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Raising a reader
March 11, 2021 By Tracey Tong
The experts agree – instilling a love of reading in your child early puts them on to the path to success
Eleven-year-old Liam Gable is an avid reader. Photo Credit Blair Gable
He was talking by 15 months, and recognizing words a few months later. Now, at age seven, Jennifer Erwin's son, Harley, is a "voracious reader," devouring everything from books about dinosaurs and science to the manga his father collects.
"Even when he was a newborn, we'd read everything aloud to him – children's books, of course, but also articles from our iPads, and bits of magazine articles," says Erwin.
Liam Gable is another avid reader.
"I read quite a bit, at least one book a day," says the 11-year-old Ottawa resident. "It's fun and I like connecting with the characters. My favourite kinds of books are fantasy and adventure/mystery."
"When he gets a new novel, it will often be finished by the end of the day," says Liam's father, Blair Gable. "We have a hard time keeping new books in the house, but thankfully, he is happy to read the same books over and over again. He reads everything from young adult fiction novels, National Geographic encyclopedias, Dungeons and Dragons rule books, and cookbooks. He even watches TV with the closed captioning turned on. He is currently reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" with his mother at bedtime and "Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox."
The evidence suggests that it is never too early to start, says Rose Vespa, executive director of The Canadian Children's Book Centre in Toronto, "even if it's singing songs, lullabies or nursery rhymes. It is a great way to strengthen the bond between parent and child as well."
Rose Vespa_Photo Courtesy Emma Hunter, The Canadian Children's Book Centre
"They can be read to long before they understand," agrees Doone Estey, principal at Parenting Network Inc. "At this point, the parent can read whatever they like," she says. An Adlerian parenting expert, speaker and co-author of Raising Great Parents, Estey helps parents bring out the best in their children, their families and themselves through the Parenting Network.
Doone Estey_Photo Courtesy Doone Estey
Reading has a long list of other benefits, which are not limited to: teaching self-reliance, self-soothing and self-confidence; instilling independence; enhancing vocabulary; improving concentration; aiding sleep; reducing stress, lengthening lifespan, building empathy and social skills and stimulating the imagination and creativity.
"These are things that kids need to keep on developing as they progress into adulthood," says Vespa. "That's why you want your kids to love reading." That's where The Canadian Children's Book Centre comes in – the CCBC exists to bring Canadian books and young readers together to foster a lifelong love of reading.
Starting to build literacy skills while your child is young will help prepare them for school, says Robin Gallagher, librarian, children and teen services with the Ottawa Public Library. "In literacy settings we talk about 'pre-literacy,' which is everything a child learns about literacy and reading before they begin to read themselves. Developing these skills will give your child the confidence and motivation they need as they head into formal schooling in kindergarten."
Robin Gallagher_Photo Courtesy Robin Gallagher
Overcoming barriers
"Parents are definitely stretched these days and they shouldn't feel guilty if they aren't doing all they wish they could do," says Estey. "If they can even manage 10 minutes during afternoon "quiet time" or before bedtime, it makes a big difference," she says. This could also mean enlisting a sibling, a relative or a friend to help.
"Having books in the house is always a good way to ensure that parents encourage their kids to read, even if they don't always have time to sit with them," says Vespa. "Regular public library visits are a good way to keep a supply of books around for kids to have on hand. If children are not reading on their own yet, board books and wordless picture books will still do the trick as kids can look at the pictures and imagine their own story to go along with it."
"Literacy skills can be developed in many ways when time doesn't allow you to sit down with a book," agrees Jessica Halsall, children's specialist for program development with the Ottawa Public Library. She suggests encouraging your child to read what they see around them. "This could mean reading the cereal box as they sit down for breakfast in the morning, or reading street signs on a drive in the car."
If you haven't been reading to your child and would like to start, it's never too late.
"If the child is resistant, it can take longer," says Estey. "Some children do not like to read at all, for various reasons. When they object, getting their eyesight checked and screening for a learning disability can help. Making the activity fun by giving the child books that interest him is important. Comic books are better than no books at all."
The key is not to force too much, too quickly. "If the parent pushes too hard and power struggles ensue, the child might come to associate reading with stress or anxiety," says Estey. "Sometimes parental expectations are too high, so scaling these back can be crucial." Estey suggests short sessions and letting the child set the timer. Sessions of five or 10 minutes a few times a day can work better than one longer session, she says.
"Forcing the child to sit still and listen or try to read is sure to backfire," Estey continues. "Rather, read aloud while the child is playing nearby, in the bath or trying to fall asleep. When he or she does sit quietly, try to involve the child in the story by pointing out names of pictures, asking what comes next, making animal or machine sounds, etc."
As with any skill, coming to it later can slow learning, says Gallagher. "But we are big proponents of lifelong learning, no matter the skill. Parents can find an 'in' for their child – whether that's a book club or a subject that excites them, or an alternative format (like audiobooks, e-books or graphic novels) that allows them to keep up with their peers," says Gallagher.
Vespa also considering books as gifts for birthdays and holidays as a way of encouraging kids to read, and most importantly, to "never stop gently encouraging kids to read and exposing them to opportunities to find that right story or book or subject matter that will spark this lifelong habit," she says.
Still struggling with finding time to read or capturing your child's interest? Estey suggests encouraging children to draw along with the story if they are restless, or checking out reading-aloud apps.
Audiobooks, apps and e-readers
"The options for reading formats have grown exponentially in recent years and this is great," says Vespa. "It increases the chances that kids will find a format that works for them in terms of reading for fun. The same is true for adults as well."
The Canadian Paediatric Society suggests that parents stay within screen time limits recommended for their child's age. This means no screen time for children under two, and less than one hour per day for children under five years. The organization also suggests choosing e-ink e-readers if possible, but e-books are helpful for those with reduced vision, dyslexia or those who are reading in a second language (because you can use built-in dictionaries without interrupting the flow of reading). Audiobooks are also great, providing many of the advantages of being "read to" while also limiting screen time, Gallagher says.
The family that reads together, stays together
The biggest benefit of family reading time is a sense of togetherness, says Estey. "Continuing to read to children even when they can read for themselves also provides an opportunity to stretch the child's understanding and vocabulary as well as create a platform for discussion."
There's also a side benefit to reading to your kids. It keeps parents' own skills sharp, and family relationships benefit from family literacy activities, as they strengthen bonds, which, in turn, encourages lifelong literacy, says Halsall. A strong family literacy foundation at home, with adult support, sets children up for success and engagement in school. According to Scholastic's 2017 Kids and Family Reading Report, parents' reading habits play a large role in determining how often kids read: 57 percent of kids who are frequent readers have parents who read books five to seven days per week, compared to only 15 percent of kids who are infrequent readers.
Jessica Halsall_Photo Courtesy Jessica Halsall
Just ask Gable, who has a family of readers. "I read quite a bit, (and) my wife Heather would have a library if she could," he says. "We always have a few books on the go and there are books all over the house. We read to the kids every night, which is probably the biggest contributor to his love of reading. He is allowed to stay up later if he reads quietly in his bed, so it feels like a win for both of us."
The fun never has to stop. As the Gables prove, there's no rule that says reading with your children needs to come to an end, even after they learn to read. "It is a great way to spend quiet and fun time together as a family," says Vespa.
Tips to get your kids reading
Public libraries offer books in many formats both in library and online. Library staff are very skilled at providing resources to parents and good book recommendations for kids as well. – Rose Vespa
Does your child have a subject that they love? "Find a book about it. Reading is a practice, so no matter what your child is reading, they are developing their skills as a reader." – Robin Gallagher
Parents who make fewer corrections when their child reads aloud will have better success in the long run, as the child will not end up being as frustrated. Parents who well-meaningly correct every mistake could be producing anxiety and the fear of making a mistake in their child. "The ability to remain non-judgmental greatly influences their children's approach to reading." – Doone Estey
Building reading into the daily routine helps create stability and knowledge of the expectations for children. Discuss with the child when they think the best times for him to read would be – before or after breakfast, with or without a snack, which chair to sit in, etc. – D.E.
Set up small rewards, such as a game of checkers or hide-and-seek or going for a walk after. "The obvious choice is screen time, and for time-pressed parents, often the only one." – D.E.
Making sure the child has had some exercise (jumping jacks, somersaults, yoga) or fresh air before settling down to learn is beneficial. – D.E.
From an early age, engage in the five daily practices (read, write, sing, talk, play) that will prepare your child for reading and help them develop important pre-literacy skills. It doesn't matter in what language you read to your child – or in what language you talk, write, sing or play with them. – R.G.
There is no need to be prescriptive about the type of book your child "should" read. Pay attention to what they like. Children's preferences are as varied as those of adults. – R.G.
Make reading as pleasurable as you can. Follow your child's lead. – R.G.
Make time for reading – this shows that you value its importance. – R.G.
More than books at the Ottawa Public Library
Books and Magazines:
Board books, which are short and small and durable (0-3 years)
Picture books of various complexity, both fiction and non-fiction (2-8 years)
Easy readers from very beginner readers to independent readers (6-8 years)
Fiction and non-fiction, of various levels
Magazines, for all levels
RAPP (Readers and Parents Program) packs, each containing a book and interactive activities that that support language and literacy development. The packs are geared towards children aged six months to six years, and include helpful literacy tips for parents.
Audio-visual materials:
DVDs, fiction and non-fiction
Audiobooks, fiction and non-fiction
Online and digital offerings:
Streaming video and audio, for education and for entertainment
Access to 3-D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines and more
The Canadian Children's Book Centre
bookcentre.ca
youtube.com/bibliovideo
Ottawa Public Library
biblioottawalibrary.ca/en
The Parenting Network
parentingnetwork.ca
"Parents and educators can encourage a love of reading in children by emphasizing how fun it can be. Reading together can be a lovely nighttime ritual that both parent and child can look forward to after a bath or before bed. Children watch their parents' habits and behaviours, so reading a newspaper online or in print, or a book, will be noticed by your child when you are at home, encouraging them to emulate what they see as a normal daily routine." – Rose Vespa
Features, Focus on Educationbooks, Education, featured, Gable, raise a reader, reader, Reading, school, Tracey Tong
A key to the past


Holy CRAP! It's all ready been a week?!
My god. Am I a bad blogger!
But I promise to have something much more entertaining than my weekly food journal in a day or two.
For now, on to Meatless Tuesday.
Open faced "grilled cheese" sandwich: one slice of 7-grain bread, buttered, topped with slices of one whole vine-ripen tomato, sprinkled with Nature's Seasons seasoning blend, and a few slices of snack-sized cheddar cheese, toasted in the toaster oven until the cheese is melted.
A mug of full-leaf oolong tea.
Mid-morning snack: 2 whole grain crackers (they're like 2.5 inch across!) from Fresh & Easy with generous schmear of whipped cream cheese, my mid-morning snack of choice these days.
A bowl of vegetable chili based on the recipe in Food & Wine magazine (which I will blog about later). In that: heirloom carrots, daikon, red bell peppers, kidney beans, hominy, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and generous shakes of Chipotle Tobasco. And a piece of 7-grain toast.
Late dessert/afternoon snack: a Godiva dark chocolate truffle.
Because it was a buy one get another one for $2, I got 2 rustica pizzas from Z Pizza: Moroccan (egg plants, pine nuts, feta, basil pesto, caramelized onion) and Mediterranean (artichoke hearts, feta, roasted red peppers, greek olives, pili pili oil). I ate a few squares out of each.
A glass of organic peach oolong iced tea.
Satisfaction level: Meat? What meat? Nope. Didn't miss it one bit. And I was full all day.
Thoughts: It's getting easier and easier each week, I have to tell you. I even didn't miss the meat too much today. But I did have an egg for breakfast. I did crave some proteins for dinner but I didn't go for my usual burger or ribs, but salmon. A little weird, I know. I'm sure I'm going to want me a juicy burger in a few days.
I'm also more conscious now of what I'd eat on a Meatless Tuesday and Brandon has been helpful in keeping me in check on that too. He'd try to help me think of places I could get something meatless to eat at.
Now, I've been thinking about it today that since I'm doing this a Buddhist reason, perhaps I should also not do alcohol on Tuesdays as well to make the whole religious day out of it. After all, abstaining from alcohol is one of the Five Precepts a good Buddhist should follow.
By not eating meat/eggs on Tuesday, and having not kill anybody, abstaining from taking life is checked off the list. Abstaining from alcohol? One day a week, I can do that. Abstaining from sexual misconduct is everyday…although I wonder if lusting after Taylor Lautner and/or Sam Worthington or dreaming about Jason Mraz counts. Abstaining from taking what is not given, no klepto here so check. And finally, abstaining from false speech aka lying. Well, that might be a little hard to swing in a corporate world, but we'll do our best, won't we?
Alright. It's decided. Tuesdays will be meatless AND dry.


We need volunteers to help the 5th Grade Leadership students process the box tops!
3. Box tops must be submitted in Ziplock baggies of 50 each with the teacher's name on it or on 1 sheet of 50 or 2 sheets of 25 stapled together. If using sheets, box tops should be glued down. Please do not staple or tape. Make sure you label the baggie or sheets with the teacher's name. Additional sheets can be downloaded from the image on the left.
4. Bonus Box tops should be submitted separately. These do not have to be sorted into counts of 50.
5. Soup Labels/Labels for Education may NOT be submitted with Box Tops. They must be submitted separately. See the Soup Labels page.
Contact the webmaster if you are experiencing problems.


Recruiting and staffing agencies that succeed with SEO and rank highly in Google search results do two things very well.
First, they create engaging and informative content that provides value to their clients and candidates.
Second, they effectively use recruitment SEO so that clients and candidates have the opportunity to discover their content on Google and read it.
The world of content marketing is an incredibly crowded space. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of articles on the same topic and therefore, it's difficult to stand out. While Google does its best to show only the best results for a specific query, it's often difficult for their algorithms to surface only the truly top-notch articles.
There are many components to effective SEO for recruitment agencies and staffing agencies but we're going to focus on only one today – you need to make sure that your on-page SEO is perfect.
A short definition – On-page SEO for recruiters deals with the structure of your site and content on your pages whereas off-page SEO for recruiters refers primarily to links that point to your page. On-page SEO is critical for many reasons but most importantly, because it helps you rank higher in Google search results, which, in turn, drives traffic to your site.
Exclusive Bonus: Watch the step-by-step video walkthrough of the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress to learn how to get the technical details right for each blog post.
Here are the five steps that every recruiting agency must take to perfect their on-page SEO and rank their content higher in Google.
The title tag is what shows up as the link in Google search results so it's a huge factor in determining if your article gets clicked. So what you should do to make sure you stand out from other recruiters?
Keep it the right length. Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters of a title tag. If you keep your title tag under 60 characters, research suggests that you can expect about 90% of your titles to display properly. You can use this title tag preview tool to see how your title will appear in Google's search results.
Make sure it has at least two of the three ingredients of a click-worthy title.
"A Pack of Mentos" is not something you usually see in a post about getting your dream job. The reader is now likely to be, at the very least, curious enough to want to read the story.
This type of title provokes a thought and makes the reader wonder why what he or she thought to be true is not.
There is an obvious conflict at play here and as a curious person, the reader will want to understand both sides and see what the author thinks is the best choice.
One quick note – be careful with overusing numbers in your title tags. They tend to work great on an individual post but when every post on your blog is "5 ways to do this" and "7 things to think about that", they can start to lose some of their appeal.
Make your candidates or clients feel something and you've dramatically increased the odds that they'll click on your content.
Which title sounds better "7 ways to land your next C-suite executive" or "7 surprising ways to land your next C-suite executive"? With the single addition of the emotionally-loaded word "surprising", I've made the title significantly more interesting. There are tons of words like this that you can use including astonishing, uncommon, irresistible, tempting, insane, remarkable, epic and killer. Get out your thesaurus if you want need some more.
A quick note on executive search SEO: I've had multiple people who run executive search firms tell me that this would never work for their business because nobody looks for an executive recruiter using search. When I ask how they know that, they tell me that they've asked their clients and nobody had ever used SEO to find an executive recruiter. When I tell them that they have an issue with the sample of people they're asking (in other words, anybody searching for an executive recruiter would never have found them), there is always a lightbulb moment and it sets in that SEO might just be able to help their executive search firm.
I am always surprised at how often even clients that understand SEO for recruitment agencies overlook this crucial point. The meta description is (sometimes) what shows up on Google's search results page underneath the title tag. I use the word sometimes because Google reserves the option to pull text from your page and show that instead if they think it is more relevant to the user's search.
A meta description also helps Google understand what your page is about.
To create the best meta description, you need to follow rules that are similar to the title rules.
Google typically cuts any meta description longer than 160 characters. You should therefore keep meta descriptions between 150 and 160 characters.
Write one or two sentences that tell the reader what the blog post is about and make sure to drive curiosity, offer a benefit and elicit emotions.
A client had a blog post that generated a ton of traffic even though the percentage of people who saw it in Google's search results and clicked it was relatively low.
The post, on preparing for an interview as a bank teller, originally had a meta description that read as follows: "This blog post will tell you what you need to know to prepare for your interview as a bank teller." On top of referencing the fact that it is a blog post (the user probably already knows this), it is straight up boring. We changed it to "Find out how you can use these 5 easy tips to ace your bank teller interview" and saw the click-through rate almost double!
If you go to the average recruiter's blog post, what do you see? Typically, you'll find a cheesy stock image of something like two people shaking hands at the top of the page followed by a wall of text. The image adds nothing to the post and the wall of text can be intimidating to the reader.
Here are a few tips on how to use images to your advantage.
Go to a site like Fiverr and create a custom blog image for each post. You can usually get this done for $5-$10 and you immediately add a level of professional appeal to the post. People start taking you more seriously before they've even read your content.
Add diagrams where appropriate. Some ideas are just hard to explain in words. Mock up a diagram with a pen and paper and get a freelance graphic designer (once again, Fiverr is a good option) to turn it into something professional.
Make sure that image file names include important keywords for your article. For example, if your article is focused on interview tips for finance, your image name should be something like interview_tips_finance.jpg. Also, your alt text should include similar keywords.
On top of displaying professionalism and adding value to the user, images can have huge SEO value for recruiters. One of Google's key ranking factors is called "time on site". Essentially, when you click a link from a Google search, Google measures how long you spend on the site.
Why? Because Google assumes that if the site is a good match for your search, you will spend more time on the site. And if it's not, you'll quickly leave. Images tend to increase time on site as people explore both the text and images and this can have a massively positive impact on your rankings.
Nobody is expecting that you become an HTML guru so that you can master SEO for recruitment agencies. However, learning the very basics can be tremendously helpful when trying to optimize a post, especially heading tags.
A heading tag is a bit of code that you "wrap" your headings in order to give them proper prominence on the page. There are six heading tags, numbered 1 to 6 (clever!) but typically, you will use the first three, at most.
To help Google understand the title of your post (which can be different from the title tag mentioned in point 1), make sure that it is wrapped in an <h1> tag. This means that if you look at your HTML source code, you should see something like "<h1> This is the long and engaging title for my post </h1>." Use only one <h1> tag per page or you may confuse Google. Most content management software like WordPress tends to automatically wrap your title in an <h1> tag but you should check to be certain.
When you have secondary headings that you are using to break your post into digestible chunks, use an <h2> tag for each heading. Also, make sure you put any important keywords in at least one of your <h2> tags to signal to Google that it is a keyword for which you want to rank. The best practice would be to use important keywords in the first <h2> tag on the page. For example, for a case study about how a recruiter outperformed an internal HR team, you may want your first <h2> tag to say something like "Recruiters vs. HR – Diving deeper into the debate".
This is the most complex SEO that a recruiter is going to need so obviously, we're going to have to start with a definition. Latent Semantic Indexing or LSI keywords are keywords that are semantically related to the keywords for which you want to rank. This is not the same thing as synonyms for your keywords. These are words that are in some way related to your keywords and will help Google understand the meaning of your page. For example, if you're writing about the difficulty of finding high-quality developers, you would want to make sure that your article contains development-related keywords like waterfall, agile, scrum and C++.
If you're still struggling to understand this concept, have no fear because the LSI Graph website is here to help. All you need to do is enter your keyword into the site and you will get a list of LSI keywords that you should consider sprinkling throughout your article.
Don't feel like doing all of the work yourself? Contact Talent Hero and we'll perform an SEO analysis of your site and take care all of the work for you.
What if I'm not convinced?
In speaking with recruiters, one of the common things I hear is that Google just isn't the right place to market their business.
And of course, that is true. The vast majority of recruiting firms will never rank on the first page for multiple important keywords and as a result, Google will do nothing to help your business.
But imagine a different world. A world where actually you spent time working on the SEO for your site. A world where you rank on the first page of Google's search results for all of the keywords related to your business.
How much better off would your business be?
It's time to stop imagining as I am going to show you what this world looks like and conclusively prove to you that continuing to ignore Google is a HUGE mistake.
Let's imagine you are an executive search firm specializing in the retail sector. How many visitors per month could you expect if you were on the front page of Google for all of the relevant search queries?
The beauty of this question is that we can easily break it down and come up with a very precise number.
We start by creating an account with Google AdWords (it's free!) and then entering "executive search retail" into the first section of Keyword Planner ("Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category").
When do we that, Google will give us back a huge list of keywords (not shown).
In essence, we now have a blueprint of how a client looks for a recruiting firm in the retail sector.
We now put these keywords back into the second section of Keyword Planner ("Get search volume using data and trends").
And bam! Google gives us a pretty-looking bar chart and table.
We can review the search volume in a given month we would expect from targeting all of those keywords.
And we can break it down further by individual keyword.
So what do we see? There are about 4,250 search per month for these queries alone!
Now let's do some basic math.
Let's assume that you figure out how to rank in the third position, on average, for these search queries.
According to Moz, a leading search engine tracking company, you can expect people to click on your search result about 10% of the time when you are in the third spot on a Google search results page.
In other words, by ranking for just these keywords, you will receive 425 new visitors to your site per month (4,250 search impressions * 10% clickthrough rate). If you can turn just 0.5% of those visitors into new clients (1 in 200!), you would get about about 2 new clients per month or 24 new clients per year from dominating these search results.
The math doesn't lie. It is obvious that dominating Google search can bring huge benefits to your business.
It's one thing to see what it would be like if you dominated the search results. It's quite another to actually do it.
Getting there is not always so easy. So if you want to learn more, stay tuned in the coming weeks as I expand on what you need to do take your website from search zero to search hero.
And if you don't want to wait, book a call with us now and we'll walk you through the process over the phone.
Bonus Content: We wrote this article back in 2017 with a hypothetical SEO case study but we now have one with real client data! Download the case study now.


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He Writes the Songs
Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas is fast becoming one of the world's most sought-after songwriters-for-hire. Nui Te Koha reports that Rob Thomas earned $35 million last year -- without having an album by his band, Matchbox Twenty, in the charts.
His money-spinners were the smartly crafted pop tunes Thomas does so well, which, in the year 2001-2002, were given to Carlos Santana, Marc Anthony, Mick Jagger and Willie Nelson. Smooth, the Grammy Award-winning Santana single that trumped the pop-listening world, took in the most cash.
But it also solidified Thomas's reputation as a master writer of pop-rock, a calibre of composer who had Jagger calling as soon as the Santana record dropped.
Then, a US magazine, noting Thomas's whopping songwriting income without his duties to Matchbox Twenty, dared to call him the new Burt Bacharach.
"I hope they meant that as a compliment," Thomas laughs, "because I am a huge Bacharach fan. "When I read that comment I thought: 'How great would that be?'
"Then I started to feel the same way as I do whenever I make those 50 Most Beautiful People lists. It doesn't make me any closer to the next Burt Bacharach than before they said it. "The truth is," Thomas says, earnestly, "I want to be the next Tom Petty."
Those following the Matchbox Twenty trajectory know the feeling. Since their 12 million-selling debut album, Yourself or Someone Like You (1996), Matchbox Twenty have combined the 1970s pop-arena rock of their youth and the harder-edged alterna-rock of the last decade.
Mad Season, released in 2000, was competent but unfocused. The new album, More Than You Think You Are, is a cohesive record recognising the strength of its players, and their musical and personal growth.
Thomas married Marisol Maldonado, a model with a marketing degree, three years ago. It was Maldonado who inspired Smooth. "I've got much more of a handle on myself as a songwriter, as a person, because I am a happily married man," Thomas says. "Being married gives you a new point of view. I feel like my head is so much more together. I am less scattered than I've ever been. That has so much to do with my wife being the most wonderful person, and what we give each other makes me feel like a complete human being. And that comes into my writing. I am not trying to be anything else. I am not sure if I ever was, but there is always that fear. I don't want to look back and think: 'F. . . That wasn't me."'
For Thomas, arguably one of the top three most sought-after pop-rock songwriters (alongside Dianne Warren and Gregg Alexander), the craft carries the same joy and pain. "I feel like I unload and I feel like I'm going through therapy. I get to write what I feel, I connect it to a melody, then I get to go on stage and scream it out every night.
"I am not a deeply troubled, tortured person, but I feel I would be more so if I didn't write. I am the most self-examined person I know because it's my job," Thomas laughs. "I spend my life in a little room sitting by the piano thinking: 'How do I feel?' I am my own analyst." His songs, after his Santana and Jagger sessions, are certainly more personal. While Thomas has described More Than You Think You Are as a hopeful record, many of the narrative set-ups are dark. Paranoia haunts the new single, Unwell, while Bright Lights suggests full revelation with the couplet: 'There is a hole in me/A scar I can talk about. . .' "There is a line in Unwell where I am talking about dodging glances on the train, and everybody talking about me," he says. "That comes from insecurity and the recognition that causes even more insecurity. I have had those feelings while riding on the train. Why are they looking at me? You never think it's because they're fans. It's like: 'F. . . What is it? "I figure if they know who I am, they don't like me. That guy hates my band: I can just see it in his eyes," he laughs.
And when those eye-ballers do approach Thomas as genuine fans? "I get really surprised," he answers. "Then they think you're putting on mock surprise. But, generally speaking, I do get surprised." Bright Lights, he says, is a character invented to remind Thomas of how good his life is.
"I am a happily married man. I have to wait for a hellacious fight to go and write a song like that. With Bright Lights, I got into a place where I thought how much it would suck if my wife left me. "The scar represents the idea that, up until now, I have never had anything real in my life. A lot of love has been fabricated so I can write songs," Thomas laughs, "which basically means I've been putting myself in bad relationships just to write about them. "If I lost Marisol, it would be the first time where I would feel as if I lost something real."
It is my fifth meeting with Thomas, the second for More Than You Think You Are. The last time we spoke, in New York last November, Thomas said he was only starting to realise his songwriting style. "This is how I sound, and I couldn't get away from it, even if I tried," he said then. "I am trying to expand on that, but let me assure you, Matchbox Twenty is not mystified by me or my songwriting."
For this interview, in Singapore, drummer Paul Doucette says Thomas's songwriting gift is mystical, and one he respects. "I know how Rob writes, so there is no mystique there. But he is an extremely prolific writer, and who knows where he gets them from? Most of his songs, if not all of them, start out good and just improve. I believe Rob is writing better than ever. Quieter, with more space."
Thomas: "To me, now, space is not space. It is the sound of instruments resonating. It took me three albums to realize that. We spent so much time on the second record micing up the drums, making them sound perfect, then running it through a stereo coarse effect, then a keyboard patch . . . "I mean, what does all that mean? It didn't make it sound like the records we grew up listening to. It wasn't Tom Petty, Elton John or Fleetwood Mac. It became a case of: 'Here are your drums, guitar, bass, keyboards and microphone.' Everything we have needs to be here. No filler."
It is the way Thomas intends to take his unique brand of pop-rock into the future. "The one certain thing I know as a songwriter is to talk about myself in a universal way," Thomas says. "If I am writing a song about me and my wife having an argument, I am not writing about the argument itself. I am writing about the feeling that comes from the argument. The thing I'll always try and portray is that feeling. People don't know me or my wife, but they know that feeling. "That is the universal nature that any good song must have."
And the hitmaker's idea of the perfect pop song? Elton John's Tiny Dancer. "The verse makes you so sad, the chorus makes you so happy. That is the redemptive nature of life and the moments that we should steal. Every great song works like life and the chorus is your summing up. The verse is the moments between and an indication of where you're heading."
"But, as I see it, there are no do's or don'ts in songwriting. It's all fair game. I mean, Put a Little Love in Your Heart is a great soul song, but do it the wrong way and it could be the cheesiest thing you ever heard."
"Everything, in the right context, flies."
BYLINE: Nui Te Koha
Herald Sun (Melbourne, Australia)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Police have appealed for witnesses as they investigate an incident where plants were deliberately set on fire in a village near Chester.
At 1.28am on Sunday, September 2, an offender set fire to the conifers on the junction of School Lane and Willow Grove in Elton, before fleeing the scene.
Police have now appealed for help in tracing the offender, who is described as a white male, around 5"7 in height, of a slim build and believed to be a teenager with short black cropped hair. He was wearing a black coloured tracksuit and black trainers.
Call Cheshire Police on 101, quoting IML 172518,pass on the details via https://cheshire.police.uk/contact/general-enquiries or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.


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November 6, 2018 / 11:45 AM / 8 months ago
China rejects Western concerns on alleged Uighur mass detentions
People take part in a demonstration against China during its Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council in front of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland, November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
GENEVA (Reuters) - China on Tuesday rejected Western countries' criticism of suspected mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang province, saying that the allegations were "seriously far away from facts".
"We will not accept politically-driven accusations from a few countries that are fraught with biases," Le Yucheng, Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs, told the U.N. Human Rights Council.
The minister spoke at the end of a debate on China's rights record, in which delegations from Britain, France, Germany and the United States voiced deep concern about what China says are vocational training camps.
Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay


Living in DC, with a plethora of colleges and universities, the extent that graduation effects this girl most years is with the additional traffic and overflowing restaurants with limited reservations. However, this year I have two cousins graduating... one from college tomorrow and another from high school on Friday. And I have to say, it has me thinking about when I graduated. My high school graduation seems like an eternity ago and college definitely doesn't seem like it was just yesterday. Sounds rhetorical, but seriously, where does the time go? The older I get, the faster it goes. How's that for some Great Graduation advice?
Here we go, a dive headfirst into Graduation Gifts for the grad in your life!
A money clip, engraved and with money!
And the ubiquitous, always welcomed and appreciated, Visa card which comes in almost any amount.


The Massachusetts Call/Volunteer Firefighters' Association was organized in 1991 for the purpose of protecting the interests of call/volunteer firefighters in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Part of the MCVFA's stated mission is to maintain, support and serve the call/volunteer fire and emergency medical services and the public they serve through legislation. The MCVFA has a Legislative Committee and Legislative Representation to fulfill this mission.
The Legislative Committee is composed of MCVFA members from across the state and is instrumental in the development and advocacy of the legislative agenda, commonly referred to as the MCVFA Scorecard. The legislative agenda consists of MCVFA bill proposals and other Fire Service resolutions. The MCVFA Scorecard is developed by the Legislative Committee for presentation to the membership each year.
The Legislative Committee compiles a list of possible legislative items with a brief description of each item. The Legislative Committee develops this list by reviewing items from the prior session's legislative agenda, by soliciting input from the regions and by discussing emerging issues with other MCVFA committees and individual MCVFA members.
The various proposals are discussed within the Legislative Committee. Proposed legislative items are reviewed and refined in preparation for bill introduction. The Legislative Committee and Legislative Representative present a final agenda of introduced legislation to the Executive Board. After the Executive Board approves the final legislative agenda, the Legislative Committee and Legislative Representative lead the lobbying and advocacy activities.
The Legislative Committee continues the process by submitting a monthly legislative report to the MCVFA e-Board. The board may adjust the MCVFA Scorecard from time to time based on changing events and circumstances during the legislative year.


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Fairfield rolls against Vacaville
PUBLISHED: October 9, 2008 at 12:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 29, 2018 at 12:00 a.m.
The Vacaville varsity cross country teams lost a pair of matches to host Fairfield at Rockville Hills Park.
Fairfield won the girls race 19-36 and took the boys race 19-37.
Vacaville"s top finisher in the girls race was Sierra Kennedy, whose time of 21 minutes, 37 seconds was good for fourth overall. Kai Muskat finished fifth (21:49).
Tanner Garrett was the top boys finisher for Vacaville and he was fourth (17:25). Juve Lopez took sixth (17:55).
The varsity girls are 5-5 in MEL meets and the boys are 4-6.
The frosh-soph girls were the lone winners for the Bulldogs, beating the Falcons 15-44. Vaca swept the top five spots with Anabell Calvario (20:49) in first place. Jessica Kern finished second (21:41) and Mercedes Miller (21:56) took third.
The frosh-soph boys lost 22-35. Tyler Sewell (15:56) was third. Peter Sersace (16:07) finished fourth.
Vaca will visit the site of this years" state meet as they compete in the Clovis Inviational at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday.


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Cambrian Time Machine main content.
Image courtesy of Ken Doud, Videoscapes
For the sake of this essay, let's say you are the ultimate explorer, one who has somehow gained access to a fully functional time machine. Thus equipped, you are able to travel back to any point in the past… from the birth of Planet Earth some 4.54 billion years ago, to your romantic dinner date last Wednesday.
With the entire history of the world quite literally at your fingertips, perhaps your interests would lead you back to the Old West to experience the sight of buffalo by-the-millions covering the Great Plains. Or maybe you'd sojourn to the time of the Roman Empire to watch Julius Caesar at the pinnacle of his powers. Perhaps your curiosity would propel you back to the savannas of Eastern Africa two million years ago to witness the lifestyle of our earliest hominid ancestors.
But now let's say you are really adventurous, and that as you sit at the controls of your time machine, just prior to hitting the "go" button you plug in a date 510 million years in the past. Such a decision would require a lofty degree of gumption and preparation along with perhaps more than a modicum of foolhardy intent, for the world you would encounter upon arrival would be far different than the one you had just left behind. Indeed, the environs of Middle Cambrian Earth would resemble nothing more than those of an alien planet, which in all honesty, is exactly what this primal world would be.
If your time machine emerged upon the recently formed continent of Laurentia, you would immediately note a virtually barren landscape. Amid active volcanic fields and frequent earthquakes caused by ever-shifting continental masses, you would see no animal life, and the few primitive plants would resemble mere microbial mats as they dotted beaches along certain tidal estuaries. While the average daytime temperature might hover near a perfect 70 degrees, the surrounding acrid-smelling atmosphere would present a number of survival problems for any modern human - Carbon Dioxide levels nearly 16 times higher than 21st Century levels, and an Oxygen content only 60 percent of what we today enjoy.
If you had been resourceful enough to bring along a diving apparatus -- one which would allow for exploration of the primeval seas - you'd be prepared to encounter quite a different scenario. There, life would appear abundant, varied and nothing less than astonishing. Indescribably bizarre invertebrate creatures of all sizes and shapes would fill virtually every aquatic niche. Amid patches of filtered sunlight, legions of small, soft-bodied arthropods would float by on tidal currents, while a multitude of trilobite species such as Kochina vestita and Marjumia typa, would either jet past in water-propelled bursts, or scamper across the sea floor on rows of spindly appendages. Perhaps if you're fortunate, you might even glimpse a large, predatory Anomalolaris as it menacingly glided past.
Needless to say, this would be a world beyond even our most vivid imagination, but one that trilobite enthusiasts might find ever-so-slightly disappointing. The fact is that until fairly recently it was standard scientific thought that trilobites dominated these early seas. But a number of recent discoveries made in appropriately aged strata around the globe have shown that while trilobites were indeed numerous in the ancient Cambrian oceans, other life forms -- including the astounding array of soft-bodied arthropods --actually dominated the fauna.
Somewhat surprisingly, in light of this apparent abundance, life in the oceans 510 million years ago was already in sharp decline, especially when compared to the undersea world that had blossomed soon after the advent of the Cambrian Explosion some 30 million years earlier. A marked drop in speciation had already begun to impact the trilobites, so as hydrogen sulfide levels - caused by undersea eruptions - began to rise, and as marine oxygen levels continued to dissipate, survival for all these early oceanic creatures became ever more tenuous.
Thus it would seem that any time-traveling excursion back to the Middle Cambrian would be a trip defined by both an abundance of amazing opportunities and more than a few unexpected dangers. Yet even in light of such apparent adversity, are there any among us -- whether or not we're the ultimate explorer -- who would pass on the chance to take part in such a monumental sojourn and witness complex life in one of its earliest, and most important stages?


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A series of recently discovered videos that provide a detailed look at the aftermath of a deadly prison riot has been brought to light by the state's prisons inspection committee.
In an email posting Monday, the Correctional Institution Inspection Committee called attention to the detailed footage from the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, which it called insightful.
"The videos, taken by a corrections officer who provides running commentary, are a chilling reminder of the worst case scenario in corrections," executive director Joanna Saul said in the email.
The three video segments, totaling 90 minutes, were posted to YouTube about nine months ago by Jason Carver. Attempts to reach him on Monday were unsuccessful.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith confirmed that the videos show the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, where the 11-day siege took place. The uprising was one of the deadliest in U.S. history, leaving one guard and nine inmates dead. Damage to the facility was estimated at $40 million.
The videos feature a narrated tour of the devastation at the maximum-security prison.
The footage shows hallways barricaded by bed springs and upturned equipment, cellblocks littered with debris, graffiti and broken glass and rooms covered in bullet holes and blood. The narrator doesn't censor the tour, showing the area where guard Robert Vallandingham was restrained and killed, passages where other guards taken hostage were held and beaten and escape and rescue routes taken by those who survived.
The videos came to light as the prisons inspection committee prepared a tour for new state lawmakers.
The prisons department couldn't immediately provide information on the genesis of the material or about whether it was ever made public earlier.


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Soundtrack Review
Original Television Soundtrack
Composer: Blake Neely
Label: La-La Land Records
La-La Land Records releases Blake Neely's score for Arrow: Season 2. After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. He returned home to Starling City, welcomed by his devoted mother Moira, beloved sister Thea and former flame Laurel Lance. With the aid of his trusted chauffeur/bodyguard John Diggle, the computer-hacking skills of Felicity Smoak and the occasional, reluctant assistance of former police detective, now police captain, Quentin Lance, Oliver has been waging a one-man war on crime...
Blake Neely's score for the second season of Arrow is bursting with impressive themes. You certainly get your monies worth, as the album contains 29 tracks (1 hr, 17 min, 54 sec).
Neely balances the line between modern, gothic and your standard action score. Not an easy mix to get right. In fact, there's such a diverse mix of music here, that this feels more like a show reel of themes to show how adaptable Neely's writing is.
Tracks like 'Love Is the Most Powerful Emotion' showcase Neely's romantic side; while 'Tunnel Fight' illustrate that he's just as at home scoring adrenaline pumping action themes. And 'The Man Under the Hood' sees him tackle the gothic superhero themes - hitting the nail on the head.
The album is peppered with memorable tracks. If you're an Arrow fan you'll already have snapped this up. For soundtrack collectors... it's certainly one to go on the list.
Each of the store links below opens in a new window, allowing you to compare the price of this product from various online stores.
iTunes GB


The 3M™ Adflo™ powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) has become one of the most popular and widely awarded powered air welding respirators in the world. A slim, robust system designed specifically for welders has now been released in a heavy duty (HD) version to deliver added features and improved performance.
The new 3M™ Adflo™ HD Series features the new super lightweight heavy duty Adflo battery (40% lighter than the previous model) which can extend Adflo battery operating time to 12 hours. This can give the welder an extra four (4) hours over the standard PAPR systems.
The Speedglas HD powered air respirator series also features the new one hour rapid charge. This allows the welder to charge the heavy duty PAPR battery from 0% to 80% capacity in approximately one hour. The new Adflo PAPR HD system is available with the following 3M™ Speedglas™ Welding Helmets which all feature the new 3M™ Speedglas™ Welding Lens 9100XXi with Speedglas TrueView for crisp colour and clarity.


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**Configure HAProxy to enable HTTPS**

You may want to configure HTTPS access using HAProxy.
This is possible in case you are hosting ThingsBoard in the cloud and have a valid DNS name assigned to your instance.
Please follow this [guide](/docs/user-guide/install/pe/add-haproxy-ubuntu) to install HAProxy and generate valid SSL certificate using Let's Encrypt.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This is a pretty simple spice rub for ribs - just cumin, chilli, paprika and pepper - but they come out so well! Baste with your favourite bbq sauce.
In a small jar, combine cumin, chilli powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Close the lid and shake to mix.
Trim the membrane sheath from the back of each rack. Run a small, sharp knife between the membrane and each rib then snip off the membrane as much as possible.
Sprinkle as much of the spice mixture onto both sides of the ribs as desired. To prevent the ribs from becoming too dark and spicy, do not rub the spices into the ribs. Store any unused spice mix for future use.
Place aluminium foil on lower part to capture the dripping and prevent flare-ups, and lay ribs on the upper shelf of barbecue if possible. Reduce heat to low, close lid, and leave undisturbed for 1 hour. Do not lift lid at all.
Brush ribs with desired amount of barbecue sauce, and cook an additional 5 minutes. Serve ribs as whole rack or cut between each rib bone and pile on a serving platter.


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The Claypits Local Nature Reserve – latest updates
By Scottish Canals 19 August 2020
Update 21 January 2021
Following the Christmas shut-down period and in line with Scottish Government guidance, construction works recommenced on the Claypits project in North Glasgow on 11th January. Scottish Canals continues to closely monitor the restrictions and all works will continue to reflect the current Covid-19 guidance.
Our contractors are currently on site and are working hard to finish the path works and SUDS infrastructure within the Claypits Nature Reserve in time for the spring/summer season. Work will also begin on the Garscube Link paths between Garscube Bridge and Garscube Road opposite Woodside Health Centre during this period.
While the second phase of works is underway, access for towpath users will still be available between Panmure Gate (the yellow brick road) and Garscube Bridge. Please take care as surfaces may be slippery due to the winter weather.
Residential moorings have also been developed at the new Panmure Wharf. These will become available in Spring 2021 and if you are interested in finding out more information please contact moorings@scottishcanals.co.uk.
Julie Anne Levett will start a temporary post on 19 January as the Claypits Community Development Manager. She will be working closely with the Hamiltonhill Claypits Local Nature Reserve Management Group claypitslnr@gmail.com to help get things ready for re-opening further sections of the Claypits in Summer 2021. Her email address should you wish to get in touch is Julieanne.Levett@scottishcanals.co.uk
Update 8th December 2020
Since opening Garscube Bridge and Panmure Gate Link in early October there has been additional works carried out in preparation for the site opening of the remainder of the Claypits Nature Reserve in early Spring 2021.
The space around the new pond is having the surface of a necessary access area being overlaid with soiling and seeding to integrate it into the overall landscape, and the pond itself has been planted with reeds in anticipation of the return of wildlife to the new wetland area. Work across the site has inevitably resulted in some remedial works being required. The current temporary protection is being removed from the spine path at Panmure Gate Link (the yellow brick road) and further assessments of the pathway will be carried out through December, and work carried out on it prior to the site reopening.
On the upper pathways, There is ongoing construction along the primary path at the glade area where we have placed a featured marker stone, highlighting a view point to the west. This path will connect back to Ellesmere Street entranceway, construction of which is also ongoing. The planting schedule for the overall site has commenced but was unfortunately affected by the COVID restrictions and hence delayed. As a result, areas of the site will continue to need vegetation regrowth even at the time of the site reopening in spring. As part of the planting plan, we are currently working on substantial seeding and planting, including planning for 700 young trees and shrubs to be planted by members of the community
In early December, Scottish Canals in partnership with ASA recruitment advertised a Community Development Manager role. This role will fill a vacancy that has existed over the summer, and the successful candidate will work alongside the local nature reserve management group (LNRMG) ahead of the main site opening.
Update 12th October 2020
Today, Scottish Canals has officially opened Garscube Bridge and Panmure Gate Link in the North of Glasgow, connecting communities at either side of the historic Forth & Clyde Canal.
The completion of works on the new bridge and link carried out by McKenzie Construction marks an important milestone in the delivery of the Claypits project. Today's opening will connect the communities of Panmure Gate and Woodside, giving residents direct access to Scotland's sustainable transport network along the Forth & Clyde Canal.
The remainder of the path network on the Claypits Local Nature Reserve will remain closed until Spring 2021 as works progress in this section of the project.
Update 19th August 2020
Since the lifting of Scottish Government Covid-19 restrictions, our team and contractors have been back on site to complete of works at Claypits which will reopen The Forth & Clyde Canal in North Glasgow and it's surrounding areas to walkers, runners and boaters.
Following the closure of the waterway earlier in the year, we are pleased to announce that waterway navigation, access to the Garscube pedestrian bridge, sections of the Claypits Nature Reserve and Panmure Gate and pontoons will be accessible towards the end of September once the works in these areas are completed. In particular, the completion of Garscube Bridge which will reopen The Forth & Clyde Canal in North Glasgow to boaters, while walkers, runners and cyclists continue to be able to use the towpath at Garscube, and will soon be able to use the bridge and Panmure Link too.
Recent works include piling to accommodate pontoons, footpath maintenance, and the lift in of the Garscube pedestrian bridge and can be seen below.
Scottish Canals continues to work with partners and surrounding community groups in organising the opening of the Garscube Bridge and celebrating the vital link to nature it will provide for the surrounding area. We ask that members of the public continue to follow signage on site as we work to reopen the larger area in early 2021.
Upcoming works yet to be completed include additional footpaths and landscaping in the Claypits, Garscube Link which will connect the towpath to Garscube Road and the new health centre, and ongoing work to the Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) which supports the development of new homes in adjoining areas. Updates will be posted on our website and on our social channels.
Update 8th July 2020
Our teams are currently working on site at the Claypits site and Garscube Bridge, and expect that works will be completed to allow boat navigation in this area by the end of September.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused for both boaters and towpath users during the delay caused by these works. Following the three month delay caused by Covid-19 at the end of March, we appreciate your patience and understanding as our teams and third party construction partners work to find new ways of working safely.
Update 12th June 2020
Following Scottish Government phasing of lockdown easing, we are pleased to be able to restart works on the Claypits site and Garscube Bridge this month. The site will reopen on Thursday 18th June, with works commencing on Panmure Gate pontoon and path structure, as well as Garscube Bridge foundation works.
As part of the works, we will be required to once again close the towpath between Applecross Street and Firhill to allow for the construction and installation of Garscube Bridge. The closure will last approximately four weeks, with a diversion in place – we will share exact closure dates once confirmed.
Update 10th March 2020
Shortly our teams and constructors will be undertaking the felling of a tree which is within the canal infrastructure itself to ensure no damage is done to the waterway. These works will be supplemented by a programme of tree planting between Panmure Gate and Ellesmere spur which will see approximately 70 new trees planted.
Update 6th March 2020
Please note that the towpath between Applecross Street and Firhill will be closed from the 16th of March for approximately three weeks to accommodate works on the Garscube pedestrian bridge. A diversion will be in place for pedestrians and cyclist use as seen below.
Update 26th February 2020
Please note that the canal will remain closed to transits until the end of April 2020 due to ongoing works on the Garscube pedestrian bridge. While we have taken every effort to complete the project during the off-season, a delay has occurred due to poor weather conditions and engineering challenges related to the technical nature of the build. Our contractors are working 7 days a week offsite to create the necessary components for installation
Towpath closures are also expected during this period, information about dates and diversions will be shared in due course.
Update 21st January 2020
Works have started on the concrete foundations to support the Garscube Bridge structure. There will be approximately 115m3 of concrete poured to form the 600mm thick continuous slab and it will be completed by close of play Tuesday 21st January 2020.
Update 15th January 2020
As part of the ongoing nature reserve improvement works Scottish Canals will be mobilising plant and machinery to operate in the canal around the Firhill Basin. Works are due to commence on Monday 3rd of February for 3-4 weeks and will be managed adjacent to the Firhill Road bridge. Some users of the tow path may experience some disruption during the works, however the towpath will remain open.
The current canal closure will also include the stretch up to and including the Firhill basin area during this time.
Update 20th November 2019
The towpath from Firhill to Applecross is now open, and the works on the Garscube pedestrian bridge are well underway. Take a look at the progress so far below.
Project progress | Work continues to progress at Glasgow's Claypits Local Nature Reserve where we have been working on a new pedestrian bridge that will open up the space for the local communities of Firhill, Woodside and Maryhill.@Glasgow_Canal @scottishcanals pic.twitter.com/7E2qpx2scN
— Mackenzie Construction (@MackenzieConstr) December 19, 2019
Update 4th November 2019
As works on the Garscube Bridge progress, we will be closing the towpath from Firhill to Applecross from Monday 25th November to Sunday 15th December. This will allow works to be undertaken on the bridge foundations. Dates are subject to change; please keep up-to-date by bookmarking this page or visiting @scottishcanals on Twitter.
The below map shows the diversion route in place throughout the towpath closure period
As part of the ongoing works at Garscube Bridge, Panmure Gate and Firhill, we will be required to close the towpath for a period throughout the works, beginning in November 2019.
We will share exact dates of closure once these are known.
Download the latest plan for The Claypits
Due to ongoing works at Applecross Street, the car parking spaces directly adjacent to the stores building will be closed from Monday the 14th of October for approximately one week.
Update 24th September 2019
The piling rig for the pontoons at Panmure Moorings will be mobilising 1st October, and similarly at Panmure Gate pathway on the 8th October. This work will affect both canal traffic and towpath access due to plant access requirements at Firhill. The ongoing piling will take place throughout October.
Update 22nd August 2019
Works on the new Garscube Bridge will begin on Monday 26th August. These works will impact both navigation on the canal and on the towpath during the following key dates:
Monday 26th August 2019 – duration of roughly two weeks – Channel realignment and silt removal at Firhill may produce materials and debris in the water which will be managed by Mackenzie Construction.
Thursday 29th August to 4th October 2019 –Disruption at Canal House, Applecross Street. The ongoing drainage works will involve closing the east section of the Applecross car park on Thursday the 12th of August for two days. There will also be no access to the car park over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd September. Similarly, the north west parking bays will not be available from the 23rd of September to the 4th of October. Please note that due to clashes with other works in the area, the works surrounding Canal House, Applecross have changed. These dates have been updated to reflect the current timescales.
Monday 9th September until Sunday 15th September 2019 – Works start on the Garscube Bridge which will reduce the number of boats able to pass through this section of the canal. Please call the Boat Movements Line on 07810 794467 if you are planning to travel through this area during these dates.
Monday 16th September 2019 until March 2020 – Channel closure will disrupt navigation along the Forth & Clyde Canal between Firhill Basin and Applecross. Sea-to-sea navigation along the Lowlands will remain unaffected by this closure.
Main paths closure, 4th February 2019 – spring 2020
The main path in The Claypits (known as 'The Yellow Brick Road') will be closed from 4th February until spring 2020.
This closure is to allow a wide range of improvements to the area including: the construction of a new foot and cycle bridge over the Forth & Clyde Canal; new and improved pathways; new wildlife habitats; the creation of viewpoints; the installation of fishing pegs; improved drainage in the surrounding area; and new gateways at Panmure Street, Garscube Road, and Ellesmere Street.
An alternative route is available via the Applecross Street and Ellesmere Street footpaths during the construction works.
We appreciate everyone's patience during the works and look forward to welcoming you to explore The Claypits.
This page will be updated with further information as it becomes available. You can also follow us on Twitter @ScottishCanals for updates.
The Claypits planned works 2019 FINAL	(PDF, 4452kb)
Project Sketches	(PDF, 967kb)
Vegetation clearance plans	(PDF, 1917kb)


Universal Orlando Resort is set for a public grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on June 18. Last week, they revealed details of one of three Harry Potter themed attractions, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.
This attraction is the heart of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, inside Hogwarts castle, which towers of the park, and combines story with new technology to create a immersive experience. As you venture through Hogwarts castle, you meet Harry, Ron and Hermione who convince you to skip a planned lecture and follow them. Upon taking their advice, you travel by Floo powder, and begin the adventure as you soar over Hogwarts, narrowly escape a dragon attack, have a close encounter with the Whomping Willow, get pulled into a Quidditch match and more.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was created as a 360-degree theme park experience, combining live-action, advanced robotic technology and innovative filmmaking.
The full attraction experience, including the queue, takes about an hour. For more information, visit www.UniversalOrlando.com.


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Big learning curve for Xavier basketball
Xavier Prep's basketball rollercoaster took quite a few twists and turns on Saturday (Nov. 25), but the Gators did not enjoy the ride.
The Gators faced host Gilbert Highland in the final day of play in the Highland Lady Hawk Thanksgiving Classic. The teams were tied at 43 entering the fourth quarter, but Xavier was outscored 8-0 down the stretch and dropped a 61-55 decision.
Xavier finished 2-3 in the tournament and will begin its regular season on Tuesday (Nov. 28) with a road game in Ahwatukee against Phoenix Mountain Pointe. The Gators will have their home opener on Friday (Dec. 1) against Mesa Skyline.
According to Xavier coach Jennifer Gillom, there wasn't much to like about her team's effort.
"We can't blame anyone but ourselves,'' she said.
The Gators also could blame some questionable calls by the officials (they were whistled for 10 more fouls than Highland), but Gillom did not want to go down that road.
"The team has to learn to play through all of that,'' she said. "There are going to be times when that happens, particularly on the road. We have to be able to step up in the big games. That is why we wanted to come to this tournament with all of its strong competition.''
The learning and maturation process "is going to be something that takes time,'' she said. "At this point, it isn't so much about winning as it is about teaching. We are trying to get there, but not yet. You can see it on the players' faces that they are not happy.''
The team has yet to get consistent leadership from some of its more experienced players, Gillom said.
"We need it, particularly in pressure situations,'' she said.
Xavier had a 10-6 lead midway through the first quarter. The Gators perhaps could have put more distance between themselves and the Hawks, but did not.
The contest continued to go back and forth in the second and third, and long-time Highland coach Miner Webster received a technical foul with two seconds left in the third. Xavier could convert only one of two free throws.
In the decisive fourth, Xavier held a 55-53 lead with about 3 ½ minutes left, thanks to a three-point basket by Addie Putnam. Those would be the last points for the Gators as Highland made six of eight free throws in the final 2:23.
Forward Montana Oltrogge led Xavier with 15 points. Guard Paris Rasheed-Moore had 14 points and forward Katie Hassett had another strong game inside with 10 points.
Three seniors have essential soccer roles
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§ 45-2 Authorization to act.
§ 45-3 Appointment; term; duties; applicability of state law.
§ 45-5 Suppression of statute.
Zoning Board of Appeals — See Ch. 54.
The title of this article shall be "Appointment of Vice Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson to the Planning Board of the Town of Clarence."
This article shall apply to the appointment, terms, functions and powers of Vice Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson appointed to serve on the Town of Clarence Planning Board.
The Chairperson of the Planning Board may have to recuse him or herself from participating in a specific matter before the Planning Board because of a conflict of interest or may be absent because of illness, vacation or other reasons. The Vice Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson are hereby authorized to act as the Chairperson under those circumstances.
The Town Board of the Town of Clarence hereby adopts this article to provide a process to appoint a member of the Planning Board as Vice Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson.
A Vice Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson of the Planning Board shall be appointed by the Town Board of the Town of Clarence at its organizational meeting each year.
The appointment will be for a period of one year.
The Vice Chairperson shall serve in the absence of the Chairperson. The Second Vice Chairperson will serve as the acting Chairperson in the absence of the Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson.
All provisions of state law relating to Planning Board members' eligibility, vacancy in office, removal, compatibility of office and service on other boards, as well as any provision of a local law or local ordinance relating to training, continuing education, compensation and attendance, shall also apply to the Vice Chairperson and Second Vice Chairperson.
This article is adopted pursuant to the provisions of the Municipal Home Rule Law § 10.
It is the intent of the Town Board of the Town of Clarence, pursuant to § 10 of the Municipal Home Rule Law, to supersede the provisions of § 271 of the Town Law relating to the appointment of members of the Planning Board.


text:
Did You Know the Mona Lisa Was Once Stolen? – Arts and Music PA
However, all that changed in 1911. The Mona Lisa theft is the basis for the video.
The painting was on an area with the rest of the paintings inside the gallery, and not receiving any treatment special for security. The painting was taken by an Italian worker at the gallery. He also stole his brother's belongings. He removed the artwork out of its frame, then hid it underneath his clothing. The missing artifact was not discovered until after an exhausting day.
When people noticed that the painting was stolen, news of it spread like wildfire. All over the world, newspapers covered the incident and warned everyone to watch for warning signs. There was no evidence of the painting. The Italian culprit was even interrogated and the police did no further action. The police finally called police when the thief tried to sell the painting to an Italian buyer. The police were able to make an arrest, and the painting was later released. I'm sure he would have enjoyed the assistance of fine bail bondsmen. But alas, he was imprisoned. Today, more than 6 millions of people come to view the famous artwork every year. dw7q4vgixk.


Adding a clamp function makes some of these range limitations a bit prettier and removes some #include's.
hand-inline part of the implementation in search.
This is a non-functional code style change.
If we add an accessor function for SquareBB we can consolidate all of the asserts. This is also a bit cleaner because all SquareBB accesses go through this method making future changes easier to manage.
This is a non-functional patch which shrinks the reductions array.
This saves about 8Kb of memory.
calculating the rest real-time appears to be just as fast as master.
skipQuiets variable are similar enough in function that they can be combined.
This removes the skipQuiets variable in search.
I couldn't figure out how to fix the original one.


text:
Top Czech football clubs given yellow card over stadium security
https://english.radio.cz/top-czech-football-clubs-given-yellow-card-over-stadium-security-8290714#player=on
Photo: CTK
The world football focus may be on Brazil and the culmination of the world cup, but Czech football has some persistent problems to tackle at home, in particular hooliganism. The interior ministry has just set out its demands for improvements at top grounds across the country and has warned clubs that they can take action or risk stadiums being closed.
Marauding masked football fans tore down barriers, tore up chairs and threw them at stewards and rival fans at a top league match between Baník Ostrava and Sparta Prague at the end of March.
Police, who are no longer present at matches as a matter of course, had to be called in with the game halted for 40 minutes while order was restored. One of the results of that eruption of violence was a broad working group set up by the interior ministry and calling on legal experts, police, football clubs and the national football association to look at ways of clamping down on hooliganism at stadiums.
One key aspect has been a survey of security at the grounds of top Czech clubs and the findings in that report were presented at a press conference attended by the Minister of Interior Milan Chovanec, Police President Tomáš Tuhý and chairman of the Football Association of the Czech Republic, Miroslav Pelta, on Tuesday.
Milan Chovanec, photo: Filip Jandourek
For the moment the specific problems and remedies required at the country's main first division grounds has not been made public but will start to be discussed by the football association and clubs concerned. But it is clear that the report is part of what amounts to a yellow card with a red one following if steps are not taken in time this time round after previous promises were broken. Interior Milan Chovanec explained: "These are the directions that we have decided to take: it has been agreed that the association will set out the rules of the game, the licensing conditions for clubs and the first year, that means in a year's time, if these conditions are not fulfilled then clubs will not be able to play first division games in their stadiums"
So clubs have basically got to get their stadiums ready by the summer of 2015 or face their closure.
The interior ministry has already signaled that it wants clubs to be able to draw up their own lists of problem fans and a means for those names to be shared via a central database. Improved segregation of fans, better training and use of stewards used inside grounds to keep order should also be covered. In ground cameras to home in on violence and technology to help identify the hooligans are also being talked about.
An estimated bill for clubs to come up with improvements already comes to 150 million crowns. The football association says it will try to help out club's facing financial problems and has hinted that it will seek a hike in the income raised from tv screening of games.
Photo: Tomáš Adamec
For the moment the Ministry of Interior is holding off on specific changes to the law needed for the clampdown on hooliganism but says it wants to be ready to start proposing measures from September. Inspiration could come from neighbouring Slovakia where close circuit security surveillance is required at all top division and second division football and ice hockey matches.
With or without cameras, the Czech league starting in just over two weeks' time will be closely followed to see how clubs are coping with the hooligan challenge.
Author: Chris Johnstone
Bohemians fans get innovative to catch game amid coronavirus restrictions
Karel Häring shoots for gap on Czech market with quarterly delivering deep explorations of football…
Sparta hit form on pitch but face problems in stands


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← Australia's courts and senators are not of an accountability mind
Double standards are a feature of Australian foreign policy. We condemn China for doing what we and other countries do. →
NBN-Up the Creek without a Plan
By Rod Tucker | On 15 July 2020
The NBN, in its present form, will not be able to deliver the digital future that Australia deserves and needs.
The Government and NBN Co executives have recently indulged in much self-congratulatory rhetoric about how the NBN has been delivered on time (June 30, 2020). And how it is providing Australian Internet users with the broadband Internet services they need under the strain of the extra network traffic caused by Covid-19. Unfortunately, the stark reality is that the quality of Australia's fixed-line broadband Internet services falls well behind that enjoyed in many other nations.
Ten years ago, when the Rudd Government established NBN Co, Australia ranked around 40th in the world on Ookla's broadband speed scorecard and was steadily moving downwards the speed rankings as other countries rolled out advanced broadband access networks. The Rudd Government charged NBN Co with rolling out a state-of-the-art Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) network that would provide a quantum leap in broadband capabilities and provide a network that was easily upgradeable as broadband demands increased.
However, the Abbott government scrapped the FTTP plan and replaced it with a sub-standard combination of technologies, predominantly with Fibre to the Node (FTTN), which is limited in its capabilities and not easily upgradeable. Ten years later, Australia finds itself in a diabolical situation. The Nation's downward slide in the global speed rankings has continued and today Ookla places Australia at 63th in the world. Unlike the Rudd Government ten years ago, the present Government appears to have no plan to fix the problem.
The Government and its supporters continue to assert that the average Australian does not really need or want more than 50 Mb/s download speeds. But not all Australians are average, and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that many families and small businesses have found their service inadequate in recent months.
The Government also points out that many NBN customers have opted for lower-speed plans rather than the higher-speed 100 Mb/s option. It is certainly true that if many NBN customers were connected to 100-Mb/s services, the Australian position on the Ookla global speed rankings would improve somewhat. But here is the rub – because of the poor performance of FTTN, customers who are distant from the nearest node simply cannot get those higher speeds. As a result, retail service providers such as Telstra are refusing to offer the higher 100 Mb/s speed.
Why is there no plan to get us out of this mess? The nub of the problem is that a large sum of money has already been spent on the obsolescent FTTN technology that other countries have bypassed or replaced. The network is not fit for purpose. But there is little appetite (or budget) to throw good money after bad.
With the online retail, telecommuting, e-health, video conferencing online education, and streaming services consuming ever-higher bandwidths, there is arguably an even greater need for improved broadband in Australia that there was ten years ago. Many people plan to continue to work from home post-Covid-19 and operate businesses from home. This will be the new normal. How can this impasse be resolved?
There are no easy answers, but one approach may be to rely on local initiatives to upgrade FTTN to FTTP or FTTC. This could be done via the NBN Co Technology Choice Program. Local government would be in a position to facilitate this process. The main problem would be the additional cost to the consumer, and it is likely that it would happen only in wealthier areas, thereby increasing the so-called digital divide – something that the NBN was originally intended to help overcome.
Another possibility is to integrate the NBN with the 5G network. Future 5G services could be a threat to the NBN in areas where the maxim speed available on the FTTN network is less than 50 Mb/s. But if the FTTN network in those areas was upgraded to FTTP the two technologies could complement each other and the fibre infrastructure and other useful assets such as powered nodes could be used to support 5G and bring in extra funding to assist with the upgrade. Any scheme along these lines would probably require a change in the terms of the agreement that gives NBN Co access to Telstra's ducts and pits. This could turn out to be a roadblock.
There has been much discussion in various fora about the desirability of NBN Co being sold to a commercial entity. The conundrum is that lacking any competition, the company that buys NBN Co may have little incentive to undertake a major upgrade of the network. This brings back visions of the late 2000s, when the incumbent, Telstra, and the Government were in open warfare over the future of broadband in Australia. Telstra had no viable competition, and this eventually led the Government to lockout Telstra and set up NBN Co. It would be a travesty if NBN Co was sold to a monopoly enterprise and if history were to repeat itself in this way.
There is little doubt that the coronavirus has further stimulated broadband usage in Australia, and it is unlikely that this new appetite for broadband services will wane. Australia has never been more in need of upgrades to its broadband infrastructure, but I fear that we have a long wait ahead of us. The Rudd Government's plan for a truly world-class national broadband network was visionary. The reality of the current NBN is a world away from that vision.
Rod Tucker
Rod Tucker is Laureate Emeritus Professor at University of Melbourne.
This entry was posted in Politics. Bookmark the permalink.


Corporate credit cards are not only a way to facilitate payment of your business expenses, but also a way to make it easier for you to distinguish between company and personal expenses and to facilitate the preparation and administration of company expense accounts.
These days, accepting credit and debit cards as payment for your goods and services is an absolute must!
More and more e-commerce merchants and cardholders around the world are protecting themselves against Internet fraud with Verified by Visa and soon also MasterCard SecureCode.


text:
#VACCINEWATCHPH
COMMUNITIES OF THE FUTURE
BIZ MEMOS
Cebu Pacific overshoots 18-M passenger volume target
Louella Desiderio (The Philippine Star) - February 4, 2016 - 9:00am
MANILA, Philippines – Budget carrier Cebu Pacific saw a nine percent growth in total passenger volume in 2015, mainly driven by long-haul services and increased frequencies in key domestic markets.
In a statement yesterday, Cebu Pacific said it carried a total of 18.4 million passengers last year, up from the 16.9 million passengers flown in 2014.
The latest passenger volume result is also higher than the carrier's 18 million target for last year.
On average, the airline's flights were 83 percent full during the year.
Passengers flown on the airline's long-haul routes surged by 146 percent year-on-year, amid increased presence in Australia and the Middle East.
Cebu Pacific flew a total of 150,000 passengers for its Manila-Sydney route last year.
According to the latest report from Australia's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, Cebu Pacific remains the largest carrier on the Manila-Sydney route, with a 40 percent market share from November 2014 to October 2015.
Passenger growth was also seen on flights from Manila to Middle East destinations such as Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Dubai in United Arab Emirates and Doha in Qatar.
Among the Middle East routes, flights between Manila and Dubai had the highest number of passengers with over 230,000 guests carried last year.
The airline also noted passenger growth in international destinations such as Hong Kong, Tokyo (Narita) and Nagoya in Japan, and Beijing and Shanghai in China.
The passenger volume on flights to Japan registered a 39 percent uptick to over 280,000 in 2015 as Cebu Pacific started operations on new routes: Manila and Cebu to Tokyo (Narita), Manila to Nagoya, and Manila to Fukuoka.
Cebu Pacific's domestic passengers, meanwhile, rose 7.41 percent year-on-year as the airline added frequencies on the Manila-Tagbilaran (Bohol), and Cebu-Tandag (Surigao del Sur) routes.
Both domestic routes saw an over 100 percent jump in passenger growth year-on-year.
Last Jan. 3, Cebu Pacific's passenger volume hit 62,947, the highest number of travellers carried by the airline in a day.
"This scalable growth in our key domestic and international markets reflects our commitment in driving trade and tourism in the countries we operate in, and enabling more travellers to connect with families and friends around the globe," Cebu Pacific vice president for corporate affairs Paterno Mantaring Jr. said.
Owned by the Gokongwei family, Cebu Pacific offers flights to a network of over 90 routes on 64 destinations, spanning Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
The airline is expanding its operations with the launch of direct flights from Manila to Guam, its first US destination, on March 15.
The carrier currently has 57 aircraft on its fleet.
ACIRC AMONG THE MIDDLE EAST AUSTRALIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST BEIJING AND SHANGHAI BUREAU OF INFRASTRUCTURE CEBU CEBU PACIFIC MANILA MIDDLE EAST PACIFIC YEAR
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