For certain businesses, developing a dynamic marketing campaign is extra challenging due to products that are quite boring to the average consumer. However, these products don't have to be boring. A creative, exciting marketing campaign can make any product seem interesting, even remote servers and email hosting.
Fashioning an engaging marketing campaign requires an awareness of the needs of the consumer. A recent survey conducted by Lightspeed Research and the Internet Advertising Bureau found that the top three components wanted in advertisements are relevance, usefulness, and a discount. Younger adults were more focused on the inclusion of entertainment, while older adults were insistent that advertisements should concentrate on presenting significant information.
With these points in mind, the marketing strategy for your "boring" product must first consider the desires of your target consumer. One example of a company that has capitalized on the needs of the consumer is Dropbox. Using an innovative referral marketing strategy, Dropbox has generated an impressive consumer base that continues to grow. By offering customers incentives for referrals, Dropbox relied primarily on word-of-mouth promotion to gain popularity in the "boring" but competitive industry of cloud storage.
The primary lesson to learn from the example of the Dropbox marketing campaign is to play to your strengths by developing an understanding of what does and doesn't work for your campaign. When Dropbox first launched, traditional marketing didn't do the company a whole lot of good. However, analysis of the company's growth showed the marketing team that word-of-mouth marketing was the most effective component of their campaign. Once the marketing campaign shifted towards a focus on word-of-mouth and referral marketing, the company really took off.
A second recent example of a company creating an exciting marketing campaign for "boring" products is General Electric, which realized that their marketing department was ineffective in making decisions about the company's promotional strategies, so the business came up with an entirely new approach to marketing. The new marketing strategy was concerned with eight disciplines that the company found to be significant in developing a marketing campaign. In addition, the marketing department identified four important roles that marketers had to play in creating an effective campaign. With this well-defined new approach General Electric entered a new era of intentional promotion for its products instead of relying on the high quality of the products to speak for themselves.
The first step in producing a dynamic marketing campaign for your "boring" product is to ask the right questions about the industry that will allow you to understand what customers want in a product. Competitive analysis might help in this part of the process. Most importantly, learn to empathize with your customers so that you can present content that will be useful and relevant to their needs. As you determine who will be your target audience, generate a conceptual customer persona to whom you will address your content.
Successful content will be helpful and educational to your audience. Even if the product seems boring, informational content that addresses any questions or problems the customers might face will be valuable to your audience. In order to create this kind of beneficial content, avoid generic content and instead generate content specific to the customers' concerns. Your understanding of the industry will assist you in coming up with particular topics that uniquely appeal to your target audience.
Your interesting marketing campaign doesn't have to be silly. You may see viral videos and memes that promote a product and think that you have to create something goofy to grab attention, but depending on your industry, dignified content may be more productive. Try incorporating different types of attention grabbing content, such as an interview with an authority in your field, a helpful infographic, or a shocking statistic. Don't shy away from humor, but incorporate humor that appeals specifically to your target audience.
Don't forget to build a space where your customers can engage with your brand. Have a place to answer questions, offer a forum, or produce a podcast that takes customer calls. If your customers see your company as a source of information, they will keep coming back.
As you create your content, remember that quality content requires the investment of your time. Find a tone for your content that is relatable and not over-bearing. Take time to make sure that any written content is high quality and easily readable – try adding bold font or bullet points to make the content look more appealing. Don't be afraid to present static content – if the information is useful to your audience, it will remain relevant and continue generating interest in your brand.
Once you have implemented these strategies in your campaign for your "boring" product, take time to analyze the results of your marketing tactics. Follow the example of Dropbox and identify your greatest strengths so that you can capitalize on them and continue to produce a dynamic campaign that makes your product seem vital and exciting.


We are looking for some interesting buskers who would like to perform in a event in Amsterdam, Holland on 12-16.5.2016.
The event is outdoor with free entry and attracts over 100,000 visitors every year.
The event is about international food and live performances.
You can perform a single time, several times a day, or even every day of the event.


It took me a bit longer than expected, but here is the new version of Snippet Manager: over 4000 lines of Powershell code and lots of new features, improvements and bug fixes!
Snippet Manager now creates a full-text index of your snippets and features a search function, so you can very quickly search for anything (in Code, Description, Name or Author) in every snippet. The search results will be displayed in a new tree in the Snippet Explorer for easy access.
In the Store Room you can deactivate snippets , so that they don't take up space in (the rather small) "Insert Snippet"-menu in PowerGUI.
If there are e.g. shipped snippets that you probably never use but you don't want to delete them, or you have sets of snippets for different projects, just check the ones you don't need right now (separately or the whole folder) and click "Deactivate Selected" on the left side.
To reactivate them later, just do the same on the right side and click "Activate Selected".
Snippet loading and editing, as well as placeholder operations are up to 8x faster than before!
Also, there are new options like the possibility to restore last size and position of the Snippet Manager window at start, a new icon set and a lot of bug fixes.
Convinced? :) You can download Snippet Manager 1.0.1 here or via the auto-updater in Snippet Manager 0.92. (click on "Help\Check for Updates…").
There is a fully updated help file included, but you can also download it separately.
Be aware that PowerGUI v.2.3.0 or higher is required for this add-on.


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Alpha Synuclein Scientific Resource
GRP78
Gut Microbia
LRRK2 Kinase
Tau in PD
Synuclein Family
Alpha Synuclein: Gut Microbia
Interactions between the digestive and central nervous system has provided evidence connecting changes in the gut microbiota to neurological diseases. Individuals suffering from PD experience loss of smell, insomnia, and constipation years before the PD associated movement issues occur. But, clinicians and researchers almost never link the pathological changes in the gut that occur early on with the later disease prognosis. A group of Danish scientists showed that a full truncal vagotomy was linked to a lowered risk of PD, compared to control patients. A vagotomy is a surgical procedure that involves cutting at least one branch of the vagus nerve that links the digestive system and nervous system. In another study, an α-synuclein overexpressing mouse model established that mice brought up in a germ-free environment with a depleted gut microbiota exhibited less development of PD pathophysiology (motor dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and α‐synuclein pathology). Finally, an American study showed that PD patients displayed a smaller number of bacteria with anti-inflammatory properties and a larger number of proteobacteria. The connection between the gut microbiota and the nervous system could lead to a new method of PD treatment outside the normal domain of therapy (Tremlett et al., 2017).
Alpha Synuclein Research Products
Alpha Synuclein Antibodies
Alpha Synuclein Kits
Alpha Synuclein Proteins
Alpha Synuclein Small Molecules
© 2021 Alpha Synuclein | Sitemap | Acknowledgements

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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1955 Belinda 2022
Belinda Kaye Bolden
August 16, 1955 — October 25, 2022
Belinda Kaye Bolden, 67, of Searcy, gained her wings and went to walk with the Lord on Tuesday, October 25, 2022. She was born August 16, 1955, in McCrory, Arkansas to the late John Snyder and Hazel Pickens who preceded her in death.
Belinda was a faithful and dedicated member of Morning View Missionary Baptist Church in McCrory. She was employed at Unity Health Hospital for over 37 years. She enjoyed reading. Belinda's hidden talent was interior decorating. She would make sure that she helped each of her children and grandchildren when they would get a new house, apartment, or office. She loved her family dearly and had a special bond with her daughters. Her most beloved title was "Nana." She was the grandmother of five. However, many considered Belinda their surrogate Nana. Anyone who knew her knows that she was a star in their eyes, and that is all that ever mattered to her.
Belinda leaves to cherish her memory: her two daughters: Andrea Armstrong and husband Bobby of Searcy and Angela Byrd of North Little Rock; five grandchildren: Deion Byrd of Sherwood, Creshawn Byrd of Jacksonville, Davonte Armstrong of Jonesboro, Dayshanea Armstrong of Jonesboro, and Kevon Poindexter of Searcy; one bonus son, Raymond Byrd, Jr.; and four sisters: Doris Arguelles of California, Darlene Bartel of McCrory, Wanda Snyder of McCrory, and Judy Lyons of Searcy.
Visitation will be held Saturday, November 5, 2022, at the Morning View Missionary Baptist Church located at 824 East Raney Avenue, McCrory, AR from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. The Celebration of Life will begin promptly at 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Bobby Armstrong officiating.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Belinda Kaye Bolden, please visit our flower store.


Chilled Food Association Ltd understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used and shared online. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits this website, chillededucation.org ("Our Site") and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a manner that is consistent with Our obligations and your rights under the law.
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Our Site is operated by Chilled Food Association Ltd, a limited company registered in England under company number 2572566, whose registered address is CFW Accountants, 3 Weekley Wood Close, Kettering NN14 1UQ and whose main trading address is CFW Accountants, 3 Weekley Wood Close, Kettering NN14 1UQ.
Our VAT number is GB 523 3524 73.
You have the right to ask for a copy of any of your personal data held by Us (where such data is held). Under the GDPR, no fee is payable and We will provide any and all information in response to your request free of charge. Please contact Us for more details at cfa@chilledfood.org, or using the contact details below in section 14.


We stock ITE Siemens 9600 Series Motor Control Buckets and parts. Please contact us for a quotation matching your exact specifications.
Note: The ITE Siemens 9600 Series Motor Control Center and buckets are no longer a current production item. We can supply reconditioned The ITE Siemens 9600 Series MCC's and buckets retrofitted with the latest components.


I'm a php programmer for quite sometime. During my professional life, I've worked with many php projects (few of them as freelancer) and smartjobboard is one among them (I worked with few template and database customization stuff in smartjobboard). In this article, I will explain you how you can edit your smartjobboard job details page and search page.
Customizing job details and search page is a pretty straight thing. However, its important that you have good understanding of php, smarty and mysql to get things right. Having good knowledge of smartjobboard software can really help. If you are new to this smartjobboard stuff, then we advice you to take a serious look at sjb wiki page to get better understanding.
Now, because you are working on editing job details page and job search page, I would imagine that you have access for the admin account. After logging into the admin page, edit the "search_form.tpl" page to edit the search form page and search_results_jobs.tpl for the results page. You should checkout display_job.tpl page to edit the page where you see the details of each job. All the three .tpl files are available in the "Classifieds engine" module.
So, I hope this article helped you edit SmartJobBoard Job Detail and Search Page. If you need any advanced help, please consider or consulting services.


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Transition Songs for Early Years
Include music throughout the day to foster children's love of music and lay the foundations for their greater musical development through our Transition Songs for Early Years.
Cheeky Animals for Early Years
This resource introduces children to the remote Northern Territory locale of Canteen Creek and the cheeky animals that live there. Children will be able to participate in a range of activities using drama, music, creative play and visual arts to bring the story to life.
Cheeky Dogs for Early Years
Children will have the opportunity to see, feel and play as the award-winning book, 'Too Many Cheeky Dogs' is brought to life in this resource, with an Auslan interpreter present in the animated video.
Transition Songs for F-2
Transition songs resource provides educators with practical songs that teach children to work together while supporting language development and facilitating classroom routines.
Musical Games for Early Years
The Musical Games resource includes six original music games, with age-appropriate techniques that encourage young children to play instruments, use notation or compose in small and large groups.
Cloud Child
Engage children in imaginative thinking through DNA Puppetry's Cloud Child craft puppet show! Cloud Child is a highly visual, non-verbal narrative performed with Makaton sign language for children with diverse learning requirements.
Age 5-12, 12-16
The Sound Bites collection introduces students to a diverse mix of up and coming and established Australian musicians. Each artist shares some of the tips and tricks they use to ignite and develop their music making.
Designosaurs
Designosaurs invites students to participate in an enquiry based research project about local threatened species. Through the course students develop their understanding of puppet construction and puppeteering guided by theatre company Erth to create an awareness-raising endangered animal puppet presentation to a broader community.
Fairy Tale Dance
This course introduces students to Queensland Ballet's Little Red Riding Hood and invites them backstage to meet the production team. Students are encouraged to consider how fairy tales have been adapted throughout history then choreograph their own interpretation of the fairy tale using movement. They also explore how production elements like lighting, composition and costume can enhance their movement pieces inspired by tips from the creative team behind the production.
Hive Mind
This resource features a community art installation by Queensland artist Amelia Kalifa. This cross-curricular inquiry-based course provides students with a dynamic avenue for engaging with others, exploring diverse ways of thinking and developing empathy.
The Listies Make a Scene
This resource features renowned children's theatre-makers and authors The Listies (AKA Matt and Rich) as they demonstrate how to put on a show in a lounge room. This resource incorporates a kinesthetic approach to learning and uses fun, spontaneous and playful activities to help anyone create, refine and perform theatre.
The Tree and the Key
The Tree and The Key is an enchanting course that immerses young children in learning through the arts. Each of the lessons in Tree and the Key will give you phonemic awareness of the 'ee' sound family in many different creative ways. A Magical Story Map, several colourful animated music videos and a series of playful creative learning activities will connect exciting storytelling with literacy learning.
From Page to Stage is a Drama resource that guides you through transforming a narrative text into a performance. This course uses the Children's Book Council of Australia Award-winning book Go Home, Cheeky Animals! by author Johanna Bell and illustrator Dion Beasley as a stimulus, however the process and development of this course is designed to be applied to any text you can think of!
This series introduces the six key elements of music including rhythm, tempo, dynamics, pitch, form, and timbre. Children will build their knowledge of basic music techniques through a set of fun activities based on each element, and they'll grow their confidence and collaborative skills along the way.
Ever wanted to learn more about the craft of theatre making? Stories from Home will take you through a structured ten lesson project to help you develop and stage an original show.
Sustainable Songs
We've all played with our food, but when was the last time you actually played your food? Sustainable Songs is a fun and imaginative music project that encourages children to make connections between food, sustainability, and music.
Too Many Cheeky Dogs
Step inside the pages of Johanna Bell & Dion Beasley's warm and entertaining children's book Too Many Cheeky Dogs to explore the colourful characters, animals and landscapes of Tennant Creek in the remote Australian outback.
PlayAir
Are you ready to rock?! Learn how to play air guitar like a pro! PlayAir is a fun series of lessons that will inspire you to start your own Air Band. You'll learn how to play all the best air instruments like the air guitar, saxophone, drums, air decks and last but not least, the air triangle!
A New World Order
For Hayden Fowler, creating artwork provides a way to express his thoughts and ideas about problems facing humanity. Discover how his work refers to the past, present and future – all at the same time!
Shifting the Scale
Children will investigate the significance of being critically aware of their involvement in the creation and recording of history. They'll investigate how our understanding of the past impacts our actions in the future.
Radio Drama
Head back to the 'golden era' of radio drama with this fun and imaginative resource. Develop your performance skills using voice and sound effects to create a play for radio.
Family Tides
Esme Timbery is an elder of the La Perouse Aboriginal community. Her works are held in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Find out how Esme's contemporary art-making is a celebration of traditional practice. You'll use social media conventions as the context for your own artwork as you make and share a journey of discovery.
Own The Stage
Hone your stage skills with help from some of Australia's most passionate performers and bands The resource helps develop song writing techniques and for those considering a future in music, you'll develop a deeper understanding of the role of the music industry in supporting and marketing musicians.
Sustain Your Art
By challenging viewers to rethink their wastefulness, contemporary visual artist Ash Keating explores the growing environmental problems facing our society - including issues of over-consumption and waste.
How to Play the Ukulele
Ukuleles are easy to learn, cheap to buy and fun to play! Over 15 lessons, you'll learn tuning techniques, chords, picking and strumming patterns and how to play a range of songs!
Hand Drawings
Learn about how hands have been used to create artworks by many different cultures. Over three lessons, develop effective techniques using your hands to create fun drawings.
Portray Yourself
Explore the relationship between subject, artist and audience through portraiture. Investigate image, identity and representation by exploring significant portraits in the collection of one of Australia's most important art museums – the National Gallery of Victoria.
Painting the Music
Can music inspire your art? Join Cat Sewell as she combines visual and performing arts techniques by using music to inspire what she draws and paints.
How do artists express their feelings and memories through sculpture? Look at and respond to Sweeney's Keepsake (1987) by Les Kossatz – part of the collection of the Heide Museum of Modern Art, then make your own sculpture based on your feelings and memories.
Shapeshifting Stories
Shapeshifting Stories provides handy tips and techniques to create compelling and dramatic stories. With the help of characters, including superhero show-off Frostica and the trainee warlock Solpadon, you will learn the fundamentals of story building – who, what, how and where.
Story Building
In a series of group activities, children will be led through a 'story building' process, creating and taking on character roles and bringing ideas to life. Children will be encouraged and supported to lead the story themselves - they will make decisions, solve problems, create images and sounds, imagine settings, and stay in character throughout the process.
Learn how to create stories using photos. Step by step instructions show you how to plan and make your story using photos, and then how to change the meaning of a story by rearranging the photo order.
Fizzie Dance
Apply your knowledge of sport to create a basic movement phrase and extend it using the elements of dance. Create your own unique Fizzie Dance.
From Dance to Sport
There are close links between the extreme physicality required by an elite sportsperson and a dancer. They are more similar than you may think. Discover the physical and technical skills used in both dance and sport.
Soundscapes: You Call That Music?
Explore the environment around you to identify, collect and record sounds using a digital recording device. As you will find, music can be created from some VERY unexpected sounds!
Site-Specific Work
Explore the spaces around you to spark your theatrical ideas. Students from The Australian Theatre for Young People share their theatre-making knowledge and skills to help you create your own site-specific performances.
Interactive Dance
See how leading Australian contemporary dance company, Chunky Move, uses light in innovative ways in its productions. Then, create your own improvisations based on their methods.
Make a Music Video
Making a music video is a collaborative process involving musicians and film makers. Gotye's music video for his 2011 hit Somebody That I Used to Know, was downloaded more than any other music video at the time worldwide. It's had around 1 billion YouTube views!
Get Your Music Out There
How do you get your music heard? Find out how to get your music out there from industry insiders.
Write Way to the Top
Contemporary, award-winning Australian songwriters and creative collaborators, Helen Croome (aka Gossling) and Henry Wagons, share their perspectives on where to find inspiration, giving meaning to your songs and great techniques on how to finish a song!
Songs for Playgroups
Songs For Playgroups is a series of interactive videos that uses songs and movement created for young children. Songs For Playgroups is a creative and easily accessible way of introducing children to early literacy and numeracy, developing personal and interpersonal skills, and physical activity.
Sing, Scat and Scoo Be Doo
Sing, Scat and Scoo Be Doo introduces younger children to the joys of active music-making through singing, speaking, moving, dancing, playing and creating.
Musical Fun with Fuzzy
Musical Fun With Fuzzy introduces younger children to the joys of active music-making through singing, speaking, moving, dancing, playing and creating. Make your own Fuzzy the Clown pop-up puppet and learn the basic elements of music.
Passionate Podcasting
Let people know about a topic or subject that you're really passionate about by producing a podcast. This series of lessons provides helpful tips and tricks to help you produce a podcast and promote it to your target market.
Shocko Doco
Shocko Doco introduces you to the concept of video interviewing. You will see the common mistakes that are made, and consider ways to fix them. Once you know the pitfalls to avoid, you can plan and shoot your own video interviews.
Design a Magazine Cover
Take a look at how magazine covers are designed to attract attention by using colour, fonts, words and images that appeal to their target audience. Over five lessons, you'll learn how to plan and lay out your own magazine cover based on a topic of your choice.
Drama Activities with Masks
Masks have been used in ceremonies, festivals, performances and rituals in many cultures for centuries. This resource will show you how to create a character and performance using your own papier-mâché mask.
Decorating a Mask
Decorating a Mask is the second component of the Mask Making course, where you will complete your papier-mâché face mask by decorating it with paint, craft supplies and found objects. You can use our simple mask template, or be inspired by your own culture and background to decorate your mask in your unique style.
Making a Mask
Making a mask is a fantastic way to begin exploring the history and use of masks in different cultures around the world – from the fierce tribal masks of Africa to the lavish designs of the Venetians. Learn how to design and make a papier-mâché mask over six fun-filled lessons.
Funfair High
Funfair High takes a look at how art transforms the way we view the world by making the ordinary appear extraordinary. Over five lessons, redesign your school as a theme park drawing upon images that relate to the school's history, how people use the spaces, and the architectural style of its buildings.
Genre-nators
Perhaps without even knowing it, as audience members we are aware of the codes and conventions of genres from an early age – from TV programs for pre-school to adult dramas. Genre-nators explores the way filmmakers manipulate production elements for different genres.
Add Sound To Your Animation
In this set of five lessons you'll learn how to use a collection of found objects to create a fun and interesting sound score to bring a stop motion animation to life.
Create a Stop Motion Animation
Stop Motion Animation is a really fun way to learn the basics of film making and animation. This course, over six lessons, will teach you how to turn a 15-second story into a visually exciting animated movie using this simple process.
How To Create A Storyboard
Storyboarding is a way of telling a story through pictures, and is often used to develop concepts for TV and film. This process involves writing a story, breaking it down into simple actions, and then drawing it in pictures.
Junk Percussion
This is the second course in ARTS:LIVE's Junk Percussion series. Use readily available, found and recycled objects with your new percussion techniques to make original sounds.
Improvisation Starters Compilation
This course offers a number of fun improvisation activities. Improvisation is a great way to motivate and focus children while they are learning. It can be used to introduce concepts, recap learning, and explore creativity.
How to Play the Drums
The How to Play Drums course has been developed to teach the fundamentals of drumming and rhythm techniques. The course is designed for group ensembles and individuals over 13 comprehensive tutorials.
How to Play the Guitar
Learn the fundamentals of playing a guitar, reading music, composing music and individual practice techniques with this comprehensive 12 lesson guitar course.
A Hip Hop Routine
Learn a simple Hip Hop dance routine. The routine covers the key moves for Hip Hop and is perfect to learn on your own or with a group.
An Introduction to Hip Hop
Kids love Hip Hop dancing. An Introduction to Hip Hop provides the basis to start learning this contemporary dance genre.
Create an Alphabet Dance
This is the second course in ARTS:LIVE's Dance Your Socks Off series. Now you've created a 'dance vocabulary' or Alphabet Dance, we'll take you through a process of inventing transition moves and forming simple choruses to combine all the elements of the dance. Remembering all the moves is a workout for both your memory and your body!
Learn the Alphabet Dance
This is the first course in ARTS:LIVE's Dance Your Socks Off series. Create an Alphabet Dance combining movements and chants, using your body in a percussive and rhythmic way.
A school of fish moves together in exactly the same way at exactly the same time. Explore what it looks and feels like to be part of a school of fish as we go on an underwater adventure using drama and dance techniques.
Create a Song Cycle
For Indigenous cultures, a song cycle is so much more than a song. It represents journeys and secret knowledge that belong to a clan or community. It's a way of passing on knowledge and skills.
Make Tracks
Discover perspectives on Australian Indigenous dance and culture with experts from Australia's leading Indigenous dance college, NAISDA. Watch NAISDA students rehearse and perform, and use the experience as a springboard for your own dance making.
Compose Some More
This is the second course in ARTS:LIVE's Composition series. Compose Some More has been created to teach students the fundamentals of music composition. The resources provide students with the language, knowledge, skills and techniques to organise musical ideas into notation systems and symbols.
Compose Yourself
Compose your own music by learning the fundamentals of sheet music and music notation – a must for all budding musicians! Learn through simple online notation software to guide you through the basics of music theory.
Rap It Up
Discover the historical, social and political context and influences of hip hop culture and rap music. Identify the musical and poetic elements used in a range of rap songs. From there, undertake the process of developing and performing your own rap at an 'open mic' session.
Concrete Poetry is where the visual arts meets language. Reflect on several concrete poets' works from the collection at Melbourne's Heidi Museum of Modern Art, and use the techniques you have learned to create your own concrete poem.
Poetry and Drama introduces the process of breaking down a poem for performance, and also offers ways to explore the rich language used in contemporary and traditional poems.


Matthew Lang · Evernote - Time to move on?
Evernote - Time to move on?
So apparently Evernote employees now have the ability to read the notes in your Evernote account. There is an opt-out feature in the settings but I wonder how many people will do this?
I started using Evernote when it first came out. Since then I've closed and re-opened my account a number of times. To me Evernote feels bulky and awkward. I've tried to use it a number of times, but each time I find the product too difficult to use. I last tried Evernote just over a year ago. I went for a couple of days before I closed my account again.
Evernote started it's life well as a product but in recent years it has taken a lot of criticism for it's usability, support, pricing and now it's stance on privacy. With the growing criticism you have to wonder if there's life left in the Evernote product and whether it will stand the test of time.
It's starting to look like Evernote has lost its lustre, which is a shame. I know a few people that use it daily to help them run their business.
If I was still an Evernote user today then I would be considering looking at alternatives. I use Simplenote myself for notes and there's also Bear which was named one of Apple's best apps of the year in their App Store.
Whether you're an Evernote user or not, you always have to consider the lifetime of the products you use. It's a small percentage of products that stand the test of time and maintain their status as a wonderful product.
For everything else you have to ensure that if your product of choice folds, you can take your data elsewhere with minimum fuss.


The University of Limerick will welcome leading sports innovators and entrepreneurs to the Kemmy Business School this September as part of a two-day "Masterclass in Sports Entrepreneurship" in partnership with the not-for-profit organisation SportsTech Ireland.
The University of Limerick will welcome leading sports innovators and entrepreneurs to the Kemmy Business School this September as part of a two-day "Masterclass in Sports Entrepreneurship" in partnership with the not-for-profit organisation SportsTech Ireland. The event is aimed at future entrepreneurs, athletes and business founders and takes place on the 21st and 22nd of September. The event is the first in a series of masterclass events, in advance of the launch of a full Masters Programme in Sports Entrepreneurship, one of the first of its kind in the world.
SportsTech Ireland is a volunteer-led not-for-profit organisation committed to supporting innovation and job creation, and to help position Ireland as a leading destination for Sports Technology.
According to Deloitte, revenue from the global sports market was estimated to grow to 91 billion dollars by 2017. (not including sports merchandising revenue). Over 5 billion dollars has been invested in sports tech start-ups worldwide in the past two years and accelerators and incubators for sports entrepreneurs have sprung up all over the world – highlighting the ever-increasing business opportunities in this sector.
The two-day Masterclass will look at the global picture and emerging trends, and take a deep dive into the stories of successful entrepreneurs and innovators from the world of sports business to uncover their path to success, including Irish success stories like Kitman Labs, StatSports, Orreco and Shadowman Sports. Special guest Sam McCleery, Head of Innovation at Under Armour will examine the route to successful global commercialisation. A special panel for athletes-turned-founders will welcome a number of ex-international rugby players and investors.
The aim of the Masterclass is to empower startups and future-entrepreneurs with the network, support, and expertise, to increase their likelihood of commercial success. Places are limited to 30.
Limerick is the ideal location for this event as it is well on its way to becoming a leading European hub for sports tech, with the recent opening of the STATS EMEA headquarters in the city. STATS is a market leader in sports data and on track to employ 150 people at its data centre in Limerick.


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LGBTQ+ Concerns
A person's sexual orientation can unfortunately predispose a him or her to a higher chance of psychological problems. LGBT people often face more criticism, social stigma, prejudice and alienation than heterosexual persons or persons who align with their gender at birth. The incidence of depression, substance abuse and suicide are all higher in LGBTQ+ populations.
Of course this has nothing to do with those sexual orientations or gender identity, but rather has to do with society's lack of acceptance of LGBTQ+ as a normal form of human sexuality and gender identity. LGBTQ+ patients may need help managing their own feelings about their sexual orientation or gender identity and/or the opinions of family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and other peers.
LGBTQ+ patients may also have issues in their same-sex relationships that are different from heterosexual couples. Issues of sexuality, role definition and parenting are areas where being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people may manifest in different ways.
Having a therapist who has experience with the LGBTQ+ community can be helpful in these situations. Coping with being in a minority group of any sort can be stressful. Counseling can help one to sort through the complicated feelings of being "different" in some ways that others may or may not tolerate.
Our practice has a special interest in helping LGBT patients feel more at ease in their lives and function better in all areas.
Whether it is in one's self-esteem, self-image, intimate relationships or in the world at large, I believe that all people, regardless of their partner choice or gender identification, deserve to be happy and whole. I have helped numerous LGBTQ+ persons over the years come to more fully love and accept themselves and be able to build successful lives without secrecy, shame or fear.


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Search results for "Charle"
Poove Unakkaga
Raja learns that the girl he loves is in love with another man. When he comes to know about the long-standing dispute between both their families, he goes to their…
Kannukkul Nilavu
Gautam Prabhakar (Vijay) is searching for Gayathri (Kaveri) who was an innocent girl that kept coming to him for help of many sorts. He comes across Surya and Chandra (Charlie…
A man values his best friend more than anything else in the world. One day he confesses a dark secret from their childhood to his wife, which is overheard by…
Singaravelan
Singaravelan film revolves around a young man (Kamal Hassan) living in a village with his mother. He gets to know that his mother was estranged from her brother's family owing…
Thenali
Thenali suffers from panophobia and seeks doctor Kailash's help but the latter denies his request. Later, when Kailash goes on a vacation with his family, Thenali joins them and charms…
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven
Surya (Ajith) has been brought up in the army barracks in Ooty, ever since his mother(Sukanya) handed him over as a baby to a brigadier (Nasser). She tells the officer…
Genre: Romance, Crime
Dharmathin Thalaivan
When Raju loses his soft-spoken, loving elder brother Balu in a fight, he gives up his violent ways. However, his life changes for the better when he meets his brother's…
Genre: Action, Drama, Family
Siva and John, two best friends, get separated due to the atrocities of a gangster. Siva becomes Tiger and fights injustice, while John is hired by a mafia leader to…
Amaravathi (Tamil: அமராவதி) is a 1993 Tamil film directed by Selva. The film featured debutants Ajith Kumar and Sanghavi in the lead role, and released in May 1993 to a…
Genre: Drama, Family, Romance
Amarkalam
Vasu is a tough street crook who lives at a movie theater. One day while transporting the reels of a new film, he clashes with a music student Mohana. Mohana…
Gemini was released in 2002, directed by successful director Saran and it was produced by the AVM company headed by M. S. Guhan and M. Saravanan. The film starred Vikram…
A cop, who sets out to solve the mysterious death of infants in Kumbakonam, realises that a few bigwigs are behind the crime.


And as a gift I made a pirate map! All freehand embroidered- my largest embroidery project yet!
October 21, 2012. Embroidery. 2 comments.
blue skies, white puffy clouds, bright green grass, fresh clean laundry, warm breezes, and tiny gnomes.
February 6, 2011. Tags: Embroidered clouds, Embroidered mushrooms, Embroidery hoop, Gnome Laundry. Embroidery. Leave a comment.
The holidays consumed every minute of my existence this past month. It was my first year with my very own christmas tree… which means I started with one ornament. So I got busy making them until my tree looked good and proper.
Some I used online crochet patterns others were ideas from google images. Lots of glitter, lots of yarn = good holiday fun. And mess. I think the apron has to be my favorite but before that was the gingerbread man.
January 3, 2011. Tags: Crochet Apron, Crochet Christmas Ornaments, Embroidery Round Ornaments, Felt Gingerbread Man, Glittered Pinecones, Hat, Mittens, Snowball, Snowflake, Sweater. Crochet, Embroidery, Holiday. Leave a comment.
Recently finished door welcomer. I started this guy a couple years ago now. I made the mushrooms out of polymer clay- I have about a hundred of them due to one determined week some summers ago. I'm happy with him. I remember him being just a head for a while- he's come a long way.
November 13, 2010. Tags: Clay Mushrooms, Door Hanger, Embroidered Owl, Owl, Welcome Sign. Embroidery. Leave a comment.
I went through a phase of making tiny embroidered houses one summer ago. I had completely forgotten about them but the move revealed a lot of treasures I had forgotten about.
This is but one of the recoveries.
November 5, 2010. Tags: Embroidered House, Felt House, Tiny House. Embroidery. 2 comments.


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We pride ourselves on being a comfortable and enjoyable barn for both the horse and rider. We encourage you to diligently research barns and trainers. There are a number in our area and each one is different. It is always in the best interest of the horse, student, trainer, and barn to make sure each is a good fit for the other.
We want you to take your time and make a decision that best fits your needs. We encourage you to reach out to any of our clients. We have been blessed to have wonderful clients and are so thankful for their encouragement and word of mouth advertising.
Why to ride at Edgebrook Equestrian Center?
Meet our talented instructors by clicking the link below. We pride ourselves on being a comfortable and enjoyable barn for both the horse and rider.
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Jean Paul Gaultier and his Fashion Freak Show.
The enfant terrible of fashion offers his most personal vision of half a century of pop culture in a daring and over the top musical typical of the Gaultier universe.
Magic, excessive and creative as the day is long. This is how we could define a show that, until next April, will delight those who see in Jean Paul Gaultier a real genius of eccentricity.
After spending several years away from the Paris Fashion Week, the designer returns in glory, looking to get unnoticed.
To this end, Gaultier has written, directed and staged a work in which he invites us to dive into his personal way of understanding life.
Thus, the legendary and mythical Folies Bergère hosts a very special retrospective of the decades lived by Jean Paul Gaultier.
Years filled with memories, friendships, loves and heartbreaks that have given form to the personality of one of the most irreverent names of modern haute couture.
All this is accompanied by objects charged with meaning and reminiscence that familiarise the viewer with everything from details of the designer's childhood to his most recent work in the world of the catwalk, and even his most acclaimed creations or the maestro of stitching's most crazy and excessive moments.
Through his show, Jean Paul Gaultier also aims to pay his personal tribute to those who, in one way or another, have been part of his life and contributed to build a complex personality able to arouse mad passions and disproportionate hatreds.


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Adultery is an ugly word, it's an even uglier sin. We all would agree that those who commit adultery are not in step with Christ. But once again, adultery goes well beyond the actual act of infidelity; it begins in the heart and mind. We'll discuss this very awkward and very serious sin.


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Tar sands investor BP says their projected future of unlimited carbon pollution "is a wake-up call, not something any of us would like to see happening."
Tags: call, Carbon, Future, happening.", Investor, Like, Pollution, projected, Sands, says, Something, their, unlimited, Wakeup, Would, "Is
Guest blogger Andy Rowell of Oil Change International, in a WonkRoom cross-post.
We are on the path to climate chaos, Big Oil has admitted. Both BP and Exxon have conceded that progress on climate change is totally insufficient to stabilize CO2 emissions. Both oil companies have just published their Energy Outlooks, and the outlook looks grim.
In a bleak prognosis for success on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, BP admits in its new Energy Outlook 2030 report, which was published yesterday, that global CO2 emissions from energy will grow an average of 1.2 percent a year through 2030. In total, BP's chief economist Christof Ruehl predicts "to the best of our knowledge," CO2 emissions will rise by 27 percent over the next two decades, meaning an increase of about 33bn tons. All this does not bode well for climate change, with even Bob Dudley calling the scenarios a "wake-up call":
I need to emphasize that this is a projection, not a proposition. It is our dispassionate view of what we believe is most likely to happen on the basis of the evidence. For example, we are not as optimistic as others about progress in reducing carbon emissions. But that doesn't mean we oppose such progress. As you probably know, BP has a 15 year record of calling for more action from governments, including the wide application of a carbon price. Our base case assumes that countries continue to make some progress on addressing climate change, based on the current and expected level of political commitment. But overall, for me personally, it is a wake-up call, not something any of us would like to see happening.
BP's estimate is just higher than ExxonMobil, which believes that CO2 emissions will increase by 25 percent in 20 years, which, according to John Vidal, writing in The Guardian, in effect dismisses "hopes that runaway climate change can be arrested and massive loss of life prevented."
These projections by BP and Exxon scientists are even gloomier the projections of the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which projectst that energy-related CO2 emissions will "grow by 16 percent from 2009 to 2035." Exxon argues that oil will still be king in 2030:
In 2030, fossil fuels remain the predominant energy source, accounting for nearly 80 percent of demand. Oil still leads, but natural gas moves into second place on very strong growth of 1.8% a year on average, particularly because of its position as a favored fuel for power generation. Other energy types – particularly nuclear, wind, solar and biofuels – will grow sharply, albeit from a smaller base. Nuclear and renewable fuels will see strong growth, particularly in the power-generation sector. By 2030, about 40 percent of the world's electricity will be generated by nuclear and renewable fuels.
BP too has demand for fossil fuels rising: BP's "base case" — or most likely projection — points to primary energy use growing by nearly 40 percent over the next twenty years, with 93% of the growth coming from non-OECD countries. The BP report argues that world energy growth over the next twenty years is expected to be dominated by emerging economies such as China, India, Russia and Brazil. Natural gas is also expected to be the fastest growing fossil fuel, with coal and oil losing market share as fossil fuels as a whole experience a slow decline in growth, falling from 83 percent to 64 percent. Coal will increase by 1.2 percent per year and by 2030 it is likely to provide virtually as much energy as oil, excluding biofuels.
There is some good news that energy diversification will continue. Between 2010 to 2030 the contribution to energy growth of renewables (solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels) is seen to increase from 5 to 18 percent.
What oil there is left is predominantly under OPEC control. OPEC's share of global oil production is set to increase to 46%, a position not seen since 1977, the decade that saw the cartel preside over a series of oil shocks and shortages. In fact, 75 percent of all growth in oil reserves over the next two decades is expected to come from OPEC nations, which include Kuwait, Iran, Angola, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Nigeria.
– Andy Rowell writes for Oil Change International's Price of Oil.
JR: Of course as much as BP claims it would not like to see continued rapid growth in carbon pollution, the UK's Independent reported last year, "Oil giant BP today signalled it would press on with a controversial Canadian tar sands project despite facing a showdown with environmental campaigners and shareholders."
The tar sands are among the most carbon-intensive of replacements for conventional petroleum (see "Tar sands — Still dirty after all these years"):
X-axis is the range of potential resource in billions of barrels. Y-axis is grams of Carbon per MegaJoule of final fuel.
BP proves Beyond Petroleum was greenwashing, joins "biggest global warming crime ever seen"
Memo to all: They ain't "oil sands."
EPA slams State Department tar sands pipeline study
Does Insider Trading Adversely Affect Investor Confidence?
Tags: Adversely, affect, confidence, Insider, Investor, Trading
Got an email from a reporter this am, which asked:
I am currently working on an article about the latest insider probe the WSJ has been reporting. I am especially interested in the concern that scandals like the alleged insider rings will further erode trust in Wall Street – not only investor's but also companies – and what implications this might have for the overall US economy.
I responded by pointing to something I wrote in Insider Trading, in III Encyclopedia of Law & Economics 772 (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. 2000):
In the absence of a credible investor injury story, it is difficult to see why insider trading should undermine investor confidence in the integrity of the securities markets. As Bainbridge (1995, p.1241-42) observes, any anger investors feel over insider trading appears to arise mainly from envy of the insider's greater access to information.
The loss of confidence argument is further undercut by the stock market's performance since the insider trading scandals of the mid-1980s. The enormous publicity given those scandals put all investors on notice that insider trading is a common securities violation. If any investors believe that the SEC's enforcement actions drove insider trading out of the markets, they are beyond mere legal help. At the same time, however, the years since the scandals have been one of the stock market's most robust periods. One can but conclude that insider trading does not seriously threaten the confidence of investors in the securities markets.
Macey (1991, p. 44) contends that the experience of other countries confirms this conclusion. For example, Japan only recently began regulating insider trading and its rules are not enforced. The same appears to be true of India. Hong Kong has repealed its insider trading prohibition. Both have vigorous and highly liquid stock markets.
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Warren Buffett: Good Investor, Crummy Economist
Tags: Buffett, Crummy, Economist, good, Investor, Warren
By Daniel J. Mitchell
Warren Buffett once said that it wasn't right for his secretary to have a higher tax rate than he faced, leading me to point out that he didn't understand tax policy. The 15 percent tax rates on dividends and capital gains to which he presumably was referring represents double taxation, and when added to the tax that already was paid on the income he invested (and the tax that one imagines will be imposed on that same income when he dies), it is quite obvious that his effective marginal tax rates is much higher than anything his secretary pays. Though he is right that his secretary's tax rate is much too high.
Well, it turns out that Warren Buffett also doesn't understand much about other areas of fiscal policy. Like a lot of ultra-rich liberals who have lost touch with the lives of regular people, he thinks taxpayer anger is misguided. Not only does he scold people for being upset, but he regurgitates the most simplistic Keynesian talking points to justify Obama's spending spree. Here's an excerpt from his hometown paper.
Taxpayer anger against President Barack Obama and Congress is counterproductive because policy makers took measures including deficit spending to stimulate the economy, billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC. …"I hope we get over it pretty soon, because it's not productive,'' Buffett said. "We will come back regardless of how people feel about Washington, but it is not helpful to have people as unhappy as they are about what's going on in Washington." …"The truth is we're running a federal deficit that's 9 percent of gross domestic product," Buffett said. "That's stimulative as all get out. It's more stimulative than any policy we've followed since World War II."
About the only positive thing one can say about Buffett's fiscal policy track record is that he is nowhere close to being the most inaccurate person in the United States, a title that Mark Zandi surely will own for the indefinite future.
Cuomo defies 70% of New Yorkers, won't investigate funding of Islamic supremacist mega-mosque at Ground Zero — yet mosque investor contributed to jihad terror group
Tags: contributed, Cuomo, defies, Funding, Ground, group, Investigate, Investor, Islamic, jihad, megamosque, Mosque, supremacist, Terror, Won't, Yorkers, Zero
"Cuomo To Not Investigate Funds For Islamic Cultural Center," from NY1 News, September 2 (thanks to Pamela Geller, who has a series of links to mosque leaders' questionable activities and ties here):
State Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he has no plans to investigate the Islamic community center and mosque.
According to a recent poll, seven out of 10 New York State voters say they want him to look into the project's financing.
Cuomo said he could not investigate the fundraising for the project because so little money has been raised so far.
He said his office would also need cause to probe the group.
"I hope nobody is suggesting this is a religion that some people don't like and therefore we should start a government investigation. That would be a terrible and dangerous precedent," said the Democratic candidate.
Cuomo did note that if anyone has evidence that the project has terrorist ties, that might be cause for an investigation….
OK, Cuomo, how's this?
"Report: Ground Zero Mosque Investor Contributed to Designated Terror Group," from FoxNews.com, September 3 (thanks to all who sent this in):
A key financial backer of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero once contributed to a U.S.-designated terror group, MyFox New York reports.
Egyptian-born businessman Hisham Elzanaty, who made what is described as a "significant investment" in the Ground Zero mosque project,contributed more than $ 6,000 in 1999 to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, also known as HLF, tax records show.
The donations came two years before the federal government shut down HLF and designated it a terror group. Elzanaty's attorney told MyFox New York that his client believed at the time that he was donating to an orphanage. Elzanaty did not respond to questions.
Federal investigators say the group was set up as a Texas-based charity, but in fact supported Hamas….
SEC "Screws" Average Investor, Gives Unions New Power over Corporate Boards
Tags: Average, Boards, Corporate, Gives, Investor, over, Power, Screws, unions
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule that could making it easier for Big shareholders to force out directors. The rule allows a big shareholder can get its board nominees listed on a company-mailed "proxy" ballot alongside the candidates favored by management Management also pay for the mailing.
On one had, the rule seems reasonable, why shouldn't the average shareholder'have a choice in who to vote for. But this rule has nothing to do with the average shareholder, in fact it probably gives them less power. The rule gives an investor or group of investors owning at least 3% of a company's stock for at least three years the right to place its candidates on the company's ballot. Who fits into this category? Institutional Investors (like state retirement plans) and Union Pension Funds. In other words, corporate America will now be beholden to state politicians who only care about where their next vote is coming from, and Union Leaders who are active in the socialist movement.
Even President Obama, the union movement's "main man" opposed the new rule:
Barney Frank and his House colleagues are standing strong against a White House effort to block shareholders from having proxy access to governance issues in corporations in which they have a stake. Investors, pension funds and labor unions reacted with alarm when Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) introduced the Senate proposal that would effectively deny so-called "proxy access." The provision had not been approved by either the Senate or the House and several sources, both in Congress and in the industry, said the White House is pushing the measure. The White House proposal would require a shareholder to hold a five percent stake in order to have proxy access – a level met by virtually no institutional investors.
Corporate Directors are supposed to make decisions based on what is best for the company and its investors(even if its not the best thing for the company's employees) , but union sponsored directors will be tied to their small constituency, union members. Imagine a corporate director telling a negotiating manager, give the unions what they want or you are fired!
In today's WSJ Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner and a partner at Patomak Partners LLC., warned about the consequences of this new rule:
It's no coincidence that only unions and cause-driven, minority shareholders want this coveted access. They would use it to advance their own labor, social and environmental agendas instead of the corporation's goal of maximizing long-term shareholder wealth. The rule will give them pressure points with which to hold companies hostage until their pet issues are addressed. Many corporate managements and boards will acquiesce to avoid a contested director election.
Transparency and fairness will suffer because the rule invites abuse. Institutional representatives admitted—at a public 2007 SEC roundtable on the proxy process—that they already use the machinery of shareholder proposals as leverage to accomplish private objectives behind closed doors. In other words, they threaten to propose a proxy measure and see what the company will give up to keep it off the proxy ballot. The company may even adopt some or all of the proposal, even though the measure would likely fail in a shareholder vote. This rule adds another powerful tool to that arsenal of threats.
Ever since they came into power with the 2006 Congressional election, and solidified that power by gaining the presidency in 2008, the progressives have been siding with the 12% of Americans who are members of unions over the rights of the remaining 88% of the country. This will continue until we vote the progressives, out of power.


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by Kul Chandra Gautam
Conference on Agricultural Transformation in Asia:
Policy Options for Food and Nutrition Security
Siem Reap, Cambodia 26 September 2013
I am grateful to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for this opportunity to share some perspectives on ensuring food security and nutrition through transformation of agriculture in the Asia-Pacific region.
We all know the old saying that "Man does not live by bread alone". Perhaps in keeping with the times, here in this part of Asia, we would say, "People do not live on rice alone". Of course, all human beings need food to survive, but food alone is not enough for people to thrive – and to live a healthy, productive and dignified life.
We at the South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI) believe that the challenge of hunger and malnutrition in South Asia, as elsewhere, requires a multi-pronged approach, including: greater availability of food; enhanced livelihoods; education; clean water and sanitation; women's empowerment; social protection; and a special focus on infant and child care.
But above all else, genuine food and nutrition security requires a political commitment that recognizes hunger and malnutrition as violation of people's human rights, as well as a serious impediment to national development.
The importance of political commitment was graphically highlighted by the Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen who famously argued that the Great Bengal Famine of 1943 was not caused by the shortage of food, as the granaries of Kolkata were apparently quite full, but the British Raj of the time felt no political obligation to protect the starving masses from famine.
As we know, Amartya Sen also propounds a thesis that there is no large-scale famine in a functioning democracy.
A poignant proof of this thesis can be found right here in Cambodia. This country of great ancient civilization, with plenty of fertile land, bountiful lakes and rivers, great forestry resources, and well developed agriculture for its relatively small population, suffered one of the greatest man-made tragedies of death through starvation in our own life-time.
I was here in Cambodia with UNICEF in the 1970s when the genocidal tragedy unleashed by the Khmers Rouges unfolded. Even today, the memory of that monstrosity sends chills down my spine.
Let us be clear though that while democracy may indeed help avert visible famines, as we have seen all over Asia and other parts of the world, democracy is not an adequate anti-dote to combat malnutrition, which is often invisible to the naked eye, and therefore cannot be sensationalized in election campaigns.
Conventional wisdom would have it that hunger and malnutrition result from poor agriculture, lack of food or an unbalanced diet. But we know that hunger has many dimensions. There are at least four types of hunger:
The first hunger is the most obvious, caused by the lack of food. When we speak about millions of people going to bed hungry, or when we see the heart-wrenching pictures of emaciated children dying in famines, that is the common kind of hunger we refer to.
The second hunger, which we generally underestimate in conferences focused on food and agriculture, is the "hidden hunger" for micronutrients – or tiny amounts of minerals and vitamins such as iodine, iron, and vitamin A. This type of hunger does not manifest itself in the form of a bloated belly or emaciated body. But it strikes at the core of people's health and vitality. It seriously damages human brain, learning ability, human health, and productivity.
The third type of hunger is the need of children and women for adequate care, nurturing, and protection from infections, without which food alone cannot protect them from malnutrition.
The fourth hunger is for a safe and sanitary environment—including safe water, clean air, and sanitation – so essential for promoting health, growth and nutrition, as well as liberating women from the drudgery of these time-consuming chores.
To these, we might add the growing occurrence of obesity, largely caused by junk foods and unhealthy life-styles, which is becoming an alarming phenomenon alongside under-nutrition, even in very poor countries and communities.
Indeed, it has been noted that both under-nutrition and obesity are a reflection of the life-cycle consequences of inadequate foetal and infant growth, and the life-style related consequences of urbanization where the poorer people, including children, often eat cheap, processed foods which fill the belly and satisfy their taste buds, but harm their health.
Interestingly, some of the solutions to under-nutrition and over-nutrition are common. Optimum breastfeeding, for example, prevents both under-nutrition among children and protection from some obesity-related diseases in adulthood.
Overcoming these different types of hungers, requires a holistic, life-cycle approach to ensure that all children get a healthy start in life; that all families have essential household food security; that primary health care and basic education are universally available in all communities; and that we promote good nutrition and healthy lifestyles among adolescents and adults.
Now, how does agriculture contribute to all this?
Let us be humble that agriculture alone cannot solve most of the problems of malnutrition. Directly, it can only help tackle one of the five dimensions of malnutrition – namely meeting the requirement for food. But indirectly, a wise and comprehensive agriculture policy can help tackle several other underlying causes of malnutrition as well.
First, a wise agriculture policy helps ensure household food security so families that are dependent on farming for their own food and livelihood produce nutritious foods to ensure proper nutrition for all, especially for the most vulnerable women and children.
A deliberate focus on producing nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits and vegetables, fish, livestock, milk and eggs; increasing the nutritional content of foods through crop biofortification; improved post-harvest storage and preservation of foods to cover "lean" seasons; and educating people about nutrition and diet, are obvious areas for agriculture policy to contribute to good nutritional outcome.
Second, in most countries of Asia where agriculture is the main source of people's income and employment, good agriculture policy can help alleviate poverty. Beyond meeting the farmers' own basic food requirements, good agriculture policy helps people produce surplus food, and cash crops, which they can sell or barter to improve their income. With higher income, people can purchase or access better health and nutrition.
It is the surplus food produced by farmers that also helps meet the food requirements of the growing number of people, who are not engaged in agriculture, especially in urban areas.
Third, good agriculture policy, especially extension services, impart skills that empower people not only to be better farmers, but better citizens, aware of their rights and responsibilities. Tailor-made extension services, such as those focusing on women farmers, and deprived communities, can motivate people to educate their children, adopt healthy life-styles, and better protect themselves from exploitation – thus unleashing the path of good nutrition and social progress.
Good agricultural policies implemented as part of broader rural development and poverty eradication measures have significant direct as well as indirect impact on reducing malnutrition.
For far too long, nutritionists have debated about the intricacies of various nutrients and enzymes, and failed to persuade politicians and policy makers with simple and persuasive messages as to why investing in nutrition is one of the best bargains to promote national development.
We all say that nutrition requires a multi-sectoral approach, which it does. But therein lies a big problem. When something is multi-sectoral, it becomes nobody's priority. Most sectoral ministries of governments understandably champion their own sectors. And multi-sectoral programmes become secondary and discretionary for which one can always pass the buck to another ministry.
With a few notable exceptions, there are very few Planning Commissions and Finance Ministries, or heads of government and provincial chiefs who play an enlightened leadership role in support of programmes that maybe very important, but for which there is no lobbying by powerful constituencies.
And so it is that nutrition has become a subject that is over-studied and under-acted upon.
Now, fortunately, there has been a significant change in the last decade – and a growing consensus nationally and internationally – on what needs to be done to improve nutrition; why it deserves a high priority; and some very strong evidence-based cases for investing in nutrition.
About a decade ago, the World Bank issued a seminal report on "Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development", drawing on evidence from many country studies that demonstrated very high cost-effectiveness of many nutrition interventions.
In 2008, the British medical journal, The Lancet, published a series of articles, again drawing on lessons learned from many projects around the world, and made the case that there was a 'Golden 1000 days' "window of opportunity" from pregnancy to two years of age, during which a set of specific nutrition interventions have the greatest impact in dramatically reducing malnutrition, morbidity and mortality in children, and greatly enhancing their learning and earning ability as they grow up to adolescence and adulthood.
Around the same time, a group of leading economists, including several Nobel Laureates, came up with what came to be known as the "Copenhagen Consensus" that showed that investment in nutrition, such as on micronutrients and some community-based nutrition interventions had far higher rates of economic return and social impact than investment in any other sector.
All of this culminated into a bold proposal for "Scaling Up Nutrition" – The SUN Initiative – around which there is now an emerging global consensus among governments, UN agencies, multilateral and bilateral organizations, academics and NGOs that are key players in promoting nutrition.
The SUN Initiative recommends two complimentary approaches to reducing under-nutrition – a set of about a dozen specific and evidence-based direct interventions to prevent and treat under-nutrition, and a broader multi-sectoral approach to deal with the underlying causes of malnutrition.
The SUN approach got a major boost earlier this year at the G-8 Summit in London when a commitment of nearly $4 billion was announced for a "Nutrition for Growth" initiative.
I am currently associated with the South Asia Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (SAFANSI) that is hosted by the World Bank and involves active participation of several governments and donor agencies. It was partly inspired by The SUN Initiative. It was also partly inspired by what came to be known as the "Asian Enigma", a term coined in the mid-1990s that referred to the puzzle of why despite the "Green Revolution" and rapid economic growth, many Asian countries had double the rate of malnutrition than sub-Saharan Africa.
To understand this enigma, UNICEF commissioned three leading experts on health and nutrition with deep experience in Asia and Africa, the late Dr. Vulmiri Ramalingaswamy, Urban Jonsson, and Jon Rohde to elucidate the causes and consequences of this reality. What they reported then in 1995 was intriguing and fascinating, and is still valid today.
First, they examined, and ruled out, the 'usual suspects' for potential causes of malnutrition in South Asia – concluding that it was not really the high level of poverty, or the vegetarian diet, or poor agricultural performance that was the main culprit, because in those respects most African countries were worse off than Asians.
Instead they concluded that the lower status and greater neglect of girls and women, and the poorer hygiene and sanitation in South Asia which had higher level of urbanization than Africa, were more critical factors. These led to the inter-generational transmission of malnutrition through low-birth weight, inadequate breastfeeding, poorer health and nutrition of adolescent girls and pregnant women, all of which made Asian children more vulnerable to infection and malnutrition.
Even today, if we take the case of India, there are several "Puzzle States", such as Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab where, despite high agricultural growth and high literacy rates, very high rates of malnutrition persist. At the household level, adequate income does not seem to guarantee adequate nutrition; as even among the richest quintile in India, 64% of preschool children are iron deficient and 26% are underweight.
Here in Cambodia, despite great progress in the past two decades, 40 percent of children under-5 are stunted; 28 percent are underweight and 11 percent are wasted or suffering from moderate to severe malnutrition. All these rates are higher rates than the average for sub-Saharan Africa.
Similar situation prevails in many other Asian countries. Indeed, even some countries with food surplus at the national level, including some major food exporters, have high levels of malnutrition. So let us be careful not to presume that agriculture alone can solve the problem of malnutrition or household food insecurity. We need more deliberate nutrition-focused and nutrition-sensitive agriculture policies.
I would, therefore, urge all of us involved in agricultural research, education and extension to be mindful of the limitations as well as the great potential of agriculture to contribute to food and nutrition security in designing our programmes and influencing public policy.
The world produces enough food to feed every man, woman and child on earth. Hunger and malnutrition are therefore not due to lack of food alone, but are mainly a consequence of poverty, inequality and misplaced priorities.
Let us use our collective energy and innovative genius to overcome this shameful blemish on our region, Asia, as the epicenter of the world's worst malnutrition. Let us make this ancient land of great civilizations, rich culture and natural beauty, a land free of hunger and malnutrition as it emerges as the new economic power-house of the 21st century.


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Making Sense of Chinese Statistics
By Damien Ma
A new book methodically peels back the layers of China's statistical machine to provide new insights into the nation's burgeoning economy
For some, wading through Chinese economic data is like wrapping your head around the Talmud. The credibility of the data itself often invites skepticism from observers both inside and outside China. Yet there's little choice but to rely on the official numbers. And China's regular data dump in the middle of each month moves markets in a way that few countries can. If the market has little faith in Chinese statistics, then why all the focused attention? How does one make sense of Chinese data and its idiosyncrasies?
Many of the answers can be found in the eminently useful Understanding China's Economic Indicators, a new book from Tom Orlik, economic journalist/columnist for the Wall Street Journal. (According to his bio, Orlik has earned the unique distinction of having one of his essays on Chinese statistics be required reading by the National Bureau of Statistics staff.) This is not a "big argument" book on China, but one that methodically peels back the layers of the Chinese statistical machine to yield insights on what the data mean, how they're collected, and what the current shortcomings are. You want to know how the Chinese calculates GDP and fiscal revenue, that's chapter two. You want to know about the country's gold and foreign exchange reserves accumulation, flip to chapter five. Still don't quite understand the composition of China's consumer price index? Don't feel bad, no one really does, as you'll discover in chapter seven. This book is the story of a year with Chinese economic data.
I particularly liked the opening vignette that described a gaggle of Chinese and foreign journalists awaiting the announcement of the 2009 fourth quarter GDP. The anticipation was palpable, torturous seconds ticked by as each reporter is poised to pounce on the final revelation of the figure to phone back to their editors--the economic press in China is all cut-throat competition. And hallelujah, it's 10.7% year-over-year growth, which put the annual growth at 8.7%. Yes! China got the 8% it promised it would deliver at the beginning of the year. In Zhongnanahi, Wen Jiabao smiled and sipped some oolong tea (OK, I made up this last part). Sure, it is admittedly a tad bit nerdy, but in just the right way, especially if you're someone who's really into Chinese economic data (like moi).
So what of the credibility of Chinese data? Orlik takes a similar view to what I argued in response to Megan McArdle's dispatch last year that appeared more about highlighting Hayek than understanding how the Chinese stats system actually functioned. Orlik concludes:
The reality of China's economic data today is not the crude controlling hand of the Politburo dictating the GDP growth figure. It is an increasingly reliable and comprehensive set of economic indicators that remain compromised in some areas by the difficulty of measuring a rapidly changing economy, imperfect surveying methods, a recalcitrant sample set, and continued political sensitivity surrounding some numbers. The system is not perfect. Some data points are more reliable than others. But neither is it a farce. As shown by the mad scramble for the GDP data in the State Council Information Office and the bilions of dollars that are traded instantly on its release, the shortcomings in the data are no impediment to the market reaction.
China has certainly come a long way since the Great Leap Forward days, when complete fabrication of grain production volumes to serve political goals resulted in one of the worst man-made famines in modern history--a point that Orlik discusses at some length. Top policymakers and leaders now rely on numerous data to assess the economy and determine the best course for policy. The very realities of governing a large and dynamic economy requires much less tolerance for outright falsities. Of course, the statistics system still plays catch-up to an economy that is sprinting ahead of it, making the data far from perfect.
Some were surprised by one of the Wikileaks cables that caught Vice Premier Li Keqiang mocking his provincial-level GDP figures as unreliable. It shouldn't have been a surprise. Since the late 1990s, using electricity consumption as a proxy for economic activity has remained a fairly normal practice at both the central and local levels. Relying on "proxy indicators" for GDP growth is one way by which the central leaders counter what they know to be potential local-level doctoring--or "add water" (加水) in Chinese parlance--of their stats, leading to inflated GDP and other growth metrics. Orlik explains some of these proxies in detail.
One reason that electricity consumption has correlated relatively well with economic growth is because industry is by far the largest consumer of power, at perhaps 70 or 75%. As the last decade has been basically defined by China's hyper industrialization phase, capturing a large enough slice of industries--which are massive energy guzzlers--meant you had a rough, but imprecise, picture of the broader economy. The key question over the next decade is whether this correlation breaks down, as China aspires to restructure its economy toward a less industry-led growth model. That is indeed a major pillar of the 12th Five-Year Plan.
If China succeeds in the transition, I suspect Orlik will have to publish an updated edition of his guide to Chinese economic data.


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Now water your plants only once a week while adding some colour to your balconies and terraces. Kit includes: 2 Selfys 10 litres each 2 Coco peat bricks 2 Sets of Piping system for self watering Set up instructions (You can download by clicking here too) Caution: Do not use soil as potting media for your Selfys. Use coco-peat and compost (not included in kit) in 1:1 ratio mixed well together. NOTE: If it says "Available on backorder" below, it means we are currently out of stock, and you will be placing an advance order if you proceed. Your order will be shipped on priority as soon as we get stocl. We only accept advance orders when we are confident that we will be able to ship within 2 weeks. Please proceed only if you are okay with this. Otherwise please check back if we have stock, again after a few days.
Now water your plants only once a week while adding some colour to your balconies and terraces. Kit includes: 2 Selfys 20 litres each 2 Coco peat bricks 2 Sets of Piping system for self watering Set up instructions (You can download by clicking here too) Caution: Do not use soil as potting media for your Selfys. Use coco-peat and compost (not included in kit) in 1:1 ratio mixed well together.


text:
Isaiah 27Isaiah 29
Isaiah 28 New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
The Lord Will Judge the Leaders of Ephraim and Judah
28 How terrible it will be for the city of Samaria!
It sits on a hill like a wreath of flowers.
The leaders of Ephraim are drunk.
They take pride in their city.
It sits above a valley that has rich soil.
How terrible it will be for the glorious beauty of that fading flower!
2 The Lord will bring the strong and powerful king of Assyria against Samaria.
The Lord will throw that city down to the ground with great force.
It will be like a hailstorm.
It will be like a wind that destroys everything.
It will be like a driving rain and a flooding storm.
3 That city is like a wreath.
But its enemies will walk all over it.
4 It sits on a hill above a rich valley.
The city is like a wreath of flowers whose glorious beauty is fading away.
But it will become like figs that are ripe before harvest.
As soon as people see them,
they pick them and swallow them.
5 At that time the Lord who rules over all
will be like a glorious crown.
He will be like a beautiful wreath
for those of his people who will be left alive.
6 He will help those
who are fair when they judge.
He will give strength to those
who turn back their enemies at the city gate.
7 Israel's leaders are drunk from wine.
They can't walk straight.
They are drunk from beer.
They are unsteady on their feet.
Priests and prophets drink beer.
They are mixed up from drinking too much wine.
They drink too much beer.
The prophets see visions but don't really understand them.
The priests aren't able to make good decisions.
8 They throw up. All the tables are covered
with the mess they've made.
There isn't one spot on the tables
that isn't smelly and dirty.
9 The Lord's people are making fun of him. They say,
"Who does he think he's trying to teach?
Who does he think he's explaining his message to?
Is it to children who do not need their mother's milk anymore?
Is it to those who have just been taken from her breast?
10 Here is how he teaches.
Do this and do that.
There is a rule for this and a rule for that.
Learn a little here and learn a little there."
11 All right then, these people won't listen to me.
So God will speak to them.
He will speak by using people who speak unfamiliar languages.
He will speak by using the mouths of strangers.
12 He said to his people,
"I am offering you a resting place.
Let those who are tired rest."
He continued, "I am offering you a place of peace and quiet."
But they wouldn't listen.
13 So then, here is what the Lord's message will become to them.
So when they try to go forward,
they'll fall back and be wounded.
They'll be trapped and captured.
14 Listen to the Lord's message,
you who make fun of the truth.
Listen, you who rule over these people in Jerusalem.
15 You brag, "We have entered into a covenant with the place of the dead.
We have made an agreement with the grave.
When a terrible plague comes to punish us,
it can't touch us.
That's because we depend on lies to keep us safe.
We hide behind what isn't true."
16 So the Lord and King speaks. He says,
"Look! I am laying a stone in Zion.
It is a stone that has been tested.
It is the most important stone for a firm foundation.
The one who depends on that stone will never be shaken.
17 I will use a measuring line to prove that you have not been fair.
I will use a plumb line to prove that you have not done what is right.
Hail will sweep away the lies you depend on to keep you safe.
Water will flood your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be called off.
The agreement you made with the place of the dead will not stand.
When the terrible plague comes to punish you,
you will be struck down by it.
19 As often as it comes, it will carry you away.
Morning after morning, day and night,
it will come to punish you."
If you understand this message,
it will bring you absolute terror.
20 You will be like someone whose bed is too short to lie down on.
You will be like those whose blankets are too small to wrap themselves in.
21 The Lord will rise up to judge, just as he did at Mount Perazim.
He will get up to act, just as he did in the Valley of Gibeon.
He'll do his work, but it will be strange work.
He'll carry out his task, but it will be an unexpected one.
22 Now stop making fun of me.
If you don't, your chains will become heavier.
The Lord who rules over all has spoken to me.
The Lord has told me he has ordered that the whole land be destroyed.
23 Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention to what I'm saying.
24 When a farmer plows in order to plant, does he plow without stopping?
Does he keep on breaking up the soil and making the field level?
25 When he's made the surface even, doesn't he plant caraway seeds?
Doesn't he scatter cumin seeds?
Doesn't he plant wheat in its proper place?
Doesn't he plant barley where it belongs?
Doesn't he plant spelt along the edge of the field?
26 His God directs him.
He teaches him the right way to do his work.
27 Caraway seeds are beaten out with a rod.
They aren't separated out under a threshing sled.
Cumin seeds are beaten out with a stick.
The wheel of a cart isn't rolled over them.
28 Grain must be ground up to make bread.
A farmer separates it out.
But he doesn't go on doing it forever.
He drives the wheels of a threshing cart over it.
But he doesn't use horses to grind the grain.
29 All these insights come from the Lord who rules over all.
His advice is wonderful. His wisdom is glorious.


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Promoting a learning and improvement culture
Positively seeking feedback
Being thorough and fair
A unified vision for good complaint handling
Issues for Parliament to consider
Making Complaints Count: Supporting complaints handling in the NHS and UK Government Departments
Collapse menuContent
The experience of people whose cases we have reviewed, as well as the feedback given by a wide range of public sector staff within this report, provide a clear view that more must be done to support and strengthen the quality and consistency of frontline complaints handling within the NHS and our wider public sector jurisdiction.
More needs to be done to make sure demand on the complaints system is met effectively, that concerns are resolved and remedied quickly, and that the experience of users is captured and acted on to learn and improve public services. There are several practical steps we will take to make that happen.
Public consultation on the Framework
We are carrying out a public and stakeholder consultation on the draft Complaint Standards Framework. No framework on complaints can be credible without significant public, user and complainant contribution to its construction.
Upon completion of our public consultation, we will act on the submissions and feedback we receive to revise and improve it. We will then launch the final version of the Framework as quickly as possible, with an initial focus on supporting the NHS staff embedding it, while clarifying expectations around the standards of service they should expect for the public.
Embedding the Framework into our work
We are committed to ensuring the Framework is used constructively and proportionately within our own casework when holding both the NHS and (eventually) UK Government Departments to account for the quality of their complaints handling.
In parallel, the Framework should be used by NHS Commissioners and Regulators in their assessment of the effectiveness of how NHS organisations approach complaints handling.
The Framework would inform, as far as possible, how NHS Regulators measure and assess performance on complaints of NHS organisations, and how NHS Commissioners hold NHS providers to account regarding learning from complaints.
As the Framework is embedded, we expect organisations to begin to capture and report on data that demonstrates how they are meeting these new expectations. This should be done in a way that does not create onerous new reporting requirements. We invite feedback on how embedding the Framework and monitoring it could best be achieved as part of the public consultation.
During the consultation, PHSO will also explore how we can identify trends in implementation to help organisations place the Framework at the heart of their approach to listening to – and learning from – feedback from service users. In this way, the Framework can be developed as a living document of direct relevance to the public.
As part of embedding the Framework, every NHS organisation should ensure that staff subject to a complaint have access to a member of staff who can provide advice and emotional support. This would mirror the support that should also be available to all complainants through the statutory advocacy and other services that are in place.
Supporting staff through high quality complaints handling training
Working with key stakeholders, PHSO will develop a core learning and development programme on complaints handling that provides staff delivering NHS services with access to high quality training and development aligned with the Framework's expectations. Ultimately this approach can lead to externally accredited training and professional qualifications in complaint handling.
Developing and co-ordinating delivery of training on such a scale is ambitious. It constitutes a revolution of expectations. If it is to be achieved, there will need to be support from Parliament and relatively modest investment from Government to realise the scale of ambition required. We will make a clear and realistic assessment of what resources will be required to achieve this as we look to develop our new corporate strategy for 2021-4.
Piloting how the Framework will work in practice
Ensuring that the Complaint Standards Framework works for all NHS service users and staff will be vital. We will therefore run pilots following the Framework's launch. These will focus on working with service users and a small number of NHS organisations that represent the different areas of healthcare.
The pilots are expected to last 12 months to make sure that we can identify any challenges to embedding the Framework, and to make sure that the training we design is relevant and meets everybody's needs.
Capturing complainant feedback on how the Framework benefits them
We will develop a robust approach to seeking feedback from complainants on the impact of the Framework as part of the piloting phase.
The Complaint Standards Framework owes a debt to My Expectations, which sets out a user-led vision for what complainants expect to experience when they want to raise a concern or complain about health and social care providers. We will work with our partners to carry out a review of My Expectations, to ensure it continues to reflect modern user needs and is expanded to cover making a complaint about UK Government departments.
This review will also explore how NHS organisations and others can incorporate feedback from complainants into their consideration of how effectively the Complaint Standards Framework is embedded in their organisation. Similarly, it will consider how this feedback can be incorporated into the reporting that organisations should do to demonstrate how the Framework has been embedded into their approach to handling complaints.
A unified vision for good complaint handlingIssues for Parliament to consider