Our logo is inspired by the "Nazar", an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye and a symbol of good luck and prosperity. It represents one of the most popular souvenir themes sold every where in Turkey.
Our nazar is totaly minimalistic, representing the values of the brand « turkistas » implying that hapiness relies on simple things.


Here are the first few images of an Aston Martin rendered with Keyshot and Mental Ray . The first two images of the Aston Martin Vantage are rendered in 3ds Max with Mental Ray and a HDRI environment, later on in the post the Aston Martin is rendered with Keyshot. The feedback on the studio shots are that as the car is in a studio the reflections should be of lights and not of an environment.
Below is the next stage of the Aston Martin rendered with Keyshot. In this render I used Keyshot rather than Vray or Mental Ray and 3ds Max. It has proved to be a great learning experience, proving to me that Keyshot is an extremely quick and powerful tool. I also used HDR studio which I highly recommend. The next step for this project will be trying out Vray, 3ds Max and HDR Studio with higher resolution HDR images and backplates. As well as using the problems I encountered during this stage to improve the workflow in future. I hope to revisit this project when I can find time.
This post is to describe how I got the reflections on the Vespa in a studio environment. I think you can just add a HDRI to the environment slot in the material editor. But I did it like this.
Using the pass in Photoshop I masked out the background and added a gradient. I hope this all makes sense please feel free to add any comments and ask questions below.
As mentioned in Basic Compositing in Post Production I will go through how I create an ambient occlusion material and use it in Photoshop. Ambient occlusion can be used to enhance shadows in renders. I have set up a model of a Vespa that I previously made and added some lights to the scene. This is how the render currently looks.
In a new material slot in the material editor (M on the keyboard) the first thing I do is change the Ambient and Diffuse colours to black and tick on Self-Ilumination.
Add a Mental Ray Ambient/Reflective Occlusion material to the Self-Illumination slot and change the samples to 64.
Open up the Render Settings and in the Processing Tab tick Enable under Material Override, then drag the Ambient/Reflective Occlusion material into the Material.
If when you render it is all black make sure Exposure Control is off in the Environment Settings (8 on the keyboard).
Then up the max distance in the Ambient/Reflective Occlusion Parameters until you get your desired result. Here is mine.
Save the render and open the original and Ambient Occlusion Render in Photoshop and whilst holding Shift drag the Ambient Occlusion onto the original render and change the layer style to Multiply. You can also change the opacity if need. Here is the final result.
I recently completed a couple of new interior renders for an Avro RJ using 3ds Max and Mental Ray. So I thought this would be a good time to explain the basic Photoshop Postwork I go through.
Compositing in post production is one of the most important and probably most over looked parts of CG. It was only recently I started compositing different renders to improve the quality of my final images, so I am in no way an expert but this is how I composite my images.
The most important thing is lighting, something that I am yet to master but here are some great links to get you on your way. 8 Tutorials To Make You Fully Understand 3D Lighting In CG. But this will only get you as far as the render output on the image above.
Adjusting the Levels (Image > Adjustments > Levels) in Photoshop will make sure you are getting the most colour range out of your image.
Rendering out an Ambient Occlusion Pass from your 3d application is one of the best ways to improve results. The render will look something like the one here. Put it on top of your image in Photoshop and Multiply or Overlay it in the layers, you can also adjust the opacity. I then duplicate and merge the layers and adjust the Levels and the Brightness and Contrast.
To get a Lens Blur or Depth of Field you will need to render out a Zdepth pass. The output should look something like this one. You can override all materials instead of replacing them in 3ds Max (Render Setup > Processing > Material Override > Check the Box and drag the material in.) The last thing I do is adjust the contrast and save the image out. There is so much more you can do but here are the basics of what I generally do.


text:
OSHA Enforcement

Dollar Tree has agreed to a settlement with OSHA that includes a fine of $825,000.

OSHA, Dollar Tree Reach Settlement, Agree to $825,000 Fine
A corporate-wide settlement between Dollar Tree and OSHA implements safeguards to protect workers at stores nationwide from hazards related to blocked emergency exits, obstructed access to exit routes and electrical equipment and improper material storage.
Sandy Smith | Dec 16, 2015
OSHA and Dollar Tree Stores Inc. have reached an agreement that settles all safety and health citations issued against the company.
The corporate-wide settlement implements safeguards to protect workers at Dollar Tree stores nationwide from hazards related to blocked emergency exits, obstructed access to exit routes and electrical equipment and improper material storage. The settlement agreement resolves numerous contested citations, and includes an agreement by the company to pay $825,000 in penalties arising from 13 different inspections.
"This settlement agreement demonstrates Dollar Tree's commitment to improve training, safety procedures and working conditions at its stores nationwide," said Assistant Secretary of Labor Dr. David Michaels. "OSHA looks forward to working cooperatively with the company to ensure that these changes better protect the safety and health of Dollar Tree's employees."
The agreement requires the Chesapeake, Va.-based Dollar Tree to develop and implement a comprehensive safety and health program consistent with OSHA's Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines. Dollar Tree operates stores nationwide, including 2,400 stores included in this agreement. The company's program will incorporate management commitment, employee participation, hazard identification and control, education and training for employees and multi-level managers, and program evaluation. Dollar Tree also agreed to publish a corporate newsletter covering safety and health issues.
Additionally, Dollar Tree has agreed to do the following:
Allow a third-party monitor to audit 50 company stores during the two-year agreement. The monitor will share findings and recommendations with store managers, who then must correct identified issues within 21 days.
Internally inspect a cross section of its stores during the two-year agreement, plus an additional year.
Encourage employees to use a new, toll-free number for anonymously reporting safety and health issues.
Work together with OSHA to monitor implementation of the agreement, including periodic progress reports and monitoring inspections to ensure terms are being met.
In addition to monitoring safety practices and implementing the safety and health management program, the company will institute several engineering and administrative control measures at its retail stores, including:
Prohibiting the stacking or storing of materials or equipment in a way that would block or obstruct access to emergency exits and electrical equipment.
Implementing procedures in which managers at different levels can request storage containers to store items in a way that allows free access to emergency exits and electrical equipment.
Requiring routes to emergency exits and electrical equipment be at least 28 inches wide.
Reviewing delivery, unloading and personnel systems to ensure placement of received merchandise and materials in designated storage or sales areas does not obstruct access to exits and electrical equipment, or create storage hazards.
Negotiations by Labor Department attorneys in the Dallas, Philadelphia, Denver and Boston regional solicitor's offices, and OSHA's Director of Enforcement Programs, with assistance from the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the solicitor's office in Washington produced the settlement.
Repeat OSHA Violations at Dollar Tree Stores Cost Employer Thousands of Dollars
Money Better Grow on Trees, Even in Texas: OSHA Cites Texas Dollar Tree Stores
Does Money Grow on Trees at Dollar Tree?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The digital imagery with the title Coloring Goddess Venus Pages Hd Wallpapers Within Aphrodite Page above, is tagged with : Aphrodite Adult Coloring Page, Aphrodite Coloring Page, Aphrodite Coloring Pages, Aphrodite Coloring Pages Free, Coloring Pages Of Aphrodite, .
Here is required knowledge on . We have the cool resources for Coloring Page and Coloring Book. Check it out for yourself! You can find Coloring Goddess Venus Pages Hd Wallpapers Within Aphrodite Page guide and view the latest in this page.
The inspiring digital imagery above, is part of editorial which is labeled within Coloring Page category. We hope, you can acquire comprehensive information and guides about Coloring Goddess Venus Pages Hd Wallpapers Within Aphrodite Page and , which may give more info about Coloring Page and Coloring Book.
The Coloring Goddess Venus Pages Hd Wallpapers Within Aphrodite Page is one of the image about Aphrodite Coloring Page.
This digital imagery of Coloring Goddess Venus Pages Hd Wallpapers Within Aphrodite Page has dimension 900x887 pixels, you can download and obtain the Coloring Goddess Venus Pages Hd Wallpapers Within Aphrodite Page digital imagery by right click on the clicking the right mouse to get the high-res version.


Currently, there is no page_content_format field, and "Each row in the content_model table will refer to a unique tuple of (content_model, content_format)." If a page's content model allows multiple formats, which model ID would be used? Perhaps there should be separate content_model and content_format tables.
Yeah, that's a good idea. I talked with @Duesentrieb briefly and he liked the idea of having two tables. Will update the RfC shortly.
Separate content_model and content_format tables are much better, thanks.
Perhaps it would also be useful to put the default format for each model into the content_model table, as cm_default_format. This would be useful during migration, for filling in NULL values in fields like rev_content_format.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you meant, but wouldn't we fill in NULL with whatever ContentHandler::getDefaultFormat() returns? Why does it need to be in the database table?
Having it in the database would allow us to fill in the blanks without leaving the database. It's an option to consider, which may come in handy for some use cases. But you may very well be right that we don't need it.
I would rather keep it in PHP, mostly because you already need PHP code to "fill in the blanks" for things like namespace names. In any case, I'd like to leave it out for now because I don't think we should have the default specified in two places (PHP and database). Plus one of the goals of this RfC is to make changing the defaults easier, and this would somewhat work against that.
Reply to "page_content_model_id and multiple formats"
This table can then be used to acquire the model and format for a given revision by joining cnt_revision against page_current, rev_id, or ar_rev_id.
When joining against page_current, rev_id, etc., cnt_role will then have to be fixed (e.g. to the "main" role) to allow a unique match per revision.
My only concern with splitting to another table is making sure that the tables stay in sync, and if they get out of sync, handling failure gracefully. While it mostly should work properly with our transaction handling, we occasionally have random freak accidents where page_latest isn't updated properly or something, so it's not 100% perfect.Using the same table (revision/archive) would neatly avoid that problem.
Reply to "Separate table for content meta-data"
Manual:Coding conventions/Database#Table naming says, "Table names should be singular nouns: user, page, revision, etc." So shouldn't the new table's name be content_model, not content_models, in order to follow this convention?
I wasn't aware of that, updated. Thanks!
I think this proposal makes sense and should be done. I have one (maybe dumb) qiestion: The mapping of conten model ids and formats sounds like it could be done as an php array in a global var, too. Maybe I don't see any point you considered, but wouldn't it be possible to write this as a global array instead of a new database table, and if yes, why we shouldn't do that?
It could. But then we run into the same probably we currently have with namespaces. Each extension randomly picks a number it uses for namespaces which end up conflicting.
Setting it as a global would also encourage usage by developers, which we don't want. They should not be aware of what the id is, and shouldn't care either.
This proposal is similar to what we currently do with change tags. Everywhere in code (except for the ChangeTags class) we refer to tags by their string name, but in the database they are stored as integers, and there is a table that maps the integer to the string name.
I added a new section at the bottom of your RFC. It contains statistics from which I conclude that using ENUM would be a good alternative.
Using an enum is not feasible. First off, the page/revision/archive tables are in MediaWiki core, and should not contain any references to extensions (Flow, Wikibase, Scribunto, etc.). Currently any extension can define arbitrary content models and formats, like MassMessage's MassMessageList content type (example).
Also, using an enum also means we need to do a schema change any time we wish to add a new content model or format.
Finally, I would have preferred discussing your alternative proposal on the talk page before we added it to the RfC. I've removed it from the page now because it doesn't fit our requirements.
Reply to "Alternative proposal - Use ENUM instead of a new table"


text:
package software.sham.sftp;

import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.apache.sshd.common.NamedFactory;
import org.apache.sshd.common.file.virtualfs.VirtualFileSystemFactory;
import org.apache.sshd.common.keyprovider.AbstractClassLoadableResourceKeyPairProvider;
import org.apache.sshd.common.util.SecurityUtils;
import org.apache.sshd.server.Command;
import org.apache.sshd.server.SshServer;
import org.apache.sshd.server.auth.password.PasswordAuthenticator;
import org.apache.sshd.server.command.ScpCommandFactory;
import org.apache.sshd.server.session.ServerSession;
import org.apache.sshd.server.subsystem.sftp.SftpSubsystemFactory;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import software.sham.ssh.MockSshServer;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class MockSftpServer extends MockSshServer {
    private final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.getClass());

    private Path baseDirectory;

    public MockSftpServer(int port) throws IOException {
        this(port, false);
    }

    private MockSftpServer(int port, boolean enableShell) throws IOException {
        super(port, false);
        initSftp();
        if (enableShell) {
            enableShell();
        }
        start();
    }

    private void initSftp() {
        sshServer.setCommandFactory(new ScpCommandFactory());
        sshServer.setSubsystemFactories(Arrays.<NamedFactory<Command>>asList(new SftpSubsystemFactory()));
    }

    public Path getBaseDirectory() {
        return baseDirectory;
    }

    @Override
    public void start() throws IOException {
        baseDirectory = Files.createTempDirectory("sftproot");
        sshServer.setFileSystemFactory(new VirtualFileSystemFactory(baseDirectory.toAbsolutePath().toString()));
        super.start();
    }

    @Override
    public void stop() throws IOException {
        super.stop();
        FileUtils.deleteQuietly(baseDirectory.toFile());
    }

    public static MockSftpServer createWithShell(int port) throws IOException {
        return new MockSftpServer(port, true);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home > Persecution > Accounts of Persecution
Ms. Jiang Yanling of Yi County, Liaoning Province, Illegally Arrested
January 06, 2010 | By a Minghui correspondent reporting from Liaoning Province
(Clearwisdom.net) On December 22, 2009, Jiang Cheng, the head of the Domestic Security Division at the Yi County Police Department, with approximately two dozen police officers from the Yizhou Township Police Station, stormed the temporary residence of Falun Dafa practitioner Ms. Jiang Yanling, of Tiexi Village, Chengguan Township, Yi County, Liaoning Province, and arrested her. Prior to her arrest, Ms. Jiang had been forced to leave her home and live as a fugitive for more than five years.
Ms. Jiang started practicing Falun Dafa in the spring of 1999. Cultivating the Fa improved her health and purified her mind. Beginning in July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Gong, Ms. Jiang was also persecuted by the CCP. This persecution caused tremendous mental, physical and financial hardship to her family.
On March 20, 2001, when Ms. Jiang was visiting a friend, Zhang Yanfu, director of the Political Security Department of Yi County, together with police officers Yang Zhanlin, Zhou Hualai and others, stormed the house, forcibly arrested Ms. Jiang and took her to the Political Security Department of Yi County. Officers interrogated Ms. Jiang for a long period of time while officer Zhou took notes. The local authorities set bail at 3,000 yuan and the following day Ms. Jiang was released. From that day forward, the township and county police constantly raided her home and harassed her.
One night in July of 2004, the director of the village Social Security Department together with officers Chen Fuzhi, Chen Nailian and others from the Chengguan Township Police Station, suddenly broke into Ms. Jiang's house. Her wisdom enabled Ms. Jiang to get away but the police ransacked her home and took away her computer, her printer and some personal items. None of these items have been returned as of the date of this article.
Frustrated by their failure to capture Ms. Jiang, the police intensified the harassment of her family. In order to avoid arrest, Ms. Jiang was forced to leave her home and live as a fugitive.
During the years that Ms. Jiang was away from home, the police regularly raided her house and harassed her family members. The police threatened her family and demanded that they find Ms. Jiang and send her to the police station. Meanwhile, a warrant was issued for Ms. Jiang's arrest and the police conducted an extensive search for her. After learning about these developments, Ms. Jiang was even more afraid to go home. Later, with the help of some fellow practitioners, Ms. Jiang was able to find a temporary place to live.
Category: Accounts of Persecution
"My Grandson's Fever and My Way of Looking Inward"
"Ms. Li Guihua from Jiujiang City Arrested; Family Pressured to Pay for Her Release (Photo)"


text:
Suspect in Austin's Sunday Shooting Arrested in Manor, Texas
Wes Adams
Wes Adams Published: April 19, 2021
Stephen Nicholas Broderick - Image Courtesy of Austin PD
Austin Police have arrested the man suspected of killing three people in a Sunday afternoon shooting that took place near Arboretum shopping center.
KHOU reports that police arrested 41-year-old Stephen Broderick early this morning after receiving 9-1-1 calls about a man walking down Highway 290 near Manor, Texas. KVUE.com reports that Broderick was arrested without incident.
Stephen Broderick is a former sheriff's deputy. Police described Broderick as a suspect in the attack who remained at large on Sunday but was not considered a risk to the general public. The victims involved in the shooting are reported to be two females and one male who were shot in an apartment complex near the Arboretum according to KVUE's Tony Plohetski. First responders gave the victims emergency medical care on the scene but the victims all passed away from their injuries.
Police are now left trying to piece together evidence that might help to shed light on why Broderick opened fire on the individuals. Police records show Broderick was charged with a felony for sexual assault of a minor in 2020. He was released on bail last June but KHOU reports that the Travis County District Attorney announced they had plans to file a motion to revoke that bond. As of Sunday evening, police are still not sure about the weapon used in the shooting or where that firearm might be.
Police believe that Broderick knew the victims and targeted them with intent to do them harm. He was arrested around 7:30 am this morning. Police say Broderick was armed at the time of his arrest but can't confirm yet if the firearm found on the suspect is the same as the one used in the shooting.
Filed Under: austin
Categories: Victoria News


Complex Cleanse, autoshop and Effective Health Care Medicobot. In order to provide customers with a superior quality of electrotherapy equipment, Medicomat Home Care puts great effort into quality control.
Science and tradition in the treatment of people - natural remedies are not only in plants or in natural food. They are, mostly, in our body. By stimulating the sensory system in the body stimulates the acupuncture and other methods of excretion of 160 Substances to immune defense and is the largest factory of natural medication, the purest organic principle. Depending on the location and level of stimulation can affect the immune system increase, the release of opioid substances in particular, who as endorphins, enkephalins and dimifin.
Other common sites of muscle stiffness that can be treated with acupuncture include the large muscle between the neck and the shoulder joint (the upper trapezius ) and the muscles between the shoulder blades. Some psychologists believe that the amount of muscle tension in the upper trapezius reflects the emotional state of a person and consequently, attach electromyographic (EMG) electrodes to these muscles to help analyze a patients emotional state.
Sciatic Back Pain Relief, autoshop and Easy To Use Lekomat. If you are interested in acupressure for headache read "QUICK HEADACHE RELIEF WITHOUT DRUGS" by Howard D. Kurland, M.D. and/or enroll in one of the many Acupressure courses are now offered by a growing number of Community Colleges. Acupressure is now part of a Practical Nurse extension study program, usually night school, open to anyone at very low cost.


text:
5 Things We've Learned From EUROS 2019!
AUGUST 28, 2019.
161 players had made the journey to compete for the European Championship 2019 and while we already have talked a bit about the drop in attendance, I still felt that the event was everything we had hoped for! The venue Krakow EXPO was an incredible setting for the largest event in Europe and the atmosphere was tense and full of a friendly, but competitive spirit all four days!
I'd also like to say THANK YOU to everyone who came by and said hi as well as everyone who made this an event to remember! One particular joy was to see all the youngsters playing and I'd like to make a HUGE SHOUT OUT for Mikolaj Sikorski, who took down a GQ 6-0 and made it into the Top32 and didn't flinch an inch when pitted against Mads Utzon during the main event, and Tomasz Domagalski, who made Top8, and I'm certain that both will be a solid foundation for competitive Destiny in Europe! I definitely hope to see the both of you again at other events across Europe!
1. THE BEST CHARACTERS:
When I was invited on The Garbage Will Do Podcast Episode 48 to give predictions on European Championship 2019, I said that the choice between what I believe are currently the two best decks in the format, Satine Droids and Jabba 3wide Supports is essentially a choice between the best characters in the game or the best cards in the game! I stand by that basic analysis and it has even been reinforced throughout this weekend's events.
I don't think anyone can doubt that the combination of Satine Kryze, R2-D2, C-3P0 and Fateful Companion is absolutely broken. It's in the words of both Joe Colon and Mads Utzon an effective 8dice start: 5 character dice, double auto-focus and/or increasing value on resolve, and rerolling a die. NUTS! It's effectivity gone through the roof. Is the pairing so strong that it needs nerfing, even if it eventually did not conquer Europe? Yes. I think so. The best solution, and I think most are in agreement here, would be to restrict C-3P0's ability to work only on his own dice. This needs to be addressed after NOVA 2019, the US Grand Championship, to be held the upcoming weekend. It's urgent - ESPECIALLY if we don't get Covert Missions before Worlds 2019 in October.
Droids in various guises were literally EVERYWHERE, and the top tables were completely dominated by them and Jabbas. Looking specifically at Day 2 of the European Championship 2019 the aforementioned decks made up 72% of the field, while 48% of the field were in fact Droids. The numbers really speak their own language and it's not particularly encouraging.
2. THE BEST CARDS IN THE GAME:
With Tony Franco conquering the European title with his Jabba 3wide Supports, it is underscored that while the quality of the preferred villain character line-up: eJabba The Hutt, Wat Tambor and Sentinel Messenger is lower than that of the Droid decks, the supreme quality of the cards available to rainbow villains is undeniable!
THE UNHOLY TRINITY of Entourage, Megablaster Troopers and Vader's Fist is as strong as ever and still represents crazy value, and while the initial fear of support hate cards like Convergence, Vandalize, Desperate Measures and Separatist Embargo might have kept some from relying too hard on supports, EUROS 2019 more than proved that they've stood the test of time. Sure, you are probably going to lose one or two, but you'll live through it.
Same thing essentially goes for mitigation, and while hero mitigation has almost throughout the entirety of the existence of the game been superior to its villain counterparts, pound for pound, that seems to no longer be the case. Even Mads Utzon chose to cut Easy Pickings, arguably one of the best hero mitigation cards, to just one copy in the deck.
The staple rainbow villain mitigation is just really outstanding and it was proven throughout the tournament that great cards can bridge the gap between the quality of the hero and villain characters.
3. THE FICKLE SUBGAME...
The Fickle Mercenaries subgame is probably one of the most skill intensive parts of the game at the moment. The ability to take over your opponent's cheap, but powerful Fickle Mercenaries is as entertaining as it is a difficult strategy to master. When do you buy the Fickle Mercenaries, exhausted/ready, to prevent damage or more obviously to prevent the 2 Disrupt?
It's become one of the most common catch phrases on stream and in commentary: "Buy the Fickle", "Why isn't he buying the Fickle?", "Buying the Fickle will win him the game!" ... it's exhilarating and I'm super excited about it every time it happens.
At EUROS 2019 there were plenty of examples of why you need to get your practice in with this particular aspect of the game - it will win and/or lose you some over the course of a tournament.
4. MADS UTZON DETHRONED!
It was tough watching my friend and team mate Mads Utzon being dethroned as European Champion as he lost his top 4 game against eventual winner Tony Franco, who on the other hand had played like a true champion all weekend! CONGRATULATIONS to him for his amazing win!
Mads is still, in my book at least, one of the absolute best players out there! As he told me when we went outside for a small break following his defeat: "We need to train harder for Worlds" ... that's the beautiful mindset of a truly competitive player! Mads, I salute you!
5. MY LAST EUROS MARSHALING:
It's been an absolute joy and privilege to Marshal the last two European Championships in Star Wars Destiny, but EUROS 2019 was my last event at the helm of the microphone. The Judge teams that I've been blessed with have been absolutely amazing and while I'm going to miss their craziness and the great talks and laughs, I also felt - and maybe more so this year than previously - that I missed out on a lot of stuff.
I didn't manage to go to the Star Wars Destiny Meet and Greet in Krakow, which I really wanted to, and didn't get to spend time with our many YOUR Destiny patrons present at the event, and there were plenty of people I'd have wanted to hang out with, but just couldn't find the time for. This year was also incredibly tough with me trying to both run the stream, marshal, talk to all the players, greet them and sending them off ... umphff ... my feet were killing me at the end!
So, although it's kind of sad leaving the community responsibility of Marshaling behind, because that is really what it is, I know that more than able hands will take over and I get to fight it out with the best of the best for the bragging rights of Europe next year! I'll still be doing the occasional marshaling at Galactic Qualifiers and whatnot, if asked, but EUROS 2020 will be for someone else to safeguard!
EUROS 2019


Specifically for hard cover books, case binding produces a flawless finish for books. The intricate process involves firstly stitching the printed pages together using our specific automated binding machinery, compressing the pages to reinforce the binding and then carefully fixing the hard cover over the stitching. The options for the cover include a textured fabric finish, eye-catching gloss or smooth matt. The finished product will be professional and durable, designed to withstand high volume use.


Exhibition Stand Sketchup: Exhibition stands on behance.
Sketchup on twitter quot rt dwarehouse exhibition stand by. the exhibition stand of sqm d cgtrader. best images about sketchup stands d on pinterest. exhibition stand wilfred mansell. stand exhibition booth d model turbosquid. exhibition stand design with tubular wall installation. exhibition stands on behance. exhibition booth d warehouse. exhibition stands on behance. deutsche telekom mwc by timo müller via behance. exhibition stand d warehouse. exhibition stand design on behance display stands. hp exhibition stand concept made im d max vray on. cosmetic product exhibition booth d warehouse. exhibit displays d sketchup models ag cad designs. d model exhibition stand cgtrader. best sketchup stands d images on pinterest. exhibition design perth barrett displays. the world s best photos of stand and vray flickr hive mind.
The exhibition stand of sqm d cgtrader.
Exhibition stand design on behance display stands.
Barloworld exhibit stand concept proposal on behance.
Exhibition stand design in sketchup d youtube.
Swisspan exhibition stand sketchup pinterest.
Exhibition booth sketchup ค้นหาด้วย google art.
The world s best photos of ducospray flickr hive mind.
Fao pavillion world forestry congress hott d custom s.
Vitoria souza produções stand system pack sketchup.


text:
Flat Back Rhinestone Sizes and Cuts
We have provided these sizing tools for your convenience. Please use the measurements below when determining the size of rhinestones. Please be advised that these measurements should be used only as approximations. The best way to accurately view the colors and sizes is to order one of our "Swarovski Rhinestone Color Card's" or a small quantity of stone before placing a large order. Here at the Rhinestone Store, we offer our clients the opportunity to purchase small amounts of rhinestone products at minimal cost to assist in determining sizing and quantities needed.
SWAROVSKI ROUND FLAT BACK AND FLAT BACK HOTFIX RHINESTONE SIZING COMPARISON. (Note: this image does not represent the actual sizes of the rhinestones but is intended to show how the sizes compare to each other.)
SIZING CHART OF RHINESTONES.
"ss" = Stone Size; "mm" = Millimeter
ss5 = 1.75mm
ss6 = 2mm
ss7 = 2.1mm
ss10 = 2.8mm
ss12 = 3mm
ss48 = 11mm
STONES PER INCH WHEN SET RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.
ss5 = Approximately 16 stones per inch.
ss10 = Approximately 9 stones per inch.
ss34 = Approximately 3 1/2 stones per inch.
ARTICLE DESCRIPTIONS:
The production of Swarovski crystal is unlike any competitor. Swarovski crystals are faceted with tremendous accuracy, creating optically pure and brilliant prisms. Due to the advancements in technology in the creation of the facets and cuts, Swarovski's flat back crystals have evolved into the beautiful creations of today.
FLAT BACK ROUND RHINESTONE ARTICLE CUTS:
Article 2000: Swarovski's original 8-faceted rhinestone (not pictured). Discontinued product.
Article 2012 (Rose): Was introduced in the year 2000 and has 12 facets. Discontinued product.
Article 2028 (XILION Rose): Was introduced in the year 2004 and was the staple in the industry for many, many years. It features 14 facets and a low wide table. Discontinued product.
Article 2058: The Enhanced XILION Rose was introduced in 2011. The cut of the 14 facets and the table size of the original 2028, were changed in order to create a more brilliant crystal. The 2058 is the most current cut for rhinestone sizes up to ss10. Discontinued in all sizes above ss10.
Article 2088: In 2014 Swarovski introduced the world to - the XIRIUS Rose the latest flat back rhinestone design! This revolutionary crystal is named after Sirius, the brightest star in the Milky Way galaxy, and for good reason - it features the most intricate, gemstone-like cut in the Swarovski lineup. The XIRIUS cut takes the world one step closer to the vision of founder Daniel Swarovski: to create a diamond for every woman. Like all modern Swarovski crystals, the 2088 XIRIUS flat back is made with the lead-free, superior Advanced Crystal formula, and is manufactured according to the company's strict socially and environmentally responsible standards. The 2088 Swarovski Flat Back Rhinestone is a leader in its class. With 16 facets with a shape representing a starburst and a small table (top), this rhinestone has the ultimate sparkle and the brightest flat back on the market today. This is Swarovski's current cut is available in ss12 and above.
FLAT BACK, HOTFIX ROUND RHINESTONE ARTICLE CUTS:
Article 2000: Swarovski's original 8-faceted rhinestone (not pictured), and features a greenish adhesive. Discontinued product.
Article 2012 (Rose): Was introduced in the year 2000 and features 12 facets. The adhesive is a green/grey color. Discontinued product.
Article 2028 (XILION Rose): Was introduced in the year 2004 and was the staple in the industry for many, many years. This rhinestone features 14 facets, with a low wide table and has a grey adhesive. Discontinued product.
Article 2038: The Enhanced XILION Rose was introduced in 2011. The cut of the 14 facets and the table size of the original 2028 were hanged in order to create a more brilliant crystal. The 2038 is the most current cut for rhinestone sizes up to ss10, and has a gold adhesive. Discontinued in all sizes above ss10.
Article 2078: This is the hotfix version of the 2088. Brilliant 16 faceted rhinestone with a gold adhesive. The 2078 is Swaroski's current cut for size ss12 and above.
Please contact us if you have any questions or in need of assistance.


text:
Top Attorney – Nancy Hersh
San Francisco, CA WW/Press/August 18, 2022 – Nancy Hersh, Attorney with Hersh & Hersh, is recognized and distinguished in the Top Attorneys of North America 2022-2023 edition.
Hersh & Hersh was founded over four decades ago by a fearless and compassionate father and daughter team, LeRoy Hersh (1920-2003) and Nancy Hersh. Nancy and LeRoy started Hersh & Hersh to provide dedicated legal representation to people and their families who had been injured or harmed in some way. Nancy and LeRoy shared the practice and the drive to obtain justice for injured people.
Throughout her career she has been a passionate advocate, using the law to address women's healthcare issues and other areas of social justice. As one of the first female personal injury lawyers, she combines the tenaciousness, determination, and empathy for her clients in the area of drugs and medical devices designed especially for women such as IUDs, DES (the drug given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage), breast implants , diet drugs, and other such products. These attributes are essential as she has tackled a series of groundbreaking cases including DES Litigation, the first breast implant case to establish the connection between silicone and physical injuries, and the first Diet Drug (Fen-Phen) case filed and settled. Nancy received her B.A. from the University of California and her J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a member of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association and President of American Board of Trial Advocates.
MESSAGE NANCY HERSH DIRECTLY:
Tags:Best Attorneys San Francisco CA, Best Fertility Attorneys San Francisco CA, Best Lawyers in California, Best Lawyers San Francisco CA, Best Medical Malpractice Attorneys San Francisco CA, Best Products Liability Attorneys San Francisco CA, Best Sperm Bank Litigators San Francisco CA], Hersh & Hersh, Nancy Hersh, Nancy Hersh Attorney


text:
aftermath II
Vestland Saga
Silbersteinstr. 61
Villa Tummeley
Wrangelstr. 62
ALT-TAG
an der Grenze der Hauptstadt
I SPY
graduation exhibition Photodesign Lette-Verein Berlin
Kunst und Körper
PUBLICATIONS / EXHIBITIONS
Partner Sites / Cooperations
Portfolio Download
expressions of an actor I
expressions of an actor II
expressions of an actor III
Ubin
fashion I
b&w #01
Smartphone Inspirations 2016
Anna Kron
InCity Immobilien AG View Phaeno Interior Current Phaeno Science Center II View SmileOdontics View INCITY IMMOBILIEN AG View ZEISS VISION CENTER KASSEL View PHAENO SCIENCE CENTER View TEMPODROM II View
Phaeno Science Center
Phaeno Interior
The Phæno Science Center is an interactive science center in Wolfsburg, Germany, completed in 2005. Phæno arose from urban planning by the City of Wolfsburg. In 1998 City officials were developing a plot of vacant, public land immediately adjacent to Wolfsburg's railway station and just south of VW's huge, then-unfinished attraction Autostadt. An art museum was planned for the site, but Dr. Wolfgang Guthardt, then the City's Director for Culture, Sports and Education, knew that such an institution would compete with Wolfsburg's successful Kunst Museum (Art Museum) and needed other options.[citation needed] Guthardt visited Technorama, a science center in Switzerland and became convinced that a science center in Wolfsburg would complement both Autostadt and the Kunst Museum.[citation needed]
Preliminary planning began in November 1998, and one year later Joe Ansel, an American consultant and designer, was approached to handle the exhibitions and other operational aspects of the project. An architectural design competition was held in January 2000 and the prominent architect Zaha Hadid won, in conjunction with structural engineers, Adams Kara Taylor. About five years later, Phæno opened to the public on November 24, 2005 with over 250 interactive exhibits from Ansel Associates, Inc. all enclosed in an astounding concrete structure designed by Zaha Hadid, her German associate, Mayer Bährle architects and Adams Kara Taylor. The architectural design has been described as a "hypnotic work of architecture – the kind of building that utterly transforms our vision of the future." The design won a 2006 RIBA European Award[1] as well as the 2006 Institution of Structural Engineers Award for Arts, Leisure and Entertainment Structures.
The building stands on concrete stilts, allowing visitors to the Autostadt to pass through without interfering with the workings of the building. Phæno is connected to the Autostadt by a metal bridge accessed by escalators and stairs either side. The underside of Phæno and the "stilts" are illuminated.
Dr. Guthardt is now Phæno's first Executive Director. Phæno has enjoyed high attendance and broad public acceptance since its grand opening. The Science Center has a theme song, "Phaenomenal," which was written and performed by American singer/songwriter Amanda Somerville for the opening.
The Phæno was included on a list of the 7 wonders of the Modern World (objects built since 2000) by The Financialist.
VISIONARCHITECTURE.DE
© Philip Gunkel 2020
error: © Copyright Philip Gunkel Photographie


Many people out there seem to be interested in getting more information about hydroponics supplies. The first important thing that you need to know is the different types of hydroponics supplies available in the market. If you don't know what type you need to get, it would be hard to start your project. What you need to do is to look for a buying guide when it comes to this. Having a guide can easily help you know what kind of hydroponics supplies you need. That is why doing some research about it helps you know important details about the hydroponics supplies. This will not only bring success to your venture, it will also help you a lot. This is very useful to those gardeners out there who love indoor gardening. Because this kind of gardening does not need soil to give nutrients to the plants you are growing inside, the hydroponics supplies will be the one to give them instead. Because of this, you no longer have to worry about the where to get the needed nutrients your plants needed. Your labor will not be in vain knowing that they will grow very healthy. So if you consider this for your indoor garden, you have to know how to choose the best hydroponics supplies now available in the market. Because of this, finding the right hydroponics supplies for your needs might be a bit confusing. If there are too many options available, it would be best if you take time researching each available option to know what you need to get.
One type might be suitable for others while for you, you might choose another type. So don't just choose any supply out there, but consider carefully your needs. One of the important factors that can help you find the right hydroponics supplies is by knowing the type of system that you have. On the other hand, some indoor gardeners out there would choose based on their preferences. Aside from that, you have to also know that this kind of project requires a pump, a large basin and aerator for the system. Without them, it would be hard for the solution to move.
Aside from that, it is also important that you know the different methods used for holding plants keeping them above the solution. For holding the plants, some indoor garners would choose to use a tray while others choose a net. Aside from that, you have to also make sure that the roots have easy access to the solution. Aside from that, you have to also make sure that you are not over drowning or over exposing the roots. If you are someone who is new to this method in indoor gardening, it would be best to study about it first from books or the internet. You can also know the exact amount of lighting needed for the plants to grow. Since there are plenty of lighting options available these days, you have to make sure that you are choosing the best.


text:
The Prince Gharios Foundation launches German website
The Prince Gharios Foundation (Prinz Gharios Stiftung) is an organization founded and headquartered in Germany under the Sovereign Imperial and Royal House of Ghassan, which recently was recognized and accredited by the United Nations with the Special Consultative Status.
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII serves as the Chairman and Dr. Michael Hesemann, famous German author, is the President.
The organization's main scope is the protection of all the Christians in the Middle East.
Today, the Foundation has launched its new website in the German language.
To visit the new website:
www.prinzghariosstiftung.org/ or www.princeghariosfoundation.org/
By The Royal Heraldin Christianity, europe, germany, Ghassanids, Uncategorized, United Nations August 26, 2016 August 26, 2016 102 WordsLeave a comment
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor is acclaimed for lectures ministered in Brazil
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII visited Brazil from August 1st to 10th 2016 and ministered lectures about the situation in the Middle East and its effects in the Western world in five venues: at UCAM – Candido Mendes University (Latin America's oldest private University founded in 1902), at the Fluminense Federal Institute (Technical Faculty), at the City Parliament (founded in 1652), at the Maria Imaculada Diocesan Seminary and at the Imaculada Conceicao Catholic Seminary. The lectures were very appreciated and acclaimed by the audience and the press.
(the above video is in the Portuguese language)
More about HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor HERE
By The Royal Heraldin Brazil, Christianity, culture, Ghassanids, Islam, Lebanon, politics, Religion, Royalty, Syria, terrorism, Uncategorized, United Nations August 15, 2016 117 WordsLeave a comment
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor is Blessed by Ecumenical Patriarch
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor with His All Holiness Bartholomew I
The Ecumenical Patriarch received the order of Saint Michael Archangel
HIRH Prince Gharios El-Chemor had an official audience with His All Holiness Bartholomew I the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in Istanbul, Turkey. His All Holiness is the highest in honor ("first among equals") between all of the Patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox Church representing over 300 million faithful. The two hours long conversation was focused on the history of the Ghassanid and Nikephorian (Byzantine empire) Dynasties which HIRH Prince Gharios is the legal heir and, of course, the main topic was the survival of the Christians in the Middle East and Prince Gharios' proposal of the Council of Oriental Christians. During the visit, Prince Gharios and the delegation composed by the scholar and protestant bishop Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, Mr. Martin Warnecke (both from Germany) and Pastor Dr. Behnan Konutgan (from Turkey) were invited for a special luncheon with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synod of Bishops.
Prince Gharios was honored by the personal Patriarchal Blessing. Historically in Christianity, only the Patriarchs of Rome (Pope) and Constantinople may grant and recognize imperial titles (see Royal and Republican Sovereignty in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge University Press, pg.360)
HIRH Prince Gharios and the delegation were listed as official visitors HERE
Learn more about the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Learn more about HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor
HIRH Prince Gharios' delegation
By The Royal Heraldin Christianity, culture, Ghassanids, politics, Religion, Royalty, Uncategorized July 15, 2016 July 20, 2016 259 WordsLeave a comment
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor visits the Grand Mufti of Istanbul
Prince Gharios shaking hands with Prof.Dr. Rahmi Yaran, the Grand Mufti of Istanbul
As part of a very successful trip to Turkey, HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII had an audience with Prof.Dr. Rahmi Yaran the Grand Mufti of Istanbul . The Mufti has under him 3,100 mosques in Istanbul, one of the most populous cities in Europe with over 14 million people. The highest Muslim authority in the country being only under the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
The Mufti praying with Pope Francis during his visit to Turkey in 2014
The Prince Gharios' delegation had the scholar and protestant bishop from Germany Prof. Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, Mr. Martin Warnecke also from Germany and Pastor Dr. Behnan Konutgan from Turkey. The Mufti joined Prince Gharios' alliance for peace condemning the terror and any kind of violence against other religions. He also received the rank of Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael Archangel.
More about HIRH Prince Gharios El-Chemor of Ghassan please visit www.princegharios.org
By The Royal Heraldin Christianity, Islam, politics, Religion, Syria, terrorism, Tourism, Uncategorized July 14, 2016 July 14, 2016 183 WordsLeave a comment
Democracy: "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?
Ancient Greece: the cradle of democracy
Can we have real democracy? The majority really rules in a democracy? Is democracy just an utopia?
At this point I'll imitate the mighty Morpheus, the character of the movie "Matrix", and offer you one of the two pills: the red one, you should stop reading, at once. The green one, you'll know the truth.
Assuming that you've chosen the green pill:
In practice, there's no such thing as democracy. Especially, for a people that is not politicized, educated and used to the system.
What we see is an illusion. Usually, we misplace the word "democracy" by the word "freedom".
One of the most important aspects of Muslim Arab politics is the difference of concepts. In the West, Democracy is (or should be) 'the government of the people, by the people, for the people'.
Personally, I believe that what we call Democracy is the ideal form of government; however, it doesn't work for every situation and culture. It's more dangerous to have a bad democracy than a good dictatorship. Plato agrees with me. Well, I can explain. If a democracy is based on the deception of voters, it's a bad democracy. In some 3rd world countries like Brazil, a candidate can easily buy a vote today by giving the voter a t-shirt and a pair of flip-flops.
Even the multi-party system can be a deception since it's not rare in the world having politicians from opposite idealistic sides making collusions to achieve personal and political favors.
"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
That principle can be easily verified in a very developed democracy, the United States. During the process of primaries to choose the candidate to run, for example, for the Presidency, all kinds of low attacks are made between the candidates. After the official candidate is appointed, they're all best friends again and, usually, they're part of each other's administrations.
Back to the Middle East, since the very beginning, Islam was always associated with secular power; therefore, a purely secular Arab state sounds a little utopic after the Pan Arabism idea started to fade in the 60's, although the separation of church and state in the region is around 300 years old.
According to Muslim politics, the sovereignty doesn't belong to people but to God. That's also conflicting with the monarchical hereditary regime, according to some scholars.
Professor Bernard Lewis said that we've this feeling in the West that Democracy is the natural and normal condition in humanity and any departure from it is "either a disease to be cured or a crime to be punished". I agree with him, democracy is not for everyone. But freedom definitely is.
Nobody can deny that the called "Arab Spring" in 2011 was a hope of "winds of change". However, the people's mindset makes us believe that nothing significant will change. On the contrary, the quest for freedom will bring an unbalance to the region as the fall of Saddam Hussein did in 2003. And that brings us to a "golden rule" to understand the region.
Nothing is "black & white". Personally, I believe Saddam was a terrible person and tyrannical ruler. His regime was a burden to the Iraqis' shoulders. No doubt, Iraq without Saddam is better than Iraq with Saddam, right?
In theory yes, however the region went out of balance once Saddam's regime used to "hold" one of the most important tension's clusters of the Middle East: the Iran-Iraq.
According with Professor Chaney, from Harvard University:
"Will the Arab Spring lead to long-lasting democratic change? As Islamists perform well in elections across the Arab world, many have begun to predict that the recent uprisings will usher in a wave of Islamist-dominated autocracies instead of the democratic institutions many protestors initially demanded. These observers often point to the political trajectories of non-Arab states such as Iran and implicitly claim that Islamist-dominated states cannot be democratic. Others note that the emergence of democratic regimes in Indonesia and Turkey demonstrates that Islamists can play a constructive role in democratic institutions." (Democratic Change in the Arab World, Past and Present, Prof. Eric Chaney, March 10, 2012, p.2)
"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
I'm part of the observers that believe that the Arab Spring, although necessary, will bring unbalance to the region, at least in the first decades.
I agree with many things with Professor Chaney, however, I don't think Turkey is a perfect example of democracy. It's easy to see, for example, the constant censuring of the internet by the government, cannot be overlooked. Also, the lack of freedom of religion once the Patriarch of Constantinople, leader for the whole Orthodox Christian Church, has encroached over the years his freedom and also his monastery was closed by the government who also dictates the rules of succession in the Church of Constantinople which is, without a single solitary doubt, not their business.
The same with Lebanon, which was created to be a secular country with a Christian majority and now has less than 39% of Christians living there.
It's very hard to have a real democracy if you have church and State together. A real democracy is not a rule of the majority but a regime where every single group of people is considered and equal.
For example, right after first Egypt's presidential elections, Time magazine exhibits the following cover (July 9 2012):
"The revolution that wasn't – Why generals remain Egypt's real rulers"
Inside (pg. 28), the article written by Jay Newton-Small (Washington) and Abigail Hauslohner (Cairo) starts:
"How military won the Egyptian Election – Mohamed Morsy may be Egypt's first popular chosen President but a group of 19 generals are still the country's real rulers"
Clearly, the power has changed hands, however for the people, very little will change. The worst form of dictatorship is the illusion of democracy. People think they're choosing something but, in the end of the day, they're just puppets in a pathetic but well-written play. In other words, they've no real freedom of choice.
"Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education."
There's absolutely no precedent of an Arab country that had dethroned a monarchy and got a democracy. Even the countries that started as democratic countries have their impartiality challenged by the Islamic interests.
I'm not against Muslim regimes; I'm against any religious regime. I'm in favor of secular governments with total freedom of religion. If you want to be a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, etc… God bless you! You should be able to worship with no fear.
To all of this, we can conclude that Democracy is a process, not some "magic trick", and it's only effective when the people / voters are relatively educated and politicized.
HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIII
visit HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor's website HERE
By HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIIIin Ghassanids, Islam, politics, Religion, Uncategorized May 22, 2016 May 22, 2016 1,194 WordsLeave a comment
Are the titles of nobility still relevant in the 21st century?
The coronation of His Majesty Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French
The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) was may be one of the greatest rulers of all times. He hired a servant with the sole task of walking behind him as he received the accolades of his citizenry; every time the emperor was praised, the servant had been instructed to whisper in his ear, "You're just a man…" Even being the most powerful man on the planet in his time, he was known as a kind and unpretentious person.
His Majesty Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
In my humble opinion, a title of nobility is just a label, a beautiful golden label. We're the product. You can have the most beautiful label in the world but if the product is bad, regardless of the label, it'll still be bad. Personally, I rather a great product with a simple label (or no label at all) than a bad product with a great label. In the end, the product is what matters.
How could I dare to assume that I'm better than, for example, a fireman that saves lives (risking his own) every day for a minuscule paycheck just because I've a title? Nonsense.
The general people misunderstand the concept of Royalty. The sovereign (reigning or not) is the ultimate servant.
Two stories from the Brazilian Empire illustrate exactly my idea of Royalty:
Brazil was an empire from 1822 until 1889. The last emperor was Petrus II "the magnanimous" (1825-1891) known as the "greatest Brazilian". His life taught me the real meaning of royalty. One day, he was receiving ovation from thousands in a public square and his then small daughter and heir, imperial princess Isabel asked the emperor: "one day they will all be mine?" And he wisely replied: "no dear, one day you will belong to them."
His Majesty Brazilian Emperor Petrus (Peter) II
In 1888, the Princess now an adult and acting as regent, signs the law abolishing slavery in Brazil. She did it even after all the imperial ministers advised her that she'd lose the throne of her father if she signed it, since that was a terrible blow in the Brazilian's elite back then. After the signing, the Baron of Cotegipe approached the princess and said: "You've freed a race but just lost the throne!" And she replied: "If a thousand thrones I've had, a thousand thrones I'd give to free the slaves of Brazil!"
That's the real meaning of royalty to me.
A prince is not noble merely by the legitimacy of his claims but, above all, by his character and by the unconditional love for his people.
Her Imperial Highness Princess Isabel of Brazil
A title from a deposed monarchy has little use in our world today. Socially, is more a bother, raising questions and jokes, than actually a privilege. There are better ways to get a good table in a restaurant or to be invited to cool parties.
The reason I'm keeping this tradition is simple: the world is lacking of historical secular advocates for the cause of the Middle Eastern Christians and they're being exterminated as you read these words. There must be a worldwide enduring peace between Christians and Muslims. Also, because there's a legacy that has to be preserved and that heritage belongs to over 15 million Ghassanids and descendants all over the world.
My office is important, my person isn't.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not humble at all. You've to be really arrogant to think you can change the world. But I agree with the late Steve Jobs on the quote:
"the ones crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
I hope I'm "insane enough"…
There's a popular saying which states that the difference between the insane and the genius is measured only by success.
Well, the future will tell…
Now, on a more serious tone, I believe one day, if the persecution of the Middle Eastern Christians stops, also the prejudice for Muslims in the west and the real history of the Middle East can surface being notorious worldwide preserving the Ghassanid heirloom, maybe then will be no need for a Prince of Ghassan. I really hope to live enough to see this day.
By HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIIIin Ghassanids, Royalty, Uncategorized May 19, 2016 July 25, 2016 764 Words4 Comments
Leadership by example
Pope Francis takes Syrian refugees to Rome after the visit in Lesbos…
… and guess what? All the 3 families are Muslim!
What message that sends to the world?
That humanitarianism is the highest expression of religion, or at least, it should be. After all , basic logic dictates that we are humans before being Christian or Muslim.
BRAVO, Pope Francis!
More about the news: http://www.wsj.com/articles/popes-refugee-airlift-was-last-minute-inspiration-1460927822
By The Royal Heraldin Christianity, Islam, Religion, Syria, terrorism, Uncategorized April 18, 2016 April 18, 2016 76 WordsLeave a comment
Sectarianism: a social cancer
How ethnic and religious "labeling" is destroying the Middle East and menacing the whole world
As we watch bewildered the fantastic technological advancements in the world we also see the barbaric reflexes of our still primitive nature. It's absolutely paradoxical to put a man on the moon and still kill each other because of religion or ideology. The rise of groups like
ISIS, recruiting people from many western countries shows how far behind we are regarding tolerance and coexistence.
Before, the worst sectarian conflicts were restricted to the Middle East region, but today we see them infecting the whole world as a social cancer. Unfortunately, the middle eastern "patient" is in a terminal condition and will die very soon if noting is done. As if it was possible the situation in the region to get any worse, some might question. The answer is a rotund "yes"!
Before the so-called "globalization", nations could live almost independently as "social islands". Currently, that behavior became more and more difficult. The most closed and solid regimes are getting more and more poriferous of the novelties from the "free" world. Naturally, the internet has a considerable share on this process of penetrating the once inexpugnable system. The politicians and the religious leaders must fill the gaps creating legal systems where everyone is the same, regardless of any label.
Religions and ideologies are an important part of our individuality and shall be preserved as inalienable rights. However, when those transpire to the political and legal establishment, that's when there are problems.
In a recent article on the Aljazeera's website, the award winning Egyptian-Belgian journalist Khaleb Diab wrote an opinion article called: "Diversity in disunity in the Middle East -The practice of assigning a faith to every citizen promotes division and sectarianism" and he finishes the piece saying:
"It is time for Middle Eastern countries to remove all mention of religious and sectarian affiliation from official documents, and to abolish religious family courts.
This would not only be good for the freedom of belief – not to mention love and the equality of citizens – it would also reinforce a sense of common national identity among communities within a country, promoting a sense of unity in diversity."
We share this opinion. We shall never forget that before everything and anything we are human beings all sharing the same small planet. Sadly, sometimes the labels make us to forget this paramount and self-evident truth.
By HIRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Numan VIIIin Christianity, Islam, Lebanon, Religion, Syria, terrorism, Uncategorized April 14, 2016 April 14, 2016 407 WordsLeave a comment
Lessons from Europe's attacks
Lesson learned from the recent terrorist attacks in Europe: today's terrorists are NOT religious extremists who became radicals, but rather radicals who became religious extremists.
Understanding who's the enemy and why they attack us in less than 5 minutes.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/04/04/exp-gps-0403-take-brussels.cnn
By The Royal Heraldin terrorism, Uncategorized April 5, 2016 April 5, 2016 55 WordsLeave a comment


text:
Building the Future of Lotus
The structure of the new building is slowly coming together.
Abdirahman Hassan, News Reporter
Construction has been going on outside of the secondary entrance since the start of the school year, bringing with it the sounds of jackhammers, welding, and the shouts of construction workers. All of this disruption is due to the construction of the new Science wing expected to be completed around March 27, 2019.
The plans for this project were five years in the making. The process started with Mr. Idil, the previous Executive Director. Now Mr. Hecker is continuing the project with the construction committee.
According to Mr. Hecker, the project has cost around 1.5 million dollars thus far.
The new building will include new labs that accommodate the need for more storage, sinks, and tables within science classrooms.
The new wing is being built with new technology that uses underground pillars drilled into bedrock to hold the building in place. This makes it safer, preventing the building from moving and ensuring the long-term preservation and stability of the structure.
Although the project is expected to be completed in the Spring, students will not have access to the new wing until next school year, as the building will need to undergo tests and be furnished.
Teachers, admin, and students are all very excited about the project.
Senior Zulaykha Ali commented on the construction saying, "It's a shame that this is being completed in my last year of high school, but it will be good for the upcoming students to have more space and more opportunities to learn."
This is the digital mock up for what the completed building will look like.
The Meteor Shower • Copyright 2020 • FLEX WordPress Theme by SNO • Log in


text:
package ru.job4j.view;

import org.junit.Test;
import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;

import static org.hamcrest.core.Is.is;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
/**
 * Created by pacman on 23.06.17.
 * Tests MenuOutException.
 */
public class MenuOutExceptionTest {

    /**
     * Tests exception working.
     */
    @Test
    public void whenThrowsExceptionThenGetMessage() {

        String question = "question";
        int[] rangeOfMenu = {1, 2, 3};
        String outIndex = "4";
        ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(outIndex.getBytes());
        System.setIn(bais);

        String expectedMessage = "Out of menu items!";
        String actual = "Test failure";

        try {
            new ConsoleInput().ask(question, rangeOfMenu);
        } catch (MenuOutException ex) {
            actual = ex.getMessage();
        }

        assertThat(actual, is(expectedMessage));
    }
}


text:
The tower originally called Minas Anor (and later Minas Tirith) was constructed in the early days of Gondor, before the end of the Second Age
Leading westward up from Minas Tirith's sixth tier to its highest, where the Citadel stood
Gondorians (Men of Minas Tirith)
Leading to the Citadel of Gondor at the highest level of Minas Tirith
Alphabetical: S
Miscellaneous Places
Seventh Gate
The gate to the High Court of Minas Tirith
The city of Minas Tirith was divided into seven ascending tiers, each served by its own gate from the tier below. The last of these gates, the Seventh Gate, led to the highest point of the city, the Citadel, with its great White Tower looming over the Place of the Fountain that held the White Tree of the Eldar.
The way to the Seventh Gate led westward and upward from the sixth level of the city, cutting directly through the great bastion of rock that ran up through all seven levels of Minas Tirith. The gate was approached by a lamplit tunnel through the rock, sloping up towards the High Court. The Seventh Gate itself was held within an arch, the keystone of which was carved as a crowned head. Beyond the crowned gate lay the seat of the Kings of Gondor, and of the Stewards who ruled after them.
The High Court beyond the Seventh Gate was guarded by the elite force known as the Guards of the Citadel, black-cloaked and bearing winged helms made from mithril. Beyond the Seventh Gate, no horse was permitted, and so when Gandalf and Peregrin Took passed this way, even Gandalf's great horse Shadowfax was not allowed entrance through the gate.
Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2020. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.
Discus reports contain unrivalled DISC interpretations, including in-depth graphical and textual analysis in natural language.


By sotiris2@ on Sunday, September 27th, 2015 | Comments Off on Looking To Boost Your E-mail Marketing? Try These Tips!
Become An Marketing With Email Success Story With These Great Tips!
By sotiris2@ on Saturday, September 26th, 2015 | Comments Off on Become An Marketing With Email Success Story With These Great Tips!
By sotiris2@ on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015 | Comments Off on Want To Do Marketing Via Email? Here's How!


Happy Baby Soother 9 - 18 months 3 pack, cherry shape, latex. Recommended for babies and toddlers in Australia.
The suction base easily attaches to any surface, great for entertaining baby whilst dining out. Detachable rattle can be used separately. Textured teethers soothe sore gums.
The iCandy MiChair Comfort Pack offers an extra level of comfort. The cushion and seat reducer enable the parent to adjust the size of the seat, allowing the iCandy MiChair to adapt as the child develops. Both cushions are wipe clean with washable covers.Note: iCandy Mi Chair sold seperately.


This text proposes to examine the contemporary crisis of psychoanalysis by taking seriously feminist critiques of the theory's phallocentrism, but arguing that the phallus cannot be metaphorically or metonymically replaced by any substitutive term, as most revisionist theories of psychoanalysis have sought to do. Castration is the central psychoanalytic concept, though the theory always seeks to cover it over. In order to develop a psychoanalysis that can confront this castration that is always repressed and yet, in its persistent return, continuously disrupts the continuity of psychoanalytic theory, a detour is proposed, returning to the origins of psychoanalysis and taking hysteria and the hysteric as its guide, following her down and through her blind alleys and dark continents. The project will examine hysteria's four thousand year history, its radical discontinuity and non-identity as well as its thematic continuities and its relation to the theory of transference and the ego. This will develop into a more comprehensive examination of the ego in psychoanalytic theory with the conclusion that where ego is, hysteria is not, and, where hysteria is, the ego is not. The project will then examine the relationship of Bataille's work and hysteria, particularly his concept of dramatization. Next, the Greek conception of kairos, or the opportune moment, will be examined in its relation to hysteria and introducing the key Lacanian concept of the psychoanalytic act. This will culminate in an exploration of the close relationship – and the project's central theoretical construction – of hysteria and the psychoanalytic act. Against any phallic mastery, the cure of psychoanalysis is a facing up to the real of castration, and both the psychoanalyst and the hysteric must let themselves fall in order to begin (again). This letting fall of the psychoanalytic act is the central object of inquiry in the dissertation, and it will be examined in its temporality and in its relationship to transference, to free association, to evenly suspended attention, to knowledge, to violence, and to castration. This fall will be examined from several angles in this work in its relation to the psychoanalytic theory of cure and more specific theories of technique: the fall of the analyst's knowledge, of her sense of mastery and control, the fall into the unconscious through evenly suspended attention (the unconscious of analysand and analyst alike), the fall of imaginary and symbolic crutches that have propped up both analysand and analyst and defended them against the real, and, finally, the analyst's fall as subject supposed to know that marks the end of a psychoanalysis. The final section of the project will examine the consequences of this theorization to questions of psychoanalytic training.
Oyer, Matthew W., "Let Fall: Hysteria and the Psychoanalytic Act" (2016). CUNY Academic Works.


text:
Country star Watson finds strength after loss
CHIP CHANDLER
Aaron Watson's latest album may be called "Real Good Time," but it was recorded during one of the darkest times of the Amarillo native's life.
The album, released in October at a career-best No. 9 on the Billboard country music charts, was recorded just months after the death of Watson's youngest child, Julia Grace, born prematurely on Oct. 10, 2011.
"We had her for a few hours, and it was probably the highlight of my life," said Watson, who returns home for a Friday show at Midnight Rodeo, 4400 S. Georgia St. "It was tough, but I wouldn't change it for nothing."
It was so rough, in fact, that Watson took a break from music.
"The last thing I wanted to do was play a stupid guitar," he said. "My heart just wasn't into it."
He struggled with writing songs, rescheduled studio time and continually prayed for strength. Finally, around Christmas of that year, he found his motivation again.
"I hung my guitar up and said, 'God, if this is what you want me to do, I could sure use some help,'" Watson said. "A couple of weeks later, I woke up refreshed and ready to go."
So ready that the songs just flowed out of him.
"I wrote the majority of this record in just a small amount of time, and it recorded itself," he said. "It was a real easy experience, and it was fun."
The album was eventually released a day after what would have been Julia Grace's first birthday.
"That was kind of a tough week," Watson said. "Here I am, trying to be excited about this new record but at the same time, I'm sitting on a bus far from my family going, 'We should be having our baby's first birthday today.' ... I remember looking down at my watch around noon and thinking that a year ago, she was still with us."
A few days later, Watson learned that his album had cracked the Billboard country Top 10.
"We were right in the middle of the Carrie Underwoods, the Kenny Chesneys, all of the mainstream, stadium country-rock acts. I just kind of chuckled," he said. "For me, that was God saying, 'I told you we were going to get you through this.'"
Today, Watson, his wife and their three children still feel Julia Grace's presence in their lives.
"I feel like I'm a better dad and a better husband because of her," Watson said. "Our kids are still so young - especially a year and a half ago - and they talk about her all the time.
"I know I'm going to see her again," Watson said. "If people think that's a cliche, let them think it's a cliche. But it's also the truth."


Other than the off-the-shoulder trend that I'm obsessing over at the moment- I'm also super into floral maxi dresses. The reason why I love a great floral dress for spring and now into summer is because they make the perfect wedding guest attire. Lets face it, most of us have a wedding or two to attend during the summer and what a better way to invite wedding season than with florals? It is an easy and charming style that is both timeless and feminine and not to mention always appropriate.
To demonstrate this beautiful dress that I actually got last year during fall, we traveled to one of the most famous winery in the Okanagan region. A magnificent estate situated on top of a hill that overlooks the Okanagan lake,Mission Hill is a sight to be seen. With its grand architecture, view and vineyard, this winery serves as the perfect backdrop for this petal beauty. Elegant and sophisticated, this dark green chiffon floral dress is a delight to wear to a garden, country or vineyard wedding.
This dress in all its pulchritudinous form is a little hard to wear for my petite figure, so a belt is much needed to give me shape. Since this dress is a darker shade, I didn't want any colours to compete with it so I kept my accessories all along the same palette with only a slight gold detail on my clutch. I didn't think this outfit needed any jewelry but if you think that it might be too bare, some rose gold earrings and matching rings would do.
I hope you have enjoyed this look and do visit Mission Hill if you are in the area, as they have one of the best wine tasting tours around that is well worth your time and money.
Love it!! These photos are amazing. I like the maxi dress too, the way it's styled. Nice job!!
thank you so much and visiting my page !!


Posted by Bruce Johnson on August 15, 2017.
Want to make learning to read even more adventurous? There are so many reading games and activities that will not only help your child to improve reading skills but that are fun to play! A few of these games have options for purchase, but most of the games can easily be created at home for free or with objects you probably already have at home. E've broken them down by reading level, but many of these games can be easily-modified for other reading levels.
A homemade Memory game, for example, can be adapted for all different abilities. This is a stimulating game that can be played with pre-readers with pictures and letters, beginning readers with word families, and stronger readers with vocabulary or spelling words. For pre-readers, find two pictures in a book or magazine with the same animal, cut them out, and glue them to index cards. Or for other readers, write letters, word families, vocabulary or spelling words on the index cards. Still for other readers, write a vocabulary word on one card and a definition on another card. You could even choose new words related to winter, spring, summer, or fall, whichever season it happens to be at the time.
To continue the Memory game, shuffle the cards and place them face down on a flat surface. The first player turns over one card, and then turns over a second card. If the two cards match, that player takes those two cards. If the two cards do not match, then both cards are placed face down again, and the next player plays. Start with a limited number of cards and increase the number of cards as the skill level increases.
Some of these educational games will be just as much fun as non-educational games, with added benefits. A few of these games will involve some extra effort, and special attention will be needed to make those games more exciting. Being as cheerful and supportive as possible will help. After all, this is still work, as learning to read is work – but that doesn't mean it can't be fun, too!
Start off with something like, "I am taking a trip to the beach. I am taking a cat with me. What else rhymes with cat that I can take with me?" Correct responses include words that rhyme with cat, like bat, hat, and sat. For more rounds, move onto more rhymes. Then expand to letter prompts with something like, "I am taking a trip to the beach. I am taking a ball with me. What else begins with the /b/ sound that I can take with me?" Correct responses include words that begin with the same sound as ball, like balloon or blanket. For more rounds, move onto new letters.
Stand up and face your child. Choose a simple 3 or 4 letter word that has 3 sounds, like the words cat, read, or bake. Say the word, then say the sounds. Each of you touch your head for the first sound, your waist for the second sound, and your knees for the third sound. For the word nap, for example, say the word, then touch your head when saying the /n/ sound, your waist when saying the short /a/ sound as in cat, and your knees when saying the /p/ sound. Try about 10 to 15 words.
Children need to learn how items are similar and different in order to become successful readers. Matching numbers will help a child to match letters, so try this traditional matching game. Make modifications to pictures instead of numbers. Make further modifications for older children to include homemade dominoes with words that rhyme, letters, words that begin with the same letters, sight words or high frequency words, or spelling words.
Materials needed include: colored paper, markers, scissors, a cooking pot, and a spoon. Print your child's name on a card, or ask your child to print her name on a card to keep in front of her. Print all players' names neatly on colored paper, cut out the individual letters, and place those letters into a pretend pot of soup. Pass the pot around with a wooden spoon and invite everyone to stir the letters. Each player then takes a letter from the pot. If it matches a letter in their name, they take the letter. If not, the letter goes back into the pot, and the pot gets passed to the next person. Play continues until all of the letters are matched to all of the players.
These games can be purchased at a store or can be made at home. To make a game, start by making a 5-by-5 grid. Put random letters into the grid. Choose letters you child still needs to learn. Also make a pile of letter cards. Play with regular rules. Modifications can be made to matching letters with given letter sounds. Instead of reading the letter, make the letter sound. Further variations for older children include creating Bingo cards with sight words, vocabulary words or high frequency words, or spelling words.
Connect the Dots activities are easy to make. Create pictures, letters, or names. Start with just dots, then graduate to the traditional numbers, and then graduate to letters that follow the alphabet. Not creating something needing all 26 letters of the alphabet? That's fine. Start with a letter in the middle of the alphabet and practice that part of the sequence.
This is an easy game to play almost anywhere, and whenever there are a few free minutes. The prompt is: "I spy something in this room that begins with the /b/ sound." (Make the sound that the letter b makes.) The child then asks more specific questions such as, "Is it blue?" or "Is it bigger than a bread box?" or "Is it on that wall?" Answers can be "yes" or "no" until the child discovers the correct answer. Additional hints can be given after each question if necessary. This helps improve both comprehension and processing skills. Graduate to play I Spy during a read-aloud and relate to the story, or relate to another story that your child may already know.
Memory is perhaps the best matching game that can be adapted to many different reading skills. Take some words, about 5 or 6 words, from your child's reading or that your child is working on. Make two cards for each word, place the word cards face down, take two cards at a time, and try to find words that are the same. Be sure to read the word. This can be modified for older children to include words on one card to be matched to the definitions of the words on the other cards.
Choose a word from a story being read, a vocabulary word, or a spelling word. Draw a short line for each letter in the chosen word. The child guesses a letter. If correct, the letter is written on the appropriate line. If incorrect, a part of a face is drawn. The goal is for the child to guess the word before the face is completed. For more amusement, create the silliest faces possible.
Cut 2-by-2-inch squares from paper or cardboard and print letters and letter combinations on each square. Include about 12 consonants and 2 vowels. Place the cards letter side up in front of your child. Ask your child to make and say words using the letters available. For example, your child could choose the letters f, g, o, and r and make the word frog. Then change some of the letters to make a new word such as dog, fog, and log. Try to make as many words as possible that follow a pattern, and then move onto new patterns.
This could either be a silly sentence game or a serious game. Ask your child to write a sentence on a piece of paper, or find a sentence from a recent read-aloud. Cut out the individual words to the sentence. Jumble the words and then recreate the same sentence. Afterwards, try to rearrange the words into a new sentence or something silly.
The adult starts as the tagger. The child runs around. When the tagger tags the child, the child freezes like a statue. The child can run around again when he can say two words that rhyme. For example, the child can say something like bag and tag. This game can be modified to include multiple players. It can also be modified to two words that begin with the same sounds. For example, the child can say tag and truck. Or can be modified to segment words. The child can say tag, and then can say the 3 sounds in the word, as in the letter /t/ sound, the short /a/ sound as in cat, and the letter /g/ sound. Expand to defining or spelling words.
Ready for a game designed just for your family? Create a night when everyone takes a crazy word to the dinner table. Challenge all family members to find words with unusual spellings. Start with the newspaper where you might find a wealth of words and a variety of usages. Scanning the dictionary should be acceptable and even suggested. An internet search might reveal some interesting words, too. Words like vacuum (one of the few words with the double letter u) might become the most unusual presentation one night. Look for words with the double letter i together. Look for words or names that have five or more connected consonants. Participants can vote for the craziest word.
Almost all board games require some sort of reading. It's important here to remember who should do most of that reading. Is the oldest player doing all of the reading? Or are all of the players doing their own reading? In Monopoly, encourage your child to read his own cards. Remember to help when needed as this is still a game and the goal is fun. However, the more reading, no matter what the setting, the better.
Many children enjoy traditional games like Risk or Monopoly. However, there are many more board games that promote word building skills. Check out games like Boggle, Boggle Jr., Probe, Scrabble, Scrabble Jr., Quizzler, or Word Yahtzee (many variations of these games are also available online or on phone apps). Presented with some challenge, these games can quickly become the games of choice.
Play a scavenger hunt game by writing notes that send your child to another note and eventually to a surprise. Start with a message in the kitchen that instructs the reader to go to another part of the house, look for something special, and then look for an additional note. Create about 9 or 10 notes. Lead the reader back to the kitchen for an ice cream sundae, or to the bedroom for a book on the bed as a present. Request to your child that she make her own scavenger hunt for you to complete.
Are you interested in crossword puzzles, word finds, or jumbles? Share your interest with your child. Start with age appropriate puzzles, and help your child learn more about word parts, definitions, and variations. What are the long-term benefits? Researchers say that word puzzles keep the mind active and healthy for all ages. A crossword habit started now just might become the crossword habit continued forever.
Playing with letters is a wonderful way to reinforce letters and letter sounds, and to challenge your successful reader. On a sheet of paper, write a simple message, for instance: "You are a fantastic reader." On another piece of paper, write the letter that comes after each letter, for instance: "Zpv bsf b gboubtujd sfbefs". Your child can then attempt to break the code. After your child masters this code, create something more difficult. Please note that some children may need some extra help to get started.
Do you have an older child in your house who can pair up with a younger sibling? Encourage that child to play one of the previously mentioned games with a younger sibling. Whether it's one of the pre-reader games like Memory, or one of the beginning reader games like Silly Sentences, your reluctant and struggling reader will not only benefit by teaching the directions, but may also benefit from reinforcing present skills.
Some reluctant and struggling readers like a challenge. Make a word search with words from a reading, a spelling list, or a vocabulary list, for your reader. First, make a simple grid on a sheet of paper, or use graph paper, that is 8 squares across and 8 squares down. Second, write 7 or 8 words in the grid, with one letter per space. Make the words across and/or down. Next, fill in the empty spaces with random letters. Challenge your reader to find the words. Note that you may need to include a word bank. That is a list of the words to be found.
This simple game is the perfect game for letter practice. Set up a traditional Tic-Tac-Toe board. This means a 3 by 3 grid. Instead of using the usual X and O letters, choose other letters the child is learning. For example, one player takes the letter b and the other player takes the letter d. Players take turns putting down letters, and the first player to make a pattern of 3 letters in a row becomes the winner. Instead of letters, older players can use sight words or high frequency words, vocabulary words or spelling words.
Sometimes struggling and reluctant readers are the most creative. How about inspiring that reader to make an original board game for the family to play? These games will most likely need to come with directions which the reluctant and struggling reader will need to read and write, but will also most likely come with cards which will require additional reading and writing. Anything that increases reading time, whether in small increments or larger doses, is beneficial.
Jigsaw puzzles are perfect for increasing attention span and focus skills. Readers need to be able to do this in order to be able to read and focus on longer and longer passages. Start by finding appropriate puzzles for the present attention span and slowly increase as appropriate. Want to make your own jigsaw puzzle? Cut out a picture from a magazine, glue to cardboard, cut out individual jigsaw pieces, mix up, and put back together.
These children may need to get up, head out of the house, and move around. All you need is a ball to play a game of baseball catch. Instead of just catching the ball and returning it, the catcher says a word that rhymes, begins with the same letter, or blends a word together. For example, the thrower says: ball, and the catcher says call. Or the thrower says ball, and the catcher says bat. Or the thrower says the three sounds in the word bat as in the sounds /b/, short /a/ sound as in cat, and /t/, and the catcher says bat.
Computers offer a variety of options these days. For all ages, check out some author pages. Jan Brett, for example, presents a webpage that offers basic information about herself as an author and illustrator, but also presents a variety of activities from additional topic information to word searches to coloring pages. Check it out at www.JanBrett.com. Also check out www.MaryPopeOsborne.com or www.JKRowling.com. These are all worth the visit.
There are other sites that offer a variety of mind stimulating and challenging reading games. These include crossword puzzles, word searches, word scrambles, word plays, and coloring pages created for all levels. For starters, check out www.FunBrain.com, or www.ReadWriteThink.org, or www.PbsKids.org, or www.SurfNetKids.com. Do an internet search for others.
What about just games? What about just computer/phone games for complete fun? There is still plenty of value. First of all, there are the directions to the games to read. Second of all, there are the websites that further explain special moves. Encourage your child to explore those websites (under adult supervision) and learn more. Monitoring and assisting may be necessary, but the motivation to learn is high, and these readers will soon see that reading to learn has value. The key is to balance with other reading. Allow some time for computer play, and then afterwards insist upon reading with books, magazines, or newspapers.


Calculates an approximating cubic spline for two-dimensional input data.
An array of any dimensionality (last dimension must be nxi) containing the functional values at the input data coordinates given by xi and yi. That is, zi(...,i) is the input function value at (xi(i),yi(i)) for i=0 to nxi-1.
A scalar or an array of length nxi containing weights for the zi values at the input xi values. If wts is an array, then wts(k) is a weight for the value of zi(...,k) for k=0,nxi-1. If you do not desire to weight the input zi values, then set wts equal to -1. The weights in the wts array are relative and may be set to any non-negative value. When csa2xs is called, the weights are summed and the individual weights are normalized so that the weight sum is unity.
The number of knots to be used in constructing the approximating surface. knots(0) and knots(1) must both be at least 4. The larger the value for knots, the closer the approximated surface will come to passing through the input function values.
Specifies whether you want functional values (nderiv=0), first derivative values (nderiv=1), or second derivative values (nderiv=2) in each of the two coordinate directions.
A one-dimensional array of length nxo containing the X coordinates of grid points on the output surface.
A one-dimensional array of length nyo containing the Y coordinates of grid points on the output surface.
An array containing the calculated functional values. The array will be dimensioned N x nxo x nyo, where N represents all but the last dimension of zi. If zo is the returned value, then zo(...,i,j) contains the functional value at coordinate (xo(i),yo(j)).
The following three two-dimensional functions all do the same thing, differing only in the type of the input and output arrays: csa2 (generic input/output); csa2s (single input/output); csa2d (double input/output).
If you want to weight the input data values, calculate derivatives, or handle sparse data areas specially, you should instead use one of these "expanded" functions (note the "x" following the "2" in the name): csa2x (generic input/output); csa2xs (single input/output); csa2xd (double input/output).
If you want to compute function values at a specified list of coordinate positions, rather than at coordinate positions forming a rectangular grid, you should use one of these six "list form" functions (note the "l" following the "2" in the name): csa2l; csa2ls; csa2ld; csa2lx; csa2lxs; csa2lxd.
;  Calculate the approximated function values.


Kick off your visit on the 17th (Tue): see the interesting displays at Royal Yacht Britannia, take in the dramatic natural features at Arthur's Seat, then take in the architecture and atmosphere at St Giles' Cathedral, and finally engage your brain at Camera Obscura and World of Illusions. Get ready for a full day of sightseeing on the 18th (Wed): steep yourself in history at Real Mary King's Close, make a trip to The Royal Mile, and then explore the historical opulence of Edinburgh Castle.
To see other places to visit, more things to do, ratings, and other tourist information, you can read our Edinburgh online trip builder .
In July, plan for daily highs up to 22°C, and evening lows to 12°C. Finish up your sightseeing early on the 18th (Wed) so you can travel back home.


While there is typically nothing funny about murder, author Tom Kranz manages to draw out more than a few smiles in his new novel Budland. The protagonist and a professional smart aleck, Bud Remmick, finds himself in jail after killing his intolerable boss, and he doesn't seem to regret the choice in the least. The novel skips back and forth between life behind bars and the life Bud left behind, giving readers a better picture of why a seemingly smart and driven man would throw his freedom away for a single act of reckoning.
Bud is a fascinating character at the center of the tale, particularly in his responses to the challenges and dangers of prison life. However, as the book goes on, it becomes clear that his ingenious plan to rid himself of a terrible boss – and terrible person – may end up eliminating all the other good from his life, including his wife and his self-image.
Hilariously tongue-in-cheek at times, and thoughtfully profound at others, Kranz delivers a unique and entertaining book in Budland. As much as this book is about existence within the prison system, it is also squarely focused on the prisons we form in our own lives, and the extreme methods of escape some people inevitably choose. As such, it's a well-rounded novel, in turns harrowing, heartfelt, and amusing, all of which Kranz deftly balances throughout this compelling story.
I worked with Tom Kranz for over ten years in the local television news business. Tom was one of the most talented writer/producers I've known in over 40 years in the business. "Budland" comes from his sharp observations of life in a TV newsroom and emotions that lead to life changing consequences. The story of Bud Remmick comes right out today's headlines about sexual harassment in the workplace. Bud's own anger issues and hatred of his boss drive him to seek revenge for his victimized female colleague that changes his life. Bud pays for his actions by going to prison, threatening his marriage, and destroying his career. Tom's authentic dialogue and character development will draw you into a world of a man fighting his own demons and how he comes to understand what he did and why. You'll meet the damaged victim, the boss you'll love to hate, the lawyer with his own motives, the prison superintendent with a past, and Bud's wife who also finds herself a victim. This is Tom's first promising novel, and it's certainly worth a trip to "Budland".
Tom Kranz's imagery set the stage of prison life that made it feel all so real. Like actually being there. Behind bars. The main character was so well-developed that it left little question about his troubled inner thoughts and demons. Like him or not, I came to know him well. The storyline never wavered as it remained on track throughout the tale. This character-driven narrative was penned with an easy-to-read style of prose. It was enjoyable - beginning to end.
Borden "Bud" Remmick age 45, had been senior producer at Kaleidoscope News when his life had taken a dramatic downturn. He had been found guilty for the murder of his boss. As bad luck would have it, he was culpable for a mountain of books that had crashed down ending his former employer's life. Death by book. That might be a first. He hadn't planned to kill him. It had been ruled involuntary manslaughter and had been sentenced to spend the next four to six years of his life in Kings Pointe Correctional Institution.
Bud seemed to adjust right away to life in the joint: three square meals a day, access to TV, books, exercise and a place to sleep. What more could he ask for? Let me see - maybe freedom. The author suddenly threw in a shocking twist. From out of the clear blue, Bud had gotten shanked by his longtime cellmate. A makeshift shiv had been plunged deep into Bud's right side. As he lie bleeding profusely on the cell floor, Bud did not know what could have provoked such a deadly attack. Only months away from serving out his full sentence, he had hoped to make it home to his wife. Maybe a new beginning. A fresh start. Both time and blood were running out.