SIMS BUICK–GMC TRUCK, INC., Plaintiff–Appellant, v. GENERAL MOTORS LLC, Defendant–Appellee.
Before: CLAY, ROGERS, and SUTTON, Circuit Judges. ARGUED: Christopher M. DeVito, MORGANSTERN, MACADAMS & DEVITO CO., L.P.A., Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. J. Todd Kennard, JONES DAY, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Christopher M. DeVito, MORGANSTERN, MACADAMS & DEVITO CO., L.P.A., Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. J. Todd Kennard, JONES DAY, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellee. John C. Camillus, STOCKAMP & BROWN, LLC, Dublin, Ohio, for Amicus Curiae.
General Motors provides sales incentives to dealers who sell cars to GM employees, retirees, and their family members at a discounted rate. As part of the process, the dealer must collect a signed agreement from the purchaser that establishes his eligibility for the program. In 2014, General Motors audited one of its dealers, Sims Buick–GMC Truck, and discovered a number of transactions in which Sims had failed to collect the agreement from purchasers within the timeline set by General Motors. GM debited Sims' account $47,493.28 for improper incentive payments, and Sims filed this lawsuit alleging breach of contract and violations of the Ohio Dealer Act. The district court granted summary judgment for General Motors. Because the parties' dealership arrangement permitted the debit and because a timely filed Consumer Dealer Agreement constitutes "material documentation" under § 4517.59(A)(20)(a) of the Ohio Dealer Act, we affirm.
Sims Buick–GMC Truck sells GM cars and trucks in Warren, Ohio. It participates in GM's Vehicle Purchase Program, which allows GM employees, retirees, and their family members, among other affiliates, to buy vehicles at a reduced price. Each sale under the Purchase Program entitles the dealer to a financial incentive payment. After the dealer sells a vehicle to an eligible purchaser, the dealer submits an incentive claim to GM, and GM issues a credit to the dealer. Sims is located near a large GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio, and the Purchase Program accounts for 80% to 90% of its sales.
Under the Purchase Program, the dealer must collect and submit a number of forms, including a Consumer Dealer Agreement. The Consumer Agreement includes the purchaser's name, qualification for participation in the Purchase Program, and an authorization number generated by General Motors and provided to the purchaser.
General Motors initially did not impose any timing requirement on when dealers collected the Consumer Agreement. But in 2012, it issued a bulletin that required dealers to obtain a Consumer Agreement when they delivered the vehicle to the purchaser. General Motors relaxed this requirement in 2014 by allowing a 30–day grace period after delivery.
In March 2014, General Motors audited Sims' new car sales between March 26, 2013 and January 9, 2014. The audit revealed a number of transactions under the Purchase Program in which Sims had not obtained a completed Consumer Agreement on time and yet still collected incentive payments from General Motors. The car company debited Sims' account $66,674.91 for improper payments. It later reduced the amount to $47,493.28.
Sims sued General Motors in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas alleging breach of contract and violations of the Ohio Dealer Act. Invoking the diversity jurisdiction of the federal courts, General Motors removed the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where the parties cross-moved for summary judgment. The court granted General Motors' motion for summary judgment.
At summary judgment, the question is whether a genuine issue of material fact requires a trial or whether one party should win as a matter of law. Civil Rule 56(a). We review that question with fresh eyes and draw all reasonable factual inferences in favor of Sims. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587–88 (1986).
Breach of Contract. Sims maintains that General Motors' charge back breached the parties' primary contract, known as the GM Dealer Sales and Services Agreement, because it does not require Sims to collect Consumer Agreements within a set timeframe. We disagree.
Michigan law, as an initial matter, governs this inquiry. In a diversity case, we apply the choice-of-law principles of the forum State, here Ohio. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Norcold, Inc., 849 F.3d 328, 331 (6th Cir 2017). Ohio law enforces a contract's choice-of-law provision unless (1) the chosen State has no substantial relationship to the parties or the transaction and there is no other reasonable basis for the parties' choice or (2) its application would contradict a fundamental policy of another State with a materially greater interest in the issue. See Sekeres v. Arbaugh, 508 N.E.2d 941, 942 (Ohio 1987). The parties chose Michigan law to govern their disputes under the contract, and neither exception applies. General Motors maintains its headquarters in Michigan, which suffices to meet Ohio's substantial relationship test. See Century Bus. Servs., Inc. v. Barton, 967 N.E.2d 782, 793–95 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011). Although Sims does business in Ohio, Ohio's interest in the dispute is no greater than Michigan's. See id.
The contract authorizes the type of deadline that General Motors imposed in this case. Section 11.2 states that the dealer "agrees to timely submit true and accurate applications or claims." R. 1-1 at 41. Section 6.3.1 adds that, "[if] General Motors offers any incentives to customers or dealers, and payment is conditioned upon the purchase or lease of a new Motor Vehicle, Dealer agrees to comply with the then current applicable policies and procedures in the General Motors Incentive Manual, as amended from time to time." Id. at 35. The December 2012 Incentive Manual in turn requires that, under the Purchase Program, the Consumer Agreement must be "signed by the customer and dealer at time of delivery and must be retained in the deal jacket at the selling dealership." R. 28-1 at 10.
The Incentive Manual also states that "Dealers should refer to the individual incentive program administrative message/bulletins for their official rules and responsibilities under the programs." Id. On October 2, 2012, General Motors issued Incentive Bulletin 13-06, which like the Incentive Manual provided that the Consumer Agreement "must be signed by the customer and dealer at time of delivery and must be retained in the deal jacket at the selling dealership." Id. at 21–23. On February 1, 2014, GM issued Incentive Bulletin 14-06-004, which relaxed the delivery date deadline and allowed the Consumer Agreement to "be completed and signed no later than 30 calendar days from the date of delivery." Id. at 25–27.
Just as Sims had the right to expect General Motors to make the incentive payments in connection with the Purchase Program, General Motors had the right to expect Sims to comply with the requirements for obtaining the incentive payments. The terms of the relevant contracts leave no room for Sims' position. It was required to obtain and keep the relevant Consumer Agreements according to these timelines.
It makes no difference that the underlying GM–Sims contract does not establish this deadline. General Motors offers many allowance and incentive programs, each designed to meet dynamic market conditions and business needs. To preserve flexibility, the contract incorporates the Incentive Manual by reference and says that it will be "amended from time to time." R. 1-1 at 35. Sims contractually bound itself to this arrangement and cannot undo the bargain now.
Resisting this conclusion, Sims argues that General Motors breached an implied covenant of good faith and that a jury, not a court, must assess the allegation. But Michigan contract law does not recognize such an independent cause of action. Belle Isle Grill Corp. v. City of Detroit, 666 N.W.2d 271, 279–80 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003). It uses the principle of good faith to evaluate a party's established contractual obligations or statutory duties, not to create a freestanding right of action. Gorman v. Am. Honda Motor Co., Inc., 839 N.W.2d 223, 233–35 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).
As just shown, General Motors' actions matched its rights and responsibilities under the contract and were performed in good faith. The car maker acted honestly and in a commercially reasonable manner. It imposed the Consumer Agreement deadline to ensure the integrity of the incentive program and provided Sims with notice of the change. Confirming the point, Sims knew about the changes. Mr. Sims, owner and president of the Sims dealership, admitted that he requires his salespeople to consult the incentive bulletins regularly for appropriate policies and procedures. And he testified that, for the period at issue, they were able to determine the requirements of the incentive program. Even though the audit period ended on January 9, 2014, and the 30–day grace period was not issued until February 1, 2014, GM debited Sims only for those transactions that would have violated the more lenient standard. That was not the action of a manufacturer bent on unfairly squeezing each dollar out of a dealer.
Sims' invocation of Littlejohn v. Parish, 839 N.E.2d 49 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005), adds little. The state court overturned a grant of summary judgment on a breach of contract claim in which one party argued that the other had not acted in good faith. But Littlejohn does not establish that all breach of good faith allegations must be decided by a jury. It merely found a genuine issue of material fact as to whether a group of mortgagors and mortgagees had dealt reasonably with each other under Ohio contract law. Id. at 55. No such dispute of fact remains here, making General Motors entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Ohio Dealer Act. Sims also seeks relief under the Ohio Dealer Act. Ohio Rev. Code Ch. 4517. Ohio, like many States, regulates the relationship between car manufacturers and dealers. The laws take aim at the disparity in bargaining power between manufacturers and dealers, protecting dealers from abusive requirements imposed unilaterally by manufacturers. See New Motor Vehicle Bd. of Cal. v. Orrin W. Fox Co., 439 U.S. 96, 100–01 (1978). Where applicable, the Ohio Act overrides terms in franchise agreements that violate its protections. Ohio Rev. Code § 4517.59(A).
Sims relies primarily on § 4517.59(A)(20)(a) of the Act, which identifies permissible and impermissible charge backs. On the green-light side of the Act, a manufacturer may reduce a sales incentive if it shows that the claim "lacks material documentation or is false, fraudulent, or a misrepresentation." Id. § 4517.59(A)(20)(a). On the red-light side of the Act, a manufacturer may not issue a chargeback due to a dealer's "incidental failure to comply with a specific claim processing requirement, such as a clerical error, that does not put into question the legitimacy of the claim." Id. Sims maintains that General Motors' reduction of its sales incentive payments falls on the impermissible side of this line.
Context allows us to eliminate one possibility for identifying "material documentation" requirements imposed by a car manufacturer. A requirement is not material simply because a manufacturer opts to put it in a contract. The animating point of the Ohio Dealer Act, and like-minded laws enacted in other States, is to override some contractual terms imposed by car makers. That's why the law nullifies terms in a car dealer contract that violate the law. Id. § 4517.59(A). That objective could never be accomplished if a car maker's decision to include a requirement in a contract automatically made it a "material" obligation. Were it otherwise, General Motors could have required all Consumer Agreements to be printed in 10–point, Times New Roman font and claimed that a dealer lacked "material documentation" if the agreements were printed in 11–point or Arial font. That's precisely the kind of pretextual and abusive hurdle that the Ohio legislature sought to prevent car makers from unfairly imposing on car dealers.
Having established that a "material" requirement is not whatever a car manufacturer says it is, we must decide what it is. The definition of "material" is a good place to start. In everyday English, a timing requirement is material if it is "significant, important, [or] of consequence." Oxford English Dictionary (3d ed. online version 2017).
The General Motors' requirements were significant and important. Jeffrey Watts, the Director of Dealer Mediations for General Motors, stated that the company established the deadline for two business reasons. The first was that the deadline would prevent "abuse or potential abuse" and protect the integrity of the incentive program. This is a reasonable explanation. It is more difficult for an ineligible purchaser to obtain a General Motors authorization number from a friend or an acquaintance if he must produce it at the time of the vehicle's delivery and at the same time complete paperwork showing his eligibility for the program, rather than being permitted to do so months or even years after the fact. The longer the window of opportunity for providing the paperwork, General Motors appreciated, the more susceptible the incentive program is to abuse. That objective seeks to avoid abuse, not to impose it on dealers.
The second explanation was that the deadline would promote good relations with customers by eliminating the risk of having to pester them for documentation months after a sale. This too comports with lived experience. Just as no one enjoys receiving a residual cable or utilities bill for a negligible amount months after moving somewhere else, no one enjoys receiving a latent request for paperwork with respect to an already completed purchase. Sims carries the Buick and GMC brand in its name and sells Buick and GMC vehicles. If a customer is apt to hold McDonald's (not just the franchisee) responsible for an order of stale fries, so a purchaser would connect General Motors (not just the dealer) with a nettlesome voice mail demanding paperwork six months after the car purchase.
These legitimate business explanations suffice to show that a timely filed Consumer Agreement constitutes "material documentation" and did not amount to an "incidental failure to comply with a specific claim processing requirement, such as a clerical error." It's not as if General Motors docked Sims because a clerk placed the Consumer Agreements in the wrong deal folder. It required that the dealer obtain the necessary paperwork—confirming above all that this purchaser was entitled to this employee/family discount—soon after the buyer drove the car off the lot. The longer an illegitimate buyer has the car, the harder it will be to undo the transaction or recover the full value of the car.
Sims points out that remedial laws "shall be liberally construed in order to promote their object," and this principle has been applied to other parts of the Act. Ohio Rev. Code § 1.11; see Earl Evans Chevrolet, Inc. v. Gen. Motors Corp., 598 N.E.2d 1187, 1193 (Ohio Ct. App. 1991). That is true. But that principle does not allow us to alter the conventional meaning of a statute's terms or for that matter to label a requirement immaterial when it is not. Giving effect to a statute's language is usually the best way to "promote [its] object." See In re Carter, 553 F.3d 979, 985–86 (6th Cir. 2009). That's all we are trying to do here.
Sims and the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association, as amicus curiae, emphasize that the statute uses the present tense, rather than the past tense, when it says "lacks material documentation." For this reason, they say, General Motors could not show that Sims "lacks material documentation" for these transactions because Sims had collected all of the Consumer Agreements by the time the audit was done. But that is verbal gymnastics—and question begging gymnastics at that. We could just as easily say that Sims continues to lack material documentation at the time of the audit, and indeed forever, if we understand the documentation at issue to be timely executed Consumer Agreements.
Sims' essential point is that the Ohio Act prohibits charge backs for any errors that it cures before the conclusion of an audit. The statute, it is true, refers to requirements that go to the "legitimacy of the claim." But, if accepted, this argument would mean that car makers could never enforce a documentation time deadline or for that matter any sort of prophylactic rule. The Act allows the manufacturer to conduct an audit at any time within twelve months after the date the dealer submits a claim. Ohio Rev. Code § 4517.59(A)(18). But Sims' interpretation would force General Motors to conduct audits every month to enforce a 30–day deadline in this way. And imagine how difficult it would be to enforce a time-of-delivery deadline. The argument exceeds the statute's grasp.
We can make quick work of Sims' other statutory claims. Sims argues that General Motors' charge back violated § 4517.59(A)(19), which requires the manufacturer to approve or disapprove each incentive claim by the dealer within thirty days of receipt. But it is undisputed that General Motors made its initial incentive claim payments within thirty days of receipt. It just debited Sims' account for a portion of that amount after the audit. This is precisely the sequence of events that § 4517.59(A)(20) contemplates in addressing the circumstances under which a manufacturer may charge back a dealer's account. To read (A)(19) as Sims suggests would render (A)(20) meaningless.
Sims adds that General Motors violated § 4517.59(A)(1), which requires the manufacturer to act in good faith in its interactions with the dealer. Good faith is defined in the Act as "honesty in the conduct or transaction concerned and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing in the trade." Ohio Rev. Code § 4517.01(AA). This claim fails as we have already established that General Motors conducted itself in an honest and reasonable manner.
Sims adds one thing more—that the district court should have certified the meaning of the Act to the Ohio Supreme Court. We review this decision for an abuse of discretion. Pennington v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 553 F.3d 447, 449–50 (6th Cir. 2009). Although the Ohio Supreme Court has never interpreted these provisions of the Act, sufficient Ohio contract and statutory interpretation precedent guided its reasoned decision. Certification is disfavored in any event when the party, as here, makes the request after the district court has already decided the issue against it. Id. at 450.
Exactly for the reasons given by the majority, a documentation requirement imposed by a car manufacturer is not material under the Ohio Dealer Act, Ohio Rev. Code § 4517.59(A)(20)(a), "simply because a manufacturer opts to put it in a contract." Maj. Op. at 6. Likewise, the majority's test of "significance or importance" makes good sense. Such a test serves the balance established in the Act of permitting a manufacturer to impose requirements reasonably related to the manufacturer's interests, while not allowing requirements that serve primarily the oppressive purpose of justifying chargebacks. Summary judgment was not warranted, however, on the application of the test to the facts of this case.
The change in the timing requirement was made in 2012 in response to abuse or potential abuse to GM's incentive system that GM discovered. When a vehicle is delivered under the program without the completed required CDA, eligibility for the VPP incentive is at risk. Mitigation of that risk is entirely within the dealer's control because the dealer can work with the customer to obtain the required documentation. Having a defined "deadline" for obtaining the CDAs also promotes relationships with customers by ensuring that dealers promptly complete all required documentation and avoids having delays and potentially upsetting customers if dealers have to track down customers for documentation months after a sale.
The reference to "abuse or potential abuse" gives no indication how a timing requirement will prevent abuse. The majority independently provides a "prophylactic" theory for the manufacturer's abuse contention: by denying chargebacks where the customer had more time to obtain the required documentation, it will be harder for purchasers to obtain the required document illegitimately. But there is nothing in the record to indicate that it takes longer to get an illegitimate document than to get a legitimate one, particularly when the purchaser decides when to first walk into the dealership. Assessing the validity of a policy based upon a court's ability to come up with some possible justification for it also smacks of rational basis review under the Equal Protection Clause, rather than the enforcement of a remedial statute like the one here, designed to protect dealers from manufacturer oppression. See Earl Evans Chevrolet, Inc. v. Gen. Motors Corp., 598 N.E.2d 1187, 1193 (Ohio Ct. App. 1991).
The other justification for the timing requirement that GM requires dealers to impose is that customers will be upset by having more rather than less time to provide the needed documentation. This sounds at best like an after-the-fact rationalization rather than a genuine concern.
Conclusive acceptance of such weak rationales as significant or important effectively reads the protection against petty chargebacks out of the statute. Similar rationales could be spun for the font requirement that the majority correctly gives as a paradigmatic example of a contract requirement that would not be material under the Dealer Act. A larger font would permit the document to be read more easily, or might convey seriousness rather than frivolity. Such rationales would not be irrational, but they would not meet the materiality requirement that would justify making the dealer bear the cost of the incentives offered by the manufacturer.
In short, the dealer in this case has presented a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the timing requirement was not material. Accepting the flimsy rationales of the manufacturer in this case, without more, unduly undermines the protections of the Ohio Dealer Act. On this point I respectfully dissent. In all other respects, I agree with the majority opinion.
SUTTON, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which CLAY, J., joined. ROGERS, J. (pp. –––– – ––––), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.


Blue Origin launched a reusable New Shepard rocket and capsule loaded with NASA microgravity experiments on a dramatic 10-minute sub-orbital flight high above Texas Wednesday. Today was the 10th test launch of the hydrogen-fueled rocket as the company, owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, gears up to begin crewed flights later this year.
Running more than a month late because of technical issues and high winds earlier this week, the stubby rocket's BE-3 main engine roared to life at 10:05 a.m. EST (GMT-5) and quickly pushed the launcher straight away from its firing stand at Blue Origin's West Texas flight test facility.
The rocket smoothly accelerated as it consumed its hydrogen-oxygen propellants and lost weight, soaring up through a clear blue sky atop 110,000 pounds of thrust. After reaching a maximum velocity of 2,226 mph, the New Shepard capsule separated from the booster and continued coasting upward to its target altitude of 350,775 feet feet, or 66.4 miles.
That was well above the 50-mile-altitude the U.S. Air Force considers the "boundary" between the discernible atmosphere and space and the 62 miles sanctioned by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, an organization that maintains aviation and aerospace records.
While the capsule climbed to its apex and began descending, giving the experiments on board about five minutes of weightlessness along the way, the booster fell tail first toward Earth, restarting its engine and deploying four landing legs before settling to a computer-controlled touchdown on a concrete pad near the firing stand.
The capsule, meanwhile, landed a short distance away under three large parachutes, firing braking rockets an instant before touchdown, hitting the ground at walking pace and kicking up a cloud of dust. Mission duration was 10 minutes and 15 seconds.
"Believe me, if I could, I would jump on top of that rocket tomorrow," Ariane Cornell, head of astronaut strategy and sales at Blue Origin, said at an aerospace conference earlier this month. "We've already had several successful tests with New Shepard, and so I would love to go.
"But we're not selling tickets yet. We have not selected a price yet, despite what you might have read. ... We haven't determined when we're going to sell tickets. We are so focused right now on testing New Shepard through and through."
This was the 10th test flight of Blue Origin's fully automated and reusable New Shepard booster and spacecraft since the program's maiden flight in 2015. The only failure so far in the test program was a booster problem during the first flight that resulted in a crash landing. The capsule landed safely.
The roomy New Shepard capsule is designed to carry a half-dozen space tourists, researchers and/or experiments out of the discernible atmosphere and into space.
Strapped into reclining seats at launch, New Shepard passengers will be able to unstrap and briefly float about the cabin near the top of the trajectory when they will experience five to six minutes of weightlessness and enjoy panoramic views from the largest windows ever built for a spacecraft.
Falling back into the thick lower atmosphere, passengers will experience about four to five times the normal pull of gravity before settling to a relatively gentle touchdown.
For safety, the New Shepard capsule is equipped with "full envelope" abort capability, meaning its escape system can quickly push the capsule away from a malfunctioning booster during all phases of flight, from ground level to high altitudes and any point in between. That system has been successfully tested twice, once at ground level and, last July, at high altitude.
Company officials have said crewed flights are expected to begin later this year, but they have not said whether that means paying customers or company test personnel.
"So exciting to think that human spaceflight is just around the corner," Cornell said before launch Wednesday. "We're aiming for the end of this year, but as we said before, we're not in a rush, we want to take our time. We want to do this right."
For the NS-10 test flight, the New Shepard capsule was packed with NASA-sponsored microgravity experiments, including one to measure fuel levels using sound waves, another to test a vibration isolation system, one to test a new technique for cooling electronics in space and one designed to better understand the behavior of dust particles in low gravity.
"These NASA-supported experiments will help advance in-space propulsion technologies, habitation systems, science instruments and other capabilities crucial for exploration," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. "Like the researchers, I'm excited to learn the results from this very important flight."
Whenever the New Shepard begins operational flights, it will be competing against Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which is testing a futuristic looking spaceplane that's also intended to carry space tourists and others on sub-orbital flights to space. Tickets are expected to initially cost more than $200,000.
Unlike New Shepard, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is carried aloft by a carrier jet and released at high altitude. The spaceplane's rocket engine then ignites to propel it just out of the atmosphere before gliding back to Earth for a runway landing.
Two test pilots successfully carried out Virgin's first test flight out of the atmosphere last month, a major milestone in the company's recovery from an in-flight breakup in 2014 that killed one of the spaceplane's two pilots. The mishap was blamed on pilot error and the control system in question was redesigned to prevent any chance of a recurrence.
Along with the suborbital New Shepard rockets and spacecraft, Blue Origin also is developing a powerful new engine, the BE-4, to help boost satellites into orbit using much larger New Glenn rockets. The engines also will be used by United Launch Alliance's upcoming Vulcan rocket.
Blue Origin has built a huge rocket factory just outside the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to manufacture New Glenn boosters and is developing a launch pad at the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The New Glenn will compete with ULA's Vulcan and with SpaceX boosters in the U.S. launch market.


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Q: Alt + F7 keyboard shortcut does not work on a netbook I am running Android 2.2 on a netbook (Android x86).
The keyboard shortcut, Alt + F7 doesn't lead me back to graphics screen (GUI) from the console.
Does anyone know any alternative to this shortcut?

A: This shortcut key problem is conflicted with NVIDIA GeForce Experience app's shortcut key in Windows.
Please refer this out:
http://duongame.tistory.com/414

A: There is no such shortcut defined here. Also on the same page you can see that to use console you need Telnet.

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An elegant and thoughtful gift for your beloved. This creation is crafted from 14kt and 18kt gold and is carved into the alphabet 'E'. This initial pendant is studded with a shimmering diamond adding to its appeal. Go ahead and pick it up right away!


text:
Villa now offices. c1839-42 with restorations c1980s. Ashlar with hipped slate roof. PLAN: double depth, square on plan with central hallway. EXTERIOR: 2-and-a-half storeys with attics and basement, 3 first-floor windows. Basement has moulded string-course surmounted by quoins to angles; first-floor moulded sill band; moulded second-floor band; wide eaves on scroll brackets which interrupt cornice. Central Doric porch with 2 pairs of columns and pilasters, triglyphs and metopes to frieze. Flight of steps to replacement doors with overlight in tooled architrave. Ground floor has tripartite windows: 6/6 between 2/2 sashes with sills and cornices on consoles; first floor has 6/6 sashes throughout; all in tooled architraves. Second floor has small casement windows. Attic dormers have 3 pedimented dormers with 3/3 sashes. Left return has 6/6 sashes to ground floor and basement in tooled architraves, those to ground floor have sills and cornices on consoles. INTERIOR: includes: central hallway, open-well staircase with ornate iron balustrade and wreathed handrail. Embellished cornices to ground floor. HISTORICAL NOTE: The Bayshill Estate was developed by a joint stock company who purchased the land from the Skillicorne family in 1837. By 1843 Henry Davies, in his Guide to Cheltenham, described, `a number of detached villas .. several of which are occupied by resident families of affluence and station, and others are in an unfinished state'. Little considers this part of, `a superb group (of villas) that make Bayshill Road one of the great roads for architecture in all England'. A Classical villa which with its low hipped roof and bracketed eaves exhibits some of the Italianate style characteristic of many mid C19 villas.
Davies, H, Guide to Cheltenham, (1843)

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Voting began for the high-stake multi-cornered bypoll to the Jind assembly constituency of Haryana on Monday. The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm.
Prominent among the candidates include senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, who is also the party's sitting MLA from Kaithal, late Hari Chand Middha's son and BJP candidate Krishan Middha and INLD's Umed Singh Redhu.
The bypoll will also decide the fate of Digvijay Singh Chautala and Vinod Arshi, respective candidates of two newly-formed political outfits -- JJP and Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP) of BJP rebel MP Raj Kumar Saini.


Gulf News writes: Defeating Daesh requires far more than waging a war to dismantle its networks and disrupt cells — an effective counter-ideological campaign to win hearts and minds and undermine its ideological appeal, a high-profile conference held recently in London heard.
"There has been progress in the military fight against Daesh but much less progress has been made in directing hearts and minds away from extremist ideologies," Ambassador Alberto Fernandez, a former US State Department official who directed US efforts at counterterrorism communications, told the conference co-organised by TRENDS Research and Advisory, an Abu Dhabi-based think tank, and the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College, London, UK.
The conference brought together over 200 experts from government, research, policy, and private businesses.


New Cross is an area in the London borough of Lewisham, located in southeast London. Originally known by the name of Hatcham, the vicinity derived the name New Cross from a famous coaching house in the area known as Golden Cross. Its superb location and excellent connectivity to central London has made it a much sought-after business destination in suburban London. There are numerous attractions in the area that bring in hordes of local and international visitors each year. The Fan Museum is a unique space that houses different kinds of fans from all over the world, representing different eras. Another popular attraction is the Cutty Sark.
The serviced offices in the area are rented at attractive rates by diverse businesses such as legal and financial firms, design houses, accountants, solicitors, medical professionals, recruitment agents, and travel agents. The independent shopping in the vicinity is also fantastic, what with several bookshops, clothing boutiques, jewellery stores, cafes, food and drink shops and florists vying for the patronage of shoppers.
The Albany and Laban theatres make for an extraordinary evening of enjoyment and pleasure, hosting superb performances from local and international talent. If you're in the mood for some alternative entertainment, you can make your way to any one of the trendy clubs and bars in the area such as the Amersham Arms or Davy's Wine Bar. Having a meal is a pleasurable activity in the area thanks to the several world class eateries serving delectable cuisine. Le Gia for South Asian food, Thailand Restaurant for authentic Thai dishes, and Nouvelle Spice for exotic Indian fare are among the choices for dining out.
New Cross and New Cross Gate are the two main stations that serve the area and provide onward journeys to hundreds of destinations across London. Services on the London overground network can be accessed from either of these two stations. There are also numerous bus routes that pass through the area.


BOI Credit Officers Examination is going to be held on 10th of June. It can be a nerve-racking time for even the most industrious students as it is going to be the Examination for the post of Credit Officer. One really needs to make strenuous efforts to ace this exam. It is also true that stressing out and worrying about the exam will do no good at all. So, it is important for the students to have a positive mindset.
Go for the examination with a proper plan so that you aren't barking the wrong trees while attempting the examination. Know what subjects you are good at and where you lag. Attempt the very section first that you are good at and weakest subject in the end. Do not stick to a single question if you are not able to solve it. Move forward with the questions that you are able to solve easily, without wasting much of your time on them.
It's high time to revise all the topics that you need to be tremendous at. Sort the important topics into a checklist and settle on how each and every point is to be revised before appearing for the examination. It might sound preposterous a few days before the examination but trust me, it will help you focus your learning and you won't be like, "Gee! I was so good at this topic. I could have done better had I revised it well." As the two important sections are General Awareness and Financial Management so revision is a must.
Did you know that what you eat and drink can affect your exam performance? Yes, food that you eat before exam too can affect your scores. Healthy pre-exam nutrition will give you an added edge during exam time, and in fact, it can. Your brain needs the energy from food to work efficiently, so do not skip meal. Avoid brain blocking foods such as foods made of white flour: cookies, cakes, and muffins, which require added time and energy to digest. Also avoid foods that are high in refined sugar, such as chocolates, desserts, and candies. Make sure you drink enough water before and during your exam. Tea also works, though without a lot of sugar. Dehydration can make you lose your concentration, feel faint, and sap your energy.
Exercise gets the blood flowing. This means more oxygen will reach the brain and help it to function more efficiently. It resets your brain, increases blood flow to brain and prepares you for critical thinking and retention. Do not exercise for too long, you don't have to waste that much of time,15 minutes will be enough.
Much of stress won't let you fathom out the questions asked in all four of the subjects. So avoid anything that can stress you out, keep calm and stay focused for the exam. It is important for the students to have a positive mindset.
Take a nap before the exam as it improves memory recall and the ability to concentrate. Do not pull an all-nighter before the day of examination. If you wouldn't sleep for the whole night, you likely won't remember much of what you studied anyway. To make the best use of your knowledge, you should try to get at least 8 hours of sleep every day before the exam.
Take a print out of your admit card and photo identity proof in advance as waiting for the last moment will not in your favor. Confirm the location and all other important things that you need to know about your center in advance so that you don't waste much of your time in search of your center on the day of examination.
Wishing you all the luck for your examination!!


A massive power failure has plunged quake-hit Chile into darkness, stretching 2,000km (1,250 miles) and affecting up to 90% of the population.
In Santiago thousands were evacuated from the Metro and the failure affected a benefit concert for quake victims.
Power went out at 2050 (2350 GMT) on Sunday, when a key transformer failed, and began to return after an hour.
Chile's infrastructure was devastated by the quake on 27 February that killed about 500 and cost up to $30bn (£20bn).
The power cut is another reminder of the immense tasks facing President Sebastian Pinera, who was inaugurated last week.
The BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago says the power cut stretched from Taltal in the north to the island of Chiloe in the south, the equivalent of London to Athens.
The entire area hit by the earthquake, including the badly affected second city of Concepcion, was plunged into darkness.
As well as halting the benefit concert, the big Sunday night football match in Santiago was abandoned after the floodlights failed.
The operators of the electricity grid said the blackout was caused by the failure of a high-voltage transformer about 700km south of the capital.
Officials said the blackout was not directly related to the earthquake.
However, Energy Minister Ricardo Rainieri said Chile's power grid remained fragile and he called on people to restrict their energy consumption.
Electricity to about 90% of the country had been restored soon after midnight.
One nanny in Santiago, Claudia Morales, told Reuters news agency: "Everyone started to say aloud maybe there had been another quake. Everyone was really panicked."
After taking office last week, Mr Pinera said it would cost at least $30bn to rebuild the country, nearly 20% of Chilean GDP.
He said loans and budgetary savings would be used to rebuild infrastructure, homes and industry.
Why did fewer die in Chile than in Haiti?


text:
Atractodes turkuensis är en stekelart som beskrevs av Jussila 1979. Atractodes turkuensis ingår i släktet Atractodes och familjen brokparasitsteklar. Inga underarter finns listade.

Källor

Brokparasitsteklar
turkuensis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
HomeNews & Social MediaHainan NewsHainan to upgrade tourism facilities to boost Xisha Islands tourism
Hainan to upgrade tourism facilities to boost Xisha Islands tourism
Hainan province will upgrade cruise ship and tourism facilities to enhance the travel experience to the Xisha island group in the South China Sea, a senior official said.
Since tours to Xisha opened on April 28 last year, the Coconut Princess, the only cruise ship that travels to the islands, has made 14 voyages, carrying more than 2,000 domestic tourists, according to the provincial tourism development commission.
Xisha tours are open only to Chinese so far, and experts said many more Chinese want to see China's southernmost city.
"We need larger cruise ships to meet surging demand from across the country," Lu Zhiyuan, director of the commission, said during the recently concluded annual session of the provincial people's congress.
Improving the quality of tours to Xisha was also mentioned in the provincial government report released on Feb 9.
Jiang Dingzhi, governor of Hainan, said the province will "work to expand Xisha tourism and improve its quality".
Chen Bo, deputy general manager of the Hainan Strait Shipping, operator of the Coconut Princess, told Xinhua News Agency that the company plans to have a new cruise ship in service this year.
The new vessel will be about twice the size of the Coconut Princess, Chen said without revealing details.
"With the new vessel, tourist numbers to the Xisha island group will increase," Lu said.
Currently, it takes about 20 hours for the Coconut Princess to voyage from Haikou to Yongxing Island, the largest island in the Xisha island group. The cruise can carry about 200 passengers.
Most tourists eat and sleep on the vessel as facilities on the islands are being upgraded and their fragile environment is protected.
Xiao Jie, Sansha's mayor, said more attention is being paid to building infrastructure in the country's youngest city.
Sansha city was founded in July 2012, and administers about 2 million square kilometers of territorial waters and the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha island groups in the South China Sea.
Xiao said earlier this year that infrastructure projects including ports and an airport expansion will be a priority.
A new supply ship, Sansha No 1, will make its maiden voyage in October, Xiao said.
The city has only one supply vessel, Qiongsha No 3, to bring fresh water, food and other necessities. It made 76 trips last year, carrying tens of thousands of tons of fresh water, food and construction materials for Yongxing Island, according to the Sansha government.
SOURCE: ecns.cn
Previous news: Former Hainan expressway executive sentenced to 15 years for taking bribery
Next news: 35 sailing teams confirmed to attend Round Hainan Regatta 2014


text:
Le phare de Peck Ledge (en ), est un phare à caisson du Long Island Sound situé au sud est du port de Norwalk dans le Comté de Fairfield, Connecticut.

Ce phare est inscrit au Registre national des lieux historiques depuis le  sous le n° 89001472 .

Historique
Le phare a été construit en 1906 et avait une lentille de Fresnel de quatrième ordre. La structure en fonte est toujours exploitée par la Garde côtière des États-Unis et n'est pas ouverte au public. À l'intérieur, la structure a trois étages d'espace de vie ainsi qu'un sous-sol avec des citernes pour le stockage des eaux de pluie, tous sous la salle d'observation et la lanterne.

La lumière a été automatisée par la Garde côtière en 1933 et clignote maintenant en vert toutes les 2,5 secondes. En 1988, la lentille de Fresnel a été retirée et une optique de 250 mm a été installée. En 2004, la Garde côtière a installé 100 tonnes d'enrochement de granit ainsi qu'une section de pierres taillées pour faciliter l'accès. Malgré les dommages causés par le vandalisme, les oiseaux nicheurs et la corrosion, la structure est toujours en bon état.

En vertu de la  de 2000, le phare a été mis à la vente en 2014 et celle-ci a été conclu en 2016 par le Cockenoe Lighthouse Preservation Group .

Description
Le phare  est une tour conique en fonte, avec double galerie et lanterne de  de haut, montée sur un caisson en béton. La tour est peinte en blanc avec une large bande rouge, la lanterne et le caisson sont noirs.

Il émet, à une hauteur focale de , un bref éclat vert de 0.3 seconde par période de 2.5 secondes. Sa portée est de 5 milles nautiques (environ 9 km).

Caractéristiques du feu maritime
 Fréquence : 2.5 secondes (G)
 Lumière : 0.3 seconde
 Obscurité : 2.2 secondes

Identifiant : ARLHS : USA-588 ; USCG :  1-24930 ; Admiralty : J0850 .

Voir aussi

Références

Lien connexe
 Liste des phares du Connecticut

Liens externes

  Connecticut Lighthouses
  Lighthouses of the United States : Connecticut
  Connecticut - ARLHS World List of Lights (WLOL)
  USA - Online list of lights
  Peck Ledge Light - Lightphotos.net
  Peck Ledge Light - Lighthouse Explorer

Phare dans le comté de Fairfield (Connecticut)
Phare du XXe siècle
Phare inscrit au Registre national des lieux historiques au Connecticut
Registre national des lieux historiques dans le comté de Fairfield (Connecticut)
Registre national des lieux historiques en 1990
Norwalk (Connecticut)


text:
Blipster Chronicles (2017) is a feature-length documentary showing the lives and times of Afro creatives in the Netherlands. Blipsterism is a state of mind of black youngsters between their twenties and thirties who are alternative, independent, creative and love art and artistic expression. This subculture originated as a counter-voice to mainstream art. Blipsters are more or less the dandies of the 2000s, people who see art as a necessity to express who they are. Blipsters, literally Black Hipsters, have become increasingly visible in Dutch society. In Blipster Chronicles, director Noami Wills powerfully captures their stories; stories that are key to change the outsider representation of black people and celebrate the strength of the black creative community.
Emiel Martens, CEO of Caribbean Creativity, serves as story editor of Blipster Chronicles, which is expected to receive its world premiere in late 2017, early 2018.
Dir: Naomi Wills | 2017 | Nederland | Documentary
Interview about Blipster Chronicles | Facebook Page Blipster Chronicles
Documentaries, Our Current Projects
Emiel Martens


Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Is the process of improving the ranking position of your website on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for target keywords relevant to your business.
SEARCHING – What Keywords Do You Want To Rank For?
RANKING – How Competitive Is Your Online Industry?
INDEXING – Is Your Current Website Search Engine Friendly?
LINKING – What Other Websites Link To Your Website?
CONTENT – Does Your Website Maintain Adequate Page Content?
As a leading SEO Company, Burjolas offers you a FREE SEO Consultation and FIXED PRICE quote to ensure that you know exactly what it will cost to achieve the results you desire.
Burjolas © 2019. All Rights Reserved.


Canola prices were largely flat in March as markets eyed data from the USDA and Canada. Farmers and traders are trying to get a firmer grasp on expected U.S. and Canadian production after a series of conflicting reports indicated a wide range of expected production in the year ahead.
This week, the USDA forecasted that U.S. canola acres will come in at 2.076 million. That figure is a 1,000-acre increase from last year. The small uptick comes at a time that the global canola/rapeseed markets are facing a shakeup due to inventory levels.
Last week, the International Grains Council issued its first forecasts for global rapeseed and canola. The council projected total output of 75.6 MMT, an increase over last year by roughly 900,000 MT and a new record high.
With that in mind, global consumption is expected to rise by about 1.7 MMT to 75.8 MMT, a figure that will help reduce total global stocks by about 300,000 MT. Both China and the European Union are expected to see the greater share of inventory declines.
Unfortunately, Australia, Canada, and Ukraine are expected to see a combined inventory level at the end of the next season at 3.1 MMT. This would be the largest combined figure among these key markets since 2009-10 and certainly will weigh on prices in these nations.
The IGC is projecting that canola output in Canada will hit 21.7 MMT, a new record and an overall year-over-year increase of about 400,000 MT.
The USDA is projecting a smaller crop at 20.5 MMT on the assumption that drier conditions in the Prairies will create parched seeding conditions and the possibility of fungal diseases impacting farmers that didn't rotate crops.
The latest update on record global canola stocks.
Be sure to sign up for your free 3-week trial at GrainCents as this month could be the most impactful for how and when you price your canola for the rest of 2017/18 old crop supply, as well as a significant portion of your 2018/19 supply.


Mojeek (https://www.mojeek.co.uk), the UK's leading crawler-based search engine, has announced that its index now contains over a billion web pages, an important milestone for crawler-based engines, and currently the only British search company to accomplish this.
"A billion pages has always been an important marker for crawler-based search engines", said Marc Smith, founder and developer of Mojeek. "It's also important the UK (and Europe) has its own web scale search engine to compete against the likes of Bing and Google. Surpassing a billion pages is only the first step in achieving that goal, but reaching this important milestone demonstrates our technology is capable and ready to scale, and that we're firmly on course to become a genuine British competitor to the major worldwide engines."
To compliment its current UK and global sites, Mojeek is also preparing to launch both French (https://www.mojeek.fr) and German (https://www.mojeek.de) versions of its search engine very soon. These are currently in an early beta stage, and they welcome everyone to check them out and send in their feedback.
Mojeek Limited is a UK company based in the South of England, that specialises in developing its own web search and crawler technology, and which primarily focuses on providing independent, alternative, and unbiased search results, free from user tracking. Simply put, "no tracking, just search".


This rustic camp is on the shores of Lake Elementaita in Kenya. The camp is designed for nature and outdoor enthusiasts. There are three different accommodation options, some fully catered and one self-catering, meaning that everyone is catered for.
There are three Cottages with comfortable beds and modern bathrooms. The beds have mosquito nets and balconies with partial views of the lake. The three Walk-in Tents have large beds and modern bathrooms at the back of the tents. There is also a Three-bedroom Self-catering Cottage for those wanting to cater themselves.
The camp provides a serene, quiet and peaceful natural environment, conducive for friends, church- and family retreats, birding enthusiasts, bush and nature lovers, ecologists, bikers and hikers. The camp has a large main building with a seating area and a kitchen for self-catering clients.
The camp is solar powered with a backup generator. Electricity is available during the day so guests can charge their cameras and phones. The camp is an alcohol- and smoke-free area and ideal for a family holiday.
The camp has ample grounds for guests with a play area for the children as well as volley ball and basketball courts. The local hot springs are fantastic for an early morning or later afternoon dip. Guests can enjoy game drives, hiking, biking and beekeeping lessons. The area is lush with wildlife as well as bird life.
Family friendly: There is ample playing grounds for children. Facilities include an earthen basket ball court, swings and a seesaw.
No alcohol or smoking is permitted at the camp.
Check-in time is 12:00 M to 18:00. Please notify us if you intend to arrive earlier or later than the time allowed.
Oasis Eco Camp is 12.9km from the centre of Lake Elementeita , the nearest airport 112.3km (Wilson Airport).


For the souffle: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 2 1/2-quart baking dish with butter.
Poke the sweet potatoes with a fork and bake on a foil-covered baking sheet until they are soft, 1 hour. When cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes, place the flesh in a large mixing bowl and mash until very smooth. Add the eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, milk and salt. Combine well with an electric mixer or hand mixer. Turn the mixture into the baking dish.
For the topping: In a medium bowl, stir together the pecans, brown sugar, flour and butter until thoroughly combined. Spoon the mixture over the sweet potatoes, making an even layer. Bake the casserole until slightly browned, 40 minutes. Let the casserole sit for 5 minutes before serving.


text:
Denna artikel syftar på tv-programmet från 1969; för tv-programmet från 2011 se Partaj (Kanal 5).

Partaj är en svensk humor-TV-serie från 1969. Kända skådespelare och komiker levererade sketcher och korta vitsar. Bland de medverkande fanns bland andra Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt, Lars Ekborg, Ulla Hallin, Jarl Borssén, Sonya Hedenbratt, Margareta Sjödin, Roffe Bengtson, Lena Hansson, Åke Lagergren  och Mille Schmidt. Serien använde samma koncept som det i USA populära tv-programmet Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Första säsongens nio avsnitt, med Lars Ekborg och Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt som programledare, sändes april-maj 1969. I andra säsongen var Carl-Gustaf Lindstedt och Birgitta Andersson programledare.

En LP med sketcher från seriens andra säsong gavs ut av Polydor.

Partaj gavs ut på DVD den 13 mars 2013. I Sverige kan serien ses på Sveriges Televisions Öppet arkiv.

Källor

Externa länkar

Svenska TV-program
TV-seriestarter 1969
Svenska TV-serier från 1960-talet
Svartvita TV-program


Advertisers use a range of techniques to persuade us to buy their products.
Bribery- offers you something "extra." Buy a burger; get free fries.
Avant Garde- shows that users of the product are ahead of the times.
Plain folk- shows ordinary people using a product.
Snob appeal- suggests that users are part of an elite group with a glamorous lifestyle.
Celebrity spokesperson- uses a famous person to support their product.
Emotional appeal- makes viewers feel a certain way e.g. sad, excited or scared.
Patriotism- suggests a love of your country.
Product comparison- compares a product with an "inferior" one.
Humour- used to make viewers laugh but provides little information about the product. Viewers associate a good feeling with the product.
Watch the following ads. Can you work out which technique they have used?
Can you hear me? Can you talk back?
Well, now it's gonna squish you flat!
So please don't hurt me, don't make me die!
But anybody knows an ant can't feel.
You're so tiny you don't look real.
I don't think it would hurt at all.
Know how it feels to be an ant.
That you are very much like me.
Are you crazy? Me like you?
I have a home and a family, too.
Hey, no one would care if my foot came down.
My nest mates need me 'cause I am strong.
I must not die beneath your shoe.
They carry off our picnic food!
Hey, it's good if I squish a crook like you.
Hey, I'm not a crook, kid, read my lips!
Sometimes ants need crumbs and chips.
You must not let your foot come down.
Squishing ants is a game we play.
They're looking at me- they're listening, too.
They all say I should squish you!
Now, what do you think that kid should do?
Click on the picture for the link on how to make your triorama for the performance contract activity.
Grab a copy of the journal to help you with the retelling.
What is Matariki? Click here to find out all about it. When you have read the page, take the quiz.
Finished? Click on the links to find out more about the traditions.
WALT use topic words in our writing.
We will watch the video clip twice. The first time we will watch it to see what happens. During the second screening, you will make a list of the equipment and ingredients used.
Then we will do the experiment ourselves. Take note of all the actions involved so we can record them back in the classroom.
After a short discussion, you will use this vocabulary to explain why it happened.


Shopping for low cost homeowners insurance in Reynolds, ND does not have to be difficult. We are here to help you find and compare multiple providers. Simply enter your Zip in the form above and you will be taken to a page which will list the top most reputable home insurance companies in your Grand Forks county.
The coverage mentioned above is a basic form of coverage that you absolutely need to have. There are optional coverage items that you can add, such as guaranteed replacement cost, which provides the most complete coverage. If your house gets totally damaged, the insurance company will pay for the cost of building it. However, as you might expect, most insurers require you to meet specific underwriting requirements and pay a higher premium. This brings us to another important point: How much does it cost to insure your home in Reynolds, ND?
To get cheap Reynolds, ND home insurance quotes use our simple comparison tool and you will be ahead of most regular consumers who do not do their own comparison or rely on an agent to do it for them.
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Like most property owners, you want to preserve your insurance policies premiums as low as feasible. Putting in and sustaining a substantial-high quality home safety method can reduce your yearly rates by 5 percent or more. Make positive that it truly is centrally monitored by a safety firm or linked to a nearby police station. Your insurance policies firm will want to see evidence that your method is monitored before they give you the discount.
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Get a first rate alarm system to reduce your homeowner's insurance. This will support to safeguard your residence at all instances. Your house homeowners insurance might think you are not an at-threat house and reduce your insurance policies. Remember to send to your insurance provider documentation that your home is secured.
You may possibly be capable to get a price reduction on your homeowners insurance if you have a security system or alarm. It really is not sufficient to have local alarm -- to qualify for the price reduction, you usually have to have a monitored provider, and the insurance policy company will question for evidence of this, so make a copy of your checking service agreement to give them.
You need to take into account the increase in house insurance policies that you will face if you spend in a swimming pool or trampoline for your home. These products are deemed dangerous and will very likely raise the price of your premiums by roughly 10 percent or even much more for the yr.
Install a stability system in your property that is monitored by a central checking station, and you will conserve about 5 % on your residence insurance policy. You will most likely have to give evidence to your residence insurance policy organization to get the discount, but that is as straightforward as sending them a duplicate of your monitoring monthly bill.
Many people are shocked that when they shell out off their mortgage loan, their house insurance coverage rates drop. There is a spectacular drop in the value of residence insurance policies when you very own your home outright. This is most likely thanks to the fact that insurers feel that if you very own it, you are most likely to just take much better care of it.
Make particular to insure your house and personalized residence adequately for substitute. You absolutely will not want a disaster getting place, but not have the resources to fix or rebuild your house because of to inadequate coverage. Don't forget that the resources utilised to construct and renovate your home can also impact insurance prices.
Selecting the proper volume of property proprietor protection, requires plenty of thing to consider. Keep in mind that the policy's aim is not to pay off your home loan in situation of a disaster, but to shell out for correcting the damages. Pick an quantity that easily covers the complete rebuilding of your house, without having you getting to add as well much from your income reserve.
If you are buying for a new homeowner's insurance coverage coverage, you need to search for consumer helpful organizations. You will want to offer with a company that is able to easily approach any statements you might have. Examine out reviews from present, as well as former, clients of the insurance policies organizations you are contemplating for some unbiased feedback.
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Even in conditions of increased sweating, it prevents foot overheating, expels excessive moisture and minimizes irritability due to friction, an anti-blister guarantee for any athlete.
Bmax Cool combines Regenactiv fibre with multichannel fibres that transport moisture to the outside by its clover-shaped cavities.
Expels sweat and minimizes irritability due to friction while body heat is retained, resulting in an anti-blistering guarantee even at very low temperatures.
Bmax Therm combines Regenactiv fibre with a breathable hollow fibre that drains moisture away and retains body heat in its cavities.
The "silver-based layer" exerts its antibacterial power transversely across the entire garment as a guarantee of durability and anti-odour properties thanks to its antibacterial power.
Fight overheating and moisture caused by the combination of heat and physical activity.
While Regenactiv technology protects the skin and prevents overheating, the multichannel fibre quickly drains sweat away.


text:
it's 2022...the new, the true, for you
We are ready to MOVE forward with the Lord. It wasn't too long ago in a church service (right after we finished ministering in song) that the Lord moved on the church people to minister to us! And, the word given was that they were going to anoint our feet in order to take the land where we would go. Hallelujah! We are aligning ourselves with that word and will move FORWARD into what the Lord has for us.
Join with us and let's move into what the LORD has for His people this year. It's a year that the Lord is going to BLESS us, show us TRUTH , and do NEW things in our lives! GET READY, GET SET, GO!!!!!
WATCH CONCERTS HERE
Riven streams concerts online on Facebook & YouTube. Click on the button to be taken to one of our social pages. If you didn't catch our concert with LINDLEY CREEK bluegrass family you can join in by clicking the button below. You can watch services/clerks and concerts that are recorded. ALSO, don't forget to click on the Instagram logo at the bottom of the page.
Make a donation...
If you would like to donate to the music ministry...you can do that here. May the Lord bless your giving...pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
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Is Etsy good for making money online?
John Asked on March 23, 2017 in Self-Improvement & Making Money.
John Asked on February 23, 2017 in Conversion Rate Optimization.
John Asked on February 21, 2017 in Conversion Rate Optimization.
John Asked on February 8, 2017 in Directories & Free Backlinks, Self-Improvement & Making Money, White Hat SEO.


- JA The DragAn is a 28-year- old American Songwriter, Artist, Producer, & Instrumentalist born and raised in a small town in Cincinnati Ohio. The "JA" standsfor his initials Jason Anevski, and "The DragAn," came from his grandfather whohelped raise him growing up whose real name was DragAn in memory of him. JA The DragAn is a unique, fast paced, fun, up-tempo, hip-hop artist that brings fire on every track! He also produces R&B, and Pop songs that bring the heat!
- 4 celebrity features on JA The DragAn's 2 nd Album "The DragAn 2" - As listed above, JA The DragAn collaborated with iconic Bone Thugs-N- Harmony's Layzie Bone & Big Sloan on the new single "Shorty Wap!" - JA The DragAn – Impossible (feat. Gudda Gudda) was his 1 st collab that's now on his2 nd Album "The DragAn 2" on i-Tunes, Amazon, Google Play, Spotify, & more.
First things first, tell us a little about who JA the DragAn is?
The name JA the DragAn is definitely a unique name. Whats the origin of a name like that?


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text:
The World Food Program says there's a 'crisis of confidence' in its fisheries
The World Health Organisation has called on the US government to ensure its own fishery management system is "as effective and reliable" as its flagship fish conservation initiative.
The World Bank said it would "vigorously" push for "significant changes" to US policies.
The new administration of President-elect Donald Trump has promised to reverse President Barack Obama's efforts to strengthen the fishery.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for the nation's fisheries, is now the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) after allegations that it mishandled a fishery study in the western US.
The study, published last year, suggested that the US could increase the size of its Atlantic salmon population by 30 per cent and its Atlantic perch population by 80 per cent by 2050.
But the report also said the country should diversify its fishery by adding new species.
The OIG found that the OMS managed its fisheries more efficiently than other nations.
But in its annual report released on Wednesday, the OIG said that while the OFS managed its fisheries "more effectively", the agency failed to "ensure that its management is as effective and as reliable as it should be".
It said that in 2018, the agency "failed to make any progress in identifying and addressing issues that could be identified as potentially limiting the effectiveness of the OTS management".
The OFS said it is "reviewing its approach to the OSS management of its fisheries to ensure that it remains responsive to the needs of the fishers, and meets its obligations under the fisheries act".
OFS Secretary of Fish and Game Ryan Korten said the agency is working with the OGA and the US Fish & Wildlife Service to improve its fisheries management and ensure that the agency's management systems are as effective as possible.
"We know from previous experiences, we know that there are some areas where we need to do better, and we're working to improve the processes, processes, the tools, tools and tools that are used to manage our fisheries," he told Al Jazeera.
Kortens office is currently reviewing the agency to ensure the agency meets its mandate of protecting the oceans and its "core responsibilities".
"The agency is a large and complex organization that has multiple, overlapping and interdependent missions, and that means that if we're doing everything we can to get it to the top of that pyramid, then I think we'll be successful," he said.
"It is our responsibility to manage it.
And if we can get it there and make it work well for our people, I think there will be success."
Kortes office said it will make changes to the agency and "make sure we continue to focus on our core mission of protecting our oceans and the marine resources that they represent".
"I think we have to look at a lot of things," he added.
"I don't want to say it's an easy task, but I think that we've got a very, very difficult job to do.
And that means we're going to have to do a lot better, to make sure that we're successful, that we are effective and that we can continue to do that."
angelica fisheriesmass fisheriessustainability fisheries
How many fish are there in a single year?


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Which South Carolina private college presidents make the most money?
Furman University President Elizabeth Davis received a higher salary than any other in 2016, but she is in the middle of the pack nationwide.
Which South Carolina private college presidents make the most money? Furman University President Elizabeth Davis received a higher salary than any other in 2016, but she is in the middle of the pack nationwide. Check out this story on greenvilleonline.com: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2018/12/11/sc-private-college-presidents-salary-furmans-elizabeth-highest-paid/2277965002/
Lucas Daprile, The State Published 1:22 p.m. ET Dec. 11, 2018
Furman University President Elizabeth Davis speaks at the announcement of The Furman Advantage on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2016.(Photo: Provided by Furman University)
The highest paid presidents of private colleges in South Carolina got another raise in 2016, newly released data from the Chronicle of Higher Education show.
Furman University President Elizabeth Davis received a higher salary, $489,306, than any other private college president in 2016, data show. In 2015, she made $450,276, data show.
Though Davis' salary is the highest of a private college president in the state, she is in the middle of the pack nationwide. Of the 559 college presidents which the Chronicle collected data, Davis was the 213th highest paid, data show.
By comparison, the highest paid S.C. public college president is Clemson University's Jim Clements, who received $809,334 in the 2016-17 school year, similar data show.
Of the 22 four-year private colleges in S.C., only five presidents made the list. Those were:
Furman University, Elizabeth Davis: $489,306 (213 of 559 presidents)
Evans P Whitaker, Anderson University: $405,692
Nayef H. Samhat, Wofford College: $397,320
Robert Saton, Presbyterian College: $271,200
Elizabeth Fleming, Converse College: $170,051 (partial year)
Krista Newkirk, Converse College: $153,395 (partial year)
Read or Share this story: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2018/12/11/sc-private-college-presidents-salary-furmans-elizabeth-highest-paid/2277965002/
South Carolina BMW plant sets production record in 2019
Oprah Winfrey Network has ' no plans' to renew John Gray TV show
Greenville among worst places in the country for bed bug infestations
Furman University to replant mall's natural charm after cutting down old trees


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Gov. Parson consents to Missouri taking in refugees
By Margaret Stafford The Associated Press
Dec 31, 2019 at 5:22 PM Dec 31, 2019 at 5:22 PM
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri will continue to allow lawfully admitted refugees to settle in the state in communities that request them, Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday.
The governor's decision came in response to an executive order issued in September by President Donald Trump, which, for the first time in U.S. history, gave governors and local governments the option to refuse to accept refugees. Refugees would not be allowed to automatically settle in states where governors don't publicly consent, even if cities or counties welcomed them.
In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Parson said Missouri has a long history of immigration. He wrote that nearly 18,000 refugees have settled in 45 Missouri counties since 2002 and noted many of them "have become vital members of our communities." He also said faith-based and community organizations work to help refugees resettle, primarily in St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbia and Springfield.
"We will continue to work hard to ensure refugees become a thriving part of our communities, and I am confident this demonstration of compassion will mark the first step in these immigrants become patriotic and productive fellow Americans," Parson said in the letter.
Parson was one of about a dozen Republican governors who had not publicly consented to accepting refugees. More than 30 governors have consented. Their decisions must be made by Jan. 21 so resettlement agencies can receive federal funding in time to plan where to place refugees.
Kelli Jones, Parson's spokeswoman, said Missouri waited to make its decision until it received further guidance from the the federal government after the order was issued.
The International Institute of St. Louis, which helps resettle refugees, applauded Parson's decision, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
"We are incredibly excited and gratified to learn that Missouri will remain a welcoming state for refugees from war-torn countries around the world since Governor Parson has given consent for continued resettlement," Anna Crosslin, president and CEO of the International Institute of St. Louis, said in a statement.


Do you-are you ever asked, you are not a smoker, why all the addicts of the cigarette, continued despite the increase in the price of sale thereof, to risk their lives, as clearly stated in the slogan on the packet "Smoking kills" or even significantly ease the wallet. Yes, me, non-smoker, I tell myself that smoking is expensive and because it is savings that I make as well. Well, I found the answer to my question in an article by Patrick Peretti-Watel and Jean Constance, of February 2009 in the journal, Deviance and Society, article titled " How smoking poor justify their practice and think of prevention ? ".
Smoking is defined as a conduct of a risk to the public health, and as a conduit deviant for sociologists. If the prevention campaigns have reduced the number of smokers in the most disadvantaged and the least educated have not reduced their tobacco consumption. "In France, between 2000 and 2007, among the executives employment, the proportion of smokers decreased from 36% to 23% (a reduction of over a third), among the workers in employment this proportion has increased from 44% to 35% (down a fifth), while it remained almost the same among the unemployed" (45% in 2000,44% in 2007) (Peretti-Watel et al., "Poverty as a smoking trap ", International Journal of Drug Policy, p 230-236.2009). From the results of a qualitative survey carried out among smokers and poor, the article " How smoking poor justify their practice and think of prevention? ", trying to understand the justifications of smoking poor.
It appears in the light of the interviews conducted by the two authors as to the number of smokers are poor, tobacco is considered a drug, which they are heavily dependent, a dependency which is reflected in the practices that they develop to obtain, in spite of their price, cigarettes : to deprive themselves of other things, beg for cigarettes, or even pick up cigarette butts. If they are aware of and recognizing that addicts of the cigarette, and they asked him, recognizing, however, many benefits : the cigarette satisfies the basic needs, which are often linked to their poverty : "ls need to manage their stress, to give a moment of happiness, to fill the vacuum of an existence without work and without the necessary resources to take advantage of their" free time ", to feel less alone… " If they do not ignore the consequences of long-term, excessive smoking, these smokers relativize the risks, highlighting the competing risks (stop smoking, it is exposure to weight gain, to depression, to a bad mood…) or by considering it in its full sense the notion of risk (risk among others and as such subject to a hazard).
If the specificity of this article is to examine the justifications given by the smokers who are poor, it is heuristic in a second time to ask if the justifications of these smokers poor differ from those that would have been able to give smokers from other social backgrounds less advantaged. The survey does not answer, the authors propose a number of elements of reflection. The about of smokers are the poor indeed seem to be a form of membership in working-class culture, characterized by a strong preference for the present, that values instant gratification at the expense of the long-term, and a distrust of authorities.
 In this study, are defined as poor, according to the definition of the sociological poverty, originally proposed by Georg Simmel, those who receive material aid from the community. Among the 31 respondents, 13 were women and 18 were men ; 21 were unemployed, 6 jobs and 4 inactive ; 7 were under 30 years of age, 12 are aged 30 to 50 years, and 12 have more than 50 years.
 Including that provided by the analyses of Sykes and Matza in 1957, in the article " Techniques of Neutralization : A Theory of Delinquency ", American Sociological Review, 22, pp. 664-670 and Becker in 1963 in Outsiders, New York, The Free Press.
 The deviant counter-attack to disqualify those who tag it as such, accusing them in turn of wrongdoing.


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Q: Using closed type families to write functions "if type A, then X, else type Y" I want to define a function that has a specialized implementation for some types and a general implementation for all other types, with more magic than {-# SPECIALIZE #-} or rewrite rules can get me.  (Roughly, I want to switch from IORef to Ptr when possible.)
Closed type families look like they might provide a solution:
type family Specialized a where
   Specialized Foo = Bar
   Specialized a = Baz

...but it's unclear how, from here, to build a function special :: Specialized a, or something more or less equivalent.  Closed type families seem to work on the type level, but I can't figure out how to do the appropriate thing on the data level.
If I were willing to explicitly list all types I didn't want to specialize for, I could write a type class and make an instance for all the other types, but I want to write something that specializes a finite list of types and then does something else for all other types.
How can I accomplish something like this?

A: You can accomplish it with overlapping classes. Here's an example for writing nub which chooses a more efficient container type when the list is a list of ints:
{-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies         #-}
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances    #-}
{-# LANGUAGE UndecidableInstances #-}
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts     #-}

import           Data.IntSet (IntSet)
import qualified Data.IntSet as IntSet
import           Data.Set (Set)
import qualified Data.Set as Set

type family Container a where
  Container Int = IntSet
  Container a = Set a

class Monoid (Container a) => Uniqable a where
  insert :: a -> Container a -> Container a
  member :: a -> Container a -> Bool

instance Uniqable Int where
  insert = IntSet.insert
  member = IntSet.member

instance {-# OVERLAPPABLE #-} (Ord a, Container a ~ Set a) => Uniqable a where
  insert = Set.insert
  member = Set.member

uniq :: Uniqable a => [a] -> [a]
uniq xs = foldr f (const []) xs mempty
  where
    f x a s
      | member x s = a s
      | otherwise = x : a (insert x s)

A: You can do this without overlapping instances using an auxiliary class. The following is based directly on oisdk's answer. The fundamental idea is that you can use the result of a closed type family application to select an instance.
{-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies         #-}
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances    #-}
{-# LANGUAGE UndecidableInstances #-}
{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleContexts     #-}
{-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-}
{-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-}
-- So we don't have to futz with proxies
{-# LANGUAGE AllowAmbiguousTypes #-}
{-# LANGUAGE TypeApplications #-}

import           Data.IntSet (IntSet)
import qualified Data.IntSet as IntSet
import           Data.Set (Set)
import qualified Data.Set as Set

type family Container a where
  Container Int = IntSet
  Container a = Set a

class Monoid (Container a) => Uniqable a where
  insert :: a -> Container a -> Container a
  member :: a -> Container a -> Bool

class Uniqable' c a where
  insert' :: a -> c -> c
  member' :: a -> c -> Bool

instance (Uniqable' c a, Monoid c, c ~ Container a) => Uniqable a where
  insert = insert' @c
  member = member' @c

instance Uniqable' IntSet Int where
  insert' = IntSet.insert
  member' = IntSet.member

instance Ord a => Uniqable' (Set a) a where
  insert' = Set.insert
  member' = Set.member

uniq :: Uniqable a => [a] -> [a]
uniq xs = foldr f (const []) xs mempty
  where
    f x a s
      | member x s = a s
      | otherwise = x : a (insert x s)


Good looking chestnut gelding with 4 white legs and a strip down his face. Big time heel/calf horse prospect, stands 14.2HH, good made and is a big stopper! He has had some reining training as a youngster, has a fancy handle, lopes collected circles, soft in the face and has great body control. Could easily be taken to the show pen in ranch riding! Nice gelding in the prime of his life that can go in many directions. 608-434-4789.


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Inventors Eye | Don't Sit and Wait: Stopping Trademark Squatters
Inventors Eye | Don't Sit and Wait: Stopping Trademark Squatters
The USPTO's bimonthly publication for the independent inventor community
Don't Sit and Wait: Stopping Trademark Squatters
Here's a scary situation: let's say you manufacture or sell your product outside the United States, or you plan to in the future. Things are going well. Orders are steady, interest is widespread, and you see demand in other markets. When you're ready to expand into one of those markets, you discover someone else has already registered your trademark there. Not only can you not register your own brand, but the current owner may now actually control your ability to manufacture and sell your product in that country.
Unfortunately, many U.S. companies have confronted situations like this over the years. It's a practice known as "bad-faith trademark filing"-sometimes referred to as "trademark squatting."
Most U.S. companies understand that trademarks are important to their business. Trademarks can include the product name, a graphic logo, a catchy slogan, or perhaps even the distinct shape of a product. Businesses rely on these marks to identify their products and distinguish them from those of their competitors. The public relies on them to distinguish among competing producers and to determine authenticity.
What many U.S. businesses do not realize is that trademarks, like patents, are territorial. Protection derived from trademarks exist only within the country whose laws granted the rights. Research conducted several years ago by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) revealed that only 15 percent of small businesses doing business overseas know that a U.S. trademark provides protection only in the United States. This lack of knowledge about territoriality can create significant problems for U.S. companies, especially in today's global economy.
Trademark squatting is when one party intentionally files a trademark application for a second party's registered trademark in a country where the second party does not currently hold a trademark registration. They take advantage of the "first-to-file" trademark system (not to be confused with first-to-file patent systems) in that country. While the United States has a "use-based" trademark system where trademark rights are acquired by "priority of use," most other countries around the world have a first-to-file system, awarding trademark rights to the first applicant. When bad-faith filers obtain registrations in a particular country, they are treated as legal trademark owners in that country. A bad-faith filer's intent is usually to get the true trademark owner to purchase the trademark registration.
It can be difficult, costly, and time-consuming to have a bad-faith registration canceled. Moreover, as the owner of the mark, the bad-faith filer can even enforce his or her rights against the true owner for trademark infringement. The bad-faith filer could also ask foreign customs officials to detain products of the true owner that were manufactured in that country for export.
Any company, large or small, is a potential target for bad-faith filers. In some cases, your own manufacturer, distributor, or retailer in another country might decide to file for your trademark. In other cases, it could be a person who approaches you at a trade show, asks about your plans for expansion to another country, and then registers your mark first. These are just a couple of the many ways trademark squatters can find out about your mark and register it.
With 95 percent of the world's consumers living outside our borders, it is critical for all U.S. businesses to consider exporting their products and services, but it is equally important to prepare accordingly. The USPTO provides training for small and medium entities on protecting and enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights within the United States and abroad. Last year, the USPTO conducted 40 such training programs, reaching an audience of more than 4,200 people.
The USPTO and other U.S. government agencies have also created a number of excellent IP tools and programs specifically developed for businesses on the STOPFakes.gov website. The Business Tools section of this site is designed to help protect innovation, spur creativity, and market products safely at home and abroad. Offerings include "Country IPR toolkits" that contain information on protecting and enforcing IP in 19 specific markets, a webinar series on IP protection in China, and an international advisory program that lets you request a free one-hour consultation with a volunteer attorney knowledgeable in international IP issues.
Because it is costly and difficult to cancel bad-faith trademarks, prevention is the best strategy for dealing with them. It's not always realistic for U.S. companies to register their marks in every country around the world; however, U.S. businesses should take proactive steps to discourage bad-faith trademark filers and make informed decisions on where to file for trademark registrations.
Companies should consider registering their mark in countries in which:
Your goods or services are sold.
Products or parts for your products are manufactured.
Research and development facilities are located.
Your products pass through during shipping.
You might expand your business in the future.
Counterfeiting is likely to be a problem.
Once you have decided to pursue trademark protection abroad, there are several ways to file an application, including:
Filing directly with the foreign national (or regional) trademark office.
Using a trademark application or registration issued by the USPTO as a basis for file through the Madrid Protocol, which provides a cost-effective and efficient way for trademark holders (individuals and businesses) to protect their marks in multiple countries by filing one application through the USPTO, in one language, with one set of fees in one currency.
In many cases, it is possible to register your trademark before you have even started to do business in another country. Consult your attorney or use the STOPFakes International IP Advisory Program to find out which is best for you.
Scott Baldwin : Office of Policy and External Affairs
InventorsEye | contact | subscribe or unsubscribe
The United States Patent and Trademark Office | privacy policy | disclaimer
By Scott Baldwin : Office of Policy and External Affairs
Tracking Innovation: Windshield Wipers
By Dennis Forbes : Office of Innovation Development
The Rx for Entrepreneurial Success
February and March
New Fees and Micro Entity Status take Effect March 19
Where Independent Inventors Meet
Organizations for Inventors
What does the USPTO do for independent inventors?
This page is owned by Inventorseye Newsletter. Published on: Nov 14, 2014 02:26 PM EST	Last Modified: Nov 14, 2014 02:26 PM EST


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HomeHall Of Fame
Canadian Masters' Hall of Fame
The prestigious Canadian Masters' Hall of Fame was inaugurated in 2006 to celebrate two decades of Masters racing in Canada–a national recreational program that took alpine skiers by storm in the mid-eighties. This recognition initiative is a fitting tribute to individuals who made outstanding contributions to the growth and development of Masters' racing in Canada. Award presentations are made in the spring at the Canadian Masters' Championships.
Inductee Criteria to recognize Maters racers who have distinguished themselves by their contribution to Masters'
Bring a continued and consistent commitment to promoting the values, philosophy and integrity of fair play to sports and connect those values to the game of life.
Embody dedication, humor and loyalty to like-minded competitors.
Always put sportsmanship first, inspiring other racers and newcomers and exemplifying the spirit of a well-rounded competitor.
To be eligible for consideration, a candidate must be:
A Master's competitor for at least 20 years, at both the National and International levels, achieving reasonable performance levels.
A Canadian citizen
The honor is not necessarily determined annually and can be awarded only once in a recipient's lifetime.
Nominations should be made in writing to the Selection Committee and contain a profile outlining the reasons for nomination. The Selection Committee will determine whether an interview will be given, whether criteria have been met and subsequently whether the award will be presented that year.
Selection Committee Member Criteria
The Selection Committee shall be appointed by the Masters' National Committee and include two people from the West and two people from the East (preferably one from Ontario and one from Québec). Appointments are encouraged to be of a minimum of two years duration for continuity and should be of those who have been racing long enough to be familiar with the cast of characters on the circuit. The timing of future appointments to the committee are encouraged to be staggered, again for reasons of continuity. When a member wishes to step down they are asked to find a replacement.
Past Inductees
2006 Florian Gauthier (1941-2005) St-Jérome, Québec
Florian Gauthier was a mature athlete whose heart and soul were still 16 years old when he passed away. He started racing decades past his prime but quickly earned the respect of youngsters and coaches on the Junior FIS circuit. Florian won his first medal at the 1987 Canadian Masters' Championships and soon after became a regular entry in International Masters' FIS events. 'Flo Go', a household name in Québec, was well liked by Masters' competitors across Canada and the United States. He had talent, determination and displayed a "joie de vivre" like no other. In spite of his illness, Florian raced passionately until the very end.
2006 Rolf Hauge (1919-) Midland, Ontario
Rolf Hauge crossed over from Nordic to alpine skiing in 1986 (at the young age of 67!). He trained relentlessly to master his newly-found sport and quickly improved his Canadian ranking. Over the last twenty years Rolf has continued to show dedication and athletic ability, two of the qualities responsible for his successful international racing career. He has accumulated an extensive collection of awards including the Overall title at the 2005 World Masters' Championships. In 2010, Rolf went to the first World Winter Masters Games in Bled, Slovenia and competed in all 3 alpine events (SL, GS, and SG) in the 90+ age category bringing home medals in all 3 disciplines. Rolf continued to be an inspiration on the race hill well into his 90's, retiring only after knee surgery.
2007 Bob Switzer (1937-) Pemberton, British Columbia
Bob was born in Oshawa, Ontario. He was heavily involved in hockey until he moved to Western Canada and took up skiing at the age of 26. A few years later he was introduced to Masters' racing and had a good share of success on the US Masters' circuit. When the Canadian Masters' program was established in the mid-eighties, he consistently ranked among the best in his age group. Although he won his first Canadian Masters' Championships twenty years earlier, Bob showed no signs of slowing down and received the prestigious Champion of Champions' award for his outstanding combined performance at the 2006 event. During his notable local and international recreational racing career he has accumulated a huge number of medals and was once named the Master racer who most exemplified sportsmanship in Canada. Bob loves racing, winning and having fun.
2008 Gar Robinson (1926-2018) Whistler, British Columbia
As a young man, Gar started racing at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. He then raced and coached with the UBC ski team and he was invited to the Olympic trials in the mid-fifties but he didn't qualify. Work, family, skiing, and an annual Veterans' race kept him busy until the Dave Murray camps and Masters' races started in BC. Soon after, Gar became an avid competitor in every discipline at the national and international Masters' level. Over the years Gar's racing career took him to many interesting race venues. Among his favourite is the annual Silver Star downhill, a team event for which he has a sought-after age handicap. One of Gar's big successes was in the 80-84 age class at the 2007 US Masters' National Championships at Big Sky, Montana, and included a bronze medal in the Super-G and a 3rd place combined ranking against 5 other competitors. The following year he was again named to the Canadian Masters' Alpine Team. A true "Gentle Giant" and 3 time member of the Canadian Masters' Alpine Team. Gar enjoys the speed, the competition, socializing and mixing with all age groups.
2008 Luc Balit (1953-2007) Montréal, Québec
Luc's courage and determination helped him become Canadian Masters' Alpine Champion and President of the Tremblant Ski Club. He was a passionate, tenacious, competitive, fun-loving, and generous friend. Luc infected more than one of us with his love of alpine ski racing and he left his tracks in our life. His memory will live on forever. Luc was the main force behind the Baltex Cup held in Tremblant, a favorite first race of the season for a very long time.
2016 Denyse Houde (1944-) Collingwood, Ontario
Denyse and her husband, Michael, started skiing together as adults. They were involved with the Ski Patrol at Georgian Peaks for well over a decade before joining the adult racing program at Toronto Ski Club in 1984. They participated in their first Canadian Masters' Nationals at Whistler in 1986 and have just kept going. Denyse's out-of-country experiences go back to 1987 at the US National Championships at Mammoth Mountain, CA. Since then she also competed in dozens of FIS International Masters' Cup events in the United States, Italy, Canada, Slovenia, France, Andorra and Chile. After the original Canadian Masters' series folded, Denyse lobbied with Alpine Canada for many years and finally received agreement to re-start the national program. By 2000 she had pulled together a committee of provincial representatives, coordinated a modest calendar and convinced Sun Peaks to host national championships. Under her leadership, the original Masters' website was developed, the first Canadian Masters' Alpine Team (CMAT) members were selected, a Spyder uniform program was introduced and several other sponsorships were negotiated. Her efforts were recognized in 2005 with the ACA President's Award of Excellence for Volunteer of the Year. Denyse's major racing achievements include US Masters' National Champion, South American Masters' Cup Champion, FIS Masters' Cup Globe, Canadian Masters' Athlete of the Year, Canadian Masters' Alpine Team member (9 times). These are truly outstanding accomplishments. Denyse loves ski racing and has been a well-respected fixture on the Masters' circuit for years and no doubt will continue to be for years to come. The motto for the International Masters' Academy founded by Denyse embodies her spirit: "we take our fun seriously".


The outfit is gorgeous, however, when I recieved it the beading on the belt had let go in a few places. It also had let go on the tie straps of the bra top. Otherwise the construction is great and the outfit is beautiful!
My costume was even more gorgeous than I imagined!!!! I love it & wore it 2 nites after I got it & will b wearing it this fri @ Rakkasah West 2012!!!! Thank you!!!!!