If you'd like to learn more about negotiating, pricing, and how to be better in business, tonight (Thursday) is your night! I board a plane to Detroit, and am speaking at the FOTO/LIFE Studios in beautiful Hamtramck, Michigan, outside of Detroit.
John will discuss how he handles the business-side of photography, from pricing to negotiations, client relationships to logistical challenges. How can you better negotiate? How do the needs of editorial and commercial clients diverge and intersect? How might you handle a the negotiations and contract for a magazine assignment or corporate clients? During this presentation we'll touch on these topics and more, as you learn how to handle your business better and more efficiently. In addition, John will share with you actual negotiations with clients, from the back-and-forth over prices, to the final agreement and resulting images.
This program is brought to you courtesy of the good folks of ASMP Michigan, and all are welcome!
Come hang out and socialize starting at 6pm, and the program starts at 7pm.
Update on Terms) apply to you (even if you're not using it), and what does it portend? All to often, I hear from colleagues when a new contract is unceremoniously foisted upon them bemoaning the fact that they have to sign, or they'll lose the client.
If a client doesn't come to you and say "hey, we need to renegotiate our contract with you, as we need to use your photos in more ways..." which should be followed by you responding "hey, that's great, so let me think about what the additional compensation should be...", and instead just dumps it on you and says "that's our new contract, which you need to sign by the first of the month, or we can't hire you anymore", then you need to be in a position to walk away.
When you rely on just one client, (more information: Diversify For Safety's Sake, 2/3/09), you're screwed if that client forces a new contract on you. If you have more than one client, you are in a better position to negotiate.
The issue is- if it is just you balking at the contract - unless you have an exclusive set of skills or a totally unique creative approach, you will have little room to negotiate. We wrote previously about some of the flexibility between the Conde Nast contracts they first present you, and the "oh, we're sorry, we sent you the wrong one..." version (Conde Nast/CondeNet Contract: Introduction, 5/26/09). Yet, the second contract isn't much better.
So, how can you affect change? The formation of the group Editorial Photographers (history here) is an example of what can begin when a group of photographers say "enough!" and take a stand. Back in April 2004 (New York Times Contract Tells Another Sad Tale) the New York Times forced upon it's freelancers a new contract. While early efforts seemed to suggest that there would be a critical mass that would object, and cause the NYT to revisit their new non-negotiable contract, the threat of no work from the venerable NYT made too many cave-in and take it.
Enter Facebook. Within days of their new Terms of Service, which we were critical of here - Oh, We're So Sorry - Mea Culpa - We didn't mean that! - Facebook has reverted to their old TOS. Consumerist reports on this here - Facebook Reverts Back To Old Terms Of Service, and blogger Amanda French has done a side by side comparison of several other social networking sites - Facebook terms of service compared with MySpace, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter - and concluded that Facebook was essentially trying to throw its' weight around.
Safety in numbers. Enough people complained, or canceled their accounts, that Facebook had to....wait for it.....say 'mea culpa'!
While contracts with wire services and many magazines are already pretty bad, and seemingly can't get worse, they will try. When that happens, make sure you are diversified, and make sure you take a stand - and stick to it - so that whatever media organization is trying to cram a new contract taking more of your rights or money away, has to reverse itself, or, in the end you walk away from and keep your dignity.
Viral Marketing - What Can It Do For You?
I am contemplating getting my own Epson 7900. I haven't settled on that one yet, but I hear great things about it. The question is - what do I do with it? Print my own photos as art, perhaps? But can I do more? And, what can you do with it?
Cameron's blog notes - "The money will be used in two ways: to purchase seeds for farmers who lost their crops last fall when Haiti was walloped by three hurricanes in a row and for a feeding program for a small orphanage in the Central Highlands."
Hats off to Cameron for the difference he's making with this project!
What other things could you do to make a difference?
Back when the viral marketing tool was in it's infancy - in November of last year - Vincent Laforet (also a friend) decided to make a difference with a scholarship, and noted on his blog here - "all of the profits from these print sales for the next 30 days to a student internship/scholarship…Yep - all of the income (minus the cost of printing, labor, and shipping) will be put towards a student internship/scholarship that I set up. "
Vincent's effort was so successful, that he posted - Internship Update - it's on! - a month later, so one can only hope that Cameron's efforts will be as successful - if not more so - than Vincent's!
Oh, We're So Sorry - Mea Culpa - We didn't mean that!
So, it's about 2am, and I am procrastinating falling asleep when I should be getting my beauty rest for day three of a huge annual report shoot that starts at 8am, but I have been tossing and turning about this all day, so now I am at my desk with another rant.
I am sick and tired of all these organizations that put out these terms that swipe broad (and unreasonable) swaths of photographers rights. I know that PDN didn't like it when Rob Haggart wrote The Biggest Scam in Photography - and called out PDN in the first sentence. Last year, about this time, we wrote - No Confidence Vote for the PDN/NGS Contest, (1/28/08), and then followed it up with a July posting - PDN/Billboard Photo Contest - Fair Terms, when they did have better terms.
you will get the most amazing photographs of rock stars big and small. You can write an editorial article about how great the photographer did, and do an editorial story about how that picture was made. No releases necessary.
Good luck trying to get a model release from some multi-platinum-selling artist! You will limit the entries to those which can be commercially exploited (reminder: exploit is not a bad word, it means "use to the maximum extent allowed). If the images were not being used in a commercial way, but rather, editorially, as noted in #1 above, then a release would likely not be necessary.
It is important to note that Daryl Lang, who wrote the response to Haggart, acknowledges that Haggart defends entry fees and so on, and Lang also rightly says "Contests help keep our lights on." While PDN's contests (here) like their 2009 music contest, which closed on Sunday, have good terms now like the requirement that you acknowledge "the right of PDN and Billboard to use the entry for publication in PDN and Billboard magazines, on pdnonline.com, billboard.com and in exhibitions and promotions related to the contest up to 18 months following the contest", and there are now no model release requirements, Xerox's (NYSE: XRX) MyShot08 contest, which we wrote about last year - Xerox - "MyShot" Takes Aim At Unsuspecting Students, was horrible, and, had to be re-written.
Like Xerox, and others, I am getting tired of the long list of organizations who hide behind the lawyers when the bad terms are called to light. Whether it's Xerox, PDN, Billboard, Microsoft, or NGS, people damn-well better be looking at the terms they paid their lawyers to craft. Don't people realize we are now all actually reading these things? I can't wait to see some photo contest entry term that says "entrant (herein after referred to as "Rumpelstiltskin") agrees to convey, for no additional monies, their firstborn child". To an aspiring photographer, often their early best work feels like their first born.
When a person shares information on Facebook, they first need to grant Facebook a license to use that information so that we can show it to the other people they've asked us to share it with. Without this license, we couldn't help people share that information.
If that were really the case, then I would have to sign the same type of agreement with my internet service provider, or my website hosting company. This is backpeddling at it's finest. Once again, blame the lawyers when you should have thought this through more in the first place.
Over at one of my daily reads - SportsShooter.com, I was doing some reading there, and was reminded of the fact that the opinions of a student in school somewhere just isn't deserving the same amount of weight and respect as a veteran photo editor, or Pulitzer Prize winner. Unfortunately, students still wet behind the ears, who would never dream of walking up to a veteran in person and tell them think the veteran is out of line, think nothing of doing it online.
To that end, I wrote a post there, that I will re-write here as a standalone piece.
If your status is Student or Intern, you need to be more circumspect in who you suggest has written a critique you don't like and refer to it as "uncalled for". Sorry to be so blunt, but this isn't the Special Olympics, and not everyone gets a trophy and a pat on the back for their performance.
Every photographer here wants to get "called up" to "the show", and play in the big leagues. They want to compete against the staff photographer who's won a Pulitzer. They want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the repeat POY winners, and call them "my colleagues".
A pervasive mentality has swept the high schools about 10 years ago, and it's crept into colleges and now many of those beginning their professional careers, of deserving of success. No one gets an "F", and if you feel that 2+2=5, well, then, that's ok if you feel that way.
You have to earn your way to the top - there are no short cuts, and the path has become more treacherous as staff positions become more and more scarce. Freelancing is even harder.
If you are a student - ask good questions, and then pay attention to the answer. If you respect someone enough to ask them the question, you should have done your due diligence in determining if the person you are asking knows what they're talking about. Don't ask a staffer what it's like to be freelance, or how to charge for a freelance gig. Almost all of them treat freelance work like gravy, while the rest of us see that work as meat and potatoes, and know what the market will bear, where to a staffer, it's walking around money.
If you've ever sat in the back of a room where judging was taking place, and had the privilege of watching and listening to the judges at work, you learned a lot. If your work was there, and you heard three people say "out", well, that's one thing. If two people said "out", and the third started arguing for it, then the other two will start trashing it, rightly or wrongly, with a politically-correct attitude or not, and you'll learn a lot about how the viewers/readers will perceive your photos when they're published.
Sitting around listening to your friends pay you compliments is worth very little, except that it's a nice stroke of your ego. When I have solicited the opinion of my friends on my work, I have said to them "don't say nice things, tell me what's wrong with it..." and when they would say they couldn't find anything wrong with a particular image, I knew I had a winner.
What a judge of your work or a portolio reviewer says something you regard as overly harsh, or out of line, with their years of experience it's likely that what was said, - many people - likely thought. You don't have to like what they said - heck, you don't even have to agree with it. Whether I like it, or agree with their comments, is irrelevant. And if what a judge or portfolio reviewer said was offensive to some, get over it. FAST.
If you've ever been sitting around waiting for a rain delay at a NASCAR track, in a ballpark, or waiting for a delayed press conference anywhere, you've heard photographers talk about other photographers work, and not in pleasant terms. The criticisms are straight, honest, and blunt, and they are often profanity laden. The same goes for photo editors. I know many a photo editor, and they know a good photo from a bad one, and they can see the perspective. This makes them good photo editors - they can send someone they know is a compassionate, quiet person, to a funeral, and they can send the aggressive guy who listens to Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson to the event where they might be most comfortable. They can send the guy who can recite accurate sports stats while drunk to the ballgame, and so on, and so forth.
So, if you want to pour a double-espresso, or work the photo booth at Wal-Mart or the olde-tyme photo shop at a resort town, then feel free to whine when your feelings get hurt. If you want to step up your game, and earn a shot at "the show", then you'll not take your critiques personally, and instead, you'll respect the opinions of those who have been around and know a thing or two about good photos, and maybe, just maybe, you'll learn something.
Between Shepard Fairey, the Associated Press, TMZ and TechCrunch, the copyright lawyers must be busy indeed.
TMZ isn't infringing, but they are reporting on an infringement of the iconic 1978 poster of Farrah Fawcett from the 1970's (at right), by Bruce McBoom. The story goes that a small poster company called Pro Arts, Inc wanted Fawcett to pose in a bikini, and she instead insisted on the red one-piece, but it was apparently a chilly day that day, which is one of the things that made this poster stand out and become one of the best-selling posters of all time.
So, what's the problem? According to TMZ "Fawcett is suing Bio-Graphics inc., Pie International Inc. and author T.N. Trikilis, claiming that Trikilis "has falsely asserted to third parties that [Fawcett] does not own any rights in the photographs." , and that allegation has the potential to diminish Fawcett's ability to continue to license the image in the future, should people become confused about who to write the reprint/relicense/reuse checks to, so, she's suing for $100,000 or more. Maybe Bio-Graphics someone came into possession of the assets of Pro-Arts when they filed for bankruptcy at the end of 1981, or maybe not. But they're saying they have exclusivity, she's saying they don't. Maybe the author of the book about Pro Arts, T.N. Trikilis is just trying to promote his book?
Further, the well-respected website TechCrunch is allegedgly infringing on a Flickr photo, according to Will Seberger over on his blog here - Is TechCrunch Listening? (2/10/09), and Seberger's been in contact with the photographer in question, who has indicated she gave no permission for the photo's use.


Professional sports are known as a true meritocracy, a field in which the cream really does rise to the top, as there's simply too much money at stake to operate in any other fashion. In uncommon instances, however, inefficiencies can occur and gifted players may fall through the cracks. Such is the story of Lenny Cooke. In 2001, Cooke was the number-one ranked high school basketball player in America, with future NBA greats LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony listed beneath him.
Yet after declaring himself eligible for the 2002 NBA draft, Cooke, shockingly, ended up going undrafted, and became a journeyman playing in little-known leagues across the world. Today he lives in southern Virginia, a should-have-been-great who simply did not quite make it. The first documentary feature from American independent film scene fixtures Josh & Benny Safdie (Daddy Longlegs, The Pleasure of Being Robbed), LENNY COOKE explores the fascinating question of how, exactly, Cooke's seemingly assured future could go so awry.
Josh and Benny Safdie, 27 and 29, were born and raised in New York City under the eye of their father's Video 8 camera, filming them as they ate, fought, played, performed, drew and even slept: showing them the importance of small moments in the height of chaos. All the while, their mother grounded them with stability. In high school, the Brothers met Alex Kalman and started Red Bucket Films. It has become a playhouse of ideas with Sam Lisenco and Brett Jutkiewicz.
Over the years the two have collaborated on many shorts, both intellectually and technically: pushing and pulling each other constantly, with an occasional fight. Their work has played at many international festivals including the Director's Fortnight in Cannes, where Benny's short film The Acquaintances of a Lonely John premiered and Josh's first feature film, The Pleasure of Being Robbed premiered internationally in 2008.
Their first feature film together Daddy Longlegs won the John Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards. It was released theatrically in the United States and around the world. Their most recent short films John's Gone world premiered at the 67th Venice Film Festival, and The Black Balloon won the Sundance Film Festival 2012 Jury prize for Best U.S Short film. It went on to win the Wolphin award at SXSW 2012.
They live and work in NY, and will probably die there too.


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Pakistan to get Hi-Tech ships to defend Gwadar and Karachi ports
Written by Ali Leghari May 15 · 1 min read>
A letter of Intent was inked between Pakistan and Turkey for the sale of four Hi-tech Turkish MILGEM Ada Corvettes to the Pakistan Navy. Pakistan will use these MILGEM Ada Corvettes to guard its both Gwadar and Karachi ports from external threats.
The letter was signed by Pakistan's Minister of Defense Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, Turkey's Minister of Defence Fikri Işık and Turkish defense contractor Savunma Teknolojileri Muhendislik Ve Ticaret. The contract will be finalized by June 30, 2017.
About MILGEM Ada Corvette
It is a modern combat warship with indigenous anti-submarine warfare and high-seas patrol capabilities. The design of the ship helps it to remain hidden. It has 2 squad anti-ship missile launchers with a 76 mm main gun and a point-defense missile system in the Rolling Airframe Missile.
"Each MILGEM Ada would have cost $300 million but Pakistan is planning to use its own industry for some of the equipment, the price will drop to $250 million per ship", said STM CEO Davut Yilma.
Apart from Pakistan, many other countries are trying to buy these Corvette from Turkey which includes countries like Bangladesh, Ukraine, and Canada.
Moreover, security has been tightened in Gwadar due to the terrorist attack by unknown assailants on workers. In the aftermath of that attack, 8 workers were killed by terrorists.
The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Sanaullah Zehri said, "the conspiracy of creating obstacles in the way of progress and prosperity in Balochistan will be foiled at all costs".
Government's recent move indicates that Pakistan is looking to replace US subsystems with the alternate technology from Turkey and China. Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) will be involved in MILGEM Ada Corvette project and will assemble the ships using manufactured kits from Turkey and integrate its own weapon into the ships.
Gwadar Karachi News Ships threats Turkey
Written by Ali Leghari
One Reply to "Pakistan to get Hi-Tech ships to defend Gwadar and Karachi ports"
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A new notification flashes on your phone's screen and when you check, you find that someone just started to follow you on Instagram. You get delighted, don't you?
Now how about getting a similar notification from Instagram when someone unfollows you? Sadly we don't get any. Instagram doesn't inform a user when someone unfollows him, nor does it tell who unfollowed. And so the user is often left scratching his head, wondering who the unfollower was. Of course, following or unfollowing someone is a personal choice and we can't force someone to follow us or not to unfollow us. But let's be honest, no one likes to see his number of followers diminishing, isn't it?
(c) Or was it because of some back-end issue in Instagram or due to some bug in there? In that case too, you might see a decreased followers count for a short period of time. But the figure gets corrected as soon as the bug gets rectified.
However if none of the above cases hold true, then it must be (what I call) the "self-seeking instagrammers" who unfollowed you. Their motive nearly always is centred solely around growing their own followers count. Such instagrammers will first start following you in the hope that you will follow them back. And when you do that, they will unfollow you, just like that. If you don't follow them back, they will, in any case, unfollow you. Candidly speaking, I keep away from such self-seeking instagrammers who wouldn't be following me because they genuinely liked something in my photos or posts, rather it was just to obtain a follow back from me! For them, I am just a number to be added to their followers count. Once they have me in their followers list, they would invariably unfollow me.
So how to track these unfollowers?
One way of doing that is by minutely checking on Instagram itself, whether we feature in the 'Following' list of each of the instagrammers whom we follow, but this method of manually identifying the unfollowers is quite cumbersome, more so if we have a lot of followers. On the other hand, there are quite a few third-party apps that can identify our unfollowers on Instagram. However, with so many hackers on the prowl with their fake apps, you need to be extra careful while choosing these third-party apps. Or else you might even end up losing access to your Instagram account altogether!
FollowMeter is a very handy utility tool for managing one's Instagram account. With this app, a user can not only identify who followed or unfollowed him on Instagram, for free but can also discover his ghost followers and secret admirers. That apart, the app also provides the user various insights about his Instagram account - like which post was liked the most by his followers or who were his top fans (most likes by which follower) or who were the top commenters on his posts and so on (however, one needs to make in-app purchase paying a small fee for these extra features). Similarly there is also a 'Discover' section where a user, by paying a small fee, can add his account to get featured on the FollowMeter app and gain new followers.
Once you connect your Instagram account with this app, it will at once analyse your account and will show you a popularity meter (telling you how popular you are depending on which of the four divisions the meter scale ends up - 'Not Popular', 'Sorta Popular', 'Above Average' or 'Very Popular' ). Besides that, on the 'Dashboard' you will find 'Unfollowers' (who unfollowed you recently), 'New Followers', 'Not Following Me Back' (who don't follow you back) and 'I'm Not Following Back' (which of your followers you are not following back).
Another helpful feature of FollowMeter is the 'Push Notifications' option. Upon tapping on the three dots seen on the top right corner, the user can get into the Settings page where he can to turn on the 'Unfollowers' notification option. If he chooses this option, he will be notified whenever someone unfollows him on Instagram. Isn't that useful?
(d) it is very organised and clutter-less, even the free version is devoid of those irritating ads.
It has been more than two years now that I have been using FollowMeter for one of my Instagram accounts and I can vouch for its reliability and safety.
According to me, the second most handy app for identifying the unfollowers on Instagram is the 'Followers Assistant' app. With this app, you can easily find out who stopped following you (and with just a tap on 'STOP FOLLOW', you can then and there stop following him/her back). The dashboard of this app shows four sections: 'Who stopped follow' (unfollowers), 'Who doesn't follow' (who doesn't follow you back), 'Follow back' (who you are not following back) and 'White list'.
This app is currently available only for Android devices.
I have been using Followers Assistant for my food-related Instagram account since the last one year or so and I must say, I am very impressed. Although it's a freeware and doesn't provide that many insights to one's Instagram's account as others but still this app is certainly very efficient in detecting unfollowers on Instagram.
Hey Amit, many many thanks, FollowMeter is indeed very useful to know who unfollowed me.
Goodread, I will check this out. I have tried many apps before didn't find anything helpful for Insta.
Yes, Payal, you may use any one of the above two apps, they both are equally good although FollowMeter has a few more features.


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Gbowee shares her Nobel with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected female president in Africa, and Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni journalist and activist.
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate interviewed by Hala Gorani, CNN Correspondent, at the Women In The World London Summit, October 9, 2015.
Gbowee now works with refugees and survivors of conflicts around the world, and devotes her time to running the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, which works to provide education and resources to women, girls, and youth throughout the continent. Taylor is now serving a 50-year sentence in a UK prison for aiding and abetting war crimes ("I'm not visiting him," Gbowee said), but justice has yet to be served in Liberia.
Liberia still has to work toward reconciling with fighters who took part in the atrocities. "You have to control the process of rehumazing these fighters, and I realize that in order for us to live a life of peace, we need to see the human in them," she said.


If you look at the book cover of Rachel Joyce's first novel, you may be expecting a happy, quirky, light read. While a very good read, this is not a light or happy book. It's about a journey taken by Harold Fry, whose life is rather empty. His wife Maureen cleans obsessively; Harold does yard work. He gets a letter from former coworker and friend Queenie Hennessey with news that she is very ill with cancer. Harold writes a brief note and goes to post it, but is troubled that a note is inadequate. Harold was a brewery sales representative who traveled with bookkeeper Queenie to visit pubs. So he keeps walking while he thinks about it. A talk with a young woman at a gas station's convenience store inspires him to keep walking, the whole length of England, to visit Queenie.
His wife Maureen is flabbergasted, and can't decide if she's more angry, worried about him, or lonely. Harold is not much of a walker, and gets lots of blisters. He sends postcards to Maureen and Queenie, and buys souvenirs for them along the way. His wife is concerned that he will empty their retirement savings account on such a long journey, so Harold starts camping instead of staying in hotels. Harold is very shy, and has always felt akward because he's tall, but people like to tell him their stories. His walk to save Queenie inspires some fans and even gets some publicity, leading to some funny parts of the story. Harold's long pilgrimage gives him lots of time to think, and to reflect on his life. The journey eventually answers some questions for the reader. Why did Maureen move into the spare room, yet they stay married? Why does their bright, troubled son David never come to visit? Why did Queenie leave the brewery, and why doesn't Harold drink? Will Harold's walk for Queenie make a difference? And, finally, will Harold be able to finish his pilgrimage? A memorable journey for Harold and the reader.


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Q: Retrieve a mailchimp list via GET I am trying to retrieve a MailChimp list.
I have an API Key and a List ID, and while I understand that I can use the MailChimp API wrapper to achieve this I prefer to avoid implementing it since I only need to do this one task.
When I enter in my browser:
https://us3.api.mailchimp.com/2.0/lists/members?apikey=*****&id=******

I get a JSON result of my list - but it is limited to the first 25 subscribers.  I don't see anything in the MailChimp API documentation about submitting a GET request to retrieve a list.  Is it possible to do so? If so, how can I retrieve a full list?

A: Read this: http://apidocs.mailchimp.com/api/2.0/lists/members.php
Options are available via pagination.
You are supposed to POST the values in your request.

A: Looks like the best method is to use the MailChimp list method which "Exports/dumps members of a list and all of their associated details. This is a very similar to exporting via the web interface."
Read more at http://apidocs.mailchimp.com/export/1.0/list.func.php
Another option is to use API v1.3 listMembers function, more info here: http://apidocs.mailchimp.com/api/1.3/listmembers.func.php.  v1.3 is deprecated, but it still functions properly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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England add Woakes to one-day squad
England have called up Warwickshire seamer Chris Woakes to their squad ahead of the third one-day international against Australia in Birmingham on Wednesday. Surrey pacemen Jade Dernbach, who played in Sunday's six-wicket win at The Oval that gave England a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, and Stuart Meaker will be unavailable for the Edgbaston as they will be attending the funeral of their former county colleague Tom Maynard on Wednesday. Maynard died in an incident on a London Underground train track, at the age of just 23, last month. His funeral will take place in his native Wales. Meaker was added to the England squad before Sunday's win as cover for the injured James Anderson, who was replaced by Dernbach as Steven Finn's new-ball partner. England still hope Anderson will be fit after his groin injury for the remainder of the five-match series, but have added Woakes as a precaution for possible inclusion on his Edgbaston home ground where a win will give the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Revised England squad for third ODI against Australia: Alastair Cook (capt), Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Ravi Bopara, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter (wkt), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Samit Patel, Chris Woakes.
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Next articleBopara praises 'best' England ODI team
Venus outlasts Bertens to book Konta clash
Win more important than aggressive approach: Misbah


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Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium Android update status
Currently: Android 10
When Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium launched, it shipped with Android Oreo, but has since been updated to Android 10. This phone was originally released on 4 / 2018.
Upcoming updates?
This phone has reached its end of life
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium has reached its end of life, meaning that there wont be any further (official) Android updates for it. It might receive security patches, but wont get new Android operating system updates from its manufacturer.
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium update history
Official, stable version of Android 10 released for Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium. This will be the phone's last and final Android update.
Official, stable version of Android P released for Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium.
Sony Xperia XZ2 Premium gets released, ships with Android Oreo.
Why my phone still has the older Android version...?
Please note that most of the time the new Android versions get rolled out relatively slowly: manufacturers don't deliver over-the-air (OTA) Android updates to all users at the same time, but instead, roll out the update in cycles.
Additionally, if your phone has been bought from an operator, this complicates things. While the unlocked phones might get the updates, the operator-specific, so-called "locked phones" might be out of luck. Typically, the large operators have their own customizations in place for the phones sold through them and due those customizations, the update schedule for operator locked phones can be totally different than those that are unlocked.
You can try to manually check if there's an update available for your phone by visiting your phone's Settings. There, you can find a place for System updates. Visit that section: it will check whether there's updates available for your phone right now.
If you think our data is incorrect, please let us know and we'll fix it ASAP.


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Chroogomphus superiorensis är en svampart som först beskrevs av Kauffman & A.H. Sm., och fick sitt nu gällande namn av Rolf Singer 1975. Chroogomphus superiorensis ingår i släktet Chroogomphus och familjen Gomphidiaceae.   Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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The Carlisle 4016202 Sparta bent valve and fitting brush with white bristles is bent at approximately 45 degrees for cleaning straight pipes, elbows, tees, and valves. The base is made of galvanized wire with a plastic handle for durability; the bristles are made of stiff polyester that offers abrasion and chemical resistance, shape recovery, and extended life. The base resins used for the bristles are U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved. The overall dimensions are 15 x 2 inches (length x diameter).Carlisle manufactures food service equipment and supplies and sanitary maintenance tools and supplies for commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities. The company, founded in 1954, is headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK.


Well Alison's had an alright day today. She had a couple good therapy sessions, and she received a custom pair of modified shoes from an orthopedic company. They were her shoes but modified to accommodate her right ankle that has yet to come to a neutral, natural resting position. These shoes will allow her to more safely and comfortably bear weight through her legs when standing. In the next couple of weeks, we'll be getting a demo standing frame brought in for her to try. It'll be the same kind we have at the apartment, but it will have all the extra support pieces that ours currently lacks. This demo unit and trial run will tell us what Alison will need for our stander when she comes home. It'll also train us on how to safely use it with her. But it seems to have been an alright day though. Thanks for the continued support.


Texas in the summer is hot. People know this about Texas. Along with the Texas reputation for independence and friendliness is its summer climate. Its hot here.
So, when you're air conditioning goes out, it's a deal. Ours went out August 1st. It was a deal. It's a deal that you get fixed and people pat you on the shoulder as you complain even when you know you need to trust God.
August 2nd we went and bought ice cream among many other things at the store. Then, a man who looked like scary Santa rear ended our van with the ice cream in the trunk. It was a minor parking lot thing, but it still meant our van needed a 3 week-long repair job. It got a rear end lift at the dealer.
The grocery store was kind and we went home with three times the Rocky Road than we planned. Only one of us still likes Rocky Road anymore.
It's kind of ironic or prophetic. Rocky Road. Get it?
The air conditioning and the van are pretty minor things in the scheme of life. Transactions take care of these things. They are painful but temporary.
During this time, my mom was sick. She kept being sick and kept being sick and then sicker and sicker. Assorted antibiotics didn't make a dent and so I drove the nice rental car our insurance gave us up to be with her.
So, if you're an accountant, the spring is a big time for you. If you are in college ministry, this is a big time for you. It's like tax time in August and September. Busy. It was stressful to make the decision to pull away.
But sickness. Sickness is a different sort of trial. It takes over sometimes suddenly but sometimes slowly and then all of a sudden its a crisis that can't be ignored. Things must stop or slow down so that proper care can be given. Sickness doesn't check the calendar for an appropriate day or season. You don't ask your boss ahead of time for sick leave like you do for a vacation.
It just invades and takes over.
I am so used to modern medicine that I am having a hard time figuring out how it can't just be smacked down with a few pills. Just find the right ones and, boom, gone. We're on the 5th kind of medicine and there was no boom.
We were all waiting for the boom.
Because I didn't want to eat jello and cottage cheese for dinner, I went to a local restaurant to get carry out for myself. I debriefed with my husband, cried a little.
Things that felt important must take a back seat. Jobs that I planned to do myself get passed to others. Events I wanted to attend, I wasn't at. I missed my dad. Absence of a family member in times like this brings up the grief in a fresh way.
Sickness brings life back down to the basics and that is painful to my strong desire to direct my own life. It makes me cognizant in a needful way to the order of my place in God's creation and the impact of the evil invader. We are brilliantly made and pretty sturdy but surprisingly weak too. A microscopic thing can take over and cause horrible consequences, upending life and what we thought was important.
Sickness sorts priorities. We were sorted and its painful but freeing too. God was and is in charge of this mess down here.
And, seriously, who but God can deal with it the way it needs to be dealt with? The show goes on without me, kind of humbling, but it does.
He gives grace too. Compassionate doctors, kind nurses, prayerful friends, understanding teammates, encouraging family. The next 5 days we spent I. The hospital were trying and the recovery is long for my mom. But, she is recovering and I'm so thankful!
The August smack down was currently underway when I wrote this. At that point, Hurricane Harvey was forming in the Atlantic.


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The Y-Bridge is an old highway bridge over the James River located at Galena, Stone County, Missouri, and opened in 1927.  This three-way bridge is named the Y-Bridge because it is shaped like the letter "Y".  The bridge is such that (going east), one could then either head north or south upon reaching the east end, where the highway was between a steep bluff on the east and the river on the west.  It was built to accommodate Routes 13 and 44, now Routes 413 and 248.

The bridge is now closed to vehicles and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  A newer bridge to the north carries traffic over the river.

References

See also
 Margaret Bridge

Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri
Former road bridges in the United States
Pedestrian bridges in Missouri
Buildings and structures in Stone County, Missouri
Three-way bridges
National Register of Historic Places in Stone County, Missouri
1926 establishments in Missouri
Bridges completed in 1926
Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States


1903: "BUCK DID NOT READ THE NEWSPAPERS, OR HE WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT TROUBLE WAS BREWING..."
1873: "MR. PHILEAS FOGG LIVED, IN 1872, AT NO. 7, SAVILLE ROW, BURLINGTON GARDENS..."
1852: "'THIS IS GOD'S CURSE ON SLAVERY!--A BITTER, BITTER, MOST ACCURSED THING!'"
1937: "LENNIE SPOKE CRAFTILY, 'TELL ME--LIKE YOU DONE BEFORE... ABOUT THE RABBITS.'"
1953: "IT WAS A PLEASURE TO BURN"


Our company brings together a team of professionals with over 20 years experience in film making, television and radio, giving it the capacity to easily meet time and financial parameters required for film production or fiction, video or television spots and advertising.
The remarkable conditions we offer such as class actors established in international productions, highly qualified staff, professional stuntmen tested in multiple collaborations, filming equipment, high end lighting and recording, various shooting locations, and diverse natural scenery and soundstages available both in Bucharest and in the country, ensures the success of our collaboration.
Also with the aid of film distribution networks, based on contractual relations we distribute in Romania foreign films in over 325 cinemas, public and private property.
If you are interested in making a feature film, documentary, animation, television show or advertising, feel free to contact us.


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Bude was the sunniest place in the UK this summer!
Published: Tuesday 1st Oct 2013
Written by: Ginny Kay
It's official! The Met Office announced that Bude was the sunniest place in the UK this year with a whopping 783 hours of sun. And the UK in general was much sunnier than last year with 588 hours of sunshine, making it the seventh sunniest summer since records began in 1929. For more information, take a look at the BBC's news report.
And make sure you don't miss out next year! Take a look at our selection of 24 cottages in the Bude area.
Ginny Kay
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Dear Happy Friday from The Traders Podcast! It's time again for "Ask Rob" on The Traders Podcast, which is now a weekday show! We have our regular, 20-minute long episodes on the normal Monday and Wednesday release days and our new 4-minute "Ask Rob" episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday!
This morning on Episode 390 your producer Jason Pyles interviews more real traders at the Rob Booker Live Conference. Find out what traders just like you are learning and doing to take it to the next level. Thanks for listening!


Augie Auer found Wellington a meteorologist's dream.
Augie Auer, meteorologist. Died aged 67.
Augie Auer was a weatherman with a mission. Not content with just bringing the plain facts of the weather to radio listeners and television viewers, he wanted to explain it.
A passing light shower became "a windscreen-wetter" and high and low pressure systems south of the country were "just a regular logjam of depressions and highs - it looks like a nose-to-tail collision on an Auckland motorway".
August H. Auer's passion for the weather began early in life. As a boy growing up in St Louis, Missouri, he would sit on the front porch of his home hoping for a storm. He did all the weather quizzes in his Boy Scout magazine, and watched out for Sputnik satellites with his mother.
But after a freak mid-winter tornado in St Louis, causing havoc and loss of life, Auer knew his vocation: to forecast weather and save lives.
He studied meteorology at Colorado State University before beginning a 20-year stint at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, as professor of atmospheric science, developing a feeling for snow.
"We lived in a mountain-top observatory 3355m up in the Rockies. You name it, we studied it."
In 1983 Auer visited New Zealand on a science programme. When he and his family got off the plane in Wellington, they found the place of their dreams: "Wind out of the south, crystal clear blue, a couple of cumulus clouds ... We all thought we'd died and gone to heaven."
The Auer family moved to Wellington in 1990, and he took a job with MetService. He worked first as skills development manager before being appointed chief meteorologist.
He oversaw the privatisation of the weather services in New Zealand. He did not believe that increased commercialisation of forecasts would lead to "cheap and cheerful" predictions.
Accused of overstating the dangers of Cyclone Fergus in 1996 and Cyclone Drena two weeks later, Auer defended his actions.
"I make no qualms whatsoever about being over the top. I think we have a duty to care and I think we met that duty."
In 1999 TV3 offered him a spot as week-night weather presenter, and he was delighted to accept. He stepped down in 2002.
In 2006 Auer was part of a group of climate scientists who formed the Climate Science Coalition. Their aim was to refute what they say are unfounded claims about global warming. Debate continues.


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SHIPPING TO CONFLICT ZONES
By	Godfrey	| Uncategorized
Mombasa, Kenya | February 02, 2017
Over the years some parts of Africa have been engulfed in civil wars, secessionist and separatist conflicts with major episodes of national violence, riots, massacres etc. This acts of impunity has left over 9 million fleeing their homes and internally displaced people with the most vulnerable – young, old, sick and women left to fend for themselves.
In a bid to avert more suffering and deaths, the international communities, non-governmental organizations, and other well-wishers have worked hard to ensure that aid reaches to the affected areas.
Logistics has proved to be a major challenge in movement of the mission, relief and aid cargo shipments to the conflict zones. The shipper who mostly are located in the cargo country of origin have no or little knowledge of the conflict areas where the cargo has to be shipped to.
Other challenges faced are cargo safety and security concerns; geographical knowledge of the cargo delivery areas; poor road network and infrastructure; cumbersome port documentation processes with the customs, dealing with different regimes at destination have proved to be more difficult. Adding to this is finding a trusted and reliable service provider to ensure the smooth flow of your cargo.
Most cargo in some instances have ended up in the local market instead of the intended final destination. In some cases, the shippers have been lured by very low-priced rates, which eventually become much expensive once the cargo arrives at the port of discharge and documents handed over. The providers come up with other hidden charges which initially were not part of the initial offered rate.
At Africa Shipping Logistics, we understand these challenges faced by many shippers and have strived to ensure that our clients do not have to worry about their cargo while on transit. This kind of cargo requires efficiency and effectiveness in delivery without hindrance of the cargo smooth flow while on transit to the final destination.
We arrange and plan for the cargo movement from shipper's door step to the final end destination, thus leaving the shipper free of the headaches and worries of their cargo.
Our qualified and experience personnel, ensures that the cargo is processed through customs from the port loading, discharge and various border points depending with the hinterlands destination without much delay. We also provide our clients with a direct contact person to ensure that they stay updated on the cargo movement while on transit.
Our executives always work hand in hand with the client, guiding them on all the formalities and processes involved from the arrangement, planning and advent loading of cargo at the country of origin. We also offer free logistics advice and consultancy to our clients on the cargo movement.
For Booking of space for y our Mission, Relief or Humanitarian assistance cargo shipments please get in touch with us! You can call us on +31(0)10 476 0241 or send your request to info@africashippinglogistics.com ,WhatsApp on +31(0)6 4193 1340, Follow us on Twitter @AfricaShippingL and Facebook @AfricaShippingLogistics
Visit our website:www.africashippinglogistics.com to stay much updated about our services!
Maersk Line Strategic Cooperation set to dominate Container trade
Maerskline – Copenhagen | 11 December 2016
Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) today announced a new strategic cooperation.
Maersk MC-Kinley Moller, on her first maiden voyage to Gwangyang port, South Korea on July 17, 2013. Picture by Jeong Seungjae
The cooperation is a combination of slot exchanges and slot purchases between the three parties, as well as Maersk Line and MSC taking over a number of charters and operations of vessels currently chartered to HMM. The cooperation is outside the scope of MSC and Maersk Line's 2M vessel sharing agreement, however, will provide HMM access to the 2M network. For Maersk Line the cooperation will provide new opportunities, not least in the Transpacific trade where 2M gets access to strong HMM products.
"We are pleased to enter into this strategic cooperation with Hyundai Merchant Marine, Korea's leading container carrier. It will enable us to enhance our 2M network and presence in the important Transpacific trade. We look forward to leveraging these new opportunities to the benefit of our customers," says Søren Toft, Chief Operating Officer, Maersk Line.
The agreement is scheduled to begin in April 2017 subject to regulatory approval. The initial term of the cooperation is three years with option to extend and covers key East-West trades. The parties expect to disclose more information about network changes and schedules in early 2017.
$5.2 BILLION RAILWAY PROJECT TO EASE INLAND HAULAGE COST FROM TANZANIA, RWANDA AND BURUNDI
The New Times, Dar Es Salaam | 30Th April, 2016
The Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali/Keza-Musongati (DIKKM) standard gauge railway (SGR) project is progressing well, an official said. Eng. Jules Ndenga, the acting special project implementation unit coordinator at the Ministry of Infrastructure, said this following a recent joint technical monitoring committee meeting in Arusha, Tanzania.
"Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda are continuing the joint development of the DIKKM railway project. The recent meeting in Arusha was a joint technical meeting aimed at extending the contract for the transaction advisory services that had expired on December 31, 2015," Eng. Ndenga told The New Times last week from Kampala, Uganda. The extension of services being processed will end this month.
The Arusha meeting, which was attended by officials from various entities, including finance, environment and land departments from the three countries agreed on the contract terms and conditions and the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA), will procure it on behalf of the three countries.
Eight firms have been prequalified to bid for the construction of the standard gauge railway to link the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Rwanda and Burundi as the region seeks to lower transport costs.
Details of prequalified firms to finance, design, build and operate the proposed 1,665km long railway are however scanty. The project will cost about $7.6 billion, making it one of the East African Community's biggest railway project. "I cannot name the firms that have been prequalified. But about 60 per cent are from China," said Imbuchi Onyango, a technical expert on railways at the East African Community Secretariat.
MAP OF NEW RAILWAY ALIGNMENT source AfDB, 2015
The Dar es Salaam-Isaka-Kigali-Keza-Musongati railway, is a high priority project within the framework of the East African Railway Master Plan. According to the Rwanda Transport Development Authority, at least 172 km of the route will be in Burundi and 123km in Rwanda.
There will be 407km of new alignment in Tanzania from Keza to Isaka, and 970km paralleling the existing metre-gauge line between Isaka and Dar es Salaam.
Mr Onyango would also not reveal when governments of Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi are likely to call for the bids, saying the African Development Bank (AfDB), the major financer of the project, has to issue a no-objection note on the prequalified firms.
Mr Onyango described the prequalified firms as experienced and financially sound and thus able to deliver the project in time. "The list of prequalified firms has been sent to the African Development Bank for a no-objection note before they bid," said Mr Onyango in Kigali.
The East African states are under pressure from the business community to develop an efficient railway system to reduce the costs of transport.
High transport costs in East Africa have been cited as a serious challenge to the region's ability to compete effectively with the rest of the world in trade. For instance, importers say it costs Rwanda on average $4,990 to import a 20ft container while the sub-Saharan average is $2,504, which makes the country uncompetitive in cross-border trade
The estimated cost of standard gauge railway project is $5.2 billion.
Africa Shipping Logistics your ONE STOP LOGISTICS SERVICE CENTER to any part of TANZANIA; RWANDA; BURUNDI and DR. CONGO!! Call us today on +31 10 476 0241 or email us on info@africashippinglogistics.com. Check our website www.africashippinglogistics.com for more information about our services.
We look forward to serving you!
The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of the publishers of www.africashippinglogistics.com
By	sowmedia	| Uncategorized
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Wind turbines: Inconsistent U.S. energy policy leads to competitive disadvantage
"The U.S. cannot compete on a level playing field with countries that have strong industrial policies when our own policies have been so inconsistent and erratic," said U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Thursday at a hearing of the committee on "Tax Reform: Impact on U.S. Energy Policy."
The federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the primary incentive that helps support growth of wind power in the U.S., stands as a poster child for that "inconsistent and erratic" policy, having been extended only in one- to three-year increments since Congress first allowed it to expire in 1999. Short-term extensions, as many wind industry executives have pointed out in recent years, do not provide the certainty that businesses need to make investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in new manufacturing plants.
Bingaman sounded a very similar theme in a speech at a recent Sandia National Laboratories wind turbine blade technology workshop. Speaking of the possibility that the PTC, which expires this year, might not be extended until after the November election, he commented, "That's not a good way to make tax policy. It does not give developers and businesses the assurance they need to make plans and investments for the long term."
At the Senate hearing, his remarks came in the context of discussing the competitive outlook for U.S. renewable energy products, such as wind turbines and solar panels, with products manufactured by China. China has invested heavily in its renewable energy sector–an investment that has resulted in its world-leading clean energy market.
The PTC provides an income tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 10 years of electricity production from utility-scale turbines. It is set to expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress extends it first. A recent study by Navigant Consulting found that extending the Production Tax Credit will allow the industry to grow to 100,000 jobs in just four years, while an expiration would kill 37,000 jobs within a year.
A House bill seeking to extend the PTC has 101 cosponsors, including 23 Republicans, while a Senate bill to extend it was introduced March 15 by seven Senators, including three Republicans. PTC extension efforts have received the endorsement of a broad coalition of more than 370 members, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Edison Electric Institute, and the Western Governors' Association. A PTC extension also has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Governors Association, and the bipartisan Governors' Wind Energy Coalition, which includes 23 Republican and Democratic Governors from across the U.S. A PTC extension has been endorsed by a number of newspapers across the country, including the Houston Chronicle, The New York Times, the Denver Post, the Daily Oklahoman, and the Toledo Blade.
Tom Gray, www.awea.org/blog
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Gardens in Avoca, Terrigal, Springfield, Wyoming, Forresters Beach, Lisarow, Matcham and Green Point have taken out honours in the 2017 Gosford District Garden Competition.
Garden of the Year was awarded to Ms Alva Bell of Umina.
The best eco-friendly school garden was won by Empire Bay Public School (first) and Niagara Park Public School (second).
Henry Kendall High school was awarded the Best Secondary School garden.
The best edible residential garden was won by Ms Helen McGhie of Avoca with Mr Grant Bradly of Terrigal taking second place.
Wyoming Eco Garden won the best culinary community garden.
The best eco-friendly residential garden was also won by Ms McGhie with Mr and Ms Grant and Paula Bradly in second.
For a full list of the prize winners see the competition organiser's advertisement elsewhere in this newspaper.
The formal presentation evening, held on Friday, October 27, at the Erina Centre, was attended by the 44 entrants, their friends and special guests.
Special guests included sponsors, Ms Liesel Tesch, the Member for Gosford, Ms Anne Charlton, Labor candidate for Robertson, and Clr Rebecca Gale-Collins, representing Central Coast Mayor, Clr Jane Smith.
Clr Gale-Collins congratulated the Gosford District Garden Competition committee on the success of the competition, the value it places on beautifying the environment of the area and the contribution it makes to the wellbeing of the community, by encouraging gardening.
Before presenting the prizes, the President of the committee, Ms Dot Kite, gave a brief report on how the group running the competition was formed after the amalgamation of the Wyong and Gosford Councils, and thanked the Central Coast Council for their substantial grant to enable them to run such a successful competition.
She specifically thanked Mr Glen Cannard, Ms Ainsley Whitburn and Mr Mikell Borg from the Community Grants section of Council.
The committee also thanked all the business sponsors in the Gosford area for their generous support of the competition in the way of donations or gift vouchers which were used as prizes.
Emphasis in the 2017 competition was placed on the general home gardener and those gardeners who have not entered a competition in previous years, Ms Kite said.
This theme will be further encouraged next year.
Schools were also encouraged to enter both in the Eco Garden classes as well as classes for the general school garden tended by students.
"The Committee felt that eco gardening was the way of the future and should be encouraged in schools," Ms Kite said.
Five local schools entered, but it is hoped that more schools in the area will establish eco gardens and will enter next year.
The judges, Mr Phillip Chown and Ms Jeanette Chown, from Sydney, made special mention in their report on how impressed they were with the enthusiasm and dedication of the students to the care of their compost, chickens and gardens, even in the dry and trying conditions that the area had been experiencing up to the time of the competition.
Ms Kite said she thanked every entrant and said they were all winners for the work and devotion that they poured into their gardens.


Power Rangers will feature the first ever gay superhero in a film.
The reboot of the 90s TV show and film series sees one of the five main characters struggle with her relationship with another girl in the film's second act.
Trini, the Yellow Ranger, eventually comes to terms with her sexual orientation and is accepted by all the other characters, said director Dean Israelite.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the film's release at the end of this week, Israelite said: "For Trini, really she's questioning a lot about who she is. She hasn't fully figured it out yet.
The development is especially remarkable as Power Rangers was previously known for causing the original series' Blue Ranger to quit because of vile homophobic abuse.
David Yost, who played Billy Cranston and the Blue Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, also said his co-stars were repeatedly quizzed about what they knew about his sexuality.
But in reaction to news of a gay Yellow Ranger, Yost praised the new film for its bravery.
"They really stepped up to the plate," he said.
Trini, who is played by singer and actress Becky G, follows a relatively recent shift towards writing gay characters into superhero films and TV shows.
Deadpool, whose film came out last year, is pansexual, while Supergirl, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow – all on US TV channel CW – all feature a gay character.
The coming out storyline of Alex Danvers, Supergirl's adoptive sister, this season prompted a hugely positive reaction from fans and the LGBT community.
And of course, the news comes on the heels of Beauty and the Beast featuring the first ever explicitly gay Disney character, Le Fou.


In the EU Commission's view, the existing corporate tax law has failed when it comes to the taxation of revenue generated by the digital economy. An interim tax of 3% on specific online revenues should be levied until the OECD is able to come forward with a long term global solution. The Commission proposes that companies with a world-wide revenue exceeding EUR 750 million would be affected. The placing of online advertising, the facilitation of online sales portals and the sale of user data would all be taxed. Thus, the digital service tax would be focused on the USA's internet giants, which represent more than 50% of the businesses affected.
On 27 February 2018, the German Ministry of Finance has published a guidance on VAT treatment of activities related to virtual currencies. Reference is made to the ECJ decision in Hedquist (C-264/14, dated 22 October 2015). However, the MoF has used the opportunity to express its opinion with regard to other relevant aspects.
Where a taxable person subsequently invoices VAT on invoices for supplies, which previously he had treated as being VAT exempt, this does not result in the recipient's input VAT deduction, by means of a VAT refund, being disallowed. Any possible limitation periods are irrelevant in cases where the recipient was unable to claim the refund in time, due to the fact that he did not have an invoice and was unaware of the VAT liability (ECJ, decision of 21.03.2018 - C- 533/16 Volkswagen AG). Here, substantive law prevails over procedural law.
Please be informed that Order HFP / 36/2018, of January 18, establishing certain provisions related to the Intrastat System in order to unify and adapt the national Intrastat to the EU's regulations, entered into force on March 1, 2018.
The Hungarian tax authorities have restructured the method of electronic communication with the clients. Until now foreign companies with Hungarian VAT registrations could file VAT returns in paper form unless they had to file European Sales and Purchase Listings (ESPL). According to the new rules all companies having monthly VAT filing liabilities have to file VAT returns electronically.
Many banks outsource single tasks to external providers. Banks are only partly entitled to deduct input VAT. Therefore, banks are interested in the fact that the outsourced services are VAT exempt. The ECJ has already decided that, when purchasing cinema tickets, the processing of debit or credit card payments is not VAT exempt. Now, the German Federal Fiscal Court would like to know if this also applies to the operation of ATMs.
As from 01.01.2018, the new version of sec 4 no 8 lit. h of the German VAT Act applies to the VAT exemption for the management of investment funds. According to this new legal position, the scope of the VAT exemption is broader than it has previously been. In particular, the management of Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) could be subject to changes. The precise limits are, however, currently unclear. Investment fund managers should keep an eye on the implications of the broader VAT exemption on their input VAT deduction.


All of the birthday outfits in the Birthday Boutique will have your little one shining bright on her special day. If you don't see the theme you are looking for, just contact me. I can make an outfit to match any theme. Custom orders are always welcome!


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How Do Wildfires Start?
By Donavyn Coffey - Live Science Contributor 2018-12-28T13:57:54Z
A wildfire burns in Montana.
(Image: © Tyler Pfiffner/Shutterstock)
As the smoke settles from 2018's fires at the close of the year, it serves as a stark reminder of the raging wildfires that have plagued California and the rest of the American West. More than 8.5 million acres (34,600 square kilometers) burned this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, and they burned faster and hotter than experts have ever seen.
But how do such wildfires start in the first place?
Fire arises out of three ingredients: fuel, heat and oxygen. Oxygen is readily available in the air, so that leaves fuel and heat. The fuel is anything that will burn, including brush, grass, trees and even houses. The dryer the fuel, the more easily it burns. And the last component — heat — burns the fuel and desiccates, or dries up, the surrounding area as the fire spreads. [What Is Fire?]
In other words, "a source [of heat] hits receptive fuel that's dry enough to burn," said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire analyst for the University of California Cooperative Extension forestry program in Northern California. In the right conditions, those three factors are all it takes to set a wildfire in motion.
These natural disasters, however, often have unnatural beginnings.
In the United States, 84 percent of the 1.5 million wildfires reported from 1992 to 2012 were human-caused, while 16 percent were sparked by a lightning strike, according to a 2017 study published in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For instance, a spark caused by the scrape of a tire rim on the asphalt started the Carr Fire in Redding, California. Last month's Camp Fire is still under investigation, but malfunctioning power lines are suspect.
However, ignition is only the beginning. For a spark to grow into a sustained wildfire, there must be a perfect combination of factors, such as "dry conditions and really strong winds," Quinn-Davidson told Live Science. And because of climate change, dry conditions are lasting longer and, in turn, causing longer fire seasons.
"Fifty years ago, mid-November was wet. Maybe we would have [strong] winds, but it would be too wet to start a fire [in California]," Quinn-Davidson said. But mid-November of 2018 was dry enough to perpetuate the most deadly and destructive fire in the Golden State's history.
Though it's been a record-breaking year in California, wildfires are not new. In fact, they are a natural and necessary part of many ecosystems, including California's forests. But the wildfires we see today are different from those natural blazes, burning faster and hotter.
"Historically, California burned more than it does now, but at [a] lower intensity and slower," Quinn-Davidson said. "Now, we are seeing fires that are unusual, like the Camp Fire that, at one point, burned through 70,000 acres [about 280 square km] in a day. We've never seen that before."
The change in our climate, perpetuated by human-made greenhouse gas emissions, extends the window of the annual fire season. But wildfires also burn faster and hotter simply because there is more fuel to burn.
For example, the boreal forest in Canada and Alaska has seen an increased number of lighting-ignited wildfires since 1975, likely due to earlier snow melts and fuel drying brought on by global warming, a 2017 study in the journal Nature Climate Change found.
There has been a "war on fire" over the past 100 years or so, Quinn-Davidson said. And that, ironically, has increased the risk of large fires. Today, scientists and conservationists understand that fire is a critical factor in the health of ecosystems. But that wasn't always the case. Suppressing smaller fires for the better part of a century allowed fuels to build up. Forests that were once park-like — open, with with big trees — became dense with small trees and brush, the perfect fuel for a fire.
As the fuels amassed, humans moved closer to wildland areas, according to a 2018 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Establishing less-than-strategic communities right on the edge of thicketed forests has put more lives and homes at risk, the study found.
Based on the Fourth National Climate Assessment, completed just last month, wildfires will continue to intensify with the changing climate, maybe even becoming a problem in other regions of the United States. So, communities need to focus on becoming more resilient to these natural disasters, Quinn-Davidson said.
But she added that she's hopeful, because many communities are already taking steps and setting precedents. "A lot of communities [are] actively working on becoming fire-adaptive [and learning] how to live with fire and design a community in a way that is not so vulnerable," Quinn-Davidson said.
What Causes Mudslides?
Can Humans Spontaneously Combust?
Why We Are Drawn to Fire?


blogomite!: a swingin' good time!
One of the grooviest things my dad did was to hang a swing from a really high tree branch in our back yard. He would give us the most powerful pushes which enabled us to touch branches with our feet. My sister and her husband have done the same thing. It's the simple things that bring such joy. The expressions on my friends' son's faces say it all. Hang a swing in your yard and create joy and great memories for your kids... and joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea! Weeeeeeeeeeee!


On the 50th day of the invasion operation against Afrin, Turkish army has killed a civilian and wounded another in Mabata district.
The invading Turkish army has carried out a bombardment on the village of Termisha in Afrin's Mabata district on Saturday. 55-year-old civilian by the name of Necîb Şêxo lost his life as a result of the attacks.
On the other hand, civilian Mihemde Omer Hemkolîno (48) suffered an injury during the bombardment on Ester village of Mabara. The man has been taken under treatment in hospital and is reported to be in good condition.


The 10 Best Bars to Celebrate the New Year in Michigan!
New Year's Eve means big parties—have you planned your celebration yet? If not, no worries. We've got just what you're looking for. In Michigan, from Detroit to Kalamazoo, you'll find a bar preparing to finish out the year with a bang! Whether you're looking for a laid-back pub event or a cool spot to sip cocktails, these 10 awesome bars will help you celebrate the new year right.
Birmingham wine bar the Bird and the Bread is well known for its wine options and its seasonal kitchen, but it's also known for another event, the Vintage Hollywood New Year's Eve. Dress code is "vintage glam," so you may have to do some hunting around for appropriate costuming. When you do, however, you'll get in on a three-course meal, access to "vintage cocktails," and an evening that will make you feel like you're still partying under the Hollywoodland sign.
Head over to Ferndale for the Orchid, where a New Year's Eve party has been a part of things for quite some time now. Featuring a champagne toast, party favors, a dance show, balloon drops, and food from Pei Wei, an Asian specialty diner. Given that the event runs until four in the morning, you'll have all the time you need for a complete New Year's Eve experience and then some, running well into the first quarter of New Year's Day.
Kalamazoo has run a New Year's Eve event for the last several years in its Entertainment District, a collection of vaguely interconnected bars and restaurants. Here, you're not just celebrating in one bar, but in your choice of several, all featuring different events at different times so you can shift from one to another with comparative ease. Whether you want to dance, catch live comedy, or enjoy a massive buffet meal, you'll have the full range of choices on hand to set up New Year's your way.
Want to get home at a reasonable hour on New Year's Eve? Then Grand Rapids' Wheelhouse Kitchen and Cocktails has a solution for you. Its New Year's Eve festivities start at 4 p.m. and go until 12:30 a.m., so you'll possibly be home before the New Year kicks off in Chicago. You'll be able to get in on the regular dinner menu along with some special features from the chef, along with live music, a raffle and assorted giveaways, and a champagne toast promptly at midnight.
Those looking for an efficient New Year's Eve celebration will want to check out the West Bay Beach Resort in Traverse City. Not only will there be a complete New Year's party at the View Nightclub—part of the larger complex—that comes with bottle service and guaranteed seating if you reserve it in advance, but you'll also be able to set up a "book a room" package which means that, when you're done partying, you need not try to get home, but rather stay right there on the grounds.
The View has a Great Live band with @stylist_laceylandow doing lead vocals tonight at the Holiday Inn. If your out and about in TC come down and hear them rock!!!
The Lansing Radisson is planning to run a themed celebration, and the theme is "Journey on the Orient Express." You'll have access to a full bar and five drink tickets per person, along with a strolling dinner for two, live entertainment, a champagne toast at midnight and not only a night's stay at the Radisson, but also a breakfast bar in the morning. Safely enjoy your evening and then start the new year off with breakfast.
Thanks for the warm* welcome Lansing. *it was actually freezing but the food was good and there was a parade celebrating my arrival so pretty good.
Chelsea's Chelsea Alehouse comes with some exciting options of its own in both beer and food, but there's more than that going on. This year, join the Chelsea Alehouse for a themed New Year's Eve celebration called "A Jaunty New Year." Suggested dress code is jeans, overalls and flannel, and is based around one of Chelsea Alehouse's first—and most popular—beer options, the Jaunty Woodsman IPA. Also join them for live music from the Ben Daniels Band, and enjoy hors d'oeuvres and a toast at midnight.
Those in Detroit proper will have plenty of options, but consider a more unique one this year: an indoor/outdoor tent party at Flood's Bar and Grille. It's been a big deal in places like Las Vegas and even Amsterdam, and now it's made its way to Detroit. Featuring a complimentary buffet, champagne toast and Remy Martin, tickets run just $20 per person and will be going on sale soon.
The Hearthstone Bistro in Muskegon has something rather special going for it: it calls its experience the "Anti-New-Year's Eve Experience," and with good reason. It features no noisemakers, no party music, and it closes by 11 p.m. depending on the night New Year's is celebrated. But with New Year's, it expands its menu to include choices not often seen at the place. So, if you want a New Year's Eve experience that's probably unlike any you've had before, start here!
Grand Rapids' Big Old Building, or BOB, is something of a phenomenon in its own right. Part bar, part upscale food court, part comedy club, there's a lot going on herein at any given time. The locale will also put on an impressive New Year's Eve event, featuring multiple DJ operations, VIP bottle service, a comedy show, and three different three-course meals to choose from as well as a full buffet. If you're looking for a little something for everyone in Grand Rapids, the BOB might be the best place to start looking.


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text:
"No 1/2 Steppin'" é uma canção/single da cantora Shanice. Foi o segundo single lançado de Discovery. Tornou-se seu segundo hit top 10 na Billboard R&B.

Videoclipe
O vídeo da música inclui uma coreografia e mostra um fundo branco.

Lista das faixas
12" single (012256) USA
A1. "No 1/2 Steppin'" (Club Mix) (7:42)
A2. "No 1/2 Steppin'" (7" Edit) (3:55)
B1. "No 1/2 Steppin'" (Radio Version) (5:45)
B2. "No 1/2 Steppin'" (Dub Version) (4:10)

Posições nos gráficos musicais

Singles de 1988
Singles de Shanice


Sare (or Sara in Basque) is the perfect example of a traditional village having retained its traditions and heritage while at the same time welcoming visitors. Just half an hour from the campsite, this is a great tourism destination in the heart of the Pyrénées Atlantiques. This charming village is listed among "France's finest villages" and rightly so. These buildings and streets have a uniquely elegant atmosphere which is particularly exhilarating when you discover Sare for the first time. A traditional Basque village, here you'll find the usual Basque pelota wall not far from the church and the town hall. There are many small tourist attractions to be seen during your visit. Today abandoned, Sare's wash houses have been reclaimed by Mother Nature. Only the mediaeval bridges still straddle the waterways as they did several centuries ago. The Sare lintels, blocks featuring engravings directly carved on the building's façade, commemorate life in this town from many years ago.
"Sare, on a le temps" (Sare, we've got plenty of time), runs an old proverb often heard in this village which has seen so many famous faces pass through, including Napoleon III and Eugénie, Edward VII and Winston Churchill, Pierre Loti and Luis Mariano.


Research Presentations Archives - 3583 BYTES FREE, READY?3583 BYTES FREE, READY?
Ransomware is profitable! The bad guys are achieving investment returns over 1500% with very low risk. With the right connections, anyone can acquire ransomware as a service; they could buy some ransomware and pay to spread it to users around the world.


James Kasper launches his first music video.
When you walk up to the grand white house at 1983 Fairfield Road, you'd never imagine what's inside. Besides the two bedrooms, a sunken salon-style sitting room and sunny den, this house also boasts an incredibly intimate 40-plus+ seat theatre with tiered, plush seating (taken from Langham Court after its recent renovation), an office for puppeteer and owner Tim Gosley and a backstage dressing room.
Over the last year and a half that Gosley and partner Petra Kixmöller have owned this house, called Merlin's Sun Home Theatre, it has played host to numerous private house concerts, theatre and puppetry workshops for children and adults and Gosley and Kixmöller's own performances.
The couple returned to Victoria from Quebec with their two children, ages 11 and 15, when the opportunity came around to purchase the house from original owner, Romany Miller.
"To return to Victoria after 30 years and live in a house with a theatre around the corner from where I grew up — in my hood as they now call it — it's a dream," says Gosley, who did nine years as Basil Bear on Canadian Sesame Street, and also worked on The Muppets and Fraggle Rock.
After a shift in television production meant less room for puppetry and more cash being spent on computer animation, Gosley was left wondering what to do next.
"I had a great career through the '80s and '90s and even into the 2000s, but I was left at the top of my skills with nowhere to go," says Gosley.
He decided to reconnect with old friends in Victoria, notably Clayton Jevne of Theatre Inconnu and Jan Ross curator of the Emily Carr house (which his father, Jerry Gosley helped save), did a few shows at the theatre and decided to move home.
"It was like coming to a new town, but with a foundation," he says.
Although Gosley and Kixmöller open the theatre for concerts, it is still a private home.
People interested in catching a house concert at Merlin's Sun should send an email asking for an invitation. Each show has a suggested donation for admission, which is collected at the door. People are asked to bike or walk if possible or park away from the theatre and walk.
The space is also his workshop and laboratory. Gosley has built some massive puppets in the space, which has 11-foot ceilings and a 16-foot stage.
"The proportions of this room are magnificent," says Gosley.
Local musician, music promoter and founder of the Vancouver Island Music Awards James Kasper met Gosley a couple years ago and has wanted to perform at Merlin's Sun since he heard about the space.
"I used to work as a recreation programmer in Fernwood and one of my ideas was to put on the largest puppet shows ever and someone mentioned Gosley's name. I didn't know how to reach him so I left it, but shortly after I got an email from him asking if he could get involved," says Kasper.
It wasn't long before Kasper was volunteering at Merlin's Sun, working the door and using his skills as a promoter to help spread the word about the unique performance space.
Now he's using it to launch his first official music video.
"I want to help bring the venue to light and help more people see it," says Kasper.
For an invitation to Merlin's Sun Home Theatre, email timgosley@telus.net.