High Fidelity Is Spending a Lot of Money to Entice New Users: Will the Strategy Work?
BINGO EXTREMO is back with an exciting 2019 update!
Everyone is a contestant at this VR game show with huge prizes and cash up for grabs.
The more contestants play, the bigger the prizes will be… so invite your friends. How BIG can you win? Prizes start at $350 but could go up to $1,200* every round, depending on the number of participants. Register for the event to get an extra $200 if you win.
Every round, you could win an Oculus Rift, HTC Vive HMD, or substitute prizes for cash*. Once you have a bingo, choose between the mystery doors for a randomized loot.
High Fidelity is best experienced in Virtual Reality. Join in Desktop mode and score a state-of-the-art VR system for your home, or choose to walk away with cash.
It would appear that High Fidelity is, for now, abandoning its monthly stress testing and replacing it with events with big cash prizes.
Now keep in mind that you can still withdraw your HFC winnings via the Bank of High Fidelity (the exchange rate is fixed at 100 HFC = 1 USD). Contrast this with Linden Lab, who recently announced that it would no longer allow prize and contest winnings of Sansar dollars to be exchanged into US dollars. They are forcing people with what they call "non-earned currency" to spend it all within Sansar.
Now, obviously, Philip Rosedale and his team at High Fidelity have decided that they are going to spend some money to build brand recognition. It remains to be seen, however, whether this strategy will pay off (pun intended) in the long run. Linden Lab is taking a much more cautious, hands-off approach to promotion—at least, so far (perhaps they have something up their sleeve?).
It will be interesting to compare events between High Fidelity and Sansar this year. Only time will tell if spending lavishly on promotions (and appealing to people's greed) will lead to more users, and more importantly, more return users.
I was initially worried that High Fidelity was promoting itself beyond what the platform was actually ready for, and in some cases that's still true. They are, however, also hard at work listening to user feedback, fixing bugs & implementing feature requests as quickly as their team can manage.
Bribing people into participating isn't going to keep creators in the community. It'll just bring in a few opportunists (if even that) who won't stick around. The kind of people that come in, get their dough, and leave as soon as they came.
Next Next post: Second Life Steals, Deals and Freebies: Eight New Starter Avatars!


Sean is a Managing Director in Accenture's Customer Insight and Growth Practice working with clients across the Financial Services industry. He has over 20 years management consulting experience, leading customer, digital and innovation initiatives for leading insurers, wealth managers and banks delivering technology-enabled, strategic change. Amongst other career highlights, Sean has recently delivered increases in retention and income for a UK Insurer, through the application of analytics, artificial intelligence, Next Best Action strategies and new ways of working. In 2015, Sean was named UK Digital Consultant of the Year by the Management Consulting Association.


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Ai Weiwei creates 10,000 masks in aid of coronavirus charities | Art and design
Art has come together with activism in the shape of face masks created by Ai Weiwei which show images of sunflower seeds, mythical beasts and perhaps most appropriately of all, a defiant middle finger.
The Chinese artist and activist has printed an initial batch of 10,000 face masks to be sold for charity through eBay. All the takings will go to coronavirus humanitarian efforts led by Human Rights Watch, Refugees International and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Ai was at home in Cambridge when he began getting angry about face mask news stories including the US being accused of "modern piracy", accused of taking masks meant for Germany.
It was almost laughable, he said. "It is such a waste. There is so much argument around the mask. A face mask weighs only three grams but it carries so much state argument about global safety and who has it and who doesn't have it."
He printed a wood carving on to a mask and put it on Instagram. People loved it and asked how they could get hold of one. From that came his new art project.
The art works will be sold singly for $50 (£40), $300 for a series of four, and $1,500 for a collection of 20. They will have images familiar to fans of the artist's work, including sunflower seeds based on his Tate Modern installation in which he filled the gallery's Turbine Hall with 100m individually crafted sunflower seeds. Some of the images will include his middle finger gesture of defiance.
Ai Weiwei pictured in London in 2015 with his creation named Tree. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty
Ai said the pandemic was a humanitarian crisis. "It challenges our understanding of the 21st century and warns of dangers ahead. It requires each individual to act, both alone and collectively." He likened each purchase to an act of hope and social awareness.
The images have been silk-screened by hand in Berlin on to non-surgical cloth face masks. Ai predicts people will buy them to collect rather than wear.
Ai spent 81 days in a Chinese jail and four years under house arrest before getting his passport back and fleeing to Germany in 2015. He moved to the UK last year.
He said people were right to feel anger towards China over the pandemic. "When we talk about humanity the most important thing is trust, between people and between nations. Without transparency and trust you cannot play the game. China has been for a long time not trustable. We have all accepted that."
China had intentionally covered up information about the outbreak, even destroying medical evidence, he said. "China has been acting in the old military way: everyone who questions them can be a potential enemy."
The project is curated by Alexandra Munroe, who said the masks were artworks which symbolised life in the time of coronavirus. "To have one is an ethical and creative act to overcome our tired isolation and participate in a collective enterprise of real compassion."
Ai was preparing direction of an opera, Puccini's Turandot, when the lockdown came during rehearsals.
At home in Cambridge, where he lives with his partner and child, it was wonderful, he said. "I have never had such a peaceful and enjoyable time in my life. I'm spending so much time with my loved ones and this spring in Cambridge will be memorable for the rest of my life because I've never seen so many wildflowers. Daily I walk out in the fields and take photographs and see what their Latin and Chinese name is. It is so much fun."
Tags: 10000, AID, Art, Charities, coronavirus, creates, Design, Masks, Weiwei
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In some ways I am not totally unsympathetic to the skepticism that some in the public have toward the medical establishment. Modern scientific medicine is a genuine miracle, but most of its gains arguably occurred in the first half of the 20th century through public health campaigns, vaccination and antiobiotics. Though the decline in heart disease is a major result which we should celebrate, it is arguably less significant than the sharp reduction in deaths of the young due to numerous infections (heart disease tends to effect the old). Additionally, diseases such as cancer are subject to the problem of what Jim Manzi terms "high causal density". Cancers, like many diseases of late life, can have many triggers and factors impacting their likelihood, so solving the problem at the root may not be so simple. In reaction to this complexity and uncertainty I do believe that on occasion the medical profession and the public health establishment have unduly emphasized their certainty.
Like the reality that the variegated public health concerns we have today, such as type 2 diabetes and cancer, are probably better problems than endemic smallpox, tuberculosis, or scarlet fever, the downsides of having a medical establishment which on occasion oversteps the bounds of its reasonable confidence are overridden by the upsides. We have empirical evidence of this, because there are nations without medical establishments, and they are not flourishing. But that does not change the reality that a population shielded from the brutal knife of infectious disease and plague is somewhat befuddled by the mysteries of the slow and subtle ailments which are the afflictions of modernity.
One response is the liberal individualist one. Though we may bemoan Steve Jobs' experimentation with alternative therapies for his cancer, it was his individual choice. It gets more complicated what you have children, who are under the control of their parents. Again, I'm not going to go over the controversies over groups like Christian Scientists, whose children have died due to withholding medical treatment. The cultural consensus seems to be that parents have a right to impose all sorts of crazy beliefs and practices upon their children, but not those which may result in death. Then you move to the issue that when it comes to vaccination one can't seal off individual choice from consequences to the public. It seems entirely likely that for the next decade we may be seeing a conflagration of preventable diseases among certain segments of the American demographic, and those who they live among, because of cultural fashion. The collective choices of parents opting out from vaccination is subject to negative feedback dynamics. Early dissenters can "free-ride" on herd immunity, and indulge their quackery, but beyond a particular threshold disease and death will come back to the fore. But human beliefs are often rather well insulated against falsification for a great deal of time. The AIDS denialst community is a testament to this phenomenon; it persists despite mysteriously (to them) high mortality rates among its most vocal proponents.
So is there a solution? Conscience is a value which Americans pride, even unto death. I do not see the powers that be intervening in these cases. Rather, this groundswell of denialism must be countered by public opprobrium, and yes, shaming. Peer pressure kills, but it can also save lives. As a matter of safety people with small children should investigate rates of vaccination in their community (young infants are not vaccinated, and so are particularly vulnerable to infections which are dampened by herd immunity). They should move when a dangerous critical mass is present. If people ask, those who leave should explain their rationale. Actions can speak louder than words. Where Authorité falls on deaf ears, the judgment of the populace might be heeded.
7 Comments to "Vaccination, and Social Information Networks"
The foo fighters have a solid record in this area. Smart guys! this is why I never like to hear the opinions of my favorite musicians and actors because it invariably makes me not like them.
Despite most of my facebook friends being typical Bay Area liberals, anti-vax sentiment is much weaker among my friends. (I see it in friend-of-friend comments, though.) I have even seen people with newborns post to facebook saying that if you haven't been vaccinated and/or haven't vaccinated your kids, you're not welcome to visit them.
Occasionally you'll see parents try and get the same effects of immunity but without the shots, like those idiots who occasionally send stuff through the mail to help other people get their kids sick with some diseases.
Realistically, we'll just have to keep fighting this, and hope that the shift doesn't happen after some version of a disease usually suppressed by mass vaccination kills a bunch of kids in some crunchy upper-middle-class neighborhood.
More specifically, when my wife was pregnant with my daughter, and after she was born, we encountered major pressure from peer networks to not vaccinate.
There is no herd immunity for pertussis unless the adults are vaccinated. Julia Ioffe failed to get the vaccine booster. She has no one to blame but herself.
Did we have heart disease before modern medicine?
Science is fine but modern american medical guidelines - which have very little to do with science - are killing americans and those who take them seriously.
Science is fine but modern american medical guidelines – which have very little to do with science – are killing americans and those who take them seriously.


Earlier today, I tweeted that I didn't agree with the Democratic Alliance's (DA) strategy of no longer recognising the Speaker of Parliament. Besides wondering quite how this could be effected, I also suggested that gambits aimed at breaking the Parliamentary process hardly seemed appropriate for an already broken institution.
A friend on Twitter asked what I would suggest as an alternative to what the DA has chosen to do, and this is my answer to him. Well, an answer, and also some reflection on the situation in general.
I'm not going to rehash what happened in Parliament yesterday, and will instead point you to Rebecca Davis' column, which does a fine job of highlighting what a unfortunate session of Parliament this was for anyone who holds out hope that our nation's affairs are being governed by reasonable people.
Events in Parliament yesterday represent a turning point for our democracy and has fundamentally changed the DA's approach to Parliament. Baleka Mbete lost control of the House and destroyed her credibility as the Speaker. Accordingly, we will cease to recognise her authority as Speaker.
Every time she presides over the House, the DA will only send its Chief Whip, Deputy Chief Whip and those members participating in debates.
By "fundamentally changed", Maimane seems to mean that they intend to read the mandate that many South Africans have given them to represent them in Parliament, vote on bills, hold the Executive to account and so forth, as giving them licence to rather take their toys and go home.
Because instead of a potential 89 (the number of DA representatives in the National Assembly) (NA) voices, there will now only be the handful described in that last paragraph, quoted above, and the 22.2% of South Africans who voted for the DA might as well have "fundamentally changed" their attitudes towards elections also, and not bothered to vote.
Yes, I get that these are tactics of brinkmanship, where the DA might hope that the pared-down Parliament resulting from this move might provoke the ruling party into fearing a loss of perceived legitimacy in respect of the National Assembly. But if what you're complaining about is a ruling party that you think above the law, and contemptuous of the opposition, how likely do you think a favourable result is?
More important, for me, are some matters of principle. One, as I've already noted, is that DA MPs have a job to do, and their Parliamentary Leader is telling them not to do that job.
Second, tactics like walk-outs (and this is basically an extended and generalised walk-out) need to be used sparingly. A walk-out is one of the strongest protest signals the opposition has, and one doesn't want to use your strongest currency without exhausting all other options. Now, in this case – given that riot police were in Parliament, assaulting MPs and so forth, a walk-out might well be the appropriate action.
Except, they do it all the time – not just the DA, but other parties too. So, instead of provoking as significant a reaction as it should ("What? All the elected officials of party X, paid R1-Million a year to do job Y, have walked out of Parliament? Either there's a crisis, or they need to explain themselves. Either way, I care."), one instead thinks of the boy who cried wolf, and what rhetoric Maimane will need next time he wants to lead a walk-out. Which will probably be next week.
Walk-outs can be an abrogation of your responsibilities to the voters. They can also impair credibility, not only because credibility can be impaired inside the NA but also with the electorate, some of whom still associate the DA with negativity and obstructionism.
But we can, and do, object to the fact that he is subjecting the South African Parliament to a political stunt. His actions demean the national legislative authority of the Republic of South Africa.
It's different when we do it, I guess.
Third, some of our conventions only have moral force through common assent – they're grounded in a sort of social contract, where they work because we all agree that they should work in a certain way, and are valuable because they often, in fact, do so.
Maimane is dead right that Mbete is a terrible Speaker, who has utterly failed to hide the fact that she's defending the ruling party's interests wherever and whenever she can. She's a disgrace to the position, and needs to be gotten rid of. But, according to the rules, if she tells you to leave the NA, you need to leave the NA.
And when she told Michael Walters (deputy chief whip of the DA) to sit, and then to leave after he refused to sit, it's the DA who break that social contract. The DA can't claim a moral high-ground involving Mbete and the ANC provoking the violence of yesterday, without reflecting on the fact that there were various provocations along the way to that – and that some of them involved the DA, and specifically involved the DA ignoring the same set of conventions that they want Mbete censured for ignoring.
There are differences of degree, no question – as I say above, I'm addressing matters of principle alone, and making the point that it's not only the ANC who is breaking the relevant social contract. If told to leave, you leave, and use the fact that you were capriciously ejected as ammunition for future battles, rather than running the risk of your refusal prompting an even less productive session for your colleagues, and the citizens you represent.
To conclude, and in part-answer to the question that prompted this column, what would I have suggested instead of what Maimane says in his statement? Well, I suspect that I would have written a far more strongly worded letter, which would have made it clear that the party no longer recognised her moral, rather than her literal, authority.
I would perhaps have embarrassed her with a list of all the ways in which she's let the NA, and the country, down, and highlighted moments in which she destroyed her credibility – in short, the purpose of the press release would simply be to demonstrate that she's demonstrably not fit for purpose.
It would have been just on that topic, not about Zuma not attending question and answer sessions, or Lindiwe Zulu attacking an opposition MP, so as to make it clear that as far as you were concerned, this Speaker is contemptible.
Then, I would have told my caucus to get back to work, including respecting the Office of the Speaker, and including obeying instructions that the Speaker gives. If the party thinks they contravene the agreed conventions (and laws), then the people not ejected can make that point, sometimes winning and sometimes losing.
But at least the majority of the MPs will be in the House, able to do some work. Seeing them do that work in a dignified fashion, working within the rules, while simultaneously observing a Speaker making rulings that are biased, arbitrary and perhaps vindictive, might well do more good for both Parliament, and the DA's share of the vote.
It's perfectly reasonable to be dissatisfied with the electoral process. We might struggle to find a voter in any jurisdiction who can't present a case for how things could be better, whether the improvement were to come from revisions to party funding legislation or the accountability of elected officials to those of us who elect them.
And, grumbling is what we do – all the more since the Internet and social media allowed for vastly increased numbers of people to join in the grumbling. But for all the grumbling, it's perhaps worth thinking about – or revisiting – what the point of electoral systems in democracies is.
But the dissatisfaction leads some to say we should simply opt out, either through not voting at all, or through measures such as spoiling your ballot. Recently, Ronnie Kasrils has been reported as recommending spoiling your ballot as a way to indicate that you believe our current ANC government has let us down (though, more nuanced accounts of his statements to the media indicate that he's recommending a vote for a minority party first, and only spoiling your ballot if none of those parties are palatable to you).
To make one thing clear: spoiling your ballot is a legitimate choice in a democracy. But it's the wrong choice, because it misunderstands the point of voting, in that it begins with fealty to a chosen party, where that fealty allows you to either endorse the way that they are doing things, or instead, to simply withhold your support from them.
The right choice is to understand your vote as purely a tactical gambit, deployed in the manner that might best achieve the outcome you hope to achieve. Signalling disappointment with a political party isn't effectively signalled through spoiling a ballot, in that the signal is far too noisy – in brief, there is no way of telling whether you spoilt your ballot because you're incompetent, or because you were protesting the electoral system rather than the party you ostensibly didn't vote for.
A vote for an opposition party shifts the balance of power, however minutely. Voting for nobody, by contrast, indirectly rewards the incumbent through denying an opposition a chance to govern – especially when dealing with a significant majority such as the one the ANC enjoys in South Africa. A spoilt ballot might well decrease the majority party's proportion of votes cast, but a vote for an opposition party will decrease it further, and alert them to the fact that they cannot take your vote for granted in a far more transparent way.
The tactical element of each person's vote is of course a matter that can only be clarified by the individuals themselves. For a middle class liberal type like myself, living in the Western Cape, a vote for the ANC in the provincial ballot might play a part in alerting the governing party (the Democratic Alliance, or DA) that their steadily increasing social conservatism is diametrically opposed to liberal ideas.
On a national level, a vote for the DA might well be the best signal of disaffection with the ANC – but then again, a vote for someone like the EFF might be more effective in the long run, because both the ANC and the DA are roughly centre to centre-right in economic terms, and the voice that's missing in a poverty-stricken country like ours is the leftist one. Having a strong EFF presence in Parliament might be just what's needed to shake the incumbent from their dogmatic slumbers, to paraphrase Hume.
And then, next election, you get to make the same choices again. The key thing to remember is that they are choices, and that you owe nobody your loyalty. If it's the long-term future of the country that you care about, then you should vote in the manner that you think best supports a prosperous future for the country – not in a manner that best supports a prosperous future for any particular party.
Over the weekend, I had a chat with a man from Nkandla (who will remain anonymous). As you no doubt know, that's where Jacob Zuma is building his palace private residence, and it's also the place that his own spokesperson (Mac Maharaj) didn't want to visit because he feared he'd be unable to defend it once he had (at least, if you trust the interview recorded in Richard Calland's book, The Zuma Years).
We didn't talk about the residence, but I suspect that this man from Nkandla would be opposed to the deception surrounding the expenses incurred there, as well as the quantum of the expenses. Another point of agreement between us was with regard to the irrelevance of the number of wives Zuma has, both in terms of his political credibility, as well as to negative judgements regarding what Zuma costs the people of South Africa.
The political credibility part is less controversial, and unless you insist on monogamy for whatever reason, I imagine you agree that this shouldn't impact on our judgments regarding Zuma (assuming, of course, full volition on the part of the wives and so forth). As for the costs incurred on the public purse, my interlocutor and I agreed that if the law allowed for polygamy, and for public support of the President's wives, then it's the law that needs to change, rather than Zuma that needs to change.
One could argue that Zuma should set the example, and defer the marrying of anyone other than who he was already married to (when taking office) until after leaving the position. But this would mean a less than full acceptance of Zuma's cultural values, and would to my mind run contrary to the cultural inclusivity our Constitution demands. It would be an assertion that norms other than Zuma's were standard, and that he's allowed to contravene those – and practice his own, (implied) aberrant or inferior culture, so long as it's done in a way that's convenient to the rest of us.
It may be that we don't want to be as culturally inclusive as the Constitution demands. But that's not the argument here – instead, this would be an instance of insisting on the primacy of a particular set of norms under the guise of financial concerns. Instead, we should say that financial concerns disallow one set of cultural norms from being as well supported as others (if we wanted to be honest about the matter). Or even more honestly, we could say that culture X is somehow inferior to Y.
But until we do either of those things, the point is that it's not Zuma's problem that his wives cost more to support than Mbeki's did. He could act in a supererogatory fashion, and choose to save us all some money, but he's under no obligation to, and we shouldn't judge him more harshly if he doesn't choose to save us that money. That, at least, is what the man from Nkandla and I agreed over the weekend.
If you don't respect those in leadership, if you don't respect authority then you are bordering on a curse. Whether we like it or not, God has made a connection between the government and the church. That's why he says you, as a church, should pray for it.
It's easy to say that he's appealing to a lowest common denominator here, in that an estimated 80% of South Africans are Christians. But this goes further than simply drawing on the support of like-minded people in claiming that he is "doing God's work", for example. This is divisive and judgemental (on spurious, metaphysical grounds, rather than principled ones), in that he's threatening voters who might be tempted to vote for someone other than the ANC with being cursed.
Contrary to the entire point of the democratic process, whereby we freely choose our representatives based on their positions and performance in delivering what they promised us, here your mortal soul is in danger if you don't vote ANC – regardless of positions or performance. Even if Zuma believes this to be true, threats that would be more suited to Medieval times are surely unbecoming of the President of a nation?
Furthermore, the opportunism of the rhetoric is perhaps even more clear in the next sentence, where he asserts that God has made a connection between "the government and the church". By this, he has to mean that this government is looked upon with favour by a particular (his) god. He can't mean God smiles on "governments" in general, because then God must also have approved of PW Botha's government; and he can't mean that God is only "connected" in some non-judgemental way to governments, because if so, what's the point of highlighting an arbitrary connection, even as you say voters should pray for the government?
In today's Business Day, Peter Bruce wonders "how much more can the ANC take". While Bruce mostly addresses the political processes by which Zuma could be ousted as the ANC leader, this question can also be raised with respect to those who vote ANC. As he did in 2011, he's blackmailing voters into supporting him through claiming that it's only through him, and his party, that their souls will be safe.
Note: Those who have already read my earlier post on this subject might want to skip this column, as there is a significant overlap in content (around 90%). The text below represents an attempt to make my key concerns more evident, and is the version submitted to The Daily Maverick for my column this week.
A few weeks ago, my (occasional) fellow Opinionista Victor Dlamini Tweeted a link to an IOL report describing an instance of apparent racial profiling at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The conversation which resulted should surprise no one at all, in that it consisted of the usual mix of protestation from Capetonians eager to refute the notion of Cape Town being a racist city, alongside various endorsements and examples of such racism.
Now that the local government elections campaigns are behind us, it is perhaps possible to discuss this issue more productively. Whether Cape Town fits the stereotype or not, it's useful for the ANC to perpetuate the stereotype of Capetonian racism, as they enthusiastically did in the matter of Makhaza, as well as on several other occasions, however slight the opportunity to do so actually was. Well, they at least thought it useful – the election results could well indicate a greater agnosticism on this issue. But the politicisation of the issue tends to polarise opinion, rather than clarify the issue.
So, one could start by pointing out that to say that Cape Town is a racist city does not mean that everyone in Cape Town is racist. It certainly does not mean, as ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu alleges, that the governing party of Cape Town and the Western Cape is racist. I don't believe that they are, and I also don't agree with interpretations of events like the Makhaza toilet case which are used to support this claim.
Furthermore, it's also perfectly understandable that the DA would protest claims that Cape Town is inherently racist – pointing to the diversity in the party, service-delivery successes, and Cape Town's relatively low (compared to the other metro's) Gini coefficient. Lastly, it could be expected that many white liberal sorts (such as myself) would feel offence as a result of such claims. But as I've frequently argued, offence is no guide to the truth, and also shouldn't be used to drown out noises you don't like hearing.
While it is of course true that there are racists everywhere, this doesn't preclude the possibility of Cape Town containing a higher proportion of them, or for some Capetonians to be in denial as to how enlightened they actually are. If so, then it would make sense to say that Cape Town is 'a racist city', by comparison to other relevant South African cities.
And of course there are cities that are more racist than Cape Town – Orania would be a possible example. But despite all these disclaimers and qualifications, when compared with our other capitals or other major cities in South Africa, we certainly hear more stories about racist encounters or instances of perceived racism emanating from Cape Town.
Perceptions are not always true. Stereotypes can be perpetuated, sometimes through evidence, and sometimes through prejudice. It's possible, for example, that the trope of a racist Cape Town is a simple consequence of jealousy, in that Northerners (and the ANC) want to find fault in what seems – on the surface at least, and also to many of those who live here – to be the best place in South Africa to call home.
I can understand the anger of those who claim the stereotype of a racist Cape Town to be founded on prejudice, but I'm afraid I'm reluctant to agree with them. We shouldn't forget that Cape Town's urban planning was intentionally premised on the maintenance of social order, which in those days meant segregation of the races. Numerous books and papers detail the history of the City as divided on racial lines, such as this paper from Charlotte Spinks at the London School of Economics (pdf). In addition to academic texts, we have semi-regular accounts of discrimination at certain bars and clubs, and first-hand experiences of racism like those described in Xhanti Payi's column, published last year in The Daily Maverick.
Anecdotal accounts of racism in Cape Town abound, but anecdotes are of course not data. The problem, though, is that we hear far fewer such anecdotes from other cities. And more than anecdotes, existing research such as the Surtee and Hall report (pdf) also appear to corroborate claims regarding racism in Cape Town.
And while some critics (including the DA) reject the findings of that report, one could argue that Helen Zille's response doesn't properly address the possibility of racism directed at black South Africans, in that it's largely focused on the facts of integration and equity in the coloured population (I use this term as per Employment Equity legislation, rather than because I think they are sensible).
Two entirely separate issues could be co-existing here, and should not be conflated: First, it's entirely possible – even probable – that the ANC uses the 'racist Cape Town' card as a political weapon against the DA, and in doing so might exaggerate the extent to which racism is prevalent in Cape Town. But second, it is also possible that black visitors to (and residents of) Cape Town experience racist treatment exceeding the levels found in other parts of the country. We shouldn't pretend that this possibility doesn't exist, simply because we don't like it.
Cape Town does have a higher proportion of whites and coloureds than the other metros. And if racists are everywhere, we could well have more of them here than, for example, in Johannesburg. The facts of this matter could easily be established via a proper survey of attitudes and behaviours across the country, if we cared to do so. Until we do, anecdotes and perceptions are all we have – and the perceptions are real, and no doubt hurtful, to those who have them.
In other words, if it is the case that Cape Town is perceived as being racist, this perception is a problem in itself, regardless of the truth of the allegations themselves. And my opinion – right or wrong – is that this perception is grounded in reality. But whether it's mere perception or not, we're not going to fix whatever problems do exist – whether racism or the perception thereof – by being offended, or by insulting those who make such claims.
Defensive reactions such as these forestall debate. And whether prejudice exists equally everywhere or not, we know it at least exists everywhere. Perhaps, then, the real lesson lies in what Sipho Hlongwane Tweeted at the time, "CPT and JHB are often equally prejudiced. Only one city is honest & confronts this".
Let's start by making that two cities, and then not stop there.
The toilets we have in Nkanini (i.e. the one to five households toilets) are generally in an appalling state, notwithstanding the City's attempt to maintain same, to the extent that members of the community generally do not use them. They are always blocked and filthy, and are not appropriate for human use. Due to the fact that they are communally owned, people do not take responsibility and personal pride in them. Not only are the toilets filthy and unsafe, but they are a health hazard to people in general and to children in particular as they have burst pipes which are overflowing with faeces.
Despite the fact that many South Africans are forced to live in sub-optimal, unhygienic, and sometimes even degrading conditions, Makhaza has become one of the focal points of debate around service delivery in the Cape. By extension, Erasmus's Makhaza judgement has rapidly become a stick that Tony Ehrenreich is using to argue that the ANC would do a better job than the DA of defending the interests of the poor.
This could well be true, although we should remember that the ANC has already had a chance to champion the interests of the poor in the Cape. But while the ANC's return of 45% of the vote in 2004, along with the 11% of votes garnered by their partners (the New National Party) in that election, brought them to power in the Province, their support dwindled to 32% in the 2009 election. If we are to take the notion of democracy seriously, this indicates that voters wanted to give someone else a chance to govern, and exercised their right to vote correspondingly.
That was of course a different time, and the fact that the ANC lost control of the Cape can't demonstrate that an ANC government in 2011, and Ehrenreich as Mayor of Cape Town, won't do better than previous incumbents. The chaotic nature of ANC politics in the Western Cape, along with floor-crossing and the death (and now, zombified re-animation) of the NNP – not to mention the short history of democracy in South Africa – make trends difficult to pin down.
None of these complications should however obscure the fact that there is a difference between fact and fiction – and in particular the kind of fiction that emerges in the run-up to elections, when selective factual details are plucked out of context and presented as damning evidence for a fiction. In this case, the fiction in question is that the DA government in the Western Cape is somehow at war with the poor, based on the 'fact' that they constructed unenclosed toilets in Makhaza.
Except, they didn't – or at least didn't intend to. What they did try to do was to collaborate with the residents of Silvertown to ensure that they all had enclosed toilets, by spending their budget on providing the toilets and plumbing connections, while trusting the assurances of the community that they would build their own enclosures where necessary. This plan failed, and cynics could argue that it was always likely to fail, or that the demands of dignity for the residents required that this detail not be left in the residents' hands in the first instance.
Of course, we can never know whether the residents would have built their own enclosures, because the City of Cape Town eventually resolved to provide these for the 3% of residents who had not built them for themselves. And then, as we should also remember, they were prevented from doing so by the repeated destruction of the enclosures by the ANC Youth League.
You could argue that the DA has been somewhat naïve in their approach to this issue, as they undoubtedly were in the case involving the delisting of the Sowetan journalist, Anna Majavu. There is evidence of such naïveté, in that this was a relatively predictable PR disaster.
In the context of the South African sensitivity to class divisions and poverty, an approach which involved a relative absence of paternalism (here, in which services are provided in partnership with the community) was clearly risky. Any failure, at any link in the chain leading to enclosed toilets for all, would always have been spun as a failure on the part of the DA, with the roles of other agents ignored or elided. Worse yet, any protestations of good will on the part of the DA can immediately be spun as further evidence of callous neglect.
Sadly, the safest strategy may well be to do the bare minimum – and also to do it in a way which minimises the chances of failure, by swooping in and delivering from on high rather than by attempting to involve communities in their own upliftment. If this is the lesson that Ehrenreich or the ANC want the DA to learn, they might well have succeeded.
But in doing so, they could well have simultaneously built a rod for their own backs, because the inflamed rhetoric surrounding the Makhaza judgement makes it appear no less than a capital crime to leave toilets unenclosed, regardless of the circumstances leading to that eventuality. According to Jackson Mthembu, the unenclosed toilets show a "total disrespect for black dignity", and demonstrate that the DA "is a racist political party". In fact, the "Makhaza judgment remains a chilling reminder showing on whose side Zille and his [sic] bunch of racist lackeys are on".
In light of this strong reaction, as well as the claim from Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka that unenclosed toilets would never be tolerated under ANC governance, what are we to make of the unenclosed toilets in the informal settlement of Rammulotsi, in the ANC-run Moqhaka municipality – some of which have been unenclosed since 2001? Or those in Kwadabeka, outside Pinetown in the eThekwini municipality, where the ANC garnered 67.52% of the vote in 2009?
Perhaps the real lesson here is the reminder that in politics – and especially, in the weeks running up to an election – facts sometimes simply stop mattering. But perhaps it doesn't need to be this way, and perhaps increasing numbers of citizens are starting to realise that the truth doesn't always correspond to the claims made in political speeches, especially when those speeches concern the actions of competing political parties.
Let's hope so, because as with all decisions, those made while voting should be informed by the facts, rather than by faith. And Makhaza is one settlement, in one Province, in one (mostly poor) country. We should ideally cast our votes for who we think will do the best for that country in the long-term, and not simply based on caricature, and misrepresentation of those facts.
Democracy and liberty are not equivalent, despite the fact that they are so often conflated in popular discourse. There is no logical obstacle to a dictator being democratically elected and then leaving us with little freedom. Likewise, a dictator could in theory be benevolent, and allow for more freedoms than we currently enjoy in South Africa.
This is why being silent in the face of oppression, tyranny, or abuse of power by the state should not be considered an option by those of us committed to both democracy as well as freedoms of various sorts. Fortunately, democracy and liberty are often positively correlated, so that an increase in the one tends to coincide with an increase in the other.
As submitted to The Daily Maverick.
Yiull Damaso's painting of an imagined autopsy of Nelson Mandela has provoked outrage similar to that generated by Zapiro's recent Mohammed cartoon. The outrage is similar in its severity, and unfortunately also similar in its knee-jerk thoughtlessness. Most troubling, the similarities extend to having to hear yet another argument in favour of the censoring of free expression on the grounds of cultural or religious sensibilities.
The painting, adapted from Rembrandt's "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp", shows a deceased Mandela being autopsied by Nkosi Johnson, while FW de Klerk, Helen Zille, Desmond Tutu and others look on. It is, of course, the portrayal of Mandela as deceased that is causing most of the consternation, on the grounds that this portrayal consists, variously, of witchcraft, disrespect, a violation of dignity, and a "insult and an affront to values of our society" – at least according to ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.


This after school adventure series is a collaborative home economics boot camp for children and tweens where students will learn and reinforce math skills through play.
Students will be divided into teams of 3 or 4. Each team will have a list of word, tools, journals and challenge description on their tables. Each group, will be given 15 minutes to learn each other's names, decide on a team name, identify the objects on their table, vote on a challenge and record their team information in their journals. All the groups will be instructed to use Kahoot to enter their group name and post their group's challenge.
Students will watch a 3-5 minute video of a new skill where they will learn about tool safety and how to respectfully use tool(s). Students will be asked to record what they observed in their journals and to share out within their groups.
Students will be given activity tools and shown new skill. Each group will have one or two group demonstrators. The skill will be taught in short steps and repeated for each student. All students will have an opportunity to learn the skill with a demonstrator. Once students learn the new skill, they are encouraged to complete the project independently in their group.
Students will collaborate with their group members to create an object, complete a timed task, or to play a competitive game where they must competently practice their new skills. Before the activity, the students will be reminded that team work, planning, tool safety and creativity are essential to the success of their team.
For design challenges, students will be encouraged to diagram their group's object before building, assembling, or mixing. This step will ensure that everyone in the group is in agreement or at least knows what it is the group is creating.
Before game challenges, each group must select a challenge leader in their group. The group leader keeps track of time and makes sure all the group members are working together.
After the challenge students must write about their experiences in their journals.


Three Georgia employment service providers have been selected for specialized planning and training sessions in order to provide best practice support for people with disabilities in their organizations.
Aspire Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Services in Albany, Lookout Mountain Community Service Board in Chickamauga and DeKalb Community Services Board in Lithonia have started receiving technical assistance through Advancing Employment, a program managed by the Institute on Human Development and Disability (IHDD) at the University of Georgia.
Technical assistance for the three nonprofits is funded through a $60,000 grant awarded to IHDD by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD).
The Technical Assistance Center and its Community of Practice helps organizations to strengthen their employment services.
Each organization receives individualized training with of goals and objectives in a transformation plan that enables them to provide more employment services.
The Community of Practice is a virtual space within Advancing Employment where providers can share information, receive new training through webinars and utilize resources that will ultimately serve people with developmental disabilities in their employment goals.
Georgia becoming an Employment First State has encouraged Crandell about increasing awareness and acceptance of employers to hire people with developmental disabilities.
Since Gov. Nathan Deal signed the bill last spring, Crandell has served as a panelist at forums on the Employment First State Leadership Mentoring Program, hosted by the Office of Disability Employment Policy within the Department of Labor.
The original article ran on Publicnow on January 14, 2019.


text:
import {join} from 'path';
import {ng} from '../../../utils/process';
import {expectFileToExist} from '../../../utils/fs';
import {expectToFail} from '../../../utils/utils';

export default function() {
  const moduleDir = join('src', 'app', 'test');

  return ng('generate', 'module', 'test', '--routing')
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(moduleDir))
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test.module.ts')))
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test-routing.module.ts')))
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test.component.ts')))
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test.component.spec.ts')))
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test.component.html')))
    .then(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test.component.css')))
    .then(() => expectToFail(() => expectFileToExist(join(moduleDir, 'test.spec.ts'))))
    // Try to run the unit tests.
    .then(() => ng('test', '--single-run'));
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


*This Post contains affiliate links for which I will be compensated when membership purchases are made.
I've teamed up with ETA-Travel to offer my readers an Exclusive reward you're not going to want to miss!
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Sometimes the best travel tips come from people that have already experienced traveling many times. However, you don't need to meet these people in order to have access to travel tips that can save your energy and money when planning your dream excursion.
Moreover, should your next trip include flights, then air travel tips might also be needed. This is why you will find in this article everything you need to know about how to plan your trip from A to Z.
You have already received the first hint to organizing a successful dream trip: planning and travel tips. Nowadays, we choose the more popular destinations, which have lots of accessible visiting points and have already been explored by other tourists. However, if you are one of those people who want to break the routine and go for something new and interesting, then this guide will help you plan your trip. Best travel tips when visiting a very exotic country or doing a mountain climb refer to having everything prepared. However, there is something more needed – make sure you read the following travel tips!


text:
class CreateCategories < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def self.up
    create_table :categories do |t|
      t.string :name
      t.integer :product_id
      t.integer :category_id

      t.timestamps
    end
  end

  def self.down
    drop_table :categories
  end
end


COLLEGE PARK, Md. — University of Maryland officials struck a balance between celebratory and somber on Tuesday as they officially introduced Damon Evans as their new athletic director while also still mourning the death of 19-year-old football player Jordan McNair.
Evans will begin his new role on July 2, while the athletic department is in the midst of a school-issued external investigation into whether the trainers and staff followed protocol on May 29 when McNair needed to be hospitalized after struggling to complete 10 110-yard sprints during an organized team workout. McNair died two weeks later.
The review could take up to 90 days, according to the school, which is why Loh said he decided to make the hire now. Loh said there were six finalists, and approximately 30 candidates were contacted.
Speaking before an audience of high-ranking university officials, coaches, donors and members of the media — as well as his wife, Kerri, and daughter Kennedy — Evans candidly addressed his past mistakes that cost him his job at Georgia, and expressed gratitude for being given a second chance at Maryland.
Evans came to College Park four years after he was fired as Georgia's athletic director in July 2010. He was charged with a DUI in Atlanta and arrested, along with a 28-year-old female passenger, according to the police report.
Before he was hired at Maryland in 2014, Evans was a managing partner at Evolution Sports Partners in New Jersey, vice president of fundraising at IMG College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and vice president of business development at the Markley Group in Boston.
One of the reasons Evans was chosen for the job is his current knowledge of the department and staff, including his close relationship with Durkin. Evans said Durkin has made practices voluntary since McNair's collapse.
Evans said the investigation is moving forward.
"We're going to be fully transparent with that," he said.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S10 models with lucrative features and price range to launch on February 20
by Emily Metcalf
According to a report by Gizmodo UK, Samsung is going to launch the Galaxy S10, its new flagship phone on February 20, 2019, before the annual Mobile World Congress event going to be held that month.
The range will be including an S10 Lite or the Beyond 0, measuring 5.8-inch and will have a flat screen rather than the curved one, 6.1-inch standard S10 and an S10 Plus with 6.4 inches.
The expected prices are:
£699 ($881) for S10 Lite
£799 ($1,007) for S10 with 128GB storage
£899 ($1,134) for S10+ with 128GB storage
£1,099 ($1,386) for S10+ with 512GB storage
£1,399 ($1,765) for S10+ with 1TB storage
The Wall Street Journal told that the last one will be bonkers with unbelievable huge space. It might be some sort of special edition and could be a 6.7-inch device having 5G support and 6 cameras. The remaining models will be having 3 cameras, ultrasonic display fingerprint enabled sensors, and Samsung's new software atop Android Pie. The models will have a punch-hole selfie camera, rather than a notch, like the ones in the recent Samsung Galaxy A8s and new View20 of Honor.
Emily Metcalf
Before starting as a journalist, Emily completed her Bachelor's degree in engineering and worked at an MNC for 3 years. Currently, she handles the technology reporting section of Tribune Byte with latest news about gadgets, software, hardware, etc in the market.
Sundar Pichai turns up unscathed for test case of foreign–born CEOs
Putin: Rap should be regulated, not banned
© 2019 TribuneByte.com.


text:
41954 open access dissertations and theses found for:
if(Low Countries) » Refine Search
271 - 300 of 41954 displayed. < Previous | Next >
Moving Beyond Regulatory Mechanisms: A Typology of Internet Control Regimes
by Hunt, Richard Reid, M.S. Portland State University. 2014: 164 pages; 1560952.
Essays in global linkages and business cycles
by Akin, Cigdem, Ph.D. The George Washington University. 2009: 557 pages; 3360049.
Area-yield crop insurance reconsidered (again): An empirical analysis of demand for area yield insurance for rice farmers in Peru
by Rue, Christopher Joonhee, M.S. University of California, Davis. 2009: 101 pages; 1474521.
Cosmetic product marketing in India vs. the United States
by Tripathi, Swati, M.S. San Jose State University. 2013: 67 pages; 1533046.
Origins of financial reforms in developing countries
by Omori, Sawa, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh. 2007: 261 pages; 3300573.
Employment generation programs and long term development: The case of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
by Dasgupta, Poulomi, Ph.D. University of Missouri - Kansas City. 2012: 162 pages; 3556077.
An analysis of international student achievement test outcomes and the competitiveness of nations
by Meyer, David D., Ed.D. Northwest Nazarene University. 2015: 119 pages; 3719078.
Efficacy in English: A Correlational Study of Chinese EMI Professors
by Balderston, Genevieve, Ph.D. Indiana State University. 2018: 156 pages; 10840350.
Living with Global Shocks: Examining the Responses of Firms and Governments
by Medina, Leandro Manuel, Ph.D. The George Washington University. 2012: 140 pages; 3499791.
Environmental economic regulations and innovative capability: The clean development mechanism
by Saenz Delgado, Santos, Ph.D. Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Mexico). 2013: 162 pages; 3585551.
Gender, power, and vertical HIV prevention in urban Zambia
by Hampanda, Karen Marie, Ph.D. University of Colorado at Denver. 2016: 231 pages; 10112651.
Infected justice: The impact of HIV /AIDS on the police in Anglo -phone Sub -Saharan Africa
by Meehan, Nathan, Ph.D. State University of New York at Albany. 2009: 259 pages; 3387833.
Lifting the Curse: Distribution and Power in Petro-States
by Kennedy, Ryan, Ph.D. The Ohio State University. 2008: 358 pages; 10631096.
Theory of Change for Off-Grid Solar Uptake in Emerging Economies: A Means to Identify Drivers and Barriers, and Develop Appropriate Interventions
by Karber, Kyle M., Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder. 2018: 154 pages; 10928420.
Technical staffing and the border zone: The complexities of skilled labor shortages in Mexican industry
by Dryer, Richard Eugene, D.B.A. University of Phoenix. 2008: 275 pages; 3338360.
A Quantitative Study of Educational Poverty, School Location, and Student Achievement Measured by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
by Barger, Brett, Ed.D. Lindenwood University. 2014: 206 pages; 3668688.
Essays on Macroeconomics and Family Economics
by Kubota, So, Ph.D. Princeton University. 2017: 128 pages; 10621822.
Liberians living in the U.S.: An examination of post-resettlement food insecurity and associated factors
by Nunnery, Danielle, M.S. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 2012: 71 pages; 1511836.
Electronic health records in Trinidad and Tobago
by Mohamud, Koshin, Ed.D. Saint Mary's University of Minnesota. 2014: 198 pages; 3739555.
An International Quantitative Comparative Content Analysis of Reading Curriculum Using a 21st Century Framework
by Moore, Tameka Tammy, Ed.D. Lindenwood University. 2016: 136 pages; 10170204.
Influence of market setting and time of purchase on counts of aerobic bacteria, Escherichia coli, and coliform and prevalence of Salmonella and Listeria in beef, pork, and chicken in Vietnam
by McCain, April Kathleen, M.S. Mississippi State University. 2015: 142 pages; 1604197.
Saudi Arabia as a "swing oil producer" in the first half of the 1980s
by Song, Sang Hyun, Ph.D. The University of Utah. 2015: 463 pages; 3746015.
Educationally channeled international labor migration: Post-1978 student mobility from China to Japan
by Farrer, Gracia Liu, Ph.D. The University of Chicago. 2007: 325 pages; 3262325.
Accountability and International Conflict
by Ramirez, Shawn Ling, Ph.D. University of Rochester. 2013: 283 pages; 3600457.
Integration of indigenous knowledge and cultural practices in early childhood care and education programs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: An exploratory case study
by Negussie, Hawani, Ed.D. California State University, Long Beach. 2014: 230 pages; 3647117.
Cultural Tradition and Cultural Change in Postcommunist Poland: A Secondary Data Analysis
by Zimmerman, Paul, Ed.D. Grand Canyon University. 2014: 294 pages; 3617584.
A Case against E-Waste: Where One Country's Trash is (Not) Another Country's Treasure: Developing National E-Waste Legislation to Regulate E-Waste Exportation
by French, Dominique C., LL.M. The George Washington University. 2012: 71 pages; 1515257.
Risk Factors Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu): A Study of Patients from an Occupational Health Clinic in Rural Nicaragua
by Jimenez, Krystal A., M.S. University of California, Irvine. 2016: 77 pages; 10168499.
Institutions in new democracies: Variations in African political party systems
by Riedl, Rachel Beatty, Ph.D. Princeton University. 2008: 351 pages; 3338706.
Idiosyncratic risk and risk taking behavior of mutual fund managers
by Wang, Gao, M.Sc. Singapore Management University (Singapore). 2011: 53 pages; 1494104.
271 - 300 of 41954 displayed.
« First < Previous | 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Next >


text:
#include "StdAfx.h"

#include "MyMessages.h"
#include "Common/String.h"
#include "Common/StringConvert.h"

#include "Windows/Error.h"
#include "Windows/ResourceString.h"

#ifdef LANG
#include "../../FileManager/LangUtils.h"
#endif

using namespace NWindows;

void MyMessageBox(HWND window, LPCWSTR message)
{
  ::MessageBoxW(window, message, L"7-Zip", 0);
}

void MyMessageBox(UINT32 id
    #ifdef LANG
    ,UINT32 langID
    #endif
    )
{
  #ifdef LANG
  MyMessageBox(LangString(id, langID));
  #else
  MyMessageBox(MyLoadStringW(id));
  #endif
}

void ShowErrorMessage(HWND window, DWORD message)
{
  MyMessageBox(window, NError::MyFormatMessageW(message));
}

void ShowLastErrorMessage(HWND window)
{
  ShowErrorMessage(window, ::GetLastError());
}


I am finally in Kostelec Nad Cernymi Lesy and I didn't get here by the means of transportation I thought I would. I was supposed to be coming by train and bus but I was too tired and wasn't feeling too well. My chauffeur picked me up at the hotel in a mini Mercedes Benz van. It was a little treat! My suitcase felt like a ton of bricks again. My body is not happy with me. I would have stayed in Hotel 16 for a whole week doing nothing but drink peppermint and fennel tea, watching the smurfs translated in Czech!
My hosts in Kostelec n.c.l. only speak Czech. Thank goodness their daughter does all the translation! She was very patient. She said she could understand everything I was saying but was finding it hard to speak English. They have this cute mini toy poodle and I asked if I could borrow it for the weekend and they didn't want to! I forgot her name but I looked in my phrase book for something to say to make conversation and I asked the dog if I could take a picture of her, and the woman looked at me and mimed wait a minute and she came back with a diamond necklace for the dog and she put it on! It was so cute!
After I checked in, I switched bags and took my backpack to go do some grocery shopping. I took my time along the isles carrying my translated list of IC foods, and I thought I was followed by a strange man. While waiting in line at the check-out, I couldn't find my wallet and started panicking; I remembered quite well holding it in my hands and putting it my bag in the room. I looked and looked and couldn't find it. The man was there, looking at me with a suspicious smile on his face and I got paranoid. I left my cart right in the store, and I left thinking those thieves were pretty good, they must work in groups and I didn't feel anybody taking my wallet from me. As I came back to my hotel, and went straight to the owners and tried to explain what had happened. I found the word thief in my phrasebook and right away, they were responsive and they called their daughter and I said I would go to the room to make sure it wasn't there, and it was still in my purse! I was relieved but so embarrassed and when I got back to the owner's shop, they were already on the phone with the police! Now I had to tell them it was OK and I felt so bad for worrying them like that for a false alarm.
A woman came in the store understanding I was in distress and she could speak perfect English so she did some translation and she told me not to worry, everything was OK. She told me where I could go eat and showed me the way to a few stores. Once in the vegetable shop, People were so eager to try to understand and help: I was starving, and nervous. A super nice woman, called Blanka, who hadn't spoken English in 11 years was so nice and helped me choose some rice crackers without soy. Changing shifts, another employee came who spoke French and so we started speaking a little French but I am not sure she understood everything I said. Blanka's eyes almost popped out when I told her I was from Canada! She started telling me about her trip 11 years ago and it brought back so many memories. Before leaving she put her hand on my cheek and wished me a good weekend and a nice day at my friend's wedding.
The owner's daughter laughed when I told her I never smelled coal! That oh yes I did, but it was in a museum! She couldn't believe it! The museum was actually a historical site in Nova Scotia… the smoke is everywhere and I had to close my window.
So now, I am exhausted and need to rest to be in shape and have my brain back! Let's hope my body will be happy with my supper consisting of sardines, corn, peas, rice cakes and kiri cream cheese!
I am watching a Czech channel and there's a short animated film with farting mosquitoes!
OK, so I will now get ready for tomorrow!


Redis 是一个性能非常高效的内存 Key-Value 存储服务, 同时它还具有两个非常重要的特性: 1. 持久化; 2. Value 数据结构. 这两个特性让它在不少场景轻松击败了 Memcached 和 Casandra 等.
Redis 的持久化在两种方式: Snapshotting(快照) 和 Append-only file(aof). 在一个采用了 aof 模式的 Redis 服务器上, 当执行 bgrewriteaof 对 aof 进行归并优化时, 出现了 Redis 被阻塞的问题, 此时, Redis 无法提供任何读取和写入操作.
按字面理解, bgrewriteaof 是在后台进行操作, 不应该影响 Redis 的正常服务. 原理也确实是这样的, Redis 首先 fork 一个子进程, 并在该子进程里进行归并和写持久化存储设备(如硬盘)的. 按照正常逻辑, 在一台多核的机器上, 即使子进程占满 CPU 和硬盘, 也不应该导致 Redis 服务阻塞啊!
Redis 服务设置了 appendfsync everysec, 主进程每秒钟便会调用 fsync(), 要求内核将数据"确实"写到存储硬件里. 但由于子进程同时也在写硬盘, 从而导致主进程 fsync()/write() 操作被阻塞, 最终导致 Redis 主进程阻塞了.
解决方法便是设置 no-appendfsync-on-rewrite yes, 在子进程处理和写硬盘时, 主进程不调用 fsync() 操作. 注意, 即使进程不调用 fsync(), 系统内核也会根据自己的算法在适当的时机将数据写到硬盘(Linux 默认最长不超过 30 秒), 同样会千万 IO 阻塞.
不过, 虽然某个 Redis A 并没有在 rewriteaof, 这时如果进行 fsync(), 系统里的其它进程, 如其它的 Redis 实例也可能导致 A 的 fsync 阻塞.
* When appendfsync is set to the value of no Redis performs no fsync. In this configuration the only source of latency can be write(2). When this happens usually there is no solution since simply the disk can't cope with the speed at which Redis is receiving data, however this is uncommon if the disk is not seriously slowed down by other processes doing I/O.
* When appendfsync is set to the value of everysec Redis performs an fsync every second. It uses a different thread, and if the fsync is still in progress Redis uses a buffer to delay the write(2) call up to two seconds (since write would block on Linux if an fsync is in progress against the same file). However if the fsync is taking too long Redis will eventually perform the write(2) call even if the fsync is still in progress, and this can be a source of latency.
* When appendfsync is set to the value of always an fsync is performed at every write operation before replying back to the client with an OK code (actually Redis will try to cluster many commands executed at the same time into a single fsync). In this mode performances are very low in general and it is strongly recommended to use a fast disk and a file system implementation that can perform the fsync in short time.


Garden Woodcraft has been trading for over 32 years, designing products for the Pet, Aquatic and Wild Bird Industry. We have built our brand on distinctiveness and quality, which has made our designs sought after by the people we do business with.
Our material choices are made based on specification so that we provide the right quality and the best price we can. We will never be accused of skimping to save pennies here and there.
Additional maintenance information can be found at the bottom of each product page.


UCLA men's tennis player Mathieu Dehaine picked up the biggest victory of his college career Saturday, upsetting top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Lars Poerschke of Baylor in the quarterfinals of the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Thousand Oaks.
Dehaine defeated Poerschke in three sets, winning 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. He will meet another Baylor player, Matija Zgaga, in Sunday's semifinals.
Chris Surapol and Jeremy Drean dropped quarterfinal matches on Saturday. Surapol was defeated by Stanford's Matt Bruch, while Drean lost to Zgaga.
Doubles play was postponed due to rain.
At the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., Bruin junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel advanced to the finals with a victory over Virginia's Marko Miklo. Philipp Gruendler and Michael Look dropped matches Saturday.


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Home 2018 March 12 (Page 2)
Arunachal CM takes stock of power project
Itanagar, March 11: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has directed the authorities of North Eastern Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO)…
Being inhuman
We in the 21st century hardly know what monotony is! Not that our lives are rosy but that every day…
Who really is the Joker and why we don't need his origin movie
Kshitij Rawat Created by the trio of Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, The Joker is perhaps the most…
New local Hindi movie 'Gupt' coming soon
Nagaland's BK Bros. Production in association with Shree Balaji Production Film is coming up with a new Hindi feature film…
Black Panther reaches 1 billion USD
Disney's megahit Black Panther has passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. The studio said Saturday that…
ARIES: The words of your love ring sweeter than the most romantic poetry you've ever read today. In fact, don't…
'Irresponsible', 'Anti-National' to allege graft in Rafale deal: Gadkari
MUMBAI, March 11: With the Congress attacking the Centre on the Rafale deal, Union minister Nitin Gadkari today said it…
Panel calls for stronger security measures to stop terror attacks
NEW DELHI, March 11: A parliamentary panel has rejected the home ministry's suggestion that the overall internal security scenario in…
Priyanka and I have completely forgiven father's killers, says Rahul Gandhi
Singapore, March 11: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi have "completely forgiven"…
Consensus on Ayodhya difficult, but temple will be built: RSS
Nagpur, March 11: The RSS today said building a consensus on the Ayodhya dispute was not going to be easy,…


Kirsten Lora Haglund September 14, 1988 is a beauty queen from Farmington Hills, Michigan who was Miss America 2008. After winning the Miss Oakland County Miss Michigan pageant won a preliminary swimsuit award final competition crowned Miss Michigan. For talent she performed "Adele's Laughing Song". in the Miss America 2008 pageant Planet Hollywood Resort She won swimsuit award talent she sang "Over the Rainbow" and was crowned the 83rd Miss America. She succeeds Lauren Nelson, At 19, Haglund was the youngest girl in the competition, and the youngest Miss America winner since Kimberly Clarice Aiken took the title in 1993. Haglund's grandmother Iora Hunt represented Detroit, MI at Miss America 1944. See Kirsten Haglund 19 year old blonde Miss America and Miss Michigan modeling black bikini in contest.
Watch Isabel Lucas beautiful Alice Transformers 2 brunette black bikini white wet top at beach with horse HQ HD picture. Isabel Lucas 29 January 1985 an Australian actress and model known for 2003–2006 Home and Away Tasha Andrews TV, 2009 Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen Alice Nominated MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment, The Cove Herself Documentary, Daybreakers Alison Bromley, The Waiting City Scarlett 2010, The Pacific Gwen, Kin Anna Petrov, 2011 A Heartbeat Away Mandy Riddick, Immortals Athena 2012, Red Dawn Erica, Loft Sarah.
Watch Kendall Jenner model with big sister reality star brunette Kim Kardashian bikini pool photoshoot HQ HD picture.


A super quick card on this Easter morn. A guy card that can be used for Father's Day if needed. Image/sentiment are Stampin' Up; papers by Carta Bella and natural cotton braiding cord. I did chalk the image to add a little more color. Enjoy your day!
Great take on the sketch, and a wonderful masculine card to boot! Love the stitching!
great card for any male. Love your stamp.
Great card Linda-- love the chalking and the cord is a perfect touch! Love it!
Really like this! Could be masculine card or great one for a lady who likes to fish! I think I have that stamp or one very similar .... I might have to CASE your idea!
What a great card for a guy! I just love the stitching! Wonderful take on this week's sketch!
That's a super card! The coloring is wonderful and I really love the stitching! I'm going to have to remember that!
Very nice card. I too love the stitching.
Nice card, me too on loving the stitching!
I really love your interpretation on this sketch Linda. The stitching is fabulous and it's a great color combo too. I have this same fish stamp and always do a combination of greens/blues to color it and sepia ink to stamp it so this is right up my alley. Great job!
Excellent guy card, and the chalk works great with that image! The stitching detail adds a nice touch!
I love this card - I know it is a 'guy' card but I think any fisher woman would love it too!
Fantastic guy card- the cording is the perfect element on this card! love it!
Fantastic masculine card Linda. Great papers and I love the subtle chalking. Really works great with the fish and the stitching is a great detail. Thanks for playing!


BAE, MTV Caiman II (2) MRAP, (Mine Resistant Armor Protected), NOS, Cab and chassis.
Warn 18,000 lb. 24 volt winch is mounted to the front.
This Chassis is in NEW and UNUSED condition. Built with Caterpillar C9, 6 Cylinder, Electronically Controlled, Fuel Injected, Turbocharged and After-cooled, EPA Certified, 336kW (450HP), Caterpillar CX28 Transmission, Automatic/select 6-speed, Electronically Controlled, Full-time All-wheel Drive (6x6) off road. GVW of 69k lbs. with an additional towing capacity of 12k lbs. Top speed of 77 MPH, built with the latest technology and suspension. Complete Chassis weight is approximately 26,000 lbs.


Executives for a tri-county organization to promote South Florida as an Internet hub have signed a deal to become a non-profit organization being called the first multi-county alliance to target economic development and the Internet.
After years of brainstorming, the Internet Coast Alliance was formed by representatives for the Beacon Council, Broward Alliance and Palm Beach County Business Development Board — all economic development agencies.
Frank Nero, president & CEO of Miami-Dade County's Beacon Council, said the alliance aims to retain, recruit and expand Internet-related businesses in South Florida.
Now the groups have applied for non-profit status to make the alliance eligible for corporate and federal support.
The alliance, which gets staff support from the three agencies, is seeking $300,000 in seed money, Mr. Nero said. "We are applying for a grant. We're optimistic. We're also looking at other foundations."
He said more will be needed eventually to beef up marketing efforts.
Alliance officers will be named and by-laws set at the group's first meeting Sept. 6 at JM Family Enterprises in Deerfield Beach.
"This is really a benchmark event," Mr. Nero said. "This is a strategy that bodes well for regional cooperation in the future for the three counties."
Michael Langley, president & CEO of the Broward Alliance, said the Internet Coast Alliance will address other issues related to economic development in South Florida.
"We looked at the Internet Coast movement as a good place to put our effort together in a positive way to expand on other key issues in South Florida like education and transportation," Mr. Langley said. "It's important that Internet Coast be seen as a region, not just an organization."
With non-profit status Internet Coast would own rights to the organization's web page at InternetCoast.com, logo and other creations, Mr. Nero said.
Organizations such as the Miami Internet Alliance and One Community One Goal's telecommunications & information technology group at the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce recently have been formed to promote South Florida as an Internet hub.
"I just think that it's significant that the three-county economic development organizations have now come together," Mr. Nero said. "It's precedent setting."


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Q: xslt with html table sort specific td I'm new at XSLT language so i don't now how to do that..i want to sort all rows by category from table except the count products..i don't want to affect the order off count_products..please help..the code i have made so far
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <xsl:output method="html"/>
  <xsl:template match="/">

      <title></title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/xsl_style.css" type="text/css"/>

        A/A
        Product Name
        Price
        Corpration
        Category

      <xsl:for-each select="auction_products/product">
      <xsl:sort select="category"/>

          <xsl:value-of select="count_products"/>
          <xsl:value-of select="product_name"/>
          <xsl:value-of select="price"/>
          <xsl:value-of select="corporation"/>
          <xsl:value-of select="category"/>

      </xsl:for-each>

  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

A: If you want the rows to be sorted but the count_products column to come out in document order then you'd need a trick like this:
  <xsl:variable name="allProducts" select="auction_products/product" />
  <xsl:for-each select="$allProducts">
  <xsl:sort select="category"/>
    <xsl:variable name="pos" select="position()" />

      <xsl:value-of select="$allProducts[$pos]/count_products"/>
      <xsl:value-of select="product_name"/>
      <xsl:value-of select="price"/>
      <xsl:value-of select="corporation"/>
      <xsl:value-of select="category"/>

  </xsl:for-each>

to take the count_products child from the nth product regardless of the sorting applied to the for-each.
Of course, if count_products is really just a counter (1, 2, 3, ...) then you could just use <xsl:value-of select="$pos" /> directly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


With the cooler weather it's time to add some comfort food to the menu.
Here's a delicious way to dress up mashed potatoes.
Place in a pan with cold water and salt to taste, bring to a boil and simmer until tender.
While potatoes are cooking, place bacon pieces in a fry pan and cook until crisp.
Remove bacon to a paper towel with a slotted spoon.
Add sliced leeks and minced garlic to bacon fat and saute over medium heat until leeks are soft and beginning to brown.
Drain potatoes and mash, add sour cream and butter and enough warm milk to make a rough mash. For these potatoes, a rougher mash with a few lumps is desirable.
Add bacon, leeks, garlic and some of the bacon fat to the mashed potatoes and mix well.
This looks so good. I have plans to grow leeks in my garden next year too.
Having these to come to for our dinners and lunches, not only are we saving money, we are LOVING all the "regular" not-so-regular to us recipes...(translation: It's not made with so many expensive hard to find ingredients!) Thank you for giving this to ppl like me who loved to cook and does love to cook once again!!!! HUGS!
Yes, comfort food is in order these days and these potatoes are making my mouth water!!! EEEE YUMMM!
Put bacon in anything and I am right there at the table! I never thought of adding it to my potatoes or the leeks either although I love both. Thank you for getting me out of my rut!


B. J. Swalla, Department of Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA, and Station Biologique, Roscoff, France.
W. R. Jeffery, Bodega Marine Laboratory, Bodega Bay, CA 94923, USA; Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA; and Station Biologique, Roscoff, France.
↵† Present address: Biology Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
An evolutionary change in development was studied in two closely related ascidian species, one exhibiting a conventional tadpole larva and the other a modified tailless larva. Interspecific hybridization restores chordate features to the tailless larva. The zinc finger gene Manx is expressed in cells that generate chordate features in the tailed species but is down-regulated in the tailless species. Manx expression is restored in hybrid embryos. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotide treatment inhibited Manx expression and chordate features in hybrid embryos, which suggests that Manx is required for development of the chordate larval phenotype in ascidians.


text:
Controversial Alzheimer's Drug Behind About Half of Medicare's Yearly Price Bump
Aduhelm, approved by the FDA in June despite much pushback from medical experts, is expected to be a huge burden on the health care system.
adventtr via Getty Images
Jon Skolnik,
When Biogen's new Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm, was officially approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in June, it was a decision that flouted overwhelming pushback from doctors in the field, dozens of whom argued that Biogen had failed to demonstrate whether the drug had any clinical value. Since then, only about a hundred Americans have been prescribed the medication — a vanishingly small amount for a disease that afflicts 5.8 million. But even as the scope of Aduhelm's use remains limited, critics are now warning that its fiscal implications could spell disaster for American healthcare as we know it.
Aduhelm alone, priced at a whopping $56,000 a year, has already contributed to an approximate $10 spike in monthly Medicare Part B premiums, according to a recent CNN report. Comprising about half of this year's price increase, Aduhelm will bring the monthly cost of Medicare up from $148.50 to $170.10 — the biggest jump in dollar terms throughout the program's entire history, according to NBC15. It should be noted that the $10 upcharge applies to all Medicare enrollees — that is, over 62 million Americans — most of whom will never directly benefit from Aduhelm. And for the drug's actual recipients, the $10 add-on is just the tip of the iceberg.
First, there are co-payments. Because Medicare recipients are typically required to cover 20% of Part B treatments as part of the program's co-insurance policy, Aduhelm patients have to cough up an extra $11,600 out of pocket annually. An $11,600 copayment is already cost-prohibitive for the vast majority of Americans. But when it comes to Medicare enrollees — whose median income is roughly $30,000 a year — it's easy to see how just a year's worth of treatment is completely out of the question.
Then there's the cost of routine screening. In order to monitor the risk of brain bleeding and swelling — side-effects which occurred in about 41% of clinical patients from 2019 and may have led to the recent death of a 75-year-old woman — Aduhelm patients will also have to cover 20% of the cost of PET or MRI scans. To put this into context, the average national price range for brain MRI scans is $1,600 to $8,400. PET scans can be as pricey as $10,700. And Medicare does not guarantee coverage for either, at times leaving patients to pay for them in full.
Unsurprisingly, Aduhelm is expected to be a massive burden on the American healthcare system.
According to a conservative estimate by the Kaiser Family Foundation, if Medicare covered the drug for 1 million Americans, spending on Aduhelm would exceed $57 billion in a single year — $20 billion more than was spent on all Part B drugs in 2019 combined.
Judging by the numbers alone, the U.S. healthcare system cannot afford to absorb Aduhelm, David Mitchell, founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs, told Salon. "It's a back-breaking drug for Medicare and for Medicare beneficiaries," Mitchell explained in an interview. "We're going to have to confront the fact that we can't keep paying whatever [Big Pharma] demands, because it'll just break the bank."
Matthew E. Shepard, Communications Director at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, echoed Mitchell in an email exchange, expressing concerns about the "palpable impact the very possibility of this drug being covered under Medicare has already had on Medicare premiums."
Asked whether it found the drug's effect on Medicare concerning, a Biogen spokesperson emphasized that "Alzheimer's care pathway is complex and underdeveloped."
"We anticipate that adoption of ADUHELM, like other novel treatments, will be gradual over many years, as system-readiness and diagnosis will take time, and we expect that only a fraction of the total eligible population will be treated with ADUHELM in 2022," Allison Parks, the Biogen representative, added.
Aduhelm's approval comes at a political moment in which outrage over high drug prices — and Congress' apparent unwillingness to lower them — has reached a fever pitch.
As it currently stands, Medicare is not legally allowed to negotiate Part B and Part D drug prices with drugmakers. That is why House Democrats have for the past two years touted the "Lower Drug Costs Now Act," which sets out to allow for Medicare negotiation and establish price caps based on international reference points. But because the bill lacks adequate support from Congress — even though 83% of the American public supports Medicare price negotiation — companies like Biogen have near-complete authority to charge whatever they wish for their drugs, even when their actual value to society is abysmal.
And abysmal it might very well be, critics say, in the case of Aduhelm.
According to a comprehensive report released by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), which specializes in assessing the clinical value of pharmaceuticals as compared to their market prices, Aduhelm should actually be priced no higher than $8,300 per year — nearly seven times less than what Biogen is charging.
David Whitrap, ICER's Vice President of Communications and Outreach, told Salon that the group's analysis of Aduhelm was "very unique" because ICER had "strong concerns just about the effectiveness of the drug" from the outset. "Usually, we're looking at an FDA-approved drug that has some sort of efficacy. And it's just more of a discussion around what a fair price is," Whitrap said in an interview. "Ultimately, we concluded that the clinical evidence was insufficient to show whether Aduhelm provides a net health benefit for patients. And that's an unusual evidence rating from ICER."
The group's poor evidence rating was largely rooted in Biogen's controversial use of "surrogate endpoints," proxy measures that are assumed to correlate with actual clinical endpoints. For Aduhelm, this meant measuring the presence of beta-amyloid plaque as a surrogate for cognitive decline — an approach that typifies just one of many in dementia research.
"Aduhelm was approved based on its demonstrated clinical effect in reducing amyloid plaque in the brain and the reasonable likelihood that removal of this plaque slows disease progression," company spokesperson Allison Parks told Salon.
In Biogen's first 2019 study, called "EMERGE," the company found that Aduhelm reduced the rate of cognitive decline (i.e., the presence of amyloid plaque) by 23%. In its second study, "ENGAGE," these results failed to re-emerge.
But critics say that even if administering Aduhelm causes a reduction in plaque, that doesn't necessarily mean the drug is preventing cognitive decline.
"I think all the evidence shows that when you reduce amyloid plaque, you don't see a clinical benefit," Harvard lecturer Dr. John Abramson, whose forthcoming book "Sickening" tackles Big Pharma and corruption, told Salon. "It's a very good hypothesis — when you find that people who have Alzheimer's disease are far more likely to have amyloid deposits — I think that's established. But that doesn't establish causation."
On a broader level, Abramson also noted that the existing relationship between the FDA and Big Pharma presents several inherent conflicts of interest — and these conflicts might raise eyebrows with respect to Aduhelm. For instance, the FDA receives a large portion of its funding from user fees, which are paid out by pharmaceutical companies to help cover the agency's regulatory overhead as part of the 1992 Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA).
According to an FDA fact sheet from November of last year, users fees comprised roughly 45% of the FDA's total budget. For human drugs like Aduhelm, that number is as high as 65%, which critics say can open the door for problematic back-scratching.
"[The FDA's] primary client is industry and their time targets," Abramson explained. "And there's a lot of pressure to meet the targets that have been agreed upon to receive that PDUFA money."
But the full extent to which Biogen may have pressured the FDA, if at all, remains shrouded in mystery.
According to a New York Times analysis, Biogen reportedly fostered a spirit of "close collaboration" with the FDA officials spanning back to 2019. STAT further found evidence that Biogen executives apparently leveraged backchannels with the agency months before the drug was pushed past the finish line.
Now, two House committees are looking into the matter. And, in July, the Department of Health and Human Services launched an internal probe into whether there was any impropriety following calls for an investigation by FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock.
It's unclear how long Aduhelm's development will be under federal scrutiny. But in the meantime, the drug is already forcing companies and government agencies to make tough decisions. In the private insurance industry, Bloomberg reported, numerous companies are refusing to cover the Aduhelm until more data is presented, deeming the drug as largely experimental. The Department of Veterans Affairs has likewise shot the drug down entirely, citing the "the risk of significant adverse drug events and to the lack of evidence of a positive impact on cognition."
For its part, Medicare is still weighing a final determination as to whether — and how much — it will cover, even though the agency has already raised its premiums to build up cash reserves for coverage, according to CNN. "It's important to note that the Part B Premium reflects our actuaries' best estimates of future Medicare spending and the necessary reserves to ensure we can pay claims," a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spokesperson told Salon.
"CMS will post a proposed NCD and decision memorandum within six months from the initiation of this NCD analysis," they added.
But if CMS ultimately agrees to cover the drug, Abramson said, it will run the risk of "pulling money out of our healthcare system for the kinds of things that we know are going to be more cost effective."
"The big picture here is that the biotech whiz-bang takes money away from basic healthcare," he added. "And in my opinion, that's why the United States — despite spending an excess of $1.5 trillion a year — is losing ground rapidly in terms of population health, compared not just to the other wealthy nations, but to all the nations."
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
Jon Skolnik
Jon Skolnik is a staff writer at Salon. His work has appeared in Current Affairs, The Baffler, AlterNet and The New York Daily News.
An Obscure Agency Is Threatening to Hand Medicare Over to Wall Street
30 million seniors who thought they were free of insurance companies may find their health care managed by corporations.
Ana Malinow,
The Right Is Hijacking Progressive Arguments to Undermine Public Health
As long as health care remains a commodity, the right will use cynical arguments to discredit public health measures.
Christopher Teel,
Corporate Democrats' Toothless Drug Pricing Alternative Is a Coup for Big Pharma
Pain, suffering, health complications and even death are the costs people in our country pay for Big Pharma's greed.
Aija Nemer-Aanerud,


"On January 1, 2013 I began a work I have hoped to accomplish for 35 years. About 35 years ago I developed a daily Bible reading schedule for our congregation, going directly through the Scriptures. I thought then, "It might be beneficial to have a book of daily devotional readings following this schedule, either summarizing the chapters read or highlighting a portion or portions of those chapters. The Lord enabled me to accomplish the work last year, sending out segments to our subscribers each day in 2013."
theWord module distributed with permission.


It was murderously hot here in the Charm City suburbs last weekend. The heat index topped a full 115 degrees on Saturday! But fear not, the heat didn't deter us from tackling our long-awaited shed storage shelves …... Build open shelving in your kitchen to add extra storage space to store kitchen items or decor. Build Corner Shelves with Mitered Edges Learn how to build corner bookshelves with a sharp-edged twist.
A sturdy shelving unit is a must-have in any home. But Courtney and Brent Richardson of Gray House Studio took the mainstay up a notch. Learn how they got such a … how to contact cic on status change The first step of the woodworking project is to build the sides of the storage shelves. As you can easily notice in the diagram, you need to build the legs and the supports out of 2×4 lumber.
If you've ever felt like your home could be featured on the TV show Hoarders, you know that good storage is vitally important for every home. With the right shelves, bins and probably a yard sale, you can eliminate clutter and create a well organized space.
We needed some extra bathroom storage in our small bathroom and these bathroom floating shelves above our toilet solved our storage issues. Here's a tutorial on how to build bathroom floating shelves.
When it comes to storage shelves, I think the ones that you can buy are actually not too expensive. And at least they'll have a guarantee for how much load they can take. And at least they'll have a guarantee for how much load they can take.


Evidence-based examination procedures and diagnosis-specific management strategies for the elbow, as presented by the IAOM-US.
The International Academy of Orthopedic Medicine-US delivers this two-DVD set that details their systematic method of examination, diagnosis and treatment of the elbow.
Suited for use in the home, clinic or school. DVD runtimes: Disc One – 1:54:07; Disc Two – 2:04:52.