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Kentucky News
Murray State Sports
Paducah, KY (42001)
Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A few flurries are possible. Low 21F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..
Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A few flurries are possible. Low 21F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Juanita Dunlap
GILBERTSVILLE -- Juanita "Bonnie" Dunlap, 91, of Gilbertsville, died at 11:01 p.m. Friday, November 15, 2019, at the Stilley House in Benton.
Mrs. Dunlap spent many years working alongside her husband, Kenneth, at State Farm Insurance Agency.
She was a member of Benton Church of Christ.
She is survived by a daughter, Kenna Lynn Jones; six grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Dunlap; and a daughter, Teresa Kay Craig.
Her parents were Berkley Simpson and Annie Pyles Simpson.
Friends may call from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, November 19, 2019, at Filbeck-Cann Funeral Home.
The funeral will be held at Scott Funeral Home in Jeffersonville, Indiana, with Gary Knuckles and Landon Samuel officiating.
Burial will follow at Walnut Ridge Cemetery in Jeffersonville.
Expressions of sympathy may take the form of donations to Childplace, 2420 E. 10th St., Jeffersonville, IN 47130.
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Q: Optimal way to stack deck against uniformly random opponent? A card game is played by splitting a face-down shuffled deck evenly between two players. The deck consists of cards numbered 1-52. Each player reveals the top card of their deck, and the player whose card has higher rank scores 1 point. Both cards are then discarded. The process is repeated until both decks have been depleted. The winner of the game is the one with the largest number of points.
Suppose you can cheat at this game: first, you know the contents, but not the order, of both decks. Second, each round before your opponent reveals a card, you can choose which card in your deck you will reveal. (That is, you can choose which card you will reveal next based on all of the information you have up to the point where the opponent will reveal a new card.)
My friend suggested that even if you can cheat in this way, there is no strategy you can play which will give you a higher score on average than playing at random. This doesn't seem true to me, but I've had trouble proving that cheating helps in simple cases, or proving (e.g. inductively) that it doesn't matter. Any help is appreciated.

Edit: If it helps, I've previously considered a simpler version of this game, in which you know the fixed order of your opponents' cards, which are played in order. If you are allowed to cheat in this deterministic version, you can optimize your score according to the following strategy. First, it suffices to establish a mapping between their cards and your cards --- the card you will play when they play their card.  To create this mapping, list your cards in ascending order of rank and list their cards in the same way.  If their highest ranked card beats your highest ranked card, pair it with your lowest-ranked card. Otherwise, pair it with the lowest-ranked card you have that still beats it. Remove both cards, and repeat this process.

Edit 2: Conjecture. Even if you cheat, there is no strategy which performs better than chance. In particular, regardless of which strategy you employ, your expected score is simply the probability that a random card from your deck beats a random card from their deck, times the total number of cards in each deck. If you create an $n\times n$ matrix whose $(i,j)$ entry is 1 if your $i$th card beats their $j$th card, your expected score on any strategy is 1/$n$ times the sum of the entries of the matrix. I think I have an inductive proof of this, but am still figuring out how to write it out formally.

A: Theorem: Even if you cheat, you cannot do better than chance. In particular, your expected number of points is equal to your probability of winning a single round between a random card of yours and a random card of your opponent's, times your total number of cards.
Proof: The proof is by induction. Suppose you and your opponent each have a deck of $n=2$ cards in a fixed but arbitrary order. Consider the payout matrix $\mathbf{P} = \begin{bmatrix}a&b\\c&d\end{bmatrix}$ which has a $1$ in entry $(i,j)$ if your $i$th card beats their $j$th card, and a 0 otherwise. If you choose row 1, your opponent will randomly choose a column $j$. Your payout will either be $a+d$ (if they choose column 1), or $b+c$ (if they choose column 2). Your expected payout on choosing row 1 is $(a+b+c+d)/2$. A similar argument shows the same expected payout on choosing row 2. This establishes the result that your choices do not influence the expected score when $n=2$.
In the inductive case, suppose you have an $(n+1)\times (n+1)$ payout matrix $\mathbf{P}$. Removing cards corresponds to removing a row/column from the matrix — let $\mathbf{P}^{i,\times}$ denote $\mathbf{P}$ with row $i$ deleted;  $\mathbf{P}^{\times,j}$ with column $j$ deleted, and $\mathbf{P}^{i,j}$ with both deleted. Finally, let $|\mathbf{P}|$ denote the sum of all the entries of $\mathbf{P}$.
Now consider your strategy of choosing row $i$. Your opponent chooses
a column $j$. For a given column $j$, your payout will be $P_{i,j}$,
plus the expected payout resulting from continuing the game; by
hypothesis, it is $\frac{1}{n}|\mathbf{P}^{i,j}|$. Hence when choosing
row $i$, your expected payout over all opponent responses $j$ is:
$$\frac{1}{n+1} \sum_{j=1}^{n+1}\left[ P_{i,j} + \frac{1}{n}|\mathbf{P}^{i,j}|\right]$$
Note that the term $|\mathbf{P}^{i,j}|$ occurs once for each $j$ from
1 to $n+1$. Hence we can assemble the deleted columns into a single
negative term $-|\mathbf{P}^{i,\times}|$.
$$\frac{1}{n+1} \sum_{j=1}^{n+1}\left[ P_{i,j} + \frac{1}{n}|\mathbf{P}^{i,j}|\right] = \frac{1}{n+1} \left[ \sum_{j=1}^{n+1} P_{i,j} + \frac{1}{n}\sum_{j=1}^{n+1}|\mathbf{P}^{i,j}|\right] = \frac{1}{n+1} \left[ \sum_{j=1}^{n+1} P_{i,j} + \frac{1}{n}\left(-|\mathbf{P}^{i,\times}| +\sum_{j=1}^{n+1}|\mathbf{P}^{i,\times}|\right)\right] = \frac{1}{n+1}\left[|\mathbf{P}^{i,\times}|+\sum_{j=1}^{n+1} P_{i,j}\right]  = \frac{1}{n+1}|\mathbf{P}|$$
This establishes the result for the inductive case.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Police who spotted a car with more than one number plate discovered a number of knives in the vehicle.
The vehicle was searched and police found "a load of knives in the car too".
The driver was charged with driving with no license, no insurance and going equipped. The passenger was charged with permitting driving with no license and no insurance, going equipped, and possession of a blade.


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December, 2012 Reviews
(NOTE: The "smell ratings" at the end of some reviews rate the actual SMELL of the book and have nothing to do with the story. Smell Ratings: 5 = excellent, 1 = odorless, 2-4 = you figure it out. Book Key: hc = hardcover / tp = trade paperback / mmp - mass market paperback / rarer forms described. Unless otherwise noted, all reviews are by Nick Cato)
PENETRALIA by Jordan Krall (2012 LegumeMan Books / 104 pp / tp)
Siblings Philip and Elizabeth live in their father's large Victorian mansion, continuing the scientificwork of he began on unsuspecting victims. Although Philip is gay, he's involved in an incestuous relationship with his sister as she helps him with his experiments. While we're never quite told what this mysterious work is, we do learn their father was once a plague doctor who eventually took to using his plague mask for obscene practices with his daughter...and he's coming back home soon to see how their research is going.
When their father returns home a day earlier than expected, both Philip and Elizabeth are faced with past terrors and family secrets they each are now forced to deal with.
PENETRALIA is Krall's tribute to (among other things) the films of Andy Milligan (google him if you must), and the atmosphere here is dead-on perfect. The incest and torture brought several of his films to mind, but Krall throws so much more into the mix here (bicycle-riding giraffes, anyone?) that the tale goes from a b-movie homage to an all-out bizarro-feast, complete with a Jodorowsky-like interlude and heart-wrenching finale.
This novella's not for everyone: the sex scenes and violence are graphic and dark, and when Krall turns the strange on you'll be wondering if some kind of drug hasn't been introduced into your body through the pages. Fans of Milligan, Edward Lee, and the darker side of bizarro will eat this up.
WORLD'S COLLIDER: A SHARED WORLD ANTHOLOGY edited by Richard Salter (2012 Nightscape Press / 472 pp / tp & eBook_
What a cool idea for an anthology - give a premise and let the writers take it from there. I know there have been shared-world anthologies before, but this one is a little different. It actually reads like a novel more than an anthology - the stories seam together flawlessly to create a chilling story, yet each individual tale can be read and enjoyed separately.
So you know that Large Hadron Collider that everyone was convinced would cause the end of the world? Well, it pretty much does in this anthology. The Collider has a huge explosion, thereafter known as "The Collision." It blows a chunk out of the Earth in Europe. Millions of people die. But the worst comes later - things begin to crawl and slither out of the giant hole.
What follows is a fantastic set of stories that convey just how horrible the event was. The first story after the LHC Collison is "Innervisions," by James Moran, which sets the tone for the anthology. A man with a brain tumor is suddenly able to communicate with some kind of creepy insect, and he knows the end of the world is coming. But nobody believes him; they think he's insane. He is helpless to share his awful knowledge.
I think the more interesting stores were those that followed people in the everyday lives, and how they are dealing with the terror they are now living daily. People are still working, playing, having sex. They try not to think about what is happening - but then are suddenly confronted by some other-world thing, they just can't cope with. For example, the "Toothfish" that swim through the air, using their razor-sharp teeth, as imagined by David N. Smith and Violet Addison in "Keep Calm and Carry On: Part Two."
A black hole appears in the desert, spewing insects that looked like chiggers, but with a lethal bite. Cats with tentacles threaten two children left alone without food. And a scream that only certain people can hear drives them insane. All these things and more threaten humanity's existence.
If you're one of the people who is terrified that the LHC is going to spell our doom, I wouldn't suggest reading this. It is vivid, creepy, and full of nightmares. But if you love science and don't get nervous easily from what you read, grab this one and enjoy the ride.
-Sheri White
AMONGST THE DEAD by David Bernstein (2012 Samhain Publishing / 206 pp / tp & eBook)
Years into the zombie apocalypse, twelve-year-old Riley has just lost her father to the plague and she is now alone. Trying to survive in a well-stocked cabin in the woods, she is soon found by a local militia and must now leave before they kill her—or worse. Jack, a former militia member who wants to redeem himself, gets Riley away, but unfortunately not without losing his life. Once again on her own and sick, Riley is found by a family who takes her in and makes her one of their own.
Things seem to be going well for a while but then the Milners receive some unwanted visitors who take them to Poughkeepsie, a city run by gangs. Riley is taken to the Sisters of Life, a glorified breeding center where the Hag who is in charge tells Riley she is special. Riley refuses to break under the Sisterhoods psychological bombardment and in her attempt to escape discovers something about herself that no one was expecting. With her new family, Riley leaves the city and makes her way to a settlement where she may finally get some answers about who she really is.
David Bernstein has given the zombie apocalypse a neat twist with AMONGST THE DEAD and his character Riley. She's a strong female character, as is her adopted mother Joanne which is nice to see in apocalyptic fiction. The story is solid and believable and characters are well-developed. I was kind of freaked out by the Sisters of Life and their disturbing ways. Riley has a great depth to her and doesn't read like a twelve-year-old girl. She is wise beyond her years but craving human contact and love. Samhain has a huge hit on their hands with AMONGST THE DEAD and it's refreshing and not-so-bleak take on the zombie apocalypse.
-Colleen Wanglund
SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME by Steve Vernon (2012 Crossroad Press / 52 pp / eBook)
I've only recently been introduced to hockey, attended a couple of games with an out-of-town friend when his team's visiting here or ours is visiting there. I went into it expecting that my preconceived notions – speed, mayhem, noise, violence, BLOOD AND TEETH ON THE ICE, that sort of thing – would prove cinematically unfounded.
Well, I didn't see any teeth on the ice, but the rest of it was all there. And what a change from the other sports I'd seen … leisurely baseball in wide-open spaces, football in quick clashes followed by long dull minutes of ho-humming around. Hockey has no patience for that. Hockey is all action, all movement, a lot going on in a hurry and you better pay attention or you'll miss the best bits.
Steve Vernon's SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME is a hockey book. It's about hockey, and it's like hockey. Speed, mayhem, noise, violence, ice, blood, teeth … the works. It's a quick and action-packed read
It opens with a mysterious black van pulling into the sleepy coastal town of Hope's End, and before you know it, people are missing, carnage is erupting, and the fate of the whole town might just be in the hands of three old men whose remaining joy in life is keeping a local hockey rink in working order for the youngsters.
They aren't what anybody would normally think of as heroes, but, when they find themselves face to face with a pack of hungry vampires, they don't hesitate in the least. They rise to the challenge, take to the ice, and it's game on.
I greatly enjoyed the story, which repeatedly hits the weird nerve juncture between funny and tragic. As a bonus, the book includes "Time Out," another hockey-themed story to speak to the iconic/nostalgic memories of a childhood easy to relate to even if it's not your own. Plus, there's a preview of NOTHING TO LOSE, which looks to be a different sort of superhero story that I'll have to check out!
WORKING STIFFS by Lucy Leitner (2012 Necro Publications / 241 pp / trade paperback)
The Pro-Well Pharamceutical Company resides in a 4-story building on Pittsburgh's south side. CEO Marshall Owens--in an attempt to cure all disease in the world--has created a drug that turns people into flesh-hungry walking dead. With his small crew, Owens kidnaps Pittsburgh's homeless and dreg population and turns them into undead factory workers. But the drug doesn't completely take to one homeless man known as The General; unknown to Owens, he now has an intelligent zombie on his hands who manages to get his undead brethren to follow him in a ghoulish homage to NORMA RAE.
Meanwhile, goth-chick wannabe Janice lands a job at the Pro-Well office and barely has time to meet her motley crew of co-workers when the place comes under attack by zombies.
WORKING STIFFS is a fun zombie comedy, despite some flaws (characters show up late and for no reason and the interaction among the large cast gets confusing at times). Leitner also references some already-dead TV shows that may get lost on some readers, but if you can overlook these typical first-novel problems, there are some solid laughs and chills to be had and the pacing is quite good.
This reminded me somewhat of Lorne Dixon's excellent "Breakfast Club" zombie novel, THE LIFELESS, only with a humorous twist. WORKING STIFFS is nothing new, but should be enjoyed by zombie completists and anyone who wants to see what the cast of THE OFFICE would arm themselves with during a zombie outbreak...
(THIS review originally appeared on THE CROW'S CAW)
DEAD TROPICS by Sue Edge (2012 Permuted Press / 240 pp / tp & eBook)
The zombie apocalypse has come to Cairns, Australia—however the government is telling the residents that there is an outbreak of encephalitis among miners. Lori Nelson is a nurse at the hospital and sees firsthand what is really going on. A widow and mother of three, Lori is determined to protect her family at any cost and see them through this catastrophe. In a desperate attempt to escape the area, Lori, her kids and some other survivors try to flee but are stopped by an Army checkpoint. The realization of what the government plans to do about this outbreak forces Lori and the others to attempt to leave by some other means—and it won't be easy.
A well-written novel, DEAD TROPICS is another viewpoint on the beginnings of a potential apocalypse. I've read many books about zombies; some have been great and others have been disappointing and cliché. While DEAD TROPICS has a lot of the core pieces of any zombie story, I really like the main character Lori. She is a strong female who will do whatever she can to save her children. She is like a lioness protecting her cubs. The development of all the characters is excellent and I will say that the end had a twist I was not expecting—which is always a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. DEAD TROPICS is a really good zombie novel for fans of the genre.
TWO FROM EDWARD LEE:
YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING by Edward Lee (2012 Necro Publications / 72 pp / eBook)
A chapbook is kind of like a 100-calorie snack pack, just enough of a nibble to get the full flavor and take the edge off the cravings!
If, that is, you have cravings for incest, murder, raunch, dark magic, mutilation, and the odd 'header' …
Easter Cutler loves her husband. A lot. He's, as the title says, her everything. She'll do whatever it takes to keep him from straying, even if it means dipping into her grandpop's old book of spells.
70 pages that you won't soon forget. In fact, the more you'd want to forget, the less likely you'll be. Edward Lee tends to have that effect on people!
CREEKERS by Edward Lee (2009 Necro Publications / 270 pp / mmp, tp, hc, eBook)
Of course, if you are in the mood for more than a chapbook-size helping of freaks, kinks and carnage, Ed Lee's got you covered there, too. As in, for example, Creekers.
After a suspicious on-the-job shooting incident, metropolitan cop Phil Straker has no choice but to take whatever job he can. Even if it means becoming a small-town cop in his childhood home of Crick City, home of hicks, good ol' boys, drugs, and a rowdy roadhouse/strip club with a secret back room where clients can get a special show.
The backwoods around Crick City also home to the Creekers, an ancient inbred clan/cult marked by red eyes, black hair, and assorted deformities. Some of the Creeker girls provide that special show in the strip club's back room, and local legend has it there's a rundown old house where other services are available.
Straker, who has scattered memories of seeing that house when he was a kid, finds himself smack in the middle of an investigation of a drug-running ring involving missing persons, gruesome murders, and a Creeker crime lord. It's further complicated by the fact that Straker's ex, with whom there are unresolved feelings and issues, is the crime lord's top earning girl.
As if that's not enough, Straker's also found a possible new romantic interest in one of his fellow Crick City officers … who might not be all that understanding if he starts spending a lot of time with his ex … or about him going undercover to scope out the secret Creeker strippers …
It's a mess from the get-go, and the more Straker digs, the messier it gets. Skinnings, violations, cannibalism, sacrifice; it's a spiraling path into dark and bloody horror, and at the core of it, Straker will come face to face with a terrible, unearthly truth.
All presented, of course, with Edward Lee's inimitable style and panache. Nonstop nastiness and gore galore!
CRYPTO-SQUAD (Volume One) by Eric S. Brown and Jason Brannon (2012 / 98 pp / tp and eBook)
A cult known as The Unending are bent on reviving their snake-god. Their leader, Sandoval, uses black magic to reanimate the dead and creates a huge zobie army. Yes, it's zombie apocalypse time again folks...but before you roll your eyes and groan, check this out:
Standing in the cult's way is a secret government group headed by Jimi, who happens to be a Moth Man. His team is comprised of all types of legendary creatures, including some Sasquatch, El Chupacabra, and even Mongolian death worms, all semi-controlled using hi-tech microchips. While Jimi & co. are able to keep the cult at bay, things eventually start to turn in Sandoval's favor, causing Jimi not only to summon every creature who can hear his psychic call, but to make a pact with a beast so deadly it nearly cost him his life upon their first meeting.
CRYPTO-SQUAD is a no-holds barred monster-mash, written in a frantic comic book style that features nearly non-stop action. I challenge anyone not to get a thrill during the final epic batle as a skyscraper-sized snake god and its legions of snake men and zombies go up against the Crypto-Squad and a horde of other creatures, including countless Bigfoots, all types of flying and aquatic monsters, backed-up by the Jersey Devil who manages to bring along a couple of dark surprises.
Brown and Brannon have created an exciting comic book-style creature feature that's impossible to put down. I can't wait to see what they come up with for Volume Two as they pretty much threw everything imaginable into the mix here.
LOADS of fun.
STORIES AND POEMS OF A TWISTED KIND by Shane C. Mess (2012 / 91 pp / tp)
STORIES AND POEMS OF A TWISTED KIND is a nice little collection of poems and stories with a bit of a Gothic feel.
"The Spider's Web" is a creepy poem about a girl that gets her comeuppance after killing a web full of baby spiders. Let's just say momma wasn't happy. "Delicious Meat Soup" is a very dark tale about a man who decides to get some revenge on his decidedly hard-to-please employer, while giving the employer's friends a taste of his soup, as well. "Man's Best Friend" is a story that I will admit, freaked me out. An old man isn't happy about being disturbed by a dog who just wants to play fetch, but the old man doesn't want to play—and the dog isn't very happy about that. Some of the other poems include "Eyeball Stew" and "My Shrunken Heads" that have an almost childlike quality, but just as creepy as any of the others.
Overall STORIES AND POEMS OF A TWISTED KIND are just that—twisted. Shane Mess has also given a sweet little nod to the old Tales from the Crypt series. The book is a fun read for horror fans aged teens to adults. The book is well-written and the layout of stories and poems works nicely. All in all, a very good read.
THE HAUNTED by Michaelbrent Collings (2012 CreateSpace / 238 pp / tp and eBook)
Anything but "ho-hum another haunted house book," The Haunted opens with a stylish nod to the all-time classic Hill House. The house should just be left alone. The locals know that, and for the most part respect it.
But someone, or something, must not agree … because when the old 'For Sale' sign out front eventually falls down, it's mysteriously replaced … and from time to time, outsiders move in.
The latest outsiders to do so are Sarah and Cap, who've put everything they've got into making this new start. They've got a baby on the way, and they're eager to escape a painful past that Sarah refers to as The Before.
This is of course a maddening tease most skillfully handled by an author who really knows his stuff. You're wild to know what tragedy and trauma constitutes The Before, while at the same time you're desperately worried for Cap, Sarah and the baby.
The house starts in on them when they haven't even gotten all the boxes out of the moving truck yet. They go through the usual, logical mental steps that anybody would take to try and explain the first few weirdnesses – imagination, stress, crazy pregnancy hormones, etc. – but they've barely begun unpacking when those excuses are no longer options.
Vivid nightmares, creepy phenomena, terrifying images on the nursery monitor … they know they should leave, they want to, but they can't. They can't for mundane reasons (money) and personal territorial/stubborn ones (this is THEIR house!), but also because, while the house is seemingly demanding they go, it also won't let them get away.
It might seem like straightforward haunting fare up until that point, albeit exceptionally well-written haunting fare because Collings is one prizefighter of a writer who should, in a just world, be raking in the fame and big-money book deals by now.
Then he finally hits you with The Before, and it's a TKO. Bam. Down. Kissing the canvas. Little stars and tweety birds wheeling around your head. I mean seriously, I got chills and goosebumps, I had to step away from the book a moment and walk around going, "wow … damn … oh wow."
Superstar. I'm telling you. This guy deserves to be a superstar. Wow.
THE AWAKENING by Brett McBean (2012 Tasmaniac Publications / 477 pp / hc)
Toby and Frankie are best friends living the "perfect" town with an almost zero crime rate. The summer has just begun for the boys who will begin high school in the fall and life is good…..until the night the boys are viciously attacked in the woods and left for dead. Waking in the hospital almost a month later, Toby finds out that his best friend is dead and no one knows who attacked the boys. Toby also learns that his life was saved by Mr. Joseph—a strange old man whom the neighborhood children have made fun of and tormented for years.
Toby is lost, not understanding why his almost idyllic life has been shattered in such a brutal manner. Sure he was spending a lot of time with Gloria, the girl of his dreams, but Frankie was dead and Toby's life is changed forever. He makes his way over to Mr. Joseph's house to thank him for saving Toby's life and discovers a kind but lonely old man who has taken the awful pranks and property destruction quietly and without complaint. Toby begins spending time with Mr. Joseph, learning about his life in Haiti before coming to America. What he eventually discovers about Mr. Joseph will shock Toby and test his loyalty to his new friend. However what Toby discovers about his "perfect" little town is even more shocking and ugly than anything he has ever known.
THE AWAKENING is a beautifully written story that involves Haitian zombies, racism and the ugliness of the human race. The zombies, it turns out, are not the real horror of McBean's novel. Toby and Mr. Joseph are deeply human and sympathetic characters that I really felt something for. I was fully invested in these people. While the identity of Toby and Frankie's attackers wasn't surprising to me, the town's reaction to Toby's situation and to Mr. Joseph is most disturbing. THE AWAKENING is easily one of the best books I've read this year. I highly recommend you pick this one up.
NIGHTWHERE by John Everson (2012 Samhain Publishing / 266 pp / tp and eBook)
Mark and Rae are a young married couple living in Chicago. Rae's desire for something more leads them to an open relationship among the local swinger scene. But in time, even different partners leave Rae unfulfilled. Mark is enjoying things, although he'd be more than happy remaining monogamous with his wife if she so chose. What she chooses are at first trips to tamer S&M clubs, and eventually, they are invited to NIGHTWHERE, an invite-only, urban legend of a club where it's reported one can live out their deepest, darkest fantasies.
Of course, there's a catch. NIGHTWHERE is divided into 3 sections: a blue room for newbies, a red room for those who commit themselves to the ways of the club...and a black room that few have seen. Rae quickly becomes obsessed with the place but Mark grows weary. He doesn't care for the hold NIGHTWHERE has on his wife, or the level of depravity it allows her to indulge in, but Rae claims to love it and says this is the place she's always dreamed about.
After a few visits, Mark comes home from work one day to find his wife gone and a solo invite with her name on it left behind.
What follows is a trip through an uncanny underground as Mark attempts to get back in the club without an invitation to save his wife. But when he finally manages to get there (the place changes location each time for its monthly meetings) his worst nightmares begin to materialize in ways he could've never imagined.
Everson once again combines kinky sex, occultic themes, and extreme horror into a perverse, macabre yarn about the levels one man will go through for the woman he loves. Gorehounds will rip through the pages in unbridled glee, and countless scenes will have readers cringing along with the atrocities. Everson's realistic characters give this one a real kick that forced me along until the gut-wrenching conclusion. Rae's sexual evolution is particularly disturbing, and the fine balance between reality and supernatural is very well done.
You'll feel filthy after this one, but it's not a novel you'll be forgetting anytime soon. This is hardcore horror not for the timid.
Smell Rating: 1
THE WOMAN by Jack Ketchum and Lucky McKee (2012 Cemetery Dance Publications / 208 pp / hc, tp, and eBook)
Picked this one up at KillerCon, attended a screening of the movie at the after-party, and decided to wait a bit before reading to let it all sink in. Plus, this gave me the opportunity to go back and re-read Off Season and Offspring first, the first two books in the savage series leading up to The Woman.
They were as gruesomely fun and violent as I remember, a tribe of feral cannibals creating their own society and superstitions as they hunt, scrounge, and scavenge. To their victims, they are murderous monsters. Animals that need to be rooted out and eliminated.
Which almost works, except that one gets away. This is The Woman, who escapes the slaughter of her tribe despite being wounded, betrayed, and losing everything but her sheer tenacious will to survive.
The progression of her character from monster to respected adversary to sympathetic victim is masterfully done, as Jack Ketchum once again shows us that the most vile monsters of all are the ones that live among us wearing normal faces and leading seemingly normal lives.
Meet the Cleeks. An ordinary-enough family, right? Dad works, Mom takes care of the house, Big Sis is in high school, Bro is working on his free throws, Little Sis is a precocious darling. They're established, respected members of their community.
If they have their private secrets and shames, well, that's nobody else's business, is it? Why Big Sis has been missing so much school, for instance. What Bro does when he's not shooting baskets. What Mom conveniently overlooks and ignores. That thing about the dogs, for instance.
Every family has their personal matters. So, it's not weird at all when Dad, out hunting, spots The Woman bathing in a stream and decides he needs to capture her, bring her home, and lock her in the fruit cellar. It'll be a fun project for the whole family, taming this wild woman! Like having an exotic pet! They'll wash her, dress her, civilize her …
Use and abuse her …
Until someone's had enough. By then, you're firmly in The Woman's corner and just about want to cheer as each of the Cleeks begin getting what they deserve.
Book includes a bonus story, "Cow," that is a more than fitting finale; movie contains some incredible performances, mostly from the actresses playing The Woman and the little girl.
Book and movie both are awesome, and highly recommended!
We're still plowing through mid-2012's massive influx of review books, so please be patient and you'll see your submission here soon. We're still closed to new review material.
January, 2013 Reviews

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Once determining a property style and design and also which furniture is used, possibly choosing window curtains is not a complicated thing. There are various motifs and colors of window curtains that can be chosen. This clearly makes it easier for you to match the window curtains with the style of the room. There are many types of window curtains you need to know before fitting them in a room.
Only a few types of window curtains are suitable for all types of rooms. When you select wrongly, it will certainly cut down the function and looks of the room.
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SHOCKING CORRELATION: White Presidents and New Orleans Flooding
Kevin Jackson
Holy Katrina! It's happened again in New Orleans. Flooding.
And this flooding didn't take the biggest hurricane in history, and one named after a BLACK WOMAN.
Recently, the governor of Louisiana declared a state of emergency in New Orleans on Thursday due to flooding. As with Hurricane Katrina, the city's water-pumping system malfunctioned, leaving much of the city flooded and even more under threat of flooding.
The irony is the bulk of the rains from a flash flood a few days ago has ended, yet, the city scrambled to repair fire-damaged equipment at a power plant in hopes of shoring up its drainage system.
Completing this poll grants you access to The Black Sphere updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
New Orleans is actually under sea level, and relies on levies and pumps to keep the place dry. In the event of torrential rains like those that occurred recently, the city's pumping system cannot malfunction, as the whole city lies at risk of flooding.
The city remains unnerved. In the aftermath of Katrina, the citizens of New Orleans fought to rebuild the city. They believed the politicos learned lessons from Katrina.
Like don't blame the president.
The problems in New Orleans existed long before George Bush. However, former Mayor-turned-convict Ray Nagin blamed the Bush administration. Other Leftists were quick to follow.
Democrat mayors have ruled the city of New Orleans for quite some time, and yet the city experienced more flooding. Thankfully, God showed His grace during the Era of Obama. Instead, he waited for yet another white president to flood "Chocolate City".
It's only a matter of time before some Leftist decides to blame Trump for the flooding of New Orleans. He or she will claim that Trump is a racist, and allowed the floods to hit New Orleans.
But as we have learned about the Left, whatever the trauma, it's almost always their fault. Who doesn't insure that the pumps work in a city that lies beneath sea level?! That's like doctors not washing their hands before an operation.
It is reported that Gov. John Bel Edwards described his emergency declaration as a precautionary measure. Really, Noah? The pumps don't work and the city is flooding, so I suggest he charter boats.
Edwards along with Mayor Mitch Landrieu have attempted to snip frayed nerves, as New Orleans citizens are rightfully upset. How dare these morons put citizens at risk by not having emergency preparedness in the face of storms. But check out what the governor had to say at a City Hall news conference:
"Obviously this is a serious situation, but it's not something to be panicked about."
Don't panic, if you love swimming in sewage for a few days.
Despite the assurances of Governor Edwards, Mayor Landrieu warned of even more flooding.
He urged residents to move vehicles to higher ground. That had to be a confidence boost to the citizens of New Orleans.
No matter how much tax money has been pumped into New Orleans, they can't even pump out water. And Leftists wonder why Conservatives are so critical of them. They promise everything, but deliver nothing. Tax and spend, but don't depend on the government to keep you dry or flood free.
The best thing that could happen to New Orleans is for President Trump to involve himself.


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Q: Filter a custom key or value via mongoose I Have a Message Schema with 2 type message: text and voice, How Should I get value of text?
text data example:
{
    "_id" : ObjectId("5a8ea03d2601be24b086ccd4"),
    "userId" : 20,
    "text" : "Hi",
    "__v" : 0
}

voice data example:
   {
        "_id" : ObjectId("5a8ea03d2601be24b086ccd4"),
        "userId" : 20,
        "voice" : "d2601be24bd22601be24b",
        "__v" : 0
    }

Code:
Message
  .find({userId: '20'}, {_id: 0, text: ''})
  .exec((err, obj) => {
    if (err) {
      console.log(err);
    }

    for (const val of Object.values(obj)) {
      console.log(val.text);
    }
  });

output:
Hi    // for text
undefined  // for voice

I have All Type of Message in Output, How Should I get all text value? (not voice)?

A: Couple of options, you could add an if statement within your for loop e.g.
for (const val of Object.values(obj)) {
    if(val.text) console.log(val.text);
}

Alternatively you could adjust your database query to only select messages with a non-empty text string e.g.
Message
  .find(
    {
       userId: '20',
       text: {
           $exists: true,
           $ne: ''
    },
    {_id: 0, text: ''}
  )

Note: my query may not be quite right as I didn't test it, but it would be something to that effect. See: Find MongoDB records where array field is not empty for similar concept.


The Kitchen has long been the best place to invest to improve the overall look and value of your Home.
The Kitchen has also been one of the most expensive areas of your home to upgrade. Now with new innovation that cost can be lowered significantly. What if you could get Quality Plywood Cabinets starting at $1550 for a 10x10 kitchen. Would you jump for joy? Well, start jumping.
Knock Down Cabinets have come a long way since those early assemble yourself Cabinets. These Cabinets have been installed in Million Dollar $ Homes. Home Builders have discovered them and are now using them in new homes.
The High Line - Knock Down Cabinets are of the highest quality and have Solid Wood Doors, Dovetail Drawers with Heavy Duty - Soft Close - Full Extension Drawer Slides, and Full Plywood Box all around. No Particle board. Making these Cabinets currently one of the best bargains you can get for improving your home. The Kitchen went from a Great Expense to a Great Return On Investment.
At BLUE ROCK - CABINETS most HIGHLINE KITCHENS can be INSTALLED w/ GRANITE for between $5000 -$10,000 !
Knock Down Cabinets are completely finished Kitchen or Bath Cabinets that are "knocked down" to fit into a flat pack box. Giving you many advantages to Pre-Built Custom Cabinets. One major advantage being significantly lower cost due to savings in Shipping and Labor. Knock Down Cabinets are sometimes called rta Cabinets or ready to assemble.
1. Quality - Knock Downs automatically get the "Plywood Upgrade" you have to pay extra for with conventional Cabinets. As Conventional built Cabinets use laminated particle board as standard construction. Which absorb water and fall apart.
2. Save Money $$$ - Knock Down Cabinets are significantly less expensive than conventional pre-built Cabinets.
3. Easy to Transport - Knock Down Cabinets are flat pack in a box and usually only one person is needed saving money in labor.
How can this guy sell at such a low price ?
Business Overhead and Markup are another factor you need to be aware of. Big Box Stores with alot of employees, have to markup their product more than a small shop to cover their Big Overhead. Big space is big expense, who do you think is paying for that ?
Knock Down Cabinets aren't for everyone, as some people can only see value thru a Name Brand or Price Tag. For the rest of us, the word is out on knock Down Cabinets, they are Quality Cabinets at a Great Price.
Contractors, Builders, Home Owners, House Flippers, Real Estate Investors, will all benefit by using these Cabinets.
When you're ready for a "Beautiful Kitchen at a Great Price" , it's time to call BLUE ROCK - CABINETS !
For more information or questions please go to www.bluerock-cabinets.com ,,, 717-368-7111. Located in Lancaster Pa. We ship to all UPS Freight locations.
Copyright 2012 Knockdown Cabinets. All rights reserved.


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Roby Electric has been a reliable residential electrical contractor in Charlotte, NC since we were first founded in 1998. Since then, we've spent 18 years hiring and training Charlotte's best residential electricians.
Our customer service and attention to detail are unparalleled. From installing a generator to provide backup power to your home during one of Charlotte's fierce thunderstorms or simply repairing an electrical outlet in a bedroom, you can count on Roby Electric for all of your residential electrical services.
Commercial properties have different electrical needs than residential. For example, installing a standby generator provides a seamless transition from a utility company to backup electrical power. Roby Electric is one of Charlotte's premier commercial electrical contractors.
View our full line of commercial electrical services in Charlotte or give us a call for commercial electrical repairs today—704-334-6447.
Why Choose Roby Electric As Your Charlotte Electrical Contractor?
Our electricians are bonded and insured, background checked, and drug screened. We only employ the best and most conscientious electricians in the Charlotte area. We conduct thorough background checks and drug screen all of our employees, whether they're in the field or in our office!
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Pac-12 MBB power ratings: Utah's treacherous…
AnalysisAnalysis Based on factual reporting, although it Incorporates the expertise of the author/producer and may offer interpretations and conclusions.
Pac-12 MBB power ratings: Utah's path into the NCAAs is more treacherous than it appears
The Utes are in second place, which doesn't help their case
By Jon Wilner | jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: January 24, 2023 at 8:07 a.m. | UPDATED: January 24, 2023 at 8:32 a.m.
Utah is the biggest surprise of the Pac-12 season. Slotted 10th in the preseason media poll, the Utes are in second place, two games behind UCLA in the loss column and churning toward an opening-round bye in the conference tournament.
But win totals and placement in the standings don't mean squat on Selection Sunday. The Utes (14-7/7-3) could be a top-four seed in Las Vegas and get left out of the NCAA Tournament.
Below the surface, trouble lurks.
They are lacking in the metrics that matter most to the NCAA selection committee.
Utah's NET ranking (No. 48) is indicative of a team on the bubble.
Only two of its 14 wins are of the Quadrant I variety (the highest quality).
More damaging, however, is the number at the other end of the victory spectrum: Eight of the 14 are considered Quadrant IV (the lowest quality).
No team from a Power Six conference has more.
The reason for all those low-level wins? Utah's non-conference schedule.
Second-year coach Craig Smith understandably crafted a lineup that fit the trajectory of his program. The Utes were 11-20 last season and in search of both victories and momentum. Early-season wins were essential.
Their on-court performance is not only ahead of schedule; it's ahead of the schedule.
According to the Pomeroy advanced metrics, Utah's non-conference schedule strength is No. 314 nationally (out of 363 teams).
The Utes beat Georgia Tech and played Mississippi State, Brigham Young and TCU, but only one of the four (TCU) would make the NCAA Tournament if the field were selected today.
BYU is plodding along in the West Coast Conference.
Mississippi State is 1-6 in the SEC.
Georgia Tech is 1-8 in the ACC.
The rest of the schedule is stocked with second-rate foes and classic creampuffs: Cal State-Bakersfield, Idaho State, Long Island, Sam Houston State, Jacksonville State, UTSA and St. Thomas (of Minnesota).
The selection committee won't take kindly to that lineup, leaving Utah with just two paths into the NCAAs:
— Win the Pac-12 tournament and its accompanying automatic bid;
— Gobble up enough choice wins down the stretch to remove all doubt about their at-large credentials.
Utah beat Arizona once, in early December. A season sweep would bolster its resume. Toppling UCLA would do wonders, as well.
The Utes also need to win more than they lose against other bubble teams in the conference (Colorado, USC and ASU).
Above all, they must avoid faltering against the Pac-12's bloated bottom rung. Bad losses offset quality wins.
It's a treacherous path, for sure. We give the Utes only a modest chance to make the field of 68.
But given the state of the program last March and the broader backdrop of Smith's salvage operation, it's a good problem for the Utes to have.
To the power ratings …
(NET rankings through Monday)
1. UCLA (17-3/8-1)
Results: won at ASU 74-62, lost at Arizona 58-52
Next up: at USC (Thursday)
NET ranking: 5
Comment: Do good wins matter more to the selection committee than bad losses? We're less than two months from finding out. The Bruins have just a few of the former but none of the latter.
2. Arizona (17-3/6-3)
Results: beat USC 81-66 and UCLA 58-52
Next up: at Washington State (Thursday)
NET ranking: 11
Comment: Had the Wildcats beaten WSU a few weeks ago, this would be a prime letdown situation coming off the L.A. sweep. But they should be locked in after the double-digit loss to the Cougars.
3. USC (14-6/6-3)
Results: lost at Arizona 81-66, won at ASU 77-69
Next up: vs. UCLA (Thursday)
Comment: One game continues to impact the complexion of USC's season. Win the opener against Florida Gulf Coast, and everything looks different.
4. Utah (14-7/7-3)
Results: beat WSU 77-63 and Washington 86-61
Next up: at Oregon State (Thursday)
Comment: Also worth watching down the stretch: Utah's seed in the Pac-12 tournament. The goal should be to avoid No. 4, thus delaying a date with UCLA, the presumptive No. 1, until the championship game.
5. Arizona State (15-5/6-3)
Results: lost to UCLA 74-62 and USC 77-69
Next up: at Washington (Thursday)
Comment: The next month is about avoiding bad losses. The final fortnight (Arizona and the L.A. schools) is about collecting good wins.
6. Colorado (12-9/4-6)
Results: lost to Washington 75-72, beat WSU 58-55
Next up: at Oregon (Thursday)
Comment: The Buffaloes are 6-0 when Tristan da Silva scores 20 points or more and 2-5 when he scores 10 points or less. Feels a tad significant.
Pac-12 financial mess: On the fate of the networks, an emergency recourse and the legal framework
7. Oregon (11-9/5-4)
Results: won at Cal 87-58, lost at Stanford 71-64
Next up: vs. Colorado (Thursday)
Comment: The next six games are against NCAA locks or teams on the bubble. The Ducks had best win four. Otherwise, the at-large door will slam shut.
8. Washington (12-9/4-6)
Results: won at Colorado 75-72, lost at Utah 86-61
Next up: vs. ASU (Thursday)
NET ranking: 118
Comment: Switch Keion Brooks to point guard, give him a few more assists per game, take away a couple rebounds and lower his 3-point percentage, and he's pretty much Terrell Brown.
9. Washington State (9-12/4-6)
Results: lost at Utah 77-63 and Colorado 58-55
Next up: vs. Arizona (Thursday)
Comment: WSU's position on the NCAA Tournament bubble is comparable to Pluto's orbit around the Sun.
10. Stanford (7-12/2-7)
Last week: 12
Results: beat OSU 67-46 and Oregon 71-64
Next up: vs. Chicago State (Wednesday)
Comment: "Alive. It's alive. It's a-LIVE!" Gene Wilder's character in Young Frankenstein remarked after watching Stanford over the weekend.
11. Oregon State (8-12/2-7)
Results: lost at Stanford 67-46, won at Cal 68-48
Next up: vs. Utah (Thursday)
Comment: The Beavers took inconsistency to an art form in losing at Stanford by 19 and winning at Cal by 20.
12. Cal (3-17/2-7)
Results: lost to Oregon 87-58 and OSU 68-48
Next up: at Stanford (Saturday)
Comment: We would suggest Cal cannot possibly beat Stanford again, except it keeps happening, somehow.
*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716
*** Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline
*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.
Hotline Alert
Pac-12 Basketball
Pac-12 Power Ratings
Jon Wilner | College sports reporter
Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.
jwilner@bayareanewsgroup.com
Follow Jon Wilner @wilnerhotline


Anacapa is great for scuba diving, whale watching, and snorkeling because of the kelp beds that are right offshore. Visit San Miguel's Cuyler Harbor, a sand beach you'll share with elephant seals. Each island has hiking trails, beaches to explore, fishing, and wildlife observation. You can also swim, bird-watch, kayak, camp, and explore tide pools, isolated beaches, and rugged canyons on the majority of the islands.


Changing the color of the selected layers with the colored circle in the lower left.
The LayerView also tends to have a color changer.
These are often loaded from files with specific values.
Drawing Machines: What is a Cyclocycloid? Harmonograph? Pintograph?
Touch Embroidery includes a few specialty items of interest. These are admittedly a bit cryptic. They are modeled after drawing machines. Namely Cyclocycloid, Harmonograph, and Pintograph.
How do I transfer my designs to my machine?
Put it on a thumb drive from your computer.
Load the design from the thumbdrive.
Hoops, in embroidery, are used to hold fabric in place during the embroidery process. These hoops come in different sizes and depend on the machine and differ greatly. So it is essential to know whether you can draw the desired image in the given space. Which is why you would need hoops for any software to make embroidery. Keeping in mind that the presser foot of the machine may still reduce the effective range within that hoop. Machines will almost always allow you to measure the size of the design and it is essential that you do this.
The tool selector is the Tool Menu button and the 5 quick selection tools, of the last five tools you used.
Touch Embroidery has a Layer View which can be toggled by pressing the layer button.
How would I make a logo in Touch Embroidery?
At present, you likely would not. You'd send away to a digitizing service for a logo. There's a large number of companies with the expensive software tools that specifically cater to this sort of work (E.g. Quality Punch) . They are fast and professional and know the ins-and-outs of embroidery and machines to sew them on etc. There's a lot to getting things a good logo. My work tends to veer a bit away from this and more towards the home embroidery user and more artistic work.
The fractal system in Touch Embroidery are lsystem fractals. It uses a set of turtle graphic commands. Then, in turn, turns these patterns into sewable items.
How would you specifically add that and use it?
The Ribbon Tool runs various short programs resulting in sequences of lines that generally look like ribbons, and are acceptable for embroidery.
There are two main components to this process, Nodes and Drawing Sequence. The nodes define particular locations. There are a variety of different nodes types, each type interacts in different ways with the other nodes. The drawing sequence defines what we are drawing using these points.
The tools are line manipulation and generation tools. You can change large number of points in specific ways directly modifying the design, by these tools. As well as several that create new lines either simply or in patterns.
Tools work on the currently selected layers. Layers are selected in the layer view or by default when they are created.
What's the difference between Touch Embroidery and Touch Embroidery Free?
I've been disabling a few tools and a few widgets each new version. Usually different set each time, I update the version.
Future proof. I might change some things in the future, either disabling some awesome new features when I think they exist. Or simply not disabling anything at all. In either case the main version wouldn't be affected by anything decided whereas the free version might be.
These are usually fully formed objects that occupy scene space, most and create various stitches.
Free version great for viewing, editing and creating embroidery files.


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Evelyn LaRue Pittman
Female | Composers
Evelyn Pittman studied with Kemper Harreld, black violinist and head of the music department at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. It was during her college years that she became committed to telling the story of black history through music. After graduation, she entered Langston University in Oklahoma (1933) and received her teaching certificate. For about thirteen years, Pittman taught in the public schools of Oklahoma City, organized an orchestra, had a weekly radio program, founded the Evelyn Pittman Choir, published "Rich Heritage," and wrote a newspaper column for Oklahoma City Newspaper. In 1948, Pittman studied composition under Robert Ward at Julliard, later, in 1954, studying with Harrison Kerr at the University of Oklahoma. She received her M.M and, in 1956, Pittman studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. Her theater works, "Cousin Esther, folk opera "Again the River," and "Freedom's Child," have been performed in the United States, Europe, and Africa. She has written compositions for solo voice and spiritual arrangements.
Source: Perkins Holly, Ellistine. Biographies of Black Composers and Songwriters; A Supplementary Textbook. Iowa:Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990.
George Shirley Performance Award
Willis C. Patterson Research Award
Adams-Owens Prize
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Are you concerned about the air you and your family are breathing inside your home? Then you need a qualified HVAC contractor to help you get the indoor air quality, or IAQ, solutions you need. You should know you can count on Boelcke Heating and Air Conditioning to help. We can provide you with a vast assortment of indoor air quality solutions that will help clean the air in your home – letting you breathe easier.
Whether you or a loved one suffer from allergies, or you just want to ensure your family breathes cleaner air, the skilled technicians at Boelcke can assist you. We offer products that will help abate allergens like pet dander and dust, as well as pathogens like mold, mildew and bacteria. Or, if your home is too damp or too dry, we can provide you with the products you need for optimal indoor air, professionally installed by our technicians.
When you need IAQ solutions for your home, Boelcke can help.
When you need indoor air quality solutions from a qualified specialist for your home, you can trust Boelcke Heating and Air Conditioning. We can help meet all your home heating needs, large or small. Simply give us a call at (269) 429-9261, and we will be more than happy to assist you.
We were very satisfied with the professionalism and expertise of the technicians and salesman.


text:
Ouratea tarapotensis är en tvåhjärtbladig växtart som beskrevs av Macbride. Ouratea tarapotensis ingår i släktet Ouratea och familjen Ochnaceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Malpigiaordningen
tarapotensis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Tank Returns With New Single "Can't Let It Show"
Feb 26, 2021 | New Music
R&B star Tank is back with his brand new single "Can't Let It Show". The new single samples "This Woman's Work" by Kate Bush. R&B lovers may be more familiar with Maxwell's cover that he did back in 2001. After having a lot of success with his trap infused R&B over the last few years, especially with the hit single "When We", it looks like Tank is bringing some more traditional elements back to his music. The vibe of this new song reminds us of what he was doing on the "Now Or Never" album.
The new single from Tank is his first offering since his piano EPs "While You Wait" and "Worth The Wait" which he released last year.
Tank is currently putting the final touches on his upcoming album. The project will be the follow up to his last album "Elevation".
New Video: Tank - Can't Let It Show
Tank Samples His Own Classic Song On New Single "I Deserve" (Stream)
Tank Reaches #1 Spot on R&B Radio Charts with "Can't Let It Show"
New Music: Tank "If You Were Mine"
New Music: Tank - Dirty (Remix) featuring Chis Brown, Feather & Rahky
New Video: Tank - When We (featuring Trey Songz & Ty Dolla $ign) (Remix)


text:
Home News PSA publishes annual report for 2020/21
PSA publishes annual report for 2020/21
The Police Superintendents' Association has published its Annual Report for 2020/21.
The report details how the association has worked towards its strategic priorities and outlines priorities for the year ahead.
In his foreword, President Paul Griffiths says:
"What has occurred over the past year is nothing short of extraordinary and our role as an association has been crucial in supporting our members who have led the policing response to this national emergency, and the wider Service, which has successfully implemented wholesale change to the way it operates as it has navigated an entirely new demand.
"This year's annual report is therefore heavily influenced by our own 'Covid response' as we have served as critical friends and influencers in the government's formation of entirely new laws and associated guidance for police officers.
"The unrelenting demand this has resulted in for members, our Service's most senior leaders, has been a core concern and has been at the centre of our wellbeing drive.
"Amidst the global impact of coronavirus, our Service has been further tested with regards to legitimacy following the debate that arose from the death of George Floyd in America and the resulting Black Lives Matter movement. The need to make real, visible change to the diversity within our workforce and to the legitimacy of our services when it comes to race has never been more stark.
"With a long-standing commitment to valuing difference, which has been a priority area of focus for the association over the last year, I'm pleased that we have made progress through the insight and experience of our members."
The Annual Report can be viewed here. and a linked impact report can be viewed here.


If you are using Firefox as a default browser and you still want to open some web site in Google Chrome, this Firefox extension might be useful. Open in Google Chrome Firefox extension will open any websites in Google Chrome from Firefox in one click. Once you install this extension into Firefox, you can easily open up your current page in Chrome. As an extra bonus feature, you can configure it so that certain pages like Gmail always open in Chrome. It can also be configured to always open certain web pages in Chrome - e.g. *google*, gmail, etc.
Download open-in-google-chrome.xpi on to your desktop and then drag it inside Firefox 3 much like what you did for Send to Google Docs..
Restart Firefox. Then go to Tools -> Add-ons -> Options and browse for the chrome.exe file on your Vista / XP / Windows 2000 machine.
The Google Chrome Firefox extension can also be configured to open a group of website(s) directly in Chrome even if you try accessing them from Firefox. For instance, you may add "yahoo" to the list and any site that has yahoo in the URL would open in Chrome automatically. That includes "maps.yahoo.com", "news.yahoo.com", "yahoo.com" and even "bbc.com/news/yahoo-shares.html" so be careful while picking these wildcards.


Taking the photos from the top, folks..
Sometimes the greatest step of faith is taken neck-deep in feat.
What happens when the realization of a dream isn't what you imagined... and the secret you've spent a lifetime guarding is finally laid bare?
Determined to become one of the country's premier newspaper photographers, Elizabeth Westbrook travels to the Colorado Territory to capture the grandeur of the mountains surrounding the remote town of Timber Ridge. She hopes, too, that the cool, dry air of Colorado, and its renowned hot springs, will cure the mysterious illness that threatens her career, and her life.
Daniel Ranslett is a man shackled by his Confederate past, and he'll do anything to protect his land, and his solitude. When an outspoken Yankee photographer captures an image that appears key to solving a murder, putting herself in danger, Daniel is called upon to repay a debt. He's a man of his word, but repaying that debt could reveal secrets from his past he would prefer remain buried.
Forced on a perilous journey together, Daniel and Elizabeth's lives intertwine in ways neither could have imagined when first they met from a distance.
It was the halo that caught her heart between beats and made her pause to take notice. When Alessi Moore drives her red Mustang convertible into town, she wonders if this could be the place she was meant to find, a place to settle down. But when her convertible and all she owns is stolen, she is filled with doubt.
Based on the life of Marie Dorion, the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest, A Name of Her Own is the fictionalized adventure account of a real woman's fight to settle in a new landscape, survive in a nation at war, protect her sons and raise them well and, despite an abusive, alcoholic husband, keep her marriage together.
With two rambunctious young sons to raise, Marie Dorion refuses to be left behind in St. Louis when her husband heads West with the Wilson Hunt Astoria expedition of 1811. Faced with hostile landscapes, an untried expedition leader, and her volatile husband, Marie finds that the daring act she hoped would bind her family together may in the end tear them apart.
On the journey, Marie meets up with the famous Lewis and Clark interpreter, Sacagawea. Both are Indian women married to mixed-blood men of French Canadian and Indian descent, both are pregnant, both traveled with expeditions led by white men, and both are raising sons in a white world.
Together, the women forge a friendship that will strengthen and uphold Marie long after they part, even as she faces the greatest crisis of her life, and as she fights for her family's very survival with the courage and gritty determination that can only be fueled by a mother's love.
History has all but forgotten...In the spring of 1708, an invading Jacobite fleet of French and Scottish soldiers nearly succeeded in landing the exiled James Stewart in Scotland to reclaim his crown.
California's gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep.
Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.
Then she meets Michael Hosea. A man who seeks his Father's heart in everything, Michael obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.
But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband's pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does ... the One who will never let her go.
And I made a second trip.. so from the top folks..
Enjoy one of only two Heyer Gothic Regency romances.
Kate, in dire circumstances, is surprised to receive an invitation to live with a distant aunt. Her aunt, uncle, and cousin welcome her to their estate, buy her new clothes, and provide all the amenities a Young lady of quality should have. Slowly, however, as strange events unfold, Kate begins to realize that her aunt's apparent benevolence hides an ulterior motive. To assure succession of the title, her aunt intends Kate to marry her cousin Torquil, until his increasingly bizarre behavior culminates in violence and tragedy. A compelling tale exploring mental illness in the Regency period.
I really enjoyed Eakes' second stand-alone novel in this series, so I had my eyes peeled for this one.. yay!
By virtue of her profession as a midwife, Tabitha Eckles is the keeper of many secrets: the names of fathers of illegitimate children, the level of love and harmony within many a marriage, and now the identity of a man who may have caused his wife's death. Dominick Cherrett is a man with his own secret to keep: namely, what he, a British nobleman, is doing on American soil working as a bondsman in the home of Mayor Kendall, a Southern gentleman with his eye on a higher office.
By chance one morning before the dawn has broken, Tabitha and Dominick cross paths on a misty beachhead, leading them on a twisted path through kidnappings, death threats, public disgrace, and . . . love? Can Tabitha trust Dominick? What might he be hiding? And can either of them find true love in a world that seems set against them?
With stirring writing that puts readers directly into the story, Lady in the Mist expertly explores themes of identity, misperception, and love's discovery.
At a different time, in a different place, under different circumstances... could two people fall in love once again?
Ten years ago Kathryn Jennings made a vow. For better or worse. And that promise still holds true, even though her marriage has not turned out as she expected. When her husband fails to return home one stormy winter night, she struggles to keep their ranch, but her efforts are blocked at every turn. After a shocking glimpse into her husband's past, Kathryn uncovers a hidden truth. What she wouldn't give to turn back time and be able to love her husband for the man that he was, not for the man she always wanted him to be.
Larson Jennings has spent his entire life running from a broken past, unable to trust, reluctant to try again. One fateful night, his life takes an unexpected twist, and soon he is forced to make a choice. Whatever he chooses, his decision may cost him his life.
The lame synopsis on Goodreads and Amazon is: The Texas Frontier provides for riveting adventure and inspiring characters as this historical fiction series draws readers into the struggle for freedom.
They came to Texas to make their family whole. They fought for the land they'd come to love. An unforgettable saga of faith, love and loyalty that will find its place deep in your heart.
In the days when Texas was the northern edge of Mexico, when Bowie and Houston and Crockett were men and not yet legends, when the Alamo was still a scruffy mission on the banks of the San Antonio River, this unorthodox family struggled to make a wild but beautiful land their own.
This is the tale of Jerusalem Ann, who is willing to take whatever life dishes out in order to make a life for her family. It's the story of Clay, who finds himself protecting another man's family - and in love with another man's wife. It's about Jake, who loves two women and can't do right by either... and Julie, who'd rather be free than respectable... and Bowie, who can handle war but might not survive his first love. It's the story of Comanches and fiestas, hunting parties and courting parties, of battles and massacres and beautiful calm nights under a canopy of stars.
Wide as the prairies, warm as a San Antonia breeze, spiced with adventure and romance, this Texas-sized saga of faith from a beloved storyteller will quickly find its place deep in your heart.. and never let you go.
I read book three, follows the family of brothers, but separated stories enough that it will be fine for me to go backwards!
In this World War II-era romance, Allie is promised to a man she doesn't love. When a furloughed B-17 bomber pilot captures her heart, will she honor her family's wishes or take a chance on true love?
Never pretty enough to please her gorgeous mother, Allie will do anything to gain her approval - even marry a man she doesn't love. While Allie has nearly resigned herself to that fate, Lt. Walter Novak - fearless in the cockpit but hopeless with women - takes his last furlough at home in California before being shipped overseas.
In the steel mill town of Donora, Pennsylvania, site of the infamous 1948 "killing smog," headstrong nurse Rose Pavlesic tends to her family and neighbors. Controlling and demanding, she's created a life that reflects everything she missed growing up as an orphan. She's even managed to keep her painful secrets hidden from her loving husband, dutiful children, and large extended family.
When a stagnant weather pattern traps poisonous mill gasses in the valley, neighbors grow sicker and Rose's nursing obligations thrust her into conflict she never could have fathomed. Consequences from her past collide with her present life, making her once clear decisions as gray as the suffocating smog. As pressure mounts, Rose finds she's not the only one harboring lies. When the deadly fog finally clears, the loss of trust and faith leaves the Pavlesic family-and the whole town-splintered and shocked. With her new perspective, can Rose finally forgive herself and let her family's healing begin?
Katherine Howe, author of the phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, returns with an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball.
Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston's Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sibyl flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.
But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Derby, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium's scrying glass.
From the opium dens of Boston's Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of the Titanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist that will leave readers breathless.
Armchair BEA 2012: Giveaways Everywhere!


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Externus – Path of the Solari
How To Watch An Xbox Showcase
By Trevor Osz on Tuesday, August 4, 2020
In this week's episode, almost the whole team is here to talk about the Xbox Games Showcase. Join Kent, Moudy, Jack, and Trevor as they talk about the future of Xbox and what they liked about the show.
How To Answer Your Questions
By Trevor Osz on Tuesday, July 28, 2020
In this episode, Kent and Trevor went to the Discord channel to answer any questions you had for us and about Externus. We plan on answering more questions in the future, so feel free to continue asking them on the Discord or emailing us at socialmedia@winterborngames.com. Our theme song made by our Audio Engineer Stephen …
By Trevor Osz on Monday, July 20, 2020
In this episode, Kent, Moudy, and Trevor sit down to talk about the reaction they had when the Kickstarter got funded and where we go from here. The team didn't think we would do it, but we did and learn about how we had to adjust and what we're doing going forward. Thank you to …
Thank You For Helping Us
By Trevor Osz on Tuesday, June 23, 2020
A thank you message for everyone who have helped us run a successful Kickstarter campaign. We are proud of what we have accomplished together!
How To Build A World
Support us on Kickstarter: http://bit.ly/externus In this episode, Kent, Jack, and Trevor sit down to talk about creating the world of Externus through tabletop play and dive deep into the state of the world when the game starts and what you can expect from it. We also talk about some of the countries and characters …
How To Launch A Kickstarter Part 1
By Trevor Osz on Friday, May 22, 2020
Kent, Jack, Moudy, and Trevor are back to talk about launching the Kickstarter for Externus: Path of the Solari and give a bit more detail into the process and talk about how excited they are to launch it alongside our Pre-Alpha Demo. We're planning on doing some deeper dives into the game in the coming …
Play The Pre-Alpha Demo, Back Our Kickstarter
By Trevor Osz on Tuesday, May 19, 2020
We have launched a Kickstarter for Externus: Path of the Solari alongside a Pre-Alpha Demo that serves as the prequel of the game. Feel free to check out our campaign and the Externus website for all the details! Play the Demo: https://winterborngames.itch.io/externus-path-of-the-solari Back the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/winterborngames/externus-path-of-the-solari/
How To Release A Teaser Trailer
By Trevor Osz on Tuesday, April 21, 2020
We have finally had the time to come up for air as we announced our first game Externus: Path of the Solari (http://www.externusgame.com) alongside a teaser trailer. In this episode, Trevor, Kent, and Moudy talk a bit about Externus and working on the trailer. Have a listen! Our theme song made by our Audio Engineer …
EXTERNUS: PATH OF THE SOLARI Announcement
By Trevor Osz on Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Introducing Externus: Path of the Solari Externus is set in an original high fantasy world first created by Kent Gambill and cooperatively developed with players of his homebrew tabletop game. Externus is designed as a story-driven tactical RPG that will focus on characters and their struggles during their adventures. Before working at the studio, I …
How to Go to PAX East 2020
By Trevor Osz on Wednesday, March 4, 2020
In this week's episode, Trevor (http://www.twitter.com/trevorosz) is joined by Kent (http://www.twitter.com/ProfessionLKent) and Jack (http://www.twitter.com/MFTankbeast) as they talk about their time at PAX East 2020 as they discuss the games that they saw and the show in general. Our theme song made by our Audio Engineer Stephen Boilegh using Studio One and Epic Stock Media. Our …
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Christina Pluhar (ur. 1965 w Grazu) – austriacka multiinstrumentalistka, specjalizująca się w muzyce barokowej, dyrygentka i założycielka zespołu L'Arpeggiata.

Biografia
Pluhar uczyła się gry na gitarze w Grazu, następnie studiowała w Królewskim Konserwatorium Muzycznym w Hadze w klasie lutni Toyohiko Satoh. Studiowała też w Schola Cantorum Basiliensis w Bazylei (w klasie Hopkinsona Smitha), a także w Scuola Civica di Milano (w klasie Mary Galassi).

Wśród instrumentów, które opanowała są gitara barokowa, renesansowa lutnia, arcyluta, teorba i harfa barokowa.

Od 1992 mieszka w Paryżu. Występowała z takimi zespołami jak Concerto Köln, La Fenice, Les Musiciens du Louvre, La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy. Z zespołem La Fenice zdobyła w 1992 pierwszą nagrodę na konkursie International Old Music Competition w Malmö.

Od 1993 Pluhar prowadziła zajęcia na Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst w Grazu, a od 1999 uczyła harfy barokowej w Królewskim Konserwatorium Muzycznym w Hadze.

W 2000 założyła w Paryżu wokalno-instrumentalny zespół L'Arpeggiata, który zdobył popularność wykonując na oryginalnych instrumentach muzykę barokową, głównie włoską z XVIII wieku, wykorzystując jednak elementy jazzu, popu i folku.

Pluhar podkreśla, że muzyka epoki baroku, której zapis nie określa precyzyjnie np. rytmu, ozdobników czy barwy instrumentów daje dużą możliwość improwizacji. Dlatego nie uznaje swojej twórczości jako interpretacji muzyki dawnej, ale raczej jako formę muzyki współczesnej opartej na dawnym instrumentarium i tradycjach wykonawczych.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne
 Strona oficjalna

Ludzie urodzeni w Grazu
Austriaccy multiinstrumentaliści
Urodzeni w 1965


Google puts A/B testing tools at everyone's fingertips by making it's Google Optimise product free.
There may be no such thing as a free lunch - but now there's a free CRO package that gives you the ability to run as many A/B tests across your site as you need. Almost half of smaller businesses don't currently utilize A/B testing, which will mean they're potentially losing vast sums compared to the revenue they could have been generating had they engaged in CRO. That's why this free tool is so powerful. It opens up the possibility of A/B testing to all players, regardless of size. Whilst currently there is a divide between larger businesses able to afford to use a paid A/B testing tool like convert.com (which is a great tool) and smaller business unable to use these tools because of their cost, this free tool from Google will allow all businesses to optimize their conversion rate.
The tool in question is Google Optimise, which was previously part of Google's enterprise testing and personalized package called Google Optimise 360. Google Optimise provides users with many of the features of Google Optimise 360, but without the enterprise level price tag.
The optimise visual editor allows for quick and easy edits via drag and drop, and if you need to it's easy to go into the raw HTML.
Google Optimise also lets you show personalised content to different users based on given rules, so you can start targeting prospects with the most relevant content for them. Again this is nothing new but it is the first time businesses have been able to use this kind of technology for free, opening it up to a whole host of smaller businesses.
The tool also crunches the numbers for you to make it clear which tests are winning, which is great if you don't have a good grasp of statistics so would struggle to work what passes the threshold for a test to be statistically significant.
You can review how tests are performing and see which are meeting the winning criteria in the reporting tab. If you want to set started with Google Optimise for your businesses you can find out more here.


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Kathryn Randall
Nature Mamaw
April 24, 2018 April 24, 2018 rndkathryn
Tell-It Tuesday: The Dandelion
The Dandelion
A retelling of a legend from long ago
A long time ago, three Angels were having tea.
"Of all the trees I am the angel for, my favorite is the Sugar Maple," said the Angel of the Trees.
"My favorite berry is the strawberry," said the Angel of the Berries.
The Angel of the Flowers looked at them with a perplexed look. "I don't know what my favorite flower is," she said. "Perhaps I should visit Earth and figure that out."
She put down her cup of tea and winged her way to Earth.
When she arrived, she traveled far and wide, to find the flower she loved more than any other.
Soon she came to a magnificent garden beside a cottage. The garden, colorful and bright, was full of flowers of all kinds. But a gorgeous tulip, bright yellow, on a perfectly straight stem, caught her eye.
"You are beautiful," said the Angel. "Of all the places you could live, where would you like to live the most?"
The proud tulip seemed to stand even straighter. "I am beautiful, tall and proud. I deserve to live at a castle, not by this little cottage. If I were at a castle, the royal people would see me in all my beauty and praise me. Like I deserve."
The Angel felt sad. The tulip, although extremely beautiful was not her favorite.
The Angel traveled on. Soon she came to a brilliant pink rose on a trellis by a humble inn for travelers.
"Your color is amazing," said the Angel. "Of all the places you could live, where would you like to live the most?"
The bright pink rose perked up and said, "I would like to live at a castle, where my beauty could climb the castle walls. Everyone visiting would tell me how wonderful I am which is what I deserve."
The Angel felt sad again. The rose, brilliant as it was, would not be her favorite flower.
The Angel traveled on. As she walked down a dusty road, far out in the country, she came upon a tiny yellow dandelion growing beside the road.
"Why, you are far from everyone," said the Angel. "Of all the places you could live, where would you like to live the most?"
The dandelion leaned towards the Angel in excitement.
"Oh," she cried with glee. "I would love to live anywhere there are children. I would live in the cracks between stones, or by the side of the road, anywhere that I could bring happiness to children."
The Angel clapped her hands and smiled.
"I have found you at last," she said. She reached down and gently touched the small dandelion. "You are my favorite flower. From this day forward, you will grow everywhere possible, and for a long time from early spring to late fall, so that you can bring happiness and pleasure to children in all places."
So, to this day, the dandelion can be found early in the spring until late in the fall, growing in fields, lawns, by the road, between rocks. The Angel gave the dandelion the honor of being her favorite flower, and along with that, the beauty and wonder of a long life bringing joy to children everywhere.
What is your favorite flower?
Tell-It Tuesday
Published by rndkathryn
View all posts by rndkathryn
Previous Make-It Monday: Seed Sprout Flipbook
Next Walk-About Wedesday: Signs of Spring
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Loan customers urged to keep up repayments as UK's biggest payday lender faces uncertain future
QuickQuid faces an uncertain future but customers are urged to keep up repayments. Pic: QuickQuid
People who've taken out payday loans with QuickQuid are advised to keep up their repayments despite uncertainty around the firm's future.
The advice comes as the US owner of the payday lender said it is pulling out of the country after failing to reach an agreement with the Financial Ombudsman over complaints from customers.
But today the boss of the Money and Pensions Service warned peoples not to be tempted to stop making repayments. Caroline Siarkiewicz, acting chief executive at the Money and Pensions Service, which is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, said: "Many QuickQuid customers will be feeling uncertain about what this means for them. While you may be tempted to stop your repayments, it is crucial to keep to your regular schedule, because if you have entered into a loan agreement you must fulfil it."
MORE: Radio Broadland building back up for sale with price slashed
QuickQuid offers online easy borrowing but gives an example of borrowing £250 for 74 days with one repayment of £74 and one repayment of £324 equating to an interest rate of 292%.
QuickQuid owner Enova had been working to reach a deal with authorities after customers filed more than 3,000 complaints about the company in the first six months of the year.
"We worked with our UK regulator to agree upon a sustainable solution to the elevated complaints to the UK Financial Ombudsman, which would enable us to continue providing access to credit for hard-working Britons," said CEO David Fisher as he announced that the company would withdraw from the UK this quarter.
Enova will take a one-off after-tax charge of around $74 million (£58 million), which includes a cash charge of $43 million (£33 million) to support the end of its lending in the UK.
QuickQuid has faced a squeeze since facing tougher rules from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to prevent people being trapped in debt spirals, following an outcry from charities and consumer campaigners.
The company claims to have lent to more than 1.4 million people in the country.


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In the competitive global marketplace, businesses are always scrambling for more sales. Ensuring sales growth comes from effective lead generation. There are many steps to lead generation and most companies simply do not have the bandwidth nor resources to adequately implement these steps. That's why companies of all sizes and from all industries depend on lead generation outsourcing.
Lead generation is defined as the process of identifying or attracting leads, contacts or prospective customers to be managed through the sales funnel/buying process, then qualifying these leads' likelihood of buying, with the objective of passing the leads to the sales team to convert into actual customers. Lead generation outsourcing would be hiring an external company to do the lead generation processes from the outsourcing provider's premises.
Identifying the company's target audience. Targeting a very broad base lessens the chances that the prospects will turn into customers.
Setting a campaign plan, and preparing messages and fulfillment materials. Under this step are other sub-processes such as preparing resources for the entire campaign; choosing the lead generation media appropriate for the campaign goals; developing a clear, compelling message; developing fulfillment materials; and ensuring the sales team is integrated in the lead generation process.
Acquiring leads. Lead generation outsourcing providers can execute any or all of the following: inbound and outbound calls; email marketing; internet marketing and online lead generation; and using social networking sites.
Fulfilling responses. This keeps prospects engaged. Lead generation outsourcing providers will send fulfillment materials such as information packets, complimentary giveaways, and others.
Qualifying and nurturing leads. This is turning an unqualified inquiry into a qualified one with the duration of the process lasting from a few minutes to several months. Again, this is a methodical, time-consuming process that can be done efficiently by a lead generation outsourcing provider.
Passing leads to sales. Once the prospect is ready to buy the product or services, this qualified lead is then passed to the sales team to close the sale.
Evaluating the lead generation process. Even with leads converted to sales, an effective lead generation process should always be monitored, analyzed and evaluated to make the process even more effective and to increase the sales conversion rate.
It is clear that the preceding steps contain within each a multitude of tasks that have to be done thoroughly. A business looking to increase its sales – and that would be all businesses – would do well to outsource its lead generation activities to an experienced outsourcing company to establish and maintain ongoing dialogues with leads. Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies may hold the key to a company's improved sales performance.