text:
Christian LeadershipPastoral leadershipCongregations
Angela Khabeb and Ingrid Rasmussen: We need to figure out what healing looks like after the murder of George Floyd
One year since the protests of the murder of George Floyd rocked both Minneapolis and the world, two pastors in the center of the uprising reflect on the changes that have taken place.
The Rev. Angela Khabeb speaks at a protest in George Floyd Square, an ongoing occupation protest at the site of Floyd's murder. Photos courtesy of Ingrid Rasmussen
When the Minneapolis uprising arrived at their doorstep after the murder of George Floyd, the Revs. Angela Khabeb and Ingrid Rasmussen, pastors of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, were both surprised.
Khabeb herself had joined the growing crowd and didn't know that the protest would make its way to her own church.
That night and in the weeks that followed, many needs arose. Holy Trinity was asked to host a medical clinic for injured protestors. Food was suddenly scarce. With each crisis, the pastors didn't have a lot of time to deliberate -- but they didn't need to analyze a proper response.
Being the church meant attending to their community's needs. They set up a clinic, delivered food and kept watch for their neighbors.
During those weeks of the uprising, their church grew and stretched.
"On those nights, the community was permeable," Rasmussen said. "I hope that we never constrict it again."
A year has passed since the murder of George Floyd, but the impact of the events of last summer remains, both said.
They have seen their congregation change and their community come together, and that is reason for hope.
The Revs. Ingrid Rasmussen and Angela Khabeb at the Festival of Homiletics.
Rasmussen is the lead pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, and Khabeb is the senior associate pastor. Rasmussen arrived at the community in 2013, and Khabeb in 2018.
They spoke with Faith & Leadership's Chris Karnadi about the impact of the uprising on their congregation and what healing might look like for their community one year after the murder of George Floyd. The following is an edited transcript.
Faith & Leadership: How close are you to the place where George Floyd was murdered and where the subsequent uprising took place?
Angela Khabeb: My kids' school is two blocks from 38th and Chicago, where George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police. That was an unexpected connection to George Floyd's murder, that my kids' school is right there.
It was bizarre to have that multilayered kind of relationship to this global tragedy.
Ingrid Rasmussen: Our church is about a mile and a half from from 38th and Chicago.
But we're just a block or two away from the police precinct building where the issuing officers were sent out from, so that's why our area and 38th and Chicago are so intimately connected, and why the uprising found its way from 38th and Chicago over to our area.
Most of the uprising activity was very close to our building.
F&L: How was your congregation involved or affected?
AK: Well, when the George Floyd uprising happened, we were in a pandemic. So that complicated absolutely everything.
We had members of our congregation who wanted to be physically present but, because of health concerns, thought it best not to be. I remember that when there was the initial protest, I thought no one would come out, because of the pandemic. But I watched the video, and I was just bawling.
I went upstairs and I told my husband, "That man called out for his mom. As a mom, I have to go."
So I went, thinking maybe 100 people would show up. But I couldn't park my car, there were so many people crowding the streets. I tried to be socially distanced, but there were too many people. And I had no idea that the protest was going to end at our church.
In our congregation, we believe in being public about our faith. We don't have to convince people that Black lives matter and that you should come out and support. Our congregation was ready and willing to be heard and to be vocal and to be present with their own bodies, resources, finances -- everything that they had, to be present.
IR: Right. People showed up in the ways that they could, based on their age and preexisting conditions and all these things that in another time wouldn't have even affected us.
It really was kind of this anomaly within our own history that we had to think so differently about who could do what.
F&L: Do you remember what you were thinking during those weeks?
AK: I can remember thinking that this is history unfolding, and I'm in the middle of it.
One day, my children's children are going to ask me where I was and what I was doing. And I wanted to, 30 years from now, be able to look them in the eye and say, "I responded faithfully, even when I was afraid."
That was my lens. I wanted to try to lift myself up above where I was in the chaos and the pain and visualize myself, a couple of decades in the future, able to look back and say, "I did what I thought was a faithful response of speaking truth to power, even when it was dangerous."
IR: That's powerful. I think, for me, one side of the experience was so hyperlocal. Angela and I, along with so many others, were in the building just attending to really particular needs at any given time of the day or night. Solving problems for people and neighbors.
And then, like Angela, there was also this sense, for me, that what was unfolding in our church building and around the church building was gaining the attention of, certainly, the city but also the state, the country and the world.
And so I remember this feeling, like, I was getting text messages from people around the country, even around the world, messages through social media, saying, "It looks like you're in the middle of a war zone. Are you OK?"
And it was true; I think we should start calling it a war zone, because I think that that's an accurate description of the level of police violence that was being exerted on the community.
On the one hand, it was so chaotic and tumultuous, and on the other hand, the community was completely on the same page, acting together. It's hard for me to make sense of that in my brain, that it was both at the same time.
Events felt totally outside anyone's control, and yet also felt there was a clear voice of the righteous anger of the community that said, "No more. We're going to act together to say, 'No more.'"
AK: I felt like, finally, this was almost like our church's Sweet 16 birthday party.
This is your coming out. This is what the church is supposed to do. We're supposed to throw our doors open and say, "Come here. We are a place of refuge when terror presses in, when oppression is pressing."
That's what the church is here for. That is the body of Christ. That is Jesus.
IR: Totally. I think when I listen to you describe how the church was acting, doing what it said it was going to do, that brings up an image for me about those days and nights, about how "membership" shifted.
Who was a member and who wasn't a member of our congregation didn't matter in those moments. The only reason we cared about who was a member was because [the members] knew where the water sources were and could find the vacuum and extension cords.
Our church and so many others have these really static understandings of what Christian community is. But on those nights, the community was permeable.
By the time I got to the church on the first night of the uprising in our neighborhood, there were people I didn't know stationed where we typically have ushers outside the front doors, serving as the welcome team.
Our understanding of the way that the church interacts, how we define church, was really stretched, and I hope that we never constrict it again.
F&L: How do you think your congregation has been permanently affected by the past year?
IR: One of the things that I have been thinking about is how white supremacy plays out in the congregation and in my own life.
One of the ways that I see it unfold is that I want to know the ending before the beginning of anything. I want to play out all the different scenarios before I engage in something new.
During the uprising, we got a call saying, "We need a medic station for the neighborhood, like, five minutes ago. Can Holy Trinity serve in that role?"
And our congregation got a glimpse of what it looks like to just say yes, to not play out everything that could possibly go wrong -- because a lot could have gone wrong. But our neighbors were standing right there, and they needed help. Can we as a community just say yes? Can we not take it to the next committee meeting? Can we not take it to the church council? Can we not do a 14-month book study?
All of those things are good. They're not in and of themselves bad things. Study, discernment and conversations that lead to group consensus can be good things, but when they stand in the way of us saying yes to our neighbors in a moment of need, then they are not good things.
Our congregation got a glimpse of a different way and a different speed of responding that is more faithful. That's one thing.
AK: After the initial uprising, our neighborhood became a food desert overnight, and we created this food distribution that was phenomenal throughout the summer.
I saw a movement in our congregation from a theology of scarcity to a theology of abundance. And I think that that has made a lasting impression. There is enough -- and there's always been enough -- for everyone.
Volunteers distribute food at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church during the protests in Minneapolis.
F&L: How has your own understanding of your vocation been affected by this year?
AK: Well, for me, some of my colleagues, especially my Black female colleagues, would say, "Angela, now, woke white people are a different breed, and you really need to be very, very careful."
And I said, "Oh please. I've been in rural Ohio, where they threatened to literally kill me. So I got this. I'll be just fine."
"No, no, no," they said. "You don't know white supremacy until you know woke white supremacy."
It's been a real challenge for my vocation to serve in the whitest denomination in the United States.
And so I've been thinking of things that we can't live without, and hope is one of them.
"Hope is like the air we breathe," a colleague said to me. And I was like, "Yeah, hope is like oxygen! It's all around us, but we just can't see it sometimes. That's great!"
And then I thought, "Oh, but people can squeeze oxygen out of your body until you die. People can squeeze hope right out of your body, slowly, slowly, until you die."
And I thought, "Oh, maybe that's what's happening. George Floyd was laying there with officers on his back, slowly squeezing the oxygen out of him. And you know? There is also poverty, sexism and racism that are also kneeling on my back."
And where is the church in all of that? Well, often the church is complicit.
F&L: Have you seen any healing over the past year? What does healing look like for your communities?
AK: Even with healing, the scars will always be present. Even when Jesus was resurrected, the scars remained.
Generational trauma is passed down. I wasn't alive when Emmett Till lived and died. In fact, Emmett Till is probably the same age as my dad, if he had lived. I was not alive, but I feel that pain of Emmett Till.
Emmett Till's family knew no justice, but that justice for George Perry Floyd is somehow tied up in all the other injustices that we didn't get to see. It is, but it's not. It's complicated.
Healing is the fact that we can still move and people are still functioning. We're just a scarred community that is doing the best that we can, kind of like that body of Christ.
IR: The people in our neighborhood rebuild group often say that there's no blueprint for what it is that we're doing right now. "There's no historicity of justice," they say.
We can't look back and see how they did it before, because the truth is we haven't seen racial justice with our own eyes.
So when I think about a healing, I remind myself that it's not a return to what was. What is healing? Talk about questions and no answer!
What does it look like when we see a man being murdered in broad daylight by people that the community tells us are sent out to protect? If that's our starting point for this past year, then what does healing look like in the wake of that?
I guess I have to ground it in really particular actions. It looks like the community taking to the streets. It looks like people banding together to share their experiences of grief. It looks like food being given to the people who are lacking access. It looks like our public officials taking seriously their responsibility to reform a system that has advantaged some to the detriment and death of others.
It looks like the church taking seriously its complicity that Angela talked about, and naming it, and then attending to it.
And all of that without knowing exactly how to do it. We're just figuring that out day by day -- I feel like hour by hour.
Healing is a call to create something new that none of us have seen. And that's a big call.
More on Pastoral leadership
Tired of constantly adapting to worship in a pandemic? You're not alone
Many churches thought that vaccines would pave the way back to normal worship, but new COVID-19 realities are forcing us to keep pivoting.
Link to author Angie Hong
By Angie Hong Worship leader, writer and speaker
Is it even possible for pastors to practice rest and self-care?
Like many essential workers, pastors are pushed to work very hard for very little. It's no surprise that so many of us are tired.
Link to author Carrington Moore
By Carrington Moore Pastor, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
"Mind your wake"
Leaders need a vision for the future but must also be attentive to what they leave behind, writes a managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.


text:
/* Header */
#header {
	background: #F6F6F6;
	background: -webkit-linear-gradient( #f6f6f6, white);
	background: linear-gradient( #f6f6f6, white);
	clear: both;
	border-top: 5px solid #EDEDED;
	min-height: 100px;
	padding: 8px 0;
}

#header > .container {
	height: 100px;
	margin-bottom: -35px;
	position: relative;
	display: table;
	max-width: 1170px;
}

#header > .navbar-collapse > .container {
	position: relative;
}

#header .header-top {
	min-height: 50px;
}

#header .header-top form {
	margin: 0;
}

#header .header-top p {
	float: left;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	line-height: 50px;
	margin: 0;
}

#header .header-top i {
	margin-right: 6px;
	margin-left: 6px;
	position: relative;
	top: 1px;
}

#header .header-top nav {
	float: left;
	width: auto;
}

#header .header-top ul.nav-top {
	margin: 7px 0 0 -15px;
	min-height: 5px;
}

#header .header-top ul.nav-top li.phone {
	margin-right: 10px;
}

#header .header-top ul.nav-top li a {
	padding-left: 4px;
}

#header .social-icons {
	clear: right;
	float: right;
	margin-top: -3px;
	margin-left: 5px;
	position: relative;
}

#header .search {
	float: right;
	margin: 10px 0 0 15px;
	position: relative;
}

#header .search + .social-icons {
	clear: none;
	margin-left: 10px;
	margin-right: 0;
	margin-top: 13px;
}

#header .search input.search:first-child {
	-webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in 0.2s;
	-moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-in 0.2s;
	transition: all 0.2s ease-in 0.2s;
	border-radius: 20px;
	width: 170px;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	padding: 6px 12px;
	height: 34px;
	margin: 0;
}

#header .search input.search:focus {
	width: 220px;
	border-color: #CCC;
}

#header .search button.btn-default {
	border: 0;
	background: transparent;
	position: absolute;
	top: 0;
	right: 0;
	color: #CCC;
	z-index: 3;
}

#header nav {
	float: right;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main {
	margin: -7px 10px 8px 0;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main > li + li {
	margin-left: -4px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li a {
	font-size: 12px;
	font-style: normal;
	line-height: 20px;
	margin-left: 3px;
	margin-right: 3px;
	text-transform: uppercase;
	font-weight: 700;
	padding: 10px 13px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li a:hover {
	background-color: #F4F4F4;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li ul a {
	text-transform: none;
	font-weight: normal;
	font-size: 0.9em;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown.open a.dropdown-toggle {
	border-radius: 5px 5px 0px 0px;
	background-color: #CCC;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 11px;
	margin-bottom: -1px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover > ul {
	display: block;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover a.dropdown-toggle {
	border-radius: 5px 5px 0px 0px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main li.active a {
	background-color: #CCC;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu {
	background-color: #CCC;
	border: 0;
	border-radius: 0 6px 6px 6px;
	box-shadow: 0px 2px 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08);
	margin: 1px 0 0 3px;
	padding: 5px;
	top: auto;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu li:hover > a {
	filter: none;
	background: #999;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu li:last-child > a {
	border-bottom: 0;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu > li > a {
	color: #FFF;
	font-weight: 400;
	padding-bottom: 4px;
	padding-top: 4px;
	text-transform: none;
	position: relative;
	padding: 8px 10px 8px 5px;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.2);
}

#header nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu ul.dropdown-menu {
	border-radius: 6px;
	margin-left: 0;
	margin-top: -5px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu {
	position: relative;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu > .dropdown-menu {
	top: 0;
	left: 100%;
	margin-top: -6px;
	margin-left: -1px;
	border-radius: 0 6px 6px 6px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu > a:after {
	display: block;
	content: " ";
	float: right;
	width: 0;
	height: 0;
	border-color: transparent;
	border-style: solid;
	border-width: 5px 0 5px 5px;
	border-left-color: #cccccc;
	margin-top: 5px;
	margin-right: -10px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu.pull-left {
	float: none;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu.pull-left > .dropdown-menu {
	left: -100%;
	margin-left: 10px;
	border-radius: 6px 0 6px 6px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu:hover > .dropdown-menu {
	display: block;
}

#header nav ul.nav-main .dropdown-submenu:hover > a:after {
	border-left-color: #FFF;
}

#header nav ul.nav-top {
	margin: 10px 0 -10px;
	min-height: 62px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-top li span {
	display: block;
	line-height: 14px;
	margin-bottom: 2px;
	margin-right: 0;
	margin-top: 5px;
	padding: 8px 2px 8px 12px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-top li a, #header nav ul.nav-top li span {
	color: #999;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	padding: 6px 10px;
}

#header nav ul.nav-top li i {
	margin-right: 6px;
	position: relative;
	top: 1px;
}

#header .nav-main-collapse {
	overflow-y: visible;
}

#header .nav-main-collapse.in {
	overflow-y: visible;
}

/* Logo */
#header .logo {
	-webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in 0.2s;
	-moz-transition: all 0.2s ease-in 0.2s;
	transition: all 0.2s ease-in 0.2s;
	margin: 0;
	padding: 5px 0;
	display: table-cell;
	vertical-align: middle;
	height: 100%;
	color: transparent;
}

#header .logo a {
	position: relative;
	z-index: 1;
}

#header .logo img {
	position: relative;
	color: transparent;
}

/* Header Container */
.header-container {
	min-height: 76px;
	position: relative;
}

/* Responsive Nav Button */
.btn-responsive-nav {
	display: none;
}

/* Sticky Menu */
#header.fixed {
	position: fixed;
	top: 0;
	width: 100%;
	z-index: 1001;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header {
	border-bottom: 1px solid #E9E9E9;
	position: fixed;
	top: -57px;
	width: 100%;
	z-index: 1001;
	box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
	filter: none;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header .social-icons {
	margin-top: -1px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header nav ul.nav-main {
	margin-bottom: 7px;
	margin-top: -1px;
}

/* Header Mega Menu */
@media (min-width: 992px) {
	#header nav.mega-menu .nav, #header nav.mega-menu .dropup, #header nav.mega-menu .dropdown, #header nav.mega-menu .collapse {
		position: static;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-content {
		text-shadow: none;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-item .mega-menu-sub-title {
		color: #333333;
		display: block;
		font-size: 1em;
		font-weight: 600;
		padding-bottom: 5px;
		text-transform: uppercase;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-item ul.dropdown-menu {
		background: #FFF !important;
		border-top: 6px solid #CCC;
		color: #777777;
		box-shadow: 0 20px 45px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08);
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-item ul.sub-menu {
		list-style: none;
		padding: 0;
		margin: 0;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-item ul.sub-menu a {
		color: #777777;
		text-shadow: none;
		margin: 0 0 0 -8px;
		padding: 3px 8px;
		text-transform: none;
		font-size: 0.9em;
		display: block;
		font-weight: normal;
		border-radius: 4px;
		border: 0;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-item:hover ul.sub-menu li:hover a:hover {
		background: #F4F4F4 !important;
		text-decoration: none;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-fullwidth ul.dropdown-menu {
		border-radius: 6px;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .navbar-inner, #header nav.mega-menu .container {
		position: relative;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .dropdown-menu {
		left: auto;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .dropdown-menu > li {
		display: block;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .mega-menu-content {
		padding: 20px 30px;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .mega-menu-content:before {
		display: table;
		content: "";
		line-height: 0;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .mega-menu-content:after {
		display: table;
		content: "";
		line-height: 0;
		clear: both;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu.navbar .nav > li > .dropdown-menu:after, #header nav.mega-menu.navbar .nav > li > .dropdown-menu:before {
		display: none;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu .dropdown.mega-menu-fullwidth .dropdown-menu {
		width: 100%;
		left: 0;
		right: 0;
	}

	#header nav.mega-menu nav.pull-right .dropdown-menu {
		right: 0;
	}

	#header.flat-menu nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main li.mega-menu-fullwidth ul.dropdown-menu {
		border-radius: 0;
	}
}
/* Header Flat Menu */
#header.flat-menu > .container {
	height: 91px;
	margin-bottom: -82px;
}

#header.flat-menu .header-top {
	margin-top: -8px;
}

#header.flat-menu .social-icons {
	margin: 11px 10px 9px 10px;
	margin: 10px 10px 0;
}

#header.flat-menu .search {
	margin-top: 8px;
}

#header.flat-menu .search form {
	margin: 0;
}

#header.flat-menu .search input.search-query {
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 5px;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main {
	float: right;
	margin: -9px 0 -8px;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main > li > a {
	margin-bottom: 0;
	border-top: 5px solid transparent;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main li a {
	border-radius: 0;
	margin-left: 1px;
	margin-right: 3px;
	padding-bottom: 20px;
	padding-top: 46px;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover a.dropdown-toggle {
	border-radius: 0;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 21px;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu {
	margin: 0 0 0 1px;
	border-radius: 0;
}

#header.flat-menu nav ul.nav-main ul.dropdown-menu ul.dropdown-menu {
	border-radius: 0;
}

/* Header Flat Menu - Sticky Menu / Boxed */
body.sticky-menu-active #header.flat-menu ul.nav-main {
	margin-bottom: -10px;
	margin-top: 34px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.flat-menu ul.nav-main > li > a, body.sticky-menu-active #header.flat-menu ul.nav-main > li:hover > a {
	border-top-color: transparent;
	padding-bottom: 26px;
	padding-top: 26px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.flat-menu .logo {
	padding-top: 15px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.flat-menu .header-top {
	display: none;
}

body.boxed #header.flat-menu {
	padding: 15px 0 7px;
	border-radius: 5px 5px 0 0;
}

body.boxed #header.flat-menu.clean-top {
	padding-bottom: 8px;
}

body.boxed #header.flat-menu.colored {
	padding: 0 0 7px;
}

/* Header Single Menu */
#header.single-menu {
	min-height: 86px;
}

#header.single-menu > .container {
	height: 91px;
	margin-bottom: -77px;
}

#header.single-menu .social-icons {
	margin-top: 32px;
}

#header.single-menu .search {
	display: none;
}

#header.single-menu .search + nav {
	display: none;
}

#header.single-menu nav ul.nav-main {
	margin: -28px 0 -9px;
	float: right;
}

#header.single-menu nav ul.nav-main li a, #header.single-menu nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 20px;
	padding-top: 62px;
}

#header.single-menu nav.mega-menu .mega-menu-signin {
	margin-right: 0;
}

/* Header Single Menu - Sticky Menu / Boxed */
body.sticky-menu-active #header.single-menu .logo {
	padding-top: 14px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.single-menu .social-icons {
	margin-top: 54px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.single-menu nav ul.nav-main {
	margin-top: 20px;
	margin-bottom: -9px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.single-menu nav ul.nav-main > li > a, body.sticky-menu-active #header.single-menu nav ul.nav-main > li:hover > a {
	border-top-color: transparent;
	padding-bottom: 21px;
	padding-top: 36px;
}

body.boxed #header.single-menu {
	padding: 15px 0 7px;
}

/* Header Clean Top */
#header.clean-top .header-top {
	border-bottom: 1px solid #EDEDED;
	background-color: #F4F4F4;
	margin-top: -8px;
}

#header.clean-top .social-icons {
	margin: 11px 10px 9px 10px;
}

/* Header Clean Top - Sticky Menu / Boxed */
body.sticky-menu-active #header.clean-top ul.nav-main > li > a, body.sticky-menu-active #header.clean-top ul.nav-main > li:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 20px;
	padding-top: 33px;
}

body.boxed #header.clean-top {
	border-radius: 5px 5px 0 0;
}

/* Header Colored */
#header.colored {
	border-top: 0;
}

#header.colored > .container {
	height: 107px;
	margin-bottom: -92px;
}

#header.colored .header-top p, #header.colored .header-top a, #header.colored .header-top span {
	color: #FFF;
}

#header.colored .search input.search-query {
	border: 0;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 5px;
	box-shadow: none;
}

#header.colored nav ul.nav-main {
	margin: -15px 0 -8px;
}

#header.colored nav ul.nav-main li a {
	padding-bottom: 24px;
	padding-top: 50px;
}

#header.colored nav ul.nav-main li.dropdown:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 24px;
}

/* Header Colored - Sticky Menu / Boxed */
body.sticky-menu-active #header.colored .logo {
	padding-top: 6px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.colored ul.nav-main > li > a, body.sticky-menu-active #header.colored ul.nav-main > li:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 24px;
	padding-top: 24px;
}

/* Header Darken Top Border */
#header.darken-top-border > .container {
	height: 103px;
}

#header.darken-top-border ul.nav-main {
	margin: -11px 0 -8px;
}

/* Header Darken Top Border - Sticky Menu / Boxed */
body.sticky-menu-active #header.darken-top-border nav ul.nav-main {
	margin-top: 33px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.darken-top-border nav ul.nav-main > li > a, body.sticky-menu-active #header.darken-top-border nav ul.nav-main > li:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 22px;
	padding-top: 30px;
}

body.boxed #header.darken-top-border {
	border-top: 0;
}

/* Header Center */
#header.center .logo {
	text-align: center;
	position: static;
	margin-top: 5px;
}

#header.center nav {
	float: left;
	text-align: center;
	width: 100%;
}

#header.center nav ul.nav-main {
	margin: 35px 0 10px;
}

#header.center nav ul.nav-main > li {
	display: inline-block;
	float: none;
	text-align: left;
}

/* Header Center - Sticky Menu */
body.sticky-menu-active #header.center > .container {
	margin-top: -60px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.center .logo {
	text-align: left;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.center .logo img {
	margin-top: 42px;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.center nav {
	float: right;
	margin-top: 18px;
	width: auto;
}

body.sticky-menu-active #header.center nav ul.nav-main > li > a, body.sticky-menu-active #header.center nav ul.nav-main > li:hover > a {
	padding-bottom: 10px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}

/* Header Narrow */
@media (min-width: 992px) {
	#header.narrow {
		height: auto;
		min-height: 85px;
		padding: 0;
		border-bottom: 1px solid #E9E9E9;
		box-shadow: 0 0 3px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
	}

	#header.narrow > .container {
		margin-bottom: -48px;
		height: 75px;
	}
}
/* Mega Menu (Signin/SignUp) */
#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin {
	margin-right: -20px;
	padding-left: 0;
	margin-left: 0;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin a {
	color: #444;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin .dropdown-menu {
	width: 40%;
	right: 8px;
	border-radius: 6px 0 6px 6px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin .icon-user {
	margin-right: 5px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin .mega-menu-sub-title {
	margin-bottom: 10px;
	display: block;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin .sign-up-info, #header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin .log-in-info {
	text-align: center;
	display: block;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.open a.dropdown-toggle {
	margin-bottom: -1px;
	padding-bottom: 11px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.signin .signin-form {
	display: block;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.signin .signup-form, #header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.signin .recover-form {
	display: none;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.signup .signin-form {
	display: none;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.signup .signup-form {
	display: block;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.signup .recover-form {
	display: none;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.recover .signin-form, #header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.recover .signup-form {
	display: none;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.recover .recover-form {
	display: block;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .user-avatar .img-thumbnail {
	float: left;
	margin-right: 15px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .user-avatar .img-thumbnail img {
	max-width: 55px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .user-avatar strong {
	color: #111;
	display: block;
	padding-top: 7px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .user-avatar span {
	color: #666;
	display: block;
	font-size: 12px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .user-avatar p {
	color: #999;
	margin: 0 0 0 25px;
	text-align: left;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .list-account-options {
	list-style: square;
	margin-top: 6px;
}

#header nav.mega-menu ul.nav-main .mega-menu-signin.logged .list-account-options a:hover {
	text-decoration: none;
}

body #header nav.mega-menu .mega-menu-signin ul.dropdown-menu li a, body #header nav.mega-menu .mega-menu-signin ul.dropdown-menu:hover li:hover li:hover a {
	background-color: transparent !important;
	color: #333;
	padding: 0;
	margin: 0;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Revolutions are often born in public squares, and the uprisings that have rewritten Middle Eastern history this year are no exception. "A different Middle East is emerging," observed Ehud Yaari of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, "one that may be temporarily called square-ocracy, or the transfer of power from governments to masses of demonstrators in the streets."
The main square in Tunis, where protesters gathered to oust dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, is now named for Mohammad Bouazizi, the desperate, government-harassed young street vendor whose self-immolation helped topple the regime. Pro-government thugs loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi opened fire in February on protesters assembled in Tripoli's Green Square, threatening carnage to come.
The government of Bahrain shot protesters who were gathering peacefully in its main urban landmark, Pearl Square, to demand greater political rights and representation. In no Arab capital, though, has an uprising been as closely identified with a place as in Cairo, whose Tahrir Square hosted the revolt that ended the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.
Tahrir, or "Liberation," Square was originally called Ismailiya Square, after Khedive Ismail, one of Egypt's self-styled pharaohs, who built it 140 years ago. The square was part of an effort by Ismail, an admirer of Baron Haussmann's grand boulevards, parks, and squares in Paris, to make Cairo the Paris of the Middle East.
Another of Egypt's autocrats, colonel-turned-president Gamal Abdel Nasser, renamed the square "Tahrir" in 1952 to commemorate Egypt's "liberation" from the British — a tad belatedly, since Britain had left in the 1920s—and from the monarchy of King Farouk, from whom Nasser and a handful of officers had seized power in a military coup.
The square isn't really a square at all. As Nezar AlSayyad, an Egyptian-born architect at the University of California at Berkeley, observes in his meticulous new book, Cairo: Histories of a City, Tahrir is actually a vast, ill-defined space bordered on one side by the Nile and on another by a few buildings that have come to symbolize modern Egypt, for better or for worse.
Their focal point is the Mugamma ("central complex") — a sprawling, 12-story Stalinist structure housing the many government offices that Egyptians must visit to seek permits or licenses when doing any business with the state. Such dealings are so complex, and the Egyptian bureaucracy so unresponsive, that even the most routine procedure often requires weeks to finish, absent baksheesh (a bribe).
Egyptians like to joke that an ambulance is permanently parked at the base of the building to collect the bodies of citizens who have hurled themselves out of the fortress in despair.
The protesters' victory was as improbable as the mass rallies that produced it. A well-connected Egyptian told me that shortly before citizens began protesting the killing of a young Egyptian blogger by the security police for failing to show his identification, the country's widely despised interior minister, Habib el-Adly, had assured Mubarak that the police could easily handle the 15,000 to 20,000 people expected in Tahrir Square.
Instead, seemingly half the city's population visited Tahrir in the 19 days of largely nonviolent protests that forced Mubarak's ouster. Not even the Muslim Brotherhood, believed to be Egypt's largest opposition group, foresaw such an outpouring. "I was totally surprised," said Abd al-Monem Abo al-Fotouh, a Brotherhood leader. "We thought that this younger generation was good only for sipping coffee in cafés and playing computer games. That's why we waited so long to join the protests."
But Alaa al-Asmawy had predicted that such a day might come. His 2006 novel "The Yacoubian Building," which was translated into several languages and made into an equally popular film, described Egypt's moral decay and the growing desperation of its citizens. The story depicted the lives of eight residents of a once-elegant, now-dilapidated building not far from Tahrir Square — a structure ravaged by age, mismanagement, corruption, and neglect, and thus a metaphor for Egypt itself.
The Yacoubian Building captured an Egyptian paradox: the belief held by many Egyptians that their country was at the end of an era, despite impressive economic growth rates of roughly 6 percent a year for the past decade, glistening new shopping malls, chic bars and nightclubs, new "satellite cities" on Cairo's outskirts, improved infrastructure, and an economic liberalization that spawned a booming, if crony-capitalist, private sector — much of it owned and managed by Mubarak's son Gamal and his inner circle.
"We need change," al-Asmawy told me in Cairo back in 2008. A Chicago-educated dentist who writes fiction in between filling cavities and writing columns for an opposition newspaper, he called Egypt a "sick" nation whose politicians treated its symptoms, rather than the underlying illness.
"Dictatorship is our disease and democracy is the remedy," he told more than 1 million cheering Egyptians in the square.
Moussa wasn't naive. Democracy in countries like Egypt, he said, couldn't emerge full-blown overnight, but Egypt was moving in the right direction. The rebellion, for instance, had no "religious coloring." Protesters had hoisted placards demanding freedom and jobs, not Korans. The Brotherhood, which so many Coptic Christians and secular Egyptians fear may win control of a new Egyptian government, was "not in the driver's seat," he asserted.
While they had helped the protesters organize and fight the police who attacked them, they hadn't "claimed ownership of the revolution." Another good sign: "When have revolutionaries ever cleaned up their own mess?" Moussa asked, pointing to the young Egyptians who were clearing trash and repainting signs in the square. Assembling the building blocks of democracy would take time, but the revolution had fostered a "new spirit," he said. "Egyptians now want strong systems, not strongmen."
But creating stable, modern, democratic systems in Egypt — functioning political parties, the rule of law, protection of the Coptic Christians and other minorities, respect for the individual and for the right to dissent — is a daunting proposition, to say the least.
It will certainly take longer than the six months that the army has allocated for a transition to civilian rule. Some Egyptians said they feared that the military would transfer power to civilians before they were ready to govern. Others worried about just the opposite — that the army, which controls an estimated 10 percent to 20 percent of the economy directly and through front companies, might ultimately resist yielding power.
But the Brotherhood isn't monolithic. It is deeply divided — between younger and older members, along ideological lines, and over strategy and tactics. If Mubarak's repression forced the group to paper over its differences, freedom is likely to intensify them.
"We will have not one Brotherhood but many," predicted Hodaiby. He ought to know. Despite his credentials as a descendant of Brotherhood leaders, Hodaiby quietly quit the group long before the protests began. "I was fed up with their internal quarrels and intolerance," he told me. "They're almost as archaic as Mubarak's regime."
The military has resisted calls to cancel the three-decade-old emergency law that gives the government virtually unlimited power to arrest and detain citizens without judicial review. Foreign policy, too, is dangerously adrift.
Even supposedly liberal politicians have suggested that Egypt's 30-year-old peace treaty with Israel be amended or subjected to a popular referendum. That may be a popular move; the men who infamously beat and sexually molested Lara Logan, a non-Jewish CBS correspondent, in Tahrir on the night of Mubarak's ouster also shouted "Jew, Jew," and called her "Mubarak's blond Israeli reporter."
The challenges confronting Egypt were much on the mind of Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the 88-year-old Egyptian diplomat who was the U.N.'s sixth secretary general. As we drank tea in his study overlooking the Nile, he observed: "Egypt remains a country with too many people living on too narrow a strip of land along a Nile with too little water."
Indeed, 70 percent of Egyptians are under 35, and the nation has the world's highest rate of youth unemployment. Egypt's underfunded universities graduate nearly half a million students each year, many of them unemployable, thanks to the poor quality of Egypt's educational system.
As I prepared to leave the country in February, Tahrir Square had been cleared, and its revolutionary euphoria was fading. Egypt's revolt hadn't become a full-fledged revolution; Mubarak was gone, but power remained in the security establishment's hands. An ancient land with over 5,000 years of strong, centralized rule, Egypt seemed to have its own inexorable rhythms.
What it had experienced was not "Revolution 2.0," as the young Google executive who helped launch the revolt called it, but "Revolution 5,000.0," said el-Alfi, the entrepreneur.
In March, Egypt held its first free vote — a referendum on constitutional amendments that a group handpicked by the military had proposed. The Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak's party endorsed the package; Egypt's young liberal reformers opposed it. Some 77 percent of the 41 percent of Egyptians eligible to vote endorsed the changes — a blow to the liberals.


text:
package com.kartashov.jenkins.beanstalk;

import com.amazonaws.AmazonClientException;
import com.amazonaws.auth.AWSCredentials;
import com.amazonaws.regions.Region;
import com.amazonaws.services.elasticbeanstalk.AWSElasticBeanstalk;
import com.amazonaws.services.elasticbeanstalk.AWSElasticBeanstalkClient;
import com.amazonaws.services.elasticbeanstalk.model.*;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3;
import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client;

import javax.annotation.Nullable;
import java.io.File;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;

public class CloudService {

    private LoggerFacade logger;
    private AWSElasticBeanstalk elasticBeanstalk;
    private AmazonS3 s3;

    public CloudService(AWSCredentials credentials, Region region, LoggerFacade logger) {
        this.logger = logger;

        this.elasticBeanstalk = new AWSElasticBeanstalkClient(credentials);
        this.elasticBeanstalk.setRegion(region);

        this.s3 = new AmazonS3Client(credentials);
        this.s3.setRegion(region);
    }

    public List<EnvironmentDescription> getEnvironmentDescriptions() throws Exception {
        try {
            return elasticBeanstalk.describeEnvironments().getEnvironments();
        } catch (AmazonClientException e) {
            throw new Exception(e.getMessage());
        }
    }

    @Nullable
    public EnvironmentDescription getEnvironmentDescriptionByCname(String cname) throws Exception {
        for (EnvironmentDescription environmentDescription : getEnvironmentDescriptions()) {
            if (environmentDescription.getCNAME().equalsIgnoreCase(cname)) {
                return environmentDescription;
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    @Nullable
    public EnvironmentDescription getEnvironmentDescriptionByName(String name) throws Exception {
        for (EnvironmentDescription environmentDescription : getEnvironmentDescriptions()) {
            if (environmentDescription.getEnvironmentName().equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
                return environmentDescription;
            }
        }
        return null;
    }

    private S3Location uploadArtifact(String bucketName, File artifact, String versionLabel) {
        final String name = artifact.getName();
        final int separator = name.lastIndexOf(".");
        final String key = name.substring(0, separator) + "-" + versionLabel + name.substring(separator);

        logger.bar();
        logger.info(Messages.artifact_start_uploading(artifact.getAbsolutePath()));
        logger.info(Messages.artifact_bucket_name(bucketName));
        logger.info(Messages.artifact_key(key));

        s3.putObject(bucketName, key, artifact);

        logger.info(Messages.artifact_uploaded());

        return new S3Location(bucketName, key);
    }

    public ApplicationVersionDescription createNewApplicationVersion(EnvironmentDescription environmentDescription,
                                                                     File artifact) throws Exception {

        final SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd-HHmm");
        final String versionLabel = format.format(new Date());
        S3Location location = uploadArtifact(elasticBeanstalk.createStorageLocation().getS3Bucket(), artifact,
                versionLabel);

        CreateApplicationVersionRequest request = new CreateApplicationVersionRequest();
        request.setApplicationName(environmentDescription.getApplicationName());
        request.setSourceBundle(location);
        request.setVersionLabel(versionLabel);

        CreateApplicationVersionResult result = elasticBeanstalk.createApplicationVersion(request);
        return result.getApplicationVersion();
    }

    public void updateEnvironment(EnvironmentDescription environmentDescription, String versionLabel) throws Exception {

        logger.bar();
        logger.info(Messages.environment_start_updating(environmentDescription.getEnvironmentName()));

        UpdateEnvironmentRequest updateEnvironmentRequest = new UpdateEnvironmentRequest();
        updateEnvironmentRequest.setEnvironmentName(environmentDescription.getEnvironmentName());
        updateEnvironmentRequest.setVersionLabel(versionLabel);
        elasticBeanstalk.updateEnvironment(updateEnvironmentRequest);

        logger.info(Messages.environment_update_request_sent(environmentDescription.getEnvironmentName()));

        ensureEnvironmentHealth(environmentDescription.getEnvironmentName());
    }

    private EnvironmentDescription ensureEnvironmentHealth(String environmentName) throws Exception {
        boolean isReady = false;
        EnvironmentDescription environmentDescription = null;
        for (int attempt = 0; attempt < 120; attempt++) {
            logger.info(Messages.environment_waiting_for_green(environmentName));
            try {
                Thread.sleep(30 * 1000);
            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                throw new Exception(e.getMessage());
            }
            environmentDescription = getEnvironmentDescriptionByName(environmentName);

            if (environmentDescription != null &&
                    environmentDescription.getHealth().equalsIgnoreCase(EnvironmentHealth.Green.toString())) {
                isReady = true;
                break;
            }
        }
        if (!isReady) {
            throw new Exception(Messages.environment_not_functional(environmentName));
        }
        logger.info(Messages.environment_healthy(environmentName));
        return environmentDescription;
    }

    public static class Exception extends java.lang.Exception {
        public Exception(String message) {
            super(message);
        }
    }
}


text:
Mama Puri!? (, ) — хентайне комедійне двохсерійне OVA-аніме 2009 р. виробництва студій Digital Works і Media Blasters.

Сюжет
В один прекрасний день батько головного героя відвідує сина, який нечасто його бачить через зайнятість на роботі, і раптово каже, що йому потрібна мати. Кейта щиро здивований, якщо тільки не шокований, адже він вже дорослий, а тому намагається щось заперечити. Проте батько його не слухає, натомість знайомить з двома красивими молодими жінками — Кадзухой Татесімой, яка працює в магазині, і Чійо Савагірі, секретарем компанії. Сказавши, що тепер ці дами живуть разом з Кейтою, а третя кандидатка з'явиться пізніше, і що до кінця канікул головному герою потрібно визначитися з вибором, Джинта моментально зникає, додавши наостанок: «Мені пора на роботу. І ще одна річ, найближчим часом мене не жди, я їду у відрядження».

Кейта допомагає незнайомкам облаштуватися, Кадзуха готує обід і посилає Кейту за покупками. На вулиці Кейта зізнається, що не представляє кандидаток в ролі матерів через їх молодість, і зустрічає подругу дитинства, яка, як з'ясовується, закохана в нього. Тим часом пізніше в будинок таємно через вікно пробирається п'яний детектив Норіко Касукаве, відома своїм грайливим і вульгарним характером. Починаються пригоди еротичного квартету, до якого приєднується і Мінамі Харука.

Критика
Рейтинг аніме на сайті Myanimelist.net — 6,8/10, Anime News Network — 6,8/10.

Примітки

Посилання
 Mama Puri!?  на Myanimelist.net

Аніме 2009
Хентай аніме та манґа
Комедійні аніме та манґа

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Call RangeValidator on RowCommand I have added a Range Validator to a textbox in the editItemTemplate of my gridview.

Now, All the examples I found online have you submitted the page to get the validator to kick in, I don't want that, I want to be able to call in from the rowCommand event which is called to update the row.  Is there a way to link the RangeValidator to a button that does submit?  Can i call programmatically?
Thanks
Edit:
I did find the following, but it seems to be completely ignored:
GridViewRow EditRow = (GridViewRow)((Control)e.CommandSource).NamingContainer;

RangeValidator test = EditRow.FindControl("rvClass") as RangeValidator;

test.MinimumValue = "1";
test.MaximumValue = "255";
test.Type = ValidationDataType.Integer;
test.Validate();

if (!test.IsValid)
{
   test.ErrorMessage = "BOO!";
}                }

A: You could call Validate on the RangeValidator inside the rowCommand event.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
import logging
import lxc
import os
import tunneldigger

# random hash
CONTEXT = None

# lxc container
SERVER = None
CLIENT = None

# pids of tunneldigger client and server
SERVER_PID = None
CLIENT_PID = None

LOG = logging.getLogger("test_nose")

def setup_module():
    global CONTEXT, SERVER, CLIENT, SERVER_PID, CLIENT_PID
    CONTEXT = tunneldigger.get_random_context()
    LOG.info("using context %s", CONTEXT)
    CLIENT, SERVER = tunneldigger.prepare_containers(CONTEXT, os.environ['CLIENT_REV'], os.environ['SERVER_REV'])
    SERVER_PID = tunneldigger.run_server(SERVER)
    CLIENT_PID = tunneldigger.run_client(CLIENT)
    # explicit no Exception when ping fails
    # it's better to poll the client for a ping rather doing a long sleep
    tunneldigger.check_ping(CLIENT, '192.168.254.1', 20)

def teardown_module():
    tunneldigger.clean_up(CONTEXT, CLIENT, SERVER)

class TestTunneldigger(object):
    def test_ping_tunneldigger_server(self):
        """ even we check earlier if the ping is working, we want to fail the check here.
        If we fail in setup_module, nose will return UNKNOWN state, because the setup fails and
        not a "test" """
        if not tunneldigger.check_ping(CLIENT, '192.168.254.1', 3):
            raise RuntimeError("fail to ping server")

    def test_wget_tunneldigger_server(self):
        ret = CLIENT.attach_wait(lxc.attach_run_command, ["wget", "-t", "2", "-T", "4", "http://192.168.254.1:8080/test_8m", '-O', '/dev/null'])
        if ret != 0:
            raise RuntimeError("failed to run the tests")

    def test_ensure_tunnel_up_for_5m(self):
        # get id of l2tp0 iface
        ## ip -o l | awk -F: '{ print $1 }'
        # sleep 5 minutes
        # get id of l2tp0 iface
        ## ip -o l | awk -F: '{ print $1 }'
        # assert early_id == later_id
        pass


2 carat diamond wedding ring set in 14k white gold vintage. Awesome best place to sell wedding ring set jewelry for. 925 sterling silver round cut simulated diamond. Awesome best place to sell wedding ring set jewelry for.


Darwin has been Australia's best performing capital city over the five years with an average change in median values of 7.24%. Demand for additional accommodation has come from major projects such as the Icthys LNG plant, a marine supply base, and correctional facility.
To address its very expensive housing the NT government has an accelerated land release strategy and housing supply is likely to work against the property investor grain. While its geography will lend itself to Asian-related projects a big segment of Darwin's population is transient and I have concerns for the sustainability of Darwin's property market.


text:
Goa Assembly Election Results 2017: Manohar Parrikar resigns as Defence Minister; to take oath as Chief Minister tomorrow
New Delhi | Updated: March 13, 2017 1:54:58 PM
The ceremony is likely to take place at 5 pm on Tuesday in Panaji, according to a report.
Manohar Parrikar has resigned as Defence Minister. He will take oath as the Chief Minister of Goa tomorrow. The swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place at 5 pm on Tuesday in Panaji, according to a report. BJP president Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari will attend the swearing-in ceremony, said Parrikar. This comes after BJP had pulled off a coup and staked the claim to form the next government in Goa in coalition with local outfits and independents under Manohar Parrikar, despite being a runner-up behind the Congress.
Capping the day of fast-paced developments, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha last night appointed Parrikar, the BJP Legislature Party leader, as the chief minister and asked him to prove majority on floor of House within 15 days of taking oath. In evening, the BJP members led by the incumbent Defence Minister called on the Governor and formally staked the government formation claim. The BJP has enlisted the support of two independents, three members each of the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
When celebrations turned sombre at Congress office
North Gujarat election exit poll result: Here's how many seats BJP, Congress may win in this part of Gujarat
Goa elections 2017: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar unveils full list of ministers and portfolios allocated in his Cabinet - who got what
Though the lone NCP member Churchill Alemao has also backed the coalition, he is yet to submit the formal letter of support. "Governor Mridula Sinha has appointed Manohar Parrikar, the Leader of the Goa BJP legislature party, as the chief minister of Goa," Rupesh Kumar Thakur, Secretary to Governor has stated in the press note issued here tonight. Parrikar has submitted evidence before Governor, the support of 13 MLAs of BJP, 3 MLAs of MGP, 3 of Goa Forward party and two independent MLAs thus having a total strength of 21 MLAs in the 40-member assembly, it stated.
"The Governor has asked Parrikar to prove majority in the Legislative Assembly session within 15 days after administration of oath of office," the note said. The BJP, which has bagged 13 seats, four less than the Congress which has emerged as the single largest party, stole the march on its rival which has failed to muster the numbers to capture power. In the 40-member House, the Congress has 17 MLAs, followed by the BJP with 13, MGP (3), GFP (3), NCP (1) and Independents (3).
Goa Assembly Elections 2017
Goa Assembly Election Results 2017 Manohar Parrikar resigns as Defence Minister to take oath as Chief Minister&nbsptomorrow
1Goa Assembly Elections Results 2017: Congress accuses BJP of 'murdering democracy' in Goa
2Manohar Parrikar set to return as Goa CM, to resign as defence minister
3Goa Assembly Results 2017: Goa Forward Party issues statement, says it hasn't decided on whether to support BJP or Congress

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home » BLOG » Kevin Hart's LAUGH AT MY PAIN grosses $2 million, More Theaters Added
Kevin Hart's LAUGH AT MY PAIN grosses $2 million, More Theaters Added
by Kevin Ross September 13, 2011 November 8, 2015 0
RF says Congrats to comedian Kevin Hart…
LAUGH AT MY PAIN grossed over $2 million and set a record as the best performing concert series since Martin Lawrence's Live: Runteldat
LAUGH AT MY PAIN is the stand-up stage show that quickly became a national phenomenon. Catch the original, never-before-seen Raw and Uncut backstage footage, and travel back to Philly with kevin hart where he began his journey to become one of the funniest comedians of all time.
This weekend, Kevin Hart's LAUGH AT MY PAIN released on only 97 screens yet outperformed the box office competition in per screen averages, reporting a solid $20,619 per engagement. Independently distributed by Codeblack Entertainment and co-produced with Hartbeat Productions, LAUGH AT MY PAIN grossed over $2 million and set a record as the best performing concert series since Martin Lawrence's Live: Runteldat in 2002. Another impressive feat is that LAUGH AT MY PAIN is the first film to debut over $2 million in fewer than 100 theaters since Chicago in 2002.
With this weekend's success of LAUGH AT MY PAIN, Codeblack Entertainment and Hartbeat Productions have changed the landscape for independent film distribution. Trailblazing a path more than a decade ago as pioneers of "straight to DVD" distribution, the company's business model soon became an accepted and profitable industry standard. Elevating their position in the industry with this latest project, Codeblack continues to establish themselves as visionaries, leading the way independent feature film production and distribution worldwide and at the forefront of multimedia, including the digital paradigm.
"I am extremely proud of this project and to have had the opportunity to work with someone as talented and business savvy as Kevin Hart," states Jeff Clanagan, CEO of Codeblack Entertainment.
A combination of non-traditional marketing as well as Hart's impressive fan base helped lead to the success of this weekend's theatrical release. Hart has over 2 million Twitter followers, over 4 million fans on Facebook and over 23 million uploads on YouTube.Additionally, the campaign generated over 1.3 million media impressions.
Prior to this weekend's national release, the appeal of LAUGH AT MY PAIN was evident by its advance ticket sales figures. In an exclusive partnership with AMC Theatres, LAUGH AT MY PAIN expanded from 86 theatres across the country to 97 just prior to debuting on September 9. Due to the box office success opening weekend, LAUGH AT MY PAIN will expand even further to 58 additional theaters on September 16. The film has also released in East and West Africa through a partnership with Silverbird Cinemas.
THE UNDENIABLE 10 BEST POP ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
Charlamagne tha God's father Arrested for Attacking Football Fans with Stun Gun
2011 Radio Mercury Awards Finalists Announced
Oliver Stephan Jackson "DJ Big O" Takes on PD/MD Role at WTSX
Hassahn Liggins June 26, 2015 October 21, 2018
Omarion Stops By KBXX
Hassahn Liggins April 28, 2015 April 28, 2015
Chicago's Soul 106.3 Adds Classic Hip Hop Show
Hassahn Liggins February 7, 2015 February 9, 2015
Angela Bassett Speaks on Bobbi Kristina's Dismay Surrounding Whitney Houston Film
Hassahn Liggins October 29, 2014 October 29, 2014
Da Brat Talks Giving Female Emcees a New Platform
Hassahn Liggins October 28, 2014 July 20, 2018
KRNB Jock Signs Multi-year Deal


text:
Stack Builders
Stack Builders News
A collection of thoughts and notes by our team
October 5, 2017 8:00 am -0500
by Sebastián Pulido
Follow @sebastruztra
scalendar: Time-Management in Haskell
Many things in business require time-management of a set of resources. For example, in a hotel you can book different types of rooms, a company might rent an office in a business center, or you might want to rent a specific car from a car rental business. In all these examples you might want to book a resource for several days, let's say, you plan to book a hotel room in Beverly Hills from July 9th to July 20th and perhaps when you are there you plan to rent a Ferrari for some days. More generally, our business model may have some sort of resource which can be booked for a number of days and once it's booked it's no longer available to other users for that period of time.
Naturally, when we are given a set of available resources for a given business, we want to know how many units are available for a given check-in (starting date) and check-out (end-date). By availability we mean that there are no conflicts between a desired reservation and previous reservations which have been made on a specific resource over a period of time. Also, not only we want to know the quantity of the available units, but additionally we want to know a set of identifiers of the units which are still available. For example, for the owner of a car rental it would be very useful to know with anticipation that from July 9th to July 20th she still has a Ferrari Dino, a Ferrari California and a Lamborghini Aventador available for you to rent.
This is the kind of problem that scalendar approaches - namely, managing availability over time for a set of identifiers (which represent resources), where the availability varies according to the state of a calendar that is affected by the history of reservations previously performed.
If you search the Internet for time management systems, you may have a hard time finding something similar. Most examples out there focus on the front-end: showing the calendar, but not on the backend: managing valid reservations in your business logic. Most of time-management software which could be reliable is proprietary. In contrast, scalendar is an open-source solution that serves as a proxy between your storage system and your business model. That way you have complete control over how you are storing reservations, and your back-end is properly decoupled from the GUI.
So if you are planning to build an application which needs time management, give scalendar a try! In case you have gone through the README but still are not very clear about how to integrate this library with your application, take a look at our minimalistic example which is about a simple API in servant to know the availability of rooms in a hotel.
Finally, we want to acknowledge Martin Rayrole, who is the author of the "Top-Nodes" algorithm on which the scalendar library is based: without his ideas it would have been harder to figure out a time management library in Haskell. You can verify in the Abandonment section of this web-page that the version of the algorithm which inspired this library now belongs to the public domain.
Get the latest content from Stack Builders in your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
* Please review your email formatting
* You already subscribed to the Stack Builders Newsletter
* Something went wrong, please try again
Welcome to Stack Builders!
Do You Have What it Takes To Be a Stack Builder?
© Stack Builders Inc. 2019


text:
Home Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection LAAC Swim Team at El Mirador Hotel, Palm Springs, view 3
LAAC Swim Team at El Mirador Hotel, Palm Springs, view 3
Title LAAC Swim Team at El Mirador Hotel, Palm Springs, view 3
Location/Accession Palm Springs.; N-001-115.3 4x5
Date [ca. 1930]
Physical Description 1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 13 cm. on sheet 21 x 26 cm.
Notes Title supplied by cataloger.
Historical Data El Mirador, roughly translated as "The Watchtower", had its gala opening on New Year's Eve 1927. The 200-room hotel was built by a cattle rancher-turned-real estate investor named Prescott Thresher Stevens at a cost of $1 million - a staggering sum in that era. Los Angeles architects Walker & Eisen designed the Spanish-Colonial Revival style hotel, which featured 1,500 beds arranged in suites, ballrooms, and corridors, and had lavish guest rooms with hand-carved furniture and sun decks. Its signature trait was a bell tower crowned by a cap of colorful tile in a Moorish mosaic pattern; it also had an imported Italian bronze bell that was later supplemented by electric chimes. El Mirador boasted as having the Coachella Valley's first golf course, tennis courts, and stables. Its Olympic-size pool had three diving boards and lured aquatic stars such as Esther Williams and Johnny Weismuller. This hotel, which served as a second home to the stars, helped establish Palm Springs as a resort. Among the many famous guests were: W. C. Fields, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Al Jolson, George Raft, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Douglas Fairbanks, Ralph Bellamy, Shirley Temple, Albert Einstein, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, etc. During WWII, the desert became training grounds for General George S. Patton's troops as they prepared to invade North Africa. El Mirador was appropriated by the Army in 1942 for $425,000, and it was transformed into Torney General Hospital, primarily catering to Gen. Patton's wounded troops. After serving 10 years as a hospital, investors purchased the property from the Army and attempted the hotel's comback by putting $4 million into its reconstruction. In 1968, actor John Conte and his wife, an Oriental-rug heiress bought the hotel and it became El Mirador Hilton. In 1972, the Contes were forced to sell the property by federal bankruptcy court, and it closed its doors for good. Many years later, Desert Hospital bought the property for $4 million, but on July 26, 1989 a three-alarm fire destroyed the historic building, along with the original 90-foot landmark tower. Luckily, it had been boarded up and unoccupied at the time of the fire, serving only as a warehouse for Desert Hospital. Thanks to the availability of the original plans, the building and tower were accurately reconstructed in May 1991. Today, it is the site of Desert Regional Medical Center, located at 1150 North Indian Canyon Drive.
Description View 3 of El Mirador Hotel, located at 1150 North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. Photograph shows the LAAC (Los Angeles Athletic Club) Swim Team standing in front of "The Plunge". Some of the identified members are: Josephine McKim, Georgia Coleman, Buster Crabbe, Duke Kahanamoku, Mickey Riley, Harold Smith. The main hotel building and landmark tower are visible in the background.
Subject Riley, Mickey.
Crabbe, Buster,--1908-1983.
Kahanamoku, Duke,--1890-1968.
Smith, Harold.
El Mirador Hotel (Palm Springs, Calif.).
Swimming pools--California--Palm Springs.
Resorts--California--Palm Springs.
Divers--United States.
Deserts--California--Palm Springs.
Hotels--California--Palm Springs.
Architecture--California--Palm Springs--Spanish influences.
Lost architecture--California--Palm Springs.
Stevens, Prescott Thresher.
Palm Springs (Calif.).
Walker & Eisen.


text:
editor@thenativepress.com
Honoring Indians?
by David McGrath | May 8, 2016 | Sports
Gimme a break: Mascots dehumanize and ridicule Native Americans
DATELINE: Sports stadiums across America
His nose must be over a foot wide at its base. True, I did not climb the billboard and measure with a ruler, but I can vouch that the Indian's nose is broader than each of his arms and legs. This is no 1950s relic staring down at me. The modern billboard towers each day over drivers on Interstate 294 in Alsip, 20 miles outside Chicago: a tri-color image of an Indian aligned to the left of a banner for Arrow Chevrolet.
Get it? Arrow … Indian?
Here's what drivers see: big nose, little legs, dark skin, headband and single feather. He wears a necklace strung from animal teeth and a loincloth. He displays the same bow-and-arrow combative behavior that Hollywood used to feature.
The same buffoonish character is stenciled on Arrow's showroom windows in Midlothian, another Chicago suburb, and on Arrow's Web site, ostensibly to boost recognition of its company name.
What Arrow has done is essentially resurrect the cigar store Indian to shill for Chevrolets. Some Americans may remember the wooden statues of Indians placed in front of drug stores and tobacco emporiums. They were used to advertise cigarettes and cigars, a practice vaguely related to some Indian tribes' use of pipes and tobacco in sacred ceremonies.
Would objecting to Arrow's ad campaign be just another hysterical charge of political incorrectness? After all, what's the harm?
"It's hurtful, dehumanizing," says Arieahn Matamonasa, a psychologist and professor of contemporary Native American issues at DePaul University.
Matamonasa made the dealership aware of its display ad's offensive nature as early as four years ago, when she commissioned her students to write research papers on the dangers of stereotyping. Each year since then, several of her students have tackled the subject of the Chevy Indian and have written to the dealership's management.
"They've ignored all of our letters," says Matamonasa, who has crow-black hair that hangs well below her shoulders, and the straight-on, relentless gaze that reminds one of Natalie Wood's character in The Searchers, except that Matamonasa is, indeed, of Lakota and Menominee descent.
She is concerned particularly about the social and potentially violent consequences of stereotyping, recalling the cartoons Julius Streicher published prior to and during WWII that gave public "permission" for dehumanizing and exterminating Jews.
Matamonasa compares the Chevy Indian caricature to Chief Wahoo, the mascot of the Cleveland Indians baseball team, and to the "Frito Bandito," the cartoon character eventually retired, under pressure, by Frito Lay (click here for a Fritos commercial clip).
"He has a feather tucked in a headband, and he has no shirt. He looks ridiculous," she told me. "And we are such a small group that people don't have real life experiences with Indian people. So for them, he represents the whole culture.
"When people see, on the other hand, something like the leprechaun of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, they know enough of the Irish culture that this mythic figure is not representative."
As a cartoon image, this is not the characteristically touted noble, sacred or serious Indian stereotype, ala University of Illinois's Chief Illiniwek, the school's mascot. Neither is it a frolicsome or supposedly innocent depiction, like Disney's Pocahontas. The Arrow Chevy Indian is, in fact, more akin to the TV series Pow Wow the Indian Boy meets F-Troop – which may speak to the age as well as to the cynicism of the dealership's management.
Perhaps because the company would be hard-pressed to claim, as does the U. of I. or the Atlanta Braves, that they are "honoring" Indians with their billboard and Web site art, they have decided not to talk at all: The general manager of Arrow would not return my calls. So I can only speculate about how they would refute Matamoras's challenge to stop using the cartoon character.
One of the usual arguments, that "no one seems to mind," is baseless considering Matamonasa's protests as well as resolutions passed by state governments condemning the use of Indian logos and mascots. A bill was recently proposed by a California state assemblywoman banning the use of Indian logos and mascots in public institutions, though it failed to muster enough support and was defeated in May 2000.
This month, the Michigan board of education agreed to study whether to ban Indian mascots in the state's schools.
More such legislative crusades are imminent, however, as Indian political and economic influence grows as a result of the proliferation and success of casinos. According to a recent survey by Indian Country Today, the national Indian weekly, "81 percent of respondents indicated use of American Indian names, symbols and mascots are predominantly offensive and deeply disparaging to Native Americans."
Additionally, the logo defenders' claim to their right of free speech sounds similarly fallacious in light of the recent recommendation issued by the United States Civil Rights Commission that calls for an end to the use of Native American images and team names by non-Native schools. The recommendation, which was released in April 2001, states: "These references, whether mascots … logos, or names, are disrespectful and offensive to American Indians and others who are offended by such stereotyping."
The call was accompanied by the more telling warning that the mascots and logos "… may violate anti-discrimination laws." In legal precedent, the point at which discrimination against others begins is where free speech ends.
Finally, though some continue to maintain that Indian iconography is intended to "honor" Indians, what community has ever felt sincerely "honored" by a nation or group that vanquished them? Would present day Jews feel honored by Germans drawing caricatures of yarmulke-wearing Jews to sell cars or watches? Would African Americans feel "honored" if "Spears Stereo" used native African warriors wielding spears to hawk its CD players?
Professor Matamonasa said that following one of her presentations about Native American culture, a child came up to her and proclaimed with enthusiasm, "I believe in Indians," evoking the famous chant of faith in fairies from the movie Peter Pan, though Native Americans still make up close to 1 percent of the U.S. population.
"If people knew more about Native Americans, it [the Arrow cartoon character] might not be as damaging," she says. But our culture does not provide a diversity of representations, nor are students well educated about Native American history and current cultural issues. Images such as the Arrow Chevrolet Indian end up being larger than life – in this sense literally as well as figuratively.
What's clear is that Native Americans are offended. What's also clear is that the logos and mascots will continue to appear until a lot more non-Natives take offense.
Hopi and Tewa Runners: Every Step a Plea to Save the Confluence
Black Elk Redux
The drug wars come to the rez
Working to heal the wounds of boarding school
Copyright © The Native Press.


Also known as bio, a biography is a comprehensive description of an individual's life. The content of a bio shows more than merely the education, relationship, work or other basic facts about the person. Instead, it portrays an individual's life events and experiences. Compared to a curriculum vitae or profile, a biography would portray or show the life story of a subject, highlighting various aspects such as intimate details of the person's experience.
Biography is important and useful since it is a great way for an individual to highlight the most memorable and important aspects of his life as well as career. It's a great way to enable your audience to learn more about you. In the case of a student, your bio is a great piece that reveals more about your potentials than your CV or profile would do. And, a business owner can use a powerful bio to boost awareness, increase credibility, establish himself as an authority in his niche, and ultimately capture more clients and customers on the long term. Biography writing requires a lot of tact and expertise in order to achieve your goal with such type of writing.
Searching the tips: how to write best and catchy realtor bio? Follow the link.
How you present your biography (with a touch or humour or strictly formal) will depend on what you want to achieve with the bio as well as your target audience. For strictly formal bio, you should rather keep humour minimal or completely out of the way.
On the other hand, for the informal purpose, adding a touch of humour to your bio can help catch the attention of your target audience. Funny bios can be great for social purposes such as the typical funny biography examples you will find on social platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Also, a funny bio can make you stand out in your niche.
Familiarising yourself with valuable tips for writing a biography will help improve your chances of creating great bio. There are many reasons you may need a biography; promotional purpose, business plan, or for social interaction.
Collate the information you need: Typical examples of such pieces of information include your remarkable life stories, special experiences, skills, jobs, education and qualifications.
Collate evidences of remarkable performances: These include awards, copyrights, as well as outstanding professional or personal accomplishments. Remember, all you're doing at this point is pooling information and resources together for the bio.
Request for testimonials: Testimonials from authorities at work, school or other respectable sources can help give weight to your biography. And, when you obtain such testimonials, ask for permission to mention the testifiers also in your bio.
Customize the collated info to suit your audience: Decide what should be included in the biography and what should be left out, with your audience in view. To do this, ask yourself questions such as who are the readers? What information is suitable for these readers?
Capture a complete range of your skills: Integrate a set of info that portrays a complete range and mix of your special attributes such as experience, skills, training and expertise.
It's time to write the biography: Start writing the biography once you have sorted through your pool of information and have decided on what to include and leave out. Consider writing in a third person's voice. And, bear in mind that the first writing is only a draft and need not be perfect yet.
Finally, as much as you can, ensure your bio text is visual as well as active. It should be lively, interesting and difficult to resist. Proofread your draft and make corrections. If you are not satisfied with your written bio, seek a professional biography writing help. Ensure your bio is the best it can be before releasing it to your readers or audience.
What do I include in my biography?
Tell the story that as a little child, you always turned the bookshelves in your dad's library to a grocery shelf, displaying all the cans and containers in the home and asking mom and dad to come buy.
It will portray that your special marketing skills are in-born and unbeatable!
Your bio can be a valuable marketing tool. If you are still not sure of the best way to write your bio, consider using a professional bio writing service like the one our company provides.
We provide biography writing assistance for everyone. The experienced writers know how to relate information included in optional sections of your biography. Our writers will ensure all relevant skills are included in your bio to make it more effective.
Every biography we provide is completely original and written specifically for the individual client to meet their particular needs and requirements. The final step in our biography writing process is proofreading to ensure no mistakes are contained in the bio you submit for the job application.
Have you got some nice biography jokes? You can share them right here!Contact us right away for help with your biography writing.


A sea eagle has recorded unusual footage of WA's remote Kimberley after stealing a video camera and taking it on a 100 kilometre journey.
Aboriginal rangers had set up the motion-sensor camera at a gorge on the Margaret River in May, to try and capture images of fresh-water crocodiles.
Gooniyandi ranger Roneil Skeen says the camera disappeared not long afterwards.
"Unexpectedly our camera went missing so we thought we had lost it because it fell into the water," he said.
But a few weeks ago, they got a phone call to say a Parks and Wildlife ranger had found the small device at the Mary River, about 110 kilometres away.
They have been able to extract three 30-second clips that reveal the culprit to be a thieving sea eagle.
The footage shows the juvenile eagle scooping up the recorder, and taking to the air.
Later, it is deposited on the ground and the animal pecks at it.
Mr Skeen says he and the 14-strong ranger team were shocked to see the aerial journey play out in high-definition.
"It was pretty amazing because it's one of the first camera traps to ever get picked up," he said.
"They've had camera traps moved [by animals] before, but not taken off, like a flying camera you know?
"It was pretty cool so we were pretty shocked."
The Gooniyandi Rangers, who are one of 14 ranger groups co-ordinated by the Kimberley Land Council, believe the bird was young.
"We knew it was a juvenile eagle because the adult sea eagles, once they get their food or their prey, they usually take it right up into the sky and drop it," he said.
"But this one was still learning because he just took it near the cliff-side and he never dropped [it], he just put it down and started picking at it.
"An adult one would have flown it right up the top and yeah for sure it would have smashed that camera."
The rangers say they will be bolting down their camera in the future.


text:
Home | About | About Us | Team | Otuto Chukwu, Program Assistant
Otuto Chukwu, Program Assistant
Otuto Amarauche Chukwu is currently a Program Assistant at the Alliance where he supports program design, development, implementation, and evaluation. He also supports research, analysis, and reporting tasks under the Global Road Safety Facility fund and other Alliance projects as well as supporting the development and implementation of capacity building needs assessment, and capacity building sessions.
He joined the Alliance Secretariat in October 2021 as the Program Assistant for the African chapter.
Otuto comes from a health background and has a bachelor's and master's degree in pharmacy. Prior to joining the Alliance, he worked in the development space where he provided consultancy services to organizations like UNICEF and the United States Pharmacopeia. He has also worked with the government and private sector.
He is a Mandela Washington Fellow and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Health Policy at the University of Toronto and is based in Abuja, Nigeria and Toronto, Canada.


Bridal shows are okay. Advertising on The Knot and Wedding Wire is like a necessary evil–you must do it to be seen as a real wedding vendor, but it's a waiting game; maybe you'll get a call. Referrals, however, are little gold nuggets! Referrals are not cold leads, they already know someone who is in love with you. Referrals are more likely to chose you as their wedding vendor over another vendor whom is not tried and true. So how do you get more referrals?
At my flower business, Bloomtastic flowers & events, 50% of our clients are referred to us by other brides. THAT'S HUGE!!!! It saves us money in advertising and we meet with far less brides and book more weddings (we have a documented 90% booking rate) because a referred bride is more likely to hire you over someone who just randomly found you on Google.
Since we are entering wedding season, you will now have many happy brides who have used your services and can be a powerful sales tool for you.
That's right, it's really that easy–just ask! Okay, maybe there is a little more to it, such as how you ask. You will find that the more a potential bride hears and sees your name, the higher up on the list you go. And when a friend/co-worker/family member actually tells her she needs to go see you, you just sky-rocketed to the top!
1.) Do Outstanding Work so you are referral-worthy. That's step #1. If you miss this step, the rest won't do anything for you.
2.) Online Reviews are powerful in a hundred ways. Simply email the bride after her honeymoon, THANK HER for having you as part of her wedding, ask how the wedding went and provide her links to The Knot and Wedding Wire so she can preach to the world how fabulous you are. Then repost the review on your Facebook and Twitter pages. You can even ask the bride to mention you on her Facebook page so her friends are sure to see.
3.) Reviews on your Website are great to show off your awesomeness, and be sure to include the bride's full name so it doesn't look fake. Reviews are more believable with a picture, too!
4.) Direct Referrals from brides are just as easy to get. First–remember, two-thirds of bridesmaids will get married in the next couple of years. They have already been a part of your work, so simply remind your bride to mention you/your company to any and all of her friends getting married. If you are participating in an upcoming bridal show or having a bridal open house, send an email to existing and previous brides letting them know so they can tell their friends. Staying connected to brides via Facebook is also a great way to stay in front of the newlywed and when a friend gets engaged, she'll remember to refer you! At Bloomtastic, we have never offered an incentive (other than just getting the best service and flowers possible), but some vendors will give a $10 Starbucks card or some small gift to brides when a referral hires them.
5.) Referrals from other Wedding Vendors are also worth their weight in gold! Get to know other wedding vendors not in your category. Take them out to lunch and ask how you can be of service to them (remember–you have to give to get). Be a valuable resource for them so they want to give your information to brides. Keep in mind the order a bride hires vendors when considering who to network with–if you are a photographer, it most likely won't do you any good to network with a stationery pro as the potential bride choosing her invitations will already have a photographer. However, the other way around (a stationery pro networking with a photographer) is valuable as the photographer can refer the stationery company!
What methods do you employ to gain referrals? Please share below!
Are you receiving our FREE weekly email? No?!?!? CLICK HERE to sign up now and check out the freebies on our site!
Great ideas Heather! Keep them coming!
Hope all is well in your home!


We are based in Upper Basildon West Berkshire. We provide first class service when carrying out EPC's and Floor plans.
EPC's are required for domestic properties and supplied when they are then a Rental and Resale property.
We will provide a fast reliable and professional service and will also supply a floor plan which can be used when marketing your property.
Use our DEA to carry out Property Photography, using a DSLR wide angle lens camera to show off your dwelling.


text:
Type - Any -AnnouncmentBidCall for ApplicationVacancy
The National Election Board of Ethiopia held a consultation with political parties; It also passed decisions - December 6, 2021
Information from the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) on the polling held on September 30, 2021 - October 1, 2021
To all political parties and independent candidates who participated in the 6th General Elections and Re-elections conducted by the National Election Board of Ethiopia on September 30, 2021 - September 30, 2021
To all political parties, - September 28, 2021
Statement on the Usage of the Previously Provided Badges to the Media - September 7 2021
To all the parties that need party agent accreditation license for the 6th General Election to be held on September 30, 2021 - September 1, 2021
The National Election Board of Ethiopia gives a press briefing today, June 26, 2021 - June 26, 2021
Some Points about the Announcement of Results of the Election - June 25, 2021
Announcement to all political parties that participated in the 6th General Election - June 25, 2021
The National Election Board of Ethiopia gives press briefing today, June 24, 2021 - June 24, 2021
Short Notice from the National Election Board of Ethiopia - June 22, 2021
Voters, election officials and to all concerned - June 21, 2013
Who Are Eligible Voters? - June 20, 2021
About voters who need support and those who are given priorities - June 20, 2021
A Few Things about the Election Day - June 20, 2021
Letter from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia to all regions and city administrations - June 19, 2021
How many candidates can a voter vote for a Regional Council seat? - June 19, 2021
To All Constituency Officer - June 19, 2013
Information for Independent Candidates - June 16, 2021
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) will provide its daily update today, June 15, 2021 - June 15, 2021
የምርጫ ባለድርሻ አካላት ጉባኤ ጥሪ
Brief announcement on the decision made by the Board concerning the registration of political parties
The National Election Board of Ethiopia held a consultation with political parties; It also passed decisions
Statement from the National Election Board of Ethiopia


text:
UK PM May tells her lawmakers: 'I'll stay for as long as you want me'
Published: JUNE 12, 2017 20:42
LONDON - British Prime Minister Theresa May has told lawmakers in her Conservative Party that she will stay as leader for as long as they want her to, one of her members of parliament said on Monday.
May apologized repeatedly for last week's botched election result, according to a member who was present.
"She said I'm the person who got us into this mess and I'm the one who is going to get us out of it," the lawmaker said.
"She said she will serve us as long as we want her."
Lawmakers added that there were no dissenting voices at the meeting and that the last thing Britain needed was another election or leadership race.


Crown, and appointed architects, Bates Smart, presented designs of a sommelier's table to be used as a practical prop in The Fat Duck restaurant. Essentially, the prop needed to represent a table donning a restaurant-quality, white table cloth with plenty of fabric drop and flow, an important aspect of the design. The final sculptural form was achieved using our in-house 3D modelling resources prior to construction, with final assembly on-site at the restaurant.
Images courtesy of Crown Melbourne.