Maison des Volets - Exceptional west facing Mercer Island waterfront estate of exquisite material integrity and design signature to the earthy elegance of Provence. A synergy of structure and site, on shy half-acre with 61 feet of low bank waterfront, the residence artfully evokes casual classicism and natural beauty set upon gardens of controlled exuberance. Rare permanently protected views and privacy offer further distinction at this one of a kind property.
A pair of beautifully crafted pine doors opens into the intimate entry to Maison des Volets expanding to more expansive great space to create a sense of intimacy and emphasize the evolving scale of the main level. This area is framed and enclosed by exposed wooden structure and decking that defines the large sunken central dining room and opens via arched French doors to a grand patio that artfully frames and complements the house's most iconic Lake Washington view.
This delightful entry sets the stage for the material palette of Maison des Volets, with random, large format limestone floors and rustically hewn structural beams, accented by handcrafted pine doors from Arizona. Spot lighting has been carefully hidden in the beam structure to provide both specific and ambient lighting, and the coat closet door is a beautifully fluted custom piece.
Limestone floors and wooden structure continue into the LIVING ROOM, which is anchored by a stunning 18th Century French fireplace carved from limestone and imported from the Loire Valley. Arch-topped natural finish casement windows surround the room, welcoming peaceful lake and garden views, and flooding the room with natural light, while a meticulously crafted custom bookcase provides plenty of storage and display space.
A private and autonomous guest suite lies in the northeast corner of the house, opening onto the crushed stone entry courtyard and its peaceful tile and stone fountain via French doors. It is served by a full ensuite bath with a large shower, pedestal sink and private lavatory area.
A large powder room with an antique pine vanity sits between the guest suite and living room.
The north side of the main floor is occupied by the gourmet kitchen, casual dining area, pantry and den, and opens onto the patio through several sets of French doors for a spectacular connection to the outdoors.
The KITCHEN is designed to be an eclectic blend of furniture and cabinet styles thoughtfully evoking the more rustic and evolved cooking areas found in period French farmhouses. Numerous freestanding and built-in piecesprovide ample storage and cooking space, and combines fine distressed paint finishes with natural alder. Counters are crafted from soapstone, finished hardwood and butcher block, with dishwasher and primary refrigerator paneled to match.
Top-of-the-line appliances include a concealed Miele dishwasher and SubZero built-in refrigeration with two drawers, as well as a four burner Viking range and a flat top, set into a limestone cooking alcove that conceals a custom hood. A huge central island in contrasting finish with a butcher block top and prep sink is the heart of the kitchen and afford ample space for casual entertaining, food preparation and family meals, and homework sessions. A casual dining area overlooks the gracious den.
A huge PANTRY off the kitchen acts as a more informal staging area for cooking and events, with walls of open shelving and custom tables that function as additional counter and storage space. This room also contains an additional complement of appliances that includes a 48" SubZero refrigerator, and Dacor wall oven, warming drawer and microwave. As a full walk though room, the back side of the pantry opens to a mudroom, hallway and second entry that are paved in hand-made Mexican saltillo tiles, with extra storage room. This back hall provides access to a second staircase that leads to the carport.
From the kitchen, two steps lead down to the FAMILY ROOM, with a massive limestone fireplace wall, surrounded by custom alder built-ins that enclose audio and video systems and instill the room with handcrafted warmth and detail. As with the living room, exposed beams are set into plastered ceilings with recessed lighting. Twin sets of French doors open onto the outdoor patio and kitchen with built-in Viking grill. This is a delightfully enveloping room that can function as a breezy indoor and outdoor space in summer and a cozy family enclave during the cooler months.
One of the defining features of Maison des Volets is its exquisitely crafted MAIN STAIRCASE that frames the entry, then gracefully winds up to second floor. The treads are solid, wide plank fir that match the wood flooring throughout the rest of the house, and the banister is exquisitely crafted from natural wrought iron in a modified floral pattern that references French architecture. This stair and associated landing serve as a connecting hallway for the three upstairs bedrooms and their associated spaces, and gives a lovely outlook over the foyer and central living space.
A spacious MASTER SUITE occupies the northwest corner of the upper level, separated from the rest of the top floor by an elegant hallway. The room is a quiet oasis of clean surfaces and daylight, anchored by a beautifully built-in wall of custom furniture built-ins. Space is afforded for seating and correspondence, and the room is sublime in its privacy and setting. French doors lead to a large private patio that overlooks Lake Washington and Seward Park beyond.
The adjoining MASTER BATH is a similarly restful and rejuvenating space, with a continuation of the fir floors that run throughout the house anchoring a wonderfully eclectic arrangement of bath furniture and fixtures. Two vanities are built into custom, hand painted chests with natural limestone counters, while a grand, two-person soaking tub is the center piece of the room, built into a limestone covered base and centered under a large pair of casement windows. The bath tub enclosure affords private outlooks over the lush side yard and cooling breezes. Twin linen closets surround one of the vanities, providing ample storage for all necessities. Completing the master bathroom, a spacious separate room contains both a lavatory and bidet with its own window overlooking protected green space.
The master suite, as a whole, is completed by a well-organized and carefully arranged dressing room that overlooks the front courtyard.
A SECOND BEDROOM on the west side of the house includes open floating built-in shelves around a pair of French doors that overlook the back yard and lake views, and offers a wall of closet space. The scale is spacious and comfortable with plenty of room for additional seating or a desk.
The THIRD BEDROOM is located in the southwest corner of the house, and is surrounded by casement windows that flood the room with natural light and frame lake views through original old-growth trees. This is a delightful tree house of a room that really emphasizes the house's unique topography. A discreet back hallway leads to a beautifully appointed Jack and Jill bath that the room shares with the rest of the floor. It includes a full tub and shower with subway tile surround, a period style pedestal sink, and a private lavatory area.
A small room off the south end of the hall offers great home STUDIO or office space – the perfect personal retreat. It is accessed via a pair of French doors and overlooks a stand of native red cedars.
The upstairs hall continues beyond this room to an ipe deck that affords tranquil views over the entry courtyard and leads directly to the garage and shop areas.
An intimately enclosed side stairway off the entry leads down to the lower level of the house, stopping at a mid-floor landing which contains a spacious laundry room with custom built-ins, the utility room with lots of underground storage, a naturally temperate wine cellar with paving stone floors and custom racks, dry sauna, and a large storage and shop area.
This level then steps down to a lower floor with exceptionally high ceilings and huge windows that overlook the back yard and lake.
The southwest corner of the lower level contains a spacious MEDIA ROOM that opens onto a private ipe deck with easy access to the hot tub and a series of terraced decks meandering through mature, native landscaping to a level and more formally planned back yard. The lower deck is covered for multi-season comfort and protection from the elements, with outdoor speakers and Morrocan pendant lighting.
Two ADDITIONAL BEDROOMS occupy this space and share stunning views over Lake Washington and Seward Park. One bedroom is currently optimized as a large home office with easy deck access, while the other is a spacious private enclave for visiting guests or family members. This second bedroom shares an ensuite Jack and Jill bath with the rest of the floor, offering its own private lavatory and vanity area, attached to a central bathing room. All floors on the lower level are wide plank, solid old-growth fir with a deep finish that emphasizes the wood's naturally occurring grain pattern.
The home's unique hillside topography allows it to sit majestically above its backyard, capturing iconic views over Lake Washington and Seward Park. This siting also ensures that all rooms on the water-side are above grade, and can be bathed in natural light through full-sized windows and French doors.
The series of terraced decks, patios and walkways that leads down to the lower, level back yard provides access to conveniently located storage and garden areas and traverses two routes down to the lake – a direct staircase, and a meandering gravel path that leads poetically through gardens of rosemary, lavender, hydrangea and other native plants. Mas des Volet was built by inveterate gardeners, and their devotion and sensitivity has yielded mature and lush landscaping that eloquently frames and compliments this extraordinary residence.
The house was specifically sited to maintain and preserve as many native trees as possible, and the result is a setting that is framed and protected by old-growth cedars, massive laurels and vine maples. The level lawn that connects the house to its stunning lakefront is punctuated by beautifully integrated formal gardens and sitting areas that include a patio, outdoor contemplation garden and fire pit by the lake.
An original garden shed from the property defines the flower garden, while a charming lake house is available for entertaining and relaxation.
A perfect hub for dockside parties, warm weather escapes, guests or caretakers, the LAKE HOUSE is a fully functional studio house with an efficient woodstove, full kitchen and bath that is autonomous from the main house, and opens directly onto a large patio via French doors for lake access that is truly singular.
The construction of the lake house matches many elements of the main house, with vaulted, exposed beam ceilings, hand-made tile floors and custom built-ins.
A dock serves the property with year-round moorage.


text:
Playing with Purpose
New Market museum offers quality time with children
by Priscilla Loebenberg, published Nov. 10, 2013 in the Carroll County Times
After Ellen Przybocki took her 10-year-old daughter, Jemma, to a children's museum in Gettysburg last Fall, she was so impressed by the concept that she decided to take a leave from her job as a teacher at Frederick County Public Schools and open her own exploratorium.
"My husband told me to sleep on it," she said.
But, after her spouse, Mark Przybocki, realized she was committed, she said he supported her all the way and helped her plan and build out the The Original Playhouse (TOP) Exploratorium and Museum in New Market.
The playhouse held its grand opening Thursday with more than 200 people attending.
An experienced educator with a passion for teaching children to read, Przybocki said she did not undertake the venture lightly. She said engaging children's imagination is just as important as all the subjects that are being tested in schools. Unfortunately, she said, the creativity quotient is very difficult to measure.
"Play time is really important in allowing kids to learn," said Przybocki.
Upon entering TOP and paying the admission fee, children are given four tokens which they may use to make items that they can take home with them.
Przybocki said this teaches children conservation and perseverance.
"This helps kids think about what they are using before they go through several pieces of paper or other materials," she said. "It gives them more time to spend on each piece. What they produce will have more quality instead of quantity."
The museum is arranged into six themed areas where adults and children can play together. In each room, suggestions are hung on the wall at eye-level for adults on how to best navigate the rooms with their child.
"What children get out of it is equal to engagement of parent," said Przybocki.
The art room features sample artwork created by children, a large variety of art supplies and a worktable in the shape of giant curly-tailed lizard named Artie. Children may use a token to create their own masterpieces to take home with them.
In the Exploratorium, visitors will find tools, blocks, Legos, marble ramps, magnetic toys and a sensory trough, which is currently filled with scented and dyed rice. Children may use a token for the STEM challenge in this room.
The challenge occasionally changes. The first one is set up with plans and materials to build a spaghetti tower using marshmallows as connectors.
A large water trough and play station, and a bubble tub are the centerpieces of this area. Przybocki said the activities are a great way to help build fine motor skills.
Children can also learn about changes in state by playing with ice and learn about volume with an assortment of activities.
Village Market and Home
The country and culture featured in the international market area will change. Currently, the culture of Uganda is on display. Pretend foods, currency, clothes and other items indicative of the culture are available for play.
The area is designed to increase exposure and awareness of other cultures.
"The world is smaller every day and it's good to have a sensitivity of different ways of doing things," Przybocki said.
Nature Nook
A large mural dominates the Nature Nook. Children can play vet with a selection of toy animals and explore other wildlife and environmental activities.
Przybocki said the nook provides sorting opportunities.
A token can be used to plant a seed, which the child can take home and watch grow.
In the theater, children can dress up in a variety of costumes and use scripts to put on plays or make up their own stories.
"Our main goal is to allow parents to get on their kid's level and to encourage imagination and pretend play," Przybocki said.
She said when she planned the playhouse, she had ages 3 to 8 in mind. However, parents have brought in children age 2 to tweens who have enjoyed the museum.
Przybocki said she is working on creating a membership or punchcard option for those interested in return visits.
Day of Caring Safe Harbor
Posted in: Carroll County Times.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


For childrenswear and baby clothing, the same qualities can be used as for ladieswear and menswear. It is important to note that our materials are tested for harmful substances according to the Ökotex-Standard 100 Class II. They are formaldehyde-free and do not contain any AZO dye.


The manuscripts, however, differ in the weight and focus they give to these core themes. Either of the two continua of manuscripts so far identified foregrounds one concern. "Continuum" stands for a group of manuscripts that share many passages with similar formulations but which alternate with rewritten parts, ranging from single words to entire paragraphs. In the Paris continuum, it is the genre of the fable that receives the most detailed explanation, notably the method of how to decode its meaning by analogy. Technical terms, such as "premise" (muqaddima) and "conclusion" (natīja), are employed. Prefaces of this continuum end with the enumeration of the book's four goals: first, to appeal to children, second to please rulers and thereby increase the book's circulation, third, to provide a source of income for copyists and illustrators, and fourth to serve philosophers (who understand its deeper meaning without explanation).
Conversely, the London continuum, which differs in structure and lacks a number of added substories, focuses instead on the process of reading, particularly on its mental aspects. The reader should reflect (rawiyya) and be critical, for instance by verifying any received information and learn from other people's experience. The prefaces of the London continuum end with enjoining the reader to head the precepts given there and to keep the book's intellectual purpose in mind.
One substory, shared by all manuscripts, contrasts conscientious reading with mindless rote learning. A man wishing to shine in society with his knowledge provides himself with a written summary of Arabic grammar and memorizes it, only to misspeak in public. Upon being corrected, he insists that he holds the "yellow sheet," in which all grammar is recorded, and through this argument further exposes his ignorance and inability to handle written text properly. The tale is as an implicit comment upon the contemporary practice of memorizing and reproducing texts orally, which was prevailing the socio-historical context in which this Arabic version was produced. As such, Kalīla and Dimna, in a self-reflective way, throws light upon the media history of the eighth century and plays at the same time a leading role in it.


For three quarters Tuesday night, it looked like the Ardmore Tigers might be able to pull off an upset against the No. 6 Carl Albert Titans.
Unfortunately, basketball is a four quarter game, and the Titans saved their best for down the stretch.
A 37-point fourth quarter by Carl Albert dashed any hopes of a potential upset, as the Tigers were downed on Pink Out night by a score of 77-46 at the Ardmore High School Gymnasium.
In the first quarter, the Tigers managed to stay within striking distance, closing the deficit to eight points at 18-10 with 14 seconds left to keep it close going to the second.
Less than four minutes into the second quarter, the Tigers really began to make life difficult for the Tians, getting to within one point at 18-17 with 4:36 remaining before halftime.
However, the Tigers never took the lead as Carl Albert finished the first half on a 9-5 run to lead 29-22 going to the locker room.
As the third quarter began, hopes of a potential upset once again sprang up.
Ardmore got to within two points at 27-25 with 7:23 left in the third, and again at 29-27 with 4:46 left in the quarter.
Heading to the fourth, the Tigers were well within a potential run down just seven points at 40-33.
But, the Titans closed out the game strong down the stretch holding the Tigers to just 13 points while exploding for 37 of their own.
Elijah Franks led the Tigers with 16 points in the game followed by Mylic Ritche with 14 points.
Ardmore will finish the regular season Friday night at home against Lawton MacArthur beginning at 8 p.m.


text:
Massive arrival of refugees in Greece dwarfs EU's relocation initiative
By Georgi Gotev | EURACTIV.com with agencies
Syrian refugees arrive on a dinghy on the Greek island of Kos. [Reuters]
Greece appealed to its European Union partners yesterday (18 August) to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with a growing migrant crisis as new data showed 21,000 refugees landed on Greek shores last week alone.
That number is almost half Greece's overall refugee intake in 2014 and brings total arrivals this year to 160,000, even as it struggles with a debt crisis that has forced it to accept a third international bailout.
These numbers highlights how small the number of immigrants the Commission is trying to redistribute from Greece and Italy to other EU countries. The European executive proposed a plan to redistribute 24,000 immigrants from Italy and 16, 000 from Greece to the rest of the Union, under a quota system. But the proposal was rejected by EU leaders, and now the goal is to relocate the same number on a voluntary basis, until the end of the year.
>> Read: EU fails to relocate 40,000 migrants
The influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, has strained an already ill-prepared reception system in Greece that relies heavily on volunteers, forcing thousands to camp out in filthy conditions and triggering sporadic clashes and brawls.
A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR in Geneva said Greece needed to show "much more leadership" in dealing with the crisis.
But Greek officials said they needed better coordination within the European Union. "This problem cannot be solved by imposing stringent legal processes in Greece, and, certainly, not by overturning the boats," said government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili.
Nor could it be addressed by building fences, she said.
Earlier this month, construction began on a 175 km razor wire border fence in Hungary to deter migrants, while Britain and France have tightened security on the French side of the 30 KM (19 mile) tunnel linking the countries.
>>Read: Hungary to build fence at Serbian border
Greece, which is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in generations, criticised other European countries for being more of a hindrance than a help as bottlenecks were reported not only in getting into the country, but getting out on its northern land borders.
"This country doesn't have the financial resources or the infrastructure to get through this in a dignified manner," Gerovassili said.
In addition to overcrowded conditions on some of its Aegean islands, problems were compounded by a lack of transport to take refugees to the Greek mainland at the peak of the summer vacation season.
"There are about 4,000 people waiting for transfer on Lesbos right now and arrivals are continuing," said Katerina Selacha, a volunteer with Aggalia, a non-governmental organisation on the Greek island. "Conditions are pretty difficult."
The International Rescue Committee said Lesbos risked "reaching breaking point" due to the spike in the number of arrivals over the past few days and the inability for refugees to leave.
"The situation is already volatile and we have started seeing increased tensions with the local authorities and between different refugee groups," said Kirk Day, the aid agency's emergency field director on the island.
UNHCR officials said only three Greek islands had organised reception facilities for refugees but that they were inadequate.
There were chaotic scenes on the island of Kos last week, where local police locked migrants in an outdoors athletics stadium to process them. On one occasion police used fire extinguishers to keep crowds back.
>>Read: Greece sees risk of 'bloodshed' in migrant-crowded island
The Greek state eventually charted a passenger ship to house and process migrants in an attempt to ease conditions onshore, where many are living in tents, some in shelters made from cardboard boxes.
Gerovassili said more reception centres were required.
"We must have new reception facilities … We cannot continue to see these tragic images of children, people living under such circumstances."
'A bigger challenge than the debt crisis'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday warned that the issue of asylum could become a bigger challenge for the European Union than the Greek debt crisis.
"The issue of asylum could be the next major European project, in which we show whether we are really able to take joint action," she told German public broadcaster ZDF.
With thousands of refugees sleeping in tents and authorities saying they are overwhelmed with applications, Merkel said the current situation was "absolutely unsatisfactory".
She called for the European Union to establish a list of safe countries of origin, where citizens are not under threat of violence or persecution.
The German government will sharply raise its forecast for the number of asylum-seekers expected to arrive this year to a record-breaking 750,000, coalition sources said on Tuesday.
The increase, from a previous estimate of 450,000, is the latest sign of how a huge influx of migrants and refugees, many fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East, is straining the European Union's ability to cope.
Thomas Oppermann, parliamentary leader of the centre-left Social Democrats, the junior coalition partner, said he expects 700,000 to 800,000 arrivals this year.
In Brussels, the European Union's border control agency said nearly 110,000 migrants were tracked entering the EU in July by irregular means, setting a record, with nearly 340,000 in all seen arriving in the EU so far this year.
asylum policy
immigrant quotas
One response to "Massive arrival of refugees in Greece dwarfs EU's relocation initiative"
Pull your heads out from where ever you're hiding, and come up with a comprehensive strategy. This should be everyone's message to Brussels. And don't just take your own compromised conscience into account, but ordinary people's feelings and opinions, too. This situation will only get worse and will not go away by itself.
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Andrew Lincoln, whose real surname is Clutterbuck - is a British actor, who is famous to the admirers of the modern cinematography due to his roles in the TV series The Walking Dead, This Life and Strike Back.
Andrew was born in London in the family of the English civilian engineer and the nurse who came here from South Africa. The boy became the second child: he has an elder brother Richard Clutterbuck who has chosen the pedagogics sphere. Richard headed a couple of schools in different parts of Great Britain. Since 2011 he became the director of St. Laurence's School in Bradford-on-Avon.
When the future movie star turned a year and a half, his family moved to the town of Hull. But then there were a couple of more relocations. Andrew spent his teenage years in the city of Bath from the County of Somerset. Here the boy began to attend the high school where at the age of fourteen he appeared on the stage for the first time in the musical performance Oliver!. For young Clutterbuck it was just an experiment, but, to his surprise, he got interested in the acting.
Next summer Andrew on purpose went to the camp at London National Youth Theater. He actively took part in the rehearsals and took part in the amateur plays and became sure of the fact that he wanted to dedicate himself to the art and acting. After the young man had completed his studies at the school, he became the student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Here he took himself a new surname as his pseudonym which was more resounding and easy to remember: he has become Andrew Lincoln.
The actor had his film debut in 1994 when Andrew was still studying in the Academy. The beginning actor appeared in one of the episodes of the TV sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey. Then he had a range of different scope in other movies and series. The successful family drama This Life has brought popularity to the actor. Ten years later the directors shot the sequel of this series in which Andrew Lincoln again appeared in one of the leading roles.
Before the beginning of the new century, the actor took part in the episodic roles in the pictures Human Traffic and Mersey Blues. In 2000 there was released the crime drama Gangster No. 1 with the participation of the actor. In this picture, there was a struggle for the title of the major bandit in the criminal world of England. Malcolm McDowell, David Thewlis, Paul Bettany have performed the major roles in this movie. The same year the actor enriched his filmography with two projects – A Likeness in Stone and Offending Angels.
In 2001 Andrew got the role of the English teacher called Simon Casey in the sitcom under the title Teachers. For this role in the sitcom, the actor used the opportunity to attend the lessons at school under the direction of his elder brother. Working on the series as an actor, Andrew Lincoln has for the first time tried himself in the direction. For this, he was nominated for BAFTA TV Awards in the category for Directing Debut.
In 2003 the actor took part in the tragicomedy Love Actually directed by Richard Curtis. In this movie, he played the role of the young man Mark who falls in love with Juliet (Keira Knightley), the spouse of his close friend Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor). This picture tells about the life stories of a couple of persons who are connected with each other in a way. These are a writer Jamie (Colin Firth), widowed Daniel (Liam Neeson), a mother of family Karen (Emma Thompson) and even the prime minister David (Hugh Grant). For this role in the full-length movie, Lincoln received the nomination for Best Debut in Empire Awards.
A year later Lincoln enriched his repertoire with the role in the drama Enduring Love where Daniel Craig performed the major roles.
In a short time, the actor took part in the shootings of the mystical detective series Afterlife in which Andrew appeared in the role of the major character - professor Robert Bridge. The scientist investigates the phenomenon of the medium Alison (Lesley Sharp). For participation in the series, Andrew got the Golden Nymph Award in the nomination for Best Actor in Drama Series at Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
In 2006 there was released the comedy melodrama Scenes of a Sexual Nature with the participation of Andrew Lincoln. Ewan McGregor, Hugh Bonneville, and Tom Hardy also took part in this movie. Among the works of this period, there were also the roles in the TV series This Life + 10 and The Things I Haven't Told You.
In 2009 the actor received the invitation to take part in the shootings of the screen adaptation of the classic novel Wuthering Heights. In this movie, he appeared in the role of the character Edgar Linton, the spouse of Catherine (Charlotte Riley) whom the girl had married against her will.
The same year Lincoln got the main of the astronaut Michael Collins in the American-British historical movie about the space under the title Moonshot. This movie is dedicated to the 40th anniversary after the moon landing of the human on the satellite of Earth.
And in 2010 Lincoln had a real breakthrough in his creative career. The actor took part in the shootings of the French comedy Heartbreaker. In this movie, he performed the role of the English groom Jonathan of the Frenchwoman Juliette (Vanessa Paradis). The professional lady-killer Alex (Romain Duris) take attempts to destroy this idyll, but the young man unexpectedly falls in love with the young woman.
Andrew Lincoln performed the major role in the dramatic comedy Made in Dagenham about the women's strike in 1968 during which the female workers of the enterprise achieved equal rights for the salary with the men. Later Andrew Lincoln played a role in the thriller Strike Back.
At the same time, the actor started taking part in the fantastic series The Walking Dead in which he received the leading role of the sheriff's assistant Rick Grimes. This character tries to find his family in the post-apocalyptic world and to protect them from the monsters. This latest work has also brought Andrew the world popularity. The primary roles were played by Sarah Wayne Callies and to Chandler Riggs.
For his role in the series the actor was three times nominated for getting the prestigious Saturn Awards, and in 2015 he became the winner in the category for Best Leading Actor.
In the nineties, Andrew Lincoln had a romantic relationship with the British actress Tara Fitzgerald who is known to the spectators for the role of Selyse, the wife of Stannis Baratheon in the fantasy series Game of Thrones.
In 2006 the actor met Gael Anderson, the daughter of the singer Ian Anderson of the legendary rock band Jethro Tull. The young people have met for five months and then celebrated their wedding and since they live a happy life. The spouses have two children: a son Arthur and a daughter Matilda.
At present Andrew Lincoln spends every moment of his free time with his family. They often have rest together; especially they like exotic islands with a warm climate. Gael Anderson is an excellent fan of horses, and she is a skilled equestrian. What about the actor he for the first time appeared on the horse during the shooting of the series The Walking Dead. Andrew Lincoln prefers Facebook from the social networks, and on Instagram, he posts his photos in the image of the character of Rick Grimes.
At present, besides his work on the short-length movie Red Nose Day Actually, Andrew continued to shoot in the project Fear the Walking Dead. In the seventh season which broadcast on the AMC channel came to an end at the beginning of 2017. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Carol (Melissa Suzanne McBride) who lost her family and whose daughter Sofia turned into the zombie because Rick became the major colleagues of Rick on the plot. Also, the new personage– King (Khary Payton) appears in the movie. He has a tiger and knights dressed in the armor.
At the end of 2017, there began the 8th season of the series which broadcast was finished on the 15th of April, 2018. The producers plan to shoot the 9th and 10th seasons.


Tagged exhibition, f2, NEC, photo show, stand, The Photography Show. Bookmark the permalink.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Have a question. What do you mean by stating "The whole flash/studio/strobe/speedlight market is changing rapidly and we can see a time coming soon when only amateurs still use battery camera-top flashguns – even though every pro will still own one or two…"? What is happening that will render on-camera (or off-camera small flashes) extinct for pro photographers? Won't there always be an application or circumstance that mono-lights/studio lights will be impractical?
Thank you. I guess I'm not keeping up. Was not aware of monoblocs using lithium batteries now and with TTL! I am really behind the times. So since monoblocs will have TTL I suppose light meters wouldn't be needed either?
It will take a few years to change, but I imagine the camera makers will abandon AA cell power for flashguns and put LEDs into the main reflector (not as a separate video light the way it's done now) as their next step. I don't use a light meter for flash. I know the power, do the set up, make a test shot or two and adjust camera and flash to suit.
Yeah I suppose these days with digital taking test shots is like before light meters when Polaroid was the test shot.
Love the exhibition prints of the f2 and Cameracraft covers. I would love to have them. Do you think you'd ever offer them for sale?
That would be up to the photographers though I can see how the Cameracraft cover could be a poster like Athena posters etc. We'll have to think about this.


text:
Bedford Borough Council installs on-street charging
March 15, 2021 March 15, 2021 James Evison 860 Viewscouncils
Bedford Borough Council has installed 30 EV charging points following a successful bid for over £96,000 to the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).
In partnership with EV charging specialist Connected Kerb, it is installing 30 EV charging points on streets across the area.
The charging points will be installed in five different streets and because they are on-street cater for residents without driveways or unable to traditionally charge at home.
The installations are part of the council's ongoing efforts to support its transition to greener transport and improve local air quality. The sites will help to shape the future of additional borough-wide charge point deployments.
Mayor Dave Hodgson said "No new diesel and petrol vehicles will be sold in the UK from 2030, in just 9 years' time, and we need to get EV infrastructure in place to help residents to make this change.
"Through this successful grant application, we are able to install 30 charging points in five different parts of Bedford where houses do not generally have their own driveways. These points will join those already in place in Bedford and make it easier for people to start to shift away from traditional fossil-fuelled vehicles.
"Initially the spaces with the charging points will function as normal parking spaces and will not be reserved for electric vehicles, but we will keep this under review and if demand requires, this is something we can look to change, in partnership with the local community on those streets."
CEO of Connected Kerb, Chris Pateman-Jones, said: "We're thrilled to be working alongside Bedford on this forward-thinking project. The Council is showing crucial environmental stewardship in delivering a convenient on-street charging solution for its residents, one that we hope will show people that electric vehicles are a viable option and encourage them to switch.
"To date, people without driveways have been largely excluded from EV ownership, but with government bans on the horizon and more people looking to transition from polluting vehicles, on-street charging solutions become increasingly important. Bedford is leading the way in this regard."
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SSEN reports that by 2050 networks must be ready for nearly six million EVs
March 8, 2022 March 8, 2022 admin


The Serie A Team of 2017-18 has four Juventus players, two from Lazio, two former Roma figures, with Inter and Napoli also represented.
This was voted by the AIC (Italian Players' Association) and announced in the Gran Gala del Calcio ceremony this evening, the Italian equivalent of the PFA Awards.
Joao Cancelo spent that season with Inter, but moved to Juventus over the summer, joining Giorgio Chiellini, Alex Sandro, Miralem Pjanic and Paulo Dybala.
Joint Capocannoniere title winners Mauro Icardi and Ciro Immobile are both chosen, with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic also representing Lazio.
Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly is the only figure from the side that came so close to ending Juve's hegemony.
Roma fans will be annoyed to see both their players in the Serie A Team of 2017-18 are no longer playing there, as Alisson Becker moved to Liverpool and Nainggolan was sold to Inter.
Gianluca Rocchi was named Referee of the Year in Serie A, with Brescia talent Sandro Tonali the best player in Serie B.
Max Allegri of Juventus was Coach of 2017-18 and Juventus the best team.


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Panic in the Streets
Vicky Tsaconas
Surviving You, Always: An Interview with Director Morgan Quaintance
Haneke, Michael
When the "Real" is Not Enough: The 35th Cinéma du Réel
Mother India by Gayatri Chatterjee
Realism, Morality and Care in Where Is the Friend's House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)
Australian Cinema
Are Their Eyes Greek?
This essay was, in some ways, provoked by Bill Mousoulis's article "Is Your Film Language Greek? Some thoughts on Greek-Australian filmmakers", (1) in which he poses the question of whether the film language used by Greek Australian filmmakers is Greek. I would argue that a different question needs to be posed – are the eyes of Greek Australian filmmakers Greek? The issue is as much about how a filmmaker "sees" as it is about the language they use. The film language a filmmaker uses is influenced by how they "see", and how they "see" is influenced by the context in which they live and work. Greek Australian filmmakers, like all filmmakers (and artists practising in all the art forms) of a non-English speaking background, are part of a minority culture in Australia. It is from this point that discussion should start.
While the current representation of Greek Australian filmmakers in the film industry may be "more than fair" in terms of the demographic representation of Greeks in Australia, and while it may be higher than that of Italo-Australian filmmakers, (2) the situation needs to be analysed further in order to consider the impact (if any) of this representation.
Greek or even Greek Australian (3) subject matter has not been explored in any feature film made by a Greek Australian except for Head On (Ana Kokkinos, 1998) and presumably The Wogboy (Aleksi Vellis, 2000), a film unseen by this author. But it has been explored or used as a starting point in other formats (shorts, documentaries) by a few Greek Australians. While I do not necessarily believe that Greek Australian filmmakers should confine themselves to Greek Australian subject matter in all of their work, I do believe that the stories of Greek Australians, particularly Greek migrants, need to be told so that these become part of Australian culture. Sneja Gunew, referring to migrants in Australia asked "where are our histories, our writings?" (4) I would ask the same, with regard to films: "where are our stories, our films?"
Head On, while it does tell such a story and while, admirably, it uses Greek Australian actors to do so, negates any positive effect of purely "telling the story". Besides being a film with a number of redundant scenes (several in need of pruning) and problems with authenticity, it is a film which presents and perpetuates ethnic stereotypes (as did Only the Brave [Ana Kokkinos, 1994]) in art-house style. The subservient Greek mother, the overbearing patriarchal Greek father (this type was taken to an extreme in Only the Brave in which the Greek father sexually abuses his daughter and thus "causes" the tragic ending), the young Greek Australian woman who wants to liberate herself from her family's and her culture's oppressive expectations, and the cocky, young Greek Australian man.
The essay/documentary film Levantes (Fionn Skiotis and Lisa Horler, 1998) presents its "story" free of any historical context and without complexity. Anyone without any knowledge of Greek and Turkish history would have a great deal of trouble placing the narrator (who is in fact, Pontian [a distinct Greek cultural group]) in a historical context and therefore understanding the journey he, and by extension, Greece and Turkey as nations, go on.
Unlike Mousoulis, I do not regard these filmmakers as "edgy". (5) Rather I view them and their work as somewhat "safe" as they present Greek Australians and Greek Australian issues in ways that, generally, the Anglo-Australian community sees them and would prefer to see them. These filmmakers do not see with Greek eyes nor do they challenge. Instead, they see through the eyes of the dominant culture and interestingly, they see their own cultural heritage (in Skiotis's case, part of his heritage, as I understand that one of his parents is of a Greek background) through such "eyes". I am not suggesting that Greek Australian filmmakers should present romanticised pictures of the "Greek Australian experience", nor do I think that "seeing through Greek eyes" is a simple matter. However, I find it puzzling that, as Mousoulis points out, a number of Greek Australian filmmakers work with themes of assimilation, displacement and racism, but they do not tackle Greek subject matter. Is it because doing it this way is more palatable to the viewing public? Is it because it is easier to obtain financing and later, distribution for these films if they do not concentrate on Greek Australian subject matter? (It would be interesting to explore whether the difficulties Nick Giannopoulos has stated he faced in looking for financial support for The Wogboy(6) were partly to do with the subject matter.) Or is it because these filmmakers, on one level, are attuned to these themes because of their own experiences as members of a minority culture, while on another, are not quite comfortable with them?
Greek culture and Greek Australian culture are not homogeneous (as of course, no cultures are), but paradoxically, the two Kokkinos films I have mentioned and Levantes would have us believe that they are. Adrian Martin contends that "our national cinema offers an extraordinarily distorted view" (7) of Australian suburbs. This is the case with regard to Greek Australian life, which, in the eyes of some filmmakers, seems to be frozen in a particular period of Greek Australian history (if this is, in fact, an accurate view of that history) and space these filmmakers "want to be anywhere but", like the filmmakers to which Martin refers.
Fortunately, a number of other films present a rich, layered view of Greek Australian culture and life, though unfortunately, these have not enjoyed the level of exposure that the aforementioned films have.
Anna Kannava's Ten Years After….Ten Years Older (1986) is an honest, moving work, which focuses on an individual's experience as a migrant. It allows the viewer to go along with the narrator as she returns to her country of birth and think and feel with her as she ruminates over memories, family, identity and loss.
Similarly, Two Homelands (Michael Karris, 1979) offers the same opportunities, this time through the documentation of a concert by Savvas Christodoulou. Karris lets Christodoulou's lyrics and poetry speak for themselves. The director intercuts concert footage with photographs and images, which, handled differently, would appear clichéd, but handled by Karris, magnify the poignancy of the concert and experience with which it is concerned. The film is even more poignant given that the concert was held in 1978, a time when there were very few such events and when many of the children of the '50s wave of migrants to Australia were starting to deal with issues of ethnic identity in a society which was struggling to come to grips with its cultural diversity.
Tim Spanos's The Little White Boat (1998) is interesting as it draws on a traditional Greek folk song and uses footage of a funeral in Greece and more recent footage of an older Greek woman. The older woman singing the story throughout the film and the funeral footage prods the viewer out of their comfort zone (particularly if they can understand the lyrics!), though shots of a young woman in Greek national costume are a bit awkward.
Alkinos Tsilimidos's short documentary Man of Straw (1988)follows a Greek male gambler around the racetrack. You can't help but laugh in some scenes, but the laughter is two-edged as it underlines the pathos of this man's life. There is something affectionate about the way Tsilimidos handles his material which elicits a good-natured response from the viewer.
Then there is the issue of "Hellenic sensibility". I prefer a definition of sensibility that is broader than the one used by Mousoulis. (8) "Hellenic sensibility" or any sensibility based on ethno-cultural terms, is not based purely on intellectual factors. It encompasses the culture as it is lived now, the history of that culture, societal issues, religion, the arts, etc. It also needs to include an individual's experience of that culture, particularly when that culture has been transplanted from the country/ies of its origin to another country where it becomes a minority culture and is affected, inevitably, by this and by the migration or refugee experience. The latter is directly relevant in the case of Greek Australian filmmakers (and filmmakers of any minority culture in Australia) because it is one of the defining factors in the relationship between a filmmaker and their material, particularly when that material involves explorations of cultural identity. The combined perspectives on all of these factors contributes to one's sensiblity and hence colours the ways in which one "sees".
The films about Greek Australian life that are genuinely interesting to me as a Greek Australian and as a film-lover, demonstrate a kind of relationship between the filmmaker and their material that is different from that of the films I consider flawed. Both Kannava and Karris are "closer" to their material, so "close" that it seems to be an integral part of them. In contrast, Kokkinos and Skiotis, and to a lesser extent Spanos, are at a distance from their material and I would say, of the former two, in conflict with it. Mousoulis states that "Greek-Australian filmmaking begins in the '70s with substantial assimilation already in place". (9) Greek Australian filmmaking, reflecting and influenced by the context in which it takes place, has continued from the '70s to the present with a much more subtle form of assimilation still intact. This assimilation has contributed primarily to the skewing in Greek Australian filmmaking away from diverse, real representations of Greek Australian culture towards work that is largely tired and reduces this culture to one, flattened dimension.
Senses of Cinema, Issue No. 1, December 1999. "Is Your Film Language Greek? Some Thoughts On Greek-Australian Film-makers" by Bill Mousoulis.
I make a distinction between "Greek" and "Greek Australian" because there are differences between the two.Greek Australian culture is different from Greek culture in that the former has been affected directly by the migration of Greeks as a group to and their settlement in Australia. So,"Greek Australian" refers to whatever relates to the experience of Greeks in Australia and "Greek" refers to anything relating to Greece.
Prof. Gunew, S., "Situating Multicultural Literature: Ethnicity/Race/Gender", in Dounis, K., (ed.) Greek WomenWriters from Sappho to SAPPHO, Conference Proceedings 1992, RMIT, p. 35
Mousoulis, op. cit, p. 3
Schembri, J., "Wogs on Film", The Age (EG), 18/2/2000, p. 3
Martin, A., "Where Australian film lets us down", The Age (News Extra), 12/2/2000, p. 4
Welcome to the third issue of Senses of Cinema
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
Vicky Tsaconas is a Melbourne-based writer.
A Profile of Giorgio Mangiamele


Usage: 4% firstname, 96% surname.
Surname Luoma is used at least 1752 times in at least 16 countries.
Name contains 5 letters - 60.00% vowels and 40.00% consonants.
Jukka Luoma says: Minor forest waterway; steep bank of such; any creation or first stage. Common in place names in Finland's Ostrobothnia.


Although it may look like any ordinary photography but the picture itself depicts three stages of LIFE itself.
The Childhood in #Red The Youth in #Green & The Old age in #Golden hue.
It's a natural phenomena we all pass through and every age has its own colour & glamour.
Life is a STAGE and every colour has it's own glamour to cherish.
Green attracts the eye like youthfulness which allures every heart .Golden which will never change its color and the very sight of dignity and pricelessness which compels you to bow before it.Ameen.


On part 2 of the Bacon Sports podcast Rob Cressy is joined by Benjamin Christensen as they dish about the crazy sports headlines from the past week.
Metta World Peace reveals he broke Michael Jordan's ribs back in 2001.
Woman quits job to experience the magical bond of breastfeeding her bodybuilder boyfriend.
The NFL Twitter hack. What do you think the NFL's password is?
If you could tweet anything on the NFL's account what would it be?
Phil Jackson says Shaq showed up to practice complete naked once.
Draymond Green quit playing video games because he hates losing.
If you missed part 1 where we talked about the Top 5 selling jerseys in May you can check it out here.
I want to hear from you. Did you play the gum on your jeans game? What do you think was the NFL's twitter password? If you hacked into the NFL's Twitter account, what would you tweet? Drop me a line on Twitter @BaconSports or on Snapchat @baconsports and let me know what's up.


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Q: Parent-child relationship in many to many I'm trying to construct a parent-child relationship in SQL Server 2008 and I'm having trouble getting it to work.

*

*There are Presets (root level nodes) and then there are PresetItems (child nodes).

*A Preset can only contain PresetItems, but PresetItems can contain other PresetItems as child nodes.

*Many Presets can be built that vary in the PresetItems that they contain.

*The PresetItems can be reused in many different Presets to construct a different Preset configuration.
The way this is used is to dynamically create a report.  The Preset is the name of the report.  The PresetItems are various parts to the report.  These parts (PresetItem) would be like a section of the report, such as "Year to Date Graph". This PresetItem would contain the text explanation, and then another PresetItem containing the graph could be added as the child of this PresetItem section.
This process continues until all the parts of the report are assembled.
Here is an illustration:
Client "A" Report (Preset 1)
   -- Overview (PresetItem 1) - contains boilerplate and maybe some dynamic data
   -- YTD Report (PresetItem 2) - contains boilerplate
      -- YTD Graph (PresetItem 3) - contains a graph created dynamically from SQL Server data
   -- Core References (PresetItem 4) - contains a table of dynamic data
   -- Summary (PresetItem 5) - contains boilerplate

Client "B" Report (Preset 2)
   -- Overview (PresetItem 1) - contains boilerplate and maybe some dynamic data
   -- Monthly Balance Sheet (PresetItem 8) - contains dynamic data
   -- YTD Report (PresetItem 2) - contains boilerplate
      -- YTD Graph (PresetItem 3) - contains a graph created dynamically from SQL Server data
   -- Summary (PresetItem 5) - contains boilerplate

... etc ...
You'll notice that some PresetItems can be assembled into many different reports or Presets.
This is the way I've constructed my database tables and I'm not able to create the parent-child relationship because there are two primary keys in the many-to-many table.
Preset Table
-- Id (key)
-- Name

PresetItem Table
-- Id (key)
-- Name
-- Description
-- DataResource
-- (other columns)

PresetPresetItem (many-to-many table)
-- PresetId (key)
-- PresetItemId (key)
-- ParentId
-- SortOrder

Am I on the right track to get the result that I'm looking for?  I'm not able to create the parent-child relationship in the PresetPresetItem table between the PresetItemId and the ParentId, because it complains that I've left out the other primary key (PresetId).
I do understand why it's doing this, I just can't figure out how to fix it right now.  If I'm going about this all wrong, please let me know.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

A: There are couple of ways to solve this.
Probably the simplest one is to split each "kind" of connection into separate table:

Alternatively, you could also consider inheriting the Preset and Item from the common table and then implementing the graph edges on top of that table. This might be too flexible for your needs, though: Preset could be a child of another Preset or even Item, which is probably not what you want.

A: I have no experience with SQL server, so I'm limiting my discussion here to database design.
It sounds to me like this is where you need to go:
If PresetItems can refer to themselves in a strictly hierarchical fashion, the third table is unnecessary.  In this case, just give PresetItems a foreign key back to itself.  If that's not the case, I'll have to think about how I would implement a many-to-many-to-self relationship.
But, if this assumption is were wrong, then you're probably on the right track!
Something like this:
Presets
-------
presetId (PK)

PresetItems
-----------
presetItemId (PK)
presetIdFk (FK to Presets)
presetItemIdFk (FK to PresetItems (self))

This allows one Preset to many PresetItems, and PresetItems will be organized as a tree.
If PresetItems don't represent hierarchical data, you should do something like this:
Many-to-many self-referential table

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Blogging Thoughts on SharePoint and Office 365
Thoughts, Conversations, Interviews on SharePoint, Office 365, Microsoft & Its Movers & Shakers from the folks at VisualSP
Microsoft continues its effort to hasten market adoption of Office 365 with more training courses
Microsoft has invested deeply in user training as a method of driving marketplace adoption of its Office 365 computing platform. The last component pushed into prominence as something enterprise consumers should learn to use is Skype for Business, which was formerly known as Lync. Just yesterday, January 14, 2015, in a post to the Office Blog titled Skype for Business sessions now included in Office 365 Summits, the Lync Team informed us about the availability of multi level training for this Office 365 component. Training tracks on Skype for Business will be offered to all three of the training tracks…
Implement a reliable enterprise social computing effort now to avoid having to do so later
Back in January, 2013, Gartner published a press release titled Gartner® Says 80 Percent of Social Business Efforts Will Not Achieve Intended Benefits Through 2015on the low likelihood of "social business efforts" succeeding by 2015. But the same press release makes clear the inevitability of success for these same efforts at some point in the future. So business should start to build out enterprise social computing networks like Yammer, now, to prepare. The inevitability of the success of these efforts is depicted in the very first sentence of the release: "Enterprise social networks will become the primary communications channels for…
According to Microsoft's new Office 365 Customer Success Center, communities are all about Yammer
In this, the final post on our current topic, Microsoft's new Office 365 Customer Success Center on the web, the writer spends sometime discussing the "Communities" section of the site. The previous three posts provided readers with: an introduction to the Center and a look at the Scenarios section a deeper dive into the "Resources" and training aides supporting the Scenarios section and a description of the "Adoption" section Yammer Yammer, and the personnel representing it, play a very big role throughout the Center. Many of these people staffed the Office 365 Summit in New York City, which the writer…
If improved collaboration is an objective for SharePoint implementation, consider supporting it with external data
Many organizations implement SharePoint to promote better collaboration between Lines of Business (LoBs). The notion is SharePoint newsfeeds, rating systems, and tags for items/people/events/whatever, will all contribute to better efficiency across an enterprise. Efficiency means not only a lower cost of operation (as the result of substantially less duplication of effort), but higher levels of user adoption of SharePoint. It may make sense for these organizations to develop solutions to expose external data for users to consume within the SharePoint work space. External data often amounts to information compiled by LoBs. This information is produced by LoB specific procedures, almost…
Social Groups and SharePoint promise big returns, but require a substantial effort
SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online, Office 365 have been designed with collaboration as one of the primary out-of-the box feature sets. So organizations can benefit by implementing Yammer groups, but should plan on a lot of effort to ensure success. We've recently published several posts to this blog about a new set of video training content exclusively offered on SharePoint-Videos: SP13-317 Making Enterprise Social Real in your Organization with Yammer and SharePoint. Naomi Moneypenny, who leads this curriculum, emphasizes the importance of Yammer groups for the ROI opportunity they represent. In her opinion, a finely tuned Yammer group can perform…
Ask questions before leaping into an enterprise social effort for the best possible chance of success
Many of the same type of questions most subject matter experts recommend be asked about any plan to implement SharePoint 2013, or SharePoint Online, Office 365, should be included in any plan for an enterprise social effort, at least according to Naomi Moneypenny. Moneypenny presents these questions and her rationale for adding them into any plan to implement an enterprise social feature like a Yammer group, in a video tutorial titled Planning a community and populating Group Tabs. The answers to these questions, Moneypenny contends, will provide any stakeholders in an enterprise social effort with a method of validating the…
On the importance of Yammer groups and the need for formal planning to ensure their success
Two videos in a new set of video training content exclusively available to anyone with a subscription to SharePoint-Videos will likely be worth a review for any stakeholder in a plan to implement enterprise social computing via Yammer and SharePoint Online, Office 365. The title of this video tutorial set is SP 13-317 – Making Enterprise Social Real in your Organization with Yammer and SharePoint Video Course. The two videos are units 4 and 5 of the 25 units included in this course. They are respectively titled "Groups and Group Admin Best Practices" and "Planning a Community and populating Group…
Yammer discussion groups may constitute an attractive option for organizations looking to migrate support communication into a more efficient medium
In a course on enterprise social computing, which is exclusively available to any/all subscribers to SharePoint-Videos, Naomi Moneypenny makes a case for Yammer groups as an alternative method organizations should explore as they consider ways of migrating support communication out of email and voice, and into a more efficient medium. Moneypenny makes numerous references to Yammer groups as a promising alternative to email throughout this set of video training content, which is titled SP 13-317 – Making Enterprise Social Real in your Organization with Yammer and SharePoint Video Course. The key to success, for this type of effort, as she…
Can social computing help people improve their efficiency?
In a set of video tutorials just added to SharePoint-Videos, Naomi Moneypenny argues so-called enterprise social computing can contribute to a reduction in the amount of time personnel at most organizations spend searching for information, sending email messages, and other comparatively low value activities. Naomi Moneypenny is the CTO of Synxi. The title of the video tutorial set is SP 13-317 – Making Enterprise Social Real in your Organization with Yammer and SharePoint. It may be helpful to place Moneypenny's position on the topic of workplace efficiency in context. The foundation for her position is familiar ground for any advocate…
SharePoint-Videos Adds a Set of Video Tutorials on the Necessity of Enterprise Social
Subscribers to SharePoint-Videos can now learn about Yammer and how the availability of this online service is changing what can be done with social computing within a SharePoint computing environment. All of this information is included in a set of video tutorials led by Naomi Moneypenney, CTO of Synxi, titled Making Enterprise Social Real in your Organization with Yammer and SharePoint. For those readers unaware of Naomi Moneypenney, and Synxi, it should suffice to say Moneypenney has played an active role facilitating engagement across several of Microsoft's public Yammer feeds, including the Office 365 Technical Network Group. With regards to…
VisualSP – Real-time, on-demand help for SharePoint and Office 365
Learn how you can reduce support tickets and get help to your users instantly, increase productivity from your SharePoint investment and provide just-in-Time learning helps onboarding processes
Visit VisualSP to get started today
Visit VisualSP.com to get started today
© 2020 Blogging Thoughts on SharePoint and Office 365


I just want to change the shift controls from R1 and L1 to square and circle. When I go into controls to change it, It says not all required controls are assigned. I assigned controls for L1 amd R1 but still get the same message. What am I missing?
try pressing "start" for exit instead of the "circle"


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Prince Harry reveals he was teased at school because of what Prince Charles taught him
He still spoke fondly of his father
Aoife Walsh
Prince Harry has recently opened up about one thing he always got teased for when he was in school.
In a television interview honouring Prince Charles on his 70th birthday, Prince Harry and Prince William revealed their father used to take them out to pick up rubbish with poles and black bin bangs.
Meghan Markle's husband said he could not stop picking up litter any time he saw it after. So much so, he got teased at school for picking up stray litter when out with friends.
Kate Middleton and Prince William 'reject' invitation to spend time with Prince Charles
The brothers spoke fondly of their father in the interview, including how he often made speeches about the impact of plastic on the environment.
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales accompanied by Jamie Oliver visits Carshalton Boys Sports College to see how the school has transformed its approach to healthy eating on November 26, 2012 in Carshalton, England (Image: Indigo/Getty Images)
"He's done an amazing job," said Prince Harry.
"Without telling us what we should be doing or the direction we should go in, he's just let us learn from the nature of the job, learn from him, learn from mummy.
"To the point where I used to get taken the mickey out of at school for picking up rubbish. I didn't go out consciously looking for it but when you go for walks anywhere and you see something and it stands out, you pick it up.
How Meghan Markle used her €68,000 royal tour wardrobe to send a message
"And before you know it someone is like 'what are you doing? Where are you going to put that?' It's like wow, I've literally done this because I'm programmed to do it because my father did it. We should all be doing it."
Photo by Tom Wargacki/WireImage
The Duke of Cambridge added: "He took us litter picking when we were younger, on holiday. We were in norfolk on school holidays and we went out litter picking with him.
"We thought this is perfectly normal, everyone must do it. We were there with our spikes stabbing the rubbish into black plastic bags."Prince Charles


Check out how to avoid a root emergency with fast fixes from Good Morning Washington!! You can order Color Wow Root Cover Up at www.colorwowhair.com - HUGE Thank you to Color Wow, Good Morning Washington, and DC Refined! Happy Friday!!


Maryland has announced that as of January 1, 2016, the amount to be withheld at settlement from nonresident individual sellers and exchangers of real property is now 7.5% of the net proceeds. For nonresident entities the rate is 8.25%. The law has been in place since 2003 shocking many non-resident sellers who are unaware that MD will take a percentage of their proceeds at settlement time. The rate of withholding has been rising.
Maryland recognizes the federal 1031 exchange law and will grant an exemption if you meet certain criteria. If you need help with a 1031 exchange and are a MD nonresident we can help with the frustrating MD Certificate of Full or Partial Exemption submission process.
The MD nonresident withholding law requires that a new deed may not be recorded unless the tax is paid to the Clerk of the County Circuit Court. For nonresident entities the rate is 8.25%. No tax needs to be withheld if the nonresident seller or exchanger presents, at settlement, a Certificate of Full or Partial Exemption (Form MW506AE for 2016) issued by the Comptrollers Office. The Certificate will provide full exemption from withholding or provide the partial amount of tax to be withheld at settlement. To obtain an exemption certificate, nonresident exchangers must submit to the Comptroller of Maryland, twenty-one days in advance of settlement, Maryland Form MW506AE (Form MW506AE for 2016), Application for Certificate of Full or Partial Exemption. For 1031 exchangers the Comprtollers office also requires a cover letter from the qualified intermediary who has been hired to facilitate a 1031 exchange. The Comptroller's Office will then issue the taxpayer their certificate. If a nonresident taxpayer has income from a Maryland property (even if there is a net loss), they need to file a Maryland Form 505, Maryland Nonresidential Income Tax Return, annually. If the Form 505 has not been filed for previous years, the Comptroller's office may reject the application for exemption as there is no Maryland record that the property was held for business or rental purposes to qualify for the IRC Section 1031 exemption. The settlement agent is then required to collect the percentage from the net proceeds due to the exchanger/seller and submit that amount to the Clerk of the Court. Most likely this amount will not be refunded before the exchanger settles on a replacement property, and may become taxable federal income.
No tax will be collected if the seller certifies the property was their principal residence in accordance with the federal rules in IRC Section 121. If an individual or a corporation has paid withholding tax at settlement in excess of the amount owed, they may file an Application for Tentative Refund of Withholding on Sales of Real Property by Nonresidents (Maryland Form MW506NRS). The request for refund may be filed with the Comptroller after 60 days have elapsed from the date the tax was paid to the Clerk of the Court or Department of Assessments and Taxation by the settlement agent. For additional information, contact taxhelp@comp.state.md.us or call 1-800-638-2937.
Here are links to the specific the MD non-resident withholding requirements.
Connecticut passes a QI law impacting qualified intermediaries. The law goes in effect October 1, 2013.
Virginia has passed House Bill 417 the Exchange Facilitators Act and it has been signed by Governor McDonnel. The bill become effective July 1, 2010.
§1031 of the Internal Revenue Code permits a taxpayer to exchange assets which have been used productively in a business or held for investment for other like-kind business use or investment assets without recognizing the taxable gain on the sale of the old assets. The taxes which would have otherwise been due from the sale transaction are thus deferred.
Tax rules permit this valuable benefit to extend to non-simultaneous transactions among multiple parties, over a period of up to 180 days. Indeed, most tax-deferred exchanges occur in this "deferred" fashion, with the taxpayer selling relinquished assets to a buyer, and then purchasing replacement property from a 3rd party seller. In a deferred exchange, the taxpayer is prohibited from having the ability to receive, pledge, borrow or otherwise receive the benefits of the sale proceeds ("exchange funds") until the exchange has been completed. The tax regulations set forth several safe harbors, the most common of which involves the use of a Qualified Intermediary ("QI") or an Exchange Accommodation Titleholder ("EAT"), both of whom are also referred to as exchange facilitators. The exchange facilitator typically holds the exchange funds for the benefit of the taxpayer during the exchange, disbursing funds for purchase of replacement property, and returning any unused funds to the taxpayer at the end of the exchange.
§1031 exchanges provide an important economic stimulus to taxpayers of modest means as well as the wealthy, and to all types of taxpayers, from individuals to large corporations. Owners of real estate are encouraged by the tax benefits to reinvest in real estate, rather than place their money in other investments. Likewise, businesses have a tax incentive to replace and upgrade machinery and equipment. In recent years, some taxpayers have suffered losses due to malfeasance, misappropriation, poor funds management practices, or bankruptcy of the exchange facilitator. Legislation was required to mandate minimum standards to prevent future losses.


Make this quick blender sauce and store for up to a week to add to chicken, pork, beef, Mexican casseroles, eggs, if you can dream it, you can do it.
In a saucepan saute 6 smashed garlic cloves in 1/4 cup hot olive oil about 10 minutes or until garlic is softened. Remove from heat; stir in 1 teaspoon orange zest and 1/4 cup orange juice.
In a blender combine garlic mixture, one 14.5-oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes (drained), 1 chipotle chile pepper in adobo, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and blend until smooth. Makes 2 cups.
350 calories, (3 g saturated fat, 2 g polyunsaturated fat, 13 g monounsaturated fat), 91 mg cholesterol, 725 mg sodium, 9 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 5 g sugar, 31 g protein.


I've been so busy editing that I completely forgot to mention something on my blog here: BOOK THREE IN THE META SERIES HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED! The new book is called Rise of The Circle and it will be out November 30, 2015. Head on over to Amazon to check out the cover and description and pre-order starting now. I originally planned to have this out a little earlier, but the story grew and grew so I figured it'd be better to delay the release a little bit to get the longer story into shape rather than try to split it up or cut things out. Right now the book is about the same length as Meta and The Second Wave combined (that might change after the next round of edits).
The description is purposefully a little vague, but since you're diehard enough to sign up for the newsletter I'll tell you that a lot of answers are in this book. I should specify that I mean answers to questions from the first two books, not answers to the meaning of life or anything. Just want to be clear so no one's disappointed.
Rise of the Circle is up now for ebook pre-order exclusively through Amazon for release November 30, 2015. Closer to the release Amazon will open up orders for print copies and I'm hoping to offer up signed copies for sale on here around then too.
One of those short novels that is exactly as long as it needs to be (144 pages). It's a time travel story, but an incredibly personal one. Gerrold does a great job laying out the complex rules it sets up for how time travel works within the story and uses that to arrive at some very unexpected places dealing with the nature of free will and causality. Definitely not a kid's time travel story though, be warned.
One of the best, terrible-looking movies I've ever seen. The special effects look like something you could make yourself in iMovie and there's some very shaky acting, but the story itself is fascinating if you love conspiracy theory stuff. It's like Going Clear meets Blair Witch Project, with 1/1000th the budget of either.
Not sure why this one took me so long to dive into, but I'm glad there were already three seasons in the can when I did. Somehow they've managed to pack the best spy stories you've ever seen into a show that is really mostly about how hard marriage is, even when it's arranged by the KGB.
Last week I was lucky enough to attend the first test show for the new Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The show itself was great and I can't wait for it to start, but in the meantime these podcasts are the next best thing. Colbert is a big process guy, so hearing his, as well as his co-workers, insights into putting together a whole new show that respects but doesn't rip off the two shows that preceded it (Late Show with David Letterman and Colbert Report) is fascinating. I don't think they're planning on keeping the podcast running once the show itself starts but I hope they change their mind about that. One of the rare instances where you want to hear how the sausage is made.
A little over a year ago today I received the worst phone call of my life while standing 3,500 miles from home. My father had died at work. The words didn't make sense to me when I first heard them, and now even a year later there isn't a day that goes by that I don't hear those words and feel the same feeling of disbelief that I did that day. This isn't a post about how devastating that day was to me though. This is about two ways that my Dad led me toward writing that I think about a lot now.
Before I was born, my Dad had done a few different jobs. The ones I heard about most were when he was a clam digger on Long Island and when he was a bouncer at a rowdy bar. By the time I was born he had started a career in construction as a Steamfitter. You would think with that kind of background I would have been brought up "tough", especially when it became obvious that I was going to wind up tall like he was. But that was never, ever the case.
My Dad introduced me to comic books at a young age, happily indulging me in trips to the comic book store, almost always picking up a few for himself. He grew up a Superman fan, but I started taking to Batman at a young age. Comic books might be really cool now, but they were definitely not when I was a kid. I never knew that though, because my interest in them was never questioned. I was never told that it was nerdy, or that I should take up other interests which were seen as more manly, or "normal". I was simply allowed to follow my interests without question.
When I sat with the woman from the church, along with my mother and brother to discuss my Dad's arrangements, she asked us what he was like. We talked about his hobbies and interests, his family and his heritage, but then I brought up his sense of right and wrong. He never lied. He never stole. He never took advantage of another person. Most importantly he never turned his back on a person or situation that he felt was wrong just because it "wasn't his business." Even in the year before he died, I heard a story about him confronting a man on the train who was threatening to hit his girlfriend. It was a packed train and everyone else ignored the situation, pretended they didn't see it happening, or assumed someone else would say something. Even though my Dad was in his 60's, and surely not the most capable person on that train, he was the one who stood up. He never sought out a fight, but he was the only person on that train to tell this man that if he didn't leave his girlfriend alone he'd have to deal with him.
Back to the church lady; she recounted her own story of right and wrong, and how when she was younger she'd accidentally left Macy's with a bracelet she had tried on still around her wrist. She told us how she considered keeping it since she had gotten away with it already, but then imagined her nephew falling in front of a subway. Punishment from God for her act of theft. I immediately became indignant. I explained to this woman how that was nothing like my Dad. My Dad didn't do "the right thing" because he was afraid of God, or out of guilt, or fear of being caught. He did the right thing for absolutely no other reason than it was the right thing. It really was just as simple as that.
I realized that day that this was where my obsession with superheroes came from, because to me that's always what my Dad was. He did what was right without fear, and without expectation of reward. He did what was right even when that was the hardest option. I'm not half the man he was, but I grew up with a role model that would have been impossible to emulate.
And that brings me to the other thing that I think about most now. I was lucky beyond words to have grown up with the friends I did. I'm still close with many of them to this day, and I think one of the bonds we share is having had parents who supported us no matter what. The idea of a disapproving mother or father was something I grew up thinking was just a trope of movies and television.
I've written about it before, but when I lost my job a little over two years ago, it hit me really hard. After a few months of frustration I decided I would change my attitude. I would take the time to do what I'd wanted to since I was 5 years old and write a book. I told very few people about it at the time, but I was surprised by some of the reactions. There was concern and doubt. A relationship ended at least partially as a result of my decision to take this somewhat risky move and I started to seriously doubt what I was doing.
A response that I heard often after I told people what I had been working on instead of trying to find a job was, "sooooo, what do your parents think?" It was a way to signal that they thought it was bad idea without having to say so outright. The thing was though, I never understood the question. It's not that I didn't understand the concern, I knew it was not the most reasonable thing to do. But to me, the answer was always that my parents never really said whether they thought it was a good idea or a bad one. They just supported me. That didn't mean sending me money or anything like that, although they would have in a heartbeat if I'd ever asked, it just meant listening.
And they did listen, because I sure as hell was not sure about what I was doing at all. There was no one more dubious about my plan than me, and they listened to every anxiety and concern I had. But I remember one day in particular, talking to my Dad on the phone when he told me the most heartening thing I could have heard at that moment. It was simple, but more powerful than anything else I could have imagined. I was explaining to him what I had left in savings, what my expenses were, what I could cut out, what I could sell, what jobs I would look into after the book was finished, etc. He let me finish and then just said, "you know, your Mom and I don't worry about you." I asked what he meant by that, and he just repeated it. He told me that they'd be there for me if I ever needed it, but that they didn't worry about me. That they knew I'd figure it out because I always did.
I'd felt like I was at a low point in my life and that my prospects were dire, but here was someone who I had shared all the details with telling me that he wasn't concerned. It wasn't a grandiose statement, nor was it dismissive. He understood how concerned I was and reacted by telling me the truest thing he could say at that moment. It's a cliche, but he believed in me more than I believed in myself, and without that I have no doubt that I never would have finished my first book.
I remember talking to him months after the release, when the response had been so overwhelming positive that it was clear writing was what I should focus on right now. I read him some of the emails I'd received from readers, and told him how happy I was when I was writing. He told me that he'd always suspected that this was what I would be happy with. That he always thought I wasn't cut out for working for some big company, that I would do best on my own and working creatively. He rarely gave advice, he wasn't the type of person who pretended like he knew what was best for other people, but when he did it was often the truth.
I finished writing The Second Wave after he died and struggled with whether I should dedicate it to him. The truth is that I honestly don't know if I'll ever be happy enough with something I write to feel like it lives up to being dedicated to him. Maybe that's just my own insecurities, maybe in time it will pass. In a way everything I write will always be dedicated to him, because without his love and encouragement, I would have never written a word.
Thank you, Dad. For everything.
Starting in Germany is like starting all over again. While I could be patient and and continue to have native German speakers find Meta Die Verwandlung on their own, I'm not patient and I'm too excited about having a book I wrote in another language. For that reason, I'm making the German-language version of Meta, translated by the immensely talented Daniela Mansfield free on Amazon Kindle this weekend, starting on today. It'll be free worldwide, so no matter what country you're in you'll be able to grab the German version (I'm looking at you Austria and Switzerland.) So if you speak German, or know someone who does that might enjoy Meta, be sure to let them know.
I'm on this week's Rocking Self Publishing podcast talking about writing and podcasting. It's a pretty long interview where I talk a bit about how I got into podcasting with The Complete Guide to Everything and how that eventually lead to me trying my hand at writing a novel about superheroes (there is actually a thread there). I also talk a bit about how I write and how writing The Second Wave was different than writing Meta. Check out the interview in the embed below or grab it for free on iTunes.
The Second Wave Out Today!
Do we find out if [BLANK] is actually [BLANK]???
I will try not to give any spoilers away, but I will tell you that there is a character we've not seen without a mask that is unmasked. We also find out how some of the people closest to Connor spend their time when he's busy being Omni.
Why is the book exclusive to Amazon? Why can't I get it on iBooks, Nook, Kobo, etc?
Here's the deal. Pre-orders went 6 weeks ago on Amazon Kindle and iBooks. As of a few weeks ago the number of Kindle pre-orders was 100 times the number of iBooks pre-orders. I don't mean "they were double" or "they were quadruple", they were literally 100 times higher, as in centuple. Going exclusive with Amazon meant people with Prime and Kindle Unlimited could read The Second Wave for "free". I don't make as much money that way, but it means more people are able to find Meta and The Second Wave which is way more important for me as a new author.
You can read The Second Wave in the Kindle app for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, pretty much everything so I didn't think anyone would miss out. If I'm wrong though, email me and I'll fix it for you.
Can I get this book printed on dead trees?
Yes. It should be up in paperback on Amazon any time now, if it's not already. If you order it through them I've set it so they'll give you the Kindle version for free, which is awesome if you want to give the paperback to someone as a gift and still get the digital version for yourself. You can also have any book store order it for you very easily too if you want to support your local indie.
This is the best book I've ever read. It changed my life in ways I couldn't even imagine. I'm already planning on naming my first born child "Tom Reynolds", but what else could I possibly do to repay you?
Wow. Thank you so much. Honestly, I think you might be going overboard and I'm hesitant to ask for anything else, but if you liked the book that much and would like to leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads I'd appreciate it more than you would ever know. The entire reason I'm able to do this for a living now is because of the generosity of people taking the time out of their days to leave a review and recommend it to others.
There will be more in the Meta series in 2015. I'm also planning on releasing some short stories and a thriller-ish thing with a sci-fi element to it early next year.
Thanks again so much for reading what I write and supporting me. Hope you love The Second Wave today.


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WHERE SCOUTING MEETS ANALYTICS
Draft Prospects Top 5
MVP Metric
Lions Remain in Purgatory for Another Year Following Laughable Loss
Written by: JT Bowen
Instagram: @_jtbowen
How much can change in six months?
There was a time, not too long ago, that this was supposed to be the Lions year.
After the excitement in the opening day of free agency: Winning the Trey Flowers sweepstakes, upgrading positions of need with Jesse James and Justin Coleman, and adding stopgaps like Danny Amendola. Detroit looked to be going all-in on Matt Patricia's second year, throwing cash at big-name players, something largely uncommon in Allen Park.
And the 2019 Draft, too. Though the Lions had edge rusher Josh Allen snatched from their clutches by Jacksonville, they were able to add the tight end of the future. They added linebacking depth with Jahlani Tavai. They bolstered an already-young secondary with Will Harris and stole consensus top-3 corner Amani Oruwariye in the fifth round. While many fans were split on the Lions' selections given some of the moves made in free agency, the excitement for a new class of rookies, year in and year out, is contagious.
This wave of enthusiasm, the "hey, we have a solid team here" mentality carried into training camp. In spite of a few injuries, the Lions looked to have a productive preseason. Young players, like Teez Tabor, looked like they were turning the corner and veterans, like Matthew Stafford, appeared to be improving from a disappointing 2018 campaign. The majority of the team seemed to be buying into Matt Patricia's mindset and attitude, and the hushed sentiment of "we're underrated" only grew larger.
An exclamation point on the offseason was undoubtedly the Mike Daniels signing. Detroit was able to bring in the former Pro Bowler and divisional rival after his untimely release from Green Bay, a veritable shock to fans and national media alike. And when asked about why he came to Detroit, his answer added another surprise — "Matt Patricia," he replied succinctly.
This wholly encapsulated the theme of Detroit's offseason. Daniels received calls from roughly a dozen other NFL teams, most of which were notably better than the Lions. Sure, some of it could be attributed to wanting to exact revenge on Green Bay, but the high praise Daniels gave Patricia and his beautiful, erudite mind for football seemed legitimate. Daniels wanted to come to Detroit, to play for a gridiron genius and rocket scientist in Matt Patricia. To return to his form as a star defensive tackle in the best defensive schemes. To play alongside stars like Damon Harrison and Trey Flowers, and form one of the most fearsome defensive lines in the league.
Despite the Lions' rocky 4-0 preseason, hopes remained high, at least among fans. National media still, weirdly, thought the Lions weren't that good. They thought that, somehow, Matt Patricia might not be a great coach, and that there were three definitively better teams in the NFC North. 'Detroit vs Everybody' chants continued to surge, as fans confidently felt that this team was different.
Things remained quiet in the front office. Bob Quinn and Patricia, our knights in shining armor, maintained the tight-lipped, blinds-closed approach. They would never, and still won't, voice excitement. Won't address media headlines, and won't take heed to criticism. Power to them, I suppose. If only it served any purpose, or made the Lions better.
So, what happened?
The whispers began Week 1 in Arizona, against a rookie quarterback in Kyler Murray. Detroit played a really solid first half and a really awful second half. They allowed the listless Cardinals to claw their way back from a blowout loss to a tie. It was embarrassing, but we stayed hopeful. Still 15 games, right?
The Lions bounced back in a big way the next two weeks, securing victories over two tough opponents in the Chargers and the Eagles. They weren't pretty, but a win's a win.
Perhaps the most polarizing game came against Kansas City. Our boys in blue went toe-to-toe against the league's best team at the time in the Chiefs, and although they lost, they seemed to have proven themselves as a real threat.
Detroit, despite the defeat, looked to solidify themselves in the NFC North against Aaron Rodgers. But they couldn't, squandering an early lead. And they couldn't make up divisional ground the following week, either, being out-dueled by the Vikings at Ford Field. Take some solace in an ugly win over the Giants, but any hopes of season revival were squashed after the past two losses to Oakland and Chicago, respectively.
Things aren't spiraling out of control anymore — they already have. This season is over. No playoffs. No thrilling wins over divisional opponents to contend in a tight NFC North or commanding victories over objectively-worse teams like New York that we thought were feasible earlier this year. Another year of futility and irrelevance for Detroit, and a common finish probable in the NFC North's basement. At this point, the Lions are solely playing for jobs.
How quickly things can change.
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World premiere of Enno Poppe's 'Fett' plus Syzmanowswki & Sibelius with the HPO
On May 10, Susanna Mälkki leads the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere of Enno Poppe's Fett, a co-commission with the HPO, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A greatly anticipated world premiere, the German composer describes his inventive music as "dented nature", which grows from small sprouts.
Violinist Christian Tetzlaff interprets Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1, a work that Tetzlaff has referred to as the Polish composer's philosopher's stone. The concert concludes with Sibelius' Third Symphony, a work that has had a long history with the HPO. The orchestra gave the symphony's first performance, conducted by Sibelius, on September 25, 1907.


The automotive world is changing: fossil fuels, distributors, pistons and conventional gearboxes are on their way out, to be replaced by capacitors, batteries, zero-shift drives and volts – we already know that fossil fuelled vehicles will be banned in the UK by 2040.
Many large cities are introducing penalties for polluting and manufacturers have finally started weaning themselves from the internal combustion engine. Indeed, Volvo have said that by 2019, they won't be producing anything other than hybrid or full-electric vehicles.
But are hybrids really as smart as we've been told? Are they the motoring equivalent of the second coming? Or just a cheap (for the manufacturers) marketing ploy to get people to spend further amounts of money in a bid to 'go green'?
A lot of information can be gleaned from the following two numbers: 72.4 mpg and 94.2 mpg.
These two figures represent the tested mileage figures for the Toyota Prius (the planet's saviour if you believe the hype) and the Peugeot 208 BlueHDi, the dirty diesel, and yes, those figures are the correct way.
Whilst mentioning those figures without giving further explanation is a relatively easy trick, you really need to dig a little deeper before drawing any real-world conclusions – the Peugeot is diesel engined, which means that the emissions coming from its exhaust are more harmful to the environment.
But even then, that only tells half the story – what about all of the un-recyclable bits to do with the hybrid, or the ever more harmful manufacturing processes? It isn't just black and white (is anything?).
There is no doubt that hybrids are generally better for the environment, especially when compared to cars that are slightly older. Hybrids are capable of consistently achieving relatively high economy figures compared to their regular counterparts, but it does come at a financial cost – hybrids are ultimately more expensive to buy, so if your goal is saving money, you need to put in some serious mileage for them to pay off.
If, however, you're wanting a hybrid for the 'green' factor, then it could work for you, assuming that you ignore the aforementioned problems with manufacturing and recyclability, and that's on the assumption that you'd be ordering a brand new car anyway.
There are a number of different types of hybrid, some that plug-in to your electricity supply, others that recharge from the internal combustion engine, and configurations also come in a variety – single motors, dual motors, motors that drive one complete axle or an individual wheel.
You can even get high-performance hybrids like the McLaren P1 or Porsche 918, but whereas the average hybrid utilises an electric motor to help emissions, the performance versions use that motor to boost the power output.
Plug-ins come with their own range of drawbacks – you'll need access to a power socket to charge it, so if your parking arrangements can't cover that, a plug-in may not be for you. This isn't to say that a hybrid itself isn't for you, just consider what use you'll get from it and how the logistics work for you first.
Given that the cost of a hybrid is ultimately more expensive, buying one to save money would be a long-term investment; the difference in fuel economy isn't enough to pay for itself in the short term.
We've already looked at an example of the Peugeot 208 being able to beat the consumption figures of the best known hybrid by over 20 mpg and that's a significant saving, even more so when you compare the purchase price – just under £18,000 for the little Pug opposed to just over £24,000 for the Toyota. £6,000 buys a lot of fuel (around 5,200 litres at today's price, or to put it another way – well over 100,000 miles!).
Of course, hybrids do have their place in the modern world, and as wider adoption happens, development should see relative prices come down, but until we're forced to have hybrid or electric only vehicles, it's doubtful that they'll be the most popular choice.
Taking the green option, a hybrid does make perfect sense, but for the average Joe motorist, it's hard to justify that added expense unless you spend much of your time driving in cities that charge you for polluting their road networks and air, but even then, thought must be given as to how it will work for you, and whether you're able to maximise the advantages of a hybrid.
As fossil fuels become predictably more expensive (both financially and in cost to the planet), the automotive industry as a whole are beginning to look to the future. No longer are they allowed carte blanche to do as they want, to force us down one particular route that suits them best - they are being made to understand the implications of blindly sticking with one power source (the internal combustion engine) and it's working. For everyone.


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