HE Research Snippet #30 - Are Unhappy Students Spreading a Negative Message About Your University?
The story attracted national press coverage and debate. Whether she was right to take legal action or not, it brings up an important point for HEIs: there are few voices more powerful than those of unhappy students.
In 2017, student complaints about universities grew by 8% (totaling 1,635), and £650,000 was paid in compensation. More than ever, unhappy students are taking action against universities and spreading negative messages, potentially seriously impacting recruitment, retention, and reputation.
At some UK universities, up to a third of undergraduates are unhappy with their experience. Meanwhile, official student complaints are soaring. With exclusive insight into our data, this month we share key pain points for detractors and outline what you can do to make things better.
At YouthSight, we collect regular data on student satisfaction. One question we ask in our Higher Expectation subscription product is the classic Net Promoter Score question: How likely would you be to recommend your current university to others?
Those that rank their university 9-10 are considered 'promoters.' Scores of 7-8 are passive - neither satisfied or dissatisfied. But scores of 0-6 are considered 'detractors.' They are unhappy with their university and are at risk of spreading a negative message.
Question text: How likely would you be to recommend your current university to others? Higher Expectations, 2017. Base size: 11,000 interviews of first year students.
Would your students recommend their university? Get in touch to find out your detractor percentage.
According to our data, 13% of new undergraduates are detractors, and they have strong, negative feelings. 85% of those detractors describe their experience as "poor" or "awful." Not only do detractors risk damaging your reputation through word-of-mouth, they are more likely to drop out2. which has serious financial implications as well as leaving a bitter taste for the institution and more significantly for the (ex) student.
"My course seemed built up to be something it isn't." - Higher Expectations 2016/17, question text: Why are you not very likely to recommend this institution to someone considering university? 2016, Student at Glasgow Caledonian University.
In the worst cases, this can explode into high-profile lawsuits.
Detractors were most likely to say their course didn't meet expectations (42%), but they also cite the lack of social life (33%) and student support (31%) for their ill-feelings.
HEIs should not exaggerate claims about their courses, rankings or facilities. This is a growing problem in the HE sector; just last year, six universities were forced to remove exaggerated claims in their prospectus by the Advertising Watchdog.
The average percent of dissatisfied undergrads is 13%, but the figure swings wildly between institutions. Some universities have as many as 33% dissatisfied students, while others have as few as 2%.
The universities above the average line are at risk of higher dropout rates and a poor reputation.
Want to know where your institution sits in our chart? To find out your detractor percentage, get in touch.
While tracking your student satisfaction performance in the NSS is vital, it reveals only part of the picture. The final year of study is a bit late in the day to be responding to problems! Instead we recommend looking at the satisfaction of each new starting cohort. Higher Expectations help you do this.
As well as tracking your performance over time it is important that you benchmark your performance against your competitors. Higher Expectations supplies the latest year plus over 10 years of back data and allows you to compare your performance to any other single HEI, HEIs or aggregate groups of HEIs.
Don't just celebrate your successes, take stock of your unhappy students and ask what you could do better.
Nail your communications – be meticulously accurate about course descriptions, expectations and outcomes.
Provide support - new students often feel lost and isolated, leading to feelings of negativity. Ensure all freshers have adequate information and offer mentoring programs, counseling and support.


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Casco Bay got in the news a lot this week! Click on the links below to read about land conservation projects, clammers digging more quahogs and less soft shell clams, beach monitoring for bacteria and a series of ocean-related programs just outside of Casco Bay in Boothbay Harbor. Click on the title of this post (Casco Bay News Roundup) to access links to the stories.


The Business Council of New York State, the state's leading statewide business and industry association, opposes this legislation that broadens the scope of information covered under the notification provisions regarding security breaches and mandates new reporting systems.
The bill expands the definition of personal information to include biometric information: user name or email addresses and HIPPA generated information ("health information"). Since this is not defined, and it may not directly relate to how individuals are identified, it leaves open the method for collection, and correspondingly, preservation in regards to breach.
The new term "without valid authorization" is not defined and raises concerns since the underlying law already covers "unauthorized acquisition" and another term "unauthorized person" is also utilized in the bill.
In regards to "credit cards" the bill also inserts the phrase "or other credit device" yet the ensuing language makes it appear that the consumer, not the lender, is the creditor. The same situation is present under the term "debit card". This is a confusing and potentially problematic change regarding the definitions of credit and debit cards and "devices".
The bill also mandates that credit and debit card issuers that issue new credit or debit cards as a result of a breach provide notice prior to the issuance of replacement cards. This is unnecessary, and it could delay the process of issuance and is not found in other aspects of state law.
The penalty structure associated with data breach is also increased from ten to twenty dollars per incident for failure to issue notifications of a breach and runs to a threshold of $250,000 (as compared with a previous level of one hundred thousand).
In 2017, the Department of Financial Services implemented a stringent cybersecurity and data privacy regulation that requires similar notification and procedural safeguards, making this bill redundant for some sectors.
In summary, this legislation imposes significant new – and in some cases, duplicative – compliance obligations on business, in addition to creating vague new definitions and standards. For the reasons stated above, the Business Council opposes adoption S. 5601-A.


Looking to host a conference in a beautiful natural setting? We'd like to introduce our newly built Bon Accorde Conference Centre, an upmarket corporate venue right in the Heart of Nature. The fully equipped conference centre with the state of the art AV systems can accommodate 20 people, Boardroom style, 100 people for cinema style and 80 people for banqueting. Please call our friendly staff to help tailor make a quotation for you, whether you require a fully catered conference or without catering.
Our professional staff will be in attendance and a portable projector can also be booked if required.
If your conference runs overnight, we can accommodate your guests onsite as well.
Remember to talk to us, too, about arranging add-on activities for your guests, from game drives and nature trails to fishing.


Avalou Snow was born on June 22, 1932 in Panama City, Florida and died on February 3, 1934 in Panama City, Florida. This child lived to be about 19 months old.
Burial at Millville Cem. in Panama City, FL.
Click on any of the News, Events, or Discoveries buttons above to see historical things that happened during Avalou Snow's life. These are only some of the major events that affected the life and times of Avalou, her family, and friends. For example, Avalou is 1 years old when Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president under his "New Deal" campaign. Frances Perkins becomes the first woman to hold a cabinet post when FDR appoints her secretary of labor. On December 5, the 21st Amendment is added to the Constitution, repealing Prohibition. Drinks for everyone!


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Did Venuti really get a piano pushed out of a hotel window and make a bet on what pitch it would sound when it hit the ground? When a saxophone player's tapping foot bugged him, did he really nail the guy's shoe to the bandstand? While on a live TV show sponsored by a hair cream, did Venuti show his bald spot and remark that's what the product had done for him? Did he actually send Wingy Manone, the one-armed trumpeter, a single cuff link as a Christmas present one year?
Maybe - it's hard to separate fact from fiction, and he frequently gave differing details when he re-told the stories.
What's completely true is that Venuti was a genius at playing the violin.
given name Giuseppe Venuti
birth Dec. 3, 1894, Lecco, Italy? [ or Sept. 16, 1903, Philadelphia, PA? ]
death Aug. 14, 1978, Seattle, WA, lung cancer
heritage a family of sculptors (some of the men sculpted in graveyards; his grandfather
worked on bell towers)
father Giacommo Venuti, b.1863?, d.Feb. 11, 1952
mother Rosa LaMacchia Venuti
education public schools, Philadelphia, PA
first wife Sally
children six (including two who were adopted)
second wife Dorothy, m.1948?, div.Sept. 27, 1950
third wife an employee of Boeing
hobbies golf, fishing
residence Seattle, WA (1950s- )
Venuti took up the violin at the age of 4 - and was still practicing it for two hours a day while in his 80s.
One of his school classmates, guitarist Eddie Lang, became his first important and most compatible musical partner. They played together in the Scranton Sirens and with Jean Goldkette's Graystone Ballroom band.
Venuti later said that his father initially disapproved of his career path, that he considered
dance and jazz music "trash."
In 1929, when Venuti joined Paul Whiteman's orchestra, which was about to make the
motion picture, "King of Jazz," his salary skyrocketed.
"That changed my father," Venuti recalled to writer Hollie I. West. "When I went home, I got the best parts of the chicken at dinner-the breast, leg. When I was a kid, I used to have to eat the neck, the feet. You know how Italian families are. The youngest kids ate last-and I was the youngest."
Meanwhile, for about five years into 1933, Venuti made a number of recordings under his own name on the Okeh and Victor labels. The groups included, variously, Mannie Klein (trumpet), Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, or Jack Teagarden (trombone), Jimmy Dorsey (clarinet and alto saxophone), Benny Goodman (clarinet), Bud Freeman (tenor saxophone), and Lennie Hayton (piano and celeste).
At an October 13, 1933 session for Bluebird, Venuti and orchestra recorded the tunes Fiddlesticks, Everybody Shuffle, and Phantom Rhapsody, with arrangements by Will Hudson.
The following year, he did a few more sides for Okeh, with Joe Haymes' band. They were a second version of Fiddlesticks, plus By the Great Horn Spoon, Intoxication, and Goblin Market.
Other well-known musicians with whom Venuti was heard on recordings in the '30s were Louis Prima (trumpet and vocals), Russ Morgan (trombone), and Red Norvo (xylophone).
Joe Venuti in His Own Words:
"We just called it music with a beat; the word jazz itself was taboo."
"Classical violinists don't realize that people like me have something they don't have: the
ability to improvise. All they can do is sit there and read the music."
"My stupidity cost me one happy marriage. After I quit the booze, it took me a year to get
to understand people. Now I enjoy life a thousand times more."
"Thank God my [ third ] wife understands me; she knows I can't sit still. Music even helps
to cure my ulcers. Just pick up the violin and the pain goes away."
In 1936, Venuti was elected to the DownBeat "All Time Swing Band."
Compared to his acclaimed playing, Venuti's big band, which included young Barrett Deems on drums in 1939, was considered by most as merely adequate.
They did a couple of records for Decca on January 25, 1939 (the sides were titled,
humorously, Flip, Flop, Something, and Nothing), and performed at such locations as the Glass Hat Room of the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City and the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN.
Venuti re-organized on the West Coast in 1945, assembling a new big band which presented Kay Starr on vocals and played at, for example, the Hollywood Palladium and nearby at the Casino Gardens in Ocean Park, CA.
After he disbanded, Venuti worked on Bing Crosby's "Kraft Music Hall" radio show during
the late 1940s and early '50s.
During the last few decades of his life, Venuti headlined at various jazz festivals, clubs, and lounges in the U.S. and Europe and recorded prolifically, including an album of "Hot Sonatas" with Earl Hines for Chiaroscuro in 1975.
Venuti said that he particularly enjoyed teaching and performing with younger musicians, sometimes conducting clinics for them at colleges and towns across the country, and always outpacing others a fraction of age.
"It keeps me young," he commented. "You've got to play. You've got to be active. And you've got to have laughs."
That's no joke.
Mark Caputo, post to "Big Band Talk" forum, "Swingin' Down the Lane with David Miller" /
bigband-era.com, Mar. 24, 2007.
Harriet Choice, "Jazz violinist Joe Venuti dies; recorded with greats," Chicago Tribune,
Aug. 16, 1978, p.B6.
Leonard Feather, "Joe Venuti at 79- The Joker's Still Wild," Los Angeles Times,
Oct. 20, 1974, p.Q24.
---, "Venuti, Giuseppe (Joe)," in The Encyclopedia of Jazz (New York City: Horizon Press,
1955), pp.449-450.
Jean R. Hailey, "Joe Venuti, Grand Old Man of the Jazz Violin," Washington Post,
"Joe Venuti Used Horrible Words, Wife Charges," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 28, 1950,
p.16.
"Joe Venuti's Father Dead," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 11, 1952, p.6.
Charles Leroux, "Joe Venuti: First violin of jazz," Chicago Tribune, June 13, 1978, p.A1.
Tom Lord, The Jazz Discography, Volume 24: Sarah Vaughan to Barry Wedgle (West
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: Lord Music Reference, 2000), pp.V159-V176.
Bob Patry, "The Clown Prince of Jazz," Mississippi Rag, Mar. 1992, p.1+.
Don Rayno, Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, Volume 1 1890-1930
(Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2003), pp.370-371.
Brian Rust, "Joe Venuti," in Jazz Records 1897-1942, 5th Revised and Enlarged Edition:
Volume 2 Abe Lyman to Bob Zurke (Chigwell, Essex, England: Storyville Publications
and Co. Ltd., n.d.).
"Venuti, Joe," in ASCAP Biographical Dictionary, Fourth Edition (New York City:
R.R. Bowker Company, 1980), p.520.
Hollie I. West, "The First Violinist of Jazz," Washington Post, Sept. 21, 1977, p.D11.
John S. Wilson, "Joe Venuti Still Going Strong at 81," New York Times, Apr. 14, 1978,
p.C28.
I would like to expand this tribute with, if possible, a new interview of someone who was important to Joe Venuti's life or career. Are you an alumnus of his band, a member of his family, or a collector who is knowledgeable about his accomplishments? Please contact me via e-mail
JOE VENUTI
"FIDDLESTICKS"
He enjoyed making others laugh - telling tall tales, sharing wild escapades, and playing practical jokes.
A sideman with Jean Goldkette from 1924 to 1927, he went on to join Paul Whiteman's orchestra for a year beginning in May 1929.
Venuti launched his own big band in 1935.
According to critic-author Leonard Feather, "As Venuti, swallowed up by the emphasis on swing music, became one of a score of second-grade maestros playing one-night stands, his career as a jazz recording artist came to a halt while the legend of Venuti the incurable prankster outshadowed the reputation of the master musician."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


93.5fm signed on November 20, 1964.
Formerly owned by Booth American Co. WZWZ moved from 93.5fm to 92.7fm in January 1986, and from 92.7fm to 92.5fm on January 13, 1995. WZWZ switched formats from AC to Hot AC in July 2002. Formerly owned by Mid-America Radio Group, Inc.
"Strategic Shifts" Gavin August 21, 1998. Page 10.


Gone are the days where couples have to stick to tradition. Whether it's their aisle style, ceremony or their wedding photographs, we love the fact that brides and grooms are taking the opportunity to really express their personalities and individual style. Speaking of new trends and breaking traditions, today we're talking all about unusual and unique wedding venues, in particular, greenhouses.
While lots of couples are swooning over the thought of classic castles, rustic barns or cosy pub wedding venues, we love the fact that modern brides and grooms are choosing to say 'I Do' in a stylish greenhouse setting. And quite frankly, we can't think of anything more wonderful than celebrating in a botanical paradise – no matter what the weather!
A greenhouse wedding venue provides couples with a true blank canvas for their big day. You can effortlessly create any theme or colour scheme you want to. For instance, add pops of Flamingo pink and neon lights to give your wedding a tropical vibe. Alternatively, you could use lots of chic white and green details for a minimalist affair. Still smitten with the industrial-luxe look? Simply work in lots of concrete and metallic details for that gritty look. If you want something a little more rustic, use lots of wooden elements such as tables, crates, barrels and signage. The choice is yours – get creative and discover a theme that feels perfect for you!
Greenhouses are also great because they lend themselves to both an intimate or extravagant celebration – so if you want 150 guests, don't fret as you will find that most greenhouses have capacity for larger weddings. You and your guests can celebrate amongst the leaves and plants – you won't actually need to do too much in terms of décor!
There are lots of different types of greenhouses too. From old-fashioned greenhouses with a certain charm and delight, to modern spaces that are filled with an abundance of light. The natural light also means you will have the chance to capture some truly incredible wedding photographs.
Your guests will adore celebrating your special day with you in such an unusual location! Not only is it seriously on-trend (don't forget that greenery was Pantone's Colour of the Year 2017), a greenhouse wedding venue offers you the chance to splash your personality wherever you look. What's not to love about a greenhouse wedding venue?
If you want to find out more about the 2018 wedding trends, head straight over to the blog! You'll also find our collection of bridal designers right here, or if you want to book an appointment to try on wedding dresses please do get in touch!


text:
Home /Recent Post/Taxi driver attacks unacceptable – police
Taxi driver attacks unacceptable – police
Migrant WorkersJanuary 26, 2006
UK Leyland Today: Two Asian taxi drivers were subjected to abuse and had their vehicles damaged as they worked. Police are appealing for witnesses following the two racist incidents in Bamber Bridge.
The first incident occurred on Station Road near to the Scartop Pine store in the early hours of Saturday, January 14.An Asian taxi driver was carrying a fare in the area when one of a group of males nearby threw a stone at his vehicle causing damage.On stopping the taxi, the Asian male was subjected to a torrent of racist abuse.
The second incident occurred again on Station Road, near to the Withy Trees public house. A second Asian taxi driver was carrying a fare in the area and on stopping his vehicle was surrounded by a group of males who made it impossible for him to drive away. He was also subjected to racist abuse and his vehicle was damaged.
Police are now hunting a gang of around seven males, aged between 17 to 18 years old and dressed in black hooded garments and black trousers. Insp Peter Lawson, of Bamber Bridge Police Station, said: "These incidents are completely unacceptable. "Anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and any incident where racism is an aggravating factor is dealt with very seriously. "I have already put measures in place to increase patrol activity in the area where these incidents happened. "I would ask anyone who has information that will help us identify the people responsible for these incidents to contact us. This sort of behaviour has no place in Bamber Bridge"
http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/news/news.php?article=10547
6,481 Indians languishing in jails…
Sikh set to become first…
India, China refusing to accept…
Austria slammed for rights denial…
India denies visa to US…
Cases of Israeli and Palestinian…
Saudi imprisoned Suleiman's Family Pleads…
Senior Indian migrant died after…
Welfare of Overseas Indians and…
Non Required Indians


OUTAGE: There is currently a CA fixed wireless outage affecting customers off the DeValentine tower. Technicians are working on the issue and the current ETR is 2pm today.
OUTAGE: There is currently a CA Fixed Wireless Outage affecting customers in the Ordbend and Glenn areas. Technicians are in route and the current ETR is 11am today.
UPGRADE: We are upgrading our Fixed Wireless Network links in the Williams area. This will improve the amount of bandwidth we can provide to the area. The upgrade will occur 11:30am - 2:00pm. There should not be any downtime while the upgrade occurs.


text:
Q: How to change file in windows CE 6 folder I need to change dwui_scanner.xml file in /Windows directory, but this file is read only and I can't change this parameter in file properties.

A: You can try to use binmod utility to modify this xml file in nk.bin. When you need to re-flash OS image.
see how to use binmod here

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Cooroy State School is also very fortunate to be supported by a number of community business and individuals.
Bendigo Bank sponsors the school annually for the implementation of our very popular Robotics program.
The Thorsen family (Elizabeth White Goodwill Award) and Trevor Sproxton (Leigh Sproxton Award) proudly sponsor two of our major Grade 6 student awards annually.
The Cooroy RSL, the Eumundi Freemasons, Belvedere Newsagency and the local branch of the Queensland Country Women's Association also provide sponsorship to our end of year graduation and awards ceremony.


It was Nico Rosberg who managed the pressure at Yas Marina and put together a solid lap to take pole position. Lewis Hamilton wasn't far behind his championship rival, but had a few scruffy moments on several of his flying laps that saw him second when the session ended. Williams secured the second row, with Red Bull locking out the third.
Further back, Kevin Magnussen missed out on the top ten, but starts 11th tomorrow. Romain Grosjean finished 16th overall, but has a hefty penalty hanging over his head for the race.


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Parkiora (Aegithina tiphia) är en vanlig och vida spridd asiatisk fågel i familjen ioror inom ordningen tättingar.

Utseende och läte
Ioror är färgglada små tättingar som kan liknas med miniatyrgyllingar. Parkioran är 12,5–13,5 cm lång, tecknad i svart, gult och grönt. Hane i häckningsdräkt är svart ovan med vita vingband och bjärt gul. Hona och hane utanför häckningstid är mer gröngul, medan vingarna fortfarande är svarta med vita vingband. Mängden vitt i vingbanden varierar och hos vissa bestånd behåller hanen dräkten utanför häckningstid året om. Fågeln är rätt ljudlig och kan producera en mängd olika läten. Det vanligaste är en vissling som i engelsk litteratur återges som "twiii tuiii twiiii". Vidare hörs varierande tjatter och "tjirrande". Sången består av ett drillande "wheeeee-tee".

Utbredning och systematik
Parkiora har en mycket vid utbredning i södra och sydöstra Asien, från Indien och Sri Lanka till Vietnam, filippinska ön Palawan och Bali i Indonesien. Den delas in i elva underarter med följande utbredning:
 Aegithina tiphia multicolor – södra Indien och Sri Lanka
 Aegithina tiphia deignani – Indiska subkontinenten och i norra och centrala Myanmar
 Aegithina tiphia humei – centrala Indien (söder om Ganges)
 Aegithina tiphia tiphia – nordöstra Indien (Kumaon till Bengalen och Assam)
 Aegithina tiphia septentrionalis – Pakistan och nordvästra Indien (Punjab)
 Aegithina tiphia philipi – sydvästra Kina till centrala Myanmar, i norra Thailand, Laos och norra Vietnam
 Aegithina tiphia cambodiana – Kambodja, sydöstra Thailand och södra Vietnam
 Aegithina tiphia horizoptera – södra Myanmar till Thailand, Malackahalvön, Sumatra och näraliggande öar
 Aegithina tiphia scapularis – Java och Bali
 Aegithina tiphia viridis – södra Borneo
 Aegithina tiphia aequanimis – norra Borneo, nordliga angränsande öar och Palawan

Levnadssätt
Ioror är vanliga insektsätande fåglar i asiatiska skogar, jordbruksmarker och trädgårdar. Där ses de hoppa runt i lövverket, ofta födosökande längst ut på grenarna hängande upp-och-ner som en mes. Hanen har en spektakulär spelflykt, med först en brant klättring och sedan fallande ned, varpå fjäderdräkten puffas ut så att den ser ut som en gul boll.

Häckning
Parkioran häckar mellan december–januari och september på Indiska halvön, i andra områden mer kopplat till monsunregn. Den bygger sitt bo en till tio meter upp i ett träd. Det skålformade boet med branta kanter placeras i en trädklyka eller direkt på barken på en gren. Det kamoufleras väl med spindelväv så att det är svårt att skilja från en lavtäckt knöl på grenen. Däri lägger den vanligen två ägg, i Indien oftast tre. Första ägget ruvas av båda könen, nattetid endast av honan medan hanen tar mer ansvar under dagen. Äggen ruvas i 14 dagar. Efter kläckning matas ungarna av båda könen. Arten boparasiteras frekvent av bandad buskgök i större delen av utbredningsområdet.

Status och hot
Artens population har inte uppskattats och dess populationstrend är okänd, men utbredningsområdet är relativt stort. Internationella naturvårdsunionen IUCN anser inte att den är hotad och placerar den därför i kategorin livskraftig.

Referenser

Externa länkar

 Läten på xeno-canto.org

Ioror
Fåglar i orientaliska regionen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
\section{Introduction}

Our understanding of star formation has progressed considerably in recent years (e.g., \citealt{2011ApJ...732...20K,2011ApJ...742L...9C}), though the exact sequence of the formation of individual stars during a star formation event is not yet entirely understood. In particular, it is still unknown if low-mass stars tend to form later than high-mass stars (e.g., \citealt{2001ApJ...550L..77K}), or if high-mass stars form last, resulting in a rapid termination of star formation (e.g., \citealt{2007ARA&A..45..481Z}).

The age spread of a cluster's stellar population is a good indicator of the overall duration of the star formation process in the cluster. Studies of star-forming regions have reported different results: from a single age, as in NGC 4103 \citep{1996JRASC..90Q.329F} to age spreads of 2-4\,Myr, e.g., in LH95 \citep{2010ApJ...723..166D}, the Orion Nebula Cluster \citep{2011A&A...534A..83R}, W3 Main \citep{2012ApJ...744...87B}, and even larger age spreads of tens of Myr, like in the Pleiades star cluster \citep{1998A&A...332..575B}. The broad range of age spreads might indicate the existence of different star formation scenarios for different star-forming environments. At the same time, discrepant results on the age spread in individual regions indicate that both observational and theoretical (e.g., \citealt{2009MNRAS.399..432N}) biases and the overall methodology used to assign ages to individual stars, might also be of importance. Observational difficulties include small number statistics, contamination of samples by field stars, variable extinction and intrinsic infrared excess, unresolved binaries and insufficient characterization of photometric uncertainties originating in varying degrees of crowding.

For our analysis, we have selected Westerlund\,1 (Wd\,1) and NGC 3603 YC, two of the most populous and massive Galactic starburst clusters (e.g., \citealt{2005A&A...434..949C,2008AJ....135..878M}). The clusters have half-mass radii of $\approx$1 and 0.5\,pc, respectively. They are composed of more than 10,000 stars each, a large fraction of which can be resolved individually via ground-based adaptive optics and \textit{Hubble Space Telescope (HST)} observations from space. It is still unclear how such compact clusters have been formed and on which time-scales. For NGC 3603 YC, \citet{2004AJ....128..765S} suggest a single age of 1\,Myr from isochrone fitting to the pre-main sequence (PMS) transition region and a single burst of star formation, while \citet{2010ApJ...720.1108B} report a 10\,Myr age spread for the PMS population, and therefore two distinct episodes of star formation. For Wd\,1 recent studies give an age in the range 3-6\,Myr \citep{2008A&A...478..137B, 2011MNRAS.412.2469G, 2010A&A...516A..78N}, and an age spread of less than 1\,Myr \citep{2010A&A...516A..78N}. The latter is based on spectral classification of Wd\,1's OB supergiant population.

\section{Method}
\label{sec:method}

The first step of our method is a proper-motion selection of cluster members on the basis of multi-epoch astrometric observations (e.g., \citealt{2001ApJ...560L..75B}). This enabled us to reject the majority of the contaminating field stars. Next, we apply Bayesian analysis to the photometry of cluster members with respect to theoretical isochrones to determine the probability distribution for the age of each member star, given its photometric properties (e.g., \citealt{2010ApJ...723..166D}). We modified the Bayesian method of \citet{2005A&A...436..127J} both by taking into account the cluster membership probability and by adjusting the mass function (MF) by a completeness factor. The posterior probability of the $i$-th star with magnitudes $J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}$ to belong to the isochrone of age $t$ is

\begin{eqnarray}
p( t | J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i})=\int\limits_{box} p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i} | M, t) \cdot  \xi(M | \alpha, t) dM,
\end{eqnarray}
where $M$ is the initial stellar mass and $\xi(M | \alpha, t)$ is the stellar MF with a slope $\alpha$. The integration region is a "box", i.e., a rectangular area in color-magnitude (CM) space: $K_{\mathrm{S}_{min}}\,<\,K_\mathrm{S}\,<\,K_{\mathrm{S}_{max}}, (J-K_\mathrm{S})_{min}\,<\,(J-K_\mathrm{S})\,<\,(J-K_\mathrm{S})_{max}$. The limits of this area define a mass range which is considered during integration. This box has been chosen in order to exclude field star contaminants based on their colors. To account for residual field star contamination, the first multiplier inside the integral is defined as:
\begin{eqnarray} \label{eq:P(J,K|M,t)}
p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}| M, t) = P_{good} \cdot  p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}| M, t, cluster)\nonumber \\
+ (1-P_{good}) \cdot  p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i} | field),
\end{eqnarray}
where $P_{good}$ is the probability of a star to be a cluster member and $(1-P_{good})$ is the probability to be a field star.\newline
From the normalization conditions
\begin{eqnarray}
\int\limits_{box} p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}| M, t, cluster) dJ dK_\mathrm{S} = 1,
\end{eqnarray}
\begin{eqnarray}
\int\limits_{box} p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}| field) dJ dK_\mathrm{S} = 1
\end{eqnarray}
we derive the probability that a cluster member or field star is found in a given position on the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) as
\begin{eqnarray}\label{eq:P(cluster)}
p(J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}| M, t, cluster) = \frac{1}{ 2\pi\sigma_{J_i}\sigma_{K_{\mathrm{S}_i}} }\times \nonumber \\
e^{-\frac{1}{2}\big[\big(\frac{J(M,t)-J_i}{\sigma_{J_i}}\big)^2+\big(\frac{K_\mathrm{S}(M,t)- K_{\mathrm{S}_i}}{\sigma_{K_{\mathrm{S}_i}}}\big)^2\big]},
\end{eqnarray}
\begin{eqnarray}
p(J_i,  K_{\mathrm{S}_i}| field) = \frac{1}{ \Delta(K_\mathrm{S}) \Delta(J-K_\mathrm{S})},
\end{eqnarray}
where $\sigma_{J_i},\sigma_{K_{\mathrm{S}_i}}$ are the photometric uncertainties of star\,$i$ and $J(M,t), K_\mathrm{S}(M,t)$ are the magnitudes of the theoretical isochrone, $\Delta(K_\mathrm{S})=K_{\mathrm{S}_{max}}-K_{\mathrm{S}_{min}}$, $\Delta(J-K_\mathrm{S})=(J-K_\mathrm{S})_{max}-(J-K_\mathrm{S})_{min}$.
The MF $\xi(M | \alpha, t)$ was modified by $compl(M | t)$ to include source incompleteness and has the following form:
\begin{eqnarray}\label{eq:mass_funct}
\xi(M| \alpha, t)= B \cdot M^{-\alpha}\cdot  compl(M | t),
\end{eqnarray}
where B was derived from the normalization condition
\begin{eqnarray}
\int\limits_{box} \xi(M| \alpha, t) dM = 1
\end{eqnarray}
and $compl(M | t)$ from completeness simulations (see Section~\ref{sec:completeness}).

By multiplying the individual age distributions, we obtain the global probability function for the cluster's age $t$:\newline
\begin{eqnarray}\label{eq:L(t)}
L(t)=\displaystyle\prod_{i}p( t | J_i, K_{\mathrm{S}_i}).
\end{eqnarray}

\section{Observations and data reduction}

\subsection{Observations of Westerlund\,1 and NGC\,3603\,YC}

Near-infrared adaptive optics observations of the central region of Wd\,1 were carried out in 2003 April, using NACO at the Very Large Telescope (VLT). $K_\mathrm{S}$ observations with a plate scale of 27 mas/pixel and a field of view (FOV) of $27"\times27"$ (corresponding to 0.5pc$\times$0.5pc at 4.0\,kpc distance; \citep{2011MNRAS.412.2469G}) were centered on R.A.$(2000) = 16^h47^m06^s.5$, decl.$(2000) = - 45^\circ 51' 00'' $. $K_\mathrm{S}$ frames with integration times of 1minute were co-added, resulting in a total integration time of 5 minutes.

In 2010 August (epoch difference 7.3\,yr), Wd\,1 was observed with the \textit{HST} Wide Field Camera\,3 (WFC3/IR) in the F125W band with a plate scale of 130 mas/pixel. The final image consists of seven individual exposures with small ($<$10\arcsec) offsets to compensate for bad pixels, with a total integration time of 2444\,s. The overlapping FOV with NACO is $\approx 18'' \times 24''$. For a detailed description of the full data set and data reduction, we refer to the work of M.Andersen et al. (2012, in preparation).

Positions and magnitudes of the stars were determined using DAOPHOT \citep{1987PASP...99..191S}. Instrumental magnitudes were calibrated against Two Micron All Sky Survey, using suitable stars identified on the NTT/SOFI data from the work by \cite{2011MNRAS.412.2469G} as secondary photometric standards.
To align the two data sets, identical bright stars with a high probability of being cluster members were identified. The geometric transformation of the NACO pixel coordinates to the WFC3/IR system was based on fitting third-order polynomials with cross-terms in \textit{x} and \textit{y}. For bright stars with $m_{K_\mathrm{S}}\le16.0$ \,mag this resulted in an rms of $\approx$0.036 WFC3/IR pixel ($\approx$4.6\,mas) for the astrometric offset between the WFC3/IR coordinates and the transformed NACO coordinates.

Images of NGC\,3603\,YC were taken with \textit{HST}'s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) with an image scale of 45.5\,mas/pixel. The first epoch observations in the filters F547M and F814W were separated by 10.15\,yr from the second epoch observations in F555W and F814W filters. The analysis was carried out for the core ($<$0.5\,pc) of NGC\,3603\,YC. The details of the data reduction process have already been described by \cite{2010ApJ...716L..90R}.

\subsection{Completeness Correction}
\label{sec:completeness}

As the matched \textit{HST}/VLT data set for Wd\,1 is limited by the detection sensitivity in the $J$ band (F125W), the completeness simulation was carried out only for the WFC3/IR data. Completeness simulations were done for the magnitude range $m_{J}$ from 14.0 to 23.0\,mag. For each simulation, 25 artificial stars were added at random positions in the image, the image was then analyzed using DAOPHOT, and the position and magnitude of the recovered stars recorded. This procedure was repeated 1600 times, i.e.\ encompassing 40,000 artificial stars in total. The recovery fractions were determined following the steps outlined by \cite{2011MNRAS.412.2469G}. We calculated the average completeness for the WFC3/IR area overlapping with the NACO frame as a function of $m_{J}$ and fitted this by a Fermi function $ compl(M | t)= \frac{A_0}{e^{\frac{m_{J}(M,t)-A_1}{A_2}}+1} $.

Completeness simulations for NGC\,3603\,YC were done for F555W. Ten artificial stars were added at each of 50 runs, in total 500 stars for each $m_{F555W}$ magnitude bin between 16.0 and 23.0\,mag. We calculated the average completeness for \textit{HST}/WFPC2 image as a function of $m_{F555W}$ and fitted this by a Fermi function.

\subsection{Proper-motion Selection}

The main contaminants apparent in CMDs of the starburst clusters are dwarf stars in the foreground and giants in the background. Due to galactic rotation, their proper motion is different from that of cluster stars. Velocity dispersions of disk and halo stars are $\approx$50\,km/s to 150\,km/s \citep{2011MNRAS.412.1203N}.

For Wd\,1 (see Figure~\ref{label:ppm}), our selection criterion for the astrometric residual of 5.8 mas corresponds to a proper motion of 0.8 mas/yr in the cluster rest frame (or 15.2 km/s at a distance of 4.0 kpc), which is higher than Wd\,1's internal velocity dispersion of 2.1 km/s \citep{2012A&A...539A...5C}. Such a selection provides an effective discriminant between cluster members and field stars (see Figure~\ref{label:fig_CMDs}a).

For NGC\,3603\,YC, we used the result of \cite{2010ApJ...716L..90R}, which is based on proper motions over an epoch difference of 10.15 years. The authors calculated cluster membership probabilities as described by \cite{1988AJ.....95.1755J}, and considered the stars with probabilities $>$90\% as cluster members.

\section{CMD for Wd\,1 and NGC\,3603\,YC}

The CMD for Wd\,1 is presented in Figure~\ref{label:fig_CMDs}a. For our further analysis we consider only the region with $12.5 < m_{K_\mathrm{S}} < 17.0$\,mag and $ 1.2 < m_{J}-m_{K_\mathrm{S}} < 2.9 $\,mag (red box in Figure~\ref{label:fig_CMDs}), which comprises 41 stars with masses in the range from 0.5 to 11.5 $M_{\sun}$. Brighter stars were excluded because of saturation, fainter stars because of lower signal-to-noise ratio and hence larger photometric and astrometric uncertainties. The sample includes main sequence (MS), Pre-MS, and transition region stars, which have terminated their fully-convective Hayashi phase and are rapidly moving towards the MS.
The CMD for NGC\,3603\,YC (Figure~\ref{label:fig_CMDs}b) is derived from second epoch observations in F555W and F814W. For the age spread determination we selected the region with $16.5 < m_{F555W} < 21.5$\,mag and $1.4 < m_{F555W}-m_{F814W} < 3.3$\,mag (red box), which comprises 228 stars with masses from 0.8 to 6.5 $M_{\sun}$.
Overplotted is the best fitting isochrone assuming a particular distance, for a solar metallicity $Z$=0.015, calculated from the latest version of FRANEC evolutionary models\footnote{FRANEC models in a wide range of masses and ages, for several chemical compositions and mixing length parameter, are available at \url{http://astro.df.unipi.it/stellar-models/}} \citep{2011A&A...533A.109T}, adopting a mixing length value of ML$=1.68$. We supplement the FRANEC models with Padova models \citep{2008A&A...482..883M} for masses $M>7M_{\sun}$. The FRANEC models have been transformed into the observational plane using spectra from ATLAS9 model atmospheres \citep{2004astro.ph..5087C}. For the analysis, we used isochrones with 0.1\,Myr spacing, covering an age range from 0.5 to 6\,Myr.

\section{Age likelihood for Wd\,1 and NGC 3603 YC}

The application of our method (Section~\ref{sec:method}) to Wd\,1 and NGC 3603\,YC reveals a slight degeneracy between the cluster's distance and age. Since all cluster members should be at virtually the same distance, we can select a set of distances, and then analyze the resulting cluster age and age spread for each particular distance.

In order to evaluate $P_{good}$ in Equation(\ref{eq:P(J,K|M,t)}) for Wd\,1 we estimated the density of stars in the CMD regions adjacent to the red box (Figure~\ref{label:fig_CMDs}, $ m_{J}-m_{K_\mathrm{S}}\,>\,2.9$\,mag and $m_{J}-m_{K_\mathrm{S}}\,<\,1.2 $\,mag), where the stars are apparently non-cluster members. The extinction value of $A_{K_\mathrm{S}}=1.1$\,mag \citep{2008A&A...478..137B} was assumed the same for all cluster members. The extinction law was taken from \cite{1985ApJ...288..618R}. For the MF slope in Equation(\ref{eq:mass_funct}) we assumed $\alpha=1.42$ (where Salpeter slope would correspond to 2.3), as derived from near-infrared adaptive optics observations of the central region of Wd\,1 (N.Kudryavtseva et al., 2012, in preparation). In order to quantify the photometric error $\sigma$ in Equation(\ref{eq:P(cluster)}), we used the results of the artificial star experiments to compare the known input magnitudes with output magnitudes recovered by DAOPHOT. A more detailed explanation of the procedure is described in \cite{2011MNRAS.412.2469G}. The maximum photometric errors we got are 0.05\,mag in $K_\mathrm{S}$ and 0.18\,mag in $J$ for Wd1, and 0.17\,mag in both bands of NGC\,3603\,YC.

The $L(t)$ function we derived from Equation(\ref{eq:L(t)}) for Wd\,1 at a distance modulus (DM) of 13.0\,mag (4.0\,kpc) is presented in Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}a. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of a Gaussian fitted to $L(t)$ (red line in Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}a) is 0.4\,Myr. For $12.8\leq$ DM $\leq13.2$mag we got similar result.

The $L(t)$ function for NGC\,3603\,YC at DM=14.1\,mag is presented in Figure~\ref{label:3cuts ngc}. As contamination by field stars was already significantly reduced by proper motion selection, $P_{good}$ in Equation(\ref{eq:P(J,K|M,t)}) was estimated, assuming that cluster members are the stars with cluster membership probabilities $>$98\%. The extinction $A_v=4.9$\,mag is in agreement with the results by \cite{2004AJ....127.1014S} and \cite{2010ApJ...716L..90R} and the relative extinction relations from \cite{1998ApJ...500..525S}. We used the same $\alpha=1.9$ as in \cite{2006AJ....132..253S} for the MF slope. The maximum FWHM we derive for NGC 3603\,YC at $13.9\leq$ DM $\leq14.3$mag is 0.1\,Myr.\newline

\section{Broadening of the age likelihood function}

In the ideal case of a coeval population, which lies along an isochrone, and has no photometric errors, $L(t)$ from Equation(\ref{eq:L(t)}) would be a Dirac delta function. A number of observational and physical effects are potentially responsible for the $L(t)$ broadening. In this section, we model these effects in order to estimate the true age spread. \newline

\subsection{Photometric Error}
\label{sec:phot.error}

 In order to quantify the broadening of $L(t)$ due to solely photometric uncertainties we first generated a number of cluster stars along an isochrone of a certain age in the CM space, and added random photometric errors. Random field stars were added to the data set with the same density as derived for real data. For this simulated data set, we applied the likelihood technique as described in Section~\ref{sec:method} and got an artificial $L(t)$ function (see Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}b). Only due to photometric errors our simulation on 5.0\,Myr population gave an $L(t)$ broadening in terms of FWHM equal to 0.25 Myr, hence the true age spread for Wd\,1 should be even less than 0.4\,Myr.

\subsection{Unresolved Binarity}

There is considerable observational evidence that binary stars might constitute a significant fraction of a cluster population (e.g., \citealt{2008AJ....135.1934S}). As an unresolved binary combines the light of two stars, a binary will result in an offset in brightness by up to $-0.75$\,mag in the CMD compared to a single star. For non-equal mass systems, there might also be an offset in color. Both cases lead to a broadening of the observed cluster sequence on the actual CMD.

To test how the shape of $L(t)$ is affected by unresolved binarity, we generated stars in the CM space in a similar way as described above for photometric errors, but with a 0.75\,mag shift along the ordinate for 50\% of the artificial points. We choose 50\% as the mean value for the binarity fraction, as recent observations at least for massive population of Wd\,1 revealed a high rate (more than 40\%) of binary stars \citep{2009A&A...507.1585R}. We applied the same Bayesian analysis to the simulated stars as to the real data to determine $L(t)$.

The normalized likelihood $L(t)$ we obtained after combining the results of 30 simulations on binarity for a 5.0\,Myr population at DM 13.0\,mag is shown in Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}c. It is clearly seen that binarity affects the shape of $L(t)$ by adding a pronounced wing to the left from the main peak. Hence, a small shoulder toward younger ages from the $L(t)$ maximum for Wd\,1 (Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}a) could be caused by unresolved binarity.

\subsection{Ongoing Accretion}

For young stellar populations with ages $\lesssim$10\,Myr, ongoing accretion and the accretion history of a star is also of importance. As discussed in, e.g.,  \cite{2011ApJ...738..140H}, low-mass objects, which gain mass through ongoing accretion and a non-accreting PMS star of the same mass, arrive at different positions in a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

For starburst clusters like Wd\,1 and NGC\,3603\,YC, this effect seems to be strongly attenuated due to the presence of very luminous and massive O-type stars in the clusters. The fast winds and the ionizing radiation from these stars evaporate and remove circumstellar material around the low-mass cluster members, and clean out any remnant molecular gas in the cluster environment on short timescales of a few 10$^5$yr (e.g., \citealt{2004ApJ...611..360A,1998ApJ...499..758J}). This results in very little differential extinction across the starburst cluster, enabling us to constrain stellar properties using broadband photometry (\citealt{2004AJ....128..765S}).

\subsection{Sensitivity to Age Spread}
\label{sec:2 populations}

In order to test the ability of our method to detect the real age spreads, we simulated a mixed cluster population with two different ages and assuming random photometric errors. We repeated this procedure 30 times and calculated the averaged normalized likelihood $L(t)$. The result for a mixed population with 70\% stars of age 5.0\,Myr and 30\% stars of age 4.5\,Myr is shown in Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}d. Hence, a bimodal population with an age difference $\ge$0.5\,Myr would manifest itself in a prominent secondary peak, but the latter is not revealed in case of Wd\,1 (see Figure~\ref{label:6cuts}a).

\section{Summary}

Our analysis highlights the importance of a good membership selection, background rejection and characterization when analyzing crowded field data. We emphasize that the photometric component of our analysis only works in young, massive clusters and older clusters with little differential extinction and absence of ongoing accretion. Other environments require detailed spectroscopic analyses to establish precise effective temperatures and luminosities for individual stars, as has been exemplified in the case of ONC \citep{1997AJ....113.1733H} and W3\,Main \citep{2012ApJ...744...87B}.

Isochrones based on FRANEC and Padova evolutionary models, and ATLAS9 atmospheric models provide a good match to observed cluster sequences in the age range from 1 to 5\,Myr and mass range from 0.6 to 14\,$M_\odot$ for solar metallicities. Extending the sample of cluster members to lower masses could help to benchmark evolutionary tracks and atmospheric models for young, low-mass stars and quite possibly even brown dwarfs.

Our analysis of the photometric sequence of cluster members yields an age spread of less than 0.4\,Myr for the $\approx$5.0\,Myr old Wd\,1 and less than 0.1\,Myr for the $\approx$2.0\,Myr old NGC\,3603\,YC. This is a strong indication that in both cases the clusters formed in a single event once a sufficient gas mass had been aggregated and compressed to overcome internal thermal, turbulent or magnetic support, and to initiate an avalanche-like star formation event. This finding seems to be in agreement with theoretical predictions that clusters with masses between $10^4$ and $10^5 M_{\sun}$ loose their residual gas on a timescale shorter than their crossing times \citep{2008MNRAS.384.1231B}. For Wd\,1 and NGC\,3603\,YC crossing times have been estimated to be of the order of 0.3\,Myr \citep{2008A&A...478..137B} and 0.03\,Myr \citep{2010IAUS..266...24P}, respectively.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


I appeal; bring your troubles before God, he would take your misery and grant you peace. Come to God; the unwell, the barren, the lean…come to God that he may unburden you and shelter you from afflictions.
Righteousness is not an affliction. The fate of the righteous is not affliction, or endless seductions, enticements or traps. The devil is attracted to this righteous man, and has made him, unwell_ but he shall be well… when we are unwell is the time we must draw closest to God.
To love God is to be willing to be persecuted for his cause. I know, I know brethren, I have said God gives peace and happiness, and He gives it eternally but the life we have now is fleeting as is but a road to what comes or is promised.
I am sorry you have lost your Job because you wouldn't allow him have carnal knowledge of you. This world is the devils, we must hold tight so as not to be swept by the tides or storms he brings.
I appeal; I know you are hungry and perhaps more unwell than you were when I brought you to God, but stay with God…let Him shepherd us through this wastes and wild…stay with God…though crumbs is what we have, it shall sustain us.
Sometimes the best way to bring God to people is to appear like the world; I am no hypocrite. God is not against any consumption; He is against addiction and excessive consumption. God desires us to be happy.
Stay with your boss, show him love and compassion as God has shown us, sinners, undeserving. He has asked for lust, give him love! And maybe sometime, invite him over.
The joy overflows; God is concerned about the purity of our intentions. The sequel sometimes may seem damning, but what bothers God is what we intended… Be proud of Gods creation, be proud of the body God has given you, show that wonder of God to those around you, reveal it, flaunt it! There is nothing wrong with that.
This congregation is a family and we must help ourselves, there is a raving beast out there, seeking whom to devour. Let the sister's help the brothers and the brothers bring succor to the sisters… this way we shield ourselves from the diseases around.
I am not getting pale! I appreciate your concern but I am fine and though it may not appear so, I am. God is the healer; never forget that! And never forget too, He shields me, He shields us, He is our shepherd.
I cannot tell you of my cancer for when I appealed to you, I said bring your troubles before God, he'd take your misery… and most have come to God for such, to be unburdened, to be sheltered, to be from afflictions.
Is that the voice of God, telling me to take my life, to redeem it by sacrificing it for his course? But how so when I have not sought the face of God, for I am complacent and troubled by their sentiments, for they have thought you dwelled within me and for such thoughts, have remained, remained so. I am filthy too, …flawed; with no hunger for righteousness… When I have been hungry, it has been to be seen, deemed_ as righteous… but is that the voice of God?
With death, it can be heard, that God called his beloved home, with death, the brethren's would remain. I shall go now and tell them of the prophecy, of God beckoning to me and tomorrow I shall take my life.


I grew up in a family who do not believe in anything related to ghosts or anything supernatural. But in the course of time I have faced a number of experiences to believe that there indeed exists something strange and unexplainable.
This first happened to me when I was about 7. My dad had gone on a business trip so I, being the youngest, slept beside my mom that night. I woke up to the dogs barking and howling and to my utter terror the room was completely red in color. I told my mom the story the next morning but my whole family just laughed it off.
After a few years we moved in to a new house and my parents were living abroad due to job demands. A month after they left I moved into their room as I was missing them terribly, and for a week or so I was able to sleep peacefully. However, one night just as I was dropping off to sleep I could literally feel someone whispering into my ear. I tried to scream and shout but was unable to, like sleep paralysis. I could hear the whispers getting louder like someone was shouting into my ear. I was finally able to free myself and ran to my aunt's room.
The following night I dreamt that I was walking into my aunt's room and stood there staring at her near her closet. It felt very real but I didn't think much of it until the next evening when my aunt mentioned that she woke up in the night without any reason to see a black figure standing and staring at her.
My aunt had a poodle who one day just woke up from her bed, ran to my room door and started growling and barking at nothing but refused to enter the room.
And the last incident I had was one night during the winter season and after continuous nights of sleep paralysis I was getting ready to go to bed and switched off the lights. Then after a few minutes I started seeing some strange circular formation of lights made up of even smaller circles... Very hard to describe. It was like the more I stared at it the brighter it got.
I don't have any idea as to how to explain these events until date.
The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, emi22, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will participate in the discussion and I need help with what I have experienced.
Yes notjustme I too agree with your theory as I too felt exactly the same thing when I read where his aunty saw the shadow at the same time.
The circular light which you saw could be explained in meditation as I am yoga therapist and teach meditation. Usually for people who see spirits and sense or see paranormal stuffs have their third eye open and seeing lights and orbs are due to this and behind the head there is place which response to light which is cave of brahma where one can see lights and sparks by their eyes closed. You are like antenna for the whole galaxy and when we tune in we can see the unseen.
What I'm saying is some people claimed "I was laying in bed when I suddenly saw shadow go by the wall" - what if, WHAT IF! This was a family member who has just walked into the dream world? Not saying it's always them, could be other entities too, but I find that pretty cool to pick at.
This story opened something for me. And I'm very glad you shared it. The part where you said you saw your aunt sleeping and she saw a shadow person...BINGO!
There are countless amount of stories on here with shadow people and now we can add another theory. So what I'm thinking is, as we dream we are traveling with our souls.
Hi Emi22, Welcome to YGS. Ok let's discuss the things you have benn passed through.
You said The dream that you saw you are staring at your aunty, and at the same time next day your aunty told you that she woke up by seeing a black figure. Sometimes, we are doing things in actually but we think its dream. Even I have been through it. Maybe your are actually sleep walking but it feels like dream. Maybe she showed you, and due to darkness she can't clearly see you. Believe me as I said, I have been through it.
Next thing is that your Pet refuse to enter the room but barks at it. And all those Orbs.
See if the orbs are there then there must be some energy is around.
Emi22, you need to perform a cleansing of your house. No matter it's true or not but see if you think something is weird, There is no problem to take a positive step. Have Faith in God. Believe in God. Everything is going to be alright.
Emi22, you described that room completely red in color did you mean it was painted red or it was red but wasn't supposed to be?, because if that is the case that's quite odd. And those lights you saw in the circular formation, could those be orbs? If they are I think that's unusual, I have read story's about orbs and seen photos but never several of them in one fformation. That' shadow you grandmother saw may be a shadow person/figure/being.
Given the age and the stressful situation you were going through, it is hard to tell if some or your experiences're just dreams, though I have to admit the part about your aunt seen a shadow by her bedside seems to be an out of body experience.
Anyway, I'm glad your experiences have made you open and accepting to the existence of a paranormal "world" within the world we live in.
© The ghost story Lights And Sounds is copyrighted to emi22. Edited by yourghoststories.com.


The #DontBeTardy mom teases her confrontation with Kenya Moore on #RHOA.
Kim Zolciak-Biermann may not have been tardy to Shereé Whitfield's housewarming party, but she probably wasn't expecting tensions to escalate to the levels that they did. As fans saw in the teaser for Sunday's The Real Housewives of Atlanta finale, the Don't Be Tardy mom and Kenya Moore will have a dramatic face-off.
"I definitely am not naive to the fact that of the personalities of some of the ladies," Kim told The Daily Dish when asked whether she had known what to expect from the party. "So no, I didn't. I didn't really know how it was going to go because it's been five years. I didn't know. I certainly didn't think that it was be as crazy as it was."
Not that it was all insults and shade being thrown at Chateau Shereé, but that aspect of the night certainly resonated with the RHOA alum. "It definitely reminded me of why I left in the first place. Why does it have to be so combative? It was really great to see a lot of the other ladies, aside from Kenya. I don't even know Kenya to be honest," she said. "It was great to see the other ladies and kind of reconnect with them. Cynthia [Bailey] is so beautiful, so I always love to see her little face, And of course we were there for Shereé. Shereé and I have been friends from before Housewives and have stayed in contact throughout the years. That was nothing new."
At the end of the night, Kim was more than happy to be able to support her pal. And, while she and Shereé have certainly had their drama in the past, she revealed how they've been able to make it work all these years later.
"I just think Shereé and I have a mutual trust, believe it or not. We talk about a lot of things and I don't say anything, and she doesn't say anything. It's just a mutual trust," she said. "I think in order to have a successful friendship, that's super important. It's hard to find these days. I think that's why we have always been somewhat successful. Even at our moments of fighting and arguing, there's no real low-blows, per say. There's no, 'You told me this yesterday!' Some women start popping off at the mouth with things they know or knew. Everybody has somewhat of a past," Kim said. "I think that's why we've been able to maintain our friendship. Some of our arguments in the past have been fueled by others. I don't think it was because of Shereé and I."
Check out throwback pics of the RHOA alum, below.
What Does Porsha Really Think of Kim?


text:
Long lines wait for gun and knife show at Raleigh's State Fairgrounds
Curtis Sittenfeld's Next Short Story Will Be an Audible Original
Posted December 6, 2018 4:41 p.m. EST
By Concepción De León, New York Times
Curtis Sittenfeld, the best-selling writer of "Prep" and "Eligible," is the latest to join a growing number of authors partnering with Audible to produce audio-first original stories. Sittenfeld's short story, "Atomic Marriage," read by actress Diane Lane, will be released by the company on Jan. 4.
"Atomic Marriage" was not originally written with audio in mind. Sittenfeld, who wrote "American Wife," a novel based on Laura Bush's life, had been approached by Tyler Cabot, deputy editor of Audible Originals, a year earlier to write a story about Melania Trump. "I said, 'No, thank you,'" Sittenfeld recalled when we spoke on the phone this week. But she kept Audible in the back of her mind, noticing the company's willingness to experiment with new writers and forms.
"It's fun to try something new as a writer," she said, so when she wrote "Atomic Marriage," she asked Cabot if Audible wanted to release it.
"Atomic Marriage" is about a Hollywood power broker named Heather Thiesen, who wants to turn an evangelical businessman's best-selling guide to a happy marriage, "Atomic Doctrine," into a blockbuster romantic comedy — all while navigating her own rocky relationship.
"It was revised and edited for audio," said Sittenfeld, noting that they had dropped adverbs and em dashes or eliminated attributions that would be made obvious in the recording.
The addition of Sittenfeld is part of Audible's efforts to expand its offerings and meet the increased demand for audio products. Earlier this year, Michael Lewis, one of the most popular contemporary nonfiction writers, signed a multiyear deal to write four original stories for the company, and others who have written original stories for Audible include Margaret Atwood and Philip Pullman.
Audible Originals' editor-in-chief Dave Blum said, "We're thrilled to work with authors like Curtis who are embracing spoken word as a way to tell their stories."
In Sittenfeld's view, the audio adds a dimension beyond what she is able to offer as a writer. Her words "come alive" whenever someone else reads them, she said. The story made her laugh in unexpected places. And when the main character in "Atomic Marriage" travels to Alabama from Los Angeles, Lane takes on the Southern accents of the characters. "It was really fun to listen to a professional person who not only was willing to try it but capable of pulling it off," said Sittenfeld. "I would not be willing to try it and not capable of pulling it off."
Still, though Sittenfeld would "definitely" work with Audible again, she said she's unlikely to sign on for a novel-length project. She's been publishing her novels with Random House for 15 years. "It's like saying 'Would you be married to another person?'"


text:
Q: Array.fill uses the same object for all indices I'm using Array.fill to prepopulate an array with other arrays. Modifying the array of one indices also modifies the array of another. Meaning its the same object.
const arr = Array(2).fill([]);

arr[0].push('a');
arr[1].push('b');

// [['a', 'b'], ['a', 'b']]

I've been reading through some documentation but I don't see this behavior mentioned anywhere. Same thing happens with an object literal.
Does this make sense somehow?

A: Yes it does.
You are passing a reference to an created object instance.
If you would first declare the array (eg. var c = []) and then populate arr with it you would get the same behavior.
const c = [];
const arr = Array(2).fill(c);

c.push("a");
c.push("b");

// c ["a", "b"]
// arr [reference to c, reference to c] => [["a","b"], ["a", "b"]]

A: Yes, it does make sense.
fill expects a value that is put in all the indices, not a function that produces a new value for every index. And it doesn't implicitly clone the value you passed either (no standard function does that). This is just the usual assignment behaviour, wherein objects (reference values) stay the same.


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Nigerian gunmen kidnap over 70 children from village school
Thursday, 2 September 2021 (11:57 IST)
Nigerian police are searching for a large group of gunmen that on Wednesday kidnapped 73 students from a school in the northwest of the country, authorities said.
The attackers swooped on the school in the remote village of Kaya, in the Maradun region of Zamfara state on Wednesday morning.
How have the authorities reacted?
"The abduction followed the invasion of the school by large numbers of armed bandits," Zamfara police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said.
"The command... has deployed a search and rescue team that was mandated to work in synergy with the military to ensure the safe rescue of the abducted students," Shehu added.
A staff member told Reuters that 500 pupils were enrolled at the school.
Police reinforced security around Kaya, a village of about 23,000 people, after the bandits fled with the children.
Zamfara state officials ordered all primary and secondary schools to close throughout the state as a result of the kidnapping, in order to guard against any further attacks, Ibrahim Dosara said.
They also imposed road travel restrictions and a night-time curfew on the area.
Are these attacks common?
Armed gangs have snatched over 1,100 students in more than a dozen attacks on schools and colleges in northwestern Nigeria since December 2020.
Typically, they then demand ransoms from parents who often have to sell all they have to get their children back, a head teacher in Niger state told the Associated Press. Some children die or are injured in the ordeals if payments are delayed, the head teacher added.
On Friday, 90 pupils were freed from another Nigerian school where children as young as four-years-old were abducted.
Zamfara is one of four states in northwest Nigeria that have taken steps to stop kidnappings taking place in areas where there is not enough police presence. Authorities banned the sale of jerry cans and the transportation of firewood by trucks to stop gangs traveling by motorbike and camping out in the forest.
Mali: Gunmen kill 15 government troops in ambush
7 years after abduction by Boko Haram, Chibok schoolgirl freed in Nigeria
Hardliner cleric couple who called for Islamic revolution in Nigeria released after 6 years
Nigeria: Gunmen release 28 more kidnapped students
100 kidnapped villagers released by bandits in Nigeria


text:
keyboard_arrow_right Business Audio Books Meet Hollywood
Don't Just Narrate Your Next Business Audiobook, Perform It
FORESTVILLE, Calif., Aug. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Footnotes Press LLC, in association with Sherwood Players Productions & Ryan Foland Enterprises, have announced a new type of business audiobook where Hollywood actors convey business principles through entertaining audio skits.
The Barefoot Spirit Audiobook
Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the Managing Members of Footnotes Press LLC, the Founders of Barefoot Wine, and co-authored The Barefoot Spirit: How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America's #1 Wine Brand. The book chronicles the humble beginnings of the world's largest wine brand and is a case study in more than 50 schools that teach entrepreneurship.
Their original New York Times Bestselling paperback has been transformed into a dramatically performed audiobook. It is scheduled for release in this new dramatic format in September 2019. Listen to samples of The Barefoot Spirit using Business Audio Theatre: https://thebarefootspirit.com/audiobook-samples-with-book-illustrations/
Yitzchok Saftlas will air a sneak preview on Mind Your Business airing at 10 pm EDT on Sunday, September 1, 2019 on WABC 77. The official release will be during the 2019 Crowdsourcing Week Global Conference in San Francisco on September 12-13, where Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey will be the Keynote Speakers.
Bonnie Harvey & Michael Houlihan – Founders of Barefoot Wine & New York Times Bestselling Authors of The Barefoot Spirit – How Hardship, Hustle, and Heart Built America's #1 Wine Brand
Now available on Audible, the Google Play Store and after September 3, 2019, all retail platforms.
Houlihan says, "We wanted our audio book to be multi-dimensional and beyond simple narration. We wanted it to be fun, entertaining, and memorable." He believes the best way to convey business principles is through story and the best way to convey story is through radio theatre-style performances.
Matt Weinglass, CEO of Sherwood Players Productions, adds, "This is a complete cinematic experience for your ears with characters, action, sound effects, music, and more."
Harvey says, "This is a great opportunity for business leaders to provide their listeners with an engaging, entertaining, and memorable dramatization of their business principles. We look forward to helping others create their own business theatre!"
Ryan Foland says, "This is the next generation of business audiobooks!"
To book an interview with Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey, contact Mike Elliott at 220751@email4pr.com or call 707-843-5371
SOURCE Footnotes Press, LLC


Happy Thursday everyone... It's our Final reveal day at Newton's Nook. All of the new products will be available in the store tomorrow! Today we are featuring a new Newton set called Newton Rides West and it's coordinating dies.
I started with a piece of Woodgrain Distress paper and added some splashes of Distress Ink to it and then I adhere it to a A2 size card base. I die cut some stars from some Distress cardstock and added some Mustard Seed Distress Ink to them. Once they were dry I added them to the background.
I die cut another piece of Distress cardstock and then I wrinkled it up and added some Vintage Photo Distress ink to make it look like old Paper. Once it was dry I ran it through my big shot to flatten it back out some. Then I stamped the sentiments from Newton Rides West. I adhered this piece to the card front with some foam tape.
Then I stamped Newton onto some White cardstock and colored him in with Copics. I used the coordinating dies to cut him out and then I adhered him in the center of the poster. I added some White Gel pen for details and a few Sparkling Clear Sequins. This is a really fun set and a must have for your collection!
What a darling Wanted poster!
Wow, the background to the cowboy is amazing... looks like aged leather!!!
Such a fun card! I really like how you positioned the stars and added the splatters.
Adorable card! Love the background!
So cute with the wanted poster and I like the stars.
This is so cute. Newton is adorable in the cowboy hat. Love those gold stars too.
A perfect card! The style is perfect for those stamps.
Love the weathered and leather look you gave your wanted poster!!! So cute!
your cards is great love the wanted sign. I just have to have this whole release.
adorable! I love the distressing behind the kitty!
I love how the star reminds me of a sheriff's badge! Cool card!
This is so cute! Love the idea of the wanted poster for Newton.
This is such a cute set of stamps and I love your card!
There's that rootin' tootin' varmit on the wanted poster! I've been a'lookin' for you. Come to collect the reward you cutie patootie!


She is a part of me in so many ways. I can see it in her smile and the funny curls in her hair. I can hear it in her voice as she sings the ABCs. I can feel it as she sits in my lap gazing sleepily into my eyes. And I can sense it in the little things she does that make me laugh.
Pictures of her brighten both my home and office. Her beautiful little face sits perfectly framed on my dresser. She is the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing at night. But she doesn't call me daddy or uncle or grandpa. I am not her parent, yet I am more than just a close friend. I am her biological father. I am also a "known donor."
In the fall of 1995, my cousin introduced me to a lesbian couple who was interested in creating a family. They had decided that a sperm bank was too anonymous, yet none of their friends at the time seemed appropriate as a donor. So, they set out looking for the right "candidate." They didn't want a third parent, but rather a father figure the baby could come to know and love. And then I came into the picture.
I was 25 years old and gay. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was a way for me to experience the wonderful bond between a father and child. At the same time, I could retain what I considered at that time to be my freedom—the ability to pursue my career, to date and to travel, to be selfish with my time and spend my "disposable income."
It was an experience that I knew I had always wanted, but the most difficult decision I would ever have to make. There was very little literature addressing the issues that surround "known donors." I turned to friends and family with mixed results. Many of my gay friends didn't quite understand what I was doing or why. My family, although supportive, was worried that I wouldn't be able to handle the emotions that might arise out of having a child who really isn't mine. I received conflicting advice from almost everyone. Even the potential mothers wondered if I had ulterior motives. Why would I want to do this knowing full and well that the child would be theirs and not mine?
To be absolutely sure that I truly understood the ramifications of this decision, the potential moms decided to spell everything out in black and white. They presented me with a contract—and had I been trained in either law or business, I surely would have backed out.
Understandably so, with the kind of family they were choosing to create, they wanted to safeguard themselves against my becoming too involved. So the contract explained that I would have "no expectation of a relationship with the child." This denied me decision-making ability on every level when it came to the life and well-being of the baby. I would have no say in his or her name. No say in how the child would be raised, and no say in his or her education or religious upbringing. The contract made it clear that, for my protection, I had no financial obligations to them, ever. And finally, that the child would one day come to know that I was his or her father. They would control the scope of that relationship as well.
The thoughts that entered my mind and the soul searching I endured over the next few months were incredibly difficult.
She was born in October of 1997. However, I wasn't invited to her birth. It was the first test of my emotional strength. I had anticipated this event for over a year—envisioning myself in the hospital waiting room, jumping up with tears in my eyes as the doctor came out to tell me if it was a boy or a girl. And now my giddy excitement had quickly turned to a quiet disappointment.
For the new moms, the birth of their child and the creation of their family were experiences that they wanted to share only with each other. Their concern was that my presence at the hospital might result in some awkward moments, perhaps a doctor referring to me as the father, unaware of the fact that this baby had two mothers. These are the issues that arise when one creates an alternative family in a "heterosexual world."
A compromise was reached and I was invited to visit them in the hospital the day after the birth. There is so much I could say about that day, but one very special moment will always remain. I sat alone with the precious baby for about five minutes, telling her that I loved her and that I always would. I stared down into the bassinet and marveled at how amazing the creation of a child truly is. Wiping the tears from my eyes, I got back into my car and started the three-hour drive back to my home. Leaving the hospital that day was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do.
Two years have now passed, and the road has been fairly smooth. I visit them almost every five weeks. We talk on the phone. We exchange photos and e-mails. I've developed a very loving and warm relationship with all three of them. I sometimes tell people that my experience being a "known donor" is much like being married to two people and a baby. We have built a relationship based on trust, caring and most importantly, honesty. But there will most certainly be awkward moments on the road ahead, and times when I wish things were a little bit different.
The mothers graciously accept presents from my friends and family, even though it might sometimes make them feel uncomfortable. They've kindly allowed time for my family to get to know their daughter, even though she already has two sets of grandparents and many aunts and uncles. They have spent holidays at my parents' house, and I would imagine that seeing pictures of their daughter on the refrigerator there might make them feel a little funny.
Awkward little moments continue to arise even today. We're now at a time where we're discussing whether or not I'll be referred to as "Dad," and how to explain this relationship to a two-year-old who is quickly figuring out that not all kids have two moms.
My relationship to her is sometimes difficult to explain to strangers. But whether or not she calls me Dad isn't really all that important. I've slowly come to terms with and understand that there won't necessarily be a call or a card on Father's Day. I understand that I will probably miss her first step and her first word, her first piece of birthday cake and her first time down the slide by herself. I have come to terms with the fact that my parents can't treat her like their other grandchildren and that I won't always be able to see her when I want.
But sometimes the seconds are just as good as the firsts. And everything I don't get to share with her makes the time I do have that much more special. I do my best to look at the big picture. And when I do, I see that the only thing that is important is that I continue to have a loving relationship with this special child. That I have the chance to watch her change and grow, discover and learn. That is my reward for all of the things that I miss.
A tribute to queer freedom fighters. Buy Now!


text:
Democrat Jon Tester: Elizabeth Warren's DNA Results Do Not 'Pass the Test'
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) broke ranks with fellow Senate Democrats on Tuesday and said that Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) DNA results do not "pass the test."
The Montana Democrat chided the Massachusetts Democrats, suggesting that Warren's DNA test does not make her a Native American.
"I don't think that would pass the test, no," Tester said. The Montana senator also noted that the fight between President Donald Trump and Warren ignores the more significant issues facing Native Americans.
"I don't think that's where we need to go," Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said. "That's a fight between her and Trump and she can continue to have that fight. The real issue here are the challenges in Indian country, especially the tribes that don't have gaming."
"The real issue that revolves around Native American people is poverty, and unless you're a gaming tribe, it's a problem, and we've got to figure our solutions to get it fixed," the Democrat added.
Native Americans make up roughly 8.6 percent of Montana's total population; Tester said that the Indian population could decide whether he or Republican challenger Matt Rosendale wins November's Montana Senate race.
"Bottom line, Indian Country is going to decide who wins the election," Tester said.
On Monday, Crow Tribal chairman A.J. Not Afraid endorsed Matt Rosendale for U.S. Senate.
"In order for the longevity of the tribe, to surpass my life existence, we need to do something about it now – fits the direction of Rosendale and President Trump," Not Afraid said in a statement on Monday. "Fits the agenda of the Crow Tribe, both domestically and internationally. … That agenda fits the Crow today, to side with the Administration and Matt Rosendale."
I'm humbled to have the support of the Crow Tribe! Thank you for this invitation to speak and visit with all of you today! #mtsen #mtpol pic.twitter.com/JpYnyO4mdT
— Matt Rosendale (@MattForMontana) October 30, 2018
Rosendale said in a statement on Monday:
I will be a true friend, listen, and always be there for the Crow people. Montana's tribes are a critical part of the state and I pledge to work together to help build a better future with more jobs, economic opportunities, and better health care for the Tribal nations, and I will be there to hold the federal government accountable when they're not doing their job and delivering on their promises.
Another Senate Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), condemned Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), claiming that she is "not one of those crazy Democrats."
Tester has tried to reassure his base amidst polls that show a tightening gap between him and Rosendale. A Gravis Marketing poll released on Tuesday found that Tester's lead in the Montana Senate race has slipped to a statistical tie.
Last week, Tester also tried to appeal to his Montana values during the Senate race, touting his love of hunting, despite not having a Montana hunting license in six years—the last time he ran for office.
"It's pretty disingenuous to see Jon Tester talk about the importance of hunting when he's rarely had a hunting license," Rosendale said in September. "It's not surprising though, Jon Tester has changed. He left behind his Montana values a long time ago."
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/rOz_gb1upwE/
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About CISA >
Leadership >
Region 2 Regional Director
Jen Easterly
Nitin Natarajan
Brandon Wales
Kiersten E. Todt
Eric Goldstein
Dr. David Mussington
Billy Bob Brown, Jr.
Mona Harrington
Alaina Clark
Bridget Bean
Victoria Dillon
Stephanie Doherty
Spencer R. Fisher
Nicole Windham
Michael Widomski
Robin Stephens
Tarek Abboushi
Robert Costello
Kerry Stewart
James Burd
Valerie M. Cofield
David Patrick
Juan Arratia
Keith Holtermann
Dr. Elizabeth Kolmstetter
Llauryn Iglehart
Region 1 Director Matthew McCann
Region 2 Director John Durkin
Region 3 Director William Ryan
Region 4 Director Jullius Gamble
Region 5 Director Alex Joves
Region 6 Director Harvey Perriott
Region 7 Director Phil Kirk
Region 8 Director Shawn Graff
Region 9 Director David Rosado
Region 10 Director Patrick Massey
Kim Wyman
John P. Durkin is the Regional Director for Region 2 within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, where he leads the effort to protect and enhance the resilience of the nation's physical and cyber infrastructure for New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Prior to this position, he was CISA's Chief of Protective Security for Region 2 and a Protective Security Advisor assigned to New York City. Before joining CISA, Mr. Durkin served as the Supervisory Air Marshal in Charge of the Newark Field Office of the Federal Air Marshal Service for six years, where he was named SAIC of the year in 2015. Mr. Durkin is a 24-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, where he spent most of his career in the Emergency Service Unit of the Special Operations Division and retired as a Deputy Inspector in command of the Aviation Unit. Other assignments during his tenure at NYPD included Commanding Officer of the Intelligence Division's Protective Intelligence Unit and of the Threat Assessment Unit.
Mr. Durkin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the State University of New York, a Certificate in Police Management from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Science degree in Homeland Security Management from Long Island University. He is a contributing author to "Leadership in Dangerous Situations," a textbook used by cadets at the United States Military Academy, and to "Only as Strong as Its Weakest Link: Resilience of the Healthcare Supply Chain in New York," for Homeland Security Today, which outlined the findings of the New York City Healthcare Regional Resiliency Assessment Project. Mr. Durkin is a retired U.S. Army Reserve Intelligence Officer, a veteran of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, and served at the tactical, combatant command, and strategic levels.


FK Teknik/Design has worked with the design, production and the sale of specialized body shop equipment for more than 33 years. FK Teknik/Design is the leading company in its field.
The company is Danish and was founded in 1980 by Finn Kreiberg, who in the beginning designed, manufactured and sold the equipment himself. Today the equipment is sold in virtually all of Europe, in the USA and Canada. Most of the equipment is manufactured in its own factory.
On 1st May 2001 the next generation took over and the company is now run by Jan Kreiberg, who has been working within the company since 1994. Jan Kreiberg is MBA, formerly a banker who managed a number of branches.


From the very start, Dan + Shay have drawn comparisons to Rascal Flatts, and apparently, the boys of Rascal Flatts hear the sonic similarities, too, because they've recorded several songs written by one or both members of the duo.
The latest single from Rascal Flatts, "Back to Life," was co-written by Shay Mooney, who also co-wrote their hit, "I Like the Sound of That." He's also written "Hopin' You Were Lookin'" (on which Dan Smyers also has writing credit) and "Love What You've Done with the Place," both on Flatts' Back to Life album.
Rascal Flatts' latest song, "Back to Life," was co-written by Shay Mooney of Dan & Shay, and it's not the first song the group has recorded that was co-written by Shay or his partner, Dan Smyers. Shay also co-wrote their #1 song, "I Like the Sound of That" and two songs on their last album, "Love What You've Done with the Place" and "Hopin' You Were Lookin'," the latter of which was also co-written by Dan.
"Keep it up boys!" adds his bandmate Gary LeVox.


Akonwick Asked on January 12, 2019 in Business & Finance.
I do not see why you cannot trust PayPal. They have been around for a long time and maybe you might have had some frustrations but don't you have frustrations with your local bank or mobile telecom provider?
I work as a freelancer and get my payments in PayPal and pay through PayPal to others who work for me and that without any problem.
Just like banks they have financial regulations to follow and if they don't they have a problem, well at least that is what you hope for.
I know that a lot of people are searching for a PayPal Money Adder solution but that should not stop you to use PayPal as a payment gateway both personal as business.
There are more payment solutions out there that might be cheaper but trust is a big thing and when the trust is gone I am gone and so far that is not the case.
Akonwick Answered on January 12, 2019.
PayPal is a favorite tool for sending and receiving money online. It is one of the oldest services available, but whenever you link your financial accounts to an online service, security should be at the top of your mind. So how safe is PayPal?
For the most part, it's safe to use the service and link accounts to PayPal, but it ultimately depends on what your concerns are.
Buyers will find that PayPal is an easy and secure way to make purchases.
Sellers can also benefit from using PayPal, but there are risks to be aware of. Those risks aren't unique to PayPal, but some sellers are unaware of potential problems.
Money transfers make their way to the destination safely, but the question is whether or not you know who you're sending money to.
Is PayPal Safe for Buyers?
For the most part, PayPal is safe when you use it to send money. Nothing is completely risk-free—glitches and data breaches are possible anywhere. But PayPal is a reputable company with enough security and consumer protection in place to keep you relatively safe online.
Data security: PayPal's website is secure and encrypted. As long as you have a secure connection to the legitimate PayPal site, any information you exchange is hidden from prying eyes. PayPal uses industry-standard security features that you'd expect from any large financial institution, and the company even offers financial rewards to "white hat" hackers who discover vulnerabilities. It could get hacked, but it'd be tough.
A layer of protection: If you've ever used your credit card online or handed a check to a merchant, you've taken just as much risk as you take when you provide that information to PayPal. If you didn't know, thieves can find your bank account and routing numbers on any personal check, and they can (try to) use that information to get money from your checking account.
Using PayPal might even be safer than giving your credit card number or bank account information directly to the website you're buying from. Why? You keep that information in one place—at PayPal—instead of spreading it around everywhere you shop. If something happens, you won't need to cancel your cards and update all of your automatic billers. You can just secure your PayPal account by changing your password or card number.
Take precautions to ensure that your personal and financial information stays safe.
Keep software up-to-date on your computer or mobile device—especially security software.
Avoid public Wi-Fi for financial transactions, including managing or even viewing your PayPal account. Use mobile data instead if you're out and about.
Use a credit card as your funding method instead of a debit card or direct bank transfer (more on that below).
Use a dedicated computer for financial transactions if you want to be especially safe. Don't use that device for surfing and social media.
Be wary of links in emails. Phishing scams may feature messages that appear to come from PayPal but really link to impostor sites that steal your account information.
What happens if somebody spends money from your PayPal account without your permission, or if you pay for an item that never arrives?
Buyer Protection: PayPal's Buyer Protection and Account Protection programs might reimburse you. To take advantage, you need to report the transaction quickly, but Buyer Protection does not cover all transactions. Buyer Protection is similar to the benefits you get with a credit card: You can reverse the charges if the seller fails to deliver what was promised.
Before you rely on Buyer Protection, read PayPal's policies to ensure that the service is available for any payment that you're concerned about. Some transactions are not eligible.
Funding method: For extra protection, it's a good idea to complete PayPal purchases with a credit card (use your card as the funding mechanism—not an "instant transfer" from your bank account, debit card, or PayPal balance). Why? If PayPal decides not to refund your money, you can try disputing the transaction again with your credit card issuer. What's more, a credit card is not linked directly to your bank account like a debit card, so you won't have an empty account while you clean up the mess.
All that said, paying for purchases with PayPal is likely much safer than paying with Western Union or wiring money—those payments cannot be reversed.
Is PayPal Safe for Sellers?
You naturally want every transaction to result in mutual gain, but what's good for buyers isn't always good for sellers.
If you run a business, it's important to get paid for the products and services you provide. So is it safe to rely on PayPal for processing customer payments?
Most businesses that accept payments with PayPal find it to be perfectly safe. They get paid more or less as they expect, and fraud is little more than a rare annoyance. However, there are plenty of horror stories from sellers who feel that PayPal hung them out to dry. There are two sides to every story, but there are enough stories out there that businesses should take notice before assuming that PayPal is safe.
Disputed charges: The main risk to sellers is the ease with which customers can dispute charges. Customers can claim that goods never arrived or that you did not deliver what you promised, and PayPal seems to assume that the customer is (almost) always right. You can plead your case, but you'll need solid proof to get PayPal to decide in your favor.
This risk is not unique to PayPal. Customers can also reverse credit card chargeseasily. However, for whatever reason, PayPal seems to have a reputation for being especially difficult to work with. Perhaps that reputation is well-deserved, or perhaps there is just a vocal minority.
The payment was genuinely fraudulent (the customer's account was hacked, for example).
A shipment never arrived safely.
A customer was dissatisfied with your product.
Ship only to verified addresses.
Avoid delivering goods in-person. It's better to have proof of delivery from UPS or a similar shipper if you want PayPal to side with you.
Require a signature for expensive items.
Clearly explain what you're selling, including any confusing features or limitations that make customers unhappy. Include photos of any defects or damage. Surprises are not a good thing.
Communicate with unhappy customers promptly and politely.
In the past, businesses selling intangibles or charging fees for service were immune to Buyer Protection problems. That's no longer the case. So, be sure to document your communications so that you can provide proof to PayPal if there's a dispute.
Your PayPal balance is typically not FDIC-insured. PayPal has explored ways to offer pass-through protection to customers, but coverage is not broadly available. As a result, if PayPal became insolvent, it's possible that you'd lose money stored in your PayPal balance. If that concerns you, keep your balance low, and transfer funds to your bank account as soon as possible.
PayPal is not a replacement for a fully-functioning bank account. If you can't qualify for a bank account, other financial products, including some prepaid debit cards, may offer similar features along with FDIC insurance on your savings.
UmaimaMalik Answered on January 13, 2019.
Paypal is a popular tool for sending and receiving money online. Their online payment service is used by consumers buying on eBay, Amazon and other online marketplaces. PayPal currently has over 100 million active accounts originating from 190 countries. PayPal is available in 202 countries worldwide and supports 25 currencies. People use PayPal to send or receive payments, purchase or sell goods and services, make or accept cash donations, and exchange cash.
Whenever you link financial accounts to an online service, security should always be your greatest concern. PayPal is one of the oldest, most reputable payment services company available, and is safe to use. Nothing is completely risk-free being that data breaches and glitches are possible everywhere.
Data Security- PayPal has a secure and encrypted website. As long as you have a secure connection to PayPal's site, any information you exchange is hidden from other users. PayPal has industry standard security measures and even offers financial rewards to anyone who can find vulnerabilities.
With any online financial transaction, there are certain precautions to take to ensure safety. Keeping your software up to date on your computer and mobile device will limit risk. Avoid using public wifi when managing or viewing PayPal. If you are out and about it is recommended to use mobile data. Using a credit card versus a debit card will increase safety as well.
PayPal also offers a buyer protection program. While it is not guaranteed PayPal will reimburse you, it is important to report transactions quickly. This program allows you to reverse charges if the seller fails to deliver what was promised.
There are some different risks associated with sellers using PayPal. Disputed charges are the biggest issue. Customers can easily dispute charges and claim that goods never arrived or that sellers did not provide exactly what was promised. Being that PayPal typically sides with customers, sellers need solid proof to plead their case and have PayPal rule in their favor. In order to limit this risk, it is important for sellers too, the only ship to verified addresses, require signatures for expensive items, clearly explain in product listings what you're selling accompanied with photos of the product, and communicate with unhappy customers promptly.
Akonwick Answered on January 14, 2019.


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Q: Xcode only picking up "AppIcon" as named variable in UIImage I'm currently trying to set icons for tabBarItem, but when I do the following code:
Main.tabBarItem.image = UIImage(named: "List")

it doesn't work. It only finds the "AppIcon" iconset in Assets.xcassets, not the other icons.
Have anyone experienced this before and if so how do I resolve this issue?

A: Have you tried removing image files, clean build folder and then add it again?
You can also check following link, it might help:
https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/69206


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