When I heard that M.R. Carey was writing another novel in the same world he created for The Girl With All the Gifts, I was quite thrilled: post-apocalyptic scenarios are always fascinating, and this author had already delivered a compelling, chillingly believable one on the premise of an infection by the parasitic fungus Cordyceps, that turned affected humans into a sort of zombies, or "hungries".
This new novel is set a few years before the events of its predecessor, and shows the changed world in wider details, although it shares the same enclosed, claustrophobic feeling of its companion story: here a mixed crew of military and scientists travels across devastated Britain on board an armored vehicle, the Rosalind Franklin (or "Rosie"), following the tracks of a previous expedition that never made it back to the relatively safe haven of Beacon. Rosie's crew is tasked with the retrieval of the tissue cultures left by their unfortunate colleagues, in the hope of gleaning some information that might lead to a cure for the Cordyceps plague.
The difficult interaction between the science team and the soldiers escorting them is not helped by the cramped conditions aboard Rosie, a mix between a tank and a mobile lab, while the lack of any appreciable results in the search sets a pall of hopelessness over the general mood. The divide between the two groups is further stressed by the different personalities of their respective leaders, forced to share command of the expedition: colonel Carlisle is a tainted hero of the Breakdown, the time when the plague effectively ended civilization, and he's weighted down by the memories of what he had to do under orders; while doctor Fournier is a mix between scientist and bureaucrat, more the latter than the former in truth, and a man with scarce-to-absent people skills.
Where The Girl With All the Gifts dealt with the interaction between the uninfected humans and a group of second-generation contaminated children still in possession of their mental faculties, here the focus is solely on humans; and if the first novel was set in a time in which the Breakdown was already one generation removed, here it's still a fresh, painful memory: people still remember vividly the life they led before, and this adds to their behavior a poignancy that was almost absent in the people managing the base where Melanie and her companions were being studied. The world that was is dramatically present in the awareness of these survivors, allowing the readers to see more about its collapse and the birth of the new, fragile attempt at a new society that is still in the throes of its birth.
It would be legitimate to believe, or hope, that in the face of such a tragedy the remnants of humanity would regroup and form a more cohesive community, but that's indeed wishful thinking, as the coalitions aboard Rosie – and the political maneuvering in Beacon – show with tragic clarity: even in the face of mass extinction individuals look for more power, or the assertion of their worth; for supreme leadership or the meaningless praise of academia. The end of this world might be hastened by the Cordyceps infection, but its people can inflict just as much harm as the hordes of hungries roaming the land.
Although Stephen figures prominently in the story, the overall mood of the novel is choral, as the various events are observed through the eyes of several of Rosie's crew, and this multi-faceted observation helps move the story along especially in the first part of the book, where the going looks a little slow and not much seems to happen: the characters come across in sharp definition and the frictions that move through Rosie like unstable currents make this novel just as much a study of human psychology as a post-apocalyptic drama. Once events start rolling, though, they move at a steady, unrelenting pace toward the final showdown, one that kept me on the edge of the proverbial seat because I was aware of the multiplicity of scenarios that could come into being: what really happens in the end is filled with such moving intensity that I could not help being affected by it, and I realized it was an even more powerful ending than the one of The Girl With All the Gifts.
After I finished reading Mira Grant's last volume in her Newsflesh trilogy about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, I wanted to know more about the changed world resulting from the rising of the dead, and discovered some of the short stories she wrote to… fill in the corners of her post-apocalyptic world.
When the author announced she was going to publish a book that would gather all this material and a few new stories, I knew I had to read it: Mira Grant (the alter ego of UF writer Seanan McGuire) is an amazing storyteller and I was looking forward to more about this dystopian version of our world, either revisiting the older stories or enjoying the new ones.
In the introduction to this story, Mira Grant describes it as "one of the most difficult, emotionally challenging pieces I've sat down to write" and I immediately understood what she meant once I started reading: in the prequel story Countdown we follow several individuals' plight as the Kellis-Amberlee virus starts spreading, and two of them are Michael and Stacy Mason – the adoptive parents of Georgia and Shaun, the main characters of the Newsflesh trilogy.
In the last scene dedicated to the senior Masons, their small child Phillip is going near a neighbor's dog that has been infected by a raccoon's bite: little Phillip approaches his four-legged friend addressing it with his usual "Oggie?", and that chilling flash is all we need to understand what is going to happen to him.
As "All the Pretty Little Horses" opens four years elapsed and the worst of the Rising has taken its course, while the world is trying to pick up the pieces and to find a way to get back on track. Stacy Mason does not care about it all though: once the emergency was over, she asked to be punished for having killed her infected son, but when the law did not (and could not) find her guilty she fell into deep depression. Worried about her, her husband Michael finds a way to pull her out of it by managing to attach the two of them to the army contingent tasked with exploring the Oakland Zoo: it's while Stacy is taking pictures of the premises that Michael realizes the best way to help his wife is to put her once more in the thick of things, just as they were while they organized the Berkeley enclave to hold on until help arrived. Stacy thrives in dangerous situations, and so Michael finds a way for them to seek those situations and document them: we can see the birth of the blogging culture that's at the center of the Newsflesh trilogy here, and how it starts as a way to deal with emotional trauma.
The loss of a child would be emotionally devastating in any situation, but the way Stacy Mason had to face her tragedy adds several layers of pain and guilt that no rationalization is going to erase: as usual, Mira Grant lays out her characters' souls and their suffering in what I like to call a stark, utilitarian way, and in so doing she confers to these emotions a poignancy and hurtful directness that others not always manage to achieve. What is fascinating here is the observation of the long struggle of the world to come out of the ashes of the Rising, and the way it mirrors the equally agonizing journey of the Masons toward a new way to deal with their past and the uncertain future before them.
Where Countdown was the story of how the Rising came to be, All the Pretty Little Horses shows the aftermath of it, the birth of a new world where the dead can walk: in a way these two novellas are like the bookends for the origin story of this alternate world, while this one holds many of the seeds of the larger tale that will become the Newsflesh series. The tapestry, for want of a better word, takes even more shape and substance and, despite the pain and loss that run among the threads, remains a fascinating story.
I received this book from Pyr/Prometheus Books in exchange for an honest review.
Last year I had the opportunity of reading and reviewing the first book in this series, Black City Saint, discovering a quite unusual mix of Urban Fantasy and noir detective fiction: the main character Nick Medea is a special kind of private investigator, because he helps clients who believe their homes are haunted, or prey to malicious infestations. In truth Nick is no other than legendary Saint George, the dragon slayer, but with a slight twist to the tale: the dragon he vanquished was the guardian of the Gate standing between our mundane world and the realm of Faerie, and in suppressing the creature George/Nick let the door literally open to the passage of dangerous beings from Faerie. Since then he's taken upon himself, and with the endorsement of Queen Titania, the task of keeping the Wyld at bay, and he's somewhat melded with the dragon, who can lend him his power and strength at need, sometimes with unforeseeable and terrifying effects: for example, the great fire that ravaged the city of Chicago in 1871 was caused by the dragon as he and Nick were battling Oberon, Titania's husband and rival.
For sixteen centuries the alliance between man and dragon has kept Faerie's Wyld from having their way, even though it entails a constant struggle for Nick to keep the dragon from gaining the upper hand, or, as he defines it at some point: "…an eternal war for dominance with moments of tentative alliance when others tried to do us in. And sometimes, even those dangers weren't enough to keep him from trying to betray me." This is indeed the nature of Nick's allies, like the shape-shifter Fetch, a Faerie expatriate who looks like a dog and peppers his speech with the slang of the '20s, in a quite amusing way of…. well, blending in I guess; or mysterious Kravayik, an elf who used to be the master assassin for the Faerie Court and has now found religion, in the attempt to atone for his past sins. Both of them repeatedly profess their allegiance to Nick Medea, but it's clear they both can pursue other agendas, and are anything but trustworthy.
Last but not less important in the list of people revolving around Nick is Cleolinda, the woman he loved and lost to the dragon: she always came back during the long centuries of his vigil, with another name and unaware of her past, but always ended in the same way. The present incarnation, Claryce, has shown amazing powers of resilience and courage – even aiding Nick in his final battle against Oberon – and while the investigator desires nothing more than to keep her close, he's afraid that this very closeness will lead to her death, once again. As this story starts, Nick is trying to keep her at arm's length while a series of alarming events makes gang-troubled Chicago an even more dangerous place than ever: the defeat and death of Oberon has not put an end to the danger, because the wake of the Frost Moon is giving strength and substance to creatures touched by magic, not least a ruthless serial killer bent on coming back from the dead and gaining enough power to shape the world to his desires.
Black City Demon, like its predecessor, is a quick and captivating read, mixing a very specific time period – that of the Prohibition era – with the typical themes of Urban Fantasy, like magic, weird creatures and outlandish dangers: in this case the threat comes from a very human-derived foe, even though the forces of Faerie are involved and Nick Medea needs to unravel a complicated maze of clues and misdirections to reach the heart of the problem and put a stop to it. His journey is not an easy one: as I remarked in the case of the first book, in a few instances he seems to take some time in putting two and two together, giving the appearance of not being the smartest of players, despite his long years of service. Granted, worry about Claryce's safety and the guilt over the loss of her previous incarnations can be quite distracting, but he also seems oblivious to the fact that Claryce is perfectly able to fend for herself – just look at the sang froid with which she wields a gun, more often than not saving Nick's hide in the process – and that she can be a valid partner in his ventures. In that respect Fetch is several steps ahead of his master: the unabashedly sincere devotion he shows Claryce is the proof of her effectiveness as an ally, while it helps to showcase Fetch's personality in a delightful way, making him a more interesting character than ever.
It seems to me that the non-human individuals in this series are fleshed out in better relief than the purely human ones: Fetch is such an example, as is Kravayik – about whom we learn a great deal in this book, transforming him from the disturbing figure of his first appearance into a deeply tormented being worthy of at least some pity. Queen Titania, even in her brief appearance, projects an aura of dispassionate cruelty that makes all the legends about the cold wickedness of the Elves come true in a very palpable way; and the various minions she and her underlings employ in the convoluted play for dominance are fascinating and creepy in equal measure.
I'm sorry I'm unable to rate this book as high as I hoped, but at the same time I'm still curious to see if the overall story will be able to reach its full potential in the next installments.
This novella marks the return of a great secondary figure from the Newsflesh trilogy, Dr. Shannon Abbey, a rogue virologist who keeps experimenting in search of a cure for the Kellis-Amberlee virus outside of the CDC-established parameters. Abbey is a wonderful character, brash, hard-nosed and harshly practical: she describes herself as an "annoyed scientist" as opposed to the "mad scientist" label pinned on her by detractors, and she works out of semi-clandestine labs that she must abandon, from time to time, due to security reasons. This has taught her the hard lesson of cutting your losses and starting again, and shares this attitude with her closest assistants, the ones that have stayed with her the longest and constitute the core of her little outlaw family.
The story is somewhat light-hearted in comparison with other offerings in the Rise collection, and even though it's not a humorous tale by a long shot, it's also a welcome respite from the more dramatic presentations in this anthology. In short, Shannon Abbey is continuing her work after the breakthrough offered by a chance discovery following Shaun Mason's visit to the lab with his team, and she rules over her little domain with firmness and a few well-placed dramatics (like the use of her huge dog Joe, a formidable deterrent if there ever was one). One day Dr. Abbey finds, in the woods surrounding the lab, a badly malnourished woman on the verge of collapse and she takes her inside, only to discover that her guest is part of a trap devised by a neighbor, the same ruler of the little underground kingdom we see in Feedback, ex-military turned despot Clive. He's not the only connection to Mira Grant's previous work, since in the course of the story we find out the real identity of the woman Abbey brought inside, someone we met in the novella The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell, and this discovery leads to an exploration of post-traumatic stress and the ways to cope with dramatic loss.
The best feature of Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus, however, remains Dr. Abbey: I quite liked her in Deadline and Blackout, but here she is both point of view and narrating voice – and what a voice she has, indeed. Sarcastic and pragmatic, she also feels deeply for the people entrusted to her authority and the creatures in the lab – the scenes with the titular octopus are among the best, and helped me a great deal in metabolizing the dread and sadness that hit me after revisiting The Last Stand of the California Browncoats. There is a good measure of pain and loss in Dr. Abbey's past, and the small flashbacks help us understand how she came to be the person she is now, but the main emotion that information prompts is not so much pity as admiration for her strength and her willingness to fight back: that's why I 'm not surprised to learn that she is one of the author's favorite characters. She is now also mine, as well.
This is the most terrifying and at the same time the most poignant of the stories about the Rising, and if anything it was more difficult to bear on re-reading than it was the first time – not because I already knew what was going to happen, but because knowing that, I was able to focus on other details, the ones where human frailty and courage took center stage.
In the summer of 2014, when the Kellis-Amberlee virus starts running rampant, killing people and bringing back the dead, all seems normal for the people attending the annual Comic Con convention in San Diego: little do they know that hell will break loose and in a matter of hours the convention center will transform into a slaughterhouse. This story runs on two time tracks, one following the events at the convention as they happen, and one from 30 years in the future, when Mahir Gowda (a welcome return from the Newsflesh trilogy) interviews the only survivor of the carnage. It's mostly a story of ordinary people forced to face extraordinary events and doing their best to cope with a situation no one would ever have imagined, and there are acts of true heroism standing side by side with the inevitable terror and panic following on the heels of the outbreak.
I don't believe I will be able to ever attend any convention without thinking about this story….
The colony established on Earth's Moon has thrived and expanded, in the span of a few decades, into a microcosm society ruled by the Five Dragons, the families who have created their own resources-based empires: the Mackenzies mine the surface in search of rare metals; the Suns deal with software and technology; the Asamoahs are the food growers; the Vorontsovs run the transport systems; and the late-comers Cortas extract the precious Helium3 that keeps the lights running on Earth. These five families have been at each other's throats – albeit in a subtle and apparently civilized way – since forever, despite the intermarriages that should have cemented a sort of truce and instead only managed to fuel rivalries and hatred, yet for some time the status quo prevailed until the Mackenzies decided to take matters into their own hands and brutally attacked the Cortas in order to erase them from the face of the Moon.
We're not a nation state, we're not a democracy robbed of the oxygen of freedom. We're a commercial entity. We're an industrial outpost. We turn a profit. All that's happened is a change of management. And the new management needs to get the money flowing again.
If the characters are not exactly sympathetic, one cannot avoid feeling invested in their journey, be it one of discovery of oneself, like it happens with Wagner Corta, the man who feels the influence of the waxing and waning Earth as a werewolf of legend felt that of the Moon; or one of vengeance, like the true descent into hell of Lucas Corta, who braves the crushing gravity of his mother's planet of origin to find the means to restore his family's power – and there lies one of the best features of the book, the terse descriptions of Lucas' brutal training and the nightmarish torture of living under six times one's weight, sustained only by the iron will that's part of his family's heritage.
Ian McDonald's writing is economical, almost stark at times, with no concession to flowery descriptions, and yet it manages to depict the savage, terrifying beauty of the lunar surface, or the most shocking of circumstances with effective clarity, to place his readers right there where events are occurring, and to see them clearly with their minds' eye. Lucas Corta's fight with gravity that I mentioned above is indeed a case in point, the man's agony portrayed with a cinematic quality that at the same time makes you physically share in the pain he undergoes, all this underlined by a parallel description of the music he listens to as a form of distraction and support, the staccato delivery of the narrative in perfect sync with the music's rhythm.
And if the writing is outstanding, the story itself is compelling: it jumps from character to character, from location to location, in a perpetual motion that leaves you no time to catch your breath, much like the lunar version of the parkour runners defying injury and death even in the reduced gravity of the Moon. It's a story told by many voices, examined from different perspectives, and in the end it makes it clear that it's much bigger than the sum of its parts. And speaking of ends, this book should have been the second in a duology, and in fact there's no indication it will be followed by others, but there are too many evolving threads, too many open issues still on the table, that I don't want to consider the possibility this will be the last time I'll visit this world.
Please, Mr. McDonald… can we have another book – or more?


Bankstown is a superb destination for your wedding photography. From the Bankstown City Gardens to the Old Town Centre Plaza, Bankstown is a charming location that offers many possibilities for scenic backdrops for your wedding photos. Moreover, Bankstown gives wedding photographers ample opportunities to capture your special moments in a candid fashion as you take in the sights. Here are some highlights that are well worth your consideration when you are planning your big day.
Several botanical gardens make for some of the best locations for wedding photography in Bankstown. The McLeod Reserve along Hume Highway is situated where Bankstown's first public school was built and today is home to the friendship garden. In addition to celebrating the area's local cultural diversity, the garden features Japanese-style statuary and large boulders which can both add visual interest to your wedding photographs.
If you prefer a wild and rustic look, the Sylvan Grove Native Garden is off the beaten track and hosts over 1500 native plants in a natural bushland setting. This is a choice location for spring weddings, with the entire park erupting in a sea of colourful wildflowers and various blooms from August to mid-November.
Not to be overlooked are the Bankstown City Gardens. This location has the benefit of being centrally located, as well as offering a lush and verdant setting for your wedding photography. Go to Observatory Hill within the Gardens for some of the best views.
While parks are the obvious choice that most wedding photographers in Bankstown will suggest, you may consider other options. The Old Town Centre Plaza has many quaint storefronts and sitting areas that can offer an old-fashioned touch with a stylish flair. After your photographs, there are plenty of nearby eateries and cafes to enjoy with your guests or just for the two of you. The old Town Hall building is another consideration, with its unique architecture and landscaping.
The Arts Centre features a variety of modern sculptures and offers interactive exhibits year-round. There is a good chance that there will be something interesting going on for your wedding photography no matter when you plan your ceremony.
For the true aviation fanatic, it goes without saying that Bankstown offers plenty of opportunities to include the runways or aircraft in your wedding photographs. The Bankstown Aviation Museum may be worth visiting but see in advance if you can have your photography done there.
At Fame Park Studios, we excel at capturing the moment no matter where you may be. Whether at Chifley, where we are based or in Bankstown, your wedding photography is our number one priority. We will help ensure that wherever you choose to have your photographs done, they will capture the perfect moment that you can cherish for years to come.


QUEENSLAND'S $245 million export industry to Vietnam has received a boost today, with Minister for Trade Stephen Robertson appointing a representative on the ground in Ho Chi Minh City.
In-market specialist Ho Thi Ngoc Ha is the state's first business development manager for Vietnam and will be based in Austrade's office.
Robertson says Ha will help further opportunities for exporters, which currently include products such as cereals, metalliferous ores and metal scraps.
"Ms Ha will lead the State's export and investment attraction activities in Vietnam, and her background in banking, finance and economics will be invaluable in driving Queensland's activities in this important region," he says.
"Vietnam's economy is currently experiencing a time of significant growth, presenting opportunities across a range of sectors.
The State Government continues its push to assist exporters following the appointment of an on-the-ground trade representative in Chile to boost exports to Latin America. Treasurer Andrew Fraser has also indicated plans for a Brazilian-based representative.


How often should you check your tire's pressure?
A perfectly normal tire, inflated with 35 pounds per square inch (psi) can lose 1 psi each month because of natural tire permeability.
Always check tire pressure when the tires are cold. This usually means before driving more than one or two blocks at less than 30mph or 50kph.
The recommended pressure for your tires are those listed by your vehicle's manufacturer.
DO NOT use the pressure stamped on the sidewall of your tires - that's the Maximum Pressure for which the tire is designed. If you're even thinking of using a greater pressure, then you need to use a tire designed for a pressure which exceeds the amount you wish to use.
Be wary of pressure gauges at gas stations. They are often abused and cannot be considered reliable.
Check your tires cold - before you've driven even one mile or at least three hours after the vehicle has been stopped.
Air expands when it's heated and contracts when it's cooled.
Even in cold weather, the air in a tire becomes warmer and pressure increases as the tire is driven.
High speed or highway driving can heat a tire to the point where it is uncomfortable to touch with your bare hand.
The best time to inflate your tires is in the morning before the day's heat or driving heats up a tire.
Your tire's valves are very important maintenance items for proper tire pressure. Because valves are ordinarily made of rubber they can deteriorate over time. Replace them when you buy new tires. At highway speeds, a cracked or deteriorated rubber valve stem can bend from centrifugal force and permit air loss.
The valve cap is also an important item. A high-quality valve caps can help maintain the tire's air, if the valve core fails for any reason. Valve caps also keep out moisture, which could freeze and in turn depress the valve core, causing air loss. The cap also keeps out dust and dirt particles, which could also interfere with the proper operation of the valve core and cause air loss.
Tire Information World HOME from inflation pressure.


Join the Arbor Day Foundation in March 2014 and receive 10 free white flowering dogwood trees.
"White flowering dogwoods will add beauty to your home throughout the year," said John Rosenow, founder and chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. "Dogwoods are known for their showy spring flowers, scarlet autumn foliage and red berries that attract songbirds during winter."
The trees will be shipped postpaid with enclosed planting instructions at the right time for planting between March 1 and May 31. The 6- to 12-inch trees are guaranteed to grow or they will be replaced free of charge.
To become a member of the Foundation and receive the free trees, send a $10 contribution to TEN FREE DOGWOOD TREES, Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Avenue, Nebraska City, NE 68410, by March 30, 2014. Or join online at arborday.org/march.


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The coupon code entered is expired or not valid.
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Whether you want to see some wildlife or looking for the perfect picnic spot, these SA forests will transport you to a different world.
From the recovering forests of Knysna to the animals that make their home in treetops, you can't deny that we have some of the best in the world.
South Africa sure has everything when it comes to natural beauty!


Reading UK exists to boost business and enhance visitor experiences in a way that improves the quality of life for all in the region.
reputation of Reading at all levels.
economy to everyone that lives, works or visits Reading.
sets the future economic direction for the town, leafing Reading's Year of Culture and developing the Reading 2050 vision.


text:
Worker Cooperatives Emerging for Sustainable Development
By Shaina Kandel
Shaina Kandel is pursuing an MBA in Sustainable Management at the Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. She has a background in Organizational Development and Healthcare Consulting. She is passionate about creating sustainable food systems and improving the health and wellbeing of our communities.
Aug 19, 2014 | Smart Cities | 0 comments
Cooperative business models have gained traction as a catalyst for sustainable economic development over the past decade. The United Nations deemed 2012 the International Year of Cooperatives in order to "raise public awareness of the invaluable contributions of cooperative enterprises to poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration."
Photo Credit: American Worker Cooperative
Recently, The International Co-operative Alliance along with the International Labor Organization (ILO) have published a report on how cooperatives can help achieve the post-2015 sustainable development goals, given that cooperatives, "place emphasis on job security and improved working conditions, pay competitive wages, promote additional income through profit-sharing and distribution of dividends, and support community facilities and services such as health clinics and schools."
The benefits espoused by the ILO and UN are the direct result of how worker cooperatives are structured. In a worker co-op, the employees own the business and democratically elect the members of the board, giving rise to the principle, "one worker, one vote." Cooperative values, as defined by the International Co-operative Alliance, are self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equity, and solidarity. It is because of the democratic processes of worker co-ops that decision-making focuses on more than just economic return.
Source: Map data as of 1/09 from UWCC study "Research on the Economic Impact of Cooperatives"
In the United States, spurred by the Great Recession, many cities are looking to cooperatives as an alternative way to conduct business. A study conducted by the University of Wisconsin shows that in the US, there are 30,000 cooperatives, generating over $500B in revenue. However, 340M US co-op members belong to consumer cooperatives, like REI. While consumer cooperatives have benefits such as democratic management by members, they do hold the same promise for enhanced livelihood and community investment as worker cooperatives. In the United States, there are only 5,000 worker-owners that belong to worker cooperatives, reports The Democracy Collaborative. Given that worker co-op models are best positioned to provide sustainable development, how come we aren't seeing more in the US and how do we overcome those challenges?
Project Equity is a non-profit based in the San Francisco Bay Area that works to build economic resiliency in low-income communities through cooperatives. When asked why we don't see more worker cooperatives in the US, co-founder Hilary Abell replied that, "1. There is a lack of familiarity with the worker co-op business model in the US, 2. Culturally, the US has a more "cowboy approach" to social entrepreneurship, and 3. Building a business is hard, many do not succeed, and worker co-ops are no exception to this rule." However, San Francisco and New York are two cities seeing an emergence of worker cooperatives. This is mainly due to the work of non-profits and public sector programs that are supporting co-op initiatives.
Photo Credit: Samarasproject.net
San Francisco's Bay Area, already a burgeoning region for worker cooperatives like Arizmendi Bakery and Rainbow Grocery, is seeing a new initiative emerge: The Bay Area Blueprint. A collaboration between Project Equity, the Green Collar Community Clinic, and the Sustainable Economies Law Center, The Bay Area Blueprint will forge paths to ownership for low-income workers in the East Bay. One key pillar of the Bay Area Blueprint is the Worker Coop Academy, a business and legal training course that will educate startups, traditional businesses and expanding cooperatives on how to operate worker co-ops. The Worker Coop Academy is beginning its first cohort in October of 2014. With parallel components to the tech incubator model, the Worker Coop Academy provides access to business resources and legal best practices, giving worker co-ops a better chance of surviving in the market. If the Bay Area Blueprint can effectively support the spread of worker co-op, this could mark a fundamental shift in how businesses are structured in the Bay Area.
Photo Credit: NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives
In July, New York City Council set aside an unprecedented $1.2M of its 2015 city budget for worker cooperatives. The Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative will "fund the efforts of a dozen organizations to create 234 jobs in worker cooperative businesses…The initiative also provides a comprehensive citywide effort to reach 920 cooperative entrepreneurs, provide for the start-up of 28 new worker cooperative small businesses, and assist another 20 existing cooperatives," reports the New York Nonprofit Press. Similar to the Bay Area's Worker Coop Academy, New York's Initiative will provide technical and legal resources and in addition, financial assistance. New York's Initiative sees worker coops as a means to increase business and asset ownership for low-wage workers and build more sustainable, resilient communities.
With the traditional business model being called into question, we are witnessing an energy building around the promise of worker cooperatives in the US. On a national level, the Creating Jobs Through Cooperatives Act was introduced to congress in 2013. The bill seeks to create a national program for cooperative development in order to create jobs and promote community development. With momentum already gained in San Francisco and New York, and building in cities like Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Houston, this pivotal point in time will test if worker cooperatives can takeoff as a way to build more sustainable and resilient cities.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Customer Success Story - How we helped establish an employer brand for a publicly traded SaaS company new to the Pacific Northwest (Seattle). | Verticalmove, Inc.
In May of 2017, we were retained by the Talent Acquisition team of this client, a software as a service company which recently completed its initial public offering (IPO) and had ambitious plans for expansion. Feeling as though they've exhausted the talent pool near their headquarters, our client decided to expand into the Seattle region. The plan was to establish a new research and development outpost in order to lure top research and development talent from the hot Seattle tech market.
Their existing Talent Acquisition team was unfamiliar with the region, lacked an employer brand and talent network to source from. These obstacles seemed to deeply impact the initial purpose of coming to Seattle and scaling quickly.
The objective was to establish a first time employer brand in the region, as we have reputably accomplished for past clients (please inquire about similar case studies). The initial hiring plan was to build four research and development teams that would total more than 40 combined new engineering and management professionals.
Furthermore, we were tasked with providing data-driven consulting pertaining to compensation, benefits architecture, as well as offer presentation and closing strategies.
This newly retained engagement is developing as expected. We've begun building an employer brand and awareness among local tech communities. This has resulted in an established an expansive pipeline of talent from targeted companies as chosen by our client.
Significantly reduced the cost of each hire by as much as 25% when compared to our competitors. The most frequently sourced job titles included Senior Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer in Test and Product Management.


text:
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
// Licensed under the MIT License.

package com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.implementation;

import com.azure.core.util.FluxUtil;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.AppSetting;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.ConnectionString;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.CsmPublishingProfileOptions;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.CsmSlotEntity;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.DeploymentSlotBase;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.HostnameBinding;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.MSDeploy;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.PublishingProfile;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.WebAppBase;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.models.WebAppSourceControl;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.ConnectionStringDictionaryInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.IdentifierInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.MSDeployStatusInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SiteAuthSettingsInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SiteConfigResourceInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SiteInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SiteLogsConfigInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SitePatchResourceInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SiteSourceControlInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.SlotConfigNamesResourceInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.appservice.fluent.models.StringDictionaryInner;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.resources.fluentcore.model.Indexable;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.function.Function;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;
import com.azure.resourcemanager.resources.fluentcore.utils.PagedConverter;

/** The implementation for DeploymentSlot. */
abstract class DeploymentSlotBaseImpl<
        FluentT extends WebAppBase,
        FluentImplT extends DeploymentSlotBaseImpl<FluentT, FluentImplT, ParentImplT, FluentWithCreateT, FluentUpdateT>,
        ParentImplT extends AppServiceBaseImpl<?, ?, ?, ?>,
        FluentWithCreateT,
        FluentUpdateT>
    extends WebAppBaseImpl<FluentT, FluentImplT>
    implements DeploymentSlotBase<FluentT>, DeploymentSlotBase.Update<FluentT> {
    private final ParentImplT parent;
    private final String name;
    WebAppBase configurationSource;

    DeploymentSlotBaseImpl(
        String name,
        SiteInner innerObject,
        SiteConfigResourceInner siteConfig,
        SiteLogsConfigInner logConfig,
        final ParentImplT parent) {
        super(name.replaceAll(".*/", ""), innerObject, siteConfig, logConfig, parent.manager());
        this.name = name.replaceAll(".*/", "");
        this.parent = parent;
        innerModel().withServerFarmId(parent.appServicePlanId());
        innerModel().withLocation(regionName());
    }

    @Override
    public String name() {
        return name;
    }

    @Override
    public Map<String, HostnameBinding> getHostnameBindings() {
        return getHostnameBindingsAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public Mono<Map<String, HostnameBinding>> getHostnameBindingsAsync() {
        return PagedConverter.mapPage(this
            .manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .listHostnameBindingsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name()),
                hostNameBindingInner ->
                    new HostnameBindingImpl<FluentT, FluentImplT>(
                        hostNameBindingInner, (FluentImplT) DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.this))
            .collectList()
            .map(
                hostNameBindings ->
                    Collections
                        .<String, HostnameBinding>unmodifiableMap(
                            hostNameBindings
                                .stream()
                                .collect(
                                    Collectors
                                        .toMap(
                                            binding -> binding.name().replace(name() + "/", ""),
                                            Function.identity()))));
    }

    @Override
    public PublishingProfile getPublishingProfile() {
        return getPublishingProfileAsync().block();
    }

    public Mono<PublishingProfile> getPublishingProfileAsync() {
        return FluxUtil
            .collectBytesInByteBufferStream(
                manager()
                    .serviceClient()
                    .getWebApps()
                    .listPublishingProfileXmlWithSecretsSlotAsync(
                        resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name(), new CsmPublishingProfileOptions()))
            .map(bytes -> new PublishingProfileImpl(new String(bytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8), this));
    }

    @Override
    public void start() {
        startAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> startAsync() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .startSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name())
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    public void stop() {
        stopAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> stopAsync() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .stopSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name())
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    public void restart() {
        restartAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> restartAsync() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .restartSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name())
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public FluentImplT withBrandNewConfiguration() {
        this.siteConfig = null;
        return (FluentImplT) this;
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public FluentImplT withConfigurationFromDeploymentSlot(FluentT slot) {
        this.siteConfig = ((WebAppBaseImpl) slot).siteConfig;
        configurationSource = slot;
        return (FluentImplT) this;
    }

    Mono<Indexable> submitAppSettings() {
        return Mono
            .justOrEmpty(configurationSource)
            .flatMap(
                webAppBase -> {
                    if (!isInCreateMode()) {
                        return DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.super.submitAppSettings();
                    }
                    return webAppBase
                        .getAppSettingsAsync()
                        .flatMap(
                            stringAppSettingMap -> {
                                for (AppSetting appSetting : stringAppSettingMap.values()) {
                                    if (appSetting.sticky()) {
                                        withStickyAppSetting(appSetting.key(), appSetting.value());
                                    } else {
                                        withAppSetting(appSetting.key(), appSetting.value());
                                    }
                                }
                                return DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.super.submitAppSettings();
                            });
                })
            .switchIfEmpty(DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.super.submitAppSettings());
    }

    Mono<Indexable> submitConnectionStrings() {
        return Mono
            .justOrEmpty(configurationSource)
            .flatMap(
                webAppBase -> {
                    if (!isInCreateMode()) {
                        return DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.super.submitConnectionStrings();
                    }
                    return webAppBase
                        .getConnectionStringsAsync()
                        .flatMap(
                            stringConnectionStringMap -> {
                                for (ConnectionString connectionString : stringConnectionStringMap.values()) {
                                    if (connectionString.sticky()) {
                                        withStickyConnectionString(
                                            connectionString.name(), connectionString.value(),
                                            connectionString.type());
                                    } else {
                                        withConnectionString(
                                            connectionString.name(), connectionString.value(),
                                            connectionString.type());
                                    }
                                }
                                return DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.super.submitConnectionStrings();
                            });
                })
            .switchIfEmpty(DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.super.submitConnectionStrings());
    }

    public ParentImplT parent() {
        return this.parent;
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteInner> createOrUpdateInner(SiteInner site) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .createOrUpdateSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name(), site);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteInner> updateInner(SitePatchResourceInner siteUpdate) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .updateSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name(), siteUpdate);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteInner> getInner() {
        return manager().serviceClient().getWebApps().getSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteConfigResourceInner> getConfigInner() {
        return manager().serviceClient().getWebApps()
            .getConfigurationSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteConfigResourceInner> createOrUpdateSiteConfig(SiteConfigResourceInner siteConfig) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .createOrUpdateConfigurationSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name(), siteConfig);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<Void> deleteHostnameBinding(String hostname) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .deleteHostnameBindingSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), hostname);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<StringDictionaryInner> listAppSettings() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .listApplicationSettingsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<StringDictionaryInner> updateAppSettings(StringDictionaryInner inner) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .updateApplicationSettingsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), inner);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<ConnectionStringDictionaryInner> listConnectionStrings() {
        return manager().serviceClient().getWebApps()
            .listConnectionStringsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<ConnectionStringDictionaryInner> updateConnectionStrings(ConnectionStringDictionaryInner inner) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .updateConnectionStringsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), inner);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SlotConfigNamesResourceInner> listSlotConfigurations() {
        return manager().serviceClient().getWebApps()
            .listSlotConfigurationNamesAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SlotConfigNamesResourceInner> updateSlotConfigurations(SlotConfigNamesResourceInner inner) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .updateSlotConfigurationNamesAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), inner);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteSourceControlInner> createOrUpdateSourceControl(SiteSourceControlInner inner) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .createOrUpdateSourceControlSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), inner);
    }

    @Override
    public void swap(String slotName) {
        swapAsync(slotName).block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> swapAsync(String slotName) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .swapSlotAsync(
                resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name(), new CsmSlotEntity().withTargetSlot(slotName))
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    public void applySlotConfigurations(String slotName) {
        applySlotConfigurationsAsync(slotName).block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> applySlotConfigurationsAsync(String slotName) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .applySlotConfigurationSlotAsync(
                resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name(), new CsmSlotEntity().withTargetSlot(slotName))
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    public void resetSlotConfigurations() {
        resetSlotConfigurationsAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> resetSlotConfigurationsAsync() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .resetSlotConfigurationSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), this.parent().name(), name())
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<Void> deleteSourceControl() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .deleteSourceControlSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name())
            .then(refreshAsync())
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteAuthSettingsInner> updateAuthentication(SiteAuthSettingsInner inner) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .updateAuthSettingsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), inner);
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteAuthSettingsInner> getAuthentication() {
        return manager().serviceClient().getWebApps()
            .getAuthSettingsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name());
    }

    @Override
    Mono<MSDeployStatusInner> createMSDeploy(MSDeploy msDeployInner) {
        return parent()
            .manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .createMSDeployOperationAsync(parent().resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), msDeployInner);
    }

    @Override
    public WebAppSourceControl getSourceControl() {
        return getSourceControlAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<WebAppSourceControl> getSourceControlAsync() {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .getSourceControlSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name())
            .map(
                siteSourceControlInner ->
                    new WebAppSourceControlImpl<>(siteSourceControlInner, DeploymentSlotBaseImpl.this));
    }

    @Override
    public byte[] getContainerLogs() {
        return getContainerLogsAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<byte[]> getContainerLogsAsync() {
        return FluxUtil
            .collectBytesInByteBufferStream(
                manager()
                    .serviceClient()
                    .getWebApps()
                    .getWebSiteContainerLogsSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name()));
    }

    @Override
    public byte[] getContainerLogsZip() {
        return getContainerLogsZipAsync().block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<byte[]> getContainerLogsZipAsync() {
        return FluxUtil
            .collectBytesInByteBufferStream(
                manager().serviceClient().getWebApps()
                    .getContainerLogsZipSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name()));
    }

    @Override
    Mono<SiteLogsConfigInner> updateDiagnosticLogsConfig(SiteLogsConfigInner siteLogsConfigInner) {
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .updateDiagnosticLogsConfigSlotAsync(resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), siteLogsConfigInner);
    }

    @Override
    public void verifyDomainOwnership(String certificateOrderName, String domainVerificationToken) {
        verifyDomainOwnershipAsync(certificateOrderName, domainVerificationToken).block();
    }

    @Override
    public Mono<Void> verifyDomainOwnershipAsync(String certificateOrderName, String domainVerificationToken) {
        IdentifierInner identifierInner = new IdentifierInner().withValue(domainVerificationToken);
        return manager()
            .serviceClient()
            .getWebApps()
            .createOrUpdateDomainOwnershipIdentifierSlotAsync(
                resourceGroupName(), parent().name(), name(), certificateOrderName, identifierInner)
            .then(Mono.empty());
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withRuntime(String runtime) {
        return withAppSetting(SETTING_FUNCTIONS_WORKER_RUNTIME, runtime);
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withRuntimeVersion(String version) {
        return withAppSetting(SETTING_FUNCTIONS_EXTENSION_VERSION, version.startsWith("~") ? version : "~" + version);
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withLatestRuntimeVersion() {
        return withRuntimeVersion("latest");
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withPublicDockerHubImage(String imageAndTag) {
        cleanUpContainerSettings();
        if (siteConfig == null) {
            siteConfig = new SiteConfigResourceInner();
        }
        setAppFrameworkVersion(String.format("DOCKER|%s", imageAndTag));
        return withAppSetting(SETTING_DOCKER_IMAGE, imageAndTag);
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withPrivateDockerHubImage(String imageAndTag) {
        return withPublicDockerHubImage(imageAndTag);
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withPrivateRegistryImage(String imageAndTag, String serverUrl) {
        imageAndTag = Utils.smartCompletionPrivateRegistryImage(imageAndTag, serverUrl);

        cleanUpContainerSettings();
        if (siteConfig == null) {
            siteConfig = new SiteConfigResourceInner();
        }
        setAppFrameworkVersion(String.format("DOCKER|%s", imageAndTag));
        withAppSetting(SETTING_DOCKER_IMAGE, imageAndTag);
        return withAppSetting(SETTING_REGISTRY_SERVER, serverUrl);
    }

    @Override
    public FluentImplT withCredentials(String username, String password) {
        withAppSetting(SETTING_REGISTRY_USERNAME, username);
        return withAppSetting(SETTING_REGISTRY_PASSWORD, password);
    }

    @Override
    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    public FluentImplT withStartUpCommand(String startUpCommand) {
        if (siteConfig == null) {
            siteConfig = new SiteConfigResourceInner();
        }
        siteConfig.withAppCommandLine(startUpCommand);
        return (FluentImplT) this;
    }

    protected void cleanUpContainerSettings() {
        if (siteConfig != null && siteConfig.linuxFxVersion() != null) {
            siteConfig.withLinuxFxVersion(null);
        }
        if (siteConfig != null && siteConfig.windowsFxVersion() != null) {
            siteConfig.withWindowsFxVersion(null);
        }
        // Docker Hub
        withoutAppSetting(SETTING_DOCKER_IMAGE);
        withoutAppSetting(SETTING_REGISTRY_SERVER);
        withoutAppSetting(SETTING_REGISTRY_USERNAME);
        withoutAppSetting(SETTING_REGISTRY_PASSWORD);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
"""
Helper functions for scrapy project
dupCheck():		Delete duplicate entries.
				Called after each reactor.run() in crimelog.py

"""
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '/home/amirkurtovic/crimeline')

import os
os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'crimeline.settings'

from storylist.models import Story
from scrapy.contrib.djangoitem import DjangoItem

def dupCheck():
	'''
	Searches database for duplicate URL entries before saving item.
	item: Story object passed by each spider
	'''

	for url in Story.objects.values_list('url', flat=True).distinct():
		Story.objects.filter(pk__in=Story.objects.filter(url=url).values_list('id', flat=True)[1:]).delete()


text:
Ministers Coveney and Cannon announce 9 million humanitarian funding to UNCERF
Ministers Coveney and Cannon announce 9 million funding for UNCERF
Ministers Coveney and Cannon announce €9 million in additional humanitarian funding to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund for allocation to underfunded crises
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Simon Coveney, T.D., and Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Mr Ciaran Cannon, T.D., today announced an additional €9 million in funding to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) in response to the unprecedented levels of humanitarian need globally.
The Central Emergency Response Fund is a large UN fund that is used for immediate humanitarian response at the onset of emergencies, in rapidly deteriorating situations, and in protracted crises that fail to attract sufficient resources. So far in 2017, CERF has allocated over $276 million to 28 crises around the world, including to crises in the Horn of Africa, Yemen and Nigeria. This additional contribution by Ireland, which brings our total contribution to the fund to €22m in 2017, will allow for a further allocation by the CERF to underfunded crises this year.
Announcing the funding, Minister Coveney said:
"The scale and severity of humanitarian crises globally is overwhelming. Millions are on the brink of famine in the Horn of Africa, North East Nigeria and Yemen and diseases like cholera are ravaging people weakened by malnutrition.
Ireland has a proud history of supporting those in need. Our compassion for those who are suffering will not allow us to stand by while millions are in need of basic requirements like food, shelter and clean water. Ireland's commitment to saving lives through humanitarian assistance is recognised globally and our funding to the CERF further cements this reputation."
Minister of State Cannon said:
"When a crisis fades from the headlines, or never makes the headlines, it is difficult to raise the funding needed to respond - even where the humanitarian need remains significant. The CERF is a valuable mechanism, in that it allows Ireland to provide un-earmarked, flexible and timely funding, with an emphasis underfunded or 'forgotten' crises, in line with our foreign policy goals. Such crises include in countries such as the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad. I am proud of Ireland's strong and consistent support to the CERF."
Irish Aid is the Government's overseas assistance programme. It is managed by the Development Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. For further information visit www.irishaid.ie
Ireland's Humanitarian Assistance Policy outlines how Irish Aid saves and protects lives, alleviates suffering and maintains human dignity before, during and in the aftermath of humanitarian crises.
The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is a UN humanitarian funding instrument, administrated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), and aims to release money rapidly when a crisis occurs or when there is a sudden escalation of an existing crisis. Donor countries pool their funds in CERF, totalling approximately $450m annually, to ensure an agile and rapid humanitarian response.
The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is a UN humanitarian pooled fund which releases money rapidly when a crisis occurs or suddenly escalates. It also provides funding to underfunded and "forgotten" crises. CERF allows donors pool their funds, totalling approximately $450 million annually, to ensure rapid humanitarian response. The CERF aims to have funds on the ground within 72 hours of a crisis occurring.
Ireland has been a consistent contributor to the CERF, and is currently the 8th largest donor since its inception. Since 2005, Ireland has provided almost $190 million.
So far in 2017, the CERF has made over $276 million available for humanitarian response in 28 countries worldwide, including in Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Underfunded, "forgotten" crises such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and Chad have also received CERF funding.


text:
{% extends "cow/base.html" %}

{% block content %}
<form class="pure-form" action="" method="post">{% csrf_token %}
    {{ form.as_p }}
    <input class="pure-button pure-button-primary" type="submit" value="Create" />
</form>
{% endblock %}


There are a host of delivery methods for site to multi-site transmission, but satellite delivery remains the "best of show." Satellite technology has been around for decades and is the trusted delivery method for broadcasters, banks, businesses, governments, even the military. It's simple to use and consistently reliable, with the lowest recurring costs.
Campuses can be anywhere—across town, state, nation, even the globe.
Satellite is simple. Period. No experts are necessary. Both staff and volunteers can operate the system.
With satellite, you can forget the frustrations of a consumer-grade satellite application; we're talking about a broadcast-grade satellite system that is robust in design—highly resistant to both weather and atmospheric conditions.
Our systems are designed to meet your specific requirements, whether it's standard, HD or 4K.
There are several options for transmission, including single shot only, or separate shots for playback on the center and side screens.
Video messages can be sent live for immediate play or stored at remote campuses for delayed playback.
The picture quality is mind-blowing—think televised sporting events or digital cinema.
From the auditorium to the uplink, there are very few points of failure for video.
The equipment at the remote campus is minimal—a single, small dish and a receiver.
Since downlink equipment can be easily added to new sites, expansion is simple. It fits your timetable, not someone else's.
Want to know more about how Link Up Communications' satellite solution can work for your multi-site? Read this first-hand account from Dennis Choy in Technologies for Worship Magazine: "Review – The Best Choice for North Coast Church," September 2014.


In 10 days' time – on July 25 – marks the end of an era for Zouk KL at its birthplace Jalan Ampang to a new beginning next month at its new home at the upcoming lifestyle and entertainment enclave, TREC.
But before the new Zouk KL launches, we'll say our final goodbyes to the award-winning nightspot at Jalan Ampang, with the final send-off at Velvet Underground.
July 25 promises to be a grand affair for clubbers as they dance through memory lane in a music marathon. An event that would go down in KL's clubbing history.
"Superclub Zouk KL is giving a sneak peek of what is to come next month for its music roster, as the final pieces for the new club are being assembled. The machinery of superclub Zouk KL is put together like a menagerie of art pieces, and its dramatic facade – like an assemblage sculpture made up of intricate textured materials.
On this night, we will say our final goodbyes to Zouk KL @ Jalan Ampang – with the last bash for Velvet Underground and Zouk Cafe Bar. Velvet Underground will see a music marathon where over a dozen of DJs will come together to bring you the big circa 2004 relive 2015 anthems in the last decade.


To date, very little field activity due to cool, wet spring so far this season. Most areas received significant rain this past weekend, resulting in saturated soils and ponding in fields (Figure 1) and in a few spots some soil erosion. Overall temperatures have been too cold to stimulate new growth on the winter wheat or alfalfa yet. Figure 1….


• BS EN ISO 9001 - 'Quality Management Systems' the recognised standard for the improvement of product, process and service quality.
• BS EN ISO 14001 - 'Environmental Management Standard' the principal management system standard which specifies the requirements for the formulation and maintenance of an EMS. This helps to control your environmental aspects, reduce impacts and ensure legal compliance.
• BS EN 1433 - 'Drainage Channels for Vehicular and Pedestrian Areas' - the only internationally recognised standard written specifically for trench drainage and slot drain systems. This uses the load classifications between A15 and F900.
• BS EN 124 - 'Gully tops and manhole tops for vehicular and pedestrian areas' All Gatic covers are manufactured from ductile iron to suit load classifications within this standard.


text:
Q: React + Webpack + Material UI styling breaking in production I am trying to create a reusable React component with Material UI and npm link it to a different application. The component and application are being bundled using webpack. The application renders the component fine in development, but when I bundle the application the component starts breaking the material-ui styling.
Some of the solutions I have tried include:

*

*https://material-ui.com/getting-started/faq/#why-arent-my-components-rendering-correctly-in-production-builds

*https://reactjs.org/warnings/invalid-hook-call-warning.html
I thought defining @material/core in the peerDependencies would solve it, but every time I use a Material-UI component the application throws the Invalid Hook Call Warning.
Nothing seems to work ☹

component's package.json:
{
  "name": "component",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "build/index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "jest",
    "start": "webpack --watch",
    "build": "webpack --optimize-minimize -p",
    "dist": "npm run build"
  },
  "peerDependencies": {
    "@material-ui/core": "^3.2.0 || ^4.0.0",
    "react": ">=16.8.0",
    "react-dom": ">=16.8.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@babel/core": "^7.2.2",
    "@babel/plugin-proposal-class-properties": "^7.5.0",
    "@babel/preset-env": "^7.5.4",
    "@babel/preset-react": "^7.0.0",
    "@material-ui/core": "^4.9.0",
    "@material-ui/icons": "^3.0.2",
    "babel-cli": "^6.26.0",
    "babel-core": "^7.0.0-bridge.0",
    "babel-eslint": "^7.2.3",
    "babel-jest": "^23.6.0",
    "babel-loader": "^8.0.5",
    "babel-plugin-transform-object-rest-spread": "^6.26.0",
    "babel-plugin-transform-react-jsx": "^6.24.1",
    "babel-plugin-transform-runtime": "^6.23.0",
    "babel-runtime": "^6.26.0",
    "enzyme": "^3.7.0",
    "enzyme-adapter-react-16": "^1.7.0",
    "eslint": "^4.19.1",
    "eslint-config-airbnb": "^16.1.0",
    "eslint-loader": "^1.7.1",
    "eslint-plugin-import": "^2.1.0",
    "eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y": "^6.1.2",
    "eslint-plugin-react": "^7.7.0",
    "faker": "^4.1.0",
    "husky": "^1.3.1",
    "jest": "^23.6.0",
    "jest-styled-components": "^6.3.1",
    "react": "^16.12.0",
    "react-dom": "^16.12.0",
    "sinon": "^7.2.2",
    "webpack": "^4.39.2",
    "webpack-cli": "^3.3.7"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "clsx": "^1.0.4",
    "prop-types": "^15.6.2"
  }
}

component's webpack.config.js
const path = require('path');

module.exports = {
  entry: './src/index.jsx',
  mode: 'production',
  output: {
    path: path.resolve(__dirname, 'build'),
    filename: 'index.js',
    libraryTarget: 'commonjs2',
  },
  module: {
    rules: [
      {
        test: /\.(js|jsx)$/,
        include: path.resolve(__dirname, 'src'),
        exclude: /(node_modules|bower_components|build)/,
        use: {
          loader: 'babel-loader',
          options: {
            presets: ['@babel/env'],
          },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
  resolve: { extensions: ['*', '.js', '.jsx'] },
  externals: {
    react: 'react',
  },
  optimization: {
    minimize: true,
  },
};

Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

A: This actually makes perfect sense if you check out the docs on npm link:

First, npm link in a package folder will create a symlink in the global folder {prefix}/lib/node_modules/ that links to the package where the npm link command was executed.

Note that the command only makes a symlink locally so when you build/deploy, it would logically follow the package can't be found.
My advice would be to create a scoped package for your custom component. Create an npm account, upload your package and then add it to your project like this:
npm install @brettoberg/reusable-component
Now, webpack and any other system should be able to find it because it's published.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Long Branch, Bud's In Trouble With Beer Board; Tim Deere Says Wrecker Companies Overcharging
Thursday, December 5, 2019 - by Gail Perry
The Chattanooga Beer Board heard two violations to the city's beer code at the meeting Thursday morning. Long Branch, 4904 Rossville Blvd., was cited to the board for offenses involving gambling and denying police to inspect the premises. On Oct. 9 during a bar check Chattanooga Police Officer John Collins along with units from narcotics and vice went to Long Branch around 3 a.m. and found gambling paraphernalia in plain view before asking the bartender who was in charge, for consent to search.
She refused to sign a consent form causing the officers to get a search warrant before proceeding.
During the search they found "pull tabs" and "tip boards," both associated with gambling, and $2,000 in cash. Pills were found in an unlabeled bottle behind the bar and a small amount of cocaine, along with .7 grams of meth in the bartender's purse for which she was arrested.
Attorney Brent James, representing owner Michael Fletcher, suggested the bartender did not give permission to search because of the meth in her purse. Mr. Fletcher said he had not instructed anyone to deny a search, and now all employees have been instructed to cooperate with police. That employee was fired after appearing in court for the charges. He was aware of the gambling equipment and cash, said Mr. Fletcher. It had been allowed to help raise money for a customer with cancer, not to profit the bar.
A motion to suspend the bar's beer license for two days with the option of paying a $250 monetary fine was passed. If chosen, suspension of the license will begin on Dec. 12.
During a bar check at Bud's Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Road, made by Chattanooga Police and the TABC on Oct. 23, three females sitting at a table were asked for IDs. Two of them responded they were off-duty employees. One was drinking water and two other glasses on the table were alcoholic beverages. Employees are at no time allowed to drink alcohol at the place where they work according to the beer code. That night, only one of the women denied that they were drinking alcohol.
At the beer board hearing, Krista Holland, the employee accused of drinking at Bud's that night, told the board, under oath, that she had been drinking a Coke. The general manager said she had only received a verbal warning but nothing had been put in her employee file regarding the incident. Officer Collins told the board that night there had been no objection to the accusation of drinking alcohol, Ms. Holland only said she was off duty. A reasonable inference was made as an admission since she did not deny, leaving some ambiguity, said Board Member Trevor Atchley, but she testified under oath, he said.
Chairman of the Board Ron Smith and Board Member Cynthia Coleman both said that with his experience, they trusted Officer Collins' opinion. Member Vince Butler said his response to the questions asked of Ms. Holland would have been "I'm not drinking," as opposed to her answer "I'm off of work now."
A motion to issue a three-day suspension from Dec. 19-22, with the option of a $500 fine passed with only Trevor Atchley voting against.
The hearing scheduled for two violations at Southside Social, 1818 Chestnut St., was moved to the next Beer Board meeting. John Wise, owner of the bar, asked for the postponement because his lawyer was unable to be present Thursday morning. The charges of over-serving and allowing an employee to drink on the premise will be heard at the meeting on Dec. 19.
Songbirds, 35 Station St. at the Chattanooga Choo Choo complex, currently has a consumer beer license. The restaurant/bar was approved at the Thursday Beer Board meeting for an additional catering beer permit. The manager told the board that the business does many fundraisers and non-profit events that fill the schedule at the present location. The catering permit will allow participation at events outside of the venue.
Discussion concerning the operations of wrecker companies in Chattanooga took place at the Thursday morning meeting of the Chattanooga Wrecker Board.
Timothy Deere, whose son was parked by Champy's on Main Street, had his car towed on Dec. 18, 2016. Since that time, he said he has been attempting to notify city officials that wrecker companies in Chattanooga are overcharging for non-consensual tows and that the signage regarding parking / towing is not compliant with city codes. He has notified multiple agencies and finally was told by Assistant City Attorney Keith Reisman that his complaint should be heard in the discussion portion of a Wrecker Board meeting. The Chattanooga Beer Board also functions as the Wrecker Board.
The city's ordinance, he said, states that a maximum towing charge of $125 is all inclusive. Wrecker companies are allowed to charge for storage at $15 per day. He said he had retrieved his car within hours of the tow by Mosteller's Wrecker Company that occurred around midnight, but had been charged $210 resulting in an overcharge of $85.
He said signs are not always clearly visible to a parked car and that they specify no pick-up address or method of payment. Paperwork he received from Mosteller's when he picked up his car had no information about how to appeal or no phone number for the Wrecker Board.
A representative from Yates Towing and Recovery told the board that all tows are not equal, some require more work to move the vehicle, accounting for charges in addition to the all-inclusive $125 specified in the city code.
They are clearly overcharging according to the ordinance, but if people cannot bring the complaint to the Wrecker Board, then we have a law that we cannot enforce, said Board Member Trevor Atchley. He asked how wrecker companies could reconcile the "all inclusive" cost provision. The prices need to go up, responded the representative from the wrecker companies.
Vince Butler said that moving forward, he wants to add a method to appeal non-consensual tows, however there was confusion concerning if the board regulates all towing or only those that are "rotation calls" which are assigned by the city's dispatcher. Melinda Foster, assistant city attorney who is replacing Keith Reisman who is retiring, told the board that she is aware of the complaint but she could not give an answer on the spot.


How reviewing childhood—and a really nice cat—can help.
The first time I make a home visit to Lee, I almost don't get past the front door. It is covered with political cartoons, and I stand there reading them and laughing for several minutes before I remember I'm here as a therapist for a reserved and anxious person. Lee is going to have that effect on me, I can tell from first impressions: She wears her mind on her sleeve so that no one will have a chance to break her heart.
Lee has lived in a wheelchair for 35 years. In adolescence, her athleticism led to a scholarship in college before her knees gave out. Fifteen years later, she was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a rare infection of bone marrow after traumatic injury. One leg was amputated above the knee, changing Lee's life in multiple ways. She withdrew from a Ph.D. program and began to build a life devoted to advocacy for people with disabilities. She won a national award as an advocate and continues to work for equitable opportunity, access, and recognition for people with differences.
This week, I sit on the couch and Lee sits facing me in her wheelchair. Her right pant leg is neatly folded over; her left foot is on the solitary foot rest. "I want to talk about my feelings about my parents," she says at last.
I nod, waiting. I know that her parents, although dead, are in some heavy way still present in her life. Her beloved father died young; her mother had a second relationship with a man whom Lee liked.
Lee looks at me, before turning her face away and saying, "My mother wanted a girlie-girl." I nod again, aware of some mothers' desire for a doll, or an alter-ego, or a twin. "She wanted a girlie-girl, but she got me." Lee looks at me again, meets my eyes straight on.
"And you're not a girlie-girl." I state the obvious, and she laughs.
"They're wonderful," I affirm, looking across the room where Lulu lies in a snug cat-ball, her eyes flickering.
The word sits there for a moment as I wait to see if anything more will come. Nothing does.
"You'd like to have more people in your life now?" I ask gently.
She looks relieved that I have understood. Or perhaps that I don't think that this is peculiar—or impossible. She says, "Yes," in a small voice.
I've been watching Lee's face, listening to the emotions in her voice. I'm startled when I suddenly see Lulu cross in front of the wheelchair and come over to the couch. Lulu gazes up at me, contemplative. Then she jumps up on the couch.
"She never does that," Lee says.
"Is it okay?" I ask.
We keep talking, but Lee also keeps watching Lulu, who approaches me.
Lulu steps tentatively onto my lap. The weight of her is negligible, especially compared with my tortoiseshell, who weighs fifty percent more. I do not move, do not look at her. I hope she'll settle on me.
Lee continues talking about parenting: her mother's lack of validation of her advocacy award, and her perception that her parents didn't know what to make of her.
Suddenly she turns her face away from me.
I ask, "What happened just then, when you turned away?" I thought I had seen tears in her eyes.
"I have never seen her get in anyone's lap," Lee says. Lulu is lying down in my lap, and I am stroking her.
I'm uncertain what Lee feels, whether she is hiding her feelings about her parents, or jealous of the cat choosing me, or something else altogether. It feels like a big moment, either a breakthrough or a disaster, bonding or retreat.
"She probably smells my cats," I say.
Lee shakes her head. "No, she likes you. She feels at ease." I am ridiculously pleased; like most cat lovers, I crave feline attention. To have won over this lovely cat builds my confidence—and then I realize that perhaps there is more going on here clinically. Perhaps in addition to my projection on the cat—that she has chosen me, and I am therefore special—there may be some projection on Lee's part as well. Perhaps to Lee, the cat's behavior is evidence that I am okay. Maybe even worthy of trust.
"I wish my parents had told me they approved of me." The 72-year-old woman looks abashed when I meet her eyes. "I know that I should be over that by now," she says, "but I think it affects how I act with other people. I am so—" There's a long pause.
Before I can respond to Lee, Lulu jumps off my lap, and we hear her hop into the litterbox in the next room.
She looks at me. "I never thought of that! Sure, I could put a pillow or a book under my foot. I could make a lap for her—I can't believe I never thought of that!" Her laughter fills the room.
"Collaboration," I say mildly, and she gives a small nod.
"Which these days might translate to a healthy ego," I comment, and this time we laugh together.
"Children do need praise, and validation for their experiences—otherwise we end up feeling weird, or different, or even defective." I look at Lee and find her eyes on me.
Lee looks a little skeptical, but as I put on my coat, she tells me that when I leave, she's going to put a big book under her foot. As I drive home, I picture Lulu settling into her lap to purr.
How the rites of spring and spirit can help keep disaster at bay.
How memory can help us grieve.
My inclusive list of coping strategies works!


Step inside Slanted Door Art Gallery, Cafe, and Lounge to discover new artwork. Browse through the shop, view the art at your own pace, and make purchases if a piece catches your attention. We're updating this regularly, so make sure to visit again!
Slanted Door is a café, lounge, and art gallery located in the heart of downtown Toronto's Annex neighbourhood. Our focus is to help the Toronto arts community discover emerging talent by promoting and showcasing local, up-and-coming artists.
Toronto is home to a vibrant arts scene that attracts talented creatives from around the country. Slanted Door provides a relaxed, welcoming gallery environment where unheralded artists can show their work and patrons can encounter fresh, new perspectives. Slanted Door seeks to offer a learning experience to the local community, including introducing art as an investment opportunity for homeowners and businesses.
Slanted Door is located on Bloor Street West, between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue, in the heart of the Annex neighbourhood. For decades, the Annex has been a magnet for Toronto's artistic, musical, and academic communities. Home to a diverse and open-minded population, the Annex is an ideal home for Slanted Door art gallery and café. Like owner Patrick Jabbaz, Toronto's artistic community is enthusiastic about emerging artistic talent and committed to supporting those who drive the culture forward: the artists themselves.
We hope to welcome you to Slanted Door Art Gallery and Café soon!
Slanted Door is more than an art gallery – it's also a café, lounge, and gathering place where The Annex's creative community can come together to share their love of the visual arts over a delicious cup of coffee.


text:
Odette Myrtil
Artists & Performers, Changemakers, Community Allies
Odette Myrtil 1898 –1978
Myrtil resided in New Hope, Pennsylvania during most of her later life. From 1955 to 1958 she managed The Playhouse Inn, located next door to the Bucks County Playhouse. From 1961 to 1976 she operated the New Hope restaurant Chez Odette which had later become a different restaurant under newer ownership bearing her name, Odette's Restaurant. The restaurant is currently abandoned and suffered severe damage from flooding in the mid-2000s. During her life, Myrtil was married twice: for eight years to vaudeville performer Robert Adams and later to film director and producer Stanley Logan. She died in nearby Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1978 at age 80.
Gordon Pulaski: An artful activist
Suzi Nash Published: 04-25-2019 11:35:48 Philadelphia Gay News Pride [noun]: confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially
Grace's Mansion 1973 Ad
Grace's Mansion 1973 Ad Robert Ebert, Jimmy Skea, Grace Dager, Philip Nicolosi, Richard Heller Grace's Mansion Ad for Grace's Mansion 1973
Robin Larson
Bucks County Herald November 5, 2009 Robin Larsen – Obituary Robin Larsen, a New Hope-based arts administrator and promoter, died Oct. 28 at Hahnemann University
2002 Landmark LGBT Ordinance in New Hope, Pa. – Geri Delivtch
New Hope, Pennsylvania is a great place to visit and a wonderful small town in which to live and be actively involved as an LGBT


PASE Electrical Ltd - Electrician based in Sutton-on-Hull, North Humberside.
We are PASE Electrical, Fully Qualified NIC-EIC Electricians with over 15+ Years experience as a team - Hull, East Yorkshire.
All Electrical Services to Domestic & Commercial Customers/Clients.
We have built up a reputation of good standard of work and good punctuality, we aim to be very reliable as this is mostly important to us and our customers, we aim to serve our clients with honesty and all works are to BS7671 Regulations & NIC-EIC Standards.
Board Changes, Outside Lighting, Kitchen Installs, Extensions, All LED Lighting Upgrade, Office Refurbs, New Supplys, CCTV, Alarm Systems, Shower Installations, Heating Installations, Fault Finding, Electrical Certification, Garage/Summer House Installations, Hot Tubs.
Hull - East Yorkshire & Surrounding Areas.


What is eLearning? How Can I Use It?
30% animation/animation based simulation. Scenario-based simulations. SCORM & AICC compliant training courses. It doesn't matter if your learners are learning in a classroom, online or in a simulator – if your course is boring, your learners will fail to engage.
Zeus Learning is an India based eLearning company that could provide you with eLearning services such as product engineering, Mobile & HTML5 development, software simulation, LMS, CMS & TEI systems, content development, animation tools, design & usability, QA and testing options.
You can easily create courses, simulations, and demonstrations that address accessibility standards such as Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Learnnovators: What changes/shifts do you foresee in the support for animations and complex simulations in this 'No Flash' age?
Perhaps the self-paced course introduces new concepts and the live training focuses on how to apply the concepts through role plays and simulations. The AICC shares its standards with the public in order to recommend best practices among e-learning professionals.
Thanks to the Aviation Industry Computer-based Training Committee (AICC) , elearning standards have been in place since 1988. AICC was formed during the early days of computer-based training to ensure the compatibility between learning content and early training technologies.
Simulations only. Flash conversion, work with the Ipad and other tablets, m-learning, simulation capability. PENS was created in 2005 by AICC as a new interoperability standard. Same issue if your product outputs to only AICC, and my LMS vendor does not accept the AICC interoperability standard. Simulation capability included in their application. As the evolution of e-learning continues, the rapid content authoring tools (RCAT) market follows suit.
For instance, PowerPoint cannot create software simulations or video demos. And, because there are no reporting features or provisions for SCORM or AICC, you cannot effectively integrate PowerPoint presentations with Learning Management Systems. If you intend to create an eLearning course, it's a good bet that you're going to start the development process in Microsoft PowerPoint.
AICC and SCORM – The Core Standards of eLearning. AICC stands for Aviation Industry CBT (Computer-Based Training) Committee. AICC and SCORM each came with their own set of limitations. We saw the limitations of SCORM and AICC.
Almost every course involved using Flash for interactive elements (animations, games, quizzes, simulations, video, etc.). I really prefer the robust ability of creating courses in Flash and only use the DHTML e-learning authoring tools for their ability to make the course SCORM or AICC compliant. These courses can be published as SCORM or AICC compliant courses. Back when I first started developing e-learning courses, I used Macromedia's Authorware.
Instead, I am requiring the learner to have simply completed a series of simulations and a non-binding assessment at the end. The screen shot below shows the AICC_Lesson_Status variable being updated in Lectora.
Adobe Flash - An essential tool for creating highly interactive elements, including animation, games, immersive learning simulations, and almost anything else you want if you can manage writing or finding the actionscript. Adobe Captivate - Fantastic for creating simulations (software sims and branching sims), plus it does a good job recording audio for your sims. Being able to add quizzes and publish SCORM/AICC compliant courses is a big plus too.
2004, AICC). Related posts: Rapid Authoring Tools For Creating mLearning Rapid Authoring – Freeform Vs Template Based Rapid eLearning Through Software Simulations And Screencasts.
These experiences would include each and every interaction of learners with your course as well as learning that happens outside the LMS such as in simulation environments, social media or even in daily conversation. Track informal learning (simulation, games etc).
You can use Instructional Strategies such as workflows and simulations (Demo-Try- Do) to train on procedures. You can make your e-learning course SCORM/AICC/xAPI (Tin can API) compliant so that it runs on an LMS. Developing e-learning courses is both an art and a science.
SCORM 2004, AICC, and Tin Can. These interactions include: Simulations. Simply install any of these add-ins to your PowerPoint and leverage their benefits by adding interactivities, assessments, videos, simulations, audio narrations, and much more.
JeL SIM- simulations requires experience of the Java programming language to create a numerical model of the system/concept being simulated. Interactive simulations – people want this – I'm talking more than scenario builds.
Games, Scenarios, and Simulations. Can create simple software simulations. Can create complex software simulations. Track in AICC. Choosing a rapid e-learning authoring tool that suits your training needs completely can be quite a challenging task.
Storyline courses are Tin Can, SCORM and AICC compliant. Starting as a specialized tool for creating software training simulations, Adobe Captivate has become quite popular as an e-learning rapid authoring tool to create interactive and engaging courses.
It publishes courses in HTML5 for mobile browsers, lets you easily translate courses for learners across the globe, and publishes SCORM- and AICC-compliant content for your Learning Management System (LMS). Are you new to e-learning courseware development?
Supports AICC, SCORM 1.2, Branching Scenarios And Decision Making Simulations. These simulations work as "safe environments" for learners to explore and understand the consequences of the choices they make.
Games, Scenarios, and Simulations. Effectively designed games, scenarios, and simulations prove very useful in enhancing the quality of online training. Adding software simulations. What is the best rapid authoring tool in the market?
Most developers traditionally consider Captivate to be the default tool for creating software demonstrations and simulations within e-learning, but not an end-all, be-all for all types of learning. Demonstrations and simulations. AICC, and the latest newcomer, Tin Can.
And, Quizmaker allows you to track your results with your standards based Learning Management System as Quizmaker output is SCORM and AICC compliant. Adobe Captivate is the easiest way to create professional-quality, interactive simulations and software demonstrations in Adobe's Flash format. Rapid Intake Flashform Rapid eLearning Studio creates interactive Flash-based AICC or SCORM-conformant e-learning courseware.
AICC stands for Aviation Industry CBT Committee, an international non-profit association of technology professionals. Courses that are AICC-compliant follow the regulations of at least one of the nine AICC guidelines. Experience API collects user information on mobile learning, simulations, virtual worlds, serious games, real-world activities, experiential learning, social learning, offline learning, and collaborative learning.
Camtasia has the advantage of having other e-learning features such as screen simulations for systems training. Is there a preference or reason for choosing xAPI, AICC, SCORM over the other? At this point, AICC is rarely used, but is still a valid standard.
SCORM cannot track certain elements when the content in an e-learning course is in the form of simulations or high-end games, when it is delivered on different platforms, or when the course is taken online.


Best price per mg. I've found, been using them for a while.
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Project Freedom at Lawrence was blessed to have received numerous food donations from extremely generous people, stores and restaurants to help the tenants celebrate Thanksgiving Day.
As always, The Knights of Columbus along with St. Anne's church began the holidays with a huge donation of 28 turkeys that they delivered to the Community Room above the call of duty.
Fusion Employer Services' employees went all out by further donating an amazing amount of food delivered from ShopRite. Butter, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, yams, corn and green beans all bagged up and sent to Lawrence tenants. On top of all of that amazing food, Fusion employees also had ShopRite donate 25 freshly made pumpkin pies. Yum!!
In addition, Terhune Orchards enthusiastically donated 15 delicious homemade pies to tenants featuring apple, coconut custard, peach and mincemeat. It was quite a treat.
Both ShopRite in Hamilton and Ewing were also generous in donating five turkeys each. This helped a number of families in need to have a proper and delicious Thanksgiving meal.
With all of these amazing, lovely and thoughtful donations, Project Freedom at Lawrence was able to provide complete and delightful Thanksgiving meals for tenants in need helping to make their Thanksgiving a joyful one to remember!!