Problems being around others such as family members, coworkers, supervisors and even the general public.
The severity of symptoms and limitations vary from person to person. Some people get excellent relief from their symptoms, while others only see very little benefit from psychotropic medications.
Mental disorder sufferers are often entitled to Social Security Disability benefits because they are disabled from working. Social Security Disability benefits provides cash assistance and Medicare insurance coverage to person who are disabled from work due to a severe impairment or combination of impairments. SSI benefits are similar, but have additional income requirements.
12.10 Autistic Disorder and Other Pervasive Developmental Disorders.
People often suffer from multiple mental disorders, making it even more difficult to control symptoms and to function in a work setting. The Listings can be very difficult for the average person to understand and evaluate.If you have questions about your mental health conditions and the Listings, call McCroskey Law for a free case evaluation today.
Even if the specific criteria for one of the Listings of Impairment for mental disorders is not met, the Social Security Administration may determine that the severity of symptoms associated with the mental illness or illnesses are disabling. When evaluating the severity of symptoms, the Social Security Administration will assess a claimant's functional limitations in four areas of mental functioning including: activities of daily living (cleaning, shopping, cooking, etc); social functioning (getting along with people, go out in public, etc); concentration, persistence, and pace (staying on task, remembering appointments, completing household chores); and episodes of decompensation (temporary exacerbations of symptoms associated with loss of functioning). The Social Security Administration will determine whether the limitations in functioning are mild, marked, or extreme.
A finding of disability by the Social Security Administration is warranted if a claimant has marked limitations in at least two of the areas of functioning or a finding that a claimant has one marked limitation and repeated episodes of decompensation, each of extended duration. A marked limitation is one that interferes "seriously" with one's ability to function independently, appropriately, and effectively on a sustained basis. 20 CFR Sections 404.1520a and 416.920a.
Since mental disorders cannot be diagnosed by objective testing such as by x-rays or blood work, it is extremely important to show that a claimant is honest and credible in presenting the severity of his symptoms and limitations when trying to establish disability. The Social Security Administration will look carefully at mental health treatment records and statements from treating psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapist when determining whether a claimant is disabled or not. The Social Security Administration will also look at the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of medications in controlling symptoms and improving functioning. The Social Security Administration will also look to see if the claimant's use or abuse of drugs or alcohol has a material impact on his symptoms and functioning.
Proving a mental disability case before the Social Security Administration is often difficult to do, but it can be done with careful case preparation by an experienced attorney who knows the law and understands mental disorders. If you suffer from a mental disorder and want to learn more about your rights to Social Security Disability benefits, please call one of our experienced attorneys at McCroskey Law. We are local, we are lawyers, and we want to help you get the Social Security Disability benefits you deserve.Our offices are easily accessible in Muskegon, Grand Rapids, and Battle Creek.It is always free to talk to us, and we do not charge a fee unless we win your case.


The Malcolm Miller on a buoy in Falmouth harbour, August 2009.
Malcolm Miller was a sail training ship which was built in Aberdeen, Scotland by John Lewis & Sons, shipbuilders. She was sold out of service in 2001 and renamed Helena C and currently serves as a private yacht.
Malcolm Miller was built in 1967, half of the construction cost being donated by Sir James Miller, a former Lord Mayor of London and Lord Provost of Edinburgh. She was named for Sir James' son Malcolm, who had been killed in a car accident. The ship was designed by Camper & Nicholson and used by the Sail Training Association as a Sail Training Ship. Malcolm Miller was a sister ship to Sir Winston Churchill.
In 2000, Malcolm Miller was replaced in service by Stavros S Niarchos. In 2001, Malcolm Miller was sold and her new owners renamed her Helena C.
↑ 1.0 1.1 "Malcolm Miller". aberdeenships.com. http://www.aberdeenships.com/single.asp?index=101710&. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
↑ "Helena C", Formerly Malcolm Miller, 3-Masted Topsail Schooner Lying Hants. UK". EasternYachts.com. http://easternyachts.com/helenac/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
↑ "Malcolm Miller". sailing-ships.oktett.net. http://sailing-ships.oktett.net/756.html. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
This page was last edited on 2 July 2010, at 14:01.


Skip the takeout and make your own General Tso's potatoes and chicken recipe—it's so easy!
Note: You can broil chicken if necessary but the oven temperature should crisp that skin!
If making your own sauce, add vegetable oil into a small pan over medium heat. When hot, stir in garlic and ginger. Cook for one minute, or until aromatic. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add half of a cup of broth, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, salt, pepper, and some red pepper flakes if desired. Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Mix cornstarch with remaining broth and add to sauce. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
Follow directions on Microwave Ready package. If using a bag of Little Potatoes, poke holes in each potatoes and microwave on high until soft, about 10 minutes. Toss broccoli and potatoes with some oil.
Add potatoes to the bottom of a large casserole or baking dish. Add broccoli. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if desired. Toss.
Add chicken evenly. Season again.
Pour sauce over top, spreading evenly. Place into 425°F oven for 15 minutes. Stir potatoes and broccoli. Cook for another 10 to 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and reaches 160°F (may take more or less time depending on how small/large your chicken are).


text:
Home > eis > coal > 234
Coal Operators' Conference
Predicting spontaneous combustion in spoil piles from open cut coal mines
J. N. Carres, CSIRO Division of Coal and Energy Technology
A. Saghafi, CSIRO Division of Coal and Energy Technology
This conference paper was originally published as Carres, JN and Saghafi, A, Predicting spontaneous combustion in spoil piles from open cut coal mines, in Aziz, N (ed), Coal 1998: Coal Operators' Conference, University of Wollongong & the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 1998, 617-625.
Spoil piles are produced routinely in open cut coal mines. Spoil piles may contain waste coal and other carbonaceous horizons. Coal and carbonaceous materials react with oxygen in the atmosphere, producing heat. If the rate at which heat is generated is greater than the rate at which heat can be dissipated, the temperature of the spoil pile rises. If the heating remains unchecked, spontaneous combustion can occur. Spontaneous combustion poses significant safety , environmental and economic problems if it should become established in spoil piles. Using the basic features of self heating in spoil, the use of model is directed toward developing quantitative prediction of spontaneous combustion in open cut coal mine spoil piles.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Mount of Beatitudes refers to a hill in northern Israel where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount.
The traditional location for the Mount of Beatitudes is on the north western shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Gennesaret (Ginosar). The actual location of the Sermon on the Mount is not certain, but the present site (also known as Mount Eremos) has been commemorated for more than 1600 years. The site is very near Tabgha. Other suggested locations have included the nearby Mount Arbel, or even the Horns of Hattin.


text:
Water Damage Restoration Company in West Memphis
Water damage restoration and cleanup services for homeowners and business owners in West Memphis Arkansas. Water damage destruction can occur due to many reasons (broken pipes, storms, sewage, toilet overflows, etc) and sometimes we may not be able to anticipate when and where it may occur. Sometimes it requires a quick response since the damages can cause a lot of health concerns and lead to great losses. This is the reason any homeowner should consider hiring a Service Professionals company that has a great experience when it comes to water damage restoration.
Flood Restoration Company Near Me in West Memphis
West Memphis Water Extraction and Removal Services
Sewer Backup and Raw Sewage Cleaning and Sanitization in West Memphis
If your property is in need of cleanup of basement flooding, broken sump pumps flooding, storm damage, and sewer backups anywere in West Memphis , call our local office for fast respone!
Contact the local West Memphis Water Department
City of West Memphis
205 South Redding
West Memphis, Arkansas 72301
West Memphis Resources
Contact these emergency restoration contractors in West Memphis for water extraction and removal services
United Water Restoration Group of Memphis
3892 S Perkins Cutoff Rd, Memphis, TN 38118
Quality Flooring and Cleaning LLC
1 McCain Blvd, West Memphis, AR 72301
Certified Restoration Services is proud to be a community partners in West Memphis
West Memphis is home to these top companies Schneider National Carriers, Hino Motors, and Southland Casino. West Memphis has several schools including West Memphis Christian School, West Junior High School, and Wonder Elementary School. West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 23,896 at the 2020 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is located directly across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee.
About West Memphis, Arkansas
West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, and is located directly across the Mississippi River from Memphis, Tennessee.
Top sites in West Memphis, AR:
Southland Casino Racing, Big River Crossing, Harahan Bridge
Is West Memphis Arkansas Safe?
A new analysis of violent crimes by the National Council for Home Safety and Security rates West Memphis, Arkansas near the top of the most dangerous cities in America. West Memphis, with a population of 26,000, was ranked No. 10 on the list with 1,929 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.
Is West Memphis Arkansas a good place to live?
The city is a good city, but sometimes being so close to Memphis is bad for our community. I have lived in West Memphis on and off since I was 8 years old. When I was growing up and still in school it was a nice place to live. The schools system was good and the neighborhoods were safe.
What is West Memphis known for?
West Memphis began its role as a trucking hub with the opening of parts of Interstate 55 in the 1950s. With both I-55 and I-40 traveling toward the Mississippi River, West Memphis became known as the "crossroads of America" in the trucking industry.
How poor is West Memphis Arkansas?
West Memphis reached it's highest population of 28,259 in 1990. Spanning over 29 miles, West Memphis has a population density of 828 people per square mile. The average household income in West Memphis is $49,224 with a poverty rate of 26.27%.


Add some Titans pride to your vehicle with this Titans Steering Wheel Cover! This steering wheel cover features quality screen print team graphics and is made a soft poly-suede material! Steering wheel cover is designed to fit most standard steering wheels.


text:
Joplin Globe Editor Carol Stark dies after battle with cancer
Posted Monday, August 19, 2019 9:39 pm
Carol Stark
CNHI News Oklahoma
Carol Stark, editor of The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, who died last Wednesday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis after a long battle with cancer, was remembered by friends and co-workers for her professionalism, warmth and humor.
Stark, 61, was past president of the Missouri Press Association and will be inducted into that organization's Newspaper Hall of Fame in September, only the second person from the Globe to receive that honor.
Donna Barrett, president and CEO of CNHI newspapers, the Globe's parent company, remembered Stark for her warmth and her wit.
"Carol was an outstanding journalist and woman," Barrett said in a statement. "She was strong, funny, warm and wise, which is why she was tapped for leadership roles in CNHI and the Missouri Press Association. Everyone gravitated to her, and we all benefited from being around her."
Joplin Globe Publisher Frank Leto said, "It has been my pleasure to work with Carol for the last year or so. She was a professional who loved her community and fully embraced a newspaper's role, especially in a community like Joplin. I will miss our Monday morning meetings when she would start with, 'Hey, boss, let's talk.' Discussing upcoming news plans, investigative projects, editorial positions and our community advisory board always started my week with energy and excitement. I respect her and I will miss her."
Bill Ketter, senior vice president of news for CNHI, said Stark was an "outstanding editor" who loved her community and had a passion for news.
"She was a champion of the First Amendment and cared deeply about the dual role of a newspaper as a guide dog and watchdog for the readers of The Joplin Globe," he said. "She was known across the newspaper industry as an intuitive editor with a mission of always encouraging excellence."
Former Globe Publisher Mike Beatty said, "Carol was not only the best editor Joplin ever had, but also a close friend who will be missed."
Journey into journalism
Stark began her journalism career at The Carthage Press, and began working for the Globe in 1983.
Over the years, she served in a number of reporting and editing positions for the paper, including assistant city editor and as metro editor from 2003 to 2007. In 2007, she was named executive editor, becoming the first female executive editor in the paper's then 111-year history.
In 2018, she was named regional editor for Missouri and Eastern Oklahoma as part of the expanded news leadership structure announced by CNHI.
Among her accomplishments, Stark led the newsroom in the aftermath of the 2011 Joplin tornado, for which the Globe received a number of honors, including the Distinguished Writing Award for Deadline News Reporting from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 2012. The paper also was named CNHI's Newspaper of the Year and awarded first place in public service in 2012.
As a reporter, editor and columnist, she received numerous awards and honors from the Missouri Press Association, The Associated Press, CNHI and other professional organizations. She also served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes.
Stark was an advocate for the public's right to know, and fought to ensure access to public records and open government. She also steered the paper into the digital age.
She also was a longtime mentor for young journalists breaking into the craft, including being an adviser to Missouri Southern State University's The Chart; working with Joplin High School students on their newspaper, The Spyglass; running an annual journalism workshop for high school students for more than 30 years; and supporting legislation that would protect the journalism produced by high school students.
Recently, Stark and her family established the Carol Stark Excellence in Journalism Scholarship for students at Missouri Southern State University.
"Carol was always the complete professional," said U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., citing her leadership role with the Missouri Press Association and after the Joplin tornado in 2011. "Over 20 years of knowing Carol we became good friends, though I never expected any special treatment."
He called her a "great person" who cared deeply for the local communities.
'She was a fighter'
Jasper County Judge David Mouton said he had known Stark for most of his life.
"We were debate partners in high school and worked on the high school newspaper together, and have kept in touch through the years," he said. "She was an incredible person. She has been a good friend to me and my wife and our children. She was an excellent writer and speaker, a dedicated journalist and, above all, loved her family. She has been a great asset to our community and will be greatly missed by all who were fortunate enough to know her."
Virginia Laas, one of Stark's friends, remembered her "sense of fun, sense of humor." She also recalled Stark's writing style and her "even tone" that allowed her to get her message across even to those who disagreed, without them feeling attacked or offended.
"She had ink in her veins," Laas said. "She was a pro in every way as a hardworking journalist. She defined herself that way and she was great at it."
Gary Duncan, president emeritus of Freeman Health System, said that as the Globe's editor, Stark developed a good business relationship with the community.
"I think she was tough but fair," he said. "She believed in the community, and what she did personally and with the staff during the (2011) tornado received all the accolades it should have."
Carolyn Trout, former director of the Joplin Public Library, said Stark had been a friend for more than 40 years. They met when Stark was a reporter for The Carthage Press and Trout was newly employed by the Carthage Public Library.
"Carol has been a huge part of my life, as she has been a huge part of the community," she said. "It just seems like there was nobody else like her. She was generous, funny, honest, open, a born newspaper person. It's such a huge loss."
Trout said she became particularly close with Stark about 13 years ago, when Stark first began her battle with cancer.
"She was a fighter," Trout said. "She was, without a doubt, the bravest person I've ever known."
Sharon Beshore, who has taken turns chairing the boards of Connect2Culture, a Joplin arts advocacy organization, and the Missouri State Arts Council, noted her admiration for Stark.
"I admired Carol so much for her spirit, fortitude, and positive attitude, especially in the face of the adversity she faced with such strength. She didn't go quietly into the night. Those of us who knew Carol were not ready for her passing.
"... She shined in her years as editor of The Joplin Globe. We knew we could count on her commitment to the truth.
"The arts community felt totally supported and appreciated. She will be remembered and missed by all."
Stark is survived by two sons, Craig Stark and his wife, Christen, of Pilot Grove, and Joe Stark and his wife, Katy, of Ozark; six grandchildren; two sisters; and extended family.
carol-stark-joplin


Technical fabrics can accomplish marvelous feats. You can buy workout clothes that stay dry longer, reduce chafing, and don't stink even after you've sweated through them. Now, a new garment technology on the market can help keep you from overheating while you're huffing and puffing your way to your fitness goals.
The company's particles can currently be found in clothing from over 50 brands like Adidas, Under Armour, and even Tommy Bahama. The US Army uses the technology too, embedding 37.5 particles into fibers in garments worn by soldiers.
The trick to wicking sweat rapidly is more surface area. By adding 37.5's particles to a typical yarn used to make an athletic shirt, the surface area of that shirt can be increased by up to 800 percent.
"We create surface area microscopically," says Gregory Haggquist, 37.5's founder and CTO. The particles are small enough to be distributed in great numbers, Haggquist says—at least 10,000 tiny nubs are dedicated to wicking the sweat coming from a single skin pore.
Colorado's Department of Integrative Physiology led a blind study on the benefits of cooling the body during activity to understand how it improves performance at high aerobic intensity. Researchers ran participants through three scenarios, one with a vest and sleeves filled with microtubes infused with cold water, another with a 37.5-embedded sweat-wicking shirt, and the third with the same shirt, minus the 37.5 technology. Performance improved most substantially from the cooling vest, but the 37.5 shirt resulted in a lower body temperature during the 60-minute exercise trial than the control shirt with no 37.5 technology.


text:
Baguio Local Products
Baguio's popularity as a top Philippine destination has spurred the production of a large variety of souvenir items, handicrafts and edibles familiar to Filipinos all over the world.
Oh, we have quite a lot -- from homegrown coffee to bee honey, from silver trinkets to giant wooden statues, from fresh vegetables and fruits to processed meats, from original artwork to home decor -- and I am about to tell you about them all.
The folks in Baguio City and the Cordillera Region of the Philippines also have this great ability to create their own wines, by the way. The most popular of these are the tapuey (also called tapuy or tapey), which is a fermented rice wine and strawberry wine, of course
Whether for your own consumption or as a business opportunity, this page will be your guide to finding out all that we have.
Bee Honey
Benguet is home to numerous apiaries that extract the sweetest honey from a myriad of wild and cultured flowers and plants, including coffee. Be careful to purchase honey that is 'branded' because some of those sold at the city market may be made from just sugar.
Benguet Coffee
Introduced by the Spaniards, the Arabica variety produced in the area and commonly referred to as Benguet coffee is the favorite beverage of the Cordilleras. Available at the city market, roasted coffee beans are sold by the kilo and ground while you wait.
Handweaving
Narda's is the pioneer and leader of all original woven art, although the Easter Weaving Room has trained young women and kept these traditions alive for decades and decades now. Handwoven products can be found in all souvenir stalls at major tourist spots.
Edible Goodies
('Pasalubong' Items)
Peanut & Cashew Brittle, Ube Haleya (Purple Yam Jam), Strawberry Jams & Preserves, Choco Flakes, Lengua de Gato, 'Kulangot' (Coco Jelly) and a host of yummy products available everywhere-- at the market, bus terminals, souvenir stores.
Cut-flowers such as roses, chrysanthe- mums, marigolds, daisies, anthuriums, Malaysian mums, plus longer lasting varieties such as everlasting and statis are sold at the market. Exotic orchids, hyacinths, tulips, petunias and also make their appearance at the orchida-rium. Potted plants of all kinds are also for sale there and in other farms and stalls elsewhere.
Longganisa
Baguio longganisa are sausage links sold by the string with a strong garlic flavor that rival the Vigan variety. The smaller rounder links are referred to by the locals as "short-ganisa." Available at the Baguio City Market mostly, although there are a few outlets selling home-made sausage links.
'The Last Supper,' 'Running Horses' are just some of the more popular themes of beaten copper and other metal works. Large mirrors with ornate hand-crafted frames are for sale at the Baguio City market and Mines View Park.
There are many silver shops offering an array of sterling silver or silver-plated treasures from jewelry pieces to hand-crafted filigree to silverware for your dinner table. The younger set enjoy a selection of the most modern and up-to-date silver fashion jewelry and trinkets.
And then there are our vegetables -- fresh, crisp, sweet and cheap, too! The Cordillera Region supplies the Philipines' daily requirements for highland vegetables. Lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, cabbage, broccolli, cauliflower, mushrooms, chinese eggplant, zucchini and a whole lot more. And all these are available in Baguio and La Trinidad Valley.
Of course the Baguio strawberry tops this list that includes large seedless Sagada oranges, Sablan bananas, mangoes and pineapple, chicos, lanzones, rambutan, guava and santol.
These come in all shapes and sizes -- from 5-ft rosaries to larger-than-life statues of the Igorot warrior to the naughty barrelman or the naked woman back scratcher. These typically make their way to a Filipino home both in the Philippines and abroad. These are also souvenirs items popular with foreign visitors to Baguio City.
Garments & Other Export Items
The Baguio Export Processing Zone (BEPZ) is home to many large factories that manufacture apparel for such brands as Liz Clairborne, Gap, Dockers, Old Navy, Abercrombie and Fitch, Tretorn and a host of others. The two largest companies operating at the BEPZ are Texas Instruments Philippines, Inc., manufacturing computers and peripherals as well as Moog Controls Corporation Philippines, which manufactures airplane guidance systems, among others.
Furniture and Woodworks
Old Filipiniana reproductions, original Ifugao carved 'nail-less' furniture using rare pieces of Philippine hardwood such as molave, narra and kamagong can be found at the top floor of the Marharlika Livelihood Center.
You can find independent furniture shops all around the city, too. While some are original designs, most are re-sellers of items coming from the Woodcarver's Village in Asin.
Shopping in Baguio
Best of Baguio
Tour Designer
Baguio Art Scene
Return from 'Local Products' to GoBaguio! Home >
Baguio Brooms or "Walis Tambo"
I have purposely left for last the absolutely most popular product that everyone always takes home -- the famous Baguio broom or "walis tambo!" These brooms come with woven or wooden handles that usually bear the name "Baguio City." They are such a popular cleaning implement in every Filipino household that there are China-made copies already being sold in Manila.
Actually, the brooms are made in nearby Sablan, Benguet, from the flower of the tiger grass ("Thysanolaena maxima"), which the natives call boyboy (pronounced "booybooy") and sold there by the road-side, but the Baguio City market is provides visitors with the widest selections to choose from.


Gardening is one of those activities that is both rewarding and fun. Even though it can sometimes be tiring during the heat of the summer, gardening is still a relaxing chore. Perhaps one of the most rewarding things about gardening is that you can grow your own food. Just taking a bite out of your own homegrown vegetables or fruit is rewarding in itself. Unfortunately, not everyone has enough space to garden. If you are one of those people who can't have a garden of your own, you may be wondering if you should join a community garden. While community gardens are very popular, not everyone knows the many benefits of participating in a community garden.
A community garden allows you to grow your own food just like you would in your own garden. However, instead of growing food just for yourself, everyone who participates in the community garden helps garden. There are so many benefits of joining a community garden. In this article, I'm going to go over those benefits of why you should join a community garden this year. If you still aren't convinced that community gardening is for you, I'm sure you will be by the end of this article. Let's get started.
If you have never participated in a community garden, you may be wondering what it exactly is. Community gardens are places where people come together to grow a variety of vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers. They do this by renting individual or shared plots of land within the community garden. Community gardens are often run by churches, neighborhood associations, non-profit organizations, community agencies, clubs, private landowners, and more.
The first benefit of community gardens is that it improves the look of neighborhoods. The fresh greenery growing adds some color to places that would otherwise be depressing. By participating in a community garden, you will be helping beautify your neighborhood.
Another benefit of community gardens is that it reduces waste through composting. Compost is an organic matter that has been decomposed in a process called composting. This process recycles various organic materials otherwise regarded as waste products and produces a soil conditioner. So, how can you help create compost for your community garden? To begin, you'll need to make a compost pile. Use a storage bin to store your compost. Drill 8 to 10 holes on the bottom of the bin. Next, begin collecting anything that you can use for making compost. Apple cores, eggshells, paper products, banana peels, and even old lint from the dryer work great.
After you've added in your food scraps, stir the mixture. Try to cover all the food scraps with dirt. Once everything is mixed, spray your mixture with lukewarm water. Drill about 8 to 10 holes on the lid of the bin and close it up. Put the bin somewhere cool and shady so the compost doesn't dry out. After a few months to a year, your compost will be ready to use. Add it to the community garden and watch your plants thrive on these recycled items.
A community garden allows you to connect with the people in your community. In this day and age, many of us are too busy to stop and have conversations with one another. If you are one of those people who struggle to find time to connect with the people in your community, participating in a community garden may be a good idea.
There are so many benefits of gardening. First, gardening helps reduce depression and improves your mental health. Not only does vitamin D help keep you from becoming depressed, but studies have found that caring for plants has helped many people feel happier. Second, gardening helps improve your immune system. The "friendly" soil bacteria that is found in garden soil has been shown to reduce psoriasis, allergies, and asthma. Third, gardening has been shown to help prevent Alzheimer's. It is unknown exactly why it prevents Alzheimer's, but perhaps it is because gardening requires strength, endurance, dexterity, learning, problem-solving, and sensory awareness.
Another health benefit is that gardening helps keep your heart healthy and reduce the risk of stroke. Because too much sitting raises your risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, it is important that you move around. Gardening is a great chore that allows you to get moving while being out in the sunlight. The last benefit of gardening is that it reduces stress. Whether you feel stressed or not, you will most likely feel happier after gardening.
One reason why many people don't garden is that they don't have enough space in your yard. While vertical gardening is an option, some people don't have the right space and supplies for gardening. If you are one of those people, you may be interested in joining a community garden. A community garden allows you to enjoy gardening even if you don't have space in your yard to garden.
If you are new to gardening, you may be wondering where to begin. What's nice about participating in a community garden is that experienced gardeners will most likely be there. They can help teach you important tips about how to have a successful garden. As you learn more about gardening, you may be able to help someone else out too.
Today, so many things cause the air-quality to become poor. Cars, wood stoves, and gas-powered gardening tools are just a few things that cause the air to become polluted. While you may not be able to reduce the amount of carbon put into the air, you can help improve the air quality. Community gardens improve air quality in your area by releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere.
Community gardens can create habitats for small wildlife including birds, insects, aphids, and ants. These small creatures are beneficial to the environment in more ways than you can count. Even though it may seem like insects and birds may damage your crop, they can actually sometimes help your crop. If you want to help the environment, growing a community garden is a great idea.
Another benefit of participating in a community garden is that you'll save money. Buying fruits and vegetables at stores can be expensive, especially if you purchase organic fruits and veggies. Growing your own vegetables is much cheaper than buying vegetables at the store. You may even start eating more vegetables since you won't have to worry about the cost of them.
Last but not least, community gardens produce a large bounty of vegetables. If you struggle to eat as many vegetables as you should, helping out at a community garden may be a good idea. In the end, you'll be able to take home your harvest of veggies. Eating vegetables has so many health benefits. Vegetables help prevent heart attacks and strokes, as well as keep your skin healthy and help you maintain healthy blood pressure. In addition to this, vegetables can also help reduce depression.
Are you convinced yet that you should participate in a community garden? If so, you may be wondering how to find one near you. To begin, visit the American Community Gardening Association, also known as the ACGA. The ACGA gives a map that helps you find community gardens near you. Another way to find community gardens is to ask around your community. Local schools or community centers may let you know if there are any local community gardens. You can also try searching "community garden near me" on the internet. Some locations should pop up and you can decide which community garden you want to join.
If you can't find a community garden near you, perhaps you would like to start your own. Starting your own community garden is easier than you think. Even though it may seem like starting a community garden isn't worth it, you'll be helping others and the environment by starting one. You can find out how to start a community garden here.
I hope this article has inspired you to participate in a local community garden. Community gardens allow people to come together with one main goal, which is to grow their own food. In this article, I went over the many benefits of joining a community garden. You can find a community garden near you by visiting the American Community Garden Association, a site that helps you get started with community gardening. If you can't find a community garden near you, perhaps you'd be interested in starting your own. Whatever you choose to do, I'm sure that you'll enjoy gardening in a community garden. Happy gardening!


Finding ways to save money is a challenge you have probably encountered in your lifetime. Due to the unexpected nature of life, your cash flow isn't always perfectly balanced. There are, however, certain steps you can take to prepare for the uncertainty of living.
You don't have to tell yourself no everytime you want to "splurge" on something. That plastic surgery procedure doesn't have to break your bank. It is just much wiser to fully evaluate an expense before your swipe the card.
Prepare for your future's financial safety, and begin saving today. Take a moment to read through some helpful tips to get you started on your way to true financial freedom.
The most effective way to become more efficient at saving money is to structure your life in such a way that saving is a part of your routine. Rework your thought processes surrounding money to always trim the fat.
For instance, go to a movie on matinee pricing rather than seeing the Friday night premiere. You may also want to set your banking options to automatically set aside 10 percent of your paycheck every pay period.
The most impactful step to building a culture of savings in your household is to create (and follow) a detailed budget. However often you receive income is how you should structure your budget layout. If you get paid twice a month, make a biweekly budget.
Make sure you think of everything. Your budget may take a few cycles to settle into a sound routine, because you will most likely discover missed expenses along the way. Be patient, and stick with the process.
Preparing your own meals will save your money and your health. You may think it's more expensive to eat healthy than it is to eat out, but you're misinformed. Sit down, and do the math.
Be money-conscious when you go anywhere. Before hopping in your car, consider whether there is a more cost-effective way to travel. Driving around a busy city costs money, and it's typically cheaper to ride the train/bus.
Be conscious of what you spend to maintain your household. Find practical ways to reduce your energy costs. Purchase store brand staples. You may save quite a bit of money by simply being more aware of the in and outflow of your cash, so open your eyes.


text:
Q: PHP mail function HTML code showing I'm trying to send a mail using "mail" PHP function but it is not working as I expected because it's showing the HTML tags, and also it's adding the name of the server on the mail...!
PHP code:
$para = $mail;
$titulo = 'MyTitle';
$mensaje = '';
$mensaje .= 'blablabla.';
$mensaje .= '';
$cabeceras = 'From: mydomain.es <suscripcion@web.es>' . "\r\n".'Reply-To: mydomain@web.es' . "\r\n";
$cabeceras .= "Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8\r\n";
mail($para, $titulo, $mensaje, $cabeceras);

And that's the mail result (it's going to SPAM and also it shows the HTML code):
blablablabla.

Thanks in advance.

A: You should use it for headers part.
$cabeceras .= 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$cabeceras .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";

$cabeceras .= "From: $from \r\n" .
   "Reply-To: $from \r\n" .
   "X-Mailer: PHP/" . phpversion();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Lies in White Dresses by Sofia Grant
Sofia Grant's Lies in White Dresses takes readers back to 1952, and to a subject that I haven't seen
addressed in a novel before. Do you know about Nevada's residency requirements for people seeking divorces during that time? It wasn't always easy to get a divorce in the U.S. In her author's note, Grant explains that Reno put itself on the map in 1909 by shortening its residency requirements to six months. By the 1950s, that requirement had been shortened to six weeks. The proprietors of the ranches and hotels where women stayed were often their witnesses in court, saying the women had lived there for the required six weeks. A hotel, the residents of it, and three women who arrive in Reno to take "The Reno Cure", are the focal point of this story.
Francie Meeker and Vi Carothers have been friends since they were young married women. Now that they both have adult children, their husbands want divorces. Francie is embarrassed to talk about her husband, Arthur, while Vi finally gives in to her cheating husband, and agrees to a divorce so he can marry his girlfriend. They take the train from San Francisco to Reno. It's on the train that Vi befriends June Samples, a young woman with a four-year-old daughter, Patty. June's fleeing an abusive husband, and it doesn't take long for Vi and Francie to figure that out.
When the women arrive in Reno, Vi insists that June and Patty share her suite at the Holiday Ranch. That first night, the three women head to a restaurant and bar, leaving Patty in the capable hands of Virgie Swanson, the twelve-year-old daughter of the hotel owner. But, a night that starts out as celebratory ends in a tragedy that will change the lives of everyone involved.
For those of us who grew up after the 1950s, this is a historical novel of the lives of women who were promised a happily-ever-after with Prince Charming after a big, white wedding. That's not how it always was, or even is today. But, Grant focuses on those women whose sons went to war, women who protected children who had disabilities, women who lied to themselves about their own feelings and relationships. It's about the lies women told, and the secrets they kept in order to keep their marriages intact, While Virgie comes across as a naive preteen who dreams of being a detective, and gets carried away with her investigations and ideas, Francie comes across as naive at times, too. She may have raised three children and moved in a small social circle, but her view of the world is somewhat limited. It takes a few hard knocks for Francie to see reality.
The multiple viewpoints in the story allow the reader to understand the time period, and the characters' emotions. Francie, Vi, and June are all well-developed as characters, while Virgie adds a touch of humor to the story. The Author's Note, and the Reading Guide are useful in providing background and a thoughtful view of the book. Lies in White Dresses is a serious story of families, and women, learning to move on and live lives that they never expected.
Sofia Grant's website is http://sophielittlefield.com
Lies in White Dresses by Sofia Grant. William Morrow, 2019. ISBN 9780062861863 (paperback), 384p.
Purchase link - https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062861863/lies-in-white-dresses/
FTC Full Disclosure - I received the book to review for a TLC book tour.
Labels: Divorce, Nevada, Reno, Sofia Grant, Women's Fiction, Women's Relationships
Gram said...
I enjoyed The Dress in the Window, but seemed to have missed The Daisy Children so will read that one first - it is in large print at my library.
They are stand-alones and do not have to be read in order, but that one sounded good to me.
I agree, Gram. I haven't read The Daisy Children, either, but I do have a copy in a TBR pile.
I remember reading several books that mentioned the Reno divorce that were written in the 30's 40's and 50's.
Sara Strand said...
I'm highly curious of that time period and what life was like, I always am completely absorbed into the book. I have to add this to my list thank you for being on this tour. Sara @ TLC Book Tours
The Stalking by Heather Graham
Bloody Genius by John Sandford
Have You Heard? - Donna Andrews' Swan for the Mone...
Winners & An Ann Cleeves Giveaway
The Off-Islander by Peter Colt
Ann Cleeves, An Author Interview
A Killer Carol by Laura Bradford
Death of a Gigolo by Laura Levine
Book Giveaway - A Couple Lighter Mysteries
Small Kingdoms & Other Stories by Charlaine Harris...
Judge Thee Not by Edith Maxwell
Have You Heard? Fonduing Fathers by Julie Hyzy
Remembering the Dead by Elizabeth J. Duncan
The Good Cop by Peter Steiner
Psychological Thriller Giveaway
Buried in the Stacks by Allison Brook
Ice Cold Heart by P.J. Tracy
Nothing Ventured by Jeffrey Archer
A Night's Tail by Sofie Kelly
Word to the Wise by Jenn McKinlay
Molten Mud Murder by Sara E. Johnson
Author Interview - Sara E. Johnson
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
October Treasures in My Closet


text:
Report: Pompeo Emerges as Point Man in War of Words With China Pompeo Emerges as Point Man in War of Words ...
Pompeo Emerges as Point Man in War of Words With China
His critics say he's too busy attacking China to coordinate a global response to the pandemic. His supporters say he's holding Beijing to account.
By Robbie Gramer
| May 1, 2020, 4:56 PM
U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo participate in the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House in Washington on April 8. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In recent weeks, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has emerged as the face of the administration's hard-line China strategy, relying on the conservative media landscape to spread its message on Beijing's blame for the coronavirus pandemic with a raft of hits on Fox News and conservative radio talk shows.
"We've been very clear to the Chinese Communist Party they have a special responsibility," Pompeo told Dan "Ox" Ochsner, one of four conservative radio talk show hosts he spoke to on Thursday alone. "This virus originated in Wuhan. They have a special responsibility to share with the world the data, the information, the need to be transparent."
To outsiders and former diplomats, Pompeo's media blitz in the conservative bubble appears designed to rally U.S. President Donald Trump's base around what could be a key 2020 election issue as the pandemic lockdown draws the global economy to a standstill and fuels a surge in unemployment across the United States. Critics have knocked Pompeo for serving as the administration's attack dog rather than coordinating a global response to the pandemic, a charge his supporters dismiss as partisan spin.
China has shot back at Pompeo, with its state-run media machine targeting him in a barrage of unusually personal attacks in the past week as it tries to deflect U.S. criticisms that it mishandled the initial outbreak of the virus, contributing to its global spread. "Politicians like Pompeo have only prejudice, hatred, and private interests in their minds," read one editorial in the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. "Pompeo has made people wonder if he believes he can 'make America great again' just by bullying and talking nonsense."
In April alone, Pompeo had more than 90 interviews with U.S. news outlets and international press roundtables—a stark shift from the early months of the pandemic. He has also held semiregular press briefings at the State Department in the past month, where a group of reporters from a variety of national outlets can question him. Additionally, the department has organized almost daily phone briefings with other State Department officials on the department's response to the pandemic and other issues.
Still, some former diplomats have criticized Trump's top diplomat for focusing too much on a select domestic audience with a political bent—many of his recent one-on-one interviews were with conservative outlets and talk shows. (The State Department publishes transcripts of Pompeo's interviews on its website for public availability.) Several former diplomats told Foreign Policy that Pompeo sticking to Trump-friendly outlets allows him to skirt tough lines of questioning, and he's doing so at the expense of more interviews with foreign media outlets where he can better convey America's foreign policies to an international audience.
"He's spending a heck of a lot less time communicating to the world about why the Trump administration is doing what it's doing. The other effect is he's made the role of secretary of state much more partisan, and historically they were supposed to stay above the fray," said Brett Bruen, a former career diplomat and director of global engagement at the White House under President Barack Obama. "While I may disagree with the policies, I would be the first to advocate that a secretary of state needs to be out in front in the international media explaining the rationale for what we're doing."
Others point out that Pompeo's focus on domestic outlets was due to the State Department's unprecedented task of repatriating tens of thousands of Americans trapped abroad, after the pandemic grounded international air travel and led to a wave of travel bans in foreign countries. U.S. embassies and consulates abroad have helped bring more than 70,000 Americans home since the end of January through organizing commercial or charter flights, according to State Department officials.
Pompeo's media blitz fits into the Trump administration's broader strategy of pushing for independent probes into whether China mishandled its outbreak response and pressuring China to open its virology labs to international inspectors amid questions about the origins of the virus. The administration has also blamed the World Health Organization (WHO) for its role in the pandemic response, accusing the international health body of bowing to Chinese pressure. Critics say the administration is deflecting blame for its own slow domestic response to the pandemic, which has infected more than 1.1 million Americans and killed some 65,000.
The Trump administration announced that it would temporarily cut funding to WHO in order to undergo a review of whether the international health body submitted too much to Chinese pressure.
Democratic lawmakers criticized such measures, saying that WHO, despite its flaws, needed continued U.S. support. "The inherent complexity of responding to and containing a pandemic demands greater U.S. leadership to coordinate an international response," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer; Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and others wrote in a letter to Pompeo on April 20. "The solution to countering Chinese influence at the WHO is American leadership and engagement, not [American] absenteeism."
"We're the biggest contributor to the World Health Organization. It failed in its mission here, and so we're conducting a review to figure out how best to use American taxpayer money to deliver real outcomes," Pompeo said in a press conference on Wednesday. "We shouldn't pretend that because some organization has 'health' in its title that it's actually capable of delivering the outcomes that we need."
Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @RobbieGramer
Tags: China, Diplomacy, Report, State Department
WHO Becomes Battleground as Trump Chooses Pandemic Confrontation Over Cooperation
Critics say fighting the coronavirus has become secondary as U.S. seeks to hamstring the World Health Organization, turning it into a 2020 election issue along with Chinese trade.
Exclusive |
Colum Lynch
In Global Leadership Void on Pandemic, Critics Ask: Where's Pompeo?
The U.S. secretary of state is late to finding his voice on the pandemic, as the State Department scrambles to repatriate tens of thousands of American citizens stranded abroad.
Robbie Gramer, Colum Lynch
China Goes on Diplomatic Offensive Over Coronavirus Response
Beijing seeks to deflect criticism that its carelessness caused a global crisis.
Document |


Increase your creative powers by learning how to invoke, balance, integrate and express the seven spiritual rays. Includes a special eight-fold healing invocation.
An invocation for consuming all blocks to the flow of the Holy Spirit, for manifesting your personal Christhood and for manifesting the Golden Age on a world-wide scale.
An invocation for balancing the creative flow of all seven rays through your energy field. Invokes the seven Elohim and the Dhyani Buddhas.
An invocation for consuming the blocks that prevent an integration of the seven rays in your energy field. Invokes the seven archangels and the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin.
An invocation for unlocking your creative potential by balancing your chakras and opening up for a balanced flow of the seven rays through your being. Invokes the seven chohans on each of the seven rays.
A powerful invocation for calling forth personal healing and the healing of others, including groups of people affected by a specific disease.


The Class 1 railroads of North America were pioneers of bridge technology decades before anyone conceived of an automobile. Although some criticize the railroads for their simplicity and old-fashioned methods, some of the earliest, most recent and best innovations related to Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) originated in railroad applications.
Although the railroads tend to stick with their tried-and-true methods, they also recognize that their bridge assets have to be installed literally overnight, yet be able to last for more than a century. As a leader in railroad bridge technology, Canadian Pacific Railway recognized early on that the success of Hillman Composite Beam (HCB®) bridge technology would lend tremendous value to its infrastructure assets.
Typical railroad bridges are often installed with rail-mounted locomotive cranes. Although this facilitates simple access in remote locations, this equipment has limited lifting capacity and reach. An HCB bridge provides a solution with a substantially lighter weight than conventional bridges, thus allowing the railroads to set longer bridges with their current rail-mounted equipment. Further, the inherent corrosion-resistant properties of the HCB provide the railroads with a bridge structure requiring virtually no maintenance. With these benefits, plus being the low-cost option, Canadian Pacific elected to replace the decaying steel bridge near Fernie, British Columbia, with the first revenue service HCB railroad bridge in the world.
On October 22, 2014, Canadian Pacific crews replaced the existing bridge with two parallel 42,000-pound HCB prefabricated bridge modules during a 12-hour traffic block. The project included removal of the existing track and existing superstructure and then installation of the two pre-fabricated bridge superstructure modules.
Because the modules had ballast curbs, walkways and handrails pre-installed, the track crew was able to come in immediately thereafter and install the track. The bridge reopened to revenue service in less than 10 hours.


* Returns the response data.
* Returns the subscription reference.
* Returns the number of trial days on the subscription.
* Returns the time of next payment.
* Returns whether the subscription is canceled.
* Returns whether the subscription is scheduled to be canceled.


Download Here's Asphalt Street Storm Racing Mod Apk Racing Game for Android Free Drive your Supercar across the world's most glamorous cities in high-speed drag races. Raise the stakes, then smash your way through rain, snow or scorching heat, betting pink slips to win your rival's car.
Collect & race cars you've owned or always dreamed of, ranging from old-school muscle cars to high-powered Supercars. Seamlessly shift from single- to multiplayer races fast for live thrills, but that's not all. Take part in cool races vs. 3 other players in real-time PvP clashes!


NOTE: The university contract with Gartner research services ended effective June 30, 2015. Access to research on the Gartner portal is no longer available.
Gartner is a leading information technology firm that provides research and analysis services to inform and support decision-making in higher education and other industry sectors.
This web-based information is licensed for use at the university and is accessible at no cost to Ohio State students, faculty and staff. Click on the Gartner Portal Login link below and use your OSU Internet ID and password to log in. Locate the information you need with the Search and Browse tools at the top right side of Gartner web pages. Most documents can be read online or downloaded in PDF format. Gartner also provides a free e-mail alert service to notify you of new research on topics you select.


Gadget Button Meters include the following objects, samples of which are shown in the selection box at the right The selection box shown is how the wizards are selected from within Wonderware® InTouch.
When placed on a window in WindowMaker, double clicking on a Gadget Light Wizard will display the setup page shown at the right.
Double clicking in the Expression field brings up the standard InTouch tag dictionary selection page. Typing in a new InTouch tag name and pressing Enter brings up the InTouch Tag Definition screen like any other InTouch wizard.
Standard InTouch Animations can be applied by clicking the buttons in the Animation area of the Wizard setup page shown here.


text:
by Michelle Elvy
We are closing in on the Marquesas. It's been over a month of nothing but blue under our keel and the steady arc of the sun and stars as they exchange places overhead in a repeated pattern of light and dark.
Tomorrow my daughters will see Fatu Hiva's lush green hills and pronounce it a perfect day, but then again, they think today's perfect, too: children live in the moment like no one else.
Which is a good lesson for us all, especially when crossing an ocean. Because out here you are alone with the rhythm of your thoughts and the ghosts of your past.
We scattered my brothers' ashes several years after their Cessna fell out of the sky. We met for Thanksgiving at our mother's house, my brother, sister, and I. A family out of balance, trying to find normalcy in a shattered world. The turkey was baked to perfection; the dinnertime conversation was alternately hilarious, edgy, and bitter. But we united around one thing, that two lost sons should live out eternity somewhere other than in an upstairs closet. And so we said our final farewells as we sifted their vaporized bones through our fingers into Spa Creek, around the corner from our mother's house.
I never pictured my brothers settling on a quiet street in Annapolis, and I had mixed feelings about them taking up residence there. We agreed that they should be scattered, but we had never reached a consensus about where to do it. The sea was where they spent most of their leisure time, where they had chased tuna and wahoo and marlin and sailfish. For me, anywhere in the Atlantic would do: off the Florida coast where they kept their fishing boat; off their home waters of the Narragansett; at the mouth of the Chesapeake closer to childhood memories. But schedules got in the way and years slipped by until we finally settled on something that was logistically easy for our busy lives.
An anti-climactic end, I thought.
But I've come to think it was right, after all. Ashes to ashes, returned to Nature in the waters at their mother's doorstep. I watched our mother cupping dusty dry bits of her boys in her small hands on that Thanksgiving Day and my heart broke all over again. I think of her now — passing this spot on a quick errand, glancing down the street where she kissed her palms and whispered goodbye, remembering her sons as she strolls through her neighborhood on a summer's evening — and I like knowing my brothers are there.
But in death, as in life, they are adventurous men and I see them wandering, too. Like me, perhaps: restless souls, or maybe just curious. I see them float out Spa Creek into the Chesapeake, past the haunts of our childhood, north up under the Bay Bridge, where they stop in Baltimore just long enough to see what became of me.
North? says Kirk, and Marc nods, Yep.
They stop in Manhattan to check in on their other little sister, a woman buried in grad school assignments and married to a boy they never knew who has brought peace into her life that makes them smile. Then they are Boston-bound, looking up girlfriends now married with kids and friends who still tell stories of two brothers as different as a mathematician and a poet could be but inseparable in life and death. They laugh at the ceaseless Big Dig, dip their toes in the chilly Narragansett and head south — down the Chesapeake again, where they putter in the Sassafrass for a day, because if you had all the time in the world, wouldn't you?
They pass Annapolis once more (Hello, Mom! calls one; Goodbye, Mom! calls the other) and then dash up the Potomac where they look in on their baby brother, who, at thirty-three, has now outlived them both (An accomplishment! says Kirk, and Marc flashes his pointy-toothed grin) and lives a musician's life that one brother won't ever understand (What the hell is post-punk? mutters Marc) and the other admires (Never mind, you old fart, teases Kirk).
They chuckle their way back down the Potomac, bantering about baroque and modern and postmodern Art, Marc still tickled at pushing buttons despite his invisible form, and Kirk giving it back because someone has to, even if they are both dust and smoke.
And then they are at the mouth of the Chesapeake, and they are making tracks now to the tropics. Kirk tips his Duke cap toward Durham when they're off the Carolina coast, and Marc shouts Yo! to the West Palm Beach fishing fleet. No time for the Gulf Stream now; they're heading to Panama, through the Canal and into the mighty Pacific — new territory.
They cheer when they cross the equator: Almost there, whispers Marc. They're gaining speed, traveling more west than south, and finally they spy in the distance a small white speck on the heaving sea.
And now here they come, to me — not blurry memories but vivid and strong. It's March 16 today, and for once I don't see my brothers in the burning wreckage of a plane, as I have done every anniversary since that spring day when metal hit mountain. On this morning I see them everywhere: from Spa Creek to the Pacific Ocean. With friends and fathers and siblings and mother. They trickle down streams and float on oceans. They drift through air and dart across time. Connected to us all, connecting us all.
It's March 16, and I'm seventy miles out of the Marquesas.
I've come three thousand miles to get here.
It's taken me fourteen years.
Today I see that all this time my brothers have been here too, right beneath my keel, willing me forward.
favs 2153 views
Author's Note
On a 44-day Pacific crossing from Mexico to French Polynesia, you have a lot of time to write. This is what I thought of on Day 43
published in Blue Print Review in the Summer 2010 issue, two² -- BIG thanks to Dorothee Lang.
also a top contender in the December 2011 Glass Woman Ghost Story Prize. Thank you to Beate Sigriddaughter and the anonymous donor/judge for this opportunity.
Other stories by Michelle Elvy
Love, Story 2857 views
Bedtime Story 1976 views
The Wall: A Love Story, Of Sorts 1741 views
A Night of Not Knowing 1946 views
daughters-mother-brothers-family-husband-marriage death flash love memoir memory mother non-fiction-sea-stories travel
FictioNot
Like Life (Except slower, better, and without the typos)
Walter Bjorkman, Apr 21, 2010
such a beautiful, quiet remembrance, so well written, we feel your thoughts, we do not read them. Marvelous and not sad at all, but rather a sense of completeness & love.
Jack Swenson, Apr 21, 2010
You hook me right away. What an adventure! Would it make sense to dramatize rather than narrate the memories, i.e., add description, dialogue? A passing thought.
Beate Sigriddaughter, Apr 21, 2010
It's the love in this that makes me choke up on reading this. Beautifully done.
Colette Sartor, Apr 21, 2010
Exquisite. Thanks for sharing it.
Michelle Elvy, Apr 21, 2010
Thank you so much, Walt, Jack, Beate, and Colette. I think people are sometimes gun-shy about commenting on memoir. Thank you for reading the love and not the sadness: Yes, that's it! (And Jack, I like your idea, I might make that another piece altogether -- I can see a more playful thing coming out of this, too, with more dialogue, etc - thanks for the suggestion!)
Martha Williams, Apr 23, 2010
You got me on this.
Lori Lou Freshwater, Apr 23, 2010
There is so much here, and I am blown away by all of it. I feel like I have been on a journey, and yes it left me with warmth and love, because beauty and pain are one in the same. The ending, oh my goodness. Thank you for this.
Jane Hammons, Apr 24, 2010
This makes my body ache. It's wonderful, full of love and life and all those places. Really, quite journey.
Sara, Apr 25, 2010
wow, michelle. it's all heart here. stunning.
Thanks so much, Martha, Lou, Jane, and Sara. I'm glad you feel the ache and the heart.
Stephanie Bobo, Apr 29, 2010
This is so lovely, and it's wonderful how "almost there" becomes an arrival at the end, a reunion that rides that heartbreak out.
Michelle Elvy, May 01, 2010
Thanks, Stephanie. I'm so pleased by your careful reading and close consideration of the meaning of that phrase. It's the story of my life in so many ways.
Hazar Worth, May 06, 2010
We are always here: we are always returning. And the traces and the bits and pieces, are as restless as we are. The inexhaustible God never forgets but always return. Cast upon the turmoils, and cast upon the way, we are returned to the source where memories yearn to play....
Myra King, May 07, 2010
Loved this, Michelle. The imagery here is blinding, as a mother of three sons I can only imagine...
Cherise Wolas, May 26, 2010
Beautiful Michelle! You capture the love and ties of a close family spread out. Totally lovely.
I'm catching up on your works that I haven't yet read.
Starred!
Lena Vanelslander, Jan 11, 2011
Michael Parker, Jun 04, 2011
Michelle, I've returned a second time to read this. As you know, I read this a week or two ago and was utterly moved and overwhelmed with emotion. It resonates on so many levels, and continued to stay in the forefront of my mind these past days, like a natural spring continuously releasing fresh water from its underground water source day after day. What a beautiful tribute to Marc and Kirk. You may have experienced a sense of reconciliation and healing writing this. As an outsider, I find a healing balm in its beautiful message. Absolutely soul-lifting and powerful. A masterful and exquisite story.
Jen Knox, Dec 21, 2011
Absolutely beautiful, Michelle.*
Berit Ellingsen, Jan 07, 2012
What a clear, touching and loving tribute to family and connecting and the healing of grief.
I have heard similar stories about being long at sea, or in the desert, bringing out ghosts and memories. It doesn't sound like a bad thing.
Sally Houtman, Feb 28, 2012
Hey, Michelle, I just came across this on the Glass Woman Prize site. congrats on making the finals in the ghost story competition. And what a lovely, elegant, poignant story. Glad I found it.
Susan Gibb, Mar 16, 2012
I don't know how I missed this when it was first posted. It's, well, just heartbreaking yet inspiring. Peace to you.
Sam Rasnake, Mar 16, 2012
Well-crafted, Michelle. A marvel of a piece. Impossible not to connect with the writing.
Robert Vaughan, Mar 16, 2012
Michelle, I recall reading this somewhere else, even voting it into that "Best of Flash Fiction" list that Gay Degani was assembling last year at Flash Fiction Chronicles. This is so moving, and leaves such a lasting feeling, as does the loss of those we love so dearly. I give you huge cyber hugs...thanks for sharing your passionate artistry.
Fave.
Joani Reese, Mar 16, 2012
There really are no words to describe the love that flows from this piece. What a terrible loss, but how kind of you to share something so intimately painful with others so your wonderful brothers can live in your words.*
James Claffey, Mar 16, 2012
depth, beauty, resonance. truly wonderful.
Linda Simoni-Wastila, Mar 16, 2012
So much healing in these words, Michelle. I have read this before, but it never fails to move me, never fails to remind me of now. Peace *
Kathy Fish, Mar 16, 2012
Michelle, I connected so deeply with this. Beautiful, important writing. Thank you
Rachel J. Fenton, Mar 17, 2012
Utterly compelling and profoundly moving.
Ginnah Howard, Aug 28, 2013
It's taken me fourteen years.*
Tears...
Thanks for reading and commenting on "Obituary."
Michelle Elvy, Aug 28, 2013
Thanks to all for the comments. Ginnah -- for your most recent read. Really appreciate that.
And to the rest from 2011 and 2012 -- I don't know how I missed these comments then but I've been away from Fictionaut a spell... Thank you for the warm wishes on this story. I am glad the words here on the page resonate. It's part of a larger project which may just see the light of day... one day.
Emily Bertholf, Mar 03, 2014
Michelle, this is beautiful writing. As good as a story gets. It's funny how a story find you when you need it - "Connected to us all, connecting us all." I could see characters in this so well, and mixed in my heart, the shadows and ghosts of my own family and scars of loss. I'm late to find this, but have read it four times already to make up for it. Devouring the details, voice and rhythm again and again. Fave. * Thank you for sharing this with us.
You must log in to post comments.


Permits are issued by Engineering Division staff at the public counter on the 3rd Floor in City Hall. For information or to schedule an appointment with a permit engineer, please call 310-412-5333.
Encroachment and Excavation Permits - An encroachment or excavation permit is required for all construction work within or related to the use of any public street right-of way.
Oversize/Overweight Vehicle Permits - The issuance of a permit is required for the movement of oversize and/or overweight vehicles on City streets.
Block Party Permits - Community groups may obtain a permit for the closure of a local residential street for neighborhood block parties only.
Parade Permits - Parade and Special Event Permits are issued by the Finance Department located on the 1st Floor at City Hall in the Customer Service Division.
The C&D Permit Application (PDF) must be submitted to the Public Works Department on the 3rd Floor in City Hall.
Upon completion of work or project related to the C&D Permit Application the Final Compliance Disposal Report must be completed and returned along with all original recycle receipts. Failure to remit the required receipts and documentation may result in forfeiture of your deposit. Any questions concerning the permit process, please email Adriana M. Grimes or call her at 310-412-5333.


text:
16 Indian Institutes Among Top 200 Universities
Sixteen Indian places of learning are among the top 200 universities in The Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies rankings. The Indian Institute of Science broke into the top 20 for the first time and was listed at No. 16
by Monica Behura
Sixteen Indian places of learning are among the top 200 universities in The Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies rankings. The Indian Institute of Science broke into the top 20 for the first time and was listed at No. 16.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, entered the top 30, with the premier engineering school ranked at 29. Last year, IISc and IIT Bombay were at 25 and 37, respectively. Other Indian institutes that have gained ground in the rankings include IIT-Madras (to 36 from 44), IIT Delhi (to 37 from 56) and IIT-Guwahati (to 83 from 98). Those that have declined include IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Kanpur, Aligarh Muslim University and Panjab University.
Jawaharlal Nehru University, which was at 71 last year, isn't in the list this year. New entrants include Jadavpur University, Savitribhai Phule Pune University, University of Calcutta, University of Delhi, Amrita University and Andhra University. China dominates the overall rankings, including first and second place besides half the top 10. In the top 200, China has 39 universities.
The top five are Peking University (China), Tsingshua University (China), Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia), University of Cape Town (South Africa) and National Taiwan University (Taiwan). Taiwan comes in at second position in the overall rankings with 24 universities in the top 200. India is the third best represented country.
"India will have to work harder to compete with other developing nations, such as Russia, which have a higher proportion of institutions in the upper echelons of the table. India is the only BRICS nation without a university in the top 10," said Phil Baty, editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
India spends less than 0.88 per cent of its GDP on science research, compared with 2.76 per cent in the US and 4.04 per cent in South Korea, Baty said.
"With the population of young people in the country continuing to expand, resulting in further pressure on resources, it is now more crucial than ever that India invests in research and strengthens its links with other nations," he said.
During the unveiling of the BRICS Rankings by Times Higher Education at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, President Pranab Mukherjee expressed confidence that several higher education institutes in the country could emerge as the best amongst their global counterparts, even as he expressed concern over no Indian university getting such a ranking till now.
"Unfortunately, we have not been able to find the place commensurate to our size, culture, civilisation and population in the world ranking of the universities," he said while addressing scholars and educationists of BRICS nations at an event at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He was speaking on the theme: 'Why emerging economies need world class universities', being hosted by Times Higher Education and O P Jindal University.
iits Indian Institute of Science he Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies
Amity International School Noida Bags 'Best School Award'


text:
Tag: writing shortcuts
Through-line – the single most vital trick in writing a novel
April 8, 2018 June 1, 2019 4 Comments
And by vital I mean life-giving as well as essential. Your through-line is the great big question you ask at the beginning of your story, the one that keeps your reader hooked through every page.
WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT?
You could answer 'about 30,000 words so far'. Many people say their book is about one of the big abstract issues like war, heroism, exile, true love or that mixed blessing we call family. Those are themes. Most good books have at least one theme though they're not essential. Themes are what you want your readers to think about, after they've closed your book and are going on with their lives.
Through-line
Your through-line is the big plot question you ask at the beginning of your story, the one that keeps your reader hooked until it's answered, one way or another, close to the last page. It is not about the meaning of heroism in general, it is about the heroic survival of a particular character your readers care about. Through-lines are about what you want your readers to feel.
Your theme is:
an abstract question
appealing to the intellect,
affecting as many of your characters as you like,
that you need not answer – let readers make up their own minds,
is not necessarily something that will be attainable or resolved by the story's end and
more than one theme is fine though, if you have more, they should link in some way.
Your through-line is:
a specific question about a particular need. Will Jill get a pony? Will Carrie marry Big? Will Sherlock find the killer? Will Black Beauty survive?
It's an emotional question of high stakes
about a particular person, preferably your main character(s). A thousand pages of statistics teach us about rough-sleeping but in Stuart: A Life Backwards; it's Stuart's own life story that gives it emotional urgency.
Your through-line question should be humanly attainable (achieving world peace goes in the 'theme' section) and
it must be attained or answered in the story. The answer doesn't have to be yes but there should be a sense of resolution at the end.
An example of a through-line
A fine example of a powerful through-line is in Stuart: A Life Backwards. This excellent book came about when its author Alexander Masters worked in a facility for homeless people in Cambridge and met a rough sleeper called Stuart. They became friends and decided to write Stuart's life story. Alexander's first draft was painstaking but, by his own admission, dull. Stuart didn't like it either and came up with a stunning through-line and structure.
Write it backwards, Stuart said, starting in the present and going back in time to his childhood. Write it like a Tom Clancy thriller, he suggested too, and next is where his marvellous through-line comes in. Readers should ask, he said, who stole Stuart's innocence. Who 'killed' the boy he was.
Who stole Stuart's innocence? Who stole his life, in other words, and when the answer comes, everything hilariously aggravating about Stuart (and there's plenty) is instantly understood and the reader's heart is broken. Stuart died between the finishing of the book and its publication: he didn't survive to see Alexander awarded the Guardian First Book prize for their work.
Who stole Stuart's innocence? Will Joey the Warhorse survive the Western Front and come home to the boy who trained him? Will Anna Karenina live happily ever after? Will the community of Watership Down rabbits ever manage to settle safely again? Will the boys in Lord of the Flies ever be rescued?
EXERCISE – 10 MINUTES
Choose one of your favourite stories? Give yourself ten minutes to define and write about its through-line. This is not always as easy as it sounds. In the film Titanic, for example, we know that Rose survives for decades after the wreck. The film's through-line is how she survives.
Your favourite story will have sub-plots – do they have through-lines too? Are they different from the main one? Are they linked to it and to each other? Do the characters have their own personal through-lines? How do they all connect?
Let's think now about the story you are writing. Please don't be discouraged if this exercise turns out to be tricky. At first draft stage, it's not at all unusual to have through-lines that spread like deltas – in fact, that's often why people lose heart and give up. Thinking about your through-line at any stage can help keep you on track.
See if you can sum up your through-line in 20 to 30 words. It may well feel impossible but keep trying. You might find yourself coming up with three or four through-lines. Don't worry, your story is work in progress.
Exciting as your several through-lines might be, it's important to keep scribbling around them until one edges forward as the most urgent. Some classic novels have more than one but if you're working on your first novel, try to keep things simple and clear. The clearer your through-line, the stronger and more saleable your story will be.
Your through-line is precious. It's your story's backbone, its engine, the thread that holds your story's beads together, and it should appear somehow in every chapter. Occasionally readers will forgive a little tangent but keep it brief. (By Book 4 of A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin had so many of us readers by the heart that we kept reading as if it was an endurance test, but our favourite characters and their through-lines were missing from that fourth book and, to be honest, he lost a lot of us.)
Once you're confident of your through-line, congratulate yourself. You now have what is known as your 'elevator pitch' for those precious ten seconds when somebody introduces you to an agent or publisher and you're asked what your novel in progress is about.
Crucially for your story, once you know your through-line, you are equipped to destabilise it in every stage of your story, nudging up your stakes as you go, until you reach your destination. As Wilkie Collins said, make them laugh, make them cry and, above all, make them wait.
A QUICK WORD ABOUT STAKES
What lowers your stakes? Anything that makes a reader put down the book and forget to pick it up again. This list comes from my writing groups – please feel free to add your own:
Repetition,
Diverting the story into something else (away from your through-line),
Too much leaden description,
Telling us what we know already or can guess,
Spelling out every damn thing,
Being predictable, and too unpredictable,
Unsympathetic or boring characters,
Showing off research and
Mistakes.
FINAL EXERCISE – 10 – 15 minutes to start with
For practice, let's imagine a static scene where one of your characters is sitting in a traffic jam, pauses lost in thought while they're up to their wrists in washing up water or takes time out to look at the sky.
First, let's discover how your character (X) is feeling at the beginning of the scene. Start with a brief scribble-chat together:
What can X see, hear, taste, smell and touch?
Is X hot or cold, comfortable or not, in tight clothing or loose, in a familiar place or a strange one?
What is X's mood: stressed or calm, low or excited, fearful etc.?
How does X feel about what's just been happening ? For example, has X just left an exam or job interview early and is worried about the outcome?
You should have X's voice flowing nicely in your imagination now as s/he leads you through her/his senses, surroundings, mood and context.
Now, find a way to bring X's thoughts around to your through-line, if you haven't already. As you keep writing, see if you can let your character raise your novel's stakes to greater urgency with a lightning jolt.
Even a static scene can be full of activity. In fact, the contrast in pace can work to your advantage and produce an unforgettable chapter. As long as you bring your stakes and character together with your through-line, all will be well.
PLOT – WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?
In an early episode of A Game of Thrones, Old Nan says that old stories are like old friends: we need to visit them now and again.
Certain favourites keep cropping up – Beowulf, Cinderella, Perseus, Jonah, Noah, for example – stories that go back thousands of years across countless cultures. The best stories feel as if they meet a need beyond entertainment and escape, and bring us in some mysterious way a sort of psychological 'retuning'. They bring a sense of satisfaction and wholeness.
Why study plot?
Now and again in my writing groups, somebody will say that this plot stuff doesn't apply to them because they don't want to write to any formula. That's understandable – we all want our work to be fresh and original, we want it to be us. I agree that copying other people's work has limited value if you're already sure of your own voice and intention. Even if you haven't.
Besides, studying plot can feel as if we're trying to put into boxes things that shouldn't always be in boxes. So I ask you, as I ask everyone in my writing groups, to treat this post as a bit of fun. Read it lightly and then forget it. Let it circle in your dreams along with whatever else you've read over the years. If you ever need anything from it, it will come to you in its own time.
For example, if your draft's finished but there's a vague sense of reader (or writer) dissatisfaction, or you feel that it's somehow fallen apart and you are not sure why, you just might find a solution here…
A man walked into a bar … and found the ingredients of a good story. Good stories usually have:
A hero or heroine or both. Even the humblest joke has a man walking into a bar or a chicken crossing the road. Story-making starts with character, which is why character has come before plot in this blog.
An imaginary world: the chicken's road, the man's bar, Cinderella's kitchens, the Starship Enterprise, Lizzie Bennet's home full of sisters. Non-fiction sets out to lure readers into its world too.
Something that unsettles the present and has to be acted on. Mr Darcy arrives in the shire. A quiet housewife is invited to join the French Resistance. Lucy Manette must set off to Revolutionary Paris to recover her father after his release from the Bastille.
Now for the exciting bit: a series of conflicts, obstacles, uncertainty, thrills. The rollercoaster middle part. Non-fiction is not exempt: The Double Helix and Longitude are excellent examples. Check their sales figures if you would like proof.
Sam Goldwyn, the Hollywood magnate who put the G into MGM, used to say, 'Start with an earthquake and work up to a crisis'. There is usually some sort of climax where the story's obstacles are at their most extreme. The main character faces her biggest possible choice or test. This does not have to be an epic battle with thousands of auks – Mole, Ratty and Badger find their own challenges in a comic battle against the weasels in Toad Hall. In one of my favourite novels The Descendants, a peaceable sort of guy discovers that his dying wife was having an affair, so he tracks down his wife's lover. Another writer might well have written a round of fisticuffs in the street. Kaui Hart Hemmings is subtler than that.
Somehow (more about this later) the tussles resolve into an ending and a new beginning. If things come to a sudden halt in the middle of the battlefield, readers tend to feel as if they've been left dangling – they long to be settled into a sense of life going forward again.
Is there such a thing as a formula for surprise? Can be. Quite often actually and I'm sure you'll recognise this one:
The main character is shown in his normal world.
Something is unsatisfactory, hurting or threatening him and other people. It can be external danger or an inner dysfunction whereby the hero is doing the hurting.
'The inciting incident': something happens that forces change. The bandits have become so dreadful that the peasants persuade the cowboy to help them and Yul Brynner sets off to find the other Magnificent Six. Mole drops his paintbrush – 'Hang spring cleaning'. A digger is heard in the distance, coming to destroy the rabbits' warren. There's no turning back.
The main character realises exactly what it is he wants and forms a plan to get it.
Forces of opposition gather (and those who help Our Hero to resist them). One obstacle can be that the main character himself refuses first of all to take up the challenge. (The 'Call to Heroism' was not invented in Hollywood, by the way – Homer's Odysseus tried to avoid call-up to the Trojan War by sowing salt into his own fields, pretending he was mad. It didn't work.)
The succession of conflicts ensues. The stakes rise and keep rising.
There's a climactic crunch scene where the main character is forced to crack wide open. To get what he wants, he must do the most difficult thing he's ever had to do. The emotion is overwhelming for character and readers.
The battle brings an epiphany to your character, an insight about what sort of person he really is. He is forced to recognise his greatest need (ta-dah, something you know about from your work with the character questionnaire). He acts on that insight …
The worst is past and life can return to normal. But it is a new normal, things have irreparably changed. The character ends at a higher or lower level of fulfilment, depending on how far he's changed and accepted the insight.
Thank you to a tutor from the Soho Theatre & Writers' Centre for much of the detail in this template, shared many years ago on an Arvon Foundation course.
In my many years of attending writing courses here and there, I have come across many of these formulae. There's usually something useful in each one. I have no interest in taking you through the Hollywood screenwriters' usual five-act structure with this particular encounter required on page 13 or that on page 42. If that appeals to you, I wish you well with it but this blog is about novels and novelists are freer. We can take the best from all these options and make them our own.
This last one, I will call the problem-solving formula – I came across it on a course many years ago about writing for children:
life is unhappy for the main child character and/or other people;
the main difficulty gets worse and worse;
until we reach (the tutor called it this, I kid you not) the 'plateau of awfulness';
this goes on until everybody's in tears and it all looks hopeless;
somehow the main child character (nobody else) solves the problem from her/his own resources;
everybody's happy and grateful.
This problem-solving formula has the virtue of simplicity – you can develop it any way you like. It's the backbone of children's classics from Animal Farm and Black Beauty to the adult worlds of Bridget Jones and Sherlock Holmes. Does it fit any of your favourites?
It always unnerves me when people start taking written notes in my sessions because this is not about studying or taking tests. It's about developing a feel for the shape of a powerful story arc, for who drives the story forward, about pace and stakes, and how a story comes to a close. Read plenty, short stories and long, think critically about what you're reading and feel how these templates described here might have a part to play for you.
These lists are no more than the scribbled drawing to guide paint onto the canvas, the invisible armature that supports the clay while a sculpture is being made, or a shoe's last or mould.
To save you from feeling that too much analysis is going on, choose one of your favourite themes: love, death, fear, life, happiness, sadness, joy, grief, birth, greed, peace etc. Treat yourself to ten minutes of free writing about what it means to you, utterly privately, just for you. You can imagine you're chatting with one of your characters about it if you like, or just let rip. For as long as you want.
Between now and the spring, we will look at a series of classic plot structures – love stories, thrillers, rags to riches, rite of passage, overcoming the monster, voyage and return, and epics – starting next week with one of the oldest of all, the quest.
Have a happy writing and reading week!


Just thought I'd alert you lucky people to the new colour range in The Dulux 'Heritage' collection. The chart is ordered to show harmonious colours together with a "we've done the work for you" specially selected white that will coordinate effortlessly with the other tones in the same column.
And here's the link to get yourself a free colour chart. Get Some!
Today I downed tools and went to the Hayward Gallery's off-site exhibition 'The Infinite Mix'. An amazing pop-up show of 'Audio-Visual' art with, surprisingly for a building still derelict in parts, a very stylish café/bar as part of 'The Store'.
'The Store' which is described as offering "a new kind of experience fusing art, music, food, fashion, broadcasting and work" contains a creative hang-out with views of the Thames, as eclectic and surreal as the A/V pieces in the galleries.
Just as the disparate exhibits form a coherant exhibition so too does the collection of furniture and decor here. This "mix and max" design style combines different eras and styles linked by luxe materials (marble, linen, velvet, wool, wood, perspex and glass) and lush planting which is ingeniously hanging in the old suspended cable trays. This all contrasts and yet compliments the stark architectural featues of the building - a kind of plush Brutalism.
It's not clear how long the space will be around for, whether it's semi-permanant or permanant, so go now for the Art, wifi, food and gorgeous interior design.


We are delighted that after 53 years of being used, the medical room is finally being refurbished thanks to the generosity of Colin Veysey and his community group. The medical room will have new kitchen/medical units and will be re-decorated. It is the intention that it will be a much more comfortable area for children when they are poorly or need to talk. We are planning on having some comfy chairs for children to sit and talk, if they are upset, or to relax if unwell. The units are in and I will be decorating next weekend. If anyone would like to help with some painting, please let me know.


We calculate the intrinsic value of VNET stock by summing up the current values of future distributable cash flows generated by the company and dividing the sum by the number of outstanding shares. As such, the intrinsic value calculation depends entirely on projections. The more accurate your projections of the company's performance are - the more reliable is the intrinsic value calculation result. Please make sure to check the stock valuation input data below and adjust it if necessary. The quality of the output (intrinsic valuation result) is only as good as the quality of the input. See also DISCLAIMERS.
21Vianet Group, Inc. is a carrier-neutral Internet data center services provider. The Company hosts its customers' servers and networking equipment and provides interconnectivity. The Company also provides managed network services to enable customers to deliver data across the Internet through its data transmission network and smart routing technology. The Company provides value-added services, such as content delivery network (CDN) services, virtual private network (VPN) services and last-mile wired broadband services. It offers public cloud services, private cloud and hybrid services. In addition, the Company also offers container-based data center service. The Company's service offerings include hosting and related services, and managed network services. The Company provides hosting and related services to house servers and networking equipment in its data centers and connects them through its data transmission network, and offers other hosting related value-added services.
Revenue. Company's revenue (or sales) is always the starting point of any cash flow forecast. In the VNET stock intrinsic value calculation we used $513 million for the last fiscal year's total revenue generated by 21Vianet Group, Inc.. The default revenue input number comes from 0001 income statement of 21Vianet Group, Inc.. You may change it if you feel that it should be adjusted for some unusual circumstances that are not expected to be repeated in the future or if you already know (from interim financial statements, for example) that this year's revenue is going to be quite different.
We use three input parameters to forecast the revenue growth rate in our VNET stock valuation model: a) initial revenue growth rate of 2% whose default value is the revenue growth rate in the most recent quarter compared to the quarterly revenue a year ago; b) terminal revenue growth rate of 5% whose default value is chosen to be close to the average nominal (i.e. not adjusted for inflation) GDP growth rate; and c) revenue decline factor of 0.9, which stipulates that revenue growth rate in each forecasted year will be equal to the difference of the revenue growth rate in the preceding year and the terminal revenue growth rate multiplied by this revenue decline factor (with the passage of time the revenue growth rate will be approaching the terminal revenue growth rate, but not quite reaching it - though the difference could be infinitesimally small).
The initial discount rate of 4.3%, whose default value for VNET is calculated based on our internal credit rating of 21Vianet Group, Inc., is applied to the cash flow expected to be received a year from now (well, actually, to be precise, in the financial year following the base year - the last year for which we have financial statements). For each consecutive year the discount rate is multiplied by the discount rate multiplier of 1.05, e.i. each year it increases by 5%. Feel free to change this number to correspond to your level of risk assessment of 21Vianet Group, Inc..
Variable cost ratio is the ratio of variable costs (i.e. costs that fluctuate with fluctuation of the volume of production) to the revenue expressed as a percentage. In the calculation of intrinsic value of VNET stock the variable cost ratio is equal to 125.7%.
Fixed operating expenses is just that - expenses that are not dependant on the volume of production. They are set to $0 million in the base year in the intrinsic value calculation for VNET stock. These expenses increase with the level of inflation in subsequent years.
Interest rate on debt is the average all-in rate of interest paid by the company on its debt. It is set at 6.1% for 21Vianet Group, Inc..
Corporate tax rate of 27% is the nominal tax rate for 21Vianet Group, Inc.. In reality, companies find ways to pay much less taxes than that or not to pay them at all.
Cash flow adjustment could be used for any adjustment the investor deems necessary. Most commonly we use this field to account for stock options-related effects in excess of what is reported on the company's income statement. The cash flow adjustment is expressed as a percentage of the revenue, and in the current valuation of the VNET stock is equal to 0%.
Production assets are the company's assets used for manufacturing products or provision of services. In the valuation model input table they are expressed as a percentage of revenue and for VNET are equal to 133.8%.
Life of production assets of 8.4 years is the average useful life of capital assets used in 21Vianet Group, Inc. operations. It is used to calculate yearly capital expenditures needed to keep these assets in good order - we call it the maintenance CAPEX.
Working capital is the difference between the company's current assets and liabilities. In the model we use the ratio of working capital to revenue, which for VNET is equal to 1.8%. A negative number means that the company is apt at using financial resources of its suppliers and customers; a large positive number, on the other hand, means that it either provides in-kind financing to others or is not good at managing its inventories.
Book value of equity - $786.125151149 million for 21Vianet Group, Inc. - is used in calculation of the "floor" for intrinsic valuation based on the discounted cash flow (DCF) method. Even if the prospects are very bad for a company, its assets could always be sold now for their current fair market value.
Shares outstanding of 112.098 million for 21Vianet Group, Inc. is needed to calculate the intrinsic value of one share.
Market capitalization is used here only for reference purposes and as a quick check that the share price and the number of shares outstanding numbers are correct - something especially to be cognizant about at stock splits. So, the market capitalization of 21Vianet Group, Inc. at the current share price and the inputted number of shares is $0.8 billion.


Colin Marshall sits down in Silver Lake with Eric Brightwell, proprietor of both Pendersleigh & Sons Cartography, which offers hand-drawn maps of neighborhoods in Los Angeles and beyond (and posts them to Amoeba Music's Amoeblog), and Brightwell, which offers luxury and craft items to the discerning cosmopolitan gentleman. They discuss the days when Silver Lake was Ivanhoe; the distinctively shifting and disputed nature of Los Angeles neighborhoods; the differences between neighborhood mapping by Google Maps, by Yahoo Maps, on subway station walls, and by hand; the unintended Berlin Wall effect of freeway construction; his attracting of angry, all-caps comments from the gangs of Frogtown; longtime Angelenos' lack of awareness about the neighborhoods that surround them, and their need to believe that their own has gone to the dogs; Hollywood's retailers of pimp-geared $169 three-suit deals; how an authenticity jones can ruin your experience of Los Angeles; his discovery of microsubcultures in unexpected places, and the larger fact that no one part of the city is more interesting than any other; Hitler's Pacific Palisades bunker; and the advanced art of entering a neighborhood, exploring it, and documenting it without knowing anything at all going in.
This was written by Colin Marshall. Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2012, at 2:36 pm. Filed under Notebook on Cities and Culture. Bookmark the permalink. Follow comments here with the RSS feed.	Post a comment or leave a trackback.