Five-times world champion Lewis Hamilton ended the 2019 Formula One season in style and a cloud of tyre smoke after a pole-to-flag victory in Abu Dhabi, his 11th win of the campaign.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished second, and set the fastest lap time, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen third.
The 33-year-old Hamilton, who has already been crowned season champion, boasts 51 wins out of 100 races in the V6 turbo hybrid era. His latest 408 points tally makes him the first driver to score more than 400 points in a single season.
The impressive Brit is 18 wins away from equalling Michael Schumacher's record of 91 wins.
It was also two-times world champion Fernando Alonso's last race. He finished 11th and with his final tally at 1,899. The trio of champions — Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso — created a spectacular cloud of smoke when they spun their cars at the end of their slowing-down lap, before stepping out for hugs and words of mutual respect.
Kimi Raikkonen retired from his last Formula One race with Ferrari, his car losing power and coasting to a halt on the main straight after just seven laps.
The 39-year-old Finn, the last driver to win a championship for Ferrari, in 2007, is headed in 2019 to Sauber, the team with which he started his F1 career.
Raikkonen still finished third in the championship and the retirement brought down the curtain on what has otherwise been a stand-out season for F1's oldest current driver.
Seven-times Nascar champion Jimmie Johnson and former F1 champion Fernando Alonso swapped company cars after Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix.
Johnson declared the V8-powered 2013 McLaren to be "mind-blowing" in braking and acceleration, but Alonso found Jimmy's Chevrolet to be a blast from the past with its V8 engine and steel brakes.
"Literally on the first outing my helmet was trying to leave my head, and I was staring at the microphone in my helmet it was so high," Johnson told ESPN. "I got my helmet more under control, and then it was really my eyes trying to find their way far enough ahead and far enough round the turns," he said.
The fun swap came a day after Alonso's last F1 race in Abu Dhabi. Both drivers said they were impressed by the other's performance.
"I think he was really gaining time every run he was going out," said Alonso.
Sweden's Johan Kristoffersson capped a remarkable year by taking a record-breaking 11th victory of the 2018 World Rallycross (RX) season at Cape Town's Killarney circuit at the weekend.
The Volkswagen Polo R driver, who had already won the championship, dominated the season-ending World RX round in its second visit to Cape Town. Thousands of local racing fans turned up to watch the powerful RX cars bump and barge their way through a mixed course of tarmac and dirt. The FIA World Rallycross Championship, presented by Monster Energy, was the only international motorsport event to take place in SA in 2019.
Multiple former World Rally champion Loeb set the fastest time in Q1 on Saturday and finished on the podium for the seventh time in 2018.
Red Bull and engine suppliers Renault have parted ways as one of Formula One's most successful partnerships reached the end of the road in Abu Dhabi. The once-dominant partnership has been fraught in recent seasons, with Red Bull feeling let down in the V6 turbo hybrid era by a Renault engine that has lacked the power and reliability of rivals Mercedes and Ferrari.
Abiteboul and Horner have engaged in much verbal sparring, with Red Bull seeking but failing to find another engine partner before Honda became an option.
Red Bull will hope for better with Honda next season while Renault, who are taking Red Bull's Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo with them, focus on their year-old factory team and clients McLaren.
Together Renault and Red Bull won 59 races with 160 podiums, 60 pole positions, 60 fastest laps and eight world championships — four of them drivers' crowns with German Sebastian Vettel.
"In Red Bull, we found a partner who would challenge for more of everything," said Abiteboul in a diplomatic Renault statement emphasising the positives.
"Together we achieved outstanding results and in time our record will be recognised on its own merits," he said.


text:
Technology for Tourism
Start to Exit
Archive: Social Enterprise Symposium
Archive: StartUp Malvern
Technology for Tourism is an initiative for technology providers and tourism promoters to improve the visitor experience. You can sign-up to receive news and information about this initiative here.
This campaign is centred around the Malvern Hills in the United Kingdom, a unique tourist destination in a community renowned for technology development and innovation. The initiative is built on three pillars of activity:
• A network for technology providers and tourism promoters to share insights and best practice. This arrangement is designed to provide both the technology push and the market pull; a platform on which issues faced by the tourism industry can be addressed by the technologists and then evaluated by experienced operators. The aim of the network is to generate a dialogue that provides solutions to enhance the visitor experience at attractions, capture useful data about visitor behaviour, and then improve the tourism industry's analytical and planning capability in order to bring economic benefit to the stakeholders.
• A forum of open innovation and collaboration to learn about and develop new products & services applicable to the tourism industry. Members currently meet on an ad hoc basis at the Malvern Hills GeoCentre for a topical presentation, an update on any recent developments, and a chance to discuss things informally. This provides an opportunity to hear about new technologies or new issues facing the tourist industry, for new collaborations to be formed, and for potential joint projects to be discussed and planned. The aim is to embrace the tourism industry in the broadest sense, including museums, heritage sites, general attractions, hospitality services, transportation, accommodation, and sports & leisure facilities. If you'd like to come to a free forum meeting, please register here.
• A testbed for innovative new ideas to be deployed in and around the Malvern Hills, a tourist destination that draws over a million visitors per year to a range of indoor and outdoor attractions. New ideas need to be deployed and evaluated, and a key part of this initiative is to provide a testbed in a living dynamic tourist destination. The Malvern Hills is in an Area of Outstanding National Beauty with a heritage of tourism that had particular significance in Victorian England as a destination for the water cure. This initiative aims to facilitate the deployment of new technologies in the Malvern Hills and surrounding area, enabling reference data to be gathered that will help these products and services to be made ready for international markets. Of key significance is the diversity of the environment that the testbed offers:
• The Malvern Hills - an extensive rural area with limited broadband and patchy cellular network coverage; an ideal environment to test in an area where mobile data access may be limited and a range of weather conditions can be expected during the year.
• The Malverns - a community of small towns and villages in a countryside setting, with numerous indoor and outdoor attractions such as parks, churches, museums, stately homes and castles, an established showground, bed & breakfasts, hotels, and a limited rural transportation network of bus and rail.
• Worcester, Hereford, and Gloucester - three neighbouring mid-sized cities with cathedrals, enhanced infrastructure, and numerous attractions and facilities. These cities are also the administrative centres for the three counties that the Malvern Hills span.
News about this initiative:
Members of the Technology for Tourism Forum launch mobile walking app
Local software developer Mike Brooks and the Malvern Hills District Council launch a mobile walking app with walking tours of Malvern, Tenbury Wells and Upton-on-Severn.
Malvern Gazette, 30th May 2017 [Read more]
Silicon Canal white paper highlights Malvern's technology for tourism cluster
The Technology for Tourism initiative was highlighted in the recent white paper about the tech ecosystem of Greater Birmingham.
Silicon Canal, 25th May 2016 [Read more]
Promoting collaborative working in Malvern through the Technology for Tourism initiative
Dr Adrian Burden, Technical Director of Key IQ Ltd and founder of the Technology for Tourism initiative, presented to the European partners of the Smart Culture consortium during their visit to the Digital Humanities Hub at the University of Birmingham.
SmartCulture in the West Midlands - Malvern Business Breakfast
This was an opportunity for those working in an ICT business, the Creative Industries or the Heritage and Tourism sectors to meet the SmartCulture project team from the University of Birmingham at the Wyche Innovation Centre in Malvern as part of their research into clusters in the digital heritage sector.
11th November 2014. [Report]
Using the Malvern Hills as a Technology for Tourism testbed
Dr Adrian Burden, Technical Director of Key IQ Ltd and founder of the Technology for Tourism initiative, presented at the Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) Meeting at the Digital Humanities Hub, University of Birmingham.
29th July 2014 [More details].
New app for Malvern Walks
Inspired by participating in the Technology for Tourism forum, Dan Wild from High Street Malvern captured some established walking trails on an Android App.
Worcester News, 19th March 2014 [Read more].
The Technology for Tourism Initiative in Malvern
Dr Adrian Burden, Technical Director of Key IQ Ltd and founder of the Technology for Tourism initiative, presented at the Touch Digital meeting at the University of Coventry.
Have your say on revolutionary new map
News of the Virtual Malvern 3D Map prototype developed by the Virtual Experience Company with support from the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Malvern Hills District Council.
Malvern Observer, 29th January 2014 [Read more].
High-tec 3D map brings hills alive
Report about the Virtual Malvern 3D Map project following its showing at the Malvern Festival of Innovation.
Malvern Gazette, 18th November 2013 [Read more]
"Technology for Tourism" and the Technology for Tourism logo are trademarks of the Key IQ Ltd.
Copyright © 2010- 2020 Key IQ Ltd. Key IQ Ltd's UK Company Number is 07203201. Please review our terms and conditions about accessing this website and our Data Protection & Privacy Policy . Template designed by AS DESIGNING

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


If you knew someone that was brand new to magic, what three tips of advice would you give them if asked?
Study, practice, perform. Rinse and repeat.
But seriously, I think tip number one would be to focus on sleight of hand rather than chase satisfaction through one-off tricks and such. Number two would be to take advantage of both online video instruction and books. Online vids primarily for moves and sleights, books for tricks and history. And three, be true to yourself. Follow your magic muse wherever it may lead you; add your own unique signature to the performance of magic. Make it yours.
buy something easy with instant gratification. A svengali deck, nickles to dimes. Take a half an hour learn it and start performing now. too many become arm chair magicians, insist on practicing until something is perfect, which it cannot be until one starts to perform it but now they have gotten into the idea that it has to be perfect so they never perform. But with a svenagli deck? easy to show family or friends,. Then when you have exhuasted your friends and family and you kinda understand what its about. Buy the book, 50 tricks with a svengali deck. Get a penetration frame. A basic book on card Magic, Karl Fulves or something. Then...a thumb tip maybe a plastic set of cups and balls, Mark Wilsons course in magic. and grow from there.
Magic is like anything else, most people need that instant rush. If you start with sleigh of hand, take a month to learn something and practice and practice. It is going to get tired...fast.
I used to teach horse back riding at a summer camp. The initial thought is to teach the kids about horses, about tack, get them to brush a horse and make that connection first. Wrong. First day have that horse saddled up and ready to go. Kids arrive put them on the horse and get them moving. Take that lead horse have the rest follow, have them trott. Let them have fun. Don't lecture about all the do's and dont's. Nothing drives one away faster than a bunch of instruction right off the bat. Then once they have a taste. And magic is very addictive...then you have them. Then the work starts. Nothing gets an enthusiast into the thick of it than going out and performing a svengali deck for the first few times and your friends and family want to see more. It forces them deeper into the art. Each little easy step leads to the next. Done right soon they want, need, crave to dig deeper.
How many of us started with a magic kit right out of the box? I've talked to lots of magicians and most started that way. They didn't start with the slight of hand. No they started with a ball and vase.
I wrote THE MAGIC BOOK just for you!
Bmat, the OP asked what advice "you" would give a newbie. I'd stick with sleight of hand as my number one bit of advice. Why? Because sleight of hand is enduring. It is the foundation of closeup magic. While I have no problem with one-off tricks or magic set - it was T.V. Magic Cards that gave me the itch, after all - in retrospect I would have preferred someone demonstrate the possibilities with sleight of hand and assured me that its pursuit was ultimately worth the time and effort. And as for The Magic Book?! Man, if I'd have had a copy of that right after T.V. Magic Cards piqued my curiosity I'd have been in heaven.
1. Ask questions. Get a sense of their personality and life circumstances. Listen to what their interests are before dispensing the same all-purpose advice I'd give anyone else. Make a connection, which will be as important as anything I might say.
2. Show two tricks, one simple enough to learn on the spot and one aspirational (not taught).
3. Suggest appropriate resources, whether a local shop, solid beginner book in line with their interests/personality, inspiring performance clip to look up on YouTube, etc.
STOP.....Slow down....Don't be in a rush.
LISTEN....To the wisdom of those more experienced.
Get a Copy of "The Magic Book" By Harry Lorayne, The "Mark Wilson Course" and "The Royal Road to Card Magic"
Then, after all that reading and practicing, if you find you've developed a real affinity for magic, study misdirection.
1. Whatever you do, make it entertaining. You can perform the oldest trick in the book, and you can perform it BADLY, but just so long as you make it ENTERTAINING, people will love it. Think of yourself not as a magician or just a magician, but as an ENTERTAINER first and formost.
2. Explore, better yet, CREATE alternative methods for performing the tricks you learn; preferably methods you don't think anyone else has ever done. Make it your own.
3. NEVER ever reveal the secret of how it's done, no matter how badly you may want to. Be prepared to keep a lot of secrets; loose lips sink ships, and destroy magic.
PS: I left out studying/practicing and performing because I felt it kind of goes without saying; even someone brand new to magic understands that practice will be in order.
The first thing would be to always be learning. Can never learn too much.
Start with easy stuff. Sleight of hand can be daunting. Some give up because of that. If you start with easy stuff you can get that thrill of performing for people.
When learning sleight of hand, understand that moves are not magic, but simply a means to an end.
Michaelblue is correct. Once you stop learning, you stagnate.
A new-comer to magic might feel this way just starting out doing just a few things they know over and over, or someone that performs a set show night after night similar to the musical gigs.
What kicked it for me was the 'keep learning' that was mentioned.
Find another book of new material, or a new artist (magician), or in the case of music for me, find some intricate piano score and try to get it worked out on guitar. Anything to get the creative juices to kick in.
So back to the beginner -- whatever book works for that person...it may take a couple to find one that really 'clicks' because what some of us like others don't, and what we didn't like 30 years ago might be eye-opening now. But also have something to "do" … something that can be accomplished and make him/her smile when it's completed, to feel the sense of accomplishing something.


We have software developers who need to integrate crypto wallet functionality into the cu...and provide a list of the specific APIs and methods that need to be called by the above mentioned dev team to implement similar functionality. Also will need to assist with block chain specific concepts as needed such as public/private keys, cryptography, etc.
I need a simulation on MATLAB. It goes like: Modeling and control of energy storage system, which includes batteries or ultracapacitor. The simulated systems should include active and reactive points for charging/discharging and interface circuit with the 3-phase or 1-phase grid.
Can you solve this?? HYSYS assignment 1 Using HYSYS, simulate the reactions that take plac...2L pure tech 130) when it travels with a speed of 70 miles/h. -Report and justify all the assumptions you need to make to solve the problem. -You need to present the flow diagram and a detailed table with the compositions of all the material streams involved.


text:
Q: Confusion with the definition of the operator norm In my functional analysis course I have been told the definition of the operator norm is as follows:
$$||T||=\sup\{||Tx||_Y:x\in X,||x||_X\leq1\}$$
I don't understand the relevance of $||x||_X\leq 1$, could someone please explain?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Raphael Soyer
Borisoglebsk, Russia
born Borisoglebsk, Russia 1899-died New York City 1987
Painter and printmaker, a twin brother of artist Moses Soyer. His sympathetic and melancholic paintings expressed the aspirations and disappointments of ordinary people. He frequently painted himself and other artists, Homage to Thomas Eakins (1964–65) being one such work.
Joan Stahl American Artists in Photographic Portraits from the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection (Washington, D.C. and Mineola, New York: National Museum of American Art and Dover Publications, Inc., 1995)
Raphael Soyer was a painter, draughtsman, and printmaker who believed that "if art is to survive, it must describe and express people, their lives and times. It must communicate." From an early age Soyer and his brothers Moses and Isaac were encouraged to draw by their father, a teacher of Hebrew literature and history. Forced to leave Russia in 1912, they immigrated to the United States and settled in Brooklyn. In the mid 1920s, having studied at Cooper Union, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League, Soyer painted scenes of life on New York's east side. His portrayals of derelicts, working people, and the unemployed around Union Square during the Depression reveal more of a poignant vision of the human condition than the art of social protest popular with many of his contemporaries. Throughout his life Soyer painted people—his friends, himself, studio models—with an unerring eye for intimacy and mood.
Virginia M. Mecklenburg Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1987)
Works by This Artist (40 items)
(Memories, portfolio) Mother
color lithograph
(Memories, portfolio) Still Life
(Female Undressing)
pen and sepia ink on paper
(Memories, portfolio) Mother and Child
(Memories, portfolio) Woman with Plant
etching and drypoint on paper
Furnished Room
Railroad Waiting Room
(Memories, portfolio) Dancing Lesson


text:
FEATURED POLITICS
Election: Leaflet Fact Check & Analysis: Pauline Latham
7th December 2019 11th December 2019 Clare Washbrook 2 Comments 2019 General Election, Campaign Literature, Candidates, Conservative Party, Mid Derbyshire constituency, Pauline Latham
All the parties put out election leaflets, but how much in them is actually true when examined? First we are looking at our incumbent MP's campaign leaflets.
Party Side of Main Leaflet
A Stark Choice?
"Your choice at this election is stark" – no it isn't, this is setting the parameters within which they want voters to think. You still have 4 options, with a variety of different considerations for each. It is not either/or.
For that stark decision, only 2 options, with imagined scenarios, are laid out. The Conservative Party cannot say, even if they do get a majority government, how democratic debate and voting will go. "Get Brexit done" is a phrase which doesn't have any meaning. In reality Brexit will not be "done" any time soon. If they can vote Mr. Johnson's deal through parliament, the people of the UK will be dealing with the consequences for a long time to come, and deals, arrangements, laws, and all the things that people who want a "stark choice" between two propagandised scenarios think can happen with a click of the fingers, will all take years to sort out. A trade deal averages 5 years to be "done" and then continues to be worked on. There is nothing in politics which is "done". The entire thrust of Brexit is to undo things which were already agreed (largely by the Conservative Party itself). The Conservative Party has taken years to fail to progress with Brexit, mostly because it is far too big an undertaking to do in a hasty way.
The Threat Of Corbyn and a Hung Parliament
Attacking other parties is not speaking about oneself. It is a fear mongering tactic. This is a party line which is trying to scare people. It is a weak argument which says, " the reason to vote for me is not because I am good for you and will offer you things you want, but whooooo scary bogeyman. At least I'm not the bogeyman." This is called gaslighting and control. It tells an imagined possibility of the future designed to scare you into doing what they want. It is a tactic used in psychological abuse – "you can't leave me without being punished."
A hung parliament is, however, a strong possibility, because that is what is normal in most nations. It is not a failure, or a situation to be feared. A hung parliament means that more debate occurs, more negotiation to make choices work for different political persuasions occurs, and no single ideology can force its way through, trampling over the rest. The commonality of our single party majorities is entirely down to our use of the First Past The Post system, which is largely viewed across the world as an unfair system resulting in non-representative governments – a minority of total voters get their way by means of the FPTP system. It also encourages the adversarial two party focus which we see here. In democracies across the world coalitions are more common.
There is no indication, at this point, of whose favour a hung parliament would go in. It depends on alliances between parties, either in coalition, or with a minority government which has the backing of votes from another party. The fear, for the Conservatives, is that they will not get support to form a government from any other party. The DUP will demand a bribe, and a promise of no hard border. The Brexit Party is not expected to do well in this election.
40 new hospitals – the manifesto pledges 40 new hospitals over 10 years. 10 years is double the length of a term of office. So this promise extends beyond the term they could be elected for and relies on getting elected again. How many are they really committed to building in ONE term of office? ZERO! The promise for the first five years is to fund development of 6 existing hospitals. We already have those hospitals. The rest of the promise is to give 21 existing NHS trusts £100m between them to work out business plans that will enable them to secure funding. This is likely to be to improve existing hospitals, not to build new ones. Money has been allocated to 2 projects (upgrades of existing facilities), and the other 4 don't know what is happening. There is no money offered for building any new hospitals or promised to any of the trusts who will be paid to make business plans only.
At the same time the Conservatives promised 50,000 more nurses. The NHS is down 40,000 nurses at present. The shortage is due to NHS cuts, the ending of the nursing bursary in 2016 (which they have said they will give back) and the "hostile environment" and alienation of the foreign workforce which the NHS relies on. The Conservative party is responsible for all of those things happening. So they've lost us 40,000 nurses and promise 50,000 new nurses. So that's still good at 10,000 more, despite the lie of how many more it is, right? Wrong. We now know that 19,000 of these are already nurses, and they are just going to try not to lose them. They do not count as new nurses, or against the nursing deficit – they are working right now, saving lives. So that leaves a plan for 31,000 new nurses. 40,000 – 31,000 = 9000. We will still have 9000 FEWER nurses than we are meant to have. There is also no guarantee of whether these nurses will be full time.
Of course, they have hinged this on getting a "majority". So if they don't get one, you don't get 6 hospital upgrades, and 9000 too few nurses anyway. You aren't voting for a majority, you are voting for ONE seat.
20,000 more police officers. This is 20,000 more than were left after they sacked 21,000 police in cuts. So it's still 1000 less than we had in 2010.
Control of Immigration
We have always had and still have the power to control immigration. We have never given away the power to control immigration, nor has anyone taken it from us. It's a catchphrase used to rope in racists and economic illliterates who don't know how things work. We currently have too few immigrants to pick our food (because Brits won't take that work) and tend our sick, leading to food rotting in the fields, and a severely understaffed NHS. Immigrants increasingly don't want to come here. But even if they do, when the climate crisis and war create more uninhabitable places, we still always have the power to control immigration, if we choose to. We have, as a nation, always chosen to control it by various measures. If the claim is that we aren't doing it now, why not? This is the party who is currently in power, and nobody objects to controlling immigration, they just have different ideas on how we control it and to what extent. We do control immigration. We control it to measures chosen by the Conservative party.
Economic Certainty
Why don't families have economic certainty now?
Brexit offers the greatest economic uncertainty since the Global Financial Crisis (which was caused by banks not by any administration of UK government), which the British public have been told they are paying back with austerity. How much of the £550billion bailout we gave the banks to keep them going (because the banks are intrinsic to governmental function) has been paid back? None. Whilst telling us that everything they were cutting was so that they could pay that money back, they spent all those savings and increased the national debt from £960 billion in April 2010 to £1.82 trillion in 2019. The national debt has increased £700 million in just 3 months from 17th July to 18th October. A quarter of UK government debt is owed to the UK government itself. Another quarter is owed overseas. The rest is owed to people and institutions in the UK. But in reality we don't actually have to worry about it at all. All countries operate in the same way of lending themselves money and keeping those I.O.Us or selling them, mostly to rich British people and companies who then get regular money from those gilts (I.O.Us). But the Conservative Party focused everyone on it, as their excuse to not pay for police officers and nurses and lunches for poor kids at school in the form of Austerity.
So nobody has any money because of austerity and the economic uncertainty, caused by the Global Financial Crisis, and then by nobody knowing what Brexit will cause, remains.
What happens when Brexit makes our economy even smaller? We can still sell arms but engineering and financial instituations are all leaving, and we don't grow most of our own food, and our fishing areas are about to be vastly reduced, and house prices are going to go up, and interest rates will rise, and the pound – which has gone down in value with every mistake – will be worth less than a Euro, and there is absolutely no plan at all for how we the people are going to be affected and cope with the uncertainty of what uncertainty will entail. The one thing Brexit will not bring is "an end to the uncertainty." The reality here looks to be the reverse of what is claimed.
Further (not higher) Education
£1 billion rebuilding programs for further education establishments. This follows a decade of underfunding of F.E. schools, again giving back less than has been taken away.
No government on the planet is doing enough to combat climate chaos. A handful of nations are setting some good examples on what can be done, but also have other projects which counteract the effect of those. Politicians are doing very little more than speaking more words.
This manifesto focus on offshore wind is coupled here with a photo of onshore wind, which is a cheaper option which is not being promised. Onshore wind has been stymied by previous Conservative governments making planning permission nigh on impossible. There is no mention of solar or hydro-electric power, whose incentives have been removed by the Conservative administration. The incentive scheme on insulation of homes to reduce carbon emissions was also canned, resulting in lower levels of insulation, with the consequence of non-lowered carbon emissions. Money has been assigned to insulation in the new manifesto, but not in detail.
Pauline Latham supported fracking in this area, which perpetuates fossil fuel use, poisons the water table and makes the earth shake out earthquakes. They have PAUSED fracking during the election to make this claim. If they meant it, that stop would be permanent. Fracking will exacerbate the climate crisis. Continuing as we are, with non-disruptive changes, will not help in the climate crisis. Saying "climate change" does nothing.
Electric car charging infrastructure is important, although there then arises the question of who runs and profits from that infrastructure, because the electric utilities are not nationalised, so the government is not going to be the entity which profits from them. This does nothing to address the cost of the vehicles and transitioning the nation over to electric vehicles. Electric vehicles only make a positive ecological difference if the means of electricity production is entirely renewable and low polluting (not nuclear). No promises are made to limit production of non-electric vehicles, to encourage affordability of electric vehicles, to transition the nation over, to maintain roads with electric vehicles in mind, or to guarantee a 100% renewable source of energy for that infrastructure. Without the completely carbon free electricity production, electric cars are no different to any other energy use – it adds to the climate problem.
Business Research Pledge
Back business with investment in research – this is quite deceptive. The agency suggested is for "high risk, high payoff" research. It will be funded by some of the money that is meant to increase funding of science. High risk means that there is a higher chance of failure than success, but that any successes will make a lot of money.
Otherwise they cancelled cuts to corporation tax and are just reducing national insurance and increasing employment allowance for small businesses, so small businesses will have less taken off them, but will pay 19% corporation tax. They intend to review business rates, but this is just research and offers no definite result. They could go down, they could go up.
Reducing immigration with an Australian style points system. This system is widely condemned. This is a UKIP stance, and one assumes that it is designed to appeal to UKIP/Brexit Party voters. They have not consulted the Migration Advisory Committee on this pledge. Priti Patel did ask the committee to look into the reviled points system. but they have no recommendations or analysis yet. This plan is actually harsher than the harsh Australian system, because Australia does not require migrants to have a high paid job offer.
Jeremy Corbyn is not promising uncontrolled immigration. This is an outright lie.
Labour Spending Lie
Spending on the country will not weaken the economy. Commonly, spending, and people being happier and struggling less, with reliable services tends to lead to a more stable economy because people feel more secure in their own spending. Our national borrowing and debt is nowhere near as high as it was when the UK built the welfare state and the NHS, nor is it as high as many other nations who did not employ austerity and have good economies. The Conservative claim that the Labour manifesto pledges will cost £1.2 trillion is made up. The Labour manifesto had not been released when the Conservative Party started making this claim. The Conservative Party used the 2017 Labour manifesto, which is not the same as the 2019 manifesto and then made up figures, many of which seem to include double costing. Experts cannot rationalise how they reached this projection, which is invalid anyway due to guessing at what would be spent on. This is a very poor quality estimate based on guessing what Labour would include in its manifesto. It is a lie.
"The Conservatives will always react fastest in a crisis." We would invite evidence for this claim. Every government gets crises, but only one government gets to react to each uniquely detailed crisis. There is no contest where equivalent measuring can occur. Grants for flood victims amount to a maximum of £5000 per household or business for the sole purpose of protecting them from future flooding. That's better than nothing but those households are suffering to a greater extent than that, and they cannot get insurance. Reacting well to this specific crisis would have involved working with communities to get them what they need to deal with the current flood damage. and providing a way for them to be insured, as well as defences.
Candidate Side of Main Leaflet
These are claims about Pauline Latham's actions.
NHS – Pauline Latham voted against restricting the provision of private service on the NHS, and voted in favour of changing the NHS to allow GPs to buy services. These changes have led to the controversial issues of some treatments being offered at a cost, and increasing numbers of private contracts for services.
Business – Pauline does speak with and support local initiatives and businesses. Not all of them, but selected ones.
Plastic and Local Inititiatives – Pauline has spoken against single use plastic. Transition Belper issued a statement about Pauline's use of their cause in this campaign.
Minimum Wage – The increase in minimum wage promised will reach £10.50 in 2026. They are only elected until 2024, so it will not reach £10.50 during this term. Labour promise £10ph by 2022, the Green Party promise a Living Wage of £12ph, and the Lib Dems are going to research what a Living Wage should be. This use of "living wage" means a wage that is comfortable to live on without struggling, and is unrelated to the name chosen for the Conservative's voluntary option for employers to pay employees £9.30ph. The minimum wage will not increase to £10.50 during this term of government. This is misleading.
Historic and Green Belt Campaigning – Pauline has campaigned to protect historic sites, but the local green belt groups have not had her help. The campaigns she was involved with (Bullsmoor and Belper Lane) were heritage locations within the buffer zone. One of the two contained a small section of green belt, but these were fought on the basis of history and World Heritage Status, not protecting green belt. Her house was built on green belt land. Pauline spoke on this issue at our hustings. She was mistaken in how the local plan works, and what the old plan contained. Amber Valley Borough has not had a fully active local plan since 2006. She claims that cancelling the old Conservative created plan endangers Belper, but the cancellation did not alter the situation as it was under the previous administration, until AVBC rapidly secured the housing supply required to allow them to deny development. With that secured, the green belt is protected and the rule is in place to deny development. The old plan endangered rather than protected green belt, so favouring that one is baffling if one wants to protect green belt. She has attacked the cost of doing a new plan, but the truth is that councils are always doing a new plan. When one is complete and in effect, the next one starts to be worked on. This means that councils are always paying to create a plan. Pauline's campaign team is composed of councillors and ex-councillors who created the plan which offered the green belt up for building on.
Another leaflet containing some of the same campaign material:
All party/candidate leaflets will be fact checked and analysed. This series will continue tomorrow.
Other campaign material will also be analysed, as will the voting record of the incumbent MP.
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Clare Washbrook
Current Editor-in-Chief News and magazine editor since 1995 Post-grads: Literature; Theatre; Journalism, Ethics & Law Community Affiliations: Belper Goes Green, Belper's WW1 Poppies, Amber Valley Solidarity No political party memberships/affiliations.
2 thoughts on "Election: Leaflet Fact Check & Analysis: Pauline Latham"
Jed Bland
8th December 2019 at 8:40 am
I was thinking this morning of the number of promises the Tories have made in recent years which have then not materialised. We are told it's because we have Prime Minister Boris but he is not a president: he merely communicates a party policy which has magically changed with the election
maurice neville
Good article – one fact check – the 2006 Local Plan may be well out of date in many ways but is not completely inactive. It remains valid for consideration in some aspects of planning applications until it is replaced. Pauline Latham made the same mistake in the hustings – very surprising from someone who has been involved in local politics as an MP and a councillor for decades.
GDPR, Your Data and Us: http://nailed.community/gdpr-your-data-and-us/


text:
Q: Binomial coefficient and series expansion I had to expand $y=\sqrt{1+x^2}$ into the Maclaurin series, which (prior to simplification) would give me: \begin{align} \sqrt{1+x^2}= 1+\frac{x^2}{2}+ \frac{1/2(1/2-1)x^4}{2}+\frac{1/2(1/2-1)(1/2-2)x^6}{3!}+...+\frac{1/2(1/2-1)...(1/2-n+1)x^{2n}}{n!}+...\end{align}
What is the nice way to compactify the series using the $\sum$ notation? I need that because I will have to check the convergence of the series at $x=-1$ and $x=1$ (at which the series seems to converge).

From my lecture notes I can see that $(1+x)^m=\sum^{\infty}_{n=0} C^{n}_{m}x^n,|x|<1$, but because we've never used the combination notion, I'm confused as to what the correct way to implement it is.

It appears that I can multiply the numerator and the denominator of my fraction $\frac{1/2(1/2-1)...(1/2-n+1)x^{2n}}{n!}$ by $(1/2-n)!$ to turn it into $\frac {1/2!}{n!(1/2-n)!}$, which seems to be the normal expansion for the notion $C^n_m, m=1/2$.

However, would it be right of me to use the factorial of a fraction here or am I mixing some incompatible notations? Is there something I'm doing completely wrong? I would be grateful for a clarification.

A: You may get rid of the fractions by pulling out $2$'s from the coefficient of the general term: $$ \frac{1/2(1/2-1)...(1/2-n+1)}{n!} =\frac{ (-1)^{n-1}}{2^n n!} (1\times3\times 5\dots (2n-3) )\\ = \frac{(-1)^{n-1}}{2^n n!} \cdot \frac{(2n-2)!}{2\times 4\times \dots \times (2n-2)} \\ =\frac{(-1)^{n-1}(2n-2)!}{2^{2n-1} n!(n-1)!}\\ = \frac{(-1)^{n-1}}{(2n-1)2^{2n-1}} \binom{2n-1}{n}$$

A: A convenient generalisation of the binomial coefficient is given for real (or even complex) values $\alpha$ by
\begin{align*}
\binom{\alpha}{n}:=
\begin{cases}
\frac{\alpha(\alpha-1)\cdots(\alpha-n+1)}{n!}&n\geq 0\tag{1}\\
0&n<0
\end{cases}
\end{align*}
Using (1) we can write
\begin{align*}
\sqrt{1+x^2}&= 1+\frac{x^2}{2}+ \frac{1/2(1/2-1)x^4}{2}+\frac{1/2(1/2-1)(1/2-2)x^6}{3!}\\
&\qquad +\cdots+\frac{1/2(1/2-1)\cdots(1/2-n+1)x^{2n}}{n!}+\cdots\\
&= 1+\frac{x^2}{2}+ \frac{1/2(1/2-1)x^4}{2}+\frac{1/2(1/2-1)(1/2-2)x^6}{3!}\\
&\qquad +\cdots+\color{blue}{\binom{\frac{1}{2}}{n}}x^{2n}+\cdots\\
&=\sum_{n=0}^\infty\binom{\frac{1}{2}}{n}x^{2n}
\end{align*}
The formula (1) can be found for instance as formula (5.1) in Concrete Mathematics by R. L. Graham, D. Knuth and O. Patashnik.


"Lu Zhuo, now you're laughing too soon. And last a Cultivation Inheritance Tablet, don't. Huang Xiaolong really study and understand over 100 hundred!" Ren Changhai both eyes, glow storm shooting.
Lu Zhuo smell word, not brow a wrinkle, confidence vacillates up.
Indeed, over the last ten million years, one 100 days study and understand end 100 hundred Cultivation Inheritance Tablet, Huang Xiaolong can do this?
Look at number one room, Lu Zhuo is nervous.
Three is closely watching the Number 1 room.
And then, 2 rooms rays of light mobility.
Zhao Wuya finally study and understand had 60 seats Cultivation Inheritance Tablet, start study and understand Sixty-oneth place.
over the last ten million years, 100 days, can study and understand end 60 seats Cultivation Inheritance Tablet, are very rare.
But now, Ren Changhai, Zhu Huan two people is all out of laughs.
In three people intense scrutiny in, two days passed, but 1 room still do not have sound.
Lu Zhuo seeing this, more anxious.
Ren Changhai, Zhu Huan two people hearts ongoing meditates. Don't, don't, don't!
However, it is two people's continued silence, when all of a sudden, Number 1 room within again, rays of light flows up, and rays of light growing, than past are big without several fold.
Ren Changhai, Zhu Huan two people first look a shock, then whole face bitter, remorse, no letter, both eyes red, bloodthirsty chip.
"Why?" Ren Changhai suddenly roar up.
Ren Changhai, Zhu Huan two people vitalitys, opened mouth "Wow "bang, turned out to be blood.
Think anyone, lost Yuan Elephant Sect and Great Whale Sect half Treasury, she's gonna bleed out.
Ren Changhai, Zhu Huan two people another burst of vitality turn down.
And now, the Number 1 room within, Huang Xiaolong sitting in its one hundred Cultivation Inheritance Tablet before, all rays of light surges, room, within all Cultivation Inheritance Tablet all rays of light flow.
These rays of light, bring together into a golden Stone Stele, and, instead, being infused into a Huang Xiaolong forehead.
When golden Stone Stele set Huang Xiaolong forehead that one moment, Huang Xiaolong covered in gold storm shooting band.
one Round golden energy freak storm Huang Xiaolong inside.
Huang Xiaolong Three Great Supreme Godhead catalytic.
For the day after, golden rays of light is slowly disappearing, all return to normal.
Huang Xiaolong open both eyes, deep whoop breath.
"Subduing Demon Divine Stele!", both eyes difficult to hide hearts hi-hearted.
Now, set him forehead, is Subduing Demon Divine Stele, a low-grade Chaos Spirit Treasure!
Chaos Spirit Treasure ... is three cases Old Ancestor use Divine Item, is just ordinary Ancient God Divine Item.
One meeting, the Huang Xiaolong hushed heart of emotion, and then stand up, towards end big metal door, now have one day time, no big metal door behind, it is anything.
Huang Xiaolong came to a big gate before, look up a big gate middle's a square shape, heart consistently moves, stimulating the Subduing Demon Divine Stele.
Subduing Demon Divine Stele from Huang Xiaolong forehead out, being infused into a big metal door's the square shape in, not big enough, right there.
Finally, a big gate. rays of light vibrates, slowly beat it.
Huang Xiaolong back Subduing Demon Divine Stele, then walk a big metal door, came to a hall.
To lobby the Huang Xiaolong to scan, found the other nine rooms, equal access to the hall, and hall center, is it a jade box. In addition, again without that thing.
Huang Xiaolong both eyes doubts, came to the jade box before.
jade box of marginal, only has half meter long, slap wide, jade box surface, circulated a touch of green glow, tentacle Ancestral Founder cold, the entire jade box materials, with Divine World high-grade emperor greenstone casting.
This king emerald, put stuff, but 10 billion in not rotten.
Extremely rare a Divine Jade.
Huang Xiaolong will jade box it up, Three Great Supreme Godhead stimulation of movement, pretty soon, it will be jade box above restriction broken.
Just, when Huang Xiaolong open jade box, not stay. Stay, saw jade box in, only has one is equally the emerald casting Space Ring, in addition to the Space Ring, but also a slap size jade token.
Huang Xiaolong will jade token pick up, look, saw jade token positive is a Human Race powerhouse treadons Devil's image, and jade token negative, while with the Ancient God in writing.
Huang Xiaolong will Subduing Demon Divine Sect jade token close up, then took that. jade ring, be restriction open, not surprised, saw that. jade ring, within just piled up many Forty million years Spirit Medicine, there are more than 50!
In addition, have three articles Spiritual Vein! These three articles Spiritual Vein, Grade Four Low Rank.
Grade Four Low Rank's Spiritual Vein!
Huang Xiaolong both eyes the stares, breath, not some obsessive.
He is Heavenly God Rank Four Middle Stage Peak, but with these three articles Grade Four Spiritual Vein, and that more than 50 Forty million years Spirit Medicine, that he would soon be breached the Heavenly God Rank Five! might even be Heavenly God Rank Five Middle Stage!
For a long time, Huang Xiaolong is hushed heart of emotion, and then look up a ring, a platform, a one ancient book.
This ancient book, as laid out in the ring, the most visible position, then on this book is very important.
Huang Xiaolong which can film it, and beat it.
Half a day passed, and Huang Xiaolong will ancient book rough go through it again.
This ancient book, three cases of Ancestral Founder left.
So, Barbarian God Sect, Yuan Elephant Sect, Great Whale Sect three cases Ancestral Founder in Ten Million many years ago, is Primordial Continent's Subduing Demon Divine Sect sect Core Disciple.
10 million years ago, Subduing Demon Divine Sect from foe siege, destruction, only has three escaped, three people from the road on the run, came into the Grey Cloud Island, anonymous, a three cases.
By ancient book said, if three cases of future generations disciple, can anybody in 100 days study and understand end one hundred Cultivation Inheritance Tablet, a trillion in talent, available Subduing Demon Divine Sect town were Divine Item, namely Subduing Demon Divine Stele.
Three Ancestral Founder also hope that disciple get Subduing Demon Divine Stele, after the will of three cases, and then to Primordial Continent. When siege Subduing Demon Divine Sect the foe, for Subduing Demon Divine Sect revenge, completed three people last wishes.
Huang Xiaolong not wry, wasn't expecting a sticky business.


There has been a lot of attention on the internet of things (IoT) over the past two years. Before coming to work at Wind River I had never heard the term before. I've heard it plenty within Wind River because in many ways it's the evolution of the embedded business we've been in for the last 30 years. However, those who are not in the embedded space generally don't know anything about it. When I started hearing IoT referred to on NPR, I knew it was no longer just the "new embedded." Rather, it is becoming a significant technology trend which will have profound effects on our day to day lives. If people didn't know embedded, they will definitely know the IoT. And after reading this you will know more about the industrial IoT.
This is all interesting but the jury is out as to what sort of impact these consumer applications will have on us over the long-term. These use cases also represent what are now fairly niche markets.
We need to think bigger, and probably think about things that maybe aren't as flashy as some of the consumer IoT use cases. This is where Industrial IoT comes in to play.
To help understand the impacts of the internet of things on the industrial market, we've assembled a team of industry experts to discuss what the future of our industrial world will look like. These are visionaries in the field who are not only paying attention to these trends, they are actually implementing them.
We spoke with representatives from: ABB, ARC Advisory Group, GE, Intel, Korn Ferry, Schneider Electric, and Wind River. We took these conversations and put them into a 3 part documentary short film series. This is not a discussion of products, this is a discussion of ideas, trends, and solutions from the top leaders in the business.
In this series these experts will discuss the current state of the industrial market, some of the challenges and opportunities associated with staying the course with traditional equipment and processes vs. adopting new technologies and evolving, and will also take a look into the future of industrial automation to give a glimpse of what lies ahead.
I find these films to be really inspiring because critical infrastructure doesn't get enough attention. It's so important to how we live but we often take the building blocks of our modern life for granted. The must work, so most just assume they do. But what if they could work better and do more for us?
The films cover a variety of industries such as industrial automation, power manufacturing, transportation, and medical. The experts discuss how existing industrial infrastructure has not changed in 30+ years. While on one hand this is a testament to the quality of those machines, the fact is they are growing obsolete and expensive to maintain and replace. The series also discusses the value of connecting the unconnected. These connections can help bring about the ability to better optimize systems and perform predictive maintenance instead of waiting for something to fail.
If you want to better understand the way of the internet of things, these films are a must watch. You will learn how the future is being shaped today, and it's pretty exciting.


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This is to call for young scholar applications (international) for CPR south 2017.
The deadline for young scholar applications is 30th April 2017.
CPRsouth 2017 will be held at the Inya Lake Hotel, Yangon, Myanmar. Twenty Young Scholars from the Asia-Pacific and Africa will be selected to participate in a tutorial program which will emphasize interactive and practical aspects of taking research to policy, and they will attend the conference thereafter.
Tutorials are scheduled for the 28th, 29th and 30th of August 2017, prior to the CPRsouth conference.
Those who have attended CPRsouth young scholar programs in the past are not eligible. Preference will be given to those under 35. Selection will take into account gender and geographical representation.
Introduction to big data and open data.
One-page write-up outlining why you wish to become an Asia-Pacific or African or based expert capable of contributing to ICT related policy and regulatory reform in the region (if you have any evidence of policy engagement, please include).
Applicants' write-ups and CVs should be in a single word document, and named: CPRsouth2017_YoungScholar_ApplicantLastName.
Visas Letters of invitation will be provided for purposes of visa applications after participant selections have been made. Participants are responsible for securing their own visas to enter Myanmar, and are strongly advised to initiate visa approval procedures immediately on receipt of confirmation of their participation.
Twin sharing accommodation on bed and breakfast basis and all meals for the duration of the conference and tutorials (28-31 August and 1st September 2017).
The registration fee for young scholars to attend the conference and tutorials is USD150, and airfares will be reimbursed less this registration fee.
As the registration fee is low it should be met personally even if there is no institutional support for attending the course and conference. Please note that the organizers may consider a waiver of the conference registration fee only under special circumstances. Such waivers will be considered on a case-by-case basis and only where a scholar would otherwise be prevented from attending the YS program and conference.


Na Piarsaigh are a Hurling and Gaelic football club based in the north side of Cork City, Ireland.
In 1943 a group of idealistic young men drawn mostly from the famed hurling nursery of North Mon. laid the foundations of Cumann Iomana & Peile Na Piarsaigh.
These young schoolboys, influenced by their education at North Mon., had a great love for Irish national culture and games. They felt that existing clubs, and indeed the GAA itself, were not aspiring to the founding ideals of the Association. They set about seeking change and an informal meeting was held under a lamppost outside No. 3 (St. Ita's), Redemption Road. Amongst the attendance were Derry Terry, Christy Twomey, Liam Connery, Pat Leary, Rev. McCabe, Romey Sullivan, Bertie Dorgan, Theo Dorgan, Seán McAuliffe (MacAmhlaoibh), Paddy Sutton, Jimmy Keating, Paudie Collins, Joe Murphy, Bernie Murphy, and Seán Corkery.
In an effort to become properly organised the first formal meeting was held in the presbytery of the North Cathedral. Meanwhile, the youthful members in an effort to achieve higher status and greater influence called upon one of their teachers, Donnacha Ó Murchú, for guidance and assistance. This led to him becoming the first Uachtarán [president] of the club, with Derry Terry serving as Runaí [secretary] and Paddy Sutton as Cisteoir [treasurer].
In choosing a name for the club the members sought one which would reflect their aims and ideals. Padraig Pearse, it was felt, because of his underlying love of Ireland and all things Irish, reflected those ideals admirably. Thus the name "Na Piarsaigh" ["The Pearses"] was adopted.
A set of playing-gear colours (black and amber) was acquired. Later in 1951 the symbolic red hand of Ulster with severed thumb was selected as the club crest after careful consideration. The red hand represents the island that is Ireland, the severed thumb the six north-eastern counties still under foreign rule. The legend is that when Ireland is reunited the thumb will again rejoin the fingers to create a strong and useful hand.
The newly formed club, as part of its policy, decided to conduct its affairs as far as possible through the medium of Irish. Indeed, the policy extended to the field of play where the players addressed one another in the native tongue. So novel was this approach to GAA affairs that it led to a certain amount of resentment amongst other clubs. The national outlook was then in such a state during what is termed the "Emergency" [the Second World War] that any willingness to promote Irish language culture generally met with strong opposition. The opposition to club activities by the local clergy, in fact, caused Na Piarsaigh to lose the use of St. Mary's Hall.
As the club grew and expanded in the late 1940s, the need for a playing field was keenly felt and expressed by the then Secretary Donncha O Griofa in his annual report of 1951 when he wrote: "The lack of a playing field of our own is greatly impeding the advancement of our teams. As members are unable to get sufficient training for matches, they ultimately wander to other codes".
This appeal by the Secretary was to bear fruit six years later when after hard years of fund-raising the club purchased a field at The Commons, Fair Hill. In this eventful year of 1951 the need for a properly organised minor section was strongly mooted. Again, Donncha O Griofa, in his address, referred to this when he wrote: "Films and books cannot teach the game. Give young boys hurleys and footballs and they will do the rest. Encourage them to think they are the coming champions. The success of our club must ultimately rest in the generation to follow".
In 1946 the Club won its first title at Junior level, annexing the City title. However this group of dedicated workers and followers had to wait until 1953 to achieve their finest hour, when the County Junior Hurling title was added.
Three Minor Hurling County titles were added in 1961, 62 and 63, in what should have laid the foundations for success at Senior level. However disappointment was to follow with heartbreaking defeats in the mid-1960s.
In football success at Junior level came with victory in the County final in 1964, followed quickly by County success at Intermediate level the following year. Thus the Club had gone from Junior level to Senior in the shortest possible period.
However it was to be the 1970s in which much of the groundwork for today's success at Senior level was laid with a succession of brilliant hurling teams at under age level.
Tony O'Sullivan is among an elite group of Cork players who hold five All Star Awards. Tony, along with his former Cork team mates John Fenton and Jimmy Barry-Murphy hold the distinction of heading the roll of honour as the most decorated Cork All Stars.
^ "Battling Piarsaigh bounce back". Irish Examiner. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
^ "Valiant Valleys stick to their guns". Irish Examiner. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
This page was last edited on 11 April 2019, at 19:59 (UTC).


As a fully qualified and experienced professional wedding planner (and having been remarried myself just a few years ago) I know only too well what it's like as your wedding day draws closer and you suddenly realise that you're just not on top of things the way you'd hoped and start to feel a rising sense of panic.
This is where I can step in and help you with all your final details.
Planning a wedding requires a considerable amount of time with so many essential details to organise and it can feel very stressful trying to keep on track of all your plans. This is especially true while also holding down a busy full time job, running a home, trying to fit in seeing your friends and family, arranging your travel and coordinating all your different wedding suppliers, agreeing meetings, timings, directions and all the seemingly endless decisions. This can take the joy out of your wedding plans. I will be your one point of contact and you can leave everything else to me to manage.
I can smoothly take over all the final details of your wedding day plans leaving you to relax and fully enjoy the benefit of all the hard work you have put in so far. As a fully qualified and experienced professional wedding planner I know how to ask you all the right questions, to listen effectively and then to efficiently interpret your wishes and convey these to your various suppliers and wedding venue.
Don't worry if you feel you are in a complete muddle. My job is to help you to get the style of wedding you want and to ensure everything is set up in line with your wishes and plans.
I also have a professional Award of Merit in wedding styling which means I can offer you my professional advice on how to make the most of your venue with inexpensive decor and finishing touches. Or I can check that what you have planned is really going to work.
I am here to listen then calmly guide you through all the essential details, to cut through all the hype, to be your one point of contact and wedding best friend!
I will contact all your suppliers and liaise with them about all the essential details to ensure everything runs smoothly from here on.
I promise I will keep in close contact with you to keep you up to date and to reassure you that everything is on track.
Please don't sit there worrying. Get in touch today to see how I can take the pressure off and help you float calmly towards your perfect wedding day.


The Board of Directors of the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) is very pleased to announce the appointment of Helen Mealins as the new Head of Programme of the DGF Programme Management Unit (PMU).
Helen brings to the DGF more than twenty years of experience, firmly grounded in supporting social policy and economic sector reforms in developed and developing countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. An accomplished bilateral aid programme director, she has planned and strategically managed the successful implementation of regional and country development assistance programmes on behalf of development agencies, including the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the European Commission (EC), International Monetary Fund (IMF), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank.
Helen is an accountant and Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). She additionally holds qualifications in: Public Finance and Leadership (PDPFL); Development Finance (MSc); Business Administration (MBA); and Agriculture (BSc).
Her technical expertise includes public sector public sector and civil service reform, public financial management, organizational development and African regional economic Intergration. She has a strong track record in working across boundaries and at the highest political levels to support partner governments, voluntary sector and private sector organizations to collectively meet their poverty reduction goals and institutional development objectives.


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Judge Judy Sheindlin has presided over daytime television for almost two decades. This fall, the caustic, TV legal maven is expanding her syndicated territory even further with Hot Bench, a new court show featuring three judges.
Starring Judge Patricia DiMango and attorneys Tanya Acker and Larry Bakman, Hot Bench was inspired by Sheindlin observing the legal system in Ireland during a vacation. "When my husband Jerry and I were in Ireland recently, we visited the courts and watched a three judge bench, which I found both fascinating and compelling," said Sheindlin. "I immediately thought what a terrific and unique idea for a television program that brings the court genre to the next level. We have assembled three individuals with extremely varied backgrounds to serve as the judges. They are smart and talented, with terrific instincts and great chemistry, and are sure to create a 'hot bench.' "
Hot Bench premieres Sept. 15 in syndication. Watch a sneak peek below!


text:
Welcome to Frontstretch
Fantasy Forecast
2019 Team Chart
NASCAR Race Weekend Central
Cup Series News
Parker Kligerman Not Returning to Gaunt Brothers Racing in 2020
NASCAR Bringing Lower-Downforce Package to Cup Short Tracks, Road Courses
David Ragan Entering Daytona 500 for Rick Ware Racing
Ross Chastain Running Daytona 500 in Chip Ganassi/Spire Partnership, AdventHealth Returning to CGR
Eyes on Xfinity
Xfinity Breakdown
Ronnie Bassett Jr., Dillon Bassett Returning to DGM Racing for 20 Races
Joe Graf Jr. Lands Full-Time Xfinity Ride at SS Green Light Racing for 2020
Josh Williams Returning to DGM Racing in 2020
Brandon Brown Switching to No. 68, Brandonbilt Motorsports Hoping for 2 Full-Time Cars in 2020
Truckin' Thursdays
Tracking the Trucks
Natalie Decker to Drive Part-Time Schedule for Niece Motorsports
Derek Kraus, Bill McAnally Racing to Field Full-Time Truck Series Team in 2020
Front Row Motorsports Adding Truck Team, Todd Gilliland to Drive
NASCAR Reveals Rule Changes for Xfinity, Truck Series Pit Stops
Alex Palou Jumping to IndyCar, Dale Coyne Racing in 2020
James Davison Joins the Field for the 2020 Indy 500
2019 NASCAR Top Storylines: Penske's IndyCar & Indianapolis Purchase
Conor Daly Joining Ed Carpenter Racing on IndyCar Road, Street Courses
Sebastien Bourdais Out at Dale Coyne Racing, Joins JDC-Miller Motorsports in 2020
Rinus VeeKay Joins Ed Carpenter Racing for Full 2020 Season
Meyer Shank Racing, Jack Harvey Going Full-Time in 2020 with Andretti Technologies
Michelin Pilot Challenge
Michelin Pilot Challenge News
Blancpain GT World Challenge America
Blancpain GT World Challenge America News
TUSC
WSC News
Olivier Pla Sets All-Time Fastest ROAR Lap in Qualifying Session
Spencer Pumpelly Fastest Overall in Pilot Challenge ROAR Testing
Oliver Jarvis Continues Mazda's Daytona Speed Stranglehold
Spencer Pumpelly Fastest During Michelin Pilot Challenge ROAR Day No. 2 Action
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Home / Cup Series / 2008 Driver Review: David Ragan
*2008 Ride:* No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford *2008 Sponsor:* AAA *2008 Owners:* Geoff Smith / Jack Roush / John Henry *2008 Crew Chief:* Jimmy Fennig *Stats:* 36 Races, 0 Wins, 6 Top 5s, 14 Top 10s, 0 Poles, 13th in points. *Best Finish:* 3rd - twice (Michigan - June, Talladega - October). *High Point:* Restrictor plate races have been a consistent strength for Ragan in his career, and a third place finish in the Talladega Chase race solidified that notion.
2008 Driver Review: David Ragan
Frontstretch Staff January 6, 2009 Cup Series Comments Off on 2008 Driver Review: David Ragan
2008 Ride: No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford
2008 Sponsor: AAA
2008 Owners: Geoff Smith/Jack Roush/ John Henry
2008 Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Stats: 36 races, 0 wins, 6 top fives, 14 top 10s, 0 poles, 13th in points.
Best Finish: Third – twice (Michigan – June, Talladega – October).
High Point: Restrictor plate races have been a consistent strength for David Ragan in his career, and a third place finish in the Talladega Chase race solidified that notion. Ragan ran with the leaders for most of the day, and was bumped up to a third place finish after NASCAR ruled that rookie Regan Smith dipped below the yellow line. Backing up a fifth place at Daytona three months earlier, Ragan proved once again that he can run well in a plate race, and has gained the trust of savvy plate veterans like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the draft.
The high point of Ragan's season was not just the Talladega race alone, however — it was also the stretch of races it fell into. Beginning with the third Chase race in Kansas, Ragan reeled off a string of seven consecutive top 15s, with five of those finishes 10th or better. If Ragan had made the Chase, he would have been in contention for the Sprint Cup title; instead, he used the majority of the playoffs to clinch 13th in the driver's standings with ease.
Low Point: Making the Chase is what every Sprint Cup driver sets as his goal when the season begins. But after a disappointing rookie year, Ragan and the No. 6 team likely had a more realistic goal on their minds — scoring more than just three top 10s and improving slightly upon their 24.5 average finish from 2007, both statistics that left them well outside playoff contention. Instead, Roush Fenway's original team managed to exceed the expectations of many, fighting for a Chase spot until the deciding race at Richmond in September.
Early in that event, Ragan's playoff hopes were almost snuffed out, as he lost control during a restart and collected teammate Matt Kenseth in the wreck — causing both drivers to sustain major damage to their cars. The sophomore's chances then appeared to be ruined; but Ragan managed to battle back and stay in contention through the midpoint of the race. In fact, he was in a direct battle with Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne to land the coveted 12th spot in the points for much of the event. As the race wound down, though, the damage from that crash caused Ragan to slip back, while Bowyer maintained a running position just high enough to stay 12th in the points. By the finish, Ragan had faded to 32nd, and wound up out of the Chase and stuck at 13th in the points. He followed that disappointment with a 28th place run in the next race at New Hampshire, then scored an 18th at Dover in Chase race two, wrapping up one of the team's worst three-race stretches of 2008.
Summary: Ragan's second year on the Sprint Cup tour began like most of his rookie year races ended… a big wreck. During the season-opening Daytona 500, Ragan lost control of his No. 6 Ford, swept up teammate Kenseth, and sent both careening into the wall. Ragan ended up 42nd, and then had to endure post-race criticism from Kenseth himself that lasted long after the checkered flag.
However, as the year progressed, many started to notice Ragan's team turn it around. He finished 14th at Fontana and seventh the next week in Las Vegas. As the year wore on, solid finishes in the top 15 became the norm, including an 11th at Martinsville and a 13th at Texas that allowed the team to gain a bit of momentum. A bad Phoenix run in April was followed by Ragan's first top five of the season, a fourth at Talladega that set the team up for a consistent spring and summer of strong performances.
As the season wore on, many mid-level teams sunk into the late teens and early 20s in the points. But Ragan was the exception, nearly pulling off a huge upset and scoring a playoff spot from one of the Chase veterans down the stretch. Even after barely missing out on the top 12, he and his team got it together and easily finished a "best of the rest" 13th in the points.
If there is a type of track that is Ragan's Achilles heel, it may be the road courses. Ragan's finish of 24th at Infineon was considered a top 10 for the driver and the team, while his 30th place run in Watkins Glen was one of the nails in the coffin for the No. 6's Chase hopes. If Ragan wants to contend in 2009, he needs to improve upon those finishes at those two tracks.
Despite any weaknesses, though, Ragan's maturation as a driver was one of the better stories of 2008 and has done wonders for his career. Not only did Ragan gain the respect and admiration of other drivers, fans, and the media alike, but it helped him gain sponsorship for next season in a sagging economy. He improved his points position from 23rd to 13th in 2008, scored 11 more top 10s and four more top fives than he did in his rookie season, and improved his average finishing position by almost 10 spots over his 2007 average. Ragan has come a long way from being a "dart without feathers," as Tony Stewart called him after his second career race in 2006.
Team Ranking: Fourth among Roush Fenway's five-driver fleet. That just shows how good Roush's team is — RFR had three drivers ahead of Ragan make the Chase in Kenseth, Greg Biffle, and Carl Edwards.
Off-Track News: When AAA announced it was leaving Ragan's team early in 2008, some thought that if another sponsor did not sign, his team would be the one to disappear from the Roush stable, since Roush Fenway has to downsize from five teams to four after 2009. Instead, the team stepped up its performance enough to score an A-grade sponsorship from UPS, who decided to leave Michael Waltrip Racing after two disappointing years.
This not only guarantees funding for the team, but also means increased exposure for Ragan, as UPS spends lots of money activating its NASCAR sponsorship. Remember the "Drive the Truck, Dale" commercials? Ragan had been fairly obscure amongst the Cup ranks this season until his team crept into Chase contention. Not anymore… expect to see more Ragan commercials with not just UPS, but also with Coca-Cola as he joins the Coke Family of Drivers this season.
2009 Outlook: Expect big things from the No. 6 team next season now that Georgia driver Ragan and Georgia company UPS have come together. Not only will he have a world class sponsor on the hood of his car, but the car itself is world class equipment. With an additional year of experience under his belt, Ragan also knows better than ever how to take good equipment and score good finishes without wrecking.
As limitless as this youngster's future may be, though, fans should not expect him to run off with his first Sprint Cup title in 2009. Improving one's point position from 23rd to 13th is much easier than gaining another 10 positions to third. The competition at the top of the points chart is like no other in sports these days. Case in point: even drivers Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, and Kenseth went winless in '08, never seriously threatening for the title despite making the Chase. Ragan may be able to break that playoff threshold in '09 — but getting near the top five in points is highly unlikely. How can they keep moving up? The No. 6 bunch should concentrate on turning 13th place finishes into eighth places, while working on trying to score more bonus points by leading laps at tracks besides Daytona and Talladega.
Quote of the Year: "Driving for Roush Fenway Racing is already a big dream come true; but on top of that, to now represent a leading international corporation such as UPS on the race track is really special. UPS is a company that is so incredibly popular and respected not just here, but all over the world. Everywhere you go, people love UPS, and it will be fantastic to wear that famous shield logo." – Ragan on sponsor UPS joining his team in 2009.
2006 Frontstretch Grade: N/A.
2007 Grade: D+.
2008 Grade: B+.
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Previous 2008 Driver Review: Kyle Petty
Next Mirror Driving: Sadler's Last Stand, Diversity's Shocking Surprise, And NASCAR Free Agents Losing Hope
2019 NASCAR Driver Reviews: Bubba Wallace
2019 NASCAR Driver Reviews: Matt Tifft
2019 NASCAR Driver Reviews: Rick Ware Racing
2019 NASCAR Driver Reviews: Martin Truex Jr.
In regards to the last few seasons, the best driver paired with the best crew …
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Macallan distillery review whisky and spectacle galore
Kareem Maize
Macallans new 140m distillery and visitor centre, by Richard Rogers and co, is a suitably subtle blend of hi-tech and theatre designed to put the beautiful business of whisky production centre stage
In 2014, Sothebys Hong Kong sold a bottle of whisky for US $628,000. It was, to be sure, big six litres and it came garnished with PR gush about the rich natural colour, complexity and sumptuous intensity of the rare Macallan malt it contained. It was meticulously crafted by 17 craftsmen of the French luxury glass company Lalique. Personally Id pay not to own this meretricious object, arbitrarily faceted like a Thames-side skyscraper, but the net proceeds of the auction went to charity, so it was all in a good cause.
Such is the power of a global luxury drinks brand, which was also manifested earlier this month when hundreds of cars descended on Macallans Speyside home in quest of the limited release of a 495 bottle of whisky. Some of them parked overnight. Police had to take control of what was reported to be chaos. Roads were closed. The internet flickered with grumbles from frustrated scotch lovers.
This power finds expression in architecture. From time to time, wineries and distilleries decide to invest their surplus value in buildings by famous architects and designers Santiago Calatrava and Frank Gehry in Rioja, Norman Foster for Chateau Margaux, Thomas Heatherwick for Bombay Sapphire gin. Macallan have now brought this concept to Scotland, with a new 140m distillery and visitor centre alongside their existing facility on a 158-hectare site that slopes down to the River Spey. It is designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners, the practice founded by Richard Rogers.
The main show inside the Macallan distillery. Photograph: Simon Price/PA
With projects like this, the task is to reconcile the global with the local, a worldwide brand with an area whose precise conditions of water or soil are the basis of its fame. There is a question of scale, as the new facilities tend to outrun the visions of whichever past century gave birth to a given house of booze. Their designs are also about combining industry and tourism, about making what is in fact a factory into a place of tours, tastings, dining experiences and, indeed, traffic snarl-ups caused by expensive bottles of whisky.
With Macallan, the architects response is to go at it in the only way they know, with the big spaces, transparency and displays of technology that have been in the practices DNA for decades. They have made, as is their wont, a temple of production, or a theatre of process, in which the stars are the miraculous paraphernalia that make whisky.
RSHPs big move, in the manner of their Millennium Dome or Heathrow Terminal 5, is to put everything both the equipment of production and the visitor centre under a big billowing roof, whose glass wall then opens the interior to the landscape. On its underside the roof displays its structure, an undulating, complex coffering of hi-tech timber. Big steel Vs stabilise the whole.
This cathedral-sized volume, 120 metres long, is half-buried in a slope, in order to reduce its impact on the soft scenery of hills and trees. Half a million tonnes of displaced soil were then relocated into a big berm, to screen some of the more bluntly functional parts of the Macallan complex. The roof, planted on top with grass and meadow flowers, becomes a row of artificial hillocks, albeit one whose triangular roof lights and long, aerial-like lightning conductors make it also resemble a base on Mars. The idea is not to make it disappear, and it doesnt, but to make this large intrusion sympathetic to its surroundings.
Macallans cave prive, where privately owned casks are kept. Photograph: Joas Souza, courtesy of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
All of this heavy lifting makes room for the main show, which is of the mash tuns, condensers and copper stills by which barley, yeast and water become alcoholic spirit. And pipes, lots and lots of pipes, the veins and arteries through which it courses, arranged and installed with breathtaking intricacy by the local firm of Forsyths. Pipes are another Rogers thing, going back to the displays of plumbing on the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyds building in London, but rarely can the practice have had so much licence to have so much fun with them.
A certain amount of work goes into this apparently simple concept. The processes of distillation, usually arranged in lines and compartmentalised, are here put in circles in a single space. As distilleries are prone to explosive fires, the seemingly modest decision to allow views from the visitor centre into the working area requires a high glass wall capable of withstanding fire for two hours. It is no small matter to build such a thing.
The effort is sometimes evident, making the building sometimes ungainly, sometimes endearingly so, as much as slick. It is singular a completely different beast from the workaday sheds in the rest of the Macallan complex. It is also different from Easter Elchies house, dated 1700, the place where the whole business started, now an icon that appears on the brands labels. The RSHP design defers to the house by angling its entrance approach towards it, but it intentionally sends out a completely different message.
For this building is about spectacle. Its about celebrating beautiful machinery, which is why the pipes are laid out with geometry and symmetry that verges on the hieratic. Technology, for this practice, cant just be there. It has to be seen to be there. Which puts the distillery in other unexpected company from the Rogers oeuvre, the 1980s Inmos microprocessor factory in Newport, Wales, where the aim was partly to announce the forward-looking nature of the region. There too the message was delivered with a flying roof and highly composed pipes.
The pipes are calling steam pipework and process machinery beneath a Macallan stillhouse. Photograph: Joas Souza, courtesy of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
The big-name wineries by big-name architects havent all come off, mostly because a place dedicated to place and smell tends to expose the limitations of architecture that depends too much on sight. There is so much refinement and nuance in the magic substance at the centre of it, such subtlety in the interactions between grape, soil, climate and, say, the wood of the casks, that the formal arrangement of building materials can seem clodhopping by comparison.
Despite appearances, architecture is not just a visual art. This is not to say that an architect can plan the scents of a building in the same way as she or he can its visible shape. There is rather, in the most successful buildings for food and drink, a synaesthetic crossover, an alchemy whereby one sense interacts with another. Temperature and timbre combine with light and shadow to enhance the sensation of whatever youre putting in your mouth.
RSHPs choice of materials the timber ceiling, a black concrete that is polished when used indoors helps to create an atmosphere that suits the use of the building, but the architects dont really push the distillerys sensory qualities. They are innately visual architects who put their energies into questions of look and looking. Some dimensions of the Macallan brief go underexplored as a result. On the other hand the building is, as a spectacle, splendid.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/aug/26/macallan-distillery-visitor-centre-speyside-richard-rogers-stirk-harbour-review
Hi my name is Kareem Maize and welcome to my personal blog. I am 26 year old musician and information technology professional with a passion for learning new aspects of life everyday. On my journey to express myself I began blogging to share my ideas with others. Now I intend to write fun, interesting, and engaging content for my viewers to help them grow spiritually, physically, and mentally . The concept of belief systems and the law of attraction peak my interest!!! I believe blogging about my personal experiences, beliefs, and ideas is the best way to achieve these goals!!!
http://www.maizelawofattraction.com/
Tags: Architecture , Art and design , Culture , Richard Rogers , Whisky
October 8, 2019 at 5:23 am - Reply
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kareem663
Hi my name is Kareem Maize and welcome to my personal blog. I am 26 year old musician and information technology professional with a passion for learning new aspects of life everyday. On my journey to express myself I began blogging to share my ideas with others. Now I intend to write fun, interesting, and engaging content for my viewers to help them grow spiritually, physically, and mentally . The concept of belief systems and the law of attraction peak my interest!!! I believe blogging about my personal experiences, beliefs, and ideas is the best way to achieve these goals!!! Kareem Maize
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