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Natalia Campbell has been performing professionally for over twenty years.
Her first professional job, Tango Argumentio with The Flying Gorillas Company came while she was still studying. A combination of physical comedy, dance and live music which was an instant hit in the UK and then finally transferred to Argentina with a residency with the Guarani Tribal Communities in the Argentinean Jungle.
Over the years Natalia has enjoyed a diversity of acting work with various theatre companies including - Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse, Leicester Haymarket (The Curve), Soho Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, Pentabus, The Dukes Theatre, Theatre 503, Actors of the Dionysus, Farnham Maltings.
Her wish to perform classical theatre came true when Natalia was cast as Kate in Taming of The Shrew in an International Tour with TNT/ ADG Theatre Company for ten months. Due to the success of this production, she was then cast in the next five Shakespeare productions as: Titania/Hippolyta in Dream, Gertrude in Hamlet, Beatrice in Much Ado, Emilia/Bianca in Othello and the Nurse in Romeo & Juliet. All the tours combined meant that Natalia toured the world constantly for six years in thirty countries and became part of the first western theatre company to perform Shakespeare in Vietnam, India and at The National Theatre of China in Beijing.
Natalia's work in television and film has led to roles in Eastenders, Casualty and various short films, commercials, pilots, idents, documentaries, in-house films as well as being cast in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again by writer and director Ol Parker.
A Reference from Ol Parker for Natalia Campbell:
My name is Ol Parker, and I'm just wrapping Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, which I wrote and directed. It's been a mammoth endeavour, involving a giant number of cast and crew. And I can honestly say that among my favourites of all of then was Natalia Campbell. The choreographer Anthony Van Laast and I started auditioning dancers and performers some months ago, and it was clear as soon as she walked in to the room that Natalia should be hired immediately, and that we'd be lucky to have her. On and off camera she was warm, engaging presence, and she has a grace and wit that served her character well, but also helped get us through the long hours of shooting. I would love to work with her again, and would recommend her to anyone without hesitation as a client, friend and everything in between.
Love and respect
Ol x


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Biggest Week in American birding starts
Kristina Smith
mksmith@gannett.com
CARROLL TOWNSHIP – How big is the Biggest Week in American Birding? It's so big that a New Zealand man flew 8,600 miles to Ohio last year to participate.
The Biggest Week is like Christmas for birders.
It's a time where thousands of birds are flying north for the summer, and they stop at the Lake Erie marshes to rest and snack on insects and berries in prime viewing area.
The New Zealand man decided the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Carroll Township — one of the centers of the annual birding festival — would be the perfect place to see a special bird he had never viewed: a red-winged blackbird.
Red-winged blackbirds are very common in Northwest Ohio. For this man, however, they were a rarity and something on his bird-viewing bucket list.
"He was off-the-charts happy to see that bird," said Kim Kaufman, executive director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory that organizes the Biggest Week. "It just reminded all of us here why we work so hard to connect people with birds."
The sixth-annual Biggest Week starts today and lasts through May 17. And there will be many birders, like the New Zealand man, who will be searching for birds that are rare to them.
Some are locals looking for rare warblers and shorebirds; others are birders and guides who have traveled the world in search of different types of birds. Last year, birders reported seeing more than 225 different types of birds, said Kate Zimmerman, Black Swamp education director.
Magee Marsh and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge are some of the areas where the endangered Kirtland's warbler, which only breeds in one area of Michigan, has been spotted in past years.
The marshes are located on two major migration flyways, which is why Northwest Ohio has been dubbed the Warbler Capital of the World. Up to 37 species of warblers can be spotted at Magee Marsh during migration, Zimmerman said.
"If you spent the entire day, you could probably see close to 100 different kinds of birds," Kaufman said.
Registration for the Biggest Week has already surpassed the 1,500 registrants last year, and the event is on track to have more than 2,000 participants, she said.
On their quest to see rare warblers and shorebirds, birders will also bring millions of dollars to the region. They will stay in hotels, eat at local restaurants and buy gas and souvenirs here.
Birding on Ohio's Lake Erie coast accounts for than $26 million and 283 jobs, according to a 2012 study by Ohio State University's Ohio Sea Grant College Program.
The study, conducted for sea grant by Philip Xie, director of Bowling Green State University's College of Education and Human Development, showed that most birders who visit Lake Erie birding sites are from Ohio but that some come from neighboring states.
Each year, however, birders at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge come from across the world and the United States. In a USA Today poll last year, Magee Marsh was voted the best birding spot in the country.
Last year alone, 75,000 people visited the bird observatory during migration, Kaufman said.
Xie surveyed more than 1,100 birders at six popular birding sites in northern Ohio, including Magee Marsh, for the study.
The Ottawa County Visitors Bureau regularly reports an influx of people to the area during spring bird migration. Some local hotels and businesses offer discounts and specials for birders, Kaufman said.
"We're really thankful to our local partners," she said. "There are birds and birders everywhere. Everything is shaping up to be a truly magical year."
Twitter: @kristinasmithNM
Going birding?
You don't have to drive out to Magee Marsh and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, although they are great viewing spots.
You can visit other local areas that might be closer to you, like these:
• Meadowbrook Marsh wildlife area, East Bayshore Road, Danbury Township.
• Great Egret Marsh Preserve, North Buck Road, Danbury Township.
• East Harbor State Park, 1169 N. Buck Road, Danbury Township.
• Blue Heron Reserve (part of the Sandusky County Park District), north of Clyde on Sandusky County Road 260 at U.S. 6.
• Creek Bend Farm, 720 S. Main St., Lindsey
Local city parks and other nature areas in your neighborhood also could provide good birding spots, said Kim Kaufman, executive director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory.
Biggest Week in American Birding registration
Although the Biggest Week has started, participants can still register in person throughout the event, which lasts through May 17.
Registration can be done in person at Black Swamp Bird Observatory, 13551 West Ohio 2, Oak Harbor, or at Maumee Bay State Park, 1400 State Park Road, Oregon.
For information, visit www.biggestweekinamericanbirding.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The EPBD recast established that all new buildings have to reach by the end of 2020 the nZEB target set by the Member States. The scope of this report is to provide a CRAVEzero cost spreadsheet, implementing a comprehensive and structured methodology in order to evaluate the LCC with a particular focus on nZEBs.
The analysis within CRAVEzero is based on standard values from EN 15459:2018 that provides yearly maintenance costs for each element, including operation, repair, and service, as a percentage of the initial construction cost. For the passive building elements, an average yearly value accounting for 1.5% of the construction cost has been assumed for the evaluation. The value has been cross-checked with average values coming from the experience of the industry partners.
The analysed case studies are located in different European countries, i.e. Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden, with specific characteristics in terms of climate conditions, construction, and energy market. Therefore, in order to compare the results of the case studies and to draw a general overview of the costs of the current nZEB practices, a normalization of the collected data is needed. In particular, the construction costs have been normalised considering the data from the ECC (European Construction Costs) that calculated a European construction cost index that quantifies the ratio among the construction costs of EU countries. For the climate conditions, the normalisation has been carried out considering the Heating Degree Days of the building locations. Concerning the energy process, a common value has been adopted.
The second part reports an overview of the results, with the comparison of relevant indicators, costs, and performances among the case studies considering the effect of local specificities, different context and use of the buildings (i.e. normalised results).
The results show how the investment costs for design, material labour and other initial expenditures is around 60% of the LCC, while the energy and maintenance account for around 40%. As it was expected, the energy costs during the life cycle of a nZEB represent a minor contribution to the LCC, with an average of around 15%. Looking at the breakdown of the cost for the building elements, and highlighting the impact on the construction costs, results show that in some cases the structural elements represent a significant contribution to the construction, according to the complexity and the dimension of the building. On the other hand, nZEB related technologies have a small impact on the construction costs, although in comparison to a traditional building the cost for the HVAC system and the integration of renewables is more significant.
Finally, the third part of the report presents 12 dedicated technical tables, summarising the main results and indicators calculated with the CRAVEzero spreadsheet (i.e. actual results without normalisation).


Fair is fair? The first comic we met 'Amador' was when she told Joy to leave Gary alone and the next meeting is when she called them whores. Sure she has beaten them up before but there always a reason...wasn't there?
Neil's comment about two wrongs making a right comes to mind here. Where is Neil, anyway? He might be a good person to have around right about now.
I think it would be slightly funny if Gary looked out for Joy until she returned to herself but noone ever tells Joy about it or she doesn't see him help her. That or the two become friends for a short time until she returns to her old self.
Good start to a love story. Two of the most badass people in the school working together.


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Anne Schmatelka (* 1965) ist eine deutsche Pferdesachbuchautorin und Dressurausbilderin.

Anne Schmatelka beschäftigt sich mit klassischer Reitkunst sowie mit der Gesunderhaltung von Pferden, insbesondere wie man sein Pferd trotz der Rückenerkrankung Kissing Spine schmerzfrei und reitbar halten kann. Sie hat mehrere Bücher und seit 2008 einige Artikel in nationalen und internationalen Pferdefachmagazinen veröffentlicht.

Zu ihren Mentoren gehören Paul Stecken und der langjährige deutsche Bundestrainer der jungen Reiter und Junioren "Bimbo" Siegfried Peilike. Von beiden hat sich Anne Schmatelka reiterliche Unterstützung geholt.

Sie lebte viele Jahre in Warendorf und in Frankreich. Seit 2018 lebt sie in Stäfa ZH/Schweiz.

Veröffentlichungen
 Über den Rücken. Pferde mit Rückenproblemen richtig reiten. Cadmos, Schwarzenbek 2011, ISBN 978-3-8404-1014-7.
 Die Losgelassenheit des Pferdes. Ausbilden und Reiten ohne Zwang. BLV, München 2012, ISBN 978-3-8354-1100-5.
 Ein Pferd spricht. Zaungespräche. Vindobona, Neckenmarkt 2012, ISBN 978-3-85040-527-0
 Die korrekte Ausbildung des Reitpferdes. Probleme erkennen und lösen. BLV, München 2013, ISBN 978-3-8354-1159-3.
 Pferde losgelassen und gesund. Müller Rüschlikon, Stuttgart 2019, ISBN 978-3-275-02148-2.

Weblinks
 Persönliche Website

Einzelnachweise

Sachbuchautor (Pferd)
Deutscher
Geboren 1965
Frau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Dr. Barrezueta grew up in Ecuador where he completed a Doctorate of Medicine at the Universidad de Guayaquil. He completed his residency training in El Paso at Texas Tech Health Science Center.
I knew as a child I wanted to be a doctor. My goal was to treat all people no matter their social background with superior healthcare.
I have a particular passion to care for young patients.
Ascension Providence currently participates with various insurance plans. Insurance listings are subject to change without prior notice. Please contact your provider to verify participation prior to scheduling your visit.


Don't miss the opportunity to be the homeowner of this beautiful single family home located in Spanish Oaks Subdivision. This property has been completely remodeled, 4 big bedrooms, 3.5 baths. Open floor plan. Amazing master closet with plenty of space and custom made cabinets. Granite countertops, upgraded kitchen cabinets, stainless steel appliances, plantation shutters in all windows, beautiful porcelain flooring, split bedroomsEnjoy your days relaxing in the recently built swimming pool, check the gazebo and the covered patio. This is a wonderful property and a must see.


Our client, a reputed bank in the region is looking to recruit their CEO of their Investment Banking subsidiary in Saudi Arabia.
As CEO, the selectected candidate will be expected to lead the Bank team that is invovled in corporate advisory, capital market offerings, private placements, M&A etc and also oversee their private banking and asset management business. The CEO will have responsbility for managing the profitability as well as overall risks within these divsions and will have the opportunity to formulate and implement the strategy for the business to delivery growth and profitability.


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Aecom experts added to DL's 'Tall Buildings Group'
By David Matthews2011-05-12T12:25:00+01:00
Firm says global network of experience will establish Aecom as global leader in tall buildings
Davis Langdon has formed a "Tall Buildings Group" to bring together experts in high-rise construction from across the Aecom group of companies.
Aecom, which bought Davis Langdon last August, also purchased American contractor Tishman which is currently the construction manager on the replacement World Trade Centre in New York.
The group will be headed by Steve Watts, Davis Langdon's director, and Hamib Adib, Aecom's senior vice president, who is based in New York.
Watts said: "Tall buildings have enjoyed a sustained period of growth since the turn of the century but we are now facing an unprecedented economic environment. Global trends are rightly sharpening the focus on high-rise cost and value drivers, and the new group will enable us to bring together experts in their fields, to respond to these challenges."
The group is an extension of the Davis Langdon Tall Buildings Group that was formed in 2005.
Photo: SOM
Aecom buys Davis Langdon for £204m
Takeover after months of negotiations ends the independence of one of UK industry's biggest names
Aecom buying spree continues with £160m deal for Tishman
Aecom has bought fellow US consultant Tishman Construction for $245m (£160m)
Aecom buys Tishman for £160m
Engineering giant lands $1bn-turnover US construction manager


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The Rider Online | Legacy HS Student Media • November 17, 2021 • https://therideronline.com/entertainment/2021/11/eternals-review/
Eternals Review
https://www.marvel.com/movies/eternals#
Connor Whitfill, Staff Writer
Marvel Studios introduces a new expansion to their universe "Eternals." The movie follows 10 ancient immortal heroes who fight to defend intelligent life from Deviants, aliens that feed on humans and other life. The movie follows the basic Marvel Formula which leaves audiences and critics in between when it comes to the movie's score. However, all of that can be made up for through sets and post-credit scenes.
The Marvel Formula contains a plot structure used in most Marvel Movies. It tends to focus on a hero that must overcome a huge obstacle with some help from friends or family. Toward the end of these movies, a new villain becomes established if they were not already introduced. Finally, the hero wins which presents a clear resolution. "Eternals" stuck to a majority of this plot, this creates a mediocre story. Although there were slight deviations to the formula at the end that saved the movie.
The actors and actresses were split when it came to entertainment. Actors like Don Lee (Gilgamesh) and Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo) created excellent and comedic characters. They both provided spectacular character arches. However, there were some actresses such as Angelina Jolie (Thena) and Lia McHugh (Sprite) who presented very dull characters with motives that did not add up. These roles made parts of the story not as enjoyable and brought down the film.
The director, Chloé Zhao, chose to use fewer green screens and used places around the world like London, the Canary Islands and the Outback of Australia. London in particular created a realistic feel in the movie through the city view and people-environment interaction. Overall, these locations were successful in the creation of ancient themes and expanded on the idea of how long these heroes have been around.
The best portion of most Marvel movies follows the post-credit scenes and this theme continues in "Eternals." The two scenes expand on the universe through the introduction of new characters and mystical items. For the biggest Marvel Fans, the scenes will hit home and provide excitement for those who have seen Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame."
In conclusion, this Marvel film falls in between the best and the worst. An official score I could provide for this movie would be 60%. I hope to see future movies with real sets, better-formed characters and detailed end-credit scenes.


Lo.k. who's giving the likes of The Pirate Bay firm in Google's Piracy Search Filter – Groove shark. the search large has quietly improved its checklist of censored phrases to add the song streaming provider onto it, however has not special why Groove shark used to be placed on to it.said first by means of Torrent Freak, it has been referred to that Google won't recommend "Groove shark" on autocomplete when you begin typing within the words. It is very important sort in your entire phrase and presses enter with a purpose to coax Google to point out you a relevant result. Google Search's autocomplete feature is a great help when you don't have precise information about what you're searching for or are trying to find suggestions. however, the search engine has a blacklist the place it makes it very troublesome to seek for certain phrases and phrases.
historically, Google has blacklisted cuss phrases, vulgar slang and pretty much anything a curious kid would possibly stumble upon or is also embarrassing in a piece setting. For the reason that previous couple of years, Google has additionally been using this blacklist to cover "piracy-associated" phrases from Google Search, including "The Pirate Bay". Groove shark's addition to the listing does now not come as a whole shock, for the reason that Google had obtained relatively a couple of DMCA takedown notices for the website online—one of the elements used to resolve whether or not or no longer a filter must be applied. While Groove shark has been treading on murky waters of on-line streaming of music, it has performed somewhat safe via having had negotiated licensing deals with indie music labels. Major labels weren't too happy with their content material being on Groove shark, although, as that they had now not agreed to a handle it. Google did not provide so much by the use of why Groove shark was once particularly focused, but stated that it used to be disposing of terms from autocomplete that have been carefully related to infringing results. "When evaluating terms for inclusion, we take a look at several factors, together with correlation between the time period and outcomes which have been subject to legitimate DMCA takedown notices," a spokesperson from Google stated. Algorithms or no longer, do not predict Groove shark to pop up on autocomplete any time quickly.


Minister Bruton and Minister Mitchell O'Connor announce €200m investment in New Buildings for Institutes of Technology. The projects will be procured on behalf of the Higher Education Authority and the Department of Education and Skills by the NDFA, who will also act as financial adviser.
Click here to see the press release issued by the Department on Monday 16th October 2017.
When available further information will be posted to the Third Level Institutions project page.


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Prime Minister discusses skills required by the workforce of the future with UCW Degree Apprentices
ninja_forms_preview_page→
On the morning of Friday 15th October, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson MP visited GKN Aerospace's Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Bristol to see first-hand how GKN Aerospace is shaping a more sustainable future of flight.
The Prime Minister, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss MP, officially opened the £32M centre, which was jointly funded by GKN Aerospace and the Aerospace Technology Centre (ATI). The Cabinet Ministers saw the break-through technologies being developed, from advanced and lightweight composites today, to the use of precision robotics for the manufacture of next generation wings.
The Weston College Group (which UCW is part of) work in partnership with GKN Aerospace as a training provider and as part of this visit the Prime Minister spent time discussing the skills required by the workforce of the future with the Weston College Group's Principal and Chief Executive Dr Paul Phillips CBE, and Degree Apprentices from GKN and Airbus.
Conversations revolved around Zero Carbon Emissions for aerospace for the future and the necessary development of new fuel and energy systems.
The Prime Minister also saw how apprentices had access to the latest technology being developed for the manufacture of tomorrows aircraft and the group discussed the use of composites, robotics and augmented reality with demonstrations from GKN engineers.
The apprentices were also able to share their degree apprenticeship journey and how they saw the experience benefiting them from being able to study for their degree whilst having the exciting experience of working on the next generation of aircraft as GKN Aerospace and Airbus apprentices.
Dr Phillips commented: "I felt honoured to be able to outline to the Prime Minister the exciting partnership that has been established with the GKN Global Technology Centre and the inspiration apprentices are taking from studying in the Weston College, West of England's Institute of Technology dedicated on-site training facilities. I was also very proud to see our degree apprentices voicing their knowledge and experience, it was a thoroughly insightful and enjoyable morning."
IMAGE: The Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Liz Truss visit GKN Aerospace in Bristol. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street.
Where Are They Now? Scott's Journey From Musical Theatre Student to Disney Star
HMPP Take Part in Emergency Incident Training
How Did UCW Students Spend Blue Monday?
Detective Inspector Visits Uniformed and Public Services Students


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Q: Get event when Xamarin.Forms View is ready For quite some time I was trying to find some kind of event or hook that notifies me when the view drawing is done.
E.g. I'm converting my controls to images for performance reasons, because they're complex and this way it's a lot faster. But I cannot really say when the drawing process is done so I'm just guessing with a time delay. Of course this is not really satisfying.
So does anyone see a solution to this problem? Is there a way to tell when the control is fully drawn? Or is this just not possible, but why then?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Nature Nate's Honey Co. to Exhibit at 2019 Summer Fancy Food Show
The number-one branded honey company will feature honey packet innovations in booth no. 5557 at Javits Center June 23-25
MCKINNEY, TEXAS – (June 17, 2019) – Nature Nate's Honey Co., the number-one branded honey company in the U.S. and producer of 100% Pure, Raw & Unfiltered Honey, announces today that it will display honey packet innovations alongside its core line of products at the Summer Fancy Food Show June 23-25, 2019, in New York City, NY.
Attendees can visit the Nature Nate's booth no. 5557 located on Level 1 during the 3-day show. At the booth, Nature Nate's will display honey packet innovations designed to address today's on-the-go trends. Samples will be available of Nature Nate's Raw & Unfiltered Honey, Raw & Unfiltered Organic Honey, Honey Maple Syrup, Honey & Comb and more.
"We are excited to participate in the 2019 Summer Fancy Food Show," said Nathan Sheets, founder and CEO, Nature Nate's. "We look forward to meeting with industry leaders to share the joy of Nature Nate's Honey, reveal our latest innovations and showcase how we can partner with retail customers to expand the consumption of honey."


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Q: Jmeter : Reading variable from csv and pass it into another varaible I want to read a variable from CSV and use that value into another variable.
Example:
I have a variable as:
${url}: wwww.$(value_from_csv}.com
and secondary url ${url}/xyz
In my Jmeter script, ${value_from_csv} is not passed.
What I am missing?

A: Observed that CSV Dataset Config values are not passed (not available) to any of the Config Elements irrespective of the order of the components (Config Elements) in JMeter Test Plan (checked with User Defined Config & MongoDB Source Config), though passed to Samplers.
so, suggested the OP to define the value in jmeter.properties instead of a CSV file, so we can access user.host in MongoDB Source Config.
Steps:

*

*Add user.host=address in jmeter.properties

*Restart Jmeter

*Add ${__P(user.host,)} in Server Address List field in MongoDB Source Config
Note: In case of running JMeter script from Jenkins, property will be picked by the script, from jmeter.properites file.

A: MongoDB Source Config is initialized before any JMeter Variables so the only way to make it dynamic is using JMeter Properties instead.
You can set a JMeter Property in 2 ways:

*

*Define it in user.properties file like:
server.address.1=some.ip.or.hostname.1
server.address.2=some.ip.or.hostname.2

*Pass the properties via -J command-line arguments like:
jmeter -Jserver.address.1=some.ip.or.hostname.1 -Jserver.address.2=some.ip.or.hostname.2 ....

See Apache JMeter Properties Customization Guide for more information on using JMeter Properties


Trapcode Particular is a plugin for After Effects that lets you create organic 3D particle effects and complex motion graphics elements. Now includes Fluid Dynamics. Use our designer to select presets for emitters, particles, physics and aux particles. Create multiple particle systems and emit from 3D objects.
Red Giant Trapcode Suite 14 Serial + Crack Full Free Download. Create 3D visual effects with industry-standard package for motion graphics in After Effects.
Caution : The examples of "ayato@web" are all, It is created in composition size "640x480" (Square pixel). It reduces to 240x180 after a rendering.
In this tutorial I will show you how to create animated watercolor and paint elements inside After Effects CC.
The Matrix Raining Code. Posted on 02. Aug, 2011 by Jerzy Drozda Jr in After Effects. Have you ever felt that theres something wrong with this world?
Hi! First of all I must say that this is an absouloutly stunning effect that you've created! I'm at the moment doing a project in school, where we are designing a multimedia concept of a project that is under construction in my town.
Thank you for installing! Red Giant Link makes your life easier by keeping you connected, and your products up-to-date. Learn more. Here are some resources to help you make the most of Color Suite.
Download once & use forever. Get thousands of royalty-free stock music tracks from a wide variety of styles and genres. From podcasts to feature films, we have the professional music you're looking for.
After Effects and GIFs are finally reunited! With easy 1-click workflow, Alpha channel support, Batch Render and GIF compression, GifGun is the go-to tool for making GIFs for Adobe After Effects.


Whole Body Healing is an acupuncture and Chinese medicine clinic located with New England Integrative Health Center. We offer effective acupuncture treatments from licensed acupuncturist Elizabeth Girard. Elizabeth specializes in womens health, working with infertility issues and menstrual irregularities.
I have been practicing acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Pioneer Valley since 1980 with offices currently in Cummington and Northampton. My patients come from diverse backgrounds, ranging from those who have an established belief in the mind-body connection to those who arrive at acupuncture as a last resort when conventional treatments have failed.
Traditional Medicine ~ Your Health Matters!
An individual plan that works for you and your lifestyle.


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You are browsing the Italy version of the site.
Richard Jones Virtual Magician
HOME ::CATEGORIES:: Live Music and DJ:: String Quartets,String Trios and Solo Strings
Booking String Quartets & String Musicians
Hire string quartets, trios, duos and solo acts to strike an elegant note
A classic choice, string musicians are the epitome of elegance. Strike a polished atmosphere with our exceptional string musicians whose musicality and skill provides the perfect backdrop or centre-stage entertainment for any event.
Read more about String Musicians
Hire String Quartets & Musicians for Events
String musicians are highly-sought after and it's easy to see why! They are the ideal entertainment choice for almost any event owing to their versatility, diverse repertoires and utmost professionalism. Many of our nibble-fingered musicians celebrate the great composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert but also love to subvert expectations with incredible covers of contemporary pop songs to astonish audiences.
Whatever the style, we will handpick the perfect string ensemble for you, to hit the right note at your corporate event, cocktail evening, classical concert, wedding day, ceremony or special occasion. We're proud to work with large string orchestras, string quartets, string trios, string duos and soloists including violinists, cellists, harpists and violaists attuned to classical, Western and international traditions.
What type of music do string quartets play at an event?
Traditionally, string quartets play instrumental pieces by classical composers from throughout the eras. Beautiful for ambient background music, concerts, or as a live accompaniment to other entertainment such as dance, classical string quartets set a sophisticated and elegant atmosphere. But this isn't all they offer!
Increasingly, string quartets offer classical crossover repertoires mixing in popular contemporary pop songs along with jazz, film scores, and more. And it doesn't end there! Able to lend their strings to any genre of music, our artists could even play Bollywood music if you wanted.
What is the most popular music for string quartets at a wedding?
There are a number of classical pieces that are requested again and again for weddings. Whether for the entrance of the bride, signing of the register or recessional music, these beautiful classical pieces are highly popular for weddings and common for string quartets to have among their repertoire:
Trumpet Voluntary (or Prince of Denmark March) – J. Clarke
Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach
Ave Maria – Schubert
Clair De Lune - Debussy
Of course, there are also the very traditional pieces that you hear in the movies - Mendelssohn's Wedding March and Wagner's Bridal Chorus.
More and more, couples are asking for modern songs and films scores for their walk down the aisle. From Bruno Mars and John Legend to Disney and Des'ree, anything goes when you're choosing special music that you'll treasure forever.
How much space will a string quartet take up?
A string quartet is made up of four musicians - two violins, a viola and a cello. Each musician will need a chair (without arms so that they may play freely) and a music stand. A space of roughly 2 x 3 meters would be big enough for a quartet.
Do you have all male string quartets?
We have a diverse range of all kinds of line ups on our roster including all-male, all-female and mixed. Let us know what you're looking for and we'll be able to advise which quartets would work best for your event needs.
Do you offer string quartets that play pop music?
Yes! Mixing up genres, repertories and instruments is a really cool way to add interest to your event and surprise guests with unusual arrangements. You might also consider an electric string quartet if you want to add even more of a contemporary feel to your string pop songs.
Featured Act
Our Featured String Act
Our classically trained and truly exceptional British electric violin duo is one of our most glamorous top-tier acts. They've shared the stage with icons of our generation including Adele, Beyoncé and Celine Dion to name just a few, so it's no surprise that our talented twins are in-demand.
Our Twin Sister String Act have excelled in the industry; renowned for their fresh twist on contemporary pop and house music, ability to play traditional and electric violins and collaborate with other artists such as DJs.
Click here for profile
CASE STUDY: Comedy Strings on-board Viking Line's Cruise Ferries
If you were ever under the impression that string quartets could be dull - think again! Our Comedy Strings Ensemble are absolutely hilarious, exceptionally talented, classically-trained musicians. Two comedy string ensembles boarded two of Viking Line's cruise ferries and accompanied passengers on their voyage across the Baltic Sea and provided a daily dose of side-splitting musical melodies.
Their shows are a crossover between a classical concert, a gypsy-folk extravaganza, an opera, a stand-up comedy set and a brilliant dance show all rolled into one! Following rave reviews from passengers and crew alike, you can expect to see our Comedy String Ensemble aboard Viking Line's vessels in the near future!
Currently Trending- String Musicians
Beatboxing String Quartet
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Expert Advice on hiring String Musicians
Our Head of Artist Development Daniela gives her top tips
There's more to string than violin
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Intertec at EES (Electrical Energy Storage) Europe, Munich, June 20-22, booth C1.232
Outdoor protection expert launches passively cooled enclosures for field-based energy storage systems
•	optimizes protection and reliability for energy storage applications in harsh environments
Munich, Germany, June 20, 2018 --- At EES, Intertec is launching a range of ultra-robust enclosures for protecting field-based energy storage and electronics equipment. To minimize the long-term cost of ownership of field-based equipment in this fast-growing market, the enclosures employ advanced composite-GRP (glass fibre reinforced polyester) structural materials. Moreover, they can be fitted with a complete choice of coolers to optimize battery performance and reliability - including fully-passive systems which operate without electric power.
The global move towards renewable energy is opening up hundreds of new applications for distributed energy storage systems and electronics control equipment. As many applications in the sector are located outdoors and remotely, and will demand long lifecycles and low cost of ownership, Intertec believes enclosures fabricated from advanced GRP materials will become a mainstream protection solution.
Intertec expects GRP to succeed because of the immense track record this material has in the processing industries. GRP enclosures have become the preferred solution for process control and instrumentation protection in the most demanding outdoor applications in the world today. These applications include extreme environments such as the Arctic Circle, deserts, and coastal and offshore locations. Intertec has more than 50 years' experience of developing GRP enclosures for such applications and has a large portfolio of advanced composite-GRP materials to cope with the environmental protection challenges they present.
In addition to these attributes, Intertec will design and fit enclosures with custom internal environmental controls - such as the temperature regulation that is often required to optimize the life of battery systems. Options include unique passive and hybrid cooling systems - which eliminate or reduce the need for electric power and provide project design engineers with exceptionally reliable solutions.
Two main passive cooling technology options are available. Pure passive cooling systems for field enclosures from Intertec include a water circulation system with internal and external heat exchangers. The technology works by exploiting the temperature swing over the daily cycle. The water is cooled during the night when temperatures are lower. The cool water then reduces the enclosure's internal temperature during the day. Natural convection moves the water around the system. This solution is widely used today in arid and desert application environments, and Intertec has built many hundreds of this type of field shelter.
When configuring passive cooling systems a critical parameter is night temperature. This provides the driving force for the natural circulation that transports heat out of the enclosure. The lower the night temperature, the more efficient passive cooling becomes. By adding one or more active, powered cooling elements, Intertec can create hybrid cooled enclosures and shelters that can be used in many different climates - from arid to temperate or even equatorial regions. Hybrid passive cooling can be easily achieved by adding a water chiller such as Intertec's Hybricool unit. This direct water chiller reduces the temperature of the water tank whenever electricity is available - from the grid or solar power. If the electricity supply should fail for any reason - or the water chiller should fail - the passive element of the cooling system will continue to operate and keep the energy storage system and electronics equipment cool, providing plenty of time for maintenance staff to visit the site and make repairs.
In addition to passive and hybrid passive cooling, Intertec can fit enclosures with conventional powered cooling systems such as air conditioners - including specialized versions for operation in hazardous areas.
Intertec offers a spectrum of outdoor enclosure shapes and sizes, from boxes and enclosures for smaller-scale applications, through to larger equipment cabinets and walk-in shelters. In addition to standard shapes and sizes, Intertec offers probably the largest choice of composite-GRP construction materials to optimize the enclosures for particular applications. The protection challenges that can be handled include insulation for reliable operation in extreme climates, explosion proofing, fire resistance, and near perfect protection against corrosion, ultraviolet radiation, and many other challenges.
"The renewable energy industry is still at a relatively early stage and we have seen a number of companies protecting outdoor equipment using ad-hoc outdoor protection solutions such as adapted containers", says Intertec's CEO Martin Hess. "GRP materials, and particularly specialized composite-GRP variations, have an unparalleled record in providing long lifecycle protection and offer designed-for-purpose protection solutions for housing control electronics and energy storage systems."
www.intertec.info
Intertec-Hess GmbH, Raffineriestr. 8, D 93333 Neustadt, Germany. t: +49 9445 9532 0; info@intertec-inst.com
Intertec Instrumentation Ltd, 14a Riverbank, Lower Beach Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BH43 5YH, UK. t: 0800 756 1102; info@intertec-inst.com
Background information on Intertec
Intertec produces protective enclosures for field-based process instrumentation and control equipment, using glass fibre reinforced polyester (GRP). This material offers remarkable advantages for oil and gas applications (including natural corrosion resistance, low weight, extended durability for long life applications, much higher thermal resistance than metal – making it easier to insulate against heat and cold – and benign environments for wireless communications). A broad range of enclosures, cabinets and shelters, plus a comprehensive selection of accessories including heating and cooling components, protect against freezing, condensation, solar radiation/UV, explosion, fire, corrosion, impact, etc. Intertec has designed and shipped over a million instrument protection enclosures since 1965, to protect equipment operating in the most demanding operating conditions on Earth - from Arctic regions to deserts to harsh coastal and offshore environments. Application-specific protection may be configured using free software tools. Or, Intertec will configure a turnkey solution for clients, using know-how that has evolved over more than 50 years. Intertec manufactures in Neustadt (Germany), Sarnia (Canada), and Houston (USA), and also has an assembly and system building centre in Russia. www.intertec.info
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Intertec's new enclosures for field-based energy storage equipment includes options with passive or hybrid-passive cooling systems - providing project design engineers with exceptionally reliable solutions.
A typical field shelter layout for field-based systems - with separate compartments for batteries and electronics equipment, both cooled using passive technology.
Intertec's new enclosures for protecting field-based energy storage and electronics equipment can be fitted with hybrid-passive cooling options - using a combination of both active (powered) and passive cooling elements.
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Latest releases from Intertec
08/09/20 - Enclosure expert Intertec acquires Thermotex Engineering 29/06/20 - Innovative field shelter delivers off-grid cooling solution for remote desert basestation 20/01/20 - GRP shelters provide advanced protection for offshore process analyzers 08/10/19 - Compact enclosures simplify high temperature process analytical applications
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Use the information below to forward email from your local email server to a hosted Exchange mailbox.
1. Open Active Directory and go to the Users container.
2. Create a new Contact using the alternate email address for that user.
3. Now find the User account in Active Directory, right-click and go to properties.
4. Locate the Exchange General Tab.
5. Click the Delivery Options button.
6. Under Forwarding Address, select the Forward to: option button and then click Modify and enter the name of the Contact that you just created.
7. You may also select to deliver email to the new hosted server and the users old local inbox. When done, click OK and Apply.
1. Open the iMail Administrator.
2. Find the domain and then User.
3. Under the General tab you should see a Forward at the bottom.
4. Enter the alternate email address for that user.
5. To retain a copy of each message on a local server, enter the alternate email address with a period and comma.
1. Login as the user.
2. Under Account Options, select forwarding.
3. Enter the alternate email address for that user.
4. To retain a copy of each message on a local server, enter the alternate email address with a period and comma.
1. Create a mail forwarding rule.
2. Forward all emails for the users to the alternate email address.


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Q: Populate a html tag like  from AEM dialog I'm trying to allow an author to change the heading size in the markup based on a dropdown in the dialog with the options "h1, h2, h3, h4".  If none is selected, it should default to h2.
I'm trying to do this with ternary code like I would for dynamic classes or content, but when I do this it just prints the code out on the page.  The result of the following should be
 Heading
 or have h2 replaced by a dialog selection
<${properties.headingSize ? properties.headingSize : 'h2'}>
    ${properties.heading}
</${properties.headingSize ? properties.headingSize : 'h2'}>

The result of this code in Inspect Element is
<${properties.headingSize ? properties.headingSize :="h2" }>Heading

Is this not a recommended way to accomplish dynamic markup?  Or is there a way to get the ternary to work correctly?

A: The recommended way to solve your problem is to make use of the data-sly-element statement to replace your element name. Sample usage is shown below.

${properties.heading}

For more information on the acceptable values for data-sly-element as well as the  available block statements that can be used in HTL, kindly refer this official documentation


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Tobacco harm reduction, anti-THR lies, and related topics
because cultivating the truth requires both seeding and weeding
Abbrevs/glossary
About C.V.Phillips
Lie, defined
← Sunday Science Lesson: How are deaths counted (for pandemics, smoking, etc.)?
The unfortunate case of the Cochrane Review of vaping-based smoking cessation trials →
Sunday Science Lesson: Smoking protects against COVID-19, but most of the related "science" is badly misguided
Posted on 9 August 2020 by Carl V Phillips | 8 Comments
by Carl V Phillips
I am skipping the Introduction section here. Which is to say, I assume that the reader is at least somewhat familiar with the the overwhelming evidence that people who smoke are much less likely to have bad COVID-19 outcomes. It turns out that this phenomenon and the (often misguided) chatter around provides a great case study for some general science lessons. Here are a few of those:
1. Small nonsystematic collections of observations < systematic observations / experiments < large, somewhat systematic, reasonably comprehensive collections of observations.
To unpack that, anyone who follows pop discussions of science has learned that systematic focused studies, of whatever sort, offer better information than happenstance data collection. That is basically true when they are on the same scale. So if we have a case series of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, than happens to have smoking data, it is not as good as a systematic study that focused on smoking status and COVID outcomes. This is true for various reasons — e.g., the smoking data might not have been accurate because it was not anyone's real focus. The comparison for those studies in this case are population averages (i.e., the smoking prevalence among the patients is observed to be lower than for average people in that country) which do not offer a perfect comparison. A study that focused on smoking status, and tried hard to collect that information correctly and figure out what baseline to compare it to is a lot more reliable.
But in this case, any limitations of the individual studies is made up for on sheer volume. We have a zillion of the former imperfect-but-easy comparisons, and a decent handful of the latter. And almost all of them support the claim that smoking is protective. It really is approximately a zillion. See this thread by @phil_w888 on Twitter, in which he has collected, at the time of this writing, 762 published reports that inform the question of whether smokers have lower rates of COVID-19. Almost all the results point in the same direction; the rare exceptions are what we would expect from normal study error.
This is absolutely overwhelming evidence. Something would have to be systematically misleading about hundreds of different observations, that use different methods in different populations, and have many variations in exposure and outcome measurement. Not to say that is impossible. If we had 762 studies comparing height to breast cancer risk, they might all show that being taller is strongly protective (because men). But it is hard to imagine such an failure to recognize an important variable. No one has proposed a plausible explanation other than causation.
Anyone who says, "we need to do study X to see if this is really true" is just chasing grant money. Anyone who says "this new study shows it really true" is apparently not familiar with the hundreds of previous reports. The statement "this new result should convince the deniers" is wrong; it might be what gets someone's attention for the first time, but that is different. Anyone familiar with the data who did not believe this was real clear back in April, let alone now, is unlikely to be swayed by any evidence.
The evidence is reasonably systematic, by which I mean that it was not apparently cherrypicked in any way to try to "show" something that is not true. It is not limited to specific and possibly odd populations. It is consistent across methodologies, giving us confidence that it is not an artifact of study design.
If you are seeing a parallel to the question "does vaping cause people to quit smoking", you are spot-on. We do not know that to be true because of some contrived ultra-systematic little study. All of those are trumped by the much broader knowledge.
2. "Meta-analysis" is usually junk science, and this is a great example of that.
All those "meta-analyses" of the smoking-COVID results you see floating around are complete junk. By junk science I do not just generically mean "bad science" but rather "a methodology that even if done as well and honestly as possible produces meaningless results". As I have previously explained at length (e.g., here), the meta-analysis method of averaging together a bunch of study results (which is not the only form of meta-analysis but is what "meta-analysis" always means when used by people who are not expert in methodology) is only valid if you can legitimately imagine that all the studies are really slices of a single large study (rows of data) that were separated into different datasets for some reason. If that were the case, it would make sense to put them back together.
This is sometimes(!) kinda(!) the case for clinical treatment experiments where the treatments are mostly(!) the same, the outcome measures are reasonably(!) consistent, and people are mostly(!) functioning just as biological machines and thus are fairly interchangeable. Notice all the emphatics in that sentence, though. Even for this best-case scenario, there are departures from the implicit "the data was separated at birth" assumption. As soon as we depart from that simple case, the averaging becomes absurd.
Consider an example most of you are familiar with, clinical intervention trials where people who smoke are persuaded to try to switch to vaping. This is a collection of very different interventions (though they can all sloppily described as "give vapes to smokers") in different populations — different at both the macro level (the larger population in space and time that the study is drawing from) and the micro level (exactly which unusual group from among that population volunteered to be part of the study). Even the relatively simple outcome measures vary across datasets. So averaging the results together is utter nonsense. What is it the average of? The answer is not even something vague and barely-meaningful like, "the average result when you try the many different possible methods across many different peoples and times" because it is not even that. It is the average of results from the particular collection of methods and people that people happened to write down, which is unlikely to represent the full range of options. Moreover — if you want to put the icing on the cake of this absurdity — the average is weighted by however big the particular individual study happened to be. So if there was one study of Estonians who were given a cigalike in 2017, but it was only 20 subjects, then its result will barely affect the average, but if they had happened to enroll 1000 subjects in the exactly same study with the exact same result, it would have a large effect on the average. Just think about that. Anyone who thinks all this is legitimate scientific methodology, well, I have some bad news for you about astrology also.
The data on smoking and COVID makes the smoking cessation trials look like medical treatment trials, in terms of heterogeneity and representativeness. As noted in the previous point, one of the strengths of the data supporting the smoking-COVID conclusion is that it is extremely heterogeneous. Even the collections that are the "same" are very different. For example, even if you limit your collection to case series of COVID patients from Chinese hospitals, it is still a collection of whatever people happened to be in these particular hospitals on particular days (and they differ at the macro and micro levels even though they are more similar than "all the people in the world"), with very different outcome endpoints (each study was about some particular outcome of interest to one group of researchers), different exposure measures, and different data collection methods. It is absurd to average these together. Needless to say averaging these and whatever data happens to appear in French and American national statistics, and some case studies in Germany, and so on, is several steps more absurd.
Moreover, even if the methodology did not deliver an absurd weighted average of whatever happens to have been reported, why would you want to know the average? Imagine that we had data for every COVID hospitalization for each country in the world, rather than just a random nonsystematic subset of those, and could average them all together. Why would we want to? If the apparent protective effect were greater in China than in France (this seems to be the case), that is more useful information than the average of them. The same is true if the association varies by outcome measures or whatever. Taking the average discards useful information and produces nothing of value.
3. "There is a plausible mechanism" rhetoric is approximately worthless.
Being able to come up with some plausible story for why an association in the data represents causation is not an impressive feat. It can pretty much always be done. This is particularly true when the story is about biochemistry, where human knowledge is still so primitive and where few people have any real intuition for it (unlike with behavioral stories). It is informative when someone proposes the story and then specifically tests it (i.e., "under this story, we would expect to see X and not expect to see Y, and so we looked to see if X and Y…."). But an ad hoc story to explain an existing observation is entirely different.
If data came out that wearing cloth masks does a better job of reducing SARS-CoV-2 spread than paper masks, it would be accompanied by a collection of just-so stories about what mechanism is causing it. If the data said paper worked better than cloth, it too would be accompanied by mechanistic stories. Sitting there by themselves, either set of stories would be plausible and indeed compelling because it was the only thing being presented. People would be saying, "yeah, because of [mechanistic story], we would expect this difference". Whichever way the difference went, the commentary would be all about why this should be expected to be the case.
I suppose that if no one can come up with any story for how a particular association is causal, that would be a strike against the claim of causation. Though sometimes even when the first reaction is "nah, no way this is real", it turns out that it is and no one understood the story, so this is far from definitive. Perhaps if data showed, say, that smoking weed on Tuesdays is strongly associated with diminished productivity, but smoking on Wednesdays is not, the right assessment would be "we cannot figure out any story that would make this a real causal difference, so we conclude it is a meaningless artifact of our data." But I'll bet that half of you are already coming up with stories for why that contrast might really be causal, so you just proved my point.
So when you hear a story about what is causing a particular observed pattern in the data, keep in mind that it is always easy to make up such a story. Of course, if someone performs a proper focused test to see whether that story, rather than some alternative, that is good science. That is the essence of science. But don't expect to see it in public health research, where they will just make up a story and declare it to be true without ever testing it.
3a. There is little reason to believe that the protective factor is nicotine.
This is the specific implication of the previous point. You may have seen the claims that nicotine seems to be what makes smoking protective because "…blah blah…ACE enzymes…blah blah…lots of other words that you think must be true because they sound all sciencey". While these stories are plausible, the existence of the stories is not informative. Again, plausible stories are always possible.
Smoking is a complex exposure that has a lot of effects on people's biology and behavior. SARS-CoV-2 transmission is complicated and we do not fully understand it, and COVID-19 severity is even more complicated and we barely understand it at all. There are countless possible causal pathways there, only some of which are about the nicotine. Just as people with little knowledge of tobacco use think of nicotine as being the harmful aspect of smoking, people who are immersed in vaping and NRT politics tend to think of nicotine as the beneficial aspect of smoking. They have an anti-scientific prejudice (like most people do about most things, but it is less forgivable in this context) and so make up a story to make the data fit their assumptions.
The scientific approach would be to withhold judgment until we have some data that resolves the question. The easiest and most obvious observation would be whether exclusive vapers or long-term NRT users have the same protective association that smokers do. Unfortunately, we will not stumble into that observation like we did with smoking because there are fewer of them and data collection about vaping/NRT status is of even lower quality than for smoking, and often not collected at all. Thus there needs to be a focused systematic study to answer this, and it does not seem to be happening.
It is worth adding that trials in which smokers are given nicotine patches when hospitalized for COVID-19 (which are being done, because there is always money for treatment research) are not helpful in answering this question. The biggest variable in that mix is whether or not patients are forced into the stress of nicotine withdrawal. (It would certainly be very useful to know if this is killing people, but it does not address the question of why smoking is protective.) Indeed, even giving non-smoking patients nicotine patches would not address the question very effectively because (a) effects of an ongoing consumption choice do not necessarily start the first week of consumption and (b) the protective effect of smoking occurs before someone becomes a patient, so any effect at this stage might be an entirely different phenomenon.
3b. Where along a causal pathway the protection occurs is also unclear
This is another specific point relating to story-telling. Almost all of the available comparisons are based on clinically-significant (usually hospitalized) COVID cases. The deficit of smokers in that group could mean that smoking prevents colonization with SARS-CoV-2, or that it prevents the colonization from causing into COVID-19 at all, or that it prevents cases of the disease from getting severe. The effect is frequently described in terms of preventing colonization, which might be true (and would be bad news for smokers, given that the protection is presumably not perfect, so smokers remain susceptible to eventual infection), but we do not know. The evidence cited in favor of that — comparisons of smoking rates in all test-diagnosed cases (not just hospitalized cases) show a deficit of smokers — does not really show it. If smoking only prevented significant disease after infection, we would still see this because (in most populations, so far) a large portion of tests are among people with disease symptoms.
It turns out epidemiology requires a bit of thinking about what the data means. Go figure.
4. Correlation is not causation, but it is the best possible evidence of causation that exists.
Causation can never be observed. Never. Never ever ever. All we can do is infer it from observed associations. If you have those, whatever form they take, you can infer causation. Or perhaps not — because perhaps there is a good affirmative reason to doubt that the association is causal. If so, it is useful to focus on testing that rather than either doing more of the same or, worse, saying "there is a reason for doubt and therefore I am just going to doubt". This does not include running any old clinical trial whose only "virtue" (*cough*) is being a clinical trial. There are no simple recipes for inferring causation. Anyone who suggests otherwise is too simple to be doing science.
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8 responses to "Sunday Science Lesson: Smoking protects against COVID-19, but most of the related "science" is badly misguided"
John Walker | 9 August 2020 at 6:57 pm | Reply
Carl a lot of swedes use SNUS , is there any info on outcomes for that group?
Carl V Phillips | 10 August 2020 at 8:16 am | Reply
That is a good point. I had not seen anything so asked the aforementioned Phil, who also reports not having seen anything.
This would distinguish among the hypotheses, though not quite along the nicotine-vs-other line. It would roughly be the "delivered drugs/chemicals"-vs-other line, which is not just nicotine, though it is the dominant delivered drug. It would distinguish whether it was these instead of smoke, lung damage, CO, etc.
We don't seem to have it. But as you suggested, it would be a way more practical comparison to make because of the concentration of snus users in Sweden.
John Walker | 10 August 2020 at 7:04 pm | Reply
It would help narrow the field a bit. I also understand that Snus is popular across a fairly wide demographic of swedes , is that correct? If true it might also reduce confounding from other factors a bit , no?
The lack of data re Snus sort of surprises me.
Carl V Phillips | 10 August 2020 at 9:10 pm |
I agree that it is odd we don't have it. I think the problem is the same reason we don't have many focused studies about smoking and why, e.g., the CDC stopped reporting the smoking data they have: the usual prohibitionism. The people who are in the best position to tell us the snus story from Sweden want to avoid telling the world that snus is good for you (if that turns out to be the result).
And, yes, if we had that it would be really good data because snus use is "normal" in that population.
John Walker | 10 August 2020 at 9:35 pm |
Carl It could be that because so few Swedes actually smoke combined the very low risk posed by Snus to the lungs, that they did not think to collect data re Snus and the virus at all.
Something that just struck me; in most developed nations ( including China) most smokers are from lower socioeconomic groups , the very same groups that have had the worst outcomes re Covid. So the apparent under representation of smokers looks even stronger, no?
BTW we really lived through our recent summer of fire . Early on I was struck by the parallels between human responses to the Virus and to, wild fire. So i wrote this it might be of interest.
https://arena.org.au/of-fire-and-the-plague/
Pingback: Vaping Digest 10th August – vapers.org.uk
Roberto Sussman | 11 August 2020 at 3:33 am | Reply
Indeed, the protective (or at least "non-risk") effect of smoking on COVID-19 cannot be overlooked after 700 plus reported observations under very heterogeneous conditions in so many countries, even if the statistics of meta-analysis is so questionable. I am aware of the nicotine explanations but (to be honest) do not understand them. One way to test them would be to look at COVID-19 cases who are snus users in Sweden/Norway.
If not nicotine, could it be some chemical interaction between a compound (or compounds) in tobacco smoke and the aqueous secretion droplets? These droplets and their nuclei, made of salt crystals and proteins, are sensitive to environmental factors: temperature, humidity, UV radiation. Some virus become deactivated by ozone. I find it very puzzling how little we know of the physical and physicochemical properties of the viral particles. I might be naive but I wonder why so few (or none) experiments have been conducted to test the stability of the SARS-COV-2 virus under environmental factors. As far as I know, there is only one study looking at these properties:
van Doremalen et al., 2020. Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS- CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1. N. Engl. J. Med. https://doi.org/10.1056/ NEJMc2004973.
However, the experiments done in this study were extremely idealized and its conclusions must be taken with a grain of salt. The issue is why no more studies along these lines have been conducted.
As far as vapers are concerned, the only registered case I am aware of is 2 hospitalized vapers (out of 256) in Greece. This was not published in any study, I know it from personal communication by Konstantinos Farsalinos. As far as I know none of the hundreds of available studies have registered hospitalized vapers (but as you say sloppy data collection cannot be ruled out). The usual suspects (NIDA, CDC, Glantz, ALA, AHA, etc) claim that vaping is a serious risk factor, citing a number of studies on pulmonary effects that are highly speculative: either cell/mouse studies or cross sectional studies finding acute lung effects on small samples of vapers who are entirely ex-smokers (they did not control effects of previous smoking, I can provide examples). To declare vaping as a serious risk factor from this literature is ludicrous.
Evidently, the usual suspects would have loved to use the COVID-19 pandemic to play again an EVALI scare as they did in 2019. However, they can't do it because COVID-19 dead or seriously ill vapers are not found. I believe that had there been a registry of seriously ill or dead vapers from COVID-19 they would be screaming it all over the land.
It also might not be a specific chemical from the smoke, but just smoke in general — killing the virus, making the lung more impenetrable, etc. Hmm, places where they have lots of non-cigarette smoke exposures have remarkably little COVID. This, of course, are incredibly tenuous speculations.
Yes, it would be fairly easy to check some of these potential implicit hypotheses. It has not been done simply because the powers that be don't WANT to learn about the beneficial effects of smoking.
The problem with vaping data is that smoking is routinely collected in medical records any other surveys — imperfectly of course — but vaping is not. Most of the smoking data is thanks to this incidental collection. Vaping data would require a focused study.
And, yeah, the claims that smoking/vaping/[whatever the disfavored behavior of the day is] makes COVID risk worse are completely baseless and are obviously a attempt to make something up to support a pet political goal.
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The unfortunate case of the Cochrane Review of vaping-based smoking cessation trials
Sunday Science Lesson: How are deaths counted (for pandemics, smoking, etc.)?
Can smoking protect you against COVID-19?
New Glover-Phillips paper: "Potential effects of using non-combustible tobacco and nicotine products during pregnancy: a systematic review"
Carl V Phillips on The unfortunate case of the Co…
Bernd Mayer on The unfortunate case of the Co…
Allen Speck on The unfortunate case of the Co…
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New Glover-Phillips paper: "Potential effects of using non-combustible tobacco and nicotine products during pregnancy: a systematic review"
Science Lesson: what are vapor, aerosol, particles, liquids, and such?
Dear "public health": you seriously cannot figure out why people hate you?
What is Tobacco Harm Reduction?
Lying with literally true statements is the worst kind of lying
"Dependence" and the danger of adopting the language of your oppressors


The unlabored erudition of Anthony Lane makes him the closest thing that our culture has to a working man of letters, and his insight about the Beijing Olympics that "the one aspect of victory that Plato could not have foreseen is the television camera" has even more implications than the one he sets forth ("Fun and Games," September 1st). As a film critic, Lane understands the temptation of the cave far better than most; if Plato did not foretell the clarity by which the camera separated the individual from the masses, as Lane writes, the philosopher did predict the distracting and illusory allure of that manufactured image in the Republic, both in Book VII's Allegory of the Cave and in Book X's indictment of the painted image.
Week Two at the Olympics.


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Q: CakePHP Form input not applying validation I cant seem to figure out why my form is not applying validation defined in my model. Any assistance?
\app\View\Enquiries\view.ctp:
<?php
echo $this->Form->create('Enquiry', array('action'=>'email','novalidate' => true));
echo $this->Form->input('message', array ('type' => 'textarea', 'class'=>'form-control'));
echo $this->Form->hidden('email', array ('value'=> $enquiry['Enquiry']['email']));
?>

\app\Model\Enquiry.php
<?php
App::uses('AppModel', 'Model');

class Enquiry extends AppModel {
public $actsAs = array('Acl' => array('type' => 'requester'));

public function parentNode() {
return null;
}

public $validate = array(
'message' => array(
'notEmpty' => array(
'rule' => array('notEmpty'),
'message' => 'Please enter your enquiry',
'allowEmpty' => false,
)
),
);

public $belongsTo = array(
'User' => array(
'className' => 'User',
'foreignKey' => 'user_id',
'conditions' => '',
'fields' => '',
'order' => ''
)
);
}

\app\Controller\EnquiriesController.php
<?php
App::uses('AppController', 'Controller', 'Network/Email');

class EnquiriesController extends AppController {

public $helpers = array('GoogleMap','Html','Form','Session');   //Adding the helper
public $components = array('Paginator','Email','Session');
public function email($id, $dest=null){

if ($this->request->data) {
//Admin reply enquiry email
$Email = new CakeEmail('default');
$Email->config('default');
$Email->template('replyenq');
$Email->from(array('xxxx@gmail' => 'xxxx'))
->to($this->request->data['Enquiry']['email'])
->subject('xxxx has sent you a reply!')
->send();

//after sending, display a notification
$this->Session->setFlash(__('Reply enquiry has been successful.' , true), 'alert-box', array('class'=>'alert-success'));

//Redirect after email has been successful
return $this->redirect(array('action' => '../enquiries'));
}

else {

$this->Session->setFlash(__('Message was empty. Please ensure you enter a message'), 'alert-box', array('class'=>'alert-warning'));

return $this->redirect(array('action' => '../enquiries/view/'.$id));
}
}
}

A: Data is only normally validated when calling the save() method of a model. Your controller takes the submitted data and puts it straight into an e-mail so there is no interaction with the Enquiry model.
You will need to manually call $this->Enquiry->validates() from the controller and add logic to deal with the result.
See also: Validating Data from the Controller


Conclusion: In Southern Iran, people with multiple sclerosis are disproportionately born around the beginning of Spring (when population vitamin D levels are lowest) and the risk for multiple sclerosis is lowest for people born at the beginning of Fall (when population vitamin D levels are highest).
Conclusion: In this study mice with autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of multiple sclerosis, were exposed to various intensities of ultraviolet A radiation and ultraviolet B radiation to see what effects the light had on the disease. Ultraviolet A radiation had no effect at all on suppressing encephalomyelitis in mice, but Ultraviolet B exposure DID. Ultraviolet B exposure suppressed and delayed the onset of encephalomyelitis. Another interesting thing is that none of the light exposures raised vitamin D levels in the mice, leading researchers to conclude that there is some other element at play with the Ultraviolet B radiation BESIDES vitamin D production that improves immunoregulation. This could also, however, be due to people and animals with multiple sclerosis having impaired vitamin D endocrine systems (which is documented), the mice maybe not receiving enough UV exposure to synthesize vitamin D, or that the mice, as the authors noted, ALREADY had sufficient vitamin D levels before exposure.
Conclusion: People with multiple sclerosis are disproportionately born around the beginning of Spring (when population vitamin D levels are lowest) and the risk for multiple sclerosis is lowest for people born at the beginning of Fall (when population vitamin D levels are highest).
Conclusion: In a study of 469 multiple sclerosis patients, those with higher vitamin D levels had lower brain lesion activity, lower disability, and lower relapse rates.
Conclusion: Vitamin D levels and sun exposure-related skin damage were measure in 216 adults experiencing demyelination of their central nervous systems. These results were compared with 395 healthy, matched controls and the study found that the subjects who reported higher levels of past and recent sun exposure had a reduced risk of CNS demyelination, those with more skin damage resulting from sun exposure had a reduced risk of CNS demyelination, and those with higher vitamin D levels had a reduced risk of CNS demyelination. Sun lovers suffer less multiple sclerosis.
Conclusion: In Sweden, people with multiple sclerosis are born more in June and less in December/January, adding support to the hypothesis that month of birth affects multiple sclerosis risk.
Conclusion: Long-term, frequent UVB exposure has a suppressive effect against Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, a murine form of multiple sclerosis.
Conclusion: People with higher vitamin D levels have fewer incidences of multiple sclerosis compared to people with lower vitamin D levels.
Conclusion: Women who take vitamin D supplements have been found to have a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis compared to women who do not take vitamin D supplements.
Conclusion: 39 multiple sclerosis patients with low vitamin D levels were enrolled into a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. 17 of them took 1000 IU of vitamin D daily for 6 months and the other 22 took no vitamin D. Serum TGF-β1 (transforming growth beta factor 1), a protein that has been found to play a role in reducing multiple sclerosis symptoms, were then measured after the six months. Those treated with vitamin D experienced a significant increase in their TGF-β1 level whereas placebo treatment had no effect on TGF-β1 levels. It's important to note that 1000 IU is an extremely inadequate dose of vitamin D for adults and that while this dose did increase serum vitamin D levels, it failed to increase vitamin D levels into the sufficiency or optimal range. What effect would a stronger dose of vitamin D have on TGF-β1 levels?
Conclusion: Multiple sclerosis patients with lower vitamin D levels suffer more brain lesion activity. Multiple sclerosis patients with higher vitamin d levels suffer fewer brain lesions.
Conclusion: There are more incidences of multiple sclerosis in the northern regions of the United States than the southern regions, which are closer to the equator and enjoy more vitamin D-creating UVB solar radiation.
Conclusion: 80 women with multiple sclerosis were analyzed. The group had a low average vitamin D level with 23% being very deficient. Those with more severe multiple sclerosis had lower bone density, which is a well-documented symptom of low vitamin D levels. More recently vitamin D deficiency has been strongly associated with multiple sclerosis.


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Home » Skyrim Quotes
Tech • Video Gaming
Skyrim Quotes
Written by James
Games have gotten so popular nowadays that their sequels are among the most awaited things for their fans. Among these highly popular games is The Elder Scroll series. Its latest addition Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, which is basically its fifth sequel is a huge success. Its released worldwide on platforms such as Windows, Xbox and PlayStation.
Skyrim is a game set in the fictional country of Tamriel. The time and technology of the world is a mix between Vikings and Medieval times. It is made by Bethesda and is the fifth instalment in The Elder Scrolls. You play as a Dovahkiin, which is dragon-tongue for Dragon Born.
You exist in a place and time where dragons have returned to your land and must be stopped before ruling the world. The game focuses on large dungeons to explore in order to progress the literally infinite number of quests one can undertake. There are centralized stories and plots which drive the main character to the discovery of their unique fighting abilities while still preserving an entirely open world of beauty and mystique. The focal points of the quest lines written into the game allow the player to deeper understand and connect with the lore of the Nordic people and their traditions.
The game is designed as an open world, exploration based, role playing game. It allows you to live a virtual life in an amazing environment. The game has been a huge success around the world with millions of copies sold. Critics received it with huge acclaim though it had some technical issues at the onset.
Skyrim characterization is very rich and great care is taken in the dialogues. All of this have made the gameplay a fun experience and its dialogues are even used as quotes. Skyrim is also the target of many memes which made it even more interesting and boosted its popularity.
Some of the Best Squirm Quotes are Below:
Best Skyrim Quotes
"I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee." – Guards.
"If it's the war you're referring to, I'm on the side of Whiterun. No doubt General Tullius and his friends in the Empire will tell you that I owe them my loyalty, and perhaps I do." —Jarl Balgruuf the Greater.
"Do you get to the cloud district very often? Oh what am I saying, of course you don't." – Nazeem.
"You see those warriors from Hammerfell? They've got curved swords. Curved. Swords." – Guards.
"I fight so that all the fighting I've already done hasn't been for nothing.
I fight… because I must." ― Ulfric Stormcloak.
"Stormcloaks, Imperials, dragons. Ain't no matter to me what I kill. Let them come." – Guards.
Above Skyrim quotes are some of the most famous Skyrim quotes.
Skyrim Inspirational Quotes
Some of the best inspirational Skyrim quotes are compiled here.
"Sometimes life puts you in difficult circumstances you didn't choose. But being happy or unhappy is a choice you make, and I've chosen to make the best of things that I can." – Shahvee
"I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to the knee."
"My father taught me an important lesson many years ago. He said, " Gwinlin, you have the whole world before you. Go out and experience it… be whatever you want to be." So, I took his advice, and here I am. This life might not look like much to you, but I'm content, and isn't that all that matters?"
~Gwinlin of Ivarstead
"I fight so that all the fighting I've already done hasn't been for nothing. I fight… because I must." ― Ulfric Stormcloak
Skyrim Funny Quotes
Skyrim is among the most fun centered games to play. The whole game is filled with such light hearted comments and dialogues which doesn't let you fall in monotony. Some of the most funny Skyrim quotes are below. The first one is the famous Skyrim Sweetroll quote.
"Let Me Guess; Someone Stole Your Sweetroll?"
"And The Braggart Named Ragnar Was Boastful No More, When His Ugly Red Head Rolled Around On The Floor!"
"I'm A Mad God. The Mad God, Actually. It's A Family Title. Gets Passed Down From Me To Myself Every Few Thousand Years!"
"Nord Nonsense? Why, You Puffed Up Ignorant!"
"Iron Sword Huh? What Are You Killing? Butterflies?"
"Wait, I Know You."
Then there is the famous Skyrim curved sword quotes. This quote comes off as unintentionally funny. First, it's doubtful that the concept of curved swords is something new, even to the Nords of Skyrim, especially given Tamriel's rich and detailed history.
"Those Warriors From Hammerfell? They've Got Curved Swords. Curved Swords!"
"Either I'm Drunk, Or You're Naked. Possibly Both."
"Is That…Fur Coming Out Of Your Ears?"
"You Know The Old Saying: When Life Gives You Lemons, Go Murder A Clown."
"I Used To Be An Adventurer Like You, Then I Took An Arrow To The Knee."
Last but not the least is the sweet mother sweet mother Skyrim quote.
"Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear." – The Black Sacrament of The Dark Brotherhood
Skyrim Quotes about Life
Though a game, we will find important things about life if we look at between the lines. Some of the best Skyrim quotes about life are presented here.
"I need to go marry my wife, so I can beat her to death." ― Aaron Kyle Andresen
"So, can I have kids with the bitch before I put her six-feet deep?" ― Aaron Kyle Andresen
"When life gives you lemons, go murder a clown." ― Festus Krex Skyrim
"Lot of history in these walls. We're trying to make some more. It's a lucky time to be alive." —Jorleif.
Skyrim Dragon Quotes
Dragons are an integral part of Skyrim. Dragon represents power and mystery. Some of the best dragon quotes are here.
"You do not even know your own tongue; Do you? Such Arrogance! You dare take the name of the Dovah!"
"What is better: to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?" ― Paarthurnax
"One can scry the currents of time, if one has the skill, but to scry the currents of fate one needs to dive headlong into doom." (Mulqoreyn)
"I'm so happy I could just tear out your intestines and strangle you with them!" -Sheogorath
"I hope you're having a good time….I hope I'm having a good time. I could care less about you! (Sheogorath).
Skyrim Khajiit Quotes
Khajiits are a character within Skyrim which are hated and are not allowed within the boundaries of the city. Here are some of the Skyrim Khajiit quotes.
"A peaceful greeting to you."
"Welcome to you."
"Fortune smiles upon this meeting."
"Blessings of the moons upon you, traveller."
"The warm sand of Elsweyr is far away from here."
"The roads of Skyrim lead to many dangers."
"We are creatures of the Desert.
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Famous for its fort, a visit to Kuchaman takes you to the magic of a bygone era. You can view the life of Meera Bai in miniature paintings in the Meera Mahal. In the Lok Dev Temple appreciate the beautiful paintings of Lok Devatas such as Sant Tejaji, Sant Gogaji, Sant Pabu Rathore, Baba Ram Dev, Sant Kesaria Kanwarji, Sant Jamboji, Sant Ravi Das, Sant Kabir, Guru Nanak and Khawaja Moinu-din-chisti. The temple was built by Ranjit Singh to honor the sacrifices of the masses. Other attractions in Kuchaman include the Meena Bazaar (a bustling bazaar where merchants, tradesmen and craftsmen used to put up their wares for sale to the royalty) and the China Pole (with its exceptional intricately painted interiors made by a Chinese traveler narrating his experiences during his travels in India).
Kishangarh was a princely state ruled by the Rathores and located on National Highway 8. Apart from its fort, the Kishangarh is known for the miniature paintings style known as Kishangarh Art. Phool Mahal (Flower Palace), now converted into a hotel is the main attraction inside the fort. Kishangarh is also known its rich storehouse of marbles.
Roopangarh was built by King Roop Singh of Kishangarh in 1648. Originally a nine-turreted fort, new additions were continuously made to in the coming years. Difference in the architectural styles can be easily observed in the fort.
Ajmer is a major city in the North Rajasthan and located just 14 km from Pushkar. The most popular attraction in the city is the Dargah or tomb of the 13th centurySufi Saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti. Other attractions are the Anna Sagar Lake, the Nasiyan Temple, and the Arhai Din ka Jhonpra.
Sambhar Lake is a declared wetland of international importance and a wonderful place for excursion. It is a place where horizons stretch to infinity and water and skymerge in a shimmer of gauzy blue. The lake is considered as the bird watchersparadise and home to around 140 species of avifauna.
Shahpura used to be the capital of the erstwhile State of Shahpura in the princely days. The rulers belonged to the Sisodia family of Rajputs of Mewar (Udaipur). The town came into existence when it's first chief, Sujan Singh (grandson of Amar Singh I who ruled from 1597 to 1620), took over in 1629.


text:
Australian submarines: do we really need them?
Posted on 27 May 2015 by The Manufacturer
Mark Beeson, Professor of International Politics at University of Western Australia asks the question.
The UK's recently launched BAE Systems-designed Astute-class nulear submarine.
Of all the questions that have emerged about the future make-up of Australia's new submarine fleet, one has been conspicuous by its absence: do we actually need them in the first place?
No doubt strategic hardheads will dismiss such a question out of hand, but it's worth thinking about the supposed necessity and benefits of what will be Australia's largest ever defence investment (with the F-35 jet procurement and maintenance program not far behind). If any other arm of government were proposing to spend A$20 billion of taxpayers' money they would be expected to have an extremely compelling rationale for such expenditures.
Significantly, however, defence is generally immune from such scrutiny, despite a woeful record of cost blowouts on hardware of questionable value. Issues of "national security" are, it seems, non-negotiable and their strategic logic is simply tacitly assumed and unjustified. Governments, we are constantly reminded, have no higher responsibility than the security of the nation. Perhaps so, but the best way to do that is far from self-evident.
The principal justification for the new Australian submarines is their supposed deterrent effect, as no less a strategic expert than the treasurer, Joe Hockey assured us. Yet who are they supposed to deter? Certainly not our Southeast Asian neighbours who lack the capacity to provide the sort of strategic threat to which submarines would be a realistic response.
More importantly, they – like us – have more important domestic security concerns on which to spend such eye-watering sums of money.
Realistic security threats?
China is the only credible regional concern, even if it's impolite to say so. Would China immediately start drawing up invasion plans once they heard we'd decided not to update the submarine fleet? The question is preposterous, and overlooks the changed nature of the international system, the logic of war, to say nothing of actually getting here.
More "realistically", could China threaten to cut us off from the rest of the world by threatening our supply routes? Perhaps so. But what would the world look like if such a decision actually made sense to the Chinese, or anyone else for that matter? And would our submarine fleet stop them? The reality is that it is difficult to imagine a set of circumstances where the possession of 12 (or 20) submarines would decisively, unequivocally determine the behaviour of any other power.
Apart from anything else it is inconceivable that Australia would be facing such a threat alone. Even a relatively diminished America would not look with equanimity on such developments and Australia's actions in isolation would not be decisive.
Would the Australian submarines offer value for money?
More pointedly, it is widely considered that submarines are losing many of the supposed advantages and deterrent threats they were once assumed to have. Submarines – and our equally expensive new fighter planes – are becoming easier for a potential enemy to find and eliminate as a consequence of new technologies. As Brian Toohey has pointed out:
"Defence planners are ignoring how rapid advances in data-processing speeds and sensors will make it much easier to detect and destroy the supposedly stealthy new submarines and F-35 fighter planes Australia's military security will rely on for another 40 or 50 years."
In other words, by the time the new Australian submarines are built they risk being outdated white elephants – even in the unlikely event that they actually operate as promised. As the Collins class saga reminds us, there is absolutely no guarantee of that.
Am I suggesting, therefore, that we "freeload" on the defence efforts of others? Yes, that is precisely what I'm suggesting. If the region, much less the world, is ever to escape the perils of a ruinously expensive "security dilemma" in which each state endlessly ramps up in its defence spending in a futile effort to maintain strategic superiority, then we will have to think of new ways to organise our collective defence against things that actually do threaten our individual security.
It hardly needs to be pointed out that the new subs won't exactly be in the forefront of the response to global terrorism, illegal immigrants, or the other more plausible, low-level threats to Australia's security – and everyone else's, for that matter. Nevertheless, we are preparing to make the biggest defence outlay in the history of the country on something that it is impossible to imagine being used in defence of the nation. To which the conventional response is: but we can't take chances with national security.
Oh, but we can. The reality is that we are wilfully ignoring an all-too-real threat to our security that is already upon us and which directly threatens our lives and livelihoods. I refer, of course, to climate change.
Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus about the dangers posed by global warming – not to mention the evidence of our own eyes and sweaty brows – our leaders display a remarkable insouciance about what someone famously described as the greatest moral challenge of our times.
If policymakers can't be encouraged to have a real debate about strategic policy and the merits of saving vast sums of money at a time of supposed austerity then one wonders if they ever will. The onus should be on those who want to spend the money to actually explain their thinking.
As an unreconstructed admirer of industry policy, I'm all in favour of supporting strategic industries, but not ones that reflect untested assumptions and serve no useful purpose other than short-term political advantage.
Article originally posted on The Conversation and syndicated with permission from the author.
Additional comment on Australian Submarines
Mark Beeson's commentary regarding the proposed new Australian submarines is especially important considering some estimates suggest that for the equivalent amount of money – let's estimate it at $10bn-$20bn1 – Australia could build the entire infrastructure needed for both hydrogen and electric cars to become mainstream. And that is something that would truly make us a manufacturing and technology world leader.
In addition, surely when talking about strategic defence, the fact that Australia is shortly going to close the last of its onshore oil refineries and hold only 3 weeks of fuel at a time is a far greater security risk than whether or not we have the latest submarines. And transitioning to hydrogen and electric vehicles would render that risk a non-event.
1In the US, General Motors' estimates that the installation of hydrogen pumps at 12,000 filling stations would provide 70% of US motorists with access to the fuel, and that would cost US$10-15 billion. This would locate hydrogen pumps within 3 kilometres of each other in the 100 most populated metropolitan areas in the US, and would also allow for at least one pump every 40 kilometres along the 210,000 kilometres of major highways in the US.


Unity means none of us is as good as all of us.
This principle helps Knights realize their true potential as Christian brothers and the sacred power of unity.
Members of the Knights of Columbus all know that – together – we can accomplish far more than any of us could individually. So we stick together…we support one another. That doesn't mean that we always agree or that there is never a difference of opinion.
It does mean that – as a Knight of Columbus – you can count on the support and encouragement of your brother Knights as you work to make life better in your parish and community.
Members of the Knights of Columbus are united in the body of Christ, ritualized and embodied in their full participation in the Catholic Church.
Their loyalty to Christ and the unity which He encompasses, is realized through their commitment to one another and their local, regional, and global church.
that light will triumph over darkness, goodness over evil, life over death.
In His love, may Your Son bring consolation and strength to those who suffer.
by members of the clergy, family members, teachers, and others.
who continue to suffer as the result of broken trust.
in a spirit of love and compassion.
to growth in virtue and holiness.
Grant this through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen.