text:
10 Biggest Instagram Mistakes Every Business Should Avoid
Instagram boasts over 700 million monthly active users, making it one of the biggest social media networks in the world. It has also been averaging a 15% growth rate year over year, meaning that by 2020 over 1 billion people will log on to Instagram at least once a month.
For marketers, Instagram is appealing because of the large number of people who use the platform, but also because Instagram content typically has higher engagement rates than content on other social media platforms.
For business owners to get the most out of this promising social network, it is important to avoid a few common mistakes that can be hard to recover from. This article will review 10 of the most common Instagram marketing mistakes business leaders should avoid.
1. IGNORING INSTAGRAM STORIES.
Launched in 2016, Instagram Stories is quickly becoming one of the most popular aspects of Instagram's entire platform. Over 200 million people use Instagram Stories monthly, which is 40 million more people than Snapchat's entire user base.
Brands like Reebok use Instagram Stories to drive followers to their website. In the example above, users who swipe up are taken to a mobile-optimized store where they can purchase items worn by their favorite CrossFit athletes.
2. FORGETTING TO LOOK AT THE DATA.
Social media marketers will be more successful if they use Instagram analytics to inform their marketing decisions. Ignoring data is equivalent to ignoring valuable insights that can improve various Instagram marketing decisions.
SocialFox, the best instagram analytics tool on the market at the moment, has the ability to show users the optimal time to post content according to follower activity. This can help marketers ascertain which content received the most engagement, making it easier to know what to share in the future.
3. CHOOSING TO USE INSTAGRAM FOR THE WRONG REASONS.
Instagram can be a powerful social media platform for brands. Some companies, like Anastasia Beverly Hills and Brandy Melville, have used Instagram to beat bigger brands by reaching potential customers directly. An article in Digiday recently profiled Anastasia Beverly Hills, a mother-and-daughter-owned makeup company.
Author Hilary Milnes notes that "Anastasia … doesn't have the brand awareness of peers like Mac and Benefit. What it does have, however, is the most followed Instagram beauty account on the platform, with 7.5 million followers. The beauty-industry average is 1.4 million followers."
While Instagram can be a brand-building platform, it will only work if your brand's target audience is actually using it. It can be easy to get swept up in Instagram success stories like the one mentioned above. Be sure to do your research before committing to an Instagram marketing strategy. Ensure that your target audience is on the platform before going all in.
4. OVERLOOKING SUCCESSFUL COMPETITORS.
Competitive intelligence can be gold for Instagram marketers because it can accelerate your learning curve. Carefully analyzing the competition to see which content resonates and which does not will help you to build an engaged Instagram following quickly.
Competitive analysis will also help to highlight areas of opportunity. Remember that social media users are interested in brands with a unique perspective. Determine how competitors position themselves on Instagram, and find an alternative position that is true to your brand's voice.
5. COPYING ANOTHER BRAND'S STRATEGY.
While competitive analysis is important to understanding areas of opportunity, it isn't a good idea to mimic another brand's voice. Brands that fall into this trap will always be in a position to play catch-up, rather than being ready to lead a conversion or an industry.
Let the examples above serve as a cautionary tale to Instagram marketers thinking about copying another brand's voice or content strategy. On June 1, BMW posted a picture of one of their luxury cars overlooking the ocean. The post received nearly 35,000 likes.
A month later to the day, on July 1, Infiniti posted a nearly identical image featuring one of their luxury cars overlooking the ocean. Infiniti's post received 9 times fewer likes than the BMW post.
6. FOCUSING SOLELY ON ORGANIC INSTAGRAM POSTS.
Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, Instagram offers social media marketers a rich selection of advertising options, which are nearly identical to the options offered by its parent company. While organic Instagram content is a smart area to focus on because costs are lower than social media advertising, Instagram ads can be a powerful tool to increase followers or post engagement in a short period of time.
Social media marketers should create an Instagram strategy that relies primarily on organic content, while also using Instagram ads to increase the reach of content that has already performed well organically.
7. ONLY USING INSTAGRAM ON DESKTOP.
When managing an Instagram account at work, it may be tempting to using Instagram on desktop. After all, Instagram offers a desktop version of the platform, and a number of third-party Instagram applications work better on a computer than a smartphone.
But savvy Instagram marketers will use their company's Instagram account on both computer and smartphone. Doing so gives social media marketers a better understanding of what followers and potential followers see. Sometimes the device can impact how followers engage with Instagram posts, Stories or ads.
8. SENDING VISITORS TO A NON-MOBILE-RESPONSIVE WEBSITE.
Last year, Instagram was the sixth most used smartphone app in the United States. Instagram was designed as a mobile-first social network and only added desktop functionality later. That means that most Instagram users will be using the platform on an app or on the mobile web.
Social media marketers who wish to drive visitors to a website need to make sure that the website is optimized for mobile, otherwise a sizable percentage of users will immediately leave.
9. OVERCOMMITTING TO ONE MARKETING CHANNEL.
It's true that Instagram can be a powerful marketing channel if used correctly. But committing to just one marketing channel is not a smart business decision, regardless of how effective the channel is.
Marketers need to find strong product–channel fit. In some cases, Instagram may fit well with the product being sold and the business model associated with the product. But it is unlikely that Instagram will be the only channel that results in strong product–market fit. Creating a diversified marketing mix is important to the long-term health of any business.
10. NEGLECTING TO SHARE USER-GENERATED CONTENT.
According to data cited by AdWeek, 93% of shoppers trust user-generated content (UGC) when making a purchasing decision. UGC is frequently produced by Instagram users, given that the platform is primarily based on images and video.
Brands like BMW, Budweiser and GoPro regularly share user-generated content because it encourages users to continue to create UGC and because it provides a type of social proof to prospective customers.
Instagram has the power to be a highly productive marketing channel for many businesses. The platform boasts hundreds of millions of engaged users, features many flexible content-creation options and gives markets access to rich data. But in order for social media managers to make the most of Instagram, it's important that they first avoid making the 10 mistakes outlined in this article.


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45.6008° N, 122.6519° W
Off the Water Clubs
Youth Sailing
Benefits & Dues
Planning Information
Do you need to own a boat to be a member?
Applicants which do not currently own a boat are eligible to join as an Associate Member. This classification, also known as Social, is for those interested in joining the club to enjoy the restaurant, bar, and social events. Associate Members are eligible to change to a Boat Owning Membership upon the purchase of a boat, and by paying the difference in Initiation Fees at the time they joined the club.
Does a membership include my partner and children?
A membership includes the primary member and a partner, but it does not include children. Member's children are welcome to use the club as long as they are accompanied by one of their parents, however, they cannot use the club or boat without them.
At age 16, children may join the club as a Junior Member to gain personal access to the club.
Does my boat qualify as a yacht?
The PYC member Bylaws define a "yacht" as a sailboat 20' or longer intended for day sailing or cruising, or a powerboat with a head, galley, and overnight accommodations. The boat must qualify as a PYC defined "yacht" to gain moorage and Boat Owning Member privileges.
If a member's boat does not meet the listed qualifications, they may be eligible to join as an Associate Member.
What is the membership application process?
A completed membership application, two sponsor signatures, and initiation fee payment are required to begin the process.
New member applications will be reviewed by the Board of Trustees on two separate occasions (1st and 2nd readings), and a representative from the board will schedule an introductory interview with the prospective application. If a membership application is received at least 15 days before the next Board of Trustees meeting, the first reading will take place electronically, and the second reading at the upcoming meeting. If it is received fewer than 15 days before the next Board Meeting the applicant will have their second reading at the following meeting.
Applications will be publicly posted for current members to review, and a background check is required for all incoming members.
How do I obtain sponsorship if I don't know any current members of the club?
The PYC membership committee can assist in helping to provide sponsorship for incoming members. Member Services Coordinator, can also pair you with members of similar interests.
Do you have open slips? How do I purchase a boathouse?
Slips and boathouses are available to current PYC members with moorage qualifying vessels. Boathouses are privately owned by members, with monthly moorage fees paid to PYC. Note: moorage is dependent on availability and is not guaranteed for new members.
Contact the club office for current slip and boathouse availability.
Can I live on my boat or in my boathouse?
PYC does not allow live-aboard privileges in the moorage. Members are allowed to spend up to 10 nights a month on their boat. For an extension exceeding the 10-day maximum, members must submit a request to the Board of Trustees.
Does PYC have a restaurant? How often do you have food service?
PYC has a full-time executive chef and offers food service six days a week, including lunch Tuesday through Friday, dinner Wednesday through Sunday, and brunch Saturday and Sunday. Our bar offers beverage poured and mixed by seasoned bartenders, at special member prices.
In addition to regular galley service, PYC hosts a variety of member events throughout the year including traditional cookouts, themed events hosted by the Entertainment Committee, Outstation cruises, regattas, galas, brunches, winemakers' dinners, and children's events, much more!
Does PYC have reciprocity agreements with other Yacht Clubs?
Yes, PYC maintains reciprocal agreements with clubs all over the country, Canada and Mexico. See
Does the club have a sailing school?
PYC has a partnership with Willamette Sailing Club, which offers PYC members and their families classes at discounted rates. The PYC Youth Sailing Scholarship Fund offers scholarships to youth in the area to learn how to sail. See
Does the club host regattas?
PYC hosts a number of regattas each year and has a number of members who participate in other regattas on the Columbia River. Many of our members have represented PYC in the most competitive regattas on the west coast. See
Are there any volunteer requirements?
No, but there are many opportunities for those that want to be involved. The club has numerous of committees that offer the opportunity to volunteer.
The club's New Member Greeters are available to meet with new members and to offer guidance and helpful advice. Getting involved and serving on one of the member-lead committees are the best way to meet fellow members and to get more involved with PYC.
1241 NE Marine DrivePortland, Oregon 97211US
memberservices@portlandyc.com
© 2023 Portland Yacht Club. All Rights Reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Nigeria: Ekweremadu – Court Orders NIMC to Release Organ Donor's Bio-Data to AGF
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday ordered the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to release a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the biodata information of David Nwamini Ukpo, to the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) for onward submission to the government of the United Kingdom.
The new order was made following NIMC's refusal to release the said document to lawyers of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, who are currently held in the UK over alleged trafficking of a minor for the purpose of organ harvesting.
The court had on July 1, ordered NIMC as well as the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Stanbic IBTC to release a Certified True Copy (CTC) of the biodata information of Ukpo, to Ekweremadu to enable them defend themselves in the alleged modern slavery and organ harvesting charge leveled against them at a United Kingdom Magistrate Court.
But rather than comply with the order of the court, NIMC through its lawyer, Muazu Mohammed had approached the court with an application seeking to set aside the court's order on the grounds that its laws forbid it from releasing details of persons in its custody to an individual.
NIMC however, noted that such documents could be handed over to the AGF who would then submitted to its counterpart in the UK.
Ekweremadu's lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, did not object to the release of the document to the AGF and the judge subsequently made an order directing NIMC to release the bio-data information of Ukpo to the AGF.
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The Metropolitan Police had two weeks ago, arrested Ekweremadu and his wife, for allegedly trafficking a minor to the UK for exploitation and organ harvesting, an offence punishable by prison terms in the UK.
The Senator and his wife had denied any wrong doing, claiming that contrary to the position of the UK Police, the said donor, is not a minor and was neither tricked or induced to donate his organ for the ailing daughter of the Ekweremadus who is currently in a London hospital.
Ekweremadu and his wife accordingly approached a Federal High Court for an order compelling NIMC, Nigeria Immigration Service, UBA, Stanbic IBTC Bank, and the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc to release a Certified True Copy of the bio-data information of Ukpo to the defendants to aid their defense in the London Court.
In an originating summon marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2022, dated and filed June 27 by their counsel, Awomolo, the couple said the information were for the purposes of facilitating the criminal investigation and tendering same to establish their innocence with respect to Ukpo's age in the charges against them.
Awomolo, had told the court that the respondents would not respond to their request on the bio-data of Ukpo unless directed by the court.
Previous: Nigeria: Wafcon – What Oshoala's Absence Should Mean for the Super Falcons
Next: Nigeria: Dwindling Revenue – We'll Not Be Able to Pay Salaries in Coming Months, Govs Cry Out
Yhemolee replies Nedu for calling Papaya Ex a liar (Video)


Erroll and Lillye Pitter relocated from Detroit to Alabama to be closer to family after retirement. They moved initially into a rental home in Montgomery, but decided that a smaller apartment home with less maintenance would better suit their needs.
The Pitters soon found a development they were interested in located in Montgomery, but by the time the lease on their house ended, all units were full. That's when they found out about Village at Mill Creek.
Village at Mill Creek is a 56-unit development in Millbrook that was financed in part by $914,250 in HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds and $751,737 in Housing Credits, both administered by AHFA.


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Bengals' Williams ready to start, not thinking contract
Shawn Williams ready to start, not thinking contract
Bengals' Williams ready to start, not thinking contract Shawn Williams ready to start, not thinking contract Check out this story on cincinnati.com: http://cin.ci/27k5rfW
Jim Owczarski, jowczarski@enquirer.com Published 12:34 p.m. ET May 13, 2016 | Updated 2:51 p.m. ET May 13, 2016
Bengals safety Shawn Williams is ready to emerge as a starting player alongside George Iloka in 2016.(Photo: File/Sam Greene)
To live through free agency in the National Football League can be stressful, yet exciting, for a player. There is a chance for your current to team re-sign you, or you could hit the open market and head out to the highest bidder. Or, the market may not be as flush as you hoped, and it becomes a tense waiting game.
George Iloka and Reggie Nelson lived it this season.
Shawn Williams watched, and learned.
But he didn't view it as how you might expect – that their decisions (or the Cincinnati Bengals') could lead to a starting spot for him in the back end of the defense.
"I didn't really watch it like that," he said with a slight shrug. "But I did wish them both the best and I was hoping they got what they deserve."
Iloka did re-sign with the Bengals, while Nelson was a late addition to the Oakland Raiders – indeed opening up a position for the 25-year old.
CINCINNATI.COM
Reggie Nelson's departure about Shawn Williams' rise
"Shawn is going to be a real good player before everything is said and done," Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. "Shawn has prepared his way all the way through."
The team's third-round pick in 2013, Williams was the first safety the Bengals took in the top three rounds since Madieu Williams back in 2004. But at the start of 2015, head coach Marvin Lewis, Guenther and former co-secondary coach Mark Carrier all said it was going to be an important year for Williams.
"It's a big time for him," Guenther said last May. "It's time to make a move."
Did he ever.
Williams appeared in all 16 regular season games and finished with 28 combined tackles, two tackles for loss, two interceptions and five passes defensed. He also made three special teams tackles.
He also started four times due to injuries to Iloka and Nelson and made perhaps the defining defensive play of the year with his late interception of Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh to lead to a Bengals road victory in November. He also had a key late-game interception in San Francisco to seal AJ McCarron's first victory as a starter in late December.
Guenther also found ways to get Williams on the field with Iloka and Nelson.
"I mean, that's the goal to always play, maximize your play time and do it well," Williams said. "In order to do that, you've always got to stay ready. You never know when that time may come. Last year, it came a lot more than the previous year. Every year you just elevate your play, you elevate your experiences, and you just get better at your craft and you get more comfortable with the system. And that's basically it."
Williams hits Steelers wide receiver Markus Wheaton as he makes a catch over the middle in the AFC wild-card playoff game on Jan. 9. (Photo: File/Sam Greene)
Moving forward, though, Williams has big shoes to fill with the departure of Nelson.
The veteran safety turned in a Pro Bowl campaign and finished fourth on the team in combined tackles with 72 while leading the league in interceptions with eight. He also had 14 passes defensed and two fumble recoveries. He added two tackles for loss.
Former Bengals co-secondary coach and current Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph offered up a firm "absolutely" when asked if Williams made the move that was expected of him, and is ready to start.
"For some perspective, everyone wants the combination safety of a contact hitter, a guy who can play in range, play in coverage," Joseph said. "I think Shawn's got it all.
"Shawn's a physical player, tackles well, is smart. He also has the range to play over the top of zones. The safety position is evolving as far as guys who can do everything and not just be a strong safety or be a free safety. Everyone wants safeties, guys who can do both tasks very well. I think Shawn's headed that way as far as a coverage player and a tackler. I think Shawn fits the profile of what everyone wants at that position."
The six-foot Williams is a solid 210 pounds, and said he didn't change his physical preparation this offseason in anticipation of a heavier defensive workload. He also believes he'll maintain some role on special teams, noting that's an important part to helping the team win games.
There are two things he says he's not thinking about, however.
The first is his impending free agency.
"I don't really look at that," he said. "I've seen people worry about it and it affects their performance. I don't know what they're going to do. I haven't even (thought about it)."
He's also not thinking about this as his time to finally show why he was a high pick, and why the coaches believe could be one of the better players on a defense that finished second in the league in scoring and No. 11 overall.
"I don't feel like I have anything to show anyone else," Williams said. "It's all me going and doing what I have to do, which is doing my job."
He then smiled, slightly, as he continued.
"It's my job. I don't feel like I have to live up to any hype or expectation because I feel like no one has higher expectations or higher standards than I set for myself. So, I feel like when you think of it that way, it takes all the stress and whatever else off of it because I know what standards and expectations I have for myself and they exceed far beyond what anybody else has for me. So I don't play into all that."
Bengals' 7th round: Clayton Fejedelem, S, Illinois
Bengals' DE: Rodgers easier to sack than most
Ex-Red nicknamed Home Run Derby champ
All-Stars rave about Reds pitcher Luis Castillo
Carl Lawson updates ACL injury status
What winning a World Cup means for Rose Lavelle
Why Sonny Gray believes a terrible season helped him


A wallpaper design of rustic fashioned triangular tiles set in interlocking horizontal rows. Shown here in Neopolitan Ice Cream colours of chocolate brown, strawberry pink and vanilla cream. Other colourways are available. Please request a sample for true colour match. This wallpaper comes Pre-Pasted. The pattern repeat is 13.25cm, not as listed below.


text:
Beehive Live — первый концертный альбом Пола Гилберта, выпущенный в 1999 году.

Об альбоме
Beehive Live был записан 4 и 5 апреля в Shibuya On Air East, Токио. Большая часть песен входит в DVD «Eleven Thousand Notes» (все, кроме «Heavy Disco Trip», «Karn Evil 9» и «Bumblebee»).

Фото ребёнка на заднике диска — ещё одно фото маленького Пола из фотоальбома его родителей. Впервые Пол поместил своё детское фото на обложку альбома King of Clubs. Внутри буклета Пол поместил обращение к Удо Диркшнайдеру: «Оглушительный гром аплодисментов для мистера Удо — вы Король всех концертов в Японии!»

Отыграв большую часть композиции «Tell The Truth», группа переходит к блюзовому риффу из песни «Double Trouble» с альбома King of Clubs и джемует поверх него.

Список композиций
Все песни написаны Полом Гилбертом, кроме отмеченных особо.
 «Heavy Disco Trip» — 03:25
 «Be My Wife» — 05:25
 «Get It» — 02:33
 «Mr. Skin» (Spirit cover) — 04:48
 «Down to Mexico» — 03:44
 «Girls Who Can Read Your Mind» — 03:26
 «Tell the Truth» — 07:41
 «Bumblebee» — 04:22
 «Million Dollar Smile» — 02:18
 «Hold Her Tight» (The Osmonds cover) — 03:31
 «I'm Just in Love» — 02:39
 «Red Rooster» — 05:36
 «To Be With You» (Mr. Big cover) — 05:41
 «Karn Evil 9» (Emerson, Lake & Palmer cover) — 05:15

Композиции № 4, 10, 13, 14 аранжированы Полом Гилбертом.

Участники записи
 Пол Гилберт — вокал, гитара
 Скотти Джонсон — гитара
 Билли Моррис — гитара и бэк-вокал
 Майк Шутер — бас-гитара и бэк-вокал
 Джефф Мартин — ударные

Продюсирование
 Продюсирование и сведение — Пол Гилберт
 Мастеринг — Стив Холл (Future Disc Systems)
 Сведено на студии Batgirl

Примечания

Альбомы Пола Гилберта
Хард-рок-альбомы
Концертные альбомы 1999 года

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
title: Immutant 2.1.3 Release
author: The Immutant Team
version: 2.1.3
layout: release
tags: [ releases ]
---

We just released Immutant 2.1.3. Most issues addressed in this release
are minor bug fixes and documentation enhancements.

One not-so-minor bug was discovering that our `:dispatch? false`
option has been broken since 2.1.0. That's fixed now, and should help
to improve compute-bound benchmark results.

One other minor change worth noting is the addition of two functions
to the [immutant.web.undertow] namespace: `http-handler`, which turns
a Ring handler into an [Undertow] `HttpHandler`, and
`graceful-shutdown`, which invokes Undertow's ability to gracefully
shutdown a web server by prohibiting new requests while pending ones
complete. See IMMUTANT-605
for a simple example.

We also had a couple of community contributions in this release: Dave
Della Costa fixed our issue with decoded `:path-info`, and Matthias
Nehlsen fixed some documentation issues with our web namespace. Thanks
guys!

## What is Immutant?

Immutant is an integrated suite of [Clojure](http://clojure.org)
libraries backed by [Undertow] for web, [HornetQ] for messaging,
[Infinispan] for caching, [Quartz] for scheduling, and [Narayana] for
transactions. Applications built with Immutant can optionally be
deployed to a [WildFly] cluster for enhanced features. Its fundamental
goal is to reduce the inherent
[incidental complexity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_complexity)
in real world applications.

## Get In Touch

As always, if you have any questions, issues, or other feedback about
Immutant, you can always find us on
[#immutant on freenode](/community/) or
[our mailing lists](/community/mailing_lists).

## Issues resolved in 2.1.3

[IMMUTANT-599] - An async call in WildFly can result in a TimeoutException that permanently breaks an app

[IMMUTANT-600] - Deploying a servlet to EAP fails if websockets isn't activated

[IMMUTANT-601] - Document that a queue shouldn't be shared between 'listen and 'respond

[IMMUTANT-604] - Using web/run :filter-map option causes ClassCastException

[IMMUTANT-605] - Graceful Shutdown of Web Server

[IMMUTANT-606] - deprecate util/app-root and util/app-relative

[IMMUTANT-607] - Caching tests fail under WildFly 10.0.0.Final

[IMMUTANT-609] - document org.immutant/wildfly dependency in installation & wildfly guides

[IMMUTANT-610] - provide a non-decoded :path-info to ring

[IMMUTANT-611] - Impossible to run handlers on IO thread (:dispatch? false)

[IMMUTANT-612] - Passing undertow options to web/run can result in wrong :port in result

[WildFly]: http://wildfly.org/
[Infinispan]: http://infinispan.org
[HornetQ]: http://hornetq.org
[Undertow]: http://undertow.io
[Quartz]: http://quartz-scheduler.org/
[Narayana]: http://www.jboss.org/narayana
[Feature Demo]: https://github.com/immutant/feature-demo
[immutant.web.undertow]: /documentation/2.1.3/apidoc/immutant.web.undertow.html

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
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Atomtory: an inventory for atoms and isotopes

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If an Omaha SEO Company promises you 1st page Google ranking, run. Position depends on third party algorithms, of which no Omaha SEO firm has control. There are no guarantees of SEO effectiveness. That said, it's important to have a reliable search engine optimization company that has a proven track record, like Stern PR™.
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text:
Lawrence.com weblogs Seen it?
Topeka mayor proposes hoodies and hats ordinance to reduce crime
Posted by Alex Parker
If you like wearing hoodies and hats and you like to shop in Topeka, you just might be out of luck if Mayor Bill Bunten has his way.
According to the AP:
Mayor Bill Bunten says he's suggesting that the city allow a retail store to ask people who come in wearing a hooded sweat shirt or ball cap to take it off their head so surveillance camera can see them. Police Chief Ron Miller also recommended a similar measure to discourage robberies.
Topekans say the proposal is both "socialist" and "communist," and one local business owner said she'd lose customers. Bunten said the problem is kids these days.
by Alex Parker
"I wouldn't have a quarrel with it," he told KSNT. "Now, I don't have a hoodie and I don't have a ball cap, but if I did I'd take it off. Most people take their hats off when they go into a store anyway. Well, they used to."
Bunten told the Topeka Capital-Journal he's not proposing an outright ban of hoodies and hats, but wants to give stores the option to require customers to take off the items.
Brisbane, Australia, banned hoodies after a number of crimes jolted the area. Public schools in Allentown, Pa., briefly banned hoodies, and skinny jeans ("too snug for school"). Some folks in Colorado Springs, Colo., believe they've been unfairly targeted for wearing hoodies in stories. Stores in the Los Angeles area are requiring people to take off their hats upon entering establishments.
And 16-year-old Dale Carroll, of Manchester in England, was barred from donning a hoodie after he was found guilty of anti-social behavior.
Apparently, he and other local kids (hoods?) caused "mayhem," which is a tall order for a young teen.
Manchester magistrates heard that Carroll was part of a gang who caused mayhem to residents of Collyhurst village in the city for almost three years.
The court heard he had attacked locals and once attempted to cut down a CCTV lamppost with a chainsaw.
The teenager threw fireworks at cyclists and at one stage pulled a person from their bike and threatened them with an axe. He also drove a car on to a pavement and down steps close to the Sparrow pub in Collyhurst.
Carroll of Cheetham, Manchester, was found guilty of anti social behaviour and was banned from wearing a hoodie or cap in public and from entering a large part of Collyhurst, including the home he shares with his mother in Manordale Walk.
He was also prevented from congregating with more than two people, except family members, and banned from possessing fireworks, axes or chainsaws.
The proposal wasn't discussed at the Topeka city council's Tuesday meeting, but Councilman Andrew Gray wore a hoodie to meeting. He said it was comfortable.
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lwctown 9 years, 11 months ago
Im sure criminals will follow this new proposed rule...why dont they just outlaw crime wouldnt that be easier?
Jock Navels 9 years, 11 months ago
the biggest criminals in the us of a wear 3 piece suits. outlaw 3 piece suits?
Evan Ridenour 9 years, 11 months ago
Oh Topeka, the slum-capital of Kansas.
Tristan Moody 9 years, 11 months ago
Oh dear, where to begin.
First of all, it's not socialist, and it's not communist. Anyone using those terms to describe this has no understanding of what they mean.
If anything, call it authoritarian and an unconstitutional restriction of free speech.
Except, here's the thing....
This ordinance does not require people to remove their hoods or hats. It allows businesses to require that of its customers. The government, with very narrow exceptions, cannot restrict dress as such. However, any private enterprise is free to do so. Look at the numerous clubs in the area, for example, that have dress codes. They do so, of course, at the risk of alienating their customer base, and an ordinance permitting them to do so doesn't change that. As such, this ordinance doesn't actually do anything. It's simply a waste of paper and ink, to say nothing of the time spent considering this.
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Library rides nostalgia wave with launch of Retro Gaming Club
Ian Stepp remembers visiting his aunt's house as a kid, where he'd play classic games like Duck Hunt and iterations of the Mario Brothers saga on the family's trusty old Nintendo Entertainment System. Now pushing 30, Stepp is still a fan of the now-classic video games that in recent years have spawned a thriving culture and industry capitalizing on the nostalgia of grownups who coveted Nintendo game systems as kids in the 1980s and 90s.


Subject: AI and its' application to Bridges and Chart Plotters. Further information about the talk and speakers can be found in the below poster.
The Britannia bar will be available for RIN members. If you would like to join the RIN table for dinner after the talk (jacket and tie required) you will also need to book direct with the RTYC on 0207 235 2121 or email reservations@royalthames.com stating your affiliation. The Club bar will be open from 1800 hrs. The presentation starts at 1845hrs.


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a bumper crop of 2016 Movies Richard watched so you don't have to.
With the good also comes the bad. From Superman as a dangerous alien to Emily Blunt riding a polar bear and the morphing of the word "faces" into "feces" over and over, 2016 offered up a bumper crop of movies that were well past their expiration date long before they hit theatres.
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice: In 1984 raspy-throated singer Bonnie Tyler warbled, "I'm holding out for a hero." At the time I didn't get the song's sexy undertones but was reminded of the tune as I watched "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." Thirty odd years later it's quite clear what kind of hero Bonnie Tyler was looking for—"It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet!"— but it's less certain what kind of hero the city of Metropolis wants or needs.
These are jittery times and "Batman v Superman" is a jittery movie. Luthor's xenophobic notion that Superman is a dangerous alien, an "other" who we don't quite understand, is ripped right out of Donald Trump's playbook. "People hate what they don't understand," says Martha Kent (Diane Lane).
Mix that with depictions of the death and destruction on city streets and all-too-familiar shots of buildings with smoke oozing out of them and you're left with a movie that as feels timely and ripped-from-the-headlines as a movie about tights-wearing superheroes can be.
Other than that it is essentially a long trailer for the next DC superhero ensemble movie tagged on to a WrestleMania style smack down. Director Zack Snyder does have a flair for staging darkly dramatic scenes—Superman surrounded by Mexican Day of the Dead revellers is a stunner and the image of Supes casually kicking the indestructible Batmobile out of frame with a flick of his foot is very cool—but while he is entertaining your eye he does little to engage your brain. There is tons of psuedo-intellectual talk about gods and monsters but it's all surface, chatter meant to make the film seem smarter than it actually is. Very little of what happens feels motivated by the characters. It mainly feels as though someone came up with a grabby title and crafted a set of circumstances to justify the name. Characters talk and interact with one another but it feels in service of the title, as if they are all simply brand ambassadors, rather than living breathing people.
"Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" is bombastic. The experience of watching it is like having a drunk at a bar tell you the story after five beers. It's loud and in-your-face with the occasional maudlin moment.
There was a time when superhero movies were fun, escapist entertainment. Those days seem to have passed. There are a total of two laughs in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" although there are several other unintentionally laughable moments. Now our caped and cowled heroes are as dark and troubled as a reject from a Kafka novel which, in this case, makes for a rather loud but dreary night at the movies.
Ben Hur: "Are we having fun now, brother?" Messala (Toby Kebbell) hoots midway through "Ben-Hur," the fourth big screen adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel, "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ." It's a good question. If your tastes run toward "300" with a hint of "Clash of the Titans" or biblical stories laden with action, then the new Timur Bekmambetov directed epic may be just what the gladiator ordered.
A reimagination of Wallace's book rather than a remake of the classic Charlton Heston film the story sees "Boardwalk Empire's" Jack Huston in the title role.
The new "Ben-Hur" may be all about forgiveness, but it's hard to forgive some of Bekmambetov's filmmaking choices. The frenetic editing is meant to convey a sense of urgency but instead of creating drama the fast cuts only emphasize what an empty exercise this is. The most famous version of the story, 1959's epic, may be a bit of a slog these days at over three hours, but at least that version allowed us time to get to know and understand the character's motivations. The latest retelling ignores niceties like allowing the story to unfold gradually, creating creative tension and the old chestnut, showing not telling, opting instead to bombard the screen with random 3-D images that, when strung together, form some semblance of a story.
But what should we expect from the filmmaker behind "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"? He handles the action sequences with a sure hand, imagining the shipwreck from the claustrophobic ship's lower deck. It's wet and wild and over-the-top, but at least it isn't boring. Ditto the classic climatic chariot race. You can't tell Ben-Hur's story without it, and Bekmambetov throws his camera in the middle of the action. It's a festival of CGI and action movie tropes that lacks the classic sensibility of some earlier versions, but has one or two shots that are exciting and different. It's just too bad we don't know more about the charioteers other than Ben and Messala. We know they're probably not going to survive, but the stakes might have been higher if we at least knew who they were.
In this new translation of the tale Judah Ben-Hur learns to leave behind his human desires and think in divine terms. It's a good message but there is nothing divine about it's telling.
Dirty Grandpa: I figure the new Robert De Niro comedy is called, simply and inelegantly, "Dirty Grandpa" because "Filthy-Foul-Mouthed-Misogynist-Sex-Crazed-Pervert-Filthy-Rotten-Old-Coot-Grandpa" was too ungainly for the marquee.
"Dirty Grandpa" is credited to one writer but feels like it was penned by a group of drunken frat boys on the beer and bourbon binge. What, I guess, is supposed to be a funny look at aging and making the most of the time we all have, is reduced to a spectacle of a once revered thespian calling his lawyer grandson "Alan Douceowitz." If this were a drinking game where you took a shot every time De Niro says "vagina" (and all of that word's derivations) or any number of other words I can't print here you'd have alcohol poisoning half an hour in. It mistakes politically incorrect "did he really just say that" jokes for actual humour.
Then there is the presence of the great man himself. I can forgive Zac Efron's participation in "Dirty Grandpa," he's young and the idea of starring with De Niro (who he imitated rather perfectly in "Neighbors") must have been irresistible but what is the star of "Taxi Driver" doing here? At one point Jason yells, "What the 'bleep' is wrong with you?" at him repeatedly. It's a legit question. Perhaps it's time for a career intervention. For the good of all of cinema let's get David O. Russell to talk to De Niro before he accepts "Dirty Grandpa Pt. 2."
"Dirty Grandpa" is the kind of film that, one day, De Niro's great-grandchildren will watch and wonder what all the fuss about him was.
The Huntsman: Winter War: Once upon a time there was a movie called "Snow White and the Huntsman." Starring Hollywood princesses Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron, it was a dark reimagining of the classic story that played like the love child of the Brothers Grimm and "The Hobbit" with two compelling characters, warrior Snow White and the villainous Ravenna.
Another film was inevitable, but how do you make a sequel when KStew busy making art films and Ravenna didn't make it to the end credits? Easy, you rehire Theron, play mix and match "Frozen" and "Game of Thrones" and hope for the best.
I'm not sure what to call "The Huntsman: Winter's War." It's not a sequel or a prequel and yet it is both. Officially I suppose we're supposed to call it a "sprequel"; I call it bloated, confusing and worst of all, dull. You would think that any movie featuring Emily Blunt riding a polar bear would be great fun but you'd be wrong. From the half hour of narration that opens the story to the cavalcade of CGI and bad accents—Hemsworth and Chastain easily beat Kevin Costner for worst-ever cinematic British Isles burrs—to sloppy storytelling, this is a grim, not Brothers Grimm tale.
Bad accent aside Hemsworth brings some swagger to the role of Eric, Chastain tries to keep a straight face and sidekicks Frost, Brydon, Smith and Roach create a badly needed sense of fun to the proceedings. Blunt isn't given much to do, aside from her rather stunning entrance in the polar bear but Theron actually disappoints. In the first film she's a hoot, a bundle of bad intentions gathered up in one pretty package. Here she's not the same figure of malicious amusement but oddly disconnected and not nearly as much fun.
Over long "The Huntsman: Winter's War" drones on for almost two hours until the narrator (Liam Neeson) reappears. As his dulcet tones close the movie with something to the effect of the story may be over "but fairy talks never end," it doesn't seem so much like an ending as it does a threat that they might make a sequel to this mess.
Independence Day: Resurgence: "That is definitely bigger than the last one," says David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum).
He's talking about the alien spaceship that puts our planet in peril in "Independence Day: Resurgence," the twenty-years-in-the-making sequel to Will Smith's 90s mega-hit, but he could also be talking about the movie itself. It's certainly bigger and louder than the original, but is it better?
In the two decades since the first invasion the world has become a better place. "Our survival is only possible when we stand together," says President Lanford (Sela Ward). The White House has been rebuilt, a woman is President and countries now work together. There's a military installation on the moon and using the ET technology salvaged from the downed spaceships they have safe guarded the planet from another attack.
Or so almost everyone thought.
At their best big special effects movies like this should fill the viewer with wonder. Large-scale spectacle, like the world on the verge of collapse, should fill us with shock and awe but in "Independence Day: Resurgence" we have to settle for an unsettling sense of déjà vu. It's a movie that exists as an excuse to showcase the special effects in a cynical attempt to recycle an idea that worked well enough the first time. Not only have we seen virtually everything here in the original film, we've seen similar images in every end-of-the-world movie from the last twenty years. Here they are bigger and louder, but not better.
Ditto the dialogue. It feels like a first draft to the original movie, updated for a new cast. Goldblum is always a welcome presence but he's saddled with terrible, trite words and he gets most of the good lines. It's the kind of movie were people ask questions instead of saying anything interesting. "How the hell did we miss this?" "What's going on?" Or the classic, "What the…??!!," delivered with mouth agape. It's less a script than a series of catchphrases and questions cobbled together and sounds like it was all run through the Blandizer® before being handed over to the actors.
It's the kind of movie where you root for the aliens, hoping they make quick work of humanity because that would be less painful than sitting through one more minute of this mess. You don't watch "Independence Day: Resurgence," you subject yourself to it because even though it could be the end of humanity there's no real humanity here, just empty heroics.
I really hated "Independence Day: Resurgence." It's a popcorn flick but this popcorn stale. "Independence Day"? More like "Groundhog Day." We've seen it before and better.
Mother's Day: "Mother's Day," a look at mother's and daughters featuring a Holiday Parade Womb Float bundle stars of dubious box office power in a big, glittery package with all the joy and emotional resonance of a Budweiser Clydesdale commercial.
"Mother's Day" is filled to over flowing with faux heart warming moments, like a Lifetime movie on steroids. It hits all the emotional hot buttons—a dead wife who also happens to be a veteran, abandonment, first love, an awkward dad, kids growing up too fast—and tops off the whole thing with two, count 'em two, dewy-eyed American sweethearts, Roberts and Aniston. To avoid troubling the audience with actual human emotions Marshall runs the whole thing through The Sitcomizer™ to ensure maximum blandness and erase the possibility that viewers will see something they haven't already witnessed a hundred times before.
None of that would matter much if the movie was funny but real laughs are scarcer than last minute Mother's Day brunch reservations. A likeable cast is wasted on a movie that panders to greeting card sentiment and slapstick.
The best part of "Mother's Day" is that it puts Marshall one closer to running out of holidays to cinematically celebrate. What's next? Hug Your Cat Day starring Courteney Cox and Luke Perry?
My Big Fat Wedding 2: It's hard not to sound cynical and grumpy when reviewing a movie like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2." It is a fourteen-years-in-the-making sequel to one of the biggest grossing romantic comedies of all time, and while it has much of the warmth as the original, it feels warmed over.
Nia Vardalos leads the reunited cast in a story that's all about mothers and daughters, grandparents and kids, nieces and nephews, brothers, one overbearing aunt and a long lost brother. In other words, it's all about family.
It's a catch-all for every crowd-pleasing clichés about big families. Let's teach an old guy how to use a computer! Kids leaving home! Wait, there's an inappropriate aunt! Battle of the sexes! No stereotype goes unturned in a screenplay (once again penned by Vardalos) that feels as bloated as an overstuffed Yemista.
Under all the clutter, however, are the characters. Vardalos doesn't blaze any new ground here but she does stay true to the characters that made the first film such a hit. Gus is still a sitcom stereotype who thinks the Greeks invented everything, but Constantine brings him to life despite the weight of the clichés. Ditto Andrea Martin as the randy Aunt Voula and Kazan as the boisterous Maria. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" is a cartoon, an ethnic exaggeration, but the ensemble embraces it.
There's not an ounce of cynicism here, and I think audiences might respond to the sweet open heartedness of Vardalos and company, but there isn't a lot of originality here either.
Norm of the North: There will be a time in the near future when "Inside Out" and "Norm of the North" will be listed on your Netflix queue as animated films, but make no mistake they don't belong in the same category. Where "Inside Out" is a happy serving of eye candy topped with a transcendent story, "Norm" seems to exist not as a story but simply as a vessel for cute characters.
"Norm of the North" is as entertaining as you'd think a children's cartoon starring Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo will be. It's cut rate Saturday morning cartoon level animation—some scenes don't even look fully rendered—that relies on kid-friendly characters rather than story or jokes. In other words, if "Inside Out" is the Ferrari of kids animation, sleek and well-made, "Norm of the North" is the Edsel.
It assumes children don't need entertainment that works on any other level than, "Where can I buy a cute stuffed Norm doll?" Despite its family friendly messages about friends, family and loyalty, the movie doesn't try and disguise its cynical heart. At the spokesbear audition Vera gushes over Norm, "He's cute and marketable, it's perfect." You can only imagine a similar conversation in the design phase for this movie. Also, is Norm's description of Mr. Greene as "a creepy one note villain" dialogue from the script or a passage from the stage directions that accidentally made it into the film? It's hard to know.
"Norm of the North" has little to recommend it. Padded with dance numbers—two in the first fifteen minutes alone—and montages, the best that can be said is that bad movies like this are important to remind us that the Pixar movies aren't flukes.
Suicide Squad: Tired of good guys? The Captain Americas, 'yer Iron Men or Wondrous Women? If their virtuous acts and heroic posing are wearing thin or not to your liking, along comes a crew of anti-heroes willing to bend the rules to protect the planet. "We're the bad guys," says Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), "it's what we do."
Based on the DC Comic of the same name, the Suicide Squad a.k.a. Task Force X, is a ragtag team of death row villains sprung from jail by a secret government agency run by ruthless bureaucrat Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). "In a world of flying men and monsters," she says, "this is the only way to protect our country."
When it gets down to the nitty-gritty of the team in battle against "non-human entities" the C.G.I. kicks into high gear, covering every inch of the screen, and "Suicide Squad" becomes considerably less interesting. Set to a classic rock soundtrack the large-scale action scenes are muddled, dark and rather generic, especially given the special skills of each of the combatants.
About the Squad. For a group of psychopaths they sure seem to be OK people. The worst thing they do—minus the wholesale carnage the government allows them to create—is go temporarily AWOL for a drink in between battles. Over cocktails they discuss life, love and motivations. There are rom coms with more edge.
On the plus side "Suicide Squad" doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as "Batman v Superman." On the downside director David Ayer took a premise that gave him permission to go as far overboard as he wanted and yet the movie feels familiar, like it is trying to echo the very movies it should be an antidote to.
Zoolander 2: "Zoolander 2," the fifteen years in the making follow-up to the 2001 comedy hit, finds former "Blue Steel" supermodel Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) "out of fashion," literally and figuratively. Following a tragic event involving his wife and his Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good, Derek stepped away from fashion and the world. He now lives the life of a "hermit crab," complete with a long beard that obscures his "really, really, really, really, really ridiculously good looking face."
To put it more delicately, villain Mugato marvels at how "super white hot blazingly stupid" Derek is, and you'll do the same thing about the film. Stupid can be OK if it's funny but "Zoolander 2" leaves the laughs on the runway.
Special Mention: Knight of Cups: Sometimes it can be hard to be a Terrence Malick fan. At their best the director's poetic films are soulful investigations of the human spirit. His greatest movies—"Tree of Life," "Badlands"—are masterworks of spiritual introspection but his worst work crosses the lane into pretention in a way that makes Kanye West's Twitter account look humble. It can be a struggle to actually enjoy some of his work, but never have I battled with a Malick movie the way I did with "Knight of Cups." Fought to stay in my seat until the end. It's a cure for insomnia not unlike watching expensive, glossy paint dry.
Broken into chapters with titles like Judgment, Death and The Hanged Man, the film stars Christian Bale as Rick, a successful but desperately unhappy Hollywood screenwriter. Like an extended episode of "Seinfeld" were nothing happens, Rick wanders around the screen accompanied by a series of beautiful women—Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Isabel Lucas, Teresa Palmer and Freida Pinto—but ultimately cannot find joy with any of them. He strolls through life with a sad sack expression on his face that makes Sad Keanu seem jubilant, moving from woman to woman, rueing, "All of those years living a life of someone I did not know."
Apparently inspired by the 1678 Christian allegory "The Pilgrim's Progress" and the passage "Hymn of the Pearl" from "The Acts of Thomas," "Knight of Cups," is, I suppose supposed to be a dreamy look into one man's life, but is this a sense memory visualized for the big screen or is it just the self-indulgent ramblings of an auteur? As Helen (Pinto) tells Rick, "Dreams are nice but you can't live in them."
Part of the problem is Malick's storytelling, or more rightly, lack thereof. The film follows Malick's trademarked impressionistic style but seems to have been assembled by a Random Shot Generator. Indiscriminate images of Los Angeles flood the screen—wild parties, an Antonio Banderas cameo, earthquakes, palm trees, movie studio back lots—accompanied by mumbled dialogue and Bale's grim face.
It's hard to feel compassion or anything else for Rick as he stumbles through relationship after relationship because we are never given any clue as to who he is. He's a cipher, the walking conundrum with an attitude. If I wanted to spend two hours watching someone having a mid-life crisis I'd look in the mirror rather than spend another minute concerning myself with Rick's troubles.
I gave "Knight of Cups" one out of five stars because there is something there. I'm just not sure what it is and I'm not sure Malick does either. Tedium, thy name is "Knight of Cups."
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice Ben-Hur Dirty Grandpa Independence Day: Resurgence Mother's Day My Big Fat Wedding 2 Norm of the North Suicide Squad The Huntsman: Winter War Zoolander 2
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Read This Before Visiting Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Raja Ampat is one of the richest in bio-marine life in the world, located in the center of the Coral Triangle. Enjoy the crystal-clear water by diving, snorkeling, kayaking, swimming or sailing. Raja Ampat is located on the island of New Guinea, the world's second-largest island in Oceania. The island is divided between two countries: Papua New Guinea to the east, and Indonesia to the west.
What Should You Take?
Outside the main towns there are very few shops selling anything but snacks, and definitely no ATMs.
Having the right gear can make all the difference to your snorkeling trip. You don't need to bring much for island hopping in Raja Ampat, but here are a couple of things we think are essential to pack.
Waterproof Bag | This water-resistant bag you can use to protect your electronics during water activities.
Snorkel Mask & Fins | If you plan on snorkeling snorkel mask is a must and helps you save energy, and dive easier.
Water Bottle | Raja Ampat is one incredibly beautiful place in the world, don't litter plastic, use SteriPen.
Phone Waterproof Case | You need a good waterproof case for your phone.
GoPro | This adventure underwater camera is a must, especially snorkeling.
Sunscreen | Sun is way too strong on the equator and if you are spending all day in the water, so need a quality sunscreen. Please, make sure you use a reef-friendly biodegradable sunscreen for snorkeling.
The risk of contracting malaria isn't high, but it's a possibility, so wear light long-sleeved clothes in the evening and sleep under a mosquito net at night.
Many of the smaller islands don't have shops so pick up things like toilet paper, snacks, and drinks before you leave Sorong.
Travel insurance is designed to help cover your expenses if something goes wrong on your trip. World Nomads Travel Insurance has been designed by travelers for travelers, and it is the most popular insurance as they cover travelers from over 150 countries around the world, offer great rates.
How to get to Raja Ampat
To get to Raja Ampat, you'll first need to fly to the airport at Sorong. Garuda Indonesia and Sriwijaya airlines have daily flights from Jakarta to Sorong and from there you'll have to fly to Raja Ampat.
You need a permit to visit Raja Ampat and you can purchase one at the Tourism Information Centre in Sorong or at designated spots in airports and ports.
You can also fly there from a few other cities in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, or Davao.
Photo credit: Dennis Keller / FLickr
Wreck diving is one of the top activities on Raja Ampat. Other points of interest include Kabui Bay and its dramatic karsts of limestone, as well as Sawandarek, which features lovely coral and white sand beaches.
Experience the beauty of sailing, as the majority of connection between the islands, is by boat this, you'll need to feel comfortable with moving about the vessel. Smooth sailing depends on the weather, so itinerary changes may occur at the last minute if the weather becomes unfavorable.
There are two main ways to experience the area as a diver – on a liveaboard or with a resort.
Remember to pack sun protection, such as sunscreen and a hat, and drink plenty of water to keep hydrated.
Best Time to Visit the Raja Ampat Islands
Raja Ampat is close to the equator and the temperatures don't vary much and range from around 25-32° with an average humidity 83%. The best months are from October to December. You may want to avoid June – September, the summer months – when there are more heavy rains and storms.
Raja Ampat really is an incredible part of the world and is definitely worth visiting, but preparing for the trip is always important.
Make sure to double-check that you have all relevant legal documents before you go on your journey – passport, visa, proof of a return ticket, insurance policies, dive certifications.
If you want to read more about check What Things to do in Raja Ampat
Want to learn more about sustainable travel? Check our other posts about sustainable travel.
green travelIndonesiaRaja Ampatsustainable tourismSustainable Travel
Travel To Palau
The Republic of Palau, a tropical archipelago located in the western Pacific and made up of over 340 islands. All these islands make up a land area of approximately 180 square miles with a population was over 21,000. Palau is also home to some of the world's healthiest and most impressive UNESCO-listed reefs.
Palauans may represent many parts of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. However, they are not traditionally considered to be Micronesian. English and Palauan are the official languages, although some islands also give official status to their own languages. The state of Angaur is actually the only place in the world where Japanese is an official language, as Japan has no official language.
It is our responsibility to show our guests how to respect our island home, just as it is their duty to uphold the signed pledge when visiting.
– said Tommy Remengesau,
President of the Republic of Palau.
Palau's pledge
Palau is the first nation on earth to change its immigration laws for the cause of environmental protection. Upon entry, visitors need to sign a passport pledge to act in an ecologically responsible way on the island, for the sake of Palau's children and future generations of Palauans.
Every tourist who takes the pledge needs to follow this sustainable tourism checklist or risk a fine.
Don't collect marine life souvenirs
Do support local businesses and communities
Don't feed the fish and sharks
Don't drag fins over coral when swimming
Don't touch or step on coral
Don't take fruit or flowers from gardens
Do learn about the culture and people
Don't touch or chase wildlife
Don't litter
Don't smoke in restricted areas
This Pacific archipelago of about 200 natural limestone and volcanic islands, covered in lush forests and surrounded by an aquamarine lagoon. However, large-scale mass tourism is threatening to destroy its fragile environment, rich in biodiversity. Tourism can provide wealth, but when large numbers of visitors go to a destination, it can have positive and negative impacts.
Education will play an important part in supporting the pledge as locals commit to protecting and celebrating the uniqueness of their sacred home.
The country has become the first country to ban many kinds of sunscreen, in a move to protect its coral reefs from chemicals
History of Palau
Palau islands were made part of the Spanish East Indies in 1885. Following Spain's defeat in the Spanish–American War in 1898, the islands were sold to Imperial Germany in 1899 under the terms of the German–Spanish Treaty. In 1947, the United Nations decided the United States would administer Palau as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Palau voted in 1994 to freely associate with the United States while retaining independence under the Compact of Free Association.
Like other Pacific Island countries, Palau is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including severe weather events and rising sea levels.
Pacific Island nations are facing threats and challenges to their seas and lands, cultural heritage, and livelihoods from development, climate change, and increased global demand for resources.
The cities are well developed and clean.
Almost all internet and telecommunications are provided by the Palau National Communications Corporation (PNCC). An international SIM card can be assigned a local number upon arrival. Free Wi-Fi can be found in many hotels, restaurants, and coffee bars, but this is relatively slow and unreliable.
Dense tropical broadleaf forests cover most of the volcanic and all of the limestone islands, with the exception of Babeldaob
The upland forests of Palau are the most species diverse in Micronesia and contain several endemic species. There are six native palm species, generally found in the understory or middle canopy layers of the forest.
Because of agroforestry, little remains of the native atoll forests, except on uninhabited atolls. Atoll forests are found toward the interior of the larger, wetter uninhabited atolls and along coasts of the high islands.
Limestone forest is found on the coral islands of Peleliu, Angaur, and the Rock Islands.
Originally, Palau was probably almost completely forested; today, forest cover is only about 75 percent.
15 Must Visit Attractions in Uruguay
Uruguay is a South American country known for its verdant interior and beach-lined coast. The capital, Montevideo, revolves around Plaza Independencia, once home to a Spanish citadel. The name Uruguay means a river of colorful birds. It is a word in Guarani that was spoken by the natives of the area.
15 Must-Visit Attractions in Uruguay
Uruguay is one of the most eco-friendly countries in South America and it is pretty liberal as marijuana and gay marriage are legal, and it is also.
Photo credit: Marcelo Campi Wikipedia
1. Montevideo
Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. It is a city with a long history and a rich culture, founded in 1724.
With WiFi available in public places and e-scooters filling the city, Montevideo is leading Latin America's digital revolution.
The exchange of culture and traditions has always nourished Montevideo's literary movements. The capital is home town of many renowned writers, including Mario Benedetti and Juan Carlos Onetti.
The oldest part of Montevideo, La Ciudad Viejais is mostly cobblestoned with many historical buildings showing the colonial history of Montevideo city such as the cathedral, main plaza and several museums.
Photo credit: Marcelo Campi / Flickr
2. San Gregorio de Polanco
San Gregorio de Polanco is a small city in the Tacuarembó Department of northern-central Uruguay. It is one of the best tourist attractions in Uruguay because of its pure healthy air, abundant flora, and blue aqua.
This small town has only 3,000 residents, but there are plenty of things to do including a visit to the native visual arts museum, the excellently adorned OSE water tank, and the regional parish with the art gallery inside.
Photo credit: Deni Williams / Flickr
3. Salto
Salto is an affordable and it offers enough attractions make life interesting. It is the second largest city in Uruguay with a population over 110,000.
Some of the attractions include the Salto Grande hydroelectric Dam shared by Argentina and Uruguay and the AcuaMania Waterpark.
The city owes its name to the Spanish word used to refer to the many falls of water created by the Uruguay River in that area.
Photo credit: Diego Ocampo Herrera / Wikipedia
4. Nueva Helvecia
Nueva Helvecia is 120 kilometres west of Montevideo, the capital and largest city of Uruguay and just a few miles from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Nueva Helvecia was the first tourist area in the country. The city has plenty to offer to visitors with its history, culture, local cuisine and natural surroundings full of beauty.
The region is famous for its dairy production. Travelers can visit an artisan cheese factory and learn about the production of different cheeses.
Some of the tourist attractions include the Plaza de los Fundadores, the city gate, Regional Archive Museum, the José Pedro Varela Municipal Park, the OSE tank, with its unusual architecture and the Schöenstatt Shrine.
Photo credit: Ariel García / Flickr
5. Piriápolis
Piriápolis is located in the Department of Maldonado, only one hour away by car from the City of Montevideo. This historic town is about 40 km west of Punta del Este. Piriápolis was the first beach resort in Uruguay and one of the most popular.
The weather from November to April is pleasantly warm and dry, perfect for plenty of beach time. June to September is cooler and wetter. The active season is between December and March.
There is also a natural reserve of native and rare South America fauna.
Photo credit: Cristian Menghi / Flickr
6. Rocha
Rocha has some of the very best beaches in Uruguay and visitors can enjoy them almost ten months of the year. This is a place with wild isolated beaches and surprising nature is yet to be fully discovered.
Photo credit: Pablo Martín Fernández / Flickr
7. Punta del Diablo
In recent years many visitors have discovered the great personality of this fishing village on a rocky point where the sea has sculpted to create almost perfect round shapes and strange stone seas.
The beaches are spectacular; Brava is the southwest, with waves that cut special blue-green. It is ideal for children Mansa Beach, a quiet and huge wind sheltered bay.
Photo credit: Tano4595 / Wikipedia
8. Tacuarembó
Tacuarembó town is fairly small and easily walkable. However, a good number of attractions lie out of town and you'll need your own transport to reach them. It is located in the heart of the country about 200miles away from the capital.
Fiesta de la Patria Gaucha is a big event during the second weekend of March. It celebrates countryside life and customs. Accommodation is a big issue at the festival.
Some 150 sculptures and murals outdoors exhibits can be enjoyed in public and private spaces in various parts of the Tacuarembó department.
Photo credit: Vince Alongi / Flickr
9. Durazno
The economy of Durazno largely depends on agriculture and agrotourism. The raising of sheep, and of cattle.
The Yí and Negro Rivers and large streams and in the lakes Rincón del Bonete and Baygorria.
Attractions in Durazno include important events such as the Folklore Festival and the 'Meeting of the Gauchos', places like the Hispanidad Park, located a few kilometers from the city, the church of San Pedro Parish, Regional Art Museum, Casa del General Museum.
Photo credit: Mai / Flickr
10. Carmelo
Carmelo is famous with its winemaking. Winemaking was brought to the region over a hundred years ago by European immigrants. It is one of Uruguay's largest wine-producing area.
The very alkaline soil with fossils creates a perfect microclimate for vines.
Points of interest in this area are Punta Gorda, Zagarzazú and Colonia Estrella. Close to Colonia Estrella is the Zagarzazú beach.
Nearby places are the picturesque Colonia, historic Fray Bentos, and the spa towns of Paysandú and Salto.
Carmelo is an ideal destination for those looking for a place to relax and for wine lovers tourism due to the large variety of vineyards and wineries.
11. Cabo Polonio
Cabo Polonio is a rocky point that stands 15 meters above the ocean, with two inhabited islands across one of the largest reserves of sea lions in the world.
There is no water or electricity in Cabo Polonio. This place is attracting many bohemians and backpackers.
You can just lay on the beach and forget about all the luxuriate.
Photo credit: alobos life / Flickr
12. Punta del Este
Punta del Este is a city and resort on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay.
Some popular attractions in the area include the La Mano giant sculpture, the Santorini-styled complex Casapueblo, the Enjoy Punta del Este hotel and casino complex, La Barra neighborhood, the iconic Puente Garzón, Gorriti Island, Arboretum Lussich, and the Museum of the Sea. Here is also the Ralli Museum, featuring exquisite pieces of modern and contemporary Latin American art.
13. Paysandú
Paysandú is one of Uruguay's most important cities. It is located in the northern part of Uruguay. Due to the historical events in this area, Paysandú is important tourist attraction. Just a few miles away you'l find the Guaviyú and Almirón hot spring resorts.
Some of the attractions of this beautiful historical city include the Historical Museum or the Perpetuity Monument where you can learn a part of the rich and booming history of the city.
Paysandú has many events, including Beer Week – one of the most important events celebrated in Uruguay, which attract many tourists from all over the world.
Photo credit: John Seb Barber / Flickr
14. Chuy
It is the last coastal resort of Uruguay and it is bordering with Brazil to the southeast. What is interesting is that the main street in Chuy is the actual border between Uruguay and Brazil.
The border is open, so you're free to cross back and forth between the Brazilian city Chuí and Chuy.
Chuy's residents are mostly Uruguayans and Brazilians, with almost all its residents speaking Spanish and Portuguese.
It has long beaches which makes it ideal for long walks on the beach. Some points of interest are the Santa Teresa Park, the San Miguel Fort.
"Chui" was also the name the Indians gave a yellow-breasted bird.
Photo credit: Philip Choi / Flickr
15. Colonia del Sacramento
Colonia del Sacramento is a city in southwestern Uruguay, across the Río de La Plata from Buenos Aires. It's known for its cobblestoned Barrio Histórico, lined with buildings from its time as a Portuguese settlement.
It has a long history and it was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 on the Río de la Plata, the city was of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish.
The historic Colonia del Sacramento is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995 and attracts thousands of visitors during the year from around the world. Travelers can enjoy a unique landscape with spectacular views of Río de la Plata.
Main photo credit: Wagner T. Cassimiro "Aranha" Wikipedia
Want to learn more about Bhutan? Check our other posts about Bhutan.
10 Painless Ways to Become Environmentally Friendlyby padmin / August 17, 2018
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Denver Boone was the official mascot of the University of Denver (DU) from 1968 to 1998. He was designed by a Walt Disney Company artist and named by a DU student. Having been retired and replaced by the DU administration in 1998, he was revived by DU students and alumni in 2009 and appeared at campus events as an unofficial mascot until 2018 until the character was banned from the DU Campus as part of a selectively-enforced university mask ban.  After 2018,  Denver Boone still appears at selected off-campus sporting, cultural and charity events in Denver and around the nation.

Original Denver Boone

In 1968, DU wished to update the previous mascot, Pioneer Pete, who served DU from the 1930s to the late 1960s. The DU Basketball coach Stan Albeck contacted an artist at Walt Disney Studio through a DU contact. Disney Studios drew up designs for DU, an updated, softer cartoon version of a previous DU mascot named Pioneer Pete, which Disney named "Pioneer", and passed to the DU Theatre Department, which developed the first costume. His brand appearance is a beard coonskin hat, like what a frontiersman would wear.

DU's Special Events Committee held a contest in the fall of 1968 to find a nickname for the new Pioneer. The contest was announced on the Clarion on October 2, 1968. DU undergraduate Steve Kiley won the contest with the suggestion "Denver Boone". DU student Doug Hirsh became the first of many people to play Denver Boone. Boone appeared on many of DU's sports uniforms and many editions of the Clarion, as well as making appearances at May Days, Winter Carnival, and other DU events.

Boone was nearly replaced during the 1983-84 school year as the student body was calling for a more masculine prototype. However, few alternative mascots were developed, and efforts to replace Boone, including a contest sponsored by the Clarion, were unsuccessful. In 1985-86, a poll among students found that a large majority of students approved of Boone. Pete Castro became the next person to play Boone.

Boone continued to serve until the late 1990s as the institution's official mascot.

Retirement
In 1998, the Department of Athletics and Recreation began an effort to return all of DU's athletic teams to Division-I competition, along with the opening of a new $75 million athletic facility. As part of an effort to rebrand DU's athletic image, the administration at that time saw an opportunity to replace Denver Boone. As well as the mascot's association with the NCAA Division II era of Denver sports, Boone was seen as not representative of Denver's emerging female athletes, and Native Americans on campus had expressed concerns that Boone was a representative of the western extinction of Native American culture. In this context, the University retained the Pioneer nickname, but created a red-tailed hawk mascot and logo to replace Boone, saying that "red-tailed hawks were present when the Pioneers settled Colorado". Public reaction was lukewarm; several costumed versions of the Red Tailed Hawk (now named "Ruckus") were created, but few made the connection to the Pioneers.

Unofficial return
By 2006, a campaign had started to bring back Denver Boone. In 2008, a survey found that 87% of the DU community supported reviving the character. Nonetheless, on October 20, 2008, Chancellor Robert Coombe rejected the proposal in an email to students, saying that Boone "does not reflect the broad diversity of the DU community". The issue was covered by the Denver Post, NBC affiliate KUSA, and ABC affiliate KMGH. Editorials by Valerie Richardson in The Washington Times and Mike Rosen in the Rocky Mountain News were highly critical of the administration.

By this point, DU had effectively retired Ruckus, and in November 2008, the university announced its intention to choose a new mascot, though the debate over Denver Boone continued. In a letter to students and alumni on the matter, Chancellor Coombe acknowledged that "Boone is a part of our history, one that is treasured by many alumni and friends as a symbol of the University they knew three and four decades ago". He added that "we are certainly an institution that honors its past. Hence it seems reasonable that students and alumni be allowed to use the image as a celebration of that past, to the extent that they may choose".

Therefore, in early January 2009, a group of alumni suggested resurrecting Denver Boone themselves as an unofficial mascot. Several mascot companies were contacted for designs and costings, and a grassroots effort organized via the LetsGoDU blog raised thousands of dollars for the initiative.

Alumni appealed for essay applications for candidates to portray the mascot, and DU student Scott Fuson was selected, and sent to Raymond Entertainment Group's Mascot Boot Camp, a trip fully funded by DU alumni donors. The alumni also stated that the new mascot should be committed to promoting diversity and partnering with a broad array of student groups, and the university administration reciprocated by allowing the mascot to appear on campus and at events.

The new Boone mascot was designed with an "ethnically ambiguous" skin tone and four fingers on each hand, to indicate that he should be perceived as character and not a living human being. Boone was officially unveiled by students and alumni at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC as part of the 2009 NCAA Frozen Four celebrations.

As of 2022, the unofficial Boone mascot has appeared at many DU athletic events and campus functions and in some promotional videos. The character has also appeared at DU athletic events in Boston, Minneapolis, Madison, Baltimore, Annapolis, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Milwaukee, Chicago, Providence, Buffalo, Tampa, Houston, College Station Newark, Delaware, St. Paul, Minn., Phoenix and Washington D.C. on alumni-funded trips.

On February 27, 2013, the Undergraduate Student Government passed a bill barring student organizations from Undergraduate Student Government funding for items featuring the Boone image, as the university prepared to adopt a new mascot selected by a student-led task force. However, the bill's opponents claimed that the Undergraduate Student Government was acting on their behalf without their knowledge or permission.

In 2013, DU tried to create a new mascot to replace Denver Boone with a 76-member committee, but the DU board of trustees had to stop the process when 8,000+ voters were effectively split on the three underwhelming options offered.

In 2018, the unofficial Boone mascot costume was banned from DU campus under a "no mask" policy, enacted by the DU Board of Trustees as "protection from terrorism." However, the mask ban was called into question when the DU Director of Campus Security told the Denver Post that school mascots from other schools would be allowed on campus, while the chancellor's office confirmed that DU would not allow the Boone costume, even if the person wearing it was vetted by DU security prior to the event.

References

Former college mascots in the United States
Culture of Denver
University of Denver