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OSA Publishing > Optics Express > Volume 25 > Issue 24 > Page 29927
James Leger, Editor-in-Chief
Cascaded second-order optical nonlinearities in on-chip micro rings
Richard Wolf, Ingo Breunig, Hans Zappe, and Karsten Buse
Richard Wolf,1,2 Ingo Breunig,1,3 Hans Zappe,2 and Karsten Buse1,3,*
1Laboratory for Optical Systems, Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Georges-Köhler-Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
2Gisela and Erwin Sick Chair of Micro-Optics, Department of Microsystems Engineering - IMTEK, University of Freiburg, Georges-Köhler-Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
3Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM, Heidenhofstraße 8, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
*Corresponding author: karsten.buse@ipm.fraunhofer.de
R Wolf
I Breunig
H Zappe
K Buse
pp. 29927-29933
•https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.25.029927
Richard Wolf, Ingo Breunig, Hans Zappe, and Karsten Buse, "Cascaded second-order optical nonlinearities in on-chip micro rings," Opt. Express 25, 29927-29933 (2017)
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Integrated Optics
Optical frequency conversion
Phase matching
Stimulated scattering
Sum frequency generation
Integrated optics devices (130.3120)
Wavelength conversion devices (130.7405)
Optical resonators (140.4780)
Polishing (240.5450)
Thin film devices and applications (310.6845)
Original Manuscript: September 29, 2017
Revised Manuscript: November 10, 2017
Manuscript Accepted: November 10, 2017
We demonstrate cascaded Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS), Second-Harmonic Generation (SHG), and Sum-Frequency Generation (SFG) in integrated on-chip whispering-gallery resonators (WGRs). These lithium niobate-based WGRs are fabricated using highly-parallel semiconductor manufacturing techniques coupled with specialized polishing as a post-processing step and thus represent a novel means for batch fabrication of this family of non-linear devices. We achieved record high Q-factors for on-chip lithium niobate WGRs reaching up to 3 × 106. Furthermore, we present a flexible but stable coupling scheme, which gives us the opportunity to optimize the coupling regarding the non-linear optical processes we observe.
© 2017 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement
Quasi-phase-matched nonlinear optical frequency conversion in on-chip whispering galleries
Richard Wolf, Yuechen Jia, Sebastian Bonaus, Christoph S. Werner, Simon J. Herr, Ingo Breunig, Karsten Buse, and Hans Zappe
Optica 5(7) 872-875 (2018)
Cascading second-order nonlinear processes in a lithium niobate-on-insulator microdisk
Shijie Liu, Yuanlin Zheng, and Xianfeng Chen
Scattering-loss reduction of ridge waveguides by sidewall polishing
On-chip χ(2) microring optical parametric oscillator
Alexander W. Bruch, Xianwen Liu, Joshua B. Surya, Chang-Ling Zou, and Hong X. Tang
Optica 6(10) 1361-1366 (2019)
Modal phase matched lithium niobate nanocircuits for integrated nonlinear photonics
Jia-Yang Chen, Yong Meng Sua, Heng Fan, and Yu-Ping Huang
OSA Continuum 1(1) 229-242 (2018)
Article Order
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[Crossref]
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Fig. 1 a) Fabrication steps of the WGRs. b) Colored SEM image of the WGR, 200 μm in diameter and the ridge width is 7 μm, after RIE. c) Zoomed SEM view of ridge sidewall before polishing. Grey: LN substrate; Blue: 2 μm thick SiO2 layer; Red: 0.7 μm thick Single-crystalline +z-cut LN thin film; Yellow: Cr and Ti layer. d) Sidewall after polishing and removal of Cr and Ti layer.
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Fig. 2 Schematic of the optical setup for Q-factor measurement and for investigation of nonlinear optical processes. The pump light is polarized perpendicular to the optical axis of the LN thin film.
Fig. 3 Linewidth δν and coupling contrast K as a function of the voltage applied to the piezo actuator being proportional to the distance between the coupling waveguide and the WGR. The piezo actuator expands approx. 100 nm/V. Inset: Transmission at the output of the coupling waveguide as a function of the detuning of the pump-laser frequency showing a Lorentzian shape.
Fig. 4 a) Spectra of the scattered light from the WGR at 3, 7 and 13 mW pump power. Blue: Data measured with Bluewave spectrometer (measurement range 300 to 1100 nm). Grey: Data recorded by NIRQuest spectrometer (measurement range 900 to 2500 nm). Green inset: Spectrum measured at the coupling waveguide output. b) Microscope images of the WGR taken at 3, 7 and 13 mW pump power.


The European Commission has initiated at the beginning of August additional financial assistance for the countries mostly affected by the crisis, which is to be voted soon by the Council and Parliament. According to the Commission's proposal, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania, Latvia and Hungary would have the opportunity to significantly reduce their share in projects co-financed by the European Union. EU's funding would be raised from 85% to 95% as a temporary measure, contributing to stimulating growth and competitiveness of the troubled economies.
The decision includes the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Social Fund, the agricultural fund for Rural Development and the European Fisheries Fund. As a result the countries that have dramatically reduced their budgets, as a measure to fight deficits and therefore do not have the ability to invest in their own economies, would receive "more breathing space", according to EU's Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn. The total amount that would notably relieve the budgets of the six is almost 2.9 billion euros. The money is part of the programme under the Balance of Payments Mechanism for non-euro area countries - Romania, Latvia and Hungary, as well as from the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism for countries in the euro area, incorporating until now Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Each of the six states would have the right to request a 95% funding from the Commission for priority projects aiming at economic growth and employment, retraining workers, setting up business clusters or investing in transport infrastructure.
When presenting the idea, the President of the Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has stated that "these proposals are an exceptional response to exceptional circumstances. Accelerating these funds, combined with the financial assistance programmes, demonstrate the Commission's determination to boost prosperity and competitiveness in the countries mostly hit after the financial crisis – thereby contributing to a kind of 'Marshall Plan' for economic recovery".
This so called "Marshall" plan for the European funds would enable Greece to absorb almost 900 million euros additionally provided that strict rules are observed and money is aimed at "quality and sound projects", as Commissioner Johannes Hahn declared. In July Greece had already managed to settle with the Commission an increase of its EU subsidies under the Cohesion fund. However, our southern neighbour has sought to allocate only 4.9 billion of the total of 20.2 billion euros designated for Greece until 2013. In order to help Greece gain the most of its EU subsidies, the Commission will send a special task-force to the country and will also simplify some of the admissions procedures for EU financial support.
Romania which, as Bulgaria, is outside the eurozone, would receive a 700 billion euros top-up of its funds. The country has absorbed just a billion euros from the overall sum of 20 billion euros under EU's structural funds. The fundamentally insignificant allocation of EU support has been criticised by the European Commission in this year's report under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism in the area of justice and home affairs.
Despite the fact that Bulgaria is officially the poorest country in terms of household income per capita in Europe, being even worse off than Romania and Latvia for the period of 2007 -2013; and also one of the dramatic backlaggers in EU funds absorption, the country would not be a subject to a "Marshall Plan". In a research from April 2011, the official statistical agency of the EU (Eurostat) has listed us as part of the L9 - the group of 9 EU countries with the lowest real household income per capita along with Romania, Latvia, Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
In the comparisons graphics regarding the changes in relative real adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita between the L9 and the EU average for 2007- 2009 it is noted that data for Romania and Bulgaria were not available for the exercise. On the other hand Bulgaria is an excellent achiever in its fiscal policies and has not required financial assistance. All countries that would draw on the "Marshall Plan" have received rescue loans from the EU and the IMF.


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was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.' "He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"
Luke 15 [20.] "He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
Luke 15 [22.] "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate.
Luke 15 [25.] "Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.' But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
Luke 15 [31.] "He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"
Luke 16 [1.] He also said to his disciples, "There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. He called him, and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'
delight - emotion - happiness - indignation - joy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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HomeNewsDo you Remember Government Cheese? Could it be coming back
Do you Remember Government Cheese? Could it be coming back
The History Chanel
July 28, 2018 DairyBusiness News Team DP News 0
If you've ever tasted what's known as "government cheese," you won't soon forget it. Its flavor was described as somewhere between Velveeta and American cheese and smacked of humiliation or gratitude for the people who couldn't afford not to eat it. Its color, an almost neon orange, was eye-catching. And it came in iconic stacks of five-pound blocks that made it immediately clear it wasn't your standard cheddar or Camembert.
The cheese, distributed by a federal program during a time of volatile milk production in the 1980s recession, is iconic to this day, forming fraught memories among those who had to eat it and those who never got a taste.
The cheesy story all started in 1949, when the Agricultural Act of 1949 gave the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government-owned corporation dedicated to stabilizing farm incomes, the authority to purchase dairy products like cheese from farmers. The CCC had been around since the Great Depression, when it was created as part of the New Deal's attempt to stabilize prices and help farmers.
During the 1970s, as Americans sat in long gas lines and watched the economy tank, they faced another crisis: an unprecedented shortage of dairy products. In 1973, dairy prices shot up 30 percent as the price of other foods inflated. When the government tried to intervene, prices fell so low that the dairy industry balked. Then, in 1977, under President Jimmy Carter, the government set a new subsidy policy that poured $2 billion into the dairy industry in just four years.
Suddenly, dairy farmers who had been hurting were flush with cash—and producing as much milk as they could in order to take advantage of government support. The government purchased the milk dairy farmers couldn't sell and began to process it into cheese, butter and dehydrated milk powder. As dairy farmers produced more and more milk, stockpiles ballooned. As anthropologist Bradley N. Jones notes, eventually the stockpile hit over 500 million pounds, stored in hundreds of warehouses in 35 states.
The huge supply was a problem, but there was another catch: The government had no idea what to do with all that cheese. "Probably the cheapest and most practical thing to do would be to dump it in the ocean," a USDA official told the Washington Post in 1981. There was also confusion as to how long the processed American cheese—designed to be stored for long periods of time—really lasted.
As officials scrambled behind the scenes to figure out how to deal with the cheese, the cheesy conundrum became public when Agriculture Secretary John R. Block showed up at a White House event with a five-pound block of greening, moldy cheese and showed it to the press. "We've got 60 million of these that the government owns," he said. "It's moldy, it's deteriorating … we can't find a market for it, we can't sell it, and we're looking to try to give some of it away."
As the public got wind of the existence of all that surplus cheese, it began to sharply criticize President Ronald Reagan. He had been elected in part by bandying about inaccurate stereotypes of "welfare queens" and poor people who gamed the system, and earlier in 1981 had pledged to reduce the federal food stamp program. There were hungry Americans still suffering from the aftereffects of the recession. Why not give them the cheese?
In December 1981, Reagan relented. "At a time when American families are under increasing financial pressure, their government cannot sit by and watch millions of pounds of food turn to waste," he said in a public address. As a result, he said, he'd free 30 million pounds of cheese from the country's stockpile. He created the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program, which began handing out the blocks of processed cheese to the elderly, low-income people and organizations that served them.
Now known as "government cheese," the pungent-smelling (and, according to Jones, often moldy) cheese was ultimately distributed to the tune of 300 million pounds. The cheese became associated with hard times. While some were grateful,write historians Kristen Lucas and Patrice M. Buzzanel, others hated the ways in which the cheese advertised their socioeconomic status.
Today, some people recall the cheese fondly. Food writer Tracey Lynn Lloyd recalls how its weird texture made it good only for macaroni and cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches. "If someone made me a grilled cheese with government cheese today, I probably couldn't eat it—it would be far too salty for my current taste," shewrites. "But I'd still take one bite, just for the memories."
The government finally got out of the cheese business in the 1990s, when dairy prices calmed down once more. Decades later, the CCC, the government-owned corporation that made government cheese possible, entered the news again as the Trump administration announced it would provide large subsidies to offset the impact of its trade war with China, Canada and the European Union.
The U.S. Department Agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue announced this week that the CCC will be used to pay farmers up to $11 billion for their losses. And maybe—just maybe—the cheesy crisis of the early '80s is about to rear its ugly head once more. Last month, the national cheese stockpile hit an all-time high, with 1.39 billion pounds of surplus cheese sitting in American warehouses.
Link: http://wsgcradio.com/do-you-remember-government-cheese-could-it-be-coming-back/
Australia: Technology extends shelf life of dairy exports
Center for Dairy Excellence releases survey on Pennsylvania Dairy Farms
Announcement of Class and Component Prices for February 2018
March 1, 2018 DairyBusiness News Team DP 0
Release date: February 28, 2018 Class II Price: 13.44 (per hundredweight) Class II Butterfat Price: 2.3560 (per pound) Advanced Class II Skim Milk Price 1/: 5.38 (per hundredweight) Class III Price: 13.40 (per hundredweight) Class [Read More …]
Commodity Classic releases 2019 schedule
Range of educational sessions will cover critical topics important to America's farmers Commodity Classic has released its tentative schedule for the 2019 show slated for Thursday, February 28 through Saturday, March 2 in Orlando, Fla. Commodity Classic [Read More …]
Secretary Perdue Announces New Senior Leaders at USDA
April 20, 2018 DairyBusiness News Yoda 0
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the selection of senior leaders in several U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies. Perdue appointed Ken Isley as Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Administrator, Joel Baxley as Rural [Read More …]


This zone is dominated by agricultural landscapes enclosed in a semi-regular pattern. This semi-regular pattern resulted from the piecemeal enclosure of strips within the open field arable system. In the medieval period, large open areas of land were cultivated in long thin strips that would be ploughed separately into ridges. Often, the practice of turning the oxen plough team at the end of each strip would produce a characteristic curving reversed 's' shape pattern. This pattern was often fossilised in later piecemeal enclosure boundaries that were laid out around individual or groups of strips (Taylor 1975, 78-80).
This zone occurs principally to the east of the city; this is likely to be due to the lower altitude of this side of the city, making it more suitable for arable cultivation, than that of the assarted enclosure zone to the west. Where the agricultural landscape survives in this area (where it has not been overbuilt), there has been some boundary loss.
Landscapes originally enclosed in a similar piecemeal fashion but later subject to significant influences from adjacent urban / industrial areas are not included in this zone.
The two types of piecemeal enclosure pattern found within Sheffield ('Assarted Enclosure' and 'Strip Enclosure') are closely related to different settlement patterns. Dispersed settlements are generally found within areas of assarted enclosure, whilst nucleated settlements are related to areas of former common field agriculture. This relationship has long been recognised in landscape studies as a classic example of the relationship between social and landscape patterning - see for example the distinction between 'Ancient' and 'Planned' countryside in Rackham (1986, 4-5), or that drawn between a 'nucleated' and 'dispersed' settlement zones in Roberts and Wrathmell (2000). Data collected for the urbanised area of Sheffield suggests it is a frontier between these two settlement zones, and here there is significant blurring of the two.
As well as Sheffield itself, nucleated villages with elements of planning can primarily be found to the east and south of the city, at Attercliffe, Beighton, Chapeltown, Dore, Ecclesfield, Greenhill, Handsworth / Handsworth Woodhouse, Mosborough, Norton and Tinsley. All of these villages were associated with large systems of former open fields; most are likely to have been operating three fields – a pattern common across the English Midlands (see Hall 2001, 13-15).
Only a small proportion of the land within this zone remains in agricultural cultivation – mostly in the 'Moss Valley' and 'Grenoside and Birley' character areas. Agricultural intensification has led to some boundary loss across much of this zone, although characteristic enclosures and boundaries remain in places, most notably around Bridle Stile near Mosborough, where some very long and narrow strips are preserved. Such examples provide strong evidence for the medieval cultivation methods of open fields.
Figure 1: The enclosure pattern surviving around the 'Bridle Stile' footpath in Mosborough (see above - running across the fields) dates to the piecemeal enclosure of strip units from a former open field, before the Parliamentary Enclosure of remaining common arable in the parish in 1796 (see Figure 2 in Stroud 1996).
The tradition of open field agriculture appears to have functioned on an increasingly small scale as the landscape gains altitude to the west of the city. Assarted enclosures associated with dispersed settlement become the norm here, but there appear to have been small scale common arable systems based on one or two 'town fields' around settlements such as Low Bradfield, Dungworth and Onesacre. From examining characterisation records for past landscape use we can interpret a similar pattern of small scale open or town field agriculture extending into the present urban area as far east as Parson Cross and Wincobank, and as far south as the River Sheaf, with a small nucleated settlement associated with a town field at Crookes.
Traces of ancient woodlands can be seen across this zone and the 'Assarted Enclosure' zone, particularly to the west and north of the city. These woods typically survive on steep slopes where land has been impractical to clear. The distribution of ancient woodlands is clearly related to these zones of piecemeal enclosure. Where these woodlands have not been replanted during the past 150 years they generally have many legible archaeological features relating to their management for timber, mineral extraction and charcoal burning (Jones 1989).
Figure 2: The two piecemeal enclosure character zones (Assarted and Strip Enclosure) include most of the City of Sheffield's ancient woodlands. Most of these woodlands are to be found on steeply sloping land, historically difficult to cultivate.
Image © SYAS 2008; Ancient Woodland data © English Nature (used with permission).
There has been some boundary loss within the 'Strip Enclosure' zone but this has occurred on a less significant scale than that seen within the 'Agglomerated Enclosure' zone. The biggest influence appears to be the dominant 20th century land use, with land suitable for intensive arable cultivation most likely to have been subject to boundary loss.
Across the zone there has been modern expansion and alteration to the surviving farm buildings. This has often been in the form of the introduction of modern corrugated shed-type barns, more suited to the mechanised agricultural practices of the later 20th century than traditional farm buildings.
2001 Turning the Plough. Midland Open Fields: Landscape Character and Proposals for Management. Northampton: Northamptonshire County Council and English Heritage.
1989 Sheffield's Woodland Heritage. Sheffield: Sheffield City Libraries.
1986 The History of the Countryside. London: J.M. Dent.
Roberts, S. and Wrathmell, S.
2000 An Atlas of Rural Settlement. London: English Heritage.
1975 Fields in the English Landscape. London: J.M Dent.


text:
'We chose her because she isn't stick-thin': Kate Upton's curves land her a starring role in Old Hollywood-inspired ad campaign
Blonde bombshell Kate Upton has been chosen to star in an Old Hollywood-style campaign for Sam Edelman shoes. In…
Dr. Boyce and Yvette Carnell: Air Jordan Mania and Black People – Over the Top?
Most of you saw the recent insanity over the release of the new Air Jordans. When black people are lining…
Teen Gunned Down For His Shoes
Jamisha Houston is five months pregnant and facing life without her baby's father. A D.C. teen, David Lee Robinson, 19,…
Yvette Carnell: Black Student Who Fought to Fly Confederate Flag Changes His Mind, and That's a Good Thing
by Yvette Carnell So after fighting for the right to fly his Confederate flag in his dorm room window,…
Did this man get his face slashed for outting Tyler Perry?
Julio Acevedo, suspect in crash that killed Hasidic couple and their premature baby, says he is ready to surrender
New York's most wanted man is ready to surrender.
Julio Acevedo, the fugitive suspect in the hit-and-run that killed a Brooklyn couple and their newborn son, told the Daily News he was ready to turn himself in.
"My heart goes out to them," Acevedo said Tuesday in a phone call arranged by a friend. "I didn't know they died until I saw the news."
Acevedo — whose long rap sheet includes a 1987 manslaughter conviction, plus drug and gun charges — said he was reaching out for a lawyer before surrendering.
Lakers Star Charged with Choking Family Member
The Most Amazing Frisbee Throw You've Ever Seen in Your Life
Woman Threatens to Beat School Children with a Snow Shovel, Does Strip Tease in front of kids
Stuff Best Friends (have to) Say
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Watford Area Hotel Deals - Locations, prices, star ratings, special offers and customer reviews.
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Travelodge (Watford - Market Street) Exit M1 at Junction 5 and take A4008 towards Town Centre. After 1 mile use left hand slip lane to bypass first roundabout. At next roundabout take second exit towards the town centre. Bear left onto ring road. The Travelodge can be found after approx half a mile on right hand side.


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Class DataEventArgs

Wraps the data sent/received event argument.

Inheritance

Object

EventArgs

DataEventArgs

Inherited Members

      EventArgs.Empty

      Object.ToString()

      Object.Equals(Object)

      Object.Equals(Object, Object)

      Object.ReferenceEquals(Object, Object)

      Object.GetHashCode()

      Object.GetType()

      Object.MemberwiseClone()

Namespace: StreamExtended.Network

Assembly: StreamExtended.dll

Syntax

public class DataEventArgs : EventArgs

Constructors

DataEventArgs(Byte[], Int32, Int32)

Declaration

public DataEventArgs(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count)

Parameters

        Type
        Name
        Description

        Byte[]
        buffer

        Int32
        offset

        Int32
        count

Properties

Buffer

The buffer with data.

Declaration

public byte[] Buffer { get; }

Property Value

        Type
        Description

        Byte[]

Count

Length from offset in buffer with valid data.

Declaration

public int Count { get; }

Property Value

        Type
        Description

        Int32

Offset

Offset in buffer from which valid data begins.

Declaration

public int Offset { get; }

Property Value

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        Int32

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text:
Forms for spouses concerning supplemental pension plan in the private, municipal and university sectors
Forms related to partition of the benefits accumulated in a supplemental pension plan in the private, municipal and university sectors
To help you with the procedures involved in the partition of benefits accumulated in a supplemental pension plan in the private, municipal and university sectors, we can provide you with forms to fill out and then send to the plan administrator, not to Retraite Québec.
Two kinds of forms are provided:
Applications for a statement of benefits (forms 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Applications for partition of benefits (forms 5 and 6)
Application forms for a statement of benefits, depending on your situation
Situation of the spouses
Number and title of the form
Benefits evaluation date
In the course of family mediation
With or without institution of an action*
1. Application for a Statement of Benefits in the Course of Family Mediation Date of the end of the conjugal relationship
Not in the course of family mediation
2. Application for a Statement of Benefits that May be Issued at the Plan Administrator's Discretion (The administrator is not required to provide the statement) Date of the end of the conjugal relationship
Whether or not in family mediation
With institution of an action*
3. Application for a Statement of Benefits Following Institution of the Action* Date of institution of the action*
Former de facto (common law) spouses 4. Application for a Statement of Benefits for Former De Facto (Common Law) Spouses Date of the end of the conjugal relationship
* Institution of an action for divorce, separation from bed and board or civil annulment of marriage. The date of institution of an action is the date on which the application is filed with the court.
The plan administrator can charge a fee for issuing a statement. The fee varies depending on the type of plan or application. For example, for a defined benefit plan, the fee required for statements 1, 3 or 4 cannot exceed $250, of which each spouse pays $125.
Application forms for partition of benefits, depending on your situation
Former married spouses 5. Application for Partition after a Marriage Breakdown
Former de facto (common law) spouses 6. Application for Partition Between Former De Facto (Common Law) Spouses
The plan administrator can charge a fee for processing an application for partition. The fee varies depending on the type of plan. For example, for a defined benefit plan, the fee cannot exceed $150, of which each spouse pays $75.
This service requires the use of JavaScript.
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To use the Add to cart function, you must change your Web browser's parameters to accept cookies. Once the parameters have been changed, you must refresh the Web page.
Application for a Statement of Benefits in the Course of Family Mediation
Supplemental pension plan in the private, municipal and university sectors
RCR135 form. Last update: January 2016.
download, 3 pages, 91 kB
Notice to disabled persons
This PDF document may contain barriers to accessibility. You can obtain assistance by calling us.
Application for a Statement of Benefits that May be Issued at the Plan Administrator's Discretion
download, 3 pages, 105 kB
Application for a Statement of Benefits Following Institution of the Action
Application for a Statement of Benefits for Former De Facto (Common Law) Spouses
Application for Partition after a Mariage Breakdown
Application for Partition Between Former De Facto (Common Law) Spouses


text:
Review Written by: Chris Burns
Film: A-
What the MPAA Rating should be: PG (for language)
Directed by: Woody Allen
Written by: Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Produced by: Charles H. Joffe
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Michael Murphy, Karen Ludwig
Studio: United Artists
The sprawling New York skyline is oh so beautiful...
Woody Allen's Manhattan is the thinking person's comedy. It is not the kind of the film where you will burst with laughter. Instead it is rather a subtle comedy that deals with issues that everybody in life faces. It is a study of how people and the places you live in changes around you. The movie makes you realise that there is usually something wrong in a relationship, the film tries to point out that relationships can change very fast and at any time. The movie shows how the city around you changes Woddy Allen's character Isaac Davis comments on this and it shows how industry and possessions are taking over the wonderful environment we all live in. Woddy Allen has put a bit of himself into this movie by showing his love for New York and making it seem so alive behind the lens.
Woody Allen has crafted a bittersweet comedy, that really proves many actors and actress's true talent. The cast is wonderful with the likes of Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep who pull off realistic roles. The movie's comedy is very subtle because of the way the actors play out their roles. The cast provide characters that people can relate to and understand themselves and you can really see the tension and chemistry between characters. The characters have all been developed. You know a lot about what the character thinks and feels just from the emotions and reactions to the fast changing environment around them. I got the impression they are adults who are overwhelmed with the things around them. There are subjective tones littered throughout the movie and so much can be said with just the simple shot of two people on a bench and the Brooklyn bridge towering over it.
I loved the shots of Manhattan in the nighttime and the slow moving feel throughout the movie. It is a very relaxing movie. The movie looks great in black and white and really had texture to the surroundings. I personally think that it looks stunning in black and white and this is another small touch that proves just how much things are changing, very original. The film deals with real issues in life and shows just how important people are to you. There are no movies quite like Manhattan which proves just how original the movie is. One of those ones that will stand the test of time. You notice lot of different things the more you think about the film...
Great to watch late at night on a lonely Friday night! You will either love or hate this movie, but I think most people will be able to see the genius of how well everything has been created. Mariel Hemingway and Woody Allen in Manhattan.


About two years ago the Sterrenknoeiers Astronomical Society had their last starparty, in Hohenwoos (Germany). There's only a few of us Sterrenknoeiers but with our busy schedules we don't actually meet in real life often. But we did on the 20th of May at Chris' house in the Achterhoek, one of the darker areas of The Netherlands and only an hours drive away from where I live.
We had good fun, as we do. But of course the main event was the starparty from the confines of Chris' dark garden. I'll just list the objects I've seen in no order whatsoever. It's a brain-dump of what I managed to see. The SQM maxed out at 20.7 according to several Dark Sky Meter (iOS app) measurements, which isn't all that good actually. There was quite some moisture in the air and that's always a bad thing. And the seeing was a shoddy 2.3 arcseconds. But, it was clear and that's a rare sight when in a weekend! So #geekjoy.
I didn't make any observing lists as my main goal was to just check out my now fully operational 8″ ATM dobsonian. I did however check Skymaps' map for this month and decided to go and see most of the naked eye and telescopic objects on it. That way I would at least have some guide as to what to look at.
Albireo – never disappoints: bright blue and yellow. Beautyful!
61 Cyg – two golden points of light. Nice surprise!
Comet c/2015 V2 Johnson – a bright and big core. No trace of a tail. On the pictures the others made a tail was visible, though faint.
Saturn – rose to the occasion at the end of our observing session. Still very low so the view wasn't all too good but we did see it. Amazing ring. Best ring. Fantastic ring.
During the night the Milky Way rose higher and higher and the Swan made it's reentry. ISS made a pass at 03:00, a bright one at that! Two Iridium satellites crossed the sky, one of which flared brightly! And strangely, we did not see any meteorites.
Did the telescope perform? Yes, very much so! Me and my mates were pleasantly surprised by the views. And it being a proper dobsonian with a porthole mirror and cardboard tube it does goes to show that you can actually have good fun and enjoy visual astronomy with a simple telescope! One thing that didn't quite work as well was the DIY Telrad dew-buster… #sadpanda. I will make it's life a bit easier by adding a little shield to put over the Telrad's little piece of glass. Nothing serious.
All in all one of the best nights of 2017 for me. Next up in the ATM process will be to have the primary mirror coated anew and to mount the 50 mm secondary if and when I get my hands on a new spidervane.
I leave you with two images made on the same night by Chris and Maarten with their very nice astrophoto setups!


I'm a lot of things, one of those can be called Animator. Animation has been a constant passion in my life. I started animating like most my age, self taught through stop motion and flip books, I even found a way to animate in PowerPoint which taught me a lot. I've recently started 3D animation, officially understanding and learning (always learning!) the Principles of animation. Now I will continue to pursue my passion until the end of my days.


Welcome to Cruz Norwegian Forest Cats. Our small cattery consists of three Norwegian Forest Cats and a domestic cat. They all have a wonderful temperament and are neither afraid of vacuum cleaners nor any other noisy equipment. They go all over the house and have access to a large run. Our cats like guests - especially Sofus will do anything to get their attention.
The name of our cattery is called after our favourite star the "Southern Cross" ("Cruz del Sur" in Spanish), which is found in the southern hemisphere.


Are you looking to get more out of LinkedIn in 2019?
You probably should be - according to parent company Microsoft, engagement on LinkedIn is at record high levels, with more than 610 million professionals now interacting on the platform and looking for new ideas and opportunities.
If you are looking to make LinkedIn more of a focus in 2019, you're in luck - the platform has this week published a new eBook of social media marketing and management tips, based on lessons learned by LinkedIn's own social media management team.
"[In this eBook] we'll share our best social media management tips, taken from years managing LinkedIn's own social media presence, in hopes that we can help you increase the impact of your efforts across the funnel. And while I'm ultimately here to make a case for why you should be investing more of your time on LinkedIn, I hope that you can use this guide as a roadmap to success in all of your social media communications."
The guide - available for free via download here - includes a heap of tips and notes from LinkedIn's team, with a specific focus on LinkedIn best practices and Company Page management.
It also includes some valuable LinkedIn data insights, building the business case for the platform.
There's a heap of interesting and helpful insights, and it's worth going over, especially for social media managers who are looking to make LinkedIn a focus.
While it doesn't get as much attention as Facebook or Instagram, LinkedIn has carved out a very specific market niche, and is gradually building its business case day-by-day, with new advertising tools and features designed to help marketers maximize their efforts.
It's not as cool, it's not as B2C-friendly, considering there are fewer bright, interactive Stories-like features on the platform (though it is experimenting with the Stories format), but LinkedIn's working to establish itself as a key, trusted hub for business news and information - and going on the stats noted above, those efforts are working.
The social media marketing case for LinkedIn is growing - and if you're looking to maximize your LinkedIn presence, this new guide is definitely worth a look.


Want to know how close we are to the end of the world? Well, we may not actually know that, but the Doomsday Clock is certainly going to try. On Thursday morning, January 25, at 10 a.m. Eastern (9 p.m. Central or 3 p.m. in the UK), the Doomsday Clock is going to give an all new prediction for just how close our world is to midnight. Now, we think we have this set up so you can watch it live in the video below. But if the video below doesn't work for any reason, just watch live by going here to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists' live stream page, or their Facebook page.
Before the January 25 live stream, the clock was at two-and-a-half minutes until midnight. That's the lowest it's been since the 1950s and 1960s. (Back in 1991, the clock was 17 minutes to midnight after the end of the Cold War.) Do you think the clock will move forward or back? Some people are guessing that it will go forward, since none of the threats last year that caused it to move forward have receded yet. But the closest the clock has ever been to midnight was in 1953, when it was moved to two minutes after the U.S. and Soviet Union each tested their first thermonuclear weapons.
The speakers for the big announcement include Rachel Bronson, President and CEO, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; Sivan Kartha, Senior Scientist at the Stockholm Environmental Institute and co-leader of SEI's Gender and Social Equity Program; Lawrence Krauss, director, Origins Project at Arizona State University; Robert Rosner, William E. Wrather Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics at the University of Chicago; and Sharon Squassoni, Research Professor of Practice at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, The George Washington University.
By the way, if you're worried about nuclear war, Post Apocalyptic Media suggests the book Nuclear War Survival Skills. You can get it on Amazon here. It's a new edition of Cresson H. Kearny's book originally published in 1979, updated by Kearny himself in 2001. It comprises years of scientific research conducted by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.


By default search queries created using the For method is performed against a special field called the all field (its exact name is _all). This field is generated when an object is indexed and made up of all of the documents fields combined.
When one or more fields have been specified using the methods described above the search will no longer be performed against the All field. It is however possible to explicitly request that it will using the InAllField method.
Stemming is the process in which a word is reduced to its root form. When using stemming in free text search words that have similar meaning, such as car and cars will match. As stemming is language dependent we need to tell the search engine what language we are searching in. This is done by passing an instance of the language class to the Clients Search method. Instances of the language class matching all supported languages are available as static properties on the Language class.
It is important to note that it is not possible to search using stemming in the All field. This means that in order for the language parameter to have any effect we must specify what fields to search in using the methods described above, such as InField. Below is an example of a search request for the word cars that will match blog posts titled car or A blue car.


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This study investigates implementation of a social choice function with complete information, where we impose various restrictions such as boundedness, permission of only small transfers, and uniqueness of iterative dominance in strict terms. We assume that the state is ex-post verifiable after the determination of allocation. We show that with three or more players, any social choice function is uniquely and exactly implementable in iterative dominance. Importantly, this study does not assume either expected utility or quasi-linearity, even if we utilize the stochastic method of mechanism design explored by Abreu and Matsushima (1992, 1994). We further show that even with incomplete information, and even with two players, any ex-post incentive compatible social choice function is uniquely and exactly implementable in iterative dominance.


Distance from Bristol, PA to Marlboro, NY is 137Miles or 221 Km. You can get this distance about 2 hours 18 mins.
A car with an average MPG will needs 6.34 gallons of gas to get the route between these points.
The estimated cost of gas to get between Bristol, PA and Marlboro, NY is $14.39.
During the route, an average car will release 124.21 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere. Your carbon footprint is 0.91 pounds of CO2 per mile.


The Slepian-Bangs formula provides a very convenient way to compute the Fisher information matrix (FIM) for Gaussian distributed data. The aim of this letter is to extend it to a larger family of distributions, namely elliptically contoured (EC) distributions. More precisely, we derive a closed-form expression of the FIM in this case. This new expression involves the usual term of the Gaussian FIM plus some corrective factors that depend only on the expectations of some functions of the so-called modular variate. Hence, for most distributions in the EC family, derivation of the FIM from its Gaussian counterpart involves slight additional derivations. We show that the new formula reduces to the Slepian-Bangs formula in the Gaussian case and we provide an illustrative example with Student distributions on how it can be used.


text:
Features / Politics
N China City Elects More Women into Village Committees, Party Branches
Editor: Wang Yue
Every village committee in the city of Ulanqab in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region now includes at least one women's federation president, according to officials.
The development follows the recent election of local village committees in 1,323 villages and 222 communities in the city.
During the election, Ulanqab Women's Federation (UWF) took several measures to ensure female candidates were able to take office in village committees and village Party branches.
A total of 62 female secretaries and 75 female directors were elected at the village level, an increase of 1.3 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. Among those, 26 individuals were elected dually as a village Party secretary and village committee director.
In the community elections, 99 female candidates were elected as Party secretaries, and 112 were elected as directors, accounting for 44.5 percent and 50.5 percent, respectively.
Cui Lifen, president of UWF, said women's federation staff have contributed efforts to popularizing the significance of women's participation in elections and political affairs and strengthening awareness of women becoming candidates.
Cui said the federation has encouraged women with firm ideals, an unselfish spirit of dedication, good economic senses and positive behaviors to participate in elections.
Outstanding females such as entrepreneurs, cooperative leaders, rural doctors and teachers should be welcomed into official positions, added Cui.
In the new leadership of village committees, some 79 are businesswomen, 237 have college degrees, and 87 are from ethnic minorities.
(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)
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The Rubberbandits lose out on Christmas number one to 'X Factor' winner- SEE VIDEO
READ MORE- Irish Rubberbandits becoming a global cult hit Ireland's hottest comedy duo have narrowing missed out on the Christmas number one spot. Despite a huge marketing campaign and thousands of fans around Ireland snapping up their single "Horse Outside", the Limerick duo of Blindboy Boatclub and Mr Chrome have been pipped to the post by the "X Factor" winner Matt Cardle. At the last count Cardle's single was outselling "Horse Outside" by more than 25,000 units. "We are now taking some time off after a hectic few weeks, before coming back with some new tracks", said Blind Boy Boatclub. Since launching their single two weeks ago on RTE television it has clocked up over 3.7million hits on YouTube. The Rubber Bandits confirmed that new stock of their hit single arrived at music stores around Ireland in recent days after copies of their single flew off the shelves. According to a staffer at HMV Limerick, "Our first delivery of the single sold out in about three hours. We received a larger delivery last Saturday and we sold out by 3pm. People were actively seeking the single out. Sales are incredibly high for a physical single," he told the Limerick Leader. The promo was originally made by the RTE program "Republic of Telly" and has made the Rubberbandits a comedy sensation the world over, in the last two weeks. Their single has even spread to China, where their music video has become popular on Chinese video sharing site Youku. The song has even been complete with local language subtitles. Speaking about losing out to the "X Factor" star, Blindboy Boatclub said: "The young fella with the horse outside didn't have a major record company behind him and his CDs got lost in the snow on the way to the shops," "Seriously, how could two young fellas compete with the 'X Factor'? To have a Christmas number one you need to do some serious planning. We just put a video up on YouTube a few weeks back and everyone wanted it to be the Christmas number one," he told Joe.ie. He also admitted that appearing on Joe Duffy's well known RTE radio show was "the best promo for us we will ever get". Despite not making it to number one, the Limerick duo are still celebrating this Christmas having signed a "significant" record deal and promise of an new RTE series for 2011.
MOLLY MULDOON
READ MORE- Irish Rubberbandits becoming a global cult hit
Ireland's hottest comedy duo have narrowing missed out on the Christmas number one spot.
Despite a huge marketing campaign and thousands of fans around Ireland snapping up their single "Horse Outside", the Limerick duo of Blindboy Boatclub and Mr Chrome have been pipped to the post by the "X Factor" winner Matt Cardle.
At the last count Cardle's single was outselling "Horse Outside" by more than 25,000 units.
"We are now taking some time off after a hectic few weeks, before coming back with some new tracks", said Blind Boy Boatclub.
Since launching their single two weeks ago on RTE television it has clocked up over 3.7million hits on YouTube.
The Rubber Bandits confirmed that new stock of their hit single arrived at music stores around Ireland in recent days after copies of their single flew off the shelves.
According to a staffer at HMV Limerick, "Our first delivery of the single sold out in about three hours. We received a larger delivery last Saturday and we sold out by 3pm. People were actively seeking the single out. Sales are incredibly high for a physical single," he told the Limerick Leader.
The promo was originally made by the RTE program "Republic of Telly" and has made the Rubberbandits a comedy sensation the world over, in the last two weeks.
Their single has even spread to China, where their music video has become popular on Chinese video sharing site Youku. The song has even been complete with local language subtitles.
Speaking about losing out to the "X Factor" star, Blindboy Boatclub said: "The young fella with the horse outside didn't have a major record company behind him and his CDs got lost in the snow on the way to the shops,"
"Seriously, how could two young fellas compete with the 'X Factor'? To have a Christmas number one you need to do some serious planning. We just put a video up on YouTube a few weeks back and everyone wanted it to be the Christmas number one," he told Joe.ie.
He also admitted that appearing on Joe Duffy's well known RTE radio show was "the best promo for us we will ever get".
Despite not making it to number one, the Limerick duo are still celebrating this Christmas having signed a "significant" record deal and promise of an new RTE series for 2011.


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Tag Archives: Demons
Cruel Beauty – Rosamund Hodge
Title: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Publishing Info: January 28, 2014 by HarperCollins
Genres: Fantasy, Retelling, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: January 12, 2013
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.
With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.
As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.
Firstly, the cover of CRUEL BEAUTY may easily be one of my favorites. I would say favorites this year, but we're barely into it… I still think it'll take the cake! And secondly, people should REALLY not make comparisons to other books like that. It's definitely an interesting adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, but I couldn't see the Graceling comparison at all. That was a bit of a disappointment for me… But that wasn't the reason why I was disappointed with the book.
Yep. I said it. CRUEL BEAUTY was not quite all I had hoped it to be. I know so many people ended up loving this book, but I was one of the ones who enjoyed it, but still had quite a few issues. CRUEL BEAUTY kicks off with Nyx before her wedding day, doomed to wed The Gentle Lord — a demon who has taken control of the kingdom. She's trained to defeat him all of her life but still may not come out of this marriage alive. I was really very caught by surprise of all of the mythology in this book and… well, mythology really isn't quite my thing or what I was expecting. Of all of the mythology retellings or mythology-heavy books I've read lately, I've only really enjoyed one and even that didn't knock me off my feet so I was nervous right off the bat. I really don't connect with mythology and I'm not familiar with all of the stories and deities so that tended to get confusing and uninteresting for me.
The other thing that really bothered me throughout the book was sadly Nyx herself. The first half of the book was very repetitive for me, Nyx griping about her plight to marry the Gentle Lord and then once married, to destroy him, but all the while, she's extremely bitter about it. Nyx is bitter about her father having arranged this marriage for her to be the one essentially sentenced to die instead of her twin sister. She's bitter with her sister for being the one her parents loved. She's bitter with her sister for getting their mother's looks while Nyx resembles her father. She's bitter with her aunt for stepping in in her mother's absence and stealing her father's affections. It was a lot of bitterness and a lot of complaining and when I'm first meeting a character, heavy negative connotations tend to turn me off. It was very hard for me to find Nyx to be a likeable character in the first half of the book and it was really difficult to read things from her point of view.
I'm not going to lie… I almost put down this book and didn't pick it up again. The combination of my aversion to Nyx and a slow start (something that I continue to struggle with) made me almost DNF this book. I turned to my fellow bloggers who assured me that it did pick up and I really didn't want to DNF only 30-40 pages in so I continued through and did find that to be true. Once Nyx ventures into the Gentle Lord's castle, things really do start to pick up and I was definitely captivated by the mysteries that this castle holds. The moving staircases and doors reminded me of Harry Potter and we know that's always a good thing! The rooms themselves were mysterious and I was definitely interested to see how much the house itself was alive, curious, and dangerous. But… (yep, there is a but) …. It just didn't quite seem to fit together. There were questions left unanswered, mysteries that didn't seem to serve any purpose, and the different aspects of the castle just didn't seem to gel as one giant puzzle. I'm not sure what it was but I kept waiting for some big reveal or for all of these pieces to snap together and it just didn't really happen for me.
I really enjoyed Ignifex (that would be The Gentle Lord) and his character development. I appreciated that at first glance, he's just the big, bad demon lord, but like all good villains/antagonists, he has his own story that turns the tables a bit. At the same time, I would have loved to see so much more character development for him. I wanted more evil, more snark, more indecision as to whether Nyx should trust him or not. I wanted to fall in love with him and hate him at the same time. It just didn't seem strong enough for what I was hoping.
Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot about the love triangle. I mean, the sort of love triangle…? Let's just say it's a bit confusing and either way you put it, I was not really a fan. Both sides of this love triangle seemed a bit insta-lovey. I don't really like using that term since I do believe in the whole attraction-but-not-quite-love-at-first-sight things, but it really did feel like Nyx fell for both of these parties way too quickly. Or not even quickly, implying that it happened early in the book, but just rapidly — a sudden change. Obviously I was rooting for Nyx and Ignifex to get over their whole death match thing and fall in love, just like Beauty and the Beast! You know it's coming but the switch just seemed too abrupt. To go from STRONGLY loathing someone all your life to feel affection… I just didn't get it.
The plot and general idea of the book could have also been awesome too but I felt like the book was written in pieces and somehow these pieces just didn't quite all fit perfectly together. They all came back to create one story, but they didn't seem like they fit well, and I'm also upset with the ending. Everything seemed to happen so fast and yet not. It was not a satisfying ending and just didn't seem to work with how the rest of the book went.
I think overall, the book just felt very pieced together. The characters didn't feel very developed. The world building could have totally blown me away but it felt very unfinished. Nothing felt cohesive. It was still an interesting read but this should have been a book that totally wowed me and it just didn't do that much at all. I don't think I've ever been so torn about a rating or a review because there was so much I had hoped for and did get some, but just not enough to really "wow" me.
Nyx // Character Obsessions: Defeating the Gentle Lord, staying alive, figuring out secrets.
Nyx was really hard to get along with for me… I just felt like she was too negative for the majority of the first half of the book and it took too long for her to sort of soften. By the end of the book, I had a better opinion of her but it still wasn't good.
Ignifex // Character Obsessions: Maintaining the castle, imprisoning and yet romancing Nyx, general demon duties.
I really liked Ignifex when I first met him. He was evil. He was a demon lord. He had that crooked smile and easy snark. *fans self* But.. as the story went along, his character didn't really get developed like I had hoped. He did get more layers to his story but I didn't feel that emanate through his personality. I felt like we were told that this is his history but I didn't really feel like his character really jumped off the pages like I wanted it to.
Kept Me Hooked On: Magic Castles. How amazing are magic castles? That was by far one of my favorite things about the book. The castle almost felt like a character itself (although even that "character" wasn't as developed as I hoped).
Left Me Wanting More: Cohesiveness. My biggest issue with this book is that I felt like nothing really came together. There were plenty of interesting story lines, character possibilities, and sets of magic to explore, but nothing really felt like it came together. This book felt like it was written in large chunks and when those chunks were all merged into one book, they didn't really quite work together.
Addiction Rating
I feel like I'm the minority here who was somewhat disappointed in it. A lot of people totally fell in love with this world so I would say definitely give it a shot if you were as excited for it as I was. Just BE AWARE that there is a lot of mythology! That totally caught me by surprise and it kind of turned me off in its own way.
BOOKS LIKE CRUEL BEAUTY
(Click the cover to see my review!)
This entry was posted in Books, Fantasy, Review, YA and tagged Beauty and the Beast, Books, Cruel Beauty, Demons, Fantasy, Mythology, Retelling, Review, Rosamund Hodge, YA, Young Adult on February 4, 2014 by Brittany.
Possess – Gretchen McNeil
Title: Possess by Gretchen McNeil
Publishing Info: August 23, 2011 by HarperCollins
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: October 27, 2013
Related Posts: Ten
Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.
Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.
Many thanks to Amy who bought this book for me for All Hallow's Read! I'd heard a lot of positive reactions to the book and having only read one other book by Gretchen McNeil, I had high hopes that I would enjoy it too! I'm actually really glad she got it for me because I probably wouldn't have ever picked it up for myself. We've talked several times how I'm a big, big chicken and I do NOT read books about ghosts or demons. And what does POSSESS have? Ghosts and demons. But I put my faith in Amy and rest assured that all turned out well! She just knows! 🙂
At first, I was just a tiiiiny bit skeptical. I'm not big on books who focus a lot on religion and right away we meet Bridget who goes to a Catholic school and meets with Monsignor Renault and Father Santos. Priests? I was worried. But I carried on through the first few chapters and once we started getting into the meat and potatoes of the religious history and the mythology surrounding angels and demons, I immediately became sucked in! Things really started coming together and I saw that as much as I wasn't a huge fan, religion definitely needed to be involved in this story and everything really fell into place.
I loved how delightfully creepy POSSESS was! I was a little scared that possessions, demons, and the like would be a little too much for me, but it was just the perfect amount to creep me out and not have me sticking the book in the freezer. (Points for understanding the reference!) What really made it enjoyable for a scaredy cat like me was the combination of creepy, funny, and yes, even romance! I can definitely say that without the humor and sarcasm that I love from Gretchen McNeil, it might not have been enjoyable and I really liked those moments when I was pulled out of the fear and given time to shake it off.
I had some minor issues here and there with characters but this was one of those books where I didn't read too far into it. I was definitely reading for fun and for the horror factor so it was a really enjoyable book for me! There were definitely some SUPER creepy moments (don't worry, it's not clowns, but it was worse than that for me haha) and some really great sort of religious mythology. I really liked how the book came together and it was a really fun read!
Bridget // Character Obsessions: Taming her "gift", protecting her family, fighting demons.
Bridget just exorcises demons, NBD. Except that she doesn't consider her "gift" a gift at all. I liked her tough as nails attitude, but at times it was juuuust a bit much for me. I really enjoy seeing un-girly girls (I guess tomboys?) but silly things like steel-toed boots were a bit over the top for my taste. I took well to her sarcasm though (I usually do!) which is good because I did have a couple moments where I feared it was going to cross over the line and become irritating. I did like her character overall and I think her tough attitude was definitely necessary to battle these demons!
Matt // Character Obsessions: Sports, his family, typical teenager things.
You know what… Looking back at Matt, he wasn't as memorable after finishing as he was while reading. I really liked his relationship with Bridget, their back and forth and banter (I always enjoy banter) and how he genuinely seemed to care about her… But after finishing, I just can't pick out things that I really liked about his character. I appreciated that they had history, but I think I would have liked just a little bit more from him. Hard to say what though.
Kept Me Hooked On: Horror. I am not a horror person but this book totally worked for me! I think it's a fun read and if you're looking for a mild (or a good) scare, this could be a really great choice!
Left Me Wanting More: Connection. I enjoyed reading POSSESS, but it didn't quite blow me out of the water. I think I wanted to connect with the characters just a bit more but there was really more focus on the developing story line than personal connections, which seems entirely appropriate and natural! It's hard to pinpoint what exactly was missing but there was just a little something I didn't connect with. Very minor though!
POSSESS was a fun paranormal/horror read! It had me shaking in my boots when I was reading at home. Alone. In the dark. (Not smart, huh?) It was perfect for reading around Halloween and I'm glad I got this from Amy so I could give a book about demons a shot!
BOOKS LIKE POSSESS
This entry was posted in Books, Paranormal, YA and tagged Books, Demons, Gretchen McNeil, Horror, Paranormal, Possess, Review, YA, Young Adult on November 15, 2013 by Brittany.
Sweet Peril (Sweet Evil #2) – Wendy Higgins
Title: Sweet Peril (The Sweet Trilogy #2) by Wendy Higgins
Publishing Info: April 30, 2013 by HarperCollins
Genres: Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: May 15, 2013
Related Posts: Sweet Evil (The Sweet Trilogy #1)
Anna Whitt, the daughter of a guardian angel and a demon, promised herself she'd never do the work of her father—polluting souls. She'd been naive to make such a vow. She'd been naive about a lot of things.
Haunted by demon whisperers, Anna does whatever she can to survive, even if it means embracing her dark side and earning an unwanted reputation as her school's party girl. Her life has never looked more bleak. And all the while there's Kaidan Rowe, son of the Duke of Lust, plaguing her heart and mind.
When an unexpected lost message from the angels surfaces, Anna finds herself traveling the globe with Kopano, son of Wrath, in an attempt to gain support of fellow Nephilim and give them hope for the first time. It soon becomes clear that whatever freedoms Anna and the rest of the Neph are hoping to win will not be gained without a fight. Until then, Anna and Kaidan must put aside the issues between them, overcome the steamiest of temptations yet, and face the ultimate question: is loving someone worth risking their life?
This is a spoiler-free review for SWEET PERIL but if you have not read SWEET EVIL yet, beware that there may be some spoilers for book one!
It's no secret that I fangirled over SWEET EVIL pretty hard when I first read it last summer. I was allll about Kaidan and he truly made the book for me (ALL THE SWOONS) so when we left Sweet Evil with Anna and Kaidan separated, I had a great fear building up until I finally got my hands on SWEET PERIL that we would suffer from one of the common occurrences in the second in a series in which the two lovebirds are apart the whole book. Well, I feel it's important to warn you (and there's no way I can talk about the first half of the book) to say that… It happened.
I can't. Get. Kupono. Out of my head.
First: I liked the book. I really did. Despite my wariness for angel/demon books, I really love how Wendy Higgins creates this other world and mythology and legends… But Kaidan, my main reason for loving the book, was gone the whole first half. There was tons of Kopano (which I'm sorry, as a SYTYCD fan, I keep wanting to say Kupono haha) but really, he just doesn't do it for me. I actually didn't really like him that much in the first book as a friend and here we go turning a slight love triangle and I just really felt let down. I was actually pretty disappointed with the direction that took. Then I run into another second in a series issue in which the characters are on a mission and traveling. The road trip in book one did not bother me at all because it was more road trip and not mission. The road trip was low-stress and we got to see a lot of character interaction between Anna and Kaidan there. The trips in book two are all over the world and pretty much are the only things we get in the first half of the book. They felt rushed and pieced together instead of a flowing story.
The second half of the book was where the magic really happened for me. It was back to the old times! The good times! Just like in Sweet Evil. We finally get to see Kaidan again for more than two seconds and he returns to all his steamy glory!! Anna finally seems a little more confident because I really felt like she was a bit passive and naïve (well, she's always going to be naïve) in the first half. After what I felt like was travel, travel, more travel and introducing new characters, we get to know a bit more about the other Dukes, Neph, and angels in the second half. More pieces to the puzzle! More interesting facts!! YAYYY. It was a relief because I got really scared for a while in the beginning.
The second half definitely felt more like the "home" that I found in Sweet Evil so I was thankful we finally got back to that! The only thing I was a bit confused with is Anna's character is kind of back and forth. She's been learning how to defend herself but half the time she's still the sweet, little naïve girl and the other half she's badass and ready to wield weapons. I'm just not sure which Anna we should be expecting or if we truly should expect both in one. Clearly Anna's going through a lot of personal changes throughout this whole discovery of her true ancestry and truth be told, I kind of enjoy the badass Anna BUT I also want her to stay true to her character so it's kind of a toss up for me!
Overall, I did enjoy a lot from SWEET PERIL but it was a slow start for me. Superfans of the series will love it, I'm sure, and I've seen tons of five star ratings already!
Anna Whitt: For some reason when I read Sweet Evil, I didn't think Anna was that naive (and Wendy Higgins herself said to me, "Really? I think she's incredibly naive!" but for some reason it just didn't come across to me that way in book one. Book two, however, gave me a lot of that feeling and it bothered me at times. I think I was just in a different place when I read book two and it totally change my outlook on Anna's character. Regardless, I'm happy that she's learning how to defend herself but still hasn't lost her morals or beliefs. I hope she stays true to her character in book three!!
Kaidan Rowe: Kaidan, why were you hiding in LA half of the book!?! Don't do that to me!!! Once Kai finally shows back up in the picture in full force, the book really took off for me. I needed that tension between Anna and Kai for the book to work for me, I think, because that was what I loved so much about Sweet Evil!
Kopano: Eh. Kope just doesn't do it for me. I wasn't really a fan of his character in Sweet Evil — nothing personal, but he just didn't stand out for me — so his major presence in Sweet Peril brought me down a little, to be honest!
Characters I loved seeing so much more of: Blake makes a strong appearance in this book and I loved him! Loved seeing more of Marnie and Ginger as well as Baleil/Anna's father.
I didn't like this one as much… and I'm afraid my love for this series is starting to die! It was still a fun read but I feel like that magic is gone.
This entry was posted in Books, Paranormal, Review, YA and tagged Angels, Books, Demons, Nephilim, Paranormal, Review, Sweet Evil, Sweet Peril, The Sweet Trilogy, Wendy Higgins, YA, Young Adult on May 20, 2013 by Brittany.


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Home Balkan On this day, Serbian shrines burned in Kosovo: 16 years since the...
On this day, Serbian shrines burned in Kosovo: 16 years since the March pogrom (VIDEO)
After the 2004 pogrom, Albanians started accelerating their work to transfer the authority of provisional institutions to Kosovo, negotiations on Kosovo's final status began, followed by the unilateral declaration of independence in 2008.
On this day 16 years ago, the March pogrom carried out against Serbs in Kosovo, their property and shrines took place, when 19 people were killed, about 1,000 injured, more than 4,000 Serbs expelled from their homes and 35 Orthodox Christian religious buildings set on fire.
Among those killed were eight Serbs, while 11 Albanians died in clashes with members of international security forces.
How did it all begin?
On March 15, 2004 in Caglavica, a village near Pristina, a young Serb man, Jovica Ivic, 18, was wounded and was taken to the hospital in northern Mitrovica in a serious condition. Protests took place involving residents of this village and other Serb villages in the area (Gracanica, Susica, Laplje Selo, Preoce …) A day later, three Albanian boys (8, 11 and 12 years old) died when threy drowned in the Ibar River, for which the local media blamed Serbs.
An investigation by UNMIK (United Nations mission in Kosovo) police found these allegations to be false.
All the same, Albanians claimed otherwise, saying that six boys had been running away from people from the Serb village of Zupce, when they fell into the Ibar on March 16, 2004, three of them drowning.
Albanian officials blamed the Serb side for this, sparking anger among Kosovo Albanians.
Albanians started gathering in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica a few hours later, blocking access to the city and crossing a barricade on the Ibar bridge. They began throwing Molotov cocktails and setting UNMIK vehicles on fire. Riots soon spread to 33 locations in Kosovo, involving about 60,000 Albanians, according to an UNMIK report.
At the same time thousands of people protested in cities in Serbia because of these attacks on Serb enclaves. On the evening of the same day that violence erupted in Kosovo, mosques were set on fire in Belgrade and Nis, while the Islamic Community HQ was demolished in Novi Sad.
"If there had not been for the irresponsible and sensationalist coverage of the events of March 17 and 18, things in Kosovo could have gone quite differently," said a report by the OSCE Pristina Office for Media Freedom, published two months after the March violence.
UNMIK's report on the outcome of March unrest
According to an official UNMIK report released by the UN in April 2004, 19 people were killed in the March riots, while several remained unidentified. A total of 954 people were injured, including 61 KFOR soldiers and 65 UNMIK police officers. More than 4,000 Serbs were expelled.
In the two days of Albanian violence, about 800 Serb houses were destroyed and 35 religious buildings were burned down, including 18 monuments of culture, such as the Church of Our Lady of Ljevis in Prizren.
According to the Serbian Orthodox Church's Diocese of Raska-Prizren, in April 2004, the total number of destroyed church facilities was close to 100.
The March pogrom was an introduction into the unilateral declaration of independence
After the 2004 pogrom, Albanians started accelerating their work to transfer the authority of the provisional institutions to Kosovo and Metohija, negotiations on Kosovo's final status began, followed by the unilateral declaration of independence in 2008.
The ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija was done as they are a major obstacle to independence and pan-Albanian unification. Some of the displaced Serbs, whose houses and apartments were destroyed received accommodation in makeshift collective centers or elsewhere in Kosovo and Metohija, while a large number left.
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Algebra ⋅
Tips for Subtracting Rational Expressions
••• jacoblund/iStock/GettyImages
How to Cross Multiply
By Chris Deziel
A rational number is any number that you can express as a fraction p/q where p and q are integers and q does not equal 0. To subtract two rational numbers, they must have a common denomination, and to do this, you have to multiply each of them by a common factor. The same is true when subtracting rational expressions, which are polynomials. The trick to subtracting polynomials is to factor them to get them in their simplest form before giving them a common denominator.
Subtracting Rational Numbers
In a general way, you can express one rational number by p/q and another by x/y, where all numbers are integers and neither y nor q equals 0. If you want to subtract the second from the first, you would write:
(p/q) - (x/y)
Now multiply the first term by y/y (which equals 1, so it doesn't change its value), and multiply the second term by q/q. The expression now becomes:
(py/qy) - (qx/qy) which can be simplified to
(py -qx) / qy
The term qy is called the least common denominator of the expression (p/q) - (x/y)
1. Subtract 1/4 from 1/3
Write the subtraction expression: 1/3 - 1/4. Now, multiply the the first term by 4/4 and the second by 3/3: 4/12 - 3/12 and subtract the numerators:
2. Subtract 3/16 from 7/24
The subtraction is 7/24 - 3/16. Notice that the denominators have a common factor, 8. You can write the expressions like this: 7/[8 • (3)] and 3/[8 • (2)]. This makes the subtraction easier. Because 8 is common to both expressions, you only have to multiply the first expression by 3/3 and the second expression by 2/2.
7/24 - 3/16 = (14 - 9) / 48 =
Apply the Same Principle when Subtracting Rational Expressions
If you factor polynomial fractions, subtracting them becomes easier. This is called reducing to lowest terms. Sometimes you'll find a common factor in both the numerator and denominator of one of the fractional terms that cancels and produces an easier-to-handle fraction. For example:
(x2 - 2x - 8) / (x2 - 9x + 20)
= (x - 4) (x + 2) / (x - 5) (x - 4)
= (x + 2) / (x - 5)
Perform the following subtraction: 2x / (x2 - 9) - 1 / (x + 3)
Start by factoring x2 - 9 to get (x + 3) (x - 3).
Now write 2x / (x + 3) (x - 3) - 1 / (x + 3)
The lowest common denominator is (x + 3) (x - 3), so you only need to multiply the the second term by (x - 3) / (x - 3) to get
2x - (x - 3) /(x + 3) (x - 3) which you can simplify to
x + 3 / x2 - 9
Lamar University: Rational Expressions
West Texas A & M University: Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions
Chris Deziel holds a Bachelor's degree in physics and a Master's degree in Humanities, He has taught science, math and English at the university level, both in his native Canada and in Japan. He began writing online in 2010 with the goal of exploring scientific, cultural and practical topics, and at last count had reached over a hundred million readers through various sites.
How to Factor Polynomials With 4 Terms
How to Write a Fraction in the Simplest Form
How to Convert a Fraction to a Ratio
How to Subtract Mixed Numbers With Regrouping
How to Divide Rational Numbers
The Foil Method With Fractions
How to Evaluate Fractions
What Is an Integer in Algebra Math?