The NRA brings up many issues and resolves them to the best of their abilities. One question that is still left unanswered would be why are they letting citizens own the guns and firearms? Many innocent people die each and everyday because of an accidental shooting of a firearm. If there were a ban on the weapon, would this still occur? There are many writers and organizations that are for and against gun control. There are three particular readings that I have read that would definitely support the ban of these weapons. The first reading was by Ruth Rosen, the second by Josh Sugarmann, and the third by James Wright. These three readings all point to the fact that if these weapons were banned, the number of deaths would go down. If guns and firearms were not allowed for personal use, the number of deaths would definitely decrease.
WriteWork contributors. "Should we ban the use of firearms?" WriteWork.com. WriteWork.com, 06 August, 2003. Web. 23 Apr. 2019.


The charge-ordered phases of the one-dimensional Falicov-Kimball model are examined using a non-perturbative representation of the itinerant electrons. An effective model allows us to understand the competition between phase separation and long-range order. We construct a ground-state phase diagram for partial band-filling. The addition of an on-site hybridization potential is found to significantly alter the form of the phase diagram, with the appearance of mixed-valence phenomena.


EghtesadOnline: As part of the latest measure to ditch the US dollar from the country's transactions, the Central Bank of Iran has removed the American currency from the list of Sanarate.ir, the website reporting the exchange rate of foreign currencies based on exchange bureaux information.
The website reportedly stopped showing the US dollar exchange rate as of Sunday. As a result, those wanting to know the dollar's exchange rate will have to directly approach the exchange houses.
Instead, Sanarate has selected the euro, Chinese yuan and Emirati dirham as its three major currencies, with other currencies such as the British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar also quoted at the bottom.
The move came on the heels of the US dollar leaping ahead of the euro this week, which was considered odd by businesspeople, according to Financial Tribune.
In April, Iran started reporting foreign currency equivalents in euros rather than the US dollars, as part of the country's effort to reduce its reliance on the US currency due to political tension with Washington.
This policy is also aimed at encouraging government bodies and affiliated firms to increase their use of the euro at the expense of the dollar.
Bank transactions involving the dollar are already difficult for Iran, because legal risks make US banks unwilling to do business with Tehran. Foreign firms could also be exposed to sanctions, if they conduct Iranian deals in dollars.
France said in February that it will start offering euro-denominated credits to Iranian buyers of its goods later this year to keep its trade out of reach of US sanctions.
The volatility in the currency and gold markets intensified after US President Donald Trump announced in May that he is pulling his country out of the multilateral nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers in 2015.
Last summer, a dollar fetched about 38,000 rials on the open market. Since then, the rial has lost more than 60% of its value. On July 30th, it bottomed out at 119,000 rials to the dollar, a record low. As a result, prices of some staple foods and raw materials have increased, putting the pressure on low-income groups.
Commenting on the move to eliminate the US dollar from Sanarate, Majid Reza Hariri, the deputy head of Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, said it has been years now that the US dollar has been practically removed from the country's trade transactions, as letters of credit are no longer opened in dollars.
He, however, said that after financial reporting shifts to euro, there will be extra work to do. For instance, one has to first convert other currencies to the US dollar, as some currencies like dirham are directly pegged to the greenback.
"By removing the US dollar from Sanarate, the policymaker has made a psychological decision instead of one fixated on a computational basis," Hariri was quoted as saying by IBENA.
He added that the market would continue to do its own work because the rates announced in Sana and Nima–the venue where secondary market rates are negotiated between exporters and importers– do not reflect the market reality.
The euro's exchange rate was announced at 92,635 rials on Sana.
Reports from the unofficial market suggested that the US dollar was traded for about 104,600 rials on Sunday. The official rate of the greenback was 42,000 rials, CBI reported.
The gold coin gained 1.37% on Sunday and fetched 38.38 million rials ((€414), Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union's website reported.


SPRINGFIELD -- Rachel Romano, founder and executive director of VeritasPrep Charter School, believes the secret to mastering the MCAS test -- or any other scholarly goal, for that matter -- is a relentless commitment to achievement, on the part of both teachers and students.
That outlook has enabled students the new commonwealth charter school at 370 Pine Street -- where 86 percent of the children come from low-income households -- to excel on the Massachusetts Comprehensive System Assessment exam for two years in a row. That's saying a lot, considering that the school is only two years old.
As the school embarks on its third academic year, Romano said there will be no letting up in the high expectations that guide work at the school.
"We're relentless about following through," she said. "We sweat the small stuff here."
That means students who don't hand in their homework, miss recess and go to homework center to complete the work.
And it means that teachers must also work out of their comfort zones. Teacher collaboration is encouraged. "It's about being open enough to learn what they don't know," Romano said.
Veritas Prep Scholars -- as the students at the school are called -- surpassed district peers and are outperfoming the state with 72 percent scoring proficient or advanced in math and 76 percent scoring proficient or advanced in English Language Arts, Romano said.
"These results demonstrate that or scholars, however far behind they may be when they enter our school, thrive when given challenging academic content and being held to high expectations," Romano said. "Their performance demonstrates that students will rise to the level schools set for them."
Romano said teachers are continually pushing students to work harder and to do more difficult work.
Student growth percentile represents the improvement of individuals compared to their academic peers across the state. Veritas Prep students had a median SGP of 71 in math showing they are making impressive gains compared to their Springfield district peers, who had an SGP of 43, she said.
"We're most proud of how much our scholars have improved since enrolling at VeritasPrep," Romano said.
The school day is longer at VeritasPrep. Monday through Friday, school runs from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On Friday, students are dismissed at 1 p.m., allowing teachers for professional development time.
The majority of the students are minority and 25 percent of students have special needs and have individual education plans, Romano said.
The grades 5-8 school, currently serving 243 students in Grades 5 through 7. Next year it will add eighth grade with a student body of 324. Students are randomly chosen through a public lottery.


text:
package models.dao;

import static org.fest.assertions.Assertions.assertThat;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;

import models.Post;
import models.PostRating;
import models.PostRatingPK;
import models.User;

import org.junit.Test;

import test.IntegrationTest;

import com.avaje.ebean.Page;

public class PostRatingDAOTest extends IntegrationTest {

	@Test
	public void getRatingFromUserAndPostSucceeds() {
		User user = getInstance(UserDAO.class).get("facebook::testuser");
		Post post = getInstance(PostDAO.class).get(-11L);

		PostRatingPK key = new PostRatingPK(user.getKey(), post.getKey());
		PostRating pr = new PostRating();
		pr.setValue(5);
		pr.setKey(key);

		PostRatingDAO postRatingDAO = getInstance(PostRatingDAO.class);
		postRatingDAO.create(pr);

		PostRating postRating = postRatingDAO.get(user, post);
		assertThat(postRating).isNotNull();
		assertThat(postRating.getValue()).isEqualTo(5);
	}

	@Test
	public void getRatingFromUserSucceeds() {
		PostRatingDAO postRatingDAO = getInstance(PostRatingDAO.class);
		UserDAO userDAO = getInstance(UserDAO.class);

		User user = userDAO.get("facebook::testuser");
		List<PostRating> postRatingList = postRatingDAO.get(user);
		assertThat(postRatingList.size()).isEqualTo(0);

		PostRatingPK key = new PostRatingPK(user.getKey(), (long) 2);
		PostRating pr = new PostRating();
		pr.setValue(5);
		pr.setKey(key);

		postRatingDAO.create(pr);
		postRatingList = postRatingDAO.get(user);
		assertThat(postRatingList.size()).isEqualTo(1);
	}

	@Test
	public void getUpVotedKeysSucceeds() {
		UserDAO userDAO = getInstance(UserDAO.class);
		PostDAO postDAO = getInstance(PostDAO.class);
		PostRatingDAO postRatingDAO = getInstance(PostRatingDAO.class);

		User user = userDAO.get("facebook::testuser");
		Set<Long> upVotedKeys = postRatingDAO.getUpVotedPostKeys(user);
		assertThat(upVotedKeys.size()).isEqualTo(0);

		Post post = postDAO.get(-11L);

		PostRatingPK key = new PostRatingPK(user.getKey(), post.getKey());
		PostRating pr = new PostRating();
		pr.setValue(1);
		pr.setKey(key);
		pr.setKey(key);
		postRatingDAO.create(pr);
		post.setRating(post.getRating() + 1);
		postRatingDAO.resetVotedPostKeyCache(user);

		upVotedKeys = postRatingDAO.getUpVotedPostKeys(user);
		assertThat(upVotedKeys.size()).isEqualTo(1);
	}

	@Test
	public void getDownVotedKeysSucceeds() {
		PostRatingDAO postRatingDAO = getInstance(PostRatingDAO.class);
		UserDAO userDAO = getInstance(UserDAO.class);
		PostDAO postDAO = getInstance(PostDAO.class);

		User user = userDAO.get("facebook::testuser");
		Set<Long> upVotedKeys = postRatingDAO.getDownVotedPostKeys(user);
		assertThat(upVotedKeys.size()).isEqualTo(0);

		Post post = postDAO.get(-11L);

		PostRatingPK key = new PostRatingPK(user.getKey(), post.getKey());
		PostRating pr = new PostRating();
		pr.setValue(-1);
		pr.setKey(key);
		pr.setKey(key);
		postRatingDAO.create(pr);
		post.setRating(post.getRating() - 1);
		postRatingDAO.resetVotedPostKeyCache(user);

		upVotedKeys = postRatingDAO.getDownVotedPostKeys(user);
		assertThat(upVotedKeys.size()).isEqualTo(1);
	}

	@Test
	public void getUpVotedPostsSucceeds() {
		PostRatingDAO postRatingDAO = getInstance(PostRatingDAO.class);
		UserDAO userDAO = getInstance(UserDAO.class);
		PostDAO postDAO = getInstance(PostDAO.class);

		User user = userDAO.get("facebook::testuser");
		Page<Post> upVotedPosts = postRatingDAO.getUpVotedPosts(user, 0);
		assertThat(upVotedPosts.getList().size()).isEqualTo(0);

		Post post = postDAO.get(-11L);

		PostRatingPK key = new PostRatingPK(user.getKey(), post.getKey());
		PostRating pr = new PostRating();
		pr.setValue(1);
		pr.setKey(key);
		pr.setKey(key);
		postRatingDAO.create(pr);
		post.setRating(post.getRating() + 1);
		postRatingDAO.resetVotedPostKeyCache(user);

		upVotedPosts = postRatingDAO.getUpVotedPosts(user, 0);
		assertThat(upVotedPosts.getList().size()).isEqualTo(1);
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Dodgers Notebook: Suddenly, outfield isn't so…
SportsMLBLos Angeles Dodgers
Dodgers Notebook: Suddenly, outfield isn't so crowded
By Tom Hoffarth | tomhoffarth1@gmail.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: July 13, 2013 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: August 29, 2017 at 9:54 am
A Dodger outfield that a week ago had one too many All-Star candidates for an everyday lineup was painfully whittled down to just one Saturday.
Both Yasiel Puig (ailing left hip) and Carl Crawford (tight lower left back), who have provided the speed and the spark at the top of the batting order, instead sat on the bench during the regionally televised network game against Colorado.
That left utility players Skip Schumaker and Jerry Hairston Jr. to flank center fielder Andre Ethier.
Manager Don Mattingly said before the game that an MRI taken on Crawford's back Saturday morning showed "nothing bad was going on."
Crawford, who came off the disabled list July 5 but is just 2 for 25 at the plate since, reported essentially the same thing in the locker room hours before the first pitch. At the same time, he lamented how it just seemed he was getting used to not worrying about his recent surgically repaired left elbow before this latest ailment came up.
"I'm just coming to grips that I'm going to have to step back, people telling me to scale it back," said the Dodgers' starting left fielder and leadoff hitter from Opening Day, who was also a late scratch from Friday's lineup. "The last few days I've been feeling old – tough to bend over, twist, all those usual things."
Puig bounded out of the dugout to join his teammates for the on-field fan photo day hours before the first pitch – teammate Matt Kemp, on the disabled list himself with a sore shoulder, accompanied him around the outfield to pose for pictures, while leading the "M-V-Puig" chant himself.
Puig's day-to-day status going into the All-Star break could determine whether he's OK to go today or be a possible late injury replacement for the National League All-Star roster.
At the moment, pitcher Clayton Kershaw is the lone Dodgers representative for Tuesday's game in New York.
The communication skills that belong to Puig, who played eight innings Thursday before coming out with the strained hip, are what might be troubling Mattingly more than the actual injury.
Mattingly showed frustration over Puig not telling anyone the severity of his hip injury before Friday's game – the 22-year-old Cuban rookie sensation started anyway and played just four innings before taking himself out because he couldn't run well in two groundouts – and it isn't really clear if a resolution has been found.
"I need to know if he can't go, he's gotta tell someone," Mattingly said. "He can't say he's OK, go out there for two innings and leave. That puts us in a bind.
"Maybe he just didn't understand that before. He came out (Friday) and all of the sudden I was down to three players on the bench, one of them the backup catcher. If he said something before, I could have kept him out, maybe used him as a pinch hitter later, done some other things.
"He has to learn that he can't be a hero out there."
Does Mattingly think Puig understands now what to do?
"Well," the manager said after a long pause, "I'm not sure about that."
Since crashing into the right-field wall at Coors Field in Colorado on July 3, Puig has one RBI and one extra-base hit, with 16 strikeouts. His .643 on-base plus slugging percentage since the collision is about half the 1.218 OPS he had before it. His batting average has dipped under .400 for the first time this season, hanging out at .392 with eight homers, 19 RBIs and five steals in 158 plate appearances to date.
As for Crawford, Mattingly said that his hard work could be to his detriment.
"As he gets older he has to find a routine to stay in shape and not overwork," Mattingly said.
The 31-year-old Crawford, with the $20 million annual salary, admitted that his elbow, that underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2012, "is not an issue at all anymore. I'm not even thinking about it. That took awhile, but I'm at a point where I'm doing more long toss and it feels normal again."
Also …
With an announced crowd of 51,992 Saturday, the Dodgers' 10th sellout this season, the team expects another for today's Puig T-shirt giveaway, which should push the four-game series against Colorado past the 200,000 attendance mark. The first three games combined have exceeded 155,000. … Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Jackie Robinson in the movie "42," threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Kemp. Fans were able to see the movie on the video boards following Saturday's game. The film comes out in Blu-Ray and DVD on Tuesday. … Hanley Ramirez went 1 for 3 with a single, driving in the game's only run on a groundout, putting his batting average at .395. No Dodger has ever had a batting average of .400 going into an All-Star break, with a minimum of 100 at-bats. The closest was in 1995 when Mike Piazza was hitting .377 at the break. … Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis left the game in the bottom of the eighth inning after reaching first on an error. He fouled a ball off his knee on the previous pitch.
Cal State LA is trying to use a bioscience hub to bring new jobs, opportunity to struggling region
Discovery of body in southeast Los Angeles County prompts investigation, tangles train schedules
Majority of the flowers used on Rose Parade floats aren't from local farmers, experts say
Paul McCartney reunites with Ringo Starr at Dodger Stadium during career-spanning show
Tom Hoffarth
Tom Hoffarth is a freelancer. He had been with the Daily News/Southern California News Group since 1992 as a general assignment sports reporter, columnist and specialist in the sports media. He has been honored by the Associated Press for sports columnists and honored by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association for his career work. His favorite sportscaster of all time: Vin Scully, for professional and personal reasons. He considers watching Zenyatta win the Breeders' Cup 2009 Classic to be the most memorable sporting event he has covered in his career. Go figure that.
Follow Tom Hoffarth	@TomHoffarth

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Last month we posted an exclusive look at the upcoming iPhone version of the '90s classic puzzle / platformer Qwak, which started life on the BBC Micro and later came to the Amiga. We're happy to report that the game has just gone live in the App Store [link].
In Qwak, you control a duck (get it?). Your objective is to guide this green duck through level after level of platforms, fruits and gems (worth points), bouncing enemies, power-ups to help demolish said enemies, and keys to unlock goodies as well as the level's exit gate. Your duck can run, jump, and fire volleys of egg projectiles to knock out the baddies. Grab a bonus item and watch a hail of colorful fruit rain down upon you. Take too long on a level and meet a hail of spikeballs. In a nutshell, I call it frenetic, fun, and rather fruity (to be alliteratively wanton).
I've spent some time with the prerelease build of the game that developer Jamie Woodhouse provided, and it's been lovely to play. It's a touch-controlled game with a left / right control in one corner and jump and egg-fire controls in the other. The vibrant visuals move about the screen as smooth as glass on the iPhone 3GS test device and a very Amiga-sounding score accompanies the action. It feels both retro and highly polished. It's a game platformer fans won't want to miss.
See our previous article to read our interview with Qwak author Jamie Woodhouse.
Next PostNext 'Carcassonne' Review — As Good As It Gets On The App Store?


text:
Chinese Music Charts (Chinese: 华语音乐排行榜) is a Mandopop record chart established by Chinese Musicians Association, Chinese Radio Union, HUAYINSHENGSHI, and music newspaper Musiclife.

References

Chinese record charts

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Мандрівник ( у США або  у Великій Британії)  — антиутопічний роман Джона Твелф Гоукса. Перший роман із трилогії «Четверте Царство».

Опублікований українською мовою 2006 року видавництвом Книжковий клуб «Клуб сімейного дозвілля» в рамках проекту «Світові бестселери — українською».

{| align="center" border =0%
|+
|-----
|

Анотація книги

Світ, який існує в тіні нашого світу.Боротьба, яку ми ніколи не побачимо.Одна жінка, яка стоїть між тими, хто збирається контролювати історію, і тими, хто ризикуватиме своїм життям зради свободи.

Вони  — мандрівники. Вони можуть подорожувати між вимірами. На них полюють. За Мандрівниками, ось вже багато століть, полюють ті, хто не хоче бачити людство вільним. Ті, хто хоче тримати його під тотальним контролем.
І їм майже вдалося знищити всіх мндрівників. Ще трішки, і світ постане перед серйозною загрозою. Але на шляху зла постає представник іншого стародавнього клану - клану Арлекінів. Клану захисників мандрівників. Клану людей, яких практично із народження навчають захищати та вбивати. Вбивати заради порятунку. Переступати закон заради блага...
Стародавня війна вступає у завершальну фазу.

Екранізація
23 березня 2012 року американський інтернет-журнал про новини кіно Deadline.com написав про те, що компанія Warner Bros придбала права на еранізацію трилогії «Четверте Царство».

Див. також
 Темна ріка (2008)
 Золоте місто. Таємничий дар (2011)

Примітки

Посилання
 «Мандрівник». Джон Твелф Гоукс
 Опис книги «Мандрівник» на сайті Amazon.com

Науково-фантастичні романи США
Антиутопічні романи
Науково-фантастичні романи 2005
Англомовні фантастичні романи


Heidi Taylor | Profit or purpose? What matters in B2B marketing?
Profit or purpose? What matters in B2B marketing?
I'm a huge fan of Mark Ritson. For me, he's an important (and irreverent) voice for anyone in marketing. His most recent Marketing Week article is once again a no-holds-barred commentary on the latest headline-grabbing marketing activity, this time the incredibly moving 'Worlds Apart' ad from Heineken. This four-minute video has generated 12 million views on YouTube and a huge amount of response and commentary, particularly in the wake that awful Pepsi ad.
Provocative as ever, Mark asks the question 'Is it any good?'. In other words, despite the worthy sentiments expressed in the video and the over-riding and very relevant message about focusing on the things that unite us as human beings, the question he's asking from a purely marketing point of view is: Will this ad help Heineken sell more beer?
This ad would work just as well with Guinness, Becks, Strongbow, Stella Artois or a host of other beverages.
In spite of this, I disagree with Mark on a fundamental level.
The headline for his article states that '…marketing is about profit, not purpose'. Yet, for me, it's not either/or. Marketing is about profits and purpose, because profits alone are no longer the sole drivers for our businesses.
Common wisdom has long held that the sole purpose of business (and thus marketing) is to make money and increase shareholder value.
Of course, companies must be profitable to survive. But our organisations are a part of our wider society and they wield enormous power in ways that influence the world we live in. The choices companies make for how they conduct their business have an impact far beyond profits and shareholder value.
We are increasingly looking for and expecting a wider societal purpose from the organisations we buy from and do business with.
Mark's groans probably just got a whole lot louder; if he's reading this (I can dream, can't I?) he might even be expressing a few choice words right now. He has long openly ridiculed this focus on purpose, saying that buyers really don't care about higher purpose, they just want products and services that make their lives easier at prices they can afford.
I can't argue with the latter part of that statement. Nevertheless, it's my belief that in a commercial landscape that's becoming increasingly commoditised, we can no longer depend on differentiating our products or services on features, benefits or price. Whether it's in large ways or small, how our organisations make a difference to the world we live in matters. It matters to the people we employ and it matters to the people who buy from us. Purpose may well be the only differentiator we have to our competitors.
Still, Mark makes a valid point. Although it's not because of brand purpose in and of itself. The biggest challenge in articulating purpose is that it's immensely difficult to be authentic and true to our brands, so that our purpose meaningfully reflects our organisations and can be recognized as such. Most corporate expressions of purpose do end up sounding the same and interchangeable, too often focused on the huge global challenges – hunger, poverty, disease – that have nothing to do with who we are as organisations. Yet this is marketing's responsibility. It's not brand purpose that's the issue, it's marketing's execution of purpose where it has tended to go awry, so that articulating purpose has most often become an exercise in banalities, with no differentiation at all.
As Mark rightfully states, any company could have done this ad.
The point is, they didn't. Heineken did. I know it and everyone else who has seen it knows it. Contrary to what Mark says in his article, this ad does do what marketing is meant to do – 'grow awareness, drive preference and ultimately increase sales' for Heineken. Because Heineken has created a small masterpiece of communication, something that is truly memorable, feels true to Heineken, and matters to us. And this single ad will linger in people's hearts and minds long after this campaign is over.
Mark, I'm still a fan, but on this we disagree. Purpose matters and Heineken has created a genuinely terrific ad. In fact, the next time I buy a beer I will buy a Heineken. And it will be because of this ad. I'd say job well done. Cheers!


Edinburgh is the perfect place to take part in an Environmental English course. Although a town, it has an abundance of nature within its boundaries.
Within one hour of Edinburgh there is a plethora of inland and coastal sites of interest for environmentalists, the Bass Rock is just one of these.


Can i mark pricing up on both the sure products and the marketplaces using wholesale level markup?
Yes. You need to load the prices to BackOffice on the wholesale level. It will accept the increment in percentage.
Also, you can load a .csv file with flat prices.


Home > Printable Coupons > Best Printable Coupons of the Week | Jennie-O, M&M's, Sabra & More!
Best Printable Coupons of the Week | Jennie-O, M&M's, Sabra & More!
Get ready for the best printable coupons of the week! These m&m's are calling out to me today. Print your copies now, because July starts on Monday with new coupons!


Welcome to Bright Children Montessori Academy!
Bright Children Montessori Academy, in Alhambra, CA provides early child education to preschool students ages 2 to 6. The name Bright Children Montessori Academy was chosen to symbolize the opportunity we have to make our children bright and successful in life, since very early age!
Bright Children Montessori Academy's mission is to provide a dynamic, independent learning environment that is hands-on and student-driven. Children develop inner-discipline, a love of learning, and learn at their own pace guided by the Montessori technique, which promotes individual initiative and creativity.
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician, educator, and innovator, acclaimed for her educational method that builds on the way children naturally learn through their senses. Her clinical observations led her to analyze how children learn, and she concluded that they build themselves from what they find in their environment.
Please call us at (626) 628-8327 and we will be happy to schedule a welcome tour for you and your family to show our beautiful school with brand new equipment.


text:
You are here:Home-Features-Who the Hell Are-Who The Hell Are… Fennel Seeds?
Who The Hell Are… Fennel Seeds?
Never in the history of doing these 'Who The Hell Are… ?' spotlights has a band come along and answered each question so thoroughly and excitedly that to praise them any further would make it seem like we're actually in this band or take bribes (we do. email for details). From the same stable of acts (and household one would presume) that brought you the percussive pop concussions of We//Are//Animal and the not-very-French-at-all Masters In France, come spicy indie rock quartet Fennel Seeds. Further proof that North Wales these days is a happening place or one that naught much else happens.
Fennel Seeds excel, whether they want to recognise it or not, in grunge power-pop play. Vocalist Carwyn Ginsberg does share a similar register with that of Kurt Cobain and the music does venture into the same quiet/loud dynamics that made The Pixie so endearing, but that's only part of the action. Debut download single "Strike Me Down" lines up a neat bait and switch, a seemingly straight-up acoustic track that unfolds with full band and neat chiming guitar work at the chorus. Delving into their SoundCloud demos, you'll see this the grunge tag isn't entirely representative, but watch out when becoming the Welsh Kings Of Leon…
01. Who are you?
Fennel Seeds are based in a small village at the foot of Mt. Snowdon (North Wales), The Current line up is Caz Ginsberg on lead vocals and guitar, Huw Jones on lead guitar, Meurig Jones on Bass and Sam Roberts on Drums! Carwyn was the one who came up with the name for the band! He doesn't remember how he came up with the name! We think it's something to do with an incident involving his mother's spice rack! Fennel Seeds started gigging in February 2011!
02. What do you sound like?
The sound is trashy and raw but has a melodic grab to it! All demos are recorded on a small 8 track digital recorder with only one microphone over the drum kit! Which sums up how raw Carwyn likes his music!
03. What do friends say you sound like?
Many say it's a mixture of influences from early Punk to 90s Grunge but it's almost impossible to pigeonhole the style and sound! Lots of people have come up to us after gigs comparing us to The Pixies or Nirvana! But we aim to produce our own unique sound!
04. How did the band get started?
Carwyn started song writing back in 2006, it was then he came up with the name Fennel Seeds as a stage name for himself! After recording some demos in his bedroom he started receiving airplay from the likes of Adam Walton (BBC Radio Wales Introducing) and Tom Robinson (BBC 6Music). After meeting Tom Robinson in a songwriting workshop in 2010, Carwyn was even more determined to put a band together to perform his songs live! In late 2010 Fennel Seeds were busy rehearsing and started gigging locally in February 2011 then moved on to play gigs in London, Cardiff and other cities in the UK.
05. Give me your five band-defining albums?
This band has no defining albums as such! People say that Fennel Seeds' sound is defined from the late 80s and early 90s Grunge albums such as The Pixies – Surfer Rosa and Nirvana – Nevermind!
06. Current band highlight/lowlight/amusing anecdote? (pick one)
Just released debut single as a free download via SoundCloud page and the response has been amazing! Awesome feedback and support from various radio presenters and DJs and great press reviews!
07. Tell us about the last song you wrote?
"Strike Me Down" was released as a free single on the 4th of July via our Soundcloud page!
08. Who would be some dream collaborators?
I guess some one exciting and a cutting edge producer like Gordon Raphael would be awesome to work with! But we're a long way from that!
09. You're making us a 'Fennel Seeds' mixtape. What's going on it?
1. Kings of Leon – "Red Morning Light" (or any thing from their first Album)
2.Eagles of Death Metal – "Boys Bad News"
3. The Pixies – "Where is My Mind?"
4. David Bowie – "Electric Blue" (I think you mean "Sound And Vision" here, boys)
5. Queens of The Stone age – "You Think I Ain't Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire
6. We//Are//Animal – "Luminous Lights"
7. Masters In France – "Mad Hatter"
8. Canned Heat – "Going Up The Country"
9. Os Mutantes – "A Minha Menina"
10. First time listeners, where should they start?
Visit our Soundcloud page! All new demos are uploaded there or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for latest news on gigs/releases! All tour dates are posted on these pages!
www.soundcloud.com/fennelseeds
By Craig Smith|2021-01-09T08:50:05+00:00August 12th, 2011|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: 2011, Fennel Seeds, UK, Who The Hell Are...?|0 Comments
About the Author: Craig Smith
Continues his music photography and writing at sonicdocument.com
Caleb Rudd on Who The Hell Is… Jonneine Zapata?
Dave on Who The Hell Is… Jonneine Zapata?
Way Out West Festival - Gothenburg - 13-14 August 2010 - Webcuts Music on Primavera Festival – Barcelona – 27-29 May 2010
Way Out West Festival - Gothenburg - 13-14 August 2010 - Webcuts Music on Way Out West – Gothenburg – 8 August 2008
Way Out West Festival - Gothenburg - 13-14 August 2010 - Webcuts Music on Way Out West – Gothenburg – 13-14 August 2009


RJ extraordinaire, Malavika Varadan, produces waves fairly literally with her morning show, Breakfast No. 1 on City 101.6. A passionate physical fitness fanatic, positivity ninja and drama queen, she has actually carved a benchmark in the radio market. At TEDxBITSPilaniDubai she will certainly decide to redefine connections.
This talk was offered at a TEDx event using the TED seminar format but separately arranged by a regional area.
It's 3 months later… And Thank you.
Sounds like you're not really interested in the person you're talking to.
+David C Thats informative , thanks .
goes in my opinion. You will always find a downer no matter were you go.
beside me. I think its all about context. To each his own though.
i can't concentrate, im focused on her..
She's… okay… unless you're a thirsty mofo.
Hardned I didn't know all of those things. Thank you for posting.
hahahahaha what year are you living in?
+fight me ill cyka .. no!
don't take me seriously, listen to her.
Did you post this on another video?
videos – because when she can do it, then I can do it (maybe), too.
that video helped me realize things, and change things.
+Jinado1 Thank you for writing this comment – I watched this video today.
one to make the first step.
eat you up from the inside…..I know.
My problem with conversations is that I just don't care about other people.
That's very sad if you just do not care. Do people care about you?
can I have a convemesation with you?
Or maybe it's challenging because you believe that and you look for excuses.
lots of weird looking and socially awkward guys are married.
Or 7 ways to kill somebody, and get away with it.
+kardrasa what do you mean ?
she might even accuse you of harrassment.
innocent. Then start over & work your way back to flirting again.


text:
Kent's Patreon Community
The Minutes She Remembers
Kent Maxson
JOIN KENT'S MUSIC COMMUNITY ON PATREON
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""The real deal...Kent Maxson is all about the music. What you see is what you get...and you're going to love it.""
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Kent Maxson, "Max" to his friends, is an award winning songwriter. His music has been performed on international radio and TV and he has won multiple industry awards, including an RIAA Gold Record for his hit single, "From Where I'm Sitting," as recorded by Gary Allan. Kent currently has three of his songs on the newest CD by Irish singer Mary Duff, including the first single, "Mr Noble," a song that he co-wrote with Garth Brooks. Kent released his newest album, "Will Write Songs For Food" in November 2018 and has 12 of his songs on the critically reviewed album by Irish Traditional Country star, Jordan Mogey.
JOIN MY MAILING LIST AND RECEIVE THE VIDEO "THE MINUTES SHE REMEMBERS"
JOIN MY MAILING LIST FOR THE LATEST NEWS AND A FREE DOWNLOAD!
The video for my song, "The Minutes She Remembers" will be sent to you when you join my mailing list.
The Latest News And Updates About Kent
MY NEW EP/CD "MAX" IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
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BECOME A PATRON AT THE $5 LEVEL BY NOVEMBER 21ST AND GET MY NEW EP, "MAX"
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"CAN'T EVEN GET DRUNK"
GO TO KENTMAXSON.COM
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MY NEW SINGLE - "BEFORE IT WAS LEGAL"
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MY NEW SINGLE, "BEFORE IT WAS LEGAL" WILL BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 19th
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My New Single, "What I Didn't Say" Will Be Released on May 31st
I Just Wanted To Let You Know My New Single,
"What I Didn't Say" Will Be Released On May 31st.
If you like it, please share it. If you really like it, please buy it on either iTunes, Amazon or at kentmaxson.com. If your REALLY like it and want to hear more of my music become a patron at patreon.com/kentmaxson
GET YOUR NAME ON THE COVER OF MY NEW EP
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New funding will provide a viability supplement for community care programmes in rural and remote areas in recognition of the higher costs associated with attracting and retaining staff and other resource implications faced by these areas.
People living in rural and remote areas need access to the same level and quality of community aged care services as people living in more populated areas. However, service providers face higher costs and difficulties in attracting and training staff.
This measure will provide a viability supplement for community care programmes, such as Community Aged Care Packages and Extended Aged Care at Home Packages, in rural and remote areas. The supplement recognises the higher costs and recruitment difficulties faced by these services.
Some 4,000 people in rural and remote areas who currently receive care through the Community Aged Care Packages and Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) Packages programmes, Multi Purpose Services (MPS) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Services will benefit from this initiative.
The Government has committed new funding of $19.4 million over four years to provide viability supplements to community aged care services in rural and remote Australia.
The Government already provides a viability supplement for residential aged care services in rural and remote areas of Australia and recognises the need for a similar viability supplement for community aged care services in these areas.


text:
VOASites by Language
Older: Has Facebook Faded? Part One Newer: Are Teens Meaner Online?
Has Facebook Faded? Part Two
Posted November 8th, 2011 at 7:40 pm (UTC-4)
Has Facebook Become Everyone's Creepy Friend?
Doug Bernard | Washington DC
We're taking a two-part look at the dual challenges facing social networking giant Facebook: increased complexity and decreased privacy. In part one, we explored whether the constant addition of new features is complicating the user experience, making it less fun and more work. Today, we look at criticisms that the network's unprecedented accumulation of users' private detail is, in the words of some, "creepy."
There's an old rule in public relations: don't use words you don't want associated with your product. It's a lesson someone should have mentioned to Sean Parker.
Parker was speaking at the recent Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, plugging his new firm Spotify. But as a former president of Facebook, there were lots of questions about the social networking giant. "What's wrong with it?" asked the moderator. "Facebook has taken the mantle, which seems to be passed every few years, of being the company that some people are scared of, or feel is a little creepy. Is this a concern that people should not have?"
Parker shifted in his chair, muttering. The moderator tried again. "So I'm sensing you might have something you're holding back on, and say 'Yes, John, in fact it is a little creepy.'" Parker's leg jiggled nervously. "Look, I mean there's good creepy and bad creepy," Parker finally replied to knowing laughs. "And today's creepy is tomorrows…necessity?" he wondered before quickly dropping it altogether.
"Parker Defends 'Creepy' Facebook," blared the headline in the Huffington Post. "Facebook must pass the 'creepy' test," wrote Britain's Telegraph newspaper. "Facebook makes us embrace creepy," began Reuters commentator Kevin Kelleher. (Facebook declined to respond to VOA's numerous requests for comment for this story.) Parker's sin was that he had come as close as anyone in his position to addressing what many others are already saying: somewhere along the way, Facebook has become everyone's creepy friend.
If that sounds extreme, consider the sudden popularity of the site "Take This Lollipop." Go there, and with a few clicks, you're suddenly featured in your own personal horror movie. Featuring the always unnerving Bill Oberst as a sweaty stalker, the movie incorporates public images, data and personal references pulled from your Facebook account to create a cautionary tale – starring you – about the dangers of online privacy erosion. (I, for one, found the exercise too creepy, but Liz Klimas didn't, even going as far as posting her movie on YouTube for all to see.)
If that's too much, there's this series of videos posted online titled "If it wasn't for Facebook, this would be creepy." Wall posts, pokes, birthday bombs and other aspects of life on Facebook are taken apart with humor, but also an eye to the more unsettling elements of sharing and friending. "When a technology company is considered 'creepy' it usually means it is at scale and pushing big boundaries," writes the Telegraph's digital media editor Emma Barnett. "The challenge for Facebook will be whether it can properly shed the creepy label and remain at the cutting edge of the web."
It's difficult to determine objectively what people's subjective reactions are to any technology – including Facebook. But a growing number are responding to something they say they find disturbing about the social networking site. In Europe, where privacy concerns tend to rank slightly higher than in the United States, a group of Austrian students are filing legal complaints against the company, alleging that, among other things, Facebook is creating 'shadow' profiles of users who have deleted their accounts. This message board contains hints and suggests for anyone wanting to petition Facebook to turn over the total personal information it has on you. And practically every day, despite continued warnings about its dangers, people break up, get fired or otherwise have their life turned upside down by something posted on Facebook.
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, FILE)
"From the very beginning I was suspicious," says Chris Matyszczyk, corporate creative director and author of the Technically Incorrect blog on CNET. Matyszczyk is also a longtime skeptic of social networks, calling them "a perilous and invasive concept," and peppers his comments with pungent remarks about Facebook and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, most recently calling him a "cudgel-wielder." Says Matyszczyk:
"What's happening is that technology is developing far quicker than laws, or even the human brain it seems. Human beings are beginning to act in ways that imperfectly designed technology wants them to act. So, technology demands of us we do this or do that, and we just happily go along and do it, again without considering the consequences, because it suits our short term. In the end the consequences of that might not just be creepy, but seriously creepy creepy."
So just how creepy can Facebook, or any online service for that matter, become before a majority of people permanently 'de-friend' it? Is there really good-creepy? Google CEO Eric Schmidt alluded to this late in 2010, when he told an audience in Washington, D.C.: "Google's policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it." Not exactly reassuring. And despite some data that point to falling Facebook user numbers in early adopter nations, there's little conclusive evidence that users are yet sufficiently troubled to stop using it altogether. They may, however, be using it less, or more cautiously.
Consider the "Timeline," a new feature Facebook unveiled this year. Timeline assembles all of a users' private data and composes a personal history, from birth to school to jobs, listing major moments and close friends along the way. Facebook calls it "the story of your life." Liz Ganne, a writer with Wall Street Journal's All Things D blog, says "…the whole idea of a life on display in pixels like some never-ending comic book — with photos and text and video and smiley faces (and frowns, too!) — is, well, more than a little creepy." Timeline basically bombed.
Then there was the "Facial Recognition" fiasco earlier this year. The actual technology – that makes tagging others in your uploaded pictures easier by scanning other photos and suggesting tags – wasn't new; Facebook had used it since 2010. However when the company made automatic facial recognition the default, users responded loudly, and Facebook pulled back. Taking a somewhat cooler look, Tech Crunch's Jason Kincaid suggests it may have been more the idea of "facial recognition" than its actual use that caused the widespread Facebook freak out. But for every dispassioned analysis, there's something like this study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, that suggests facial recognition algorithms can sometimes predict a person's private Social Security number based on just one photo. And with that number comes just about everything else about that person. So, pretty much, creepy. Chris Matyszczyk:
"Of course it's creepy! It's creepy because no one can forsee the ultimate consequences. It really is no coincidence that Forbes just decided that Zuckerberg is the ninth most powerful person in the world. That means only 8 people can stop him now! That's why it feels creepy, because Facebook is able to change privacy terms."
Criticisms taken, it's hard to argue with Facebook's success. Further, it would be difficult to say that 800 million registered users could be wrong. Although Facebook declined VOA's requests to report their side of the issue, the company asserts on its site that 400 million people are "active" users, and that number continues growing worldwide. Perhaps, as Mark Zuckerberg himself said in 2010, people's expectations of what 'privacy' means in an online world are changing:
"People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time…But we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner's mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now and we decided that these would be the social norms now and we just went for it."
In the end, the difference between "beginner's mind" and "creepy" remains in the mind of the user. How close the two come together may determine the fate of Facebook. Until then, it might be best to take the advice of blogger Mishi: "Don't be creepy Facebook guy. Seriously."
Tags: creepy, Facebook
Posted in Identity, Privacy
2 responses to "Has Facebook Faded? Part Two"
Call of the Weird « Digital Frontiers says:
[…] fast food and politicians by no means have a corner on creepy online. Recently, in a larger story about the erosion of privacy on the web, we spotlighted an online ad featuring Bill Oberst, Jr.; a talented actor who has grown […]
Are We All Facebook Stalkers? « Digital Frontiers says:
[…] run stories warning of the dangers of social networks; of "over-sharing" and eroding personal privacy. One aspect previously addressed is the phenomena often called "cyber-stalking." We […]
What's Digital Frontiers?
By admin on November 3, 2010
The Internet, mobile phones, tablet computers and other digital devices are transforming our lives in fundamental and often unpredictable ways. "Digital Frontiers" investigates how real world concepts like privacy, identity, security and freedom are evolving in the virtual world.
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Stories often find a perfect home aligned with a brand partner.
Other times, brands seek to generate a story which represents who they are.
Either way, THIS. aligns brands and stories in a synergy of creation and authenticity.
THE SEARCH has been a concept of exploration for over 60 years. Groups of Australian explorers decided to break the mold of the usual ocean and alpine destinations and begin a quest to prove that there are undiscovered destinations that don't appear on any map or web-site in and out of Australia. They have named this quest THE SEARCH.
How do you integrate a food retail outlet brand with the world of Freestyle Motocross (FMX) and X-Games, in order to reflect your core values and positioning whilst attracting a younger audience authentically?
How do you help change the image of a world class athlete. Rip Curl wished to adjust the persona of Mick Fanning, and in doing so, Rip Curl had one of their best years ever at retail and Mick Fanning leveraged to one of the most loved athletes in the world. Welcome to the film 'MISSING' which helped change it all.
With an extremely powerful pre-existing relationship with surf culture, Corona desired a subtle visual representation within an existing film concept, but an even greater experiential component.
When your brand is synonymous with escapism and spans multi-genres (surf and Moto), there are only a view ways to drive an on-going representation of your core DNA. Film is a perfect device, and if done right, can cement a market position and philosophy which puts you in a league of your own.
©2018 THIS. FILM STUDIO PTY LTD. All work is produced by or in conjunction with Michael Lawrence and/or Nicholas Cook as part of their work portfolio.


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (April 13, 2019) - The Western New England baseball team swept Roger Williams in a Commenwealth Coast Conference (CCC) doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Trelease Park.
In the first game, the Golden Bears were cushioned by an eight-run first inning to coast to a 14-4 win, after seven innings. In the later game, the Hawks stormed back with six runs in the sixth to tie, but Western New England responded with five runs in the seventh to prevail, 13-9.
In between games, the 12 seniors on Western New England were honored for their outstanding contributions to the baseball program over the past four years.
Senior catcher Brian Valeriano (Stratford, Conn.) led the way for the Golden Bears, going 2-4 with a two-run shot, making it his fourth of the season. Senior shortstop Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) went 3-4 with a double and two singles. Senior infielder Aaron Rios (Stratford, Conn), senior outifield Ben Lacroix, and sophomore outfielder Joe Webber (Marshfield, Mass.) all collected two hits on the day.
Senior pitcher Bob Hamel (Southwick, Mass.) pitched seven innings and with three strikeouts.
The Hawks were led by the play of Justin Stone who went 2-3, including a two-run home run. Chris Bosco hit a triple for Roger Williams while Joey Gulino had two runs.
The Golden Bears opened up the game with scoring eight runs. Cassella started with a double that scored two runs. Then, back-to-back hits from Webber and Grignano scored made the score 6-0 for Western New England. Valeriano finished off the inning with a home run over the left field fence to balloon the lead to 8-0.
In the top of the third, the Hawks got on the board with a Chris Bosco triple to deep center that scored Stone and Gulino, making the score 8-2.
Loparco and Cassella would both single in the fourth before Rios scored Loparco off a sac fly, adding to the Golden Bear lead.
In the top of the fifth, the Hawks would get some offense off the bat of Stone, who homered to left, making the score 9-4. In the bottom of the inning Loparco would double down the left field line allowing Webber to score adding to the lead at 10-4.
The Golden Bears went on to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh after the Hawks walked in three runs and Grignano singled down the left field line, which enforced the mercy rule at 14-4.
Western New England was anchored by senior outfielder Eric Lacaire (Worcester, Mass.) and senior infielder Aaron Rios (Stratford, Conn.) who both went 3-5. Sophomore outfielder Joe Webber (Marshfield, Mass.), senior catcher Brian Valeriano (Stratford, Conn.), and senior shortstop Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) all had two hits. Three other Golden Bears secured hits, as well.
On the mound, senior pitcher Paul Wetmore struck out six through 5.2 IP.
Roger Williams was led by Danny Roth who went 4-5 with a home run and a double. Chris Bosco had two hits and two RBIs, while five other Hawks players collected a hit.
In the top of the second, Roger Williams took the first lead of the game after two batters walked and a Hobin sac fly brought Roth home, making it 1-0 for Roger Williams.
In the bottom of the third, the Golden Bears scored five runs off of five hits to take the lead at 5-1. After only giving up one hit, Western New England came back and scored three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to expand their lead to 8-1. Lacaire hit a deep triple to center field to start off the inning and eventually scored on a passed ball. A bases loaded walk scored another and another Hawks miscue turned the lead into 8-1 for the Golden Bears.
The Hawks rallied in the sixth with six runs off four hits, closing the gap to 8-7. Then, tying up the game at 8-8 in the top of the seventh off and RBI single from Stone.
Western New England rattled off five runs in the bottom of the inning to secure the lead off the bats of Nussbaum and Rios, which led to the Golden Bears closing out the game with 13-9 victory.
Western New England (16-8, 8-1 CCC) will travel to Eastern Connecticut University on Tuesday at 4pm. Roger Williams (9-15-1, 4-4-1 CCC) will host Wesleyan.


text:
import json

import requests

# This is a python script that you can use to query a specific
# tenant metric endpoint and includes the login and logout requests.
# You can change the parameters below for your configuration and tenant to query.

# Edit this section. Below is a sample config using the public sandbox:
apic_url = 'sandboxapicdc.cisco.com'
apic_username = 'admin'
apic_password = '!v3G@!4@Y'
tenant = 'infra'
api_path = str.format('/api/mo/uni/tn-{}.json?rsp-subtree-include=stats,no-scoped', tenant)

def apic_login(apic, username, password):
    """APIC login and return session cookie"""
    apic_cookie = {}
    credentials = {'aaaUser': {'attributes': {'name': username, 'pwd': password}}}
    json_credentials = json.dumps(credentials)
    base_url = 'https://' + apic + '/api/aaaLogin.json'

    login_response = requests.post(base_url, data=json_credentials, verify=False)

    login_response_json = json.loads(login_response.text)
    token = login_response_json['imdata'][0]['aaaLogin']['attributes']['token']
    apic_cookie['APIC-Cookie'] = token
    return apic_cookie

def apic_query(apic, path, cookie):
    """APIC 'GET' query and return response"""
    base_url = 'https://' + apic + path

    get_response = requests.get(base_url, cookies=cookie, verify=False)

    return get_response

def apic_logout(apic, cookie):
    """APIC logout and return response"""
    base_url = 'https://' + apic + '/api/aaaLogout.json'

    post_response = requests.post(base_url, cookies=cookie, verify=False)

    return post_response

apic_cookie = apic_login(apic=apic_url, username=apic_username, password=apic_password)
response = apic_query(apic=apic_url, path=api_path, cookie=apic_cookie)
logout_response = apic_logout(apic=apic_url, cookie=apic_cookie)

response_json = json.loads(response.text)

print(json.dumps(response_json, indent=2, sort_keys=True))


text:
Cloud & Internet
The 5 Best Free Cloud Storage Services
Fergus O'Sullivan
Fergus is a freelance writer for How-To Geek. He has seven years of tech reporting and reviewing under his belt for a number of publications, including GameCrate and Cloudwards. He's written more articles and reviews about cybersecurity and cloud-based software than he can keep track of---and knows his way around Linux and hardware, too. Read more...
@FergusOSullivan
Mar 15, 2022, 8:00 am EST | 3 min read
Jirsak/Shutterstock.com
There's no shortage of great options if you're looking for free cloud storage. Plenty of companies will let you store several gigabytes in the cloud, and all you need to do is create an account. We've put together our five favorites.
What Makes the Best Free Cloud Storage?
We've put together our picks in no particular order: all of them have something going for them, from Google Drive's excellent suite of tools to Sync.com's security features. In each case, we'll go over what the allotment of free storage is and what extras there are on offer.
You may notice that Dropbox is missing from our list, this is because it only offers 2GB of free storage, which isn't a whole lot. Also missing is Apple's iCloud, which is a little more generous at 5GB but is intended mainly for people who own Apple devices—Apple only provides 1GB if you don't own an Apple device. As most other picks can be used on any device, we felt it was a little fairer.
Also note that in our calculations we have not included any bonuses gained by performing certain actions. For example, pCloud lets you cobble together as much as 10GB of free storage, provided you refer friends to the service. However, the base allotment is just 2GB, which is too low for this list. That said, we will mention when options like that exist.
Google Drive: 15GB
Our first pick is Google Drive, as it's a great option for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is its 15GB of storage, which you get for free for simply making a Google account. Also included are a Gmail address and access to all of Google's office-style products, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. It's a full package, including Google Photos—which, unfortunately, no longer offers unlimited photo storage. Photos you store count toward your 15GB limit.
There are, of course, strings attached. A Google account will track you wherever you go unless you sign out—or use incognito mode—and that may even include your location. Still, if you're not too worried about the panopticon, Google Drive is a great deal as it offers lots of storage and usability at the same time.
Microsoft OneDrive: 5GB
Our next entry is another industry behemoth, Microsoft's OneDrive. Like Google Drive, it's part of a larger suite of apps and you access it through a free Microsoft account. If you own a Windows computer or use any other Microsoft products, including Skype, you already have one. Signing up gets you 5GB of storage through OneDrive, as well as access to a number of apps in the Office 365 package.
Overall, we like what Microsoft has to offer less than Google's apps. In our experience, Microsoft's web-based Office apps often feel slower to respond than Google's. On top of that, OneDrive only offers one-third of Google's storage allotment, so even when looking at just those numbers, Redmond's offering disappoints.
MEGA: 20GB for the First Year
Our third entry is MEGA, and it's also the one that offers the most storage for free: 20GB. You can even expand this further with certain achievements, like installing the mobile and desktop apps or referring a friend, each of which nets you an added 5GB of space. However, this extra storage only lasts a year, which is a shame.
Though MEGA doesn't offer any office-style apps like Google and Microsoft do, it does have much better security. It encrypts all your files when you send them into the cloud, meaning that even if your files manage to get intercepted, nobody will be able to see what's inside. However, it's worth noting that, a few years ago, MEGA's browser extension was hacked and found stealing passwords so the company does not have a bulletproof security record.
IceDrive: 10GB
IceDrive is a relative newcomer to the cloud storage market but has made its mark thanks to solid security and, more importantly, offering a whopping 10GB of storage space for free. All you need to do is supply your email address to create an account and it's all yours. There are no referral offers like with MEGA, but 10GB is nothing to sneeze at.
Like MEGA, IceDrive is a very secure service, but it does have some nifty features the competition doesn't have. For example, it lets you preview encrypted files, which normally isn't possible. It does this by temporarily decrypting files on your end, a neat trick indeed. If this kind of high-tech wizardry sounds good to you, IceDrive is a good pick.
Sync.com: 5GB
We'll finish this list with a look at Sync.com, a cloud storage provider that prides itself on being extremely secure—though many of its advanced functions are missing in the free plan. With just 5GB of space, it's more of a way to get to know the service before committing—though, as with MEGA you can increase your allotment by installing the app and referring friends.
As most of Sync.com's best features are locked away until you start paying for it, the free plan isn't all that special. Still, 5GB of free space is pretty decent and Sync.com's secure sharing features may be just the ticket for a group of people looking to move around sensitive files.
› 7 Ways to Transfer Files Between iPhone and Mac
› 16 Questions You're Too Afraid to Ask About Your New MacBook
› How USB Drives Can Be a Danger to Your Computer
› USB Flash Drive vs. External Hard Drive: Which Is Better?
› What Is Zero-Knowledge Encryption, and Why Should I Choose It?
› How to Attach Photos and Other Files to an Email on iPhone
› How to Uninstall Google Drive on Windows and Mac
› How to Post on Reddit
Fergus is a freelance writer for How-To Geek. He has seven years of tech reporting and reviewing under his belt for a number of publications, including GameCrate and Cloudwards. He's written more articles and reviews about cybersecurity and cloud-based software than he can keep track of---and knows his way around Linux and hardware, too.


The question asked by Ritabrata Banerjee was whether Rs 2.4 lakh crore amount of Public Sector banks (PSBs) loans of crony corporate have been written off by the present Union Government till September 2017.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday insinuated that the Centre is trying to protect bank defaulters by not disclosing credit information by a public sector bank.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo took to her official Facebook page to post a response to a question asked by Rajya Sabha MP Ritabrata Banerjee.
Banerjee said that the reply to the question asked in the Parliament left her "shocked".
"I am shocked to see that at a time, when the farmers in the country are crying and committing suicide for their loan burden and asking for waiver of farmers' loan, the Government of India have not even considered that [sic]," Banerjee wrote on Facebook underlining the numerous demands for farm load waivers from across the country.
But the answer from the Ministry of Finance stated that loan writing-off is a regular exercise and that "borrowers of such written-off loans continue to be liable for repayment".
"Recovery of dues takes place on ongoing basis," said the MoF.
Reacting to the "unbelievable" answer, Mamata Banerjee said that her party had raised the issue of non-performing assets at the time of demonetisation.
"Now the cat is out of the bag and reality bites," she wrote.
Banerjee demanded that the government immediately releases the complete list of defaulters of public sector banks whose loans have been written off.
"Why is this confidentiality? Whom is the Government trying to protect? Is it not a big, big, big scam? [sic]" she wrote.
Banerjee is one of the many opposition leaders who have attacked the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "not taking action" against defaulters such as Nirav Modi.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly questioned the PM's "silence" on the Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud case.


In between other projects, friend and frequent collaborator Dave Lee and I recently started a Youtube series.
I'm not going to lie; it's unlikely to be the next million-viewer smash hit.
However, it's proving to be a fun creative outlet for a bunch of ideas, in-jokes, and video concepts we've been playing with for a while. I'm also hoping it will be a good low-pressure place to experiment with videography, and improve our skills with scripting, lighting, sound design, and all the other things that go into making good quality video.
In the same way that writing for this website once per week for over a year now has improved my ability to, well, write stuff, cranking out a video each week can only be beneficial in terms of video production skills.
One video upload per week. No more, no less. A regular schedule is one of the most important things for building a following, and forcing yourself to actually get stuff done.
Keep them short and sharp. If any video is longer than three minutes, there had better be a damn good reason for it.
Only one take per video, unless there is a truly catastrophic error. We want to make sure all reactions, laughs, etc, are natural and genuine.
Script them at the bullet-point level. Know where each episode is going (to avoid rambling), but keep it loose enough to allow genuine banter to develop.
And finally, each video should stand alone. The viewer shouldn't need to know who we are, or have been following the series in order to enjoy it.