buildings, a storage barn and a separate stable for the family's horses.
Forms submitted as part of the application read: "Currently the estate has no storage outside the domestic curtilage of the house other than the existing stables and a small lean to for hay and feed.
"As there is no storage provision for any farm or equestrian vehicles and their equipment, these are currently left outside, recently leading to the theft of tractor parts.
"In addition to the agricultural and equestrian use of the estate the owner has a collection of cars and motorcycles which support his work as a motoring journalist.
"Currently these are housed 'ad hoc' in the listed barns or in the open courtyard.
"Secure storage and parking for this collection of vehicles is fundamental to the owners needs."
The documents also said that the roof of the building would be corrugated sheet metal and that its exterior would be clad with timber.
The council said that, during construction, it would need to be kept informed about the materials being used and how builders would avoid carrying mud to surrounding roads.
The castle already boasts protective ramparts and a moat, 10-foot iron gates, and a high-tech security system.
The recent break-in followed reports in 2018 that the house itself had been burgled.
West Mercia Police confirmed at the time that they had investigated a possible break-in, but Hammond later denied the reports, saying: "Nobody broke in and nothing was stolen."


text:
OAU Login
History of Owan
Owan East
Owan West
OAU Goes To Work
OAU Members
OAU Community Engagement
Oba Ewuare Ozolua is traditionally regarded as the ancestor of the Owans/Ora. He was known as Prince Okpame before he became known as Oba Ozolua. He had sought refuge in Uwokha in Ivbiosakon areas in c1473. From Uwokha, Oba Ozolua founded Ora and other villages. Oba Ozolua was a warlord. He beat the people of Uzea near Uromi to a pulp when there was a revolt.
Iuleha
Iuleha clan occupies the north-western part of Edo State in the Southern geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Iuleha is the single largest conglomeration of community in the Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, in terms of size and population. Iuhela has continued to play a vital role in the socio-political, cultural and economic development of the local government area.
To promote the social, cultural, economic, educational, civic, and general well being of Owan Association USA members and Owan indigenes in Edo State of Nigeria.
To seek better ways in achieving progress for Owan people through better health and welfare, safety, and security, and assist in enhancing the physiological needs, so Owan people can feel good being citizens of Owan.
© Owan Association USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
To unite Owan people so we can work collaboratively to enhance the lives of Owan people in the United States of America and in Edo State of Nigeria.
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Get a head start on your holiday decorating and join us for this fun and relaxing class. I am certain this class will fill up quickly. So register early to avoid disappointment.
Monday, July 23rd at 6:00 p.m.
I think this DSP is one of my favorite Christmas Designs yet. What do you think?


Today we're going to talk about how to disassemble a Walther P99, nine millimeter pistol. Before you disassemble the gun the first thing you want to do is make sure the gun is safe and empty. First you remove the magazine from the gun and rack the slide back and lock it into place. From there you're going to do a visual and physical inspection of the gun to make sure it is empty. I like to stick my finger in here, check the barrel, make sure everything is empty.
Once you have that, a few times, make sure it's empty. From there, disassemble the gun. You're going to grab the rear of the gun with the webbing of your hand here and draw the slide back just a little bit. There's a lever here on both sides that you're going to pull out. From there, you have to press the trigger and the slide is going to slide forward. Remove the slide from the gun.
The frame of the gun has [inaudible 00:01:00] remove, so you can put that down. The slide from here you're going to compress the spring forward just a little bit and release it and pull it out. Remove the spring. The only thing left you have here is the barrel, barrel just pops right out. You push through from the rejection port, remove the barrel. Your slide has no more remove. That is how to disassemble a Walther P99.


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Home College Catalog College Catalog: About Durham Tech
About Durham Tech
Student Information and Records
Center for the Global Learner
Center for Workforce Engagement
College Catalog: About Durham Tech
Durham Technical Community College is a charter member of the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS). With locations throughout Durham and Orange counties, Durham Tech is the community college of choice for more than 18,000 students annually. The College opened as the Durham Industrial Education Center in 1961 and officially became Durham Technical Community College 25 years later.
Durham Tech ensures that all students develop the knowledge, skills, and networks needed to be successful in college, work, and life.
To be the leader in our community's educational, training, and economic development.
The Standard for Excellence The College commits to the highest professional standards of quality, integrity, and performance in our programs, services, and operations.
Student‐Centered The College provides high‐quality, learner-centered, and affordable educational and training opportunities, within a welcoming and supportive environment, that supports students through goal achievement.
Data‐Inspired The College monitors and utilizes appropriate data, considers various sources of community input and developing trends, and implements changes to support continuous improvement.
A Champion for Equity The College embraces the diversity, equality, equity, and uniqueness of students, employees, and the communities that we serve by committing to be an antiracist institution.
Communicative The College commits to effective, open, and proactive communication. We take responsibility to listen and employ effective communication strategies to inform and foster collaboration.
A Good Steward of Resources The College networks with community partners, targeting grant and resource development to address strategic priorities, and by allocating resources based on focused priorities that are sustainable.
A Collaborator The College fosters economic development by leading, promoting, and creating educational opportunities through mutually respectful and beneficial partnerships with community organizations.
Durham Technical Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate degrees, diplomas, and certificates. Questions about the accreditation of Durham Technical Community College may be directed in writing to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097, by calling 404-679-4500, or by using information available on SACSCOC's website (www.sacscoc.org).
Certain College programs are also accredited by regional accreditation agencies.
Durham Tech is approved by and a member of the North Carolina Community College System NCCCS. The following programs are approved by state agencies: the Emergency Medical Sciences program is approved by the North Carolina Office of Emergency Medical Services; the Opticianry program is approved by the North Carolina State Board of Opticians; the Nurse Aide I program is approved by the North Carolina Division for Facilities Services; the Paralegal Technology program is approved by the North Carolina State Bar; and the Basic Law Enforcement Training program is approved by the North Carolina Department of Justice.
The statutes of the State of North Carolina provide for the organization and administration of a community college system under the direction of the State Board of Community Colleges (SBCC). The 21-member board has full authority to adopt all policies, regulations, and standards it deems necessary for the operation of the system. Members of the State Board are appointed by the Governor and the General Assembly. The State Board has three major functions: equitable distribution of funds and fiscal accountability; establishing and maintaining state priorities; and educational program approval and accountability.
Durham Tech is governed by a Board of Trustees. Four members of the Board are appointed by the Governor; four are appointed by the Durham County Board of Commissioners; four are appointed by the Durham Public Schools Board of Education; and two are appointed by the Orange County Board of Commissioners. Trustees serve four-year terms and set local policy for the College. One trustee serves as an ex officio, non-voting member of the Board, by virtue of their election as the College's Student Government Association (SGA) President, pursuant to General Statutes 115D-12(a). The Board is governed by a set of bylaws.
View the members of the Board of Trustees.
Durham Tech uses State Performance metrics to assess college performance and goal completion. These metrics help the College analyze data on key student outcomes in ways that provide both a big-picture goal for improvement and a starting point for rigorous, internal program-level assessment. The metrics provide an outline for collecting comparative student outcome information relevant to completion, transfer, and bachelor's degree attainment; equitable access and success; and learning.


Jquery filters selectors are used to select the HTML elements of a page. They have more fine-grained control to select a particular element. In the previous post we have discussed the Jquery selectors with examples.
:first It will select the first element of any type given.
:last It will select the last element of any type given.
:even It will select only those elements that are on even positions.
:odd It will select only those elements that are on odd positions.
:eq(n) It will select the element at index n within the matched set.
:not(selector) It will select all the other elements except the given selector.
Now let us see some examples of the above mentioned Jquery filters selectors.
Note: you can copy the code above and replace the "//Jquery code goes here" string in the document.ready function with the following code to understand the Jquery filters selectors.
The above line of code will select the first paragraph and will put dotted border around it in the html code.
This line of code will select only the last paragraph and will put dotted border around it of the example code.
This will select all the <li> tags with even index values and put border around them. In this example it is the first (zeroth) and the second <li>.
This will select all the odd <li> tags in the above code.
This code selects the second <li> of the code example and puts the border around it.
In the above line of code we are selecting all the <li> tags that are after the second <li> tag.
This line of code will select all the <li> tags that are below the 3rd and will put border around them.


How can anyone think this is even close to sustainable?
The government takeover of health care continues apace. Starting in 2014, the Affordable Care Act—i.e., Obamacare—will make you buy health insurance. Soon, Obamacare II could limit how much you spend on health care, too.
As critics warned, the Affordable Care Act will not "bend the cost curve downward" as promised. To the contrary, a June report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid predicts that national health spending through 2021 will continue to grow at a considerably faster clip than Gross Domestic Product.
That growth will not be even. Private health insurance spending will rise about 8 percent. Medicaid spending will grow about 20 percent. In a few years, government will account for 50 cents of every health care dollar spent in America. What's more, federal health care costs will consume a larger and larger share of the federal budget—and crowd out all other government functions in the process. If current trends continue, then by 2025 just four budget categories—Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and interest on the debt—will gobble up every last federal dollar.
This, naturally, has alarmed many progressives. But don't worry—as always, they have a plan.
According to The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, "23 responsible Democrats—some of the left's leading thinkers in the health-care field—have just come up with a set of answers." And like a boozer who tries to drink himself sober, their answer is...wait for it...more government.
The group, Marcus writes, believes that "no matter how hard federal officials work to slow the rising trajectory of federal spending, their efforts will fail if overall health-care costs continue to rise. 'Health costs throughout the system drive federal health spending,' they write...'The only sustainable solution is to control overall growth in health costs.'"
Pause for a second to review how we got here. Although numerous factors have contributed to the explosion of health-care costs—an aging population and expensive technology, for example—a chief driver is government itself. WWII-era wage controls, followed by the tax preference for employer-provided health insurance, combined to create the third-party-payer conundrum vexing us today. Medicare and Medicaid made the cost problem worse. It's the same dynamic driving up college tuitions: Massive government subsidies encourage massive price hikes, which then ostensibly justify yet more government intervention to bring prices down.
If you're wondering whether anyone could have seen this coming, the answer is: yes. Precisely the same story has played out in Massachusetts, thanks to Mitt Romney and Romneycare. According to The Wall Street Journal: "Health costs...will consume some 54 percent of the [Massachusetts] state budget in 2012, up from about 24 percent in 2001.
Over the same period state health spending in real terms has jumped by 59 percent, while education has fallen 15 percent, police and firemen by 11 percent and roads and bridges by 23 percent."
"Sweeping" is a woefully inadequate word to describe such policies, whose terminus is all too clear: If health-care spending hits the government-dictated ceiling, then even if you're willing to pay a doctor out of pocket for a consultation, the government won't let you.
Used to be that the only country with a bit of common sense was the US; not anymore.
The Plan: Raise taxes on the wealthy! Race and Wealth are the cards are the ones Libs. love the best!


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DEFRA Consultation on Implementing the EU Food Information Regulation
On 7 November 2012, DEFRA published its consultation on a new draft statutory instrument ("SI") – Food Information Regulations 2013 – which will provide UK enforcement rules for EU Regulation 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers ("FIR").
The FIR combines two directives (Food Labelling Directive 2000/13/EC and Nutrition Labelling Directive 90/496/EEC) into one piece of directly applicable legislation. Most of the provisions of the FIR will apply from 13 December 2014. The requirement to provide nutrition information on a mandatory basis will apply from 13 December 2016.
The SI seeks to introduce new and simplified enforcement provisions. The front line measure for the majority of provisions (except those relating to food safety, such as allergen indications) will be an "improvement notice". Businesses will have the opportunity to appeal against an improvement notice. Appeals will be made through more technical 'first-tier tribunals' and no longer via Magistrates' courts. If the conditions set by an improvement notice are not met, this will be a criminal offence.
In accordance with the Red Tape Challenge, DEFRA is proposing to revoke existing regulations, particularly where standards are already provided at an EU level. This issue is discussed in the "Impact Assessment" however there are additional questions related to:
alcohol claims; and
ice cream, and cheese and cream
which are discussed in Annexes 1 and 2 of DEFRA's consultation document.
Unfortunately, the guidance on this SI has not yet been drafted to accompany the consultation.
The DEFRA consultation can be accessed here and is open until 30 January 2013.
Sarah Hanson
Partner, London Co-Chair Life Sciences & Healthcare Sector
Jessica Burt
Consultant Food Lawyer
Food Contact Materials (FCM) - New EU rules on recycled plastic materials and articles – Great Britain reflects
On 10th October 2022 (next week), Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods (implemented earlier in the year) is due to come into force in all EU member states. This repeals the previous...
To modify or not to modify? Genetic Modification and Gene Editing – A divergence by the UK
Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis it is argued that the UK could bolster food security, combat climate change and lower food prices by relaxing the rules on and around genetic engineering. By designing more resistant crops which are less...
Folic acid fortification – proposed amendment to Bread and Flour Regulations 1998
Bread is a basic part of the national diet. The availability and cost of bread will be closely monitored as we approach the winter months. Bread is also coming under the scrutiny of The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ("Defra") as it...
Force majeure - hardship in relation to conflict and sanctions
The invasion of Ukraine has prompted western democracies, including the European Union, UK and US, to initiate a raft of sanctions against Russian-owned companies, and prominent individuals closely associated with the Russian government and its leadership....
A legal roadmap for Cannabis – updated Expert Guide
The first half of 2020 confirmed that the cannabis industry is a vibrant and constantly evolving sector. Among others, the German authorities announced that medicinal cannabis from cultivations in Germany will likely be available in the fourth quarter...


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PETERSBURG AND THE ATLANTIC WORLD
LOCAL HISTORY IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Workshop III
War, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights, 1861-1960s (May 2007)
Invited outside scholar: Dr. Jane Dailey (University of Chicago)
In-house presenters: Dr. Paul Alkebulan, Dr. Richard Chew, Dulaney Ward, Dr. Wesley Hogan
During the Civil War, Petersburg was a strategic center for both the Confederacy and the Union and an important battle site. During the final year of the war black troops took a major role in the Eastern theatre and fought in Petersburg's famous Battle of the Crater. Black troops were crucial to the capture of Richmond and Petersburg in April 1865; black soldiers pursued Lee from Petersburg to his final surrender at the Appomattox Court House.
During Reconstruction, a former Confederate general from Petersburg formed the Readjustor Party, a biracial political machine that initiated numerous reforms benefiting both blacks and poor whites in the region and paved the way for the founding of Virginia State University.
Petersburg remained a center for African American educational excellence, professional development, and political activity well into the 20th century. In the 1930s and 40s, in addition to his work as an historian of free blacks in antebellum Petersburg, VSU professor Luther P. Jackson was an influential voice and pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement; he was also a founder of the first African American studies' professional group, the Association for the Study of Negro Life and Culture.
Petersburg residents continued to play important roles in the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960s. Pastor Vernon Johns moved to Petersburg after Alabama racists ran him out of Dexter Avenue Baptist church in Montgomery; 26-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. then had to fill Johns' shoes. Johns became a mentor for several black ministers in Petersburg, including Wyatt T. Walker who in 1960 became the Executive Secretary of Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. VSU students integrated the Petersburg Public Library and Thalheimer's Department Store and participated in the Freedom Rides. Many whites in Petersburg allied with officials from nearby Prince Edward County (the site of a five-year school closing to avoid the implementation of the Brown decision) in groups that resembled 'White Citizens Councils.' Despite formidable obstacles, the city integrated by 1972, largely due to its core of faith-based freedom activists. VSU's history department is engaged in a multiyear project with the City of Petersburg to document and publicize its civil rights activism through the Petersburg Civil Rights Oral History Project.
Dailey, Jane. Before Jim Crow: The Politics of Race in Postemancipation Virginia . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
Dailey, Jane. "Deference and Violence in the Postbellum Urban South: Manners and Massacres in Danville, Virginia." The Journal of Southern History , Vol. 63 No. 3 (Aug. 1997), pp. 553-590.
Hogan, Wesley. Many Minds, One Heart—SNCC's Dream for a New America . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
Branch, Taylor. "Forerunner: Vernon Johns," Parting the Waters . New York: Simon and Schuster. 1989.
Greene, Wilson. Civil War Petersburg: Confederate City in the Crucible of War . Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006.
Crosby, Emily. Looking the Devil in the Eye—Who Gets to tell the Story." A Little Taste of Freedom . Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2005. Pp. 269-282.
Moye, J. Todd. "Questions That Liberalism Is Incapable of Answering—Organizing Alternatives, 1964-1977." Let the People Decide. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2004. pp. 148-170.
Payne, Charles. "Forward." Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America. Theoharis and Woodard, eds. New York: New York University Press. pp. ix-xv.
Longacre, Edward G. "Black Troops in the Army of the James, 1863-65." Military Affairs , Vol. 45, No. 1. (Feb. 1981), pp. 1-8.
Kerr-Ritchie, Jeff R. "Black Republicans in the Virginia Tobacco Fields, 1867-70." Journal of Negro History , Vol. 86, No. 1 (Winter 2001), 12-29.
Leib, Jonathan I., Robert E. Lee, 'Race,' Representation, and Redevelopment along Richmond, Virginia's Canal Walk." Southern Geographer , Vol. 44, No. 3 (2004), pp. 236-262.
Focus Questions:
How did the Civil War and Reconstruction impact Petersburg's African American community? How did Petersburg's African American community impact the Civil War and Reconstruction?
What specifically did the Petersburg Civil Rights Movement Achieve?
What can we learn from the Petersburg experience about connections between education, economics, and race relations?
Paul Alkebulan: From the End of Readjustment to Brown vs Board of Education : The Virginia Teachers' Association and the Virginia Voters' League
Richard Chew:
Dulaney Ward:
Wesley Hogan: Petersburg and the Civil Rights Movement
Jane Dailey:
| HISTORY | TIMELINE | VIRUAL TOURS | RESOURCES | WORKSHOPS | PROJECTS MEMBERS | SITEMAP


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In this photo taken on Friday, July 26, 2019, and distributed by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service, the Fedor robot is displayed before being loaded into a Soyuz capsule that was launched Thursday Aug. 22, 2019, from the launch pad at Russia's space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. A Russian space capsule carrying a humanoid robot has failed to dock as planned with the International Space Station. A statement from the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the failure to dock on Saturday Aug. 24, 2019, was because of problems in the docking system, but didn't give details. (Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service photo via AP)
1010 WINS Newsroom
Russian capsule carrying robot fails space station docking
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian space capsule carrying a humanoid robot has failed to dock as planned with the International Space Station. A statement from the Russian space agency Roscosmos said the failure on Saturday was because of problems in the docking system. It said the space station itself and...
FILE - In this March 27, 2018 file photo, the Jaguar I-Pace vehicle outfitted with Waymo's suite of sensors and radar is introduced in New York. Google autonomous vehicle spinoff Waymo says it will start testing on public roads in Florida to better experience heavy rain. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
Autonomous vehicle company Waymo to test in Florida rain
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) — Google autonomous vehicle spinoff Waymo says it will start testing on public roads in Florida to better experience heavy rain. The Mountain View, California, company says tests will begin this month in the Miami area and include highway driving to Orlando, Tampa and...
Colorado OKs electric car requirement to fight air pollution
DENVER (AP) — Colorado is tightening its air quality regulations and requiring at least 5% of the vehicles sold in the state by 2023 to emit zero pollution. The rule approved Friday by the state Air Quality Control Commission applies to auto manufactures, not buyers. It's aimed at boosting electric...
This illustration provided by NASA on Friday, Aug. 16, 2019, shows a proposed design for an Artemis program ascent vehicle leaving the surface of the moon, separating from a descent vehicle. On Friday, Aug. 16, 2019, NASA picked its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to lead development of a lunar lander to carry astronauts back to the moon. (NASA via AP)
NASA picks Alabama's 'Rocket City' for lunar lander job
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA has picked Alabama's 'Rocket City' to lead development of the next lunar lander for astronauts. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville on Friday beat out Johnson Space Center in Houston, which managed the Apollo lunar lander a half-century ago. Members of...
In this grab taken from a footage provided by the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM press service, people gather for the funerals of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by a rocket explosion in Sarov, the closed city, located 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Moscow, Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Thousands of people have attended the burial of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by an explosion during tests of a new rocket. The engineers, who died on Thursday, were laid to rest Monday in the city of Sarov that hosts Russia's main nuclear weapons research center. (Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM via AP)
5 Russian nuclear engineers buried after rocket explosion
MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands of people attended the funerals Monday of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by an explosion as they tested a new rocket engine, a tragedy that fueled radiation fears and raised questions about a secretive weapons program. The engineers, who died Thursday, were laid to...
FILE - In this March 6, 2018 file photo, Police officers secure the area as a police tent covers the spot in Salisbury, England, where former Russian spy double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were found critically ill following exposure to a nerve agent. President Donald Trump is levying more sanctions on Russia in connection with the alleged 2018 poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
US exempts aviation, space exports from new Russia sanctions
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has decided to exempt aviation safety and space exploration technology from new sanctions it has levied against Russia in connection with the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. The State Department said late Friday that products...
FILE- This Aug. 3, 2018, file photo shows a New Jersey Transit train leaving the Bound Brook Station in Bound Brook, N.J. Federal railway officials say the railroad industry has installed safety technology on nearly 90 percent of tracks where it is required, but "significant work" is needed to ensure the technology is completely installed by a December 2020 deadline. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
US officials say key rail safety technology 90% complete
WASHINGTON (AP) — The railroad industry has installed safety technology on nearly 90% of tracks where it is required, federal officials said Wednesday, but "significant work" is needed to ensure the technology is completely installed by a December 2020 deadline. Federal Railroad Administration...
In this frame grab taken from video on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, and distributed by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service, the Russian Progress 73 cargo ship blasted off from the launch pad at Russia's space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Progress is carrying about three tons (2.7 metric tons) of food, fuel and supplies to the space station, which currently has six astronauts aboard. (Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service photo via AP)
Russian spaceship brings 3 tons of supplies to space station
MOSCOW (AP) — An unmanned Russian spaceship carrying tons of supplies to the International Space Station has docked with the orbiting laboratory. The Progress 73 cargo ship blasted off atop a Soyuz rocket at 1210 GMT Wednesday from the Russian space complex in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and docked with...
In this July 19, 2019, photo a Tesla vehicle charges at a Tesla Supercharger site in Charlotte, N.C. Tesla, Inc. reports earning on Wednesday, July 24, 2019. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Tesla posts $408M loss in 2Q, causing stock to plummet
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tesla suffered a loss of $408 million during its latest quarter as the company continues to struggle to prove it can make money while producing electric cars at prices that a mass market can afford. The setback announced Wednesday had already been telegraphed by Tesla CEO Elon...
Planetary Society's solar sail appears to deploy properly
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A tiny spacecraft orbiting Earth appeared to successfully unfurl a solar sail Tuesday to test the potential of using only sunlight for propulsion, mission officials said. Deployment commands were sent to the Planetary Society's LightSail 2 from mission control at California...


Do note that AMP pages are designed for mobile, and Might be a Fantastic route to go if you're designing a webpage especially for mobile use. All these are designed to load incredibly quickly, but you'll find this option if you are signed up for the Enterprise plan.
A customized domain is pretty self-explanatory. Simply enter in the domain name You would like to publish to. But remember, that one does require a modest technical know-how. Fortunately, Instapage comprises a video to help you through the procedure.
Instablocks — these are useful for times when you have to create multiple landing pages, but don't wish to modify the fashion of the webpage. As opposed to recreating your entire webpage, it is going to save your components for you to be reused. You'll have access to blocks produced by Instapage or you may make your own.
A/B testing — In case you want to test unique elements of your page, it is possible to split test utilizing Instapage. Just copy your primary copy and make another copy with any changes to the text, images, CTAs, etc.. When you publish your page, some will see the control variant and others will observe the variant. Information about how each performs will be stored on your Instapage analytics section.
Then, when you assess our Analytics department after you webpage is pushed Live, you'll discover information about your webpage's conversion rate based on the targets you set.
While you can get away with the basic Core program for just designing and Publishing (amazing ) landing pages, the Optimizer offers you access to helpful tools such as heatmaps and A/B testing, which can help your overall conversion rate in the future.
And though its extra attributes will cost more, they definitely add to the experience. The usage of A/B testing and heatmaps can help direct your creation and plan, and conversion goal monitoring will inform you if you're on track.


This mid century cabinet increases storage and display options in your home.
Made to the high standards you expect from Danish Modern furniture, this piece will also improve the look and feel of your theme for years to come. Its slender legs, rosewood veneer finish and dovetail joint drawers combine to bring the best of Scandinavian furniture design to your home.
Created by Kai Kristiansen, one of the biggest names in MCM furniture, and stamped as 'Made in Denmark', this versatile item pairs quality materials with outstanding craftsmanship.


Google takes way too long to process all my links. I have thousands of them! Each page links to a ton of others and so on!
I am wondering pinging different URLs but from same #domain will be beneficial or the other way around (bad).
Submit XML sitemap to the Google webmaster. It will help the search engine crawlers to crawl your website. It is really tough to make the crawl all the url's by pinging into search engine submission.
#SiteMap urls take forever to get crawled so it's not the option I am looking for.
Blog Pinging is best method to promote it online.
when the webmaster will ping the same URL or site multiple times from the same IP too much and if you do that too much it can get your IP address and URL listed as ping spam and that can subsequently get your IP and URL blocked from being pinged. You can do it but they'll ignore it. So pinging too much can get you blocked as well.
But that's just something worth mentioning here in case you feel like going out and mass pinging your URLs over and over again. It could just be working against you. If you use WP it will auto ping Pingomatic for you which pings all the Google blogs for you each time you post a new post on your site for you so there is no need to ping anything just press publish and it's done.
But no it wont boost a sites ranking by pinging it not at all.
I just noticed that then i submit URL to Google using "submit URL to google" form it gets indexed in seconds and ranks really good.
The problem is Google doen't crawl other URLs on that page fast enough!
I want the URL to get picked up ASAP case I got many users signing up I need that data to get crawled right away.
(01-16-2018 09:09 AM)Avasmith Wrote: How old is your website.
(01-31-2017 01:11 PM)Victor Dub Wrote: Google takes way too long to process all my links. I have thousands of them! Each page links to a ton of others and so on!
Don't rush Google to process all of your links because there are billions of them in the web and it will take time. You will need to regularly update your site pages content for the awareness.
Pinging refers to sending auto-generated notifications to search engine spiders telling them that the page has been updated and needs to be re-crawled.
In SEO, pinging means to tell search engines about your newly created backlinks so that they are crawled and are counted. Else you will not going to get any benefit from them.Ping submission is helpful for crawling the website and for updating the information in search engines.
The main purpose of pinging your backlinks is to get them indexed faster by the search engines you target, so they can pass link equity faster than they would anyway.
I am not sure why but now Google only crawls only 2K pages per day when not too long ago it was like 30K.
I have noticed that crawl rate is affecting my rankings I mean higher rate makes my site go up in rankings and vise-versa.
Submit XML sitemap to the Google webmaster. It will help the search engine crawlers to crawl your website.


any information you give us stays only with us. We do not rent, sell, lend, or otherwise distribute your personal information to anyone for any reason. This includes your contact information, as well as specific order information.
To enable you to place an order on our site, we need to have the following basic information about you: Your First Name, Your Last Name, and Your Address, City, Zip code, State, Country, Phone Number and Contact E-mail address.Apart from this, our systems gather certain details about your computer's internet connection like your IP address when you visit our site. Your IP address does not identify you personally. We use this information to deliver our web pages to you upon request, to customize our site as per your interest, to calculate the number of visitors on our site and to know the geographic locations from where our visitors come.


Thank you for taking the time to complete this Quality Standard based assessment of the D.A.R.E. programme.
The Mentor-ADEPIS standards have been designed to help primary and secondary schools, independent practitioners and anyone else delivering alcohol and drug education, in formal or informal environments, to shape the context and delivery of that education. The standards draw on national and international evidence for what is effective and have been subject to wide consultation with practitioners. They focus on what happens in the classroom and provide specific recommendations to ensure the provision of effective alcohol and drug education.
In order to evaluate the design and content of the D.A.R.E. programme as well as the quality of its delivery; whether it be by teacher, D.A.R.E. Officer or other facilitator, we would be obliged if you could assess to what degree you feel each of the quality standards have been met.
The following online questionnaire provides examples of how schools and facilitators may evidence meeting the set of Quality Standards. Examples of evidence are provided for each standard but it is stressed that these are indicative, not prescriptive and you can add to them as necessary in the box provided.
The information you provide will be used to evaluate the quality of the programme, the various delivery styles and assist us in our continued process of quality assurance and programme development.


Being able to process orders and receive confirmation electronically are things a warehouse manager must have to stay ahead of the competition and to keep up with customers' needs. Paper trails and continuous data entry are a thing of the past.
Contact us for a demonstration of our products so that you can see firsthand how effective a paperless warehouse management software system can be.


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Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry, Mayo Clinic Rochester (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
Areas: Biomedical Research, Education, Machine Learning, Molecular Biology
Tom Burghardt is a researcher at the #1 ranked Mayo Clinic, where he has spent the last three decades studying myosin and muscle tissue. In his 100+ publications, he uses Mathematica extensively for advanced statistics and modeling—tracing all the way back to a 1985 signal processing computation done in SMP, a precursor to Mathematica. Burghardt's most recent innovation uses feed-forward neural networks developed in the Wolfram neural net framework to help create models for inheritable heart disease using a worldwide database of cardiac muscle proteins. His ultimate goal is to make these models available in the Wolfram Cloud for other researchers to explore and use.
Dr. Jane Shen-Gunther
Doctor, Brooke Army Medical Center
Areas: Biomedical Research, High-Performance and Parallel Computing, Image and Signal Processing, Machine Learning, Molecular Biology
Dr. Jane Shen-Gunther is a medical doctor and researcher for the US Army, specializing in gynecologic oncology and obstetrics. She recently started using Mathematica and the Wolfram Language to advance her team's research in HPV detection, automating the analysis of several gigabytes of image and instrument data and generating interactive visual reports for both patients and physicians. Dr. Shen-Gunther has also deployed her predictive model in the Wolfram Cloud to share access with other physicians. Her work has led to improved patient interactions, as well as better prediction of pap outcomes that impact underdeveloped countries.
Grant Bunker
Chair, Department of Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology
Areas: Education, Molecular Biology, Physics
Grant Bunker first used Mathematica at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1988 as a beta tester. Since then, he has given numerous talks on Mathematica, encouraging a variety of academic organizations to adopt it in education. Also a longtime commercial user, Bunker founded Quercus X-ray Technologies, LLC, maker of X-ray filtering devices produced with core algorithms developed in the Wolfram Language. Bunker has plans to adopt Mathematica Online for the approximately 3,000 iPads issued to students at IIT—one of the largest campus-coordinated curriculum efforts involving tablets to date in the US.


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Marlink to Supply Global Connectivity Services for OAT Fleet
Marlink entered into an agreement with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) to supply its market-leading satellite voice & data connectivity services for use on 5 adventure cruise vessels in the O.A.T. fleet.
Marlink will provide O.A.T. Small Ships with sophisticated solutions, bandwidth, equipment, and operations to meet and exceed passenger voice and data requirements; flexible connectivity services to support the integration of a 3rd-party GSM operator; uninterrupted voice & corporate connectivity to facilitate management tasks.
Starting in 2019, when the small ships of O.A.T. set sail for destinations beyond the scope of bigger, mainstream cruise ships, they'll benefit from the versatility of Marlink's global Ku-band, L-band, and C-band coverage, which crucially encompasses the Arctic and Antarctic operational capability. The bespoke satellite service of Marlink will enable bandwidth to be shared dynamically between each of O.A.T. Small Ship guests, depending on current demand for each ship.
The first vessel of O.A.T., MV Corinthian, was connected by Marlink's Sealink maritime VSAT service in January 2019. The remaining ships, MV Athena, MV Artemis, MV Arethusa, and MV Clio, follow later in the year.
The ships are due to be fitted with Marlink's dual-band antenna system: the newly-developed solution automatically switches between frequencies and provides coverage regardless of where they sail. It also provides compliance with local authorities when near shore.
The onboard system is due to be reinforced in turn via an L-band out-of-band back-up enabling remote access to the Maritime Network Operations Centre (MNOC) of Marlink. The VSAT support service allows experienced antenna and network engineers to proactively monitor onboard connectivity performance as well as manage any bandwidth and coverage amendments during the life cycle of the contract.
Small Cruise LinestechnologyMV CorinthianMV ClioMV ArethusaMV Artemisinternet wifi


Yesterday was one of the worst days i have had ever, i got told that my daughter is not where she is suppose to be in development, my worst nightmare , she doesn't speak sentences just 2 to three words she can put some together , she does rub her left ear alot so there sending her for speech therapy and also get her ears checked.
my daughter goes to nursery 2 days a week do u think her going more would help i only work 3 but 1 on a Sunday the money would be tighter but it might be better for her cause im obviously doing something wrong at home other wise this would not of happened.
any helpful tips on things to do what to do would help thank you.
Welcome to blogging and sorry about your worry over your daughter. I would speak with her nursery about how you could work together in improving her development. That way you won't feel so alone in the responsibility and they can help you to see the way forward. Being active will definitely show yourself and others that you are doing what you can. A good plan will also give you something positive to think about rather than worry. There are so many stimulating activities!
Don't panic. Hearing test is a good idea, as is checking out any other possible issues. I don't think you need to send her to nursery more, unless you personally want to.
I expect you do all this already, but talking a lot to her, reading books aloud to her etc. are all very helpful.
How is her understanding? Can she follow instructions (e.g. put the cup on the table, go and fetch your shoes etc.)?
OP I think you are being waaaaay too hard on yourself. There are loads of reasons she might not be hitting her developmental milestones, it doesn't mean you have failed her! If she turns out to have a hearing issue for example, how is that your fault?
It sounds like you are really switched on and prepared to accept professional help to learn what you can do to help your daughter catch up. With some support I'm sure you will do a better job one-to-one with her than her being at nursery - I don't think you should be worrying about affording more nursery care if it's going to be a financial strain. The previous poster's idea of working with nursery is a good one.
Hopefully now your daughter's needs have been picked up you'll get some help and some speech therapy if that's what she needs.
You might want to get this thread moved to Behaviour/Development where more people will see it?
Hi, the real question is "who told you this." I was told by the health visitor at 12 months that my daughter was not developing normally as she couldn't respond to requests such as "can you put this in the bin.". My response was, "actually, I'm a child psychiatrist so I'm pretty well up on my developmental milestones and you are talking out of your backside", (ok I didn't say backside - I probably used the tame words, "you are mistaken" as I am far too polite, but I meant backside). Anyway, always good to check hearing, but two to three word sentences at 24 months is within the normal range, so I wouldn't worry too much unless the person giving you this advice was a specialist and was considering other features of development which you have not mentioned. Always good to keep an eye on development, but don't stress too much unless it was an expert opinion as the normal range is very wide. I blog about simple developmental checks that parents can make at home on my blog shrinkgrowskids.com, although I've just started on attention and memory, but I will get to everything at some stage! If you are worried, seek an expert, medical opinion.
I would add that most health visitors do a fantastic job under difficult circumstances!
My son is 25 months and I was told the health visitor were concerned about his communication at his 2 year check up. I told them I had no concerns but they said they'll call me a in a few months and consider sending him for speech therapy.
They only assessed his speech using an American questionnaire based on average development. It asked questions such as does he imitate me if I say 3 words, does he put 2 words together. Pretty much all my answers were no. I explained he wants to talk as he will point to things and tell me what they are, and has good vocabulary. I was not worried about him putting them together (he is doing that now).
Think on the positive side of the appointment. They are trying to pick up any potential issues as early as possible so they can work with you to find solution to help your little girl. It is not a judgement on you.
My daughter is canny, at her 2 year review last month she didn't say a thing.
We're lucky we both came out alive.
was there any medical reasons that they said might have effected your daughter development?
I don't know much (if any) about developmental stuff but if your daughter does turn out to have a hearing problem do not despair! Having a hearing loss does not mean she won't grow up normally and there are tons of resources out there to help her language development.
For comparison, my niece is also 24 months and is only speaking one or two word sentences, and no one has suggested she isn't doing well. She's inquisitive and happy and is learning things her way at her speed. I suspect your daughter is the same.
Putting together two or three words is absolutely fine at 24 months. What did they say the problem was exactly?
I thought the review was meant to be two and a half anyway? My son is 23 months and he does 2 or 3 word strings but no more. His "sentences" are no more sophisticated than "more juice please" or "bye bye daddy car". I think there is only a cause for concern if they are still on single words by second birthday. Do get her hearing checked but otherwise dont worry.
Extra nursery is definitely not required. She will get more one on one communication by being with you so I would not pay for nursery sessions you don't need.


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Pop Culture |	 Updated May 17, 2019
10 Cool Facts About The Hulk
Aaron Short . . . Comments
We have previously run lists on Wolverine and Superman. So, it's about time we talked about the Hulk. The Hulk is one of the more interesting superheroes. He's not a clear-cut moralist, like Captain America or Superman. He's not even a borderline vigilante with an axe to grind, like Batman. He's more of an anti-hero than an idealist. More of a Freudian concept than a caped crusader. From his origins in the nuclear age to his appearances in the Avengers, here are some of the most interesting Hulk facts and story lines.
Featured image credit: Superb Wallpapers
10The Hulk Was Originally Canceled After Six Issues
The Hulk has been around for 51 years. In that time, he's become internationally famous, with "Hulk" becoming a standard word for strength and anger and a giant green guy who smashes things. But, surprisingly, the Hulk was actually originally canceled. After his debut in 1963, Marvel only managed to publish six issues before they were forced to cancel The Incredible Hulk due to a lack of enthusiasm from its readers. One possible reason that the Hulk was canceled is that he was quite an inconsistent character in those early days. In some issues, he was an intelligent, good-natured hero; in others, he was a fast-talking criminal.
Meanwhile, Banner's transformation into the Hulk was originally caused by him purposefully blasting himself with gamma rays in his lab each time he wanted to transform, rather than Banner simply getting mad and turning into the Hulk against his will. Even more bizarre was the fact that Banner would sometimes turn into the Hulk while retaining his human head, causing him to wear a Hulk mask. Also, in the first two issues, he could only become the Hulk at night, like a vampire or werewolf. After being canceled, the Hulk started turning up in other comics as a villain, got a guest spot on the Avengers, and gradually became the Hulk we know today, getting his own comic once again.
See the Hulk like never before in his most epic film to date. Relive every moment in Marvel's The Avengers, FREE with Amazon Prime at Amazon.com!
9Lou Ferrigno's Been In Every Live Hulk Adaptation
Photo credit: Toglenn
In the original Incredible Hulk TV show, David Banner was played by Bill Bixby. However, when he transformed, the actor who played the Hulk in all his Hulky glory was Lou Ferrigno. Lou Ferrigno started out as a deaf bodybuilder who once starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron. This got Lou noticed, and at 196 centimeters (6'5″) and 129 kilograms (285 lb) he was perfect for the role of The Incredible Hulk.
Lou Ferrigno played the Hulk from 1978 to 1982, then went on to be the voice actor for the Hulk in both the '90s animated series and the 2008 movie starring Edward Norton. In 2004, Lou also had a cameo in Ang Lee's Hulk as a security guard before finally donating his voice for Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in The Avengers (it's Ferrigno that says "puny God" after the Hulk slams Tom Hiddleston into the floor a few dozen times). Ferrigno's been involved with the Hulk for so long that it's now practically impossible to imagine the Hulk saying "Hulk Smash!" without Ferrigno's voice.
8Bruce Banner Was Once Renamed David Banner Because His Name 'Sounded Gay'
When The Incredible Hulk was adapted into a live-action television show in 1978, a few changes were made. First, the Hulk never talked. This was done because it was considered foolish to see what was quite obviously a man in green paint scream "Hulk smash!" But another change that wasn't quite so obvious was Dr. Banner's name. According to the show's executive producer Kenneth Johnson, it was done to attain more realism under the argument that people don't generally have alliterative names like Bruce Banner. That's partly true, we suppose (although the fact that the man playing Banner was called Bill Bixby undercuts it, somewhat).
However, according to Stan Lee, the real reason the name was changed from Bruce Banner to David Banner was because Johnson and other Hollywood executives believed "Bruce" seemed too gay. This is something that Lou Ferrigno has confirmed. He was told that the name "Bruce" sounded "gayish." Like Stan Lee, Ferrigno felt that this was ridiculous. This is a fact that's been denied by Johnson on multiple occasions. But it's hard to say what reason both Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee would have to blatantly lie about something like that.
(As an aside, MadTV had their own vision of a gay Hulk.)
7Gray Hulk
Whenever you think "Hulk," you think green. The two are intrinsically linked. Yet, when the Hulk first appeared in 1963, he was actually meant to be gray. However, due to the fact the printer couldn't provide a consistent gray color, the Hulk would change from gray to black to other shades of gray from page to page and panel to panel. In order to address the issue, Stan Lee choose to go with a color that would come off the printing press with fewer issues: the now-iconic green.
The gray Hulk would later make a comeback in 1986, when writer Peter David introduced Joe Fixit. Unlike the green Hulk, Joe Fixit was able to talk, employ Banner's intelligence, and use guns. During this time, Banner would change into Joe Fixit at night, as Fixit represented all of Banner's dark, violent thoughts. Fixit himself worked as a bouncer for a violent Vegas gangster and spent most of his time beating up bad guys and supervillains for fun.
6A Short Film Explains Tony Stark's Appearance In The Incredible Hulk
Every Marvel film includes a post-credits scene that teases the next movie. In the days before The Avengers and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the post-credits usually featured either Samuel L. Jackson or Agent Coulson turning up and talking about the Avengers initiative to whichever hero was the star. However, in The Incredible Hulk (2008), the person who turned up was Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Well, it turns out that there's a story behind that.
Marvel made a short film starring Agent Coulson of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., called The Consultant. The film takes place between the events of Iron Man 2 and the first Thor movie. In The Consultant, Coulson and another agent need to prevent General Ross from trying to suggest that the Abomination be used in the Avengers program instead of the Hulk. The only way to solve the problem is to make Ross think they need the Abomination and then give him a reason to withhold him. They wrack their brains, and then it comes to them: Who is unspeakably arrogant, world famous, and unbearably irritating? The answer can only be Tony Stark. The one-shot was eventually released on the Thor Blu-ray. The above video is a part of that one-shot. The rest can be found here.
Watch the Hulk smash his through way through New York City in Marvel's The Incredible Hulk at Amazon.com!
5Hulk: The End
In possibly one of the most depressing comic book stories of all time, everyone on Earth is killed in a nuclear war, and those who survive the initial bombardment slowly die from radiation poisoning. The only person left? Dr. Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk. Banner slowly realizes, as weeks turn into years, that his mutation has not only allowed him to survive the death of humanity but that he is possibly immortal now, because the Hulk will not let him die. Doomed to wander a dead Earth forever, you'd think it couldn't possibly become more of a downer.
After 200 years of lonely wandering, irradiated mutant cockroaches attack Banner. When this happens, he changes into the Hulk who tries to fight them but is overwhelmed and eaten alive. The Hulk's healing factor brings him back to life, leading Banner to realize that the Hulk can regenerate from pretty much any injury—even from complete death. Eventually, Banner, who by this point has had more than enough, begs the Hulk to let him die. The comic ends with Banner, at the point of his death, turning into the Hulk one last time.
4Unusual And Lesser-Known Powers
Photo credit: Zoom-Comics
In terms of superpowers, the Hulk is fairly unique among superheroes. Most superpowers simply fall into one of several categories: increased strength, intelligence, speed, or control of elements such as fire, lightning, and so on. The Hulk actually possesses a whole range of powers—along with his obvious enhanced strength—that aren't often talked about.
First, his strength is entirely rage based. This means that, if the Hulk encounters an enemy he can't beat, he simply gets angrier, which in turn makes him stronger. He can leap large distances and has managed to literally jump into orbit at least once. Among his more bizarre powers is a gland that allows him to breathe underwater by creating pressure in his lungs. It gets weirder: He can see ghosts. Because of this, he's one of the few Marvel characters that can see Doctor Strange when the latter takes astral form. The Hulk also has the ability to always find his way back to the site of the gamma ray accident that created him.
3The Red Hulk's Identity
One of the Hulk's greatest recent story lines involved the introduction of the mysterious Red Hulk. Over 23 issues, Hulk readers were introduced to the character of the Red Hulk and the deepening mystery of who he was and how he'd come to be. During the course of the series, the Red Hulk fought and murdered the Hulk's oldest enemy, the Abomination. This was something that even the Hulk had never been able to do. This got the Hulk fans buzzing, as they began to ask questions about the Red Hulk's secret identity.
The Red Hulk possesses the same powers as the green Hulk (including strength). However, he is actually able to defeat the green Hulk by absorbing the gamma radiation that gives him his powers and turning the Hulk back into Bruce Banner. Eventually, the identity of the Red Hulk turns out to be none other than Bruce Banner's greatest enemy, the man who ruined his life by hunting him for decades: General "Thunderbolt" Ross.
2He Once Tore Wolverine In Half
In Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk, a six-part series written by Lost writer Damon Lindelof, S.H.I.E.L.D. finally has enough of the Hulk after he goes on an orgy of destructive violence across New York. So, Nick Fury hires the only person he knows who could, and would, kill the Hulk: Wolverine.
Wolverine finally tracks Banner down to a monastery, where he is being worshiped as a god by a harem of beautiful, half-naked ladies. Understandably, the Hulk is not pleased with Wolverine's interruption. The two face off. So, how does Wolverine fare against the Hulk? In the very first issue, the Hulk tears Wolverine in half like a sheet of paper, tosses his bottom half four miles away onto the top of a mountain, and leaves him to crawl home. Nasty. Check out the above video for a pretty decent motion comic, if you can stomach it.
1Planet Hulk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf13JRZKspM
During the Civil War crisis, the Hulk becomes a huge problem to the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. When the government insists that all superheroes register and reveal their secret identities, the Hulk goes on a rampage through Las Vegas that kills a bunch of people. Tony Stark, other members of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Avengers come up with a plan. They trick Banner into thinking that they need his scientific expertise on a deep space mission, to which Banner agrees. However, once in space, they aim the ship at a wormhole.
This is supposed to transport the Hulk to an uninhabited planet, where he can cause no harm. Instead, however, he ends up being sent to Sakaar, a planet teeming with intelligent life. The Hulk is then enslaved by its natives. He fights his way to freedom, becomes the leader of a resistance army, conquers the whole world, and leads his new army back to Earth for revenge.
Aaron is a film student, freelance writer and Hulk fan. He can be found on Twitter.
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Birdman & Lil Wayne :: Like Father, Like Son
The opening "Loyalty" skit of "Like Father, Like Son" is a weird combination. The musical backdrop is an uncredited reinvention of the background music from the "Scarface" film, the music usually heard when Tony Montana is about to flip out and shoot somebody. The vocals on the skit don't sound like Tony Montana though; the vocals are provided by somebody named Thomas Marasciullo doing what sounds like a scene from "Godfather" or "The Sopranos." In a way yes it does make sense given they're all fictional criminal enterprises, but it's like hearing Schoolly D rap "P.S.K." over a DJ Premier beat in that it could be dope and it would still be WRONG.
There's also something a little wrong with Baby/Birdman and Lil Wayne/Weezy referring to their relationship as "Like Father, Like Son." It's not too many fathers who own their son's record label; furthermore, as of the writing of this review I was not aware that Bryan Williams had ever adopted Dwayne Carter in the first place. There's certainly no biological relationship between Baby and Wayne, and it bears repeating that it's hard to see Weezy calling Birdman "dad" when his "father" could shred his record contract and kick him to the curb any time he feels like it. Nevertheless even if this relationship is a fiction created solely for a conceptual record, it does at times click on this CD. Such is the case on the TMIX produced lead single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy":
Wayne: "Bitch I'm paid, that's all I gotta say
Cant see you lil' niggaz, the money in the way
And I'm, I'm sittin high, a gangsta ride blades
And if you ain't gone ride fly than you might as well hate
Shit, I gotta eat yeah even though I ate
No it ain't my birthday but I got my name on that cake
Shit – believe that, and if ya mans wanna play
I'ma fuck around and put that boy brains on his gate"
Birdman: "Born stuntin, uptown hunter
3rd war G nigga been about money
Ice chunky, Birdman red monkeys
White tees on them chromed out 11 hundreds
You know we shine every summer
We grind every summer, and this is how we spend money
You see them Bentleys and them Lambs'
Them ounces and them grams, bitch we was born hustlin"
They certainly have the same approach when it comes to flossing wealth and flaunting status, except of course Birdman can more easily afford to as the CEO. You think they split the profits on this album 50/50? Think again, rappers get FUCKED in this game. Your label gets 90, you get 10, and then the label takes the expenses of promoting the record out of YOUR 10. Let's see Wayne stunt like his "daddy" off what's left of his ten percent. Nevertheless I digress, there's still a lot of worthwhile music to listen to on "Like Father, Like Son" despite how overall superficial and vapidly materialistic the topic matter is. The usual guests you'd expect on a big new gangsta rap album are all here, and they're all paired up on hit making beats. Rick Ross gets his own floss on for the smooth "Know What I'm Doin'" and you know Fat Joe is "About All That" when he grips the microphone. What do these songs have in common with the lead single? TMIX from Crime Family. The producer shows himself an able substitute for the pounding Mannie Fresh beats that used to be a Cash Money trademark. Not BETTER than Mannie Fresh mind you, just competent to fill that role. Other dope tracks include the heavy DJ Nasty and L.V.M. pounding bass of "Cali Dro" featuring Daz & Kurupt, Scott Storch flipping up "You Ain't Know" and Jim Jonsin jammin' Jodeci samples to prove Birdman & Wayne roll on "Leather So Soft."
You might be wondering what the long-term value of "Like Father, Like Son" is. Like the claimed relationship between these two rap artists, it's only good as long as the money's good. If Wayne felt shorted on his checks he'd bounce like everybody else from the Hot Boys did a while ago, so Carter is clearly happy with what "daddy" is giving him. You probably will be too if you're a fan of either man individually, although hearing them in this setting without any of the rest of the "family" like Juvenile, B.G., Turk or Mannie Fresh just feels odd. It's not so obvious that there's something not right when they're rapping seperately but when they're stuntin' together Wayne is about as much Birdman Jr. as Rey Mysterio is Rey Mysterio Jr., although at least in Mysterio's case the original was his uncle so there's SOME family tie there. There's none on "Like Father, Like Son" except in their own minds, but if you want to go along for the ride it's not the worst record you'll buy in 2006. In fact at times it's quite good, just incredibly contrived and unnatural in the process.
7Overall Score
Music7.5
Lyrics6.5
BabyBirdmanCash MoneyLil WayneUniversal Music Group
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Oh yeah, Mom's got bling on her left hand and I'm gettin' a new daddy.
Paul bought me a stuffed animal, a shitload of chocolate and a card and as he handed me the sack, he leaned over and kissed me and said, "Happy Mother's Day, dear." I was on the phone with T-Racey and she busted out laughing and said, "Tell him he's a dork and it's not Mother's Day!" It will forever be one of my best memories. Bless his heart, he has a horrible upper respiratory tract infection and felt like hammered crap, so I am impressed he knew his own name as much cold medicine as he's on.
Okay, now that is really all.
Happy Mother's Day...bloggable! So funny and sweet.
A kiss and shitload of chocolate, we are way to easy.
Well CONGRATS to Mama Redneck!!!!!! Ahhh poor hubby!! Hope he feels better soon!
I love your header image. Found you through a Google alert.