Are you committed to homeschooling but your spouse, parents or friends are not so supportive? Being in disagreement or feeling the friction can sometimes be unbearable. It can also bring up self-doubt and make you question yourself at times, especially on those days that don't look so "schoolish" or when you find yourself searching for answers.
I'm sure you've done your due diligence, but there may be more you can do to raise your Homeschool IQ and find a place to be in agreement. With extended family and friends it may mean agreeing to disagree. Below are three resources to help you raise your Homeschool IQ and then three steps you can take to be in agreement.
1. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter, Living An Inspired Education. This will show you how you can simplify your homeschool experience yet accomplish the highest results. Get your questions answered and discover how your children can learn more through self-education. Self-education and mentoring is a model of learning where children experience and develop critical thinking skills providing a greater opportunity for today, their future and ultimately their success and happiness. Subscribe here: http://donnavailinternational.com.
2. Read the book, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling by John Taylor Gatto. In this book you will find out exactly what is happening in compulsory schooling and through John's 30 years of experience as a teacher and knowledge he shares what should be included in education, very strongly stating: "ways to make learning happen is not to teach." This is mandatory reading for any parent considering homeschooling. Also read the article written by Chris Klicka, The Myth of Teacher Qualifications. This article sites several examples in reference to the myth of needing a a license to teach in order to be an effective teacher.
4. Talk it out with your spouse or relative who is opposed to homeschooling.
Why is your partner against homeschooling?
Have there been any negative experiences with homeschooled children?
Do they harbor any beliefs or myths about homeschooling?
Are there extended family members who are against homeschooling such as a grandparent?
Does your spouse think that it will be too much work?
Find out the reasons why your spouse or family is against homeschooling. Don't worry if you don't have all the facts needed to address their concerns or issues. Just keep things positive so that together you can find the answers. As you grow and evolve in your homeschooling, the answers to many of the objections will be resolved, relationships will strengthen and you will be a better home educator in the process.
Research the facts about homeschooling. There are so many answers online to explain the common myths and why they are wrong. Talk to other homeschoolers locally, on the telephone or even through online forums. Find local homeschool groups in your area that offer resources and support. This needs to be a combination of focused effort on your part to do the research coupled with the support and guidance of others.
6. Discuss with your spouse, ideas of the education you wish for your children. What might it include as well as the experience and opportunity you want for your children as they complete their schooling.
Is it possible with your current living situation to have the children home with at least one parent?
Can both parents collectively guide the children in their education? Sometimes one parent is stronger in specific areas of knowledge than the other. Do you like to learn and seek to educate yourself for your own curiosity and desire to grow and succeed? Children learn what they live. Will they see you reading and seeking knowledge as well? Write your ideas down and even create a pro/con list. Seeing it on paper can make it even clearer so that an agreeable decision can be made.
May you find your way to the best possible solution for you, your children and your family. Remember, every family is different and the beauty of homeschooling is being able to embrace everyone and their unique situation.
Take time to increase your Homeschool IQ with the resources found above.
Do your due diligence so you can answer questions in an educated manner rather than reactive and emotional.
Be open minded to hear other people's concerns and be sure to consider their concerns as possibly something you still need to look into if you haven't already.
Listen to what your children are saying about the matter. They know when there is friction so it's very important that adults handle the situation respectfully and in a timely manner.
Take your children to a meet up with a homeschool group or homeschool family in your local area. Let them meet other children who are homeschooled and share the possibilities.
Begin reading aloud to your children. Choose a book that the whole family can enjoy together as Dad or Mom reads aloud. This will strengthen your bonds and forge memories that will last a lifetime.
What have you done to increase your Homeschool IQ? In what ways have you been open to other's concerns without letting it become a negative influence? Please join our inspired families share by leaving a comment below.


In the year 2009, America has found itself in big trouble. With out-of-control government spending at its peak, the country and its taxpayers are desperately searching for a willing Patriot who understands what fiscal responsibility means. Though we must remain focused on 2009 and finding solutions this year, Newt Gingrich made the comment, "Remember, everything Obama's doing, Bush started last year. If you're going to talk about big spending, the mistakes of the Bush administration last year are fully as bad as the mistakes of Obama's first two, three months."
To clarify, Gingrich further explained what it means to be fiscally responsible. He said, "During the period I was speaker, the U.S. government – for four years – total growth was 2.9 percent a year. Under Bush, it was 6.1 percent. ... This year, I think it will be 36 percent in one year. It is just literally irrational." Indeed it is, I'm with Newt Gingrich 100%.
* Broad scale engagement of elected officials and candidates of both parties at all levels of government, interested citizens, private sector leaders, reporters, scholars and students.
* Development of big, breakthrough solutions to the most important issues facing this country, including creating jobs and prosperity, energy independence, protecting workers' rights, reforming education, moving government into the 21st Century and more.
* A process to educate, ignite collaboration and implement these solutions across all levels of government with widespread support from citizens.
Going back to fiscal responsibility for a moment, in an interview from On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Gingrich said, "I am very sad that a number of Republicans do not understand that this country is sick of earmarks. They are sick of politicians taking care of themselves. They are sick of their money being spent in a way that is absolutely indefensible ... I think you're going to see a steady increase in the number of incumbents who have opponents because the American taxpayers are increasingly fed up." Newt noted how, at American solutions, the organization is "working to help people with the April 15 taxpayers parties," because it was good for those Americans who are fed up to communicate how ready they are to fire some of their incumbents next year. The organization joined a growing Republican Revolution following the February 27 "Chicago Tea Party" protests, helping to guide future rallies where hundreds of thousands of taxpayers showed public outrage against massive bailouts for businesses thought to be too big to fail.
When Greta asked if he is thinking of running for President in 2012, Newt replied, "I want to spend all of 2009 trying to develop good policies at American Solutions ... trying to defeat bad policies, like the effort to take away your right to a secret ballot before being forced to join a union. We need to focus everybody on 2009 and finding solutions this year because we are on the edge of being in big trouble."
Most recently, Newt Gingrich was welcomed to The Daily Show for an interview with Jon Stewart. Gingrich made an appearance on Comedy Central to talk about his book, 5 Principles for a Successful Life, and he also discussed current political issues that have affected the Republican Party.
Newt has proven that he knows what it means to be accountable in politics, holding himself and the government to a higher standard, upholding fiscal responsibility with taxpayer dollars; and at the same time, he can be funny but serious too!
I thoroughly enjoyed his interview on The Daily Show. In fact, it's one of the first times I've seen liberal Jon Stewart have a, "Wait, what?!" moment when discussing political issues with a Republican. If Gingrich can show Stewart the light, there's a possibility he can show others what it means to be accountable in politics too. I expect to see more and more of him in the coming years, hopefully playing a much larger role in politics once again, showing what it means to not just talk-the-talk, but walk-the-talk.
For everything Newt Gingrich does to appropriately and successfully represent the American people, he has proven that he loves America -- for that, he's a true patriot!
The theme for this particular post is to "do a good turn daily." This is also the slogan for the Boy Scouts of America. Some example of Good Turns are "saving a life, helping out after floods or other disasters, recycling community trash, and working with your patrol on conservation projects." A Good Turn is a special act of kindness; a volunteered kind act of good deed. Another example of said kindness can be construed as helping the environment.
Having been honored with the 2007 SOLV Citizenship Award, a volunteer in the video can be heard explaining, "Bosky Dell is probably the heart of the native plant nursery community [...] like a native plant wonderland, really."
Lory Duralia, Bosky Dell property owner, feels her mission or goal is to assist people with preserving Earth. "We need to take care of Earth so the Earth will take care of us." Lory continues, "We want Earth to be a good place for our children to live, and for our children's children as well."
For instance, Bosky Dell provided all the plants that are planted on the "Eco-Roof" at the Native American Student Community Center at Portland State University. To name just a few species Bosky Dell Natives provides a habitat for, there are rabbits, weasels, birds, coyotes, and many more that depend on a well-preserved, clean environment.
Lory Duralia started Bosky Dell Natives nursery eighteen years ago. With an ever-growing passion for the environment, she purchased the land across the drive from the nursery that borders beautiful Fields Creek. Working on various environmental projects such as Fields Creek Riparian Restoration – a Tualatin River basin restoration project, Lory and other volunteer crews worked to improve stream health for cutthroat trout, red legged frogs and other native species. With a grant from OWEB and the help of SOLV and so many other volunteers, Lory Duralia restored the stream.
Due to the restoration project, the creek can now resume its role as essential habitat for Red Legged Frogs (a threatened species), salamanders, Golden Mantle Squirrels, native Cutthroat Trout, Douglas Squirrels, deer, and a wide variety of birds, butterflies and dragonflies. In addition, the water that enters the stream will be filtered naturally by the stream side plantings.
Lory Duralia (pictured: left) provided the vision for the Fields Creek restoration. She put together the restoration design, invited neighbors, friends and customers of Bosky-Dell Natives to dig in the native plants, and organized the barbecue while inviting Judy Bluehorse-Skelton to talk about native plants for healing.
Recently, however, Bosky Dell Natives has been struggling with a neighbor whose actions can only be described as inconsiderate and anti-environmental. Lacking the understanding or care of work by others, ladies and gentlemen, meet Dr. Michael Robinson!
Described as a man of coarse, vulgar language, Bosky Dell Natives has had its fair share of run-ins with Doctor Robinson. He cares little about the environment or volunteers who support nature, and more about destroying their hard work for his own personal gain - regardless of the destruction his actions cause. For example, here's a recent project he opted to pursue, installing a mailbox on public property surrounded by protected environmental native plants.
To make room for his spiffy mailbox, which is rumored to be placed illegally (without permission from the post-office), the Bosky Dell Natives neighbor insisted on destroying a protected environmental area previously developed by Lory and the many volunteers, including children (as seen in the first video).
After throwing thousands of dollars in plant costs in the trash, Dr. Robinson took it upon himself to extend a public road several feet, in turn forcing the letter-carrier to drive through protected Wildlife and natives simply to deliver mail to his mailbox. Rumor has it the letter-carrier is refusing to deliver to it. Unfortunately however, the remarkable habitat didn't get a say whether or not it could live.
While paving his own personal road on public property, you can see the freshly cleared road over the protected environment, and you can see his shiny new mailbox.
What's that behind his new mailbox? The sign???
Oh there it is, a now hidden Backyard Wildlife Habitat sign that reads, "This property provides the four basic habitat elements needed for wildlife to thrive: food, water, cover, and places to raise young. It has been certified by the National Wildlife Federation as an Official Backyard Wildlife Habitat site.
Tell me, doctor, can your mailbox match or replace any of the four basic habitat elements needed for wildlife to thrive? Will a threatened species, the Red Legged Frog, be provided the shelter or food your mailbox replaced?
* they cannot be easily or fully replaced once they are lost.
* they provide homes for diverse species, the values of which (e.g., medicines) we are only beginning to understand.
* they help prevent flooding by catching rain and slowly releasing it back to surface and groundwater.
* the plants emit oxygen and filter air and water pollutants.
* they often have recreational and educational value.
Other helpful tips include reducing lawns and changing maintenance practices, avoiding and removing invasive plants, using natural design and conserving natural resources.
Besides the obvious frustration this has caused for Lory Duralia and Bosky Dell Natives, the protected environment she preserves wasn't grown and maintained for the ultimate recreation and destruction by one man: Michael Robinson. With nowhere else to go for help, after talking with Lory I've decided to do my part and make it be known that situations like this shouldn't be ignored by the Oregon environmentalists (or anyone for that matter), nor should the inconsiderate neighbor to Bosky Dell continue this destruction.
What can you do to help? As Lory would say, "Help take care of Earth so the Earth can continue to take care of us." Tell Dr. Michael Robinson his actions cannot continue without outcry from concerned citizens. The public is likely to uphold environment over the development of a personal road on protected public property.
The problems don't end with the mailbox. The list goes on. And the neighbor to this Wildlife habitat has made it clear he won't stop. Maybe with a little motivation he will wake up and realize that sometimes, doing a Good Turn Daily requires selfless acts of humility.
How are the Tea Parties creating 'Insanitea'?
On coverage of the events, did MSNBC and CNN miss the mark on tea party protests? Why won't the mainstream media just tell the truth?
Here's Glenn Beck on, "The truth about the tea parties."
Then again, maybe it is those conservative racists. Sigh.
The strategy: for Democrats to gain as much power as politically possible.
The tactic: wave the right-hand to distract, claim how far-right it's moving; simultaneously, shift the hidden left-hand as far-left as possible.
Obama's power-sponge grows, soaking up even more than imagined—power.
Celebrating his 100th day in office, US President Barack Obama secured unfettered power in Washington, gaining a Congressional "super-majority" not seen since 1977. Last possessed by Democrats in 1977 under President Jimmy Carter; it took over a generation for another filibuster-proof majority to resurface, making it easier for rapid progress with key items on the Democrat's bulging legislative agenda such as healthcare reform.
In a note to Arlen Specter after his move, Mr. Obama stated that Democrats are "thrilled to have [Senator Arlen Specter]," who feels Republicans had "moved far to the right" in recent years. So as to balance the far-right, Mr. Specter's shift in political affiliation allows for a Liberal Supermajority to reign. It seems to me we're moving much further left than some Congressional leaders are willing to admit. The Liberal strategy must be working.
Prior to the 2008 US Elections results, I asked that the 'real Obama please stand up' and show his true agenda; since then, he's more than answered the call. Obama has better defined his motives for "change," and the over-stayed Nancy Pelosi is clearly enthralled with all of it. Now with a super-majority, democrats can slam through their agenda with greater ease. And they will continue to do so. The massive increases in debt created from, as Pelosi described it, a "wave upon a wave" of earmark-riddled, 'pork' barrel spending bills will ensue. The 60 votes needed to overcome tactics known as filibusters have succeeded; nothing remains from stopping the increases in wasteful spending.
Whether planned or unplanned, the first 100 days of his presidency have shown that Obama possesses an extreme left backbone to support his political agenda. The Obama administration might lack the integrity or honor that his predecessor's have offered before him, but the power and influence he holds has only grown since January 21.
The Road to Socialism and Communism is... the Revolution of change.
Beginning with down-payments to socialized health care and government ownership of businesses, a Congressional super-majority now gives the extreme left-wing movement its desired momentum. Unfortunately for capitalist pigs and right-wing extremists, Obama looks to strengthen his tidal wave of unwanted, wasteful spending and shove his undesired agenda down Americans throat over the next two years. Oh joy.


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Home » Surfing » How Much Do Pro Surfers Make?
Last Updated September 12, 2022 By Kevin Millington
As a beginner intending to take surfing as a profession, asking questions such as how much do pro surfers make is normal. Surfing is fun; to some people, it is a lifestyle, recreation, or exercise, while others make an income from it.
Becoming a pro surfer isn't easy, except with consistent practice and dedication. There are many pro surfers worldwide, winning competitions and mentoring or coaching others. While there is much passion for it, do they make money?
If you are curious to know how much pro surfers make, you are just at the right place. This article contains everything you need to know about making money as a pro surfer. Let's get started.
When Is a Surfer Considered a Pro Surfer?
So, How Much Do Pro Surfers Make?
1. Winnings
2. Sponsorships
3. Products
What Makes a Surfer Worthy of Sponsorship?
How Much Surf Influencers/Youtubers Can Earn?
How Much Do Surf Instructors Earn?
Who Is the Highest-Paid Surfer?
Top 12 Highest Earners in Pro Surfing From 2010 to 2019
Surfers do not join the pro gang by mouth, and there are about 2000 pro surfers worldwide. Most pro surfers are incredibly experienced and fantastically good. Therefore, identifying a pro isn't very difficult; you can barely miss the clues.
When a surfer rides confidently on the waves, they are pro-level. A pro surfer can perform many tricks and continue surfing for extended periods. Such surfers can execute various surf techniques or ride any wave easily.
They can go from competition to competition, winning various medals, awards, and prizes (including money). In short, they rank at the elite level. Some of these individuals may become mentors and coaches to budding surfers.
Being a pro surfer is rigorous as it requires regular training and exercise to remain at the top level. There will be competitions to stay fit for. Regular visits to open waters are likely, and the possibility of traveling to different surf locations.
To sustain this demanding lifestyle, pro surfers make a considerable income from surfing. Here are some common means of earning money.
Primarily, this is the source of earnings for most pro surfers but a tiny fraction for some highly respected surfers. Multiple surfing tournaments are being organized yearly in different parts of the world.
The prize money varies depending on the amount of sponsorship for the competition. For instance, the US Open of surfing, sponsored by the famous Vans company, awards 30,000 to 50,000 dollars to the first place.
However, the prize money decreases with the final position of the surfer, but the first five contestants get more pay. For instance, in the Vans US Open 2019, the second place earned 15,000 dollars while the third got 10,000 dollars.
Those in the fifth to eighth place won 5,000 dollars. The numbers keep decreasing and can go as low as 500 dollars. Winners are selected by a panel using performance scores and ranked.
Other popular competitions include the World Surf League (WSL), ISA World Surfing Games, Maverick's, Hawaiian Pro, Tahiti Pro, and more.
Apart from competitions, sponsorships are another significant source of income. Pro surfers get great deals when it comes to representing brands. This is similar to the Vans brand sponsoring the US Open.
Sponsorships may be challenging to get, especially the long-term ones, but they are worth it. They may cover different aspects of the surfer's usual expenses, e.g., traveling. Every sponsorship comes with some form of agreement.
Most brands consider the best pro surfers for sponsorship due to what it entails. Pro surfers have huge fans that may likely imitate their habits and brand choices. Hence, sponsoring surfers is basically a means of publicity for a brand.
These surfers represent the brand, creating content that persuades their huge fans to buy a product. For instance, Kelly Slater has a sponsorship deal with the Quiksilver brand, where he raked in 2 million dollars.
Multiple items are essential for surfing, such as surfboards, surfboard leashes, surf wax, wetsuits, surf bags, etc. All these are part of the expenses in surfing that can be handled by a brand, saving you some money.
Also, some brands may offer deals that allow them to put a pro surfer's name on their product. Based on mutual agreement, some products may bear the surfer's name, picture, or signature. While the deal lasts, the surfer earns.
With social media, some pro surfers enjoy a steady stream of income. However, regular upload of content (videos and pictures) are essential. Popular platforms such as YouTube pay money based on the interaction with such content (views).
Furthermore, pro surfers, especially those with a substantial social media following, may also make money from direct publicity or endorsing brands and companies.
Most brands do not offer sponsorship to just anybody; the surfer must be worthy. Primarily, the surfer must be a professional and of good character. Also, they must have a good reputation and influence in surfing with excellent talent.
Social media is a big place and a common way to make cash like a pro surfer. The key to earning on social media is providing captivating content and a good number of followers.
A popular platform is YouTube which allows professional surfers to share videos and pictures with their fans. Influencers may earn up to 18 dollars per 1,000 ads.
Some individuals may also incorporate affiliate marketing or publicity for products for money. Famous surfers with massive followings include Jamie O'Brien, Alana Blanchard, etc.
Surf instructors are pro surfers themselves with enough knowledge of surfing. They can communicate everything related to surfing, drill, and help new surfers grow.
While some instructors may be generous, it is normal for others to charge fees for teaching surfing. In some cases, they may take up teaching as a full-time job. Prices vary depending on location.
On average, instructors charge around 15 dollars per hour, teaching group or private classes. They can request as high as 50 dollars in an hour in some locations.
Currently, the highest-paid surfer in the world is the Brazilian pro surfer, Gabriel Medina Pinto Ferreira. A large chunk of his earnings come from sponsorship deals signed with top brands like Audi, Corona, Rip Curl, Ralph Lauren, etc.
Gabriel Medina
Gabriel earns about 2.4 million dollars yearly. He has some medals to his name. He won the World Surfing League Championships in 2014, 2018, and 2021. Also, he got the first position in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast.
Before Gabriel assumed this feat, John John Florence ranked the highest among pro surfers. As a talented surfer, he made money from competitions and endorsements (especially from the Hurley brand).
His earnings totaled over 5.3 million dollars per year, far greater than Gabriel's. However, his earnings took a great dip during the COVID-19 lockdown year as Hurley's deal could no longer continue.
Pro surfers make a lot of money from multiple sources, and some legit records are available. If you are looking for a bit of motivation, you might want to check out the following list. Below are the top ten highest earners in pro surfing.
Gabriel Medina – $2,401,650
Kelly Slater – $2,240,250
Jordy Smith – $1,838,650
Julian Wilson – $1,607,250
John John Florence – $1,582,250
Owen Wright – $1,557,000
Filipe Toledo – $1,551,950
Mick Fanning – $1,433,750
Adriano de Souza – $1,253,250
Joel Parkinson – $1,226,000
Taj Burrow – $964,500
Italo Ferreira – $960,600
I found some helpful, frequently asked questions on how much pro surfers make. I have answered them below briefly, kindly check below
Do Male and Female Surfers Earn the Same Amount?
Well, it depends on the individual. The amount earned by male and female surfers may be close or far. Some pro surfers make more than others, regardless of gender.
Competition-wise, the WSL allocated 607,816 dollars as the total prize money for male surfers. For females, it is half that amount at 303,908 dollars.
However, there are 36 competitors for males but 18 for females. The prize money is usually shared among all the contestants where the first position takes the most significant share.
Is Surfing a Good Career?
Yes. Surfing is a good career. There is a high potential of making money provided you can train and develop your skills. While surfing, it is easy to build an excellent social network.
How much do pro surfers make? Most professionals enjoy multiple brand sponsorship, which is a significant part of their income. Winnings from competitions are another common means, boosting their reputation and fan base.
On average, pro surfers earn between 250,000 dollars and 400,000 dollars. Elites like Gabriel Medina make close to 2.5 million dollars yearly. Anybody can become a pro surfer but with consistent training and dedication.
Do you have some questions or remarks concerning this article? Please forward them to me using the comments section below.
You can also share this article to help other individuals interested in taking surfing as a career to motivate them. Kindly share on Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms by clicking on any of the social media links on the page.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This looks awesome! Thank you so much for posting. I just recently got started with Iyengar yoga and it is amazing! I wrote that it helped me lose weight here: https://www.panaprium.com/yoga-for-weight-loss-for-beginners/ What do you think?


← My first LUSH Spring Party!
Dear Mummy, we're learning about where our food comes from at school. It's fascinating finding out that it grows from the ground. So I was eager to grow my own in my new kitchen garden!
I'm a big fan of My Fairy Garden and I couldn't wait to try out their latest product which allows me to grow my own pea shoots. I can see me eating these in ham sandwiches and garnishing pea and ham soup! My mummy is going to eat them in salads and on top of pizza!
Inside the box you receive a long planter and some white picket fencing with a gate at one end, a plastic fairy house with opening door and removable roof, instructions, pea shoot seeds and Fenn the Fairy. We first saw this product at The London Toy Fair back in January so was delighted at having the opportunity to review.
My mummy cleared a place indoors for me to construct my Fairy Garden, as bad weather had stopped play outside. This gave me the opportunity to be green-fingered without necessarily being outdoors.
Inside the box there is a little bag of dried pea seeds, we soaked these while setting up and filling the planter with soil collected from outside.
We lay a mat underneath the table to collect any debris and mess as I got stuck in. There's everything you need in the box to get started apart from soil. I had fun building the little house and the pieces just slotted into place.
I followed the instructions to make my garden complete and sowed my pea shoot seeds. I soaked them first to soften them and made sure I had a sunny spot on my windowsill available.
My seeds needed lot of light to grow and you need to remember to water them regularly! Thankfully it only took a couple of days to see results which made me want to care for my little seedlings more!
I loved the addition of Fenn the Fairy, which is a beautiful new fairy that comes with the garden. She is different from the usual Fairy Garden fairies because she has hinged legs and can sit on the fence.
The peas were easy for little fingers to plant and I had loads of them! In fact I could have planted half of them and saved the rest for another cycle.
Only a week after planting on my sunny window sill my kitchen garden was growing well and green shoots were sprouting though.
Soon afterwards my garden started to resemble a jungle. Day eight and we decided to harvest them. Before I cut my pea shoots I had fun playing with Fenn the Fairy amongst the tall shoots.
After the initial fun of sowing the seeds at the beginning and making my Fairy Garden it was exciting to see the results. It's brought so much joy watching the seeds grow and monitoring every morning before school. I loved having the responsibility of watering the seeds and tending to my garden.
I didn't feel sad after I harvested my garden either and collected my pea shoots, as the beauty of this toy allows me to re-plant and re-use the planter when we've eaten what we've grown.
I can't wait to buy some more seeds and grow flowers this time round (not eat them) in my Fairy Garden. It's such a simple kit to help kids grow seeds. Priced at £11.99 it's perfect for little green fingered people.
Disclosure: We were given this Fairy Kitchen Garden to review, all pea shoots are grown by us and we're super proud!
Absolutely love the fairy garden kits. My daughter has s few haven't seen this one though so I will have to have a look for it as she's bound to want to add this one to her collection!
This is really cute! I'm an avid gardener, and I love this as a way to get kids excited about growing their own food early on.
This is such a lovely kit – and it's so great that you can reuse it after the first cycle! Pea shoots are a good choice too – they're delicious and grow super fast!
This is amazing, the plants actually grow, it's a real garden there! Such a great idea for a toy, and a gift as well!
Oh my goodness this is too cute! My daughter would love to do this! Thanks for sharing!
I did something like this with my daughters last year! It was quite the hit!
This post prompted me to check Amazon so I can buy it for my niece birthday.. This is really a perfect gift for a 9-year-old.
That's just so incredibly awesome! We already grow some of our herbs for our kitchen adventures. This is something that would really appeal to my nieces.
what a great way to learn how to garden! I do wish they included wooden pieces instead of plastic though!
How fun!! This would be a great way to teach kids about growing, gardening and food in a fun learning environment. As soon as Olivia is old enough, I'm on this garden!!
This is a lovely kit. Great way to get kids into gardening.
When I was young my mum gave me my own garden bed where I could plan whatever I wanted, it was absolute fun as I can imagine this is.
Oh my gosh, this is so cute! And such a good idea to get the little ones into gardening. Good luck with those peas.
Gardening is really fun for kids. They love it naturally, and asking them to do so at early age makes them nature lover by heart.
Wow, this is so cute! My daughter will definitely love to have this garden kit as she loves planting seeds even in a small can.
That looks like a lot of fun. How cute! When my daughter was little we bought everything that the word fairy on it. She just loved all of that kind of stuff. Now she is into fairy lights, and I bet she would love this garden.
Wow, so interesting and cute garden. Great way to spark out the children interest in gardening and responsibility in taking care of plants.
I super love the idea, very interesting. I love DIY gifts, they are entertaining and they also help with the child's development. Thanks for sharing.
I think this is a really cool way for the kids to learn and enjoy planting or do some gardening. I have a niece that will surely like that.
My kids are likely too old to enjoy something like this, but this is such a neat idea for little ones! Very cute!
This looks so cute and fun. My kids would be so happy to have this. I'll have to check this out now.
What an adorable garden starter kit! Looks like so much fun!
This looks so cool and like so much fun, my girls would love this.
This garden kit is fabulous. Nice reading how it has spread smile and cheer in you and your child.
Oh this is so cute! I love activities like this for my kiddos.
Love these fairy garden kits! The girls had one a couple of years ago and they have mentioned doing it again – you've just reminded me.
My daughter would adore this. So cute that they made a kit. Totally picking a kit up, thanks!


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The Effects of ATO on Mitochondria Apoptosis Pathway Genes Expression in APL Cell Line
Maede Sharifizadeh ,
Kimia Davarian ,
Mehrdad Hashemi ,
Majid Momeni ,
Kamran Ali Moghdam ,
Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh ,
Hamidollah Ghafari ,
Purpose and Background: Acute promyelocystic leukemia is the most malignant acute leukemia that leads to death in few weeks. It constitutes 10-15% of acute myelocystic leukemia. Arsenic trioxide, as a single agent factor, is known as the best treatment for acute promyelocystic leukemia, which mainly functions by inducing apoptosis. However, there is no clear image of the mechanism through which apoptosis is induced and how the genes expression is deeply affected. Thus, the present study is an attempt to examine the effect of the agent on expression of the genes dealing with the cancer.
Methodology: The study was carried out as an analytical work. To find out about the mechanisms effective on inducing apoptosis, cell line NB4 were cultured with 0.5µM, 1 µM, and 2 µM arsenic trioxide and their RNA was extracted after 12hrs, 24hrs, 28hrs, and 72hrs. Following cDNA synthesis, apoptosis genes expression at mitochondria pathway including caspase 3, Mcl-1, and Bcl-2 were examined using Real-Time PCR. The data was analyzed using t-test and variance analysis in Excel.
Findings: It was found that arsenic caused apoptosis was featured with decrease of mRNA expression of Bcl-2 anti-apoptotic. However, expression of caspase 3 and Mcl-1 genes remained unchanged after culturing by arsenic.
Conclusion: The results showed that changes in Bcl-2 gene expression can be considered as a mechanism of apoptosis caused by arsenic, while caspase 3 and Mcl-1 genes had no effect on the mechanism.
Acute promyelocystic leukemia (APL) is a blood cancer caused by defected growth of myeloid line white blood cells and aggregation of immature cells known as promyelocyte. Based on FBA classification (French-American-British), APL is a type of acute myelocytic leukemia AML (M3) and it was found by Lief Hillestad (1957) as an independent disease. APL represents 10-15% of AML and it mostly occurs at age range 40-50 [1, 2].
The main cause of ALP (more than 95%) is a translocation between chromosomes 15 and 17. Breakage in chromosome 15 happens in promyelocystic leukemia (PML), which codes a suppressor transcription factor. In chromosome 17, breakage happens in retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARα) that controls the differentiation. The outcome of this translocation is a chimeric protein that prevents maturation of the myeloidic cells at promyelocystic stage and disturbs final differentiation of the cell [3, 4].
APL is an invasive disease with abrupt onset. High risk of death in short-term (10-20%) and notable potential of curing the disease (more than 80%) highlight the necessity of timely diagnosis and initiation of intervention short after [5]. Out of 946 cases of hematopoietic system cancers in women in 2004, 21 cases were APL (2.22%) so that the cancer is the 8th prevalent hematopoietic system cancer in women. As to men, out of 1549 cases of hematopoietic system cancers in 2004, 21 cases were APL (1.36%), which place it at 7th ranking [6, 7].
APL is in unique position to connect basic sciences and medicine with a notable role in development of novel treatments such as differentiation therapy. APL treatment is different from those of AML. Today, most of APL patients are treated by all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), which activates retinoic acid receptors and differentiates promyelocytes. However, recurrent and development of resistance to treatment are the main problems with APL [8]. Thereby, it is necessary to surveys the new medicines for APL. ATO is one of the single agent factors (with no need to ATRA and other chemotherapy drugs) and it can induce complete remission (CR) in APL patients [9]. Arsenic was very effective in the 1990s to treat the recurred disease [10]. Low concentration ATO (0.1-0.5µM) incudes differentiation in cancerous promyelocyte through decomposing fusion protein PML-RAR; while high concentration ATO (0.5-2µM) targets promyelocyte apoptosis pathway and other cancerous cells through a variety of mechanisms. Apoptosis happens due to a genetic program in cells that leads to removal of and disruption of hemostasis and causes many malignant outcomes including APL [11, 12].
Not all the mechanisms in charge of inducing apoptosis by arsenic are known to us, however, the main role of arsenic in inducing apoptosis is to target internal pathway of apoptosis or mitochondria pathway [11]. In light of this and to have better picture of arsenic function mechanism, expressions of several key genes (i.e. Mcl-1, Bcl-2, and Caspase3) in mitochondria pathway before and after treating cells by arsenic were examined.
An analytical study was carried out. NB4 cell line with t (15, 17) translocation were procured in vial from cell bank of Iran Pasteur Institute. The cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 (with L-glutamine) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 1% antibiotics (penicillin and streptomycin) in incubator (37ºC and 5%CO2).
Arsenic ampoules (5000µM- Sinadarou Tehran) were used for pharmaceutical care. To determine optimum effects of the medicine, dosage and time were examined as the two variables. Cancerous cells were treated by ATO 0.5µM, 1µM and 2µM and RNA was measured after 12, 24, 48, and 72hrs. Pharmacokinetic surveys showed that the used concentrations of ATO were equal with 0.15mg/kg mass weight of arsenic administered to patients, which caused a peak of ATO 5.5-7.5µM immediately after the administration, which then rapidly returned to 1-2µM and ATM therapeutic range [13, 14].
RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis
RNA extraction was done using commercial mini kits RNeasy (Germany, Chiagen). Total RNA was checked by agarose gel containing ethidium bromide and observing 18s and 28s banks at 800 and 1500 open pair positions of ribosomal RNA. Value and concentration of RNA were measured using optical density (OD) at 260 and 280nm.
To produce cDNA with constant concentration, 1µg of each RNA sample was inverse transcribed using PrimeScriptTM RT reagent (Takara Inc.)
Real-time PCR was done using SYBR® Green Premix EX TaqTM kit (Takara Inc.) and light cycler (Rovosh). The reactions were performed as Hot start PCR to avoid non-specific proliferation and formation of dimmer initiator before the cycles begins. Real-Time PCR was a relative quantification where the target gen was compared with a housekeeping gene (HPRT) (Table 1)(Fig.1A). Thermal cycle was featured with one stage of enzyme activation for 30s at 95ºC that was followed with 45 cycles of denaturation (5S; 60ºC) and a mixed annealing/extension stage (20s; 60ºC). Afterward, melting curve was executed to ensure specific proliferation of target DNA string.
The experiment was repeated for three samples for each dosage and time and variations were measured by calculating mean and standard deviation. Target gene expression relative to reference gene was obtained by 2 -ΔΔct; while the data was analyzed using t-test and variance analysis in Excel (P<0.05).
Table 1: Nucleotide sequence of the initiators used in Real-time PCR.
Gene symbol Progressive initiator Invers initiator
HPRT TGGACAGGACTGAACGTCTTG CCAGCAGGTCAGCAAAGAATTTA
Bcl-2 GGGGAGGATTGTGGCCTTC CAGGGCGATGTTGTCCACC
Casp3 ATGGAAGCGAATCAATGGACT CTGTACCAGACCGAGATGTCA
Mcl-1 GTGCCTTTGTGGCTAAACACT AGTCCCGTTTTGTCCTTACGA
Variation in Bcl-2 expression
The results about Bcl-2 gene were obtained using Real-time PCR for 48hrs dose-dependent cultured cDNA cells and 2µM time-dependent cultured cDNA cells. Crossing point (CP) reading by light cycler are illustrated in (Fig.1) and (Fig.2). Clearly, Bcl-2 expression after treating the cells by ATO shows a considerable decrease comparing with control samples (zero sample) both in dose-dependent and time-dependent treatments.
Figure 1 :Changes of dose-dependent Bcl-2 expression in NB4 cells treated by different dosages of arsenic in 48hrs
Figure 2 : Changes in time-dependent Bcl-2 expression in cells treated by ATO (2µM)
Variation in Caspase3 expression
To examine Caspase3 expression, Real-time PCR was performed on dose-dependent cDNAs (48hrs).The results of Cp values analyses are illustrated in (Fig. 3).
Figure 3 :Caspas3 expression- 48hrs after being dose-dependent treated by ATO, the decrease in the expression is not considerable comparing with the control samples.
Figure 4 :Caspase3 expression in NB4 cells treated by Arsenic (2µM) at different treatment times show no change in gene expression
Afterward, Real-time PCR was performed on time-dependent cDNAs (2µM) (Fig 4). Clearly and comparing with control treatment (sample zero), caspase2 expression does not change after treating the cells by ATO both in dose-dependent and time-dependent cultures.
Variation in Mcl-1 expression
Given that most of the studies on decrease of Mcl-1 along with apoptosis have focused on protein level and that it is not clear if the decrease in Mcl-1 protein is due to decrease in mRNA level through transcription or due to decrease in protein level and suppression of translation, in this study, changes in Mcl-1 gene expression were examined using Real-time method in APL cells for the first time.>As illustrated (Fig. 5) Mcl-1 expression after administering the medicine does not change considerably comparing with control sample.
Figure 5 :Relative expression of Mcl-1 in NB4 cells under dose-dependent pharmaceutical treatment (48hrs) shows no considerable changes comparing with the control samples.
Bcl-2 expression in NB4 cells treated by ATO decreased in both dose-dependent and time-dependent cultures. Therefore, one of the key mechanisms of ATO is initiation of apoptosis mitochondria pathway. However, the results showed that expression of capsase3 and Mcl-1 did not changed after treating cancerous cells by ATO.
Since the first observation of the relationship between arsenic and skin cancer in the 1820s, arsenic combinations have treated as a potential peripheral carcinogens and also mutagen for skin and liver [15, 16]. However, specific concentration of some of arsenic combinations (e.g. ATO) is advantageous for human body physiology such as hematopoiesis stimulation. Using arsenic combinations as medicine has a long history in Chinese traditional medicine [17, 18]. Arsenic trioxide is an inorganic compound with three valance with proven therapeutic effects on APL disease [19]. Probably, APL is the first acute leukemia that is curable through developing therapeutic and pharmaceutical solutions [20].
PML-RARα fusion in APL cells interacts with transcription factors that control genes expression and induces post-transcriptional effects [21]. The results showed that ATO can reverse the transcription suppression and change genes expression in cancerous cells. Thereby, ATO targets PML-RARα fusion and influences regulator transcription factors. Despite other studies on anticancer effects of ATO, we do not know what the exact molecular mechanisms of the medicine are. Because of this, apoptosis induce mechanism was examined in this paper.
Lee et al. (2000) showed that ATO causes phospho-acetylation histone of H3 in chromatin in locus of caspase10. This phenomenon induces caspase10 expression and activation in APL cells, which results in activation of caspases3&8 and apoptosis [22]. Jang Wook et al. (2001) reported that ATO induces its growth suppression effect through changes in expression or activation of several key proteins that regulate G2/M. Arsenic increases CyclinB1 and activates cdc2/cycline B1 Kinase and phosphorylation of Bcl-2, which is coincident with activation of caspases 3&7 in mitosis cells. They concluded that an apoptosis induce mechanisms by arsenic might be due to cell cycle pause [23]. These reports and other studies indicate activation of caspase3 due to ATO. One common feature of these works is that they all have focused on protein of the gene [16, 24]. Here, caspase3 expression at gene level was examined and it was observed that ATO had no effect on the expression of caspase3. Since the gene is an essential element for apoptosis, one can conclude that ATO influences caspases at single post-translation level and this regulating effect ensures that caspases can be activated rapidly and induce apoptosis when it is needed.
The role of Mcl-1 protein in facilitating apoptosis by ATO in APL cancerous cells is not known yet. Like other members of Bcl-2, Mcl-1 relies on interaction with other proteins to regulate apoptosis [25]. We observed no changes in MCl-1 gene expression along with apoptosis induce. One explanation for this is that Bcl-2 proteins are regulated both at transcription stage and the next stages. Few amino acids between BH3 and BH4 domains in Mcl-1 protein are targeted by post-translation changes and ubiquitination. These post-translation changes determine stability of mcl-1 [26].
Nijhavan et al. (2003) reported that Mcl-1 is a key sensor in controlling protein synthesis and decrease of its proteins is essential to induce apoptosis. They also found that removal of Mcl-1 throughout apoptosis by UC is due to a defect in protein synthesis rather than decrease in its gene expression [24]. Iglesias Sert et al. (2003) showed that after treating Jurkat cells, Mcl-1 protein was degraded by two normal apoptosis stimulation (aspirin and strasporine), while Bcl-2 practically remained unchanged throughout apoptosis process [27]. However, our results showed that Mcl-1 gene expression remained unchanged and Bcl-2 decreased considerably. One probable reason of the inconsistency can be difference in apoptosis patterns induced by different drugs on different cells.
Anti-apoptotic proteins with short half-life such as Mcl-1 are key intermediators of apoptosis as they rapid decrease by translation suppression [28]. Along with supporting the findings about stability of Mcl-1 mRNA level during apoptosis, the results also highlighted importance of translation control of the protein. That is, suppression at transcription level is not a general phenomenon in apoptosis. In fact, apoptosis is not always featured with changes at gene expression level and such changes can be at translation level.
Activation of NF-kB signaling pathway by ATRA and activation of JNK with death signal, consequently, is not necessary for differentiation of granulocytes and they lead to aggregation of immature APL cells and development of ATRA [29]. Mathew et al. (2006) showed that arsenic suppresses the apoptotic effect and controls side-effects of aggregation of useful mature cells. To decompose NF-kB (I-kB) suppressor by ATRA, ATO functions as an antagonist and decreases NF-kB activation and expression of downstream genes of this transcription factor [30]. Recently, Momeni et al. (2009) have shown that ATO suppress cellular proliferation and apoptosis through controlling NF-Kb [14].
Anti-apoptotic genes are expressed in cancerous genes and the expression level increases along with progress of the disease. In addition, NF-kB, c-myb, and STAT factors remain active, which in turn may stimulate transcription of Bcl-2 and CIAP2 apoptotic suppressors [31, 32]. Therefore, continuous activity of NF-kB preserves apoptosis of cells and leads them toward becoming cancerous cells; while the agents that suppress activity of NF-kB or expression of Bcl-2 are good treatment candidate as they can induce apoptosis.
Tonki et al. (2008) followed EILZA protocol and showed that binding activity of transcription factors NF-kB and STAT5 to their binding sequence in DNA decreased considerably following treating mycosis fungoides with ATO (1µM) [28]. NF-kB is the transcription factor of Eukaryote cells that is bounded to a specific decameric sequence (GGG ACT TTC C) on DNA [23]. STATs are very important for regulating Bcl-2 and BCL-XL genes in particular as they have a binding position for STAT5 at regulating region of Bcl-2 gene [33].
Since the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 is a key gene of transcription factors downstream NF-kB and STAT5, the results in this paper are consistent with those of [33] so that the main reason of decrease in expression of Bcl-2 gene in ATO-induced apoptosis was decrease in NF-kB and STAT5's binding to promoter of the gene, which was due to the effect of arsenic, suppression of transcription and expression of Bcl-2 gene.in Conclusion, As shown by the results and the literature review, ATO is featured with several function mechanisms and pathways. The pathway under focus in this paper was apoptosis inducing mitochondria pathway and as shown, by suppression expression of anti-apoptotic genes, arsenic triggered apoptosis.
Given that initiation of apoptosis entails with activation of caspase3 and decrease in Mcl-1 and that Real-time PCR showed no changes in expression of them, Real-time method is not enough to examine the effect of these genes on apoptosis. Future works can use Western Blotting method along with Real-time to analyze changes in the protein. Arsenic trioxide is used in Iran and some other countries as preliminary treatment for newly diagnosed APL patients; however, the extent of its effectiveness on the APL patients who have had no treatment beforehand is not clear [12, 34, 35]. In light of this, future studies on the exact mechanism of this medicine of influencing cellular cycle and transcription can be helpful for optimizing therapeutic effects and attenuate toxicity and the side-effects.
This article is part of thesis work of MSc student Maede Sharifizadeh. The study used financial and laboratory support of Blood, Oncology, and Bone Marrow Research Center of Dr. Shahriaty Hospital, Tehran. The authors wish to thank all the officials and personnel of the center.
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Abstract Introduction Materials and Methods Cell culture Pharmaceutical care RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis Results Variation in Bcl-2 expression Variation in Caspase3 expression Variation in Mcl-1 expression Discussion Acknowledgements References
Maede Sharifizadeh
Department of Molecular Genetics, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Iran.
Kimia Davarian
Department of Medical Genetics, Cancer Research Center, Shohada Referral Hospital, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Mehrdad Hashemi
Majid Momeni
Blood, Oncology, and Basic Cells Research Center, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Iran.
Kamran Ali Moghdam
Ardeshir Ghavamzadeh
Hamidollah Ghafari
movafagh_a@yahoo.com
Sharifizadeh M, Davarian K, Hashemi M, Momeni M, Ali Moghdam K, Ghavamzadeh A, Ghafari H, Movafagh A. The Effects of ATO on Mitochondria Apoptosis Pathway Genes Expression in APL Cell Line. apjcb [Internet]. 25Jun.2016 [cited 19Jan.2020];1(2):37-2. Available from: http://waocp.com/journal/index.php/apjcb/article/view/195


text:
The Russian Federation can no longer be a member State of the Council of Europe, PACE says
The Russian Federation "committed grave violations of the Council of Europe Statute incompatible with the status of a member State, does not bear its undertakings before the Council of Europe and does not comply with the commitments before it". Therefore, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) considers that the Russian Federation "can no longer be a member State of the Organisation".
In the Assembly's opinion, the Committee of Ministers should request the Russian Federation "to immediately withdraw from the Council of Europe". If the country does not comply with the request, the Assembly suggests that the Committee of Ministers "determines the immediate possible date" from which the Russian Federation would cease to be a member.
The text, based on the report prepared by Ingjerd Schou (Norway, EPP/CD) and adopted unanimously at the end of an extraordinary plenary session, expresses solidarity with Ukraine, the Ukrainian people and PACE's Ukrainian members, reaffirming "unwavering support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders".
The Assembly is deeply disturbed by evidence of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Russian Federation, including attacks against civilian targets and humanitarian corridors, "indiscriminate use of artillery, missiles, and bombing" as well as hostage taking. It notes with shock the "reckless attacks" by Russian armed forces on nuclear facilities in Ukraine. Accordingly, it supports "all efforts aimed at ensuring accountability".
The parliamentarians applauded the generosity and solidarity shown by neighbouring countries, who continue to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees, most of them women and children, while in the Russian Federation anti-war protests are harshly repressed, freedom of expression and assembly curtailed, and almost all independent news organisations closed.
In the event that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Organisation, the Council of Europe should, according to PACE, envisage initiatives to be able to continue "to support and engage with human rights defenders, democratic forces, free media and independent civil society".
In view of the participation of Belarus in the aggression, PACE Bureau should "suspend relations" between the Assembly and the country's authorities in all its activities.
At the end of the sitting, PACE President Tiny Kox stated: "we are sad that today we had to ask to expel a State which has been a member of our Organisation for over 25 years, but I'm glad that we dared to do it. There is no place in this Organisation for those who cross red lines."
On 10 March last, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to consult the Assembly on potential further measures to be taken, after suspending the Russian Federation's rights of representation under Article 8 (*) of the Organisation's Statute on 25 February in response to "serious violations" of its statutory obligations as a member State.
According to Article 8, any member of the Council of Europe which has seriously violated Article 3 may be suspended from its right of representation and requested by the Committee of Ministers to withdraw under Article 7. If such member does not comply with this request, the Committee may decide that it has ceased to be a member of the Council from such date as the Committee may determine.
Assembly opinion Video of the debate Verbatim record of the debate (morning) Verbatim record of the debate (afternoon) Video: Mediabox interview with the rapporteur Session special page


text:
\section{introduction}
The strain engineering provides an exciting approach to improve or manipulate various properties of graphene-based materials.\cite{NetoAHC} By generating strain, the experimentalists have been able to study the zero-field quantum hall effect in graphene and realize energy gap with the help of the stained  supperlattices,\cite{GuineaF2010} and observe the strain induced red-shift of the G mode.\cite{Mohiuddin,Huang} The strain effect has also been theoretically investigated for different aspects of graphene, such as the strain induced electrochemical potential and charges,\cite{KimEA,GuineaF2008} the electronic band gap for single layer graphene\cite{PereiraVM} and bilayer graphene\cite{ChoiSM}, the pseudomagnetic fields,\cite{GuineaF2010prb,LowT,KimKJ} the optical properties,\cite{PereiraVM2010} and the hydrogen storage capabilities of metal-decorated graphene.\cite{ZhouM} As a specific morphology of strain, a bubble in graphene was observed by Stolyarova {\it et.al} in 2009, which is formed due to the gas between graphene and its substrate.\cite{StolyarovaE} In 2010, Levy {\it et.al} found a very strong pseudo-magnetic field inside the bubble by using the scanning tunneling microscopy to do the spectroscopic measurements.\cite{LevyN} Quite recently, the Manchester's graphene research group show that it is possible to control the shape of the bubble in graphene by an external electric field.\cite{GeorgiouT} This technique is proposed to produce optical lenses with variable focal length.

In this paper, we investigate the effect of the bubble on the normal modes in graphene. We distinguish two opposite categories of normal modes, namely bright and dark modes, which are topologically different. The bubble is full of energy for the bright modes, while there is no energy inside the bubble in the dark mode. Due to their topological difference, the bright/dark mode is sensitive/insensitive to the shape of the bubble in the graphene. We examine the different behavior of bright and dark modes in the phonon thermal transport process. It is expected that the distinction between these two types of normal modes should be able to be measured in the experiment.

\begin{figure}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{1.0}[1.0]{\includegraphics[width=8cm]{cfg.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{Two different views of a bubble in the graphene. The size parameters of the bubble are $(h, \lambda)=(7, 8)$~{\AA}, where $h$ is the height of the bubble and $\lambda$ reflects the lateral size of the bubble.}
  \label{fig_cfg}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure*}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{1.0}[1.0]{\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{eob.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{The energy within bubble regions for all normal modes in (a). pure graphene; (b). graphene with bubble (7, 8)~{\AA}; and (c). graphene with bubble (15, 8)~{\AA}. The $y$ axis is plotted in logscale.}
  \label{fig_eob}
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{1.0}[1.0]{\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{u2.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{The energy spatial distribution of bright modes in the top four panels, and of dark modes in the bottom four panels for graphene with bubble (7, 8)~{\AA}. Value in each panel is the frequency of that normal mode.}
  \label{fig_u2}
\end{figure*}
Figure~\ref{fig_cfg} displays the configuration of a bubble within the graphene. The size of the graphene is 59.6~{\AA}$\times$44.3~{\AA}. The $xy$-plane lies in the graphene plane and $z$-direction is perpendicular to the graphene plane. The bubble has a Gaussian shape. The $z$-coordinate of atoms on the surface of the bubble is given by $z(x,y)=h*{\rm exp}\{-[(x-x_{0})^{2}+(y-y_{0})^{2}]/(2\lambda^{2})\}$, where $(x_{0}, y_{0})$ are the $x$- and $y$-coordinates of the center of the bubble. The bubble thus is characterized by the height $h$ and a lateral dimension $\lambda$. $(h,\lambda)=(7,8)$~{\AA} for the specific bubble shown in the figure.

We calculate the normal modes by diagonalizing dynamical matrix, which is obtained from the spring force constant model with longitudinal parameter $k_{l}$ and transverse parameter $k_{\perp}$ upto the fourth-nearest neighbors.\cite{SaitoR} The valence force field model\cite{JiangJW2008} has also been tried and the calculation results are qualitatively the same. Calculations shown below are based on the spring force constant model. For each normal mode $(\omega, \xi)$, the energy carried by atom $j$ is proportional to $\omega^{2}(\xi_{jx}^{2}+\xi_{jy}^{2}+\xi_{jz}^{2})$, where $\xi_{j\alpha}$ with $\alpha=x,y,z$ are the three components corresponding to atom $j$ in the polarization vector $\xi$. We analysis the energy spatial distribution for each normal mode. Fig.~\ref{fig_eob} shows the bubble energy in logscale for all normal modes in (a) pure graphene, (b) graphene with bubble (7, 8)~{\AA}, and (c) graphene with bubble (15, 8)~{\AA}. The bubble energy of a normal mode is defined to be the energy of this mode confined within a circular region of radius 5~{\AA} around the bubble center. The bubble energy has been normalized in such a way that the total energy of the normal mode is unitary. Panel (a) shows that the bubble energy of the pure graphene is about 3\% for all normal modes. It indicates that the energy is uniformly distributed on the entire graphene, considering the area of the bubble region is also around 3\% of whole area of the graphene. Panel (b) exhibits strong influence from the bubble on the energy spatial distribution of normal modes in graphene. On the one hand, the bubble energy of many normal modes is distinctly enhanced, and can reach as high as 80\% for some normal modes. On the other hand, the bubble energy of some other normal modes are strongly suppressed to be two or three orders smaller than the pure graphene's value of 3\%. These observations manifest that the bubble acts as an energy shield. It can thus split the normal modes in graphene into two opposite categories. One is to confine the energy inside the bubble region, while the other tries to repel energy for the bubble region. Panel (c) further reveals that the bubble energy is more seriously enhanced/suppressed by taller bubbles; thus they show a better performance as an energy shield.

\begin{figure}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{1.05}[1.05]{\includegraphics[width=8cm]{histogram.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{(Color online) The histogram of bright and dark modes in graphene with bubble (7, 8)~{\AA}. The total numbers of the bright and dark modes in this system are 101 and 112, respectively.}
  \label{fig_histogram}
\end{figure}
The energy spatial distributions are shown in Fig.~\ref{fig_u2} for eight normal modes in graphene with bubble (7, 8)~{\AA}. The four upper normal modes belong to the category with large bubble energy. The energy is concentrated so strongly in the bubble region that the bubble looks bright. For this reason, we name this type of normal modes as `bright modes'. The opposite behavior is observed in the four lower panels. The bubble energy is almost zero, which means that the bubble region is an energy vacancy in these modes. The bubble looks dark and similarly this type of normal modes are named `dark modes'. The current scanning force microscope technique is able to image the vibrational morphology of normal modes, such as the edge modes in the graphene nanoribbon.\cite{Sanchez} Hence, the bright and dark modes we have found here are readily to be observed in the experiment. The distinctness between these two type of normal modes is also quite possible to be verified experimentally. Fig.~\ref{fig_histogram} locates the position of bright and dark modes in the frequency space for graphene with bubble (7, 8)~{\AA}. It shows that the bright mode is more uniformly distributed in whole frequency range while dark modes mainly locates in the high frequency region. This figure indicates that bright mode will play a role in whole temperature range. However, the dark mode will become important at high temperatures, where high frequency normal modes can be sufficiently excited.

\begin{figure}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{0.9}[0.9]{\includegraphics[width=8cm]{topology.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{The circular area (left) with the Euler characteristic of 1 and the cirque area (right) with the Euler characteristic of 0.}
  \label{fig_topology}
\end{figure}
From the topological point of view, we can clearly distinguish the bright and dark modes. The topological nature of the bright and dark modes is equivalent to the circular and cirque respectively as shown in Fig.~\ref{fig_topology}. The gray filled area corresponds to the high density of spatial energy for normal modes. The Euler characteristic is the topological invariant. It coincides with the Euler number for the two geometries in Fig.~\ref{fig_topology}. The Euler characteristic ($\chi$) can be calculated through the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, after applying to these two special geometries:
\begin{eqnarray}
\chi=\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_{edge}K_{g}ds,
\end{eqnarray}
where $K_{g}$ is the curvature and $ds$ is the line element along the edge. Using this formula, we get the Euler characteristic for the circular and the cirque are 1 and 0, respectively. Hence, the Euler characteristic for the bright mode is 1 and that of the dark mode is 0.

From the above, we have learn the energy spatial distribution for the bright and dark modes, from which we demonstrate that these two types of normal modes are of different topological nature with different Euler characteristic. As we know, the topological invariant is of key importance in many physical processes. It is quite possible that the different topological invariant of the bright and dark modes will lead to observable distinctness in those physical processes where the normal mode is an important exciton. The phonon thermal transport is one of such physical process,
\begin{figure}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{1.0}[1.0]{\includegraphics[width=8cm]{size_transmission.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{(Color online) The transmission for bright and dark modes versus the shape of the bubble. The two straight lines are the fitting curves for two data sets.}
  \label{fig_size_transmission}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[htpb]
  \begin{center}
    \scalebox{1.0}[1.0]{\includegraphics[width=8cm]{size.eps}}
  \end{center}
  \caption{The thermal conductance of graphene with bubbles of varying shape at room temperature. The straight line is guide to the eye.}
  \label{fig_size}
\end{figure}
 where normal mode is the energy carrier. The thermal transport in graphene is currently an active field, where very high thermal conductivity was found.\cite{Balandin,NikaPRB,NikaAPL} For a recent review of this subject, we refer to Ref.~\onlinecite{Balandin2011}. We apply NEGF approach\cite{WangJS} to calculate the transmission function, $T[\omega]$, of normal modes.
\begin{eqnarray}
T[\omega] & = & {\rm Tr}\left(G^{r}\Gamma_{L}G^{a}\Gamma_{R}\right),
\end{eqnarray}
where $G^{a}=\left(G^{r}\right)^{\dagger}$ is the advanced Green's function and $\Gamma_{L/R}$ are the two self energy. The phonon thermal conductance is calculated by the Landauer formula. Fig.~\ref{fig_size_transmission} shows the transmission for a bright mode at $\omega=792$cm$^{-1}$ and a dark mode at $\omega=1622$cm$^{-1}$ in graphene with bubbles of different shapes. Obviously, the transmission for the bright mode is very sensitive to the geometrical ratio $h/\lambda$, and decreases linearly with the increase of $h/\lambda$. It indicates that this mode becomes more bright for a bubble of lager $h/\lambda$, where the energy is more concentrated in the bubble region. On the contrary, we find that the dark mode is insensitive to the ratio of $h/\lambda$. This is because the energy of the dark mode is distributed throughout the whole graphene sample except the bubble region. Thus it is insensitive to the local environment of the bubble. The room-temperature thermal conductance result in Fig.~\ref{fig_size} confirms that the bright mode plays important role and leads to a linearly decreasing of the thermal conductance with the increase of $h/\lambda$.

In conclusion, we have studied the normal modes in graphene with bubbles and found two topologically different types of normal modes, namely the bright and dark modes. The bright modes confine energy inside the bubble region and has an Euler characteristic of 1; while the dark mode repel energy for bubble region and has an Euler characteristic of 0. As a result of their different topological nature, the bright mode is sensitive to the shape of the bubble; yet the dark mode is insensitive to the shape of the bubble. The distinctness between bright and dark modes is expected to be observed in the experiment. We have also examined the difference between these two types of normal modes in the phonon thermal transport process, and find that the transmission of bright/dark mode is sensitive/insensitive to the geometrical ratio $h/\lambda$.

\textbf{Acknowledgements} The authors thank X. F. Xu and L. F. Zhang for helpful discussion. The work is supported by a URC grant of R-144-000-257-112 of National University of Singapore.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Wiromartan is een bestuurslaag in het regentschap Kebumen van de provincie Midden-Java, Indonesië. Wiromartan telt 1600 inwoners (volkstelling 2010).

Plaats in Midden-Java

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Most people depend on insurance, whether for their car, home or health. We trust that as long as we or our employer pays the premium, we will be covered. However, insurance companies do not make money by paying out every claim to the fullest. Should you be disabled and unable to work, you may find that the insurance company delays or denies your benefits.
If you are in this position, you need an experienced lawyer to help you. The insurance system is confusing, and having a guide can make all the difference in the success of your case. You may have options you do not know about: for instance, pursuing a breach of contract lawsuit against your insurance company.
At Law Office of P. Randall Noah, we have successfully handled countless cases for our clients, and can help you pursue the benefits you deserve.
Founding attorney Randy Noah has worked in insurance law for the majority of his career. Prior to starting the firm, he worked on behalf of insurance companies, giving him a thorough understanding of how they work. This allows him to create especially effective strategies for his clients now, who are pursuing benefits from those companies.
No matter your situation, Mr. Noah can help.
The system is confusing, but we are able to answer all your questions. To discuss your case with Mr. Noah, call our office at 925-402-4529 or reach out through our online contact form to schedule a meeting. We have offices in Orinda and South Lake Tahoe, California, and help clients nationwide.


Valenciennes, the "Athens of the North".
In Northern France, a hundred kilometres away from Bruxelles, Valenciennes is waiting for you. Set on the Escault Valley, it is a 43.000 inhabitants town with a beautiful historic centre whose typical half-timbered houses will amaze you. Get prepared to be surprised!
Valenciennes can boast about having a varied heritage. Architectural, mortuary, military and fortified, mining and industrial, religious or rural heritage, you will have a lot to do and see in and around Valenciennes, and you may be spoiled for choice!
Visit the oldest medieval church of the city, the belfry-church St Gery whose construction started back in the 12th century. Do not miss the Notre Dame du Cordon basilica, where an important pilgrimage takes place in september. In the historic centre, you can see few houses dating back to the 13th century!
Museum lovers, head the Fine Arts museum that houses the french second largest collection of flemish paintings.


text:
Brave Neptunia Website Gives Out the Ultimate RPG's Details
John AbrenaThursday, April 26, 2018
Brave Neptunia: O World, O Universe, Behold!! The Declaration of Ultimate RPG!! has one of the quirkiest titles a JRPG has ever had. This game is part of Compile Heart's Neptunia series, but this one is set with a different theme. Details of the game has been released on its official website, and it goes quirkier and quirkier by the minute. The site contains information about the story, the Goddesses, Histoire, and the limited-time-only "Hero Edition."
Here are some details taken from the website, translation courtesy of Gematsu:
A self-proclaimed hero and her merry companions travel around the world.
2D games—planar games made up of pixels and illustrations. In one of many dimensions, there exists a Gamindustri built upon 2D games.
In this world ruled by an organization called "Silkworm," which worships 2D games, people create 2D games and pay taxes in game casettes.
It is rumored that those who produce poor games and games that make use of new technologies are sent to the trial grounds, where their spirits are destroyed. In this Gameindustri, which damns that sort of future to hell, a girl who lost her memories awakens.
The girl, who knows not left from right, headed to the neighboring town under the order of Silkworm, but monsters blocked her way. She fought back with a cypress stick that had dropped and won a splendid victory.
It was then that she knew for certain. That she is a hero, the protagonist of this game named Neptune. The self-proclaimed hero Neptune will encounter various people and go on a journey with a mysterious book (Histoire).
For full translated information, check out Gematsu's post about the game.
For the pre-ordered version of Brave Neptunia: O World, O Universe, Behold!! The Declaration of Ultimate RPG!!, there will be a product code available to download a PlayStation 4 dynamic theme.
Meanwhile, the Hero Edition will contain the following bonuses:
Brave Neptunia game copy
Tsunako-illustrated special-make box – A beautiful box featuring an illustration by Neptunia series character designer Tsunako.
Visual art book – Visual book featuring character introductions, Brave Neptunia dungeon and monster designs, and more.
Brave Neptunia soundtrack – Includes all of the background music featured in the game
Pre-order bonus product code – A product code to download an original PlayStation 4 dynamic theme.
Brave Neptunia: O World, O Universe, Behold!! The Declaration of Ultimate RPG!! will be released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 on September 27, 2018.
Here are some character images for the game:
New Brave Neptunia Info Details Lots of Game Elements
[Source: Official Game Website, Gematsu]
Tags: Brave Neptunia, Compile Heart
Fight in Teams of Three With Hunt: Showdown's Trinity Mode


text:
Better Buy: TJX vs. Target
Given the rising prices and the possibility of a recession, consumers are rushing to discount stores or off-price retailers to buy general merchandise at lower prices. This rising foot traffic and enhanced product and service offerings should benefit prominent off-price retailers TJX (TJX) and Target (TGT). But which of these stocks is a better buy now? Read more to find out.
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The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) and Target Corporation (TGT) are two prominent retailers in the U.S. TJX operates as an off-price and home fashions retailer that sells family and home fashions, fine jewelry, accessories, and other merchandise worldwide. It operates through Marmaxx; HomeGoods; TJX Canada; and TJX International. TGT is a discount store retailer that offers general merchandise, including food assortments, apparel, accessories, home decor products, electronics, seasonal offerings, and beauty and household essentials through its stores and digital channels.
Amid high inflation and the possibility of a recession, consumers are rushing to discount stores or off-price retailers that offer merchandise at relatively lower prices. The growing foot traffic at physical stores, strong online presence, and delivery services should help off-price retailers generate solid revenues. The global off-price retail market is expected to grow at an 8.2% CAGR to $474.77 billion by 2028. Therefore, both TJX and TGT should benefit.
TJX is a winner with 2.6% gains over the past week versus TGT's 31.1% loss. But which of these stocks is a better pick now? Let's find out.
Recent Financial Results
TJX's net sales for fiscal 2023 first quarter ended April 30, 2022, increased 13.1% year-over-year to $11.41 billion. The company's pre-tax income came in at $852.28 million, indicating an 18.2% year-over-year improvement. While its net income increased 10% year-over-year to $587.47 million, its EPS grew 11.4% to $0.49. As of April 30, 2022, the company had $4.30 billion in cash and equivalents.
For the fiscal 2022 first quarter ended April 30, 2022, TGT's total revenue increased 4% year-over-year to $25.17 billion. The company's operating income came in at $1.35 billion, representing a 43.3% decline from the prior-year period. Its net earnings came in at $1.01 billion, down 51.9% from the year-ago period. TGT's adjusted EPS came in at $2.19, indicating a 40.7% year-over-year decline. As of April 30, 2022, the company had $1.11 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
Past and Expected Financial Performance
Over the past three years, TJX's tangible book value has increased at a CAGR of 3%. TJX's EPS is expected to increase 11.9% year-over-year in fiscal 2023, ending January 31, 2023, and 13.5% in fiscal 2024. Its revenue is expected to grow 6.7% in fiscal 2023 and 6% in fiscal 2024. Analysts expect the company's EPS to rise at a 12.8% rate per annum over the next five years.
Over the past three years, TGT's tangible book value has declined at a CAGR of 1%. Analysts expect TGT's EPS to decline 34% year-over-year in fiscal 2022, ending January 31, 2023, and rise 39.2% in fiscal 2023. Its revenue is expected to grow 4% year-over-year in fiscal 2022 and 4.2% in fiscal 2023. Analysts expect the company's EPS to grow at a 19.6% rate per annum over the next five years.
In terms of non-GAAP P/E, TJX is currently trading at 19.24x, 5.4% higher than TGT's 18.26x. In terms of forward EV/Sales, TGT's 0.81x compares with TJX's 1.55x.
TGT's trailing-12-month revenue is 2.2 times TJX's. However, TJX is more profitable, with an 11.5% EBITDA margin versus TGT's 10%.
Furthermore, TJX's ROE, ROA, and ROTC of 56.9%, 10.4%, and 15.4% compare with TGT's 45.5%, 9.9%, and 17.2%, respectively.
While TJX has an overall B grade, which translates to Buy in our proprietary POWR Ratings system, TGT has an overall C grade, equating to Neutral. The POWR Ratings are calculated by considering 118 distinct factors, each weighted to an optimal degree.
Both TJX and TGT have been graded a B for Quality, consistent with their higher-than-industry profitability ratios. TJX's 56.9% trailing-12-month ROE is 234.1% higher than the 17% industry average. TGT's 45.5% trailing-12-month ROE is 167.5% lower than the 17% industry average.
TJX has been graded a B in terms of Sentiment, which is in sync with expected earnings growth. TJX's EPS is expected to grow 11.9% year-over-year to $3.19 for fiscal 2023 ending January 31, 2023. TGT's D grade for Sentiment reflects its weak EPS estimated by analysts. The consensus EPS estimate of $8.95 billion for TGT's fiscal 2022 ending January 31, 2023, represents a 34% decline from the prior-year period.
Of the 68 stocks in the B-rated Fashion & Luxury industry, TJX is ranked #21. In contrast, TGT is ranked #31 of 37 stocks in the A-rated Grocery/Big Box Retailers industry.
Beyond what we have stated above, our POWR Ratings system has graded TJX and TGT for Growth, Momentum, Stability, and Value. Get all TJX ratings here. Also, click here to see the additional POWR Ratings for TGT.
Rising foot traffic at off-price and discount stores should benefit both TJX and TGT amid the high inflation. However, higher profitability makes TJX a better buy here.
Our research shows that the odds of success increase if one invests in stocks with an Overall POWR Rating of Buy or Strong Buy. Click here to access the top-rated stocks in the Fashion & Luxury industry, and here for those in the Grocery/Big Box Retailers industry.
TJX shares closed at $58.97 on Friday, down $-1.68 (-2.77%). Year-to-date, TJX has declined -21.63%, versus a -17.67% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
About the Author: Sweta Vijayan
Sweta is an investment analyst and journalist with a special interest in finding market inefficiencies. She's passionate about educating investors, so that they may find success in the stock market.
The post Better Buy: TJX vs. Target appeared first on StockNews.com
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130 families in need provided complete meals for 2018 Thanksgiving.
The Rotary Club of Big Rapids has so much to be thankful for! We packaged and provided 130 complete meals to families in our community.
We are thankful for the support of our corporate partners, Meijer, Walmart, Walgreen's and Rite-Aid in making this project possible. We are thankful for the assistance of the brothers of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, who have aided us in funding, packaging and distributing meals for the last four years. We are thankful for the generosity of club members who, through their weekly donations and contributions of time, energy and talents, have allowed this program to grow every year.
Finally, we are thankful to live, work, and serve such a fantastic community.


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He was told he would be hired under UK law terms and conditions, and this was arranged by a staffing department in Aberdeen.
The Minister may, by a decision, raise this age in respect of some industries and works if the nature of such work so requires.Fifteen days in one year for examinations for Omani employees who study in one of the schools, institutes, colleges or universities.Budd, Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy Into Focus (2009) Stanford University Press Blanpain, Prof.James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said the defendant also used drugs himself and passed on messages relating to dealing.Elliot, Kimberly Ann (2003).Article 6: An employer may establish schemes by which his employees acquire benefits more generous than those awarded by this law, or may provide his employee with other benefits or may enter into agreements with them the conditions of which are more generous than those.EU law edit Main articles: EU law, European labour law, and Directive on services in the internal market The European Union has extensive labour laws that officially exclude (according to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ) matters around direct wage regulation.Temporary Work: Any work the nature of which requires it to be carried out and accomplished within a fixed period.A statement about the status of work and what relates to it in respect of both work and job opportunities and the expected increase or decrease in their number within one year."decreto-LEI" Law Decree (in Portuguese) (2.162).Article 27: An employee shall:- Perform the work by himself according to the directions and under the supervision of his employer and in accordance with what is specified in the contract, the law and the work systems.35/2003, chapter -1 part I, definitions, Part II - General Provisions).However, in case there is a dispute, the matter shall be referred to the Medical Committee, provided for in Article (43) of this Law.Article 103: An employer who conducts a work as defined in Article (91 must: - Provide the employees with suitable accommodations.
The Minister may issue a decision stating the places from which the employees may return to their residences.
Archived from the original.A b "US Constitution 5th and 14th Amendments".The weekly rest shall, in all cases, be payable.The government-controlled All China Federation of Trade Unions is the sole legal labour union.Senado Federal Brazilian Senate.For general information, see Ewing, Keith (1994).The contract is subject to various legal provisions.However, such period shall include the time the employee spends in reaching the place of work inside the ground from the surface of the ground and the time he spends in returning back to the surface of the ground.The water must be changed daily and containers shall be cleaned at least twice a week in a hygienic approved manner.
If the work is for the purpose of preventing the occurrence of an accident or maintaining the result thereof or to avoiding an anticipated loss to flammable materials.
Indecent images were found on your computer, a different form of offending which is as serious, if not more.
Such juveniles shall not stay in the place of work for more than seven consecutive hours and there must be, within the work hours, one or more periods for rest and meals which shall not be less than one hour in total.
The employee must have entered into a contract with an Omani employer or a non-Omani employer possessing the required licence from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry if the employee is needed to work in the establishment.


The club has seven courts located at Miller Reserve, cnr Devereux Rd & Sturdee St, Linden Pk. Four courts are floodlit.
The courts are available for public use when not required by the club's members.
The Club seeks support from the community to support development of the facilities such as resurfacing of the courts. The courts are used during the daytime and evenings, by people of all ages playing matches, receiving coaching or playing socially. They are now worn and cracked and urgently need resurfacing.
Thanks to the 101 people who voted for this project. Unfortunately, we'd didn't get a grant.
Success! The Club has been awarded $51,000 from the Department for Recreation and Sport, to support resurfacing of the courts.
A program to support the installation of court lights and upgrade of court surfaces has been developed in partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation. Tax-deductible donations to support the court upgrades may be made at the Australian Sports Foundation.
Beaumont Tennis Club appreciates the support of our sponsor: Ken Hall Plumbers.