text:
Shmura Matzah For Passover: The Real Reason It's So Expensive
It takes about 20 seconds in a 1,300-degree, coal-and-wood-fired oven to bake shmurah matzah to perfection. JTA
It costs more per pound than filet mignon. It might be burnt or taste like cardboard. It's so delicate it often breaks in the box, rendering it unfit for Passover ritual use.
Yet every year, Jews from Brooklyn to Bnei Brak line up to fork over their hard-earned money to buy boxes and boxes of the stuff.
This isn't your regular box of Streit's matzah. We're talking, of course, about handmade shmura matzah: the artisanal, disc-shaped matzahs considered extra special because the ingredients are "guarded" against leavening, or chametz, not just from the time the wheat is ground into flour, but from before the wheat is even harvested. "Shmura" is Hebrew for guarded.
The extra level of scrutiny — and the labor-intensive process required to make handcrafted matzah — is largely what accounts for its high price: anywhere from $20 to $60 for a single pound.
"The amount of hours of labor going into this between me and my staff is incomparable," said Yisroel Bass, who runs a farm in Goshen, New York, that produces organically grown shmura matzah ($34 per pound for regular shmura, $37 for spelt).
"Renting out a bakery costs a lot of money – the space and the staff. Equipment breaks every year. Every farm has its expenses, and organic farms end up having more overhead. We can't buy the synthetic fertilizer; we have manure," Bass told JTA. "And God forbid I have a bad year and the rabbi comes and says the wheat is no good, I just spent a whole lot of time and money on a product nobody wants. The cost has to reflect that."
Despite its price — and, some say, its taste — there's a thriving market for handmade shmura matzah (there's also machine-made shmura, which is cheaper and usually square but more strictly scrutinized than regular matzah). Many observant Jews won't use anything other than handmade shmura matzah on their seder table. Some won't eat non-shmura anytime during Passover. The same Jews who light expensive olive oil menorahs on Hanukkah rather than wax candles or buy premium etrogs for Sukkot will lay out extra cash before Passover to buy handmade shmura matzah. (The practice of going above and beyond is known as "hiddur mitzvah," beautifying the commandment.)
"For the consumer, it is an opportunity to purchase the only sacred food that we have today in our faith," said Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Sholom synagogue in Washington, D.C. "It is a bargain. Buy less brisket and more shmura matzah."
Mitchell Weitzman, a lawyer from Baltimore, says shmura matzah has sentimental value.
"There is just a sense of authenticity about having shmura matzah on the table," Weitzman said. "It's a feeling more than anything else — certainly more than serving up Passover-style Fruit Loops the next morning."
Others say they like the taste and eat it year round, stocking up right after Passover when the price drops dramatically owing to reduced demand.
"I keep a box of shmura matzah in the trunk of my car," said Tali Aronsky, a public relations doyenne who lives in Israel. "Keeps crispy in all weather and great in a pinch."
Religious Jews consider shmura matzah baked after midday on the day before Passover — known as "matzot mizvah" — as especially meritorious to eat, and the matzah is priced accordingly. At the Satmar Bakery in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a pound of the Passover eve-baked stuff retails for $60. The line of customers at the Rutledge Street store usually snakes around the block.
The Satmar Bakery employs a number of stringencies rare even in the world of shmura matzah. It harvests its wheat in Arizona, where the dry climate helps guard against accidental leavening (moisture precipitates leavening).
Matzah farmers in the Northeast typically harvest their wheat crop in May or June – around the Shavuot holiday (also called Hag Habikurim, which means Festival of the First Fruits). The wheat is plucked after the kernels start to harden but before they sprout new shoots. Kosher supervisors monitor the grain even as it's growing to make sure the wheat isn't sprouting.
From the time it is picked until being milled months later, the wheat must be guarded and stored in a climate-controlled environment. Too moist, it could become chametz. Too dry, it will fail to bake properly. At the Yiddish Farm in upstate New York, Bass says he uses fans and computer monitoring to bring the moisture level down to the desired 11-12 percent level.
After the wheat is milled into flour – also under close supervision – the baking process may begin.
Timing is everything. Once the flour is combined with water to make dough, bakers have just 18 minutes to turn it into matzah. Pass that threshold and the matzah, like Cinderella at midnight, turns to chametz. At the Satmar Bakery in Williamsburg, the clock is set for a 15-minute countdown, just to be safe.
Bakers use water – drawn from a well, according to tradition, after sunset but before nightfall – and mix it with the flour to make dough. The dough is portioned, rolled into flat circles, perforated with tiny holes, draped on poles and thrust into a 1,300-degree, coal-and-wood-fired oven for about 20 seconds. After the matzah cools, it is inspected for quality (burnt and broken pieces are discarded or sold at a discount) and boxed, seven to a pound.
Between every 15-minute baking cycle, every surface that comes into contact with the dough must be scoured or replaced. If a stray bit of dough from the previous cycle remains, the older-than-18-minute crumb would be chametz and taint the dough used in the following cycle. That means hands must be washed and inspected, wooden rollers are discarded and replaced, and work surfaces are covered with fresh paper. All the workers who handle the dough or matzah are supposed to be religiously observant.
The Satmar Bakery operates about six months per year, from Sukkot until Passover, producing roughly 100,000 pounds of matzah.
"We make a little more than 1,000 pounds a day," said manager Burech Yida Spitzer. "We vacuum-pack all the matzahs. It stays the same fresh from October till Pesach."
Not all handmade shmura matzah is considered equal. There's regular, whole wheat and spelt. There's shmura baked by pious young women, called Beis Rachel matzah — prized because the bakers are considered more reliably religious than ordinary matzah workers for hire. There's matzah baked according to varying scholarly interpretations. And, of course, there's broken matzahs, which may be consumed during the holiday but are unfit for ritual use – for example, as one of the three official seder matzahs or as one of the pair of matzahs used at the beginning of all festival and Shabbat meals – because they're not whole. Each variation is priced differently.
"We have 15 different kinds of matzah," said Eli Hershkowitz, who runs the Satmar Bakery. "It's all very crispy and breakable. Most people buy it right at the bakery, but we also have a delivery service and take orders by phone and fax. I ship only at your own risk. If it's going to California or Florida, it's not going to make it intact."
Hershkowitz spends part of the spring scouting wheat in Arizona and part of the summer dealing with etrogs in Italy and Morocco.
At these kinds of prices, a growing number of operators appear to be getting into the shmura matzah business. Discount supermarket chains in Israel now sell relatively cheap shmura matzah, and some American consumers say they've found handmade shmura matzah at their local Costco for as little as $13 a pound.
Brooklyn resident Ber Braver says that's not necessarily a good thing.
"Money is nothing, spirituality is everything," Braver wrote on Facebook in response to a query from a JTA reporter. "What do you want — we should ship matzahs also from China like Apple's iPhones? No. We have to support our rabbis who work very hard producing those matzahs with fervent yiras Shamayim" – fear of God. "They are holy and serve God with utmost sacrifice."
nike air believe force low white with writing


What's new in Android 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich?
Refined, evolved user interface and multi-tasking.
new home screen folder for users to group their apps, get app info.
Quick responses for incoming calls.
Powerful voice input engine-dictate text to the phone for as long as they want in any language.
native photo editing to the Android camera interface.
developers now have the ability to set device specifications with backwards functionality.


I thought it might be fun to do a tandem blog post every now and then, where I review someone's book, and they review mine, and we put them up at the same time. My idea was for it to be a kind of 'two of us' of books/authors, where we find the connections between our work — and our lives. First up, I chose Walter Mason and his travel memoir, Destination Cambodia: Adventures in the kingdom.
Walter has been a wonderful mentor to me in many ways. We first met when he rocked up to my book launch in Sydney and, since then, I've seen him launch his own book too (from afar) and we spent an afternoon together at the NSW Writers' Centre's Open Access seminar, talking about marketing as a creative act.
Walter is someone you don't forget. He fills a room with his quiet (wicked) humour and grace. While he's an expert promoter, he also spends a lot of time helping others with their writing.
In 2005, I desperately needed to leave the country. I was fed up with working in a bureaucracy, I was creatively stifled, and I needed out. I had never travelled internationally on my own before. I wanted to go somewhere in Asia. I chose an Intrepid tour in Cambodia — and it was one of the best experiences of my life. The tour did more than just fly in and out of Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. We tracked some of Walter's journey. Phnom Penh to Battambang to Sihanoukville. Although I only went for a quick two weeks (and Walter went for months), I was forced to continually readjust my idea of how I was positioned in the world (as a traveller, and as a white and privileged person). I came back to Sydney with a deep sense of loss, an acute awareness of how structured and wealthy my position was, and wanting to return immediately and live near the ocean there (unfortunately, like many travel dreams, this wore off and got lost).
What I like best about Walter's book is his sensitive rendering of the characters and friends he makes along the way. This is not an overarching look at the history of the place but a cultural assessment, based on the small things and day-to-day of people's lives and, really, isn't that what makes engaging history anyway? I visited Cambodia with a Lonely Planet list of all the books I needed to read but, when I landed, I was so electrified and confused, and too switched on to every detail, that I was reluctant to read a set of facts and figures.
In Khmer Rouge hospitals, untrained nurses were, according to journalist Joel Brinkley, 'injecting patients with Pepsi or coconut milk'.
Images like that, and there are many, are impossible to forget. They mix with my own: a three-year-old, living in cardboard, begging for pizza from my table and returning to share it with other children, no older than five; a local guide laughing at moments when revisiting his past (losing family) to reassure us; finding a quiet place in the grounds of the Tuol Sleng Torture Museum to rest my head on my knees and breathe and cry after seeing the photographs: documentation of a generation tortured and murdered; a group of men on motorbikes taking us on a tour of rice paddies, and then to a Battambang nightclub, where they treated us with great respect under the strobe-lights, and screamed 'Oh my Buddha' in joy as they raced us back to our hotel.
Like the best travel writing, Walter's book reveals as much about him as the Cambodians he writes about. I'm always drawn to writers on the outside looking in (my characters tend to be like that too). Walter is a curious mix: he describes himself as having 'few inhibitions' (which is why he tries to avoid alcohol) and yet he can be shy. People seem drawn to him, to open up in his company, and yet '[he] had been brought up never to ask difficult or personal questions, even if [he] was burning with curiosity'. I'm like this too, hampered by my own politeness. A difficult trait for a writer keen to engage with the world.
But one of the best things about travelling is that you are often forced to communicate, especially if no-one speaks your language. I remember days of agony on my first trip to Europe, trying to get up the guts to approach hotels with my execrable French.
Walter also knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. One chapter details a huge event that Walter is invited to (with hundreds of people waiting expectantly), where he gradually realises, with dawning dread and fear, that he is the key speaker on the topic of Buddhism (to a parade of venerated monks). It's like the worst of my nightmares where I'm completely unprepared, and exposed to the world. I won't reveal the final outcome – it's too excruciating; I just can't go there. But Walter does.
I had learned to not laugh at such statements, or to launch into a rationalist lecture about the absence of spirit realms. Friends spoke casually of spectral presences, of visitations by dragons and angels, of possession and trance … When faced with the possible alternative existence I felt only curiosity and a willingness to indulge in the possible wonder of multiple worlds.
Panit had taken a half-hour that morning to select the clothes he was going to wear to Angkor Wat, that proudest symbol of the Khmer people. All of the Cambodians we encountered were dressed neatly, respectfully.
And Walter is not afraid to expose himself to the light either. As a very camp and large man — the locals call him 'fat' (often favourably) — he often longs to be able to just fit in, be a part of the crowd. His description of the raucous encounter with a nasty masseuse who grabs his flesh and calls him names is a reminder of the pitfalls of travel, of trusting someone, of cultural differences where not everyone is 'polite' and it's customary to comment on someone else's body. At another point, two men get off their motorbikes and spontaneously grapple with and stroke his flesh. Through it all, Walter steps back, is passive, let's things happen. This is disturbing and exhilarating for the reader, and something I understand well: being frozen by an extraordinary moment, unable to think, let alone act.
One night in a beach bar in Sihanoukville, I shared a joint with a friend. The next thing I knew, after falling asleep, I woke up, unable to find friends. Disoriented, I stumbled down the beach, stopping every now and then to have a little lie down, gradually becoming aware as I moved that I had no idea where my hotel was, had no idea how to get there, and couldn't even remember its name. All I could hear was my mum's voice saying 'what were you thinking?'. I strolled up to a road. It was about 3am. No-one around. I heard a putting motorbike coming my way. I hesitated as it approached me: do I flag it down? I'd never do it in Australia. I decided to take the risk.
The man stopped. I got on the bike. We didn't say a word. He drove me through the streets and straight to the gates of my hotel. He refused my offer of money — a very generous offer.
It is my enduring memory of Cambodia. Along with eating a tarantula.
Walter's Destination Cambodia is a collection of memories that offers an open and generous perspective of what it is like to confront another culture head-on.
Read Walter Mason's review of just_a_girl.
WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE TRAVEL BOOKS?
Wow, what an involving and intriguing insight into Cambodia, and into travels outside of a Western comfort zone.
Yep, it's really worth getting a copy and perusing, even if you haven't travelled there.
Cambodia really is a wonderful place. Sad and beautiful.
I'm much the same though. When I get to a country I very rarely read the guidebook history section. When I was in Cambodia though, I read Highways to a War by Christopher Koch. It was interesting to read of a not too distant Cambodia while being there in 2012.
Having said that though, I didn't love the book.
Thanks, Geoff. From what I can tell of Walter's book, Cambodia would have changed a great deal since I was there in 2005. I didn't mention it on the blog but Walter talked about the impact of Facebook etc – it's profound. Reading Walter's book did make me want to go back and read that original list – sounds like Koch's would be an interesting read.
After reading the great review here Kirsten and Walter, the next day I took my daughter to our local library and lo and behold, there was a poster advertising Walter's talk at Cronulla Library on 19 Nov. May not have caught my eye if I hadn't read the blog! Will definitely read – I've only been to Vietnam and Thailand in that area but my mother always tells me that Cambodia was her favourite out of the three.
Yeah, as much as it is hard to compare countries, friends had said they preferred Cambodia to other parts of Asia, so that's one of the reasons why I chose to go there. Hope you can make it to Cronulla!


text:
Pac-14 football: Splitting into seven-team divisions (if it comes to that)
First off, let me say that I don't think it will come to that — there's a better chance of the league having 12 or 16 members than 14.
(Of course, there could be some alignment issues if the 15th and 16th members are the Kansas schools; more on that in a minute.)
But because I've been asked about it many times in the past few weeks … and because it's within the realm of possibility … let's say the league adds only the Oklahoma schools for 2012 and exists as a 14-team conference.
How would the divisions be split?
Let's game it out …
The biggest issue, it seems, is that no matter how you slice seven-team divisions, the original Pac-8 could not stay together.
In an east-west alignment, one school would have to join the Arizonas, Oklahomas, Utah and Colorado in the eastern wing. And nobody would agree to that.
(The Arizona schools may have issues of their own with an east-west split.)
The way I see it, there would be two alignment options in a 14-team league:
*** Option I: North-South split
In this scenario, you'd have the Los Angeles, Arizona and Oklahoma schools in the South, along with Colorado.
Utah would join the Bay Area and Pacific Northwest schools in the North.
The problem?
If you want competitive balance — which is something the league championed last fall when announcing its decision on the North-South alignment — then you cannot have Oklahoma and USC in the same division.
Yes, yes, yes. Oregon and Stanford are the best teams in the Pac-12 right now, and USC's about to enter scholarship hell.
But with something like division alignment, you have to take a longer view. And in a Pac-14, the longer view is that USC and Oklahoma are, by far, the league's marquee programs — the programs with the biggest brands and the most tradition and success.
They cannot be together in the South, in my opinion, if competitive balance is any kind of consideration.
*** Option II: The Zipper.
Yes, it's back.
The Hotline's proposed format for splitting the 12-team league — separating the natural rivals, but with the guarantee that they would play every year — was ultimately rejected in favor of the North/South alignment.
But with 14 teams, the Zipper would be the best way to ensure competitive balance and equal access to Los Angeles.
Division I: Washington, Oregon State, Stanford, USC, Arizona State, Utah and Oklahoma State.
Division II: Washington State, Oregon, Cal, UCLA, Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma
From a historical perspective, the divisions are balanced: USC and Oklahoma are split, as are Oregon and Washington — thus ensuring balance in the NW pocket. (You can't have Oregon State and Washington State paired together.)
Stanford and USC would be paired together so they could play every year (the rivalry only started in 1905), and the same would go for the sister schools, Cal and UCLA.
You'd lose Stanford-UCLA and Cal-USC. But of the California rivalries, those two are the most expendable.
Again, please take this for what it's worth.
The intent is simply to take an educated guess at a potential hot-button issue for the conference. But chances are, the league will have either 12 or 16 members.
If there are 14, maybe it's for one or two seasons.
*** The 16-team alignment
What happens if Texas balks and the Kansas schools are Nos. 15 and 16?
(I think the league would be interested in Missouri, but the Tigers may end up in the SEC. What's more, splitting Kansas and Kansas State could be politically problematic given that the schools share the same board of regents.)
If the league were to follow the 16-team model proposed in the spring of 2010, with the Kansas schools substituted for Texas and Texas A&M, then you'd have:
West: Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal, Stanford, USC and UCLA (in other words: the Pac-8).
East: Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Kansas State.
From a recruiting standpoint, that would be a tough sell for everyone in the eastern wing — they wouldn't be paired with a Los Angeles school or, obviously, with Texas.
My guess is the league would implement a pod scheduling system to give everyone regular access to Los Angeles. But would that be enough?
As with everything involving realignment, it will be fascinating to watch the Pac-12/14/16 division alignment issue play out.
Pac-12 football: The latest on expansion
Pac-12 football ratings: Oregon's back on top and a word on USC-Utah

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Why Mike Leach Is So Right About NCAA Transfer Portal
by Glenn Guilbeau December 14, 2021, 11:11 am updated December 14, 2021, 7:45 pm 8 Comments
Goodness, you can't look at a college football player wrong these days, or he will transfer. And he'll do it before the bowl to get back at you.
"I'm taking my ball and going to the transfer portal. So there!"
The NCAA transfer portal rule that allows players to transfer to another school without losing a season sitting out makes sense when it involves players who are not playing much, if at all. They can find a greener football field where they can play, or think they can, and the school can try to find a better player, or think it can.
The graduate transfer rule also makes sense as players must first graduate before going to another school and playing the next season, which also makes them think about their decision longer.
What is happening now does not make sense. Players who started this past season who could very well start again next season are entering the transfer portal at an alarming rate and skipping town before the bowl they helped earn for their team.
The list is growing, and many of them are quarterbacks. On Monday, Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler, who entered the portal two weeks ago, announced he will transfer to South Carolina. He will obviously not play for Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 against Oregon. Hey, why not just let him play for the Gamecocks against North Carolina in something called the Mayo Bowl on Dec. 30? There probably won't be many watching.
Rattler, a red-shirt sophomore from Pinnacle High in Phoenix, was the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the nation in 2019. He threw for 1,483 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, but he was benched in favor of freshman Caleb Williams midway through the year. Then his coach, Lincoln Riley, left to become the coach at USC.
Understandable move by Rattler, but he still could have started next year at Oklahoma, which surely will continue to be better in football than South Carolina.
Also on Monday, Texas A&M quarterback Zach Calzada entered the transfer portal after starting 10 games in 2021 and throwing for 2,185 yards and 17 touchdowns. He heroically shook off an injury and led the Aggies to one of the greatest victories in program history — 41-38 over No. 1 Alabama. He leaves the Aggies quarterback duties for the Gator Bowl on Dec. 31 against Wake Forest to walk-on freshman Blake Bost, who has completed 2 of 7 passes with an interception this season.
Yes, Calzada became the starter only because the original starter, freshman Haynes King, was injured. And King well could be the starter next season, but so could Calzada. Is he chicken?
Do Calzada and Rattler want guaranteed starting jobs? Few things in life are guaranteed, kids.
LSU starting sophomore quarterback Max Johnson also recently entered the transfer portal, leaving the Tigers with just walk-on freshman quarterback Matt O'Dowd or converted wide receiver Jontre Kirklin for their Texas Bowl against Kansas State. Kirklin played quarterback in high school, and so did many others. Or freshman quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who could beat out Johnson next season, can waste a whole season of his future by playing in a third tier bowl between two teams with a combined 13-11 record.
Incoming five-star quarterback Walker Howard could also beat out Johnson next year. Do these kids just not like competition? Yes, LSU has a new coach, Brian Kelly, whose offense at Notre Dame was not exactly ultra-progressive. And Kelly did recruit Howard, so Johnson might be making the right move. But Johnson doesn't have to make it now. That's the problem.
Johnson could stick around and put his play in the Texas Bowl on film for his future, though the Texas Bowl might be categorized as independent film. Calzada and Rattler also do not have to decide now.
But it is getting more and more popular to ghost your team. Other quarterbacks who have recently decided to leave their programs hanging, even though they logged significant playing time and could continue to do so, are Auburn's Bo Nix, USC's Kedon Slovis and Tennessee's Harrison Bailey.
The transfer portal rule needs to be adjusted so as to incorporate some of the graduate transfer rule. The NCAA should make players stay at their first school for at least two years before a transfer. That will lessen the number of rash, emotional decisions.
Too often, players and those close to them, such as Little League parents, push toward the portal with the attitude of the spoiled kid on the playground who brought the football. When he doesn't like how things go, he takes his ball — his delusional attitude — and goes home.
It could help these players more in their future in life by sticking it out — at least through the bowl or for a year or two.
"There's a point to where there's a huge value later on of persevering through adverse situations," Mississippi State coach Mike Leach said Saturday during a press conference to discuss his team's Liberty Bowl against Texas Tech on Dec. 28. One can't give young kids to much liberty.
"It's one of the biggest absurdities that I've seen, and it's selfish, too," Leach said of the rash of players skipping bowls as they transfer or prepare for the NFL Draft. "You've got an obligation to the place that helped build and develop you and finish it out in the bowl. That's part of it. You owe it to your team. You owe it to your fans. You owe it to your coaches."
Many have been quick to criticize Leach because he left his team and fan base at Washington State after the 2019 season for more money to coach Mississippi State. But at least Leach coached the bowl for Washington State.
And Leach is an adult who has paid his dues. It's America. You can leave a job. Sorry, these college kids have not quite earned that right yet. In other words, do as I say, not as I do, for now. And after you grow up, or play in the bowl, or wait a couple of years, then you can do the same.
"They can't play one more college game? Well, that's ridiculous," Leach said. "It's the most bizarre thing in the world to me."
Yeah, just wait until you see some of these bizarre bowls coming up with rag-tag rosters and third stringers playing. It will look like a spring game.
And perhaps one day, bowls will feature players transferring from one team to the other at halftime.
Mike LeachMississippi State BulldogsNCAA transfer ruleSoutheastern Conference football
SanDiegoNavyVet says:
I'm thinking it's probably ok if these athletes exercise poor judgement, make rash decisions, follow bad advice, and jump from team to team… I mean, I think you have to let people make their mistakes, and the old way to transfer was draconian at best. The colleges pretty much rake in the cash on these guys, the coaches seem to be dodging out of contracts early, and the schools are taking scholarships of non performers and firing coaches more often than seems necessary. This is big money, and the athletes are underpaid, unsophisticated pawns in the big money machine. College has become a high priced racket.
Just to add: I love college football, but it is what it is.
Brian Nix says:
It's now a professional game with less skilled players. Everybody demanded that players are paid because the NCAA is abusing them. Everybody demanded that there's a playoff system which usually just resembles what the BCS model would've spit out. Everybody demands that players can choose to do what makes them happy. Now that we realize this is a full-blown shit show, it's starting to resemble society. Everybody's entitled to everything they want and nobody cares to be challenged to actually get better.
Bebe890 says:
Lmfao exactly what I'm saying although I've been saying for 2 decades they need a playoff system for us the fans that's the only thing that should have changed. The FCS has always had one and it's awesome every single season as an Alum from an FCS school it's 10 times more entertaining then the shitty two weeks of bowls leading up to the bcs. Make it a 12 team field and allow each round to have different companies bid for the naming rights to the bowl….problem solved sponsors get their promo time and fans get their playoff system.
Common Sense says:
I don't have a problem with the kids having the exact same rights to leave as the coaches who they put their faith in as recruits. I do, though, think the transfer portal should have an open and close date like Jan 15 – Apr 15 or so. Wait until the season is over but don't wait so long that it messes with spring games/summer practice etc. It's essentially become free agency in college so why not have a free agency period just like the pros? It's a win-win.
Just go back to having to sit out a year after transferring. That would make the decision a little more difficult. The way it is now every single program deals with transfers in and out like free agents.
Lmfao yeah no fucking shit this would end up being the result. Allowing the Transfer portal to be turned into a free for all Free Agency smash and grab for the top programs was obviously going to be a massive failure and further reinforce the entitlement of these athletes. Lmfao but I know somebody who once ran this publication being the biggest champion of all time of this move. Typical Clay all about the most "capitalist" stance in college sports regardless of how it is carried out or how obviously flawed it is. The same with his mentality of "Oh cmon just pay these guys!" with no actual thought out plan of how that could be carried out in a responsible fashion so these dudes don't get completely shafted by relatives etc. before they even sniff the league.
Not to find fault with Mr Guilbeau's offering here, but A&M fans were less than cordial to Calzada after more than one game during the season. He was booed mercilessly at Kyle Field. I wouldn't call that the kind of treatment to a KID, not even legal to drink distilled spirits, that people expected to stay around.
Otherwise, the free agency in college sports now makes everyone's job tougher. Athletic Directors, coaches and everyone else associated with a university don't really have a say. It's harder for alumni and fans to remain connected to a university when student athletes come and go like the UPS drivers on your route.


text:
Packing up the Legal Circus
April 02, 2013· · tags: animal-rights organizations, animals, circus, elephants, feld entertainment, lawsuit, legal, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Losers pay in Judge Emmet Sullivan's courtroom, at least when those losers bring a "frivolous, unreasonable and groundless" lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act. This welcome news is contained in a Friday order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Sullivan ruled that animal-rights organizations that sued Feld Entertainment, producer of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, must pay Feld's attorneys fees. The plaintiffs included the Animal Welfare Institute and the Fund for Animals. Feld says it has spent more than $20 million on a legal circus that began in 2000 with claims that Ringling was abusing its elephants. Feld won the case in 2009 after a six-week trial. On Friday, Judge Sullivan noted that "the plaintiffs were unable to produce any credible evidence that any of them had standing to pursue their claims." The judge also reminded the litigants that the testimony of the plaintiffs' star witness had been "wholly incredible, and in certain instances, he testified falsely." Source: http://online.wsj.com


I have long believed "It's not what you paint but how you paint it". With this in the fore-front of my mind I've dedicated myself to developing my skills to the highest level possible. I'm aiming to tell a visual story with clarity and sophistication but I am also driven to distort and abstract the image as much as possible while still maintaining a realistic image. I am deeply honored to be able to regularly hold exhibitions, tutoring appointments, judging and demonstrations in Australia and abroad. To carry the tag as quoted "one of Australia's finest Impressionist painters" is a great personal achievement.
My first solo exhibition at age of 24 was a sell-out, a very encouraging sign to launch my career. Since then I have held numerous Solo and Joint Exhibitions. I have also written articles in Australia, United States, South Africa and international artist magazines and am the author of 2 books, Creating Impressionist Landscape in Oil, 2001, and Impressionist Painting Made Easy, 2009.
We don't know any related artists to Colley Whisson. Do you?


In this tutorial I will be showing you how to use the liquify tool in Photoshop to manipulate simple brush strokes and create a intensifying light image. The tutorial will cover simple aspects in the line of lighting and brushing and should be easy to follow. This tutorial is for advanced users and some things might just be mentioned briefly when being done. Let's get started.
Open up Photoshop and create a 3500x4000px canvas and fill the background layer with Black #000000.
Now open up the Concrete_Texture that you downloaded above and insert it into your canvas. You might need to transform it a bit to make it fit properly.
Create a layer mask for your concrete texture by going to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal All. You will notice that there is a white box that appears next to the concrete layer on the layer panel. Grab a moderate sized soft brush with black and brush over some of the areas on the texture to darken them. I also added in a splatter brush as well. I then went to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map and added the default Black to White gradient. I then created a clipping mask of the Gradient Map on the Texture by right-clicking the gradient map layer and selecting Create Clipping Mask. This is what I have so far.
In this step I took my stock model and extracted the background from behind the stock model and placed her into the canvas. You should be able to extract things from background by now, but if you are unaware of how to do this follow Media Militia's – In Depth Look into Background Extraction Techniques. You won't go wrong with those techniques. After extracting the model from her background and placing her into my canvas. I created a layer below the model layer and set the blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 36%. I then used a soft white brush and lighted up the background in different places behind her a bit. This is what I have so far.
Now create a new layer just above the brushed layer and make use of your soft brush again. Set the Opacity of the new layer to 44% and use a faded blue #2b4554 and brush behind the model.
Create another new layer and set the Blending Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 55% now brush behind the models head with a soft white brush. Now create another new layer and set the Blending Mode to Soft Light and use a soft yellow and blue brush to brush behind the model on the right and left side. You can use any colors you want in these steps.
Here comes the fun part. Create a new layer and select a medium sized brush. I used a dark orange #b25a02 for my first liquefied brush layer, I brushed at the bottom right just behind the model and then with the brushed layer still selected went to Filter>Liquify (Shortcut: SHIFT+CTRL+X) then within the Liquify menu I pressed (C) or clicked the Swirl Tab on the left hand side. I then proceeded to brush and swirl my brush within the liquify menu until I was happy with the result. I kept changing my brush size on the right hand side a bit too.
This is what I have below.
Now I duplicated the liquified brush layer by right-clicking on the layer and selecting Duplicate or pressing Ctrl+J. I then set the duplicated layer's Blending Mode to Screen. Now I held down Ctrl and clicked on the little window in the layers palette next to the liquified brush duplicate. This selects the liquified brush shape.
I now created a new layer and then went to Select>Modify>Contract and I set it to 10px and hit OK. Then I filled the newly contracted/selected shape with White #FFF in the new layer and then set it to Overlay and 44% opacity. Lastly I created another new layer and set the blending mode to Overlay and used a smaller white brush to brush on the liquified shape to act as a stronger light source. This is what I have.
In this step I continued to repeat Step 5 four times each time adding in a different color. Firstly I added a nice bright pink #f806a8 and then I added a nice bright blue #0b70d0. I then continued to add another Orange #f19803 and Green #c2bd18 liquifed shapes too. I repeated the above four times exactly and played around with the liquify each time. Your shape will never come out exactly the same with the liquify tool, this makes it unique in a few ways. This is what I have below.
Now I downloaded 47 High Res Light Streaks by Barton Damer and used IMG_0928 and placed it into the canvas behind the model. I then set the Blending Mode to Linear Dodge and positioned the layer to where I was happy with it.
I now continued and used IMG_0924 and added it into the canvas. I set the Blending Mode to Linear Dodge and then went to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. I adjusted the Hue levels till I was happy with the blending Yellow. I then used my Dodge Brush to light up a bit of the yellow and blue streaks as they come out from behind the model.
I then continued to create another new layer that's Blending Mode was set to Soft Light / Opacity 41% and used a soft blue #03adec and brushed inside her eyes. I then deleted the blue color over the black pupils in her eyes. I then created another new layer and set it to Overlay / Opacity 58% and used a soft white brush to highlight her blue eyes so they really stick out. This is what I have below.
Now I set the Blending mode of the two layers to Overlay and Duplicated both of them twice. See Below.
Create a new layer and fill it with Black #000000 and set the Blending Mode to Linear Dodge. Now I grabbed a soft brush and alternated colors according to the colors on my canvas and highlighted spots on my model and shapes. See the Canvas below without the Blending Mode activated.
In this step I repeated the step 5 brush Liquify effect. I used a red #f41c07 color and used it on top of the model I played around with this effect to get to my desired shape and until I was happy with it. I then proceeded to create a new layer and fill it with black and repeat Step 10 with some colors and dots. I just used a bigger soft brush in this step than in the previous, I also set my Layer to Color Dodge instead of Linear Dodge.
Time to add some more brushing to the canvas. Make use of the Circle Brush that you downloaded and create a new layer and use White to brush onto the canvas and on the arms of the model. I then set the Blending Mode to Overlay and duplicated it once (Ctrl+J). This is what we have below.
Create a new layer and set the Blending Mode to Overlay. Now using a Soft Blue Brush, brush over the blue lighting streak on the right and the top of her head. It will make the model blend into the canvas better and the lighting pops.
Now create another new layer and fill it with black. Make use of the Circle brush you downloaded earlier, just drop the size quite a bit. You can use whichever colors you want, but I stuck to the colors of the piece. I set the Blending mode of the layer to Linear Dodge. This was the last step to finish it off.
Nice Job my Friend…!!! respect!!!
Thanks a lot Jacques.. free 47 High Res Light Streaks downloading not work but password??
I've been meaning to delve into this type of digital art for some time now and you have just inspired me to kick-start my engine with this amazing tutorial and I appreciate you taking the time to share.
The image looks amazing, thanks for sharing your work!
thnkew vry much fr the password jeya….!!
Thanks a lot, very good tutorial.
Really nice man! Love checking your sight out when Im looking for inspiration! keep it up!
hey this is awesome but the link on the page to download these light streaks doesnt work anymore… any help?
Thanks for this great tutorial, very well step-by-step explanation!
Excellent work, Keep it like this!
wow ! cool , i like it that light fx !!! u got it!!!
I love this.. Gonna try this one ;)..
Hi there-having a great time trying to re-create your light effects via the tutorial-but now i'm stuck on step 5 (when ctrl selecting the liquified image in order to create a new layer with the lighting effects). I'm not sure if i'm clicking on the right 'small window'-the one with the eye on it to the left of the layer pallette? and everytime i try to select and modify, the option of modifying in the new layer is not available? what am i doing wrong!!??
would appreciate your help! many thanks!
can anybody help me to find that Female Stock 117 image.?


text:
Posted on October 24, 2018 February 20, 2019 by Mary Waller
The 1915 Trojan Women Tour
1915 was a momentous year for women's efforts for peace and suffrage. Jane Addams and others established the Women's Peace Party (WPP), met at the International Congress for Women, formed the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP), (known today as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom [WILPF]), and held a massive Suffrage parade in New York City, N.Y. While they worked together for one ultimate goal — equality — they used a variety of methods, one of which was revisiting Ancient Greece.
With the establishment of the WPP in Washington, D.C., the leaders contacted prominent women involved in the peace movement to urge others to create their own branches to expand their influence. They attempted to sway President Wilson's administration to call a conference of neutral nations. One approach they used to convince the public was by mounting a production of Euripides' Trojan Women.
El Paso Times, July 25, 1915
A Summary of the Trojan Women
Queen Hecuba was dethroned and was wasting away in a Greek camp, where survivors were held before their fates were decided. Odysseus enslaved Queen Hecuba, while her daughter Cassandra, became Agamemnon's concubine. Cassandra was cursed to see the future but to have no one believe her. She knows once she and Agamemnon go to his home, his wife will kill both of them.
The tragic play was written by Euripedes in 415 BC. It follows the story of Queen Hecuba, Andromache, Cassandra, and other women of the city of Troy after their beloved city fell to the Spartans. Their families were killed and those who survived were taken as slaves.
Hecuba's daughter-in-law Andromache comes in with her son, Astyanax, and confirms that another of Hecuba's daughters is killed as a sacrifice. Andromache's lot is to become Achilles' son's concubine, but Hecuba consoles her with the hope that Andromache might be allowed to raise Hector's son, Astyanax, who could then become the future savior of Troy.
These hopes are quickly crushed when Herald of the Greeks Talthybius arrives and says Astyanax must be condemned to death. Towards the end of the play, Talthybius comes back with the body of Astyanax on Hector's great bronze shield. Hecuba prepares herself for for the burial of the grandson and makes one last desperate attempt to end her life to avoid being a slave, but fails and watches her beloved city of Troy go down in flames.
Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1915.
The Trojan Women Tour: 1915
Trojan Women has been revered as one of the best anti-war plays ever written, as one reviewer claimed, "the most vivid, most poignant, and most beautiful presentation of the unmitigated evil and utter futility of war, particularly as war effects women and children." In 1915, Addams announced that the Women's Peace Party would sponsor a twenty-week tour of the play, which she said "poignantly expressed the agony of women and children in war." Maurice Browne, the director of Chicago's Little Theater, was put in charge of the production, which was funded by a $5,000 gift by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The play was translated by Gilbert Murray, a noted British professor of Greek theater.
Oakland Tribune, June 13, 1911.
The production began as Addams was preparing to travel to Europe for the International Congress of Women. It was almost stopped before it began because Browne employed a child actor to play Astyanax. Addams had long opposed using child actors, testifying against a 1911 bill that would exempt them from Illinois' child labor protection. The production was shown in a number of cities between April and June 1915: Ann Arbor, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbia, Detroit, New York, Oberlin, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Urbana, and Washington, DC, to generally positive reviews. All proceeds supported the work of the Women's Peace Party.
This play is still performed today across the country and was turned into a movie in 1972. The message of the emotional play is a timeless one that still resonates with many today; peace is greater than war.
"Trojan Women Scene Outside Walls of Troy," Richmond Item, March 27, 1915, p. 3.
To Try to End the War," Sioux City Journal, March 2, 1915, p. 8.
One Reply to "The 1915 Trojan Women Tour"
Pingback: The 1915 Trojan Women Tour – MWall
Previous PostPrevious "From Hull-House to Herland": Lorraine Krall McCrary's Guest Blog Post
Next PostNext Modern Marriage of the Twentieth Century: A Companionate Union


Asylum Shave Works aftershave splash is made in Chandler, Arizona for BullGoose Shaving Supplies. Our Vetiver Bourbon aftershave is scented with high quality vetiver bourbon essential oil. Vetiver Bourbon is a variety of Vetiver that is highly regarded for its smooth, warm and slightly smokey scent.
The scent profile opens up with Bergamot & Citrus, has heart notes of Ginger and dries down with Vetiver Bourbon and a hint of Cedar.
A splash of this aftershave is the perfect way to finish your shave. It will tighten your pores and will turn your already great shave into an excellent shave. Unlike drying aftershaves, ASW aftershave leaves behind moisturizing emollients to leave your face feeling refreshed & moisturized.
Love this aftershave - the initial sting is refreshing and the scent lingers pleasantly- my wife likes it as well - can't get better than that!
Outstanding splash with great notes from start to finish. Extremely warm and inviting scent. Top quality product.
Compliments from the the Ladies. Much love to to the artist.Like the post fell on freshly shaved skin.


Foreign ministry says deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov did not say rebels were on course to oust Assad regime.
Russia has denied that its deputy foreign minister said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was losing control of his country.
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday Mikhail Bogdanov did not say that "an opposition victory can't be excluded".
The statement said Bogdanov was simply citing the stance of the Syrian opposition while giving a speech on Thursday.
"We would like to remark that he [Bogdanov] has made no statements or special interviews with journalists in the last days," Alexander Lukashevich, the ministry spokesman said in a statement on Friday.
Lukashevich confirmed that the hearing with the Social Chamber, where Bogdanov's comments were recorded, had taken place but said his remarks focused on Moscow's stance on the crisis.
communique of the Action Group which was approved by consensus at a ministerial meeting in Geneva," the statement said.
In what analysts said were the clearest sign that Moscow was preparing for possible defeat of its ally, Bogdanov said: "One must look the facts in the face. The regime and government in Syria is losing control ... Unfortunately, a victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out."
The US seized on Bogdanov's comments, saying Russia is "waking up to the reality'' and analysts viewed the diplomat's statement as Russia's attempt to begin positioning itself for Assad's eventual defeat.
The comments came on the same day that NATO chief also said that he believed Assad's government was nearing "collapse".
Anders Fogh Rasmussen also condemned the alleged use by Assad's forces of Scud missiles to attack rebels.
"I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse," he told reporters after a meeting with the prime minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, at the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
"I think now it is only a question of time."
Rasmussen said the reported use of Scud missiles by the Syrian government showed "utter disregard" for the lives of Syrian people.
Scud missiles "are weapons of terror," said Riad Kahwaji, founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA).
Aaraba Idriss, a former first lieutenant who defected 10 months ago, said members of his former battalion told him they fired five Scud missiles for the first time on Monday from their location in Nasiriyeh on the highway between Damascus and the central Syrian city of Homs, according to the AFP news agency.
Idriss said the "Golan-1 missiles were either Russian-made or Russian modified" and had a range of up to 300km.
Syria's foreign ministry has denied using Scud missiles against rebels and called the statements "biased and conspiratorial rumours".
"It is known that Scuds are strategic, long-range missiles and are not suited for use against armed terrorist gangs," the ministry said.


Awashima (粟島) is a star shaped island just 4.5 kilometers off the coast of western Kagawa Prefecture. During the era of warring states (15th and 16th centuries), Awashima flourished as a port of the Shiwaku Navy, a highly regarded band of sailors that controlled this part of the Seto Inland Sea from nearby Honjima Island.
The Shiwaku Navy produced what were considered the top sailors of their time, and in order to capitalize on this legacy, in 1897 the Meiji Government opened up the National Sailor School on Awashima Island just west of Awashima Port. The school operated for 90 years, and many of their graduates went on to work on important boats of the time such as the Kanrin Maru, the first Japanese manned vessel to cross the Pacific Ocean.
The school was closed in 1987, and the grounds have been converted into the Awashima Marine Memorial Park. The old schoolhouse has been preserved and is open as a naval museum displaying model ships, maritime tools and instruments, and relics from the naval school. The classrooms and auditorium can also be viewed and some display mementos of past classes.
A small, nostalgic port town surrounds the sailor school at the center of the island, and visitors can enjoy exploring the narrow paths that weave their way among neighborhoods of weathered wooden houses. Visitors can also take a nice hike to the Jonoyama Viewpoint which offers beautiful views out over the island. The hike up takes about 30 minutes and starts behind a former elementary school.
Unfortunately, the closure of the sailor school was a large blow to the local economy, and Awashima has its fair share of abandoned homes and closed schools scattered about. In response, the island has joined several other nearby islands to promote itself as a destination for contemporary art.
Awashima serves as a venue of the Setouchi Triennale art festival. A couple of permanent art works from previous festivals remain on the island and can also be viewed outside of the festivals periods.
Takuma Station, the nearest train station to Awashima, can be reached by JR trains from Marugame (20 minutes, 260 yen by frequent local trains), Takamatsu (30-60 minutes, 850-2120 yen by local or limited express trains) and Okayama (60-75 minutes, 1320-3020 yen by local or limited express train). A transfer of trains may be required at Tadotsu or Utazu Stations along the way.
From Takuma Station take one of the hourly community buses to Suda Port (20 minutes, 100 yen one way). The buses stop at Sudako Mae bus stop from where it is an additional five minute walk to the port. From Suda Port there are eight ferries per day (once every 1-3 hours) to Awashima Port. The ferry ride takes 15 minutes and costs 330 yen one way. Alternatively, there are ferries from Miyanoshita Port to Awashima, but they are far less frequent and more time-consuming.
Official website of city to which Awashima belongs.
Official page on the Mitoyo City website.


text:
SIL Language Technology
Software for Language Development
Supporting literacy, development and translation through language and writing system software.
SIL International develops and supports a wide range of language technology and software to assist with language development activities: linguistic and cultural research, literacy and mother-tongue education, dictionary development, community and computer-assisted translation, and vernacular media production.
One part of SIL Language Technology – the Writing Systems Technology team – is exclusively dedicated to meeting complex writing system needs so language communities can use their preferred writing system on computers, mobile devices and the web. The team does research, provides help and develops script-specific solutions, including fonts and keyboards.
For a current list of SIL software and fonts, see the Products Index.
Other software that may be useful can be found on the LingTranSoft site.
Key products such as the FieldWorks Language Explorer (FLEx) support language documentation and analysis. Manage recordings of language data with SayMore. Build a dictionary easily with WeSay. Document scripts and writing systems with ScriptSource.
Our software enables language learning and literature production. Produce books for early readers with PrimerPro and Bloom. Publish dictionaries with Webonary. Support complex writing systems with award-winning fonts and keyboards and ground-breaking technologies, such as Graphite.
We rely on open tools and processes to develop our software, and welcome contributions and feedback. We also participate in the development of open standards such as Unicode, ISO 639-3, and LIFT. Contact us to get involved.
"In our literacy and education consultant work it will be of great value to be able to use the special character alternatives [in Andika] for languages being used in early literacy acquisition for mother tongue-based multilingual education programs."
Developing Standards
Language Technology developers are actively engaged in developing data standards for language data. In collaboration with others in the industry, progress is being made on the following standards:
LIFT — LIFT (Lexicon Interchange FormaT) is an XML format for lexical information (dictionaries). LIFT allows movement of data between programs such as WeSay, FLEx and Lexique Pro.
Unicode — an industry-wide character set encoding standard designed to support the worldwide interchange, processing, and display of the written texts of the diverse languages and technical disciplines of the modern world. Closely related to ISO/IEC 10646.
ISO 639-3 — the International Organization for Standardization's registry of the languages of the world. It is comprised of living languages taken from SIL's Ethnologue, as well as extinct, ancient, reconstructed, and artificial languages. The current registry includes over 7000 languages, each identified by a unique three-letter code.
Pathway 1.18.1 Release Updated
The Pathway 1.18.1 release brings Pathway up to date with the latest code libraries. We realized the first posting was not signed but it is signed now. Instead of the bootstrap program which was alway… read more
FLExTrans
FLExTrans Version 3.7 Released
Sense Linker and Live Rule Tester Improvements Live Rule Tester Choose a different source text from a drop-down list. The Select Words and Select Sentences tabs stay in sync. Improved support for usin… read more
Audio Project Manager 2.16.1 hotfix
December 9, 2022 The Audio Project Manager development team is pleased to announce the 2.16.1 hot fix release. This release fixes an issue in the desktop program that prevented it from logging in. The… read more
More SIL Language Technology News »
Most SIL software is free to use, modify and redistribute according to the terms of open licenses such as the SIL Open Font License and the MIT License. Many of our open projects are hosted on github.com/sillsdev and github.com/silnrsi.
Please consider supporting our software development through a donation toward our language software or our fonts and script resources
Lingtransoft
Font Help Guides


text:
def text_to_bits(text, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogatepass'):
    bits = bin(int.from_bytes(text.encode(encoding, errors), 'big'))[2:]
    return bits.zfill(8 * ((len(bits) + 7) // 8))

def text_from_bits(bits, encoding='utf-8', errors='surrogatepass'):
    n = int(bits, 2)
    return n.to_bytes((n.bit_length() + 7) // 8, 'big').decode(encoding, errors) or '\0'

def key_check(msg2bits,key2bits):
    if len(msg2bits) > len(key2bits):
        n = len(msg2bits) // len(key2bits)
        add = len(msg2bits) % len(key2bits)
        new_key2bits = (key2bits * n) + key2bits[:add]
        print("new_key2bits: ", new_key2bits)
        print(len(msg2bits), len(new_key2bits))
        return new_key2bits
    else:
        return key2bits

def gamma_xor(msg2bits, key2bits):
    msg_num = int(msg2bits,2)
    key_num = int(key2bits,2)
    print(bin(msg_num ^ key_num))
    res_xor = bin(msg_num ^ key_num)[2:]
    print(res_xor)
    print(text_from_bits(res_xor))
    return text_from_bits(res_xor)

msg = input("Enter the message for encryption: ")
msg2bits = text_to_bits(msg)
print(type(msg2bits), msg2bits)

key = input("Enter the key: ")
key2bits = text_to_bits(key)
print(type(key2bits), key2bits)

key2bits = key_check(msg2bits,key2bits)

crypted_msg = gamma_xor(msg2bits, key2bits)

d_msg = input("Enter the message for decryption: ")
d_msg2bits = text_to_bits(crypted_msg)
#print(type(msg2bits), msg2bits)
decrypted_msg = gamma_xor(d_msg2bits, key2bits)

#print(text_to_bits('hello'))
#print(text_from_bits('110100001100101011011000110110001101111'))

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Spencer Pratt
Heidi Montag gets candid about pregnancy struggles: 'I never thought it would be so hard trying to have another'
Kerry Justich
American television personality
Heidi Montag is opening up about her struggle to have another child.
The 35-year-old reality television star took to her Instagram on Tuesday to share a photo of herself with her four-year-old son Gunner, writing about how she's "so thankful for my angel," whom she shares with husband Spencer Pratt. But she also revealed that the couple is having difficulty when it comes to expanding their family.
A post shared by heidimontag (@heidimontag)
"I never thought it would be so hard trying to have another," she wrote. "I am trusting God's plan and if we only have one I am so thankful for this miracle!"
The couple welcomed their first child in 2017 and have since shared their hopes of having more. Montag even opened up about the difficult process of trying to conceive on both social media and The Hills: New Beginnings. In August 2021, she documented a hysteroscopic polypectomy procedure to have polyps removed from her uterus in an effort to become pregnant.
"I'm hoping that this surgery works and that this is the only reason I haven't been able to get pregnant," Montag said in a YouTube video. "So please God, I pray that I will be able to get pregnant after this."
According to her most recent post, Montag continues to have difficulty conceiving. She received support from followers in the comments, including women who thanked her for sharing her journey.
"In the same boat.. thanks for sharing. God is good," one person wrote.
"Miracles do happen. Mine are six years apart. Stay positive," commented another.
Simone Biles stuns in floral bikini on tropical vacation: 'Never met a beach I didn't like'
Ashley Graham celebrates stretch marks in stripped-down photo: 'The tree of life'
Ali Fedotowsky-Manno on what surprised her about motherhood: 'I'm not as nurturing as I thought I would be'
Jamie Lynn Spears says she's her sister's 'biggest fan'
Jamie Lynn Spears remains a fan of her sister - despite their recent fallout.
10 rare photos of Cat Deeley and Patrick Kielty's cute children
TV presenter Cat Deeley is mum to two boys, Milo, six, and James, three, with her husband of nine years, comedian Patrick Kielty. MORE: Cat Deeley's sparkling engagement ring from Patrick Kielty is astonishing The So You Think You Can Dance star is notoriously private about showing her sons' faces on her social media, but Cat does share some snaps of her children from time to time – and fans love getting a glimpse of her home life. WATCH: Cat Deeley has fun day out with her sons Cat and Patrick
Meat-Free Diets Pose Health Risks for Young Women, Scientist Says
'The Independent' reports that a scientist has warned that young women consuming little to no red meat or dairy are at risk of developing health problems later in life.
Lady Gaga wants to make a movie with Tom Hanks
Following the success of her films A Star Is Born and House of Gucci the superstar has cemented her status as a Hollywood actress, though is yet to announce her next project. However, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, Gaga revealed that she would really like to work with two-time Oscar winner Hanks.


The second prototype. Tests in Sevastopol, Spring 1941.
The second produced aircraft. September 1942.
The reference aircraft for KOR-2 series production. Krasnoyarsk, 1944.
Kalinin cruiser, 1946. Grey and blue camouflage fields were marked on standard Green colour. Orange fin tip was a reference point for the ship crane-operator.
The airplane from the Kaganovich cruiser. In 1945.
According this source: star's border and code is White.


text:
Paul Bello
Naval Research Labs
Paul Bello is the director of the Integrated Cognitive Systems Section at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and the former director of the Cognitive Science and AI program at the Office of Naval Research. He received his Ph.D. in cognitive science in 2005 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where his graduate work was an early contribution to the now blossoming area of AI and ethics. At ONR, Bello spearheaded an effort to expand funding and visibility for cognitive systems research including issues pertaining to the development of artificial moral agents and the study of human moral cognition. In his current role at NRL, Bello co-directs the ARCADIA research program: an ambitious effort to explore the relationships between attention, (self)-consciousness, and agency by building an attention-centric cognitive system.
"Recent Progress on Intentions and Intentional Action in the ARCADIA Cognitive System"


text:
Q: How to uninstall PHP 7 completely? (Kali Linux/Debian) On my distribution of Kali (2016.2) there was a PHP package v7.0.11 pre-installed. I'd like to use version 5.6 instead. What is the best way to remove it?
I've already tried, looking for some guides online, but PHP 7 is still pretty fresh, so there are not too many threads about it, especially while using Kali. Nevertheless, I found some clues but I didn't manage to do it properly, apparently. A lot of mess with dependencies, and overall, my whole Kali install is now broken.
After purging PHP 7, I'd like to install PHP 5.6, is there an easy way to do it with apt?

A: This will remove all php7 version, be it php 7.0 or php 7.1 etc..
sudo apt-get purge php7.*

A: I installed php 5.6 following this tutorial : http://www.drupal8.ovh/en/tutoriels/178/how-to-install-php-on-linux
To remove php 7, you can try:
sudo apt-get purge php7.0-common

A: I prefer to use apt remove php7.0*
This will remove php7 and related packages. It will also downgrade the version to the subsequent (lower) php version.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


SOULQUEST specializes in developing and sourcing fashion clothing and accessories from India. They had pretty neat site and they needed a blog to share the content related to fashion and the trends in fashion and clothing to the world. They gave me the design that they wanted and when i saw that design i knew i had a challenge in hand as it needed lots of CSS tricks.
Once i started with the CSS and HTML for it i learned a lot regarding CSS styling. Also made good use of Java scripts and Ajax. And after all the effort for around 2-3 Weeks the site was ready and i was really happy seeing this site live.


text:
Q: cropping an image in a circular way, using python I want to create a script that crops an image in a circular way.
I have a server which receives all kind of pictures (all of the same size) and I want the server to crop the received image.
For example, turn this image:

into this:

I want to be able to save it as a PNG (with a transparent background).
How can this be done?

A: Here's one way to do it:
#!/usr/local/bin/python3
import numpy as np
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw

# Open the input image as numpy array, convert to RGB
img=Image.open("dog.jpg").convert("RGB")
npImage=np.array(img)
h,w=img.size

# Create same size alpha layer with circle
alpha = Image.new('L', img.size,0)
draw = ImageDraw.Draw(alpha)
draw.pieslice([0,0,h,w],0,360,fill=255)

# Convert alpha Image to numpy array
npAlpha=np.array(alpha)

# Add alpha layer to RGB
npImage=np.dstack((npImage,npAlpha))

# Save with alpha
Image.fromarray(npImage).save('result.png')


Order your copy of "Guard Your Child's Brain Space" now. Find out why God say it's your responsibility to teach and train up your child.
I love Evangeline's enthusiasm when she's teaching about the Lord. This is the first message I've heard from her and I look forward to hearing more.
"Guard Your Child's Brain Space" was very interesting and convicting. I guess I was thinking there would be more "how to's" in it, but I was riveted the whole time and look forward to hearing it many more times.
Guarding your childs brain space.
I was very impressed by it. It was very clear, sharp(challenging). I intend to buy some more, I feel everyone should hear this! Is there any possibility you can give me a special rate?!(I am a pensioner)I feel it important to honour the laws of copyright.
I loved the way Evangeline talks with God, I found it such a joy and a blessing to hear!
I really love this but I wish she would redo it though because all the white noise and missed words (when the recording stopped and started again) made it really hard to follow.
Click the button below to add the GUARD YOUR CHILD'S BRAIN SPACE - Teaching CD to your wish list.


Kalamazoo, MI is the occasional home to Erin & Doruk when they are not touring around the world. They organize events in Kalamazoo and teach classes and courses at Western Michigan University, and work to build and grow this very new tango community whenever they can.
DJ Presh will be at the April 6 milonga!
Blue Moon practica resumes April 3 - June 26, 2019. Wednesdays, class 7-8pm, practica 8-9pm. $15 regular / $10 students. WMU College of Health and Human Services, room 4010.
Summer I course "DANC 1250: Argentine Tango" at WMU Department of Dance. May 7 - June 25, 2019.


text:
PatternLab for proteomics.
A tool for analyzing shotgun proteomic data
Contact: paulo at pcarvalho.com
Paulo Costa Carvalho holds a PhD in systems engineering and computer science from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and is a former member of the John R. Yates Laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute, California, EUA. Among his awards, we highlight the Google Award for Academic Excellence and the Young Biochemistry Scientist Award given by the Brazilian society for biochemistry and molecular biology (SBBq). In 2012 he earned a position as a research scientist in proteomics at Fiocruz, Brazil's federal consortium of research institutes under the Ministry of Health. Paulo has published over 60 papers of which several of his first / last author papers are in distinguished journals such as Bioinformatics, Analytical Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, Nature Protocols, and Nature Methods. In 2014 he became accredited into the highly competitive group of researchers officially sponsored by Brazil's Research Council, owing to the high quality of his publications in the fields of proteomics and computational mass spectrometry (pesquisador de produtividade CNPq). Paulo is a member of the faculty at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Carlos Chagas Institute, Fiocruz, where he teaches computational proteomics at the graduate level. Paulo is founding member of the Brazilian Society for Proteomics and is part of its scientific committee. In October 2014, Paulo was nominated as an executive editor of the Journal of Proteomics (IF 3.9) which is the official journal of the European Proteomics Association. Recently, in 2016, he became part of the Features Panel of the prestegious Analytical Chemistry (IF 5.8) journal.


Payday Loans in New Carlisle (Clark County) OH - How to Get a Payday Loan in New Carlisle?
By the way, if you have a bad credit history, but need a payday loan in New Carlisle? Do not be nervous, we can approve borrowers with bad credit history.


This entry was posted on September 19, 2010 at 8:51 pm and is filed under evening bag /opera purse, pottery & china, saffron brooklyn, vintage + アンティーク雑貨, wooden tote.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


text:
Home Investigations Book Famine: How Policies in Nigeria Limit Access of Blind Persons to Books
Book Famine: How Policies in Nigeria Limit Access of Blind Persons to Books
by Editor December 19, 2022 0 comment
Share 0FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrVKWhatsappEmail
In Nigeria, existing copyright regulations prevent the adaptation of books into readable versions for the visually impaired. As a result, those who are visually impaired and others who live with print impairments have restricted access to books, resulting in a scenario coined "Book Famine."
Omolola Afolabi captures their experiences…
Going through law school in Nigeria and graduating without a re-sit is usually considered a cause for euphoria among law students.
For people who have to experience the same system with one form of disability or another, it is never a walk in the park.
Barrister Kassim Lawal is visually impaired. Against all odds, he bagged his law degree from the University of Lagos, Akoka, in 2016. Following that, he enrolled in and waded through the arduous waters of Nigerian Law School, graduating with an enviable robe and a colorful motherboard.
Barrister Kassim Lawal in his office in Abuja
The journey, as expected, was herculean, but as tough as it was, Mr. Lawal, who is now 38, found it even tougher. The voluminous law books, the case notes, and several large-volume materials whose reading came at a price for even sighted colleagues were all studied by him.
"I had to record all my textbooks with the assistance of my classmates," he said. "It didn't matter the volume of the books; I got them captured on tape recorders and cassettes to listen to them later on."
He noted that he couldn't use braille at that level because it was bulky. He recalled soliciting the help of his sighted colleagues to use the library and submit assignments.
He said this was the same style he opted for during his studies at the Nigerian Law School, Bwari, Abuja.
The Solicitor at Yusuf O. Alli Chambers, Abuja, acknowledged that undergraduate students of Nigerian tertiary institutions go through extremely tough times studying as compared to pupils at the basic and secondary school levels, such as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) School for the Blind.
FCT School for The Blind, Jabi
Mr. Lawal, who is the Chairman of Lawyers with Disabilities, Abuja Chapter, explained that universities in Nigeria are neither inclusive nor specialized.
"Provisions are usually made for primary and secondary school pupils in terms of adapting books, unlike those at the tertiary level of education."
For Mr. Lawal and numerous visually impaired students and professionals in Nigeria, the silver lining in the dark cloud would be the ratification, implementation, and enforcement of an international agreement that seeks to help end the global scarcity of books in Nigeria. It is called the Marrakesh Treaty.
"Braille is expensive and time-consuming."
Grace Atewe is a current law student at the University of Lagos, and like Mr. Lawal, she holds great optimism about the prospects of the Marrakesh Treaty coming fully into effect.
She shared her experiences navigating through law school with the reporter.
"One of the major issues confronting people with visual impairment in Nigerian universities is the difficulty in accessing books for study."
Miss Atewe, who is 27 years old, explained that a good number of law books and materials are available but only for sighted people.
"Getting access to those books and materials as a visually impaired or partially sighted person is a major hurdle." Most of the time, these books are not put into electronic formats that blind people can access. "Like many of my other colleagues, we are at the mercy of our sighted colleagues," she said.
Ms. Grace Atewe
Miss Atewe, now in her final year at the university, suggested that when the Marrakesh Treaty comes fully into use, law reports and other materials can be made in formats that can "talk" or be read in braille. She said this would significantly ease their struggle.
"When we want to get access to these materials, we can easily get them on the internet."
"Getting those books in braille is extremely expensive, so all these hurdles should be looked into," she urged.
"We are the ones who do all the conversion of books ourselves." "We have to get these books, then go through the rigorous process of converting them into readable formats, and it takes a lot of time and money, and as struggling students, we can hardly afford these."
The Costs and Figures
Checks by this reporter revealed that small-volume braille printers cost between $1,800 and $5,000, and large-volume ones cost between
Checks by this reporter revealed that small-volume braille printers cost between $1,800 and $5,000, and large-volume ones may cost between $10,000 and $80,000.
According to the international development organization Sightsavers, there are an estimated 24 million people with vision loss, with about 1.3 million becoming blind in the year 2020.
The Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairments Survey also reports that the northeastern part of the country has the highest prevalence of blindness at about 6.1%, while the southwest zone of the country has the lowest prevalence at about 2.8%.
Blindness and a lack of accessible book formats may be factors explaining why many visually impaired people in Nigeria do not go to school or outright drop out. In Jigawa State, north-east Nigeria, 66 pupils are formally registered at the Jigawa State School for the Blind, but only 10 show up for school. This is according to a report by Premium Times.
In its 2011 World Disability Report the World Health Organization identified inappropriate teaching materials and methods of assessment as one of the barriers to education for children with disabilities.
According to studies, braille is the most preferred source of information for people with visual impairments, with about 58.3% interested, followed by talking books (audiobooks) with about 38.2%, and only 3.4% rely on large print.
What is the Marrakesh Treaty, and what does its domestication mean for the print-disabled community in Nigeria?
The treaty was adopted in 2013 and signed in Marrakesh, Uganda, to facilitate access for people with print disabilities by removing barriers in national copyright laws that hinder the reproduction, distribution, and sharing of books in accessible formats for use by people with print disabilities.
The treaty has been ratified by 23 African countries, and Nigeria is a signatory to it.
Administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, it promotes the development of accessible formats that begin after the source publication is released to the market; once all legal requirements for transforming the source publication into an accessible publication are met, an alternative format of a book in braille or large print is frequently made available much later than the release of the print book.
The Marrakesh Treaty is a direct response to the Sustainable Development Goals call to "leave no one behind," as it recognizes that one of the factors that consistently recur when discussing quality education for people with disabilities, particularly those with visual impairment, is the availability of educational materials in formats they can use.
Mr. Lawal, who is also the Secretary General of the Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities, Abuja Chapter, told this reporter that although there are existing copyright laws that make provision for the creation of books in braille, there is still a very small amount of books in braille and other readable formats.
"What the Marrakesh Treaty seeks to do is empower the beneficiaries (the blind and print-disabled individuals)."
It is widely acknowledged by the blind community that braille is not the only accessible format for the blind. There are electronic formats (either word documents or electronic publications (epub). There are braille, large print, talking books or audiobooks, ebooks, and tactile graphics.
However, it is important to note that some of the alternate formats mentioned above may be suitable or easy to use for a particular disability only. For example, a person with dyslexia may not prefer a book in braille, and persons with low vision may not use an audiobook as it omits all pictures and text.
Literacy Level of Blind Persons in Nigeria
"Literacy is quite high among adults with visual impairments, as many members of our disability associations are learned professionals; we have lawyers, journalists, artists, and all," Mr. Lawal revealed.
"However, it could be better because, prior to the Marrakesh Treaty, we had our own way of reading and writing, so in most of our schools, printed copies of novels and other reading (educational) materials are frequently converted into braille format, but outside of school for leisure and work purposes, that is where the Book Famine has impacted us."
This is because persons with visual impairments have different needs in terms of reading. Some blind persons cannot read braille due to factors like old age, some people's sensitivity is not sharp enough to identify the tactile dots, and some other persons are better at listening to the audio versions of the braille.
What would full Domestication and Enforcement mean for the Blind Community in Nigeria?
John Assein, the Director General of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission, said the process of ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty in Nigeria has now passed the concurrence stage and has reached the presidential assent stage, which is the final stage before it finally becomes law and binding.
Mr. Assign told the reporter in his office that he has been meeting with the leadership of the National Association of the Blind and other relevant groups to ensure they are carried along.
Director General, Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr. John Assien addresses the reporter in his office in Abuja.
The domestication of the treaty would mean more books in accessible formats. The needs of people with visual impairments would be met, assisting in significantly increasing the literacy level of blind people. People with visual impairments can also walk into any of the authorized entities instead of waiting for years to have some of these books in accessible formats. So it would appear as if a blind person entered a regular bookstore.
The process for the domestication of the treaty is at its last stage. The provisions of the treaty have been incorporated into the revised Copyrights Amendment Bill, which has been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and is awaiting presidential assent.
We are hopeful that before the year runs out or before the end of this current administration, it comes into effect.
According to the Marrakesh Treaty Advocacy Course, the right to literacy is a fundamental human right for all persons, and it should include reading books for education and leisure.
Visually Impaired People Can't Study for Leisure
Mr. Lawal told SMI and WR that the enforcement of the treaty would mean more books in accessible formats for the visually impaired.
"I can go get books by Soyinka or Achebe. It would mean I don't have to get the books first; I could go to Lagos to get them in braille. People with visual impairments would have a level playing field for a person with disabilities to be able to access books the same way sighted people would be able to access them.
"The bill provides for authorized entities, which can either be government-owned or private establishments, that will be licensed to produce these books in accessible formats and would have the criteria for producing these books in accessible formats," he said.
Martin Kieti, who works at Inclusion Resources for Africa in Kenya, noted that the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty and its implementation in national law do not necessarily guarantee the enjoyment of the right to read by people with print disabilities.
"It is a well-known fact that, in many African countries, international treaties have been ratified, national laws have been enacted or revised, and policies have been developed, but their implementation has not been fully realized.
"The poor implementation of such treaties, laws, and policies has been attributed to, among other reasons, a lack of resources, political goodwill, and legal remedies and mechanisms to enforce the provisions of such treaties, laws, and policies."
He said that for people with print disabilities to enjoy their right to read and access information through the increased availability of accessible books, the Marrakesh Treaty must be realized not only on paper but also in practice.
This investigation is produced by Safer-Media Initiative under The Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusivity and Accountability Project (C-MEDIA Project) of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
blind personsbook faminepoliciesprint impairments
Share 0 FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblrVKWhatsappEmail
Pillars Fc Tasks its Technical Crew to Recruit Quality Players
Court Convicts Doyin Okupe for Allegedly Breaching Money Laundering Act
How Non-payment of Over N57m Stalls Constituency Projects in Kano
After Stallion Times Investigation, Dangote Reacts, Blames CBN for Refusal to Pay Tomato...
How Union Leaders Enable Casualisation in the Food Sector
How CBN's Multi-Billion Naira Loans to Farmers Turn 'Buhari Bonanza' in Kano
How Misinformation Worked Against Covid-19 Vaccines Uptake in Kano
How Kano Records Data Gap in Covid-19 Vaccination for PWDs


text:
Eiffel's Tower for Young People: The Story of the 1889 World's Fair
Author: Jonnes, Jill
Sale Price: $4.66 USD discount applied
Eiffel's Tower for Young People is a vivid, lively pageant of people and cultures meeting—and competing—on the world stage at the dawn of the modern era.
The 1889 World's Fair was a worldwide event showcasing the cutting-edge cultural and technological accomplishments of the world's most powerful nations on the verge of a new century. France, with its long history of sophistication and cultivation and a new republican government, presented the Eiffel Tower, the world's tallest structure, crafted from eighteen thousand pieces of wrought iron and 2.5 million rivets, as a symbol of national pride and engineering superiority. The United States, with its brash, can-do spirit, full of pride in its frontier and its ingenuity, presented the rollicking Wild West show of Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley, and the marvelous new phonograph of Thomas Edison.
With historical photos throughout, outsized personalities, squabbling artists, and a sprinkling of royalty, this dramatic history opens a window to a piece of the past that, in its passions and politics, is an unforgettable portrait of a unique moment in history.
Publisher: Seven Stories Press


text:
Hope everyone is ready for a hilarious good time with "Disaster!" at the Pollard Theatre in Guthrie. It opens this Friday, June 7!
"Straight from Broadway, Disaster features some of the most unforgettable songs of the '70s including "Knock on Wood," "Hooked on a Feeling," "Sky High," "I Am Woman", "Hot Stuff" and "I Will Survive" as what begins as a night of boogie fever quickly changes to panic as a casino ship succumbs to earthquakes, tidal waves and infernos. As the night turns into day, everyone struggles to survive ...or at least escape the killer rats."
Justin Fortney, the City of Guthrie's Tourism Director, stopped by the Pollard recently to interview the show's director Matthew Sipress-Banks for the Hit The Bricks podcast. Check out their conversation below:
The show runs through June 29. Get your tickets here!
Sweet stories for Valentine's Day in Guthrie
Catch It's A Wonderful Life at the Pollard Theatre


text:
Q: Video doesn't fit properly Hi I have a VideoView in my app, provided the layout width and height as fill parent. But still my video is displayed only in half the portion of the videoView. So I tried providing the width and height in dip. But still the video displays in the same manner.
Can anyone help me with this?

A: I had the same problem. I solved it by creating an own VideoView class extending VideoView, then pass in the width and height from
new VideoPlayer(this, getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getWidth(), getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getHeight());

And this is the VideoPlayer class
public class VideoPlayer extends VideoView {

private int width;
private int height;

public VideoPlayer(Context context, int width, int height) {
    super(context);
    this.width = width;
    this.height = height;
}

public VideoPlayer(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    super(context, attrs);
}
@Override
protected void onMeasure (int widthMeasureSpec, int heightMeasureSpec)
{
     setMeasuredDimension(width, height);
}
}

I then added the VideoPlayer view by code to the layout using ViewGroup.addView(VideoPlayer)


text:
Police Hunt For Death Crash Driver
The funeral is taking place of a young mother killed in a car crash almost two weeks ago as police continue the search for the driver.
Kelly Bannister, 22, died after the Volkswagen Golf in which she was a passenger hit two trees on the outskirts of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, on Friday August 29.
A 30-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman who were also passengers in the car remain seriously ill in hospital.
The driver and a third passenger fled the scene as soon as the accident happened and police have carried out searches of a number of properties in Sheffield but with no success. They are also trying to trace the other passenger as he is a crucial witness.
Three other people have been arrested and release on bail, police added.
Inspector Pete Serhatlic told The Star newspaper: "The people in the community where the driver is from know who he is and I believe some of them know where he is. The families of the three victims deserve to know what happened."
Copyright © PA Business 2008
Nicola Meese from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "Our sympathy goes out to the family of Ms Bannister following this tragic incident.
"Claims involving untraced drivers can be made to the Motor Insurers' Bureau ("MIB") who will then carry out their own investigations. This can be a lengthy procedure and the delay can make the whole process even more distressing for the bereaved family who must be distraught following their loss."
Three Sarclad Execs Acquitted In £17m DPA Case


A performer born in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, as the son of noted stage thespian Keith Dinicol, Joe Dinicol debuted as an actor in his early teens, with a supporting role in the 1997 farce Elvis Meets Nixon, then followed it up with a succession of unique, albeit low-profile, character parts in features including The Virgin Suicides (1999, as a troubled young man who commits suicide via a roof jump), the 2003 Kart Racer (as a school bully), and the Lifetime Network VD drama She's Too Young (2004, as the supportive best friend of a syphilis-infected school pariah). In 2007, Dinicol starred as one of several young men and women struggling to fend off hordes of flesh-eating zombies in George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead.
Tommy Because we have no idea what we're doing.


Maybe you think no one knows exactly how you feel–no one understands the pressures shaping your decision. If that's the case, you'll be relieved to know you are wrong.
John MacArthur is the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, as well as an author, conference speaker, president of The Master's College and Seminary, and featured teacher with the Grace to You radio ministry. Since completing his first best-selling book The Gospel According to Jesus, in 1988, John has written more than six dozen books and, through Grace to You and retail bookstores, distributed millions of copies worldwide. John and his wife, Patricia, live in Southern California and have four grown children: Matt, Marcy, Mark, and Melinda. They also enjoy the enthusiastic company of their fourteen grandchildren–Johnny, Ty, Jessy, KD, Olivia, Susannah, Gracie, Kylee, Andrew, Brooke, Elizabeth, Tommy, Audrey and Oliver.


Nine Entertainment Co, owner of Channel Nine Perth, has announced that the station will relocate from Dianella to Perth's CBD in 2016.
Construction will commence over the coming months on a state-of-the-art, fully digitised studio at 253 St George's Terrace, which will include a unique outdoor activation area, Nine Plaza, complete with an outdoor video wall, to be located on an adjacent Primewest site.
David Mott, managing director of Nine Perth, said: "Since the change of ownership, Nine Perth has achieved growth in ratings and revenue and developed a solid community engagement.
Nine Perth will occupy approximately 2,500 sqm across three buildings, including 255 St Georges Terrace, two levels in 267 St Georges Terrace, and the new state of the art studio that will become the focal point in its unique parkland setting. The existing properties will be extensively refurbished in keeping with a new media presence and interconnected in a campus style layout.


text:
#
#
# /* See http://www.lslboost.org for most recent version. */
#
# ifndef BOOST_PREPROCESSOR_REPEAT_FROM_TO_HPP
# define BOOST_PREPROCESSOR_REPEAT_FROM_TO_HPP
#
# include <lslboost/preprocessor/repetition/repeat_from_to.hpp>
#
# endif


Have you ever had constipation? Constipation is very annoying isn't it? It is health problem that could happen to anyone. Then, what would happen if your babies are experiencing constipation? Here are the treatments to overcome constipation in infants.
1. Try to make him do a little exercise. For example, if your baby is able to crawl, make him to crawl back and forth several times. If your baby can not crawl yet, try to lift his feet while he slept on his back, move his legs slowly as if pedaling a bicycle.
2. Gently massage the baby's stomach. Measure about 3 fingers below the belly button and massage gently but give little pressure using your fingertips. Press until you feel the hard part. Do it for about 3 minutes.
3. If your baby is drinking formula, asks your doctor, should he change the brand of milk formula? In some babies, they rarely constipation if they drink soy milk.
4. If your baby has started eating solid foods, try reducing the portions of food that can cause constipation such as rice, bananas, and carrots that are cooked. Mommy could give a little apple juice or a few tablespoons of pear or apricot that have been mashed.
5. If the poop of your baby hardly gets out, usually it could tear the skin around the 'way out'. Mommy can apply aloe vera lotion on the skin that was torn.
6. If the above methods cannot overcome constipation in babies, talk to your pediatrician.
Blackheads can disturb our appearance. We often do not think much about it and tend to panic when acne appears on our face.
Actually, if we diligently clean our face well, we will avoid any problems on our skin as well.
You should know more about your skin type so that you can care for and maintain the health of your skin.
Exercise is not only healthy and helps you tighten and streamline your body but also can make you happier and relieve stress. Here are three movements that are proven be able to release endorphins that give rise to feelings of pleasure.
1. Squatting between the seats. Try to stand with both feet between the two seats. Open legs approximately shoulder width. Put your hands on the back of the seat. Keep your upper back straight. Squat until your buttock touch the back seat. Hold for a moment and then return to start position. You can repeat this movement up to 12 times.
2. Push up against the wall in slow motion. Put your hands on the wall. Hands at chest height and upper body straight. Gently bend your elbows until chest touches the wall. Then straighten your body slowly to push back up to a standing position. Repeat 8 to 12 times.
3. Sit up to evoke the spirit. Lie down on your back with your knees bent, open your legs approximately shoulder width. Both hands behind the ears and chin pointing upward. Exhale through the mouth while lifting shoulder blades 3 to 4 inches off the floor. Hold for 2 seconds, inhale through your nose while lowered slowly without your hands touching the floor. Repeat for 8 to 12 times.
After you do these movements you should drink water in order to restore your energy. Good luck!


text:
Britain Is Home To A VERY Talented Pup! This Two Blew Me Away!
Ashleigh and Pudsey are two youngsters to the world but sure have a lot of life in them! First starring on Britain's Got Talent, there's no denying that these two have a bond every dog-lover would appreciate!
Pudsey is a Border Collie, Bichon Frise and Chinese Crested powderpuff cross, and Ashliegh is a 16-year-old teen! But they're not your ordinary duo. Just watch their performance that wowed even judge, Simon Cowell, himself on Britain's Got Talent! Pudsey does things I didn't even know dogs could be trained to do!
To no surprise these two best friends won Britain's Got Talent in 2012 and now have a bright future ahead of them. Pudsey has not only won over hearts across Britain, he also got the attention of Hollywood movie makers. This summer, Pudsey will be starring in his own move, "Pudsey: The Movie!" I can't wait to see it! Asheligh's dreams are coming true!
SHARE this dynamic duo with all the dog lovers in your life!


text:
module.exports = function(e, id, request, action) {
	var url = this.Controller().getServerUrl() + '/file/remove/';

	$.getJSON(url + id, function(response) {
		//if error
		if(response.error) {
			this.Controller().trigger('file-remove-error', response.message, request, action);
			return;
		}

		this.Controller().trigger('file-remove-success', request, action);
	}.bind(this));
};