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Mexico: Civic Group Says Veracruz Leads in Kidnappings
Haiti: Country Braces for New Unrest
China: Scope of Security Laws Rapidly Broadening
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Since 1977, multinationals have called on The Ackerman Group for counsel on a broad range of security and investigative issues. We have been retained by the Chubb Corporation for 40 years to respond to emergencies on behalf of holders of its Kidnap Ransom and Extortion insurance policy.
Our emphasis is on prevention, but, in an emergency, we respond with unparalleled professionalism. Our tenacity and resourcefulness have earned us a reputation as the crisis management authority for beleaguered corporate decision-makers.
Risknet®
The Ackerman Group's widely followed on-line risk-forecasting service analyzes terrorism, crime, and political stability risks in 100 countries. It is updated every business day.
Protective Training and Audits
Our thrust is to prepare executives, their families and staffs to practice levels of security competence sufficient to dissuade potential assailants, both terrorist and criminal.
We pride ourselves on our ability to arrange and oversee visits to high-risk areas throughout the world, and to protect personnel, meetings and special events.
Our professionalism in responding to a wide range of corporate emergencies is broadly and enthusiastically acknowledged.
Consistent with clients' needs, we have the capacity to investigate complex criminal activities, such as fraud or theft rings, as well as vital due diligence background investigations.
Our experts have extensive experience in closing holes in computer networks, and limiting the opportunities for hackers to steal, corrupt or delete corporate information.
We are best known for our specialization in counterterrorism - analyzing risks, protecting personnel and property, planning for contingencies and recovering hostages. But our political-stability projections have earned an enthusiastic following, as have our strategies for safeguarding inventories and our innovative investigative skills. Indeed, we are fast acquiring leadership status in the investigative realm, including intellectual property protection and assets tracing.
Also, clients seek out our intelligence, negotiating, communications and protective expertise when facing a wide range of emergencies - from extortions, to wrongful detentions, to evacuations, to intractable problems with violence-prone labor and fringe groups.
Moreover, as an entirely independent concern, The Ackerman Group renders advice independently of manufacturers of security hardware, alarm and guard services, and insurance underwriters.
Our methodologies are thorough, balanced, deliberate, proven - and cost-effective. Our discretion is absolute.
"Mike Ackerman gives sage advice, distilled from decades of firsthand experiences, about how to negotiate with kidnappers and other terrorists-if you must." Howard Raiffa | Harvard Business School
The Ackerman Group provides a variety of services to safeguard our clients' employees and their families. By providing comprehensive protection against the full spectrum of threats, we provide an unparalled level of security.
Training and Audits
Our Risknet® service provides concise, up-to-the-minute analyses of risks in 100 countries. Risknet® is updated throughout the business day and can be accessed electronically worldwide around the clock. It consists of the following:
Executive Digest
Highly analytical reports give early warning of impending developments
Country Summaries
Summaries put risks into perspective
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Analyzes information on latest terrorist risks concerning international travel
Helps travelers navigate foreign cities
Terrorist-group Glossary
Provides information on major terrorist organizations
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Clients with urgent inquiries are assured instant, 24-hour telephone access to our area specialists
Customized Surveys
Our analysts also are available for customized surveys and recommendations on countries or regions under consideration for new or expanded investment. Risknet® is included in Chubb Corporation's Kidnap/Ransom and Extortion insurance policy. You may also subscribe for a yearly fee
Crisis Management Team Training:
We offer a half-day training seminar designed specifically for members of a corporate Crisis Management Team (CMT). Guidance is provided as to the appropriate composition of the CMT and the management of key elements of a successful hostage recovery. Among the topics discussed are the handling of the notification of a kidnapping or extortion, management of relations with the victim's family, liaison with law enforcements agencies, dealing with media, strategizing the negotiation, and organizing the ransom delivery and hostage recovery. The training also includes the presentation of a simulated kidnap case, which participants are tasked with resolving.
Training Managers in High-Risk Areas:
Individual or group training is given to executives, both expatriate and local, their families and staffs to improve their security practices, sensitize them to recognizing surveillances and prepare them to respond effectively to emergencies. Activity patterns of executives are analyzed in detail and recommendations are given for modifying them to mitigate risks.
Protective Driving Training:
Executives and/or their drivers are briefed on the conceptual basis for antiterrorist-driving methodology and instructed in techniques. We also conduct "hands-on" driving exercises both domestically and overseas.
International Travel Security Awareness:
It is neither possible nor necessary to provide protective details for the vast majority of executives who travel or reside overseas, so we place our major emphasis upon personal-security-awareness training. This half-day seminar surveys terrorist/criminal methodologies and explains "gray" - anonymous - travel, airline - selection strategies, airport safety guidelines, ground transportation alternatives, hotel security tips, tactics for avoiding street crime, means of protecting sensitive information and other countermeasures.
Personal Security/Kidnap Prevention Training:
This half-day classroom seminar is designed to train groups of expatriates and local nationals who live in high-risk environments. It focuses on personal responsibility for one's own security, residential security guidelines, ground transportation security and route analysis for movements between residences and workplaces, and workplace security guidelines. It also describes basic hostile surveillance detection methodology that can be used in conjunction with behavior modification techniques.
Hands-On Assault Survival Training:
This half-day program is presented in conjunction with International Travel Security Awareness or Personal Security/Kidnap Prevention training. It adds an important element of live-action training in assault response. It features a combination of classroom instruction and "hands-on" training scenarios designed to introduce attendees to techniques for increasing their chances of surviving various assault scenarios, including express kidnappings, carjackings, ATM muggings, restaurant-invasion robberies and other criminal attacks. The training includes practical tips for employing appropriate verbal and body-language responses to mitigate the potential for violence.
Workplace Violence/Active Shooter Training:
This half-day seminar examines the phenomenon of violence in the workplace, stressing the importance of developing a comprehensive Workplace Violence Plan that focuses on both prevention and response tactics. The presenter describes a representative sample of case studies to examine typical perpetrator profiles and catalysts for violence. Also discussed are actions to be taken in response to an active shooter scenario, incorporating the tenets of "Run, Hide and Fight" set out by law enforcement. The final segment of the training focuses on appropriate after-action programs, such as psychological counseling for victims and other affected employees, potential litigation issues and tips for dealing with the media.
Training Protective Personnel:
We support our executive-protection strategizing with tailored, state-of-the-art training for protective personnel. The stress is on meticulous advance work, efficient personnel deployment and fluid crisis response.
Physical Security Audits:
Our operatives are prepared to conduct thorough physical security audits of corporate facilities, to include: office spaces, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, mining complexes, and executive residences. The audit assesses risks in and around the site and examines perimeter defenses, exterior lighting, parking facilities, building access controls and the competence of security guard services.
We are prepared to provide protective details, utilizing drivers and security escorts vetted and, in many cases, trained by our protection specialists. Transportation in soft (unarmored) or hard (armored) vehicles can be arranged as required.
If the client so chooses, visits may be "advanced" and supervised by protection specialists on our staff. The credentials of our language- and area-qualified specialists are impeccable, and they stand ready to coordinate security, communications, logistics and protocol requirements.
Development of Contingency Plans:
We are prepared to assist corporations in the formulation of crisis-management plans for kidnappings and other extortions, bomb-control guidelines and procedures for evacuating employees from unstable areas.
Threat Evaluations:
Our operatives travel at a moment's notice to evaluate threats levied by political or labor movements, or disgruntled or dismissed employees, calling upon psychiatric resources when necessary. They also arrange for the protection of the individual or asset at hazard.
Hostage Recoveries:
Our 24-hour availability assures immediate response to a kidnapping, and we are prepared to advise and assist the victim corporation through every aspect of the recovery process. Working under corporate decision-makers, we propose strategies, interface with law-enforcement authorities, handle negotiations, and protect and even deliver ransom funds - always with the objective of assuring the survival of the hostage.
Extortion:
We also are called upon to deal with monetary demands levied in connection with threats to harm an employee, damage a critical corporate resource, including a database or website, or contaminate a consumable product. Again, our reaction is immediate, our experience substantial and our paramount concern the protection of the client corporation's personnel and assets.
Emergency Evacuations:
We are ready to travel on short notice to assist in evacuating employees from areas that have turned hazardous. If necessary, we are prepared to employ unconventional extraction methodologies.
Other Crises:
Companies often find themselves unprepared to cope with those who would play hardball, especially in unfamiliar foreign climes. We help level the playing field.
Our extensive network of investigative resources, developed and refined in the course of 35 years, covers not only the United States but extends to the farthest reaches of the globe. And our excellent relations with law-enforcement agencies, both domestic and foreign, facilitate investigative steps and, if required, criminal prosecutions.
We approach all investigations in a prudent, deliberate manner. After analyzing clients' needs, we profer realistic strategies, ranging from the very basic to the exceptionally innovative. Often, a conservative approach is indicated, whereby we undertake an initial inquiry within a defined, reasonable budget. Its results and, when appropriate, suggested avenues of further exploration are presented to the client, who decides whether a fuller effort is warranted. Moreover, we add value to the information generated in the inquiry by collating it into a precise, perceptive, timely report.
Employment candidates, potential acquisitions and prospective joint-venture partners and franchisees
Review of criminal and civil history, credit history, financial data and history, education history, employment history, governmental and regulatory checks, social media, and reputation via interviews
Investigations conducted online and in-person; world-wide reach
Direct financial losses, such as embezzlement or health insurance fraud
Indirect financial losses, such as kickback/bribery schemes, conflict-of-interest situations or bid-rigging/collusion
Product diversion investigations and surveillance operations
CONVENTIONAL THEFT
Breaches of the production-distribution chain through inventory erosion, diversion, hijacking
Corporate penetration by criminal organizations
Placing experienced operatives inside client facilities to develop intelligence on thefts
Setting up reverse stings to expose criminally errant employees, vendors and distributors
Market-watch programs
Controlled "buys" to identify retailers, wholesalers, importers and, ultimately, manufacturers of bogus goods
COMPUTER FORENSICS AND CYBER INVESTIGATIONS
Data recovery from workstations, laptops and servers
Fraud and intellectual property theft; identity theft
Investigation and prevention of intrusions
Analyzing and documenting user access histories
In a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape, our comprehensive IT security audits have helped client corporations identify and remedy vulnerabilities in their computer networking systems and on their websites. Our experts have extensive experience in closing holes in computer networks, and limiting the opportunities for hackers to steal, corrupt or delete corporate information or hold it hostage in ransomware attacks.
Our audits include assessments of and recommendations for your organization's cybersecurity practices, including network infrastructure design, network perimeter protections, anti-malware and data leakage strategy, mobile device security, system security controls, backup and restoration processes, physical access controls, policies and procedures, and security management.
Having audited a wide range of computer systems, we have a great breadth of experience from which to assess the degree to which a computer network conforms to industry best standards and practices. We also have on staff expert programmers, experienced in analyzing website vulnerabilities, and remedying them so that the websites are not hacked.
When negative publicity is posted on the Internet about a person or corporation, we provide assistance in manipulating this information so that it is hidden or more difficult to locate. We also assist in tracing and identifying the individuals who have posted the information.
Our superb staff -- with invaluable experience in the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and military special-operations units -- possesses in-depth area knowledge and personal contacts in virtually every corner of the world. We work in more than 20 languages.
Mike Ackerman
H. Wesley Odom
Frank Pedrozo
John D. Wright
J.M. Guzman
Adam Stanley-Smith
Chuck Krueger
Widely acknowledged as one of America's leading authorities on terrorism, Mike Ackerman's forte is recovering kidnap victims. He has lectured at the National War College, the Harvard Business School and Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, has appeared before the crisis-management teams of numerous multinational corporations and has made more than 50 appearances as a commentator on terrorism and intelligence matters on FoxNews and other news networks. His book, Counterterrorism Strategies for Corporations: The Ackerman Principles, was published in 2008. Ackerman served in the CIA's Clandestine Services for 11 years before resigning in 1975 to protest the congressional investigation of the Agency then in progress and plead for the preservation of America's intelligence capability. In the CIA he had undertaken intelligence operations in 20 European, Latin American and African countries. Fluent in Spanish and conversant in Russian and Italian, Ackerman graduated from Dartmouth College magna cum laude and holds an M.A. from Columbia. He was a security officer in the US Air Force Strategic Air Command.
Wes Odom joined The Ackerman Group in 1990, following a 15-year career in the CIA's Clandestine Services. At the CIA, he had specialized in foreign intelligence operations and counterterrorism and garnered extensive experience in technical surveillance. He had tours in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and served as an instructor in the Agency's operational training program. A fluent Spanish speaker, he holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of West Florida and served with a US Navy Seabee battalion in Vietnam.
Senior Vice President, Operations
Frank Pedrozo served 29 years in the US Army, achieving the rank of colonel. A Special Forces officer, he commanded the US Military Liaison Office in Mexico, the Special Troops Battalion of V Corps, US Army-Europe, and served as a military advisor in El Salvador during that country's civil war. Pedrozo holds a B.S. from West Point, a Master's in Strategic Planning from the US Army War College and an M.A. in International Relations from Salve Regina University. His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Bronze Star with "V" Device. Pedrozo speaks native Spanish and is conversant in Portuguese and German.
Vice President, Operations
John D. Wright served as a Special Agent of the FBI from 1988 to 2012. His last post was Supervisory Senior Resident Agent with responsibility for southern Utah. He has participated in and overseen criminal investigations into white collar crime, money laundering and organized criminal enterprises. In addition, he was a member of the unit that responds to kidnappings of Americans overseas and worked numerous cases. He was awarded the FBI Medal for Meritorious Achievement. Prior to joining the FBI, John, who is fluent in Spanish and conversant in Portuguese, served four years as a police officer in a Salt Lake City suburb. He has a B.A. from the University of Utah.
Vice President, Analytical Services
Bill Reynolds joined The Ackerman Group in May 2001 and is Vice President, Forecast Services. A journalist by trade, he has years of experience in the former Communist bloc. He arrived in Czechoslovakia upon the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, filing stories for US newspapers as the country peacefully dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. During the same period, he made frequent reporting trips to the former Yugoslavia, then splitting apart. He moved to Ukraine in 1995, and from 1998 to 2001 edited the leading English-language newspaper in Baku, Azerbaijan. Fluent in Russian, he holds a BA in political science at Temple University.
Regional Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Adam Stanley-Smith served six years in the US Marine Corps, achieving the rank of captain. He participated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, leading a mechanized infantry platoon from Kuwait to Baghdad. Subsequently, he served in the Current Operations Section of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC), supporting the establishment of the command and team training and deployments. After leaving the Marine Corps, Stanley-Smith taught basic military skills and tactics to army units in Burundi and Djibouti. He holds a BA in International Studies from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), an MBA from the prestigious HEC School of Management in Paris and Master of Science in Economics from the NHH School of Economics in Bergen, Norway. He is fluent in French and proficient in German.
Regional Director, Asia
Chuck Krueger served 23 years in the US Army, beginning in the enlisted ranks and retiring as a lieutenant colonel. A Special Forces and Foreign Area Officer specializing in Asia, he served in the 1st and 7th Special Forces Groups, the 101st Air Assault Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. Following his retirement from the army, Krueger served as a project manager for security at the US Embassy, Bangkok, and as security manager for a firm servicing more than 40 airlines at Bangkok International Airport. He has a B.S. in Business Administration from Indiana University, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Kansas and an M.B.A. from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. Krueger is fluent in Thai and proficient in Mandarin.
Vice President, Investigations
J.M. Guzman served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force, attaining the rank of major. He was assigned to the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), the Air Force's investigative and counterintelligence wing, and led OSI operations in the southern sector of Iraq. He also served in OSI's Strategic Counterespionage Branch and led a fraud investigations unit. A distinguished graduate of Officer Training School, the Federal Criminal Investigator Training Program and the Air Force's Basic Investigator Training Program. A native Spanish speaker, he is a graduate of Yale University and has an MA in Classical History from American Military University.
The Ackerman Group has offices in Fort Lauderdale, Salt Lake City, Munich, Bangkok, and correspondents throughout the world. Our clients include some 65 of America's top 100 multinationals, along with numerous European and Japanese companies.
1815 Griffin Road - Suite 203 - Fort Lauderdale, FL 33004
e-mail: info@ackermangroup.com
Cellular: 305-298-2117
e-mail: wodom@ackermangroup.com
e-mail: astanley-smith@ackermangroup.com
Tel: +66-(0)81-171-6834
e-mail: ckrueger@ackermangroup.com
ACKERMAN GROUP
Risknet
Prot. Services
Exec. Protection
Crisis Mgmt
Hands-On Assault Response Training:
Our consultants are prepared to conduct thorough physical security audits of corporate facilities, to include: office spaces, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, mining complexes, and executive residences. The audit assesses risks in and around the site and examines perimeter defenses, exterior lighting, parking facilities, building access controls and the competence of security guard services.
Development of Contingency Plans
Threat Evaluations
Hostage Recoveries
Emergency Evacuations
Other Crises
For 40 years, multinationals have called on The Ackerman Group for counsel on a broad range of security and investigative issues. We have been retained by the Chubb Corporation for 39 years to respond to emergencies on behalf of holders of its Kidnap Ransom and Extortion insurance policy.
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In the previous post I presented various ways how to get data into Neo4j. Now that you have a lot of connected data and it's attributes, how to access, manipulate, add to them and delete them?
I'm working with and in the Spring ecosystem quite a while now and for me the straight answer is – without much surprises – just use the Spring Data Neo4j module if you work inside the Spring ecosystem. But to surprise of some, there's more than just Spring there outside.
Before we jump right into some of the options you as an application developer have to access data inside Neo4j, we have to get a clear idea of some of the building blocks and moving parts involved. Let's get started with those.
The most important building block for access Neo4j on the JVM is possibly the Neo4j Java Driver. The Java driver is open source and is available on Github under the Apache License. This driver uses the binary "Bolt" protocol.
You can think of that driver as analogue to a JDBC driver that available for a relational database. Neo4j also offers drivers for different languages based on the Bolt protocol.
With that code, one connects against the database and retrieves the names of all artists, I imported in my previous post. What I omitted here is the fact that the driver does connection pooling and one should not open and close it immediately. Instead, you would have to write some boiler plate code to handle this.
There are some important things to notice here: The code speaks of a driver. That is org.neo4j.driver.v1.Driver. The session is also from the same package: org.neo4j.driver.v1.Session. Those both are types from the driver itself. You have to know this things, because those terms will pop up later again. Neo4j-OGM, the object graph mapper, also speaks about drivers and session, but those are completely different things.
The Java driver has a nice type system (see The Cypher type system) and gets you quite far.
= " MATCH (a:Artist) "
+ " WHERE a.name contains $name "
+ " WITH a "
+ " OPTIONAL MATCH (a) - [:HAS_LINK_TO] -> (w:WikipediaArticle)"
While this works, it's quite an effort: For a simple thing (one root aggregate, the artist, with some attributes), a query that is not that simple anymore and a lot of manual mapping. The query makes good use of a standardized multiset (the collect-statement), to avoid having n+1 queries or deduplication of things on the client site, but all this mapping is kinda annoying for a simple READ operation.
Neo4j-OGM stands for Object-Graph-Mapper. It's on the same level of abstraction as JPA/Hibernate are for relational databases. There's extensive documentation: Neo4j-OGM – An Object Graph Mapping Library for Neo4j. An OGM maps nodes and relationships in the graph to objects and references in a domain model. Object instances are mapped to nodes while object references are mapped using relationships, or serialized to properties. JVM primitives are mapped to node or relationship properties.
Notice @NodeEntity on the classes, @Relationship on the attribute wikipediaArticles of the ArtistEntity-class and some technical details, mainly @Id @GeneratedValue, needed to map Neo4j's internal, technical ids to instances of the classes and vice-versa.
@NodeEntity and @Relationship are used not only to mark the classes and attributes as something to store in the graph, but also to specify labels to be used for the nodes and names for the relationship.
Quite a different, right? Dealing with the driver, the driver's session and Cypher has been abstracted away. Take note that the above session attribute is not a Driver's session, but OGM's session. This is a bit confusing when you start using those things.
Again, this code is part of my example how to interact with Neo4j from a Micronaut application. The complete source of the above is here and the whole application here.
The driver instance in the example above is instantiated by Micronaut. With Micronaut's configuration support, it would have been manually configured as in the very first example.
It'd be tricky to cover ALL NoSQL options and since they're mostly the same from a Spring Data perspective, I focused on a couple that I could also cover reactive with.
Spring Data Neo4j has some specialities, but on a superficial level, the above statement is correct.
Spring Data depends on the Spring Framework and given that, it's kinda hard to get it to work in environments other than Spring. If you're however using Spring Framework already, I wouldn't think twice to add Spring Data to the mix, regardless whether I have to deal with a relational database or Neo4j.
There is no need to add an implementation for that interface, this is done by Spring Data. Spring Data also wires up a Neo4j-OGM session that is aware of Spring transactions.
From an application developers point you don't have to deal with mapping, opening and closing sessions and transactions any longer, but only with one single "repository" as abstraction over a set of given entities.
Please be aware that the idea behind Spring Data and its repository concept is not having a repository for each entity there is, but only for the root aggregates. To quote Jens Schauder: "Repositories persist and load aggregates. An aggregate is a cluster of objects that form a unit, which should always be consistent. Also, it should always get persisted (and loaded) together. It has a single object, called the aggregate root, which is the only thing allowed to touch or reference the internals of the aggregate." (see Spring Data JDBC, References, and Aggregates).
In my "music" example, I deal with albums released in a given year. The release year is an integral part of the album and it would be weird having an additional repository for it.
and so on. I have seen some interesting finder methods here and there. While this is technically possible, I would recommend using the @Query annotation on the method name, write down the query myself and chose a method name that corresponds to the business.
In your application, you have to decide which level of abstraction you need. You can come along way with direct interaction with the driver, especially for all kind of queries that facilitates your database for more than simple CRUD operations. However, I don't think that you want to deal with all the cruft of CRUD yourself throughout your application.
All three abstractions can execute all kind of Cypher queries. If you want to deal with result sets and records yourself and don't mind mapping stuff as you go along, use the Java driver. It has the least overhead. Not mapping stuff to fixed objects has the advantage that you can freely traverse relationships in your queries and use the results as needed.
As soon as you want to map nodes with the same labels and their relationship to other nodes more often than not, you should consider Neo4j-OGM. It takes away the "boring" mapping code from you and helps you to concentrate on your domain. Also, Neo4j-OGM is not tied to Spring. I didn't write application outside the Spring ecosystem for quite a while now. For this post, I needed an example where I don't have Spring, so I came up with the Micronaut demo, that uses both plain Java-Driver access and OGM access. Depending on what you want to achieve, you can combine both approaches: Mapping the boring stuff with Neo4j-OGM, handling "special" results yourself.
If you're writing an application in the Spring-Eco-System and decided for OGM, please also add Spring Data Neo4j to the mix. While it doesn't put any further abstraction layer on the mapping itself and thus is not slowing things down, it takes away the burden dealing with the session and transaction from you.
I do firmly believe that Spring Data Neo4j is the most flexible solution.
To complete this post, I'll show you option 2 and 3. Given my AlbumEntity, TrackEntity and a AlbumRepository.
= " MATCH (album:Album) - [:CONTAINS] -> (track:Track)"
+ " MATCH p=(album) - [*1] - ()"
+ " WHERE id(track) = $trackId"
+ "   AND ALL(relationship IN relationships(p) WHERE type(relationship) <> 'CONTAINS')"
By declaring this additional method on the repository, I know have mapped a simple Cypher query that does complex thinks (Here match all albums that contain a specific track and all the relationships of that album and return that all apart from the other tracks) to my entity. I benefit from SDNs mapping and have all the queries in one place.
= " MATCH (album:Album) - [c:CONTAINS] -> (track:Track) WHERE id(album) = $albumId"
+ " RETURN id(track) AS id, track.name AS name, c.discNumber AS discNumber, c.trackNumber AS trackNumber"
+ " ORDER BY c.discNumber ASC, c.trackNumber ASC"
while this query is indeed much simpler as the first one, it's important to be able to do such things for designing an application that performs well. Think about it: Is it really necessary to have all the relations to all other possible nodes at hands all the time?
In the end, you might have guess it: There are no silver bullets. There are situations where an approach close to the database is more appropriate than another, sometimes a higher abstraction level is better. Whatever you chose, try not be to dogmatic.
All the examples are part of my bootiful music project, more specifically, the "knowledge" submodule. With the building blocks described here, you can develop an web application that is used for reading and writing data.
The example application uses a simple, server side rendered approach for the frontend, but Spring Data Neo4j plays well with Spring Data Rest and that makes many different approaches possible.
In the next installment of this series, we have a look at the concrete domain modeling with Spring Data Neo4j.
Thanks, Amad. I know GORM and I like it a lot.
Is the relational version still based on JPA?
« How to get data into Neo4j?
This entry (permalink) was posted on October 29, 2018 at 1:16 PM by Michael, tagged with Micronaut, Neo4j, Neo4j-OGM, Spring Boot, Spring Data Neo4j and categorized in English posts.


Some questions you might want to ask me if we could sit down and chat.
What influences shaped you as a writer?
Reading, playing games, and just living! Reading develops a subconscious understanding of the rhythm and pacing of story. Imaginative play also influences writing. And, of course, life experience. Situations from my childhood, from my children's childhoods, and people--friends and relatives, beloved and otherwise--appear in my books.
How do you get ideas for your novels?
When I read that, I said, "I love it!" Ideas that are developed into books, which takes lots of time, must come from the heart, and we must listen for our ideas. They often come when least expected, such as during a walk, while meditating, or in a dream.
I think it's because I enjoyed reading so much as a child. Books topped my Christmas wish list. Recently, a friend gave me an old Nancy Drew book (copyright 1930), a faded blue hardcover with a textured finish. Its old book odor and the feel of its rough finish brought back memories of unwrapping a new book and diving into Nancy's latest mystery.
How important is a regular writing schedule to you?
Very. Ideas are abundant but more important is the day to day commitment of sitting at the computer and developing the idea into a story. But I must admit – it's difficult to keep to a regular schedule!
How many drafts do you typically write?
Many. As I work, I constantly rewrite, my work evolving and changing as I get to know my characters. By the time I have a "first" draft I've revised it several times. Once I have that "first" draft, there are at least four or five more. It seems there's never a "final" draft, but the time comes to send the manuscript out. Then the editor wants changes!
What advice can you share with aspiring novelists?
Only write if you truly enjoy the process. Know that writing is mainly rewriting. And join the SCBWI!


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They'd asked when I made the appointment what time I was arriving. When I called, I didn't expect to get my bicycle back from the shop until 6:30PM. If I left directly from the bicycle shop, I wouldn't arrive much before midnight. They didn't seem to happy about that, but, it is what it is.
The lady who checked me was actually quite nice. It was obvious she'd been waiting on me. She had all the advance paperwork ready for me to sign. She just wanted to figuratively tuck me in bed so she could hang out with the Sandman herself.
I was a little surprised by the size of the room. Three beds. They weren't the most comfortable things in the world, but they did the job. Price of the room? $48.
When you're having to carry everything you need everywhere you go, you pare stuff down to the essentials.


A persistent myth in SEO revolves around the concept that keyword density—the number of words on a page divided by the number of instances of a given keyword—is used by the search engines for relevancy and ranking calculations.
Despite being disproved time and again, this myth has legs. Many SEO tools still feed on the concept that keyword density is an important metric. It's not. Ignore it and use keywords intelligently and with usability in mind. The value from an extra 10 instances of your keyword on the page is far less than earning one good editorial link from a source that doesn't think you're a search spammer.
To sum it up SEO is NOT a one time process.
Nothing has changed the fact that search engines use link authority and anchor text signals heavily in their search ranking algorithms. Or that white-hat link building is a completely legitimate and time-tested marketing practice.
A basic tenet of search engine guidelines is to show the same content to the engine's crawlers that you'd show to a human visitor. This means, among other things, not to hide text in the HTML code of your website that a normal visitor can't see.
When this guideline is broken, the engines call it "cloaking" and take action to prevent these pages from ranking in their results. Cloaking can be accomplished in any number of ways and for a variety of reasons, both positive and negative. In some cases, the engines may let practices that are technically cloaking pass because they contribute to a positive user experience.


Interviewer: What should people be looking for when retaining an attorney for a slip and fall? What are some red flags?
Richard Sailer: You should definitely find an attorney who has experience in that in slip and falls. There are a lot of attorneys that do personal injury cases— auto accidents primarily. However, when you're dealing with a premises liability case, make sure you get someone who has handled premises liability cases. You should retain someone who understands the law in that particular area, who understands the notice requirements, and understands what's necessary to establish a dangerous condition.
Interviewer: Is there any guarantee in the outcome of a premises liability case?
Richard Sailer: Guarantees are probably made but not by anybody who's honest, ethical, or has any integrity. Anything can happen until a case is thoroughly researched and investigated. Even at that point, we hear about crazy things that happen in front of a jury. I would say there isn't any guarantee in the outcome of a premises liability case.
Interviewer: Would I win a slip and fall case if the circumstances were the same as a friend that won their slip and fall case?
Richard Sailer: There are no two identical scenarios. However, if both cases were factually identical, then I imagine you would have a good chance at winning your case. The thing that's not taken into consideration would be the injuries. Since we're all different, what may have caused you an injury and may not have caused injury to your friend. Your friend may have required surgery and you would have healed without it. Therefore, I think it would be impossible to speculate like that.
Interviewer: Is my landlord going to be liable for the injury if they knew about my slip and fall?
Richard Sailer: Unless you could show some sort of defect occurring from outside, I think you'd have a very difficult case if the injury occurred inside your own unit. A case in which we have been successful on an indoor slip and fall is when an upstairs tenant has a plumbing issue which has caused a leak to come through the ceiling. I've had cases a couple of years ago where a person had gotten up in the middle of the night to go get a glass of water and slipped and fell in their kitchen. This situation happened because the upstairs tenant had a broken pipe which leaked water through the ceiling. Thus, we were able to pursue a case against the property owner for the negligence maintenance of the pipes up above. However, that's a rare circumstance. The cases that that are more viable involve stairways, parking lots, cracks in sidewalks, and things on the exterior of the property.


> >not want them demanding it in other (likely more annoying) ways.
> that they want features implemented at the same time proposals are sent in.
further down, this libpurple-as-a-library thing is still being worked out.
library on its own is still in process, consider these growing pains.
> >that out) I am somewhat at a loss as to what else you might do.
> However, it's his project, and he can implement it however he wants.
window. But then again people do like things shiny.


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Home Blog Authors Steve Lautermilch
Steve Lautermilch
by Shannon C. WardUpdated on July 27, 2021 July 17, 2021
A poet and photographer with an ongoing interest in the traditions and cultures of the Pacific rim, for many years Steve Lautermilch has worked in the deserts of the American southwest, exploring the sites and landscapes of the first peoples.
Short fiction has appeared in The Antigonish Review, The Crucifix Is Down, an anthology from Red Hen Press, and Thema. Poems have received major awards from The Comstock Review, Raleigh Review, and the New England Poetry Club. Figures for a Family Portrait (2018) won the Bright Hill Press Poetry Book Award. Rim (2010) won the Sow's Ear Poetry Press Chapbook Award.
Shows have been held at the Getchell Library Gallery of the University of Nevada, Reno, the Glenn Eure Gallery in Nags Head, and the Festival Park Gallery on Roanoke Island in Manteo, North Carolina. Selected images can be found at the Shutterbug website: https://www.shutterbug.com/galleries-user/106351.
Book by This Author
fire seed & rainpoetrySteve Lautermilch
Shannon C. Ward
Raised in a renovated slaughterhouse on the outskirts of Wilmington, Ohio, Shannon Ward is author of the poetry collection Blood Creek (Longleaf Press, 2013). She received an MFA in Poetry from North Carolina State University in 2009, and she is the recipient of the 2016 Foley Poetry Prize, the 2016 White Oak Kitchen Prize in Southern Poetry, and a 2013 Nazim Hikmet Poetry Prize. Her work has received generous support from Yaddo, Willapa Bay AIR, the Eastern Frontier Educational Foundation, the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Hypatia in the Woods, and Vermont Studio Center, and her poems have appeared in New Ohio Review, Great River Review, Tar River Poetry, and others.
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Updated on July 21, 2021 June 21, 2021
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IndiGo Announces New Chief Financial Officer
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (IndiGo) today announced the appointment of Jiten Chopra as Chief Financial Officer effective February 21, 2021. Jiten will report to Ronojoy Dutta, Whole Time Director and CEO. Jiten succeeds Aditya Pande who is leaving IndiGo to pursue other interests.
Ronojoy Dutta said, "We are fortunate and excited at Jiten accepting this position. His enormous expertise prior to IndiGo and his experiencesince February 2020 when he joined us, will greatly strengthen our team as we continue to build a world class national air transportation network." Rono also said, "We are sorry to lose Aditya who for the past seventeen months has contributed greatly to IndiGo. We thank Aditya Pande for his services and wish him all the best in his future endeavours."
"I am delighted about my new role at IndiGo at this very exciting stage of the airline's journey," said Jiten Chopra. "I am looking forward to taking over as the CFO of one of the leading low-cost airlines in the world."
Jiten joined IndiGo in February 2020 as Head of Governance, Risk and Compliance. Prior to joining IndiGo, Jiten had about 25 years of working experience at BSR & Co (KPMG) in Audit and Risk Management, Business Development, Operations and Transaction Services. Before leaving KMPG Jiten was their Senior Partner, COO Audit & Member of the Audit Executive team. His role as a Senior Partner included managing client relationship along with executing audit assignments to ensure high quality of delivery, identifying business opportunities and growing the account for KPMG. The role also had significant interaction with top level client executives including CXO, CFO and CEO's, meeting and presenting to the Board and Audit committee members.
Jitenis an FCA from The Institute of Chartered Accountants, India (1995) and a CWA from Institute of Cost Accountants, India (1995). Previously, Jiten earned his Bachelor of Management Science degree in 1990.
JetBlue Announces Leadership Appointments
Thomas Rückert Is the New CIO of the Lufthansa Group
IHG Hotels & Resorts Launches Hunt for Its Next Culinary Superstar
A new Chef de Cuisine will have their own named restaurant at InterContinental Singapor
Honorary first place in the nomination "Best Crisis Manager" according to the rating of the magazine "TOP-100. Ratings of the largest". The CEO of Ukraine International Airlines – Yevhen...
Robert Lowe Appointed GM of Mandarin Oriental, New York
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group has appointed Robert Lowe as General Manager of Mandarin Oriental, New York and Area Vice President, Operations, overseeing Mandarin Oriental, Boston, Mandarin Oriental, Washington DC and...


Thinking about dental implants? Dental implants are the gold standard in the replacement of teeth. Dr. John Chan, DDS of Geer Dental Care, which is located in Turlock, CA, offers a full range of dental services, including dental implants. Here are five extraordinary benefits of dental implants.
Missing teeth can ruin a beautiful smile. Dental implants can fill in your smile's gaps and improve your appearance. Dental implants are the next best thing to natural teeth. With dental implants, you will look and feel younger and more attractive.
Dental implants fit, feel, and act like natural teeth. Missing teeth can make it difficult for people to pronounce certain words. Dental implants can improve your clarity of speech. Tooth loss can also make it difficult for people to chew food. With dental implants, you will experience a dramatic improvement in chewing ability.
The most common cause of jawbone loss is a missing tooth left unreplaced. Dental implants help to prevent bone loss and stimulate bone growth. Dental implants distribute chewing forces throughout the bone and minimize the wearing away of the bone.
Although your teeth feel as if they are set in the jawbone, they are capable of drifting out of place. When people lose a tooth, the surrounding teeth begin to shift out of place. Dental implants can prevent your existing teeth from moving out of place.
Losing a tooth can be a traumatic experience for many people. Tooth loss can lead to low self-esteem which can affect the quality of a people's lives in many different ways. Dental implants can restore your smile and help you feel better about yourself.
Ready for a brand new smile? Don't wait another minute- call Geer Dental Care at (209) 667-2216 right now to schedule a consultation in Turlock, CA. Dental implants will make your dream of a gorgeous smile a reality.
Call our Turlock, CA office at (209) 667-2216 for more information!


Legal corporate tax Cyprus is a term used to suggest the level of legal and corporate tax that is employed in Cyprus at any given time. The offshore regime in Cyprus has changed as part of the island's accession to the EU, and as a result of agreements with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The 10% corporate tax gives Cyprus the lowest rate in the EU. This chimes in well with the legal corporate tax Cyprus.
Cyprus imposes corporation tax on 'companies': this term includes all companies incorporated or registered under any Cyprus law, and any foreign company which carries on business or has an office or place of business (permanent establishment) in Cyprus. Legal corporate tax on the island is well defined by solicitors in Cyprus. Tax benefits apply wherever Cyprus tax law is applicable.


One of the basic principles that our country is founded upon is that of being able to speak your mind without any repercussions. It is one of the several rights given to us by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. This right to free speech extends to all aspects of our lives including our speech in organizations. One of the basic rights of membership in an organization is the right to speak freely at meetings – that is during the discussion of a motion at a meeting. Others may not like what a member says about something but each has a right to speak and give his ideas.
Debate, or discussion, (the giving of information at meetings) is one of the most important rights members have. However, there are some rules concerning debate or discussion of ideas.
Discussion must be germane to the motion that is being discussed. Germane means relevant to the motion. For example, if a motion to is to paint the clubhouse a member's discussion must be related to this issue. It would not be germane, or in order, to start discussing sending a delegate to the state convention.
Since it is important that all members get to speak, Robert's Rules has limits to how long one can speak. He can speak twice to a motion and ten minutes each time. The second time is after everyone who wants to speak the first time has spoken.
If one wants to speak longer than the allotted time he can ask permission of the assembly or make a motion that allows it. This takes a two-thirds vote to adopt or by a method that is called unanimous consent.
A filibuster that is used in the US Senate is never allowed.


As a small business owner, managing money can sometimes seem easier said than done. But with limited financial resources, finding ways to cut costs is essential if you wish to stay in business.
The good news is that cutting costs doesn't mean that you have to settle for subpar results.
So what are some of the best ways for small business owners to save money? Here's a closer look at some of the most effective methods available today, and how they can help you keep your finances in the black.
Your first inclination might be to think that hiring a lawyer is a way to lose money, not save it, but having a legal professional on your side can go a long way in protecting your business. Even small family-owned businesses can benefit from professional legal counsel.
Without a qualified lawyer on your side, these issues could easily result in serious financial losses for your company. In extreme cases, such legal problems could force you out of business entirely. Having a complete range of corporate and commercial legal services delivered by a dynamic and experienced lawyer will give you much-needed peace of mind and financial protection as you try to grow your business.
Many small business owners simply don't have the financial resources to hire a large team of full-time staff members. This can make it seem nearly impossible to accomplish key goals and keep up with your competition.
Thankfully, outsourcing some of your tasks and responsibilities to freelance workers can help you move your company forward while still staying on budget. Advances in technology have made it easier than ever to find freelancers who can assist with a wide range of projects. Whether you need someone to build a company website, help you manage accounting, or even translate your content into another language, you can find a freelancer who is ready and qualified to help.
The chief advantage of working with freelancers is that you can hire them for individual projects or on an as-needed basis. Rather than paying salary and benefits, you can limit your personnel expenses by only paying when you need help with an individual project.
Chances are, your business is paying for a lot of things that it doesn't really need to. These small ongoing expenses might not seem like a lot, but finding areas where you can cut back can give you a lot more breathing room with your money.
Cleaning services are one example of how many small businesses overspend. Do you really need to pay for a cleaning service to come into your office every single day? Not every office needs daily cleaning, and slimming down to a weekly service is a simple way to cut costs.
Other companies get more creative by allowing employees to telecommute, and some even reduce the workweek to four days. While this option certainly isn't for everyone, these tactics have helped many small companies reduce their operating expenses by downsizing their office, allowing them to minimize utility bills and other common overhead costs.
A careful analysis of all areas of your business can help you identify ways to save on key operational areas as well, such as shipping and marketing. Identifying opportunities to switch to more cost-efficient services will help you gain a competitive edge.


After initially claiming he would not apologize, Kevin Hart announced that he's decided to step down from hosting the 2019 Oscars amid a controversy surrounding his homophobic tweets."I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past," the 39-year-old comedian tweeted on Thursday, December 6.
An hour before Hart announced he would no longer host the Academy Awards, he responded to the controversy via Instagram.
Celebrities including Billy Eichner, Busy Philipps and Jamie Lee Curtis have spoken out against Hart amid the controversy. The Academy Awards will air on ABC on Sunday, February 24.


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Authenticity and Partners
Sporting Heritage has a long held reputation for providing only the 'best in class' when satisfying its customers requirement for the very best quality in sporting memorabilia. Over the course of its lifetime, dating back to its humble beginnings in 1985, at the headquarters of horse racing, the 'sport of kings', the brand has been synonymous with some of the biggest names in sport and, as the landscape has changed in recent years and sports stars have taken on a more corporate identity, we have partnered with some of the most reputable agencies in the world.
We will deal only with our official partners and only those that can demonstrate clearly the complete authenticity of their merchandise. Many will hold official licenses with the like of UEFA and FIFA or with the official range of global superstars such as Lionel Messi, who now has his own official range and, likewise in the USA where our partners, Steiner Sports, arguably the largest global memorabilia operator, have the much sought after licenses for Major League Baseball (MLB),National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) among others.
There is little doubt our industry suffered for a little while, with the onset of online marketplaces some years back, from fake merchandise which confused consumers about the validity of their purchases and, for a while it was difficult to distinguish between genuine, authentic signed merchandise, with potential to increase in value and a complete, and worthless, fake. Happily, our partners deal only in genuine merchandise and provide in all cases, photographic and, in some cases, video evidence of their global superstars concluding their end of the bargain. Each item is, additionally, accompanied by a genuine certificate of authenticity, providing our customers with complete peace of mind.
Our prices may not be at rock bottom level but reflect, instead, both the quality of the piece you are purchasing, the status of the subject and the care and attention with which it is both created, packaged and delivered. Generally, if you come across a similar item at a significantly lower price, you have only to remember that if something looks too good to be true, it generally is. We are all too aware of people who eventually find out their treasured possession is a worthless fake and we make it our business to ensure that all items listed upon Sporting heritage are exactly what they say they are and are 100% the genuine article.
You can therefore rest assured that each of our partners guarantee that every item has been both handled and genuinely, 100% hand signed by the stars in question.
In the case of fine art work, we are members of The British Sporting Art Trust and, as a result deal only with those artists whose reputation is untarnished, whose work is greatly sought after and whose originals hang in the most prestigious of residences. Limited edition prints are printed to the highest possible quality and are subject to the closest scrutiny prior to despatch. Similar to our memorabilia range, each print is signed personally by the artist in question only when he/she is content that the highest standards of craftsmanship have been met. Where these works of art are countersigned by the personalities depicted, authentic proof is, naturally, provided.
Over and above all of this you have the Sporting Heritage guarantee of customer satisfaction. Our customers are highly valued and are very important to us and we make it our duty to ensure your requirements are met, in full!
We look forward to serving you….


" Hyundai faces many challenges in the near future. We have to strengthen our creative design ability, improve in optimizing designs to different regions, and establish a distinctive design identity. To reinforce our creative design ability, we are setting up an advanced design process, which will give our designers greater creative independence to realize 2D sketches and 3D clay models that achieve greater differentiation. We'll also adopt a new method that will provide a new framework for working through the basic concept and engineering stages. " We'll expand the role of our overseas design centres and nurture local design talent. We will also own design logic and tools for promoting improved communications with both the media and the public. " Fluidic sculpture is the key phrase that reflects Hyundai's current design philosophy. This implies a sculptural form that is both flexible and smooth, a flowing tension with a sleek profile and dynamic emotion. " From a design perspective, we're researching the creation of a new segment that will reflect the needs of diverse consumers. For the next five years, our main focus will be on smaller luxury cars and smaller SUVs." Suk Geun Oh, executive vice president and head of design, Hyundai " From a design perspective we're researching a new segment that reflects the needs of diverse customers"


40 x 40 x 1.5 inches original oil painting of an English woodland path. This is a semi abstract, expressionist painting which gives an enticing view of a hazy woodland path in autumn. It was inspired because I love to walk paths such as these and am forever trying to find something magical around the the next bend or over the next hill. I suspect most people are? Edges are white, no frame needed.


This is the very first object and example of faith in the Bible's great "faith chapter," Hebrews 11. This fact strongly argues that any truly meaningful and effective faith must be founded, first of all, on the revealed fact of special creation—creation ex nihilo—not creation through some protracted, naturalistic, imaginary process of evolution. All of the "worlds" (Greek aion—that is, the "space/ times"—the continuum of space and time which constitutes the physical cosmos) were simply called into existence by God's omnipotent word. "He spake, and it was done" (Psalm 33:9). In no way did He have to start with some chaotic form of matter already in existence. Jesus Christ—the Word of God (John 1:14)—created space and time as well as matter/energy. "By him were all things created" (Colossians 1:16). "Without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3).
Right at the end of the previous chapter, the apostle asserts that "the just shall live by faith" (Hebrews 10:38) and concludes by speaking of those "that believe [literally 'have faith'] to the saving of the soul" (v. 39). Following immediately then is his definition of faith, and after that the great progression of objects and examples of faith in Hebrews 11. Heading the list of these, of course, is faith in the special creation of all things by the Word of God. The necessary conclusion is that a "living" faith and "saving" faith must be founded, first of all, on the fact of supernatural creation of all things by God in the beginning.


Villa Taverna is located in northern Sardinia, a 20-minute drive south of Olbia. Just a few steps from the terrace over the lagoon and you are on a headland by the sea: white sand under your feet, crystal-clear water, and a view of the dominating island Tavolara in the distance. Pure relaxation!
In this villa, you are spoiled for choice: who lives in apartment 1 and who in apartment 2? For the Villa Porto Taverna has two separate residential units on the ground floor, which can only be rented together. Each of these consists of a living room with a large dining table, a panoramic terrace, a kitchen (dishwasher only in apartment 1), a shower room with a washing machine, and two bedrooms (one with two single beds). But probably your favourite spot will be on one of the two terraces overlooking the sea. A brick outdoor grill, TV-Sat and air conditioning are of course also available. Villa Porto Taverna was completely renovated in 2018.
A few meters from the villa, you will find a waterfront bar and a restaurant overlooking Tavolara Island for lunch or dinner al fresco. More restaurants and supermarkets can be found in the fishing village of Porto S. Paolo, just 4 km away, as well as in S. Teodoro, 10 km to the south.
Only a few kilometres away, you will find the beaches of Capo Coda Cavallo, Cala Brandinchi, Lu Impostu, and the famous Cintastrand of S. Teodoro. To the north are the Costa Corallina beaches of Porto Istana, Capo Ceraso, Li Cuncheddi, and Le Saline. A wide range of leisure activities can be found on the beaches (dinghy and surf hire), but also stud farms. Bicycle or scooter hire completes the possibilities. The nearest golf course (18 holes) is about 10 km south in Puntaldia. The airport and port of Olbia are less than half an hour away by car.
Just like paradise—a villa right on the beachVilla Taverna is located in northern Sardinia, a 20-minute drive south of Olbia. Just a few steps from the terrace over the lagoon and you are on a headland by the sea: white sand under your feet, crystal-clear water, and a view of the dominating island Tavolara in the distance. Pure relaxation!Terrace overlooking the Isola TavolaraIn this villa, you are spoiled for choice: who lives in apartment 1 and who in apartment 2? For the Villa Porto Taverna has two separate residential units on the ground floor, which can only be rented together. Each of these consists of a living room with a large dining table, a panoramic terrace, a kitchen (dishwasher only in apartment 1), a shower room with a washing machine, and two bedrooms (one with two single beds). But probably your favourite spot will be on one of the two terraces overlooking the sea. A brick outdoor grill, TV-Sat and air conditioning are of course also available. Villa Porto Taverna was completely renovated in 2018.In the immediate vicinityA few meters from the villa, you will find a waterfront bar and a restaurant overlooking Tavolara Island for lunch or dinner al fresco. More restaurants and supermarkets can be found in the fishing village of Porto S. Paolo, just 4 km away, as well as in S. Teodoro, 10 km to the south.Only a few kilometres away, you will find the beaches of Capo Coda Cavallo, Cala Brandinchi, Lu Impostu, and the famous Cintastrand of S. Teodoro. To the north are the Costa Corallina beaches of Porto Istana, Capo Ceraso, Li Cuncheddi, and Le Saline. A wide range of leisure activities can be found on the beaches (dinghy and surf hire), but also stud farms. Bicycle or scooter hire completes the possibilities. The nearest golf course (18 holes) is about 10 km south in Puntaldia. The airport and port of Olbia are less than half an hour away by car.


Morning Joe interviews White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Screen cap).
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders went on Morning Joe Wednesday morning to try to tamp down the furor over James Comey's firing — but she was quickly shut down after she made a false statement about co-host Joe Scarborough.
Specifically, Sanders tried to claim Scarborough had once said that there was no evidence tying Trump's campaign to the Russian government — but Scarborough quickly interjected to point out he'd never said anything of the sort.
Sanders tried to bat down calls for an independent investigator by claiming that there have already been multiple investigations into the Trump campaign's Russia ties that turned up nothing — despite the fact that none of the investigations so far have even concluded and are all still ongoing.
"Joe, we've had almost an entire year that they have spent, the house committees, the senate committees, the FBI, everyone has looked into this and everybody comes to the same conclusion," said Sanders.
"You're not actually telling the truth right now," co-host Mika Brzezinski told her.


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DeSantis Pursues New School Voucher Program
By The News Service of Florida on February 17, 2019 5 Comments
By Ana Ceballos, The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he wants to create a new "equal opportunity" voucher program to eliminate a waiting list of about 14,000 low-income students seeking to use state-backed scholarships to attend private schools.
The governor is asking lawmakers to create a "supplement" to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the state's largest voucher-type program, which serves nearly 100,000 students but has about 14,000 others stuck on a waiting list.
"Let's build on the success … and bring this to another level," DeSantis said at an appearance in Orlando as he outlined the proposed Equal Opportunity Scholarship program.
In control of the governor's mansion and the Legislature for the past two decades, Republicans have consistently sought to expand taxpayer-funded school choice programs. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, who is a national school-choice leader, was quick Friday to praise DeSantis' decision to "empower students."
"I applaud the governor's leadership and look forward to the future where every hard-working family has the ability to choose a school that works best for their children," Bush said in a statement.
But critics of having another voucher program in Florida slammed the governor's decision.
"Let us be clear. Vouchers do not create choice for parents, but rather choice for private schools — they can reject students based on economic status, academic achievement, disabilities, English proficiency, immigration status, sexual orientation or even gender," said Fedrick C. Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.
Since being sworn into office last month, DeSantis has taken steps that have drawn praise from Democrats, such as proposing a boost in environmental spending and seeking to lift a ban on smoking medical marijuana.
The voucher program announcement means the "honeymoon is over," said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo.
"It's clear that Ron DeSantis intends to govern just as the Republican Party of Florida has governed for decades, by selling out Florida families and children to corporate special interests," Rizzo said in a statement.
DeSantis told reporters on Friday he was aware of voucher backlash, but he praised the educations provided to low-income and minority students through the programs.
"Some people think we should not have the program, but my thing is, look at the results," DeSantis said. He pointed to statistics that 70 percent of the students served by the Tax Credit Scholarship Program are Hispanic or black.
DeSantis' proposal will need approval from the Republican-dominated Legislature during the session that starts March 5.
"We'll be able to wake up in May and say, 'Wow, we're taking big, bold action here in Florida on behalf of our school kids,' " he said.
The new program in its first year would make scholarships available to about 14,000 students — roughly the same number on the Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list — and then increase by 1 percent of statewide public-school enrollment each year after that, according to information from DeSantis' office.
Money for the program would come out of the state's main public-education funding program. That could spur a legal challenge, as a Bush-backed voucher program was struck down as unconstitutional in 2006 by the Florida Supreme Court.
The Tax Credit Scholarship Program is structured differently, with state tax dollars not going directly to the program. Instead, companies can receive tax credits for contributing money to non-profit organizations that, in turn, fund the scholarships.
DeSantis said he wants the new program to provide vouchers that would be similar in amount to the Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
"But it will provide more resources for families to pick the type of education that makes sense for their children," he said.
In making the announcement at Calvary City Academy in Orlando, DeSantis was joined onstage by parents who support the scholarship programs.
Shereka Wright, a single mother of two boys, said her children were bullied and not doing well in school before going to a private school.
"I chose private school because Simon and Jayden were struggling so much in their public school last year. They were getting Ds and Fs," Wright said.
Living paycheck to paycheck, Wright said she applied for a tax credit scholarship but was put on the waiting list. She is making tuition payments to have her kids attend a religious private school but said, "I don't have the money to keep up with the tuition and the school's patience can't last forever."
"There isn't enough funding for all the families in Florida who need these scholarships," Wright said.
DeSantis Pursues New School Voucher Program added by The News Service of Florida on February 17, 2019
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5 Responses to "DeSantis Pursues New School Voucher Program"
So many new failing schools thanks to the lack of leadership from Mr Hanna and his cohorts. But since the citizens not only voted for this unethical egoist and continue to support him through their silence, thank goodness for Mr DeSantis providing opportunities for the next students our schools are failing.
Grammy says:
You are right, Mark. Hanna is just another sad example of our local corrupt/dishonest thug leadership. Time to stop shortchanging our kids.
When schools districts like Leon County have 5 D rated schools, an F school and a number of schools drop a letter grade a need for change is a must. Rocky Hanna is a failure, he lied to the school board with his claims in his notebook that he himself acknowledged the information he ncluded was fabricated and he wrote the purposely misleading summaries. Leon Schools under the lack of leadership from Rocky Hanna is a complete failure. The school board is silent as Hanna enacted a hit list, gave jobs as political payback to his appointed Assistant Superintendents each making $100,000 each with none of the jobs open to any other applicant while our teachers have to apply for jobs band are 48th lowest paid in the state. The next step we hope is a grand jury investigation into Rocky Hanna.
Todd Gulledge says:
Please shut up….
We can embark on a path of silence where a person in a leadership position in Leon County Schools is allowed and by our silence encouraged to continue to apply political vendettas, instructional ineptitude, and the creation of notebooks filled with lies costing the citizens of Leon County over $600,000 when Mr. Hanna knew of no wrongdoing or we can shine a light on the issues that our school board refuses to address. While Assistant Superintendents are paid over $100,000 each, our teachers rank 48th in salary in the state. Shutting up or silence is not an option.


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Kylie Jenner (Yes That Kylie Jenner) Just Made Her Rap Debut
By Stacey Leasca
Remember that time Kim Kardashian released a truly horrific single?
Here, let us refresh your memory:
Think that sounds bad? Just wait until you hear the new song her little sister Kylie Jenner is featured on.
The youngest Kardashian/Jenner sister surprised the music world on Wednesday by dropping a new track with Atlanta Rapper Lil Yachty and producer Burberry Perry.
The song, titled "Beautiful Day," is a twist on the classic "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'" theme song, so you know, not only is Kylie messing with music, she's also messing with our childhoods.
Kylie performs on the track, which is included on Perry's new self-titled EP, alongside Justine Skye and Jordyn Woods. On it, Kylie simply talk/sings:
Jordyn, come on, I've never been on a song before! This is a f*cking—
But then she does a synth-y:
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Sure, her part is small, but it's enough to get the whole world talking.
Listen to the song for yourself and hear Kylie's first (and hopefully last) musical performance below.


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Beyond The Gates
Rancharrity
What does the National MS Society, The First Tee, Boys and Girls Club, Galena High School and DePoali Middle School have in common? They are all part of our efforts to make a difference in the community. Rancharrah was proud to sponsor the National MS Society Dinner of Champions honoring Lee Dillard, VP & General Manager of Harrah's Reno. He received the MS Hope Award, the highest honor bestowed on individuals by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Rancharrah was also pleased to support The First Tee Golf Tournament Charity event held at Toiyabe Golf Club. The First Tee is an international youth development organization introducing the game of golf and its inherent values to kids and teens. Through after-school and in-school programs, they help shape the lives of young people from all walks of life by reinforcing values like integrity, respect, and perseverance through the game of golf.
Rancharrah continues to support the Boys and Girls Club of Truckee Meadows, including the development of a video that highlights their annual successes in 2018. Rancharrah was also responsible for donating much needed school supplies to DePoali Middle School and supporting the cheer squad at Galena High School by purchasing the squad's uniforms.


Welcome to Paw-Behaviour. We are a friendly, reliable, qualified dog training and dog walking business based in Gloucestershire.
Services include: Canine behaviour problems, pet sitting, house sitting, dog walking, pet visits, pet taxi & horse care. We understand the importance of looking after your pets as if they were our own and that some pets need to be in their own environment due to old age, ill health or just get too stressed when placed in a kennel or cattery. So rest assured you can go on your holidays or out for the day safe in the knowledge that your beloved friends are well catered for, because we have over 20 years experience in looking after a variety of animals from horses to hamsters! Our prices are very competitive, we are fully insured and police checked. We cover most areas around Gloucestershire. If you are looking for dog walking in Gloucester please feel free to contact us. Our dog walking services provide good value for money and also help improve your dogs socialisation skills. Please click onto one of the links to find out more details about the services we provide, or call or text on 07730 612 452 and we will call you back asap. We look forward to hearing from you.