text:
Identification of cattle, buffaloes and rodents as reservoir animals of Leptospira in the District of Gampaha, Sri Lanka
D. T. H. Denipitiya1,2,
N. V. Chandrasekharan2,
W. Abeyewickreme1,
R. A. Hartskeerl3 &
M. D. Hapugoda1
BMC Research Notes volume 10, Article number: 134 (2017) Cite this article
Leptospirosis is an important emerging infectious disease in Sri Lanka. Rats are the most important reservoir of Leptospira but domestic and wild mammals may also act as important maintenance or accidental hosts. In Sri Lanka, knowledge of reservoir animals of leptospires is poor. The objective of this study was to identify potential reservoir animals of Leptospira in the District of Gampaha, Sri Lanka.
Blood and kidney samples were collected from 38 rodents and mid-stream urine samples were randomly collected from 45 cattle and five buffaloes in the District of Gampaha. Kidney and urine samples were tested by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serum samples were tested by the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Of the 38 rodent kidney samples, 11% (4/38) were positive by real-time PCR. The prevalence of leptospiral carriage was 11% (3/26) and 8% (1/12) in female and male rodents, respectively. Three rodent serum samples were positive by MAT. Of the 50 cattle/buffalo urine samples tested, 10% (5/50) were positive by real-time PCR. The prevalence of leptospiral carriage was 9% (4/45) and 20% (1/5) in cattle and buffaloes, respectively.
Results of PCR and MAT showed that Leptospira were present in a significant proportion of the rodents and farm animals tested in this study and suggest that these (semi-) domestic animals form an infection reservoir for Leptospira. Therefore, there is a potential zoonotic risk to public health, most notably to farmers in this area.
Leptospirosis is a globally important zoonotic disease which affects humans and animals in countries with humid, tropical and sub-tropical climates [1]. Local annual incidences range from 0.10 to 975 cases per 100,000 in the population [2]. The disease is caused by infection with pathogenic spirochetes of the genus Leptospira [3]. The first leptospirosis case in Sri Lanka was reported in 1959 [4]. Since then, more than 1000 cases of leptospirosis annually, including several major outbreaks, have been reported [5]. The disease is distributed throughout the country but during the last two decades the highest numbers of leptospirosis cases have been reported from the Districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala, Matale and Kegalle [6]. The levels of laboratory diagnosis and involvement in awareness programs on leptospirosis in the country are poor and activities generally confined to periods of disease outbreak.
The major route of infection is by indirect environmental contact with leptospires excreted in the urine of reservoir hosts [1, 7, 8], so the presence of reservoir animals is an important risk factor for human leptospirosis cases. Rats are notorious reservoir hosts of leptospires but domestic and wild animals may be transient or persistent shedders of leptospires [9,10,11]. Unfortunately, people living in Sri Lanka have a poor level of knowledge around potential risk factors for leptospirosis [12]. A few studies on leptospirosis have been carried out in the country but knowledge of reservoir animals of pathogenic Leptospira species in the highly endemic District of Gampaha is lacking. In recent years, the district has reported more than 400 cases of leptospirosis annually [13], and so the goal of this study was to determine whether cattle, buffaloes or rodents are potential reservoir animals of leptospires in Gampaha, Sri Lanka.
A study was conducted from May 2012 to February 2013 in the Divisional Secretariat of Mirigama within the District of Gampaha. In 2011, the Epidemiology Unit of Sri Lanka reported an annual incidence of 7.96 per 100,000 of the population for leptospirosis in the Divisional Secretariat of Mirigama, which, therefore, was selected as the site for this study [13]. Gampaha is located in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, in the Wet Zone of the country (Fig. 1). The annual mean temperature of the district ranges between 26.5 and 28.5 °C and the average annual rain fall is approximately 5000 mm [14]. It contains many small rivers, canals and spring heads, thereby presenting a favorable environment for the survival of leptospiral bacteria. The main occupation of the population is agriculture, especially rice farming involving the intensive use of water buffaloes and cattle.
A map of the District of Gampaha showing the Divisional Secretariat of Mirigama. The district of Gampaha is located within the circle of the map of Sri Lanka positioned in the left upper corner of the figure. In the map of Gampaha, the Divisional Secretariat Mirigama is indicated in yellow
Collection of rodent blood samples and kidney tissue samples
Rodents were trapped in household areas, rice fields and paddy stores in the study area. Traps with baits were left overnight after obtaining written permission from the owner of the property, and rodents transported in traps to the Molecular Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, the following morning. Cardiac puncture was carried out to collect 1–2 ml of blood after first anesthetizing the rodents using diethyl ether, given according to the weight of the rodent [15]. A needle attached to a 5 cm3 syringe was inserted through the ventral abdominal wall just lateral to the xiphoid process, at an angel of 15°–20° above the plane of the abdomen and directed toward the heart, and cardiac blood collected before the heart stopped beating. The blood was immediately placed into a tube containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) held at 4 °C. The abdominal cavity was opened, the kidneys removed aseptically to a sterile vial, and stored at −80 °C until DNA extraction and PCR testing.
Collection of urine samples from cattle
Mid-stream urine samples (approximately 50 ml) were collected from randomly selected cattle and buffaloes, into sterile plastic vials and transported to the laboratory at 4 °C. Samples were immediately centrifuged at ~5000×g for 15 min, the pellets were resuspended in 1 ml of 1 × phosphate buffered saline (PBS) [137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 4.3 mM Na2HPO4, 1.4 mM KH2PO4 (pH 7)], transferred into a 1.5 ml microcentrifuge tube and centrifuged at ~8000×g for 5 min. The supernatant was discarded and pellets resuspended in 1× PBS and stored at −20.0 °C until used for testing [16].
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from the kidney tissues and urine samples using the QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (QIAGEN) and QIAamp viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) Mini Kit (QIAGEN), respectively, according to the manufacturer's instructions. DNA was stored at −20 °C until tested by PCR.
Real time polymerase chain reaction
For DNA amplification, a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers 5′-GCG ATT CAG TTT AAT CCT GC-3′ and 5′-GAG TTA GAG CTC AAA TCT AAG-3′, targeting the secY gene of pathogenic Leptospira, was performed [17]. The assay was optimized using reference samples (L. interrogans icterohaemorrhagiae strain RGA) obtained from a reference laboratory (WHO/FAO Collaborating Centre on Leptospirosis, Meibergdreef 39, Amsterdam, Netherlands). The ability of the specific pair of primers to amplify the secY gene of pathogenic Leptospira strains was tested using the reference strain (L. interrogans serovar icterohaemorrhagiae strain RGA) alongside DNA and cDNA of pathogenic microorganisms, clinically important in the country (dengue, chikungunya, hantaviral infection, leshimaniasis, malaria, hepatitis and tuberculosis). DNA of the Leptospira saprophytic species, L. biflexa serovar patoc strain patoc 1, was also included in this test to determine assay specificity.
Polymerase chain reaction amplification was carried out in a total volume of 25 µl 1× Maxima® SYBR Green-I/ROX qPCR master mix (Thermo Scientific) containing Maxima® Hot Start Taq DNA polymerase and deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs) in an optimized PCR buffer made up to a final concentration of 2.5 mM MgCl2. Forward and reverse primers were added to a final concentration of 0.4 µM each followed by addition of 10 µl of extracted DNA (sample). Each PCR run included negative controls in which 10 µl of nuclease-free distilled water was added instead of template DNA. L. interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae, strain RGA, DNA (≤100 ng, 10 µl) was used as the positive control.
Polymerase chain reaction was carried out using Swift Spectrum 48 real time thermal cycler (Esco Healthcare Pvt Ltd, Singapore): initial denaturation at 95 °C for 10 min followed by 40 cycles of denaturation at 95 °C for 15 s, annealing at 54 °C for 30 s, extension at 72 °C for 30 s, and incubation at 72 °C for 7 min. melting temperature (Tm) analysis (70–94 °C with readings every 0.5 vC) was performed after a cooling step of 30 °C for 1 min according to the manufacturer's instructions. The cut-off was set at threshold cycle (Ct) 35 which in our hands was the last cycle completely devoid of background noise. All experiments were repeated at least twice to test for reproducibility.
Microscopic agglutination test (MAT)
Serum samples of rodents were separated from the rodent's blood samples and sent to the Medical Research Institute (MRI), Colombo, Sri Lanka for testing by the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). MAT was performed with the non-pathogenic L. biflexa serovar Patoc, strain Patoc 1 setting a reciprocal titre of 100 as a positive result for identifying current and past infections with Leptospira. A titer between 20 and 100 was considered as indeterminate. Due to the unavailability of serovar-specific MAT (Standard-MAT) at the MRI, Sri Lanka, another study was carried out to compare the Patoc-MAT with standard MAT using patient serum samples. An acceptable level of agreement between patoc-MAT and standard-MAT was observed and therefore patoc-MAT was subsequently used [18].
A Chi square test (Minitab 15 statistical software) was used for comparison of the categorical variable (male and female reservoir animals) at a 95% confidence interval; a p value <0.05 was considered to be significant.
Thirty eight rodents were captured from household areas (n = 18), paddy fields (n = 16), paddy stores (n = 3) and one commercial establishment (n = 1). Of the 38 rodents, 26 were female and 12 were male (Table 1). Detailed speciation of the rodents was not performed but global inspection indicated all rodents to be Rattus rattus. Four rodents (11%) were positive for Leptospira by PCR. Unfortunately, the PCR products were not suitable for subsequent sequencing for species identification because SYBR green interferes with the sequencing reaction and furthermore insufficient PCR product was produced for gel purification or column-based purification. Three samples (8%) were positive by MAT. The only positive MAT outcome with a reciprocal titer of 100 coincided with a positive PCR result. No indeterminate titers were found. The prevalence of leptospiral carriage was 11% (3/26) and 8% (1/12) in female and male rodents, respectively; this difference was not significant (Table 1).
Table 1 Laboratory test results of reservoir animals by gender
These results indicate that rodents represent a reservoir of Leptospira in the Division of Mirigama. It should be noted that DNA extracted from kidney tissues might contain inhibitors of the PCR [17], and so the PCR results may underestimate the true prevalence, and the carrier rate of 11% may be a pessimistic estimate. As the rodents were caught at or near domestic premises and farms, these present a high exposure risk for humans. Considering the similar ecological conditions found outside the District of Gampaha, we assume that this observation is also true outside the division. Our finding is consistent with several other reports that rodents present a reservoir host in most parts of the world [9, 11, 15, 19, 20].
The value of MAT for the identification of carriers is disputable. Many, if not most natural hosts do not produce antibodies against the Leptospira serovar(s) they are carrying [21] and hence, MAT may underestimate the carrier rate. The MAT performed in this study has an additional drawback, in that MRI, the primary and only site in Sri Lanka performing MAT, is using serovar Patoc only. MAT is usually executed with a panel of serovars to achieve a certain level of serovar specificity, particularly when analyzing convalescent serum samples. The saprophytic serovar Patoc is often included to detect cross-agglutinating antibodies in samples collected from mainly acute patients. However, its ability to detect cross-reacting antibodies from past infections is limited. Moreover, even a low titre found in a MAT test performed with a suitable panel on serum samples from animals can be a meaningful indication of infection [22]. However, a low titre of Patoc is difficult to interpret and could indicate either persistent infection with a recent re-infection with a homologous serovar or a recent infection with a heterologous serovar. Whereas MAT titers with Patoc are difficult to interpret in the case of an individual animal, our finding of a measurable titre in 8% of the rodents with Patoc is consistent with a considerable infection rate and hence supports our PCR observation that rodents represent an infection source in the study area.
Bovines
Fifty urine samples were collected from 45 cattle and 5 buffaloes, selected randomly. Of the 45 cattle, 35 were females and 2 buffaloes were females. In total, five samples (10%) were positive by real-time PCR. The prevalence of leptospiral carriage was 9% (4/45) and 20% (1/5) in cattle and buffaloes, respectively. Of the four positive cattle, 3 (75%) were male. The one positive buffalo was female. The prevalence of leptospiral infection was 40% (2/5) and 7% (3/45) in female and male bovines, respectively, not a significant difference (Table 1).
Furthermore, for these bovines, we argue that our PCR data represent an underestimation of prevalence for the following reasons. Animals display intermittent shedding of leptospires and several consecutive samples should be collected to establish whether an individual animal is a carrier [19, 22], but for practical reasons we collected only a single sample. For DNA extraction, bacteria were collected by an initial centrifugation of urine samples at ~5000×g. It is conceivable that at this relatively low speed the leptospires were not all pelleted and hence the number in the final samples was below the lower PCR detection limit, and false negatives are likely to have been recorded. The extent of any underestimation remains unknown, but the true carriage rate may exceed the average 10% we found in cattle and buffaloes. Thus we conclude that bovines may present a public health risk in the Divisional Secretariat of Mirigama, Gampaha, which reports to the Epidemiology unit in Sri Lanka, in concurrence with the high number of local human leptospirosis cases recorded. This is in accordance with a recent study by Gamage and coworkers [23] who concluded that cattle act as a reservoir animal for a variety of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in Sri Lanka.
Based on our data and those of others [1, 6, 20, 23], we believe that rodents and bovines, living in close vicinity of humans, form two infection reservoirs in the Divisional Secretariat of Mirigama and beyond. The identification of the same serovar in both human patients and in suspected reservoir hosts would be needed for direct evidence, and further research will focus on isolating leptospires from patient and animals enabling detailed typing of the infecting serovars, and the identification of other potential reservoir animals.
PCR:
microscopic agglutination test
EDTA:
ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
PBS:
phosphate buffered saline
DNA:
RNA:
ribonucleic acid
dNTPs:
deoxynucleotide triphosphates
melting temperature
threshold cycle
Medical Research Institute
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DTHD, NVC, WA, RAH and MH conceived the study. DTHD and MH designed the study protocol. DTHD carried out the laboratory assays and drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript and read and approved the final version. DTHD, NVC, MH and RAH are guarantors of the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA/TC/SRL 5-042) and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB/CRP/SRI 8/02) are gratefully acknowledged for technical co-operation and financial assistance respectively. WHO/FAO Collaborating Centre on Leptospirosis, Meibergdreef 39, Amsterdam, Netherlands is also gratefully acknowledged for supplying reference samples and standard samples.
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.
Ethical approval (ERC 670/12) for this study was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Permission was obtained from the Regional Director and Epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health to collect epidemiological data and animal samples. Informed written consent was obtained from owners of cattle and land to place the live traps for collecting rodents before collecting samples from animals.
Molecular Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, P.O. Box 06, Ragama, Sri Lanka
D. T. H. Denipitiya, W. Abeyewickreme & M. D. Hapugoda
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
D. T. H. Denipitiya & N. V. Chandrasekharan
WHO/FAO/OIE Collaborating Centre on Leptospirosis, KIT Biomedical Research, Meibergdreef 39, Amsterdam, Netherlands
R. A. Hartskeerl
D. T. H. Denipitiya
N. V. Chandrasekharan
W. Abeyewickreme
M. D. Hapugoda
Correspondence to M. D. Hapugoda.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Denipitiya, D.T.H., Chandrasekharan, N.V., Abeyewickreme, W. et al. Identification of cattle, buffaloes and rodents as reservoir animals of Leptospira in the District of Gampaha, Sri Lanka. BMC Res Notes 10, 134 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-017-2457-4
Reservoir animals


As robots are deployed to dynamic, uncertain environments, their ability to discern key aspects of their environment and recover from errors becomes paramount. In particular, tip-over events can potentially end or substantially disrupt mission performance and jeopardize asset recovery. To facilitate recovery from tip-over events (i.e. self-righting), the robot should be able to discern the ground angle on which it lies even when it is not in its preferred upright orientation. In this paper, we present a methodology for determining unknown ground angles using recursive Bayesian estimation. First, we briefly review our previous framework for autonomous self-righting, which we use to generate conformation space maps correlating stable robot configurations and orientations on various ground angles. Using these maps, we compare sensor orientation to predicted orientation for the robot configuration on all mapped ground angles. We then compute the best fit ground angle and assign it a confidence level based on filters such as predicted stability margin and measured rate of orientation change. We compare ground angle prediction error as a function of time using a variety of methods, and show a sensitivity analysis comparing accuracy as a function of the discretization of the ground angle dimension of the conformation space map. Finally, we demonstrate a physical robot's ability to self-right on unknown ground using this methodology.


After two decades of quietly designing select luxury residences, the secret is out thanks to publications like The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Several Page employees have been leveraging their passion for residential design and are now placing examples of their work online for all to see.
Page is officially announcing that Senior Principal Larry Speck, Principal Wendy Dunnam Tita and Designer Justin Sabatini are the key members of Houses, a niche Page market for the design and renovation of luxury single family and condominium residences. Over the years, they have specialized in unique design features and challenging project sites.
By launching a boutique website at pagehouses.com, the team will bring its national portfolio to a wider audience of potential homeowners and developers. The site will include projects featured in Architectural Digest such as House on Turtle Creek and The New York Times such as the Torcasso Residence. Another project, Concrete House, is highlighted in a forthcoming book currently in production on Texas houses.
The team includes Larry Speck, an award-winning architect and educator, who considers the impact that residences have on people's lives. Wendy Dunnam Tita is an interior architect who meets clients' needs and goals with creative, elegant solutions that include final details such as furnishings and artwork. Justin Sabatini brings his artistic skills to bear on his architectural process, carefully considering the interaction between houses with their owners and their environments.
Collectively, the design team has over 50 years of experience in creating and implementing visions for new houses as well as bringing the spirit of older homes into today's technological world through thoughtful renovations. Three residences are currently in the design process and the Page Houses team continues to accept select commissions.


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November 15, 2018 |	by Deirdre Byrne
Montgomery County Men Honored for Heroic Efforts during Two Separate Dog Attacks
Montgomery County Police Animal Services Division honored two community members, Lucas Burger and Jorge Quintanilla, for their life saving efforts in two separate dog attacks. The men were presented with Montgomery County Police "Chief's Certificates of Appreciation" at the Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center in Derwood on Friday, Nov. 9.
Lucas Burger Rescues Bethesda Couple
Burger's award came for his efforts in helping save the lives of Francisco Gonzalez, Sandra Dembski (Gonzalez's wife), and Yuki, their Japanese Spitz dog.
The attack occurred on May 15 in Bethesda. Gonzalez was with Yuki in his front yard, when two pit-bulls entered the property and started attacking them. The pit-bulls knocked down Gonzalez and bit him repeatedly. Dembski heard the commotion outside, and started screaming for help.
Burger happened to be in the neighborhood driving in his work truck, when he heard Dembski's screams. He pulled over, grabbed a broom out of his truck, and charged at the pit-bulls who were attacking Gonzalez and Yuki.
"I started hitting the dog that was attacking Yuki as hard as I could in the face, until the dog let go of Yuki," said Burger. "At that time the [second pit-bull] came around and actually squared up with me and tried to attack me."
But the second pit-bull backed off of Burger quickly.
"I guess the dog realized I was dominant at the time because I was fending him off," said Burger."
Then, one of the pit-bulls headed toward Dembski. At that point, Burger chased after the dog until Gonzalez, Dembski, and Yuki made it safely inside.
"I could have been injured as well. It was a scary situation but I figured any help would help," said Burger.
When Burger earned his Chief's Certificates of Appreciation, Gonzalez, Dembski and Yuki were in attendance.
Gonzalez publicly thanked Burger on behalf of his family.
"I've been in dangerous situations both by serving in the military and in the foreign service, but I've never been in a situation where I thought I was going to die," said Gonzales. "Were it not for Lucas, I would have died, and so would Yuki–and certainly [my wife would have faced more danger]. So we are really, really, amazed and thankful for Lucas."
Jorge Quintanilla Rescues Adiel Salazar
Jorge Quintanilla earned his award for saving Adiel Salazar's life. On July 21, Salazar was working near Quince Orchard Road, helping a Gaithersburg resident fix a leaky gutter.
The resident had two pit-bulls chained up outside. Salazar, who's afraid of pit-bulls, asked the owner to bring the dogs inside, but the owner refused.
"I've seen a lot of attacks on the news where [pit-bulls] turn on their owners, [so] I've always been afraid of that type of breed," said Salazar.
Because the owner refused, Salazar started walking to his work van to get away from the dogs. However, before he got to his van, the two pit-bulls broke free of their chains and began to attack.
He started screaming as he ran down the driveway. The two pitbulls chased Salazar, biting his arms, legs and body. By the time Salazar reached the street, one of the dogs was hanging from his arm.
Quintanilla noticed the attack as he was driving by in his pickup truck. He pulled over, jumped out of his truck, and grabbed a stick, which he used to pry the dog off of Salazar's arm.
Once the dog released its grip, the two men retreated to their respective trucks before the pit-bulls could continue attacking them.
Tom Koenig, the director of Montgomery County Animal Services Division described the physical aftermath of the attack for Salazar. He said that by the time police arrived at the scene, Salazar's "arm was split open, his bone was exposed, and his legs looked like he had been stabbed multiple times."
When Salazar was transported to Shady Grove Hospital, they told him he was lucky to be alive in that moment, and he probably wouldn't make it. So to help him receive more care, Salazar was transferred to Suburban Hospital.
"I'm still recovering and I'm still having issues with my legs," said Salazar. "It's going to take at least a year for me to fully recover."
As his wounds continue to heal, Salazar remains grateful for the help he received from first responders, doctors, and Quintanilla.
"I'm just glad that I was there at the right time, and I believe everything is because it was God's willing I was there, because I'm not supposed to drive in that area," said Quintanilla.
Media From The Event
Today @mcpnews honored two heroes who saved their fellow Montgomery County citizens in two separate pitbull attacks. I am at the @mcasac in Derwood. pic.twitter.com/ILBH16ll7L
— Deirdre Byrne (@DeirdreByrneMCM) November 9, 2018
As a veteran, Gonzales has been in dangerous situations before, but next did he expect a dog attack.
Francisco Gonzales thanks Lucas Berger for saving saving his life. pic.twitter.com/rtyfMioDsA
In July 2018, Adiel Salazar has been attacked during work in Gaithersburg. He was providing gutter repair to a resident and he asked the resident to put his tethered pit-bull inside; the resident refused to and his two pit-bulls broke free. pic.twitter.com/thKkhUs0rW
After the ceremony, Sandra Dembski reflected on the incident: "Having Lucas here, being like Superman… it's just wonderful that the county is recognizing the work of the people who live here. When you see one person helping another person it's something to aspire to." pic.twitter.com/Px8hbbt5xh
About Deirdre Byrne
Deirdre Byrne is a social media coordinator for Montgomery Community Media. She can be reached at dbyrne@mymcmedia.org or on twitter at @DeirdreByrneMCM.
View all posts by Deirdre Byrne
Gaithersburg bethesda award ceremony pit-bulls derwood Shady Grove Hospital quince orchard road dog attack montgomery county animal services and adoption center Tom Koenig thomas koenig Montgomery County Police Animal Services Division Lucas Burger Jorge Quintanilla Chief's Certificates of Appreciation quince orchard rd Yuki japanese spitz Fansisco Gonzalez Sandra Dembski pit-bull attack Adiel Salazar

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There is nothing quite like the freedom you feel when you have your own vehicle. You have the country as you choose. This also means that it could break down at bad times and leave you stranded somewhere.These tips should help you for such a situation.
This certification guarantees that a mechanic has passed a special test for competence and has at least two years of experience. This ensures that you have an expert working on your car.
You don't have to get a mechanic in for your car troubles. There are a few things that you can be fixed quite easily. If it is not a very difficult job, attending to the repair yourself could save a considerable amount of money.
You should wash your car to keep the rust away. All cars are going to rust, but the process can be delayed considerably by washing off any chemicals or salt immediately. Use a decent wax to protect your paint job as much as possible.
Make sure you specifically request OEM parts. These are parts that come directly from the manufacturer. Generic parts might be cheaper, but you don't know the quality of these parts as time goes on. What is a deal now can cost twice as much as buying OEM in the first place.
If your headlights don't seem very bright, check to see if they are clean. Clean theses with a glass cleaner.
Assemble an auto repair kit to keep in the trunk of your car. Your car came with equipment to change a tire. You will need to purchase a lug wrench and a jack if you do not have them. You should have a few screwdrivers with various shapes as well as different wrenches like for this kit.
Look at all lights on your dashboard and learn what they mean. These lights are meant to help alert you a good indication of when your vehicle needs some maintenance. Ignoring them for extended periods of time will not make the problem go away.
Be sure that you're reminding yourself of oil needs changing. You have to change it regularly get the oil changed to make sure your vehicle runs smoothly. If your oil is not changed on a regular basis, your car could stop working much earlier than expected.
Keep washing your car washed during the winter. Winter is when your car's exterior gets the most damage. Sand and salt can cause rust and corrosion.
Not that many people take time in reading their car's owner manual. You need to look through this manual and learn how to use it so you can locate useful information quickly. Your manual contains everything you need to know about maintaining your vehicle and doing minor repairs yourself.
When you have work done on your car, ask the mechanic to return the old one to you. If the mechanic is unwilling to do this, it may because he never replaced it in the first place. This is a definite red flag and you should be seen as a red flag and the person needs to be called out about it.
Keep track of all your mechanic receipts in an accordion folder in your car. You can sort them however you like as long as you know what is where.This is particularly valuable when it is time to sell your auto repair done to save money.
Ask your old parts given back to you. This is an excellent way of making sure the repairs have actually been replaced. This isn't particularly necessary for exhaust system changed.You can see whether a brand new exhaust system is installed.
Do not put regular water in the car's windshield wiper reservoir. The system needs windshield washer fluid, and water can easily damage the washer. Check the compartment frequently and refill it when you need. Do not insist when the compartment is empty.
This will help keep your car safe from mud and dirt. These are necessary during those winter and rainy seasons.
Modern cars are fitted with all kinds of sensors that can tell you if problems are detected. Sometimes the sensor has issues, so be sure to check your car manually every now and then to catch any problems.
Get auto repairs performed at a service station that has your manufacturer. Going to other dealers could void all or part of your warranty.
Seek a second opinion prior to committing to major repairs done on your car. The mechanic may be offended or offer a special price to do repairs right away, but be suspicious of this.
Don't buy into the theory that you need a tuneup at 10000 miles.This is a myth and model of your car. You would be better be served by adhering to the maintenance schedule recommended by the manufacturer of your car.
Not all auto repairs will cost large sums of money. Quite often you can repair your car yourself. The information you read in this article will help you to repair your car yourself.


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Species Vegetation
Species and traits Phytogeography and species distributions Vegetation Bibliography
Database of the Czech Flora and Vegetation
Critically revised data about Czech flora and vegetation prepared by Masaryk University, the Institute of Botany of The Czech Academy of Sciences and University of South Bohemia.
Search for species traits, distribution maps, pictures and other information.
Search for information about vegetation types, distribution maps and photos.
Identification of species and vegetation based on multiple criteria.
Download free datasets, e.g. species list of the Czech flora, Red List or species indicator values.
Pladias (Plant Diversity Analysis and Synthesis Centre) was a project funded by the Czech Science Foundation in 2014–2018. It integrated research capacities dealing with the diversity of temperate flora and vegetation from Masaryk University (Brno), Institute of Botany of The Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, in cooperation with many external specialists. An extensive database of critically revised data on Czech flora and vegetation, available at this web portal, was created as an infrastructure to support research within this project. It is continuously updated also after the end of the Pladias project.
The database focuses on native and naturalized flora occurring in the Czech Republic. Cultivated plants are not within the scope of the database, although the most commonly cultivated crops and woody plants are included.
The taxon concepts and nomenclature largely follow Danihelka J., Chrtek J. Jr. & Kaplan Z. (2012): Checklist of vascular plants of the Czech Republic. – Preslia 84: 647–811. The names of newly recorded and some other taxa follow the submitted manuscript of the second volume of Key to the Flora of the Czech Republic (Kaplan et al. 2019).
When using data from the web portal Pladias.cz, the source has to be referred to as "Pladias – Database of the Czech Flora and Vegetation, www.pladias.cz". When using species distribution data, the user also cites the article Wild J., Kaplan Z., Danihelka J., Petřík P., Chytrý M., Novotný P., Rohn M., Šulc V., Brůna J., Chobot K., Ekrt L., Holubová D., Knollová I., Kocián P., Štech M., Štěpánek J. & Zouhar V. (2019): Plant distribution data for the Czech Republic integrated in the Pladias database. – Preslia 91: 1–24. When using specific plant trait data, the user also cites the original sources referred to in the Pladias Database. When using texts or images that the Pladias Database has taken from published sources, the user only cites the published sources. When using images of plants or vegetation types from the Pladias Database website, the user quotes the author of the image and the source "www.pladias.cz".
Citation: Pladias. Database of the Czech flora and vegetation. www.pladias.cz
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A gang of robbers has burgled the mansion of one of the UK's richest men and stolen his wife's £1million jewellery collection.
The balaclava-wearing burglars snuck into the Cotswolds-home of biotech multi-millionaire Sir Christopher Evans OBE.
Sir Christopher was listed in 364th place in the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List.
When the robbery at the 30-room home happened on Monday evening, his wife Lady Anne Evans and her son Calum, 20, were still in the house.
Lady Anne, wife of the entrepreneur who worth £158 million, had her entire jewellery collection stolen.
CCTV footage shows the gang dressed in hoods and wearing surgical gloves, scaling a 7ft wall and gaining access via their conservatory.
The thieves were so skilled that they didn't even alert the family's five dogs and two parrots.
They nstole jewellery, silver and ceramics worth £1 million and stuffed them into log baskets and loaded them into a dark Audi S5.
It is believed they made their escape when Lady Anne took her dog Scooter for a walk.
She is now appealing for help to catch the criminals.
She said: 'They have wiped out my entire jewellery collection. It's serious money. There were hundreds of items and a lot of them were unbelievably special.
Handbags by Chanel and Gucci were also stolen, along with a pair of Wedgwood Fairyland vases, and a pear-shaped diamond ring from Boodle and Dunthorpe.
Lady Anne added: 'We believe they have headed off through the village towards Swindon. Anyone who is offered any of the items will know as they are very recognisable.
A Gloucestershire Constabulary spokesman said they are investigating the high-value crime.
They said: 'We were called at 10.05pm on July 9 to reports of a burglary at a property in Bibury.
'Offenders are thought to have entered the house at some point between 5pm and 8pm before conducting a search and leaving with items including jewellery.
'A dark coloured Audi S5 with four male occupants was seen in the area around the time of the burglary.
Christoper Evans runs Merlin Biosciences which manages investments in the biotechnology industry.
He was the founder of Chiroscience (now merged with Celltech), Celsis, Enzymatix, and over 20 other life sciences based companies during his career.
In the Sunday Times Rich List 2006, Evans was listed in 364th place with an estimated fortune of £158 million.


Last week, I shared my monthly self-publishing-focused post over at Janice Hardy's Fiction University, and this week kicks off a short series of monthly posts from Janice that she's sharing with us here. Yay!
This month's post from Janice focuses on planning. Specifically, she shares how knowing the ending of our story can help us plan the rest of the book.
We've discussed this technique before when figuring out the emotional arcs of our characters. Today, she's going to demonstrate how working backward can also help us figure out our story's plot, especially if we get stuck.
There are as many ways to write a novel as there are ideas to write about. Every writer has their own process and way of getting from page one to the end. And most of us will stumble during that process at least once during our careers.
Writing is a creative process, and sometimes we need to shake up how we do things to get the creative juices flowing again. A process that has always worked for us might utterly fail for a particular story.
If this happens to you, try approaching your novel from a different perspective. Skip ahead and figure out how your story ends to understand how it begins.
Stories are about people solving problems, so a story ends when that problem is resolved. If you're not sure what constitutes a win for your protagonist, or how she fixes and resolves her problem, then how can you plot toward it? It's no wonder you got stuck.
Luckily, you don't need to know every detail of how your story ends for this to work. A rough idea of what the problem is and generally how it will be resolved is usually enough to allow you to plot toward it.
If you know your protagonist is going to stop the alien invasion and save the world, you'd look at how that's going to happen.
What will my protagonist physically do to stop the invasion?
How is the invasion going to happen (what are the aliens doing to take over the world)?
How might the alien plan be thwarted?
How might my protagonist figure that out?
Once you have a basic understanding of how this problem works, you'll be able to work backward along the plot path.
Let's say (blatantly stealing from Independence Day) your protagonist is a skilled computer tech and designs a virus to disrupt the alien ships' shields so human weapons will reach them. All she needs to do is upload it into the mothership.
Of all of these steps, one stands out as a pretty clear plot point—getting to the mothership. If this doesn't happen, nothing can move forward.
How does the protagonist get to (or get the virus to) the mothership?
Any of these could work, but let's go with stealing an alien ship. You've already established that these ships have shields, so getting one is going to be a challenge. You'd have multiple obstacles to overcome, and any of them could be a strong goal and plot point.
Each of these can spawn several options and things to try. You can even work in subplots at this point.
Maybe the only pilot she knows who's willing to try this crazy plan is an ex-husband she never got over (or who never got over her–awkward).
Maybe there's a government program the crazy gal she met in chapter three used to belong to, or knows about in some way. But to get her to help, the protagonist has to risk something even worse than alien enslavement.
See how easy it is to come up with potential ideas and plot points? Naturally, not every idea will be worth pursuing, but you can brainstorm as much as you'd like.
If figuring out two or three major moments near the end is all you need, just do that. If you're having fun and want to plot all the way back to page one, go for it. Adapt this technique to your process and make it work for you.
For some writers, just having a better sense of what the story problem is will get them past their sticking points and back to writing. Other writers will have a blast working backward and coming up with all kinds of ideas they'd never have thought of otherwise.
Knowing where you're going is sometimes all it takes to find the right path to getting there.
Looking for tips on writing your novel?
Check out my book Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a series of self-guided workshops that help you turn your idea into a novel, and the just-released companion guide, the Planning Your Novel Workbook.
Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy and the Foundations of Fiction series, including Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook, and the upcoming Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft.
She's also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.
I often don't know how my characters are going to get out of the jam I write them into until I get there. But thinking about this process, I can still take what I do know to help me work backward.
Are they coming into the showdown with injuries or other obstacles (kidnapped, sneaking around, ticking clock, etc.)?
Who's present at the big confrontation?
Each detail we do know can help us work backward toward our ending. We'd know that we need to set up those obstacles and get all the characters into the right place at the right time.
Will we end with a cliffhanger or hooks to future stories?
Are there multiple antagonists to overcome?
At what point are the subplots wrapped up? Do they tie into the ending of the main plot?
How will the plot echo or involve the characters' false belief, fear, or wound?
How do you like to plot (or are you a pantser)? Have you ever plotted the ending first? What works or doesn't work for you with this technique? Is it easier for you to work forward when plotting (A causes B) or backward (what would cause B to happen)? Do you think this technique might help if you get stuck?
Ask Jami: Why Isn't There One Right Way to Write?
Great advice. I usually get about 10k words into a manuscript before I have to figure out the end to move on. One thing that helps me when I get stuck is reading a random post or two from my favorite writing blogs. 😉 It almost always kicks my muse awake.
I do the same thing (the blog posts). Re-reading my favorite books works, too.
Having a direction is definitely a plus!
I've always found it easier to start at the end, so to speak. I like knowing where I'm going even though I'm a pantser at heart. Appreciate the good advice.
Most welcome. I'd imagine it would be very helpful to pantsers.
Thanks for a timely post, Janice. I'll use it to revisit my WIP. Sometimes I get stuck because I can visualize too many ways to end the story ( I think I'm a "plotting pantser" who gets lost in too many rabbitholes).
That would be challenging. One thing you might try, is to see how all your ending options resolve your protagonist's goal. Odds are she'll have one main problem she's been dealing with all book, and whichever ending best resolves that problem is probably your best ending.
I've though of this before, working backwards. But you identified a few simple steps to make it logical and easy. Thanks.
I always start off with some idea of a resolution. But in my current work in progress, what I thought would be the resolution happened in chapter 11. It left my characters with a new problem, but I haven't figured out how to resolve the new problem.
Ooo, that sounds rough. If the ending happened that quickly, there's a good chance either that's not the right ending, or you really have a novella instead of a novel.
You might try looking back at your beginning and see if the story problem is what you think it is (sometimes they change as we write). Maybe there's a bigger issue at hand and the chapter 11 resolution is only the first part. Or maybe there's another aspect you didn't explore that would flesh out the book.
I usually think I know where I'm going, it's mapping the route that takes surprising twists and turns.
This is great advice for me right now. I'm plotting a new MS and have a whole – um, how do I do that, type conversation in my head. I'll try this!
Hope it works for you! If you're still stuck, try looking at the major turning points first and get a rough idea sketched out, then focus on the specifics between those points. Sometimes it helps to look at the bigger picture first to provide a framework for the plot, then you can flesh that framework out.
Loving the blog tour, Janice. Got to visit an undiscovered site, and now at Jami's feeling comfy and at home.
I have very defined characters and know exactly where I want them all to be on the last page. Many revisions on beginning, midpoint and climax, and all the stops in between – but the last page never changes.
Thanks! Glad you found someone new 🙂 I'm fortunate to be visiting some amazing blogs n this tour.
Nice. I bet that's very helpful (and sometimes frustrating, hehe) during your first draft. Whenever you get stuck or lost, you can check your "map" and get back on track.
I like the idea of skipping ahead and writing the ending as a way to help get unstuck. Usually, I just slog my way through and end up having to do major revisions in that "stuck" section. Thanks for the suggestion.
Most welcome. I have a friend who writes out of order, and you might consider that as well. If one scene stumps you, skip ahead to the next scene and continue on. Either you figure out how to fix that section, or you realize you don't need it.
Thanks for the great suggestion. I sometimes find that when I'm writing forward, my characters have so many potential choices that it's overwhelming. Knowing where they're going should make it easier to make those choices.
It works for me 🙂 Just having a direction to aim at helps narrow down the possibilities to a manageable number.
This is a tim lay post for my current WIP. I am also a plotting pantster and having no idea how the novel would end meant I had no direction or too many directions to go in! Having a finite point will definitely help. Jami and Janice, thank you for sharing your writing wisdom.
Most welcome, and I hope it serves you well.
I'm a pantster working my way to plotter. Each mss seems to be a different process. I write contemporary romance so I know my ending will be a HEA, I'm just not sure how the H/h will get back together. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll work through them.
If you haven't tried it yet, you might consider a very basic three-point structure. Not a lot of outlining so it shouldn't mess up your pantsing style, but just enough to guide you so you stay focused.
Yes, I've read that post and the links in it a few months ago. It's helped, thanks.
I never start writing until I know how my novel's going to end–therein lies madness. But then, I'm a plotter. Back in the day, I started several stories without knowing how they would finish, and wouldn't you know it–I never finished them.
I'm that way now, but I started out the opposite (I guess I still do, actually). I can't write a book until I have the right opening scene and first line. I used to just wing my endings, but after several messes (and the madness) I realized I needed to know more.
Janice, this is great. I've worked backwards before, but never with such a clear definition. I've been reading your blog for a long time, but don't ever comment. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Jami. Another great post.
Thanks, glad it was helpful. A little guidance and direction can be quite useful to keep us focused.
Thanks! Great advice for a pantser working on becoming a plotter!
Most welcome. You can still hold onto your pantser roots. A little plotting and planning might be enough to keep you on track and still give you the freedom to write organically.
This is so helpful. I often write a few scenes at the beginning, then write the climax. It helps me know what I'm aiming for.
And I also write like Jenny Hansen — a scene here, there, and so on, and then pull it all together at the end. Like putting together a crossword puzzle, and, just like that, I need to know what the final picture is going to be.
Another scene-sewer! I've been seeing more and more of you guys. It's so cool to see so many with so many different processes.
Thanks for the great advice. I'm brainstorming a story now and stuck. I'll try this.
This is so helpful. I have a WIP that I had temporarily parked for my own sanity and the safety of those around me. I always had the ending, but the gigantic space between start and finish was a minefield for me.
My focus was on creating all these fascinating scenes, not on the problem or the resolution, and somewhere along the way I missed the point that the middle is what weaves it all together. Of course nothing worked, how could it? I can't wait to dust it off and apply this process to it, thank you!
Most welcome! I'm so happy this helped you. I hope it gets that story back on track and you can finally get it written.
So, if I understand thing correctly, is it a matter of just knowing your ending, or should you actually write the ending? The reason I ask is because I've often heard you should never write the ending; however, as a pantser, I almost feel that it might work better that way = hence why I absolutely love this article. Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer me.


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Steph Curry's Warriors: Nate Robinson teammates are rated
During his time with Golden State WarriorsSteve Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one match. Some have played exactly one game, while others have played in the hundreds. Some never actually played a game that Curry was active for, while others formed major historical partnerships with him.
And I'm ranking all 106 of them before starting a new season and adding to the tally. Better to move.
Players are ranked – and stats appear – based solely on their time on Curry's team. It doesn't matter how good / bad they are in other organizations. How good / bad it was in the pre-2009-10 the Warriors Difference does not matter.
# 28 – Nate Robinson
Photo by Ezra Shaw / Getty Images
Toys: 51 (49 of 106)
Points for each game: 11.2 (19 of 106)
Rebound per match: 2.0 (T-70 of 106)
The decisive passes for each match: 4.5 (7th of 106)
For a while, let's try and forget our latest memory of Nate Robinson, as he's face down on the canvas in a boxing match after fighting a morally deformed YouTuber in a fight that's punished for God knows Financial reasons.
Instead, let's go back to the 2011-12 season, when Robinson would fit in with the Warriors – one of the eight teams he would have played with in his NBA career.
Dubs weren't a good team yet – they went 23-43 in the abbreviated season – but they were all fun with Steve Curry, Monta Ellis, Clay ThompsonDavid Lee and Nate Rob.
Robinson will still be remembered for his amazing heroism despite being 5'9 ", and for his charisma and stage. But during his tenure at the Warriors, he was also, quite simply, a good basketball player. He averaged double numbers despite being knocked off the bench, and they were His stats per 36 minutes 17.2 points and 7.0 assists He was a decent shooter from city center, with an impressive assist rate.
Advanced stats paint Robinson as a player who made the Warriors' attack noticeably better. We'll remember him a lot for being fun, but we shouldn't forget that he was good too.
With fewer than 30 players left, I'll start listing the remaining names in alphabetical order, to help determine if someone is ranked correctly. here they are:
Kelena Azubwick, Leandro Barbosa, Harrison Barnes, Jordan Bell, Andrew Bogot, Willie Collie-Stein, Marquis Chris, De Marcus Cousins, Kevin Durant, Monta Ellis, Dreamond Green, Andre Iguodala, Jarrett Jack, Damion Lee, David Lee, Jeremy Lynn , Sean Livingston, Kevon Looney, Cory Maggett, Javille McGee, Zaza Pachulia, Eric Paschal, Dr. Angelo Russell, Clay Thompson, David West, Andrew Wiggins, Dorrell Wright
What do you think about Nate Robinson's ranking?
It was better than # 28
# 28 About right
It was worse than # 28
40 votes total
READ No soccer for Southern and Grambling Condition in 2020, SWAC to terminate tumble sporting activities
United States of America. Trump leaves the presidency with the lowest approval rating of his entire term


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Contributing to recent debates on the theory of the resource curse and extractive capitalism, this talk explores the role of the devil in populist discourse in Venezuela and its relationship to subaltern consciousness. Showing how rural subalterns and state elites deploy images drawn from local folklore as part of ongoing political struggles, I argue these 'spectres' effectively mediate the tensions of the transition from a resource economy to a more productivist model of growth. The talk concludes with some thoughts on ethnographic reflexivity and materialist theories of culture.


David Calle and technology, or how to be an Unicoos teacher.
Remember who taught you how to write? And to read? And to add or multiply with a little song that you still sing today to remember how much is 9×6?
We all have a face to mind, a person who, with his commitment every day, managed to get us into the mollera one of the best treasures we can have: KNOWLEDGE.
Today is their day, the day of all teachers, of all TEACHERS.
As pointed out in the article of Ana Mañá Blanco published in the newspaper El País, Unesco decided to set a day to look back, to remember where we came from, so that we would recognize the merit of those who taught us how to build.
Building, growing, innovating, creating… are verbs that today are the order of the day in the world of work for which they, the teachers that we have had over the years, were preparing us.
In #TheNowFamily we wanted to count on what could be one of the best teachers in Spain and the world, David Calle. Creator of unicoos. com, an online portal where you can receive lessons in various science subjects (mathematics is his strong suit) free of charge. We all know that math is a tough bone to crack for many people.
David Calle opened a Youtube channel (by his wife's advice) in which he uploaded the videos with his explanations. After the success of those publications on youtube, some of which have more than 1 million views, Unicoos. com is the result.
Due to this success he was selected last year for the Global Teacher Prize "Oscars" of the teaching, remaining among the 10 finalists. His students number in the millions and he has never set foot in the classroom of a school or an institute, at least as a teacher.
Its place is online, technological and web. Times are changing and now demand a greater interaction with technology on the part of teachers and students.
That is why we wanted to ask him, among other things, where education is going with the technological world we live.
In the interviews we've seen you do, you say:"Technology can't replace the teacher, but it can add a lot to his work". There's a lot on YouTube but what do you miss? What device, software, concept, idea, etc…. would it be necessary to translate into technology?
Indeed, at present and until a "supertechnology" of AI is developed that, among other things, evaluates knowledge, predicts the students' vocation, aptitude and attitudes, as well as values the emotional state of a student, teachers are irreplaceable, and that no technology or machine can ever supplant or supplement a personal relationship, because the word itself indicates "person-l". That said, technology, in whatever form, is a tool that multiplies (if used correctly) what learners learn, the speed with which they learn it, even how long it will be remembered and how they can use that knowledge. Videos, augmented reality, applications, video games… Everything is good if it's to get students more connected and involved with what they learn in class and become protragonists in some way.
From a professional and technological point of view, both of them respond to a series of needs and requirements, so both are necessary. From a personal point of view, the first thing we studied to use it in Unicoos is free software.
Do we abandon the use of paper completely?
From our point of view, the use of paper should be considerably reduced (if the source is trees) although we all know that there are substitutes that can be used, and therefore we should not abandon their use, several reasons from the most "romantic" as it is that handwriting itself would be an art that all students should control fluently; even the most practical is that having certain things on paper; written is one of the best backups that can exist. Having said that, personally, I advocate abandoning books as a study tool to free our students' backpacks of weight and considerably reduce the economic impact on their families year after year.
All of us who are 30,40 and 50 years old today have learned by teaching without any kind of technology, and we have learned. In another interview we heard you say to a student that you were not better than your teacher, but that your teacher didn't pay attention to you and that you could "rewind" and see as many times as you wanted. To what extent have the boys and girls of today lost their attention and motivation? and to what extent is the teacher's problem and how to explain it?
It is not that it is the boys or girls of today who have lost attention or motivation, more or less than previous generations, what have changed are the "distractions", the inputs they receive. For example, when I was a little boy, if you loved football or basketball, the distraction was a ball and playing a couple of hours with your friends. Now, what takes up our students' time are the social networks, which can consume a great deal of their free time. And that affects classroom work very much because students are unable to relate to what they study with the world around them and are passionate about, disconnected and confronted with two completely different worlds on a daily basis: what happens in class and what happens outside. That's why we must try to adapt the class dynamics to the society they live in, trying to deal with these distractions and even know how to use them to engage the student in learning.
As Francisco Albarello says,"based on availability and ubiquitous access, technologies create the idea that learning requires no effort. However, it seems to be the other way around: an additional effort must be made to get out of that comfort,"to develop skills in reading, validation, searching and checking information". before? Or did the need make us more workers?
As I mentioned earlier, each generation has a different environment that requires a different way of doing things, what we cannot do is try to continue applying the same type of training, with the same methodologies and dynamics that were used when there was no internet, computers or smartphones, to the present and future generations. The formative system must be constantly adapted and evolved, of course we know that we are working on it, but unfortunately our feeling is that we always go a little behind and gaps occur in the form of generations of children with high percentages of frustration in their learning.
Another question is whether we are not overexposed to so much technology even in things that we should still be the ones to do,"with our hands. digital technology has overpopulated teaching and learning processes with information and data, and this can be a problem or a great opportunity. When does the use of technology become addiction?
Based on the above, from our point of view in Unicoos and always being very cautious and speaking in the field of learning, speaking in terms of addiction would be disproportionate, technology is a tool, which can be used more or less to achieve the objectives, another thing is how the children use it and for what (this is where you have to focus), but you cannot talk about addiction, it is the time that "has touched them". I would equate it to the time when learning was democratized and all children had to attend school to learn to read and write using paper and pencil. Everyone started using it, but no one was talking about addiction to paper, reading or writing.
The use of ICT in the classroom also puts teacher training in debate: Fernando Avendaño (author of the book Written Culture is no longer what it used to be. Reading, writing, technology and school, edited by Homo Sapiens) ensures that it is important that future teachers "prepare themselves to teach with technology by making technology" and that, in their training,"they can propose appropriate applications that respond to the needs of specific contexts". What tools, in your opinion, should teachers use, which nowadays it is strange that they should use?
The answer is technology, there are thousands of different technological tools for every need. For us, technology is valid for all fields and subjects, but it can clearly be used to a greater or lesser extent in some subjects and in others (for example, if a boy is currently evaluated his physical condition at the beginning of the course in the subject of "physical education" can only be done with a few physical tests, but the teacher can use technological tools to better monitor during the year of the student's evolution and recommend specific exercises).
In Finland, for example, learning through neuroscience was renewed. The children have virtually no homework, no more than 4 hours of education and a lot of leisure time. The main aim is to encourage children to want to learn. Experts say that during their free time they can better develop their skills and abilities. Do you agree with this statement?
There is no doubt that if results are being achieved it is because in some way it has been "hit with the key" for children in Finland and its specific casuistry. Unfortunately, however, we cannot "copy" systems from other countries and places because our society (by talking about Spain), the environment of our students, are not the same and therefore we cannot do things the same. We must work to analyze and define methodologies, tools and dynamics that we can use and implement in our daily lives. As an example in Unicoos we are trying to do our bit by helping training entities to incorporate the Flipped Clasroom methodology in their classes.
Teacher and pedagogue Nancie Atwell has been the winner of the Global Teacher Prize, the so-called "Nobel" of teachers explaining the need to convert children into protagonists of their learning and bets on giving them freedom to choose their own ways. Nancie believes that only then will they remain motivated and interested in knowledge. What can we offer children, what technologies make learning easier, especially the "hard" mathematics?
We must offer them an educational system appropriate to their time, their environment, the society in which they live, their passions. And prepare them for the new opportunities and professions they will have to pursue (some yet to be invented). To do this we must study how to apply different methodologies, dynamics and technological tools with a single objective:; that everyone can get the best out of themselves and nobody stays on the road because one day they did not understand a derivative or their learning rhythm is different from the rest.
There are currently some foundations and organizations that seem to support other means and systems of education and, above all, support the attitude of teachers and teachers who want to change the world. Have you ever participated in any of the Telefónica EDUkits?
In my case, since my nomination in the Top 10 in the Global Teacher Prize, I collaborate with the Varkey Foundation and other teachers trying to give different answers to the problems of always. Recently we also collaborated altruistically with Fundacion A3Media in a spot that pointed out the importance of being a teacher and encouraged the teaching profession. At the same time, we are currently working with other public and private institutions on some projects that have yet to be defined, in order to highlight this wonderful profession.


So I when I saw the Challenge to get the "Sole Survivor" pistol I had mixed feelings. How am I going to complete 20 events in the most toxic wasteland there is, I can't bring my main character cause even with the 800 stash limit I still have a bunch of resources on my char. So I change to my 9 lvl pistol build character and log into Survival.
As I spawn, I look around to see where I am, instantly crouching. My camp is at the bridge between Sunshine Meadows and Hillbilly Hotdogs, where I can build under the bridge for a true Survival feeling, so this is where I spawn, I transfer all my junk in the stash and as well as all of the aid but a few stimpaks, radaways, food and water. "Let's claim the Sunshine Meadows farm workshop, to see if the defends counts as an event" I walk there slowly, I know it's a huge map and only 24 players in but it still felt like everyone was there to kill me, especially when there was one guy getting kill after kill after kill. I noticed he was just having his friend feed him, it was a kill every 30 seconds, he had 24 kills in 10 minutes since I logged in.
The workshop is unclaimed, I pay the fee to claim it, hiding in a corner. After it's captured I stay still, waiting for the defense event to start. As the event starts, a 82lvl player in power armor approaches "ok I'm done" I think as I walk backwards while looking at him. He flashes the Thumbs Up emote, "I guess I got nothing to lose" I stay and he invited me to the team. I realised he just wanted to do the events too. So i keep following him, doing some solo events.
One of the events was about defending an airport, close to Charleston, I fast travel there and there's turrets everywhere, taking me down. I didn't even touch anything. I fast travel again to pick up my stuff, which the workshop owner didn't pick up. I see him taking his turrets down, so I can walk in without getting killed. It surprised me tbh.
Read: I haven't been so addicted to a game in a while.
Then we move on to "Path to Enlightment", we are about 3 minutes in when I here sheep sounds, "is this the Sheepquatch?", ofc not, it's just a lvl 150+ player running around in a sheep mask, making sheep sounds with the mic open, "wow, survival sure is deadly" I think. We finish the event and we instantly travel to the Morgantown airport for the event there, it's already 80% over, so it completed as we arrive. I see my friend travel to his camp while I stay there. I stay still as I check my phone for a while, before I knew it, a guy who was also doing the Morgantown Airport event shoots and kills me, picks my stuff and travels away so I that I have no chance to get my revenge, there is no way I can get revenge.
I travel to hillibily hotdogs so I can walk to my camp. There is a guy by the side of the bridge, crouching over my camp, looks like he's camping for the camp owner(me), i crouch behind him, hes not moving. "Should I kill him? He's not even looking, it's not fair. Doesn't matter he's camping to kill me", so I vats on his head with my best pistol and start shooting as my heart beats fast. Everything collapses when I see the worst message I could see at the time "Pacifist mode is on". SCREW ME!, The guy turns around and two shots me(he was just 22 lvl). "Well I guess I deserved that"
All in all, it was a fun experience, besides some 16yo having fun with killing me while I am afk looking at the ground, and the inclusion of Pacifist mode in the Survival (which would have maybe netted me a kill if it wasn't enabled). It feels like a hostile wasteland, as it should be, but with people acting like they would fr. Some would be insecure enough to camp someone at his camp or kill him while he's not paying attention, while others would be willing to form relationships and work with others towards a common goal. I'm still at 9/20 events, hopefully I can finish the rest tomorrow.
I'm not great at transferring an experience through words, so thank you if you read it all.
© Post "My first time in Survival" for game Fallout.


In 1993 South African production companies were subjected to a large number of variables, some of which were not within the control of the company. The norm still is that all functional and technical issues should be resolved with the company's mission in mind. The classical approach that deems a company's mission to be stable is, however, less valid in a rapidly changing macrosituation. The system engineering approach to problem solving is ideal where there are many variables. It promotes a holistic approach, thus ensuring that all relevant factors are taken into account - including the company's vision and mission. The author believes that, in a rapidly changing South Africa, the assessment needs of an electronic network should be more closely linked to a company's strategic issues. A model that enables project teams to be well informed on these issues, mainly by using a system engineering approach, is proposed.


text:
Taroutyne (en ) ou Taroutino (en , en  ; en roumain : Tarutina) est une commune urbaine ukrainienne, chef-lieu du raion de Taroutyne de l'oblast d'Odessa, dans la région historique du Boudjak. Sa population s'élevait à  en 2021.

Géographie
Taroutyne est arrosée par la rivière Kohylnyk (Koguylnik ou Cogălnic), à  au sud-ouest de Berezyne (Berezino ou Bérésina) et à  à l'est de la frontière avec la Moldavie. Le climat est tempéré continental, avec des influences pontiques (« Dfb-Dfa » selon la classification de Köppen). La ville est à la limite entre les prairies à bosquets au nord, et la steppe pontique au sud.

Histoire
Taroutyne tient son nom de Taroutino en Russie, théâtre de la bataille de Winkowo, l'une des victoires en 1812 du tsar Alexandre sur l'Napoléon.

Après le Traité de Bucarest (1812) qui donna la Bessarabie à l'Empire russe, la localité a été fondée en 1814, par des colons germanophones originaires de Prusse et en majorité luthériens. Des Moldaves (Roumains), des Bulgares et une importante communauté juive les rejoignent à mesure que la ville se développe. En 1914, le chemin de fer dessert la localité. En 1917 elle fait partie de la république démocratique moldave, puis du royaume de Roumanie de 1918 à 1940 sous le nom de Tarutina. La population germanophone est transférée en 1940 vers l'Allemagne nazie selon les dispositions du pacte Molotov-Ribbentrop qui attribue Taroutino à l'URSS, au sein de laquelle elle est incluse dans la république socialiste soviétique d'Ukraine.

Après l'attaque allemande contre l'URSS (1941), la communauté juive est déportée par le régime fasciste roumain (1940-1944) en Transnistrie où la majorité périt par assassinats ou privations. En 1944, c'est le tour des roumanophones de subir la déportation, cette fois vers le Kazakhstan soviétique. En 1945, Taroutino est dépeuplée et en ruines ; après la guerre, elle sera repeuplée principalement de Russes et rattachée à l'oblast d'Akkerman-Izmaïl qui est inclus en 1954 dans l'oblast d'Odessa. Depuis la dislocation de l'URSS en 1991, Taroutyne est une ville de l'Ukraine indépendante.

Population
Le recensement de 2001 décompte  Taroutynois dont % russophones, % bulgarophones, % ukrainophones, % roumanophones (Moldaves) et % turcophones (Gagaouzes) :

Personnalités nées dans la commune
  (1928-2009) mathématicien israélien
  (1908-1981) mathématicien et cybernéticien soviétique
 Lucian Pintilie (1933-2018), metteur en scène (théâtre) et réalisateur (cinéma) roumain
  (1923-2006) historien roumain et israélien, expert biblique.

Références

Commune urbaine en Ukraine
Commune urbaine dans l'oblast d'Odessa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
<TITLE>Review for Dinosaur (2000)</TITLE>
<LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="/ramr.css">

Dinosaur (2000)

reviewed by
Jon Popick

PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"

Disney's annual kiddie-pic summer extravaganzas are usually pretty sure
things box-office-wise, but Dinosaur is a whole different story.  First,
the Mouse House bumped up its customary mid-June release date for the
weekend before Memorial Day.  Then they hired a screenwriter with an
extensive background in horror films to pen the story, which has
resulted in Dinosaur nabbing an un-Disney-esque `PG' rating (the same as
Woody Allen's film, which is being released the same day).  Oh, and
there's also the little issue of recouping the money it cost to make the
film, which has been rumored to be in the $150-200 million range (it
cost $80 million just to build the facility where the film was created).

Kids, of course, don't give a flying fig about a film's price tag.  What
they do care about is seeing cute, cuddly creatures with funny voices
and promotional tie-ins at fast-food chains and toys that they can get
their parents to buy simply by threatening to hold their breath until
they turn blue.  And I'm just not sure that Dinosaur is that film.  Like
Antz, the creatures in this film are downright unattractive, and if
Dinosaur pulls in numbers much higher than its CG animated predecessor,
you will literally be able to see heads rolling down South Buena Vista
Street.

Dinosaur begins with the breathtaking ten-minute minute journey of an
Iguanodon egg from its mother's nest to a tree inhabited by a tribe of
lemurs.  There's no dialogue for this segment of the film, which makes
it even more appealing as viewers will be able to fully concentrate on
the computer-generated creatures inserted over real backgrounds.  But
once the egg hatches, the ugly things start talking.  The head lemur,
Yar (Ossie Davis, Doctor Dolittle), sees the baby Aladar as a dangerous,
cold-blooded monster, but he eventually decides to raise him like a son.

Flash forward several years, where Aladar (D.B. Sweeney, Fox's cancelled
Harsh Realm) is now several times larger than even the largest lemur. He
watches sadly as the boy primates and girl primates practice mating
rituals, fully knowing that he'll never find one of his own to fall in
love with.  Then a meteor hits, and the world bursts into flames,
leaving Aladar and the surviving lemurs to flee through a Nam-like
flaming jungle, where they run into a herd of various plant-eating
dinosaurs looking for a new nesting ground.

Although Aladar has never even seen another dinosaur, he gets to
experience the full gamut of dealing with his own species, from
bureaucracy (butting heads with militaristic head dinosaur Kron), to
love (Kron's sister Neera [Julianna Margulies, ER]), to pity (by helping
older, slower dinosaurs Eema [Della Reese, Touched By An Angel] and
Baylene [Joan Plowright, Tea With Mussolini]), to fear (being stalked by
two blood-thirsty Carnotaurs).

Dinosaur will be way too scary for some young kids (several were howling
during my screening, and many families left early).  Maybe Disney
thought that the whole running-through-the-burning-forest thing would be
okay because they already did it in Bambi.  But here, it's more like
Hell on Earth.  And the Carnotaurs are a little too much.  Dinosaur was
co-directed by Ralph Zondag (We're Back!  A Dinosaur's Story) and
first-timer Eric Leighton, who previously worked as an animator on the
creepy films James & the Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before
Christmas.  The script was co-written by Robert Nelson Jacobs (Out to
Sea) and John Harrison, who is best known for his work in the horror
industry (Tales From the Crypt, Creepshow).

Thanks to the cost of producing a CG film, Dinosaur clocks in at a lean
eighty-two minutes and offers no superfluous plot.  The voice work is
merely adequate, with Marguiles, Sweeney and Alfre Woodard (Love &
Basketball) particularly unstriking.

1:22 - PG for intense images and violence

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rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).

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The booming dairy industry in the South Island is braced for a body blow that could hammer farm prices and hit many small businesses.
South Canterbury Finance faces receivership in the next 48 hours if it cannot convince the government to back a recapitalisation proposal now sitting before Treasury, sources say. And winding up founder Allan Hubbard's Aorangi Securities would trigger the forced sales of farms and push agricultural contractors and suppliers to the wall.
"It would put quite a dent in Canterbury farming," said Federated Farmers' Mid Canterbury Dairy chairman Frank Peters.
South Canterbury owns a third of New Zealand's biggest dairy farming group, Dairy Holdings, and Aorangi Securities has loans with 25 dairy farms. South Canterbury either owns or finances many Canterbury and Southland dairy farms, which have generated production growth for Fonterra.
Many agricultural contractors, equipment sales firms and other provincial businesses have loans from South Canterbury or Aorangi.
"If you took out a third of those farms it would knock out a fair bit of employment and knock land values down too," Peters said.
Cabinet is expected to consider the issue tomorrow and receivership is likely within the next day without further support from taxpayers.
The Timaru-based finance company has pledged to find a new investor to meet the conditions of a waiver on its trust deed by Tuesday.
South Canterbury's amended prospectus, which was suspended again on Friday, shows it had just $10.6 million on hand on Monday August 23, not enough to repay maturing debentures and interest for more than 10 days.
Standard and Poor's cut South Canterbury's rating to CC this month and a report by statutory manager Grant Thornton into the affairs of owner Allan Hubbard on Friday showed a financial empire in turmoil.
South Canterbury needs at least $200 million and the financial backing of the government, which has guaranteed more than $1.7 billion of debentures owed to more than 20,000 investors.
But the government paying out so much could force ratings agencies Standard and Poor's and Moody's to cut New Zealand's sovereign credit rating outlook.
Government sources have downplayed such a likelihood, given the government has already allowed for losses of up to $900 million from the Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
Companies linked to South Canterbury Finance include fruit packaging and storage company Scales Corp, New Zealand's largest helicopter company HNZ and Dairy Holdings, which supplies more than 1 per cent of Fonterra's production.
Hubbard said he did not believe the Government would come to the rescue.
Treasury was advising against taking responsibility for the company's dud debt, he said.


Celebrating the First Birthday of "A World with Little Worlds" with Music, Translations and Fun!
One year ago today, I decided to celebrate the anniversary of my college graduation by creating a new blog, celebrating my language journeys. One year later, after plenty of embarrassing moments, self-doubt, as well as mirth and fulfillment and euphoria, here I am, certain that I have made progress in some regard, although I have gotten better in many languages and forgotten many others.
To celebrate, I hereby present the BEST of the music that my language journeys have exposed me to this year. This was a very hard choice, and if I could have my way I could post entire albums here but that would probably result in a cease-and-desist letter.
I could very well provide these in an album form if this was another time, but it seems that in the world of streaming and many other media without physical components that it may not be necessary. Hence, this post!
Below is all of the music that I have selected. Some of it is from languages that I know well. Others from languages that I forgot completely.
sellest und nüüd vaid näen.
kuid seal ei ole sind.
et unustaksid sa oma maailma.
og náttin døpur, myrk og svørt.
stjørnan so blonk og bjørt.
seg otar fram í náttini.
tí Frelsarin nú føddur er.
til Hann sum kom at frelsa teg.
And, from Greenland. Asuki's "Halilu'lilah" is probably my favorite song to date.
In two days, this blog will celebrate its first birthday, and I recognize that for a handful of reasons I have not been updating this enterprise particularly well, although my own language adventures have been energized even more vigorously.
Throughout those adventures, I have noticed that there is a significant break between the languages that UNESCO notes as "Endangered" and those that it does not (and those listed as "Vulnerable" are on the borderline).
It is not about the number of speakers. Yiddish has more native speakers than Icelandic does, if you take into account all Yiddish dialects (UNESCO's atlas as well as its Red Book notes individual dialects—suffice it to say that the boundary between dialects and languages deserves another post). Faroese has more native speakers than Irish or Breton does, yet Faroese is only "Vunerable" whereas Irish is "definitely endangered" and Breton "severely endangered".
And before you ask, what the languages have in common in the title is NOT that they are endangered: Tok Pisin actually is not (for those curious, it has over 1 million native speakers , 4 million fluent speakers at least, as well as government support).
The fact that every single one of them has had their usage suppressed by a government. One significant horror story is that of Breton, which in 100 years went from the sole language of Brittany to being spoken by 10% of the population of the region natively…the quickest decline of a usage of any language that did not involve genocide.
The Celtic Languages in the United Kingdom, largely the poster children for Endangered languages in the Anglophone world (next to Yiddish), have similarly had their usage restricted or punished. Even now, there are some British politicians that deem the study and speaking of Celtic Languages as something tribalistic or even pagan.
To go outside Europe (but not far away from it), the story of Yiddish in Israel is well-known, deemed the language of the ghetto in the early days of the state to receiving state support in contemporary times. Israel was far from the only state suppressing the usage of Yiddish—the communist nations sought to integrate their populations into a single standard, and sometimes this vision involved "no minority languages" (although obviously this was notoriously inconsistently followed).
Now I get to answer the question at the beginning of the article: a lot of endangered languages (of which Tok Pisin is not, although it has this feature anyway) feature usage of components from various nations that have had an occupying presence or the like. In Irish, there is even a word for Irish that is influenced heavily by English: "Béarlachas" (the word for English is "Béarla").
Yiddish-speakers in a place like Boro Park will notice that there is also an excess of English words that is found in many Ultra-Orthodox communities, words like "blueberries" and "challenges" are taken direction without any changes in this jargon, although you would be hard-pressed to find the equivalent in anything as assigned reading in your Yiddish-class (such as from the Forvertz).
In Tok Pisin as well, there is a split component. English is a composite language (between Norman, Saxon, Norse, Celtic and Colonial influences) as is Yiddish (between Germanic, Slavic, Latinate, other local languages and the Holy Tongue), and Tok Pisin is as well. Like Irish and Yiddish, there are words used to indicate a version of the language with overt European influence. Except for in the case of Tok Pisin, using too many European loanwords can be construed as unbelievably offensive. Not surprisingly, this variety of the language is called "Tok Masta", which exists primarily in written text and, when it was spoken, was used primarily by condescending colonists in days of yore.
Not all languages that have this feature are endangered, but every endangered language that I have looked at does have a "purist" version as well as a version (or set thereof) that pays a significant amount of homage to the former rulers. The among of Norwegian words in a Northern Sami dictionary, for example, comes as a surprise to those not expecting the two to be related in any way. But when you consider history, it is not a surprise.
It isn't difficult to disagree or to say why. But yes.


text:
Q: Listpicker goes blank after setting setting selected index I have listpicker control in my wp7 app. And I want To Set Selected Index as per my needs. Lets Suppose I Have 100 items in my listpicker If I Set The selected index below 40 it goes well. But When I set Selected index above 50 it goes blank and UI not refreshed but on backend it shows correct item.
Sample Project : http://yaariyan.net/Test_Project.rar
In this project you can get

*

*All Source

*XAP file to test as well

*Steps To Reproduce

*Snapshot of Error
Just Play with my last two button you can easily reproduce issue.
I am using windows phone 7.1.1 SDK And Silverlight Took Kit November 2011 Version.
DLL is also in my folder That I am referring in my project

A: I have experienced the same issue. I'm afraid I can't come up with a solution yet, but I have narrowed down the problem a bit. I can verify that the problem seems to occur somewhere between SelectedIndex 40 and 50 (48 in my case).
What I did to narrow it down was to simply create a new WP solution, add two ListPicker controls to the MainPage.xaml view, plus a button. I add 50 strings to both lists through code and set the SelectedIndex to 0 on the first list and 50 on the second one.
The button does a simple switch of the SelectedIndex properties like this:
    private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        int tempindex = listPicker1.SelectedIndex;
        listPicker1.SelectedIndex = listPicker2.SelectedIndex;
        listPicker2.SelectedIndex = tempindex;
    }

I ran the project and ended up with this (the movie says it all, I think):
http://screencast.com/t/T6mZ7FEdUF

A: I solved your problem. What I did was, I binded the ListPicker Itemsource on the .xaml and not on the code behind and it worked perfectly.
this is the .xaml code edited in the file provided by you:
        <toolkit:ListPicker ItemsSource="{Binding LstCountry}" SelectedIndex="55" x:Name="listPickerCountrySignup" Height="72" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="14,43,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="436" FullModeHeader="Select Country" Background="White" BorderBrush="White" CacheMode="BitmapCache" >

.xaml.cs code
public partial class MainPage : PhoneApplicationPage, INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        // Constructor
        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            BindList();
            this.DataContext= this;
        }
    public class country
    {
        public int CountryID { get; set; }
    }

    public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;

    void NotifyPropertyChanged(String propertyName)
    {
        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
        if (null != handler)
        {
            handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
        }
    }

    List<country> _lstCountry;
    public List<country> LstCountry
    {
        get{return _lstCountry;}
        set{
            if(_lstCountry!=value)
            {
                _lstCountry = value;
                NotifyPropertyChanged("LstCountry");
            }
        }
    }
    void BindList()
    {
        LstCountry = new List<country>();

        for (int i = 0; i <= 100; i++)
        {
            LstCountry.Add(new country { CountryID = i });
        }
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        listPickerCountrySignup.SelectedIndex = 15;
    }

    private void button2_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        listPickerCountrySignup.SelectedIndex = 25;
    }

    private void button3_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        listPickerCountrySignup.SelectedIndex = 39;
    }

    private void button4_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        listPickerCountrySignup.SelectedIndex = 55;
    }

    private void button5_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        listPickerCountrySignup.SelectedIndex = 75;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I'm keeping up with the "30 Quilts in 60 Days" project, but everything else is falling behind!
I did manage to piece my November "Schnibbles Little Bites" quilt top, "Drop."
I used the mini-charms of "Marmalade" I bought on my October trip to Idaho. This quilt is an excellent example of what happens when the quilter is in a hurry and doesn't read the directions carefully. Yes, the size is correct. However: each row of triangles around the tiny little center square of each block is supposed to be from the same fabric. My first row is from four different fabrics, and so the "square in a square" design is lost. You'll just have to trust me when I say it looks better in person!
I am way, way behind on my "Block a Day" project for Autumn.
I thought the black-white-and-yellow jelly roll would work well for this project. But alas, again: the tessellating cross design doesn't show up because there isn't enough contrast. It will be a fun quilt, but . . . . AND I should have 70 blocks pieced by Saturday, and so far, I only have 27!
It's a good thing I'm happy with the quilting I've been doing this week! I'll show off the week's quilts on Finish it Up Friday.
In the meanwhile, have you completed the "Sold on Solids" survey here and commented to enter my giveaway? I'm collecting fat quarters of solids from various manufacturers to give away, and the bundle is getting bigger and bigger!
I do like the black and yellow - one of my favorite color combinations!!!
Your Schnibbles is cute too.
Oh my goodness! I am IN LOVE with the yellow and black! Yellow is my absolute favorite color.
I am loving solids too. Cant wait to see who gets the prize! Thank you for sharing!
Well they still look great - even if they are not what they are supposed to be - perhaps those black white yellow blocks that done have enough contrast can go on the outside and the stronger ones can go in the middle. You are still churning through things so its no wonder you cant keep up with every project!!


The title and cover was enough to tempt me, as the book seemed like a humorous story on the life of a surgeon. But after reading, it was more than that.
Occasionally, we can be guilty of only seeing what is happening in our own workplace and of not seeing the national or even international perspective. This book offers global perspectives and shows that although techniques and situations differ, universal similarities exist in theatre roles, specifically for surgeons.
Clinical and non-clinical contributions from surgeons from around the world, including from the author, describe starting and continuing a life working in theatre. The patient stories highlight real situations and are at times touching and even humbling.
From a nurse's perspective, particularly one who has worked in operating theatres, it would be too easy to say that this book simply offers the surgeon's side of the story. The book recognises complex training, experience, roles, hierarchies and working patterns within the theatre team.
However, there are some old fashioned views in the book, possibly to be expected when addressing historical personal recollections but I am not convinced the book needed a chapter entitled 'Female Surgeons'.
Even so, it was an easy read and a book that can be dipped in and out of.
Women are put off specialising in surgery because of concerns for a work-life balance.