Wherever I live I need to be able to reproduce sound to an OK standard. For the last 8 years I've used my Alesis speakers. I've discovered and shared nearly all of my mammoth music collection on these speakers. All those last minute bedroom parties that would never have happened without these speakers. All that fun we had making weird music in my pit of a bedroom on hot summer days. These speakers provided the sound track to my university life, blasting Sonic Youth and The Smiths down the corridors of my first year accommodation at whatever hour. Another year goes by and I'd be pushing my possessions up the Sheffield hills in a Tesco trolley to move to my next house, and these are the only items that deserved the luxury of extra cardboard.
OK enough reminiscing but what I'm saying is that I really love my Alesis monitors and if I am away for a while, being able to come back and plug my computer into these speakers is a real treat–more than having a hot shower.
The problem is, I have to find some smaller speakers to put in the van! Apart from not sounding very good in such a small space, the Alesis monitors are just too large and heavy to mount on the walls of the van.
– Speakers for a van!
I like that they come with a mounting bracket although they do have a tendency to flop around quite a bit since the bracket is made of a thin springy steel construction so I set the fixing hole a little further back for a more rigid and imo neater mounting.
The last thing I want to do is rip this cladding off. I fixed a strengthening piece of leftover 22x47mm pine to distribute the weight and give more depth for the bracket screw to get in to.
Not the prettiest solution but its surprising how strong 8mm cladding is when the weight is spread out.
I went with an Alpine V-power car/marine amplifier. In terms of 12V amplifiers, it seemed decent and a fair price at £30 second hand. It does 50W per channel at 4 ohm with a THD of 0.08%. This will do just fine!
My favourite thing to do: finding places for wires to hide.
Screwed onto the inside of the bed. I didn't use the filtering since my speakers are full range. I did turn up the bass by a few dB though and left the gain in the middle.
The speakers sound great but there was a problem with noise! Most of the time I'd be playing music from my computer straight into the amp. The noise problem was when the computer plugged into the mains power supply via the on-board inverter (seen on the 12V electrics wiring page). I think the problem was due to a combination of a poor quality (quasi-sine inverter) and a bad ground due to being in a vehicle.


Business Insider did a great job reporting on a study that revealed that pretty women earn bigger tips. Well that's probably not earth shattering news. Say what you will about why this shouldn't be the case, but you know in your gut that it is.
But what might not be so intuitive is who is doing the tipping, and why?
You'd think it was a case of guys on the prowl trying to impress a pretty girl. That turns out not to be the case. For the full scoop on this, read the article here.
So what do YOU think? Should someone's good (or bad) looks really influence the tip you receive?
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Thanks to our close to 30 years of operation we have acquired a great deal of professional experience in organising domestic and foreign trips. Our team consists of enthusiastic and creative travel professionals with tourism industry experience. We can thus provide our customers with high-quality, complex travel services tailored to individual needs and ideas. With the help or our global network of partners we can organise your trip to any destination and for any date.


Before you can choose how you're going to communicate your message and what you're going to say, you need to know who you're trying to talk to.
Who are you trying to reach with this particular message? Be particular. What age? What income level? Where do they currently live?
Will this message be going to people you know? If so, it can and should be more personal than an ad reaching brand-new prospects. People that already know you are most likely to consider doing business with you. Move them toward action by stressing your results and professional credentials while also conveying the benefits and features of the offer you're presenting.
Is this marketing message targeted to specific buyer groups, like first-time homebuyers, empty nesters, second home purchasers, or investors? If so, you need to focus your message toward the interests, needs, and motivations of that specific group.
Is the market for this message comprised largely of consumers in a specific age group or generational demographic? Will the offering you're promoting be of primary interest to one of the following groups of consumers?
The senior generation aged 65 and over.
Baby boomers born into Western societies post-World War II between the years of 1946 and 1964.
The post baby-boom generation born between the mid-1960s and early 1980s who are sometimes referred to as Generation X or Generation Next.
People born between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, labeled by marketers Generation Y, the Echo Boom, or the Millennial Group.
Those in the older generations still remember the depression, Kennedy's assassination, man landing on the moon, and Watergate. Younger audiences have never known a world without MTV, cell phones, and the Internet. Obviously, you'll want to develop different messages and choose different media approaches to reach each group.
The National Association of Realtors and most of the large real estate companies have conducted extensive research to define how those in various generational groups relate to real estate marketing, sales, and servicing. Training courses on this topic are ongoing. Watch for one, enroll, and invest a few dollars and hours to refine the strategies and tactics you use with consumers in each of these generational age groups.


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← KFMF: Enthralling film music at Shakespeare in Concert
Tony Curtis on Cary Grant, Kirk Douglas and more →
KFMF: International TV series music gala rocks
By Ray Bennett
KRAKOW – Themes from some of the most popular television shows in the world rocked the impressive new Tauron Arena here on Saturday as the Krakow Film Music Festival celebrated the exciting vibrancy of music for TV series.
An enthusiastic crowd of around 15,000 greeted familiar themes from shows such as "Downton Abbey", "The Borgias", "House of Cards", "Vikings" and "Game of Thrones".
Many of the scores' composers were on hand to perform or conduct their themes and cues with several performed in concert for the first time against video clips from the shows.
Diego Navarro, director of Filmucité, the Tenerife International Film Music Festival, conducted several pieces performed by Sinfonietta Cracovia and the Polish Radio Choir.
Jeff Beal kicked things off as arranger and conductor of a collection of themes from HBO shows including "Band of Brothers", "The Pacific" and "John Adams", "Six Feet Under" and his own "Rome" and "The Newsroom". He returned in the second half of the concert to conduct his evocative "House of Cards" cues plus themes with echoes of the Middle East from the new miniseries "The Dovekeepers" that featured Andon's haunting flute.
Michael Giacchino's epic music for "Lost" followed and then Atli Orvarsson's "Chicago Fire" theme with the visceral growl of Tina Guo's cello and Nordic tones from singer Hilda Örvarsdóttir that raised the hair on the back of the neck.
The moving quiet and breathtaking fury of Bartosz Chajdecki's dynamic score for Polish TV war drama "Misja Afghanistan" led to the elegant poignancy of John Lunn's piano on his theme and cues for "Downtown Abbey". Trevor Morris brought the first half to a close as conductor of his sinuous themes filled with intrigue for "The Borgias" and the majestic sweep of "The Tudors" that included the moving lament for Jane Seymour.
With the click of scissors and the shriek of a butcher's knife sharpened on steel, Daniel Licht (with percussionist Norman Kim) added to the wry and sinister sounds of bow-strings on xylophone and glockenspiel for his score for "Dexter".
Then came the rush of Lukasz Targosz's exciting score for "The Pack" with a video clip from the show that showed a man drowning informed by the lovely voice of Anna Karwan (pictured top) and Tina Guo's vivid electronic cello as it gripped the jagged edge of grief.
Blood spilled on the big screen as Clive Owen employed his scalpel in a clip from Steven Soderbergh's "The Knick" while the orchestra provided the incisive bite of Cliff Martinez's imaginative score ahead of the two Beal pieces.
Trevor Morris took the baton again for a show-stopping performance of his "Vikings" score with its pounding clamour and chanting chorus boosted by Guo's guttural electronic cello and topped by the high Norse calls of the splendid Einar Selvik (pictured above with Guo and Morris) as he drew evocative cries from a travik lyre and tegelharp.
Diego Navarro stepped to the conductor's podium for a performance of the captivating theme from HBO's "Game of Thrones" by Ramin Djawadi with all its depth and resonance infused with the richness of Guo's regular cello.
Djawadi took to the stage with the other composers and soloists to accept sustained applause from an obviously delighted audience.
This entry was posted in Film, Krakow Film Music Festival, Music, News and tagged Atli Örvarsson, Bartosz Chajdecki, Daniel Licht, Diego Navarro, Filmucité, Hilda Örvarsdóttir, Jeff Beale, John Lunn, Krakow Film Music Festival, Lukasz Targosz. Einar Selvik, Michael Giacchino, Norman Kim, Polish Radio Choir, Ramin Djawadi, Sara Andon, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Tauron Arena, Tenerife International Film Music Festival, Tina Guo, Trevor Morris. Bookmark the permalink.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


AMNA -- The value of fuel smuggling in Greece totals 600 million euros annually, despite a government decision to equate taxation on diesel and heating oil, the Finance ministry said in a statement on Friday.
AMNA -- Greece's trade deficit shrank by 20.2 pct in the January-November period last year, after falling by 22.2 pct in November, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Friday.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#0F1419;mso-fareast-language: The ELSTAT statistics service said in a report that this development reflected a continuing shrinking of imports and a continuing growth in exports, although at a slightly slower rate.
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#0F1419;mso-fareast-language: The value of imports - excluding oils - totaled 27.715 billion euros in January-November, down 7.0 pct from the same period in 2011, while the value of exports - excluding oils - totaled 15.654 billion euros, 6.7 pct higher from November 2011. The trade deficit totaled 12.061 billion euros in the 11-month period, down 20.2 pct from the same period in 2011.


Despite progress in recent years, there is growing evidence that OECD countries are not on track to reach some of their key environmental goals. This report examines the strategies and instruments that governments use to ensure compliance with pollution prevention and control regulations, particularly in the industrial sector. It compares the compliance assurance systems of six OECD countries – Finland, France, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as those of China and Russia. The report provides policy makers, environmental regulators, and other stakeholders with a comprehensive analysis of the design, management aspects, and the main elements of government compliance and enforcement programmes. Focusing on compliance promotion, compliance monitoring, and non-compliance response, it identifies and compares good practices, sets them in context of different countries' regulatory cultures and highlights the key international trends.


Raine Chandler-Smith belied her slight figure with a surprising strength. She had the skill, timing, and sheer guts it took to guide a Thoroughbred through grueling cross-country endurance events. For Raine, the Olympics was the culmination of a lifetime of competition.
For Cord Elliot, the Olympics was a dangerous assignment--to guard against terrorist attack. And Raine, the woman of softness and surprising steel who beguiled him from the first, was the prime target.
A core of the same wild courage drew them together. But danger swirled around them, and it would take all their fierce will to protect their love.
This book was rewritten and published under the title Remember Summer in 1999.


James Pakootas is a Survivor.
As a motivational speaker and hip-hop artist, he possesses a true passion for creating a genuine connection with the world around him by telling his captivating life story. A story in which he survives trauma after trauma. He takes his audience on a roller-coaster ride through childhood abuse and abandonment, the darkest depths of drug & alcohol addiction, criminal activity that landed him in and out of jails; ultimately leading to a lengthy stay in a federal prison cell, and his most recent trauma, surviving a drunk-driving accident that paralyzed his entire right arm and almost took his very life.
As a Native American community leader, he coordinates events, mentors our youth, and empowers our future. James provides a fresh look into the world of addiction and substance abuse. More importantly, his mission is to influence change by providing his unique perspective on recovery, prevention, resiliency, having hope despite trauma, and how culture can bring healing from all of it.
The focus of his craft gradually became an emulation of the street lifestyle he was living, which came across in his music. This perpetuated negative lifestyle behaviors, not only in his own walk, but others that followed in his foot steps. His new focus is to educate, uplift, and inspire the world around him to never give up despite whatever circumstances they may be faced with, and to climb out of the life of criminal behavior and addiction.
You possess the power to shape the world in which we live. Ready to take the next step?


The great upswing of the markets on news of better than expected holiday shopping created enough of a diversion to almost have us forget about the risk factors over in Europe.
That is exactly what price alerts were made for! The alert came in close to 12pm that the Euro 3M basis Swap cracked -150. Recall that we have been writing about this as an important measure of liquidity. This level is something to take notice of as it shows that the financial markets are not functioning normally.
This particular indicator is more proof that even a well placed rumor about a bailout of Italy or a stock market moving up by 3 or 5% is not giving enough comfort for anyone to lend money to European institutions.
Notice that the ECB Overnight facility was tapped again. Perhaps it is time to re-assess the risk of a failure and how that could play out.
By far, the most worrisome of all of the news today was the notion that the IMF rumor of bailing out Italy was well received and the ultimate squashing of that same rumor had no effect. Smells like a short-covering rally that will need to prove itself.


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An attempt to reform and reshape the huge state government bureaucracy that functions as the human safety net
Just before the start of the inaugural meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 27 of the Senate Legislative Commission to review and make recommendations regarding the efficient and effective administration of health and human services programs in the state of Rhode Island. From left: Michael DiBiase [seated], Marie Ganim, standing next to Sen. Lou Di Palma, Sen. Josh Miller [seated], Tina Spears, standing, talking to Elena Nicolella, seated.
A Senate Commission puts forward eight recommendations to reform and reshape the workings of the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the agency which controls the largest share of the state budget. Which candidate would be willing to champion the recommendations?
What will it take to end Rhode Island's dependence and addiction to high-priced corporate consultants to run state government? How will women angry about the Supreme Court decision over-turning Roe v. Wade make their votes count in the Sept. 13 primary? When will reporters in Rhode Island do a better job of covering the ongoing wait times in emergency rooms at hospitals in the state? Is there a need to change the coding for insurance bills for the diagnosis of Long COVID? What is the status of the Reinvention of Medicaid in Rhode Island?
The relationship between work and office continues to evolve in the post-COVID world, as workers are figuring out how to define the concept of work without an office, and corporate bureaucrats are attempting to reassert control over workers, demanding that they need to be back in the office. It is not surprising to see a growing unionization movement among workers in retail, from Amazon to Starbucks, as well as the corporate efforts to squelch such efforts.
In the health care world, the growing dependence on community health care workers to serve as the human cog between medical practices and patients may soon translate into its own organizing efforts.
PROVIDENCE – The last televised debate between the Democratic candidates running for Governor in 2022 will occur on Tuesday, Sept. 6, a week before the primary election. But the odds are pretty good that there will be no questions – or answers – about the release of the report by the Senate Commission and its far-reaching recommendations about how to reshape the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
Of course, the release of the report was apparently timed to coincide with the Friday afternoon before the long Labor Day weekend, the equivalent of 72 hours worth of dead air on the radio, so the chances of any reporters taking a deep dive into the recommendations in advance of the debate are miniscule. ConvergenceRI, however, was paying attention.
The recommendations reflect the best attempt by Rhode Island's "professional-managerial class" [an apt term coined by the late Barbara Ehrenreich in her 1970 book, The American Health Empire: Power, Profits and Politics] to reform the beast that is the human safety net agency.
For sure, questions about the R.I. Medicaid program, which consumes nearly one-third of the state's annual budget, will probably not be on anyone's Debate Bingo card. Nor will any of the candidates – or reporters asking the questions – be able to say, if asked, how many Rhode Islanders currently are receiving their health care coverage through Medicaid. Suffice it to say that there are roughly 350,000 Rhode Island residents receiving Medicaid – more than one third of the state's population.
Translated, the state of Rhode Island, in its perpetual search of a path to economic prosperity, has created what seems to be a permanent underclass, constantly being, once again, in the words of Ehrenreich, in a 2011 interview, condemned to "extreme insecurity."
"Jobs that don't pay enough to live on do not cure poverty," Ehrenreich said. "They condemn you, in fact, to live a life of low-wage labor and extreme insecurity."
But, make no mistake about Medicaid: it is a big, big, big business. In the cowboy vernacular of epic Western movies, "There's gold in them thar Medicaid bills." The state is currently engaged in the re-procurement process for the Managed Care Organizations that provide roughly 90 percent of the care for those enrolled in Medicaid in Rhode Island, a contract estimated to be worth some $7 billion over the next five years, beginning on July 1, 2023.
Translated, the next Governor will be in charge of a state budget where one-third of all the tax dollars go to pay for Medicaid services – but much of that money will end up in the pockets of insurance providers. Without an audit of the current MCOs commissioned by the General Assembly, we will become spectators of watching the river of money flow, without any accountability.
What the Commission report said
The entire report is 198 pages long, creating a comprehensive record of the testimony heard, including the hearings broadcast over Capitol TV. The history and the context is important, because it revealed exactly how broken the system is, and the incredible disconnects in the difficulties of gaining access to services. [ConvergenceRI reported extensively on the hearings, so there are links below to the numerous stories published in the last year.]
So much of the current crises in our everyday working world – the crisis in the health care workforce, the breakdown of behavioral health and mental health services, the cascading effects of unmet needs for children with mental health conditions, the state's inability to provide access to services for the state's "unhoused" population, the escalation of substance use disorders and addiction, the potential insolvency of the state's hospital system and the unsustainable enterprise of the private hospital health care delivery system, and the enduring difficulties of the state's nursing home industry – are linked to low Medicaid rates.
Still, in the interest in providing a complete and accurate record of the Commission's recommendations, here they are:
• Recommendation One: Create a Medicaid Department within EOHHS and elevate the role of Medicaid Director, requiring Advice and Consent by the Senate.
This would put the Medicaid Director on the same level as the other sub-agency directors within EOHHS. Currently, EOHHS and Medicaid are intertwined, which complicates Medicaid's work with other departments.
A dedicated Medicaid Department would be less influenced by competing priorities within the executive office. It would allow EOHHS to focus more attention and resources on streamlining centralized services, as well as carrying out a coordination and oversight role.
Additionally, Medicaid's large budget, which is nearly one-third of the state's budget, warrants holding the Medicaid Director directly accountable to the Governor and the General Assembly.
The commission heard multiple experts discuss the idea of creating a Medicaid Department – the topic was thoroughly debated and potential opportunities and challenges were explored. During the Feb. 2 meeting of the commission, Gretchen Hammer of the Public Leadership Group and former Medicaid Director in Colorado, spoke to the commission about trends in how health and human services agencies are structured nationwide. Ms. Hammer reported that typically, states with smaller populations have highly integrated health and human services functions – likely due to the size of state government, and because the population is receiving services from multiple programs at the same time.
She further reported that 74 percent of Medicaid agencies in the United States are subdivisions within a larger HHS structure. However, within those larger HHS structures, Medicaid most often operates as an independent division with directors who are peers with directors in other divisions [e.g. the director of the department of human services].
In contrast, currently in Rhode Island, Medicaid is embedded within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services "as an infrastructure program that is supporting everything," which differs from how other states tend to operate. Ms. Hammer stated: "I do think that there is some nuance in the things that you all are considering in that structure ... there is a strong precedence for an integrated health and human services model, but that there may be opportunities for you to consider an independent or more defined department or division for your Medicaid program to clarify."
Furthermore, during the same meeting, Linda Katz, Co-Founder and Policy Director of the Economic Progress Institute and a longtime advocate in Rhode Island, recommended making the Medicaid Director an independent position who would be responsible for all the duties related to Medicaid set forth in Rhode Island General Law § 42-7.2-5.
Ultimately, based on expert testimony and much discussion, the majority of commission members recommend creating a separate Medicaid Department operating under EOHHS as the other sub-agencies currently do.
This recommendation would require legislation to create a new department. The legislation would charge the Medicaid Director with ensuring that the use of Medicaid funds meets federal rules. The Medicaid Department would provide expertise and policy support to the other sub-agencies to maximize federal Rhode Island Medicaid dollars for the Medicaid-eligible populations they serve.
Legislation would shift Medicaid resources, staff, and authority from the executive office to the new department. The legislation would also outline an organizational structure and other essential guardrails to ensure clear lines of communication and coordination between Medicaid and the other EOHHS agencies. This would include Medicaid staff who would act as liaisons to the other sub-agencies and support those agencies' initiatives to improve services for their constituents.
• Recommendation Two: Remove Hospitals from the Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals and create a Department of Hospitals.
This would allow for more targeted expertise in the leadership of the new Department of Hospitals – hospital management is a distinct skill set from other types of departmental management and should be treated as such.
In recent years, Eleanor Slater Hospital has had a number of federal compliance and licensing issues that have negatively affected the entire department. The commission believes that a Department of Hospitals would benefit from experienced leadership that can focus solely on hospital management.
The Department of Hospitals would be a department within EOHHS, like DOH and DHS, and would include Eleanor Slater Hospital [on two campuses], the RI Veterans Home, and the new RI Psychiatric Hospital that was established in the fiscal year 2023 budget.
The commission recommends that private-sector salaries be evaluated and used as a reference point when setting the salaries for leadership roles within the Department of Hospitals so that the state can recruit and retain experienced professionals to run the new department.
Creating a new Department of Hospitals would require legislation to shift BHDDH hospital programs and the RI Veterans Home to the new department.
The commission also recommends that EOHHS explore whether it would be beneficial to make the Department of Hospitals a quasi-public agency. Status as a quasi-public agency would allow the department to respond to issues and opportunities faster and more efficiently than a comparable state agency while also maintaining a degree of oversight and accountability to the state.
In a memo sent from EOHHS to the commission on August 2, 2022, EOHHS expresses agreement with the commission's recommendation to remove hospitals from BHDDH and states, "We do believe the hospitals may benefit as a quasi-public agency."
Additionally, removing hospitals from the Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals would enable the new BHDD to focus more closely on its remaining two divisions: behavioral health and developmental disabilities.
• Recommendation Three: Add children's behavioral health [BH] and children's developmental disabilities [DD] to the charge of BHDD within a timeframe as recommended by EOHHS and other stakeholders.
The commission recommends that this transfer occur contingent upon the recommendation to remove hospitals from BHDDH.
As stated above, removing hospitals from BHDDH would allow the department to focus on BH and DD, therefore creating bandwidth to take on children's BH and DD. Legislation would be required to shift the responsibility of overseeing the state's BH and DD systems of care from DCYF to BHDDH.
Adding children's BH and DD programs to BHDD would promote an integrated continuum of care and would improve the youth to adult services transition process.
Currently, the Department of Children Youth and Families [DCYF] is charged with overseeing the statewide system of care for children and youth requiring behavioral health services, including those children who are involved with the department due to abuse or neglect.
According to EOHHS, "In calendar year 2021, there were 110,125 children with any Medicaid claim. Of those, 29,950 [27 percent] had at least one Medicaid claim for a behavioral health service. And, of the 110,215 children, 15,533 [14 percent] are involved in DCYF. The number of children in calendar year 2021 who are involved with DCYF and have a behavioral health Medicaid claim is 6,853 [6 percent]."
Therefore, the proportion of non-DCYF-involved children on Medicaid with a behavioral health claim is higher than the proportion of DCYF-involved children with a behavioral health claim. Additionally, it was anecdotally reported to the commission that families who are not involved with DCYF due to abuse or neglect are hesitant to engage with the department for purposes strictly related to BH or DD, which hinders access to such services.
For these reasons, having both youth and adult services fall under one department would make services accessible without reference to whether the child's guardian is a family or the state, thus increasing access to services.
A memo from the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families to the commission aptly explains: "Children's behavioral health policy, programming, data collection, and resourcing currently are situated in multiple governmental departments and private sector organizations and insurers. DCYF has statutory responsibility for children with serious emotional disturbance, BHDDH has responsibility for youth substance use, RIDOH has oversight of family visiting programs, RIDE has oversight of school programming, DHS has oversight of early care and education, EOHHS/Medicaid and OHIC has program, policy, and insurance oversight responsibility, and community-based organizations and hospitals are the primary providers of services, and youth and families are the beneficiaries of service. These groups are all key stakeholders in the children's behavioral health system."
The commission recognizes that the timing of this recommendation is crucial – moving children's BH and DD from DCYF to BHDD is a large undertaking that will require strong leadership and inter-agency cooperation. Executing this recommendation at an inappropriate time could impede service delivery, which is counter to the commission's goals.
Therefore, the commission further recommends that EOHHS convene all aforementioned stakeholders to review and recommend a transition plan for moving children's BH and DD to BHDD. The stakeholders' plan should include an appropriate and justified timeline for this transition and recommend a leadership and administrative structure within BHDD to oversee a comprehensive children's behavioral health system. The plan should establish a process for design, implementation, and resourcing of such a structure and system.
The commission recommends that this stakeholder group provide a report to the General Assembly by Jan. 1, 2023.
• Recommendation Four: Strengthen accountability by giving the EOHHS Secretary authority to make recommendations to the Governor regarding appointment and removal of the agency directors.
The Governor would be required to give due consideration to the recommendations of the EOHHS Secretary regarding the appointment and removal of directors of the agencies that report to EOHHS. This would give the Secretary an official role in the selection process of those directors who will be held accountable to the Secretary, to help form an effective and efficient team.
The authority regarding removal recommendations would give the Secretary a role in addressing accountability issues to ensure success of the EOHHS team.
The Secretary of Massachusetts's Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Marylou Sudders, presented to the commission during the February 16th meeting. Secretary Sudders made it clear that her ability to recommend, evaluate, and remove agency directors is an important tool that allows her to hold directors accountable, and strengthens her authority and effectiveness as a leader.
The commission gave strong consideration to Secretary Sudders' testimony and the Massachusetts model of agency appointments and accountability, surfacing both the strengths of such a reporting structure as well as the constitutional and practical questions if such a model were to be recommended for Rhode Island.
Ultimately, Secretary Sudders' testimony and insight informed the commission's recommendation to give the Secretary the authority to make recommendations to the Governor regarding the appointment and removal of the sub-agency directors. Legislation would be required to accomplish this recommendation.
• Recommendation Five: Create a stakeholder group to ensure appropriate input for the rate review process that was included in the 2023 budget to hold the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner [OHIC] accountable through public meetings, ensuring that the process is transparent.
The fiscal year 2023 budget allocates $1.5 million to OHIC to "conduct a comprehensive analysis of all state licensed and contracted social and human service providers, to include review of rates, eligibility, utilization, and accountability standards pursuant to Rhode Island General Law, Section 42-14.5-3(t)."
The new law requires OHIC to conduct public meetings to allow stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions and provide comment. The new law also requires consultation with EOHHS. Though the law requires that public meetings be held, the commission recommends that a formal stakeholder group also be created.
This recommendation could be accomplished through executive action; legislation would not be required.
Additionally, commission members expressed a need for tracking community access to social and human services programs provided by the state and by state-contracted providers. The new law will require "an assessment and reporting on access to social and human service programs, to include any wait lists and length of time on wait lists, in each service category."
The commission supports this provision, which can be used to hold the Secretary accountable for improving access to services in the community.
• Recommendation Six: Create a Health and Human Services Cabinet, which the Secretary would be held accountable for convening, in order to achieve certain outcomes that would be reported to the legislature on a regular basis.
The cabinet would be required to regularly hold public meetings, which would increase transparency and improve accountability between member-agencies and to the public. The commission recognizes that to be successful, the cabinet needs to be appropriately resourced and staffed.
This cabinet would be a similar model to the Children's Cabinet and would be established in statute.
The Health and Human Services Cabinet would work to strengthen cross-agency alignment, effectively use data, and ultimately coordinate policies and programs that advance equity, eliminate disparities, and improve population level outcomes.
The commission recommends that the cabinet include all agencies within EOHHS [BHDDH, DCYF, DHS, and DOH], the new agencies proposed to be created in this document, OHIC, HealthSource Rhode Island, the Secretary of Housing, the Department of Education, the Department of Corrections, Department of Labor and Training, the Department of Administration, and community provider agencies.
The recommended composition represents agencies that work directly in health and human services along with agencies that work in areas related to the social determinants of health, enabling the cabinet to work towards administering health and human services in a holistic manner.
Additionally, the commission recommends that the Health and Human Services Cabinet have a formal relationship with a higher education partner that would provide staff support and research capabilities to the cabinet.
Recommendation Seven: Increase the salary of the Secretary of EOHHS, and the salaries of the directors of agencies that report to EOHHS, in order to support recruitment and retention.
In recent history, it has been challenging to recruit a secretary and directors – as is evident by the current leadership vacancies within EOHHS and its sub-agencies. It is extremely important for agencies to have strong leadership in place to promote stability in the HHS agencies.
The Secretary oversees the largest state budget, and programs under EOHHS affect a large portion of the Rhode Island population. The commission recommends that a salary increase be based on comparable leadership positions within state government, including the Secretary of Commerce and the Health Insurance Commissioner.
The new salary should also be competitive with comparable roles in the region. A salary increase would need to be included in the state budget.
The fiscal year 2023 budget allows the Department of Administration to propose salary increases for agency directors to the General Assembly by October 30, 2022. The commission recommends significant increases to the salaries of the Secretary of EOHHS, in addition to increases for the directors of the agencies within in EOHHS.
The work of these agencies is complex and should be compensated accordingly to attract skilled candidates. Together with sufficient provider rates, appropriate compensation structures within EOHHS will support leadership continuity, talent acquisition, and overall workforce stabilization across the health and human services ecosystem in Rhode Island.
• Recommendation Eight: Include the Department of Children, Youth and Families in the biannual Caseload Estimating Conference [CEC].
The CEC is an open public meeting held each May and November to forecast caseloads to provide for a more stable and accurate method of financial planning and budgeting.
The Governor's budget is required to include the estimates determined by the CEC in the executive budget, and the General Assembly must make appropriations in accordance with the estimates.
Currently, certain programs within BHDDH, DHS, and EOHHS are included in the CEC. The commission recommends that DCYF be included in the CEC to improve the department's financial planning and budgeting process.
Legislation would be required to include DCYF in the CEC.
The commission further recommends that caseload estimates inform staffing levels within EOHHS, its sub-agencies, and within the community agencies who provide state-contracted health and human services to Rhode Islanders.
The commission specifically acknowledges a need for more attorneys within EOHHS. An appropriate number of attorneys assigned to EOHHS and each sub-agency should be determined based on scope of work, including caseloads and the specific fluctuating legal needs of a department at any given time [e.g. managing federal court oversight of a department. The commission heard that it is beneficial for EOHHS to employ a "law firm" model and deploy attorneys to each department based on the current legal needs of a department at any given time.
The commission also heard that certain agencies have lost attorneys to other agencies based on higher pay and less demanding workloads. The commission recommends that EOHHS appropriately staff each agency to meet legal needs, and that EOHHS conduct a wage analysis to ensure that the compensation structure does not lead to agencies competing among each other for attorneys.
What the news reporters didn't report
The recommendations by the Senate Commission represent, in ConvergenceRI's opinion, a courageous effort to reform the shortcomings of the R.I. Executive Office of Health and Human Services, achieving a consensus approach on how to move forward.
The problem with the recommendation is "self-evident," which is the truth about the legislative process, often referred to as "sausage making." It depends upon the ability of the legislative leadership to exercise the same kind of courage and move beyond their desire to preserve the status quo – and their indebtedness to corporate lobbyists.
The big question is: Will the next Governor be willing to push the envelope when it comes to these recommendations?
When do low Medicaid rates create a break glass emergency?
Is RI prepared for the coming tsunami around Mediciad eligibility?
The big disconnect
Meet the woman in charge of Medicaid in RI
Distraction rules: Are $8B in annual helath costs the third rail in RI politics?


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Q: Insert data with missing columns into existing table using BULK INSERT I've created a table with 6 columns, but the data file has only 3 columns. How do I insert using BULK INSERT?
CREATE TABLE Persons(
    PersonID int,
    LastName varchar(50),
    FirstName varchar(50),
    Address varchar(255),
    City varchar(50)
    email varchar(50)
);

I have only these 3 columns
FirstName,LastName,City

This is the code I've tried
BULK INSERT Persons
FROM 'C:\Persons.csv'
WITH (FIRSTROW = 2,
    FIELDTERMINATOR =',',
    ROWTERMINATOR = '\n');

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


19999 West Country Club Dr.
Summer Institutes Miami sessions and accommodation will be at the Turnberry Isle Hotel & Resort in Aventura, Florida, just north of Miami and Miami Beach. The hotel is a Mediterranean-style resort secluded on 300 tropical acres, but right across the street from Miami's biggest shopping mall.
Rooms include free wireless internet, telephones, plasma television, iron and ironing board, coffee and tea maker, safe, air-conditioning, hair dryer, make-up mirror, robes and slippers.
The 'shared accommodation' option includes a double room with two beds shared by two registrants (you can request your own roommate when you register or the PTC will find a roommate for you). You can select a private room at a higher cost.
Accommodation for PTC and BTC seven-day courses is for six nights. Accommodation for the TTC and CTC five-day courses is four nights.
Course on-site registration is on the first day of the course from 1:00 - 3:00 pm.
Hotel check-in begins at 4:00 pm.
The course begins promptly on the first day at 4pm.
Reservations for nights before, after, or in-between courses should be made directly by the participant to the Turnberry Isle Hotel and Resort. Download and print the appropriate hotel extra night form on the left sidebar, fill it out, and fax, phone or email it to the contact on the form. The group rate for extra nights is $163.85/night ($145/night plus tax). Extra night reservations are confirmed by the hotel on a space available basis. Breakfast is not included.
The Turnberry is a Marriott Hotel. Hotel policy does not allow registrants to get Marriott points for accommodation booked through the PTC. Registrants can earn points on any EXTRA NIGHTS purchased at the PTC rate before, after and in-between sessions.
Summer Institutes London sessions and accommodation will be at the De Vere Selsdon Estate. The hotel is a historic building dating back to the ninth century, located on 205 acres of parkland (including a world class golf course) just south of Croydon and 13 miles from central London. It is accessible by train and bus through the East Croydon train station which has connections to Gatwick and Heathrow airports, and regular train service to London. The facility has an indoor pool, a gym, tennis courts, a spa, a solarium, a bar and a restaurant.
En-suite rooms include TV, phone, complimentary internet, hairdryer, tea/coffee tray, work desk, and trouser press.
Accommodation for PTC and BTC seven-day courses is for six nights. Accommodation for TTC and CTC five-day courses is for four nights.
Hotel check-in begins at 3:00 pm. Check-out is at 11:00 am.
If you need a room either before, after, or for the nights in between sessions if you are taking two courses, book the nights directly with De Vere Selsdon Estate, using the special PTC 'extra nights form' (available to download at www.ThePTC.org/already-registered.). Call or fax the hotel at T +44 (0) 208 657 8811 F +44 (0) 208 657 3401 (Attn: PTC Bookings - Reservation Manager). Single (private) rooms are available for the group rate of £100/night inclusive of VAT and breakfast. Double-shared rooms are available at the group rate of £115/night inclusive of VAT and breakfast. Rooms are on a space available basis only. The hotel will require a credit card at the time of the reservation and at the front desk. Note: If you are booking extra nights with a credit card you will NOT be bringing to London, fill out the portion of the Hotel Extra Nights Form called "Third Party Payment Form," fax or email it with your reservation, and take it with you to London.


The CodinGame SDK is regularly updated and improved. This document lets you know what changed in the latest releases.
Fixed ToggleModule and improved its API.
The intro replay file demo.js is now smaller when generated from scratch.
The EndScreenModule now properly handles more than two players.
Included missing addAgent polymorphism – custom nickname with default avatar.
Improved display of player output in local test page.
Better handling of errors from initializing modules.
Unused title property no longer mandatory in config.ini.
setFrameDuration() now throws an exception on non-positive values.
We no longer wait the full player timeout time when creating a frame when no players have been executed.
setFrameDuration() regression from 3.0.0 fixed.
Frames created when no players have been executed will still wait the full player timeout time.
The EndScreenModule allows you to display a custom text instead of the score.
The EndScreenModule and the TooltipModule are now bundled with the sdk.
The ToggleModule has been added.
Fixed absence of game summaries from the local test page of SOLO games.
setFrameDuration() does not work in the init().
A frame is created even if no players have been executed at the end of each gameTurn.
Fixed an issue with sprites.
Shapes now have a blendmode property.
💥 Breaking change Renamed SpriteSheetLoader to SpriteSheetSplitter.
Subfolders of the assets folder work on Windows now.
Frame zero now has a duration of zero.
The SpriteSheetSplitter doesn't reload the sprite sheet if it's already in the TextureCache.
The local player now uses the parameters stored in the LocalStorage.
Removed the max turn warning, since it's replaced by a limit of alloted time.
Fixed security issue (ZipSlip bug).
Fixed the minimum max time alloted to players (now it really is 50ms).
Frame zero is not animated anymore.
Limited the max total alloted time to the players to 25s.
SpriteAnimation now a has reworked API and a pause function.
Reworked the commit system, fixing some big issues and reducing data usage.
Better handling of modules errors.
Local test page design now matches the website one.
Reworked the Test case API.
Fixed some WEBGL memory leaks.
Handling of the absence of a logo in the demo.
Limiting the size of the game summary.
Game Params are now displayed in the local test page.
Buffered Groups have been added.
Test cases can now handle several lines as input.
The configuration verification does not check the presence of welcome_en.html in the first league anymore. It also concerns games with no league system.
The BindException thrown when running a new instance of the game when the server is already on use has been caught. It now logs a warning.
A bug would prevent you from exporting a game that was too heavy. It is now fixed.
Solo games agents not having colors would produce an error once uploaded on CodinGame. A default color has been added.
A regression would prevent the configuration form from being displayed. This feature is back.
The Graphic Entity Module would stop displaying the last frame of a replay. This is now fixed.
Solo and Optimization games have been added.
Implementation of Multiplayer and Solo classes extending from formerly used AbstractPlayer, GameManager and GameRunner. These features are not backward compatible.
The configuration verification has been updated to match the new constraints.
The form to set up basic configurations when exporting the game has been updated. It now handles the different type of games and specific settings for each of them.
These versions are not handled anymore and your game will not work if you upload it on CodinGame. If you are still using this version, it is strongly recommended to update your project to the latest release.


Somehow I managed to break UEFI environment on APM Mustang. As a result I was not able to enter boot manager menu nor UEFI shell. All I had was booting to 0001 boot entry (which was just installed Fedora 24 alpha).


text:
Carver Hill Gallery ~ Fine Art ~ Maine
America Martin
Harold Garde
Juan Escauriaza
ROSE UMERLIK
Jean Jack
Lisa Noonis
Ingrid Ellison
John Winship
Robert Stark
Philippe Guillerm
Christine Lafuente
David Hornung
Philip Frey
Jeff Macdonald
Nick Gervin
Ron Rovner
Jeffrey Fitzgerald
Todd McKie
Ted Keller
Dianne Schelble
Elizabeth Opalenik
Gigi Gatti
Jon Kolkin
Roberto Boiardi
Ricardo Cony Etchart
Stephen Gleasner
NORTHERN NOCTURNE! An Anneli Skaar Pop-Up Show!
Posted on November 28, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
Jana Halwick of Carver Hill Gallery presents artist Anneli Skaar's new show NORTHERN NOCTURNE! This is a 3 day pop-up art exhibition to be held at Jessie Tobias Design, 64 Bayview Street in Camden (right next to the Camden Yacht Club, down on the water behind #62). The opening reception is Friday, December 1st, from 5 – 9 pm. Luminaries will light your way down to the space on gorgeous Camden Harbor and Anneli's new series of moody blue paintings will adorn the walls for sale. The studio will be beautifully decorated in a Scandinavian theme and a signature cocktail will be served. Hygge (pronounced hue-guh), is Danish for the art of creating "all things cozy." This is the theme of the show, and gorgeous Scandinavian gifts will be for sale to complement the artwork and the studio will be decorated with HYGGE in mind – warm and wonderful with traditional music, Northern Lights projected on the building, lots of candles and fluffy fur. The show will also introduce visitors to the new Jessie Tobias Design studio, where Tobias and Halwick are ready to help you design a space that you will love to be cozy in – from a room, to a floor, to a home.
NORTHERN NOCTURE WEEKEND HOURS
12/1 FRIDAY ~ 5 – 9 pm
12/2 SATURDAY ~ 10 am – 4 pm
12/3 SUNDAY ~ 11 am – 3 pm
For more information call 207-542-9895 or email carverhillgallerymaine@gmail.com
Carver Hill Gallery to Collaborate with Jessie Tobias Design
Posted on September 28, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
Jana Halwick, Jesse Tobias Designs to combine talents in Camden location
Posted: Friday, September 15, 2017 – 11:00am
PEN BAY PILOT
http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/jana-halwick-jesse-tobias-designs-combine-talents-camden-location/92018
CAMDEN — Carver Hill Gallery, 338 Main Street in Rockland, and Jessie Tobias Design, 64 Bayview Street in Camden, will be combining their respective talents and collaborating on future projects starting November 1st of this year. Jana Halwick, who has owned Carver Hill Gallery since 2006, will be leaving her current location in Rockland and hosting pop-up shows with interior designer Jessie Tobias in her Camden waterfront location, and possibly other locations, as well. Halwick will continue to carry inventory and represent many of the artists currently on the roster at Carver Hill Gallery and will be available to show work to new and current clients by appointment. She will also be offering art consulting, sourcing, space revamping (using what you already have) and installation services.
Carver Hill Gallery opened as a show-house gallery in 2005 in an 11 room renovated cape on Meadow Street, meticulously restored by Dyke Messler. Halwick, and then business partner Kathryn Matlack, sourced fine craft and furnishings to stage the house as though it were occupied. Visual artists were selected to hang work on the walls, and each room was designed and appointed with everything you would see in a fine home; all of it was for sale. The art was changed out for monthly openings, and new artists would be featured. A 1200 square foot attached barn was winterized and with the help of local friend Sarah Baldwin, used as an event space for concerts and parties, hosting many well-known folk musicians such as Arlo Guthrie and his daughter Sarah Lee Guthrie, Mike Merenda and Ruthy Ungar, and Grammy nominee Rushad Eggleston. The space became known as "The Cider Barn" because of the three gorgeous apple trees standing prominently in front of the building. Over the years, Cider Barn events included indie films, artist receptions, and "hootenanny" style dance parties. In 2010, the gallery added a second location in Rockland, and continued to operate both locations until its consolidation to Rockland in 2012.
Jessie Tobias Design opened in Maine in 2015, and has been growing rapidly since. Tobias attended The New York School of Interior Design. She lived in New York from 2000-2005, where she worked as a furniture buyer, set designer, and freelance interior designer. Later in 2005, Tobias moved back to Maine, where she grew up, to start a family. After focusing most of her time on her young family, she and her brother ran the Bamboo Bike Studio in Camden. When time permitted, Jessie made the decision to return to her original love of design and creating spaces and homes that her clients have always dreamed of. In a few short years Jessie Tobias Design has grown to the point where it needs more hands. The company looks forward to having Hawick join their team, who will enthusiastically segue in right away with a commitment to be in Camden by November 1. Halwick will continue to bring great art to Mid-coast Maine moving forward.
Future plans for the waterfront location (right next to the Camden Yacht Club on the water)at 64 Bayview Street include retail home furnishings.
Stay tuned for updates on their websites: jessetobiasdesign.com and carverhillgallery.com, Instagram, and Facebook.
Jessie Tobias Design can be reached by emailing info@jessietobiasdesign.com or calling 207-319-2788. Jana Halwick can be reached by emailing carverhillgallerymaine@gmail.com or 207-594-7745.
Todd McKie and David Hornung opens First Friday, Sept. 1, 2017
Posted on August 20, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
On First Friday, September 1, 2017 Carver Hill Gallery will open the two person show Todd McKie and David Hornung. Friday Art Walk hours are 5 – 8 pm, and both artists will be present. The exhibition will feature McKie's flashe on canvas paintings and Hornung's matte acrylic on linen paintings and cyanotypes on paper.
David Hornung paints what could be considered an amalgam of landscapes, portraits and still lifes in matte acrylic on linen. The individual elements in the paintings appear more as icons; void of detail and largely symbolic. With careful study of what can seem like disconnected imagery, a story can be pieced together. People are observed in their natural surroundings, often appearing with human-made, physical evidence of their presence there, i.e. houses, furniture, and tools. Their effort to make sense of their place in this environment is palpable.
David Hornung "Looking Back" matte acrylic on linen
I have always been drawn to the "flattened" pictorial representation one finds historically in icon painting, pictorial textiles, Asian art in general and the pictures that children make. These modes of picturing show us the world while, at the same time, account for the essential duality of painting: that a painting is both image and object. When I am working, I try to maintain an essential flatness throughout the painting, using color, shape and touch rather than volume and illusionistic space to convey meaning.
I use my memory and imagination to invent pictures. The subjects I like to paint are ordinary—walls, ladders, rocks, trees, simple buildings, garden tools, ropes, bones, rickety tables. I also paint plants, animals and the human figure. I strip all subject matter of extraneous detail so that it creates an emblematic rather than naturalistic impression on the viewer. This also makes it possible to intermingle pictorial elements with abstract and semi abstract shapes. Such stylization allows fluid interrelationships between color, shape and symbol in a way that, I hope, communicates what I believe to be the mystery and uncertainty of existence.
David Hornung "Cosmology" Cyanotype on photo-sensitized paper
David Hornung is a painter, author and teacher. He has taught painting, drawing, and color at Indiana University, Parsons, Pratt, Skidmore College, Brooklyn College, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He is currently professor of art at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y. His home and studio are in Queens, N.Y.
Todd McKie strives to paint with an innocent eye. He is a beautifully skilled draftsperson, and starts with drawings that he "works down from". His work has been described as primitive and child-like, often depicting, with wry humor, life's conundrums.
Todd McKie "The Taste of Tomorrow" flashe on canvas 30×40
My work grows out of looking at other art, from living, and from lots of drawing," Todd McKie writes. "The sources include African, pre-Columbian, and Eskimo art, so-called primitive art, art by the mentally handicapped, untrained artists, and children.
The work, I hope, looks spontaneous. However, it's not easy being simple; that's where the drawing comes in. The drawings are made with pen or pencil on cheap paper and function as visual notes to myself – notes that can be altered as I move from idea to execution. Because I also make sculpture and prints, the ideas and images used in those other mediums find their way, inevitably, into the paintings. Travel influences my work, too; places I've been, people I've met, meals that I've eaten, all may appear in the paintings.
Todd McKie "O Great Spirit" flashe on canvas 24×30
Despite the preparatory drawings, when I begin a painting I try to have a direct response to what's happening on the canvas. I try to be open to a happy accident when it comes along. It's often difficult to know as I work just where a particular image comes from, what it's about. Months or years later, though, I'll realize, 'Oh, yeah, that was about that trip to France when it rained for three weeks, or a truly amazing fresco in a dimly-lit Italian church, or that time I fell and hurt my knee.' I'm not sure what it all means, but I try hard to make the most beautiful, mysterious, most colorful, funniest, and truest paintings I can.
Todd is a full time artist living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated with a BFA from RISD in 1966. He has received numerous grants and awards including Artist in Residence, Sacatar Foundation, Bahia, Brazil; Artist in Residence, Centre d'Art, Marnay-sur-Seine, France; and Artist in Residence, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA. His work is included in many museum collections, corporate collections, and important private collections worldwide.
The show will run through September 26, 2017.
DIANNE SCHELBLE TRUNK SHOW Sunday, August 13, 11am – 4pm!
Posted on August 5, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
~POP-UP TRUNK SHOW
OF OLDIES BUT GOODIES!~
A one day pop-ortunity to acquire an original Dianne Schelble painting for a really fabulous price!
Dianne Schelble Bayview Street 1 Watercolor on paper
We will feature framed and unframed original watercolor and gouache paintings from small works to 22″ x 30″ unframed and 30″ x 40″ framed.
Dianne Schelble Woodland Watercolor
This is a ONE DAY ONLY event. The show will run from 11 am – 4 pm on Sunday, August 13. Dianne will be present to meet you and answer your questions about the work. Her show from last summer nearly sold out, so don't miss this great event!
Christine Lafuente and Philip Frey opens Friday, 8/4/17!
Posted on July 22, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
On First Friday, August 4th, Carver Hill Gallery will open the two person show Christine Lafuente and Philip Frey. Friday Art Walk hours are 5 – 8 pm, and both artists will be present.
CHRISTINE LAFUENTE's paintings are loosely rendered suggestive works with wide brushstrokes and beautiful light. Her compositions are simple and elegant, typically referring to delicate flowers placed in a vase on a table with utilitarian items next to them, almost taking their mundane or routine use to another level by showing reverence with a beautiful creation of nature. Her landscapes and seascapes favor a subtle light, and capture the deep blue and dark grey of the Maine shore. Wide fields of color sweep the canvas, suggesting movement as well as hue.
Christine Lafuente Daffodils, Black Cup, and Jars of Pigments 10×10 oil on linen
In her words, "Trained in working from life, I take inspiration from visual experiences of nature- living, breathing, changing nature. Whether painting outdoors by the sea or on a city rooftop, or indoors from the still life, I work exclusively by natural light because of the way it creates and dissolves forms into color fields and tonal notes. A painting should be a poetic response to a visual experience. I often work in series as a way to play with composition, and have found that I often return to subjects again and again as a way to mark the passing of time."
Christine Lafuente Acadian Cove 12×12 oil on linen
For more information about Christine Lafuente and to see available works CLICK HERE!~
PHILIP FREY is a visual artist living in Maine, who is known for his color saturated landscapes and vibrant domestic interiors. More recently, he has added figures to his repertoire, with an expressive subject frequently gesturing or moving in a moment captured in time. In some works, Phil melds his interior worlds with his figures, creating a more complex relationship and story. His landscape work explores the intense light of dusk or dawn and it's ability to change the hue of the architectural and natural elements between it and the viewer.
Philip Frey "Who Could that Be?" 24 x 24 inches oil on canvas
Phil's painterly style focuses on the here and now, the feeling or connection to his everyday experience: evocative colors, unexpected light and the sublime quality of 'ordinary' objects and surroundings. His work addresses our relationship to visual space and the painting's surface by gently asking us to observe and to look again and again. He invites us to 'walk through' the painting, from dark to light, from enclosed to open spaces, from shape to shape…to enjoy the patterns, forms, colors, brush strokes and marks on the canvas.
Philip Frey "Lunch for Two" 30 x 40 oil on canvas
My work is about the painting itself, and how all of the elements that create it fit together on the canvas. I am inspired by a feeling, a connection to my everyday experiences: evocative color; unexpected light; and fleeting gestures. Perceptions are the inspiration but the act of painting: the dance between the paint; my tools; my hands; and the surface is the real juice behind my work. It's about the here and now.
Philip Frey "Big Red" 30 x 40 oil on canvas
For more information and available work CLICK HERE!~
SHOW RUNS THROUGH AUGUST 29th, 2017.
America Martin, Suzanne Siegel, Jennifer Knaus, J. Fred Woell opens Friday, July 7, 2017
Posted on July 4, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
Carver Hill is pleased to show brand new work from many of our gallery artists for the First Friday Artwalk, July 6, 2017. Gallery hours for the walk are 5 – 8 pm. Show runs through July 31st 2017.
America Martin "Jumping in the Sea III" Ink on Paper 10×10 inches 2017
Colombian American artist America Martin will show her new oil and acrylic paintings of fisherman, and her drawings on paper will feature swimmers. America is a young, Los Angeles based artist who is widely collected internationally. Her distinctive style mixes abstract and indigenous motifs of African, South American, and European cultures. Her depictions are created with bold lines, beautiful combinations of colors, and strong compositions. Her works on canvas are typically large, with a few simple lines defining the subject. Though minimal in detail, her ability to create gesture and emotion is stunning. America's work is often compared to the mid-century masters and she credits her Columbian roots for her aesthetic. Two art books of her work have been published, and she has been featured in nearly 100 articles, radio and talk shows.
America Martin Seagull and Lobster 2017 Oil and Acrylic on canvas 48 x 36
Jennifer Knaus has just finished new, intriguing paintings in oil and egg tempera of flora atop Renaissance style portraits. "My imagery comes from a desire to combine two unrelated genres from art history: Portraiture and still life. I am most inspired by Northern Renaissance portraits and Dutch 17th century still-life. The beautiful chaos of my back yard at the height of summer and the local farmer's market are my immediate resources for the flora, and my friends and family serve as models for the portraits." Jennifer's work was slected for the cover of Art New England in 2016.
Jennifer Knaus "Daisy Head" 10 x 8 egg tempera on panel
Suzanne Siegel has created colorful collages of interiors, landscapes and abstracted seascapes for this current exhibition. Suzanne's compositions are minimalistic and strong, but not necessarily straight forward. There is frequently an element of surprise, as she ventures off of the paper and onto the mat, or cuts a shape to lead your eye around the work more. She takes long walks and makes drawings and notes as she goes searching for visual ideas that communicate arrangements of the elements in around her. With a strong interest in rugged working harbors and the ever changing tidal coast, Suzanne creates her small works to communicate a sense of the environment by using as little artistic information as possible. Suzanne is an art mentor and teaches workshops all over the Northeast. She has a BFA and an MFA in painting and visual arts.
Suzanne Siegel "Abstract VIII" Mixed Media Collage on Paper 2017
Carver Hill will also feature some very important works from J. Fred Woell, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 81. Fred was a pioneer in assemblage art who inspired generations of students through positions at Boston University, Swain School of Design, Haystack and SUNY/New Paltz – many of whom acknowledge Fred as their most influential mentor. The work in this show speaks of Fred's sometimes humorous response to a world obsessed with consumption and the problems it leaves us with, the politics of politics, power and domination, and the absurdity of some of our idols. "My work is about striving and survival. The pieces and parts I fuse into the assemblages add up to stories about what we live by and what we disregard in our wake towards achieving pleasure and fulfilling goals. Working with found objects is interesting because they have no intrinsic value, which allows more freedom in how you use them."
J. Fred Woell 5th Business 8 x 8 assemblage with handmade mahogany frame
J Fred Woell held a Master of Fine arts Degrees from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Cranbrook Academy. Several of his works are in the permanent collections of the American Craft Museum and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian. He is noted as one of the top 50 American artistic cultural contributors of his generation. Carver Hill will feature Fred's limited remaining small assemblages and his cast silver jewelry.
J. Fred Woell "Fly Right" 3 x 2 inches cast sterling silver assemblage pin with moonstone cabochon
Show runs through July 31st 2017.
NICK GERVIN ARTIST TALK – Saturday, July 1 @ 1 PM!
Posted on June 28, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
On Saturday, July 1st, Carver Hill Gallery, 338 Main Street in Rockland, Maine, will host an artist talk with Portland documentary/street photographer Nick Gervin. The talk will start upstairs at 1 PM and will last about an hour with a Q & A following. Nick will show slides and discuss his current solo show on the second level at Carver Hill which opened on June 2nd.
Nick Gervin – Time Traveler – Archival Epson Ultrachrome Print on 11×17 Hahnemuehle Photo Rag
Nick uses a bright flash on a Fujifilm camera, which creates a high contrast black and white image and often solicits an expression of surprise from the subject. Nick organizes manmade light, inanimate objects, colorful people, and buildings into work that dances between photo journalism and narrative fine art. The work is sensitive, and because of his own personal struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse (he has been clean for eight years), it is also honest. He is not exploiting, judging or taking advantage of the most volatile souls in his images – he views people with compassion, and wants us to pay attention to the overlooked and ignored members of our communities. He is out in the city making images at all hours of the day and night; they range from tender moments between a couple to more challenging scenes of fireman tending to house fires, street fights, and arrests.
Nick Gervin Fore St Shadows_Archival Epson Ultrachrome Print on 11x17_Hahnemuehle_Photo Rag
Nick's images have been featured in many newspapers and magazines including a written review in The Huffington Post. Published in Popular Photography Magazine, Life Force Magazine, Portland Press Herald, Bangor Daily News, Portland Phoenix, The Forecaster, and Dig Portland. His work was also featured on many covers of Dispatch magazine. His solo show runs through Monday, July 3rd. The gallery will offer a promotion on prints to those attending the artist talk. FMI contact 207-594-7745 or see Nick's page on the gallery website www.carverhillgallery.com
4 Photographers / 4 Styles – Gervin/Kolkin/Nickelson/Robinson opens June 2, 2017.
Posted on May 20, 2017 by Carver Hill Gallery
On First Friday, June 2, 2017 Carver Hill Gallery will open a photography show featuring 4 Maine artists working in 4 very different genres. First Friday Art Walk hours are 5 – 8 pm. Gallery hours are Mon – Sat 11 – 5, after June 16th we will be open Sundays 11 – 3, as well.
Nick Gervin will be solo featured in the upstairs gallery. Gervin is a full time documentary/street photographer from Portland. He has been working on this current series for over three years. He documents the uninhibited energy of crowds getting out of bars and concerts, police at work, and firemen drenching buildings engulfed in flames.
Nick Gervin "Portland Police Photo Bomb"
Nick uses a bright flash on a Fujifilm camera, which creates a high contrast image and often solicits an expression of surprise from the subject. His ability to organize manmade light, inanimate objects, colorful people, and the urban landscape into work that dances between photo journalism and narrative fine art is impressive. The work is sensitive, and because of his own personal struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse (he has been clean for 8 years now), it is also honest. He is not expoiting, judging or taking advantage of the most volatile souls in his images – he views people with compassion, and wants us to pay attention to the overlooked and ignored members of our communities.
Nick Gervin's images have been featured in many newspapers and magazines, including a written review in the Huffington Post, as well as Popular Photography magazine, Life Force Magazine, Portland Press Herald, Bangor Daily News, Portland Phoenix, The Forecaster, and Dig Portland. Many issues of Dispatch magazine featured Nick's work on the covers. He is currently exhibiting in Grit, Grime and Grace at the
Union of Maine Visual Artist Gallery at CTN, through May 24th.
Jon Kolkin is an internationally recognized artist balancing a nearly full time schedule as a professional fine art photographer with a career as a physician (recently retired), educator, global humanitarian, and international speaker.
Jon's artistic projects tend to incorporate underlying themes related to personal growth that often serve as a springboard for conversation during exhibitions and presentations. His art is frequently described as minimalist, painterly, meditative. "It is my hope that my art will serve as a vehicle – inviting the viewer to step back, take a deep breath, and reconnect with himself or herself. Each series is intended to open a dialogue about issues that I feel are integral to the process of living life, eyes open. It is my hope that people will find my art, and it's underlying messages, useful as they seek purpose, wellbeing and fulfillment in their lives."
Jon Kolkin "Supporting Presence"
This current series is called Feathers: A Singular Journey. It is my impression that when an individual sees and touches a bird's feathers the physical and emotional response is unique to that sentient being. In Feathers… A Singular Journey I have attempted to artistically convey my personal way of connecting with these graceful and delicate objects. During this 7-year project it has been fascinating and surprising to witness the ever changing colors, hues and patterns created as beams of light play upon their surfaces. Results are often unpredictable. What my eye perceives while peering through the lens of a camera is sometimes dramatically altered as the image passes through glass, reflects off mirrors and is recorded by the camera.
I view my experience photographing these feathers as a metaphor for a broader theme – ie. the importance of recognizing and respecting that each of us interprets our surroundings and those we encounter in very personal ways, molded by previous experiences, circumstances, genetic make-up, and other factors.
Jon Kolkin has served on the faculty of the Internationally known Maine Media Workshops and is a frequent guest lecturer at major universities and other venues worldwide. His work has been featured in many publications including LensWork Magazine, two time portfolio feature; B&W Magazine, portfolio award, 2013; NC Literary Review, online, 2013; Color magazine, Spotlight award, 2012. His work is in many corporate collections including Bank of America, Capital One, Ritz Carleton Hotels, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios.
Jim Nickelson photographs are the result of his inquiries into the ways that we as a species grapple with the unknown and our relationship to the Universe, particularly as those inquiries delve into the realms of science and cosmology. This show will feature work from two of Jim's series : East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Codex Natura.
In my East of the Sun and West of the Moon series, I seek out landscapes that are evocative of another world, that seem to be of a different universe, time, or place than our own. Like the stories that fed my imagination in my own youth, these landscapes are portals to lands that lay east of the sun and west of the moon.
Jim Nickelson "East of the Sun, West of the Moon 9"
Regarding the Codex Natura series, Jim explains, "Stars created the raw materials for our solar system in their crucibles of temperature and pressure, and when those stars exploded billions of years ago, they scattered themselves across the galaxy and created the ingredients for life, and indeed everything, on our planet. Everything on Earth is thus connected at an atomic level, all deriving from the same sources within the universe.
It is this interconnection that I explore in my Codex Natura project as I photograph a wide variety of natural objects, seeking photographs that show commonalities and patterns evocative of the shared interstellar origin of everything on Earth.
Thinkers ranging from Aristotle to Galileo embraced the concept of a Book of Nature, or Codex Natura, as a metaphorical expression of the natural world, believing that a systematic and scientific study of all forms of nature, and one that rejected mysticism and religion, would yield explanations for natural processes and phenomenon."
Jim Nickelson's work has been exhibited in nearly 60 shows worldwide. He is on the faculty of Maine Photographic Workshops, and teaches public and private classes regularly. Selected awards include:
Wandering Curves, New York Center for Photographic Art, Grand Prize Winner
– Critical Mass Finalist 2014, 2015
– PhotoSpiva 2014, Spiva Center for the Arts, Merit Award
– B&W Magazine Portfolio Contest 2012, Merit Award
– Color Magazine Single Image Contest 2012, Merit Award
– Through the Lens exhibit, 2011, awarded First Place in Color Photography category
– Color Magazine Single Image Contest 2011, two Merit Awards
– Maine Photography Show 2009, awarded Best in Show
Liv Kristin Robinson was trained as an artist and art historian in New York City. She has been photographing the Maine landscape for more than thirty years. She is well known for her hand-colored, silver gelatin photographs of the late 1980's and 90's, documenting the evolving commercial and industrial waterfront of her adoptive home town of Belfast. In this show – featuring more recent digital work – Robinson continues to focus on the changing waterfront districts of Rockland and Belfast.
Liv Kristin Robinson "Bathtub: Rockland, Maine"
"For nearly thirty years, I have been drawn to the unexpected beauty of marginal landscapes. Inspired by a change meeting with Berenice Abbott in 1988, I initially found my best images along the decaying, commercial waterfront of my adoptive home town of Belfast.
In 2004, while still documenting what little was left of Belfast's industrial waterfront, I made my first digital photographs and soon began looking further-a-field—mostly along the coast—to what still remains of Maine's manufacturing past.
Although these works are digitally created from start to finish —they still owe much to the essentially 19th century technique of hand-painting photographs that characterizes much of my earlier work. Today, with the virtually unlimited digital tools available, it has become just as possible for me to digitally color my subjects as I once did when applying oil pigments directly to the toned, black & white, silver prints."
Robinson's work has been featured in dozens of gallery shows and museum shows including the University of Maine, Lord Hall Gallery, Orono, ME: University of New England Art Gallery, Portland, ME, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME; Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY; Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME.
Show runs through June 30th. We look forward to seeing you!
Season Opening First Friday, May 5, 2017! Work from our collective.
CARVER HILL GALLERY will open for the season on First Friday, May 5, with new work from our gallery collective and an introduction to two new painters. Eleanor Miller will present her oil paintings of plants and wildlife, partially featured in their natural environment and juxtaposed with an abstracted, almost surreal background. Eleanor has an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York, is a career artist, and has exhibited extensively for over 30 years. Her work has been included in ten museum shows, and a documentary film.
Introducing: ELEANOR MILLER
Eleanor Miller "Lost Paradise" 40 x 40 oil on canvas
Introducing: CHRISTINE LaFUENTE
Christine LaFuente will show her loosely rendered still life and seascape works in oil on linen. Her incredibly controlled and skilled use of wide brushes and a palette knife creates a beautiful surface perfectly suited for her uncomplicated and well balanced compositions with beautiful light. Christine was educated at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and has her MFA from e Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY. She has had 33 solo exhibitions and her paintings have been featured in over 20 publications. She is a widely exhibited career artist whose work is included in many important collections worldwide.
Christine LaFuente "Iris, Jars and Strawberries" 12 x 12 Oil on linen
NEW WORK BY TOM MacC
Tom MacC is back with his intuitive, abstract watercolors. Tom has been making art for over 50 years, mainly in his beautiful sun filled studio on a rural 400+ acre Maine farm that he shares with his wife, Jane. Tom studied with artist John Roy at Florida State, and later toured Europe's museums and libraries educating himself in art history and contemporary art. He further studied etching and printmaking at The University of Stockholm before returning to the states in the 60's. For years Tom photographed the edgy music and art scenes in some of the countries most creative cities before settling into painting nearly twenty years ago. His innate sense of color has helped him to realize some extraordinary works in acrylic and watercolor and we will show a small sampling of a much larger body of available work.
Tom MacConnell -Untitled #103 Blue – 24 x 18 Watercolor on Arches 140 lb cotton paper
NEW WORK BY KATHRYN OLIVER
Kathryn's professional arts background in painting, theater and dance is evident in her deeply sensitive images. These recent paintings in oil represent myth and metaphor, an area of study and contemplation that Kathryn passionately returns to over and over in her creative journey.
Kathryn Oliver "Nightime Orchard" 30 x 22 oil on canvas
NEW WORK BY JOHN WINSHIP
After a nearly sold out show last summer, John Winship has brought new "deconstructed nostalgia" paintings to us for Spring 2017. John's works are acrylic on canvas and have been featured in multiple publications and on NPR's "All Things Considered."
John Winship "Beach" 21 x 32 Acrylic on canvas
NEW WORK BY MEGAN HINTON
Megan Hinton has brand new, small abstracted interpretations of the landscape in watercolor that serve as studies for her larger oils, which the gallery also has in inventory.
"I am looking at life," says Hinton, "Then I take the drawings, photographs, source memories of the external world, and transform them into something abstract — something that shows the process of painting, the marks, drips and layering of one thing over the other. So it's reality but transformed.
Megan Hinton "Wharf Shack" 7 x 10 watercolor gouache
NEW WORK BY RON ROVNER
New works in acrylic, metal leaf, and rusted metal on panel from Ron Rovner highlight his love for classical music, the natural order , and the palette of his beloved Southwest retreat.
Ron Rovner Untitled 24 x 24 Acrylic, metal paint and rust on panel
ONE DAY ONLY promotion 12/6 and ART WALK reception 12/5!
Thursday, July 25th reception featuring John Winship.
Open Saturdays 11-4 or by appointment.
*Call or text 207-542-9895 or email carverhillgallerymaine@gmail.com for an appointment. We are very happy to open the gallery for you!
To find out about Carver Hill Gallery's special events, opening receptions and promotions, please join our Mailing List.
© 2020 Carver Hill Gallery ~ Fine Art ~ Maine
PO Box 957 ~ Camden, Maine 04843


India Carpet Expo 2018 is Sourcing Show for Carpets and Floor Coverings. India Carpet Expo 2018 to be held on 21-24 October 2018. It brings together professionals and industry experts to share valuable experienced knowledge and innovative ideas to make advanced this sector in the market.
Profile of exhibit based on Carpets, Hand-knotted, Woolen Carpets, Silk Carpets, floor coverings, designer carpet, decorative carpet and hand-made carpet.
Visitors like Carpets stores, Buyers & Sellers, Suppliers, Carpet Manufacturers, Carpet Importers & Exporters, Handloom Houses, Designers and much more.


Due to increased demand that flooded into Cuba Travel Services, Inc. offices on the heels of the Obama Administration lifting travel restrictions on Cuban Americans, Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be launching its first non-stop weekly flight from LAX to Havana starting June 30, 2009.
Departing on Tuesdays at 11:00 am Cuba Travel Services, Inc. will be utilizing aircraft operated by Continental Airlines.
"We are excited to resume the non-stop flights out of LAX to Havana that were in such high demand prior to the Bush Administration's restrictions imposed on Cuban Americans that limited their ability to visit with their families in Cuba," said Michael Zuccato, General Manager of Cuba Travel Services, Inc.
Within the first 100 days in office, the Obama Administration took swift action to reverse the Bush Administration's family restrictions imposed in 2004. Under the Bush Administration, the definition of family was redefined to mother, father or siblings and travel allowed only once every three years. The Obama Administration repealed the strict Bush Administration's policy to allow Cuban Americans without limitations on the definition of family and to visit with their family annually. In April, the Obama Administration announced a series of policy changes in regards to Cuba, one of which lifted all restrictions on transactions related to the travel of family members to Cuba. Cuba Travel Services, Inc. is pleased to once again provide these flight services that will allow Cuban Americans to visit or be reunited with their families for the first time in almost five years.
With the eagerness for Cuban Americans to visit their families once again, such travel services will also add a little more needed stimulation to the economy, generating tax revenue and increasing job opportunity within the travel industry.
Since 2000, Cuba Travel Services, Inc. has been the first charter company to fly direct flights from Los Angeles to Havana. In 2003, the United States ranked 8th in visitors per country of origin to Cuba with 84,529 visitors, dwindling down to 37,233 in 2005 under the Bush administration's changes to Cuban travel regulations causing a limiting of visits and a cease of direct flights from Miami, Los Angeles and New York.
Cuba Travel Services Inc. was formed by a group of Los Angeles business professionals to specifically facilitate a better understanding between the U.S. and Cuba in providing convenient and cost-effective travel to U.S. citizens who qualify under the current U.S. Treasury regulations. Cuba Travel Services Inc's headquarters are based in Long Beach, California and currently has offices in Doral and Hialeah, Florida and Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.
Contact Michael Zuccato at 800-963-2822 for more information.


Presently in production, Magic looks at the increasingly varied ways in which artists — or, perhaps more generally, makers — collaborate to bring disparate pieces of a project together to form a coherent whole. The project itself is also a product of these same collaborative forces.
Craig Dietrich, John Bell, and myself, in collaboration with Vectors staff, this summer's NEH Vectors fellows, and many more have contributed to Magic. As often happens, the nature of the partnership is dictated as much by the personalities and backgrounds of the collaborators as by the specific technical or production needs of the project. Magic is presently installed at "Without Borders VI: Conjunction", a gallery show on the University of Maine campus, through September, 2009. The public opening is September 10th, at Lord Hall. We've placed up a Web-based version of the installation interface, and stay tuned for the release of the prototype Web-only project.
Accompanying Body Beasts is a six-minute film depicting used sweaters manipulated and sown into shapes of grotesquely enlarged bugs. The abject creatures traverse the landscape of the human body as well as domestic environments and provide jarring relationships through shifts of scale and contexts. We see them fly through the air, crash to the floor, analyzed in labs, vainly vacuumed, and given back massages. The video examines our instinctual repulsion for the millions of creatures that live, eat, and sleep with us in a continuously symbiotic relationship.


The simplicity of the Salvatore basin is ideal to showcase the gorgeous stone. This beautifully squared designed above counter basin looks elegant and intriguing with the focus being the beauty of this basin. This basin has a matt finish, the smooth lines and deep basin make this an irresistible and modern piece.
Waste and tap not included but can be purchased in our store alongside many other bathroom products, browse our store to find your complete look. Waste cover in photo for illustration purposes only.
*Natural stone is a material that must be cared for and suitability considered, please read full details here.
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Mumbai, 8th February 2013: Gulf Oil Corporation Limited, a Hinduja Group Company, has reported a 25% increase in Profit from Operations before Interest and Exceptional Items for Q3 at Rs.15 crores as against Rs.12 crores in the same quarter last year.
The Lubricants Division achieved a turnover for the quarter of Rs. 231 crores as compared to Rs. 213 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year i.e. a growth of 9% on QoQ basis amid tight market conditions. Operational Profit before Interest and Tax for the quarter has also gone up by 11% to Rs. 29 crores compared to Rs. 26 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
The Division faced subdued market conditions and low industrial growth which resulted in drop in OEM sales and severe competition from key competitors in the areas of motorcycle oils and diesel engine oils with aggressive pricing and promotion. Lubricants consumption was also impacted due to slowdown in the industrial, mining and infrastructure sectors.
In spite of the above, the Division increased its market share in motorcycle oil segment through increased distribution reach; and in the diesel engine oil segment through the introduction of new product targeted at the Tata vehicles segment.
The Explosives Division handling the detonators business, achieved sales of Rs. 17 crores in Q3 as compared to Rs. 20 crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The decrease was on account of reduced export shipments and power shortages faced by the converters in Hyderabad and low demand from the mining and infra sectors.
The Mining and Infrastructure Division achieved revenue of Rs 4.50 Crores in Q3 as compared to Rs. 12 crores in the corresponding quarter of the last year. Continued closure and slow down of the major iron ore and manganese mines of our clients in the Orissa due to various environmental and other statutory reasons have affected the performance in Q3.
However, around the end of Q3 the Division started working at a new iron ore mine of Adhunik Group in Orissa. Also the Patmunda manganese mine in Orissa is expected to start operating after a long closure of more than one year from January 2013 onwards. The Division is pursuing various mining and irrigation project opportunities in various states.
Work on the Rs.1800 crores project at Yelahanka, Bengaluru, consisting of a 30 acre IT / ITES SEZ park and a 10 acre Hotel / Hospitality / Retail areas being developed in association with Hinduja Realty Ventures Limited, is continuing. Foundation work on the first building in SEZ sector is progressing well. Bulk materials such as aggregates, cement, steel, etc. have been procured after receiving tax and duty exemption. Erection and testing of the batching plant completed.
Infrastructure works such as signal-free expressways from Hebbal and Yelahanka to Bengaluru Airport, are expected to be completed by mid 2014, providing excellent and fast access to our project site. This will give a boost to the real estate developments in North Bengaluru, the emerging growth corridor.
For the Hyderabad property, where the Company has entered into a Development Agreement with Hinduja Estates Private Limited, work by GHMC on the 100 feet road passing through the Company's property, is about 70% complete. In the meantime, investments in developments outside the Company premises, abutting the new 100-feet road, are increasing rapidly. As a result of this infrastructure initiative of the Government and as per reports from leading property consultants, Kukatpally will witness higher demand in the near future.
AQUISITIION OF HOUGHTON INTERNATIONAL INC. IN THE USA.
The Company through its subsidiary in the United Kingdom has completed has completed acquisition of 100% stake in Houghton International Inc. for USD 1.045 billion, after satisfactory conclusion of regulatory approvals in the USA.
In view of the diverse nature of the Company's businesses, the Board of Directors of the Company at its Meeting yesterday, discussed about restructuring of the various businesses of the Company including demerger of the Lubricants business into a separate listed company and authorized the Committee of Directors to consider the matter and make necessary recommendations.


Then you are going to love this simple, yet so delicious, 8 Ingredient Nachos Madness Recipe.
Made of 8 ingredients, which are ground beef, tortilla chips, melted salsa con queso cheese, refried beans, delicious tomatoes, avocado, green onion, and taco and salt seasonings.
We make this nachos recipe almost every Saturday, also known as Nacho Saturday.
Perfect for family gatherings or when watching a football game.
Now scroll down to see it yourself.
How To Make Only 8 Ingredient Nachos Madness Recipe - made of tortilla chips, ground beef, cheese, tomatoes, avocados, green onion, and refried beans. Best Nachos Recipe out there!
Place avocados, tomatoes and onion in a bowl, set aside.
Place ground beef in the skillet, season with taco seasoning and saute on medium heat until meat is cooked thru, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.
Place salsa con queso into small cooking pan, cook on low for about 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is hot. Grab another pan and cook refried beans on medium heat, add few tablespoons of water, cook until it starts bubbling, set aside.
Put tortilla chips on a baking sheet and place it in the oven for few minutes to warm up the chips.
Once everything is heated thru and cooked, now lets garnish your Nacho madness. First sprinkle ground beef all over tortilla chips, add refried beans, drizzle melted salsa con queso cheese, and add tomato salsa. Serve while hot. Enjoy!
If you make 8 Ingredient Nachos Madness Recipe please tag my name @munchkintimeblog and hashtag #munchkintimeblog on Instagram, I would LOVE to see your creation.
Grab another pan and cook refried beans on medium heat, add few tablespoons of water, cook until it starts bubbling, set aside.
Place salsa con queso into small cooking pan, cook on low for about 3-5 minutes, until cheese is hot.
Once everything is heated thru and cooked, now lets create your Nachos madness.
First sprinkle ground beef all over tortilla chips, add refried beans, drizzle melted salsa con queso cheese, and add tomato salsa.
Did you like this 8 Ingredient Nachos Madness Recipe?
Huge Thank You going to Fred Meyer Stores for sponsoring this recipe!
These nachos look amazing. I can't wait to make them!
Thank you Charlene, they are really good!
Nacho's are one of my favorite food groups!! lol!! I have made them with just about every meat and topping!! Yours look amazing!! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite things on Thursday!! Hope to see you again tomorrow!! Pinned!
Thank you so much dear Elaine for stopping by, commenting and sharing 8 Ingredient Nachos Madness Recipe! You are awesome!