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Jens Hansen
Jens Hansen Jens Hansen. Photo by Mr Jan Zeman (supplied by the Hansen family) Click image to enlarge "Nihil sine labore" was the Latin motto inscribed on the road sign outside...
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Cricket in the Colonies
International cricket came to Nelson on January 4, 2014, when the Black Caps took on the West Indies in a one-day international - New Zealand winning by 58...
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Picton and World War II
On 3 September 1939 New Zealand declared its involvement in a war that had begun in Europe. New Zealand was one of the first countries to join the...
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The Great Blenheim Flood of 1923
Blenheim[blenheim-or-the-beaver/] was built at the junction of two rivers as a river port, close to sea level.1 Blenheim's early history was one of frequent flooding until extensive river works...
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Albert Rainbow Tuffnell
One of Richmond's early entrepreneurs, Albert Tuffnell played an important role in both business and local government in the Richmond borough. Albert-Rainbow-Tuffnell.jpg Albert Rainbow Tuffnell (Richmond Borough Council) Click image...
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NOT FROM BIZARRE AFRICAN SEXUAL PRACTICES, AFRICAN TOYS, DEAD MONKEYS, CONTAMINATED HEPATITIS B OR OTHER VACCINES, OR THE MILITARY'S SPECIAL VIRUS PROGRAM.
A likely explanation of the origin of "HIV" comes not from notions of monkey or ape-to-human transmission due to Africans smearing monkey blood on their loins for sexual orgies as published in The Lancet and other top journals (1), nor was "HIV" likely transmitted to African children or their parents by playing with or by eating dead monkeys or chimps as "bush-meat" because their parents couldn't find or afford toys or food (2). "HIV" did not emerge from a Special Virus Program conspiracy that the U.S. government planned for population control or for germ warfare. "HIV" did not crawl out from a monkey or chimp kidney culture used during the manufacture the hepatitis B vaccine or other vaccines.
Recent studies in gene research suggest that the so-called specific markers of "HIV" are produced by our own non-specific endogenous DNA sequences called retroelements or "retroids."
A retroid is a special kind of mobile gene sequence that has been associated with diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and with normal biological functions involving the placenta (3). It is known that these retroid sequences make cellular proteins that are expressed by normal uninfected (healthy) yeast, insects, and a variety of mammals (4), 50% of healthy dogs (5), "uninfected" rhesus monkeys, chimps, and humans (6). Retroelements are now known to be important sequences for telomere replication at the tips of normal and cancer cell chromosomes (7). Once claimed by AIDS scientists to be a specific molecular component required for "HIV" replication, retroids and specifically reverse transcriptases (RT) are now seen frequently in market magazines concerning biotechnology stocks (8,9) in the context of normal, non-pathological situations, despite what AIDS proponents continue to claim about the specificity of RT to exogenous retroviruses. p24, another protein once thought to be the unique capsid protein that makes up the proteinaceous shell of "HIV" is now known to be expressed in the thymus glands of "HIV-negative" children (10). An "HIV" positive result can also occur when some infants are exposed to the proteins in cow's or goat's milk (11) as well as after the flu vaccine (12), hepatitis B vaccine (13), in normal pregnant women (14), under conditions of stress caused by disease, drugs, oxidation, or malnutrition, or dozens of other factors or reasons (15), but paradoxically, not after specific "HIV" sequences or proteins are directly injected into "HIV-negative" "HIV-vaccine recipients.
That these endogenous human genetic elements exist but yet are ill-defined has been shown again and again to be likely from studies on presumptively named "HERVs" (Human Endogenous Retro-Viruses) such as the "Phoenix viruses" (presumptively so named because nobody has shown that endogenous infectious "retroviruses" exist). "HERVs" (viral-like particles that look like "HIV" virus particles are supposed to look) can be produced by infecting (transfecting in Petri dishes) cells with certain sequences of DNA or RNA (16), which then are replicated and packaged by the cells into virus-like "enveloped" particles that look identical to "HIV." Modern analyses of the human genome database (which presumably wasn't derived from anyone infected with "HIV") have revealed more than 120,000 full-length retroids containing (once thought to be) specific viral reverse transcriptase transcripts (17).
Although the "HIV=AIDS" Establishment is always saying the "HIV viruses" reverse transcriptase sequence and other parts of its genome are mutating every time a patient dies while on "life saving" anti-retroviral drugs that supposedly target this and other "HIV-specific" gene sequence products, genomic analyses show that these retroid reverse transcriptase elements are among the most stable transcripts that make up these retroids. In other words, amongst gene sequence analysts, it is the sequence stability rather than the instability or mutability of the reverse transcriptase sequence itself that make these 120,000 retroelement sequences possible to classify as distinct sequences (17), while at the same time, the AIDS Establishment points to the mutability of these same sequences as the reason why they have failed to find a stable target in "the AIDS virus."
"AIDS patients had high, sometimes extreme amounts of gammaglobulins (immunoglobulins, antibodies), 35-40, even 45% instead of the normal 18%. But Dr. Sacher had learned in her training that T4-cells are called "helper" cells because they enable B-cells to become plasma cells which produce gammaglobulins. How could it be that patients supposed to be low in T4-cells were producing excess gammaglobulins? The answer, shown by research in later years, is that the T4-cells are not destroyed (until anergy results later), they merely absent themselves from the blood and move elsewhere (the lymph nodes)."
"In the late 1980s and early 1990s it was realized that there are two kinds of T4-cells, namely Th1 and Th2. In "HIV/AIDS" patients, the balance was shifted toward Th2 and away from Th1, i.e. a lack of Th1 and an excess of Th2. Those Th2 cells move into the lymph system to assist B-cells to produce gammaglobulins. Hence the oft-noted swelling of the lymph nodes in "HIV/AIDS" patients, reflecting chronic and rather intractable inflammation."
"This [phenomenon] also explains why "cocktail" "HIV/AIDS" therapy works. It is cytostatic---it kills cells---and thereby attacks the processes that caused the inflammation. When the lymph-node inflammation subsides, the count of the T4-cells in the blood increases again as they move back into the blood. Recent work has indeed shown that these cells are not newly generated; they never were destroyed in the first place. To this day no one has shown how "HIV" is supposed to kill T4-cells."
Thus the German "HIV/AIDS" team first proposed that the immune cell Th2/Th1 ratio is imbalanced in "AIDS" patients, and a consequent hypergammaglobulinemia characteristic of "HIV's" molecular signatures result, which can be modulated in profoundly immune suppressed patients through the toxic effects of the ARVs, at least for a while. Although the information about these observations have been suppressed and funding for the studies was withdrawn by the German government without explanation after early enthusiasm for the progress of Drs. Kremer Dr. Sacher and others (18), currently Dr. Kremer and Dr. Sacher and their colleagues claim to have been curing AIDS patients with glutathione, alpha-lipoic acid, patient-specific amino acid profile restoration as well as vitamin, mineral, and trace element restoration in a patient-specific manner for 20 years. Also, cysteine, Ginkgo, proteolytic enzymes, mild aerobic exercise, and other non-toxic means have been employed successfully in these German drug clinics for 20 or more years to reverse immune suppression, "AIDS," and "HIV-disease."
Furthermore, according to these "HIV/AIDS" physicians, in these therapeutic trials, HAART has only occasionally been given for short periods of time successfully in some of the profound immune suppressed cases, because this toxic cocktail antagonizes the imbalanced proliferation (disturbed TH1/TH2 ratio) of these cells, because they are rank cytotoxic poisons. Both in non-symptomatic "HIV" patients and in some profoundly suppressed "AIDS patients," HAART has the ability to dampen the molecular markers that these imbalanced sets of cells generate (and which are read as high viral load although no virus particles have been photographed or isolated). At higher doses HAART may antagonize raging bacterial infections, protozoa, and fungal infections. However, if given chronically, it is now well established that HAART will eventually wipe the immune system out and render the patient anergic and bone-marrow depressed, not to mention the toxic effects of the HAART regimens given chronically exert on the intestines, platelets, and other tissues that lead to mal-absorption disorders, neuropathies, and lypodystrophies, heart failure, and liver destruction.
Dr. Sacher and her colleagues essentially have shown that relatively gentle treatments described above can in most cases reverse "AIDS-indicator illnesses," far more reliably, and completely than HAART.
"At the recent International AIDS Society conference in Sydney, Mike Lederman reminded attendees that abnormally high levels of immune activation were described in the first case reports of gay men with AIDS in 1981. The authors of those reports, led by Michael Gottlieb, specifically noted the "increased percentage of cells bearing the thymocyte-associated antigen T10." This antigen is now known as CD38, and an extensive literature—particularly the work of the late Janis Giorgi, an immunologist at UCLA—demonstrates that CD38 expression on CD8 T cells correlates strongly with the rate of disease progression in people with HIV infection" (in many instances, more strongly than viral load and peripheral blood CD4 T cell counts).
Translation: In the absence of any clear mechanism to explain how "HIV" damages immune cells, the AIDS research enterprise is beginning to focus their attention on issues regarding the immune system raised by their early critics such as Dr. Sacher, Heinrich Kramer, The Perth Group, Peter Duesberg, Kary Mullis, and others, that they had fought so hard to silence and many of whose funding was abruptly stopped.
"It has also become clear that immune activation is a broader phenomenon than just CD38 expression on CD8 T cells. CD4 T cells are also over-activated and additional T cell activation markers—such as HLA-DR—are elevated along with levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1beta."
Translation: In other words, "AIDS patients" are immunologically abnormal in ways that a simple virus infection cannot explain.
"The role of immune activation in HIV infection has generally received less attention than HIV-associated immune deficiency."
Translation: A disproportionate amount of money (all of it) has been directed at how "HIV" works and virtually no money has been directed at hypotheses in which "HIV" doesn't play a major role (like immune activation), or which plays no role at all in immune deregulation syndromes.
"But recently, immune activation has received renewed attention for a number of important reasons:"
Translation: The head of the Swiss Blood Bank, Alfred Hassig, Dr. Kramer, the Perth Group and others have been discussing oxidative stress and immune activation (a more generalized issue than simply immune activation) for years and being censored and defunded: Jefferys and the AIDS Establishment say it's time to look at these hypotheses more closely because the simple virus-centric "HIV=AIDS" paradigm has repeatedly, and without exception failed.
"-Immune activation—but not viral load—has emerged as the critical factor distinguishing pathogenic immunodeficiency virus infections—such as HIV infection in humans and SIV infection in rhesus macaques—from non-pathogenic infections, such as SIV infection in sooty mangabeys and African green monkeys."
"-Results from the large SMART trial, which evaluated the strategy of interrupting ART in a large population of more than 5,000 HIV-infected individuals, clearly showed that the relative risk of clinical events not normally considered to be AIDS-related was higher in people who interrupted therapy."
Translation: Clinical events that are "non-AIDS related" tend to be due to side effects of drugs that cause non-AIDS-indicator syndromes such as heart disease, liver failure, neuropathies, lipodystrophies, coagulopathies, etc. Unfortunately, the trial was prematurely ended, and it didn't have a control group of "HIV-positives" that were given no pharmaceutical intervention.
"Many of the events—such as cardiovascular, liver and kidney disease—are associated with inflammation and immune activation, and recent analyses of the SMART results are suggesting that levels of biological markers known to predict an increased risk of these events were raised by treatment interruption."
Translation: Like hepatitis B infection and liver disease, no clear association between a virus and tissue destruction has been discovered in the context of "HIV/AIDS," so now they are looking for the mysterious "autoimmune" after-effects on major organs never associated with the targets of the "HIV/AIDS" hypothesis before (outside the context of drug toxicity and drug damage often mistaken for the AIDS-indicator diseases). But Jefferys and his AIDS Establishment are 10-20 years late with this view because Robert Root-Bernstein, The Perth Group, Kary Mullis, and others had already proposed autoimmune mechanisms years ago as the basis of AIDS.
"-The effectiveness of ART in restoring immune responses to opportunistic pathogens has greatly reduced the incidence of opportunistic infections, but even individuals on long-term ART with well-suppressed viral load typically show elevated levels of T cell activation compared to uninfected controls as well as markers of incomplete immune restoration (e.g. persistently skewed CD4/CD8 ratios)."
Translation: An activated immune system is characteristic of AIDS and is independent on the level of "virus", and AZT and HAART. And although these drugs do permanent damage to the immune system depending on dosage and duration of treatment, they may be partially effective in some individuals for a while by acting as anti-bacterials and perhaps anti-fungals. Although the drugs may unreliably suppress the responses of the immune system so that "viral load" appears to go down, Jefferys is saying here that these drugs don't appear to affect in most cases the long-term autoimmune oxidation that will destroy tissues of the body in persons who are hyperimmune activated for any one of dozens of reasons. In other words, "HIV," if it existed, isn't suppressing the immune system leading to AIDS. In fact, now the AIDS enterprise is saying that something is stimulating the immune system so that it becomes destructive to tissues that have nothing to do with AIDS-indicator diseases, or which may have nothing to do with "HIV," as is the case with many chronic autoimmune diseases.
"This suggests that these individuals may remain at increased risk for conditions associated with inflammation and/or perturbed T cell homeostasis (e.g. the cardiovascular events mentioned above and autoimmune-like phenomena)."
"Taken together, these findings argue strongly for a renewed focus on unraveling the causes and consequences of immune activation and inflammation in HIV infection."
Translation: There is no correlation between "viral load" and morbidity as much as there is a correlation between the onset or consequences of hyperimmune activation, and the typical autoimmune responses and tissue damage that accompany hightened immune activation (not AIDS which is a depression of the immune response) that has nothing to do with a virus.
"But exactly how this is occurring—particularly the extent to which HIV antigens are involved versus other potential sources of activation such as bacteria leaking across the gut mucosa—remains unresolved."
Translation: There still is no experiment that can account for how "HIV" can cause AIDS.
"These questions are no longer solely of interest to academic immunologists, they are now increasingly recognized to have a vital relation to the transmission and pathogenesis of HIV infection and AIDS."
Perhaps this is why, in 2007, it was announced that viral load is only able to predict progression to disease in 4% to 6% of any HIV-positives studied, challenging much of the basis for current AIDS science and treatment policy for any individual who tests "HIV" positive [24. Rodriquez B, Sethi AK, Cheruvu VK, et al. Predictive value of plasma HIV RNA level on rate of CD4 T-cell decline in untreated HIV infection. JAMA 296(12):1498-506, 2006;Cohen J. Study says HIV blood levels don't predict immune decline. Science 313(5795):1868, 2006].
Everybody has "HIV": p24, the capsid protein of "HIV" is detectable in everybody's cells.


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'Marvel's Spider-Man' Turf Wars DLC Release Date, New Suits Confirmed
By Phillip Martinez On 11/13/18 at 12:00 PM EST
Gaming Spider-Man PS4 Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps
The second part of Marvel's Spider-Man's story DLC, The City That Never Sleeps, is about to release on PlayStation 4. Insomniac Games dropped the first trailer for Turf Wars as well as the first look at the three new suits. As previously hinted by an in-game message, the Turf Wars DLC will release Nov. 20 as a separate story or as part of the bundle.
The Turf Wars trailer puts an emphasis on the classic Spidey villain, Hammerhead, who looks to take over Manhattan (and take out Spider-Man in the process). Yuri Watanabe, Spidey's friend on the force, features heavily in the trailer so it's safe to assume that Peter Parker's friendship with her will be tested as she looks to be in major trouble.
The three new outfits players will get include the MK I suit, the Iron Spider suit and the Spider-Clan suit. The Iron Spider Armor is the same one from the classic Civil War comic book storyline. The MK I armor completes the MK set with this all-black ensemble. Spider-Clan is an animated suit that can be found in the Spider-Man manga series. Take a look at all three new Spider-Man suits below.
The three new suits available in Turf Wars Insomniac Games
So what can fans expect from the Turf Wars DLC? Besides the second part of the story that started in The Heist, there will be more bases to take down, more side quests, crimes, challenges and trophies to earn.
The trophy list for Turf Wars was revealed last week, so take a look to help you prepare for Nov. 20.
What do you think of the upcoming DLC? Which of the three suits is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.
Spider-Man PS4 Turf Wars Trophy List
'Marvel's Spider-Man' The Heist Review

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Cypress Ranch Athlete of the Week presented by T-Mobile - Romario Noel
Matt Malatesta
Someone has to be first.
Cypress Ranch's Romario Noel is a 6-foot-2 defensive back who patrols the back end of the Mustangs' stingy defense, which gave up only 270 yards per game en route to a district title.
"I've really only played football for three years," Noel said. "My dad is in the Armed Forces and overseas sometimes and my mom is a nurse and works a lot. I didn't really play sports because I didn't have a ride to get to practices or games.
"When I got to high school, I had some great coaches and older defensive backs who really taught me everything I know now," he said.
Noel was the first Baylor Bear commit for the Class of 2021. The Baylor Bears have grabbed some serious headlines this fall, virtually an overtime loss to Oklahoma away from being in the College Football Playoff.
"I was at the Opening Combine and did pretty well," he said. "I got home and coach (Shawn) Bell called and offered me. I was shocked. I've been up to Baylor like six times since then and I just catch a family vibe there. I think they are going to develop me into a great player."
It's been the Baylor defense under the direction of coach Matt Rhule and DC Phil Snow, which has been the big story.
Could Noel be the next big thing as a leader of the formidable Baylor defense starting in the Fall of 2021?
T-Mobile at Fry Rd & Miramesa Dr provides the highest quality in customer service in town. The store at 9212 Fry Rd in Cypress has a full range of the current mobile handsets, including the latest iPhone and Samsung devices, as well as a full range of tablets, watches and accessories. Our store has knowledgeable Mobile Experts to help you find the right plan & device that fit your lifestyle and budget. So if you are looking for a change or looking for a new device to help you live a better life, come to T-Mobile on Fry Rd & Miramesa Dr in Cypress, and let us help you choose.
cypress ranch baylor football romario noel cy-fair isd football t-mobile athlete of the week


Wilmington, DE – (Dec. 3, 2015) – Gov. Jack Markell today, along with the 100,000 Strong Foundation and Wanxiang Group, announced a new agreement to further build on Delaware's successful efforts to encourage more students to study in China.
Gov. Markell spoke at the launch of the second round of the Delaware Summer Chinese Language Initiative for Communicating STEM (LInCS), a study abroad partnership between the State of Delaware and China's largest auto parts manufacturer, Wanxiang Group. The program's inaugural round saw 20 Delaware high school students study abroad this summer for four weeks in Hangzhou, China. The second round, to take place in June 2016, seeks to send up to 24 Delaware students to China.
These participants will become Student Ambassadors for the 100,000 Strong Foundation, where they will become "the face of Chinese language learning and study abroad in Delaware," said Carola McGiffert, CEO of 100,000 Strong.
1 Million Strong, a campaign established in September by 100,000 Strong, aims to increase fivefold the number of US, K-12 students studying in China and learning Mandarin by 2020, from 200,000 to 1 million. The 100,000 Strong Foundation achieved in 2014 its previous goal of seeing 100,000 students study in China and learn Mandarin over the previous four-year period.
Thursday's event also marked the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the state of Delaware and Wanxiang Group/China General Chamber of Commerce-USA to develop programs that will motivate the state's students to pursue Chinese language study.


I had been waiting for the right time to read this book, one that I had gotten by way of a Kickstarter some time last year and that came with a gorgeous signed bookplate sticker, and finally the time had come. After days of heatwave, the evening had cooled down enough that I could snuggle in bed with a cup of tea and one of my bestie's homemade chocolate chip cookies. I'd just come back from seeing the new Disney movie Moana, my dog was coming in occasionally to say hello to me, and in the background was the white noise of a fan and my boyfriend admonishing his randomly assigned teammates in Overwatch over voice chat. The mood was well and truly set.
"The Secret Loves of Geek Girls" is an anthology compiled and edited by Hope Nicholson. The book contains non-fiction stories, comics and essays by over 50 creators (including Margaret Atwood) all about being a geek girl in love.
You never really know what you're going to get when you back a Kickstarter project, but the final product of this book was much more than I had hoped for. It is a real celebration of women's creativity, passion, intelligence and eloquence. I was really impressed at the diversity of voices that emerged from these pages and I felt their heartbreaks as my own heartbreaks. As somewhat of a geek girl myself, I knew about a lot of the fandoms (though the Dr Who references and any game that wasn't a single player RPG was a bit lost on me). Some of the stories were much stronger than others, and I loved Minas Tirith, Fanfiction, F/F, angst, Cherry and Montreal, 1993 the most. Some of the artwork in here is spectacular, and some a little less so.
This is an inclusive, well-considered collection of stories by geeky women for geeky women who are looking for everything from something nice to flick through through to dating advice and, most of all, solidarity.


There are many popular digital cameras available with accessories like an electronic viewfinder and waterproof case that add to the camera's features. But you don't always come across a camera with accessories that let you use the camera hands-free. Most cameras don't come with accessories like this camera does.
Things are different with the Contour ROAM3. This is a camera that comes from a niche market offering hands-free video recording and photo shooting. With this feature, you can record whatever you see while riding your bike, paragliding or while performing any other extreme sports.
The camera is just 4 inches long, and sits atop a slightly shorter rectangular plastic block with a tripod screw hole at the bottom, and mounting brackets on the sides. It comfortably attaches on uneven surfaces like the side of your motorcycle helmet so isn't that noticeable.
The camera comes with an 8GB micro SD card that can store up to 5 hours 11 minutes of 1080p/30-fps video, a profile mount to mount the camera on the side of a helmet and a rotating flat surface mount.
With simple controls, there's no worry about accidentally getting wrong video settings. For example, it has a one-touch sliding record switch on its top that clicks into place when it's on. I feel it's much better than some cameras where I have to have someone stare at the camera for a minute to tell me if the red light is blinking to let me know it is recording.
With its waterproof housing, there's also no need of carrying extra cases even when you go diving to a depth of 30 feet. There's also no need of buying additional adapters to attach the Contour to tripods or monopods as there's a standard tripod mount on the bottom.
I have to say its rotating lens is a great advantage as it can be attached at practically any angle with the help of a simple mount. You can maintain your shot's level by rotating it and needn't change the camera's position. There's a status button on the back of the camera that when pressed, activates a red laser, projecting a horizontal line to make sure you have the right shot level.
There is one drawback while using the contour headmount. No matter how tight you tighten it, you may still feel unbalanced or bouncy. As the headmount cannot be angled up and down like other mounts, it usually ends up at a slightly aesthetically annoying upward angle, and may end up only seeing tops of people's heads!
This is a drawback if OCR is your main reason to buy the camcorder. If it isn't, then you may actually like the Contour ROAM3 as it is rather flexible in working. While the camera does have very sharp lens, its image sensor is not up to expectations, which is rather obvious in low-light situations.
While the Roam3's minimalism is great, the lack of Wi-Fi is a drawback. I have to connect the camera to my computer and use Contour's software every time I needed to tweak settings. I don't have the patience for all this!
Regarding video and photo quality, if set right, you can get a rather sharp and focused video recording, but with some noticeable motion blurring. While night time footage was rather dark, except for areas under the streetlights, I won't complain about this as other cameras I'd tested weren't much better anyway.
Photos come out as good as video with soft details and simple colors. But night-time photos were not good at all as I couldn't see much more than the streetlights.
There are two buttons inside the back watertight door where one formats the memory card and the other resets camera settings. I like that you can switch between any two configured video modes using the slide switch. However, what I didn't like is setting the video configuration as it requires some time and effort as the camera is not Wi-Fi compatible.
The Roam3 is mainly compact in size because of its irremovable battery, which also means that you can't change batteries if you need to shoot for longer periods. The built-in battery life is pretty good as it can produce 3 hours of 1080p/30-fps video.
It was the sleek design and right price that actually compelled me to buy the Contour ROAM3. Of course, I also liked the other features like its easy recording, waterproof at depths up to 30 feet, various adjustable settings and the 8GB SD card. However, the only and main drawback of the camera is its poor image and video quality, which may be rather obvious to some people.


Nene Extreme Adventures run all sorts of exciting adventures for adults and kids of all ages. Canoeing and kayaking, climbing trips, parties and holiday clubs.
Click on the Activities link above for more information.
Boats will be available at our Oundle Wharf base from the Bank Holiday weekend Saturday 5th May to September/October, depending on the weather. Other activities can be booked all year round.
Please note that although we are open at weekends and over the school holidays, we do a lot of work in schools so won't be open Monday to Friday during Term Time unless you've booked in advance of course.


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Apple unveils new Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro chips and a stunning new low price
It starts at just $599!
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple has just unveiled a stunning new Mac mini with all-powerful new M2 and M2 Pro chips, and a new $599 price tag.
The new Mac mini is the same chassis as the old one, now sporting the all-new M2 Pro chip and the M2.
"Compared to the previous-generation Mac mini, M2 and M2 Pro bring a faster next-generation CPU and GPU, much higher memory bandwidth, and a more powerful media engine to Mac mini, delivering extraordinary performance and industry-leading power efficiency. Both models feature an advanced thermal system for exceptional sustained performance," the company stated.
The latter makes the device more affordable than ever, starting at just $599. It features an 8-core CPU and up to 24GB of unified memory. It also features 100GB/s bandwidth for memory, and ProRes acceleration for faster video editing in articles like Final Cut Pro.
The M2 Pro chip has a 19-core GPU, 12-core CPU, and up to 32GB of unified memory.
The M2 Mac mini also features two Thunderbolt 4 ports, with support for up to one 8K display on the M2 Pro model now available. It also features an upgraded headphone jack and Wi-Fi 6E.
Oh it's fast
Apple says machine learning on the new Mac mini is 22x faster than on the i7 version of the previous Mac mini in Pixelmator Pro and up to 5x faster than the bestselling Windows desktop, which reportedly runs an Intel i5 chip, Intel UHD Graphics 730, and Windows 11.
The new Mac mini is available to order from January 17 and will arrive in store on January 24. The Pro version starts at $1,299. With education pricing, you can get the M2 Mac mini for just $499, which is an absolutely phenomenal deal on a desktop Mac with the M2 chip.
Apple also unveiled a new MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips options, starting at $1,999.
Dog eats AirTag and becomes a walking tracker
This iPhone 14 feature just saved two more lives, proving it works in the real world
This Safari Extension on a Mac finally blocks YouTube's worst feature
How to use dark mode on Instagram for iOS
Apple found to have violated work rules by US labor Watchdog


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Sun's fractal surprise could help fusion on Earth
Space 30 April 2014
By Nicola Jenner
Plasma is hard to control
(Image: EFDA-JET/Science Photo Library)
THE sun has thrown us a fractal surprise. An unexpected pattern has been glimpsed in the solar wind, the turbulent plasma of charged particles that streams from the sun. It offers clues for handling plasmas that roil inside nuclear fusion reactors on Earth.
Composed of charged particles such as protons and electrons, the solar wind streams from the sun and pervades the solar system. Its flow is turbulent, containing eddies and moving at different speeds in different directions. It was thought that this turbulence was similar to that in a fluid, behaving like mixing ocean currents or the air flows that make aeroplane flights bumpy.
Now, Sandra Chapman of the University of Warwick, UK, and her colleagues have examined the solar wind's behaviour using NASA's twin STEREO spacecraft. One flies just within Earth's orbit around the sun, the other just outside it, allowing the pair to obtain unique measurements of solar wind behaviour.
STEREO revealed that when the movement of the wind's particles is perpendicular to the sun's magnetic field, they resemble a fluid, with sections that are smooth, interrupted by bursts of violence. "If you look out of a plane window you see mountain ranges and then long rolling plains. This is what the perpendicular fluid turbulence is like," says Chapman.
But when the particles move in parallel with the field lines, they behave very differently, with the turbulence evenly spread, like crinkly mountains that extend as far as the eye can see (see diagram). "It's a different kind of physics," says Chapman.
What's more, that crinkliness is constant, no matter how much you zoom in or out on a patch of wind, making its behaviour fractal (The Astrophysical Journal Letters, doi.org/skf). Snowflakes, shorelines and most recently black holes (see "Turbulent black holes grow fractal skins as they feed") also exhibit such fractal behaviour.
The result may help to control nuclear fusion reactors. These create energy in the same way as the sun, by fusing a superheated plasma of hydrogen nuclei to form helium.
One problem with optimising their energy output is deducing what is going on inside them – inserting a probe isn't an option as it would melt. Enter the solar wind. Though less dense and cooler than the hydrogen of a fusion reactor, the wind is a plasma – and can be probed thanks to STEREO. "The great thing about solar wind turbulence is that the satellites sit right inside, so it can be observed in exquisite detail," says Steve Cowley of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, UK.
By adding the fractal behaviour to their plasma models, fusion scientists may be able to control turbulence, which can cause plasma to escape the magnetic field containing it in the reactor. They may also be able to use turbulence to disrupt high energy plasma blobs that can rip holes in the reactor. "These results look very promising," says Todd Evans of nuclear energy firm General Atomics in San Diego, California.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Sunny surprise for fusion reactors"
More on these topics:
nuclear technology
nuclear fusion technology
Climate change made the past 7 years the warmest on record
Magazine issue 2967 , published 3 May 2014
Epic Mars flooding triggered by collapsed crater lake
Scent of a man: Male sweat stresses out lab mice


text:
Big business supports Aussie tech but fails to give start-ups a fair go
Does the top end of town embrace emerging businesses across the country?
James Henderson (ARN) 30 December, 2016 09:43
Australian business leaders will readily buy from local technology companies but are alarmingly hesitant to embrace start-ups.
That's according to new research by local start-up, Nitro, which sheds light on how ready the top end of town are to embrace emerging businesses across the country.
The survey of 300 of Australia's business decision makers, from medium to large companies, found 71 per cent "prefer to support Australian tech companies over global tech brands".
When it comes to supporting start-ups however, just six per cent of business leaders indicated "they trust and support start-ups over long standing brands" - of this group no business leader over 55 said they'd trust and support a start-up over a long standing brand.
Furthermore, this lack of trust appears to be correlating with relative inaction when it comes to buying start-up products or services with only 14 per cent of respondents indicating they purchase from start-ups frequently.
Delving deeper, research shows that decision makers, including C- Suite, senior executives and senior management, were actually more likely to buy from a start-up with 53 per cent indicating their company purchases from start-ups frequently - just 11 per cent of middle management said the same.
"Our research speaks volumes to how deeply informed and connected senior management are with the benefits start-up solutions can bring to big business," Nitro director of Asia Pacific, Adam Nowiski, said.
"Even so, it's disappointing to see that overall there is still hesitancy when it comes to embracing start-ups."
Nowiski outlined how this distrust stems from a widespread lack of clarity among the business community on what a "start-up" encompasses.
Read more Is Australia too risk-averse for start-ups?
"There needs to be a distinction between start-ups in their infancy and companies, such as Nitro, that have start-up roots but have since developed a global brand presence and now have customer success systems in place," he explained.
But while having this clarity is necessary, Nowiski acknowledged that it's also important that young start-ups aren't discouraged by big businesses not giving them a look in.
"Start-ups need capital, talent and above all customers to grow," he added.
"So, without Aussie businesses backing them and integrating their ideas into organisational strategy, we're at risk of stifling the growth of our innovation sector.
Read more How the channel can help big companies learn start-up techniques
"You'd be amazed at the systems and advanced processes in place, even at some of the most early stage companies. What you see on the surface often doesn't reflect the depth of capability and innovation when it comes to start-ups of any shape or size."
Australian-founded, Nitro is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Melbourne and Dublin, and is recognised as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the world, following BRW Fast 100, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and Software 500 recognitions.
As a software partner of Lenovo, more than 600,000 businesses run Nitro, including over 50 per cent of the Fortune 500.
Victoria's Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade, Philip Dalidakis, said research such as Nitro's is a "great indicator" for government decision making.
Read more NSW Govt beckons expressions of interest for new Sydney Startup Hub
"Research like this is great for state and federal governments to get a better understanding of how big business is looking at the local tech industry and where they see opportunities for growth," Dalidakis added.
"It's great to see Nitro, one of Victoria's great start-up success stories, getting behind the local industry to help others like them attract investment and grow."
In addition, research claimed that business leaders are more likely to buy from an Australian tech company (55 per cent) than a global tech brand (38 per cent), yet more C-suite executives (52 per cent) don't pay attention to the origin of their tech product than do (44 per cent).
Organisations call for start-up friendly enhancements to R&D tax incentive
Nitro refreshes partner program
Tassie Govt inaugurates innovation hubs to assist tech start-ups
More from WatchGuard
Tags start-upNitro


In the latest Freddie Mac Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi), which measures the stability of the U.S. housing market, three additional metro areas entered the "stable" range in May while the overall index value pushed its way up to slightly below stable at 79.2.
The three markets that improved to stable range in the May MiMi were Stockton, California; Madison, Wisconsin; and Miami, Florida, according to Freddie Mac.
The 79.2 value for the latest MiMi, which was released Wednesday, indicated a weak overall housing market but improved by 0.71 percentage points from April to May and by more than 2 percentage points over the three-month period from the beginning of March to the end of May. The MiMi value improved by more than 4 percentage points year-over-year in May, according to Freddie Mac.
The all-time high for the national MiMi is 121.7, set in April 2006 prior to the recession. The all-time low for the national MiMi was 57.2, set in October 2010 at the height of the foreclosure crisis. The housing market has rebounded by 34 percent since hitting that all-time low nearly five years ago.
"MiMi continues to deliver good news on the housing front as more markets continue improving," Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer said. "Likewise, it's becoming clearer every month that after several years of local trends largely reflecting national trends, we are getting back to more normal times where local housing markets develop based on their own unique economies. For example, housing markets in the West and Southwest continue to be the bright spot of the recovery and spring homebuying season with strong purchase activity fueled by an improving local economy and job picture. Yet, even within these regions, MiMi shows noticeable differences. Meanwhile, markets throughout Florida showed significant improvement this month not because of robust home buying activity, but because more borrowers became current on their mortgages, with just a few showing better purchase activity. Florida markets, much like those in Nevada or Arizona, while improving rapidly, still have significant work to do to get back to their benchmark stable ranges."
In May, 26 states plus the District of Columbia reported MiMi values in the stable range, led by the District of Columbia (100.5) and North Dakota (96.4). Meanwhile, 38 of the top 100 metro areas nationwide had stable MiMi values in May, led by Fresno (95.8) and Honolulu (93.1). According to Freddie Mac, 43 out of 50 states and 95 of the top 100 metros showed an improving three-month trend in May, compared to 42 states plus the District of Columbia and 95 of 100 metros in May 2014.
Click here to see the complete May 2015 MiMi from Freddie Mac.


The bill, approved by the Republican-dominated Kansas legislature, would have allowed Sunflower Electric Power Corp to add two 700-megawatt units at a facility in western Kansas.
Under the bill, lawmakers sought to strip the authority of the Kansas health and environment secretary, who turned down the $3.6 billion project last year because it would have produced more carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.
However, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed the bill, saying federal regulations of greenhouse gas emissions emitted by coal-powered electric generating plants will likely be implemented in the next several years.
Environmental groups hope Kansas will influence more states to reject new coal-fired power plants.
Sunflower said it was disappointed by the governor's decision. "If not resolved, this veto will unnecessarily raise electric rates for Kansas families and punish our Kansas workers and industries," Sunflower President Earl Watkins said.
"We are experiencing significant growth on the Sunflower system and we must add new coal generation to support our existing natural gas and wind generation assets," he said.
Sunflower represents six electric cooperatives, among 66 electric cooperatives and 10 Kansas cities that will own power produced by the coal-fired units.
In addition to the veto, Sebelius issued an executive order creating an energy and environmental policy advisory group make recommendations to the governor on how to reduce Kansas' greenhouse gas emissions. She named Jack Pelton, chairman of Cessna Aircraft Co, to head the advisory group.


text:
package com.intellij.structuralsearch.impl.matcher.predicates;

import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement;
import com.intellij.structuralsearch.impl.matcher.MatchContext;

public abstract class MatchPredicate {
  /**
   * Matches given node against this predicate.
   * @param matchedNode for matching
   * @param context of the matching
   * @return true if matching was successful, false otherwise
   */
  public abstract boolean match(PsiElement matchedNode, int start, int end, MatchContext context);

  public final boolean match(PsiElement matchedNode, MatchContext context) {
    return match(matchedNode, 0, -1, context);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


There's lots of reasons why I just LOVE HUMMUS!! The most important one being that it's just so yummy and addicting, yet it's so healthy for you. This type of food is the best- the type that seems unhealthy but secretly isn't.
The other reasons I love hummus: it's packed with protein, which is great for vegetarians and keeps you full longer, it's SO easy to make, and it can be flavored pretty much any way you like.
Directions: Add all ingredients to a food processor (or a Nutribullet will work too) and blend until smooth and creamy. If needed, add more water one tablespoon at a time and continue blending until it reaches your desired consistency.
Transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle with paprika before serving.


Merry Christmas ~ I'll see you on the flip-side!
Well, it's that time again – when I shut up shop for the remainder of the year.
I have learnt my lesson in the past and I always close the virtual Epheriell doors on December 10th (well, the morning of December 11th, really) in order to have enough time to catch up on and ship all Christmas orders so they reach you in time.
You've got about and hour left to shop with me prior to Christmas – it takes a while to mosey around the internet and shut up stacks of shops on different venues! – and Epheriell.com will be last on the list. I plan to re-open the shop on Boxing Day. I'll be taking a break from blogging during this time, too.
I won't be idle during my break… I have a new crafty biz website to plan and design and create, and I'm so excited to bring it to you all early next year! I also have new design ideas for Epheriell filling my sketch book, so hopefully I'll find the time to make a few of those new designs ready for the New Year.
I wanted to take the chance to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (though I'll save the Happy New Year till we chat again!). You have helped to make this the best year ever for my business, and I can't say how thankful I am to each and every one of you for supporting my dreams – I literally couldn't be living my dream without you. I hope I've brought some beauty into your life this year, and rest assured that I have some pretty fabulous things planned for 2013, so I hope you'll stick around and be here to see what I've got in store!
Have a wonderful time with your family and friends, I know I'll be treasuring them so much more than ever after the sicknesses and loss this year in my family. I'm especially thankful that my Dad is still here to celebrate with us for another year now that his cancer has gone into remission, and hopefully he'll be around for many, many more Christmases!
Merry Christmas to YOU Jess. Thanks for all the smiles you've brought to my year.


In this quick minute video, Courtney demonstrates the unpacking of a 3D printer.
Lift the foam protectors on the sides (do not completely remove yet).
Carefully remove the glass bundle. Please handle with care.
Now, remove the left and right foam protectors.
Unpack spool of filament, accessory kit and universal spool holder.
Now you are ready to lift up the 3D printer.
Lift the 3D Printer by the center back panel (it is quite sturdy).
Carefully cut and remove the plastic wrap from the 3D printer.
Cut and remove 2 fasteners from rear.
Cut and remove 4 fasteners from front.
Remove the foam inserts from the left and right sides.
Gently lift X-carriage to remove center foam.


Find a Drug Rehab Program near me in Mayer, AZ.
People who are experiencing drug abuse possess the best opportunity to experience rehabilitation when they're inside a drug rehabilitation program in Mayer, Arizona that provides them with the ability to fully give attention to rehabilitation. Inpatient and residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs in Mayer, Arizona provide these benefits to clients, among other crucial benefits including the fact that there is no access alcohol or drugs. Long-term rehab in these facilities is regarded as the ideal means of going about treatment in Mayer, because these facilities typically offer services for from 4 months to 6 months, which is the typical amount of treatment that men and women who find good results in rehab in Mayer, Arizona go through. The reason being that in short-term programs, individuals leave treatment still experiencing the acute symptoms of addiction on many occasions, including intense cravings. After only four weeks of rehabilitation in Mayer, Arizona, it is very likely that many things related to their addiction have been left not handled. And no matter the continuum of care that is setup, relapse after such a short time in rehab is quite common. So anyone choosing a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Mayer should select the one that matches the rehab need of the client, which in many cases is a long-term inpatient or residential rehab program. And why risk it to chance, when the person's life is threatened.
If someone won't go to alcohol and drug treatment in Mayer, Arizona on their own accord, or perhaps refuse casual offers of help from family members and friends, you should meet with a drug and alcohol rehabilitation counselor who will in all probability recommend a drug intervention. In cases like this, an intervention could be the key to save the person's life and get them to drug rehabilitation in Mayer, Arizona where other efforts which weren't very well orchestrated could possibly have failed.
Household and Income Statistics in: Mayer, AZ.
Spring Ridge Academy is a specializing in Co-Occurring Mental And Substance Abuse Disorders, Treatments for addicts that are LGBT. This facility accepts Self Payment, Private Insurance - located at 13690 South Burton Road Mayer, AZ. 86333. The phone number is 928-632-4602 x1140.


The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has voiced great concern over the Minister of Information's formation of a committee to revise the draft media law.
Minister Mustaf Sheikh Ali Dhuhulow has appointed a committee comprised mostly of individuals from the Ministry of Information and its associates, as well as persons who would always agree with the ministry regardless of their personal convictions. Some of the committee members are also the same individuals who claimed to have conscripted the widely condemned draft media law.
The committee furthermore lacks broad support from the media community in different parts of the country. It seems that Minister Dhuhulow appointed friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard for their credentials. The committee fails to have national representation, and Mogadishu is not equal to Somalia.
Despite promises by the minister to conduct proper consultations with the independent media community and his claimed commitment to media freedom and to change the ministry's attitude toward the independent media community, this recent move has dashed hopes to improve the media environment and relations between the government and the independent media.
NUSOJ affirms its total rejection of this so-called committee, which will undoubtedly produce another unacceptable draft, which will give the ministry more powers to control the independent media. The union reaffirms its previous position on the media law reform.
"Similar committees were formed before, but they did not work because they were based on this same notion and the independent media resisted them. This committee will follow the same path and we will challenge it as we fight for media rights," said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. "We call on the independent media and media freedom community to come out strongly to stand up against this new move which does not support media freedom."
NUSOJ is urging the Minister of Information to rethink this so-called committee and to make honest consultations with regard to further reform the draft media law by consulting all parties involved in the process.
"The future of a free media in Somalia is not possible without the input of the independent media itself, not those handpicked by the ministry. We urge the government to ensure that independent journalists' voices are not only heard, but their concerns and perspectives incorporated into the draft media law and that they have a role in any formation that is tasked for revising the draft," added Osman.


text:
Sceloenopla longula is een keversoort uit de familie bladkevers (Chrysomelidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd in 1885 gepubliceerd door Joseph Sugar Baly.

longula

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Well, it's been a while since my last dragonfly photo, and I was feeling the lack of it. Lately I've taking a lot of photos of horses and ponies and hadn't had much opportunity for other smaller creatures. However this weekend I've been pottering round the garden taking photos, then this morning felt I had just enough energy to walk to the village pond. It took a lot out of me, and it was much too hot, but I got my reward: some photos of a dragonfly. Just the usual Common Darter that I've often seen down there, but it's been so long that even this common dragonfly felt special! Mr Common Darter helpfully posed for me on a gate for a little while so I could get some photos. It was particularly helpful since all the others were flitting around the (fenced off) pond so I couldn't get close. I got various angles, as well as him having a quick snack, and even got very close, before he decided enough was enough and flitted off. I then headed into the woods to avoid melting and returned home tired but happy.
Beautiful shots, Suzy. I love the way you were able to capture the colors and patterns on the thorax in some of your images. The dragonfly's beautiful color combination is somewhat reminiscent of our smaller Autumn Meadowhawk, which normally does not show up in force until much later in the season.


Aloe Vera Gel or Aloe Vera Gelly is a natural moisturizer. When using the Aloe Vera Products Gelly, you are assured that the product is 100% Stabilized Aloe Vera Gel and that it is as pure and potent as if you squeezed the gel right from the aloe vera leaf. There are no oils or water added.
Pure aloe vera gel can help topical skin areas without covering. Aloe Vera Gelly can be used for many skin conditions and injuries.
You will receive all of the countless benefits of this legendary plant in this 4 oz. tube.
Aloe Vera Products also offers Wholesale Aloe Gel (Gelly) and Aloe Gel for Private Label use. Please contact us directly for more information.


text:
Exhibition • Festival • Food and Beverage • Fukuoka • Japan
Le Salon du Chocolat – Chocolate Festival in Fukuoka 2021
Where: Iwataya, Fukuoka, Japan
When: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021
Le Salon du Chocolat
Photo: www.salon-du-chocolat.com
Find More Activities in Fukuoka - Book Today
Chocolate lovers who visit Fukuoka can enjoy a special experience that is offers by the annual chocolate festival which started in 1993.On the
large fair's areas, dozens of chocolate manufacturers demonstrate their renewals and the production's chain of the chocolate and its products from the picking of the cocoa beans and it's processing to the different needs.
Manufacturers from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, Japan, Canada and other states present their products on more than 400 stands.
This is a sweet celebration for the whole family. Parents and mainly children lovers of chocolate can taste infinity of types and forms of fabulous chocolate.
For accommodations, check the most recommended hotels in Fukuoka and around, most of them suggest FREE CANCELLATION option or NO PREPAYMENT NEEDED – PAY AT THE PROPERTY:
Accommodations around Fukuoka:
TagsChocolate
Le Salon du Chocolat website
70 rue de la Tour, 75116 Paris
100V 50/60 Hz
Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the East Sea, east of the Korean Peninsula.
Climate:
Varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north .
Information email:
visitjapan@jntonyc.org
Tourist website:
www.jnto.go.jp
Information address:
Japan National Tourism Organization 10th Floor, Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan Building, 2-10-1Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0006
Japan background and overview
In 1603, a Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship) ushered in a long period of isolation from foreign influence in order to secure its power. For 250 years this policy enabled Japan to enjoy stability and a flowering of its indigenous culture. Following the Treaty of Kanagawa with the US in 1854, Japan opened its ports and began to intensively modernize and industrialize. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Japan became a regional power that was able to defeat the forces of both China and Russia. It occupied Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), and southern Sakhalin Island.
In 1931-32 Japan occupied Manchuria, and in 1937 it launched a full-scale invasion of China. Japan attacked US forces in 1941 - triggering America's entry into World War II - and soon occupied much of East and Southeast Asia. After its defeat in World War II, Japan recovered to become an economic power and a staunch ally of the US. While the emperor retains his throne as a symbol of national unity, actual power rests in networks of powerful politicians, bureaucrats, and business executives.
The economy experienced a major slowdown starting in the 1990s following three decades of unprecedented growth, but Japan still remains a major economic power, both in Asia and globally. In 2005, Japan began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Fujiyoshida Fire Festival 2021
FujiyoshidaJapan
SonarSound Festival in Tokyo
TokyoJapan
Le Salon du Chocolat – Chocolate Festival in Nagoya 2021
NagoyaJapan
Kanamara Matsuri 2021- Festival of the Steel Phallus
KawasakiJapan
Le Salon du Chocolat – Chocolate Festival in Osaka
OsakaJapan
Hakozaki Shrine Tamaseseri (Ball-Catching Festival) 2022
FukuokaJapan


text:
Obama Announces U.S. Will Lift Arms Embargo Against Vietnam
By Camila Domonoske • May 23, 2016
President Obama announced Monday that the U.S. is fully lifting a five-decades-long arms embargo against Vietnam.
The embargo on lethal military equipment had been partially lifted in 2014; now it will be raised fully, the White House says. The president spoke about the decision from Hanoi, during the first day of a weeklong trip to Asia.
Kerry: We've Got to Confront Our Wars As a Country United
By Ashley Lopez & KUT News • Apr 28, 2016
Marhsa Miller / LBJ Library
Former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes introduced Secretary John Kerry Wednesday night who reflected on his time both fighting in the Vietnam War and fighting against it as he addressed attendees at the LBJ Library Vietnam War Summit.
Barnes says the former democratic presidential candidate and long-time senator has a unique history with the war. Kerry enlisted during college and did two tours in Vietnam -- winning silver and bronze stars and three purple hearts.
Vietnam Veterans Seek And Find Healing At LBJ Library War Summit
By Ryan Poppe • Apr 27, 2016
Ryan E. Poppe
This week thousands of Vietnam War veterans gathered at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin. They're there for a three-day conference that takes a look back at a war where young men were drafted to defend a cause they didn't always support and college campuses boiled over with anti-war protests. More than 40 years after the end of the war, the memories are still painful.
A Close Call Over Hanoi
By Nathan Cone • Feb 26, 2016
"The biggest hazard is trying not to hit other airplanes," says Dwight "Crow" Wilson, 78.
Wilson, an Air Force veteran, visited the StoryCorps Mobile Booth with his daughter, Anne Savidge, 49, to talk about flying missions during the Vietnam War. The low altitude led to some dangerous situations. "You're watching all the time. Your head's on a swivel and your eyes are everywhere," Wilson explains.
In the audio above, Wilson talks about the time he was almost shot down by a fellow service member, and what happened when he met the man later on.
The Source: Documentary Looks At Latinos And The Vietnam War
By Paul Flahive • Sep 22, 2015
If you were young and poor in the late 60s, you were probably going to war. Vietnam drafted hundreds of thousands of men into its ranks over the course of its 10 years, and many were Mexican-American.
How The Vietnam War Put Picking Presidents In The Hands Of The People
By Ron Elving • May 1, 2015
This week we mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. On our screens and in our memory's eye we can see the helicopters lifting the last, desperate evacuees from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.
Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Founder: Monument Almost Never Got Built
By Steve Inskeep • Apr 30, 2015
On a perfect spring morning, Jan Scruggs walks along the site overlooking the wall of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington, D.C. Contrasting the bright colors of blooming trees and flowers is the black granite carved with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who served during the war.
Scruggs, a veteran himself, is credited with getting the memorial built. He's now preparing to retire. Morning Edition met Scruggs to learn the story of how the memorial was built, honoring the dead from a war that ended 40 years ago, on April 30, 1975.
40 Years After The Vietnam War, Families Still Search For Answers
By editor • Apr 29, 2015
Baseball, Vietnam And Coming Of Age At The 1969 World Series
By Brian Naylor • Oct 15, 2014
For me, 45 years ago today — Oct. 15, 1969 — was one of those rare days, a day you remember all your life. It was Game 4 of the World Series. Mets vs. Orioles. My Mets were up two games to one. And I was at Shea Stadium.
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo: Tiny Desk Concert
By Tom Huizenga • Jan 5, 2014
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo is a veteran when it comes to taking risks, and it pays off in her compelling music. As a young girl in Vietnam, she knew she wanted to be a traditional musician, even though it was a world dominated by men. It was risky, then, when she pestered a master teacher for three years to give her lessons. He finally gave in, taking her on as an apprentice.


text:
BBC Global iPlayer coming to iPhone and iPod touch December 8th
BBC Global iPlayer launching for iPhone and iPod touch on December 8th in 15 countries.
By Laura June
Source The Next Web | Via TechCrunch
Dec 6, 2011, 4:09 PM UTC |
BBC iPlayer logo
The BBC's successful Global iPlayer application for iPad is extending its availability into the whole iOS family, with support for iPhone and iPod touch hitting on December 8th, according to The Next Web. The video on demand app, which brings both current and classic BBC content to international viewers by streaming or download, launched in July of 2011. The current iPad application is available in 16 countries (Canada is the only place in North America where you can grab it), and the new application for iPhone and iPad will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Republic of Ireland, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The app essentially acts internationally as a subscription service, with a flat fee attached for viewing content.
More from Apple
World Surf League adopts Apple Watch as its 'official wearable' for competitions
Computing 101: how to zip and unzip a file
God of War Ragnarök on PS5 just received its first big discount


Your entry into the large format also available with full-automatisation.
Guarantees prime material handling trough large work space.
Best suitable for sheets such as paper, board or even films and foils, rubber, leather, sandpaper and many other materials in the form of piles or in single. In addition to their outstanding mechanical basic concept, user-friendly operation and high safety standards are significant features of Perfecta high-speed cutters. Being in worldwide use, Perfecta products are not only employed as single machines but are also integrated in cutting systems.
The PERFECTA Cutpit offers particular convenience for the processing of various cutting jobs. Depending on what kind and extent of the work they have to do, users can choose among three different operating modes. Being the central control element, the user interface of the touch screen can thus be matched to individual needs. Clearly understandable symbols make the machine easy and intuitively to operate. All working processes before, during and after cutting can be centrally monitored and evaluated. This guarantees you a smooth and efficient workflow and is a significant building block for an economic production process.
The doubly enclosed PERFECTA cast-iron machine frame gives the high-speed cutters the necessary stability.
The PERFECTA ServoDrive guarantees precise positioning of the cutting material by a servo-based or linear backgauge drive system.
The robust PERFECTA knife drive gearbox ensures high efficiency and guarantees long life with very minimal maintenance being required.
The slotless PERFECTA cutting table facilitates gentle stock handling and prevents paper dust or debris building up in the mechanical system. Its cladded surface of corrosion-free stainless steel protects the machine from wear and damage.
The central PERFECTA clamp drive optimizes the distribution of the clamping force to ensure utmost cutting precision.
The PERFECTA knife changing device with two-point support stabilizes the knife and prevents unwanted movement.
Double self-testing of clamping pressure settings or light guard reliability in the safety computer guarantees a safe workflow.
Best suitable for sheets such as paper, board or even films and foils, rubber, leather, sandpaper and many other materials in the form of piles or in single. In addition to their outstanding mechanical basic concept, user-friendly operation and high safety standards are significant features of Perfecta high-speed cutters. Being in worldwide use, Perfecta products are not only employed as single machines but are also integrated in cutting systems. We have the proper machine size for any conventional printing formats.
Click at highlighted options for more information.
The UC control offers you convenience by menu-prompted operation from a colour LC display with softkeys. You can save any cutting program you have created.
Cuttronic allows you to create your own cutting programs. CIP3/4 data that is in conformity with the relevant standards can be directly transferred from the pre-press stage to the machine control where it will be processed. This does not require any additional PC. You can use a USB stick, an Ethernet port (LAN) or a wireless device (WLAN) to transfer such CIP3/4 data to the machine.
This cutting program generator is an additional Cuttronic plug-in. You can use it for externally revising your cutting programs and integrate them into your workflow.
The integration of the cutting process into a superior MIS serves for efficient planning and calculation of the production process.
PERFECTA carbide-tipped knives are ideal for the processing of various materials. Compared with standard HSS knives, carbide-tipped knives are extremely resistant and guarantee longer lifetimes. We also offer the corresponding cutting sticks that match to the knives.
When you cut pressure-sensitive paper or film adhesive residues can stick to the knife. The knife cleaning device - a strip of felt soaked with some releasing agent and located in the clamp - moistens the knife back before each cut, thus preventing adhesives from sticking to the knife. For a clamp provided with such a knife cleaning device, you should use a special knife with a non-stick back.
Premature knife starting and releasing the clamp from the pile after the knife has completed the cut serve for optimizing the cutting cycle. Thus, repetitions can be made at a time that is up to 25 per cent shorter.
The air blast hold-down in front of the knife prevents the parts of the pile just cut off from dislodging, slipping off or interlacing by gently fixing them during the cutting process. The air keeps away from the knife any cutting waste that is persisting or building up. This hold-down in front of the knife is especially suitable for cutting jobs that include repetitions.
The cutting line is indicated by a light. The LED cutting light is maintenance-free and insensitive to vibration caused by cutting and clamping. In addition, it has a considerably longer life for it consumes much less energy.
When particularly hard materials such as aluminium offset printing plates are being cut a lot of heat is generated along the cutting edges. This can lead to fusion or burring. To guarantee a perfect cut even for especially hard and brittle materials the cutting speed can be reduced. This means slowing down the main motor speed from 1500 rpm to 1000 rpm. Alternatively, you can control the cutting speed in an infinitely variable manner through a potentiometer or in individual steps you select on the touch screen. In this connection, both the cutting width and the pile height may be restricted.
Enlarged side tables offer more room and space for working on the guillotine. This is, above all, of advantage for loading and unloading or for buffering and packaging the material just cut.
This novel air bed technology ensures smooth and gentle handling and enables you to easily move your stock over the table. No longer using the previous valves with their sealing balls guarantees particularly gentle handling of the material without leaving any marks on it. These new micro-perforated air tables are provided with some 350 openings per square metre. They can be connected to a pressurized-air supply system.
Simple four-side trimming or many small bleed cuts produce a lot of waste that must be removed during cutting. This is what the automatic waste removal unit is intended for. During the cutting process, the front table opens, and the waste automatically separates from the material cut off and is disposed of into a container or by a conveyor located under the table. The front table opening speed can be chosen in an infinitely variable manner. A lowerable front table (P 92, P 115, P 132) along the cutting line is an important instrument if you want to collect small cut piles, for example, onto pieces of board. A vacuum produced in the lowerable front table can help you to fix the piece of board you want to pile the finished material onto.
For honeycomb cutting, the front table can be lowered by up to 10 mm. This avoids damage to honeycomb materials as the latter can tilt away by the amount of the knife angle.
The working height can be changed to 950 mm.
To handle large formats you can enlarge the front table area by transfer corners and swinging, pneumatically operated flaps.
For the PERFECTA 168 TS high-speed guillotine, it is possible to replace the standard 1680 mm rear table with an extended one that is 2000 mm long. This serves for feeding wider piles onto the rear table, or is of advantage if you wish to split large-format stock.
PERFECTA high-speed guillotines have a closed acrylic glass hood as a standard feature. To facilitate cleaning of the rear table and the knife back, the machines can be provided with a hinged alternative for the rear table.
This is to limit the clamp lift after cutting. This facility is efficient for low or medium pile heights. This clamp stroke limitation facility is especially suitable for cutting jobs that include repetitions.
The wide clamp covers a larger surface of the pile to be clamped. This type of clamp is 200 mm wide (standard width: 80 mm). Thus, the clamp will get firmer grip of smooth or wavy material for a precise cut.
This false clamp ensures improvement in cutting extremely small formats such as business cards. The minimum cut is 47 mm. The control system will automatically recognize the minimum dimension possible.
The foam pad serves for compensating height differences in the stock along the cutting line, for example, in wavy or particularly hard materials such as plastics. Thus, the clamping force will distribute uniformly over the entire cut. This guarantees precise cutting even of hard or uneven materials.
Bulky materials such as corrugated cardboard or foam can suffer damage when being cut as a result of too high a clamping pressure. The clamping pressure minimizer prevents such damage.
This swivel-type model is a modified version of the standard backgauge. It serves for compensating the position of skew prints. For this purpose, the backgauge can swivel up to 3 mm around a defined vertical axis. Its swivel can be controlled from the machine touch screen. This function can be integrated into cutting programs.
This swivel/tilting version is a modified design of the standard backgauge. It serves for compensating skew prints or cut deviations caused by over- or undercutting. For this purpose, the backgauge can swivel up to 3 mm around a vertical axis or tilt up to 1.5 mm around a horizontal axis. You can control the swivel/tilting backgauge from the machine touch screen. This function can be integrated into cutting programs.
This backgauge-mounted hold-down can prevent cutting inaccuracies. It ensures that the printed sheets will stay in position at the backgauge instead of getting rolled up. The hold-down can be activated either through the cutting program or manually by a pushbutton. As long as the backgauge is moving, the hold-down applies some preclamping force while its maximum main clamping force is 600 N during cutting.
The print mark positioner serves for positioning concave or convex piles by their print marks.
By the use of an automatic gripper clamp system, you can also load the machine through its rear table.
Mounted to either side of the rear table, the double-spindle drive makes way for loading material onto the high-speed guillotine (P 132) from the back. An automatic rotary gripper unit can also be used in this connection.
The backgauge linear drive for machines with free rear tables (P 168, P 225) is a precondition for the use of conveying systems for rear table loading and/or of automatic rotary gripper systems. It is an almost non-wearing and maintenance-free drive assembly (similar to that of a maglev train). Since no mechanical transmission elements are used maximum traversing speeds can be achieved.
These side plates can be lowered to enable stock to be loaded and unloaded through the rear table.
It lifts the pile to enable the clamp of a gripper clamp system to move in and seize the stock.
This positioner allows you to automatically align the stock on the side plate.
When stock is being loaded and unloaded through the rear table the backgauge travel range will be covered by this belt.
The PERFECTA rotary gripper with right-hand and lefthand lays is used for the automatic cutting of oversized and large formats. High dynamics in ream handling is ensured by the intelligent ServoDrive facility. Optimized cycle times are obtained by format-related rotation radii and format monitoring. The positioner with the Servo Drive including the position sensing device serving for alignment on the side plate facilitates quick and precise cutting. The following reams to be cut can already be prepared during the cutting process, thus significantly improving the high-speed cutter's performance.


If you are just starting to think about setting up a photography business, read this interview style Q & A to get some insight from seasoned pro Lara White. To learn more about the business I am discussing, check out Geoff White Photographers. Let's dive right in to the questions.
Q: When you say all packages come with digital negatives…what does that mean exactly? Is that a fancy way of saying a photo dvd?
A: Digital negatives are in place of film negatives. I would expect a photo DVD to be for Facebook or otherwise very small files. All our wedding packages include the wedding day digital negatives in both high and low resolution, and we factor that into the cost. We designed our pricing so that we get paid on the front end. We do sell prints, but that has never been our strength. We designed packages as a front end model instead of a low hourly fee to start with the profit coming in on the back-end, traditionally through print sales.
Either model works, but you want to set your business strategy to play to your strengths.
Q: How many weddings do you shoot a year and are you happy with that or do you want to do more or less?
A: We shoot anywhere from 25-45 weddings per year, and the answer is, 'it depends'. On the one hand, I love when we have an especially rewarding year financially, but it takes a tremendous toll on your personal life and it's very physically demanding. These past few years we've tried taking fewer weddings and providing a higher level of service. It's a constant balancing act.
Q: Have you ever shot maternity or newborns or is that just not your thing?
A: Yes, wedding clients naturally lead to long term relationships and after they get married, so it's a natural fit. It's important to think about how you'll approach things like print pricing and digital negatives before it comes up. Your wedding clients will expect a similar set of studio polices, so you want to be prepared for how you'll handle this. For example, our session fees are $500, but for the amount of time and effort put into a session, there does need to be a product sale in order to make the session profitable. It's not an area of focus for us, but its always nice to have something different.
Q: Where is a good place to start in terms of marketing? Do you place ads, if so, where?
I can't recommend print ads for wedding photographers as the pricing is usually beyond reach and the return (in booked weddings) is minimal at best. It takes more than one full page ad to be an effective wedding marketing campaign. You'd need at least a year of ads, and unfortunately with the pricing model, it's difficult to justify those costs when you are working with such a limited budget. You are better off to network and build relationships within the wedding industry. Instead of ads, put the marketing dollars into vendor albums.
Also look for smaller bridal shows in your area. Bridal shops, certain department stores and local venues will often have small showcase evenings that all the vendors invite their prospective brides to. With any marketing effort, you have to remember it's going to take time.
Q: What are you using to edit your images?
We shoot in RAW, and found Lightroom to be a bit clumsy initially and we haven't looked at it since. We color correct in Capture One. I edit in iView, but Breeze Browser works too.
Q: You mentioned that you started out charging $5000 for weddings – did you lose any business up front by setting your price in that range?
A: We decided to set our prices high right out of the gate, because we knew that was the market we wanted to go after. However, we dumped money into the business from the get go, and had professional brochures, album samples, wall samples, etc. and strong work. We made sure that no one would ever guess we were starting out. So the lead time for building up a business and clientele was pretty quick, but we had the cash and the business experience that allowed us to go that route.
Looking at the wedding industry now, I think everyone tries to go after the 'high end' client and that's not necessarily the best route for everyone's photography business. The costs involved are much higher in serving that segment, and all that pretty packaging, customization and customer service costs add up very quickly.
In the Bay Area, I see a real need for a talented professional to provide more mid-level pricing while keeping their costs low. In a big city market like San Francisco, someone could really differentiate themselves by offering packages in the $3500 range if they can compete quality-wise with the more expensive photographers. Be careful to not give away the farm.
Q: Any ideas for how to stand out in terms of style?
A: You need to differentiate yourself somehow through style, pricing, services, etc. look at your local competition in order to see how you might do that. We did it through high pricing, extreme technical capabilities and strong use of color and lines. While our prices are high, we do include a lot of products and value for the money. We also go above and beyond in terms of customer service.
Q: I'm not sure if I should go after weddings or build a portrait business. What has been your experience?
A: With weddings it seems like there's more money in the beginning, but over time, the amount of hours you put in call your earnings into question. When you break it down into an hourly wage, it's not pretty, and I would say that's pretty honest across the board for wedding vendors regardless what they are charging. Weddings are incredibly time intensive, so you really have to love it.
With portraits, you do a tight edit, you only retouch a small selection or what the buy, and you can do a lot more sessions, and over time, build up a client base and product base in order to maximize sales. It takes much longer to build up a portrait business, but in the long term the return for your time will be much higher.
If you choose to get into weddings, you will work a lot of evenings and a lot of weekends. It's unavoidable. You won't be able to book jobs without meeting people at night, and you'll probably meet with twice as many people as you book. For us, that's about fifty-eighty two hour meetings on weekday evenings throughout the year. That's over 100 hours in consultations alone. And then you'll also probably want to go to lots of evening networking events with planners and such to get your name out there. So the time commitment is much greater with weddings, although there is a natural slow season for weddings during which most wedding photographers try to schedule their vacations and family events around.
Do you have any burning questions you are dying to ask? Let me know in the comments.
We are just starting out our photography business and can't find any info on collecting payments for after sales! Do you make the client pay in full at the ordering session? Pay when they receive their products? Half now, half later??? And what do we do if someone orders products following a wedding or portrait session, and then changes their mind when we deliver the products? Refund? No refund? Do we just eat the cost of having ordered the (possibly quite expensive) albums/prints/framed artwork for them? How do you guys deal with this???
when products such as albums are custom made, there are no refunds, simple as that. You would definitely want to take a deposit at the time of the order, so you know your costs are covered even if they end up flaking. I would suggest getting the deposit, prepping the order, and getting final payment before placing the album order. That way, you can still break the payment up for them, but you are assured payment.
Thanks for the information! I am just a sophomore in High School, but i take family, senior, and children portraits, for the people in my small town. I have tried to look up how much to charge for sitting charges, and for a DVD with 50-100 pictures on it? Could you help me out?
Very straightforward information. I'm not a wedding photographer and don't aspire to be one but most of what you're sharing is applicable to any style of photography.
And also one thing that's important to add is that if you want to charge a lot, you usually have to be very skilled. People who spend a lot tend to want the best. Regarding your Macy's analogy, Macy's has really fine, high quality merchandise overall. Not always, but definitely overall. Macy's can't just peddle cheapie Walmart-caliber merchandise, slap a Macy's price on it and expect to last very long as a business.
Same with photographers. Photographers can't just set prices wherever they want. If you set your price high without the quality you'll starve. There are exceptions, there always are, but the rule is "high prices require high quality work".
that would be true, most of the time. But I have also seen many mediocre photographers that book consistently because they have fantastic personalities and are great sales people.
Hmmm. Intriguing comment. I know there are some but didn't know there are many…..
The mediocre photographers you know who are booking consistently, how many are high-end, charging high-end prices? Any in the same price range you and Geoff charge?
Yes, actually, and it boggles my mind!!!! Like old school, heavily flashed type stuff, sit at the very back of the church with the camera on a tripod and just press the button every once in a while. But super friendly, great personalities.
that's good to hear, because my experience is within weddings but I aim to be helpful to all types of photography business owners.
You are helpful. The fundamentals of business are the same, regardless of the style of photography. In fact, regardless of the industry. We have to adjust what we hear to our specific situations and target clientele but the core of each good point is the same or very similar.
thanks Robert, that is my hope, that while my background is weddings, people will hopefully be able to relate the core ideas to other areas.
Hi Lara, I had a question. Im new to the wedding/portrait world. Just finishing photography school a few months ago. Unfortunately the school didn't really provide me with a very good business back bone. I was wondering how you go about figuring out your pricing? How to justify my prices to a costumer who wants to know what the prices entail? Im having a hard time coming up with that. Thank you for your time!
I wish that photography schools focused on business more. In terms of your pricing, you do not need to justify your prices to your customers. You can choose any price you wish and you do not need to 'justify' your pricing in any way. This is really key to understand. You can set your hourly rate at $100 per hour or $1,000 per hour. That's part of the beauty and struggle of being an entrepreneur. When you go into Macy's you don't demand that the sales person justify the price of the shoes you are looking at, right? You might be able to afford them if you want them bad enough, right? If you aren't all that interested in the shoes, it doesn't matter what bargain price they are offered at.
When you are just starting out, it's critical to set your pricing to ensure that all your costs are covered and that you are actually making a living from your work, in the form of a profit. I recommend starting with a salary that you aim to earn, and then work backwards from there, figuring out how many weddings or sessions at what average price you'd need to clear (in profit) that salary. So, for example, if you offer a disc of images and a 1 hour session for $300, you have to assume you'll never see any after sales (as you are giving away the product at that price). So let's say you feel $40,000 is a fair salary to begin with, and you'll work from your home to keep your costs low. Let's conservatively say you will have about $10,000 in business costs (website, business cards, insurance, lenses, brochures, etc.) So that's a total of $50,000 you need to gross. Going back to the $300 for a session and a disc model, that's going to be 166 sessions (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) you'll need to do that year to earn a decent living. Not a good model. You can play with some different figures to see how things would look for you financially at different price points.
I have been a passionate amature photographer for 40 years, I read, visualize everything as a picture in the making, from film through to digital era, I knew that this was what I wanted to be. But, something has always stopped me from achieving my goals. Excuses! Until now!
The information you are passing on is so helpful, I think you are a God Send to the industry, anyone thinking of entering into Wedding Photography SHOULD READ THIS INFORMATION FIRST.
I apply most of the tips and find now reason to raise my fees. When I explained the fees to a client, mostly they don't understand the amount of time taking to edit and process the images taken on a day….
By any chance, do you use a specific type of gear for your images and what brand?
It's really not brand or specific type of gear but what you "see" if you learn to see your images will speak for them self.
Love the openness of your information and wisdom, many thanks.
Just skimmed the Get Published PDF so looking forward to reading the this evening.
Any plans to produce some training videos?
thanks Wayne! Yes actually, I am planning to do some training videos soon.
Thank you so much for your straight forward answers. It's a breath of fresh air to finally have a professional photographer not beat around the bush and give you the real deal.
I have just recently skimmed the Get Published .pdf and LOVED the fact that you gave the equipment used and the techniques, that is such a huge help.
For me, I have been doing photography for about 25 years, on and off, but mostly for start ups and corporations and would now love to just go full time and I'm sure your articles will be very beneficial. I can't wait to read more.
Thank you so much, your a God send Lara!
p.s. I put the name of my site in, however it's about 2 weeks from completion, just finishing up some SEO.
Thanks so much Diane, and nice to meet you! By putting out realistic and honest information, I hope to make a positive impact. You can expect to see lots more here!
Great questions and answers.. we find ourselves asking many of these to ourselves almost daily!
no problem Tobiah, thanks for reading!
Great collection of tips and info for those looking to start weddings.
These are some really great questions to ask! Super insightful.
Thanks Leah, I figured since these are the real questions I am getting from new photographers, why not share the answers so everyone can enjoy them. Building a photography business is not something that comes naturally to most people. You can go to school to learn photography, but the day to day photo business operations are a different thing altogether.


Older patients (>65 years) represented 17% of the patient survey sample with 32% (n= 221) of patients identifying as having a chronic illness. All GP Super Clinic Directors indicated when interviewed and through the self-assessment form that the GP Super Clinics were providing high quality multi-disciplinary care.
A total of 170 clinicians provided services at the six GP Super Clinics completing the self-assessment form; this equates to 94 full-time equivalents (FTEs). These numbers do not include information from one of the GP Super Clinics that did not complete the self-assessment form. An overview of the disciplines involved and their employment status (FTEs) is provided in Table 8. The GP Super Clinic which did not respond to the self-assessment survey reported 6 GPs providing services at the clinic.
Multi-disciplinary care occurred mainly through mechanisms such as the shared health record and the provision of multiple disciplines under one roof, thus facilitating referral, access and communication about patient care. Access to Medicare Items such as those for Team Care Arrangements or Chronic Disease Management items was also identified as facilitating multi-disciplinary care. Care planning was mostly undertaken by a specific discipline such as a practice nurse or allied health staff, following assessment and clinical treatment advice by a GP. In most instances this occurred with the patient attending multiple appointments with the different disciplines.
Clinicians in interviews commonly reported that multi-disciplinary care was in place and was providing significant benefits for patients. Further, 83% of patients surveyed indicated agreement or a strong level of agreement that the reason they attended the GP Super Clinics was that they could see a range of other health professionals in the one location.
Table 9 reports the proportion of clinicians who rated elements of care as important or very important (Level 4 or 5), and the proportion who rated the same elements as extensively or fully implemented (Level 4 or 5). The elements of care are listed in the table in order of perceived decreasing level of importance.
The three elements of care ranked by the most participants as being important are Multi-disciplinary model of service delivery for people with chronic illness (96%; 95% CI 87%-100%), recruitment of a range of clinicians (94%; 95% CI 84%-99%) and preventative care (92%; 95% CI 82%-98%). These elements of care were considered to have been extensively or fully implemented by 87% (95% CI 75%-95%), 70% (95% CI 56%-82%) and 79% (95% CI 66%-89%) of clinicians respectively (ranked 3rd, equal 4th and equal 5th). Participation in research was ranked as least important (45%; 95% CI 32%-60%) and most poorly implemented (25%; 95% CI 14%-38%). After hours care was considered second least important element, but considered as being implemented reasonably well (62%; 95% CI 48%-75%).
While the extent of implementation was comparable to ratings of importance for multi-disciplinary model of care (87%), the proportions indicating extensive or full implementation for recruitment of a range of clinicians (70%) and preventative care (79%) was much less than importance ratings. The biggest difference in ratings for importance (72%) compared to implementation (47%) was for training opportunities for clinicians.
Clinicians were asked about their perceptions about factors which support multi-disciplinary care at their GP Super Clinics (Table 10).
Management commitment, respect for the contribution of all disciplines, communication systems within the GP Super Clinics and IT systems were all considered by almost all clinicians to support multidisciplinary care at GP Super Clinics (94%; 95% CI 84%-99%). The factor considered by the least number of clinicians as supporting multi-disciplinary care in the GP Super Clinics was processes for involvement of all disciplines in organisational governance approaches (64%; 95% CI 50%-77%).


text:
Q: Should 2 Activity's have separate ViewModels if the method usages don't overlap? I have 1 Activity that only displays and deletes Notes from a RecyclerView.
I have another Activity that only adds and updates new items.
At the moment they both use the same ViewModel class:
public class NoteViewModel extends AndroidViewModel {
    private NoteRepository repository;
    private LiveData<List<Note>> allNotes;

    public NoteViewModel(@NonNull Application application) {
        super(application);
        repository = new NoteRepository(application);
        allNotes = repository.getAllNotes();
    }

    public void insert(Note note) {
        repository.insert(note);
    }

    public void update(Note note) {
        repository.update(note);
    }

    public void delete(Note note) {
        repository.delete(note);
    }

    public void deleteAllNotes() {
        repository.deleteAllNotes();
    }

    public LiveData<List<Note>> getAllNotes() {
        return allNotes;
    }
}

Should I instead create 2 separate ViewModels, one for each Activity?

A: That depends on whether you are going for simpler maintainability or clearer separation of concerns.
There it nothing wrong with having a single ViewModel for both activities, but consider that a ViewModel is supposed to model the view.
Having some functions in the ViewModel that are not used by Activity A, and other functions not used by Activity B, does not really fit well with the idea that the ViewModel should be a model of the functionality of the View.
My recommendation would be two separate ViewModel.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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This weekend's Sydney Morning Herald, in the 'Investing' section has a column entitled 'Monitor' by John Collett.
It quotes a Standard and Poors report from the US, that says most share fund managers fail to outperform the index.
The stat's are pretty impressive, and about what we would expect. 72% of large company funds fail to outperform the index over 5 years and 78% of small company funds fail to outperform the relevant index over the same timeframe.
The report shows similar results for global sharemarket investing.
This is what we would expect - the high costs of 'normal' managed funds means that it is very hard for them to outperform.