text:
GST Council Reduces Tax Rates On EVs, Chargers
by MotorBeam Team 31 July, 2019 5
Home » Car News » GST Council Reduces Tax Rates On EVs, Chargers
GST council lowers down tax rates on electric vehicles and chargers to 5%.
The Government wants green mobility to take centre stage
In the drill of constant efforts made by the Government to promote the adaptation of electric vehicles and take firm steps towards a better future, the Goods and Services Tax council has dropped the tax rates on electric vehicles from 12% to 5% and for that of chargers the rates have gone down from 18% to 5%. That's a noticeable difference of 7% and 13% on electric vehicles and chargers, respectively.
The modified tax rates will be in effect from 1st August 2019 and the exemption from GST on electric buses with a carrying capacity of more than 12 has also been approved. All these exemptions and reductions are done with the intent of lowering the dependence on fossil fuels.
Furthermore, the EV industry anticipates lowering down of GST on external/spare batteries to support low maintenance cost of electric vehicles. An amount of Rs 10,000/- crore has been approved by the centre to boost the adoption of EVs in India under the FAME II scheme. This scheme encourages electric mobility by investing in the right infrastructure, building charging stations, offering incentives on purchase of electric vehicles at a rate of Rs 10,000/- per kilowatt.
The hike in registration charges for ICE vehicles seems adamant. This hike is backed up by the cause of promoting the use of electric vehicles and reducing the presence of petrol/diesel vehicles. The Government has also announced a big chunk of incentives for EVs, including income tax reduction on the interest on the loan for EVs.
Last but not the least, the Government has scrapped the import duties on essential electronic components like E-drive assembly, on board charger, E compressor and charging gun.
Tax Rates On EVs
– GST on electric vehicles reduced from 12% to 5%
– GST on chargers reduced from 18 per cent to 5%
– Incentives to be provided in the form of income tax deduction on the interest of the loan for EVs
Number of EV charging stations in India will increase soon
MotorBeam ProjectCar Review – Was It The Right Choice? [Video]
Top Selling SUVs In September 2019; Seltos, Fortuner For The Win
by Arushi Rawat
SUV Sales In December 2015, Bolero & Creta Continue To Lead
Hero MotoCorp Can't Use Hero Name for EVs
Mahindra Mojo 300 ABS Launched, Priced At Rs. 1.89 Lakh


Check Bahrain Public Holidays for the calendar year 2017. Check 2017 public holidays dates in Bahrain for National Day, New Year's Day, Labor Day, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Al Hijra New Year 1439.
Note – * All Islamic holidays are subject to confirmation at the time.


text:
Ива́н Ники́тович Ефре́мов () — советский строитель, каменщик, Герой Социалистического Труда.

Биография
Иван Никитович Ефремов родился 2 июня 1931 года в с. Деревягино Чучковского района Московской области, ныне село входит в состав Завидовского сельского поселения Чучковского района Рязанской области.

Родители, Никита Николаевич и Мария Николаевна, рано ушли из жизни. Мальчик воспитывался бабушкой, помогал ей по хозяйству, пас овец, телят, жеребят. Всю войну воспитывался соседями. В 1947 в Эстонской ССР окончил школу фабрично-заводского обучения по специальности каменщик-плотник.

По распределению был направлен в Ригу. Трудиться начал в 1948 году рабочим геодезического отряда, работал каменщиком в Эстонской ССР, Свердловской и Курганской обл.

В 1950 году приехал на строительство Куйбышевской ГЭС, где работал в геологической экспедиции-25 Гидропроекта МВД, потом на ГЭС. С 1953 года трудился бригадиром каменщиков СУ-42 ПСМО «Куйбышегидрострой» на строительстве заводов «Синтезкаучук» и «Куйбышевфосфор», одновременно окончил 9 класс вечерней школы. С 1958 года И. Н. Ефремов работал слесарем, каменщиком, плотником в СМУ-1.

В 1960 году перешел на работу бригадиром комплексной бригады СМУ-6, в состав которой входили каменщики и кровельщики 5-6 разрядов.
В 1967 году СМУ-6 КГС было реорганизовано в «Химэнергострой», и в 1969 году Ивану Никитовичу был присвоен 5-й разряд каменщика.

В 1972—1973 годах бригада под его руководством работала на строительстве Оренбургского газоперерабатывающего завода, затем строила седьмую и восьмую вставки на ВАЗе и другие объекты города Тольятти.

1 декабря 1986 года сильно пострадал в результате несчастного случая на стройке. В результате падения с шестиметровой высоты у Ивана Никитовича в трёх местах был сломан позвоночник, переломаны руки и ноги. После нескольких месяцев в больнице вернулся на стройку.

Общий трудовой стаж И.Н. Ефремова в должности бригадира составил 46 лет.

Иван Никитович Ефремов скончался 14 апреля 2006 года в городе Тольятти Самарской области, похоронен  Тольятти.

Награды
 Герой Социалистического Труда, 1977 год, за выдающиеся производственные успехи в выполнении плана на 1976 год и принятых социалистических обязательств
 Медаль «Серп и Молот»
 Орден Ленина
 Орден Ленина, 1965 год
 Юбилейная медаль «За доблестный труд. В ознаменование 100-летия со дня рождения Владимира Ильича Ленина», 1970 год
 Знак «Юбиляр ХЭС»
 Знак «Ударник XI пятилетки»
 Юбилейный значок Минэнерго СССР «50 лет Первого Всесоюзного слета стахановцев-энергетиков»
 Неоднакратно заносился на доску Почета
 Звание «Ветеран «Куйбышевгидростроя»

Семья
Жена Евдокия Семёновна, сын Владимир (род. 1952), дочь Людмила (род. 1957).

Интересные факты

5 ноября 2004 года на Центральной площади Тольятти состоялось торжественное открытие и освящение памятника «Созидателям города», основной фигурой которого стала скульптура Святителя Николая чудотворца.

История строительства памятника такова. Скульптура установлена на месте, где прежде находился закладной камень под монумент «Слава труду» — глыба серого гранита. Установлен он был в ноябре 1977 года. Право заложить монумент было предоставлено строителям «Куйбышевгидростроя» — бригадирам, Героям Социалистического труда И. М. Ефремову, Г. В. Робустову, Л. С. Сиверской и Заслуженному строителю СССР — З. П. Ковалевой. Надпись на граните гласила: «Здесь будет сооружен монумент "Слава труду", в честь строителей Ордена Ленина и Ордена Трудового Красного Знамени Куйбышевгидростроя». Точную дату установления монумента тогда не определили.

Примечания

Литература
 Созидатели: Строительный комплекс Ставрополя-Тольятти. 1950—2000 / Под общ. ред. С. Г. Мельника. — Тольятти: Этажи-М, 2003. — 447 с., ил., фот. — Библиогр.: с. 91-93 (76 назв.). — Имен. указ.: С.412-443.
 Строители Самарской области: Персоналии: А-Я. — Самара: Самар. Дом Печати, 1996. — 447 с., ил.

Ссылки
  Мэрия городского округа Тольятти — Герои Социалистического Труда

Персоналии:Эстонская ССР
Персоналии:Рига
Персоналии:Свердловская область
Персоналии:Курганская область
Персоналии:Оренбург
Строители Тольятти
Герои Социалистического Труда
Персоналии:Куйбышевгидрострой

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
By Jonathan Johnson
Tuchel gets PSG backing despite nightmare Champions League exit to Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi has given manager Thomas Tuchel his backing despite their humiliating Champions League round-of-16 elimination at the hands of Manchester United.
Despite winning 2-0 at Old Trafford in the first leg, PSG crashed out after slipping to a 3-1 home defeat against the Premier League side following a late video assistant referee (VAR) assisted penalty scored by Marcus Rashford.
It's time to find a way to fix the Champions League -- or start a European Super League
- Latest Champions League tables
- Champions League statistics
- All the latest UCL news
It means the Ligue 1 leaders bow out of the competition at this stage for the third consecutive season, but Al-Khelaifi has said Tuchel's position as manager is not under threat.
"I trust Thomas," he said. "This is not the time for decisions. Decisions require a cool head. We trust him.
"We need to calm down right now and see what the coach wants -- that is very important. We are very disappointed with the result and performance. I do not understand.
"We played great at Old Trafford, then we return home and gift them two goals. Honestly, I do not understand that performance in front of our own fans.
"The season is not over. It is a big disappointment, but we still have Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France -- we cannot say that this season is now over."
Al-Khelaifi also said he felt United's opener after two minutes through Romelu Lukaku -- who scored two on the night -- shook up the PSG players.
"It is a shock for everyone," he said. "It is serious. Football is not maths -- it is not one plus one equals two. After we conceded the first goal, I felt doubt creeping in."
PSG captain Thiago Silva was emotional when he spoke after the final whistle and asked supporters for forgiveness.
"It is hard to talk," the Brazil international said. "It is a shame. We did not do things as we planned.
"Again, we fall in the round of 16. I want to apologise to the fans and ask that they excuse us. Nothing worked here. I can only apologise to the fans -- there is a feeling of sadness."
Tuchel, however, was not happy with his side after two first half errors allowed United to score twice.
"It is easy to explain: we gifted them two goals," Tuchel said. "At this level, two gifts in 45 minutes -- impossible.
"I do not know if the season is ruined. I do not know how to raise the players either -- the match finished 20 minutes ago, do you think I already have the answer?
"It is time to defend my players and stay calm. I feel the same way that I did after the Guingamp Coupe de la Ligue defeat -- it was impossible to lose, but we did so on three penalties."
Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel cut a disappointed figure during the 3-1 defeat against Manchester United.
Marquinhos, who was again deployed in midfield, said the players were "disgusted" and was critical of PSG's continued failure to get over their mental block in the Champions League latter stages.
"Our performance was unacceptable," he said. "We understand our fans' anger. Again, at this stage of the season, we make the same mistakes and pay the price.
"For years now, it is the same -- this is unacceptable. We must think and speak like men in the dressing room. It is a tough time -- there is a lot of anger.
"We are disgusted. We believe in this project. I have seen positive changes this year, but we missed another chance."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Giulio Magni (né le  à Velletri, dans la province de Rome, et mort le  à Rome) est un architecte et critique d'art italien du .

Biographie

Œuvres
 Villa Marignoli (Art Nouveau,, 1907, Rome.
 Maisons populaires du Testaccio, 1911, Rome.
 Église di Santa Maria Regina Pacis, 1916-1926, Ostie, Rome.
 Ministère de la Marine, 1928, Rome.
 Villino Pacelli, 1906, Rome.
 Hala Traian, 1896, Bucarest.

Notes et références

Source

Naissance à Velletri
Architecte italien du XIXe siècle
Architecte italien du XXe siècle
Critique d'art italien
Naissance en septembre 1859
Décès en février 1930
Décès à Rome
Décès à 70 ans
Personnalité inhumée au Campo Verano


text:
© Commonwealth Alliance of Youth Workers 2018
Adam Muirhead
I started youth work in 2002 at the tender age of 17 as a volunteer at a special needs youth club and soon was employed within other youth clubs and in the detached team within a Local Authority. I've since worked at a private outdoor activities centre teaching surfing, climbing, canoeing etc but for the last 12 years have been based in Brighton on the south coast of England working for a local charity delivering community development with young people.
I now manage all of the charity's work with young people full time, teach on the Youth Work degree course at University of Brighton part-time and Chair the Institute for Youth Work in my spare time as a volunteer. My other interests include politics, reading fiction and whisky drinking.
The Institute for Youth Work (IYW)
The IYW was conceptualised long before it came into being. A lot of consultation with the sector preceded the final decision to establish the IYW and the National Youth Agency (NYA) finally brought it into being in 2013 under the instruction of the Education and Training Standards Committee (ETS) for England. The initial plan was for the NYA to employ development workers to run the IYW and elect a Council from the membership that would steer the organisation's work but in late 2014 when it was clear that income (from membership etc) was not going to meet expenditure, the NYA proposed that either something radical needed to happen or it would close the IYW. At this point the elected Council offered to assume control of the IYW and set about writing a constitution, set up a bank account, taking over the membership list (of around 750), website and were given £150 and set adrift.
Since then we have broadened the membership of our Council to include academics, authors and those from across varying sectors (including faith, uniformed and prisons). We invited the membership to build our Strategic Plan across annual conferences in 2016 and 2017 ahead of launching the Strategic Plan at the start of 2018. We developed a new constitution with the membership and applied successfully for charitable status in December 2017.
The IYW's current work involves asserting its roles and remits in relation to other national sector partners. We are currently leading the development of a national register for youth workers and are supporting the redesign of professional validation processes for professionally qualifying degree courses so that membership of the IYW can feature as part of the offer.
Part of the IYW's mandate upon being established was to interrogate the notion of establishing a register and license to practice for youth workers. Initial consultation and sector discussions showed that the ideas were divisive as many feared top-down regulation and the potential to alienate volunteers (a huge part of our workforce) by creating a two-tier profession. Others (including the unions) were very much in support of both and called strongly for protection of title, so that only those professionally qualified could call themselves 'Youth Workers'.
We built in discussion around the matter to our inaugural and second annual conferences and found that the concept of a voluntary register would be broadly supported but that anything more at this stage would be the equivalent of 'putting the roof on before the walls were built'.
Comments on the IYW's first annual conference in 2016
We approached a grant-making organisation (the Paul Hamlyn Foundation) about supporting the development of this work and they obliged with an initial grant of £14,000. Because the IYW's overhead costs are so low (without paid employees or an office base), this funding has been able to stretch to providing meeting spaces, transport and refreshment costs to bring together key partners in the formation of a register for youth workers. It will also fund the initial phases of software development following the exploration of other equivalent, existing models. So far we have involved the unions, the higher education sector, the faith sector, the National Youth Agency and representatives from those doing youth work in prisons. Other national delivery agencies are joining the next phase and discussions have already begun with the relevant government departments about how they might be able to support this development, which have been met positively.
All agree that the Institute for Youth Work is the ideal place to house a register for youth workers and we look forward to fulfilling our duties and expanding the professional functions of our youth work association.
CAWYA Members


text:
Q: draw random element in numpy I have an array of element probabilities, let's say [0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.2]. The array sums up to 1.0.
Using plain Python or numpy, I want to draw elements proportional to their probability: the first element about 10% of the time, second 20%, third 50% etc. The "draw" should return index of the element drawn.
I came up with this:
def draw(probs):
    cumsum = numpy.cumsum(probs / sum(probs)) # sum up to 1.0, just in case
    return len(numpy.where(numpy.random.rand() >= cumsum)[0])

It works, but it's too convoluted, there must be a better way. Thanks.

A: import numpy as np
def random_pick(choices, probs):
    '''
    >>> a = ['Hit', 'Out']
    >>> b = [.3, .7]
    >>> random_pick(a,b)
    '''
    cutoffs = np.cumsum(probs)
    idx = cutoffs.searchsorted(np.random.uniform(0, cutoffs[-1]))
    return choices[idx]

How it works:
In [22]: import numpy as np
In [23]: probs = [0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.2]

Compute the cumulative sum:
In [24]: cutoffs = np.cumsum(probs)
In [25]: cutoffs
Out[25]: array([ 0.1,  0.3,  0.8,  1. ])

Compute a uniformly distributed random number in the half-open interval [0, cutoffs[-1]):
In [26]: np.random.uniform(0, cutoffs[-1])
Out[26]: 0.9723114393023948

Use searchsorted to find the index where the random number would be inserted into cutoffs:
In [27]: cutoffs.searchsorted(0.9723114393023948)
Out[27]: 3

Return choices[idx], where idx is that index.

A: You want to sample from the categorical distribution, which is not implemented in numpy. However, the multinomial distribution is a generalization of the categorical distribution and can be used for that purpose.
>>> import numpy as np
>>>
>>> def sampleCategory(p):
...     return np.flatnonzero( np.random.multinomial(1,p,1) )[0]
...
>>> sampleCategory( [0.1,0.5,0.4] )
1

A: use numpy.random.multinomial - most efficient

A: I've never used numpy, but I assume my code below (python only) does the same thing as what you accomplished in one line. I'm putting it here just in case you want it.
Looks very c-ish so apologies for not being very pythonic.
weight_total would be 1 for you.
def draw(probs)
    r = random.randrange(weight_total)
    running_total = 0
    for i, p in enumerate(probs)
        running_total += p
        if running_total > r:
            return i

A: use bisect
import bisect
import random
import numpy
def draw(probs):
    cumsum=numpy.cumsum(probs/sum(probs))
    return bisect.bisect_left(cumsum, numpy.random.rand())

should do the trick.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


WGU Indiana is an online, competency-based university aimed at expanding access to higher education for Indiana residents. Non-profit WGU Indiana offers over 50 accredited online bachelor's and master's degrees in high-demand career fields with flexible programs and affordable tuition. Go further with WGU Indiana.


text:
Men's Performance Modern Fit Flat-Front Pants - New!
Color Khaki Navy Black
Size 28x30 28x32 29x30 29x32 30x30 30x32 30x34 31x30 31x32 31x34 32x30 32x32 32x34 33x30 33x32 33x34 34x30 34x32 34x34 36x30 36x32 36x34 38x30 38x32 38x34 40x30 40x32 40x34 42x32 42x34 28X30 28X32 29X30 29X32
Fit Men's
Khaki / 28x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 28x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 29x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 29x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 30x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 30x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 30x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 31x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 31x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 31x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 32x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 32x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 32x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 33x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 33x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 33x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 34x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 34x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 34x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 36x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 36x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 36x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 38x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 38x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 38x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 40x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 40x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 40x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 42x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Khaki / 42x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 28x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 28x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 29x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 29x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 30x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 30x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 30x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 31x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 31x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 31x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 32x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 32x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 32x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 33x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 33x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 33x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 34x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 34x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 34x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 36x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 36x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 36x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 38x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 38x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 38x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 40x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 40x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 40x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 42x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Navy / 42x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 28X30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 28X32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 29X30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 29X32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 30x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 30x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 30x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 31x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 31x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 31x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 32x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 32x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 32x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 33x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 33x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 33x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 34x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 34x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 34x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 36x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 36x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 36x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 38x30 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 38x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 38x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 40x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 40x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 42x32 / Men's - $43.00 USD Black / 42x34 / Men's - $43.00 USD
These performance wicking pants feature a new modern fit with a flat front, lower rise, tapered leg with a jean hem, a jean waistband with a zipper closure, belt-loops, and deeper pockets. The performance polyester stretches and moves with you. Design features include reinforced stitching and hard working, stain and wrinkle-resistant Wear-Tested™ fabric with long-lasting shape retention for a crisp, neat appearance. These pants are designed to stand up to the wear-and-tear of active lifestyles. Made of 100% polyester.
* 34" Length - Special Order Only
* Covenant, Faith, Westlake - Khaki & Navy
* CTCS - Khaki & Black


text:
Durban Debrief. A Win for Obama?
Eugene Robinson – Washington Post:
I'm inclined to believe that the apparent result of the climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, might turn out to be a very big deal. Someday. Maybe.
After the meeting ended Sunday, initial reaction ranged from "Historic Breakthrough: The Planet Is Saved" to "Tragic Failure: The Planet Is Doomed."
My conclusion is that for now, at least, the conceptual advance made in Durban is as good as it gets.
This advance is, potentially, huge: For the first time, officials of the nations that are the biggest carbon emitters — China, the United States and India — have agreed to negotiate legally binding restrictions.
Under the old Kyoto Protocol framework, which for now remains largely in effect, rapidly industrializing nations refused to be constricted by limits that would stunt their development. The United States declined to sign on to the Kyoto agreement as long as China, India, Brazil and other rising economic giants got a pass.
This meant that while European nations worked to meet emissions targets — or, in some cases, pretended to do so — the most important sources of carbon were unconstrained. When Kyoto was adopted, China was well behind the United States as an emitter; now it's far ahead. India recently passed Russia to move into third place.
The Durban talks seemed likely to go nowhere until the Chinese delegate, Xie Zhenhua, announced that Beijing was willing to consider a legally binding framework. With China now responsible for fully 23 percent of the world's carbon emissions, this was an enormous step forward.
Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) — The U.S., long accused of blocking progress in international climate talks, is winning a two-decade old debate about how to curtail global warming.
The decision yesterday by China and India to move toward an agreement with the "legal force" to limit their fossil fuel emissions marked the first step toward treating developing nations the same as industrial ones when it comes to reducing pollution.
President Barack Obama, and George W. Bush before him, had pushed for that parity after the Senate refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which limits greenhouse gases for industrial nations. Developing nations such as China and India had no commitments under Kyoto.
"The Durban climate talks have brought us to an important moment where all nations will be covered in the same roadmap toward a long-term solution for the climate crisis — the greatest challenge facing our planet," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
The Bloomberg article is worth reading at length here.
Filed in News and Announcements
3 Responses to "Durban Debrief. A Win for Obama?"
daveburton Says:
Fortunately, the POTUS can't make treaties that are binding on the USA, so the carbon emission limts scam is likely doomed.
Martin_Lack Says:
As I said on my blog on Sunday, I think the final score was UNFCCC 1, Planet 0…
Peter Mizla Says:
Its a win for Obama in a political sense
scientifically it does little to defuse a warming of 3 degrees or more in the decades to come.
« Killing Nemo – The Reality of Ocean Change
Animated News – Canada Withdraws from Kyoto »


text:
The 82nd Airborne first saw combat on the Western Front during World War I, where it served with distinction in St. Mihiel and the Argonne Forest. Show More
The 82nd Airborne first saw combat on the Western Front during World War I, where it served with distinction in St. Mihiel and the Argonne Forest. Its first action in World War II was in Italy, where it made parachute landings in both Sicily and Salerno. The division was then transferred to England, where it began preparing for D-Day. The night before D-Day, the division jumped into German held territory behind enemy lines. The division was subsequently engaged in bloody combat for 33 days. During those days, it captured and held the majority of its objectives, but suffered heavy casualties. The division then took part in Operation Market-Garden where it secured the Nijmegen bridge and surrounding area, despite heavy German resistance. The division then fought in the Battle of the Bulge and eventually spearheaded an offensive across the Elbe River, during which they captured over 100,000 German troops. After the war, the division served in Berlin doing occupation duty. After WWII, the division deployed to the Dominican Republic during the civil war that was happening there. Then, the division was sent to Vietnam and fought in Hue during the Tet Offensive and fought in the Mekong Delta, Iron Triangle, and Cambodian border. After Vietnam, the division served in the invasion of Grenada, Operation Just Cause in Panama, and Operation Desert Storm. The 82nd was also deployed as a peacekeeping force in Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo. The 82nd has most recently fought against Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Iraq (OIF)
Italy / S. Europe
N. Europe
< 1 2 3 4 > Last › | Showing 10 20 30 40 per page | 20/124
Bob Baker
WWII | 4th Armored Division
Bob Baker was drafted off the farm and, before long, was at Ft. Bliss in Texas, trying to stay out of trouble. He was a gunner on a halftrack, firing four .50 caliber machine guns, and when he got to Europe, the first plane he fired on had the wrong markings. (4:41)
His armored unit spotted a German convoy fleeing the frigid Battle of the Bulge and they opened up on them. "It was pretty bad," says Bob Baker, who was gunner on a halftrack. Later, after crossing the Rhine, he saw the unforgettable sight of a German jet streaking across the sky as well as the terrifying sight of an artillery round hitting his foxhole. (5:37)
The Germans in many towns had hung white flags or cloths from their windows. In the towns where people hadn't, Bob Baker says that his armored unit would back their vehicles into the town, in case they had to get out fast. After the war, he drove a truck and was impressed with the German prisoners who supplied the labor. (4:11)
After the war, Bob Baker was sent to the 82nd Airborne and received glider training and jump training. It was a supply job he was interested in and he was disappointed when he didn't get it. He landed another assignment and found out that a supply clerk could get into some real shenanigans. (6:09)
Bob Simpson
| U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division
Mr. Simpson gives an extended description of a 15-month-long campaign in the Dominican Republic with the 82nd Airborne Division. (6:30)
Mr. Simpson describes a hostage operation that took place in the Dominican Republic. (6:36)
Mr. Simpson explains his experience of being under rocket fire while stationed at his division base camp. (3:49)
Mr. Simpson describes an intense battle that took place on a hill between the north Vietnamese and the U.S. that resulted in multiple casualties. (12:00)
Mr. Simpson tells the story of a young officer who was badly wounded, and rumored, incorrectly, never to have recovered. (2:52)
Vietnam | 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade
There was no radio contact with the 2nd battalion on Hill 875 and losing contact with an American unit could only mean really bad news. To get there and find out what was happening, David Brown's unit had to walk in, a long trek through more dead bodies than he had ever seen. The answer to what had happened was very unsettling, and he was even more unsettled when he heard something huge crashing through the trees. (5:46)


text:
Methods of Identification of New Textile Fibers
Identification of New Textile Fibers
The differences in composition such as macrostructure and microstructure between new fibers such as lyocell fibre, modal fibre, soybean protein fiber, bamboo fibre, milk protein fibre and chitin fibre must result in discrepancies in macroscopic features, physical and chemical properties, which can be used to distinguish different fibers. Some efficient methods of identification the six new textile fibers listed above are presented.
Fig: Identification of Textile Fibers
Identification of Lyocell Fiber
The nature or generic type of a cellulosic material may be determined by a burning test and then the longitudinal feature may be observed by micro-scopic examination, referring to the information from fibres such as modal, bamboo, chitin, cotton and regular viscose fibers. Sodium hypochlorite may be used as a solvent to investigate the dissolution behaviour further. In addition, a tensile test may be carried out to find out the tenacity of the fibre, as the tenacity of lyocell fibre is the highest among the cellulosic fibres.
Identification of Modal Fiber
The nature or generic type of a cellulosic material may be determined by a burning test and then the longitudinal feature may be observed by micro-scopic examination, referring to the information from fibres such as modal, bamboo, chitin, cotton and regular viscose fibres. In addition, the modal fibre cross-section may be observed by microscope taking the reference as bamboo fibre and regular viscose. Subsequently, 75% sulfuric acid may be used as a solvent to observe the solubility. Tensile and wet elongation tests may be performed to determine the tenacity.
Identification of Soybean Protein Fiber
Firstly, the nature or generic type of a protein fibre may be determined by a burning test. Then, an iodine–potassium iodide staining test may be performed to exclude wool and silk. A solution of boiling 5% sodium hydrox- ide may be used as a solvent to find out the dissolution behaviour: soybean protein fibre does not dissolve, milk fibres swell and become moist, and chitin fibre dissolves. Finally, boiling dimethyl formamide (DMF) may be used as a solvent to examine the protein fibre further.
Identification of Bamboo Fiber
Firstly, the nature or generic type of a cellulosic material may be determined by a burning test and then the longitudinal feature may be observed by microscopic examination, referring to the information from fibres such as modal, bamboo, chitin, cotton and regular viscose fibres. Subsequently, 37% hydrochloric acid may be used as a solvent to observe the solubility at normal temperature: modal fibre dissolves quickly, while regular viscose dissolves slowly and bamboo fibre dissolves partially. Finally, a density test may be used (using a density grading column) to determine the density. The density of bamboo fibre is lower than those of regular viscose, lyocell, modal and cotton fibres.
Identification of Milk Protein Fiber
Firstly, the nature or generic type of a protein fibre may be determined by a burning test. Then an iodine–potassium iodide staining test may be performed to exclude wool and silk. Microscopic observation may help reveal surface features. While the surface of milk fibres appears smooth and nonmicroporous, soybean protein fibres are not smooth and show random microporous surfaces with a spot-welding effect. Subsequently, boiling dimethyl formamide (DMF) may be used as a solvent to find out the dissolution behaviour. Milk fibers moisten and swell, whereas other protein fibres such as wool, silk, chitin and soybean protein fibres exhibit no changes.
Identification of Chitin Fiber
Firstly, a burning test may be used to observe the fibre's burning behaviour. Chitin fibre does not melt or shrink upon being subjected to a flame, but it burns rapidly like a cellulosic fibre with the odour of burning a protein fibre.
The distinguishing features of chitin compared to other fibers are that it burns rapidly to black while keeping its original shape, the ash produced being greyish in colour and easily crumbled. After initially observing its burning behaviour by a burning test, the surface may be observed using a microscope. The surface of the fibre is characterized by small openings and cracks. An iodine–potassium iodide test may reveal important information: while in a wet state, lyocell, modal, bamboo and regular viscose fibres look alike, but upon drying, iodine on the chitin fibre sublimes easily, resulting in a blackish-blue to red-brown colour. As in other protein fibres, 5% boiling sodium hydroxide may be used as a solvent to observe the solubility. Chitin fibre dissolves in this solvent. Alternatively, 88% boiling formic acid may be used: here only chitin fibre dissolves, whereas all other fibres show no dissolution.
Classification of Textile Testing: Fiber Testing, Yarn Testing, Fabric Testing
USTER HVI 1000: Principles of Fiber Testing
Technical Properties of Cotton Fiber
Blending of Cotton-Polyester Fibre to Produce PC / CVC Yarn
Chemical Composition of Cotton Fiber
Corn Fiber: Properties, Manufacturing, Benefits and Uses
New Fibers in the Textile Industry
Identification Productive Uses of Different Trimmings and…
Self Cleaning Textiles: New Concept of Textile Finishing
Unconventional and New Spinning System and Technologies
Methods for Wastewater Treatment in Textile Dyeing Industry
Categories Fiber, Textile Testing
Sueding Finishing Process: Mechanism, Application and Benefits


The following was an email from Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek. It is reprinted in its entirely.
I want to share with you a letter from our Lady Vols basketball coach, Pat Summitt. It takes amazing courage for Pat to come forward and discuss her health with her players, our fans, and the entire country, but that's who she is. Pat Summitt stands for courage and integrity. We will stand behind her and support her in every way possible. We look forward to her continued leadership as the Lady Vols head coach. I know that even through this adversity, she will be an inspiration to all of us.
With that in mind, I have something I'd like to share with my Tennessee families—the university, boosters and fans of Lady Vol basketball.
coach of the lady vols the best women's team in the world I probually would't watch lady's basketball. So thank you for being such a graceful lady.


COMMON NAMES: Creeping Charlie, Gill Ivy, Ground Ivy, Gill-Over-The-Ground, Alehoof, Tunhoof, Catsfoot, Field Balm and Run-Away-Robin.
HABIT: Creeping Charlie is a creeping European perennial evergreen, naturalized in North America. Round, opposite, aromatic leaves resembling dichondra, but larger and with scalloped edges. It is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) and has very fine hair all over and has a square creeping stem. The main root is thick and matted it sends out long runners. Small trumpet-shaped blue flowers from spring to fall. Low growing, aggressive ground cover, evergreen in parts of the south. Spreads freely and roots at joints. Fragrant when crushed. Very easy to transplant and grow.
CULTURE: Needs little to no bed preparation and is very easy to plant and get estabished. It roots from cuttings readily. Be careful where you plant it – you'll have it forever. It thrives in moist, shady areas of the lawn and garden and in sunny areas too if the lawn is thin. Zones 4 - 9.
USES: Ground cover in shade. Is edible.
PROBLEMS: Spreads easily and can be very invasive. Considered a weed by many.
NOTES: Edible plant that's loaded with vitamin C, offers several health benefits and tastes great in a salad. Young leaves have a mild bitter taste and can be eaten raw or cooked. Use in salads to add a slight aromatic tang. They can also be cooked like greens or spinach, added to soups, stews or eggs. Tea can be made from fresh or dried leaves.
CONTROL (if needed): This tender plant can be spot sprayed and killed with any of the organic herbicides such as vinegar products, fatty acid products, essential oil products and even strong hydrogen peroxide.
Here's a solution that's floating around: To treat about 1000 infested square feet, dissolve 10 ounces of Twenty Mule Team Borax in four ounces of warm water. When the borax is in solution, mix it into two and a half gallons of warm water, stir well, and spray directly on unwanted plants. Another website says to dissolve 5 oz. of Borax in gallon of water, spray, wait until dry and then spray toxic chemicals like 2,4-D and Dicamba. That's crazy! Toxic and crazy!
Probably the best approach is to use the commercial product, Agralawn Crabgrass Killer. It's non-toxic, selective (won't hurt the lawn grass) and works.


The Senate has approved Washington lawyer Michael Missal as the new chief watchdog at the troubled U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.
President Barack Obama nominated Missal to be the VA's inspector general in October. Lawmakers from both parties have long sought a permanent inspector general for the VA as the agency struggles to meet veterans' health care needs and provide timely decisions on benefits.
The chairman of the Senate veterans panel, Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, said he looked forward to working with Missal to "root out the problems and hold bad actors at the VA accountable" for chronic health care delays and other problems.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the panel's top Democrat, called Missal "a key leader in our ongoing accountability efforts.


text:
Windows 7 backup restore to ssd Fusionner deux images en ligne Is video calling on whatsapp free Download microsoft word 2019 free full version for windows 8.1 How do i factory reset my computer windows 7
The amazing spider man 2 ps3 gamestop
In this video I discuss & breakdown the recent official reveal of the GameStop exclusive Marvel's Spider-Man (Spider-Man PS4) Collector's Box, showcasing 7 e...
E mail einrichten android t-online
Spider-Man - EBGames.ca The Amazing Spiderman 2 (Xbox 360) - Walmart.com
Frequently asked questions about The Amazing Spider-Man: I seem to be I have a promotional code from GameStop. Where and how do 2. I seem to have fallen into a map hole and there is no way out. What can I do? The Cell Phone Menu is only available in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game. 13.
Marvel's Spider-Man GameStop Suomi Osta Marvel's Spider-Man PlayStation 4:lle GameStop Suomesta. Osta uusimmat pelit, konsolit sekä Black Friday - 3 for 2 on Used Games. Voimassa: Käytetty. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - How to Unlock All Suits and ... 29 Apr 2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - How to Unlock All Suits and Costumes #16 – Cosmic Spider-Man (Amazing Dimension): GameStop Pre-Order Costumes - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Wiki Guide - IGN
(PS3, X360) n-Space (PS2, NDS and Wii) Savage Entertainment (PSP) Zoë Mode (PC, PS4, X1)
Costumes - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Wiki Guide - IGN 5 Dec 2018 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at IGN: walkthroughs, items, maps, video tips, While these four are mentioned in the Gamestop pre-order bonus:. Marvel's Spider-Man GameStop Sverige Handla Marvel's Spider-Man till PlayStation 4 hos GameStop Sverige. Köp de senaste spelen, Black Friday - 3 for 2 on all Used Games. Giltigt för: Begagnad. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (video game) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a video game tie in based on the movie of the PS3 PS4 PC Wii U 3DS. Genre. Action, Adventure. Release dates. April 29th, 2014.. Black Suited Spider-Man (originally pre-order at Gamestop) - damage bonus
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Is Available for Xbox One After All ...
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 PS4 Video Walkthrough ... 27 Mar 2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on PS3 and PS4 created a great opportunity to build and improve on something rather than starting from a blank The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (video game) The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a video game tie in based on the movie of the PS3 PS4 PC Wii U 3DS. Genre. Action, Adventure. Release dates. April 29th, 2014.. Black Suited Spider-Man (originally pre-order at Gamestop) - damage bonus Downloadable content | Amazing Spider-Man Wiki | FANDOM ... released for the video game The Amazing Spider-Man (excluding the DLC Bundle Pack, Exclusive); Vigilante Suit (Previously a PS3 Exclusive); Oscorp Search & Destroy Pack · Lizard Rampage Pack Challenge was made available to players who pre-ordered the game from Gamestop, The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Marvel's Spider-Man GameStop Suomi
14 May 2014 (2019) Todos los trucos para The Amazing Spider-Man 2 con misiones, mapas y estrategias: PCPS4XOne3DSPS3X360Wii UAndroidiOS. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 swings to Europe in May ... 3 Mar 2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is now dated for a 2nd May release in the UK on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, and 3DS. Those pre-ordering at GAME in the UK and GameStop in North America will receive the Web Diamond Select Marvel Gallery Thanos Gamestop Exclusive ... 26 Sep 2019 Diamond Select Marvel Gallery Thanos Gamestop Exclusive Statue (Review) Wars and Superman Unchained, Amazing Spider-Man, Justice League. Genesis, SNES, Dreamcast, PS1, Xbox, PS2, Xbox 360, PS3, Vita, PS4. GWW Radio - Hard At Work Episode #132 Cavalcade of Horror Part 2: Carrie. Activision Details Pre-Order Exclusives For The Amazing ...
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 - YouTube [ESRB Rating Pending] — Welcome to the official YouTube channel for LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2. Subscribe now to get all the latest official trailers for the... Nové detaily z The Amazing Spider-Man – Zing V The Amazing Spider-Man budou náhodné zločiny rozesety po celém městě. Zločinci budou přepadávat banky, vykrádat vozidla a chybět nebudou Brooklyn Center GameStop (@GamestopCenter) | Twitter Nejnovější tweety od uživatele Brooklyn Center GameStop (@GamestopCenter). We are the Brooklyn Center GameStop, keeping you up to date with new and upcoming pop culture topics and games!. Brooklyn Center, MN
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014 video game) | Spider-Man Wiki…
5 Dec 2018 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 at IGN: walkthroughs, items, maps, video tips, While these four are mentioned in the Gamestop pre-order bonus:. Someone played Walmart and GameStop deals to turn $97 in ... 4 Jul 2017 Someone played Walmart and GameStop deals to turn $97 in $500 for a new trade value); Amazing Spiderman 2 Xbox One and PS4 $19.93. List of De-listed PlayStation Games Still Available Digitally via ... Specifically, the delisted Neo Geo bundle, Amazing Spider-Man Age of Booty - https://www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/age-of-booty/91573 2 - https://www.gamestop.com/ps4/games/the-amazing-spider-man-2/112333 GameStop - Home | Facebook
Canon mf8360cdn driver Cant download product verification tool
Paypal credit card declined Wo ist die bios batterie beim pc
Daten von internen speicher auf sd karte Juegos de lucha de pulgares 2 jugadores


Maintaining the suspension of disbelief in the illusion, however, is often more comforting than acknowledging the magician's secrets.
We live in a world of illusion. So many of the concerns that occupy the mind and the tasks that fill the calendar arise from planted impulses to become someone or something that we are not. This is no accident. As we are indoctrinated into this authoritarian-corporate-consumer culture that now dominates the human race, we are trained that certain aspects of our society are untouchable truths, and that particular ways of being and behaving are preferred.
Psychopaths disempower people in this way. They blind us with never ceasing barrages of suggestions and absolutes that are aimed at shattering self-confidence and confidence in the future.
Advertising is just the tip of the iceberg. When we look further we see that the overall organization of life is centered around the pursuit of illusions and automatic obedience to institutions and ideas which are not at all what they seem. We are in a very real sense enslaved. Many call this somewhat intangible feeling of oppression 'the matrix,' a system of total control that invades the mind, programming individuals to pattern themselves in accordance with a mainstream conformist version of reality, no matter how wicked it gets.
The grandest of the illusions which keep us enslaved to the matrix, the ones that have so many of us still entranced, are outlined below for your consideration.
For so many of us, following the law is considered a moral obligation, and many of us gladly do so even though corruption, scandal, and wickedness repeatedly demonstrate that the law is plenty flexible for those who have the muscle to bend it. Police brutality and police criminality is rampant in the US, the courts favor the wealthy, and we can longer even lead our lives privately thanks to the intrusion of state surveillance. And all the while the illegal and immoral Orwellian permanent war rages on in the background of life, murdering and destroying whole nations and cultures.
The social order is not what it seems, for it is entirely predicated on conformity, obedience and acquiescence which are enforced by fear of violence. History teaches us again and again that the law is just as often as not used as an instrument of oppression, social control and plunder, and any so-called authority in this regard is false, hypocritical, and unjust.
Adorning oneself in expensive clothes and trinkets, and amassing collections of material possessions that would be the envy of any 19th century monarch has become a substitute for genuine prosperity. Maintaining the illusion of prosperity, though, is critical to our economy as it is, because its foundation is built on consumption, fraud, credit and debt. The banking system itself has been engineered from the top down to create unlimited wealth for some while taxing the eternity out of the rest of us.
True prosperity is a vibrant environment and an abundance of health, happiness, love, and relationships. As more people come to perceive material goods as the form of self-identification in this culture, we slip farther and farther away from the experience of true prosperity.
Read between the lines and look at the fine print, we are not free, not by any intelligent standard. Freedom is about having choice, yet in today's world, choice has come to mean a selection between available options, always from within the confines of a corrupt legal and taxation system and within the boundaries of culturally accepted and enforced norms.
Just look no further than the phony institution of modern democracy to find a shining example of false choices appearing real. Two entrenched, corrupt, archaic political parties are paraded as the pride and hope of the nation, yet third party and independent voices are intentionally blocked, ridiculed and plowed under.
Multiple choice is different than freedom, it is easy servitude.
Truth has become a touchy subject in our culture, and we've been programmed to believe that 'the' truth comes from the demigods of media, celebrity, and government. If the TV declares something to be true, then we are heretics to believe otherwise.
In order to maintain order, the powers that be depend our acquiescence to their version of the truth. While independent thinkers and journalists continually blow holes in the official versions of reality, the illusion of truth is so very powerful that it takes a serious personal upheaval to shun the cognitive dissonance needed to function in a society that openly chases false realities.
They say that time is money, but this is a lie. Time is your life. Your life is an ever-evolving manifestation of the now. Looking beyond the five sense world, where we have been trained to move in accordance with the clock and the calendar, we find that the spirit is eternal, and that the each individual soul is part of this eternity.
The big deception here is the reinforcement of the idea that the present moment is of little to no value, that the past is something we cannot undo or ever forget, and that the future is intrinsically more important than both the past and the present. This carries our attention away from what is actually happening right now and directs it toward the future. Once completely focused on what is to come rather than what is, we are easy prey to advertisers and fear-pimps who muddy our vision of the future with every possible worry and concern imaginable.
We are happiest when life doesn't box us in, when spontaneity and randomness gives us the chance to find out more about ourselves. Forfeiting the present moment in order to fantasize about the future is a trap. The immense, timeless moments of spiritual joy that are found in quiet meditation are proof that time is a construct of the mind of humankind, and not necessarily mandatory for the human experience.
If time is money, then life can be measured in dollars. When dollars are worth less, so is life. This is total deception, because life is, in truth, absolutely priceless.
We are programmed to believe that as individuals we are in competition with everyone and everything around us, including our neighbors and even mother nature. Us vs. them to the extreme. This flatly denies the truth that life on this planet is infinitely inter-connected. Without clean air, clean water, healthy soil, and a vibrant global sense of community we cannot survive here.
While the illusion of separateness comforts us by gratifying the ego and and offering a sense of control, in reality it only serves to enslave and isolate us.
The grand illusions mentioned here have been staged before us as a campaign to encourage blind acquiescence to the machinations of the matrix. In an attempt to dis-empower us, they demand our conformity and obedience, but we must not forget that all of this is merely an elaborate sales pitch. They can't sell what we don't care to buy.


With more than 200km of coastline packed with soft-sand beaches washed by calm, warm waters, 2,800 hours of sunshine a year and watersports facilities galore, the Costa Blanca – part of the Alicante region of south-east Spain – is an excellent family holiday destination.
But the landscape is not only defined by the sea – in the mountains that overlook the coast nestle tiny villages begging to be explored.
Sailing, windsurfing, flysurfing, rowing, canoeing, jetskiing, catamaraning and cruising are just a few of the watersports widley available in the province of Alicante.
The north of the province, the Marina Alta district, is cut across by mountains that reach the sea to create impressive cliffs towering over tiny, secluded coves in such places as Denia, Jávea, El Poble Nou de Benitatxell and Benissa.
The Marina Baixa district has some of the best-known fine-sand beaches, such as those in Benidorm (Levante and Poniente).
The south of the province, from Alicante to Pilar de la Horadada, is also famous for its long beaches, as well as for the many wetlands and saltings (the Lagunas de la Mata lagoons in Torrevieja and the El Hondo wetlands in Elche) and for sand dunes of exceptional natural value, especially those in Guardamar.
The seabed of the Costa Blanca is especially rich and beautiful, and places such as L'Illa de Benidorm and the Cabo de San Antonio and Tabarca marine reserves are idyllic settings for family holidays involving scuba-diving.
Food and drink is one of the main attractions of family holidays on the Costa Blanca, where the culture is shaped both by the region's Moorish agricultural past and its Mediterranean setting. There are, however, no end of tourist traps selling Western staples and fast food, so choose wisely.
Rice is the star ingredient of local dishes – as well as paella, enjoy rice broth dishes such as arròs amb fessols i naps (rice with beans and turnip) and sticky rice dishes, plus arroz con costra (baked in the oven with egg and sausage). Caldero (stew) and arroz a banda (rice with a fish broth) are very simple rice dishes that reproduce the recipes of seamen sailing from the ports of Alicante and can be accompanied by aperitifs such as salted and dried tuna.
The climate is the Costa Blanca's main asset where family holidays are concerned, with spring-like and summer weather normal for most of the year (the average temperature is 18ºC).
Accommodation prices on the Costa Blanca vary enormously, with self-catering apartments or villas generally the best value for money on family holidays. Hotels can be less expensive when booked as part of a package. Flight-inclusive 7-night packages start from £200pp and rise to more than £1000 per adult, depending on time of year and when you book. Flights vary from £35 to more than £200pp – book far in advance to get the best deals with low-cost airlines.


When I got this vest as much as I loved it I wondered if I would get a lot of use out of it. Caryl was sweet enough to send several suggestions. It is a bit heavy so I probably wouldn't be able to wear during the Summer but it is a great alternative to not being able to wear a coat in South Florida. So I tried it on with a few pieces to decide if it was a keeper after all.
w/ black jeans, white cami, clutch, pumps: This is how I wore it on Monday's post.
w/ navy stripe dress, flats, bucket bag: I also tried it with my black stripe dress but I didn't like it at all. Something with the black stripes just didn't work for me. I tried it with my navy stripe dress and it looked a lot better, I wore it with flats and a simple bag for a fun work look.
w/ form fitting dress, heels, clutch: Overall I find this vest works better with fitted dresses since the vest is oversized. A black/white/red (if you are bold like that) dress will work.
w/ blue jeans, tunic, leopard booties and cross-body bag: This is for a more casual look and I also plan on wearing it with shorts as it is still shorts weather here in South Florida. It's that weird time of the year where you can wear shorts and booties.
I think this pink vest is so cute! Of course the more casual look is my fave, especially because it has a little pop of leopard! Have a great weekend!
This vest is such a fun piece, I love the ways you styled it! My favorite is with the fitted dress. Great post!
Caryl is so good at coming up with outfit concepts! I just pinned this because even though I don't have a pink vest, all of these looks would work just as well with my pink moto jacket, so thank for the inspo!
I'm jealous that you can still wear shorts! Love the vest and all the looks, such a versatile pieces.
Such a great board! I love all the combos. Those leopard booties are perfect with it.
I totally appreciate thi spost! I think I said it the comments on the post with you wearing this, but I just ordered a black one so I am looking for different ways I can wear it!!
What great suggestions! I love the one with the navy striped dress.
Cute options. I can't wait to see you wear it. UGH, come to NC and I'll come to FL. Warm weather all year, i'll take it.
Funny I just someone wearing a vest just like this the other day except it was linen colored and she was wearing it with a long striped shirt and dark jeans it looked really cool.
Great ideas! I don't have a vest like this (I'm petite so most hit me at a weird length) but if I did I think your second outfit with the striped dress is how I would wear it. I even have a similar striped dress!
I love that pink vest and after seeing all of these combos, I really need to get one! Hope you are having a great weekend!
Great outfits! I think I would feel a little lost on how to style a pink vest too.
I'm so glad you decided to keep it! And it's really tempting to not find one for myself!! Love the styling options! especially the dress!
All great looks, I especially love it with the black fitted dress!
Love this pink vest and especially the first look!
love that vest!! it's a gorgeous color. you created some great looks!
I love how you have styled the pink vest. I feel like I need it in my life..
Shop Blouses On Sale, Blue Shoes Flats, Black Formal Gowns, Shoe Wedges On Sale and more. Get this widget.


text:
Mike Kirby: How I quit my day job and designed a top-tier mobile game
A few weeks ago, we got an email from our friend Mike Kirby, one of 99designs' top app icon designers, with some exciting news. The Ories: Super Space Monsters!, a mobile game for Apple devices that Mike visually designed from top to bottom for the past 2 years, was finalized and scheduled for release.
Since then a whole lot of other excitement has occurred, including the release of 3 smaller promotional games and a viral marketing campaign where an Ories was actually launched into space (yes, you read that correctly). Now the date has arrived: The Ories is out in the wild and ready to take the App Store by storm!
We talked with Mike at length about his inspiring story, getting the scoop on how a designer can quit his day job to pursue a project of passion, all the while supporting himself by freelancing in one of Britain's lousiest economic areas (hint: a certain crowdsourced design platform was key). Plus, we dove deep into the process of designing every inch of a mobile game and the skills it takes. At the very least, you'll see a stuffed alien toy blast off into the stratosphere. Read on.
How did your idea to create a mobile game originate?
At the time (which is now a little over 2 years ago), I had just closed a small digital media agency, Twisted Studio, that I had been running as creative director for 5 years, and made the switch to freelance. One of the big factors in closing the previous studio was a desire to pursue our own creative projects, as opposed to primarily doing service-based work. I relished the prospect of working on something significant that I owned myself.
Adam Green, a friend of mine, was an excellent coder – highly adept at rapidly creating mobile games in Unity and, though only 21 years old, had an excellent history and knowledge of the iPhone games market and outstanding business acumen. We had huge respect for each other's particular skill sets and felt we could work well together. So teaming up in a game development partnership seemed like a great idea.
An official teaser trailer for The Ories
Did you ever question whether you'd be able to see such a huge project through to completion?
We were fairly confident that between us, we could pull off something pretty special. That's not to say we haven't been terrified at the prospect of launch, as there are never any guarantees. The question wasn't could we pull it off (we were fairly confident in our abilities), but will people actually download the thing. Which, at the time of writing this, is still something that is enough to keep me awake at night…
How did your professional life change to accommodate the demands of the project? How did 99designs play a role?
The biggest impact on my professional life was that of time. I needed to accompany the game project with client work and other side ventures to pay the bills. At first, much of the work took place in highly intensive bursts of development, where we would do nothing but work for days on end, fueled on caffeine with only a couple of hours sleep here and there. I had a few small client projects then to keep me going, but we didn't know just how much the concept would grow. As the months passed by and the game project expanded, my own resources began to be stretched rather thin.
However, after about 6 months of being mostly away from client work, I returned to find that much had changed in the local design industry. Many of the government programs for stimulating small business, which local designers were reliant upon for client work, had stopped. Many clients had gone out of business altogether and available freelance work was scarce.
99designs proved crucial in allowing me the opportunity to rapidly build a new international client base in a chosen niche field (app icon design) and hone my skills – best of all, without having to spend huge swathes of time out networking at local business events in the hopes of grabbing a piece of an ever-shrinking pie.
The fast payouts and potential for quick client generation afforded me the ability to rapidly scale up or scale down my client base and paid work, leaving me free to continue to pursue the game development.
Could you summarize the plot or concept behind the game in brief?
"On Grand Orb lives a most fascinating race of creatures, known as TheOries. These space roving critters are born of the Great Orbler, a vast interstellar being of mind boggling intelligence, whose mighty brain feeds off rare and mysterious space energies, which can only be found around the planets and the suns of the cosmos.
But space is dangerous, and very very very big, so to ensure the safety of future generations of Orblings, the Great Orbler must be fed humongous quantities to power his most awesome brain and think up new ways for his precious Orblings to explore and reach the great beyond!"
For the mechanic, we wanted to create something that had a simple, singular physics component, but was arcade-like in nature as opposed to the more turn-based or puzzle-based physics in games like Angry Birds or Cut the Rope. The final "inspiration" came when reflecting on the simple pleasures of navigating and swinging around on the ninja rope in the classic Worms games.
We wanted to expand upon this simple mechanic of using circular motion, force and momentum as an interaction and make it the sole means of navigation through a level. Making complete orbits around a target seemed the most versatile way of achieving this, and so this became the basis for selecting space as the theme.
What makes the visual look of this, or any, game important?
The App Store is now a very crowded place, fast approaching 1 million apps. It's not like the old days, when you could throw up a pretty quickly-made game and do okay. The games category, despite having the most downloads and making the most money, is by far the most competitive. There are now many big players with huge wallets and excellent content who can spend vast amounts on paid installs and marketing.
We are really competing for the top-grossing market, where it has very much become the case of "be awesome or go home." The journey just to have a product that could compete on that level has been long and painful, but rewarding – especially if you are just 2 guys without any funding 😉
As such, having great-looking, consistent graphics is crucial — not just a great app icon and opening screenshot (your shop window), but everything about the whole user experience end-to-end must look top notch.
Your design work for this project has been wide ranging: icons, characters, menu pages and gameplay, in addition to supporting marketing materials. Could you walk us through your design process for some of the central components?
Very early on — and we are talking about the very first mock ups of the game here — the game looked very different and had a more "hardcore tech-y" space look, which was devoid of character and charm. We then took a more careful consideration of the market conditions into account, studying the sort of visual style to which the casual mobile gaming audiences would respond well. It became clear that a simple, cute and charming cartoon aesthetic was the only route to take.
For both ease of design, animation, reproduction and familiarity, the core look of Orblings (player character) took shape as a small, round character inspired somewhat by the simplicity of things like Angry Birds and the alien features of Nibbler from Futurama. We knew this would resonate well with our target audience, but we also wanted to ensure that we added our own touch to them that represented the specific nature of the game.
So, we represented them with an excited, slightly terrified screaming grin affixed to their faces — like they are on a roller coaster ride or, literally in their case, zipping at crazy speeds around the planets of the cosmos.
During the early development, I created the game elements exclusively in Flash. However, as I began to specialize in icon design on 99designs, I was often presented with requests for "shiny" metal, which was a pain to make in Flash. So I gradually shifted my focus over to Photoshop.
However, I was extremely cautious of switching to Photoshop for creating assets for the game, as I had created a polished and distinct style and it was crucial that it remained aesthetically consistent. Additionally, Flash was the better choice for creating the in-game animations. I did end up using Photoshop, but sparingly; mostly for standalone new graphics such as a new logo, or for updating graphic types, such as the planets in batches.
As for brainstorming, we would typically sit down from time to time and discuss the game: what we needed each section to do, where we felt improvements could be made, etc. I would then design much of it in my head and spend a great deal of time mentally walking myself through each screen and aspect of the game experience. Occasionally, I would start with some crude sketches for the planets, ships or characters, but for the most part work could begin immediately on-screen.
Were there certain components that proved to be especially challenging?
The icon design was one of the most time consuming tasks as I went through numerous versions, which would either be scrapped as my own skills improved, or we felt a new direction seemed appropriate, or that something was missing from the color palette or the message communicated.
Knowing it would be many users' first experience with the brand, we felt it crucial to get it spot on. For the final design I actually threw together a crude, but fully rendered, model of the ship and character to ensure the perspective and lighting was accurate. I then painstakingly drew and rendered this in Photoshop vector shapes. Even this final icon went through many variations and final "tweaks" as I would spot minor things that I wasn't 100% happy with.
Localization was also a rather large task. It's surprising just how much text is in the game. You wouldn't think it from a quick play, but we actually had over 4,000 words. For Japanese and Chinese the name is slightly different and each have their own localized logos.
The Chinese name translated to something equivalent to "Gem Wizard", whereas for the Japanese name we used a phonetic approach so the Japanese characters when pronounced sound like "Za-Orizu."
About a month ago, we also decided it would be a great idea to launch 3 other games, a day or so, before The Ories through which we would be able to promote The Ories — much smaller games of course but all with a commitment to high quality.
Creating those was not an inconsiderable task either, as they each required their own distinct look and game play to attract different segments of the gaming audience. If you want to check them out they are Aztecathon: The Great Maze Race, The Glowing Void 3: Tilt Dodge and Avoid (to which I am presently somewhat addicted), and Crazy Island Golf.
There have, of course, been all sorts of other materials needed such as banners, social content, game centre and Facebook icons (over 75 unique achievement icons), gameplay trailers, viral videos, video tutorials, and the intro video. Plus a whole host of other things I am sure I have neglected to mention, but we would be here all day….
What are these viral videos you mention?
As part of the marketing campaign, we decided to get a whole boatload of cuddly toys made, based on the character from the game (available soon from Amazon), which was nice in itself, but then I decided it would be a great idea to try and send one home for launch. Yes, home… as in space. We searched around for a while and managed to find an English company with a great track record of launching items into near space.
After many weeks of terrible weather, when the tracking and prediction software kept saying the toy would land in the sea (or Belgium…) we finally managed to catch a break just 2 weeks before the launch date for the game. The flight was superbly successful, sending a cute little Orbling all the way up to 115,954 feet — with a camera! Check it out:
Mike and Adam actually launched one of their Orblings into space as a promotional stunt
Now that this project is nearly over, at least the bulk of it, what is next for you? Going to take a vacation?
A break would be fantastic… however I have a wedding fast approaching at the end of May and, as the game has swallowed nearly all of my time, my bank balance is not as robust as it could be… so I expect I will be plowing headlong into some client projects for a few weeks.
Any remaining time will go to building and helping to support a hopefully engaged social community, studying the analytic results from the game and continuing a heavy marketing push, while we see how well the game is doing.
Hopefully once the dust has settled it will be doing well, begin paying out and I will be able to start thinking about relaxing a little. If it does well we have some exciting things already planned for the future of The Ories brand so keep your eyes peeled!
Game website
"Like" The Ories on Facebook
Follow The Ories on Twitter
What do you think of The Ories? Play, and let us know!
designer interview
Daylite Designs' top tips for balancing full-time freelancing with family
A look inside Kitasavi's bold approach to branding


Martial arts is a big part of my life, and conditioning goes hand in hand with most of what I do during my daily training. Sparring, interval training, circuit training—these and other segmented events require a flexible timer and audible tone to spare me the hassle of keeping an eye on my watch.
UltraTimer by Plain and Simple Software is an ideal tool if you want to use your iPhone or iPod touch to keep you on track. While I use it specifically for my martial arts and fitness timing, any timing function can be added—from ergonomic reminders to ensure that you stand up and stretch your neck and legs during the day to a timer to ensure that you baste the turkey on Thanksgiving Day to keep it moist.
Setup is simple and easy. You can use one of the supplied timers that are automatically installed. You can also use UltraTimer while listening to music on your mobile device, so your favorite tunes can keep you motivated while you pound the heavy bag, do wind sprints, or boil those Brussels sprouts to go along with your turkey.
UltraTimer is a simple but valuable tool for anyone who requires a flexible, hands-free event timer.
UltraTimer is compatible with any iPhone or iPod touch running the iPhone 2.x software update.


text:
In Topics:
Werewolves (Modern Beliefs)
Area(s) Reported: Worldwide & North America: United States: Hollywood
Date(s) Reported: 1935 to Present
In the past werewolves were believed to be people who used magic to transform themselves into wolves, yet retained their human intelligence, anger, and hatred; they used their wolf forms to commit horrible crimes while hiding their identities. The modern idea of werewolves is of people who change against their will into half-wolf, half-human, bipedal monsters with an uncontrollable need to kill on nights of a full moon. So when did the idea of what a werewolf is change? Most modern ideas about werewolves come from just two sources: a 1935 movie called Werewolf of London, and a 1941 movie called The Wolf Man.
1935's Werewolf of London told the story of a scientist who became a werewolf, and was a first for many details that have now become accepted modern 'facts' about werewolves. Story-wise for the first time, becoming a werewolf is involuntary, the trait for changing into a werewolf is transmitted by being bitten by a pre-existing werewolf, the change occurs automatically on nights of the full moon, with the resulting monster being essentially a hairy man with fangs and an uncontrollable need to kill. Overall, the movie had a lot of new ideas... but it flopped in the theatres because the main story the ideas were hung on wasn't terribly original. six years later, though, the new details would mix with a few more new ideas to be come a hollywood classic.
The 1941 movie The Wolf Man told the story of Larry Talbot, a man who returns to his family's home in Wales after a long absence. One night, Talbot rescues a young lady by killing a strange wolf that is attacking her, but is bitten as he does so... and after he has killed the creature, it transforms into a person. He realizes with horror that he has been bitten by a werewolf, and is doomed to become one himself; worse still, the curse of the werewolf causes him to destroy those he loves when he is in his monstrous form. The curse also makes him invulnerable to all normal means of destruction; only objects made of silver can kill him.
From then on, Talbot transforms at night into a half-wolf, half-man hybrid monster ― looking more like a hairy man than a wolf ― and then he roams the foggy countryside looking for people to kill. Talbot is horrified by what he's unwillingly become; after various attempts to restrain or cure himself, his monstrous form tries to attack the woman he loves and he is accidentally killed by his own father who is carrying Talbot's silver-tipped cane.
The Wolf Man proved popular enough to spawn four sequels, and thanks to these films, most people now believe that a werewolf is a hairy, wolf-like person, that uncontrollably transforms into a monster during full moons, can only be killed with silver, and can create new werewolves by biting people... which is nothing like the original werewolves.
Only in Movies?
The strange thing about all of this is that, even though this sort of werewolf has only been made up within the past century, there are now people who claim to have actually seen them. Since this type of werewolf is just a creation of monster movies, these people are likely seeing things that remind them of these movie monsters, and so they tend to label what they've seen as a werewolf ― whether or not it was.
Since at least 1989, people in Wisconsin, in the United States, have been seeing a hairy, man-like creature with a dog-like snout, and pointed ears. Dubbed the "Bray Road Beast" after Bray Road near the town of Elkhorn, where the beast was first reported, it has been mistaken several times for a large dog... until it stood up! Attempts to follow it have so far failed.
In Scotland there have been reports of hairy humans with wolf heads; they can stand and walk on two legs, but drop to all four limbs to run. The first was seen in the 1950's from a distance of about 70 feet while it was near Loch Morar; the second was seen near the town of Oban in 1967 late at night as it ran at high speed past a mail truck making deliveries.
More recently, on the night of August 19, 2016, three people driving out to pick up pizzas in Halsham, England, saw a large canine-like creature on the side of the road ahead of them. As the car approached, the creature raised up onto two legs and turned towards the car, revealing a "human-like" face... then it turned, dropped to all four legs, and ran off across a nearby field, vanishing into the dark.
In all of these cases, some sort of bipedal, canine-like creature was seen, which matches a movie werewolf in appearance; but none of these creatures were seen to become human, so it is not fair to label them werewolves. So, as stated before, movie werewolves don't exist... but strange, bipedal, dog-like monsters might!
See also: Werewolves (Ancient Beliefs)
The Wolfman - movie poste...
Werewolf of London - movi...
American Hauntings: Unexplained America: The Bray Road Beast, by Troy Taylor, 2008 website. Online: Click here!
Cryptomundo: The Werewolves of Britain, by Nick Redfern, article in the 2006 website maintained by Loren Coleman. Online: Click here!
The Story of Werewolves, by Thomas G. Aylesworth, 1978 McGraw-Hill Book Company. ISBN: 0-07-002645-9
Unexplained Phenomena: A Rough Guide Special, by Bob Rickard and John Michell, 2000 Rough Guides, Ltd., 62-70 Shorts Gardens, London, England. ISBN: 1-85828-589-5
Werewolf of London, page in the Wikipedia website, viewed 2-13-2017. Online: Click here!
The Wolf Man (movie), written by Curt Siodmak, directed by george Waggner, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., 1941 Universal Pictures. Online: Click here!
"2016, August 19: Werewolf Encountered in Halsham, England," by Garth Haslam, article in the Anomalies: The Strange & Unexplained website, viewed 2-13-2017. Online: Click here!


text:
Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems
Paul McCord, Kurt Waldman, Elizabeth Baldwin, Jampel Dell'Angelo, Tom Evans
Geography and Development, School of
Smallholder agriculturalists employ a range of strategies to adapt to climate variability. These adaptive strategies include decisions to plant different seed varieties, changes to the array of cultivated crops, and shifts in planting dates. Smallholder access to irrigation water is crucial to the adoption of such strategies, and uncertainty of water availability may prove to be a stimulating force in a smallholder's decision to adjust their on-farm practices. Within smallholder irrigation systems, attributes at multiple levels influence water availability and collective action, and in the process play a role in adaptation: community-level governance institutions may influence trust in others and the ability to overcome appropriation and provisioning dilemmas, and, at the household-level, the availability of irrigation water and socioeconomic and demographic factors may influence farmer willingness to take on the risk of altering their on-farm practices. In this study we investigate smallholder adaptation in Kenya from multiple levels. Specifically, we identify the role of household- and community-level characteristics in shaping smallholder experimentation with different seed varieties. Standard ordinary least squares and logistic regressions are constructed to assess the influence of these interactions on smallholder adaptation. We further discuss the ability of smallholders to respond to poor water provisioning. Among the study's findings is evidence that smallholders are more willing to employ adaptive measures if they have a limited capacity to irrigate.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
Seed choice
Smallholder agriculture
10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Climate Variability Business & Economics
Irrigation systems Social Sciences
smallholder Earth & Environmental Sciences
Smallholders Business & Economics
irrigation system Earth & Environmental Sciences
Irrigation Business & Economics
Irrigation water Social Sciences
McCord, P., Waldman, K., Baldwin, E., Dell'Angelo, J., & Evans, T. (2018). Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems. World Development, 108, 296-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems. / McCord, Paul; Waldman, Kurt; Baldwin, Elizabeth; Dell'Angelo, Jampel; Evans, Tom.
In: World Development, Vol. 108, 08.2018, p. 296-308.
McCord, P, Waldman, K, Baldwin, E, Dell'Angelo, J & Evans, T 2018, 'Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems', World Development, vol. 108, pp. 296-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
McCord P, Waldman K, Baldwin E, Dell'Angelo J, Evans T. Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems. World Development. 2018 Aug;108:296-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
McCord, Paul ; Waldman, Kurt ; Baldwin, Elizabeth ; Dell'Angelo, Jampel ; Evans, Tom. / Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems. In: World Development. 2018 ; Vol. 108. pp. 296-308.
@article{6367afb0202b43eba68e612ac23d4189,
title = "Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems",
abstract = "Smallholder agriculturalists employ a range of strategies to adapt to climate variability. These adaptive strategies include decisions to plant different seed varieties, changes to the array of cultivated crops, and shifts in planting dates. Smallholder access to irrigation water is crucial to the adoption of such strategies, and uncertainty of water availability may prove to be a stimulating force in a smallholder's decision to adjust their on-farm practices. Within smallholder irrigation systems, attributes at multiple levels influence water availability and collective action, and in the process play a role in adaptation: community-level governance institutions may influence trust in others and the ability to overcome appropriation and provisioning dilemmas, and, at the household-level, the availability of irrigation water and socioeconomic and demographic factors may influence farmer willingness to take on the risk of altering their on-farm practices. In this study we investigate smallholder adaptation in Kenya from multiple levels. Specifically, we identify the role of household- and community-level characteristics in shaping smallholder experimentation with different seed varieties. Standard ordinary least squares and logistic regressions are constructed to assess the influence of these interactions on smallholder adaptation. We further discuss the ability of smallholders to respond to poor water provisioning. Among the study's findings is evidence that smallholders are more willing to employ adaptive measures if they have a limited capacity to irrigate.",
keywords = "Climate change adaptation, Collective action, Kenya, Seed choice, Smallholder agriculture, Water governance",
author = "Paul McCord and Kurt Waldman and Elizabeth Baldwin and Jampel Dell'Angelo and Tom Evans",
doi = "10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009",
journal = "World Development",
T1 - Assessing multi-level drivers of adaptation to climate variability and water insecurity in smallholder irrigation systems
AU - McCord, Paul
AU - Waldman, Kurt
AU - Baldwin, Elizabeth
AU - Dell'Angelo, Jampel
AU - Evans, Tom
N2 - Smallholder agriculturalists employ a range of strategies to adapt to climate variability. These adaptive strategies include decisions to plant different seed varieties, changes to the array of cultivated crops, and shifts in planting dates. Smallholder access to irrigation water is crucial to the adoption of such strategies, and uncertainty of water availability may prove to be a stimulating force in a smallholder's decision to adjust their on-farm practices. Within smallholder irrigation systems, attributes at multiple levels influence water availability and collective action, and in the process play a role in adaptation: community-level governance institutions may influence trust in others and the ability to overcome appropriation and provisioning dilemmas, and, at the household-level, the availability of irrigation water and socioeconomic and demographic factors may influence farmer willingness to take on the risk of altering their on-farm practices. In this study we investigate smallholder adaptation in Kenya from multiple levels. Specifically, we identify the role of household- and community-level characteristics in shaping smallholder experimentation with different seed varieties. Standard ordinary least squares and logistic regressions are constructed to assess the influence of these interactions on smallholder adaptation. We further discuss the ability of smallholders to respond to poor water provisioning. Among the study's findings is evidence that smallholders are more willing to employ adaptive measures if they have a limited capacity to irrigate.
AB - Smallholder agriculturalists employ a range of strategies to adapt to climate variability. These adaptive strategies include decisions to plant different seed varieties, changes to the array of cultivated crops, and shifts in planting dates. Smallholder access to irrigation water is crucial to the adoption of such strategies, and uncertainty of water availability may prove to be a stimulating force in a smallholder's decision to adjust their on-farm practices. Within smallholder irrigation systems, attributes at multiple levels influence water availability and collective action, and in the process play a role in adaptation: community-level governance institutions may influence trust in others and the ability to overcome appropriation and provisioning dilemmas, and, at the household-level, the availability of irrigation water and socioeconomic and demographic factors may influence farmer willingness to take on the risk of altering their on-farm practices. In this study we investigate smallholder adaptation in Kenya from multiple levels. Specifically, we identify the role of household- and community-level characteristics in shaping smallholder experimentation with different seed varieties. Standard ordinary least squares and logistic regressions are constructed to assess the influence of these interactions on smallholder adaptation. We further discuss the ability of smallholders to respond to poor water provisioning. Among the study's findings is evidence that smallholders are more willing to employ adaptive measures if they have a limited capacity to irrigate.
KW - Climate change adaptation
KW - Collective action
KW - Kenya
KW - Seed choice
KW - Smallholder agriculture
KW - Water governance
U2 - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
DO - 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.02.009
JO - World Development
JF - World Development


text:
Andrew Ferrell
Brian McCallister
Automobile Defects
Catastrophic Accidents
Industrial Equipment Accidents
Improper Maintenance
Police Abuses
Driver Negligence
Trucking Company Negligence
Galen Richey vs. American Family Mutual Insurance Company
In late-July of 2000, a 1400-pound limb fell on Brenda Richey's home in Liberty, Missouri. It crashed onto her roof on a sunny summer day after storms had swept through the Liberty community for days, one of the stormiest summers in history. She called her American Family agent in Liberty to ask that she have the limb removed, but the agent said she had no coverage for the removal because the limb didn't fall during a storm, which was not accurate. Brenda called the agent two more times and got the same response: NO COVERAGE. She called her mother, who had limbs removed from her house by American Family in the past. Her mother even called the agent.
The huge limb lay on Brenda's roof for over a week, so she decided to call her brother, Galen Richey to borrow his chainsaw, telling him she was going to cut it down herself. It was becoming dangerous to Brenda and her 3 small children, whom she was raising as a single mother, living paycheck to paycheck and unable to pay a company to have the limb removed. Galen went to Brenda's house to cut the limb off the roof.
While cutting the huge limb, one of the branches shifted and sprung loose, knocking Galen off the roof and onto his tailbone in the driveway. Galen sustained a burst fracture of his L-5 vertebra and a severe spinal cord injury known as a cauda equina injury. Galen is now a paraplegic and has permanently lost the use of his legs, among other permanent injuries.
THE LAWSUIT AND TRIAL:
Before he hired Brian McCallister of The McCallister Law Firm, Galen had tried to get some help from American Family before he consulted any lawyers. Because Brenda also had $100,000 of liability coverage on the homeowner's policy with American Family, Galen asked them for that money to offset his hospital bills in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But they told Galen he wasn't entitled to that money because Brenda hadn't done anything to cause the fall, a claims adjuster mockingly asking Galen, "Well, she didn't push you off the roof, did she?" Galen was upset by the comment and ultimately hired Brian McCallister, but not until after several lawyers had turned Galen away, telling him he had no case.
MISSOURI LAW PROHIBITS NEGLIGENT MISREPRESENTATIONS BY PROFESSIONALS
In 2005, Galen sued the insurance agent and American Family for negligence for the agent's negligent statement that there was "no coverage" for the fallen limb. It was the first case of its kind in Missouri against an insurance agent and her insurance company for negligently misrepresenting the coverage of the insurance policy. Over the course of the next 3 years, American Family would continue to deny the allegation and never offered Galen a dime to settle his case before trial. Trial to a jury in Jackson County, Missouri was Galen's only option.
The trial in Independence, Missouri lasted 7 days and was tried before Hon. Jack Grate. At trial, the agent testified that she didn't remember receiving telephone calls from Brenda or her mother about the downed limb and that she would not tell a homeowner that she had "no coverage" for a clearly covered occurrence. But although she was required to keep copies of her telephone logs for 5 years, after only 3 years, she burned them.
AMERICAN FAMILY SAID "IT'S NOT OUR FAULT"
American Family defended the case by saying Galen made the conscious decision to get on the roof and remove the limb, so the fall was entirely his fault, not American Family's fault. Galen countered by telling the jury that he wouldn't have been on the roof at all if the agent had not misrepresented the insurance policy to his sister, Brenda. And Galen emphasized to the jury that American Family advertised its agents as "experts" about the policies they sold to the public, so of all people, the agents should know everything about the products they are selling.
A TINY POCKET CALENDAR RESONATES WITH THE JURY
Galen and Brenda's Mother, Dorothy kept a small Hallmark® pocket calendar every single year, recording all kinds of important events and keeping track of what she did on any given day. She kept those calendars every year, never knowing when or why she might need them. Her little calendars went back to the 1970's. When reviewing her pocket calendar for that year, she discovered she had recorded her phone call to the agent, the date the tree fell on her daughter's house and even Brenda's calls to the agent. The little Hallmark® calendar turned out to be a crucial piece of evidence in Galen's favor. And the jury didn't appreciate the insurance agent saying she "didn't remember" the phone calls from Brenda and her mother, yet burning her only evidence of them after only 3 years, in violation of her own rules.
On the 7th day of trial in 2006, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Galen: $12,682,500. Following the reading of the verdict by Judge Grate, several of the jurors could not wait to talk with Galen and his wife, Marie and embrace Galen after hearing his incredible story. They wanted to make sure he knew they cared about him and they wanted him to be cared for in the future. American Family appealed the verdict to the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District, but the verdict was upheld in 2008. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected American Family's last ditch effort to appeal in 2008 and the verdict was finally paid in September 2008, eight long years after Galen's fall. With interest applied to the verdict pursuant to Missouri law, American Family paid Galen nearly $14 million.
THE LIFELONG RELATIONSHIP
Galen Richey is forever grateful for what Brian McCallister did for him and for his family. "For my way of life now, my lifestyle, I owe it all to Brian McCallister. If it weren't for him, I don't know where I'd be. He's like a brother to me and I'd do anything for him, just like he did me."
And about how it was to work with Brian McCallister, Galen Richey said: "With Brian, you know he truly cares about you and about your family. He always kept us up to speed and he never ever tried to mislead us. We knew we had a tough case, but we knew that when we hurt, he hurt. He's more than just my lawyer, he's my very close friend."
Finally, someone 100% on your side.
Your whole life can change in a split second. A car accident, a collision with a semi-truck, an injury from a doctor's negligence, or a dangerous product injury can turn your life upside down. Read more
We make it our personal mission to see justice is served.
Nothing in life is more painful than the sudden loss of a loved one. It's especially heartbreaking when their loss is caused by the wrongful actions of others. Read more
We'll defend you aggressively against corruption and brutality.
The vast majority of police officers do an admirable job under very difficult circumstances. But sadly, there are those who abuse their power and abuse your rights in the process. Read more
Burns & Electrocution
LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN MISSOURI, KANSAS, IOWA and ILLINOIS.
The McCallister Law Firm, P.C. represents clients in Kansas City, Missouri, and the surrounding Missouri areas of Liberty, Independence, Lees Summit, Blue Springs, Platte City, Weston, St. Joseph, Joplin, Pleasant Hill, Butler, Elton, St. Louis, Springfield, Jackson County, Clay County, Platte County, Buchanan County, and Cass County. Our lawyers also represent clients in the Kansas areas of Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood, Leavenworth, Topeka, Johnson County, Wyandotte County, and Leavenworth County.
© 2015 by McCallister Law Firm P.C. All rights reserved.