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Tag: Legend
8th May 2020 / timwalker1666 / 0 Comments
A COCKEREL CROWING its defiance to rivals always marked the start of his day. Shifting uncomfortably on a straw-stuffed sack, he turned away from the damp wall to see how far the first fingers of daylight had stretched across worn paving slabs. But the cockerel's call was distant, muted and distorted – filtered through a narrow opening high up in his cell, making his first waking thought a cruel reminder that he was no longer in the sanctuary of his parents' farm. Absent were the homely sounds of dogs barking, birds fighting, workers busying themselves, and the fountain splashing an invigorating melody.
Artorius sat, scratching at his woollen garment, then pushed aside the filthy blanket and ruffled his long, tangled hair, freeing some strands of straw. The rattle of keys interrupted his woeful reflection, signalling the entry of his jailor, Ahern, with a bowl of weak gruel and a pewter mug of water. He was a sullen, wordless giant who expressed himself with grunts and kicks.
"You are a happy man, Ahern, for you have found your true calling in life," Artorius muttered, receiving a snarl in reply. Three months in his narrow cell had afforded him plenty of time to reflect on the words of Merlyn that had led to his arrest. Merlyn had exposed him to a cheering crowd as the true heir to his father, Uther Pendragon, and had showed him how to pull the sword of Ambrosius smoothly from the cleft in a rock, made possible by the removal of pressure due to Merlyn and Varden's subtle easing back. A trick to fool an expectant crowd. No sooner had he entered the royal hall than the doors were barred behind him, and Caradoc, the army commander, had him arrested. Merlyn too, and Gawain the knight who had supported his claim. But not Varden, the ex-soldier and Merlyn's bodyguard. He was at large and represented his only hope of rescue.
"But my destiny as the son and heir to Uther, if indeed I am, has proven to be a false calling," he moaned to the closing cell door. He had received no visitors or news from the outside, but the fear of execution had receded as the weeks had passed. They had locked him away and would no doubt parade him or dispose of him once the reign of the new king was bedded in – the boy-king Mordred, whose mother had tried and failed to free the sword on his behalf. He gloated over the memory of Morgana's desperate and unsuccessful struggle.
Left alone with his thoughts, he shouted his anger and frustration at the impassive stone walls. "It was a conjuror's trick that landed me here! It was YOUR ambition, Merlyn, not mine!" He had practised it over and over. This is what he would say to the mysterious healer should they ever meet again.
THE BEST PART of Ygerne's day was the hour she was allowed to spend in her enclosed garden in the company of her daughters, Morgaise and Anne. They would tend to the roses and dwarf apple trees, and collect vegetables and herbs for their evening meal. They had been confined to their rooms since that strange day when Merlyn had unveiled Ambrosius's sword. Ygerne had been shocked by his revelation that the youthful Artorius was the baby she had believed dead, although Morgana had once revealed her suspicion that he had been stolen. But that was typical of Uther's mischief-making daughter. Morgana's long investigation had revealed nothing, so the baby remained officially dead, despite a faint maternal flutter that tugged at her heart, the vague feeling that maybe the child still lived. She had experienced it during Uther's victory parade in Corinium, as if her son's eyes were on her.
The widowed queen invited the squabbling girls to sit beside her on a stone bench and be still whilst she shared her thoughts with them. "Could it be true?" Ygerne asked her daughters, not for the first time.
Anne, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, answered first. "I think so, Mama. I have always felt that I have a brother, and have often imagined playing with him. When I saw Artorius, my heart jumped."
"You are Uther's daughter, without a doubt," Ygerne laughed, "impulsive and firm in your belief."
The older Morgaise, daughter of Ygerne's first husband, Chief Gorlois of Cornubia, scoffed at the suggestion: "It was all a trick by Merlyn to place a farm boy on the throne so he could rule this land."
"And yet, I would look into that boy's eyes and decide for myself," Ygerne replied. Her worn face, lined by thin strands of greying hair, was troubled.
"I would like to try and visit the cells to talk to him," Anne said, making a curved line with the pointed toe of her slipper in the gravel at their feet.
"They will not let you," Morgaise replied sharply. "And besides, it would be interpreted as plotting by Caradoc and Morgana, who rule over the boy-king. They would have your pretty head on a spike."
The sisters glared at each other. Ygerne reached out and held their hands, silencing them. "I am less inclined to do nothing, as time goes by. Let us apply our minds to thinking of a way to contact Artorius. Perhaps, sweet Anne, you could find a way to go to the dispensary where they are holding Merlyn and try to talk to him when his guards are not looking?"
Morgaise's face lit up at the prospect of something to do to quell their dull routine. "Yes! And I can go with her to distract the guards. But what should we ask of him, dear mother?"
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Morgaise reported to their guards that Anne was sick with stomach ache and urgently needed to be taken to the dispensary to see a healer. The guards were visibly alarmed by the sight of Anne rolling on the floor, groaning, with white foam dribbling from the corner of her mouth. Caradoc himself appeared, some minutes later, wearing Uther's purple cloak edged with gold, Morgaise noticed, and a silver medallion bearing an eagle's head swinging on his chest.
"Carry her on a litter to the dispensary. Hurry," he tersely commanded the guards.
"May I accompany her as I know her diet and history of ailments?" Morgaise asked innocently.
Caradoc nodded, then promptly turned his back and marched out.
They had not been outside of the enclosure of royal apartments in three months, and now Morgaise enjoyed looking about her at the passing traders and market stall women who turned away from her stare and stilled their chatter. Where the cobbled street ended, a dirt track took them to a row of wooden thatched huts that clustered around the dispensary, a large stone building standing apart from the more typical rows of townhouses and livestock pens.
They entered through a wide archway and were greeted by the women who tended to the sick and injured. The two guards and two litter-bearers were directed through a door and out into an airy and light courtyard where a fountain dribbled spring water into troughs from which servants collected fresh drinking water in jars for the patients. Morgaise followed the litter-bearers into a room smelling of herbs and was soon face-to-face with Merlyn. The ageing healer was still an imposing presence and easily the tallest man there. Her keen eyes noted his long grey hair tied neatly behind a black gown; his narrow features and tattoo swirls were partly hidden by a closely cropped beard.
Merlyn's brown eyes flitted from Morgaise to Anne lying still on the litter, and he pointed to a table laid out with a white cloth.
"What ails the young woman?" he asked.
"She has eaten something that does not agree with her delicate stomach," Morgaise replied.
"Stand outside," he commanded the guards and litter-bearers. They hesitated, exchanging looks, before silently withdrawing to guard the door. Morgaise sniggered at his authority over his jailors.
"I may be a hostage, but I remain a valuable resource to them. This is my dispensary, developed over many years under Uther's reign. I preserve here the skills and knowledge of Roman physicians now long departed." He looked at Anne's tongue and touched the back of his fingers to her forehead, whilst Morgaise looked around her. Glass jars contained plants and body parts, and assorted clay pots with symbols scratched on them occupied the shelf space around the room.
Merlyn, once satisfied that Anne was in no danger, indicated a woman, who stood by the stool where a boy sat grinding a pestle into the mortar hugged to his ribs. "You can trust Pryderi, who assists me. The guards do not know she is my wife, so please keep this a secret." Turning to the quiet woman he said, "My dear, may I introduce Queen Ygerne's daughters – Morgaise and Anne." If Pryderi was shocked or surprised, she didn't show it. She bowed slightly to the royal princesses and busied herself on a nearby workbench.
By now Anne was sitting up. Merlyn asked Pryderi to bring a potion to ease stomach pains. "What did you take to make you unwell?" he asked her.
"I crushed up some fennel and dog wort from the garden and made a potion with sheep curd. It gave me stomach cramps and produced foaming of the mouth," she cheerily quipped.
"Indeed, it would," Merlyn replied. "Now drink this to settle your stomach," he said, as Pryderi handed over the remedy.
Turning to Morgaise he asked, "Pray tell me, what it is that you have come for?"
The confident young woman faced him and held his gaze. "Our mother is concerned about the fate of the youth, Artorius. We are not convinced that he is the son of Uther, as you claim, but we would like to help rescue the boy from what may yet be an unfortunate end."
"Have you heard that Caradoc has plans to kill him?"
"No, but our mother has a feeling that once the people are more accepting of Mordred as king, then he will be disposed of."
Merlyn took the pewter vessel from Anne and passed it to Pryderi. "You should start to feel better now, my lady," he said, smiling. She managed a half-smile in return. "I also am of a view that the young man needs rescuing, and soon. I had not expected allies from within the royal enclosure, although I'm pleased that you have come." He bowed slightly to Morgaise.
"We are so bored imprisoned in our rooms that we are ready to do anything for some excitement."
Anne coughed and added, "But I have long harboured a feeling that I might have a brother, and would welcome the chance to meet with Artorius and question him."
Merlyn kept his thoughts to himself. A jailbreak would almost certainly be followed by a swift escape for all involved. There would not be much time for a family reunion. "I have six men or more camped in the woods who are in readiness to act. But first we need to plan his release. Can you draw me a diagram indicating where he is held on this wax tablet?" Merlyn turned to a table and handed a curved stick to Morgaise. Anne joined her and together they made a crude sketch of the interior of the underground chambers beneath the king's hall.
"Is this the only entrance?" Merlyn asked, pointing to the sketch.
"Yes," Anne replied. "It is guarded day and night by two guards. It can be reached from the kitchens at the back of the hall. If I know when you are coming, I can let you in through this door." She indicated a gap in the outer wall of the enclosure.
"I know the place," Merlyn said. "The moon will be at its brightest two nights from now and will help with our escape. We shall come to this door when the moon reaches its highest point in the night sky. I shall knock like this." He rapped his knuckles on the table in a broken beat.
"Then one of us shall let you in," Morgaise replied.
"We can do no more than that," Anne added, "and must return to our rooms before the alarm is raised."
Merlyn hesitated before speaking, "You may only have the briefest of moments with your brother, you must realise." He did not want any words left unsaid on their plan. "But I shall send word to you where he can meet with you and your mother once we have made good our escape. That is all we can do. Remember this boy, Ulla, for it might be him who brings you news." He ruffled the dark brown hair of the quiet boy in the corner.
Anne nodded, knowing this was the best that could be expected from a midnight jailbreak, whilst harbouring the faint hope of a snatched moment with her brother.
MERLYN LED HIS gang through the streets of sleeping Venta, beneath the glow of a pale moon. He glanced about for any signs of movement before rounding a corner, where he came face-to-face with a large, growling dog, its bared teeth and arched back indicating a readiness to strike. He held an arm up to indicate his followers should stop and dropped to eye level with the dog. He whispered in a soothing tone and slowly pulled a piece of roasted boar skin from inside his tunic and offered it. The dog approached, sniffing. Merlyn carefully patted its head and was relieved to see its tail wagging. "Come on," he urged his followers, allowing the dog to tag along beside him.
They avoided a watchman's tower at the corner of the wooden stockage that housed the royal buildings, and lined up in the shadow of a warehouse opposite the doorway to the kitchen. Merlyn checked both ways and studied the parapet above the wooden barrier across the street before running across to the door. He rapped the code and waited for a response. Sure enough, he heard bolts being withdrawn and he stood back, gripping his staff in both hands, ready to strike.
Morgaise's face peered out from under a hood and he smiled with relief. "Come quickly," she whispered. "The guards are drunk and sleeping."
Merlyn waved for his men to follow and then entered the compound. Once all eight were inside, Varden, their leader, detailed one man to watch the doorway and two others to scout the yard and be in readiness to cover their escape.
Merlyn turned to Morgaise and asked, "Do you know where the sword of Ambrosius is?"
"The one Artorius pulled from the stone? Yes, it hangs on the wall in the Great Hall, behind the throne and under Mordred's banner."
When Varden returned to his side, Merlyn conveyed this information in a whisper. With a nod from Merlyn, Morgaise led them into the kitchen and out into a passageway that connected the hall to the sleeping quarters. She met Anne halfway along the narrow hallway, who indicated they should take a left turn. At the top of a circular stairwell Anne whispered to Merlyn, "At the bottom you will find the jailor sleeping on a wooden bed, but the night watchman is awake. He has the keys to the cells."
Merlyn nodded. "Anne shall lead us down and Morgaise shall remain here to keep a look out and wait for our return. Varden will go to the hall and get the sword."
"No," Morgaise whispered, "the hunting hounds sleep in there by the hearth. They will attack him."
Varden and Merlyn were confounded by this information. "Barking and snarling hounds would wake the guards," Merlyn said, deep in thought.
"I sometimes feed the hounds," Morgaise hissed. "They know me. Let me go there with a plate of meat from the larder and pick the sword on my way out."
"Will they attack you in the dark?" Varden asked.
"Not if they smell the meats on offer," she replied.
"Then let us try it," Merlyn said, not wishing to delay further. "Varden will stand by the door with two men, ready to come to your aid if the hounds are restless," Merlyn added.
Morgaise led Varden back to the kitchen to raid the larder for joints, whilst Merlyn and the rest of the men descended the stairs behind Anne. At the foot of the stairwell was a chamber lit by a solitary torch glowing from a bracket on the stone wall. To their right was a wooden bed on which slept the large form of Ahern, the jailor, snoring on his back. Anne crept forward towards the row of cells and bumped into a startled watchman, holding a lantern in which the candle had died.
"Oy, what are you doing here?" he growled. Merlyn and his companions shrunk back into the shadows, leaving Anne to answer him.
"I… followed my cat down the steps. Have you seen him?"
"No, I have not…" was all he managed in reply as Merlyn stepped forward and banged his head with the ball at the end of his wooden staff. The young gaoler fell to the floor, unconscious, and they checked whether the sleeping man had been disturbed by the clatter of the lamp on the floor. Ahern grunted and rolled over, facing the wall. Anne picked up the keys from the stricken man and passed them to Merlyn. They moved cautiously down a flight of a dozen steps to a tunnel lined with locked doors. A burning torch fixed to the wall lighted their way. Anne plucked it from its sconce.
Merlyn led the way to the first cell door with Anne following behind. The second key clanked in the lock and Merlyn pushed the door open, peering into the gloom. He moved towards a hunched figure lying on a bunk with his back to him. Merlyn put his hand on the sleeping man's arm, and rolled him onto his back. The light from Anne's torch fell on Artorius. He woke with a gasp and Merlyn put his hand over the young man's mouth. He ceased to struggle when he heard a familiar voice by his ear.
"Merlyn!" he croaked through dry lips.
"Be quiet, my boy," Merlyn whispered. "The jailor still sleeps."
Merlyn led Artorius, whose heart galloped now, to where he saw a young woman staring at him. "This is your sister, Anne," Merlyn said, stepping back. Artorius stood, mystified, but Anne stepped forward and looked closely at his face.
"I believe there is a resemblance," she said, and then hugged the bemused youth.
"We'd better get going," Merlyn whispered, looking around.
"Wait," Anne replied, "there are two knights held here. Perhaps they are friends of Artorius?"
Merlyn looked to the hunched youth who shrugged his thin shoulders. "Then let us quickly look to see who they are and if they are worthy of our help."
They combed the dungeons, finding some stray wretches, and soon identified Gawain and Percival, held in separate cells. Gawain could stand, bruised but otherwise unhurt, but Percival cried out in fear as they approached, in the voice of one who has endured a terrible torment. It soon became apparent that he was in much pain and couldn't walk, his leg badly broken.
"What of these other wretches who are unknown to us?" Gawain asked, indicating three reed-thin men.
"Let them follow us out of here, then they can decide if they wish to come with us or escape to the forest," Merlyn replied.
Whilst Artorius and Gawain briefly hugged, Merlyn called up two men to help the lame knight. "Let us hope you don't have to make a run for it," Anne whispered to Merlyn as they made their way to the stairwell.
At the top of the stairs Merlyn paused to peer in the direction of the hall. "Anne, lead them out through the kitchen door. I'll follow soon." With that Merlyn strode into the gloom towards the hall, leaving Anne and Varden's men to escort the shuffling escapees towards the exit.
Merlyn found Varden and his two companions hiding in a recess in the wall, daggers at the ready.
"She is still inside with the hounds," Varden whispered.
"We have rescued the prisoners and now must get away from this place," Merlyn muttered, the tension apparent in his tone.
"You go and lead them to safety. I'll wait for Morgaise and the sword," Varden replied, his eyes shining with resolve in the dim glow of an oil lamp. Merlyn paused for thought. Ideally, they should all leave together. Just then, the hall door creaked open and Morgaise slid out, shutting it behind her. They gathered around her as hounds whined and scratched at the closed door. With a triumphant smile, Morgaise produced the unsheathed sword from a fold in her skirt. Varden took it from her and Merlyn gave her a gentle hug around her slender shoulders.
"Let us make haste, for our luck will soon run out," Merlyn whispered, turning to lead them back towards the kitchen. They passed out into the cool night air, finding their fellows hiding in a shadowy porch. Clouds shrouded the moon making it much darker than before, causing Merlyn to sigh his relief. The biggest man was able to carry Percival on his back, and they filed out through the open door and into the night. Artorius and Merlyn were the last to leave, exchanging hugs with the two young women. Morgaise was hurriedly introduced to Artorius, to add to his wonder of the events still unfolding.
Anne sniffed back her tears as she kissed Artorius on the cheek. "I hope we meet again soon, dear brother, together with our dear mother who longs to hold you once more."
Merlyn pulled Artorius away and they melted into the night. "Let us not tempt the fates by delaying, Artorius," he whispered. "Our horses are outside the town's walls. It is but an hour to sunrise."
Artorius started at the sight of a large guard dog emerging from the shadows. His alarm soon turned to bemusement as it wagged its tail and lolled its tongue at Merlyn who bent to pat its head. The beast trotted beside them to the unguarded gates and watched as they slipped out into the night, leaving the sleeping town behind.


Last week I visited Kraków for the second ACE! conference 2011 – Agile Central Europe, organised by Paul Klipp. To set the record straight up front – it was an excellent event.
The intense, fun packed two days started with a keynote from Corey Haines who reminded us of the central role that feedback plays in agile and the importance of many technical practices.
There were sixteen 30 minute sessions in only one track. This was a change from the previous year, and although I have not had a chance to compare, for me this format worked well. We had an opportunity to be exposed to a diversity of topics and each session was concise and punchy.
My personal favourite was "Overcoming Self-organization Blocks" by Andrea Provaglio delivered in a direct and engaging style and addressing an interesting and important subject of self-organisation and personal dynamics in agile teams. Paweł Brodziński had a really clever idea to run his presentation about Kanban using a real Kanban board, it worked very well. Marc Löffler tackled the problem of meaningless RAG reporting using melons – very tasty. Monika Koniczny did a great job running bubbling experiments on stage, talking about games and turning me into a creative person in front of everyone. Presentations from Elad Amit and Barry O'Reilly both provided valuable food for thoughts for me. I also hope the message from Mateusz Srebrny was picked up well as he was talking about an important topic of visual management.
All sessions were videoed and should be available on-line soon. I will follow-up with a post with a pointer to my talk.
In between the talks, there were openspace sessions facilitated effectively by the mischief maker Mike Sutton. This was a perfect opportunity to engage with the audience and learn from each other. I lead two sessions – first one on "Motivation" based on the ideas from Dan Pink's book "Drive" and another one as a follow-up from my talk and discussion of challenges agile faces in large organisations. Both gave me interesting insights into some cultural aspects of agile adoptions in Poland. I also joined the first Polish ALE Network panel with Marcin Niebudek and a session on retrospectives with Nick Oostvogel. The latter brought an important insights from Maria Diaconu about the importance of gathering data for improvements during the sprints as well as in retrospectives.
There was also an opportunity, at the end of each day, to give a 5 minute lightning talks on any subject and once again, it was a good place to hear others' ideas. I've managed to sneak my two pence in on "learning from mistakes" (inspired by Kevlin Henney).
The conference was really well organised and went like clockwork with Paul doing a great job of keeping us all on schedule. In the true agile spirit there was also a feedback flip chart and many suggestions written down were acted upon very quickly.
I'd like to call the ACE!2011 the right size conference: the timing was right, the presentations worked well with the 30 minutes format, the size of the audience was good and the size of the presenting crew fit well.
The event was closed in an excellent keynote by Jurgen Appelo (serendipitously available at an almost last-minute this Dutch guy simply rocks) and was by far my favourite of Jurgen's talks that I've seen. He paid great attention to what was going on during the two days and managed to weave several quotes from other speakers into his talk so it felt like a truly engaging dialogue with other speakers and the audience rather than just a simple recital. (Also, no Germans were hurt while he was running the show). The closing keynote proved that in the short space of time, with the help of the particular conference format and thanks to great people, we have managed to engage fully and bond well.
It was great to put some real faces to twitter friends and to make new friends. Somehow only, I've missed Szymon, next time perhaps.
I'm already looking forward to visiting Kraków next year and so should you, it will be awesome. The rumour has it Lisa Crispin might be joining us for the keynote… (no idea who started that one).


The Ohio Craft Brewers Association presents the 13th Annual Winter Warmer Fest, Cleveland's favorite Ohio craft beer event! 61 Ohio breweries will help to banish the frosty temperatures with their winter seasonal, limited edition and other popular beers at one of Cleveland's most scenic venues, Windows on the River. Enjoy a spirited entrance courtesy of Black Sheep Pipes & Drums, plus live music throughout the event and food trucks on site.
General Admission: $45 advance, $55 at the door Includes a souvenir glass and tasting tickets for twenty 4-oz. samples.
Early Admission: $55 advance, $65 at the door (tickets limited) Includes the above plus early 1pm entry.
Designated Driver: $15 Includes a food truck voucher (sampling strictly forbidden with DD ticket). DDs can enter with early admission.
Winter Warmer Fest is a fundraiser for the non-profit Ohio Craft Brewers Association.
You must be 21 years of age to attend WINTER WARMER FEST (this applies to DDs and your newborn as well).


This is an introductory course to graduate program in the field of Communication. This course attempts to prepare students for their graduate work by introducing the history of the field and the position of Intercultural Communication in relation to other sub-fields. Students will also learn the academic writing convention of the discipline, get introduced to relevant campus resources (library, Moodle, etc.), and set up their personal portfolio space.
Building on to the Foundation I course, this course is designed to prepare students for their internship experience, whether abroad or domestic, as well as their thesis. Students will be matched with their internship organizations or countries for study abroad through this class. Students also learn about both professional and advanced study post-graduation options, and begin exploring both as they map their final year in the program.
This course is designed to focus on methods of data gathering. In this course, students will learn designs of quantitative and qualitative research, such as experiment, survey, interview, participant observation, and ethnography. Students design a project to address a particular intercultural communication phenomenon, and the importance of proper research design for professional applications, including project or training assessment and evaluation. Each student's proposed research project will be executed in COMM306 Applied Research Methods course.
This course prepares students to execute a research project using both quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The primary foci of data analysis include (M)ANOVA, regression, and mediation and moderation analysis for quantitative survey data and coding based on the grounded theory approach for the qualitative data. Continuing from COMM305 Applied Research Design course, students will collect and analyze the data and interpret and report the results.
This course investigates the relationship between communication and culture. Students will use case studies to apply a range of intercultural communication theories to analyze problems that typically arise in "real world" cross-cultural settings. Students are expected to make a clear connection between a communication phenomenon (e.g., current social issues) and intercultural communication theories as they work toward critical engagement with intercultural and cross-cultural communication competency.
This course aims to develop a critical cultural consciousness. Students begin by examining their own cultural identities and then learn how to view interactions with others through the lens of intercultural communication. Through self-awareness and understanding how identity, culture, and communication work together, students learn critical skills to enhance their intercultural competence. Students work in groups to apply these insights by developing a diversity training activity grounded in theories of identity and intercultural communication.
This course is designed for graduate students as an advanced study and application of principles, practices, and theories of interpersonal communication. To that end, we will examine important interpersonal communication theories and trends in the study of interpersonal communication, with focus on research methodologies, critique, and practical application. The course will be comprised of readings, lectures and discussions, out-of-class assignments, and exams. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the communication process as it pertains to interpersonal relationships in various contexts (e.g., intercultural, workplace, romantic, family, conflict, etc.).
This course offers a review of our "global village," which is dangerously divided not only by power struggles and interest conflicts but also by message flows that create confusion and justified or unjustified suspicion. Special attention is given to the role of the United Nations (and its specialized agencies dealing with communication) as a vital mode of cross-cultural communication among the leaders of nations, and to the role of the media in defining global policy issues.
A special topic course focuses on some aspects of intercultural communication. Courses may directly address intercultural communication between people from two or more social groups (e.g., intercultural conflict management, intercultural relationship development) focus on the influence of and influence on intercultural communication (e.g., stereotypes, communication and values in East Asia, neocolonialism, whiteness, hegemony, power, gender, race, class, sexuality), or take a meta-theoretical examination of culture or cultures. Advanced topic course can be offered as an undergraduate-graduate course.
Students are placed in an organization with an intercultural emphasis, either in the Bay Area or at a predetermined partner site abroad. In addition to gaining intercultural experience relevant to fieldwork and employment, students will apply prior learning on research design and data analysis by collecting intercultural data at their internship site for analysis as part of their MA Thesis. Students predominantly meet with their thesis advisor by individual arrangement to discuss the progress throughout the semester. This may include virtual meetings for students abroad. All students also participate in an online cohort forum for sharing and discussing their internship reflections.
Students complete an original applied research project that they present and defend to their MA thesis committee composed of three graduate program faculty members by the end of May. Students predominantly meet with their thesis advisor by individual arrangement to discuss their progress throughout the semester. Thesis advisors also review students' final portfolio and help customize it for either professional or advanced study audiences.
MA thesis is an original and collaborative work between the student and the advisor. It is research based, and the scope of the study must include intercultural communication as its core, with either a professional or academic emphasis. Students must defend their prospectus (including the purpose and significance of the study, literature review, and methodology) to a committee of three graduate program faculty members including the advisor. At the conclusion of the study, students must pass the final MA thesis defense evaluated by their MA thesis committee. Regardless of the option (i.e., academic thesis or professional project), all students' projects must be theoretically grounded, data-driven, and methodologically rigorous. In particular, students who choose the traditional academic thesis will aim to have their project contribute to the scholarly conversation; on the other hand, students who choose a professional project may work with the organization they interned for and use data analytics to help solve an organizational problem. All students will be encouraged to submit their work for conference presentation and/or publication.
This course focuses on the important professional skill of development of intercultural communication curriculum for classes and workplace trainings. It is also designed to prepare students to become mentors to the new cohort. Topics covered include mentoring, curriculum planning and development, classroom/workshop management, and Learning Outcome development and evaluation. This course also includes the application of Lasallian, liberal arts, and multicultural approaches in the classroom and workplace. Grading for this course is pass or fail.
Students spend the month working in teams on an intercultural communication project in partnership with an international organization. After a week of on-campus preparation, students travel abroad in teams with instructors to do work on the ground for 10 days. They then have a week back on campus to finish the project. A course fees that covers the cost of traveling applies. Grading for this course is pass or fail.


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"Another Sleepless Night" is a song written by Charlie Black and Rory Bourke, and recorded by Canadian country music artist Anne Murray.  It was released in January 1982 as the fourth single from her album Where Do You Go When You Dream.  The song reached No. 1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada and #4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in the United States.

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The song, light and uptempo, was a bit of a departure for Murray, whose previous few singles had all been slower-tempo ballads. The narrator notes how it had been hard to sleep during recent nights, as her lover had been away, but then speculates that, with his return, it will yet be "another sleepless night", but this time because they'll be up all night "making romance".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

1982 singles
1982 songs
1981 songs
Anne Murray songs
Songs written by Rory Bourke
Song recordings produced by Jim Ed Norman
Capitol Records singles
Songs written by Charlie Black

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The term 'Fall Factor' (FF) is often used to describe the ratio of the distance fallen to the amount of rope in the system that is available to absorb the energy associated with arresting the fall.
This term probably originated from rock-climbing and an effort to describe the relative severity of the impact felt by the leader during a fall. It is now used by many rope technicians, but we must remember that it is only an approximate indicator and it is often incorrectly applied when attaching to other non-rigid systems.
The 1m lanyard is tight to an overhead anchor thus no fall is possible and this is effectively FF0.
The ends of the lanyard are attached to the harness and an anchor at the same height. The operator can fall 1m on a 1m lanyard so this is FF1.
Now the 1m lanyard is anchored down at foot level and thus a 2m fall is possible. This is FF2.
This time the 1m lanyard is attached to separate rope which runs another 1m straight up to an overhead anchor. Now there are 2m of rope in the system to absorb the impact of the 1m fall so this becomes FF0.5.
This final situation is unusual but sees the lanyard clipped to a vertical cable. Now the operator can fall 3m on their 1m lanyard which gives FF3. This would be a very dangerous fall.
Places where there are multiple strands of rope, such as the bight of the knot attached to the anchor sharing the force of impact.
Flex and movement of static elements within the system.
Friction between the rope and any intermediate connectors.
Thus, FF is usually expressed in simple ratios like FF2, FF1, FF0.5, and perhaps FF0.2.


I have had this condition for years; it hit me in my late 20s (even though the Wikipedia page mentions that it mostly hits in the 40s). Since going paleo in January it had slowly completely healed. Then last week on a business trip I went hog-wild at an Amish buffet and ate pretty much all the crap I wanted including desserts. Sure enough within a day it was back, and it's still there. So let my stupidity be a warning.
The Wiki page doesn't mention that it's an auto-immune disease but what else could it be?
They treat it with cortisone. Yup, sounds like a systemic inflammation based disease alright. It also sounds like they have come up with a fancy name for they don't know what the heck it really is anyway. Make sure your magnesium and vitamin D levels are plush and back to paleo of course! I hope you will keep us posted as to how long it takes to get rid of it again. Might be an interesting clue as to how long these kinds of cheat binges can continue to cause inflammation in the system.
WOW. 42, that is amazing!!!! I appreciate your story.
Acanthosis nigricans is definitive for insulin resistance and diabetes Type 2, but I wonder if it is ALSO just another manifestation of grain intolerance, as you suspect?
Hm, magnesium eh? I get plenty of Vit D3. Will check it out.
Just today the burning/itching went away so here's hoping it's gone soon.


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The concept of inducing involves making a bet or a raise that attempts to get your opponent to make an aggressive play that he otherwise would not. Expert players will size bets or raises in order to make their opponents "spazz" out when they know that they have the best hand. I have seen players, however, make the mistake of trying to induce with a draw; a hand that actually doesn't have any showdown value unless they hit.
Let us take a look at an example of a hand I saw go down last week at the Bicycle Casino. With $1100 effective stacks a player in the hijack raised to $35 and the big blind, a player that defends wide and is aggressive, made the call. The board ran out 4♥ 6♥ 9♦. The player in the big blind checked and the hijack continuation bet to $45. The big blind thought for a while and made it $130. The hijack, then, almost as a reflex made it $300. The big blind went in the tank for several minutes before pushing all-in for $765 more. The hijack instantly called. The board ran out 4♣ 2♠ and both players waited and shook their heads. Finally the big blind sheepishly turned over K♣ J♠ for king high. The hijack froze and finally mucked his had showing 7♥ 5♥.
Now, it is a pretty rare to see no pair no draw win an all in pot when the money goes in after the flop. But it was pretty obvious that the big blind thought the hijack was bluffing him with the small reraise over the top of the check raise and induced him to rebluff. However, this type of thing is exactly what you don't want to have happen if you hold 5♥ 7♥. It is an absolute disaster when semi-bluffing to make your hand look weak and induce action from another weak hand that would otherwise fold to normal betting.
A better play for the hijack would have been to either three-bet the check raise larger—basically committing himself or, if deeper, to just call the check raise and raise the turn. The second option is a bit more dangerous and I would only suggest doing it if you have experience manipulating pots with deeper stacks.
The point here is that you want to take the line that gives you the best chance of winning the pot without showdown if you are driving a draw. Getting fancy with the way that you play a hand can sometimes blow up in your face—like it did for the guy with seven hi.


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Browse: Home / SCENIC ROUTE: Mad Men – "They're cool." / "They don't look cool."
SCENIC ROUTE: Mad Men – "They're cool." / "They don't look cool."
Posted By Tristan "Drunk Napoleon" Nankervis	on August 30, 2021 in Features, Short Articles | Leave a response
My definitive scene of Don Draper – the one that shows why I find him so compelling – is not any of the famous ones. "This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened," is a great poetic compression of his worldview, a great moment of him connecting with Peggy, and a great setup for Peggy's refusal to embrace it. His pitch of The Wheel shows off his mad skills and how they come from an honest channeling of his emotions, as well as being a poignant expression of nostalgia. "Mr Campbell, who cares?" is a great scene, but it's not really about Don – it's about the idea of him and what he represents to everyone else. Betty confronting Don over his past shows the mask of Fifties Dad falling from his face and reveals the terror and anxiety hiding underneath at all times; it's perhaps Jon Hamm's finest acting moment in the series. "Shut The Door. Have A Seat" owns and owns hard. But the scene I always think of first when I think of Don, the scene that makes me want to follow him and sympathise with him and hope that he finds happiness is in "Tea Leaves", when he's backstage at a Rolling Stones concert.
I understand why certain people get frustrated when someone says that Don is cool, but they're wrong because he's very cool. The core of Don's problem – to which his drinking, his addictions, and his emotional abuse are symptoms – is that he wants to be able to empathise with others but doesn't want others to be able to empathise with him. It's a little bit of a power thing; he definitely can't bring himself to be vulnerable with anyone other than Anna Draper, because then people can hurt him. You could also say that being able to empathise with others gives him the ability to control them, but that doesn't sound right to me with Don. I think he's genuinely interested in other people, in looking for ideas he can then interpolate with his own goals, and he wants to connect with other people. He's simply too willing to let people be who they are for me to believe that he wants to control them; he'll offer solutions to their problems but he won't force them on them (see: his attempt to appeal to the jai alai guy), and he's a genuine listener, something that goes all the way back to the very first scene and is articulated perfectly in this one.
(He's none of these things with his wives, especially Betty)
Like many adults who love kids, I hate seeing adults condescend to them. At our worst – and I say 'our' because I have caught myself doing these things and regretted it every time – we can treat them as problems to be solved, whose every mood, knowledge gap, or perceived flaw is to be corrected by our wise and superior adulthood (Roald Dahl's entire children's bibliography is based on anger about that). Every day, children are barraged by commands disguised as advice. Don doesn't do that here; in fact, he barrages her with questions and asks her to expand on her answers, and the fact that he's asking her because it ties into his job does not undo the sincerity of his curiosity or his willingness to accept her answers and take them seriously on their own terms. Perhaps this is why people need a job to do, not because work is inherently meaningful but because when you have a problem to filter the world through, you can filter the whole world through it. She picks up on his curiosity and the fact that he's completely uninterested in making her do anything, and she opens up to him.
Don returns that honesty with his own honesty. It starts with the fact that he doesn't hide how out-of-place he is; he doesn't downplay his Madison Avenue values or try to fit in with the kids. He also doesn't go the other way, amplifying the mask to stress that he doesn't belong here. He doesn't turn down the joint to wag his finger at the kids – though I don't think he's happy about them smoking – he just doesn't feel like it. Beloved Soluter ZoeZ has noted that Don has a complete lack of pretension, something that's present in both his art and his conversations. This lets him get through to her in a way her parents, her teachers, and her priest probably never have with a statement from the heart that perfectly summarises our feelings about the youth, and in a way that's neither judgmental nor hiding the reality of the situation ("We're worried about you."). She can do whatever she wants, and what she's doing is frightening people who love her. Maybe that's the secret to being cool – to empathise and allow empathy.
Posted in Features, Short Articles | Tagged Mad Men
Tristan "Drunk Napoleon" Nankervis
My Mum via Pop Culture→
A Collection Of Quotes I Like→
The Elegant Foundation Of Mad Men→

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April 2014 Education Roundup – Irvington
David Neilsen — April 25, 2014
District Mourns the Loss of Beloved Teacher Students, teachers, and staff mourned the passing of longtime Irvington elementary teacher Sarah Carnahan on March 25. Serving in the district since 1992, Ms. Carnahan's loss affected everyone deeply, and members of the community rallied around one another to offer support and share memories.
"She was a beloved teacher who touched the lives of many, many students and families in the Irvington community," said Irvington Superintendent Kristopher Harrison. "She certainly will always be remembered for her creativity and passion for every child at our school, not only those that were in her class. She was dedicated to the entire district. We've all been touched by the gifts that she brought to our community and we'll always remember her for everything she did for us."
District Moving Forward on Field Project
At the April 9 Board of Education meeting, the Board officially voted to move forward on a series of infrastructure improvements and upgrades to the district's athletic fields. "The Board made a determination giving the Administration and its engineers and architects direction to draw up final estimates to begin to create the actual designs for the projects that they anticipate floating in a bond that would be presented to the community in the early Fall," said Superintendent Kristopher Harrison.
Though the bond is expected to come in at under $5 million, the district will only be incurring $1.5 million in new debt because of the expiration of $3.5 million in debt coming at the end of the year. "The net impact on the budget for the first year would be approximately between $100,000 to $120,000," said Beverly Miller, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Facility Management.
Students Bring Music to Boston
120 members of the Irvington High School Marching Band, Flag Team, Wind Ensemble, and Jazz Ensemble traveled to Boston, Massachusetts for three days at the end of March for a musical adventure. Day one saw the groups perform outside Faneuil Hall to an appreciative crowd for 45 minutes, day two featured the Jazz Band performing in City Hall, and day three saw the Wind Ensemble and Marching Band participate in the Heritage Musical Festival in Topsfield, MA along with several other schools from across the country.
7th Graders Work On the Big Screen
Irvington Middle Schoolers, working with the Jacob Burns Film Center, created a series of public service announcements dealing with relevant social issues. Topics included texting and driving, suicide, underage drinking, eating disorders, racism and stereotyping, and making smart choices. The project, funded by a grant from the Irvington Education Foundation, was part of the ELA curriculum and aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards.
Students visited the Jacob Burns Film Center, selected and researched issues which resonated with them, then storyboarded and filmed their spots with the support of JBFC educator Sean Weiner. Students then returned to the JBFC to use the media lab for post-production purposes. The final PSAs were shown on April 3rd in the Irvington Campus Theater.
Irvington Middle School Students Collect Supplies for Dog Shelter
Greenburgh Seeks First Youth Poet Laureate
Irvington High School Students Make a Difference with Midnight Run


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Sawyer | Crime & Court
Competency Exam Ordered For Man Charged With Killing Father In Sawyer County
Accused Remains In Custody On $5 Million Cash Bond
Wednesday, June 17, 2020 | Updated Jun 18, 2020 9:34 am CDT
SAWYER COUNTY -- The Court has ordered that a competency examination be conducted for a man who is facing charges of homicide and attempted homicide following an incident that occurred in Sawyer County on May 23, 2020 that resulted in the death of one man.
DrydenWIre.com previously published a press release from the Sawyer County Sheriff's Office regarding the incident that was reported shortly before 1p on May 23, 2020. Sawyer County Sheriff's Deputies, Sawyer County Ambulance EMT's/Paramedic, LCO Police Department, and Wisconsin DNR responded to the scene.
Sawyer County Dispatch received a 911 call from a male who stated that the "threat had been neutralized, his father was dead, his mother was stabbed in the neck but was talking, and that he would answer questions when deputies arrived on Scene", according to a criminal complaint filed in Sawyer County Circuit Court against Farnsworth.
When the authorities arrived, a man, later identified as Peter Farnsworth of Rocky Ford, Colorado, was standing in the doorway of the residence. Deputies could see blood on the left side of Farnsworth's face, right hand, down both legs, and on his shoes. As Farnsworth was taken into custody he told Deputies that they needed to go inside the residence because his mother was injured.
Sawyer County Weekly Jail Bookings Report
Court Sentences Phillips Man In Sawyer County OWI Case
Suspect Arrested In Burning Memorial Of Sawyer County Deputy Michael Villiard Case
Deputies found a female inside the residence, on the floor with severe injuries to her facial area and neck and with blood spatter all around her. She was conscious and identified herself to the Deputies.
The female victim advised Deputies that Farnsworth was her son. She went on to say that during a discussion with his father, Farnsworth became upset with his father for not responding to a question, and then attacked his father with a knife. After attacking his father, Farnsworth then attacked his mother, knocking her unconscious, according to the criminal complaint.
In the next room, Deputies found a deceased male, with a large pool of blood around him. A large kitchen knife covered in blood was found on the kitchen table, according to the criminal complaint.
The female sustained injuries including a brain bleed that did not require surgery, a fractured left eye socket which later required surgery, one stab wound to the neck requiring four stitches to close, two face lacerations one of which required three stitches to close and the other requiring glue to close. She was placed on a ventilator. The current condition of the female victim is not known to DrydenWire.com at this time.
Results of the post mortem examination conducted on the deceased male revealed blunt force injuries to his face, with fractures of the facial bones, sharp force injuries around the neck region including a stab wound that incised the right internal jugular vein, and wounds on each of his hands. The medical examiner's report listed the manner of death as homicide.
Farnsworth was taken to Hayward Area Memorial Hospital to be medically cleared and Deputies obtained DNA samples from various blood smears on Farnsworth's person.
While at the hospital, Farnsworth stated that he wanted federal law enforcement officers notified of what happened because he believed that the weed and meth he had used in Colorado was poisoned. Farnsworth also stated, "Why would they give me this order?"
A bail bond hearing was held for Peter on May 27, 2020 and the Hon. John Yackel placed him on a $5,000,000 cash bail bond.
Charges of Class A Felony First Degree Intentional Homicide, Class B Felony Attempt First Degree Intentional Homicide, and Class E Felony Aggravated Battery have been filed against Farnsworth.
At a hearing on June 4, Judge Yackel ordered that Peter undergo a competency examination; a decision which Farnsworth objected to.
He remains in custody at the time of this post and is scheduled to appear in court again in June 2020.
Pursuant to the direction of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3.6, Trial Publicly, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
See more news and information from DrydenWire.com
Do Nothing Campground


text:
Q: Packets & Garbages I am trying to send message from Client to Server, but I faced an issue that the message is not a fixed length so I tried to put the total number of bytes/chars before the message. but the problem not solved. I started to get garbage on the server side and it is like the client keeps sending the same info but with more garbage.
Well before things working fine until I was trying to add something to previous code but lots of runtime errors and bugs. So i went this approach and it seems is the best thing.
and 2 more things,
1- Seems the buffer not emptying like keep adding even if it managed to read the first message where I could saw while debugging the code.
2- How can i empty the parts I read from the buffer which in my case is mybuffer
Windows 7
Visual C++ 2010 Express
Server code:
 char * GetMessage(int x, char arry [])
 {
char * msg = NULL;
msg = new char[x];
ZeroMemory(msg,x);

for(int i = 1; i <= x; i++)
{
    msg[i-1] = arry[i];
}

return msg;
  }

 void main(){

  char Filename[20];
            char Direction[4];
            char Type[1];
            bool FileExistOnClient;
            fstream fFile;
            FILE * iiFile;
            int strlength;
            char Hostname[20];
            int count = 0 ;
            char * ptr;

            ibytesrecv=0;
            ZeroMemory(mybuffer,strlen(mybuffer));
            if((ibytesrecv = recv(s1,mybuffer,100,0)) == SOCKET_ERROR)
                throw "Receive failed\n";
            ptr = &mybuffer[0];
            count = atoi(ptr);
            sprintf(Hostname , GetMessage(count,mybuffer));
            cout <<mybuffer <<"\n";
            cout <<"Hostname is:" << Hostname << endl;
  }

Client Side:
     main(){
       ZeroMemory(mybuffer,strlen(mybuffer));
    mybuffer[0] = strlen(localhost)+48;
    strcat(mybuffer,localhost);
    ibytessent=0;
    ibufferlen = strlen(mybuffer)  ;
    ibytessent = send(s,mybuffer,ibufferlen,0);
    if (ibytessent == SOCKET_ERROR)
        throw "Send failed\n";

    //Send File name
    //ZeroMemory(mybuffer,strlen(mybuffer));
    mybuffer[strlen(mybuffer) ] = strlen(Filename)+48;
    strcat(mybuffer,Filename);
    ibytessent=0;
    ibufferlen = strlen(mybuffer);
    ibytessent = send(s,mybuffer,ibufferlen,0);
    if (ibytessent == SOCKET_ERROR)
        throw "Send failed\n";
 }

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text:
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Christie's Geneva Magnificent Jewels November
On 12 November 2019, Christie's Geneva Magnificent Jewels auction will present the finest and most sought-after gemstones, including D flawless diamonds, coloured diamonds, pearls, Kashmir sapphires, Burmese rubies and Colombian emeralds, alongside important signed jewels and historic pieces. The jewels will be on view at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, Geneva from 7 to 12 November during Christie's Luxury Sales.
Art Deco diamond brooches by Cartier
Transformable jewels will star in the sale with innovative Art Deco designs from Cartier, including three exceptional brooches, formerly in the collection of Countess Béatrice of Granard OBE (1883-1972) (estimate: CHF 180,000-220,000). Born Beatrice Mills, daughter of the great American financier and banker Ogden Mills, Beatrice became known as a famous hostess and racehorse owner and breeder. She married in 1909 the 8th Earl of Granard, living between Paris and Castle Forbes in Ireland.
Art Deco diamond Bandeau by Cartier
Further outstanding pieces in the sale include a superb Art Deco diamond Bandeau by Cartier, which can also be worn as a choker, two bracelets and as a brooch (estimate: CHF 300,000-500,000). The bandeau is the most timeless head ornament, having been in fashion during the early 20th century and enjoying a resurgence today. It transcended the Art Nouveau, Belle Époque and into the Art Déco period where the bandeau was the most fashionable accessory. Further examples of transformable jewels from the leading jewellery houses include an iconic diamond 'zip' necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels (estimate: CHF170,000-270,000).
Diamond 'zip' necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels
The auction will also present an unusual turquoise and diamond Belle Époque brooch, circa 1910, acquired by Dame Nellie Melba at the peak of her career (estimate: CHF 250,000-350,000). In a long list of famous jewellery collectors, Dame Nellie Melba was one of the era's most prominent icons and a well-established client of Cartier. Helen Porter Mitchell, born in 1861 in Melbourne, decided from an early age that she would become a singer. After immigrating to Europe and studying in Paris under Mathilde Marchesi, who suggested that Nellie take the surname 'Melba' after her hometown, Dame Nellie Melba became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century. She achieved international recognition as a classical musician and was honoured in the late 19th century by the Savoy Hotel's French chef Auguste Escoffier with the creation of the Peach Melba .
Fancy Deep Blue Diamond ring of 7.03 carats mounted by Moussaieff
Leading the auction is a sensational Fancy Deep Blue Diamond ring of 7.03 carats mounted by Moussaieff (estimate: CHF10,000,000-14,000,000) and a superb diamond ring of 46.93 carats of the highest quality, D colour, Internally Flawless clarity (estimate: CHF3,800,000-4,500,000). The very best gemstones will be offered including a sensational Burmese sapphire pendant of 42.97 carats (estimate: CHF 2,000,000-3,000,000), an important pair of untreated Colombian emerald earrings of over 7.5 carats each (estimate: CHF 1,000,000-1,500,000) and a Burmese pigeon blood red ruby ring of 3.88 carats (estimate: CHF 400,000-600,000). An important pearl and diamond necklace of one hundred nineteen saltwater natural pearls will also be offered (estimate: CHF500,000-700,000).
Citrine and diamond necklace and ring set by Pierre Sterlé,
Highlighting the auction are jewels by renowned jewellery designer Pierre Sterlé, considered to be emblematic of 1950s and 1960s jewellery. In 1934 Sterlé set up his own atelier, in the Place Vendôme, and was considered somewhat of a revolutionary: atypical, audacious and talented, receiving the prestigious De Beers' International Diamond Award three years in a row. Sterlé reinvented the art of manipulating precious metal, setting the gemstones in an elevated fashion reminiscent of the Baroque period; creating a sense of movement in supple and articulated mounts. He created mobile settings which enhanced the scintillation of the stones, varying their colour according to the light. His overruling ambition was to challenge the technical constraints of jewellery design, permitting him to translate the visions from his vivid imagination into jewels. He adored the effect of different colours of gold combined in one object and of varying textured surfaces. Leading pieces from the collection include a beautiful citrine and diamond necklace and ring set, (estimate: CHF40,000-60,000).
www.christies.com
Christie's New York - Magnificent Jewels - 13 November 2019
Christie's - Magnificent Jewels - Geneva (November 13) - 3 October 2018
Christie's presents London Luxury Week: 6 to 13 June - 4 June 2018
Christie's - Magnificent Jewels Sale, 16 May in Geneva - 12 April 2018
Christie's Jewels Online Auction - February 6 – February 14, 2018 - 7 February 2018
Christie's Geneva - The Magnificent Jewels - 15 November 2017
Christie's Hong Kong - "Wallace Chan: The Beginning of a Genius" - 3 November 2017
Christie's New York - The Rockefeller Emerald - 25 May 2017
Geneva Magnificent Jewels on International Highlight Tour - 3 April 2017
Christie's Hong Kong announcing The Ratnaraj Ruby - 31 October 2016
Christie's introducing the first jewels by Boehmer et Bassenge at auction - 5 October 2016
Christie's Magnificent Jewels & The Cullinan Dream - 31 May 2016
Christie's - Superb Jewels from the Collection of H.S.H. Gabriela Princess zu Leiningen - 1 April 2016
Christie's Magnificent Jewels - New York Live Auction: April 20, 2016 - 24 March 2016
Christie's International - The largest cushion-shaped Fancy Vivid Pink - 25 September 2015
Christie's - Important Jewels on June 16 in New York. - 9 June 2015
Important Jewels at Christie's London 3 June 2015 - 25 May 2015
Christie's - Enter the world of Line Vautrin - 5 December 2014
Christie's announces Winter Jewels online sale now open for bidding - 21 November 2014
Christie's Geneva - Highest Total ever for jewellery auction - 13 November 2014
More IN THE PRESS »


text:
Fiat apologizes to China for TV ad
MILAN (Reuters) - Italian car maker Fiat has apologized to China over its new television commercial featuring U.S. actor Richard Gere and a reference to Tibet after Chinese newspapers carried reports about it.
In a statement issued on Friday, Fiat said it did not endorse Gere's political views. The actor supports Tibet's autonomy from China.
"Fiat reiterates its neutrality in connection with any political matter, be it on a national or international basis," it said. "Fiat Group extends its apologies to the Government of the People's Republic of China and to the Chinese people."
A spokesman said Fiat decided to issue the statement after reports about the commercial appeared in Chinese newspapers.
The commercial, which began airing in Italy this month, is for the Delta, a new car under Fiat's Lancia brand. It is featured on www.youtube.com.
Its shows Gere driving the car from Hollywood to Tibet, whose autonomy from China he supports.
Tibet has become a focal point for protests against China as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games this summer.
Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne spoke in favor of the commercial when it was first shown to reporters at the launch of the car on June 4.
"I obviously like it," he said.
Officials at the Chinese embassy in Rome could not be reached for comment.
Reporting by Gilles Castonguay; editing by Sue Thomas


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Who Could Replace John Lilley and Troy Bodie in the Leafs Front Office?
Photo credit:John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
By Kyle Cushman
The Toronto Maple Leafs have seen a surprising amount of change in the front office this offseason. Since May, the Leafs have completely overhauled their player development department, hired a new general manager for the Marlies and Growlers, and have now seen both their Director of Pro Scouting (Troy Bodie) and their Director of Amateur Scouting (John Lilley) leave for promotions in other NHL franchises.
The loss of Bodie and Lilley leaves two significant roles to fill for Kyle Dubas before the start of next season. Development camp and training camp are approaching much sooner than in a normal offseason, with five or six weeks to go until the anticipated start of development camp. The clock is ticking on finding replacements for both positions prior to the new season getting underway.
So that begs the question, does Dubas look to promote from within or try to snag someone from a different organization in replacing Bodie and Lilley?
Since taking over as General Manager in 2018, there's been a clear trend in how Kyle Dubas has made hirings and handed out promotions. Almost exclusively, a new hire coming into the organization has been given a new title, while an existing position has been filled by promotion.
In fact, Laurence Gilman is the only notable front office hire that Dubas has made that has filled an already existing position, as Gilman replaced Dubas as Assistant GM and GM of the Marlies.
Wes Clark? New position. Eric Joyce? New position. Ryan Hardy just this summer? New position.
Conversely, we can look at the positions that have been filled by means of promotion. Brandon Pridham was promoted to Assistant GM. Dave Morrison was promoted to Director of Player Personnel. Even the outgoing John Lilley and Troy Bodie were promoted to their positions under Dubas.
Kyle Dubas has shown to be an incredibly loyal manager, for better or worse (his words). This has been proven time and time again in regards to what positions are filled by promotion and what has been filled by outside hires.
"The Best Predictor of Future Behaviour Is Past Behaviour"
To get an even better idea of how Dubas may go about filling these two positions, we can look to the last time Dubas had to fill those positions.
When Dubas took over in 2018, there was some shuffling in the front office for him to do. Mark Hunter vacated his position as Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel, leaving Dubas two significant positions to fill right away. Dubas promoted Dave Morrison from Director of Pro Scouting to Director of Player Personnel. He then promoted Troy Bodie, previously a pro scout for the Leafs, to Director of Pro Scouting.
Additionally, Dubas re-organized the amateur scouting department in 2018. Under Lou Lamoriello and Mark Hunter, there was no Director of Amateur Scouting. Instead, they had four area directors: John Lilley in the US, Lindsay Hofford in the East, Tim Speltz in the West, and Ari Vuori in Europe.
With Hunter gone, Hofford left the Leafs as well. Dubas re-organized the department, promoting Lilley to Director of Amateur Scouting and changing Speltz's title to Head Amateur Scout, while Vuori remained the Director of European Scouting.
So, with all that background laid out, who are the candidates to fill the two vacant positions? Given the history here, it seems likely that Dubas will promote from within. He's yet to hire outside the organization for a role like these and I'd be surprised to see him change course.
To me, there's a clear #1 candidate to replace Troy Bodie as Director of Pro Scouting: Wes Clark. Currently the Assistant Director of Player Personnel, Clark's history with Dubas in addition to his work alongside Dave Morrison make him a clear favourite to fill Bodie's position.
Wes Clark was the Director of Player Development with the Greyhounds in Dubas' final year in the Soo. Clark also joined the Leafs as a scout in 2015, before heading to the Florida Panthers in 2016. When Dubas took over as GM, one of his first hires was bringing Clark back to the Maple Leafs, where he has been the Assistant Director of Player Personnel since.
With three years under his belt working in the Leafs front office and alongside Dave Morrison in player personnel, a Wes Clark promotion to Director of Pro Scouting would be the most logical move here in filling that position.
Tim Speltz
While Clark seems like a perfect fit to slide into the Director of Pro Scouting, the Director of Amateur Scouting has multiple candidates to fill that position.
Let's begin with the most experienced of them in Tim Speltz. As previously mentioned, Speltz was the Director of Western Scouting under Lamoriello and Hunter, before having his title changed to Head Amateur Scout with the Dubas re-organization of the department. The longtime GM of the Spokane Chiefs, Speltz's experience and seniority among the group makes him the likely candidate to fill Lilley's position. He's already the Head Amateur Scout and the Leafs could easily change his title and leave the rest of the amateur scouting department unchanged.
Victor Carneiro
That being said, we could also see a Sault Ste. Marie Dubas Double™ if both Wes Clark and Victor Carneiro were to receive promotions.
Currently an Ontario region amateur scout, Carneiro's history with Dubas also makes him an eye-catching candidate for a promotion. Carneiro was the Director of Player Personnel with Dubas in the Soo and remained in that position until 2018, when he joined the Leafs amateur scouting staff once Dubas became GM.
I'd say Carneiro is more unlikely given he's only been in the Leafs organization three years, but Troy Bodie was also a pro scout for only three years when he was promoted to Director of Pro Scouting in 2018. I believe Speltz is the more likely candidate, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Carneiro jump the queue a bit here.
Finally, we'll look at one more candidate from the amateur scouting department in Scott Bell.
Toronto has made its interest in the United States clear in recent years, using numerous draft picks on prospects out of the USHL and US High School ranks. Greg Moore and Ryan Hardy being hired from the Chicago Steel have only made this more evident, and let's not forget that John Lilley was the Director of United States Scouting before becoming the overall Director of Amateur Scouting as well.
With the emphasis on United States scouting, Scott Bell could be an underrated candidate to become the Director of Amateur Scouting. Hired by Dubas in 2018 after five seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a scout and a single year with the University of Minnesota, Bell would maintain the prominence of US scouting from the top down within the department.
After the selection of Matthew Knies, John Lilley specifically mentioned Bell and fellow US-area scout Tony Martino as having liked Knies for two years. Bell is much more of a longshot than Speltz or even Carneiro, but the organizational interest in the United States as a place to find talent could push Bell into the conversation.
While the Leafs haven't rushed to name replacements for either Troy Bodie or John Lilley, the clock is ticking. There's just over a month until the first duties necessary for the new Director of Amateur Scouting when development camp begins, and not much more time for the new Director of Pro Scouting for when training camp begins. One would think announcements regarding these two positions should be coming in the next couple of weeks, and I have a feeling we'll see two of the names listed here in the press release.
Recent articles from Kyle Cushman
Previewing the 2022 Women's World Championships
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TLN Prospect #4: Roni Hirvonen makes life difficult for his opponents


I ran across the following comment: "America is responsible for the American deaths in Iraq. After all, they were the ones who invaded in the first place. The Iranians and Syrians have nothing to do with it!" Such a comment is the exclusive purview of a moral relativist who clearly demonstrates his inability to differentiate between good and evil. It's like saying a person who is robbed is himself responsible for the crime owing to the fact he rose from his bed that morning.
Any mention of the 600,000 bodies found in Saddam Hussein's mass graves is dismissed with "you've killed that many in auto accidents!" or "Well, you dropped the bomb on Nagasaki!" It is "moral equivalizing" at its finest.
The complaint our country and its allies -- and the terrorized Iraqi people --have with the Iranians and Syrians is the continuing sanctuary and support they provide the insurgency in Iraq: the staging, training and resupply, conveniently ignored by our commentator. The tentacles of the war reach directly into Syria and Iran. Yet our commentator would be the first to howl "America is widening the war!" were we to chop these tentacles off as we should and need to do.


Just give the first parameter given along with the ORA-600 tool, and get the initial information about the bug, its patch or the workaround, and you would be more informed in opening the SR with the Oracle, if need be.
Another not-so-pleasant error to deal with for the DBAs and the Developers is ORA-4031 memory error. This error also throws itself out of database with different parameters and often with different memory pools. Some bloggers out there have good use cases in resolving these issues, but it seems that they are not still enough, and more often than not even SR get stale while resolving these errors.
Increasing the shared pool and/or throwing more memory might, I would repeat, might resolve the issue for a brief period, but it would return for sure. Proper memory configuration at the Operating system level (think huge pages) and the database level coupled with tuned SQL is the way to go. But that is a broad area, and this newly introduced tool by Oracle, the ORA-4031 is a good step in narrowing down this issue.
But it is very nascent and innocent right now but very promising. Search "ORA-4031 Troubleshooting Tool" in MOS, and it should be the top most find.


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Lambeth protects frontline services despite the cost of Covid-19
Council statements and updates - Elections and Democracy - News and announcements - Post Type - Topic area
Lambeth Council has put forward a budget that protects spending on frontline services despite the huge costs of protecting residents from Covid-19, a new financial planning report outlines.
Purchasing PPE, protecting care homes and delivering tens of thousands of food packages as part of the council's Covid-19 response has cost the council over £52 million so far this year.
The Government has partly covered the cost with additional funding but has so far not met the full costs as was pledged earlier this year. As a result, the council is considering savings of over £13 million next year – but focused on making services more efficient and raising additional income rather than cutting services residents rely on. The proposals will be discussed at a meeting of Lambeth Council's Cabinet later this month.
Cllr Andrew Wilson, Lambeth's Cabinet Member for Finance and Performance, said: "I'm incredibly proud of the way the council has worked with the community in responding to pandemic, swiftly putting in a huge range of measures to protect the vulnerable, support businesses and protect our residents.
"We were told to do whatever was necessary at the start of this crisis to safeguard our community, and that local authorities would be reimbursed by the government for this work. Sadly that pledge has not been fully met, which added to the impacts of a decade of austerity measures leaves us needing to find new savings.
"The level of savings we are outlining today are our best case scenario. If the need to put further measures in place to deal with the virus arises then our services could face significant financial pressure in the future.
"Services for vulnerable people in Lambeth shouldn't have to face reductions next year because of the work to protect vulnerable people from Covid-19 this year. The government must recognise that local services have been essential to the fight against the virus and fund them accordingly."
Lambeth is proposing to deal with the current deficit through a mixture of income generation, savings and use of reserves.
Cllr Wilson said: "We still face big uncertainties as the full social and economic impact of Covid-19 remains unclear, as is our funding position from government. In addition there is further uncertainly regarding Brexit as we don't currently have a trade deal with the EU – just weeks ahead of the deadline for it.
"If a deal isn't agreed by the end of this month there will be a whole host of extra pressures on not only our budget, but the entire country. Local councils need clarity now, on funding, on Brexit and on the fight against Covid-19 so that we can continue to deliver the high-quality services our residents rely on.


Delivering a quality service requires a systematic and disciplined approach. Ongoing and periodic assessments require comprehensive monitoring processes and procedures. These in turn provide assurance that the processes in place are working effectively to measure outcomes for children and young people and meet legislative requirements.
This workshop considers participants' roles and responsibilities in quality assurance and how the desired outcomes and requirements may be achieved.
The workshop considers the Government Paper 'Putting Children First' which ensures a framework aimed at providing our most vulnerable children the highest standard of care.
Preparing and assessing potential adopters and permanent foster carers is key to a successful placement: many of the children who require new permanent families have had troubled and problematic backgrounds and have complex needs. But what makes for a good assessment? What are the critical areas that must be covered? How can workers ensure that the assessment process is an enabling and rewarding experience for the applicant?
The assessment of prospective foster carers and adopters is amongst the most important aspects of family placement work. Undertaking checks and references is a key part of these assessments, and a core task for social workers. But which checks are mandatory, and which are advisable? Which checks are needed in each UK country? Which are likely to yield the most useful information?
This workshop is aimed at advanced social work practitioners (if part of role is quality assurance) and social workers.
It is also appropriate for panel advisors of fostering and adoption panels.
Sorry, but this event has passed and tickets can no longer be purchased.


StyleCeleb Fans, so sad, and shocking, Comedian and Actor Robin Williams, 63 committed suicide and was found dead in his home today. So very sad. Just why? Stunned. Its a huge tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.


Ulster kept alive their hopes of qualification for the Champions Cup knockout stages with a bonus-point win over the Scarlets at Kingspan Stadium.
Darren Cave and Ruan Pienaar scored tries which Ian Humphreys converted for a 14-6 lead at half-time.
Rhys Priestland landed his third penalty to reduce his side's arrears but Ireland stars Tommy Bowe and Rory Best then crossed for tries.
Scarlets now have to win their final three matches.
Priestland knocked over a third-minute penalty from in front of the posts after Pienaar, making his first appearance of the season for the Irish province following injury, was penalised for not rolling away.
Ulster assumed control for the remainder of the first half but Humphreys missed two relatively straightforward penalty attempts from close range.
Then a late tackle on the home fly-half led to Scarlets flanker James Davies being sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.
The hosts took full advantage of their extra man, establishing an 11-point lead as centre Cave and the returning Pienaar scored fine tries.
After 14 minutes, Humphreys passed to Bowe, who made a break down the right wing and cleverly passed inside to Cave, who raced over to touch down.
Four minutes later Cave surged through the centre of the visitors' defensive line before offloading to the supporting Pienaar, who shrugged off an attempted tackle from Scott Williams before diving over beside the posts.
Priestland reduced the deficit with his second penalty after Franco van der Merwe was penalised for being offside at a ruck but the Scarlets found themselves a man down again five minutes before the break as Liam Williams was yellow-carded for lifting Louis Ludik in the tackle.
A Priestland penalty attempt from 45 yards drifted wide of the posts just before half-time.
The Welsh fly-half was successful with another kick at the posts 15 minutes into the second half, but Bowe responded with a try in the corner after an impressive flowing move a minute before the hour mark, Humphreys missing the conversion.
Best then rumbled over from a maul for the crucial fourth try on 68 minutes but Humphreys was again unable to add the additional two points.
The home side were forced to play the final five minutes without scrum-half Pienaar, who was sent to the bin for a deliberate knock-on as replacement Gareth Owen prepared to bear down on the line.
Ulster will await fitness reports on Stuart Olding, Wiehahn Herbst, van der Merwe, Stuart McCloskey and Nick Williams ahead of next Sunday's game at Parc Y Scarlets after all five had to be replaced due to injury.
Ulster: L Ludik; T Bowe, D Cave, S Olding, C Gilroy, I Humphreys, R Pienaar; C Black, R Best (capt), W Herbst, D Tuohy, F vd Merwe, R Diack, R Wilson, N Williams.
Replacements: R Herring (for Best 76), A Warwick (for Black), D Fitzpatrick (for Herbst 48), A O'Connor (for van der Merwe 48), C Ross (for Williams 66), P Marshall (for Pienaar 75), S McCloskey (for Olding 40), M Allen (for McCloskey 67).
Replacements: Kirby Myhill (for E Phillips 72), Phil John (for R Evans 72), Rhodri Jones (for Lee 65), George Earle (for Ball 62), Lewis Rawlins (for J Davies 66), Rhodri Williams (for A Davies 65), Steven Shingler (for King 79), Gareth Owen (for L Williams 62).


Home Assorted Images from IHS Collections Marion Ridgway's Nine-Sided Barn, Pleasant Twp., La Porte Co.
Marion Ridgway's Nine-Sided Barn, Pleasant Twp., La Porte Co.
Title Marion Ridgway's Nine-Sided Barn, Pleasant Twp., La Porte Co.
Description During the same time period, a nine-sided barn design was also developed. Because it was not advertised in agricultural publications, few were ever built. Marion Ridgway, a successful horse breeder and businessman, constructed a nine-sided barn in La Porte County in 1878. It was named "Door Prairie Barn" after the town of La Porte, which translates to "the door" in French. The barn still stands today and is a well-known northern Indiana landmark.
Post a Comment for Marion Ridgway's Nine-Sided Barn, Pleasant Twp., La Porte Co.


(Worthy News) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bombshell speech at the UN Thursday, featuring revelations about a secret nuclear warehouse in the heart of Tehran, which included its precise location for people to look up at home, had everything you'd expect: It was rich on Biblical themes, included praise for Israel's vibrant democracy, was marked by the scolding of European anti-Semitism, and contained outraged rebuttals of Palestinian accusations.
As in most of his recent UN speeches, the centerpiece of Thursday's 40-minute address was Iran and its nuclear ambitions. But his disclosure of top-secret intelligence on the atomic warehouse may prove effective, at least temporarily, in drawing global attention to the Islamic Republic's nuclear duplicities.


Groundwork entails a number of elements, all related to construction. The main idea behind groundwork is to lay a firm foundation – one that will form the basis for a sturdy building. Therefore, a contractor who is experienced in excavation and groundwork knows how to create a layout that will lead to the building of a well-constructed home or structure.
Groundwork provides the strength needed to hold the weight of a building and supply a proper drainage system for a structure. The primary factors involved in groundwork include excavating, footings, drainage, surfacing, underpinning, and piling.
Therefore, if you want to avoid any errors in the construction of a building, you need to rely on well-experienced excavation and groundwork contractors in SM3. When the right people are employed for this type of undertaking, you can be assured that any inspections will be successful.
You simply cannot downplay the importance of groundwork and excavations work. That is why it is essential to use a contractor that understands all phases of the building process.


2.) "Breathe light to breathe right."
3.) Breathe horizontally, not vertically. Push your belly out when you inhale and exhale!
You'll need a book or light weight to use as a prop to help you become aware of the movement of your breath.


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Home Print Edition Archive March 2017 Issue Annual review 2016: Ambitious transactions in Asia
Annual review 2016: Ambitious transactions in Asia
Cashed-up Chinese investors were a global force in deal-making in 2016. There were many reasons for last year's mergers and acquisitions explosion including cheap debt, the demand by Chinese companies for advanced technology, growing competition for deals at home and a slowing Chinese economy.
According to data from Mergermarket, Chinese dealmakers – including private equity firms and strategic investors – engaged in 258 deals outside of Asia worth $185.3 billion, 3.8 times higher than 2015's record deal value at $49.1 billion and 177 deals.
Healthcare and technology were the most favoured targets. Among notable private equity deals, the year began with Asian-European firm AGIC Capital's acquisition of German machinery company KraussMaffei Group for €925 million, the largest-ever outbound investment from China into Germany. Other multi-billion dollar transactions include the $9.3 billion takeover of US-listed Qifoo 360 Technology by a team of Chinese investors that included Golden Brick Capital and Ping An Group, as well as PAG Asia Capital's $3.6 billion acquisition of US printer company Lexmark.
While the Chinese government remains vigilant about controlling capital outflows, reforms in May 2016 continued to encourage Chinese companies to go global. China's outbound investment regulator, the National Democratic Reform Commission, simplified overseas M&A rules, so that deals of more than $2 billion and investments in sensitive sectors such as media and telecom would no longer need State Council approval or show proof of financing.
Deal volume remained strong over the year, but the Chinese government changed track in November, announcing that "strict controls" would be imposed over deals worth $10 billion or more, and on investments of more than $1 billion in sectors unrelated to a company's core business, until September 2017. This move will likely result in a more muted outbound deal-making market for 2017, although the appetite for investment remains.
Meanwhile in Japan, the outbound deal-making spree has been a consistent feature since Prime Minster Shinzo Abe tried to kick-start the economy with his "Abenomics" stimulus programme in 2013. According to Bain & Company, Japan's outbound M&A deal value over the last three years jumped 34 percent a year and now accounts for half of Japan's total M&A activity. To put this in context, the total value of Japan's outbound M&A was at $53 billion in 2014; by the end of October 2016 that figure had almost doubled to $95 billion.
Taisuke Sasanuma, founder of Tokyo-based private equity firm Advantage Partners, told Private Equity International he is seeing growth in cross-border related investments between Japan and other Asian countries.
"Companies with products, services or technologies that can be expanded or transferred to large consumer populations or economies outside Japan in Asia are particularly interesting to us."
He added: "Countries such as China, Thailand and Malaysia offer attractive control investment opportunities in companies that may benefit from our Japanese networks and presence to introduce customers or create links between Japanese corporates and partners."
AMERICA'S APPEAL
The US continues to be the most sought-after location for deals. Last year, inbound deals from Chinese companies reached a peak of $63.6 billion, a 5.3 times rise over 2015's $11.9 billion, Mergermarket data indicated.
Despite the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US increasing scrutiny on big inbound deals, investors in the region are stepping up their hunt for US businesses.
Gopher Asset Management, the investment arm of China's largest wealth management platform Noah Holdings, is looking to ramp up its US venture investments.
PV Wang, chief investment officer of Noah, told PEI: "What we are clearly recommending to our high net worth clients in China is more global allocation. And US venture capital is an area we find very promising given all the technological disruption and push for creativity happening in that market."
Japanese companies have also been drawn to the US market. Telco giant SoftBank made headlines last year when it launched its whopping $100 billion tech investment fund. The Vision Fund targets global tech companies but industry sources say the US is a favoured market to deploy capital, especially after SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son pledged to invest $50 billion in the country to create another 50,000 jobs.
Australia is another destination that Chinese firms are comfortable with. And to tap this opportunity, the Queensland Investment Corporation – the investment arm of the state of Queensland – inked an agreement with Ping An Asset Management Company in November to pursue more cross-border collaboration.
QIC chairman Don Luke said in a statement that "China is an important market for QIC given the rapid growth in Chinese domestic investment capital and increasing capital mobility between the nations."
DEAL STRUCTURES
Due to the increasing competition for overseas assets, creative capital structures are also on the rise.
"Chinese investors are indeed getting more sophisticated, especially in their ability to use internationally accepted acquisition financing structures," Michael Chin, a Shanghai-based partner at global law firm Hogan Lovells said.
"We are seeing some of the structuring of those deals using high-yield bond techniques as well as a couple of light Term B loans – these are the sort of structures that in years gone by you wouldn't even expect Chinese private equity firms to deploy, but they are clearly doing that now."
2016 also saw an uptick in partnerships between private equity firms and strategic investors.
Hong Kong-based PAG teamed up with Chinese printing company Apex Technology for Lexmark, while a club of Chinese investors banded together for Qifoo 360 Technology.
Steven Tran, a Hong Kong-based partner at Hogan Lovells added: "Along with the emergence of credible and increasingly successful China-based funds who continue to compete head-to-head with international private equity funds, we are also seeing strategic investors and private equity firms competing against each other for the same, and increasingly limited, number of assets each year."
Added to this mix are the very deep pockets of the Chinese conglomerates who are equally hungry to expand and develop, the likes of Fosun, Dalian Wanda, Anbang and Ping An – they are really giving the sizeable private equity funds a run for their money." ?
China's growing pollution problem is a key factor driving overseas investments in healthier products as consumers look to clean up their lifestyles.
"Chinese consumers are starting to re-prioritise what they think is important," said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group, at a Baker & McKenzie China outbound investment session.
"Instead of buying a luxury handbag, they want to buy experiences and wellness; instead of buying a Nestlé KitKat, they're buying manuka honey from New Zealand or salmon from Tasmania."
Australia and New Zealand – countries known for food safety, quality control and clean, healthy products – have benefited greatly from Chinese outbound deals.
According to data from Mergermarket, between 2005 and 2016, Chinese life sciences and healthcare deals accounted for 11 percent of Australia's total deal volume.


Aaron answers listener questions on today's podcast on a wide range of topics.
Aaron is joined by the Falcoholic Podcast host Cory Woodroof to recap the Falcons loss to the Saints in Week 3.
Aaron provides his initial takeaways from the Falcons 43-37 overtime loss to the Saints in Week 3.
Aaron answers listener questions dealing with the Falcons Week 2 and 3 matchups.