text:
Game over, security researchers – DARPA's AI bug hunters are coming for your jobs
First 'Cyber Grand Challenge' shows software can eat itself
By Iain Thomson in San Francisco 5 Aug 2016 at 07:37
DEF CON A quest to build a smart computer system that finds and patches bugs faster and more efficiently than humans is off to a good start with all the teams in DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge performing very well indeed.
The contest, held at the DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, was organised by the research arm of the US military and saw seven teams test out their automated seek-and-patch-ware in a simulated operating system. The eight-hour contest saw the teams find and patch 420 flaws and create 650 proofs of concepts.
"Our mission is to change what's possible so we can take huge strides forward in our national security capabilities," said Arati Prabhakar at the post-contest press conference. "We did it today and it was a very satisfying experience."
Each team was equipped with a server containing 128 Intel Xeon processors running at 2.5 GhZ and boasting over a thousand processing cores, 16TB of RAM and a liquid cooling system that required 250 gallons of water per minute to cool the big iron. They were let loose on a custom-designed operating system and instructed to find flaws, patch them automatically, and provide proof of concepts for flaws in each other's systems.
At the same time seven other similar system were used by the judges to monitor the progress of the event as the systems ran 96 rounds lasting 270 seconds, with 30 second breaks in between rounds. At stake was US$3.75m in government greenbacks.
The competition, which has taken three years and $55m to set up, is designed to automate the whole process of bug hunting.
Mike Walker, the DARPA program manager overseeing the Cyber Grand Challenge, said that this was the first stage in a possibly decade-long process to automate security monitoring and make networks more resilient.
"We have redefined what is possible and we did it in the course of hours with autonomous systems that we challenged the world to build," he said. "I want people to understand how difficult it is to build prototype revolutionary technology and field it in front of the eyes of the world. I have enormous respect for those folks."
A DARPA representative told The Reg that at this stage the winning team, with 270,042 points, was the ForAllSecure team, founded by the Carnegie Mellon University professor of electrical and computer engineering David Brumley. Results aren't final, but if confirmed his team will scoop the $2m top prize.
The ForAllSecure team's success was all the more surprising because a key bug finding system in the computer's programming crashed around half way through the competition. It repaired itself and got back up and running before the competition ended but maintained a narrow lead until the end of the contest.
In second place, with 262,036 points, was the TechX team from GrammaTech and the University of Virginia, setting them up for a $1m payday. In third place was the Shellphish team, led by Professor Giovanni Vigna, director of the Centre for CyberSecurity at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who are in line for $750,000.
Once the results have been confirmed the winning system will be pitted against human foes in a capture the flag competition. Walker said that he didn't expect the automated system to come close to matching fleshy competitors in the contest, but the first five minutes of the competition would give a good example of how computers could leverage their faster processing speed against human inventiveness.
This is a long road we are going to travel, Walker stressed. The first United States Computer Chess Championship took place in 1970 and it wasn't until 1996 that IBM's Deep Blue system finally beat a human grandmaster at the game - and then only at speed chess. But the fuse has been lit he said, and the clock is now ticking for professional bug hunters ... and perhaps the automated systems that could one day put them out to grass. ®
Def Con
Take my bits awaaaay: DARPA wants to develop AI fighter program to augment human pilots
I feel the need, the need for a general adversarial network
Meet YouTube-linked games-streaming Stadia, yet another thing Google will axe in two years (unless it kills Twitch)
Now, witness the power of this eventually operational game star
DeepMind gets good at games (and choosing them) – plus more bits and bytes from the world of machine learning
Roundup Including: AI exercises in Safety Gym
Crunch time: It's all fun and video games until you're being pressured into working for free
UK industry survey sheds light on ridiculous hours, culture of harassment and bullying
Akamai CEO: Playing games from the cloud? Seems too expensive to be viable right now
Akamai Edge World 'It is something we are interested in … but the economic model hasn't worked out yet'
DeepMind founder behind NHS data slurp to be beamed up to Google mothership
Great job, now let's do some applied AI with the big boys
Maltese browser game biz flings €1m sueball at Google over Adsense kerfuffle
Claims to have made nearly €800k from ad clicks
Devs invited to bake 'Run on Google Cloud' button into git repos... By Google, of course
An offer you can refuse?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Shelly Hansen was horrified when her great-aunt's wedding dress arrivedbecause, according to family legend, she was destined to marry the next man she met. So when she tripped on an escalator and fell into Mark Brady's arms, she told himand herselfthat she wasn't interested in marriage. But then she started seeing him everywhere. Coincidence?
After her own wedding, Shelly sends her best friend, Jill Morrison, the dresswhich is delivered to Jill's hotel in Hawaii. But at least the man she sat beside on the planegorgeous grouch Jordan Wilcoxcan't be the man in question, can he? She met him before she got the dress!


text:
LM Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs
The Degree Programme
Programme description
Admission test
Transfers and programme passages
Lessons schedule
Training internships
Credits for sport activities
Italian language courses
"Manifesto degli studi"
Final dissertation
Documents (for graduation)
Graduation sessions and deadlines
Postgraduate guidance
Student registry office
Department registry office
Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs is a second-level degree (Laurea Magistrale) in Linguistics (LM39-Linguistica), taught in English, offered by the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries of the University of Parma.
It is a two-year programme, on successful completion of which graduates are awarded the "Laurea Magistrale" (second-cycle degree certificate).
It is designed for candidates from different academic backgrounds.
As regards Italian first-cycle degrees, this course is mainly addressed to graduates from L-11 (Lingue e Culture Moderne) and L-12 (Mediazione linguistica).
Foreign academic titles held by prospective students are subject to a preliminary evaluation aimed to verify if they meet all requirements to grant access to the Course.
Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs aims to provide students with a thorough grounding and advanced linguistic and cultural competence in English and a second foreign language (including Italian as a Foreign Language), and research skills in the field of Language Sciences, in particular Educational Linguistics. The course devotes specific attention to aspects related to language learning and teaching, with particular reference to Special Educational Needs affecting communication and language, such as developmental language disorders, learning disorders and sensory disabilities.
The teaching methods adopted are mainly interactive and require student participation. All the core subjects are taught in English, most of them provided in a blended mode, both on campus and online. Assessment takes place within every unit in several ways with a preference for project work, where single individuals or groups of students, assisted by their teachers, prepare, present and discuss projects with teachers and peers.
Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs students are also encouraged to gain experience abroad during the two academic years, and can take advantage of a wide range of opportunities for international mobility.
A particular strength of the programme in Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs is the acquisition of a high level of competence in the field of inclusive language education. In this respect, it aims to form language experts able to operate with learners with special needs, both in educational contexts and in academic research, or in a variety of fields related to the language industry, such as publishing houses (both traditional and digital), language testers, language schools, online language teaching companies, etc.
Depending on the optional subjects of their choice, students can develop specific skills to work as a foreign language teacher and researcher, in Italy and internationally, and in one or more foreign languages, including Italian.
Prospective students must hold a fist-cycle degree in the Humanities and have acquired upper-intermediate to advanced competence in two or more European languages, one of which is English. See "Admission requirements".
Moreover, the programme in Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs enables students to develop basic skills in Instructional Design, necessary to work as editors or instructional designers. Such skills are combined with inclusive language education competence in traditional and e-learning modes.
Graduates will be able to apply such competence to create learning environments which are inclusive and accessible to all, in particular to learners with special needs.
The programme in Language Sciences and Cultural Studies for Special Needs also provides students with the credits required to access teaching in state schools in Italy in the areas of foreign languages (English and a second FL including Italian) and literary subjects (Lettere).
Watch the video presentation of the programme.
Leaflets of the programme
Click below to download some more material on the programme.
language_sciences_and_cultural_studies_for_special_needs_depliant.pdf
brochure_lm39def_def.pdf
Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries
Via M. D'Azeglio, 85, 43125 PARMA
Mail Student Registry Offices
segreteria.corsiumanistici@unipr.it
Degree Programme Office
Degree Programme Mail
linguistics@unipr.it
Contact us 800 904084


text:
Is It Fall Yet?
See when it actually feels like autumn where you live
Autumn may officially begin on September 22 or 23 each year, but it often feels like the weather takes a few weeks to get the memo.
Here at TIME Labs, we were curious when it begins to actually feel like fall around the country. To do so, we looked at 21 years of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, defining autumn as the first five consecutive days in which the high was lower than 70 percent of a region's yearly range in temperatures. (For example, a place with yearly lows of 10 and yearly highs of 90 would have a "fall line" of 66 degrees, which is 70 percent of the distance between those extremes.) Enter your city or county below to see when you can expect cooler weather in your neighborhood.
This sort of analysis is more Farmer's Almanac than fine meteorology, but in most cases summer does overstay its welcome for at least a few days. In playing around with our own interactive, we found many instances of fake outs in which there would be a few fall-like days in August or early September followed by a resurgence of sweltering weather.
Weather data can be as finicky as the weather itself as measuring stations go on and offline. For this interactive, we looked at the five closest weather stations to the center of a city or county, limiting the search to stations that have been active since 1995. We then averaged the high temperature for each of those stations for each day from Jan. 1, 1995 to the present. In limited cases in rural areas, there were not five stations within a 50-miles radius.


The Marana Police Department, in partnership with the Marana Health Center, Pima County Sheriff's Department, Marana-Foothills Optimist Club, Marana Mortuary, and Pima County Wastewater, encourage citizens, businesses and schools to join us in sharing information about drug awareness and preventive measures.
The Police Department provides this opportunity for the proper disposal of unused and/or expired prescription drugs. Prescription and over-the-counter tablets and capsules will be collected. For safety and confidentiality reasons, any items turned over for collection cannot be returned. We cannot accept drugs from commercial organizations. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.


text:
"use strict";

Object.defineProperty(exports, "__esModule", {
  value: true
});
exports.messages = exports.ruleName = undefined;

exports.default = function (expectation) {
  var checker = (0, _utils.whitespaceChecker)("space", expectation, messages);

  return function (root, result) {
    var validOptions = (0, _utils.validateOptions)(result, ruleName, {
      actual: expectation,
      possible: ["always", "never", "always-single-line", "never-single-line", "always-multi-line", "never-multi-line"]
    });
    if (!validOptions) {
      return;
    }

    // Check both kinds of statement: rules and at-rules
    root.walkRules(check);
    root.walkAtRules(check);

    function check(statement) {
      // Return early if blockless or has empty block
      if (!(0, _utils.hasBlock)(statement) || (0, _utils.hasEmptyBlock)(statement)) {
        return;
      }

      var source = (0, _utils.blockString)(statement);
      var statementString = statement.toString();

      var index = statementString.length - 2;
      if (statementString[index - 1] === "\r") {
        index -= 1;
      }

      checker.before({
        source: source,
        index: source.length - 1,
        err: function err(msg) {
          (0, _utils.report)({
            message: msg,
            node: statement,
            index: index,
            result: result,
            ruleName: ruleName
          });
        }
      });
    }
  };
};

var _utils = require("../../utils");

var ruleName = exports.ruleName = "block-closing-brace-space-before";

var messages = exports.messages = (0, _utils.ruleMessages)(ruleName, {
  expectedBefore: function expectedBefore() {
    return "Expected single space before \"}\"";
  },
  rejectedBefore: function rejectedBefore() {
    return "Unexpected whitespace before \"}\"";
  },
  expectedBeforeSingleLine: function expectedBeforeSingleLine() {
    return "Expected single space before \"}\" of a single-line block";
  },
  rejectedBeforeSingleLine: function rejectedBeforeSingleLine() {
    return "Unexpected whitespace before \"}\" of a single-line block";
  },
  expectedBeforeMultiLine: function expectedBeforeMultiLine() {
    return "Expected single space before \"}\" of a multi-line block";
  },
  rejectedBeforeMultiLine: function rejectedBeforeMultiLine() {
    return "Unexpected whitespace before \"}\" of a multi-line block";
  }
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Whether or not you are having a social gathering in Aguanga or you're a business on a construction site and you want portable toilets for your employees, Rent Porta Potties offers what you have to have. Rent Porta Potties has an impressive selection of porta pottys to pick from and has long been meeting the demands of clientele in Aguanga, CA for quite a few years. Clean and sturdy facilities are fundamental when you are putting together a meeting in Aguanga, California and whenever you give Rent Porta Potties a telephone call at 888-664-6168 we can certainly provide help to figure out what may be best for you.
Certainly one of the problems when you have a huge event is very little bathroom space. But as soon as you lease a porta john you're able to avert that. And in the event of backyard events in Aguanga, CA they're necessary. Our company's porta pottys are clean, tough, and are installed correctly wherever they're wanted. Installation, upkeep and extraction is all managed by Rent Porta Potties. And no occasion is too large or too small.
If you've got a work site that needs restrooms our company's sturdy portable toilets are an outstanding choice. Any kind of commercial work, house building sites or even sites like oil fields are able to depend on Rent Porta Potties to suit your needs. Any business in Aguanga, CA that is required to operate in the field is aware of the value of lavatories which are neat and sturdy for their employees. If you have to have porta pottys in the field our company's restroom trailers will certainly be right for you.
Customer service is the number one goal for Rent Porta Potties. We attempt to make every single Aguanga, CA event a success. We handle the more objectionable facets of the event, for example restroom amenities. Delivering porta johns for events is what our company addresses each day. You might not understand for sure what your porta potty needs are but Rent Porta Potties's personnel will make certain you get what you need to have. This means it is easy to enjoy your Aguanga function and not worry about all of the minor specifics. Get in touch with Rent Porta Potties at 888-664-6168 right away to check out what we will be able to do for you personally and your porta potty requirements, whether or not it's a one time affair or a long term work site.


Plettenberg Specials Easter Weekend – 19 – 22 April 2019. Stay 3 nights, pay for 2 nights. 2 sleeper – R350.00 per person per night. 4 sleeper – R225.00 per person per night. 6 sleeper – R250.00 per person per night. Comfortable Holiday Cottages, nestled among the trees or at the stream. Wake up to the sound of birds chirping and the gentle trickle of water from the stream.
Easter Weekend – 19 – 22 April 2019.
Stay 3 nights, pay for 2 nights.
2 sleeper – R350.00 per person per night.
4 sleeper – R225.00 per person per night.
6 sleeper – R250.00 per person per night.


Former Limerick hurler Leonard Enright was inducted into the GAA Museum Hall of Fame in August.
Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael John Horan has paid tribute to the late Leonard Enright who passed away on Friday evening at the age of 65 after a brave battle with illness.
From the Patrickswell club in Limerick, Leonard was renowned as a phenomenal athlete and was only this summer inducted in the GAA Museum's Hall of Fame.
He enjoyed a lengthy inter-county career throughout the 70s and 80s as he established himself as one of the finest full backs of his generation - an imposing defender who combined strength and determination with a deft touch and a shrewd awareness.
Sub goalkeeper on the 1973 All-Ireland final winning team, Enright won Munster titles in 1980 and 1981 and League titles in 1984 and 1985. At a time of fierce competition for this position, he was the All-Star full-back in 1980, 1981 and 1983.
Uachtarán CLG John Horan said: "Over a long and distinguished career, Leonard Enright was an outstanding hurler for Limerick and for Patrickswell, a fantastic performer who led by example.
"For all his skill and ability on the field, Leonard will also be synonymous with the positive impact that he had on so many and I know he is fondly remembered by people from all over Ireland who came into contact with him through his work with Mary Immaculate College in helping to develop Gaelic games there.
"The esteem in which he was held was very evident in the moving tribute paid to him by club mates Richie Bennis, Ciaran Carey and Cian Lynch at the All-Stars on Friday night, where their fondness and admiration for Leonard was so eloquently displayed.
"It was a great honour to meet Leonard and his family on the occasion of his induction into the GAA Hall of Fame at the Museum in Croke Park last summer. Their pride in him and his achievements was obvious, so too, their admiration for the way in which he had battled so bravely against illness.
Ar son Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, go ndéana Dia grásta ar a anam dílis.


text:
Tony's Notes From The Bony Novels (Part 6)
Posted on Fri 03/11/2011 by TonyfromOz
The popularity of Upfield's novels in the U.S.
Here you need to consider the time it takes for an author to work out a plot in his head, work through the early stages of writing the novel, and then the time taken for the administration, and then to get the novel to a Publishing house for acceptance, and then any reworking called for, and then acceptance, and then through the printing process, before the novel is finally released to book selling establishments.
When you take some notice of the Publishing details of Upfield's novels, as shown in the Post at this link, you can see that those early novels were taken up by Hamilton's in the UK for the first two novels, and then by Angus And Robertson Publishing in Australia for the next six novels, published between 1936 and 1940.
One of the obscure things that readers may not have noticed from that list, and really, not many people would look for it in the first place, is the uptake of these novels by American Publishing Companies, especially during the mid and latter stages of World War Two, and then into future novels. Having noticed this, most people would not even wonder if there was a reason for this. It just happened that way would be the usual thinking.
However, from the Second World War onwards, most of Upfield's novels were published in the first instance by Doubledays in the U.S. which might seem odd for novels with a distinctly Australian flavour, and any second and subsequent publications were done in Australia, and the UK.
Those early novels were (relatively) readily available here in Australia, mainly stemming from the events surrounding the Snowy Rowles case that brought Upfield's second novel to a point of almost notoriety.
There was in fact an urban myth which was integral with the thinking about why Upfield became popular in the U.S.
That urban myth is along these lines. During the early stages of the War which had now started in the Pacific, American military personnel from every branch of the Service spent a lot of time here in Australia, mainly as an early staging point for deployment to U.S. theaters of operation in the Pacific, and also as R and R during lulls in the fighting as units were rested from the Front Lines. Those American military personnel were evidently large buyers of those earlier Bony novels whilst they were stationed here in Australia, mainly I would think for their crime fiction content more than for the esoteric nature of their Australian settings, and Aboriginal background, which I suspect had very little, if anything to do with any reason why they were popular amongst those U.S. servicemen. Those novels, once purchased in Australia, and begun to be read, and I then suspect not really finished, would have been taken back to the conflict theaters, and as is the way of most military members, those novels would have been shared around, and from my 25 years as a member of the Air Force here in Australia, even I remember how novels were shared around, and seldom, if ever, would you ever see that novel again. Because of that, whenever those military people were back in Australia on R and R, then these Upfield novels would have been sought out. The thinking was that it only stands to reason that when some of those men went 'home' back to the U.S. they took the novels with them, and thus they were introduced into the U.S. From that, you could build a case that an enquiry was made, an enquiry that would have probably then come from more than one source, and from that, a U.S. publishing house then set about getting hold of those books so that they could service their readers in the U.S. a vastly larger base of readership than what Australia was.
However, whilst a good 'yarn', it's not really true.
Prior to the War in the Pacific even starting Upfield had actually been negotiating with Doubledays in the U.S. to have his novels published in the U.S. where Crime Fiction was in fact quite a large genre for publishers and they were always looking for new work. Upfield's novels with his Bony character might seem on the surface to have a distinctly Australian flavour to them that might not be readily appreciated in the U.S. but if the novels were not good Crime Fiction in the first place, then they may not have been picked up at all. Some publications in that Crime Fiction genre in the U.S. could be thought of as being just pulp paperbacks, similar to those Westerns which were also popular at the time, but here, with these Upfield novels, they got the full treatment, released in hard back format with coloured dust jackets. Were they not good in the first place, they probably would not have received this treatment at all.
You only need to look at that list at the above link to find that some of those earlier Upfield novels were released prior to those U.S. soldiers arriving here in Australia, and in fact, of Upfield's eight pre war novels, five of them were released by Doubleday during those war years.
From the end of the War forward, those Bony novels were in fact first published in the U.S. and that publishing house would have had some sort of deal with Upfield to get first options on those novels.
Because of this, from the end of the War forwards, Upfield escalated his writing and while earlier novels were relatively well spaced apart, from the end of the War, Upfield really started to pump them out.
When it came to U.S. military personnel acquiring these Bony novels during their time here in Australia, I would strongly suspect that one of those novels that would have been well received by those American servicemen would have been 'The Mystery Of Swordfish Reef', which was one of the most recently published novels here in Australia, and still quite readily available at those book selling establishments here in Australia.
One of the first of those Upfield novels published in the U.S. by Doubledays was in fact that same novel, and that was published as early as 1943, four years after Angus and Robertson first published it here in Australia. In that same year, two more of Upfield's earlier novels were also published by Doubleday, 'Wings Above The Diamantina', (published as 'Wings Above The Claypan') and 'Mr. Jelly's Business'. (published as 'Murder Down Under') but 'The Mystery Of Swordfish Reef' was the first published in the US with the original title.
From that point onwards, most of Upfield's novels were published in the first instance in the U.S. by Doubledays, and some under alternative titles to Upfield's original title.
This now brings into some form of context the reference novel from the American Ray Brown, 'The Spirit Of Australia'.
I always wondered about that reference book, because in places, where Brown describes those Upfield novels, it almost seems that the novel he was referring to was different to the one that I had read. That was most startling in 'The Mystery Of Swordfish Reef', where the discrepancies between the novel Brown was referring to and the original by Upfield seemed so much at odds.
The differing titles of some of those Upfield novels can be explained away with a particular original title from Upfield being more recognisable in Australia than it might be in the U.S.
Using similar logic, it might be explained that some of the text in those novels was also altered to be less Australian specific and more general in context.
In all, 18 future novels from Upfield were in fact first published by Doubledays in the U.S.
Only two of those future Upfield novels were not picked up by Doubledays, and the last novel, not completed by Upfield, and finished by two other authors after his death was also not picked up by Doubledays, again in a way reinforcing a belief that Upfield did in fact have a deal with Doubledays.
Of those earlier novels, Doubledays picked up all bar one of them.
In all, of all 29 Bony novels, Doubleday published all but three of them.
The last one that they published was Upfield's very first Bony novel 'The Barrakee Mystery, first published in 1929, and finally published by Doubledays in 1965, a year after Upfields passing.
Upfield in fact was so popular in the U.S. that he was awarded the top prize as a crime fiction author, the first non American author to be awarded this prestigious award. Upfield's health precluded him from travelling to the U.S. to receive this award.
Later in the late 80's and into the 90's the same thing with respect to popularity happened, in of all places, Germany, where the Bony novels became almost wildly popular, and most of them were translated into German and published there.
A case could be effectively made that Upfield was in fact more popular outside of Australia than he was here in his home Country, but this would also be somewhat of an urban myth as well, because his novels were quite popular here in Australia, in a time before some political correctness seemed to take hold..
UpfieldTony
Tagged: Arthur W Upfield, Bony, Book Reviews
Posted in: Australia, Book Review
← How Much Will It Cut Temperatures By Again?
Book Review – The Devil's Steps – Arthur W Upfield →
One Response "Tony's Notes From The Bony Novels (Part 6)" →
Arthur W Upfield Home Page « PA Pundits – International →
March 11th, 2011 → 1:26 am
[…] 14. Tony's Notes From The Bony Novels (Part6) Upfield's popularity in the […]


text:
Odiorne Point Park Engagement
Tell us how you first met? Who, what, when, where, and why?
We actually met in high school! Marrying your high school sweetheart is not for everybody, but we knew in our hearts that this relationship was special, something that would last, even if others along the way told us that it wouldn't. As teens and young adults, we went through a lot and faced some of the most fragile and intense times of life head-on together. We shaped our adult voice together which sort of defined our adult relationship. We never would have guessed that we'd be marrying the person who sat two seats away in sophomore chemistry class, but by some unlikely odds it turns out we were just right for each other.
When did you know he/she was the one? Was there something he/she did?, etc.
I always had plans to pursue my PhD. Eventually I was going on interviews at schools all across the country, from Massachusetts to North Carolina to California and Washington. The reality of Buddy having to leave his job and uproot his life and move somewhere completely new started to settle in, but he sacrificed everything and put his own life on hold to stay by my side while I advanced my career. That's when I knew he was the one.
Tell us about the proposal. (Did you see it coming, how long was it in the planning?, how did you feel? nervous, excited, freaking out?)
The day of the proposal, we went to brunch at New Leaf restaurant in Fort Tryon Park. We were planning to visit the Cloisters museum that day. We had been looking at rings for a while, so I (Nicole) kind of saw it coming, but was still very surprised when he got down on one knee in the gardens of the park! Apparently Buddy was pretty nervous and was relieved when I said "yes"! We did go to the Cloisters after to look at the medieval art and tapestries but I think we were both too excited to fully appreciate it!
Tell us the one thing you love most about each other.
We love each other's passion and drive, putting 110% into everything we do. But importantly, we balance each other, bringing out the best in one another.
If you feel comfortable, share with us something silly or quirky the other person does.
Buddy twitches a lot during his sleep!
Besides getting married – what's the one thing you are looking forward to on your wedding day?
Enjoying the company of our friends and relatives, of course!
What's your favorite trend for weddings right now?
Earthy and neutral! Greenery is the trend I'm obsessed with right now.
What was the best thing about working with Nate?
Nate made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera. We love his excitement; you can tell he's really passionate about what he does and it got us super excited as well. Really funny guy, we had a lot of fun!


text:
Remnant of Israel Messianic Synagogue proud to have affiliation with multiple organizations that promote and support the Messianic Jewish ministries. Our affiliations include:
The Young Messianic Jewish Alliance (YMJA) is a vibrant Messianic organization focused on young people across the nation. We exist to challenge Messianic young people to passionately follow our Messiah.
Operating under the auspices of the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA), the YMJA is a nationally-recognized organization with deep roots in the early days of this end-time Jewish revival. The YMJA was formed in 1967 and focused primarily on college-age groups, bringing Jewish believers together for teaching and fellowship in accord with a Messianic vision.
Many of these participants are current leaders in Messianic congregations and ministries. In the mid-1970's, the YMJA was the single greatest force the L-rd used to bring about modern Messianic Judaism. From its inception, the YMJA has played a vital role in the spiritual, social, and cultural identity of our movement. Today, the YMJA maintains the vision and has expanded to serve young people across the nation. Through our Teen, College & Career-Age, and Singles ministries, the YMJA is being used as an instrument by the L-rd to unite Messianic believers around the world!
Since 1915, the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (MJAA) has been about God's assignment for the restoration of Israel. Both the Messianic community and a small number of Christian Zionists have already played a significant role in both the physical and spiritual restoration of Israel.
In 1948, in fulfillment of prophecy, the physical restoration of Israel began with the re-establishment of the nation of Israel.
In 1967, also in fulfillment of prophecy, the spiritual restoration of Israel was initiated within the context of the Jesus People Revival. God poured out His Holy Spirit upon the dry bones of Israel. Messianic Judaism reminiscent of the 1st century faith in Yeshua (Jesus) was reborn.
In 1996, the MJAA's humanitarian arm, the Restoration of Israel (ROI) was established. We know that God's prophetic plan is for our Jewish people to recognize Yeshua (Jesus)—the spiritual restoration of Israel. God has given the MJAA clear direction to accomplish this by showing the Messiah's heart of love through acts of kindness and good deeds in the form of humanitarian aid (1 Peter 2:15).
To this end we have initiated humanitarian projects in Israel, Ethiopia, Western and Eastern Europe, and the US.


Attitudes to water are changing.
In regions with a natural abundance of water, this vital resource has often been taken for granted. However, in 2013, water supply crises were ranked as the third most concerning global risk based on a survey of more than 700 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society. The table below illustrates the concern about water crises.
The challenges of increasing demand and competing uses for water have raised the profile of this essential resource, bringing water issues to the attention of communities and businesses worldwide.
Q. The table above shows water crises are in the top three global risks, in terms of impact and likelihood, but what do you think are the greatest environmental issues facing us?
Click on the image to find out the responses to a global survey on environmental concerns.
So what has brought about this surge in concern for fresh water?
It plays an integral role in community health and productivity - A healthy workforce is a more productive workforce!
It's needed in the growing and manufacturing of all products - Water is used in everything we make!
Water consumption has risen sharply in recent decades. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years, primarily due to population growth and higher individual consumption due to improved living standards. Considering how vital water is to economic activity, freshwater issues are now taking on strategic importance to businesses, making water a key challenge of the 21st Century.
Q. How many significant risks can you think of that are directly determined by a reliable freshwater supply?
The diagram below illustrates how interconnected the natural and economic world is, with water so often the critical factor.
Physical Risks: the physical risk of either water shortage or lack of required water quality. This mainly affects sectors that use water as part of the production process, e.g. agriculture, food and beverage processing and energy companies.
Regulatory Risk: the conditions on use of water or the discharge of water, e.g. permits and licences (for extraction), price control and water quality standards (e.g. discharges).
Reputational Risk: increasing competition for clean water among economic, social, and environmental interests has a large potential for damaging the reputation and even growth prospects of companies.
The business risks associated with declining water quality and availability are complex and increasingly significant. However, businesses are also seeing a variety of investment opportunities in water efficiency, treatment and distribution products and services for better water management.
Improved access to fresh water has a direct positive impact on people and communities leading to significant social, economic and environmental benefits. Effective management of freshwater resources helps sustain agriculture, industries, ecosystems and communities.
The business opportunity in water conservation - how companies must learn to do more with less.
Sustainability and Equity: A better future for all (UNDP Human Development Report, 2011) - read about the role of water in achieving sustainability.
Challenges of Water Scarcity: A Business Case for Financial Institutions - read more about the challenges businesses may face in light of global water issues and actions to overcome these.


text:
package teste.de.upload;

import java.io.File;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import BancoDeDados.Conexao;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.PreparedStatement;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.SQLException;
import java.sql.Statement;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class Download {

    public Download() {

        //String namefile = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Insira o nome do arquivo e.e");
        String query = "SELECT * FROM bd_trabalho.arquivo;";
        System.out.println(query);
        Conexao j = new Conexao();
        j.conectar("localhost:3306", "root", "123", "bd_trabalho");

        try {
            ResultSet rx = j.enviarQueryResultados(query);
            for (int a = 0; a < 10; a++) {

                for (int i = 1; i < 7; i++) {

                    System.out.println(rx.getString(i));
                }
                rx.next();
            }
        } catch (SQLException ex) {
        }

    }
}


Convertigo Mobility Plaform delivers a secured and scalable disruptive open source all-in-one solution, integrating rapid cross platform mobile development tools and a powerful MBaaS covering backend connectivity and featuring a middleware optimized for mobility.
Convertigo Mobility Platform industrializes new mobile applications production, or transforms existing enterprise business applications. It ensures that Enterprises have the appropriate enterprise grade security, governance and performances and delivers mobile apps on devices such as Smartphones or Tablets running on iOS, Android or Windows.
Convertigo includes full support for Hybrid HTML5 client applications with its built-in Cordova rendering engine Mobile Application Development Platform and also supports Visual Studio with Xamarin for developping Cross-platform mobile apps.


TYCONZ is an SAP-certified consultancy firm with a solid track record in providing high-level expertise in SAP implementation, development, training and support in the MENA region. We continuously build our local and regional presence, while focusing on achieving real customer satisfaction, through highly-qualified local resources that support various industries across multiple SAP solutions.
Optimize your enterprise capabilities with the help of our team of qualified consultants, who are part of TYCONZ's larger pool of international and local SAP certified professionals.
Benefit from the SAP-related support and expertise needed during both the presales process and when closing sales agreements with SAP clients in the region.
Utilize our strategic and custom solution capabilities based on SAP applications (such as the Qatar Central Bank regulatory reporting package developed by TYCONZ as an add-on to SAP BI).
World-class service matched with invaluable local knowledge – this is our competitive advantage.
We are seasoned experts from diverse backgrounds who are rooted in the region; we understand the needs of businesses here, and we work hard to ensure lower costs and top-notch service for our clients. We have cross-industry knowledge, and our dedicated team of senior consultants holds over a decade of SAP experience in the financial, manufacturing, oil and gas, and public sector industries. Our team is also composed of senior experts specializing in cross-industry solutions such as SAP BW/BO, SAP PI, SAP ERP and SAP CRM.
Embedded in the MENA region, we are committed to providing our SAP clients with relevant solutions and top-niche services, by drawing on our vast experiences in SAP technology and through our pool of highly-experienced and certified professionals.
We strive to help our clients boost performance by providing customized SAP services and solutions that meet their unique business needs, increase the value of their existing SAP technology, and maximize their return on investment.
Our people and partners, our shared values and personalized approach, are at the very heart of our success. We work together on distinguishing ourselves by providing our clients with the best professional services, as well as by building long-term relationships based on client satisfaction and trust.
We understand very well how technology can make or break a business. That is why the core of our work is to closely collaborate with clients in order to maximize the value of their existing SAP technology and to allow them to focus more on their core strengths. We not only provide consulting services and customized SAP solutions; we take it a step further by building our client team's knowledge from day one, so that it fully benefits from reduced costs and an increased ROI when it comes to SAP application support, maintenance and enhancement.
SAP continues to secure its lead over major competitors around the globe by providing clients with top-niche solutions.
However, as more and more organizations partner with SAP as regional service providers, they also face significant challenges in sourcing and staffing professionals with the required level of expertise needed in the SAP domain. This lack of qualified regional SAP specialists, and the high cost of hiring or contracting international SAP experts, has become a major risk to SAP's presence, sustainability and market share in the region.
TYCONZ is a regional-based firm with a pool of local and international senior consultants, holding over 10 years of SAP experience, who understand how to leverage SAP products to deliver real and beneficial results to clients.
Our team members are bilingual (Arabic and English), and have extensive experience and an established understanding of regional requirements, specifically in its three main industries – financial, oil and gas, and the public sector. And though we focus on industry-specific solutions, we also have in-depth knowledge of cross-industry applications.
We understand that our success is dependent on SAP's success. That is why we invest the required time and effort in enabling and personalizing SAP solutions to meet and exceed the market's best practices and requirements.


So here we are at the start of a new game, making all the plans for how I am going to achieve this within the confines of a web browser again. I very rarely plan all the details of game play and mechanics as I find they come naturally as the game progresses and they always evolve over time, however I do spend a fair amount of time on the planning of the methods I will employ within the code. To this end I am working out in my mind how I can have a large map of block data within vertex limits of WebGL.
Before we, start I want to say that I have been making games for over 35 years and in my day back in 1982, tile maps were called block maps and I will always see them as block maps with blocks, for me a tile is a flat surface with limited information such as texture and colour whereas a block is a block of information that can contain anything such as texture and animation and collisions. At the end of the day you can call them what you like but the map is just an array of indexes that are used to index a set of predefined blocks of information.
As for the maps, I have decided to go for a block map, however I want a layered effect so I have set upon one layer of blocks for the map with the standard item attributes to say what the block contains such as, are there trees, bushes, pick up items, buildings etc, however where the block has a tree or maybe a bridge I will draw them on the upper layer draw call rather than the lower. This should give me the ability to have the action going on under the tree canopy and bridges. Each block will have the ability to be linked to multiple sprites, and to create the illusion of depth on a top down game we must have shadows.
During this period, I also play with the art, as for me it's the art that makes the game and my it is biggest headache, I am sure that some developers tend not to worry so much about the art but for me it has to be as good as can make it, especially being as I normally take a game genre and try to push it as far as I can to show how good it could be.
This game will be no different, I am taking a well-established genre of a multiplayer game and doing what I did with Sky Fight, pushing the limits while trying to make the best game I can. And no matter how good my code is, it's all no good if the art is crap. Don't misunderstand me, I am a coder first and my art is a secondary learned skill, therefore my art is not up there with the best, but I think it's good enough, and it is the best I can do, so if I am happy with it then I am sure some of you will be too!
So, knowing the game is a top down view-point and without revealing what I kind of game I am making yet, let's talk about what I am actually doing today.
Today I am experimenting with ground, grass and blending grass edges with ground blocks, I think I have come up with a way I can make some basic ground and grass along with a method of making the edges look natural.
I have opted for a dithered ground effects in multiple Photoshop layers of colours, and to achieve this so it looks random I decided to write a Photoshop script to create a series of shape layer masks.
I know some of you may be thinking I could use a Photoshop dithered layer, however I am not sure if you have noticed that the Photoshop dither is not random, it is the same for each layer and even if you use the layer alpha to create different amounts of dither it always removes the same pixels in a same order.
I choose to use shapes (vector) as much as possible as it allows me to scale objects without losing edge definition, leaving all the images crisp and sharp.
Even though this page says its for Photoshop CC, this plugin runs with my copy of Photoshop CS6.
It is a simple task of recording how to make a shape on a layer and putting it into a loop with random x and y positions. Because I want to have my pixels on one layer and not the others have added an array of pixels so I can check if there is a pixel in that position already so I don't draw in the same position twice!
To demonstrate the output I have coloured the layers, red, green, blue and yellow, with each pixel being a 1 x 1 square shape.


It is a scientifically backed fact that playing video games is strongly related to a player's feeling of happiness, as well as relaxation at times. Some of the reasons why playing games influences players in such a beneficiary manner are pretty obvious, such as bonding with other people, making inevitable boring moments and situations fun (such as standing in a row, sitting in a waiting room waiting for your appointment, etc.).
Other reasons are not so easy to perceive at first sight, but they can be easily grasped, and are of equal relevance to the general importance of playing video games.
These include triggering the player's creative side, making it easier for them to escape from the stressful environment that world imposes upon us today so frequently, allowing them to dwell back into that period of pure innocent happiness that childhood offers, improving various skills and capabilities such as night vision, reflexes, creative thinking, and memory.
People often have that need to spend some time on their own, doing things they like. If some of these people are close to us (wife/husband/best friend), we naturally feel the need to be present in those moments nevertheless.
If we are lucky enough that the people we love are games, then we might participate in these moments by either playing a game with them or at least watching them play since that can be pretty fun as well. This is very likely to strengthen the relationship.
Another social situation where being a gamer may be pretty handy is a party. The reason for this is that as much as 81% of adults in the US aged between 18 and 29 play games, and the chances are huge that you might run into another gamer on a party. This means that you will surely have something in common to talk about. This, of course, applies to similar situations as well, such as going-outs.
It is a very common trend today that people move around the world all the time and not stay in touch with friends. However, gamers stay connected due to a multiplayer mode which allows them to communicate and engage in exciting online experiences wherever they are. Also, when they happen to be at the same place and go out together, they will always have what to talk about.
New players start playing games every day, and very often there is this feeling of helplessness and confusion. Gamers are in most cases quite compassionate and patient regarding these new players, and they are willing to spend a lot of time with them in order to introduce them to the world of the game they play, engaging with them in various ways.
After all, they were newbies as well at the beginning whom more experienced players ran to aid. When treated in such a nice manner by more experienced players, new players tend to feel thankful and happy and to transfer this positive energy into the real world.
It is well known that getting older implies more and more stressful situations and additional pressure. The form of the cause of this stress varies from case to case, but usually, it includes paying bills, paying loans, going to work, taking care of various family issues, etc.
Here gaming works as a stress reliever, it proves to be a great way to escape the pressure put on us by various daily tasks and demands. Instead of thinking about all the things that we should do, we focus on something we really enjoy and thus make a relaxing environment for our minds.
Ok, this refocusing explains why we feel relaxed, but what makes us so happy when we play games? According to a study carried out by the University of Stanford, playing games releases dopamine and the cause for this is the reward system. So when all adds up we end up with a pleasurable relaxation.
According to an MSU study, gamers are more creative, and this proves to be true irrespective of the game genre being played. All the students involved ended up with the same boost of creativity and imagination whether they played a shooter or RPG.
While playing video games, we often tend to make a more subjective picture of the world presented. A well-designed game will make you immerse yourself into its world, be it realistic (such as portrayed by GTA) or imaginative (like Path of Exile).
We try to identify with our characters putting ourselves in their mindsets and the world of the game full of stimuli which present a creative exercise for our brains.
Gaming will improve your skills such as reflexes, night vision, memory and hand-eye coordination. Various studies have proven that playing games positively influences our fine motor skills and spatial coordination.
Even though one would think that gamers have worse vision due to being extensively exposed to various displays, the University of Rochester proved that the case is quite the contrary with its study (especially when night vision is considered).
It suggested that players were more capable of perceiving details. Another interesting study carried out in Netherlands proved that gamers are less prone to frustration and stress when it comes to acquiring new skills.
Many video games are also full of various puzzles, the complexity of which ranges to very difficult ones. This forces gamers to think hard and out-of-the-box. These skills are then applicable to real life situations which can prove to be very useful. Moreover, they have better recall and visual memory according to a Toronto University study.
It fights depression and boredom and reconnects us to that unique feeling of pure happiness.
The feeling of happiness which gamers tend to experience is not always ordinary. It sometimes takes them back to that innocent world of their childhood and unlocks the door to some unique experiences of happiness not otherwise available.
This makes overall life more enjoyable. This, of course, implies that gamers are less likely to end up being depressive or bored-the problems that bother a great number of adults in the US.
Their view of life is more balanced which means that they do not allow daily tasks and obligations to totally overwhelm them-they always have their games to look forward to. Life is not all about duties, but about fun as well.
Taking all these facts into consideration, it is easy to see how playing video games can prove to be very beneficial for us. Most of us lead very busy lives full of obligations and duties, but it is important to remember to have fun from time to time as well. This will not only make us feel better, but also boost some of our skills and help us think more imaginatively.


text:
Edmond Dédé The Black Paganini
Noir News Written by Poe
Today we talk about a talented musician from New Orleans who has been forgotten for a long time. Edmond Dédé was a virtuoso violinist, composer and conductor as well. Some french people used to call him Edmond Dédé The Black Paganini.
Born on November 20, 1827 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the young Dédé immediately showed a lot of interest in music.
His father was a merchant and music teacher and was the first to notice the prodigious potential of his son. First, he approached the clarinet but then the violin became his instrument.
Encouraged by his father, he continued to study violin with great masters such as Constantin Debergue and Italian-born Ludovico Gabici.
At the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848 because of economic problems, he went to Mexico to seek his fortune. In 1950 he returned to the United States and began to do various jobs including the cigar maker. His goal was to earn the money to pay for the trip to Europe.
In 1852 he finally made it to Europe and lived between Belgium and France. In 1857 he began to collaborate with the Paris conservatory. From that moment on his career as a musician began to flourish. He had the opportunity to work as an assistant conductor and conductor in the most prestigious Grand Théâtre.
He also made a name for himself as a composer. Samuel Snaer, Jr, an American conductor was the first to have his orchestra perform Dédé's Quasimodo Symphony. Probably his most famous work together with the Mephisto Masque and Mon Pauvre Coeur.
Edmond Dédé, who by now was living permanently in Bordeaux, returned only once to New Orleans. Upon his arrival, the city dedicated many concerts to him to praise his fame and talent.
Those who have heard him play the violin have compared him to Paganini for his musical virtuosity.
Dédé died in 1903 in Paris and his music was largely forgotten for a long time. Fortunately, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France kept his manuscripts. Today the music of this incredible musician is regaining much popularity.
If you like string and violins we suggest to you this song. Those Who Care by Edgar Allan Poets
African American Artist African American Composer African American Icons African American Talent African American Talented People African American Violinist African Americans In Classical Music Black People in Classical Music Classical Music edmond dede composer dédé edmond edgar allan poets edmond dédé edmond dédé age edmond dede biography edmond dede composer edmond dédé death edmond dede mephisto masque edmond dede mon pauvre coeur edmond dédé music edmond dédé sheet music edmond dede songs Edmond Dédé The Black Paganini listen to edmond dede Niccolò Paganini Noir News Paganini The Black Paganini


Great stay. Cant wait until next time!
Everyone was very helpful and accommodating. Guest Services was very responsive.
It was a perfect long weekend and we look forward to returning in the summer and also would love to experience foliage in the fall.
Outstanding. We will be back in the Spring and plan to request the same cabin. Perfect for all our needs and management was super helpful throughout the process.
The staff is very friendly and helpful. Answered all my questions, and relieved my doubts.
The cabin was very clean and accessible. I loved how cozy and intimate the setting was. I was very satisfied, and are definitely coming back with others. I would like to thank the staff for all they do in making a comfortable stay possible.
All of my communication has been through email but it has been very pleasant.
I would highly recommend this property to anyone who is looking for a nice wooded cabin that will allow pets and is close to small town shopping and antiquing.
We really enjoyed working with you guys. Very helpful!
We Loved our stay so much that we are planning our next trip and have decided to move to the area.
Very quick with the reservation process and very helpful to my wife with some questions she had.
Overall it was a great experience. My only regret is not staying longer.
Cabin was all we had hoped for, exactly as the photos portrayed. A total pleasure with all you need, like a home away from home. Absolutely lovely! Sorry we had to leave!
The team was really great to work with. Easy, and painless.
We enjoyed the stay very much, even enough to consider purchasing some property in the area. Since I am a contractor I would purchase a lot and build on the property myself.
We really did not work with any team members during our stay- it was nice not having t actually "check in" somewhere and then go find the cabin or "check out" on the way home. We were given instructions on how to get in and how to leave... Easy Peasy!
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We had a very nice quiet romantic weekend celebrating 6 years of marriage.


AWS is one of the greatest disruptive forces in the entire enterprise technology market. Who would have thought when they launched in 2006, it was going to kick off perhaps the most transformative shift in the history of the $300B data center industry. Over 25,000 people (or 0.0003% of the World's population) are descending on Vegas this week to learn more about AWS, the biggest supercomputer in the world.
As we get ready to eat, drink, network and learn, I wanted to provide some responses to inquiries I often get from prospects, reporters and folks who I meet at various conferences around the country.
What advice would you pass on to anyone deciding to use AWS for public cloud storage?
How can we maximize AWS's value?
Crawl, walk, run – it is a learning curve that will take time to master. Adopt increasing levels of services as your teams get up to speed and understands how to leverage APIs and automate everything through code. Compute as code is now a reality.
Turn on logging within AWS. More specifically, activate Amazon CloudWatch to log all your systems, applications and services and activate AWS CloudTrail to log all API actions. This will provide visibility into all user actions on AWS. The lack of visibility into cloud operations and controls stands as the largest security issue we see.
What cautions might there be in terms of how to end up paying more than one should or not really getting full value out of this type of storage?
Look for solutions and tools that are cloud native, so you can avoid unnecessary data exfiltration costs.
10 years ago, no one was virtualizing mission critical workloads because of Security and Compliance concerns…but we ended up there anyways. This is exactly the same thing for cloud. And in this new world, speed and time to market is everything. Organizations are looking to be more flexible, more agile, capitalize on business opportunities, and how you approach security is different. And to support the rapid pace of delivery of these digital initiatives – weekly, even daily – these companies are leveraging modern, advanced IT infrastructures like AWS and Sumo Logic. In this new world, we at Sumo Logic have a tremendous opportunity to help operations and security professionals get the visibility they need as those workloads are moved out to the cloud. We help them become cloud enablers, to help drive the business forward, not being naysayers. Visibility is everything!
Come stop by our booth – #604 – and say hi!


It all began with eight handpicked LIFE Legacy Mentors - an amazing group of people who served as LIFE Mentors for one to three LIFE Summer Programs and volunteered countless hours to serve students. They poured many hours and talent into establishing impactful connections with high school students, making our first year a great success!
These original eight students have gone on to pursue their educational dreams by completing bachelor's degrees and master's programs, starting professional jobs, getting married, growing their families, and every step of the way they continued to give back to others. They volunteer their time and finances selflessly and dedicate their efforts to ensuring that others know they are willing to help anyone in need.
Every team that has come after this original group has continued to take the LIFE program to a new level, year after year. LIFE Mentors are the heart of our successful program.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
There have been many retellings of Mulan recently, but I haven't read any of them and thought it was time. Thanks to NetGalley I was able to read the new book. Now I went into this read knowing very little about the book (I find this best with retellings) except that it was a part of a larger series.
Unlike many Mulan versions, this novel was set in Lithuania in medieval times. I found the setting very odd, some might find it a breath of fresh air, but I found it strange like the author was attempting to force all these fairy tale characters into one location (numerous famous characters had their stories take place in Lithuania). I admit I know the bare minimum of Poland during this period and perhaps that affects how I view some of the events of the story.
After Mulan's abusive, drunk father dies of sickness, Mulan pretends to be his son to serve as a soldier and allow her mother to keep their house. With the help of her younger friend Andre, her father's assistant, she becomes a soldier for the local Duke Konrad to fight the invading Teutonic Knights. Meanwhile, Wolfgang and Steffen, (young men related to Aladdin by marriage) set off to do the same, but Steffen deserts, joining the Knights instead in hopes of finding glory and becoming a knight.
The characters were one dimensional, having only one goal and every little emotion. A few emotions were raised in the conflict but overcome with ease, more like a side thought to make things seem better motivated. As with the classic Mulan story, the skilled soldier, Wolfgang, falls for Mulan and she for him yet believed she could not to be with him. There was no real emotional connection between the two, they were good soldiers and the main characters, therefore, they must fall in love, but it can't be too easy, so the writer made her hesitant to be with him. The secondary characters were few and far between, with no wants of their own (besides Steffen) and offered little to the story. The dialogue, just like the characters, was flat, dull and very scripted making the story even less exciting.
The writing style was dull, relying on telling instead of showing. This slowed down the action and failed to engage me as a reader. Along with this, the theme was very Christian preaching, stating that God will solve everything, God has a plan, etc. This also made the action less enticing; if God will solve it, why would there be any risk to Mulan? I am not religious and quickly became tired of the preachiness. Perhaps this made me the wrong audience for this book.
The villains of the story, Rusdorf and his Teutonic Knights, had little reason to do their diabolical acts apart from the story needing the conflict. They said they were doing God's work, but their emotion and conflict were lacking, making them one dimensional. During the battles, there was no real threat to Mulan nor were they difficult for her. It made the story lack any hook and, added together with the one-dimensional characters, made the novel predictable. Why bother reading if you already know what will happen?
I found this novel slow with flat characters and dialogue, dull conflict and tiresome religious themes. Trying to force every fairy tale character into one location (a location very different from where they're originally from) didn't seem natural, very obviously a desire by the author for a series in the same place. The story failed to engage me, and I give it 2/5.


A method to model functionally integrated product architectures is demonstrated on a static aero engine component. The scheme is based on concepts in set theory, graph theory and the creation of an enhanced function-means (EF-M) tree. Separate options for segmenting the component for manufacture affect these descriptions. Using the generated descriptions, implications for the chosen segmenting options are discussed with respect to overall functional satisfaction as well as functional realization at sections in the component. In addition to describing the architecture of integrated components, the description scheme might be utilized for studying product-feature integration opportunities facilitated by manufacturing techniques such as AM.


An in-depth assessment of your issue and an effective treatment plan implemented.
An in-depth assessment of your injury and treatment plan catering for your chosen sport.
A firm pressure massage to release muscle tension and have you performing at your best.
A gentle pressure massage to ease aches and pains and relieve stress.
A firm but relaxing massage for expectant mums to ease tension.
a safe and confidential space to explore your difficulties, working collaboratively with a trained therapist.
Highly qualified and caring practitioners await within a state of the art clinic. With late night and early morning appointments to work around you, you'll be in safe hands as soon as you walk through the door.
Call, book an appointment online or pop in at your convenience.
We treat all our patients as individuals, providing them with a unique and professional treatment plan for their issue. Our practitioners are hand picked for their passion in their field and their drive to help patients, meaning we deliver the highest quality of service.
Our staff are qualified to a minimum of degree level and have years of experience in private practice. Whether your issue is chronic back pain, a sporting injury or you are just in need of a relaxing massage, they are here to help.
With late night and early morning appointments, free parking outside and a comfortable waiting area with drinks and biscuits waiting for you, we are here to make your life easier.
"I found Guy Oldring to be incredibly knowledgeable and really listened to me. The treatment he gave me to recover from my spinal fusion surgery was 1st class"
"As a runner in my 50s who has been running for the past 12 years I am constantly getting niggles and occasional injuries. Stef is very knowledgeable and great at sorting out injuries or simply giving a maintenance massage. After one of Stef's massages my legs always feel refreshed and ready for more miles!"
"I've had repetitive ACL issues and tears over the years. Without Guy's help and expertise I wouldn't have rehabbed as well and as swiftly after each issue, and I wouldn't be moving as well as I do now. Very professional and easy manner and evidently knows his stuff. Couldn't recommend more."
"My experience of massage hasn't always been good, however when I met Stef this changed. Stef helped me with the physical aches and pains and also given me great advise on how to support my back and neck.s. Stef has a natural, calming approach and I highly recommend Stef and her service."
"Stephanie understands The aches and pains that come With a physically demanding job , she instinctively and knowledgeably knows how to treat them. Deep tissue massage once a fortnight has made a maintenance plan that has transformed my life."
"Guy has helped me so much after having a nasty car accident. He is very knowledgeable and really put me at ease. I cant recommend him enough"


According to a report in "India Today", President Pranab Mukherjee will confer India's highest civilian award on Tendulkar at a ceremony to be held next month.
Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket on November 16, 2013, was chosen for Bharat Ratna honour on the same day.
The Master Blaster played his 200th and final Test against West Indies on that day at his home ground – Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Tendulkar became the first sportsperson to be picked for Bharat Ratna. He and eminent scientist Prof. CNR Rao were chosen for the award last year.
"Shri Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly an outstanding cricketer – a living legend who has inspired millions across the globe. During the last 24 years, since the young age of 16 years, Shri Tendulkar has played cricket across the world and won laurels for our country," the release said.
He has been a true ambassador of India in the world of sports. His achievements in cricket are unparalleled, the records set by him unmatched, and the spirit of sportsmanship displayed by him exemplary. That he has been honoured with several awards is testimony to his extraordinary brilliance as a sportsman," it added.
At 40, Tendulkar is the youngest to be chosen for Bharat Ratna. He will be the 42nd recipient of the honour.
Last year, Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. The Mumbai cricketer has already received Padma Vibhushan (2008), Padma Shri (1999), Arjun Award (1994) and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (1997-98).


text:
King Charles III: Proclamation read in cities and towns
Official announcements of the new King Charles III are taking vicinity in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The ceremonies comply with the announcement of the new king in London on Saturday. In Hull, the procession made its way from the City Hall to Queen Victoria Square.
The High Sheriff of East Yorkshire, Jackie Bowes, made the announcement from the city corridor balcony, alongside with the county's Lord Lieutenant. He used to be watched by way of a crowd gathered round the statue of Queen Victoria. Along with the mayors of the cities of the region, nearby deputies and deputies had been additionally present.
King Charles III Proclamation read in cities and towns 3
It ended with a piper enjoying a verse of the countrywide anthem, observed by way of three cheers for the new king. It ended with a piper enjoying a verse of the country wide anthem, observed via three cheers for the new king. In Lincoln, a comparable ceremony was once held at Lincoln Cathedral, the place the county's new sovereign was once proclaimed.
Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, the bulletins will take location in Boston, Manby, Sleaford, Spaulding, Grantham, Stamford, Bourne, Market Deeping, Gainsborough and Lincoln at 3pm UK Standard Time. The foremost ceremony in East Yorkshire will be held in Beverley in Market Cross Square at 15:30.
Headon, Snaith and Cowick, Rockliffe, Patrington, Leven, Goole and Bridlington will keep the proclamation at 16:00.
Categories Television Tags King Charles, King Charles I, King Charles II, King Charles III Post navigation
The Surprising Characters We Never See Fight In Cobra Kai Season 5
NFL Week 1 Odds: Start Time, TV Schedule, Live Stream, Point Spread And Betting Line For Every 2022 Season-Opener


text:
HOME |	Mexico
Landslide Destroys 23 Houses in Mexican Border City
TIJUANA, Mexico – At least 23 dwellings were destroyed over the weekend by landslides in the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana, but no injuries were reported, emergency management officials said.
"We have a 20-meter (65-foot) slope and there are many factors that may have initiated this, but from what we can see this is a natural phenomenon," Tijuana emergency management office director Jose Rito Portugal said Sunday.
Residents of the Reforma district have been detecting cracks in the walls of their homes for two weeks, but they did not notify authorities until last Friday, when the cracks widened, the emergency management official said.
Emergency management office inspectors took preventive measures, posting warning signs on 11 houses at risk of collapse and warned residents of the danger if they remained in the structures.
On Saturday, officials placed warning signs on nine additional houses and evacuated the residents, while the city government set up a mobile emergency operations center.
A few hours later, four houses collapsed and 18 other dwellings were destroyed on Saturday afternoon and night. On Sunday, another house was destroyed.


text:
The Poverty App
Can cell phone bank accounts help India's poor climb out of the slums?
David Wolman
Photo: Susan Meiselas/Magnum
INSIDE HIS dusty electronics repair shop in west Delhi, Sonu Kumar aims a screwdriver at the innards of what looks like an unsalvageable transistor radio. Yet after a couple of turns, a Hindi dance tune pours forth. The customer hands Kumar two crumpled 100-rupee notes (worth about $4.39), which vanish into a shirt pocket. Until recently, those banknotes, like all of Kumar's earnings, would have stayed in his pocket. Like many Indians, the 21-year-old repairman had never had a bank account. Making the trip to a bank branch, waiting in line when he could be out earning income, dealing with deposit minimums and other fees—banking in the conventional sense has always been out of reach for India's poor.
But a quiet revolution in financial services is now underway, thanks in large part to an unlikely hero: cell phones. Across the street from Kumar's shop is a cluttered drugstore, Sharma Medicos, where owner Lakhan Lal Sharma sells vitamins, shampoo, prepaid minutes for cell phones, and, as of last fall, mobile bank accounts managed by a startup called Eko. Kumar walks over to Sharma's, places 1,000 rupees on the counter, and pulls out his phone. The store owner punches in a code, then Kumar's phone number—which doubles as his bank account number—followed by a dollar amount and another code. A few seconds later, Kumar receives a text message from Eko confirming that his savings account with the State Bank of India has been credited 1,000 rupees. Sharma's agent account has been debited the same amount.
Economists say giving poor people access to basic financial services would go a long way (PDF) toward reducing poverty in the developing world. Without a bank account, everyone you know—a perpetually drunk cousin, a hungry neighbor, your belligerent spouse—can steal your hard-earned money. Without a bank account, you may have to spend days riding buses and walking to deliver cash to a relative, or endure steep fees to wire money home. And although microfinance loans are helping millions of people, receiving or making payments on those loans is complicated when you have to do it in cash.
The problem is that there will never be many bank branches where poor people live, because there is no profit motive for banks to set up shop in slums. But cell phones are everywhere. There are now more than 4 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, with 80 percent of new connections made by consumers in developing countries. In India, for example, 10 million new accounts open every month. "More than a billion people worldwide lack bank accounts, but do have mobile phones," says Mark Pickens, an analyst with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, a development group at the World Bank. "That's a dramatic opportunity for people who have no better option than to save cash under the mattress or ride hours on a bus to send money to loved ones."
Indian kiosks already sell candy and cigarettes by the piece. Why not sell bank services the same way?
But it's not just analysts who champion the marriage of phones and banks. Powerhouse nonprofits like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, government agencies like the UK Department for International Development, and venture capital firms are all backing the technology. And while anti-poverty experts see mobile banking as a development godsend, the private sector sees a goldmine. "This is not about corporate social responsibility," says Pallab Mitra, head of the mobile banking program at Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom provider. "We want to get paid." But Mitra is also eager to see mobile banking accelerate India's development. "Backward classes and all that shit has gone on too long," he says. "Every man should be socially included. To do that, you need financial inclusion."
India's largest cell phone-banking startup, the one used by radio repairman Kumar and vendor Sharma, is Delhi-based Eko India Financial Services. On a recent visit to Delhi, I met its cofounder, Abhishek Sinha, who ditched a career with another startup to launch Eko three years ago. The mustachioed 33-year-old and I drove through the choked streets of Delhi to his home in the suburbs. Along the way, he pointed to tiny kiosks with signs for Vodafone, Aircel, and other network operators—all potential mobile bank account vendors. "Shops like that one," he says, gesturing toward a store with a faded awning, "they sell cigarettes by the stick. And single pieces of candy." The message: India's economy is already built around minuscule transactions; banking could work the same way. "To define a bank branch in the old way is anachronistic," says Gavin Krugel, director of the mobile money program at the GSM Association, the trade group representing the operators that run the networks. "We should be able to buy a bank account like we can buy chocolate."
Eko is the liaison between the customer's phone and a savings account with the State Bank of India, the largest in the country. At present, the bank doesn't charge a fee to open these no-frills accounts, and requires no minimum balance. In fact, the bank does little besides hold deposits, pay out modest interest, and provide institutional credibility. Eko does the rest, managing accounts and coordinating with agents—storeowners like Sharma who are handling the cash and interacting with customers. Eko also has an agreement with Bharti Airtel to use its vast network for sending data, in exchange for a tiny commission on each and every transaction. Airtel's incentive is potential profit if mobile banking goes huge, but there's also bolstered customer loyalty; people may be less likely to jump to a different carrier if their bank accounts are tied to mobile subscriptions. For the State Bank of India, the main motivation is corralling new customers who could be more lucrative in the future. Perhaps someday, banks will require a small charge for mobile transactions, or maybe new mobile customers will want other financial services, like loans, CDs, or mortgages.
The private- and public-sector push suggests it is only a matter of time before mobile banking takes off. In 2008, Bill Gates paid a surprise visit to Eko's offices, going out to a drugstore in the bustling neighborhood of Uttam Nagar, where he opened his own phone-enabled account. Shortly after, the Gates Foundation announced a $12.5 million grant to support mobile banking initiatives in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. So far, 120 such programs have launched in developing countries.
Mobile banking has already been successful in countries such as Kenya, where Vodafone's branchless banking service, called M-Pesa, has more than 8 million open accounts. But for the concept to really prove its worth, it will have to work in India. Despite its booming economic growth, India is home to roughly one-third of the world's poor, and 61 percent of rural Indians did not have bank accounts in 2007. Eko is still relatively small, with projects around Delhi and in four rural areas of the state of Bihar. After 15 months of operation, more than 30,000 accounts are active.
Other obstacles persist. Can you ensure that agents don't open accounts for money launderers or terrorists? And some worry about customer exploitation in the form of little fees—charged by the platform providers like Eko, stores, banks, and even the government. But choice and competition are the best remedies for exploitation, says Ignacio Mas, deputy director of Financial Services for the Poor at the Gates Foundation. "Today, poor people don't have many choices, which is why they often find themselves in the hands of varyingly scrupulous local moneylenders, or opt to just hide their cash," he says.
The benefits of such services are already clear to Eko customers like Kumar. His family lives in the city of Meerut, four hours by bus from Delhi. He makes the trip about once a month, bringing cash to his relatives when he can afford to; last time he delivered 12,000 rupees (roughly $264). If Eko or some other branchless banking project truly takes off, Kumar will be able to send funds to his family much like he sends text messages. His relatives, in turn, will go to a shop in Meerut and either redeem the cash or make purchases electronically. Kumar, meanwhile, will be able to save a bunch of time. And money.
Inside India's Rent-a-Womb Business
Scott Carney
The Temple of Do


SSAB Laminate FoodSafe is thoroughly tested to meet the stringent standards of the food industry. Food can even be in direct contact with the laminate.
SSAB Laminate FoodSafe is used e.g. in cold rooms and freezer walls and ceilings. The Laminate FoodSafe is highly formable and wear resistance. The product is usually white and has a low-gloss and smooth surface.
SSAB colour coated products comply with current REACH regulations and are fully free of chromates. GreenCoat® colour coated steels are all manufactured according to EN 10169 + A1.


You are invited you to a very special event.
We are hosting a live, one-day training that goes through the Focus Course and will be taught by yours truly (Shawn Blanc).
The Focus Course is my popular, flagship training on productivity, goal-setting, and time management.
With a values-first approach, I help you get clarity and control over every area of your life (health, relationships, rest, work, finances, inner-personal).
After attending The Focus Course LIVE, you will walk away with clarity on the vision and values for your life and a fresh focus on how you're currently spending your time and energy, what your potential is, and how to apply change and begin making progress.
Space is limited — we are keeping it to only 40 people.
Doors will open at 7:30am with the first session beginning at 8:30am.
Lunch will be provided, and it will be awesome! We will be serving a special catered lunch from one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City.
After the final session, we'll wrap things up with an end-of-day cocktail reception to unwind from the day and to get to know the other attendees.
Over the past year, there have been a handful of groups that have chosen to all go through The Focus Course together. And it has been amazing to see the dynamics that emerged as a result. People are more motivated, have more fun, and get more out of the course when they work through the material with others.
Additionally, over the past several years, many of you have reached out to ask me if I'd ever be hosting a live, in-person version of the Focus Course. We've always wanted to, but the timing has not been right for us until now.
Work through the material in a small group setting. This makes it FUN! Plus, there is an increased level of clarity that comes from being in a room with like-minded folks, working through the material together.
And for the introverts in the room, don't freak out: you won't have to share any of your work with other folks. You can feel free to show up a bit early and grab an end-row seat and do your thing.
Hands-on training taught by yours truly. Including the opportunity to ask questions throughout the day and get immediate feedback.
Save time and Finish! If you've ever struggled to start and/or complete an online course, then you know just how powerful an in-person workshop can be. Come join us in Kansas City and let's get through The Focus Course together! You are guaranteed to walk away with more focus and maximum clarity.
As we've mentioned, space is limited. Please sign up today to reserve your spot at this very special event.
We cannot wait to see you in Kansas City.
Ticket sales are non-refundable, though they are transferable.


The Professional Services Council has joined 15 other trade and professional associations in opposition to the "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" executive order.
The executive order requires government contractors to disclose past labor violations as part of the President Obama's effort to "promote economy and efficiency in procurement by contracting with responsible sources who comply with labor laws," according to the order.
However, PSC and other associations oppose the order, arguing that agencies already have the mechanisms in place to deal with labor law violations and that the order's new and complicated enforcement bureaucracy is not needed nor feasible, PSC said in letter to Labor secretary Thomas Perez and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Munoz.
"Congress has already provided strong enforcement mechanisms that both protect taxpayer dollars from egregious labor law violators while allowing for due process in applying those mechanisms to violations," said PSC president and CEO Stan Soloway. Soloway recently wrote about the issue in his regular Washington Technology column.
"The order would complicate and confuse that process by imposing new data collection, reviews, inter-agency consultations and procedures on top of the balanced and battle-tested enforcement regimens already in place," he said.
PSC and other trade associations believe that the order will increase the cost of compliance to both government and industry by forcing industry to collect data and make reports that the government already compiles on its own.
This would manifest in delayed contract awards, limited competition for work and increased contract protests, PSC said.


It's the 3rd month of the calendar year. We're less than 90 days into 2014 and it's already clear who's going to have a great year. (If you're on a non-calendar fiscal year, work with me here.) Sales reps have been heads down closing deals that rolled from December into January or any new or old business that rolled into February. Now it's all about finishing up a strong quarter, right?
Of course get the March deals done. But the sales winners over the rest of the quota year are those that focus on April and May. What you do over the rest of the quarter and into the start of the next quarter will determine the success of your year. This is crunch time. The good ones are already doing it. The weak ones will start to think about it on April 1. Happy April Fool's Day.
There's something about the transition from Q1 to Q2. You can almost recover from a lull as you move from Q2 to Q3. Q3 to Q4 is another matter altogether. Then it's an all out sprint to the finish. If you're not in good position by September then the race is over. Might finish alright but not necessarily with a medal. It's the Q1 to Q2 transition months that are key to how you stack rank moving toward the finish line at year end.
1. Pipeline Purge – Get brutally honest with your pipeline. There's gold in there so be careful, but this is time to conduct a very frank personal assessment of every line item. There are 3 categories of purging: 1) Deals in Play – these are the designated Opportunities that are in the works. Some are languishing, some need a boost. Some need to get booted. Clean up the CRM stage slots and see where these really stand. 2) Prospect Base – these are the pools of accounts, targets, hopes and dreams. In that amorphous group there are a handful of deals/opportunities that you need to proactively address now. Don't let them get caught in the big prospecting bucket. 3) Dead/Nurture – these are the deals that fell into the Lost Column and now sit there getting nurtured or ignored. Don't forget them. Now is the time to review this batch and find those situations that you know you can/should resurrect.
2. Prospect Program – Put your New Business Development Plan together and get it going. Now. Do it with Marketing or do it by yourself. (Note: delayed Marketing initiatives are never a Sales excuse – they should need to keep up with you, not the other way around.) Determine the right prospects to target in the campaign and pay relentless attention to detail. What targets, what titles, what message, what follow-up flow, what to ask, and what to do when they express interest. Track the campaign/initiative with simple metrics to read and adjust accordingly over the next 30 to 60 days. Don't make it too hard – you've already got enough to do. But the effort will pay off.
3. Run Don't Walk – Those that move the quickest here win the big race. The best reps always have a keen sense of urgency about them. This is not about being obnoxious, it's about professional sales production that doesn't meander or waste time unnecessarily. Use company resources carefully and ask for help as appropriate, but ultimately the burden is on you, the sales rep, to get it done and bring in the number. To do this well means moving swiftly and tweaking wisely as you go. Let your manager know what you're up to. They'll be impressed and may drive the rest of the team to model your actions. Be gracious and nice, but your focus is always on your own number. Keep that focus consistently and good things happen to careers.
So, time is getting short. Yes, even with 3 full quarters left in the sales year, time is getting short. It's the nature of the beast. Sprint hard here during the Q1 to Q2 transition and you'll have a very busy Q2 and Q3. Q4 will be a monster quarter as the Opportunities initiated today will have lots of time to sort out and close before year end.
If you follow this plan, I can already say it with confidence: Congrats on a great year!


Hyundai Motor Company Australia Commits to Consumer Guarantees.
8 February 2018 – Hyundai Motor Company Australia (HMCA) today announces that it will work in partnership with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on an industry-leading program that will raise consumer standards and achieve better outcomes for customers.
The voluntary undertaking demonstrates Hyundai's strong and lasting commitment to its customers by embracing the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and integrating it more closely into day-to-day business practices. Importantly, it includes enhancements to the way the ACL's Consumer Guarantees are communicated to Hyundai owners and prospective buyers, with the aim of creating greater awareness and understanding of the assurance the ACL provides.
"Hyundai worked constructively with us and formally committed to improve their systems to comply with consumer guarantees," said ACCC Chairman Rod Simms.
"By putting the consumer law front and centre, Hyundai is seeking to ensure its customers get what they're legally entitled to when they experience a problem with their vehicle.
"The ACCC calls on other car manufacturers to follow Hyundai's lead by providing similar formal commitments," Mr Sims said.
"This program will be constructive and beneficial and make our commitment to customers even more obvious. It's a voluntary undertaking, an open and transparent program that will embrace Australian Consumer Law and reinforce our normal business practices – practices we believe are already working very well.
The full ACCC statement regarding Hyundai can be viewed here.


It isn't all fun and games at this time of the year: two years ago (December 14 2012) a 20 year-old shot 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Then his mother and then himself.
Which, in the absence of rational gun laws in the US, has led to a 'lockdown' culture in schools.
Grey Toronto has produced some sterling work for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, here in a joint effort with Everytown for Gun Safety.
It's quite hard to watch. Maybe some legislators might take a look.
Coolly directed by Phil Brown of Untitled Films.