No matter how niche your product might be, no ecommerce store exists in a vacuum. There will always be another company out there who is selling what you're selling. Learning what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong is part of knowing how to improve your own business strategies.
While you obviously want your own business to be unique and stand out, if there's something that other companies are vastly outpacing you on that you're not aware of, you could be dramatically hurting your chances of success.
That's where a competitive analysis comes in. Competitive analysis refers to the process of gathering data about rival businesses. This doesn't just mean knowing what they sell, it also refers to doing more in-depth analysis of their content and general internet presence using other tools available to you.
In this article, we'll go over where to find information in your own competitive analysis, what to look for, and what to do with the competitive intelligence you gather.
The first step is to find the businesses that you consider your most direct competitors. Depending on your product, you may be competing with hundreds or even thousands of other businesses selling something similar, so try to focus on around ten or so. These should be companies whose target demographic closely resembles your own, who utilize similar strategies to you to gain leads.
There may be a few businesses that instantly come to mind for you. If not, there's a couple things you can try to try to generate some ideas.
You can try a series of Google searches for similar products to yours to find some of your most prominent competitors. If you're still stumped, try using an SEM tool to check what other companies are ranking for your keywords.
So you've made a list of your most prominent competitors - now it's time to take a closer look at their content and compare it to your own to see where you might be lacking.
The content on your competitors' websites should be pretty accessible - but there's a few things you'll want to do to be sure you get the full breadth of their content. Start with the site's navigation bar, clicking through each section until you have a good idea of the scope of it. Also check the home page - scroll all the way down to be sure if there's other content housed outside of the navigation bar, or even in the bottom navigation section.
After you have made a list of URL's where content is housed, you can begin digging into it at your leisure.
What type of content are your competitors putting out? Blog posts? Videos? Free ebooks? If they're utilizing an email campaign, what kind of emails are they sending? What's the visual content of their website look like? How are they presenting themselves? What sort of calls-to-action are they using in their landing pages to draw in new leads?
It's important to figure out not only the type of content, but also the quantity of content corresponding to each specific subject. Knowing how much content has been generated on whichever topic will give you a better idea of just how much effort will be required to equal or surpass them. The frequency at which your competitor updates their website with new content will also obviously factor into this, as well.
If your competitor is putting out content at a much faster clip than you, consider stepping up your own efforts to keep up. The internet is a crowded place - you have to stay updating constantly and always pushing out new content if you hope to be seen in the fast-paced world of online marketing.
These are just a few examples of what you should be looking for - but really, any part of the website that you feel is eye-catching or unique is something to keep an eye out for. If there are aspects in which you feel your competitors are doing worse than you, that's something to note as well as you can use that to your advantage. If there are opportunities your competitor isn't capitalizing on, that's something you can take advantage of.
Try to evaluate the quality of their blog posts or other content. Is it in-depth and detailed, or aimed at people new to the subject? Is it rife with spelling and grammar errors? How many contributors do they have? Is it structured in such a way that it's easy to read and understand?
Pay special attention to which articles get more shares from the audience. This will help you find which topics people are most interested in.
Once you've evaluated the quality of their content, try giving them a "grade" based on your own subjective scale. A picture should start to form in your mind of how you stack up in comparison. The specific aspects of their marketing that you isolated earlier should give you a good idea of what areas you could stand to improve, and what qualities make your own brand unique. From here, you can develop a plan to put in more effort and resources to improve these blind spots.
For example, if one of your competitors is doing much better than you drawing in business on and email marketing campaign by by doing special offers or raffles to new subscribers, consider whether something similar could be appropriate for your business, or even ways you could make the concept better.
The success of your competitors' content may not be simply a result of its quality. You've got to take a closer look at their choice of how they use keywords and where.
Analyzing the SEO structure of your competitors could give you a valuable clue as to why their content brings in the number of leads that it does. Focus on where they use keywords - on the page title, the URL, or in the content itself.
By looking at what keywords they're using, you can start to put together a list of keywords that you can target on your own website. Keep a special eye out for lower volume keywords, usually longer phrases, that will be easier for your site to rank for.
It's important to know the degree to which your competitors have integrated their social media presence into their marketing.
First, see if they have profiles on all the major social media sites and determine the extent of their presence. Check all the major sites, even if you feel that they might not be relevant to your business. Just because you might not be utilizing LinkedIn or YouTube doesn't mean your competitors aren't - which means they have a distinct advantage over you in those areas.
Then again, you might also find that they've taken the time to set up profiles but never actually use them for much of anything. This could also be a huge boon for you as well - you can take advantage of their lack of engagement to get ahead.
If they do actually use their social media accounts, pay special attention to how many followers they have, how often they post, and what sort of content they're promoting. If they get a lot of engagement with their posts, note what sort of content they're posting. Are they doing lots of giveaways to people who tag their friends, special Facebook-only promo codes, etc.? Also, do their websites put their social media front and center with social media follow and share buttons?
Find the profile on your competitor list with the most successful social media presence and take notes. Learn from the foremost influencers in your product niche and you can start applying these lessons to your own business.
Now that you've gathered the information you need, it's time to compare it directly to your own online marketing to see how it stacks up. Hopefully, you've gained a better idea of what needs to be improved on your end, as well as what sort of content you need to generate in the future.
Take an honest look at your current website's content in light of your newfound knowledge of your competitors. Is your competitors store of content a result of a large team working for years, something that you just don't have the money and resources to achieve? Or are they just active on social media and investing more time in sharing their content, something you could do with a little time and effort?
When you know what your competitors are doing better than you, that gives you insight into a path forward, and allows you take to specific steps to deploy your resources wisely and remedy your shortcomings. Whether you're getting a better idea of what content others are putting out, learning some good keywords to implement on your blog, or gaining some ideas for ways to drum up engagement on social media, it's always good to keep an eye on the competition.
The lead capture form is the central focus of your landing page. Learn how to maximize your conversion rate with these tips!


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A substantial presence on treasured, private coastal lands, the Sonoma Coast House is an architectural expression of its surroundings. The ultimate beach house with a sense of anchoring shelter and luminous elegance, the house was designed for the comfort of its owner as well as the ease of sharing the home with his many guests. A design of imposing beauty and admirable efficiency, 'this monumental feat of engineering appears both solid as a fortress and fragile as a candle lit lantern.' A vessel for the delicacy of the light and air which is the essence of the Pacific Coast. The structure's frank openness and warmth, rich with natural materials, is organized in three pavilions, connected with a floating metal roof to unify the entire house and shelter a deck emulating the horizontal alignments of fog which are illuminated by the sun and sea.
A spectacular kitchen and "great hall' is a steel framed glass solarium, occupying the north zone of the building with dramatic scale, organized as a peninsula projecting an impressive sitting room and massive fireplace into the panorama of the endless coastline. Concrete floors are warmed with radiant heat and the entire structure is aligned for maximum passive solar benefit. Multiple work-stations topped by custom stainless and stone counters surround a massive walk-in fridge and multiple wet areas for preparation. A media center is enclosed in an island providing the ultimate flexibility of use for this, the heart of the home.
A steel staircase rises from the kitchen illuminated by a wall of windows to reveal the master suite and office with private deck perched above the coast and accessing the expansive roof decks with sinuous cat walks. Below are two-car garage, mechanicals and robust storage.
The fully glass enclosed dining room progresses to an awe inspiring living room, gallery and reception room bristling with an impressive web of open redwood trusses which fortify the principal rooms of the home.
The third pavilion houses the guesthouse with three suites connected to the other two sections of the home via roof deck and cat walks under the airy superstructure of steel. The plan provides multiple gathering spaces as well as refuge and privacy for owners as well as guests.
Outdoor decks and patios plus a third massive outdoor wood burning fireplace guarantees the full enjoyment of coastal nature, any time of year or any day of the year.
This beautifully realized residence encompasses the bravado of pure space and at the same time offers the opportunity to embrace nature's unfathomable power.
Wood; tubular W and C steel, exposed steel structural framing at upper levels, galvanized steel bow trusses, re-sawn lumber open-web trusses (built on-site); concrete slab foundations; madrone hardwood flooring at 2nd levels (harvested & milled on-site); corrugated galvanized steel roof; industrial type galvanized steel chimney stacks; black anodized aluminum framing for all windows, window-wall assemblies and skylights; open-grate galvanized steel stairs and catwalks.
The Richardson family settled at Stewarts Point in the 1860's. The first Richardson to own and operate the Stewarts Point Store was Herbert Archer Richardson, who arrived here from Franconia, N.H., in 1868. He became a timber baron, and eventually purchased 25,000 acres, including eight miles of shoreline. He ran cattle and sheep and employed more than 300 lumberjacks cutting and processing redwood shipped out of Stewarts Point on his nine sailing vessels.
Lumber was hauled on the nine-mile Richardson Railroad to where the old store is located. Logs were carried the last half-mile to Richardson Harbor on rail cars mounted on wooden tracks. In 1926, when Highway 1 was finally pushed through to Stewarts Point, the lumber ships were replaced by trucks. Lumbering activity slowed considerably during the Great Depression.
The Stewarts Point store was established in 1868 as post office, general store and community resource. The room above the store was a dance hall until the late 1940s. Across from the old store are two lichen-covered, bare-wood abandoned hotels built in the 1880s. Also a stagecoach stop, this was once a one room school house.
The first recorded visitors to this land now known as The Sea Ranch were the Pomo Indians, who were hunters and fishermen. They made seasonal trips to the coast to gather kelp and shell fish.
In 1992, The Sea Ranch purchased the central section (circa 280 acres) of what is now called the Timber Production Zone (TPZ) from Travelers Insurance Co. It is one of three sections totaling 1,600 acres that Travelers Insurance had purchased earlier from OCI. In late 1992, the northern section was sold to Gualala Redwoods Inc., which owns and harvests several thousand acres of timberland to the east of Sea Ranch. The southern portion was sold to a private party and Sonoma Coast House was constructed. The central TPZ was converted to commons during the year ending April 30, 1997.


Two recent practices I've explored here, Monitoring and Equanimity, both talked about values. Values have also come to mind recently since the new year is fast approaching and it's a natural time to think more closely about my values as I look back on the year that has been and forward to the year that is coming. I thought it would be interesting this week to explore my values as a sacred practice.
Whether we know it or not, we all have things we genuinely and deeply care about. These are the things that motivate us, give our life meaning, and make us 'us'. These are our values. Sometimes they work on the surface of our experience; other times they work at such a deep level that they permeate our lives and decisions without our direct knowledge. Our values are our greatest motivators and greatest source of happiness. They can also, if we're not careful, be a great source of unhappiness, especially when we aren't aware of them or are distracted from them. Many of us live our day-to-day lives in this kind of trance state, caught up in our habits, routines, expectations, and responsibilities and cut off from our values.
Our values can also trip us up when two of our values are in conflict with each other. A classic example of this is the conflict between valuing time with family and valuing career success. While most of the time these would hopefully be aligned, at times they might conflict in ways that are difficult to resolve, for example when meeting a major work deadline butts up against attending a child's recital or championship game. Being aware and able to articulate our values won't prevent such values conflicts from happening; but it can help us to resolve them.
Another way our values can cause us difficulty is when they conflict with our legitimate needs, such as when a value to help others causes us to stop looking after our basic human needs for rest and, for many caregivers, even food and drink. (I know one person in a helping profession who takes it as a badge of honour when he's had a day when he "didn't have time" to use the washroom!). Similarly, someone who values connection to their family may run into problems when they reach a legitimate developmental need to express and differentiate themselves.
All of these situations call for an assessment or reassessment of values.
Why are values so important? The simplest answer is that they answer the "Why?" question for our goals, dreams, and actions. Values clarify what we want and so make decision-making simpler. As we saw last week, in a time of crisis, values can help to steady us and assist in maintaining our equanimity. They keep us on track, and help us to live up to our highest sense of purpose and calling. We often talk about 'values alignment', a state where we feel that everything is running smoothly, lined up properly — Not that anyone is perfect or their best self all the time: the goal isn't perfection, but rather integrity, being as true as we can to ourselves and our beliefs.
Being a person of faith adds a further wrinkle to all this. Large faith traditions such as my own Christian tradition are big enough tents that they certainly don't act as straight-jackets for our personal values, but they do provide certain context and content to our values and how they are lived out. For example, it's perfectly reasonable for Christians to value financial security and comfort, but if they are truly aligned with their faith (which warns against the love of money and that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God), their Christianity will inform how they go about acquiring and using their wealth. As a Christian, I feel it's particularly important to examine how my personal values interact with the Sermon on the Mount and the Fruit of the Spirit.
Try to begin the exercise with as few expectations as possible.
⋅ What were some of your peak experiences?
⋅ Imagine yourself at your best. What does this look like?
Brainstorm. Find a list of potential values online (here is one such list) and sort them into three categories: Values you identify with, values you're indifferent to, and things you definitely don't value. Then, categorize and theme what you came up with.
From the answers to the questions in step b and the categories you discovered in step c, create a list of the 4-7 values that jump out to you the most.
Put these side-by-side with a list of values that are important to you from your faith tradition. Where are obvious points of alignment between the two lists? Where are some potential points of contention? Where there may be conflict between your values and the values of your faith tradition, what are some ways you might be able to mitigate that conflict?
When I embarked on this week's values practice, I was surprised to discover it had been close to three years since I had last assessed them. It was definitely time! In terms of how the practice was laid out, I appreciated having the two parts of the identification exercise. As much as I liked seeing the themes that emerged from the brainstorming, the questions picked up on things I would have missed from the brainstorming alone. For example, the first answer that came to mind to the question of what angers me was injustice; this highlighted for me that justice is more of a value for me than I would have guessed otherwise. Over all, unsurprisingly, the list of values that emerged this year was very similar to what I discovered in 2016, however with some slight shifts in nuance and colour. For example, this time around I decided I needed to qualify my value of growth with sustainability; and whereas in 2016, my value of love was more about my own sense of belonging, now it is coloured more by such qualities as empathy and justice.
The second half of the practice was also helpful, providing an alternative lens through which to view the values I identified as my core values.
I feel the need to start this reflection by asking the same question I've put to most of the practices that haven't involved such things as prayer or scripture study: How is this a sacred practice? And indeed, the exercise of clarifying one's values could be viewed more in terms of a secular coaching session than a sacred practice. But, as I've found throughout the year, so much of sacredness is about the intention and attention we give to something. For me at least, coming at this exercise with the lens of it being a sacred practice transformed it, expanding its horizons. It's as though the centre of gravity of the practice shifted from being internal — Who am I? — but external and divine: Who am I created to be? The second way I think a practice like this is sacred is because knowing yourself is a radical act of truth telling. We can't know how to get from point A to point B if we don't know where point A and point B are. This practice, if undertaken honestly, can help us find our location, our goal, and therefore, be of vital assistance if finding the paths we need to take.
Coming at the exercise from the perspective of a sacred practice also helped to remind me that, as important as our individual values are in shaping our identities and goals in life, they (and we) are only one part of a very big picture. The world that the focus on values comes from — positive psychology and coaching — is often criticized by Christians as being inherently narcissistic. I don't think this is a fair criticism of the discipline as a whole, but it is the trap that it can fall into when it isn't careful. The larger context a faith tradition provides can be very helpful in reinforcing those walls around narcissism by demonstrating how our values might negatively impact others (what positive psychology refers to as values 'ecology'), or how they might have unhealthy aspects we need to watch out for ('shadow').
While this values assessment practice this week didn't provide many surprises for me, I was still grateful I took the time to reexamine what it is I care about most. But this is really just the first step. With the new year coming quickly, it's time to look back and look ahead. Next week's practice will dive into the discernment of desires; the week after that will be an end-of-year examen to see what areas of my life of faith need attention next year; and, after a week's pause over Christmas, this series will conclude with sacred planning for the year ahead.


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Microsoft launches new India-based commercial cloud services
Oliver Fuh Email @OliverWinBeta Oct 19th, 2015 in Latest news
In a new Azure blog post, Microsoft announces the launch of several cloud based services in India. First are new commercial cloud services spawned from data centers stationed in various regions. Second are Office 365 services which will be available later this month, and finally Dynamics CRM Online services, which will be available some time in the first half of 2016.
In discussing its new cloud services in India, Microsoft India chairman Bhaskar Pramanik explains:
The Microsoft Cloud in India will transform the way computing is done in the country. The hyper-scale cloud will empower governments, businesses and users and offer enough computing power that will support all their existing workloads. We are happy to partner with government and businesses to make the Microsoft Cloud work for India and for Indians.
Microsoft's cloud services are built on core pillars of security, privacy, control, compliance, and transparency. This makes its cloud services useful for all varieties of businesses, individuals, and state-owned enterprises and agencies that require their data to be stored locally. All data can be replicated, distributed, and stored in various data centers in India exclusively. As such, its new cloud services are well-suited for startups, small businesses, education, developers, IT, government, and many more categories of customers who require the advantages and security of data stored locally within India.
Microsoft further explains that its cloud offerings are well-suited not just to new organizations, but to those who already have their own existing IT infrastructures. Such organizations can now extend and augment their existing infrastructure with Microsoft's local cloud services, creating hybrid cloud scenarios which can significantly reduce the cost of IT management.
BFSI, government departments, ISVs, ecommerce, and startups have expressed interest in Microsoft's local cloud services. To show off its cloud offerings to such clients, Microsoft has put together a special private preview program, which is now being tested by organizations such as Mahindra, Robert Bosch, Honeywell, Kotak Life, Bajaj Finserve, Medi Assist, Fortis Healthcare, Narayana Health, AIIMS, Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation, MIDC, TN ePDS, Rediff, Meru Cabs, Sony Corporation, Aspect Software, Gupshup Technologies, NanoBi Data and Analytics, Ideal Invent Technologies, and many more.
Finally Microsoft takes the opportunity to announce its flagship summit. Future Unleashed is a two-day conference centered around unique applications of combined business and technology use cases. Notable speakers at the conference include Satya Nadella and Scott Guthrie, who will be speaking about the important role these technologies play in shaping the future of technological infrastructure. The conference will take place in the NESCO Convention Centre in Mumbai next month on November 5-6th.
Future Unleashed will be marketing itself under the hastag #ADateWithTheFuture.
Further reading: Azure, Cloud, India, Microsoft

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Spring is almost here and pop up events will be literally popping up over the next few months. We found this one at The Showcase in London, featuring Oxx Jewellery London and Hokolo Home Decor with their bold colours, minimalist patterns and strong lines with a general MidCentury feel.
Visit Craft Central for more info.
The Nautical trend is back, but this time with a more simple feel. It's less about marine animals, rope features and bunting, and focuses on stripes [ of varying width ] and subtle hints to the sea through ceramics and soft furnishings.
This trend shouldn't make your room look themed. Cushions are a great place to start – mix and match different prints, or maybe place a searchlight inspired light in the corner of a room to get the look .
Colours to think about are Blue, Red, White and Grey, and fabrics are very utilitarian [ Linens and Wools ].
Sometimes home accessories just need a personal element. The current trend for getting creative with ceramics is a fun, easy way to create pieces for your own home, for a party or for a gift that stands out for being individual and personal.
There's a variety of art mediums to use to get illustrations, text or any design onto ceramics or glassware. Transfer or decal paper can be printed on and used, sharpie markers can be used to draw, write and design straight on plates or cups and ceramic paint is also available.
Apartment Therapy offer a great tutorial for using printable transfer paper and you can buy printable decal paper from Crafty Computer Paper. If you want inspiration for using sharpies head to A Beautiful Mess.
Take inspiration from current trends in botanical drawings, typography and geometric designs. For extra depth to the design, layering your designs over already patterned plates can look brilliant too. Search eBay, charity shops and carboot sales for vintage crockery to use or head to IKEA for good quality plain modern ceramics.
Ceramics can be designed with names or pictures tailored for an event, a seasonal time of year or even with a selection of great motivational quotes or words.
If creativity doesn't come naturally printing images onto transfer paper means you don't actually have to draw or write a design yourself. And if you just can't face a little DIY have a peak at Etsy and buy straight from the creative folk making it already, like the talented Ivonne Ellen who's gorgeous pieces including vodka tea cups and animal illustrated plates are just incredible. Prices from £35.
We love this planter and storage pot combo from Graham and Green. A stylish desktop accessory made from solid concrete, with a base for keeping stationery and a hollow pot above.
Iconic brand Ted Baker is a market leader in producing statement contemporary homeware.
The rug collection, stocked at John Lewis is bold and beautiful featuring the brands love of blooming flowers.
Our favourite is this Technibloom design.
This great online shop is full of contemporary homeware including lighting, furniture, accessories and soft furnishings. Founded by Lewis Mitchell and Clare Johns in 2012, Really Well Made focuses as much on the look of the product as how it's made [ the clue is in their name ]. With a huge choice of gorgeous pieces, [ we love the funky cushion designs and stunning lighting ] all with a simple Scandinavian feel, everybody needs to visit Really Well Made.


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Do employees have to be under an award?
When an employee is not covered by an award or agreement they are considered to be award and agreement free. Award and agreement free employees may have an employment contract. They are also entitled to at least the: national minimum wage….Redundancy.
Period of continuous service
Redundancy pay
At least 10 years 12 weeks
Can an employee be covered by 2 awards?
While only 1 modern award can cover an employee in relation to particular employment, when all of the employees employed in an enterprise and covered by an enterprise agreement are considered, there may be more than 1 relevant award.
Who does professional employees award cover?
4.4 This award covers any employer which supplies labour on an on-hire basis in the industries set out in clause 4.1 in respect of on-hire employees in classifications covered by this award,and those on-hire employees,while engaged in the performance of work for a business in those industries.
What are the requirements for a Department of State Award?
9. Pre-Award Costs: The Department of State hereby agrees to reimburse the recipient an amount not to exceed (insert $) for costs incurred and considered allowable. This pre-award condition applies to costs incurred from (insert start and end dates costs will be honored).
What kind of awards does a company get?
For example, there are industry-specific awards; local, regional, national, and international awards; green company awards; awards for innovators and entrepreneurs, for large businesses and small businesses, as well as business and company growth.
Where can I find Department of State Award terms and conditions?
Department of State Standard Terms and Conditions for Federal Assistance Awards are incorporated by reference and made part of this Notice of Award. Electronic copies containing the complete text are available at: https://www.state.gov/m/a/ope/index.htm.
What are the requirements for a Stevie Award?
Outline the organization's achievements since the beginning of 2019 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words). Required c. Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant.


Jakarta, August 27th 2014 – Set for a soft opening at the end of this year, favehotel Jababeka Cikarang will be the latest favehotel by Archipelago International; a hotel geared towards Cikarang's business travelers.
Cikarang is the capital of the Bekasi Regency, West Java, with the Jababeka area being the biggest industrial estate in Southeast Asia. Ideal for travelers doing business in the vicinity, favehotel Jababeka Cikarang is strategically situated in the heart of the Cikarang Industrial Estate, just 30 minutes away from the industrial city and its hundreds of factories. The hotel is only 5 minutes from the Cikarang Toll Gateway, 45 minutes from Jakarta's business hub and 60 minutes from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, making business travel both convenient and efficient.
favehotel Jababeka Cikarang will feature 155 modern and functional guestrooms, together with important facilities for business travelers, such as uncompromising standards of cleanliness on par with high end luxury hotels, contemporary-chic designs and comfortable setups with top notch pillows and 100% cotton bed sheets and duvets.
Each room is designed in the typical, edgy favehotel way and offers such amenities as a 29" LED TV with international & local channels, a well design en-suite bathroom with standing shower, well placed local and universal electric outlets, a desk, a wardrobe and, as with every favehotel, truly high-speed complimentary WiFi to keep business travelers connected. The hotel also offers 6 meeting rooms that accommodate up to 170 guests for a variety of occasions, complete with relevant meeting equipment and services.
"Jababeka is well known for its booming commerce, but until now, it seemed there were no top quality, select service budget hotels in the city that offer business travelers all the mod-cons they've come to expect from premium hotels. We therefore believe that favehotel Jababeka Cikarang will be a fantastic addition to West Java's economic core, and the preferred choice for savvy business travelers in the area." Said Norbert Vas, Archipelago International's VP Sales & Marketing.
Exterior of favehotel Jababeka – Cikarang.
Restaurant of favehotel Jababeka – Cikarang.


The Lichauco Heritage House, formally known as the O'Brien-Lichauco Heritage House is one of the oldest surviving houses in Santa Ana, Manila, Philippines. Originally built in 1859, the house was purchased in the late 1940s by a prominent Filipino lawyer and dignitary, Marcial Lichauco from a European family who had fled the Japanese occupation in the Philippines. The house was declared as a heritage house by the National Historical Commission on July 10, 2010. The Lichauco Heritage house is located along Pedro Gil Street. It is the only declared heritage house in Santa Ana.
Initial surveys of the house indicate that it was constructed during the 1850-1860s during the late Spanish period. It was deliberately constructed facing the Pasig River because at the time, the river was an avenue for a flourishing market and a major transport route for visitors travelling in Manila.
Prior to World War II, the house was owned by the O'Brien family who fled Manila when Japanese troops invaded the capital. Unlike the other towns in Manila, Santa Ana was spared from much of the destruction. Because of its location on a main thoroughfare leading out of Manila, the house became a place of refuge for those fleeing the destruction downtown.
Following the Allied liberation of Manila, Marcial Lichauco bought the house from the O'Briens. In recent years, the house has become an important remnant of Santa Ana's rich history when at June 10, 2010, it was declared to be the first heritage house by the virtue of Resolution 5 by the National Historical Commission.
In a style reminiscent of the Bahay na Bato of pre-1860s heavily influenced by Spanish-style architecture, concrete materials are used on the ground floor, varnished wood on the second floor, and capiz for windows and other decorations. The house retains its original materials and architecture, including the molave stairs, the adobe walls, the wooden panels and the machuca tiles. It has a spacious second floor to accommodate social gatherings. A row thick, plaster-coated Tuscan columns supports the veranda on the side facing the Pasig River. The house faces the Pasig River because at the time it was built, most guests arrived by boat.
Standing in front of the house is a 200-year-old balete tree (strangler fig). This tree was declared by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as the second heritage tree within City of Manila. The Lichauco balete tree is the eighth Heritage Tree proclaimed in Metro Manila, However, it is the first heritage tree to be declared inside a residential compound.
^ Gamil, Jaymee (December 20, 2010). "Pre-war Santa Ana home now a heritage house". The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
^ Aquino, Tricia (August 14, 2012). "10 historic places to visit in Metro Manila". Interaksyon.com. InterAksyon.com. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
^ DENR (June 6, 2012). "DENR declares century-old balete as Manila's second heritage tree". Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lichauco Heritage House.


When you consider the traditional way in which products are marketed, you likely think of strategies such as focus groups, advertising agencies, and even phone surveys conducted with the goal of determining how products and advertising can be engineered to better please consumers. In other words, the process of marketing and selling products to the public is an interactive process. This is not surprising considering that humans are social creatures. What is interesting is the way in which businesses have approached moving into the online arena. In many cases they have opted for measures that have nothing to do with the social experience. Those interested in monetizing blogs, for example, see visitors not as potential customers, but rather as a means to getting advertising dollars. And businesses that are selling goods and services work tirelessly to raise their page rank on Google as a way to help prospective customers "find" them, rather than reaching out to make contact.
And yet, according to Paul Adams in his audio book "Grouped: How Small Groups of Friends are the Key to Influence on the Social Web", this is a mistake. Marketing and sales strategies pre-internet took many years to hone and perfect. Advertisers knew the importance of positioning products in such a way that they would target not only a demographic, but lead consumers to tell their friends about the great new laundry detergent they found, or the sale going on at the local department store. The idea was to approach consumers on a social level in order to interact with them in a more personal way. The advent of the internet, while providing a new medium for businesses to operate in, has not changed the fundamental ways in which people socialize. So why should it change the way companies market and promote?
It shouldn't. And more businesses are beginning to understand that and move their efforts into more social undertakings. The online community is only just beginning to understand the scope of socialization that the internet offers, which is why social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and others have become so popular. People want to be connected to others, to share interests and opinions, to meet on common ground, and to celebrate the ways in which we are alike, even though we come from different countries and cultures. A business that fails to see the potential to connect with customers in this way is behind the game.
But Adams stresses that successful marketing efforts within social organizations must focus on smaller groups of interconnected friends rather than targeting massive groups or even individuals that seem to wield a great amount of influence (based on a large following). With small groups, everyone is a trusted individual, so companies that can attract one member have the potential to attract them all. If a business tries to cut corners by going after one person with a lengthy friend list, they're far more likely to hit a brick wall since those followers are not truly "friends" of the individual.
This audio book is not for the small business owner looking to understand SEO, learn to create a successful viral campaign, or figure out where to get the best purchase order funding rates. Armed with the latest research on internet connectedness from tech companies and university studies, the aim of this audio book is to help listeners that are looking to take their online business into the future by connecting with consumers. And the way to do it is by targeting small groups in such a way that you can enter their protected circle and become a trusted friend.


This is where the rubber hits the road, because this is how the money is made... by how effectively you communicate with your end customer—not just through traditional marketing, but at every point of contact. There are as many different ways of doing it as there are tools in the tool chest. For us, it's a matter of determining, together, which ones to pull out, and how to use them to achieve your communications and sales goals.
From front to back, it's what we do.


text:
Q: Solid of revolution problem - clepsydra (water clock) I need help to understand this problem:
A clepsydra, or water clock, is a glass container with a small hole in the bottom through which water can flow. The "clock" is calibrated for measuring time by placing markings on the container corresponding to water levels at equally spaced times. Let $x=f(y)$ be continuous on the interval $[0,b]$ and assume that the container is formed by rotating the graph of $f$ about the $y$-axis. Let $V$ denote the volume of water and $h$ the height of the water level at time $t$.

a) Determine $V$ as a function of $h$.
By using the disk-method:
$$V=\int_{0}^{h} \pi [f(y)]^2 \,dy=\pi\int_{0}^{h}[f(y)]^2 \,dy$$
b) Show that $\frac{dV}{dt}=\pi[f(h)]^2\frac{dh}{dt}$
I don't understand the proof of this. In the manual solution I have I get this:
$$\frac{dV}{dt}=\frac{dV}{dh}\cdot\frac{dh}{dt}=\pi[f(h)]^2\frac{dh}{dt}$$
I know it is using the Chain Rule. But like that's it? That's all with the proof? And where it comes from the $\pi[f(h)]^2$. It was given in the formula I needed to proof but I want to understand why the $f(h)$.
Thanks in advance for the help.

A: This is known as the fundamental theorem of calculus.
$$\frac{d}{dh} \int_0^h  g(y) \, dy = g(h)$$
Here the $g(y)=f(y)^2$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Telling secrets? Baby prairie dogs smell each other for identity purposes, making for a fabulous image for a child's room.
NOTE: You can choose to pay with a credit or debit card after you click the PAYPAL link below.
All photos on this website are of wild animals photographed in the wild, not on game farms or in staged settings.
Website designed by Cut to the Chase Marketing.


text:
package main

import (
	. "github.com/epixerion/RMRFarm/linker"
	. "github.com/epixerion/RMRFarm/rmrfarm"
)

type masterHandler struct {
	linker *ServerLinker
	clientList map[int32]Client
	updateMaster bool
}

func newMasterHandler() *masterHandler {
	masterHandler := &masterHandler{}
	masterHandler.clientList = make(map[int32]Client)
	masterHandler.linker = StartServerLinker(rmrfarm.conf.Ip)
	masterHandler.linker.SetLogger(mainLog)
	return masterHandler
}

func (mh *masterHandler) updateMasterHandler() {
	for _, packet := range mh.linker.GetPacket() {
		switch packet.GetId() {
		case PACKET_NEWPROJECT:
			rmrfarm.projectManager.startProject(ReadPacketNewProject(packet.(LargePacket)), packet.GetClient())
		case PACKET_SENDFILE:
			rmrfarm.projectManager.HandleSendFile(ReadPacketSendFile(packet.(LargePacket)))
		case PACKET_RENDERFRAME:
			rmrfarm.projectManager.renderFrame(ReadPacketRenderFrame(packet))
		}
	}
	for _, clientState := range mh.linker.GetLastClientState() {
		if clientState.IsConnected {
			mh.clientList[clientState.ClientInt.GetId()] = clientState.ClientInt
			mh.updateMaster = true
		}else{
			delete(mh.clientList, clientState.ClientInt.GetId())
		}
	}

	if mh.updateMaster{
		mh.SendSlaveInfo()
		mh.updateMaster = false
	}
}

func (mh *masterHandler) SendSlaveInfo(){
	packet := &PacketSlaveInfo{}
	packet.SlaveName = rmrfarm.conf.SlaveName
	packet.Availlable = rmrfarm.projectManager.projectHook == nil
	for _, project := range rmrfarm.projectManager.projectList{
		if project.state == STATE_READY{
			packet.ProjectReady = append(packet.ProjectReady, project.projectName)
		}
	}
	mh.linker.SendPacketToAll(packet)
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group Open up New Office in Darlington
The leading independently-owned corporate turnaround, restructuring and recovery firm continues its national expansion with the opening of a second office in the North East of England.
Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group (LCBSG) has unveiled a Darlington office to further strengthen the brand in the region and compliment services already provided to clients from the Sunderland office.
The Group's North East Region now boasts offices in Barlborough, Leeds, Sunderland and Darlington which are ideally placed to support clients stretching from Nottingham up to the borders of Scotland.
The success of the Leeds office in particular, opened in 2012, forged the way for growth in this area.
The new Darlington office is based at Business Central in the town centre and takes the total number of offices for the Group to 16. Leonard Curtis now has a presence in all key regions throughout the UK and currently employs over 190 people.
Heading up the office will be Steve Kenny, who has led the growth of the brand in the North East over the last year. Steve is both a qualified Insolvency Practitioner (IP) and a Chartered Accountant and has been with the business since June 2017, having spent the previous 13 years at a top 10 accountancy practice.
He commented: ''The Darlington office will create new opportunities for us and help us work even more closely with our introducer base and better serve the needs of our clients here. We have ambitious growth and recruitment plans to provide the best possible services for them."
Steve will be joined in Darlington by IP Phil Deyes and Phil Trueman who specialises in finance brokerage. Phil Deyes has been with Leonard Curtis since 2012, and has practiced insolvency and turnaround work for over 25 years.
Phil added: "The Darlington office sends a clear signal to the market about our determination to both widen and deepen our service offer so more businesses can benefit."
The Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group has significantly enhanced its service offerings in recent years with four core divisions including Debt Advisory (Corporate Strategies), Finance Raising (Reach Commercial Finance) Legal Advisory (Leonard Curtis Legal) and Business Rescue & Recovery.
Other fast-growing divisions include Property Solutions, providing specialist advice in the commercial and residential property sector and a Private Equity Network known as Aqvvs, providing SME businesses with access to equity funding.
Group Director Daniel Booth said the business had grown on the back of a taking a no-nonsense approach to finding practical solutions to challenges faced by SME business owner at every stage of a business's lifecycle.
"We are uniquely placed to help on everything from short term concerns to longer term opportunities and we bring fresh thinking to turnaround and recovery. I am delighted to be bringing that level of service to our Darlington partners and cementing relationships across the North East business community to support and drive SME growth."
Business Central's Centre Manager, Vanessa Wood, said: "I'm delighted that the company has decided to grow their brand from within Business Central. Darlington's business sector is buoyant at the moment as a result of the regeneration going on in the town so I believe it's a great time for the business to have a presence in the area.
"And I'm sure that with the various facilities we have in the centre – including an on-site fitness suite – Steve and his staff will enjoy working from Business Central."
For further information on LCBSG visit https://www.lcbsg.co.uk.
For further media information, please contact Karen Winstanley or Sue Souter at Souter PR on 01625 839 319 or email karen@souterpr.co.uk.
Note to editor:
Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group (LCBSG) is a market leading professional services provider.
From its 16 offices, LCBSG supports the UK's 5.7million SME owners, their stakeholders and professional advisers on financial and operational issues faced at every stage of a business' lifecycle.
LCBSG's specialist teams deliver positive strategic advice on all areas of accountancy, restructuring, law and finance – devising bespoke solutions to meet the most specific requirements and deadlines.


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text:
Durant puts up 44 but Bulls still end Nets 12-game winning streak
Associated PressJan 5, 2023, 12:47 AM EST
CHICAGO — DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams each scored 22 points, and the Chicago Bulls stopped Brooklyn's 12-game win streak with a 121-112 victory over Kevin Durant and the Nets on Wednesday night.
Durant scored 44 points, but Chicago had six players score in double figures. Nikola Vucevic had 21 points and 13 rebounds, and Ayo Dosunmo finished with 17 points. The Bulls had dropped two in a row.
Kevin Durant tonight:
4 REB
5 AST
5 Threes pic.twitter.com/QyLPmx3L05
— NBA (@NBA) January 5, 2023
"They came to play," Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn said. "They were pretty desperate to get a win, and we needed that same desperation."
Durant rested at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Chicago put together an 8-0 run. Dosunmu stole a pass at midcourt and went in for the jam for a 106-95 lead with 6:46 left.
"Ayo brought it defensively," Bulls guard Zach LaVine said. "Bring the energy, getting steals, getting blocks."
Williams and DeRozan each hit two foul shots in the final minute to help close it out.
Durant scored a season-high 28 points in the first half, but Brooklyn trailed 69-59 at the break. He went 15 for 22 from the field for the game, finishing one point shy of his season high against Orlando on Nov. 28.
The Bulls, playing without reserve Javonte Green, lost another key guard when Alex Caruso sprained his right ankle with 3:11 left in the first quarter. Caruso missed three games earlier this season due to a concussion and shoulder sprain.
LaVine scored 13 points for Chicago, and Coby White finished with 10.
"Their top two guys (DeRozan and LaVine) were 12 for 31 for 35 points," Durant said. "We can live with that. But Pat Williams made some shots and easy rolls to the rim. Ayo is playing great this year and put pressure on the rim."
Kyrie Irving scored 25 points for Brooklyn, and Seth Curry had 22. Irving went 1 for 8 from 3-point range.
"We could not get over the hump, and a big part of it was that we were playing catchup," Vaughn said. "A 40-point first quarter (by Chicago) set the tone. A little uncharacteristic by our group."
Nets forward Yuta Watanabe, who entered the game leading the league with a 52.1 3-point percentage, played only six minutes because of foul trouble and scored one point.
Check out more on the Nets
PBT Podcast: Rui Hachimura trade to Lakers and All-Star team


An Italian restaurant chain is serving up a creative way for expecting parents to reveal the gender of their babies. Villa Italian Kitchen is now offering Gender Reveal Lasagna. When the soon-to-be parents cut into the lasagna they'll see either pink or blue dyed cheese. The party package also includes garlic rolls and salad, and will run customers $140. Villa Italian Kitchen promises that it will be a "delicious memory for new parents to cherish forever."


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text:
Durbin, Kirk, Shimkus, Costello Welcome SBA Disaster Declaration for Southern Illinois Counties
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Congressmen John Shimkus (R-IL) and Jerry Costello (D-IL) today welcomed the announcement of a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Declaration for Saline County, which will allow residents and businesses in the region severely impacted by severe storms and tornadoes three weeks ago to receive SBA loans. These loans provide assistance to homeowners, renters, businesses to repair or replace disaster damaged real estate, personal property, machinery, equipment, inventory and business assets. The designation also includes the counties that surround Saline including Gallatin and Williamson Counties.
"We are pleased to hear that the Small Business Administration has issued a disaster declaration for Saline County and the surrounding communities that were impacted by the devastating storms and tornadoes just three weeks ago," the members said. "This declaration will give residents and business owners critical access to low interest loans and other funding sources that will help them rebuild. We are committed to ensuring that these communities are able to recover fully, and will continue to working with the State of Illinois to identifying other opportunities for federal assistance."
Earlier today, Durbin, Kirk, Shimkus, and Costello were joined by the entire Illinois Congressional Delegation sending a letter supporting the State of Illinois' request to President Obama asking him to issue a SBA Disaster Declaration for Saline County.
Members signing on to the letter of support include Representatives Judy Biggert (R-IL), Danny Davis (D-IL), Robert Dold (R-IL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Randy Hultgren (R-IL), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Tim Johnson (R-IL), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Don Manzullo (R-IL), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Bobby Schilling (R-IL) Aaron Schock (R-IL), and Joe Walsh (R-IL).
[Text of the letter below]
The Honorable Barack Obama
We write to support Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's request for a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Declaration for Saline County, Illinois, as a result of severe storms and tornadoes occurring on February 29, 2012, through March 2, 2012.
On February 29, severe storms and tornadoes tore through the southern part of our state. High winds caused damage to homes in Randolph and Union counties. Around 5 o'clock in the morning, an EF4 tornado touched down in the City of Harrisburg in Saline County and an EF3 tornado touched down in the Village of Ridgway in Gallatin County. Sadly, seven people in Harrisburg lost their lives as a result of the tornado. Severe damage occurred along the entire tornado path.
Preliminary damage assessments indicate that damage was done to homes, businesses, buildings, trees, utility poles, electrical service, and transportation routes in these counties. The economic impact on the community as a result of businesses being destroyed is severe and the demand for state and local government resources for emergency response, debris removal, and the repair of public property is extraordinary. Taking care of the needs of the people is of utmost importance. The Governor seeks timely federal assistance from the SBA.
Governor Quinn has determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and local governments. Supplementary federal assistance is necessary. We respectfully request that you issue an SBA Disaster Declaration for Saline County and we request that the SBA disaster loans be offered to eligible individuals and businesses in the counties that are contiguous to Saline County.
We thank you in advance for your timely consideration of this important request and stand ready to assist in any way appropriate.


text:
Q: Sorting a GridView's column containing HyperLinks I am making a project in aspx.net and I have a GridView with several columns filled with text. I am trying to modify the first column as it has to contain the case number of the information displayed in the row, as an HyperLink. The problem I have is that when I add the HyperLink class object, it does not sort the column anymore, as the values in the column stay in the same possition, while the other fields of the row do actually move.
HyperLinko = New HyperLink()
HyperLinko.NavigateUrl = "VentanaExpediente.aspx?sesionid=" & SesionID & "&empleado=" & EmpleadoInicial & "&expediente=" & ValorCampo
HyperLinko.Text = ValorCampo
GridViewDatos.Rows(X).Cells(Y).Controls.Add(HyperLinko)

I have tried displaying the link as an html link and formating it, but without any improvement.
Dim Hipervinculo As String
Hipervinculo = "" & ValorCampo & ""
   GridViewDatos.Rows(X).Cells(Y).Text = Hipervinculo

Is there any way to achieve what I am trying to do?


Finding a good pair of running shoes requires time and patience. There are several characteristics that a pair of running shoes should possess and most shoes tend to miss at least one of them. Running shoes should be undoubtedly comfortable;prolonged periods of running with shoes that don't feel comfortable will result in a premature ending of your running session as your feet may be too worn out.It should be an aesthetically pleasing experience, not one that leads to painful sores and bruising. While this may not be a requirement for some, running is commonly a social activity where you may meet numerous friends or colleagues. Having a pair of shoes that look good will allow you to run with confidence without having to worry about your appearance. And finally, it should maximize performance with features that aid running.
A pair of shoes with all the aforementioned characteristics can be quite challenging to find and if you eventually do, you may not have the option as the price tag would be well beyond your budget. Fortunately, there are ideal running shoes that do exist with a reasonable price as well. Under Armour fleet shoes would be one example.
Under Armour fleet shoes is one range out of several models of shoes manufactured by Under Armour. The fleet shoes have been designed specifically for the purpose of running with numerous features included to optimize your running session. There are typically two models in the Fleet shoe range, the Fleet and Fleet II model. There is also a separate model available for pre-school children.
The Fleet shoe is equipped with cushioning like no other shoe. While other shoes incorporate cushioning primarily for comfort, the cushioning in the Fleet model has been utilized for protection as well.
Under Armour Fleet shoes also have a technology known as ArmourLastic which acts as a shock absorber and makes it less painful or even noticeable when running for prolonged periods on uneven, rough terrain or gravel roads.
ArmourBound is another exclusive feature in Armour Guide used to add comprehensive cushioning for comfort and stability.
Under Armour Fleet shoes also possess other technologies such as Directional Cushioning Engineering that aids the forward motion when running which improves your speed and performance.
Available in two generic colors (black or white) and has a simple yet elegant design. The Fleet II model is the successor of the Fleet model. The Fleet model is no longer in stock on the Under Armour website.
Under Armour fleet shoes are a popular choice by customers looking for Under Armour running shoes and can be easily found on the Under Armour website or in any one of their retail outlets. While the Fleet model can no longer be purchased, if you prefer this model for some reason (even though there are no specific distinctive differences), you may be able to find them at eBay or at other websites selling footwear.


Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) today released a statement supporting the appointment of two top federal prosecutors to investigate recent leaks of classified intelligence that prompted several high-profile news stories.
Schiff – himself a former federal prosecutor and member of the House Intelligence Committee – said in his statement that appointing U.S. Attys. Ronald C. Machen Jr and Rod J. Rosensteinto investigate the leaks was a more prudent step than going the route of a special prosecutor, a move some Republicans have been pushing for.
Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. appointed the prosecutors late Friday.
The White House has been heavily criticized by conservatives who say President Obama's campaign has been leaking information to support news stories that tout his national and global security efforts.
Earlier this year, the New York Times printed detailed accounts of cyber warfare, the slaying of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and alleged "kill lists" maintained for targeting foreign terrorists.
Schiff said he had "every confidence" in Machen and Rosenstein, and that they should be given wide latitude to take their investigation wherever it leads.
"Unless there is evidence of obstruction, the U.S. attorneys should be given the time and latitude to do their jobs and bring charges against any responsible parties," Schiff said.


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text:
Clean Resources continuous intake application process
Back to all Programs
Clean technology addresses sustainability while creating opportunity for economic diversification in Alberta. The Clean Technology program invests in projects to adapt, develop and deploy innovative clean technologies to benefit Albertans and contribute to the growth of the province's low-carbon economy. In each of the priority focus areas, Alberta Innovates looks for projects and activities that can reduce environmental impacts, support Alberta's energy transition, generate jobs in a clean tech economy, and engage industry, researchers and communities to participate in their future energy systems.
Renewable and Alternative Energy focuses on grid modernization, energy storage and electricity generation to support energy development from individual technology components to systems-level integration. The future of electricity systems involves the generation, transmission, distribution and storage of energy using smart, data-enabled, and digital solutions. New opportunities for generation from geothermal to nuclear help in transitioning to low-carbon electricity.
Alberta has an opportunity to use grid modernization to focus more than just on cost, reliability and safety and include more aspects like sustainability, equity, and access.
Renewable and Alternative Energy is positioned to ensure Alberta's future electricity system is safe, reliable, resilient, affordable, designed for growth, capable of incorporating decentralized energy resources and sustainable.
The Alberta Smart Grid Consortium chaired by Alberta Innovates is one way that we're championing Grid Modernization in Alberta. Smart grid technologies enable decentralized energy resources (DERs) and manage the complexities of two-way flow of electricity within a grid.
Batteries and other non-wire solutions can be an affordable way to incorporate intermittent energy sources and provide a reliable, resilient electricity grid. Energy storage facilitates growth and adoption of renewable energy sources. Energy storage and the corresponding technology development to enable it can contribute to energy independence, energy access, and energy equity, particularly for Indigenous and remote communities.
Our focus is on new types of low-emitting generation and decentralized opportunities to diversify Alberta's electricity system. This includes Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, geothermal, solar, wind and more. Initiatives like the Alberta Innovates Learn How Series on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors contributes to energy literacy and paves the way for future deployment of low-emitting generation technologies.
To access the Alberta Innovates Learn How Series on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors learning series go to: https://inventurescanada.com/, then go to the Free 24/7 Access tab in the middle and sign up. Once registered on the Inventure$ Unbound platform, access all the webinar recordings by going directly to the platform, available here https://lnkd.in/gXfBmS7.
Project Funding and Eligibility Criteria
Support is open to researchers, innovators, small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies and others who are seeing funding, expertise and/or sector leadership to advance technology development from TRL 3-7.
The Clean Resources Continuous Intake Process is used to assess projects for funding eligibility. Details of eligibility criteria and application processes are available on the Clean Resources Continuous Intake Process webpage. If the project aligns with the eligibility criteria, please contact the Project Advisor before submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI).
Project Library and Project Activities
Visit the Project Library to view final reports and project summaries. Or follow these links to interesting articles about project activities.
Piloting Smart Grid Tech In Lethbridge
Vanessa White
Director, Renewable and Alternative Energy - Clean Resources
Vanessa.White@albertainnovates.ca


text:
What is HAP
HAP Board of Directors
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COVID-19 Homeless Response
Benchlands Shelter-In-Place Program FAQs
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Santa Cruz County Shelter
& Care Task Force FAQs
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In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the new Benchlands shelter-in-place program model ensures the existing site's compliance with CDC and Santa Cruz County Public Health guidelines and will maintain a stable and safe environment for participants and staff. The new model, which is a joint effort by the County of Santa Cruz, City of Santa Cruz and local nonprofit partners, will include sustained outreach efforts over 2-3 weeks to connect directly with all current participants to provide information about the transition to a shelter-in-place site, including opportunities to participate in the program and to connect them with available services. Under the new model, a site manager will help reduce the health and safety risks to residents by ensuring use of face coverings and availability of hygiene services, as well as social distancing. Additional security will also be provided. Participants will have access to three meals per day, showers and storage space. The site manager will also work with outreach teams to engage with participants to connect them with services and programs focused on permanent housing, healthcare and job training.
Q: Who will manage the site on a daily basis?
A: The site will be staffed by a site manager, assistant site managers and disaster service workers.
Q: Will all current participants be provided shelter?
A: Yes. All participants who express interest in alternative shelter arrangements will be provided them.
Q: What alternatives are available to residents of the existing encampment who choose not to join the new program?
A: The site manager, outreach workers and the campers' caseworkers are working to transition most vulnerable campers to appropriate shelter options, such as hotels through the state's Project Roomkey and other shelter programs. Individuals who are not referred to other programs and choose not to join the new program are required to shelter-in-place at another location of their choosing.
Q: Will there be security staff on-site 24/7?
Q: What are the rules for entering and leaving the site?
A: The new site includes a staffed gate. Because this is a shelter-in-place program, participants will be encouraged to limit travel to essential trips. Participants are able to exit at any time of the day. Site entry is available between 6:00 a.m. and midnight, at which time participants will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms.
Q: How many people can stay at the site?
A: The program has planned for up to approximately 70 people but can be scaled as needed.
Q: How long will the site be in operation?
A: The Benchlands Shelter-In-Place program is a short-term, critical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Operational need for the program will be continuously evaluated, especially as seasons change and winter weather creates site challenges.
Q: How is the site funded?
A: Federal, state and local funds associated with the response to the COVID-19 pandemic are being used to fund operations at the site.
HAP News
Address: 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 |
Email: info@homelessactionpartnership.org
© 2021 by the Homeless Action Partnership


Having followed their businesses for long, will the Indian Brands learn to lead their businesses?
Historically businesses led brands. There was a business strategy to begin with, a business model followed by functional strategies – HR, sourcing, manufacturing, R&D, distribution, sales, marketing and so on. Somewhere within marketing as communication and alongside Brand. Investments were made to set up and run the functions and also into marcom including brand. The latter naturally being a luxury considered and afforded by businesses that could indulge in it and had the progressiveness and patience to experiment.
Brand was seen as an overhead. An expression side element left to the marketing department and contributed to by creative and media agents. People who enthusiastically extolled its virtues but could never prove its value. Indeed, for anything to be of consequence in business, its materiality needs to be clear and measurable. Since no one could achieve the analytical depth for isolating and measuring the economic impact of brands, it was always convenient to keep it with the subjective softer aspects of business like advertising and design.
At Interbrand, we have strived fiercely all around the world to dispel this paradigm. To take the brand out of the confining preserve of marketing and to place it in the center of the organization. This we believe creates business value at four levels – structural optimization, internal & external engagement, demand generation, premium & sustenance, online & offline experience.
One invests to set up and manage the various functional aspects of the business anyway. Wouldn't simple principles of synergy and cohesion make it more efficient if we could somehow integrate the functional strategies though an organizing principle? And what would be better than using the Brand itself as organising principle?
That's the first way in which Brands create business value.
There are two kinds of organizations – business driven and purpose driven. The very act of leveraging brand as the central organizing principle creates a fundamental shift for the organization – a shift from being purely business driven to purpose driven.
The purposefulness of the organization then becomes the premise for a stronger employee engagement. McKinsey's Service Profit Chain model describes the rationale behind it succinctly. Organizations with stronger internal engagement have been conclusively proven to deliver superior financial fundamentals.
The third way through which brands create business value is the basis of brand definition itself. Any business will do well by way of three simple factors – demand generation, demand sustenance and ability to charge premium.
So how does a brand centric approach at organizations help do this? The demand generation in any business or category as also its premium is a function of how strongly does the business own the important drivers influencing the purchase. The sustenance of demand is decided by the strength of the brand internally and externally.
This is the basic approach employed for strategic positioning and definition for the best global brands.
How do we decide on the number of products or categories a brand can straddle? Many Indian organizations today have organically grown into a proliferated portfolio situation. For most, the new product or service opportunities over a period of time either found the same brand cover or a new name. Neither was there a destination envisaged strategically basis nor was there a long term naming system to ensure an organization of the rapid additions to the spectrum.
This understandably dilutes the impact of the brand by confusing the orientation and the ownership of a sharp demand driver as well as weakening many brand strength factors like clarity, focused innovations, authenticity, consistency and understanding.
By a brand centric portfolio management, it is possible to build a portfolio bottom up via the synergies in the demand drivers across the categories. This helps clearly decide on the extendability of the brand and the real need for additional primary and secondary brands. This also ensures that the brand strength does not get compromised but instead gets reinforced through the portfolio.
From structural to premiumized demand generation and sustenance to portfolio organization, we have seen the central and undisputed role of brand in creating both common sensical and measurable business value. Finally let's conclude with the value creation role of brand at the expression and experience stage.
Experience is a sum total of all the touch points that the business has across its stakeholders, both internal and external, offline and online.
And the touch points of experience are not limited to communication alone as majority in the Indian market tend to believe. The touch points include product and service experiences, the beahvior of staff, the channel experience and digital, internal and external communications.
portfolio with a synergistic brands themselves?
If we open up our minds beyond the business and financial processes at one end or communication levers at the other, we will see the vast opportunities that connect the two in between. Unfortunately the practitioners of these two ends of the spectrum prefer to keep it disjointed to hide their inabilities to straddle them.
By consulting with experts who have the strategic and analytical capabilities to deliver maximum business impact plus the insight, talent, and diverse range of skills required to make the business case and then execute a winning creative strategy, organizations can leverage the power of their brands to deliver real business impact.
Hope we can do that for the Best Indian Brands.


pre –sale 1. Engineers available to service machinery overseas. After—sale 1. Engineers available to service machinery overseas. 3. Q:How to operate the machine9 A:We will deliver english manual and video with the machine to you.
Materials can extend through the front and rear to allow for a larger work product. 3). Red-Dot pointer to help you see the expected laser beam position. 8). Two years guarantee for whole machine except for laser tube and lens. 2).
3. So please pick up this machine at your sea port as soon as possible when it arrives. 4. The extra warehouse fee and importing taxes in destination sea port should be covered by buyers. If you are interested in, please contact with us.
Alibaba.com offers 48,570 wood laser cutter products. About 62% of these are laser cutting machines, 32% are laser engraving machines, and 1% are sheet metal fabrication.
A wide variety of wood laser cutter options are available to you, such as free samples, paid samples.
There are 48,380 wood laser cutter suppliers, mainly located in Asia. The top supplying countries are China (Mainland), India, and United States, which supply 99%, 1%, and 1% of wood laser cutter respectively.
Wood laser cutter products are most popular in North America, Domestic Market, and South America.
You can ensure product safety by selecting from certified suppliers, including 9,821 with ISO9001, 5,757 with Other, and 571 with ISO14001 certification.


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AXA UK to cease retail banking advice service
AXA UK has today announced that it will cease to offer face to face financial advice in the branches of its UK banking partners – The Co-operative Banking Group and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks.
The decision to withdraw the bank branch advice service in the UK follows a strategic review into face to face financial advice models that would meet the needs of bank customers and the requirements of the new regulatory environment.
Paul Evans, Group Chief Executive, AXA UK, said: "AXA UK remains a strong advocate of consumers being able to access affordable advice for their particular investment needs. Following similar announcements by major retail banks, we are very disappointed that AXA UK must also now withdraw this service having not found a model which balanced the regulatory requirement that the service be profitable in its own right, whilst setting advice fees at an affordable level."
The decision to close this service will result in the loss of approximately 450 AXA UK roles and a period of individual consultation has commenced. AXA UK has been consulting with bank partners, the union Unite, and management forum representatives throughout this process and will continue to do so.
Paul Evans added: "I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard as part of our branch-based advice team over the past nine years. Although we will no longer offer our face to face financial planning service in the UK branches of our banking partners, we want to reassure all customers that their existing life and savings products will continue to work hard for them and will be serviced through our UK call centres in the future."
This decision does not affect the administration and servicing of any existing AXA products. Any customers with questions should contact the service team for account or policy enquiries on 0845 300 4177.
AXA UK also operates an appointed representative model with West Bromwich Building Society. Following the announcement today, AXA UK will continue to support this arrangement whilst West Bromwich transitions to its new model.


Over a period of 40 years, the city estate De Kemphaan has grown to become one of the most popular nature areas of The Netherlands. Initially, the estate served as a training and information centre about Dutch nature and agriculture. With time passing, various nature related initiatives have joined and were added to the estate. Today you can greatly enjoy nature here, besides other by following hiking or cycling routes. Or by visiting the animal shelter for apes and other exotic animals. Also, a great variety of interesting events are organised here, all nature related, too. Such as the Africa day, the star watching days or each Saturday, an farmer's market with wonderful organic products.
Kids must spend more time outdoors, move and discover more. One of the core goals of De Kemphaan is to inspire the youngest generation, letting them learn about nature in a fun and playful way. People try to accomplish this as low-threshold as possible, through courses and other nice activities. So the kids learn where their fruit and vegetables actually come from. They also learn about sustainable living and how to manage the flora and fauna of The Netherlands. The Kemphaan team thinks that common activities are the best training method to teach youngsters about the nature around them.
Almere is a densely populated city. Its residents were looking for some access to nature but could not find it within the city itself. The solution was found in 1978, with the foundation of the city estate De Kemphaan. The estate was set up for the residents of Almere who therewith could enjoy their self-produced fruit and vegetables, grown in their own little allotment gardens on the premises of the estate.
The city of Almere considered it very important that its residents would keep in closer touch with agricultural life. And the role of De Kemphaan within this plan was to function as an agricultural training centre. Later in the same year another garden was created, for instance: The so called 'consumption garden'. It was meant to demonstrate and illustrate what precisely is needed to sufficiently feed one person throughout an entire year. Meanwhile De Kemphaan exists since almost 40 years. It has always kept its role as a training centre.
Not only the kids come to the Kemphaan estate for learning. Also the participants of the Nieuwland Zorg(t) foundation learn much around here. The city estate De Kemphaan offers disabled people useful daily work and therewith, valid chances for reintegration. All that in a beautiful and challenging environment. Nieuwland Zorg(t) is an officially recognised care centre which looks after the disabled while they work, for instance, at the Almere Jungle. Here they get all the space they need to be themselves, grow and develop further individually.


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NBA Playoff Games Called Off Amid Player Protest
Wednesday, August 26, 2020 by The Associated Press (AP)
Photo: Markus Spiske @markusspiske
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
Called off: Games between Milwaukee and Orlando, Houston and Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland.
The NBA said all three games would be rescheduled, yet did not say when.
The NBA and the NBPA today announced that in light of the Milwaukee Bucks' decision to not take the floor today for Game 5 against the Orlando Magic, today's three games – MIL-ORL, HOU-OKC and LAL-POR have been postponed. Game 5 of each series will be rescheduled.
— NBA (@NBA) August 26, 2020
The dramatic series of moves began when the Bucks — the NBA's team from Wisconsin, a state rocked in recent days by the shooting by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, of Jacob Blake, a Black man — didn't take the floor for their game against the Magic.
The teams were set to begin Game 5 of their series shortly after 4 p.m. EST, with the Bucks needing a win to advance to the second round.
Milwaukee Bucks Senior Vice President Alex Lasry tweeted his support for the players.
Some things are bigger than basketball. The stand taken today by the players and org shows that we're fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I'm incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change
— Alex Lasry (@AlexanderLasry) August 26, 2020
Players had been discussing boycotting games in the bubble after the shooting of Jacob Blake. More discussions were expected Wednesday, but even before that the Bucks apparently decided they would act. Magic players and referees were on the floor for the game but Milwaukee never took the floor.
The Orlando Magic tweeted a statement expressing support for the Bucks and condemning "bigotry, racial injustice and the unwarranted use of violence by police against people of color."
STATEMENT FROM THE ORLANDO MAGIC AND THE DeVOS FAMILY pic.twitter.com/jRZJmo1mq4
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) August 26, 2020
Tags: Jacob Blake, Milwaukee Bucks, NBA, Orlando Magic
Disney Workers Wait To See If They're Part of a Furlough Extension
Judge in mask-ordinance case cautions Sabatini against frivolous lawsuits


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Bright MLS Connects Distributed Workforce and Enhances Customer Experience with RingCentral Cloud Communications and Contact Center Solutions
BELMONT, Calif. — July 31, 2018 — RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE:RNG), a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions, today announced that Bright MLS, one of the nation's largest real estate multiple listing services (MLS), has selected RingCentral's unified solutions across voice, video, online meetings, and contact center to boost workforce productivity and enhance the customer experience.
Serving approximately 85,000 real estate professionals who in turn serve over 20 million consumers, Bright MLS is a combination of two leading multiple listing services, MRIS and TREND, along with a number of other similar organizations in the Mid-Atlantic region. With the formation of the new entity and the offering of more listings across a broader geographic area, Bright MLS needed to standardize its new IT environment to better connect its distributed workforce and contact centers across the Mid-Atlantic.
Previously, Bright MLS had legacy on-premises systems, which primarily supported voice-only communications and were difficult to support a distributed workforce. By standardizing on RingCentral's cloud communications platform, Bright MLS uses RingCentral Office® to connect its workforce across distributed locations and enable communication across different modes. In addition, Bright MLS also uses RingCentral Contact Center™to better support customer engagement.
"Our real estate professionals conduct $100 million worth of transactions each hour," said Garry Marsoubian, Senior Vice President of IT and Project Delivery at Bright MLS. "With RingCentral, we're able to enhance the customer experience while saving costs, making it a business decision that translates to tangible value across our organization. RingCentral has addressed the confidentiality, integrity, and availability questions that all IT leaders must ask when considering cloud services and solutions."
The other key aspect of RingCentral that convinced Bright MLS it was the right solution was the availability of a robust call center solution, RingCentral Contact Center.
Vernon Jones, Vice President of Customer Supportexplains: "Every minute that our customers are on the phone with a support representative is a minute that they aren't initiating or closing deals. Our call centers have to be available to their fullest extent, and the support reps need tools to answer questions quickly. RingCentral Contact Center makes that happen."
Key benefits of RingCentral for Bright MLSinclude:
Enhanced mobility: Real estate agents can work remotely while staying engaged with customers and peers through web and video meetings with RingCentral Meetings™.
Robust contact center solution: RingCentral Contact Center empowers customer support center managers with the visibility and reporting tools they need to ensure that everyone is working optimally.
Open platform: Integration with Salesforce CRM allows support agents to handle calls from directly within Salesforce, ensuring an extra measure of efficiency to answer questions quickly.
Security: Meets the Bright MLS vetting process for confidentiality, integrity, availability; and follows the same model Bright MLS has architected—multiple data centers with highly redundant circuits.
"Standardized on a single cloud communications solution, Bright MLS is an example of the harmony that can be achieved in an organization with multiple locations and a distributed workforce," said Ryan Azus, EVP of Global Sales and Services at RingCentral. "We look forward to further supporting their needs in the future as their business evolves."
For additional information, click here.
About Bright MLS
The Bright MLS real estate service area spans 40,000 square miles throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, including Delaware; Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. As a leading Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Bright serves approximately 85,000 real estate professionals who in turn serve over 20 million consumers.
RingCentral, Inc. (NYSE:RNG) is a leading provider of global enterprise cloud communications and collaboration solutions. More flexible and cost-effective than legacy on-premises systems, RingCentral empowers today's mobile and distributed workforce to communicate, collaborate, and connect from anywhere, on any device. RingCentral unifies voice, video, team messaging and collaboration, conferencing, online meetings, and integrated contact center solutions. RingCentral's open platform integrates with leading business apps and enables customers to easily customize business workflows. RingCentral is headquartered in Belmont, California, and has offices around the world.
©2018 RingCentral, Inc. All rights reserved. RingCentral, RingCentral Office, RingCentral Contact Center, RingCentral Meetingsand the RingCentral logo are trademarks of RingCentral, Inc.


Something spectacular is lingering in the air and this is in respect to the 2016 elections. Everyone is trying to make sense of what it is or better still what it will be. The opinion polls, the political analyses, the media debates and dialogues are all part of the effort to figure out how the 2016 poll is likely to play out.
Campaign platforms are supposed to originate from real issues that confront people. In many countries however, we have seen political figures sometimes artificially constructing the issues so that they can have seemingly 'credible' platforms on which to premise their campaigns. I am talking about the irony of creating a problem so that you can provide the solution! That is just exactly what is gaining currency in many parts of the world today.
Forget about the clean authentic ancient Greek elections where those aspiring to stand for political office would spend time understanding people's real issues. Today, even credible scientific research into society problems is dismissed by those very persons intending to take leadership positions.
I for instance know of a headmaster who is extremely opposed to the conduct and dissemination of scientific research that speaks to his school's real problems. For him, this research doesn't make much sense – it undermines rather than strength his popularity position amongst his students simply because it bring to the fore real issues or problems that he many times does not address. On the other hand, he keeps his popularity amongst his students through an easier way; he create a problem that he 'alone' can address. And because he finds unsuspecting students, he is seen as the only man who can deal with it. On many occasions he has gotten away with his 'wit'. Those who can't see that he is the only one fit to solve the problem are normally labeled 'sinners'.
Recently, one young 'democracy' with a population of 90 million people and over 70 political parties went to the polls. Prior to the elections, the country's astronomical figures translated into just two presidential candidates – one of which was an 'independent' candidate (an army general) while the other was a civilian from a relatively small party (some argue he contested on the general's orders to legitimize the election). Once the presidential election was called, the country was gripped with a wave of repugnant acts such as unexplained disappearances, robberies, thefts, murders, etcetera. In the wake of all these, one candidate came out with resolution to wipe out such gruesome occurrences. It was perfect coincidence; this candidate was a former Commander in Chief of the country's Armed Forces, he was a serving Defence Minister before opting to run for office and he is the man who ran the county's security and intelligence strategy for a couple of decades – he was definitely the right guy for the job, wasn't he? Yes, he was the best candidate to fix all those perceivably authentic 'insecurities'. By all intents and purposes, he fit the bill and of course 'deserved and got the vote'. The question that remained in the minds of many was whether the pre-election insecurities were actually genuine or just choreographed to influence the people's vote!
For Uganda, 2016 is being approached with a lot of tact, thought and anxiety. One issue that has been amplified as a critical campaign platform in Uganda in previous elections has been the promise to guarantee security. This has been the red-thread in many previous presidential candidates' manifestos since 1996. In the absence of an eminent security threat on which to build the credibility of that campaign platform, could some people be right to think that the risks of artificially creating insecurity may high?
Just thinking; this time round, could it be phantom dissident groups popping up in different corners of the country? Or will it be specter frights in urban centers? Could it be the conflict in South Sudan cascading to the boarders of Uganda? Or will it be contrived break-ins and thefts sweeping through the country?
What is it that is going to electrify panic in the electorate this time? Your guess is as good as mine!
Whatever it is, don't rule out the fact that it could be a mere specter. Whatever it is, be on the guard, check to make sure it is not a mirage to hoodwink you unsuspecting voter. Check to make sure somebody is not pulling the rug under your feet for any selfish reason!