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Emma Thompson, marketing director OnBrand explains why events based marketing help drive the return of shoppers to retail destinations
As anyone working in the retail trade knows, the closure of non-essential retail in March 2020 put pressure on both shopping centre managers and retail store managers in terms of how to communicate 'the new normal'. As the world shut down, shopping centre retailers had to quickly adapt their messaging to focus on Covid safety rather than retail promotion.
Shopping centres that were proactive in communicating with their customers found that their hard work paid off during lockdown and it helped them post lockdown to tempt customers back in as the retail sector opened up again.
We can still see people being cautious about venturing out, so a lot of our work with shopping centres over the course of the year has focused on reassuring customers that shopping centres are safe and reinforcing messaging around additional safety measures being taken to help customers to come back through the doors and improve footfall.
There is new recognition as we move out of the worst of the pandemic that retail centres need to go further than ever before to attract people into their spaces. Introducing new leisure experiences alongside shops, such as escape rooms, independent cafés and cinemas, will be key for retailers needing to think of innovative ways for customers to spend their spare time. With that in mind, shopping centres particularly are becoming more creative in their approach to creating a much more personal experience for people that visit their venues.
Some of the more traditional retail events have been deliberately booked in bigger and better than before. Halloween and Christmas are always popular among shoppers, and many shopping centre managers have decided to provide more immersive experiential events this year.
For 2021 Christmas events, centre managers seem to be feeling more confident in booking traditional footfall drivers such as festive arts and crafts, mulled wine and minced pies. Extra treats such as Elf Workshops at The Brewery in Romford, visits from The Grinch and Gingerbread mascots at Pavilions Shopping Centre in Waltham Cross, and even a Christmas Grotto, hand-made by the management team at St George's Shopping Centre in Gravesend, will make local Christmas shopping outings memorable, with many centres bringing activities forward to the end of November as shoppers get ready earlier this year.
As 2021 comes to a close, the next few months will be crunch time for many in the retail sector. We can already see that those who seek to innovate and experiment with new forms of entertainment are able to encourage shoppers to return through their doors. In order for that to happen, we are seeing that it is now necessary to create some sort of add on experience to keep shoppers engaged. I hope that this new creativity will help to bring about a resurgence in the sector through the Christmas period and that shopping centres go into 2022 in the best shape possible.
This was first published in Retail Destination Fortnightly. Click here to subscribe.
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The Air Tactical Assault Group - Team Fusion - Cliffs of Dover > ATAG > Paint Shop - Skinning > First attempt at painting.... Help!
View Full Version : First attempt at painting.... Help!
Hello guys, I'm in the middle of attempting my first plane skin and I could do with some advice please. I'm working on a template that I downloaded of a Hurricane and fortunately it came complete with lots of layers so all I've had to do is hide stuff I don't want painting and just paint over the bits I do want painting. Now, I have skinned a lot of car models for the race sim 'rFactor' and this template is very, very similar to the ones I've worked with from there so I'm just wondering if the procedure is the same? I've added my basic 'test scheme' colours and I'm now at the point where I want to save it and try to get it in to the game. With rFactor, what I would do now is 'flatten all layers' (hiding the ones I don't want to show), then I would be saving it as a .DDS file, so can anyone tell me please if I'm working along the right lines and what do I need to do from here to try and get it to show up in the game?
OK thanks Lewis, not quite sure what you mean by 'indexed colours' or 'mode'...... Do I just leave these settings at default? I.E. - that gives me a selection of palettes, colours - 256, forced black & white, transparency ticked, differ - diffusion, amount 75% and then finally preserve exact colours - unticked. (and in right hand column - preview is ticked).
Or, do I need to change any of these settings?
Well, well, well... Thanks to your help mate, I've only got it flying!
Brilliant job Lewis, thanks for your help mate. I'll probably be working on this most of the day now.
All in the name of fun!!..
OK, my second attempt at a paint job. I did this on a template that I've found on the net and it already came with muti-layers which was good, purely fictitious of course and based on the same markings I did on the Hurricane above.
I had a load of trouble trying to find code letters, roundels, tail fin flashes etc, the ones I've used on this Spitfire where also found around the net and I've had to try resizing and altering them a bit so they're not very accurate at the moment.
(sorry if it's a bit boring to you folks who do all those amazing skin jobs out there but I've got to start somewhere....lol).
Yes, that is the name on the bottom of the template mate, I didn't notice it before so I just opened it to have a look.
He's a talented dude mate, he knows how to make damned good templates! There's everything you could possibly need on this one and it's full of detail, must be something close to 15 layers on it to play around with.
I'm starting to get the hang of 'skinning' these planes a little bit now, they are actually very similar to the racing cars I've mentioned early, apart from you don't need to bother with all the 'convert to .DDS and alpha channel' stuff.
Excellent game, I'm starting to really enjoy now for the first time ever.
There's no need to use indexed colours or save as a BMP, as was neccessary in the old 1946/Forgotten Battles game. Just save your skin as a jpg.


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station 19 4
It would be one thing if Elena had contacted Andy after Pruitt's passing, saying how sorry she was for leaving. Bringing her over to Station 19 is a win-win for both of us, because she could still appear as the obstetrician she is in Grey's, and she can still be seen in her relationship with Maya. He was a natural leader as anyone who's ever worked with him knows. It then became the question of offering a reasonable explanation for why Elena seemingly faked her death without destroying Pruitt's memory in the process. So a lot of it was just setting up the protocols. That would have been consistent with the man we spent three seasons getting to know and love, but the real clicher came later when it was revealed Pruitt went to see Elena in New York after 9/11. To stay up to date on breaking TV news, sign up for ET's daily newsletter. As Jack grows, that's going to become increasingly complicated. Shows couldn't return to filming during the summer to allow for a traditional end-of-September return date. He's made a choice to protect his family and to protect his friendship with Vic. Herrera will take place this afternoon.Vic: I can't believe after all the crap we went through to get him his line of duty funeral we have to do it on the fricking internet.Maya: Agreed.Jack: Tell me again why we can't just wait until after lockdown? Whatever happens, it'll most likely not be happy, at least for the foreseeable future. What he does next still remains to be seen, as it's just as likely he'll bury his feelings and ask Sasha to move in or tell Vic that he loves her. Good on him. Sullivan strives to work on his sobriety. From the firefighters having to stay apart from their families to discussing how to make romantic relationships working during a pandemic and having a virtual funeral for Pruitt, all those things really hit home as to how much the novel coronavirus has affected them, even on the smallest level. I miss you.Ben: I miss you. Build your custom FanSided TV email newsletter with news and analysis on All Television and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. Spoiler alert! Station 19 Will Fully Embrace COVID-19 for 'Deepest' Season Yet; 6. Coming off the heels of Station 19 Season 3 Episode 16, the biggest question on our minds was how could Elena possibly be alive. However, there are a lot of other storylines still to contend with from Station 19 Season 3. The Bachelorette age rating: Is the show appropriate for kids? Who is your crush on 90 Day Fiance? It seems like the Dean/Vic romance isn't going anywhere because while Vic may be oblivious, Dean seems to have accepted how he feels. Station 19 4 stagione si fa: news sul rinnovo. We haven't even had anyone get the flu so far this season. Share your thoughts in the comments below. Even if the midst of the pandemic, they are still #CoupleGoals. ET: What was the most challenging thing about reframing this new season with the pandemic at the forefront? The … Andy tries to make sense of her mother's return. What especially worked was seeing how the pandemic has affected our favorite characters' lives. After all, the firefighters and doctors are going to be fighting many of the same problems as we're set partway through the pandemic. Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. So what did you think, Station 19 Fanatics? Elena, on the other hand, didn't come off looking too good. Also, that'd mean we'd get more Bailey and Ben scenes, which is never a bad thing. I'm definitely interested in a woman who abandons her child at nine and stays out of her life for decades and then suddenly comes back and barely wants to apologize. It will be a crossover with Grey's Anatomy once more. What didn't work was the 'emergency of the week,' where a bunch of high school seniors broke the lockdown just to party. I hated teenagers even when I was a teenager.Vic: 'Cause they're so stupid?Travis: 'Cause they're so stupid. © 2020 TV Fanatic When the COVID-19 pandemic hits Seattle, the Station 19 crew leans on each other for support. Sullivan is also currently jobless. As Andy learned during their verbal sparring match, her mother was suffering from mental illness -- feeling all sorts of depressed, sad and ashamed -- and chose to up and leave when Andy was just nine years old. There was not a way out that wouldn't destroy you. And my father made the decision it would be less painful for me to grieve you than to know you abandoned me. Even if she didn't know Andy thought she was dead, Elena had to know that leaving would inevitably scar her daughter. Right now, his sobriety is the most important thing, and he can't be there for Andy as a husband until he's gotten some space to figure things out for himself. Andy: When you left, did he tell you he was going to say you were dead?Elena: No, he asked what am I supposed to tell a 9-year-old girl about why her mother left her, and I said, 'I don't know. Are Sullivan and Andy making the right choice in separating? There was no way around that when Grey's Anatomy decided to do a pandemic storyline. Part of the interesting thing about Jack this season is, is it real or is it just Memorex? We learned quickly that the firefighter drama would move back to the fall, but we had no idea when the premiere dates would be. While her tale of woe was sad, it still doesn't excuse her leaving. This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors. That was pushed to one side because of everything with Pruitt, so I hope some time is spent on that, especially when it comes to the firefighters working with the cops. Do you think Nicole and Azan will ever get married? Did you like how the series incorporated the pandemic? And you, you were about to lose your dad. Four seasons ago, I definitely would not have pegged Jack to be the voice of reason, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. She just went on about how she felt trapped and had to leave. He has to find where he's going to work and how he's going to fit in. A Million Little Things Season 3 release date and cast latest: When is it coming out? Then there's Dean trying to manage being a single father and Vic dealing with her feelings for Dean. What may have worked better would be if Tucker and Joey had decided to do something stupid like this, so at least the lesson at hand would hit a little closer to home. You're onto something there. Hopefully, this storyline will allow Travis and his father to get the closure that they both desparately need. Add Image. The only problem is that Station 19 is a Shondaland drama, and the writers can never just let things be. It quickly became clear the newlyweds weren't likely to survive their first year of marriage until they realized they had to deal with their giant emotional baggage first. It was a thin line to walk, but the writers did an admirable job. Those touches may seem small, but they were necessary to convey just how much everyone's lives have been upended by this. It used to be super easy for him just to do it. He now realizes if he and Andy are going to make their marriage work, they need to spend some time apart to get their heads on straight. He chose to protect me above all else, and while he may have made mistakes, I have no doubt he'd make them all again if he thought it was best for me. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Spoiler alert! From Dean's awkward realization that he actually loves Vic to Andy and Sullivan's temporary 90-day breakup to Travis' uncomfortable discovery that his dad is on a gay dating app, there's a lot more drama ahead for the firefighters of Station 19 with the season now in full swing. What value does the character of Carina add to the show, especially with her relationship with Maya? Do not proceed if you have not watched the season 4 premiere of Station 19. Your privacy is safe with us. Station 19 Season 4 is heading to ABC in fall 2020. Though it's terrible timing for Andy, all I can say is it's about time. What to Watch on Netflix Top 10 Rankings on November 15; 5. Station 19 return date for 2020: When does show come back on for Season 3? (Laughs.) showrunner Krista Vernoff recently told TVLine, For Life Season 2 returns to ABC this week, star Nicholas Pinnock reveals what fans can expect. When the COVID-19 pandemic hits Seattle, the Station 19 crew leans on each other for support. But because they love each other, they want to be together and they want to support each other through what each is going through. I still love you, Andy. We actually breathed a sigh of relief, because that allows our actors to actually be in masks in many instances and to be protected naturally, because that's the environment. Whenever you're forced apart, when you want to be together, it's going to be a struggle. It's such a good question, but as you know from watching your Shondaland shows, love is very difficult to find, and what appears to be love sometimes isn't always love. I was so depressed. Watching Bailey and Ben give the boys the lecture of their lives would have made the message more effective. We're in episodes 5 and 6 now. But we're not going to continue to flash back to that. It doesn't give too much away, using a lot of old footage for both shows. ET hopped on the phone with Barclay, the executive producer and director of Thursday's premiere, to get the scoop on what's to come. What are the chances that he makes his way back to 19 in some capacity? Hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. So I can tell you that, at least in my family, we hope that Jack does find love. I mean, this is the season that's going to be the most real because of it, because we've embraced COVID and also, it's going to be the one that's going to be the most safe. Who will take Ryan's place on the show for that need? It's going to be to the joy of the audience.Station 19 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. Knock on wood that keeps up. My dad was faced with some pretty terrible choices when I was a kid, but he did what he thought was best for me at the time, every time. When Sullivan and Andy rushed into marriage on Station 19 Season 3, we all knew this wasn't a step they should be making so soon. All I hope for is Carina to get a real storyline and not always just be someone to use for other characters. Who wouldn't have unresolved emotional issues if their parent left out of the blue? The two of them have an undeniable chemistry that really, really becomes central heating in the show. We did have to say goodbye to a couple of main cast members last season (I'm still a little salty about one of them), but so far, there are no signs that others will be leaving. He brought the best out of everyone by demanding nothing less. The series is one of the strongest on ABC. And when you have as many skills as Sullivan, and charm is among them, you may be able to find your way. In terms of Andy and Sullivan's marriage, they decided to separate for 90 days as he goes through his recovery process. These two shows are set in the same universe and cross over a lot. It seems there's so much more to unpack there with that relationship. Let's just pray it's not another damned love triangle. Can you give us a hint as to what he means? It felt more like a public service announcement than something that happened organically and detracted from the rest of the episode in how preachy it felt at times. Station 19 4 stagione si fa!La ABC ha rilasciato l'annuncio mercoledì 11 marzo, con le seguenti dichiarazioni, riportate da TVLine:. ® & © 2020 CBS Studios Inc. © 2020 CBS Television Distribution and CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Scoglio Rosso Ponza, Nuova Registrazione 402 Chords, Incidente Liguria Oggi, Orto Botanico Padova, Santo 20 Gennaio, 26 Ottobre 1974, Una Canzone Per Te Cast, Santa Margherita Ligure Spiaggia Libera, Calendario Dicembre 2012, Janet Significato In Italiano,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There's been a lot of fuss on the interweb this past couple of days with the release of Nikon's newest camera, the D3X. It is being dubbed by several bloggers as a "digitial monster" – Nikon refer to is as a Digital Masterpiece. The basic specs are : 24.5 megapixels, full format (35.9mmx24mm) sensor, 138MB RAW files (!!!), 51-point AF system. There's more but I'm running out of breadth. Why? The cost of the camera is $8000!
It's just like wanting the latest Porsche you see parked on the street from your 8-year old Honda Civic! I'm outside, looking in – somebody, please close the curtains! I know I shouldn't be looking but there's something vouyeristic about high end geek-and-gadgetary.
Comparisons are usually mundane, at times uninformative and often boring. But, Jeff Revell at PhotoWalkPro has an interesting one (although, arguably, not very informative). Apparently, when the Kodak DCS420 Digital SLR came out in 1994, it cost $8000. It was at the very high end of digital imaging then (what happened Kodak?!) and it came with 1.5 megapixels (most crappy phones have more nowadays). Furthermore, we all know that geek-and-gadget gear gets cheaper as time and technology move on right? So, Jeff made this estimate: the D3X (and other camera's of its monster-ilk) would have cost about $140,000 in 1994.
It's a bloody bargain! By the way, Jeff also points out that you can pick up the DCS420 for about $69 on eBay.
Yesterday was Black Friday in America. Traditionally the day after Thanksgiving, it is the day when the country goes mad for bargains at the stores and malls. It marks the start of the Christmas season. It is called 'Black Friday' because its the one day in the year when so much shopping is done that it pushes most stores' financial accounts for the year from the red and into the black. It means a lot to them, and more so in the current economic climate.
I've nothing against capitalism. Mila will tell you that I like shopping for gadgest and gear as much as any other wants-but-doesn't-have-an-iPhone guy. But, when this happens…. something is seriously wrong with our society and values.
As I said in the last post, I'm on the mountain for the next week or so. I'm just working the last quarter of the night for the next few nights, commissioning a new instrument at the JCMT. So I made my way up to the summit leaving the Hale Pohaku Hotel & Resort for Stray Astronomers at about 1:30am. The sky was beautiful and clear – it is one of the natural wonders of the world, truly amazing and I never, ever get used to seeing the night sky from the summit. However, when I looked over at the ridge above us where the biggies are (Subaru and the two Kecks) I noticed this bright orange line shooting out of the Keck I dome into the sky. No, not James Bond, but adaptive optics with lasers.
The technology is actually quite cool. At Keck they call it LGS – laser guide stars. Of course adaptive optics with natural guide stars (NGS) has been around for a while, but it depends on the presence of stars near where you want to observe (within about 30 arcsecs or so). Despite there being "billions and billions" of stars in our Galaxy, apparently this leaves something like 99% of the sky unviewable with adaptive optics. Hence the genesis of this new technology. The laser is shot up in the direction of the astronomical object of interest where it interacts with the sodium layer high up (about 90km) in our atmosphere. The sodium atoms (which got to be there by virtue of meteor strikes, etc, by the way) are excited into emission by the laser and the telescope uses it as an artificial source to correct the aberrations that are introduced by the atmosphere.
Not that great, but cool nonetheless. If you look closely (click on the images) you'll see double stars and two lines for the laser. That's because the way that the JCMT telescope is built, the whole building rotates when we follow sources around the sky. So the double stars and laser tracks are because the telescope moved in the middle of my exposures. (We're not going to stop working just because I want to take a photograph!). These were a 1.5 and 3 minute exposures, respectively.
If the lasers are out again in the next couple of nights I'll set up the tripod outside and see if I can capture a better shot. In the meantime, here's a really nice image from the Keck website.
For the next few nights I am here at Hale Pohaku Hotel & Resort for Stray Astronomers, exiled from the world, civilisation and my family.
Having the fortune of living in Hawaii, we are constantly reminded every day of the beauty that surrounds us. This planet we live on is a gift and it seems that we are only just starting to learn that there's a delicate balance in the existence of this beauty around us – delicate, as once it is gone it will be very difficult to get back.
Now, back to the point! At the Hale Pohaku Hotel & Resort for Stray Astronomers, the problem is more accute as the Resort is built at the 9,000 ft level on the slopes of Mauna Kea, and all water needs to brought up here by tanker. However, a very unique system for preserving water has developed. It has been around for as long as I have been coming here (gosh, that's almost 20 years now!!) and it prevents you from wasting too much water in the shower. You've been awake for 18 of the last 24 hours, twelve of which you've spent at the summit. You only managed to get 4 hours sleep and you fall grogilly out of bed needing a shower before you start the next 18 hours. You get the mixer taps balanced just right and the water is perfect. You jump in and you're really comfortable and you start to relax and your thoughts unwind from the previous night's work at the telescope. Just as you get to the point when you think you finally understand what's going on "up there" your back and shoulderes are scalded by extremely hot water coming out of the shower. From contemplating the universe in a zen-like state to 3rd-degree burns in a fraction of a second. You struggle to regain the balance but there's no chance of getting back to that nice place. Whatever is in there regulating the mix of water has gone non-linear, chaotic. Add a touch of cold water and freezing water tries to frostbite your toes (and other bits!). Too much, go the other way! Ow, ow, hot, hot!
Soon enough you give up and get out. The shower has won and the water of life is preserved.
I was rudely woken up this morning by an over-excitable young girl who has just this day started her 11th year of life. Jumping up and down on bed at 7am when I'm trying to recover from finishing a telecon with colleagues in the UK at 2am… grump!
And now that Operation 'Get Grumpy Dad out of Bed' is 'Mission Accomplished', what should we do?
This is the first one that Mira put together. Loaded the software onto the computer and made a simple program which sent the robot in a perfect square pattern. We're going to have fun with this… more posts to follow on this I predict.
I've been contemplating for a while about whether I should join the blogosphere or not, and today I thought I would just take the plunge. What have I got to lose?


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American Politics and the Appetite for Chaos
(Christian Hartmann/Reuters)
Thomas Edsall's column in the New York Times calls attention to a new paper by a trio of political scientists that contends that a significant chunk of the American electorate is increasingly driven by an appetite for "chaos incitement" — or, at least, that they feel that way when answering questions in a survey.
How do Petersen, Osmundsen and Arceneaux measure this "need for chaos"? They conducted six surveys, four in the United States, in which they interviewed 5157 participants, and two in Denmark, with 1336. They identified those who are "drawn to chaos" through their affirmative responses to the following statements:
I fantasize about a natural disaster wiping out most of humanity such that a small group of people can start all over.
I think society should be burned to the ground.
When I think about our political and social institutions, I cannot help thinking "just let them all burn."
We cannot fix the problems in our social institutions, we need to tear them down and start over.
Sometimes I just feel like destroying beautiful things.
In an email, Petersen wrote that preliminary examination of the data shows "that the 'need for chaos' correlates positively with sympathy for Trump but also — although less strongly — with sympathy for Sanders. It correlates negatively with sympathy for Hillary Clinton."
(Entirely separate from Clinton's qualities as a candidate or a person, the antipathy for Clinton isn't that surprising; as a familiar face in American politics for a quarter-century, she represented the status quo in the 2016 election.)
If you wanted to encapsulate the antithesis of conservatism, you would probably say things like, "I think society should be burned to the ground" or "I just feel like destroying beautiful things." This is nihilism and anarchism, conserving nothing, and it is maddening to see lazy, ill-informed, or mendacious observers conflate these attitudes with tenets of modern conservatism.
The study makes this important point: the people most prone to share a "hostile political rumor" don't fit into our traditional partisan definitions. "We found that these political activists are promiscuous sharers and are motivated to share rumors that target any elite actors, independently of this actor's political identity," it says.
"I fantasize about a natural disaster wiping out most of humanity such that a small group of people can start all over"? Who the hell are these people? Aspiring James Bond foes? Samuel L. Jackson's villain from Kingsman: The Secret Service who wanted a "culling" of humanity? Hydra?
The paper contends that "burn it down," "burn it to the ground," and "torn down" sentiments attract anywhere from 24 percent to 40 percent of the American public, a conclusion they admit is "staggering."
"The extreme discontent expressed in the "Need for Chaos" scale is a minority view but it is a minority view with incredible amounts of support. Thus, if we want to know why hostile political rumors has gained prominence in public debate, the answer lies in Figure 3: A substantial minority of individuals are so discontent that they are willing to mobilize against the current political order to see if what emerges from the resulting chaos has something better in stock for them."
In other words, a complete collapse of perspective on how good Americans have it today, and how bad things can get without the current strengths and benefits of a democratic republic and a mostly free-market economic system. The Great Recession was really painful for many Americans. To someone who survived the Holodomor, it would look pretty darn mild. Does chaos have something better in stock for you? Probably not. And if it does . . . man, have you wasted the opportunities that this free society has given you.
The political-science professors offer some important caveats:
On the basis of these surveys, we cannot – and we do not – claim that substantial numbers of Danish or American citizens are ready to go into actual fights with the police or commit other forms of political violence. But what is a methodological limitation might be seen as a substantive strength. Hence, this study provides insights into the kinds of thoughts and behaviors that people are motivated to entertain when they sit alone (and lonely) in front of the computer, answering surveys or surfing social media platforms. In an age of fake news and hostile political rumors, system-defeating behavior does not take much more than that. A few chaotic thoughts that leads to a few clicks to retweet or share is enough.
As unnerving as the study's arguments are, they appear pretty clarifying. Our political battles of our era are not merely Left vs. Right but Nihilists vs. people who want to keep any part of the existing system. The Left encompasses big-government politicians in suits who embrace statism, but also Antifa, which definitely has a strong appetite for chaos.


Programme for the first ever concert given by Dimitris Sgouros, on 20th May 1977, aged SEVEN !! He played two of his own original compositions as well as works by Beethoven, Kuhlau, Clementi, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, etc.
"We warmly invite you to perform a solo recital at Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv, to mark the 97th anniversary of Arthur Rubinstein's birthday.
On this occasion you will be awarded the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein Gold Medal designed by Picasso."
(iii) None of the above?
In London with Professors Timothy Baxter and Guy Jonson etc.
Also winner of the Volpi Cup at the prestigious Venice Film Festival, etc.
with a brilliant rendition of the Scherzo from Dvorak's Piano Quintet Op 81. The audience applauded warmly."
Clavier Magazine - "Sgouros, on the basis of this performance, seems to have the makings of one of the century's great pianists"
Dimitris Sgouros awarded First Prize for his recordings, "strikingly outdistancing the competition..."
"Dimitris Sgouros is surely on his way to recording all the standard repertoire. But for once I don't mind the duplications.
What a piano player he is! I can't wait to hear his next recording."
Sgouros on NBC TV - unwinding with a game of baseball!
"The original instrument has been painstakingly recreated by renowned Flemish pianoforte builder Chris Maene"
"The Perfect Tribute To A Great Legend"
"Sgouros showed excellent familiarity with the work, abundant technique and craftsmanship... delicacy and expressiveness..."
"Mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa and acclaimed pianist Dimitris Sgouros are internationally known..."
".. a powerful reading of the Brahms concertos"


Chartnado is an Add-In that runs inside Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint. You can create dashboards using your data directly in Excel and then publish them to the cloud for presentation in PowerPoint. This page will help you get started building dashboards.
Chartnado works with Excel data tables. These data tables provide structure to the data in Excel and are required. If you are unfamiliar with data tables in Excel you can learn more about data tables here.
On the Insert ribbon tab, click on the Store button.
Search for the Chartnado add-in the list of add-ins and click Add.
When the add-in is first started you will see a blank canvas onto which you can begin building a dashboard. Also, in the left navigation menu there will be links to Getting Started videos and other support resources.
Building a dashboard with Chartnado consists of adding visual widgets to the panes of the dashboard. When the designer is first started there is only one pane, but it is trivial to add more. In any pane you can click on any of the widgets to begin creating that visualization. To begin we'll create a Chart widget so click on that.
For each of the visualization widgets we have provided a bare-bones wizard that you can walk through to get up and running. Additional customizations are possible for each widget after initial configuration.
All wizards begin with getting you to choose a data table in the workbook. If you don't have any data tables you will not be able to proceed past this point. For a description of data tables please go here.
In Excel 2016 the Chartnado add-in is able to query the workbook for the list of data tables and this will happen automatically when you go to choose a data table for the widget. If you are an Excel 2013 user the experience is slightly different. Please go here to see what the difference is.
Once that's finished click the back button to get back to the Wizard.
The default chart type is a point chart, with the subtype being a basic bar chart. Let's leave the chart type for now.
The argument axis is most commonly referred to as the x-axis. Let's choose the column that we want to plot on the x-axis.
In all widgets in Chartnado you plot Fields. A field has an association to one (or more) columns, plus some information that can be used for grouping, formatting, etc.
In this case we will associate the argument axis (x-axis) with the 'Order Date' column which is a date/time column.
In many cases leaving the default aggregation is fine. However, for some column types (notably date/time columns) choosing an aggregation (or grouping) can be quite effective. In this case we'll choose an aggregation that groups the date/time values in the 'Order Date' column first by year, then by month.
Now hit the back button several times to get back to the Wizard.
The value is plotted on the y-axis. Let's choose the 'Line Total' column to plot on the y-axis.
Again, go back to the Wizard by clicking on the back button.
Now that we have selected everything needed to properly display the chart the Finish button becomes enabled.
After clicking on the Finish button the pane is replaced with the finished widget.
If you'd like to change the configuration of the widget, click on the ellipsis in the upper-right corner of the widget then select 'Edit' to bring up the property editor.
The property editor behaves like the Wizard. You select the set of properties that you'd like to edit and then get back to the widget by clicking the back button until the widget re-appears. For example, to change the chart to a pie chart, click 'Appearance' -> 'Layout' -> change to 'Pie' and then keep clicking the back button to show the pie chart.
That pie chart looks a little weird so to change the aggregation go back to the property editor, then choose Argument -> Aggregation -> Date/Time and turn off everything except Year. Then back out of the configuration editor to view a much better pie chart.
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Microsoft®, Office®, Excel®, PowerPoint®, Power Pivot®, Power Query®, Power View® & Power BI® are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.


The WG aims to provide a common framework for describing, representing linking and publishing Wheat data with respect to existing open standards. This framework is expected to promote and sustain Wheat data sharing, reusability and operability. The group's work is based principally on the the needs of the Wheat Initiative's Information System (WheatIS) in terms of functionalities and data types; in this context, the working group will identify relevant use cases in order to produce a "cookbook" on how to produce "wheat data" that are easily shareable, reusable and interoperable.
The work done in the context of the RDA WG is mainly guided by the outcomes of a survey report that was implemented in June 2012 by the Wheat Initiative. Taking the outcomes of this report as the framework for this work, the WG has focused on specific data types of interest to the Wheat research community (namely, by order of priority: SNP, Genomic annotations, Phenotypes, Genetic Maps, Physical Maps & Germplasm). Based on this report, the members of the RDA Wheat Data Interoperability WG have been exploring all available resources by contacting external collaborators, researchers in wheat data as well as people who are working with wheat research data in general.
It is important to note that the guidelines have been developed in a way that will allow them to be adapted for other crops such as rice and maize, which play a very important role in human nutrition and food security.
The Wheat Data Interoperability Guidelines describe a set of guidance rules to foster Wheat data interoperability, with the purpose of helping researchers create, manage and exchange Wheat Data.


Tokyo: Not to be outdone by the ongoing National High School Championship in Koshien (15 days from August 12) and 12U Rubber Baseball National Championship in Tokyo (8 days from August 5 ), girls and boys in different categories of baseball are pursuing glory in their National Tournaments organized by the Japan Rubber Baseball Association (JRBA), the largest sanctioning body of baseball, affiliated with Baseball Federation of Japan.
"NPB Girls Tournament 2014 Supported by Chi no Tsubasa" is jointly hosted by JRBA and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and is competed by 36 regional champion teams of primary school children (12U) . They celebrated the Opening Ceremony at Tokyo Dome, home ground of Tokyo Yomiuri Giants of NPB and play in 4 satellite cities in Tokyo for 6 days from August 11.
"The 31st Japan Junior High Rubber Baseball Championship", often called "Koshien of Junior High" along with "Koshien of Primary School", is joined by16 Regional champions, is hosted by JRBA and Yokohama City and will last for 4 days from August 11. Competition site is Yokohama Stadium, home ground of Yokohama DeNA BayStars of NPB.


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Kay says she's never asked a guy out.
Kirsten didn't agree with Shirley.
I think Gene suspects me.
I changed my name to Butler Jackson.
Valerie advised me not to do that.
Cristi hit me by mistake.
Win doesn't speak French properly.
Rebecca was soaked to the skin.
I haven't seen Varda since then.
Tobias is giving us time to consider his offer.
Feel free to disagree, Elvis.
Raman can take care of himself.
Sridhar appears to be disoriented.
Edgar is still in shock.
Could Margaret have been murdered?
I recognized Lanny by voice.
When did you see Swamy?
Svante really doesn't want to tell Mikey where he was.
Joshua stepped out into the hall.
Ozan felt that the criticism levelled against him was unjustified.
Darin is out on the balcony.
Myrick's father told me he was a doctor.
You can let Jeffery go now.
Klaus and Sanjib looked at each other and then at John.


This superior quality cabinet drawer handle is made from fine solid brass and rose wood. Metal part is plated with 24C Natural Gold and is coated with English Albfrin lacquer to give you many years of service. Sold with fixings. Price includes VAT.


text:
LentiGlobin for Sickle Cell Has Potential to Improve Health-Related Quality of Life
Patients with baseline PROMIS-57 scores worse than population norms reported clinically significant improvements in 6 of 8 domains at 12 months post-treatment.
Findings from a new study suggested that LentiGlobin improved health-related quality of life metrics for patients with sickle cell disease. The study was presented this weekend at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) 2020 Conference.
Julie Kanter, MD, University of Alabama at Birmingham, led a team that evaluated patient-reported quality of life outcomes 12 months post-treatment from the ongoing phase 1/2 HGB-206 study, which is currently assessing the safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin for sickle cell disease gene therapy.
So far, the most recently treated cohort of patients have improved in laboratory assessments. Results indicated a trend towards normalization in key hemolysis markers as well as an improvement in total hemoglobin values. The ongoing study also reported near resolution of vaso-occlusive crises and acute chest syndrome (ACS). Thus, the authors considered these findings to suggest that the therapy has a fundamental effect on sickle cell pathophysiology.
Patients enrolled in the study were ≥12 and ≤50 years of age and had a history of stroke or severe vaso-occlusive events. Those with acute episodes of pain and acute chest syndrome were also included.
In addition to assessing laboratory and clinical markers, investigators also evaluated patient-reported outcomes using the PRO Measurement Information System (PROMS)-57.
"PROMIS-57 assesses HRQoL using collection of short forms containing 8 questions for each of the 7 PROMIS domains (Depression, Anxiety, Pain Interference, Fatigue, Sleep Disturbance, in which a lower score denotes improvement, and Physical Function, Satisfaction with Participation in Social Roles, in which a higher score denotes improvement) and a 0–10 Pain Intensity numeric rating scale (NRS). PROMIS-57 has been validated in patients with SCD," Kanter and colleagues explained.
Thus, the team analyzed data for 10 patients from the most recently treated cohort. Using baseline scores and population norms, the investigators then stratified the patients into 2 sub-groups. One sub-group consisted of those with baseline scores considered "worse" than the population norm, and the other group was for those with baseline scores "better" than the norm.
The population norm was for Pain Intensity was 2.6, while the T-score for all other domains was 50.
Minimal clinically importance difference was defined as 2-point difference for pain intensity and 5-point difference for all other domains.
LentiGlobin Leads to Improved Quality of Life Measures
Results showed that patients with a baseline score "worse" than the population norm reported improvements in all domains at month 6 and were sustain through month 12. Further, these patients reported clinically meaningful improvements in 6 of the 8 domains.
At baseline, the mean T-score for pain intensity was 6 and decreased to 2.4 at month 12 (5 patients reported improvements).
Similar trends were reported for Pain Interference (n = 7), which saw a decrease from 63 to 48; Anxiety (n = 3), which decreased from 62 to 48; Depression (n = 4), which decreased from 62 to 44; Satisfaction with Social Roles (n = 5), which increased from 39 to 60; and Physical Function (n = 4), which improved from 40 to 56.
For those who had baseline scores that were "better" than or near the population norm, clinically meaningful improvements were reported in Physical Function (n = 6), which increased from 49 at baseline to 55 at month 12, and Fatigue (n = 9), which decreased from 50 to 43.
Although they acknowledged these results were indeed encouraging, they nonetheless believed that larger sample sizes are need to validate and clarify to impact of the therapy on some PROMIS-57 domains.
The study, "Improvements in Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients Treated with LentiGlobin for Sickle Cell Disease (bb1111) Gene Therapy," was presented at ASH 2020.
American Society of HematologyConferenceRare Disease Report®Hospital MedicineInternal Medicine


text:
Q: Stubing sub methods in a tested Action Zend FramWork Using Zend FrameWork I'm testing an action in a controller class. unfortunately this action depends on some methods within the same controller class. I have tried to make a mocked object from the controller class, and stub the  methods but the tested action never takes it in consideration. what is the best way to stub these  methods?
Thanks.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Holt Adoption Product:
girl K-6714
Archive for the 'Religion and adoption' Category
Modern versions of Hannah's story
Posted in Religion and adoption, tagged 1 Samuel 1:27, Christian adoption, Hannah's prayer on August 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Adoption prayer reminder magnet from Zazzle.com.
The quote on it — I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him — is a Bible verse (1 Samuel 1:27).
Hannah is a biblical character. Her story is found in the first and second chapters of 1 Samuel.
Summary of Hannah's story from the Bible :
Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. She was barren. Though she was the favored wife of her husband, it was great sorrow to her to be childless. Her husband's other wife not only bore children but taunted her.
Every year she would go with her husband to a place called Shiloh to whorship God and offer sacrifices. And every year Hannah would pray to God for a child. One year, she prayed in anguish weeping deeply and she made a promise that if God made her bore a son, she would give Him back for His service.
As she was praying, Eli, the high priest, saw her lips moving and thought she was drunk. After she explained herself, he sent her away saying her prayer would be answered.
Subsequently she became pregnant. She gave birth to a son, Samuel. After he was weaned, she brought him to the temple along with sacrifice. She said to Eli, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."
Every year after that, Hannah went to Shiloh with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifce. God blessed her more with three sons and two daughters.
Modern versions of Hannah's story :
We've just seen that the story of Hannah from the books of Samuel is a story of miracle: a barren woman who prayed for a child gave birth to a son, which led her to say, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." (1 Samuel 1:27).
As we can see on the image of a magnet above, Hannah's word is used by many adoptive parents, Christians and non-Christians. Let's now see some of their stories.
For simplicity's sake, we'll keep the names of Hannah, Elkanah and Eli in the following modern/adoption versions of Hannah's story.
Modern version 1:
Hannah and Elkanah had been praying to God for a baby many years when they heard of Eli facilitating adoptions of mixed race babies abandoned in Korea. They believed it was also the will of God for them to adopt a baby. They begged Eli to help them get a baby.
Eli heard the requests of Hannah and Elkanah and of hundreds of other couples like them. He told them, "I'm a humble servant of God, your prayers will be answered."
In Korea, Eli and his team collected Amerasian babies abandoned under bridge, in streets and other places. They also collected babies from the mothers who brought them to their office to be adopted. The children cried for their mothers, kicking and screaming when they took them off their moms' backs. One mother tried so hard to keep crying that she couldn't speak. Eli tried to comfort the sobbing mothers by telling them about Jesus. One mother whose baby wasn't weaned yet almost had hysterics in their office. She didn't know what adoption was, she thought she could keep track of her baby, so Eli told her it was a clean break and forever.
One of the babies was assigned to Hannah and Elkanah. Hannah said, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
Hannah and Elkanah had only one child, adopted domestically. They wanted a second child from Korea.
Eli and his team were deluged with inquiries from couples like Hannah and Elkanah. They had trouble finding the little ones, as other agencies were grabbing them, and some weren't released by mothers. Since the number of families wanting children increased far beyound the number of Amerasian children available, Eli decided to meet the demand by assigning full Korean children.
He had the assurance of working for God from the Bible verse, 1 Samuel 2:8, "He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor."
He traveled to Mexico to see if there were "orphans" available. The Mexican authorires were insulted when he asked if they could be adopted by North Americans. Eli went to Mexico again. He met one governor favorable to adoptions. He ordered a round-the-world ticket through Washington, D.C., to Germany, Austria, Beirut, and Korea to see more orphans, but he was unsuccesful in Europe.
A man of Eli did good job of talking to mothers when they went to the country to find more Amerasian babies and to pass out gospel tracts. He told the moms who they were and why they had came and asked them if they had thought of allowing their children to go to America. Always they had thought of it. Of course he never pressured them. In the evenining Eli team split into teams of two or three to visit homes and gave tracts and told them, "Buddha's bones are still in his grave, but Jesus' grave is empty."
Eli team worked hard finding children (and evangelizing). Some mothers watched their children being carried onto the plane and sobbed quietly.
Hannah and Elkanah got one of those babies. And they said, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
Eli team and competiting teams did great job in Korea. They sent over 2 800 babies just in three years to waiting couples like Hannah and Elkanah.
Hannah always wanted a large family, but she was infertile. She and her husband Elkanah were Christians and believed in miracles, so they cried out to the Lord for children. God finally called them to adopt children with the reputable Eli international adoption agency.
The Korean international adoption program which had began as post-war rescue operation grew from small to thousands per year in the 1970s, reaching its peak in the mid-80s with more than 8 000 children sent overseas per year.
Thousands of children had ended up in Korean orphanages for a variety of reasons, all due poverty, rapid industrialization and urbanization.
Hannah and Elkanah easily adopted four children from Korea, two girls in the 1970s and a girl and a boy in the 1980s.
The first girl was sent to the orphanage as a temporary measure by her mother because of poverty; the second was kidnapped and brought to the adoption agency by her paternal grandmother; the third was sent to the orphanage by social worker after her alcoholic father lost his parental rights; and the boy was lost by her parents and brought to the orphanage by a police officer.
But they will never know the true stories of their adopted children. Their adoption records declared them as abandoned respectively in the doorstep of a police station, in the city hall and a market for the three first children, abandoned by unknown parents for the last.
At the arrival of the first, Hannah said, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
After they got the three other children, they said, "Lord is good, he blessed us with four children."
Hannah and Elkanah were infertile. They believed their infertility was a sign of God calling them to adopt from Korea where single mothers are shunned from society.
In Korea, an unwed woman in her mid twenties was pregnant. Her boyfriend left her soon after hearing of her pregnancy. She had no support. She prayed God to help her to raise her babay. She found Eli maternity home which provides housing and counseling for single mothers. Eli, a religous man, belives it's improper to have a child outside of marriage. He counseled her to give up the baby for adoption. She wanted to keep the baby, but at the end she had no other choice than giving it up.
Her baby girl was adopted by Hannah and Elkanah.
Hannah ordered from zazzle.com the adoption prayer reminder magnet llke above with the Bible verse, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." (1 Samuel 1:27) below the picture of her adopted daughter.
Hannah and Elkanah had three boys. Hannah always wanted a girl. They didn't want to take the risk to have another boy, so they decided to adopt from China where girls were abandoned because of its one-child policy and Chinese preferrence for boys.
In poor rural areas of China, local officials took infants aways from dozens of families who could not pay fines for violating the one-child policy. The infants seized by offical were put up for international adoption in exchange of money with falsified records.
In China, every year, 70 000 children are kidnapped and sold on black market. Younger kids are sold to orphanages for adoption and older kids are sold for forced labor.
Hannah and Elkanah adopted three Chinese girls. After getting each girl, Hannah said, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
Hannah and Elkanah had been trying to conceive for years. After a last failed IVF treatment, they adopted a girl from India.
The girl was stolen from her family by child traffickers and sold to an orphanage director who put her up for adoption with falsified papers.
While waiting for the arrival of her daugther, Hannah proudly wore a t-shirt with "pregnant on paper" written on it. She started blogging the process of adoption where she wrote their feelings and some nice quotes found in a group for adoptive parents, such as "adoption is love" and "childbirth is an act of nature; adoption is an act of God."
On the wall of their living room is a picture of their daughter with the verse "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27.
Hannah and Elkanah are not Christians, but they say the verse fits to them because longing for a child is like praying for a child. They could instead say, " I longed for this child, and the destiny has granted me what I had been longing for."
Hannah and Elkanah suffered long years of infertility. They adopted a girl from Guatemala because it was then the "hot" country for adoption.
Hannah said, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
Hannah and Elknah learned that the birth mother of their daughter had kept her two older children. They found it unfair that the siblings were separated. They wanted to adopt them but "the birth mother selfishly refused," they said.
They finally adopted another girl from Guatemala, even if they had heard of corruption was rampant in that country.
Between 1998 and 2008, nearly 30 000 Guatemalan-born children (mostly infants and toddlers) were adopted by Americans. The adoption process was worth tens of millions of dollars a year. NGOs and news organization reported in details, repeatedly, that babies were systematically being bought, coerced, and kidnapped from their families.
Hannah and Elkanah said their daughter was truly abandoned by her birth mother, as the DNA test proved it.
News have also reported about babies given up for adoption by fake mother (woman posing as their mothers), and doctors signing the falsified DNA tests.
They still thank God for blessing them with a second child.
Hannah and Elkanah were sad because they had no children, but they had been prayer for a child.
A teenage girl was pregnant by rape. Eli counsed her to give up the baby to the loving couple.
Hannah and Elkanah said, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."
Hannah and Elkanah adopted a girl from Ethiopia.
International adoption system in Ethiopia is nothing more than a baby selling business, just like in every sending countries. corruptions, lies, coercions, kidnappings and money keep it going.
When the child started speaking their language, she said she has a family in Ethiopia.
The natural parents had been told that they would regularly receive reports and pictures of the girl and would see her for summers.
Hannah and Elkanah put on their refrigerator a magnet of the girl's picture with the verse "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him " written under the picture.
And all the Hannahs and Elkanahs say, "Thank you Lord for the Korean war, thank you Lord for the natural disaster, thank you Lord for the poverty, thank you for social injustice, thank you for the child traffickers,,…, thank you for everthing you had done in the birth parents' lives and countries that allowed us to have their children. Amen!"
If you want to add another modern/adoption version of Hannah's story, you can write it on the comment section.
Versions 1, 2, 3 and 4 inspired by Korean international adoptions and by adopters who believe adoption is an act of God.
Versions 5 inspired by Chinese international adoptions and by adopters who believe adoption is an of act God.
Version 6 inspired by Indian international adoptions and by adopters who believe adoption is an act of God.
Version 7 inspired by Gutemalan international adoptions and by adopters who believe adoption is an act of God.
Version 8 inspired by a domestic adoption (found on Pound Pup Legacy website).
Version 9 inspired by Ethipian international adoptions and by adopters who believe adoption is an act of God.
Suggested readings:
1) A brief history of Harry and Bertha Holt's works and the origin of international adoption)
2) Chinese parent of missing girl travels thousands of miles reuniting lost sons and daughters as he searches for his own
3) Carried Off: Abduction, Adoption, and Two Families' Search for Answers
4) China's Missing Children
5) Chinese baby sold by doctor to traffickers is returned to parents
6) New Export from China: Babies
7) China's One-Child Policicy Leads To Racket of Fines, Kidnapping, Foreign Adoptions
8) Meet the Parents: The Dark Side of Overseas Adoption
9) International Adoption or Child Trafficking?
10) Fly Away Home
Suggested Website: Fraud and Corruption in Internatonal Adoption (The Schuster Institue of Investigative Journalism)é
Modern (and lazy) way of evangelising the world
Posted in Religion and adoption on January 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »
My orphanage was ran by Catholic nuns. All children would become catholic in a short time regardless of their family background. (Children who came from Catholic families like me would become more catholic).
The adoption agency that sold me for adoption was ran by Protestants.
Catholics are not saved according to protestants, and vice versa. But they get along pretty well when comes the time to make money from selling a child for adoption.
I was told by Molly Holt (the daughter of the founder of Holt agency) that they promised the nuns I would be placed in a Catholic home, that's why I was adopted into a Catholic home, but they prayed for each child to meet their Lord Jesus before placing a child.
I don't know if it was the power of their prayer, but my adoptive father converted to Protestantism (he became a born again Christian, they said) four years after my adoption. At the same time he became a born again Christian he started abusing me secretly. My adoptive mother also became a born again Christian a few months later while becoming an alcoholic.
Christians are removing children from their poor families to sell them to Christian families.
Christians are separating babies from their unwed moms (because the self-righteous man says that it's improper to have a child outside of marriage).
Christians are adopting/buying those children to "save" them (because it's so easier to indoctrinate a child than to convert an adult).
Adoption is a modern way of evangelising the world.
God has a special place in hell for child sellers
Posted in Religion and adoption, tagged baby selling business, Bertha Holt, international adoption, Korean adoption, Romans 2:1 on July 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
"The root of the trouble seems to be money. I have been told that anyone in California can buy a healthy American baby for $3,000. If we bring in more children we weaken the monopoly which will cut the price of babies. People in this racket don't want overseas babies brought in. I think God has a special place in hell for people who sell these littles ones. " From Bring My Sons From Afar by Bertha Holt.
"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." From the Bible, Romans 2:1.
Total amount earned by Holt in 1975 only from selling girl K-6714: $1,300 .
K-6714 as a tool for evangelisation
Posted in Religion and adoption, tagged adoption agency, HOLT, international adoption, Korean adoption on December 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »
A New Testament,
given to girl K-6714 by Holt,
K-6714 also received from Holt, a Korean children's songs book, a Korean-English/English-Korean dictionnary, and a bag to carry them.
Another thing that Holt failed to write on my records is that before sending me to the USA, I was transferred from St. Paul to another home.
The first days at that home, I thought I was already in the USA, because of my limited understanding. I knew the USA was a country of fairy tales where rich "miguk saram" lived, but I didn't know how far the USA was from Korea. I understood I was not in the USA yet only when I heard that two children were going to the USA.
I stayed in that house longer than other children. (My adoptive mother said there was a "problem" before my arrival. I don't know what the problem was. Maybe, Holt knew my adopters were not US-citizens, but sent me to them anyway.)
A young woman, who was in charge of preparing me for my departure, gave me the New Testament only after making me read few sentences in the Korean children's songs book. Another girl of my age didn't received the New Testament because she couldn't read.
When the big boss learned that a child has left to USA without a New Testament, she scolded the new employee. She said other gifts were only optional, and the New Testament was a must.
Why was that a New Testament a must, and a children's songs book an option?
In 2003, Molly Holt told me that at the beginning, they sent children only to Christian families. Then, they decided to send them also to non Christian families. In my case, because they promised to the nuns of St. Paul, they sent me to a Catholic family. She said that they prayed for each child to meet their Lord Jesus.
It means that I didn't only became a product to sell, I also became a tool for evangelisation.
In the New Testament given to me by Holt, it says:
What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder (Matthew 19: 6).
Sorry, mom. I hope you can read this from the heaven (or the hell, or wherever you are now)
God didn't join us together.
Holt joined us together because you had money. Holt is not God.
Holt separated me and my real family. Holt is a human organisation.
When God joined me to my real family by creating me in my mother's womb, He didn't ask them money. When Holt joined me to you, they asked you money.
Holt/Adopters prefer the follwing verses:
Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, 'Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 43:5-6)
Mom, I know you too loved the above verse. I've heard it from you.
But, I have to tell you that I wasn't your daughter; I was the daugther of Kim Jeong-Jin and Yeo Byung-Rae. You had no daughter. This verse wasn't intended to you. I became your adopted daugther because you wanted one badly and you had the money to pay to Holt.
If you believe "your children" in this verse means children born in another woman's womb are yours, it's equivalent of saying God creates children in the wrong wombs, in the wrong places and the wrong countries; it's equivalent of saying God makes huge mistakes and you are putting adoption agencies above God.
A verse from Old Testament:
[Evil men] snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor (Job 24).
I would replace Evil men by Holt/adoption agencies.
When I could still read Korean at 9-11 years old, I read few verses of the New Testament. Today, when I opened it, I noticed I have underlined one verse in Korean, which is Luke 17:2.
It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of the little ones to sin.
I don't remember at all what I had thought after reading it and why I had underlined it. Would it be possible that I had thought of my family torn asunder by Evil men?
I feel homesick but home doesn't exist.
"Would you rather have grown up in an orphanage?"
Because of adoption…
Think first
The first time I heard of adoption
We must do better, w… on I feel homesick but home doesn…
Evelyn B Martin on More lies…
maryleesdream on I feel homesick but home doesn…
K-6714 on What "Gotcha Day"…
Marian Blest on What "Gotcha Day"…
Adoption BS message
Adoption in an image
adoption satire
Letter to Korea
Religion and adoption
transracial adoptee life
Why I hate Holt
Why I hate-love Korea


text:
Home » DELTA STATE POLICE ARRESTS FOUR MURDER SUSPECTS WHO MURDERED THEIR VICTIMS OVER TWENTY THOUSAND NAIRA (#20,000) DISAGREEMENT
DELTA STATE POLICE ARRESTS FOUR MURDER SUSPECTS WHO MURDERED THEIR VICTIMS OVER TWENTY THOUSAND NAIRA (#20,000) DISAGREEMENT
written by admin November 20, 2022
Following report received by the DPO Sapele Division from a distress caller (name withheld), that on 16/11/2022 at about 0900hours, he discovered that his landlord named Uguru Dominic 'm' aged 29yrs and his male friend name and address not known were found dead in the bathroom, suspected to have been murdered by unknown persons, and that the suspect made away with the victim's Toyota Corolla car with Reg no. ABJ 271 white in colour, the DPO detailed detectives to unravel the mystery behind the deaths. Consequently, the team swung into action, embarked on an intelligence led investigation which led to the arrest of one Ogadinma Francis A.K.A "Gentle", aged 27yrs and the deceased Vehicle recovered from him. Suspect confessed that he did a filling job for the deceased and after working for him, he refused to pay him the agreed amount. The suspect also stated that he conspired with his friends to commit the crime. Acting on his confession, the three accomplices namely, Goodnews Abaje 'm' age 30yrs, Obunwa Kasim 'm' age 25yrs and Bright Osifo 'm' age 23yrs were arrested. They stated that the initial plan was to rob the victim, they tied them up till about 4:30am and then forced him to transfer the sum of thirty-six thousand naira (#36,000) to one of the suspects account. They further stated that they decided to kill both of them because they felt the victims recognized them and will report them to the Police. The Commissioner of Police Delta State, CP Ari Muhammed Ali FCIA, PSC+ has directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal investigation department for further Investigation.
Summit: Alimosho Business Summit 2022
PUNCH NEWSPAPER ALLEGED EXTORTIONS:LASTMA SUMMONS OFFICERS BEFORE 7-MAN INVESTIGATION PANEL.


Well, that latest Baby Court results are in and guess what? Nothing new. Another 3 months of visitation. Visitations are going to be getting gradually longer, but that's about all that is new. The WhompRat popped his head out and saw his shadow, thus 3 more months of parenting for Grandpop.


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It was a couple of weeks ago now on another of those balmy days that I spent some time wandering around the RHS' garden Hyde Hall in Essex. In the new vegetable garden I discovered a small patch of vibrantly colourful dahlias, which I may just have walked around (and around) to make sure I'd seen them all. But when they looked like this, who could blame me?
Dahlias are one of those flowers that have had a bit of a bad press, but looking at them closely they are exquisite. They have an almost 'mandala-like' quality to them, don't you think?
Having a patch of them about twice the size of a standard sized rug definitely maximised their impact, and goes to show you don't need a lot of space at all.
I imagine though the ones that dad grew would be pinker, like the one above, rather than any other colour. I don't know for sure, but it's likely to be an educated guess.
I've no idea why dahlias have been out of favour, but I'm glad they seem to be enjoying a reprieve. I used to have some of the burgundy Bishop of Llandaff, but somewhere along the way the tubers most likely rotted.
I'm thinking perhaps I should try again, but with something more colourful.


Councillor James Breen was scathing in his criticism of Enterprise Ireland.
A YOUNG nurse at University Hospital Limerick broke down in tears on her doorstep after outlining the problems caused by chronic overcrowding.
That's according to Councillor James Breen, who has requested Health Minister James Reilly to take urgent action to address the lack of beds at UHL.
During a recent canvass, Councillor Breen met a young nurse who asked him if there was anything he could do to stop the "inhumane treatment of patients who are made to lie on trolleys for hours waiting for admission.
"The pressure and stress on nursing staff that are at the cold face of this situation and who also have to contend with abuse and criticism on a daily basis, is adding to the already intolerable work conditions," he said.
As a former member of the Ennis Hospital Action Committee, he said it is distressing to think that 20 years since the committee was founded, nothing has changed.
"Only this time there seems to be no solution in sight. I expect that the electorate will send a clear message to the present Government on May 23 that this situation cannot continue.
"I think it is now time that the representatives of the IMO stop talking and start taking action to protect their members by organising a protest outside the Department of Health and Dáil Éireann," he said.
This issue was raised in a question tabled by Limerick Councillor Joe Leddin at a HSE West Forum meeting in Galway on Tuesday.
University Hospital Limerick, chief executive officer, Ann Doherty replied it is planned to open a 17 bed short stay unit, which will be managed by acute medicine physicians, with a view towards discharging patients within 48 hours of admission.
It is anticipated that this unit will expand into an existing ward in the future increasing the capacity of the unit to 49 beds.
As part of the bed management response to hospital overcrowding, Ms Doherty said the HSE had implemented a number of measures to alleviate the problem.
This includes holding twice daily bed meetings attended by bed management and ward managers to discuss potential discharges as well as allocating patients to different departments in the hospital.
Three patient flow managers have been appointed since July 2013, who are responsible for co-ordinating the transfer of patients from UHL to Ennis, Nenagh and St John's.
A "navigational hub" is being developed to facilitate a discussion by ward managers and relevant clinicians about patients to identify and address potential delays at an earlier stage.


Agilent Technologies Inc.. (9/19/13). "Press Release: Agilent Technologies Combines Its Life Sciences and Diagnostics Businesses, Lars Holmkvist Named Group President. Company Creates New Order-fulfillment Organization". Santa Clara, CA.
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced it has combined its Life Sciences Group with its Diagnostics and Genomics business, naming Lars Holmkvist the new group's president and senior vice president of Agilent, effective immediately. Holmkvist was previously president of the Diagnostics and Genomics Group and senior vice president of Agilent.
This organizational decision follows Agilent's announcement earlier today that it plans to separate the company into two independent publicly traded companies - one focused on life sciences, diagnostics and applied markets, retaining the Agilent name, and the other focused on electronic measurement, which will be named later.
Agilent, the life sciences, diagnostics and applied markets company, will be comprised of two businesses - the Chemical Analysis Group, led by Mike McMullen, current group president and Agilent senior vice president, and the new Life Sciences and Diagnostics Group, under Holmkvist as its president. Nick Roelofs, who has been president of the Life Sciences Group, will leave Agilent to pursue other business opportunities.
"We are creating a new Agilent with a simplified structure that can move quickly to develop and deliver industry-leading total workflow solutions for our customers," said William (Bill) Sullivan, Agilent president and CEO. "Lars is the ideal leader for the new group with his years of experience, depth of market knowledge and superb leadership style."
Agilent also announced that with the spinoff of its electronic measurement business, it has created a new Agilent Order Fulfillment organization. Henrik Ancher-Jensen has been named president of Agilent Order Fulfillment and senior vice president of Agilent. He replaces Gooi Soon Chai, who is joining the electronic measurement spinoff company. Ancher-Jensen was previously vice president, Global Product Supply, for Agilent's Diagnostics and Genomics Group, and corporate vice president, Global Operations, for Dako.
"Henrik understands the priority of customer satisfaction while at the same time contributing to margin expansion goals. His experience and drive for excellence makes him a great match for this important position," Sullivan said.
"The new simplified organization positions an already strong set of businesses for greater growth and shareholder return," Sullivan said.
Holmkvist joined Agilent in June 2012, when Agilent acquired Dako. He had been president and CEO of Dako since 2009. Before joining Dako, Holmkvist served as president, Europe, for Applied Biosystems, where he was later promoted to president, International, with responsibilities for all commercial operations outside the U.S.
Holmkvist brings more than 25 years' experience within the medical device and pharmaceutical industries, where he has held increasingly significant roles in marketing, sales and business management. He holds a degree in economics from Handelshogskolan Sundsvall in Sweden.
Ancher-Jensen came to Agilent in June 2012 with the acquisition of Dako. He joined Dako in 2006 as vice president, Supply Chain, and chief information officer, and was subsequently promoted to corporate vice president, Global Operations. Prior to joining Dako, he spent more than 15 years in senior management roles and management consulting with Chr. Hansen, Deloitte Consulting and NVE. Ancher-Jensen holds a degree in economics from Aarhus University in Denmark.


The Allman Brothers Band is best known for their typical Southern Rock sound and incorporating elements of blues, jazz and country music. Their eight studio album Brothers Of The Road originally came out in 1981 and was produced by John Ryan who did production work for Styx and The Doobie Brothers.
The single "Straight From The Heart" from the album became their first top 40 hit since their heyday. It peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #11 on Billboard's Rock Top Tracks chart.


text:
Crutchlow Takes Positives From Opening Ducati Test
By Louis Suddaby
Cal Crutchlow feels Ducati have plenty to work with over the winter after their first test together at Valencia. The Briton was tenth fastest but stressed he hadn't been pushing for outright lap time and expects his feedback to have a positive effect.
"Today was a day about getting to know the team better and riding the Desmosedici some more. I can't really say we found any particular setting that was a big advantage or a big disadvantage. I continue to give clear feedback and really reiterate what the other guys were saying, which is a key point that's good; I've just come off another manufacturer's motorcycle, so it's good for Ducati that my feedback matches theirs. We didn't need to push for a lap time. I was a little more cautious today than the other days, but overall, I think we gave Gigi and the Ducati guys something to work on over the winter. Now I look forward to the Sepang test."
Teammate Andrea Dovizioso was ninth overall is also heading into the winter in a positive frame of mind and looks forward to trying out the GP14 in Malaysia next February.
"We had a few small things to try, like a throttle, a clutch, and a rear brake, but really nothing new, as we already tested the frame yesterday. The conditions today were really, really good, so we were able to make a good lap time, but the other riders also did really fast laps. This test served more to familiarize Gigi and to provide feedback to him to apply during his development work for next year. We can't really know yet how the bike will be in Malaysia, so it's too early to speak about that. For sure, I'm more confident for next year."
Louis Suddaby
MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3 and WorldSBK writer for The Checkered Flag. Contact: [email protected]
DakarMotoGP
Danilo Petrucci becomes first MotoGP rider to win Dakar Rally stage
By Justin Nguyen
Danilo Petrucci won the fifth stage of the Dakar Rally following a penalty to two-time winner Toby Price, making him the first MotoGP alumnus to win a stage in the famed rally raid.
Formula 1MotoGP
Ferrari Considered Giving Valentino Rossi a Full-time Drive with Sauber for 2007
By Robert Percy
Ex-Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has opened up about the negotiations that went down between Ferrari and Valentino Rossi in the mid-2000s.
IMSAIndyCarMotoGPNASCAR
NBC to shut down NBCSN by end of 2021, motorsports like NASCAR and IndyCar among affected
NBC plans to end NBCSN before the end of 2021. Motorsports like NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, and MotoGP, which have races on the network, will have to look for alternatives in the NBC family like USA Network.


RESORT LIVING IN kATY! GORGEOUS HOME ON WATER in gated custom estate section. Saltwater pool & spa with sheer descent waterfall. Italian travertine decking and patio area.Boat dock is great for fishing. Outdoor fireplace and kitchen. BEAUTIFUL REFINISHED SOLID WOOD FLOORING. Elegant curved staircase w/wrought iron. Built in bookcases at the top landing. 2nd bedrm dwn with wood floors, 5th bedroom added upstairs with balcony overlooking lake. Stairs take you down to the patio area. FRESHLY PAINTED INTERIOR creates a fresh and new interior. Study off foyer has a separate computer area. Impressive features include Plantation shutters, vaulted and beamed family room ceiling, gourmet island kitchen w/exotic granite. Wine grotto and butlers pantry off the kitchen. Gm rm with small juliet balcony. Media room. Stone and brick exterior with lush landscaping all around. Beautiful views including gorgeous sunsets. Quiet Culdesac with easy access to all amenities!


text:
Q: Rewriting $\sum_{{i,j=0}\:\:i\ne j}^n \binom{n}{i}\:\:\binom{n}{j}$
Solve $$\sum_{{i,j=0}\:\:i\ne j}^n \binom{n}{i}\:\:\binom{n}{j}$$ This was a contest math problem which I was not able to solve.

My work: I was very unsure about how to approach this question. In my opinion, there will be many combinations and I tried listing them but wasn't able to find a general pattetn.
The options given were:

$2^{2n}-\binom{2n}{n}$

$2^{2n-1}-\binom{2n-1}{n-1}$

$2^{2n}-\frac12\binom{2n}{n}$

$2^{n-1}-\binom{2n-1}{n}$

The answer given by me was $2^{2n}-\binom{2n}{n}$
Any help will be appreciated.

A: $$
\sum_{{i,j=0};\:i\ne j}^n \binom{n}{i}\:\:\binom{n}{j}=
$$
$$
\sum_{{i,j=0}}^n \binom{n}{i}\binom{n}{j}-
\sum_{{i,j=0};\:i=j}^n \binom{n}{i}\binom{n}{j}\stackrel{\ast}{=}
$$
$$
\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\cdot
\sum_{j=0}^n \binom{n}{j}-
\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\binom{n}{i}
$$
In step $\ast$ "disentangle" the double sum of a product where the factors depend only on one of the summation variables using distributivity several times (marked by $\ast\ast$):
$$
\sum_{{i,j=0}}^n \binom{n}{i}\binom{n}{j}=
$$
$$
\sum_{j=0}^n \left(\sum_{i=0}^n \left(\binom{n}{i}\binom{n}{j}\right)\right)\stackrel{\ast\ast}{=}
$$
$$
\sum_{j=0}^n \left(\left(\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\right)\binom{n}{j}\right)\stackrel{\ast\ast}{=}
$$
$$
\left(\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\right)\left(\sum_{j=0}^n \binom{n}{j}\right)=
$$
$$
\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\cdot
\sum_{j=0}^n \binom{n}{j}
$$
Then use some standard identities on sums of binomial coefficients in step $\ast\!\ast\!\ast$ to get:
$$
\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\cdot
\sum_{j=0}^n \binom{n}{j}-
\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\binom{n}{i}=
$$
$$
\left(\sum_{i=0}^n \binom{n}{i}\right)^2-
\sum_{i=0}^n \left(\binom{n}{i}^2\right)\stackrel{\ast\ast\ast}{=}
$$
$$
\left(2^n\right)^2-
\binom{2n}{n}=
2^{2n}-
\binom{2n}{n}
$$

A: Examine the function $f(x)$
$$f(x) = \sum_{i=0}^n\sum_{j=0}^n{n \choose i}{n \choose j}x^ix^j$$
where the summation we want is given by
$$S = f(1) - \sum_{i=0}^n{n \choose i}^2$$
Computing each iterated sum, we get
$$f(x) = \sum_{i=0}^n{n \choose i}x^i(1+x)^n = (1+x)^{2n}$$
and
$$\sum_{i=0}^n{n \choose i}^2 = {2n \choose n}$$
by the Vandermonde identity, or combinatorial argument. This means what we are after is
$$S = 2^{2n} - {2n \choose n}$$


text:
The Agouti's Nutty Friend
A small rodent and the towering Brazil nut tree have one of the most important relationships in the Amazonian forest
WALKING UP a narrow trail through the tangled undergrowth of the Peruvian rain forest, we came across a small piece of puma scat on our path. It was early and the forest was quiet, and I was looking for an agouti, a cat-sized rodent and subject of Enrique Ortiz´s recent research. But when the puma scat prompted Ortiz to tick off a list of predators in the areajaguars, pumas, harpy eagles, anacondasI wondered, "Why are we concerned with agoutis?"
"Because none of the others can break open a Brazil nut pod," said Ortiz, a biologist now working at the Smithsonian Institution´s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Ortiz was exploring one of the strangest and most influential relationships in the Amazonian forest, and I was tagging along. The towering Brazil nut tree (as tall as 150 feet) and the diminutive agouti (about 1 foot tall) make perhaps the world´s most extreme Mutt-and-Jeff team, each dependent on the other for its survival. Yet despite the Brazil nut´s importance to the economy and the ecology of large parts of South America, very little was known about this partnership when Ortiz started his research on Brazil nut ecology 10 years ago.
Brazil nut trees are among the oldest and tallest in the Amazon, with some dating back more than 1,100 years. They grow from eastern Peru and northern Bolivia across the Brazilian Amazon. Brazil nuts are a crucial source of nutrition and livelihood for more than 400,000 Amazonians involved in their collection and sale, a business that generated more than $65 million worldwide in 1998. It´s one of the most traveled nuts in the world, and one of the last products in international trade that comes exclusively from natural forests. (Attempts to establish commercially viable Brazil nut plantations have failed.)
Where there are Brazil nuts, there are agoutis to eat them. Agoutis are smaller than their relatives the piglike pacas and larger than squirrels, which they resemble. Their large heads and bulging jaw muscles are the only hints of their power to shape the rain forest.
Agoutis are reclusive animals, and if it weren´t for the strange interconnections of biology, their crucial role in the ecology of the Amazon might still be unheralded. But Enrique Ortiz was determined to help save the Brazil nut forests in his native Peru, and that desire eventually led him to become one of the world´s leading agouti experts. At his research site at the edge of the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, in southeastern Peru, Ortiz and his assistants use a variety of surreptitious methods for tracking the rodents and unlocking their secrets.
To get to this research site in February 1999, we traveled down the Madre de Dios River from Puerto Maldonado, the provincial capital, in a 30-foot-long canoe. It was the height of the annual Brazil nut harvest (which lasts from December to February) and therefore a good time to check on the trees´ regeneration and the agoutis´ activity. As we floated down the eddying river, Ortiz explained that, for reasons that are still not clear, this area has the highest concentration of Brazil nut trees (known locally as castañas) in all Peru. "If we´re lucky," said the 41-year-old biologist, who has a young, intense face that even a trim beard and flecks of gray don´t seem to subdue, "we´ll see an agouti."
We passed a profusion of palms, fruit trees, lofty hardwoods and cane grasses. Ortiz and his field office director at the time, Fernando "Pino" Rubio del Valle, pointed out several birds with North American relativesorioles and anhingaand an osprey, which migrates between North and South America. In the distance, a high bank of red clay appeared, and on it three lofty tree crowns. Rubio del Valle pointed them out to me and said, "There´s your first castaña!"
We turned up a narrow tributary, the Palma Real Grande, and reached the campsite as darkness was falling. We were met at the riverside by a small group of Brazil nut pickers, or castañeros, led by a man in pink-and-blue shorts. He was Fernando Cornejo, one of Peru´s leading botanists. The camp was a simple spread of thatch over a cooking area and a wooden table. The Brazil nut collectors live near Puerto Maldonado and come here during the rainy season when the trees drop their coconut-sized pods. Inside each pod, the Brazil nuts (seeds, actually) are arranged like slices in an orange.
Ortiz and Cornejo talked late into the night, discussing their work. Besides quantifying the bewildering range of life in the area, they´re also trying to get a handle on the economics of Brazil nut collection as part of Ortiz´s Castañales Project. This project, for which Cornejo is research director, works with as many as 60 Brazil-nut-picking families in an attempt to uncover ways to make the harvests more efficient, improve the workers´ livelihoods and ensure a healthier forest.
Just after dawn we got back into the boat and made for Oculto, the project´s research site. At Oculto, over a breakfast of rice and eggs, the talk turned to agoutis. "They´re hard to see," Ortiz said. "When they see you, they freeze. For a long time." To test that, Rubio del Valle and I walked up the path, macaws screeching high above us. We came to a spot where a huge tree had fallen, opening a clearing in the canopy. Four or five strands of pink flagging marked experimental plantings of seedlings, intended to bolster the forest´s natural regeneration. Around one slender plant stood a chest-high column of wire mesh.
"Against agouti," Rubio del Valle said. He explained that the pods remained in the soil beneath the very young Brazil nut plants, providing energy for the seedling and attracting hungry agoutis. So besides dispersing Brazil nut seeds, agoutis play another role: seedling predator.
We walked on and came to another massive Brazil nut trunk, at least five feet in diameter. The ground around it was littered with empty pods, most left by workers who had hacked out the nuts with a machete and hauled them off. But Rubio del Valle picked up one with a smaller hole than the others, not quite 2 inches in diameter. The hole´s edge was chiseled. "Agouti," he said.
The Brazil nut pays a price for its dependence on the agouti, losing many nuts that otherwise might sprout and replenish the ranks of Brazil nut trees. On the other hand, if agoutis didn´t liberate the nuts from the hard pod, the trees would never sprout. (So dependent are they that some biologists think the tree´s natural range may have been limited for centuries by the agouti´s inability to ford wide rivers.) In exchange for giving some of the seeds a chance, the agouti gains a prize that can see it through the lean period that comes at the end of the dry season, when other foods have rotted and gone.
To untangle the relationship between agoutis and Brazil nuts, and its consequences for the forest, Ortiz mounted a two-year study near here, rummaging the forest for Brazil nuts that agoutis had hoarded, buried and eaten. He and several assistants even resorted to deceiving the rodents: They took apart more than 120 pods, attached a tiny magnetic strip and a number to each of the more than 3,000 seeds, and then glued all the pods back together. Weeks and months later, the researchers combed the forest with a magnetic locator to find where agoutis had eaten or stored the nuts.
Among the hazards the researchers faced were poisonous snakes and falling pods. Harvesters have been killed by the 2- to 3-pound pods falling from perches 10 stories high. Agoutis, too, have been found dead from such blows. As we walked through the forest, we came across many pods that had virtually planted themselves in their own craters. "More than once, we´ve had nuts land very, very close," Ortiz said. "Really scary. It´s like a bomb."
As we walked through one forest concession to check seedling survival, Ortiz described his findings in terms of the "agouti shadow": the outline of how far an agouti disperses an individual tree´s pods and the nuts inside. In most cases, an agouti shadow stretches about 100 feet around a tree´s base. But occasionally, through a chain of thefts by other animals from agoutis´ troves, the shadow stretches as far as 3,000 feet. That, along with human intervention, could explain how the Brazil nut´s range expanded from a small area in central Brazil to its current range throughout the Amazon basin.
Ortiz´s study also revealed the lengths to which agoutis go to hide nuts from other animals. Most of the time, agoutis store nuts in rotten logs or in the buttressed roots of strangler fig trees. But sometimes agoutis are more inventive. "We were crossing this flooded area and the magnetic locator started going crazy," Ortiz said. " Then we dipped our hands into the water and we found pods, whole fruits on the bottom under the water. It was amazing." He shook his head. "That way no one could see the nuts, no one could smell them." But the agouti knew, and came back later to retrieve its stash.
In his work as agouti detective, Ortiz has learned to identify individual animals´ trademarks. "Look at this one," he said, holding a pod with a hole shaped like a small jack-o´-lantern´s smile. "Every agouti has a signature. You find some holes are oval-shaped, some are star-shaped, some are heart-shaped." Like a criminal with a telltale modus operandi, an agouti will open nuts with the same kind of hole every time, at the same point on the pod.
An agouti´s burying activity is designed to ensure its survival through a lean season, but it also helps other animals. Peccaries, for example, search the agoutis´ haunts for the protein-rich nuts, digging into the dirt around fallen logs on the chance of finding a horde. Eight other species, including pacas, pacaranas, spiny rats and porcupines, also steal Brazil nuts stored by agoutis. In addition, several frog species owe their survival to the agouti-Brazil nut relationship. Researchers in Brazil found that the poison arrow frog, for one, relies almost exclusively on rain-filled Brazil nut pods for water to get through the tadpole stage.
I stopped on the path to catch my breath. Ortiz reminded me that castañeros walk this path with 150-pound loads of nuts on their backs. Sometimes they carry the loads as long as two hours to a boat landing. From there, the nuts are as good as money: Castañeros can trade sacks of nuts for everything from canned goods to medical treatment. The profit margin of the Brazil nut harvesters, however, remains cloudy. For that reason the project is keeping careful records to see how much a natural forest repays collectors, who work concessionsaveraging 2,500 acres eachgranted by the government. These records can show hard-nosed loan officers that a family´s Brazil nut concession is at least as good an investment as a cattle farm. Not to mention a much better investment in biodiversity.
Where castañeros manage a forest concession for Brazil nuts, there is a legal and economic basis for protecting the area from destructive land uses such as cattle ranching and mining. The Castañales Project and other environmental groups have convinced the government to lengthen the concession periods from two years to five. Longer time frames give collectors a stable basis for their enterprise and incentive to manage their area with an eye for its long-term healthfor example, protecting seedlings to help natural regeneration.
After a brief rest, we moved on through the forest, but failed to spot an agouti on our hike. We spent the next day at another part of the concession, where the path was overgrown and the machete rang like a bell against the lianas. No agouti sighting.
My last day in the forest, in a final bid to glimpse one, I walked up the path at dawn and again at twilight, when agoutis are most active. I kept still and focused on watching. Fifteen minutes passed, then thirty. As daylight faded, fireflies started to spark high above in the canopy. Suddenly I heard a noise nearby.
It was Ortiz, coming down the path. Dispirited, I complained that I´d waited in vain for agoutis. "They are secretive. People rarely see them," he said consolingly.
But the agoutis´ handiwork was clear, he claimed. Castañeros may view the empty pods as a lost harvest, but they are also a sign of a forest replenishing itself. "Without the agouti," he said, "this forest would be very different. The Brazil nut is the dominant tree here, and it depends almost exclusively on the agouti. To a great extent, they´re responsible for what this forest looks like."
David Taylor is a free-lance writer based outside Washington, D.C. He writes about people, culture and the environment.