text:
Finding Our Hyper-Casual Niche – Lessons From Platonic Games
CEO & Founder of Platonic Games, Valeria Castro, shares with us just how their studio found their gaming niche, and the steps developers can use to find theirs.
Valeria Castro
CEO & Founder at Platonic Games
In June 2019, GameAnalytics hosted a mobile gaming event to talk about casual gaming, which we called 'The Arcade (R)Evolution: Making Hit Casual Games'. Valeria Castro of Platonic games somewhat stole the show with her presentation – speaking with wit and passion about how to find a niche in the world of hyper-casual gaming.
If you couldn't make our last event, don't worry. Here's Valeria to fill you in on what you missed (and here's the video of her talk):
We're Platonic Games – a 10-person dev team from Madrid. You might know us if you've ever played Kawaii Kitchen, Happy Hop or Sailor Cats. As you can probably guess from those titles, we make super-cute, hyper-casual games. And there's one question we get asked a lot.
Can we actually compete against the big developers?
In reality, no. We can't. But the good news is that we don't have to. Let me explain.
Big developers have three things in abundance that most studios won't be able to match, which are:
But we, as scrappy little underdog developers, have a few advantages of our own:
We can take more risks (because we don't have millions invested in each new project)
We can build unique, more intimate communities
We can find niches
Finding a niche is the key thing. When there are two billion customers up for grabs, we only need a million (0.05%) of them to play one of our games for it to be successful. And what better way to target them than by figuring out what exactly is missing in today's market.
How we found our niche
When I founded Platonic Games in 2015, before we did anything, we sat down and had a long hard look at what gaps we could potentially fill in the market. The runner genre was popular and endlessly diverse. But there was one genre where we didn't see much variety – games for girls.
If you search for games for girls, you generally find three things: cooking games, dressing-up games, and 'taking care of something' games. There are plenty of good games in this space, but no one was taking the more mainstream genres and making them appealing to girls. There were very few cute, girly runner games.
So we decided this would be our niche. Next we needed to find a way to 'own' that space. No matter how fun and awesome our games were, few gamers would play them if they were lost in the jungle of the market.
The power of keywords
We didn't know much about keywords. But we knew that searching 'cute' returned an ocean of games in which ours would be mere droplets. So we looked for more distinctive keywords.
'Kawaii' turned out to be ideal. It's not only a less-used synonym for cute, but it's also a more specific one – it evokes the Japanese aesthetic of super-colorful, childlike, 'aww'-inducing cuteness. I grew up around all things kawaii, so I thought it would be hot property as a keyword. But it wasn't. We were the first ones to really use it.
Having such a consistent visual style makes it much easier to create a recognizable brand. Our merchandise, our website, and social media (and, of course, our games) all carry that distinctive, memorable look – so our users always know what to expect from us.
How we built our kawaii community
There are a few things we did, but for the sake of this blog and presentation, I'm going to talk about 3 key steps we followed.
Step one: Telling users the truth
We wanted the people playing our games to know who we are. Many people still assume all games are made by massive companies who just want to milk money from them. We knew we could build a stronger community by telling them the truth – we're a little team who love making games, and every download and every review makes a difference to us.
10% of our players now leave us a review, which massively helps us improve our games and engage more with the people who play them. And it makes us happy to know people are enjoying the games we've worked so hard to create.
Step two: Knowing your target audience
We knew about 80% of our players were girls and young women. But that wasn't enough to understand them or know how best to communicate with them. This is where the ample reviews came in really useful.
Our reviewers were unlikely to say things like, "well designed, effective core gameplay loop, enjoyable to play". They were more likely to say things like, "OMG I F***ING LOVE THIS GAME SO CUTE OMG" (followed by an endless stream of emojis)
This tells us a lot. Our audience is excitable, animated, and passionate. Just because they enjoy hyper-casual games, doesn't mean they have hyper-casual personalities. By learning this about our users, it allowed us to write and speak on a more direct and personal level. This really does go a long way, and can help build a long-lasting relationship with your players.
Step three: Use the right social media channels
We started out on Facebook and Twitter, simply because they were the channels we knew best. But our artists (who are much younger than me) said that with our kawaii style and our target audience, Instagram should absolutely be our natural habitat.
They were right. After two months on Instagram, we'd already gained more followers than our Twitter and Facebook accounts had gained in two years.
These followers are much more active too. This is probably because Instagram is the perfect place for us to talk to our followers the way they talk to us – informal and excitable, with lots of capital letters, emojis, and hashtags. (Although we generally leave out the curse words.)
Setting clear goals
We aim to release one game every six months. For hyper-casual, that's quite a long time. But we have high standards for our finished games – we don't release a game until it's really polished.
We usually start out developing three or four concepts, and then narrow our focus to just the one we think is strongest. And we always soft-launch our games to no more than ten thousand players – just to make sure there aren't any problems we've missed.
We have clear goals for retention rates too:
40% day 1 retention
5% day 28 retention
This makes a big difference in free-to-play. For advertisers, it doesn't matter if you have ten million downloads – with anything lower than 10% retention after 7 days, you won't make much money.
We also like to make our games 'friendly free to play', so we design our games around the video ads they'll host. We want players to watch the ads because they want to, rather than because they have to.
There are still plenty of niches out there
Hyper-casual games are growing fast. If you know the market and can see where the gaps are, you can create a whole new community of gamers who'll come straight to you for the kinds of games they love playing.
That's the power of having a niche. You just have to find the right one, and then create and market your games to fit neatly into it.
Thanks for reading. If you wanted to catch up on the other talks during GameAnalytics' event, you can find them here. Also, here's a copy of the video, in case you wanted to see me in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z_7MpS-5ws&t=4s
Making Hit Casual Games Event – Voodoo, Platonic Games & GameAnalytics
If you've been following our blog, email, or social channels recently, then you may have heard the words 'Arcade (R)Evolution' or 'Making Hit Casual Games' been muttered about once or…
How To Create "Hyper-Snackable" Casual Games
With more games on the market than ever before, there is little doubt that developers need to be increasingly innovative when designing the next hit hyper-casual title. There are however…
Hyper-Casual Games 101: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Players
Editors Note: In June 2019, we held an event dedicated to making hit hyper-casual games. Alongside GameAnalytics, we were joined by publishing giants, Voodoo, and Kawaii specialists, Platonic Games, to…


text:
Stygnomma fiskei is een hooiwagen uit de familie Stygnommatidae.

Stygnommatidae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: undefined method `klass' for nil:NilClass I'm a newbie in Rails and I have a problem with ORM relationships.
When i access /admin/health_concerns_lists
This shows up.
Showing /Users/sbpipb/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.1/bundler/gems/activeadmin-a2cd9604c2d9/app/views/active_admin/resource/index.html.arb where line #2 raised:

undefined method `klass' for nil:NilClass
Extracted source (around line #2):
1

  insert_tag renderer_for(:index)

Here is my relationships.
class HealthProfile < ActiveRecord::Base
    #table - health_profiles
    has_many :health_concerns, dependent: :destroy
    has_many :health_concerns_lists, :through => :health_concerns ,dependent: :destroy
end

class HealthConcern < ActiveRecord::Base
    #table - health_concerns
    belongs_to :health_profile
    belongs_to :health_concerns_list
end

class HealthConcernsList < ActiveRecord::Base
    self.table_name = "health_concerns_list"
    has_many :health_concerns, dependent: :destroy
    has_many :health_profiles, :through => :health_concerns_lists, dependent: :destroy
end

Schema
health_profile
id
name

health_concerns
id
health_profile_id
health_concerns_id

health_concerns_list
id
name

I know, my naming convention sounds wrong.

A: class HealthProfile < ActiveRecord::Base
    #table - health_profiles
    has_many :health_concerns, dependent: :destroy
    has_many :health_concerns_lists, :through => :health_concerns ,dependent: :destroy
end

I guess you need to correct this part:
class HealthConcern < ActiveRecord::Base
    #table - health_concerns
    belongs_to :health_profile
    has_many :health_concerns_list
end

class HealthConcernsList < ActiveRecord::Base
    belongs_to :health_concerns, dependent: :destroy
    belongs_to :health_profiles, dependent: :destroy
end

A: Try changing
class HealthProfile < ActiveRecord::Base
    # ...
    has_many :health_concerns_lists, :through => :health_concerns, dependent: :destroy
end

into:
class HealthProfile < ActiveRecord::Base
    # ...
    has_many :health_concerns_lists, :through => :health_concerns, dependent: :destroy
    has_many :health_concerns
end

For every model with has_many through: ...

A: Try removing:
self.table_name = "health_concerns_list"

By Rails conventions you do not need to specify a table name for the model.  Them model name (HealthConcernsList) will be tableize'd to health_conerns_lists.
If you must us a singular table_name, try:
class HealthConcernsList < ActiveRecord::Base
  self.pluralize_table_names = false
end

http://guides.rubyonrails.org/3_1_release_notes.html#active-record

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


ESET Smart Security utilizes heuristics and a cloud-based file reputation system to detect the newest threads. Its Anti-Theft feature allows you to track a stolen laptop on a map, view the thief via your laptop's webcam (if it has one) and lock it with a password. ESET Smart Security 64-bit delivers multiple layers of Internet protection and protects your identity with Antivirus, Anti-Theft, and Personal Firewall. All-in-one Internet Security allows you to confidently explore online while protected against physical theft of your computer, identity theft and exposure to potentially offensive web content. It features Anti-Theft which locates your missing laptop and gives you tools to help recover it. The new Social Media Scanner extends protection to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Personal Firewall and Anti-Phishing keep your data safe from identity theft and network attacks, while Parental Control and included Cybersecurity Training help make your family's online experience even safer.
Features like opening a secure browser when you access your banking website, anti-phishing functions that protect you from fake websites and anti-theft that secures, tracks and, if necessary, wipes stolen devices remotely. As an added bonus, parental locks will keep your kids browsing safely. These features are in addition to standards like anti-malware and anti-virus protection and blocking spam messages in your email. The program delivers everything you get with its core antivirus package: malware and ransomware blocking, web browsing and antiphishing protection, and a social media module to keep you safe from malicious content. This is a complete security package that provides antivirus and Internet protection simultaneously. Blocks anti-spyware protects against phishing, powerful firewall and spam filter. Parental control to prevent children from inappropriate content on the Web.
Parental Control- Protects your family from potentially offensive web content by blocking various website categories.
Intelligent Firewall – Improved firewall module prevents unauthorized users from accessing your computer and taking advantage of your personal data.
Gamer Mode – Postpones all pop-up windows, updates or other system-intensive activities to conserve system resources for gaming or other full-screen activities.
Optimized Startup Procedure -No more waiting for signature database download to complete – ESET Smart Security 9 lets you start working immediately after booting, without compromising your security.
Open Tnod folder and install "TNod final-setup.exe".
Run TNod final-setup.exe and you are done!unlock.


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Case Update
News Doctor who refused to use pronoun chosen by transgender patients was not discriminated against
Doctor who refused to use pronoun chosen by transgender patients was not discriminated against
Employment tribunal: Lack of belief in "transgenderism" is incompatible with human dignity
The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) protects employees and workers from discrimination on the basis of their religion or belief (or lack of belief). However, beliefs will not be protected if they are incompatible with human dignity or if they conflict with the fundamental rights of others.
A recent employment tribunal case has explored the potential conflict between the beliefs of an evangelical Christian and the rights and freedoms of transgender people.
Case details: Mackereth v DWP and another
Dr Mackereth is a Christian who believes that God created only males and females and that a person cannot choose their gender. He also does not believe that people should be accommodated or encouraged in what he terms their "delusional belief" of being able to change gender. He was engaged for around a month by Advanced Personnel Management Group (UK) Ltd (APM) to work as a health and disability assessor for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The DWP has a policy of addressing its transgender service users in their presented sex in order to ensure that they are treated with respect and in accordance with their right not to be discriminated against.
While undergoing induction training with APM, Dr Mackereth stated that he could not refer to someone by using a pronoun or title which did not reflect their birth gender. He stated that this was because God assigned people's gender at birth and he could not refer to individuals by a gender that was different to their God-given sex.
After Dr Mackereth began carrying out assessments, he was asked by APM's contract manager whether he would comply with the DWP policy. He made clear that he would not be able to do so. Shortly afterwards, he chose to stop working under the contract. The DWP considered whether there was any alternative role which Dr Mackereth could take to avoid having to deal face to face with transgender people. No alternative role was available. He was asked for a final time whether he would comply with the policy but he refused and this was taken as a resignation.
Dr Mackereth brought claims for harassment, direct discrimination and indirect discrimination against both the DWP and APM.
The tribunal held that Dr Mackereth's beliefs were incompatible with human dignity and conflicted with the fundamental rights of transgender individuals. They were not therefore protected under the Act. It commented that refusing to refer to a transgender person by their presenting gender, or to use relevant pronouns or titles would in itself be unlawful discrimination or harassment under the Act. The tribunal also held that its decision was compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights as the right to manifest a religion or belief is subject to the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
The tribunal went on to dismiss all of Dr Mackereth's claims. It noted that, if the doctor's beliefs had been protected under the Act, the DWP would have been able to defend the indirect discrimination claim as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. This was because the harm to vulnerable service users of accepting Dr Mackereth's stance would have outweighed the discriminatory impact on the claimant.
The tribunal noted that transgender service users applying for disability-related benefits were proportionately more likely to be vulnerable and to have mental health conditions than members of society as a whole. It noted that any "triaging" of service users after disclosure of their trans status to avoid them coming into contact with the claimant could have violated their dignity and been detrimental to their mental health.
Wrigleys' comment
Balancing the needs of service users against the rights of employees can at times pose significant difficulties for employers. This is particularly the case for those working with vulnerable service users. While employers must ensure they do not discriminate against employees and workers on the basis of religion or belief, it is important that policies designed to protect the rights of others are not compromised in the process. As this case shows, beliefs will not be protected under the Act if they are incompatible with other people's human dignity, rights and freedoms.
Employers are advised to have in place and to communicate regularly to employees clear written policies which set out their aims of protecting people (including service users, employees and third parties) from discrimination and harassment.
In this case, the DWP was able to show that it had a clear equality and diversity policy in place which was communicated to contract workers during their induction. It was also able to show that it had acted proportionately by considering whether there was any alternative role the claimant could have taken.
Interestingly, the General Medical Council guidance on doctors' "conscientious objection" was found not to be relevant here. For example, the right of doctors to refuse to carry out an abortion was not found to be analogous as the claimant was not being asked to carry out any procedure, simply to refer to service users by their chosen pronoun or title.
Readers should note that this is a first instance decision and it may be appealed.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this article further, please contact Alacoque Marvin or any other member of the employment team on 0113 244 6100.
You can also keep up to date by following Wrigleys employment team on Twitter
The information in this article is necessarily of a general nature. Specific advice should be sought for specific situations. If you have any queries or need any legal advice please feel free to contact Wrigleys Solicitors.
Alacoque Marvin
Wealth Tax: Q&As
Your questions answered.
What are the Charity Commission filing obligations for my charity? Part 2: The Annual Report
A closer look at your charity's obligation to prepare and file an annual report.
Refusing to work because of fears about Covid-19 - section 44 of the Employment Rights Act
Employers need to be aware of this increasingly important provision.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
English to Nepali Meaning of observatory - वेधशाला
Observatory :
Observatories :: वेधशालाओं Observatory :: वेधशाला
Inflections of observatory
← Observation
observe →
Definitions of observatory in English
Noun(1) a building designed and equipped to observe astronomical phenomena(2) a structure commanding a wide view of its surroundings
Examples of observatory in English
(1) The Arc also features an observatory to take in surrounding views.(2) The summit of dormant volcano Mauna Kea is home to the world's largest astronomical observatory and most powerful telescope.(3) Britain's foremost radio astronomy observatory at Jodrell Bank celebrates its 45th anniversary this month.(4) The designs for the carvings at the top of the building based their design on an ancient Greek observatory built for Andronicus.(5) He now had more time than before to devote to his study of astronomy, having an observatory in the rooms in which he lived in one of the towers in the town's fortifications.(6) Before heading down to the falls, the trail first leads into a huge butterfly observatory .(7) Shrubs could be cleared away from around the observatory , for example - and views could be created down to the river.(8) There are also plans to open a national observatory with an automated telescope dedicated solely to high-school observers.(9) The tower featured a belfry and observatory , topped with a cupola and a golden statue of an angel flying in a horizontal position!(10) The mine was chosen as the observatory's location so that the rock would shield the observatory from cosmic radiation.(11) In 1806 he accepted the post of assistant at the Lilienthal Observatory, a private observatory near Bremen.(12) Accompanied by several other astronomers he established a temporary observatory on Pikes Peak, the summit of which is over 14,000 feet above sea level.(13) Set up in 1923, the historical Bosscha Observatory is the closest observatory in the world to the equator.(14) The 60th floor observatory has been permanently closed for security reasons.(15) An aquatic plant observatory was created, and a greenhouse was purchased for use as art classrooms.(16) A bridge links the classroom and dormitory blocks and allows access to the outdoor ramps and observatory tower.
(1) observation deck ::
(2) under observation ::
अवलोकन अन्तर्गत
(3) direct observation ::
प्रत्यक्ष अवलोकन
(4) observation tower ::
अवलोकन टावर
(5) observation room ::
अवलोकन कक्ष
(6) observation post ::
अवलोकन पोस्ट
(7) study by observation ::
अवलोकन गरेर अध्ययन
Related Phrases of observatory
1. lookout ::
बाहिर हेर
2. observation tower ::
Synonyms of observatory
observatories, observatory
Please welcome to the Griffith Observatory
The Big Bang Theory Season 12, Episode 5
Oh, I love the OBSERVATORY.
The Big Bang Theory Season 11, Episode 10
at the OBSERVATORY later on, if you want to join.
The Griffith Observatory is looking for an astrophysicist
Examples of observatory from TV Shows
English to Nepali Dictionary: observatory
Meaning and definitions of observatory, translation in Nepali language for observatory with similar and opposite words. Also find spoken pronunciation of observatory in Nepali and in English language.
Tags for the entry 'observatory'
What observatory means in Nepali, observatory meaning in Nepali, observatory definition, examples and pronunciation of observatory in Nepali language.
● Media
Multitasking (multitasking) :: However it is an overrated and counterproductive trap often misconstrued as dedication to the job while failure to multitask is often seen as being lazy Bandwidth (ब्यान्डविथ) :: The large bandwidths of the bands reflected the short lifetime of these states due to fast exciton relaxation Bounce (बाउन्स) :: The next ball I went to field took a bad bounce and hit me up on the right shoulder Firmware (फर्मवेयर) :: Most devices will have the ability to be upgraded or repaired remotely by downloading new firmware or software Logic (तर्क) :: Formal logic is applied again this time to determine whether a premature or erroneous idea prevails
Snow (हिउँ) :: They are saying it will snow again tonight Soap (साबुन) :: I need to find medicine and bandages soap and disinfectants to clean my wounds Social (सामाजिक) :: Science as a social endeavor is seen as a collective project for the improvement of social structures Society (समाज) :: However the assumption that civil and political rights should have priority is widely shared in our society
Derogatory (अपमानजनक) :: I could only make out my name and from her tone of voice I realized that it was used in derogatory terms Desecrate (सुनाना) :: Human productivity and excellence if achieved by way of human desecration and abuse can only result in eventual catastrophe


Are your business stories compelling and memorable?
When it comes to sharing the memorable stories that will keep customers and attract prospects, most businesses end up with canned press releases, boring case studies, uninspired blog posts and tweets that no employee, customer or partner will ever remember. I Killed a Rabid Fox with a Croquet Mallet teaches the principles of story creation that should inform all communications, from ads to case studies, articles to blog posts. Learn the value of building compelling and memorable stories. Understand how to build your own great stories through examples from large multinational businesses and smaller companies that any business person can understand and mirror. Rabid Fox includes a brief workbook that anyone can use to start creating compelling and memorable stories.
Nicolas Boillot was CEO of HB Agency (now Mower), an integrated marketing firm building brands for such clients as HP, EMC, CA, and many smaller businesses whose stories appear in this book. Nicolas is a co-founder of Middlebury College's MiddCORE, an intensive series of courses and programs focused on Creativity, Opportunity, Risk and Entrepreneurship. He is involved with several non-profits focused on business leadership and the environment. Nicolas regularly speaks on branding and public relations. Appearances include the Boston Association of IT Professionals (AITP), GSAS Harvard Biotechnology Club, Yankee IABC Senior Corporate Communicators Group, the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce, CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education), and CFO Roundtable. He lives in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, with his wife and son.
I Killed a Rabid Fox with a Croquet Mallet is a rare gem. It offers simple, actionable guidance for everyday businesses to find and develop their best stories. With all the choice in today's market, compelling and memorable stories are the key to long-term customer engagement.
In Scrum we know a product owner with good stories makes developers twice as fast and customers willing to pay twice as much. From Nicolas, I learned that good stories can make a business twice as Agile and a company valuation four times as great.
The passion for stories runs deep in human nature and explains why we read books, watch movies, and exchange anecdotes with one another. Great stories inspire people to take action, including in today's commercial world. Rabid Fox shows how to apply these basic truths effectively in modern marketing, using the power of compelling stories as a potent growth engine for business.
The lessons contained within I Killed a Rabid Fox with a Croquet Mallet apply to anyone who needs to get a message across with impact and longevity. Although written for business professionals, any professional who communicates will appreciate Rabid Fox's insights and lessons.


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Our Arbours & Arches comes in a range of different styles; simply choose from the drop down menu on the product pages.
If you are having trouble finding the correct Arbours & Arches please call us on 01942 720777 or email sales@nwtt.co.uk.
Our range of Garden Arbours, choose from either the Apex or the Corner Garden Arbour. Available from North West Timber Treatments Ltd.


text:
Amplify CRM
IncentivesFlow
InvestmentFlow
InvestmentMap
Place Marketing
FDI Training
Training Guidelines
System sign in
How do regions attract in-bound investments in the era of remote work?
By Kavan Bhandary
The great remote work experiment is changing the way companies think about their talent acquisition. Many workplaces will not return to the old ways.
Their hands may have been forced but companies have embraced this new model and recognised its latent potential to massively broaden the pool of available talent. Economic activity is becoming more dispersed. Cities, which have proved resilient to past disruptions, are facing competition from other regions. The pandemic has already boosted the appeal to corporations of suburban locations according to Site Selectors Guild. 'Work from home' has freed millions of workers from their daily commute. Traditional business districts hubs may choose to invest in better mobility infrastructure if they are to attract them back.
(Source: Site Selectors Guild, 2020)
(Source: McKinsey, 2015)
Emerging trends have been supercharged
The trend was already emerging with concepts such as the 'gig economy' and 'open talent' gaining traction over recent years. Investments in talent platforms are booming. Five years ago McKinsey estimated these 'matchmaking' solutions would add US$2.7trillion to global GDP by 2025. Whether culturally driven or tech-led, Covid-19 has supercharged these trends.
This change in the way companies think about talent, and where it resides, has profound implications for regional authorities that want to attract in-bound investment and jobs. In the past regions offered incentives to investors based on the number of jobs being created locally. If the investor no longer sees that as a meaningful metric, what can the region do to differentiate itself and retain its appeal?
Once a vaccine is available, companies will compete for talent based on their flexibility and willingness to enable a better work/life balance. As the dust settles, those that respond positively will win, those that drag their feet will likely see attrition spike.
"In the past employees who stayed home had to overcome the suspicion that they were bunking off. Now those who insist on being at the office sound self-important", says The Economist.
Regions must develop distinct offerings that appeal in a new world of work.
Build a robust digital strategy
Remote work is only possible when reliable and resilient digital infrastructure exists. Locations should have a strong digital strategy in place and present evidence that it allows workers to operate seamlessly within their increasingly wide boundaries. Since market dynamics change at such speed, companies see digital transformation as a vital path to growth. Can your region support and enable their ambitions? Access to 5G and super-fast broadband must be part of the plan.
Promote flexible employment policies
Regions may consider offering incentives to teleworkers. By making themselves magnets for highly skilled talent they can give themselves a competitive edge. Some states of the USA were already incentivising remote workers before the pandemic hit. Many more are doing so now. Where transport links were previously a priority, other factors such as access to nature, local community and other lifestyle factors will become important. Are you making the most of your natural assets and putting them at the heart of your value proposition?
Twin locally to win
Forging links between towns and cities in far-flung parts of the world originated in the aftermath of World War II as a way to promote friendship and reconciliation. More recently local officials, such as mayors, have seen the potential to build strategic alliances between cities. Most often the focus is on international pairings, but cities might find opportunities closer to home. Hub and spoke-type clusters which give in-bound companies access to dispersed talent within a region can offer competitive advantage. Do you have existing partnerships that can be dusted off or new ones to forge?
Look to the future
Some places have historically built brand value on the back of their appeal as hubs and markets; think London, New York, and Hong Kong. But times change. Rome, Athens and Constantinople were once the global hotspots famed for their bazaars. Now they compete more for tourist dollars than for FDI. The Bay Area of San Francisco was a little-known centre for military technology until the 1970s when it became the epicentre of a computing boom and Silicon Valley was born. It now has the third highest GDP of anywhere in the world. Are you set to be a new star of the 21st century?
Remote works' unintended consequences
The mythology of Silicon Valley is rooted in the spontaneous coffee shop meetings that seeded billion-dollar businesses. Without the serendipity of chance get-togethers at the Creamery or the local hipster cafe or watercooler chats we may see a dip in start-up activity. And work from home will rob many of the chance of an office romance which, despite the concerns of HR professionals, have been the spark for many happy unions. I'm sure someone is getting ready to launch a remote work romance app!
All aspects of our lives have changed in the past half year. Old orders have been replaced. New rules offer new opportunities. As companies come to terms with the realities of remote work at scale, they will need partners who can respond creatively.
Site Selectors Guild, 2020: https://siteselectorsguild.com/wp-content/uploads/Site-Selectors-Guild-COVID-Research-Infographic-Final.pdf
McKinsey, 2015: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/connecting-talent-with-opportunity-in-the-digital-age
The Economist, 2020: https://www.economist.com/business/2020/05/30/working-life-has-entered-a-new-era
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Hello - is there a swimming pool in hotel Wirtshaus ? Thanks in advance.
There's no pool. Don't worry though. The hotel will issue you with a pass for free entry to the town's excellent Panorama swimming pool complex. Hope that helps.
I am looking at staying here for my husbands birthday next year, please can you advise if you will cater for allergies?
How much is an area ski pass and is it easy enough to get to other ski areas?
Where's the best place to hire skis please?
At the cable car station the ski hire noichl, or in the city the Hervis or Intersport rent.


Below is an excerpt from their review. Click here to read the full article.
"Canon is the world's largest camera manufacturer, and that hasn't happened by accident. Through careful research and, yes, some market segmentation, it's found a way to sell a lot of cameras that make a lot of people happy. The risk it's been running lately, though, is one of perceived stagnation; despite their continually impressive high-end offerings, many competing manufacturers are moving more quickly to bring to market products that some consumers may perceive as more 'exciting' in some form or other.
With all of that in mind, the EOS 6D Mark II is a classic Canon DSLR. Is it particularly exciting? No, but really, neither was the original 6D aside from its fairly accessible price point. What the 6D Mark II is, though, is a solid, well-built camera that is capable of producing great images while improving upon its predecessor in almost every measurable way."


text:
Bowen vs. the Bureaucrats
The Iraq IG has an ambitious plan to overhaul reconstruction oversight, planning, and contracting. Let the turf war begin!
US Department of State
Whether he meant to or not, Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), just launched the opening volley in a bureaucratic turf war. On Monday, Bowen's office released a report outlining the creation of a new government agency that would be responsible for managing, planning, and funding stability and reconstruction operations, like the ones that are ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan and the aid effort that is ramping up in Haiti. Not surprisingly the lead players in these operations—namely the departments of state and defense—don't like the idea of a new government entity bigfooting their terrain one bit.
Dubbed the US Office for Contingency Operations (USOCO), the proposed agency would gather under one roof a variety of government divisions that are currently spread among a multitude of agencies, each responsible for a piece of the puzzle but none for the whole picture. The idea, says Bowen, is to provide a single point of accountability for the billions of dollars being poured into reconstruction and stability efforts. In other words, one agency to blame when things go wrong—a concept that, at the very least, would save congressional committees the trouble of calling officials from multiple agencies to the mat to answer for reconstruction debacles.
Presently authority over reconstruction and stability programs—and the associated contracting—has been diffused among the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, the Pentagon, and others. The result, in many cases, has been unclear lines of authority, ad hoc or absent oversight, and overlapping or contradictory efforts. Given the litany of oversight lapses that have marred reconstruction efforts—resulting, among other things, in untold amounts of taxpayer money squandered or outright ripped off—shaking up the status quo would seem like a welcome and long overdue option. But ceding territory is never something government agencies take kindly to. And, if Bowen's proposal threatens to become anything more than a well-read white paper, the firm, yet polite opposition of government officials could turn into a bureaucratic insurgency.
In a written response to Bowen's plan, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michèle Flournoy remarked, "it's not apparent how an additional organization solves the unity of command issues." And besides, she added, Congress is "unlikely" to endorse the creation of a new agency "in today's fiscally constrained environment." Likewise, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Jacob Lew commented that the proposal is "an interesting one, but seems problematic on several fronts."
Bowen, for his part, knew what he was getting into when he recommended the new agency. "Because it impinges upon existing 'turf,' USOCO, as a concept, will draw resistance," the report detailing the new agency notes.
On Monday, Bowen defended his plan on Capitol Hill. "There is a system in place that's not working," he told the Commission on Wartime Contracting, which held a hearing on the coordination of reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He acknowledged that USOCO had received a "mixed response"—and, in at least one case, none at all. Bowen said his office presented its proposal to the National Security Council, which, through its Policy Coordination Committee for Reconstruction and Stability Operations, plays a key role in the efforts Bowen wants to overhaul. "They didn't respond," he said.
Members of the contracting commission greeted Bowen's recommendation with a mixture of praise and skepticism. "I consider this to be an important proposal," said Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon's former comptroller. Still, he cautioned, "You are getting into people's turf."
Grant Green, the undersecretary of state for management during the Bush administration's first term, asked Bowen: "What makes you believe that this concept will work? In the end, a lot of this goes back to dollars. What makes you think that management will be any better when the two largest departments don't support the concept?" Clark Kent Ervin, the Department of Homeland Security's first Inspector General, said, "I'm always skeptical of an organizational response… when it seems like the fundamental problem is a lack of resources."
The most unexpected criticism, however, came from Bowen's Afghanistan counterpart, retired Major General Arnold Fields, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Asked for his thoughts on Bowen's proposal, Fields responded, "I don't know if USOCO is the answer. It will mean that we will stand up another agency in effect." But he agreed with Bowen that interagency coordination and oversight were sorely lacking. "We can no longer afford to do it the old fashioned way," he said.
Whether or not USOCO becomes anything more than a controversial concept is largely in the hands of Congress, which would need to pass legislation in order to make it a reality. Bowen says his office is currently in discussions with the congressional foreign affairs and armed services committees. He'll have another chance to pitch his proposal on Wednesday, when he testifies before a House subcommittee.
As Bowen pushes his plan, skeptical lawmakers and turf-conscious bureaucrats are not the only obstacles he may have to contend with. There are also the private sector players, the proverbial tip of the spear when it comes to implementing reconstruction and development projects, as well as training the Iraqi and Afghan security forces. "The contractors are the ones who benefit by balkanizing departments," said commission member Charles Tiefer, a contracting expert at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a former House general counsel. "They like it that each department does its own contracting… Isn't that what you're up against, that contractors are going to resist?"
Iraq IG Slams Training Contract Oversight
Are Contractors Undermining US War Efforts?
Auditing the Auditors: Contractor Oversight AWOL
The Cowboys of Kabul


Our client, a world leader in the design and production of high power and energy efficient technologies for the professional audio market, is looking for an experienced manager to lead and mentor a team of professionals to strengthen relationships, capitalize on business opportunities and increase the visibility and sales of the company's products throughout the market.
Our client is a world leader in the design and production of compact, high power and energy efficient solutions and technologies for the professional audio market. This success is built on innovative, high efficiency design, solid dependability, innovative marketing, best in class technical support, and excellent distribution channels.
As the General Manager for the US market, you will first and foremost lead and mentor your team of professionals to strengthen relationships, capitalize on business opportunities and increase the visibility and sales of the company's technologies and products throughout the American market. You will develop, drive and monitor the US growth and strategy through both OEM and finished product channels to higher levels market share and profitability. Having functional P&L and budgeting responsibility you will deploy resources to build turnover while maintaining the highest level of customer support and efficient supply. You will formulate and implement business development policies, operations and procedures, as well as setting goals, tools and objectives for each business department. As the head of the US operation, you oversee the US team's qualitative and quantitative growth through coaching, training, orienting, and recruiting activities.
As an experienced manager, you will bring a successful history in management across a variety of disciplines – most notably in sales team management and business development. The successful candidate will have a national background at the P&L/budgeting level and will be an effective team manager that loves to lead, mentor, coach and build a team of sales, admin, finance and logistic staff. You will love people and enjoy fostering an environment of inclusive and productive teamwork. You have a history of building strong and mutually beneficial business relationships with channels, opinion leaders and end users.


For 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have brought back the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, or OEP. The Medicare Advantage OEP is not to be confused with the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), which runs from October 15 through December 7. The new OEP occurs from January 1 through March 31 of 2019. During this time, 2019 Medicare Advantage members can make a plan change without penalty from CMS.
The Medicare Advantage OEP replaces the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period (MADP). During the MADP, members could leave their Medicare Advantage plans if they chose — but their only option was to return to Original Medicare. With the new OEP, members will have much more flexibility to change plans, making it a great opportunity for Medicare Advantage members.
The effective date of Medicare Advantage disenrollments during the OEP will be the first day of the month following the date the disenrollment request is received. This means that disenrollment requests received by a Medicare Advantage plan in January will be effective February 1; those received in February will be effective March 1, and those received in March will be effective April 1.
There is one catch, though: each Medicare Advantage member can only make one switch during OEP.
If you or a loved one are unhappy with your Medicare Advantage plan, the OEP provides an opportunity for you to make a change, and with so many strong Medicare Advantage plans in the region, you're bound to find one that's right for you. Medicare Advantage plans offer high value for their costs. They can include prescription drug coverage, eliminating the need to keep track of separate prescription drug coverage details. They may also offer many extra benefits that Medicare Supplement plans and Original Medicare can't, like fitness reimbursements, over-the-counter benefits, and expanded medical benefits including chiropractic or podiatric care.
Best of all, Medicare Advantage plans have a great track record of supporting member wellness, from ensuring that members get preventive services to reducing hospitalizations, and they may be more affordable than you think.


text:
Where are they now: Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak
Tim Nash
Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak
You know those kinds of people, the ones who seemingly can do nothing wrong? Of course you do. We all do. They set out to do something, anything, and it turns out wildly successful. Annoying aren't they?
Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak is one of those people. Except nothing about her is annoying, and that makes it even worse.
You just can't argue that she has had a line of successes that others have trouble imaging. For instance, she made her international debut with the U.S. national team at 16, played in a World Cup before she entered college, seeing action in five of six matches at the 1995 World Cup as an 18-year-old. And she won an Olympic Gold medal when she was 19. At the University of North Carolina, she won a pair of national championships. At age 22, she was a member of the 1999 World Cup champions, and at 24, she was a professional soccer player. At 26, she played in another World Cup and captained the Carolina Courage to the WUSA championship. She was a head college soccer coach before she turned 30.
Oh and her picture was on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the rest of her 1999 World Cup Champion teammates, and in 2014 she traveled to the Men's World Cup in Brazil as part of the White House's official delegation. That's right, one day she's playing soccer in Petaluma, Calif., and now she knows the President.
Certainly someone driven enough to make all that happen before the age of 27, must be irritating, or at least hard to get along with.
"Not only was she a remarkable player, but she was an enthusiastic, passionate and upbeat leader," says her college coach Anson Dorrance. "I enjoyed going to practice just because I knew she would be there, and I could see her smiling face."
It's just not fair, is it? But there's more. The string of successes continued into her 30s. She's married now to Tim Sahaydak, lives in Orlando with their two daughters, and she coaches the University of Central Florida women's team with her husband. Tiffany is the head coach. Tim is the associate head coach. Born 27 days apart in 1977 (she married a younger man) on opposite sides of the country and married 28 years later, the Sahaydaks, met at the University of North Carolina, where Tiffany, of course, won two NCAA Championships.
This fall, they will begin their 10th season working together as college coaches, first at Virginia Commonwealth in 2007, a hiring that prompted Tiffany's former USA teammate Julie Foudy to say, "You have to think VCU just won the lottery, twice."
Since 2013, they have been at UCF, replacing another one of Tiffany's former USA teammate, Amanda Cromwell, who moved to UCLA. The Sahaydaks have compiled a 46-14-4 record and two American Conference Championships. They earned three trips to the NCAA tournament, including a berth in the Sweet Sixteen in 2014. They are one win away from celebrating their 100th career victory.
You have to wonder, though. How hard is it to work with your spouse, especially in a competitive environment where opinions are a crucial part of success?
"We really don't know anything else," laughs Tiffany. "Before we started coaching college at VCU, we coached club soccer and we were each other's assistants. And we also had a camp business together in California. We really enjoy being together, and I like that my weaknesses are his strengths.
"He is a technology guru, and he enjoys doing research and digging into recruiting databases," Tiffany says. "He's very detailed and efficient and those are some of the things that I don't think I am patient enough to do well. I enjoy the day-to-day part of managing the program. I really love my relationship with our players. I like managing the team and the players as a whole. When it comes to soccer, it's not like I take the defense and he takes the offense. We do it together."
Says Tim: "I think Tiff, with her national team background, tries to recapture that environment – how to motivate players, how the leaders perform, how new players are welcomed. I think I can look at the other side, like when the team morale might be heading south. I think we might be able to steer us around an impending storm."
Like all coaches, the Sahaydaks draw on their experiences and backgrounds to form their coaching personalities. And their backgrounds are extraordinary. Tim, a former youth national team player and one of the youngest to ever play in Major League Soccer before knee injuries ended his career, learned from Bob Bradley, Bruce Arena, Clive Charles, Elmar Bolowich at UNC, and even the now-immensely popular TV personality Ray Hudson. "I wish I took notes," says Tim.
Tiffany's list, shorter but equally impressive, has Dorrance, Tony DiCicco, Marcia McDermott with the Carolina Courage, and April Heinrichs on it. "I use all my experiences," says Tiffany. "That's what I am now, 100 percent. I will sometimes think, 'What did Marcia do with me when I acted that way? What would Tony say in his pre-game speech?'"
Another situation she has pulled from her background involves her two daughters. Layla is eight and Evie is six and they spend a great deal of time with the team.
"When I was with the national team and Carla and Joy had their kids with them, I remember thinking how great it was for the kids to be travelling on the road with a bunch of athletes who were like siblings," says Tiffany. "I was always very enamored with that. I hoped that someday, that would be my situation. I have it now.
"They come to practice," she continues. "We have a nanny and she brings them to the games. I can hear them behind me, 'Hi Mommy' and I always turn around and wave. But after the game is the best. They will come running up to us, and win or lose, it helps keep it all in perspective."
Tim can make an extensive list of positive aspects of coaching with his wife, like long recruiting trips don't seem as long when she's there, and putting his daughters in an environment where they are surrounded by strong, athletic young women who are also "good people." But there is more.
"The single biggest advantage is that I have absolute trust in her," says Tim. "Whatever she does, I know she has my best interest and the best interest of our kids and our players in mind."
Recognizing that his wife's list of accomplishment "is sick," Tim has come to learn to trust her decisions.
"I was reading somewhere that there are people who unconsciously make the right decision all the time," laughs Tim. "I think Tiff is like that."
She may just be, but Roberts Sahaydak did not just fall into a string of fortune. In truth, her success is due to a unique blend of athleticism, tenacity, personality and attitude.
The athleticism? Did we mention that in high school her 400-meter time was good enough to get her ranked in the top 25 track runners in the country. That, combined with her soccer skills, is what started it all and got her noticed in the first place. Then mix in the type of tenacity needed to do a crucial job in the 1996 Olympic semifinals – shut down Norwegian play-maker Hege Riise, one of the most innovative and creative players in women's soccer history. The mission was accomplished in a 2-1 U.S. win.
Personality? The smile and welcoming nature are not enough to explain it. But the fact five years after the U.S.-Norway Olympic semifinal, Riise became her teammate on the WUSA's Carolina Courage, and they, of course, became good friends, explains it better. The attitude? While life is not all unicorns, bunny rabbits and rainbows for Roberts Sahaydak, you'd never know it. Relegated to the bench for the 1999 World Cup, she became a leader of the reserves, creating games and rituals to make sitting on the bench more fun, simply because their job was to support the starters.
So, you can't just credit her success by just being in the right place at the right time, or by using the easy explanation of "being lucky." She's just one of those people. Like it or not.
Related TopicsFeaturedTiffany Roberts
USSF wants wage discrimination claim dismissed
Five thoughts on Rampone's decision to walk away


text:
package org.assertj.core.internal.floats;

import static org.assertj.core.test.TestData.someInfo;

import org.assertj.core.api.AssertionInfo;
import org.assertj.core.internal.Floats;
import org.assertj.core.internal.FloatsBaseTest;
import org.junit.Test;

/**
 * Tests for <code>{@link Floats#assertIsPositive(AssertionInfo, Float)}</code>.
 *
 * @author Alex Ruiz
 * @author Joel Costigliola
 */
public class Floats_assertIsPositive_Test extends FloatsBaseTest {

  @Test
  public void should_succeed_since_actual_is_positive() {
    floats.assertIsPositive(someInfo(), 6.0f);
  }

  @Test
  public void should_fail_since_actual_is_not_positive() {
    thrown.expectAssertionError("%nExpecting:%n <-6.0f>%nto be greater than:%n <0.0f>");
    floats.assertIsPositive(someInfo(), -6.0f);
  }

  @Test
  public void should_succeed_since_actual_is_positive_according_to_absolute_value_comparison_strategy() {
    floatsWithAbsValueComparisonStrategy.assertIsPositive(someInfo(), (float) 6);
  }

  @Test
  public void should_succeed_since_actual_is_positive_according_to_absolute_value_comparison_strategy2() {
    floatsWithAbsValueComparisonStrategy.assertIsPositive(someInfo(), -6.0f);
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


American composer Steve Reich, born 1936, was a decade older than the late French composer Gerard Grisey (1946-1998), but the work of both flowered in the mid to late 1960s, Reich as co-founder of Minimalism and Grisey of Spectralism. Although they worked in very different idioms, each radically expanded the sonic range of contemporary music and challenged it structurally. One of the most exciting ways to experience their music is to see it performed to by the great Belgian dancer and choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her company Rosas.
Minimalist in conception, with its repetitions and cyclical movements, De Keersmaeker's exquisitely patterned FASE (which premiered in Brussels in 1982) was inspired by Reich's pioneering 'phasing' which had unleashed astonishing complexity from the apparently most simple of means.
In Reich's Piano Phase for two pianos (1967), danced to in the first part of FASE, a short phrase is repeated and then counterpointed with a new, rhythmically very close one played at a slightly different pace. This generates a new sound out of the synthesis, which in turn becomes a kind of unison open to the arrival of another complicating rhythm. In the 'phase moment' the dancers (De Keersmaeker and Tale Dolven) turn on the spot, dresses swirling, arms extending almost to finger touch until one goes with the new beat, putting the two ever so slightly out of synch, fingers unaligned until the second dancer catches up. It's magical because you are uncertain when and how it happened. What's more, the phasing is heightened first by the 'twinning' of the dancers—similarly attired in simple frocks, white socks and exercise shoes and hair tied back tight—and second by the angled lighting which produces a third shadow on the wall behind, a phasing, double shadow—a new dancer. Music and dance are perfectly partnered.
The climactic phasing is framed by a walking pattern, left and right in a line, arms swinging out horizontally and forearms gently folding into torsos and then backs. This is transposed mid- and then downstage, in new lines of light and in tune with the music's growing complexity and urgency. Fists form as arms are raised and forearms lock hard against the body, shoes skid and there are gasps of effort and release. Then the pair moves back to the second line, then the first where they and their shadows find sheer un-phased unison.
Seeing minimalism danced—whether by Lucinda Childs to Phillip Glass's Einstein on the Beach (Melbourne Festival, 1992) or Molissa Fenley and Dancers to Andrew Davis's Hemispheres (Adelaide Festival, 1984)—is a very special pleasure, at its best in De Keersmaeker's Piano Phase. The other parts of FASE are also wonderful. Come Out (1996) is one of the phased tape loops out of which sprang Reich's brand of Minimalism. As in Piano, the dancers' centre of gravity remains at the same height throughout. Here, in shirts and trousers, they are seated on stools in a rectangle of light beneath two orange lampshades. They gradually if quite sharply rotate 360 degrees, more palpably in and out of synch this time with an array of identical gestures—arm raised up from waist level, hand behind head, head turning sharply back and an almost lunge that suggests a potential gravitational shift. The music of Come Out —the transformation of a fragment of speech into an astonishingly layered, reverberant and rhythmically complex soundscape—provides the work's momentum but also an eerie context.
De Keersmaeker performs to Violin Phase (1967) alone, working to the points of a circle and its centre. In a dress again, arms swinging, she walks circling in one direction and eventually the other. As the music re-shapes itself, she introduces a near skip to her tread, moves to the centre, skirt swirling, arms raised high and completes and repeats an unusual calculatedly awkward turn, a knee raised, leg kicking out, body momentarily angling down, but the centre of gravity constant as ever. However at points of the circle she bends, touches the floor, as if playing a game, spins furiously, flicking up her dress, baring her underwear and moving with the joy and ease of a young woman (there's a fine version shot in a park).
The final part of FASE has De Keersmaeker and Dolven, once again in shirts and trousers, dancing in profile to the rapid phasing of Reich's Clapping Music (1972). Leisurely stances, soft shoulder lifting and casual single arm swings wonderfully suggest abstracted tap dancing. After FASE I head home to listen to Steve Reich anew, the excitement of many years ago reignited and FASE, an undoubted 20th century classic, vividly inscribed in my memory.
In 2012, thanks to Carriageworks, we witnessed two large-scale works by De Keersmaeker, Cesena and En Atendant (read the RealTime review), demanding but deeply rewarding performances that evoked a sense of continuity between the Middle Ages and now and which were imbued with a sense of community and especially ritual—focused in Cesena on the Sun—in which the circle is all defining. De Keersmaeker returns to the circle in Vortex Temporum with its many overlapping circles inscribed on the floor (just as one had been for Violin Phase). More accessible than its two predecessors, if more musically demanding (strange notes, harmonics, overtones), this 2013 work made sense of the music in the matching of individual or grouped dancers with particular musical instruments or clusters. Watching the dance was at times like reading a score. The pianist would pounce (yes) on the keys and the 'piano' dancer would, with his idiosyncratically squared-off bouncing movements, jerk in response and go off on his own trajectory.
Primacy is initially given to Grisey's music, to the instrumental ensemble, Belgium's Ictus, who performed the opening movement of Vortex Temporum minus scores, minus conductor, minus dancers, the pianist's aggressive playing ('out of which' might flow delicate string and wind flutterings) providing the initial sense of heightened, raw theatricality that is to ensue. The musicians exit, replaced by dancers standing in their stead, heads down, sinking into a half turn, leaning back and then breaking into units of individual and collective expression before uniting with the now standing, and playing, musicians. All glide like planets around the huge stage, the grand piano 'joining in,' pushed, while being played, by the conductor—who has just appeared—in wide circles until positioning it upstage where the musicians gather, an ensemble once again on the edge of a turning cosmos with its discordant music of the spheres.
Often, as in Cesena, the dancers move backwards, only sometimes glancing behind but relying mostly on heightened proprioception and a predetermined trajectory. This suggests not only a kind of freedom but also that the performers belong to a more determined order. However, amid the repeated circlings as the work moves towards its conclusion, individual dancers break into their own patterns and cross lines. For example, one dancer develops a limping run, falls and spins, strikes a shoulder stand and falls back to a viola glide (the score is rich in evocative glissandi). There are mass movements, a frolic with everyone running and then a strange gathering at the end, dancers in a small cluster, heads down, some bodies bending and reaching as if, having at last paused, they've found something elemental in the earth beneath their orbiting. However intangible the ending, the work's overall sense of unanimity amid incredible diversity and potential chaos is very powerful.
In Vortex Temporum, as in other recent De Keersmaeker creations, there's ample casual movement—walking in and out of the dance— alongside formal expression. This perfectly suits the dramatic unpredictability of Gerard Grisey's score with its bursts of energy, just as the individual performances and circlings align with its tonal complexities.
Although FASE was created at the beginning of De Keersmaeker's career and Vortex Temporum very recently, they reveal great kinship, not only with each other but with all of this remarkable choreographer's creations. The works are rooted in walking—which becomes magical. As De Keersmaeker has asserted (RealTime 111), "our walking is our dancing. With walking we organise space and time. Walking is the basic architecture of movement." And her works pay homage to composers with superb bodily and spatial realisations of their scores. Festival director Lieven Bertels honoured De Keersmaeker, Steve Reich, Gerard Grisey and audiences with these superb Sydney Festival pairings.


Created for senior Linux® system administrators, this 4-day course strongly emphasizes lab-based activities. You'll learn how to deploy and manage shared storage and server clusters that provide highly available network services to a mission-critical enterprise environment. This course also helps you prepare for the Red Hat Certificate of Expertise in High Availability Clustering exam (EX436).
If you want to take this course without the exam (RH436) and have not earned your RHCE® certification, you can confirm that you have the necessary knowledge by passing the online skills assessment.


See the title. In the menu tree, I see little grey icons that indicate a ship or a trophy or something I am not aware of. What do they mean?
Is there a full guide available on how to achieve what in 2048?
I am trying to love the game, but as many others, I also do find it does need racebox.
I believe you are referring to locked events. Play the game to unlock them.
I thought it would be something like that. I wonder just how to unlock those.
I know, rocket science is a difficult field, isn't it? But I'll save you the hours and hours of hard math and let you in on the secret: passing events unlocks the touching nodes.
Amplificated, perhaps I was not clear enough. But please do not assume too much.
Take a look a the photo. I wonder what the pink nodes are. For the left one I should finish the blue race first. But what about the right pink one?
Those indicate that you earn a trophy for the event.
Maybe only with an ellite pass.


text:
Awards Deep-Sea Biology Society Highlights
We are delighted to announce that we have awarded two Dive Deeper bursaries to Madeleine Braiser and Matthew Galaska.
Madeleine Braiser has just successfully defended her PhD at the University of Liverpool and is currently applying for postdoctoral positions. Madeleine's research has focused on genetic investigations into species diversity and biogeography coupled to the use of state of the art stable isotope techniques, which she uses to determine species trophic traits. Madeleine will use the bursary to work alongside Dr. Andrea Walters at the University of Tasmania. She will lead a novel project, which aims to investigate our knowledge of benthic-pelagic coupling in deep-sea environments in Antarctica and consider how changes in primary productivity influence benthic-pelagic coupling and deep-sea food webs. In order to do this Madeleine will work with the SCAR Southern Ocean Diet and Energetic Database, which contains valuable information on diet (e.g. gut content and stable isotope data) and energy flow (via energetic content) through food webs. Madeleine will also add to the database by inputting data obtained from her Ph.D. She hopes to present preliminary findings at the 15th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium at Monterey and will produce a summary publication demonstrating the value of the database for circulation to polar and deep-sea research communities via SCAR and the Deep-Sea Biology Society.
Matthew Galaska is a postdoctoral research associate from Lehigh University. Matthew's research is focused on population genomics and phylogeography of deep-sea invertebrates. He is specifically working on the level and direction of genetic connectivity of deep-water coral species from the Gulf of Mexico using cutting edge techniques. He plans to use the bursary to attend the ConGen course, which will focus on the analysis of next generation sequencing datasets. The ConGen course is considered one of the best courses in this field, allowing Matthew the opportunity to learn directly from the twelve internationally renowned experts in the field of ecological genomics. Matthew will use the methods and techniques from this course in ongoing and future deep-sea projects. He believes that these novel analytical techniques hold great promise in accelerating the rate of discoveries in the deep sea and contribute to its conservation. In his current work in the Gulf of Mexico he will provide information about the population connectivity patterns and deep-sea coral species, including species directly impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, to management agencies (U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries and the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council are collaborators in the project). This information will be utilized to draw and manage new deep-sea marine protected areas aimed at restoring damaged benthic ecosystems in the deep Gulf of Mexico.
Deep-Sea Biology Symposium Deadlines and Funding
DSBS Mentoring Network Launched


Spotify has linked up with genetic identification service Ancestry in a move that allows anyone who has ever used the DNA service to find playlists linked to their heritage.
YouTube is taking on the likes of Spotify and Apple Music by launching its own music streaming service in the UK.
Music streaming service Deezer has made its audio recognition tool SongCatcher available to all Android users for the first time, enabling them to identify any music playing around them.
Is Spotify about to launch a speaker for your car?
Spotify is due to make a news announcement later this month, with reports suggesting it could be the company's first piece of hardware – a speaker for the car.
Music streaming platform Deezer has launched on Amazon's Alexa, making the service available to users in 66 countries on the voice-activated virtual assistant.


To attend camping trips scouts, parents and leaders must have Part A and B of the physical form completed and handed in.
To attend summer camp scouts, parents and leaders, in addition to Part A and B, must also have Part C of the physical form completed by a doctor.
You can download the physical form here.


Tennis World Tour update 1.07 is now available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. According to the official Tennis World Tour 1.07 patch notes, the update has added graphical updates, new customization options, AI improvements and more. In addition, Tennis World Tour version 1.07 also stability and performance improvements.
Previously, patch 1.06 was released with improvements and gameplay changes. Unfortunately, since this update, many players were experiencing a number of issues when trying to play the game. Today's Tennis World Tour patch 1.07 is expected to fix all these issues. Check out more details below.
Weekly community challenges have been added!
Each week, a challenge will be displayed in the online menu. The efforts of each and every player will be tallied toward the community objective.
2 individual timed objectives will also be available until completion or until they expire.
Individual and community objectives are a new way to unlock items.
A month now consists of 2 event choices instead of one.
A «Details» button has been added to tournaments, which will display the gains for every round (XP, ranking points, money).The points earned in the previous season for this tournament are also displayed with a marker (since ranking points are tallied throughout a rolling year).
A new screen will appear at the end of a season, displaying an overview of the season results and a comparison with the previous year. (You need to play at least two seasons with the patch, or create a new player to see this screen).
Results from past tournaments seasons can be reviewed in the form of Tournament brackets. (Go to the Calendar tab in the Career mode and navigate to the tournament you want to review and press «See results». This includes tournaments you didn't participate in).
Various statistics such as winners, aces, 1st serve ratio etc. are recorded across all modes and can be displayed in the character's page. (For a custom character, navigate to the portrait, left to the archetype points, and enter the menu).
The «Career» tab can be reached to display your track records in tournaments: best round reached and number of titles won for each one.
You can switch between records with any character and your global records. For official players, press the «View stats» button to see their page, then press again «View stats» to access your personal records with this player.
In Season mode, a new screen will give you the detail of the points earned and lost by you and your opponents, with a detailed information about your respective leagues and win/loss records.
Crowd animations and choreography has been improved.
AI will stick to its baseline more, if it's not a preparing a serve & volley.
Tweaked the occurrence of AI faults depending on difficulty.
The first skill, skill slot and deck slot are unlocked at level 2 instead of level 3.
Maxime Teixeira now correctly unlocks as a playable character when Academy School is 100% complete.
Tennis World Tour 1.07 fixed the «Round» displayed in «My performance» in the Tournament result screen when forfeiting before a match. It was off by one round in this case.
Fixed an issue where when quitting a match at the end of the game, and starting a new match, the animation showing the score of the previous match was still being played.
Tennis World Tour version 1.07 addressed an issue where Spanish players were displayed as French in the leaderboards.
Controller vibrations added on strokes (this can be disabled in the Options menu).
Tennis World Tour version 1.07 added improvements to atmosphere around the court (both visuals and audio).
Adding official outfits to career and adding alternative outfits for pro players.
Bugfixes and improvements based on your feedback.
Further reducing occasions of gaps between racket and ball.
Tennis World Tour update 1.07 is now available for download.


There are lots of apps to help you remember and manage your life day-to-day.
Aventurine offers a fast and easy way to record and reflect on users' mood, thoughts and impulses. It embodies core CBT techniques and guides users to develop more flexible and positive thinking styles. Positive and negative experiences are catered for.
Biteappy is a worldwide restaurant search for people with food allergies, intolerances and special diets. It covers gluten free, nut free, dairy free, MSG free, preservative free and other ingredient-requirements, such as celery and mustard and so on, as well as special dietary requirements including Vegan, Kosher and Halal.
The Change4Life Sugar Swaps app is designed to show quickly and easily how much sugar is in the food and drink you're having. Just scan the barcode and see how much sugar is in a product and keep track of the last 10 products you've scanned.
DigitalMeds is a powerful multichannel Binaural Beat generator. It requires headphones and creates two different tones that are played in each ear. By playing highly customised audio sessions you can tune your mind to alleviate stress and anxiety or manage pain and headaches.
Digipill uses psychoacoustics to allow you to unlock your subconcious and change your mood, perception or even your behaviour. The app can help beat insomnia, lose weight, increase motivation, reduce stress and explore your mind.
The First Aid App contains the latest first aid advice and protocols for dealing with emergency situations. It is simple to follow with illustrated guides and voiced instructions. The app doesn't replace the benefits of learning first aid on a course, nor is it as in depth as a full first aid manual. But it will help users to know what to do in those first few crucial moments when basic knowledge of first aid can make a difference.
A fitness app inspired by the video game world, Fitocracy makes exercise fun. Use the app to track your workouts, earn points, unlock achievements, beat quests and slay the laziness dragon in you. When you join Fitocracy you join a Facebook-stsyle social networkof supportive "Fitocrafts" who will keep you motivated on your journey with daily inspiration and advice.
Mywellness helps users improve their lifestyle by accessing personal activity data on the go. Collect moves throughout the day with the goal of gradually increasing activity levels to improve wellbeing. Users can link to other applications including GPS trackers and nutrition trackers as well as body measurement devices for the home.
MyFitnessPal has a database of more than two million food items making it easy for users to keep track of calories and so much more. MyFitnessPal can be used with all diets whether you're going low carb, high protein or just trying to eat healthier.
Medilinked is a personal health record that enables users to build their health picture online and share it with their network of trusted healthcare providers. Once connected, users can get health advice in real time and chat instantly to their health providers by voice, text, email and video - all from inside the secure Medilinked account.
SAM is a self-help app for users who want to learn to manage their anxiety. Established methods of self-help have been combined with high standards of usability to provide an engaging, flexible and practical resource.
Visual attention therapy helps people with visuospatial neglect improve scanning abilities while helping rehab professionals provide more efficient and effective therapy. Using traditional cancellation exercises, the evidence-based standard for testing and treating neglect, this professional cognitive training app is loaded with benefits that are only available through technology.
WebMD offers physician-reviewed health content and constantly updated information about maintaining a nutritious lifestyle. The "Healthy Target" section lets you establish goals for your eating and exercise habits and then gives actionable insights at the end of each week. Enter your symptoms and find possible causes on the app as well as common treatments for the diagnoses. While WebMD cannot take the place of your general practice physician the app is a great resource for sustaining a healthy diet and routine. The app is free.
The Pillboxie app reminds you to take medications at the scheduled times you set. Customise your medications by colour and drag them into the sectioned pillbox graphic to easily organise your prescription schedule. This useful app ensures you will never again forget to take your daily medications. This app is free.
This app contains more than 30,000 recipes that have been carefully compiled from quality cooking sites. Epicurious offers reviews, tips and pictures shared from users for each recipe. Synch your shopping list for quick retrieval at the grocery store and organise favourite recipes on this cooking app. Epicurious lets you browse by holiday and even go hands-free using a voice control function titled "Cook Mode". This recipe-packed tool combines many valuable capabilities into one seamless app. The app is free.
Animals provide great companionship for older people but they can also be time-consuming and expensive to care for. The Dogs Trust has a game that allows users to feed, play, walk and interact with a virtual pooch without the need to pay a vet's bill or trudge in the rain. This app is free.
This app is a cognitive test to evaluate for dementia. Users are asked to drag numbers to the appropriate place on the clock and the app assesses their performance. This app is free.
This app has over 500 pictures, plus you can download your personal ones, to help someone with dementia to communicate more easily as well as allowing for reminiscence exercises, memory prompts and other mental exercises. This app is free.
FallSafety Pro monitors for falls using the sensors built into your iPhone or Android phone. Using an advanced fall detection algorithm, the accelerometer and other device sensors, FallSafety Pro accurately detacts falls while limiting false alarms.
FallSafety Pro also detects person-down events.
Anyone can have an injury at any age and often, in order to recover, physical therapy is necessary. This app is a great physical therapy aid where you will find a reference guide that will help you or a loved one recover from various injuries.
Kindeo is an app that helps older people tell their life story on video capturing important memories and wisdom built up during their lifetime to share with current and future generations of their family.
The app has been specially designed to ensure it is as easy to use for older people as possible and it employs a simple, question based, design to help tease out stories about someone's life. The answer to each question is recorded as part of a short video and in the coming weeks new features mean users can add photos and text to their stories.
Talk to Babylon for fast advice on what to do next if you're feeling unwell. Dial a doctor in a jiffy. GP appointments are available 24/7 and can easily be arranged from your phone. Babylon sends prescriptions to your front door, office or local pharmacy. Choose next day delivery UK-wide or same day delivery if you're in London. We'll even get it to you when you're abroad. Babylon lets you track test results, activity levels and health info so you always have an up to date picture of how you're doing. Add family members to your account so you can all enjoy instant medical advice and easy GP appointments. You can pay for an appointment with a GP or book free appointments with your own GP.
Pacer is like having a walking buddy and fitness coach in one app. Our personalised fitness plans and guided workouts help you achieve your unique fitness goals. You'll get motivation and support to get more active by joining groups and becoming a part of our amazing Pacer community. Work out anywhere, any time, with Pacer.
While you sleep you go through cycles of sleep states. The first state in a sleep cycle is light sleep, followed by deep sleep and a dream state referred to as REM-sleep. A full sleep cycle lasts about 90-minutes and is normally repeated several times each night.
Your movements vary with each sleep phase. Sleep Cycle uses sound analysis to identify sleep states by tracking movements in bed. Sleep Cycle uses a wake up phase (30-minutes by default) that ends at your desired alarm time. During this phase Sleep Cycle will monitor signals from your body to wake you softly when you are in the lightest possible sleep state.
Instant Heart Rate is the most accurate Heart Rate Monitor app for any smartphone and it does not need external hardware. Use it for optimising your exercise and to track your progress.
Install it now and keep fit. Download the Pro version for unlimited tracking and no ads.
Accuracy is constantly tested by fitness coaches, athletes and 25-million users like you.
Place the tip of your finger on the phone's camera and in a couple of seconds your HR will be shown.
A real-time chart will show your heart beat rhythm pace.
It uses your phone's built-in camera to track colour changes on the fingertip that are directly linked to your pulse. This is the same technique that medical pulse oximeters use. Many of our users have cardiovascular disease, stroke, Afib (atrial fibrillation), heart attacks, stress and diabetes.


Michigan Audubon endeavors to understand the ever-changing patterns of bird populations throughout the Great Lakes region. Our organization participates in the scientific monitoring of bird life in Michigan through partnerships, the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative, and by employing seasonal staff and interns. The data collected by Michigan Audubon and our partners informs important conservation decisions and launches programs aimed at helping at-risk species.
Click through the projects below to learn more about avian research in Michigan. Visit our Citizen Science page to learn more about seasonal bird counts and Michigan Audubon's ornithological journal, Michigan Birds and Natural History.
The Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative (MiBCI) is a coalition of agencies, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, and individuals working together to better understand and conserve Michigan's birds. MiBCI's primary purpose is to work together as a partnership to conserve, restore, and protect bird populations. While the individual missions and goals of members may be varied, all members recognize that they may be a powerful force for conservation if unified in working toward common objectives. Furthermore, open avenues of communication enable collaboration, a sense of community, and mutual respect in advancement of our shared vision.
The mission of the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative is to identify conservation needs and promote active conservation, protection, and restoration of bird populations and their habitats in Michigan through ecologically and biologically based partnerships and actions conducted at multiple spatial scales.
MiBCI hosts an annual Ornithological Congress to share information on current research and ongoing conservation projects. MiBCI's standing subcommittees work together to advance progress on projects of mutual benefit. Everyone is welcome who has an interest in conserving Michigan's birds; joining MiBCI is as simple as signing the memorandum of agreement.
For nearly four decades, Michigan Audubon has maintained the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory (WPBO) as an affiliate under its non-profit status. As of January 1, 2016, WPBO became a formal program arm of Michigan Audubon. WPBO maintains annual point counts for waterbirds (Spring and Fall) and raptors (Spring). Whitefish Point is recognized as a critical migratory funnel for a variety of owl species. The study and banding of northern owls occurs during the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons.
The following blogs are maintained by WPBO seasonal staff.
The Elk River Chain of Lakes Watershed (ERCOL) has been home to common loons since the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago. The ERCOL Watershed covers more than 500 square miles in northwest Michigan. Contributing 60% of the surface water draining into Grand Traverse Bay, our watershed contains some of the highest quality waters in the world. The 14 interconnected lakes flow into East Grand Traverse Bay at Elk Rapids. The watershed lies primarily within Antrim County but also includes portions of Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Charlevoix counties.
With cutting-edge tracking technology, Project SNOWstorm researchers can follow the movements of snowy owls in astounding detail. The project is a collaboration of scientists and technicians who are tagging Snowy Owls throughout the Northeast and Great Lakes with new GPS-GSM transmitters made by Cellular Tracking Technologies of Somerset, Pennsylvia.
As of February 12, 2015, 3 transmitters have been deployed in Michigan. You can track the movements of "Alma," "Chippewa," and "Prairie Ronde" via the the Project SNOWstorm website.
The Rouge River Bird Observatory was established in 1992 to explore an understudied yet increasingly critical area of research: the importance of urban natural areas to birds. In our rapidly urbanizing world, habitat fragments in metropolitan areas become more critical to birds. Understanding how birds use them is essential for conservation. We are the longest-running, full-time urban bird research station in North America.
Michigan Audubon supports the primary focus of RRBO, which is to better understand the importance of urban areas as migratory stopover sites for birds. For many bird species, migrations are crucial times in the annual cycle, and events during these periods can have great influence on their populations. Birds traveling thousands of miles on their way to or from breeding and wintering sites need safe places to stop and refuel. Increasingly, they encounter urban areas. Yet little long-term research has been done to determine how birds use urban habitats during migration, whether urban migratory stopovers provide adequate resources, and what resources are most important.


text:
Simon Strand, född 25 maj 1993 i Huddinge, är en svensk fotbollsspelare som spelar för Hammarby IF i Allsvenskan. Strand gjorde sin debut för Hammarby i 2-1 segern mot AIK i kvartsfinalen av svenska cupen.

Karriär

Klubblag
Simon Strand började sin seniorkarriär 2012 i Väsby United och spelade under sina första sex år som senior för IK Frej, Huddinge IF, Assyriska IF och Östers IF.

Den 4 januari 2018 värvades Strand av danska Lyngby BK, där han skrev på ett treårskontrakt. En månad senare bröt han sitt kontrakt med klubben.

Den 8 februari 2018 värvades Strand istället av Dalkurd FF, där han skrev på ett treårskontrakt. Strand gjorde allsvensk debut den 2 april 2018 i en 2–0-förlust mot AIK. Den 25 februari 2019 värvades han av IF Elfsborg. Strand spelade i klubben under fyra säsonger (2019-2022). Säsongen 2020 slog han rekord i antal utvisningar för en spelare under en säsong då han fick rött kort i tre matcher (Östersund den 9 augusti, Häcken den 16 juli och mot Hammarby den 17 augusti).

Inför säsongen 2023 bytte Strand klubb igen och blev några veckor före den allsvenska premiären klar för Hammarby IF.

Landslaget
Simon Strand spelade två P17-landskamper under 2008 och gjorde sedan debut i herrlandslaget under januariturnén 2022.

Källor

Landslagsstatistik på svenskfotboll.se

Noter

Svenska fotbollsspelare
Spelare i FC Väsby United
Spelare i IK Frej
Spelare i Huddinge IF
Spelare i Assyriska FF
Spelare i Östers IF
Spelare i Lyngby BK
Spelare i Dalkurd FF
Spelare i IF Elfsborg
Spelare i Fotbollsallsvenskan
Spelare i Superettan
Spelare i Division 1 i fotboll för herrar
Födda 1993
Levande personer
Män


Can someone please help.I just bought this Alesis Quad Sun (76 key)...I wanted to simply use this as an electronic keyboard (single piano sound) for basic practice in my home (I need to site read choral music, nothing fancy). I have followed the manual to a "t" yet I can't seem to get this keyboard to give me anything other than a jumbled up mess of various sounds.Can anyone help me out ??
I am assuming it's a Quadrasynth...v1.07?
Since you purchased used I have no way of telling if it's still factory banks etc or if the previous owner has loaded custom banks etc.
Have you gone through all the presets and there isn't anything piano related?
If the list doesn't match any you have and the original banks,presets etc are missing and if you'd like to check them you can reload them.they are still available from the legacy site...make sure you back up the existing ones if you want to keep them.
There are midi sysx editors/programs for these , some have long since been discontinued such as Soundbridge etc.
I can provided you with links to these but it will depend on your computer Mac/Win.


text:
On February 11, 2020, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte officially announced at the U.S. Embassy in Manila that he would terminate the pact, the termination will take effect in 180 days, unless otherwise agreed during that period. In the past, Duterte has admired both Russian forces and the Chinese People`s Liberation Army, although the Philippines and China are involved in a dispute over sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. [15] In June 2020, the Philippine government reversed this decision and announced the continuation of the agreement. [16] The US could also use this moment to try to renegotiate a new and better deal with the Philippines – one that meets President Duterte`s goal of being firmly opposed to the US and one that gives President Trump the opportunity to put his unique stamp on another important deal, this time a defense deal. this could further U.S. interests for years to come. A3: Both countries signed the VFA in 1998. It provides simplified access procedures to the Philippines for U.S. soldiers in official operations (e.g..B. bilateral training between the U.S. and the Philippines or military exercises) and provides a series of procedures to resolve issues that may arise from the participation of U.S. forces in the Philippines.
A1: No. The VFA is an agreement between the two countries in support of the Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT). The MDT was created in 1951 between the United States and the Philippines to support each other in the event of a foreign attack. A5: The termination procedure within the VFA sets a period of 180 days between the announcement of the intention to resign until the official date. In the absence of a new agreement, U.S. forces currently operating in the Philippines must withdraw or find a new legal status. These include US forces present to support AFP`s fight against Islamic State-linked insurgents in the southern islands. As AFP and broader Philippine government efforts against insurgents advance, U.S.
support is strengthening and accelerating progress for the Philippines and slowing, if not reversing, the spread of the Islamic State to Southeast Asia. The Philippines-United States Visiting Forces Agreement, sometimes also the EU Visiting Forces Agreement, is a bilateral agreement on visiting forces between the Philippines and the United States, consisting of two separate documents. The first of these documents is usually referred to as "VFA" or "VFA-1″[1] and the second as "VFA-2" or "counter-agreement". [2] A visiting force agreement is a version of a status of force agreement that applies only to troops temporarily in a country. The agreements entered into force on 27 May 1999 following ratification by the Senate of the Philippines. T32 [8], [10] The U.S. government considers these documents to be executive agreements that are not subject to approval by the U.S. Senate. T32 [42] The main effect of the agreement is that the U.S.
government is required to inform Philippine authorities when it becomes aware of the arrest, arrest, or detention of Filipino personnel traveling to the United States. and, if requested by the Philippine Government, to request the competent authorities to waive jurisdiction in favour of the Philippines, except in cases of particular interest to the U.S. Department of State or Defense. [2] [VIII 1] The abandonment of jurisdiction in the United States is complicated, because the United States is a federation of American states and, therefore, a federation of jurisdictions. The U.S. has used the deal at least twice to keep accused military personnel under U.S. jurisdiction. [5] [6] On January 18, 2006, the U.S. military detained four soldiers accused of rape while on their way to Subic Bay during their trial in a Philippine court. [6] They were detained by U.S.
officials at the U.S. Embassy in Manila. . . .


I was one of the first people in my group of friends to get a divorce. Once others started to secretly contemplate whether it was right for them, they would call me and ask to meet for coffee to talk. I distinctly remember one conversation with a friend. I told her, "The grass is not greener. Divorce is final, it is not a joke, and it is hard." I definitely could help her with the negative side of divorce. I remember getting out a piece of paper with her and writing down the positive and negative aspects of divorce. She was a stay at home mom with two children and a husband that had cheated. My first question to her was did she still love him. My second question was could she forgive him. My third, were they both willing to go to counseling. We discussed her situation in depth. In the end, she did end up getting a divorce albeit a year later. She didn't rush into it.
If you think it's time to start this very real, discussion. Give me a call and let's talk. Our conversation will be confidential of course and visiting with me does not mean that a divorce is inevitable. Getting your thoughts together will be something you can take away from the discussion so that if you decide that divorce is not the answer for you, you at least know what work you need to do to get your marriage back on track, but if it is a possible outcome, you also have those answers too.


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Home › Vintage + Beni Rugs › Boucherouite Rug, 3'11" x 7'3"
Boucherouite Rug, 3'11" x 7'3"
We feel nothing is more special than a vintage, one-of-a-kind Moroccan boucherouite rug! The colors and design will add a liveliness that any space wants and needs and the texture and style will make you truly feel at home (an exquisitely cool home, that is). This rug features a colorful diamond pattern on a background of bright blue, navy, and grayish blue with pink and red tassels on one end.