What If You Don't Want To Be in Business?
One of my faithful readers reminded me, ever-so-gently, that I had left a whole category of writers out of yesterday's column – those who write for the internet without thought of remuneration. It's particularly embarrassing since I'm doing exactly that with this blog. So let's back up a bit.
Being a writer and being in the business of writing are two different but equally viable paths. The first can lead you to all sorts of options – writing for neighborhood newsletters, creating resources for charitable organizations, adding touches of wisdom, humor, and insight to social media, and, of course, the whole blogging world. Being in the business of writing takes you down the path to publication in magazines, television, radio shows, and books. The first path repays you in all sorts of intangible ways, while the business path results (or at least you hope it results) in income.
Is one better than the other? No, of course not. But they are different, and they place different requirements on the writer. In many ways, I think blogging or other types of writing for the internet is the harder path because there is so much less feedback. With my published books, I can see, day by day, how many books are selling, and the royalty checks, even if they amount to only a few dollars, are a tangible proof of successful communication.
Blogging is often a one-sided conversation. My own blogging site reports the number of hits my website gets each day, but it does not tell me how many of those go to the blog, which is only a small part of the whole. I often ask questions without receiving a single reply, but that does not necessarily mean no one was listening.
Every one of those reasons is blog-worthy. Only the last three are commercially viable.
Here are a few more ideas from The Blogging Bookshelf. Try these to make your blog more attractive.
• Add or remove pages from your navigation menu(s).
• Update the copyright date in your footer.
• Add or remove other things to your footer.
• Sketch ideas for a new logo.
• Examine your tagline. Does it accurately convey what your blog is about? Is it ambiguous at all? Should you add some keywords to it?
• Find new social media icons for your blog.
• Rearrange the widgets in your blog's sidebar(s), or get rid of widgets if necessary.
• Go and take a better avatar photo of yourself.
• Browse theme/skin/design directories, either to use or just to get ideas.
• Try out a new theme on your blog.
• See how your blog looks in different browsers.
• Spend some time just looking at the design of your favorite blogs. What are some good ideas you can steal borrow?
• If your theme/design allows it, try a different color scheme on your blog.
• Plan out what posts you'll be writing and publishing in the next week/month.
• Do some keyword research using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool (free) or Market Samurai (not free). This is useful both for coming up with blog post ideas and for deciding what exact keywords to use for a topic you're going to write about.
• Brainstorm a big list of something. This can be post ideas, new blog ideas, product ideas, or anything else.
• Plan a contest on your blog. What will you give away? How will you promote it? How will you choose the winners?
• Create and/or analyze your goals.
• Make a list of blogs you want to guest post on.
• Make a list of guest post ideas.
• Plan out what you're going to do tomorrow.
• Make a list of your favorite blogs in your niche. Make it a goal to personally connect with the person behind each blog.
Is your blog beginning to look a bit shopworn and tattered? Are you (and your readers!) tired of looking at the same old images? Could the page use a new coat of paint? Let's take the next few days to consider ways to improve your blog. Most of these suggestions will take no more than 15 or 20 minutes, and the changes may improve your traffic flow.
• Find the perfect stock photo for a blog post, ebook cover, etc.
• Rewrite (or start rewriting) your "About" page.
• Look at your "Contact" page. Add a contact form if there isn't one already. Add links your various social networking profiles. Answer any common questions.
• Proofread a few already-published pages or posts to make sure you didn't miss any typos.
• Brainstorm blog post ideas.
• Write a short, non-epic blog post.
• Look at your most popular posts (either by page views or by comments). See if you can figure out why those posts are the most popular. What do they all have in common?
• Outline a "personal" post, where you talk more about yourself yet still convey useful information related to your topic. A great way to do this is to tell a story where you learned about something in your niche.
• Go back to older posts and create links to newer posts.
• Create a My Guest Posts page.
• Write a guest post guidelines page for your blog.
• Start writing a "My Story" post about how you came to be involved with whatever it is you're blogging about.
• Write a blog post asking for feedback or ideas about something (blog post ideas, direction of where your blog should go, etc.).
• Make a list of general topics you haven't covered yet. What are the "holes" in your blog content?
I am grateful to Tristan Higbee over at the Blogging Bookshelf for these suggestions. Look him up!
The Pirates Are Back. Please welcome Helen Hollick.
Many of you will remember that Helen visited here with her favorite pirate Jesamiah Acorne back in July. I've asked her to come back and talk a bit about how her blog tour went.
I have a vague suspicion that writing a book is the easy part. Getting sales is much harder work, especially if you are a self published author.
You have produced a well written, entertaining novel and you are now glowing with pride as you see it appear on Amazon. Next comes the waiting patiently for Amazon to alter the pre-order here box to add to basket. This may take a while, a lot of finger-drumming, several rude words and a couple of e-mails to Amazon (if you are lucky you might even get a reply!) The big mainstream publishers do not seem to have this problem; I suppose they have the weight and power of numbers of books in print behind them, but for the small time author we are akin to a loan voice crying up the Amazon without a Paddle.
What was particularly frustrating for me, my UK publisher had closed in March and I had already planned a summer Blog Tour for my Sea Witch books. A little matter of not having a publisher, however, was not going to stop me! I terminated my contract, asked for my files back, and signed up to a reliable assisted publishing house in Bristol UK, SilverWood Books. My intention: to get back in print as soon as possible and to go ahead with the Tour.
The files were never returned, so my old unedited copies had to be re-edited, typeset and prepared – thanks to the heroic efforts of Helen Hart and her team at SilverWood, and my wonderful graphics designer, Cathy Helms of Avalon Graphics, we made it. The Sea Witch books were in print by July 1 and a month long Blog Tour started with a bang (a broadside of cannons I suppose, seeing as the Sea Witch novels are based around pirates and nautical adventure.) On July 2 I appeared on Jessica Hasting's Laugh, Love, Write, followed by the delightful Amy Bruno's Passages to the Past – and then this fabulous blog of Carolyn's I was off, hitting the ground running.
For almost every day (except weekends) somewhere on the Internet my books were being reviewed, discussed, advertised – and marketed. I had the task of visiting each Tour Post, responding to comments and doing my bit by linking to Facebook and Twitter. It is great fun but hard, hard work. I had completed several previous Blog Tours with my historical fiction books which are published in the US by Sourcebooks Inc – but even knowing (sort of) what I was doing, this Tour was nothing like I had expected. For one thing, the organisation involved is very demanding. You have to keep in touch with the bloggers, ensure the posts are made, follow up any comments with your own – answering questions, saying thank you. Post links, be generally present etc.
I was lucky enough to have one of the ex-members of staff from my defunct gone-bust publisher willing to initially help me. Samantha had organised the setting up of the tour in February, neither of us aware that the company was about to go belly-up, that she was to lose her job and I was to be without a UK publisher. Sam had all the details backed up on her own computer, so I followed her initial enquiries with an explanation of what had happened and asked whether anyone would be interested in carrying on now I had decided to re-publish the Sea Witch Voyages myself. The enthusiasm, support and eagerness I received was overwhelming.
I have an advantage over most self published authors in that I am already well known. My Historical Fiction books have received attention on the review blogs – I even made it on to the USA Today Bestseller List with Forever Queen (US edition of A Hollow Crown) and I have quite a readership following. The Sea Witch Voyages were a different matter, however. They are a series of nautical adventures with a touch of supernatural fantasy, based around the pirate Jesamiah Acorne and his girlfriend (later his wife) the white witch, Tiola Oldstagh. By the spring of 2011, thanks to the not very impressive track record of my collapsed UK publisher, the books were on the verge of hitting the rocks and sinking without trace, as was my writing confidence.
This Tour was to be the make or break (sink or float?) for my pirate and his adventures – and my career. If the result was not encouraging I was prepared to wind my writing up as a lost cause. Self confidence is a difficult thing to maintain.
Some of the review blogs were keen to have an interview in the form of questions and answers, a couple wanted articles about myself or my books, all of which took time to compose. Other blogs posted a simple review – and the books had to be sent out in the first place. I had a few copies from the previous publisher, but postage – considering many of these review blogs are in the US and I am UK, was expensive. Quite a few bloggers accept PDF electronic copies now, which is a much easier way of sending novels for review purposes – but self published authors take note – many bloggers want to see the quality of the book itself, its design, layout, the general "feel" of it. Plus, several blogs offer giveaway copies as prizes, which the author is often expected to provide. In all, I reckon I have notched up at least £200 in expenses.
Will I gain this back via sales? I have no way of knowing until the next round of royalty statements. I will need to ensure that I follow up the Tour with getting on with the next WIP (a fourth Sea Witch Novel), leave comments on the blogs where I was a welcome guest and maintain contact on various sites, including Facebook and Twitter. To sell books you have to market books, and Social Networking is an art in itself, one I find enjoyable – but it eats time like a hungry Hour Monster.
So was my month long Virtual Book Tour worth the cost and effort? Put it like this – there is now quite a buzz on the 'Net about a certain pirate called Jesamiah Acorne; I have a ship load of new followers and fans, and as the saying goes, 'From little acorns mighty oak trees grow.' All I have to do now is be vigilant, tend the seedling, and nurture the sapling…. Watch this space.


1The penalty we may impose will equal 90 days dividends on the entire balance. All dividends accrued, but not yet credited, will be paid to the share certificate at the time of withdrawal.
2The penalty we may impose will equal 180 days dividends on the entire balance. All dividends accrued, but not yet credited, will be paid to the share certificate at the time of withdrawal.
3The penalty we may impose will equal 365 days dividends on the entire balance. All dividends accrued, but not yet credited, will be paid to the share certificate at the time of withdrawal.


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Q: re-initiate a jQuery plug-in after dynamically inserting content I have a jQuery tabs plug-in which works well... However I have a lightbox (also dynamicaly generated) that allows users to choose content which then gets shown in tabs.
This works fine if the user chooses content, leaves the page and comes back.. however i want the tabs to work as soon as the user finishes selecting content.
I have tried the usual .delegate() tags, but which event do I attach them to? I have tried doing it on the 'save' button on the lightbox but as this is also dynamically generated it doesn't appear to work.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Unique identifier for each item within Jama. This ID (Key) cannot be duplicated.
The Set Key can be changed by right-clicking on a Set and selecting the Change Set Key option. If you choose to update the items in the Set as well, items will have their IDs regenerated to match the Set's new key. This is done by selecting the Regenerate Item IDs option when changing the Set Key.


ICON PARTNERS KK.strives to take all measures to protect candidates, customers and other company's personal information secure.
On this Website and internally within our company, with direct e-mail and other means of contact, when providing your personal information, we will endeavor to protect the confidentiality of their information.
ICON PARTNERS KK. complies with the Personal Information Protection Law.
ICON PARTNERS KK., at times records details of customers names, contact information, qualifications, work experience, and other information that is included in resumes (not limited to this).
The use and legal disclosure of personal information by ICON PARTNERS KK. may be used for the following purposes.
In order to offer our services to our customers.
To the appropriate introduce new job information to our customers.
Only if the jobseeker provided permission in advance, in order to apply for a company job.
To provide latest information of our news and industry, to notify of events, and other information.
It should be noted that, that customers may request to stop the receipt of these information.
In order from time to time request an update on registered information.
In the case that has been mandated by regulatory authorities or law enforcement agencies, we may be required to disclose personal information.
We do not disclose personal information without prior customer consent, unless required by law.
When customers contact with ICON PARTNERS KK.via our website, job advertisements and other means, we will register your personal information to our database.
In addition, personal information is registered when scouted or an entry received through job boards.
In order to interview with customers and introduce new jobs, personal information is registered and our researchers, consultants or other staff may contact customers by e-mail, telephone or other means of contact.
ICON PARTNERS KK. strives to take reasonable safety measure to ensure against risks related to personal information unauthorized access, loss or destruction, falsification and leakage.


As one can learn from renowned North American urbanist Jane Jacobs's book "Life and Death of American Cities" (1961), there are several factors that provide the needed conditions for a "healthy" city: a proper functional mix in the neigbourhood; attention and awareness to vacant buildings and spaces; variety of commercial activities; density of resident population and, of course, their engagement and participation in public life - the exercise of their citizenship, among others.
Jacobs firmly believed on the need to create conditions for people to carry out their small projects and initiatives, individually or in a shared manner, within the urban framework. The breaking of neighbourhood relations compromises the building of an enduring public platform able to support this sort of initiatives that, while small in scope, have an extraordinary importance for the health and build –up of communities. These work as an eco-system, as every person is linked to the next through a physical network of connections that is both specific and complex, hard to reduce to a simple spreadsheet of numbers and statistics.
Only through observation is it possible to perceive this complexity.
With this in mind, oitoo has organized, with the sponsorship of the Association of Portuguese Architects (OASRN), a series of walks in the northeastern neighbourhoods of Porto: oitoo's walks.
By observing the city, we hope to encourage the participants' interest and direct their gaze to the seemingly mundane aspects of these areas. We hope to help in the process of re-building neighbourhood ties and the sense of citizenship through something as simple as walking around, and watching, with the help of the organizer's eyes ready to show veiled opportunities amidst the everyday cityscapes. These walks will result in a critical mapping of the (abandoned) city, identifying needs and opportunities within the framework of what's already there and may need just a little push to become useful again.


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Stephen Abara's "Anthology of African Poetry U.S.A" and "Ome Ihe Jide Ofo Afo!" set for launch
Posted on January 20, 2015 by Faustinus Nwaorgu
Stephen Obinna Abara, Playwright,Author and Poet, an award winner of the renowned Canadian Millennium Scholarship Fund and founder of the Glendon African Foundation Canada (GAF), has set aside 24 of January, 2015 for the formal launch of his literary works captioned "Anthology of African Poetry U.S.A" and "Ome Ihe Jide Ofo Afo!".
Published by Glomac Publishing, Canada, the Anthology of African Poetry U.S.A 2012 edited by Stephen Abara, eight poets of African descent contributed poems about their beloved continent touching on some of the economic, cultural, and social issues facing Africa today.
Through the poems, thecultural, social, and economic concerns facing Africa are dramatized and the readers' understanding of African lifestyle and identify between cultures is improved. Here are many examples of the complexity of forces and circumstances that saturate the African landscape and culture: the plight of children in whom the history of tradition is expected to be fulfilled even at the expense of their well-being, the social crisis of the homeless, despaired, and those trapped by the tragedy of war, and the economic poverty of many.
Ome Ihe Jide Ofo Afo, published by Glomac Publishing, Canada, the Play/Drama signifies an attempt to hold unto truth, traditions and its cultural values. In doing so, the culture(s) involved tend to address the symbolic disadvantage of telling lies compared to truth; and maintenance of such values systems amongst a people or group in Igbo land.
Charmingly, the play re-captures man's existential and essential approach to 'Truth' and its attributes.
Furthermore, it's an attempt to re-discover through a practical application of certain forms of this truth in the ideas of associated values such as Justice, harmony, equity and peace. This approach is paramount to the Ibo traditional African religion and culture old and new.
Though the title of the play is written in Igbo, the play itself is written in English. On why he choose the title "Ome Ihe Jide Ofo Afo!"for the play, this was the Playwright's response: I choose this title, "Ome Ihe Jide ofo Afo!' because of its unique and symbolic reference to universal concept of 'truth and justice' in the modern world and other contemporary art forms
The official launch of the books which will take place at RockView Hotel Owerri, Imo State on the 24th of January, 2015, at 12:00PM, will have in attendance special personalities as: His Excellency, Rochas Okorocha, the Executive Governor of Imo State; Chief Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Speaker, Federal House of Representative; Prof. Mrs.Viola Onwuliri, Minister of Education; Mr. Ezenna Eche, Commissioner of Works; Prof. Jude Njoku, Former Vice-Chancellor FUTO; Air Commodore Leo Asonye (Rtd), Prof. Cannice Asonye, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Njoku, Rector Federal Poly Nekede Owerri.
Other dignitaries expected to grace the occasion are, His Lordship A.J.V Obinna, Archbishop of Owerri Diocese; His Royal Highness Eze Samuel Orduji III, of Obiangwu Autonomous Community; Rev. Fr. Marcel Onyeocha, Engr. & Mrs. Chikwe Oparaocha, Mr. Hygenius Nwachukwu, Dr. Silver Ashimole, Mr. Alexander Abara, Lecturer FUTO; Dr. G.O.C Nwachukwu, Attorney Emmanuel Nkemji, Engr. Peter Nwachukwu and a host of other invitees
Faustinus Nwaorgu
ngorokpalaresearcher@yahoo.com
Stephen O. Abara and his literary work (A profile and review)
Attan calls for the revival of reading culture
Book Review: Ome Ihe Jide Ofo! Afo
In "Publications"
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Newsletters Story telling in business Newsletter 93: Sword of Damocles: what is hanging over you?
Newsletter 93: Sword of Damocles: what is hanging over you?
There are things we fear, things we anticipate and dread that they'll happen. There are situations that imprison us ... like the sword of Damocles, hanging by a thread ... How do we cope, what lessons can we learn?
We all anticipate, fear, dread accidents waiting to happen, nooses that trap us - and wonder how we will ever cope. Are there lessons that can be learned and applied?


I am trying to pack sugarizer(https://github.com/llaske/sugarizer) and sugarizer server(https://github.com/llaske/sugarizer-server) . I have added a Dockerfile in sugarizer dir in which I am adding both sugarizer and sugarizer-server dir to /app/code/sugarizer and app/code/sugarizer-server. Everytime I start with the build command , it crashed with error .
"ERROR Failed to build app. The app source is too large.
Please adjust your .dockerignore file to only include neccessary files."
Is there anyway to alter this limit? I tried shrinking sugarizer by 150MB around , leaving it still a 150MB package but still the error persists.
Please explain "Not needed resources". I cant find anything that seems extra or could be avoided. I already have a dockerignore file with entries for node_modules and git folders.
Oh ok, then the app is really this large. I guess we have to increase the limit then on the buildserver. I will do so in some time and keep this thread updated accordingly.
Before I adjust the source site limit, just to clarify, generally the package code itself should not be that large as it mostly contains a few scripts and metadata. The actual app code is usually fetched in the Dockerfile. Do you have a Cloudron package repo somewhere online to take a look, or did you intend to put the Cloudron package files directly into the app repo?
I have read the cloudron packaging documentation and according to that, I added a Docker file in my sugarizer dir with ADD commands to add the whole content of /sugarizer/ dir as well as /sugarizer-server/ dir to /app/code/sugarizer/ and /app/code/sugarizer-server/ .
Are you adding the contents of .git, node_modules etc by any chance as part of your ADD command?
I suspect you are developing the cloudron package inside your app's git repo itself. If you do this, you have to be careful not to add build and version control artifacts as part of Cloudron image creation. Maybe you can hop onto chat.cloudron.io and we can help you there.


Our latest bad girl painter is 18-year-old artist Olivia Moriarty, whose name you truly cannot spell without ART. Olivia has always been known as the arty kid, persistently drawing her concise and linear works at any spare moment. The characters and narratives she weaves in her ink drawings and linocuts are based on hybrid ideas of the self.
I spoke to Olivia, who lives in Australia, about her habits when making art, her fascination with "wordless stories," and what she intends to do after graduating high school.
MINNA GILLIGAN: How old are you, and how long have you been *seriously* making art?
OLIVIA MORIARTY: I'm 18 and I've been making art seriously for a few years, although really I've been making art in general, non-stop, for my whole life. Everyone has always known me as the "arty kid" at school, and drawing is so second nature to me that there isn't really much of a particular beginning point.
Do you belong to an artistic family, or the complete opposite? Do you find that your family supports your creative endeavors?
My parents are both super-creative people—my dad has always been in a band and my mum is the queen of unfinished art projects. My family is definitely supportive, which is really great!
What are your go-to materials when making art?
Black India ink! And 0.5 and 0.2 Artline drawing pens, and nice thick paper. I also use gouache and colored inks sometimes, as well acrylic paint and magazine clippings.
What compels you to make a work of art?
Honestly? I think it's mostly out of habit. Drawing is what I always want to be doing. Like, if I haven't made any art for a while I'll start to get antsy and stressed about it.
Your drawings are very concise and linear. Your newest works are reminiscent of comic book stories—is narrative important to your work?
Narrative is super important in my work. I really like the idea of wordless stories, and I try to explore that a lot through my comics—telling the story through the movement and placement of the characters instead of with words. I also tend to make the comics kind of open-ended, so they don't have much of a beginning or an ending, more just a piece of a bigger story for the viewer to work out.
Who are the people in your drawings? Are they characters inspired by friends and family or are they entirely fictional?
Most of my characters are technically fictional; however, due to the fact that I almost always use photos of myself for pose references, they all mostly end up being based around myself. I also tend to base the character around the situation that they're in. I always work out the storyline or the background before I decide on the person's appearance.
Many of the protagonists in your work are female, which is obviously super cool! Is there a reason for this?
Again, one of the reasons is that I use photos of myself for pose references. So most people I draw have my own body with someone else's head stuck on top. But aside from this, I think drawing girls is just more automatic for me.
A lot of your works have black backgrounds or large areas of black. I like how this makes your style look very clear-cut, almost like linocuts or prints. Have you experimented with lino before?
Yes! I did my senior art assignment on linocuts! Lino is definitely a medium that I really like (despite the sliced fingers from the carving tools). I love the physicality of the process and all the hands on work that is involved. I'm still experimenting with my linoprint style though, especially in a storytelling context.
It also seems as though you use color minimally. Is there reason for that? I think that sometimes holding back on color can make it far more powerful.
I really like the high-contrast effect that can be made when only using black and white, especially with bold blocks and lines. When I do use color, it's also bold and bright, and I think I just like the neat, simple look it gives to my art.
Have you had the opportunity to exhibit your artworks anywhere in a gallery context?
Not so much yet, but some of my work is going into an exhibition later in the year, which I am very excited about! And I had a self-portrait hanging in the Art Gallery of South Australia for a student program last year.
Do you use social media to display your artworks? I like Instagram in a sense that it can be like an online gallery space that is accessible to anyone. What's your relationship with Instagram?
I only occasionally post my art on Instagram because I really just use it for personal stuff (selfies). Mostly I display my artwork on Tumblr, both on my personal blog and the one I use as my portfolio, just because I have a bigger following there so it can be seen by a wider audience.
What are your future plans for yourself and your artistic practice?
I'm going to art school next year, which should be great! I'm just going to keep making art!
What are three words that would describe your artwork?
If you're a bad-person painter and want me to check out your work, please email [email protected] with the subject line "Bad girl painter." Please include a link to your blog, Instagram, or website.


Sam is PA to the Chief Executive Officer and has over 15 years experience in a wide range of administrative roles. Sam began her career working for the pharma company Protherics, undertaking a variety of roles including HR, Quality Assurance and Travel Co-ordinator.
On relocation to Southampton, Sam joined Southampton City Council's Health and Adult Social Care Business Support team, initially leading the implementation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards amendment to the Mental Capacity Act across care homes in Southampton.
Following this, Sam worked as PA to the Head of Adult Social Care for a number of years before moving to Project Management for a Council wide upgrade of the client record system. Sam joined Wessex AHSN in 2015.


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Liquid Water Flows on Mars
Todd Danielson
Featured, Slider Images
EIX, Intriguing Image, mars, water
Traces of Australia on New Zealand Glaciers
Baltic Blooms
Seal Takes Ocean Heat Transport Data to New Depths
An image of Mars shows dark, 100-meter-long streaks flowing downhill that are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. The image is produced by draping an orthorectified false-color image on a digital terrain model of the same site produced by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (University of Arizona). Vertical exaggeration is 1.5. (Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.
Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the "Red Planet." These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons and then fade in cooler seasons.
"Our quest on Mars has been to 'follow the water' in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we've long suspected," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water—albeit briny—is flowing today on the surface of Mars."
These downhill flows, known as recurring slope lineae, often have been described as possibly related to liquid water. The new findings of hydrated salts on the slopes point to what that relationship may be to these dark features. The hydrated salts would lower the freezing point of a liquid brine, just as salt on roads causes ice and snow to melt more rapidly. Scientists say it's likely a shallow subsurface flow, with enough water wicking to the surface to explain the darkening.
Lake St. Clair


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June 2, 2014 December 5, 2016
Return to Normal Sailing
We've had a flurry of exciting sails, with our delivery followed closely by a cruise to Beach Haven. This weekend, however, we returned to our usual sailing operations of sailing to nowhere with no time table or particular goal, and it was good.
On Saturday, I went down to the shore to race with Tall Oaks on Providence II. It was blowing 25kts out of the northeast and we were tickling 7kts on just the jib on the way to the course, but with the long fetch with wind from that direction the bay was choppy and the race committee called it off. We've raced in 30kts, gusting to 45, so we certainly could have made it, although we were a little shorthanded for that kind of wind. The RC said that they had some green sailors racing, and thought it best to just wait for a calmer day. We were disappointed, but as we came around to head for home, Val noticed that some of the stitching was coming loose from the foot of his jib, so maybe it was for the best. When we tried to furl it in, we found that the spinnaker halyard had somehow gotten wrapped around the forestay, so I had to take the helm while Val went forward to fix it. As we pounded into the waves, spray was making it all the way back to the cockpit, which I guess requires some serious chop on a 36 footer.
I feel like I've seem my share of breakage on racing boats lately. Last week on Revolution, we were barely away from the dock when the wind jumped from 5 to 35kts on the leading edge of a powerful thunderstorm. We already had the main set and were immediately knocked down. The hank-on genoa partially inflated on deck and we lost most ability to steer with that much sideways force at the bow. In the process we were blown into the island, somehow got off of the island, and then crash jibed so hard that a spreader broke off and the boom kicker came out of its track, leaving the boom to flail about the cockpit. I clambered up to the deck to get the sails lashed while Sailor Steve struggled to keep Revolution in deep water, trying to wrangle the boom. It was pretty unnerving in the moment, but if you sail long enough, these things are bound to happen. No matter how much I race on other people's boats, it never ceases to be an education.
Sunday was an entirely different matter. The wind was a calm 10kts or so, and Jen and I headed down to our new boat to do our usual sort of leisurely pleasure cruise.
Some of the more mundane things were the biggest eye openers for us. For example, we didn't have a truckload of stuff. We can leave the vast majority of our sailing accoutrement on the boat (and I'm not even sure that we've really reached peak efficiency yet) so we were relatively unencumbered. Also, we didn't have to wait for the ramp, launch the boat, or park a trailer across the street. Jen didn't have to endure a mansplanation of how to handle our boat once we got it launched. Our new boat is already in the water, where boats belong.
The bay was as busy as it's been all year, but most of the traffic was sailboats, doing the same promenade up and down the bay that we were. Even so, that's no reason not to try…
We're still learning what our boat will do, and our first challenge was to get up on the transom of a big Beneteau that was about a mile ahead of us as we turned the corner out of Cedar Creek.
We narrowed the gap considerably and just about got even with him when he furled up his jib and headed in to Forked River.
We continued on down the bay, sailing all the way to 42 before turning around. We're still not used to how much faster this boat is, and were a little surprised to find out how quickly we got down there. We heaved to in the open waters in front of Waretown, just to see how the boat would handle it. Because the wind was due east and the bay is angled a bit we were actually on a slightly broad reach heading southbound, and the jib may have hove to better if it was trimmed in a little more, but it still worked, which is good to know. We saw Sailitude and Perfect Fit zoom by in the other direction while we were playing, and briefly considered chasing after them, but we didn't (which was for the best, since our racing chair was at the helm of Sailitude and they would have spanked us on every point of sail).
We instead started our return up the bay, drawing a bead on a Nauticat 38 ketch and then a big Catalina. Neither were very sporting—a Nauticat is clearly a long-haul cruiser and the Catalina turned out to not even be flying a main—but it was something to aim at, and a cheetah is never looking for the healthiest, fastest gazelle anyway.
Jen took long turns on the tiller in both directions and has never seemed to enjoy (tolerate?) steering so much. I think the helm will remain largely my job, but I'm glad that Jen is settling in and becoming comfortable. The 27 is more stable, tracks better, and has a lighter helm than our 22, so I think Jen feels much more in command. Even close hauled with some heel on, I was able to give Jen the stick and take some pictures.
We sailed past Cedar Creek and continued on to 39. We were a bit outside the channel and the water starting getting thin (having a depth sounder still feels a little like ESP to me) so we jibed and headed back toward the creek.
Motoring in, I was conscious of the fact that I haven't fully acclimated to having a slip at Cedar Creek Sailing Center. We took our sailing classes there and have spent a lot of time at the marina since it's the home of our sailing club, so it's not new to us, and whenever I imagined us owning a big boy boat, it was always there. Now that we're there though, it seems odd to bypass Trixie's. I guess it's like moving to a new house down the street from your old house: driving home is completely familiar, yet slightly off.
We're certainly happy to be there though, and are certainly happy to have our new boat, even when we're just doing normal sailing.
Beach Haven 2014
The Skipper's Burden


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'Those seeking a definite certification are encouraged to cover Durham, Worcester, Oxford, Liverpool, Surrey, Bathroom, College of Eastern side Birmingham, Abertay, Artistry University Bournemouth, Sunderland or Edinburgh'. So shows The Days in the brand-new article around the bodies most probably to grant degrees to school students using the closing assessments with their diplomas.
But it's not designated as a advice: the newspaper is 'naming and shaming' these corporations that include prestigious Oxbridge Educational institutions and Russell Class subscribers because of not declining one single closing-calendar year individual. The article cites not merely these eleven universities and colleges, in which 100% of very last-yr enrollees is accorded a qualification, and also a lot of other individuals for a second time that includes professional Russell Group corporations the places at minimum 99Per cent of classmates who typed in their ultimate assessments were being honored a college degree.
Is having nearly every scholar complete a bad thing?
Vigilance with regards to the measures of college or university qualifications is, in and of themselves, a beautiful sufficiently issue, most definitely because of the style nowadays to situation educational facilities as service providers together with their individuals as 'customers': specific the cost of a institution education and learning at the present time it's reasonable to believe that almost anything less than a diploma after a great deal would lead to dissatisfied 'customers'!
Are kids honestly purchasing a simpler experience nowadays?
It could be that, but it's extremely difficult to know for some, and it's not as common as the hairless statistic makes it music. To begin with, the dwelling of level programmes changed far more than the 'falling standards' narrative acknowledges, as have solutions to instruction. The article in The Times methods its completely pass rate stat up against learners considering their 'finals' except for plenty of if they are not most university instructional classes it is really an outdated design. Where whenever last-year or so summative examinations or 'finals' grabbed while in the pretty cease from the 3 or more- or a few-12 months instruction established the classification associated with the entire diploma, at the moment several college degree courses are absolutely modular. Marks for examinations used following the primary semester belonging to the secondly year are weighted equally with those individuals consumed the very last semester of our training.
This has a range of consequences. First and foremost, there's practically nothing notably exclusive about 'finals' for most establishments: like every other tests, they demonstrate ability during the segments consumed that semester. Undesirable effectiveness of these assessments doesn't suggest a terrible all round performance generally. Next, modular qualifications give college students and their course instructors a significantly better experience of their progress than customary level programs from where the overall examinations turned out to be the be-all and ending-all. Faltering children are observed quite a bit sooner and might be targeted for even more services, placed on probation, or, in scarce problems, cautioned to retake per year or decrease out once and for all.
It may right after are usually easy for trainees to muddle with the aid of 3 years of lectures without ever education the knowledge and expertise they essential to have their qualification for this simply to come to be noticeable once they unsuccessful their finals. Nevertheless these hours, when a university's educational assessment and pastoral care and attention structures are up to a whopping the work, basically no enrollees is generally entered their 'finals' if there's a reasonable possibility they'll fail to have a level.
It's within the pursuits of everyone in our society from youngsters to managers towards the schools independently that self-confidence in Advanced Schooling requirements is always significant. But giving youngsters to go in their closing circular of exams without getting basically guaranteed of getting a college degree doesn't really denote rigour; furthermore, it perhaps implies the exact opposite: that colleges and universities have overlooked a chance to locate folks interested in further reinforce, and been unsuccessful into their duty to provide a top notch instructive experience to those people youngsters. Without doubt, as an alternative to looking at minimized problem quotes with suspicion, we should rejoice them just like a indication that schools are strongly observation the grow of these pupils and safeguarding their pursuits.
If you've get to be soaked using a certain job, set it besides and concentrate on something diffrent. Either that's an effectively-deserved burst or treating additional task you ought to starting point. That the new procedure is enough dissimilar with the last type, you might want to realize that your emotional saturation doesn't have greater than, and new work helps you 'freshen up' psychologically. Recognising and controlling saturation (and identifying appearing legitimately can not put in more time for the job from not experiencing like doing it) is considered among the most vital competence you can actually establish whilst you try to multitask properly. Saturation is additionally one of the primary reasons to starting point work with your assignments efficiently before you start they're owing. In the event you start out concentrate on an task that's because of the future and arrive at saturation spot, really difficult good luck! You're going to need to drag your slower thought process towards coating sections no matter how inefficiently it's working hard.
Portion of the skill of perfecting multi tasking is in staying sensible about what you can and can't do with your time and effort. Though unexpected context-converting will smacked your productivity very hard, you ought to mean to turn constantly connecting work. Do not allow any one to have you at the fee for others. Decide to consume three unbroken hours on the very same task and the likelihood is you'll grasp saturation idea before you achieve the terminate regarding your allotted time.
In a similar fashion, plan on working 7 days in a straight line with out day of the week out of any place in amongst and you'll find yourself unsatisfactory by yourself, experiencing substandard, and possibly giving up for your schedule completely. Identify that your particular mental faculties works best if you invest at most of the a couple of hours to any provided assignment (only if it's due the future, definitely!) and stay top notch by heading onto another and coming back to the primary task from a ruin, or the next day.
And in case you select to never succeed, turn it into a practical judgement. Assuming you have a obscure prefer to hard work and don't manage to get things undertaken, you'll think remorseful plus your time not working won't have been completely add to great use. Develop a constructive final decision to relax and allow your curly hair downward, and you'll feel really your downtime is definitely attained pay back and come back to your job the various more fresh as it.
You probably have an excellent concept of what procrastination appears like, and that's most definitely something like establishing your computer to figure in an task after which using the morning surfing the net, focusing on your social sites rss feeds and submitting relating to your Instagram accounts. However the step to minimising procrastinating conduct is knowing that it takes many different develops, which never assume all procrastination aesthetics comparable. Sebastian Bailey, the co-founder of the company work productivity consultancy company MindGym, detects four various types of procrastination, and this includes complacency 'that's easy to do; I will perpetually take action later', staying away from irritation, anxiety about inability, emotive level ('I'm just really distressed legal right now'), and activity illusion.
This survive mode of procrastination is specially worthy of be aware if you're not used to balancing a range of deadlines,. Simply because it is able to live us reduced an unsafe trail even though we're performing diligently in direction of our dreams at least we believe our company is. Motions sense procrastinators see independently perform has to be growing succesfully done as they're spending so much time… on a little something. If you've bought responsibilities thanks in five several modules it's not difficult to tell on your own you're exercising ripped-out purely because you've performed the various excess examining for one type, or simply because you continue polishing up an project you've pretty cherished working away at, though other duties sit down there unstarted. Or you might devote your entire time obsessively earning a living and reworking your task strategy devoid of previously starting up around undertakings itself!
When it is you've observed precisely where you're procrastinating no matter if it's by evading deliver the results altogether or possibly thinking about the pleasantest things on top of your range there are several techniques to field your self, and compel your own self to target assignments you actually don't need to face.
Timed ways: There are lots of approaches to coping with procrastination that advocate you allot some time and energy to an frustrating thing to do, and make it rewarding that have a ruin, or the opportunity to take steps different.
The favorite Pomodoro solution, came from in app building. It promoters operating in obstructs of 25 a matter of minutes as well as a 5-minute break, along with a a lot longer split quickly after almost every 4th effective stop.
MindGym supporters a 'strive for five' rule for remarkably terrible work or anyone causing a substantive psychological block. Spend just five minutes attempting to get to grips utilizing your project, then re-check. Soon after a few minutes, evaluate if you're planning to persist. If your venture however overwhelms you, go back in the future and throw away an additional five minutes over it. If this now appears considerably more manageable, enjoy another a few minutes and re-measure back again. The objective would be the fact you'll over time get your hands on the momentum you must expend greater around task and get it done. Regardless of if which takes a little while you'll chip at a distance at it in five-moment amounts.
Perks and benefits: Selection all by yourself an manageable quest for just a research span and celibrate your success. Treat yourself to your most desirable Tv program, social websites period, some video gaming time, or else a cocktail with mates just after you've finished it. This procedure is useful if you can break down an undertaking into definitely controllable pieces where you can nice knowledge of what constitutes advance.
Visualisation: Visualise you and your family in 24 hours' time. So how exactly does that you choose to look receiving executed the responsibility? Elated? Relieved? Unburdened? So how exactly does that same exact you will feel obtaining failed to finished the work? Upset? Eager? Personal-loathing? Trying the most suitable for long term-you are a highly effective method of dealing with your psychological prevents and completing upsetting duties!