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10:52 PM Enchong Dee, Lifestyle, Stars
Last March 25, 2012 was the meet and greet of April 2012 Men's Health Magazine at the activity center of Glorietta 5.
Swimmer-Actor Enchong Dee is gracing the cover for the second time and Men's Health editors believe that his commitment to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and his achievements is something readers can aspire for.
Inside.. Enchong shares how his mindset as an athlete helped him become just as successful in the field of showbiz. Part of his work-out routine is running.
Enchong's fan bases, Manager; Keren Pascual, friend; Joseph Marco and family were all there to support him during the launch.
The April 2012 issue of Men's Health Philippines is now available in newsstands, bookstores and supermarkets nationwide at P140.
For more of Men's Health online, become a fan on Facebook via Facebook.com/menshealthphilippines and follow them on Twitter via Twitter.com/menshealthph.
Zanjoe Marudo
10:45 PM Stars, Zanjoe Marudo
Kapamilya actor Zanjoe Marudo is coming out again in the movie sequel Kimmy Dora
co-stars Eugene Domingo & Dingdong Dantes.
"As I post this entry; I'm actually on my way to the shooting of the said movie somewhere in Greenhills."
Also he already started shooting an Indie Film titled Kalayaan; shot in Palawan under Direk Adolf Alix coming this July 2012 Cinemalaya.
You will see more of him everyday. Sounds Interesting?.. Details about that will come out really really soon.
Here are the photos I took when we had a lunch at Tj Resto right after Showtime. March 10, 2012.
Arron Villaflor
10:39 PM Arron Villaflor, Stars
Arron Villaflor or known as Awooo or A to his friends and family is a Star Magic talent of ABS-CBN under the wing of Handler Kate Anjela. An stage-performer, dancer, actor, host and a rising singing star.
Arron was born on July 5, 1990 at Fairlane Subdivision, San Vicente, Tarlac, He is the middle of five children of Frederico and Estelita Villaflor, two elder brothers- Jelson and Adrian, and two younger sisters- Aika and Nikki.
The year 2005 was when he auditioned for the Star Circle Quest National Teen Edition in Baguio City. He was the 50th of his batch. Other than luck, his persistence and faith played vital roles as he made it to the final fifteen from all over the Philippines.
2006 was just great for him. Arron's first commercial came in; The Nissins Yakisoba followed by the Extraderm "Win A Date With A Star". He appeared in the afternoon show YourSong "Akin ka nalang". He was also launched in the movie "Can This Be Love"; and You are the One and was included in the sitcom of Aga Mulach in "Ok Fine, Ito Ang Gusto Nyo". The middle of the year Awooo bagged the title Grand Champion in the celebrity dance contest "U CAN DANCE". He was just amazing and was indeed very deserving as the Grand Champion for no one dances like he did! He was like a spinning top that never stops.
Arron's first soap came in the year 2007. Playing the part of Kevin, an admirer of Kim Chiu in "Sana Maulit Muli"; and a weekly fantaserye "Pendro Penduko at ang mga Engkantao" where he played Edward- a half human, half sea-creature super hero. His projects didn't stop from there. He appeared in the movie Katas ng Saudi with Senator Jinggoy Estrada for the Metro Manila Film Festival directed by Mr. Joey Reyes. Arron also became a regular artist of ASAP from different dance groups; Full Circle to the Dynamite Dance Crew, now to the teen favorite the GIGGERBOYS.
Arron became busy with his studies in the year 2008, a senior student then at Tarlac Montessori School. After Graduation, to balance college study and showbiz, Arron decided to enroll at a school near ABS-CBN premises; the Kester Grant College with a course in Management. It was easier for him then to move and work on his schedules and classes. Towards half of the year, the Gantimpala Theater Foundation offered the role of Don Juan in the highly successful play "Ibong Adarna". September of 2008, a casting call for a GLOBE TELECOM advertisement was given, and Arron was fortunate enough to bag the lead in that commercial. Also in this year, Arron became part of the movie Caregiver with Ms. Sharon Cuneta shown the early half of 2008 directed by Mr. Chito Rono. He also played Red Cloud in Komiks Presents: Mars Ravelo's Tiny Tony with John Pratts and Totoy in Love Spell presents Game.
On 2009, Arron signed up to the 32nd season of the "Ibong Adarna" play with Gantimpala Foundation. He was just enjoying theater so much that he also accepted to play Lapu Lapu in the Sinulog Festival in Cebu. Other than promoting shows and their group Giggerboys; ABS-CBN casted them to do a remake of Boystown; Shown every Sunday of May after ASAP09. 2009 was also Arron's first travel to the US with the Star Magic Artists to do a series of shows. Right after his comeback; He played Jigu Manuson in Agimat, Ang Mga Alamat ni Ramon Revilla presents Tiagong Akyat with Gerald Anderson. He also played Marco Aragon in the Emmy Nominee Teleserye Dahil May Isang Ikaw with Jericho Rosales, Sid Lucero and Kristine Hermosa.
The Year 2010 was very fruitful for Arron's career. He was casted to do the lead role of Cinema One Originals Indie Film Entry Astro Mayabang. The film was awarded as the audience choice award from having good reviews from part-jury and movie goers. Arron also accepted to guest on Midnight DJ of ABC5 as Raffy and GMA7's Maynila as Kristoff. He also had his first Maalala Mo Kaya titled dancing shoes and played the role of Ariel. September and December of 2010 Arron still played Don Juan in the highly successful Ibong Adarna of Gantimpala Foundation. Towards the end of the year. Arron's hosting prowess with Gigger Boys was seen by many teens of this generation. They leveled-up what it takes it be the sensation; from acting to singing, to dancing and to hosting.
Shout-Out run til 2011 where Arron was one of the main hosts. Other than his regular stint at ASAP Rocks; A new show was offered to Arron, the Goodvibes, playing the role of Franco Mendoza; this time with Sam Concepcion and Enrique Gil. The show had very impressive rating that it was even extended. This year Arron did a remarkable performance in a lead role in Maalala Mo kaya's episode Tulay, playing the role of Nikko. It was a very heartbreaking and heartwarming drama that many people noticed his acting ability. Arron was also offered to do a major role in the Teleserye, Maria La Del Barrio as Vladimir dela Vega with Enchong Dee and Erich Gonzales. Arron has been receiving good feedbacks from his acting in this serye. The show has been extended til 2012 and had a Book 2.
2011 was indeed a lucky year for Arron. He launched his first ever single and music video on MYX titled Ex-Bestfriend and landed the Top 18th spot on week 1, 14th spot on week 2 and 15th spot on week3. Currently Arron is working on first album and most likely by 2012 it will be released. Just November of this year, Second Semester, Arron enrolled at Kester Grant College to continue his course in Management. Other than ASAP Rocks and Maria Ladel Barrio, Arron is also doing some mall shows and basketball tournaments with Star Magic. At present Arron is an endorser of Crimson Clothing, Skechers U.S.A, Gold's Gym, Faces and Curves, GAOC by: Dr. Steve Mark Gan, Nail.A.Holics.
Here is an exclusive video interview I had with Arron.
10:37 PM Heart Evangelista, Sid Lucero, Stars
Friday, April 20, 2012, I visited the set of Legacy.
An evening soap opera of GMA-7.
And if you are wondering why. It's all because of Sid Lucero,
Yes, he is one of the few celebrities I support from the said network.
Details of that. Oh well maybe becoz he used to be once a Kapamilya Star;
Not because he decided to be a Kapuso that would end my support and love for him.
He is just one of the coolest and the nicest.
Here are photos of him with onscreen partner Heart Evangelista.
Heart is soft spoken & very welcoming.
Happy Birthday Morgan
12:15 AM Lifestyle
Today is my 29th Birthday; April 6, 2012
which happens to be a Good Friday.
Here is a Video Bday Greetings from my Most Loved Celebrities
Happy Birthday Morgy
Today April 6, 2012; I am celebrating my 29th Birthday.
It falls on a Good Friday so it's gonna be a quiet one for now.
Time to Pray and Be Grateful for the past years full of love & happiness.
Come nextweek I'll have a little Cake & KTV party with few friends.
I'm just sharing few photos from Previous Birthdays.
Let me start with the weird ones; when I still had long hair.
Then going to those shots with shorter hair..
Thank You for all the warmest greetings. God Bless You all.


HGH is expensive and often faked so about 1 year ago I began testing HGH using HGH serum and IGF-1 testing via blood work. During this period of time the real world experience of testing HGH led me down an exciting road of research and learning. It is my hope to share my experiences and the science behind HGH testing so that HGH users may know for sure that the products they are injecting are genuine.
Have your blood drawn 3-4 hours after injecting.
No strenuous activity for at least 30 min prior to test.
With a 10iu vial, inject 1 ml (cc) into the vial that contains the GH powder/puck. Direct the stream of water down the side of the glass, being careful not to direct the stream of water directly into the GH powder; swirl gently until the powder is completely dissolved in the solution. DO NOT SHAKE THE VIAL.
*WARNING* GH serum testing is a crude method for confirming GH potency.
What do the results mean? My research and experiences indicate that injecting 10iu IM of pharmaceutical grade rHGH yields a serum level of between 15-50+ ng/mL in most cases. However this is a general range and should not be interpreted to form a strong opinion about the potency of HGH products. Several tests should be performed to determine an individualistic response.
Originally I began serum testing after injecting HGH subcutaneously (SC) however after some research and several lab tests I determined that SC injections did not raise GH serum levels as much as IM injections.(1)(2) This led to confusion as other users were injecting IM which made their results look dramatically better. In order to avoid confusion several veterans including myself decided to adopt IM as the standard method for testing serum HGH levels. What we learned along the way was quite interesting.
Several men were getting fantastic results with various brands of underground and overseas HGH but I and another man were getting mediocre results at best. It seemed as though we were just unlucky. Our serum levels routinely fell 10-20 ng/mL lower than the others results. After about a half a dozen lab tests I decided to administer USA pharmacy HGH to help determine my response to a known potency of HGH. My results were staggering. My serum levels again fell short of what was expected. I tested less than 20 ng/mL. At that time I concluded that I was a low responder to HGH and that serum testing was a crude method at best for proving HGH.
However a pattern was forming for me. 10iu of HGH was resulting in a range of about 14-24 ng/mL. This has given me a personal range that reflects real world experience not just some text book answer. The studies indicate that I should respond higher. The real world disagrees. Why?
Maybe it's my body weight or maybe my size (surface area). Maybe I just don't respond well to HGH. Maybe it's something else. My journey to find out left me questioning. Those questions led me to more research. I still feel like the answer is somewhat elusive but what I discovered next gave me a balanced understanding of just how crude GH serum testing is.
In 2004 a study was conducted that measured GH antibodies in children who had received Growth Hormone over a 6 month period. 4 of the 47 children showed the presence of antibodies against rhGH. The researchers concluded that the main concern with anti-GH antibodies could be their ability to neutralize circulating growth hormone and inhibit its growth promoting effect.(3) Therefore we must be careful not to erroneously conclude a batch of GH is fake if a user's results are substandard. This supports the view that several lab tests should be conducted with a known potency of rHGH. This will prove if the subject is a low responder to rHGH.
Although this serum method is crude it does provide valuable insight. I have a known response to USA pharmacy rHGH. If an UGL or overseas product can elevate my GH levels as high as the US pharmacy GH I can be relatively confident that my GH is genuine.
It is my hope that many users follow this protocol and record their responses here so we can further understand how injecting rHGH affects serum levels in a wide range of people. This will increase our knowledge and also protect members against those who sell fake products.
jacked391, Big-John, Ironbuilt and 6 others like this.
There is no doubt that serum testing has eliminated many of the crooks that were selling bunk hgh. And hopefully everyone will continue to test their gh. This will gh a realistic option for everyone again.
jacked391, Spongeforknowle and Alinshop like this.
Good stuff. I am a firm believer in blood tests.
I shoulda learned this this years ago but I wasnt on anasci so I blame myself for stupidy. Now I don't need to look anywhere for anything or just ask cause someone here knows my needed answer.
Last edited by swolesearcher; 06-07-2013 at 02:18 PM.
I didn't start this thread. But it is a good one.
Great thread. One thing to also consider is how gh can from a certain supplier can change which could show why different people respond differently. Case in point. Four years ago IPs yellows were just incredible. I had a IGF test done that confirmed potency and my results were incredible. Fast forward 3 years and the yellows were not comparable. They were crap. I always wonder how batches can vary so much from overseas.
Ironbuilt and ericraven like this.
Good post. Just have one question, you actually received US grade HGH from a pharmacy or a source that claimed it was US pharm grade?
I am a little curious about the science behind the timeframe of 3-4 hours from the time of injection and blood being drawn. I ask because I recently had a serum test done and as it turned out the lab was not busy and blood was drawn at the 2 hour 5 minute mark. The result was much higher than expected. Any ideas concerning the shorter timeframe influencing the outcome?
I woke up around 4am that day and injected the 10iu of gh im at 5:07am with a blood draw at 7:12am. Fasted and no activity prior to injection.
***If reposting this info please credit IronMagForums, exphys88 and heavyiron.
Last edited by Riles; 05-31-2014 at 11:30 PM.
Whats all these test? and whens the dates of these. But in all actuality posting a number and not the actual serum test paper result itself doesnt mean much to me.. thanks for seeing the issue.
The most recent was tested 8/13 it appears. The gh market has changed DRAMATICALLY since then....I wouldn't trust one of the above numbers when determining to purchase hgh right now.


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Main Blog > The Only Person Left from the 1800s
The Only Person Left from the 1800s
Miss Cellania • Sunday, May 15, 2016 at 6:00 PM
Emma Morano is the only person left on Earth who was alive in the 1800s: https://t.co/Y51lFcytf6 (Photo: epa) pic.twitter.com/RrZFFjtbNI
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) May 13, 2016
Earlier this week, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones died in New York City, leaving no one else in the U.S. who was born in the 19th century, as far as reliable record indicate. In fact, her death leaves only one person in the world known to have been born in the 1800s.
Born about a month before 1900 began and when England's Queen Victoria was still on the throne, Emma Morano is now the oldest living person. Incredibly, she still lives on her own in northern Italy.
On Friday, she was happy to hear the title had passed to her, one of her relatives told London's Daily Telegraph newspaper. "She was told this morning and she said 'My word, I'm as old as the hills,' but she was very pleased," Rosi Santoni said.
Morano credits her longevity to a daily glass of brandy, along with other things that don't sound healthy (link contains auto-play video). Researchers are studying supercentenarian in Italy, who tend to live longer than people anywhere else in the world.
Tags: Supercentenarian, Centenarian, Emma Morano
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The Last 19th-century People
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102-Year Old Woman Blows Out Birthday Cake Candles, Her Teeth
105-Year Old Woman Attributes Her Longevity to Eating Bacon Every Day
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It has been very windy in the last days in Vienna and a lot of leaves have already fallen which means it's high time for my seasonal favorites! I picked these five polishes that represent fall so well: ILNP Mona Lisa, KBShimmer Open Toad Shoes, OPI It's a Piazza Cake, Picture Polish Big Bang and Zoya Sia.
ILNP Mona Lisa is a medium brown/taupe holo. It belongs to the ILNP Ultra Holo line which is characterized by large holographic particles. I have fallen head over heels in love with this kind of finish. You can see the rainbow effect in every single light. The combination of this soft brown shade with the scattered holo particles makes for an incredibly chic and elegant polish! I applied 3 coats for the picture.
KBShimmer Open Toad Shoes is an olive green glitter crelly with a mix of gold, purple and blue glitter. Wow, I love this weird color combination! If you're into ugly-pretty shades, this is for you 🙂 I also like that the olive green is not too dark. I applied 3 thin coats, but I could have gotten away with 2 thicker coats.
OPI It's a Piazza Cake is a burnt orange creme and my favorite from the OPI Venice Collection. If you want your nails to blend in with the changing leaves, this polish is a good way to go 😉 It's very similar to OPI Chop-Sticking to My Story which I adore as well! It's a Piazza Cake has a little bit more red in it, while Chop-Sticking to My Story leans more brown. I applied 2 coats here.
Picture Polish Big Bang is a dusty indigo scattered holo with multicolored flakies. The color reminds me of one of my favorite polishes from last fall: China Glaze History of the World. Apparently that's the kind of shade I'm particularly drawn to in fall 🙂 Big Bang combines the best of everything: gorgeous dark color, holo particles and colorful flakies! It can't get better than this! The polish covers perfectly in 2 coats.
Zoya Sia is a royal blue cream and part of this year's Focus Collection. For me, this kind of color is just like a bright red: classic and timeless. I could wear it all year round and would never feel out of season. You're looking at 2 coats.
Hope you're having a lovely Sunday! What are your favorites this fall?
In fact, I have a lot of polishes in my stash which I don't like on my own nails 🙂 Cremes and glitters are the most flattering finishes for me. I guess we're always very hard with ourselves 🙂 I'm sure the OPI would look great on you!


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Палермо () е провинция в Италия, в региона Сицилия.

Площта ѝ е 4992 км², а населението — около 1 250 000 души (2007). Провинцията включва 82 общини, административен център е град Палермо.

Административно деление
Провинцията се състои от 82 общини:
 Палермо
 Алимена
 Алиминуза
 Алия
 Алтавила Милича
 Алтофонте
 Багерия
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 Баучина
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 Бизакуино
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 Джулиана
 Изнело
 Изола деле Фемине
 Какамо
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 Кампофеличе ди Рочела
 Кампофеличе ди Фиталия
 Кампофиорито
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 Монреале
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 Палацо Адриано
 Палермо
 Партинико
 Петралия Сопрана
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 Пиана дели Албанези
 Полина
 Полици Дженероза
 Прици
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 Рокапалумба
 Сан Джузепе Ято
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In the previous article in this series on parenting anger, I mentioned this next step is the glue which helps hold the integrity and authority changes in your parenting in place. Here is why this step plays such an essential role in repairing any disconnect with your child when your parenting anger has caused division in the past.
Looking at our children through a nonjudgmental lens can be very difficult. We tend to have strong feelings for how much we desire to see our children succeed. These strong feelings can easily be read by a child through nonverbal communication. When our body language shows we are nervous, stressed, or even bothered when a child fails, our reaction passes along judgmental overtones. These reactions, if repeatedly observed by a child, will convey a parent's inability to accept failure even without any verbal communication.
Most of the time when we struggle with accepting our child's weaknesses, it stems from our own inability to accept our failures. If you struggle in this area, and in accepting yourself for being less than perfect, then the first thing you need to realize is that failure is an essential part of life which helps us, and our children grow and learn.
A while back I wrote an article called Failing to Learn where I stressed the importance of learning how to accept failure as part of the learning process so mistakes can be launching points for more learning instead of roadblocks of further exploration and understanding. With each mistake, we are given the opportunity to see how and why we failed. From there, we must choose to take what we learned in failing, and joyfully move forward in the hope that our next attempt will be better than our last based on what we learned in the last go-around.
When we can change our perspective about failure, the mechanics of accepting our children also becomes much easier. We are more prone to say "oops" when mistakes happen. And, our child's limitations are given flight to become vehicles for greater discoveries.
When we start to make this shift towards accepting a child's limitations and working on our responses to their failures, we also need to change our approach in how we redirect our child's reaction to their failures. This is where the big change in your parenting needs to happen to glue all these elements together…and to prepare for the final steps in cultivating your child's heart.
When a child sees your reactions to their failures as an attack, you, in turn, will become the object for any out-lash in dealing with internal feelings of inadequacy. You essentially become your child's punching bag because your reaction comes with a dual meaning. First, it conveys to your child you are safe because your love for them is what caused your reaction to their failure, but secondly, you are also an enemy because your reaction has placed you in their battle zone. Thus, instead of your child taking on the real issues he/she is facing, exposed through failure, your child makes the issue about your relationship.
If you were to view this scenario as a boxing ring, your child would be in the battle of life with you in the same ring. There are many things your child battles each day, but your job as a parent was never to be his opponent. Instead, you have been called to be a coach who can provide fighting strategies for all the important things he fights through in life.
By accepting your child's fight as part of the learning process, and your role as the ever-vigilant coach through this training period in your child's life, your goal will be to remove yourself from the ring by accepting your child and battles they are up against. Win or lose, you must show you are willing to stick it out while learning alongside as to what works and what doesn't with failure, and success, leading to the winning strategies.
Each time your child tries to get you into the ring, you must make a dedicated effort to keep your feet out of the battle zone. And when needed, calling a "time-out" a break until your child is ready to receive training instead of taking you on in the ring. Over time this process will become easier, especially as your child starts to see the value of having you working with them to fight these struggles instead of being frustrated, embarrassed, or upset when they fail.
In my next article, we are going to continue with the next step in the process of cultivating your child's heart, which is forgiveness. Until then, make sure to keep fighting the good fight alongside your child and make sure you are getting the encouragement you need to keep pressing on.
One way you can get exclusive resources and a monthly dose of encouragement in your inbox is by subscribing to the SPED Homeschool newsletter. Also, make sure to check out our podcast channel or download one of the SPED Homeschool Conversations podcasts on iTunes or Google Play for lots of great content to encourage you in your family life, homeschooling, and special needs parenting.
Your contributions keep our ministry running!


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Ellon back on song under coach Mountain
15 November 2017 Jack Nixon Clubland, Features, Grassroots Comments Off on Ellon back on song under coach Mountain
Coach Sam Mountain (front) with players Sean Aitken, Ali Addy and Brad Fraser are enjoying a winning season at Ellon. Image: Colin Rennie
by JACK NIXON
ONE of the most progressive clubs in the North East is enjoying a resurgence after years of underachieving thanks to a change of attitude in its senior squad, who have now lost only once in the last 26 games.
Ellon Rugby, who stunned the Caley area in the late 1990s and early 2000s by winning six consecutive promotions, are back on song in BT Caledonia League Division 2 North, sitting nine points clear of local rivals Garioch. They have also reached the semi-finals of the Caledonia Regional Bowl.
Remarkably, the Aberdeenshire club has achieved its recent success with an all Ellon based squad, in stark contrast to the glory years of over a decade ago when players from all over the region were attracted to the Meadows.
All but two of the 21 players involved in last month's 36-10 victory over Deeside were products of the club's youth system.
Click on image for details on Brewhemia's excellent pre Scotland v New Zealand event
Equally surprisingly, the current coach, Sam Mountain is one of the youngest coaches in the game at 26, and has already won the plaudits of more senior coaches, including one of the most respected, Eric Strachan, formerly of Aberdeenshire, where Mountain was a scrum-half.
"Sam was always a quick learner, and keen to analyse each game. He was also a good reader of the game from his position of scrum-half before he picked up a serious leg injury, ending his playing career at the age of 24," said Strachan.
"I am delighted to see him making such a success of coaching. He has a good attitude and will go far in the game. We're all pleased to see Ellon back on track to go back to the top Caley league. It seems like just yesterday when they were in the national leagues, and if I recall had a short spell in what was then called Premiership Three."
Strachan, who is now forwards coach with National League Division Three side Gordonians, also recalled an occasion when Ellon gave Premiership One giants Melrose a tough test in the Scottish Cup.
"They even led 10-3 at half-time. If Sam can do half as much in his time at the Meadows he will do well. I wish him luck. The game needs aspiring coaches like him," he said.
Mountain was suitably modest about his career so far as a coach.
"I am ambitious for both the club and myself but it's the squad who must take the credit. They have taken us to the top of the table after a change of attitude midway through last season when they all agreed to a commit to getting fitter, while also improving playing standards," he explained.
"We are getting our rewards as a result of our commitment. This is a proud club with a very active under0age section of which I was a member. We are also a community orientated club, owing much to former president Archie Park, who had a vision which took the club to two Murrayfield finals. I'd like to think I am only taking up the baton that Archie and others handed on."
"At the moment, we are taking one game at a time, including our semi-final game on January 27t when we meet Aberdeen University. In the meantime, we are enjoying the Autumn Test break, though we are still in training."
The Caley leagues may just be the foothills of the national game, but the impression is that young Mountain is on a mission, set to climb even further in his time with the Meadows club, and would relish a return to Murrayfield to emulate the feats of former coaches Alex Duncan and Kevin Wyness.


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Q: How are C# 6.0 default property values assigned and affected by scope when using function calls? I might get some downvotes here, but I've actually found conflicting information through normal searches and would like a definitive answer other people can also easily find.
Given a property in current C#:
public static IEnumerable<string> foo { get; set; } = new string[] { "bar", "bar2" };

We know that the default value of foo will return as the above array.  If another value is assigned, the default value is no longer used.  However, what if the case is :
public static IEnumerable<string> foo { get; set; } = GetMyStrings();

My thought is that this functions like:
if(foo == null) { foo = GetMyStrings();}

and that foo will retain the value from its first run of GetMyStrings() for the lifetime of the object unless overwritten by a manually assigned value.
My colleague insists this risks a GC problem, and that the result of GetMyStrings() can fall out of scope and be collected, "renullifying" the parameter and causing multiple calls to GetMyStrings() over the lifetime of the object.
Which of us is correct?

A: No, actually it is like this:
static ClassName()
{
    foo = GetMyStrings();
}

The compiler generates a static constructor and puts the assignment call in there (just like it creates a line in the constructor for non-static properties).

My colleague insists this risks a GC problem, and that the result of GetMyStrings() can fall out of scope and be collected, "renullifying" the parameter and causing multiple calls to GetMyStrings() over the lifetime of the object.

He is talking nonsense. An assigned instance will never be garbage collected, no matter from where exactly it was assigned.

A: Writing this
public static IEnumerable<string> Foo { get; set; } = GetMyStrings();

is syntactic sugar over this declaration
public static IEnumerable<string> Foo { get; set; }

and an addition of static constructor that looks like this:
static MyClass() {
    Foo = GetMyStrings();
}

(if you already have a static constructor, Foo = GetMyStrings(); line is added to it implicitly).
Other than that, there is no difference: once it is time for the class to get initialized, GetMyStrings() is called from the constructor, then the value it returns is assigned to Foo. After that the value remains there until it is replaced by another one, or the program ends.
As far as "renullifying" the parameter goes, it never happens to the same instance of the class object. You can get multiple calls to GetMyStrings() when app domain containing the class gets unloaded, or when the class is loaded into another app domain, but that has nothing to do with the new C# 6 syntax.
Finally, if you do not plan to change Foo after the static constructor, consider making it read-only:
public static IEnumerable<string> Foo { get; } = GetMyStrings();

A: To exemplify my comment, look at this example:
public void RunTest()
{
    Test t = new Stackoverflow.Form1.Test();
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values.First());
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values.First());
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values.First());

    Console.WriteLine("------");
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values2.First());
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values2.First());
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values2.First());

    Console.WriteLine("------");
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values3.First());
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values3.First());
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
    Console.WriteLine(t.Values3.First());
}

public class Test
{
    public IEnumerable<string> Values { get; set; } = GetValues();

    public static IEnumerable<string> GetValues()
    {
        List<string> results = new List<string>();
        for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i)
        {
            yield return DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(i).ToString();
        }
    }

    public IEnumerable<string> Values2 { get; set; } = GetValues2();

    public static IEnumerable<string> GetValues2()
    {
        return GetValues().ToList();
    }

    public IEnumerable<string> Values3 { get; set; } = GetValues().ToList();
}

The output from this is:
19/04/2017 12:24:25
19/04/2017 12:24:26
19/04/2017 12:24:27
------
19/04/2017 12:24:25
19/04/2017 12:24:25
19/04/2017 12:24:25
------
19/04/2017 12:24:25
19/04/2017 12:24:25
19/04/2017 12:24:25

Values: As you can see, the IEnumerable<> from the method using yield will be evaluated each time you call it.
Values2: The method returns a List. Since List implements IEmnumerable, you're still just returning the concrete instance of List (albeit presented as its IEnumerable interface) and thus it only gets evaluated once.
Values3: We've basically moved the .ToList() outside of the GetValues2() method and just implemented it directly on the property. The result here is the same as Values2, for basically the same reason.
When you return a concrete object that implements IEnumerable, it will be evaluated once, but watch out for the first example.
And remember folks, Linq is a view. if the underlying data changes, so does what's returned from your Linq expression.

Re the garbage collection question: Objects that are referenced by an active object will not be garbage collected.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Why We Haven't Made Progress on Civilian Protection
by Larry Lewis
Civilian Casualties (CIVCAS), Department of Defense (DoD), Protection of civilians
A friend of mine, Sarah Holewinski, recently wrote about how the United States has not made progress on protecting civilians when conducting military operations abroad. It is a compelling and disheartening list. As a scientist who has visited war zones and pored through reams of military data to find creative ways to better spare civilians, the list rings all too true.
To me, the next step is asking the question: Why? To solve a problem, we first need to understand it. Fortunately, steps have been taken to do just this. I have lead or contributed to a dozen studies on civilian protection commissioned by the U.S. Defense Department and others, including analysis of real-world civilian casualty incidents. This work has proved useful over the last decade: It enabled a reduction of civilian casualties in Afghanistan starting in 2009, informed the 2016 U.S. executive order on civilian casualties, and influenced the United Nation's Protection of Civilians program to include policy and practice as well as compliance with international law. If we want to understand the overall lack of progress that Sarah points out, this foundation of study helps us to see the problems and the options with greater clarity.
The lack of progress on civilian protection affects more than U.S. military operations. It also impacts the conduct of U.S. partners—exemplified by the tragic and extreme toll on civilians from the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, but repeated elsewhere with other U.S. partners. And a lack of U.S. leadership exacerbates the global problem of civilian protection. In May 2020, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres described the past year as a "year of suffering" for civilians in armed conflict and called on all States to redouble efforts to protect civilians.
U.S. government officials have spoken in the past about doing "everything possible" to protect civilians in conflict, but actions in the past have fallen far short of that aspiration. Building on my research—reading one operational report after another, studying patterns and trends in conflict after conflict—and experience working with the United States and its partners to seek improvements, I offer three reasons for the U.S. lack of progress: We don't learn, we don't lead, and we don't help our partners—or hold them to a high enough standard.
We Don't Learn
The United States has done more than any country in the world to understand how civilian harm happens. When I started my work on civilian harm in 2009, I had the privilege of working with U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan under the command of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. That experience highlighted for me what was possible. Due to McChrystal's leadership and guided by evidence-based solutions, the civilian toll dropped by 20 percent from 2009 to 2010, showing that it is indeed possible to better protect civilians. Data also showed that these efforts did not reduce mission effectiveness nor did they endanger U.S. forces. I have continued to work on the issue of civilian protection since then, studying other operations and identifying opportunities for doing better.
Having worked on this issue for many years, I have examined well over 1,000 actual incidents of civilian harm using operational records and investigations, then analyzing patterns and trends. As a result, there is much information available about civilian harm and how it can be reduced. For example, in my work I found:
Not all civilian harm results from "collateral damage" where civilians are inadvertently harmed in an attack of a military target. Instead, civilian harm often occurs when civilians are misidentified as military targets themselves and are attacked in that mistaken belief;
There are many misconceptions about civilian harm that do not hold up to the data. For example, drones aren't necessarily as surgical as many believe, with one study showing drones being ten times more likely to cause civilian harm than manned aircraft;
Available weapons, equipment, and capabilities are often ill-suited for avoiding civilian casualties, including a lack of robust tools to detect civilians and civilian casualties inside buildings, little ability to identify and deconflict damage to infrastructure, and consistent challenges in determining hostile intent. For example, using green laser dazzlers to signal to drivers to stop at checkpoints is a bad idea (since green means go), but that's what forces are often given;
We often don't know the true scale of civilian harm: the assessment process improperly relies heavily on internal military intelligence and does not give enough weight to external sources;
Effective command guidance matters. For example, in Afghanistan, the average number of civilians killed in errant airstrikes dropped over 40 percent after the 2010 Tactical Directive amended guidance to forces concerning potential civilian casualty risks. On the other hand, command guidance discouraging warning shots at checkpoints increased the risk to civilians because forces instead resorted to more deadly disabling or lethal fire.
Civilian protection is not just tactics but taking a comprehensive approach that starts with mission planning and encompasses strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war.
Overall, we have a much greater understanding of challenges and ways we can improve. But to improve, we need to put that understanding into action. This can be done in two ways: operational learning and institutional learning. The 2010 Tactical Directive is one example of operational learning, finding what needs to be improved within the context of an operation and addressing it. When this operational learning is integrated into the conduct of operations, it can be effective and rapid. For example, during the Afghanistan campaign between 2009-2012, the military command would regularly send me their data on civilian casualties so I could help monitor and give suggestions from back in Virginia. In January 2011, I noticed new spikes in civilian casualties in two areas of operations. I did some quick analysis to isolate what they were from, developed some recommendations, and sent them to an aide of the then-commander, Gen. David Petraeus. The command verified the finding and took quick action to mitigate the risks, and sure enough, the numbers went back down in a matter of months. This idea of monitoring trends and looking for quick ways to identify and respond to risks was something I later wrote into section 4 of the 2016 civilian casualty executive order.
While that idea is now national policy—Section 4 of the executive order is still in effect today—that policy commitment to operational learning has not been met in practice. For the campaigns in Iraq, in Syria, and in Afghanistan since 2015, the risk of civilian casualties increased over time with no mitigating actions being taken, and the calculation of this risk was only done after operations concluded. The operational learning seen earlier in Afghanistan—real-time intervention to address risks to civilians—was not repeated in later operations.
The United States also struggles with institutional learning. The various studies and reviews over the past decade have produced many recommendations, recommendations that largely have not been acted on. The result is that the same mistakes tend to occur over and over again. Because the United States has a poor institutional memory, this very fact of repeated mistakes is often not even recognized. For example, in the 2015 U.S. strike on an MSF hospital in Afghanistan, the investigation and DOD follow-on actions did not recognize that many of the features seen in that incident had occurred many times before, and thus missed an opportunity to address those long-standing problems. And while the evidence is clear that a comprehensive approach is needed for civilian protection, the United States has never taken such an approach. This is exemplified in a tragic way by operations in Raqqa, Syria, where some efforts were made to support the protection of civilians, mostly at the tactical level, but the lack of shaping and monitoring of risks led to an approach that left the city in ruins and caused human suffering and tragedy that will last far longer than the conflict itself.
Institutional memory is critical for progress. When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried thousands of materials for the filament before finding the right solution. What if Edison had not meticulously kept a record of the materials he tried? Without learning from his mistakes, it is very unlikely he would have been successful. But the U.S. military lacks such institutional memory, such systematic tracking of lessons, of successes and failures with regard to civilian protection. Without that, progress is much more difficult. And it is telling that this situation is allowed to persist, suggesting that civilian protection is not a true priority for DoD. Consider if this were the situation for aircraft carrier performance or fighter aircraft effectiveness: Would this persistent lack of progress be tolerated?
We Don't Lead
The United States understands the challenges of reducing and assessing civilian casualties better than any military on the planet and has developed a number of evidence-based best practices, though its overall practice has been uneven. As the international community continues to wrestle with how to reduce the civilian toll of military operations—for example, in initiatives such as the U.N. Secretary General's Protection of Civilians initiative and Ireland's political declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas—the United States has much to offer in terms of both conceptual and concrete approaches.
While the United States has introduced into these discussions the notion of sharing good military practices and practical measures that States can take to protect civilians during conflict, the United States can take a stronger and more forward-leaning stance internationally. For example, after the issuance of the 2016 Executive Order on civilian casualties, Sarah and I proposed to have the United States lead the development of a joint declaration on civilian casualties, getting other countries to agree to similar policy commitments and then having signatory countries work together to share best practices. Then-Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and International Committee of the Red Cross President Peter Maurer both agreed to speak at a launch event for the new joint declaration at the U.N. General Assembly in September 2016. But the effort was scuttled when legal counsel in DoD and State cautioned that doing so could risk the creation of new norms that the United States would then be beholden to.
While it is right to be aware of possible effects of such initiatives, the risk—which to me still seems unclear since the effort was modeled on policy commitments that the United States had already made—should be weighed relative to the benefits. And the benefits of U.S. leadership in the overall area of civilian protection are many. U.S. leadership can promote humanitarian goals: greater involvement and leadership in these venues can help the international community to meet its aspirations to better protect civilians. It is also smart strategy: such efforts enhance the legitimacy and reputation of the United States while highlighting the differences between the United States and competitors such as Russia and China.
What are some specific areas in which the United States can show leadership? Such leadership could include:
strengthening transparency initiatives regarding civilian harm, setting a standard for sharing of victim demographics, locations, and whether amends were made;
working constructively with international groups and civil society, and encouraging other militaries to do the same;
developing practical and technical solutions to persistent problems such as protection of critical infrastructure and hospitals that can be used by itself and by partners; and
helping to develop implementation strategies for initiatives such as the U.N.'s POC program that are appropriate to different partners and military contexts.
We Don't Help Our Partners—Or Hold Them to a High Standard
The United States works with foreign nations to meet national security, foreign policy, and economic objectives. Strengthening a foreign country's security forces can carry risks, and over time security assistance laws and policies have aimed to mitigate them. Specifically, foreign military sales carry a requirement for end use monitoring, where the United States seeks to ensure that military equipment is safeguarded from potential espionage and not transferred to third parties without authorization. Similarly, legislation in 1997 restricted assistance to foreign security forces when evidence was found of gross violations of human rights.
Protecting against diversion and preventing assistance to security forces that do not hold to basic international standards of human rights are necessary but not sufficient in themselves to improve outcomes for foreign partners, to promote U.S. national interests, and to have security assistance efforts align with U.S. values. Recent operations by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen highlight the negative outcomes that can result from security assistance. The United States has provided equipment, training, and operational support to the coalition, including with existing human rights and end-use monitoring requirements, and yet the effects of this campaign have been disastrous. From my report detailing U.S. support to the Saudi-led coalition:
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians while crippling hospitals and critical infrastructure, contributing to a humanitarian crisis in Yemen of a magnitude not seen since World War II, including widespread famine and a cholera epidemic. Meanwhile, in the midst of this crisis, the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has solidified its grasp on territory and resources. With civilian casualties from US-provided bombs generating increasing hostility in Yemen toward the US, the conflict has also increased AQAP's ability to act against the US and its interests.
This is just one example of many where partner forces receiving U.S. training and equipment harm civilians during the course of their military operations. There are compelling reasons to do more to promote the protection of civilians with partners. In addition to the suffering of the civilian population, such harm undermines the partner's strategic success while creating grievances that can prolong conflict. Civilian harm also serves as a symptom of targeting deficiencies where legitimate threats go unaddressed. This harm is also costly to the United States, causing reputational damage and strengthening anti-U.S. sentiment, weakening norms and expectations for the protection of civilians in armed conflict, and creating resistance to efforts to support foreign partners.
What more can we do? There are a number of steps we can take to strengthen the civilian protection ability of partners and promote a more responsible security assistance policy. They include:
Take a comprehensive approach. Right now, the United States addresses only some components of civilian protection and treats them in isolation, instead of taking a comprehensive approach that includes strategic to tactical levels;
Stop making decisions in the dark. Too often, decisions about providing arms or assistance are made without a deep, contextualized understanding of the civilian protection challenges that are present. This includes "operational" end use monitoring—not current inspections intended to prevent diversion (referred to as "end use monitoring") but a new requirement to assess the operational impact of assistance, including the impact on civilians. Such an understanding is needed to both characterize risks and to identify evidence-based solutions that can help mitigate these risks;
Use focused conditionality. Are there significant risks with U.S.-provided assistance? We can identify mitigating steps that can be taken to address those risks, and then introduce conditionality to help convince partners of the importance of those steps being prioritized. This is far more productive than a message from the United States saying "try harder" to protect civilians but lacking specificity on what actions should be taken;
Push for partners to sign onto international agreements (for example, the Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas political declaration, or a new version of a joint declaration on civilian casualties) in order to raise the collective bar on civilian protection.
We can also work to cultivate regional leaders in civilian protection. Such prospective regional leaders would combine professional military operations with a political will to improve and be an example to others. Cultivating regional civilian protection leaders has a number of advantages: It helps expand the influence of the United States, it gives the issue of civilian protection a local voice in the region, and over time it will reduce the required level of effort for the United States in this area.
Looking back at the last four years, we see an administration that, too often, did not prioritize the issue of civilian protection in practice. This includes the acceptance of a sharp increase in the risk to civilians in recent operations in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan; the relaxation of standards for counterterrorism operations; and the certification of the sufficiency of measures to safeguard Saudi arms sales. These and other actions all increased the risks to civilians in armed conflict, and innocent lives were lost as a result.
There are already signs that the new administration will seek to improve the protection of civilians in conflict. But the United States should do more than just reverse the actions and inactions of the past four years. We understand the problems we face, with the foundation of a dozen studies and many specific, actionable recommendations. We need to act based on that understanding. Too many times I have seen yet another airstrike kill innocent civilians, and am haunted by the fact that it happened again. Mistakes happen in war, but tolerating repetition of the same mistakes is careless and callous.
So, how do we do better? How do we start to make progress on Sarah's list? We need a few things: strong leadership by informed and determined leaders, resourcing of efforts to address identified lessons, and establishing clear responsibilities for ensuring that institutional changes are made. These responsibilities need to be clearly established, properly resourced, and sustained over time. We have the foundation to both improve civilian protection in U.S. operations and contribute to improving the protection of civilians in conflict globally. Let's hope that in four years we can look back and see progress. If we do, lives will be saved.
All views expressed are the author's' own.
Image: A picture taken on October 21, 2017 shows a general view of heavily damaged buildings in Raqa, after a Kurdish-led force expelled the Islamic State group from the northern Syrian city. Photo: BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images
Larry Lewis
Larry Lewis (@LarryLewis_) is the Director of the Center for Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence at Center for Naval Analyses. Lewis spent a decade analyzing real world operations as the project lead and primary author for many of the Department of Defense's Joint Lessons Learned studies. This article represents the opinion of the author alone, and not that of Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
America Needs a War on Terror Transparency Act
Hidden Negligence: Aug. 29 Drone Strike is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Insight Into Biden's Counterterrorism Thinking Suggests More of the Same
by Annie Shiel, Jordan Street and Abigail Watson


People share a lot of information about themselves from location data collected through smartphones and other mobile devices. Some of this data is stored on the device and can be shared with the user's permission for legitimate business reasons. But many mobile users want greater protection for their privacy and security.
So a team of engineers at Oregon State University developed an algorithm for encrypting location data that hides the user's location information. The technology is secure against malware and other threats. Electrical engineering and computer science faculty Bechir Hamdaoui and Attila Yavuz were the principal investigators of the new encryption method, assisted by graduate student Mohamed Grissa.
The Oregon State innovation addresses a significant privacy issue for mobile devices: location information can be inferred over wireless networks without a user's knowledge. This information can reveal private and sensitive information, such as users' shopping patterns, health conditions or beliefs. Such potentially sensitive information is readily available through wireless networks known as cognitive radio.
Cognitive radio networks are seen as the future in wireless communications. These networks detect channels that are in use and can switch to the best wireless channel available to avoid interference and congestion. Identifying available channels involves sharing information correlated to the user's location, which puts privacy at risk. Existing methods of encrypting location information are complex and expensive. That makes them impractical to implement on cognitive radio networks, despite the potential benefit.
The new encryption method allows a mobile device to access cognitive radio networks without sharing its location. A third-party entity, referred to as a gateway, is used so that location-identifying information is not sent directly to the service provider and cannot be inferred.
To move their innovation forward, Hamdaoui, Yavuz and Grissa have filed a provisional patent application through Oregon State University's Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development (OCCD). If this location encryption method is adopted by a utility company or mobile network provider, mobile users can enjoy better service without sharing sensitive information.


text:
'Beaumont Necklace' Fetches $3.5 Million, 36-Carat Diamond Achieves $5 Million At Sotheby's
Anthony DeMarco Contributor
The emerald and diamond "Beaumont Necklace" fetched nearly $3.6 million at Sotheby's Geneva Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale. The price, within estimates, was more than double the $1.1 million it achieved when it last appeared at auction in 1994.
It was created in the 1930s for Hélène Beaumont (1894 – 1988), an American socialite and close friend of the Duchess of Windsor. It consists of a graduated row of 11 sugarloaf cabochon Colombian emeralds ranging in weight from 3.57 carats to 18.09 carats. The gemstones are combined with geometric diamonds in an Art Deco design, "placing this jewel among the very finest examples of 20th-Century jewelry," Sotheby's said in a statement.
The Beaumont necklace
Although it is unsigned, Sotheby's says the design, craftsmanship and use of materials suggests that it was made by Van Cleef & Arpels, as were many other pieces in Beaumont's collection. It's a transformable jewel as the central emerald and diamond sections of the necklace can be detached and worn as bracelets.
In addition to the Beaumont Necklace, a Fabergé diamond tiara sold for $434,346, well above its $300,000 estimate. The tiara was made for the wedding of the last Crown Princess of Prussia, Duchess Cecilie von Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886-1954), on the occasion of her wedding to Crown Prince Wilhelm (1882-1951), son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, in Berlin in June 1905.
Sotheby's says that these two sales as well as others in the auction held Tuesday along with the results achieved by the Bourbon Parma collection in November, 2018 – which set a new auction record for antique jewels – "confirms (the) universal appeal of pieces with prestigious provenance."
"Tonight we saw the enduring appeal of outstanding Art Deco jewelry. The Beaumont necklace is 'the Chrysler building of jewelry,' instantly recognizable as an Art Deco masterpiece, and in my opinion, the greatest emerald and diamond necklace of the period," said David Bennett, Sotheby's worldwide jewelry chairman, who led the sale of the necklace 25 years ago. "This landmark result tonight is a further testament to its absolute and timeless beauty."
The auction which was distinguished by the number of signed pieces, which totaled half of the 437 lots. The sale brought a combined total of more than $42 million, with almost 77% of the lots sold and close to 60% of them achieving prices above their high estimate, the auction house said.
The Beaumont Necklace was the number two lot of the sale.
Pair of diamond earrings with Colobian emeralds weighing 17.01 and 17.71 carats
There were a number of strong results for Art Deco jewels. For example, Art Deco style earrings set with cushion-shaped Colombian emeralds weighing 17.01 and 17.71 carats sold for $972,934, within estimates. A 1933 Cartier coral and diamond bangle fetched $148,918, more than double its high estimate of $60,000. They were purchased by Graff
Other highlights in the sale included:
36.57-carat, D-color brilliant-cut diamond ring
* A 36.57-carat, D-color brilliant-cut diamond with VVS1 clarity set on ring that sold for just over $5 million, within estimates. It was the top lot in the sale.
Ruby and diamond ring, Bulgari
* A diamond ring by Bulgari set with a 5.14-carat Burmese ruby sold for more than $1.6 million, above its high estimate.
18.86-carat diamond ring by Harry Winston
* A Harry Winston ring with an 18.86-carat step-cut diamond fetched more than $1.4 million, besting its high estimate.
* A pair of diamond earrings, each set with a cushion-shaped diamond weighing 33.25 and 33.88 carats sold for more than $1.3 million, within estimates.
Emerald and diamond ring
* A ring from a "noble collection" featuring an 11.55 carats Colombian emerald realized $687,011, within estimates.
* A ring set with an 8.35-carat Kashmir sapphire from $ 639,357, with estimates.
* A necklace by Janesich with delicately carved emeralds depicting bunches of grapes and leaves, circa 1920, sold for $310,247, within estimates.
Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.
Anthony DeMarco
In a previous life I was an award-winning daily newspaper reporter who moved to business and trade magazines and who now specializes in high jewelry and watches for publ...


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text:
Published September 6
'Frozen' actor rips Trump banner away from audience member, says he won't apologize
By Elizabeth Zwirz | Fox News
Timothy R. Hughes, a cast member of the Broadway musical Frozen, said he "will not apologize" for his actions after he reportedly grabbed a pro-Trump sign from someone who held it up in the audience on Wednesday. (AP)
Timothy R. Hughes, a cast member of the hit Broadway musical Frozen, refused to apologize after he was seen grabbing a pro-Trump sign from someone who held it up in the audience on Wednesday.
The cast was taking the stage for a curtain call when someone in the crowd displayed a sign that read "Trump 2020," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In response, Hughes, who portrays the character Pabbie in the Disney musical, grabbed it from the audience member's grasp and threw it off stage.
The actor later shared a short clip of the moment on Instagram, insisting that he would "not apologize" for his behavior toward "the disrespectful man trying to interrupt this moment with a pathetic political platform."
In the video, the cast was on stage together when Hughes seemingly noticed the Trump sign, grabbed it and cast it off to the side.
Questioning what he called a "protest" during the show, Hughes mused: "What does it say about our country and politics when a man at the show tonight felt the need to protest Disney's Frozen on Broadway with a pro Trump flag??"
"How frightening is it that our show's messages of love, acceptance, and diversity have become the opposition to supporting Trump?" he continued.


text:
Topic: gardening
Picking the winners from our garden harvest photo contest
Posted by Lisa Cowan
Photo by John Lok / The Seattle Times Northwesterners are proud of their tomatoes. That's one thing we learned in our recent garden-photo contest, which drew nearly 400 entries from readers hoping to win an iPad Mini or one of the gift cards from Molbak's Garden + Home. We also discovered that Northwest gardeners are incredibly resourceful, growing…
Comments | More in Gardening | Topics: contest, gardening, harvest
Deborah Madison on 'Vegetable Literacy'
Consider the carrot with a botanist's eye instead of a cook's. Suddenly, the lacy flowers of the overwintered vegetables connect it to cumin and dill, to parsley and parsnips, and a garden full of other unexpected relatives.
That's what led noted author Deborah Madison to her new cookbook, "Vegetable Literacy," a gorgeous exploration of the major families of vegetables and their connections. The founding chef of San Francisco's lauded "Greens" Restaurant (and a "beginning gardener") became fascinated by the relationships between whole plants — leaves, flowers, and roots — illustrating, for instance, why broccoli stems and leaves are as edible as the florets, or how beet leaves and spinach can easily be substituted for chard. On the way, her explorations led Madison to recipes like Radish Top Soup with Lemon and Yogurt, and Carrot Almond Cake with Ricotta Cream.
"I feel if you have some understanding of plant families and the relationships among the members, you can walk into a kitchen and feel more confident," she said by phone before her upcoming trip to Seattle.
Madison, who left California for New Mexico many years back, will discuss Vegetable Literacy at the Book Larder (4252 Fremont Avenue N.) from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, April 29, and at a fund-raiser for the non-profit City Fruit organization from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, at Santoro's Books, 7405 Greenwood Avenue N., among other local appearances. Her complete schedule is online over here.
You don't have to start gardening to appreciate whole vegetables (though even "a pot of chervil" is easy and fun, she noted), and you don't have to be a vegetarian (she's not one herself, though she eats a lot of vegetarian foods.)
"For me writing this book was really about learning to look and see — and when you start to look, lots of things start to pop into view."
Here's an edited, condensed version of our conversation, and one of her favorite recipes from the creative assortment in the new book:
Q: This book seems very different than what you've done before.
A: "What I was really interested in was the botany part of it, 'Let's look at plants in a different way.' They're not just pretty plants on a shelf and randomly arranged, but they share characteristics. What might they be, and how are they related?"
Q: If people don't garden, how can they see vegetables the way you're describing them?
A: "I think a lot of my observations first came from visiting other people's farms and gardens … If all you can see is the supermarket, it's hard to imagine. It's a little bit like the butcher counter, we see parts and pieces, we don't see the whole.
"Even at the farmers market we don't always see the whole plant, but sometimes we do. I tell a story about the woman who said 'I meant to bring the whole plant,' " talking about her eggplant — she wanted to show people how beautiful it was. And the English actually did use them as ornamentals before they used them as edibles."
Q: I saw that your father was a botanist?
A: "Yes, my father and my brother. I was really not interested in any of that until I was older — my husband always said, 'How could you escape it, when you have a dad walking around with you mumbling Latin words, picking up things and dropping them and they grow?' — and my brother is a farmer as well as a botanist.
"I've always grown herbs. But to actually grow vegetables was a different thing. … It's something I'm new to. I consider myself a beginning gardener."
Q: What are your own gardening aspirations?
A: "I haven't thought in terms of big aspirations. I'd love to be the kind of gardener that's got a nice little acre going, and just patches and patches of edible food, but I don't think that's me… New Mexico is a hard place to grow things in a lot of ways. It's not just a lack of water, but the soil is very clayey, or it's very sandy, or there isn't any — and it's extremely windy and arid, and it's the desert, we're at 7,000 feet. Even though you can get nice tomatoes, because of those chilly nights the skins get very tough and it's really different from a California tomato. It's interesting to see what those differences are between places that we don't think about very much unless we do grow things."
Q: Do you have any favorite recipes from the book?
A: "One of the things I found that's an advantage (in using whole plants) is you often get things other people don't. For instance, when cilantro goes to seed and it starts to make its little coriander seeds, there's a point where those are green and they're just wonderful. I have a few dishes where I slipped those green coriander seeds in, and you bite into them, and there's this burst of 'Whoa! What was that?!' … I have certain things I really did like a lot. There's a dish for fresh peas with roasted ricotta, and it's very simple. … There's this 'damaged goods gratin' of tomatoes and eggplants and chard, that was a result of a hailstorm that just pockmarked and shredded everything. (For a farmer), they can't sell that. But hey — it's my garden, I can cook it if I want."
Q: Tell us about some of the plant families.
A: "I love the asteraceae family, I think it was the exciting one for me in many ways. Asteraceae means little star … I had written an article once about Jerusalem artichokes and their flowers. I didn't know about asteraceae, but I called them little stars. There's something about the articulation of their petals, and that they were so high up, I just thought of them as little stars — and guess what, they are in that family.
"And then my dad, at the end of his life, his mind wasn't very clear. I had gone to visit him, and I brought a calendar of Italian engravings of plant families, thinking that he would like it. He wasn't into it particularly, until we got into, I think, August, and the family group was asteraceae. He looked at it — here it shows these hairy roots and thorns and prickles — and he finally said, 'You know, it looks like some rough stuff from out of doors.' I thought that is so true. All those vegetables are a little difficult … he really nailed it."
Q: You've talked for decades about eating more vegetarian dishes. What do you think about how that's gone from an outlying notion to a mainstream way of eating?
A: "Vegetables are getting their due in a way, and it seems lots of people are talking about them and how great they are and that it makes sense to eat them — and it need not be complicated, they can be straightforward and simple and you can save complications for parties and whatnot. I do feel like this is all very familiar. It's kind of what I do. But it's nice. It doesn't have to be about being a vegetarian or making a lifestyle decision of anything like that, it's just 'hey, it's probably a good idea to eat more vegetables. Let's do it, and here's how."
Comments | Topics: Book Larder, City Fruit, Deborah Madison


text:
Thursday 20 June 2019: World Refugee Day
Refugees: finding hope in the pain of exile
Psalm 137; Luke 1:46-55
By Claire Hargreaves
Refugee and Interfaith Adviser, SE District, The Methodist Church
Context: a medium sized congregation in a semi-rural setting in the South East
Aim: to enable a deeper understanding of what it means to be a refugee
Whoever imagines that they will hear the cry of despair from Psalm 137 on our streets today? Yet if you listen carefully, you may well hear the same emotions from the refugees living among us here. In the last few years, war, particularly the war in Syria, violence and poverty have forced unprecedented numbers of people to flee to Europe and many other parts of the world in search of safety and a better life.
The exiles in the Old Testament who sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept were the victims of violent aggression, just like many refugees today. Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem and the Israelites were forced to leave, cut off from their homeland and their God. Their oppressors demanded that they sing joyful songs, but how could they sing in such sad circumstances? They were frightened of forgetting their heritage, angry and resentful of the failure of their neighbours to come to their aid, so all they could do was lament. The psalmist describes the exiles' feelings - loss of identity, despair and hopelessness, a longing to return home and an anxiety to keep faith in their God.
Sitting in Elizabeta's kitchen in a rundown tenement block in Amman, Jordan, I could have been listening to those exiled Israelites of so long ago. Sadly this was 2015. Tearfully, this young mother pointed to her two daughters and lamented the fact that the other pupils at school were asking why the girls always wore the same dress and shoes and why they did not have the latest toy.
Elizabeta had fled to Jordan from Aleppo in Syria, walking for days with her small daughters and others from her village, fleeing in terror from the violence of Daesh, known as ISIS in the West. Elizabeta was an Armenian Christian, an educated teaching assistant, whose husband owned restaurants and who was used to a comfortable lifestyle. Now she was in exile, relying on charity to help pay the rent on the shabby one room flat and with no idea of what might happen in the future. Even her faith was being shaken; the Armenian Christian Church in Amman had ignored her appeal for help. The little girls kept asking when they could go home. Elizabeta did not know what to say. The psalmist had said it all for her, thousands of years ago.
Elizabeta found herself in a profoundly difficult and unexpected situation. Her life was changed forever. Eventually she would have to find a way of dealing with her new circumstances. There would be no going home. Her house and restaurant had been destroyed by bombing the week after she left.
What is there to sing about in the midst of such trouble?
In the passage from Luke's gospel, Mary's life had been turned upside down too. God had chosen her, a young unmarried girl, to bear his son. She was facing disaster, but despite the difficulties, she had trusted God and accepted this sign of the Lord's favour.
Later, anxious and fearful of the future, she rushed from her village to visit her older cousin Elizabeth, also pregnant with a child gifted by God. Perhaps she was seeking reassurance that she had done the right thing. If so, Mary received it, for as soon as she saw her, Elizabeth was utterly convinced that Mary had been blessed and her child was of God. Elizabeth's joy overcame all Mary's misgivings. Overwhelmed with faith and trust in God, Mary burst into a wonderful song of praise and glory to God, the Magnificat.
With God, there is always the possibility of hope and joy, however terrible the circumstances.
Psalm 137 expresses some of the deepest emotions of those who have been forced from their homes and the life they knew. They are real feelings shared by refugees today. Elizabeta, sitting in her cramped shabby room in Amman, still shocked by the terror and disaster she had suffered, needed time and space to grieve for her loss.
Mary's song shows how it is possible to sing for joy in the midst of trouble. Her cousin helped to lift her beyond her worldly anxieties to the promise and blessing of a faithful and compassionate God.
May we too be the ones to hold out our hands in friendship, understanding and love so that refugees might find hope and joy again, even in a foreign land.
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Why Islam In-Focus Training Course?
In order to fully comprehend the culture of the Middle East, Gulf and Arabs, one needs to understand the extensive influence of religion on society.
Islam, which governs every aspect of a Muslim's life, also permeates every aspect of the Middle East. As a result, Arabian culture is often described as detail orientated, whereby emphasis is placed on ethics and expected social behavior such as generosity, respect and solidarity.
These are customs and social duties that also infiltrate the Middle Eastern business world and affect the way Arabs handle business dealings.
These different attitudes and behaviors are more than likely to be conditioned by values, assumptions and perceptions that are mainly instilled by the Islamic influence in Arabs life and are expressed in the way they behave and interact.
hese Islamic influences are so deep that they act upon them instinctively—in everything they do, from the way they stand and talk, to the way they deal with superiors, conflict and decision-making. Since this influence is so deep and intuitive, it can lead to substantial misunderstanding and miscommunication.
Nowhere can this be more detrimental than in an a national or Middle Eastern workplace, where misunderstandings based on religious beliefs can make or break lucrative business deals, international mergers and any other type of cross-cultural working. Embrace Arabia's Islam In-Focus Training courses will raise your interreligious awareness and enable you to communicate effectively with your colleagues of other faiths.
Tailored in close collaboration with you and your organization operating in UAE, our Islam In-Focus Training courses will develop your own interreligious awareness and enable you to work more effectively with counterparts from other religions.
Practical tools to reduce misunderstanding and encourage positive working relationships avoiding any bad influence of religious diversities.
Your organization is growing its business in Islamic countries.
Tips and strategies about Islamic dealings.
Islam In-Focus Training courses are available as one or two days course as recommended by Embrace Arabia presenters and trainers, however; we can also offer a more flexible format to suit your schedule.
The course venue is something that you can decide according to your own preferences. Suitably tailored materials will be used throughout your the training course and your trainer will provide a balance of structured input and discussion of case studies and scenarios relevant to your own particular context.
Your Islam In-Focus Training course trainer will be assigned to you following the results of your diagnostic consultancy according to your objectives and areas of focus.


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Tagged: Eoin Colfer
Press tour announced for Colfer's first adult fantasy novel
Eoin Colfer will embark on a book tour this month to mark the publication of his first adult fantasy novel Highfire, Quercus has announced....	Read more
MGM Television snaps up Colfer's 'Highfire'
MGM Television has bought the rights for Eoin Colfer's first fantasy novel for adults, Highfire (Jo Fletcher Books). Read more
Colfer says laureateship fostered inclusive ethos as he returns to Artemis
The bestselling author of Artemis Fowl says he is increasingly mindful of cultural appropriation after a stint as Ireland's Children's Laureate—and he's applied that thinking...	Read more
Quercus snaps up Artemis Fowl author Colfer's first adult fantasy novel
Quercus imprint Jo Fletcher Books has acquired the "remarkable" first adult fantasy novel by Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer. Read more
Disney and HarperCollins secure Artemis Fowl spin-off
Disney-Hyperion in the US and HarperCollins in the UK have struck deals for an Artemis Fowl spin-off series by Eoin Colfer. Read more
Egmont strikes publishing deal with Marvel
John Packard, publishing director of brands and licensing at Egmont, has struck a deal with The Walt Disney Company UK for Marvel author-led fiction....	Read more
Hardinge, Cobb, Colfer shortlisted for UKLA
Frances Hardinge, the winner of the 2016 Costa prize, is shortlisted for this year's UKLA Book Awards, the only children's book prize judged by teachers,...	Read more
Irish children's book awards shortlist revealed
Children's Books Ireland has revealed the shortlist for the 2016 Book of the Year Award, with Oliver Jeffers, John Boyne and Louise O'Neill all in...	Read more
Enright wins Irish novel of the year award
Anne Enright has won the Irish novel of the year award at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2015, during a ceremony which also...	Read more
Hodder Children's to release asylum seeker graphic novel
Hodder Children's Books has acquired a graphic novel written by Irish children's laureate Eoin Colfer and author and graphic novelist Andrew Donkin, and illustrated by...	Read more


text:
Q: html5 game object not showing Hello I am trying to make a simple html 5 game, I have followed some tutorials but it appears that there are some problems with my code. The program should show the player which is the red square :
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"/>
    <style>
        canvas
        {
            border:1px solid #d3d3d3;
            background-color: #f1f1f1;
        }
    </style>

</head>
<body>
    <canvas id="myCanvas" width="1200" height="500"></canvas>
    <script>

        var canvas = document.getElementById('myCanvas');
        var context = canvas.getContext('2d');
        var theplayer = new component(30, 30, "red", 10, 120);

        function theplayer(width, height, color, x, y)
        {
            this.width = width;
            this.height = height;
            this.color = color;
            this.x = x;
            this.y = y;

            this.update=function()
            {
                context.fillStyle = color;
                context.fillRect(this.x,this.y,this.width,this.height);
            }

        }

        function clearboard()
        {
            context.clearRect(0,0,canvas.width,canvas.height);
        }

        function rungame()
        {
            clearboard();
            theplayer.update();
        }

    </script>
</body>

may I know what is the problem with the code and how I can fix it ?

A: Try this:
var canvas = document.getElementById('myCanvas');
var context = canvas.getContext('2d');

theplayer = function(width, height, color, x, y)
{
    this.width = width;
    this.height = height;
    this.color = color;
    this.x = x;
    this.y = y;

    this.update=function()
    {
        context.fillStyle = color;
        context.fillRect(this.x,this.y,this.width,this.height);
    }
}

var theplayer = new theplayer(30, 30, "red", 10, 120);

function clearboard()
{
    context.clearRect(0,0,canvas.width,canvas.height);
}

rungame = setInterval(function()
{
   clearboard();
   theplayer.update();
}, 1000 / 30);


text:
Gamification Pitfalls and How Companies are Avoiding Them
How Gamification Drives Business Objectives
CIOs Need to Snap Out of Complacency
How DirecTV Used Gamification to Overcome the Fear of Failure
When an IT project derailed, DirecTV built a gamification tool to boost morale and educate the tech staff on new policies and procedures. The tool was so successful that other business units are now looking to roll it out to their employees.
By Lauren Brousell
After an IT project failed for the second time in less than a year at DirecTV, Sven Gerjets, its senior vice president of solutions delivery, and Mike Benson, its CIO, were fed up. They needed to change the mindset of the 1,000-person IT department to eliminate finger pointing and ensure mistakes weren't repeated.
In response, Gerjets, who has since left the company, and Benson came up with the idea to use video to share lessons learned from failures. They called on DirecTV's Chief Inspiration Officer, Russell Bacon, for help.
"We wanted to tackle the concept of failure and de-demonize it as a word," Bacon says. "It was something people didn't want to talk about. We had to make it safe so people could relate to it and see the top leadership team talking about it."
How to Gamify Failure
Bacon teamed up with an internal developer to create a "gamified" learning platform for the IT group to view and create their own videos about failure. Bacon named it F-12, based on the group's 12- step program to overcome the fear of failure. The platform launched in March 2013. Since then Bacon and his team have integrated it with its existing social collaboration system and a new crowdsourcing tool. Previously, the company used SharePoint but Bacon said it wasn't ideal for sharing videos, and content was hard to find through search. He wanted the new platform to be not only a place to watch videos but for IT workers to learn and interact.
The challenge was to convince employees of the value of spending time on the platform. Brian Burke, research vice president at Gartner, says employees are often hesitant to dedicate time to something that's not directly related to their day-to-day jobs.
"When you launch those kinds of platforms, a significant marketing effort is required so that employees understand it's OK spending time doing this activity," Burke says. "If you don't have enough people actively contributing, voting and commenting, then it's dead in the box."
That's where the gamification feature comes in. Employees earn points and badges based on their success and completion rates for assignments to view and create videos, take quizzes, comment and share. Each quarter, top scorers receive prizes, such as iPads or iPods. To date, DirecTV employees have created more than 100 assignments.
Bacon says the gamification features tripled the platform's usage. The IT team also experienced a 30-percent decrease in issues with IT rollouts and was able to launch its first enterprise project without any critical defects. He was pleased with the usage rates and results, but needed a way to corral all the great ideas and activity living in the tool.
Adding Crowdsourcing to Build Trust
Last summer, Bacon added PoPin, a crowdsourcing tool, to do just that. "We learned that we have to be attentive to conversations that begin [on the platform]."
Now, users can vote on the best ideas with a leaderboard ranking the top ideas, which are then sent to IT execs for consideration.
Some of the early ideas in PoPin asked users to vote on potentially useful new features for the platform, such as showing a parsed-out view of quiz questions, indicating which were correct or incorrect. Other ideas were pitched as possible IT projects during an offsite meeting. The winning ideas included a revamp of DirecTV's onboarding process and a voice search feature for its BI tools.
Burke says channeling the top ideas into real projects is valuable not only for the company itself but for the morale of F-12 users.
"If those ideas are not acted upon or top-voted ideas are not selected, those kinds of things can really work against you," he said. "Manage trust so that people spending time on platforms understand that their time and effort is not all wasted."
The gamification learning platform has been so successful that DirecTV's HR department is considering using a version for onboarding and service teams are examining it as a possible training platform.
Lauren Brousell is a senior writer for CIO magazine.


(NAPA, Calif.) – The Wine Communications Group's Wine Business Monthly announced the acquisition of WITS, the Wine Industry Technology Symposium® today in Napa, CA. WITS® was founded in 2005 and is conducting its 11th Annual symposium today and Friday.
"The Wine Industry Technology Symposium has been responsible for raising the level of dialogue and thinking around technology in the wine industry. I am proud of our efforts at bringing the industry together around these important topics and of playing our small part in improving wine business practices. Most importantly, I'm grateful to the many people who have played a role in making WITS a success over the years. It would never have been possible without Kathy and Waunice at the Wine Symposium Group, our Winery CIOs and Advisory Board and all the great sponsors going back to the beginning. I have many friends as a result of WITS who have enriched my life in so many ways," said J. Smoke Wallin, founder and co-chairman of WITS.
"I have long admired Eric's team and vision for the Wine Communications Group. WITS will be a perfect fit to their strategic vision, which gives WITS a long-term platform upon which to thrive. This was our most important criteria in a partner for WITS," said Lesley Berglund, co-chairman of WITS and co-founder and chairman of the Wine Industry Sales Education (WISE) Academy.
The transaction is expected to close in July and terms were not disclosed.
Wine Communications Group, Inc. is the leading information and services provider for the global wine industry.
Publishers of winebusiness.com, the leading web site for the trade, and two of the industry's leading print publications, Wine Business Monthly and Wines & Vines, we are dedicated to meeting the wine industry's needs for information, analysis, resources and tools. Wine Communications Group, Inc has put together a suite of products that bring to the industry practical information, cutting edge research, recruiting tools, daily news services and a comprehensive directory.
Well I've been meaning to post about Jackson Browne who we had the pleasure of seeing Saturday October 18 at the Murat (Old National Center) in Indianapolis. This is his "Standing In The Breach" tour which combines his classics and his new album. We paid up for the Ticketmaster "Rock for Reading" VIP opportunity. The reception room was kind of lame as the Heartland Film Festival banquet was going on and they took the cool bars. That said, we did get to talk to Jackson's VIP host for a bit and he explained that the new album included a number of songs Jackson had not quite finished over the years. My feeling was they really sounded a lot like his older stuff, which I love. The seats, Center in the 11th row at the Murat were unbeatable. It is a great venue really in almost every seat, but that close was simply wonderful.
The band was terrific! Jackson finished the 1st set with Fountain of Sorrow, my 2nd favorite. He finished the encore after the 2nd set with For a Dancer, my favorite song of Jackson's of all time. What a way to end a remarkable performance!


text:
Q: Expected 1 argument(s) for "int system(const char *)"; had 2 instead void TATTDataset::AckErrHandler(const NDataString& ErrMsg)
{
    system("echo ErrMsg: %s >> err", (const char *)ErrMsg);
    ...... code .......
}

What does this error message mean? How do I resolve it? ErrMsg.toCString() doesn't help either. Any suggestion?
EDIT:
I edited the code as suggested -
String s;
Char *tmpStr = ErrMsg.ToCString();
s.Format("echo ErrMsg: %s >> err",tmpStr);
system(s);

Still I get:
 Cannot initialize 'char *' with 'const char *'.
 Char *tmpStr = ErrMsg.ToCString();

A: The system() call has really just one argument. What you are trying to do is to let system() act like printf(), which is obviously not the way it was designed to.
You cant try to use a string class which can do some parsing or make a temporary buffer and use sprintf()

A: As already mentioned system() takes only one argument (a string).
If ErrMsg.toCString() returns a MFC CString then you can try this:
void TATTDataset::AckErrHandler(const NDataString& ErrMsg)
{
    CString s;
    s.Format("echo ErrMsg: %s >> err", ErrMsg.toCString());
    system(s);
    ...... code .......
}

A: the system function has only one argument, but you passed in two.
1st argument: "echo ErrMsg: %s >> err"
2nd argument: (const char *)ErrMsg

you resolve it by passing only one argument, or redifining system() to accept two arguments.

A: You are passing 2 arguments to system it expects one
The 2 are
    "echo ErrMsg: %s >> err"
(const char *)ErrMsg

I suspect you meant so combine them e.g. use snprintf
Although if this is actual code I would output the error message to a file directly rather than use system e.g. fprintf


Are you an outstanding practitioner who has a passion for teaching elite young athletes to achieve the highest academic standards alongside their sporting success?
UPR fringe (pay scale will be transitioned to the Leading Practitioner Pay Range as soon as LP accreditation is obtained).
The Chelsea Football Club and Glyn School's education programme is a unique partnership where we deliver outstanding education to Year 9, 10 and 11 students enrolled on the Chelsea Elite Youth Academy. The programme is based at the Chelsea training ground in Cobham, Surrey and delivers an academic GCSE programme alongside the students' football education Monday to Friday.
We are looking to appoint a full time Aspiring Lead Practitioner in Science, based at the training ground working with students in small classes of 6 – 10, enabling them to successfully start their GCSE course in Year 9 and complete it in early Year 11. You will need to understand the needs and challenges of working with students in this environment and have a passion to integrate their learning with the unique context and industry these students will be working within.
The students in the partnership gain excellent GCSE outcomes and have been highly successful in their football careers going on to play professional football as well as represent their country.
Gain Leading Practitioner accreditation. The successful candidate will be supported in acquiring LP accreditation. Upon successful accreditation, the pay scale will be transitioned to the Leading Practitioner pay scale.
Have excellent leadership and communication skills.
Have a proven track record in achieving excellent student progress.
Be enthusiastic and committed to working as part of a team.
Be passionate about the students' learning and welfare.
Support to gain Leading Practitioner accreditation.
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An opportunity to develop your teaching career through our extensive CPD programme.
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An environment where senior and middle leaders offer exceptional support for and emphasize staff well-being.
A culture of coaching with regular career development meetings offered with the Headteacher.
An opportunity to work collaboratively with leaders across the wider GLF MAT.


When High Dynamic Range (HDR) images first came on the scene, many people thought they looked unreal though beautiful. For years, HDR photographers and software companies worked to make the images look realistic with much success.
When I went to the eastern shore of Lake Ontario last week, the scene was very flat looking. Dark skies over dark water with a small color pallet in the blue end of the spectrum. I processed a set of photos covering the light range from -2EV to +2EV into the HDR image you see below.
HDR image of a cloudy sunset from Brennan Beach RV Park & Campground on Lake Ontario near Pulaski, New York.
Nikon D700/24-120VR, f/22, ISO 200, EV 0, 24mm focal length, tripod.
This image is far from what the actual scene looked like. To my creative mind, it is how I felt when standing on lonely beach looking out over Lake Ontario at sunset.
This entry was posted in Weekly View and tagged 24-120mm, beach, clouds, creative, dusk, hdr, horizon, Lake Ontario, log, long exposures, new york, nikon D700, photomatix, rocks, sand, summer, tripod, vr, water. Bookmark the permalink.
I think this has a fantasy-like feel to it – like you visited a beach on another planet!


text:
Tag: Sir Salman
Sir Salman Rushdie wages questions over new book – libel, or freedom of expression?
Salman Rushdie is threatening to sue publisher John Blake Publishing Ltd. over a book by a former bodyguard that he says portrays him as mean, nasty, tight-fisted, arrogant, and extremely unpleasant. Rushdie's lawyer Mark Stephens wrote a letter to the publisher, demanding that the book – called On Her Majesty's Service – be withdrawn from publication. Rushdie has been accused of trying to stop freedom expression, which would be a curious move contrary to what he has long advocated. However, Rushdie has asserted that he is not trying to prevent his former bodyguard – Ron Evens – from publishing the book, but that if the publication goes as planned, there will be consequences and there will be a libel action, citing a difference between free-speech and libel.
Author Euro-IslamPosted on 11th August 2008 Categories General NewsTags bodyguard, freedom, freedom of expression, libel, publisher, Rushdie, Salman Rushdie, Sir Salman, Sir Salman Rushdie
Rushdie knighted in honours list
Salman Rushdie, who went into hiding under threat of death after an Iranian fatwa, has been knighted by the Queen. His book The Satanic Verses offended Muslims worldwide and a bounty was placed on his head in 1989. But since the Indian-born author returned to public life in 1999, he has not shied away from controversy. A devout secularist, he backed Commons Leader Jack Straw over comments on Muslim women and veils and has warned against Islamic "totalitarianism". The son of a successful businessman, Sir Salman was born into a Muslim family in Mumbai in 1947. He was educated in England at Rugby School and studied history at Cambridge University.
Author Euro-IslamPosted on 15th June 2007 Categories UncategorisedTags Cambridge University, comments, England, Jack Straw, Muslim family, Rushdie, Satanic Verses, School, Sir Salman