This week I have had to remind some of the older children about our policy on mobile phones. Whilst as a staff we are big fans of technology, we also prioritise children's safety and for that reason we ask that no personal devices (or in fact any electronic toys) are brought into school. If there are exceptional reasons for any child to bring a mobile in, we would ask parents / carers to write to their child's class teacher seeking permission. That device must then be handed in at the start of the school day and collected when the child goes home. We will be reminding the children in Year 5 and Year 6 about this, but would ask for your support as well.
Next Wednesday evening at 6.45pm, there will be an interesting opportunity for parents to learn more about online safety (both mobile phone technology, iPads, tablets and other internet devices). Ofsted, working together with the Breck Foundation will be presenting a live webinar and we have registered to take part. The webinar will be screened in the Chapel at the juniors and it will apparently highlight the dangers and risks posed by children's use of the internet. Lorin Le Fave, founder of the Breck foundation, whose son's tragic story I'm sure you'll know, will be providing guidance to schools and parents about keeping children safe online. The webinar should last around an hour. It is not aimed at children so I'm afraid you'll need to organise childcare should you wish to attend. Please email hts@htpd.surrey.sch.uk to let us know if you are intending to come. I do hope that working together we can protect our children and ensure they learn to navigate this tricky technological world.
On another topic, I do want to say how pleased I am that so many children are taking part in our vast number of extracurricular clubs! Every evening, and every lunch time, and sometimes even before school begins there is something different to choose from. I'm sure you'll want to join me in thanking our dedicated teachers who willingly go the extra mile every week! It's great to see new skills being learned, confidence being found, new friends being made and bridges across year groups being built. Can you believe we had 84 children playing hockey last night? Amazing!
Today also marks the end of our house music celebrations. At the infants, the children have enthusiastically taken part in a range of different musical activities working in their house groups. Meanwhile at the juniors, the children enjoyed superb house performances earlier in the week, with a small selection of musicians then selected to play today in front of the whole school. We were all impressed by every performer's skills and musicality. Thank you for encouraging those that took part, helping them to practise and giving them confidence to overcome their nerves. What a great end to the week!
And then, next week we're looking forward to Fluffy Friday! Please do remember to send in £1 (or £3 for those doing the Boogie Pumps activity) so that we can continue to fund this great day each term, as well as permission slips for offsite activities. Do come along and lend a hand, especially for the offsite options, for either all or part of the day. We can't do it without you!
Please could we remind parents not to use the staff car parks at either the junior or infant site. Our car parks are only just large enough to accommodate staff cars and are particularly busy in the morning when staff are arriving. Thank you for your cooperation.
Children are invited to come back to school in their pyjamas, dressing gowns or onesies and bring a cuddly toy if they would like to. They should go straight to their classrooms on arrival where they will be sharing bedtime stories with their class teachers. Parents are very welcome to come to the hall where FOPS will be providing refreshments.
Many languages are spoken at HTPD. If you or your children are bi-lingual, multi-lingual or speak English as an additional language, please join us in the hall on 8 February for coffee and a chat. We will have maths and English teaching resources available for you to look at, and you will be able to learn a bit more about how children learn at Pewley Down. If you don't speak another language but would like to come along you are very welcome.
A reminder to bring in your £5 donation towards the Egg Hatching Experience if you have not already done so.
Dan Delves' school shoes (named, Clarks with 'goal' logo) are still missing. Last seen at Football Club last week and possibly taken home in error.
Menu: (week 1 beginning 29 January).
Time: 9.00am - 11.30am - Parents to help with lifts there and back.
We are currently raising money to buy fantastic new interactive WHITEBOARDS for each of our classrooms. These cost close to £3000 each but will benefit every child in the school. Thanks to your generosity so far, we have raised enough for three whiteboards. By contributing to our playground sales and taking part in our events you will help us buy them for every class.
Don't forget tickets will go on sale on Friday 2 February. Hand in your ticket application forms as soon as possible after 8.40am on that date at either Pewley or HT office. Tickets will be issued strictly on a first-come, first-serve basis and are likely to go very quickly.
It's fine to purchase individual tickets or groups. We will try to match you up with other people from your year group.
NEW event – calling all international families!
To celebrate the arrival of spring we are planning an event for the last weekend of term. The format of the event is still being finalised but we would love to celebrate the diversity of our school by inviting some of our international families to bring in some food items or run some craft activities that remind you of spring time at home! If you would like to get involved, please contact your class teacher or class rep or email Laura: laurasabster@yahoo.co.uk.
Thanks to everyone who ordered a copy of the DVD. These have raised a fantastic £332 for the school!
The HTPD Great Masquerade Ball (Saturday 3 March) – Tickets on sale next Friday 2 February!
Don't forget that tickets will go on sale for this fabulous evening from 8.40am on Friday 2 February!
The ticket application form was distributed earlier this week via Parentmail and is also available HERE. On previous occasions, tickets for this event have sold out very quickly, so make sure that you hand in your ticket application (with payment) to either Pewley or HT offices in good time. Application forms will not be accepted before 8.40am on Friday 2 February. Tickets will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
We are looking for auction prizes! The type of things you can't usually buy are often the best, so please have a think if you have a skill you could contribute. Think outside the box – private tuition, music lessons, personal training, a holiday home, doing someone's odd jobs, behind stage tours, celebrity signed shirts, a special cake, providing a Birthday party, a beauty treatment, chauffeuring, tour of fire/police station or other interesting place of work…. Please contact Claire Tellegen if you think you might be able to help (clairetellegen@gmail.com).
There will be four more group cake sales this term, so please send in cakes/biscuits, things like fairy cakes/flapjacks etc on your year group's day (see below). No nuts please. The children love the cake sales so please do try and send cakes so that there are enough to go around.
Stuck for things for the children to do during the holidays? .…..Well help is here!


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Tag Archives: ets
# 10 Butterscotch Ops
April 27, 2016 Black Ops, Dragon, duncan, et abductions, hidden ops, Maker, military abductions, Shadow, supersoldier, ultrawarrirordeath, ets, genius, kill, military ops, opsmaxillya
(c) Terry Floyd Johsnon, 2016 ( Zoua, the OutRyder )
As I sit here getting ready to write this- the thought of this Black Ops theater of death, angers me, and goes directly to that within me, of all the Black Ops operations, I have been on, singly and in a network, of other men and women, who the government and the military, used to do their assassinations around the globe, and on other planets.
This is true of the ETs, who use special agents, trained by them at first, then training fell to the ones already trained.
One of these agents, was and is, so dangerous, they took him/her out of these KillGhost agents. He/she was/is so deadly, that even the master agents, we're afraid of him/her.
He/she was/is so diabolical, and such a genius, at taking over whole planets, that many wanted to use him/her to do their bidding. This might work for awhile, but soon, they found they had a cobra-tiger on their hands, and dropped using him/her, for they valued their lives.
This master terrorist and planetary design agent, at first, worked for the ETs and MILABS, military, intelligence and political gerrymandering. It didn't last, soon, he/she started doing the same thing, but for his/jer/its own gains.
The ETs and the MILABS went after him/her, to their loss, they found out he/she is good at taking out, supposed friendlies, as well.
The master agent, reversed the treatment, the ETs and MILABS, and restricted their knowledge of him/her, thus freeing him/her/its doing their own nefarious, but beneficial actions, to him/her.
Is this master agent still alive, and doing his/her activities, no one knows.
Now, for the Coverage found within Butterscotch: savagery, assassinations, genocide, fireball, planetary destruction, military black ops, political black ops, weapons mastery, martial arts, body building, small/large weapons training and action, military bases, government agencies, target areas in nations, bribery, putting the screws to a target, torture, defense corporations, UFO recovery, ETs security targeting, nuclear bombs, strategic takeovers, acquisitons, funding for new businesses- fronts for military/defense organizations, telepathic control of anyone, telepathic attacks, guerrilla warfare, attrition counterinsurgency, hollywood, theaters, associated businesses with the above, scouting ETs bases of operations, kill squads, sabotage, computer destruction, takeover areas on planets, and they have to pay for a return of their special areas of choice, women organizations, men organizations and clubs, genocide considerations against native americans, hippies, businesses, Universe guerilla attacks, on military waryards, and war equipment building sights, hospital targets with high collateral attacks/kills, virtual reality military, intelligence operations, with reality quotients that kill the viewer if they lose, virtual reality brain programs, and learning new deadly skills virtual reality, science attack targets, famous people, etc. extraction, small bombs/large bombs, missle silo targeting and finding, advance weaponry, human and ETs, silent kills, crowd kills, planetary populations kill, firekill special ops, and more.
Virtual Reality and Reality Virtual
April 4, 2014 Axe and Duncan, Black Ops, Dragon, duncan, et abductions, Maker, military abductions, supersoldiererase, ets, primitives, virtual realitymaxillya
(c) Terry Floyd Johnson, 2014
You must never forget the vast use of virtual reality or vr in all training, experiencing, and doing, within the training of black ops operators, assassins, and others, who do what is necessary, which is decided by the handlers, and their higher ups.
This is directly taken, from what the ETs do to abductees, on a broad basis, and have evolved vast amount of vrs to train abductees, in vast amount of talents, and to build within them alters, programs, etc..
The military try to do the same, with their abductees, which are called MILABS abductees, and they do succeed to a small degree, but nothing like the ETs. However, they realized they could not match the ETs in vr, so they began looking into subcurves vr, meaning they don't have to be as elaborate as the ETs.
Pragmatism, at its worse, for they decided torture, psyops, psiops, deprivation, focused military techniques to break the will, would be changed to do just the opposite, to build deadly warriors, and operatives, which they could use around the world, and on other planets, just like the ETs are doing with their abductees.
They use vr, but with shorter spans, and less visuals, and more other senses, to accomplish the same thing. They brought in the finest scientific, anthropological, psychological, theoretical physicists, etc. to prepare, Aggravation routines, that could be run, to create the warrior they wanted, and train them to kill, without compunction, and to kill with neither pleasure or dread, they would kill because they were told to, thus relieving them of the emotions of regret, etc.; the perfect soldiers, except, they found that soldiers, are not stupid, even in hypnotic states, or drug induced visualization, and they began to add to their abilities, talents and skills, seeming on their own, but in reality, it was training they were getting on the motherships, from who, the ETs, called their abductees- primitives, these primitives are now Rowdies Rangers, and the best knights and dream dancers in the Universe.
They brought in psychologists to help them turn this to their advantage, to make them step in class to ultra warrior, from super soldier. The training continued, so they had to come up with another level of trained killer, so they ran simulations, in which, one of the things was to create a new level, for ultra warriors to go to, and Dragon, came into being, as ultra warriors stepped up- to being Dragons.
Dragons continued with their training, and the primitives got together, and shared the story of Dune, by Frank Herbert; and all the primitives liked the idea of the Maker, so they called the final level of training by vr, subvr, etc., Maker, then they started to decide on a Dragonmaster, but this was not accepted, so the final level of training for abductees, space or military, was and is, shape-shifter, those who can learn to shape-shift are made into dragon masters, not over the others, but teachers, to help all the other Dragons, to learn and use shape-shifting.
The military and the governments went ballistic with fear, and tried to kill all the Dragonmasters, while still maintaining their super soldiers, and ultra warriors, but it back fired on them, and when the smoke settled, several military soldiers, died or was injured in the battles in the underground bases where they were trained.
Oh, by the way, you probably think, these underground bases are in desert, wilderness places, where there isn't much human activity, you would be wrong, the worse underground training bases are right in the middle of cities, towns, villiages, and megacities.
May the Microcosmic Force be with you!
Kal: Star Empire
March 30, 2014 Axe and Duncan, Black Ops, Dragon, et abductions, Maker, military abductions, Uncategorizedempire, ets, star, virtual realitymaxillya
The OverDyne, of Shadow, want more and more technology, not at the cost of what the ETs charge them, but the ones left by the Star Empire: Kal.
They don't want technology; they want the ones, who exist, in the many lands of the world, the planetary wonders of the Craigs, offshoots of the Mountains of the Himilayas, which are one of the outposts of an old star race, who lived here, as part of a vast Star Empire, and this was the farthest outpost of that great empire, so they put in place vast virtual weapons, to protect this end of the Kalllaalll Empire.
Or rather they hired the Weaponia, to do it for them, for they could make it, but it would cost too much,so they hired the virtual reality expert/wizard/creator to put into place the Nangerene, or the line of destruction, to any who would try to come into the empire, without permission, or who attacked the Kal colony, which was both military outpost, and scientific teams, as they tried to figure out how the Weaponia, made weapons of virtual reality, be real, and be able to use them with deadly force, if the need arose.
These weapons are still around, and just as deadly now, as they were when they were created, nozzled by the Weaponia.
The OverDyne of Shadow, are using everything they can to find these weapons, virtual weapons, which are here, but you have to know how to get to them to use them, so the OverDyne and the ETs are in a race to find those who can help them do this, being the reincarnated peoples of the Kal, and who know how to work the Virtue, virtual reality weapons, of far beyond mass destruction, and to get beyond the Nangerene, defense system, for to awaken it, is to be destroyed, if you do not know how to power them down.
They do whatever they have to to help in their search, for these memory treasures, are you one of the reincarnated Kal, and have you been abducted, or used as a section of the Great Library, with hidden codes, seeking Kal memories within you.
Good living!
ET kidnapping humans and their black ops programs
March 4, 2014 Black Ops, Dragon, supersoldier, ultrawarriror, Uncategorizedenclave, ets, fetus, kidnap, man, seeds, tanks, wifemaxillya
Horrors! ETs kidnap humans- whenever, and wherever they want to, and human can do nothing about it; not that human governments would, for they care nothing, for their citizens, but only want to destroy their privacy, and put them into concentration camps, via the fusion centers created by Homeland Security, 750 of them all told, for 50 states.
These fusion centers are a central network, where all police, security, etc., feed into, and give to them, all they have been doing and what is being done in their area of overseeing.
However, that's for another blog- ETs kidnap humans and put them through many reprehensible acts, most, is to keep them psychologically on edge, so they're manipulatable, and easily programmed for whatever experiments, and so on, they want to do.
First, when you are brought aboard the mother ships, you're kept naked, for your whole stay there, if you leave, then appropriate clothing and weapons are given.
First level experience is the level where most kidnapees remember their kidnapping experience. This is where you go through decontamination, then you go either to medical, psychological/physiological, or sociological torture chambers, then after that, you're usually paired off with someone to have sex with.
If you are well behaved, you are paired with a star, politician, musician, etc., if you're not you're deprived of sexual reward, for your behavior under stressful conditions.
If you're only meant to be on this first level, you're taken through many sexual situations, and this is where humans are matched by genetic pool, with others, they want to match with them, to blend the genetics, to see what comes about, from this scientific matching.
While you're here, you become the handdog of an alien, and are his servant, and he teaches you the right way to be respectful to him/her, and all of the alien races, who are superior to humans. This is always rubbed into our faces; they are trying to make us believe it.
We don't, and we have Socrates and Alexander the Great for this, for both were kidnapped, and when aboard the mother ships, Socrates started a spy organization, of gathering knowledge; all knowledge- they could find out about the aliens, their ships, knowledge, and so on, and especially how to fly all of the ships. Alexander the Great, turned us into a universal army, and taught us, to remember everything we went through, and to do sabotage and other acts, to show the ETs we were not handdogs.
Sometimes, humans are taken with the aliens, when they are going to do trading, with another primitive, or not, species, but these are really military excursions, for the human is expected to tell them everything they observed in how to take over the planet, to do sabotage, and to rabble rouse the populations.
If you didn't, then you were punished, with sexual play, but were not allowed to come, they would give you a shot, that would allow you to get hot, but not to come, so you had blueballs, while both men and women played with your body, other times, you were given something,t hat would allow you to come for hours upon hours, and you would have woman or man after man/woman.
At this time you were implanted with egg suits, which means eggs were kept in bubble like units, and only semen could penetrate them, so they could fertilize the eggs- where did these eggs come from, women, alien women, and from petri dishes, and all of them would be fertilized, because you couldn't stop until you had many partners who gave up their semen, both men and women, to fertilize every egg, then after this you wore them for about 72 hours, then the egg suit was taken from underneath your skin, and if you were still being punished, a new egg suit would be placed under your skin, but you would be allowed to rest, then they would come in and give you something to get your sexual appetites at fever pitch, and you would be making love hours.
This is done very scientifically, and all eggs and the partners were recorded, so they could keep a great genetic database, so they knew where each egg had been fertilized.
What did they do with all the eggs, they put them into hatching tanks, the petri dish eggs, have less than 5% chance of living, the alien eggs, are given a binder, to help the fertilization and of these 50% usually make it, of the human to human, the process is usually 97%, with three percent of genetic mutation in the egg.
Sounds very sexual doesn't it; very energetic, but no great deal, wrong, for what they do is they put in sounds which go off in your mind, when you are sexually active, so when you finally come, you have put into the seed, your emotional response to it, the only one they don't do it to is the human to human fetus, for the humans block it out, and won't pass it on to the fertilized fetus.
The petri eggs, and the alien eggs are watched to see what kind of development they show, then they're aborted, or taken to special tanks, and kept there while they grow, until nine months then a poison is released into the tanks and the offspring of the experiment are killed, and disintegrated to fluid, after which the poison is drained away, and the leftover is drained into seeds chambers, where it binds with the seed, and is traded with other alien races, more blood thirsty, and they taste is just right, for them.
On the first level, humans created the Extended Family Network, both females and males, were having a hard time with all the sexual activity, and the many partners they had, so the proclamation simply said whoever you have sexual relations with is your husband or wife.
This brought into being the Enclaves, where a couple would start a family based upon an idea, book, experience, work, etc., and others could join with them, and a man and a wife, could join as many of them as they wanted, so that each enclave would have the backing and help of others, through this man/wife family line.
There is a great air flow in the center of the rec area of the humans, and some of the other primitives, who were sexually compatible with them, and here you could step off the edge and float on air, which was spiced with a sexual stimulant, which cause the humans to have sexual relations, and the serum to keep them going for hours, was breathed in, so they could go on for days, and not get tired.
There was another great fear among the humans and the other primitives, this was the Disappearance, in which, you could disappear, from First level to this area, the training area of the black ops.
Where are all the little sidewinders within the warriors
February 7, 2014 Black Ops, Dragon, et abductions, Maker, military abductions, supersoldier, ultrawarriror, Uncategorizedabductees, ancient, authority, ets, sidewindermaxillya
I am a super soldier, ultra warrior, dragon and maker; I am also a star warrior, having been through the training of not only the military, cia, dia, and others, but I was trained by ETs to be a planet hopper, and destructor.
It didn't turn out well, for the military, etc., and definitely didn't turn out well for the ETs and the Ancients. I am their worse headache. Rowdies Rangers- rowdiesrangers10.wordpress.com, are made up of abductees, contactees, and silencos ( these are primitives, who have been made into silent killers, who are the best there are, and have a kill record. no one else has even come close to.
Since the last time I blogged, I have come up with 5 or 6 alters, each one has its own name, but I am working to integrate all into me, including all the training, etc., and much more, they and I have.
Tonight, I came up with two names- Silent Panther and Sliding Knife, when I'm on a job, no one says anything but one of these two names, for when I'm on a job, I am ruthless, relentless, and do it efficently, with no loose ends, or so they thought, but I left plenty of loose ends, trained warriors on every planet I was put on, who were the core of the Attack, the preliminary army, etc., to protect home planet, and to learn and to use the methods of travel, used by the ETs, and the Ancients, and the military on earth, intelligence included.
The military in their MILABS, thought they were training killer soldiers, and they did put all the ones they kidnapped and put through this program- scientific, anthropologic, killer moves, and much more, were in fact the Attack on Earth, and work to destroy all who would do what the MILABS and the ETs/Ancients do in turning humans into killer bioandroids, with electronics placed in them to control them, to turn them into super warriors,and to give them the way to accomplish their goals.
These include: inplants, bots, and etc. ( being the Dark, trying to take over the super warrior, for their own reasons.
Each of the alters, have names, I got two of them, but I've forgotten them, which means, they are simply cover names of no importance.
We have been attacking what is being done to us on two levels ETs/Ancients and military government world order of not only Earth, but every planet in the known universe.
This hasn't worked out for them, for Whisper, has taken over Shadow, and runs it, and if the MJ12 committees try to do anything outside their parameters, they are stopped and showed, they have exceeded their authority.
Self-Authority is extremely important to all super soldiers, ultra warriors, dragons, and makers, for they are littered with electronics, and other alters, and so on, so they work to find their self-authority, and then, allow it to override all other controls put upon them.
Self-Responsibility is another very important acceptance that they look to maintain their control over the alters, and the triggers put in them. Any threat to these psychological understandings, and they trigger instant response; to stop that which is attacking their self-core.
The Attack can go off planet, and be anywhere in the Universe(s), which is scaring the crap out of the ETs, Ancients, and the human criminals, and we do much now in the Universe, to take it away from the ETs/Ancients and the human criminals.
Depending on what we're doing, we can also do things on our own; one of the things I've done and still do occasionally, is I became a huge music star, and made tons of money, and that money is in Shadow banks all over the Universe, my banks, and I have other substance operations all over the Universes, as do all, super soldiers, ultra warriors, dragons and makers.
What are the three realms of Earth, Galaxtic and Universe, throw in Dimensions
January 25, 2014 Black Ops, Dragon, et abductions, Maker, military abductions, supersoldier, ultrawarrirorancients, ets, power, rain, real time, shadow, whispermaxillya
To begin, we must first show what realms exist, which are the major ones, which are watched and emulated by smaller realms:
1. Real Time Realm
2. Shadow Realm
3. Rain Realm
Here they are- the major realms, found upon the planet called Earth.
Real Time is the world you see everyday, the business, the wars, the news, the internet, and more.
The Shadow world is quiet different, it only allows those who walks its many paths, to know of its existence, and if one finds out about it, then they are made to forget, disgraced, or etc.
RAIN world is that of overseeing Real Time and Shadow, shining the light of spirituality and trueness upon both, even if they don't want it. Truth hurts, and truth builds.
The Real World or realm you can see on tv, radio, internet, etc., so we won't talk about this, even though security, is running amok, and keeping track of every being on the planet, could get it and its systems shadowized.
The shadow is a world government, dealing with not only planetary matters, but solar systems, galaxies and universes, along with dimensions.
The shadow is a network of MJ12 task forces, who over see all contact, interaction, treaties, etc., with ets, and so on. They feel they are the government leaders, and play that game to the hilt.
Unfortunately, for them, they aren't; they are the secondary net under the true leadership of the Shadow, who are given the role of professional overseeing of the worlds of Shadow.
So we have the question of who really is the power, the movers of the Shadow realm, and who moves trillions of dollars, etc., around the world at a moment's notice, to fill in any gaps within the Shadow.
The Shadow is the old west, and the future world of any kind of environment you can think of, and the Power of the Shadow, keeps all of them in check, while building out the true environment, in which all will benefit.
The Power is definitely not anyone who thrives on power, war, bigness, and so on. They are the ones who feel the might of the Shadow realm.
The Shadow doesn't interfere with much of what goes on in Real Time Realm, letting it take care of itself, allowing it to create environments, which enrich only those who already are rich, wealthy and porkers; this covers individuals, businesses, stars, governments.
The Shadow has everything to do with the underground, the interaction with the ETs and now the Ancients, and the goings on of the ETs, Ancients and those beings on other planets.
However, the Shadow Realm also deals with the Dark realms, those who don't want their presence known, so they can do their dastardly deeds by unknown presence, and workable ideas and formulas.
The Shadow world works because of its protectors: Makers, Dragons, black ops and psi ops, who oversee all that goes on in the Shadow realm(s), and makes sure that it runs the way its supposed to.
The Shadow Realm is everywhere on the planet earth, and works its magic, projects all over the world as well, but more often than not, the Shadow workers, are off planet, and building a framework of net projects on planets around the Universe, unpopulated, or in conjunction with a Shadow world government there
Shadow Trekkers also visit and catalog unknown planets, thus are building a universe wide map of the Universe.
The Shadow world is financed by black ops funds, vast investments in Real Time, and through the working with the Whisper, who funnels money, etc., in planets all over the Universe, and is for all purposes, the single power in the Universe.
He/she/it is in fact the director of action in all Shadow realms all over the Universe, and the unequivocal power within the universe, even over the ETs and the Ancients, who hate this unknown force of nature,
Who controls the Shadow? The better question- who creates the Wisdom, so the Shadow makes the right decisions on their own.
Time doesn't exist, only experience and imprintation
January 20, 2014 Black Ops, Dragon, et abductions, Maker, military abductions, supersoldier, ultrawarrirorassassins, biocomputers, ets, history, neural nets, space, warsmaxillya
I am a Dragon and a Maker- in Vietnam, my little sidewinder(s) was David Corso, which I didn't know anything about till I saw a video by Project Camelot, thanks Kerry, on David Corso, and Duncan O'finioian.
I watched it and I knew I knew David, and I knew Duncan to, but there was a cover story on him, that we are deadly enemies. This is pure poppycock; we don't always get along, but we aren't enemies, we simply have different points of views.
I have been in many wars, have been a watcher on even more, I am a highly trained assassin, warrior, and world changer, as are Duncan, David and Axe, and others I have seen and know.
Wars I have had action in:
World War IV
Foreign wars
wars on planets in the Universe
wars in space
wars in realms Connect
wars where both sides would have been wiped out, but we stopped it
all wars aren't stopped on the battle field, but in the actions of one or more beings
Rome at war
Greeks at war ( I have met Socrates and Plato, and called and all them my friends )
Crusades ( stupid, especially the children's crusade )
Catholic Church wars
wars large and small in Europe, Asia, and every other country in the world
wars that haven't been fought yet
the ET wars
I and other Dragons, Makers, travel the Universe, working to help others help themselves, we take on many forms, and many positions, all which end in the target we are helping influence the state and the communities to a new path, that allows them to grow and to become wise in how to win conflict without fighting wars.
Dragons are transdimensional travelers; we go anywhere in the Universes, the Realms, The Realities, and more; we do not use statgates, or trans mats or trans signals.
We were trained by humans, and ets to be the best in bending targets to their way of thinking, and to remove any who didn't want to go along with the program.
We are Shadow, and We are Rain; rain shines light upon shadow, and shadow dances with rain.
We are geneticists far beyond the understanding of humans and others, even the ETs who are nothing but bio androids, because of the neural net of living biocomputer chips put throughout their bodies, to enhance, to expand their lives, and other things.
What I'm dealing with
December 31, 2013 Black Ops, Dragon, et abductions, military abductions, supersoldier, ultrawarrirorabductions, black ops, contactees, dragon, ets, military, super, ultra, warriormaxillya
I found out that my memory has been wiped, or at least blocked, and a total aspect of myself, I knew nothing about, has come to light. This new aspect, for me, is a deadly one. It is a trained assassin, martial artist, weapons expert, political destruct mechanism, protector, electronic expert, demolition expert, mobile construction engineer, survival expert, urban streets expert, psychological ops expert, primal telepathy expert, and much more.
At this time, I am working with these aspect consciousnesses 1. Dream Dancer- Self- Genesis Practitioner, 2. Terry Floyd Johnson- psychic, writer, counselor, 3. Assassin, Dragon, Maker, 4. ET abductee/contactee/planet guerrilla/warrior/ranger, 5. with a final one, which I won't go into at this time.
The goal is to integrate all of them, into a single consciousness, with total transparenc.y

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Stanford Scientists Using Phosphoprotein Profiling to Predict Oncogene Addiction, Drug Response
By Adam Bonislawski
A team led by Stanford University researchers has developed a method for predicting response to cancer therapies based on cellular signaling protein dynamics and changes in tumor size.
Their research, which was detailed in a paper published last week in Science Translational Medicine, represents a step toward better tools for predicting the effects of targeted cancer drugs, and suggests that these effects can be modeled using a smaller number of parameters than generally thought, Dean Felsher, a Stanford oncologist and leader of the study, told ProteoMonitor.
So-called "oncogene-addicted" cancers show dramatic tumor regression after treatment targeting specific oncogenes like epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR. As such, the ability to predict the emergence of this "addiction" could prove key to developing and prescribing oncogene-targeted therapies.
A wide variety of factors including angiogenesis, immune system activity, and genetic mutation are likely involved in oncogene addiction. The Stanford team's aim, Felsher said, was to find a set of relatively simple criteria onto which this large number of inputs might converge.
The researchers used a transgenic mouse model of K-ras G12D-induced lung adenocarcinoma that is known to exhibit oncogene addiction. The model featured the tetracycline-regulatory ON system, which allowed Felsher's team to turn the K-ras G12D oncogene on and off by either adding or withdrawing doxycycline in the mice's drinking water.
Using serial weekly microcomputed tomography imaging after activation and inactivation of K-ras G12D, they measured the kinetics of tumor formation and regression in the mice in vivo. Via immunohistochemistry they also measured over time in tumor cells the phosphorylation states of five pro-survival signaling proteins – Erk1, Erk2, Akt1, Stat3, and Stat5 – and one pro-death protein, p38.
The researchers then built a model using ordinary differential equations that incorporated these survival and death signals along with the tumor formation and regression data. With that model they demonstrated that K-ras G12D oncogene addiction could be explained almost entirely by the balance between aggregate survival and death protein signaling. Applying the model to a different cancer – lymphoma driven by the oncogene MYC – they found it could be generalized to this cancer as well.
Given its simplicity, the power of the protein signaling-based model came as something of a surprise, Felsher said, noting that prior to the study, he had "assumed you'd have to incorporate six or seven other variables."
He noted that his group has described "many different mechanisms of oncogene addiction" over the last 10 or 15 years — including studies showing that the immune system, angiogenesis, and senescence are involved — "so we were actually surprised that we could use growth and survival signaling alone" to make predictions.
"It turns out that growth and survival signaling are so critical that if you have a very quantitative measurement you can make a prediction," Felsher said.
The study doesn't represent an optimized method, he added, noting that "a few years from now we'll probably publish a paper saying we've improved the method and now we can predict [oncogene addiction] even better using other techniques."
One such technique is a nanofluidic immunoassay Felsher's lab has developed for measuring low-abundance phosphoisoforms involved in cancer signaling (PM 10/15/2011). The assay uses ProteinSimple's Nanopro1000 instrument to separate tumor cell proteins based on change via isoelectric focusing and then uses antibodies to detect and quantitate them.
Thus far Felsher has used the platform to investigate protein signaling in several hundred specimens, he said, including work identifying phosphoisoforms changes linked to clinical response in chronic myelogenous leukemia patients being treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors.
"We're excited about that [platform], and we'd like to integrate both ideas – measuring proteins using highly sensitive technologies with the modeling that we published in this paper," he said.
While in the recent study the researchers were "able to make a pretty good model simply by measuring half a dozen proteins," Felsher said that it's unclear what the optimal amount of data for modeling oncogene addiction will be.
"I don't think we know exactly how much we need to know," he said. "Whether adding another 50 proteins will make it a more predictive model is hard to say. What seems to happen when you add in all that complexity is you start getting into a circumstance where it's easy to fit anything to anything – the overfitting issue."
Saying that he would "certainly be very eager to interact with pharmaceutical companies" to apply the modeling approach to drug development, Felsher noted that he has presented the work to pharma firms as part of basic research talks, but that the researchers are not currently collaborating with any industry players.
Moving forward, he said, they hope to do a small clinical study to validate the approach. "The experiment we did wasn't a clinical study, so we can't say for sure that this will help people, but we think we have enough preliminary data that we should test the model [clinically]."
Felsher added that an advantage of the model is that is can be put into clinical study with currently available imaging techniques. In collaboration with Stanford researcher David Paik, a senior co-author on the Science Translational Medicine paper, his team is also looking to incorporate new imaging methods in its work. In particular, they are interested in using position emission tomography for their measurements, given that such an approach could potentially provide data on both tumor size and protein signaling.
"Because PET is already available in the clinic, it makes sense that if we incorporate a PET-based approach [the model] could be even more useful," he said. "So we're looking at, for example, new ways of making PET-based measurements of in vivo signaling."
Thus far the modeling work has focused primarily on lung cancer and lymphoma, Felsher said. He noted that the fact that these are two very different kinds of cancers is encouraging for the method's broader applicability.
Have topics you'd like to see covered in ProteoMonitor? Contact the editor at abonislawski [at] genomeweb [.] com.
ProteinSimple
Mutational Signatures Profiled in Pediatric Cancers
New Study Results Boost Evidence for Natera's MRD Assays to Guide Adjuvant Therapy Decisions


Since 1999 we have been designing & hand making affordable Industrial, Urban, Rustic reclaimed furniture using beautiful, solid reclaimed timbers and other woods. We are passionate about what we do. Anything can be made to fit your own custom requirements for indoors and out. We have made furniture for La Fromagerie, Jamie Oliver's restaurants, GBK Burgers and Keiko Kitchen to name a few. In our shop in Highbury you will be able to see some of the furniture and be able to see samples of various woods used. We will gladly help and make sure you are happy with what we make you.


This update sees additional photos added to the Buses section of the site. The former "Buses Companies: East Kent" gallery has become a "Buses in Kent" gallery with the addition of pictures of Maidstone & District vehicles, all taken in the 1990s, when the company still had interesting liveries. The Trains side of the site is updated also, with some additions to the "2012 Pictures" gallery. These include "Eurosheds" on the MML RHTT, 47s and 66s at Oxford, and a Pendolino drag on the WCML.


On 24th of October 2016, the students of IIM Amritsar had one more enlightening industrial interaction session from MR. GOPALJI MEHROTRA, HR Advisor to MD of Ashok Leyland Group, Senior Vice President and Global Head HR for Ashok Leyland.
It was more of a self realization and was a highly interactive session. Mr.Mehrotra focused on the topic "Real world and how a person can be a better fit in that world" and along with that he touched crucial topics such as career, skills and potentials.
In the beginning of the session, Mr.Mehrotra asked the students what they thought about the real world and then explained how the perception of real world changes from person to person. Mr.Mehrotra gave numerous examples from his experience and stated that real world is dynamic so things are not to be presumed before facing it. He also said that humans have limitless potential and the limit can only be set by the individual.
As the session progressed, Mr.Mehrotra demystified that there is no empirical definition for a right fit. One should be like water which takes different shapes based on the container it is in. He said that great men didn't progress overnight as they take one step at a time. They choose what they want to be and not what the forces push them to be.
The students were deeply motivated by the session and it helped them to reflect the broader prospective of life.


This article points out that some pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) have attempted to control prices by excluding drugs in key classes from coverage on their formularies. However, it's not clear how effective this strategy is. So far, the financial value to employer plan sponsors comes from higher rebates, not deeper discounts on unit costs. Rebates are generated when patients use the preferred drug. However, the level of rebate may depend on a complex formula driven by increased market share and other variables that no one plan sponsor can influence. In effect, rebates are a retrospective discount on a drug based on increased use. When the cost of a drug increases during the year, the enhanced rebate can offset the unit cost increases. In a recent report by the Drug Benefits Institute comparing the 2013 Gross Commercial Trend of the four large PBMs, the two using the strategy of excluding drugs had the highest trends. Reduced competition, generated by fewer options, may lead to higher unit costs during the year so the manufacturers' financial positions are not compromised based on their higher rebate requirements. One consideration for plan sponsors is to request other cost control measures such as a trend guarantee that are more measureable on a plan sponsor specific basis.


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The suspicious death of Dr. Evil
Spurred by a Salon inquiry, the Army is reopening an investigation into whether Saddam's poison master died as a result of abusive treatment by U.S. troops.
By Michael Scherer
July 14, 2006 10:00PM (UTC)
Among all the former henchmen of Saddam Hussein, there may have been no man more deserving of the death penalty than Dr. Muhammad Munim al-Azmerli. For decades, he allegedly served as Iraq's poison master, brewing potions for political assassinations out of ricin, snake venom and nitrogen mustard. He tested his wares on prisoners of the Baathist regime, as many as 100 individuals altogether, including Iranians, Kurds and a Saudi Arabian, according to declassified U.S. intelligence reports. His compatriots said he would feed detainees poisoned food, test explosives on the living and give prisoners drugs that caused memory loss and sexual dysfunction. Those who survived were often killed.
But Azmerli never got the chance to face the justice he deserved. He died at the age of 65 in a U.S. military hospital near Baghdad on Jan. 31, 2004, the only Iraqi weapons scientist known to have died in American custody. The neurosurgeon who examined him in the final days of his life said he was suffering from two separate brain hemorrhages. One had been caused days earlier when he allegedly fell from his hospital bed onto the floor. The second hemorrhage, which was considered life threatening on its own, had been caused more than three weeks earlier when Azmerli was in U.S. military custody, according to doctors' statements to Army investigators. After two years, and two separate investigations, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command classified Azmerli's death as "undetermined," and closed his case in September 2005.
This summer, Salon began its own investigation into the circumstances surrounding Azmerli's death, raising new questions about the causes of his injuries and the quality of the CID criminal inquiries. In response to these questions, the Army decided this week to open a third investigation into the death of Saddam's poison master. "Your inquiry prompted us to do another review of the case," said CID spokesman Christopher Grey on Thursday. "The investigative report was prematurely closed due to operational tempo." Grey would not comment on the specific focus of the third investigation.
Salon raised the concerns after obtaining the second completed CID investigation of Azmerli's death through a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents, which have not been written about before, include a March 2, 2005, memo from a CID investigator, who raised serious concerns about CID's initial investigation. That investigator, whose name was blacked out, wrote that CID had failed in its first inquiry to adequately look into the possibility that Azmerli died from abuse at the hands of the U.S. military. The CID had not, for instance, reviewed interrogation records for possible "exceptions to policy to employ harsh interrogation techniques" or "complaints of mistreatment or injuries," the investigator wrote. There was also no attempt in the initial investigation to interview members of the "task force" that captured Azmerli on April 25, 2003.
At the time of his capture, a classified special operations group, reportedly code-named Task Force 121 and later Task Force 6-26, was scouring Iraq for scientists who might know the location of biological and chemical weapons. According to the CID investigator, the same task force that captured Azmerli was also under investigation for several other cases of "allegedly using excessive force when handling detainees." In March, the New York Times reported that Task Force 6-26 soldiers had posted a sign outside their secret interrogation center that read, "NO BLOOD, NO FOUL." The Times reported that 34 members of the operation have been disciplined for detainee mistreatment and that five Army Rangers were convicted for punching and kicking a detainee.
Five days after the CID investigator's March memo, a CID detachment commander based in Iraq, whose name was also withheld, wrote a letter that rejected many of the first investigator's concerns. "The undersigned finds no reason to believe that the deceased was abused by US or Foreign Coalition personnel," the detachment commander wrote. "He never mentioned being abused during capture, transport or interrogations." Citing no specific evidence, the detachment commander also raised the possibility that the prior hemorrhage had been caused by Azmerli's other medical conditions, including hypertension and diabetes.
But Rod Barton, an Australian microbiologist who was working in Iraq with the CIA at the time, told Salon in June that Azmerli had in fact complained to a coalition official about being abused when he was captured. "Azmerli did tell one person that he was 'roughed up' after he was arrested," Barton wrote in an e-mail to Salon. "For reasons of confidentiality, I cannot tell you who this person was or even his job, but I am certain he is genuine."
Barton, who said Azmerli was nicknamed "Dr. Evil" by intelligence officials, also gave Salon information about a round of interrogations that Azmerli underwent in December 2003, at around the time he may have suffered the earlier unexplained brain hemorrhage. The new round of interrogations was prompted by the Dec. 19 arrest of Nu'man Muhammad al-Tikriti, the former director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service's poison directorate. According to the final CIA report of Iraq's weapons programs, Tikriti told investigators that he had personally watched Azmerli administer cyanide, methyl micro chloride, thallium acetate and sodium fluoride to 10 prisoners in 1983.
Barton's account of the new round of interrogations is backed up by the documentary record. The second CID investigation into Azmerli's death found that the poison master was interrogated as late as Dec. 29, 2003, about one month before his death. Azmerli's medical records also described several medical incidents that could be consistent with abuse. On Oct. 18, Azmerli complained of chest pains and extreme headaches and was found crying in his cell. On Dec. 15 blood was seen coming from Azmerli's nose, which continued for several days. On Jan. 24, days before his death, Azmerli complained of headaches, chest pains and dizziness and was airlifted to a military hospital near Baghdad. Once he arrived, he was secured to a hospital bed. Five to 10 minutes later, hospital personnel told investigators, he fell off the bed and hit his head. There were no witnesses to the fall, according to the CID investigation.
For years, Azmerli's unexplained death has been the subject of much international speculation. He has been profiled in major stories by the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and the Guardian. In Australia, Barton has written articles about the case, arguing that Azmerli was the possible victim of abuse by U.S. forces. In interviews with the press, Azmerli's family has denied his involvement in Saddam's poison program and petitioned for the U.S. military to compensate for his death. Those requests have been denied.
Steven Miles, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota who has written a book on the medical profession's involvement in detainee abuse, told Salon that the second CID investigation into Azmerli's death was unsatisfactory. He was skeptical of the medical speculation in the report that Azmerli's other ailments might have caused a spontaneous bleeding in his brain. "The fall, if that was the cause of the final bleeding, was set up by improper restraint," Miles wrote in an e-mail after being provided a copy of the second CID report. "He was tied to the bed, arm and leg on one side, and then rolled off in that direction."
It remains unclear what steps the CID has taken to investigate the classified operation that was responsible for Azmerli's capture and interrogation. Many pages of the second CID report dealing with the interrogation have been withheld under national security exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act. But the CID does have a documented history of having investigations frustrated, if not aborted, because they led into classified operations. Another CID investigation into abuse by classified task forces has noted, for instance, that there was a "computer malfunction" that caused Task Force 6-26 to lose 70 percent of its files, hampering the inquiry.
In that same abuse case, a CID officer wrote that the Army had been unable to investigate claims of abuse because of "the suspects' and witnesses' involvement in Special Access Programs and/or the security classification of the unit they were assigned to during the offense." In the same file, also obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, another CID agent notes his exasperation. "Hell," the CID official wrote, "even if we reopened it we wouldn't get any more information than we already have."
After his death, Azmerli's family commissioned an autopsy, which concluded that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. This surprised Barton. In late January 2004, Barton was receiving regular briefings near Baghdad on Azmerli's condition. He said the cause of Azmerli's hospitalization was described at the time as either "a brain tumor or [an] aneurysm." "I have checked the latter recollection with my colleague and he recalls the same," Barton wrote in an e-mail.
Now, for the third time in nearly as many years, Army investigators are attempting to get to the bottom of what killed Azmerli. If the past is repeated, the outcome of this latest investigation will say more about the U.S. military's ability to hold itself accountable than the still murky facts of a wicked man's untimely demise.
Michael Scherer
Michael Scherer is Salon's Washington correspondent. Read his other articles here.
MORE FROM Michael Scherer
Iraq War U.s. Military


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Funding Alert: MetaMap Raises Series B, Annapurna Finance Bags Rs 260 Crore
Craft Ventures, Alameda Research (FTX), Titan Capital and angel investors including Jerry Murdock, founder of Insight Partners, also participated in the funding round.
Data marketplace start-up MetaMap (formerly Mati) on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 530 crore in Series B funding led by Tribe Capital.
Trending StoriesRBI Says RBL Bank's Financial Health Stable, Dismisses Speculative…From Jan 1, You Won't Need Your Debit Or Credit Card To Shop OnlineWhat Is Algorand And Why Is It Known As The Ethereum Killer?Sensex Drops Over 550 Points, Nifty Below 16,900; RBL Bank Crashes 15%HSBC Mutual Fund To Acquire L&T MF: What This Means For Investors
The new capital brings the company's total funding to date to Rs 630 crore and it will be used to invest in product development and enhancing international expansion as it furthers its mission to help billions of people unlock online services and experienced upward mobility, MetaMap said in a statement.
MetaMap is building its flagship tech hub in India, with over 30 employees already across offices in Bangalore and Gurgaon, and a plan to increase headcount by five times in India this year.
The company will also form several partnerships with leading Indian fintechs, marketplaces and crypto exchanges in 2022, it added.
Similarly, Odisha-based microfinance lender Annapurna Finance has raised Rs 260 crore ($35 million) from a clutch of investors to mainly fund its digital transformation and green financing.
From The MagazineAFSPA: Memories And Mourning In Nagaland's Cycle Of ViolenceManipur Under AFSPA: Poignant Stories Of Rape, Fake Encounter And Unending Wait For JusticeBack To Where It Began: Six Decades Later, Assam Continues To Bleed Under AFSPADarkness At Noon: Stories Of Pain And Suffering In Battle-Scarred KashmirAFSPA: A Law That Is Discriminatory, Exclusionary, Racist
Annapurna Finance said the $35 million investment from Encourage Capital, Accion, and existing investor Oikocredit is the third fundraising during 2021.
After attracting a USD 30 million investment from Nuveen Global Impact Fund in March and a $20 million from DEG in November, the total fundraise this year has reached $85 million, the company said in a release.
The MFI lender has a pan India rural distribution network, offering micro-credit loans, home improvement, and MSME loans to individuals and small businesses.
As part of its larger vision, Annapurna is adding green finance products to its offering and also advancing its digital transformation journey, it added.
"Annapurna Finance is working towards transforming itself into a fully digital financial services entity with the help of Accion's investment and advisory services. This focus on digital strategy will further boost the financial inclusion objectives of Annapurna," the company said.
It will increase the speed and convenience of the distribution of the company's products and provide access to women borrowers in rural India, bringing them into the formal financial ecosystem.
The investment from Encourage Capital will help Annapurna to initiate green finance products. Expertise from Encourage Capital will be utilised to launch clean and sustainable energy financing products to small businesses and individuals, it said.
Annapurna Finance said this will be Oikocredit's fourth investment in the company since its first equity investment in 2016 and first debt investment in 2010.
Oikocredit has played a vital role over the years in the growth of the company and its ability to create higher social impact, it noted.
Gobinda Chandra Pattnaik, Managing Director, Annapurna Finance, said: "Set up with a focus of bringing economically weaker sections of society into the mainstream by providing need-based financial services, Annapurna's vision will be further


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California's Disneyland Resort will host a 'super' COVID-19 vaccination site
Disneyland Resort in Anaheim will soon be the first "super" COVID-19 vaccination site in Orange County, California, officials said Monday.
The resort will be one of several "super POD" — Point-of-Dispensing — sites where thousands of residents daily will be able to get vaccinated, officials said. It will be operational later this week.
"The Disneyland Resort, the largest employer in the heart of Orange County, has stepped up to host the county's first Super POD site — undertaking a monumental task in our vaccination distribution process," said Andrew Do, acting chairman of the county's Board of Supervisors, in a statement.
More "super POD sites" will be announced as agreements are finalized, officials said.
Mass-vaccination sites have opened or will soon open in other parts of California, including at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium, San Diego's Petco Park, and Sacramento's Cal Expo.
Orange County has a population of about 3.1 million. More than 190,000 people there have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic's start and more than 2,100 have died, according to county data.
About 2,221 people remain hospitalized with the virus, more than 500 of whom are in intensive care units.
The county is currently vaccinating people who fall under Phase 1a — critical and health care workers as well as people 75 years and older. Those who meet the criteria must schedule an appointment to be vaccinated at a Super POD site, the county said.
"It's important to vaccinate as many willing people as possible for COVID-19, and we need the space to do it," county Supervisor Donald P. Wagner said in a statement. "I thank Disneyland Resort and the City of Anaheim for stepping up in the shared effort to give OC residents protection against the virus."
Coronavirus Coverage / National-World / News
The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines


Just a quick update from the Canadian National Brass Project session. We've been at it for almost a week now, and we've played three of our four shows this year. This is such a fantastic group of players, and it's been amazing to hear everyone play and teach! Things have been busy, so I haven't had time to blog about it. I'll do so when the session is done and I'm thinking back over it and going through my notes. More to come!
Every year in late November you feel a knot in your stomach. It nags, it distracts, maybe it even keeps you awake at night. But there's no putting it off. You dig out the dusty case, undo the latch and hear the foreboding creak of the hinge, and behold your neglected, vengeful piccolo trumpet.
Does this sound familiar? For a lot of people, Messiah season is the only time that the piccolo trumpet gets attention in the practice room. No wonder the results are often less than what we might like. The piccolo is like the scary dog next door when you were a kid: terrifying when encountered only fleetingly, but a great friend once you get to know each other.
Once you accept that the piccolo trumpet is a real instrument just like your C trumpet and begin to treat it as such, rather than a toy that by its very nature feels bad and sounds tinny, real progress can begin. Most things don't change much from playing big horns, like technical facility, articulation, and musicianship; but sound production, which is always the highest priority, needs to be calibrated for the smaller instrument. Sure, we often draw on different styles of playing on piccolo than we do on big trumpets, but there's no essential difference in how those styles would be applied on either horn. One other thing we need to do on the piccolo is make sure we're able to play in tune in all keys, something that is often overlooked.
We can address production on the piccolo the same way we do on big horns. Most people will be playing a smaller mouthpiece on piccolo than they usually do, so it's best to start with mouthpiece buzzing to get comfortable with the different interface. Make sure to buzz the entire range of the instrument, which means on the piccolo that you'll eventually be going well above the break on the mouthpiece around high D or so. Get used to working through it, smoothing it out. Next, I like to do some Stamp or Cichowicz exercises, making sure to get comfortable in the pedal register of the instrument. I haven't yet figured out how to make pedal notes on the piccolo trumpet sound palatable, but they're a great way to find a free, resonant vibration of your lips in the smaller mouthpiece.
Many of the exercises we frequently think of for big horns don't transfer well to the piccolo. One exception is the book of 70 Little Studies by Clodomir, many of which can be adjusted to fit the piccolo, though given this treatment many become quite difficult. My very favourite resource is Chris Gekker's 15 Studies for Piccolo Trumpet, which contains not only Clarke-style exercises in every key tailored specifically for the piccolo, but insightful and well-written text on most aspects of piccolo playing. Phil Collins has written a book of etudes for piccolo practice as well. Many baroque pieces are simple or well-known enough to make good practice material too.
We're usually required to play the piccolo either in the baroque style, or in a powerful orchestral manner, think Rite of Spring or Bolero. The demands are very different, but luckily practicing those two different styles make for a well-balanced diet on the instrument.
I know a lot of people think otherwise, but for me it's very important for me to practice the piccolo trumpet every day. I like to touch on it at the end of my first session of the day, and most days I try to come back to it for part of a second session. When I started on the job, I found my playing in general improved by leaps and bounds, but whenever I needed to play piccolo I felt like it hadn't improved at all. No wonder, I hadn't been practicing it to keep the quality level with everything else. Since I got in the habit of picking it up, it has caught up with the rest of my playing, and sometimes I even think of it as a strength.
Finally, another benefit of playing picc every day is that I find it helps me be more comfortable in the upper register on my big trumpets. Playing high is a big part of my job, not to mention something on most trumpet players' minds. When I can improve several critical areas at the same time I know that I'm doing high-value practice, and that's always something to shoot for.
This summer I'm really looking forward to being part of the Canadian National Brass Project in its inaugural year. Opportunities to play in large brass ensembles are scarce, let alone in a group made of players from Canada's great orchestras. I'm excited to play some great music, but even more excited to work with wonderful players and friends.
All of the arrangements are new to me, so I'm digging in now that the orchestra season is over. We'll be playing Sensemayá, West Side Story, and Pictures at an Exhibition, as well as some other pieces. I've got to get my piccolo chops in shape for the session!
We're rehearsing at the National Youth Orchestra's session in Waterloo, and I'm excited not only to perform for the NYO's players but to teach there as well. I think this year's partnership is a great way to make the most of the fact that so many great Canadian brass players will be gathering together, and will be good for everyone involved.
We'll be performing on July 22nd at the Toronto Summer Music Festival, July 23rd at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and July 26th at the Festival of the Sound.
I'm planning on writing about what's going on during the session, so stay tuned!
It seems that every year or two we play a big John Williams concert. As the principal trumpet, the week always sets off the full array of alarm bells and sirens. Such a programme requires thoughtful preparation, a practice plan that will prepare you physically for what you have to do, and a heck of a lot of confidence that you've got what it takes to nail it, right through the end of the concert.
Having done more than a few of these shows, that confidence comes more easily than it used to for me. The practice plan, unsurprisingly, involves building volume and intensity in the weeks before, and not needing to overpractice and pick up debilitating fatigue on the days when the rehearsals of such a monster programme will provide the intensity and workload required to have the goods at the end of the week.
The planning, however, is an interesting challenge, and is very programme-specific. We'll have four players on this show, some pieces having three parts and some four. I'm not shy about having an assistant on a show like this. On the three-trumpet pieces I mark, both in my part and a copy, passages I'd like the assistant to double (usually passages where all three trumpets are in unison, or in octaves I'll make sure there are two players in each octave), and passages where I'll lay out entirely (usually accompaniment passages or long notes). I'm also not shy about strategically splitting up passages to make sure it all sounds super strong. Pieces that we do over and over, like the classic Star Wars suite, I've got figured out. Others that I've never played before require a bit more guesswork, and sometimes some changes at the first rehearsal.
One particularly clever bit of programming has gone into this concert: the suite from Robin Hood, by Erich Korngold. Not only is it wonderful film music, but we're playing it on a regular series concert the week prior. Pops concerts in general get less rehearsal time than classical concerts, even though the music could often use a full rehearsal schedule. This particular programme will effectively get more rehearsal because of the time we will already have spent on Robin Hood.
In a lot of ways a week like this is an extreme challenge, but mentally it's actually quite straightforward. There aren't many real changes of gear, I'm pretty much in charge most of the time that I'm playing. Being such a consistently prominent voice lets me focus mostly on executing my part very well, and trusting that my colleagues will follow me. Of course the usual concerns of ensemble and intonation never really go away, but when you're driving the bus it's a lot easier to know you're on track.
The late great Russian trumpet virtuoso Timofei Dokshizer said that his greatest regrets were not being pushier to Shostakovich and Prokofiev about writing proper trumpet concertos. It's tantalizing to think about what either of those amazing creative minds would have written, but what we're left with as solo repertoire, in addition to the incredible orchestral writing of them both, is Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1.
It is a singularly quirky piece. Before even a note is played, the strange notion of a concerto for piano and strings having an additional soloist (let alone a trumpet!) sitting up front is unique. The first movement, by turns brooding and giocoso, is followed by a beautiful second movement which includes a famous trumpet solo which uses the very bottom of the normal range of the instrument. The third movement is a short, romantic transition into the fourth, which starts in a somewhat serious character, but soon turns into one of the most ludicrous romps in the repertoire. Truly silly writing is interspersed with old-timey saloon music, a caricature of a trumpet solo, quotes from piano pieces by Beethoven and Haydn (sometimes in the trumpet part!), and a runaway train of an ending, more like a Buster Keaton movie than a white-tie occasion.
It's a fresh and youthful piece, and very different from the music that led to and followed his official denouncement by the state in 1936. Having played the much later Tenth Symphony two weeks prior to this, the impact of the years and events between the two pieces is made plain.
This will be my first time performing this piece, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's always a pleasure to be invited to the front of the stage, and playing with one's own orchestra is a particularly happy occasion!


text:
 foam.CLASS({
  package: 'foam.nanos.ruler',
  name: 'Rule',
  extends: 'foam.nanos.ruler.Ruled',

  documentation: 'Rule model represents rules(actions) that need to be applied in case passed object satisfies provided predicate.',

  implements: [
    'foam.nanos.auth.Authorizable',
    'foam.nanos.auth.CreatedAware',
    'foam.nanos.auth.CreatedByAware',
    'foam.nanos.auth.LastModifiedAware',
    'foam.nanos.auth.LastModifiedByAware',
    'foam.nanos.approval.ApprovableAware',
    'foam.nanos.auth.ServiceProviderAware'
  ],

  imports: [
    'userDAO?'
  ],

  javaImports: [
    'foam.core.DirectAgency',
    'foam.mlang.predicate.MQLExpr',
    'foam.nanos.auth.AuthorizationException',
    'foam.nanos.auth.AuthService',
    'foam.nanos.auth.User',
    'foam.nanos.auth.Subject',
    'foam.nanos.dao.Operation',
    'foam.nanos.logger.Logger',
    'java.util.Collection',
    'java.util.Date'
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  tableColumns: [
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  searchColumns: [
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    'enabled',
    'priority',
    'daoKey',
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  sections: [
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      name: 'basicInfo',
      order: 100
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    {
      name: '_defaultSection',
      permissionRequired: true
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  properties: [
    {
      class: 'String',
      name: 'id',
      visibility: 'RO'
      // will display in '_defaultSection'
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    {
      class: 'String',
      name: 'name',
      tableWidth: 300,
      section: 'basicInfo'
    },
    {
      name: 'priority',
      tableWidth: 66,
      section: 'basicInfo'
    },
    {
      class: 'String',
      name: 'documentation',
      readPermissionRequired: true,
      writePermissionRequired: true,
      view: {
        class: 'foam.u2.tag.TextArea',
        rows: 12, cols: 80
      },
      section: 'basicInfo'
    },
    {
      class: 'String',
      name: 'daoKey',
      label: 'DAO Key',
      documentation: 'dao name that the rule is applied on.',
      readPermissionRequired: true,
      writePermissionRequired: true,
      view: function(_, X) {
        var E = foam.mlang.Expressions.create();
        return {
          class: 'foam.u2.view.RichChoiceView',
          search: true,
          sections: [
            {
              heading: 'Services',
              dao: X.nSpecDAO.where(E.ENDS_WITH(foam.nanos.boot.NSpec.ID, 'DAO'))
            }
          ]
        };
      },
      tableWidth: 125
    },
    {
      class: 'Enum',
      of: 'foam.nanos.dao.Operation',
      name: 'operation',
      readPermissionRequired: true,
      writePermissionRequired: true,
      documentation: 'Defines when the rules is to be applied: put/removed'
    },
    {
      class: 'Boolean',
      name: 'after',
      readPermissionRequired: true,
      writePermissionRequired: true,
      documentation: 'Defines if the rule needs to be applied before or after operation is completed'+
      'E.g. on dao.put: before object was stored in a dao or after.'
    },
    'predicate',
    {
      class: 'FObjectProperty',
      of: 'foam.nanos.ruler.RuleAction',
      name: 'action',
      view: { class: 'foam.u2.view.JSONTextView' },
      documentation: 'The action to be executed if predicates returns true for passed object.'
    },
    {
      class: 'FObjectProperty',
      of: 'foam.nanos.ruler.RuleAction',
      name: 'asyncAction',
      hidden: true,
      documentation: 'The action to be executed asynchronously if predicates returns true for passed object.'
    },
    {
      name: 'enabled',
      tableWidth: 70,
      section: 'basicInfo'
    },
    {
      class: 'Boolean',
      name: 'saveHistory',
      value: false,
      readPermissionRequired: true,
      writePermissionRequired: true,
      documentation: 'Determines if history of rule execution should be saved.',
      help: 'Automatically sets to true when validity is greater than zero.',
      adapt: function(_, nu) {
        return nu || this.validity > 0;
      }
    },
    {
      class: 'Boolean',
      name: 'debug',
      documentation: 'Test this boolean before generating expensive logger.debug calls, to speed rule execution.'
    },
    {
      class: 'Int',
      name: 'validity',
      documentation: 'Validity of the rule (in days) for automatic rescheduling.',
      readPermissionRequired: true,
      writePermissionRequired: true,
      postSet: function(_, nu) {
        if ( nu > 0
          && ! this.saveHistory
        ) {
          this.saveHistory = true;
        }
      }
    },
    {
      class: 'Object',
      name: 'cmd',
      transient: true,
      hidden: true,
      javaFactory: `
        if ( Operation.CREATE == getOperation()
          || Operation.UPDATE == getOperation()
          || Operation.CREATE_OR_UPDATE == getOperation()
        ) {
          return RulerDAO.PUT_CMD;
        }
        return null;
      `
    },
    {
      class: 'DateTime',
      name: 'created',
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO'
    },
    {
      class: 'Reference',
      of: 'foam.nanos.auth.User',
      name: 'createdBy',
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO',
      tableCellFormatter: function(value, obj) {
        obj.userDAO.find(value).then(function(user) {
          if ( user ) {
            this.add(user.legalName);
          }
        }.bind(this));
      }
    },
    {
      class: 'Reference',
      of: 'foam.nanos.auth.User',
      name: 'createdByAgent',
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO',
      tableCellFormatter: function(value, obj) {
        obj.userDAO.find(value).then(function(user) {
          if ( user ) {
            this.add(user.legalName);
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        }.bind(this));
      }
    },
    {
      class: 'DateTime',
      name: 'lastModified',
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO'
    },
    {
      class: 'Reference',
      of: 'foam.nanos.auth.User',
      name: 'lastModifiedBy',
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO',
      tableCellFormatter: function(value, obj) {
        obj.userDAO.find(value).then(function(user) {
          if ( user ) {
            this.add(user.legalName);
          }
        }.bind(this));
      }
    },
    {
      class: 'Reference',
      of: 'foam.nanos.auth.User',
      name: 'lastModifiedByAgent',
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO',
      tableCellFormatter: function(value, obj) {
        obj.userDAO.find(value).then(function(user) {
          if ( user ) {
            this.add(user.legalName);
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        }.bind(this));
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    },
    {
      class: 'foam.core.Enum',
      of: 'foam.nanos.auth.LifecycleState',
      name: 'lifecycleState',
      value: foam.nanos.auth.LifecycleState.PENDING,
      createVisibility: 'HIDDEN',
      updateVisibility: 'RO',
      readVisibility: 'RO',
      writePermissionRequired: true
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    {
      class: 'FObjectProperty',
      of: 'foam.comics.v2.userfeedback.UserFeedback',
      name: 'userFeedback',
      storageTransient: true,
      visibility: 'HIDDEN'
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    {
      name: 'checkerPredicate',
      javaFactory: 'return foam.mlang.MLang.FALSE;'
    },
    {
      class: 'Reference',
      of: 'foam.nanos.auth.ServiceProvider',
      name: 'spid',
      value: foam.nanos.auth.ServiceProviderAware.GLOBAL_SPID,
      documentation: 'Service Provider Id of the rule. Default to ServiceProviderAware.GLOBAL_SPID for rule applicable to all service providers.'
    }
  ],

  methods: [
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      name: 'f',
      type: 'Boolean',
      args: [
        {
          name: 'x',
          type: 'Context'
        },
        {
          name: 'obj',
          type: 'FObject'
        },
        {
          name: 'oldObj',
          type: 'FObject'
        }
      ],
      javaCode: `
        if ( ! getEnabled() ) return false;

        try {
          if ( getPredicate() instanceof MQLExpr ) {
            RulerData data = new RulerData();
            Subject subject = (Subject) x.get("subject");
            data.setN(obj);
            data.setO(oldObj);
            data.setUser(subject.getUser());
            data.setRealUser(subject.getRealUser());
            data.setSpid(subject.getUser().getSpid());
            data.setDateTime(new Date());
            return getPredicate().f(data);
          } else {
            return getPredicate().f(x.put("NEW", obj).put("OLD", oldObj));
          }
        } catch ( Throwable t ) {
          try {
            return getPredicate().f(obj);
          } catch ( Throwable th ) { }
          // ((Logger) x.get("logger")).debug(this.getClass().getSimpleName(), "id", getId(), "\\nrule", this, "\\nobj", obj, "\\nold", oldObj, "\\n", t);
          ((Logger) x.get("logger")).error("Failed to evaluate predicate of rule: " + getId(), t);
          return false;
        }
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'apply',
      args: [
        {
          name: 'x',
          type: 'Context'
        },
        {
          name: 'obj',
          type: 'FObject'
        },
        {
          name: 'oldObj',
          type: 'FObject'
        },
        {
          name: 'ruler',
          type: 'foam.nanos.ruler.RuleEngine'
        },
        {
          name: 'rule',
          type: 'foam.nanos.ruler.Rule'
        },
        {
          name: 'agency',
          type: 'foam.core.Agency'
        }
      ],
      javaCode: `
        getAction().applyAction(x, obj, oldObj, ruler, rule, agency);
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'asyncApply',
      args: [
        {
          name: 'x',
          type: 'Context'
        },
        {
          name: 'obj',
          type: 'FObject'
        },
        {
          name: 'oldObj',
          type: 'FObject'
        },
        {
          name: 'ruler',
          type: 'foam.nanos.ruler.RuleEngine'
        },
        {
          name: 'rule',
          type: 'foam.nanos.ruler.Rule'
        },
      ],
      javaCode: `
        getAsyncAction().applyAction(x, obj, oldObj, ruler, rule, new DirectAgency());
        if ( ! getAfter() ) {
          ruler.getDelegate().cmd_(x.put("OBJ", obj), getCmd());
        }
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'updateRule',
      type: 'foam.nanos.ruler.Rule',
      documentation: 'since rules are stored as lists in the RulerDAO we use listeners to update them whenever ruleDAO is updated.' +
      'the method provides logic for modifying already stored rule. If not overridden, the incoming rule will be stored in the list as it is.',
      args: [
        {
          name: 'rule',
          type: 'foam.nanos.ruler.Rule'
        }
      ],
      javaCode: `
      return rule;`
    },
    {
      name: 'toSummary',
      type: 'String',
      code: function() {
        return this.name || this.id;
      },
      javaCode: `
        return foam.util.SafetyUtil.isEmpty(getName()) ? getName() : getId();
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'authorizeOnCreate',
      javaCode: `
        var auth = (AuthService) x.get("auth");
        if ( ! auth.check(x, "rule.create") ) {
          throw new AuthorizationException("You do not have permission to create the rule.");
        }
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'authorizeOnRead',
      javaCode: `
        var auth = (AuthService) x.get("auth");
        if ( ! auth.check(x, "rule.read." + getId())
          && ! auth.check(x, "serviceprovider.read." + getSpid())
        ) {
          throw new AuthorizationException("You do not have permission to read the rule.");
        }
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'authorizeOnUpdate',
      javaCode: `
        var auth = (AuthService) x.get("auth");
        if ( ! auth.check(x, "rule.update." + getId()) ) {
          throw new AuthorizationException("You do not have permission to update the rule.");
        }
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'authorizeOnDelete',
      javaCode: `
        var auth = (AuthService) x.get("auth");
        if ( ! auth.check(x, "rule.remove." + getId())
          && ! auth.check(x, "serviceprovider.update." + getSpid())
        ) {
          throw new AuthorizationException("You do not have permission to delete the rule.");
        }
      `
    },
    {
      name: 'getUser',
      type: 'foam.nanos.auth.User',
      args: [
        { name: 'x', type: 'Context' },
        { name: 'obj', type: 'FObject' }
      ],
      documentation: `Return user extracted from obj to be used for checking the
        user permission to access (i.e. execute) the rule.

        Return null (default) to skip access permission check on the rule.

        Subclasses of Rule should override "getUser" method to return the
        appropriate user for which the permission is checked.
      `,
      javaCode: 'return null;'
    }
  ],

  axioms: [
    {
      name: 'javaExtras',
      buildJavaClass: function(cls) {
        cls.extras.push(`
        public static Rule findById(Collection<Rule> listRule, String passedId) {
          return listRule.stream().filter(rule -> passedId.equals(rule.getId())).findFirst().orElse(null);
        }
        `);
      }
    }
  ]
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


San Antonio Commercial Advisors (SACA), an independently owned and operated member of the Cushman & Wakefield Alliance, is pleased to announce the sale of Rankin Plaza located at 1901 Rankin Highway, Midland, Texas 79701.
Rankin Plaza, a 20,850 square foot multi-tenant shopping center, is located ¼ mile from Walmart on Rankin Hwy, one of Midland's busiest thoroughfares, 1 mile south of downtown Midland. The property was 100% leased at closing, tenants include Melrose Family Fashions, Papa Johns, Cricket, The Louvre Nail Spa, Star Cell Phone Repairs, Rankin Donuts and Hibachi Express.
SACA marketed the property on behalf of the seller and procured the Buyer, both Texas-based Limited Liability Companies. For more information, contact Brent Smith.


text:
Relationships 'key' in challenging insurance markets, says top producer
by Bethan Moorcraft 12 Feb 2020
Relationships 'key' in challenging insurance markets, says top producer | Insurance Business America
Insurance professionals in South Carolina face quite the bumpy ride. It's one of the most vulnerable states in the US to hurricanes and tropical storms, and as an Atlantic state with many densely populated coastal areas, the economic value exposed to severe weather is significant.
"It can be a challenging market," said Brian Payne (pictured), principal of Field Insurance Agency, a multi-line agency offering personal and commercial insurance products in Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head, and the surrounding areas of South Carolina. "It's a niche market because of its exposure to catastrophic risk. Different carriers have different appetites, so it's really important for producers to explore all the options and make a lot of relationships with underwriting groups and brokers in order to find the best placement for the insureds."
Payne has just been named one of Insurance Business America's Top Producers of 2020. He attributes his success in the tricky South Carolina market to "a lot of hard work and dedication," as well as the relationships he's built with key market stakeholders. Those relationships have helped Payne to weather any storms that might have impacted market conditions.
"In our position, you have to be able to understand and adapt to market evolution," he told Insurance Business. "If a market changes its offering or even shuts down completely, you have to act quickly and go to the next best viable option. Sometimes that involves having to sell a rate increase to an insured that doesn't want to hear what you have to tell them. That's sometimes a challenging situation to be in, but you do the best you can to explain the circumstances to the consumer."
According to Payne, most consumers are perceptive to the impacts of severe weather. In his experience, most people are able to grasp the fact that the industry has experienced billions of dollars of losses because of catastrophic weather, and that those losses eventually come back full circle to impact the consumer in the shape of higher premiums.
"As long as you do a good job of explaining that, I think most consumers are understanding of the situation," he said. "There's a lot of information out there that we can pass on to consumers to help guide those challenging conversations. For example, I recently had a discussion with a consumer about flood insurance. Oftentimes, consumers think they don't have to worry about flood if their property is in Zone X, which is outside the 500-year flood zone. But when an agent goes back and gives the consumer data and statistics that show the percentage of flooding that occurs in low-risk flood zones, that education will open up the consumer's mind to purchasing the coverage."
With his finger firmly on the pulse of the South Carolina insurance marketplace, Payne knows an opportunity when he spots one. Not only has he been able to grow and develop his book of business in a firming marketplace - an achievement aided by his candid client communication - but he's also been able to successfully design and launch product offerings for the excess and surplus (E&S) lines marketplace.
"The E&S marketplace has continued to grow. They've always been a big player, but there's no doubt that their appetite is growing," Payne commented. "We're starting to see more potential to grow from a carrier [partner] standpoint, and we're trying to take advantage of that. At Field Insurance, we remain fully committed and focused on growth opportunities.
"It helps that we tackle this with a team approach. We all feed off each other and we learn from each other daily, which is particularly important with all the changes going on in the market. The more people you have touching the business or the marketplace, and the more knowledge-sharing that goes on among peers, the more advantageous it is when it comes to our sales approach."
Word of mouth and social media 'huge influences' at Field Insurance
Latest NFIP extension doesn't fix issues in the flood insurance market


You've been waiting for your annual girls' weekend getaway for more than a month, and stocked up on your favorite wines to enjoy at the beach. Sunday comes around and you post the "before" shot from Friday, followed by the results of the weekend — lots of empty wine bottles. Seems harmless, right?
Not so fast, if you're a teacher.
Even if your social media pages are set to "private," you have to assume that your students and their parents will see what you've posted. While all social media platforms have privacy settings, nothing can protect you from a screenshot from a local group or a notification on a mutual friend's page. And that's just a few examples of how your personal life can become public online — quickly.
2. There's no such thing as personal time.
Teachers are held to a different standard. Your actions outside of the classroom can cause you to lose credibility in the classroom. If you are viewed as having lost effectiveness in the classroom, you are vulnerable to suspension or dismissal. To help avoid this, do not tag your location at school, or list your school as your employer.
3. Control your audience (as much as possible).
Don't add your students or their parents on any social media platform. While some platforms allow you to choose who you are friends with, others like Pinterest or Twitter will require you to block or hide any curious students. Some teachers opt to use only their first names or other names. While that may keep students from tracking you down online, it is not free-license to post anything you want. Again, teachers are held to a higher standard.


text:
Associated Centres
Post Not Found!
CaixaBank Dualiza and FPEmpresa organise…
IndesIA and FPEmpresa join forces…
The 6th call for Ayudas…
FPEmpresa attends the EfVET 2022…
More than 650 teachers analyse…
FPEmpresa attends the EfVET 2022 Annual Congress in Kuopio
FPEmpresa has met last 28th of October with the Spanish EfVET partners at the EfVET 2022 Annual Conference in Kuopio (Finland). The conference took place from 26th to 29th October and was organised by two Finnish EfVET members, Ylä-Savo Vocational College and Savo Vocational College. FPEmpresa was represented by Carlos de Olagüe, the Association's Madrid and International Coordinator.
The theme of the congress was 'The future skills revolution for VET and CVET in Europe', whose main objective was to provide training providers with the opportunity to share learning and teaching experiences. Also, as new skills in the education system and to share best practices among other EfVET members.
"As EfVET's national representative, a new challenge that I am looking forward to, I have to thank the organisation of this Congress that has allowed us to learn about different educational and work experiences, as well as different social, cultural and political perspectives", says Carlos de Olagüe.
Future skills revolution
During the event, a wide variety of topics have been discussed according to the programme: Finnish education, presentation of new EfVET members, working sessions, round tables, among others. The General Assembly also approved the re-election of the current board, so that the Executive Management Team is composed of 4 members and 2 co-opted members: Joaquín James Calleja (Malta); Stefano Tirati (Learningdigital. eu – Italy); Arja Flinkman (South Savo Education Ltd – Finland); Marta Almeida Santos (Ensinus Group – Portugal); Panagiotis G. Anastassopoulos (P- Consulting – Greece); Leif Haar (Denmark); and Vibeke Holtum Norgaard (Technical Education Copenhagen – Copenhagen).
The budget and the strategic plan 2023 were also approved and the next congress to be held in October 2023 in Rhodes (Greece) was presented.
The EfVET Annual Conference is held every year as a meeting point for VET professionals from Europe, Asia and America. EfVET confirms that, in each edition, more than 200 delegates from different countries gather every time, even when the coronavirus pandemic appeared.
Annual Congress Kuopio, EfVET, EfVET Europe, EfVET Spain, FP, FPEmpresa, FPEmpresa associated centers
Archives Select Month January 2023 (3) November 2022 (1) October 2022 (3) September 2022 (2) July 2022 (4) June 2022 (3) May 2022 (1) April 2022 (1) March 2022 (2) February 2022 (1) January 2022 (3) December 2021 (1) November 2021 (2) October 2021 (2) September 2021 (3) July 2021 (7) June 2021 (2) May 2021 (3) March 2021 (2) February 2021 (2)
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Celebrate an amazing BFF with this wooden box sign by Primitives by Kathy®! Sign has a rustic, vintage look with worn edges, white block lettering, and a faded black background. Best friends make the good times better and the hard times easier is printed on the front of the sign.


CLEMSON – Each year, the Clemson University Postdoctoral Association's Distinguished Postdoctoral Award is given to one outstanding postdoctoral fellow who embodies excellence in scientific research, leadership, advocacy, outreach and teaching. This year, Vera Bin San Chan of the department of biological sciences claimed the honor.
Vera Bin San Chan at the 2017 Men of Color Summit, where she was a scholarship recipient.
Chan has been employed as a postdoctoral research associate in professor Andrew Mount's lab since February 2015. Prior to her position, Chan received her undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral education at the University of Hong Kong. Her undergraduate studies – in both biochemistry and ecology/biodiversity – led her to a Ph.D. in biological sciences, which she completed in 2014. Chan then received nine months of postdoctoral training at the HKU before joining Clemson.
As a well-versed student of biological sciences, Chan has applied her education to study the animals of the ocean and how a changing climate is affecting them, namely in issues known as biofouling and ocean acidification.
"Many people love the ocean for its beautiful coral polyps and sea shells. But to scientists, shell formation represents a massive event that impacts our earth's geological composition. Animals like oysters and sea snails could be impacted by environmental stressors, which could have a consequence on food security and well-being for humans," Chan said.
Many of Chan's research methods place her behind the lens of a microscope, where she visualizes oyster cells and minerals in order to better understand how exactly mollusks develop exterior shells. These biomineralization studies in turn improve scientists' abilities to manage and protect marine life and resources.
Not only does Chan enjoy her research, but she is well-recognized for her contributions. In just three years at Clemson, she has consolidated one patent, published six papers in peer-reviewed journals, received four research-oriented awards and has disseminated her findings at 12 regional and international conferences, eight of which she was a presenter.
A micrograph taken from Chan's research depicts hatching egg strings of salmon lice.
Although she came to Clemson to pursue forward-thinking research, Chan has also gotten involved in professional development and teaching roles across campus. In Fall 2017, she was awarded $7,000 to craft the Creative Inquiry (CI) project "Ocean Under the Magnifying Glass," where undergraduate students learn about marine biology and conduct independent research that leads to preliminary data for proposal. The project has been renewed for funding every semester since its establishment. Chan has also facilitated two GRAD 360° workshops, which provide advice to graduate students about improving their academic writing and making peer connections during graduate school. Chan advocates for her fellow postdoctoral associates by leading the Academic Job Interest Group and serving as the postdoc office liaison.
Mount, Chan's postdoctoral advisor, nominated her for this latest award.
Dean Cynthia Y. Young of the College of Science shares in Mount's revere for Chan.
Chan and her CI students collect eastern oysters at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory in Georgetown, S.C.
"We are thrilled for this wonderful recognition as Dr. Chan casts her vision forward toward a promising academic career," Young said.
After receiving notice of her nomination, Chan said she is proud of all she has achieved at Clemson, yet anxious for the road ahead.
Clemson football's attitude of perseverance and dedication is one that helped guide her throughout her postdoctoral studies.
Chan hopes to become a professor in order to continue mentoring students and conducting research on oyster shell formation.