text:
What is the Future of Hotels Now that Millennials are the Largest Generation (in the U.S.)?
By Marc Stephen Shuster Partner, Berger Singerman | May 03, 2015
Co-authored by Barry D. Lapides, Partner, Berger Singerman
Whether it is Hyatt Centric, Canopy by Hilton, AC Hotels by Marriot, Vib by Best Western Hotel, Radisson Red, or OE Collection from Loews Hotels, established hotel chains are deploying a new strategy to address the ever growing buying power of Millennials. These chains are creating new brands that specifically cater to Millennials. In fact, besides the established Hotel companies, new chains are being (or have been) created to address the Millennial generation (or there corporate ownership is being disguised). Think Virgin Hotels, Moxy Hotels (another hotel concept from Marriot), Tommie Hotels (by Commune Hotels and Resorts) and Kimpton Hotels (now owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group). The focus on Millennials by Hotel companies is not just a U.S. trend; it's worldwide. India-based Park Hotels created Zone to focus on Millennials. Same with Europe-based City Living that created the Student Hotel with four (4) locations in Europe. The Middle East has Venu from Jumeirah Hotels. And Asia is also in the game: Shimao Group based out of Shanghai is creating two new flags: MiniMax Hotels and MiniMax Premier Hotels and Shangri-La Hotels is converting all of their Traders Hotels into Hotel Jen, which will be Millennial friendly. All of the foregoing are simply examples of how hotels are not only recognizing but catering to Millennials.
So who are Millennials? Millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y, are individuals who generally reached adulthood around the turn of the 21st century. According to an October 2014 report by The Council of Economic Advisors for the President of the United States (the "Report"), they comprise the largest and most diverse segment in the U.S. population. They are the first generation to have had access to the Internet during their entire lifetime, and this translates into the fact that Millennials grew up in an electronics-filled and increasingly online and socially-networked world. Due to this, Millennials expect an instantaneous connection to the Internet and, because of that, their real world blends into the online world, expecting instant gratification online and offline. According to the Report, Millennials value quality of life and experiences and that is why 20th century Hotels just can't compete. More importantly, Millennials came of age during the Great Recession and this impacts how they save and spend their money. According to the Report, the Great Recession can impact future earnings of this group; however, because Millennials are the most educated generation in history, this may counterbalance any adverse effects emanating from the Great Recession.
So what are hotels doing to attract Millennials? First and perhaps foremost, Millennials expect free (and high speed) Internet access. Consequently, if a hotel does not provide free Internet service (something which is today becoming increasingly aberrational) and that Hotel is lucky enough to attract a Millennial, chances are better than not that Millennials will simply go someplace that does have free Internet service (e.g., the local Starbucks). That's why according to The Wall Street Journal, most budget and limited service hotels provide free Internet service while luxury hotels are still perhaps mistakenly using Internet service as an additional revenue source.
A hybrid approach is seen with the likes of Marriott and Starwood, which are using free Internet service as a loyalty inducement (e.g., provided the customer is in the hotel's loyalty rewards program, that customer will receive a certain level of free Internet service). However, the general point here cannot be overemphasized: Millenials require free and easy Internet access. We know this is true because there are even significant movements afoot to disband with cellphone carriers and go completely off of Wi-Fi, wherever so located. And although that may be somewhat unrealistic for now, why is this notion important? Because Millennials value socialization (think about their connectivity online) and hotels that do not have free Internet access is bound to lose out to Millennials spending money in the hotel.
For instance, Caesars Entertainment is repositioning and renovating the recently renovated Quad Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas into the LINQ Hotel with Millennials in mind. Tariq Shaukat, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Caesars Entertainment, is quoted as saying "The resort will provide guests with a highly social and connected environment, with all of the great restaurants, shops and experiences available at the LINQ Promenade right at their fingertips." The phrase "highly social and connected environment" is directed at exactly what Millennials want and expect out of their Hotels.
Distribution Strategies - Emerging Challenges for Revenue Managers
By Trevor Stuart-Hill, President & Founder, Revenue Matters
Ensuring Your Hire Won't Ruin Your Culture
By Zoe Connolly, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Hospitality Spotlight
Old Cockroaches Learn New Tricks
By Frank Meek, International Technical & Training Director, Orkin, LLC
Hotel and Resort Spa Feasibility - Why We Need it?
By Peter Anderson, Founder, Anderson & Associates
Top Government Incentives for Greening Your Hotel
By Arthur Weissman, President and CEO, Green Seal, Inc.
The Duniway Hotel: Why Portland is Bold and Unafraid of Change
By Ryan Kunzer, General Manager, The Duniway, a Hilton Hotel
The Hospitality Borrowers' Approach to the CMBS Work-out Dilemma
By Marc Stephen Shuster, Partner, Berger Singerman
Credit Card Security:Primer on PCI Compliance
By Bob Carr, Chairman & CEO, Heartland Payment Systems
Maximizing Sustainability in Hotel, Resort, and Casino Properties
What is Behind the Gyrations of the World Economy and Where is It Going?


The selectbox element enhances a default HTML selectbox and styles it to fall in line with other dizmoElements.
Everything should work as it does on a default selectbox. The change event is being propagated, so you can just use the default event to interact with the element. It only works on select elements. If the underlying element changes, a call to the update function is required.


LINCOLN, Neb. — This is Year 3 for Mike Riley, and it's a big one. Can he get the program over the hump? There are a lot of moving parts, with a new pro-style quarterback and 3-4 defense. A lot will have to come together.
Here are five things I learned at Cornhusker practice on Tuesday.
1. This offense will have a different look. Tanner Lee, a Tulane transfer, stands tall in the pocket and shows accuracy in what will be a more West Coast attack that will incorporate passes to RBs. Bottom line: Get playmakers in space. The days of the quarterback run game being a big part of the Nebraska offense are basically over. Lee lacks any legit wheels, so the opportunity to extend plays with his feet will be minimal. That means the line has to do a good job protecting Lee and give him time. Lee looked good on this day, throwing some nice passes. He has poise in the pocket and remains cool under pressure. True freshman Tristan Gebbia is turning heads and may have a good shot to be the No. 2 man over Patrick O'Brien.
2. The new 3-4 defense looks good. I like the projected starters up front: Junior Mick Stoltenberg — who moved from defensive tackle to nose in the spring — along with ends Freedom Akinmoladun and Carlos Davis, who has the most upside of any NU lineman. But Stoltenberg was out today, watching in shorts. He probably is the best lineman right now. Akinmoladun began his career as a tight end and has a burst. He looks good, possessing a powerful base. Depth is coming along with Peyton Newell and Khalil Davis. DaiShon Neal was out today. Damian Jackson is a 25-year-old former Navy SEAL. Frosh Deontre Thomas is a young NG to watch, and keep an eye on Ben Stille and Damion Daniels. This unit is coached by the ultra-intense former Husker John Parrella.
3. For this new 3-4 to work, the linebackers need to play well. And, they look good. I like Dedrick Young, who projects to start along with Chris Weber, Marcus Newby and Luke Gifford. This is a big, tough and athletic bunch. They move well, and they need to make plays all over the field. The inside tandem of Young and Weber is the strength of the LB unit.
4. It will be interesting to see how the running back slot sorts out. Devine Ozigbo, Tre Bryant and Mikale Wilbon all look good. Ozigbo has trimmed down by losing weight. He looks good and is running well. He has power. I like Bryant a lot. He's the most complete back of the options for a Husker attack that is looking to replace Terrell Newby. Wilbon is the shiftiest of the bunch. Keep an eye on true freshman Jaylin Bradley. He could make a move in this derby. These guys are going to have to catch the ball, as the screen game will be a big part of the offense. The staff would like one guy to emerge as the top ball carrier, but no one has separated themselves yet. Stay tuned. My pick: Bryant.
5. The offensive line has a lot to show. Left guard Jerald Foster is legit. And he lines up next to another top talent in tackle Nick Gates. The right side of the line has power in guard Tanner Farmer and tackle David Knevel, one of the most imposing players in the Big Ten at 6-9, 315. Boe Wilson is pushing Farmer. Cole Conrad is looking good at center but is getting pushed by Michael Decker. Matt Farniok is the third tackle. It's vital for this group to get a push in the ground game to take pressure off new QB Tanner Lee. The staff likes freshman Brenden Jaimes, but he may redshirt.
BTN Bus Tour #Huskers LOS looked improved but hard to tell watching one practice and no inside run drill.


Our Heartland Fundraising Candles are premium, high quality candles. They are all hand-made in the USA, using only the finest ingredients.
Because they are natural, 100% soy wax candles, for a clean, non-toxic candle, you will truly enjoy every moment of having them in your home. Every ingredient is American made, meaning you get a true American product.
Candles sell for $10.00 to $20.00.
We can help you put together custom fragrances, unique containers, stylish packaging, and develop the right products suited to your group's needs. We have low minimum orders and short lead times.
The group leader should give us a call to place your Candle order, we will let you know how much you owe & how much your profit is, you will only send us the amount you owe;.
We will let you know the delivery date and you can tell us where the delivery location is.
You keep your Profit. Your PROFIT never leaves your hand!


Go back to the very basics and remind yourself why you're where you are and why you enjoy doing what you do. This should kick-start your inspiration and push you toward the completion of a particular task.
Being around and looking at the same dull things every day can really drain the creativity and inspiration out of a person. When this is the case, it's a good idea to change up where you are. Try going for a walk or working in a café. The new scene may reinvigorate the mind.
Adopting a positive mind-set can make all the difference when it comes to being motivated at work. I know it's easier said than done but focusing on the positives can make a huge difference.
Remember that positivity spreads like wildfire. By being around people that inhibit a positive mind-set, you're more likely to respond to the good energy and complete tasks in a motivated fashion.
All good things take time and that goes for someone's motivation too. If you're having trouble regaining that lost motivation then don't worry, it sometimes takes some time before it returns. The best thing to do would be to avoid getting frustrated and be patient. It'll come back eventually!
These a just a few points that you can follow to ensure you regain that motivation. If none of these seem to work, try broadening your methods and try something new that could revive your mind. For example, try painting, writing or exercising to get those creative juices flowing. From there, you may find inspiration to carry on working. Remember to choose the method that suits you and you'll be sure to find that lost motivation.


text:
  <p <?= $this-> tagPlay('list_element') ?> ng-init="rows = getChildren(rows, row)">
      <?= $this-> block('element') ?>

  <ul<?= $this->tagPlay('ul') ?> style="list-style:none">
      <li<?= $this-> tagPlay('repeat_element') ?> ng-include="'element_container'">

<? /*

  <p <?= $this-> tagPlay('list_element') ?>>
      <?= $this-> block('element') ?>

  <ul<?= $this->tagPlay('ul') ?> style="list-style:none" ng-as-template="list_container">
      <li<?= $this-> tagPlay('repeat_element') ?> ng-include="'element_container'">

<div<?= $this-> tagPlay('list_container') ?> ng-include="'list_container'">

  <ul<?= $this->tagPlay('ul') ?> style="list-style:none">
    <li<?= $this-> tagPlay('repeat_element') ?> ng-include="'mytemplate'">

*/ ?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Today you turned 17 years old. Wow! Where has the time gone? It seems as though just yesterday I was changing your diapers. As I look at you today, I get kinda emotional because I am soooo extremely proud of the young man that you've become. You have always been such a good kid growing up. I watch you open doors for every female you see (even if they take a long time getting to the door lol 😆), how you are there for me the entire time when I'm not feeling well, how excited you get over funny or not so funny youtube videos😂, how you swear that you have the best dance moves ever in life, and how your maturing and thinking differently. Oh and have I told you how much I love to hear you sing/ rap your favorite songs? You have excellent taste in music, you have never been in any kind of trouble in school or out of school, you make friends easily and everyone loves you once they meet you. I look forward to watching you continue to grow and mature into the man you have chosen to become in this life. I love you and I really appreciate your spirit. Its so genuine and real. Im glad to be your mom.


#180 The AI Economy FWD to a friend.
It is a bumper summer issue this week as it is a public holiday on Monday for many readers. Enjoy at your leisure.
📈 Alibaba as a model of the future of business: "Alibaba's special innovation, we realized, was that we were truly building an ecosystem: a community of organisms (businesses and consumers of many types) interacting with one another and the environment (the online platform and the larger offline physical elements). Our strategic imperative was to make sure that the platform provided all the resources, or access to the resources, that an online business would need to succeed, and hence supported the evolution of the ecosystem."
💨 We've reached peak car and it heralds the end of an industry say Stefan Nicola and Elisabeth Behrmann. A good survey of attitudes to car ownership (down, even in Germany) and the growth of alternative mobility models (think fleet networks) and how incumbent car firms are trying to pivot into them.
increasing risk "that innovation and investment may ultimately fall after an initial spike as industries become highly concentrated and big companies rest on their laurels.
There are clearly policy considerations and not just the risk of excessive market power (and for various reasons most of the activities of these superstar firms fall outside the American framing of antitrust), but also emergent social and political risk from a barbelling economy.
Many of these superstar firms are AI at their heart, taking advantage of the data network effects Steve Cohen refers to above. And they are streets ahead of old economy companies, which were the stars of the past decades.
To help understand how far ahead the Internet superstars who have understood that "models are eating the world", have a read of the detailed CB Insights overview of the main tendrils of Google's strategy of turning itself into an AI company.
Bill Gates reviews one of the books that has most impacted my thinking in the past year, Capitalism with Capital by EV subscribers, Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake.
Mariarosaria Taddeo & Luciano Floridi: making a AI a force for good. Excellent framework for understanding how to design the ethics & value systems for an AI future.
This is amazing. The algorithmic gaze: art which depicts the world the way algorithms do.
Nice survey of AI design typologies by Gideon Rosenblatt.
Many years ago, I used Amazon's Mechanical Turk extensively to generate training data for classification systems. Turkers have become the de facto standard for producing gold standard data. Now researchers have discovered that bots, rather than humans, might increasingly be doing the work.
👀 DeepMind's team successfully applies a novel DL architecture in assessments of retinal diseases, training the model on only 14,884 scans. See also from DeepMind, AI autonomously controls Google's data centre cooling.
What went wrong with IBM Watson? It was never meant to really work.
We know that cyberspace and the firms in them are blurring the traditional boundaries of national sovereignty, and none more so than in cyber warfare.
This stellar story goes behind the scenes of the Netpetya cyber attack, most likely an assault by Russia's Sandworm hacker group on Ukrainian infrastructure, which rapidly spread and debilitated large firms like Merck and Maersk, and inflicting an estimated $10bn of damage. This is all about negative spillovers.
Russian trolls are sowing vaccine disinformation across twitter.
Understanding Facebook content moderation. Super reportage by Joseph Cox on how the firm is trying to "fix the mess [its] worldview and business model has created, without changing the worldview of business model itself." Can this circle be squared?
Large-scale incidents of violence in India have been triggered by the circulation of fake messages on WhatsApp. Ravi Shankar Prasad, a senior Indian government minister, is arguing for WhatsApp to take more steps to comply with local laws.
And, finally, a revealing read about the ways poverty is privatised, increasingly with the help of technology.
A luxuriant profile of how TripAdvisor, used by 1 in 16 humans every month, has changed travel (mostly for the better, in my view). Great details of its struggles with scale and trust.
Chinese bike startups are reversing out of many Western markets.
Alcohol probably isn't as bad for you as a new Lancet study recently suggested. Critical tear down by David Spiegelhalter.
🏗 Swiss startup wants to store excess energy using concrete blocks and cranes.
Global off-grid renewable energy capacity tripled between 2008 and 2017.
🥗 Nearly 10% of the Canadian population is vegan or vegetarian. See also: if everyone in the US ate beans instead of beef, the country would meet its greenhouse-gas emissions goals by 2020.
♀♂Ubang, a Nigerian village where men and women have different languages.
A female who died around 90,000 years ago was half Neanderthal and half Denisovan.
Weaning electric cars off cobalt.
Dan Wang's essay on optimism is my one recommended must-read in this week's bumper issue of Exponential View. He articulates a very similar point to my core thesis: that in order to make sensible decisions we need to understand the technologies and how they can be assembled into meaningful systems, and the importance of "process knowledge" is being able to imagine and realise positive futures. Try to find some time to take it in.
I'm restarting the Exponential View podcast in a few weeks. Most of the season has been recorded, but it isn't too late for you to introduce me to potential guests. Just drop me mail. Incidentally, I love hearing from you. I know, due to volume of email, it sometimes takes a few weeks for me to reply, but the twitter channel (@azeem) is also a good way to connect with me.
🏖 Sending this from a beach in Spain. How is that for commitment to the cause?
P.S. Share EV with your network: email at least two colleagues, tweet about this issue or post it on Linkedin.


text:
Le Louvre, Bateau-mouche sur la Seine
Eugène Chigot
Valenciennes 1860 - 1923 Paris
Oil on wood panel, 12 1/2 x 15 3/4 in. (32 x 40 cm). Signed lower right. Housed in a handcarved period frame, size 20.08 x 23.43 in. (51 x 59,5 cm).
Price: € 5,500 / $ 6,500 free global shipping to most destinations
A rare Paris view with an attractive subject by Chigot.
Even today, many excursion boats are cruising the Seine to view the known attractions like the Louvre and the Pont Royal.
Clearly to be seen the painting was done en plein air, performed immediately prior to the subject. The artists rough sketch in pencil is still recognizable , partly with the composition.
Chigot Eugene was born in 1860 in Valenciennes.
His father, Alphonse, a military painter, was his first teacher, but also the one who was trying to dissuade from entering the artist's career. Eugène Chigot was certain that it was his calling to be an artist.
From 1872 he studied at the Collège Notre-Dame des Dunes, Dunkirk, where he met Henri Le Sidaner with whom he entertained a lifelong friendship.
In 1879 the artist Alfred Roll (1846 - 1919) visited his father in his shop and saw a still life by the hand of the young Chigot. He was thrilled and convinced his father, to send Eugène to Paris.
So Eugène Chigot visited in 1880 the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and studied in the studios of Cabanel, Bonnat and Vayson.
Mid-1880s, he discovered with his old friend Henri Le Sidaner the picturesque coastal town of Etaples on the so-called Opal Coast, south of Calais. There have been Daubigny and Eugene Boudin painted occasionally. But should there arise a true artist colony that in later years also attracted well-known American artists.
After successful exhibitions that had helped him to a certain celebrity, he was appointed in 1891 as one of the few official marine painters.
Following Chigot also spent fruitful years in Le Touquet, Dunkirk and Petit Fort Philippe. Finally, in 1908 he settled in his Paris studio, 9 rue de Bagneux down. As early as 1903 he had founded in Paris, together with such artists as Dufy, Cézanne and others the Salon d'Automne in Paris.
Again and again he came back in the summer months in the northern French coast, and had his motives in this area as well as the Parisian scenes equally great success at the various exhibitions in Paris.
His memory and artistic work is now maintained by the Association des Amis d'Eugène Chigot in Touquet.
2008 was held a major retrospective at the Musée de France Le Touquet Paris-Plage. That same year, the authoritative monograph by Antoine Descheemaeker, the grandnephew of the artist, entitled "Eugene Chigot, Itinéraires".
MONOGRAPH: Antoine Descheemaeker "E. Chigot, Itinéraires," Posada, Touquet, 2008
ARTIST DICTIONARIES: Thieme-Becker, Bénézit, Saur, Schurr-Cabanne
Musées d'Amiens et d'Arras; Musée de Berck, Musée de Charleville, Musée Antoine Vivenel de Compiègne,Musée Quentovic Etaples, Musée du Touquet, Musée de Lille, Musée de Limoux, Musée du Luxembourg et du Petit-Palais (Paris); Musées de Mâcon, de Nantes, Rouen, Toulon, de Tourcoing; Indianapolis Museum of art – Indiana – USA .
Global shipping available. Please contact us if you are interested in purchasing this Eugène Chigot Paris view or other artwork from the Post-impressionism era.
french hand-carved period frame

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Sly Stallone Says Rambo 5 Was Hard on His Body
Sylvester Stallone Says Rambo 5 Did 'a Lot of Damage' to His Body While Filming
The 72-year-old legend is back in the gym and ready to "fix things."
By Philip Ellis Published: Mar 11, 2019
Andreas Rentz//Getty Images
Action movie legend Sylvester Stallone is back in the gym, recovering from the shoot for Rambo 5: Last Blood. In an Instagram post, the 72-year-old actor said that last year's grueling filming schedule in Bulgaria did "a lot of damage" which he's now working to repair—and he's doing it with a positive attitude.
"It's been a long time since I've been in the gym because I've been out there doing Rambo, which caused a lot of damage. So now I've got to fix things," he said.
"Coming back here, let's face it, it's not easy," he continued. "Who wouldn't rather be in bed just relaxing a little bit? But listen. Life is like a movie; you got to star in your own feature. And if you want to play the lead, you got to get out there and go after it."
Pretty good advice, Sly. "See you soon," he signed off, "and keep pumping."
According to the film's official synopsis, "Rambo teams up with a journalist to track down and rescue a group of local girls that have been kidnapped by a Mexican sex trafficking ring, after trying to settle down to a quiet peaceful life stateside at the family ranch in Arizona after spending decades abroad."
Rambo 5: Last Blood will be released on September 20.
Philip Ellis
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
Beyoncé Announces 'Renaissance' World Tour
Here's How You Can Watch This Year's Super Bowl
How to Watch 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'
Here's Where 'Poker Face' Actually Filmed
Fans Lose It After Tom Brady Retires From NFL
The 21 Sexiest Movies on Netflix Right Now
The 30 Best Anime Shows of All Time
The Wild Story Behind the Pam and Tommy Sex Tape
15 Must-See Shows That Make Paramount+ Worth It
What We Know About Taylor Sheridan's 'Lioness'
Here's the True Story Behind 'Tulsa King'


text:
A saint-martini labdarúgó-válogatott Franciaország tengeren túli területéhez, Guadeloupe-hoz tartozó sziget francia felének labdarúgócsapata, amelyet a saint-martini labdarúgó-szövetség (franciául: Comité de Football des Îles du Nord) irányít. Mivel Guadeloupe, így Saint-Martin is Franciaország része, nem lehet a Nemzetközi Labdarúgó-szövetség tagja, így nem indulhat a labdarúgó-világbajnokság tornáin sem. A CONCACAF-tag nemzet labdarúgó-válogatottja 2001 óta vesz részt a CONCACAF-aranykupa selejtezőin, ahonnan továbbjutniuk még nem sikerült.

Története

Korábbi mérkőzések 2008-ban

Még nem játszottak mérkőzést 2008-ban.

Következő mérkőzések
Nincs pontos időpontra lekötött mérkőzésük.

CONCACAF-aranykupa-szereplés
 1991 – 2000: Nem indult.
 2002 – 2007: Nem jutott be.

Lásd még
 Sint Maarten-i labdarúgó-válogatott

Külső hivatkozások
 Saint-Martin a CONCACAF.com-on
 Saint-Martin mérkőzéseinek eredményei az rsssf.com-on
 Saint-Martin mérkőzéseinek eredményei az EloRatings.net-en
 Saint-Martin a national-football-teams.com-on

Észak-amerikai labdarúgó-válogatottak
Saint-Martin sportélete

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Willkommen zum Brief aus dem Vereinigten Königreich.
As this Letter is written, I know that Nathan Norgel's newest show on Crossroad Cafe at radio98eins is a 'Women In The Blues' special. In the UK, the DJ who most celebrates women in Blues music is Kevin Black with his Black on Blues podcast (http://blackonblues.com/) which frequently showcases the ladies of the Blues.
Those ladies have been important since the earliest days, with performers like Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith, through to the latest crop, which include fierce guitar players like Joanne Shaw Taylor and Chantel McGregor. Nor are women confined to vocals and guitar. Victoria Smith is a well-known bassist; Katie Bradley both sings and blows the harmonica. In Detroit, Layla Hall of P-A-U-L and the Detroit Breakdown is an exciting drummer, as is Donna Peters of a (frequently) very loud and very good British act, Albany Down. Of contemporary British vocalists, Connie Lush has been much respected for many years, and younger ones are coming though, such as Laura Holland, Malaya Blue, and more. Behind the scenes, there are ladies who do a great job in other ways. Organise festivals – Colne. Do PR for and with acts – Half Deaf Clatch. More and more could be thought up who make costumes, or are the bookers at venues, and so on and on. So, the women in Blues don't just deserve a Special, they are Special. It is good news that there is a documentary on the subject coming – see https://www.facebook.com/pages/Women-in-Blues/1533486130241267?fref=nf.
So I was pleased to see that the Indie B movement which is aiming to provide a hot new identity for the Blues has a T-shirt for the ladies as well as for men. Way to go, Indie B. They have a competition ending on 1st May with Reverbnation that should be of interest to musicians as well.
Seid glücklich und erfreut Euch an Eurer Live-Musik und allem was Deutsch ist!


Self-Help has made more than $1.2 billion in loans to businesses, nonprofits and community development projects. That experience means we know how to make your loan a success, even for complex or unusual projects.
We offer commercial loans for $250,000 and up, with no maximum project size. We consider applications for all kinds of businesses and projects, but we specialize in sectors like green businesses, renewable energy, charter schools, healthy-foods businesses and more.
Need a loan for less than $250,000? Check out our small business loans.
Loans generally limited to projects located in California, North Carolina, Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Contact us to discuss exceptions.
In Northern/Central California: Jeremy Hofer at Jeremy.Hofer@self-help.org or 559.708.0687.
In Southern California: Veronica Saldana at VSaldana@self-help.org or 323.977.8884.


Car mirrorlink  mirabox-5g. Dc 12v. Mirabox car. Dz1304-00b. Bluetooth radiator. Bluetooth wireless speaker music receiver. Wireless speakers tv. Dx0005. Q3386-q3391. Earpods wireless.
Function 6: Cassiterite mineral. Voltage regulator. Abs, uv painted. Car mirrorlink. 3.5mm trrs female. Output current: Function 1: Z1z76y. 111869. Retail box: Dz0282. Playstation games 2. Android box car. 3.5mm portable usb wireless bluetooth receiver. 150mbps. Portable wireless bluetooth csr 4.0 dongle adapter. Bluetooth music transmitter & receiverMusic recording mixers.
Support device: Blutooth receiver charging input voltage: Free shipping: Download unifying software. Wholesale adapter faucet. Fm antenna. Built-in recharging battery: Szkoston. Wireless bluetooth receiver speaker. Micro sim goodtalk.


Coinmarketcap (CMC), the web's most popular cryptocurrency tracker website, has responded to accusations that it is implicit in supporting clean trading. This week, a system termed Crypto Trade Ranks published specific allegations of how CMC incentivizes exchanges to report phony quantity. In a new web site post, Coinmarketcap has specific its perseverance to assist "transparency and clarity".
As news.Bitcoin.com reported yesterday, Coinmarketcap has been having flak for blindly publishing suspicious information from particular crypto exchanges. The exchange at the middle of the furore on this event was a minor-known system termed Bitforex that virtually no one particular experienced read of until finally lately. As a result of clean trading – concurrently buying and marketing on its individual system to produce the illusion of significant quantity – Bitforex managed to leapfrog into the prime ten according to CMC's rankings.
Even while we test our finest to confirm the information with the exchanges on our internet site, we are not in the apply of censoring or policing other individuals. In an open up ecosystem like the one particular we are in, we imagine that the finest policy – that we abide by carefully – is to around-deliver on information and enable end users make their individual informed choices about what to do with that information.
Acknowledging that some entities are blatantly gaming the procedure, CMC goes on to make clear its decision to take away least quantity needs for exchanges. What this suggests, in apply, is that platforms are not demanded to reach a least trade quantity to be detailed on the internet site. It is hoped that this will prevent exchanges from inflating quantity to meet up with CMC's entry criteria. The internet site is also introducing actions this sort of as 7-day and 30-day quantity metrics that are made to prevent the likes of Bitforex from gaming the procedure.
The crypto monitoring website has stopped small of promising an outright ban or downgrade for exchanges that produce blatantly phony quantity, concluding: "Our philosophy is to deliver as a great deal facts as achievable to our end users, so that they can sort their individual conclusions and interpretations – and not introduce our individual bias into that mix." As of these days, Bitforex even now stands at fifteenth put on CMC by 24-hour quantity, with $138 million reported, $37 million a lot more than Bitstamp.
Do you assume Coinmarketcap's most up-to-date actions to combat phony quantity will be productive? Let us know in the remarks part beneath.
Photographs courtesy of Coinmarketcap and Shutterstock.
The post Coinmarketcap Responds to Accusations of Aiding Wash Investing appeared initial on Bitcoin News.


Skiing, hiking, biking and golfing are just a few of the activities that Salt Lake City offers. With so many physical activities to choose from, the city's many restaurants with healthy menu options ensure guests and travelers can replenish themselves with proper nutrition. From vegetarian restaurants to elegant dining options, Salt Lake City offers many options for healthy eating.
The City Weekly's Best of Utah list named Sage's Cafe (sagescafe.com) the best vegetarian restaurant in the state. The cafe features breakfast, lunch and dinner options, such as sandwiches, veggie burgers and shakes. The cafe has a beer and wine list, and everything on the menu is exclusively vegetarian, with mostly organic food. Vertical Diner (verticaldiner.com) came in second in The City Weekly's list of best vegetarian restaurants. The diner serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with chef Ian Brandt's vegetarian creations, such as sandwich and burger items. The restaurant buys local and organic food whenever possible, and the coffee, tea and cocoa are fair-trade. A beer and wine list is available. The Ever Green House (evergreenhouseslc.com) is a Chinese restaurant with an entirely vegetarian menu. Combination plates, appetizers and a la carte items are available and the restaurant is open for lunch and dinner. In addition to prepared meals, Ever Green House offers freezer items that guests may take home to prepare.
Jason's Deli (jasonsdeli.com) offers fast service, in which guests order food at the counter, and servers deliver it to the table. The menu offers sandwiches and salads loaded with fresh produce. Low-calorie options are indicated by special icons on the menu, and dessert includes a low-fat ice cream cone. A gluten-free menu is available.The restaurant offers delivery, pickup and catering options. Blue Lemon provides quick healthy food in a cafeteria-style setting. The restaurant offers "clean food" using fresh, non-processed ingredients and uses environmentally friendly practices such as minimizing waste and using only biodegradable materials. The Blue Lemon also serves espresso drinks and bakery items.
Chefs Bowman Brown and Viet Pham provide healthy fare using fresh produce in the elegant restaurant Forage (foragerestaurant.com). The restaurant has a changing menu based on seasonally available fare and offers three-course meals. A beer and wine list is available featuring reds, whites and blushes, as well as sparking wines and dessert wines. Forage is open five days a week for dinner. Reservations are necessary and can be made online or by phone.
The Oasis Cafe (oasiscafeslc.com) specializes in serving healthy comfort food. The cafe serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and additionally offers catering services. Vegetarian and vegan patrons will find plenty of options on the menu, including sandwiches and burgers. All items are made fresh on the premises, and nothing is purchased prepackaged. In addition to providing healthy meals, the Oasis Cafe supports Reach The Children, a charity organization that helps build schools and hospitals in Africa.
Peckinpaugh, Timothy. "Healthy Restaurants in Salt Lake City, Utah." Travel Tips - USA Today, https://traveltips.usatoday.com/healthy-restaurants-salt-lake-city-utah-59047.html. Accessed 23 April 2019.


I've been going through kind of a hard time the last week or so. I'm sure if you know me well enough or follow me on my blog or Facebook or Twitter, you can probably guess at least some of it. (For a hint, all you really have to do is read my last blog post before this one.) Basically, I keep failing at the same thing. It's just a continuous struggle. There are other things related to that, and related to my feelings of just generally not being good enough. Good enough for what, I'm not even sure. Ultimately, I know that I don't really have to please anyone. And that is what I struggle with. I know that it honestly really shouldn't matter to me what other people or "society" thinks. Or what I believe society thinks. Ultimately, all that should matter is me being happy with my own life. And, honestly, I am. Are there things I would like to improve? Sure. I would like to weigh less. I would like to be in less debt. But if I died today, would those things really matter? Not really, no. What really matters are the people I love and those that love me.
Life is hard to figure out. I'm sure everyone goes through this. What really matters is what you want to get out of it. Obviously, it's limited. You'll probably get 80-100 years alive if you're lucky. If you believe in life after death, maybe you want to use the short life you get for that. I'm not sure I believe in that, so I'd kind of rather make the most out of the life I know I have. And what I think is important and what I want out of life may not be the same as what other people want or think is important. That's why they got their life and I got mine. Sometimes, I'm not sure what's important. I mean, I love life. And I love the people in my life. I can only hope they feel the same way about me, but if they don't, I can't control that. I can only control my own life. But honestly, what is the point in worrying so much about the things I don't have that I struggle with? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's bad to try to improve those things. But I don't want to be consumed by them, and I fear that I might get that way, if I'm not already. And honestly, I'm really just sick and tired of caring so much about things that won't matter at the end of my life anyway. I could go through my whole life and be fat and it likely wouldn't be that much different than a skinny person's life. I could live just as long. Or either of us could die in a car wreck tomorrow. And yeah, it would be nice to not have debt. And of course I will continue to work to get out of it. But if I die tomorrow, it's not going to matter anyway. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just trying to figure out what is really the most important. And if I die tomorrow, what is going to matter more is the people I saw today rather than the amount I weighed or the amount of debt I had.
I guess I'm just sick of all of it. I'm sick of trying so hard and then feeling bad when I don't do as well as I hoped, as well as I feel other people do. If my life only amounts to the number on my scale or the number in my bank account, then life is pretty sad. I'd rather have more experiences and more love in my life than more dollars or less pounds. And honestly, what's most important to me is living my life honestly. Being real with people. That is what is important to me. Looking back on my life and knowing that I did the best I could. Knowing that there were people that loved me, and that I did my best to love the people in my life. And knowing that no matter what I did, that I tried to be honest and real. That the person people saw in me was the real me. So with that in mind, here are this week's theme songs for me.
I feel a lot of the same things you're describing here a lot of the time, so know that you're not alone. I've been seeing a counselor for the last year and a half and it's been tremendously helpful. Sometimes it is good just to have someone to talk to and share your story with. It's also nice to have a second pair of eyes to sort of help with the self-psychoanalysis and bring down some of that inner-critic that can become so overwhelming.
Also, I would really recommend checking out the writings of Brene Brown. She's a researcher and writer who studies shame and how it affects so many individuals in our culture. I just read "The Gifts of Imperfection" and am reading "Daring Greatly." It's been a really powerful resource for me in getting past destructive, self-defeating thoughts.


text:
Webb telescope's new dazzling photos prove it has perfect vision
May 1, 2022 - by admin - Leave a Comment
NASA says the James Webb Space Telescope has completed a critical milestone: The preeminent observatory flying through deep space is now fully in focus, with receipts to provide it.
The US space agency released a grouping of photos this week that demonstrates Webb is able to take razor-sharp pictures of the universe, with precision even beyond engineers' wildest expectations.
The test images not only show that the alignment of Webb's four science instruments is finished, but that the telescope is staring into an abyss of glittering stars, upon stars, upon stars.
"These images have profoundly changed the way I see the universe," said Scott Acton, Webb's wavefront sensing and controls scientist from Ball Aerospace, in a statement. "We are surrounded by a symphony of creation; there are galaxies everywhere! It is my hope that everyone in the world can see them."
NASA's Webb telescope just got some excellent news
NASA released a grouping of photos this week that demonstrates Webb is able to take razor-sharp pictures of the universe,
Credit: NASA/STScI
For the test, Webb pointed at part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, revealing a deep, dense field of hundreds of thousands of stars, registering across all the observatory's sensors. Though space telescope images sometimes recreate color the way people's eyes perceive them, other times they're selected to highlight specific features. Engineers chose scarlet palette to emphasize contrast.
The image resolution is "as good as physically possible" for the size of the telescope, according to to NASA blog post on the milestone achievement. From now on, the only changes will be small, periodic adjustments to the primary mirror segments.
The telescope has come a long way since its first snapshot in February, showing 18 separate golden blurry blobs representing one star. NASA promised further calibration of the instrument would refine its capability to make the star look like a star. By mid-March, a new photo delivered on that promise: a star in Ursa Majorcrystal-clear and flaming red with large spikes.
The telescope has come a long way since its first snapshot in February, showing 18 separate golden blurry blobs representing one star.
"Just looking at (that aligned Webb photo) on your phone, all you see is that star," said Bob Cabana, NASA's associate administrator and a former astronaut, said during an unrelated briefing on Tuesday. "But if you spread it out with your fingers, there are galaxies behind that star that have never been seen before, and that's going to be absolutely amazing."
Webb, a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency, will observe some of the oldest, faintest light in the universe. the powerful telescope will study a period less than 300 million years after the Big Bang, when many of the first stars and galaxies were born. Scientists also will use it to peer into the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets. Discoveries of water and methane, for example, could be signs of potential habitability or biological activity — main ingredients of life.
Astronomers anticipate the telescope will facilitate a golden age in our understanding of the cosmos, providing never-before-seen snapshots of space billions of light-years away.
"These images have profoundly changed the way I see the universe."
The team is now moving forward with the final steps, known as science instrument commissioning. The process will take about two months to complete before the telescope is finally ready to do what it was meant to do: conduct groundbreaking research.
Each instrument — NIRCam, NIRISS, MIRIand NIRSpec — is a complex set of detectors with lenses, masks, filters, and customized equipment that help it perform science. The specialized characteristics of these instruments will be configured and operated in different combinations to confirm their readiness for research, according to NASA.
Tweet may have been deleted
Part of that process also will involve pointing the telescope at different areas in the sky where the total amount of solar radiation hitting the observatory will vary to confirm its temperature remains stable while changing targets. The mirrors will be regularly checked as well to ensure they have maintained their aligned positions.
NASA officials have said a selection of eye-popping, gobsmacking photos will be released in June in full resolution with the accompanying scientific data. The agency hasn't disclosed what celestial targets will be among those first photos.
More Starlink satellites ride into orbit on predawn launch of Falcon 9 rocket – Spaceflight Now
Scientists spot rare bronze deep-sea dragon lurking in the twilight zone
Spontaneous Magnetic Reversal of Monster Black Hole Sparks Enigmatic Outburst
Previous Article Razer co-founder and gaming mouse inventor Robert Krakoff has passed away
Next Article Eagles round out 2022 NFL draft class with two picks, but don't select any defensive backs


When I first started training in BJJ four years ago, I was bored of the normal gym routine and wanted to learn what Royce Gracie used to defeat larger fighters in the early days of the UFC. While this is a common reason many people dip their toes into BJJ and other martial arts, what many realize after training for just a few months are the mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of training. Many of these benefits extend beyond the mats and training and help improve people's lives, relationships, careers, and help unlock each person's human potential. Here five life lessons people learn in BJJ that helps them with their everyday lives.
You learn being comfortable being uncomfortable: For something that is called "the gentle art," there is nothing gentle about learning Jiu-jitsu when you are first getting started. It is actually quite uncomfortable and borderline unbearable when you are training in a hot and humid training room that smells like feet, while a 220 lbs upper belt is driving all of his weight into your jaw. Every once in a while a bead of sweat that doesn't belong to you will drop into your ear, nose, or mouth, causing you to gag and nearly vomit. After a few months, then years, you learn to be become comfortable being uncomfortable both on and off the mats. From camping on the ground in the wilderness to speaking to a roomful of people, a byproduct of training is the feeling of overcoming both physical and mental discomfort in your life on and off the mats.
It will take time and mistakes to reach your goals: When I was younger, I always envied my peers that made everything look so easy whether it's calculating a complex mathematics equation in their head or being able to execute a cross over and drive in for a dunk on the basketball court. Seeing how some people are able to make difficult things look so easy can be discouraging or create feelings of inadequacy. I personally used to believe that if you weren't good at a game, sport, or class right off the bat, then it wasn't for me. Training in BJJ has as taught me that learning and becoming good at BJJ and other tasks and roles in life takes time and effort on the mats, in the office, or in classroom. Making mistakes is part of the learning process and shouldn't be mistaken with failure.
You can't do everything on your own: While Jiu- Jitsu is considered an individual sport during competitions, it is one of the most team focused and collaborative sports ever created. You can do a few conditioning and training drills on your own, but you need coaches and training partners for drilling, sparring, and identifying opportunities for improvement. It is your training partners who will let you know the flaws in your techniques, show you never moves and details, and put in the extra time with you drilling and rolling in order to help you become a better martial artist. Nobody training in BJJ has improved their game entirely on their own. It takes a team and family that works together to make each other better.
You are more patient because others are patient with you: You can either recall the patient upper belt that showed an extraordinary amount of empathy to you when you were a confused white belt or the upper belt that rolled his or her eyes as they couldn't fathom how you couldn't figure out which way to shrimp out to escape side control even though it was explained to you 10 times in past five minutes. Training BJJ will teach you how to have patience for both yourself and others. There is a point where you will have to be patient with training partners or a training partner will have to be patient with you. After training in BJJ for just a few months, you will become much more patient due to the release of pent up stress from your daily life during training and also from the example displayed by empathetic upper belts in your gym who have shown patience so with you.
You will do things you never thought you would be able to do: When I first started training, I would get destroyed by 4 stripe white belts and I looked at members of my school's competition team as God like beings with their medals and podium pictures. At the time, I never thought I would reach Blue belt and never had any intentions of competing out of fear for both my health and the risk of getting humiliated in a crowded gymnasium. Also, I was just terrible at BJJ. Flash forward four years, I have made the podium at every competition and up until recently made the finals of every competition I entered including Pans. I never thought this would be possible when i first started training. As you train, your confidence will grow both on and off the mats as you improve and start hitting milestones on the mat which will carryover to your personal life. It's not that you never had the potential do great and interesting things in your life. It's just that you might not have ever been give the opportunity to unlock your potential. As Joe Rogan once said "martial arts are a vehicle for human showing human potential." The more you train and learn, the more you will realize what you are capable of achieving in your life both on and off the mats.
I am thinking of taking some jiu jitsu classes and I did not know that there are so many physical and mental health benefits! It is interesting that you say you will make mistakes and learn from them in order to reach your goals. Also, it makes sense that you learn to be more patient with yourself and patient with others through the training process.


text:
After Elections, Greece May Renegotiate Loans
Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, second right, and Deputy Prime Minister Giannis Dragasakis chat during the first cabinet meeting of the new government at the Parliament in Athens, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
After Elections, Greece May Re-negotiate Loans
From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.
Elections in Greece on Sunday put politician Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party in power in the heavily indebted country. Prime Minister Tsipras gained popularity by promising to end austerity policies. Those are measures to shrink the government budget and reduce spending.
Mr. Tsipras has said he will renegotiate the terms of loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. They offered Greece $268 billion in assistance in 2010 and 2011 to help prevent a financial disaster in the country.
E.U. finance ministers have suggested giving Greece, an EU member, more time to pay back its loans. However, there is little support for cancelling any of the debt.
Dionyssis Dimitrakopoulos is a political expert at the University of London. He says E.U. members know that they are not getting the results they wanted from Greece's austerity program.
"Institutions of the E.U. and other member states realize that the program that has been implemented in Greece is not producing the desired results to the extent that they wanted. So something has to change. In my book this is common ground for negotiation."
Mr. Tsipras has tried to show that he means to change Greek politics. For example, he did not include a religious act at his swearing-in ceremony. Greek Orthodox officials traditionally give a blessing.
The new leader's Syriza party joined with the right-wing Independent Greeks Party to form a ruling coalition in parliament. Both parties want to change the terms of Greece's loan deal. But, they agree on little else.
E.U. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters that EU officials would have to look at the demands of the new Greek government. But, he also said that the E.U. rules were established through a common agreement with Greek officials.
Germany, Europe's largest economy, is considered the strongest supporter of austerity measures. Government officials have stated that it may be better for Greece to stop using the euro as its currency.
However, expert Dionyssis Dimitrakopoulos says the cost of Greece leaving the euro zone may be too high.
"It is in nobody's interests, and that concerns not only Greece but also Germany, France and so on, for Greece to withdraw from the eurozone. Because the next question will be, 'who will be the next country to withdraw?'"
Whether Greece will stay in the Eurozone is not the only question E.U. officials might face. British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would seek to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the E.U. if his Conservative Party wins elections in May.
And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English. I'm Mario Ritter.
Mario Ritter wrote this story for VOA Learning English from reports by correspondents Henry Ridgewell and Lisa Bryant. Caty Weaver was the editor.
austerity – n. measures taken to cut expenses where money is spent only on necessary things
renegotiate – v. to again discuss details of a formal agreement especially in order to change them
coalition – n. a group of people, groups or countries who have joined together for a common purpose
euro zone – n. the group of European countries that share the euro as their common currency
What are your thoughts about austerity, an important word in our story? Share them with us in the comments section below.
See comments (11)


Cypress Creek Lakes is having the community's first-ever Artisan Market at Cypress Creek Lakes on Saturday, November 15, 2014. French-trained Chefs from Copper Chef, Chef Joao Paulo and Chef Conor Moran, will hold three classes and have free samples. They will be illustrating how to make a traditional French Ratatouille with chicken. Thirty samples will be passed out after each demonstration, while supplies last. They will also have 75 Product Packages available for sale - French Ratatouille for Two - recipe card and all herbs and spices needed for sale for $10 each. Demonstrations will be held at 10:30 am , 11:15 am, and 12:15 pm.


text:
Home Recent News
Govt orders Wikipedia to remove link showing incorrect map of India
in Recent News
pti-Madhuri Adnal
Updated: Thursday, December 3, 2020, 0:50 [IST]
New Delhi, Dec 02: The government has asked Wikipedia to remove a link from its platform that has shown an incorrect map of Jammu and Kashmir, according to sources.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued an order under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 directing Wikipedia to remove the link, they added. The matter had been flagged by a Twitter user, who highlighted that the Wikipedia page on India-Bhutan relationship had incorrectly depicted the map of Jammu Kashmir, and asked the government to take action.
Too many edits on AIADMK page, Wikipedia blocks further edits
Sources said taking cognizance of the matter, the ministry issued an order on November 27, 2020 directing Wikipedia to remove the map as it violated the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
They added that the government can take legal action against the company, including blocking access to the entire platform, in case it does not make the changes.
Last month, the government had issued a notice to microblogging platform Twitter for showing Leh as part of Jammu and Kashmir instead of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
Pulse Oximeters and Oxygen Concentrators: What to Know
NSE launches its first agricultural commodity futures contract CDSO
'Not a ground for disqualification': CJI Bobde responds to criticism over farm laws committee
Village built by China in Arunachal Pradesh part of area under PLA control since 1959
Concerns about adverse effects post COVID-19 vaccination seem unfounded, negligible: Govt
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's birth anniversary to be celebrated as Parakram Diwas annually


text:
Presenting China's Last Empress Dowager
The early 20th-century photograph of Empress Dowager Cixi captures political spin, Qing dynasty-style
Owen Edwards
The photographs of the Empress Dowager Cixi taken by Xunling are more Western than Eastern in style. Freer and Sackler Galleries, SI
Spin doctoring—the art of turning bad news into good and scoundrels into saints—goes back a long way. How far back is subject to debate: To the bust of Nefertiti? Roman bread and circuses? Jacques-Louis David's heroic paintings of Napoleon? An exhibition of photographs from the dawn of the 20th century, now at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, provides a look at spin, Qing dynasty-style.
The photographs' primary subject is Empress Dowager Cixi, the dominant figure in the Qing court for more than 45 years until her death in 1908, at age 72. The photographer was a diplomat's son named Xunling. Though not a charmer, even by the somber photographic portrait standards of the day, the empress dowager seemed to like the camera and imagined that the camera liked her, says David Hogge, head of archives at the gallery and curator of the show. "She thought about self-representation, and—out of the norm for Chinese portraiture—she sometimes posed in staged vignettes that alluded to famous scenes in court theater. Sometimes she looked like a bored starlet."
Vicki Goldberg, a New York-based historian of photography, points out that Xunling's style was a bit behind the times, though "there was still plenty of traditional portrait work being done." In the West, she says, group portraits were often made for family albums; a Xunling photograph of, say, Cixi and attendants at the top of some steps in a palace garden "may have been the photographer's way of putting the empress dowager on a pedestal."
By 1903, the year Cixi posed for Xunling, she needed a boost. True, she had been the de facto ruler of China since 1881, maneuvering her way out of concubinage by bearing Emperor Xianfeng a male heir and then engineering a palace coup. But the imperial court was isolated from both its subjects and the foreign powers then building spheres of influence in China, and eventually she made a miscalculation that brought her grief.
In 1900, Chinese insurgents known as the Righteous Fists of Harmony (and dubbed the Boxers by foreigners) rose against both the Qing dynasty and Western influences. Christian missionaries and Chinese Christians were slain, as were foreign diplomats and their families. To blunt the Boxers' threat to the dynasty, Cixi sided with them against the Westerners. But troops sent by a coalition of eight nations, including England, Japan, France and the United States, put down the Boxer rebellion in a matter of months.
Cixi survived, but with a reputation for cruelty and treachery. She needed help dealing with the foreigners clamoring for greater access to her court. So her advisers called in Lady Yugeng, the half-American wife of a Chinese diplomat, and her daughters, Deling and Rongling, to familiarize Cixi with Western ways. With them came their son and brother, Xunling, who had learned photography in Japan and France. He began making a series of glass-plate negative portraits.
The empress dowager probably directed the photographer, not the other way around. Archivist Hogge says she may have taken the camera-friendly Queen Victoria as her role model. Sean Callahan, who teaches the history of photography at Syracuse University, agrees: "Xunling's pictures bear little evidence of his having much feeling for Chinese art history traditions"but resemble those of the court of Queen Victoria, "to whom...Cixi bore a certain physical resemblance."
Cixi used the portraits as gifts for visiting dignitaries—Theodore Roosevelt and his daughter Alice received copies. But soon, Hogge says, they showed up for sale on the street, which happened more commonly with photographs of prostitutes and actresses. How the portraits leaked is not known, but Hogge says, "it's possible that the Yugeng family, having lived abroad, had a different idea of how images could be used."
If their intent was to rehabilitate Cixi's reputation, they failed. In the Western press, she was portrayed as something like the mother of all dragon ladies, and the impression remained long after she died in 1908, having appointed China's last emperor, Puyi.
After Xunling's sister Deling married an American who worked at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, she moved to the United States (where she was known as Princess Der Ling). When she died, in 1944, the Smithsonian Institution purchased 36 of Xunling's glass-plate negatives, the largest collection of them outside the Palace Museum in Beijing, from a dealer for $500. Of the 19 prints on display, two are originals and 17 are high-resolution images made from scans of the negatives.
Xunling remained in China, suffering from ailments probably brought on by the photographic chemicals he used. He died in 1943, during World War II, when he may have been unable to get necessary medicine. He was in his early 60s.
"Xunling's photographs are significant less because they are important historical documents of the last regent of China, but more because of what they say about the willful use of photography to shape history," says Callahan. "The Dragon Lady may have been behind the curve when it came to political reform, but she was ahead of it when it came to using the medium to control her image."
Owen Edwards is a freelance writer and author of the book Elegant Solutions.
Empress Dowager Cixi posed for Xunling, shown here, in 1903. Freer and Sackler Galleries, SI
Empress Dowager Cixi with foreign envoys' wives in Leshoutang, Summer Palace, Beijing, China, Qing dynasty, 1903-1904. Freer Galleryh of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, SC-GR 249
Cixi used the portraits as gifts for visiting dignitaries. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
The Empress Dowager Cixi in the guise of Avalokitesvara, China, Qing dynasty, 20th century, or possibly late 18th-19th century. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, SC-GR 246
The Empress Dowager Cixi in snow accompanied by attendants, China, Qing dynasty, 18th-19th century. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Owen Edwards | READ MORE
Owen Edwards is a freelance writer who previously wrote the "Object at Hand" column in Smithsonian magazine.


Do Sales People Need to Double as Product Marketing Managers for their offerings?
When it comes to knowing who their customers are along with their needs; they do.
Previously, I spoke about prospecting and identifying your target market. I will cover this topic in more detail in this post. I stated that it is important to know who would be a good fit for your offering. For example if you were selling Dental equipment like I was, you would look for Dental professionals in your sales territory, you would not call on other medical professionals and offices that do not have a need. When I was selling Dental equipment, I sold devices that any Dental professional could use. However, I also sold items that only specialized Dentists could use. As a result, I had to do research to distinguish between my offerings. For example, I would not present a general dentist an implant hand-piece that only an oral surgeon would use.
How is the product being used?
What are the demographics of the people using the product?
How long is the sales cycle between purchases?
What channels is the product sold through?
What offerings does the competition have?
What channels does the competition use to sell?
How do your offerings measure up compared to the competitions?
So where could you find this information?
If you are a new sales person, you will do all of these things I mentioned above as you gain more experience. If you are working at an existing company, they will have data on your competition and product information. However, if you are starting a business you will have to do this research yourself. All of this information can be used in your sales presentation to convince your prospects and customers that you are an expert. This is the cornerstone to the consultative selling approach.
Once you know who your products are a good fit for, you can come up with a prospecting list based on geography. If you work for a company as a sales representative you will be given a territory with a list of names and addresses. The only exception to this is if you are selling life insurance and financial services, in these professions you can call on anyone. You are not limited by geography. If you are starting your own business you will have to come up with a prospecting list on your own.
So how do I build a prospecting list if one is not provided?
I would do internet searches that focus on certain professionals that are a good fit for your offerings and organize it by zip codes. You will be able to build and improve on your prospecting list as you call on prospects. Your prospecting list is a building block you can use to develop a sales plan. I will talk about this in a later post. This is how you prospect and identify your target market.
In my previous post on the basic selling skills needed for success in sales, I listed four basic things that sales people need to do to be successful in sales. These four things are: belief in your products and services, knowing how to prospect/knowing your target market, knowing how to engage prospects and customers with a message that is compelling and the ability to persist in the face of rejection and knowing how to get past objections. This post will focus more specifically on belief in your product and services.
Believing in your product means that you think it is the best on the market and that you would buy it. Belief in your product is key because your presentation will fail to impress the prospect if you do not.
Before you enter the field of selling, you need to decide on products and services that you want to sell. Once you identify products and services that you want to sell, you need to do research on the companies that have these offerings. When choosing a company that you want to work for, it extremely important that the company is reputable and that is stands behind its offerings. In other words, make sure the customer service and product reliability is top-notch. (I will explain about customer service in more detail in later posts.) This is important to establish because this will allow you to believe in your company.
Once you believe in your company along with their offerings, you now have to build and constantly refine your product knowledge. Your company will help you do this by providing you with product literature schematics, presentations and diagrams on how the products are used. However, you must commit to doing the work that it takes to develop this knowledge. Over time, your constant study of your products will enable you to become an expert. Your mastery of product knowledge will enable you to develop the self-confidence needed to make a successful sales presentation and forge long-term partnerships with customers. In sales today, the prospects and customers are looking for someone who is an expert. It is important that you approach prospects and customers as an expert while at the same time employing a consultative selling approach. In other words, you need to do what it takes to be perceived as someone who can and will help customers with their business needs. When offering prospects and customers a solution, it is important to keep their needs in mind and to not sell just to make a commission. You need to be confident that your offer is best for your prospects and customers; if your offering is wrong for them it is your responsibility to not force it on them because you will lose their business. Your goal as a sales person is to help as many prospects and customers as you can with your offerings. Customers should have confidence in your expertise so they consult with you first about products and services in your industry.
In my next post, I will cover how to prospect and identify your target market in more detail. Please send me your questions so I can start the ask Dan section.
Last month, I attended the Pivot Conference in New York City. This conference examines marketing and the social consumer. One theme rang true throughout the whole conference. This theme was that consumers own the content that is created by brands. However, consumers alone and brands alone do not create content. Instead content is co-created. Today a brand is not just about selling and marketing products; it is about creating experiences that both the consumers and brands create. People engage with brands and vice versa.
However, although the tools of marketing may have changed, the basics have not. When marketing products and services it is important to do the following: Identify your target market, create a compelling message that makes people want to buy your products and services, engage your consumers, have your products and services tell a story and promote your content using both traditional and digital platforms.
As I explained in my previous post, it is imperative to identify who is a good fit for your offering. You need to make sure you are sending your message to people who will be receptive to your products and services. Depending on your industry, this may be heavily focused or very broad. Consumer products tend to have a larger potential customer base than other industries.
People today are bombarded by marketing and advertising messages. When we see pop up ads and banner advertising we tend to click off them. The results of all this advertising whether it be a television ad or billboard is a severely shortened attention span. As a result, a message has to really compelling to make it through the filters. This objective can be fulfilled by thinking like a copy-writer. You need to craft a headline that will grab the reader's attention immediately. This headline could take the form of a though provoking question. Something that will make the reader uneasy and have them think I better act now to either gain a benefit or avoid losing one they care about. Life insurance is marketed in this way.
It is important for brands to engage consumers. Now that brands create experiences in our lives it is important for brands to stay connected to their customers and fan bases. This could be achieved through social media. Many brands use their Facebook page walls to allow their fans to comment, share experiences, like their products and to upload videos of their products being used.
Many successful brands have their products tell a story. It is imperative that your brand tells a story that its customers can relate to. The Old Spice and Dos Equis campaigns are great examples of this. Earlier I said the consumers own the marketing content created by a brand. Now content is marketing in the context of a consumer's life. Brands call on their customers to help create the story of the brand though the sharing of videos, thoughts and ideas.
The digital age is here. Social media is the marketing tool for the 21st century. It is tempting to focus all of our marketing and advertising resources on digital media. However, when marketing products and services a one size fits all approach does not work. Many people are on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites but many people are not. As a result, marketers need to make sure these people are included in their marketing messages and that these messages reach people who are not on social networking sites. This is why using print, television and radio ads are still important. In order to reach everyone, brands still need to use traditional means to reach the people who are still not connected and the ones who choose to connect with them on digital platforms. One thing that television is doing to stay relevant is using social media. Almost every show that is on TV is using social media. Specifically they are using Twitter and Facebook to connect with their audience. The stars of these shows have Twitter and Facebook accounts. They tweet live with their fans during and after the show. These shows use hash-tags. A hash-tag consists of a numbers bracket and a word. This is used to create an index on topics on Twitter. These hash-tags allow fans of these shows to share thoughts and ideas that will reach far beyond their followers. Facebook is also used by television to allow their fans to comment, like and share ideas on their favorite shows. Twitter and Facebook is even used by the TV news in the manner I described above.
As you can see, the tools of marketing have changed but the basics have not. It's about engagement. I will be talking about marketing and social media in later posts. In my next post, I will further explain the skills to be successful in sales. Feel free to send your questions to me. I will include them in the ask Dan section.
Selling is a very detailed process. There are four basic things that every person in Sales needs to do to be successful. These four things are: belief in your products and services, knowing how to prospect/knowing your target market, knowing how to engage prospects and customers with a message that is compelling and the ability to persist in the face of rejection and knowing how to get past objections.
Once you decide that you want to go into sales, you need to pick a product that you want to sell. The product should be something that you use yourself or if it is a technical product the product should be one that after doing some research that you could stand behind. When you make a sales presentation to a prospect, it is imperative that you believe in your product. Believing in your product means that you think it is the best on the market and that you would buy it. Belief in your product is key because your presentation will fail to impress the prospect if you do not. Believing in your product or service will enable you to speak about them enthusiastically. This will give you a chance to get the prospect excited.
When you decide on the product and services you are going to sell, it is important to know who would a good fit for your offering. For example if you were selling Dental equipment like I was, you would look for Dental professionals in your sales territory, you would not call on other medical professionals and offices that do not have a need.
Once you identify people who are a good fit for your products and services you need to obtain a prospecting list. This list should be created or generated by zip code and should include the names and the addresses of businesses in your area.
Once you have this list, you should develop a sales plan that determines: how many calls you will make per day and the specific businesses you will call on and how often you will see them. For example, I would call on customers and prospects every two to three weeks.
Know current trends and happenings in your industry these details can be obtained by attending trade shows and reading industry trade magazines.
In selling you will face a lot rejection. I was selling in New York City where I was thrown out of offices and told to not go back to certain places. Rejection is tough to take at first but it is important to keep in mind that the prospect is rejecting your product offerings and not you.
In order to succeed you need to keep making calls and keep a stiff upper lip.
It is important to know what customers true objections are to uncover what motivates them to buy.
Objections in many cases are buying signals because if you do not get asked any questions by a prospect, it means they are not interested.
These are the four basic skills you need to be successful in sales. I will be covering these skills in more detail in later posts.
Please send me your questions so I can start my ask Dan section. The next post will cover the basics of marketing products and services.
My name is Dan Galante. I decided to launch a brand new blog on the topics of Sales and Marketing. I look forward to sharing my content and insights with all of you! I would like to incorporate an ask Dan questions and answers section to the blog, so feel free to send me your questions!


text:
U2 keen to headline Phoenix Park gig
Posted on Friday, September 05 @ 01:33:05 UTC by Macphisto
(Belfast Telegraph) -- THE Republic's government has been asked if U2 can headline a major gig at Dublin's Phoenix Park next summer.
Following the success of the Robbie Williams concert earlier this month, an approach was made to the Department of the Environment - Minister Martin Cullen makes the decisions on what concerts will be held in the park.
Last night concert promoters MCD Productions poured cold water on the idea, saying U2 were not being considered for the line-up.
However, the band's name had been mentioned in initial discussions.
The Phoenix Park is only offered for three events major music events each year, and two of those must be free to the public. It is too soon to say whether the negotiations will prove successful, but it is understood that Mr Cullen was pleased with the success of Robbie Williams' concert and would be keen for U2 to play.
The Robbie Williams concert, the largest ever open-air rock concert to be held in Ireland, was generally acknowledged to have been a huge success, with the British pop star playing to a sell-out crowd of 135,000.
The gig was the biggest event in the Phoenix Park since the Pope came in 1979, and it is understood U2 are keen to play to such a big crowd in the centre of Dublin. U2 last played a major gig in Ireland at Slane in the summer of 2001.


text:
Kostel svatého Miláše Tolentinského je římskokatolický, orientovaný, farní kostel ve Vysokém Veselí, patřící do farnosti Vysoké Veselí. Je chráněn od 3. 5. 1958 jako kulturní památka České republiky.

Poloha
Kostel, který je dominantou města, je situován východně od náměstí, visutou lávkou je spojen s bývalým zámkem (nyní školou). Na východní straně na kostel navazuje areál fary.

Historie
Původní kostel je doložen roku 1335, ale není vyloučeno, že existoval už před založením městečka roku 1311. V roce 1577 vyhořel a městečko bylo přifařeno do Velešic. Obnoven byl kostel v 16. století nebo na začátku 17. století. Barokní základ současného kostela pochází z let 1770-1773 a empírově byl přestavěn po velkém požáru městečka v letech 1835-1840 Aloisem Turkem a Josefem Oppolzerem. Restaurován byl kostel v roce 1833.

Architektura
Kostel představuje cennou empírově přestavěnou sakrální stavbou. Trojlodní obdélná stavba s pravoúhlým presbytářem, na severní straně presbytáře je obdélná sakristie s oratoří v patře, která je visutou lávkou spojena s areálem bývalého zámku. Mohutná hranolová věž je v západním průčelí. Široká hlavní loď sklenutá valenou klenbou je pilíři oddělena od úzkých bočních lodí, kterou jsou příčně sklenuty valenou klenbou. Presbytář je sklenut plackou, sakristie valenou klenbou s lunetami. Nároží kostela jsou vybraná konkávně, plocha fasády je členěna plochými pilastry, které nesou vysokou hladkou korunní římsu. Výzdoba plochy stěn je provedena pásovou bosáží, okna mají hladké šambrány, nad nimiž bosáž tvoří klenák. Pravoúhlý hlavní vchod je na západní straně, supraporta vytváří římsu a tympanon. Věž má okno s půlkruhovým zakončením. Střecha kostela je sedlová s valbou, sanktusník nad presbytářem zakončený lucernou je osmiboký. Věž má jehlanovitou střechu zakončenou makovicí.

Interiér
Empírový hlavní oltář z let 1849-1850 je dílem Jana Suchardy ml. (1797-1873), oltářní obraz pochází z vídeňské malířské akademie. Boční oltáře sv. Jana Nepomuckého a Zvěstování Panny Marie z roku 1873 zhotovil řezbář J. Stoklasa, obrazy na nich jsou dílem Josefa Hellicha. Varhany z roku 1851 dodala pražská varhanářská firma Hloušek a Vocelka.

Bohoslužby
Bohoslužby se konají 1. a 3. čtvrtek v měsíci od 17.00, v době letního času od 18.00.

Galerie

Reference

Externí odkazy

 Památkový katalog
 Farnosti Chomutice, Ohnišťany, Vysoké Veselí a Smidary
 Hrady.cz
 Turistika.cz

Mikuláše Tolentinského (Vysoké Veselí)
Vysoké Veselí
Mikuláše Tolentinského Vysoké Veselí
Kulturní památky v okrese Jičín
Vysoké Veselí


Here are some shoes that will provide comfort and protection for your little guy from Georgia Boot. These Little Giant Romeo Shoes are constructed with an interior that has a covered cushion insole, internal padded collar and gusset, covered side seams, and high performance lining. For safety, the outsole is oil resistant and the shoes have a bumper guard. Let him play away in these and you won't have to worry about any accidents.


Venue: KHUMAN LAMPAK SPORTS COMPLEX,IMPHAL.
Starting Date: 21st to 30th November 2018.
Starting Date : 23th to 28th November 2018.
Site : Duzuko Valley and Mt.Isoo.
Starting Date : 25th to 30th November 2018.
Site : Zeilad lake and Tharon Cave.
Starting Date : 26th to 27th November 2018.
Site : Manipur Mountaineering Institute (MMI), Laimaton hill, Point 5846.
Starting Date : 27th to 28th November 2018.