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Tourist development taxes broke records in Orange County this November
WMFE | By Danielle Prieur
Tourist development taxes are collected on hotels and other short-term leases in the area.
Tourist development taxes collected in Orange County in November exceeded any other November on record. The TDT helps fund the Orange County Convention Center and offsets the costs of venues like the Dr. Phillips Center.
The county brought in over $30 million in tourist development taxes collected on hotels and other short-term stay residences in the area in November.
That's higher than any November on record, but lower than October's TDT numbers.
In a statement, Visit Orlando says Electric Daisy Carnival and IAAPA helped offset any losses to the area's businesses caused by Hurricane Nicole.
The tourism association says the demand for hotels in Orlando has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Meeting and event bookings for the first quarter of 2023 are already 27 percent higher than they were the same time last year, and hotel bookings are up by 13 percent.
Surf expo, VMX, and the PGA Merchandise Show are all returning to the area this month signaling the return of business travel.
Economy Central Florida News
Danielle Prieur
Danielle Prieur is a general assignment reporter at WMFE. You can hear her reporting on a daily basis on the station. She also fills-in as a host during the morning and afternoon drive times. Her reporting has been featured on NPR, Marketplace, Here & Now, and Vox. Danielle is originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan and is a graduate of both the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. In her free time, she enjoys playing her guitar, writing fiction, and cooking.
See stories by Danielle Prieur
Intersection: Tourism
Radio Intern
As the big theme parks compete for the attention of the millions of tourists that hop off the plane at Orlando International Airport each year, they're turning to technology to help them get an edge.Whether it's drones that can fly in formation like the drones Disney just debuted at its new light show.
The New Frontier Of Space Tourism
Blue Origin's sub-orbital mission has been getting all the buzz this week. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, along with three other crewmates, flew in space for a little under 11 minutes on board the New Shepard spacecraft, in the company's first human space flight.
Space Tourism: Up There & Down Here
Brendan Byrne
A seat on Blue Origin's first crewed New Shepard flight went for $28 million at auction. It marks the start of a new chapter of space tourism. So what's the future of this burgeoning market?
Orlando Busts Tourism Records in 2014
Catherine Welch
Orlando's official tourism association says a record-breaking number of tourists visited Orlando last year.


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Rated: R
Runtime: 2 hours
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, and Paul Walter Hauser
I was surprised to learn that prior to seeing this film, I had never actually ever heard of Tonya Harding, let alone the controversy she was at the center of in the 1994 professional ice/figure skating scene, almost certainly due to the O.J. Simpson incident taking place immediately afterwards, overshadowing it completely. But I was even more surprised at how timely the story ended up being to today's crisis. I, Tonya chronicles the rise and fall of world renowned figure skater Tonya Harding and highlights yet another real-life instance epitomizing the fleeting sustainability of Capitalism as a culture.
Sebastian Stan (right) puts in a stellar performance as Jeff Gillooly, Tonya's first husband and "accomplice" to the Nancy Kerrigan assault
I, Tonya tells the story of infamous Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) from her beginnings as a skating prodigy at 4 years old to her fame as the only figure skater to successfully complete two triple axels, a notoriously dangerous skating move, in a single competition, to her accusation, persecution, and lifetime banishment from the sport of figure skating. The film is put together like a quasi-documentary, where the main characters are presumably being recorded by a crew as they recall the events leading up to and immediately after the controversy surrounding Tonya Harding and company's involvement in the physical assault of rival figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. Rounding out the cast is: Tonya's hateful mother LaVona Golden (Allison Janney), Tonya's first husband Jeff Gillooly (played surprisingly well by Sebastian Stan), and Jeff's moronic friend Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser). Everyone here is on their A-game, but the heap of praise should be especially placed on Margot Robbie, who is continuing to prove herself a serious dramatic actress; she easily deserves a best actress Oscar nomination for the film. Sebastian Stan demonstrates that, even though he may be known for being a secondary Marvel character, he's more of "Chris Pine" than a "Chris Hemsworth" – that is, he's a pretty face that can excel in hard dramas. Allison Janney puts on her best Fletcher (Whiplash) impression and sells it perfectly. The all around strong performances primarily stem from the strength of the writing and the unconventional structure of the narrative.
Early on, the film introduces the idea that maybe, what these characters are telling us isn't entirely factual, or are flat out delusions, which really opens the door for some creative and interesting characterization. For instance, a common topic in the film is the domestic abuse Tonya endures at the hand of her husband Jeff, whom both in the present-day footage, claim that the other is fabricating or exaggerating what really happened. Anyways, the film presumes to tell the true series of events and in doing so depicts Jeff as being a domestic abuser who grows to beat Tonya on cue by the slightest stressful confrontation. We spend the bulk of 2 hours watching Jeff beat on Tonya for frivolous reasons, and her occasionally man-handle him back, yet when Jeff's friend Shawn admits to **SPOILER** intentionally setting the events in motion that led to Nancy's broken knee, an FBI investigation, and Tonya's eventual banishment from figure skating, Jeff holds himself back from rationally attacking Shaun the same way he attacks Tonya, for significantly lesser reasons. Jeff's irrational judgment of who around him is liable for violence and who is not, is not only vivid characterization told by "showing" instead of "telling," but also previews the film's primary thread, or theme: truth in the socio-economic hierarchy of Capitalism.
Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) practices hiding a lifetime of adversity and suffering behind a crowd-pleasing smile
Tonya suffers a lot in I, Tonya. She suffers mostly in part because she is a woman, but she suffers more so because she is a women who comes from the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy. And mostly importantly she suffers because she refuses to fully assimilate to the conventions of the fame she threatens to garner. At a handful of points in the film, present day Tonya interrupts the story to point out a damning fact about Nancy Kerrigan, whom Tonya was accused of having hired a goon to break her knee before a competition. These scenes, while seemingly meant to incriminate or propose doubt in the validity of Tonya's telling of what happened, to me, are actually a demonstration of how despite Nancy behaving almost identically to Tonya in their rivalry, Tonya is the one persecuted by the figure skating institution; because the reputation of the rebellious "redneck" in her justifies her persecution, admittedly because her image "doesn't sell." Tonya's lifetime as a proverbial and literal punching bag by her abusive mother, her abusive husband, the stingy skating judges, the judicial system, the media, society, and by the end, a formidable roster of women boxers, serves as a microcosm for the perpetual oppression of the poor by a culture defined by potential-for-profit, and consequently a world where truth is a matter of prejudice rather than a matter of fact.
I, Tonya is a great film that suffers from some pacing issues early on, but quickly finds a compelling groove to construct an intelligent commentary on the inherent prejudice in American culture, while also being a good sports movie. Definitely check this one out when you have the chance.
Movies, Reviews
Aaron Sanders
Entertainment, Iceskating, Movie Reviews, Movies, True Crime, TV

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As the new working year is underway, most of us are back at our desks having replaced swimmers and thongs for business suits and high heels (usually one or the other). So what does 2016 have in store? I've compiled a list of the marketing trends that will shape 2016. It's going to be another big year for the industry!
2015 saw the rise of customer experience. In 2016 CX will be huge and it's here to stay. It doesn't matter what industry you're working in, the key to growth is happy customers. It's become a cliché but brands who genuinely put their customers at the heart of everything they do are far more likely to succeed and grow. The thing is, you actually have to do it not just say you're doing it. Consumers these days are far too savvy to not see through insincere claims of customer centricity and with the help of social media they're more than happy to express their disappointment. So not before time, in my opinion, CX has become a tangible part of marketing. When traditionally branded Direct Marketing Agencies are re-branding themselves as CX Agencies, it indicates more than just a passing trend. For now, it gets the top spot on my list.
You didn't read that wrong. Nor is it a typo and no I haven't lost my mind. Let me explain. In 2016, we've reached a pinnacle where digital marketing has become so ubiquitous we actually no longer need to separate it from "marketing". Digital marketing activities should be fully integrated and simply a part of marketing and the customer experience. Some have termed this a "post-digital" marketing age. While I understand the sentiment I find this label wholly confusing. I support the concept that digital is now so completely and irreversibly integrated into marketing it no longer needs referring to as its own entity. In turn, marketing departments should no longer be structured into "digital" and "above the line" or even "through-the line" teams. There are no lines anymore! But "post digital marketing"? Our entire world is digital!
With the rise of CX comes the death of the linear customer journey. 2016 will be the year of brand experience. Linear customer journeys are evolving into multi-staged experiences. It's no longer enough that brands personalise a linear customer journey nor that they enable "channel of choice". While these are still important they have become givens in many industries and consumers expect more. Customer journeys will evolve from a linear model to a dynamic brand experience that is as individual as each customer. Innovative brands will empower their customers to shape their own journey across each and every chosen touch point.
At the start of 2015, marketers wanted to know which social media platform they should be investing in. A year on and marketers need to be gleaning insights on how people are using these platforms (rather than only looking at which platforms are the most popular) and consider how these insights correlate to their own brand objectives. Although social media platforms provide mass broadcast opportunity they are a highly personal space which means generic messages seem out of place and intrusive. If marketers glean insights on how users are behaving on various social media platforms they can tailor messages accordingly. This may only be subtly different creative executions, personalised based on their posts, searches or interests. Your competitors will likely be spending more on Social Media ads in 2016. However, it's not simply a case of throwing more money at social to get ahead. For me it's about being smarter and increasing relevancy to get results.
In 2015 video content dominated the social media landscape, driven by the launch of live streaming tools like Facebook's Livestream and Periscope. Not forgetting the powerhouse that is YouTube. The video publishing platform rakes in more than four billion views per day, it's the second most popular search engine in the world and the third most visited website (pipped to the post by Google and Facebook of course). Video content will become even more dominant in the coming year. In 2016, traffic will continue to shift away from traditional blog posts, diverted instead to YouTube channels and dedicated video blogs. But it won't always be about diverting traffic to branded video channels. Web designers will integrate video into design for desktop and mobile sites, making pages less static and more engaging. Videos on home pages and product pages will become increasingly common. Who wants to read through a page of copy when you can watch a 30 second video instead? This shift is significant and content creation and design teams will be re-tasked accordingly. If you're not already producing branded video content, jump on the bandwagon. Right now.
We know that consumer's inboxes are cluttered which means it's tougher than ever before to get cut-through of messaging via email. That said email is far from dead, it's very much alive in 2016. In a recent US survey, 72% of consumers indicated that email is their preferred communications channel (MarketingSherpa, 2015). It's still the channel of choice for many consumers who prefer to receive offers, updates, bills, statements and notifications directly to their inbox. In the B2B world, the stats vary depending on the source but upwards of 80% of B2B marketers are still using email marketing such as newsletters to deliver relevant content to their audience; Blue Star Direct included. There are three simple reasons for this. If you understand your customers then you'll know for whom email is a preferred channel which means you're talking to them on their terms, they'll already be more receptive to your message because of this. Secondly, email is highly measureable and finally (of course) it's cost effective. Used correctly, it's certainly not the time to start dismissing the power of email in your marketing mix. Give it at least twenty years or so.


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The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe
By: Romain Puertolas & Sam Taylor
Narrated by: Julian Rhind-Tutt
A charmingly exuberant comic debut from an exciting new literary voice, and a "quirky, hilarious, elegantly written farce" (The Daily Telegraph), The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe is the globetrotting story of a trickster from rural India and his adventure of a lifetime.
When the fakir—a professional con artist—arrives in Paris, he has just one goal: to get to Ikea. Armed with only a counterfeit hundred-euro note in the pocket of his silk trousers, he is confident that he has all he needs to thrive. But his plan goes horribly awry when he hides inside a wardrobe at the iconic Swedish retailer—the first in a series of accidents that will send him on a whirlwind tour across Europe.
Pursued across the continent by a swindled taxi driver dead set on revenge, our fakir soon finds unlikely friends—from movie stars to illegal immigrants—in even unlikelier places. And, much to his own surprise, his heart begins to open to those around him as he comes to understand the universal desire to seek a better life in an often dangerous world.
Channeling the manic energy of the Marx Brothers and the biting social commentary of Candide, Romain Puértolas has crafted an unforgettable comic romp around Europe that is propelled by laughter, love, and, ultimately, redemption. (Meatballs not included but highly recommended.)
Author Romain Puertolas & Sam Taylor
Narrator Julian Rhind-Tutt
Publication date January 27, 2015
Genres Fiction & Literature, Romance, Humor & Literary Fiction
Genre rank #980 in Humor


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EBC1 TV operated by EBC1 Production Company in Vancouver, BC, Canada. EBC1 TV has been established with the aim of delivering the modernized entertainment to Iranian and Middle Eastern people. EBC1 offers its viewers the best international music, shows and entertainment. With the knowledge of the world of pop culture and music EBC1 provides the best international names of music and entertainment. EBC1 is destination for Persian, Turkish, Azari, English, Arabic music videos, live performances and interviews with today's hottest celebrities.
EBC1 TV headquartered in Canada started broadcasting in August 2015.


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Ardeshir Ommani
On February 25, 2009, the Islamic Republic of Iran celebrated another major milestone in its scientific and technological development, announcing that "successful tests" at its first nuclear reactor at Bushehr were carried out by the common efforts of the Iranians and their Russian partners in the project. The power plant is projected to be fully operational by the end of the year. "This, in simple terms, means that Bushehr power plant is completed… and its operation is definite," Gholamreza Aqazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian state television. "The political concerns about Bushehr plant are now completely addressed today." The start of operations at the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor near the southern Iranian port of Bushehr – built with Russian assistance under a $1 billion contract – had long been delayed, largely due to opposition and pressure on Russia from the United States, using their EU partners to forestall progress and completion.
The test did not involve batches of low-enriched uranium supplied to Iran by Atomstroiexport, the Russian state company that is building the plant. Instead "virtual" fuel was injected in the reactor, officials said. At the official opening — the first day of the Bushehr plant's test run — head of the Rosatom State Atomic Corporation Sergei Kiriyenko addressed Western concerns about Iran's recent nuclear achievement.
"We believe that the structure in the Bushehr plant itself is in total conformity with the Non-Proliferation," the Russian official said. He added that Russia's cooperation in building the Bushehr plant removes every doubt about Iran's nuclear intentions, as the whole project is transparent in its entirety. "Those who think this project can be used for the proliferation of nuclear weapons can come here and see for themselves."
While the western media along with Israeli Security Forces continue to make all kinds of noises and objections about this latest advance, Iran reiterated its right of peaceful pursuit of developing nuclear energy, being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and monitored under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The high degree of hypocrisy reflected in the outcries by officials in the United States and the European Union Trio (France, Germany and Britain) can be accurately measured with just a brief glance back into the history of nuclear technology in Iran.
The U.S. gave the Shah nuclear technology
Iran's interest in nuclear energy, research and know-how began in the mid-1960's under the direct tutelage of the U.S. within the framework of turning Iran, the way of Israel, into a regional and nuclear power for containing the movement of Arab Socialism and their orientation towards the then Soviet Union (Russia today). With the technical assistance of the U.S., the first nuclear research facility, namely, the Tehran Nuclear Research Center (TNRC), was built in Tehran University in 1967, and managed by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), which was founded in 1974. Immediately after the founding of the TNRC, the U.S. sold a 5-megawatt research reactor to Iran that was installed at the Amirabad Technical College in Tehran, which runs on 93% highly-enriched uranium. The reactor could produce up to 600 grams of plutonium per year in its spent fuel. Simultaneously, the U.S. sold hot cells to Iran that could be used for separating plutonium from the spent fuel, and then used for the production of atomic bombs. The question that remains to be asked is why the U.S. sold the hot cells to the Shah, but is crying "foul" today?
According to de-classified U.S. government documents, cited extensively by Mohammad Sahimi, Professor and chairman of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, in his authoritative paper, "Iran's Nuclear Program", the U.S. government in the mid-1970's advised "Iran to expand her non-oil energy base" by reasoning that "Iran needed not one but several nuclear reactors to acquire the electrical capacity that the Stanford Research Institute" paper in 1973 had proposed, and expressing interest in U.S. companies' participation in Iran's nuclear energy projects.
Emboldened by Washington's encouragement, the Shah planned to build 23 nuclear power plants throughout the country, and no authority in the U.S., France, Israel or West Germany disputed the Shah's extensive and expensive projects on the basis of the fact that Iran was rich in oil and natural gas deposits, the reasoning that the Bush Administration and opponents of Iran provided for the redundancy of plans for nuclear energy in Iran.
Germany and the Bushehr Project
Following the U.S. advocacy, in 1974 the Shah's government signed a contract with (West) Germany's Kraftwerk Union, a subsidiary of Siemens, to begin the construction of two 1200-megawatt nuclear reactors at Bushehr, a city in the south-western part of Iran. Soon, in 1975 the Atomic Energy organization of Iran (AEOI) signed a contract with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the training of the first group of Iranian nuclear engineers. Meanwhile, West Germany, France, the U.K. and the U.S. trained thousands of nuclear specialists from around the world. Iranian nuclear personnel received their training in Italy, Belgium, Canada, as well as the U.S.
By 1979, when the Revolution toppled the pro-U.S. monarchial regime, the Shah had reached contracts for a total of six nuclear power reactors with France, Germany and the U.S. The two 1200-megawatt German light-water power reactors at Bushehr were partly finished. The reactor Number 1 was 90% complete and 60% of its equipment was also installed, while Number 2 reactor was 50% complete. The Iraq-Iran war brought heavy damage to the core areas of both reactors.
The same atomic reactors that the West had advocated for and sold to the Shah at high prices just a few years earlier became the targets of Iraq's French jet fighters at the behest of the U.S. after the 1979 revolution. This pattern of trade and political relations could be observed under the U.S.-European imperialist relations with the countries formerly under their domination.
After the Iraq-Iran war, the Islamic Republic of Iran, under President Rafsanjani, reinitiated Iran's nuclear energy program and immediately approached Kraftwerk Union to complete the Bushehr project or ship the reactor components and technical documents that Iran had paid for. However, under U.S. pressure, the German government, and Kraftwerk Union refused to honor the contract or even return the money. Left in the cold, Iran filed a lawsuit in 1996 with the International Commerce Commission (ICC), asking for $5.4 billion in compensation. But the case is still unsettled.
U.S. Uses Nuclear Issue to Undermine Iran
The U.S. has used the nuclear enrichment issue, which is the right of those signatory to the NPT, to weaken Iran economically and undermine its political system. The world knows that all those countries, including the U.S., Britain and France, who readily agreed with the trade sanctions against Iran, they themselves are armed with atomic weapons numbering in the thousands, and in the case of the United States, has used these weapons on the people of Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore, they cannot be the best judges of who is a "threat" to the so-called international community.
Let it be known that Iran with its 3000-year history, a neighbor to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates, has not attacked any country in the last 200 years, while the U.S., in its short history of 230 years has been in war dozens of times, and has over 737 military bases stationed in more than one hundred countries around the world. One of the resentments that the Muslim nation of Iran had towards the Shah was his pro-Israeli policy. He paid a high price for this close association with the Zionist regime and his animosity toward the Arab nations, which was fostered by the U.S. administrations for the purpose of divide and rule.
After pursing years of hot war, including arming and supplying extremist groups, the U.S. strengthened its strategy of Cold War policies, whose main arsenal were trade sanctions actualized by bans on financial exchange and banking transactions. To justify its unilateral trade and investment foreign trade policies against Iran, the U.S. needed the backing of the United Nations, which could be solicited the best by presenting Iran's nuclear energy program as a danger to the "world community". But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), headed by Dr. Mohammad El Baradei, in its years of inspections and intrusive examinations has repeatedly declared that Iran has never diverted the hardware or the nuclear materials for building atomic bombs. As recently as last week, the U.S. Intelligence Agency reported that Iran has not engaged in construction of the necessary parts for the building of an atomic bomb.
In accord with the IAEA report, the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report on Iran, made public in the first week of Dec. 2007, stated: "…that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program" and "that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons" in the future. Between the two aspects of the report, the former is essential and the latter mainly involves future speculations.
Furthermore, the U.S. Intelligence report made public on February 13, 2009, reaffirms the 2007 intelligence estimate that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003, if such a project existed at all. Retired Admiral Dennis Blair said U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran has not restarted nuclear weapon's design and weaponization work that it halted in late 2003. This report was the result of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies investigations and research.
Will Obama seek peace with Iran?
The American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC), founded in November of 2004, supported the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency in 2008. Today and all along AIFC welcomed Obama's foreign policy statements that the U.S. must change course and begin dialogue with the leaders of the countries that the previous administration have labeled as "enemies". This rapprochement is only realizable if no pre-conditions such as demanding Iran's suspension of its program of uranium enrichment are attached, and the U.S. must change its tone and respect the positions of Iran with regard to real security in the Middle East. It is time that the U.S. offers Iran security assurances that it will not use force to reach its foreign policy objectives. Any future interference in the internal affairs of Iran will be rebuffed as in the past. There is no such thing as "exporting democracy". Such things as administering the country in the model of the West, or as changing the dress code, are the affairs of the Iranian people and not the countries that are seeking diplomatic and trade relations with Iran.
We hope the Obama Administration does not continue George Bush's failed policies of war and aggression in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan. The security of the region is the responsibility of the peoples of those countries in that region and no power from 10,000 miles away should dictate how the governments and people of those countries should resolve their differences. It is AIFC's humble opinion that the relations between the United States and Iran must be based on mutual respect and mutual benefits, and not on the childish policy of "carrot and stick", because Iran is not looking for handouts and is not a child that can be reprimanded.
Ardeshir Ommani is an Iranian-born writer and an activist in the U.S. anti-war and anti-imperialist struggle for over 40 years, including against the Vietnam War, and now the Iraq war. During the past seven years, he has participated in the U.S. peace movement, working to promote dialogue and peace among nations and to prevent a U.S.-spurred war on Iran. He holds two Masters Degrees: one in Political Economy and another in Mathematics Education. Co-founder of the American Iranian Friendship Committee, (AIFC), he writes articles of analysis on Iran -U.S. relations, the U.S. economy and has translated articles and books from English into Farsi, the Persian language. Please visit AIFC's website to learn more about Iran and Global issues at www.iranaifc.com . Two of his recent articles, "Capitalism's Sign Post" can be viewed at: www.tehrantimes.com, and "Iran, the NIE and the Empire" at www.mathaba.net. The author may be contacted at: ardeshiromm@optonline.net.
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text:
Watmastaz / Frizouille - Untitled Faithless - Bring My Family Back / She's My Baby Thee Headcoats - The Jimmy Reed Experience Hrdvsion - Oh Techo Saves Belushi - It's My Life 2007 Connie Francis - Who's Sorry Now Prince - Almost Black Mix R.A.F. - Take Me Higher
erpel » Reggae » Culture - Live In Africa
Culture - Live In Africa mp3 flac download
Live In Africa
MP3 XM VOC FLAC MPC AIFF MP2
The band has had successful tours in Africa and Europe, topped Kenyan charts, and gained international attention with shows in Europe and the US, as well as major television appearances. They have won various awards including Most Downloaded Single at the 2015 Mdundo Music Awards, Producers of the Year for Sura Yako at the 2014 Afrimmas, and the YouTube Channel Award at the 2015 OLX SOMA Awards.
The culture of Africa is varied and manifold, consisting of a mixture of countries with various tribes that each have their own unique characteristic from the continent of Africa. It is a product of the diverse populations that today inhabit the continent of Africa and the African Diaspora.
The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo. Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman. To compete for her hand, they beat one another up. The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the beating without showing signs of pain can take the wife. A thorough cleansing. The Chewa people are one of the largest indigenous groups of Malawi but live throughout Central and Southern Africa
Born in Africa is the fourth album of European-based Nigerian artist Dr. Alban. It was released in 1996. Born in Africa" (Original Radio Version) (3:30). Riddle of Life" (2:42). Alabalaba (Woman'a'Sexy)" (3:19). Hallelujah Day" (3:18). I Feel the Music" (3:16). Then I Fell in Love" (3:09). I Said It Once" (4:05). Rich Man, Poor Man" (3:10). This Time I'm Free" (3:50). Feel Like Making Love" (5:01)
One cannot really speak of one single culture of South Africa. In fact, the word "Rainbow" epitomizes the striking diversity of South African Culture. The country is ethnically so diverse, that it is no wonder that South Africa is often referred to as the "Rainbow Nation" with its rainbow variety of cultures. A rainbow that has to be lived, that has to be felt, so come and experience it, from modern art galleries to ancient rock art sites, from museums to cultural villages, from jazz clubs to open air festivals
Published on: Sunday, June 24, 2007. culture live in africa!! 6/7 legend big up culture!! part6. Culture One Stone (Album) 1996Big Brother Beat. Culture Live in SeychellesDean Camille. Lucky Dube - Live Uganda 2003Archives Culturelles Afro.
10:18Culture-Live in Africa-2000 Partie 5 56:22Best of Beres Hammond (2018 Mix) 4:11Gregory Isaacs - Sad To Know (You're Leaving) 31:03Culture at Reggae Sundance Festival 2006 3:40Burning Spear - Columbus 33:04Garnett Silk live ~EarthStrong~ 1994 32:09Bunny Wailer - Rock 'N' Groove 34:54Chi Chi Bud Riddim mix. 2007 mix by djeasy 14:31Culture-Live in Africa-2000 Partie 3 15:00CULTURE - THE LIVE ROOTS TOUR PART 1 7:32Nkulee Dube 'Back To My Roots' Reggae on the River August 5 2017 7:50Gregory Iaacs Live Rebel Salute 2006 42:44CULTURE – . .
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Culture - Africa Stand Alone flac mp3 album
Peter Broggs - Rise And Shine flac mp3 album
R.A.F. - Take Me Higher Various - Compilation 2003 Du Val D'Oise Calyx & TeeBee - All Or Nothing Carmen Villani - La Verità Ludacris Featuring DMX - Get Back / Put Your Money Jan Peerce, Joe Reisman And His Orchestra And Chorus, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra - Wonderful! Wonderful / Bluebird Of Happiness II III II III - Nrem New Bloods - New Bloods


Moved a single-use variable interpolation inline with its use point. Also improved some comments.
// Calculate panel height despite its being hidden at call time.
// slide-open/closed transition set up in the XHR onload handler.
xhr.open("POST", "$home/sitemap");   // note the TH1 substitution!


Even in Nismo form, the Nissan Leaf EV isn't a car that's likely to thrill. But there's clearly potential, as proven by this, the all-new Leaf Nismo RC. Effectively a follow-up to 2013's Leaf RC, it's a purpose-built racing car styled on the current-gen Leaf road car.
It isn't just a silhouette racer that has nothing to do with the Leaf you can walk into any Nissan dealer to buy, however. The company says that the RC has taken "advanced battery technology and drivetrain components" from the car including the lithium-ion battery and the inverters.
It's all-wheel drive, with a motor powering each axle. Each develops 120kW, for a maximum output of 240kW (321bhp). They're also good for an instantaneously-delivered 640lb ft of torque. Both figures are over double that of the old RC.
Despite being weighed down by a bulky battery pack, the car tips the scales at 1220kg thanks to the use of a carbonfibre monocoque. As a result of the reasonably modest weight figure, it'll do 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds.


text:
Rick Perry 2012 Campaign for President– News and updates
Perry talks about pain meds, gay Scouts and the VP job
By Peggy Fikac on December 7, 2011 at 7:10 PM
His poor poll numbers not withstanding, the vice presidency's not looking any better to Gov. Rick Perry
Echoing a line he used back in July, before he'd even announced, Perry said on CNN that John Nance Garner "had a pretty powerful statement about that. Being vice president is not worth a bucket of warm spit."
"Why would you leave being governor of the state of Texas to be vice president?" he asked in response to a query from Wolf Blitzer about whether he'd be willing to be a running mate to Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich.
Perry also said he'd given no thought to whom he'd pick as a running mate if he were the nominee.
The remarks came in a wide-ranging interview in which Perry talked about his accusation that President Obama is waging war on religion; gay issues, including his view that the Boy Scouts organization is within bounds to rule out gay Scout masters; the recurring speculation that he's taking pain medication in the wake of this summer's back surgery; and foreign affairs.
Among highlights, Perry:
— Invoked the view of Catholic bishops to defend his assertion that Obama is conducting a war on religion.
"When you talk to the bishops of the Catholic Church, there is clearly an agenda by this administration to go after those Catholic charities that are offering health care. … The administration is clearly sending messages to people of faith and organizations of faith that we're not going to support you with federal dollars."
Pressed by Blitzer, who said he believed the argument is that some Catholic organizations discriminate against gay Americans and so might not be eligible for federal funding, Perry added, "It's like the Boy Scouts. The idea that the Boy Scouts spend millions of dollars defending themselves from the ACLU, who have sued them, because they will not allow openly gay Scout masters is — they're a private organization. This is a church."
Asked by Blitzer whether organizations that discriminate should get federal taxpayer dollars, Perry said, "If those dollars are being used in an appropriate way. But the Catholic Church is basically being discriminated against because of their anti-choice, if you will, their pro-life position on the issue of abortion."
— Brought up the specter of "another Pearl Harbor" when discussing the prospect of military cuts in the wake of the supercommittee's failure.
"If we allow our military to get cut as much as this president is talking about allowing it to be cut, you could have another Pearl Harbor in this country," he said. Pressed about what he meant, Perry said, "Well, that means that a North Korea or an Iran or a Syria could attack the United States. I mean we've got an Iran that is working toward having a nuclear weapon."
— Asserted that his July spine surgery, which he noted involved the use of his own stem cells, was "incredibly successful."
Blitzer's question included the issue of pain medication, and Perry said, "I'm back running again, three to four miles, four to five times a week and I was off for 10 weeks. I probably took pain medication for the first 10 days, two weeks. And after that, the surgery has been awesome. … You guys are a bigger pain than the back surgery."
Peggy Fikac


Van Horne's former western car - used during CPR construction - is found and preserved.
'Vacation weather' at Portage; Symington; Overview maps and timetables.
Winnipeg; the Lord Selkirk II; CP yard; Greater Winnipeg Water District; 19Y hoop at Portage.
Prairie Dog Central and its former route; Portage yard activity and map; loading covered hoppers with grain.
Mennonite Heritage in Steinbach; Wheat harvesting circa 1910; Old maps of southern Manitoba; Wartime propaganda; Coal trains.
Portage westbounds; Austin MB 1905 grain elevator; Wooden boxcar from 1914; Prairie branch line map 1891-1931; Burnside elevator; Intermodal at dusk.
Spruce Woods Provincial Park; Lake Agassiz; Local Equated Tonnage Ratings and the lay of the land; Wheat crop 1913 infographic; Barry switches at Headingley; Marathon and Sault Ste Marie scenes.
Eastern Alcos; Algoma Central; White River; Heron Bay; Winnipeg yards; trains at Portage.
A Different kind of Canadian railway; The Prairies are angry; The Times; The Money?; 1913 chaos at Port Nelson and in the Commons; Floating north; World War Two; Unforeseen benefits.
Off to Hudson Bay! .. Saskatchewan; At The Pas; In to Thompson and out with piggyback; The Longest Day; Churchill gets it - an overview; We're not Canadians.. vs I'm telling you how it is!
A quick look at the elevator and some railway features of Churchill, Manitoba.
More photographs, some local history, information from a 1969 Manitoba Royal Commission.
The last day southbound and evidence from the 1969 Royal Commission on Northern Transportation.
Stations, 1920s map, Waghorn's Guide, 1920.
At day's end, some GMD-1s visit Portage.
Trains, elevators, scenery and Correction Lines.
Palliser Expedition, annotated timetables, old Moose Jaw boosterism & station/yard in 1989.
A look at old maps of the area, early surveying and settlers. Bonus: Arthur Meighen!
Trip through southern Saskatchewan. 1950s employee timetables, 1939 public timetable.
Trip continues through southern Saskatchewan. Maps, timetables and surprises!
Continuing our circle tour day trip, we also look at the history of the Portal Subdivision.
Finishing our circle tour day trip. Estevan Sub employee timetable from 1950.
Sault Ste Marie, ACR and Algoma Steel; Portage CN and CP trains and track details; Deep roots!; VIA's little Portage railway; Postcard: Winnipeg Union Station circa the Great War.
CP west yard tracks; Can-Oat; Burnside; Trackwork in the east yards; There was none such as the Nonsuch .. Prince Rupert + 2 French guys = 1.5 million square miles; Finishing up at Kearns.
Maps, the Official Guide entry for 1887 and interior/exterior of a colonist car from 1889.
A 1904 engineering textbook discusses switchback and tunnel construction. Diagrams show the GN switchbacks and first Cascade Tunnel. The Northern Pacific Stampede Tunnel construction is shown.
A system map, Winnipeg trains, named trains and their equipment.
Plus ... some GNR history with JJ Hill, prairie construction, Cascade switchbacks, maps, CNR CPR GNR profiles.
Sleeping car accommodation on Great Northern trains is illustrated in the timetable. Some of the electric motive power used in the Cascade Tunnels is shown.
Information from a research paper prepared by Charles Bohi and Leslie Kozma.
Sent to me by Charles Bohi.
Includes a link to the original paper (PDF), maps and 1930s world wheat data.


text:
These 10 Publishers Produce Most of the Climate Lies on Facebook, Study Says
And the company is doing too little to stop them.
Kari Paul
Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill. Washington, DC. April 11, 2018.Chip Somodevilla/Getty
This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Misinformation about the climate crisis runs rampant on Facebook, a new study has found, and comes mostly from a handful of "super polluter" publishers.
Ten publishers are responsible for 69 percent of digital climate change denial content on Facebook, a new study from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has found. The outlets, which the report labels the "toxic ten," include several conservative websites in the US, as well as Russian state media.
Breitbart, a far-right news site once run by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon
Western Journal, a conservative news site
Newsmax, which has previously been sued for promoting election fraud conspiracies
Townhall Media, founded by the ExxonMobil-funded Heritage Foundation
Media Research Center, a "thinktank" that received funding from ExxonMobil
Washington Times, founded by self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon
The Federalist Papers, a site that has promoted Covid misinformation
Daily Wire, a conservative news site that is of the most engaged-with publishers on Facebook
Russian state media, pushing disinformation via RT.com and Sputnik News
Patriot Post, a conservative site whose writers use pseudonyms
The Center for Countering Digital Hate used NewsWhip, a social media analytics tool, to analyze 6,983 climate crisis denial articles that were featured in Facebook posts in the last year.
The articles included condemnations of the "cult of 'climate change'" whose "worship" risks people's future or told readers not to "worry too much about CO2 baking the planet." Together, the posts raked up 709,057 interactions.
Facebook strongly rejected the study in a statement, with a spokesman saying the analysis from CCDH "uses a flawed methodology designed to mislead people about the scale of climate misinformation on Facebook."
"Facebook and other social media companies make money when they send users down rabbit holes of climate denial."
He added that the 700,000 interactions mentioned in the report on climate denial represent 0.3 percent of the over 200 million interactions on public English-language climate change content from pages and public groups over the same time period. "We continue to combat climate misinformation by reducing the distribution of anything rated false or misleading by one of our factchecking partners and rejecting any ads that have been debunked," he said.
Tuesday's study echoes past research on what has come to be known as the "Dirty Dozen"—a group of accounts responsible for the vast majority of COVID-19 misinformation circulating on social media. It underscores just how much of an impact a small number of widely read websites can have in the algorithm-driven Facebook ecosystem, said the US senator Sheldon Whitehouse. "Facebook and other social media companies make money when they send users down rabbit holes of climate denial," he said. "That's a very dangerous business model for the future of the planet."
In 2020, Facebook launched a Climate Change Science Center, which contains factual data from credible sources on the climate crisis to counteract the spread of misinformation on its platforms. It also adds informational labels to some posts about the climate crisis, which direct users to the center. A spokesman for Facebook said it received more than 100,000 visitors each day.
That resource was previously targeted primarily at US users, but on Monday, the company announced it was expanding its Climate Change Science Center to more than 100 countries, labeling posts for the first time in Belgium, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and Taiwan.
But the study's authors are asking the social media platform to go much further. They called on Facebook to stop taking payment from the publications to promote their content and to label misinformation about the climate crisis on a larger number of posts. The study found that 92 percent of the most popular articles examined did not have a label about climate crisis misinformation.
CCDH also called on Google to remove eight of the 10 publications using Google Ads to profit from their climate crisis denial content. The researchers determined those eight publications earned an estimated $3.6 million through Google Ads in the last six months.
Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, argued that the "bad faith misinformation" pushed by the 10 websites is designed to undermine social media users' confidence in science. By not acting more forcefully, Ahmed said, "big tech is once again on the wrong side of science, truth and human progress."
The websites named in the study did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"We Are Digging Our Own Graves": World Leaders' Powerful Words at COP26
Oliver Milman and Peter Walker
Big Oil Climate Denial Hearing Features Even More Denial
Chris D'Angelo
Inside the Private Facebook Groups Where Anti-Vaxxers Plot to Get Religious Exemptions
How the Fossil Fuel Industry Convinced Americans to Love Gas Stoves


text:
Traders' body asks Salman to drop 'Khan Market' from his portal
by Veena January 3, 2016 0889
New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday asked actor Salman Khan to withdraw the "Khan Market" name from his shopping portal to protect the brand name of the market here designated as the most expensive retail location in India.
"CAIT has shot up a communication to actor Salman Khan today (Sunday) urging him to withdraw the name of Khan Market from his web portal 'khanmarketonline.com' which he has announced on his birthday on December 27, 2015," CAIT said in a statement here.
Established in 1951, Kahn Market was, last month, ranked the 24th most expensive retail location worldwide in a report by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.
"The name chosen by Salman Khan is more deceptive and infringes the rights of traders of Khan Market," said CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal.
"We will not allow anyone to encroach upon the goodwill earned by traders for the market in the last 65 years," he added.
CAIT contended that things sold on 'khanmarketonline' would also be construed as sold by traders of the actual and physical Khan Market, leading to confusion and misunderstandings for consumers.
Sales discounts that Salman Khan may offer on products may lead to confusion and embarrassing situations for traders and consumers, the statement added.
Describing Khan Market itself as a brand, CAIT said: "A name by custom/practice/usage over a long period of time by a group of persons becomes an intellectual property right of that group of persons is an integral part of principle of natural justice. Accordingly, the first lien of using the name 'Khan Market' lies with traders of Khan Market only."
TAMA rises to the challenge; raises $50k for free clinic
We are taking students' issue seriously: US consul general in Hyderabad
Aamir's 'PK' poster leaves fans, friends guessing
Veena August 1, 2014
'Gangs Of Wasseypur' only Indian film in 'The Guardian' Best 100 list
Mallika Sherawat stuns at Cannes film fest


text:
'Women of the Movement': Showbiz veteran Glynn Turman talks limited series
Man who burst into flames from police Taser dead after weeks in New York hospital
FILE: A sign giving direction to a hospital emergency department hangs on a wall. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
CATSKILL, N.Y. — An upstate New York man has died nearly six weeks after he burst into flames when police used a Taser on him after he had doused himself in hand sanitizer.
Jason Jones was taken off a ventilator at a Syracuse hospital on Wednesday evening, The Times Union reported Thursday. The state attorney general's office will take part in the investigation into 29-year-old Jones' death.
Jones had walked into the Catskill village police department in late October and had gotten into a confrontation with officers.
The newspaper reported he appeared to be intoxicated and had removed his clothing.


Jessica Marie Deuel and Eric Andrew Hagen, both of Aberdeen, are engaged and plan an Oct. 24 wedding at First United Methodist Church in Aberdeen. Parents of the couple are Dean and Janet Deuel of Aberdeen and Gary and Cindy Hagen of Britton. The bride-to-be earned a degree in elementary education from Northern State University this year and works at Wells Fargo Auto Finance in Aberdeen. The groom-to-be earned an auto technician degree from the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D., in 2005 and is employed by Firestone in Aberdeen.


As Pfanstiehl approaches its 100th anniversary in 2019, the company has launched a new high purity, low endotoxin, and low metal L-Arginine (USP, EP, JP, ChP), manufactured in the US under strict cGMP, ICH Q7-compliant conditions. This is the first amino acid Pfanstiehl has launched, and they have others in development.
Amino acids have been known to exhibit both lyoprotective and cryoprotective effects similar to those of established stabilizers, such as sugars and/or polymers, but they offer a greater range of chemical structures and physicochemical properties. Their ability to prevent protein aggregation in both liquid and solid states, make them an attractive alternative as protein stabilizers for freeze drying.
L-Arginine has a chemical structure and physicochemical characteristics, which are distinct among amino acids and can provide additional benefits to freeze-dried protein formulations with regard to stability. Typically known as a key component in upstream cell culture, L-Arginine has also been utilized to help prevent aggregation when pharmaceutical formulations contain therapeutic proteins at relatively high concentrations.
As part of Pfanstiehl's continual commitment to producing the industry's highest purity, lowest endotoxin and lowest metals for bioprocessing components, the L-Arginine (A-170) specification includes ICH Q3D Elemental Impurity Data that is backed by extensive product characterization. The product specification is also compliant with Chinese Pharmacopeia.
Pfanstiehl's market-leading specifications for the new L-Arginine help to provide product quality and consistency for better support with biopharmaceutical processing requirements.
Commercial material and samples from Pfanstiehl's cGMP-manufactured batches of L-Arginine are available now for customer qualification and manufacturing, along with a Product Profile.
Pfanstiehl is the market leader of high purity, low endotoxin-low metal carbohydrates for biologics, biosimilars, vaccines, cell culture media and injectable (liquid and lyophilized) formulations and supplies its products to nearly all of the leading global biopharmaceutical companies. Pfanstiehl has manufactured parenteral grade excipients for more than 50 years, and Pfanstiehl's excipients are critical formulation components in the majority of the top ten global blockbuster biopharmaceutical drugs which have been administered to thousands of patients around the world. Pfanstiehl's high purity, low endotoxin-low metal Excipient products are known as "best in class" due to their high purity, performance, consistency and quality attributes.
Known for nearly a century for its first-in-class carbohydrate chemistry expertise, Pfanstiehl has built a market leading reputation for supplying high quality, cGMP-produced excipients from its US headquarters north of Chicago. For more information about Pfanstiehl and Pure Formulation Solutions, please contact us at cs@pfanstiehl.com or visit www.Pfanstiehl.com.


The Dance season 2017 of Teatro Comunale starts with the Manuel de Falla's ballet "El amor brujo", signed by La Fura dels Baus. Libretto by Gregorio Martínez Sierra. A co-production of TCBO with the Granada International Music and Dance Festival and Teatro Municipal de Sao Paulo in Brazil.


Oslo Pilot's 2015–16 programme encompasses numerous channels of production: publication, presentations, talks, commissioned artworks, seminars, and live events. Some of these channels are in direct dialogue with one another while others present independent ways of developing Oslo Pilot's investigations. Working across these platforms, the project seeks to generate diverse forms of insight into the project's key areas of enquiry, and to create numerous points of encounter for its audiences.


text:
6 'wrong' musical ideas that turned out right
By Future Music (Future Music) 2009-02-25T15:39:00.55Z Tech
Take inspiration from these innovators
Phil Collins: Godfather of gated reverb.
When you're stuck in a rut, it's easy to blame your equipment and conclude that you need to spend a fortune on upgrading your setup.
However, you might be better off rethinking the way you use the gear that you already have, as seemingly crazy ideas have created some of the great new sounds of the last century.
We can't tell you exactly how to change your approach, but we can give you a rundown of some of our favourite moments of madness and inspiration that led to classic music-making and the birth of famous production techniques.
1. Aceeeeeeeiiid!
Released in 1984 as a bass guitar emulator for guitarists to play along to, the TB-303 was a relative failure for Roland that was pulled from the company's product range after only 18 months.
Second-hand prices for the unpopular machine plummeted until its popularity suddenly surged in 1986 with the release of Acid Trax by Phuture, a prototypical Acid House track which abused the unloved 303 to make it produce resonant, psychedelic and downright weird sounds that struck a chord with the chemically-altered denizens of Chicago's house scene. Expect to pay well above £1,000 now.
Roland tb-303
2. Drop the bass
For When Doves Cry in 1984 and then again on 1986's Kiss, Prince took the unusual step of omitting the bassline altogether, instead filling the low end of the mix with heavy, backward-reverbed kick drum sounds taken from early digital music gear. Both tracks became number one hits around the world.
The combination of Linn 9000 and AMS RMX16 as used on Kiss wouldn't come cheap if you were able to find them for sale now but the general principle of using the 'wrong' tool for the job costs absolutely nothing.
3. Invisible airwaves
One of the ultimate old-skool pioneers, Russian scientist and inventor Léon Theremin debuted his eponymous electronic instrument in 1919. It's hard to imagine now what his audience must have thought - in an era when radios were still relatively new inventions, owned only by a few inventors and some military installations, the spectacle of a man waving his arms at a big metal box and creating ghostly orchestral sounds must have seemed like some kind of fantastic magic trick.
The creation of the instrument itself was something of a lucky accident. Theremin had been studying proximity sensors for the Russian government when he discovered what would become one of the world's first fully-electronic instruments.
4. Don't talk back
One of the most distinctive drum sounds ever recorded came about at Townhouse Studios when Phil Collins arrived in 1980 to record his solo debut, Face Value. The newly-installed SSL desk included a dedicated reverse talkback channel, with a mic hanging in the centre of the live room and heavy built-in compression to allow musicians from all parts of the room to be heard equally when talking to the producer.
At some point during the rehearsal process, Collins and engineer Hugh Padgham stumbled upon the fact that if they left the 'Listen Mic' channel open while Phil played they could achieve a heavy gated reverb sound. That night, Padgham had the desk rewired to allow them to record from the listen mic, which they then mixed with various compressed and heavily gated ambient mics to produce Collins' trademark drum sound, perhaps most famously heard on In The Air Tonight.
5. Rip it up
Distortion already existed in rock'n'roll, but during the recording of the Kinks' 1964 hit, You Really Got Me, Dave Davies hit upon a new and particularly destructive method of producing the dirty tone he desired.
Rock folklore has it that the teenage Davies brother used a razor blade to slash and rip the speaker of his Vox AC30 valve amp, giving it a rasping, heavily distorted sound. In the early 1960s, when BBC sound engineers would 'fix' any distortion coming out of even the heaviest bands' amps, this was quite a bold move.
6. Block rockin' beats
It's not just music gear that can help fuel innovation. Sometimes, the location is just as important. In the housing projects of late 1970s New York, the block party was the place to be. Party-goers would gather round to listen to DJs like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa spin funk, soul and electro records while rappers kept the party going.
Massively important hip-hop techniques and equipment, including scratching, beat juggling, DJ mixers and even the concept of rapping itself, were developed and honed to perfection in this intensely competitive environment.


Test how well you remember the information from your hearing conservation training program.
At what point does noise become potentially damaging?
If you have to shout to be understand at __ feet, you are likely in damaging noise.
What device is commonly used to measure your noise exposure over the course of a day?
Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) measures how much a protector could reduce noise. Why is this often overestimated?
Why should you try different types of protectors?
What is a disadvantage of premolded plugs?
What is a disadvantage of earmuffs?
Why might you prefer banded plugs to foam plugs?
Why should you choose protectors that lower noise to between 70 and 80 decibels?
During testing, when should you press and release the handswitch?


For this birthday party, the boys' mother said there were plenty of extra Beyblades to go around, and my boys were introduced during the party. They loved it! By the time they left, they were talking about which ones to buy first, which stadiums to buy, and which "attributes" each of the Beyblades had. They used some of their own money to buy their first Beyblade "battle tops" and stadiums. The average top is about $10, and the average a la carte stadium is also about $20.
Read more of Patricia Vollmer's post on how these toys teach science over at GeekMom.


In order to support the impact of the project, substantial attention will be on the dissemination of the results through different channels, both academically as policy related.
To support the dissemination effort and in order to keep a high level of corporate identity and coherent visibilitya leaflet and some templates for presentations and documents are made available to the consortium. Copies of the leaflet will be distributed in all the events in which members of the consortium will participate during the project duration.


text:
Front Page > breadcrumbs: District/Contacts > breadcrumbs: Board of Education >
Welcome to the Board of Education
Michelle Skinlo (President) - Mattoon Township
Colleen Garner - Lafayette Township
Susan Braun - Mattoon Township
Ashli Overton - Lafayette Township
Gary Kepley - Paradise Township
Erika Weaver- Lafayette Township
John Hedges-Mattoon Township
Contact the school board at BoardofEducation@mattoon.k12.il.us
School boards have the responsibility to represent the wishes of the people and to exercise lay control of educational goals and directions. Individual board members have no legal powers. A board member's power can only be exercised through the collective board action at a publicly convened meeting. In Mattoon, board meetings are regularly scheduled on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 P.M. These meetings are held in the boardroom at the Administrative Service Center, 1701 Charleston Ave., Mattoon, IL. Any person who wishes to address the board should contact the superintendent's office to be placed on the agenda at least a week prior to the meeting.
In Illinois, school boards are comprised of seven elected members who serve four-year terms of office. In Mattoon board members are elected at-large; however, no more than three members may reside in any one township.
Basically, the responsibilities of all school boards fall into the following categories:
A board's major function is to develop and adopt district policy governing many facets of school operation, including employment of staff personnel, administration of pupil services, educational programs, instructional material, school facilities, equipment, finance, and support services. A board can adopt policy on the recommendation of the superintendent, but the final decision on policy cannot be delegated. A board delegates the implementation of policies to the superintendent of schools. It evaluates the execution and effect of policy through observation, special oversight studies, and periodic reports by administrative officers.
Planning, Goal Setting and Appraisal
The vital leadership role of the board cannot be delegated. Each board member must establish the current and long-range educational plans and programs for the district. Board members are responsible for obtaining from the administration and other sources reliable information on which to make the best possible decision about the scope and nature of all school programs. The board is ultimately responsible for evaluating the results of these programs, a task that is frequently delegated to the administration.
Designating the Chief Executive
A board is responsible for recruiting, hiring, and evaluating the performance of the superintendent who will carry out its policy. This task cannot be delegated. The board exercises daily supervision and control primarily through its chief administrator and does not deal directly with individual staff members employed to assist the superintendent in implementing board directives.
Staffing and Appraisal
The board delegates the task of recruiting, interviewing, evaluating, promoting, and disciplining staff (in accordance with board policy) to the superintendent. The board is responsible for establishing policy governing salaries and salary schedules, terms and conditions of employment, fringe benefits, leave, and in-service training. The board must ratify all collective bargaining agreements.
It is the policy of the Mattoon Board of Education to hire the best-qualified personnel consistent with budget requirements, staffing patterns, and organizational practices of the district. Notwithstanding, the board desires to recruit and hire minority personnel. The board hires personnel upon the recommendation of the superintendent.
Working closely with the school administration, the Mattoon Board has set general goals and has adopted policy upon which instructional programs are based. The board has the power to accept, modify, or reject the superintendent's recommendations on the scope and nature of its educational offerings, as well as on which textbooks will be used.
The board is responsible for determining school housing needs; communicating those needs to the community, purchasing, disposing of, or leasing school sites; and for approving building plans that will support and enhance educational programs.
Although the board does not deal directly with students and solve student-related problems, it does set policies that guide the actions of administration and other school staff. A board can accept, modify, or reject policies recommended by the superintendent regarding school admissions, placement, promotions, attendance, expulsion, suspension, graduation, conduct, discipline, safety, health services, food services, and transportation services. All such polices must be viewed in light of their effect on all students' equal access to educational opportunities in accordance with state and federal guidelines.


text:
De Netkous is de populaire benaming voor het tussen 2004 en 2006 gebouwde tramviaduct in de Haagse wijk Bezuidenhout. Het viaduct ligt door de Prinses Beatrixlaan en heeft een halte: Beatrixkwartier. Het viaduct wordt bereden door RandstadRail-voertuigen van de lijnen 3, 4 en 34.

Aanleiding
Een belangrijk onderdeel van RandstadRail is de koppeling van het Haagse tramnet aan de Zoetermeer Stadslijn (voorheen deel van het NS-spoorwegnet). Om dit mogelijk te maken werd besloten een zijtak te bouwen van het Haagse semi-metro-traject ter hoogte van de hooggelegen halte Ternoot naar het NS-station Laan van NOI, waar het aansluit op de bestaande spoorlijn. Om de zakenwijk Beatrixkwartier beter te ontsluiten werd halverwege het viaduct een halte gebouwd.

Ontwerp en bouw
Zowel het viaduct als de erin geïntegreerde halte zijn ontworpen door ZJA Zwarts & Jansma Architecten. Oorspronkelijk was het ontwerp twee buizen, één voor ieder spoor, maar dat ging toch niet door. Het viaduct is opgebouwd uit een open buisvormige constructie, waardoor het kunstwerk associaties oproept met de structuur van een netkous. Door deze sterke constructie zijn relatief grote overspanningen mogelijk en kan het aantal kolommen beperkt blijven.

Voor de bouw kon beginnen is eerst de halte Ternoot in noordelijke richting verplaatst, omdat er anders geen ruimte zou zijn voor de bocht CS-Beatrixlaan. De viaductsegmenten zijn ter plaatse gemonteerd, uit geprefabriceerde stalen ringen en buizen. Hiervoor werd bij het traject een tijdelijke montagehal gebouwd. In een speciale conserveringshal (opgebouwd uit zeecontainers) werden de viaductdelen voorzien van een beschermende coating.

Vergelijkbare constructies
Een vergelijkbare netkousstructuur is in 2014 toegepast bij de spoorbrug over de Dieze en The Royal Welshbrug in 's-Hertogenbosch. Hetzelfde is gebeurd op het in 2016 geopende start/eindstation van de Rotterdamse metrolijn E tussen Slinge en Den Haag Centraal.

Fotogalerij

Zie ook
 RandstadRail
 Beatrixkwartier

Externe links
 Haagsetrams.com - foto's van de bouw van het viaduct
 Ontwerpburo

RandstadRail
Haagse tram
Bijnaam
Haagse Hout

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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by Glenn Erickson Feb 25, 2017
Ace director Donald Siegel uses superior direction to transform a so-so who-dunnit into a thrilling big screen spectacle, using the Grand Canyon as a backdrop for A multiple murder set in an Arizona mining town in decline. The cameraman focusing on the scenery and the hair-raising stuntwork — everything we see is real — is the great Burnett Guffey.
1959 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 80 min. / Street Date February 15, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Cornel Wilde, Victoria Shaw, Mickey Shaughnessy, Edgar Buchanan, Rian Garrick, Jack Elam, Dabbs Greer.
Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Original Music: Daniele Amfitheatrof
Written by Knut Swenson, Richard Collins
Produced by Kendrick Sweet
Directed by Donald Siegel
A look at Donald Siegel's filmography shows that between his standout 'fifties titles — Riot in Cell Block 11, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Crime in the Streets, The Lineup, he suffered through his share of unrewarding cheapies, especially at Columbia. Released between two Elvis Presley movies, 1959's Edge of Eternity is a smartly-assembled program thriller with spectacular elements that a studio publicist would say 'are readily exploitable for general audiences.' Not exactly well written but well crafted by its director, cameraman Burnett Guffey and some excellent stunt men and stunt flyers, Edge of Eternity hung its hopes on a 'B' – level leading man and an ad campaign that promised high jeopardy above the Grand Canyon. I remember the trailer well: it showed people clinging by their fingernails to a rocking ore bucket, a zillion feet above what looked like a bottomless abyss. That was enough to bring 'em out in those days — it was pleasurable to look at ninety minutes of pleasant characters and gorgeous scenery, awaiting the Big Thrill scene.
The spectacular finish was indeed the big draw. The story seems an amalgam of elements from other movies, only partly developed: a tepid murder mystery with a sketched father-son setup something like The Man from Laramie, joined with a few desert car chases. In a remote mining town near the rim of the Grand Canyon, Arizona Deputy Les Martin (Cornel Wilde) comes up against difficulties when the murder-by-hanging of an unidentified man seems related to two more killings. Avoiding an invitation by his bartender buddy Scotty O'Brien (Mickey Shaughnessy) to skip out to Vegas, and the amorous distraction of Janice Kendon (Victoria Shaw), the daughter of the local mining baron Jim Kendon (Alexander Lockwood), Les finds that local politics puts both his job and that of Sheriff Edwards (Edgar Buchanan) in jeopardy. Various suspects include Bill Ward (Jack Elam), an engineer at the local Guano mine, which is reached by a precarious cable car. Janice's kid brother Bob (Rian Garrick) is a wastrel who spends his time getting drunk. Les searches the bottom of the canyon in an airplane to find a missing miner… but he still needs help to solve the mystery.
It's all in the production: nothing in Edge of Eternity is more complicated than an average detective or mystery show on TV. The relaxed script introduces its characters and desert setting in a pleasing way, with plenty of leisurely drives between locations. The beautiful Janice explains how the mining town has fallen into decline because the price of gold has dropped. Apparently her father has suspended operations until the profit margin improves. Is that how things work — a vital resource is suppressed until such time as a rich man decides it is worth going after? Les does theorize that somebody may be sneaking ore from a gold mine and taking it out of the country where the price is much higher. If that's so, why doesn't Jim Kendon do the same thing, legally? I'll never be a capitalist, it seems.
The show's mystery element has flat feet. Good ol' Les hears that the killings might be related to somebody stealing ore from a closed-down gold mine, but is assured that such a scheme would require special science knowledge, plus a way of moving the stolen rock. Almost immediately, he's told that a certain character is not only a geologist, but a pilot too. Les puts none of this together, and the mystery more or less solves itself. The main baddie babbles out a ridiculously comprehensive exposition dump- cum confession in record time, and the film converts into a perilous action manhunt.
But the picture hangs on its production values, pleasant characters and impressive action. The CinemaScope images taken across the breadth of northern Arizona are entertaining in themselves. At my first screening of 1941 I could see that the most spectacular images in the film are not its effects, but a few POV shots of a P-40 fighter plane flying through the Grand Canyon. Giant models may blow up nicely, but there's no competing with the wonders of reality. Edge of Eternity spends at least six minutes flying above the desert and zooming deep into the canyon, and even shows a seaplane landing on the river at its bottom. It's impressive because it's real — the pilot is basically flying in a deep trench, where he must follow the bends of the river. He's in a groove, and cannot turn around. Beautifully filmed, this footage is inspiring. We're told that Siegel and Guffey did their own 2nd- unit work.
The acting gets a 'B' for skill and an 'A' for effect. Who cares if Cornel Wilde isn't Laurence Olivier? He's a nice guy and is always good company. Except for his Incredible Disappearing Accent, Wilde's deputy is a more than adequate leading man. Les Martin is just a good egg and not even a macho stud. He's gracious to the leading lady and is not superman in the fight scenes. Several of the other featured players are right off the Columbia contract list, although the engaging, cast-to-type Mickey Shaugnessy and Edgar Buchanan were surely valued freelancers. Jack Elam, Dabbs Greer and Tom Fadden had already become fixtures in Don Siegel movies, while handsome Rian Garrick's career as a featured player seemed to end before it began.
Contract actress Victoria Shaw did good work but still did not find fame, despite good placement opposite Tyrone Power in one of her first movies. As Cornel Wilde isn't exactly an effusive Personality, Ms. Shaw carries the burden of enlivening things. Her Janice Kendon is outgoing and positive minded, if a bit reckless as she happily zooms her Thunderbird through desert roads. Go out to the desert sometime – locals don't ride with the top down in the sunshine unless they're in a parade. For fun Janice dresses up in a designer outfit and then goes to sit by herself out behind a dirty mineshaft. Buried in what is essentially a ghost town, the fact that fashion plate Janice isn't ridiculous is a compliment to Victoria Shaw's performing and Donald Siegel's direction. Unmotivated car chases and unlikely characters are just fine in a movie without pretensions, one that just advances from one entertaining scene to the next.
I suppose that lack of pretension is indeed what makes Edge of Eternity so satisfying.
The locations are rather fanciful. To my knowledge nothing like the town seen in the movie is within a short drive of the Grand Canyon. The sizeable town (now a city) of Kingman is half a state away to the West, and Arizona is a big state. We even see the Mohave County courthouse.
The little ex-mining town in the hills is Oatman, Arizona, across the Colorado River from Needles and just North of Route 66. It's recognizable from other movies by the canine tooth- shaped rock in the background of some scenes. Oatman should be famous for its history as a getaway-hideaway escape destination for Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Just plain folks at heart, they'd shack up in what couldn't have been much of a hotel, and in 1940-'41, certainly not air-conditioned. Scenes in 1962's How the West Was Won were filmed there. The mine-top construction and shaft we see might be the very same site featured when George Peppard shows his kids the deep hole, and Eli Wallach arrives to harass them.
Burnett Guffey's cinematography was always precise, even though he's best remembered for his B&W '50s noirs, and Bonnie & Clyde. The rear-projected driving scenes in the show are some of the best I've seen, although it is likely that a specialist supervised them. In the commentary Nick Redman mentions that the people are doing wild things with their steering wheels when driving basically straight ahead. I didn't notice, because on pre- '60s full-sized sedans without power steering, steering wheels were much bigger. I remember spinning them like a top to do a sharp turn. But Nick is right, the mime is a little excessive.
The effect shots during the stunt-fight finale on the aerial tram bucket are not rear-projected, but done with good traveling mattes. Somebody worked hard because the matte lines are mostly hidden (except for some halation around Victoria Shaw). The film grain doesn't take a big jump – it's finer than that in the film's ordinary opticals and title sequences.
The stunt action on the tram over the Grand Canyon is particularly good, especially after similar, patently phony scenes in shows like RKO's earlier Second Chance. Yes, the players mid-canyon are likely tethered to the ore bucket in case of slip-ups, but when the stunt man doubling Cornel Wilde first jumps on he is definitely not, and he makes a point of immediately hanging by one hand. He's nuts! If he slipped, he'd have at least twelve seconds falling to think about the extra $500 stunt fee that his widow will be spending instead of him. The fact that a helicopter is buzzing around isn't as risky as the commentary implies — with the long lens needed to film the scene, it's nowhere near the canyon wall or the sky-bucket ore tram.
Almost risible today is the revelation that the ore tramcar was built to haul guano being mined in a bat cave (!) and used for fertilizer. A title card at the end acknowledges the cooperation of America's guano industry. The car even says "U.S. Guano" on the side, which these days would surely elicit nods of agreement from Mexican viewers.
One last thing — I really doubt that that small plane near the end can carry so much ore… there would have to be serious weight issues. It's a dumb observation, but it did cross my mind. I'm an armchair crime caper critic.
But hey, the conclusion of Edge of Eternity was indeed a great payoff for audiences of 1959.
The Twilight Time Blu-ray of Edge of Eternity is a welcome release of this satisfying crime-adventure tale. I've only seen it pan-scanned in old TV prints where it looked miserable in every respect. Seeing the full CinemaScope frame reminds me of just how big 'scope movies once looked in the theater, when the contrast between the cinema experience and our little 19-inch B&W TVs was so extreme. Even neighborhood movie houses often had ENORMOUS screens.
Opticals, by which I mean shots with titles and shots that dissolve between scenes are slightly grainier, but they have excellent color and contrast and match quite well. It would seem that modern scanning and image manipulation makes possible the digital rescue of almost any faded color. Back at UCLA, the color studio prints that Columbia loaned us were often already severely faded, when they were only ten years old (unless they were Technicolor). This scan of Burnett Guffey's fine-tuned show is a pleasure to watch.
Daniele Amfitheatrof's rather good suspense score is auditable on its own track. Twilight now calls them Isolated Music Tracks instead of Isolated Score Tracks. The disc doesn't have the original trailer that I remember thrilling me in the theater, but Nick Redman and C. Courtney Joyner provide an easygoing, enjoyable commentary with many facts about director Siegel and the production. They perhaps talk too much about the film's 'un-special' qualities, when to us it's just unfussy entertaining filmmaking, old-school. Julie Kirgo's liner notes nail the film's light-thriller appeal, the easygoing charm of its leading players, and the enduring, unappreciated skill of director Don Siegel.
On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
Edge of Eternity Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Good + plus
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: Isolated Music Track, audio Commentary with C. Courtney Joyner and Nick Redman, Julie Kirgo liner notes.
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case
Reviewed: February 22, 2017
(534edge)
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Text © Copyright 2017 Glenn Erickson
About Glenn Erickson
Glenn Erickson left a small town for UCLA film school, where his spooky student movie about a haunted window landed him a job on the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS effects crew. He's a writer and a film editor experienced in features, TV commercials, Cannon movie trailers, special montages and disc docus. But he's most proud of finding the lost ending for a famous film noir, that few people knew was missing. Glenn is grateful for Trailers From Hell's generous offer of a guest reviewing haven for CineSavant.
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"I want to have faith and be able to believe God to meet my needs, but it just doesn't work for me. I can't seem to have enough faith." This statement is one which I have heard over and over again as I have ministered throughout the country. Since the Bible says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6), then it is not only important but also imperative that we learn how to exercise faith in God.
In Jesus' teachings on the subject of faith, He used illustrations which were familiar to the people. He likened faith to a "grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree…" (Matt. 13:31-32). He said that this tiniest of seeds would produce a great tree with branches reaching out to heaven. Concerning this mustard seed Jesus also said, "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matt. 17:20).
Jesus used an example of one of the smallest things imaginable in that day–a tiny mustard seed–to show that with only a small amount of faith we could reach out to heaven and nothing would be impossible to us. Why then does our faith sometimes falter and fail us? To answer this question Jesus used the analogy of the seed in the parable of the sower.
"And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside and birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they had not much soil. And at once they sprang up because they had no depth of soil… While anyone is hearing the Word of the Kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart. As for what was sown in thin soil, this is he who heard the Word and at once welcomes and accepts with joy, yet it has no real root in himself, but is temporary, inconstant… lasts but a little while; and when affliction or trouble or persecution comes on account of the Word, at once he is caused to stumble. He is repelled and begins to distrust and desert Him whom he ought to trust and obey, and falls away" (Matt. 13:4-5, 19-21, Amplified Bible).
So Jesus warned us that our faith in the Word of God can be snatched away by the enemy. There are many ways in which Satan can attack the believer and rob him of his faith. One of his most subtle tricks is to try to make us accept the responsibility for other people's behavior. When you pray for your unsaved loved ones and instead of getting better they seem to get worse, don't throw up your hands and say, "I guess I just don't have enough faith." Remember, you cannot accept the responsibility for others' behavior. They must surrender their own wills to God. You pray for them and then commit them to God. And when You pray for someone's healing, remember that it is not you that does the healing. It is the Holy Spirit through you, if He chooses to use you in that way. The person for whom you pray also has a responsibility to exercise faith.
Sometimes our seed of faith may take root in fertile ground, emerge as a tender young plant, but then become choked by the cares of this life (Matt. 13:7, 22). Our garden of faith becomes a weed-patch of worry, doubt and despair. When this happens ask yourself just how well the soil has been prepared. Has the Word of God been planted deep in your heart? This is what will take You through those times when You are tempted to stumble because it looks as if the Word of God doesn't work for you.
It is one thing to have a knowledge of God's Word, but it is still another to know how to make His Word work for you. Philippians 4:19 says, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Is this workable? Absolutely! Let me tell you of an instance when it worked for me.
I had been invited to Quincy, Illinois, where I was to be the guest speaker for a ladies' luncheon. The next evening I was scheduled to speak for the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship there and the following night I was to minister in a local church. Sharon Bell, my co-worker and accompanist, and I flew from Dallas to St. Louis where we transferred to a flight that would take us to Quincy. As we approached Quincy we were enveloped by a fog so thick it resembled potato soup. Unable to land, the pilot changed course and flew to Iowa instead of Illinois, where Sharon and I rented a car to drive back to Illinois.
Realizing that this delay would make us miss the luncheon, we wondered, "How will they make it without us? Can the Kingdom of God survive without us there?" Well, we learned a valuable lesson. God doesn't have to use us–we are privileged that He does. It's our pleasure; it's our joy; it's our blessing that He would choose to use us when He does.
We arrived to learn that the Kingdom of God had made it just fine without us. The meeting was a success and the Lord had greatly used a woman who had never before spoken for a luncheon. This was an opportunity for the beginning of a new type of witness and sharing ministry.
On our way to Quincy I had said to Sharon, "Let's agree in faith that the Lord will provide the financial needs for this trip." We knew we needed to receive $500 to cover all our expenses. This seemed like a huge amount to us. We had never believed God for so much money in our lives. But by faith we claimed God's promise in Matthew 18:19, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." After the service that night I was handed a check to cover our expenses, and when I looked at it later I discovered it was for $100. This wasn't enough to pay our way up there, much less get us back. Right then my faith began to waver a little. However, I said nothing to Sharon. The fact that my faith was under assault from the enemy was no reason to undermine hers. I said nothing to anyone–except the Lord.
The next day as I was alone in my room I went to God in Prayer. I reminded Him that we had agreed in faith for our needs to be met. I quoted the scripture in Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Then I took my Bible, opened it and held it up towards heaven. I said, "God this is your Word. Because it is Your Word, I'm believing you to perform it. I know Your Word works! The people don't know about this need, but You do. You do! I don't have to tell it, You know it. And You're God." I closed the Bible, tucked it under my arm, and marched downstairs to go to the evening service.
In my heart I had it all worked out how God was going to solve this dilemma. I just knew that the remaining $400 would come in the love offering that night. However, God's ways are not always our ways. When the service was over and we were handed a check for our love offering, it was for $50.
I could easily have become discouraged at that point and said, "It looks as if the Lord has failed us this time." But I didn't. Instead I thought, "How exciting it's going to be to see how God works this out!" That evening I was handed a check for $125 and the person said to me, "I meant to give this last night." We were getting closer to our goal. The president of the F.G.B.M.F.I. chapter came up to me and said, "I couldn't sleep last night. God told me to give you this," and he handed me a check. We had sold a few of our records, too. That night when I went to my room and counted the money that had come in. It amounted to $510. God had even given us a dividend!
God had made provision for us through His Word to succeed in all that we do (Psalm 1). But we have to walk in His Word and do what His Word says to do. God is Your source. Don't look to your left. Don't look to your right. Look to Him. Then Your seed of faith will mature into a mighty tree that can attempt the impossible for God!
Hmm it seems like your website ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I'll just sum it up what I submitted and say, I'm thoroughly enjoying your blog. I as well am an aspiring blog writer but I'm still new to the whole thing. Do you have any suggestions for novice blog writers? I'd certainly appreciate it.
Thanks for your response, Clay. I don't know if we have any particular advice other than keep it up! Glad to hear that you're enjoying Vicki's articles.


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