All manufacturers can benefit from improving utility performance by increasing process efficiency and reducing waste; but do you know where and how to start?
Utility Performance Analytics (UPA) is a cloud-based solution powered by SRK technology, which is designed by DrivenBI in conjunction with Meehan Consulting Engineers, Inc. UPA is purposely designed to quickly and easily identify deviations in process parameters in real time and to improve processes in utility production and consumption for water, boilers, natural gas, electricity and other utility systems. The solution provides metering data in a format that simplifies the process of deciphering the information necessary for maximizing performance and profitability and minimizing utility waste of your manufacturing processes.
DrivenBI analytical cloud-based services are created for ease of use, consistency of results and facilitation of cross-department collaboration by business line managers, reducing reliance on IT. Founded in 2006 and managed by a seasoned team of data management experts, DrivenBI powers data analytics and business insights in the cloud for organizations worldwide. With proven success in activating business intelligence to meet the bottom line, the DrivenBI team develops technologies that merge data to map to your specific target goals and increase revenue.
Meehan Consulting Engineers, Inc. provides engineering services to industrial clients specializing in Food and Beverage, Packaging, and General Manufacturing process design with an emphasis on sustainability. Clients include MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch, Nestle, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Ocean Spray, Tropicana, and Heinz. Meehan Consulting Engineers, Inc. provides full-service engineering which includes mechanical, process, electrical design, construction management, and sustainability.


Although its television commercials and website has the sale sign on, Prashant Gupta, president and CEO of Abof.com said, "Discount as a strategy is not our focus". The fashion portal's CEO added that the sales season for them will be twice a year mostly. Gupta added that that the discount season also lead to higher returns where consumers place orders in large numbers but later change their mind.
Textiles-to-telecom conglomerate Aditya Birla Group last October entered pure-play ecommerce space by launching a fashion portal, abof.com, which sells about 55 brands including those of the parent group. A private and unlisted company, Aditya Birla Online Fashion (abof) will mostly cater to those in the 18-25 age group.
Gupta added that the company in few months has already built an employee strength of 300 with attrition levels less than 10%. The firm started with 3D trial room where customers can try the clothes and now plans to rope in celebrities to write about the latest trends in fashion. It also is experimenting with pop up digital store rooms in Bengaluru where consumers can experience the brand and then order online.


text: Q: Can mmap library function be used in C and Assembler? I am learning both C and Assembler(for Raspberry Pi 2) and I am trying to figure out how mmap works and if I can use it in both C and Assembler programs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Jiajiafu Modern Agriculture Limited
ASX:JJF
Consumer Staples / Packaged Foods & Meats
Jiajiafu Modern Agriculture Limited has been removed from the Australian Securities Exchange official list as of 30/09/2020
Jiajiafu Modern Agriculture Limited (JJF) operates a leading agribusiness in Qingzhou City, Shandong Province, China. Company's renowned for its vertically-integrated business model and agricultural technology innovation in relation to fruit and vegetable farming, harvesting, packing, marketing, supply and distribution. The JJF brand is highly recognized and respected in Shandong Province, China. The Group's main products include fresh produce such as tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, chilies, radishes, potatoes and yams, and processed food products such as dandelion tea, pumpkin powder and dried persimmons. The Group also trades in agriculture supplies, such as fertilizers and pesticides
402/368 Sussex St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
www.jjfma.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Courtesy of AARE, Michael Haas.
Built in 2010 Manufactured Home Within Walking Distance To Buccaneer Beach in Oceanside. Great 2 Bed 2 Bath, Double Wide, Vaulted Ceilings, Drywall Interior, Open Floor Plan, Laundry Room, Deep Carport, Deck of the Front Entrance into the Home. Plenty of Closet Space in Bedrooms. Good Sized Kitchen With Modern Appliances. Perfectly Situated in La Salina Mobile Village. Great Coastal Ocean Breezes, Friendly Senior 55+ Community. Last Affordable Beach Town Along the Coast of California. This Won't Last!
Please, send me more information on this property: MLS# 190007522 – $199,999 – 141 Sherri Lane, Oceanside, CA 92054.
Based on information from California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of April 18, 2019 14:02 and/or other sources. All data, including all measurements and calculations of area, is obtained from various sources and has not been, and will not be, verified by broker or MLS. All information should be independently reviewed and verified for accuracy. Properties may or may not be listed by the office/agent presenting the information.


Islam allows its followers to interact with disbelievers. Moreover, this tradition was commonly done by the Messenger of Allah – peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- and his companions. They interacted socially and economically with jews around Medina. And before that, the muslims had also interacted with the disbelievers of Quraish who were their arc enemy.
Assalamu'alaikum. Ustadz, in my village, there's a practice of rice trading in which the farmer sells his rice with due time system, that is, the buyer/collector will pay its price after a year, with the highest price of rice at that time. Thus for example, the crop in January 2014 was immediately sold, but the payment will be received on December 2014 with the price that is determined by the seller, according to the highest price of rice in 2014. The farmers are delighted with this practice since they are not having trouble to stock their rice anymore. And the buyers are happy because they get additional capital to turnover for a year.
What is the ruling of this system, is it allowed or not?
May Allah reward you greatly, wassalam.
Islam is a noble religion. Islam already oversees all aspects in social life, including debt and credit. Not only does Islam allow a man to owe other, it also regulates the etiquettes and rules in debt.
1. What kinds of animal that are allowed to keep? Please give me a complete list.
2. Is it allowed to keep a turtle of a hamster?
3. Are the unlawful, permitted, or detested animals should not be kept?
4. Is it permissible to lock an animal inside a cage?
In the name of Allah, peace and prayer of Allah be upon His messenger, amma ba'du.


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Portland Timbers Players Salaries 2021: Annual Salary & Highest-Paid Player
By Darshan Jawale	 Last updated Sep 7, 2021
Portland Timbers is a professional soccer team that plays in the top flight professional Soccer League of the United States and Canada. The timbers are based in the Oregon state of USA and compete in the Western Conference division of the Major League Soccer. Portland secured qualification into the CONCACAF Champions League for the 2021 season. Portland Timbers spends $10,417,198 in the 2021 season on their players' salaries.
The ongoing MLS season is the club's eleventh consecutive season in Major League Soccer and the thirty-fifth season since its establishment.
Portland Timbers Players Salaries 2021
Player Position Base Salary Annual Salary
Sebastian Blanco M $2,200,000 $2,313,333
Yimmi Chara F $1,200,000 $1,392,000
Diego Valeri M $765,000 $914,875
Jaroslaw Niezgoda F $739,500 $908,758
Felipe Mora F $825,000 $905,000
Diego Chara M $650,000 $668,750
Dario Zuparic D $525,000 $541,667
Andy Polo M $500,000 $500,000
Larrys Mabiala D $450,000 $450,000
Claudio Bravo D $300,000 $323,310
Cristhian Paredes M $252,000 $283,500
Dairon Asprilla M $275,000 $277,500
Steve Clark GK $250,000 $250,000
Aljaz Ivacic GK $225,000 $235,000
Bill Tuiloma D $220,000 $234,125
Jeff Attinella GK $108,000 $114,125
Josecarlos Van Rankin D $105,255 $105,255
Portland Timbers Supplementary Players Salaries 2021
Pablo Bonilla D $85,444 $85,444
Renzo Zambrano M $85,444 $85,444
Marvin Loria M $81,375 $81,375
READ: Toronto FC Players Salaries, Contracts, and Highest-Paid Player
Who is the Highest-Paid Player of Portland Timbers?
Sebastian Blanco is the highest-paid player of the Timbers. The Argentine has an annual salary of $2,313,333.
What is the Annual Wage Bill of Portland Timbers?
Portland Timbers is the third-best paying team in Major League Soccer. The Annual Salary bill for the timbers amounts to $11,925,095
What is the weekly wage bill of Portland Timbers?
The per week wage bill of Portland timber is $229,328
Portland Timbers current standings
Portland Timbers currently stand sixth in the Western Conference table and 13th in the overall Major League Soccer standings.
Portland Timbers Stadium
The Timbers play their home games at the Providence Park Stadium. It has a capacity of 25000 spectators.
Who is the manager of Portland Timbers?
Giovanni Savarese is the current Head coach of Portland Timbers. He has held this position since 2017 and has guided the club to the third-place finish in the Conference, and MLS was back trophy last season. The team secured qualification to the playoffs but got eliminated in the very first round.
Portland Timbers rivalry
One of the most famous rivalries of Major League Soccer is that of Seattle Sounders- Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps. The three clubs are the archrivals of each other.
Portland Transfers 2021
After four years of joining San Jose FC, Portland Timbers' talismanic forward, Jeremy Ebobisse, parted ways with the club. Jose Carlos Van Rankin and Rodney Wallace are the other players who left the club.
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Continuum Security push spans Profile & Protect along with Detect & Respond, a security operations center (SOC) for MSPs protecting SMB information & data.
Continuum, as expected, today unveiled a security business initiative for IT service providers and MSPs that support small business cusotmers. The push, announced at the Navigate 2017 conference, includes two key components: Profile & Protect and Detect & Respond.
The launch comes as thousands of MSPs face an inflection point: Build their own security operations centers (SOCs) or partner with third-parties for such expertise. "The idea of an MSP building a SOC out in the field is absurd," George said, pointing to talent and technology costs.
Instead, Continuum wants to be that SOC destination — and more — for MSPs, many of which simply can't find, hire and train security talent on their own.
"The line between MSP and MSSP has effectively disappeared," George told conference attendees. Small businesses, he asserted, assume MSPs are in a position to safeguard customer assets. But to safeguard those customer assets, MSPs will need a partner like Continuum, George asserts.
The company already offers an integrated platform that spans RMM (remote monitoring and management), BDR (backup and disaster recovery), help desk and NOC (network operations center) services. The Continuum Security offerings appear to be a natural platform extension for the company. But the company will need to prove that it can deliver on its SOC vision and promise, attendees at Continuum Navigate 2017 tell ChannelE2E.
The strategy allows MSPs to "transform broad cybersecurity services into specific offerings, establish proper expectations and SLAs with clients, and maximize their margins in the security sector," the company claims.
Next up is Detect & Respond — which leverages Continuum new 24×7 Security Operations Center (SOC). The SOC monitors for indicators of compromise, separates false positives from actual malicious events and drives remediation actions to prevent harm and reduce 'dwell time' from months to minutes, the company claims.
Among the key names to know: Fielder Hiss, VP of product, one of the driving forces behind the security push.
Strategic alliances also are critical to the strategy. For instance, the new Continuum Security offerings will "line up alongside the company's existing security toolbox, which was also expanded to include DNS protection and end-user security training services from Webroot," the company says.
Continuum Security Profile & Protect and Detect & Respond will reach an early access period for select partners in Q4 2017, and general availability is expected in Q1 2018.
If Continuum Security and the associated SOC deliver the goods, the new offerings will effectively differentiate the company from head-on rivals like Autotask, ConnectWise, Kaseya and SolarWinds MSP.
Generally speaking, Autotask and ConnectWise partner with various ISVs on the security front but don't specifically own pure-play software security tools. Kaseya and SolarWinds MSP, by contrast, have some security tools in their software portfolios. But unlike Continuum, none of those companies have full-blown SOCs.
Related: Complete MSSP & SOC Coverage. Only on MSSP Alert.
Arctic Wolf Networks, which has extended its SOC as a service to MSPs and Splunk customers.
Trusted Metrics offers a home-grown Elastic SOC to partners.
The hallway buzz about Continuum Security is positive here at Navigate 2017. But the thought on everyone's mind is this: Can Continuum deliver on its Security and SOC promise? We'll begin to get answers when the services reach more testers and Q4 2017, and general availability in Q1 2018.
PS: We're meeting with George and Hiss later today. We'll poke around to learn how the company built its SOC and associated security products.


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HomeAway Issues Un-Needed Apology For Baby Toss
WTF is wrong with people? Have they nothing better than to complain about innocuous moments in commercial which, if you ask any normal person, are just plain funny? Have we all lost our sense of humor? Our ability to laugh at a joke? Are capability to interpret slapstick humor? Do we need the Three Stooges to come back to life and give our society a collective slap upside the head?
In a move that is absolutely incomprehensible to us, people have actually complained about the FAKE baby DOLL being thrown against the window in the HomeAway commercial causing CEO Brian Sharples to issue - and this is another bone we have to pick - a lame ass apology.
While, in over 1,000 words, Sharples does apologize in the letter (below), he sticks it to the morons who complained by writing, "We do not believe the ad will result in an increase in violence towards babies, just as last year's Super Bowl ad featuring Betty White didn't lead to an increase in elderly women being tackled in parks."
In his apology Sharples blathers on incessantly about their understanding of domestic violence, battered children and how they went to great lengths to make it clear the test baby was, in fact, a doll. You know, in case a few morons out there actually thought it was a real baby.
But despite the brand's best efforts to anticipate any backlash, Sharples wrote, "despite our best intentions and efforts, the image of the test baby doll is too hurtful for us not to take action. We have decided to remove the versions of the ad that depict the doll getting smushed, smashed, or dropped from our website."
Once again, it's official. Humor has been banned from our culture. We are simply no longer capable of understanding or appreciating it.
As a result of all of this idiocy, HomeWay has edited their Super Bowl commercial changing the way the FAKE baby DOLL is handled in the ad. Ridiculous.
And here's Sharples full apology:
Like all advertisers on the Super Bowl, many of us at HomeAway spent the time after the event following the reviews, comments and performance of our ad. Some of the comments we had expected; others took us by surprise. We know our ad has offended a group of people, so I want to address why we ran the ad and what we intend to do from here.
First, on behalf of everyone at HomeAway, I want to assure you we love families (and of course, babies). Each and every month, we work tirelessly to help connect hundreds of thousands of families with spacious and affordable vacation homes that help them relax and enjoy the comforts of home during their travels.
We created the "test baby" campaign to highlight pitfalls when families squeeze into small spaces, and to shed light on the benefits of space, value and privacy of vacation rentals. We ran this campaign to generate awareness of vacation rentals, and drive traffic to the hundreds of thousands of vacation homes advertised on our website.
In the ad, a cramped hotel room leads to a father accidentally falling on a table, which absurdly catapults a doll into the window of a mock hotel "test facility."
Of course it was our intent that the "test baby" create a moment of comic shock - with one 30-second spot at the Super Bowl, you need to make a big impression to break through to the audience. But we also worked hard to make it clear the ad was not to be taken seriously. For example, we instructed the special effects artists to make it very obvious that the "test baby" was in fact a rubber doll. We clarified the point further by inserting the words "test baby" onto the screen, while having the actor emphasize this point in the dialogue. And we worked hard to ensure that the scene itself was clearly an accident, involving no malicious intent of anyone in the fictitious family.
To extend the campaign, we developed an online experience to allow anyone to put a picture of themselves onto the test baby doll, and for vacation rental owners to easily include images of their own homes in an extended "house tour" version.
We talked with hundreds of people both before and after the ad aired, and most clearly understand that it wasn't intended to glorify or promote violence towards children. Just as Snickers wasn't promoting violence towards women (Roseanne Barr struck by a log), or Doritos wasn't trying to promote pet abuse (in its highly rated spot about a dog being enticed to jump through a window).
However, since the ad aired, we've been in contact with many people who expressed that they were genuinely offended by some of the images. Some of the people we talked to were concerned that our ad trivializes violence toward children, while others felt that the imagery was too shocking to be appropriate.
We do not believe the ad will result in an increase in violence towards babies, just as last year's Super Bowl ad featuring Betty White didn't lead to an increase in elderly women being tackled in parks. However, we feel we made a mistake in judgment, and for that all of us at HomeAway are truly sorry. We failed to understand the reality that every day some families live with the consequences of accidents, and even violence that have caused their child a brain injury.
Each year, millions of children are injured as a result of accidents and domestic violence, and the children and parents who have been touched by those incidents can be deeply affected by seeing some of the images portrayed in our ad campaign. We spent a good part of the day yesterday talking to some of those people, listening to their concerns, and understanding their perspectives. And we've concluded that despite our intent, or how unreal the doll may look, it still can be hurtful to a family living everyday with a child who has been forever altered by a brain injury. Our family at HomeAway includes a young boy with Down syndrome -the son of my co-founder Carl Shepherd - whose family has a personal appreciation of the unintended pain caused by someone's thoughtless comment or act, or the way people with disabilities can be portrayed in the media.
We have invested countless hours and resources in this campaign - and our staff has worked tirelessly to create a truly ground-breaking interactive experience for our customers. And even though it has generated lackluster reviews (and I'm being generous here) by the press, the traffic generated to the HomeAway website has exceeded our highly successful Super Bowl ad from 2010. But none of this matters when it comes to doing the right thing - and we want to be respectful and responsible to those who are understandably upset about the ad.
As a result, we've concluded that despite our best intentions and efforts, the image of the test baby doll is too hurtful for us not to take action. We have decided to remove the versions of the ad that depict the doll getting smushed, smashed, or dropped from our website. We'll cut a new version of the ad showing the test baby doll being safely caught and unharmed, and still allow people to have fun customizing the ad with their faces or vacation rental properties. We have also changed our planned online campaign and will remove all creative showing the doll, and will replace those online ads with other creative executions. And, of course, we will not be airing the "test baby" ad again on television.
Again, we're deeply sorry that the ads offended some and hurt others. It was painful for all of us to hear from those affected. HomeAway and our employees are strong supporters of local and national charities, including several that support children and adults with disabilities, and others that provide low-income housing for families. We always want to do the right thing - and we're willing to admit when we're wrong.
We all make mistakes - the best we can do is correct what we can, and learn from them - and this situation is no exception.
Brian Sharples
CEO - HomeAway
by Steve Hall Feb- 9-11 Click to Comment
Topic: Opinion, Strange, Super Bowl 2011


The Swiss Army Knife of Printing!
All of your printing needs under one roof.
With over 30 years of service, Sacramento Envelope is Northern California's trade printing source for the highest quality full color envelope and commercial printing as well as silk screen printing. We are well known for our competitive pricing and turnaround times.
Please cruise through the site to see our work and while your at it, get a quote on your next project.
You need it printed, on time and on budget!
Don't be fooled by the name. On top of being known for our great envelope printing we also offer full color printing on just about anything. From corporate company brochures, flyers and postcards to full bleed window envelopes, you can trust in Sacramento Envelope Company to deliver a great quality product on time and on budget.
Brand a shirt any way you want!
Putting your logo or design on a shirt is the best way to promote your brand to people. At Sacramento Envelope we can print on shirts, bags, sweaters, jackets and more. With our state of the art equipment we have you covered, literally!
Get your design off to the right start!
Please free to download these templates! They are here to help make the process easier for everyone. Just right-click on the desired template and save it to anywhere on your computer!
Having the right equipment is usually the difference in making sure the job is done right. At Sacramento Envelope, we pride ourselves in having an extensive range of equipment that can handle any jobs our clients decide to throw at us.
Use that smartphone and give us a call!
As much as we like social sites and text messages, nothing beats the sound of the human voice or a personal visit.
Need a price, we've got one for ya!
Fill out the form to get a price on your next project.


Creating a culture of learning through a Research and Benchmarking program helps foster expertise in educational design firm-wide.
The world around us is changing and becoming more complex, and in response, so are the needs of our learning environments. Educational facilities need to support educational models as they evolve, while being adaptable to support trends of the future. When planning and designing an educational facility, there are a myriad of decisions that must be made. Given the life of most school buildings, many of those decisions will impact the learning environment for the next 50 years. Making the right decision is important, so how do you know if you are heading in the right direction? Knowledge is the key, and research is how we get there.
Expertise is not static. It requires a culture of learning that is constantly seeking knowledge. As a principal at Stantec working in our education sector, I know that our group's in-depth knowledge of education design comes from not only our wealth of experience, but also our culture of continual learning. This culture of learning is supported and fed by our Research and Benchmarking program (R+B), in which we research, analyze, and understand a wide array of comprehensive, multidisciplinary data, so that we can use it to design buildings that support changing instructional models.
Our research not only provides data to support the design decisions of the educators with whom we work, but also feeds our design process so we continually improve how we design these facilities. The constant flow and exchange of knowledge within our organization ensures that expertise extends beyond the individual to impart knowledge to the larger group, thus building our collective expertise. This team approach makes us all better!
How does it work? Research that produces relative and valuable information takes rigor and it takes a commitment. At Stantec, we spend $1 million annually on internal research grants, and dedicate over 3,000 man hours each year to our R+B Practice. The R+B group provides data to further our expertise and support our projects. We obtain this data through case study analysis, fact-finding, opinion seeking, and benchmarking, so that we see first-hand what's happening at schools and universities across the globe. I can't stress how much we've learned just by touring facilities, meeting with staff and students, and conducting interviews with user groups. All of this information is synthesized then analyzed so we can implement best practices and emerging trends into our planning and design process. It also enables the educators we work with to learn from the successes and challenges of others and to move forward with proven solutions.
Flexibility is the key. In order to maintain relevance, the R+B program is fluid and flexible. The focus of the research fluctuates with the changing needs and focus of the educational environment. Our program consists of groups of professionals, who represent various disciplines and geographies, and are collectively dedicated to a specific building topic. The topics range from innovative learning environments, to student life, to sustainability. The professionals and topics are diverse, which allows us to collect the brightest ideas from across multiple markets, resulting in a larger, multifaceted collection of information that ultimately improves our designs.
Why should you encourage your design team to examine trends and best practices? Our research efforts have provided data to help shape our educational clients' visions on a number of important projects. They had the benefit of proven solutions at their fingertips, which not only saved time and money, but helped them to advance their goal of enhancing the student's academic experience. It's a value-add to clients, and one that they all should come to expect from their professional consultants.
Laura has been dedicated to educational facility design for the past 14 years and is committed to innovation in education through continual research and discovery.


A home's exterior if not managed properly can have costly effects throughout the winter months. Ice dams, fallen tree limbs, chimney fires, frozen pipes are just a few costly and potentially dangerous events that can occur during the cold season. Urbanyardology recognizes that all our clients homes are generally the largest investment they'll ever make. So naturally, we as a company want to make sure you protect that investment. We came up with a list of costly problems that could potentially add to those winter Blues. Remember as a homeowner the works never done.
Gutters– Remove any debris that could prevent water from flowing. This is one step to ensure ice dams don't occur.
Fireplace -be sure to to have it cleaned annually. Built up creosote can lead to fire in your chimney which could easily spread. Many critters can see an opportunity to nest in your chimney which may also have catastrophic results.
Frozen pipes- make sure to have lawn irrigation blown out before the water in the lines freeze. If you have an unfinished basement without a heat source make sure all pipes are rapped. Be sure to shut off outdoor water spicket from inside basement, then turn on from the outside to rid any excess.
Trees- look up!! Do you see any potential trouble spots like dead limbs over any structure on your property. Stinky snow load and winter winds can bring these down without warning. Protect yourself and your home by having them removed by someone with the right equipment.
Homeowners…keep ahead of potential problems and continue to GROW your home.
As the dog days of winter approach it's easy for gardeners in zone 4 and 5 to become green thumb deprived. We look out our Windows to a Barren landscape, all perennial gardens have been put to bed and the annuals have been pulled and composted. Now we wait and stare at a stagnant exterior environment until the last frost in the spring. Sometimes as gardeners it's hard in the fall to practice leaving some perennials alone. We just want to get everything done and have things look as tidy as possible. This practice does not have to happen with all perennials. By leaving some plants in your garden you leave behind some visual interests and the birds that do not migrate will entertain you on those boring days as they feed on seeds.
This Sedum (Autumn Joy) for example has great color, would look great in any white landscape and the birds just love to nibble on their seeds. Again… this is not for everybody, some like to have a tight compact garden and don't mind a simple white landscape. Now keep in mind, not all perennials look good without a good pruning, in fact some should be pruned hard to prevent foliage disease or to not give shelter to harmful insect and pathogens. In that case all debris should be disposed of and NOT composted. The important thing is to just know your plants and their characteristics.
Below are some helpful links that I'm sure will help guide you.


Nip off to New Zealand and check out Christchurch or adventure in Auckland with these amazing deals from Virgin! Travel during May/June 2019. All bags and meals included, and all flights are direct (except Adelaide, sorry)!
All flights are with Virgin Australia and are direct from all cities except Adelaide, which will involve brief layovers in Melbourne in both directions. Virgin Australia are a full service airline, so all checked baggage, in-flight meals and entertainment will be included.


For sale is AVALON VT-737 SP in great cosmetic and working condition, less then 5 hours use. All buttons, knobs and lights working as they should. This makes the perfect front end for any recording setup- and with the mod, it's great for mixing and mastering as well.
Upgrade your rack and start slathering some butter on your tracks with this sweet unit! The Avalon VT-737SP features a combination of TUBE preamplifiers, opto-compressor, sweep equalizer, output level and VU metering in a 2U space. PREAMPLIFIER The VT-737SP has three input selections: 1. A higher-performance microphone input transformer with +48v phantom selection.
Instrument DI high source input with jack located on front panel. Balanced line input, discrete high-level Class A. A high gain switch boosts the overall gain of the preamplifier. The four high quality tubes are configured as singled ended anode coupled followers.
A passive-variable high pass filter and hard-wire relay bypass completes the input signal conditioning. The phase reverse relay is available on all three inputs. OPTO-COMPRESSOR The opto-compressor features a minimum signal path design with twin Class A vacuum tube triodes for gain matching.
The optical attenuator acts as a simple passive level controller. Full dynamic control from soft compression to hard- knee limiting can be achieved with threshold, ratio-compression, attack and release controls plus gain reduction selection on the large VU meter. Special spectral control including de-ess is available with the dual sweep mid EQ to side-chain switch. The EQ section can be flipped pre or post the opto-compressor via a front panel switch for alternate effects and tone shaping.
Two VT-737SPs can be linked via a rear panel link cable for stereo tracking. The compressor bypass is a sealed silver relay for the most direct signal path. SWEEP-EQUALIZER AND OUTPUT LEVEL The VT-737SP equalizer utilizes 100% discrete, Class A-high-voltage transistors for optimum sonic performance. The high and low frequency bands provide the smooth characteristics of an all passive design, while the dual mid bands include variable frequency and switched Q-width selection. The enhanced range of the mid bands is extended into the high and low bands by the use of X10 frequency multipliers.
The bypass switch incorporates a sealed silver relay for the most direct signal path. When the EQ to sidechain is engaged, the high-low EQ remains in the audio path for "tone enhancement". The output level control provides a variable control of the overall signal path. The output amplifier utilizes another dual triode vacuum tube driving a 100% discrete, Class A, high-current, balanced and DC coupled low noise output amplifier.
AVALON VT-737SP FEATURES Vacuum tube triode signal path, transformer balanced microphone input, high-voltage circuits for maximum headroom to +30dB, low noise -92dB, internal discrete power supply with toroidal transformer, soft-start tube life extender, stereo link for compressors, all discrete Class A equalizer with musical passive filter design, sealed silver relays for signal routing, large control knobs with professional conductive plastic potentiometers, VU meter for output level monitoring and compressor gain reduction. I will except return if this is damaged or not working. The item "Avalon VT-737 SP Class A Vacuum Tube Microphone Preamp Excellent Condition" is in sale since Tuesday, November 6, 2018. This item is in the category "Musical Instruments & Gear\Pro Audio Equipment\Preamps & Channel Strips".
The seller is "foreplayer" and is located in Deer Park, Texas. This item can be shipped to United States.


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Visual Arts Centre To Open In City
Ilex, the urban regeneration company for Derry~Londonderry, is assisting Creative Village Arts in the refurbishment of artists' studios in the Pump Street area of the city.
Creative Village Arts, which received £135,000 from the Department for Social Development's City of Culture Capital Fund, will offer studio space for artists and an educational centre at Pump Street Courtyard.
The project, which is due to complete in April, will complement established venues like the Playhouse, Gordon Gallery and the Centre for Contemporary Art.
Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland said: "I am pleased that my Department has been able to provide financial support for this worthwhile project. Enhanced local facilities such as this one will provide a positive contribution to the UK City of Culture 2013 celebrations as well as leaving a legacy for young artists of the future".
Ilex's Cultural Broker, Caoimhin Corrigan, said: "This project will be a focal point for visual artists within the city walls and will play a unique part in contributing to our thriving arts community in 2013 and beyond. It will also bring a historic building back to life, adding value to the city centre."
Creative Village Arts (CVA) Director, Janet Hoy, said they will distribute advice about the 'business' of being an artist, and will help create opportunities for exhibiting works. She said: "CVA's directors have a background in business which is a little unusual in the arts community, and we hope that with this experience, we can assist fellow artists with the more practical obstacles that can hinder their progression in making a viable living. This can mean anything from budgeting for an Arts Council grant to co-ordinating submissions for open exhibitions. CVA aims to help galvanise a currently fragmented network of artists in the North West to come together, raise their profile and increase opportunities for all artists in this region".
Managing Director of Inner City Trust (ICT), Helen Quigley, said: "We are delighted to support this project and bring one of our most characterful buildings back into use. This is just one in a series of transformative projects in the heart of the city which will be coming to fruition in the coming months and will be available for everyone to enjoy. The ICT is working hard with organisations like Creative Village Arts to bring the culture of Derry~Londonderry to life in this special year and provide a lasting legacy for years to come".


Adopting just a few feng shui principles can make your life happier and less chaotic. Read on to learn which design tips create this energizing effect.
According to ancient Chinese thought, your chi (qi) – or life force – flows throughout your body. If your chi is ever blocked, your body will suffer ailment and malaise. This is why some acupuncturists seek to redirect chi through your body through the strategic placement of needles.
In the same way, you can redirect the energy of your home through decoration and design. Here are some of the most basic principles for allowing chi to circulate freely throughout your home.
Clear clutter – Items that are tossed about the counter and floor block movement through your space and give off depressed (si chi) energy. Clean your clutter by separating your excess items in "keep," "give away" and "unsure" piles. Let go of the "give away" pile and any items in the "unsure" pile that you don't use in a year.
Though you may prefer it, you can't simply toss your items in a closet or under the bed. Feng shui emphasizes minimalism. Without this, none of the other principles will make a difference in your mood and energy.
Invite light and air into your space – Light and air bring levity and vitality to your living space. Invite light in by keeping windows clean and visible, using a sheer curtain for privacy if necessary. With light fixtures, keep their glow soft and dispersed, not beaming in one spot.
Mirrors can create the illusion of light in darker spaces. Just be sure to avoid mirrors right as you walk in the front door, in front of or above your bed or directly facing each other. If you don't like mirrors, crystals and reflective metallic surfaces can achieve the same effect.
For air, open the windows every now and then and bring plants into the home. The oxygen they produce will improve the quality of your air.
Understand the paths of energy – If it helps, visualize chi as a stream of water flowing in your front door and throughout your home. You don't want the chi to get pooled in corners, but at the same time, you don't want the chi to flow out any other doors and windows too quickly.
Make sure that you can walk freely about your furniture. This includes being able to reach all couches, dining room chairs and both sides of the bed – even if you live alone. Doorways should be free of obstructions.
Lastly, you must avoid attacking energy (sai chi). Most commonly, this occurs when a sharp corner from furniture or the wall is pointed directly at your loved ones. If you can, choose furniture with rounded corners and make sure sharp corners and not pointed at your couch or bed.
Though feng shui is based on nature and balance, the principles are not as unstructured as you may assume. To achieve good feng shui, you should use a Bagua (or Pakua), which is a map that tells you how to decorate each area of your home. It is based on the symbols contained in an ancient Chinese text called the I Ching.
There are two ways to use the Bagua in your home. The classical or traditional way requires you to use a feng shui compass (Lo-Pan) to measure your orientation of your home in relation to your front door, which is the portal that invites energy into your home. By contrast, the Western style is much more flexible, letting you section your living area into nine equally sized spaces. You decorate eight of the spaces as you would with a traditional Bagua without worrying about location or orientation. The ninth space incorporates elements from the other eight sections.
Let the elements be your guide – In the traditional Bagua, each part of your home corresponds to a different element. There are five basic elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.
Choose the right colors – Depending on the element you are trying to elicit in each area of your home, each space should have a set color scheme. For example, in a fire area, you might rely on warm and passionate red and orange tones.
Vary your shapes – In addition to color, shapes can evoke symbolic meaning. Sturdy, square-shaped furniture can remind you of earth, for instance, whereas gentle waves are reminiscent of water.
The center of your home – which corresponds to the middle section of the Bagua map – affects well-being and balance.
All nine areas of your home should reflect these wishes and goals for the future.
Brohn Homes understands that you want your home to be both comfortable and the fullest extension of yourself. That's why we let every one of our clients pick from a multitude of top-quality finish and feature options to truly make their home their own. Whether you choose stainless steel for your metal element or maple cabinets for your wood element, we will make sure your home makes you feel happy and energized.
Contact us to learn more about Brohn's personalized design process.


Hire the best illustrators near Kansas City.
Toptal is a marketplace for top remote illustrators. Top companies and start-ups in Kansas City choose Toptal Illustrators design freelancers for their mission-critical initiatives.


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Time to shake up higher education
Richard Vedder
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Michigan rightly prides itself on having some fine public universities.
The flagship school, the University of Michigan, is considered by virtually all college rankers to be among the nation's five best public universities.
An objective examination of Wolverine State schools, however, shows several weaknesses.
There is apparent severe overcapacity accompanying sharply declining enrollments, which demographic factors suggest likely will not reverse soon. Additionally, outside observers rate most Michigan public universities just so-so in quality.
Perhaps the time has come to consider a new model for funding those universities, letting what Joseph Schumpeter termed "creative destruction" in dynamic competitive markets operate in higher education.
Universities across the country are struggling to fill classrooms. Headcount enrollment at Michigan's 15 public universities fell nearly 13% between 2012 and 2021. Excluding the two largest and most prestigious schools, the main campus of the University of Michigan and Michigan State, the enrollment decline is a sharp 22%. Enrollment fell 25% or more at Ferris State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Lake Superior, and Saginaw Valley.
Neighboring Ohio, with a significantly larger population, has fewer schools. The amount of capital infrastructure of Michigan schools is actually increasing as instructional needs decline: Colleges had 63.7 million square feet of instructional space in 2011-12, a figure that rose to 70.6 million square feet by 2020-21.
Moreover, American academic facilities are scandalously underutilized, being largely unused about four months a year.
As potential students become increasingly aware of the risks of attending college and question the return on collegiate investments, there has been a massive nationwide flight to quality.
It is no accident that the three best public schools in Michigan, according to the popular US News rankings — Michigan, Michigan State, and Michigan Technological University — are the only three public universities to record enrollment increases from 2012 to 2021. Students apparently reasoned that attending the perceived lower-quality schools leads to fewer good postgraduate jobs and costs nearly as much as the top universities.
In the more comprehensive Wall Street Journal rankings of nearly 800 American schools, only two of the 14 ranked Michigan public universities were in the top quartile (U-of-M and MSU), while six were in the bottom quartile (ranked below 600): Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Grand Valley State, Northern Michigan, Oakland U., and Saginaw State.
Data from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard explain the massive flight to quality.
Compare high-ranked U-of-M with nearby low-ranked Eastern Michigan. At the University of Michigan, 92% graduate within eight years of entry, compared with only 52% at EMU. The median annual earnings 10 years after attending the U-of-M were $76,000, 65% higher than at EMU, despite similar average college costs.
Future college students understand that and desperately try to get into the perceived best schools.
It's time to reimagine Michigan's higher education by funding students instead of universities.
Six Michigan schools have fewer than 10,000 students, only one of which (Michigan Technological University) has a good regional reputation according to national rankings.
The Detroit metro area has five state universities — Michigan and EMU are less than 15 minutes apart.
If state funds going to subsidize universities instead were given directly to students, "state" universities would effectively be privatized. If those schools were allowed to charge whatever fees they wanted, it's likely that some institutions with students would flourish, while others would flounder and either close or merge with stronger schools.
Markets would reallocate resources according to consumer preferences, rather than political maneuvering.
Progressives and conservatives should love this. State-funded scholarships (sometimes called vouchers) could be targeted to especially help the poor. While a standard scholarship might be, say, $6,000, super wealthy individuals might receive less (or even nothing), while those in poverty could get more, say $10,000 or even $15,000 awards.
Want to promote academic excellence? Reward students with especially high performance additional money for their achievement. Remove scholarships for those failing to meet minimal academic standards.
Universities should be allowed to alter their governance structure and abandon other state regulatory restraints when privatized.
In time, perhaps existing private Michigan colleges should be eligible to participate, as well.
American higher education needs shaking up.
Michigan can lead the way.
Richard Vedder is distinguished professor of economics at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.
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Foreign correspondent at the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT), where he covers the Baltic countries.
Foreign correspondent at the Swedish news agency Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT), where he covers the Baltic countries. Among Bengtsson's publications: Hotad frihet. Baltisk kris i skuggan av Moskva [Threatened Freedom: Baltic Crisis in the Shadow of Moscow] (2008).
Earlier this year in Vilnius, the Socialist People's Front leader Algirdas Paleckis was fined 10,400 litas (about 3,000 euros) for denying and grossly downplaying Soviet aggression against Lithuania the night of January 13, 1991.
Populist temptation has always haunted Latvia. Not less now, when voters are struggling to recover from Europe´s deepest GDP-fall. "People want change", says professor Runcis who fears that Zatlers can not deliver that, and so distrust of politicians might grow. The political scientist is worried about the ex-presidents lack of competence in the economic field, and he is critical of Zatler´s political ambitions.
After a fall in GDP of 25 percent and two and a half years of hard budget slashing, Latvia's economy is growing again. In this moment of hope, the country is suddenly thrown into political turmoil. Corruption has grown out of hand, and the Latvian president has decided that enough is enough.
Poles in Lithuania are a minority who want to strengthen their identity. They are now demanding to have their names spelled correctly in official records.


• In 2014, some 2,020 abortions were provided in West Virginia, though not all abortions that occurred in West Virginia were provided to state residents, as some patients may have traveled from other states; likewise, some individuals from West Virginia may have traveled to another state for an abortion. There was a 14% decline in the abortion rate in West Virginia between 2011 and 2014, from 7 to 6.0 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. Abortions in West Virginia represent 0.2% of all abortions in the United States.
•There were 5 abortion-providing facilities in West Virginia in 2014, and 2 of those were clinics. These numbers represent a 25% increase since 2011 in overall providers, and no change in clinics from 2011, when there were 4 abortion providers overall, of which 2 were clinics.
•In 2014, some 98% of West Virginia counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 90% of West Virginia women lived in those counties.


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The Nest puts chefs on Net at Foodoo website
By System Administrator May 19, 2000 12:00 am January 30, 2015 11:53 am
Several leading chefs and cookery writers have become equity partners in a new culinary website, Foodoo.com, which launched this week. The site has been designed by branding specialist The Nest.
Foodoo.com will provide free access to more than 2000 recipes. These are supplied by an array of contributors, including chefs Gordon Ramsay, Gary Rhodes, Anthony Worrall Thompson, John Torode, Sophie Grigson and Ken Hom, plus best-selling wine author Hugh Johnson.
All the chefs have sections within the site, reflecting their own personality while including clear Foodoo branding. More than 200 images of raw ingredients by Australian photographer Earl Carter are featured, plus illustrations by Charlie Kinsman, a senior graphic designer at The Nest.
Foodoo.com was co-founded by former management consultants Chris Reohr and Martin Murphy, along with television producer Red Johnson and former head of PR and marketing at the Conran Restaurant Group, Victoria Parnis.
Johnson says: "We are using the latest technology, normally associated with the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, to allow people to reconnect with life's simple pleasures. Our brand is meant to represent all that is good about food and drink and our goal is to make people's cookery lives easier and more fun."
The Nest managing director Alex Willcock says, "We wanted the brand to be very approachable, so we created our own font for the identity which has an organic and friendly feel to it."
18 May 2000 Projects
Forte plans website with on-line booking service
Landor/ Enterprise stay separate
Rodney Fitch takes Robert Dyas on-line
Finalists named in Dome future
Lastra 8 light by Antonio Citterio for Flos


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Former TDOT commissioner Shroer says technology trumps asphalt, rail for solving traffic woes
Posted by John McBryde
Former TDOT Commissioner John Schroer shares some of his experiences while Matt Largen of Williamson Inc. looks on Friday morning at First Friday. // Photo by John McBryde
By JOHN McBRYDE
Now that John Schroer is no longer leader of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, he can perhaps be a little more candid with his thoughts on traffic.
That was his style Friday morning as guest speaker for the Williamson, Inc. First Friday session at the E-Spaces office in Cool Springs. The monthly event is geared toward business leaders, small-business owners and others in business. Schroer shared some thoughts on his reign as TDOT commissioner for both terms of Gov. Bill Haslam's administration.
And when a member of the audience asked how to get three additional lanes on Interstate 65 going north and three more lanes going south, Schroer abruptly answered, "You don't."
He went on to explain why widening the interstates or other roadways is not going to end traffic jams. And for that matter, he also put something of a kibosh on the idea of a rail system.
"Asphalt will not get us out of congestion," Schroer said. "That's not the solution. And rail is not the solution. A lot of people think that's the answer. It's not. Technology is the answer. Technology will solve our issues with regards to congestion. It will take a little while, it will be gradual, but that's what it's going to take."
More: Williamson County Transportation Summit: Cash and collaboration are keys to developing transit
Schroer, who served as mayor of Franklin before taking the position with TDOT, pointed out some facts and figures to support his insistence that technology leads the way on transportation.
"Technology will cost $100 million and can get done in four or five years," he explained. "A new lane from Murfreesboro on both sides to Nashville will cost $800 million and would take about 10-15 years to get done. A rail – light rail or commercial rail — would cost about $3 billion and would probably take about 20-25 years to get accomplished."
Ironically, perhaps, one of Schroer's last acts as TDOT commissioner was to join other officials in breaking ground last January for the asphalt going down on the Mack Hatcher Northwest Quadrant that will connect Hillsboro Road to Highway 96 West.
The $45 million project, which is well under way, includes a new two-lane roadway from Hillsboro Road to Highway 96 on the west side of Franklin with a 12-foot wide multi-use path and half-mile long bridge that spans the bend in the Harpeth River around Brownland Farm.
More: Mack Hatcher readies for next phase after jovial groundbreaking ceremony
Schroer said at the time that it was fitting that his final groundbreaking should happen in his hometown, but on Friday he said the Mack Hatcher extension wasn't among his most important projects.
"You have to remember, I ran the whole state," Schroer told the Franklin Home Page after the event had ended. "I was at a hearing in Westhaven and they were all [complaining] about that road and why weren't we building it, and I said, 'You know, no one has ever died going from Westhaven to Five Points on 96. I've got roads across this state where people are dying. I need to fix those first.' "
Tags:TDOTtransportationWilliamson Inc.
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John McBryde
State offers Mitsubishi $3.3M in grants
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Reward offered for info on burglary at Leipers Fork Market


You can access tailored career advice through the OA. A career consultation is valuable wherever you are in your transition journey.
To help make your transition easier, we have produced a guide that encourages you to think about your career options in different ways.
Military veterans are to be offered the chance to make a career change to working in the film industry.
Matt Wright and Freddie Milne, former Army captains and FDM Ex-Forces Consultants, share their top transition tips and how FDM can support your career journey.
Cyber security is increasingly becoming the next career for many Service leavers. The growing industry requires people with a solid understand of security procedures and practice, who can work well under pressure, which are attributes that suit former officers.
This one-day event will equip you with the latest advice and knowledge you need to approach your transition and/or continue your second career with confidence.
Lincoln Coutts is a Social Media Consultant with 17 years of experience. He shares his top tips on using social media in your professional life.
Nick Channer, a former Colonel in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, networked with confidence after attending an OA career event, leading to his first civilian role.


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Game Review: Dragon Age 2
With the imminent arrival of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the fact that Laura has been playing it, I finally went back and played Dragon Age 2 again. I had played it a bit when it first came out, but for a number of reasons I don't recall I guess I just kinda put it aside and never returned.
Which is odd, because I generally like Bioware games. Or I did. I'm not sure how I feel about them anymore.
During the events of Dragon Age: Origins, a family from the small town of Lothering flees the coming Blight--a terrible event in which vicious, undead-ish creatures called Darkspawn emerge from the depths of the earth to wage war with the surface. With their homeland of Ferelden apparently lost to the Darkspawn, the family flees toward the coast where they seek passage to the mother's homeland, a city called Kirkwall.
While Ferelden is eventually saved by the hero from the previous game, you and your family make due in this city where your mother's family has lost its standing, the mages are severely oppressed by the templars, and a group of mysterious Qunari have taken residence.
The first time I played through the game, I think I trailed off after the end of Act I. For whatever reason, I was very tired of the game at that point.
This time wasn't much different. My obsessive nature requires that I explore everything and open every clickable item in order to gather junk, most of which I sell for pennies. As a result, I explore each map carefully so that I never have to bother exploring them again.
However, in each new act suddenly all the barrels, boxes, and other things are once again willed with junk, so I end up re-exploring every map. It's tedious. Self-inflicted, too, but money's not easy to come by in the game--there's a finite amount out there, so you can't just grind and upgrade to the best equipment all the time, you'll never have that much money.
There's two points there, one good and one bad. Let's start with the good:
I actually love the fact that money is scarce in the game. Saving and spending money becomes a tactical decision, and I think that's brilliant. (Battles likewise are limited--you can't infinitely grind for levels.) Very few RPGs are willing to do that, it seems, but Bioware games usually do. I'm sure some people dislike that quality, but I think scarcity makes for an interesting mechanic.
The bad thing, though, is that exploring the same areas again and again is really one of the most disappointing things about the game. In fact, I'd say it's the game's primary fault: they really, really skimped on the level design. Every time you enter a cave you pretty much already know how to navigate it, since every cave has the same basic layout, slightly edited to suit the purpose of the event. Same for every temple, every mansion, every hovel, and undercity tunnel.
The original Mass Effect did something similar, but it felt different: everything you did in the main plot of Mass Effect has unique maps, and it opened the door to striking visual effects. The reused maps were all in side missions, usually found randomly during an exploration of deep space, and usually only after exploring the huge maps of any of the massive, unique planets scattered throughout the galaxy.
Dragon Age 2 has little in the way of striking visuals except, sometimes, in the transition of one chapter to the next. Within a chapter, though, everything feels pretty tedious, especially by the time you hit the second act. There are a number of quests you have to complete within a chapter to finish that chapter, but often those quests feel no different from any of the side-quests, right down to the reused maps.
Also, the actual design of many of those maps are weird. Hovels feel way too open to be hovels. Countless candles are left burning all over the place, even in the poorest houses. I'm pretty sure one house was actually being lit by a pile of burning rubbish piled against a wall. Is nobody worried about all these open flames everywhere?
(Actually, I probably wouldn't have noticed it so much if Laura hadn't pointed it out. Afterward, though, it was impossible to miss.)
One more irritating thing about the game was its tendency to use waves and waves of enemies, popping out of thin air in the middle of any given battle. Seriously, if you get in a battle with a mob on the streets, you can pretty much count on at least two waves of reinforcements. Having to deal with long battles against unimportant enemies added to the tedium of the game.
That said, the game has some good qualities. The best part is the characters: most of your party members are interesting and fun to have around in one way or another. I didn't like any of my romantic options when I played through originally with a female character: Anders is pushy and too intense, Fenris is ten kinds of broody, and Isabela isn't my kind of match. As a male, though, Merril was available, and she's pretty adorable. She has problems like anyone else, but I could see a relationship working given her personality. Too bad Varric wasn't an option, but he kind of carried the story in a different way.
Speaking of which, the story itself was told in a pretty cool sort of way: having Varric relate the story to an inquisitor (which by the way, hint hint, is gonna be your job in the next game) was pretty cool. My favorite parts were when the game reminded you of that conceit randomly during a quest, which unfortunately wasn't terribly often. In fact, the game often goes so long without showing Varric's inquisition, it's kind of a surprise when it reminds you of it.
The first act is okay--fairly predictable, but fun at times, story-wise. Interestingly, I think act two becomes the most interesting chapter by the end, mostly because I find the Qunari fascinating. Act three takes a fascinating, rough turn near the end, but otherwise it's pretty much what you expected to happen from the beginning.
The good: fun characters, cool storytelling method (though underused in the game), good use of scarcity, and a cool story.
The bad: lazy level design, tedious battles
Unfortunately, you're likely to spend a lot more time fighting tedious battles in the lazily designed levels than you are to be spending quality time with the characters and experiencing the story proper, so it's kind of a hard sell for me. I'm glad I finished it, and I'm hopeful for the next one. I don't expect I'll be playing through it again, though.
Author: Unknown Published: 12:33 AM
Tags: bioware, dragon age, gaming, review, video games
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Airbus A320neo – odmiana Airbusa A320, stanowiąca modernizację rodziny A320. Model ten jest ostatnim krokiem programu A320Enhanced (A320E). Główną zmianę w stosunku do modelu A320 stanowią nowe silniki – CFM International LEAP-1A lub Pratt & Whitney PW1100G oraz sharklety (większe zaokrąglone końcówki skrzydeł).

Wersje

A320neo
24 listopada 2015 roku poinformowano o zakończeniu certyfikacji wąskokadłubowych samolotów pasażerskich rodziny A320neo wyposażonych w jednostki napędowe Pratt & Whitney Pure Power PW1100G-JM. Uzyskano w ten sposób równocześnie dwa certyfikaty European Aviation Safety Agency oraz Federal Aviation Administration. W procesie certyfikacji uczestniczyły trzy maszyny testowe, które w ramach wymagań spędziły w powietrzu łącznie 1070 godzin, wykonując 350 lotów. Z tego 300 godzin nalotu wykonał egzemplarz w standardowej konfiguracji pasażerskiej, symulując normalne operacje w ramach regularnych połączeń. Program certyfikacji trwał 14 miesięcy. Terminowe uzyskanie certyfikatów EASA i FAA dało możliwości ich dostarczania. A320neo jest najczęściej kupowanym modelem z rodziny A320, do czasu rozpoczęcia dostaw zebrano ponad 3000 potwierdzonych zamówień na ten typ. Do testów i certyfikacji przeznaczono łącznie cztery A320neo oraz po dwa A321neo i 319neo.

Wariant A320neo ma charakteryzować się niższym zużyciem paliwa o 15% w stosunku do pierwszej generacji. Do 2020 roku zużycie paliwa ma być obniżone nawet do 20%. Nowy model ma również emitować mniej hałasu oraz spalin. Modyfikacją wprowadzoną przez konstruktorów jest też nowa aranżacja kabiny pasażerskiej nazwana Cabin Flex z możliwością zabrania dodatkowych 20 pasażerów bez utraty komfortu podróży.

Z powodów problemów technicznych z silnikami PW1100G, które wymagały 3 minutowego rozruchu Qatar Airways nie zgodziły się na odbiór samolotów, który planowano na grudzień 2015. Pierwszy samolot napędzany silnikami PW1100G dostarczono do Lufthansy 12 lutego 2016. Pierwszy A320neo z silnikami CFM LEAP-1A dostarczono 19 lipca 2016 do Pegasus Airlines. Z powodu zbyt wolnych dostaw podzespołów do silników, w tym aluminiowo-tytanowych łopat wirników, Pratt & Whitney musiał spowolnić dostawy silników do 150 w 2016 i 350 szt. w 2017 roku. Z tego powodu w kwietniu 2016 ponad 20 A320neo nie mogło być dostarczonych oczekując na zamontowanie silników. 13 lutego 2018 EASA uziemiła A320neo i A321neo wyposażone w silniki z rodziny PW1100G-JM po tym jak dochodziło w nich do wyłączenia się silnika w locie z powodu drgań. Pratt & Whitney 22 lutego wznowił produkcję silników rozwiązując problem poprzez wymianę wadliwych uszczelek, których uszkodzenie mogło prowadzić do zatarcia silnika. Problem dotyczył 43 silników na 32 samolotach spośród 113 dostarczonych samolotów z tymi silnikami. Airbus do czasu wprowadzenia planu naprawczego zmuszony był spowolnić dostawy A320neo, aby wyprodukowane silniki zamontować na uziemionych egzemplarzach.

A321neo
9 lutego 2016 w Hamburgu oblatano wydłużoną o prawie 7 metrów wersję A320, zabierająca ok. 40 dodatkowych pasażerów. Pierwszy z dwóch prototypów napędzały silniki CFM International Leap-1A, ponieważ PW1100G-JM znajdował się w fazie usuwania problemów z chłodzeniem. Faza testów i certyfikacji została wstrzymana na kilka tygodni w celu dokonania napraw po tym jak pierwszy prototyp uderzył częścią ogonową w ziemię. Drugi egzemplarz z silnikami Pratt & Whitney PW1135G-JM wykonał pierwszy lot 9 marca 2016. A321neo z silnikami PW uzyskał wspólny certyfikat typu EASA i FAA 15 grudnia 2016. Wersja z silnikami Leap-1A uzyskała je 1 marca 2017.

Samolot o standardowej pojemności 164-206 pasażerów (maksymalnie 240 miejsc, wobec 220 w pierwotnym A321-200) cieszy się równie dużym zainteresowaniem linii co wersja podstawowa, przed rozpoczęciem dostaw Airbus zebrał zamówienia na 1388 sztuk. Samolot jest o dwa metry dłuższy od zaprezentowanego w marcu 2017 Boeinga 737 MAX 9, którego do tego czasu zamówiono w ilości 418 sztuk. W odpowiedzi Boeing zapowiedział stworzenie większej wersji Boeing 737 MAX 10. Sprzedaż MAX 10 ruszyła na Paris Air Show pod koniec lipca 2017 i przekroczyła 250 sztuk kosztem konwersji zamówień z MAX 9 na MAX 10, w tym 100 sztuk MAX 10 zamówiły United Airlines. Oprócz 737 MAX 10X Boeing rozważa koncept New Mid-range Aircraft (NMA lub 797) dla 190-210 pasażerów w konfiguracji klasowej o zasięgu 7400-8300 km, który jest poszukiwany dla połączeń transkontynentalnych wśród linii tj. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines, Air Canada.

A321 swoimi rozmiarami wypełnia dolny segment środka rynku (znany jako MOM) zajmowany także przez nieprodukowany od 2004 roku Boeing 757-200. Dla zastąpienia tych maszyn w 2014 roku wprowadzono wersję neo oznaczoną A321LR o zasięgu zwiększonym z 6850 km do 7400 km dzięki zwiększonej masie startowej z 93,5 do 97 ton z trzema dodatkowymi zbiornikami paliwa w kadłubie. Linie Norwegian Air Shuttle w 2016 zamówiły 30 A321LR do lotów transatlantyckich. W 2015 roku największy użytkownik A321-200 American Airlines z ponad 200 szt. we flocie wprowadził A321 na połączeniach z Hawajami samoloty oznaczone A321H, które otrzymały sharklety i certyfikat ETOPS do lotów nad oceanem. 5 stycznia 2018 w Hamburgu zaprezentowano A321neo ACF (Airbus Cabin Flex) w konfiguracji maksymalnej 240 pax lub 206 miejsc w standardowej konfiguracji. Najbardziej znaczące zmiany to nowe położenie wyjść ewakuacyjnych (usunięto drugą parę drzwi przed skrzydłami, trzecia para została przesunięta bliżej ogona, a nad skrzydłami umieszczono dwie pary wyjść ewakuacyjnych) oraz dodanie nawet dwóch rzędów siedzeń w ogonie samolotu poprzez przeniesienie toalet do tyłu i przesunięcie pozostałych foteli. Pierwszy A321neo w konfiguracji Cabin Flex dostarczono do Turkish Airlines 13 lipca 2018. ACF stanie się standardem produkcyjnym dla A321neo od 2020 roku oraz jest bazą dla wersji A321LR. Pierwszy A321LR (MSN7877) oblatano 31 stycznia 2018, napędzany był silnikami LEAP-1A. 15 lutego 2018 samolot wykonał pierwszy transatlantycki lot z Paryża (Le Bourget) do Nowego Jorku (JFK). W tym czasie Airbus miał zamówienia na ponad 100 szt. A321LR od m.in. Norwegian, Air Transat, Aer Lingus, TAP Portugal.

20 kwietnia 2017 dostarczono pierwszy A321neo napędzany silnikami Leap-1A do linii Virgin America (należące do grupy Alaska Airlines). 7 września 2017 dostarczono pierwszy A321neo z silnikami PW1100G-JM dla All Nippon Airways.

A319neo
31 marca 2017 oblatano model A319neo napędzany silnikami CFM International Leap-1A. Najkrótsza wersja samolotu ma długość 33,8 m i zabiera 140-160 pasażerów. Cieszy się minimalnym zainteresowaniem linii, przed pierwszym lotem zebrano zamówienia na zaledwie 55 sztuk, a do końca 2017 roku liczba ta spadła do 33 szt.

Silniki
Najważniejszą zmianą w drugiej generacji samolotów pasażerskich A320 jest wprowadzenie nowych silników turbowentylatorowych dostarczanych przez dwóch producentów: CFM International LEAP-1A lub Pratt & Whitney PW1100G PurePower. Zastąpiły one silniki CFM International CFM56 i IAE V2500 montowane na A320 kolejno od 1988 i 1989 roku. Nowe silniki zwiększyły współczynnik dwuprzepływowości do 11:1 (LEAP-1A) i 12:1 (PW1100G) w porównaniu do 6:1 w V2500. Charakteryzują się większymi wentylatorami wlotowymi o przekątnej 198 cm w LEAP-1A i 208 cm w PW1100G wobec 168 cm w V2500. Silnik CFM LEAP mają konwencjonalną architekturę zapożyczoną od General Electric GE90 w której wentylator i wał obracają się z tą samą prędkością, siedmiostopniową sprężarkę niskiego ciśnienia, bliski (łopatki zintegrowane z piastą) i materiały kompozytowe. Silniki LEAP nastawione są na zmniejszenie zużycia paliwa poprzez wzrost sprawności termicznej, a PW1100 na wzrost sprawności napędowej poprzez wzrost przepływu powietrza w komorze wewnętrznej. W silniku PW1100G zastosowano przekładnię redukcyjną na wale (FDGS) przez co wentylator obraca się z prędkością 1/3 prędkości obrotowej turbiny niskiego ciśnienia, dzięki czemu silnik może mieć większy wentylator bez ryzyka powstania wibracji na końcach łopatek i dodatkowego hałasu, a turbina niskiego ciśnienia ma tylko trzy stopnie sprężenia. Nowe silniki powinny zużywać o 12-16% mniej nafty, dzięki czemu wzrośnie zasięg samolotów, emitować będą mniejszy hałas oraz o 10% mniej dwutlenków azotu i węgla.

A320neo oferuje dwa typy silników w porównaniu z konkurencyjnym Boeing 737 MAX, który wykorzystuje wyłącznie silniki CFM LEAP-1B z mniejszym wentylatorem i stopniem sprężenia 9:1. Jest to spowodowane nisko umieszczonym kadłubem całej rodziny 737. Pozostałymi konkurentami rodziny Airbusa A320neo są rosyjski Irkut MS-21 (P&W PW1400G) oraz chiński Comac C919 (CFM LEAP-1C).

Produkcja

Przypisy

Samoloty pasażerskie
A320neo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Housing Market Is Still in a Depression
Daniel Indiviglio
The industry continues to suffer and remains a drag on the rest of the economy
Following the bubble, the housing market's pain has been deep and persistent. This isn't merely a cyclical downturn. Even six years after the market peaked, the healing process has not yet begun. The industry isn't in recession: it's in a depression.
On Monday, billionaire investor Warren Buffett made this assertion. He's right, but not for the reason he states. Here's the Associated Press quoting what Buffett said to CNBC, via Bloomberg:
Buffett told CNBC on Monday that housing construction is "in a depression, not a recession" because there is still an oversupply of homes.
By digging into the data, the depth of the industry's problems becomes clearer, but it appears to have little to do with the current supply of homes.
Is It a Depression?
Determining whether an industry is in a recession is tough, because there is no such technical definition. So let's create one based on commonly held explanations of what defines an economic depression. Generally, I hear two main criteria -- that output has declined by 10% or that a recession has been underway for 2 or more years. Another characteristic of a depression might be for unemployment to rise above 20%.
The output decline is clear enough by looking at the residential investment component of U.S. GDP. Here's how it has changed since it peaked in 2005:
In the fourth quarter of 2005, residential investment peaked at $783.5 billion. Residential investment bounced at the bottom of its trough at $321.1 billion in both the third quarter of 2010 and again in the first quarter of 2011. It has increased modestly since then. From peak to trough, residential investment was down a devastating 59%. If this doesn't show a depression, I'm not sure what does.
Period of Contraction
Another way to look this picture would be to consider for how long annual residential investment has been declining. Here's a chart, with this year's value projected by averaging Q1 through Q3:
For five-straight years (2006-2010), residential investment has declined. It will either decline slightly again this year for a sixth-in-a-row or remain virtually flat. Again, this appears to satisfy a reasonable definition of depression.
Measuring the unemployment rate for the housing market is a little tougher. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data alone, we can only approximate. We can add together residential building construction workers, residential specialty trade contractors, and real estate workers. That last category is likely broader than would be ideal, but we cannot otherwise include workers on the financing side of the equation, so this is the best we can do. Here's how this population of workers has changed since 2005:
The number workers peaked in April 2006 at 5.0 million. The low point was about a year ago in October 2010, when these same categories of workers summed to just 3.4 million. These subsectors have experienced negligible employment growth since then. From peak employment through October 2011, the number of workers in this group is down by an incredible 31%. While an unemployment rate is difficult to calculate, it would certainly be above 20% for this group if none of those workers left the industry. Again, a depression fits.
What About Oversupply?
The strange part is that Buffett talks about oversupply in conjunction with the housing market's problem. To be sure, an oversupply did exist at the peak of the housing bubble and possibly still does. But knowing that there is an oversupply of housing does not necessarily mean that the sector would be in a depression. There was likely an oversupply for some time even towards the latter part of the boom when the industry was thriving.
Moreover, Buffett's contention that there remains a huge oversupply of housing isn't quite right. Back in June, I showed that new construction has been so historically low for so long that population growth is beginning to catch up with housing inventory. The problem now is more one of mismatch: more rental properties will be needed, so what were built to be owner-occupied dwellings will need to be converted to rentals. Here's a chart that shows the dramatic decline in single-family home construction:
Once the rental conversion process has accounted for most of the inventory, construction jobs will begin to return. Although it's hard to know when this will happen, as the chart above implies, construction can't remain at its current very low levels for much longer. Even once those jobs do begin to grow again, however, they aren't likely to reach the numbers seen in 2006 for years.
Image Credit: Andy Dean Photography / Shutterstock
Daniel Indiviglio was an associate editor at The Atlantic from 2009 through 2011. He is now the Washington, D.C.-based columnist for Reuters Breakingviews. He is also a 2011 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow through the Phillips Foundation.


text:
Britain Finds Original Copy of US Declaration of Independence
Researchers in Britain have discovered a rare original copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, just as Americans are getting ready to mark July 4 Independence Day holiday.
Officials at the National Archives in London say the poster-sized document was hidden among correspondence from U.S. colonists. They say a local researcher discovered it by chance.
Researchers say the so-called Dunlap print is believed to be one of about 200 printed on July 4, 1776. These first copies of the Declaration of Independence were delivered to U.S. political leaders the next day.
Only a handful of the copies, named after printer John Dunlap, are known to have survived. The last known Dunlap print sold at an auction in 2000 for more than $8 million.
The Declaration of Independence formally announced the decision of the American colonists to break away from Britain. Researchers are not certain how the Dunlap copy ended up in Britain's National Archives.
Meanwhile, a London auction house is giving art lovers a chance to mark U.S. independence with a rare sculpture of George Washington. Sotheby's is auctioning off a life-sized bust of the first U.S. president on July 9. The auction house expects it to sell for a minimum of about $500,000.
Sotheby's says French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon created the bust after visiting America in 1785 to study Mr. Washington.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
Americans Get Early Start to July 4 Holiday
Many Americans are getting an early start to the July 4 Independence Day holiday in the United States, with a day off of work to enjoy the long holiday weekend.Banks and federal offices are closed and many government services curtailed Friday. Washington D.C. and New York are among the cities that will have spectacular fireworks displays on Saturday. However, many small towns have been forced to scrap or dramatically scale back their celebrations…


NIGERIA'S DAVIDSON OBENNEBO WINS THE ELITE MODEL LOOK WORLD 2016!
Elite Model Look Nigeria 2016 winner Davidson Obennebo has won his place on the global stage as he emerged as the grand winner at the worldwide finale in Lisbon.
This is a major accomplishment as the Elite Model Look competition is considered the gold standard in the fashion world.
Elite World, the world's leading model management company revealed the grand winners of Elite Model Look 2016, who were selected today, during the evaluation of a committee made up of Elite agents, international model iconsIsabeli Fontana, Alex Lundqvist and Andrés Velencoso, as well as prominent fashion industry figures.
From the 62 finalists, hailing from 36 countries the world over, one girl and one boy – 15-year-old Jana from Czech Republic, 178cm and 20-year-old Davidson from Nigeria, 190cm – were proclaimed overall winners.
Davidson captured the collective attention of the jury with his promising talents. The first model of colour to win Elite Model Look, Davidson embodies the core of Elite World, which prides itself in pushing boundaries, celebrating individuality and extoling personality. Elite Model Look is not only reflective of society, but also an instigator for change, by encouraging each and every model's individuality as a path for multiculturalism.
Jana and Davidson will receive contracts worth a guaranteed 150.000 Euros and 50.000 Euros respectively. The Top 15 Winners, 10 girls and 5 boys, will receive a two-year contract with the Elite worldwide network. For the other Top Winners, the contracts are guaranteed at 50.000 Euros minimum for the girls, and 20.000 Euros minimum for the boys.


text:
package com.acmeair.morphia.repositories;

import java.util.List;

import org.springframework.data.repository.CrudRepository;

import com.acmeair.morphia.entities.CouponImpl;

public interface CouponRepository extends CrudRepository<CouponImpl, Integer> {
  List<CouponImpl> findByCustomerIdAndIsUsed(String customerId, boolean isUsed);

  CouponImpl findTopByOrderByIdDesc();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


How do you plug an oil/gas pipeline safely to enable repair or maintenance work to be carried out in-situ with a device which meets the toughest safety standards?
There are very few companies in the world that make autonomous isolation plugs and those that do tend to make tools for large pipes, up to 56" in diameter. However, the UK based Safer Plug Company has successfully developed, patented and built a pipeline isolation plug for 6" pipeline sizes which comprises an innovative titanium gateway manifold manufactured using the additive manufacturing DMLS process (Direct Metal Laser Sintering). Among the key components used in the manifold are those supplied by miniature component specialists The Lee Company.
More than 20 Lee components were chosen for the Gateway Manifold primarily due to the very small space envelope into which they have to be packaged, along with Lee's reputation for high quality and outstanding reliability in the most challenging applications. Parts included are; Lee plugs, AFO plugs, check valves, relief valves, shuttle valves and 6 special 250 series solenoid valves (based on those used in Formula 1 racing cars).
The Gateway Manifold achieved Lloyd's Register (LR) certification in September 2017. This is acknowledged as an industry milestone as it was the first titanium part made using the additive manufacturing process certified for use in the oil and gas industry. The manifold was designed by The Safer Plug Company and manufactured by the AM production specialists 3T RPD using powder bed fusion techniques. The entire process was overseen and certified by LR using its framework, an industry first that guides manufacturers on AM processes to certify components.
Ciaran Early, Technical Director at The Safer Plug Company comments, "In taking on this initiative, LR's Additive Manufacturing group has truly opened a gateway to the future" he continued.
"LR's pivotal role is to guide suppliers through the codes, standards, controls and best practices to manufacture AM parts to ensure that end-users will have full confidence that an AM part meets the required level of criticality for that part". Amelia Stead, LR AM Surveyor and the primary technical lead on the project said, "The gateway manifold would have been nearly impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing techniques due to its complex internal channels".
Regarding the choice and performance of Lee's plugs and valves within the manifold Ciaran said "The Gateway Manifold has been designed to control any autonomous isolation plug, in pipeline sizes from 6" to 56" diameter, without changing a single Gateway Manifold component. Lee were chosen, because only their components exhibit the standards of safety and quality which provide the required level of engineering certainty that autonomous pipeline isolation plugs must always deliver".


text:
Good for Me
Good for Me (song)
Good for Me (album)
Good for Me may refer to:
Good for Me (album), by The Swellers
"Good for Me" (song), a 1992 song by Amy Grant
"Good for Me", a song by Kirsty MacColl on the album Tropical Brainstorm
"Good for Me", a song by Above & Beyond on the album Tri-State
"Good for Me", a song by Medicine on the album The Mechanical Forces of Love
"Good for Me", a song by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band from the album Against the Wind
"Good for Me", a song by Richie Kotzen from the album Change
"Good for Me", a song by Trin-i-tee 5:7 from the album 7
Good For You (disambiguation)
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Good_for_Me
"Good for Me" is a 1992 single by Christian music singer Amy Grant. It was released as the sixth single from the Heart In Motion album, but only the fourth song from the album released as a pop radio single. Its melody, lyrics, and rhythm make it the most comparable song on Heart In Motion to "Baby Baby". It was her fourth consecutive Top Five Adult Contemporary single and Top Ten Hot 100 single in the United States, reaching #4 and #8, respectively, but only matched the lukewarm success of her previous single, "That's What Love Is for" in the UK, peaking at #60.
The song is in major and uses the subtonic chord.
Grant included Mario Andretti's name in the lyrics, and subsequently was invited to sit in the Andretti family skybox at the 1992 Indianapolis 500.
Two music videos exist for "Good for Me". In the original video clip, Amy Grant frolicks and dances with another female, who was meant to be portrayed as a childhood friend of Grant's. However, once the video was completed, Grant reportedly felt that her intended message was lost and that the video had been edited in a way to make it appear as though she and her friend were lovers. Thus, Grant enlisted the help of actor/model Jme Stein, who had played her boyfriend in the video for "Baby Baby," to shoot a new video clip for "Good for Me". The second version depicts Grant dealing with her boyfriend's popularity with women. The original "Good for Me" video did appear on first pressings of the companion VHS video compilation to Heart In Motion, but only the second video was featured on the 2004 DVD collection Greatest Videos 1986-2004.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Good_for_Me_(song)
Good for Me is the third full length album by Flint, Michigan's The Swellers, and second through label Fueled by Ramen. On April 22nd, 2011 it was announced on the Alternative Press website that the album would be released on June 14th, 2011. Along with the announcement came the release of the album's track listing, album art, and a stream of the album's first single "The Best I Ever Had". Fueled by Ramen's webstore started pre-orders of the album that same day. The band sent handmade drawings with every preorder to promote the album.
All songs written by Nick Diener and Jonathan Diener.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Good_for_Me_(album)