text:
Q: Missing data roughly proportional to the clusters, does this indicate MAR? I have data in which the number of missing values per cluster (in this case, zip-code), are proportional to the population. Does this indicate Missing at Random (MAR)?

Third column with missing values are the variable which missingness is proportional to the cluster

X indicates missing values per cluster, Y indicates cluster sizes

regress missing values per cluster onto cluster sizes

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


My wife and I are in our 50s and do not ride motorbikes at home so it was a bit of adventure for us to take this tour. We were not disappointed.The student drivers were genuine in their manner and naturally pleasant.Their driving was safe and we never felt any real discomfort despite the squall at the beginning of the tour.The food was all very nicely tasting - a welcome respite from the expensive but non genuine tasting meals we had chosen for ourself otherwise.
Our tour guide, Ling, was wonderful and gave us a fantastic tour of the old quarter, with stops to try all the Vietnamese specialties. The food was delicious, as was the 'unique-to-Hanoi' egg coffee!Everyone should take this tour in Hanoi!
This is a really good and informative tour. It was our first time in Vietnam and we wanted to enjoy all aspects of the country. We had heard such good things about the street food experience in Hanoi from friends etc. We did the tour on the first night we arrived, so that we could get the confidence to try more during the holiday - a good move. Our guide Belle first class guide was waiting for us in reception of our hotel, she was on time and her English was really good. She took us around 4 different places, where we tried various savoury dishes, desserts and ending with the famous Hanoi 'egg coffee'. A great tour, great guide - highly recommended !!
This tour was OK but we expected more. We went to three different places and then a coffee shop. The food was not something I would write home about.
A little disappointed as I had read reviews and people rated high. It was great meeting people on our tour however we were expecting to be told a little about the place and where we ate and why.
We found exploring ourselves that we came across some great places to eat. You also have trip advisor that can guide you on where to eat.
if your stay in Hanoi is short would recommend.
Huynh was our tour guide and was amazing. gave us recommendations on where to go and even the street addresses. enjoyed every dish we tried on this tour.
There is quite a bit of walking in this and a ton of food! You will leave stuffed. Delicious and amazing!
If you enjoy street food this one for you . Ask the tour guide to take you to a coffee shop. Awsome tour guide and highly recommended!
Our tour guide was friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful with us navigating the streets. There were a ton of food choices and we were staffed by the end. Somewhere very strange, and some more traditional, but it was cool to try things I would have never tried had I not going on this tour.


We went from Phi Phi to Lanta, it was a short journey, only one hour by ferry. It was low season for Thailand, so the ferry was pretty empty, and we were able to get a great price for accommodation at Peaceful Resort. The resort lived up to its name as it was basically just us there for most of the time.
The downside to it being the low season, was that many of the restaurants along the beachfront were closed. The Koh Lanta national marine park is also closed during this time, so we were unable to visit some of the amazing places we were hoping to see. Many of the tours and tour operators are not running during the low season, so Koh Lanta becomes a bit of a ghost town.
We were a 2 minute walk from Long beach, which was a really pretty long stretch of white sand beach. It was pretty deserted most of the time, more crabs than people which was fine by us. The beach was a really nice place to watch the sunset when it did not rain.
During the low season, there is only one boat tour available, and that was a trip to Koh Ngai for snorkeling. We decided to go and although the snorkeling was terrible, with almost no fish or corals, it was nice to have a day out and go somewhere different. The beach on Koh Ngai had nice clam waves, and was great for swimming, much better than long beach.
Unlike Phi Phi, where you can walk everywhere you need to go, Koh Lanta is much bigger, with longer distances between beaches, so You really need to get a scooter, or hire a taxi to take you where you need to go.
Although it was very relaxing, it would have been much more fun to visit Koh Lanta during the high season, when all the parks, tours, restaurants and attractions are all open and available for visitors.
After a week on the island we decided to travel to Ao Nang where there is a lot more going on.


"As a creative control freak It was hard for me to hire some one else for my web design. But Jeanne is more than a Web Designer, to me she has become a Digital Makeover Specialist. She took what I had and made my website into the 2018 model 2.0 Professional version. She combined my work, story and essence and formulated it to speak to my ideal client. Jeanne has a great eye for visual story telling, flow and design. She is collaborative and because of her my site has become more than I ever could have done on my own. Working with her has been a smart investment in visibility that will allow me to help more people and increase my income."
"Jeanne was extremely easy to work with and listened carefully to my expectations. She followed-up every meeting with a written recap, both for the sake of clarity as well as, to ensure action items were completed timely and efficiently. Even though I am not technology-savvy and returned with numerous edits, Jeanne always expressed value for my input and decisions. Jeanne Verger took my rough ideas and expectations from concept through to completion well under my anticipated time frame. The site looks and functions exactly how I saw it in my head and without hesitation, I would recommend her to anyone wanting top-notch design services for their online brand presence"
"Jeanne was such a fabulous find for me. I needed someone to help me with my start up solo practioner law firm on the things I had no clue about: domain name registration, email set up the way I wanted it, website creation and design, and of course, business cards, envelopes and the like. She is a natural. She was able to glean the perfect look and feel for my logo and website just by having a few conversations with me. She also works with a group of talented professionals to cover services she does not provide. When I needed a copywriter to help, I got it. When I needed tech support help, I got it. Jeanne and her team are a pleasure to work with. Highly recommended"
"Jeanne is wonderfully friendly, flexible, and on top of her game! She is very easy and great to work with and she is super attentive to every detail and can make you a dream website"
Our work together has been extremely rewarding on multiple fronts and the results have completely exceeded my expectations. Jeanne is a masterful business coach and strategist"
"Jeanne is a great resource for anyone wanting to work with their mindset around marketing, money and building your business. I have learned a lot of great practical tips that have helped me grow my business. Highly recommend"


The President's Council is a volunteer group, comprising 24 alumni and friends of Plymouth State University, that raises funds for endowment and works to develop the University's resources. Through individual outreach and advocacy among alumni and regional communities, the council serves to enhance and extend PSU's mission and vision as a regional comprehensive university. The council's leadership and experience are vital to connecting the University to our supporters, and their own generous, thoughtful philanthropy sets the example and the pace for building a culture of support at PSU. Mark Bogacz photo.


MILWAUKEE, WI--(Marketwire - April 30, 2008) - ReServe Interactive, a leader in hospitality software solutions, announces a new brand strategy designed to dramatically enhance the company's current brand identity and elevate the look and feel of existing communications. The newly developed approach includes revised brand positioning, as well as a re-designed web-site and software interface, corporate collateral and marketing materials.
"What you will see from ReServe is simply a more dynamic and sophisticated look and feel, and brand messages that express and amplify the unique attributes of the ReServe Interactive® brand," explains Beth Goodell, president and chief marketing officer. "This new branding strategy has been designed to exemplify who we are, our business philosophy and our commitment to customers."
In August of 2007, ReServe Interactive partnered with BrandCulture Company of Los Angeles, California, to develop a clear and cohesive brand strategy, including an elevated visual vocabulary and key messages that represent ReServe's business culture and product offering, and distinguishes ReServe from its competitors.
"When we began working with ReServe, we were astonished by how smart their solution was," noted Eric Pinckert, Managing Director at BrandCulture Company, LLC. "It was clear that ReServe had captured years of hard-won deep domain expertise and literally built it into their technology. This inside understanding of the hospitality industry along with a culture of uncommon commitment to their clients gave us a tremendous platform to work with in elevating and extending the significance of the ReServe Interactive brand promise."
As part of the branding strategy, a new color palette has been established to provide a more sophisticated look that speaks directly to ReServe's accomplished customer-base. In addition, a new corporate tagline -- ReServe Interactive - You've Never Worked Like This Before -- has been developed to represent how ReServe's intelligent, intuitive software offering allows end-users to conduct business in a more efficient, dynamically different way.
BrandCulture Company (www.brandculture.com) combines Brand Development, Organizational Strategy and Brand Experience consulting and multi-disciplinary design services across industries, including financial services, hospitality, insurance, real estate and technology. The BrandCulture "inside out" approach to brand-building unites the company's offerings under a common philosophy: that strong corporate cultures are the foundation of all great brands. BrandCulture Company, LLC is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.
ReServe Interactive specializes in Catering software, Event Management software, Dining Reservation software and Table Management software applications for the hospitality industry. By combining intuitive workflows with intelligent tools, the company has been helping its customers optimize their hospitality operations since 1996. ReServe Interactive software has been installed at more than 1,000 hospitality venues including hotels, restaurants, sports and entertainment facilities, golf clubs, private clubs, cultural institutions and wineries. The company is headquartered in Delafield, Wis., with its sales and service office located in Livermore, Calif. For more information, visit www.reserveinteractive.com, contact Maureen Remmel at 262-510-6450 or maureen.remmel@reserveinteractive.com.


text:
% Computes motion vectors using Three Step Search method
%
% Input
%   imgP : The image for which we want to find motion vectors
%   imgI : The reference image
%   mbSize : Size of the macroblock
%   p : Search parameter  (read literature to find what this means)
%
% Ouput
%   motionVect : the motion vectors for each integral macroblock in imgP
%   TSScomputations: The average number of points searched for a macroblock
%
% Written by Aroh Barjatya

function [motionVect, zeroCount] = BmotionEstTSS(imgP, imgI, mbSize, p)
zeroCount=0;
[row col] = size(imgI);

vectors = zeros(2,row*col/mbSize^2);
costs = ones(3, 3) * 65537;

%computations = 0;

% we now take effectively log to the base 2 of p
% this will give us the number of steps required

L = floor(log10(p+1)/log10(2));
stepMax = 2^(L-1);

% we start off from the top left of the image
% we will walk in steps of mbSize
% for every marcoblock that we look at we will look for
% a close match p pixels on the left, right, top and bottom of it

mbCount = 1;
for i = 1 : mbSize : row-mbSize+1
    for j = 1 : mbSize : col-mbSize+1

        % the three step search starts
        % we will evaluate 9 elements at every step
        % read the literature to find out what the pattern is
        % my variables have been named aptly to reflect their significance

        x = j;
        y = i;

        % In order to avoid calculating the center point of the search
        % again and again we always store the value for it from teh
        % previous run. For the first iteration we store this value outside
        % the for loop, but for subsequent iterations we store the cost at
        % the point where we are going to shift our root.

        costs(2,2) = costFuncMAD(imgP(i:i+mbSize-1,j:j+mbSize-1),imgI(i:i+mbSize-1,j:j+mbSize-1),mbSize);

        %computations = computations + 1;
        stepSize = stepMax;

        while(stepSize >= 1)

            % m is row(vertical) index
            % n is col(horizontal) index
            % this means we are scanning in raster order
            for m = -stepSize : stepSize : stepSize
                for n = -stepSize : stepSize : stepSize
                    refBlkVer = y + m;   % row/Vert co-ordinate for ref block
                    refBlkHor = x + n;   % col/Horizontal co-ordinate
                    if ( refBlkVer < 1 | refBlkVer+mbSize-1 > row | refBlkHor < 1 | refBlkHor+mbSize-1 > col)
                        continue;
                    end

                    costRow = m/stepSize + 2;
                    costCol = n/stepSize + 2;
                    if (costRow == 2 & costCol == 2)
                        continue
                    end
                    costs(costRow, costCol ) = costFuncMAD(imgP(i:i+mbSize-1,j:j+mbSize-1), ...
                        imgI(refBlkVer:refBlkVer+mbSize-1, refBlkHor:refBlkHor+mbSize-1), mbSize);

                    %computations = computations + 1;
                end
            end

            % Now we find the vector where the cost is minimum
            % and store it ... this is what will be passed back.

            [dx, dy, min] = minCost(costs);      % finds which macroblock in imgI gave us min Cost

            % shift the root for search window to new minima point

            x = x + (dx-2)*stepSize;
            y = y + (dy-2)*stepSize;

            % Arohs thought: At this point we can check and see if the
            % shifted co-ordinates are exactly the same as the root
            % co-ordinates of the last step, then we check them against a
            % preset threshold, and ifthe cost is less then that, than we
            % can exit from teh loop right here. This way we can save more
            % computations. However, as this is not implemented in the
            % paper I am modeling, I am not incorporating this test.
            % May be later...as my own addition to the algorithm

            stepSize = stepSize / 2;
            costs(2,2) = costs(dy,dx);

        end
        vectors(1,mbCount) = y - i;    % row co-ordinate for the vector
        vectors(2,mbCount) = x - j;    % col co-ordinate for the vector
        mbCount = mbCount + 1;
        costs = ones(3,3) * 65537;
    end
end

motionVect = vectors;
sizeVect=size(motionVect);
for i=1:sizeVect(2)
    if motionVect(1,i)==0 & motionVect(2,i)==0
        zeroCount=zeroCount+1;
    end
end
%TSScomputations = computations/(mbCount - 1);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: PySpark how to read file having string with multiple encoding I am writing a python spark utility to read files and do some transformation.
File has large amount of data ( upto 12GB ). I use sc.textFile to create a RDD and logic is to pass each line from RDD to a map function which in turn split's the line by "," and run some data transformation( changing fields value based on a mapping ).

Sample line from the file.
  0014164,02,031270,09,1,,0,0,0000000000,134314,Mobile,ce87862158eb0dff3023e16850f0417a-cs31,584e2cd63057b7ed,Privé,Gossip

Due to values "Privé" I get UnicodeDecodeError. I tried to following to parse this value:
if isinstance(v[12],basestring):
            v[12] = v[12].encode('utf8')
        else:
            v[12] = unicode(v[12]).encode('utf8')

but when I write data back to file this field gets translated as 'Priv�'.
on Linux source file type is shown as "ISO-8859 text, with very long lines, with CRLF line terminators".
Could someone let me know right way in Spark to read/write files with mixed encoding please.

A: You can set use_unicode to False when calling textFile. It will give you RDD of str objects (Python 2.x) or bytes objects (Python 3.x) which can further processed using desired encoding, for example
sc.textFile(path, use_unicode=False).map(lambda x: x.decode("iso-8859-1"))

If that's not sufficient data can be loaded as-is using binaryFiles
sc.binaryFiles(path).values().flatMap(lambda x: x.decode("iso-8859-1").splitlines())


text:
Minnesotans answer call to support Ukrainians
Dan Kraker and Mark Zdechlik
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a damaged city center after a Russian air raid in Chernigiv, Ukraine on Thursday, March 3, 2022. Russian forces have escalated their attacks on crowded cities in what Ukraine's leader called a blatant campaign of terror.
Dmytro Kumaka | AP Photo
Gov. Tim Walz has proclaimed Sunday as "Ukrainian Solidarity Day" in Minnesota and a rally is planned at the state capitol.
"This is a key opportunity for us not just to come out and express our solidarity through a rally or through an event, but to really make sure that we put our money where our mouth is, as it relates to the Ukrainian people," said Stephen Vitvitsky, who is with the Minnesota Ukrainian American Advocacy Committee.
He said a coalition of ethnic groups will be at the Capitol to voice support for Ukrainians confronting the Russian invasion and to tell people what they can do to help.
"There are things that we can do from calling our elected representatives to donating financially to support Ukrainians and Ukraine. And so while there's been much done to help Ukraine defend itself, and to hold Russia accountable, there's still so much more we can do," Vitvitsky said. "Ukrainians desperately need a no fly zone to help them protect themselves from Russian rockets, Russian war planes that are bombing civilians."
The rally is set to start at 3:30 p.m.
Helping refugees
Meanwhile, other people with Minnesota ties are in Europe helping Ukrainian refugees.
Students come from all over the country to Minnesota to train as missionaries at Bethany Global University. After two years at the Bloomington campus, they travel abroad to intern as missionaries.
Several students went to Hungary, which borders Ukraine, in August to work with local churches there.
Dan Germo, international mission director at Bethany International, said the team of nine is now helping distribute food and clothing to refugees, and setting up mobile homes for shelter.
"They're also doing kids' programs with the kids, because there's a lot of kids involved in this. And obviously, (they're) going through a lot of trauma," he said.
The Bethany students have been interning as missionaries in Hungary since August, after training for two years at the Minnesota campus.
Germo said they're not a relief organization, "but when there's a need like this, we respond in whatever way we can in partnership with others that are trying to do the same," he said.
Minneapolis-based Alight, formerly the American Refugee Committee, has sent a handful of people to Poland to help with relief efforts. CEO Jocelyn Wyatt said they're working with other relief groups, like the Catholic Sisters, to get help to Ukrainians fleeing the fighting, and remaining in the Russian Army's path.
"Our team is working to mobilize and gather supplies and get them into Ukraine — doing things like providing sanitary supplies and medical supplies, basic health goods, cell phone chargers, emergency food supplies and getting them into hospitals and clinics and the people that are in bomb shelters," she said.
Wyatt said that although her agency is well-known for helping resettle refugees, they have long leaned forward to help people as they flee their native countries. She said monetary donations are most effective as the exodus from Ukraine surges. Alight is taking donations at wearealight.org.
Minnesota appeals court upholds 'clean cars' plan after dealership pushback
Fat tire biking is booming in popularity. We gave it a try.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


+ Add AV_HWDEVICE_TYPE_DRM and implementation.
+ Add avio_context_free(). From now on it must be used for freeing AVIOContext.
+ Add AV_PIX_FMT_FLAG_FLOAT pixel format flag.
+ Add AV_FRAME_DATA_ICC_PROFILE side data type.
+ which can create the decoder context and allocate hardware frame automatically.
+ the new AV_PIX_FMT_D3D11 pixfmt must be used with the new API.
+ Add AV_HWDEVICE_TYPE_D3D11VA and AV_PIX_FMT_D3D11.
+ Add AVIO_DATA_MARKER_FLUSH_POINT to signal preferred flush points to aviobuf.
+ as its flags argument (which was previously unused).
+ which can create the decoder context and allocate hardware frames automatically.
+ See AVCodecContext.hw_device_ctx and AVCodecContext.hw_frames_ctx.
+ Add AV_HWDEVICE_TYPE_VIDEOTOOLBOX and implementation.
* - decoding: set by the caller before avcodec_open2().


The Freakduino-chibi is of course optional.
Removing the old filter material isn't difficult, but you have to be careful that you don't break the plastic. Using a razor, first cut the tops and bottoms of each exposed filter element. Next cut the bottom of the edge filter elements on either side.
Pull the old material out of the spaces, being careful not to break the plastic. The material will tear and you'll probably have to spend some time cleaning it out. Once you are done, you should have a clean(ish) filter basket.
The material I decided to use is this register vent filter stuff from home depot. It's about $4 for a pack of 12 and each filter can make up to 4 roomba filters or 48 filters for $4 (WIN!). So yeah, this is not iRobot authorized filter specs. It likely doesn't filter as well as the stock stuff, but I haven't had any issues with it in my 3 machines.
Take a filter out of the package and fold it in half along it's long edge. Cut that line which will leave you two 2 inch by 12 inch filters. You can cut that again along the short side leaving you four 2 inch by 6 inch filters too.
The filter basket sandwiches the filter material between two plastic fingers in several spots. Gently separate those two fingers to feed the material into the basket starting with the first finger from the edge.
It's easiest to feed this first bit of material from the inside of the filter out by wrapping a bit of it around a screwdriver and feeding it through.
Once you have fed the filter through, leave a few inches on the outside.
And now just repeat that process for the remaining fingers.
Fold the extra filter material over to the inside of the basket and cut it off. You want to leave enough material so that when the filter is replaced into the roomba, it's held down by the filter basket itself.
Reinstall the filter into the aerovac, making sure that the extra filter material is being pinched by the basket, and then fire away! Just clean the filter like you normally would and when it starts to block up, just replace it with another 12 cents worth of material.
I just wash mine with hot soapy water and air dry. I have two filters I rotate. Works great!


Almost after 8 months of launch, Samsung is now going to start selling Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 tablets in India. The company has currently listed the tablet at their official eStore in India, and the product listing of the tablet suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 will be available for a price of 36,340 in the Indian market.
Originally announced along with Galaxy Tab 8.0 back in June, 2013, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 features 10.1-inch (1280×800) IPS display, and packs 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal memory and 64GB expandable memory support.
It runs on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean), and includes 3MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera, and connectivity options including 3G HSPA+ ,Wi-Fi a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), Wi-Fi Channel Bonding, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS and GLONASS.
Featuring voice calling functionality, the tablet is powered by a powerful long lasting 6800 mAh battery which offer ample talk time, playback time and standby time to users.
The tablet comes only in White colour options. It is currently out of stock, but we hope it would soon be available for purchase from Samsung eStore.


Chattanooga is on a five-game win streak that includes a road win at Indiana and a sweep of the Challenge in Music City with wins over Northwestern, Georgetown and Auburn. Saturday's game against UT Martin is a double-header with the Chattanooga men who will also host the Skyhawks.
Chattanooga and UT Martin first met in 1975 in the Mocs' first season as a varsity team.
Chattanooga won the first eight games and have won the last three, all in the past three seasons. The Skyhawks lone win was in 1997 in a neutral game at the Cincinnati Bear Cat Invitational. Chattanooga has won all four games at home.
The Mocs started the season at 0-3 for the first time since 2010-11 but have since strung together five consecutive victories. Chattanooga claimed the Challenge in Music City title beating Northwestern (61-44), Georgetown (54-41) and Auburn (50-41), holding all three opponents to less than 50 points each. UTC leads the Southern Conference in scoring defense, allowing just 54.2 points per game. Chattanooga leads the league in 3-pointers made with 6.5 per game and 3-point field goal percentage making 41.6 percent of its attempts.
Keiana Gilbert was named the College Sports Madness SoCon Player of the Week and the Southern Conference Player of the Week last week. She leads the Mocs with 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. She has a team-high 11 blocked shots and has dished out 18 assists. She is shooting 48.9 percent from the field and is 10-of-21 from the 3-point line. Aryanna Gilbert is second on the team in scoring with 12 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. She is 10-of-10 from the free throw line and has 12 3-pointers on the year. Lakelyn Bouldin is the third UTC player in double figures with 11.8 points and is 16-of-36 from the 3-point line.
The Skyhawks have won back-to-back games to even out their record beating Southern Conference opponent Western Carolina (62-54) and North Carolina A&T (76-63). UTM is averaging 75.8 points per game and allows 71.5 ppg. They are shooting 42 percent from the floor, 46.5 percent from beyond the arc and 75.6 percent from the free throw line. The Skyhawks are averaging 32.8 rebounds per game and lead the OVC in turnover margin forcing opponents into 8.83 more turnovers per game.
Kendall Spray had eight 3-pointers in the Skyhawks win over North Carolina A&T in their last outing and is 23-of-53 from the arc on the year. She leads the team with 16.7 points per game. Three more UTM players are averaging double figures with Emanye Robertson putting up 11.0 ppg, Myah Taylor is averaging 10.8 points and 4.0 rebounds while Chelsey Perry has a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game and is fourth in scoring with 10.5 ppg.
Saturday, December 2, 2017 | 2:00 p.m.


Rapper's Delight was the very first rap record to cross over to pop in 1979. It was actually the second rap record released. Like doo wop in the 40s, rap started in the streetcorners of Harlem in New York City. Sylvia Robinson was best known as one half of Mickey and Sylvia and for the hit single Pillow Talk. But with her husband Joe she also had success as owner of All Platinum Records, especially The Moments. Sylvia was aware of street rappers and she wanted to record them. So she started Sugar Hill Records with funding from Roulette Records owner Morris Levy. At first she had trouble finding rappers willing to record. Some rappers thought rap should only be live. Sylvia's son heard a rapper at a pizza place. He went there to find him. That was Henry "Big Bank Hank" Jackson. Guy "Master Gee" O'Brien worked in the pizza place. When he saw this, he auditioned too. And so did Michael "Wonder Mike" Wright. Sugarhill Gang was born. Rapper's Delight is based on Chic's Good Times. When Chic's Nile Rodgers found out, he sued Sugar Hill. Rodgers says he likes the record. He just wanted proper credit. The band on the record is Positive Force. Rapper's Delight reached #4 on the R&B Singles chart and it was also a hit in England. Then it crossed over to pop and it reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100. And the term "hip hop" came from Wonder Mike's rap at the start of the song. Sugarhill Gang recorded four albums and some of their singles were successful on the R&B and dance charts and in Europe. Of course rap became this big thing. Sylvia Robinson deserves most of the credit for having the vision to record rap in the first place. Rapper's Delight was so successful she was able to buy out Levy. Henry Jackson died in 2014. But Sugarhill Gang toured last year. You can get all their hits on this Rhino budget comp. Here's the video for Rapper's Delight by Sugarhill Gang.
I always wondered exactly how Rap started. I did hear about the Sugar Hill Gang, but never knew their story. Thank-you very much Frank for the detailed history.


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text:
NASA's Artemis return to moon now has launch dates
NASA is planning to take the first step in its return to the moon in late August or early September with the launch of its Orion spacecraft to orbit around the moon, agency officials told reporters Wednesday.
The much-anticipated flight, which won't have astronauts onboard, will take off on Aug. 29, Sept. 2 or Sept. 5, NASA said, giving the first concrete dates for a mission that has been in the works for years.
The flight also will mark the first launch of the agency's massive Space Launch System rocket, a significant milestone in its Artemis campaign to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Given the complexity of the vehicles and the fact that NASA has not launched the SLS rocket before, NASA stressed that the dates for a launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida were attempted and could change.
It took NASA several attempts earlier this year to conduct a fueling and simulated countdown test, known as the wet-dress rehearsal, of the SLS rocket. As they loaded the rocket with 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, engineers discovered a series of problems, including a hydrogen leak that prevented NASA from completing the test countdown. As a result, NASA was forced to roll the rocket from the launchpad back into its assembly building for repairs and additional testing.
Still, officials said they were able to complete enough of the test to proceed with a launch attempt. On Wednesday, space agency officials said everything was proceeding well.
NASA's SLS moon rocket rolls to the launchpad for the first time
The mission, known as Artemis I, will send the Orion crew capsule into orbit around the moon for about six weeks, allowing the agency to test a series of systems before it puts astronauts onboard.
One of the main objectives of the flight is to test Orion's heat shield, said Mike Sarafin, NASA's Artemis mission manager. The heat shield is intended to protect Orion and future crew from the extreme temperatures it will encounter when it enters Earth's atmosphere at 24,500 mph, or Mach 32. Sarafin said those temperatures will reach "half as high as the sun."
NASA will also be looking to test the spacecraft's navigation systems, its ability to use power derived from its solar arrays and its resilience when traveling through areas of high radiation. Three mannequins onboard will be fitted with sensors to determine how astronauts would fare on the flight. Sarafin said another test would be recovering the spacecraft after it splashes down in the ocean.
Given that NASA hasn't attempted to send a spacecraft designed to fly humans to the moon in 50 years, Sarafin said problems are expected, but "our team is prepared to adapt along the way."
If the Artemis I mission goes as planned, NASA plans to fly a similar mission, known as Artemis II, with astronauts onboard. A human landing, dubbed Artemis III, could come as early as 2025, NASA has said.
If NASA decides to proceed with an Artemis I launch on Aug. 29, it would roll the SLS rocket from its assembly building to the launchpad on Aug. 18.
"We think we're on a good path to get to [launch] attempts on those days," said Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator. But he reminded reporters that astronauts often tell their families coming to watch them launch to space that they should "plan a seven-day vacation to Florida, and you might see a launch in there too."
New Fossil Fish Flirted With The Idea Of Legs But Kept On Swimming
Astronomers at MIT pick up mysterious signal


The following is a list of HowTos that have been put together by IBIS-PH users. Some (most?) of them could be fleshed-out a little better. If you try to use one and find it confusing or incomplete, please report your experience to the IBIS-PH Community of Practice Web Forum.
What is a "data frame" and why should I care?


text:
Jordan Attractions
Desert Castles
Desert Castles of Jordon is located east of Amman, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It is built by the Umayyads (661-750 AD) and considered the beginnings of Arab architectural civilization.
Desert Castles of Jordon is located east of Amman, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It is built by the Umayyads (661-750 AD) and is considered the beginning of Arab architectural civilization.
Various assumptions have been made about the main function of these original monuments of early Islamic art. Residences, weekend huts, caravanserais, or hunting lodges of the Umayyad rulers, and were also used as the domain of the Umayyad princes in the 8th century. Another possibility of their use is that they used it to control the route from Damascus to Mecca.
Al-Mashta Palace
Al-Mashta Palace is located near Queen Alia International Airport, twenty miles south of Amman. One of the most beautiful things about Al-Mashta Palace from a technical point of view is the decorations carved in limestone in the southern facade in which the entrance is located. The height of this facade was six meters. Sultan Abdul Hamid gave this facade in 1903 to Caesar Guillaume, so it was preserved in the Kaiser Frederick Museum in Berlin and became The nucleus of the eastern section of the said museum.
Omayra palace
It is a small Qusair located fifty miles east of Amman in Jordan. It was built by Al-Walid bin Abd Al-Malik. This Qusair was not known until the year 1898 AD, a history of the features of the life of the Umayyad Caliphate.
Al-Qusayr is characterized by its wonderful wall paintings and beautiful carvings of birds, animals, and plant motifs.
Al Hallabat Palace
Al Hallabat Palace is located 25 km northeast of Zarqa and to the north of the paved road that connects the city of Zarqa with the Azraq Oasis. It was a commercial station and in the Roman era 63 BC-AD 331 AD, it was used as a defensive fortress to protect the commercial road that connects between Bosra al-Sham in the north and Aqaba in the south.
Alazrq Palace
It is one of the historical castles in Jordan. The Azraq Palace was built of black basalt stone, which characterized the palace and gave it a beautiful and picturesque shape. The castle was established to monitor and protect trade routes and remained in use for this purpose from that time.
Burqa Palace
It is located approximately 25 km northwest of Al-Ruwaished area, Bani Al-Qasr, made of black basalt stones.
Despite the destruction that afflicted this palace, parts of it still stand witness to the history and civilization of this prosperous region in those days, in addition to the concentration of this palace on the outskirts of the Burqa Dam, which increased his knowledge of everyone who drank from the water of this dam.
Toba Palace
The palace is located on one of the trade routes that used to connect Balqa with the north of the Arabian Peninsula. The remoteness of this palace and its remote location "about 140 km southeast of Amman" led to the fact that visiting it is not an easy matter for the local or foreign visitor, although the researcher looking for the splendor of the building Umayyad palaces defies These difficulties are to reach him.
Al Muwaqqar Palace
There are remains of another Umayyad palace, Qasr al-Muwaqqar, 35 km west of Harrana. Evidence suggests that the palace was decorated with splendid decorations, and there are beautiful Kufic inscriptions from the era of Caliph Abdullah bin Yazid, who ruled (720-724 AD). Only a crown was left bearing an inscription in Kufic letters.
Al Kharrana Palace
This palace is located on the road leading from Amman to Azraq, about 55 km from Amman to the east. This palace was built in the vicinity of Wadi Al-Harrana. It is square in shape, its length is 35 m. It consists of two floors. It was built in the style of Levantine houses.
Ain El Sil Palace
The Ain al-Sil Palace is one of the Umayyad palaces with a small area, with a side length of 17 meters, in the form of a square built of black basalt stones. This palace, which is in the middle of a farm belonging to it on its western side, contains a bathroom consisting of three or four rooms. Hence the importance of this palace because it contains a bathroom, which indicates the widespread construction of bathrooms in the Umayyad period.
Al-Esekhem Palace
This palace is located to the northeast, 15 km from Azraq Castle. This palace was built of black basalt stones as a defensive protectorate to protect Wadi Sarhan.


text:
Activities etc.
Desert Forum
September 17, 2020 July 5, 2021 Desert Report Articles, Uncategorized
NATIONAL PARKS: PAST PROGRESS, NEW CHALLENGES
The 40th Anniversary of the State of the Parks Report by Jon Jarvis, National Parks Director 2009−2017
Forty years ago, in May of 1980, the National Park Service (NPS) released a report to Congress that, for the first time, quantified the threats to the 326 units of the National Park System. The findings identified significant threats both internal and external, and categorized them as follows:
Aesthetic Degradation (land development, timbering)
Air Pollution (acid rain, hydrocarbon pollutants)
Physical Removal of Resources (mineral extraction, poaching)
Exotic Encroachment (animals, plants)
Visitor Physical Impacts (campfires, trampling)
Water Quality Pollution and Water Quantity Changes (oil spills, toxic chemicals)
Park Operations (trails, misuse of biocides)
The report was the result of a survey of park superintendents, resource managers, scientists, and planners and noted "the perception of threats may be affected by the professional training and experience of these observers." (1) I point this out because I was a park resource manager who filled out the survey. At the time, I was stationed at Prince William Forest Park, a National Park area of 19,000 acres just south of Washington, DC. My assessment was that the park was besieged with threats and consequently it ranked third on the list with fifty-seven threats, just above Glacier National Park. The report was a wake-up call for the NPS, and of particular note, it indicated that while the threats were real, our understanding of them was significantly lacking.
Over the following forty years, the National Park Service heeded some of the report's recommendations. They have built a stronger natural resources staff, created scientific relationships with researchers at colleges and universities, developed resource management plans for all the parks, and built a robust inventory and monitoring system. Congress even gave the National Park Service a scientific mandate in 1998, stating "The Secretary shall undertake a program of inventory and monitoring of National Park System resources to establish baseline information and provide information on the long-term trends in the condition of National Park System resources," and "The Secretary shall take such measures as are necessary to assure the full and proper utilization of the results of scientific study for park management decisions." (2) During that same period, I worked for the National Park Service in a variety of national parks as ranger, biologist, superintendent, regional director, and finally as the 18th Director from 2009 to 2017. My career took me from the deserts of Texas, to the snows of the Cascades, into the wilds of Alaska, and to the halls of Congress. My perception of threats to the parks is now guided, and perhaps better honed by those forty years. Many of the threats identified in the 1980 State of the Parks report are still valid such as air and water pollution, adjacent land development, and visitor impacts. Now there are new threats, new stressors to the stewardship of our national parks, not identified in 1980. For my entire career, I have been fighting to protect the integrity of our national parks against these threats and I have won some and lost some. I present these below in priority, with my perspective on their status and challenges.
Anthropogenic Climate Change/Global Warming: In 2009, in testifying before Congress, I stated "I believe climate change is fundamentally the greatest threat to the integrity of our national parks that we have ever experienced." Nearly every issue raised in 1980 is exacerbated by a human-caused warming of the planet. Research by scientists (3) have shown that our national parks are warming faster than other areas, in part because they are often already in extreme environments, such as high elevation or deserts. Our coastal parks will be impacted by sea level rise and increased storm intensity. Mountain parks will lose their glaciers and snow pack, forests will become drier and burn more easily, the warming of streams will impact all aquatic life, and species will be forced to move higher, or to new habitats to survive. While I was Director, the NPS began to address these issues with science, adaptation, education, monitoring, and even reducing its own carbon footprint. All of that has stopped under the current administration, which leads to the next threat.
Anti-Environmental Politics: The United States can rightfully claim to be the originator of national park idea, that special places would be set aside "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." The national park idea has spread around the world and enjoys broad and deep public support but not always political support. If you asked the general public if the national parks are protected from the whipsaw of politics, they would likely say "of course" but they would be wrong. There are elements within our political leadership (exemplified by the current administration) who see the national parks as a waste of taxpayer's funds, as valued only for their economics, and as a storehouse for future plunder. More times than I like to admit, I have had to brief members of Congress and political appointees of new administrations on why they should not sell the parks to the highest bidder, close the ones that have low visitation, turn them over to the private sector, open them up to hunting, crisscross them with power and pipelines, build new hotels, install zip lines, or host rock concerts. These are but a sample of the destructive ideas that emerge when the acolytes of Milton Friedman take the reins of the nation's parks and public lands. Inside the Department of the Interior, the daily routine was more like internecine warfare with sister bureaus that would log, mine, drill, excavate, dump, pollute, or sell public lands right up to the park boundary. When there is an administration such as the one currently in office, everyone inside the NPS is afraid to fight back.
Non-Cooperation at the Ecosystem Scale: In 1990, the NPS issued a draft "Vision Statement" recommending that the lands around Yellowstone National Park be managed as an ecosystem. The National Park Service and US Forest Service authors of that report were punished and forcibly reassigned by Jon Sununu, then Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush. (4) Today, the concept of working cooperatively at the landscape scale in the Yellowstone ecosystem is generally accepted. Ecosystem scale cooperation is at play in the California Deserts with the expansion of renewable energy projects and the need to protect desert tortoise. It is relatively functional in the northern Rocky Mountains around Glacier National Park and the Flathead region, incorporating private lands, working ranches, and forests and grizzly bear habitat. This is all good, but I identify this as a threat because we now understand that national parks are interconnected to a much larger ecosystem upon which the park's integrity depends. We are just now learning how to function, cooperate and share common goals at the landscape scale. Figuring this out and handling the political resistance will be the key to the future stewardship of our national parks.
Lack of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion: National park visitation, staffing, volunteers, leadership, guides and outfitters, "friends' groups", tourism businesses, and environmental advocacy organizations are all predominantly filled by white people. There are many factors that contribute to the lack of diversity in our parks and public lands, and I would suggest that some of the reason is systemic and institutional racism. The agency and its support network "self-replicates" its existing workforce, hiring young people who have the economic capacity to spend years working as seasonal employees with low wages. The NPS and its affiliates prefer new hires who come with a range of outdoor skills such as hiking, river rafting, mountain climbing and camping, all of which come from white privilege. In light of the awakening of the US population to the history of racism and white privilege, the lack of diversity in the National Park Service is a threat to its future. The good news is that the NPS is working hard to address this with new recruitment and retention strategies and new parks that tell a more complete story of the civil rights struggles and our national history of racial inequality. There is much more work to be done.
: In 1980, there were 326 national park units and visitation was 220 million. In 2019, there were 417 park units and visitation was 327 million, roughly equal to the population of the entire United States. If there was one phrase in the National Park vocabulary that I could purge it would be "loving the parks to death." I truly believe that visitation to the national parks is key to their future stewardship. Survey after survey of visitors indicate their deep appreciation of the national parks, which translates into political support, funding, volunteerism, and advocacy. But in some places and at some times, too much of a good thing can have impacts: trampled vegetation, bare ground, erosion, wildlife disturbance, even intentional vandalism. Crowds also impact the experience as well, with traffic jams, long lines, and noise. These are operational issues that take enormous staffing time and funding to manage well. The very crowded parks will have to address carrying capacities at some point, which leads back to Threat Number 2. Politics often play a strong hand when the NPS suggests it might have to limit the number of visitors. But, I will also take over-crowding over apathy anytime. The day that visitors no longer come to the parks because they don't care will be the end of the national park system as we now know it.
Conclusion: While there have been many positive accomplishments in the last forty years to address the threats to our national parks and public lands, new challenges have emerged: anthropogenic climate changes, social and economic inequality, and a global disease pandemic. During the months of self-isolation, a deep desire to connect to nature was rekindled in our nation's population, and parks of all kinds struggled to accommodate the demand. The inequity of access and availability to parks, particularly for communities of color, was revealed as well.
In 2009, in my nomination hearing before the Senate I stated: I do not need to tell you of the challenges before us: the economy, climate change, connecting urban kids to nature, the concerns over obesity, and a concern about a loss of cultural literacy. I believe that the National Park Service has a role and a responsibility in each of these. Never in its 200 years has this nation needed the National Park System more. It stands as a collective memory of where we have been, what sacrifices we have made to get here and who we mean to be. By investing in the preservation, interpretation, and restoration of these symbolic places, we offer hope and optimism to each generation of Americans. (5)
I believe that even more today.
Jonathan B. Jarvis was the 18th Director of the National Park Service.
(1) State of the Parks Report, 1980, Executive Summary
(2) Title IV of the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998, Public Law 105-391
(3) Dr. Patrick Gonzales, Human caused climate changes in the United States national parks and solutions for the future, Park Stewardship Forum, https://parks.berkeley.edu/psf/?p=2010
(4) The Directed Reassignments of John Mumma and L. Lorraine Mintzmyer: Hearing …
By United States, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Subcommittee on Civil Service, Hearing, September 24, 1991
(5) Statement of Jonathan B. Jarvis, Nominee for Director, National Park Service Before the U. S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, July 2009
Published by Desert Report
View all posts by Desert Report
HIGH NOON ON THE MUDDY RIVER
A BORDER WALL IN THE JACUMBA WILDERNESS AREA
The Colorado River: December 22, 2022
Life Beyond the Alarms December 22, 2022
Salton Sea – the Saga Continues December 22, 2022
The Desert Tortoise in California December 22, 2022
An Opportunity for Action December 22, 2022
Can the Jacumba Wilderness Be Saved? December 22, 2022
An Activist Responds December 22, 2022
The Small Tract Act 1938-1976 December 22, 2022
Passion for the Environment December 22, 2022
December 2022 – Latest Issue November 28, 2022


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Q: Defining moment of the audio attenuation through ffmpeg There are audio tracks of different lengths in m4a format. And there's ffmpeg library for working with the media. Many of the tracks have the effect of "decay" in the end, and it is necessary to determine at what point it occurs (determined once and the value entered in the database along with other information about the track). Those. we must somehow determine that the track begins to fade, and its volume reached 30% compared to the total volume of the song. Is it possible to solve by means of ffmpeg, and if so, how?

A: If you run this command,
ffmpeg -i in.mp4
      -af astats=metadata=1:reset=1,
          ametadata=print:key=lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level:file=vol.log -vn -f null -

it will generate a file called vol.log which looks like this
frame:8941 pts:9155584 pts_time:190.741
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-79.715762
frame:8942 pts:9156608 pts_time:190.763
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-83.973798
frame:8943 pts:9157632 pts_time:190.784
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-90.068668
frame:8944 pts:9158656 pts_time:190.805
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-97.745197
frame:8945 pts:9159680 pts_time:190.827
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-125.611266
frame:8946 pts:9160704 pts_time:190.848
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-inf
frame:8947 pts:9161728 pts_time:190.869
lavfi.astats.Overall.RMS_level=-inf

The pts_time is the time index and the RMS level is the mean volume of that interval (21 ms here). Each drop of 6dB corresponds to a drop of half the present volume.
If you run the command with reset=0, the last reading in the generated log file will show the RMS volume for the whole file. Then the volume which is 30% of the mean volume is ~10.5 dB below the mean value.


text:
import React from 'react';
import PropTypes from 'prop-types';
import Icon from "../Icon";
import LabelStandard from "../LabelStandard";
import SnackBarWrapperMobile from "../SnackBarWrapperMobile";
import Typography from "../Typography";
import Wrapper from "../Wrapper";

import styles from './styles.css';

function SnackbarPanelTwoPointsCO2(props) {
  return (
    <SnackBarWrapperMobile show={props.show}>
      <Wrapper
        className={styles.outercontainer}
        size={'short'}
        >
        <Icon
          icon={'icon-duck'}
          size={'large1'}
          />
        <Typography className={styles.textContent} >
          {props.messageText}
        </Typography>
        {props.pointValue
          ? <LabelStandard
            animate
            className={styles.pointValueLabel}
            content={props.pointValue}
            icon={'icon-brightness_high'}
            />
        : null}
        {props.savingValue
          ? <LabelStandard
            animate
            className={styles.savingValueLabel}
            content={props.savingValue}
            icon={'icon-leaf'}
            />
        : null}
      </Wrapper>
    </SnackBarWrapperMobile>
  );
}

SnackbarPanelTwoPointsCO2.displayName = 'SnackbarPanelTwoPointsCO2';

SnackbarPanelTwoPointsCO2.propTypes = {
  messageText: PropTypes.string,
  pointValue: PropTypes.number,
  savingValue: PropTypes.number,
  show: PropTypes.bool
};

export default SnackbarPanelTwoPointsCO2;


text:
Steven Meisel : Julia Nobis
One of the most successful photographers in the fashion industry, Steven Meisel has distinguished himself by the sheer eclecticism of his work. Meisel's portfolio, filled with images from Vogue and Italian Vogue as well as countless advertisements, is a testament to his ability to place fashion trends in their greater social context. His fascination with glamour started at an early age. When Meisel was about twelve, his cousin, the advertising executive Diane Rothschild, took him on a shoot with fashion photographer Melvin Sokolsky.
By the early eighties, among the first models to sit for him were the sisters Phoebe and Valerie Cates. His contribution to their portfolios led him to an assignment at Seventeen—and his career as a photographer was launched. Shoots for W, Mademoiselle, and Self soon followed, as editors cottoned to his fresh sense of style, informed by after-hours explorations of the downtown Manhattan punk rock clubs. His first assignment for Vogue came after he met the Condé Nast editorial director Alexander Liberman, who sent him to Europe to photograph the collections.
Meisel began working with Christy Turlington, soon to be a superstar, in 1986; she in turn introduced him to the other two members of the supermodel Trinity, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell. Meisel's influence has reached beyond fashion into the pop realm. An early example of his many projects with Madonna was the cover for her album Like a Virgin in 1984. Perhaps their most infamous collaboration was the coffee-table photography book Sex, published in 1992. In 2009, Vogue dedicated its May issue to the photographer.
Here, Steven Meisel photographed Julia Nobis. Styling by Marie-Amélie Sauvé, hair by Guido Palau, make-up by Pat McGrath.
share Steven Meisel : Julia Nobis
Prabal Gurung: Pre-Fall/Fall 2016
Prabal Gurung was born in Singapore and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal. After beginning his design caree...
Balder Skånström-Bo
Balder Skånström-Bo is a photographer and filmmaker based in Copenhagen.
Hedi Slimane was the creative director for Dior Homme. He is currently creative director for Saint L...
Txema Yeste
Txema Yeste (1972) began his career as a reporter after completing his photographic studies in Barce...
Naoya Hatakeyama was born in 1958 in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Hatakeyama, a student of Kiyoji Otsuji...
Bring the outside in: The houses of Joseph Eichler
"Eichlers," as they are referred to in California, are midcentury modern tract homes developed b...
The Bubble series by Melvin Sokolsky for Harper's Bazaar 1963. Melvin Sokolsky (born 1933) is an A...
Woman. Black. White.
Black and white photos of charismatic women.
Mass, space, plane and line
"The essence of architecture is the interrelation and interaction of mass, space, plane and line. Th...
Paola Mathe, born in Petionville, Haiti, lives and works in New York City. She holds a BA in econom...
David Bowie is Crossing the Border.
This is a tribute to the musician, artist, designer, and dandy David Bowie (January 8th, 1947-Januar...
Sadamitsu Neil Fujita
Sadamitsu Fujita was born in Waimea, Hawaii to Japanese immigrants. He attended boarding school in H...
Stan Galli
Illustrator Stan Galli (1912 - 2009) attended the California School of Fine Arts and was recruited a...
Vejas: Fall Winter 2015. Vejas Kruszewski is a young Lithuanian designer.
Anna Lomax is a maker and collector, working within the field of Creative Direction and Set Design f...
Radebaugh and Bohn
Arthur C. Radebaugh (1906-1974) was an American illustrator, airbrush artist, and designer. Some of...
Silent Geography
Silent Geography is a site-specific installation consisting of Hazard's torn paper constructed lands...
Mark Fast moved to London in 2002 to study at Central Saint Martins. He completed his BA there and w...
John James Audubon and the Golden Eagle
R Kikuo Johnson grew up on the island of Maui. He began a career in cartooning and illustration wit...
Dinu Bodiciu: Monsters
Dinu Bodiciu is a London based fashion and accessories designer. He was born in Romania and studied ...
Afflicted Objects
"When I was 22 years old I found myself pacing the hallucinogenic black & white sidewalks of Rio de ...
Traveling with Google Maps
Glasses by German manufacturer Cazal were considered a sought-after accessory in New York's hip-hop ...
Fashion 4.0
The fashion industry is on the threshold of a revolution. Global fashion companies ranging from luxu...
The e-scooter Boom
The German Ministry of Transport announced that it will legalize e-scooters as road vehicles. All Ge...
The rise of active wear
In the 1920s, legendary tennis player Jean Rene Lacoste invented the tennis shirt, the signature of ...
Future City : Dr. Noki
As part of FUTURE CITY at MAK Vienna, curated by Mario Gagliardi, we made a photoshoot to illustrate...
Streetwear Catwalk
In street fashion, ways of walking, gestures and postures are as much part of fashion as the outfit....
Heartbeat, Heartseat
Heartbeat consists of a massive heart glowing to the rhythm of a strong, deep and low frequency hear...
This City
This City is an audio-visual piece performed as musical alter-ego Mark Eats. It explores what happen...
The Glass House
"This house was Philip Johnson's autobiography—all of his interests were visible, and all of his a...
Good art inspires; Good design motivates.
— Otl Aicher


text:
Labor and Employment Supply
Fostering an Innovation Culture
Accountability, Bureaucracy and Ideology
CEOs in Government
Policies that Fuel Economic Performance
Leading for Outcomes:
Best Practices in Human Services
Join us on May 10 at 2 pm (ET) for this free event that will examine how to take the lead by moving to an outcomes-focused business model.
A Governing.com Series
Jerry Mechling argues that tough times and the growing need for innovation require the use of social media to attract the best and brightest.
The new "Apps for Communities" contest challenges developers to design useful "apps," content, and services for those persons least likely to be online. The planning process has already yielded ideas for apps that can connect such users to urgent care facilities through public transportation and that can provide contract and seasonal job postings via text message. The contest is co-sponsored by the FCC and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and will award around $100,000 in prizes.
The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development is rolling out mobile career offices to increase access for underserved rural areas. Three "Career Coach" vehicles will travel around the state, and each vehicle is equipped with 10 Internet-ready workstations, as well as printers, fax machines, and a television for use in classroom instruction. Three department employees, trained in career counseling and the procedures of applying for unemployment benefits, will travel with the Career Coaches. The units will also be used for administering GED tests.
Cities such as New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia are turning to their brownfield sites as logical places to build solar panel farms that generate energy while allowing the cities to avoid the costly environmental remediation of these areas. Chicago has launched the largest urban solar installation in the nation and Philadelphia is prepping its own sites. New York has created a searchable database of brownfield properties to provide, among other things, details for potential developers of solar power sites.
The Department of Labor is partnering with the American Bar Association to ensure that workers find the representation they seek. The DOL must allocate its limited resources to larger impact cases; those persons whom are declined are advised that they have a right to sue. However, navigating attorney listings to find an experienced employment lawyer to prosecute their wage or leave violation claim can be challenging. Under the Bridge to Justice program, complainants will have access to a dedicated hotline directing them to a vetted lawyer in their area.
Although spring has come, New York City is readying itself for winter's eventual arrival by training a dozen officers to use municipal tow trucks in case civilian drivers, who normally operate the fleet, are unable to make it to work. As part of their training, these officers will also learn how to get into locked cars.
Increasingly, commercial advertising in public spaces is being used to ease state and municipal budgets. Locations include public school cafeterias, school bus exteriors, agency waiting offices, and prison holding areas. Some observers question whether the price of targeting captive audiences—especially children—is worth the relatively small financial gain, and whether any limits will be set.
In Denton, Texas, legislation has been passed to protect vulnerable road users, such as bicyclists and pedestrians, by prescribing safe passing distances and requiring that vehicles yield to pedestrians in all circumstances. Denton is one of several Texas cities to pass such an ordinance, which differs from other "vulnerable road user" laws as it regulates motorist action before a collision occurs, rather than increasing punitive measures in the aftermath. The governor of Texas vetoed similar state legislation as being overbroad several years ago.
In New York City, the Department of Environmental Preservation plans to build upon its successful rainwater collection program, originally piloted in Queens, by distributing one thousand 55-gallon rainwater barrels to residents at no charge. The program has become popular among citizens looking to save on their water bill, since they can use the collected water for their lawns and gardens. Officials estimate that 40 percent of water usage in one- and two-family homes is due to summer water usage on gardens. The city will spend around $80 on each barrel.
As a transportation alternative, a growing number of municipalities are permitting golf carts to travel on some public roads. While safety remains a concern, proponents argue that the carts are particularly attractive for making short trips and because of their fuel efficiency in a time of rising gas prices.
Examples from the U.K. and New York City demonstrate ways to create a culture of innovation in the public sector.
Accountability is often accused of being a pipe dream or an excuse to gut government. Instead, accountability should be both an aspirational goal and an enduring challenge for every public institution.
Rather than looking to a business icon like Donald Trump to fix government, we all need to explore ways to deliver public value in as efficient manner as possible—which includes thoughtful partnerships with the private sector.
Which public policies drive job creation and economic growth? Data from the Tax Foundation and American Legislative Exchange Council suggest that broad competitiveness policies can help fuel economic growth.
Newsletter produced by: Jessica Engelman, editor; Brendan St. Amant, researcher and writer.
NOTE: The highlights in this newsletter link to source articles from other websites, and may not be available after a certain length of time.
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About the Ash Center
The Roy and Lila Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation advances excellence in governance and strengthens democratic institutions worldwide. Through its research, education, international programs, and government innovations awards, the Center fosters creative and effective problem solving and serves as a catalyst for addressing many of the most pressing needs of the world's citizens. The Ford Foundation is a founding donor of the Center. Additional information about the Ash Center is available at http://ash.harvard.edu.


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The Sorcerer is Westside's answer for a high speed disc for all skill levels. With a smaller grip than most high speed discs, the Sorcerer leaves the hand fast. For professional players, it is great for long anhyzers that actually come back when it runs out of speed. The Sorcerer provides a nice long "S" curve line. For lower arm speeds, the Sorcerer will actually get flat and glide before diving to the left. Many drivers designed for slower arm speeds have poor flight integrity. The sorcerer will give you that "pro throw" you have been looking for on the course.


We offer a wide range of German courses, flexible scheduling and also tailored course plans.
Whether you would rather learn in a group or individually, we have a program to meet your needs.
Please dont forget to bring a good dictionary (at least 60,000 references).
All levels from beginners to advanced are offered to participants studying for 1 to ... weeks.
Participants with no previous knowledge of German begin classes on fixed starting dates.
Participants with German language skills can start every Monday.
for particiants who want to learn German from the beginning or develop their present knowledge for private, educational or professional reasons.
for participants who would like to supplement their group sessions with individual tuition - who have exacting needs which must be met in a short period of time.
The Exam fit-course gears you up for taking an internationally recognized exam.
You get to know typical exam questions and get ready with sample tasks.
In order to be admitted to a German university international students have to pass a German Language Exam before enrolment.
We suggest using the Power-Intensive-Courses for the exam preparations,too.
Here, in the one-to-one lessons, your trainer can additionally concentrate on your specific wishes and questions.
After the grading test we will inform you how many courses or hours you will need to pass the test you would like to take.
Please keep in mind, that for some exams you only have 2 chances!
The easy way for busy people to learn a language is a little and often.
We aim to make it fun too and give you a sense of achievement after a short time.
To activate the vocabulary and the grammar you've studied you will talk about different topics in German - in a small group!
Would you like to re-fresh your language knowledge?
Only one weekend and still so many lessons - in total there are 16 teaching units in two days, in which you will really learn a lot.
Your language requirements will be contented fast and intense.
The one-to-one lesson is the most intense and effective way to learn a language.
You decide the tempo, intensity and duration of the class - Individual tuition is tailored to your needs.
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After a conversation with you, the lessons will be conceived according to your learning target.
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You can make appointments with us either in the morning from 9.00am - 1.00pm, in the afternoon or at the weekend.
Experience the language and at the same time some of the German culture!
Rhinegau and its most beautiful sights offer the best scenery for this.
Travelling by van in a small group, accompanied by one or two conversation trainers, you will not only visit the famous convents and castles - but also treat yourself at a vintage.
Price on application - the price is dependent on the type and duration of the trip.
You have always wanted to visit the most beautiful cities in Germany and get to know the German culture and language?
We combine these aspects in one single trip through Germany.
You tell us which cities you would like to see and we will individually organise the trip and arrange for a language trainer to accompany you.
The Evolanguage Business training is either on a one-to-one basis or can be arranged for a group of colleagues from the same company.
A course-program will be conceived according to your requirements and wishes.
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Our course levels as compared to the European Framework of Reference.
* Some of the targets of European Level A1 are acchieved.
All targets will be completed in Elementary 1.


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text:
Good Ideas, Great Business
Empower Women, Enable Possibilities
Sourcing & E-Commerce Tips
Using Alibaba.com
Voice Notes
The first business of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com is the leading platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world.
Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in other countries.
Sellers on Alibaba.com are typically manufacturers and distributors based in China and other manufacturing countries such as India, Pakistan, the United States and Japan.
powered by Alibaba.com
Good Ideas, Great Businesses: Episode 4
Global Biz Circle Aug 22, 2012
In Alibaba.com's 'Good Ideas, Great Businesses' video series, they followed three entrepreneurs to find out how they grew their ideas into successful businesses. See where their inspiration came from, the challenges they faced and what success looks like for them.
Fraser Smeaton, founder of Morphsuits in 2009.
Fraser and two friends were inspired to start selling the multi-coloured fancy dress costumes after seeing how popular they were on a lad's weekend. After their initial success they chose to quit their corporate jobs and now sell Morphsuits in over 20 countries. Visit http://www.morphsuits.co.uk/ to find out more.
Rob Forkan, founder of Gandys Flip Flops in January 2012.
Rob had an unusual upbringing travelling with his family in India. After reading about the success of a flip-flop brand he decided to take the dive and is now stocked in 60 retail outlets in the UK. See their range of products at http://www.gandysflipflops.com/.
David McLagan, founder of Tosh with his wife, Ali, in 2007.
David and his wife left their jobs to start Tosh, designing high-quality souvenirs for leading department stores. Tosh was started out of curiosity as to how difficult it was to start a business, and noticing a distinct lack of high quality souvenirs worldwide. Visit http://www.toshworld.com/ to find out more.
Alibaba.comEntrepreneurGood IdeasGreat BusinessesSmall BusinessStart up
Global Biz Circle
Global Biz Circle in an online content site powered by Alibaba.com. The mission of Global Biz Circle is to provide content that not only empowers businesses but also provides them with the know-how to grow and succeed in a global e-commerce environment.
Tips from Alibaba.com buyers & sellers
Americans Spend Big on Their Pets
Rieva Lesonsky Mar 30, 2018
Discover Malaysia, Food and Beverage Paradise
In Alibaba.com's 'Good Ideas, Great Businesses' video series, they followed three entrepreneurs to find out how they grew...
Global Biz Circle Jul 7, 2014
Sourcing Term: FOB
Enough with the Abbreviations Already!
12 Steps To Starting Your Own Business
Global Biz Circle Jul 14, 2015
Copyright 2014 Venus Premium Magazine Theme All Right Reserved.


1. This machine can be used for mixing dye, chemical raw materials, Ferrite, cement with sand and dye. It can be used for diffusing fiber glass and mixing the material(s) of brake.
2. The machine can be mixed much kind material, Especially, which installed the high speed motor & diffusion tool and those can mixed material more evenly in short time, no residual heat and no to damaged the original quality of mixed material moreover.
3. The machine can be diffusioned the body material more quickly.
1. Tank capacity: 200 L.
2. Feeding capacity: 70-140 L.
3. Mixing weight: 80 kg.
4. Main power: 10 HP 4 P.
5. Auxiliary power: 10 HP x 1.
6. Machine size: 1700 x 900 x 1500 mm.
7. Machine weight: 1000 kg.


text:
A photographer's journey into a Peruvian oil spill
The aftermath of a dual oil spill deep in the forests of the Peruvian Amazon have left local communities reeling. by Ann Wang on 3 October 2016 |
Mongabay Series: Global Forests
The remote villages of Nueva Alianza and Saramuro were the site of two massive oil pipeline leaks in late August.
Investigations into the cause of the spills are ongoing, but vandalism or sabotage has not been ruled out.
Village workers, hired to augment the cleanup efforts, say they have yet to be summoned for work more than a month after the spills.
Standing on a damaged oil pipeline deep in the Peruvian Amazon that separates polluted water from clean, a worried Gilter Yuyarima Tapuyima fretted over the weather.
"The raining season will come at the end of this month, and if we don't clean up the oil, the flood will bring the oil into River Marañon," said Tapuyima, the 37 year-old community leader of Nueva Alianza. On one side of the pipeline the water was clear and on the other side it was as dark as ink. The black surface reflected the mighty Amazon forest and the white bellies of dead fish sparkled here and there.
As soon as protests started in early September, staff at Petroperu station 1 (base) left Saramuro. Photo by Ann Wang
To reach remote village of Nueva Alianza included a day-long ride on a public boat from Iquitos, the biggest city in the Peruvian Amazon.
This is the site of a recent oil spill in the Amazon, one of the more than 20 spills within five years from the pipeline which belongs to a state-owned petroleum company, Petroperú. Company officials say cleanup has been delayed by village politics.
"We have to clean up the oil spill as soon as possible, we've been delayed for a month," said Dino Valdieviezo, head of operations for Petroperú after arriving to the site on September 18.
Valdieviezo was part of a team of delegates from Petroperú that included Luis Zapata Palacios, head of corporate communications. Valdieviezo blamed cleanup delays from the August spill on those most directly impacted – local residents.
But the blame doesn't come out of thin air.
A history of spills
Since 1997, there have been 190 spills – 67 from vandalism and 62 from corrosion – according to the Peruvian government regulatory agency for energy and mining, Osinergmin.
Six of those spills are under investigation, and others have been attributed to mechanical problems, and natural or other causes.
Oil covers grass at the Petroperu spill in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo by Ann Wang
Petroperú has openly blamed vandalism as the cause of the Nueva Alianza spill, an accusation that has angered residents. Osinergmin has not issued a ruling. If it is determined that the spill was caused by vandalism, the legal consequences for the village are not clear according to Petroperú's Zapata.
The Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement estimates that 4,000 barrels of oil has leaked to the river since the spill from August 21.
Tapuyima said that nobody in his village of mostly rice farmers and fishermen has the tools nor the skills to damage the pipeline. In fact, a resident of Nueva Alianza reported the spill on Aug. 21 after he saw crude spewing from the pipeline near the village – one of two leaks less than a mile apart.
Negotiation delays
Yet Valdieviezo also blamed area residents for delaying cleanup work, which still hasn't begun.
"We received a call at 5 am on August 21 about the oil spills…and we did some prevention work to stop the oil from spreading, but the community won't allow us to continue with the cleanup work," said the 57-year-old Valdieviezo, who has worked with Petroperú for 33 years.
On Aug. 24, a Finnish company hired by Petroperú to clean up recent spills, Lamor, arrived to help assess the damage. There are also disputes over payment to locals who want to be hired for cleanup work.
"They were asking for 150 sol a day, but we normally pay 80 sol for a day's work. And that's why we are here for, to have a dialogue, to come up with solutions," said Valdieviezo while holding up his fingers to gesture a calculation of how much residents wanted to be compensated for doing the dirty and dangerous work of cleaning up the oil.
150 Peruvian sol is equivalent to about $45 US. In the past, community workers have been paid about $15 to $20 a day for cleanup work, and as high as $45 a day for cleanup work earlier in 2016, according to Petroperú.
After three rounds of negotiations over ten days, Petroperú and the Nueva Alianza community reached an agreement, which was signed on Sept. 18 at the village's community center. Residents packed the small community hall and crowded up against the windows from outside in order to witness the signing ceremony.
In the end, village leader Tapuyima said that according to the agreement cleanup work would start on Sept. 19 and about 150 workers would be paid about $24 each per day. That's an influx of about $3,600 a day to the remote community of 670 people.
After the agreement was made, group photos were taken and the crowd followed the team from Petroperú to their helicopter before they returned to their headquarters in Lima. Despite the pouring rain, the atmosphere was full of hope. Residents cheered as the children's hair flew high from wind generated by the helicopter. Many Nueva Alianza residents believe it was a victory for a cleaner environment and better paying jobs.
Stalled cleanup
But since the agreement was signed, village men have gathered in the town square to wait for cleanup work or any instructions. There has been none of either.
While Tapuyima has branded Petroperú "a liar" for the delay, other men in the square think the delay might be related to protests and downstream blockade at Sarmuro village where the clean up equipment is locked up at Petroperú 's base. Repeated attempts by Mongabay for additional comment from Petroperú about cleanup delays were unsuccessful.
Villages affected by the pipeline spill have different approaches to the situation. Saramuro, the village downstream from Nueva Alianza where Petroperú has an area base, began staging protests on Sept. 1, triggering the evacuation of staff and a lockdown of the base.
Boats transporting oil for Petroperu between Saramuro and Iquitos were stranded at Saramuro after protests began in early September. Photo by Ann Wang
"If there aren't solutions, the protest will continue!" yelled leaders to a crowd of hundreds from various villages along River Marañon to Saramuro to support the protest in mid-September.
"Our river is polluted and now we have poison in our blood," the crowd yelled while pointing out land next to the Petroperú base that is contaminated by leftover oil covered up in sand and bags of waste from previous oil spill clean ups.
Villagers managed to form a blockade on the Marañon River. Any passing boat was forced to pay a toll of cash or supplies such as rice or plantains. The blockade has since ended, but it affected dozens of Petroperú workers.
"We can't leave, but we are running out of food, and we are afraid of our safety," said Gaspar Quintana, the 59-year-old captain of one of the eleven boats transporting oil between Saramuro and Iquitos that got trapped. There were a total of 66 crew members stranded on their boats.
"We have no way to communicate with Petroperú, and we have no information on the current situation," said Quintana.
Saramuro protesters said their aim was to have a direct dialogue with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, the newly elected president of Peru, and related government ministers.
An estimated 4,000 barrels of oil spilled into the river at Nueva Alianze between August 21 and September 18. Photo by Ann Wang
The blockade has ended, yet Tapuyima remains reticent about the future in spite of promised cleanup.
"You see it yourself there, the area where it's polluted is where we fish, it is where our food comes from," said Tapuyima. "How will we go on with our own lives?"
Other demands
Villagers have also seized on the opportunity to leverage other demands, including schools and clean drinking water. They want these necessities to be provided by the government or Petroperú as a form of social responsibility for the community.
"We want hospitals in each village, with doctors and equipment," said an angry Miguel Manihuari Tamani, a 65-year-old native of Saramuro. "They are just taking our rich resources and giving it to Iquitos and Lima, the big cities. But what about us?"
In response to the protester's demands, Palacios, corporate communications head for Petroperú explained that it is not the company's responsibility to give communities jobs, schools or hospitals.
"We, Petroperú, are the middle ground, between communities and the government," he said. "We should listen to the communities and let the government know their wishes." Palacios, a relative newcomer at Petroperú, has been tasked with leading the negotiations at Nueva Alianza.
Gilter Yuyarima Tapuyima, the community leader of Nueva Alianza (right) and Luis Zapata Palacios, head of corporate communications for Petroperú signing agreements after the community meeting at Nueva Alianza on Sep 18. Photo by Ann Wang
Palacios believes Petroperú is not neglecting the common welfare of the residents affected by the pipeline.
"To me, our social responsibility is to stay close with the community, and be able to work together," said Palacios. "We are working in a new era, a new stage of social responsibility of Petroperú." According to Palacios, "Petroperú is changing from the inside, and that is my responsibility."
Back in Nueva Alianza, village leader Tapuyima disagrees with the protest.
"If you want to do a protest, you can do it without taking things from others," he said from the front of his simple two-level wooden house by the river. "The only way to transport goods is by the river, a lot of people bring products from their own community to the city to sell, but because of the protest, they have to give up their supplies. Why are we offending each other, when we should all be against Petroperú ?"
Photograph: Hundreds of indigenous people from villages along River Marañon gathered at Saramuro, where Petroperu Station 1 is based, staging a protest against Petroperu and the government. Photo by Ann Wang
All photographs by Ann Wang.
Article published by Genevieve Belmaker
Amazon Destruction, Corporate Responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility, Indigenous Communities, Oil Spills, Water Pollution


Shahi tukda or shahi tukra – is a very popular rich desert that has originated during the Mughal reign. To make shahi tukda, bread is deep fried in ghee till golden. Then garnished with rabri, nuts and mawa/khoya. Most times this delight is served towards the end of a feast where a meat biryani is the star. This makes a great dessert for parties, large family gatherings or for Iftar.
The aunthetic shahi tukda recipe is made by deep frying the bread in ghee. In the modern days, most people are health conscious and do not prefer high calorie desserts. So it can also be pan fried with ghee smeared over it. However it can also be baked and used here.
To make shahi tukda, rabri is made by condensing the milk until it thickens or reduces to at least half the original quantity. If you have the time and patience to make it, then you can follow this rabri recipe.
If one does not like to toil near the stove for long hours for making rabri, then ready condensed milk tin can be used. You can also instead blend few soaked almonds and add to the boiling milk. Under 5 minutes, the best aromatic rabri will be ready. This is the way I always make shahi tukda.
Shahi tukda is a delicious dessert from Hyderabadi cuisine. It is made of bread, milk, sugar and a generous amount of nuts.
Air dry or sundry the bread for 3 to 4 hours. You can also toast them on a pan. Do not use moist bread or bread from the fridge directly as they tend to absorb lot of ghee and have to fry longer to make crispier.
Soak saffron in 2 tbsps. hot milk.
Method – 1 Bring milk to a boil in a wide pot. Simmer and boil until layers of cream form on top. Slide the cream to the sides and stick it. Continue to boil until another layer forms. This process must go on until the milk reduces to half. Then add sugar and continue. Remove all the layers of cream and add it to the rabri.
Method – 2 Grind peeled almonds with 3 tsps. Sugar, cardamom powder and ¼ cup milk to a very smooth paste. Pour to the 3 ½ cups milk and boil on a low flame till it reduces to almost 2 cups.
Continue to boil for 10 mins on a low flame. Keep stirring since the almond mix tends to get burnt very fast. Rabri is ready. Set aside to cool.
Mix sugar with little water that is just enough to immerse it. Boil and bring to a 1 string consistency. Switch off the flame. Add rose essence.
Remove the brown edges and cut the bread diagonally. Each slice into 2 or 4 as you desire.
On a low flame deep fry the bread evenly till they turn golden and crispy. Alternately you can tawa fry with ghee till they turn crispy. Set aside.
Immerse these bread slices in the sugar syrup one after the other and place them in a serving plate.
Pour the rabri over the bread slices and garnish with toasted pistas. You can also sprinkle koya over it.
Serve shahi tukda warm or chilled.
Firstly air dry or sun dry bread for 3 hours. This helps bread not to soak up ghee when fried. You can also pan toast it first and then use to deep fry.
1. Bring milk to a boil in a heavy bottom pot.
2. This one and the next 3 steps are optional. If you want your condensed milk to be ready under 5 minutes, follow these steps. Soak almonds for 4 to 5 hours. Then remove the skin. Blend them with 2 green cardamoms, little milk, sugar and a generous pinch of saffron/ kesar. I added sugar later to the milk directly.
3. The almond paste must be very smooth.
4. When the milk comes to a boil, then add this paste.
5. Stir and cook on a medium flame.
6. Under 4 minutes, milk thickens and begins to smell aromatic. Switch off and set aside. Aromatic condensed rich milk is ready. If you have not used almonds, condense the milk until it thickens and reduces to half.
7. Trim the brown sides of the bread. Cut to triangles as well. Deep fry or tawa fry or bake the bread triangles. If tawa frying, smear ghee all over the bread and toast on a medium heat. Set aside.
If making for festive occasions, i suggest deep frying. We need to fry bread to golden.
8. Add 1/3 cup sugar and little water to a wide pan to make sugar syrup.
9. Next simmer it until it comes to a one string consistency. If you are a beginner, don't worry much about the string. But make sure the syrup is a bit thick and not very thick. Switch off the stove. If you like you can add rose essence now.
10. Cool it a bit. Add bread slices and make sure syrup is coated well over the bread.
11. Place them on a serving dish. Any left over sugar syrup can be poured to the serving dish.
12. Lastly pour the condensed milk all over the bread. Garnish with pistachios, almonds, nuts, saffron.
To make shahi tukda, do add some crumbled khoya/ mawa over the bread. Allow it to absorb for a while and serve.
You can also make individual servings by arranging bread in a deep plate. Add rabri to a small cup and nuts to a small bowl.
Hi, if we have to serve it to guests, can we prepare it before hand and arrange it? Or bread will get soggy with rabri and syrup for long time? How can we make it work so that it remains crispy and doesn't have to assemble or fry bread at last time?
Yes the bread turns soggy with in 15 to 20 min. Just keep the syrup ready and rabri ready separately. You can make rabri 1 day ahead as well and just refrigerate. Fry the bread and set aside. If they turn soft, you can just crisp them in a oven. It will take just 10 mins for assembling. Just keep the bread slices ready in a serving dish. Then just before serving, dip them in warm sugar syrup and put back in the tray. Pour the rabri and garnish with nuts.
1. What do u mean by air drying bread ? How to do that?
2. Can i use multigrain white bread or will it not br that gud as plain white bread?
3. For syrup how much water needed?
1. Air dry means just keep the bread in open air on a table for 3 to 4 hours. If you have a sunny place in the home you can also keep there or just toast it on a tawa till bread turns slightly crisp. This helps the bread not to absorb ghee while frying.
2. Actually white bread is best but I make it using multigrain fine flour bread. I think this is the same as multigrain white bread. There should be no bran or seeds in the bread.
3. You can use a half cup water. Thanks for the mention I will update in the post.
Really appreciable that you reply so quickly.
Thank you for the recepie….. It came out superb…….
All are very useful to me.. I liked this…..
Tried this sweet and came out very well. Simple and yummy.
Can raw cane sugar be used for making this or any other sweets?
hi sadiya, so glad to know you liked it. thanks for the feedback and all the lovely comments on the blog.
Happy new year to u n ur kids maam..
Happy new year to you all Rathika.
thank u and once again new year wishes so happy to know you made so many foods from the blog.


text:
Jasen je naselje v Občini Domžale.

Glej tudi
 seznam naselij v Sloveniji

Sklici in opombe

Naselja Občine Domžale

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see photos and links to all of my fellow bloggers posts!
As you can see from the photo above, the crate I used had different colors of stain. Since I knew the stain would show through, I painted the crate white before I started. If you use an unfinished crate or one that is the same color, then you can skip this step.
I measured the width of each board on the crate and using my rotary cutter, I cut out 2″ strips of the paper napkin. If the napkin is two-ply then remove the second solid color layer of the napkin (after you cut it) and discard.
I cut sixteen strips (one for each board) and had way too much!
Gently tap the napkin to adhere it to the wood, being careful not to pull it off (it is sticky!).
Continue all the way around until the first board is fully covered.
Add the paper napkin strips to the second board but start in a different place so the napkin patterns don't match.
At this point, I thought the paper looked too intense so I decided to sand the boards to make them look more vintage. I love how they came out!
I sanded and sanded and sanded until I thought it looked authentically vintage. Then I added the satin varnish to seal the napkins.
I placed four galvanized vases in the crate and filled them with flowers. I added some raffia and love the final look!
And here are the fabulous DIY projects shared by my blogging friends.
Janine shared how to make easy paper cones for treats for Valentine's Day this year.
Ashley created this fun DIY book page banner to decorate for Valentine's Day. Head to her blog to make this DIY Valentine's Day book page banner.
Jennifer made these Valentine's Day Typewriter Printable Sayings. I love these simple Valentine's Day gift ideas.
Tauni is celebrating the coming holiday with this easy DIY washi tape Valentine's Day Decor.
On Rhonda's blog, learn how to make a fabric covered bulletin board for valentines decor.
How insanely cool Leslie, I never would have thought of that!
I love this!! I can't wait to give it a try.


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Realm was never meant to be graphically superior.
Realm's core is original in the sense that, I wrote the first concept engine without any idea of how others wrote games of this type.
I will be able to spend more time making sure that I stay on track of Realm's vision, and not on developing technologies that I'm unfamiliar with.
I just flat out like it, and since I'm writing it, that's all that matters.
I re-uploaded spriteview. It was a tar.gz file. The compression was messing up in Winzip, and not allowing proper extraction of the program and files. I will be doing this for the other files as well.
Switched back to using JDK1.1.7_v3 for linux.


The battle between YouTube and Turkish officials continued this week as Turkey reportedly unblocked and then re-blocked the site in the country over unflattering videos of the country's political leaders.
A Turkish court banned YouTube again, this time over an old video purportedly showing former opposition leader Deniz Baykal in a hotel room with someone other than his wife. Baykal was forced to resign over the video in May. Turkish authorities first imposed a ban on YouTube for two days in 2007 over four videos that were deemed insulting to Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Another ban was put into place in May 2008 over the same issue, which lasted for more than two years.
YouTube refused to remove the videos from its site but made them inaccessible to users in Turkey. "We refused because we do not believe that Turkish law can or should be applied outside Turkey," Google said in a previous statement. Many Turkish people got around the ban via proxy Web sites.
Turkish president Abdullah Gul condemned the YouTube ban on his Twitter page, The Guardian reported, saying he did not approve of the bans and had asked officials to examine legal ways of reopening access.