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Witness by Karen Hesse
This past week, I finished reading Witness by Karen Hesse and this marks the second children's book I've read by Karen Hesse.
I enjoyed reading 'Witness' as much as I enjoyed reading Hesse's Newbery Medal award winning novel 'Out of the Dust'.
'Witness' is a historical novel set in a small town in Vermont in 1924. 'Witness' was written as a series of free verse poems, which I found to be an engaging and novel way to write and advance the storyline in a book.
'Witness' is also set up in 5 acts and with several of the townsfolk sharing their point of view on the events taking place in their town. Because of the way in which 'Witness' was written, I felt that it reads almost like a series of monologues in a play.
The following is a book description of 'Witness' per Amazon:
Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . .
These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.
In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.
I highly recommend reading 'Witness'. Until my next post, happy reading!
Slay It With Flowers by Kate Collins
Slay It With Flowers by Kate Collins is the second installment of the Flower Shop Mystery series and it's a cozy mystery novel.
I enjoyed reading 'Mum's the Word' earlier this month, which is the first cozy novel in the Flower Shop Mystery series. I must say though that 'Slay It With Flowers' is a much better read than 'Mum's the Word'.
In 'Slay It With Flowers', the storyline is a lot more interesting and so are the characters. I found myself drawn into the plot and who really committed the murder.
Here's a plot synopsis of 'Slay It With Flowers' from the author, Kate Collins's website:
Law school drop-out-turned-flower shop owner Abby Knight has been asked to be a bridesmaid by her cousin. But before the couple says "I do," a groomsman disappears-and another member of the wedding party is found dead. Abby has to hurry down an aisle of suspects to unveil the truth-and make sure the bride still gets to the church on time.
There are a few drawbacks/complaints I have about the first two books in this series and they are as follows:
1) Abby Knight is the main character in the Flower Shop Mystery Series and her father is a retired police officer, yet she rarely seeks advice from her father on how to go about interviewing suspects or searching for evidence. I'd be running ideas by my dad and asking for help left and right.... So, why wouldn't she do so??
2) Abby's mother is an annoying character I'd like to read less about.
3) Abby is frequently called a meddler by friends and co-workers, which I find annoying.... Abby likes to solve crimes, so what?
4) Lastly, Abby does get herself in to some pretty sticky situations that could be deadly, but I guess she wouldn't be an amateur sleuth if she didn't, right? I just wish she'd have a little more common sense and not put herself in so much danger.
The Library Hotel in New York, New York!
I think I found the perfect hotel for book lovers!! It's called The Library Hotel and it's a luxury boutique hotel in New York City within walking distance from the New York Public Library.
What makes The Library Hotel so unique? The hotel's design is inspired by the Dewey Decimal System. The following quoted information comes from The Library Hotel's website:
Each of the 10 guestroom floors honor one of the 10 categories of the Dewey Decimal System and each of the 60 rooms are uniquely adorned with a collection of books and art exploring a distinctive topic within the category it belongs to. Guests are invited to unwind from their urban adventures by enjoying the quiet exploration of over 6,000 books.
In addition to The Library Hotel's 6,000+ books, their reading room offers a variety of delicious sounding snacks to enjoy while reading. In the evenings, there is a wine and cheese reception and a nightly turndown service, which includes Belgium chocolates.
The Library Hotel looks like a wonderful place to stay. If you're an avid reader like me, you may not want to ever leave the hotel itself during your stay in New York!
Labels: Architecture, Books, Reading, Travel
Location: 299 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
A Bookstore Made from a Manure Tank??
I've heard of unique bookstores before, but a bookstore in Wisconsin made from an old manure tank certainly takes the cake!
The name of this bookstore is called Happy Tales Bookstore and is located in Markesan, Wisconsin. Happy Tales Bookstore is open June though September on Saturdays according to the information I found online.
Happy Tales Bookstores was begun by Lenore & Lloyd Dickman. They've created several unique bookstore inside buildings on their farm. See the following YouTube video below with host Bill Geist for more details about this unique bookstore!
I liked the above video. The Dickman's seem like wonderful people and I like their heartwarming story. I hope to visit the Happy Tales Bookstore some day.
Labels: Books, Bookstore, Reading
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen
Abridged Audio CD
Last weekend, I finished listening to the abridged audio version of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen.
This was my first exposure to Ron Hansen's writing. I'd heard positive things about his novels from other readers. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I took the time to listen to 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' on audio compact disc sent to me by another avid audio listener.
I really enjoyed the way in which this novel was read by Sam Freed. He seemed to have the right voice for reading this novel and a nice way of reading the story.
I enjoyed Ron Hansen's vivid storytelling. At the start of 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford', one hears a very detailed description of Jesse James. I felt as if I'd recognize Jesse James immediately if I saw him walking down the street and came face to face with him.
Other scenes of 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' were also very well told and one felt as if they were in the room witnessing the action as it happened. I especially liked the way the story picked up and was told from the time Robert Ford killed Jesse James through the end of the novel.
Occasionally, if truth be told, I did find myself tuning out the story of Jesse James. Not because it wasn't entertaining or well told, but due more to the fact that I am not a huge 'western' fan. Stories about the wild west, gunslingers, or with historical figures like Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, and so on, just normally aren't my thing.
The fact that I actually finished listening to 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' is testament to Ron Hansen's entertaining and engaging storytelling. I look forward to reading other works of fiction published by Mr. Hansen.
Chinua Achebe, Author of "Things Fall Apart", Dies at 82
I just read a New York Times article titled Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82 by Jonathan Kandell. In Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82, Mr. Kendall wrote:
Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian author and towering man of letters whose internationally acclaimed fiction sought to revive African literature and rewrite the story of the continent that had long been told by Western voices, died on Thursday in Boston. He was 82.
His agent in London said he died after a brief illness. Mr. Achebe had been using a wheelchair since a car accident in Nigeria in 1990 left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Mr. Achebe caught the world's attention with his first novel, "Things Fall Apart." Published in 1958, when he was 28, the story would become a classic of world literature and required reading in university courses, selling more than 10 million copies in 45 languages.
Mr. Kandell goes on to write about Chinua Achebe's life and literary career in more detail in his three page online article for The New York Times.
I personally learned a wealth of new information about Chinua Achebe's life, as my knowledge was limited to the fact that he originally hailed from Nigeria and had written "Things Fall Apart".
I'm saddened to learn about the loss of such a literary giant!
Labels: Author Spotlight, Newsworthy
Vidya Books --- The book, as reimagined by video game makers.
I came across an article on the Polygon website titled Vidya Books seek to make reading interactive with help of Kickstarter by Samit Sarkar. In the above mentioned article, Samit Sarkar writes the following:
The creators of Vidya Books, a project that seeks to reimagine books for the 21st century on iPad and iPhone, have taken to Kickstarter to try to raise the final $10,000 they need to launch the app.
The Vidya Books app contains interactive books that resemble Choose Your Own Adventure books, with the reader being able to change the story as the words appear by touching the screen and manipulating the device in other ways.
Vidya Books is a project from a company named Vidya Gamer. Its founder, Joe Booth, has 25 years of experience in game development, and he created Vidya Books because he wanted something that could help older children learn to read.
There is also an awesome video with the founder of Vidya Gamer, Joe Booth, that really nails what Vidya Books is all about!
Joe Booth's message personally inspired me to contribute a nominal amount of money through Kickstarter in order to help Vidya Gamer, LLC reach their financial goal. The money raised through Kickstarter will "help to cover the final costs to finish writing and programming, and then publish our first book."
When the first Vidya Book is released, I'll be receiving a copy of it for my iPad. I'm really excited to see how this interactive book turns out.
As of this writing, Vidya Books has raised over $11,000!! There is still 25 days left through Kickstarter to help fund Vidya Books.
To learn more, click on links above.
Labels: Books, Newsworthy, Reading
Rita Moreno's Favorite Books
I came across an article titled Rita Moreno's 6 Favorite Books on The Week website. It's always interesting to see which books celebrities call their favorites!
Literary Graffiti
I'm not condoning graffiti by any means, but I happened upon an article on BuzzFeed titled 20 Awesome Examples Of Literary Graffiti with some impressive photographs of literary graffiti!
My favorite literary graffiti of the bunch? Antoine de Saint-Exupery's 'The Little Prince'. Which one did you like the most?
Posted by Captivated Reader at 4:00 AM 1 comment:
Kane & Abel by Jeffrey Archer
Kane & Abel is the first novel by Jeffery Archer that I've ever read or listened to in this case. I really enjoyed listening to the abridged version of 'Kane & Abel' over the weekend.
I enjoyed the storyline and characters in 'Kane & Abel', even if the story was a tad predictable at times.
One of the best features of this audiobook was a short interview of Jeffrey Archer at the end of the novel. I enjoy hearing what authors have to say about their books, how they began writing and any writing advice that they share with their listeners.
I'd also like to mention that Jeff Harding did a wonderful job reading 'Kane & Abel'. The reader of an audiobook really makes all the difference in the world. I won't listen to audiobooks if I don't like a reader's voice or the dramatic reading of a novel.
After listening to 'Kane & Abel', I decided to purchased the audio cd edition of Jeffery Archer's 'The Prodigal Daughter', as it is the follow up novel to Archer's 'Kane & Abel'.
Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs
Audio Book on CD Version
Earlier today, I finished listening to the unabridged audiobook version of Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs on compact disc.
Prior to listening to 'Sellevision', I'd heard of Augusten Burroughs name before and was familiar with many of his book titles, but 'Sellevision' is the first book by Mr. Burroughs that I've actually read... Or rather listened to in this case.
I truly enjoyed listening to this audiobook as it was wildly entertaining and well read by Robin Miles.
Mr. Burroughs is an excellent writer and he created an interesting cast of characters and engaging storyline that had me captivated from start to finish.... Ms. Miles did a marvelous job bringing life into the dysfunctional cast of characters in 'Sellevison' and making this novel's quirky storyline really stand out.
If you love dark humor, satires, and quirky novels filled with dysfunctional characters, then 'Sellevison' may be your next great read!
The following is the product overview of 'Sellevision', which I discovered on the Barnes & Noble website:
Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited, Sellevision explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network.
Welcome to the troubled world of Sellevision, America's premier retail broadcasting network. When Max Andrews, the much-loved and handsome (lonely and gay) host of "Slumber Sunday Sundown" accidentally exposes himself in front of twenty million kids and their parents during a "Toys for Tots" segment, Sellevision faces its first big scandal. As Max fails to find a job in television, another host, the popular and perky Peggy Jean Smythe is receiving sinister emails about her appearance from a stalker. Popping pills and drinking heavily, she fails to notice that her husband is spending a lot of time with the very young babysitter who lives next door. Then there's Leigh, whose affair with Sellevision boss Howard Toast is going nowhere, until she exposes him on air; and Bebe, Sellevision's star host, who finds Mr. Right through the Internet—if she can just stop her shopping addiction from taking over.
I look forward to reading other books by Augusten Burroughs in the future. Until my next post, happy reading!!
Book Recommendations For Dog Lovers!!
I love all animals, but especially dogs!!
There are two dogs in my life that have captured my heart.... Koko and Roxy, two very sweet and loving Pomeranian dogs. They bring an abundance of joy and love into this world and to all who know them.
So, if you are a dog lover like me, then you may enjoy the following article I discovered on Oprah.com titled 17 Books For Dog Lovers!! I discovered 16 new book titles about dogs that I look forward to exploring further.
So, which books about dogs have you read and would recommend to other readers?
I enjoyed reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein earlier this year and LOVED this novel! I highly recommend reading this book if you haven't read it already.
The Search for Meaning in a Medical Life with Abraham Verghese, M.D.
Abraham Verghese, M.D.
Last night, my husband and I heard Abraham Verghese, M.D. give a lecture at UCSB's Campbell Hall titled 'The Search for Meaning in a Medical Life' as part of the Speaking of Health lecture series.
From the UCSB Arts & Lectures website, comes the following description of Abraham Verghese's lecture last night:
Where does meaning reside in our lives? Abraham Verghese has a unique perspective on the age-old question. After a career as a distinguished physician, Stanford University professor and memoirist, Verghese became a best-selling novelist with the release of his wildly popular Cutting for Stone. A sleuth of the human heart, he has written poignant books weaving issues of identity, personal reflection and medicine. In an intimate and compelling talk, Verghese will share his experiences of taking care of patients with HIV in the mid-1980s in rural Tennessee and the significant life lessons imparted by them.
Abraham Verghese's lecture last night was wildly popular within in the community and many people attended this event. I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Verghese's lecture last night. It was captivating. He's very engaging speaker.
I enjoyed the question and answer session after Dr. Verghese's lecture, where audience members were able to ask questions.
The following You Tube video is of Abraham Verghese, M.D. speaking at TED Talks called A Patient's Touch. This video shows how captivating Dr. Verghese is as a speaker.
Abraham Verghese, M.D. is also the acclaimed author of Cutting For Stone. After the lecture, he signed copies of his novel. I had my copy autographed as well! My husband took a picture of me with Abraham Verghese, M.D.
Now I'll have to read 'Cutting For Stone' as it sounds delightful!
Labels: Author Spotlight, Books, Community Events, Reading
Jane Austen Stamps Go On Sale in the UK!!
Calling all Jane Austen Fans!! The Guardian recently published an article titled Jane Austen Stamps Go On Sale. In the article, it states the following:
A set of stamps featuring illustrations of Jane Austen novels goes on sale today, including newly-commissioned artwork depicting scenes from her books.
All six published novels are included in the new stamps, which are being issued to mark the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice.
I'm not a stamp collector, nor have I ever read any of Jane Austen's novels. However, I still think it's pretty cool that postage stamps have been created to mark the 200th anniversary of Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice'.
Mum's the Word by Kate Collins
Mum's the Word by Kate Collins is the 1st cozy mystery novel in The Flower Shop Mystery Series.
I'm am an avid fan of cozy mystery novels. I recently enjoyed reading 'Mum's the Word' by Kate Collins. It wasn't an excellent read, but a good read nonetheless. I liked the lead character, Abby Knight, and other cast of characters along with the entertaining storyline.
The following is the book description of 'Mum's the Word' from the author's website:
Abby Knight is the proud owner of her hometown flower shop, but a new low-cost competitor is killing her profits-and a black SUV just rammed her vintage Corvette in a hit-and-run. She's determined to track down the driver, but when the trail turns deadly, the next flower arrangement might be for her own funeral.
Also read an excerpt of 'Mum's the Word' on the author's website, Kate Collins, as well.
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
Yesterday evening, I finished listening to the unabridged, audiobook version of The Almost Moon written by Alice Sebold and read by actress Joan Allen. This is the first novel I've read (or listened to rather) by Alice Sebold.
I had no idea what to expect when I first began listening to 'The Almost Moon'. I'd wondered what Alice Sebold's writing style would be like and how Joan Allen would read the novel.
I really enjoyed listening to this novel. I thought that Joan Allen did an amazing job of reading 'The Almost Moon' and I'm not sure anyone could have done a better job of doing so.
I think Alice Sebold is an excellent storyteller and writes quite a cast of complex characters.
What a dysfunctional family to the extreme when it comes to Helen and her parents. The twisted dynamic between mother-daughter in a real love-hate relationship. I can't say that I really loved any of the main characters of this novel as they were so dark and unlikeable, but Alice Sebold did a fabulous job of creating realistic characters and telling their story in a credible, believable way.
I was surprised that the ending of this novel ended the way in which it did. I can only presume that the lead character followed through with her intended plan. Perhaps it doesn't really matter that we are left to leave the details to our own imagination.
I happened to read some of the reviews of 'The Almost Moon' on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I was surprised that the overall rating on both websites for 'The Almost Moon' was 2.5 stars out of 5. I guess not many people enjoyed reading this book!
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Rob...
Chinua Achebe, Author of "Things Fall Apart", Dies...
Vidya Books --- The book, as reimagined by video g...
The Search for Meaning in a Medical Life with Abra...


John and Monica Miller, formerly of Hawaii and now residents of New Zealand, have written the book The Coming Banking Holiday, which should give any thinking American pause for thought and concern over his/her savings and his/her bank accounts. There have been many banking failures over the centuries, and while Americans have rarely lost their money in the bank collapses, there are no guarantees in life. The Millers believe that Australia offers some of the best financial conditions in the free world. The Country is debt-free and the wealth is staggering. It is a resource based economy that is still prospering. Therefore, before capital controls and retirement account seizure takes place, this is certainly a place that should be considered when trying to internationalize assets. And while they drive on the wrong side of the road, the weather is quite nice, and there are some incredible beaches and cities.


SureHire Occupational Testing Services offers standardized testing across Canada. Please see below for a list of all locations across the Yukon. Note that services may vary by location, if you have any questions please contact us.


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Home A Life in Stride
A Life in Stride
With more than a hundred marathons underfoot, and counting, George Banker, BBA '84, keeps his focus on the long haul: 50-mile "ultramarathons" and a sweatshirt that money can't buy.
(Photo/William Atkins)
By Matthew Stoss
There was an older guy who worked in a Bethesda, Md., IBM office in the early 1980s. He looked slow, moved slow, had gray hair. He is the reason George Banker, BBA '84, started running.
"They had this one-mile fun run, and they said that every year [he] won it," says Mr. Banker, who worked at IBM for 25 years. "I said, 'Wait a minute. How can this old man be out here winning this thing every year?'"
Sizing up the competition, he decided that he could win it.
He couldn't.
Instead, Mr. Banker says he got "eaten up" by the mile, en route to a time not worth the brain space to remember. But never again.
In the 30-plus years since, the 65-year-old Mr. Banker has become a most devout and accomplished disciple of distance running.
At his peak, Mr. Banker ran a mile in less than six minutes. He's completed 102 marathons since 1983, including 31 Marine Corps Marathons, undeterred by a first go at the 26.2-mile haul that ended in a full-body muscle cramp—the result of dehydration—that shut down, Mr. Banker says, even his eyebrows.
He ran his best marathon five years later in Houston, finishing in 3 hours, 4 minutes, 32 seconds. The average men's marathon time is roughly 4 ½ hours. The men's world record is 2:02.57.
Mr. Banker has also run nine 50-mile "ultra-marathons," completing seven, while becoming a behind-the-scenes force in the D.C.-area running community as a journalist and historian. He works as the operations manager for D.C.'s annual Army Ten-Miler race and has kept records for countless other organizations and races, including the Marine Corps Marathon for more than two decades. He authored a book on the 39-yearold race, The Marine Corps Marathon: A Running Tradition, in 2007 and is a member of the MCM Hall of Fame, inducted in 2011 for his all-around contributions.
Mr. Banker's next marathon is the MCM on Oct. 25. His next 50-miler is the JFK 50 Mile race in Maryland on Nov. 21, less than a month before his 66th birthday. If he finishes, it will move him to within two races of a coveted sweatshirt, given only to runners who've finished 10 races. He'll be in the JFK 500-Mile Club.
"I want that sweatshirt,"Mr. Banker says. "Sounds crazy, [but] you can't buy these shirts."
The ultra-marathon training is brutal, and for Mr. Banker it means running 100 miles a week. In June he was doing, by his standards, a "pitiful" 40 miles per week. In the past, he says, he's averaged 85 miles per week.
That sweatshirt represents the opponent he's always trying to outrun—taking his 6-foot, 155-pound austere body, the excess eroded by the miles over cement, asphalt, and splendor unmolested—since he gave up smoking a pipe and drinking Chivas Regal not long after that first fun run.
Persistence got Mr. Banker through GW—after eight years, taking one class per semester while working full-time—and it will get him that sweatshirt. Running's appeal, Mr. Banker says, is that it's something he can control. It's a competition against himself, foot v. mind, and now, at age 65, that's true more than ever.
"As far I'm concerned," he says, "there's only two goals: one's the start and one's the finish. That's it."
NAME - George Banker, BBA '84
HOMETOWN - Born in New Jersey, grew up in West Philadelphia
RESIDES - Fort Washington, Md.
PROFESSION - Operations manager for the Army Ten-Miler race; formerly of IBM (25 years); formerly of the U.S. Air Force (eight years active duty and 12 in the D.C. Air National Guard), where he was a technical sergeant and spent one year in Thailand during the Vietnam War.
PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW THAT - His stepfather, George Kidd, a first sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, court-martialed Lee Harvey Oswald in 1958, five years before Mr. Oswald was accused of killing President Kennedy.
GOES THROUGH A PAIR OF BROOKS RUNNING SHOES - About every six weeks. The old ones go to charity.
WHAT A FULL-BODY CRAMP FEELS LIKE - "It's intense. When you get them in the marathon ... it's compounded because you've got that muscle fatigue in there and more than likely you're dehydrated. You're already tired and some of everything else. You're cussing yourself up one side and down the other for even being out there. And so, nothing is really going right."
More Alumni News
An Insight Into Iran
Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, BA '05, is one of the directors for Iran on the White House's National Security Council, and a few weeks before the final agreement was announced, Ms. Nowrouzzadeh chatted with GW Magazine and offered perspective on her career and the historic talks.
A 'Love Story' of Loss
For Christmas 2002, spent in an apartment on 25th Street Northwest, across the road from the Watergate Hotel, Elizabeth Howard, MA '04, gave her husband a story. Nearly 13 years later, it's being published as a children's book.
Following a Trail of Crumbs
Marcie Cohen Ferris, PhD '03, grew up in a rural, northeast Arkansas town called Blytheville, very aware that she was Jewish and everyone else wasn't.
See the current issue online
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Imagine being able to avoid the time and expense of developing machine tooling, or avoiding production issues caused by water-soaked or heat-affected components. Digital knife cutting may be the solution for you.
Because the applications are virtually limitless, our medical, scientific, and electronics customers are seeing a significant upside in "going digital" by using our digital knife cutting services.


The following set of resources outlines our recommended ways to prepare samples for our AGRF services and how to submit them to us using our online system.
The following set of resources is for those who are new to genotyping and want some background information to get started. In the links and downloads below you can find our most common genotyping FAQs.


Selena Gomez is an American singer and actress who initially gained stardom for appearing in Disney's series such as Barney & Friends and Wizards of Waverly Place. She is known for her albums Stars Dance (2013) and Revival (2015). As an actress, Selena rose to prominence for her roles movies such as Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009), Ramona and Beezus (2010), Monte Carlo (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), Getaway (2013) and The Fundamentals of Caring (2016). She is one of the most followed celebrities on Instagram, with more than 144 million followers on the app.
Selena was born on July 22, 1992, in Grand Prairie, Texas, USA.
She went to Danny Jones Middle School, Texas, USA (dropped out due to bullying) and was then homeschooled. She grabbed her diploma from homeschooling.
I maybe had a first love and had my heart broken, but reflecting on it, I don't think that was love. I think as I'm getting older and having more in-depth relationships, maybe I'll experience it. At the moment, I don't know, exactly, if I've been in love.
Justin Bieber (2010 – 2014) – Selena started dating Canadian Singer Justin Bieber in November 2010 and broke out in November 2012. The couple reconciled again in April 2013 but it only lasted up to June 2013.
Austin Mahone (2014) – She dated American singer Austin Mahone in 2014.
Tommaso Chiabra (2014) – She had a brief relationship with Italian businessman Tommaso Chiabra in 2014.
Zedd (2015) – She was rumored to be dating German DJ Zedd in 2015. But the couple were spotted at several places during that time.
Charlie Puth (2015) – Selena Gomez was again rumored to have had a fling, this time, with Charlie Puth in November 2015.
The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen) (2017) – She began dating fellow Canadian singer The Weeknd in early 2017. They ended their relationship in late 2017.
I'm human, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes all the time, but I guess my job is to keep those mistakes to myself, which I'm already fine doing and just try to be the best I can be for those kids.
She launched her own pop-rock band, Selena Gomez & the Scene in 2009 and released their debut album in August 2009. It was ranked no.9 at the US Billboard 200 in its first week.
Selena released her solo album titled Stars Dance on July 23, 2013, under the recording label, Hollywood Records. The album reached no.1 on the US Billboard 200 chart in the first week of release and gradually declined. It received mixed reviews from critics.
As a child, Selena entered into the entertainment industry making her debut with the 2003 film Spy Kids 3D: Game Over.
The children's TV series Barney & Friends marked her first appearance on television. She was featured in the 7th and 8th season between 2002 and 2003.
She has been associated with several brands including Sears, UNICEF, Adidas, Eco, Adrenalina (perfume company), Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton, and Pantene among others. She also did many tv commercials.
Her performance in the television series "Wizards of Waverly Place" gained her seven Nickelodeon's Kids Choice Awards, American Latino Media Arts Award, Gracie Awards', and the 'Imagen Awards.
Gomez has earned a number of awards throughout her career, including an ALMA Award, a Billboard Women in Music award, an MTV Video Music Award, an American Music Award, a People's Choice Award, and fifteen Teen Choice Awards.
She was the youngest ambassador in UNICEF history. She was just 17 then.
She was ranked #19 on Maxim's "Hot 100" in 2014.
The damsel has an estimated net worth of $60 million dollars. Majority of her fortune comes from music, movies, and endorsements. In September 2017, Selena signed a $30 million deal with Puma for two years. With that lucrative endorsement deal, she became the new face of Puma. Not to mention, Selena Gomez is one of the wealthiest pop sensations in the business.
Selena loves expensive cars and was spotted driving around in Ford Escape. One of the popular SUV in America, it boasts a 2.5-liter four-cylinder mill that is good for 168hp. She also owns a Mercedes, a BMW and a Jaguar. She was usually seen cruising on an aqua blue Vespa buddy scooter enjoying the summer.
She owns a lavish $3 million mansion near the popular Hidden Hills neighborhood of California. The luxury house features five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a spa, a gym, and a pool.
You reflect on the people who used to be in your life, and it's like, 'Wow, I can't believe that person was ever really in my life.' But people are put into your life for seasons, for different reasons, and to teach you lessons.
Despite having a difficult childhood due to financial hiccup, Selena Gomez entered into showbiz at age nine.
Her mother was just aged 16 when she gave birth to her. Her parents got separated when she was five years old.
Selena was discovered by Disney Channel in a nation-wide casting call. She did the main role Alex Russo in Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place. And, in fact, Disney gifted her a Mickey Mouse charm necklace for her appearance in the series.
The gorgeous woman instantly achieved fame and popularity and got rid of her financial hurdles as she was paid around $25,000 per episode in the series. From there on, there was no looking back for the actress as she propelled her portfolio to singing and songwriting. she had a successful career in the entertainment industry over the years making her the most popular pop sensation in the world.
Selena has released a number of albums independently and via her band Selena Gomez & the Scene. Many of her albums went on to top the US Billboard and other charts. Throughout her career, Selena has sold more than 7 million albums and 22 million singles worldwide. Apart from a music career, she owns several business endeavors including the recently launched production company July Moon Productions.
Like other pop artists, Selena has also gone on several international tours. Subsequently, her net worth began to swell and add to that, she runs a fashion line "Dream Out Loud" and a perfume line called 'Selena Gomez'. As per reports, Selena made over $4 million last year.
She has five dogs – Chip, Willy, Fina, Wallace, and Baylor. All of these dogs were mostly stray dogs and she adopted them.
Selena would have been a chef if she was not a singer or actress.
She consumes olive oil regularly in order to protect and smooth her voice.
Selena is known for her philanthropic activities, including her association with the 'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF' movement.
She has also been involved with other organizations and campaigns like 'DoSomething.org', 'Island Dog', 'RAISE Hope for Congo', 'Friends for Change', 'Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund', and 'Hope for Haiti Now', amongst many others. Gomez has served various causes from child welfare to the protection of animals to environmental concerns.
In 2017, she had a kidney transplant due to her lupus after Francia Raisa donated a kidney to her.
She launched a limited-edition collection of handbags under the label "Selena Grace" in collaboration with the luxury brand Coach, Inc. in 2017.
Selena was pushed down to no. 2 spot for having the most number of followers on Instagram by Cristiano Ronaldo in October 2018.


text:
UPI Payment App UPI Payment App
Unified Payments Interface Payment App
UPI Payment App
What is UPI
Apps with UPI Feature in India
FAQ's on Apps that Allow UPI Payments
UPI, expanded as Unified Payments Interface, is gaining popularity and is becoming one of the most preferred methods of digital transactions in India. There are many apps that provide users this facility and apart from this, many banks have tied up with UPI and customers can use this platform through bank apps as well. UPI is being offered by many chat platforms and mobile wallets in the market.
UPI is a digital payment system through which a user can both send and receive money through a Virtual Payment Address (VPA). The money will be directly debited from the customer's bank account.
Below is the list of App that provides UPI Feature:
Google Tez
Chillr
Paytm Payments Bank
SBI Pay
iMobile
Axis Pay
BOB UPI
This is one of the most popular payment apps that allows users to transact using the UPI interface. This is considered to be one among the most preferred apps for UPI. The app was founded in 2015 and is powered by Yes Bank.
This mobile wallet app company has also collaborated with the UPI platform to provide customers the facility to transact and transfer funds in an easier manner. Customers can add money into their Paytm wallets with the UPI ID. Along with other payments options such as debit/credit card, net banking, etc., UPI is also one among them. Customers can also initiate collect money requests through Paytm with UPI. After the remitter accepts the payment request, the money is added to the Paytm wallet.
The BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app has been developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI). This app is known for its simplicity. It also offers a very secure interface. The payment interface comes with all the essential features and is known for its good user experience. Funds transfers can be initiated either through VPA, QR code or bank account number and IFSC Code.
Check IFSC Code for Top Banks:
State Bank of India IFSC Code HDFC Bank IFSC Code Indian Bank IFSC Code
Axis bank IFSC Code Canara bank IFSC Code ICICI Bank IFSC Code
This Indian payments network also joined the UPI interface. All Mobikwik customers can use UPI to add money into their wallet. They already provided various services such as fund transfer using debit/credit card, net banking, cash pickup and cash deposit. The e-wallet service provider also has tied-up with various e-commerce merchants.
This payments app has also integrated with the UPI system to allow hassle-free digital payments through its app. The app will enable users to create VPAs and link their bank accounts. The main advantage of this payments bank is that payments can be made both offline and online.
Launched by technology giant Google, the Tez app is one of the other apps that will provide customers the facility of using UPI. What makes this app different is that it is available in many Indian languages such as Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, and Hindi.
Now, Uber has included UPI as one of the modes of payment. You can pay for your Uber rides with this interface.
This payments app has made available UPI as one of its payment methods. This app had been providing fund transfer facility through IMPS before it joined the UPI bandwagon.
Paytm Payments Bank will now include the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system as one of its features. The facility will soon be launched for all account holders after testing and fixing bugs. The feature is likely to be made available in the next few weeks. Paytm Payments Bank UPI will allow customers to transfer funds with a UPI ID to all merchants or account holders without any hassle, at the click of a button. The interest rate offered by the payments bank is around 4%.
This is a State Bank of India (SBI) app that is specially built for UPI requirements. The main advantage of this app is that even those who do not hold an account in SBI can use the app to send and receive money using a VPA. The app is very simple to use and one can easily register for the service after downloading the app.
The UPI interface can be used through the iMobile and Pockets app offered by ICICI Bank. The app can be downloaded from Google Play store. To send money through this app, you have to go to the 'Funds Transfer' option and click on the UPI method.
Axis Bank is one of the other banks that has launched a UPI enabled platform for its customers. This comes with a very user-friendly interface and various other features.
The BOB UPI app has been launched by Bank of Baroda and can be downloaded from Google Play Store. One of the advantages of this app is that it provides customers certain additional features that are not available on other UPI apps.
Around 52 banks in the country have collaborated with UPI to provide customers the service. While most banks have developed their own UPI app in their existing mobile apps, other banks do not have UPI, while some banks have partnered with third parties to provide customers' access to UPI.
The UPI interface is changing the way digital payments are being made in the country. There a number of UPI apps in the market and there are more and more such apps that are being launched. Another important point to remember is that you can use any UPI app to link your bank account Therefore all UPI apps are interoperable. For example, a customer can use or connect a Yes Bank account on the ICICI Pockets app.
How to use UPI?
Ans: To use UPI, search for an app and download it on your phone. Register for the service, link your bank account and transfer funds using the virtual identity.
What are the key features of UPI?
Customers can send and receive money using a VPA
Payments can be made to merchants
It is a safe and secure payment option
Funds can be transferred on a 24/7 basis
Is UPI different from other fund transfer methods such as RTGS, NEFT, or IMPS?
Ans: Both NEFT and RTGS are fund transfer methods that take quite a bit of time, hence contributing to significant delays. UPI, however, is based on the IMPS system that is designed for mobile phones. UPI is a very user-friendly and easy to set-up interface.
How is UPI different from IMPS? Does UPI offer any additional features?
Ans: The additional features offered by UPI include P2P functionality, simplification of merchant payments, a single app for money transfer and single click for two-factor authentication.
Is it possible to pay online merchants via UPI?
Ans: For customers who shop online, payments to merchants can be made if the UPI option is available in one of the payment options.
Other UPI Related Article
PNB UPI
HDFC UPI
ICICI UPI
Indian Bank UPI
News About UPI Payment App
Now, Get Rewards on Samsung Pay
The digital payments application Samsung Pay has now introduced a type of reward point system for all its users who are using this mobile payment interface.
Those who are using the app will be eligible to get rewards for all types of purchases that are being made through the app.
Customers will be able to get points for anything that they buy, collect/accumulate the same points and then redeem the same. This type of rewards system works for both the Samsung Pay and the Samsung Pay Mini platform.
Payments can be made through debit cards, credit cards, digit wallet transactions, BHIM UPI payments and other types of purchases, and bills payments. There is also a new feature that will allow customers to gain 'Accelerated Rewards' and also get a number of bonus points that may be made available from time to time. There are three categories when it comes to rewards - Silver, Gold and Platinum. Users will be upgraded to the highest category based on the number of transactions they make on the respective app.
The app also offers a systematic money transfer method. Apart from this, the app has also launched an ATM withdrawal and deposit feature along with tie ups with a number of banks in the country.
New features on Samsung Pay app
There are many new features that have been introduced on the Samsung Pay app, including bill payments facility and the option to save bank account details.
The bill payments feature in the app allows customers to make payments for a range of utility bills such as mobile bills, electricity, DTH, etc. This feature can be used by going to the 'Pay Bills' section in the app.
Apart from this, you can also save bank account information, including account numbers and IFSC codes, of friends and family. You can also add money to certain digital wallets that you may be using such as Paytm or Mobikwik.
IFSC Code for Popular Banks:
State Bank of India IFSC Code
HDFC Bank IFSC Code
Axis Bank IFSC Code
Indian Bank IFSC Code
ICICI Bank IFSC Code
Bank of Baroda IFSC Code
Bank of India IFSC Code
Punjab National Bank IFSC code
Allahabad Bank IFSC Code
Central Bank of India IFSC Code
Andhra Bank IFSC Code
Union Bank of India IFSC Code
Syndicate Bank IFSC Code
IDBI Bank IFSC Code
CitiBank IFSC Code
UCO Bank IFSC Code
Indian Overseas Bank IFSC Code
United Bank of India IFSC Code


For the past 6 months I have been experiencing really bad pains in my upper back, between my left shoulder blade and spine. It feels like there is almost a "bubble" where the pain persists. I have went to a chiropractor many times and still it has not helped at all. I am only 16 years old, and it's getting to a point where it's effecting me during school. I can stretch my neck and that usually temporarily relieves the pain, but then within 10 minutes it comes back.
I do not have pain that shoots down my arms what-so-ever. But the pain that I experience starts at this "bubble" between my left shoulder blade and my spine and sometimes goes all the way up to my neck. I have no idea what is wrong and I haven't injured myself in a long time so I do not think that it is an issue. Pain relievers such as tylenol, advil, and excedrin do not even touch the pain and I almost am taking them constantly every day to make the pain decrease.
Thanks for any suggestions or comments, and they are well appreciated!
Have you tried going to physiotherapy? It sounds like you have a major "trigger point" there'; it presents as a persistent lump, and often takes a fair bit of manual therapy to get rid of it. If it carries on, trigger point injections by a doctor can often help, too.
Out of curiosity, so you hold your phone/cell phone with your left hand? I just got myself a headset, which has decreased that pain by about 75%.
Good luck, and keep us posted. If it IS a spasm or trigger point, you may find it doesn't get better until someone works on it.


text:
Q: ggplot failing to plot the correct color ggplot2 seems to have gone haywire in my machine. No matter what color I specify, it seems to print the lines in red! For example, the following code also prints the plot in red (image attached).
df <- data.frame(
  date = seq(Sys.Date(), len=100, by="1 day")[sample(100, 50)],
  price = runif(50)
)
df <- df[order(df$date), ]

dt <- qplot(date, price, data=df, geom="line", color="blue")
dt

What is wrong?

A: Replace colour = "blue" with this instead:
colour = I("blue")

As @joran rightly mentions, it's better to do it this way instead:
ggplot(data=df, aes(date, price)) + geom_line(color="blue")

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Change page Language here
Hong Kong arbitration will be aided by Mainland Court's interim measures
Authors/contacts
Rupert Skrine
Rudy Chung
Kevin Yam
On 2 April 2019, Hong Kong becomes the first jurisdiction outside the Mainland where, as a seat of arbitration, parties to arbitral proceedings administered by its arbitral institutions would be able to apply to the Mainland courts for interim measures (including property preservation, evidence preservation and conduct preservation).
Under current Arbitration Ordinance, parties to arbitral proceedings in any place may apply to the courts of Hong Kong for interim measures. After the commencement of the arrangement, parties to arbitral proceedings in Hong Kong, before the arbitral award is made, can make an application for interim measure to the Mainland courts (clause 3 of the arrangement).
According to the Arrangement, Arbitral proceedings in Hong Kong refers to arbitral proceedings seated in Hong Kong and administered by eligible arbitral institutions which have been designated. As such, it appears that the arrangement does not cover ad hoc arbitration in Hong Kong.
The implementation of the arrangement will no doubt add to the attractiveness of arbitration administered by Hong Kong arbitral institution; provide competitive edge to Hong Kong as a dispute resolution hub for Asia Pacific; and strengthen its position as a Belt and Road Initiative disputes resolution centre.
The commencement date of the arrangement will be decided after the promulgation of a judicial interpretation by the Supreme People's Court and completion of relevant procedures in Hong Kong.
Please see attachment for full version of Arrangement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Court-ordered Interim Measures in Aid of Arbitral Proceedings by the Courts of the Mainland and of the HKSAR.
Full arrangement in English and Chinese versions (PDF, 312 KB)


text:
Dominic Grinstead appointed new Chair of the ABI Protection Committee
Dominic Grinstead, UK Managing Director at MetLife, has been appointed as the new Chair of the ABI's Protection Committee, taking over from outgoing Chair Russell Higginbotham of Swiss Re. The…
New appointment to the ABI Board
Clive Bannister, Group Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Group Holdings PLC, has joined the Board of the ABI. Clive Bannister is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Group Holdings PLC, the…
About the ABI 12
Diversity 1
Pensions 2
Prudential regulation 1


If you have the iPad Mini 1 and need some work done to it, we are here to help! We can do everything from replace the battery to installing a new screen. If your specific repair isn't listed below, please click "Diagnostic" and that will allow us to research the specific part we'd need to finish your repair and quote you!


Earlier this month, we were delighted to welcome a new team of Peer Mentors to our Peer Mentor training programme, carried out in partnership with Project 100 at the Brownlee Centre, Glasgow.
Living with and managing HIV can be challenging for many people. Whether it's coming to terms with a new diagnosis, starting or changing treatment, managing relationships or talking about HIV. Peer support has been proven to be an effective way of enabling people with HIV to live well and manage the condition.
That's why we've teamed up with Positively UK to train and support Peer Mentors across Scotland. Through the training programme, Peer Mentors learn to share their own knowledge and experience to help people better understand HIV and learn to take care of their health and wellbeing. Peer Mentor's also learn ways of using their experience to help people build confidence in living with HIV while empowering them to feel more comfortable telling others about their status.
We want to thank all of our new and existing Peer Mentors, who generously give their time to make a positive difference in the lives of people living with HIV in Scotland.
We are also grateful to be delivering this work in partnership with Positively UK, whose work has improved the confidence and emotional wellbeing of people living with HIV across the UK.
*All names changed for anonymity.


text:
Arts hub
TV, internet and other media
Listen to the Revolution: free ebook on 1917, art and culture
Written by Mike Quille
in 1917 Centenary
'With all your body, all your heart and all your mind, listen to the Revolution.' said the poet Alexander Blok in 1918.
As the centenary year of the Russian Revolution ends and we move into 2018, we have published Listen to the Revolution - The Impact of the Russian Revolution on Art and Culture.
It is widely recognised that the Revolution stimulated a creative and imaginative explosion across all the arts and cultural activities, not only in Russia itself but across the world. It reverberated throughout the twentieth century, and echoes of this cultural revolution still resonate today. The booklet brings together the series of articles published on the Culture Matters web platform in the course of 2017, to mark the impact of the Revolution on art and culture.
We hope you enjoy reading the articles, which look at the momentous, worldwide influence of the Revolution on cinema, theatre, art, sport, science and other topics. And we hope you are inspired to join the modern-day struggle for cultural policies and cultural activities which aim to revolutionise elitist, expensive and inaccessible art and culture and replace it with art and culture which everyone can enjoy - culture for the many, not the few.
Listen to the Revolution – culture matters!
Listen to the Revolution - The Impact of the Russian Revolution on Art and Culture is a free ebook, available from here. If you would like to place a bulk order for a print version of the ebook please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Russian Revolution art and culture
Read 19488 times Last modified on Wednesday, 17 January 2018 17:59
Mike Quille
Mike Quille is a writer, reviewer and chief editor of Culture Matters.
Latest from Mike Quille
The Children of the Nation: An Anthology of Working People's Poetry from Contemporary Ireland
arise! filmpoem
The Folded Lie
Education, literacy, and the Russian Revolution
Sport and the Russian Revolution
previous Spotlights and Searchlights: Theatre and the Russian Revolution
Red Vienna: the architecture of socialist hope
Written by Dennis Broe
Dennis Broe tells the story of Red Vienna Europe's zero interest rate is being used to further hollow out its major cities. Those people owning capital in cities such as Munich, Berlin, Paris and Amsterdam are borrowing at no cost and buying up apartments that are then being used as…
Class and Culture in Los Angeles: Fear and Loathing in the City of the Angels
Dennis Broe excavates the contradictions of class and culture in the architecture, art and culture of Los Angeles Race is the way class is spoken in America, as Cornel West wisely pointed out, and that is especially true in the sprawling multi-cities that comprise Los Angeles. Money is the other…
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The Good Soldier Svejk: or How to Stay Sane in an Insane World
Written by Chris Guiton
Chris Guiton discusses Jaroslav Hašek's comic masterpiece, The Good Soldier Švejk and his Fortunes in the World War, as tensions rise again in the Middle East Albert Camus once remarked, "It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners." The latest round of…
From the dystopian chaos of the free market to the solidarity of co-operative communism: the Maddaddam trilogy
Written by Jenny Farrell
Jenny Farrell discusses Margaret Atwood's Maddaddam trilogy Margaret Atwood, who turns 80 in November 2019, has written several novels that explore dystopian situations or circumstances where people are subjected to control and violence. Arguably, the most famous of these is The Handmaid's Tale (1985). However, what distinguishes Atwood's work is…
Written by Jack Brindelli
Jack Brindelli offers some lessons for the radical left from an animated skeleton This December is particularly troubling for an unrepentant leftist like me. On top of the usual festival of gluttony and materialism that caps every year, I find myself living a very real nightmare before Christmas. Like many…
The Decade of Asian Cinema: Top Ten Films of 2019
Dennis Broe reviews the best films of 2019 This is the end of the decade, and it is worth noting that the two most consistently outstanding directors of the last 10 years are both Asian. They are China's Jia Zhangke and South Korea's Bong Joon-ho, whose film Parasite is the…
Jenny Farrell discusses Beckett's Waiting for Godot and its message to us today Great Carthage waged three wars. It was still powerful after the first, habitable still after the second. Gone without trace after the third. - Brecht, 1951 (transl. JF) Samuel Beckett died thirty years ago, on 22 December…
Theatre for the many, not the few
Written by Sam Swann
Sam Swann discusses how theatre is owned, funded and influenced by elites, and calls for a far more challenging, radical and diverse theatre Most theatres have fundraising events for donors, maybe BP, maybe Goldman Sachs, and other assorted wealthy individuals to booze and schmooze with the theatre's staff. They donate…
London is drowning – but keep the faith
Written by Mark Perryman
Philosophy Football's Mark Perryman recalls the Clash's epic album of 40 years ago. Image designed by Hugh Tisdall for Philosophy Football 14th December 1979 – the year of Thatcher's election was seen out with the release of London Calling, widely regarded as the finest of all Clash albums. Forty years…
Nina Simone: An Artist's Duty Is to Reflect the Times
Chris Guiton discusses Nina Simone's Mississippi Goddam Every now and then a song comes along that defines an epoch. "Mississippi Goddam" by jazz and blues singer-songwriter Nina Simone was one such song. The song was Simone's impassioned response to the racist murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Jackson,…
Knight of the Gutter
Written by Alan Morrison
Knight of the Gutter (aka Iain Duncan Smith's Got a Knighthood) by Alan Morrison The media smeared Jeremy Corbyn for good,Ensured a catastrophic election result,A thumping majority for Boris's cult,And Iain Duncan Smith's got a knighthood. The real change we needed exchanged for gnarled woodOf Parliament's ingrained gig-hegemony,Members be branded…
An Eton Mess
Written by Chris Norris
An Eton Mess by Christopher Norris, with cartoon by Martin Gollan We're in an Eton mess, my friends,We're in an Eton mess.Those posh-boy crooks have cocked their snooksAnd cooked the books when no one looks:That's how it goes I guess, my friends,That's how it goes I guess. We're back up…
A deep and compassionate humanism: the 150th anniversary of Ernest Barlach
Jenny Farrell presents the life and work of Ernest Barlach, born 150 years ago Ernst Barlach was born near Hamburg on 2 January 1870. He was the most important German sculptor of the 20th century. Brecht said about his work: "His genius, meaning, ingenious craftsmanship, beauty without embellishment, stature without…
The election: A map of Tory Britain, 2019
Written by Mike Bryson and Colin Gardner
Email us info@culturematters.org.uk
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text:
Il singolare del torneo di tennis Cairo Open 1999, facente parte dell'ATP Challenger Series, ha avuto come vincitore Karim Alami che ha battuto in finale Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-1.

Teste di serie

 Karim Alami (Campione)
 Alberto Martín (quarti di finale)
 Juan Antonio Marín (secondo turno)
 Sargis Sargsian (semifinali)

 Alberto Berasategui (quarti di finale)
 Markus Hipfl (primo turno)
 Albert Portas (secondo turno)
 Galo Blanco (primo turno)

Tabellone

Finale

Parte alta

Parte bassa

Collegamenti esterni

Cairo Open 1999

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Jan Frodeno (DEU), the 2015 IRONMAN® 70.3® World Champion, reclaimed the crown from defending champion Javier Gómez (ESP) and dominated a deep field of world-class talent on the final day of the 2018 Isuzu IRONMAN® 70.3® World Championship in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. Frodeno, who spent his adolescent years in South Africa, secured the victory in a time of 3:36:30 after doing the 1.2-mile swim in 21:53, the 56-mile bike ride in 2:04:28, and the 13.1-miles in a blistering 1:06:33. Approximately 2,900 men were registered to compete in Nelson Mandela Bay as the Isuzu IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship came to the African continent for the first time.


Palco 5 Full Color uses Luxeon Rebel LEDs, a light source with a maximum performance of 80 lumens.
The Palco 5 has been designed in order to host 105 LED in a matrix of 35 lenses, each with a power of 9 Watts, enabling to obtain a total brightness of 5,500 lumens. Plus, based on the application of REBEL LED, the fixture uses a brand-new colour mixing system, which enables to mix the red, blue and green Rebel LED with a single lens, thus occupying a minimum space. Perfect light diffusion is ensured by a choice of three new different lenses that can be fitted: narrow, medium and wide.
The result is a colorchanger able to generate much more powerful light beams, with exceptionally even colour on the illuminated surfaces and eliminating any coloured shadow defects. Perfect colour uniformity is also guaranteed even when viewing the fixture's LED matrix directly from the front.
Palco 5 Full Color exceeds the already remarkable standards of the other units in the Palco fixture range, enabling to illuminate and colour increasingly large and far-off areas clearly.
The upgrade of the functions has gone hand and hand with mechanical progress: starting from the direct experience gained with the other fixtures in the range, SGM has made Palco 5 Full Color even more resistant to bad weather, thus greatly increasing the unit's application possibilities.


Recorded on Sunday night at the end of Auto Assembly 2012.
I apologise for the slightly dubious quality of it, as it was done at the bar itself. This both refers to the audio and the language used, which is explicit to say the least.
We tell the world what Hollyoaking is, Roph gives us insights into fighting behind enemy lines in World War II, and we run down and we do mean run down the Fun Publications comics before giving some feedback on Botcon 2010. A little out of date but still pertinent.
Guest stars aplenty – Karl Thurgood, Nick Davidson, Tony Baker, Matt Marshall, Andy Kiernan, Marc Graham, Matt "Timelord" Clarke and Glenn Jakeman of Back to the Eighties are all involved.


text:
Southern District of Florida Denies TCPA Class Certification Due to Plaintiff's "Deceptive and Dishonest" Tactics
Walter | Haverfield LLP
by Benjamin D. Carnahan
In Kenneth Johansen v. Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida held that a putative class plaintiff's "deceptive and dishonest tactics" disqualified him as an adequate class representative under Rule 23(a), impacting the right of consumers to bring class action claims in federal court. This decision may be applicable to a broad range of federal class action litigation, including but not limited to TCPA claims, where it can be shown that the plaintiff is engaged in deceptive and dishonest tactics in order to manufacture a claim.
At issue in the case were nine calls made by defendant's subcontractor to plaintiff's telephone number listed on the National Do Not Call Registry. Mistaking the plaintiff for a different customer, the representative stated she was calling the plaintiff about a vacation package purchased in 2010. The plaintiff falsely posed as defendant's customer representing that he was interested in defendant's services, which resulted in additional calls. At the conclusion of the final and ninth phone call, the plaintiff notified the representative that he had registered his telephone number on the Do Not Call Registry and stated his desire to no longer receive calls. Had the class been certified, the number of telephone calls associated with the putative class could have exceeded 280,000.
The Court found that the putative class plaintiff was a serial Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) filer, filing 60 lawsuits since 2014 and raking in approximately $60,000/year from TCPA lawsuits. The plaintiff admitted that it was his "typical practice to pose as a customer" when receiving telemarketing calls, and to confirm "whatever information a telemarketer has on [him], whether accurate or not" in order to prolong the call and increase his damages. The plaintiff admitted that his conduct was deceptive, but testified that he "believes deception is an appropriate behavior for a class representative."
The Court noted that class certification under Rule 23 is a two-step process. First, under Rule 23(a), the plaintiff has the burden of showing: (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of claims or defenses of the class; and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. These requirements are commonly referred to as "numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy of representation." Second, the putative class must also satisfy one of the three additional requirements of Rule 23(b).
The Court held that the plaintiff failed to satisfy the threshold issues of typicality and adequacy requirements of Rule 23(a). As a result, the Court held there was no need to address the issue raised regarding the "predominance" test of Rule 26(b)(3) – whether "questions of law or fact common to class members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members" – and the plaintiff's motion for class certification was denied.
The Court found that the plaintiff's intentionally deceptive conduct was "inherently different" than other class members "who presumably did not use similarly deceitful methods," and precluded any finding of typicality. Moreover, the Court noted that the plaintiff's deceptive conduct raised questions about whether his injury was "fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant," thus calling into question whether the plaintiff has standing to bring any action at all.
Regarding the plaintiff's "adequacy of representation" and relying on a previous N. D. Ga. ruling in In re Scientific-Atlantic, Inc. Secs. Litig., the Johansen court held that the Court "may consider the credibility, honesty, and trustworthiness of a proposed class representative … provided that any concerns regarding the proposed representative's adequacy are relevant to the litigation." The Court found that "the honesty of a class representative matters" because of their role as a fiduciary, and dependence of class members on their diligence, wisdom, and integrity – all of which were lacking due to the plaintiff's "typical practice" of engaging in deceptive conduct to prosecute TCPA claims.
Walter | Haverfield's consumer finance defense practice group is keeping a close eye on these developments. If you have been sued for a consumer finance claim by a serial filer, it is important to contact an experienced consumer finance defense attorney to evaluate potential defenses in light of the Johansen decision.
Benjamin D. Carnahan is a Partner and Jason Wright is an Associate in Walter | Haverfield's Consumer Finance Defense team. They can be reached at bcarnahan@walterhav.com, jwright@walterhav.com or at 216-781-1212.
https://www.walterhav.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/shutterstock_455813722.jpg 620 1210 Benjamin D. Carnahan https://www.walterhav.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/walter-haverfield-logo_newblue.png Benjamin D. Carnahan2021-10-05 13:01:022021-10-05 13:06:18Southern District of Florida Denies TCPA Class Certification Due to Plaintiff's "Deceptive and Dishonest" Tactics
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New COVID Vaccination Rules for Businesses That Hold Federal Contracts or S... Future Trends in Manufacturing


text:
Q: Exchange installation through Powershell remoting I am trying to install Exchange Cu 14 from Server A to Server B through Powershell remote and Invoke-command.
The installation completes successfully when running locally on Server B as the same logged on user... But not remote using Invoke-command from another server.
Running on Server A (Simplified version and $SetupPath and $Params is correct):
$ScriptBlock_ExchangeInstallation = {
            Start-Process $SetupPath -ArgumentList $Params -NoNewWindow
}

$SessionOptions = New-PSSessionOption -MaxConnectionRetryCount 50 -IdleTimeout 86400000 -OperationTimeout 21600000
$SecPw= ConvertTo-SecureString "PwSuperSecure!" -AsPlainText -Force
$Creds = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ("MrMarshall\Andreas.marshall", $SecPw)

   Invoke-Command -ComputerName "ServerB" -SessionOption $SessionOptions -ScriptBlock $ScriptBlock_ExchangeInstallation -ErrorAction Stop -Authentication Kerberos -Credential $Creds

In the failed Exchange logs. I can see the error:

[11/12/2019 21:34:18.0728] [0] [ERROR] Active Directory operation failed on . The supplied credential for 'MRMARSHALL\andreas.marshall' is invalid.
  [11/12/2019 21:34:18.0728] [0] [ERROR] The supplied credential is invalid.

I feels like the credentials is not passed correctly towards the DC during the installation. Any ideas of how I could start the installation some another way?
More exceptions.

Microsoft.Exchange.Configuration.MonadDataProvider.MonadDataAdapterInvocationException: Active Directory operation failed on . The supplied credential for 'MRMARSHALL\andreas.marshall' is invalid. It was running the command 'Get-OrganizationConfig'. ---> Microsoft.Exchange.Data.Directory.ADInvalidCredentialException: Active Directory operation failed on . The supplied credential for 'MRMARSHALL\andreas.marshall' is invalid. ---> System.DirectoryServices.Protocols.LdapException: The supplied credential is invalid.

A: After some reading, this is a double hop issue just like @Semicolon commented. Now I could not configure kerberos for this so I went another way by scheduling a task locally and start it to run the job for me.
It's not pretty, but it works for now!
I am invoking the code below to start the process locally on the remote-servers.
$Action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $SetupPathUNC -Argument $MediaParametersExchangeCU14
$Settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -WakeToRun
Register-ScheduledTask -Action $Action -User "MrMarshall\andreas.marshall" -Password "Bytidag123!" -TaskName "Start_ExchangeInstallation" -RunLevel Highest -Settings $Settings -Force
Start-ScheduledTask -TaskName "Start_ExchangeInstallation" -ErrorAction Stop | Out-Null

while ((Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName 'Start_ExchangeInstallation').State  -ne 'Ready') {

    Write-Output "$(Get-Date) Waiting on scheduled task..." |  Tee-Object "$LogPath/_MainLog.txt" -Append
    Start-Sleep 60
}


We've got 20 fun facts about the famous instrument to test your knowledge.
Last weekend we took a trip to the gorgeous Berwickshire countryside. We stopped to get our fix of Scottish history at Fast Castle, the ruined remains of a coastal fortress. Upon first sight, this dramatic location brings up all sorts of questions. From who once lived within Fast Castle's walls, to why and how it had come to be in this gruesome state.
The Cowal Highland Gathering is one of the most impressive highland game tournaments in the world. Held in Dunoon, Argyll, it is the single, largest gathering in Scotland and boasts all sorts of events.
On the 14th July, the Kirkcudbright Riding of the Marches took place. With more than 100 horses, this spectacle is not one to be missed! We take a look at the event and the history that surrounds this unique tradition.
One of the most iconic Edinburgh institutions, this sellout event occurs annually and marks the opening of the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A mixture of music, dance and precision display with pipes and drums, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is not something to be missed. No Military Tattoo would be complete without Massed Military Bands, cultural troupes, singers and the iconic Lone Piper against a stunning Edinburgh Castle backdrop.


Just finished my presentation on Open source and Architecture in the Wellington Software Architect Forum.
6) Want to be an open source developer?
Drupal is a popular CMS that enables 3rd party development of extensions such as themes and modules. In order to get a good value site out of Drupal you need to install several modules and theme that provides functionality such as cool look and feel, SEO improvements, support for content types such as images and a lot more.
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 1476899 bytes) in . . .
Sometimes we need to retrieve a random entry from the Database. An examples for that could be trying to display "random posts" or "a random image".
Some developers pull some or all of the records and then preform the randomization in the application tier (AKA in code).
In most cases letting the Database return random eateries could prove to be a better option performance-wise.
Code snippets posted online are a great source of knowledge and simple way to share experience and to reuse code. As developers we always look to see if there is a 'code example' which we can modify to our needs. As bloggers we find code snippets very useful to get our information out to the readers.
The problem is that creating these code snippets is a complex and cumbersome task. You need you replace all the < with &alt, wrap the code in <pre> and <code> tags and then use a Syntax Highlighter to make our code look nice. Every time we change or fix the code you need to reiterate this process.
In this article I will show how to generate automatic snippets for your blog and source/code websites.
The reality is quite different from this philosophy. Up until now open source software was, for most people, free beer rather than free speech. Well, the beer party is over, and cooperate companies have a new business model strategy called SAAS.


Scaling a cloud operation requires a great deal of design choices, engineering practices, and picking the right set of technologies. Critical to being competitive while scaling is also being cost-efficient. Specially for complex cloud based offerings, infrastructure costs can represent a significant part of the company expenses. At Chaordic, we achieved a factor of 3 of improvement in cost efficiency metrics in the last two years, and this post describes some of the techniques we employed to succeed.
To begin, being able to actually know your costs is the basis for intelligent decision making. While this is somewhat obvious, the ability to breakdown your costs by services and modules is of paramount importance to understand bottlenecks, spikes, trends, variable, and fixed costs. In our case, a first analysis showed that the most expensive resource in the platform was the distributed database operation. In this phase, you can make use of your cloud provider's (in our case, Amazon Web Services) ability to tag most of the resources and report based on this. We tagged our machines according to their roles, teams, environments and some other aspects to deepen our analysis.
AWS provides many options to help you reducing costs. The trade-offs to reduce costs while keeping quality of service must be well understood. For example, once we were confident in an specific type of instance for Cassandra, we chose to commit to one year reserved instances contracts. This decision produced yearly economies from 56% to 77%, a significant reduction suitable for long- or always-running services. For short-running or non-critical tasks, you can rely on Spot instances to reduce even further machine-hour costs. The trade-off here is that this kind of instances may be shut down at any time by AWS. We have developed a Python agent - Uncle Scrooge - to manage spot usage with load balancers and compensate the absence of spots with on-demand ones. This way we could combine the quality of service of on-demand instances and the low cost of spots.
Architecture and design decisions also play a key role in cost optimization. In our case, we have decided to go even further in reducing database costs by employing data archiving based on usage patterns. AWS provides very cheap and reliable data store through S3, so instead of keeping infrequently accessed data in the more expensive database instances, we chose to archive them periodically in S3. Moreover, we decided even to completely bypass the database by employing a reliable data archive solution based on Kafka and Secor. This provided us a new 30-40% cost reduction in data storage. If you want to go a little further, moving data from S3 to Glacier, gives you another significant cost saving step. In this case, the downside is that you need to wait a few hours to recover your data.
While you can rely on external tools to help you managing your costs (see Cloudability, AWS provides basic reports, detailed CSVs of resource usage, and a tool to estimate your costs and help you making design decisions - Simple Monthly Calculator. You should also look for community tools that help you evaluating resource usage - like check-reserved-instances or the more advanced Netflix Ice.
Periodically reviewing service providers also proves to be worthy. For instance in performance monitoring, although New Relic offered us a great service, the pricing plans did not fit to our needs as we grew. So, we moved to the fast pacing DripStat, which provides a more flexible billing model, achieving almost 10x in cost savings.
We highlighted here some alternatives to reduce costs in the cloud and we hope to have inspired you to look at these opportunities. In AWS, we encourage you to start by looking at instance reservations to quickly achieve expressive results. Apart from delivering a greater efficiency, reallocating cost savings to new investments can be a motivation to start.


Adorn your wall with a print of the iconic artwork for the 1968 film, Bullitt staring Steve McQueen. If this movie is one of your favourites, then you need this print, now.
It's the work of Tom Chantrell, one of the most famous 20th century British cinema poster artists. Perfect for film buffs, it adds a retro touch.
This print is presented in a timber frame, made in the UK with a smooth matt finish and lightweight plexiglass. Create an eclectic gallery-style wall by mixing prints.


Digital Content You can access all ebooks or digital content(s) instantly in your account after successful payment. There is no door delivery.
Secure Payment 100% secure payments thru Paytm (Or Paytm Wallet) & EBS Payment Gateway.


For the berthing and towing operations when the cable end fixed at both floor deck and midship deck has a bollard pull and other parts of the cable used. Bollards have casting, but also useful welded steel circumference of. Because of its great force, it requires a very strong base. Medium-sized vessels to use more two-pillar bollard.
Our access to BV,CCS Certificate Classification Society and many other countries, the company passed ISO9000 quality management system certification, product sales all over the world.
Can be made by stainless steel,steel or as requested.Short manufacturing term and prompt delivery.
Machining facilities:CNC center,CNC lathes,ultrasonic wave cleaning,etc.
Related products for "Marine Bollard"


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text:
Fantômette et la Grosse Bête est le  roman de la série humoristique Fantômette créée par Georges Chaulet.

Le roman, publié en 1974 dans la Bibliothèque rose des éditions Hachette, comporte 187 pages. Il évoque la tentative faite par Françoise /Fantômette, Œil-de-Lynx, Ficelle et Boulotte d'enquêter sur un dragon qui aurait été aperçu à plusieurs reprises dans un village du Limousin.

Notoriété
De 1961 à 2000, les ventes cumulées des titres de Fantômette s'élèvent à 17 millions d'exemplaires, traductions comprises.

Le roman Fantômette et la Grosse Bête a donc pu être vendu à environ .

Comme les autres romans, il a été traduit en italien, espagnol, portugais, en flamand, en danois, en finnois, en turc, en chinois et en japonais.

Personnages principaux
 Françoise Dupont / Fantômette : héroïne du roman
 Ficelle : amie de Françoise et de Boulotte
 Boulotte : amie de Françoise et de Ficelle
 Œil-de-Lynx : journaliste
 Le Masque d'Argent : bandit, ennemi de Fantômette

Résumé
Remarque : le résumé est basé sur l'édition cartonnée non abrégée parue en 1974 en langue française.

 Mise en place de l'intrigue (chapitres 1 à 3)

Dans le Limousin, à proximité du village de Saint-Plouc-les-Bœufs, un commerçant affirme avoir aperçu une bête monstrueuse ressemblant à un dragon. L'information parvient au journaliste Œil-de-Lynx qui en parle à Françoise. Œil-de-Lynx, Françoise, Ficelle et Boulotte se rendent donc à Saint-Plouc-les-Bœufs pour enquêter.

 Aventures et enquête (chapitres 4 à 15)

Ils commencent par interroger le témoin de l'apparition puis se rendent sur les lieux. Ils prennent des photographies et des mesures des empreintes des pattes du monstre. Mais les suites sont décevantes : les photographies, remises au photographe pour développement, sont restituées voilées, et les traces des empreintes ont été effacées.

Le maire du village demande à Œil-de-Lynx de faire appel à Fantômette pour retrouver ses deux enfants qui auraient été enlevés récemment par un commerçant turc et emmenés à Ankara. Œil-de-Lynx et Fantômette sont près de prendre l'avion mais Fantômette se ravise : le maire ne veut-il pas les éloigner du village pour retarder l'enquête ? Retournant au village, les deux aventuriers apprennent l'enlèvement de Ficelle et Boulotte, qui ne seront libérées que si Fantômette quitte définitivement la région.

Le lendemain, Fantômette et Œil-de-Lynx retournent sur les lieux que visitaient les deux jeunes filles. Œil-de-Lynx tombe dans une cavité creusée dans la colline. Fantômette le rejoint. Ficelles et Boulotte sont retrouvées. Néanmoins les quatre héros sont faits prisonniers par celui qui a tout manigancé depuis le début : le Masque d'argent, alias le comte de Maléfic. Il leur révèle que le monstre qui fait peur à la région est un tyrannosaure qu'il a élevé grâce à un œuf retrouvé intact dans un endroit glacial de la mine. L'œuf a hiberné pendant des millions d'années. Les quatre sont emprisonnés. Plus tard, alors qu'un garde vient leur apporter à dîner, Fantômette parvient à quitter la cellule et à s'échapper.

Elle parcourt les souterrains de la vieille mine, qui a été aménagée par le Masque d'argent comme une base de soutien, et découvre la nature du monstre. Il ne s'agit pas du tout d'un animal vivant issu d'un œuf, comme le prétendait le bandit, mais d'une machine complexe créée de toutes pièces. Le monstre consiste en un gigantesque engin blindé, articulé et mobile. Fantômette parvient à libérer ses trois amis. Tous prennent la fuite et retournent au village. Mais Fantômette veut retourner sur les lieux pour approfondir ses connaissances sur la base et les plans du Masque d'argent : il n'a sûrement pas agi par altruisme et veut sans doute utiliser son monstre mécanique pour semer la terreur, attaquer des banques, etc.

Elle y va donc, accompagnée par Œil-de-Lynx. Les deux aventuriers sont de nouveau faits prisonniers et retenus dans le poste de commandement du Masque d'argent, qui annonce à l'aide d'une bande enregistrée ce qui attend les deux jeunes gens : une bombe va exploser et ils vont mourir.

 Dénouement et révélations finales (« chapitre final »)

Alors que les minutes défilent et que le terme de la menace est échu, contre toute attente la bombe n'explose pas en raison d'une grève d'EDF ! Œil-de-Lynx révèle l'affaire au grand jour et les plans du Masque d'argent. En fin de compte le village de Saint-Plouc-les-Bœufs devient célèbre pour son faux monstre !

Autour du roman
 Fantômette avait rencontré une première fois le Masque d'argent dans Fantômette et le Masque d'argent (1973). Elle le retrouvera plus tard dans Fantômette brise la glace (1976), dans Fantômette dans l'espace (1977) et dans Fantômette s'envole (1985).

Notes et références

Bibliographie
 Pierre Bannier, Les microsociétés de la littérature pour la jeunesse - L'exemple de Fantômette, éd. L'Harmattan, collection « Logiques sociales », 2000 .
 Sylvie Bérard, « Les Exploits linguistiques de Fantômette : Le jeu de mots comme marqueur sériel », dans Paul Bleton (dir.), Amours, Aventures et Mystères, ou Les romans que l'on ne peut pas lâcher, éd. Nota Bene, Québec, 1998

 André-François Ruaud et Xavier Mauméjean, Le Dico des héros, Éditions Les Moutons électriques / Bibliothèque rouge, .

Articles connexes
 1974 en littérature
 Liste des romans de Fantômette

Liens externes

 Sur Bibliopoche

Grosse Bête
Roman français paru en 1974
1974 en littérature policière
Dragon dans la fiction
Roman se déroulant en France
Roman se déroulant dans les années 1970


text:
Through the Looking-Glass: Revisiting Childhood Toys – Day 360
"Boat with Zebra" by Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita. Copyright © Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita
Toys are what sparks a child's imagination as they spend hours each day creating and playing out stories inspired by real life. Revisiting old toys as an adult can bring up surprisingly strong emotional connections and can offer revealing perspectives when explored through the creative process of art.
Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita is a painter who enjoys revisiting the toys of his childhood. Although his work is figurative, his style oscillates between extreme hyperrealism and the border between abstraction and figuration."The inspiration for my artwork comes from the toys my brother and I played with as children," says Piedrahita. "Each toy had its own story and its own history, inspired by the movies, books and magazines of that time. Many of my toys had historical significance, like the bounty ships, the Bismarck and the Mayflower. I had a Sopwith Camel as well as airplanes from World War II. We'd see a movie and then recreate the scene – from Westerns to the American Civil War to the Battle of the Alamo, fortress and all – using toy horses, trains and cowboys. We'd even construct a landscape with hills, valleys and all the topography, just as one might find it in the real world."
"Castle" by Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita. Copyright © Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita
"Airplane" by Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita. Copyright © Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita
Piedrahita's paintings include many of his childhood toys, yet they seem to be presented as if they were in the adult word instead of a child´s world. I asked the artist to explain how he accomplished this and what were the underlying themes in creating such work.
"Boat" by Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita. Copyright © Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita
"While the toys are recruited from my childhood, the imagery in my artwork is reproduced from scenes in the paintings of Antoine-Jean Gros, Louis-François, Baron Lejeune and other painters of the time of Napoleon, as well as illustrators in general," says the artist. "This union between the toys and the historical paintings sets up a staging of conflict, as small, somewhat surreal pieces of visual elements are used to answer larger existential questions, to describe 'the nature of things.'"
Piedrahita purposely creates a somewhat somber atmosphere in his paintings in order to enhance the emotional tension in the image. "These themes should be realized with an emotional charge of memory," says the artist, "in order to avoid falling into banality."
"My figurative work allows me to step back in time and look at the things I didn't understand as a child, allowing me to resolve those mysteries as an adult," says Piedrahita."Revisiting this child is like having a magic mirror where you can always come back, kind of like Alice in Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking-Glass.' The strength of the work is based on the narration of a personal experience lived in the time of childhood, a sort of 'flashback', like in the movies, to revisit an emerging adolescent building his internal world. The theme of toys allows me to explore personal issues, where I use the toy as a symbol to resolve an aesthetic or existential scheme, while continuing to search for the essence of oneself and to decipher one's destiny."
Piedrahita's work isn't only about boys' toys. There are also beautiful and mesmerizing dolls in some of his paintings.
"Family" by Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita. Copyright © Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita
"Dolls are another means of inspiration," says Piedrahita, "an exploration of the female character as opposed to the male character as a warrior or soldier. Female characters (dolls) are always enigmatic and mysterious. It is a challenge to capture their personality and affectations in contrast to their intuitive nature. The dolls and characters in my paintings are inspired by childrens' illustrations and my goal is to portray them not so much as dolls, but as real and existential beings."
Each element in Piedrahita's paintings has its own visual story that can be recreated in thousands of ways and it is precisely this set of elements the artist is trying to extract as an adult in order to create a personal aesthetic through the medium of traditional painting. It is good to step through the looking-glass from time to time, to see our past through older and perhaps wiser eyes and hopefully re-emerge with a better perspective of how things were so we can understand our role as adults in the present.
"Girl with Cats" by Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita. Copyright © Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita
Artist Credits:
Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita, Columbia, South America
Oil on canvas paintings
All images are used with permission of the artist, and are subject to copyright laws.
Juan Rodrigo Piedrahita's artwork can be viewed at: Rodrigopiedrahita
ALL ARTICLES, Challenging Perception, The 365 Days Project
Function or Fine Art? – Day 354
Artist Creates "Paintings" in Snow with Snowshoes – Day 361


Seaweed, any of the red, green, or brown marine algae that grow along seashores. Seaweeds are generally anchored to the sea bottom or other solid structures by rootlike "holdfasts," which perform the sole function of attachment and do not extract nutrients as do the roots of higher plants. A number of seaweed species are edible, and many are also of commercial importance to humans. Some are used as fertilizers or as sources of polysaccharides.
Seaweeds often form dense growths on rocky shores or accumulations in shallow water. Many show a well-established zonation along the margins of the seas, where the depth of the water is 50 metres (about 165 feet) or less. The types of seaweed growing near the high-water mark, where plants are often exposed to air, differ from those growing at lower levels, where there is little or no exposure.
Moss, Seaweed, and Coral Reefs: Fact or Fiction?
Not all things called moss are true mosses.
Brown algae (class Phaeophyceae) commonly found as seaweeds include kelps and Fucus. They are widely distributed in colder zones and are absent from tropical waters. The kelps are among the largest algae; certain species of Macrocystis and Nereocystis of the Pacific and Antarctic regions exceed 33 metres (100 feet) in length. Laminaria, another kelp, is abundant along both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. Gulfweed (Sargassum) is common as free-floating masses in the Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea.
Red alga (division Rhodophyta) seaweeds include dulse (Palmaria palmata), Gelidium, Chondrus, and laver (Porphyra). Various species of Chondrus, including Irish moss (C. crispus), carpet the lower half of the zone exposed at low tide along rocky coasts of the Atlantic.
Ulva species, commonly called sea lettuce, are among the relatively few green alga (division Chlorophyta) seaweeds.


text:
Forms & Submissions
Gazette Alumni Contact
Nika Bajaj stands in front of the USC's vision statement banner in the UCC, Jan. 21, 2022.
Sophie Bouquillon / GAZETTE
Nika Bajaj, AVP student events and former Social Sci pres, bids for USC pres
Adshayah Sathiaseelan, News Editor
Adshayah Sathiaseelan
Author linkedin
Nika Bajaj is a veteran of student politics.
Bajaj, who served as president of the Social Science Students' Council last year and is now University Students' Council associate vice-president student events and the SSSC's vice-president academic, is throwing her hat in the ring for council's top job.
The fourth-year political science student has been involved with the SSSC since her first year. She went on to be elected as USC councillor in her second year and became faculty president in her third year. Bajaj was also a two-time Social Science soph, a residence soph and served as president of the Delaware Hall Residents' Council in her second year.
Even before coming to Western University, Bajaj was student trustee for London's Thames Valley District School Board, representing 73,000 students with a focus on curriculum reform and organized student walkouts.
Despite her years of experience in student politics, Bajaj promises to be a different kind of USC candidate. Bajaj believes students often feel they are promised "big things and the USC consistently under delivers" on unfeasible policy changes proposed during elections — which she vows to change.
Bajaj promises a concise platform, believing the lengthy platforms typically released by candidates are often "wish lists," which don't fully capture the breadth of the role.
"I really believe in the idea that we need to change the way that campaigns are run going forward, so students want to engage with the USC and believe in the work the USC is doing," she explains.
Bajaj says her shorter platform will "ensure that students know I'm an actionable president, and if they elect me, they have a lot more faith in seeing things that will actually get done."
Bajaj will be running her campaign focused on four key areas — what she calls the "core four" — which include student support and accessibility, student safety, housing and affordability and the student experience.
"I really believe in the idea that students have a voice in their education and should be the people shaping their student experience," says Bajaj.
Student safety is at the top of Bajaj's agenda, including gender-based and sexual violence training, providing rape kits and direct intervention after an incident and improving lighting on campus.
"Speaking specifically to my experience as a woman on this campus, the conversation around [GBSV] has really dwindled off this year," says Bajaj. "In my opinion, it was a very strong force last year. But I recognize that these are difficult conversations to have, but they need to continue to happen."
Bajaj also has a two-pronged approach to address the housing crisis. She has short-term plans, including expanding off-campus residence advisors, and more long-term advocacy for the university to invest in more residence buildings and work with the municipal government on zoning laws around campus.
"There is no student under these current economic conditions that isn't experiencing some challenge around affordability, whether it's from tuition, or the fact that housing prices are through the roof," she says. "It's hard pressed to find somewhere to live on the campus area that's under $1,000 a month to the point that the federal government is having to intervene."
The student experience is important to Bajaj, and her role as AVP student events has allowed her to work with council executives to plan events — including Purple Boots and the Taylor Swift Dance Party — from start to finish.
Bajaj considered running for president last year — when four men were up for the job — in response to women looking for USC representation, but ended up reconsidering. She felt she was not yet prepared to take on the position's commitment.
The USC has not had a woman president since 2015 and that there have only been six women in the role since council's incorporation in 1965.
But after working in crisis communications and public affairs this past summer and becoming AVP student events, gaining more "exposure to USC operations," Bajaj believes she had "the preparedness and the readiness to come into this role and create a lot of actionable change going forward."
Bajaj believes being USC president isn't an advocacy role or a figurehead position. She sees it as a commitment that involves planning for the organization's "long-term strategic vision."
She recalls hearing former USC president Bardia Jalayer tell students on UC Hill during her Orientation Week in 2019 that "students have the power to change the world," and thinking to herself: "that's definitely what I want to do."
The USC elections campaign period begins Monday.
Correction (Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, 9:07 p.m.): This article has been corrected to reflect that Bajaj was a two-time Social Science soph and served as a residence soph for one year.
Adshayah is a News Editor for Vol. 116. Email her at adshayah.sathiaseelan@westerngazette.ca.
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Abdalla loses appeal, disqualified from USC pres election
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London pilot project is keeping police off mental health calls
Sunday Ajak, former King's councillor and campus poster boy, runs for USC pres
Report finds Jean Vanier, King's research centre namesake, sexually abused 25 women
A two-year, independent investigation into the namesake of King's University College's Jean Vanier Research Centre reported he sexually abused at least 25 women over seven decades. The report comes three years after an internal investigation by Vanier's charity found he abused six women.
Western women's basketball splits back-to-back in Toronto
The Mustangs women's basketball team squeaked out a narrow victory against the Varsity Blues, then lost to the Bold by 30 points.
New flights from London to Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax and beyond
London International Airport is welcoming new flights to Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax this summer, with new seasonal services to Orlando, Cancun, Varadero and Punta Cana currently in operation.
Former Deputy Premier takes on new roles at Western
Former Ontario Deputy Premier and Western alum Christine Elliott will be joining the university as a distinguished leader in residence at Western Law, and will serve as an advisor to president Shepard on the university's mental health and wellness strategy.
The Western Jazz Ensemble leapt into the semester with Jumpin' at the Wolf
Western's Jazz Ensemble filled Wolf Hall with energetic and stylish tunes last Thursday.
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