text:
Newbridge, 20th May 2016
Morning's bird blitz
so near to the record
Ian had forsaken us for a fortnight in God' Country (it starts at Gretna) so it was down to Geoff, Gareth and myself to see just how many bird species we could tot up in or over the valley on a weekend morning in May. The record number seen or heard locally in 24 hours stands at 66, achieved some years ago by Gareth and his dad Kevin. But they were up at dawn and considered it over only when the fat Tawny Owl hooted, so we didn't expect to top their total (us ancient birders do need our rest).
So, the Saturday before last (May 7th) yet-to-be-ancient Gareth went straight from a night shift to cover Pool Hall, Wightwick fields and Turner's fields, Geoff took in the mid-section centred on the Compton barleyfield, and yours truly trudged northwards from Newbridge, taking in Aldersley, Oxley and Dunstall Park. Migration had slowed (the north end of the valley continues to be quiet for the second spring running) high pressure weather didn't help, but comparing notes over a welcome Cupcake coffee at Newbridge station around mid-day we were more than pleased with the result. Sixty four species, a total which would have been bettered had we seen among others Rose-ringed Parakeet, Little Owl, Garden Warble and Bearded Vulture.
As it was, we managed to list Kingfisher, the first Spotted Flycatchers for the year (single passage birds by the barleyfield and Wightwick fields), Great Crested Grebe feeding youngsters at Pool Hall, singing Skylark, nesting Barn Swallow, House Martin and Mute Swan, and a singing Sedge Warbler. Among other species seen were Bullfinch, Lapwing, Linnet, Herring Gull, Grey Wagtail, Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Swift, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Rook, Raven, Jay, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, Mistle Thrush, Coot, Tufted Duck, Greylag, Little Grebe, Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel. A male Pheasant called from a rough grass field just north of Windmill Lane, and Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer were seen and heard near Castlecroft canal bridge.
All in all, not bad for patch that at its furthest point is less than four miles from the centre of Wolverhampton. At a time when monoculture agriculture is degrading large tracts of the British countryside in terms of wildlife variety it's refreshing to see a relatively small mixed-habitat linear park on the edge of one of Britain's largest conurbations produce such an extensive list of bird species. Here's to the Smestow Valley!
small postscript
Thanks to lord Angus for an excellent roundup. And now the weather has dried up so to some extent have the birds. Wandering round the mid and north sections has only produced a singing sedge warbler 100 yds north of aldersly junction in the canal scrub and a stunning lesser whitethroat on the western border showing down to 10 yds. Interestingly both birds were accompanied by a willow warbler. At the moment only a single common whitethroat seems to have set up territory in barley field, as usual in new corner.
Newbridge, 3rd May 2016
Forget the weather,
it's time for a chat
Sleet, squalls, stair-rod rain, hail and snow last week, winds from the north, frost at night. Spring has been somewhat unsprung, but nights have often been sharp and clear, and, as Ian, Gareth and Geoff have reported, bird migration is well under way. Despite the wintry conditions, chats, wagtails, pipits, waders and warblers are calling in on the valley on their way to breeding grounds, some of them staying on to nest locally, others feeding up and moving on . . .
Star birds for 2016 so far are in fact non-migrants, Gareth's and Ian's Goshawks, only the seventh and eighth of their kind reported locally since 1990. Gareth's male bird attacked a Buzzard over Wightwick ridge late in the morning on 2/4, Ian's sighting involved a bird over Aldersley playingfields on 20/4, and there was a reliable late-winter report of one flying over the Mermaid pub at Wightwick. Goshawks nationally are now being seen more frequently in or near to urban areas, and these records may have involved a bird or birds from a small Shropshire/South Staffordshire breeding population. Another top raptor sighting came from Gareth in the shape of a Red Kite flying northwards over Wightwick fields towards Tinacre Hill on 9/4. This is a prime time of year to see wandering birds of this species locally, and there have been around eight valley records since the first sighting of a Welsh-tagged bird over Newbridge on May 5th 1996. Just as Buzzards moved eastwards to nest in and beyond the Wolverhampton conurbation in the late 1990s, so Red Kites have already spread into Shropshire (more than 30 breeding pairs were reported in the county last year). It can only be a matter of time before these beautiful birds hold nesting territories close to the Smestow Valley.
On a smaller scale, but none the less impressive, three chat species have been recorded passing through the valley in recent weeks. First up was a single male Wheatear seen on 26/3 on Dunstall Park, a site visited annually by this perky species. Totals since the end of March at the racecourse have reached double figures, including eleven present on 12/4, with birds feeding in and alongside drainage ditches near to the grandstand. Ian's female Common Redstart on the Compton barleyfield on 23/4 was reported on the same morning as a male Whinchat was seen feeding near the Smestow brook on Wightwick fields. Other migrant records at the racecourse include two Little Ringed Plover on 24/3, a Lesser Whitethroat by the lake on 20/4, a male Yellow Wagtail on 4/4, a Sand Martin on 15/4, a Meadow Pipit on 3/4, and by far the valley's earliest ever Sedge Warbler singing on the Birmingham Canal side of the site on 8/4. Three Barn Swallows were back at their racecourse nest area on 12/4, fifteen House Martin were over the same site on 15/4, and two Willow Warbler were at Dunstall Park on 6/4. Chiffchaff have been vocal all along the valley since late March, with Blackcap totals increasing over the same period (adverse weather meant that females were catching up with males, the two sexes appearing within days of each other.) Migration for other later warblers is, just as last year, relatively slow, with only four Common Whitethroat reported from their main valley breeding ground at Aldersley/Oxley on 30/4.
Records in late winter and spring for resident species include two pairs of Grey Wagtail active at former nest sites, Stock Dove pairs displaying, Green Woodpeckers calling, and Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker seen mating. Goldcrest and Coal Tit have been reported all along the valley, Goldfinch have been singing at Wightwick, Newbridge, Aldersley, Compton and elsewhere, Nuthatch pairs have been seen narrowing nest holes with mud at a traditional breeding site, at least 12 Rook nests had been built in the oak copse at Dunstall Park by the end of March, Linnet have been singing at last year's nest site and a male Reed Bunting was in voice by the racecourse lake on 2/4. Little Grebe, a pair of Mute Swan and at least three pairs of Coot have set up at the lake, but Canada Goose nests on the island have been abandoned for the second year running. Sparrowhawk activity has been limited, but Buzzard pairs have been seen daily since late winter, with plunge-diving displays over what are now traditional nest sites (at least 14 birds were seen at the same time over Wightwick and out towards Pool Hall late in the morning on 5/4). A pair of hunting Kestrel suggests the species may be nesting again in the valley after an absence of several years.
Sawbill surge as waters rise
Water levels at Dunstall Park lake are still high after a warm, wet winter, and although this may have put off passage waders this spring, good numbers of a sawbill diving duck have been reported. Goosander have been using the lake as a stopping-off place to rest, preen and fish, with regular sightings there and along the valley since December. Records include two males and a female on the lake on 20/4, and eight birds flying along the line of the canal by the racecourse towards Newbridge on 10/4. Reports of other wintering duck at the racecourse lake include a pair of Tufted Duck on 28/3 and 2/4, ten pairs of Teal on 23/1, three males and a female Shoveler on 5/3 and a pair of Gadwall on 26/1 and 3/4. Snipe numbers at the lake peaked at 14 on 15/2 and a wintering Green Sandpiper was in the open culvert of the Smestow brook by the lake on 15/2 and 16/2. Other racecourse records include a Cormorant seen moving south westwards on 30/1, fourteen Greylag Goose on 20/2, a first-winter Yellow-legged Gull on 15/2, a moulting adult Mediterranean Gull on 20/2 and a Peregrine flying over the site on 20/3.
NB Dunstall Park is a closed commercial site. Access is strictly controlled.
Late-winter and spring records from elsewhere along the valley include sightings of at least three Rose-ringed Parakeet, three late-departing Redwing near Tunstall Water Bridge on 12/3 and at least ten Siskin by the old railway south of Hordern Road on 12/3. Two Red-legged Partridge were seen on Wightwick fields on 17/4, a male Pheasant called from a field just north of Windmill Lane canal bridge at Wightwick on 5/4 and 6/4 and a Kingfisher was by the canal run-off stream at Wightwick fields on 11/3. A Tawny Owl called from Newbridge playingfield on 5/3 and 1/4, and Little Owl were reported regularly at dusk near Castlecroft canal bridge by Wightwick fields.
A sad postscript: A dead Barn Owl found under a hedge at the southern end of Wightwick fields on 11/3 may well have been the bird seen regularly quartering the same area in late January. This beautiful species bred in the valley in the late 1990s, and birds could be seen at dusk hunting over grass fields north of Smestow School, Wightwick, and over Wightwick fields.
two at a time
2 birds I forgot to mention overflying last Sunday a raven flying due south and a lapwing due north both over the Meccano.
2 swallows flying low through the paddocks yesterday morning
2 greylags flying towards west park this morning
2 common tern at pool hall yesterday
2 great crested grebe chicks again at pool hall
2 whinchats reported yesterday at wightwick fields thanks David also a lone redpoll
Too many blackbirds to count especially early doors in the station paddock, both male and female which suggests young being fed
Otherwise a pretty disappointing weekend especially the lack of whitethroats.


text:
Top 10 Carnegie Council Resources, 2016
CREDIT: duncan c (CC)
In a year that will be remembered as era-defining, Carnegie Council's most popular 2016 podcasts and web resources focused on Asia, Russia, human rights, technology, and the fight against terrorism. Check out this varied list, which gives you an idea of the scope of the Council's work.
1) Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox Discusses the Indian Constitution
Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, Quinnipiac University; Alex Woodson, Carnegie Council
Quinnipiac professor Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox spent three months researching the Indian Constitution in Delhi. In this talk, she details the document's framework, its main architect B. R. Ambedkar, and why it is the world's longest constitution. Is it revered, like its American counterpart? What are some of the constitutional debates in India today? (Carnegie New Leaders Podcast, January 2016, audio and transcript)
2) Beyond a New Cold War? International Security and the Need for U.S.-Russia Cooperation
Stephen F. Cohen, New York University, Princeton University; Jack F. Matlock, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union; John Pepper, Former Chairman and CEO, The Procter & Gamble Company; William vanden Heuvel, The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute; David C. Speedie, Carnegie Council
The United States must stop its demonization of President Putin, according to members of this distinguished panel, all with long associations with Russia and all founding members of the American Committee for East-West Accord. Syria, Ukraine, the UN, nuclear weapons: compelling reasons why the United States and Russia must work together. (U.S. Global Engagement, February 2016, audio, video, and transcript)
3) Human Rights in China with Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, University of California at Irvine, Journal of Asian Studies; Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council
Senior Fellow Devin Stewart speaks to scholar Jeffrey Wasserstrom about the current state of Chinese media, politics, leadership, and human rights. They also discuss the country's anti-corruption campaign, Chinese history, and Wasserstrom's new book Eight Juxtapositions: China Through Imperfect Analogies. (Asia Dialogues, February 2016, audio and transcript)
4) The Industries of the Future
Alec Ross, Johns Hopkins University; Joanne Myers, Carnegie Council
Driverless cars, designer babies, crypto currencies, cyber warfare, pervasive "sousveillance" that erodes our privacy, often with our consent—what are the upsides and downsides of this brave new world? Alec Ross, who is neither a utopian nor a dystopian, expertly guides us through it. (Public Affairs, March 2016, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
5) Japan's Politics: A Move toward Nationalism or more of the Status Quo?
Sheila A. Smith, Council on Foreign Relations; Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council
Was Prime Minister Abe's landslide victory in the July elections a vote of confidence in his ability to jump-start Japan's stagnant economy, or simply a desire for stability? Will he use his majority to revise Japan's constitution? What is the mood of the country today, especially among young people? Find out from Japan scholar Sheila Smith. (Asia Dialogues, July 2016, audio and transcript)
1) Rethinking U.S. Strategy Towards China
Joshua Eisenman, Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
"To improve U.S. policy towards China to avoid, and yet be prepared for, conflict requires going beyond simplistic applications of international relations theory. It means opening the 'black box' of China's policymaking process to understand why it makes the decisions it does and how this process has changed and is changing." (Global Ethics Network/An Ethical Dialogue between Asia and the West article, January 2016)
2) The Symbiotic Relationship between Western Media and Terrorism
Javier Delgado Rivera, Journalist
Mass media and terrorism have become ever more intertwined in a mutually beneficial relationship often described as 'symbiotic.' This column examines that dynamic and outlines the need for news organizations to balance the public's right to know against the ability of militants to exploit news coverage to promote their beliefs. (Carnegie Ethics Online article, May 2016)
3) What Does Singapore Owe its Migrant Workers?
Matthew Sacco, Carnegie Council
In Tuas View, an industrial neighborhood in Singapore, migrant workers have little reason to leave their buildings. They live in a 15,000 square foot dormitory, where they enjoy fitness centers, movie theaters, food courts, and even a beer garden. Take a closer look, however, and a darker reality emerges. (Carnegie Ethics Online article, February 2016)
4) Southeast Asia—The Islamic State's New Front?
Joshua Kurlantzick, Council on Foreign Relations
From Bangladesh to the Philippines, the Islamic State's efforts to win over South and Southeast Asians have been substantial and have increased over the past two years. What have been the results across the region, home to the largest number of Muslims in the world? What does the future hold? (Carnegie Ethics Online/Asia Dialogues article, October 2016)
5) Top Risks and Ethical Decisions 2016
Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group; Devin Stewart, Carnegie Council
Eurasia Group's Ian Bremmer discusses the top political risks for 2016 and gives a stark warning for the year ahead. Touching on the Saudi-Iranian tensions, China's footprint, and the eroding trans-Atlantic alliance, Bremmer says, "This is very likely to be the most dangerous year of geopolitical risk we have experienced since we started this process." (Ethics Matter, January 2016, audio, video, transcript, and TV show)
Democracy Education Security Terrorism Human Rights International Relations Technology U.S. Foreign Policy East Asia South Asia Southeast Asia Russia & the Former Soviet Republics China India Japan Russia Singapore United States
Strangers in Strange Lands: Migration
Top 10 Podcasts for the 2015-16 Carnegie Council Program Year
Fighting for our Planet, the Only Home We Have: Earth Day, April 22, 2016

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I have a question about videos.
I miss something. I miss submit a video!! Maybe is here but I can't find it. In case it's not I think that will be so cool!! I think that some girls don't want to post on youtube 'cause everyone can see their videos. This is just a girly site by girls for girls! I hope you understand me.
@unicorn1647 Thanks for asking this question! Right now we don't have the "Submit Your Video" feature on Miss O and friends. We have a new section called "Submit Your Photo", you might want to check out! We love getting photos from our users and sharing them on the site!


Snowman Clipart for Christmas & Winter Fun!
Free Christmas clipart featuring lovable snowmen and women. A cheerful snowman image will definitely make your xmas pages a lot more festive. Many of these images will even work well for any winter related project! Some of them are a bit large so it may take a bit to load the page, others are very small so if you zoom in and there's not a lot of difference in size, that's why... it's little.
Even snowmen need vacations, this one went went on a tropical vacation. I hope his hotel has really good air conditioning!
Snowman with carrot nose in plaid scarf, old mittens and a hat.
This one is quite large and very beautiful, you could turn it into a custom greeting card with your favorite image editor!
This little guy is wearing a grey top hat and a blue scarf with red trim, holding a candy cane.
This image is small, but cute. It shows a Rudolph the red nosed reindeer building a snowman.
Animation of a snowman with twigs for arms, standing inside a snowing snowglobe.
A snow woman wearing the latest winter fashions... a red & blue checkered scarf with a jaunty red hat decorated with holly, accessorizing of course with a broom.
Here's an adorable, small image of a penguin wearing a Santa hat and a snowbaby with a top hat facing nose to nose.
Here's another image of a snowperson dressed up in their finest outfit smoking a corn cob pipe... do you ever wonder if wearing winter clothes warms them?
Funny animation of a snowman mooning.
Two small kids playing with Frosty the... yup, you guessed it!
Animated gif showing a friendly snowman tipping his top hat in greeting.
This very lively animated snowman with a carrot nose, wearing a striped tie is waving, dancing and winking... looks so happy!
and his friend, another friendly snow-child wearing a festive red hat and green scarf.


text:
18/11/2019 In Media Release
Officers assaulted at Woodford Correctional Centre
Queensland Corrective Services can confirm that two officers have been injured during an incident where force was required to be used at Woodford Correctional Centre this morning.
Officers were directing a prisoner to his cell when he became non-compliant and threw a number of punches at the officers.
He was restrained and assessed by medical staff before being taken to the Detention Unit.
Two male officers have sought medical attention for injures and initial assessments indicate that both officers have swelling to the facial areas but no major damage.
The matter will be referred to CSIU for investigation.
Prisoners who assault officers may face additional criminal charges and further prison time. They are also subject to internal disciplinary processes, including loss of privileges.
Every day our officers interact with the most challenging and complex people in our society.
Officer safety is Queensland Corrective Services' absolute priority. Every officer deserves to go home safely at the end of shift.
We take our responsibility as an employer to support our officers through appropriate training and provision of equipment, technology, and policy support very seriously, but recognise that we cannot remove all risk from the workplace due to the dynamic nature of correctional environments.
People who have been removed from society for violent or anti-social behaviour sometimes display that same behaviour in a prison environment, despite the best efforts of our officers to de-escalate situations.
When an officer is injured on duty, QCS is committed to supporting the officer and their family while they recover.
Officer assaulted at Lotus Glen Correctional Centre Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) can confirm that a custodial correctional officer received a neck injury as a result of an interaction with a prisoner yesterday at Lotus Glen Correctional Centre. The officer was unlocking a cell yesterday morning when the prisoner assaulted the officer. The officer withdrew from the cell and was taken to the medical centre for assessment. Management…
Minor disturbance: Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre Queensland Corrective Services can confirm that a prisoner caused minor damage to a unit at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre overnight after managing to access a common area in a secure unit. Initial information is that the prisoner entered the common area shortly about midnight and stole some items. A small fire was observed outside the unit. A Tactical Response Team…
Death in custody - Wolston Correctional Centre Queensland Corrective Services can confirm that a 73-year-old prisoner has died after suffering what appears to be a medical incident at Wolston Correctional Centre yesterday evening. The man attended the medical centre at the prison suffering shortness of breath before rapidly declining. QAS attended, but attempts by health staff, officers and paramedics to resuscitate the man were unsuccessful. Support is…


text:
Castillo de Teayo è un sito archeologico precolombiano contenente una piramide mesoamericana, situato nella regione della Huasteca nel Veracruz settentrionale, in Messico. In età moderna si è sviluppato attorno alla piramide un omonimo insediamento da cui, in seguito, ha preso il nome il comune di Castillo de Teayo.

Storia
Durante la sua occupazione, avvenuta tra il X ed il XII secolo, il sito era associato alla cultura huaxteca. A partire dal tardo periodo postclassico il sito subì una forte influenza azteca, e dalla metà del Quattrocento vi fu probabilmente stabilita una provincia coloniale nel corso dell'espansione Mexica.

Al centro del sito si trova una struttura a forma piramidale, alta 11,3 metri, in ottimo stato di conservazione. Sono degne di note le scale e la struttura sulla cima della piramide, probabilmente usata un tempo come tempio.

L'origine del nome Teayo è dubbia. Una possibilità è rappresentata dalla derivazione dalle radici dei termini nahuatl tetl (pietra) ed ayotl (tartaruga).  La piramide di Castillo de Teayo, ed una rappresentazione geografica della tartaruga in pietra, sono rappresentati sullo stemma comunale.

Alcuni reperti scavati in questo luogo sono ospitati, assieme a molte altre testimonianze delle civiltà precolombiane, nel piccolo museo del posto affiliato all'Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.

Note

Altri progetti

Siti archeologici aztechi

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Samuel Cousins
Joseph Pennell
American artist and writer
British writer and artist
English artist
Home Visual Arts Graphic Art
English engraver
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Cousins
Samuel Cousins - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
May 9, 1801 Exeter England
May 7, 1887 (aged 85) London England
Samuel Cousins, (born May 9, 1801, Exeter, Devon, England—died May 7, 1887, London), English mezzotint engraver, preeminently the interpreter of the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence.
During his apprenticeship Cousins engraved many of the best among the 360 little mezzotints illustrating the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds. In the finest of his transcripts of Lawrence, such as Master Lambton (1826), the brilliance and force of effect in a high key corresponded exactly with qualities achieved by the painter. After the introduction of steel for engraving about 1823, Cousins and his contemporaries were compelled to use it: the soft copper employed for mezzotint plates did not yield enough fine impressions to be commercially competitive with line engraving. Because of the hardness of steel, the paintinglike quality of mezzotints of the 18th century was wanting in Cousins's later works. The labour of scraping steel was so augmented that Cousins resorted to using stipple engraving and etching processes. To this mixed style he added heavy roulette (toothed wheel) and rocking-tool textures. The effect of these prints was mechanical, but their phenomenal popularity kept alive a form of mezzotint during a critical phase of its history.


Our Blush Ice Dye Tunic is inspired by the stunning patterns and striations of agates and gemstones, the organic watercolor effect of this slow dye process gorgeously transforms our fabric to look like these unique stones.
*Please note: the ice dye process results in totally unique surface patterns + color variations. While they will be similar, no two tunics are the same. Please view our other blush ice dye products to see the variations that may occur.


I'm using FreeCommander v773 64-bit with Windows 10 Home v1709 64 bit.
I found that when I display 'Network' and then Refresh (Cntrl-R) the display changes to show 'Desktop' instead. This problem only seems to occur if I have chosen to use Freecommander for Network loading (when using Windows Shell for Network loading it works as expected).
Also, when using Freecommander for Network loading, it only shows other computers and NAS devices. When using Windows Shell for network loading other devices (eg webcams, media servers) are also shown.
I'm using FreeCommander v783 64-bit with Windows 10 Professional v1803 64 bit.
I have a same problem when open network path from favorite's tree with option "Open favorites in a new tab" is checked.
Everything is working properly when this option is unchecked (when it's opening in current tab).


Not a very nice sight when started.
No change in diet needed. Just pop in 2 capsules a day and let the 100% herbal stuff gets to work. Emulsify's fats and prevent absorption.
30 days later - same pair of trousers.
And no loose stools. Bowel habits are normal.
Just eat normally like you always do and listen to your body. You will start to notice that your diet preference starts to change.
Ready to drink sachet will improve and maintain your health. Once your health is rejuvenated (especially your liver), weight is not an issue that trouble you any more.
With obesity gone, more than 50 obesity link health problems ranging from hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, to varicose veins are reduced.
GET HEALTHY - it will show.


text:
A Case for Textual Harassment
Umberto Eco, translated by William Weaver
These days, especially in the United States, implacable copy editors demand of authors not only stylistic revisions but even changes in plot, new endings, whatever commercial necessity dictates. But when we Italians recall the summary way the novelist-editor Elio Vittorini dealt with young writers some decades ago, can we honestly say that they ordered things so differently in the past?
Take the usually overlooked fact that the first version of a well-known poem by Philip Larkin originally went: "They do you harm, your father and mother." It was only the insistence of Larkin's editor that inspired the now famous variant. And the first draft of Eliot's Waste Land opened: "April is the cruelest month. And March isn't all that great, either." Weakened in its impact by this peevish insistence on climactic details, the earlier text denied April any implied link with the rites of vegetation. As everyone knows, Ariosto at first submitted to his publisher a very brief poem that went: "Of women and knights, arms, loves, courtly rituals, and bold ventures I have nothing to say." And that was that. "How about developing it a bit?" the editor suggested. And Master Ludovico, who was having enough trouble as civil governor of a remote Tuscan province, said, "What's the use? There are dozens of epics of chivalry already. Leave it. I want to urge poets to try new genres." And the editor replied, "Yes, of course, I understand, and, personally, I agree with you. But why not try approaching the form from another angle? With irony, for instance. Anyway, we can't sell a onepage book, particularly one with only two verses on the page. It looks like imitation Mallarmé. It would have to be a limited, numbered edition. So unless we can get Philip Morris to sponsor it, we're screwed."
The Manzoni case is important. He began the first version of his novel with "That stretch of Lake Garda." It seems simple enough, but if he had stuck to that lake, he might have written the whole history of the Venetian Republic and never got beyond Riva. You can imagine how long it would have taken Renzo to get to Milan. He'd never have made it in time for the bread riot. And afterward nothing significant would have happened to the poor youth. Lucia would have sought protection from the Nun of Rovereto, an abbess of impeccable behavior; the whole novel would have ended after a few trivial mishaps before the happy wedding…. Even Brother Cadfael has more exciting adventures.
The Leopardi story is still more serious. The wandering shepherd of Asia, in the first draft, cried: "What are you doing, Jupiter, in heaven? Tell me, what are you doing, silent Jupiter." Nothing wrong with that excellent planet, of course, but it is visible only during certain seasons and has hardly any emotional or metaphysical connotations. In fact, Leopardi's composition consisted of just a few verses, at the end of which the shepherd concluded that, as far as he was concerned, Jupiter didn't amount to much. Luckily, the editor's intervention saved the day: "Professor Leopardi, give me a break! Use the old imagination. Why not try one of Jupiter's satellites?"
"Oh, please!…that would only make things worse. What would a wandering shepherd of Asia know about satellites? Maybe the moon…at most. You want me to have him cry out to the moon? Really! I do have some self-respect."
"Well, you never know. Run it through the machine."
The Proust story, finally, is tragic. In the first version he had written: "Longtemps je me suis couché après minuit." You know what happens to a growing boy who stays up till all hours. The Narrator succumbed to a cerebral inflammation that virtually destroyed his memory. He saw the Duchesse de Guermantes the next day and asked, "Who are you, Madame?" He was banished from all the salons of Paris, because certain faux pas are beyond forgiveness in that world. In this Urversion, the Narrator was even incapable of expressing himself in the first person, and La Recherche boiled down to a brief case history à la Charcot.
On the other hand, after I ended a novel of mine with the verse of Bernard de Morlay beginning, "Stat rosa pristina nomine," I was informed by some philologists that certain other extant manuscripts read, on the contrary, "Stat Roma," which, for that matter, would make more sense because the preceding verses refer to the disappearance of Babylon. What would have happened if I had in consequence entitled my novel The Name of Rome? I would have had a preface by John Paul II, who no doubt would have made me a Papal Count. Or someone would have made a movie with Sean Connery in a toga.
—Translated by William Weaver
Umberto Eco is President of the Scuola Superiore di Studi Umanistici at the University of Bologna and author of many books, most recently How to Write a Thesis.
William Weaver is celebrated for his numerous translations from the Italian, including Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and novels and stories by Italo Calvino.
Louis Begley
Ariadne's Own Story
Franz Kafka, translated and with an introduction by Mark Harman
Kafka's 'A Message from the Emperor': A New Translation
Michael Meyer
Danger: Thin Ice
John Hollander
H. Stuart Hughes
Missing Connections
Richard Ellmann
Murder in the Monastery?


I am sooooo EXCITED to show these pictures of a very special bridal shower hosted by Dorene Lane. Dorene is Monica's Mom. If you've been reading my blog lately you probably know about Monica, a very special bride and friend. I'm the maid of honor in her July 6th wedding! Dorene planned the beautiful shower with the help of many of her family members. I had a great time helping with all the details when I arrived in San Diego a few days before the shower. Dorene is a wedding photographer so she did an awesome job of capturing all of the details of her daughters special day. Some of the highlights include the beautiful flowers Monica picked out, the chalkboard owl stickers we glued to the mason jars, the owl ribbon, lavender party favors, delicious candy bar, and the elegant cheese/cracker buffet. Enjoy!
You have shared quite useful information on bridal shower party. I am arranging bridal shower event for my sister and searching for excellent venues in Atlanta. Hope to find a spacious venue for accommodating our guests nicely. Will decorate venue with roses and Lilly flowers.


It was a happy Father's Day for Manchester United's pitch side announcer, who swapped Old Trafford for Salford City Stadium to see England Women's secure a crucial win against Holland.
Alan Keegan, who has been the voice at United for 12 years, gave up his Father's Day to work at England's UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifier, which was watched by 5,505 fans, including his family.
Although this was the first time Alan has worked at a women's football match, he is no stranger to the sport.
His daughter Hannah is captain of the Stockport County Under-18s team, who also came along to watch England claim a narrow but crucial victory over the Dutch, thanks to Rachel Yankey's quickfire second half free-kick.
Alan said he has always had a passion for women's football thanks to his daughter, and he was thrilled to be the stadium's announcer for the big game.
"I had to check with Mrs Keegan that everything was OK on the Father's Day front, but we're a football family so we combined the two," he said.
The day began at 3pm when young football fans came out in force to enjoy the FA Girls' Football Festival which combined skills and drills with FA-qualified coaches, music, games, competitions and prizes.
By the time the game kicked off, almost 6,000 fans were in the stadium bringing with them England shirts, flags and their singing voices.
A handful of committed Holland fans also made the journey to Salford only to see their country lose 1-0 thanks to a controversial England goal which came from Yankey's quickfire free-kick on 67 minutes.
The visitors were unhappy with the referee's decision to let the goal stand while they were still organising their defensive wall.
But they almost hit back straightaway when Anouk Hoogendijk hit a shot across goal which England goalkeeper, Rachel Brown was relieved to see clip the upright.
The victory means Hope Powell's team are now just two points behind Holland in Group Six.
But they have a game in hand over the Dutch, and travel to Slovenia on Thursday looking for a win that would send them top of the group, knowing they would then just need to beat Croatia in September to seal a place at Sweden 2013.
"We're in the driving seat now," said Powell, "And that's where we feel we should be.
"But it's very important that we don't slip up now, we have to see the job through and we can't take any team for granted.
"Our performance today wasn't the best we've played. We were average in the first half but we dug deep in the second half.
Brown, the region's only representative in the England team, was fantastic when called upon, pulling off two key saves which kept her country in the game when it was 0-0.
And the former Accrington Stanley youth player topped off her superb performance with a deserved clean sheet.


The gentle ringing of the alarm clock wakes you up as you roll out of bed and give a yawn. Walking out onto the balcony connected to your bedroom, you watch the sun cresting over the horizon, striking the red rock monoliths and formations surrounding the city of Sedona. The area goes ablaze in color and light in brilliant oranges and fiery reds throughout the 16-mile gorge. The sunlight continues to creep its way along the multi-hued rocks as the incredible views leave you mesmerized and overcome with a sense of peace and tranquility.
These are the views that people living in Sedona get to witness every day. It doesn't matter where they are: working on chores in the yard, driving to work, walking the dog or eating at an outdoor bistros — they are surrounded by the majestic red rock spires reaching out to the clear blue skies. They witness the bright golden sunrises happily greeting their existence every morning, and the soothing embers of sunset creating a feeling of relaxation well into the evenings. Absent is the harsh gray cement of towering skyscrapers and smog-filled air that obscures the skylines of other nearby cities. Looking out over Sedona is like gazing at a magnificent work of art depicting nature in all its splendid glory, yet it is even better. You get to experience this living work of art in person when you relocate to Sedona.
You feel the geological formations surrounding you, instilling feelings of exhilaration and freedom. You aren't outside of nature here; you are a part of it. You may feel the quality of your life improving as you soak in the beautiful views in Sedona. The beauty touches you both mentally and spiritually.
It's the reason why people jump at the chance to buy luxury homes in Sedona. Where else could you possibly find scenery where the sky and the land meets in an eruption of colorful beauty? Nowhere else except in Sedona, where the red rock pinnacles, the bubbling rivers, the waterfalls and the mountains surround people in the everlasting wonders of nature.
Thousands of tourists travel to the resort city of Sedona to experience this panoramic vista. All they will have are their memories and the photos they took to remember the scenic views — but you can live in this wondrous splendor every day. When the tourists are gone, you can remain, and the views of Sedona become your personal backyard playground waiting to be explored.
If you are interested in owning a home in Sedona, Realtor® Bruce Tobias of Re/Max Sedona can find the perfect place that allows you to gaze upon the majestic geological views in this resort city.


While dated and not covering SPARQL 1.1 and its improvements, this resource may still be a useful read for beginners seeking to understand the query language and the RDF data model in general. Contains some good examples of query construction, many using an RDF representation of the periodic table familiar to most high school chemistry students.
Understands the major SPARQL result set modifiers, e.g., to limit or sort results, or to return distinct results only once.


How good is AISweb's Hosting ?
Very good. Our server uptime for financial year 2011/2012 was 99.81%.
Your website will be hosted and supported, right here in Australia.
All new Hosting accounts are now located in market-leading ultra high-tech Data Centres in Sydney, New South Wales & Melbourne, Victoria.
AISweb's servers are located in privately owned state-of-the-art Australian data centres. These world-class multi-homed facilities connect directly to Tier 1 backbones with diverse path connectivity and are supported by fully redundant environmental and power systems. The staff of certified network engineers and technicians monitor the network and server operations continually around the clock.
It is a challenge to become a trusted provider and be recognised with reliability by users. Our facilities are trusted by over 100,000 websites worldwide and are currently home to over 1,500 hosting servers. High performance bandwidth, test-driven reliable systems, exceptional support, this is how AISweb operates.
Our connections are the best connections. The Data Centres are located in multi-homed connections. We do not limit ourselves to only one carrier nor do we use cheap cogent bandwidth. We are connected to TIER 1 providers.
Our main lines are, Level3 gigE, UUNET OC-12, and TimeWarner OC-48 Our bandwidth power is limitless for your account.
How do I set up an Add-on Domain ?
Each hosting account allows a number of Add-on Domains to be set up. This means you can use your hosting account for several different websites.
Setting up an Add-on Domain creates a new folder within the public_html directory of your website hosting space. You upload the website for the Add-on domain into this folder.
To set up an Add-on domain, first change the DNS of your new domain to match your main domain.
Go to where you registered your domain to change your DNS settings. Keep in mind that this DNS change can take up to 24-48 hrs to be recognised and take effect globally (propagate).
Next, log into your website hosting account cPanel and click on Addon Domains in the Domains section.
Enter the domain eg: myotherdomainname.com.
In the next field (Username/directory/subdomain), enter the name you want the directory in public_html to be called.
Set up the add-on domain. You can then upload the new website into the folder that was created inside public_html.
How to set up email accounts in my hosting cPanel ?
cPanel Control Panel email Setup Tutorial.
This tutorial shows you how to set up an email account in your web site hosting account cPanel control panel.
After you have set up email accounts in cPanel you will be able to send and receive emails from your domain using webmail or using an email program on your computer such as Outlook, Thunderbird etc.
Setting up email accounts in cPanel.
Step 1) To set up email accounts you need to log in to cPanel. To login to cPanel type www.yourdomain.com/cpanel in the address bar of your internet browser. Replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain name.
Type in Your Username and Password ( which can be found in the New Account Information email you received when you bought our hosting ).
Step 3) Choose an email account name and enter it in to the email: box.
Then choose a suitable password. Choose a password that is easy to remember but would be hard for anyone to guess. Best passwords are those which contain a combination of numbers and letters lower & uppercase. You can let the system choose a password for you if you prefer.
Note: If your email account becomes full, or if your Hosting account disk space is filled-up, all mail sent to you will not be able to be delivered.
Please be sure to always allow yourself enough Quota to receive mail and remember to check your email account for mail regularly.
Congratulations. You have set up an email account in cPanel.
How to set up emails for a SECURE server, using Outlook or Thunderbird.
Please carefully follow these instructions to set your email program up to work with a secure server.
NB. These methods won't work on a normal server, only do this if you have been advised it's necessary.
Your version may look slightly different to these screen shots but just check that your settings match these.
2. Select your account from Account Settings.
3. Double-click your email account to see the settings.
Example A - you use your website as Incoming AND Outgoing mail server.
You should get two ticks for logging on to Incoming Server and Sending Test Email.
If you get an error message. Carefully recheck all your settings and try again.
If you still get an error, revert to your original settings and open a Support Ticket so we can help. Include the exact settings you are using, preferably send us screenshots.
Please Note ! The first time you use this method, you may see a pop-up warning. You just need to Confirm that you're happy, this warning won't appear again.
Example B - Using your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to SEND your emails.
1. Find out what the ISP's smtp server name is, see our list here.
Enter it as the Outgoing Mail Server.
2. Click More Settings... button.
On Outgoing Server tab, does not need authentication.
3. On Advanced tab, Incoming Port should be 995, server requires encrypted connection.
Outgoing Port number should be 25 and do not select encrypted connection.
Outgoing Mail Servers (SMTP) for major Australian ISPs.
2. Thunderbird and other email systems.
If you use Thunderbird, Mac Mail or another email system, the settings above will be the same although your settings screens will differ to our screenshots.
And Outgoing. This is using the ISP to SEND, which is what we recommend.


Bluesound are a hifi company making elegant and slick-looking audio systems. Their product range comprises streaming endpoints (Node and Powernode), speakers (Pulse and Duo) and a ripping/streaming server (Vault). In addition, some slick control apps are available for free from iTunes' and Google Play's app stores.
Overall, Bluesound seem to focus on how their audio products fit in with your lifestyle, home etc. They offer audiophile quality sound reproduction, but with the convenience of wireless devices. If I were to pigeon-hole them, which is probably unfair - but I'll do it anyway - I'd say they were like Sonos but with dialled-up audio capabilities and device design.
However, even the prettiest of hi-fi setups can be compromised by a messy, untidy music library. A disorganised library comes in many forms, and amongst the most significant of these is incomplete cover art.
Why is incomplete cover art such a problem? Isn't it "all about the music"? Well, yes, but album art is important for two reasons. The first is perhaps more obvious; artwork is representative of an album, and part of an album's oeuvre. When you play Sgt. Pepper's, that famous cover is part of the experience, and it's something you'd like to experience in the Bluesound app.
The second reason is more subtle and only comes from experience with large digital music collections. We, as humans, are pattern matching creatures, responding best to complex visual stimulii. When browsing a music collection it is far easier to identify a release by glancing at an image of its front cover than reading the title. Therefore album covers make our music library easier to use.
So if you have a beautiful new Bluesound hifi, the beautiful Bluesound app on your beautiful iPad, but a lot of not-so-beautiful blanks where the album artwork should be, what are you to do?
The image must be stored in either a folder.jpg or cover.jpg file, or embedded within the music file.
The image itself must be no larger than 600kb.
It is possible to do this manually. Likely, you will already have noticed where there are blanks in your library, so it is pretty easy to identify which albums need artwork, or have artwork which is too large. You can search for artwork on numerous sites and then save/overwrite this artwork as a folder.jpg inside each album folder.
You'll need to ensure the image is under 600kb. In many cases this is shown on the website you are downloading from. But if not, download the image and use your operating system to tell you: on Windows, right-click then Properties, on OS X, right-click then Get Info.
A word on consistency. If you have existing artwork above 600kb, I consider it bad practice to merely save artwork under this size as folder.jpg and retain the original artwork embedded in the file. This inconsistency and semi-duplication can come back to bite you later as you maintain your music library.
If you have a mere handful of albums missing artwork on your Bluesound, that's probably the best way to do it. However, if you have a lot of albums missing the artwork, that process will begin to get tiresome quickly. Plus, when you add albums to your collection, you have to remember what you did last time.
The alternative is to use bliss, which is fully automatic and will remember your settings so when you add music your rules can kick in without you having to remember them.
First, download and install bliss.
First, enter the location of your music library. This will be the same folder that you supplied as the PC/Mac/NAS Network Share within the Bluesound app.
If you happen to know the UNC path for this share, in the form \\ComputerName\Share, that's easiest to use. Type that into the Music Folder field.
If you don't know this, providing the music location depends on your operating system. On Windows, first "map" the network share to a drive letter. On OS X, you can "mount" the share using Connect to server within the Finder menu; this will then mount the share to a sub folder of /Volumes/. With the folder now mapped or mounted, you can select the path using the Browse button.
Change the Saved artwork name to "folder".
I would also suggest leaving Embed cover art in music files as Embed art where possible. This ensures the same copy of artwork is present embedded inside your music files. Embedded art is, in my experience, the most portable way of storing artwork.
If bliss finds an album without a folder.jpg, it will find artwork below 512 KB online and install it, saving to folder.jpg (and embedding it if you left that option as default as I advised).
If bliss finds an album with artwork which is over 512 KB it marks this album Non-compliant but performs no further work.
The albums list will filter to only albums that are non-compliant because their artwork is too large.
You'll also see some buttons to shrink the artwork - Reduce data size. Click them and all artwork for that album will be shrunk. The album will then be re-assessed, and should be compliant as a result (assuming no other rules are in place and causing the non-compliance).
So you've run through the process, either manually or using bliss. But the artwork is still missing in Bluesound! What to do?
The first thing to try is a full re-index of your library. From the same Navigation Drawer, select Configure Player then Delete Index. This time all entries in your library will disappear and, again, slowly begin to repopulate.
If that doesn't work, try opening the Bluesound app, tap the Bluesound logo at the top-left in the Navigation Drawer and then select Reload Album Artwork. This clears Bluesound's cache of artwork and repopulates it, hopefully picking up the new, compliant art.
A little 'gotcha' unrelated to Bluesound which is known to trip people up on Windows machines: Windows Media Player is known for altering Folder.jpg files such that they are hidden by the OS and marked as system files. This causes problems when other devices or software attempts to read or write to them. Workarounds are detailed in our special article covering this issue.
Another metadata/library management related problem that occasionally pops up on Bluesound devices are split albums.
This is quite a common issue and affects a number of different software and hardware devices. If this affects you, you may want to review ways to use bliss to resolve split albums.
I hope this helps complete your Bluesound cover art, and potentially other metadata/library management issues besides!


This week we will be taking our district assessments, CFA #1 & 2 and also our third CSA.
To start the week we will be moving into the new unit over evolution. We will introduce Darwin and all of his work along with all other scientists that contributed to his work. You can find all of this material in Chapter 16 of the book.


Veerle Helsen spent six months touring the coasts of north-west Spain and Portugal in her campervan and with a surfboard. Her book Surf & Stay documents the trip in photos: the places to stay, eat at and visit, as well as the beaches. In this extract we've focused on the Portuguese coast, picking guesthouses, restaurants and cafes that capture the stylish but laid-back feel of the local surfing community.
• We've avoided Lisbon and much of the Alentejo, which we have already covered.
The main draw of Lagos may be its beaches but its pretty, historic centre means there's more to it than your average beach town, and when the summer crowds have gone, it's a great base for catching some out-of-season rays. Casa Mãe's rooms are spread over three buildings, a 19th-century estate house, three cabañas and – the most affordable option – a modern building. Rooms are decorated with the works of local designers: on the walls hang carpets by textile label Gur, which gives old weaving techniques a modern twist. The hotel aims to make the most of the area and local skills, laying on courses including cooking and ceramics, plus yoga sessions. It also organises surfing, SUP, bike rides and rock climbing. The hotel is open year-round, and the restaurant, open to non-guests, makes the most of oysters from the nearby Ria Formosa.
This is a simple but delicious seafood restaurant in the fishing village of Salema. Order the prato do dia (dish of the day) and tuck in for less than €7. There's no sea view but it's an unpretentious place where the swordfish steals the show. I was only going to make a pit stop but ended up staying for three days.
At this fashionable jungle-themed rooftop bar in central Lagos, the food isn't memorable but the exotic atmosphere is pure holiday vibe.
Around 10 years ago, the village of Pedralva was almost deserted: just nine people lived there. Since then, Lisbonite António Ferreira has brought it back to life after buying up a few houses to turn into his own holiday home. He fell in love with the area and ended up buying 30 ruins for renovation. There's intentionally no wifi but there is a great pizza restaurant. And the nine locals? They stuck around.
There aren't as many surf schools in Alentejo as in the Algarve, but the level is higher. The instructors at Surfmilfontes have a passion for the sport and for the ocean, and on the website is a comprehensive guide to all the surf spots in the area.
With a bit of imagination, you could say that this beach restaurant on stilts looks like the cabins that Le Corbusier built in the south of France. Tall windows look out on Praia do Farol, where rocks form hundreds of islands only visible at mid-tide.
No matter whether you drive, cycle or walk along the spectacular road from Praia da Bordeira to Amado, you're in for a treat. The coastline is panoramic, savage and wild, and the hiking trails almost take you into the sea. Once at the beach, you'll find a coffee truck that's been run by the same guy, Acildo, for 25 years. Or stop for a drink and a small serving of sardinhas at Sítio do Forno. The plastic chairs and parasols may not sound inviting but the view is priceless. This is the best-known and most popular campervan spot in the Algarve.
Petrina and Mario have been running Magic Quiver, a surf shop in Ericeira, for several years. They also rent out surf shacks and beach cabins across the resort. The exotic interior of the shop reflects their former life in Kuala Lumpur, and the furniture, wooden lamps and macramé wall hangings are almost all the work of Petrina and local designers. Their lodge offers a rare service: you can hire or test boards by Portuguese and international shapers. This is only for advanced surfers, but looking at all those goodies in candy colours gets you dreaming.
Loosely translated, the name means hello wave! This B&B is operated by Dutch surfer couple Jasper and Darcie. Darcie's mother is Portuguese, so it was an easy choice when they were looking for somewhere to set up a guesthouse. They bought a traditional villa, added green shutters and spruced up the decor. Olá Onda is built on a hill of vines, from which you can take in the sights and sounds of the sea. Its website features an excellent guide to the area's surf spots.
Fred and Marta brought out the port on my first evening in their B&B, even though I arrived after midnight. The next night, they took me and some friends to Bar Zinho, where we danced to a local band until the early hours. This B&B is homely rather than fancy. Fred is a former Belgian snowboarding champion who fell in love with a Portuguese woman. She knows the village and the village knows her. In the summer of 2017 they opened a second guesthouse, Ondina. The name combines two loves: Dina (Marta's late mother) and onda (wave). Fred surfs as well – to spot him in the sea, just look out for a shock of white hair.


Why does the mobile app take me back to the home screen when trying to upload a receipt?
After pressing Use Photo on the app you are taken back to the home screen without the Receipt Saved box appearing.
If you are using an Android device the reason you are unable to save a picture of your receipt is down to your device settings. Under Developer options and then Applications please ensure Don't keep activities is set to off.
If you are still unable to save an image of your receipt after updating your mobile device settings or if you are not using an Android device, please speak to a member of our Support Team at your earliest convenience.


text:
Reading, United Kingdom +44 (0) 118 334 3745
Berkeley Communications
We Believe in the Power of Story
SILVER VERIFIED
We are an International PR agency with a focus on technology, however that doesn't mean we just do media relations.
We develop and fulfill PR, marketing, branding and messaging strategies for clients that include organisations of all sizes across Europe, US and Asia. PR, Content, Video, Social and Design are inhouse.
Berkeley Communications exists to help you cut through the noise. Business or consumer. Local or global. Complex or simple. We put story at the heart of everything. Every story we tell is brutally focused on your business outcomes.
Reading, United Kingdom
100 Longwater Avenue, Green Park
Reading, BRK RG2 6GP
6th Floor, 2 Kingdom Street
London W2 6JP
Landwehrstr. 61,
151 Rue du Faubourg, Saint Antoine,
C/Conde De Peñalver 28,
Teleportboulevard 110,
15% Digital Strategy
15% Marketing Strategy
Midmarket ($10M - $1B)
Small Business (<$10M)
Enterprise (>$1B)
40% Midmarket ($10M - $1B)
40% Small Business (<$10M)
20% Enterprise (>$1B)
20% Telecommunications
20% eCommerce
Branding Focus
20% Brand messaging
20% Brand strategy
20% Corporate identity
20% Naming
20% Product branding
Public Relations Focus
50% Corporate communications
25% Crisis communications
25% Investor relations
Key clients:
IDEX Biometrics, Kaspersky Labs, Workfront, Freesat, Netcall, SOTI, IRI Worldwide, Eseye, Snow Software, International Diabetes Federation, Leaders Romans Group
An international research campaign to position Kaspersky as an expert in its target markets
Kaspersky Global is a leader in cyber security solutions and services
Sneak peak of results;
Combined broadcast reach of 125,323,370
Daily Mirror coverage to a 400,000 readership
Good Housekeeping article with over 220,000 daily readers
Social reach of 235,000
12,000 social engagements
To push Epicor into the manufacturing, business and tech press
Epicor Software provides business management and ERP solutions
Media coverage in key titles such as the BBC, The Manufacturer and Enterprise Times
12-page feature in Manufacturing Global magazine
UK press events with Epicor stakeholders
Taking a Fintech company to1st place in media share of voice
IDEX Biometrics for Payments
1st place in media share of voice against its key competitors
106 pieces of coverage in the first six months
Landmark coverage with the Telegraph, The Independent, London Evening Standard, City AM and Forbes
16 briefings in the first six months, including The Independent, The Telegraph, Forbes and The Economist
Positioning a US company in Europe
PFS is a US-based logistics company that helps online retailers pick, pack and ship their customers' orders as well as handle returns and customer care.
A peak at some results;
Broadcast interview with CNBC for a UK audience
11 pieces of coverage across retail, health and beauty and fashion media for the Peak Campaign
43 LinkedIn advert conversions
Delivered consumer research, a whitepaper and paid social advertising to generate leads
To raise awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and support network
International Diabetes Federation (IDF) is the co-founder of World Diabetes Day (WDD)
43,000 online Diabetes Risk Assessment Tool participants
8,848 WDD global media mentions
10,000 new WDD social media followers
641% increase in inbound tweets
181 pieces of proactive press coverage
Staples wanted to be seen as more than just a stationery supplier
Staples leading provider of integrated solutions to small, mid-sized and large businesses
1.5 million website visitors
Content, materials and media outreach coordinated across 13 countries
Five radio features from 'Vocation Frustration' launch
Sky News live broadcast from 'Happy Space' pop-up event
30 bloggers, online influencers and journalists attended 'Happiness Lunch'
Relevance Most Recent Rating: high to low Rating: low to high
Confidential (3) $50,000 to $199,999 (2)
Public relations (4) Branding (2) Advertising & Marketing (1) Market Research (1)
Phone Interview (5)
Advertising & Marketing Public relations Market Research
PR Services & Campaigns for Nonprofit Organization
"Berkeley Communications creates great work and helps drive PR coverage."
2017 - Ongoing
Willing to refer:
A nonprofit organization engaged Berkeley Communications to support awareness initiatives for annual campaigns. They help to develop strategies and creative materials, which included written and video content.
Phil Riley
Campaign Director, International Diabetes Federation
Berkeley Communications executed effective campaigns that secured a greater amount of press coverage that included features on front-pages. The team is not only flexible and attentive but also communicative and transparent. By delivering satisfactory results, they ensure an ongoing partnership.
Phone Interview A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the campaign director of IDF (International Diabetes Federation) — a nonprofit organization.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with Berkeley Communications?
We sought a team to provide support for various initiatives, which included an annual campaign.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Berkeley Communications supports strategy, PR, and creative efforts for our annual World Diabetes Day campaign. During the first year, their team performed research, running consumer surveys to help identify symptoms of Type I Diabetes. They also provided content to help increase PR coverage.
During the second year, they helped us tell the story of the Global Diabetes Atlas using the new data. They created video content that told the stories of people with diabetes and their families from around the world.
What is the team composition?
About five people from Berkeley Communications regularly work with us. Other teammates also work on various tasks as needed.
How did you come to work with Berkeley Communications?
I previously worked with Berkeley Communications while I was with another company. As I was pleased with our engagement, I invited them to pitch for this project. Ultimately, their team won the project.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began working together in 2017, and it's ongoing.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They run successful campaigns. Since we started to work with Berkeley Communications, we've received more PR coverage, which has included front page features. We're happy with their work and the results it provides.
How did Berkeley Communications perform from a project management standpoint?
During campaigns, we have regular meetings such as kick-off and mid-campaign meetings. They keep us informed and accommodate any changes we request. We use Basecamp, and the communication's good. They're available and responsive.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Berkeley Communications creates great work and helps drive PR coverage. They accommodate changes as needed, which ensures the best working relationship and communication.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There is concern that if we wanted to engage them for more projects, they may not have the capacity to scale up without compromising their current level of support.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
It's helpful to let your company's decision-maker work directly with their team. I've found that their team listens and wants to accommodate their client's needs.
ON TIME / DEADLINES
Value / within estimates
4.5 Quality
Service & deliverables
5.0 NPS
Willing to refer
I've done it before and won't hesitate to do it again.
PR for E-Commerce Solutions Provider
"I'm confident we're going to keep succeeding with Berkeley Communications."
Jan. 2019 - Ongoing
A global e-commerce solutions provider partners with Berkeley Communications for their PR needs. The team helps them achieve media placements globally, and works alongside the team on strategic planning.
1001-10,000 Employees
Becky Nelson
Senior Marketing Manager Europe, PFS
A dedicated and engaged team, Berkeley Communications has been a remarkable, well-integrated partner. Throughout the project, the team has delivered high-quality results and industry insights, exceeding expectations. Customers can expect a successful engagement.
I'm the senior marketing manager for Europe for PFS, a global e-commerce solutions provider.
When I joined the company, we shifted our approach to targeting Europe specifically, opening up those channels of communication for the company.
I wanted to achieve some initial brand awareness in relation to positioning ourselves as a leader in our field. I wanted to find a company that would provide a good working relationship as an extension of my own team, who could also grow alongside us.
I talk with the team on a pretty much daily basis, and they've been an extension of my team. We have brainstorming sessions wherein we plan for the year out, and Berkeley brings their thoughts, ideas, and understanding of what the media is looking for.
We're contracted to a set number of things per month. We're looking for a certain number of placements in terms of media coverage. We also measure that by segmentation, and I have an internal target number of pieces of coverage that we want to achieve globally.
My core team comprises four people, although I've initiated several projects with the team, so I've probably worked with over double that since initiating our relationship.
Caroline (Client Engagement) reached out to me via email, and the timing was perfect. It all seemed to work really seamlessly.
How much have you invested with them?
Our retainer is around £6,000 (approximately $7,900 USD) per month.
We've been working together since January 2019.
Globally, we're meeting and exceeding our target. We're looking to reach 75 pieces, and we've more than smashed that this year. I'm confident we're going to keep succeeding with Berkeley Communications.
Berkeley Communications is really good. Everything is well organized. On the whole, project management has been fantastic, which is what's kept me going back to them on projects rather than looking elsewhere.
We don't use project management tools — usually, the process for our projects will be very much research-led. We'll talk about objectives, measurements, and things like that. If we have an idea, we'll run with it and run with it quickly. We also have quarterly business reviews to review what's worked, what hasn't, and where there are potential areas to expand into.
I'm most impressed with the fact that Berkeley Communications has met the objective of becoming an extension of our team. It can be difficult to establish such a close client relationship. Having the ability and willingness to do so has been immeasurably successful. I'm really thrilled at that, and for that reason, we continue to work together.
The only thing would be on the timeline piece. I work very quickly, and I like to keep things moving along. Sometimes, the updates are less frequent than I would like, and sometimes there's a little bit of a lack of communication around timelines, but that's also down to me and my expectations.
You get out what you put in as a client. Berkeley Communication is willing to be flexible around your requirements, but you need to put in equally as much work to achieve what you want to achieve.
Branding Public relations
PR & Branding for Financial Services Business
"The quality of their work is very good."
June 2016 - Ongoing
Berkeley Communications leads PR efforts. Their work involves creating content and writing press releases and articles. They also host interviews and provide consulting services to build brand awareness.
Tanja Diehl
PR & Social Media Manager, PPRO
Berkeley Communications delivers high-quality work, excelling specifically in their content creation efforts. The team is willing to pivot and make changes to their process as needed, and they've fostered a strong working relationship, making for a pleasant engagement.
I'm the PR and social media manager for PPRO, a B2B company in the financial services industry.
We needed a PR partner and, initially, some branding.
Berkeley Communications provides a full PR package. They do content creation, press releases, and articles. They also brief and host interviews and do administration consulting, planning, monitoring, reporting, and more.
The current focus is to create more awareness for our topics, as well as communicating to potential clients that we are experts in our field. They engage with media and press, always looking to add new media.
There is a core team of three people we interact with regularly, with more people joining in as needed.
Our line manager brought them with her when she joined our team.
We began working together around June 2016, and our engagement is ongoing.
The quality of their work is very good, especially when it comes to creating content. We measure the number of clippings, as well as the coverage score to measure quality. We get along well with the team members and are extremely happy with what we get from them.
We do quarterly reviews, having a revenue and outlook session to analyze what went well, and what needs to change. We communicate almost daily.
I value the long-term partnership we've built. We work well together and have built trust.
We had some issues with the team set-up being unstructured a while back. We discussed it with them, and they made the necessary changes.
Work closely with them. Be open, and address fears or concerns directly. Keep their team updated on any internal changes.
PR for IT Security Company
"Their human approach to storytelling is noteworthy."
Aug. 2010 - Ongoing
A cybersecurity firm hired Berkeley Communications for their PR services. The team worked to elevate the firm's voice as a leader in the cybersecurity space. Their services are ongoing.
2500 - 3000 Employees
Ruth Knowles
Head of Corporate Campaigns EU, Kaspersky
Results are positive because of their skilled service. Berkeley Communications' efficient workflow makes them stand out from other vendors. Their personal touch makes them a trusted partner.
I work with a cybersecurity company.
We work with Berkeley Communications to find ways to disseminate information and educational content humanly.
When we initially hired them, we were looking for somebody to elevate our voice to take our spokesperson's profile from where it was and then be a leader in the space.
Most recently, we had a team of about five people.
We put out an RFP looking for a PR agency. Their team responded, and they were the outlier because they were the smallest agency. Despite that, they demonstrated that they had done the research and understood our brand. Berkeley Communications also was able to demonstrate best how they were going to take our business.
We started working with them in August 2010.
We've seen consistently good results. We've received recognition in numerous outlets.
Their communication style is good. The project management is great.
Their human approach to storytelling is noteworthy. It's very much the people that make the agency and the relationships. That's one of the reasons we've been so successful with Berkeley Communications is because of the relationship we've built with the team.
No, not really. If there's ever an issue, we can address it with them, and they will remedy it.
Treat them as part of your extended team rather than as an agency. Engage with them like you would your team. Build that relationship to get the best out of them.
Branding Services for Biometrics Company
"I could rely on them for good advice at the right time."
April 2018 - Ongoing
Berkeley Communications provides ongoing branding support for a biometrics company. They helped choose a new name for the company and assisted with establishing the client as a thought leader in the space.
David Orme
SVP for Sales & Marketing
As a result of Berkeley Communications' work, the client's thought leadership on biometrics has grown. Their pieces now make up about ⅕ of the stories on biometrics in the UK. The team was also helpful in crafting responses to time-sensitive issues.
Biometric Technologies
I'm the senior vice president for sales and marketing at IDEX Biometrics.
We needed help with renaming our company and branding.
There are other companies called IDEX, and as we were listed as IDEX, we had to make sure that we kept some of our old identity but made it clearer what it was we did. We also worked with them with a lot of collateral that we could use to explain how you'd use a biometric smart card in payment, in access control, in ID, and in IoT.
We specifically target card companies. We knew which companies we wanted to talk to. Berkeley Communications came up with subject matter they thought would interest those partners. This included education about cards, surveys about what the consumer thought about a biometric payment card, accessibility, privacy concerns, and more.
When COVID-19 hit, we had a continuing but reduced engagement.
Caroline (Client Engagement) is our main contact.
We spoke to about three companies. What resonated with us with Berkeley Communications was the storytelling ability they had. They were coming at it from a slightly different but more appealing way for us. That was backed up with thought leadership pieces and developing the collateral for our market. They felt in tune with what the company needed. We liked the people as well.
We invested between $100,000–$250,000.
We started working together in April 2018 and the work is ongoing. I've personally been involved with the project since June 2018.
In May 2017, IDEX had about 1.1% of the share of biometric news stories in the UK. In April 2019, we made up 22% of the voice for biometrics in the UK. In the space of a couple of years, they helped us to transform us from having virtually no brand equity, coverage, or voice in the biometric industry to having over a ⅕ share of the voice in biometrics.
We have a quarterly face-to-face review where we look back at what we've achieved. They'll propose thought leadership pieces for the coming quarter. We worked with them on what press coverage and media coverage we were gaining, what was important to us, and what our key targets were in the coming quarter. We basically worked with them to build a plan that we refined each quarter to get better coverage and to be clear about what we provided and to whom. There was always a clear plan.
What I learned about Berkeley Communications is as things came up, it was just wonderful to be able to pick up the phone and ask an experienced person on the other end what I should do. A classic example of that would be that we have a very aggressive Twitter community that follows fingerprint biometrics. The way we responded to those tweets was with the guidance from Berkeley Communications. I could rely on them for good advice at the right time.
My mind jumps to price but they were competitive in their pricing. It was a good value for money.
The quarterly meetings and agreeing on a plan are important. Having experienced people on hand to guide you for unplanned activity helps you manage those emergency situations very well.
I'd very happily refer them.
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She's baaaaaack! Join us at the Lenexa City Center as soprano Kelly Birch returns as Julia Child in our production of Lee Hoiby's Bon Appétit!
Soprano Ashley Wheat will also perform Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915.
City Center Live is a partnership with the Lenexa Arts Council and the Johnson County Library.
This event is FREE to the public. Patrons do NOT need a ticket to attend. Patrons will be seated in the order in which they arrive.
Cheers! Join us as we celebrate some of opera's most iconic drinking songs. There will be performances of selections from operas such as La Traviata, Carmen, Don Giovanni, La Boheme, Die Fledermaus, and more! Your ticket includes one (1) bier. Mass krugs and flights are excluded from the single serving included in your ticket price.
Must be 21 or older with valid ID to attend this event.


text:
Q: Dear Java, why do most of the tutorials look as if they are leftovers of the 80's? I learnt Java back in university. It's been 4 years since I last coded Java. I develop PHP applications mainly. This time I need a language with more powerful concurrency support. I thought to myself, I'll just revise my Java in an hour and I'm ready to go.
As it turned out, there is no human friendly tutorials (!!) that can be easily found. I searched "java tutorial" and the first results are either impossibly abstract with no useful code examples or ad-filled spit outs of the Web 1.0 era! More complex searches just led me to more confusing/outdated posts. I just love PHP for the numerous friendly tutorials out there.
Anyway, to avoid making this a pointless post, can anyone direct me to a readable tutorial to how I can use the thread ExecutorService to 1) queue a few thousand Runnables, 2) have a maximum of 15 threads executing at a time, and 3) if a thread fails, re-queue it or just don't remove it from the Executor's pool.
Thank you in advance!

A: It's from 2006, but still pretty decent: http://math.hws.edu/javanotes/

A: this should work for you
Executors.newFixedThreadPool(15)

15 threads fixed, not max. but it's no big deal to have 15 idle threads.
regarding tutorials: good tutorials are very hard to write, and generally there is NO reward.
regarding concurrency: it is very difficult. people spend years just to understand the basics. you shouldn't be surprised if a few hours is needed to understand a concurrency issue.

A: If you dislike Times New Roman, just change the browser default font to Tahoma or something like.

Then start here and click your way through Next link. Then there are the API docs, each with examples in the introductory text. E.g. ExecutorService. Then there are books, like Concurrency in Practice.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: is there a way to register JSON schemas into the confluent schema registry using curl commands successfully? I am trying to register a new schema into confluent schema registry using the command below:
echo '{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "age": {
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "profession": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "Status": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "education": {
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}' | \
jq '. | {schema: tojson}' | \
curl   -X POST "https://schema-registry.dev/subjects/cld-dev-pub-json-test-value/versions" -H "Content-Type:application/json"  -d @-
{
  "error_code": 42201,
  "message": "Either the input schema or one its references is invalid"
}

And it keeps on failing but when I use the kafka-json-schema-console-producer it seems to work:

kafka-json-schema-console-producer --bootstrap-server kafka00.dev:9095 --producer.config kafka-client-dev.properties --topic cld-dev-pub-json-test --property schema.registry.url=https://schema-registry.dev --property basic.auth.credentials.source=USER_INFO --property schema.registry.basic.auth.user.info=username:password --property value.schema='{"type":"object","properties":{"id":{"type":"integer"} , "age":{"type":"integer"} , "profession":{"type":"string"},"Status" : {"type": "string" }, "education" : {"type": "string" }}}' < json_data.txt

and when I check the schema  in schema-registry seems to be fine:
curl  -s  -u <USERNAME:PASSWORD>  https://schema-registry.dev.kafka/subjects/cld-dev-pub-json-test-value/versions/latest | jq
{
  "subject": "cld-dev-pub-json-test-value",
  "version": 8,
  "id": 2639,
  "schemaType": "JSON",
  "schema": "{\"type\":\"object\",\"properties\":{\"id\":{\"type\":\"integer\"},\"age\":{\"type\":\"integer\"},\"profession\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"Status\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"education\":{\"type\":\"string\"}}}"
}

So it looks like the kafka-json-schema-console-producer api is using a different parser to do the schema validation. Also I am trying to follow the examples from Robin Moffat:
https://rmoff.net/2019/01/17/confluent-schema-registry-rest-api-cheatsheet/
and even though I raised this issue with confluent support the engineers could not provide me with the solution.
Any ideas how can I overcome this?
thanks.. :)

A: Linked blog is several years old, and uses Avro, not JSON.
The registry API has changed to now have two optional fields of schemaType and references.
The default schemaType will be AVRO, for backwards compatibility, not JSON.
Try this
echo '{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "id": {
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "age": {
      "type": "integer"
    },
    "profession": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "Status": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "education": {
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}' | \
jq '. | {schema: tojson, schemaType: "JSON"}'

e.g.
{
  "schema": "{\"type\":\"object\",\"properties\":{\"id\":{\"type\":\"integer\"},\"age\":{\"type\":\"integer\"},\"profession\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"Status\":{\"type\":\"string\"},\"education\":{\"type\":\"string\"}}}",
  "schemaType": "JSON"
}


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text:
A CIA Agent dedicates her career to hunting down Bin Laden.
Zero Dark Thirty', was quite an experience.
Sharp in its production and direction and largely accurate in depicting the events that led to the death of Osama Bin Laden
there were a quite a few innaccuracies in the movie though. Pakistani's largely speak Urdu, not arabic.
The stealth helicopter aren't probably that quiet, especially if they are hovering over your house. You would certainly wake up and a firefight would ensue. Plus, I remember reading a story about how some guy on twitter heard helo's over the city and tweeted about it. So yeah, the helos were loud enough to wake people.
electricity was cut prior to the raid, so houses around the compound shouldn't have lights.
One stealth Blackhawk and one regular Blackhawk wouldn't have been enough to get that many SEALs out of there. In real life, they used three Chinooks.
I could go on about minor but not really important details that they got wrong
Torture depecited in this movie generated alot discussion about whether it torture is glorified or not in the movie. Especially on NPR where a bunch of people got their panties in a bunch. I'm personally not a fan, but I do think it's sometimes necessary. But that diuscussion is for another day.
One quote stuck out with me;
"Everyone Breaks. It's biology."
Another gem: > How do you like Pakistan so far? Maya: It's kinda fucked up. My thoughts exactly.
This is what defeat looks like, bro. Your jihad is over.
overall, movie was great. It had a slow burn vibe to it the beginning but then it picks up.
I consider Jessica Chastain to be a A-list actor now. She plays in good movies and she plays her character really well. Go watch The Debt, its pretty good.
great mix of action, story, intrigue, politics and drama. 4.5/5 would watch again.
mostly slow burn vibe, but then it picks up to reach that "pretty good" line


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Last week we had looked at the Corsair DHX 4GB DDR2-800MHz memory, which performed and overclocked very well and featured Corsair's exclusive Dual-Path Heat Xchange cooling technology. Today though we are looking at the more mainstream A-DATA Gaming DDR2-800 4GB Kit. This memory is less expensive than Corsair's DHX memory, but has higher latencies and simple heatspreaders. As you will find from reading this article, the overclocking potential is quite limited.