Dr. Eyckerman is an Expert Scientist with the VIB-UGent Center for Medical Biotechnology since 2015. He has a small research team focused around introducing and integrating novel technologies to support the different groups in the Center and in VIB. His main interests are around protein protein interactions and on developing and applying technologies to study protein complexes. Recently, the group is expanding towards protein interactions with small molecules and proteins, and with RNA molecules such as lncRNAs. Another recent focus of the group relates to genome engineering as a supporting technology for proteomics research, again mainly around protein complexes.
Dr. Eyckerman obtained his PhD on development of the MAPPIT system in the lab of prof. Jan Tavernier. After a postdoc at ISREC, Lausanne, Switzerland, Dr. Eyckerman joined Pronota, a Belgian proteomics-based biomarker company, where he worked on technology to reduce serum proteome complexity at different levels and where he supported different discovery programs. He then returned to VIB and Ghent University where he developed the Virotrap platform as one of his projects. He became associate professor with Ghent University and started his own research team with VIB in 2015.


text:
Borealis and Henkel cooperation produces plastic bottle and nozzle composed 100% of post-consumer recycled material
Photo: Henkel's Pattex Made at Home plastic bottle and nozzle composed of 100% PCR material
© Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Packaging solution made of 100% plastic recyclate delivers circular economy proof point
Borealis, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, announces the successful launch of a new packaging solution produced entirely with post-consumer recycled (PCR) material. Developed in close collaboration with the German consumer and industrial goods company Henkel and two additional value chain partners, this truly sustainable packaging solution is further evidence of how mtm plastics GmbH, a member of the Borealis Group, is helping increase the circularity of plastics. The launch has significance for the consumer goods industry: the robustness of this new packaging solution provides further evidence that plastic recyclate is indeed suitable for a variety of demanding packaging applications, in this case a popular adhesive brand marketed by Henkel.
Value chain collaboration yields plastic bottle and nozzle composed of 100% PCR material
In 2016, Borealis acquired leading German recycler mtm plastics GmbH, which is now a member of the Borealis Group. By leveraging their respective areas of expertise and decades of experience as a virgin polyolefins producer and "upcycler", respectively, Borealis and mtm plastics are exploring new growth opportunities with joint forces.
A success story originating from this exploration is a recently completed pilot project with Henkel, the global leader for adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. The companies have worked to develop a new packaging solution based on recycled material for the Made-at-Home all-purpose glue bottle and cap, which Henkel is marketing under its well-known Pattex brand. The aim was to replace the virgin plastic material traditionally used for this packaging with a recyclate-based resin. The resin, however, had to fulfil the diverse material demands for packaging of an adhesive product.
After extensive and joint application development, a new bottle was developed with Borealis' proprietary product brand Purpolen® PE, a high-quality polyethylene regranulate produced by mtm at its facilities in Niedergebra, Germany. Value chain partner KKT Kaller Kunststoff Technik GmbH, a plastics processor also based in Germany, manufactured the bottles. For the three separate components of the adjustable applicator nozzle, which is used for both filigree and wide-area gluing, high-quality Purpolen polypropylene regranulate produced by mtm was identified as the ideal solution. German plastic components manufacturer bomo trendline Technik GmbH produced the applicator nozzles.
The new Pattex Made-at-Home packaging solution successfully passed extensive application tests, including a three-month storage test and other tests of mechanical properties. It was launched on the European market in 2018.
"As a virgin polyolefins producer, Borealis is thrilled to be among the pioneers in using plastic recyclate in new applications," says Günter Stephan, Head of Borealis Circular Economy Solutions. "Even though momentum is gaining in the drive to increase the circularity of plastics, we still need to prove without a doubt within the industry that using recyclates – and even 100% PCR – is a suitable and effective option, even for demanding applications. Thanks to this successful value chain cooperation with our partners Henkel, KKT and bomo, we are giving plastics a second life and are thus one step closer to the goal of a more circular economy of plastics."
"Our commitment to leadership in sustainability is deeply embedded in our companies´ values," explained Matthias Schaefer, Project Manager for Global Packaging Engineering at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. "We are at the forefront of the industry when it comes to new sustainability strategies in packaging. Thus, we identified Pattex Made-at-Home as a candidate for exploring the use of recyclate instead of virgin plastics. This constructive collaboration with our partners proves the viability of 100% PCR material for an adhesive product like Made-at Home. It also underscores our efforts at Henkel to drive leadership in sustainability in the consumer goods sector."
About Borealis Circular Economy Solutions
Borealis Circular Economy Solutions is dedicated to exploring and seizing new business opportunities arising from the circular economy model. As the first virgin polyolefins producer to acquire plastics recycling companies, Borealis is investing in the development of new technologies and material solutions that increase the circularity of plastics. Borealis Circular Economy Solutions is driving the transition to a more circular economy by promoting design for recyclability. It also collaborates with partners along the entire value chain to produce more high-quality plastic recyclate. By leveraging its unique polymers expertise, Borealis Circular Economy Solutions will keep discovering innovative polyolefin-based solutions that enable easier recyclability and better resource efficiency.
Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With its head office in Vienna, Austria, the company currently has around 6,600 employees and operates in over 120 countries. Borealis generated EUR 7.5 billion in sales revenue and a net profit of EUR 1,095 million in 2017. Mubadala, through its holding company, owns 64% of the company, with the remaining 36% belonging to Austria-based OMV, an integrated, international oil and gas company. Borealis provides services and products to customers around the world in collaboration with Borouge, a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Borealis and Borouge aim to proactively benefit society by taking on real societal challenges and offering real solutions. Both companies are committed to the principles of Responsible Care®, an initiative to improve safety performance within the chemical industry, and work to solve the world's water and sanitation challenges through product innovation and their Water for the World programme.
About Henkel
The company holds leading positions with its three business units in both industrial and consumer businesses thanks to strong brands, innovations and technologies. Henkel Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the adhesives market – across all industry segments worldwide. In its Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care businesses, Henkel holds leading positions in many markets and categories around the world. Founded in 1876, Henkel looks back on more than 140 years of success. In 2017, Henkel reported sales of 20 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of around 3.5 billion euros. Combined sales of the respective top brands of the three business units – Loctite, Schwarzkopf and Persil – amounted to 6.4 billion euros. Henkel employs more than 53,000 people globally. As a recognized leader in sustainability, Henkel holds top positions in many international indices and rankings. For more information, please visit www.henkel.com.
Purpolen is a registered trademark of the Borealis Group.
Cooperation by Borealis and Henkel produces plastic bottle and nozzle composed 100% of post-consumer recycled material English, German
Photo: Henkel's Pattex Made At Home Universal 80G Bottle Nozzle Cap © Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Photo: Henkel's Pattex Made at Home plastic bottle and nozzle composed of 100% PCR material © Henkel AG & Co. KGaA
Borealis and Henkel cooperation produces...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Cole Beasley Ends Retirement to Sign Bills Contract amid Odell Beckham Jr. Rumors
Mike Chiari@@mikechiariTwitter LogoFeatured Columnist IVDecember 13, 2022
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Veteran slot receiver Cole Beasley is coming out of retirement to return to the Buffalo Bills.
Buffalo announced Tuesday that it has signed Beasley to its practice squad, a move NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported was expected.
The 33-year-old spent three seasons in Buffalo from 2019 to 2021 before going unsigned in free agency this past offseason. Beasley signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in September and appeared in two games, but he announced his retirement in October.
Buffalo has been in the market for a veteran wideout, as it recently hosted free-agent Odell Beckham Jr. on a visit. OBJ visited with the Bills, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, and as noted by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, both the Bills and Cowboys have signed other receivers: The Bills inked Beasley, and the Cowboys brought in T.Y. Hilton.
It's uncertain whether Beckham, who suffered a torn ACL in the Super Bowl last season, will play this year. Beckham himself created some doubt, saying last week that he doesn't "see the point" of trying to play during the 2022 regular season.
Beasley is a much different player in that he operates almost exclusively out of the slot and isn't much of a downfield threat, but he could be a great fit in Buffalo.
The savvy veteran is familiar with the Bills and their offensive system, although they do have a different offensive coordinator this season in Ken Dorsey following Brian Daboll's departure to become head coach of the New York Giants.
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Beasley spent the first seven years of his NFL career with the Cowboys before signing with Buffalo in 2019 and enjoying three of the most productive seasons of his career.
He finished with 67 receptions for 778 yards and a career-high six touchdowns in 2019 before reaching new heights in 2020 with a career-high 82 catches and 967 yards to go with four touchdowns en route to being named a second-team All-Pro.
Last season was more of a struggle for Beasley, as he was banged up throughout the year. Despite that, he missed only one game and matched his career high with 82 receptions, although those grabs went for just 693 yards and one touchdown.
Beasley's 8.5 yards per catch matched the career low he set as a rookie in 2012, but he continued to excel at moving the chains, as 37 of his receptions went for first downs, which tied for the fourth-best mark of his career.
The Bills are the top team in the AFC this season at 10-3, and quarterback Josh Allen has mostly played well, although his 11 interceptions are tied for third-most in the NFL.
One of the biggest issues for Allen and the Buffalo offense has been a lack of reliable options in the passing game outside of superstar wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Tight end Dawson Knox has taken a step back compared to his career year in 2021, while No. 2 receiver Gabe Davis has not progressed as much as hoped after going off for four touchdown catches against the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs last season.
The Bills also hoped Jamison Crowder and Isaiah McKenzie would replace Beasley's production out of the slot, but injury has limited Crowder to four games, and McKenzie has not been sure-handed with five drops on the year, per Fox Sports.
Buffalo is tied for the NFL lead in dropped passes this season with 25, per NBC Sports, which is why it makes perfect sense to bring back one of the more reliable slot receivers in the game.
If the Bills elevate Beasley from the practice squad to the active roster, his first opportunity to play will come Saturday night when the Bills host the AFC East rival Miami Dolphins with a chance to clinch a playoff spot.
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ALL In Learning facilitates the collaboration, data, and best practices for PLCs and data teams. Sharing assessments, collecting results, and reviewing the data is simple. Since the data collected is easy to view – see some of our sample PLC reports below, you can act quickly to intervene with the students who struggled.
One of the best implementations of ALL In Learning and PLCs is targeted or chunked assessments done on a regular interval – once a week or every two weeks. Ideally, assessing 3 or 4 questions per standard provides a valid sample size to identify which students have mastered the concept and which ones need intervention. When teachers have data on how the students did that week, they quickly determine what did and didn't work and what changes should be made.
With frequent PLC data analysis, best practices within a PLC are easier to identify and replicate and much more timely. The difficult process of "spiraling back" 6-8 weeks later is now eliminated with weekly data, analysis and remediation.


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Marvell Introduces Industry's Most Optimized 25GbE End-to-End Data Center Solution
New Ethernet switches and PHYs accelerate data center adoption of 25GbE server access
Santa Clara, California (October 24, 2016) – Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL), a world leader in storage, cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity and multimedia semiconductor solutions, today introduced the industry's most optimized 25 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) end-to-end data center solution, enabling data centers more computing bandwidth and improved efficiency. As data centers increase bandwidth speeds to keep up with the massive flow of data coming through the cloud, they must also balance the capital and operational expenditures associated with moving to next-generation networks. 25GbE offers the benefits of enhanced compute and storage efficiency at a long-term cost structure similar to 10GbE. However, the market has so far lacked solutions designed optimally for the 25GbE data center. Now, with the launch of Marvell's newest Prestera® switches and Alaska® Ethernet transceivers, data centers transitioning to 25GbE speeds can utilize an optimized and cost-efficient end-to-end solution.
"I believe Marvell's 25GbE-optimized devices are a significant contribution to the industry, helping drive the adoption of 25GbE server access to meet increasing bandwidth demands in data centers," said Michael Zimmerman, vice president and general manager, Connectivity, Storage and Infrastructure (CSI) Business Unit at Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. "Our newest 25G Ethernet switch devices, PHY and Gearbox devices extend Marvell's leadership of providing best-in-class networking solutions optimized for high performance, cost effective, and energy-efficient computing."
"Growing demand for networking bandwidth is one of the most critical pain points for data centers. To keep up with this, data centers are transitioning to 25GbE to take advantage of faster port speeds and leverage the 25GbE cost curves," said Alan Weckel, vice president of Enterprise and Data Center Market Research at Dell'Oro Group. "We expect 25GbE to quickly replace 10GbE."
Marvell's new solution is comprised of its Prestera 98CX84xx family of 25G Ethernet (GbE) switches and Alaska C 88X5123 and 88X5113 Ethernet transceivers, all fully compliant with the IEEE 25GbE and 100GbE standards. With the new Prestera 98CX84xx switch family, Marvell offers the most optimized 25GbE solution for the most common top of rack (ToR) port configurations. The 98CX84xx solutions are designed specifically for mainstream data center high-performance server applications, significantly reducing the overhead costs associated with current 25GbE (ToR) switches built with non-optimal devices. The Prestera devices, with integrated 25GbE PHYs, are enabling data centers to break the 1W per 25G port barrier for 25G ToR applications, allowing more power to be used for compute and storage resources in the data center, and reducing power and cooling costs, the key contributors to operational costs in data centers.
The Alaska C 88X5123 Ethernet transceiver enables customers to support the new IEEE 25GbE specifications on their existing switch ASICs without the expensive investment involved in new silicon development. The Alaska C 88X5113 Ethernet transceiver, a 40G Ethernet to 25G Ethernet Gearbox device, is unique in the industry in that it enables a 40GbE stream to be translated to a 25G Ethernet stream. This device is purpose-built to enable existing 40GbE-capable server NIC controllers to support native 25GbE, hastening the availability of 25GbE-capable NICs.
Offering support for leading-edge software-defined networking (SDN) initiatives, Marvell's Prestera 98CX84xx switches include an abstraction layer which integrates seamlessly with Open Computing Project (OCP) switch abstraction interface (SAI) application program interfaces (APIs). Marvell provides an OpenSwitch driver plug-in that facilitates easy integration with the OpenSwitch application stack. The Prestera 98CX84xx switches are also supported by industry-leading software solutions for the data center, such as IP Infusion.
The new Prestera switch and Alaska Ethernet transceiver devices also support the 25G consortium mode of operation, enabling seamless interoperability with legacy deployments.
Marvell has collaborated with the industry's top original design manufacturers (ODMs) including Delta Networks, Inc., Foxconn, Pegatron Corporation and Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) to provide 98CX84xx-ready platforms for ToR switch applications. Samples and reference designs for Marvell's 98CX84xx, 88X5123 and 88X5113 solutions are available today.
For further information on Marvell's Prestera family of Ethernet switches, please visit: http://www.marvell.com/switching/prestera-cx.
For further information on Marvell's Alaska C PHY family, please visit: http://www.marvell.com/transceivers/alaska-c-gbe/.
Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a global leader in providing complete silicon solutions. From storage to cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity and multimedia, Marvell's diverse product portfolio aligns complete platform designs with industry-leading performance, security, reliability and efficiency. At the core of the world's most powerful consumer, network and enterprise systems, Marvell empowers partners and their customers to always stand at the forefront of innovation, performance and mass appeal. By providing people around the world with mobility and ease of access to services, adding value to their social, personal and work lives, Marvell is committed to enhancing the human experience.
For more information, please visit www.Marvell.com.
Marvell, the M logo, Alaska and Prestera are registered trademarks of Marvell and/or its affiliates. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.


COLLEGE STATION, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 2003--Texas Digital Systems Inc. (TDS), a Texas-based provider of real-time visual alert communication solutions, announced today a partnership resulting in the formation of Texas Digital Systems Europe B.V. (TDSE), based in Haarlem, The Netherlands.
The objective of the partnership is to provide an exclusive, joint product offering -- System Product Solutions -- to the European market. System Product Solutions will include TDS' visual alert communication software suite, QuickCOM Enterprise, along with the QuickLINK dock and lot management solution. TDS and TDSE will work together to provide maintenance, service and technical support for products sold in Europe.
"We are very excited about the formation of Texas Digital Systems Europe and its partnership with TDS," said Chuck Bartlett, senior vice president of Sales and Marketing for TDS. "We are pleased to offer dedicated sales and support for our products to customers in Europe."
Cornelis Bonnet, managing director for TDSE, stated, "We look forward to being an exclusive provider of TDS' visual communication solutions to the European market. Our alliance with TDS enhances the opportunities for sales and reinforces the support we will be able to provide for TDS products."
Established in 1972, Texas Digital Systems Inc. (TDS) is a privately held technology company and leading provider of integrated electronic display solutions to quick-serve restaurants, call centers, help desks, network control centers, data centers, tape operations and distribution centers. With more than 14,000 product installations worldwide -- twice as many as its nearest competitor -- TDS is the world's largest provider of drive-thru order confirmation displays and digital menu systems. As a customer-focused company, TDS attributes its leadership position to its commitment to deliver superior products, lasting business relationships and outstanding service and support.
For more information on Texas Digital Systems Inc. (TDS) and its products, visit www.txdigital.com or call 979/693-9378. For more information on Texas Digital Systems Europe B.V. (TDSE), contact Cornelis Bonnet at +31 (0) 6 53 629 710 or cbonnet@txdigital.com.
AccuVIEW, AccuORDER, AccuTOTAL, QuickCOM Enterprise, QuickNET, QuickSENDi, QuickRECEIVEi, QuickTASK, QuickCAST, QuickLINK, QuickTAPE and FlexVIEW are trademarks of Texas Digital Systems Inc.


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Q: How to get curent's page URL when using datepicker? I am doing the following to pass date parameters of the datepicker using AJAX and it works perfect. However along with the date, I also need to pass my current page URL.
That does not work. In fact, I have tried passing simple values too (along with date) but only date seems to be passing here.
Example:
$(".datepicker").datepicker({
    hideIfNoPrevNext: true,
    inline: true,
    showOtherMonths: false,
    dayNamesMin: ['Sun', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat'],
    onSelect : function(d,i) {
        var date = $(this).datepicker('getDate'),
        pageurl = document.URL,
        dayGet  = date.getDate(),
        monthGet = date.getMonth(),
        yearGet =  date.getFullYear();
        $(".right-content").html('');
        $.post('date-change.php', {dayPost: dayGet, monthPost: monthGet, yearPost: yearGet, theurl: pageurl} , function(data) {
                         $(".right-content").html(data);
        });
    }
});

Any idea how this can be done?

A: To append date to the URL try using:
onSelect : function(d,i) {
       pageurl = 'http://mysite/events/default.php?dt=' + d;
}

To get your current URL use:
window.location.href

or
window.location.host

Use window.location for read and
  write access to the location
  object
  associated with the current frame. If
  you just want to get the address as a
  read-only string, you may use
  document.URL, which should contain
  the same value as
  window.location.href.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Binomial sum with factorial Counting certain planar paths led me to this sum:
$$
S(n) \;=\;\sum_{k=0}^n \binom{n}{k} k!
$$
Does this have a known expression in terms of $n$?
If not, an approximation would suffice for my purposes.

A: $n!(1+1+\frac1{2!}+\frac1{3!}+\cdots+\frac1{n!})=\lfloor n!e\rfloor$


Monday morning we got up early (as usual) and after our quiet time with the Lord and breakfast we headed out as the sun was coming up. Grady took me to a place he found the day before that he thought would be a great place for me to paint – he was right! He took me to the Lagoon which is a man-made lake/pond that was purposely positioned so the Biltmore house would reflect in it. It was a beautiful morning but quite chilly so we bundled up. Grady walked around while I painted and took some photos of me and the house and he tried to do a little fishing (even though fishing is prohibited on the property – you didn't know Grady had a rebellious streak did you?!). I thought it was very kind of him to come with me and just hang out while I painted. He's so supportive of my painting – he always has his eye out for places to paint or taking pictures of things I may like to paint. You can see in the picture below the GREAT spot Grady picked out for me to paint.
I did a quick sketch of the Biltmore – I was planning on getting the reflection in the water but started too big and the reflection didn't make it into the painting. It was also a very moist morning so I had a little bit of a hard time with my paints because they didn't want to dry so I was painting wet in wet which is not how I usually paint. You can see my pitiful rendering above.
On the opposite page I did a map of the property (click on the picture below to see a close-up). I actually did the map on the car ride home – that's one of the huge perks of watercolor – you can paint pretty much anywhere! However, I was a little sick by the time we got home because I was looking down at the page for way too long! On the map page you can see more of the old paper wrapped around the page (see previous post for explanation).
Hey Sandi, Neat postings. I enjoyed all of it. Looks like you had a really good trip to Biltmore House. I've never been there but maybe one day. Still love to look at your paintings. Thank you.
Have you settled into your abode of the moment? Did you and Grady buy another house?
Hey Marge!!! Yes, we are settled in to our rental for now. We haven't found another house yet. We're wondering if the Lord has us in this rental because the government is going to do something radical to affect Grady's job (he sells insurance). We're just waiting, praying, and trying to be patient. Great to hear from you!!! Hey, I'm going to be teaching again in January and February if you're interested.
I love wet on wet watercolors, Sandi. I think your Biltmore mansion turned out so lovely, truly. I think I have to work more in my sketchbook. Yep, that is what I must do. You are an inspiration!
Thank you! Yes, get that sketchbook out and use it!!! I'm so glad I can be an inspiration to you!


Yesterday, Dingemans J handed down judgment in R (Alliance of Turkish Businesspeople) v Secretary of State for Home Department  EWHC 603 (Admin) dismissing the claim for judicial review. This was the latest challenge arising from last year's changes to the immigration rules affecting Turkish Businesspersons.
Prior to last year, the route to settlement for Turkish Businesspersons had remained unchanged since 1973 when the UK joined the EEC and became a signatory to the Ankara Agreement. Following R (Aydogdu) v Secretary of State for the Home Department  UKUT 167 (IAC) and BA (Turkey) v Advocate General for Scotland  CSOH 27 the immigration rules were revised, increasing by a year the qualifying period of limited leave and requiring applicants to complete an English language test and pay an application fee.
The Claimant claimed that the introduction of these more onerous conditions breached its substantive legitimate expectation that applications would continue to be assessed against the 1973 rules (as they had for some 45 years).
Dingemans J reviewed the applicable case law (Coughlan, Begbie, Nadarajah, Bhatt Murphy and UK Association of Fish Producer Organisations), concluding that whereas the Home Office guidance amounted to a clear and unambiguous representation that applications for ILR would continue to be decided against the immigration rules in 1973, following the clarification of the UK's Treaty obligations in Aydogdu and BA (Turkey), it was a legitimate aim of the Secretary of State to change his policy in the public interest (aligning the position of Turkish businesspersons with other nationalities), justifiably frustrating the Claimant's expectation.
David Mitchell, led by Sir James Eadie QC and instructed by the Government Legal Department, acted for the Secretary of State.


Nowadays, the job market is becoming more and more competitive. Companies have to stand out if they want to attract new employees. Many resort to various benefits.
In addition to staff meals, an office dog or free beer on Friday afternoon, there is a whole range of more classic options that fall into the category of non-cash benefits and are thus recorded differently for tax purposes.
These benefits can be divided into two categories: those who are tax-privileged and those who are exempt from all taxes. The former include, for example, company cars, a work mobile phone or a laptop. Tax-free benefits in kind include the tax allowance of up to € 44 per month.
Which benefits in kind are tax-free up to 44 euros per month?
Every company has the option of granting each employee (including part-time employees and temporary employees) benefits in kind of up to 44 euros per month tax-free - this is stated in §8 (2) sentence 11 EStG. Such contributions may be subsidies for public transport tickets, fuel vouchers or gift cards.
For the employee this represents the opportunity to receive additional benefits of up to 528 euros per year from his employer. If these consist of vouchers, he may even collect them and redeem multiple vouchers with one big purchase.
Anyone looking for the downside here will not find any, because if all conditions are observed, there are actually only advantages: Employees and employers both save on taxes, while the purchasing power increases.
For the employer, the tax savings are particularly significant: If he would pay the employee 44 euros net as a bonus, it would mean for him, taking into account all taxes and duties, a gross amount of 96 euros. A contribution in kind is therefore much more attractive and also a popular premium as well as a successful recruitment tool.
Above all, it is important in the use of this non-cash benefit that the amount of 44 euros is not exceeded, because if that is the case, the entire amount is taxable.
Example: The employer would like to issue a fuel voucher for 50 euros. Then not only the 6 euros which are above the 44 euro mark, but the entire 50 euros taxed - and (according to §37 b EStG) with 30 percent! It is therefore advisable to ask the employee for a contribution of 6 euros, or to grant a benefit of 44 euros or less.
Furthermore, it should be noted that the employee may save up vouchers, but the employer can not cumulate the monthly amount - if he has not exhausted it in a month, this does not mean that he has a higher budget in the next month. However, within a month he can use various smaller amounts - for example, two vouchers of 22 euros each.
If shipping costs apply for an order for a benefit in kind, these are also to be added to the 44 euros. And by the way: If a cash transaction takes place - for example, a payment of 44 euros with the request to treat yourself to something nice - the tax exemption does not apply!
How can you save even more taxes?
The amount is not enough and you want to offer more to your employees? No problem, because gifts for certain occasions, such as the birth of a child or a jubilee, are exempt from these 44 euros. So you can grant an additional tax-free gift twice a year, provided the value does not exceed 60 euros.
In any case, it is important to keep an eye on all conditions, because errors can quickly become expensive. And you do not want to pay, but save - which should definitely be possible with this explanation!
What is the HACCP Concept - and How Do You Implement It?


Join us for a feast of nostalgia, celebrating the 60-year heritage of the British Touring Car Championship. From the era of Mini Coopers and Lotus Cortinas to the Vauxhall Vectras and Honda Civics of recent years. Long-time touring car journalist Matt James, has compiled a great book on the BTCC with a chapter for each year featuring a summary of the season, 10 photos showing all the top cars and drivers in action, key statistics and a profile of the champion driver. Anyone who has ever enjoyed touring car racing as a participant, spectator or television viewer will treasure this book. BTCC commentator Alan Hyde will be talking to the author, Matt James, about the Championship and they will be available to sign copies of the book afterwards.
The 1950s. The British Saloon Car Championship was inaugurated in 1958 and from the start it was super-competitive, ending in a tie that was resolved by a shoot-out in favour of Jack Sears.
The 1960s. There were three Mini champions but mainly this was a Ford era, epitomised by Lotus Cortinas (with Jim Clark ever spectacular) and big Falcons, Galaxies and Mustangs from America.
The 1970s. Smaller classes came to the fore in this decade, with three drivers sharing seven titles — Bill McGovern took three in Sunbeam Imps while two apiece went to Bernard Unett (Chrysler Avenger GT) and Richard Longman (Mini 1275GT).
The 1980s. Three drivers also bestrode this decade but in a wider range of cars, including Mazda RX-7, Alfa Romeo GTV, Rover Vitesse and Ford Sierra XR4i; Win Percy and Andy Rouse each took three titles, Chris Hodgetts two.
The 1990s. Overseas drivers arrived in force to mix it with home-grown stars during the highly competitive Super Touring years, the decade's champions including Joachim Winkelhock (BMW 318is), Frank Biela (Audi A4 quattro), Alain Menu (Renault Laguna), Rickard Rydell (Volvo S40) and Laurent Aïello (Nissan Primera).
The 2000s. Vauxhalls were the star cars, taking six titles, while the decade brought three double champions in the form of James Thompson (Vauxhall Astra), Matt Neal (Honda Integra) and Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR).
The 2010s. Yet more variety and brilliant racing has characterised the current decade, with Gordon Shedden becoming the winning driver with three titles in Honda Civics.


hetalia, role, playing, website, people, want, play, characters, have, character, #open, moment!
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free, forum, wolfquest, chat, since, will, shut, down, coming, weeks, this, #open, users, wish, chat!


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A ghost private Jet has crashed in Baltic Sea near Latvia
Aviation NewsEurope
It's possible that a private business plane carrying four persons crashed into the Baltic Sea after running out of fuel.
As the Cessna Citation 551 flew off the coast of Sweden, fighter jets were launched to intercept it, but officials claimed they were unable to identify anyone operating the controls of the aircraft.
Before live tracking with the aircraft was lost at around 7:44 p.m. local time, data from FlightRadar24 showed the plane circling above the Baltic Sea not far from the Latvian port city of Ventspils.
The plane's height rapidly decreased and it began to drift from side to side minutes before the data link was broken, indicating that the aircraft may have run out of fuel.
On Sunday at 2:56 p.m., the airplane (OE-FGR) with an Austrian registration took off from Jerez, Spain for Cologne.
Until the plane flew exactly over the West German city and then continued in a straight line north-easterly across Germany and toward the Baltic Sea, the flight path showed the pilot was totally in control of the aircraft.
Fighter jets were called in from Germany and Denmark after air traffic control was unable to reach the pilot.
A rescue helicopter has been sent to the disaster site, according to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. It's thought that there were four passengers in the airplane.
The Maritime and Air Rescue Center of Sweden announced that it was sent a number of helicopters and planes to the crash site.
According to reports quoted by the German tabloid Bild, the pilot had previously complained about pressure issues on the 43-year-old aircraft. A man, a woman, their daughter, and the pilot were also on the aircraft.
The newspaper claims air traffic controllers first lost contact with the pilot before the aircraft even left Spanish air space.


THIS IS A NEW PRODUCT EXCLUSIVE TO ACE RECLAMATION NOT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE IN THE UK.
Cut down from long lasting reclaimed railway sleepers making them more manageable they are straight and square edged on all four faces, but keep the character of and old traditional railway sleeper.
Were traditional railway sleepers can be heavy to lift, especially the 2.6m x 250mm x 150mm size railway sleepers which can weigh as much as 75 - 80 kilos these sawn sleepers weight approximately 40-50 kilos. Bear this in mind when you are ordering your particular size of railway sleeper. How do I plan to carry the railway sleepers into position? (e.g. the back of a garden).
Treatment. Were these have been sawn the most of the tar and creosote has been removed. they are then dipped in a environmentally friendly preservative for longevity, so they are usable in most areas where traditional sleepers aren't. For further details about creosote please read notice below.
These reclaimed sawn railway sleepers are probably between 20 - 50 years old, depending on which section of railway they came.
Easier to cut. You'll need a circular saw / chainsaw / powered saw to cut these railway sleepers. Occasionally people try by handsaw, but you have to be very determined or fit. As with any project, it makes sense to try and limit the amount of cuts you need to do. Try and plan a design that fits with the size of our railway sleepers!


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A 'fat pill' that could help millions beat the bulge could be available within five years, researchers believe.
The capsule works by suppressing the appetite, tricking a person into thinking they are full.
It has already been tested in the laboratory for over four years, but researchers are now beginning human trials.
Should it work, scientists claim it holds potential as a 'major weapon' for solving the global obesity crisis.
Forty volunteers aged 18-75 will be recruited by scientists at Queen Mary University of London.
Over 18 months, the participants will help to establish the correct dosage levels and manage any side effects that appear.
The first phase, involving 20 participants who are overweight, but not necessarily obese, will confirm if the pill does reduce appetite.
They must not have had bowel surgery, a bowel disorder or be taking medication for type 2 diabetes.
The second phase, a further six months, will test the efficacy on 20 participants who are obese or on the waiting list for a gastric bypass.
The capsule is packed with a mix of natural oils. Participants would take the pill before every meal.
It would send special food supplements directly to the lower bowel, bypassing the small intestine, causing the release of hormones such as insulin which suppress appetite.
Dr Madusha Peiris, from QMoL, said: 'Getting the body to release hormones that make you feel full will reduce appetite and reduce food intake.
A study has found being thin is very much in your genes, so that many people can stay slender with no willpower required.
Scientists led by the University of Cambridge have identified a series of genes which may speed up someone's metabolism or help them burn fat more quickly.
These genes were found in more than 1,600 thin but healthy people, including women around a size eight and men with a 35ins waist.
In almost two-thirds of these people, it is believed these genes make them less interested in food.
However the results also confirm what less slender people have long suspected.
In 40 per cent of the study group, thin people said they loved food and ate whatever they wanted without putting on weight.
Researchers now believe these people have particular genes of their own and are planning a separate study to see what happens in their bodies when they overeat.
It could lead to new drugs which mimic the effects of these 'thinness' genes and are used to help less lucky people keep the weight off.
'It works in the same way as gastric bypass surgery but without the irreversible, expensive surgery which is often only available to obese patients.
'The "fat pill" is just like swallowing a fish oil capsule. It's a totally novel idea and we're very excited to be proceeding to human trial.
Professor Ashley Blackshaw, from QMoL, said: 'If the trials work, this could be a major weapon in tackling the obesity crisis and type 2 diabetes.
Weight-loss surgery has increased 30-fold in the last decade, with more than 8,000 operations take place annually on the NHS, and many more through private clinics.
Also called bariatric surgery, it is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously overweight.
Privately the costs are £5,000-£8,000 for a gastric band, and up to £15,000 for gastric bypass surgery.
The human trials are being funded through the charity Bowel and Cancer Research with the support of the JP Moulton Charitable Foundation.
Obesity is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK, according to Cancer Research UK.
More than one in 20 cases of cancer are caused by excess weight, associated with two of the most common cancers – bowel and breast cancer.
At the same time, obesity levels are increasing; millions of people in the UK are obese – around a quarter of adults and a fifth of children.


Typhoid fever remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world. It is estimated that more than 16 million cases and about 600,000 deaths occur annually, most of which occur in Southeast Asia and Africa. Ingestion of food or water contaminated by acutely infected persons or chronic carriers is the most common form of transmission. As a result, typhoid fever is prevalent where unsafe drinking water or contaminated food is common.
Typhoid fever is highly endemic in Vietnam, especially in the southern provinces and is a significant disease in both preschool and school-aged children. Data from Dong Thap Provincial Hospital, Mekong delta region showed that among 3,934 hospitalized typhoid fever cases from 1990 to 1995, 4.2% had complications and 0.8% died.
Typhoid fever has become difficult and expensive to treat. About 90% of Salmonella typhi isolates are of multidrug-resistant (resistant to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) and 76% of isolates showed reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones. Isolates with full fluoroquinolone or extended spectrum cephalosporin resistance have not yet reported in Vietnam but occur sporadically in the Indian subcontinent. If they become widespread, alternative treatment options will be limited. The improvement of sanitation, provision of safe water and elimination of chronic carriage is not expected to be achieved quickly. Accordingly, vaccination against typhoid fever is increasingly important national public health priority.
Typhoid fever is highly endemic in Vietnam, especially in the southern provinces, and is a significant disease in both preschool and school-aged children. Data from Dong Thap Provincial Hospital, Mekong delta region showed that among 3,934 hospitalized typhoid fever cases from 1990 to 1995, 4.2% had complications and 0.8% died.
Typhoid fever has become difficult and expensive to treat. About 90% of Salmonella typhi isolates are of multidrug-resistance (resistant to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole) and 76% of isolates showed reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones. Isolates with full fluoroquinolone or extended spectrum cephalosporin resistance have not been reported yet in Vietnam but occur sporadically in the Indian subcontinent. If they become widespread, alternative treatment options will be limited. The improvement of sanitation, provision of safe water and elimination of chronic carriage are not expected to be achieved quickly. Accordingly, vaccination against typhoid fever is an increasingly important national public health priority.
Subjects who were involved in the Phase III trial, OH98-CH-N002.
Smith MD, Duong NM, Hoa NT, Wain J, Ha HD, Diep TS, Day NP, Hien TT, White NJ. Comparison of ofloxacin and ceftriaxone for short-course treatment of enteric fever. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1994 Aug;38(8):1716-20.


Food and drug administration and HPAA laws are having ever more additional sophisticated, as well as their scope touches far more than just the technological personnel in any specified Marathon Pharmaceuticals . In order to achieve present-day advanced setting, Just about every personnel should be aware and knowledgeable about these restrictions as well as their implications for that organization.
In an effort to be capable of market products and solutions into other nations around the world, workers ought to even be experienced regarding the regulatory standards in those countries as well. This could be a tall order!
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Measuring the ROI of any schooling method is usually a overwhelming process. A great consulting agency will perform along with your organization to structure particular measures that could allow you to understand and quantify the real effect in the training on the group-by-group basis.


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Africa Science News
Climate Change: Climate information services badly needed in Africa
2021 Ashden Awards tackle global climate challenges
COVID-19: New Loan Guarantee Facility Unlocks Over $30M for private sector Healthcare in five African Countries
UK-Africa pact that tackles antimicrobial resistance in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania mapped out
Delivering improved maize seed against all odds
Rice farmers count gains
Call for global unity against climate change in Africa
Amref Launches Study on COVID-19 Response Governance
IITA scientist, Dixon, named among the top 20 most influential plant breeders in Africa
New maize variety set to uplift farmers' fortunes in western Kenya
Leaders put heads together against climate change
The rising level of fake medicine worries Africa
Bill and Melinda Gates plot to overcome challenges of delivering COVID-19 vaccines, treatments
8 in 10 young Africans want WIFI as a fundamental human right
Agroecology a pathway to building sustainable food systems even during covid-19 pandemic
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Climate Change: Climate information services badly needed in Africa - 19 hours ago
2021 Ashden Awards tackle global climate challenges - January 14, 2021
COVID-19: New Loan Guarantee Facility Unlocks Over $30M for private sector Healthcare in five African Countries - January 13, 2021
UK-Africa pact that tackles antimicrobial resistance in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania mapped out - January 13, 2021
Delivering improved maize seed against all odds - December 22, 2020
Africa's First Online Clinical Trial Community launched
Africa's leading research bodies have launched the Clinical Trial Community (CTC), a platform that will provide quick and real-time visibility of African clinical trials sites, capacity, and capability.
The first of its kind on the continent, the CTC platform will also link relevant initiatives that support the conduct of trials; enable timely ethics and regulatory review; and provide country level guidelines for import/export of relevant clinical supplies and bio-specimens.
Announcing the establishment of the clinical trial community Prof Tom Kariuki, Director of Programmes/AESA Director, African Academy of Sciences (AAS) said, "The incredible diversity in Africa is unlike anywhere else in the world. The continent is made up of many cultures and ethnic groups whose genetic makeup impact clinical trial outcomes. It is very important that more trials are conducted on African soil. Unfortunately, the process of finding experienced investigators, trial centres/sites, existing and future trials, and determining the in-country processes and regulations to be followed to achieve correct regulatory approvals has been very difficult to do. With the CTC platform, researchers and possible funders will have a comprehensive source of intelligence on country-level clinical trial capabilities and processes which will aid in decision making."
CTC, an output of the Coalition for African Research and Innovation (CARI), is supported through a global partnership led by Johnson & Johnson, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Economic Forum (WEF). CARI, conceived as an ambitious platform by African and Global partners and implemented through the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), is a well-funded, strongly supported and highly coordinated platform that leverages resource mobilisation for investment, undertakes strategic advocacy to harness leadership and fosters systematic collaboration to achieve outcomes that would help more Africans lead better lives sooner.
The platform aims to reduce bias in funding across countries and disease areas and promote synergy and efficiency across strategic funders in the product development ecosystem. Although this project was already underway, the worldwide rush to develop diagnostics, drugs and vaccines for COVID-19 provides a sense of urgency to develop this one-stop source of information for operational logistics in conducting clinical trials in Africa.
Research capabilities in Africa are improving with more robustly trained local researchers working in better-equipped facilities. This ensures that African countries lead and collaborate in all phases of early to late-stage clinical trials. The CTC saves on cost and time associated with landscape analysis and although it captures African clinical trials at the start, the aim is to expand the community to other parts of the world.
Dirk Gille, Vice President, R&D Capacity Development Leader, Global Public Health at Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson added: "The Clinical Trials Community platform will be an incredibly valuable tool in the successful execution of clinical trials in Africa. Bringing together essential information on clinical trial site capabilities, coupled with regional disease burden, will help enable the implementation of trials in the right centres and regions. While the ability to connect with scientists through the platform will further drive efficiencies and create opportunities. Ultimately, this should contribute to an increase in the number of clinical trials on the continent and, in time, accelerate access to innovative medicines for patients in Africa and around the world."
"Sustained efforts to expedite the development of clinical interventions against diseases rampant in Africa requires good capacity and networking of scientists and their trial sites. CTC couldn't have been started at a better time when the world is challenged by epidemics on top of the highly infectious diseases and rising non-communicable disease burden in Africa. The CTC will make African scientists and their sites more visible and reachable for concerted response in the development of clinical interventions the continent and the world urgently need," said Dr Thomas Nyirenda, EDTCP Strategic Partnerships & Capacity Development Manager, who is also chair of the CTC Advisory Committee providing strategic guidance to the AESA programme.
Other partners of CTC instrumental in the development of the clinical trials database include the World Health Organization (WHO) created African Vaccine Regulatory Forum (AVAREF), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR), the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi).
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Africa Science Newsletter
Copyright © 2016, Africa Science News. All Rights Reserved


text:
Here Come The Polls!
By New Matilda on	 October 30, 2012 Australian Politics
The great American football coach Vince Lombardi once quipped that "if winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?"
It's a sentiment that will be readily understood in Canberra, where barely a week goes past without feverish speculation in the run-up to an opinion poll. The release of a poll is then generally followed by a post-orgasmic patter of political small talk, as the performance is dissected in statistical glee.
Since their invention as a form of political campaigning by George Gallup in the 1930s, opinion polls have slowly but inexorably moved to the centre of the political debate. Today they dominate the discussion of party politics in countries like the United States and Australia. Savvy poll bloggers have become some of the most influential commentators n the political media — voices like Nate Silver in the US, or Scott Steel and Peter Brent here in Australia.
The New Yorker's John Cassidy recently wrote a perceptive piece about the influence of Silver and his kin. In it, he pointed out that one of the most important things to understand about the modellers like Silver is this very influence. "People take it very seriously: he is widely regarded as a political astrologer who gets things right," Cassidy writes.
The same is true here in Australia. The political classes — the press gallery journalists, the bloggers, the professional campaigners and the politicians themselves — take the polls and the statistical models built on their data very seriously indeed. It's not just that they have predictive power — though quite clearly they do. And it's not just because opinion poll data offers a quantitative veneer to a business inevitably infected with bias and intuition. Perhaps the most important contemporary effect of opinion poll ubiquity is the signposting effect that poll trends can have for the political discussion more generally.
I'm talking about the general climate and the framing of political discussion that a clear trend on the polls tends to promote.
You can see the talismanic significance of poll data in the way politics is reported, particularly by the Canberra press gallery. A typical momentum shift is playing out in Canberra right now. What's happened? A series of opinion polls have shown a trend towards the government — the first such happy news for a beleaguered government in some time.
That's "changed the dynamic" — of whatever terms it is used by journalists like myself to gnostically refer to changes in political fortune. Again, the change is more about perceptions than it is about electoral reality or policy achievements, but it is no less important for that. For much of its second term in office, Julia Gillard's Government has appeared destined for defeat at the 2013 election. At some points the government has trailed the Opposition by an astounding 20 points in the two-party preferred analysis, portending an electoral wipe-out of historic proportions.
When a government (or for that matter, an opposition) trails in the polls by that much, it can be difficult for journalists and the general public to take it seriously. Seemingly every news article gets prefixed or suffixed with a one-liner about the party's dismal position in the polls. An air of inevitability sets in. Backbench morale can disintegrate. Leadership speculation surfaces.
On the other side of the coin, the party enjoying the big lead gets a boost in positive coverage. Little scrutiny is applied to their various statements. The election result can seem almost pre-ordained.
This is the position Labor has found itself in for most of 2011 and 2012, as poll after poll showed a government on the ropes. It was particularly marked around coverage of the carbon tax, which the opinion poll data showed was very unpopular. In contrast, Tony Abbott and the Opposition got a fairly easy ride, and plenty of coverage every time they decided to attack the government on carbon.
But in recent weeks, a ray of light has glinted. A number of recent polls have shown Labor closing the gap. The most recent Newspoll actually had Labor at parity. The latest Nielsen has Labor on 48-52. Any way you look at it, Labor is suddenly competitive again.
As usual, the commentary has been swift and speculative. Michelle Grattan argued that this means Gillard is now safe from the ever-lurking forces of Kevin Rudd. "Better polling and an altered political climate mean Gillard can shrug off questions about McKew's allegations," she writes. Dennis Shanahan made much the same point.
Attention now turns to the Liberal Party, with press gallery leader Phil Coorey reporting today that "several Liberal MPs" had told him that "Labor's recovery was now clearly a trend and Mr Abbott needed to broaden his approach beyond attacking the carbon tax.". As for poll blogger Brent, he's now arguing that the poll bounce will lead to the removal of Tony Abbott as opposition leader — which will in turn lead to the removal of Gillard as prime minister.
This is how the political circus moves on.
Polling doesn't even have to be public for it to be influential. One of the main revelations about Maxine McKew's new book about her time as a Labor parliamentarian, for instance, is that factional bosses were using private polling conducted by the party hierarchy to agitate for Kevin Rudd's overthrow. McKew argues that "a sense of crisis was actually created around Rudd's leadership and a principle tool in aiding and abetting that crisis was the use, or the misuse, of private party polling." The private polling reportedly showed that Kevin Rudd was perceived negatively in a series of marginal seats.
You can argue about whether that polling was accurate, and you can certainly argue about whether it was appropriate that party officials were apparently actively engaged in the white-anting of a sitting prime minster. But no-one appears to be rebutting McKew's central point about the persuasive power of those internal polls. The internal party polling changed votes in the Labor caucus. It helped undermine Rudd's leadership. That would not have been possible if poll data was not considered so important by the various players.
Informed observers tend to decry the influence of opinion polls on long-term policy reform, as George Megalogenis did in his excellent Quarterly Essay at the end of 2010. Megaologenis' point — that the constant drumbeat of poll data proves irresistibly distracting for the politicos and the media — is a sound one. But it is also a fact of contemporary political life. The constant spin cycle of political commentary demands a way to keep score. Opinion polls provide that. And when they move, the political system moves with them — to the next endless merry-go-round.
It's not quite meaningless: after all, we're talking about who's running the country. But it is certainly wearying. Like negative campaigning and personal attack tactics, the endless opinion poll commentary does not tend to improve the health of our democracy. It increases cynicism and degrades political engagement amongst voters.
But the opinion poll merry-go-round is not going to go away. Politics is the ultimate zero-sum game. Only one person can be prime minister. Only one major party can form government. And the people who care about that want to know who's winning. Even if we take away the scoreboard, the players are still going to keep count.
Tags: australian politicsfederal politicsgeorge megalogenisnewspollopinion pollingpeter brentpolls


Or we could always send another text.
When I was a kid, my parents would try and tell me to enjoy life and not get too caught up in the minutiae, but they did all the time. Now that my mom is in her late 70's, we're able to have wicked discussions about life and her common message remains clear - don't live with regrets. If you want that relationship, go for it. If you want to try that new job, don't wait for an invitation.
This is not a new revelation; we've been saying and reading it our entire lives. The classic; no one will be on their death bed wishing they had spent more time at the office. But it's deeper than that. It's more than what we do for a paycheck or even better a passion that pays our bills. It's ubiquitous; it doesn't go away after work or on the weekends. It's with us always.
I saw this wonderful quote recently from actor Hugh Laurie and it's been rattling around in my grey matter ever since and it sums it up nicely. The question isn't whether we have the guts or time or ability or talent or money to go for it. It's a much deeper yet simpler issue.
Not many of us human types get up in the morning to focus on failing. We do our best, we learn each day, we try a little harder, we get a little smarter, and we focus a bit more on being successful. Whatever that means to each of us. One of our worst measurements of success is comparing ourselves to others.
She has a better gig, he has a nicer car, they have a better life. Most of us have fallen into the trap but the key is to stay focused on what success means to each of us. But we get stuck, meet resistance, and sometimes get in our own way.
Richard St. John has been teaching his principles since he learned the hard way. The concept may be simple but it requires determination and a lifetime of focus to execute.
Years ago, I worked with an organization that did a company-wide survey on various issues such as compensation, benefits, ability to advance, collaboration, leadership, communication, and others. The item that was surprisingly high on the list was management's inability to deal with non-performance.
Money is always high on the list, pay people properly. The ability to advance and grow is up there as well, offer an environment where people can thrive and improve. But what may have appeared to be a minor issue when they crafted the survey became a big topic of discussion.
When we dug deeper, it was clear that employees wanted to be treated fairly which is no surprise but things that were tougher to measure like favoritism and compassion came to the forefront.
One stakeholder said she had grown tired of seeing others in her department being allowed to show up late for meetings, unprepared, miss deadlines, and nothing was done about it. Another mentioned he had cared less and less about his department because his boss was doing the same. In "The Tipping Point", Malcolm Gladwell calls this the broken window hypothesis.
This is where something small turns into something that can paralyze your organization which is leadership's inability to deal with people showing up late for meetings, not getting their work done, or playing favorites. Those little things can add up to a feeling or an attitude you can't quite describe and it can hurt a company at the core.
There are data that shows close to a trillion dollars in lost revenue just in North America each year is attributed to disengaged employees. The challenge is committing to engagement.
The cost of great people isn't only measured by competitive compensation and a good benefits package.
It looks great in a book or tweet; set against an inspiring backdrop framed on your wall; or on a coffee cup, but being authentic isn't easy. We often don't make time to be completely ourselves. Busy at work, busy at home, busy being busy.
We work on relationships all day long but rarely take a moment to figure out who we are in our lives. Synonyms include; reliable, trustworthy, accurate, and genuine. That seems simple enough until we let the harmful self-talk or influence of others get in our way. What could be so difficult in being reliable or dependable or genuine?
Intelligent labor is writing a book; manual labor is building a fence; emotional labor is something most of us spend very little time on. I've had it backwards my whole life that if we stand up for ourselves or say we're good at something, we're not being arrogant.
Confidence is okay and it doesn't mean we're bragging. Taking some for you is allowed. So celebrate what you do well and perhaps you'll find a way to dig deeper to figure out what you want, need, and stand for in all this chaos we call life.
Make time for you to get to know you.


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"Brand practices his art to something like perfection." —New York Times
"[Brand] is one of the top three Western novelists of all time." —Tombstone (AZ) Epitaph
"Brand's West is peopled with characters from mythology grander and much more eloquent than average dime-novel heroes." —Library Journal
"The name Max Brand is synonymous with Western novels." —Booklist
"The Shakespeare of the Western range." —Kirkus Reviews
Max Brand® (1892–1944) is the best-known pen name of widely acclaimed author Frederick Faust, creator of Destry, Dr. Kildare, and other beloved fictional characters. Orphaned at an early age, he studied at the University of California, Berkeley. He became one of the most prolific writers of our time but abandoned writing at age fifty-one to become a war correspondent in World War II, where he was killed while serving in Italy.
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"Brand's West is peopled with characters from mythology grander and much more elegant than average dime-novel heroes." —Library Journal, praise for the author
"The prolific Shakespeare of the western range." —Kirkus Reviews, praise for the author
"Spanish words and Hispanic accents roll off Rivera's tongue. Dupont's hushed, whispery baritone suggests his inherent gentleness but belies his grit and fearless determination…Rivera provides comic relief in the voices of Valdevia's hapless assistant and in the throngs of townspeople…Dialogue, more than action, drives this western, which is worthy of a new generation of listeners." —Booklist (audio review)
"Shakespeare of the Western range." —Kirkus Reviews, praise for the author
"The Shakespeare of the Western range." —Kirkus Reviews, praise for the author
"Brand practices his art to something like perfection." —New York Times, praise for the author
"The King of the Pulps could spin almost any kind of tale successfully." —Kirkus Reviews, praise for the author
"The name Max Brand is synonymous with Western novels." —Booklist, praise for the author
"Max Brand is the Shakespeare of the Western range." —Kirkus Reviews, praise for the author
"Brand's West is peopled with characters from mythology grander and much more eloquent than average dime-novel heroes." —Library Journal, praise for the author
"[Brand] is one of the top three Western novelists of all time." —Tombstone Epitaph (Arizona), praise for the author
"Brand's West is peopled with characters from mythology grander and much more elegant than average dime-novel heroes." —Library Journal
"[Brand] is one of the top three Western novelists of all time." —Tombstone Epitaph (Arizona)
"Compelling, unusual, and, even though it first appeared in 1926, fresh." —Booklist (starred review) on Comanche
"The Shakespeare of the western range" —Kirkus Reviews
See All +See Less -
Luck and a Horse
By Max Brand
Read by Tim Getman
Formats: Digital Audiobook, eBook, MP3 CD, Retail CD Audiobook, Trade Paperback
Found among a group of unpublished works by Frederick Faust, these two Western stories both deal with cowardice. In "Traynor" the title character is believed to be a weak young man, having let Dr. Parker Channing steal his love, Rose Laymon, away from him. When the stage Traynor is driving into Little Snake is robbed and Traynor's best friend and stage guard, Sam Whitney, is killed by the robber, Traynor chases the thief and recovers his dropped Stetson, which was sold to Dr. Channing less than a month earlier. The medico takes off after Traynor confronts him, and despite a physical weakness overwhelming him, Traynor finds himself chasing the only man who can save him.
In "Luck and a Horse," Tommy Grant works day and night on the farm of the tyrant and master manipulator Sylvester Train, who has not paid him for nineteen months. The man runs roughshod over Tommy as well as his niece, Margie Train. When Tommy balks at using his horse, Brownie, in the plow, Train sends him to Fruit Dale with two wagons of grain and a shopping list. In town, he learns that Lefty Lew Hilton is looking to gun down the jailbird, Bert Ellis. Events take a strange turn when Tommy finds himself in the back room of a saloon, playing cards with Ellis. When Ellis is shot in the middle of the game, a hundred posse men give chase to Tommy, who is believed to be the killer of Ellis.
The White Streak
Read by Tom Burka
Recently, a number of Western stories have been discovered among Max Brand's unpublished works and the first story in this book, "The White Streak," is one of them. Its protagonist is twenty-one-year-old Jimmy Babcock, a former football star, but now a worker at the local bank run by William Parker in the town of Dresser, which has changed from cattle country to one made up of oil and alfalfa fields. When Parker fires Jimmy, all Jimmy can think is how he will hurt Muriel Aiken, his fiancée, who wants to marry. When his father signs over the old family homestead that is in serious need of repair, Jimmy feels better. But an unexpected invitation from Parker to meet him at the Club convinces him that Parker wants him back. When he learns what Parker really has in mind, Jimmy finds himself recalling the stories he has heard about the notorious robbers the White Streak and Utah Billie, and he has to make a hard decision.
In "The Masked Rider" the betrothed of Carlos Torreño, Lucia d'Arquista, is making her way to Casa Torreño in Spanish California in which no expense has been spared in making her journey a lavish one by her soon-to-be father-in-law, Francisco Torreño. But it is on the journey that Francisco decides that Lucia is a sparrowhawk and that she must be watched carefully, especially once she takes an interest in Taki, a Navajo who is working off a debt to Francisco.
Magic Gun
Read by Traber Burns
Hugh Collier in "The Danger Lover" feels he is living an empty life as a little more than competent bank employee in the town of Stanton. He decides to leave behind a life that for him was a "caricature and savage cartoon of the beautiful truth that life may be," and he heads into the mountains alone, carrying only the essentials on his horse. Even though his efforts at hunting and fishing prove to be failures in the early days, he keeps his spirits up by celebrating his small successes as he travels deeper in the wild. Two things change the course of his adventure: he sees a town from a hill, and a stranger, desperate to file on a claim, convinces Collier to trade horses. Once he walks the stranger's horse into the town, he soon finds himself to be mistaken for the outlaw Bill Gadsden by both worshipers of the outlaw and the man after the outlaw, Lassiter.
In the title story, twenty-two-year-old Lewis Dikkon has led a sheltered life, working seven days a week as a shoemaker for his taskmaster uncle, Charles Bender. Being inside most of the time, he knows little of the town and its inhabitants and they have no interest in him, other than as a poorly dressed oddball. A stranger named Sam Prentiss begins showing up at 8 p.m. every Saturday night to sit in a chair in the shop's doorway and look across the street for an hour. Their conversations, though limited, begin to set Dikkon's mind to work and before long he decides he wants to buy a gun. When Dan Hodge, the gunman, is killed and his personal items go up for auction, Dikkon gets his Colt, which he believes is a magic gun.
Jigger Bunts
Every fall Tom Reynard, ramrod for the Bar L, had a hard time finding cowpunchers willing to work the winter range in the bleak badlands near the Sioux reservation. So when Jigger Bunts, an eighteen-year-old from New York who was familiar with riding and roping, happened along, he was hired even though his youth was a red flag to Reynard.
To pass the time in the bunkhouse, the other cowhands spin tall tales for Bunts, whom they call the kid, about the exploits of Reynard, and soon Reynard becomes Bunts' hero and role model. Reynard quickly tires of the hero worship, so he concocts a new hero for the kid in Louis Dalfieri, based merely on a picture. Dalfieri replaces Reynard in the kid's mind as his hero, especially when the yarns the punchers tell the kid about this two-gun Robin Hood become outrageous.
When a stranger is brought to the ranch by Bunts and he cheats the Bar L cowboys in a game of poker, the kid takes off to get their money back, to right the wrong as he believes Dalfieri would. This decision sends him down a path outside the law from which there appears to be no return, and for which Reynard can only blame himself. Reynard had all but given up hope to help Jigger Bunts when his mind is changed by a chance encounter with an old friend, Maybelle Crofter.
Recently discovered among his unpublished works, this untraditional story will delight fans of Max Brand Westerns.
Sunset Wins
When Happy Jack in "The Gift" learns that Sandy Crisp was behind the killing of his pal Jackson, a married man and the father of three, he hunts him down at his cabin. Feeling fear for the first time, as Happy Jack tries to taunt him into a fight, Crisp is struck by the physical similarity between Happy Jack and Johnny Neilan, the son of his nearest neighbors, who died twelve years ago in a log jam. Bitter and rich, Johnny's parents still believe he is alive and will one day return. Crisp proposes Happy Jack pose as the Neilans' son and rob their safe, giving his share of the money to Jackson's widow. Reluctantly, Happy Jack agrees, but he is not prepared for what he encounters on this Christmas Eve.
Jim Orchard, the hero of "Jerico's Garrison Finish," suffers from "reckless generosity," which keeps getting in the way of his ability to save the $5,000 he needs so he can marry Sue Hampton, who fears that he is an easy mark and that he will never put the needs of a family first. When he hears that Garry Munn has been visiting Sue, he becomes worried and desperate as he has lost most of his money again. Munn is the favorite in the upcoming race in the rodeo, and Orchard sees his only chance of getting his $5,000 stake is to ride Jerico, a killer horse, racing against Munn.
In "Sunset Wins," Gordon MacDonald is a throwback to his ancestors, big and brutal, a man who "looked like a lion" and "thought like a fox" and "fought like ten devils, shoulder to shoulder." No prison in the world could hold him, though they had tried. Eventually he returns to the States, making his way to Texas, where he wanders for ten years, until his heart settles on something he must have—a horse named Sunset.
Torturous Trek
On a cold, gusty night in Circle City, Alaska, Sammy Day walks into Nagle's Bar. He is only twenty-two, but he has been on his own for ten years. He has worked cattle from Montana to Chihuahua, but a little "accident" at a poker table in Montana sent him on a forced march to Alaska to avoid a posse. He is down to his last fifty cents.
The Trail Beyond
Read by Armando Durán
Peter Quince was a fighter born and bred. Orphaned at a young age, he remembered an old woman saying that he was a bad one and would cause a lot of trouble in the world. Others claimed he had bad blood and it would show up sooner or later. But Bill Andrews felt a connection with the boy, took him home and raised him as one of his own despite his wife's misgivings.
Peter soon learned he could manipulate people by withholding his true feelings—showing and telling them what they wanted to see and hear. Peter had learned that battles should be won by cunning and strength, with cunning being far more important. But when he beat his foster brother in a fight over a girl named Mary, Peter knew it was time to strike out on his own.
In his travels he would seek out those with skills he needed and learn from them until he was able to master his teacher. At barely twenty, he had a price on his head for shooting a man in self-defense. As he outsmarted lawmen in five states and territories, the bounty rose to over $100,000. He finally fled to Mexico, but there he would fall into trouble again with a wealthy land baron, a beautiful woman, and a notorious bandit.
Saddlemates
Read by Grover Gardner
The mining certificates granting ownership of the Christabel mine that Edward Dugan inherited from his father had a face value of $250,000, but the mine itself had been declared worthless. Still, Henry Christian, the man that had sold them to Dugan's father, said he'd buy them back for $1,500.
Penniless, Dugan decided to walk the three thousand miles from his home in Boston to the mine in the Southwest to check out the offer.
But along the way he meets a travel companion named Red. Red knows Christian by reputation, and by another name: Bonanza Chris. He knows the only reason Bonanza Chris would buy the mine back is if he had discovered it was far from worthless.
He decides not to abandon Dugan to negotiate with Bonanza Chris on his own, but not even Red can imagine how far Bonanza Chris will go to restake his claim on the mine.
The Brass Man
Lorrimer Weldon has spent his life being a tumbleweed and rolling where the wind blows him. Up to Canada, down to Mexico, through deserts, forests, and mountains; anywhere fortune could be found. Those travels helped earn him a reputation as a gambler and a gunfighter—a reputation that frequently preceded him.
When Weldon rode into San Trinidad, he found he immediately had two job offers: the outlaw Roger Cunningham wants Weldon to join his smuggling operation as a hired gun, and Dr. Henry Watts wants to hire Weldon's gun as well, but as muscle to protect a patient dying of consumption, the beautiful Helen O'Mallock.
Weldon finds Watts' proposition far more attractive, so he accepts the offer, knowing that Cunningham will resent the decision.
Old Carver Ranch
After ten years of wandering, during which he has lived the life of a gambler and learned the ways of devious men, Tom Keene returns home, only to find his father alone and dying.
Old John Keene's sole legacy to his son is a Bible, so with his father's passing, Tom Keene renounces his selfish, worthless past and sets out to preach to others that the greatest happiness is born of trust in one another.
Tom gets a chance to demonstrate his new way of life when he rescues a little girl who has fallen into a well. He learns that the little girl comes from the country's wealthiest family, now in financial straits. The family's head, John Carver, is an improvident man who is at times cruel to his dependents, and Tom Keene's good intentions are about to cost him more than he knows.
Tom is jailed for a crime he did not commit, beaten and bullied until he changes again, this time into a cunning, calculating man whose sole purpose now is to be avenged for the wrongs done to him. Once released, he chases the trail of the desperado that double-crossed him.
Sour Creek Valley
After hitting a rich vein of gold on the back of Champion Mountain, Blondy Kitchin heads to the big city to have a good time, but there his luck runs out and he ends up spending two years in prison. The prison's chaplain helps educate him, tries to smooth out his rough edges, and convinces him that the range is the place for Kitchin to make use of his brute strength and free spirit.
The Cure of Silver Cañon
Read by Lloyd James
Max Brand wrote hundreds of stories, books, films, and TV shows. His output was so voluminous that though he died in WWII, posthumous books have been published approximately every four months since. This book collects three stories from his early work in Western pulps.
"Señor Coyote" was first published under Frederick Faust's pen name John Frederick in two installments in Argosy (6/18/38 - 6/25/38). It was the last Western short novel Faust wrote. It was fitting that the story was published in Argosy since Faust's earliest Western fiction had been sold to All-Story Weekly and The Argosy owned by The Frank A. Munsey Company, which merged the two magazines in 7/24/20. In this story, Frank Pollard, a small-time rancher down on his luck and owing the bank $500, looks to his legendary friend, Slip Liddell, to give him the money before the banker, Foster, forecloses on his ranch. Liddell refuses to pay Foster even for his friend. Pollard threatens to do something about it, and then the bank is robbed and Foster shot. Will Liddell help when his friend is accused of the crime?
Only two years into his publishing relationship with Street & Smith, which was almost exclusive between 1921 and 1932, Faust was asked to contribute two Christmas stories to magazines the company published. The first was to Detective Story Magazine — "A Christmas Encounter" (12/23/22) under his Nicholas Silver pseudonym — and the other was the story that follows that he titled "The Power of Prayer." It appeared under the John Frederick byline in Western Story Magazine (12/23/22). In it Gerald Kern embodies many of those same qualities of a figure found in several of Faust's Western stories, a gunman who is also a gentleman.
"The Cure of Silver Cañon" by John Frederick was the second short novel by Faust to appear in Western Story Magazine (1/15/21). In Faust's Western fiction the mountain desert is a country of the imagination where no man is ever a hero and no man is ever a villain, but rather a mixture of both. This certainly proves the case in this story in which both Lew Carney and Jack Doyle love Mary Hamilton and where we, as readers, can never know with certitude for whose soul it is that Mary Hamilton weeps. The story's opening is perhaps the most imagistic and at the same time eerie as Faust ever wrote.
Bandit's Trail
Read by Thom Rivera
Don Sebastian Valdivia and his secretary, Juan Carreño, attend a horse auction at the Garrison Ranch, where an outlaw stallion, Twilight, is held back until last. The only man who can ride this magnificent beast is Charles Dupont, known as the Crisco Kid, who has bonded with the horse since he was a colt.
Because gunman Bud Carew despises the Kid, he desperately wants to possess Twilight. Those attending the auction know that no matter who wins, a gunfight is sure to follow. Just as it appears that Carew has won, Valdivia places his bid for $800. He is not bidding for a horse, but for a man.
In a calculated move, Valdivia plays the Kid against Carew, and the Kid proves to be the better man. Valdivia offers Twilight to the Kid with two options—keep Twilight and remain in the Southwest, or accept employment with the don and accompany him back to his grand rancho in the Argentine, where Valdivia has a score to settle with the outlaw El Tigre. Even without the gift of Twilight, the Kid would be willing to make the effort. With Twilight, he does not imagine there is any way he could possibly fail.
Daring Duval
Read by Sean Pratt
Within ten days of stepping out of the woods near the town of Moose Creek, Duval is the most popular man in the district. After all, what's not to like? He is a good listener, generous with his money, a great cook and host, and a hard worker on old Dad Wilbur's place, which he bought for $1,500. He wins the admiration of Sheriff Nat Adare when he quells and befriends the often-wild Charlie Nash and pays for the damages Charlie has caused in the town saloon.
The only person in the town that he doesn't win over is the sheriff's niece, Marian Lane, who runs the local grocery and has caused more than her share of heartbreak among the young men of the town. What bothers Marian is that no one can learn anything about Duval or his past, other than that he was a cowpuncher who had worked for a taskmaster on the T Bar Ranch. Marian's curiosity is intensified when Duval runs the thug Larry Jude out of town after he calls Duval a "boy-killer." But Duval's past lands in Moose Creek when Discretion, the horse that he loves, is accompanied from the East by the animal's self-proclaimed groom, Henry.
Once Duval learns that Henry, who he had known in New York, plans to stay on in Moose Creek, he warns him not to "play no tricks." Things begin to heat up when Duval attends a dance where he encounters not only Marian but the famous manhunter, Marshal Richard Kinkaid. When a robbery occurs at the same time as the dance, Kinkaid, who has already been baited by Marian to find out who Duval is, promises she will have the answer to her question. So begins a dangerous game of matching wits between Duval and Kinkaid.
Read by Richard Ferrone
Young Jim Curry's father is killed unjustly by an enraged mob, and the boy barely escapes the same fate. He shoots two pursuers and assumes they are dead, and in desperation becomes a most unusual outlaw, the Red Devil. He never kills, takes only ill-gained money, secretly returns it to the rightful owners, and escapes every pursuit on his remarkable horse, Meg.
Spoiled Charlie Mark has left home to seek thrills and easy money. He vows to find the Red Devil and discover why he is so merciful and so particular about his victims. Charlie trails Meg's hoof prints to the hideout and convinces Jim to switch roles—but the new Red Devil becomes addicted to the excitement of robbing and killing. When will retribution catch up with Charlie? Can anyone save him? And where is Jim Curry?
This trio of stories about the life and destiny of Jim Curry is vintage Max Brand! His Western stories are considered among the best in the genre and have been translated into every major language and adapted for film and television.
The Winged Horse
Read by Jack Garrett
He was still a young man, but he'd used that handful of years effectively, building a bad reputation that spanned the West, his villainy taking different forms everywhere it took roost. Denver knew him as the Doctor; Texans called him Montana; and folks in Idaho called him Texas. On account of his youth, most everywhere else called him the Lonesome Kid.
But when he finally gets arrested for vagrancy, he tells the sheriff his name is Alfred Lamb. Will that identity stick when he tries to help a rancher battle off a pack of cattle rustlers?
With a lengthy career in pulps, comics, and early cinema, and with over two hundred full-length Western novels to his credit, including Destry Rides Again and Montana Rides and the iconic Dr. Kildare series, Max Brand's action-filled stories of adventure and heroism in the American West continue to entertain readers throughout the world.
The Western Double
Read by Eric G. Dove
When Samuel Cross was growing up, he was rarely found without a book in his hands and that was the way his mother, a widow, wanted him raised. His uncle, Stephen Larkin, a frontiersman like Sam's father, wanted him to be strong and able to fend for himself, so he would take him into the mountains every summer to teach him how to fight and use a weapon.
He proved to be as adept at these subjects as he had been at book learning, but when he was eighteen and his mother died, he took a job working for Chandler, the trader at Fort Bostwick, for whom he was a well-paid clerk and, eventually, watchdog of the business. What he didn't understand was that he looked forward to troublemakers coming into the shop so that he could confront and deal with them. It was during a visit from the district marshal that he learned of Chandler's crooked ways and of his own notoriety and reputation as a safety killer, one who never fights unless he knows that the law is sure to protect him.
When the marshal tells him to leave the fort and learn how to live right, Cross decides to head East. His strength and skill with a gun make Cross both friends and enemies on the boat he is taking down the Mississippi. He is saved one night from a fatal stabbing by Charles Granville, a well-to-do Southerner, who recognizes a startling resemblance between himself and Cross. He proposes that Cross repay him by taking part in a daring deceit. Feeling indebted to Granville, Cross agrees and heads to New Orleans.
But can Cross actually pull off the masquerade and fool Granville's parents, friends, and especially his beautiful sister, Nancy. And what is behind Granville's desire to have Cross take on the role of himself?
The day Jingo rode into Tower Creek, the town was busy celebrating its twentieth anniversary. The big event of the festival was a high-stakes poker game in Joe Slade's saloon with Wally Rankin holding most of the chips. But it didn't take long for Jingo to figure out why: Rankin was cheating. And it would only take a couple of well-placed bullets to reveal it to the others in the room.
The Wolf and the Man
Formats: eBook, Trade Paperback
The attacks of the huge lobo Gray Cloud have caused the remarkable price of $2,500 to be put on his head. And it falls to big Dave Reagan, considered little better than a half-wit in that part of the range, to discover the monster held fast in two of his traps.
Something in the fearless animal's eyes keeps young Dave from killing the wolf. Instead Dave releases Gray Cloud, who is unable to walk, and rescues him from a prairie fire that threatens them both. Dave brings Gray Cloud home and chains him in a shed that he uses as a blacksmith shop. Dave expects now that, as a result of this feat, his cousins will finally come to respect him. But as far as they are concerned, this is the time to put a bullet in Gray Cloud, cut off his paws and head fur, and claim the $2,500 reward.
What they didn't anticipate is that Dave would object to their plan. Dave escapes with Gray Cloud into the wilderness, and it is there that the two become indelibly attached. It was an error, however, for Dave to think that men would not intrude on them. Before long both Dave and Gray Cloud are fugitives, having to protect each other as they attempt to elude their pursuers.
Out of the Wilderness
Peter Dunstan is a big rancher who wants to become bigger, to control more land. So when he buys Dr. Henry Morgan's ranchland that has been unsuccessfully converted to farming, it is his intention to return it to open range. The only stipulation the doctor makes is that Dunstan must retain Sandy Sweyn, who has more or less been Dr. Morgan's ward. Though the man is of age, he is generally considered a half-wit, even by the doctor. Still, Sandy has a fabulous gift: he can communicate with animals. The most refractory and savage bronco will yield to his subtly persuasive methods even when expert horse breakers have failed.
After Sandy gentles the totally recalcitrant gelding that Dunstan has been trying to break to the reins, he claims that his mare, Cleo, though used only for drudgery, could easily outrun the gelding in a race. Dunstan is so contemptuous of this boast that he bets $5,000 and ownership of the gelding if he loses the race. As it turns out, Cleo readily wins.
Rather than indulging his anger, Dunstan decides to use Sandy's gifts to his advantage by getting him seemingly impossible tasks. The problem is that after each of these incredible tasks is accomplished, some personal misfortune befalls Dunstan. Finally Dunstan drives Sandy into the mountain wilderness, where his prowess eventually becomes legendary. But banishment is no solution for Dunstan when he comes to need Sandy more than ever, and his only way of getting him back is to resort to trickery.
The Tracker
Tom Fuller—a scrupulously honest fellow, a person of extraordinary physical strength, and owner of a savage horse, Rusty, that he alone was able to tame—is generally regarded as a half-wit. He has been summarily fired from every job he has ever had and even comes to regard himself as a failure. He makes one more try when he is hired on as a blacksmith's assistant by Boston Charlie. Finally here is a job that Tom can perform successfully, and his spirit soars.
Oliver Champion, who stops at the smithy to have his wagon horses newly shod, is impressed by Tom's ability. Champion also recognizes Tom as the son of the late Washington Fuller, a renowned gunfighter. Boston Charlie, far from being impressed by this revelation, is outraged and fires Tom, insisting that he leave at once. Champion takes this newfound opportunity to propose that Tom, who in addition to his physical strength is also an excellent shot, should become his bodyguard. Not having any alternative, Tom accepts the offer.
It is obviously a decision made in haste, as Tom soon learns that Champion is new to the West, that he is an escaped convict from a prison in the East, and that he has come all this way in pursuit of a master criminal, Henry Plank, the man actually responsible for the robbery for which Champion was imprisoned. Now Champion wants Tom to lead him through unfamiliar country to get his revenge.


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Google Chart API Tutorial – Learn Really Fast!
So you want to add some nice charts to your blog post? Can't be bothered to take a screen shot from MS Excel and upload the image? You should give the Google Chart API a try.
First skim the Google Chart Basics. Then take a look at a few chart generators that will build charts for you. My favorite Google Chart generators are Google Chart Generator and Google Chart Creator.
Head over to Google Chart Generator and paste the sample data below into the corresponding input boxes. You'll see how easy it is to create a line chart with three data sets (the output is three lines).
Each data set defines the points of one line on the graph. The chart legend titles are rendered in the order of the data sets. For example data set 1 (a dark blue line) has the title "Control" on the legend of my example.
Take note of the axis labels. Typically you would label each axis with the appropriate scale numbers. In this case I did not want to provide the scale. Instead I just used the labels to provide a title for each axis. That is why you see a space between the pipe delimiters in the example below for axis labels.
You can leave the axis to show option blank as we're only working with the x,y axes, and they are the default. The other settings don't matter too much for this example.
The end result you're after can be pasted into your blog to render a chart.


text:
Rosa Boshier
Rosa Boshier is an L.A.-based writer whose work has appeared in Necessary Fiction, New Delta Review, The Rattling Wall, Entropy, and The Acentos Review, among others. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2018 and earned her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts.
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