In this letter, we report the single-molecule conductance properties of a cyano-functionalized perylene-diimide derivative (PDI8-CN2) investigated with gold nano-electrodes. This molecule is of large interest for the fabrication of high-performance and air-stable n-type organic field-effect transistors. Low-bias experiments performed on mechanically controllable break junctions reveal the presence of two different values of the single-molecule conductance, which differ by about two orders of magnitudes. Up to date, this feature was never observed for other perylene-diimide compounds having alternative chemical moieties attached to the basic aromatic core. Theoretical calculations suggest that the highest single-molecule conductance value here observed, comprised between 10−2 and 10−3 G0, is related to a charge transport path directly linking the two cyano groups.
Perylene-diimide (PDI) molecules are aromatic compounds, being synthesized for the first time one century ago, and then widely employed as industrial organic pigments . In the second half of the 1990s, the scientific and technological interest for this chemical family was considerably renewed by the demonstration of their appealing opto-electronic properties to be exploited in the development of innovative devices [2–4]. In particular, it was demonstrated that, in reason of their excellent self-assembling properties, PDI films are capable to effectively carry charges when used as active channels of n-type (electron transporter) Organic Field-Effect Transistors (OFET) [5, 6]. In this regard, it is worth to mention that, still at present, the available number of efficient n-type organic semiconductors is significantly smaller than that of p-type (hole transporter) counterparts, posing severe limitations to the full development of complementary integrated organic circuits.
In the last 20 years, considerable research efforts have been consequently undertaken to synthesize novel PDI derivatives, displaying even better charge transport properties with the specific requirement to preserve the electrical behavior quality also under ambient conditions. Within this context, perylene-diimide molecules (PDI_CY), functionalized through the insertion of cyano (C≡N) groups in the bay molecular region, have been demonstrated to exhibit unique performances [7, 8]. Indeed, several experimental works have clarified that the cyano functionalization allows to considerably lower the LUMO levels (down to −4.5 eV) without impairing the PDI self-assembling capabilities. In the realization of n-type OFET, the LUMO level lowering provides a twofold beneficial effect: firstly, an effective charge-injection can be achieved using gold or other high work function metals, and secondly, the electron transport is made less sensitive to charge trapping mechanisms related to the interaction with ambient agents such as oxygen and humidity . Moreover, when deposited in form of films by evaporation, PDI_CY molecules follow a basic layer-by-layer growth mode on various surfaces of relevant technological interest, such as for example SiO2 dielectric layers [9, 10].
Nowadays, PDI_CY n-type OFET, exhibiting charge carrier mobility higher than 1 cm2/Volt sec [11, 12] are among the most studied devices in the emerging field of organic electronics . PDI_CY semiconducting films exhibit also a strong interaction with light and the electrical response of the related devices can be so largely modified through the illumination by visible radiation .
Despite these appealing properties, up to date there is a substantial lack of experimental studies focalized on the charge transport properties of the PDI_CY molecules at the nanoscale level. In particular, the electrical behavior of single molecular PDI_CY junctions has never been investigated, different from what reported for other PDI compounds, functionalized with thiol or pyridil anchoring groups at imide side positions , which have been characterized even in three-terminal single-molecule devices displaying intriguing electronic functionalities [15, 16]. To this purpose, it is to be outlined that the electrical testing of single-molecule PDI_CY devices should be inherently favored by the presence of the cyano moieties, playing the role of anchoring groups with respect to gold nano-electrodes . As reported also in another recent study focalized on synchrotron-based experiments, indeed, a strong chemical interaction, basically mediated by the presence of the cyano groups, takes place between PDI_CY molecules and Au surface .
Beyond the perspective to develop nanoscale or single-molecule devices with robust electronic functionalities, the study of PDI_CY molecular junctions could offer significant contributions also in elucidating some fundamental and still unclear aspects concerning the electrical response of devices based on large solid-state assemblies of these molecules. In particular, variations at the nanoscale level in the bonding configurations between molecules and electrode atoms could lead to not negligible fluctuations in the local electronic structure of the metal-organic interfaces . As widely recognized, this interfacial energetics plays a fundamental role in the charge-injection basic phenomena which, for many organic devices, can strongly affect the overall electrical response.
In this paper, the conductance properties of single PDI_CY molecules are studied by using mechanically controllable break junctions (MCBJ) employing gold nano-electrodes. MCBJ technique represents a fundamental approach to study the electronic properties of single molecules, offering a continuously tunable gap size between two nanometer-sized metallic electrodes with picometer resolution, high mechanical stability of the system, and reduction of contaminants [20–22]. Through MCBJ experiments, single-molecule conductances of several compounds, ranging from dielectric alkanes via π-conjugated molecular wires to organic conductors like oligothiophenes, were recently investigated [23–25]. In this work, single molecular junctions were fabricated considering N,N0–bis(n-octyl)-1,6-dicyanoperylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide (PDI8-CN2) molecules. A large series of conductance curves was collected and converted into one- and two-dimensional conductance histograms. From a statistical analysis of our experimental data, we extract the most probable conductance of the PDI8-CN2 single molecular junctions. The experimental observations are then discussed in the light of density functional theory (DFT) combined with non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) calculations, estimating the transmission coefficients trough different paths for a PDI8-CN2 molecule in gas phase.
PDI8-CN2 (see Fig. 1a for the molecular structure) was purchased from the POLYERA company and used without any further purification. The MCBJ devices were fabricated by patterning a gold wire by electron-beam lithography on top of a flexible phosphorous bronze substrate, coated with an insulating layer of polyimide. The nanowire central region consists of a 40 nm-wide constriction, suspended on the substrate after the etching of the polyimide by reactive ion etching in O2-CF4 plasma. More details on the MCBJ fabrication process can be found in [19, 18]. The MCBJ overall structure is schematically shown in Fig. 1b.
During the electrical characterization, the flexible substrate was clamped between two lateral supports and its central part was put in contact with a pushing rod, driven by a piezoelectric system. When the substrate was bent, the gold nanowire was stretched until its rupture and two nano-sized electrodes were formed whose separation can be adjusted mechanically. The technique consists of repeatedly moving the two metallic nano-electrodes into and out of contact. After the introduction of molecules into the gap, these may bridge the two electrodes and their electronic properties can be determined for different values of the electrode separation.
Statistical analysis allowed us to obtain the most probable conductance values for a single-molecule junction by collecting thousands of breaking curves (see Fig. 1c) and building conductance histograms. In this work, the conductance of the MBCJ devices was measured at room temperature applying a bias voltage of 0.1 V and measuring the related current (sampling rate of 2 KHz) by a battery-powered logarithmic amplifier capable of recording currents over a range of nine orders of magnitude. During the electrical tests, the pushing rod was moved at the speed of 4 nm/s. To improve the reproducibility of our results, different samples were considered during various days.
Concerning calculations, we used the Amsterdam Density Functional (ADF) quantum chemistry package [26, 27]. The calculations were performed using a triple-ζ plus polarization (TZP), Slater-type orbital local basis-set in the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof parameterization of the generalized gradient approximation functional (GGA-PBE) . Using the NEGF formalism, the molecule was connected to wide-band limit contacts, and the transmission was calculated .
For the realization of the molecular break junctions, PDI8-CN2 was first dissolved (1 mmol concentration) in dichloromethane at room temperature and, then, the molecules were deposited by pipetting a 2 μL droplet of this solution on the MBCJ devices.
A representative set of conductance versus displacement curves, recorded while separating the electrodes, is reported in Fig. 1c. As shown, all these experimental curves exhibit a plateau in conductance at a value close to 1 G0 (G0 = 2e2/h ~77.5 μS), the quantum of conductance. This occurrence confirms the formation of a single Au-Au bond bridging the gap between the two MCBJ electrodes. Some of the recorded breaking curves (the black ones in Fig. 1c) did not display any signature related to the presence of PDI8-CN2 molecules. In this case, indeed, we observe only through-space tunneling between the metallic electrodes, with the measured conductance decreasing exponentially as a function of the electrode displacement. The lack of counts between 1 and 10−3 G0 has been assigned to the fast retraction of the first gold atoms after the breaking of the nanowire (jump out-of-contact) . It should be also outlined that the noise level for the considered experimental set-up was estimated lower than 2 · 10−7 G0 (see the noise in the conductance present in all the traces around 2 10−7 G0 in Fig. 1c).
For other breaking curves (the orange ones in Fig. 1c), the formation of junctions with a PDI8-CN2 molecule actually bridging the two nano-electrodes was identified by the observation of conductance (G) plateaus mainly located in the range between 10−2 and 10−3 G0 and characterized by a length of around 1 nm. Some of these curves also showed a slight and continuous decrease in conductance as a function of the stretching distance, followed by a steep drop occurring at about 10−4 G0.
In order to get a more quantitative description of the main features above identified, several thousands of individual breaking traces were recorded. Then, they were further analyzed by constructing conductance histograms to extract statistically significant results as a function of the electrode displacement values. Figure 2a reports the corresponding one-dimensional (1D) histogram, built from 2656 consecutive breaking curves.
Here, the peak appearing at 1 G0, due to single gold atom contacts, is a sign of atomically sharp contacts. Below 1 G0, no clear peaks are present in the range between 10−2 G0 and 10−4 G0, while, instead, an increase of counts between 10−4 G0 and 10−6 G0 appears evident. This last feature could be related to a superimposition effect between counts associated to the tunneling phenomenon between the nano-electrodes and counts ascribable to the low-conductance molecular paths.
A more meaningful description about the overall set of the recorded breaking curves was gained by the construction of a two-dimensional conductance histogram, where the number of counts is plotted for any specific conductance/electrode displacement combination (Fig. 2b). This 2D graph was achieved by aligning all individual conductance traces to a common zero displacement reference point, taken at the rupture of the gold metallic contact. In the two-dimensional histogram, besides the clear region of high counts around 1G0 , it is also well distinguishable an area (mainly yellow colored) of high counts for conductance values between 10−2 and 10−3 G0 and electrode displacement ranging between 0.5 and 1 nm.
The second region exhibiting high counts (mainly red colored), instead, extends over the electrode displacement region between 1 and 2 nm and is due to the partial overlap between the tunneling phenomenon (due to the empty junctions) and the molecular paths displaying G values lower than 10−4 G0. In order to estimate the most probable conductance values of single PDI8-CN2 molecules, conditional 1D- and 2D-histograms, achieved from the selection of individual curves showing only high-G or low-G plateaus, were constructed (Fig. 3).
The 1D-histogram in Fig. 3a was utilized to extract the most probable high-G value by fitting the broad peak in the region between 10−2 and 10−3 G0 to a Gaussian function (see Additional file 1). The best fit was so obtained for a Gaussian centered at the value of 2.5 10−3 G0. On the other hand, the histogram in Fig. 3b displays instead a very well defined peak located at 1.8 10−5 G0, which can be consequently taken directly as the most probable value for the low-G-region. The related 2D-histogram (Fig. 3d), where the tunneling phenomenon contributions have been excluded, makes also clear that the low-G molecular path is centered at about 1 nm.
It is quite significant to remember that recent experiments, performed through the STM-based break junction approach on other perylene-diimide derivatives with different functionalization in the bay or side aromatic regions, reveal the presence for all these compounds of only one most probable molecule junction conductance value which, in any case, never exceeds 10−4 G0 [13, 11].
To gain better insight in the transport mechanism of the perylene molecular junctions, we model the charge transport in the molecule. Theoretically, the transport of charge through a molecule can be described as a transmission between the different molecular orbitals in the Landauer formalism. We have calculated the transmission through the PDI8-CN2 molecule using the NEGF method with a DFT calculation of the ground-state electron density. In Fig. 4a, we show the calculated charge density plot of the π-like frontier orbitals HOMO, LUMO, and LUMO+2 calculated from DFT. We notice that HOMO-1 and HOMO-2 as well as LUMO+1 are σ-orbitals, and thus do not contribute significantly to the transport. In Fig. 4b, we plot the calculated transmission through the π-system in the wide-band limit for two different charge-injection cases that simulate two possible molecule-electrode configurations. In one case, the charge is injected in the nitrogen atoms (N1) of the cyano groups (path 1, red curve), and in the other case, the charge is injected in the pyridil-like terminal (N2) nitrogen atoms (path 2, blue curve), as shown schematically in the inset of Fig. 4b.
At energies between the HOMO (−6.6 eV) and LUMO (−5.1 eV) energies, the transmission through path 1 is much larger than through path 2. Thus, the injection of the charge in the N1 atoms provides an electrical path that is around two orders of magnitude less resistive than the path through the other couple of N2 atoms. The length of path 1 and of path 2, measured from nitrogen to nitrogen, is 0.95 nm in the first case and 1.13 nm in the second case and this difference alone cannot explain the large difference between the conductance of the two paths. Instead, the reason for the large conductance change can be found in the shape of the molecular orbitals extracted from DFT (Fig. 4a). When inspecting the frontier orbitals HOMO and LUMO, one sees that on the cyano nitrogen atoms there is some finite density of states, while, at the positions of N2 nitrogen atoms, a node in the wave-function appears, making the effective density of states on those atoms zero. To recover some density of π-states on the terminal N2 atoms, one has to look for the LUMO+2 and HOMO-5 orbitals. The larger effective transport gap of path 2 (HOMO-5/LUMO+2) in respect to the normal gap of path 1 (HOMO/LUMO) can explain the difference in conductance between the two configurations.
Thus, DFT and NEGF calculations of the PDI8-CN2 molecule indicate the presence of two possible electrical paths through the molecule. A shorter and more conducting path, related to the cyano groups, and a longer and more resistive path, through the terminal (N2) nitrogen atoms. The ratio between the conductance of the two paths and the difference in length are comparable with the two experimental conductance paths, found from the histogram analysis of Fig. 3. At this level of theory, a quantitative agreement with the experiments is not expected and can be coincidental. Nevertheless, the experimental ratio (R EXP = 130) between high and low-conductance paths is very similar to the theoretical ratio between the conductance of path 1 and 2. The experiment length of the traces is also comparable with the length of the two paths found from theory (see Additional file 1). We thus assign the experimental high conductance traces to junctions where the molecule interacts with the metal through the cyano groups. The low-conductance traces, instead, can be assigned to the conduction through N2 atoms (path 2).
In this regard, it is quite interesting to outline that recent experiments involving molecular junctions based on different PDI compounds, without the functionalization of the cyano groups in the bay region, have demonstrated the occurrence of only one most probable conductance state with G values never exceeding 10−4 G0 [11, 13]. In particular, for PDI compounds terminated with pyridyl anchoring groups, most probable junction conductance values are quite close to that here estimated for the molecular path involving the terminal nitrogen (N2) atoms . This comparison seems to give a further confirmation about the role of the CN groups in the introduction of charge transport paths with improved conducting features through the single molecules.
Mechanically controllable break junction experiments and DFT calculations performed in this work suggest that the functionalization through the insertion of cyano (C≡N) in the basic perylene-diimide aromatic core is able to determine a preferential charge transport molecular path exhibiting a high conductance value comprised between 10−2 e 10−3 G0. This value is about two orders of magnitude larger than that can be achieved by considering instead a path linking the pyridil-like terminal (N2) nitrogen atoms. The low-G value here observed is compatible with single molecule conductances recently reported for other perylene-diimide compounds in absence of the cyano functionalization. Future experiments on PDI_CY single molecular junctions are envisaged to confirm the interest of this class of compounds to be applied in the realization of nanoscale devices.
MB, AC, and LP acknowledge the financial support from CNR-INFN national project (PREMIALE 2012) EOS "Organic Electronics for Innovative research instrumentation". HvdZ and RF acknowledge support from the Dutch organization for Fundamental Research (FOM) and from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW).
Additional file 1: Single-molecule break junctions based on a perylene-diimide cyano-functionalized (PDI8-CN 2 ) derivative.
The experiments, including the analysis of data, were performed by RF and MB. LP, HvdZ and AC conceived the experiments and co-wrote the paper. The calculations were performed by RF. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.


text:
Hockey East
NCAA Hockey: Johnny Gaudreau Heir Apparent for the 2014 Hobey Baker
By Eric Burton February 14th, 2014
Calgary Flames 2011 fourth-rounder Johnny Gaudreau (Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE)
Division I college hockey is entering the stretch run. The Regular season is winding down, and there's roughly three-to-four weeks left until the conference tourneys begin. Crunch time is here, college hockey teams are preparing for the conference playoffs, and hopefully a run through the NCAA playoffs.
Like many college hockey fans, I have been following the discussion surrounding the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. It's the same thing every year. First you have the fan voting. Then throw in the discussion by college hockey pundits, who give their narration on who's the best candidates for the Hobey Baker.
Johnny Gaudreau the front runner for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award
I can save everyone a lot of bandwidth this season. Sure, we can debate this till the Frozen Four, but I think it's pretty evident who's going to win the prestigious Hobey Baker Memorial award this season. While, I could be wrong, I don't think the voting is going to be very close this year.
I think the discussion we should be having – who's going to be the other two finalists sitting next to him during the awards ceremony. They announce the Hobey Baker Memorial Award during the Frozen Four at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 11, 2014. I don't think we will be shocked with this year's selection, at least not the winner.
Boston College Eagles forward Johnny Gaudreau (25g-33a—58pts) is the best player statistically in college hockey this season, hands down. If Gaudreau doesn't win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award this season, by a very wide margin, I am going to be shocked. In this case, I don't see him losing the western voters, not this year.
Eagles top line is the best in college hockey
The diminutive junior forward from Carney's Point, New Jersey, is the best player statistically, on the best line in college hockey. This season, Gaudreau has been paired with senior forwards Kevin Hayes (21g-27a—48pts) and Bill Arnold (11g-31a—42pts) and they've given Hockey East goalies fits.
Gaudreau and his line mates occupy three of the top four spots nationally in scoring race and they have racked up an amazing (57g-91a—148pts) in 29 games. Gaudreau has been smoking hot as of late, scoring (11g-16sa—27pts) during the New Year.
The Eagles are also red hot right now, going 14-0-1 in their last 15 games. They are scoring an eye popping 4.53 goals per game and giving up only 1.67 goals against.
Gaudreau helps Eagles beat Huskies in Beanpot final
This past week, in the championship game of the Beanpot, Gaudreau and the Eagles put three goals past Northeastern goalie Clay Witt (14-8-2, .945 SV%, 2.28 GAA). That's no small feat, Witt is one of the best goalies in Hockey East, if not the Nation. During the championship game Gaudreau had a (1g-1a-2pts) leading the Eagles to a 4-1 victory.
The future is very bright for Gaudreau, who was drafted by the Calgary Flames, 104th overall in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The Flames management has to be licking their lips with anticipation of him joining their line-up. Checking out the various fans message boards, it sounds like Calgary fans are very excited to see him in a Flames uniform as well.
Hockey's Future – Johnny Gaudreau has really quick hands, shifty moves, explosive speed and this really small centerman could stickhandle in a phone booth. He has the determination and big time skill to prove the doubters wrong about his size, similar to Martin St. Louis. The teenager can make bigger players miss their checks while sliding off them with his elite edge control and quick skating. The small player will need to add muscle mass and weight to be able to play at the more physical NHL Level but he has time to mature. Gaudreau has scored goals at every level of hockey as he's a pure scorer which is an asset that can't be taught.
Going forward, we wait, as the Hobey Baker selection committee will cut the field to 10 candidates and then to three. I would bet that Gaudreau will be one of the three finalists to make the Hobey Hat trick. I am putting my money on the junior forward from Carney's Point, New Jersey. Mark it down, that's going to be your 2014 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner. Count on it.
Hobey Baker Award
Johnny Gaudreau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Who said Hitler was a Christian? My position is that Hitler abused Christianity just as he abused science. He certainly didn't act like a Christian, but he didn't act like he knew anything about science either.
Jar said it, not you. He was basing it on quotes he got from Hitler's speeches. I had doubts.
What concerns me is that you seem to de-emphasize Christianity and over-emphasize science as Hitler's tool. I don't think the common people at that time had the knowledge or interest in science for it to have been an effective tool.
Hitler used Christianity sometimes, but I think that mostly he used the idea that "Jewish Marxism" and "Jewish democracy" were destroying the country. Whenever he used Christianity, it was a bizarre sort of idea, like that Jesus died to save the world from Jewish finance.
He appealed to racist ideas--that the Aryan race was superior but was being tricked by inferior races. His nationalism was racist in nature.
So, no, he did not use "science" per se. But at the bottom of Nazi ideology is this "survival of the fittest" idea--applied to races.
I think that identifying as precisely as possible the main ideas of Nazi ideology is important not merely from the standpoint of purely historical curiosity (although there's nothing wrong with that), but also from the standpoint of current and future politics. This sort of thing could arise again, and it may look like something quite different from Nazism but will actually be the same thing.
There are dangers in religion.
But there are also dangers in science (I mean the misuse of science).
I still think that the first half of the 20th century was the high point in the prestige of science.
The evil that's gnawing our vitals is our priests, of both creeds. I can't at present give them the answer they've been asking for, but it will cost them nothing to wait. It's all written down in my big book. The time will come when I'll settle my account with them, and I'll go straight to the point. I don't know which should be considered the more dangerous : the minister of religion who play-acts at patriotism, or the man who openly opposes the State. The fact remains that it's their man�uvres that have led me to my decision. They've only got to keep at it, they'll hear from me, all right. I shan't let myself be hampered by juridical scruples. Only necessity has legal force. In less than ten years from now, things will have quite another look, I can promise them. We shan't be able to go on evading the religious problem much longer. If anyone thinks it's really essential to build the life of human society on a foundation of lies, well, in my estimation, such a society is not worth preserving. If, on the other hand, one believes that truth is the indispensable foundation, then conscience bids one intervene in the name of truth, and exterminate the lie.
Jar said it, not you.
People who think they have all the answers usually don't understand the questions.
I doubt that jar is more easily "duped" than I am.
(I've edited this. My remarks were improper).
On 16th January, 1861, Marx wrote to Lassalle: "Darwin�s book is very important and serves me as a natural scientific basis for the class struggle in history. One has to put up with the crude English method of development, of course. Despite all deficiencies, not only is the death-blow dealt here for the first time to �teleology� in the natural sciences but its rational meaning is empirically explained."
I don't quite get this (yet), but it seems from this that Marx certainly thought there was a link.
As regards the prestige of science in the first part of the 20th century, I ran across the idea that people "fastened upon Marx's convoluted and half-baked theories because of the new turn-of-the-century faith in science as the answer to every problem, including human ones" (11).
That's exactly what I'm referring to.
Marx was seen, and saw himself, as "the Darwin of society": as the originator of a historical science to match Darwin's biological science. He provided his certainties in terms of proven theory. The contrast between his own and Darwin's methods is very striking, and indeed, Marx saw this himself--referring rather patronizingly to Darwin's "crude English empiricism."
Robert Conquest, "Reflections on a Ravaged Century," quoted in Robert Harvey's "A Short History of Communism," St. Martin's, 2004.
Note that the Marxists-Leninists themselves preferred Lamarckian to Darwinian principles.
The idea was that Lamarckian inheritance showed a way to create the New Soviet Man. Trofim Lysenko provided a biological explanation for the creation of the New Soviet Man- if they simply worked hard enough at the creation of the New Soviet State, then the New Soviet Man to live in the New Soviet State would come into being. All that was necessary was personal will-power to live your life in the proper Marxist-Leninist way. You see, the unguided nature of Darwinian principles bothered the Communist theoriticians; they much preferred the directed, guided Lamarckian inheritance to the random mutation-natural selection that Darwin offered. They could control Lamarckian principles, they couldn't RMNS.
Why did the theoreticians and not the scientists make the decision? In 1929 Stalin gave a speech announcing that in the future the apparatchiks would control science- it would not be left to the scientists but vetted for its political and philosophical agreement with Marxist-Leninist theory. By 1935 Lysenko had gained control of the Soviet agricultural and biological apparatuses. During the life of Stalin he crushed all opposition to his politically proper but scientifically invalid ideas. At least one of his scientific opponents was killed by the NKVD during the Great Purges of the late 1930's and early 1940's. In 1948 he gave a famous speech denouncing Mendel's theories as reactionary. Lysenko maintained his grip on Soviet biology until ~1965, when the tide finally turned and the scientific reputation of Lysenko was destroyed. But Soviet biology and genetics never recovered from the disastrous 30 year interlude in the land of politically-controlled science.
: This was one of the many justifications that the Soviet State offered when they shipped undesireables (the Parasites, in the jargon of the day) to Siberia- it was a quarentine to keep them from reproducing their degenerate ways in the next generation. Obviously many other justifications existed, and the biological one was not the reason for the Purges, but it is a reminder of the way that people twist science to support their ideological goals.
It seems to me that you are talking about science being held in high esteem by the intelligentsia. But Hitler appealed to the common man, the uneducated masses. They knew little about science and cared less.
Religion was a more effective tool for controlling them.
it is a reminder of the way that people twist science to support their ideological goals.
You don't have to know about something to be impressed by it. If something gains a great aura of prestige--as Science did--then anything that attaches its name to it will be enhanced, even if the attachment is false. It is like endorsements in advertising.
But Nazism and the rise of communism are different, since Hitler was voted in (more or less), and communism came about through revolution.
So Hitler did have to appeal for votes, and he used mostly, as far as I can tell, racist arguments ("Jewish Marxism," "Jewish democracy", etc). He also used Christianity.
But you can't say that about the communists. None of that Christianity for them. It was supposed to be "scientific" ideas that composed their platform. That gave it great appeal, along, of course, with the sense of injustice against the poor that was going to be fixed--probably the most important element.
"Darwin�s book is very important and serves me as a natural scientific basis for the class struggle in history. One has to put up with the crude English method of development, of course. Despite all deficiencies, not only is the death-blow dealt here for the first time to �teleology� in the natural sciences but its rational meaning is empirically explained."
I'm still trying to figure out what this comment by Marx means. It seems to mean that Darwin did away with the idea of purposeful design in nature ("teleology"), and this, says Marx, is a "scientific basis for the class struggle in history." How so? Is he saying that the lack of design in the animal kingdom corresponds to a lack of design in human society--so there's no reason why human society can't be designed anyway we see fit?
Also Marx says somewhere,"Darwin did not know what a bitter satire about humanity, and his own countrymen in particular, he was writing when he showed that free competition, the struggle for existence which the economists hold up as the highest achievement in history, was the normal condition of the animal kingdom. Only a conscious organization of social production, in which production and distribution are planned, can lift human society above the rest of the animal kingdom . . ." (qtd. in Isaiah Berlin, "Marx," 4th ed, 102-03).
In other words, the "struggle for existence" applies to the animal kingdom but need not apply to human society (just the opposite of Hitlerism). Socialism can do away with this struggle for existence.
This sounds very different from the Marxist-Leninist ideas you describe.
You begin with Hegel but you reject his idea of "Absolute Spirit" as something totally without evidence. However, you keep his notion of a dynamic dialectics in history, which can be "proven" by references to historical events.
Along comes Darwin, who shows us that there is no design in nature--and thus no Designer.
This reinforces the idea of the materialistic part of dialecticial materialism. Everything is physical; therefore, what people struggle for are physical things.
Because we are all in a struggle for physical things, all notions of morality and legality must be jettisoned as sentimental illusions created by the upper classes, which are brainwashed into the poor.
Religious belief is one of these illusions.
Since ideas about individual worth and treating people kindly and so forth are mere sentiments, the only standard we have is the necessary progress of history. This we call "scientific morality." Are you in tune with the unfolding events of history, or are you not? If not, you can be labelled as useless and destructive to the dynamic process of socialization.
As a result of such ideas, untold millions were tortured, starved, or executed.
Since the first half of the century, there has been a backlash against science. The problem is that science is being confused with these irrational secular systems--confused because they were referred to as "scientific" by their proponents.
To call an irrational secular system, such as Nazism or communism, "religious," is very misleading. Some wish to do this to blame religion and thus keep science free of guilt. Science is free of guilt, but this type of labelling is as misleading as calling an irrational secular system scientific.
An irrational secular system is neither religious nor scientific.
Such are the dangers of secularism.
Now, are you going to explain what Marxism has to do with the topic?
Or has this become a general Darwin-bashing thread?
The general topic is "the misuse of scientific ideas."
Hitlerism was one example, Marxism another.
I'm not bashing Darwin or Darwinism; I'm bashing the misuse of scientific ideas.
Pardon me also for being particularly thick, but I still don't see where Hitler's racism was derived from science, or where anybody would have cared if it was.


text:
Bolton Book Pressures GOP to Allow Senate Witnesses
Written by Eric Tucker, Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press
Excerpt: "Pressure is increasing on senators to call John Bolton to testify at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial after the revelation that a draft of a book by the former national security adviser undercuts a key defense argument - that Trump never tied withholding military aid to Ukraine to his demand the country help investigate political rival Joe Biden."
John Bolton. (photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP)
By Eric Tucker, Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press
ressure is increasing on senators to call John Bolton to testify at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial after the revelation that a draft of a book by the former national security adviser undercuts a key defense argument — that Trump never tied withholding military aid to Ukraine to his demand the country help investigate political rival Joe Biden.
Bolton writes in the forthcoming book that Trump told him he wanted to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in security aid from Ukraine until it helped him with investigations into Biden. Trump's legal team has repeatedly insisted otherwise, and Trump tweeted on Monday that he never told Bolton such a thing.
Republican senators faced a pivotal moment as they arrived on Capitol Hill to resume Trump's trial. Democrats are demanding sworn testimony from Bolton and other key witnesses, and pressure is mounting on at least four Republicans to buck GOP leaders and form a bipartisan majority to force the issue.
"John Bolton's relevance to our decision has become increasingly clear," GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told reporters. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she has always wanted "the opportunity for witnesses" and the report about Bolton's book "strengthens the case."
But several GOP senators who met privately with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said nothing had changed. McConnell declined comment.
"Really, there's nothing new here," said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican. He dismissed the new information as an "effort to sell books."
Before any vote on witnesses, Trump's legal team was to make its case in depth on Monday, turning to several high-profile attorneys to argue against impeachment.
The team laid out the broad outlines of its defense in a rare Saturday session, at which they accused House Democrats of using the impeachment case to try to undo the results of the last presidential election and drive Trump from office.
The White House has had Bolton's manuscript for about a month, and has challenged his use of certain material it considers classified, according to a letter from Bolton's attorney.
Democrats are saying that Trump's refusal to allow administration officials to testify in the impeachment proceeding only reinforces that the White House is hiding evidence.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: "We're all staring a White House cover-up in the face."
Schumer drew on polls that show the public wants to hear from witnesses. "We want the truth," he said. "So do the American people."
Rep. Adam Schiff, who is leading the House prosecution team, called Bolton's account a test for the senators sitting as jurors.
"I don't know how you can explain that you wanted a search for the truth in this trial and say you don't want to hear from a witness who had a direct conversation about the central allegation in the articles of impeachment," Schiff said on CNN.
Four Republicans would have to break ranks to join Democrats to call any witnesses, which would extend the trial, which has been expected to conclude fairly rapidly. The Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority.
Bolton's account was first reported by The New York Times and was confirmed to The Associated Press by a person familiar with the manuscript on the condition of anonymity. "The Room Where It Happened; A White House Memoir" is to be released March 17.
John Ullyot, a spokesman for the National Security Council that Bolton used to lead, said the manuscript was submitted to the NSC for "pre-publication review" and had been under initial review.
"No White House personnel outside NSC have reviewed the manuscript," he said.
When the Times report went online Sunday night, the seven House Democratic managers immediately called on all senators to insist that Bolton be called as a witness and provide his notes and other relevant documents. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, issued the same call.
Trump denied the claims in a series of tweets early Monday.
"I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens," Trump said. "If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book."
Trump said people could look at transcripts of his call with Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelinskiy to see there was no pressure for such investigations to get the aid. In that call, Trump asked Zelinskiy to "do us a favor" with the investigations as he was withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to the U.S. ally at war with Russia.
Trump falsely claimed Monday that the Democrat-controlled House "never even asked John Bolton to testify." Democrats did ask Bolton to testify, but he didn't show up for his deposition. They later declined to subpoena Bolton, as they had others, because he threatened to sue, which could lead to a prolonged court battle.
Schiff said Bolton — known to be a copious notetaker — should also provide documents.
Bolton, who sent this book manuscript to the White House for review, is now enmeshed in a legal dispute with the White House over the manuscript's use of direct quotes and other material from meetings and foreign leader discussions. That's according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person wasn't authorized to speak on the record.
The White House has requested that Bolton remove material it considers classified, the person said, which has the book behind schedule.
Bolton acrimoniously left the White House a day before Trump ultimately released the Ukraine aid on Sept. 11. He has already told lawmakers that he is willing to testify, despite the president's order barring aides from cooperating in the probe.
Eventual acquittal is likely in a Senate where a two-thirds majority vote would be needed for conviction. Still, the White House sees its Senate presentation this week as an opportunity to counter the allegations, defend the powers of the presidency and prevent Trump from being weakened politically ahead of November's election.
Trump faces two articles of impeachment. One accuses him of abusing his power by asking Ukraine to investigate while withholding military aid. The other alleges that Trump obstructed Congress by directing aides to not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry.
Monday's presentation was expected to include appearances by Alan Dershowitz, who will argue that impeachable offenses require criminal-like conduct, and Ken Starr, the independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is also expected to make arguments.
Democrats argued their side of the impeachment case for three days last week, warning that Trump will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.
Last Updated on Monday, 27 January 2020 14:33
© 2021 Reader Supported News


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He was a remarkable little man, but so swift of foot that no horse could overtake him.
There was a man from the Uplands called Fin the Little, and some said of him that he was of Finnish race. He was a remarkable little man, but so swift of foot that no horse could overtake him. He was a particularly well-excercised runner with snow-shoes, and shooter with the bow. He had long been in the service of King Hrorek, and often employed in errands of trust. He knew the roads in all the Upland hills, and was well known to all the great people. Now when King Hrorek was set under guards on the journey Fin would often slip in among the men of the guard, and followed, in general, with the lads and serving-men; but as often as he could he waited upon Hrorek, and entered into conversation with him. The king, however, only spoke a word or two with him at a time, to prevent suspicion. In spring, when they came a little way beyond Viken, Fin disappeared from the army for some days, but came back, and stayed with them a while. This happened often, without anyone observing it particularly; for there were many such hangers-on with the army.
Heimskringla by Snorri Sturluson
at April 19, 2012 No comments:
Labels: English
The Finlanders were formerly in the practice of rolling themselves in the snow
The Finlanders make use almost entirely of vapour baths dry and moist. In the first or dry sudatory, the thermometer of Fahrenheit is from 140° to 167° (40° to 60" of Reaumur)—in the second, or moist sudatory, the heat does not exceed 122° of Fahrenheit (40° Reaumur.) The vapour in this last is pungent, and offends the eyes—flame is extinguished, and animals suffer very much, and even perish in it—men become vertiginous, and almost in a state of stupor—their animal heat augments one or two degrees, and the pulse in an adult gives 115, and even 125 beats in a minute—and is, in a child of ten years old, increased to 160—infants when in it appear almost dead, and yet there are some exposed twice a day to such a punishment. This is perhaps the reason why there are so many deaths in early life in Finland.
These baths commonly produce a febrile action, easily recognised by the redness of the skin, heat, and burning thirst, extreme debility, difficult respiration, stupor in some, and obstinate wakefulness in others. The perspiration being thus augmented, all the other secretions are diminished, especially milk and urine. The senses become deadened, and the flesh is in general more flabby than common. In this state of things, perspiration after a while ceases, nor could it be renewed if the heat were augmented to 144° of Fahrenheit.
The dry bath, from 140« to 144° of Fahrenheit, is more supportable than a moist vapour bath of 117° to 122° of Fahrenheit. The Finlanders were formerly in the practice of rolling themselves in the snow, but at present the custom is almost universally abandoned. In Carelia, Tevastia, Savolax, it is customary to bathe every day—in Nieland less frequently.
John Davidson Godman: The Philadelphia journal of the medical and physical sciences, Volume 8
Finland. You can't go any further than that, can you?
"Well, I have heard a great deal about you!" cried the young girl, with a pretty little stare of contradiction. "I think you know a great friend of mine, Miss Ella Maclane, of Baltimore. She 's travelling in Europe now." Longueville's memory did not instantly respond to this signal, but he expressed that rapturous assent which the occasion demanded, and even risked the observation that the young lady from Baltimore was very pretty. "She 's far too lovely," his companion went on. "I have often heard her speak of you. I think you know her sister rather better than you know her. She has not been out very long. She is just as interesting as she can be. Her hair comes down to her feet. She 's travelling in Norway. She has been everywhere you can think of, and she 's going to finish off with Finland. You can't go any further than that, can you? That 's one comfort; she will have to turn round and come back. I want her dreadfully to come to Baden-Baden."
Confidence (James) by Henry James
Sometimes making love to a Finland or a Russian girl
"Sometimes you would have found me in a Finland hut, conversing by means of an interpreter with the family; sometimes making love to a Finland or a Russian girl, which needed no interpreter. One day I got half seas over with a Russian, the next day with a Cossac; nothing can be done with the Scythians without the help of brandy.
"Whenever any traveller arrived at the post-house, I placed myself by his side; and having an interpreter at hand, I enquired of him whatever related to his journey, or to his country. I did not satisfy myself with this; I took my pencil and delineated his figure, physiognomy, and dress.
"You would have seen me sometimes sitting bv the highway; before me passed a variety of nations: sometimes walking with a band of gypsies; at other times journeying with a Russian boor upon a cart; sometimes examining into the houshold œconomy of a Finland matron; or seated with them at a feast upon their saint's day. Not a wedding, nor a christening, nor a burial occurred, that I did not attend as punctually as a clerk of the parish."
Letters from Scandinavia... (1796) P. 387. as quoted in
The British critic, Volume 7
The local Modernist and Functionalist and general Impossiblist
It was painful that while Jesse regarded him as an anarchist, the local Modernist and Functionalist and general Impossiblist, Mr. Kivi from Finland--DOCTOR Kivi--considered Hayden "a nize fella personal, but yoost anudder old-fashion architectural tailor, giffing the dumb bourgeois whateffer kind suitings dey tink dey vant."
"I need, in fact, a year off," reflected Hayden, "and I'm going to take that year off, and find out whether I can do anything more amusing than being batted over the net by Jesse and batted back by Kivi. I think that I would like to be a self-respecting human being, and even learn to read!"
Sinclair Lewis: World So Wide (1951)
Finland is an exceedingly poor country
Finland is an exceedingly poor country, chequered with lakes and inland waters; the soil is either sandy, or covered with broken rocks of red granite in those parts which are not wholly stony. The barrenness of the ground seems to have discouraged the agriculturist, and the sterility of his fields, joined to their negligent cultivation, is everywhere apparent in the slovenly tillage and the miserable crops of rye. A few districts of bog land which admit of draining, and which have found cultivators with sufficient capital and enterprise to undertake it in the village clergymen, form occasional exceptions to this uninviting picture. Some parts of the country are covered with large forests of the white and red fir. It is traversed in every direction by streams and rivers, on many of which the timber exported is floated down to the sea, but which form cascades and waterfalls amongst the rocks, and are thus rendered unnavigable. The falls of Imatra are, perhaps, the finest in Europe, and, if the mass of water poured down is less than at those of the Trollhatten, in Sweden, they are far more beautiful than the latter.
Charles Frederick Henningsen: Revelations of Russia in 1846, Volume 2
He was a remarkable little man, but so swift of fo...
The Finlanders were formerly in the practice of ro...
Finland. You can't go any further than that, can y...
Sometimes making love to a Finland or a Russian gi...
The local Modernist and Functionalist and general ...


In the last image I put in 'Robinson's Shoemakers' and altered the text below slightly, The logo I have created can be used for both the businesses if the owners wish so.
I looked up existing brand names and shoe brands for some inspiration. Below is my brainstorming for the 'Robinsons 2' store and sketches.
Robinson's Shoemakers is and has been a family run business since it was established in 1954. The business remains traditional as possible in both their approach to making and repairing shoes but also their approach selling shoes. The shop is based in Carrickfergus.
Robinson's Shoemakers have a second shop named 'Robinsons 2' which sells shoes to the female market (30+). My challenge is to offer an identity/brand solution that best solves this business problem.
The shoe store is traditional with a level of sophistication as its target audience is 30+ woman. I will be developing traditional, vintage, stylish, fun and cute styles to see what logo/brand identity will suit Robinsons 2. As Robinson's Shoemakers are already well established I want to keep their branding and only alter the second store. This will include a new company name.


Please print your ticket. Registration starts 15 minutes prior to training. Thank you for registering.
Community Health Professionals, Nurses, Nurses Practitioners, Physicians, Medical Students (Nurse, Doctor, Pharm, Dental, Public Health), other members of a practice, as well as Parents, Teens, Pre-Teens Caregivers.
YOU ARE THE KEY to preventing CANCER!
During this training you will see first hand how HPV related cancer affect our day to day lives, how the vaccine protects patient between 9 to 26 and how you can be a HPV Ambassador will help to decrease the incidents of HPV related cancer.
What is an HPV Ambassador?
An HPV Ambassador is a healthcare professional/community liaison who is trained to educate on the importance of the HPV vaccine in preventing related cancers and diseases. This Healthcare professional will utilize the method of SAME DAY/SAME WAY when giving a strong recommendation on receiving all adolescent vaccines.
The Florida AHEC Network is accredited by the Florida Medical Association to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Florida AHEC Network designates this live activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity.
Suwannee River Area Health Education Center, Inc. is a Florida Board of Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dentistry approved provider of continuing education credit. CE Broker Provider ID #50-1922. This program meets the requirements for up to 1.0 contact hours.


Posted in St. Barsanuphius and John	| Tagged Humility, labour, peace	| Comments Off on How to reach peace?
What is the purpose of the fasts?
Posted in Abba Moses, New Testament	| Tagged fast, peace, temptation, vigil	| Comments Off on What is the purpose of the fasts?


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California's Statutory Requirements for a Last Will & Testament
How to Create a Will in Missouri
••• David Sacks/Lifesize/Getty Images
How to Create a Basic Will in Maine
Are Last Will Documents Purchased From Office Supply Stores Legal?
Is a Handwritten Will Legal in Washington State?
Your last will and testament won't go into effect until after your death, so it's best to assure its validity before you sign it. The requirements for wills vary between states. Some jurisdictions require witnesses, while others mandate the presence of a notary public. In California, you can opt for a witnessed will, use a statutory will, hire a lawyer or write out your own will longhand. Each method is valid if you follow the statutory rules.
Witnessed Will
If you are old enough to vote in California, you are of age to make a will. Anyone 18 years or older can sign a document setting out who will inherit her property. Under California Probate Code 6110, a written will is valid if the maker signs the document or affirms her signature in the presence of two witnesses, who also sign the will. Witnesses should be disinterested. If one of the witnesses stands to inherit under the will, the law presumes that he used undue influence and the burden is on the witness to prove otherwise.
You don't always need witnesses to create a valid will in California -- you may write out your own will in longhand and sign it. This kind of will, called a holographic will, is expressly permitted under section 6111 of the Probate Code. No special words are required. If the material provisions of the will and the signature are in your handwriting, the will need not be witnessed. The court's primary concern in evaluating a holographic will is whether it represents the intention of the maker.
Statutory Will
California offers its residents another option -- the statutory will, found in section 6240 of the Probate Code. Anyone can use the statutory will by obtaining a copy, filling in the blanks to identify who is to inherit property, and signing at the bottom of the will. Two witnesses must also sign. Any additions or deletions to the form language -- other than filling in the blanks -- may invalidate the will.
Read More: Statutory Will V. Living Will
Attorney-prepared Will
Some people hire attorneys to prepare wills. Attorney-prepared wills are subject to the same witness requirements as statutory wills. The Probate Code specifies that the statutory will is not designed to reduce death taxes or other taxes. It recommends that you talk to an attorney to do tax planning in the following cases: "(i) your assets will be worth more than $600,000 or the current amount excluded from estate tax under federal law at your death, (ii) you own business-related assets, (iii) you want to create a trust fund for your children's education or other purposes, (iv) you own assets in some other state, (v) you want to disinherit your spouse, domestic partner, or descendants, or (vi) you have valuable interests in pension or profit-sharing plans."
Will Laws: Information on the Law about Wills
California Probate Code sections 6100-6105
California Probate Code sections 62200-6227: Statutory Will Form


At Robinsons Communities, we build quality home concepts in strategic locations and create communities that improve ways of living. With Aurora Escalades, the eigth development of Robinsons Land in the lively locale of Cubao, we provide you a property that is both a HOME and a VENTURE.
The property is Robinsons Communities' first project that allows income generation through short-or long-term lease, with value that grows over time. Use it as an Airbnb to monetize your extra space or make it your first solid home and asset purchase. Aurora Escalades, your Home-Vestment.
Ammenities include swimming pools, garden lounge, fitness center, study lounge, multi-purpose room, jogging path, sky deck, and a lot more.


City's actual League 1 fixture list might not been confirmed until next Wednesday (18 June 2014), but the Bantams can now bring supporters the scheduled dates for the club's matches this forthcoming 2014/2015 season.
The Bantams will kick-off their campaign with a game on Saturday 9 August before playing their Capital One Cup first round game during the following midweek.
Christmas will see City play games on Saturday 20 December, Friday 26 December (Boxing Day) and Sunday 28 December - but there will be no New Year's Day game this year.
The Bank Holiday weekend of 4/5/6 April will see two Easter fixtures played (with one scheduled on Easter Monday).
The league season will end on Saturday 2 May 2, with the League 1 Play-Off Final set for Sunday 24 May.


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Home » News » Over 8 Billion Kwacha for Youth Initiatives
Over 8 Billion Kwacha for Youth Initiatives
By Tikondane Vega
Youth in the country can start smiling as President Prof. Peter Mutharika has announced that he has set-aside K8 Billion in the 2019-2020 budget scheduled to be tabled in Parliament on Monday, September 9, 2019.
He said at Ngabu Trading Centre on Sunday that the money is meant for all youth in the country saying it is high time they should start their small businesses in order to be financially independent.
The President said regardless of party affiliation everybody would be eligible to access loan from the K8 billion loan scheme for the youth.
"When I talk of eliminating poverty I am serious. This is the reason the country is in top 10 among over 40 countries in Africa that are doing good on poverty eradication," Mutharika pointed out.
He thanked people of Lower Shire for giving him much support during the just ended May 21 Tripartite elections.
"Because of your overwhelming support I can confidently say that I am Lower Shire giant. It was a tough election but you love and trust me, I say thank you.
"Never give room to opposition parties; they are destroying our properties in the name of protests. I promise to continue giving Chikwawa and Nsanje more developments so that you can enjoy the benefits of electing me,' the Malawi leader explained.
Mutharika said his government would construct six new secondary schools and more Technical Colleges in Chikwawa.
Senior Chief Ngabu commended government for ensuring that there is equal distribution of developments countrywide.
He noted that in Chikwawa alone, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is constructing Teachers Training College and community colleges.
"However our president I wanted to let you know that Chikwawa district has only one Ambulance catering for all people in the district. Therefore, additional Ambulances are needed.
"Apart from that people in the district are experiencing shortage of food," Chief Ngabu said, adding the President should consider bringing a borehole at Ngabu Secondary School in order to reduce shortage of water among students.


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5/8" pickets with a contoured shape design for a more elegant style. Shown with posts by others.


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We utilize a full suite of Internet marketing tools to ensure that our clients are in front of the right audiences at the right time. Once in place, we closely monitor the market and competition, identify trends and leverage opportunities to help clients prosper in an ever-changing marketplace. Unlike many internet marketing companies, we are equipped with a seasoned team of expert programmers and gifted graphic designers. We also have an exceptional team of project managers who bridge the communication gap between the technical aspects and you.
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Paul Stoute opens the doors of Stoute Web Solutions for the first time based out of his home in Portland, Oregon. Within a few hours, we had our first client: a musician right here in town.
We won our first award within 60 days of opening as the best Web Hosting company in the Portland Oregon metro area.
We acquired a local web hosting company "Knight Host" based out of Salem, Oregon.
We received many clients from a Canadian website design and hosting company that was getting out of the business.
We've received so many requests from our clients to build them new websites that we hired a WordPress designer to provide an even better experience for our clients.
In July 2014 we were approached by the website hosting company Klippar as they were in the process of shutting down operations and asked if we could provide a reliable home for their existing clients. 30 days later, we were the new owners of a third group of external website hosting clients.
We were awarded the top Portland, Oregon area website design agency by Thumbtack for the first time.
Fast Forward to 2015: We've started gaining momentum and offering digital marketing services.
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We've revamped our entire website to keep things as simple as possible while still providing access to all the information. We've streamlined our plans and service offerings to create more well rounded bundles of services for our clients.
We rebuilt our care plans from the ground up taking into account years of data of what businesses really need for their websites to be fast, secure, and user-friendly.


Cannabis industry research firms predict that if legalized, California's marijuana industry will grow to nearly six and a half billion dollars by 2020. In preparation, Silicon Valley money is pouring into cannabis industry startups. But many existing small pot businesses worry they'll be squeezed out of the industry by bigger players. Forum discusses the likely winners and losers in the battle for marijuana revenue, how legalization could change California's economic landscape and the challenges of taxing and regulating recreational pot.
David Downs, writer, "Legalization Nation," East Bay Express; author, "The Medical Marijuana Guidebook: America's First How-To Guide for Patients and Caregivers"
Beau Kilmer, co-director, RAND Drug Policy Research Center; co-author, "Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know"


Punarnava Himalaya belongs to the class of natural herbal ayurvedic medications. It is widely applied all over the world for the medical cure of jaundice, general fever and obesity. This preparation takes away all types of edemas, cleans the patient's blood, and stops different hemorrhages. It is also an analgesic and anti-inflammatory agent. This officinal product maximally brings down the sugar kevel in blood, because it is also a cardiotonic remedy. Thanks to big containing of calcium salts and alkaloids this medicant possesses by diuretic effect strengthens the synthesis of hemoglobin and eliminates the stagnation in liver. The Catechines strengthens the vessels endothelium. The medical properties of Punarnava 4 bottles are generally applied in the following cases: as powerful decongestant, as tonic for kidneys (for normalizing of kidneys' activity), under some sicknesses of kidneys (nephritis, cystitis, kidneys stones and renal sand), under the rheumatism, arthritis, inflammation and edema of articulations; as urinative, bile-expelling, blood cleaning, blood-stopping preparation; under the neurotic syndrome, as tonic for heart, for cholesterol level normalizing; as remedy for arterial pressure heightening, under the hemorrhoid (as blood-stopping agent); under the asthma, cough (as expectorant); under the diabetes mellitus for bringing down the sugar level in blood; under the allergies as anti edematic drug; as tonic for liver (for taking away different toxins and waste products); for digestion improving and normalizing and different others. Today to buy Punarnava online is very easy to do with help of our medicamental portal ordered the delivery all over the USA.
In our chemist's shop we propose you to buy Punarnava online without prescription with the fastest delivery in Canada, USA and other countries.


The days when we used to consider user experience (UX) to be an area that only concerns designers are long gone. The role of creating a great, lasting experience is now vital for fulfilling business objectives. This makes UX a priority for both designers and marketers alike.
In this article, we are going to explain how UX impacts marketers.
Let us begin with the appropriating relationship between user research, a key element of UX, and market research. Both practices are knotted in a complementary relationship to garner the best design decisions based on research output.
As correctly outlined by the folks at SimpleUsability, market research can help in measuring things like the loyalty that the target market has towards your brand and your product and the size of the market being targeted. UX research focuses on identifying the target users' wants and needs – which in turn can help in the measurement and improvement of UX. As stated in this same article, the two fields then meet where it comes to specific techniques that help achieve their respective objectives such as the use of personas, analytics and competitor analysis.
Indeed, through market research, an app designer can get hold of the most relevant insights about the preferences of target users and can design the app accordingly. On the other hand, a good UX design helps the app to market as a tangible solution to the users.
A great customer-centric UX design helps marketers to reach out to the target audience for more insights about the UX design. So, good design creates the basis of market research that makes the design even better over time.
The most relevant aspects of UX design are the ones craved by the intended audience. This is why it is incredibly important to know what your target users prefer and dislike before taking the design decisions for your product. It is through a customer-centric design only that your digital product can attract more users, drive engagement and boost sales conversion. If the success of an effective marketing campaign is ultimately evaluated through the number of leads it generates, a great user experience makes the biggest push for business conversion.
When considering to attract new users through superb user experience design, keep in mind the following aspects.
Usability is an inseparable part of the user experience (UX), and excellent usability is defined by the ease of use, performance and visual appeal of the user interface. User Experience (UX) has a much bigger ambit, and it deals with whole user interaction with digital products. User experience consists of usability, UI elements, user behaviour and user activities while using the product. Usability plays the most crucial role in shaping the user experience, but if other aspects fail to drive users towards the desired actions leading to business conversion, the UX will be considered as under-optimised.
A great user experience created for the target customers plays a pivotal role to ensure customer satisfaction and boost business conversion. A superb UX loved by your users is also the way to stay in the limelight while beating your competition. This is why UX plays such an important role within the marketing mix.
A superb UX brings delight for your customers and this, in turn, can inspire them to advocate your product to others. This is a realistic scenario of how a great app becomes popular overnight as users speak about it, write about it and share it.
A too rigorous focus on business conversion often undermines the user experience of a digital product and this, in the long run, harms the product itself. On the other hand, when you consider a mobile app or website as a valuable marketing asset and accordingly give priority to generating a great user experience, it helps to make it more marketable. This is why it is essential to strike a balance between UX and digital marketing.
The gap between marketers and UX designers in conceptualising a digital product to ensure long term growth and success is steadily shrinking. The UX design team focuses on how users will engage and interact while using your product. The person marketing the product should also participate in design decisions to boost engagement and maximise conversion. Here are the essential tools that help marketers exercise the design elements to bring success to the product.
Any digital product, even the ones having a few features, exists to attract a specific type of customer for particular reasons and objectives. This is why marketers need to create personas based on customer insights, demographics and other types of data. By building personas, marketers have the right basis for advocating certain design elements and changes that suit their audience.
To create or tweak personas based on precise insights, Google Analytics comes as a great tool. It is capable of segregating customers based on age, gender, location and other demographic categories. Having interviews with seasoned users of similar apps will also help you know the likes, dislikes, motivations and other factors for design decisions.
You need to test real user feedback in the actual context of the app usage. We call it user testing. One valid strategy can be to start user testing with real users having some loyalty or high lifetime value – as these are easier to recruit and they already have some degree of experience in using your product. Watch how these users interact at different levels and use cases. Similarly, test using people from the representative target user group. Personas will help in identifying who these are. Such new users will help determine what they like and dislike most about your product.
After conducting a user test with 7 to 10 people, you can see the patterns of usage, likes and dislikes with different app elements. This is how you can know about the most significant shortcomings or barriers preventing engagement or business conversion.
Instead of keeping track of different user experience loopholes and barriers for different users, you should use a comprehensive user journey map that covers all the touchpoints and interaction areas within your digital product. Such a journey map help you evaluate the user activities at all steps and touchpoints.
To help marketers dealing with the large journey maps, they must be accompanied with collaborative documents offering a panoramic picture of the entire conversion funnel that the user passes through. The map allows assigning different tasks to different professionals for making the interactions better.
For any marketer, knowing the relevance of design elements is of paramount importance. How each design element can impact the marketing output and how they cannot have a decisive role to play for the user experience design.
Marketers first need to address how customers can discover their offerings. When looking for different types of content, the audience can browse, search with keywords or ask their social contacts. This is why the design elements must make content more discoverable through a search engine, app store, social media and other avenues.
Great visuals leave a permanent impression on our psyche and are considered crucial for satisfactory user experience as well as marketing output. Visual storytelling has an engaging effect on users and helps to promote a brand quickly. On the other hand, visual storytelling also makes the user interface look appealing.
Driving brand loyalty is one of the most important objectives for any digital marketer, and a superb user experience helps in achieving that. The ease of use matched with delightful performance and appealing interface help customers come back to a website or app more often. Gradually, this satisfying user experience helps them become loyal.
As of now, you must have understood that there are more common interests between UX designers and marketers than their strict role assigns them. These common factors or traits show how they can work as part of a smart team to deliver a successful digital product.
While UX is more focused to ensure a glitch-free performance and flawless experience, marketing is more focused on making a lasting brand impression. Both objectives can be put together by delivering a memorable user experience creating a positive impact on the brand.
Generally, marketers are obsessed with the target audience and what they are looking for. By knowing what their targeted user likes, dislikes and prefers through market research, designers can deliver UX meant for the target audience and with every element, they are looking for. That is how marketers and UX designers work together to attract new users.
Marketers focus on boosting user engagement by offering them the right means and tools to search and engage with content. By utilising the latest technologies such as AR, VR, AI, and machine learning, UX designers can help users in fulfilling their expectations and enhancing engagement.
Marketers persuade users to buy products by offering the lucrative incentives and promotions that users expect. UX designers help marketers in this persuading effort by bringing out perfect page layout and design elements to push users towards taking positive actions leading to more sales conversion.
Marketing does the outstanding job of bringing users on a website or app. Now, these users need to be impressed with the superb ease of use, appealing user interface and pleasing way to get what they want. This is what UX designers are responsible for doing after marketers bring traffic.
Most users do not stick longer to a website or app that looks great but lacks useful content. So, content marketing is a crucial aspect in the mix of marketing and UX design elements. The UX designers need to optimise the readability and usability of the content.
Both marketers and UX experts need to have access to a variety of user information corresponding to their behaviour, preferences, dislikes and triggers. This multifaceted user data will help in the understanding of user behaviour and in serving users with content and UX elements in the right measure.
The complementary role of UX design and marketing for the success of a digital product is already established. In the present context of digital products, they have to work hand in hand for delivering a superb user experience and garnering maximum marketing outputs.
While market research helps to know the customer in-depth, user research helps in identifying the most relevant insights for understanding the user experience. Together, they bring the marketers' and UX designers' point of view to shape the right user experience geared towards more engagement and business conversion.
In this regard, market research and user research should consider the following aspects while shaping the right user experience for a digital product.
Developers and designers need to address the specific needs of the consumers at every stage of the development of the digital product.
The product development process should be aligned with an agile, interactive and consistently proactive development approach.
In this regard, marketers should continually enrich the UX design inputs with the right directives about what the consumers want. Successfully incorporating user insights and customer wants into the UX design mix is crucial.
Incorporating a multifaceted storytelling approach to UX design also plays a crucial role in the success of a digital product. For instance, you can always tell a brand story in multiple ways involving a variety of layout, images and copy into the mix. Now, for each storytelling option, embracing the right perspective to serve the intended users is what matters most for the success of the app. UX design always remains a crucial part of brand storytelling, and there the marketing message can only be carried forward through excellence of design.
UX is already a priority for many digital marketers across successful brands. The roles of marketers and UX designers continue to overlap into one another for shaping the customer-centric digital products of the future.
Atman Rathod is the Co-founder at CMARIX TechnoLabs, a leading web and mobile app development company with 13+ years of experience. He loves to write about technology, startups, entrepreneurship and business. His creative abilities, academic track record and leadership skills made him one of the key industry influencers as well.


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Right of Return (By Themselves and of Themselves), 2010
Marc Andre Robinson
found wood, iron
© Marc Andre Robinson - Courtesy GAM - Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Torino foto di Studio Gonella - Proprietà della Fondazione per l'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT
Known, recognizable, and familiar forms and objects constitute the point of departure for Marc Andre Robinson's works. He often develops his sculptures and drawings from the meticulous repetition of these forms. For example the series Multitude, 2003, is animated by a multitude of small figures drawn in black ink, so close to one another that, at first glance, they become unrecognizable, confused in an abstract, decorative motif.
The question of identity, understood above all as a sense of belonging and familiarity with shared things, is central to his work. His project The Diachronic, 2010, came about after Robinson's first trip to South Africa, his grandfather's native land, which until then the artist had known only through his mother's stories. [...]
Four Thousand Seven Hundred and Twenty Five (Motion Control/Mollino)
Simon Starling, 2007
Cracks in time May Days in Turin 1981-2013


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Matthew Del Nevo grew up in Oxford, England. He moved to Israel and worked at the Four Homes of Mercy in Bethany and studied Creative Writing at the Bezalel Foundation in Jerusalem.
Matthew has an academic background in Social Science and in Theology. He has been based in Sydney since 1987. He wrote a doctoral dissertation at the University of Sydney on Le Livre des questions (7 vols) by Egyptian-born French Jewish poet Edmond Jabès.
Matthew is Associate Professor within the Faculty of Humanities in the Christian Tradition at the Sydney College of Divinity. He lectures in philosophy at the Catholic Institute of Sydney, a Pontifical faculty; he lectures as an adjunct in the areas of spirituality, theology and psychology at Hillsong College; and serves as Academic Dean at Nisibis College, the new global college ministering to the Assyrian Church of the East.
Matthew has written about soul and soulfulness in a trilogy of books on melancholy, on enchantment and on music, currently published by Routledge. He has written a book of philosophy and religious poetics, The Metaphysics of Night. His latest book, Finding Harmony is a slim set of three essays, on religion, humanism and harmony. Matthew's main research areas are history of ideas, contemporary philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, Western and Eastern spiritual and wisdom traditions.
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Pentecostalism and the Age of Interpretation. Australasian Pentecostal Studies 11 (Jan 2009).
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Edmond Jabès and Kabbalism After God. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 65/2, (1997) 403-442.
Edmond Jabès and The Book. Literature and Theology, 10/4, Oxford University Press, (1996) 301-336.
Reading Edmond Jabès. Literature and Theology, 2/4, Oxford University Press, (1995) 399-422.
Edmond Jabès, Jewish Destiny, & Deconstruction. Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, 6/2, (1993) 37-52.
Love in the Christian Period, in Love in the Religions of the World, ed. W. Cristaudo. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012.
Johannine Christianity and Secularisation, in Religion and Spirituality in a Postmodern Globe, ed. Seyed Javad Miri. Köln, Germany: Lambert Academic, 2011.
Goethe, First Father of the Third Age of the Church in The Cross and the Star: The Post-Nietzschean Christian and Jewish Thought of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig, ed. Wayne Cristaudo and Frances Huessy. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009.
Spirituality in a Feminine Key, in Raising Women Leaders: perspectives on liberating women in Pentecostalism (with Robyn Wrigly-Carr). ed. Shane Clifton. Sydney: APS/SCD, 2009.


The latest quarterly CBI Industrial Trends survey reveals poor results for the manufacturing industry, with orders for <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />UK goods at their lowest rate since 1999.
Advisors are concerned that constraints on capital are now affecting manufacturers in a way that had previously not been the case. A reduction in output and demand for manufactured goods has resulted in the largest single quarter fall in manufacturing confidence for 28 years.
Figures for the last three months show that 46 per cent of manufacturers reported a decline in the number of new orders, while only 16 per cent said they had increased.
Output has fallen by 31 per cent and domestic orders by 42 per cent. Manufacturers are expecting worse figures in the coming quarter with only four per cent showing more optimism about the situation than three months earlier.
The survey also revealed that 16 per cent of manufacturers cited difficult lending conditions as a constraint on investment, with nine per cent stating their output would be reduced due to credit limitations in the final quarter.
Job losses were not as high as manufacturers had expected, with a 15 per cent reduction in staff. However, based on the survey results, the CBI predicts that 23,000 manufacturing jobs will be lost in the third quarter, increasing to 42,000 in the fourth quarter.
Domestic price inflation has eased over the last quarter and is expected to soften further in view of unit costs and weak demand.
Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser, said: 'This survey was conducted during a period of exceptional economic turbulence, so it is unsurprising that confidence has taken such a hit.
'However, the sharp falls in orders and output show that the slowdown in the UK economy is now spreading to sectors previously resilient to the weakness in the banking and housing markets.
I'd like to offer an item of positive news in this tale of doom and gloom. Readers of the 29th October edition of the Manchester Evening News will have discovered that safety systems manufacturer Hima-Sella, based in Stockport has experienced significant, steady growth over the past 12 months. The workforce has increased by 25% and turnover is on target to jump from 8m to 10m this year. There remains a huge amount of activity in our key sectors of nuclear, oil & gas and transport and the economic downturn has not adversely affected our business at all.


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Review: The Importance of Being Earnest, Vaudeville Theatre
Camilla Gurtler July 8, 2015 ReviewsTheatreWest End235 views
Being one of the classics of the English repertoire, The Importance of Being Earnest is probably the theatre ghost of today – it never really leaves the English stage and has been celebrated for over a hundred years here and abroad. Oscar Wilde's wildly entertaining masterpiece grabs us with aristocratic wit and never misses the comic mark, despite its emotional depth being a shallow pond in a theatre-park of seriousness. The play uses its biting satire to reflect the aristocracy of its Victorian days, and Adrian Noble's production at the Vaudeville Theatre certainly finds the frivolity and rhythm that make this play such a joy to watch.
It might not wish to convey a deep message, but it is nonetheless highly entertaining and clever in many ways. John (Jack) Worthing and his friend Algernon are notorious bachelors in London making the most of what society offers. Jack goes under the name of Ernest in town and Jack in the country, and when Algernon realises he has a young ward, he pretends to be Jack's brother and sets out to do mischief in the country. All gets out of hand as lovers are disguised and misunderstood, and the true importance of the name "Ernest" is discovered. The Importance of Being Earnest is highly farcical but beautifully written with its delightful characters and confusion. Adrian Noble's production taps at the heart of the play's life – it is a sprightly, entertaining production that finds a balance between farce and truth, exaggeration and human nature. The comic timing and sense of language and fluidity build throughout, which makes the piece not only smooth to watch but also highly engaging. The performances are excellent, though to an extent heightened and at times a tad too stylistic. Playing for laughs is an obvious and useful device in such a production but at times it's pushed a bit too far. That said, what is worth applauding is the actors' total commitment throughout – this is a play that could easily fall flat on its face, hard and ugly, but Noble's direction and the sheer talent of his performers drive it upwards towards brilliance.
Philip Cumbus is exceptionally spontaneous and thrilling to watch as the notoriously charming and mischievous Algernon. There is an unforced ease and playfulness about him, down to impeccable detail, which drives the play into joyous madness and fun. Imogen Doel is excitingly sprightly as Cecily, and together with Michael Benz (John Worthing) and Emily Barber (Gwendolen), the young couples take charge of the performance with confidence and humour. The ticket-magnet of the show is undoubtedly David Suchet as the dragon aunt Lady Bracknell, a part that has been defined by many of the greatest British actresses and actors of our time. Suchet is firstly wonderful in a dress and with ladylike manners, but it is his crisp humour, commitment and sternness that suit the temperament of the character so well. His appearances are wonderfully clever and witty and, with an air of having the audience right in his pocket, mesmerised by his sheer entrance, we are at his comical mercy. It is a wonderful cast, and though the physical, comic expression grows with speed throughout, it is highly entertaining to watch.
Peter McKintosh's period design is beautiful but lets the play get on with what it needs to do – by setting it in its historical context we allow ourselves to be swept away by the wit of Wilde's own world, which is refreshing the further into the performance we get. Noble has created a pleasant night of hysterical laughter with a clear taste for comic timing and flavour in Wilde's work. It's on point, sharp and wildly funny though lacking some edge and depth. But hey, it's okay to have a great laugh every now and again without having to reflect too much. It's a great play for switching off the London insanity pulse and just indulging in some good old-fashioned frivolity.
The Importance of Being Earnest is playing at the Vaudeville Theatre until 7 November. For more information and tickets, visit The Importance of Being Earnest website.
Adrian NobleDavid SuchetEmily BarberImogen DoelMichael BenzOscar WildePeter McKintoshPhilip CumbusThe Importance of Being EarnestVaudeville Theatre
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Camilla Gurtler
Camilla is a director and writer originally from Denmark, now living in London. She trained on the Young Directors' Programme with StoneCrabs Theatre Company and is currently doing her MA in Directing at Drama Centre.