text:
Q: How do I tell ember-cli to not minify public JS files? I am currently including a file ("options.js") in the public folder of my app, which is being copied into dist appropriately.  The problem is that the "options.js" file includes comments to the user for which items they can edit:
window.APP_OVERRIDES = {
 // OPTION_A: 'default' // This option foos the bars
 // OPTION_B: 'wat'     // This option wat?????
};

Unfortunately, when I build the app with --environment=production this file gets minified like everything else:
window.APP_OVERRIDES = {};

Is there any way to tell the ember-cli to not minify that one file?

A: After some spelunking into the node modules, I figured out how to tell the minifier to preserve comments. It doesn't specifically tell the ember-cli to ignore "public" files, but it gives better control IMO.
In the Brocfile.js, you can add this setting:
minifyJS: {
  options: {
    output: {
      comments: /@preserve/
    }
  }
}

Then in my public/options.js file, I can add a comment in there:
/* @preserve
   Here be some preserved comments
*/

Of course, that comments option is a regex, so you can add any regex you want there.  If it is found in the comment, it will preserve it.


The Northern Hawk-Owl is a very rare appearance in Western Europe. Normally it breeds in the boreal forests of Russia and Scandinavia. It stands out for the stripes on its body and its long tail, making it look like a Sparrowhawk.


The White First Step Oxford is made of white leather and lined with breathable leather and cotton which work together to draw out any moisture. The structure of the shoe and the flexible sole provide stability without weight to support your child's early steps. Please double check the size charts below to pick the correct size.


SimAnimals is the latest Sims game that reminds me greatly of the Pets Animals games. My daughter absolutely loves playing Pets Dogs 2 on the Playstation and Pets Horses on the Wii. SimAnimals was right up her alley! The game brings wildlife to life and has you feeding squirrels and entertaining the birds. I spent a good half an hour playing this game on our Wii.
The beginning was slightly irritating while learning each of the steps of the initial process. My seven year old got stuck on feeding the squirrels for quite awhile and did get frustrated. Once I walked her through the process, she was immediately satisfied and was able to continue the game without any further frustrations.
I found the graphics better on SimAnimals then I found then on the Pets Animals series of games. Though ease of play is certainly easier on the latter games. SimAnimals does take quite a bit of time to learn the correct steps to accomplish your tasks. At least for me and Cay, it did! I love the way that with the Wii controller the game becomes interactive. You must motion the controller for the animal to move, which is always really neat.
The contest will close at 12:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday March 11th.


Which ? Trusted Traders help you find a trustworthy trader that you can rely on, giving you the reassurance that they have been endorsed by a respected consumer organisation.
When it comes to refurbishing your roof, you want to be sure that the company carrying out the work will not only do a good job but also that your legal obligations are met. By using a Competant Roofer registered contractor, you can rest assured that they have been audited and inspected against a robust set of criteria including, a financial check, office audit and site inspection prior to joining and throughout their membership.


Lingua Translations UK Translation Specialists | Why is early bilingual immersion important for language learning?
Why is early bilingual immersion important for language learning?
During my time at school we were always pressured into learning other European languages as they were seen as vital for our future in the workplace. I was taught French from 9 years old and it was always enforced on us that employers see bilinguals and multilinguals as huge assets to their company and that language learning was a compulsory part of education.
Today, it's a slightly different story, with major cuts in language departments from schools through to universities throughout the UK. It's a great shame for language learning to be the first area to be affected by cutbacks in many educational establishments, especially as the passion my language teachers and lecturers displayed rubbed off on me and are a massive part of who I am and where I am today. It is incomprehensive that one minute we are being told of the importance of language learning and the next minute being told that it is in fact the least important subject area when it comes to cutbacks. I find it even more frustrating when I look at other subjects, where skills can be picked up a lot faster than the process of second language acquisition. Don't even get me started on the significance of the 'critical period'.
Today, the majority of the world's population is bilingual, or multilingual, which means that the United Kingdom is far from being the multilingual society that so many of our competitors are, and pushing language learning to one side from an early age will potentially have consequences in the future. Even being exposed to a second language at secondary level becomes much more of a task, as research has shown that children are much more likely to learn a third language if they begin early. Cross cultural communication is so important in a society where multiculturalism is in abundance and travelling and working abroad is very much the norm.
Apart from being able to communicate with a whole new culture, past research shows that bilinguals are able to process information quicker and are able to manage a variety of tasks at the same time better than monolinguals, due to their ability to inhibit using one language for another. A child can also pick up patterns far more easily than a teenager or an adult, thus creating mental flexibility, so it is vital these opportunities are not just offered, but are offered from an early age to ensure that critical period in language acquisition is targeted. Bilingual children are more willing and able to learn a third language, and show an increased analytical orientation to language, something which is a highly sought after skill in the workplace.
There have been a number of studies where bilingual children have been found to understand the relationship of letters and sounds, whilst monolinguals of the same age tend to treat letters and sounds as visual objects. This enables clearer signalling for all other aspects of the learning process. Another factor to take into account is that growing up bilingually does not just have a positive effect on the learning process as a child, but speaking more than one language is said to delay the onset of illnesses such as Alzheimers and dementia too as it keeps the brain functioning.
Bilingual immersion from as young as 7 months can have a positive effect on future cultural adjustments that may occur in the child's life, thus making integration far easier and building a sensitivity towards other cultures, which is so important when we grow up in a multicultural society. It supports children in making new friends and being open to diversity. The listening skills brought on with bilingualism are above and beyond those of monolinguals as the bilingual is more aware of the needs of the listener, something invaluable in all aspects of life.
READ Whose text is it anyway?
If you are also as passionate as I am about second language learning and the positive effects early immersion can have on our children, then please read about our popular Lingua Translations Academy, which offers the opportunity to kick start the language learning process for children from the ages of 5-7 years, through exciting and entertaining methods.


text:
Q: Next.js Create-next-app does not download the next template So i try to create a simple template for next.js by running the create-next command. In  the picture below its stuck to that spot for hours doing nothing. What is the problem here?

A: Would you be able to use NPX instead of YARN to create a next app? I never faced any problem with that.
npx create-next-app

If for some reason the command above didn't work try following command
npx create-next-app my-app --use-npm

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Motorcycle insurance costs are an important consideration for any bike buyer. That's why MCN is highlighting some of the best cheap-to-insure motorcycles out there. This time it's the Cagiva Planet 125 (now known as the Raptor 125).
The Cagiva Planet 125 is basically a naked version of the screaming Cagiva Mito. If the Mito is a mini 916, then the Planet is a mini Monster. It looks gorgeous, handles well and stops even better. At group 9 it's cheap to insure, too.
The Cagiva Planet 125's engine is taken from the Cagiva Mito 125, but the two-stroke single has been detuned to provide the Planet with more town-friendly grunt and a little less manic top end. It works a treat. Plenty of acceleration is perfect for filtering through traffic and leaping away from the lights and it's all delivered in a neat, controllable but fun little package. Derestricted it's capable of showing just over a ton on the clocks.
The brakes on the Planet 125 are phenomenal - it has beasty Brembo calipers that are really over-kill for such a light little bike. Accidental stoppies are on the cards. Since it has the Mito chassis handling is sharp, but thanks to high bars it's much eaiser to chuck about in town.
In terms of trick bits you get USD forks, tasty odd-shaped can, the aforementioned Brembo stoppers and a mirror-finish tank that has a handy helmet storage bay under it... however in practice you'll be lucky to get more than an open-face lid in there.
The Cagiva Planet 125 looks like a teenager's dream but it's so much fun anyone can appreciate it. Still, when buying bare in mind that parts can be hard to get and good quality 2-stroke oil is expensive.
Thinking of buying a Cagiva Planet 125? Get motorcycle insurance quotes from lots of providers in one place with MCN Compare.


Lama Jampa taught part 3 of 'The letter to a friend' by Nagarjuna from the accompanying interlinear commentary 'The Telescope of Wisdom' by Karma Thinley Rinpoche. The main focus of the teachings was on the unsatisfactoriness of the six realms of samsara due to the gross suffering experienced in the lower realms and the temporary nature of any happiness experienced in the higher realms of existence.
The teachings were held at Manchester Conference Centre, a spacious venue in the city centre. The teachings were well attended and Lama Jampa also bestowed refuge on 3 people who wished to embark on the dharma path.
The weekend concluded with the initiation of Green Tara from the lineage of Chogyur Dechen Lingpa. This initiation was given in order to enable people to attend the Green Tara puja held on the 8th day of the lunar month at Kagyu Ling. Lama Jampa first received this initiation from Kalu Rinpoche when Kalu Rinpoche visited Manchester which made this an auspicious occasion that was enjoyed by those attending.


Bart Starr set the standard as an NFL quarterback and humanitarian. Starr led the Green Bay Packers to five World Championships and to victory in the inaugural two Super Bowls, earning MVP honors in both. He was NFL Man of the Year in 1969 and named Player of the Decade in 1970. He then coached with the Packers from 1975-1983 and during that time he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. His quarterback sneak in the 1967 "Ice Bowl" against Dallas ranks as one of the most memorable plays in NFL history. Today Bart is active in his commercial real estate business in Alabama and speaks at corporate and community events.


text:
Which video doorbell should I buy? Ring vs Next vs Arlo
By Mike Prospero published 7 December 21
One reader wants to know which battery-powered video doorbell he should purchase.
(Image credit: Ring)
Choosing the best video doorbell for your home can be tricky; now that Ring isn't the only brand that makes a battery-powered video doorbell, there are a number of models from which to choose. On top of that, you'll also want a chime so that you and others in your house can hear when someone comes a callin'.
Such was the question facing one of our readers, who wrote to ask us which battery-powered video doorbell he should purchase for his home.
Rick writes,
"The contractor who built my home (2006, I am the third owner) couldn't be bothered to hardwire a doorbell. I picked up and installed a battery operated wireless doorbell which has worked reasonably well. Now, I would like to get a wifi wireless video doorbell camera, but I still need a functioning doorbell/"chime" that can be centrally located for notification purposes (3 floors). I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too. (Can I go for broke and ask for on-site stand-alone service too?)?"
Our favorite battery powered video doorbells
Price Removable battery Package detection Field of view
Arlo Essential Wireless Video Doorbell $199 Yes Yes 180° (horiz/vert)
Blink Video Doorbell $34 No No 135° horiz, 80° vert
Nest Doorbell (battery) $129 No Yes 145° (diag)
Ring Video Doorbell (2020) $99 No Yes 155° horiz, 90° vert
Ring Video Doorbell 3 $179 Yes No 160° horiz, 84° vert
Among battery-powered video doorbells, Ring is the first that comes to mind. Its Ring Video Doorbell ($99), Ring Video Doorbell 3 ($179) and Ring Video Doorbell 4 ($199) can run on battery power alone; the latter two let you swap out the battery without having to remove the entire unit from your door, which means if you were to buy a second battery, there'd be no downtime while you're charging it. However, only the $99 Ring Video Doorbell can recognize packages.
(Ring also makes solar chargers which wrap around their doorbells so that you don't have to charge the batteries as often, but we haven't tested them.)
The Arlo Essential Wireless Video Doorbell ($199) is another battery-powered option. I like that it has a wider vertical field of view than the Ring cameras, which makes it more likely that you'll see packages left at the base of your door. Speaking of which, Arlo's video doorbell can also recognize packages, so you'll get an alert on your smartphone if it sees that one has been dropped off. Arlo's video doorbell also has a swappable battery.
The Google Nest Doorbell (battery) is currently $129 and can also recognize when a package has been dropped off, though its battery is not removable.
The least expensive option is the Blink Video Doorbell, which is currently on sale for $34. However, I have yet to test it, so I can't vouch for its capabilities, though Blink's other home security cameras have performed well.
As for how long a battery will last depends on a variety of factors, including the temperature and how often the video doorbell is rung, but with typical use, you can expect it to last for a few months.
Today's best Ring Video Doorbell (2nd gen), Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell and Google Nest Doorbell (battery) deals
Ring Video Doorbell (2nd gen)
Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell
Google Nest Doorbell (battery)
Don't forget about the video doorbell chime
Without a chime of some sort, the only notification you'll receive when someone rings the bell would be on your smartphone. That's not ideal if you want others in your home to know if someone's at the door.
Ring makes two plug-in chimes that work with its video doorbells: The Chime ($29) and the Chime Pro ($49), which you just plug into an outlet, will ring when someone presses the button. The difference between the two is that the Chime Pro has a Wi-Fi extender built in, so if your Wi-Fi signal is weak at your front door, this will help. You can use multiple Chimes with a single doorbell, too, which is helpful if you're in a remote corner of your home.
Arlo also sells a plug in chime for $49, though it doesn't act as a Wi-Fi booster.
Google does not make a dedicated chime for its video doorbell, but if you have any Google Home-compatible smart speaker, such as a Nest Mini, you can set it up so that it will make an announcement when someone rings the doorbell.
Likewise, Blink doesn't sell an indoor chime, but you can connect it to an Alexa-powered smart speaker like an Echo Dot, and use that as your de facto chime. You can also set up Ring and Arlo video doorbells to do this, too; in fact, Arlo's will work with both the best Google Home smart speakers and the best Alexa smart speakers.
Today's best Ring Chime, Google Nest Mini and Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen) deals
Ring Chime
Google Nest Mini
Amazon Echo Dot (4th gen)
Video doorbell subscription plans
Keep in mind that in addition to the cost of the video doorbell itself, for most you'll need to subscribe to a plan to be able to save video and in some cases, access features such as package detection. Arlo, Blink, and Ring's plans all start at $3/month, while Google's starts at $6/month. However, the first three only cover one camera, while Google's plan covers every camera at a single location. For a fuller rundown of what each gets you, check out our security camera storage plans page.
Have any more questions you'd like to ask our experts? Drop us a line at helpme@tomsguide.com.
Mike Prospero
Michael A. Prospero is the deputy editor at Tom's Guide overseeing the home, smart home, drones, and fitness/wearables categories, as well as all buying guides and other evergreen content. When he's not testing out the latest running watch, skiing or training for a marathon, he's probably using the latest sous vide machine or some other cooking gadget.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
from __future__ import print_function
from __future__ import absolute_import

import sys
import os
import time

import numpy as np
import theano
import theano.tensor as T
from theano.sandbox.rng_mrg import MRG_RandomStreams as RandomStreams

import lasagne

from load_mnist_data import load_mnist_data
from utils import iterate_minibatches

############################
# Build Generator Function #
############################
def build_generator(input_var=None):
    from lasagne.layers import InputLayer, ReshapeLayer, DenseLayer
    try:
        from lasagne.layers import TransposedConv2DLayer as Deconv2DLayer
    except ImportError:
        raise ImportError("Your Lasagne is too old. Try the bleeding-edge "
                          "version: http://lasagne.readthedocs.io/en/latest/"
                          "user/installation.html#bleeding-edge-version")
    try:
        from lasagne.layers.dnn import batch_norm_dnn as batch_norm
    except ImportError:
        from lasagne.layers import batch_norm
    from lasagne.nonlinearities import sigmoid
    # input: 100dim
    layer = InputLayer(shape=(None, 100), input_var=input_var)
    # fully-connected layer
    layer = batch_norm(DenseLayer(layer, 1024))
    # project and reshape
    layer = batch_norm(DenseLayer(layer, 128*7*7))
    layer = ReshapeLayer(layer, ([0], 128, 7, 7))
    # two fractional-stride convolutions
    layer = batch_norm(Deconv2DLayer(layer, 64, 5, stride=2, crop='same',
                                     output_size=14))
    layer = Deconv2DLayer(layer, 1, 5, stride=2, crop='same', output_size=28,
                          nonlinearity=sigmoid)
    print ("Generator output:", layer.output_shape)
    return layer

#########################
# Build Critic Function #
#########################
def build_critic(input_var=None, model_name='wgan'):
    from lasagne.layers import (InputLayer, Conv2DLayer, ReshapeLayer,
                                DenseLayer)
    try:
        from lasagne.layers.dnn import batch_norm_dnn as batch_norm
    except ImportError:
        from lasagne.layers import batch_norm
    from lasagne.nonlinearities import LeakyRectify, sigmoid
    lrelu = LeakyRectify(0.2)
    # input: (None, 1, 28, 28)
    layer = InputLayer(shape=(None, 1, 28, 28), input_var=input_var)
    # two convolutions
    layer = batch_norm(Conv2DLayer(layer, 64, 5, stride=2, pad='same',
                                   nonlinearity=lrelu))
    layer = batch_norm(Conv2DLayer(layer, 128, 5, stride=2, pad='same',
                                   nonlinearity=lrelu))
    # fully-connected layer
    layer = batch_norm(DenseLayer(layer, 1024, nonlinearity=lrelu))

    # output layer
    if model_name == 'dcgan':
        layer = DenseLayer(layer, 1, nonlinearity=sigmoid)
    elif model_name == 'wgan':
    	layer = DenseLayer(layer, 1, nonlinearity=None, b=None)
    elif model_name == 'lsgan':
        layer = DenseLayer(layer, 1, nonlinearity=None)

    print ("critic output:", layer.output_shape)
    return layer

def run_gan(
	num_epochs=1000,
	epochsize=100,
	batchsize=64,
	initial_eta=5e-5,
	clip=0.01,
	model_name='wgan',
	optimizer_name = 'rmsprop'
	):

	#############
    # Load Data #
    #############
    print("Loading data...")
    X_train, y_train, X_val, y_val, X_test, y_test = load_mnist_data()
    input_shape = X_train[0].shape
    shape = (None, input_shape[0], input_shape[1], input_shape[2])

    ############################################
    # allocate symbolic variables for the data #
    ############################################
    noise_var = T.matrix('noise')
    input_var = T.tensor4('inputs')

	####################################################
    # BUILD MODEL (The model is a function in Lasagne) #
    ####################################################
    print('... building the model')
    generator = build_generator(noise_var)
    critic = build_critic(input_var, model_name=model_name)

    #####################
    # Training Function #
    #####################

    # Create expression for passing real data through the critic
    real_out = lasagne.layers.get_output(critic)
    # Create expression for passing fake data through the critic
    fake_out = lasagne.layers.get_output(critic,
            lasagne.layers.get_output(generator))

    # Create loss expressions
    if model_name == 'dcgan':
        generator_loss = lasagne.objectives.binary_crossentropy(fake_out, 1).mean()
        critic_loss = (lasagne.objectives.binary_crossentropy(real_out, 1)
	            + lasagne.objectives.binary_crossentropy(fake_out, 0)).mean()
    elif model_name == 'wgan':
        generator_loss = -fake_out.mean()
        critic_loss = fake_out.mean() - real_out.mean()
    elif model_name == 'lsgan':
        # a, b, c = -1, 1, 0  # Equation (8) in the paper
        a, b, c = 0, 1, 1  # Equation (9) in the paper
        generator_loss = lasagne.objectives.squared_error(fake_out, c).mean()
        critic_loss = (lasagne.objectives.squared_error(real_out, b).mean() +
	                   lasagne.objectives.squared_error(fake_out, a).mean())

	# Create update expressions for training
    generator_params = lasagne.layers.get_all_params(generator, trainable=True)
    critic_params = lasagne.layers.get_all_params(critic, trainable=True)
    eta = theano.shared(lasagne.utils.floatX(initial_eta))

    if optimizer_name == 'rmsprop':
        generator_updates = lasagne.updates.rmsprop(
            generator_loss, generator_params, learning_rate=eta)
        critic_updates = lasagne.updates.rmsprop(
            critic_loss, critic_params, learning_rate=eta)
    elif optimizer_name == 'adam':
        generator_updates = lasagne.updates.adam(
            generator_loss, generator_params, learning_rate=eta, beta1=0.5)
        critic_updates = lasagne.updates.adam(
            critic_loss, critic_params, learning_rate=eta, beta1=0.5)

    if clip:
		 # Clip critic parameters in a limited range around zero (except biases)
	    for param in lasagne.layers.get_all_params(critic, trainable=True,
	                                               regularizable=True):
	        critic_updates[param] = T.clip(critic_updates[param], -clip, clip)

	# Instantiate a symbolic noise generator to use for training
    srng = RandomStreams(seed=np.random.randint(2147462579, size=6))
    noise = srng.uniform((batchsize, 100))

    # Compile functions performing a training step on a mini-batch (according
    # to the updates dictionary) and returning the corresponding score:
    generator_train_fn = theano.function([], generator_loss,
                                         givens={noise_var: noise},
                                         updates=generator_updates)
    critic_train_fn = theano.function([input_var], critic_loss,
                                      givens={noise_var: noise},
                                      updates=critic_updates)

    # Compile another function generating some data
    gen_fn = theano.function([noise_var],
                             lasagne.layers.get_output(generator,
                                                       deterministic=True))

    ###############
    # TRAIN MODEL #
    ###############
    print('... Starting training')
    # We create an infinite supply of batches (as an iterable generator):
    batches = iterate_minibatches(X_train, y_train, batchsize, shuffle=True)
    # We iterate over epochs:
    generator_updates = 0
    for epoch in range(num_epochs):
        start_time = time.time()

        # In each epoch, we do `epochsize` generator and critic updates.
        critic_losses = []
        generator_losses = []
        for _ in range(epochsize):
            inputs, targets = next(batches)
            critic_losses.append(critic_train_fn(inputs))
            generator_losses.append(generator_train_fn())

        # Then we print the results for this epoch:
        print("Epoch {} of {} took {:.3f}s".format(
            epoch + 1, num_epochs, time.time() - start_time))
        print("  generator loss: {}".format(np.mean(generator_losses)))
        print("  critic loss:    {}".format(np.mean(critic_losses)))

        # And finally, we plot some generated data
        samples = gen_fn(lasagne.utils.floatX(np.random.rand(42, 100)))
        try:
            import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
        except ImportError:
            pass
        else:
            plt.imsave('lsgan_mnist_samples.png',
                       (samples.reshape(6, 7, 28, 28)
                               .transpose(0, 2, 1, 3)
                               .reshape(6*28, 7*28)),
                       cmap='gray')

        # After half the epochs, we start decaying the learn rate towards zero
        if epoch >= num_epochs // 2:
            progress = float(epoch) / num_epochs
            eta.set_value(lasagne.utils.floatX(initial_eta*2*(1 - progress)))

    ###################
    # SAVE/LOAD MODEL #
    ###################
    # Optionally, you could now dump the network weights to a file like this:
    np.savez('lsgan_mnist_gen.npz', *lasagne.layers.get_all_param_values(generator))
    np.savez('lsgan_mnist_crit.npz', *lasagne.layers.get_all_param_values(critic))
    #
    # And load them again later on like this:
    # with np.load('model.npz') as f:
    #     param_values = [f['arr_%d' % i] for i in range(len(f.files))]
    # lasagne.layers.set_all_param_values(network, param_values)

if __name__ == '__main__':
	"""
	Choose a model (each model has slight modifications from the paper):
		dcgan (Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks)
		wgan (Wassrestein Generative Adversarial Network)
		lsgan (Least Squared Generative Adversarial Ntwork)
	Choose an optimiation method:
		rmsprop
		adam
	"""
	run_gan(model_name='lsgan', optimizer_name='adam')

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Nick Chater Blog: Modern Learning Environments and 1970s Open Plan Schools – similar challenges and problems – or new opportunities. 'We build our building and then they shape us' Winston Churchill. 'Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it' Edmund Burke.
Modern Learning Environments and 1970s Open Plan Schools – similar challenges and problems – or new opportunities. 'We build our building and then they shape us' Winston Churchill. 'Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it' Edmund Burke.


My wrist size is around 7" . I think the close up angle of my pics are making the watch appear to wear bigger than it does. I cannot recommend this watch highly enough and i am glad i bought one .
Feels very comfortable on my 6.75" flattish wrists, any appearance of overhanging is due to the angle of the photographs.
Many thanks Mr Curta and Silver Centurion - about time I put my order in!
Wow . . . you all have sold me!
What a wonderful thread, photos, and watch! This may just be my birthday watch! Thanks to everyone who posted.


Amazon's growing advertising business is the next great disruptor for publishers that must contend with another digital rival.
The U.S. advertising market may expand steadily next year, but digital giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook will put more pressure on publishers seeking to scratch out an existence.
Amazon currently has about 4% of the advertising market, a share that will grow to 7% in two years, according to researcher eMarketer.
While Amazon will grab market share from Google and Facebook, those companies will be better positioned to withstand the threat. Digital publications will also feel squeezed, pushing them to build up revenue from subscriptions, agency services, conferences, market research and referrals to ecommerce sites like Amazon.
The ecommerce giant has a wealth of data about its customers, including a history of their product searches and purchases. Facebook and Google don't have that level of detail about personal spending. The information can help advertisers to reach target customers, especially when they're in the mood to shop.
Vice, Vox and BuzzFeed have scaled back their growth plans and are seeking additional sources of revenue. The three companies have had ready access to venture funding, but their investors are likely to get restless as their exit plans get delayed.
As traditional media companies like Disney and Fox merge, and telcos like AT&T and Verizon buy up content providers, the digital startups may feel compelled to sell.
BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti last month mused publicly about the possibility of a merger among BuzzFeed, Vice, Vox Media, Group Nine Media and Refinery29.
The outlook is especially worrisome for smaller publishers. Millennial-focused site Mic cut staff amid its sale to Bustle Digital Group for about $5 million, while Rookie also ceased publication. Women-focused Little Things shut down in February after Facebook changed its news feed algorithm to cut back on publisher content.
Small publishers "can't compete in scale, they can't compete in terms of quality and breadth of content, and they can't compete because they only have one revenue stream," a board member of a big digital-media company told Vanity Fair columnist Joe Pompeo.
Amazon's growing clout in digital advertising will only add to their challenges.
1 comment about "Amazon's Ad Business Will Speed Reckoning For Digital Publishers".
Craig Mcdaniel from Sweepstakes Today LLC, December 6, 2018 at 4:39 p.m.
The problem is worse for publishers than you wrote about. Google has done much more in hurting the publishers with their near total of the ad distribution channel, rules on how and where publishers can place ads, and the amount dictated to what the publishers can earn. On top of this, publishers earn much more when there was CPA was in play to earn revenue. Now, we earn nearly all from CPM and CPC ads. If this is not bad enough Google Search can control a publisher's website by front end loading scam ads. I was ranked in Google Search in 2011 number one in the world for the keyword "Sweepstakes" out of 100 million plus pages. For those who don't know "Sweepstakes" was one of the top 10 keywords in America. Now, Google is my biggest competitor and I fully expect them to retaliate against me for writing a couple of post about them today. They have done so in the past. So past this one to Amazon Advertising, give me a better ad deal and you get a faithful client.


text:
Opinion and best practice
Reward & recognition
New Zealand HR events
All HR events
'For this generation, work is not all about money'
Graduates are craving quick career progression and the chance to make a genuine impact at an early stage
BY John Hilton 12 Feb 2019
Graduates are seeking out companies that offer quick career progression and the chance to make a genuine impact at an early stage, according to the CEMS Global Alliance of Business Schools Executive Director, Roland Siegers.
"Importantly, our research adds weight to the idea that for this generation, work is not all about money. A good work/life balance is more important than ever," he added.
Indeed, a global survey conducted by the CEMS has found that work-life balance involving flexible working arrangements is almost as important as salary amongst young graduates seeking professional positions.
The study of more than 750 recent graduates in nearly 60 countries also found that the promise of rapid career progress and an opportunity to make an early impact were significant factors when choosing a career path.
Three quarters of respondents, the majority in their early twenties, expected to have an executive level role within 10 years or less while 25% expected to achieve this level within five years.
The Chair of CEMS and Dean of the University of Sydney Business School, Professor Greg Whitwell, welcomed the survey results describing them as an "indication of the positive values held by today's graduates".
"While being highly motivated and ambitious, these young people also want to lead balanced, well rounded lives and, importantly, they want to make a positive impact on the lives of others," said Whitwell.
CEMS was founded more than 30 years ago as a pan-European organisation and accredited member schools collaborate on the delivery of a 'globally integrated' Master of International Management (MiM) program to around 1,200 students from about 60 different countries annually.
NZ suffers jobs decline for first time in a decade
How to work with a manager who hates HR
2021 set to bring fresh set of challenges for HR
Most graduates follow an international path to success. Nearly 100% of CEMS alumni are employed or are continuing their studies; nearly 50% are living outside of their homeland and 75% are working for multinational companies.
Moreover, 471 CEMS graduates surveyed included salary in their top three criteria when looking for a new role. This was followed closely by work/life balance (405), opportunities for quick career progression (390) and impact at an early stage (291). Opportunities for global travel was ranked fifth and inspirational leadership sixth.
After being asked about the skills they felt would be necessary as technology developed in the workplace, the graduates ranked social skills such as persuasion, emotional intelligence and empathy as most important followed by people management skills including team leadership and motivation.
These were ranked above hard skills including formal qualifications, data analysis and cognitive abilities such as creativity and mathematical reasoning.
"It is important that organisations take note of these insights if they are to benefit from the ambition of our graduates and gain competitive advantage in an uncertain age," said Siegers.
"This means giving young people an opportunity to tackle projects that deliver real global impact as early as possible while recognising their need for a life outside of work."
You've reached your limit - Register for free now for unlimited access
To read the full story, just register for free now - GET STARTED HERE
Already subscribed? Log in below
Revealed: Top three priorities for HR in 2019
Disengaged workers face communication 'barrier'
Our daily newsletter is FREE and keeps you up-to-date with the world of HR. Please complete the form below and click on subscribe for daily newsletters from HRD New Zealand.
Recent articles & video
How to deliver bad news
NZ govt eyes date for vaccine rollout
No jab, no job? Employer mulls mandatory vaccination for staff
Retailer to pay frontline staff to get COVID vaccine


Want to add some luxuries in your wardrobe! Then get yourself a classy Givenchy handbag, they are timeless chic and can suits all your outfits weather they are casual or formal. Givenchy handbags are on huge trend this season; fashion bloggers are wearing their givenchy bags with most of their stylish outfits.
For a casual sporty look; wear a trench coat in beige, or in gray, a white button down, pair it with black pants and Adidas superstar, complete the look with Givenchy in black and your are ready to rock.
Givenchy bags came in nice chic colors such as black, beige, nudes, tan and pastel colors, just to satisfy all women's tastes.
If you want to create a classy luxury look wear Givenchy bag with valentino rockstud heels; they are a very chic match and will give you a classy decent look.
I really feel so pity for all women! What we will do in-front of these amazing chic designer handbags? If we love such a brand and we bought it , another chic and classy brand came up and engaged our minds till we get it. Ooh that's life. Enjoy these beautiful chic bags by Givenchy and pick your favorite one.


Hashtag is a known word among Twitter, Instagram users. Usually hashtags will help you see the relevant categories. Hashtags start with # and a relevant work. So no wonder why people named it hashtag.
Now the elder brother Facebook too jumping into hashtag feature. Last friday Facebook announced that they'll be rolling out this feature to users. So not all the users will get this feature at a time.
Keep an eye out to see whether feature is available to your Facebook account too.


I just started this game and got baby lightning dragon from random monster thing, is he any good?
And does anyone know by any chance, where to get lightning tablet needed to evolve baby thunder? I've been searching for them but I can't seem to find any.


Norvell Sunless Tanning Solution provides a just off the Beach golden glow, customized for every skin tone, to provide your perfect color.
The quick tan is perfect for clients who just want a slight base tan color difference. One coat of Norvell only. We recommend waiting at least 8-12 hours before rinsing.
Full body tan, 2 coats of medium covered from head to toe. We recommend waiting at least 6-8 hours before rinsing.
For when only a little bit of color isn't quite enough. Full body tan, 1 coat of dark color covered from head to toe. We recommend waiting at least 6-8 hours before rinsing.
For those of you that love a darker Caribbean look. Full body tan. 2 coats of dark color, covered from head to toe. We recommend waiting at least 6-8 hours before rinsing.
Can't leave the solution on for 8 hours? No problem! Upgrade and rinse in half the time.
Services offered within a 10-15 mile radius of Body Bliss.
Think bronzed and beautiful. uv rays are harmful to your skin, spray tans are not!


text:
Some basic psychology, and some words from U.S. Grant (posted 1/18/21)
You may remember that a while ago, I wrote a column about trying to maintain an internal locus of control, rather than an external one.
For those of you who are new to this site – and if so, Welcome to a civil port in what looks to be a brutal, oncoming political storm! – those are old psychology terms that refer to whether you see most of what will ultimately shape your life as more within your control (hence an "internal locus") or beyond your control (i.e. "external locus").
Obviously, all of us face some factors that are beyond our control, from genes and levels of family function or dysfunction to national and international events. But all of us have a huge amount of control over our lives, through the choices that we make.
Choose a life partner poorly and you will likely end up thrice-divorced, bitter and broke. Or even worse, locked in a loveless marriage with some joyless harpie like a certain former first lady I could mention (CAW CAW!), or with a faithless, intern-chasing horndog who deserves her.
Manage your money wisely – live beneath your means, delay gratification, save money for retirement consistently, etc. – and you are much less likely to need to rely on the promises of feckless politicians to support you.
As I argued in my earlier column, we'd all be better off if we focused on what we can control in our lives, rather than on what we can't. In addition to this attitude being more psychologically healthy, I'd argue that it's also inextricably intertwined with a conservative world view.
Dozens of conservative sayings and attitudes tout the value of self-reliance (even as we all know that complete self-reliance is an unreachable ideal) and controlling the control-ables: "You're never too poor to clean up your yard." "Tend your own garden." "If it is to be, it's up to me." "Pray like everything relies on God, but work like everything relies on you."
Leftists, on the other hand, are grand wizards (and if the hood fits, wear it!) at conjuring up external loci of control. The system is corrupt. The patriarchy won't let women rise. America is inherently racist, sexist and homophobic. I'm poor because some rich guy stole the money that I never had from me… somehow. The little man can't get ahead.
Though I hate to slander the Three Stooges with this comparison, the motto of the Democrat leadership of the country for my entire lifetime comes straight from Curly (without the comedic value): "I'm a victim of soy-cumstance!"
I think I can probably speak for most of CO nation when I say that we've been mostly happy warriors, opposing leftist encroachments and policies, cheering conservative policies no matter where they come from, and tending our own gardens. We don't lose sleep thinking of schemes to impose our wills on leftist Americans who disagree with us. We'd rather not know what they're up to in the bedroom, or anywhere else. We don't want to listen to their "music," and after the last several years, we don't want to watch their movies or tv shows either. And if they want to lecture us during sporting events or award shows, we've learned to do without those, too.
We just want to be left alone.
That resolve will surely be tested in the coming months, as an arrogant, hateful, power-hungry left takes control in DC, and does everything it can to extend that control over as much of the lives of the American people as it possibly can.
The most disheartening thing about this perfect storm of an election season is that losing by such heartbreakingly close margins in a few states (especially the senate races in Georgia) has drastically increased the difficulty of escaping from the toxic leftism that these boneheads are going to be excreting in all directions.
Before November, it was devastating to be an Illinoisan or Californian or New Yorker, and to watch as bad leftist governance slowly destroyed your home state. But when you had finally had enough, you could re-assert your internal locus of control, and vote with your feet and escape from the Pritzgers and Newsoms and Cuomos, as many millions of Americans have done.
But now, the threat is that if the Dems have their way, they will do to the rest of us what they've done to their hollowed-out home states. They'll bail out the greedy kleptocrats in Chicago, NYC and LA with the taxes of red states who've balanced their budgets. They'll forgive the loans of entitled unemployables who majored in grievance studies, while penalizing those who worked their way through school, or who skipped the beer pong tournaments and went straight to work. They'll reward those who came to the country illegally, and buy their votes with the confiscated earnings of those who have played by the rules.
Before you lose hope, though, remember what a bunch of incompetent dopes these people are. They are not good at their jobs, their belief system is delusional, and the world is NOT going to conform itself to their plans. Half of the country opposes them now, and after a year (or less) of their ham-fisted and ugly bullying, more people will.
They are sowing stupidity and dysfunction, and when the crop starts to come in, they will not enjoy the harvest.
For now, we've got to hunker down and ride this out, because it's going to get worse before it gets better. They have achieved some temporary success at censorship, and at slandering everyone who disagrees with them, but that cannot last. We need to take care of ourselves and each other, and hang tough, and resist their plans without lowering ourselves to their level.
A lot of conservatives are pointing to the bitter political divisions that have revealed themselves in the last several years as evidence that we may be heading for another civil war. While I can't go that far, I have to admit that it's not easy to see how an increasingly totalitarian and hostile left can ultimately co-exist with a "free speech, free minds, free markets" conservatism.
However, I'm holding onto my optimism. (I admit that this is made easier for me because of my Christian faith, a belief that not all people of good will share, obviously. But for me, knowing that there is an ultimate External Logos of Control [boom!] helps.) Because when I find myself getting melodramatic about the threat caused by Joey Gaffes and his army of arschaffen, I like to remember the words of one of my favorite Republican presidents, U. S. Grant, at a darker moment than we now face.
The first day of the battle of Shiloh (in April of 1862) had been a miserable bloodbath, and among other horrors, Grant had witnessed a cannonball take off the head of an aide standing beside him, and both legs off of another soldier nearby. That night, he and his troops sat in a drenching rain, listening to the screams of their fellow soldiers having limbs amputated in a nearby cabin.
Sherman stopped to talk with the future president, saying, "Well Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?"
And like a bad-arse American cautious optimist, Grant replied, "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."
Remember that, CO Nation! While there's a hard rain falling, and it feels like a cannonball has taken our legs out from under us – if not clean off! – we've been through worse.
We defeated the Democrats and freed their slaves 160 years ago. We've beaten national socialists in Germany and international socialists all over the world, and we're going to outlast this motley collection of octogenarian socialists and racial arsonists and make-believe Indians (#wemustneverstopmockingher) and incompetent ex-bartenders.
There's no denying it: we've had the devil's own election.
Lick 'em tomorrow, though.
Author martinsimpsonwritingPosted on January 25, 2021 Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Some basic psychology, and some words from U.S. Grant (posted 1/18/21)
I Stumble out of the Wreckage, Blinking in the Sunlight, and Check Myself for Broken Bones (posted 1/12/21)
Well, this was certainly some week, wasn't it?
I've honestly been thinking about you all, and wondering what I was going to write the next time I ventured back into the comforting embrace of CO nation. As befitting the name of this beloved site, and my own basic nature, I've been in "let's look on the bright side" mode for several months now – something that's usually not hard for me at all, especially during the Christmas season.
But holy crap, what a devastating sequence of events! I've been casting about for how to even start.
Maybe with a hat tip to Dickens? "It was the worst of times, and then even slightly worse times. And then things somehow went steeply downhill from there."
I can usually seek solace in Shakespeare. "Now is the winter of our discontent … made immeasurably worse by this scrofulous pack of congenital liars, racial arsonists, and insufferable, America-hating d-bags…"
Of course I would usually seek out the Palmist right now… but somehow I just know that as soon as I pick up my Bible, it's going to open to either Job or Lamentations.
Or maybe to one of the super-creepy passages in Revelation that foretell the coming of Imhotep Pelosi. ("And then from within a cloud of stinging insects appeared a hideous harpie, not dead and yet not alive, with tiny red eyes staring from a lifeless, frozen face. And she rode upon the back of an equally terrible creature, with legs like cedars and ankles like mighty oaks, the hooves of which shook the earth, and the sounds of a thousand crows emanating from her terrifying maw cried out, 'At this point, what difference does it make? CAW CAW!")
So, yeah. 2021 is off to a great start, and now I'm like the school kid who lost his thesaurus: I can't even begin to find the words to describe how devastated I am.
I know: lame joke. But cut me some slack, people – I'm just trying to hold it together here.
Actually, I did see a story that summed up the way I feel, twelve days into the new year. It happened several weeks after the election, in Kansas. I think the headline will give you the gist of it: "A man in possession of methamphetamine was critically injured after falling while racing on his motorcycle, during which he accidentally shot himself."
But it got even better. Because the moment after he finished NOT sticking his landing, he was run over by a car.
I quote from the police report: "While racing, the suspect lost control of his bike and wrecked. During the accident, a weapon in his waistband discharged, striking him in the hip, and he was also struck by another vehicle that fled the scene. He was transported to an area hospital in critical but non-life-threatening condition. A records check revealed him to be a felon, and a large bag of suspected methamphetamine was located in the motorcycle."
The only way that man could know how I feel right now is if his firearm had discharged into his groin instead of his hip.
So what can we learn from this, and what can we do now?
I've got a few scattered thoughts, but nothing that feels super useful.
The worst parts:
1.It's going to be hard to escape from these leftist idiots. Because they are totalitarians, they politicize every aspect of life, from sports to media to family life, and like some character out of Grimm's fairy tales, they poison everything they touch.
When they just controlled blue states, fed-up normal people could a least flee them – and they've been doing so. When the current census is done, NY and CA are likely to each lose at least one house seat and electoral college vote each, due to people voting with their feet.
That could be a healthy process: when a parasite kills its host, the parasite dies, the host fertilizes the land, and the cycle of life can begin again. But in this case – to extend an unsavory metaphor – too many of the boneheads that infected their original blue states metastasized out into the surrounding states, and now once-healthy states are looking gangrenous.
2. In the demolition derby of leftist moral offenses, a close second to their omnipresent, bone-deep dishonesty is their unconscionable fanning of the flames of racial hatred. Nothing infuriates me more than seeing the unending slander against the least racist multi-ethnic nation in the history of the world that continually spews from their whiny pie-holes.
Of course they were at it again in the wake of the capitol riot. It was bad enough that after 6 months of implicitly cheering on rioting, looting, vandalism, arson and violence from one end of our country to the other, those slimy hypocrites suddenly feigned outrage on 1/6. (And though it doesn't need to be said, of course we condemn the people who acted like JV Democrats on that day. Would that the creeps on the other side could have found a way to express 1/1000th of that outrage when their thuggish co-religionists were destroying cities all over the place for months!)
But the racist leftists had to haul out their tired, inflammatory accusations, claiming that if the protestors had been black, they'd have been treated much worse. As if we haven't just watched millions of ethnically diverse rioters rampaging through a months'-long crimewave, with very few arrests. In fact, politicians told police to stand down and let them riot, abandon their stations to be burned to the ground, let the rioters set up their own anarchist CHOP/CHAZ, and on and on.
3. As much as I agree that Trump was his own worst enemy over the last month or so – as are we all, I guess – it's particularly galling to see the MSM and Dems pull out the idea that because he "raised the temperature" through his reckless rhetoric, he is responsible for 1/6, as are the half of the country who supported Trump. Because "everyone knew that this would happen."
I agree that he did raise the temperature, and he shouldn't have. But remember when Obama slandered America and especially cops as terrible racists for months and years, and so was naturally blamed by the MSM when a black Obama supporter shot 5 cops in Dallas? Because he raised the temperature too, and he had to expect that some of his supporters would take action against the cops whom he'd been demonizing, right?
The same way Bernie Sanders was morally responsible for the Bernie bro who went to the congressional softball game and shot Steve Scalise, almost killing him. After all, Bernie had been demonizing conservatives for years, painting them as greedy exploiters waging class warfare on all the little people just like that loser shooter.
That's why Bernie is rotting in jail right now, and Obama was impeached and jailed too.
Oh no, wait. That never happened. Because leftists are never responsible for the passions they inflamed. Only conservatives.
Urhkkkggluckkk…
There, are you happy now? You've got me choking on my own bile, you leftist hypocrites!
The "best" parts (and never have sarcastic/scare quotes been more justified):
1.The Dems are such horrific politicians that they are going to over-reach and alienate all but their hard-core base, and to the extent that we can have even fair-ish congressional elections in the future, they should be sailing into a serious repudiation in the mid-terms, a la Obama's 56-seat House bloodbath in 2010.
Biden has one orthopedic shoe in the grave, and Comma La is a human toothache, and all of the faces of the national Democrat party look like the Elephant Man's family reunion, morally speaking. They are not going to wear well.
If they were even room-temperature smart, they could do much more damage by posing as unifiers and throwing a few, pitiful bones to the spineless GOP members who always seem happy for even the most meager of scraps. Instead, they are so driven by their own malice that they can't help themselves: they're going to double-down on their frothing hatreds, and pursue their "enemies" (i.e. half of the country). Anyone who is not a completely lost cause is going to be repelled by that.
2. This too must pass. (Unfortunately, it's probably going to pass the way a kidney stone does.) A wise man once said – and no, this time it wasn't me – that if anything cannot continue, it won't. And this kind of leftist insanity cannot continue. We'll have a lot of suffering to do in the meantime, and it's all so heartbreakingly unnecessary, but these dimwits are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. I just wish they weren't going to create suffering for so many innocent people along with them.
3. In the long run, if we discipline ourselves, we can let all of this pain motivate us. We can use Trump's virtues as a template, and his flaws as a warning. At his worst, his undisciplined and self-defeating firing in all directions gave ammunition to his enemies, and alienated enough of the otherwise persuadable (if mushy and politically semi-informed) voters whom (in this fallen world) we need to keep elections from being close enough to steal.
But when he was at his best, he was a cheerful warrior, taking the fight to the left, and he had the thickest of skin, and his many successes should be a lesson for the next generation of conservative pols. There's a reason why Trump got so much done, compared to a generation of mostly pale, timid RINOs since Reagan. And there's no reason why we can't match or exceed those successes.
I hope that you all are slogging your way through what feels like the dark night of our political soul, and that we'll be able to support each other, and keep fighting the good fight, even as we know that the next several rounds are going to be brutal.
My next column, I promise, will be more upbeat. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to try to wrestle this wrecked motorcycle back up while not aggravating my gunshot wound. Maybe I'll take just a dusting of my meth stash, for pain management…
Author martinsimpsonwritingPosted on January 18, 2021 Categories UncategorizedLeave a comment on I Stumble out of the Wreckage, Blinking in the Sunlight, and Check Myself for Broken Bones (posted 1/12/21)
As a new year begins, I'm musing about history (posted 12/31/20)
I usually like to do a bunch of reading in the downtime around the holidays, and whenever current events seem especially troubling, I like to read history. Partly because most tempestuous times in the past were a lot worse than our present, and partly because covering several centuries can give you a healthier perspective on the current crop of knaves and imbeciles threatening our peace of mind.
So last week, as soon as I finished Frank Muller's great reading of "A Christmas Carol," I took up a book on the history of Rome in the last 150 years or so before the Republic fell, and the Empire started. The book is Mike Duncan's "The Storm Before the Storm," and if you like history, I'd recommend it.
Roman history has always intrigued me, but I've mostly gotten into only the period starting shortly before Christ, when the Empire supplanted the republic, precipitating the long decline and apocalyptic fall. From the aqueducts to the roads to the countless innovations in architecture and governance and war, the Romans are endlessly fascinating.
They combined great cultural achievements with a depraved and cynical brutality that is hard to comprehend. I always think of a moment from the Sopranos, when Tony and a couple of his henchmen are intimidating a Jewish business owner. When the guy proves tougher than they'd expected, he gives them a little speech about how Jews have always had to be tough, and citing the example of when a bunch of them resisted to the death against a huge Roman force at Masada.
He closes with defiance, saying, "The Romans? Where are they now?"
Gandolfini delivers the line perfectly: "You're looking at 'em, a-hole." As much as "the Romans" bring to mind Cicero and Aurelius and the Colosseum, they also had more than a little of the mafia in them, and that scene always rings true to me.
And when it comes to languages, Latin has to be on the medal stand. English is God's favorite language, obviously (I cite Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and the largest vocabulary of any known language by a factor of 5 or more), and German is my recent favorite. But Latin made the Romans even cooler than they would have otherwise been.
You can't beat the personal names: Trajan. Hadrian. Tiberias. (If I'd had five sons, right after Walter Payton Simpson and Antonin Scalia Simpson would have come Trajan, Hadrian and Tiberius Simpson.) I also love the Roman practice of giving people honorific names based on battles they won or peoples they conquered. So when your average Scipio kicks some arse in Africa, he comes back as Scipio Africanus.
Even thousands of years later, the title "Caesar" is so cool that the Germans Germanized it into Kaiser, and the Russians Russified it into Czar. Plus July and August are named after two Caesars, which had to heady stuff for them.
If I had a month named after me, I'd be working that into conversations every chance I got. I'd be saying things like, "I can't wait for the month of Mart this year." And people would be like, "Do you mean 'March'?"
And I'd say, "No. It used to be March. But since I whipped Hannibal, or the Gauls, or whoever, it got changed to 'Mart." I would be even more insufferable than I already am. "I hope you guys enjoy Black History Month, because after that, it's the month of Mart. If the Trump vaccine is as powerful as we hope, we'll be playing Mart Madness again before you know it. And I guess I don't have to tell you to beware the Ides of Mart."
Anyway, in the two centuries since Gibbon wrote his influential The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, it's been an intellectual parlor game for people to look for parallels between the course of that great empire, and every empire after it. As I read "The Storm Before the Storm," I couldn't help doing the same. After this painful year of sleazy, dishonest leftists and an unexpectedly inspiring yet tragically flawed leader (call him Trumpicus), one sequence of events jumped out at me.
Around 90 BC, after decades of wars against various foreign enemies, Rome faced what was later called the Social War, named after a word in Latin meaning "allies." We usually think of the Romans as synonymous with Italians, but that was not the case. As a powerful and prestigious capital, Rome was all-powerful, and Roman citizens looked down on the rubes and deplorables living in the rest of Italy as hicks and nobodies; if they'd had airplanes, they'd have called most of the peninsula "fly-over country."
Over many decades, pampered, entitled Roman elitists – think of the Swamp – had been dangling the prospect of Roman citizenship over the Italians. They used them as conscripts to fight wars, taxed them to support the capital's appetites, and flattered and manipulated them when it was time for elections, before pulling the rug out from under them and tossing them aside after every election or crisis.
They even had Philly-style election fraud. One faction would temporarily banish the other factions' voting base from the city during an election, they would cancel elections at the last minute, and more than once, when an election was going against one group, they'd rush in and smash the giant urns that held the ballots.
After one betrayal too many, the deplorable Italian tribes finally rose up against the arrogant elites from inside the Roman "beltway," and the result was the "social war." (Is it a coincidence that "social war" and "culture war" are essentially synonyms? Nope.) In the short run, the powerful elites won a ruinous, Pyrrhic victory, which resulted in a lot of dead on both sides, a season of famine, and social and financial instability that led to continual power struggles, until the Republic finally succumbed, and slid into a tyrannical quasi-dictatorship. The Italians did gain long-promised Roman citizenship within a decade or so, but the loss of the republic spelled eventual doom.
You can read too much into historical parallels. The Romans lasted nearly a millennium, and we're still in our awkward adolescence. They were also a lot more brutal than us; every round of palace intrigue and every political power play ended with the losers being murdered and their bodies dumped in the Tiber.
If we can thwart AOC and Grandma Squanto, they're not going to end up floating down the Potomac without their empty heads. They won't even have to go back to bartending or sleeping in a tepee in the backyard (#wemustneverstopmockingher) – they'll just go on the View and give paid speeches to gullible leftists.
Supposedly it was Mark Twain who said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. Reading that book over the last week or so, I heard a lot of echoes of the late Republic in our current dilemma. It feels like our elites — in DC and on both coasts – have been waging an escalating social war on us for years, and now they've monkeyed with the ballot urns.
But I don't think that we're doomed to Rome's fate, and I'm not giving up. It seems like the country has edged up toward the Rubicon this year, but we haven't crossed it. Our opponents in the social war are powerful because they have few scruples, but they are not smart, and they are not competent. They're a lot closer to Nero and Caligula than Marius or Sulla or the Caesars.
That's not a completely happy thought. But they're led by avaricious and arrogant dopes, and they have no idea how much they don't know. If we can hang on and thwart their worst policies, I think they'll be fighting viciously amongst themselves within a few months.
We've survived worse than Biden Cornpopicus, and we'll do so again.
Here's to 2021 being a better year, and to keeping our Republic!
Author martinsimpsonwritingPosted on January 12, 2021 Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on As a new year begins, I'm musing about history (posted 12/31/20)


Here he was overtaken by Lucy Foster, who seemed to have hurried after him.
The roughness of his tone, the burning of his eyes made her draw back.
after her?' said the young man passionately.
who have for the moment a common task.
man and the girl looked after him. Then Reggie turned impulsively.
A step, quick and gentle, overtook them.
Lucy's movement rebuked him; made him feel himself an impertinent.
'I believe so,' she said coldly. 'Good-night, Mr. Brooklyn. I must go in.
hands thrust into the pockets of his blue flannel coat.
more intimate, more affectionate. That was the second impression.
death into their little company.
naively, most boyishly devoted to her.
pass the remainder of the year--and where?
He was silent for a few moments, the colour flooding his smooth fair face.
never should she repent that she had done him such an inconceivable honour.
enough. He would take her to Egypt or the Cape. That would revive her.
Eleanor heard him very calmly.
him--that she might be with him to the end. That's right--for the woman.
But he implored her; and after a while she grew restless.
last, pushing him away from her in her agitation.
opened it and held it out to him.
absorbed. He submitted to its being made a topic, a _passe-temps_.
irresponsibility at the very heart of him, which redeemed half his errors.
said what you meant to say--you hit your mark. As for me--well, never mind!
indulgence and repulsion. Manisty was 'an honourable man,' of many gifts.
As the convent came in sight, Manisty paused.
They parted, and Father Benecke entered the convent alone.
himself, he did not understand.
He was not, indeed, without pricks of conscience with regard to her.
precipitated the solution; he who would in truth have given her to Manisty.
and so trusting as that of the young girl?
courage would not have shrunk from any burden that love might lay upon it.
Christian insensibility--he answered for Lucy.
anyway enormous; and the generous heart scorns a grudging foresight.
before her, so consonant was it to the mystical instincts of his own life.
He thought of her with the tenderest reverence, the most sacred rejoicing.
was about to step forth into the wilderness; but this light went with him.
him a question, but he ran past without an answer.
was the clear incomparable sky, faintly pricked with the first stars.
'Shall I go away?' he said, standing beside her. 'You wished me to come.
She gave him her hand languidly.
He took out his breviary, and there was silence.
A strange thing happened to me to-day, Father. I thought I would tell you.
For many many years I have been haunted by a kind of recurrent vision.
hating Christianity that day; and its influence in the world.
Monte Amiata. And I hated it no more. There was no accompanying horror.
Her voice fell softly, to a note of dream.
_quality_ of our dreams! The quality of mine was once all dark--all misery.
the clearness of this sky, which gives beauty to everything beneath it.
possibilities of existence: so she often appeared to him.
rising above the eastern mass of the convent.
upon you; the next, as it were, you dispose of the world and all in it.
And he saw the motion of her white fingers towards her breast.
great world of Rome, and of his long conflict there.
'Let me give you a piece of counsel. You sit too close to your books.
You read and read,--you spin yourself into your own views like a cocoon.
Travel--hear what others say--above all, go into retreat! No one need know.
moral life of half Christendom!
authorship, a miracle, an event?
Perhaps his own certainty, at bottom, had not been so very different.
erect amid all confusion; a certainty of the spirit.
the rest of us, in that particular victory, for which he hoped!
control. All this Eleanor saw in his face as she dismounted.
for some reason or other with Reggie in the village.
the convent door her strength failed her. She turned to Manisty.
touched him on the arm.
as much as oneself. Ah! there is Lucy. I think you must bid us good-night.
As he left the room Eleanor settled down happily on her pillow.
sleepless with anxiety and sorrow, the door opened and Eleanor appeared.
with grey, was loose on her shoulders.
'Oh! can I do anything?' cried Lucy, starting up.
which stood near, and Lucy could see the sombre agitation of her face.
The words were spoken with a violence which convulsed her whole frail form.
they were the hands of a skeleton.
Lucy bent her head upon her knees, forcing herself to composure.
notions have vanished from me like smoke. There isn't one of them left.
through the trees and over the new-reaped fields.
The Angelus had been rung long ago. There was the bell beginning for Mass.
and she stopped to speak to him.
time, he at least was innocent!
mossy arms on either side.
perceived from it, but at this hour what fear of passers by?
She gave herself up to the rush of memory and fear.
She had travelled far in these four months!
that grew in a crevice beside her.
responsibility of being his wife; and it seemed to her beyond her strength.
off, or hide the traces of her tears, Manisty was beside her.
silent,--only she saw the labouring of his breath.
Then, as she still said nothing, he came nearer.
that it did not encourage him.
To that, only the answer of her eyes,--so sweet, so full of sorrow.
He stooped above her, his whole nature torn between love and doubt.
speech; her heart unveiled itself.
such an agony of feeling that he almost despaired.
She raised her arm suddenly and pointed to the ground between them.
could he do or say?
He seated himself beside her, he took her hands by force.
lay passive in his grasp; and he hastened on.
mere apprenticeship to loving you! You have become my life--my very heart.
that compulsion which Eleanor had laid upon her.
Manisty perceived her weakness; his eyes flamed; his arm closed round her.
his, in which her whole being seemed held.
yielded. She found herself in his arms; and all was said.
would hear of no despair about his cousin.
now make, on his first interviews with Greyridge and Uncle Ben.
his illimitable need for such a one as she to love him?
Eleanor listened to him with a sort of gay self-restraint.
the bright table, and the patterns of the brick floor.
They mounted. Lucy entered first.
pitifully for the South that by a great effort she was moved to Rome.
lavished on her last days all that care and affection could bestow.
Manisty and Lucy were expected; but a week before they came she died.


This resource lists the best legal drugs and ethnobotanicals. Many of these psychoactive substances are easily available. Expand your consciousness, without long term side effects.
Discover the most spiritually elevating herb on Earth! Grown for millenia in India and surrounding regions, this herb is said to aid meditation and develop the crown chakra, the energy center at the top of the head. It also balances the right and left hemispheres of the brain, fortifies the immune system, promotes healthy circulation, provides abundant antioxidant protection, and supports normal and healthy connective tissue repair and maintenance. It is regarded as one of the most important rejuvenative herbs in Ayurvedic Medicine.
Direct manifestation is possible for every human being – but it does take time to master. Not only that, but you need to know the formula. Most manifestation programs preach a simple formula of "ask, believe, receive", yet there's clearly more to it, since not everyone is rich and happy living in a mansion! We refer you to a step-by-step, guided walk-through of the profound techniques of manifestation, so you can feel confident you can achieve what you want, whether it be love, money, true friends, self improvement, personality traits, spiritual abilities and more. Referral to source, including free guides and transcripts. Contact info.
An Out of Body Experience (OBE), also known as Astral Projection, is something you can train yourself to have. Many people who have never tried it are afraid that they might die or be harmed in some way from it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Humans have been safely doing it for thousands of years, and modern institutes have conducted mass experiments in projection with no one experiencing any negative side effect. It is, in fact, an amazing way to gain deeper wisdom and inner peace, and will give you a profound perspective on life: you are not your body. You are a consciousness. Learn how to have an OBE.
A new group of interspecies or animal communicators has emerged Ð people who can actually talk and listen to animals, and understand their feelings and thoughts. Watch the footage of them talking & interacting with lions and leopards. See for yourself!
A psychic attack is any type of unwanted mental influence. Your thoughts & feelings broadcast a certain frequency which can be picked up on by predators. Learn how to increase self-awareness and excellent techniques for psychic self-defense.
We all have super powers residing within. This compilation shows humans performing seemingly impossible feats, such as moving objects without touching them, setting paper on fire and healing with electricity by hands alone. See it for yourself!
Dr. Patrick Flanagan reveals some of the secrets of higher consciousness. Activate your innate psychic abilities and further your spiritual evolution!
Remote viewing allows access to information (people, places, events) in a quantum, intuitive, non-rational way. Find out what this expert learnt about the future of Bitcoin, Ether and the Nazca Mummy. Begin using remote viewing techniques in your life.


text:
Anne-Marie Oomen
About Anne-Marie
Anne-Marie Oomen's newest book As Long as I Know You: The Mom Book won AWP's Sue William Silverman Nonfiction Award (University of Georgia Press, 2022). Her other titles include The Lake Michigan Mermaid (with poet, Linda Nemec Foster, Michigan Notable Book 2019); Love, Sex and 4-H (Next Generation Indie Award for memoir); Pulling Down the Barn and House of Fields (Michigan Notable Books)—all focused on rural culture; An American Map: Essays; and a collection of poetry, Uncoded Woman (Milkweed Editions). She edited Elemental, A Collection of Michigan Nonfiction (Michigan Notable Book), and Looking Over My Shoulder: Reflections on the Twentieth Century (A Michigan Humanities Council Project). She has written seven plays, including the award-winning Northern Belles (inspired by oral histories of women farmers), and Secrets of Luuce Talk Tavern, winner of the CTAM contest. She is founding editor of Dunes Review, former president of Michigan Writers, Inc., and instructor at Solstice MFA in Creative Writing at Lasell University (MA) and at Interlochen College of Creative Arts. She appears at conferences throughout the country. After nearly 20 years teaching all levels of students from junior high to graduate school, Anne-Marie became writer-in-residence at Interlochen Arts Academy from 1997-99, and then chair of the Creative Writing Department from 1999-2008. She oversaw the program development of The Writing House, which was dedicated in April of 2003. She continued as instructor of creative writing (poetry, playwriting, and nonfiction) and supervising editor of Interlochen Review until 2014. She and her husband, David Early, built their own home on wild acreage near Empire, Michigan, and their beloved Lake Michigan.


text:
Farm Youth
Producer Reports
People & Industry
Bismarck, ND (58504)
Cloudy with snow showers developing for the afternoon. High 28F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 60%..
Windy with on and off snow showers during the evening. Low near -5F. Winds NW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow 50%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
This dirty-water containment pond in central North Dakota is full. (NDSU photo)
Livestock producers in high rainfall areas need to check containment pond levels
By DALE HILDEBRANT For Farm & Ranch Guide
Livestock facilities in areas of recent heavy rainfall have seen surface runoff from those structures total thousands of gallons of runoff water, and those with dirty water containment ponds should be checking to see if they are in danger of running over.
That is a warning from Mary Keena, North Dakota State University Extension livestock environmental management specialist, who is based at the Carrington Research Extension Center.
Typically, producers are concerned about waste pond levels in the spring and watch them pretty closely, especially since that is the time of year when most of the runoff will occur due to snow melt. These ponds are then forgotten about during the summer, since most are evaporation type ponds, Keena explained.
The ponds should be maintained so they have two feet of freeboard space that allows for a 24-hour, 25-year storm event. If the water level is getting into that freeboard space, plans should be made to pump some of the water out of the containment pond to avoid having the water overflow.
"I haven't heard of anyone going over yet, which we don't want to happen for several reasons," she said. "You never want a discharge you don't know about. If it leaves your property it is no longer considered 'contained' and that is when it is called a discharge. In addition, the flowing water could cause structural damage to the containment pond."
Keena suggests obtaining a sample of the containment pond water and sending to a laboratory such as AgVise for a nutrient analysis. Even though the nutrient content of the water will be minimal, it is still important to update your nutrient management plan by recording the nutrient content and the amount of water applied through such means as a sprinkler or irrigation system.
"Any time water leaves that pond it should be checked for nutrients," she stressed.
Keena noted there are not typically a lot of solids contained in a water retention pond – it is different from the manure storage system where the solids and liquids are all together in the liquid manure. She has checked with a few operators of this type of system and they are generally in good shape because the facilities are pumped out twice a year – in the spring and in the fall.
"Allowing your containment ponds to overtop is not only a violation of your animal feeding operations permit, it is also cost prohibitive," said Rachel Strommen, environmental scientist at the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality (NDDEQ). "The water leaving the containment pond via a breach may cause erosion that will be costly to fix. Also, when the water leaves on its own accord, it cannot be directed to a safe source (cropland) and can be the source of unnecessary pollution to waters of the state."
Strommen noted that any water that leaves a containment pond and enters waters of the state via culvert, creek or other waterway is considered an unpermitted release.
If a producer does have an unpermitted release, the NDDEQ must be contacted at 701-328-5210, and will be required to record all weather events that caused the release, date of the release, time of release, location of the release, volume of manure or runoff released and the action taken to clean up and minimize the release.
Keena also suggests producers follow an example of how to determine the account of effluent to apply in the "Containment Pond Management" publication at is available online at https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/lem/resources/useful-publications.
Also, more information is available at your local NDSU Extension agent's office or at the NDDEQ Division of Water Quality at the following website: https://deq.nd.gov/WQ.
Sign up here to get the latest agriculture news delivered to your email inbox.
Mary Keena
Surface Runoff
Snow, mud still hampering hay hauling at Tri E Simmentals
Minnesota spirits rise with blue skies and white snow
New year opens to clipping bulls for sale, revamping website
Calf backgrounding opportunities look favorable this year
December a good month for spring wheat market
FEED MILL/grain handling rebuilt equipment 712-229-6162 gandgequip@gmail.com
Looking for:Farm ground to rent near the Wausa or surrounding
Truck driver wanted for Fremont/Columbus area. Home every day. (402)719-8553.
Fullerton Livestock Market, Inc., January 24th
Bismarck, ND 58504
Email: office@farmandranchguide.com


Changing Your Business Phone Number? Do it With Utmost Care!
Did you know that changing your phone number could have a HUGE impact on your rankings for local searches if not done correctly?
As part of your business' NAP (name, address, phone number), the phone number you display on your website should match all other listings for your business on the Internet. Google considers each of these business listings, or citations, that include your NAP information as "votes" confirming the most accurate details for your business. If you have conflicting NAP information, then Google can easily get confused. The result? Potentially, lower rankings and less visibility for local searches.
Did you also know that having the wrong NAP information on one citation could lead to multiple (maybe hundreds!) of incorrect business listings? New citation sources are popping up all the time and many scrape their data from existing sites.
Your first step: Test! Test your phone number. You may be saying "duh!" but you would be surprised of the horror stories we have heard. Make sure the correct phone number is entered on your website…and then TEST IT. Imagine the risks of messing that up; missed calls mean missed business.
A special note for tracking numbers. If you are adding a toll-free tracking number or replacing your old tracking number, TEST IT. Are the calls being tracked correctly? We recommend using only toll-free numbers as tracking numbers, and we discourage using a local tracking number. There are several citation sources—including Express Update and Acxiom—that do not allow local tracking numbers, or have no way to verify your business listing when you are using a tracking number for your local phone number due to the redirect in place.
Now, update everything. Update your Google+, social media, professional profiles, and business citations with the new phone number. This is a long process that can take an immense amount of time, depending on the depth of your local presence. If you've been around for a while, expect to put some extra time into cleaning up your old business listings. Tip: Do a search for your old phone number and work your way through the relevant results.
Maybe you already know this, and updating your phone number on your website was just your first step in the process (and what a process it is!), but allow us to help you make this step by contacting Customer Service to make this change for you. We'll have you up and going in no time!


text:
2022 Calendar 2022 Holidays
January 2022 February 2022
Calendar National Day of Mourning
Next National Day of Mourning Thursday, 24 November 2022
National Day of Mourning is an annual protest observed on the fourth Thursday of November and is known as a kind of anti-Thanksgiving. This is a day of remembrance for all Native Americans who have been the victims of democide throughout the history of the United States, and also a day to bring light to the continuous suffering of Native Americans. Those who observe National Day of Mourning also aim to educate people on the true history of Thanksgiving.
While National Day of Mourning is not a public holiday, it coincides with Thanksgiving so schools and businesses are closed for the day.
Thanksgiving was officially established as an American holiday in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln.
Since 1921, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has staged a reenactment of the first Thanksgiving every year. People dress up in Pilgrim clothes and gather at the church that stands on the original Thanksgiving meeting house. There are prayers and sermons, and then the congregation walks down to Plymouth Rock. Eventually, this began to grow in popularity and it became a tourist attraction.
In 1971, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts invited the leader of the Wampanoag tribe to deliver a speech at their annual event. When Wamsutta gave organizers his speech to be reviewed, they rejected it as being inappropriate and a public relations person revised it to make it more acceptable. The speech had mentions of Pilgrims stealing Native Americans' supplies of corn and bean and selling Wamppanoag as slaves. Wamsutta refused to make his revised speech, and instead gathered a group of supporters in nearby Cole's Hill. When the reenactors arrived at Plymouth Harbor, Wamsutta gave his original speech while overlooking the Pilgrims. This marked the first National Day of Mourning.
Since then, the United American Indians of New England organization has been responsible for organizing annual events for National Day of Mourning, to take place on Cole's Hill. Their goal is to raise awareness about the discrimination and misrepresentation against Native Americans, their current and historical struggles, and to educate people about the other side of the Thanksgiving story.
How National Day of Mourning is Observed
Every year hundreds of protesters gather at Cole's Hill on the fourth Thursday of November. Activities begin at noon with a march through Plymouth. Afterward, there are speeches given by Native Americans only, although everyone is welcome to attend National Day of Mourning events. This is followed by a time to socialize and share drinks and food.
National Doctors' Day
May 05 Thu
Nov 15 Tue
National Philanthropy Day
Sep 27 Tue
Nov 23 Wed
National Adoption Day
Mar 20 Sun
National Proposal Day
National Day of Mourning - Next years
How many days until?
Select the event:
Day Month ---- JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember
2022 Calendar 2022 Holidays 2022 Celebrations
How many weeks in a Year
What is the First Day of the Week?
The Jewish Calendar
Can also be of your interest
Federal Holidays in the United States
Juneteenth: Origins, History and Facts
Daylight Saving Time: what, when, and why?
Friday the 13th Origins and Superstitions: why is this day unlucky?
Thanksgiving Day Black Friday
Online Calendars with Holidays and Celebrations..
About us Privacy Contact 7Graus
2022: Calendar 2022 2022 Holidays 2022 Celebrations


Trying to create a better life for everyone on the Earth, the scientists tested an experiment which lead to the decaying and destruction of the Earth. Most of the wildlife, buildings, and even humanity were wiped out but those who survived created shelters. Years have passed since the accident, those who knew what happened have sadly passed away, however the Earth is slowly healing. To preserve this process a young man, Lucas, travels around the world, armed with medieval weapons for defence, to seek the answers as to what happened. Could this potentially be the key or could it lead to another catastrophe.
It aims to be a 2D Action/Adventure RPG similar to RPG Maker games mixed with elements of Final Fantasy and Pokemon with a Turn-Based combat system defeating feral animals. You gain items/currency and experience points which can use in a shop in the central hub to increase your character's statistics during gameplay.
Enemies ranging from humans, feral animals and regular animals.


Breaking news more every time you open your browser. Had to use a press to install the bushings and then could not get the inner sleeve installed it. Very easy to install but even. 1 01 I just removed this setup and went with Maxtrac spindles since I'm wd. I can tell you that whether you're wd or not the s will settle some. This includes EL0 R Leaf Springs x FK Leaf fitting x1 OMEU B U bolts x OMESB10 Rear Leaf Bushing x. To get full access you need to register for a FREE account. The shackle bushings do not fit diameter too large in the stock shackles on 00. NOTE OEM leaf bushes required if OMESB10 is not utilized.
11 G Leaf BSHING Set Rear. ARB OMESB10. For use Arb Spring Bushing Kit Omesb108 with stock shackles includes an additional sleeve for the rear eye. Old Emu Fitment FK Driveshaft Spacer for Vibration Correction when lifting. Maybe you would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. I have an ARB Bushing OMESB10 for sale. Designed developed and tested entirely in house by ARBs team of Old Emu ride engineers.
We did not find results Arb Spring Bushing Kit Omesb108 for arb spring bushing kit omesb10. Buy ARB OMESB 0 Old Emu Bushing Bush Kit Bushing Kits Aries Offroad The Aries Bar Grillebrush Guard Ars2053. Buy ARB OMESB Old Emu Bushing and Bush Kit Body Bushings FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases.
Just placed order Edit Install completed Front Rear Anytime Center Dash Button Location The wire camera and button add ons and harnesses that came with this were of solid quality. 0 01 Tacoma World Just as the title says Anytime Front and Rear Camera for the 01 01 nd Gen Tacoma w Entune! Bought it when I lifted the truck never actually got around to installing and have no. Toyota Tacoma Suspension Kits. OMESB10 Rear Bushing Arb Isuzu Ifs 17 Spline Air Locking Differential Rd203.
1 01 Welcome to Tacoma World! Had to use a press to install the bushings and then could not get the inner sleeve installed it kept squeezing the bushings out Aries Offroad Trailchaser Front Bumper Round Center Brush Guard Black 2081252.
Turn on search history to start remembering your searches. Old Emus bushing set for the CS01 R CS01 R leaf springs This can. Buy Old Emu OMESB10 Bushing Kit Bushings. 00 Present Toyota Tacoma Old Emu Bushings for OME Springs OMESB10.
We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. Energy Suspension. Promotional Results For You. You are currently viewing as a guest! Whether youre looking to maintain optimize or upgrade we offer competitive pricing on ARB Bushing OMESB10 for your Truck or Jeep at Wheel Ami Exterior Door Handle Assembly Chrome 421c.