text:
Adapting risk strategies to cope with COVID-19
Mike Meehan, Milliman
Milliman's Meehan predicts bumper year for captive launches
When the captive fits: the healthcare and employee benefits marketplace
Investing in the future talent of the captive insurance market
Silent cyber threatening insurers and policyholders alike: Airmic
Risk managers entered 2020 with certain expectations about the challenges and opportunities the year would present. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to throw their plans out of the window, and rethink how to manage their exposures in a world that suddenly looks very different, says Milliman's Mike Meehan.
As insurance companies and insurance purchasers were preparing to do business for 2020, it was widely expected that there would be material rate increases, particularly for liability lines of coverage. Buyers and sellers alike could simply look back to the past few years to get an indication of market trends. Rates for property coverage have been increasing for at least the past couple of years, primarily due to the number of, and costs related to, natural catastrophes.
For liability lines, the severity of claims has continued to rise, so it seemed inevitable that the cost of the related coverages would also increase. These conditions would suggest that 2020 would be a strong year for captive formations and the growth of existing captives, as organisations look to a captive insurance solution as a way to potentially manage and/or smooth their cost of risk.
Four months into 2020, the world looks very different. Captive formations are still moving ahead, but at a seemingly slower pace. Out of necessity, would-be captive owners are spending their time navigating risk, rather than seeking out risk financing alternatives. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted virtually every individual and business in some significant way. Neither the traditional market nor the alternative risk financing markets have been immune to the impact.
"The timing of the pandemic and the timing of when the captive began operations can both play a role in a captive's success."
As organisations struggle with their own business interruption, many will be turning to their commercial insurance policies for assistance, expecting—or perhaps hoping—that the policy they purchased will provide the coverage they so desperately need. In some cases, the coverage will be there, and will provide at least some level of assistance. For many others, it won't be, likely because the policy contained an exclusion specific to losses sustained as a result of a pandemic. The debate about ambiguous policy language will be conducted in the court of public opinion and the traditional court systems through costly litigation in coming years. But is there another option?
Insurers could decide to pay the claims, even if it appears they have a defensible position in declining coverage. Unfortunately, it may not be that simple. Before an insurance company can decide if it will pay pandemic-related claims in situations where there is likely to be no coverage, it must also consider the position their reinsurer(s) will take. The reinsurance agreements probably follow the same policy form, meaning the reinsurance agreements are likely to have the same exclusions. Will the reinsurer be as willing to reimburse the primary insurer for paid losses that did not have to be paid under the terms of the policy?
Let's consider an extreme example involving a full limits claim. An insurer could wind up with a larger financial payout than it ever intended to make. First, it may not have the reinsurance protection it originally sought to limit its exposure and, since it has already paid a premium to the reinsurer, it has less funds available related to the exposure from which to pay the claim. Another option could see the insurer working with its insured and paying some percentage of a claim, perhaps even up to the attachment point of the reinsurer. In other words, it is an extremely complicated issue.
Implications for captives
There is a little more clarity in the captives market. While 2020 may still see its fair share of captive formations, we should consider the potential impact of COVID-19 on captives formed prior to 2020, many of which are already seeing COVID-19 related claims, for which they may not be prepared.
It is sometimes said that captives—excluding micro captives—are better off retaining predictable risk and transferring unpredictable risk. Pandemic constitutes an unpredictable risk. Perhaps a good way to think about the current pandemic, as widespread as it is, is as a 1-in-a-100-year storm. These events are by definition low frequency, and typically high severity. Such risks are not necessarily an ideal coverage for a captive to insure. The premiums for such low frequency events are likely to be relatively small, and a captive that is writing such coverage would be wise to consider purchasing reinsurance to limit its exposure.
It seems logical that companies with an already established captive would be in a better position to find some insurance coverage. That may or may not be the case. One of the most highly touted benefits of owning and operating a captive is the ability to craft policy language that best suits the needs of the insured: to fill in the holes in coverage the traditional market either doesn't want, or will take but only at seemingly prohibitive cost. With policy language written broadly enough, a captive could certainly respond in a pandemic situation, providing some coverage, up to policy limits, where needed.
However, just like the traditional insurer, the captive may have to contend with a reinsurer that does not share its view of a covered loss. The captive could choose to pay up to policy limits on a claim, but if its reinsurer denies coverage, the balance sheet of the captive could be impacted. For a less mature captive, a sizeable claim will have a much more significant impact on its financials. Regardless, it becomes clear that proper up-front planning can help eliminate some of the uncertainty. It is vitally important that coverage issues between a captive and its reinsurer are thoroughly considered, understood, and agreed upon, prior to policy issuance—not after a loss occurs.
There may be some additional benefits of having an existing captive in place during this pandemic. For example, captives could see underwriting gains in other lines of coverage as a direct result of the pandemic. Claims in auto liability could be lower due to a combination of fewer miles driven, or fewer other vehicles on the road. Captives would benefit from the reduced claims without having to return premiums.
Also, in situations where a captive has been operating for a number of years and has been able to build up a significant amount of surplus, it is possible that the captive could be available to provide a loan to the parent company. Another source of capital could be extremely helpful during a period when company operations have been significantly impacted. Certainly any discussion regarding a loan to the parent should involve the captive regulator. The primary concern of a regulator is ensuring the captive remains financially viable to pay claims. Regulators are undoubtedly going to take a hard look at any captive and the parent before they allow a loan back to the parent company.
The impact on micro captives
Let's shift gears and consider the impact a pandemic might have on a micro captive, or enterprise risk captive. Many enterprise risk captives insure a variety of esoteric coverages in addition to, or instead of, some of the more traditional insurance coverages, such as general liability, auto liability and workers' compensation.
Captives often write from several to many coverages, which could include business interruption, loss of key customer, supply chain, political risk, and others that respond to an unexpected loss of profits. The premium for each of these coverages is typically small, particularly as compared with the policy limits, and may include some type of risk margin, recognising that there is significant uncertainty in trying to derive rates for these coverages. Collectively, the premiums must be no greater than $2.3 million for a single captive to qualify for favourable tax treatment.
Many enterprise risk captives also participate in risk pools with other enterprise risk captives, where a portion of the risk is shared by up to several hundred enterprise risk captives. A typical structure for a risk pool might be a 50 percent quota share agreement between the captive and the risk pool on a first dollar basis. In this example, a participating captive will retain 50 percent of its risk, with the remaining 50 percent being shared among the other pool members.
Any losses a captive assumes back from the pool consist of losses from a broad array of pool members. The losses received from the pool are typically determined using a quota share allocation percentage, usually based on premium. This allows the captive to meet some generally accepted threshold with regard to risk distribution, thus granting it a certain tax treatment. Conceptually, the structure provides for risk distribution and works well within the overall concept of insurance, whereby the many pay for the losses of the few or the one.
The underlying premise here is that the exposures are all independent, and the likelihood of multiple participating members having a full limits claim in the same year is almost zero. However, given the impact of a pandemic across such a high percentage of businesses, these risk pools could see an unexpected amount of claim activity. In an extreme example, if each member of the risk pool has the same premium and policy limit, and each submits a full limits claim, each participating member will be responsible for an amount equal to a full limits claim based on the quota share agreement. The question now becomes, how will the risk pool and the participating captives respond?
For a risk pool that has been in operation for a number of years, it is possible that claim activity has been consistently low due to the nature of the coverages, resulting in significant underwriting gains over that time. The underwriting profits from those prior years, if retained as surplus, could be used to address the volume of full limit pandemic-related claims. However, for a newly formed risk pool, or a newly formed captive entering a mature risk pool, this could prove to be catastrophic. At best, the risk pool and the participating captives are in a much weaker financial position; at worst, some or all of the participating captives could be insolvent.
Thinking about two notional identical risk pools, one mature and one new, both risk pools were set up similarly but one is better positioned to respond, simply because it started writing business a few years before the other. They say timing is everything, and that is certainly the case in these examples. The timing of the pandemic and the timing of when the captive began operations can both play a role in a captive's success.
As companies look to form captives in 2020 and beyond, and their risk managers consider what coverages to insure in their captive and how much risk to retain, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the need to take the analysis a bit further. Organisations need to also think about "what could happen?" and "how will my captive respond in those circumstances?". When doing so, it can be helpful to look at the successes and failures of those who went before.
It seems reasonable to think that once the dust settles, the COVID-19 pandemic will serve as a learning experience for all of us. It will be important that we take advantage of this knowledge and from it, create opportunity. You can't plan for every possible scenario. Things happen and sometimes companies fall victim to bad timing and bad luck, but it helps to be as prepared as possible.
The 1-in-a-100-year event occurs approximately every 100 years. The question then becomes, is next year THE year?
Mike Meehan is a consultant at Milliman. He can be contacted at: mike.meehan@milliman.com and captives@milliman.com
Mike Meehan, Milliman, COVID-19
Milliman, Inc.


text:
Q: Azure Automation Runbook unable to parse the webhookdata as a JSON object I am badly struck by this problem. I request you to answer or give a hint. I am running out of options.
I am calling an azure runbook upon high CPU utilization via a WebHook. My problem is inside runbook data is not getting decoded properly. For example, the below line is not printing anything.
 Write-Output $WebHookData.RequestHeader

Wheras IF i try to explictly convert the data to JSON, like this
*$WebhookData = ConvertFrom-Json $WebhookData*

then it is a throwing error.

ConvertFrom-Json : Invalid JSON primitive: . At line:6 char:31 +
  $WebhookData = $WebhookData | ConvertFrom-Json

By the way, I am trying to use the runbook available on Azure gallery {Vertically scale up an Azure Resource Manager VM with Azure Automation}
My Webhook is called from alert created on VM.
A very strange observation:
Working WebHood Example (found in an example) {"WebhookName":"test1","RequestBody":" [\r\n {\r\n \"Message\": \"Test Message\"\r\n }\r\n****]****"
Not Working(the data sent upon calling runbook from VM):
{"WebhookName":"test2","RequestBody":" {\"schemaId\":\"AzureMonitorMetricAlert\"}}
Thanks

A: I was getting the same error. From my testing, it appears that when performing a "Test" of the runbook, the Webhook data is received as plain text, but when invoked remotely it comes through already formatted as JSON. Here was my solution to cover both scenarios and so far has been working well...
Param (
    [object] $WebhookData
)
# Structure Webhook Input Data
If ($WebhookData.WebhookName) {
    $WebhookName     =     $WebhookData.WebhookName
    $WebhookHeaders  =     $WebhookData.RequestHeader
    $WebhookBody     =     $WebhookData.RequestBody
} ElseIf ($WebhookData) {
    $WebhookJSON = ConvertFrom-Json -InputObject $WebhookData
    $WebhookName     =     $WebhookJSON.WebhookName
    $WebhookHeaders  =     $WebhookJSON.RequestHeader
    $WebhookBody     =     $WebhookJSON.RequestBody
} Else {
   Write-Error -Message 'Runbook was not started from Webhook' -ErrorAction stop
}

A: I tried with a webhook, the script Write-Output $WebHookData.RequestHeader should work fine.
And if I use ConvertFrom-Json $WebhookData, I can reproduce your issue, not sure why it occurred, according to the doc, the $WebhookData is also in a JSON format, if it is accepted, you could use  ConvertFrom-Json -InputObject $WebhookData.RequestBody, it will work fine.
My runbook:
param
(
    [Parameter (Mandatory = $false)]
    [object] $WebhookData
)

if ($WebhookData) {

    Write-Output $WebhookData.RequestHeader

    $Body = ConvertFrom-Json -InputObject $WebhookData.RequestBody
    Write-Output $Body

} else
    {
        Write-Output "Missing information";
        exit;
    }

The powershell script I used to send a webhook:
$uri = "https://s5events.azure-automation.net/webhooks?token=xxxxxxxxxxxx"

$vms  = @(
            @{ Name="vm01";ResourceGroup="vm01"},
            @{ Name="vm02";ResourceGroup="vm02"}
        )
$body = ConvertTo-Json -InputObject $vms
$header = @{ message="StartedbyContoso"}
$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Method Post -Uri $uri -Body $body -Headers $header
$jobid = (ConvertFrom-Json ($response.Content)).jobids[0]

Output:

A: I had the same problem use following to get webhookdata if using test pane with Alert json as input
if(-Not $WebhookData.RequestBody){

    $WebhookData = (ConvertFrom-Json -InputObject $WebhookData)
}
$RequestBody = ConvertFrom-JSON -InputObject $WebhookData.RequestBody

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This 2-hour class is now only available as a free download.
Vajrayana teaches that our subtle body is encoded with mantric syllables that embody the form, sound, and meaning of enlightenment.
Practicing mantra creates new paths of relationship and extends the field of experience. It refines our gross energy and eases us into the awareness of our true nature while also benefiting all beings.


text:
A mob of white Vigo County, Indiana residents lynched George Ward, a black man, on February 26, 1901 in Terre Haute, Indiana, for the suspected murder of a white woman. An example of a spectacle lynching, the event was public in nature and drew a crowd of over 1,000 white participants. Ward was dragged from a jail cell in broad daylight, struck in the back of the head with a sledgehammer, hanged from a bridge, and burned. His toes and the hobnails from his boots were collected as souvenirs. A grand jury was convened but no one was ever charged with the murder of Ward. It is the only known lynching in Vigo County. The lynching was memorialized 120 years later with a historical marker and ceremony.

Life
George Ward was born in Kentucky, raised by his grandmother in Circleville, Ohio, and moved to Terre Haute, Indiana around 1896. Ward worked at the Filbeck Hotel as a porter, as a coal miner in nearby Seeleyville, and at the Terre Haute Car and Manufacturing Company. According to newspaper reports at the time of his death, Ward was considered by co-workers to be a good worker. He had a previous conviction for burglary and was jailed for 30 days in 1899.

He married Ruth Roberts in 1897 or 1898 and had two children under the age of three in 1901. His wife was from Lost Creek Township in Vigo County, Indiana, which was a Freedmen's town. They lived at 1610 Spruce Street.

Lynching
George Ward was lynched on February 26, 1901. He had been arrested earlier that morning by Terre Haute police officers and taken to the county jail. Early in the afternoon that same day, a crowd of white people formed at the jail. The jailers feared that violence would break out and made arrangements for Ward to be transferred to Indianapolis. Before the transfer could be made, the mob used a 25-foot long piece of timber tipped with steel to break into the jail through a side door and pulled Ward from his cell. The jailer and three deputies resisted the crowd, were fired upon and the deputies were injured in the melee.

Outside the jail, the mob beat Ward violently and he was struck in the back of the head with a sledgehammer which was most likely what killed him. The white mob dragged Ward's body to a nearby drawbridge on the Wabash River, where they hanged him. The Fort Wayne Sentinel described that "the east bank of the river, the bridges up and down the stream, and hundreds of housetops were black with spectators from whom not a word of pity escaped." Later, the mob removed Ward from the bridge and burned his body on the banks of the river.  Varying reports estimate that a crowd of at least a thousand people participated, including women and children. Chicago newspapers reported that after the white mob burned Ward's body, some participants cut off his toes and collected the unburned hobnails from his boots as souvenirs.

Ward was suspected of the murder of Ida Finkelstein, who had been attacked on February 25, 1901.  Finkelstein, a young white woman and local teacher, was attacked and severely injured from a shotgun blast and pen knife wound. Before her death, she is reported to have described her attacker as "a colored man dressed in hunting clothes". Ward was known to be an avid squirrel hunter. He had purchased a shotgun for hunting in late 1900 and newspapers reported that he was seen in hunting clothes riding on the same streetcar that Finkelstein rode earlier that day. On the morning of February 26, 1901, Terre Haute police officers arrested Ward for her murder and asserted that a pen knife with a missing blade that matched the one that was left behind in the assault was in Ward's possession.

Ward allegedly confessed to the crime at the county jail. His case was never tried in court, and no one from the sizeable mob was ever charged with attacking the jail or the murder of Ward. A grand jury was convened on March 11 but no indictments were returned. Members of the local black community were terrorized by the lynching and fled fearing future violence against them.

In Indiana, between 1877 and 1950, there were at least eighteen black people lynched. The death of George Ward is the only known lynching in Vigo County.

Memorialization
Nearly 120 years after the lynching of George Ward, the city of Terre Haute began memorialization efforts for Ward. In 2019, an organization called Facing Injustice formed as part of the Equal Justice Initiative's Community Remembrance Project. Facing Injustice's goal is to assist the Terre Haute community in reckoning with past racial injustices and building towards a more equitable future. One of Facing Injustice's first initiatives was a soil collection ceremony on March 1, 2020. The soil was collected from the site of Ward's lynching and sent to the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

On April 21, 2021, the Indiana State Senate passed State Resolution 72 and presented it to Ward's family. The resolution memorialized George Ward for the 120th anniversary of his death. It acknowledged that Ward's family and his descendants "continue to be affected" by the event to this day. It recognized that although past injustices, such as Ward's murder, cannot be rectified, Indiana can recognize its history of lynching to begin healing and prevent injustices in the future.

Facing Injustice unveiled a historical marker dedicated to Ward and the legacy of lynching in Indiana during a ceremony on September 26, 2021. The marker is close to the site where the white mob lynched Ward in North Fairbanks Park. Four generations of Ward's descendants attended the unveiling ceremony, including his great-grandson, Terry Ward, who spoke at the event. Terry Ward explained that the ceremony helped lift shame off his family, whom Vigo County residents had labeled as criminals for generations after the lynching.

References

1901 in Indiana
1901 murders in the United States
African-American history of Indiana
Deaths by person in Indiana
History of racism in Indiana
Ward, George, Lynching of
Murdered African-American people
Racially motivated violence against African Americans
Terre Haute, Indiana

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
/* $Id$ */

#ifndef PHP_COM_DOTNET_INTERNAL_H
#define PHP_COM_DOTNET_INTERNAL_H

#define _WIN32_DCOM
#define COBJMACROS
#include <ocidl.h>
#include <oleauto.h>
#include <unknwn.h>
#include <dispex.h>
#include "win32/winutil.h"

typedef struct _php_com_dotnet_object {
	zend_object zo;

	VARIANT v;
	int modified;

	ITypeInfo *typeinfo;
	long code_page;

	zend_class_entry *ce;

   	/* associated event sink */
	IDispatch *sink_dispatch;
	GUID sink_id;
	DWORD sink_cookie;

	/* cache for method signatures */
	HashTable *method_cache;
	/* cache for name -> DISPID */
	HashTable *id_of_name_cache;
} php_com_dotnet_object;

static inline int php_com_is_valid_object(zval *zv TSRMLS_DC)
{
	zend_class_entry *ce = Z_OBJCE_P(zv);
	return strcmp("com", ce->name) == 0 ||
		strcmp("dotnet", ce->name) == 0 ||
		strcmp("variant", ce->name) == 0;
}

#define CDNO_FETCH(zv)			(php_com_dotnet_object*)zend_object_store_get_object(zv TSRMLS_CC)
#define CDNO_FETCH_VERIFY(obj, zv)	do { \
	if (!php_com_is_valid_object(zv TSRMLS_CC)) { \
		php_com_throw_exception(E_UNEXPECTED, "expected a variant object" TSRMLS_CC); \
		return; \
	} \
	obj = (php_com_dotnet_object*)zend_object_store_get_object(zv TSRMLS_CC); \
} while(0)

/* com_extension.c */
TsHashTable php_com_typelibraries;
zend_class_entry *php_com_variant_class_entry, *php_com_exception_class_entry, *php_com_saproxy_class_entry;

/* com_handlers.c */
zend_object_value php_com_object_new(zend_class_entry *ce TSRMLS_DC);
void php_com_object_clone(void *object, void **clone_ptr TSRMLS_DC);
void php_com_object_free_storage(void *object TSRMLS_DC);
zend_object_handlers php_com_object_handlers;
void php_com_object_enable_event_sink(php_com_dotnet_object *obj, int enable TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_saproxy.c */
zend_object_iterator *php_com_saproxy_iter_get(zend_class_entry *ce, zval *object, int by_ref TSRMLS_DC);
int php_com_saproxy_create(zval *com_object, zval *proxy_out, zval *index TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_olechar.c */
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API char *php_com_olestring_to_string(OLECHAR *olestring,
		uint *string_len, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API OLECHAR *php_com_string_to_olestring(char *string,
		uint string_len, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_com.c */
PHP_FUNCTION(com_create_instance);
PHP_FUNCTION(com_event_sink);
PHP_FUNCTION(com_create_guid);
PHP_FUNCTION(com_print_typeinfo);
PHP_FUNCTION(com_message_pump);
PHP_FUNCTION(com_load_typelib);
PHP_FUNCTION(com_get_active_object);

HRESULT php_com_invoke_helper(php_com_dotnet_object *obj, DISPID id_member,
		WORD flags, DISPPARAMS *disp_params, VARIANT *v, int silent, int allow_noarg TSRMLS_DC);
HRESULT php_com_get_id_of_name(php_com_dotnet_object *obj, char *name,
		int namelen, DISPID *dispid TSRMLS_DC);
int php_com_do_invoke_by_id(php_com_dotnet_object *obj, DISPID dispid,
		WORD flags,	VARIANT *v, int nargs, zval **args, int silent, int allow_noarg TSRMLS_DC);
int php_com_do_invoke(php_com_dotnet_object *obj, char *name, int namelen,
		WORD flags,	VARIANT *v, int nargs, zval **args, int allow_noarg TSRMLS_DC);
int php_com_do_invoke_byref(php_com_dotnet_object *obj, char *name, int namelen,
		WORD flags,	VARIANT *v, int nargs, zval ***args TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_wrapper.c */
int php_com_wrapper_minit(INIT_FUNC_ARGS);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API IDispatch *php_com_wrapper_export_as_sink(zval *val, GUID *sinkid, HashTable *id_to_name TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API IDispatch *php_com_wrapper_export(zval *val TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_persist.c */
int php_com_persist_minit(INIT_FUNC_ARGS);

/* com_variant.c */
PHP_FUNCTION(com_variant_create_instance);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_set);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_add);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_cat);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_sub);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_mul);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_and);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_div);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_eqv);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_idiv);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_imp);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_mod);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_or);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_pow);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_xor);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_abs);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_fix);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_int);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_neg);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_not);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_round);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_cmp);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_date_to_timestamp);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_date_from_timestamp);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_get_type);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_set_type);
PHP_FUNCTION(variant_cast);

PHP_COM_DOTNET_API void php_com_variant_from_zval_with_type(VARIANT *v, zval *z, VARTYPE type, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API void php_com_variant_from_zval(VARIANT *v, zval *z, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API int php_com_zval_from_variant(zval *z, VARIANT *v, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API int php_com_copy_variant(VARIANT *dst, VARIANT *src TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_dotnet.c */
PHP_FUNCTION(com_dotnet_create_instance);
void php_com_dotnet_rshutdown(TSRMLS_D);
void php_com_dotnet_mshutdown(TSRMLS_D);

/* com_misc.c */
void php_com_throw_exception(HRESULT code, char *message TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API void php_com_wrap_dispatch(zval *z, IDispatch *disp,
		int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API void php_com_wrap_variant(zval *z, VARIANT *v,
		int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API int php_com_safearray_get_elem(VARIANT *array, VARIANT *dest, LONG dim1 TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_typeinfo.c */
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API ITypeLib *php_com_load_typelib_via_cache(char *search_string,
		int codepage, int *cached TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API ITypeLib *php_com_load_typelib(char *search_string, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
PHP_COM_DOTNET_API int php_com_import_typelib(ITypeLib *TL, int mode,
		int codepage TSRMLS_DC);
void php_com_typelibrary_dtor(void *pDest);
ITypeInfo *php_com_locate_typeinfo(char *typelibname, php_com_dotnet_object *obj, char *dispname, int sink TSRMLS_DC);
int php_com_process_typeinfo(ITypeInfo *typeinfo, HashTable *id_to_name, int printdef, GUID *guid, int codepage TSRMLS_DC);

/* com_iterator.c */
zend_object_iterator *php_com_iter_get(zend_class_entry *ce, zval *object, int by_ref TSRMLS_DC);

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Film Screening of PBS's Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
NCCU Student Center Event Hall
Add to Calendar 2023-02-15 16:00:00 2023-01-27 16:15:28 Film Screening of PBS's Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom In partnership with Pfizer's Global Black Community (GBC) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is pleased to host a screening of a thrilling PBS documentary, "Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom." This documentary features one of the most pivotal and transformative figures in African American history, Harriet Tubman. The screening of this iconic documentary during Black History Month 2023 will spark meaningful conversations and help strengthen campus relationships with Pfizer. NCCU students are invited to attend this special showing at the NCCU Student Center Event Hall and interact with corporate executives from Pfizer, who will share insights about careers and life at Pfizer. Doors open at 4 p.m., and the screening starts at 5:15 p.m. Enjoy food and drinks, as well as music by DJ Tyreese Gordon, at a mixer ahead of the screening. Pfizer will also give away door prizes to students in attendance. North Carolina Central University webmaster@nccu.edu America/New_York public
In partnership with Pfizer's Global Black Community (GBC) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) team, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is pleased to host a screening of a thrilling PBS documentary, "Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom."
This documentary features one of the most pivotal and transformative figures in African American history, Harriet Tubman. The screening of this iconic documentary during Black History Month 2023 will spark meaningful conversations and help strengthen campus relationships with Pfizer.
NCCU students are invited to attend this special showing at the NCCU Student Center Event Hall and interact with corporate executives from Pfizer, who will share insights about careers and life at Pfizer. Doors open at 4 p.m., and the screening starts at 5:15 p.m. Enjoy food and drinks, as well as music by DJ Tyreese Gordon, at a mixer ahead of the screening.
Pfizer will also give away door prizes to students in attendance.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


May 26, 1990, L. G. Crabo.
Schinia meadi is a small (FW length 10 - 13 mm) mottled light olive-green and cream moth with shiny silver white antemedial and postmedial lines and a black and white hindwing that flies over sandy soils in steppes during spring and early summer. The median and terminal areas of the forewing are mostly yellowish cream colored, with light to dark olive-green mottling along the costa and on the posterior wing in the median area and opposite the cell in the terminal area. The base medial to the antemedial line and the subterminal area are solidly of the same olive-green, as are the orbicular and reniform spots. The basal, antemedial, and postmedial lines are powdery black, double but incomplete, filled with silvery white. The basal line is short and located near the base. The antemedial line is slightly irregular, strongly excurved toward the outer margin but drawn focally toward the base below the costa. The postmedial line is biconcave: the anterior segment between the costa and vein M2 and the lower half are both strongly concave toward the base. As a result, the line is oblique toward the outer margin at the wing margins and forms an acute point toward the outer margin at the level of the lower reniform spot. The subterminal line is only evident as a jagged interface between the green subterminal area and the cream terminal area. The fringe is strongly checkered cream and dark green-gray. The orbicular spot is oval. The reniform spot is moderately large, weakly figure-eight-shaped, often with the posteromedial corner extended toward the wing base across the lower cell to fuse with the orbicular spot. The claviform spot is small, often a green smudge with a few black scales. The hindwing ground color is pale cream, suffused with gray between the base and the discal spot and along the inner margin. The discal spot is semilunar, black. The marginal band is wide with a well-defined irregular medial margin and pale spots near the outer margin on the mid-wing. The hindwing fringe is cream. The head and thorax are light gray-olive. The male antenna is filiform.
This species is easily recognizable by its light yellow and green forewing with silver lines and unusual biconcave postmedial line shape. It cannot be confused with other species in our area.
This species is very common and widely distributed on the dry short-grass prairies of the Great Plains, but may also be common in dry sand dunes habitats. In the Pacific Northwest, it is more sporadic on dry grasslands at low elevations east of the Cascades. It is locally abundant on dunes in the Columbia Basin.
Schinia meadi is found in the Columbia Basin and southern Idaho in our region. A record from northwestern Washington is most likely mislabelled.
This species is widely distributed in the West. It is found from central Alberta and northern Minnesota to the Texas Panhandle on the Great Plains. The range includes the Great Basin to eastern California.
No information is presently available regarding larval foodplants of this species. The most likely foodplant is Psoralea spp. (Fabaceae) based on habitat association in Washington.
Adults are predominantly nocturnal but are often seen flying in thick stands of Psoralea during the day. They are attracted to lights. The flight period is late spring and summer. The moth has been collected from May to August in the Northwest.


Net-Zero Internet Service: At Net-Zero Direct You'll Get The Best Selection of Internet Shopping and always The Best Prices!
Click here to compare the savings you will enjoy by using Net-Zero Platinum service as your Internet Provider over the standard plans offered by other ISPs such as AOL, EarthLink, MSN and Yahoo**.
Before the text and graphics that make up Web pages get sent to you over your phone line, Net-Zero HiSpeed compresses them using a proprietary technology. Less data is sent so the download of pages and your surfing experience are that much faster! In addition, NetZero HiSpeed stores elements of the Web sites you visit frequently so you do not have to re-download them every time you visit these sites. With Net-Zero High Speed Internet you will enjoy all the great features of NetZero Platinum, plus you will experience super high-speed Web surfing!
Net-Zero's Free service allows anyone to access the Internet for free! Net-Zero members receive up to 10 hours of free Internet access*, including free E-mail on the Web accounts, reliable connections, thousands of access numbers, and the ability to use popular instant messaging programs such as AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo Messenger. The Free Net-Zero service is advertiser supported, and displays the ZeroPort, your "Speed Dial for the Web." Members who would like to use more than 10 hours of Net-Zero access have several service plans they can upgrade to, all at considerably less cost than the competition.


Tom Orsborn Jan. 13, 2019 Updated: Jan. 14, 2019 4:18 p.m.
From an Alamodome water cannon going off during the 1994-95 season opener to Dennis Rodman's outrageous behavior to Manu Ginobili swatting a bat in flight, Gregg Popovich has witnessed plenty of strange and sometimes surreal sights during his long tenure with the Spurs.
On Monday night, the coach will have to adjust his eyes to another oddity when Tony Parker steps onto the AT&T Center court wearing purple, teal and white rather than silver and black.
"It will really look weird, won't it, seeing him in another uniform?" Popovich said.
After that initial shock to the system subsides, Popovich will have to deal with another challenge: Keeping his emotions in check while greeting Parker on the court for the first time since he signed with the Charlotte Hornets last July.
Eleven days after fans booed former Spur Kawhi Leonard mercilessly in his first game in San Antonio as a member of the Toronto Raptors, Parker is set to return to a lovefest befitting of a franchise icon.
"I won't be surprised if there are tears in my eyes," Parker said.
Others, especially Popovich, might also well up.
"Anxious to see him," the coach said.
To understand the depth of the relationship between Popovich and Parker, one must go back to the beginning of the friendship. To those days long before the proud Frenchman became a six-time All-Star, a four-time All-NBA choice, the most valuable player of the 2007 NBA Finals and a slam-dunk future Hall of Fame point guard. To those painful times when Popovich ripped into Parker like he has no other player. To when Popovich had to find out quickly if the 19-year-old rookie had the mental toughness to handle the NBA and play its most difficult position.
Parker passed the stern test, proving he could serve as an extension of Popovich on the court. In time, the coach gave the student more freedom, and "our relationship grew," Parker said.
But the bond between the two wasn't just about basketball. Along the way, Popovich passed on valuable life lessons.
And Parker paid Popovich back by being there for him in the toughest of times. When Popovich's wife Erin died April 18, 2018, Parker rushed to comfort his coach.
"To be with him last night at his house, to share those moments with his family, it was very emotional," Parker told reporters the next day.
Less than three months later, Parker was headed to Charlotte.
Make no mistake. The Spurs wanted him to stay. The difference was the Hornets offered playing time, while the Spurs were interested in bringing him back in a mentorship role on a one-year contract with no assurances of steady minutes.
But at age 36, Parker wasn't ready to "become a coach before I'm really a coach." Not after vowing to play 20 seasons and certainly not after fighting his way back from a career-threatening quad injury he suffered in the 2017 playoffs.
"He's obviously got playing left in him," Popovich said last week.
After informing Popovich of his plans, Parker finalized the deal with the Hornets.
"He wasn't ready to retire, that's for sure," Popovich said.
Indeed, Parker is averaging 9.4 points and 3.8 assists — both improvements over last season — in 18.4 minutes over 37 games as All-Star Kemba Walker's backup.
Four times this season Parker has scored 20 or more points after producing only one such game in 55 appearances last season.
As it turns out, that also might have been the case had he stayed with the Spurs. When Dejounte Murray suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, the Spurs needed a veteran hand to run the offense.
But Popovich's happiness won't make seeing Parker wearing a different uniform any easier.
"It pulls at the heart-strings a little bit," Popovich said.
On ExpressNews.com: No classic this time as Spurs wither in second half.
Parker's return will conjure memories of how great he was in his prime as a member of the Spurs' vaunted Big Three along with Tim Duncan and Ginobili. The video tribute the Spurs will air on the JumboTron before the game no doubt will include many clips of his trademark teardrop shot and cat-quick drives, which often ended with him flat on his back.
Mills said Parker "always putting his body on the line for the good of the team" inspired his teammates.
"You would see him cramp for a little bit or whatever, and then the next second he is back up and doing the same thing again," Mills said.
As a teenager in Australia, Mills watched Parker on TV and dreamed of playing professional basketball.
When Mills signed with the Spurs in 2011, he found a ready mentor in Parker.
The same is true of Murray. Not only did Parker tutor him, but he graciously stepped into a reserve role after Popovich anointed the then-second-year pro as the starter at point guard in January 2018.
Parker made sure he passed the torch without drama, ensuring a seamless transition for Murray.
Over the last five months, Parker and Popovich have talked "frequently," the coach said. On Monday night, their conversation will be face to face, in public and likely emotional.
Afterward, the two will hug, say goodbye and head their separate ways with their bond as tight as ever.


We are in the midst of a maelstrom whose end is nowhere in sight. The term 'post truth era' was recently coined to describe a cultural shift that became particularly topical during the 2016 US Presidential campaign, in which the integrity of 'facts' were rivaled by opinions unsupported by the rigor of proof. This cultural shift exceeds far beyond the political economy origins and mass media popularization from which it began. The impact of this shift on strategy is as yet unknown but its implications are worthy of being explored given the considerable effect it could have on the quality of strategic activities and outcomes.
The roles of intuition vs analysis in shaping and making decisions is a long-fermenting debate in leadership fields and strategy in particular, one that is likely to be shaped by the post-truth shift. Intuition and analysis are not alternatives: any tenure in a senior position inevitably requires the right blend of both. The issue is the balance of the two and the degree of trust in each. As with complex topics there are pros and cons to each side. Proponents of analysis typically have the consistency (and comfort therein) of an observable, repeatable process but its form can seriously limit the scope and richness of findings and therefore its value. Proponents of intuition assert its value when informed by deep experience. Its lack of observable origin - the result of 'system 1' type activity in Kahneman terms - is a limitation that leaves some audiences unable to trust it. At the very least they struggle to reliably differentiate between real insight and biased opinion.
The impact of a post-truth culture will sharpen the burden of proof required of seasoned strategy professionals as a reaction against the ambiguous trustworthiness of opinion and feeling-based claims in pop culture and mass media. Clients will demand more tangible proof and origin for the strategy work they buy. This is not a bad thing. Strategy is not an improv sport but it's become somewhat fashionable of late for it to behave this way. Under unmanaged conditions, opinions and even conjecture become easily merged and adopted as fact. In a work setting anecdotes of personal experience assume a currency whose perceived value rivals independent sources. The ripples from a post-truth culture will challenge intuition as a legitimate source of strategic activity as well as the easy confidence that often accompanies it (intuition after all is often presumed to be right). Overall, the lower standard of truth 'proof' in wider culture won't lower the standard in the strategy world. On the contrary, it will raise it.
Post-truth culture will raise another bar for the business world, for marketers rather than strategists. Brands and their marketing claims will be more scrutinized as the result of swirling ambiguity people increasingly come to expect everywhere else. A crisis of trust is itself not new (see The Crisis of Trust in A Social Age, 2011) but the nature and magnitude of its impact is. Where there is challenge there is opportunity. Brands that provide useful transparency and deliver consistency in terms and claims across their service and product ecosystems stand to do much better than those who do not.


text:
Joseph Carlson
84 Posts 3 Threads 2 Apples
Merit Badge info Merit Badge profile
Apples and Likes
First Scavenger Hunt
Sign up for daily-ish email
Number Posts (84/30)
Number Threads Started (3/10)
Number Apples Received (2/1)
Create a post with a youtube or vimeo video (0/1)
Recent posts by Joseph Carlson
Favorite mushroom for flavor
Shiitake has great flavor, but my favorite has to be Lobster. Lobster mushrooms are the best flavor, hands down, just need to scrub all the grit off of them if found wild.
Keeping the pasture out of the forest garden!
I have quackgrass here. I imagine a rhubarb, comfrey, wood lily, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and mint Polyculture would stop the quackgrass. These are the species that seem to hold their own against quackgrass and spotted knapweed on my property.
Rhubarb has a very thick root that spreads and divides easily. A wall of rhubarb is impenetrable to other roots.
Comfrey spreads like crazy, with deep roots.
Mint and strawberry are shallow rooted and spread like crazy.
Wood lily takes the place of grass, divides, and spreads easily.
Raspberry and blackberry shade grass out, and spread from seed and from walking as tips dip down onto the ground and root.
Start with a strip of deep (12 inches) mulch, and plant these into it.
You would need to marshal some serious resources if your strip is long. I can get free arborist chips from the local composting facility, maybe you can find something similar? Call all the tree service companies and ask them to start dumping their wood chips on your property.
I use DoTerra LifeLongVitality. Apparently they have essential oils, herbs, fatty acids, minerals, and enzymes. I'm told that the combination of the fatty acids, enzymes, and minerals ups the absorption rate to mid-90%. Of course, that which is absorbed can always be urinated out. That which is never absorbed in typical supplements is still eliminated, but you get no benefit from it. They are not cheap, but I feel like I get what I'm paying for.
Bot flies
This seems to say that essential oil of pumpkin was effective, as was ivermectin, in control of camel nasal Botfly, a related species
Planning a new orchard - layout help?
These folks are right, I plant my chestnuts at 50 ft spacing, which is many times the spacing recommended for new orchards, but I want a diverse savanna-style system. They can spread 40 ft.
Blatant self promotion - I'm also in Michigan, zone 5b, and I sell Chinese chestnut trees. These are 2 year old seedlings, and well-adapted to this area. The parent trees are a commercial orchard 15 miles away, blight resistant, no winter kill, all the orchardist does is control weeds. I'm also selling Saskatoon and Siberian pea shrub.
Let me know if I can help, with trees, advice, anything.
Legacy Polycultures
Legacypolycultures@gmail.com
Anyone have experience growing Chicago Hardy Fig in the ground (not in a greenhouse) in Zone 5?
I've seen many trees in Denver area painted white to reflect sunlight on the south side of the bark. It isn't such a big deal in summer, but that hot sun and cold air in winter can be a deadly combination. Try to moderate your temperature swings, maybe with thermal mass and paint?
$1 MILLION prize for Nitrogen Reduction Challenge
I received the following e-mail, and I wanted to share it. This might be an amazing opportunity for someone to show the world the applicability of biochar, for example, or other appropriate technologies and design implementations.
The project website is to be found, here; Tulane Water Prize
Dear Tulane Challenge Supporter,
We are pleased to announce that the Tulane Nitrogen Reduction Challenge has re-launched and is NOW OPEN for registration! The Challenge has expanded from the original to allow for more diverse innovators and entrepreneurs be part of the competition to win the $1 million prize!
The primary difference in this updated Challenge is that it is expanded from sensor technologies to in-field innovations. (However, in-field innovations could still include sensor technologies.)
Please see attached Press Release and Media Card for details. Please also follow us on Social Media and our website (links at bottom) for the latest updates.
We encourage you to share this information with your relevant partners and colleagues who may be interested in creating a Team and being a competitor. Feel free to print the attached card or Press Release and post or share with relevant departments (i.e. at Universities) or offices.
Note that the Registration Deadline is JUNE 30, 2016, and we welcome Teams from around the world to compete. Teams can include for-profit, non-profit, universities, government entities, individuals, or a combination thereof.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Thank in advance for your support as we work to address hypoxia and the environmental dead zones.
The Tulane Challenge Team
Press release;
Tulane expands chance to win $1 million for "dead zone" solution
Tulane University has expanded its Nitrogen Reduction Challenge to allow more entrepreneurs, researchers and inventors the chance to win $1 million. The cash prize will be given to the team that presents the best solution to reduce the amount of nitrogen entering the earth's waters via fertilize-laden runoff from farmlands. Such runoff is a leading cause of hypoxia, a deadly deficiency of oxygen that creates annual "Dead Zones" in the world's lakes and oceans, killing marine life and threatening the economies of coastal regions, including the Gulf of Mexico. Hypoxia solutions already submitted to the Challenge, which launched in 2014, will be automatically registered for the grand prize along with new submissions that must register by the June 30 at tulane.edu/tulaneprize/waterprize. Up to five semi-finalists will be selected by November 2016 and provided a plot of farmland in northeast Louisiana to field test their innovation.
The winning entry, which must maintain or increase agricultural yields while reducing nutrient runoff, will be selected by the Challenge Advisory Committee and awarded the grand prize in December 2017. The Challenge's grand prize is funded by Phyllis Taylor, president of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation. "We are so grateful and applaud Mrs. Taylor for inaugurating the Tulane Nitrogen Challenge and targeting hypoxia, a threat to water regions everywhere," said Tulane University Challenge Director Rick Aubry. Supporters of the Tulane Nitrogen Reduction Challenge range from Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey at the headwaters of the Mississippi River to Louisiana's Agriculture Secretary Mike Strain and include private industry and academic partners around the country.
The Tulane Nitrogen Reduction Challenge is a response to President Obama's call for more organizations, philanthropists, and universities to identify and pursue the Grand Challenges of the 21st century.
how and why large scale farmers can and should begin to make a shift
Let me ask you this, how could Job with so many animals increases his possessions without selling them? If you keep reading you see where "by the sword" his possessions were taken and his servants killed. That constitutes lock and key to me...
I took the quote from Quinn much more broadly, to mean human culture post-agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago. This is an agrarian culture that replaced a hunter-gatherer culture. The Mayans, Egyptians, and Hebrews all were part of this new agrarian culture. You are correct, there. However, the point I think the author was trying to make is encapsulated most persuasively by Jared Diamond (Pulitzer Prize winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel);
From the progressivist perspective on which I was brought up, to ask "Why did almost all our hunter-gatherer ancestors adopt agriculture?" is silly. Of course they adopted it because agriculture is an efficient way to get more food for less work. Planted crops yield far more tons per acre than roots and berries. Just imagine a band of savages, exhausted from searching for nuts or chasing wild animals, suddenly grazing for the first time at a fruit-laden orchard or a pasture full of sheep. How many milliseconds do you think it would take them to appreciate the advantages of agriculture?
While the case for the progressivist view seems overwhelming, it's hard to prove. How do you show that the lives of people 10,000 years ago got better when they abandoned hunting and gathering for farming? Until recently, archaeologists had to resort to indirect tests, whose results (surprisingly) failed to support the progressivist view. Here's one example of an indirect test: Are twentieth century hunter-gatherers really worse off than farmers? Scattered throughout the world, several dozen groups of so-called primitive people, like the Kalahari bushmen, continue to support themselves that way. It turns out that these people have plenty of leisure time, sleep a good deal, and work less hard than their farming neighbors. For instance, the average time devoted each week to obtaining food is only 12 to 19 hours for one group of Bushmen, 14 hours or less for the Hadza nomads of Tanzania. One Bushman, when asked why he hadn't emulated neighboring tribes by adopting agriculture, replied, "Why should we, when there are so many mongongo nuts in the world?"
Studies by George Armelagos and his colleagues then at the University of Massachusetts show these early farmers paid a price for their new-found livelihood. Compared to the hunter-gatherers who preceded them, the farmers had a nearly 50 per cent increase in enamel defects indicative of malnutrition, a fourfold increase in iron-deficiency anemia (evidenced by a bone condition called porotic hyperostosis), a theefold rise in bone lesions reflecting infectious disease in general, and an increase in degenerative conditions of the spine, probably reflecting a lot of hard physical labor. "Life expectancy at birth in the pre-agricultural community was bout twenty-six years," says Armelagos, "but in the post-agricultural community it was nineteen years. So these episodes of nutritional stress and infectious disease were seriously affecting their ability to survive."
Besides malnutrition, starvation, and epidemic diseases, farming helped bring another curse upon humanity: deep class divisions. Hunter-gatherers have little or no stored food, and no concentrated food sources, like an orchard or a herd of cows: they live off the wild plants and animals they obtain each day. Therefore, there can be no kings, no class of social parasites who grow fat on food seized from others. Only in a farming population could a healthy, non-producing elite set itself above the disease-ridden masses. Skeletons from Greek tombs at Mycenae c. 1500 B. C. suggest that royals enjoyed a better diet than commoners, since the royal skeletons were two or three inches taller and had better teeth (on the average, one instead of six cavities or missing teeth). Among Chilean mummies from c. A. D. 1000, the elite were distinguished not only by ornaments and gold hair clips but also by a fourfold lower rate of bone lesions caused by disease.
http://discovermagazine.com/1987/may/02-the-worst-mistake-in-the-history-of-the-human-race
The entire article is worth a read.
I had already read this article years ago when I read the quotation referenced above, so I naturally thought that the author was referencing Diamond's work, albeit obliquely.
Hi, Travis
at some point we do need to feed our dairy cows and sheep fodder for the winter.
One thing some southern farmers do is stockpile right on the land for winter grazing. I know Gabe Brown has done this as far north and cold as Bismarck, North Dakota. The idea is to grow stuff specifically for winter, and unleash the cows on that pasture when the time is right. It is possible. I can't comment on the viability of the practice in your region, or on the species recommended. The benefit is the ability to grow these things in polyculture, and that the cows harvest and manure the field for you, and trample stuff into mulch, but you still need to drill seed into it in the spring. This does cut down even more on inputs and passes using a tractor, and makes 'no-till' much easier, as the animals lay down mulch for you to keep seeds for germinating and soil temperatures stable, and polycultures outcompete undesirables.
48 tons of corn silage per acre is pretty amazing! That converts to a grain yield of what, 300 bushels/acre!? This is right up there with the highest records in North America (shattered this year with 503 Bu/Ac, but the next closest yields were hovering above 300) How do you manage nutrients with so much output? As a corollary, how much organic matter is too much on your farm?
Compared to a few years ago we are really doing well.
This is awesome! A reduction of three passes with a tractor actually does sound like a lot to me. Good work.
Perhaps my information above was outdated, from the 1980s and 1990s. It sounds like you are doing much more to keep from hanging your head in shame.
Nitrogen Fixing Trees
Mike Turner wrote: In cold climate you could also consider alders (Alnus) which are nitrogen fixing and have wind pollenated flowers, so no bees. In tropical climates there is beefwood (Casuarina) another nitrogen fixing, wind pollenated plant.
Just be careful planting Casuarina species that are invasive and allelopathic. For example, horsetail tree suppresses germination of seeds underneath, and can spread quickly. The tree is useful, though. Nitrogen fixing (but that doesn't matter if nothing grows around it), and very dense hardwood.


text:
Working to Keep the Students We Have
Charles Evans September 15, 2015 The CACE Roundtable1 Comment
BlueOlive / Pixabay
Increased competition within the schooling marketplace, combined with the shifting priorities of a new generation of parents, has rendered the fortunes of independent and parochial schools more uncertain than ever before. As we have noted here previously, as of just two years ago, private schools enrolled more than 10% fewer students than in 2000. And within that overall enrollment decline is the even more ominous statistic that enrollment in grades K-8 is down nearly 17%.
Over lunch, a colleague recently passed on a comment from a 40-year veteran of evangelical schooling on the West Coast: "Being a 'Christian' school just isn't enough anymore. Parents want more than a brand, and they want everything to be the highest quality."
But what do parents mean by "highest quality," if they don't intrinsically value what schools have been accustomed to offering? And, is the conclusion that a faith-based brand no longer attracts them actually true?
To get some light on the subject, the heads of schools with membership in the Council on Educational Standards and Accountability (CESA) were surveyed earlier this year. A diverse group of faith-based schools, they have one thing in common: an active commitment to a form of excellence based on the CESA Standards, which are designed to push otherwise quality schools to a higher level of exceptionality.
Enrollment and Retention
Responding to the question of overall enrollment performance over the past five years, 70% of the schools reported that they had grown, with more than half experiencing more than 10% increases. Of the schools that had either not grown or declined, none had lost more than 10% of their overall student population.
Pretty impressive, given the bleak outlook that many private schools have been facing. But the follow up questions paint a slightly gloomier picture.
Despite the net enrollment growth, 64% of the schools reported average attrition rates (the number of students eligible to re-enroll who opted not to) during the same period of 6% or higher. Within that category, exactly half of the schools (32%) are losing more than 10% of their eligible re-enrollees each year.
Now that still leaves 36% of schools that are retaining 95% or more of their students each year, but it seems striking that high quality, well established schools, not just your run-of-the-mill private schools, are losing that many students annually.
In a previous post on attrition, we modeled out its troubling cost. Given that household incomes and affordability are ubiquitous concerns, attrition of only 10% can suck away more than 10% of each new student's tuition, driving up the cost to operate, and the price, for everyone. Even modest attrition creates a vicious cycle that converts admissions activity from revenue enhancement to revenue replacement. And you face the additional penalty that a good chunk of revenue from new students never makes it into the classroom to support faculty and programs.
And where do they go when they leave? Only 11% of the schools said that their non-re-enrolling kids went mostly to other private schools. 53% of the families opted for public school, while 36% of the respondents said that families were split between public and private options. Correspondingly, 60% of the heads designated public schools as their number one competition, while only 5% say that public schools are their weakest competitors.
So, it would seem that the overriding issue is the choice between "free" and "not-free," the inevitable function of an "It's the economy, stupid!" reality. But is it really?
Providing a candid assessment of how their schools compare qualitatively with the competition, 55% of the heads think their schools are "much better" than local public schools. 40% appraised their schools as only "slightly better" than their regular public counterparts. (By the way, when comparing themselves to public charters, 75% said "much better" and only 19% said "slightly better.")
Though the cost factor is hardly irrelevant, remember that 70% of these schools have grown in the past five years, some by leaps and bounds. That must mean that in their individual markets, there are plenty of people who are willing to pay for school. In fact, with attrition rates as they are, there seem to be more people who are open to tuition than not.
This statistical slice likely points more to a problem with the value proposition to parents once they have enrolled, rather than an external marketing failure. The consumers we are having the most difficult time convincing that private school is worth it are the ones we already have. We already convinced them to fork over tuition once, but now that they've done it, a significant percentage are drawing the conclusion that public schools, compared to which 95% of the surveyed heads claim to be better, are actually a greater value!
So, what do these CESA schools say has the greatest effect on retaining students? When asked to name "one innovation" that has had the greatest impact on retention, more than half described either a quantitative or qualitative increase in staffing, or both.
"An admissions director who works on retention by contacting each family personally each year."
"Strong and honest assessments of staff and faculty, …releasing under performers, and hiring well to fill those positions."
"Personal phone calls from teachers and administrators to families who are on the fence."
"An accessible leadership team loaded with professionals who value partnership."
"Building community through strong home/school communication, customer service training for employees, and taking measurable steps to care for families in need."
These sample thoughts describe a variety of strategies, but they voice a singular goal: Put more and better skilled professionals in touch with parents, and make them feel served.
Realizing that this is a tiny sample and that reading too much into a simple, unscientific survey can easily take one in zany directions, much of the information from the survey does correspond to a common vexation among private school leaders, especially regarding what parents really care about. Also, the fact that each of the surveyed schools either had or is putting into place an intentional retention strategy highlights a growing realization of the crisis.
And notice, too, that what these schools are doing is a highly retail approach to building relationships with parents. At some point, as valuable as they may be, instantly available online information or detached inbound marketing or aggressive social media campaigns fail to make the personal connection that it seems parents increasingly require.
All of which leads back to the earlier thought: marketing to our families on the basis of a mere brand or reputation, no matter how polished and cherished, will make validating their choice to pay higher and higher tuition a tougher and tougher job.
Charles Evans
A former head of schools in Virginia and Texas, Chuck Evans has been serving independent schools as a teacher, leader, and consultant for more than twenty-five years. As a consultant for Better Schools, he has worked with dozens of schools since 2006, leading strategic and financial planning processes and major program expansion projects. He has worked as a lobbyist in the Texas State Legislature, a certified mediator, and is a founding board member of the Council on Educational Standards and Accountability (CESA).
Tags:CESA, Enrollment, Retention
One Comment on "Working to Keep the Students We Have"
Joe Neff
I think there is a key phrase in the middle of the great piece by Chuck: "a problem with the value proposition to parents once they have enrolled." We can do tons of connection and marketing, and we should, but if current parents are not getting the value they expected, they leave. They know from personal experience what we are really providing. Unless we are in a depressed economic area which obviously affects enrollment, it seems the bigger concern over current families leaving is to make sure we are nailing our "value proposition" and doing and being what we say we are going to do and be. What do we offer that is unique and are we providing it?


Repeating background images used to be an immediate sign of design naivete. Right about 1997 there was an epidemic of tiled fractal backgrounds, animated horizontal rules, and the plunk-plunk-plunk of bad midi audio.
Understandably, many designers approached this new medium with a sense of awe and wonder, followed quickly with a giddy sense of the possibilities. The result, of course, was an exploitation of technology for technology's sake. Thankfully, the times have changed. Examples of browser-feature abuse are the exception, rather than the norm. In fact, the simple tiled background image is making something of a comeback in well-designed sites.
Have a look at What do I Know?, a site created by designer Todd Dominey. Compare that to Matt Haughey's A Whole Lotta Nothing. See how they both use subtle repetition of background patterns to create a sort of frame around the site?


text:
You are here » home › advanced search › search results › Lygodactylus tuberosus
Lygodactylus tuberosus MERTENS, 1965
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Lygodactylus tuberosus?
Lygodactylus tuberosus »
Higher Taxa Gekkonidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos)
Synonym Lygodactylus tuberosus MERTENS 1965
Lygodactylus tuberosus — KLUGE 1993
Lygodactylus tuberosus — GLAW & VENCES 1994: 284
Lygodactylus (Lygodactylus) tuberosus — RÖSLER 2000: 95
Lygodactylus tuberosus — RÖLL et al. 2010
Distribution SW Madagascar
Type locality: Tsimanampetsoa, SW Madagascar
Types Holotype: SMF 8949
Diagnosis Diagnosis. Lygodactylus tuberosus is a relatively small species of Lygodactylus that is common in the arid South of Madagascar. It can be assigned to the L. pictus group based on the characters listed in the group definition above. It differs from L. pictus by usually having only few and indistinct dark spots on the throat (vs. usually at least some distinct spots), and by a white or only faint yellowish ventral colour in life (vs. usually distinctly yellow; but the yellow pigment quickly fades in preservative), furthermore by the presence in most specimens of a dark marking behind the eye which includes spiny scales (vs. presence of only a dark stripe). Typically, specimens of L. tuberosus are relatively small, but some can attain large sizes (up to 38 mm). Clearly, the definition of this species requires revision. Distinction of L. tuberosus from L. roavolana is easily possible by the presence of only small black markings on the neck (vs. presence of large and very distinct markings above the forelimbs), and by the presence of a claw on the first finger (vs. apparent absence).
Comment This species which was in part formerly known as Lygodactylus tuberifer Boettger, 1913.
Habitat. L. tuberosus is a species inhabiting arid zones in the South. All localities are in this area. Specimens in the MNHN collection have been found on "Kily" trunks which refers to Tamarindus indicus trees. We observed the species active during the day, in open forests, on isolated trees or fallen tree trunks, and in dry bush areas (M. Puente & M. Thomas, personal observation, February 2003) [Puente et al. 2009].
Karyotype: see Mezzasalma et al. 2016.
D'Cruze, Neil; Annette Olsonn, David Henson, Sunil Kumar, and David Emmett. 2009. The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Lower Onilahy River Valley, a Temporary Protected Area in Southwest Madagascar. Herp. Cons. Biol. 4: 62-79 - get paper here
Glaw ,F. & Vences, M. 1994. A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar. Vences & Glaw Verlag, Köln (ISBN 3-929449-01-3)
Krüger, Jens 2001. Die madagassischen Gekkoniden. Teil II: Die Geckos der Gattung Lygodactylus GRAY 1864 (Reptilia: Sauria: Gekkonidae). Gekkota 3: 3-28
Mertens, R. 1965. Über Lygodactylus tuberifer und seinen Lectotypus. Senckenbergiana Biologica 46: 467—469.
Mezzasalma M., Andreone F., Aprea G., Glaw F., Odierna G., Guarino F. M. 2016. Molecular phylogeny, biogeography and chromosome evolution of Malagasy dwarf geckos of the genus Lygodactylus (Squamata, Gekkonidae). Zoologica Scripta 46: 42–54, DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12188 - get paper here
PUENTE, MARTA; FRANK GLAW, DAVID R. VIEITES & MIGUEL VENCES 2009. Review of the systematics, morphology and distribution of Malagasy dwarf geckos, genera Lygodactylus and Microscalabotes (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Zootaxa 2103: 1-76 - get paper here
Röll, B. 2013. Tagaktive Zwerggeckos der Gattung Lygodactylus - Lebensweise - Haltung - Nachzucht. Natur und Tier Verlag, 118 pp. - get paper here
Röll, B. 2018. Tagaktive, kleine Geckos – die Gattung Lygodactylus. Reptilia 23 (132): 16-23
Röll, Beate 2002. Delightful Dwarfs: Diurnal Geckos of the Genus Lygodactylus. Gekko 3 (2): 21-33
Röll, Beate; Heike Pröhl, Klaus-Peter Hoffmann 2010. Multigene phylogenetic analysis of Lygodactylus dwarf geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56 (1): 327-335 - get paper here
Rösler, H. 2000. Kommentierte Liste der rezent, subrezent und fossil bekannten Geckotaxa (Reptilia: Gekkonomorpha). Gekkota 2: 28-153
IUCN Red List - Lygodactylus tuberosus - Least Concern, LC
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Lygodactylus&species=tuberosus
Acrantophis dumerili
Lygodactylus tolampyae
Lygodactylus tuberosus
Lygodactylus verticillatus
Zonosaurus tsingy


Want to send us feedback about our school? Simply just follow the instructions and record a video testimony. We look forward to hearing about your experiences, histories, suggestions and everything you want to share with us! Be free to ask questions, share your thoughts, as well as your opinion on what would help us to improve. We want to give you the best educational service, help us to achieve this goal.
Click on SEND to send us your message.
*To use this tool, you need a webcam and a microphone, otherwise the message cannot be recorded.


text:
Гептнер — фамилия.

Известные носители:
 Гептнер, Альфред Романович (1933—2021) — советский и российский геолог, награждён медалью «За дружбу и сотрудничество между Россией и Исландией» (2019).
 Гептнер, Владимир Георгиевич (1902—1975) — советский учёный-зоолог, исследователь фауны Центральной Азии.
 Гептнер, Эрик Георгиевич (1907—1944) — военный лётчик, Герой Российской Федерации, Гвардии старший лейтенант.


text:
Intimidad.Condiciones.Quienes somos.Imprint.Press.Cookie
Barca players agree to pay cuts to save the club from financial ruin
Friday27 November 2020 | 21:55
https://www.sportmob.com/en/news/913270-barca-players-agree-to-pay-cuts-to-save-the-club-from-financial-ruin
Barcelona reached an agreement with players to decrease wages that will save €122 million. Yet they are at risk of financial problems.
The club has reported that Barcelona has reached a deal with their squad to cut wages by €122 million over the next three years. However, they would also shell out €50 million per season.
Since La Liga place a lower wage cap on the club last week the Blaugrana was obliged to reduce their expenditure, as they attempt to stave off financial problems caused by the COVID-19.
"Today, the parties have reached an agreement in principle that allows an adjustment to salaries for the current season," the club confirmed Friday in a statement.
"[This is] for an amount of €122 million [in] fixed remuneration, which is added to the deferral for three years of variable remuneration from this season [onward], budgeted at an approximate figure of €50 million.
Barcelona has secured his place in the last 16 in the Champions League, but they have been unable to do the same in their domestic pursuits in La Liga.
Follow Sportmob for the latest football news
#Laliga_Santander
Hudson-Odoi playing better than ever - Lampard
Zlatan: 'Young people motivate me'
Chelsea needs players like Hazard and Costa - Lampard
Arsenal and Atletico Madrid continue negotiations on Torreira
Milan deserved the win - Pioli
Maldini says Milan have been eyeing Chelsea's Tomori since the summer
Willaims want to retire at Bilbao - Agent
Gary Neville defends United after the match against liverpool
Smith expects to see more from Aubameyang
Premier League set to introduce concussion subs from 'next week'
David Martindale believes momentum is the key against Celtic
The Premier League reports sixteen new Covid-19 cases
"The geezer's output has been phenomenal' –Ferdinand defends Fernandes


Cheers loves, the Cavalry is here! And this is Episode 29! Complete with a new intro sequence! Also, we have a lot in store for you this week. We're joined by Kevin Ellis aka Multizord, Matt Zornes aka Slambo, and Alex Keeler aka Endboss.
The crew begins by discussing how Overwatch eclipsed League of Legends in Korean game cafes. Truly, a big deal.
A really quick Main Discussion ensues about importing different guns from other games. Just for the hell of it.
And then it's onto the main event...it's Reaper week! Death comes! Hello hello hello!
If you like what you heard, please feel free to leave us a review on iTunes or Stitcher, as well as follow us on Twitter @TheCavalryShow, where you can also find a link to our Discord channel. Also, we are on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheCavalryShow and you can E-mail us at TheCavalryShow@outlook.com. Also, apologies on the ONE F-bomb we let slip--hopefully you aren't too scarred by it. Who am I kidding, the rest of the material scarred you anyway.


Two shareholder lawsuits filed this week accused the board of Google parent Alphabet of playing a direct role in covering up sexual misconduct claims against two former executives over the last five years. Fred Katayama reports.
Shareholders of Google parent, Alphabet, filed two lawsuits this week.
Both accuse the company's board of covering up sexual misconduct claims against two former executives over the last five years.
The plaintiffs also want Google to change its governance and oversight.
"You have a couple of different things going here. You've got morality and ethics. Morality and ethics say that the conduct underlying the settlement agreement, the conduct of these executives, was horrific, absolutely unacceptable, but then it gets more complex because, when I wear my lawyer hat, and you start thinking in terms of agreements, you start thinking about conflicting versions of what might be good for the company. Ethics morality may not win the day."
In October last year, The New York Times reported that Google gave a $90 million exit package to one of its executives, Andy Rubin, who was accused of sexual misconduct.
That sparked demonstrations by Google employees around the world.
Rubin and another former Google executive named in the shareholder lawsuits, Amit Singhal, denied the allegations.
The company's chief executive Sundar Pichai apologized for past handling of sexual misconduct cases and vowed to improve practices.


You are one month old and it's almost too much to believe. We waited so patiently for you, you were often our topic of choice over dinner and we'd share lots of hopes & dreams about you during bedtimes. You're finally here, and its sweeter than we could have imagined. You're loved more than you could ever know and your siblings think you hang the moon (mom & dad do too)!
We love watching you sleep, but the most exciting part of our day (especially Winnie's) is when you open your eyes. The kids all shout ("she opening hers eyes!") and they ooh and ahh over those baby blues. Baylor often asks when you'll be able to talk and Winnie begs for you in her crib every night ... "baby noyah 'nuggle!!" We love to give you baths and watch you doze off to lavender-induced dreams.
I love those quiet hours in the middle of the night, just you & me, where we make gentle eye contact and absorb every fragile moment without distraction. I never want to forget your newborn smell, your delicate fingers, or those tiny noises that act as a quiet reminder of need. I live for those moments of peace, for they are where God seems to linger, a not so quiet reminder of his faithfulness, a reminder of how much I need him.
While we are excited for you to grow big, to laugh and babble with us, we're soaking in the moments of newness, the novelty of your presence and the way life has slowed down since you've arrived. You make us so much better, and we can't imagine the days without you.
schedule: bedtime around 8:30, up at midnight to eat, sleeps again until 4, eats until about 4:30 and then sleeps until 7:30. Daytime is still all over the board!
current favs: you love to nap in the rockaroo or the bounceroo, you love to stare at your zebra, and your favorite place to be is wrapped to mom!
new tricks: You're our first binky baby! so as far as i'm concerned, keeping a binky in your mouth is totally a trick!


Dont miss this huge 1900 sf luxury built , S/S garage townhouse. corner/garden unit, located in central richmond. 9' ceiling crown mouldings on main level. 4 bath 3 brdm or easy turn into 4 bdrm master ensuite &walk in closet. . Radiant heat on all floors with separate controls. Laminate floor, gas fireplace, rich wood gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances, gas range. Bonus microwave hood fan, D/W, s/s fridge, freezer with ice and water, granite countertop, security and central vacuum rough-in. Close to schools, parks, shopping center. 2-5-10 NEW HOME Warranty.
Clothes Washer/Dryer/Fridge/Stove/DW, Disposal - Waste, Drapes/Window Coverings, Microwave, Security System, Smoke Alarm, Stove, Vacuum R.I.


Hopefully this will happen again next year, and we'll see what we can do to help out; they had need of volunteers behind the scenes, I should mention, as well as folks who could do improv as part of the schtick, so I'll ask about both roles for next year as well as how we can get in with a demo, if possible.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on May 19, 2015 by webminister.
Please join us TODAY, Monday, 27 April, for this year's final meeting of the Workshop in the History of Material Texts. We will convene at our usual time and place: 5:15pm in the Class of 1978 Pavilion in the Kislak Center on the 6th Floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.
The Provenance Online Project, or POP, presents material marks left in books by former owners in a digital environment. The project contains over 12,000 images and crowdsources information about these images of provenance evidence. As POP begins to expand to include images outside of Penn, the potential for quickly and easily comparing provenance marks in books from multiple libraries at once will increasingly open up potential new avenues for scholarship.
One area that offers especially rich information is the study of early modern women's provenance marks, which have much to tell us about what women from the 15th to the early 18th centuries owned and read, and how they used books. However, little attention has been paid specifically to studying women's provenance marks and they can often be hard to effectively locate in library catalog records. This presentation will provide a brief introduction to POP as a project, and then focus on the challenges and discoveries that have come out of searching for and examining pre-1750 women's provenance marks both as they appear in material texts and in digital form at Penn Libraries, the Library Company, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
All are welcome! Please forward this email widely to any who might be interested. Those who do not hold University of Pennsylvania ID cards should bring another form of photo identification in order to enter the library building.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 27, 2015 by webminister.
It will be at the usual spot, 36th & Locust walk.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 24, 2015 by webminister.
If anyone is interested in a group trip to the Piffaro/Laughing Bird concert of vocal and instrumental Italian Renaissance music on either Friday, May 15 or Saturday, May 16, with discounted tickets, please speak up now (see info below). Also, if members of the Hartshorn-dale, Buckland Cross, and Caer Adamant lists could pass this along to those groups, I'd appreciate it!
I heard Laughing Bird the last time they performed with members of Piffaro, and it was an *amazing* experience — I highly recommend this upcoming concert if you enjoy vocal music, instrumental music, or both. In addition, there will be a reception following the concert, in honor both of de Rore's birthday and the end of the annual Piffaro season. We've been invited to attend in garb, if we'd like.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 23, 2015 by webminister.
Does anyone need a ride to either Coronation on Sat 4/11 or Noisemakers on Sat 4/18? There are rides available, and there is free parking at both sites, but the Coronation parking might be street parking a few blocks away, depending on how fast the site's parking lot fills up. So carpooling is encouraged. If you need a ride, sing out!
Both sites are also very easy to get to via SEPTA.
Saturday 4/11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
SEPTA: From 69th Street Terminal, take the 101 Media trolley to the Providence Road station. Walk south (turn left) down South Providence Road. You'll cross Baltimore Pike, and on your left, you'll pass Beatty Road, Allen Lane, Locust Lane, then turn left onto Plush Mill Road. Walk one block to the site.
Saturday 4/18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
SEPTA: From 69th Street Terminal, take the 101 Media trolley to the Thomson Avenue station. Walk north (turn right) up West Thomson Avenue. On your right, you'll pass Lewis Road. The next street is West Sproul Road. Cross the street, turn right, and walk one-half block to the site.
Thanks!! See you at the events!!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 9, 2015 by webminister.
During this week there will be a series of events to commemorate Richard III's reinterment. We'll be bringing you updates as they happen throughout the week on our Twitter feed. You don't need to have a Twitter account to view these, but if you do use Twitter we'd love to hear your views throughout the week too, using the hashtag #FLRichardIII.
There will be a family open day at the University of Leicester, with medieval and scientific events for all ages, together with talks from many of the people involved in the discovery and identification of the King's remains.
The remains of King Richard III will be placed in a coffin in the University, and a brief ceremony will bid farewell to the King as he leaves. The hearse will then travel to Fenn Lane Farm, reputedly the site of King Richard's death, before moving onto Dadlington and Sutton Cheney churches.
There will be a short ceremony at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, before his journey back to Leicester via Market Bosworth, Newbold Verdon and Desford.
The King's remains will re-enter the city at Bow Bridge, before travelling to Leicester Cathedral in a horse-drawn hearse.
The remains of Richard III will be received into Leicester Cathedral for a 'Service of Compline for the Reception of the Remains of King Richard III' This service is by invitation only. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, will preach.
Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public to view the coffin of King Richard III.
Cardinal Nichols will celebrate Mass for the repose of the soul (a 'Requiem Mass') of Richard III in Holy Cross Church, the Catholic parish church and Dominican priory in Leicester city centre, at 5pm GMT. The Choir from St Barnabas' Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Nottingham, will sing at this Mass, which will be open to the public.
Dominican friars will sing Vespers, the Catholic Church's evening service, in Leicester Cathedral.
Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public to view the coffin of King Richard III (morning only).
Father David Rocks OP, the parish priest of Holy Cross Parish, will preach at the lunchtime Eucharist in Leicester Cathedral.
The Cathedral will be closed on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for the service on Thursday.
The mortal remains of Richard III will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral, with an invited congregation and in the presence of the Most Rt Revd Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and senior clergy from both dioceses, and other Christian denominations alongside representatives of the World Faiths.
Invited people from across the city of Leicester and the county of Leicestershire will gather in the Cathedral to mark the end of King Richard's journey and the sealed tomb will be revealed to the public.
Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public as normal to view the sealed tomb of King Richard III.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on March 19, 2015 by webminister.
If you're interested in attending the Bardic Blast & Winter Feast in Wilmington on Saturday, 3/7, and need a ride, please let me know. There are car spaces available, but please make sure to send in your preregistration ASAP before it sells out. http://caer-adamant.eastkingdom.org/winter-bardic-blast/ Please let me know if you have any questions, need to borrow Renaissance clothing or a place setting, or would like a ride.
Lots of Royal Court and interesting ceremony. Merchants. Yummy medieval lunch!
Classes on Renaissance music and medieval heraldry. Poetry contest. Children's Activities. Delicious Renaissance lunch!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on February 27, 2015 by webminister.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on February 20, 2015 by webminister.
Hail, Bhakail! Ave, Ivy! Bonjorn, Icorn! Greetings, old friends and new!
Final reminder that I'm shortly picking up our tickets for Drexel University's 25th annual Madrigal Dinner at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 2/27/14.
There's a yummy Elizabethanish dinner and then an hour or so of madrigals and chansons performed by Drexel's Chamber Singers, all dressed in late period. The tickets are $19.95 each since we're getting the group discount.
Most of us will be wearing garb to the Madrigal Dinner/Concert, and we'll be reserving a long table so we can sit together.
If you'll be attending, please let me know so we can hold a seat for you.
There is no free parking at Drexel (32nd & Chestnut), but there are some pay parking lots and meter street parking nearby, and it's very easy to get to via SEPTA.
Let me know if you need me to pick up your ticket(s)! Thanks!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on February 12, 2015 by webminister.
Once again, Bhakail has shown itself to be full of creative, talented, slightly foolish (I'm looking at you Ian), and generous folks. Baroness Sabine de Kerbriant, Lady Margretha la Fauvelle (honorary Bhakaili) and Lord Ian Douglas all supplied entertainment throughout the day, as judges and royals went about the business of selecting new bardic champions. Ian courageously put his neck on the line for the entertainment of our Queen. He managed to make it out with his head still attached, no Bhakailies were banished and the crowds were mightily entertained, so I count that as a successful performance. Ian also made an fine retainer on a day when I was particularly difficult to retain for.
Sabine and Margarita were, as always, a joy to both see and hear. They graciously stayed after the event to hold a demo/concert for some of the folks who regularly use the senior center. I was able to overhear some of the comments after the concert, and it was well received. One of the folks even stole a poster from the show!
As some of you know, Mistress Alys Mackyntoich received her Laurel at this event, and to her we say congratulations. And I would like to let folks know about her processional. Lord Martyn de Halliwell wrote her an original composition, Sabine played it, and many other Bhakailies wearing masks made just for the occasion were part of the processional. All of this assisted in creating a ceremony that was lovely and transformative.Thank you to all those who participated.
But on to Bardic. Although no Bhakailies entered this year, some friends of Bhakail did. Congratulations to Mistress Judith FitzHenry and Lady Katrusha Skomorakh made it to the finals with three rounds of fantastic performances. They did not make the judge's jobs any easier. In the end Lady Ysemay Sterling is replacing our own Martyn as King's bard and Master William the Alchemist is now the Queen's bard. Lady Astrid Failen created a beautiful scroll for Ysemay.
Martyn was also inducted into the Order of the Maunche on Saturday with a lovely and comical scroll created by Lord Reijnier Verplanck.
I would also like to send a special thank you to Baroness Scheherazade who assisted me with some back trouble. You made the day more bearable.
One final note – I often hear, from folks who know about these things, that Bhakailies are always enthusiastic, energetic, and fun wherever they are, and whatever they are doing. These traits are noticed and appreciated by folks far and near, and most especially by me. I never tire of seeing all the good works you do.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on February 5, 2015 by webminister.
Arranging a fabric-buying field trip before the Rus garb workshops?
On Saturday 1/10 at 1 p.m., a few of us will be meeting at Jack B. Fabrics at 748 South 4th Street (4th and Fitzwater – a few blocks south of South Street) in Philadelphia to purchase fabric for the medieval Russian garb workshop series starting on Monday, 1/12.
Whether you're attending the garb workshop(s) or not, you are welcome to join us for this fabric-shopping field trip. There are several other fabric stores on 4th Street between Fitzwater and South Streets, so if we don't find what we need at Jack B., then we're sure to at one of the other nearby stores.
The # 57 bus stops across the street from this store, and there are several pay parking lots and garages within a few blocks (mostly closer to South Street or on 3rd Street), if you're unable to find a meter parking spot.
Sunday, December 14, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 20, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Aspiring young knights and ladies are invited to complete a series of noble tasks. Design a family coat of arms, decorate a crown, learn sword fighting movements and follow clues on a quest throughout the museum. Participants will be honored in a knighting ceremony at the conclusion of the program. Designed for children accompanied by an adult. $6, members; $12 adults, $8 children; free for ages 2 and under, includes museum admission. Tickets limited; reserve online or by calling the museum shop at 610.388.8326.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on December 10, 2014 by webminister.
Would you like to help the East, enjoy the beautiful work of our kingdom's artisans or share the unique aspects of the SCA with others? Want to explain what you do on your weekends to relatives? Show a friend why they should come to an event? Enjoy the beauty of your hobby in the middle of your work days? Order The Labours of The East, a 2015 calendar or note cards!
The calendar was created by the East's scribes to support the Royal Travel Fund. Each month features a poem about an SCA activity with an illumination. The poetry is by Master Christian von Jaueregk. The magnificent scribal and calligraphic art is by Mistress Rhonwen glyn Conwy; Lady Lada Monguligin; Lady Sakura'i no Kesame; Mistress Eleanore MacCarthaigh; Mistress Ro Honig von Summerfeldt with Mistress Carolyne de laPointe; Mistress Eva Woderose; Lady Palotzi Marti; Baroness Emma Makilmone; Dona Camille des Jardins with Mistress Carolyne de la Pointe; Dona Isabel Chamberlaine; Mistress Khioniya Nikolaevna Ryseva;and Lady Lisabetta Medalia with Mistress Eleanor Catlyng.
Bhakail has sponsored the month of September which is about Brewing, with an illumination by Doña Camille des Jardins.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on October 15, 2014 by webminister.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on October 13, 2014 by webminister.