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Home/World/At a Club Med Ski Resort, Learning to Love the Apéro
"Have you been to Club Med before?" asks the woman at the front desk of Club Med Québec Charlevoix, as she clips a maroon bracelet with a white disk bearing the company's trident trademark around my wrist. This magic token will unlock the offerings of the all-inclusive ski resort over the next three days.
"Usually you have the beaches and the pools and the piña coladas," she notes, ticking off the attractions at the company's well-known beach resorts. "But here —" she waves her hand around the lobby of the newly opened resort at the base of Le Massif de Charlevoix — "everything is inside. You never have to go outside."
"Um, except for the skiing," I protest, imagining myself trapped in a bubble of buffets, forced camaraderie and variety shows for three days.
"Except for the skiing," she nods, perhaps seeing the dread in my eyes.
Opened last December, Charlevoix is Club Med's first North American ski resort in decades, though worldwide it offers more than 20 skiing destinations, including many in the Alps. Le Massif de Charlevoix boasts impressive terrain, the highest vertical drop east of the Rockies (a bit over 2,500 feet). An "upside down" mountain, it falls from a summit rather than rising from a base, and at times it can feel like you're about to ski off one of its 53 trails straight into the St. Lawrence River below.
Massif de Charlevoix has impressive ski terrain, with the highest vertical drop east of the Rockies. But until Club Med opened, it lacked the kind of accommodations that would make it a resort destination.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
But it lacks the kind of accommodations that turn a ski mountain into a destination resort, which is where Club Med comes in. "It's a destination that needed Club Med," said Carolyne Doyon, the president and chief executive officer for the company in North America and the Caribbean. The plan is to follow Charlevoix in 2025 with a new resort at Utah's Snowbasin, another mountain known for its excellent skiing and lack of lodging.
While people of a certain age — like me — might have visions of Club Med as a louche escape for swingers, these days the company is focused on the upscale family market. Its resorts are aimed at "affluent active parents and their children" for whom its all-inclusive model is "excellent value for money," said Ms. Doyon, including not only lodging and meals, but lifts, group ski and snowboard lessons and après ski or non-ski activities for both children and adults. (Equipment rentals, kids' clubs for children under 3 and spa treatments are extra.)
Among the resort's child-focused amenities is Petit Club Med for very young children.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
The resort stretches along a ridge overlooking the St. Lawrence at the base of Le Massif. Two buildings are devoted to hotel rooms (the higher-priced "exclusive collection" rooms have their own lounge and section of the resort). Activities take place in the central building, with a floor devoted to the pool, gyms and spa; another to winter activities, including ski rentals, ski lockers and kids' clubs; and another to dining, bars and a theater for live performances.
More ideas to embrace the cold:
8 New Hotels for Winter Enthusiasts in the U.S. and Europe: New and reimagined hotels in New England, the Alps and beyond offer stylish accommodations near the snow.
The Quiet Thrill of Winter Wildlife Viewing: In Colorado's Rockies, birds and other animals stand out against the snow, and even if you can't see them, their tracks let you know they're around.
At a Club Med Ski Resort, Learning to Love the Apéro: Will the company's all-inclusive approach work in the North American market? An avid skier puts Québec's Massif de Charlevoix to the test.
Taking Back the Mountains: Big resorts are crowded, pricey and exclusive. But some skiers and snowboarders are trying to reclaim their sports by building a culture that is more inclusive and sustainable.
Making the Slopes Fun From Day 1: When it comes to designing terrain and the learning experience, resorts have finally started thinking about beginners.
Faster Rides, Shorter Waits: New Ski Lifts Changing U.S. Slopes This Winter: A flurry of construction at major ski resorts has led to a high number of notable new chairlifts and gondolas opening this season.
My superior family room cost about $2,300 for two people for three nights of ski-in, ski-out accommodations, a ski locker, all meals and drinks and daily lessons if we wanted them. The lodging itself is shipshape, with a bedroom that fit a queen-size bed and not much else, a smaller room with two twin beds, a bathroom with a sink and a tub/shower, and a separate toilet. ( "We've done a lot of surveys," Ms. Doyon said. "The bathroom is important.")
A suite at Club Med Québec Charlevoix. The design of the rooms reflects a kind of whimsical Ikea-style modernism.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
A bathroom in one of the resort's suites.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
The design is a kind of whimsical Ikea-style modernism: In the hallways, lights over the room doors are shaped like bird houses; some chairs look like they've been borrowed from chairlifts, while others might be canoes. Kleenex boxes resemble houses. The main restaurant, Le Marché, borrows design elements from the landscape of Québec, evoking fishing boats, fields of wheat and stores of wood for fires, and there are clever trompe l'oeil photographs that turn a wall into what looks like the interior of a Québécois farmhouse.
My friend Julie and I arrived between the end of the ski day and the start of dinner. Canada had only recently relaxed its Covid regulations and guests were taking advantage of the freedom, arriving straight from the pool in terry cloth robes and Crocs and carrying drinks from the bar to big communal tables. The kids running around and challenging each other at Ping-Pong made it feel like we'd wandered into the tail end of a bar mitzvah.
The well-stocked ski and snowboard rental area is part of the resort's central building.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
After getting ourselves outfitted with ski equipment and storing it in our locker, we decided to try the resort's skating rink. I had visions of myself as Sonja Henie gliding under the lights, only to find the rink was a sad, unshoveled rectangle, with ice that was pitted and rough under our skates. Maybe we would be better off inside.
By that point, Le Marché had opened, with stations offering steak, grilled fish, pizza and plain pastas to which you could add your chosen sauce, small salads, smoked local salmon, a bean soup, desserts like a Saint Honoré tart, raspberry coulis with meringue. Waiters roamed the room pouring red or white wine.
And it was snowing. In fact, it was still snowing the next morning, with no sign of stopping. And Le Massif's gondola was just out the back door. Time to ski.
The mountain naturally divides itself into three sections, with a corridor of blues in the center, some nice gladed bumps to the east, and long, steep black and double-black runs to the west. I quickly fell in love with the tree skiing, bouncing down a slope named for the Canadian Olympic snowboarder Dominique Maltais and hunting out powder among the trees on L'Archipel and La Derive. I was having so much fun I didn't bother to head back to the resort for lunch with Julie, instead making do with a granola bar from one of the on-mountain restaurants and skiing straight through till the lifts closed at 4 p.m.
A dessert offering in the resort's Le Marché buffet.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
A blueberry tart was also among the offerings. The resort uses local fruits and produce in many of its dishes.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
Usually on a ski vacation the ensuing hours would be filled with a soak in the hot tub followed by either cooking dinner or going out to eat, before falling into bed. Club Med had its own rhythms. First, as skiers came in for the day, starting around 3:30, there was the Après, a spread of sweets laid out in the main hall. That was followed a bit later by the Apéro of meats, cheeses, crudités and dips. While these — and drinks — were being served, on the theater stage there were singers followed by, perhaps, a child-oriented circus show. There was more adult entertainment later, but I didn't stay up long enough to watch it.
I did visit the indoor pool and the small outdoor hot tub. In it, a woman with a cast on her arm tried to keep it out of the bubbling water. Had she hurt herself on the slopes? No, in fact, she said, she'd fallen on the skating rink.
The next morning I joined a group of intermediate to advanced skiers for a lesson. It was unlike any I have had in the United States. Jack, our instructor, did not chat with his students on the chairlift. In fact, he didn't even sit with us. At the top of the mountain he'd speak about a technique to think about: Where were we initiating our turns? What part of our foot was most in contact with the snow? Then we'd ski straight down to the bottom and ride the lift up again, without any commentary on our performance.
Skiers line up at the gondola, which is conveniently close to the resort.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
Jack's silent approach left us to talk among ourselves and I struck up a conversation with Michelle Taggart and Alex Wilson, both 41, who were visiting the Club Med with their three daughters. Ms. Taggart told me she thought the hotel still had "some kinks to work out." Later she said they'd had a somewhat mixed experience. "The skiing was fabulous," she said. "The lockers, the quality of the mountain. I would go back to ski." But things like being left to deal with their own luggage at check-in and the lack of activities for children who weren't keen on skiing, like her youngest daughter, made the value-for-money proposition a little less true.
I had arranged to meet Julie back at the Club Med for lunch. Coming in I was greeted by Club Med staffers in My Little Pony costumes dancing to disco music and serving coffee spiked with Tia Maria, which was another new experience for me.
A cook prepares a fish option as part of the meal at Le Marché. Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
From the lunch buffet I got salmon with arugula, a beet salad with orange and feta, and grilled vegetables. I finished up with a cookie and a pecan tart. Compared to the cheeseburger wrapped in foil and kept under a heat lamp that I'd eaten the last time I went skiing, it was downright luxurious.
Through the resort windows that night we could see family-size S.U.V.s with luggage pods on top rolling in, backing up along the driveway to Charlevoix's front entrance. It was spring break in Ontario and the families were flowing in. The pace picked up at the ski school desk. At dinner, Le Marché was buzzing.
The next morning, a flood tide of parents and children washed over the kids' area, with families backed up out the door. In Le Marché, which offers a view of the river, the sun shining off the St. Lawrence was dazzling. Though we were checking out that day, we could stay and ski until 3 p.m., so I headed back out to the slopes. By that point, the powder from our first day of skiing was long since tracked out, but the sunshine and the blue of the river was its own reward.
Riding the chairlift on my own, I struck up conversations with longtime Charlevoix skiers, some of whom remembered the days when, instead of lifts, the resort had a bus that took you from the bottom back to the top. They told me how charming the nearby towns were, including Baie-St.-Paul, known for its arts scene. I regretted that we hadn't jumped in the car one night and visited.
But then we would have missed the Après and the Apéro. We might have signed up for one of the nighttime excursions, like riding sleds down the mountain, but frankly that seemed terrifying. We did try to sit by the firepits outside, but getting someone to light them proved a challenge. Then it got dark in the mountains, and cold. The food was good and plentiful. The drinks were free.
It turned out to be true that everything was inside.
Except for the skiing.
Le Massif de Charlevoix is an "upside down" mountain, falling from a summit rather than rising from a base, and at times it can feel like you're about to ski straight into the St. Lawrence River below.Credit…Eugen Sakhnenko for The New York Times
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Out Resort Ski That Was
8 New Hotels for Winter Enthusiasts in the U.S. and Europe


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The E.coli restriction endonuclease is a type II restriction endonuclease, used to cleave double stranded DNA. It is often used experimentally, creating 4 nucleotide 5' overhangs that can be used for insertion of other DNA pieces. EcoR1 is a homodimer that exhibits sequence specific binding and cleavage. The specificity of EcoR1 is paramount to the molecule's presence in a cell. Without the specificity, the cell would run a risk of random cleavages that could be lethal. EcoR1 interacts with both the base pairs of DNA as well as the sugar-phosphate backbone. Intermolecular interactions are also crucial to the function of the protein. The catalytic activity of EcoR1 relies on a conformational change in both the DNA and the protein that aligns specific residues and bases as well as a divalent metal ion to create the active site.
EcoR1 is a 31 kDa homodimer consisting of 261 residues and a divalent metal . EcoR1 has two catalytic sites, separated by about 20 angstroms. The basic structure of EcoR1 is 5 beta sheets surrounded by alpha helices. A central major kink is responsible for unwinding DNA. There is present an extended chain motif running through the backbone of DNA during recognition and binding, parallel to the backbone. This motif is part of a recognition motif of 4 alpha helices.
DNA binding of ECOR1 is highly specified. The nucleotide sequence 5'-GAATTC-3' is recognized by the homodimer on either strand of the DNA. When the DNA is recognized by ECOR1 a conformational change is undergone resulting in residues and the nucleotides rearranging so that they are ready for reaction by the attacking nucleophile for cleavage.
Once the protein has aligned the catalytic site with the appropriate nucleotide sequence, the divalent Mg2+ ion interacts with six ligands in each homodimer. The ion associates with one carboxylate oxygen of Glu111 , two carboxylate oxygens of Asp 91 , the main-chain carbonyl of Ala 112 , the O1P of the scissile phosphate GpAA , and a water molecule. This water molecule acts as the attacking nucleophile. In order to coordinate DNA properly with the Mg2+ ion, the positively charged side chain of Lys113 makes a hydrogen bond with the O2P of the scissile phosphate in GpAA . As a result, the carboxylate of Glu111 moves so that the OE2 atom also coordinates with the Mg2+ ion. Once this positioning has a occurred, a water molecule is set up for nucleophilic attack. It shares one free electron pair with the Mg2+ ion and another is shared to the scissile phosphate of GpAA. The final coordination complex and water cleave the DNA at each catalytic site and create "sticky" ends for recombination or insertion.
Kim, Y., Choi, J., Grable, Love, Greene, P. J., P., Rosenberg, J.M. 1990. Refinement of EcoR1 Endonuclease Crystal Structure: A Revised Protein Chain Tracing. Science., New Series, Vol. 300 (Sept 14, 1900), pp. 1307-1309.
Kurpiewski, M.R., Engler, L.E., Wozniak, L.A., Kobylanska, A., Koziolkiewicz, M., Stec, W. J., Jen-Jacobsen, L. 2004. Mechanisms of Coupling between DNA Recognition Specificity and Catalysis in EcoR1 Endonuclease. Structure. 12: 1775-1768.


When we first began thinking about telework, we did a lot of research to find policies from other organizations that matched our internal structure and project goals. We used these as references to draft our own. We then presented to our directors for their review and put a lot of consideration into how it applies and could affect our employees.
Our telework program is fairly informal compared to others. Teleworking concepts were already in use by some employees, but we did not have a defined policy. Our ombudsmen in the Area Agency on Aging department work in the field almost every day. They regularly travel from their homes to job sites and then can carry out case management work from home. This increases efficiency and reduces overall travel time.
One of our goals in implementing telework was to offer our employees a better work-life balance. Being a local government organization, we have limitations in offering competitive salaries as compared to the private sector. We are always looking for creative ways to provide incentives to our employees. Telework and flexible working schedules have both been incredibly successful and have been very positively received by our employees.
The key is knowing your workforce. We immediately saw telework was a great opportunity for our organization and employees, but know teleworking might not look the same for every employer. Trust is a core part of our organization's value system and our employees generally work on an honor system. We haven't found a need a formal sign-up system, because staff prove their work time through completion of their deliverables. However, more formal systems may be needed in other organizations. It is important to understand how your values show up in you workforce to craft the perfect policy to fit your needs.
Fortunately, we did not come across any technological issues when establishing our telework program. Employees can use COG laptops or their own without concern. Some members of our finance staff have our accounting system set up on their home computers. This required an extra setup step for our IT department, but it has been really convenient in allowing staff the flexibility to work from home.
The only challenge we have come across is when an employee wants to work from home, but their job duties cannot be supported by telework. For example, our phone system does not allow our front desk specialist to work remotely. This is difficult because we want to be as fair as possible, but a teleworking arrangement isn't feasible for every position. Our solution has been to seek out the tasks an employee can do from home and to structure teleworking carefully. We want all positions to be incorporated into the teleworking program, but some take a lot more planning.
Teleworking has been a very positive program for us. For example, in anticipation of recent snow days, our supervisors checked in with their staff to establish plans for work they could do from home. Teleworking allows for continuity of business in situations when staff can't work due to unsafe commute or office conditions.


CLI - A package for building command line app with go.
Defines flag by tag, e.g. flag name(short or/and long), description, default value, password, prompt and so on.
Supports slice and map as a flag.
Supports any type as a flag field which implements cli.Decoder interface.
Supports any type as a flag field which uses FlagParser.
Suggestions for command.(e.g. hl => help, "veron" => "version").
Supports default value for flag, even expression about env variable(e.g. dft:"$HOME/dev").
// bool, int, float32, ... supported too.
// Force flag has prefix !, and must be a boolean.
# -v is a force flag, and assigned true, so `ERR` disappear.
# equivalent to "./app -h"
# equivalent to "./app child -h"
# something wrong, but got a suggestion.
Try comment AutoHelp method and rerun it.
// `Parser` is another way to use custom type of data.
// like json,yaml and so on.
// It's similar to json, but read string from file.
const successResponsePrefix = "start ok"
# Within 10 seconds, you will see process "./daemon-app"
$ ./app -m "hello, editor"
// This example demonstrates specific editor.
Docli is a declarative language for describing command-line interfaces in Go programs.
Kafka CLI inspired by kubectl & docker.
A terminal log analysis tools.
Borg was built out of the frustration of having to leave the terminal to search and click around for bash snippets.
A cli to simplify working with kubectl for some common workflows.


"Choose one of four colossal fighters, each one with a number of special moves and fighting techniques, and go head-to-head against the other three! Take on a friend in the exhibition combat, or make your way to the top in the one-player tournament, where you must fight for your life - and the lives of all the people on Earth!"
00C4 B102 Extra Options. In the options menu under level, you now have the choice to play as the Alien and other stuff.
Get a high score and enter the initials KEY. This unlocks the Extra Level as well as a 'No Wait For NTSC' option, which makes the game run proportionally faster on NTSC (US/Japanese) consoles and a 'Enemy Zero Life' option where enemies are defeated after a single hit.
Review by Official UK Sega Magazine. April 1994. The game was awarded 86%.


coming soon... brighton and prince s' birthday. sweet delights and pretty purchases. diana vickers cd. bicycle saturdays. laughing wednesdays. blossom blossom. writings. and such.
It made me a bit sad to see that this was all you had written, but you still made my day with just those words.
I miss your blog so much!
I've been surfing the web today and I stumbled across your rather eye catching blog.... "The Tea Drinking English Rose", it has a very quintessential British feel to it, which sparked my interest straight away! My names Rob and I'm e-mailing on behalf of Dorset Cereals based in Dorchester. I really enjoyed reading your site and am pleased to see that you are also a fan of arts, crafts and all things colourful. I wanted to touch base and mention that we at Dorset Cereals are giving away a super new vintage style VW Camper Van in an online competition, which could offer you or your readers a lifestyle hobby with a vintage, retro twist!! I thought this exciting competition may be of interest to your blog readers and was wondering whether you would be interested in showing the competition link on your site (draw takes place on 2nd June – so not long to go!). If not then please don't worry.
If you wish to know more or would like to link up with us in any other way, please feel free to contact me at; robward@dorsetcereals.co.uk Otherwise there is information displayed about the prize draw on our website.
I'm not sure I could muster up a poem about Dorset Cereals!!


Through the first six games of the series, both teams had each scored an exact aggregate of 610 points. Majority of the games resulted in blowouts. But they were dead even until the 53-second mark of the final frame of that epic do-or-die game 7, just before Kyrie Irving drained that long range bomb to finally create separation from the erstwhile defending champions.
Golden State's shock troopers outscored their counterparts to a whopping 45-10 in the opening salvo of this seven-game series. As a team, the Cavs shot 7-of-21 from long range in Game 1. They were averaging a league-best more than twice makes than that throughout playoffs before that - even better than that of the splash brothers and company. The Cavs were even worse in game 2, making only 5 of 23 attempts.
The Warriors, on the other hand, made 15 of their 33 attempts from the rainbow territory in Game 2. Thirteen of those 15 makes came from the trio of Draymond Green (5), Klay Thompson (4), and Steph Curry (4). Unlike the Cavs, the Warriors have not had much difficulty finding offense. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr got some production on the scoreboard from 9 and 11 of his players in games 1 and 2, respectively.
With their backs against the wall and against all odds, Cleveland stormed back and made the impossible possible. Down 3 games to 1 and playing in hostile territory, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving both scored 41 points apiece in Game 5 to narrow the gap to just 1 game. It also didn't help the Warriors that Draymond Green, arguably their most valuable player for this series, had to sit it out to serve a one-game suspension. Adding to their woes was the crucial injury to Andrew Bogut.
LeBron James was superb. There was never even any doubt that he was the Finals MVP, leading all players from either team in all major statistical categories – points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks… a first in league playoff history regardless of series length. His desire was relentless... his focus, laser-like... and his approach, methodical. With Andrew Bogut, the Warrior's only legitimate rim protection, out of the picture, the four-time league MVP, along with Kyrie Irving and the other sidekicks, attacked with no let-up in games 6 and 7.
Surely, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue had a major hand in this. While Steve Kerr's splash brothers and company fell in love with the 3-point attempts, LeBron James and his cohorts settled for the high percentage shots much closer to the rim. In the sudden death game 7, versatile bigman Draymond Green drained all five of his tries from beyond the arc, leading all scorers at halftime with 22 points to his name. The Dubs led 49-42 at the turn, but the Cavs were ahead in all other departments, masked by the huge disparity in their 3-point conversions.
Lue must have realized that all they had to do was to continue what they were doing. Shots will eventually fall for them and the law of averages will eventually catch up on their opponents… and it did. The Cavs made only 1 out of 14 attempts from behind the arc for a measly 7.1% accuracy from deep in the first half, but made 5 of their next 11 tries thereafter. The Splash Brothers, on the other hand, went for a combined 6 for 24 from the rainbow territory for the entire game.
Over the course of the season, a lot of debate revolved around 4-time league MVP LeBron James and reigning back-to-back MVP Steph Curry as to who among them is the game's best. At the end of the day, the pride of Akron, Ohio left little doubt, or nothing at all, who was king. When it mattered, LeBron James stepped up big time on both ends. The same cannot be said of Steph Curry, who struggled mightily.
LeBron went on to deliver on his promise – a championship trophy to the city of Cleveland. This is his legacy. Ending the 52-year championship drought erases the stigma of his controversial departure… even if he decides to leave again.
P.S. Here's a shout out to diehard Cavs fans Gener Añora, Nelson/Ethel Guia, and the rest of the Cavs Nation in Folsom, California. Congratulations!


The industrial automation market is growing again. During the coming year, several new products and technologies will begin to emerge. Here are my top picks for automation technologies that will make a difference in 2007.
After several years of stagnation, the industrial automation market is growing again. During the coming year, several new products and technologies will begin to emerge. Here are my top picks for automation technologies that will make a difference in 2007.
Already widely deployed in commercial and business applications, broad industrial wireless adoption has been delayed purportedly because users remain paranoid about security. In 2007, there are vibes regarding major growth in industrial wireless.
Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell Process Solutions, suggests that wireless is "at the tipping point," and his group has ambitious plans in this new arena. Their advantage stems from their ability to utilize developments from Honeywell's ACS Technology Labs, which is developing low-cost wireless products for building automation, where Honeywell is a leader. Industrial automation customers have different requirements, but the products have applicability across multiple markets.
The spread of new wireless technology in the industrial environment will bring the ability to do things that were inconceivable before. This will bring changed work processes and new skill sets that may not simply extend from current habit-patterns. The future values of wireless in the factory and process plant are yet to be imagined.
I'm willing to bet that advanced and innovative wireless products, if introduced rapidly at a breakthrough price, would sweep industrial automation markets; end-users would gobble them up. It could spark a new phase of growth that will re-energize industrial automation.
Increasingly this coming year, equipment will contain embedded intelligence and communications. Machine-to-machine (M2M) communications will start to generate increasing efficiencies and productivity in the coming year. Equipment will communicate operating information to provide significant benefits: improved asset-management, dramatic cost reductions and enhanced service initiatives.
Embedded intelligence and connectivity is what M2M and pervasive computing are all about. The information coming from a device can be just as valuable, if not more valuable, than the device itself: for example, when it was installed and by whom, uptime & downtime, critical specifications, diagnostics, availability of spares, replacement alternatives, repair instructions, usage patterns, and more. All this invisible machine activity makes the information about assets, costs, and liabilities vastly more visible to managers and to the decision-making process.
Automation equipment will increasingly have self-diagnostics – not only showing causes of failure after failure has occurred, but also predictive (before failure), preventive (precautionary and deterrent) and advisory (providing maintenance instructions). Key advances in this arena are closely linked with M2M, which provides external remote links for advanced operation.
M2M makes the information about assets, costs, and liabilities vastly more visible to managers and to the decision-making process. This will unleash a wave of productivity and efficiencies previously unseen. "Smart services" represents the biggest organic growth opportunity for industrial automation equipment suppliers.
Production and business systems will increasingly be working together. Integrated applications access data from servers connected to industrial networks and production management system. This provides access to plant-floor information, production, and business applications across the manufacturing enterprise in a consistent manner.
Web delivery of process and business data enhances collaboration between work groups and multi-location plants across the enterprise. Web Services, Supply Chain Management, Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise Application Integration and a plethora of other software tools and services will be integrated to facilitate optimal decision-making at all levels.
Integrated applications should access all data the same way, whether it comes from a server connected to a PLC network, an industrial network such as Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus or DeviceNet, a SCADA system, or a production management system. The overall system will begin to provide access to plant-floor information, production and business applications across the manufacturing enterprise in a consistent manner.
The drive for real-time operations and services is reshaping business today, generating increased productivity boost. Real-time applications will become increasingly widespread.
Web services allow integration and delivery of real-time information to all parts of the enterprise. Low-cost, effective applications will allow cooperating suppliers and users to monitor, analyze, optimize, and adjust business processes in real time. It's all about getting information in and out quickly, monitoring the business as it happens, and making quick, effective, agile decisions. The best results will come from completely re-thinking the business and organization in the light of real-time capabilities.
Users will have a seamless exchange of production and equipment status information across plant floors and multi-plant locations, directly up to the management level. And real-time decisions can occur in response to real-time changes—in some cases in as little as a few seconds to an hour.
Real-time enterprise applications are cutting through several layers of previous inefficiency, allowing all segments of a business to interact in ways that were previously unthinkable. The goal of the real-time enterprise is to act on events as they happen. It is all the old concepts of customer-driven marketing, on-line process automation, just in time delivery, and tactical business adaptation all rolled into one. It's about getting information in and out quickly, monitoring the business as it happens, and making quick, effective, agile decisions.
At operations level, the primary benefits of real-time capabilities are improved customer service, reduced inventory, risk reduction and lower processing costs. At the executive levels, the clear benefits are faster exploitation of emerging opportunities, less damage when things go wrong and increased agility when dealing change. At the leadership level real-time operations allow faster implementation of plans that must adapt to meet new opportunities and threats.
There are about 1 million industrial robots globally, with almost half that number in Japan and just 15 percent in the United States. In spite of its low-cost labor image, China is rapidly adopting robotics systems to increase competitiveness. Within the next few years, the views and definitions of robotics will change to include other forms of mechanized intelligence and industrial robotics will advance rapidly.
A couple of decades ago, 90 percent of industrial robots were used in car manufacturing, typically on assembly lines doing a variety of repetitive tasks such as spray-painting, cutting and welding. Today, less than 50 percent are in automobile plants, with the rest spread out among other factories, laboratories, warehouses, energy plants, hospitals and many other industries.
With some 100,000 robots already in use, U.S. automotive manufacturing companies continue to utilize and develop intelligent robotics to provide significant new strategic options.
Some of the "smartest" robots are not in manufacturing—they are used as space explorers, remotely operated surgeons and other exotic applications. But these other applications serve to demonstrate what might be possible on production floors, far beyond yesterday's machinery concepts.
With the rapidly increasing processing power and advanced intelligence, robots are dramatically increasing their potential as flexible automation tools. Robotic technology is converging with a wide variety of complementary technologies—machine vision, force sensing (touch), speech recognition and advanced mechanics. This results in exciting new levels of functionality for jobs that were never before considered practical for robots.
The introduction of robots with integrated vision and touch dramatically changes the speed and efficiency of new production and delivery systems. Robots have become so accurate that they can be applied where manual operations are no longer a viable option.
The biggest change in industrial robots is that they will evolve into a broader variety of structures and mechanisms. In many cases, configurations that evolve into new automation systems won't be immediately recognizable as robots. For example, robots that automate semiconductor manufacturing already look quite different from those used in automotive plants.
Much more than in recent years, new products and technology will come to the forefront in industrial automation businesses. The companies that succeed in this new age will be those that understand how to combine new technology and new thinking to gain sustained competitive advantage in global environments.
Wireless: The Next Innovation Breakthrough?


An update on our long skirt for 2019, the Sicily skirt is the ultimate long skirt, and personally we believe everyone should have one. This skirt from our made-to-order collection creates a flattering column silhouette and features a subtle side split and centre back zip fastening. This skirt looks awesome when worn with our Kyoto wrap top or Provence camisole. Our Ink colour is the perfect shade of navy blue, awesome for weddings and special occasions alike.


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Black Friday Record Store Day 2022!
Black Friday Sales!
My Arms, Your Hearse
Media Type PURPLE/WHITE/BLACK SWIRL 2X VINYL LP
PURPLE/WHITE/BLACK SWIRL 2X VINYL LP / New - Sold out
There are few bands that can, or will, match Sweden's Opeth. They have received massive critical acclaim for their combination of progressive influences and annihilating Swedish death metal. Since forming in the tiny Stockholm suburb of Bandhagen in 1990, the Swedes have eclipsed convention, defiantly crushed the odds, and – most importantly – crafted 12 stunningly beautiful, intrinsically intense albums to become one of the best bands on the planet. Their third album, My Arms, Your Hearse, is a fully conceptual piece with each track blending seamlessly into the next from start to finish to give the impression of an hour-long suite. It was a contender for Album of the Year with many publications when it was first released in 1997. This 2 LP set – pressed on purple, white, black swirl vinyl – is a must for fans and collectors alike.
© 2023, Republic of Athens Records Powered by Shopify

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Uppercut Games are promoting the release of their game City Of Brass by uploading a snazzy new trailer for the game. The 1st-person action adventure game is available on Switch right now for $19.99. Do you have what it takes to raid the treasures of the City of Brass? Why not check out the video below and see if it is an adventure you would like to embark on.


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Now that they were close to the mountain, the group could finally see just how special it was. Standing tall at three kilometers and one kilometer in width, the peak of the mountain pierced into the clouds so that hardly anything could be seen above it.
But the most peculiar thing about the mountain was that just about five hundred meters above ground level, a faint red mist was lighting up the mountain. It floated around the entirety of the mountain at that height with the mid-section about one and a half kilometers above ground level being the most concentrated. Anything above two kilometers was the peak of the mountain.
The upper half of the mountain was extraordinarily wide, making the mountain look like it was a rather fat hourglass.
But with the red mist and clouds gathering at the top, the mountain looked as if it was a cone of cotton candy.
Bai Yunfei and his group soon made it to the base of the mountain where groups of threes and fives were. Like everyone else, they were all staring up or looking around the mountain.
A quick count gave Bai Yunfei the estimate of there being around fifty people here.
"What's all this?" Zheng Kai clicked his tongue in surprise, "Why's everyone down here still. I would've gone up the mountain to get the Extreme King Pills, are they trying to be polite and let someone else climb up first?"
As Zheng Kai mentioned, most of the people gathered here was standing at the base of the mountain. There was a few people who were standing up on the trees of the nearby forest, but that was only a slightly taller elevation.
It didn't seem like anyone had the intention of rushing up the mountain.
"It's strange." Yue Feng shook his head. "There's probably something about this mountain that makes other people unable to climb it. Let's get over to the base first before we conclude anything else."
"Agreed." Bai Yunfei nodded. " We might be late to the party, but it doesn't seem like anyone's gone up the mountain yet. We'll monitor the situation carefully and see what's going on so we can maximize our chances."
Slowing to a stop, Bai Yunfei had the thundertail bird descend down to the ground and let Nangong Yuexia alight. Since storing the bird back into its space ring would alert everyone to that it was a soulbeast puppet, Bai Yunfei had it turn into a small sparrow. Having it hop onto his shoulder, he controlled the sparrow so it'd curl its head inwards as if it was trying to sleep, just like a regular soulbeast would.
Now that they were at the base of the mountain, Bai Yunfei could see everyone else staring at them. The arrival of a group was an annoyance to everyone else, as that meant it was just another challenger.
Sizing up the people there, Bai Yunfei and the others then decided to head for an empty patch of ground to set up base.
"Ol'Bai! Ol'Bai!! Over here!!"
A loud but happy voice called out to Bai Yunfei then. All eyes shifting towards the source, everyone saw a young man in violet jumping up and down on the boulder he was standing on and waving his hand violently.
Surprised to have someone call out to him, Bai Yunfei jerked his head over towards the source. When he saw just who it was, he smiled in excitement, "Mingfeng!"
It was the person he had entered this pocket with in the first place: Jing Mingfeng!
Following his gaze over, the people with Bai Yunfei took a moment to realize what was going on. "You know him?" Zheng Kai asked.
"Ah yeah, I do. Let's head on over." Bai Yunfei nodded and strode on over.
It was only when he drew close to Jing Mingfeng that he realized there were several other people standing with him.
"Big brother You? Zhong Liyan?"
The people standing with Jing Mingfeng were from the Five Elements Schools, the Wood, the Fire, and the Metal! Of the group, Bai Yunfei could recognize You Qingfeng and his other two fellow students, and also Zhong Liyan from the Fire School.
Jing Mingfeng waited for Bai Yunfei to actually be within arm's reach before he chuckled out loud. "You're a slow one, Ol'Bai. I've been waiting for you for a while now."
"Haha, it was a little chaotic when I came in. How went things on your side?"
"I didn't know which way to go at first, but I managed to learn about this mountain after a while. Zhong Liyan and I came across each other at first, and then we met several others from the Metal School. By the time we came here, the three from the Wood School arrived as well, so we grouped together."
Zhong Liyan took this moment to stride forward two steps in greeting. "Long time no see, brother Bai."
"Brother Zhong, it's been a long time indeed. "Bai Yunfei greeted back, nodding to You Qingfeng and the others.
Jing Mingfeng gave a brief look at Zheng Kai and the others, "Ol'Bai, these are…?"
"They're friends of mine. This is Zheng Kai, this is Yue Feng, and this is Nangong Yuexia."
He waved his hand at Jing Mingfeng, "This is my friend, Jing Mingfeng."
"Zheng Kai?!" Jing Mingfeng's eyes flew wide open in recognition, "Are you the Zheng Kai, the 'Sex Lord' from the Capital?!"
"Ah…." Zheng Kai grimaced slightly in embarrassment at the nickname, "Haha, that's me."
"Haha!! I've been wanting to meet you for a long time, a very long time now!" Zheng Kai chortled with laughter as he shook his hand. "I've heard legends of master Zheng every now and then, but I never thought that I'd actually meet you myself, what an honor, haha!!"
Though his eye twitched at hearing the implications of what kind of stories Jing Mingfeng meant, Bai Yunfei turned away to introduce Yue Feng to You Qingfeng and the others before he in turn was introduced to the people from the Metal School.
Soon enough, the entire group sat below an extremely tall tree to talk with one another.
"How long have you been waiting here, Mingfeng? Why haven't you gone up the mountain? Why hasn't anyone else?"
Bai Yunfei finally asked the most important question.
"Well…." Jing Mingfeng sighed. "It's not that we don't want to go up, it's that….we can't go up."
"Can't go up?" Bai Yunfei stared quizzically, "What do you mean?"
Jing Mingfeng pointed at the red mist hovering halfway up the mountain. "That mist….it's weird. We can't go through it."
"Can't go through it? Is it dangerous in there?"
"No no, it's not dangerous," Jing Mingfeng shook his head, "but that 'mist' is disorientating. If anyone goes in, they'll come back out sooner or later."
Bai Yunfei was mystified, "Come back out? Do people get lost in there? Do they not walk in a straight line or something? How do they come back out the same direction?"
"That's the weird part." Jing Mingfeng explained, "Visibility is practically nil in there. You can't see anywhere past ten steps, and soulsense is kaput beyond a hundred meters. Even if they walk straight, they somehow manage to walk back to where they originally started.
"No one's been able to make it through as far as I know." Jing Mingfeng pointed at the mist, "Because they've all walked back out shortly after they tried."
Following his finger, Bai Yunfei saw two people come walking back out from the mist. They were familiar to Bai Yunfei, he had seen them just not too long ago at the base of the mountain. At some point while Bai Yunfei was distracted in the conversation, they must've tried to enter the mist and were only just walking back out.
The two of them look perplexed. Staring at one another and then the mist, they sighed walked back down the mountain.
With mist that blocked not only eyesight but soulsense, this mountain was definitely an enigmatic one. It was even stranger than Black Cloud Valley and the Underworld School's strange way of navigating through it.
Speaking of the Underworld School, would they by chance be able to unravel the secret of this mountain?
From what he heard from Zheng Kai, Xu Ran and Han Yue had both entered the pocket as well. He hadn't seen either of the two since he came in, so either they weren't here yet, or they were on the other side of the mountain.
It took his group half the day to get here. Now that they were here though, they weren't able to walk up the mountain and could only wait for further notice. It was a very worrisome situation that made them all feel helpless.
What in the world was going on here? Are the Extreme King Pills really at the peak of this mountain?


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Yukarıbelemedik is a village in the District of Pozantı, Adana Province, Turkey.

References

Villages in Pozantı District

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Vote for Names of Circle Line 6 Stations
News Releases 10 Nov 2017 station names Circle Line 6 (CCL6)
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) invites members of the public to vote for their preferred names for the three stations of Circle Line 6 (CCL6).
2 The station names were shortlisted from almost 2,000 suggestions received for the earlier station naming exercise conducted between 15 May and 18 June this year. The shortlisted names were approved by the Street and Building Names Board (SBNB) based on the following criteria:
Identify the location readily so that all commuters can easily remember the names and identify the area of the station;
Illustrate the history and heritage of the station surroundings if relevant; and
Reflect the multi-racial, multi-cultural character of Singapore if possible.
Also, stations should not be named after public structures, or commercial and residential developments.
Online Polling
3 Starting today, the public can vote for their preferred station names through http://www.lta.gov.sg. The closing date for voting is 10 December 2017.
4 The public will be able to vote on the following names:
Current Working Name
Names for Public Polling
Keppel
Keppel Harbour
Keppel Port
Old Railway Station
Spottiswoode Park
Prince Edward Road
Parsi Road
Palmer Road
5 Results of the polling will be collated and the official station names will be announced subsequently.
About CCL6
6 The four-kilometre CCL6 will have three stations, Keppel, Cantonment and Prince Edward, and will close the loop for the CCL by connecting HarbourFront Station to Marina Bay Station. When the CCL6 stations are completed in 2025, the CCL will have a total of 33 stations, including 12 interchange stations with other MRT lines. It will also expand the rail network to areas such as Spottiswoode and the southern edge of our existing CBD.
7 With CCL6, commuters will enjoy a direct route between areas in the west, such as Pasir Panjang and Kent Ridge, key employment areas in the Central Business District, and upcoming developments in the Marina Bay area. Commuters travelling from areas such as Paya Lebar and Mountbatten will also enjoy quicker and more direct access to the retail and office centres in the HarbourFront area.


"Goon" is the story of Doug Smith, a Boston-area native who did not learn how to ice skate until he was 20, but lived the unlikely dream of playing minor league hockey as an enforcer. Smith trained as an amateur boxer and loved hockey almost as much as he loved fighting. He and his friends would practice hockey fighting at their local boxing gym, suiting up in hockey gear and trying to master the different techniques used by NHL enforcers. Eventually, Smith and his friends took this to the ice, ending their midnight pickup games with fight practice.
After a summer spent playing in a rec league, Smith was noticed by a scout and given a shot at playing for the Carolina Thunderbirds of the newly-formed East Coast Hockey League. Smith's 28-game stint with the Thunderbirds was the basis for the Goon movie, but that's only the beginning of the real story. Smith also played a season of senior professional hockey in New Brunswick, becoming a local favorite, and then became a "goon for hire," playing in games here and there for teams in the ECHL, IHL and AHL.
Sometimes, Smith breaks his narrative to give background on the East Coast Hockey League and its predecessor, the Eastern Hockey League, senior professional hockey, the Allan Cup, and other subjects that the reader might not be familiar with.
Throughout the book are paragraph-long interjections from many of Smith's teammates — and even opponents! These interruptions are welcome, as they give more depth to Smith's character and more flavor to his stories.
Quote that epitomizes "Goon": That's why a lot of guys that I fought just got sick of me. I never could get enough. I was never satisfied and would never go away. I understood their problem, and they should've understood mine. I mean, a scorer wouldn't be totally satisfied with one goal because two were always better, and as far as I was concerned two fights was better than one.
What I like about "Goon": I loved reading about Smith's experiences as the wide-eyed average guy, playing in front of large crowds and tussling with some of the toughest men from the 1990s. "Goon" is a quick, fun read.
What I do not like about "Goon": The book is out of print, difficult to find and not exactly cheap — sometimes selling for four to five times its original $20 cover price! I almost didn't buy "Goon" when I found it at a used book store because of its price, but after reading it I am glad that I did.


Golf Course frontage on the Michaywe Pines Golf Course. This lot features prime buildable flat topography with access to utilities. It doesn't get any better than this. Enjoy Michaywe amenities within walking distance. Deeded access to Opal Lake Beach Park, swimming pool access, restaurant, club house, golf course, proshop, tennis courts and much more!


A pregnancy massage is a special time for you to relax and unwind while bonding with your baby. It is a bespoke massage tailored to your needs on the day. I am are here to get rid of those physical aches and pains so you can focus your body on welcoming your new arrival.
You can also listen to some Wise Hippo relaxation MP3's please request beforehand as you can have a hypnobirthing massage!
Be the first to review Pregnancy massage with Azeeta in Hertford.


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Tag Archives: Malware
Understanding Ransomeware
May 14, 2017 Tony DePrato Leave a comment
By: Tony DePrato | Follow me on Twitter @tdeprato
On Friday, 12 May 2017, a large cyber-attack using it was launched, infecting more than 230,000 computers in 150 countries, demanding ransom payments in the cryptocurrency bitcoin in 28 languages. This type of malicious attack is classified as ransomeware.
The ransomeware concept is fairly simple. Once the package infects a system, it begins to encrypt all the data. The data is still on the machine, but it is not accessible unless the user enters a decryption key. In order to obtain the key, money must be sent to the "owner" of the ransomeware. Usually this money is requested in the form of cryptocurrency, to make it difficult (if not impossible) to trace the payment.
Ransomeware Targets Everyone
Schools often believe that certain security measures and protocols followed in the corporate world do not apply to them. There is often a consensus on-campus that technology needs to be friendly and open. Because of this cultural approach to planning technology many rules and regulations are simply not followed, especially if those rules and regulations are designed for extreme scenarios.
For example, it would be odd to find a school that did not have user managed passwords for email. When users get their email account, they change and manage their own password. However, if someone recommends that school personnel setup multistep authentication, that expires every thirty days, that recommendation is probably going to be rejected. Any multistep authentication process requires that users learn more about security and manage security more regularly. If a user makes a mistake, the delay for resetting their services is often considered unacceptable.
IT policies and procedures that would prevent a school from being a victim of ransomeware, or other sophisticated attacks, are going to be policies that create barriers and limits. These measures would slow people down at times, and restrict certain types of technology from being used on-campus.
Managing network and data security is a discipline that must be followed regardless of an organizational mission or definition. Best practice scenarios need to be studied as universal best practice scenarios. Studying best practice scenarios for only a single type of organization (like a K-12 International School) limits exposure to case-studies, creative ideas, and threat assessment.
Ransomeware Prevention and Protection
Investing money and IT security planning have something in common. If a person makes a future decision, strictly on past performance, they are very likely to be investing in a plan that is expensive with lower future yield. IT security threats work because they are original, and because a purchasable defensive solution was not available at the time of the threat.
Many organizations make the mistake of preparing for the future by buying protection for a threat that is no longer unique. This is useful if the threat resurfaces, but it is useless against new threats.
If an organization truly wants to be well prepared for ransomeware threats, everyone in the organization should be able to answer 'Yes' to this statement:
"I can take my laptop/desktop/primary device and throw it away right now without severely impacting my work or life."
Answering 'Yes' to that statement means that a person understands the data is more important than the machine is resides on. Just like investing in retirement, only diversification will save someone during a new and aggressive IT security threat.
There are numerous ways to achieve a high level of data diversity and redundancy. Here are a few that can be implemented with policy and practice:
The standard for file storage should be in the cloud.
Do not use SYNC software such as Google Drive Sync or OneDrive sync.
Laptops given to staff and students should have very small hard drives to discourage hoarding data and storing old files.
Weekly or Monthly archiving of data should not be in the same environment as data for daily work. For example, I use Google Drive everyday for work, but once a month I backup the important data to DropBox. The larger archives are for emergencies, and held within a different environment.
Offline backups on external drives are good, but hardware can fail. Consider what data is critical and make sure the offline backup is not the primary copy.
Systems like TimeMachine can actually corrupt data if they are backing-up automatically. Consider manually initiating backups, only after you have scanned your machine/servers for malware.
Photos and media can be challenging to keep organized in the cloud. Services like Google Photos, Instagram, etc. are designed for media. Use media centric services to manage media.
Email is not for data storage. If email is compromised, the communication threads should be all that is lost.
Schools using local network shared drives and NAS systems (Synology etc.) need to be restrictive and vigilant with permissions. If these services have been planned with "Ease of Use" as the driving force, they are at risk of being turned into an engine that will rapidly spread a threat.
Limit non-cloud based data sharing to special groups or departments to reduce the need to constantly update and patch these systems.
A final note to those who are making and enforcing policy. A single human vector who introduces one of these threats onto a network can create a cascade of destruction. Allowing anyone to circumvent a policy because of their title or position is placing everyone at risk.
WannaCry RansomeWare Impact
The ransomware campaign was unprecedented in scale according to Europol.[9] The attack affected many National Health Service hospitals in England and Scotland,[50] and up to 70,000 devices — including computers, MRI scanners, blood-storage refrigerators and theatre equipment — may have been affected.[51] On 12 May, some NHS services had to turn away non-critical emergencies, and some ambulances were diverted.[12][52] In 2016, thousands of computers in 42 separate NHS trusts in England were reported to be still running Windows XP.[46] NHS hospitals in Wales and Northern Ireland were unaffected by the attack.[10][12]
Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK in Tyne and Wear, one of Europe's most productive car manufacturing plants, halted production after the ransomware infected some of their systems. Renault also stopped production at several sites in an attempt to stop the spread of the ransomware.[53][54]
According to experts[who?] the attack's impact could have been much worse if no kill-switch was built in by the malware's creators.[55][56]
Cybersecurity expert Ori Eisen said that the attack appears to be "low-level" stuff, given the ransom demands of $300 and states that the same thing could be done to crucial infrastructure, like nuclear power plants, dams or railway systems.[57]
List of affected organization
São Paulo Court of Justice (Brazil)[58]
Vivo Telefônica Brasil) (Brazil)[58]
Lakeridge Health (Canada)[59]
PetroChina (China)[16]
Public Security Bureaus (China)[60]
Sun Yat-sen University (China)[61]
Instituto Nacional de Salud (Colombia)[62]
Renault (France)[63]
Deutsche Bahn (Germany)[64]
Telenor Hungary (Hungary)[65]
Andhra Pradesh Police (India)[66]
Dharmais Hospital (Indonesia)[61]
Harapan Kita Hospital (Indonesia)[61]
University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy)[67]
Q-Park (The Netherlands)[68]
Portugal Telecom (Portugal)[69]
Automobile Dacia (Romania)[70]
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Romania)[71]
MegaFon (Russia)[72]
Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia)[73]
Russian Railways (Russia)[74]
LATAM Airlines Group (Chile)[75]
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (Spain)[76]
Telefónica (Spain)[76]
Sandvik (Sweden)[61]
Garena Blade and Soul (Thailand)[77]
National Health Service (England) (United Kingdom)[78][12][10]
NHS Scotland (United Kingdom)[12][10]
Nissan UK (United Kingdom)[78]
FedEx (United States)[79]
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States)
Saudi Telecom (Saudi Arabia)[80]
HackingMalwareNHSRansomewareSecurityWannaCry


Thanks to the generosity of local individuals, business and organizations, the hamper campaign is off to a terrific start.
Over the weekend, the good people at Tallack Martial Arts held the annual Kids Helping Kids Have Christmas event, featuring the 500-technique challenge. It's the 21st year the dojo has supported the Jerome Taylor Memorial/Whig-Standard Christmas Hampers of Hope Fund, and the students helped raise more than $3,800. Their efforts are much appreciated.
Melanie Loxton, owner and instructor, said the event has become an important way to create a culture of supporting the community.
She said one of the lasting impressions for students is the number of families they can help have a better Christmas.
Tallack Martial Arts has been a major supporter and has raised more than $110,000 for the hamper campaign over two decades. We thank them and all of the students for their continued support.
The campaign is now above the $30,000 mark, 20 per cent of the way to our goal of $150,000. The funds, as well as in-kind gifts and volunteers, help provide 3,000 families in our community with a Christmas hamper of food. Hampers are available for pickup on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at the Frontenac Mall. Volunteers interested in lending a hand on packing or distribution day can email Bonita McCourt at cfsdirector@kingstonsa.ca.
Thank you to all of our donors.
Acknowledgement: We will publish your name in our column. Please indicate if you wish to remain anonymous.
Tax Receipt: An income tax receipt will be issued for any amount over $10.


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Q: Connecting AND Gate Chip to an Integrated Circuit I am trying to teach myself how to make integrated circuits and I'm having trouble integrating an AND gate into the circuit though.
I took a picture of it. The voltage running across the power rails is 4.7 V (the chip is TTL logic, I figured it would be enough). The gate is an AND gate 2 input 1 output (7408).
My question is why, with both DIP switches turned off, is that LED shinning?? It seems that the current doesn't run through the 'AND' circuitry but through the VCC and out through the supposed to be 'output of the inputs A and B'. If the connections are wrong what's the proper way to integrate the gate into IC?
Original

Yellow- Path current is supposed to follow

Red- Path current apparently takes -.-

A: As stevenvh said, connecting the dip switch between Vcc and the And ground makes a floating state when the switch is off. I just want to add that instead of connecting the DIP switches between the AND gate's inputs and ground, you can connect them as shown using a pull down resistor, or use a pull up resistor and take inputs from the Vcc side instead. The inputs are buffer in the diagram:

It's just another way of doing things, but I think it feels more like a switch that way. I would have liked to add this as a comment but I don't have enough rep yet:).

A: You connected the DIP switches between Vcc and the AND gate's input, and that's wrong. A floating TTL input (DIP switches off) is seen as logical 1, and when you close the switch you just enforce that 1. So inputs are always seen a 1, and output will be 1, and the LED will light.
Two things:

*

*connect the DIP switches between the inputs and ground

*connect the LED between output and Vcc. The logic will be inverted, but the output can sink more current than it can source, and your LED will light more visibly. Check the LED's polarity: the anode goes to Vcc. You also have to add a 150 \$\Omega\$ resistor in series with the LED to limit it's current.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


3. You must vote by the deadline or you will forfeit all points given to you in then round that go to the "Artist of the Tournament" award and be ineligible to enter the following round. (And you may not vote for your own parody).
Thanks Matty. Karmaz for the LIFEGUARDS representin'!!!!
And the next artist is..... Nelly!!! Reppin' the STL!!!!


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Friday, November 28, 2008 0
Drew Barrymore Marches with, Addresses Prop. 8 Protesters
Trailer For Much Anticipated Film 'The Wrestler' Looks Great
Mickey Rourke dug so deep into his character, both mentally and physically, it's truly stunning. Director Darren Aronofsky may just have a huge winner on his hands with Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood.
So, What if the Dark Knight wins Best Picture?
Does it mean we've reached the end of great cinema as we know it? ... [While] I haven't seen all of them, but being in Hollywood and with the friends I know, I've spoken to someone who has seen at least every big contender (we'll get into those later on). And while most are ... good, none of them are ...amazing, which only leaves The Dark Knight.
Paul Schrader: Bollywood, Here I Come
Paul Schrader is taking a taxi to Bollywood. Saying he feels the U.S. film market has become "barren," the writer of classics "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" is packing his bags for Mumbai to write and direct the Bollywood action movie "Extreme City."
Will It Be Boxoffice Gold? 'Four Christmases,' 'Transporter 3,' 'Australia'
'Four Christmases,' 'Transporter 3,' 'Australia' open wide. One or more could still turn out to be a boxoffice turkey, but film distributors see the long Thanksgiving session as a lucrative opportunity for new pics and holdovers alike.
Eight Classic Movie Bars for the Biggest Bar Weekend of 2008
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving always kicks off the biggest bar weekend of the year, and yet it doesn't get nearly the same attention as the puritan gluttony of Turkey Day. Here are eight of the best bars, taverns, and assorted drinking establishments from the movies to help put you in the mood for this lushiest of holidays
Rumor: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Movie
Hollywood is rumoured to be alive with the buzz that Joss Whedon, creator of the aforementioned Buffy the Vampire Slayer is eyeing the success of Twilight with anxious hands gripping a feature film script he had prepared for the continuation of the show.
Rosie O'Donnell's Variety Show Was A Huge FLOP
The producers had said if the show faired well, they would make it into a series...
Keanu Reeves - ET - The Day the Earth Stood Still
'Sci-fi's just one of the things I can do'. This Klaatua is a little different from the original character, who was played by Michael Rennie in the 1951 classic. "I have no idea what I would have done if I hadn't been actor," he says. "I've been doing this professionally since I was 16. "I have a bike and it's how I get around.
Batman Bruce Wayne is killed by his own dad in new comic
One of the world's most famous comic book heroes has breathed his last Bat breath. Bruce Wayne – who by night is Batman – gets murdered by a man claiming to be the father he thought was dead.
Saturday, November 08, 2008 0
Appetite for Procrastination: Albums That Are Long Overdue
It's been 17 years in the making. But yes, that's right, Guns N' Roses will finally release "Chinese Democracy" on Nov. 23. Supposedly. In the spirit of procrastination and temper tantrums, here's a round up of other albums arriving unfashionably late.
Artist gang flies anarchy black flag over Mayfair mansion
The £6million squatters: Artist gang flies the black flag of anarchy over Mayfair mansion - In its day it must have ranked among the most elegant residences in London. But a £6.25million Mayfair mansion – owned by the billionaire Duke of Westminster – was revealed as the latest address that a group of squatters (Da! Collective) calls home.
Casting Directors: Megan Fox as Wonder Woman
No, it's not true, but this fan-created poster shows how wonderful the possibilities could be! Make it so!
Spielberg and Smith plot Oldboy remake
Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are planning to collaborate on a remake of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, according to Variety. The pair, who have been looking for a project to work on together for some time, are said to be in early discussions about reworking the acclaimed Korean thriller.
Comedy in the Age of Obama
Will political comedy be easier or more difficult under President Obama? A panel of comics shared their perspectives.
Lionsgate Cuts 8% of Staff Ahead of Earnings Report
Lionsgate is cutting 8% of its staff, which had grown from 350 to 550 over the past four years. In all, 41 positions are being eliminated, with 17 rank-and-file staffers being laid off. The cuts span all divisions and almost all are at the megaindie's Santa Monica headquarters.
Soap Opera Makes the Biggest Screw Up -- Ever
The following story is one of the worst mistakes ever made in television history -- involving stupidity, a major soap opera, and a 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped, raped and murdered back in 2007.
'24' Returns With A Whopping 4 Hour Premiere!
Fox has set a premiere day for the return of "24," planning a two-night, four-hour event in January.
NBC Employees: Tina Fey, McCain had "Frosty" Relationship
McCain may have wanted to do SNL -- but he may not have wanted to do a sketch with Tina Fey.
'Heroes' duo get the ax
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text:
Party Like It's… 1996?
Pushing back against a mainstream narrative
Choosing not to "chase the rally" (Bor-ing!)
Aftermath 2008: shrinking stock market participation
(The 5 turns 14!) Reflecting on a financial earthquake
A silly sign-of-the-times article on GOP's shifting priorities…
… And fiscal conservatism ain't one of 'em
A reader on $400,000 income… $15 minimum wage… And more!
Well, if the mainstream insists on beating this theme to death, we'll insist on continuing to push back against it…
"For equity markets, the parallels between current conditions and those of 1999 are striking and worrisome," writes Citi's chief U.S. equity strategist Tobias Levkovich in the Financial Times.
"The investor mood in markets has been in ebullient territory since last November, when high-efficacy vaccine news lifted spirits as a budding light at the end of the tragic pandemic tunnel."
Really? Only last November? Not last spring, when the Robinhoodies were bidding up the shares of bankrupt companies like Hertz? Why November?
To be fair, Mr. Levkovich has some figures to back up his assertions. They deserve a closer look.
The "ebullient territory since last November" is based on Citigroup's Panic/Euphoria Model, a gauge of investor sentiment that "takes into account factors including the amount of investor positions anticipating a fall in stocks, the level of funds borrowed to purchase securities and commodity price futures.
"The last time we saw such an upbeat zeitgeist that did not coincide with an immediate equity market correction was in 1999 when the dot-com bubble was in full bloom. Typically in the past, when our gauge is at such high levels, it would indicate a 100% probability of lower share prices over the next 12 months."
Ah, so THE BIG ONE didn't actually come right away when the model suggested it would in 1999. Which makes the headline a bit misleading, no? (The stuffy Financial Times, engaged in clickbait? Say it ain't so!)
And in fact, Mr. Levkovich is not bailing from the market altogether. Rather, he says he's choosing not to "chase the rally" right now. He's opting for companies in a position to raise prices on their customers, "as well as those names that have strong balance sheets and offer better-than-average dividend yields."
Of course, that's a lot more boring than saying IT'S 1999 AGAIN WE'RE DOOMED!
At the risk of repeating ourselves, the present moment strikes us less like 1999… and more like 1996.
Last year was when new retail investors with time to spare and money to burn — amid a pandemic and stimmy checks — started piling into the market.
It was a moment akin to 1995, when a critical mass of people — previously intimidated by the thought of filling out paper forms to open a brokerage account and getting on the phone every time they wanted to place a trade — began to open accounts online.
So in terms of "retail participation" in the present bull market, it's still early days.
Every year since 1998, the Gallup pollsters have been asking people whether they have money in the stock market — including mutual funds, 401(k)s and IRAs. The percentage responding "yes" was consistently in the high 50%s and low 60%s, even during and after the dot-com bust.
It was only after the Panic of 2008 that the number dropped meaningfully… and it has yet to recover.
Gallup asks this question every year in early April, so its latest findings should be out soon. We suspect the number will have risen measurably… but still remain below pre-2008 levels.
Once we get past that threshold… yeah, then we'll start to worry, at least a bit.
If you're one of our longer-term readers, yes, we're in a strange position saying all this.
We're feeling a little reflective this morning; it was on this day in 2007 that our founding editor Addison Wiggin hit "send" on the debut edition of The 5 Min. Forecast.
It was a few weeks earlier that Time magazine lumped in Addison with a motley crew of financial renegades it dubbed "The Armageddon Gang."
At that time, the earliest tremor of what would become a financial earthquake had already been felt; HSBC warned in February 2007 it would book steep losses from souring mortgage debt.
But to suggest anything on the scale of September 2008 was in the offing? That was tinfoil-hat territory.
A funny thing happened after 2008, though. A lot of the "doomsters" were convinced 2008 was just a prelude to a far worse meltdown in 2010… which then became 2011… and then 2013…
They had a luxury Addison did not. By and large, they were mere pundits and loudmouths — people with a platform. If they were wrong, only they would suffer the consequences.
Addison, on the other hand, was running a financial publishing firm. Newsletter subscribers relied on our team for guidance about what to do with their money during highly uncertain times. It's a responsibility he did not take lightly.
He followed the facts wherever they led… even if that meant alienating the "gold bug" readers who flocked to him in the years before 2008. When gold clearly entered a bear market in early 2013 — cracking below $1,650 — The 5 wasn't afraid to say so. Good thing, too; gold bottomed near $1,050 in late 2015.
So it's in that spirit we come to you today, 14 years after The 5's debut, to tell you that the present moment probably isn't akin to 1999 or 2007.
Yes, it looks nuts out there. A monster rally off pandemic lows 13 months ago, thanks to torrents of EZ money from the Federal Reserve, Congress and the White House. GameStop. Dogecoin. A New Jersey delicatessen that's publicly traded and has a $100 million market cap.
In light of all the money-printing, gold is once again sound protection against the madness emanating from Washington, D.C.
But it would be foolhardy for us to suggest you go all-in on gold. Not when the masses have only begun to pile into stocks again and the biggest gains from the post-2008 bull market are ahead of us.
Call it a "melt-up" or a "crack-up boom" if you like. But unless you're already independently wealthy, you can't afford to hide out exclusively in precious metals and other hard assets.
With that in mind… your editor is venturing back to our firm's Baltimore headquarters for the second time in only six weeks.
If you're feeling even a twinge of skepticism that the stock rally still has legs, we've got something cooking that will offer ultimate peace of mind. Stay tuned…
To the markets, which are quiet as traders brace for the resumption of earnings season tomorrow.
At last check the Dow is barely in the green at 34,070… the S&P 500 up less than a quarter percent to 4,188… and the Nasdaq up nearly two-thirds of a percent, back above 14,000.
Precious metals are steady — gold at $1,779 and silver at $26.12. But oh, my, copper — up a dime to $4.43. It's been a decade since copper was last in this heady territory, and it only makes sense; whatever the merits of "greening" the economy, it can't happen without copper.
Bitcoin's foray below $50,000 didn't last long; as we write it's back to $53,345.
"I'm curious to see how Wall Street responds to these numbers," says our Greg Guenthner, anticipating a slew of earnings reports starting tomorrow. Apple, Microsoft, Tesla and more.
"Will we push higher on strong tech results? Or will investors sell the news, causing even more chop in the sector? This should be an interesting week that could tell us a lot about what to expect from the market post-earnings. Sell in May and go away, or continue to rip into the summer months like we saw in 2020?"
There might be some politics-driven turbulence now through Wednesday; the president delivers an address to Congress Wednesday night to push for his economic overhaul. There might be a drip-drip of specific proposals that could generate a knee-jerk reaction in the market, not unlike what happened last Thursday.
The big economic number of the day suggests the "recovery" is proceeding more slowly than conventional wisdom would have you believe.
Orders for durable goods — anything designed to last three years or longer — grew 0.5% in March. The "expert consensus" among dozens of economists surveyed by Econoday was looking for a 2.0% increase; not one of them guessed the actual figure would be this low. And it doesn't begin to make up 0.9% drop the month before.
To be sure, this figure is skewed by orders for aircraft and military hardware, which are notoriously volatile from month to month. But even stripping those out, the "core capital goods" number is also a disappointment — up 0.9% in contrast with expectations for a 1.5% jump.
Speaking of the president's economic overhaul, we have to call out a silly sign-of-the-times article at The Hill, which begins thus…
"Republicans say fiscal conservatism simply isn't the GOP rallying cry it used to be, and that's making it much harder to counter President Biden's push for trillions of dollars in new government spending.
"Instead, culture war issues like immigration, religious freedom, LGBTQ rights, Big Tech and the Black Lives Matter movement are taking center stage in conservative politics."
Not that there's anything inaccurate about that, but…
When we began sending these daily missives 14 years ago today, the national debt totaled $8.8 trillion. Today? $28.1 trillion. More than triple.
The article spills much digital ink on how Donald Trump shifted the party's priorities away from those of the tea party movement a decade ago. "It's almost like now debt, deficits, spending become abstract issues that a lot of folks aren't paying attention to and should be," laments Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota).
Memo to Mr. Thune: It was never important to the Republican Party. (He knows better, but he has to play to a certain crowd.)
It wasn't important under Ronald Reagan, who nearly tripled the national debt in only eight years despite raising taxes 11 times.
It wasn't important under George W. Bush, who launched two costly debacles in 2003 — the Iraq War and Medicare Part D.
And much as our readers didn't want to hear it at the time, it wasn't important during the Obama years, either. When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan to be his running mate in 2012, tea party types rejoiced — and gave us an earful when we called out Ryan as a total phony. (By the time he became House speaker in 2015, everyone had come around to our point of view.)
Anyway, enough ranting on our part. We want to hear from you. Do deficits still matter to you even if they never mattered to GOP leaders, except as fodder for fundraising letters? Send us your thoughts and we'll share them starting Wednesday.
"Glad to hear that $400,000 a year feels different based on where you live," a reader writes after our deconstruction of the president's plan for income taxes.
"The same could be said for $15 per hour. The small business I fortunately sold a few years ago would have gone under if we had to pay our part-time staff that much."
The 5: Which is one of many reasons it's a good thing that a $15 minimum wage didn't make it into the $1.9 trillion spend-a-palooza signed into law
On the other hand, if you were still running the business, you'd now be competing with extended unemployment bennies. Per University of Chicago economist Peter Ganong, the current $300 a week means "42% of workers are making more than their pre-unemployment wage."
What a time to be alive, right?
Dave Gonigam
P.S. Just a quick note of appreciation…
However long you've been with us — whether you started getting this e-letter as a supplement to a paid subscription last week or if you've put up with us for the whole 14 years — we thank you for your readership. And for your trust — which we know we have to earn anew each day.
Dave Gonigam has been managing editor of The 5 Min. Forecast since September 2010. Before joining the research and writing team at Agora Financial in 2007, he worked for 20 years as an Emmy award-winning television news producer.


This package is installable and autoloadable via Composer as atlas/orm. Add the following lines to your composer.json file, then call composer update.
You can create your data source classes by hand, but it's going to be tedious to do so. Instead, use the atlas-skeleton command to read the table information from the database. You can read more about that in the atlas/cli docs.
Create an Atlas instance using the AtlasBuilder.
The builder accepts a PDO, ExtendedPdo, or ConnectionLocator instance, or you can enter connection parameters and the builder will create a connection for you.
Atlas 2.5.x and earlier use the older AtlasContainer to build an Atlas object. The older approach requires you to register all mappers with the container using its setMappers() method, whereas the newer AtlasBuilder in 2.6.x lazy-loads them on demand.


Spring at Spacca Napoli brings with it new lighter fare such as a minestra di zucchini and Maccu di San Giuseppe. Arthur Schwartz, The Food Maven, describes the latter soup as combining "two foods that are preserved for winter — dried beans and dried chestnuts — with the greens that are just emerging from the cold winter earth." We have introduced a pizza made with a varietal of mozzarella called burrata, a creamy, light and spectacularly flavorful cheese renowned for its freshness and soft texture. Red pepper, onion and zucchini trifoliate along with porcini and a touch of bufala mozzarella make this a white pizza dream! We look forward to the re-opening of the outdoor café as the weather permits. This coming June, Spacca Napoli will extend its hours to include Tuesday evenings so we can celebrate more of the good summer weather and longer hours of daylight we have all been waiting for.
We are very excited about our upcoming involvement with the Provincial Councils of Avellino, Caserta and Napoli. We have been asked to team up with them to promote the food of Campania and the Mediterranean Diet as "something unique and upscale that can be interpreted in modern ways as well as traditional." The week prior to the Global Food and Style Expo in Chicago which is April 27-29, 2008, Spacca Napoli will be offering a tasting of Pasta e Fagioli con Le Cozze, Fusilli alla Napoletana and Paccheri al Ragu.
In closing we bid a fond farewell to Adrian Landin, one of our wait staff who has been with the pizzeria since the early days, as he ventures on to Central and South America. We wish him good luck in his journeys and will miss his energy!


text:
CHS Students Achieve Medal Status in National Spanish Exam
A group of Cleburne High School students have been honored for their achievements in scoring in the top percentile in the 2020 National Spanish Exam.
The annual competition, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portugese, recognizes student achievement in the study of Spanish while encouraging continued study to increase language proficiency. Through an online assessment, middle school and high school participants have their performance in interpretive communication measured, with honors presented for outstanding achievement. Participants in the spring examination totaled more than 140,000.
Junior Moises Vargas was a gold medalist in the national contest in scoring above the 95th percentile among those undergoing the exam. Angelina Andersen, Mariela Rodriguez, Eduardo Pedroza, Karla Lara and Jessica Torres achieved silver medal recognition in placing within the 85th to 94th percentiles.
Bronze recognition was achieved by Jana Jazmin Martinez, Kylee Howington, Maryn Tennison, Miguel Salazar and 2020 graduate Merari Belmares in scoring at the 75th through 84th percentiles. Belmares also received a 4 on the AP Spanish exam.
Eleven CHS students achieved Honorable Mention, with their performances on the exam placing them in the 50th through 74th percentiles. They include Tammy Nguyen, Bianca Vara, Josue Gaytan, Bianca O'Bryant, Brody Cottongame, Alyssa Cox, Joselyn Huerta, Madi Munn, Parker Pritchard, Kyle Murphy and Brianna Martinez.
"We are very pleased and proud of the achievements of these students," CHS Foreign Language Department Chairman Ciro Salazar said. "To see them scoring in the top percentile on a national exam involving thousands of students from across the country is very exciting and rewarding for us, as their teachers. It brings a great deal of honor to our program and to Cleburne High School."
Andersen, who is a sophomore, was surprised and pleased she was a silver medal honoree for her score on the national exam. Her score makes her eligible to apply for the Global Citizen Scholarship program available through the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portugese.
"To get a silver medal was a total surprise," she said. "I didn't think I'd done that well. I'm definitely excited. We were well prepared for the exam—our teachers did a great job with that. To be honest, I took the test for my teachers, in appreciation for all they've done for me. I thought if I did good, they would feel good. It's also important for me to do well in school."
With both English and Spanish spoken in her home, Andersen said she was conversational in both languages when she was younger, but since lost some ground in Spanish.
"I have a definite desire to regain my Spanish skills and am working toward being bilingual in both speaking and writing," she said. "I want to be an architect and I believe I will be around people who speak other languages, including Spanish. I'm in Pre-AP Spanish II this year and plan to take another year as a junior."
Engaging students in the annual National Spanish Exam is a longstanding initiative of the CHS Foreign Language program. Spanish teachers within the department include Salazar, Ruth Rios, Lymaris Román, Jean Wickham, Justine Cooper and Rocio Juarez.


text:
Q: loading mapping table as an entity in entity framework This is the latest entity framework with a code-first approach.
One customer can have multiple properties:
public class Customer
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public virtual List<CustomerToPropertyMapping> PropertyIds { get; set; }
}

[Table("CustomerToProperty")]
public class CustomerToPropertyMapping
{
    [Key, Column(Order = 1)]
    public int PropertyId { get; set; }
}

When I load the data, everything works fine. When I try to save a customer, I get

An error occurred while saving entities that do not expose foreign key
  properties for their relationships. The EntityEntries property will
  return null because a single entity cannot be identified as the source
  of the exception. Handling of exceptions while saving can be made
  easier by exposing foreign key properties in your entity types. See
  the InnerException for details.

The same happends even if I have
[Key, Column(Order = 0)]
CustomerId

in the CustomerToPropertyMapping class.
What is the correct way to retrieve the mappings and NOT the object it maps to?

A: You should set primary key in customer Class
[Table("CUstomerTable")]
public class Customer
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public virtual List<CustomerToPropertyMapping> PropertyIds { get; set; }
}

[Table("CustomerToProperty")]
public class CustomerToPropertyMapping
{
    [Key]
    public int PropertyId { get; set; }
    [Column("Customer_ID")]
    public long CustomerId{ get; set; }
      [ForeignKey("CustomerId")]
    public Customer Customer{ get; set; }
}

A: Keeping
[Key, Column(Order = 0)]
CustomerId

in CustomerToPropertyMapping and changing
public virtual List<CustomerToPropertyMapping> PropertyIds { get; set; }

to
[ForeignKey("CustomerId")]
public virtual List<CustomerToPropertyMapping> PropertyIds { get; set; }

solved my problem.


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Who we are: We are an international team of executive development and strategic advisory professionals who have combined our talent and resources to pursue a common goal.
What we do: We provide realistic executive coaching and strategic advisory services to senior leaders and their teams.
How we do it: We keep a finger on the pulse of leadership and organizational change research, emerging cutting edge practices, and real world challenges. We narrow our focus to understanding leadership problems and developing realistic leadership solutions through strategic ideas, tools, questions, and applications. We establish honest and trusted relationships with organizations and their leaders in order to improve both the organization and the leader. We see what we do as more than just a single point assignment; it is, for us, a commitment.
Once we've done it: When we achieve our goal, we become advisors to our clients and colleagues. We enable these leaders to have greater insights and impact while allowing our firm to grow and prosper.