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Thursday, September 18, 2014 12:07 AM
'Civilization V' strategy: Harun al-Rashid's ships of the desert spread Arabian faith far and wide
in Video Gaming | Strategy by MegaBearsFan
Continuing my series of strategy posts about Brave New World's modified civilizations, I'm going to take a look at strategies for Arabia. Arabia received a modest revision in Brave New World out of the box, having its national trait moderately redesigned. The old city connection economic focus has been regeared towards Brave New World's new trade route mechanic, and a religious buff was also added to make this civ more compelling for Gods & Kings mechanics.
The majority of the Arabian peninsula is harsh desert, and so massive human settlement did not begin until the rise of the Islamic empires of the middle ages. In the early seventh century, the Prophet Muhammad began preaching the tenets of Islam in Mecca and Medina, which united several Arabian tribes and led to the establishment of the Caliphate, an Islamic empire that began to extend its influence across the peninsula and beyond. In the mid seventh century, the Caliphate began conquering territory from the Byzantine empire and they completely destroyed the once-powerful Persian empire that had dominated the region since antiquity. At its height, the Caliphate extended from Portugal, Spain, and Morocco in the west, all the way to the borders of India in the east. Arabia's position as a crossroads between west and east made it a center for powerful trading hubs, and Arabian engineers and scientists developed advanced new mathematical concepts. Goods, knowledge, and religious beliefs from both ends of the known world (and beyond) often passed through Arabian trading bazaars, and much of the knowledge of the classical Greeks and Romans were preserved by Islamic scholars, eventually contributing to the European Renaissance centuries later.
Harun al-Rashid ruled during the mid eighth century during the Caliphate's golden age. He has been strongly romanticized by Arabian authors and scholars, and has even been mythologized in tales included in the Book of One Thousand and One Nights. He was known as a sharp political, intellectual, and military mind, but it is difficult to separate factual accounts from fictitious ones. Even his exact birth date is debatable. He was Caliph during one of the greatest periods of expansion of the early caliphates, but he also almost destroyed the Caliphate by dividing the empire among his sons instead of naming a single heir. This led to prolonged civil war between the sons, but the Caliphate did survive the turmoil.
Arabian uniques in Civilization V: Brave New World
Brave New World retains the economic focus of Arabia's old national ability, and also buffs it with a religious bonus. The unique building and unit are mostly unchanged, and both are situationally very powerful. Arabia remains a powerful economic force with the revised ability and building that both grant additional supplies of resources.
Ships of the Desert
"Caravans gain 50% extended range. Your trade routes spread the home city's religion twice as effectively. Oil resources are doubled."
Arabia's vanilla "Trade Caravans" national ability has been replaced with an ability that uses the new trade route mechanics of Brave New World. Instead of providing a passive +1 gold for city connections, the new "Ships of the Desert" ability buffs the base range of Caravans by half. Range extensions from technologies (i.e. Combustion) are not further extended by the ability. Ships of the Desert also doubles the religious pressure that trade routes exert when they originate from an Arabian city, which makes this redesign more appealing for Gods & Kings mechanics as well. Arabia also still receives double quantity of Oil resources.
Caravansaries will extend the total range of the Caravans, for a total of 22 range! The double religious pressure from trade routes applies to both Caravans and Cargo Ships, and Arabian Caravans don't get any buffs to the gold gained by trade routes. Despite the range buff, Arabian Caravans remain inferior to Cargo Ships. It is still recommended that you use Cargo Ships when possible and reserve Caravans only for trade with land-locked cities or for early game when you lack the naval forces to protect Cargo Ships.
Caravan Trade Route Ranges
Non-Arabia
Pre-Carav.
Caravanssary
Base 10 15 15 22
W/Combustion 20 30 25 37
Note that incoming trade routes do not exchange double pressure, only your outgoing routes do. The increase in pressure also stacks with other pressure buffs such as Grand Temple and Religious Texts, so an Arabian Grand Temple city exerts four times the pressure via trade routes! There is also a bug where any Holy City that has built Grand Temple will permanently exert double pressure of whatever is the majority religion, even if the city is captured and the Grand Temple is destroyed. So if you capture a rival Holy City that had Grand Temple (it will be destroyed upon capture), you can convert it to your religion and then use it as another trading source to exert quadruple pressure.
It is also worth remembering that Ships of the Desert spreads the majority religion in that city, regardless of which religion it is. You can use this to spread a rival religion into your own cities if you want to buy that religion's buildings; otherwise, make sure you convert the city to your religion so that you are not accidentally spreading a rival religion!
The final element of Arabia's trait is double quantity of Oil. This only applies to Oil resources located within Arabian territory. Oil from City-States and trade deals are not affected by this ability, so if Arabia doesn't have any sources of Oil within their territory, then they receive no benefit from this aspect of their trait. If an Arabian player does have domestically-produced Oil, then they will be able to enjoy a greater capacity for training advanced late-game units such as Tanks, planes, and Battleships, or the excess Oil can be traded away for other resources (like Aluminum or Uranium) or for gold.
Game Info: "Provides 1 extra copy of each improved luxury resource near this City. Each source of Oil and each Oasis provides +2 gold. Trade routes other players make to a city with a Bazaar will generate an extra 1 gold for the city owner and the trade route owner gains an additional 1 gold for the trade route."
Civilopedia Strategy: "The Bazaar is the Arabian unique building, replacing the Market. The Bazaar provides a gold bonus to the city. The civilization gains one additional copy of each luxury resource provided by a city possessing a Bazaar. The Bazaar provides +2 gold on Oil and Oases."
Replaces: Market.
Bazaar buffs Oases and Oil (even offshore Oil).
Requirements: Currency technology
Cost: 100 Production (same as Market).
Effects: +2 Gold (+1 from Market), +25% Gold (same as Market),
+2 Gold on each Oil and Oasis worked by the city.
Generates +1 Gold for each incoming trade route (for both Bazaar owner and trade route owner) (same as Market).
Also provides a duplicate copy of each improved luxury resource near the city.
Specialists: provides 1 merchant specialist slot.
The Bazaar is a very powerful economic building that is available early in the game. It effectively provides duplicate copies of each improved luxury resource that is near Arabian cities. These extra luxuries do not grant any additional happiness for Arabia, nor do the grant any additional yield of any kind. They can only be sold to other civs via a trade deal. Note the luxury tiles do not have to be worked by a citizen in order to get the extra copy, and you get one copy for each improved tile. So if you have 3 improved Silk within your 3-tile city radius, you will get another 3 copies of Silk to trade (for a total of 6 Silk).
You will receive an extra luxury from the Bazaar even if you settle on top the luxury, as long as you have the prerequisite technology to unlock the normal improvement.
The Bazaar will double luxuries that are on the same tile as the city.
The Bazaar also buffs nearby sources of Oil and Oases, both of which are very common in desert regions - which is beneficial, since Arabia has a desert start bias! Oil is also common in Ice, Tundra, and equatorial regions, so Arabia can possibly gain benefits by expanding into such areas. The bonus yield is granted to the underlying tile/resource, so it does not require that the Oil be improved with a well.
The Bazaar becomes more powerful on larger games with more civilizations, since Arabia will have more potential trade partners to sell the duplicate luxuries to.
Camel Archer
Game Info: "Fast Medieval ranged Unit, weak to Pikemen. Only the Arabians may build it. It is a ranged unit, unlike the Knight which it replaces."
Civilopedia Strategy: "The Camel Archer is the Arabian unique unit, replacing the Knight. The Camel Archer is a powerful ranged attack unit, allowing it to do damage to enemies 2 hexes away. It can move after combat. The Camel Archer is less powerful than the Knight in melee combat. As a mounted unit, the Camel Archer is vulnerable to Pikemen attack."
Replaces: Knight.
Requirements: Chivalry technology, 1 horse resource, and 1 gold per turn maintenance (same as Knight).
Obsoleted: Military Science technology (same as Knight)
Cost: 120 Production / 240 Faith / 460 Gold (same as Knight) [Standard speed].
Attack Type: Ranged, Combat Class: Archery, Combat Strength 17 (-3 from Knight),
Range: 2 hexes, Ranged Strength: 21 (+21 from Knight).
Movement Speed: 4 (same as Knight).
Bonuses: no defensive terrain bonus (same as Knight), may not melee attack, and can move after attacking (same as Knight).
Contrary to the Civilopedia description, Camel Archers are not vulnerable to Pikes!
The Camel Archer is somewhat unique among unique units in that it is one of a handful of uniques that is a different combat type than the unit it replaces. While the generic Knight is a melee Mounted unit, the Camel Archer is an Archery mounted unit. Despite the Civilopedia Strategy description indicating a vulnerability to Pikemen, the Camel Archer is actually immune to the anti-mounted bonuses of Spearmen, Pikemen, Landsknechts, Lancers, and any unique replacements for those units. But since the melee strength is less than the generic Knight, the Camel Archer is still somewhat vulnerable to melee attacks from Longswords and other Knights. Even though they don't get the mounted bonus against the Camel Archer, enemy Lancers will still be a threat, since they can chase down your Camels and have enough raw strength to do a lot of damage.
The fact that the Camel Archer is a ranged unit instead of a melee unit does have some other advantages and disadvantages. One perk is that if you upgrade a Chariot Archer to a Camel Archer, it will retain any ranged promotions that the Chariot had acquired. This makes Chariots much more useful for Arabia in the early game. The Horseman (which is Mounted-melee) also upgrades to the Camel Archer.
The other side of the coin is that when upgraded to Cavalry, the unit still becomes a Mounted-melee unit, and so it will still eventually lose the usefulness of any ranged promotions that it has accumulated. You can try to minimize this problem by focusing your promotions on universally-useful promotions such as March, Cover, or Logistics while a Camel Archer, then take the normal Drill and Shock promotions after the unit is upgraded to Cavalry. If you're lucky enough to highly promote a Horseman, March, Medic, Mobility, Sentry, and Blitz are useful promotions as they can be used when upgraded to a Camel.
Because its type is "Archery" and not "Mounted", the Camel Archer does not benefit from the production bonus of the Stable. But it can benefit from the Temple of Artemis instead.
Upgrade annoyances aside, the Camel Archer is devastatingly effective! It is very mobile and has even higher ranged strength than the Crossbow! It can move in, make a powerful attack from range, and then retreat from harm's way. It also does not have the penalty against cities that regular mounted units have, so it is fairly strong against cities (though still no comparison for Trebuchets), especially since it can attack without taking bombardment from the city. During the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, Arabia can potentially bypass building siege weapons if it has a handful of Camel Archers.
Camel Archers can siege cities with virtual impunity and are effective city-sackers with or without siege support.
Despite being a camel-mounted unit, the Camel Archer still ironically requires Horses in order to build. This differentiates it from other non-horse mounted units like the Indian War Elephant, Carthaginian African Forest Elephant, or the Siamese Naresuan's Elephant, which do not require Horses. So make sure you have access to Horses during the Medieval and Renaissance periods!
General strategy for Arabia
Arabian players should focus on both trade units and religion at the start of the game. You should consider building a Shrine as your first or second build choice in your capital in order to ensure that you get a good pantheon and a head start towards your first Great Prophet. Opening Piety and adopting the Organized Religion policy should also be an early priority (preferably before you build your second city, so that you can take advantage of the Shrine discount).
I founded a pantheon by meeting 2 religious city-states, earned my first social policy from ancient ruin culture.
I adopted Piety before building a Shrine in my capital, saving several turns of precious early-game production!
Pressuring the Heathens one Trade Route at a time
Both Animal Husbandry and Sailing (and the two trade routes that they unlock) should be early priorities, even if you are landlocked. Try to settle in places that will allow relatively fast food growth and good production. You want to try to avoid sending your trade routes to your own cities, since they will most likely be too close to your Holy City to take advantage of the double pressure from "Ships of the Desert". Remember, that trade routes do not produce religious pressure if the target city is already receiving passive pressure from that religion from the source city (within 10 tiles or 13 tiles with Itinerant Preachers). You'll want to take advantage of your increased Caravan range to start pressuring cities that are further away. This spares you from having to buy Missionaries with your early faith and allows you to focus instead on producing a second Great Prophet in order to enhance your religion and get primo beliefs.
If you send your trade routes to cities at the maximum range, then once the city converts, it will passively pressure other nearby cities (further extending the range of your religion).
Religious Pressure
Quick SpeedStandard SpeedEpic SpeedMarathon Speed
Arabian Trade Route
Quick Speed
Standard 9 11 18 22
Standard w/Grand Temple 18 22 36 45
Religious Unity (to Friendly CS only) 18 22 36 45
Religious Unity (to Friendly CS only)
w/Grand Temple 36 45 72 90
Religious Texts (pre-Printing Press) 11 14 22 28
Religious Texts (pre-Printing Press)
Religious Texts (w/Printing Press) 13 16 27 33
Religious Texts (w/Printing Press)
Standard Speed
Regular 6 7 12 15
Regular w/Grand Temple 12 15 24 30
Religious Texts (pre-Printing Press) 7 9 15 18
Religious Texts (w/Printing Press) 9 11 18 22
Epic Speed
Standard 4 5 8 10
Standard w/Grand Temple 8 10 16 20
Religious Unity (to Friendly CS only) 8 10 16 20
Religious Texts (w/Printing Press) 6 7 12 15
Marathon Speed
Standard 2 2 4 5
Standard w/Grand Temple 4 5 8 10
Religious Unity (to Friendly CS only) 4 5 8 10
w/Grand Temple 8 10 16 20
Religious Texts (pre-Printing Press) 2 2 5 6
w/Grand Temple 4 5 10 12
Religious Texts (w/Printing Press) 3 3 6 7
Religious Texts is probably the top enhancer belief for Arabia, as it allows your religion to spread even faster, and it will be doubled by "Ships of the Desert". If Religious Texts is already taken, Itinerant Preachers is also a good option if you have easy access to sea trade routes, as it allows your religion to passively spread to cities further away. This means that you can pressure cities at the maximum extent of your sea route range, while closer cities automatically receive pressure. Both of these enhancers become even more valuable if they are obtained earlier, since it is much easier to spread a religion into a city without any religions than it is to compete with existing religions. If you acquire these enhancer beliefs before your neighbors adopt a religion of their own, then you'll have a great chance of converting all their cities, which will likely lead to a lot of bonuses from your founder belief as well as moderate diplomatic buffs!
Religious Texts and World Religion all stack with Ships of the Desert and Grand Temple.
Shown here: 2 Grand Temple cities (Mecca and captured Jakarta) exert 45 pressure of the home citys' religion.
If neither of these beliefs is available, then Religious Unity becomes a good fall-back option. It will double the pressure in friendly City-States, which will allow you to use your trade routes to quickly spread your religion into City-States before competing civs can. Note that this only works if you are at least friends with the City-State, so pay attention to any missions you can do for them--or better yet, if they ask for a Trade Route, send it to them! You will become friends (+40 influence) for sending the trade route and your route will then exert 4x pressure. If you adopted the Papal Primacy founder belief, then you will get the +15 resting point whenever the City-State finally converts.
Reforming your religion with Jesuit Education will allow Arabia to buy late-game science buildings with faith, and can help make Scientific Victory much easier! If you don't care to try for a scientific victory, or Jesuit Education is already taken, then Evangelism (Missionaries' Spread Religion action erodes existing pressure from other religions) and Unity of the Prophets (Inquisitors and Prophets reduce this religion's presence by half (instead of eliminating it)) will help keep your religion a majority in most cities, which can help you to make your faith the World Religion when the World Congress gets founded. This can help with both Cultural and Diplomatic Victories.
Don't neglect Inquisitors! After you enhance your religion, you may want to buy an Inquisitor to station in each of your major trade hub cities. This will prevent rival civs from using prophets to convert your city, which would cause your trade routes from that city to spread a rival's religion at double pressure.
While you're getting your religion up and running, you should work your way to the Currency technology in order to unlock your Bazaar and start trading away excess resources. If you want to focus on spreading religion and trade, then you will also want to emphasize exploration and go for Astronomy and Printing Press fairly early. Exploring the map and meeting all other civs will make you the defacto leader of the World Congress to ensure that you can propose World Religion. Of course, if Polynesia, Portugal, or other dominant sea-faring powers are present in the game, then it will be unlikely that you will found the Congress.
During the Classical and Medieval eras, Arabia should put high-priority on trade and religious wonders.
Top priority will likely be Petra. Arabia has a desert start bias, and the Currency technology also unlocks Arabia's Bazaar unique building. This wonder will grant an extra trade route and Caravan that you can use to pressure an additional city to convert to your religion. The extra food and production in one of your desert cities will be icing on the cake!
A close runner-up to Petra is the Colossus. This one will be harder to complete, since you'll have to detour to Iron Working to get it (which isn't in-line with any strong tech paths for Arabia). You'll also have to settle a coastal city if your capital wasn't coastal. It will grant an additional trade route and free Cargo Ship, which can be used to provide early-game pressure to cities that your ships of the desert can't reach.
Temple of Artemis
If you're planning on taking advantage of your Camel Archer during the Medieval and Renaissance eras, then the Temple of Artemis can be very helpful. The Camel Archer is a ranged unit, and so Artemis will provide the production bonus for this unit. The faster growth will also help to offset the normally poor food generation of Arabia's desert start bias, which will free up more of your trade units to pressure foreign cities rather than ship food to your own cities.
Camel Archers are "ranged" units, and so Temple of Artemis buffs their production.
Hagia Sophia
If you want to spend all your faith on religious buildings and units rather than save up for a Prophet, then you can try to beeline for this wonder in order to get the prophet necessary to enhance your religion. This is particularly useful if you adopted Holy Warriors. You'll probably already have built a Temple, but this wonder will make that Temple cost no maintenance.
Great Mosque of Djenne
Your bonus pressure from trade routes should reduce your reliance on Missionaries and free you up to use your faith towards religious buildings, military units (if you adopted Holy Warriors), and Prophets. But you will likely need missionaries at some point anyway, and this wonder will make sure that the few Missionaries that you do produce will pack as much of a punch as possible!
Forbidden Palace
Having strong religious pressure means that you will likely be able to fully convert at least one or two other civs to your religion. Having extra delegates from the Forbidden Palace will ensure that you have the votes necessary to declare your religion as the World Religion. This will further increase the rate at which your religion spreads, which means you'll receive even more benefit from your founder belief. The added tourism in your Holy City can also be very beneficial for Cultural Victories. Of course, you'll also need to adopt Patronage, which is not a particularly useful policy tree for Arabia unless you are specifically committing to a Diplomatic Victory.
Other wonders can be very helpful depending on your specific strategy. Notre Dame, Taj Mahal, and Big Ben are great if you decide to play expansively. The Statue of Zeus can provide a boost to your conquests with Camel Archers if you want to play aggressively.
The "Silk Road" travels through Arabian Bazaars
Obtaining a diverse spread of luxuries is key to maximizing Arabia's economic opportunities. If you can corner the market on a particular luxury (or two), then you will guarantee that you'll have trade opportunities. Just be sure to prevent the World Congress from banning your luxuries!. But remember, there are limits to how many copies of a luxury you will need. Don't bother settling near duplicate luxuries if you already have at least as many copies of a particular luxury as there are civs in the game, unless you want to monopolize it and can afford the happiness.
In Brave New World, there are 20 standard luxuries (including Marble) that can appear on the map. Marble will always appear on every map since it gives the +15% wonder production bonus for Ancient- and Classical-era wonders. The others will be random unless you play on Huge maps, in which case, all 20 should appear.
Maximum # Standard Luxuries by Map Size
Max Luxes
Duel 10 Standard 17
Tiny 13 Large 19
Small 15 Huge 20
In addition to these, two (2) Mercantile City-State luxuries will appear but can only be obtained by allying with the City-States. If Indonesia is in the game, then three (3) more may become available.
Note that if there are only 8 players, including yourself, you only really need to acquire 8 copies of a luxury (4 tiles if you have Bazaars). Any excess will go to waste. Other than for the tile yields for your cities, the only benefit of having more copies will be to deny those tiles to other civs, so you can get the monopoly or at least reduce the competition.
This composite shows how the Bazaar can provide a lot of money early on.
Here, I am selling excess Marble, Incense, and Salt that is earned by the Bazaar for 25 gold!
Sell Indonesian Spices in your Bazaar, but not Porcelain and Jewelry!
Keep an eye on Indonesia if they show up in your game. If they acquire their unique spices (Nutmeg, Cloves, & Pepper) by settling on other landmasses, then Arabia can potentially profit from capturing those cities. Arabia does keep the luxuries if they capture these cities (granting 2 copies of the resource), and if they build a Bazaar, they will have a total of three (3) Indonesian spices, which can be sold.
Acquiring an Indonesian "Spice Island" and building a Bazaar in it, yields +1 Cloves for 3 total.
Shown here with all 3 sold to other civs.
Even though Mercantile City-States have unique luxuries also (Porcelain or Jewelry), Arabia can not capture those luxuries because the resource is deleted upon capture and only re-added if the City-State is resurrected. So don't bother capturing Mercantile City-States expecting to get these rare luxuries.
"Black gold" fuels late-game Domination!
Arabia's Camel Archer is a very strong unique unit that can make Arabia into a dominant military power in the medieval and renaissance periods. The double Oil quantities from Ships of the Desert can extend this military dominance into the modern era as well, since Arabia can support a large army of Tanks, Battleships, and planes! If warring is your goal, then you may want to consider Holy Warriors and / or Religious Fervor so that you can take the faith that you're not spending on Missionaries and use it to buy military units.
It can be very tempting to play aggressively with Arabia due to these bonuses, but be careful about how you use your aggression. The remainder of Arabia's uniques are trade-oriented, so you want to avoid angering potential trade partners. You have plenty of opportunities to make friends early by selling excess luxuries and by converting other civs to your religion. The extended range of your Caravans could allow you to bypass your immediate neighbor and focus your religious pressure on players beyond. You can then try to bribe your brothers in the faith to attack your heathen neighbor in order to maintain trade relations and Bazaar customers. Always try to create coalitions of allied civs for your war efforts, so that you can minimize the warmonger hate that the surviving allies will feel towards you.
Camel Archers can chase down and finish off enemy units that retreat behind the lines.
Be sure to use your Camel Archers to their maximum when you have them! Their mobility can be used to chase down and finish off enemy units, as well as provide flanking support if necessary, and they can usually retreat back to safety after attacking. Don't under-value the Camel Archer's city-siege capability. They don't do as much damage as siege weapons, but they can move in, attack, and then move back out of the bombardment range of the city. They can also move far enough into enemy territory to pillage valuable inner tiles and cripple the enemy's economy. A handful of Camel Archers can be a highly effective city-sacking force!
Once Lancers and Cavalry start to show up, your Camel Archers will be in severe trouble, as these fast enemy units can easily catch up to your camels and do massive damage. You may have to back off of your military plans during the industrial era, but once you get to Tanks and planes, you can restart the military machine and hopefully ride your surplus of Oil to a Domination Victory! Just make sure you protect your Oil-producing tiles, since losing a single one to pillagers could cripple a large, Oil-based military.
Even if you decide not to go for a Domination Victory, the excess Oil can be a huge economic boon, as you can maintain a respectable defensive force and still sell away large quantities of Oil for good profits. Just be sure that your own Oil won't be used against you!
Sinking Harun al-Rashid's Ships of the Desert - countering Arabia
Arabia can be a formidable opponent, especially in the hands of a human player. The Camel Archer is one of the best unique units in the game, the Bazaar can be very powerful if properly used, and Arabia is one of the best religious-focus civs after Maya and Ethiopia, and are at least on par with Byzantium, Celts, and Siam. Expect Arabia to found a religion early and aggressively proselytize it. You'll have to work extra hard to spread your own religion in order to offset the double influence from its trade routes. If you find yourself in a religious duel against Arabia, then the Great Mosque of Djenne should become a high-priority wonder so that your individual Missionaries will become stronger.
If you get your own Great Prophet (the Hagia Sophia can give you a free one), you can consider using it to convert Arabia's key trade hub cities. Doing so will cause their Ships of the Desert to spread your religion at double magnitude until Arabia can produce its own Prophet or Inquisitor to convert its cities back. Attempting this will almost certainly incur al-Rashid's wrath! It also probably won't last long, since Inquisitors are pretty cheap, unless your conversion also cripples Arabia's faith generation.
Converting Arabia's key trade hubs will temporarily cause them to more effectively spread your religion.
If converting Arabia isn't possible, then you'll need to hope you can generate enough faith to buy Inquisitors on a regular basis, since stationing Inquisitors in your cities does not block pressure from trade routes.
If you don't have a religion of your own, or don't mind having foreign religions in your cities (i.e. if you are playing as Indonesia), then you should welcome Arabian trade routes into your cities. The increased religious pressure will quickly give you access to follower benefits (particularly buildings) and possibly diplomatic rewards.
Arabia can also be very expansive, and they can use the excess resources from the Bazaar to obtain monopolies or sell luxuries cheap, which can possibly destroy the market for your own luxuries. Don't let Arabia settle cities near your clustered resources! But on the other side of the coin, Arabia can often be a great place to go if you are lacking a particular luxury, since they will usually have extras of everything they own.
If Arabia starts to become too dominant economically, then you may want to attempt to ban one of their monopolized luxury resources in the World Congress. You might find it hard to pass such a resolution if Arabia is on friendly terms with other players and they are benefiting from buying excess Arabian luxuries. Be prepared to dish out the bribes.
Having the Forbidden Palace under your control can help give you an edge against Arabia in the World Congress. This will make it easier to ban their luxuries, tax their armies, and prevent their religion from being adopted as the World Religion. But be careful about antagonizing Arabia, since they can be a significant military threat!
On the wrong end of a Camel
Avoid conflict with Arabia during the Medieval era and early Renaissance, as the Camel Archer is powerful and difficult to counter. They aren't too bad when the A.I. is in control, since the game's A.I. isn't particularly good at moving and attacking. But an army of Camel Archers in the hands of a human player can be a real nightmare to deal with. Their mobility is their greatest strength, so you'll need your own fast units in order to chase them down and kill them. Proper use of zone of control can also keep the Camel Archers from reaching your more vulnerable units.
Even the Great Wall is of limited use against Arabia, since the Camel Archer is still mobile enough on open terrain to move one tile into bombardment range, attack, then move back out of bombardment range. The Camel Archer can also foil would-be conquerors, as it can bombard invading units and then retreat out of the range of a counter attack. Denying Arabia access to horses can be a great way to counter their Camel Archers, since the Camel Archer still requires horse resources (even though camels are not horses).
Camel Archers excel against the Great Wall, as they have enough speed to move in, bombard the city, and move out of range of the city's counter-bombardment despite the movement penalties imposed by the wall.
Once you make it into the Modern era, Arabia again becomes a military threat due to their extra Oil resources. If Arabia starts flexing its military might, then try to embargo them in the World Congress in order to damage their economy and hopefully halt their military production. If they only have a few sources of Oil, then pillaging any one of these tiles can potentially cripple their military. You can also station your military units on top of Arabian oil and oases in order to deny them the bonus yield from their Bazaars.
If you're on friendly terms with Arabia, and you lack your own Oil, then you can likely buy some of Arabia's excess in order to fuel your own defensive needs. Just be careful if you are expecting war with Arabia, since you don't want to depend on imported Arabian Oil only to lose it and suffer a resource combat penalty once the fighting begins!
Discuss this strategy on Civfanatics:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?
p=13460698#post13460698
or on the official 2K Civilization V forums:
http://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?
721476-A-general-strategy-for-Arabia-(BNW)&p=6748361#post6748361
Listen to the discussion on PolyCast, Episode 211, 37m07s (Oct 4, 2014): http://civcomm.civfanatics.com/polycast/polycast/season8/episode211.mp3
91119a55-7a39-4ebe-9d91-07545ab26c34|3|5.0
Tags:Sid Meier's Civilization, Civilization V: Brave New World, Civilization V, ranged mounted unit, bazaar, Arabia, Harun al-Rashid, Ships of the Desert, Camel Archer, luxury resource, trade, trade route, caravan, cargo ship, religion, religious pressure, Religious Texts, Grand Temple, Market, Knight, Indonesia, oil, oasis, Civ-V
Other Civilization V Strategies
America (BNW)
Arabia (BNW)
Carthage (BNW)
France (BNW)
Germany (BNW)
India (BNW)
Iroquois (BNW)
Japan (BNW)
Ottomans (BNW)
Rome (BNW)
'Civilization V' strategy: Gajah Mada vows to spice up Indonesia and Civ V's Brave New WorldContinuing my series of Civilization V strategies, the third installation will cover Gajah Mada and his Indonesian "spice islands". Indonesia is an Oceanic island nation between the Indian and Pacific... 'Civilization V' strategy: Ahmad al-Mansur's trade caravans hold the keys to the Gateway to AfricaContinuing my series of Civilization V strategies, the fourth installation will cover the African trading empire of Morocco lead by Ahmad al-Mansur. When the area of Morocco (north west Africa) was first... 'Civilization V' strategy: Enrico Dandolo blindly manages Brave New World's only playable City-StateThe penultimate entry in my series of strategy posts about Brave New World's new civilizations will focus on the very unique civilization of Venice: the playable City-State. The city of Venice is one of... 'Civilization V' strategy: Maria the Not-So-Mad borrows luxuries in the name of PortugalGoing into the back-end of the new civilizations presented in Brave New World, here is another strategy posts. This time, I'll be discussing the gold-generating machine that is Portugal. The Portuguese...
Justin Fields did not ignite the Bears' struggling offense in the shortened 2021 preseason08/29/2021 A lot of my initial excitement for the Bears' potential in 2021 has been dampened by a lackluster preseason. It didn't matter whether Andy Dalton was playing quarterback or Justin Fields, the offense struggled to move the ball. Most of this was due to poor offensive line play. I didn't get to watch the games live, but I looked...


Surfing waves below waist height is a struggle for most of us unless you have specialist equipment and that's where the "LIL DEVIL" comes in, short, wide, large planing area and flat rocker. It's designed around generating and maintaining speed in the tiniest of conditions. A deepened concave through to an increased concave vee assist the wide tail to break when thrown on rail and make for a playful summer fun board or something in the quiver to counter those flat spells. Ride 3-5inches shorter than your regular board and don't be scared of volume.


Azlan is a valuable partner in a fast changing IT landscape. Connecting partners to the new topics driving channel conversations such as IoT, Hybrid Cloud and Next Generation Datacentres. Maximising partner IT transformation opportunities in: new solution provider ecosystems, fast evolving SI models and for proliferating MSPs. Driving collaboration because customers increasingly seek solutions, expertise and content from multiple sources and IT security solutions that cross former boundaries.
Azlan selected ServiceNav from Coservit to underpin a packaged IT infrastructure and applications monitoring offer, that enablesthat MSPs and CSPs to deliver additional value added services to their end Customers. Example Microsoft packages are; Managed Microsoft Azure (IaaS and PaaS) and Managed Microsoft Office 365.
MSPs and CSPs have opportunitites for incremental revenues when selling infrastructure services or platform services by being able to offer ServiceNav as a monitoring solution that will incorporate multiple checks into Business Service availability reporting "out-of-the-box". Partners who are also service providers, can use the ServiceNav product themselves to deliver "value-added" monitoring and reporting to their customers.


text:
Taiwanese Authorities Set to Form Blockchain Alliance
Reading Time: 2 minutes by Ogwu Osaemezu Emmanuel on March 28, 2019 Adoption, Blockchain, Business, News, Regulation
The National Development Council of Taiwan (NDC) has revealed plans to create a distributed ledger technology (DLT) alliance whose primary objective would be to promote the adoption of blockchain technology in various sectors of the region's economy, reports Taiwan News on March 27, 2019.
Taiwan to Form DLT Alliance to Promote Adoption
Per sources close to the matter, the NDC has announced it's looking to create a national blockchain alliance in the coming months.
Reportedly, the NDC Minister, Chen Mei-ling who was present at the nation's Smart City Summit & Expo, revealed that the agency had held meetings with a significant number of government parastatals, DLT experts, as well as academics in the state to accurately define the exact mission of the blockchain alliance.
Commenting on the initiative, Minister Mei-ling made it clear that the revolutionary technology could play a significant role in the nation's governance and Taiwan has all it takes to occupy the frontline in the development of the nascent technology.
The state also plans to integrate blockchain technology into its agricultural and supply chain sectors to improve food safety by making it possible for the Council of Agriculture to trace the origin of food products seamlessly.
It's worth noting that Taiwan has been making active plans to put itself at the forefront of the crypto and blockchain revolution.
Earlier in March 2018, the government of Taiwan announced that it would take a more liberal approach towards regulating bitcoin and other cryptoassets in the state, unlike its Chinese neighbours that have outrightly banned all crypto-related activities in the country.
At the Asia Blockchain Summit in July 2018, Chen Mei-ling buttressed the need for Taiwan to refine its existing regulatory framework and formulate new rules that would promote the adoption and implementation of blockchain technology in the state.
On March 5, 2019, BTCManager informed that Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Council (FSC) had announced plans to create a platform that would facilitate the raising of funds via security token offerings (STOs).
While several forward-thinking countries, firms, and organizations are scampering to join the blockchain technology bandwagon, it's worthy of note that some people still doubt the potentials of DLT. On March 26, 2019, Bank of America's chief operations and technology officer, Cathy Bessant declared that she's still very bearish on the technology, as she is yet to see a single use case for DLT.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Jatobá kan syfta på följande platser:

Brasilien

 São José de Piranhas (ort), Paraíba,
 Jatobá (ort), Pernambuco,
 Jatobá (kommun i Brasilien, Maranhão),
 Jatobá (kommun i Brasilien, Pernambuco, lat -9,22, long -38,21),

Robotskapade Brasilienförgreningar

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


MRambler Central » Blog Archive » Happy New year 2016…..
MRambler posted this entry on Friday, January 1st, 2016 at 1:07 pm. Posted in the category Holidays	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


text:
Belarus-EU: Growing Cooperation without Breakthroughs
Yauheni Preiherman
Whereas in 2016 Belarus-EU relations saw progress on political matters with little economic effects, the year 2017 and the beginning of 2018 registered the opposite trend: Minsk and Brussels remain stuck in negotiations on landmark political issues, but demonstrate good dynamics in sectoral dialogues and project cooperation. Moreover, after a serious decline in 2015-2016, trade between Belarus and EU member states is on the rise.
Originally appeared in GET Belarus
Political rapprochement, but no major breakthrough
Since February 2016, when the EU Council lifted most sanctions against Belarus, the atmosphere in Belarus-EU relations has generally been positive. One indicator of that has been that the intensity and level of political contacts continue to grow. Several noteworthy high-level visits to Belarus have taken place in recent months. For example, in September 2017, British Minister for Europe and America Sir Alan Duncan became the first high-ranking member of the UK government to have visited Minsk in the 25 years of UK-Belarusian relations. In November 2017, Sigmar Gabriel was the first German foreign minister to have paid an official bilateral visit since 1995. In February 2018, Minsk received a big Latvian delegation headed by Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis - the first such visit in nine years.
The geography of EU visits by high-ranking Belarusian representatives has also expanded significantly, compared to what was the case several years ago. For the first time, President Alexander Lukashenka received a personal invitation to attend the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels in November 2017, which also resulted from the gradual rapprochement in Belarus-EU relations. According to diplomats on both sides, they can now talk to each other openly and about all issues of mutual concern, even though not yet publicly. For instance, annual Human Rights Dialogue sessions have been held since 2015. In July 2017, Brussels hosted the third round of the dialogue.
However, President Lukashenka decided not to attend the Eastern Partnership summit and delegated Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei instead.
That move pointed primarily to a lingering lack of trust between Minsk and EU capitals and institutions, as well as highlighted the fact that the rapprochement had not yet materialised into politically significant results.
The sides remain stuck in negotiations on both the so-called partnership priorities and visa liberalisation agreements. The two documents have been on the bilateral agenda for a long time already. According to EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn, Minsk and Brussels need to "run meters, not kilometres" before the former agreement can be signed. Yet, these "last meters" have been problematic even though the signing of the partnership priorities is not going to be a real game-changer for the relations. The document is supposed to better structure cooperation along four tracks: effective governance; economic development and market opportunities; transport, energy, ecology, and climate; and people-to-people contacts.
One obstacle to the finalisation of the negotiations on the partnership priorities is the tough position taken by Lithuania. Its government tries to tie the possibility of any agreement between Belarus and the EU to its demands regarding the Belarusian nuclear power plant currently under construction. Interestingly, Lithuania is the only EU state to have adopted such a non-cooperative stance on Belarus's NPP. In contrast, Latvia and Poland, which are also in close proximity to the construction site, adhere to a negotiation strategy with Minsk.
The protracted lack of progress on politically noteworthy issues, like the partnership priorities and visa liberalisation agreements, leads some observers to conclude that EU-Belarus relations have reached some sort of a "plateau".
Whether or not this metaphor is insightful enough, politically Minsk and Brussels are going through another uneasy phase. It is, of course, qualitatively different from the crisis-driven period of 2011-2013, but certainly requires additional flexibility and patience from both sides.
More sectoral dialogues and project cooperation
While on the political level noticeable progress is missing, economic ties and project-based cooperation demonstrate better dynamics. Modest but steady progress is reflected, inter alia, by the contents of the EU-Belarus Coordination Group meetings. Two such meetings took place in 2017 (and four all in all). The idea of these biannual meetings is to map existing and future cooperation projects in a variety of sectors (technically, the meetings should facilitate the signing of the partnership priorities). Items on the agenda include a broad range of economic, environmental and social topics.
To promote cooperative projects in these fields, the EU plans to provide Belarus with EUR 112-136 m of technical grants over the next three years. Moreover, until 2020 Belarus will have access to the 283 m fund within the "Poland-Belarus-Ukraine" and "Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus" cross-border projects. One more sign of the positive dynamics is the fact that Belarus has for the first time accredited a customs attaché at its permanent representation to the EU in Brussels.
The last year also saw an increased number of business-related activities. Most noteworthy was the "Belarus. Invest in Tomorrow" investment forum, which took place in Luxembourg on 27 October 2017. Belarus was represented by Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov, who had a chance to meet more than 200 business delegates from across the EU.
Also, European financial institutions are becoming more active in Belarus. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which in 2016 got a mandate to work with the Belarusian state sector, has now adopted a new country strategy. The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a framework cooperation agreement with Belarus in May 2017. In July, the Belarusian parliament ratified the agreement. The EIB has started funding several infrastructural projects, which include the upgrade of international transport corridors, municipal and environmental infrastructure (including water and wastewater), and climate action projects. Furthermore, the EIB is involved in the upgrade of a highway from Minsk to the Lithuanian border in parallel financing with the World Bank.
On the margins of the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, Belarus and the EU signed a High-level Understanding on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), which should help to attract additional EU funding for large-scale transport projects.
Belarus's trade with the EU also reveals a positive trend after a serious decline in 2015-2016. According to Eurostat, the year 2017 registered growth of the overall turnover of trade in goods, with both Belarus's exports (+15.2%) and imports (+21.7%) contributing. As a result, Belarus had a surplus of EUR 2.7 bn in trade in goods in 2017. This trend continues in 2018: In January, Belarus's exports to EU countries rose by 64.6%, whereas imports from the EU grew by 26.2%.
In January 2018, Belarus got upgraded (for the first time since 1999) in the Country Risk Classification of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This will bring down the financing cost for companies working with Belarus and can give another impetus to trade and investment facilitation.
Unless Belarus-EU relations experience any negative surprises over the next year, there is every reason to expect that current trends will continue.
Minsk seems determined to fill the relations with more substance and progress on both political and economic levels.
It is telling in this respect that President Lukashenka approved the EU policy of the country during a meeting with Foreign Minister Makei in mid-January.
Yet, difficult matters in negotiations on the partnership priorities, as well as visa liberalisation remain unresolved. Even though both sides signal cautious optimism, lack of mutual trust and vested interests against further normalisation of the relations will continue to complicate the situation. Against this background, sectoral dialogues and project cooperation will remain the driving forces of the relations.
Yauheni Preiherman - Head, Minsk Dialogue Track-II Initiative.
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How can Belarus's IT sector impact its international standing?
Belarus-China Relations
Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State of Belarus and Russia
Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations
Site development — PRAS company


text:
import { waitUntilLoadedCtrl, waitUntilLoadedStep } from "../../../../source/iml/server/wait-until-loaded-step.js";
import angular from "../../../angular-mock-setup.js";

describe("wait until add server resolves complete", () => {
  let scope, $rootScope, step;

  beforeEach(() => {
    step = waitUntilLoadedStep();
  });

  beforeEach(
    angular.mock.inject(_$rootScope_ => {
      $rootScope = _$rootScope_;
      scope = $rootScope.$new();

      waitUntilLoadedCtrl(scope);
    })
  );

  describe("Wait Until Loaded Controller", () => {
    it("should emit the closeModal event", () => {
      let closeModalCalled = false;

      $rootScope.$on("addServerModal::closeModal", () => (closeModalCalled = true));

      scope.wait.close();
      scope.$digest();

      expect(closeModalCalled).toBe(true);
    });
  });

  describe("initialize waitUntilLoadedStep", () => {
    it("should have the template", () => {
      expect(step.template).toBe(`

  <button type="button" class="close" ng-click="wait.close()">

  </button>

{{'server_waiting_title' | insertHelp}}

{{'server_waiting_header' | insertHelp}}

{{'server_waiting' | insertHelp}}

`);
    });

    it("should have the controller specified", () => {
      expect(step.controller).toBe("WaitUntilLoadedCtrl");
    });
  });
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


No Time or Energy for Romance?
As I said in the kick-off post for this True Love series, I plan to look closely at the way love is expressed to us by God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. To me that is the best way to learn about True Love.
The story of the Gospel is really a love story. It's the story of a God who would go to any lengths to have us for himself; who would do whatever it took to live in intimacy with us forever. Even if that meant the death of His own Son.
It was clear that we would never keep the rules well enough to earn our way back to him. We were stuck in our own imperfection. Mired in our own weakness and sin.
So grace stepped in and found us. Jesus gave his all so that we could be restored to intimacy with the Father. Jesus came to make us his bride for all eternity. Undeserving as we were, He made us the righteousness of Christ.
Jesus overcame our inability to keep the rules so that we could have relationship with him.
He didn't merely overlook our failures. He overcame them by his own sacrifice of love, even giving up his own life.
All for the sake of intimacy.
How does Jesus' display of extravagant love help us understand True Love in marriage?
The next time your husband or wife falls short, offends you, makes a mistake or acts in a way that would otherwise drive you apart, stop and think of how Jesus responded to these very things in us.
I'm not saying it's easy to do. It's not. But I do believe that is the example of True Love we are to emulate in our marriages.
Do you have a story of when True Love triumphed in your own marriage? Is there a time when your husband or wife put the intimacy in your relationship ahead of his or her right to be offended or hurt? Share your stories in the comments.
I am thankful that God has enabled my husband and I to focus on intimacy rather than rules most of the time (we are not perfect, for sure!). I do believe that Christ emphasized people and relationships over rules, but when I look at the church and the Christian community at large, it seems like a lot of people are focusing on rules, structures, and institutions more than people and relationships. I find that to be very discouraging.
Gaye - thanks for comments. I agree that too many in the church focus on rules when God is after a relationship with us. I have hope that there will be more and more revelation of grace and God's heart toward us.
Thanks for writing Scott; you always give me lots to think about!
@ Gaye - it is sad to say but I agree. My hubby is a relatively new believer and can't stomach church. In many, many ways he finds 'the world' more forgiving.
Back to Scott - Yes, it is difficult to do isn't it? I believe this is part of what Jesus meant when He said, "By this the world will know that you belong to Me." -- It's in how we translate His love into our marriages.
Robyn - I have this crazy dream: that the marriages in the church would be so amazing and full of grace that people get saved just from watching how we love.


Are you left confused by your digital camera's metering mode function? We might be able to help.
The Metering Mode button on your camera is symbolised by an eye-shaped icon within a rectangle. Within your metering mode function you will have either three or four metering modes: spot metering (read our guide to when to use spot metering), partial metering, centre-weighted metering and evaluative metering.
As you will see in our latest photography cheat sheet below, each metering option measures the brightness of a scene in different ways, depending on what subject you are shooting.
Our infographic below breaks down each metering mode and explains how they work and when is best to use them. And at the end of this article we'll show you how to switch the metering mode on your digital camera.
To see the larger version of this cheat sheet simply click on the infographic or drag and drop it to your desktop.
If you liked this, you might like some of our other cheat sheets, such as our guide to when to use small or wide apertures, or our guide to how to read a histogram.
Press the Metering Mode button on your camera - symbolised by an eye-shaped icon in a rectangle.
Use the Main Dial (or the right and left cursor keys at the back of the camera) to cycle through the options and switch from one metering mode to the next. We used a Canon DSLR for the purposes of this exercise. It may be slightly different on your camera.
On some models you will need to press the central Set button on the back of the camera in order to confirm the change you have made to the metering mode.


Emma in Bromley: Moving House - The Fear!
It's been well over a year (more like 5) since we decided to move house - our little man is firmly settled in reception at primary school and as a family of four, we've more than outgrown our bijou 2up2down starter home.
Hubby gets home just at bed time - usually when I'm a soggy, tearful mess after bathtime and witching hour.
We both do bedtime - one child each.
That takes us until about 8.30pm when I then cook evening meals for us - never the same food - I'm veggie, husband is all about the meat.
After cooking, eating and cleaning up, ironing shirts for the next day, sorting out the school bag and home work folders (reception get 2 homework folders a week!), preparing as much of the packed lunch as I can and suddenly realising it's way after 10pm and I haven't even sat down all day - the last thing I have the energy to do is sorting out the house - all I want to do is watch a bit of Revenge/Bones/TOWIE/ mooney boy/ revolution or curl up and sleep! I'd also quite like to paint my nails, do a bit of my own hobby, blog or read a book but given it's 11pm and I'll be up at least twice in the night and out of bed by 6am - I can't fit everything in can I?!
So we made a decision, a tough one, we're taking advantage of my kind inlaws and taking advantage of them while we sort out our home.
We've hired a storage unit and I've bought a million (well, 8) massive plastic storage boxes from Jojo Maman Bebe for the kids toys - I love that they don't charge for postage!
Our plan is a simple one, make our home look clean and tidy, touch up the paint, plant some plants, store some of our things (mostly toys, books, clothes and paperwork), and until we have an offer we accept, use family to help out. After having an offer until completion we will try and keep it looking like a show home. Then we will look for our new home and all the toys and books and clothes can come back out.
Lets start with my son's primary school, he started a few weeks late as he was on a waiting list for a school place. It's 2.4 miles away from our current house and I don't drive and there's no chance of getting on a bus after school with a pram so it's currently one heck of a mission - I'm not exaggerating when I say I have to set off at 1.30 just to collect my little man from school and it's 4.30 by the time we get home again!
Similar houses in our current area in Bromley are about the £280k mark and this time round we will be buying on just one salary - I still have student loan debt so I count as negative equity! the cheek!
My biggest fear is what happens if and when we sell our current home - which apart from now being to small for a family of four and too far away from school - is actually lovely and has the best view from the upstairs window, a lovely brand new kitchen and the perfect fireplace. It's only 5 mins walk to a station that takes 20 mins to reach Central London and it's taken us almost 9 years to turn it from the hideous state it was in to a lovely home. There's a lot in our current home, a lot that I will miss and don't really want to part with, I actually really love our current home!
But I'm terrified of being priced out of the market, what if we sell and we can't get a home in the area we need? We have to be within a reasonable walk of the school our son is already settled in, we also need to be in a reasonable walking distance of a train station.
There's a house up for sale at the moment that is 5 min walk to school - 20 min walk to the train station. It's a semi detached and needs a lot of work - the tiny kitchen and bathroom are dated, as is the conservatory/lean to. There's no off street parking (besides being a prime parking spot for 2 primary schools, it's also opposite an adult college - parking on the street is very difficult on this stretch of road) there's no rear access or garage for the hubby's motorbike. The bathroom upstairs weirdly can only be accessed via bedroom 3 which is so small I don't think you could actually use it as a bedroom - because it's the only bathroom access there isn't actually enough space for a bed. I guess there's potential - there isn't enough room at the front to create off street parking but in the long run, perhaps with planning permission you could do something about the tiny kitchen, replace the conservatory and maybe a loft conversion and lose the weird small 3rd bedroom. But we certainly couldn't afford to do all that or even have the will power to do it with two small kids. But the real kicker - this house is a sickening ridiculous £550k - yep you read that right!
Other houses in the area on offer include a semi- detached on a near by street with a garage and an upstairs bathroom you can access without traipsing through a bedroom - at a whopping £620k. A beautiful detached house ticking all our needs - except its right next to an electrical house and opposite an area being treated for Japanese knot wood will set you back a mind boggling family friendly £800k to be frank, I haven't seen anything under half a million - even the real grotty houses in this area full of terraces and semi's - I'm not talking beautiful family homes ready to move into - those, like the one on two streets away from school are an impossible for an average local family to buy at £900k plus.
I've been talking to estate agents who all claim that half the houses they sell never make it onto the websites because the sell so quickly. Every single one has been quick to advise me to sell first. Not one has been able to show me that my fears are unfounded and that the "half of their houses" that never make it online are what we can afford and need. In over a year, I haven't seen anything that ticks most of our boxes and is affordable.
There's three reasons why prices are so dizzily expensive in the area we are looking at.
1. It's in reasonable walking distance of 5 primary schools.
2. It's within a 25 min walk to a train station into London.
3. Most buyers are second time buyers moving out from Central London and want the station link and can afford to trump the local families who need to be close to the 5 schools.
The competition is going to be ferocious - in the unlikely event of something coming up that we can actually afford - it's going to be in less than ideal condition and in need of serious work (I don't want something hideous all over again - we've done mouldy carpets before thank you!). We will be competing with lots of other families and people moving out from central London. And those who qualify for The government help to buy scheme.
I'm terrified! Are we setting ourselves up for homeless doom? What on earth do you do if you find yourself priced out of the market?! If only our current home was twice the size and in a different location ha ha!


Check this page often to find out what's new with SIGMETRICS.
The election results for ACM SIGMETRICS can be found here.
ACM SIGMETRICS 2011 will be part of ACM's Federated Computing Research Conference (FCRC). The CFP is available at the conference website.
Videos of talk sessions and keynotes as well as electronic copies of all SIGMETRICS/Performance 2009 papers are now available at the conference website.
ACM SIGMETRICS 2010 will be held at Columbia University in New York City. A preliminary CFP is available at the conference website.
The ACM SIGMETRICS Test of Time Award recognizes an influential performance evaluation paper whose impact is still felt 10-12 years after its initial publication. The inaugural winners of this newly-created award will be announced at ACM SIGMETRICS 2010 in New York.


Forex Stormer The Best Forex System Makes Lots Of Profits!
Forex Diamond Secrete - Amazing Forex System Selling Like Candy!
This EA Specializes In Trying To Find Trend Reversals In The Range Of 50 To 500 Pips. An Average Trade Time May Last Anywhere From 1 To 72 Hours.


text:
Introducing Paul Belisario – IPMSD/The Philippines
Meet Paul Belisario, Assistant Global Coordinator for the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), a KAIROS solidarity partner. His work focuses on campaigns, mobilization and outreach on the themes of liberation movements and right to self-determination, land rights, climate justice, and food systems.
Paul will be representing IPMSDL in a Global Indigenous Peoples delegation to COP27, but he has also agreed to join the KAIROS delegation to lend his experience and expertise working on Indigenous rights and climate change issues in the Philippines.
About the impacts of climate change in the Philippines, Paul states:
"Climate change, climate imperialism impacts on Indigenous communities and rural communities every day. It impacts on the kinds of disaster they experience – the landslides, the degradation of their ancestral lands, even the way and how they produce their food and how they exercise their culture, and how they live and exercise their spirituality."
His message to the Canadian government is for greater solidarity and recognition of the role of Indigenous Peoples in addressing climate change, and, of course, stronger policies to defend Indigenous rights:
"Our message to the Canadian federal government and the Canadian people is for them to extend their solidarity and unity with Indigenous peoples and rural communities and for them to recognize their role in protecting our environment, in protecting our planet and for them to realize and to stand and defend their roles in combatting climate change. By recognizing their [Indigenous peoples] rights, by recognizing their ancestral lands we are making our move to protect [the environment], and to stop climate change."
Watch Paul's introductory video.
Additional links and materials from IPMSDL
Follow and support Fight for our Future, a global IPMSDL campaign which brings Indigenous communities and organizations together worldwide under the common struggle for land and self- determination and the struggle for a sustainable, healthy, free and just world. The campaign is organized under the themes of land, health, rights and climate change (fight for the planet) and calls for radical change. The current system is killing us, the campaign notes.
Be-Cause Health Conference 2021: Climate Justice and Health Equity
"They're land and climate defenders, not criminals!"
Climate justice is not possible without the Indigenous Peoples Heroes
Peace-building Disrupted by COVID-19 and Climate Change in the Global South
Waves of Resistance in a Climate of Crisis: The Political Economy of Climate Change
SHIELD FOR THE FUTURE: Agenda of the Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines on Climate Change
Reject false solutions to climate crisis assert indigenous peoples right to self determination
Filed in: Asia-Pacific, Ecological Justice, Gender Justice/Women of Courage
Tags: climate action month, climate change, climate justice, climate solutions, decolonize climate action, Indigenous
KAIROS NEWS
#KAIROS20 Anniversary
Op Eds & Rabble
Gender Justice/Women of Courage


When it comes to picking a wedding photographer there are a few questions you should ask them. You should ask them about their style, how much experience they have, and how much they will charge you. Most importantly, you should check if they are willing to stop at nothing to get the perfect shot like photographer Ashley Easterling.
A now-viral video shows Easterling pushing the bride, Lorna Gantt's stepmother out of the way in order to capture the couple's first kiss.
Just as the officiant declared Gantt and her now-husband, Josh, a married couple, Gantt's stepmother stepped in front of the photographer. Without skipping a beat, Easterling elbowed the stepmother out of the way and ultimately captured the moment. Huzzah!
According to Yahoo!, the photographer responded in the Facebook comments to defend herself.
Fellow photographers and the rest of the Facebook community have been very supportive of Easterling's actions, but the way the video has blown up has put a strain on the bride and stepmother's relationship.


text:
CNAB: 30 flights have delays of up to 30 minutes because the air traffic controllers' general strike
ECONOMY TRANSPORTS
by Nine O' Clock May 30, 2017 0116
Seven flights are recorded to have delays of over 30 minutes, and another 30 flights already have delays of up to 30 minutes since the air traffic controllers' general strike started, Director of Communications of the National Company Bucharest Airports (CNAB) Valentin Iordache stated on Tuesday.
According to him, only six flights of a low-cost company were canceled, the rest following to be operated in time or with delays, taking into account that in a regular day in this period of year – which is an average period – on "Henri Coanda" International Airport approximately 150 arrivals and 150 departures are recorded.
When asked whether this strike will extend more than two hours, as the unionists of the ROMATSA estimated on Monday, after the negotiations with the Transport Ministry, Valentin Iordache mentioned he has no information regarding the duration of the strike.
He underscored that all flights that were supposed to be operated after 09:00 hrs, the moment the strike started, were affected, some of them more and others less.
"All flights that were to depart or land after 09:00 hrs are affected. It's true that some of them are affected very little or not at all – there have been flights that took off in time, but there have been flights that will land having delays of up to 30 minutes. There are flights that will take off with two-hours delays and I am talking here strictly about the 09:00 – 11:00 hrs interval," Iordache added.
The representative of the Bucharest Airports advised passengers to arrive in time for boarding in case the company didn't communicate otherwise.
In respect to the measures taken by the CNAB in this matter, Valentin Iordache mentioned there is additional personnel who can offer information to passengers.
Trade union spokesman Diaconu: Air traffic controllers suspended strike at 12:10hrs
Air traffic controllers suspended their strike at 12:10hrs, spokesman for the Romanian Air Traffic Services Trade Union (ATSR) Florin Diaconu said Tuesday.
"We declared the strike suspended at 12:10hrs. We are now moving on to the Bucharest Tribunal. The court trial starts at 13:30hrs," said Diaconu.
The Bucharest Tribunal on Tuesday postponed for several hours a court trial brought by the ROMATSA National Air Traffic Control Corporation against the strike the same day of air traffic controllers.
The trial was initially scheduled for 08:30hrs, but the lawyer to the trade unionists asked for a couple of hours to look into a request for intervention submitted to the Transport Ministry as a party to the litigation.
The judges agreed and postponed the debate until 13:30hrs.
On Tuesday morning about 30 trade unionists dressed up in t-shirts reading "You have sold our land. Is the sky next?" were protesting before the Bucharest Tribunal.
ROMATSA challenged in court the legality of the strike staged on May 30 by ATSR.
CNAB: 30 flights have delays of up to 30 minutes because the air traffic controllers' general strike
Less than one month has left until the most expected concert of the summer: Kings of Leon will sing on the National Arena
Patricia Kaas: "A show that looks like me, the one since today"
President Iohannis: It was imperative for Romania to manage to prevent swine flu. I hope it's a learnt lesson which will lead to responsible actions and decisions
NINE O'CLOCK October 31, 2018
ASF official: Romania's financial education not figuratively but literally low, with serious consequences
One year after repositioning, the LaDoiPasi network has reached over 800 stores
NINE O'CLOCK April 18, 2019


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Home / Discover Canada / Newest government back-bencher tees off on N.B. local governance reform rollout
Kelvin Myers 1 week ago Discover Canada Leave a comment 22 Views
A recently-elected government back-bencher was highly critical of some aspects of local governance reform that took effect at the beginning of the year during a legislative committee meeting earlier this week.
Southwest Miramichi-Bay du Vin MLA Mike Dawson used a meeting of the public accounts committee on Tuesday to grill local government deputy minister Ryan Donaghy on some of the expanded responsibilities being given to the province's 12 regional service commissions (RSC).
"Can you understand how people feel that they have been simply tricked into running for office to become tax collectors for their families, friends and neighbours for decisions made here in Fredericton by the province," he said.
The province's RSCs are made up of a region's mayors and local service district representatives and have mostly confined themselves to the coordination of regional solid waste collection. But as of Jan. 1, the boards were given a suite of new responsibilities which include regional economic development and tourism marketing.
The costs for the expanded services are to be split by the various members of each RSC, based on population.
But some incoming councils in the Miramichi region are criticizing the decision by the transition team for the Greater Miramichi Regional Service Commission (GMRSC) to contract the City of Miramichi to providing tourism marketing and economic development plans for the entire region.
At a meeting of town council on Jan. 5, Doaktown voted to "take ownership of economic development and tourism" for their area and sent a letter to Miramichi mayor Adam Lordon expressing their concerns.
"We firmly agree that Village of Doaktown Council is far better suited to make decisions on our areas of economic growth and tourism priorities and how to present them," wrote Doaktown mayor Arthur O'Donnell.
O'Donnell was not available for an interview but said in an email that he was looking to understand why the City of Miramichi was contracted to provide the services "without consultation with rural municipalities and other outlying communities."
Councillors from the Miramichi River Valley municipality have also requested a meeting with staff from the GMRSC to go over the contract.
Dawson echoed those concerns raised by municipal leaders on Tuesday.
"I guess my question is, why did we have municipal elections if the municipal councils have no control and the City of Miramichi is going to control all of our economic development, tourism and their tax dollar spending," he said.
The province's deputy minister of local government and local governance reform Ryan Donaghy pointed out that the decision to give the contract to the city was made by elected representatives from around the region through transition teams that worked throughout last year to lay the ground work for when the reforms took effect on Jan. 1.
Those transition teams set budgets and contracted services, which were then approved by local government minister Daniel Allain.
And while the decision to award the contract for tourism marketing and economic development to the city has been made, Donaghy says it will be up to the new board to direct the city on how those goals are to be achieved, through the development of a regional tourism and economic development plan.
"What they do need to do, is ensure that a regional approach is taken to each of the new mandated services, which includes economic development. There are contracts in place or arrangements made if the RSC is the deliverer of those services, but those priorities will be set by those boards, by duly elected members going forward," he said.
Miramichi mayor Adam Lordon says the city simply is simply being asked to fulfill those new legislated responsibilities of the RSCs.
"The city was approached by the RSC to deliver these services because it was identified by the RSC that the city could provide these services more effectively than anybody else and for the least amount of money," he said.
"The city really had nothing to do with this other than to deliver the services for an agreed upon price and it was the service commission, mandated by the province, who ultimately set this course and direction into action."
Under the agreement the city will receive $344,088 from the GMRSC, which will be split between the other municipalities that make up the RSC.
In fact, Lordon says that the city has already been providing tourism marketing for the region for the last few years, following the dissolution of the Miramichi Tourism Association.
"We've been already doing the regional tourism planning, just the other communities haven't been contributing to pay for it," he said.
"I think that was one of the ideas, one of the pillars of municipal reform is that every community, every citizen is paying for the services they receive."
Dawson also expressed concerns that there is no exit clause in the contract, but Donaghy said the GMRSC board could vote to scrap it if they so choose, but they will still be required to fulfill the new mandated responsibilities on a regional level.
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Franciacorta Sparkling Wines
Lithographed boxes
V for Valori (Values)
Values such as tradition, the land, the family. The value of tradition in order to face the future in the best way possible, to introduce innovation without forgetting. The immeasurable value of a unique terroir which Villa has expressed for more than half a century through its fine wines.
The family, the relatives with whom shared projects are worked on, a family that extends to include the Villa team, the real added value of certain success. Important values such as respect for nature and its protection, sincerity, honesty, values which cannot be compromised.
I for Identità (Identity)
A strong identity is what distinguishes Villa and its wines made from culture and tradition, the maximum expression of a terroir, a voice outside the choir that stands out with unique unrepeatable vintages.
The identity of Villa based on the sense of belonging to a concern that induces a person to share, interiorise and become loyal to the principles underlying the philosophy of Villa.
L for Libertà (Freedom)
Freedom to choose without being influenced by commercial factors and never subject to current crazes or market trends.
Free right from the start to pursue growth on an optimal scale based not on efficiency but rather on environmental sustainability.
Free to dream, to follow one's heart and own intuition.
Free to be honest business people, remaining constantly themselves, without betraying the trust of those who believe in us, who entrust us with their emotions; it is to them that we owe all our respect.
L for Lavoro (Work)
The honest work that unites us in the marvellous plan of creating a great product. Shared, hard and sometimes wasted work but not pointless. Work that creates and makes you grow. That work which enables you to leave a mark. A great deal of work, what a bottle conceals within its precious nectar, but we never hold back from striving for the best. The work of choosing the land, the varieties, the clones, running the vineyards and supervising the grape harvest and transformation of must into wine ... Work, work, work, ...so many people involved and so many hours, days and years pass before the moment arrives when a Villa wine can be tasted. It is in fact the work, the meticulous attention to detail, that makes Villa a great wine producer.
A for Amore (Love)
The highest of all the values.
Innate aspects of love are respect, protection and patience. Love that ennobles what you do. Love for the land that induces you to protect it and take care of it, love of nature which you have no desire to tame, but rather to allow it to express its biodiversity, nature that you accept with its rhythms, learning to be patient and humble every day, in the knowledge that it is nature and not man that decides the rules of the game. Love for the harvest, the result of a magical interaction between microclimate and man, for that harvest that will become what you believe in, your creation, the wine.
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Business 414680723
iPad app Astropad gives artists wireless, customizable experience
Two former Apple interns have developed Astropad, an app that allows designers to perform high-end work on iPads
By Jackie Renzetti Star Tribune
February 24, 2017 — 3:37pm
A Microsoft Surface advertisement plastered to a bus stop shelter gave Giovanni Donelli his next business idea. At the time, the device was making waves as a long-awaited solution for digital illustrators. Rather than drawing on a tablet and looking up at a monitor to see their progress, artists could work directly on the device.
Donelli, who illustrates as a hobby, knew that most artists prefer Apple products. So Donelli and his business partner, Matt Ronge, set out to fill an apparent gap. Astropad, a Minnesota-based app launched in 2015, lets artists illustrate directly on an iPad without hooking it up to a computer. Now a team of five people, the fledgling start-up rolled out its second version, Astropad Studio, in January. About 320,000 people have downloaded either version, Ronge said.
Donelli and Ronge had first met as Apple interns. When they first got the idea for Astropad, they were working as a consulting team, dubbed Astro HQ, for businesses that wanted to make iPad apps.
Donelli and Ronge spent a year and a half working on the app on top of their consulting gig. After about six months of setting aside weeknights and one day per week for the app, some friends at Pixar showed serious interest. They let go one of their clients and began racing to beat the rumored launch of the Apple Watch, which they feared would leave little media attention for anything else.
"We were hitting burnout at that point," Donelli said. "I was taking a lot of naps."
Founders Matt Ronge and Giovanni Donelli of Astro HQ first met as interns at Apple and now have had about 320,000 people who have downloaded a version of their app.
The duo launched the product in February 2015. Months later, they won the Minnesota Cup, a statewide entrepreneur contest. Serious interest from consumers convinced them to make the app a full-time commitment.
"There was just such reception from artists and designers, this was something they'd been looking for," Ronge said. "We were like, 'OK, we need to give this a shot.' "
Geared toward professional graphic designers or illustrators, Astropad Studio offers users customization and mobility. Artists can use the app anywhere that has Wi-Fi without hooking the iPad up to a Mac. Illustrators can adjust almost every aspect of their experience, from brush size to the app's pressure sensitivity to the stylus.
"That new version is unlike anything else out there," said Brian Rood, who illustrates for Star Wars merchandise.
Rood said he first downloaded the app so he could meet deadlines from his couch while recovering from surgery.
"Time is money. Anything that speeds it up a little bit, any time you can just use your fingers to do a gesture or do a shortcut … time savings is a big deal," he said.
The app is an inexpensive alternative to products from its largest competitor, Wacom, Rood said. The Japan-based company offers a wireless tablet, but Rood likes that he doesn't have to buy a whole different machine for work.
While Wacom tablets sell for upward of $500, the Astropad standard is $30 and Astropad Studio has an annual subscription fee of $65.
"You get all the perks of having that big expensive machine but you get to use it on your skinny iPad pro, so that's pretty awesome," Rood said.
So far, competition has been limited. In an industry where competitors can move in on their market any minute, the Astro HQ team's ability to deftly adjust their product based on customer feedback is one of their biggest strengths, said Brian Olsem, who advises Astro HQ through Minnesota Emerging Software Advisory, an organization that pairs start-ups with mentors.
"They pay very close attention to any social noise," he said. "They start hearing what the reaction is and they adjust in days. Worst case, weeks."
To stay ahead of the curve, Astro HQ will need to invest to branch out in more markets.
The team's frugality has helped sustain the business, Olsem said. "They ran it very carefully as far as expenses go," he said. "We had to encourage them, saying you might want to pay yourselves a little bit."
In the meantime, Ronge says their biggest challenge has been getting noticed. The app has garnered word-of-mouth and social-media buzz among artists, and the company has cross-promoted with other companies, like the comic drawing software Clip Studio.
It doesn't hurt that the Apple Store has featured their app.
"Being the cheap people they were, they had a real hard time saying they were going to give Apple 30 percent of their revenue to be in the Apple Store," Olsem said. "But as soon as they launched in the store, this thing really took off."
Ronge credits the Twin Cities start-up community — with organizations like MESA and Minnesota Cup — as a big factor in their success.
"There's also more of a community here to the start-up ecosystem, as opposed to Silicon Valley," he said. "There's a lot of tech out there, it's easy to get lost in the noise. Out here, resources have been more accessible."
Jackie Renzetti is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.
Variety Sound Advice: Small multi-use speaker also servces as a handy FM radio
TV & Media Sound Advice: Small music system is a really big deal
Sound Advice: Small multi-use speaker also servces as a handy FM radio
Sound Advice: Small music system is a really big deal
CHS profit fell amid trade troubles and a refinery shutdown
International uncertainty, poor weather are blamed.
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and a staffer discriminated against the state's then-commissioner of workers' compensation in 2011 because he's gay, and the ex-official is entitled to $1.5 million for emotional distress, a jury said Monday.


A couple months ago, we got to meet our wedding photographer, Emily Mathewson, and take our engagement photos! Despite having been a blogger for years on end, I've never actually had a professional photo shoot, so I had no idea what to expect. Thankfully, Emily put us right at ease. She was super laid back, and even rolled with the punches when there was a giant event happening at our original shoot location and we couldn't find a single parking spot. Daylight burning, I was getting frantic, but she was cool as a cucumber. Within 10 minutes, we were parked and ready to roll.
(outfit details: some affiliate links used, which means i make a few cents if you purchase an item, at no additional cost to you).
Outfit wise, I had a general idea of what I wanted to wear, which was both a blessing and a curse. Since I had something specific in mind, nothing I came across in stores and online quite measured up to the make-believe photo shoot outfits I had drafted up in my head. I was hoping for a floral wrap dress, which I thought would be pretty easy to find, but I couldn't find the "right" one. Sigh...first world problems. I ended up ordering this super popular dress from Lulu's in wine red for my "fancier" outfit, and scooped up this crop on sale. My jeans weren't on sale, but they are hands down the best high-waisted pair I've ever tried on. I'm generally a size 4-6, depending on the brand and fit, with a curvier booty and tummy, and these fit right over my hips perfectly.
I considered a whole bunch of photo shoot locations, but we ultimately decided that where we had our first kiss/where we got engaged felt the most sentimental and like "us." We had lunch for our first date at an Italian restaurant in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida called Bella Brava, and had our first kiss just a few steps down the street. Thus, we chose Bayshore Drive and North Straub Park for our photos. Despite the rapidly setting sun, our photographer, Emily Mathewson, was able to get some incredible shots, and we are so happy with the results!
Note: lots and lots of photos to follow! Nowhere near all of them, but just some of our favorites.
Can't wait to marry this guy in just 264 days!


As India celebrate its 60th independence day, a look back at the great moments of India Inc in the past decade.
Tata Motors (formerly Telco) has launched India's first homegrown car, the Tata Indica. And this helped India to join the exclusive list of countries that designed their own car. That was just the first step for the Tata group to become a leading global palyer in the automobile industry. Sure their ambitious plans to produce Rs 1 lakh car will take them to greater heights.
India's then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee launched the ambitious national highway project, Golden quadrilateral connecting the cities Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai. Considering the fact that in the first 50 years of independence only 556 kilometers of national highways were four laned , this grand vision by the then Vajpayee Govt. to build more than 5,800 kilometers of express highways was quite a landmark step.
It is the Y2k bug that fueled the India's IT revolution and helped the Indian IT companies to get business for many large corporations. As the clock ticked over to enter the new millennium, our professionals worked over time to make sure the business remains unaffected by the date change. But many doubted the life after Y2k for the India's software companies. However all this doomsday prediction failed, and Indian companies continued to grow at a fast pace despite the double whammy of Y2k loss and dotcom crash. And now it is the rising Indian rupee against the US dollar remains to be a serious concern for the Indian IT majors. Hope this too shall pass.
It was in July 1991, Indian Government abolished the industrial licensing policy. A decade after, the results of this change were for all to see – growing economy, rising set of new class of entrepreneurs like Bharti's Sunil Mittal, Jet's Naresh Goyal, Zee's Subash Chandra and the improved efficiencies in the old business houses who once lobbied against the opening up of economy. Would otherwise the scooter king Bajaj launched a 180 CC Pulsar in 2001?
Reliance Infocomm kick started its CDMA operations on the 70th birthday of its founder, late Dhirubabhai Ambani. It's tariff rates at 40p/min for outgoing calls and free incoming calls spurred other GSM players into action. And in the next year, Reliance Infocomm announced the "Monsoon Hungama" offer, which allows anyone to get a mobile phone with just Rs 501. In their efforts to fulfill the founder Chairman Dhirubhai's dreams of taking the benefits of mobile telephony to the common man, they played an important role to speed up the mobile revolution in India.
Air Deccan, India's first low cost carrier started its operations in August 2003. When other airlines are busy connecting India's main cities, Captain Gopinath, Managing Director of Air Deccan chooses small towns like Hubli, Belgaum, Jabalpur, Rajahmundry, Pathankot for their expansion plans. Their vision to make air travel affordable to the common man and to provide low cost connectivity to all towns would in turn help boost the economy in the long run.
Infosys, the poster child of India's IT success has become the first listed Indian IT company to cross the $1 billion mark in annual revenues. It was a historic moment for the company and it celebrated the Billion Dollar Day by rewarding its shareholders with bonus shares and dividends and gifting bonuses to the employees. Also the company started Infosys Consulting Inc, a wholly owned US based subsidiary in the same year as the next step in its efforts to fight against the global players in their own turf.
India's largest private sector company, Reliance Group has been split between the brothers Mukesh and Anil in June 18, ending a seven-month long messy fight in public. And for the millions of Reliance shareholders, it was party time as the split unlocked the hidden value in the group companies. Yes, indeed two Reliance is better than one.
Sensex touched the magical five digit number 10,000 in the early February. And this boom in the stock market helped Indians to top the Forbes list of Asian billionaires overtaking the Japanese. It took about 16 years for the Sensex, from July 1990 to February 2007 to move from 1000 to 10000. So how long will it take to grow another 10 times to reach 100,000? Not an easy question to answer, but worth spending your time to search for it.
Tata Steel outbids Brazilian rival CSN and acquired the Anglo-Dutch steel major Corus, which is four times its size, in an intense bidding war. A case of a small fish eating the big one, this deal reflects the sign of confident India Inc and its ambitious growth plans.
Wish the next decade will see more of these great moments as we march further towards the economic super power status.
The companies u mentioned here are top compnies in india and they are shinning and they prove itself in the world. wat about small companies. many companies fail and close down during the yrs u mentioned it here.
Satheesh – Companies like Bharti, Air deccan mentioned here are big now, but not so before 10 years. They struggled all the way to come to this level. And many big companies have lost their way and are closed now. So it's not a question of being big or small.
Funny how you conveniently forget to mention how the population's going up all the time, or how mnre and more farmers are commiting suicide by the day….
Oooo so, the sensex going up all the time is it, and the so called IT companies in Bangalore and elsewhere are making thousands by outsourcing cheap labor to the Americans cos, who are in turn making effen millions…big deal.
We still have rapists and bomb-blast convicts roaming free, gangsters in the Union Cabinet and scammers with millions in illegal assets running the country.
So we have more and more Doctors and Engineers graduating every year eh? If you ever been to an (average)Engineering college, I'm sure you'll see the level of the students, and feel like your Peter Griffin would've done better.
There is some thing i can never be agree, is the lavel of students. when i am in india i also think the same but after coming to europ and seeing the lavel of the students here, i consider average student from India as Mr Einstein wrt to average student here.
regarding the rest of the crap.. it all exit every where in the world.. just come out from india and see..


Q. Please tell my wife that it's OK to have a Labor Day BBQ party without five different meat entrees. I am the one who has to do all the barbecuing and with ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers, pork steaks and chicken, and it takes me totally forever and by the time I am finished, I am one sweaty, tired mess. Seriously, is there something written that says how many to have? I would think ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs would be plenty. What's your professional opinion?
A. Oh my goodness, I totally agree with you. Five (meat entrees) is definitely a little overboard and makes the decision process for guests a little overwhelming. I can only imagine what your wife feels is an appropriate number of side dishes — again overwhelming, no doubt. She sounds like a super hostess but she, too, is probably tired by the time the guests arrive. I agree with you in limiting the entrees to three.
Q. My daughter is going to be in a wedding coming up very soon. I am invited to the wedding but not the reception because they can only allow so many people. My question is: do I need to buy a wedding gift if I was not invited to the reception?
A. How considerate of this couple to invite you to their wedding, not only to witness them exchanging their vows, but also to be able to see your daughter participate as a part of their wedding party. As a member of the wedding party, your daughter will no doubt be giving them a wedding gift; therefore, unless you know this couple extremely well, it is not necessary for you to feel obligated to give them a wedding gift. You might, however, consider sending them a congratulatory wedding card.