Mom's Gone Bronson!: Build-A-Bear Hug-A-Cub Gift Set Review!
Good evening!! It is almost 7pm as I type this review that I wasn't going to release until the morning, but I couldn't wait to share with you the most adorable thing I've seen in a long time, which I received in the mail just this week from Build-A-Bear Workshop, straight from their Hug-A-Cub collection!
The guys over at Build-A-Bear sent me on over one of their gift sets [for my son, due in September], which comes jam-packed with a cute little green cuddly frog buddy, a rattle, a snuggler, a super-soft blanket and an adorable bag to keep it in, fully embroidered with his name, no less!
This gift set is just one of a range of sets they have for the new baby, with several to choose from, including a white lamb, pink bunny, brown bear, the green frog and a blue puppy gift set, retailing for $49.00 and with up to 3 lines of embroidery for just $10 more, which means you can customize this adorable set for one specific little bundle in your life and have it as a keep-sake for years to come!
For more on the gift sets, you can find them HERE, but there are so many more gifts suitable for baby [if you click on the "baby gifts" tab to the left], including the Sweet Velvet Teddy and Musical Lamb alongside several snugglers and rattles ranging in price from as little as just $5 each and, for those kind of prices, you can send a little token of love and appreciation any time of the year!
I really can not wait to share this set with my son and to swaddle him in this blanket, which is softer than anything I could describe in words - but it is SOFT and then some! I know he will love all of the baby-safe pieces in the set, just as much as my daughter has adored every one of her bears in the past, and for a long time into the future!
Just a wonderful, creative, keeper of a gift set and worth absolutely every penny!
Have you had any experience with Build-A-Bear Workshop's baby gift sets (or general bears?), let me know what you have and how much you and your children adore them!! I would love to hear from you!
Head on over to Build-A-Bear Workshop to check out what's in store, today!! Enjoy!!
Disclaimer: I was not monetarily compensated for this review, but I did receive the gift set for the integrity of the review itself. All opinions are honest and my own! Your opinions may vary! Thank you!
Oh i love those super super cute!! want !!!
These are so cute, love the frog. I actually got one for my son which was the blue puppy. We honestly use the bag as a diaper bag currently and always carry the rest with us. He has slept in his blanket since day 1. Love your pics.
love love love these! They are so cute! The perfect shower gift for sure!
I have heard of Build a Bear, and my nephew would love one of these. They are so cute and cuddly and a perfect gift to give a child!


ARTIFACTS is a fitting name for this store: it's dedicated to the collector's items of the future. Located in the centre of Taipei's shopping districts, it's a litany of up-and-coming designers (Ader Error, Blindness and Yuul Yie, for instance). Here, the store shares its take on the season's best pieces.


Fantasyfootballer.com's Gridiron "2010 between the 20's Fantasy MVP's of the Week"
"2010 between the 20's Fantasy MVP's of the Week"
Here is another one of our fun participatory threads here "between the 20's". It is called "between the 20's Fantasy MVP's of the Week". Here, you are to list your key player(s) for the week, the one or ones that were key to your victory(ies). I really think we can have some fun with this! You can expect this to be up by Wednesday from here on out! HAVE FUN, fellas!!!
There is also a complementary weekly thread to this one for the opposite circumstance: "2010 between the 20's Weekly Bitchin'"!!! Make sure to check it out!!! Here's the link: http://www.fantasyfootballer.com/cgi-bin/theGridiron/YaBB.cgi?board=56;a ction=display;num=1284317676.
In a 1-1 Week 1 in the GBRFL, there was some good and some bad... The good... came mainly out of the all-important position in fantasy football, running back! Darren McFadden was solid and looked great moving forward, especially in a deep keeper league as this, as did pleasant surprises, LaDainian Tomlinson and Fred Taylor, the latter of whom was a mid-second-round free-agent pick Week 1. Also, four total passing touchdowns, an almost 80% completion percentage and overall solid performances out of QB's Vince Young and Matt Hasselbeck was nice... and, again, promising moving forward.
Two thumbs up for Peyton Manning. His 400+ yards essentially beat the COMBINED total of yards for their TWO QBs.
Ravens Defense was also amazing holding the Jets to very few yards and just a few points.
And then their were the WR tandem of Wes Welker and Jennings. Simply amazing.
Week 2 was a disaster for me and Week 3 was a wonder, so here will go the lowdown on my wonderful Week 3 where I won two games by 60 points... Top "dog", if you will, indubitably was Michael Vick! WOW!!! Outside of that, solid performances out of Darren McFadden, Cedric Benson, LaDainian Tomlinson and, alas, Steve Smith (Giants). Even more putrid performances than my Patriots D coming from the Dolphins and 49ers D's of my opponents surely helped matters.
In a devastating 0-1 week, what good really is there to say, other than I did have Tomlinson and Owens going for me... Yeah... For the rest of the story, hit up the "bitchin'" thread... http://www.fantasyfootballer.com/cgi-bin/theGridiron/YaBB.cgi?board=56;a ction=display;num=1284317676.
I can not say enough about the QB tandom of Peyton Manning and Phillip Rivers. They have been incredible all year and have essentially won every week.
And then there is the defensive units of the Steelers and Ravens. Again, both have been fantastic so far.
6-1 record in the GBRFL....now I am just anxious that it will be all downhill from here.
Week 7, what more is there to say than, "DARREN McFADDEN!!!" Since last posting about a month ago, other players who have been serious pleasant surprises: RB LaDainian Tomlinson, and then what a set of receivers - Hines Ward, Steve Smith (Giants), Dwayne Bowe, Mike Williams (Seahawks), Terrell Owens, and Brandon Lloyd. Then, I got Michael Vick finally coming back next week. It'll be interesting moving forward into the second half of the season in the GBRFL!


The owner Dave Bromme is a chartered electrical engineer and a certified machinery expert with over 30 years' experience in industrial machinery design, safety consultancy and training. He has also spent 13 years as an electrical engineering manager, involved with the design of special purpose machinery for the world-wide market. He has extensive experience in the Paper industry, including working as a consultant on the development of the HSG279 'Making Paper Safely' Industry standard.
The consultancy services offered centre around ensuring new industrial machinery complies to safety regulations during design, build and installation. Secondly, and of equal importance, is to make sure that existing machinery complies with all the appropriate safety legislation to ensure that it is safe to use by the people operating and maintaining the equipment.
For more information, simply contact by telephone or email, or complete the form and we will get back to you to discuss your requirements.


text:
Q: In how many inequivalent ways can 8 people be seated at a round table? How many different arrangements are there of eight people seated at a round table, where two arrangements are considered the same if one can be obtained from the other by a rotation?

A: Imagine that the $8$ people take their seats one at a time, from shortest to tallest. Since orders equivalent by rotation are considered the same, it doesn't matter where the $A$, first person sits; the arrangement is determined by how the others are seated in relation to $A$. They can then be seated in any order clockwise around the table from $A$'s left. How many permutations of those $7$ people are there?

A: Number the seats from one to eight, and then we can try to count the number of ways to put the people around the table, starting by putting someone in seat one, then someone else in seat two, etc. There are eight different people that we could put in the first seat, and then only seven to put in the second, six for the third and so on. This gives us the total number of possible combinations of seatings if we didn't count seatings as the same if they differ only by a rotation. Call this number $n$.
But here we have counted different seatings that can be obtained from each other by a rotation several times. In fact, since each seating can be rotated in eight different ways, we have over-counted by a factor of eight, so the answer we want should be $\frac{n}{8}$.

A: Since it doesn't matter where the first person sits, the answer would be (8 - 1)! = 7! = 5040

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
L'avenue de la Bourdonnais est une voie de communication de Villemomble.

Situation et accès

L'avenue de la Bourdonnais, orientée du nord-ouest au sud-Est, rencontre l'avenue Girardot au rond-point des Anciens-Combattants d'Afrique du Nord, où ont  régulièrement lieu des commémorations militaires.

Elle est desservie par la gare de Gagny.

Origine du nom

Cette avenue tient son nom de Joseph Marie de la Bourdonnais (1779-1840), né à Fougeray (Ile-et-Villaine) le 31 juillet 1779, capitaine de cavalerie, Inspecteur divisionnaire des Postes de l'armée d'Allemagne, Chevalier de Saint-Louis et Chevalier de l'Ordre Royal de la Légion d'Honneur, descendant de  Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, marin français, né à Saint-Malo et gouverneur général des îles de France (île Maurice) et de Bourbon (Réunion). Il est le gendre de Balthazard de Girardot de Launay. Le tombeau de Joseph Mahé de la Bourdonnais se trouve au cimetière ancien de Villemomble.

Historique

L'avenue de la Bourdonnais, essentiellement résidentielle, a été percée lors du lotissement du parc du château de Launay à la fin du .

Notes et références

Transport routier en Île-de-France
Bourdonnais

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Let's face it, job searching can be stressful. Sure, maybe we start out enthusiastic. We update our resume, find some opportunities that look appealing, and are feeling pretty darn positive as we hit 'send' and apply for several jobs on LinkedIn or Monster. Masters degree? Check! 1-2 years experience? Check! You've got an awesome resume and you know it.
But as a few days go by without hearing a reply, self-doubt starts to creep in. "Did they see my application? Did I do something wrong? Wait, do I have a major typo in there somewhere? Nope. Hmm. Maybe I don't have enough experience? Or maybe my experience isn't relevant? Or maybe I'm just not qualified for this job? What if I'm not qualified for any of these jobs?" Cue downward spiral.
If you find yourself starting to go a little nuts while searching for jobs and interviewing, here are 6 critical self-care tips to help keep your cool.
I say 'practice' because this doesn't come easy. When negative or self-defeating thoughts come up, you have to deliberately change your focus to a thought that feels better. Happy endings do not come from unhappy journeys, so start caring about how you feel and deliberately choose to focus on thoughts that make you feel better, even a little bit.
Clean your apartment. Pay your bills on time. Take out the trash. Don't let little administrative things pile up and clutter your already busy mind. Set aside 10 minutes a day to just put things away – it doesn't have to be perfect. Get an inexpensive organizer and set goals for yourself to accomplish each day, making sure to give yourself credit when you do.
You know how when you tell your friends that you've applied for this one job that you're in love with, and then they keep asking you for updates? Meanwhile, you've just got another rejection and now you spend 25 minutes rehashing the experience with your friend, and then your mom, and then your other friend? Yeah, that. Stop it. Talking about how things didn't work out does not benefit you in any way possible.
There is nothing worse you can do for your self-esteem and motivation than to berate yourself for something that didn't go as planned. You get a rejection – alright, fine. Do you know why? Can you find out why? If yes, great. You can take steps to either a) rectify that moving forward or b) accept that this wasn't the right fit. If you don't know why and can't find out, unfortunately, babe, you might not get that desired closure. Do yourself a favor and throw your passion in another direction. It's not worth your time to try and fit a square peg into a round hole.
We often live with the notion that anything worth having is difficult to get, but that is one of our generations' biggest fallacies. If you're trusting your gut, playing to your strengths and passion, life – your work-life included – really shouldn't feel like a grind. So relax a little, feel it out, and try just trusting that everything is going to work out exactly as it should.
We get it, you're stressed, you're in-between jobs and cash is tight. Make it an effort to find some low-cost or free activities to do to get your mind off the hunt. Stressing out or focusing on what isn't working is NOT going to help you. You might have to force yourself to have fun, which yes, sounds counterintuitive, but do it.
I hate my job, should I just quit?


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Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/fhecpo/v18y2015i2p75-96n1.html
Health and Health Care of Medicare Beneficiaries in 2030
Gaudette Étienne
Tysinger Bryan
Goldman Dana P.
(University of Southern California, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Cassil Alwyn
(Policy Translation, LLC, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA)
Etienne Gaudette
Dana P. Goldman
Bryan Clark Tysinger
On Medicare's 50th anniversary, we use the Future Elderly Model (FEM) – a microsimulation model of health and economic outcomes for older Americans – to generate a snapshot of changing Medicare demographics and spending between 2010 and 2030. During this period, the baby boomers, who began turning 65 and aging into Medicare in 2011, will drive Medicare demographic changes, swelling the estimated US population aged 65 or older from 39.7 million to 67.0 million. Among the risks for Medicare sustainability, the size of the elderly population in the future likely will have the highest impact on spending but is easiest to forecast. Population health and the proportion of the future elderly with disabilities are more uncertain, though tools such as the FEM can provide reasonable forecasts to guide policymakers. Finally, medical technology breakthroughs and their effect on longevity are most uncertain and perhaps riskiest. Policymakers will need to keep these risks in mind if Medicare is to be sustained for another 50 years. Policymakers may also want to monitor the equity of Medicare financing amid signs that the program's progressivity is declining, resulting in higher-income people benefiting relatively more from Medicare than lower-income people.
Gaudette Étienne & Tysinger Bryan & Goldman Dana P. & Cassil Alwyn, 2015. "Health and Health Care of Medicare Beneficiaries in 2030," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 18(2), pages 75-96, December.
Handle: RePEc:bpj:fhecpo:v:18:y:2015:i:2:p:75-96:n:1
DOI: 10.1515/fhep-2015-0037
File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/fhep-2015-0037
Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/fhep-2015-0037?utm_source=ideas
Congressional Budget Office, 2013. "Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023," Reports 44715, Congressional Budget Office.
Dana P. Goldman & Peter R. Orszag, 2014. "The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy: Using the Future Elderly Model to Estimate Implications for Social Security and Medicare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 230-233, May.
Duncan Ermini Leaf & Bryan Tysinger & Dana P. Goldman & Darius N. Lakdawalla, 2021. "Predicting quantity and quality of life with the Future Elderly Model," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(S1), pages 52-79, November.
Donald B. Marron & Eric J. Toder, 2014. "Tax Policy Issues in Designing a Carbon Tax," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 563-568, May.
Sarah K. Burns & Philip M. Lurie & John E. Whitley, 2018. "Analysis of an Alternative Military Healthcare Benefit Design," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 6-23, January.
Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2018. "The Impact of Removing Tax Preferences for US Oil and Natural Gas Production: Measuring Tax Subsidies by an Equivalent Price Impact Approach," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1-37.
Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2016. "The Impact of Removing Tax Preferences for U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Production: Measuring Tax Subsidies by an Equivalent Price Impact Approach," NBER Working Papers 22537, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Jung, Juergen & Tran, Chung & Chambers, Matthew, 2017. "Aging and health financing in the U.S.: A general equilibrium analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 428-462.
Juergen Jung & Chung Tran & Matthew Chambers, 2016. "Aging and Health Financing in the US:A General Equilibrium Analysis," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2016-641, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
Juergen Jung & Chung Tran & Matthew Chambers, 2016. "Aging and Health Financing in the U.S. A General Equilibrium Analysis," Working Papers 2016-04, Towson University, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2017.
McCarthy, David G. & Wang, Po-Lin, 2021. "Pooling mortality risk in Eurozone state pension liabilities: An application of a Bayesian coherent multi-population cohort-based mortality model," Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 459-485.
Weidong Tian & Zimu Zhu, 2020. "A Portfolio Choice Problem Under Risk Capacity Constraint," Papers 2005.13741, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2021.
Milevsky, Moshe A., 2020. "Swimming with wealthy sharks: longevity, volatility and the value of risk pooling," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 217-246, April.
Moshe A. Milevsky, 2018. "Swimming with Wealthy Sharks: Longevity, Volatility and the Value of Risk Pooling," Papers 1811.11326, arXiv.org.
Li Tan & Cory Koedel, 2019. "The Effects of Differential Income Replacement and Mortality on U.S. Social Security Redistribution," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(2), pages 613-637, October.
Li Tan & Cory Koedel, 2017. "The Effects of Differential Income Replacement and Mortality on U.S. Social Security Redistribution," Working Papers 1701, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised Jun 2019.
James M. Poterba, 2014. "Retirement Security in an Aging Population," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(5), pages 1-30, May.
Jing Guo & Marilyn Moon, 2018. "Lifetime Taxpayer Contributions And Benefits Of Medicare And Social Security," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(3), pages 483-492, July.
Daniel Bauer & Darius Lakdawalla & Julian Reif, 2018. "Mortality Risk, Insurance, and the Value of Life," NBER Working Papers 25055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
Dianna M. Smith & Alison Heppenstall & Monique Campbell, 2021. "Estimating Health over Space and Time: A Review of Spatial Microsimulation Applied to Public Health," J, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-11, June.
David McCarthy, 2021. "80 will be the new 70: Old‐age mortality postponement in the United States and its likely effect on the finances of the OASI program," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 88(2), pages 381-412, June.
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Professor Tom Davis is a leading polymer scientist/nanotechnologist with a proven performance in producing highly influential research. This is exemplified by his presence in the latest ISI most highly cited listing, covering his performance over the last decade placing him as the most cited polymer scientist and/or nanotechnologist in Australia. He has published more than 360 refereed papers, with more than 36 publications cited 100+ times, and 115 publications cited 50+ times (ISI). He has held two senior ARC Fellowships: an Australian Professorial Fellowship and an Australian Federation Fellowship. His scientific contributions have embraced polymerization kinetics, nanostructured films, nanoparticles, protein conjugates, nanoparticle enhanced bio-imaging, gene delivery and targeted therapeutics. In recent years Davis has been awarded ARC Discovery grants to work on novel MRI contrast agents (iron oxide nanoparticles and gadolinium bound by macromolecular ligands) and he holds an ANSTO grant with PI Greguric to synthesise macromolecular ligands for novel PET agents. Davis also has significant experience in developing novel chemistry for bioconjugation reactions to proteins, peptides and DNA. Davis has worked closely with the Children's Cancer Institute on drug and gene delivery (CI Kavallaris) using novel biodegradable nanoparticle systems.
His move to Monash in 2013 has occurred because of a desire to drive a step-change in the field of nanomedicine development, and the realization that this is best achieved in a research environment where the best polymer scientists can interact, on a day-today basis with highly committed and highly experienced drug discovery biologists and drug development scientists. Tom is Professor of Polymer Nanotechnology. This is the inaugural Professorial Appointment under the banner of the Monash-Warwick University Alliance. The position is based at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) (80%) and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warwick, UK (20%). The Monash-Warwick Alliance has the capacity to break new ground for Australian scientific as an internationalized model of collaborative research. The environment at MIPS, in conjunction with arguably the leading polymer science group in the UK at Warwick, is a unique opportunity to develop an internationally leading presence at the interface of polymer science and delivery technology.
Sun, Y., Kakinen, A., Xing, Y., Pilkington, E. H., Davis, T. P., Ke, P. C. & Ding, F., 1 Feb 2019, In : Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Basis of Disease. 1865, 2, p. 434-444 11 p.
Esser, L., Lengkeek, N. A., Moffat, B. A., Vu, M. N., Greguric, I., Quinn, J. F., Davis, T. P. & Whittaker, M. R., 7 Jul 2018, In : Polymer Chemistry. 9, 25, p. 3528-3535 8 p.
Khor, S. Y., Quinn, J. F., Whittaker, M. R., Truong, N. P. & Davis, T. P., 1 Jan 2018, (Accepted/In press) In : Macromolecular Rapid Communications. 22 p.


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Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, James Corden, and Michael Buble are Standing Up To Cancer
Kelly McFarland October 24, 2018, 11:13 pm
Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, James Corden and Michael Buble are just some of the huge celebrity names appearing up in this years Stand Up To Cancer fundraiser on Channel 4.
Stand Up To Cancer is a fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 to accelerate pioneering research and get new treatments and tests to patients sooner. A host of celebrities will feature in gripping TV specials and fundraising activities to inspire people to raise money for vital research. More than £38 million has been raised in the UK to date, funding 35 trials and projects involving more than 8000 cancer patients and supporting one international Dream Team. Stand Up To Cancer funds translational research, developing new tests and treatments to save more lives, more quickly.
One Direction stars Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne will be taking part in a special celeb version of the much-loved show Gogglebox, a show that both Louis and 1D bandmate Harry Styles have both admitted they like watching when they are home.
Liam announced the news on Twitter that he and Louis were to appear in the annual fundraiser.
Tune into @Channel4 on Friday night from 7pm to watch me and @Louis_Tomlinson on #gogglebox for #StandUpToCancer. It's for a cause that's close to our hearts, so please give it a watch and donate ?? pic.twitter.com/BUN4HbN4bn
— Liam (@LiamPayne) October 24, 2018
James Corden and Michael Buble are also appearing and teaming up for a very special carpool Karaoke.
Michael Buble Carpool Karaoke for Stand Up To Cancer
It's absolutely impossible not to smile watching this…Watch the full Michael Buble Carpool Karaoke Special for Stand Up To Cancer UK, this Friday from 7pm on Channel 4(Carpool Karaoke courtesy of CBS Broadcasting Inc.)
Posted by Channel 4 on Monday, October 22, 2018
The big fundraising evening is on Friday 26th October on Channel 4! Let us know @CelebMix if you will be watching and donating.
Written by Kelly McFarland
Likes to post in black and white on Instagram. Avid Tea drinker, preferably Yorkshire Tea or Lipton Iced Tea and lover of Pop Culture. Contact: [email protected]
Clara Bond Releases New Single 'Baby, You've Been On My Mind'
Gavin and Stacey to return for a Christmas special
UK Country Music Market Booming Thanks to Millennial Generation
Una Healy Releases New Single 'Strangers'
Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special line up revealed
Celebrate #NationalAlbumDay With These Iconic Country Albums


Named the number 1 horror film of the year by Bloody-Disgusting, the film blends family drama, hitman action and terrifying psychological horror into one gripping film.
In Ben Wheatley's dark British thriller, Neil Maskell stars as Jay, an out-of-work ex-soldier turned contract killer with no work, no money and no health insurance. The only thing he does seem to have in plenty is a wife who won't get off his case about their family's financial future. It's in this moment of weakness that Jay agrees to join his partner Gal (Michael Smiley) in a new venture that proves to be much more dangerous than either could have imagined. As the two of them become increasingly engulfed in the world of their contract, Jay's grip on reality begins to unravel and he is sent deep into the heart of darkness.
Named the number 1 horror film of the year by Bloody-Disgusting, the film blends family drama, hitman action and terrifying psychological horror into one gripping film. The film received six nominations from the 2011 British Independent Film Awards, including Best Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Screenplay.


The national anthem Majulah Singapura rang in a much-awaited moment. It was a poignant event for the approximately 1,000 members of the audience who celebrated several firsts today at NTU Singapore's first convocation ceremony of 2018. The celebrations were presided over by none other than the President of the Republic of Singapore, Madam Halimah Yacob.
This was Madam Halimah's first convocation as NTU Chancellor. It was also a first for newly-appointed NTU President Professor Subra Suresh. And a first for LKCMedicine, a joint medical school by NTU and Imperial College London officially signed into existence on 29 October 2010.
Today came some 170 days after LKCMedicine's Class of 2018 passed their final exams, and more than 80 days after they started work as junior doctors in hospitals across Singapore. With their graduation, the young doctors came full circle, completing their journey as medical students exactly where they had started it five years earlier at the inaugural White Coat Ceremony in August 2013. This morning, they received their MBBS degrees, jointly awarded by NTU and Imperial, in the Nanyang Auditorium on NTU's main campus.
He went on to acknowledge the many individuals who were receiving their honorary and academic degrees, including LKCMedicine's inaugural cohort of 52 medical doctors. "Singapore and the world will benefit from them as they take on the important responsibility of caring for patients, and advancing the frontiers of medical and clinical practice in Singapore and beyond," said Prof Suresh, who is also Distinguished University Professor.
The 2018 convocation opened with the award of honorary degrees to three individuals for their contributions to education in Singapore. Among the recipients were former President of the Republic of Singapore Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam and Lee Foundation Chairman Dr Lee Seng Tee, both of whom received Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters. In 2011, the Lee Foundation made a landmark $150 million gift to NTU to support the new medical school, which was named Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in honour of the donation. Dr Lee was presented with his honorary degree during a private ceremony ahead of the convocation.
After accepting his honour, Dr Tan addressed the new graduates saying, "NTU has given you not only knowledge but also the skills to thrive in a changing world and I hope a sense of responsibility to society. I urge all of you to approach the future with an open mind, a commitment to keep learning and a spirit of collaboration," said Dr Tan, who said he is proud to be associated with the staff, students and alumni of this dynamic university.
NTU also conferred on Mr Peter Ho Hak Ean an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science. He had served 34 outstanding years in public service, of which 15 years were spent as Permanent Secretary in several ministries.
The next honour to be bestowed this morning was the conferment of President Emeritus on Prof Bertil Andersson, who served NTU for more than 10 years, first as Provost then President of NTU from 2011 to 2017. Acting as Public Orator, Prof Suresh took to the podium to read the citation, in which he acknowledged Prof Andersson's instrumental role in the setting up of LKCMedicine. After Prof Suresh's citation, Madam Halimah conferred the honour to Prof Andersson.
During the ceremony, the two most prestigious awards offered by the university – the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal and the Koh Boon Hwee Scholars Award – were also presented. These awards, as well as Gold Medals including the Toh Kian Chui and Anthony SC Teo – Gordon Johnson Gold Medals, recognise students with outstanding academic and extra-curricular achievements.
Graduating top of her class, LKCMedicine's Dr Ang Jia Wei was one of 37 Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal winners. She was also among the 10 Koh Boon Hwee Scholars Award recipients, along with her colleague Dr Moses Ko.
The Koh Boon Hwee Scholars Award recognises teaching excellence and the impact great teachers have on their students, and each recipient was followed by a teacher from their former institution and an NTU faculty member who have inspired the graduate and contributed significantly to their education.
Dr Ang's mentors were her civics tutor and core Math & Science Talent Programme tutor Mr Sam Lee from Hwa Chong Institution and Assistant Dean for Year 5 Associate Professor Tham Kum Ying, while Dr Ko honoured his former literature teacher Mr Brian Connor from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and LKCMedicine William Osler House Senior House Tutor Associate Professor Mary Wong.
"Through Mr Connor's lessons, I was exposed to the complexity of language and communication. I was better able to approach whatever I read, heard or saw with greater conscientiousness and renewed curiosity," said Dr Ko.
After the medal presentation, it was time for the conferment of the first Bachelor Degrees during this convocation, which saw inaugural cohorts from two programmes graduate.
In front of their parents, well-wishers and the many proud faculty and staff from LKCMedicine, NTU and Imperial, the LKCMedicine graduates went on stage to receive their joint degrees. They were presented to the NTU Chancellor by LKCMedicine Dean Professor James Best and Imperial Faculty of Medicine Dean Professor Jonathan Weber.
First up to receive their degrees were the cohort's Gold Medal winners. After Dr Ang, who had already received her Gold Medal, it was Dr Ko's turn to receive his second honour. Having excelled in his final year exams, Dr Ko received the Toh Kian Chui Gold Medal, while Dr Leon Tan, who distinguished himself during the Year 3 to 5 clinical examinations, received the Anthony SC Teo – Gordon Johnson Gold Medal.
It was the Valedictorian's honour to bring the first ceremony to a close. This honour fell to Dr Ang, who reflected on her and her batchmates' five years at medical school. "Together we were the pioneer batch, not just in name but in spirit. It was with each other that we broke new ground," said Dr Ang.
"Together we faced uncertainty with confidence and a can-do spirit. More importantly, we did not only survive, we thrived," she added.
After her address, the academic procession, guests and the new graduates headed to The Quad to lay the Class of 2018 commemorative plaque. And then it was time for the happy and hungry graduates to let down their hair and celebrate their achievement with their families and friends.
"Our doctors have been educated to work as good team members, to support each other. They've also been educated to always put the patient first and I am sure that that will be the legacy of the medical school," he added.
"LKCMedicine's inaugural graduates' humanity, courage and intellectual excellence are the greatest testament to Singapore's vision. As these first graduates begin their careers, Singapore and the wider world will benefit for generations to come," she added.
Click here to view more photos and catch highlights from the convocation ceremony here.


I read that the Euclidean Minimum Spanning Tree (EMST) of a set of points is a subgraph of any Delaunay triangulation. Apparently the easiest/fastest way to obtain the EMST is to find the Deluanay triangulation and then run Prim's algorithm on the resulting edges. However, I have a set of 3D points, and the Delaunay triangulation doesn't include many of the "interior" points.
You can see that many of the points are not vertices of any of the tetrahedra. How, then, would finding the MST of these edges produce the EMST on the points, since the EMST must go through ALL of the points?
Sorry for the confusion - the "wireframe" view of the tetrahedralization of the points was only showing the outside surface (convex hull). Of course all of your comments are correct - the Delaunay triangulation indeed includes ALL points. Then the EMST is a subgraph of it.
All is well - thanks for the confirmations.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged graph-theory mg.metric-geometry triangulations spanning-tree or ask your own question.


Our Writers Around the World series is underway, where we're catching up with writers from all over the place. Today, I'm happy to introduce you to a great guy and talented writer, JD Burnes.
Hi JD, thank you so much for helping me kick off this series. So…first things first. Can you share us what name you prefer to go by?
Hi there, Jackie. Thanks so much for having me. But where's the snacks? I'm a serious chocolate junkie, you know. Serious chocolate junkie. Anyway, getting back the question, I'm Joe, and I go by JD Burns in my writing and on twitter.
I had no idea chocolate was such a thing for you! (Psst. Readers, remember that for when JD's first book gets published one day and you're looking for ways to show how much you love it!) Anyway…Where are you originally from and where do you live now?
I grew up in a little town in Northwestern Pennsylvania and I still live in the same area.
So, how long have you been writing?
I've been serious about writing for the last 4 years or so. I can tell you when I first started I was woefully unprepared for the amount of work and dedication involved. Yeah, I was so ill-informed it's not even funny. And like most writers…I'm still learning! So ask me in another 4 years and maybe by then I'll have it figured out…or not.
For the most part I write Middle Grade fiction in the Fantasy and Magical Realism genres. Although I have written a few Science Fiction short stories that I am determined will never see the light of day. They're more writing exercises for myself than anything else.
We know how important it is to read widely in the age group/genre you write for. What's a book you read and loved??
Seriously? I have to pick just one. How about a series? Can I get away with picking a series? I'm going to jump into the wayback machine (because I'm a really old guy) and pick the Tripod series by John Christopher. The series was written in the 60's and it was way ahead of its time. A small group of 13 and 14 year olds take on giant three legged menaces that have overrun the world and enslaved nearly the entire adult population. What kid wouldn't want to read that!! When I first read the books the whole story really spoke to me. Basically, the free world's only hope is a bunch of Middle Graders who refuse to be oppressed by their alien masters. That's a mind-blowing concept for a boy growing up in small town America. I even remember the graphic novel adaptation of the stories that ran in the Boy's Life magazine during the early 80's. (Yes, I was a Boy Scout in the early 80's…or as my son likes to say – the Stone Age).
The fact Christopher also gave a nod to the awesome H.G. Wells classic The War of the World's didn't hurt either. Even the writing of the series is something we don't see these days. I'm not saying it was better writing than we have now, because you can certainly point out some weaknesses in the stories. But Christopher gave the books a voice of their own and told it in a way that makes it so engaging for young readers. Give it a read and see for yourself.
Wow, that does sound really good! With so many great books, it's hard to resist them all–obviously. What's a book out of your genre/age group you read and loved?
Ok, so I'm going to go way off the reservation here and pick Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Now I know some people struggle with the purple prose that is spread throughout the book. However, I fell in love with Bronte's writing style and the story is simply magnificent. Honestly, there are passages in that book that are flat out poetry and it staggers me that someone could write so eloquently. The tragic struggle of Jane's early life and her moral fortitude in overcoming an impossible situation as an adult make for a truly engaging read. It's not just a love story. It's about a person finding the strength within herself to stay true to her values and her religious beliefs, while rejecting the constraints that society tried to bind her with. This book deeply affected me and it still manages to awe me every time I read it.
Writing is the greatest profession there is—obviously. If you weren't a writer, what would you want to be? Don't hold back. No limits on this one!
Oh good. Finally an easy question. This one doesn't have a flashy answer though. No aspirations to be an astronaut or race car driver. Instead I'd chose to be a teacher. I love kids and that's why I write for that age group. However, I probably wouldn't pick English or Literature teacher, which is a little surprising considering how much I like to write. I'd be a math teacher. There's a subtle beauty to math in the way that it's all around us and we just don't realize it. If I had a chance to teach kids anything, it would be that.
Another easy question. Definitely revising. Don't get me wrong, I love the process of creating something from thin air and imagination. That's fun. However, there is a real satisfaction in taking a story that has a good foundation and really crafting it into a book you can be proud of. During the revision process, I can see so clearly where I've made mistakes in voice, clarity and cadence. It's those moments where you just shake your head and wonder: What was I thinking when I wrote that!
By the way, I consider reading for others part of the revising process as well. I've read and critiqued some great manuscripts for others. Honestly, this is one of the best ways to learn about critiquing your own work. I have never read someone else's manuscript, without stopping at least once and saying: Oh wow. I love the way the author did that story element. I'm going to go back and fix my manuscript because the way I did it just looks lame by comparison. That's a very powerful learning process.
I think we sometimes underestimate the discerning nature of middle grade readers. They're much more sophisticated than we think. As a result, it takes a bit of planning to get the story to work out the way I want it to. So I'm definitely a planner. I layout most of my scenes in a document with notes about what the purpose of that scene is. Each scene must lead to the next, or contribute to the twist at the end. However, once I start writing there are avenues that might open up, that I hadn't considered before. If that happens, then my carefully laid plan is suddenly laid waste…but in the end, it has to come back to the conclusion that I originally planned for the story. So a little bit of both I guess…hope that makes sense!
It sure does. In fact, I agree with you on all counts there. So, what's your favorite day of the week?
Any day that ends in "y".
I have to laugh at this. When I first read the question, all I could think of was Green Eggs and Ham by the venerable Dr. Seuss. Will you eat them in a box? Will you eat them with a fox? Will you eat them in the rain? Will you eat them on a train? LOL. So where will I write? Well, I'll choose the box, the fox and the train. The rain is out, because the ink would get wet and bleed into the page. So yeah…I'll write just about any place that is dry and free of large predatory animals.
Human beings really shouldn't be allowed around me in the morning. Apparently I'm unpleasant. I don't think it's a "me" issue though. I'm pretty sure it's really because everyone else is intentionally trying to be more annoying right after I wake up…at least that's my working theory for now J. So I'm a night owl and that's definitely when I write.
That's a great question. I'm not sure I've ever thought about that before. I think like a lot of writers, I enjoy the creative process. I don't know that I can point to anything that specifically inspired me to write a particular story though. I enjoy writing about Middle Grade themes, which tend to be a bit more innocent than YA or adult. With MG it's usually about forming friendships and finding your way toward maturity. I guess those would be my reasons for wanting to write the stories I do.
Let's just say the price of Dr. Pepper stock has a direct correlation to the times I'm writing.
Do you have a job? I mean, until your book gets published and you become independently wealthy.
I think you're talking about those very inconvenient and frustrating stretches of time that come in-between writing. If so, then "yes" I have a job. Terrible as it is.
I've been married to a wonderful woman for over twenty years and we have a fantastic 13 year old son. Funny story: When we were married, my wife said she would take care of making all the little decisions in our life, if I would be willing to handle the big ones. Well…two decades later and I'm still waiting for that first big decision to come along.
I'm sure your family is amazing. We all know how challenging living with a writer can be! So, who's usually your first reader(s)?
I've had some great CP's help me with my writing (***looking at you Yeager***). I don't know that I can say I have a first reader though. Sometimes it's my son, sometimes it's beta readers, sometimes it's my wife.
Hah! Getting published is easy. It's writing that award winning best-seller that's the sticky part.
Uhhm….yes, yes…and yes. I've just finished the sequel to my latest series and now I want to go back and look at potential improvements to the first book. And of course like any writer I'm dying to start on a new story I've been kicking around in my head.
Queries are tough. Any writer who has ever tried to tackle one knows that. However, I think it's like any other skill. If you're willing to learn, do a little research and work at it, you can become better. Personally, I put some time in the trenches on the Absolute Write discussion forum known fondly as Query Letter Hell. Now I'll tell you right up front, it's not for everyone. Some of the feedback can be a little raw and contradictory. But if you can sort the good from the bad…and take the heat…then QLH can really hone your query skills. Another super great resource is the Query Shark. Love the snarkiness in the query critiques.
If I get published, who will I tell first? Most likely the Emergency Room nurse at the hospital where they take me after I pass out.
Narnia….either that or whatever bizarre country it is where Willy Wonka's chocolate factory is supposed to be.
I can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your day to "chat." I mean, you could have been writing or eating all the chocolate. It's is the day after Halloween after all. You must be having the best day ever!! Good luck to you in all your writing endeavors. I'm sure this won't be the last we hear from you. 🙂 Thanks for showing us what your writing life really looks like!
Thank you, Jackie. This was a lot of fun!
If you'd like to connect with JD, you can reach him on Twitter or through his blog. I'm sure he'd love to meet up with you!
As an added bonus…Here's a picture of JD as a baby: How crazy cute is he??


text:
Racism and Christmas Cheer From the Zionists – Happy Yuletide to our Readers
by [email protected] | Dec 24, 2016 | Blog | 0 comments
Israel's Military Occupation Celebrate Xmas by Tear Gassing Demonstration in Bethlehem
I must confess that despite being a confirmed atheist, I
enjoy having a Xmas tree in my living room each year. I particularly enjoy seeing the lights as it
provides a kind of warm glow. It doesn't
make me believe in the Resurrection though!
For most people in Britain, the Xmas tree, like Xmas itself, is a
secular symbol of a secular festival.
But in Israel it is entirely different.
Even Santa gets tear gassed Bi'ilin 2011 – Popular Committee Against the Wall via europalestine.com
In a State where religion defines who belongs to the herren volk and who doesn't, then of
course Rabbi Elad
Dokow of Israel's Technion University is right when he says that "This is not about freedom of worship,,, This
is the world's only Jewish state. And it has a role to be a 'light unto the
nations' and not to uncritically embrace every idea."
there are very few religious states in the world and even fewer where
nationality is based, not on residence but on religion. Most religious states either use the
religion to oppress adherents of that religion (Saudi Arabia, Iran) or it is a
constitutional adornment without any significance (UK). Only in Israel does belonging to the state
religion confer significant advantages.
the display of a Xmas tree does indeed strike a blow at the heart of Israel's 'national
identity' in a way it wouldn't in say Ireland, which is also nominally a Christian
article mentions Shimon Gapso, the notoriously racist Mayor of Upper Nazareth
(built as a Jewish town to contain the Arab Nazareth beneath it but which has
seen a steady 'encroachment' of Arabs because of the usual restrictions on any
expansion of an Arab town. Christmas
Trees Are Still Banned in Nazareth Illit and Forbidden
to celebrate: Israel's war on Christmas continues despite Netanyahu's claim of
tolerance.
see also The Israeli War on Christmas…and Christianity
Ezz Al-Zanoon APA images
rabbis launch war on the Xmas tree
In Bethlehem the Israeli Army Tear Gas a Demonstration Calling for Free Movement
Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, pepper spray and stun grenades at
Palestinians calling for free movement between Bethlehem and Jerusalem
on Friday.
The Christmas-themed protest was held in front of Checkpoint 300,
where Israeli soldiers control Palestinian movement between the occupied
West Bank cities.
Approximately 100 protesters, some of them dressed in Santa Claus
suits, chanted against Israel's military occupation and for Palestinian
"Jesus came with a message of peace, his city suffers oppression," one demonstrator's sign read.
"Santa Claus stands with the Palestinian people," stated another.
Half a dozen people were injured, including journalists, during the protest.
Palestinians and their supporters highlight around Christmastime
that if Joseph and Mary were to make their journey from Nazareth today,
Israel's military checkpoints and massive concrete wall would prevent
them from accessing the Bethlehem manger where tradition holds Jesus
Christ was born.
Israel's wall completely encircles Bethlehem, as do its settlement
colonies, turning a once vibrant Palestinian cultural center and
international tourist destination into a shuttered ghetto.
Israel's regime of movement restrictions imposed on Palestinians
living under its military rule prevents the free access to places of
worship, including the al-Aqsa mosque and Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Even the Holy Fire of Easter must pass through an Israeli checkpoint during the ancient ritual observed by Orthodox Christians in Palestine.
hotels receive warning letter noting that Jewish religious law forbids
Christmas trees and new year's parties
– 23 December 2016
As tens
of thousands of Christian pilgrims converge on the Holy Land this week to
celebrate the birth of Jesus, senior Israeli rabbis have announced a war on the
Christmas tree.
Christmas Trees Banned in Nazareth Illit
Jerusalem, the rabbinate has issued a letter warning dozens of hotels in the
city that it is "forbidden" by Jewish religious law to erect a tree or stage New Year's parties.
hotel owners have taken the warning to heart, fearful that the rabbis may carry
out previous threats to damage their businesses by denying them certificates
declaring their premises to be "kosher".
coastal city of Haifa, in northern Israel, the rabbi of Israel's premier
technology university has taken a similarly strict line. Elad Dokow, the
Technion's rabbi, ordered that Jewish students boycott their students' union,
after it installed for the first time a modest Christmas tree.
He called
the tree "idolatry", warning
that it was a "pagan" symbol that violated the kosher status of the building,
including its food hall.
fifth of the Technion's students belong to Israel's large Palestinian minority.
The Technion's Christmas tree (copyright Firas Espanioly)
most of Israel's Palestinian citizens are Muslim, there are some 130,000
Christians, most of them living in Galilee. Other Palestinian Christians
live under occupation in East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed in violation
of international law.
not about freedom of worship," Dokow told the Technion's students. "This is the
world's only Jewish state. And it has a role to be a 'light unto the nations'
and not to uncritically embrace every idea."
Rabea
Mahajni, a 24-year-old electrical engineering student, said that placing the
tree in the union was backed by Palestinian students but had strongly divided
opinion among Jewish students and staff. The majority, he said, were against
the decision.
professor upset [Palestinian] students by taking to Facebook to say that the
tree made him uncomfortable, and that those who wanted it should either put one
up in their own home or go to Europe," he told Al Jazeera.
Mahajni
added: "This is not really about a Christmas tree. It is about who the tree
represents. It is a test of whether Jewish society is willing to accept an Arab
minority and our symbols."
pointed out that Palestinian students had not objected to the students' union
also marking Hanukkah, referring to the Jewish winter "festival of lights" that
this year coincides with Christmas.
Interest in Santa hats
For most
of Israel's history, the festive fir tree was rarely seen outside a handful of
communities in Israel with significant Christian populations. But in recent
years, the appeal of Christmas celebrations has spread among secular Israeli
Jews.
took off two decades ago, after one million Russian-speaking Jews immigrated
following the fall of the Soviet Union, said David Bogomolny, a spokesman for
Hiddush, which lobbies for religious freedom in Israel.
Many, he
told Al Jazeera, had little connection to Jewish religious practice and had
adopted local customs in their countries of origin instead.
[in the former Soviet Union] was very popular but it had nothing to do with
Christmas," he said. "Each home had one as a way to welcome in the new year."
Nazareth,
which claims to host the tallest Christmas tree in the Middle East, has
recently become a magnet for many domestic tourists, including Jews, Christians
and Muslims. They come to visit the Christmas market, hear carols and buy a
Santa hat.
Haifa and
Jaffa, two largely Jewish cities with significant Palestinian Christian
populations, have recently started competing. Jaffa, next to Tel Aviv, staged
its first Christmas market last year.
hotels are keen to erect a tree in their lobbies as a way to boost tourism
revenue from Christian pilgrims, who comprise the bulk of overseas visitors.
'No danger' to Judaism
But the
growing popularity of Christmas has upset many Orthodox rabbis, who have
significant powers over public space. Bogomolny said that some rabbis were
driven by a desire to make the state "as Jewish as possible" to avert it losing
its identity.
may fear that the proliferation of Christmas trees could lure Israeli Jews
towards Christianity.
Wadie Abu
Nassar, a spokesman for the Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem, said that he had
noticed an increasing interest from Israeli Jews in Christian festivals,
including in some cases requests to attend Christmas mass.
He told
Al Jazeera this was not a threat to Judaism, but healthy curiosity. "If we want
to live together in peace, we have to understand each other and learn to
trust," he said.
Tree-free Knesset
controversial status of Christmas in Israel was underscored four years ago when
Yair Netanyahu, the 21-year-old son of Israel's prime minister, caused a minor
scandal by being photographed wearing a Santa hat next to a Christmas tree.
office of Benjamin Netanyahu hurriedly issued a statement saying that Yair had posed
as a joke while attending a party hosted by "Christian Zionists who love
Israel, and whose children served in the [Israeli army]".
earlier, Shimon Gapso, the mayor of Upper Nazareth, originally founded for Jews
on Nazareth's land, banned all signs of Christmas in the city's public places.
He has been a vociferous opponent of an influx of Christians from overcrowded
Nazareth.
Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has also been declared a Christmas tree-free
zone.
In 2013,
its speaker rejected a request from Hanna Swaid, then a Palestinian
Christian legislator, to erect a tree in the building. Yuli Edelstein said it
would evoke "painful memories" of Jewish persecution in Europe and chip away at
the state's Jewish character.
Attack on religious freedoms
Swaid
pointed to the prominence of Jewish symbols in public spaces in the United
States, including an annual Hanukkah party at the White House, during which the
president lights menorah candles.
leaders expect the US to be religiously inclusive, but then they refuse to
practise the same at home," he told Al Jazeera.
He also
noted that the religious freedoms of the Palestinian minority were under ever
greater attack, most notably with the recent drafting of a so-called "muezzin
bill", which would crack down on mosques' use of loudspeakers for the call to
this hostile political climate, the battle to gain legitimacy for our religious
symbols becomes all the more important," he said. "Otherwise we face a dark
Threat to kosher status
Nonetheless,
there has been a backlash, especially from secular Jews, against the rigid
control exercised by Orthodox rabbis.
Haifa's
mayor, Yona Yahav, overruled the city's rabbi in 2012 when he tried to ban
Christmas trees and new year's parties. The Jewish new year occurs several
months before the Christian one.
year, in the face of a legal challenge from Hiddush, the chief rabbinate backed down on threats to revoke the kosher status of
businesses that celebrate Christmas.
But while
the ban on Christmas trees has been formally lifted, in practice it is still
widely enforced, according to Bogomolny.
problem is that the chief rabbinate actually has no authority over city rabbis,
who can disregard its rulings, as we have seen with the letter issued by the
Jerusalem rabbis," he said.
hotels wanted to ignore the prohibition on Christmas trees because it was bad
for business, but feared being punished.
"It is a
problem throughout the country," he said. "The hotels are afraid to take a stand.
If they try to fight it through the courts, it will be costly and could take
years to get a ruling."
manager in West Jerusalem to whom Al Jazeera spoke on condition of anonymity
said he feared "retaliation" from the rabbis.
letter was clearly intended to intimidate us," he said. "The Christian tourists
are here to celebrate Christmas and we want to help them do it, but not if it
costs us our certificate."


text:
Q: What versions of avro and parquet formats does Spark support? Does Spark 2.0 support avro and parquet files? What versions?
I have downloaded spark-avro_2.10-0.1.jar and got this error during load:
Name: java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError
Message: org.apache.spark.sql.sources.TableScan
StackTrace:   at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClassImpl(Native Method)
  at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:349)
  at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:154)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:727)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$400(URLClassLoader.java:95)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader$ClassFinder.run(URLClassLoader.java:1182)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:686)
  at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:602)

A: You are just using the wrong dependency. You should use the spark-avro dependency that is compiles with Scala 2.11. You can find it here.
As for parquet, it's supported without any dependency to add to your application.

A:
Does spark 2.0 supports avro and parquet files?

Avro format is not supportd in Spark 2.x out of the box. You have to use an external package, e.g. spark-avro.
Name: java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError
Message: org.apache.spark.sql.sources.TableScan

The reason for java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError is that you used spark-avro_2.10-0.1.jar that was compiled for Scala 2.10, but Spark 2.0 uses Scala 2.11 by default. This inevitably leads to this IncompatibleClassChangeError error.
You should rather load the spark-avro package using --packages command line option (as described in the official documentation of spark-avro in With spark-shell or spark-submit):
$ bin/spark-shell --packages com.databricks:spark-avro_2.11:3.2.0

using --packages ensures that this library and its dependencies will be added to the classpath. The --packages argument can also be used with bin/spark-submit.

Parquet format is the default format when loading or saving datasets.
// loading parquet datasets
spark.read.load

// saving in parquet format
mydataset.write.save

You may want to read up on Parquet Files support in the official documentation:

Spark SQL provides support for both reading and writing Parquet files that automatically preserves the schema of the original data.

Parquet 1.8.2 is used (as you can see in Spark's pom.xml)


text:
Patriots sign former defensive back Gunner Olszewski to bolster their wide receiver group
New England adds to its receiving corps.
By Bernd Buchmasser@BerndBuchmasser May 23, 2019, 5:34pm EDT
Share All sharing options for: Patriots sign former defensive back Gunner Olszewski to bolster their wide receiver group
The New England Patriots held their third organized team activity practice today, and among their offensive players was a mystery addition wearing the white #72 jersey. Now we know who it is: undrafted rookie wide receiver Gunner Olszewski out of Division II's Bemidji State, whom the Patriots signed to their active roster today after he already participated as an invitee at the team's rookie minicamp earlier this month.
The 5-foot-10, 178-pound wide receiver, who ran a 4.56-second 40-yard dash as well as a 6.88-second three-cone drill at his pro day, served as a rotational wide receiver and punt returner during today's practice session. If he wants to make the Patriots' roster or at least their practice squad, Olszewski will have to make a positive impression in one, ideally both phases of the game.
When it comes to special teams, his experience should help: in college, Olszewski returned 11 kickoffs for 327 yards and also registered 69 punt returns for a combined 923 yards and a touchdown. But while he had solid numbers in the kicking game over his four years with the Beavers, his offensive numbers do not quite hold up: he had one rushing attempt for -1 yard and exactly zero receiving yards on zero catches and zero targets.
His stat-line is rather unsurprising, though: the 22-year-old played as a defensive back until he headed to the NFL as an undrafted rookie. During his senior season at Bemidji State, Olszewski was named the NSIC's defensive player of the year — he finished the 2018 campaign with 63 tackles and three interceptions — but his future lies on the offensive side of the ball and in the kicking game.


I loved the original Guardians of the Galaxy. When it came out, in 2014, the creative forces at Marvel had yet to release films like Ant-Man (2015) and Deadpool (2016), and so Guardians had the field to itself as a breath of fresh air through the soon-to-be- overripe superhero genre (already quite ripe at the time). Starring an appealing cast of characters – three live and two computer-generated – the film offered peppy one-liners and clever action sequences, all set to a delightful 1970s soundtrack that was not just for fun, but also justified by the plot. With Chris Pratt (Jurassic World), Zoe Saldana (Infinitely Polar Bear) and Dave Bautista (The Man with the Iron Fists), as well as the voices of Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) and Vin Diesel (Riddick) – well, sort of Vin Diesel, who uttered but one line over and over again – all clearly having a marvelous time, it was hard not to join them in joyful mayhem as they saved the universe, earning themselves their titular collective sobriquet, and pushing the movie towards the top of the box-office chart that year.
And now they're back, because once is never enough. If you recall, the plant-creature that is Groot (Diesel) sacrificed himself the last time, and so he returns now as adorable Baby Groot, having been replanted from a leftover branch (or some such genetic material). Otherwise, the other four are the same, though now the love that almost flourished between Gamora (Saldana) and Peter (Pratt) – a.k.a. Star-Lord – simmers closer to the surface, much to the amusement of Drax (Bautista), that burly, pensive madman who first showed up with "the Destroyer" tacked on to his name. When we meet them at the start, they are guarding (of course!) some powerful batteries for a race of people known as the Sovereigns (I think, not that it matters), who look as if they have all been covered in the gold paint used in the James Bond film Goldfinger. After defeating the horrifying (yet somehow simultaneously cute) creature that attacks, and earning the Sovereigns' gratitude plus the prize of Gamora's evil sister Nebula (Karen Gillan, Oculus) – on whose head there is a bounty, elsewhere – they are just preparing to take off when their fifth member, Rocket the Raccoon (Cooper), a compulsive thief, pockets some of the batteries, himself, suddenly making the Guardians the new enemies of the Sovereigns. These metallic humanoids then launch a chase which becomes the movie's chief subplot.
The main story, however, centers on Peter's reunion with his father. In Volume 1, we learned that Peter was the product of a union between an earthling and an extraterrestrial of some sort. Director James Gunn – who also helmed the first film – made his single best decision for the sequel in casting Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight) as Star-Lord, Sr. (not his real name, but I shall refrain from more spoilers). He and Pratt not only look like they belong in the same gene pool, but share many similar mannerisms. In Gunn's single most uncanny-valley-like decision, the film opens with a prologue, set in 1980, in which a digitally youthified Russell frolics through a forest with his chosen one, pre-Peter. It's amusing, but also a little creepy.
Not so the rest of the movie, which could use a little more genuine bite. Despite the stated high stakes (universe at risk, etc.), we always know our heroes will persevere. Paradoxically, the entire enterprise also feels as if everyone is trying too hard (though there is plenty of entertainment value to spare). Never has a laid-back vibe felt so sweaty. Bautista, in particular, crosses over into manic mode as he does double-duty as jokester and laugh track. Still, the music is good – Mix Tape #2 – and everyone still has their charisma. Oh, and did I mention that Sylvester Stallone (Creed) shows up for a surprise cameo? One could do worse. One could also do better.


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Funambulism
A mind in balance.
About Grill
Simon Roth on Kickstarting Maia and why some studios have "killed the wonder" of making games
Originally published on Edge Online, September 16 2013.
A distant alien world. Tuesday. The subsurface colony has been expanding rapidly and needed more power. A large wind farm was built on the planet's surface, which necessitated killing off much of the local vegetation. That, in turn, killed off the local herbivores, leaving the surface covered in hungry carnivores. Sadly, the colony's limited defences were intended mainly as a deterrent so the starving alien predators eventually make their way past them and to the base proper. As we watch, they tear through the airlocks, the base depressurises and the unsuited colonists start asphyxiating in Maia's hostile air. One after another, they slip into unconsciousness, just as the hungry aliens make their way in.
That's the vision for Maia, indie developer's Simon Roth's emergent science fiction game. Pitched as Dwarf-Fortress-meets-Dungeon-Keeper-meets-Alpha-Centauri, the god game was intended to be his personal project – but getting £140,000 in Kickstarter funding meant that Roth has been able to polish his vision more than he ever expected. Though the money hasn't been without stress. "Prior to the alpha release, it was a source of intense anxiety for me," Roth explains. "I had no idea what sort of reaction the game would get and had an awful lot of people waiting to download… things have been slower to develop than I'd of liked, but the end product is turning into something far more rounded and detailed than my initial plan had foreseen."
A lot of that is to do with the number and spread of the audience. Something about the game – the beautiful concept art or the pitch or Roth's iconoclastic but grounded descriptions – won it a singularly large, committed and international audience. "Having twelve thousand people testing and picking at the game is far less of a weight on development as I had expected and provides me with some serious QA grunt," says Roth. "One of the interesting effects on development was receiving instant feedback from gamers who usually struggle to get their voices heard. I've had detailed advice and critique from colour blind users and even talked to a couple synaesthetics who reviewed the game on how it tasted." On top of that, all the text created by Maia's writer, Paul Dean, has been left as an open format, so that volunteers can localise the majority of the game before Roth's professional editors clean it up.
That story is as hard science as they come, focussing on the building of a space elevator on the planet Tau Ceti E, AKA Maia, in 2113; the aim of this towering masterpiece of engineering is merely to transport goods more efficiently between the planet and space. "Really, the priority of Maia's pioneers is nothing more glamorous than extraterrestrial infrastructure, paving the way for more and bigger projects," says Dean. "It's just a job. This is a reality where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, where space travel is slow and boring, where corners get cut and where tired people are sometimes negligent." Dean's aim is to keep the story away from high drama, deliberately underwriting it. "Too many games have too much story. They're too concerned with writing lots of plot and then serving up lots of plot and then pointing at that plot to make sure you've seen it. We should be showing rather than telling."
That ethos extends both to the game's minimalistic tutorial and the early availability of the game's alphas. Maia's alpha builds have been downloadable by backers at a point most traditional developers would balk at. The current build is without any sort of GUI, requires knowledge of console commands to do anything, and works on only a fraction of backer's machines. "It's a strange thing for me to see games grow like this," says Dean. "but once you have a core that people can play with, you can keep building around that to add new elements. The big question is how soon you release that core. Too early, and you give people too little to play around with."
That's not all that traditional mass market game developers would shy from – but then Roth has always been critical of them, presumably from his time at NaturalMotion and Frontier Developments. "I guess at a fundamental level it's their loss of imagination. Chasing after mythical mass audiences at the behest of publishers has really killed the wonder that brought a lot of people to this medium. Stemming from this I am really frustrated at how they run their businesses and treat their staff. The concept of crunch flies in the face of a hundred years of research into workforce productivity, common sense, and frankly, quite a few laws."
Roth himself has found no problems either working with an international part-time workforce or maintaining a gender balance in the team. "Certain triple-A developers claim that women are unrepresented in the industry. From my standpoint I haven't seen much a differentiation between numbers of quality male and female candidates – there are more unskilled male applications, but when you whittle those away it's far more even. I think larger studios are perhaps misreading their own PR and HR problems as a gender skills gap."
Roth envisages the 1.0 release of the game to be finished in early 2014. Before that the team has to get the Steam candidate ready (the game was recently approved for Greenlight) and adding in that crucial alien food chain. "The game in my head in massive, yet the design is complete, and I am quick to stamp out feature creep. Not to mention, I'd love to pick up the final stretch goal from the Kickstarter and produce different planet types as free expansions next year. Whether I will ever be happy enough with it to call it 'done' is an interesting question…" Given that he has a fistful of other projects he wants to do – "a technoir adventure game, a primordial life simulator, and a first person survival RPG set in the Maia time line", an anthology of Maia-inspired short stories, a '70s synth soundtrack album – we doubt that he'll ever be quite finished with Maia.
About GriddleOctopus
There are few harder things in life than introducing yourself, especially in print where mellifluous nuance can turn to indulgent wankery. So. I am definitely a 'writer'. You could also call me an 'artist'. I could probably put the words 'designer' and 'consultant' here too, but they feel crass.
The top 100 most-influential videogames (2014 edition).
Margaret & Richard


Today was the best day so far! It was back to Plyo cardio circuit and because I was in such a pissed off mood before hand it was the most effort I have put in to date.
Not only do I feel more calm and relaxed, but I feel like I truly gave it 110%. I love the fact that I am sweating so much and not feeling so sore afterwards or the day after anymore.
I also got my chocolate milk as my recovery drink! Ok it's nestquick and no doubt people will say that's bad, but it's helping so I'm going to keep doing it.


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Destrehan native Ed Reed headlines a group of four first-year eligible nominees that comprise the list of 102 modern-era candidates for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2019, announced by Hall officials on Thursday.
Cornerback Champ Bailey, linebacker London Fletcher and tight end Tony Gonzalez join Reed among the group of first-year nominees to make the list.
Tony Gonzalez was a standout for the Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs during his 17-year NFL career.
A pair of former Saints standouts, linebacker Sam Mills and defensive tackle La'Roi Glover, are again candidates. Mills was a semifinalist in 2015 and 2016.
The Saints have four Hall of Fame enshrinees: Morten Andersen (Class of 2017); Jim Finks (1995); Ricky Jackson (2010); and Willie Roaf (2012).
Among the other candidates with local connections: offensive linemen Alan Faneca and Kevin Mawae, a pair of former LSU standouts who have been finalists each of the past two seasons; defensive end Neil Smith, a former McDonogh 35 standout; Coach Richie Petitbon, a former Jesuit High and Tulane star; Coach Clark Shaughnessy, a former Tulane and Loyola coach.
The modern-era nominees will be reduced to 25 semifinalists in November and then to 15 finalists in January.
Eighteen finalists -- 15 modern-era finalists; senior finalist and former LSU standout Johnny Robinson; and contributor finalists Pat Bowlen and Gil Brandt -- will be presented to the full 48-member Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee during its annual meeting on the day before Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.


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The Riverfront by Chad Dotson
Enjoy this moment, Reds fans
chaddotson.substack.com
You've earned it
Chad Dotson
By this time, you already know that the Cincinnati Reds clinched a spot in the playoffs with a win over the Twins in Minnesota on Friday night. If you didn't know…well, now you do. The Reds made the playoffs!
Midway through the game, I tweeted this:
Chad Dotson @dotsonc
I hope the Reds pile on each other on the mound after the game, celebrating the fact that they clinched eighth place in the National League.
2:14 AM ∙ Sep 26, 2020
As usual, I was just trying to be be a little irreverent over this nutty situation we find ourselves in here in 2020. Most readers of the tweet just scrolled past, some chuckled softly to themselves, some rolled their eyes over yet another dumb tweet coming from the always-underwhelming @dotsonc account.
But a couple of people accused me of being a Debbie Downer, of mocking Reds fans for being excited. To the contrary, let me be clear: Every serious Reds fan should be celebrating this moment.
I don't care that the Reds "only" clinched at least eighth place in the NL* with that victory. When the players ran out onto the field after the win, smiles everywhere, I was happy. Judging from the delirious reaction on Twitter, many of you were ecstatic, too. And why not? After seven long years, the Reds have a chance to win a championship again.
*When the dust settled, the Reds ended up as the 7th seed, one of four National League Central teams to qualify for the postseason. They'll play the NL East champion Atlanta Braves at noon on Wednesday in a best-two-of-three series that they're calling the "MLB Wild Card Series."
I don't care if the playoffs had to be expanded for the Reds to qualify. They're there, which means they can win it.
Over the last seven years — and for most of the last three decades, if we're to be honest — the Reds have been difficult to watch. Nigh impossible, often. We've suffered through starting pitchers named Marquis and Holmberg and Adleman and Melville and someone called Daniel Wright, who I can't remember but actually exists, evidently. Reds fans have cheered for Skip Schumaker and Kristopher Negron and Cliff Pennington. We've watched nervously as relievers named Quackenbush and Axelrod and Balester plied their trade.
We've watched Reds teams that had no chance whatsoever of playing in the post-season, and we've cheered for them faithfully. Even on the couple of occasions where we had some pre-season expectations, many of us stuck with the team even after they dashed our hopes almost as soon as the season started.
Even this season has been difficult to watch until the last couple of weeks. But you hung in there. You kept watching. You kept rooting. You even continued to hope, against all odds.
So celebrate. Shout it from the rooftops. Wear your Reds gear proudly everywhere you go. Let's throw a parade that ends at Fountain Square, as far as I'm concerned. Reds fans have earned the opportunity to feel some joy. Because, frankly, this team has given us nothing but heartbreak for most of our lives.
Qualifying for a sixteen-team playoff isn't exactly an earth-shattering event. But it's better than what we've been enduring for the last seven years. Enjoy it, and don't let anyone rain on your parade. And who knows? Maybe we'll have more to celebrate very soon.
Enjoy This Moment, Bengals Fans?
A tie? Really?
This Week at The Magazine
Now that the Reds have made the playoffs, are they an actual contender? Absolutely:
How can I state unequivocally that Cincinnati will be a tough opponent for someone in the playoffs, after we just witnessed two months of mostly hapless baseball? I'll give you three reasons: Trevor Bauer, Luis Castillo, and Sonny Gray.
Random starting lineup from Riverfront Stadium, circa 1996.
If you have a Cincinnati sports-related picture you'd like to share here, send it my way (dotsonc@gmail.com). Only rule: it has to be a picture from before 2000.
Mo Egger: It won't be easy, but Reds must prioritize keeping Trevor Bauer in 2021
Robert Weintraub: Why can't the Bengals fix their offensive line?
Doug Gray: What the Reds are saying after clinching a playoff spot
Justin Williams: 'I knew it was going to be a battle': Cincinnati tops Army in uneven performance
Wick Terrell: So the Cincinnati Reds found their way into the playoffs...
Matt Wilkes: Tyler Mahle and his revamped fastball
What I'm Watching
Pretty good run of movies recently. Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" has its problems (sound editing, anyone?), but it's a fun watch if you're ready to go back into a theater. The other 2020 movie I've seen recently was the latest from Charlie Kaufman, Netflix's "I'm Thinking of Ending Things." It was really great, though it's a typical Kaufman brain-bender and so your mileage may vary. Can't wait to watch it again.
"Marnie" is the 25th film in my ongoing quest to make my way through Alfred Hitchcock's entire filmography.
"Spirited Away" and "Children of Men" are two superb movies that I somehow hadn't caught up with until recently. Both are highly-recommended, and I'm already thinking my 4-star rating of "Spirited Away," a dreamy animated film from Studio Ghibli, is unfair. It was really good.
The World's Most Dangerous Podcast
Redleg Nation Radio #343: Stayin' Alive. Subscribe everywhere you find dangerous podcasts. Or any other podcast, really. Support the podcast here.
Thanks for subscribing! The Riverfront is designed to be a place we can explore the experience of being a sports fan in a city that often seems to break our hearts. I want to investigate the things that bring us together as a community, instead of the constant drumbeat you hear elsewhere about the things that divide us.
Feel free to forward this newsletter to any of your Cincinnati sports-loving friends, or send them to our Substack site so they can subscribe for free.
If you have any comments, or just want to argue with me about anything I've written, feel free to shoot me an email at dotsonc@gmail.com. The best comments will be featured in a future newsletter.
© 2023 Chad Dotson


As soon as I started brainstorming Halloween recipes for the blog this year, my mind immediately jumped to black frosting. Ironic really, considering that the most popular post on What Charlotte Baked is How to Make Super White Buttercream. Give the people what they want and all that. But I was determined to get my butterscream as black as a witch's cat.
I'm sure you'll agree that there's something a bit creepy about an (almost) jet black swirl of buttercream on a cupcake. Take a look.
Because all that black frosting was just asking to hide a super colourful secret beneath it, right?
So let's talk about that super special black frosting in a bit more detail shall we? You're going to start by making my easy chocolate buttercream, which is made with cocoa powder to avoid all that messy chocolate melting. It's some seriously good stuff, and is always my first choice when whipping up the very best chocolate cupcakes.
The fact that the buttercream is chocolate flavour really helps when turning it black, as the brown buttercream is much easier to colour than it's cream counterpart. Plus, tasty as hell.
I'm going to caveat this with a couple of points. I'm not entirely convinced that eating even food grade activated charcoal on a daily basis is necessarily good for you, but it doesn't appear to be bad for you either. The jury's still out. I do know that it's used to treat drug overdose patients in hospital, as it essentially absorbs chemicals or drugs in your body before they can get into your system. So please don't eat too much of it if you're on prescription medication (like I am).
So yes, even though I may have spent hours diagnosing myself with various ridiculous illnesses thanks to good old google, but I am 100% not a doctor. But, I'm fairly certain that a couple of tablespoons of the stuff in a batch of buttercream on Halloween isn't going to kill you.
The cupcake batter itself is pretty standard if you've been around here before. Variations of this stuff has made up my Eton Mess Cupcakes, Pimm's Cupcakes, and even Butterbeer Cupcakes. The not-so-secret ingredient that goes into making these cupcakes so soft and fluffy is yogurt. I like to switch up the yogurt depending on the flavour of the cupcakes I'm aiming for, so for these little ghouls I used some straight forward vanilla yogurt. Not too much, just enough to keep things moist and scrumptious.
If you're wondering why I use yogurt in cupcakes, but sour cream in layer cakes, it's all to do with the type of crumb it gives you. It might be my imagination, but yogurt seems to give a lighter texture which is perfect for a little cupcake, whereas sour cream makes things a little more compact and strong, which is much more suited for a layer cake that needs to hold itself together.
What are you up to for Halloween? I'm not too sure of our plans just yet – hopefully we can find our way over to the Halloween scare maze near Bath, but I'm keeping things a bit casual at the moment in case I wimp out! There will definitely be some pumpkin carving on the cards though, as soon as I work out what design to try this year.
I've got another Halloween recipe on the way for you next week, and this one might be even better. It combines my biggest real world fear (spiders) and one of the scariest things a baker can face in the kitchen (rolling up a Swiss roll). Only time will tell if I will make it out alive. Wish me luck.
Don't be fooled, as hiding underneath a swirl of black chocolate 'butterscream', lies a vanilla cupcake marbled with all the colours of Halloween.
Place the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer (or a medium sized bowl if using an electric hand mixer) and beat for a minute or so until light and creamy. Add the sugar and beat well for at least a minute, scraping down the sides if needed. Add the egg, vanilla, milk, and yogurt, and beat well until fully mixed together. Add the flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt and fold together on a low speed until only just combined.
Spoon about a third of the batter into three small bowls, and add a few drops of food colouring to each bowl, so that you have one green, one orange, and one purple. Mix each gently until the colour is even. You are looking for very vibrant colours, as they will fade a little in the oven, so add more food colouring than you think you need.
Spoon or pipe the batter into the cupcake cases, alternating between blobs of each of the three colours. Make sure each of the cupcake cases is filled about 2/3 full - you can swirl the colours together a little with a skewer or toothpick if you like. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until springy on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean, without any crumbs on. Place the tray on a wire rack to cool, and then after ten minutes, remove the cupcakes from the tray and leave on the wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Beat the butter in a stand mixer, using the balloon whisk attachment, or if using a hand-held mixer then beat the butter in a medium sized bowl. Beat on high for at least five minutes, scraping down the sides with a spatula every minute or so. The butter should be light, fluffy, and very pale when it is whipped enough. Add the sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder in three or four stages, beating for at least a minute in between additions.
Pour the milk into a small jug, along with the vanilla extract and one tablespoon of the charcoal. Mix together, and then pour into the frosting in two additions, beating well between each. If the icing is not black enough, add some more charcoal in ½ tablespoons, beating between each to check the colour. The frosting will never quite turn jet black, but you are aiming for something close.
Pipe the buttercream on to the tops of the cooled cupcakes using a piping bag and a 1M icing tip. Add Halloween sprinkles and cute cupcake wrappers for a little extra spook-factor!


For as long as this website has existed (almost 5 years) I have been contacted by dozens of SEO experts who claim they want to help me with my search engine rankings.
Don't get me wrong, these emails don't bother me. I understand that SEO experts need to eat! But, too many of them smell of desperation.
What I mean is this. When I read these emails, all I can think is that this is going to cost me money and I have no idea what kind of value I'm going to receive in return. Yes, better search engine ranks can be valuable if the pages convert to sales. Some website pages will never convert regardless of how much traffic they receive.
I do not claim to be an SEO expert even though I do have some first page results in the search engines. I do not sell SEO services at this time and I'm not sure I ever will (but I never say never!).
I often wonder how my website was found in the first place as I'm sure many others do. When an SEO expert finds my website yet they don't offer a link to a website to their own business, it makes me wonder exactly who the real SEO expert is.
I am writing this to show the importance of viewing things from a potential client's perspective. People do not give a damn about your credentials if they don't know how you are going to help them specifically!
https://youtu.be/tKSwBkyz3GgIf you're going to sell B2B or P2P services, wouldn't it make more sense to build some kind of rapport first? If you're not just sending people to look at an affiliate offer, you need to think in terms of building relationships. YOU are the product so it would behoove you to build trust before you ask for money.
Tom Pick from Webbiquity advises that you do NOT send spam emails to generate new business as it may damage your personal brand and your reputation.
With the majority of the email solicitations I have received, it is clear that the person knows nothing about my website. If you don't know what someones website is about, how can you presume that you can help them? And what do think you're going to help them with?
Do you understand a prospective client's sales funnel? If you haven't taken the time to figure that out, you probably should.
Spend time on their website.
Get an idea of what it is they are trying to accomplish with it.
If you can't tell, ask!
I know that many, many website owners have questions and concerns about how effective their SEO is. Why not ask people what their specific concerns are? Most people will freely open up about their concerns. Especially when they think someone is freely and "freely" listening.
Many SEO experts, when looking for new clients, will offer a free SEO audit. There are a lot of website owners who wouldn't have a clue how to do an SEO audit for their sites and almost everyone like to get something for free.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a software that allows you to crawl website and collect data you need to analyses onsite SEO. You can crawl 500 URLs's for free. A full license cost £149 per year.
I am not an affiliate for screaming Frog.
You could send your potential client the report or better yet, you can make a few helpful suggestions. Things they could easily fix. If there are more complicated issues, then you talk about prices.
Every single solicitation I have ever received came from a free gmail account. To most people (including myself) this screams unprofessional. If you want to stand out from the spammers, get a REAL business email address.
I would assume that most SEO experts would have a website for their own businesses but I've never been able to find one based on the little amount of information in the emails I've received. If there was a link to a website, Would at least visit and probably even subscribe to a newsletter……...hint, hint.


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Introducing Birmingham
Birmingham is a famous British trade center that owes its popularity to its canals, which are even longer than those in Venice! Severely destroyed during World War II, Birmingham remained unchanged until 1990. Today, Birmingham is a popular tourist destination with renovated structures and parks.
Birmingham is known for:
Divertissement et shopping Cuisine Urbain
Stratford (219 km)
Hereford (112 km)
Derby (85 km)
Birmingham airport information
The city center is about 15 km from Birmingham Airport and can be reached by the number 900/900A bus, which operates from 4:50 a.m. to 12:02 a.m. Trains also depart on average every 15 minutes and from the airport to Manchester, London, Northampton and Coventry takes about 1 hour. It takes about 15 minutes from the airport to the city center by train or 30 minutes by bus.
Temps moyen au départ de l'aéroport : 15 km
Distance au départ de l'aéroport : 15-30 minutes
If you do not want to waste time waiting for buses and trains, you can get to the city center using the 24-hour taxi service that runs from the airport. The average cost of a taxi from the airport to the city center is GBP 45.
Prix moyen d'un taxi : GBP 45
Miles & Smiles members earn 100 Miles per day, up to maximum 1000 Miles. What's more, rentals made through the website for 1 or 2 days earn an extra 250 Miles, while rentals for 3 or more days earn an extra 500 Miles.
view car options


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A huge order for dresser parts just came in, but the plant is already running 24/7.
What if you could find additional production time without sacrificing quality?
Our team of creative problem solvers and state-of-the-art manufacturing facility stand ready to serve you. We have over 100,000 square feet of capacity with redundant machine centers and multiple quality control checkpoints throughout the production process. You'll have confidence that your dresser parts will be made with the same precision as the parts in your own facilities.