Luvata Ohio Inc. in Delaware was recently selected as a 2016 "Partner of the Year" by Career-Based Intervention, a division of the Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education.
The award recognizes Luvata Ohio for its expertise and commitment in preparing students to enter the world of work, company officials said.
CBI instructor Nicki Wright presented the award to Craig Conroy, plant manager with Luvata Ohio, at the CBI state convention at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Dublin on May 1. Wright is responsible for the satellite program from the Delaware Area Career Center at Dempsey Middle School.
"With an ongoing need for highly skilled workers, we want to be part of the solution in better preparing students for the evolving skills required in manufacturing as well as the wide variety of opportunities manufacturing has to offer," Conroy said.
Luvata Ohio employs about 100 employees and is a leading manufacturer of resistance-welding electrodes. Luvata Ohio also offers MIG and laser brazing wire, MIG contact tips, adapters, connectors and other copper formed components. In 2015, it shipped nearly 50 million pieces.
Information for this story was provided by Luvata Ohio Inc.


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What St. John Bosco-Mater Dei football rivalry…
What St. John Bosco-Mater Dei football rivalry means ahead of third straight CIF-SS title game bout
Mater Dei's Mike Martinez carries during a Trinity League showdown against St. John Bosco at Santa Ana Stadium on Saturday, October 13, 2018. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
By Adam Grosbard | agrosbard@scng.com | Southern California News Group
PUBLISHED: November 21, 2018 at 9:59 a.m. | UPDATED: November 21, 2018 at 3:01 p.m.
In football, you're usually lucky and content with seeing a great pair of rivals face off once a year.
But for the third year in a row, the St. John Bosco-Mater Dei clash will again get an encore.
The Braves and the Monarchs, the No. 1 and No. 3 teams nationally according to MaxPreps.com, repsectively, will face each other Friday at Cerritos College in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 championship game.
The winner earns a section title and a spot in a state title game in two weeks, as well as pole position for the national title.
This rivalry is approaching Golden State-Cleveland status, given it is the third straight season Bosco and Mater Dei will face off for a regional championship. The Braves won in 2016, and Mater Dei was victorious last season on its way to a national championship.
But the Warriors and Cavaliers don't play in the same division, unlike these two Trinity League teams. That makes this rivalry even more potent when they meet.
"It means everything to me," said Bosco corner Chris Steele. "It's my third year playing Mater Dei for a championship, so that just shows you how well-coached both teams are, how many good athletes we have.
"It's the biggest rivalry in high school football. Every time you hear Mater Dei vs. St. John Bosco, you know it's going to be a crowded game. The stands are going to be packed, it's going to be a lot of hard work. We'll see who wins."
This year's regular-season meeting between the two teams was delayed a day by a lightning storm. But even the setback did little to temper the enthusiasm from fans.
The next day, fans still set up in the parking lot across from Santa Ana Stadium and tailgated prior to filing in to watch Bosco's 41-18 win. During the game, the opposing student sections went back and forth with taunts and chants, with the Braves getting the last word with a jeer of "o-ver-rat-ed" at the then-No. 1 Monarchs.
The intensity spills over onto the field, too.
"It's definitely a lot crazier to me because it's not a regular game; it's the No. 1 vs. No. 2 team in the country," Steele said. "This year it just so happens that the winner is probably going to be the national champion, so it's so much more than just a rivalry."
It wasn't always this way. While Mater Dei has been winning titles since the 1950s, but Bosco didn't win one until 2013.
Braves head coach Jason Negro knows. He was the Bosco quarterback in the late 1980s, a time when the Braves could only look up to Mater Dei.
But since he took over the team in 2010, Negro has built Bosco up into a perennial contender. This is Bosco's sixth consecutive trip to CIF-SS championship and the Braves are looking to win their third state title in that span.
As Bosco has earned its place among the national powerhouses, the rivalry with Mater Dei has only grown.
"It's the platform we belong on," Negro said. "Being a part of the Trinity League and having the opportunity to play a team like Mater Dei who's nationally recognized each and every year gives us that opportunity. So now if you have the opportunity to beat them, you're going to be mentioned in the same breath as they are.
"So I think them and the program that (head coach Bruce Rollinson) has built there over the last 30 years that he's been there has allowed us to make our program as significant as theirs."
One thing you'll notice in Negro's comments: Not one bad word to say about Mater Dei. Rather, the statement is overflowing with respect.
That's commonplace between these teams. Negro and Rollinson posed for a picture together at Monday's CIF-SS championship week luncheon, and players from the two teams shared friendly greetings when they bumped into each other at The Grand in Long Beach.
Steele, a consensus four-star recruit, is as confident as they come; on Twitter this week, he asked for a matchup between Bosco and Alabama. But when he talks about Mater Dei, he is effusive in his praise for the Monarch receivers the challenge the matchup represents.
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That respect goes both ways.
"It's an honor to play them three years in a row (in the regional championship)," Rollinson said. "In 2011, when I blew the program up, I looked at what St. John Bosco was doing and I spoke with Jason about, 'What do you think the keys to your success are? You're building a powerhouse.' So I used a little bit of his model.
"So I like the rivalry because we get along well, we have respect for each other and the kids have respect for each other. We know it's going to be a flat-out, 48-minute war but that's what it should be in the championship game."
So even as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei go into this rubber match, the respect will continue to go both ways across the Trinity League.
OCVarsity
Adam Grosbard | Sports reporter
Adam Grosbard covers USC athletics for the Orange County Register and Southern California News Group. He's previously covered his alma mater SMU and the WNBA for the Dallas Morning News and high school sports for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. A Pasadena native, he currently lives in the South Bay.
agrosbard@scng.com
Follow Adam Grosbard	@AdamGrosbard
18-year-old Concordia student dies after motorcycle collides with car in Irvine

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Following the pronouncement of a joint United Nations fund to promote the rights of persons with disabilities, a joint United Nations programme proposal was developed by UNCT in collaboration with the Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disability (DWCPD). The programme is aimed at achieving three complementary outcomes to: (1) strengthen M&E capacity for effective oversight and advocacy for promotion of rights of persons with disabilities; (2) establish a CRPD compliant legal and policy framework to implement provisions of the Convention in South Africa; and (3) reduce economic vulnerability of persons with disabilities. The programme implementation is envisaged to take approximately 18 months (Feb 2013 - Jul 2014). A total cost of $585,290 is required to achieve the stated outcomes and $349,890 is expected to come from the UNPRDP fund. The participating organisations which include UNDP, UNICEF and OHCHR will contribute the balance.
UNDP will be the lead agency and responsible for the overall coordination and M&E technical support of the programme, UNICEF will provide technical expertise on child-disability issues, OHCHR will focus on international standards and legislations on the rights of people with disabilities, while technical expertise on the needs for women with disabilities will be sourced from UNFPA and UN Women. These agencies have been individually supporting the DWCPD based on their respective mandates and comparative advantages. UNPRPD funding will bring together the UN agencies to collaborate on this joint programme for promoting the rights of persons with disability in South Africa.


Common name – Leather leaf sedge. Native to New Zealand. This grass is reasonably fast growing and keeps its shape throughout the year. The leaves range from red to brown and grow up to 50cm long. This plant is semi–deciduous which is actually quite good as it is prevented from becoming too dense. The flowers are insignificant and are followed by brown seed heads.
Common name – Bittersweet. Native to Eastern Asia. This deciduous vine when left to grow alone will grow as a thicket but it can be trained against a wall as we do at Sissinghurst. If it is grown up a tree it will wrap itself around the trunk and has been known to strangle trees to death. The leaves are a dark green and alternate, turning yellow in autumn. The flowers are produced in cymes of light green during summer. Once the leaves have fallen, the lovely red seeds are exposed with their yellow cases which pop open. In America this is an invasive species and is endangering the survival of several other species.
Common name – Yew. Native in Europe. This dark green evergreen has small opposite coniferous leaves which are highly toxic if consumed although they are used in cancer medication. Yew is commonly used as hedging, specimen trees and topiary. Yews are dioecious as the males have yellow catkins and the females produce inconspicuous flowers that are only 1 – 1.5 mm long so you are very unlikely to ever notice them. The red berry which is developed in summer is the only part of the plant that is not toxic.
Common name –parsley. Native to central Mediterranean regions. This culinary herb is a bushy biennial with rich green and aromatic leaves. The yellow flowers are produced in umbels in the second year ready to set seed so the lifecycle can start again. Strangely, although a common culinary herb, it is thought to be poisonous if eaten in large quantities. This may explain why one of its common names, as listed in the RHS Plant selector is the "Herb of death". This isn't typically the correct season for parsley to still be performing in the garden but because we haven't had a hard frost and it is in a sheltered position, it is still going strong.


Project essence - Construction of vegetable store to provide population with fresh vegetables at affordable prices in inter-season.
Production capacity - 10 000 tons.
Project initiator - "Astana Agro" agrocompany" Ltd.
Material and technical basis availability – at present there are state acts for temporarily use of land lots for fee with total area 639 ha, work for allocation of lot of 800 ha additionally is carried out.
Current condition on the project - project implementation is stopped due to absence of assets.


American Sign Language (ASL) poetry changed Aneta Brodski's life.
In this high energy documentary, Aneta Brodski seizes the day. She is a deaf teen introduced to American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry, who then boldly enters the spoken word slam scene. In a wondrous twist, Aneta, an Israeli immigrant living in the Queens section of New York City, eventually meets Tahani, a hearing Palestinian slam poet. The two women embark on a collaboration/performance duet - creating a new form of slam poetry that speaks to both the hearing and the Deaf.
"Poetry, friendship and respect transcend politics...Delightful and endearing, utilizing upbeat music and clever graphics, Deaf Jam immerses us in the richness and complexity of deaf culture and gives us a unique perspective into a world so vibrant, so diverse, it may forever change the way we see the non-hearing." Barbara Pokras, A.C.E. - Woodstock Film Festival.


C. Cimmone's latest publication, made possible by Underground Voices, is now available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Click here if you have a Kindle.
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To read more about Underground Voices and view their latest releases, click here.
If you are unable to purchase the release due to financial hardship, please email our staff and we will be happy to forward you appropriate accommodations. We believe everyone should have access to literary art.


Pupils from a local National School, visiting the University of Limerick Cell EXPLORERS team during Science Week last year. Picture by Alan Place Photography.
Cell EXPLORERS, Ireland's unique science higher education outreach programme, has started a new season of workshops in schools across Ireland with the Fantastic DNA Roadshow for 2018-19.
Funded by Science Foundation Ireland and aimed at bringing hands-on real science to the classroom, last year Cell EXPLORERS visited 62 schools and 110 classes nationwide, engaging with 2,757 pupils across 15 counties, compared to 8 counties in 2016.
One of the key goals of the Cell EXPLORERS' Fantastic DNA Roadshow is to dispel the myths about who scientists are, who can become them, and what they do. Most children visited had not met a scientist before, and all children liked to learn from the approachable and fun Cell EXPLORERS scientists.
The programme began in 2012 as a single team based out of NUI Galway and has expanded to a total of ten partner institutions nationwide, with year-on-year growth in reach and engagement. The coming year will see an expansion of the programme delivery even further with partner teams gaining in size and autonomy with additional novel outreach events planned.
The lynchpin of Cell EXPLORERS is the dedicated team of volunteers, from undergraduate students across many different science backgrounds, through postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers or faculty members. Last year, the Cell EXPLORERS volunteer team exceeded 256 dedicated and passionate scientists acting as role models across the national network. The programme attempt to reach some of the schools where children might receive less exposure to STEM extra-curricular activities with 40% of schools visited last year located in rural areas and 30% part of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) plan.
Overall, teachers and parents agree about the importance of the programme in providing a first positive exposure to science to their pupils. They ranked the opportunity for each child to do an experiment and the interactions between pupils and local third-level science demonstrators as the most beneficial aspects of the visits.
The ten-partner Cell EXPLORERS network is currently made up of the following institutions: NUI Galway, Athlone IT, Dundalk IT, IT Carlow, IT Tralee, Letterkenny IT, Maynooth University, University College Cork, University College Dublin and the University of Limerick.
If you would like one of the teams to visit your school visit www.cellexplorers.com and find your nearest team to make a booking. Alternatively, follow the initiative on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Cell EXPLORERS activities, and the expansion of the programme to other institutions, is funded by a two-year award under the Science Foundation Ireland Discover Programme, NUI Galway and Galway University Foundation.


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" Welcome Back "
All Africa News. Nigeria News. Cameroon News. Events. Jokes. Sports. Celebrity Gist and Words of God
Anglophone Crisis: 'How did we get there at NOSO ...' by Douala Ngando
Beyond the various assertions, the War in Cameroon is a Question of Translation and not of "Bilingualism".
On February 10, 2020, President Paul Biya addressed the youth of Cameroon throughout the territory, they say, that is to say in French and in English, asking the Cameroonian Anglophone Youth to deposit arms. It should be noted that more than three years before, Paul Biya had declared war on this Cameroonian youth. The tragedy is that this speech is made as part of the February 11 Youth Day.
You understand, the Cameroon of Paul Biya is at war against his youth in general and against Anglophone youth in particular. I would like to take the opportunity of this February 11, day of youth celebration to remind the foundations of this war of the Yaoundé regime against its people and its youth. But before I present you some quick indications to illustrate the situation of this absurd war:
The regime of Yaoundé is made up of a tiny group of old men who have invested all the resources of Cameroon in the training of Young Cameroonians to kill themselves. Why don't these young people let these old people go to war themselves?
The three highest personalities of the state of Cameroon exceed every 80 years and direct Cameroon from Swiss and French hospitals. Why do young people not claim these places?
The war in northwest and southwest Anglophone Cameroon has already killed more than 30,000 people (all young civilians and young soldiers from Cameroon). A real tragedy in the middle of the 21st century. Why do young people accept this unnecessary sacrifice?
February 11 in Cameroon marks the celebration of Youth, born from a desire to bring together young people from the two parts of the country born of decolonization: Eastern Cameroon (French-speaking), and West Cameroon (English-speaking). In fact, on February 11, 1961, following a referendum, the southern part of English-speaking Cameroon became part of French-speaking Cameroon. In Ahidjo's time, this feast of February 11 marked the importance and the rights of young people in the country. In preparation for this event, many activities (Dances, Exhibition of Folk Cultures, theater, competitions, games and other sports activities) were organized in high schools, university campuses, within associations and in various cities and districts of the country. This is to allow the development and celebration of Youth.
Today under Paul Biya, this feast of February 11 comes down to an administrative parade of different schools in an indescribable decor and disorder. And all this in front of a bed of bedridden people who imagine themselves in the chair of a Kim Jong-Un or a Lenin during these big parades on the Kimm II-Sung squares in North Korea or on the red square in Moscow . In short, true dictator apprentices who bathe in carefree, laziness and servitude. In this year 2020, this celebration of Cameroonian youth and reunification took a tragic turn because the regime of Yaoundé tried to force the French-speaking youth to go to vote and celebrate while the English-speaking youth buries their dead with the participation of young soldiers.
How did we get there ?
The regime's layers firmly believe that this war is a question of bilingualism, while the general opinion of Cameroonians is a question of independence. To appreciate this opposition of view, it must be emphasized that after reunification, Cameroon had become bilingual. The two Cameroonians were committed to having a prosperous country with the development of their population. This was the only point of agreement between Anglophones and Francophones because what follows will show that everything else was just a set of disagreements which could be summed up in a question of translation. Anglophones, with a large part of Cameroonians , translate prosperity as a Cameroon directed "according to the law". While the Yaoundé regime, with a bunch of French-speaking barkers, translate prosperity as a Cameroon into a perfect colony of France. It is therefore a problem of translation and not of bilingualism.
Instead of taking into account this difference of point of view and putting the Cameroonians around a table to debate it, the regime of Yaoundé strives, in a criminal frenzy, to multiply acts of communication on bilingualism without any importance and whose impact lasts only the beat time of the wing of a firefly. We can cite the creation of a bilingualism and multiculturalism commission in 2017 which simply ignited the war which was already in full swing. We can also mention the creation of the special statute for the North-West and South-West regions, whose focus on bilingualism quite simply forced the English-speaking youth to activate the secession movement. And not least, in January 2020, the Minister of the Public Service will launch a direct competition for the special recruitment of 500 translator-interpreters to register only fifty applications. With this last example, it would seem that faced with the damage caused by these violent pachyderms in the porcelain store (Cameroon), the translation literally or figuratively is no longer relevant. It's really serious.
Despite all these shortcomings of the virtual bilingualism advocated by the regime and which results in the almost inexistence of competent translators, all expressions relating to struggle and resistance are often translated in Cameroon with more or less efficiency. And this is not a surprise because Cameroon is a country of struggle and resistance.
Thus, after more than 3 years of war by English-speaking Cameroonians in self-defense against the violence of the Yaoundé regime, French-speaking Cameroonians are increasingly planning to enter into open revolt against the Yaoundé regime because the same causes lead to the same effects. The gratuitous and indiscriminate violence of the Yaoundé regime against French-speaking Cameroonians has reached an unbearable level both in terms of their variety and their cruelty. When a regime imposes war, unemployment and colonial violence on its people, this people must oppose "war" (English word for war) in the name of "self defense" (English word for self defense) and according to the principle of the sacrosanct "retaliation" (English word which means reprisals). The growl spreads like cancer, from our cities to our countryside and from our countryside to the diaspora. Hopefully we don't get there.
As you well understood, Cameroon is installed in a deep misunderstanding which opposes the Cameroonian youth, thirsty for freedom and pride against the regime in power passionate about servitude. This cleavage which we have described as a confusion between bilingualism and translation, is so great that the Yaoundé regime has almost abandoned entire areas of Cameroon to foreign forces (Boko Haram in North Cameroon and the Balaka and Anti B in the East of Cameroon) to devote all the power of the Cameroonian army to the massacres of the Cameroonian Youth in the NO-SO, under the blessing of France and the UN. And the English then?
Journalist: Douala Ngando
By Afrinews.Pro at February 14, 2020
Copy Right © 2018 Afrinews.Pro All Rights Reserved. Powered by Blogger.


Legendary surfer and lifeguard Eddie Aikau saved hundreds of lives on the beaches of Hawaii in the 1960s and 1970s. But, in the end, he was the one who needed a rescue most of all.
For more than a decade, legendary surfer and lifeguard Eddie Aikau watched over the beaches of Waimea Bay, Hawaii. And in all his years in the lifeguard tower, he made some 500 rescues without losing a single life.
However, in the end, it was Eddie Aikau who lost his life when he could have used an ocean rescue himself.
Eddie Aikau was born on May 4, 1946 in Kahului, Hawaii and began surfing at a very young age. After learning the basics of the sport in Kahului Harbor as a child, he moved with his family to Oahu at the age of 13.
Three years later, he dropped out of school and began working at the Dole pineapple cannery. He used his wages earned there to buy his own board and began to focus all of his attention on surfing.
In 1967, Eddie Aikau became the first official lifeguard at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore. He quickly made a name for himself as he braved waves as high as 30 feet and ventured into waters no one else would dare enter in order to rescue people caught in the water.
All the while, Aikau continued to surf competitively and won many accolades, including a ranking of 12th in the world by International Professional Surfers and a first-place victory at the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship.
But the following year, the story of Eddie Aikau came to an untimely end.
In 1978, Aikau was selected to join the Polynesian Voyaging Society's 30-day, 2,500-mile canoe journey along what was once the ancient Polynesian migration route between the Hawaiian and Tahitian island chains. The group had completed a successful trip on this route just two years earlier.
On March 16, the volunteer crew set out from Magic Island, Oahu. Shortly after, however, their canoe encountered a leak. They drifted into a storm and eventually capsized.
Aikau, ever the lifeguard, attempted to paddle on his board towards the island of Lānaʻi to get help for the others, first removing his life vest because it was hindering his paddling abilities. However, the rest of the crew was soon spotted by a commercial airplane and rescued soon after by the U.S. Coast Guard.
As for Eddie Aikau, however, he disappeared into the Pacific. The search for Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaiian history, but sadly, no trace of him was ever found.
Anthony Quintano/FlickrA surfer competes in the the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau in Waimea Bay, Hawaii in 2016.
However, Aikau's legacy lives on today thanks to the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau, known more commonly as "The Eddie." Hosted intermittently at Waimea Bay since 1985-1986 (although the event had to be canceled for the first time after losing its sponsor in 2017), the contest invites 28 surfers to compete in two rounds of competition.
Since its inception, nine Eddies have been held at Waimea Bay, with Clyde winning the 1986-1987 competition. The competition is not necessarily held every year due to the fact that the organizers will only host the event when the swells reach a minimum of 20 feet.
Throughout the 1980s, the phrase spread all around the Hawaiian Islands and soon to the rest of the world, ensuring that Eddie Aikau's legacy and willingness to put himself at risk to save others would never be forgotten.
After this look at Eddie Aikau, read up on others who saved scores of human lives. First, there's Desmond Doss, the World War II hero who saved 75 lives in the Pacific and had his story immortalized in the film Hacksaw Ridge. Then there's Nicholas Winton, the "British Schindler" who saved 669 children from the Holocaust and was reunited with them on live TV decades later.


Recent Pennypack Farm bounty included these beauties which together make a very tasty slaw!
Kohlrabi came on my radar this summer. It's a part of the cabbage family and originates from northwestern Europe. A friend of my mother's who is of Hungarian heritage said that she grew up on it. It's crisp and crunchy. It's flavor is like a mix of a radish and a cucumber. It's so delicious raw.
Fennel is a little more familiar. It originates from the Mediterranean and is a part of the carrot family. I've loved its anise flavor ever since I tasted roasted 'finocchio" in Florence.
I've been greatly inspired by the beauty of the fresh produce we have been picking up from the farm every Monday. I hope to paint some more!
I have a lot to celebrate.
My first baby turns 10 today. I've placed this print of him at age 3 next to "Pizza", named for the Peperomia plant in the terrarium he made last winter.
The moment after he was born, the doctor called him King Kong. Sure, he was pretty big for a baby (9 lbs 4 oz), but he was so little, especially compared to the person I woke up this morning who is about as tall as his full size bed.
Not only was Dylan born an hour before the 7th and final Harry Potter book was released, he also sneaked in his birth on the sixth anniversary of the wedding of his parents.
As I said, I have a lot to celebrate.
Note: As I researched for this post I discovered that it was announced an hour ago that there will be two new Harry Potter books released this year. They do not continue the series. Instead, they are about the "History of Magic." More here.
I love how during these few weeks in summertime daylilies like these create the illusion that they have a longer lifespan with their whole stem of buds that flower successively day after day. But, the fact of the matter is that each flower lasts for only one day.
While studying this flower last week, I realized that you can almost tell what time it is by looking at the flower. In the morning by about 8 am it is fully open. (The moment pictured is about 11 am.) Then begins the slow change of the edges of the flower petals until finally at about 6pm it starts to close then wilt.
This flower also has personal significance. It was in front of a patch of daylilies in Rittenhouse Square that 18 years ago this week my husband proposed to me. They also must have had rain drops on them since a thunderstorm had just rolled through, delaying a most anxiously awaited moment with which he managed to surprise me.
Today and Tomorrow originally referred to the open blossom and the blossom that opened the next day on the right. However, I'm sensing that I've also subconsciously composed a visual love poem. Love you, Josh!
I feel pretty comfortable when I do drawing demonstrations for the classes I teach. However, I realize with this painting that I started a few weeks ago as a demonstration for my current outdoor painting class that it's hard to explain what you are doing while you do it!
When I paint in watercolor, it's a deeper experience than drawing. The act of explaining does take me out of the zone where I create somewhat spontaneously. In fact, I needed to work on this painting for about 20 minutes without my students watching because I felt that there were some issues that needed to be resolved and I honestly wasn't sure yet how I would address them. I'd say it's mostly finished now, but I've saved several things that I have in mind that I want to show them..
One day my demonstrations will likely be more polished. In the meantime I appreciate the fact that my students accept my vulnerabilities as an authentic part of the process.


This section is if you already have an allocated Emergency Response Team or a response policy. Find out how your company can immeditately respond.
If you do not have an allocated Emergency Response Team or a Response policy, you should go direct to STEP 1 of our section on 'Where to start - planning stages' and follow the step by step process outlined there.
The following content is usually only available to members of BITC, however following Typhoon Haiyan in central Philippines, being described as the world's strongest storm of this year, we have made this content available publicly.
You need to know as much as possible about the type of incident that has arisen. The following websites will provide you with this information.
Using your Emergency Response team, you must convene a meeting as quickly as possible to discuss and agree on your company's response to the disaster. Your team should establish answers to the fundamental policy questions that need to be asked, and make sure that your decisions adhere to your emergency policy guidelines.
If you have set up relationships with agencies in advance, then it is important to find out if they are directly involved with the incident in question. They may already have useful information on their websites which will help you decide upon appropriate responses. As we have explained in the previous 'Where to start - section, in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, cash contributions are most useful to humanitarian organisations.
Taking into account the advice given to you in the previous 'Where to start - planning stages' Section surrounding Deciding What to Give, Maximising the Effectiveness of your Response, Involving your Employees, and Working with Customers and Suppliers, you can now begin to execute your response to the emergency, ensuring that you clearly communicate your activities to both your internal and external audiences throughout the process.
Only once you have carried out a successful evaluation of your company's response to an emergency can you hope to improve and develop it.
Could your response have been quicker?
Did you have the appropriate amount of senior leadership to authorise decisions efficiently and effectively?
How much were you able to support already identified partner organisations?
Were employees satisfied with your response?
Can you use your company staff questionnaire - or a posting on the intranet - to garner staff reactions/suggestions?
These are just some of the questions to address. Make sure you ask these, and more, and use the answers to improve the future impact of your policy, response team, and overall company contribution to an affected area.


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EU, politics and institutions
Energy, climate and resources
International economy, global governance
Italy's foreign policy
Tech-IR
Turkey, Balkans, Caucasus, Ukraine
Us and the Americas
The International Spectator
IAI in the media
EU Aid and Development Planning in the Occupied West Bank
On 4 October 2017 senior diplomats, NGO experts, researchers and academics participated in an international seminar co-organized by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and GVC-Italia in Rome to address Italy's and the EU's evolving strategy towards Area C, presently comprising over 60 percent of the occupied West Bank, and highlight the primary impediments, risks and constraints impacting humanitarian and developmental projects in the area. Speakers provided detailed accounts of current and future initiatives in Area C and discussed potential strategies at the national and EU level that may help to improve long-term developmental initiatives for the area in the context of the EU's support for two states in Israel/Palestine. Particular attention was directed at efforts to enhance coordination between the EU and its member states in the context of the provision of humanitarian and development aid to Palestinian communities in Area C, as well as to the experiences and priorities of Italian Development Cooperation in Palestine.
Report of the seminar on "EU Aid and Development Planning in Area C: Linking Humanitarian and Development Assistance in the Occupied West Bank", held in Rome on 4 October 2017 and co-organized by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and GVC-Italia.
Andrea Dessì
Roma, IAI, October 2017, 5 p.
iai1718.pdf
Documenti IAI
(Event) EU Aid and Development Planning in Area C: Linking Humanitarian and Development Assistance in the Occupied West Bank - 04/10/2017
Economic aid
Occupied Palestinian territories
EU crisis management missions and the role of Italy
Islamist Movements and Political Change in the Arab World
The Contribution of Italy and the European Union to the Collective Security System of the United Nations
A comprehensive, integrated, and bottom-up approach to reset our understanding of the Mediterranean space, remap the region, and reconstruct inclusive, responsive, and flexible EU policies in it – MEDRESET
EU-GCC Cooperation
EU Aid and Development Planning in Area C: Linking Humanitarian and Development Assistance in the Occupied West Bank
Israel's annexation plan: how should Europe react?
Hearing on NATO and ESDP
Israel/Palestine after the Trump Plan
Hearing on Italy's Mediterranean policy: the impact of the Arab Spring
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Tel: +39 063224360 - iai@iai.it


The Astana sofa is characterized by a tapered design, with a massive backrest and deep cushions for optimal comfort.
With deep cushions and a massive backrest, the Astana sofa is remarkably comfortable. Characterized by a tapered silhouette, this sofa can seat up to three people.
The Astana sofa exudes refined elegance in every detail. The wood and metal base gives this sofa a distinct tapered look, while the piping finish that contours the frame and cushions denotes a subtle finesse.
The choice of upholstery in leather or velvet fabric allows this deep seated sofa to suit a range of decor styles. A Maison Corbeil exclusive, this 3-seat sofa is part of the Astana collection that includes a loveseat, sectional sofa and armchair.
- Comfortable deep seat cushions and backrest.
- Part of the Astana Collection, a Maison Corbeil exclusive.


All tyre thread depth is correct & ensure all tyre pressures are at the recommended level. Don't forget to check your spare tyre!
All your vehicle lights are clean & in proper working order.
Your windscreen wipers are working and your washer bottle is full with water & suitable anti-freeze solution has been added.
Your battery is in good condition & fully charged.
Your car anti-freeze is at the correct strength.
Always have clean and clear windows and mirrors both inside and out before driving.
Always have a can of de-icer & an ice scraper in your car. Also cover your car windscreens with a blanket over night if frost/freezing is forecast.
Only long journeys, take a flask of hot drink, spare blanket and a snow shovel.
Ensure your eyesight is up to the relevant standard. (Have your eyes checked every 2 years).
When driving, travel slowly at a safe distance from the vehicle in front to avoid harsh breaking or steering.
When driving always use dipped headlights when visibility is poor.
It is better to travel a little further on a main road that has been treated with salt than to use untreated minor roads.


At the end of 2018, Merriam-Webster chose its word of the year: justice. The choice was made at a time when Filipinos seem to have all but forgotten about this virtue.
Put most simply, justice is giving people what is due them. It is considered one of the "hard" virtues because it involves keeping your compassion and empathy in check to keep right order, as opposed to the countervailing "soft" virtue of mercy, which is – let's be honest – much easier to practice for most people (except perhaps for those with anger management issues). Anyone who's had to discipline a beloved child, or even a pet dog, knows this.
Our most crucial organizing institutions and practices necessarily reflect both justice and mercy, though if one steps back, it is obvious which one is more important to keeping a society functional. This country couldn't exist for a week without the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Not to put down any of the great work they do, but the Philippines could exist indefinitely without the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
I suspect that our strong, almost unidimensional bias for mercy – and lack of insistence on justice – stems from our Catholic faith. This bears some explanation: On cursory reading, the New Testament surely feels like its emphasis is on mercy, even though Jesus Christ talked about hell more than anyone else in the Holy Bible.
For reasons unknown, Flipinos usually interpret Jesus' crucifixion as purely an act of mercy. It's obviously not just that: someone had to pay for mankind's sins, and God had to send His Son to do pay the ultimate price. Being perfect justice, He couldn't simply write off mankind's transgressions. Moreover, Christ and His Church both teach one has to accept this gift of redemption in word and deed by following Christ's teachings, for it would be unjust to benefit from a gift you don't accept.
How then are we as a society supposed to balance two contradictory but necessary principles like mercy and justice? The plain answer is: as best we can as mere mortals. God can be both infinite mercy and perfect justice, but we can only scratch our heads and plod along, keeping both these virtues in mind.
Exoneration or absolution. This is what we Filipinos are most familiar with – complete forgiveness – simply because this is what we (wrongly) usually assume is automatically given to us Catholics after the sacrament of confession. What people often forget is that such absolution comes with serious prerequisites of true penitence, admission of guilt and apology, and finally, penance. Therefore, the usual notion we hear that we should forgive all as we are forgiven as well by God is not accurate at all. Absent those 3 conditions, even an all-loving God will not give complete absolution to a person because He is also all-just, and you should act in the same manner by extension.
Forbearance. This applies to a partial apology (made disingenuously, lightly, or with an attempt to share the blame), or when an invalid excuse is given or full restitution is not made, but there is reason enough to maintain a relationship with, or a position for the person. The proper approach here would be more akin to "forgive but don't forget," or the Russian adage of "trust but verify." The previous state of affairs need not be restored, but further punishment or restitution is no longer sought. For instance, in many jurisdictions, a released felon who has served time or has been granted clemency is not allowed to hold public elected office nor certain sensitive jobs (e.g. stock broker). More mundanely, under this precept, one would be allowed not to invite an offending relative to all your parties, even though you may choose to still keep in touch in other ways.
Release. If no sufficient reason exists to maintain the relationship with the people concerned – they are unrepentant and have not made any restitution – releasing them is the proper course of action, or severing the relationship altogether. Since this is a form of forgiveness, one no longer seeks revenge or harbor ill will for the offending party. The reason is not related to justice, but merely practical: harboring a grudge or anger is not healthy for anyone. But it does not preclude application of justice – for example, one may testify in court about a crime in the name of justice, not revenge.
In our cultural context, we tend to mix all 3 into the first category, thus, the myriad Filipino expressions for forgiveness – kaawaan, pagpasensiyahan, pagbigyan, kalimutan, pabayaan, patawarin, etc – which do not give any distinction to the different forms. There are no corresponding Filipino words for forbearance and release in the context of foregiveness. Moreover, how many times have you heard someone admonish another person for not speaking with an offending party, without any context, as if the act of severing tied is itself automatically an offense? Or how many times have you seen fellow Filipinos give a pass to a friend or relative who did a grave moral wrong like stealing large sums of money, and continue inviting them to parties after a "cooling off" period for the sake mercy, when none was requested?
At a national level, it's hard to parse out what is due to defects in our judicial system and what stems from our cultural indifference to pursuing justice. But doesn't it seem we seldom punish the gravest of crimes in a timely, final, or permanent manner? It appears we are mostly content when the offending party is simply taken out of office so no further harm can be done. And no matter what your political alliance, bias, or perspective, doesn't it seem that all around, there are prominent private persons or government officials who have most demonstrably committed serious crimes but are not being punished?
Lack of justice produces some curious outcomes it seems, one is that even perfectly intelligent, benevolent, and docile people will say something like, "We should elect (insert his/her favorite strongman) to (an elected office), so that he can wipe out (insert his/her pet perpetrator of some malfeasance, from corruption to drug-dealing)." By wipe out, they mean kill of course – something these people wouldn't contemplate doing themselves in their wildest dreams. It is an overreaction brought on by a severe shortage of justice they feel, just like a starving man can eat himself to death with his first meal.
More banally, you see it in the reactions to the recent videos of bullying in Ateneo that made its rounds on social media. I understand that the perpetrator's brother (no saint himself apparently), was beaten outside a bar as retribution, and that someone challenged the father of the offender to a fight, proposing that this was all the dad's fault for not raising his child correctly. Never mind that the student is a teenager with his own free will. Never mind that there were many other Ateneans on the scene who were not courageous enough to intervene; their fathers and Ateneo didn't do such a hot job with them either.
Although it is a matter of opinion, there are also many who took exception to Ateneo's dismissal of the bully rather than expulsion. (The latter would make it nearly impossible for the bully to enter another school.) I disagree. I think dismissal is proper because from what I understand the bully expressed remorse, and he is still a minor after all. That was a proper balance of justice and mercy, a form of forbearance from the educational community.
What I take exception to is the tone of the letter from the Ateneo president promising assistance to both bully and victim, and carrying on in the last fourth of his letter about not fighting at all, especially in the spirit of Christmas. First, as a priest, I would fully expect him personally to try to help both parties, but speaking as the head of an institution, Ateneo should confine itself to helping its student who was victimized on its premises.
Second, the admonition to "summon the courage to stop fighting one another" is completely out of place. Precisely what was lacking here was the courage to intervene – and physically fight if need be – among all the bystanders whom I hope Ateneo will eventually transform into men. Finally, in invoking Christmas, perhaps Fr Villarin should contemplate how much fighting a great healer and teacher, indeed a perfect man, has to do to end up nailed on a cross after only 3 years of work.
A crazier Ateneo story (I won't mention names here for I don't want to name and shame people who are long retired or dead): When I was in sixth grade, my science teacher came to me and told me that the grade level coordinator (or "GLC," the person who manages teachers at that grade level) had unilaterally changed my grade for no reason, but that he couldn't do anything about it.
I went to my homeroom teacher to ask for help but she said she couldn't do anything about it either. I went to my mom, who then went to the assistant principal, who likewise did nothing about it. My mom then went to the then president of Ateneo, who told the gradeschool principal to address the issue. In front of my mom, the president summoned the GLC to ask him what happened. His response was that he thought he had the authority to change my grade, but couldn't even give a reason why he did it. My grades were promptly reverted to what they were supposed to be. I still have my white out-corrected report card.
Many years later, when it was my nephews' turn to attend Ateneo Grade School, I discovered that the offending GLC was still there. I was tempted to bring my 5'11" bench-pressed, and lat-pulled frame to his office and say something like, "I demand an apology and an explanation for what you did to me when I was in Grade 6, or you'll be going to the hospital today, old man." But I decided not to because, well, I'm a Catholic and a Filipino, so am prone to say "forgive as you are forgiven" and tend not to understand the importance of justice. And justice is a hard virtue, in more ways than one. I should have done something in retrospect, as the man never apologized, never got punishment, and indeed repeated the offense, as people are wont to do when they're not subject to justice.
As individuals and as a nation, I suspect we'll always be confused and won't achieve the unity and progress we hope for unless we understand and apply the proper dollop of justice to balance our proclivity for mercy. And unless we accept the absolute necessity of justice, no matter how much it hurts, as Abraham Lincoln did during the US Civil War, the war that killed more Americans than all the other wars the US has fought combined.
Rafael Reyes is a graduate of Ateneo Grade School and High School, and received his BS and MS degrees from Stanford University. He was the Southeast Asian head for AIG Investments' private equity operations for over a decade, and is now engaged in entrepreneurial activities involving real estate and internet applications.


Wayfair is the largest online retailer of home goods in the US. The company offers 7 million home products across 12,000 brands within a brand portfolio, including Wayfair.com, AllModern, Birch Lane, DwellStudio and Joss & Main. With more than 2 million weekly visitors shopping on Wayfair's multiple ecommerce sites, consistent performance is crucial to the company's success.
Wayfair was looking for three things from a CDN: consistent performance, minimal latency, and responsive support. They evaluated multiple providers to find the right CDN.
Like most eCommerce sites, Wayfair's site is comprised of millions of different-sized product images; the variance in type and size of images made it difficult for some CDN providers to deliver consistent performance. Fastly allows customers to write granular caching configurations on the network edge, so Wayfair could upload their own custom VCL (Varnish Configuration Language) instantly for optimized cache control. As a result, they found that Fastly provides the best and most consistent experience for their customers.
Using Fastly as a caching layer, Wayfair has reduced their bandwidth expenditure in addition to improving their sites' performance, allowing them to scale more efficiently. With Fastly, they found a feature-rich CDN platform that could grow with them as they expanded outside of North America.
Wayfair was impressed with Fastly's hands-on customer service. Fastly's customer engineers helped configure their service quickly and continue to be responsive whenever help is needed. With an ever-growing network of successful ecommerce sites, Wayfair needs to be able to depend on backup if and when it's needed.


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This Blog is Dark and Full of Emotional Turmoil
Posted by Dr. Erica Carranza
Includes spoilers through season 8/episode 5.
My love affair with Game of Thrones developed gradually and, by season four, I'd fallen head-over-heels. Like most fans, I enjoyed watching it buck narrative conventions, leaving them littered along the way like so many torched wights. But what really captured my heart was its subtle feminism.
Finally, here was a show where the women were just as varied, complex, and important to the story as the men. They had goals of their own, well-developed personalities, and together they represented an impressive range of attributes—vulnerability, compassion, strategic thinking, naivete, cynicism, resilience, physical strength, and more. They fought the patriarchy, but each in her own way. And, by the time Daenerys met her war council in Westeros, her strongest allies were women. That could have felt like a heavy-handed attempt by the writers to give women roles traditionally held by men. Instead, it felt like the natural result of all that had happened up to that point.
What's more, even the men of Game of Thrones subverted expectations. My favorites among them were smart and funny—but also kind and compassionate. And few of them had the pretty face or chiseled physique worn by typical epic heroes. In its first season, Game of Thrones inspired the term "sexposition"—yet somehow it had delivered a smorgasbord of compelling male and female characters. And the world was watching.
With all these reasons to love the show, I was worried about how it might end. A happily-ever-after would betray what had made it great. But, truth be told, I didn't want a villain to win. I was sympathetic to the conundrum the showrunners must be in, and pessimistic about their finding a good way out.
Turns out I wasn't alone.
Right before "The Long Night" aired (season 8/episode 3), we ran a survey among friends and colleagues. We asked them their predictions for how the series would end, and how they expected to feel about it. While the survey was just for fun—and hardly a representative sample—the results were revealing:
Less than a third (30%) thought they'd feel mostly good about how the series ended.
A third (34%) thought they'd feel ambivalent (i.e., good and bad in equal measure).
Nearly a quarter (23%) thought they'd feel mostly bad.
In total, over half (57%) predicted having strong negative emotional reactions to whatever would unfold in the final episodes (i.e., the 23% expecting to feel bad, plus the 34% expecting to feel ambivalent). Only 13% of viewers—whose lack of emotional investment in the show I've come to envy—thought they would end up feeling neutral.
Furthermore, viewers thought they would feel highly activated, energetic emotions.
A bit of background… At CMB, we use a method of measuring emotion (EMPACT℠) that we developed to capture its two core dimensions: valence (i.e., intensity of the positive or negative feelings) and activation (i.e., their level of energy).
For example, sadness and anger can feel equally negative in terms of valence. But sadness is low in activation, while anger is high. Sadness is low energy and makes people want to withdraw. Anger is agitating—it makes people want to act. Not surprisingly, online content is particularly likely to go viral when it evokes high activation emotions.
When viewers predicted how they'd feel about the way the series ends:
Half (49%) predicted highly activated negative reactions. Specifics included feeling frustrated, annoyed, anxious, stressed, angry, and even disgusted.
About half (46%) predicted highly activated positive reactions. Specifics included feeling entertained, amused, amazed, happy, and excited.
Relatively few (27%) predicted low activation negative reactions (e.g., feeling drained, depressed, disappointed, and discouraged).
Even fewer (11%) predicted low activation positive reactions (e.g., feeling pleased, satisfied, and nostalgic).
So nearly everyone expects to feel highly activated—but viewers were split in terms of positive vs. negative valence. That's a precarious situation for a show as it approaches its series finale.
Linking viewers' expected emotion to their predictions for the show also uncovered some interesting trends. For example, those expecting to feel activated positive emotions (e.g., happiness and excitement) were particularly likely to think the "good guys" would survive—including Jon, Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, Samwell, and even little Sam. Other viewers were less optimistic. But, regardless of their predictions, most shared an intensely emotional relationship to the show.
I can relate. In fact, the anxiety I felt about whether Game of Thrones could stick the landing is nothing compared to how I feel now, having watched it ruin most of its best characters:
Sansa expressed gratitude (!) for her worst abusers and is now (according to showrunner Dan Benioff) stealing moves from Littlefinger's playbook. Plus she continually snipes at Dany despite Dany's essential help in saving the North.
Last we saw Brienne—the first and only female Knight of the Seven Kingdoms—she was pathetically bawling in her bathrobe as Jaime rode out of her life.
Then Cersei, having finally proven herself her father's equal, died crying in Jaime's arms.
Varys is burned alive thanks to Tyrion, who continues his two-season track-record of making inexplicably poor decisions. (He used to drink and know things. Now I guess he just drinks.)
Grey Worm led the remaining allied forces into a wave of war crimes.
And Dany, who locked-up her dragons when Drogon killed a single innocent child, has brutally murdered a whole city full of innocent children. Why? Because she feels threatened by a man, hurt by his rejection, frustrated by the skepticism she met in Westeros, and enraged at the beheading of a friend.
Yes, Dany losing her mind may have been in the cards from the start. But to have flipped in that moment—and for those reasons—didn't fit with most of what we'd learned about her. Game of Thrones never made excuses for the ascent of powerful women. Now it's making-up excuses to tear them down.
So it looks like the show that reveled in subverting narrative conventions will end by validating the oldest tropes in the book…
The hero where all our sympathies and hopes should lie is a white man. He's a stoic warrior with a noble heart—and, lo and behold, he's of noble blood.
Women, on the other hand, are weak, petty, manipulative, and overly emotional.
Women who seek power are particularly bad. Two women vying for the Iron Throne is apparently worse for Westeros than the Night King and his army of undead.
How does this turn of events make me feel? Discouraged, disappointed, angry, aggrieved… The last Game of Thrones episode has yet to arrive, but my love affair with the show is already over.
And, again, I bet I'm not alone.
Erica is VP of Consumer Psychology at Chadwick Martin Bailey. She has over ten years of experience leading market research for major brands across a range of categories—including clients such as Disney, Viacom, Mattel, Instagram, Prudential and American Express. A PhD social psychologist, Erica applies this expertise to give her clients a unique edge in understanding and engaging their target audiences.
Erica has a B.A. from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton University. Prior to CMB, she led insights research at American Express, where she was a recipient of the CMO Award for Achievement in Excellence.
Topics: EMPACT, emotional measurement, emotion
Selling a Driverless Future: Messaging Strategies for the Autonomous Vehicle Industry
Posted by Chris Neal
Tue, May 07, 2019
Emotions play a key role in the commercial success or failure of emerging disruptive technologies. Most recently, we looked under the hood of the autonomous vehicle (AV) industry to understand the specific emotions that drive or deter widespread adoption.
On the wheels of Tesla's recent announcement to operate a fleet of one million self-driving taxis by the end of 2020, I'll provide more direction for how tech companies and automakers can most effectively convince various consumer segments to embrace this future.
Message Testing: Different Strokes for Different Folks
As part of a recent self-funded research study exploring the link between emotions and the self-driving car industry (download the full report here), I channeled my inner Don Draper and drafted faux ad concepts selling the promise of a driverless future.
With each concept touting a different benefit of autonomous vehicles (safety, convenience, etc.), respondents were asked to select which would most likely get them to consider a self-driving car.
I'm still awaiting my Ogilvy Award--but until then, let's dig into the results of this exercise:
Safety is unequivocally the most persuasive message—indicating a creative campaign highlighting the public health and safety benefits of widely deployed AVs may help alleviate some consumer anxiety.
People who gravitate toward the potential safety benefits tend to skew 50+ years of age and are more likely than other segments to reject the idea altogether. They also tend to feel more positive towards driving their own car (e.g., feeling energized, proud, and in control).
Overall, Productivity/Efficiency isn't a very compelling message, but is more likely to appeal to Gen Z and Millennials who are often less bound to the idea of owning their own car compared to older generations.
Consumers who are drawn to these features are more likely to feel "Efficient," "Productive," and "Smart" when imagining themselves in AVs (even before they saw the messages). This is noteworthy because these specific emotions are consistently found to be key drivers to adoption in most of our emerging tech studies.
We then layered on a lift analysis that asked respondents to again consider likelihood to use an AV based on the ad message they had just selected as most compelling. Although the results from this exercise were underwhelming, it did help move some "Ambivalent" Millennials into the full-on "Accepter" category by touting the Productivity and Efficiency benefits.
As this exercise indicates—and is often the case with new tech trying to "cross the chasm"—marketing to the most swayable early adopters vs. general population can be an effective tactic for gaining traction. Messaging to early adopters will be more nuanced, but when done right, can encourage adopters to spread positive word of mouth to more mainstream late adopters.
The Road Ahead: Evolution, Not Revolution
The Don Drapers of the world can only do so much convincing until more people actually experience the technology for themselves.
Fortunately, consumers are getting a taste of increased levels of ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems) technology as features like auto braking and lane correction become more common in newer cars.
Further, the less common but also rapidly growing "Level 3" vehicles (e.g., Tesla's "autopilot" mode) that can go on full autopilot—under certain conditions—can also help consumers overcome the anxiety they have about fully letting go.
At the moment, very few consumers said they'd get into anything other than an autonomous vehicle they could—if need be—take over (i.e., "Level 3"). This sentiment could be problematic for the future of companies like Uber, Lyft, and now Tesla, who aren't about to let passengers take control when they feel like it.
However, people who own Level 2 or 3 vehicles have much more nuanced attitudes towards this scenario—more commonly anticipating that in the future, they expect their primary car to be a Level 4 or fully autonomous at Level 5. And those who already own Level 2 or Level 3 ADAS vehicles have much stronger positive emotions and fewer intense negative emotions when reacting to being in a fully autonomous car.
Driving Full Circle
This leads me back to my own emotional journey with vehicular automation. Recall a run-in with with a faulty cruise control back in the '90s left me extremely wary of technical automation (read here if you missed that story).
In 2018, after decades of avoiding this kind of automation, I got my first real taste of Level 2 assisted driving technology while on a road trip with my son to Washington, D.C. We were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic when my phone's GPS cut out. I took my eyes off the road to futz with the phone when suddenly the car (not me) slammed on the brakes. Turns out I was about to rear-end the car in front of us.
I was shocked, embarrassed, humbled, and relieved. Had it not been for the auto braking, this story would have ended differently (we were only going 30 mph, but you get the idea).
The more I see drivers facedown in their phones at the wheel, the more I wonder if it's time for us mere mortals to start letting AI take a little more control over our transportation systems. I still have deep anxiety over the prospect of riding in a fully self-driving car, but my emotions towards this possibility are complex and evolving.
With some focused determination, those invested in these efforts can push me—and likely many others—along towards greater openness to a driverless future.
If you're interested in learning more about this research, CMB's methodology, or want a live recall of my various run-ins with faulty cruise control, check out this webinar.
Topics: technology research, EMPACT, Artificial Intelligence
CMB + GOT: Who will Take the Iron Throne?
Posted by Brant Cruz
Sat, Apr 27, 2019
Winter is here! Do you watch Game of Thrones? Test your ability to predict George R.R. Martin's grand vision against almost 1,500* other fans in our survey. In addition to potential bragging rights and a possible prize, the survey itself is almost as fun as a Stark family reunion.
* We're allowing in the first 1,500 entrants
Brant Cruz, first of his name, carries the banner for CMB's Platforms and Digital Media Practice.
Topics: EMPACT
The Road Ahead: Emotions and The Future of Self-Driving Cars
Tue, Apr 16, 2019
We recently published self-funded research exploring the impact of consumer emotions on the emerging autonomous vehicle (AV) industry—the latest in our ongoing analysis of the relationship between emotion and disruptive technology.
As detailed in a previous post, this study revealed many consumers are skeptical of self-driving cars. Further, even the prospect of using this technology generates a negative emotional response.
We've measured the emotional activation of hundreds of brands in dozens of industries (learn more about our EMPACT approach here) and have found, by far, the autonomous vehicle category generates the most intense and widespread overall negative emotions—indicating a critical obstacle this industry must overcome.
The first two steps in charting a path forward are:
Understand which specific negative emotions are the most important to deactivate
Understand which specific positive emotions are most critical to activate
Better understanding these emotions can help guide the industry's marketing efforts and actual customer experiences with this technology.
Overcoming the Right Negative Emotions
Unlike most industries we analyze, it's more critical for the AV industry to deactivate negative emotions than it is to activate specific positive emotions, although doing both are obviously important.
Through our emotional gap analysis, we identified "Anxiety," "Paranoia," "Hesitancy," and feeling "Overwhelmed" as the negative emotions where AVs fare worst when compared to how people feel about driving a car themselves:
Anxiety is no surprise here: people fear the prospect of truly letting AI take over and drive the vehicle with no human intervention.
People are also concerned self-driving car systems could be hacked, which explains the significant feeling of paranoia—an emotion common in a lot of emerging technology we study. Anything "smart" (i.e., connected to the internet) could be hacked, and there are always people who are more concerned about this than others.
Feeling "Hesitant" or "Unsure" also comes up a lot in new and disruptive technology categories. With anything truly new and different, people are unsure of whether it's ready for primetime, or if they should try it.
The emotions around feeling "Hectic" or "Overwhelmed" are more unique to the AV category. It's so new and potentially transformative that many people simply can't process the idea of trusting the technology to get them from point A to point B. It's overwhelming to really think on the complexity of AV systems, not to mention the myriad road scenarios an AI algorithm will need to be trained well enough to react to.
Positive Emotions Activated by Driving Your Own Car
Positive emotions are also important to driving mainstream adoption of a disruptive technology. This is a unique challenge for the AV industry because people already have many positive emotions activated when driving their own car.
Not surprisingly, the biggest positive emotional gap between driving your own car and the prospect of getting in an autonomous vehicle is feeling in control.
The combination of anxiety, paranoia, and losing that feeling of control is a major emotional obstacle to for the autonomous vehicle industry's path to widespread consumer acceptance. We see this in many AI-driven technology categories where life is increasingly automated and data-driven.
This fear of technology running our lives—and the possibility that it might not always do so benevolently—runs deep and has been prominent in popular culture long before the first self-driven test vehicle ever hit the road.
Source: GIPHY
There's also a significant gap between feeling "Secure" and "Protected." As the chart above indicates, people feel a lot more secure and protected when driving their own car, but not so much about self-driving cars. The feeling of insecurity is influencing the high levels of anxiety we see from AVs.
The gap in feeling "Efficient/Productive" is also problematic for the AV industry. In most new technology adoption projects where we run this analysis, that emotion emerges as one of the key determinants of more mainstream consumer adoption. People expect disruptive technologies to make them feel more efficient and productive, but if they don't truly get that feeling when using the technology, they are unlikely to change their existing habits.
Emotions That Predict Adoption
In addition to a straight gap analysis, we also ran a model to isolate which specific emotions (negative and positive) best predict (on a derived basis) peoples' willingness to use autonomous vehicles in the future.
By far the biggest predictors, not surprisingly, are reducing anxiety and increasing feelings of relaxation.
Another emotion that popped in our predictive modelling, which wasn't evident from the initial data review, was activating emotions around pride. In other words, people who would feel "proud" using an autonomous vehicle are much more likely to actually use one, whereas people who might feel ashamed or embarrassed if their friends or family saw them inside an autonomous vehicle are highly unlikely to hop on board.
This "social identity" element is something we see in many new tech adoption studies through our proprietary consumer-centric approach to measuring the impact of identity on decision-making. Does someone identify as being one of those people who uses an autonomous vehicle, or is that for another tribe altogether? Turns out this tribal identity matters quite a bit for new technologies attempting to cross the chasm.
Feeling "Secure" and "Efficient" also help predict likelihood to adopt the technology, but as we saw earlier, not many people feel these emotions when they think about using an autonomous vehicle.
The Road Ahead*
In my next article, I will share some thoughts and findings from this study on potential paths forward for the industry to overcome these obstacles. You'll get to see the results when I attempt to play an Ad Man and convince people to reconsider the category. Although it was a humbling experiment, it did reveal additional insights that can help actual creative teams with briefs that include different value propositions linked to specific emotions the industry needs to address.
In the meantime, if you're interested in learning more about this research or our EMPACT approach, check out this recorded (quick) webinar:
*Sorry again! The puns are just too good to pass up in this blog series.
Topics: technology research, EMPACT, emotional measurement, Artificial Intelligence
How Advanced Analytics Saved My Commute
Posted by Laura Dulude
I don't like commuting. Most people don't. If you analyzed the emotions that commuting evokes, you'd probably hear commuters say it made them: frustrated, tired, and bored. To be fair, my commute experience isn't as bad as it could be: I take a ~20-minute ride into Boston on the Orange Line, plus some walking before and after.
Still, wanting to minimize my discomfort during my time on the train and because I am who I am, I tracked my morning commute for about 10 months. I logged the number of other people waiting on the platform, number of minutes until the next train, time spent on the train, delays announced, the weather, and several other factors I thought might be related to a negative experience.
Ultimately, I decided the most frustrating part about my commute is how crowded the train is—the less crowded I am, the happier I feel. So, I decided to predict my subjective crowd rating for each day using other variables in my commuting dataset.
In this example, I've used a TreeNet analysis. TreeNet is the type of driver modeling we do most often at CMB because it's flexible, allows you to include categorical predictors without creating dummy variables, handles missing data without much pre-processing, resists outliers, and does better with correlated independent variables than other techniques do.
TreeNet scores are shown in comparison to each other. The most important input will always be 100, and every other independent variable is scaled relative to that top variable. So, as you see in Figure 1, the time I board the train and the day of the week are about half as important as the number of people on the platform when I board. That means that as it turns out, I probably can't do all that much to affect my commute, but I can at least know when it'll be particularly unpleasant.
What this importance chart doesn't tell you is the relationship each item has to the dependent variable. For example, which weekdays have lower vs. higher crowding? Per-variable charts give us more information:
Figure 2 indicates that crowding lessens as the week goes on. Perhaps people are switching to ride-sharing services or working from home those days.
For continuous variables, like boarding time, we can explore the relationships through line charts:
Looks like I should get up on the earlier side if I want to have the best commuting experience! Need to tackle a thornier issue than your morning commute? Our Advanced Analytics team is the best in the business—contact us and let's talk about how we can help!
Laura Dulude is a data nerd and a grumpy commuter who just wants to get to work.
Topics: advanced analytics, EMPACT, emotional measurement, data visualization


Items matching "BT Centre for Major Programme Management" and Year "1995"
Voss, Christopher A. and Blackmon, Kate (1995) Making it as world class. The Professional Manager. pp. 16-18. Full text not available from this repository.
Voss, Christopher A. and Blackmon, Kate (1995) Too few companies are world class. Parliamentary Brief, 2 (3). pp. 53-54. Full text not available from this repository.
Voss, Christopher A., Blackmon, Kate, Hanson, Philip and Oak, Bryan (1995) The Competitiveness of European Manufacturing — A Four Country Study. Business Strategy Review, 6 (1). pp. 1-25. Link to full text available through this repository.
This list was generated on Mon Apr 22 02:48:14 2019 UTC.


text:
Wagner College will induct Rich Negrin, member of 1987 football championship team, into Hall of Fame
Jim Waggoner | waggoner@siadvance.com
Staten Island Advance file photoWagner's 1987 Division III national championship team featured a powerful offensive line, including tackle Rich Negrin, who will be inducted into the school's Hall of Fame Saturday.
Not even a nasty case of food poisoning could slow Wagner College's incredible run to the 1987 NCAA Division III football championship.
The Seahawks took a 11-1 record into the national semifinals at Emory & Henry in rural Virginia, but didn't figure on the physical malady awaiting them in the pre-game locker room.
"We're talking about not having our starting fullback ... missing a couple of starters on defense ... people throwing up while the coach is giving the pre-game speech," remembered two-time All-American offensive lineman Rich Negrin. "It was a road game against a great team ... in the snow ... against a Kodak All-American quarterback considered the best in the country.
"We had every excuse to lose that game and we refused to do so. That's the kind of team we had. Sure, there was a lot of talent and experience there, but we refused to accept negative circumstances as they arose."
Wagner won that game 20-15 after building a 17-0 halftime lead. The next week, the Seahawks upset Dayton, 19-3, in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl to wrap up a 13-1 campaign.
Linebacker Artie DiMella and Negrin, co-captains of that championship squad, will enter the Wagner Athletics Hall of Fame together Saturday during Homecoming weekend on Grymes Hill. They will be joined by Peter Demeropoulos (football, Class of 1983), Billy Kurisko (basketball, 1991), Mayuko Koshiba-Perpetua (tennis, 1994) and Brenda Milano (basketball, 1995).
Also on the agenda is a big football game for the Seahawks (4-2 overall, 2-1 Northeast Conference), who are hoping to remain in NEC championship contention against Duquesne. Wagner head coach Walt Hameline is shooting for his 200th career victory in his 30th season.
The Hall of Fame induction will be conducted before the game. The honorees will also be recognized on the field at halftime.
"I'm incredibly proud and honored to be going in, especially with Artie DiMella," said Negrin, who currently serves as Philadelphia's deputy mayor and managing director after a long law career. "That was a special group and I think we represented sort of the different psyches of that team. We had a profound sense of faith and trust in each other because of what we'd been through. We built the foundation for the national championship in the previous seasons.
"You need a lot of luck to be the last team standing out of a field of 300-plus schools, but you also need a lot of great chemistry and intestinal fortitude ... and just the right mix of playmakers that I think we brought together. We were well-rounded in so many different areas ... when we saw adversity, you would see somebody step up and make a play."
Staten Island Advance file photoRich Negrin (left) prepares to block a Hofstra attacker in 1987.
Negrin said he has kept in touch with many of his former teammates, including New Jersey resident Greg Kovar, the quarterback who still ranks No. 5 all-time at Wagner with 3,895 passing yards.
Hameline's presence through the decades has fostered a healthy atmosphere for former players, said Negrin.
"We always enjoy coming back and I think the dynamics would have been very different if Coach had left to do something else," said Negrin. "We've been incredibly lucky to have someone of his caliber around for so long. It's a shared experience. I go back every year and sometimes I hear him (Hameline) saying the same things he said to us ... we all kind of carry around our own Walt-isms."
Negrin said any success of his professional career, which included a two-year tour as Pennsylvania's director of Homeland Security, can be traced back to the Grymes Hill classrooms and football field.
"Wagner College had a profound impact on my life," he said. "I learned a great deal about leadership and how leadership starts with each individual.
"It's about doing the right things and having the right approach and right attitude. It's easy to grumble about things and much harder to build than it is to tear down. Those lessons I learned on that field and that locker room."


This section offers useful information for planning your move to Freiburg.
In Germany health insurance is very important, as medical treatment can be very expensive. It is mandatory for each student to prove they have valid health insurance at his/her enrollment.
In some cases you may be asked to prove that you have sufficient financial resources for the duration of your studies in Germany. This proof may be required when applying for a visa or when applying for a residence permit.
More information on this topic is available here: "tuition and cost of living".
Information on finding a place to stay is available on this site: Living in Freiburg.
You should arrive in Freiburg approximately two to three weeks before the start of the semester, so that you are settled before your courses begin and you are able to fully concentrate on your studies from the beginning.
You must register within two weeks after moving into your accommodation by presenting your identity card or passport.
Nationals of EU and EEA member states do not require a residence permit. Students from these countries will be issued a certificate of the right of residence (German: Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung), which you may be requested to show when you register with the registration office (Einwohnermeldeamt).
In order to be able to make payments (for example to pay rent) you should open a checking account at a local bank as soon as possible. You will need your ID card or your passport, the certificate of the registration office, and the enrollment certificate from the KH Freiburg. Most banks offer a student checking account which is free of charge.


Slice cake horizontally into 3 layers, and set aside.
Combine 1� cups ice cream and 1 cup chopped strawberries, stir well. Place bottom layer of cake on a serving plate, spread half of ice cream mixture over cake, and top with middle layer. Freeze cake and remaining ice cream mixture 30 minutes. Let ice cream mixture soften slightly, spread over middle layer. Top with remaining layer. Freeze 30 minutes.
Combine whipped topping, � cup water, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Beat at high speed of an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Spread over cake. Freeze until firm. Combine � cup water and sugar substitute, stirring until sugar substitute dissolves. Place 16 ounces strawberries and sugar substitute mixture in container of an electric blender. Cover and process until smooth. Press through a sieve to remove seeds. Add lemon juice, stir well.
Slice cake into 1-inch-thick slices, and place on dessert plates. Spoon about 3 tablespoons puree around each slice. Garnish with strawberries.
Sugar substitutes can be used when converting to diabetic recipes. When cooking with sugar substitutes, use sucralose- or saccharin-based sweeteners when baking or heating. This sugar free strawberry cake recipe uses Sugar Twin. Sugar Twin is a great choice where it can retain sweetness when it is cooked or baked.


Here you'll get an overview of the means test, including the basic steps involved in taking the test.
If you want to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you must pass the means test. The means test looks at your income, and in some cases, your expenses and debts, to determine whether could afford to pay back some of your debts. If so, you won't be allowed to use Chapter 7; instead, you will have to use Chapter 13 if you want to file for bankruptcy.
The main goal of the means test is to require higher earning debtors to pay back some or all of their debt in Chapter 13, rather than allowing them to discharge their debt in Chapter 7. Although Chapter 7 filers may lose any property they can't protect with an available exemption, they don't have to directly repay any debt. Unless they own valuable nonexempt property they really want to keep, most filers who have a choice opt for Chapter 7.
To take the means test, you must first compare your monthly income in the six months before you file for bankruptcy to the median income in your state. If your income is less than the median, you have passed the means test and are eligible to use Chapter 7. If your income exceeds the median, you must figure out whether you would have enough left over, after subtracting certain expenses, to repay some portion of your debt.
The first part of the means test compares your "current" monthly income to the median income in your state for a household of your size. (You can find links to each state's median, and other state-specific bankruptcy resources, by selecting your state from the list on our Bankruptcy in Your State page--although you should verify the accuracy of the figures because they regularly change.) If your income is less than the median, you may use Chapter 7; if not, you must do some more calculations to figure out whether you're eligible.
If your income exceeds the state median, the means test continues--and gets a lot more complicated. You must figure out whether you would have enough disposable income left, after subtracting allowed expenses, to pay off some of your unsecured debts (credit card bills, medical debt, and so on). If your disposable income is equal to our more than a minimum amount set by law, you will not be allowed to use Chapter 7. If you want to file for bankruptcy, you'll have to use Chapter 13 instead. And, because your income exceeds the state median, you will have to use a five-year repayment plan (those whose income is less than the state median can repay debts over only three years if they choose to use Chapter 13).
If your income is less than the state median, the means test is relatively straightforward. For those with higher incomes, however, the means test is quite complex. Not only will you have to do pages of calculations, but you'll have to find the correct income and expense figures for your area and household size. To find the figures, you'll start by going to the U.S. Court's means testing page. In the box entitled "Data Required for Completing the 122A Forms and the 122C Forms," select the most recent time period and click "Go." It will take you to a page with links to your state's median income, as well as the state and national standards for food, housing, and other expenses. For example, to find a state-by-state median income chart, click on "Median Family Income Based on State/Territory and Family Size."
If you're looking for an easy way to determine your eligibility under the Chapter 7 means test, visit www.legalconsumer.com and use its online bankruptcy means test calculator, created by the author of Nolo's book How to File for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, Albin Renauer, J.D. Once you enter your zip code, the calculator uses the applicable income and expense standards for your state, county, and region to determine your eligibility.
Once you supply your zip code, the calculator uses the current applicable income and expense standards for your state, region, and family size to help determine your eligibility. You'll still have to supply your own financial information, but you won't have to look up all of the relevant data for your area--or do any math.


The second day of the NHL draft brought no shortage of players chosen from all reaches of the globe, but the top Russian skaters to change hands were both former selections.
A pair of once top prospects who had fallen into disfavor, Nikita Filatov and Evgeni Grachev, were both dealt. Filatov went from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Ottawa Senators while Grachev moved from the New York Rangers to the St. Louis Blues.
The star forwards of Russia's 2009 World Junior Championship squad were sent packing with a bit of a whimper, commanding only third-round selections in return.
"There's no risk in this at all. A third round pick, you get a player that maybe four years from now could play to take a shot at a guy who was number six overall. It's a no-lose for us," Senators general manger Bryan Murray said.
Grachev may become part of a Russian invasion in St. Louis. Along with 2010 first-round pick Vladimir Tarasenko, Grachev could bolster a Blues offense that finished in the top ten in team scoring this season for the first time since the lockout.
Elsewhere former Calgary Flames blueliner Robyn Regehr ultimately approved his trade to the Buffalo Sabres. The deal for Chris Butler and Paul Byron was consummated after Regehr agreed to waive his no-trade clause. Buffalo will also receive a 2012 second rounder and the bulky short-term deal of forward Ales Kotalik.
Regehr, 31, shored up a Buffalo defense that looked a bit thin after sustaining the losses of veterans Toni Lydman and Henrik Tallinder last offseason.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and Phoenix Coyotes each made low-cost acquisitions. Phoenix brought in forward Marc-Antonie Pouliot from Tampa Bay for a seventh-round selection, 201st overall, which became Matthew Peca.
"We had some interest in Marc-Antonie Pouliot for a number of years. We've been searching for center-icemen, we don't have a lot of depth (at center) in our system," said Phoenix GM Don Maloney, who expressed optimism at the size, competitiveness and overall promise of his selections in this draft.
Tampa bolstered their defensive depth by acquiring Bruno Gervais from the New York Islanders for future considerations.
The Islanders remained relatively quiet despite dangling their fifth overall pick before selecting Ryan Strome, much to the chagrin of the Ottawa Senators. The last time the Isles had the fifth overall pick, they traded down not once but once but twice, ultimately selecting Josh Bailey ninth in 2008.
There were several potential trades from day one that Hockey's Future learned more about today. Surprise selection Mark Scheifele, who went seventh overall, was apparently sought after widely. The Phoenix Coyotes targeted the product of Kitchener, where Maloney also hails from.
"We loved that kid. We were desperately trying to move up," Maloney said.
Another holdover deal has been the widely reported trade that would return Ryan Smyth to the Edmonton Oilers. The Los Angeles Kings received a request from Smyth to be dealt closer to his home in Alberta for family reasons and were trying to accommodate him with a deal to either Calgary or Edmonton.
With the Flames' re-signing of Alex Tanguay to a 5-year, $17.5M deal, they appear to have dropped out of the negotiations. The more likely and preferable destination for Smyth was Edmonton, however a deal for a late-round pick and Gilbert Brule deteriorated.
There were murmurs about concerns regarding Brule's health, but Oilers GM Steve Tambellini said Brule was completely healthy and had been skating normally for some time following a concussion he sustained last season.
The narrowing of suitors for Smyth may put Edmonton in an advantageous position. Although both Tambellini and Kings GM Dean Lombardi declined comment on the trade, Tambellini did say his club sought veteran leadership to complement the young talent they have amassed in recent drafts.
"Whether it's through free agency or a trade, we recognize that we need to have some solid leadership people around these players," Tambellini said.


SEO is a science and a skill, and your success on Google, Yahoo and Bing relies on building a solid foundation.
There are a lot of SEO companies out there that use buzzwords and complicated tech jargon to mask the value of their strategy. At Farotech we conduct extensive market research, analyze your industry, competitive space and create high quality content to target your audience. We create, deliver and publish content to bring quality leads to your business.
Your optimization strategy accounts for nearly 40% of what makes your website rank.
Most SEO companies promise the world to their clients and severely under deliver. Why? The most critical reason comes down to keyword selection. Commonly, SEO agencies try to go after ultra-competitive keywords for their clients… the kind of words that are highly unlikely to achieve a first page rank on the major search engines.
We work to identify your baseline, market entry opportunities and a content strategy with an implementation timeline. In addition to reviewing keyword volume, difficulty and number of advertisers in your space, we review your direct competitors ranking over time to define the most logical entry way into your market space.
You might be thinking, "Why is this a problem?" Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that Google's main priority is the accuracy of its search results. Therefore, if your company has not developed enough "trust" (Trust-Rank) with the major search engines, it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to rank for very competitive keywords.
So, what's the solution? Well, SEO should be done in phases. The first step is the most time consuming, but it's absolutely the most important. You have to develop trust rank with Google.
What is Trust Rank and how do I earn it?
VOD = keywords with high visibility over a low difficulty score (or least amount of competition).
The overall goal is to achieve maximum search visibility through ranking for a large amount of realistically attainable keyword phrases, as opposed to ranking for just a few ultra high visibility keywords.
Establishes thought leadership in the eyes of your readers due to the consistency of content development.
Well, the theory proved true for us in high school and it works even better for us now. How? Well, the most substantial of all of Google's ranking factors is off-page SEO. It's all about who you know (what other sites your website is in association with).
In the world of SEO, this "association" is called backlinking. It's the golden goose of SEO and it accounts for nearly 60% of Google's critical ranking factors.
We're not going to lie. Quality backlinks are extremely difficult to achieve. But we believe that the best way to earn them is by creating really great content that other companies naturally want to share and promote.
Like everything else, the art of backlinking requires a bit of creativity, a bit of skill, and a whole lot of science. Understanding search data and analytics is not something that can be learned overnight. It takes hours and hours of working on it as a craft. And with 16 years in this industry… well, let's just say we have spent hours and hours, and then some.
Farotech is a great company to work with. They bring enthusiasm and vast knowledge to the table and are extremely willing to accommodate you and your needs. They happily guide you through the basics of SEO for your own personal knowledge and know exactly what to do to help your business succeed.
A strategic local SEO campaign ensures that you never miss out on business right in your own backyard.
You've probably heard the phrase that it all comes down to location, location, location. Well, in the age of Google, that rule has been rewritten.
If you've never thought of the world wide web as a local marketing tool, it's time to discover the power of local search engine optimization. In much the same way that a phone book used to direct customers to a local business, a well-run local SEO campaign points local people searching for your products and services right to your business.


Iulia Cirstea ( also credited as Iulia Carstea ) is a well known Romanian model and actress . She has graced the covers of various magazines such as French Elle,Russian Elle,Romanian Elle, French Marie Claire, Dutch Marie Claire, Votre Beaute, D Republica Della Madonna,Glamour,L'Officiel and has been featured in countless editorials for L'Officiel, The last magazine,nylon,Vogue Sposa, Elle,Marie Claire, Glamour, . She has met and worked with the biggest names in fashion.
Known for the high energy and happiness she brings on set she has been the face of various brands such as Gianfranco Ferre, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Pull&Bear ,Nivea, Avon, Garnier,Pantene and L'oreal.
Iulia has broke into the acting business when she got casted to play one of the leading roles in Kira Kiralina ( Kyra Kyralina ) a Romanian movie directed by the award winning director Dan Pita.
Iulia finished her higher education in Bucharest and moved to NYC,where she has been leaving for the past 4 years. She is represented in Paris,Milan,London,Barcelona,Madrid and NYC .


text:
Q: How can I limit an html texts with some character count? I have a blog post content in HTML. I want to display only 25 words in posts list.
When I used this code I get some errors because of tag-closings.
function str_limit_word($text, $limit, $ending = '...') {
    if (str_word_count($text, 0) > $limit) {
        $words = str_word_count($text, 2);
        $pos = array_keys($words);
        $text = substr($text, 0, $pos[$limit]) . $ending;
    }
    return $text;
}

How can I do this?

A: Use $text = strip_tags($text); before you start manipulating the string. That removes the HTML from the text, otherwise you will most likely get invalid HTML back if it happens to truncate the text in the middle of a tag, and any HTML-attributes will also be counted in the string length.
Like this:
function str_limit_word($text, $limit, $ending = '...') {
    // Remove any HTML tag in the string.
    $text = strip_tags($text);

    if (str_word_count($text, 0) > $limit) {
        $words = str_word_count($text, 2);
        $pos = array_keys($words);
        $text = substr($text, 0, $pos[$limit]) . $ending;
    }
    return $text;
}

A: Try this.
       function character_limiter($text, $limit, $start = 0) {
       if(strlen($text) > strlen($limit))
            return substr($text, $start, $limit) . '...';
        else
            return $text;
      }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Cardinal George Pell Loses Appeal of Sexual-Abuse Conviction
Australian judges rule 2-1 to uphold conviction for assaulting two young choir boys
Cardinal George Pell leaving court Wednesday after the appeal of his December conviction was denied.
Photo: james ross/Shutterstock
Robb M. Stewart
@RobbMStewart
robb.stewart@wsj.com
Updated Aug. 21, 2019 2:30 am ET
MELBOURNE, Australia—Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric ever jailed for child sexual abuse, has lost the appeal of his conviction.
The 78-year-old former Vatican finance chief was ordered Wednesday to serve out the remainder of his six-year sentence in a maximum-security prison, where as a convicted pedophile he is likely to spend much of his time isolated from other prisoners.


TotesFerosh (Josh Epstein) is a Detroit-born printmaking artist living in Chicago.
F/W 2018 — "MAN UP"
In the current social climate, it is more crucial than ever for gender-normative culture to be challenged. TotesFerosh's latest series "Man Up" explores the controversial phrase, which stigmatizes men that are not traditionally masculine. In this linocut study, colorful figures of various dispositions spell out the phrase by contorting their bodies into typographic forms. These characters of common LGBTQ themes demonstrate that there is more to being a man than physical strength and masculinity.