text:
DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 493, 4 February 2013
Welcome to this year's fifth issue of DistroWatch Weekly! The little-known UberStudent probably won't be on the radar of most users looking for a happy computing environment, but as the distribution is based on Ubuntu and offers an excellent collection of software designed for learning and teaching academic computing, chances are that it has started to find some niche among the student population. However, as Jesse Smith points out in today's feature article, the recently-released version 2.0 is actually an excellent all-round operating system for everyone, not just teachers, learners and undergraduates. Read below to find out more. In the news section, the OmniBoot compilation DVD arrives in version 1.0 with over 150 boot options and dozens of operating systems, and a note on an interesting trend among Linux distributions to replace the Oracle-controlled MySQL with a more open fork called MariaDB. Also in this issue, a detailed review of the brand-new Enlightenment 0.17 window manager, a link to an interesting article suggesting five alternatives to Ubuntu for the desktop, and the usual regular columns and DistroWatch database updates. Finally, we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the January 2013 DistroWatch.com donation is MariaDB Foundation. Happy reading!
Distribution Reviews: A look at UberStudent 2.0
News: OmniBoot 1.0 "compilation" DVDs, five Ubuntu alternatives, MariaDB replaces MySQL in Fedora and openSUSE
Desktop reviews: First look at Enlightenment 0.17
Released last week: PCLinuxOS 2013.02, Parted Magic 2013_01_29, Linux Lite 1.0.4
Upcoming releases: openSUSE 12.3 RC1
Donations: MariaDB receives $300.00
New additions: SprezzOS
New distributions: Maui, MING OS
Listen to the Podcast edition of this week's DistroWatch Weekly in OGG (25MB) and MP3 (44MB) formats
Feature Story (by Jesse Smith)
A look at UberStudent 2.0
UberStudent is a Linux distribution which declares itself as being "Linux for learners". The project is based on Ubuntu with UberStudent 2.0 using the latest Ubuntu long-term support release as a base. Looking over the project's documentation we find UberStudent is designed with an eye toward education. The project is targeting people wishing to teach or learn academic computing. The project's website refers to the distribution as a learning platform, designed to help people become fluent in computer technology. There are several editions of the latest UberStudent release. The main edition comes with the Xfce desktop environment and other editions feature the LXDE and MATE desktops. Each edition is available in 32-bit and 64-bit builds. I opted to try the Xfce edition which can be downloaded as a 3.5 GB DVD images.
Booting from the UberStudent ISO we are brought to a boot menu which allows us to run the live desktop distribution on the disc or immediately launch the project's graphical installer. In practice I found selecting either option (live environment or installer) from the boot menu would bring me to the distribution's graphical login screen. There we can login with the username "uberstudent" and no password is required. The Xfce desktop has a pleasant, low-key style to it. The application menu sits at the top of the display with the system tray. The desktop features a mostly-black wallpaper and contains a few icons for opening a web browser and visiting the project's website and there is an icon for launching the installer. There's also an icon for browsing the local file system, but clicking this icon produces an error message indicating a missing component. Shortly after logging in a notification appears in the upper-right corner letting us know a drop-down virtual terminal is available and we can access it by pressing the F1 key.
One thing I found interesting about the layout of the Xfce desktop was the way the developers appear to have copied the GNOME 2 style of menus. Like GNOME 2, the Xfce desktop presented by UberStudent has three menu buttons at the top of the display. The first two menus, Applications and Places, let us browse available software and commonly accessed directories respectively. The third menu button, System, does not open a system administration menu as one would expect of GNOME. Instead, clicking the System button opens the Xfce control panel where we can make adjustments to the look and feel of our desktop environment. For some reason this aspect of the interface took me a while to get used to as whenever I wanted to adjust system settings or access the package manager I would instinctively click the System button and then have to close the control panel. The applications I really wanted were in the Application menu under the "System" category.
UberStudent 2.0 - the system installer
(full image size: 192kB, screen resolution 1366x768 pixels)
I won't waste much time covering the graphical system installer. UberStudent uses the Ubuntu installer and it has been discussed here many times. I found the installer worked really well, it takes little time to walk through the installation steps and I encountered no problems during the partitioning and configuration process. One minor point of note is that the installer requests we have a full 15GB of free space on the hard drive prior to beginning the install process. This is a rather large space requirement compared with other Linux distributions. As it turns out the distribution's system files take about 8GB of disk space when everything has been installed. The remaining 7 GB of the requirement are, I suppose, there to give us breathing room for swap space and personal files.
I ran UberStudent on my laptop (dual-core 2 GHz CPU, 4 GB of RAM, Intel video card, Intel wireless card) and in a VirtualBox virtual machine. In both cases the distribution worked well. Sound worked out of the box, my screen was set to its maximum resolution and it only took a few mouse clicks to connect to local wireless networks. Xfce performed very well in both environments and remained responsive at all times. The distribution uses more memory than I would normally except -- I found logging into Xfce would use approximately 240 MB of RAM.
UberStudent 2.0 - changing system settings
UberStudent comes with a lot of software, enough to keep me busy exploring for days. As suggested by the project's documentation many of these programs are related to education in one way or another. In some cases this means educational games, or specialized note taking applications. There is an app called "Top Shelf" which helps the user organize the files/projects they need to make priorities. There are a few programs for budgeting, a few e-book readers and a handful of programs to assist in publishing material. I won't go into the full list because there is just about everything except the kitchen sink included in the application menu. Along with the various education/work related programs we also find a fairly standard lineup of software including Firefox, LibreOffice, Xfce configuration tools and a pair of package managers. The Network Manager software is installed to help us get on-line and there are lots of little programs to help us edit text files, manage archives and play multimedia.
At install time I requested non-free items be included in the installation and so I had Flash support and a wide range of codecs for playing media files. While using UberStudent I found the application menu included both locally installed software and web apps. Unfortunately there often isn't a clear distinction made indicating which software is local and which programs are on-line. I'm hoping future versions of the distribution either separate the web apps from the local programs or put something in each program's description to let us know if it does not run locally. One surprise I found was that UberStudent, while apparently based on Ubuntu 12.04, comes with a more modern kernel than its parent. The Linux kernel which comes with UberStudent is version 3.5 as opposed to the base's 3.2 version. Another surprise I discovered was that UberStudent runs a web server by default. The server can be accessed though no pages are available to be viewed. The web service does not appear to serve any purpose (it doesn't provide documentation, for example) and I'm not sure why it is running on the default install.
UberStudent 2.0 - the application menu and sub-menus
The UberStudent distribution comes with two graphical package managers. The first is the venerable Synaptic package manager. It allows us to search for packages, to create complex batch jobs and it is both fast and reliable. Still, Synaptic can be a bit intimidating to newcomers so UberStudent offers a second package manager called Simple Software Centre. The Simple Software Centre certainly streamlines the process of adding and removing software. It has a modern, almost web-like interface. The application features three tabs, in the first we can browse into software categories to find packages in the repositories. Each package entry includes the software's name, a brief description and icon. The second tab is much the same, but shows only packages which are currently installed and may be removed. The third tab shows queued actions (installations or removals) which will be processed. Our interaction with the Simple Software Centre is quite limited as far as options are concerned, but the application works well and I found it would allow me to keep browsing packages while add/remove operations were in progress. I believe the Simple Software Centre only works with programs which feature graphical interfaces. This means manipulating library packages or command line programs requires we switch to Synaptic or APT command line tools.
UberStudent 2.0 - graphical package managers
While I was using UberStudent I didn't see any notifications signalling updated packages in the repositories. Checking manually, either on the command line or through the simple update manager, revealed a supply of security updates and I believe all of these updates are supplied by the Ubuntu repositories. The day I installed UberStudent I found 123 updates waiting to be installed, the total download size for these was approximately 90MB. Considering the large amount of software included on the UberStudent DVD and the pace of upstream patching I strongly suspect UberStudent releases ISO images which have more up to date packages than its parent distribution. I see this as a welcome feature as it saves the user from downloading massive amounts of security updates immediately following the initial install.
When I first started looking at UberStudent I noticed there was a lot of talk about being focused on education and making someone fluent in the ways of computers, but there didn't seem to be a lot of detail on the project's website as to how or why UberStudent would be the best option for students and professors. To be honest, after using UberStudent for a while I'm still not entirely sure. Yes, UberStudent comes with a good deal of software and some of it falls under the category of education (note taking, finance, project tracking) so it is certainly useful. There are a lot of applications included and many of them are good tools. Where I feel UberStudent may not live up to its goals is that it does not appear to teach the user. The project's website and the slide show which runs during the installation process talk of making the user fluent in the realm of computers and I was expecting tutorials or manuals -- some form of hand holding. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, perhaps a requirement to do a lot of configuration manually as we experience with Slackware or the BSDs.
In fact neither approach is taken. Everything is nicely set up for us. Lots of software is installed, multimedia codecs are all available out of the box, Flash is provided for us and we are given an easy to use package manager. The interface is light, fast, intuitive and stays out of the way. All of this made for an experience which was less educational and more, well, boring. Now, I say "boring" in a positive sense. UberStudent is boring on the desktop the same way Red Hat is boring on servers, we want it that way. There are no surprises, no missteps, the user probably won't have to install or configure anything, they can just plug it in and expect it to work. Since UberStudent is based on Ubuntu's latest long-term support release we can expect UberStudent to "just work" for a good long while. My overall impression of the distribution is UberStudent may or may not be helpful to students, but it will almost certainly appeal to desktop users who want a fast operating system that comes with everything and the kitchen sink pre-installed. It's a good install-and-forget distribution for desktop users.
Miscellaneous News (by Ladislav Bodnar)
OmniBoot 1.0 "compilation" DVDs, five Ubuntu alternatives, MariaDB replaces MySQL in Fedora and openSUSE
Don Manuel, the ever so active developer of OmniBoot, has some great news for us - the release of version 1.0. OmniBoot is by far the most comprehensive "compilation" CD/DVD offering a large number of Linux distributions, useful utilities and even some BSD-based operating systems, all available for selection from the initial boot menu. And the list of operating systems is really long; depending on the edition, OmniBoot 1.0 provides Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.6 live with LXDE, Linux Mint 14.1 "Cinnamon" edition, Fedora 18 "Xfce", Ubuntu 12.10 with GNOME, KNOPPIX 7.0.5 with LXDE, SLAX 7.0.4 with KDE, NAS4Free, m0n0wall, Parted Magic, SystemRescueCd, Puppy Linux "Precise" edition, Clonezilla Live, SliTaz GNU/Linux and a number of other small distributions. Containing no fewer than 157 boot options, OmniBoot 1.0 has to be the most versatile Linux/BSD DVD available today and it should be an integral part of any system administrator's or Linux enthusiast's toolkit. Visit the project's home page for a complete list of all boot options, distributions, tools and utilities available on the DVD. For downloads the SourceForge repository gives a full listing, with additional information can be found on OmniBoot's download page.
There is little doubt that the arrival of Ubuntu on the Linux distro scene has made open-source computing much more accessible to a large number of non-technical people. Nevertheless, it isn't to everybody's taste. If you are looking for an Ubuntu-like alternative that springs from the same roots but has its own distinct foliage and flowering, this ExtremeTech's article (by Tim Verry) entitled "5 Ubuntu alternatives worth checking out" offers some ideas: "Linux is a free and open-source desktop operating system, and is recognized as the third most popular desktop operating system in the world. Unlike OS X or Windows, there are many different versions -- called distributions (or distros) -- that all fall under the 'Linux' umbrella. Among the many flavors of Linux, the Debian-based Ubuntu is the distro that tends to receive the majority of mainstream attention. Interestingly, according to the ever-popular DistroWatch, much as Ubuntu has surpassed Debian in popularity, Ubuntu has been overthrown by its own forked distribution: Linux Mint." Besides Linux Mint, the author also looks at BackBox Linux, Bio-Linux, Pinguy OS and Poseidon Linux.
Finally, a note on a rather interesting trend. It seems that the venerable MySQL, which probably handles more data on the world wide web than any other database, is currently going the way of OpenOffice.org (which was recently removed from most Linux distributions and substituted with LibreOffice) and being replaced by a fork called MariaDB. As was the case with OO.o, the reason is largely the same - the mistrust many open-source developers harness towards Oracle which now controls the development of MySQL. The Fedora wiki page explains the reasons behind the potential move: "The original company behind MySQL, MySQL AB, was bought out by Sun which was then bought by Oracle. Recent changes made by Oracle indicate they are moving the MySQL project to be more closed. They are no longer publishing any useful information about security issues (CVEs), and they are not providing complete regression tests any more, and a very large fraction of the MySQL bug database is now not public. MariaDB, which was founded by some of the original MySQL developers, has a more open-source attitude and an active community. We have found them to be much easier to work with, especially in regards to security matters." Besides Fedora, Mageia has already replaced MySQL with MariaDB in their most recent release, while openSUSE has also indicated its intention to switch.
Desktop Reviews (by Jesse Smith)
First look at Enlightenment 0.17
Back in December I wrote about my experiences from a trial where I ran the Unity desktop on my main machine for a month. Some readers e-mailed and asked if I would perform similar experiments with the GNOME Shell or Enlightenment environments. After putting the question of which of these two interfaces should be reviewed to a vote the clear winner was Enlightenment. The Enlightenment window manager (and its accompanying tools) has been around for quite some time, the project released version 0.1 way back in 1997 and development has been slowly continuing since then. The Enlightenment project, sometimes referred to simply as "E" or "E17", is incredibly light; the graphical environment requires very little RAM and hard drive space. In fact, Enlightenment, once installed, occupied less than 20MB of disk space on my machine. Enlightenment is designed with the idea that everything should be configurable and fans of the project will be quick to point out how flexible it is. I can recall using Enlightenment only once before and it's been long enough since that experience I have no firm memories or impressions of my time with the project. Which I suppose is good, I went into my experiment without any feelings toward Enlightenment other than curiosity.
A quick side note before I get into my experiences with Enlightenment: While E17 began life as a window manager the project has grown a great deal, adding libraries, configuration tools and all of the components of a full featured desktop environment. For this reason at times I may, during the course of the following review, refer to Enlightenment as a window manager or a desktop environment. While window managers and desktop environments are two different technologies Enlightenment dances back and forth across that line, blurring the distinction.
The first time I logged into Enlightenment a graphical wizard appeared and walked me through a few initial configuration steps. I think E17 is the only desktop I have used which has an initial setup phase, so right away we are dealing with a unique experience. The wizard asks us which language we would like to use, then we are asked for our preferred profile. The profile deals with our screen's layout and size and there are a number of pre-configured options for various screen sizes and ratios. We are then asked what sort of application launcher style we want and, finally, if we would like to add any applications to the quick launch bar. I opted to skip this last step in order to get a vanilla experience. Once the configuration steps had been completed I was shown a plain desktop environment done mostly in shades of grey. Without any themes installed Enlightenment provides a very plain interface. There are a few icons in the upper-left corner of the display used to navigate the local file system. Down at the bottom of the screen I found a panel housing the task switcher, application menu and system tray. The background was a black & white checkered pattern. I soon found the application and settings menu could be brought up by clicking on any blank area of the desktop.
Enlightenment 0.17.0 - the first impressions
(full image size: 81kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
When I first begin using a new desktop there are two characteristics I look for. The first is how familiar or appealing the environment is -- does it have an inviting appearance, is it easy and intuitive to use right away, is it easy to find and access the features I want? The second attribute I consider important is how flexible the interface is -- will I be able to change the aspects of the desktop I do not like, how hard is it to find the proper configuration tool, are most details of the desktop fixed or can they be changed? Quite often a desktop environment will focus on one of these two characteristics. Unity and GNOME Shell tend toward one extreme with inflexible desktops which will hopefully be intuitive to use for a large number of people and, on the other end of the spectrum, we find projects like KDE where almost everything can be configured.
Enlightenment swings strongly in favour of configuration. In fact, the Enlightenment configuration panel is so extensive that it features a two-dimensional table to hold all of the categories of options. Across the top of the configuration window are categories of settings and, down the left hand side of the window are sub-categories. This gives us a table of general options, selecting any one of which will bring up a new window that lets us adjust specific interface settings. At first this massive collection of options may be overwhelming for newcomers, but once we get used to the organization it becomes very helpful. In fact, during my first day with Enlightenment I spent a couple of hours exploring all of the options, largely because so many of the desktop's defaults were not to my liking.
One of the first things I set out to change was that, by default, window focus followed the mouse pointer, a feature I find distracting, especially on laptops where mouse control with a touchpad can be chaotic. I also found that, by default, the keyboard's context menu key would bring up Enlightenment's application menu rather than the active window's context menu. Luckily changing these options was easy. Also, changing the size of the panel at the bottom of the display to make it more accessible was fairly straight forward. Another quirk I went looking to change was that application windows would only gain an entry on the task switcher when they were minimized and I prefer having all open windows available on the bottom panel. Early on I found changing which window currently had focus would cause a little animation in the application's title bar, this was a distraction for which I never did find an off button.
Another distraction I quickly disabled was the environment's behaviour of switching to a different workspace if my mouse got near the side of the screen. This characteristic made scrolling in full-screen windows virtually impossible as moving my mouse to the vertical scroll bar would instantly transfer me to another workspace. A final quirk I found was that Enlightenment places an application menu on the bottom panel, but with the default theme the menu's button was invisible. Once I knew where the menu's button was I could click it and see the menu's contents, but the button itself was hidden from sight. In fact, the environment's default colours made navigating interface widgets difficult as boxes and buttons tended to blur into the background.
Enlightenment 0.17.0 - using Enlightenment to seek enlightenment
(full image size: 293kB, screen resolution 1280x1024 pixels)
The above characteristics of Enlightenment were configurable and so a matter of preference and, where I found annoyance, others likely see a welcome set of defaults. Each of us has their own taste and finding so many settings not matching my own taste encouraged me to explore one of Enlightenment's greatest strength: its flexibility. That being said, there were bugs which crept into the experience. For instance, when browsing the application menu the first few letters of each menu entry were invisible, making it hard to read the menu's contents. More importantly, Enlightenment crashed approximately once every twenty minutes, bringing my work to a halt eight times during the first three hours I was using it. There didn't appear to be any set pattern of events, no particular set of actions which triggered the crashes.
The following day, after a reboot of the machine, Enlightenment continued its frequent crashes and there didn't appear to be any setting I could adjust to quietly ignore the crashes and simply restart the environment. As these frequent crashes continued unabated I eventually gave up on using Enlightenment as my primary desktop on the third day of my trial. Now, I strongly suspect Enlightenment's bad behaviour on my machine is not normal, if it were the window manager wouldn't have such a large following of happy fans. Still, despite the fact I'm sure Enlightenment's behaviour on my machine was abnormal it nevertheless prevented me from continuing my experiment, a shame as I was just starting to get the highly flexible environment hammered into the shape I wanted.
Enlightenment 0.17.0 - the configuration panel
There isn't much I feel I can conclude from my brief time with Enlightenment, but I will share some lasting impressions which I hope others may find useful. The first is that E17 is amazingly light on its feet. Not only does it take up little room on the hard drive, but it does everything very quickly. Transitioning from the login screen to the Enlightenment interface takes virtually no time at all. Likewise, interacting with Enlightenment carries virtually no delays. We provide input and it responds, there isn't any hint of sluggishness. During my experiment with Enlightenment I found, despite its small size, it is very rich in features. In fact, most of my first afternoon with E17 was taken up with turning off features or trying to tone down the dynamic nature of the environment. Given the proper settings Enlightenment can provide a very rich environment.
The default colour scheme I found I didn't care for at all, it felt washed out. Had I continued to use Enlightenment, I would have dedicated time to downloading and trying alternative themes. I know the Bodhi distribution has been very successful due to its work with Enlightenment and Bodhi has a collection of stunningly beautiful themes for Enlightenment users. Earlier I mentioned the Enlightenment project was started back in the mid-90s and I occasionally felt as though aspects of that time were still in evidence in the present-day version of the desktop. The tiny analog clock widget, the layout of some of the configuration screens and the default appearance of windows gave me flashes of using 90s era desktops. This visual connection with the past struck me as standing out from other popular desktop environments which tend to reinvent themselves which each major increment of their version number.
Mostly, I concluded my time with Enlightenment with the impression it is quite different in style from other open source desktops. All desktops have their own personality, their own quirks. Still, the big desktops tend to borrow concepts from each other and some of them share common code. Enlightenment feels like a horse of a different colour, the developers appear to be marching to their own beat. This gives, I believe, Enlightenment a slightly alien feel, but it also means that users may find Enlightenment talking to them in ways other desktops cannot.
SparkyLinux 2.1 "Ultra"
Paweł Pijanowski has announced the release of SparkyLinux 2.1 "Ultra" edition, a Debian-based lightweight distribution with Openbox as the default desktop user interface: "SparkyLinux 2.1 'Ultra' edition has been released. The system is built on Debian 'Wheezy' and all packages have been synchronized with Debian's testing repositories as of 2013-01-23. It features a customized, ultra-light and fast Openbox desktop. What else? Fluxbox is out - I wasn't happy with it so I focus all my attention on Openbox; standard Openbox exit options changed to 'Shutdown', 'Reboot' and 'Log out'; added update-manager; the Polish repository mirror server replaced with the main Debian one; added a few new wallpapers; added to menu - run application, graphical two-panel file manager Tux Commander to have quick access to system files, added AppFinder...." Read the full release announcement for system requirements and a screenshot.
SparkyLinux 2.1 "Ultra" - a lightweight distribution with Openbox based on Debian's "testing" branch
Parted Magic 2013_01_29
Patrick Verner has announced the release of Parted Magic 2013_01_29, a Linux live CD with specialist tools for disk management and data rescue tasks: "Parted Magic 2013_01_29. This version of Parted Magic brings all the X.Org packages up to date, adds Spanish language support, and a much improved shut-down menu. In the last release there were some issues with the X.Org Server 13 series. Some people were getting black screens. Reports have come in and most of this seems to be corrected by adjusting some udev rules, pulling a few X.Org drivers from git, and updating to the 3.7.5 Linux kernel. Lots of packages have been recompiled to add the Spanish locales. The syslinux menu has also been updated with Spanish language entries. Spanish is now very well supported in Parted Magic. Firefox is updated to the latest 18.0.1 release." See the project's news page to read the complete release announcement.
PCLinuxOS 2013.02
Newly updated builds of PCLinuxOS "KDE" and "KDE MiniME" editions, version 2013.02, have been released: "PCLinuxOS KDE and KDE-MiniME 2013.02 are now available for download. These are 32-bit quarterly update ISO images which can also be installed on 64-bit computers. With respect to the previous KDE editions these ISO images have the following changes and additions: KDE 4.9.5, Linux kernel 3.2.1; latest full set of NVIDIA drivers; Konsole with additional root profile. KDE 2013.02 has all the additions from MiniME above and was built to provide a general purpose KDE desktop computing environment. The DVD includes popular tools for office, audio, video, graphics, and Internet applications (LibreOffice, GIMP, Skype, TeamViewer, Dropbox, VirtualBox, etc.), as well as additional drivers and tools to set up your hardware." Read the release announcement for further details.
Linux Lite 1.0.4
Jerry Bezencon has announced the release of Linux Lite 1.0.4, an Ubuntu-based distribution with a customised Xfce desktop: "Linux Lite 1.0.4 final for 32-bit processors with PAE support has been released. If you already have the CVF version installed, there is no immediate need to install this final version, just keep updating via Install Updates on the Menu. The only change of note is the updating of the Help & Support manual. Changelog: all system software updated; Firefox 18.0, added new default theme and icon set; added Steam for Linux (requires NVIDIA driver 304.22 or higher or ATI experimental drivers); added keyboard shortcuts information to the Help & Support manual; added open USB storage device in file manager on insert; added two new right-click menu options, Task Manager and Screenshot; replaced PCManFM with Thunar...." Here is the full release announcement with several screenshots.
Linux Lite 1.0.4 - a lightweight distribution with Xfce based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
Linux Deepin 12.12-alpha, the release announcement
Porteus 2.0-rc2, the release announcement
Slax 7.0.5
Clonezilla Live 2.1.0-12
Arch Linux 2013.02.01
IPFire 2.13-rc1
2013-02-07: openSUSE 12.3 RC1
2013-02-14: Ubuntu 12.04.2 (see release schedule)
2013-02-28: OS4 13.3 (see roadmap)
2013-02-19: Mageia 3 Beta 3
2013-03-12: Mageia 3 RC
2013-03-13: openSUSE 12.3 (see release schedule)
2013-04-02: Mageia 3 (see release schedule)
2013-04-25: Ubuntu 13.04 (see release schedule)
2013-05-31: OS4 14 Beta
2013-06-15: OS4 14 (see roadmap)
January 2013 DistroWatch.com donation: MariaDB
We are happy to announce that the recipient of the January 2013 DistroWatch.com donation is MariaDB, a community-developed branch of the MySQL relational database management system. It receives US$300.00 in cash.
MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. While the project's website avoids the dreaded "fork" word, it's clear that the developers, led by MySQL founder Michael Widenius, created the "new" database from a MySQL 5.5 base. This was a result of MySQL falling into the hands of Oracle, a fact that has created uncertainty over the project's future as a well-maintained open-source software project. MariaDB has recently gained support from Wikipedia, as well as the Fedora and openSUSE distributions, both of which indicated their readiness to replace MySQL with MariaDB in their upcoming releases. For more information about MariaDB please visit the project's website and its Wikipedia page.
Launched in 2004, this monthly donations programme is a DistroWatch initiative to support free and open-source software projects and operating systems with cash contributions. Readers are welcome to nominate their favourite project for future donations. Those readers who wish to contribute towards these donations, please use our advertising page to make a payment (PayPal and credit cards are accepted). Here is the list of the projects that have received a DistroWatch donation since the launch of the programme (figures in US dollars):
2004: GnuCash ($250), Quanta Plus ($200), PCLinuxOS ($300), The GIMP ($300), Vidalinux ($200), Fluxbox ($200), K3b ($350), Arch Linux ($300), Kile KDE LaTeX Editor ($100) and UNICEF - Tsunami Relief Operation ($340)
2005: Vim ($250), AbiWord ($220), BitTorrent ($300), NDISwrapper ($250), Audacity ($250), Debian GNU/Linux ($420), GNOME ($425), Enlightenment ($250), MPlayer ($400), Amarok ($300), KANOTIX ($250) and Cacti ($375)
2006: Gambas ($250), Krusader ($250), FreeBSD Foundation ($450), GParted ($360), Doxygen ($260), LilyPond ($250), Lua ($250), Gentoo Linux ($500), Blender ($500), Puppy Linux ($350), Inkscape ($350), Cape Linux Users Group ($130), Mandriva Linux ($405, a Powerpack competition), Digikam ($408) and Sabayon Linux ($450)
2007: GQview ($250), Kaffeine ($250), sidux ($350), CentOS ($400), LyX ($350), VectorLinux ($350), KTorrent ($400), FreeNAS ($350), lighttpd ($400), Damn Small Linux ($350), NimbleX ($450), MEPIS Linux ($300), Zenwalk Linux ($300)
2008: VLC ($350), Frugalware Linux ($340), cURL ($300), GSPCA ($400), FileZilla ($400), MythDora ($500), Linux Mint ($400), Parsix GNU/Linux ($300), Miro ($300), GoblinX ($250), Dillo ($150), LXDE ($250)
2009: Openbox ($250), Wolvix GNU/Linux ($200), smxi ($200), Python ($300), SliTaz GNU/Linux ($200), LiVES ($300), Osmo ($300), LMMS ($250), KompoZer ($360), OpenSSH ($350), Parted Magic ($350) and Krita ($285)
2010: Qimo 4 Kids ($250), Squid ($250), Libre Graphics Meeting ($300), Bacula ($250), FileZilla ($300), GCompris ($352), Xiph.org ($250), Clonezilla ($250), Debian Multimedia ($280), Geany ($300), Mageia ($470), gtkpod ($300)
2011: CGSecurity ($300), OpenShot ($300), Imagination ($250), Calibre ($300), RIPLinuX ($300), Midori ($310), vsftpd ($300), OpenShot ($350), Trinity Desktop Environment ($300), LibreCAD ($300), LiVES ($300), Transmission ($250)
2012: GnuPG ($350), ImageMagick ($350), GNU ddrescue ($350), Slackware Linux ($500), MATE ($250), LibreCAD ($250), BleachBit ($350), cherrytree ($260), Zim ($335), nginx ($250), LFTP ($250), Remastersys ($300)
2013: MariaDB ($300)
Since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$34,285 to various open-source software projects.
New distributions added to database
SprezzOS. SprezzOS is a Debian-based Linux distribution for people who enjoy experimentation, change and a deep understanding of their tools. SprezzOS is perfectly suitable as a first Linux or a quick VM install or the day-to-day workstation of a thirty-something hacker who just wants things to work, but from all of them it will require a willingness to reason out the choices they make, and perhaps recover from bad -- or catastrophic -- decisions.
Maui. Maui is an innovative Linux distribution that specifically targets personal computing. Maui is a fast, efficient, simple to use, easy to learn and powerful system for computer users of all levels. Hawaii, the desktop environment, is a lightweight, coherent and fast desktop environment that relies on Qt 5, QtQuick and Wayland and is designed to offer the best UX for the device where it is running. Maui doesn't have the traditional packages, it offers an innovative update system with point-in-time recovery and lower bandwidth usage; applications are shipped as bundles (compressed images that don't need to be decompressed).
MING OS. MING OS is an openSUSE-based Linux distribution. It comes with enhanced security technologies to prevent exploits of security holes and compromised systems and it also includes a powerful intrusion detection and protection engine.
Number of active distributions in the database: 317
Number of dormant distributions: 72
Number of discontinued distributions: 352
This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 11 February 2013. To contact the authors please send email to:
Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, suggestions and corrections: news, donations, distribution submissions, comments)
Bruce Patterson (feedback and suggestions: podcast edition)
Augustux
Augustux was a live Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and KNOPPIX. It has full support for the Aragonese language.
Tips and tricks: Creating bootable USB drives with UNetbootin
Questions and answers: Working with or around Secure Boot
Tips and tricks: Verifying ISO images
Tips and tricks: Copying a VCD
Questions and answers: More multi-part archives and network shares
Myths and misunderstandings: GPL
Tips and tricks: Nix package manager on alternative Linux distributions
Questions and answers: Security self-service
Myths and misunderstandings: The value of version numbers


text:
Q: Discord.js Music bot Queue Command I wanted to make a pageable queue command so I can control the entire queue with reactions. However, I keep getting an error whenever I run the command. So I want the bot to delete the queue embed message whenever the message author reacts to the "⏹" reactions. Here is my code:
const { MessageEmbed } = require("discord.js");

module.exports = {
  name: "queue",
  aliases: ["q"],
  description: "Show the music queue and now playing.",
  async execute(message) {
       const serverQueue = message.client.queue.get(message.guild.id);
        if (!serverQueue) return message.channel.send('❌ **Nothing playing in this server**');
      try {
        let currentPage = 0;
        const embeds = generateQueueEmbed(message, serverQueue.songs);
        const queueEmbed = await message.channel.send(`**Current Page - ${currentPage + 1}/${embeds.length}**`, embeds[currentPage]);
        await queueEmbed.react('⬅');
        await queueEmbed.react('⏹');
        await queueEmbed.react('➡');

        const filter = (reaction, user) => ['⬅', '⏹', '➡'].includes(reaction.emoji.name) && (message.author.id === user.id);
        const collector = queueEmbed.createReactionCollector(filter);

        collector.on('collect', async (reaction, user) => {
          try {
            if (reaction.emoji.name === '➡') {
                if (currentPage < embeds.length - 1) {
                    currentPage++;
                    queueEmbed.edit(`**Current Page - ${currentPage + 1}/${embeds.length}**`, embeds[currentPage]);
                }
            } else if (reaction.emoji.name === '⬅') {
                if (currentPage !== 0) {
                    --currentPage;
                    queueEmbed.edit(`**Current Page - ${currentPage + 1}/${embeds.length}**`, embeds[currentPage]);
                }
            } else {
                collector.stop();
                reaction.message.reactions.removeAll();
                queueEmbed.delete();
            }
            await reaction.users.remove(message.author.id);
          } catch {
            console.log();
            return message.channel.send("An error occured");
          }
        });
      } catch {
        console.log();
          return message.channel.send("An error occured");
      }
    }
};

function generateQueueEmbed(message, queue) {
    const embeds = [];
    let k = 10;
    for (let i = 0; i< queue.length; i += 10) {
        const current = queue.slice(i, k);
        let j = i;
        k += 10;
        const info = current.map(track => `${++j} - [${track.title}](${track.url})`).join('\n');
        const embed = new MessageEmbed()
            .setTitle('Song Queue\n')
            .setThumbnail(message.guild.iconURL())
            .setColor("#F8AA2A")
            .setDescription(`**Current Song - [${queue[0].title}](${queue[0].url})**\n\n${info}`)
            .setTimestamp();
        embeds.push(embed);
    }
    return embeds;
}

However, even after the bot deletes it on reacting to the stop reaction. I get a message from the bot saying An error occurred. I'm unable to understand why and I couldn't understand how to resolve it. Can you help me out? Thanks in Advance!

A: The error is because you try to remove the reaction placed on the embed after deleting it. So you need to move the queueEmbed.delete() to be after reaction.users.remove(message.author.id). Or just exit after queueEmbed.delete().

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A few weeks ago, my baby Zoey kitten had to go to the vet, because she was really sick. It turned out to be something like the flu. She had to get subcutaneous water packs and stuff, and they had to do x-rays to rule stuff out. Well, they gave me the disc with her x-rays on it, so I have her x-ray pictures to post! Pretty interesting to see! She's doing fine now and you can see her in the last pic helping me read my book! :) Click the images for a larger viewing! :) Oh! I just noticed! In the upper left of the second image you can see her microchip!!! lol Cool!


Parallelograms which are on equal bases and in the same parallels are equal.
If in a right-angled triangle a perpendicular is drawn from the right angle to the base, the triangles adjoining the perpendicular are similar both to the whole and to one another.
In equal triangles which have one angle equal to one angle the sides about the angle are reciprocally proportional; and those triangles which have one angle equal to one angle, and in which the sides about the equal angle are reciprocally proportional are equal.


text:
Wiz Khalifa: Behind the Cam
Music 2019 Music
Available on Music
An exclusive documentary series delving deep into the personal life of hip-hop superstar Wiz Khalifa. Over the course of five episodes, Wiz gets candid about the different phases of his career and, more recently, how life has changed for him since the birth of his son Sebastian. Watch him turn up with his Taylor Gang cohorts and then turn down to spend quality time with "Bash", pulling back the curtain on the life of a true hip-hop superstar.
Starring Wiz Khalifa
Try New Things
Whether musically or in his personal life, Wiz is never scared to push his boundaries. Sticking with the game plan, he tries indoor skydiving for the first time.
9 min 17 Apr 2019 12+
Always Give Back
Wiz was just 16 years old when he got his first shot at breaking into the music biz. As an established superstar, he can return the favour by offering a young, undiscovered producer the chance to join him in the studio. Could it be someone's big break?
12 min 17 Apr 2019 12+
Wiz could be considered one of the first artists to tell his own story, using then-new digital and social tools to communicate with fans without the interference of a label. He took control of his own narrative and set the tone for how artists use social media today.
Put On For The Gang
Wiz and his long-time crew, Taylor Gang, talk about their relationships and how bowling has helped them grow closer. Watch them face off against steep competition in the lanes.
Wiz will always be the life of the party, but these days it's his son Sebastian who comes first.
Taylor Gang
English (United States) (AD, AAC)
English (United Kingdom), and 37 more...
Closed captions refer to subtitles in available languages with the addition of relevant non-dialogue information.
Audio descriptions (AD) refer to a narration track describing what is happening on screen to provide context for those who are blind or have low vision.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Everything Economics Turns On A Trifle
Ralph Benko Contributor
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The long term rate of economic growth has been anemic. It is at least 1% below its potential and, on average, has been weak for 25 years. This is an observation made by Forbes.com contributor Charles Kadlec in a recent conversation with a senior Congressional aide.
1% sounds like a … trifle.
And yet, as Napoleon Bonaparte once observed, "In affairs of magnitude, I have learned, everything invariably turns upon a trifle." As Kadlec pointed out, compounded over a quarter century our economy is around 30% smaller than it would have been. Each family's income, and wealth, is almost one-third smaller thanks to the growth opportunities America's leaders have squandered.
The implications are dramatic, the recognition shocking. Just imagine if your income, and net worth, was 30% higher than it is today. That certainly would solve a lot of your economic, and the country's social problems. It would also solve a lot of national problems. If tax receipts were 30% higher the entitlements' crisis, just for one example, would not even exist. America would be closing in on a $20 trillion economy instead of a $14 trillion economy.
There is a propensity within officials toward the grandiose. They have a difficult time adhering to the beautiful maxim of folksinger Pete Seeger, "Normally I'm against big things. I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things."
Uber-campaign consultant Robert Shrum, in his superb memoir No Excuses, recollects a moment during Bill Clinton's first campaign for the presidency:
"Carville was obsessed with keeping the Clinton campaign on message. … Somewhere in the Midwest, he said, Clinton had suddenly launched into a soliloquy on nuclear nonproliferation. There wasn't one goddamn vote in it, Carville shouted at me -- a warning he had already delivered, a little more respectfully, to his contrite candidate. When James put up his famous sign in the war room -- 'It's the economy, stupid' -- it was not just an admonition to the strategists and to the staff, but to one very smart former Rhodes Scholar named Bill Clinton."
President Barack Obama has declared a "New Sputnik Moment." He calls for grandiose, but retrograde, initiatives such high speed rail. It might seem to a president banal to tackle the "million small ways" to raise the rate of real economic growth by 1% or -- some of us dare hope -- even 2%. But as Eisenhower once observed, "What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important."
That 1% or 2% additional growth factor may not be urgent. But it certainly is important.
The entirety of the George W. Bush administration averaged a mere 2.1% annual real GDP growth. That's stagnancy. The Washington Post noted at the end of the administration, "Gross domestic product… grew at the slowest pace for a period of that length since the Truman administration. And Americans' incomes grew more slowly than in any presidency since the 1960s, other than that of Bush's father."
There has been much distress over the "tarnishing of the Republican brand." It would be a bad mistake to overlook the fact that both Republican presidencies since Reagan presided over weak growth. America's voters have returned the GOP to power in the House. It is glaringly obvious that the lingering economic stagnation was a major factor in this. Now it is time for the GOP to build on the brand of Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan to get the country moving again.
Some very smart people are hard at work at figuring out how to do so. In the realm of Big Think Tanks the most important of these is The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. It has assembled a high octane Task Force on Law, Innovation, and Growth. It quietly has assembled some very fine minds to put forth ways to grow the economy.
Kauffman is on a quest to get the economy growing at full potential. The members of its task force already have identified 20 cost-free paths to growth, primarily in the areas of legal and regulatory reform. As the Heritage Foundation's Mandate for Leadership offered the defining agenda for the Reagan era, Kauffman is offering one, or at least an excellent beginning, for the new GOP House majority: Rules for Growth.
Rules for Growth commences with a powerful quote from Nobel economics laureate Robert Lucas: "Once one starts thinking about [actions to accelerate economic growth], it is hard to think about anything else." This is a striking observation. It is proving difficult for our grandiose officials to know where to begin. Kauffman presents twenty easy offerings. Kauffman is offering recipes for what most citizens most, and legitimately, desire: prosperity.
Washington is addicted to tinny grandiosity. Thanks to Carl Schramm, Robert Litan and the legacy of Ewing Marion Kauffman himself, new directions beckon. From Kansas City, Missouri, Kauffman, which maintains the gold standard of entrepreneurial policy, seeks to wean Washington from its addiction and put America back on the road to national greatness.
Ralph Benko, founder of The Prosperity Caucus, is the author of The Websters' Dictionary: How to Use the Web to Transform the World.
Ralph Benko
I am the editor-in-chief of the Committee To Unleash Prosperity's Supply Side Blog; founder of the Prosperity Caucus, and, with Charles Kadlec, co-editor of the Laissez ...


text:
Mizuki Noguchi
Mizuki Noguchi (jap. 野口みずき Noguchi Mizuki; * 3. July 1978 in Ise) is a Japanese marathoner.
Noguchi began during its school time with run training, in the first class of the secondary school. First it ran 3000-Meter-Rennen as well as long distance relays. 1997 were taken up it to the firm crew of the clothing manufacturer Wacoal. 1999 changed it into the crew of the goods date dealer Globaly. In Japen it is usual that large enterprises maintain own crews for long-distance runners, with the whole responsible person staff (thus similar as with the cycle racing in Europe). The athletes are considered then legally as employees.
After Noguchi 1999 had won the Halbmarathon of Inuyama, she decided, to specialize in this discipline. In that year Noguchi was classified as second of the world rank list. 2001 won it the Japanese firm championship. After a series of victories one called it "queen of the Halbmarathons". Until 2004 participated it in 24 Halbmarathons, from which she won 14. Only twice it was struck by a Japanese. In March 2002 it denied its first marathon race in Nagoya over the full distance and won a running at first attempt.
With the athlete IC world championship 2003 in Paris it became second behind the Kenianerin Catherine Ndereba. With the olympic plays in Athens it won the fastidious marathon race in a time of 2:26: 20, before Catherine Ndereba and the US American Deena Kastor. 2005 ran it in Berlin with 2:19: 12 Asia record. She is after Naoko Takahashi and Yoko Shibui the third Japanese, who ran under 2:20.
Olympia winner inside in the Marathon
1984: Joan Benoit | 1988: Pink Mota | 1992: Walentina Jegorowa | 1996: Fatuma Roba | 2000: Naoko Takahashi | 2004: Mizuki Noguchi
NAME Noguchi, Mizuki
SHORT DESCRIPTION Japanese marathoner
DATE OF BIRTH 3. July 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Ise


text:
package main

import (
	"context"

	osconfig "cloud.google.com/go/osconfig/apiv1"
	osconfigpb "google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/osconfig/v1"
)

func main() {
	ctx := context.Background()
	c, err := osconfig.NewClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		// TODO: Handle error.
	}
	defer c.Close()

	req := &osconfigpb.ResumePatchDeploymentRequest{
		// TODO: Fill request struct fields.
		// See https://pkg.go.dev/google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/cloud/osconfig/v1#ResumePatchDeploymentRequest.
	}
	resp, err := c.ResumePatchDeployment(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		// TODO: Handle error.
	}
	// TODO: Use resp.
	_ = resp
}

// [END osconfig_v1_generated_OsConfigService_ResumePatchDeployment_sync]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Below is a collection of photographs taken at NASS Festival of Enter Shikari and Rebel Sound. Here I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the crowd who had incredible energy and really brought the performances to life. I feel its the crowd participation which what makes capturing live music so exciting.


Seeds: How many do you need?
As you are planning your garden, what to grow would be the first thing that comes to mind. Then, of course, the area you have available, which leads to making a garden map. With the map done, you know how much space you have for each crop. Next is figuring out how many seeds you need. If you are just starting out in gardening, the number of seeds in a packet are probably more than you need for the year. However, as your garden grows and you are more interested in really growing a substantial part of your diet, exactly what to expect from a seed packet is important.
You probably already know that not every seed you have is going to germinate. There is a minimum legal germination rate that the seed companies have to abide by. Their seeds can be over that rate, but not under. You can find the minimum legal germination rate in the Master Charts of How To Grow More Vegetables (HTGMV) by John Jeavons. If you buy from reputable sources, most often the seeds are well over that rate. In fact, some companies label the packages with the tested germination rate and when they tested it. On the other hand, I have heard of companies combining old seed with their new batch, getting rid of the old seed and lowering the germination rate. All they are concerned about is making sure it meets the minimum legal rate. Being aware of what the minimum rate is helps you plan. You might be using seed leftover from a previous year or seed that you have saved yourself. Since seed loses viability over time, you might want to test the germination rate. Information on how to do that is available many places, including my video Develop a Sustainable Vegetable Garden Plan.
A Seeds and Plants Needed form is included on the CD that comes with that garden plan video. You can print it out and put pencil to paper, or use it in Excel form on your computer. Besides how many might germinate, you need to know how many seeds are likely to be in an ounce. That information is in the Master Charts in HTGMV and in the seed catalogs at the beginning of each crop. The catalogs will tell how much the packets weigh and how many seeds to expect. By the way, there are 28 grams in one ounce. Often the seed packets show the amount of seeds in grams.
The seed packets sometimes suggest how many feet of row that the packet will plant. It really depends on how you are spacing your plants and you might be planting in a bed with offset spacing, which would require more plants than just in rows. If you have a small area, work out the planting on graph paper. Once you know the spacing of your plants, either from the seed catalogs, back of the packets, or HTGMV Master Charts, you can figure how many square feet each plant needs and how many will fit in your allotted area. Add about 13% if you are using offset spacing, rather than planting in rows.
You have accounted for the fact that some of your seeds won't germinate, but then not all that do will be the perfect specimens that you want to transplant. You might plan to have as many as 20% more plants than you intend to transplant so you can choose the best. Once you have done the math on your own, worked through the Seeds and Plants Needed form, consulted HTGMV Master Charts, or however you have arrived at your total seeds and plants needed, you should have the number and/or the weight of seeds you need. Compare that with what you find available in the seed packets.
For some of you, this is just the information you are looking for. For others, if you are still reading, it is way more than you want to know. One spring, years ago, I was helping a friend who was in her eighties plant her garden. She had only begun taking on the gardening chores once her husband passed, about six years before. We prepared the beds, then it was time to plant zucchini. I asked her how many hills she wanted me to make and she could come behind and put in the seeds. She was confused at what I was asking. Her method was to just plant as she went along and when the packet was empty, she was done. She admitted that she always had more zucchini than she could use. She said it never occurred to her to count the seeds beforehand. Her garden, by the way, was big enough that she could do that. Whatever works for you is the best method to use. Once that way stops working, it's time to consider other possibilities.
I hope you will choose to buy your seeds from a company that has signed the Safe Seed Pledge to not knowingly carry genetically modified seeds. Seeds are precious things. They determine our future survival. Choose varieties that will do well in your area. At first, don't plant too many varieties of one crop until you have a base knowledge of that crop in general. However, everyone wants to experiment and will usually try the new thing that comes along at some point. I remember when Sugar Snap Peas were released back in 1979. The pole variety was the only one available then. I liked them and have been growing them ever since, adding Sugar Ann as a bush variety. Other things I've tried, such as early or disease resistant tomatoes I didn't like so much. Often, people want to know what I'm planting. I want you to do the homework yourself. There are just so many reasons why you would plant different things than I do. Read the seed catalogs, especially the ones that specialize in your region. Talk to other gardeners.
If you don't know any other gardeners, maybe you could put up a notice in your local library to have a gathering. I believe most libraries will make a room available for things like that. A Seed Swap would be a good topic to start with. At a seed swap, everyone brings in their extra seeds to share and people who want some can take them. It might be seeds that were left from another year or extra from this year that you know won't get used. Having old envelopes on hand and pens for labeling is helpful. It's also good to have seed catalogs for more information. Usually you don't need to contribute seeds to be able to take some home. If you are new, this is the place to find gardeners. If you are an experienced gardener, this is the place to offer the help that you wished someone gave you when you were coming along. On a local note, there is going to be a Seed Swap at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in Goochland, VA on March 24, 2012 from 2-4 pm. The public is invited.
Here in Virginia, the weather has been so mild, we were wondering if winter was ever going to start before it was over. We just had a 4.5 inch snow, but it's not even lasting 24 hours. Very soon it will be time to be in the garden. Acquiring all your seeds for the year now will help your efforts go smoothly the rest of the year, with no delays between crops. Some things you try this year will work great, and some, not so much. There are no mistakes. Everything is a learning experience. The most important thing to remember is to have fun.
If you are serious about growing your own food, having a good map of your garden space is essential. At one glance it can show you what is planted where, any day of the year. It will also show when one crop is expected to come out and the next go in. My garden map is the one thing I refer to more than any of my other garden records throughout the year. Here is a copy of the map of part of my garden. As you can see, I add color to easily identify the crops grown.
To make your map, measure your area and draw it out, showing where the beds are. If you are making a garden for the first time, you need to decide where those beds will be. I prefer to run my beds from east to west. Four feet is a good width for most people. People with a shorter reach may prefer a 3' wide bed, but I wouldn't go any narrower than that, unless you are planting against a wall or fence, then the bed might be only 2' wide. The wider the beds are, the more efficient use of space, but there is a limit. You need to be able to reach all parts of the bed without stepping in it. I would caution against anything wider than 5'. Label each bed with a number or letter or, in some cases, both. My large garden has four sections (A,B,C,&D), with each section having 9 beds. So I have A1-A9, B1-B9, etc. Maybe you want to give each bed a name. It's your garden. Labeling helps to identify each bed in your planning. To get the measuring done, a 100′ tape measure is a great help and is fairly inexpensive.
There is more to a garden map than the outline of the beds. It helps your planning if all the beds contain the same area. Many of your crops will occupy a whole bed—tomatoes, corn, and potatoes come to mind. Some will need less space, such as lettuce and zucchini. Those can be grouped together in a bed. You will need to plan rotations and put those rotation arrows on the map. It is not good to keep planting the same thing in the same place year after year. That goes for things in the same crop families. You can plan so that the crop, or group of crops, that are planted in each bed rotates to the next bed the next year. There is a lot to explore in the area of rotations. Eliot Coleman has a chapter in New Organic Grower about rotations. Also, The New Self-Sufficient Gardener by John Seymour is a good resource on the subject. My pet peeve with computerized garden maps that are often available is that they only show you the plan for one year, with no rotations. It may be that part of your garden is shady and you have specific crops that go there. In that case you would have two rotation plans—one for the shady area and one for the sunny part. Maybe you have both large and small area beds. If the large areas are twice the size of the small areas you might do as Brent did in my garden plan video and count each large bed as two beds. Or, you might have a rotation schedule for the large beds and one for the small beds. If you have only one garden bed, consider rotating the spaces within the bed.
Once you have the map drawn, complete with the rotation arrows, have some copies made to play with. Write in the names of the main season crops you will have there and the beginning and end dates those crops will be in the beds. Your garden is out there every day all year soaking up the sun. Fill in the beds for the rest of the year with additional crops, cover crops, companions, etc. If you don't plant something there, Mother Nature will. Once you think you have everything like you want it, take a good look. If you have overwintered cover crops or eating crops such as greens or carrots in a bed, the group of crops rotating to that bed the next year needs to begin with what's already going to be there. If you plant garlic in bed B3 in the fall and the next year the crops from the current year B2 will be planted there, that selection of crops from B2 needs to begin with garlic. Most often it is a cover crop that will be overwintering. If a bed is the first to be planted in the spring with onions, lettuce, and sugarsnap peas, the cover crop planted there in the fall needs to be one that will winterkill. Or, you could prepare the bed in the fall and cover it with leaves. Pull them back two weeks before planting time to allow the soil to warm up. You can click on the pictures in my posts and they will each open larger in a new window. If you take a closer look at my colorful garden map you will see a couple places where the rotations don't match for the next year. That's because it shows what's there right now as the first crop, but I've made some changes for next year, so the last crop in the bed will be with the new plan. For more information on planning cover crops for sustainability, refer to my blog posts Planning for Soil Fertility and Compost Materials on August 9, 2011 and Choosing Which Cover Crops to Plant Where on August 23, 2011. For cautions on bringing in outside sources of mulch and compost read Killer Compost from July 26, 2011. My video Cover Crops and Compost Crops IN Your Garden takes you through the year from March to November, showing you the different cover crops and how to manage them using only hand tools.
It is good to have a "to-scale" map, but in some cases your working map might look a little different, with the beds large enough to write in all the necessary information. Just as long as you know how much area you are working with and that what you are planning for that area will fit. In my video, Develop a Sustainable Vegetable Garden Plan, I work through the rotations in this 4-bed plan. I've had people tell me they really didn't understand rotations until they saw me explain it in the video. That video comes with a companion CD that includes this 4-bed map, plus worksheets to help you plan when your crops need to be planted, how long the harvest will be, and when the bed will be ready for the next crop. In addition, the CD has a 7-bed rotation map that corresponds with Betsy's Garden at Sunfield Farm, the garden you see in the video. That map is included as a real-life example of a working rotation.
Now that you have your map as you like it, label it with the year and "Proposed". Take two more blank maps (which is why you need to make multiple copies) and label one "Actual" and another "Amendments". Put them in your garden notebook and fill them in as you go along. At the end of the season, you will have a record of what actually was in each bed and when. You will also have a record of anything you may have added during the year on the amendments map. Have fun with your garden maps. Spring will be here soon and you want to be ready.


text:
https://www.ourmidland.com/sports/article/Loons-beat-Hot-Rods-in-bottom-of-ninth-inning-6955379.php
Loons beat Hot Rods in bottom of ninth inning
By Joel Barnhart
Published 9:53 am EDT, Thursday, May 24, 2012
Jesse Bosnik dashed home with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Great Lakes Loons took advantage of seven errors by the Bowling Green Hot Rods to win 6-5 at Dow Diamond on Wednesday night.
With the game tied 5-5 in the ninth, Bosnik led off with a single to center and ended up on second on a fielding error by Hot Rods' leftfielder Joel Caminero.
Pinch-hitter Pedro Guerrero then put down a sacrifice bunt, and Hot Rods' pitcher Austin Hubbard (0-4) threw the ball away at third, allowing Bosnik to score on the visitors' seventh error of the game to give the Loons the win in the opener of a seven-game homestand.
"It wasn't pretty, but we'll take (the win) any way we can get it," Bosnik said. "I knew leading off the ninth, if I could just get on base, even if I don't get to second, a bunt moves me up. So that's all I was thinking: just try to hit a ball hard and set the tone of the inning so we could take care of it in nine (innings)."
Great Lakes now has a 24-22 record, tied with the Hot Rods and South Bend for second place in the Midwest League's Eastern Division.
With Great Lakes down 5-4 in the eighth, Scott Schebler and O'Koyea Dickson hit back-to-back doubles with two outs to tie the game and set up Bosnik's ninth-inning heroics.
"The first thing I did after we tied it at 5-5 was I went to my locker and grabbed a new piece of gum," Schebler said. "You never know when you will need a 'rally gum.' I did not want to go 16 (innings)."
Wednesday's victory came one week after the longest game in Loons' history, a 16-inning, 6-5 win over West Michigan at Dow Diamond that lasted five hours and 22 minutes.
Dow's Roberson, Sower net three top-10 finishes at state finals
Freeland's season ends with semifinal loss to No. 1 Catholic Central
Great Lakes got single runs in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to climb back from a 5-3 deficit.
Three of the Loons' runs were the results of errors by the Hot Rods.
"Bowling Green has a really good ballclub and they execute well," Great Lakes manager John Shoemaker said. "Tonight was an off-night for them. They made a few mistakes and we were able to hang around and come up with big hits to get ourselves tied up."
Bowling Green got on the board in the top of the first on a bases-loaded walk by Loons' starter Jarret Martin for a 1-0 lead.
The Loons tied the game in the bottom of the first when James Baldwin had a one-out bunt single and advanced to third on a throwing error on the same play, and scored on Joe Winker's groundout.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Loons pushed two more runs across to take a 3-1 edge.
After Winker singled to lead off the inning, he advanced to second on a throwing error by Hot Rods' starting pitcher Jake Floethe.
With one out, Schebler singled to center to score Winker. Then Nick Akins got down 0-2 in the count before doubling to right to score Schebler and make it 3-1.
In the fifth inning, Bowling Green tied it on a leadoff walk, a throwing error by Martin, and three consecutive singles.
With no outs and two runners on base, Joel Lima entered in relief of Martin. Lima induced a double play and a strikeout to end the inning.
In the sixth, Bowling Green's Tyler Goeddel hit a two-run home run to left field off of Lima that put the Hot Rods ahead 5-3.
Martin, who struggled with a high pitch count every inning, allowed three runs on eight hits and four walks while throwing 92 pitches. He struck out two in four-plus innings, and made two errors.
"What Martin's not been able to do recently is get a lot of swings and misses," Shoemaker said of the lefthander. "He's battled, (but tonight) he threw a lot of pitches and that's the reason he came out (after four innings)."
Joel Lima, Raydel Sanchez, and Michael Thomas (1-0) combined to work the final five innings, scattering four hits with four strikeouts.
"A great job from our bullpen ... giving us a chance to win the game," Shoemaker said.
Dickson and Schebler were both 2-for-4, with a double and run scored each. Schebler also recorded two RBIs.
Akins was 1-for-4 with a double and RBI while Delvis Morales had one hit and one RBI.
The Loons continue their three-game series against Bowling Green tonight at 7:05 p.m.


text:
What kind of economy do Russians want?
Soviet type, based on state planning and distribution — this was stated in a recent poll by 62% of Russians, a record for the entire observation period (since 1992)!
There are record-breaking few supporters of private property and market relations in our country — only 24%
In general, the share of supporters of the Soviet-type system, which was rather low in the early nineties, gradually rose to levels slightly above 50% by the beginning of the 2000s and has been relatively stable over the past 20 years (with slight growth against the background of the crisis events in 2009 and 2014). But the current situation, apparently, for many residents of our country turned out to be even more crisis than all the events of recent decades — and the demand for a return to state regulation and distribution is now more than ever high
China has territorial disputes with 17 countries. As for the maritime territories, China is in conflict with ALL states in the South China Sea. The reason is the strange, ambiguous dotted line that appeared on Chinese maps in 1953, with which China marked the territory under its control.
The world's first band, Between Music, hosts underwater concerts. The performers perform in special glass tanks filled with water and play modified orchestral instruments capable of sounding in such conditions. The band members have been preparing for concerts for 10 years.
Oleg Tinkov agreed with the US authorities to settle tax claims. The parties asked the court to schedule a meeting for October 1, at which the agreements reached will be presented. If approved by the court, they will enter into force.
The essence of the agreements is still unclear. The accused in such cases usually pay the full tax debt, after which their persecution is terminated.
Dmitry Peskov explained why President Putin, who voted on September 17, has the clock on September 10. According to Peskov, the president's clock shows the wrong date.
"It's just that Putin does not have a date set on his watch, he does not look at it, he does not use the date on his watch, so, yes, he has a different date there," said the presidential press secretary.
The Philippines, located between China and Australia, has declared that it recognizes Australia's right to acquire a fleet of nuclear submarines and, for its part, is also building up its defense potential.
The Philippines is one of the Southeast Asian countries involved in a territorial dispute with China over the ownership of the South China Sea islands.
The oldest mosaic in the world was found in Turkey — in the Ushakly mound in the Yozgat province, where artifacts from the Hittite period have been excavated since 2012. Scientists tentatively date the mosaic to about 1500 BC (500 years before King David, 300 years before the fall of Troy and 200 years before Tutankhamun).
The UK has awarded two £ 170 million contracts with BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce to design and build a new class of nuclear powered submarine, Royal British Navy reported.
Hyundai, together with the British firm Urban-Air Port, will launch a flying taxi in 65 cities around the world. It is planned to start with the UK and the USA, and then gradually other countries will be connected into one network. The first station for boarding passengers should open in Coventria (England) as early as 2022. Flying taxis will also launch in central London and Los Angeles during 2022.
The US Department of Health has approved an intravenous drug against HIV infection that uses CRISPR / Cas gene editing technology for the first phase of clinical trials. A drug called EBT-101 looks for viruses that are embedded in the genome of cells, cuts them out and glues the ends of the cut DNA strand. Theoretically, in this way, you can completely cleanse the body of the immunodeficiency virus, according to the company that developed the drug.
Verhoeven's film «Temptation» about a lesbian nun has not received a distribution license in Russia. The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in its decision refers to the paragraph of the Rules for issuing rental certificates, which provides for the refusal «in other cases specified by federal laws.» The department does not specify which particular case is in question. The premiere in Russia was supposed to take place on October 7. The film is based on the book «Indiscreet Deeds» by Judith Brown.
Scientists have grown coffee in a test tube. In the laboratory, they cultured plant cells by placing them in a nutrient solution. After that, the resulting biomass was dried and fried, it became like coffee grounds. Scientists have stated that it tastes and smells the same as regular coffee. The process can be altered to produce more or less certain compounds: caffeine or flavors
A group of members of the European Parliament said that the Russian company Gazprom may be to blame for the record rise in gas prices in Europe and use it for their own purposes. Legislators have called on the European Commission to investigate the role of Gazprom in the current situation. This was reported with reference to the letter of the deputies to the executive vice-president of the EU commission Margrethe Vestager and the energy commissioner Kadri Simson. The European Commission confirmed that they received the appeal. The letter was reportedly signed by more than 40 deputies (there are more than 700 of them in parliament).
"We urge the European Commission to urgently start an investigation into possible deliberate market manipulation by Gazprom and a potential violation of EU competition rules," they said.
The volumes of gas supplied by Gazprom are in accordance with the signed contracts. This was stated in the information department of «Gazprom», commenting on the accusations of the MEPs in «manipulation» with the volume of fuel supplies, through which the price of gas became high.
The page is being updated … stay tuned to TopNews ……
Tags: economyRussiastate planUSSR


text:
Press Release -- February 29th, 2016
Source: CenturyLink
CenturyLink secures GSA Networx contract extension
Company's offerings available to federal agencies through 2020
WASHINGTON, Feb. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL) recently secured a three-year extension of its product offerings that are available to federal government agencies via the General Services Administration (GSA)'s Networx program.
CenturyLink's Networx Universal and Enterprise contracts were originally scheduled to expire in spring 2017. The company's Networx Universal contract has been extended through the end of March 2020 and its Networx Enterprise contract has been extended through end of May 2020. Both extensions feature a one-year base period with two one-year options.
GSA's Networx program includes the largest telecommunications contract vehicles ever awarded by the federal government. The three-year extensions of CenturyLink's contracts will give federal agencies time to transition services to GSA's Enterprise Infrastructure Services (EIS) acquisition, currently an active procurement.
By supplying cloud and managed hosting services over its carrier-class network, CenturyLink is able to provide government agencies with the security and reliability they need to carry out their missions.
"We're pleased that GSA has approved CenturyLink's Networx contract extensions, which will help federal agencies make a smooth transition from Networx to GSA's new EIS contract vehicle," said CenturyLink Senior Vice President and General Manager Tim Meehan, who leads the company's federal government team.
CenturyLink is ranked No. 37 on Washington Technology's 2015 Top 100 list of federal government IT contractors.
About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (CTL) is a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company enabling millions of customers to transform their businesses and their lives through innovative technology solutions. CenturyLink offers network and data systems management, big data analytics and IT consulting, and operates more than 55 data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. The company provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services over a robust 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and a 300,000-route-mile international transport network. VisitCenturyLink for more information.
Previous: Megaport Reports Global Expansion, Revenue Growth, and Strong Customer Acquisition
Next: Cable TV provider UPC Poland selects Ericsson for field maintenance managed services and transformation
CenturyLink adds cloud data center service to its GSA Networx contract
CenturyLink Wins Place on Connections II Contract
CenturyLink awarded DHS EINSTEIN 3 Accelerated service expansion contract
CenturyLink wins 10-year NIH colocation contract
CenturyLink launches government cloud product


To prevent you from falling, he would the toughest climbs.
Guided by his angel, follows him behind.
In days when there's none and nothing else to please.
He pours cold Coca-Cola in a glass to give you cheer.
He is a master of his own words there's nothing to fear.
There's not one lie to ever be told.
To love wholeheartedly naked for your heart to admire.
Where he'll wrap you in his arms through all night surrender.
The world grows old but he's love-struck to you all life through.
He believes his love is all worth giving.
His heart wears shining armour against poisonous vices.
A brave fighter yet a sensitive lover in his own right.
One cold night he took a pillow and a blanket off the bed.
The darkest roads and skies far enough were beautiful sights.
Romeo tenderly patient retreats like a calm moonlight motion.
Drop kisses on your cheek and take away the blues.
We're lost children under the ember sun and indigo starry sky.
May sweet temptation bind within us all our lives.
I know this to be true of my hubby. He is my perfect Romeo! Hope your have a wonderful Valentine's Day. Thanks for the beautiful words of love.
Thank you dear friends! I feel the love from ALL of you. Missing my time here on HP too...hibernating, lol!
I wish you all this Valentine's Day for each and everyone of you a "very special" thing to happen. When you give your love to the fullest without counting how many times, a beautiful feeling of a similar love will fill your heart.
Been here and there myself. Trying to peek on HP once in a while. Thank you, Randi! Your smile makes me always smile back. :) Enjoy expressing your love this 14th of February.
So sweet!!! Happy Valentine's to you too, SilentReed.
i just love it to the max!
This is such beautiful writing . . . where does one find the perfect Romeo as you have described! Does he exist! I hope so for your dear. I have missed you, or have I missed your writings? I haven't been getting notifications from you.
I hope you are describing your Romeo, as you deserve the perfect Romeo.
will thou consent to be my special someone?
Perfect, Tess! Love it! I haven't been getting hub updates for you! I see I have some catching up to do!
Thank you so very much for each of your comments. It is heartwarming and makes me smile too reading them.
For the Ladies, if you have found your Romeo, you'll find yourself keeping up with him for you don't want to lose him. Be nice, gentle, caring, loving and do lots of cooking. Oh Romeo! My Romeo! LOL!!!
Voted up and awesome. Sounds like a wonderful guy this Romeo. You wove a wonderful dream here. Great pic. Passing this on.
What a beautiful dream (and poem). And you know how I feel about dreams. Some people know how to create them.
Marites, awesome and up for this venue of what a true love means to you. It was very impressive, and to me, it appears that you like someone that follows his own road.
Quite a nice description of the perfect Romeo. Have you found him?
A wonderfully versed poem describing the qualities of a perfect Romeo! Well-done!


God gave Moses specific instructions regarding the calendar to follow. Without understanding this calendar, we will be missing out several things regarding the fulfilment of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is important to note, a complete day in God's calendar is from evening to evening.
Note: The blue color is from LXX. The Temple icon is the requirement to appear before the Lord.
(first month) Exod 12:2 "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Exod 13:4 "On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. First month is called Abib.
Lev 23:5 'On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD's Passover. Passover.
Lev 23:6 'And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Feast of Unleavened Bread begins.
Lev 23:10-11 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. First fruits. It is also known as Feast of Harvest.
Lev 23:6 'And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. Feast of Unleavened Bread ends.
(second month) 1Kgs 6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. Second month is called Ziv.
Num 9:10-12 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD's Passover. 'On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 'They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it. Passover for the Unclean.
(third month) Esth 8:9 So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
Esth 8:9 So the scribes were called in the first-month, which is Nisan, on the three and twentieth day of the same year; and orders were written to the Jews, whatever the king had commanded to the local governors and chiefs of the satraps, from India even to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven satraps, according to the several provinces, according to their dialects. (LXX). The 3rd month is called Sivan. However, LXX of the same verse suggests the event happened in 1st month (which is Nisan, a Babylonian name). Irrespective of 1st or 3rd, the focus here is just the name of the 3rd month which is Sivan.
Lev 23:15-16 'And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.
Num 28:26 'Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. Pentecost. 50 days from feast of first fruits.
Lev 23:34-36,39 "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the LORD. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD. … Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. Feast of Tabernacles begins. It is also known as Feast of Ingathering or Feast of Completion as per LXX.


text:
Home/News/Latest news/Monaco is investing in solar
Monaco is investing in solar
13 July , 2017
Photos : ©Charly Gallo - Direction de la Communication
During a press conference held late in the morning on Thursday 29 June, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development, presented two aspects of Monaco's investment in solar power: a solar resource map for the Principality and the launch of a joint venture by the Prince's Government and SMEG to enable the purchase of electric power plants operating on renewable energy. These are the first two concrete actions taken by the Prince's Government in pursuit of the objectives for the Principality's energy transition:
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions
To promote energy efficiency in Monaco
To increase local production of renewable energy
Accompanied by the Mission for Energy Transition team, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia first presented the Principality's solar resource map. This interactive map, which is available at www.cadastresolaire.mc , identifies, for each roof, the potential solar resource, the exploitable area where solar panels can be installed, and annual production. Regarding this innovative tool, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia said: "it will offer owners, building managers and individuals the ability to view at a glance the data they need to decide whether to install solar panels on the roof of their building."
The second aspect of the presentation focused on the establishment of a Government/SMEG company. The aim is to invest in renewable electricity production assets outside Monaco.
The Minister emphasised: "The reason we are seeking to develop or purchase green power stations abroad, primarily in France for the time being, is to increase the share of green electricity we import and to safeguard, over the long term, the cost of supplying electricity for the Principality." Thomas Battaglione, Director and CEO of SMEG, noted: " Monaco will contribute to reducing the CO2 emissions of the countries in which the assets are located, and will in parallel be able to control over the long term its own supply costs and thus the price charged to Monegasque customers (…). We have already identified the first asset we intend to acquire: a photovoltaic power station located in Var which has average production of around 5GWh/year."
Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development. Photos : ©Charly Gallo – Direction de la Communication
Marie-Pierre Gramaglia concluded the presentation by stressing: "these two actions that we have presented set an example. They demonstrate the determination of the Prince's Government to meet the targets set by His Serene Highness the Sovereign Prince."
Mission for Energy Transition: transition-energetique@gouv.mc
Arielle Barrabino – Prince's Government
abarrabino@gouv.mc
Laurence Garbatini – SMEG
laurence.garbatini@smeg.mc
Source: https://en.gouv.mc
20 January , 2021
Two positive cases of Covid-19 among children at the Stella School
Brexit and VAT: Consequences of the UK Leaving the European Union
Monaco's Junior Chamber of Commerce Crowns the Business Creation Competition Winners
Extra Support for Employees On Sick Leave While Awaiting PCR Testing & Results
Winning the space race with the new WHY200 and other yacht news
The Grimaldi Forum and CMB Monaco renewed their commitment to make Culture survive
Monte-Carlo Rally Adapts in Face of Covid-19
Italian restaurants and cafes raise their voice to overcome an unsustainable situation
Exotic Gardens under Renovation for 2021 and other Monaco news
Silvio Berlusconi Hospitalised in Monaco
49m Palmer Johnson superyacht Khalilah listed for sale asking EUR 28.5 million and other yacht news
22 September , 2019
Hello Monaco magazine №10 — Winter 2020-2021 €25.00
Subscribe to 4 next issues of Hello Monaco Magazine (№11, №12, №13, №14) €100.00
Exhibition "Unstable Artifices: Ceramics Stories"
Exhibition of Michel Aubéry in the Oceanographic Museum
November 3, 2020 - February 3, 2021
Exhibition of Mariano Vivanco Photographs "25"
Latest news, exclusive offers- all you need to know about Monaco!


text:
£4 million to transform empty properties
New fund to help town centre regeneration.
Empty shops and properties which are blighting Scotland's town centres could be transformed into affordable housing thanks to a new £4 million fund.
The Town Centre Empty Homes Fund will provide grant and loan funding to help increase the supply of housing in Scotland's urban and rural towns.
The Fund, which will open for bids shortly, will offer funding to regenerate both homes which have been lying empty for long periods of time, and to convert empty commercial spaces into residential accommodation. The properties will then be available for affordable rent or sale.
It comes on top of the work of the Shelter Scotland managed Empty Homes Partnership which recently had its funding doubled and received a three year extension, to help bring more private sector empty homes back into use.
Housing Minister Margaret Burgess announced details of the new Fund at the Shelter Scotland Homelessness Conference. She said:
"Making sure everyone has access to affordable homes where they can feel safe and warm, is a priority for the Scottish Government. But it's not just about building new homes, we need to make better use of our existing housing stock and properties.
"It makes absolutely no sense for us to have more than 30,000 homes lying empty when homelessness still exists in Scotland.
"Empty shops and flats can be an eyesore in our communities, devaluing our properties and even encouraging anti-social behaviour.
"Bringing these empty properties back into use is a cost-effective way of increasing the supply of housing available to families across Scotland and it also aides community regeneration.
"By transforming derelict shops and flats into new homes, we will be able to inject some life back into our town centres and make them attractive places to live and work."
Source: Scottish Government
Opportunities at Go Tweed Valley


A carnival of color, this Mohawk Home Carnival Stripe Printed Nylon Rug is fresh, fun and a best-seller for its bright and bold colors. Printed on the same machines that manufacture one of the world's leading brands of printed carpet, this rug is extremely durable and vibrant. This technology allows the use of multiple colors to create a rug that is wonderfully designed and applicable to any room in your home. Crafted completely in the USA, this rug is made from durable, stain-resistant nylon.
Vibrant colors suitable for both genders. Slim profile on the floor just right for my young children's bedroom. They love it.
I had some of the other sized rugs that matched, but needed the large size. It matched perfectly and is just what I needed to finish off my office.
I love the rugs! The colors brighten up my kitchen and they look like they will be very durable. I like the fact that they have some rubber backing and are made of nylon. Thanks Walmart!
Needed one more small rug to match the others I have and Walmart was able to provide it.
I have 2 of these rugs and have had them for over 3 yrs. The colors are still vibrant and I wash them in the washer and air dry.
Bright colors and non-slip rug pad!
Love the bright colors! This would be perfect if only it was even. Other than that, I really like it. So happy about the non-slip rug pad on bottom. The rug colors jazz up my laundry room.
Really like the pattern of colors!
For my son's room, he loves blue and red, so it's hard to find his fave colors in 1 rug without it looking too immature. The coloring is perfect! The non-skid backing is perfect for his hardwood floor, to add some warmth and a tiny bit of cushioning under his feet for playtime. Perfect size! However, on one end, on the edge, they must not have cut it correctly, because there is about 2" of what would be the next rug, but they just didn't perforate and cut where they should've, I'm guessing. Not too big of a deal for a 5 year old's room, thankfully he has toys to cover it. If it were going in my room, I'd have returned it.


text:
To reach the tech giants in Playa Vista, apartment developer wants to build a bridge
A proposed 236-unit complex would be more easily accessible with a bridge over Centinela Creek
Sep.September 05, 2019 02:00 PM
A rendering of Del Rey Pointe and a map of the project site (Credit: LADCP)
Playa Vista is home to Google's massive Spruce Goose campus, as well as offices leased by Facebook and Yahoo, among other tech giants.
Now, an industrious apartment building developer wants to build a bridge to get closer to that action.
The 236-unit proposed Del Rey Pointe project would rise on a 2.7-acre peninsula between Ballona and Centinela creeks, according to Curbed.
The developer, locally based entity 5000 Beethoven, LLC, wants to build a bridge over Centinela Creek to connect the complex with Beethoven Street in Playa Vista, where numerous tech companies have set up shop over the years.
Del Rey Pointe is planned as six stories and 235,000 square feet in total. A total of 38 units would be set aside for varying low-income categories. The Albert Group Architects is designing the complex.
The developer also wants to build a pedestrian and bike bridge to connect the property to the Ballona Creek Bike Path, which runs seven miles from the Coast Bike Path and north to Culver City. [Curbed]
A timeline for the project isn't clear, but the bridge would take around 30 months to complete and the apartment complex itself around two years, according to Los Angeles Department of City Planning documents.
The developer is working with the Army Corp of Engineers and L.A. County's Flood Control Department to work out approvals for the project because they have some jurisdiction over the waterways.
Multifamily Real EstatePlaya Vista
New renderings show Geoff Palmer's 1K-unit DTLA apartment project
Senior living developer upsizes Pasadena project
LA should buy Chinatown resi complex with Covid relief funds: Councilman
California renters will owe $1.7B in back rent by year end: report
Jamison files plans for mixed-use complex in Koreatown
SoCal landlords file court injunction to end LA's eviction ban
TA Realty pays $65M for luxury Venice apartment complex
California Landmark moves on 112-unit development outside Culver City