With all of this wine tasting all over the Willamette Valley that I did before, during, and after the Wine Bloggers Conference, I thought we should visit the different AVAs as well as the soil types. Since the combination of these two plus a little magic creates a terroir, it is important to note what variables can impact the wines that you love.
Now I am no geologist, or an enologist, but I do know something about soil and the mechanics of it. That said, this is just my opinion. You should go out and form your own but tasting wines from all over the Willamette! Using Pinot Noir as my baseline, since it seems to show the characteristics of the terroir the most clearly, here is a bit of dirt from the Willamette.
Coming from a state that has over 100 distinct AVAs, many of which are widely known for their Pinot Noirs (Santa Lucia Highlands, Russian River Valley, Carneros, Anderson Valley to name a few), I have acquired a particular taste for elegant, earthy, austere wines. The Willamette Valley while offering a wide variety ina small region, offers several different and distinct regions, all of which have an overwhelming style of wine that is produced in each.
Chehalem Mountains – the newest AVA, was established in 2006 and is the closest to the metro area of Portland. The mountains were formed when the seabeds were uplifted, filling with lava beds and overblown with silt. This gives the area quite a diverse soil base.
Dundee Hills – the most well known, with the largest amount of wineries. Established in 2004, it is the oldest AVA geologically, they were formed 15 million years ago when lava flows from eastern Washington flowed down the Willamette. Then, earthquakes and tectonic shifts created the Coast Range, and further shaking created the Dundee Hills. During the Missoula Floods, when the glaciers melted in weather patterns over thousands of years, layers of sediment were repeatedly poured over the area creating rich sedimentary layers. The deeper underlying Jory soils poke up through the hills above the flood plain.
Ribbon Ridge – is a short ridgeline that contains mostly ocean sediment, created from tectonic uplift. With finer and more uniform sedimentary soils, it is unique enough to warrant their own AVA, established in 2005, it is a smaller AVA contained within the Chehalem Mountains.
McMinnville – Also established in 2005, the McMinnville AVA rises from 200 to 1000 feet in elevation. When the Coast Range was created, fingers of lava flowed in to McMinnville, leaving basalt fingers, that are oddballs in the area of mostly marine sediment. McMinnville also benefits from the cool Van Duzer winds, which flow through from the coast, that cool down the vineyards and help dry the vines, preventing mildew during humid summer days.
Yamhill-Carlton – Established in 2004 addition, this AVA ranges from 200 to 1000 feet in elevation, and is in the rain shadow of the Coast Range. A horseshoe shape, the rural landscape hides most of the wine making activity here. Coarser grained marine sediment soils are some of the oldest in the region, and they provide excellent drainage, perfect for vines. The vines here tend to ripen earlier and more completely thanks in part to this excellent drainage.
Eola-Amity – the furthest south, Eola-Amity was created in 2006, and stretches from the hamlet of Amity in the north, to the city of Salem in the south. The Van Duzer winds are steady, which cools the summer temperatures. Eola-Amity sits on a basalt plateau, which is on top of the marine sediment layer. The plateau has been rippled and wrinkled thanks to tectonic activity, and the Eola-Amity hills are part of this wrinkle pattern.
Now that we have the lay of the land, we can start to look at what soil types are in each region. Soil types impact growth patterns and drainage, which in turn impact ripening patterns and base flavor profiles.
Jory is the primary soil type in the Dundee Hills. A volcanic soil that is mostly basalt, Jory is found in most vineyards in Dundee Hills. Filled with iron and clay, it is lush and full of nutrients. Jory is also a wet soil, and it will stick together if you compact it in your hand. Formed when massive lava flows covered most of Washington and Oregon with a layer of basalt, Jory grown Pinot Noirs tend to have a classic cherry and red fruit profile, with a strong minerality component. Jory is found in the Dundee Hills, and produces classic cherry, red fruit and spicy Pinot Noirs.
Willakenzie – a sedimentary soil, formed when western Oregon was once 8000 feet under the sea. When the Coast Range and the Cascade Mountains were formed by tectonic shifts, the seabed was exposed, leaving Willakenzie soils made of marine sediment. In some places, this exposed seabed is covered by a layer of volcanic soil. The dry and brittle soil forces vines to reach deep in to the crust, which creates dark wines with structured spice and cola flavors. More black than red fruit, Willakenzie is found in McMinnville, Ribbon Ridge, and Yamhill-Carolton.
Loess (Laurelwood) – is a silty loam soil, and is a very thin layer, unlike the Jory or Willakenzie which form a more substantial layer of soil. With Loess, there is always another soil type underneath the thin layer, as it is primarily windblown. A dusty sedimentary soil, it is fertile and drains well. Pinot Noirs from Loess tend to be bright red fruit, with an underlying earthy flavor, and a sprinkling of white pepper. Loess is particularly found in Chehalam Mountains.
Soil types, weather, style, and seasons all impact the terroir of a wine growing region. Many of these factors are said to be similar to Burgundy. I am not particularly well versed in the wines of France, so I can't say for sure, but I do know that there is something very special about Oregon, and Oregon Pinot Noir in particular.
While every winemaker has their hand in creating every wine, and a house style, the terroir of a vineyard creates the baseline for these wines. My personal taste has shown me that I am a big fan of the 2007 vintage, with 2010 comign hot on the hells. 2008 is turnign out to be a very interesting vinetage as well, alhtough I find it bigger and bolder than the 2007s or 2010s. 2009 on the other hand? The jury is still out. I also know that I love the bright fruit and tangy earth from the Dundee Hills and Ribbon Ridge, and that I'm not a fan of the wines from Eola-Amity, which are bigger, bolder, and dark.
There were a few wines I just plain didn't care for, but overwhelmingly, the wines from the Willamette Valley, Pinot Noirs, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and further south, Syrah, as well as renegade wines produced in the middle of Pinot heaven are showcases of the region. With the average winery in Willamette producing less than 1000 cases, it's rare to find a producer that has a homogeneous style that they try to repeat year over year. Even the larger producers, such as Willamette Valley Vineyards, strive for uniqueness and terroir driven wines. This makes it a very special place indeed.
I'm looking forward to tasting more and seeing what happens in Oregon in the coming years!
Thank you for this! Geeky but clear, thorough but concise.
Thanks! I was trying to get the important points without boring you guys 😉 Glad I achieved that!
Great blog post, Thea! This will be really helpful for people getting a sense of the area before or after a visit. I was amazed by the number of soil variations that you can see as you stop at wineries or just out the window while traveling.
Very true! It's amazing what happens in those hills, from block to block.


Tridel Recognized at BILD Awards with 9th Green Builder of the Year Award.
Tridel's success as a builder was celebrated on Friday, May 4, 2018, at the 38th annual BILD Awards, a gala event to honour the GTA's very best in new residential construction, design, marketing and sales. Tridel, the country's foremost condominium developer, was awarded the prestigious Pinnacle Award for Green Builder of the Year (Mid/High-Rise) for the third year in a row. After winning the inaugural award in 2007, Tridel has earned the Green Builder distinction 9 times in the last 12 years, more than any other builder in the GTA.
Since the early 2000's, Tridel has been an industry trailblazer in sustainable building practices and have worked closely with trades and partners to develop new technologies and innovations. In 2005, Tridel made a commitment to building to the LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards administered by the Canada Green Building Council and since 2010, Tridel communities have been built to comply with Toronto Green Standard Tier 2, a voluntary green building standard over and above the Tier 1 standard mandated by the City of Toronto.
In fact, a typical Tridel building consumes at least 30% less electricity, 45% less natural gas and 40% less potable water than a Model Reference Building. "At Tridel, we are dedicated to being an environmental leader in our industry, not just because it's a smart thing to do – for our homeowners and ourselves – but because it's the right the thing to do," says Adrian Wang, Innovation & Sustainability Director at Tridel. With over 18,000 green suites to date, we believe that creating homes that are more energy and resource efficient with environmentally responsible materials is not only financially beneficial for our homeowners, but are also healthier places to live.
For a complete list of this year's BILD winners, visit www.bildawards.ca/winners.


Hacking is not a click-of-a-button job but a compartmentalized and serialized profession which uses different programming languages. Programming languages are the fundamental hacking skill. Hackers use various programming languages for the hacking purpose. Programming languages are the essential tool for hacking. If you are an aspiring hacker, you need to learn all this computer languages in order to achieve your goal.
HTML is the easiest and widely used web programming language. It is a markup language used for describing web pages. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. Unless the website has been built using rudimentary HTML protection and passwords. Not to mention, login information is stored in encrypted formats which aren't accessible by looking at the website's HTML.
Structured Query Language (SQL) is a domain-specific database programming language used in storing, manipulating and retrieving data in a relational database management system [RDBMS] or simply database. SQL injection is a code injection technique that destroys the database.


"We are committed to conducting our business with trust and integrity.
Our wide knowledge of the ware and seed potato business is based on a long standing and active involvement with all aspects of the trade.
We seek to use that experience for the benefit of growers and customers."
Ware potatoes are procured from growers throughout the country. Samples are taken from field and store then checked for size, skin finish, dry matter and fry colour to ensure the best possible match of supplier and customer.
Seed potato production is placed with dedicated growers in Scotland, England and the Welsh borders. This is supported and supervised with agronomy provided by Scottish Agronomy Research Limited and enables us to offer top quality seed at competitive prices.
Our staff are experienced, committed, and straight talking. We recognise the importance of relationships with our trading partners and employ an open book policy to reflect this.


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Technology|New York Court Upholds Sales Tax for Online Retailers
New York Court Upholds Sales Tax for Online Retailers
By David Streitfeld
New York's highest court rejected arguments Thursday by two Internet retailers that they should be exempt from collecting state sales tax.
Amazon.com, the biggest online store, and its much smaller competitor Overstock.com had separately sued to challenge a 2008 state law that required online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases made by New York residents. That served effectively to raise prices on the sites by nearly 10 percent, reducing their competitive advantage against brick-and-mortar retailers.
In a statement, Amazon denounced the New York Court of Appeals ruling as conflicting with precedents by the United States Supreme Court and decisions by other state courts. Overstock said it was considering appealing to the federal Supreme Court.
Central to the dispute was the question of affiliates, which are independent sites that link to a retailer in return for a commission. Thousands of Amazon affiliates are based in New York.
"The bottom line is that if a vendor is paying New York residents to actively solicit business in this state, there is no reason why that vendor should not shoulder the appropriate tax burden," the appeals court wrote in its decision. The suits had been dismissed by lower courts.
The struggle over Internet taxes has intensified in the last few years. Brick-and-mortar retailers have been increasingly insistent that Amazon in particular was unfairly avoiding its responsibility to make sure its customers paid sales taxes. Other states began debating measures like New York's.
In response, Amazon struck deals in California, New Jersey and a few other states to build warehouses in exchange for finally agreeing to collect taxes. In states where it does not need warehouses, Amazon has generally refused to budge.
The retailer says it supports a national solution rather than a state-by-state effort. After many years of inactivity, progress is being made on that front, with a majority of United States senators indicating this month that they would support an Internet tax measure.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section B, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: New York Court Upholds Sales Tax for Online Retailers. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Бульбо́ни — карстово-спелеологічна пам'ятка природи місцевого значення в Україні. Розташована в межах Хотинської міської громади Дністровського району Чернівецької області, на схід від села Каплівка.

Площа 39,1 га. Статус присвоєно згідно з рішенням 11-ї сесії обласної ради ХХІІІ скликання від 16.06.2000 року № 82-11/2000. Перебуває у віданні Анадольської сільської ради.

Статус надано для збереження мальовничої долини Каплівського потоку з водоспадами і цінними карстово-спелеологічними утвореннями.

Джерела
 Перелік територій та об'єктів ПЗФ місцевого значення (Чернівецька обл.)
 Бульбони
 Карстово-спелеологічна пам'ятка природи місцевого значення «Бульбони»

Карстово-спелеологічні пам'ятки природи Чернівецької області
Природно-заповідний фонд Хотинського району
Природоохоронні об'єкти, засновані 2000
Засновані в Україні 2000
2000 у Чернівецькій області

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Lil Yachty Files Lawsuit Against NFT Platform Opulous For Trademark Infringement
Last week, rapper Lil Yachty has filed a lawsuit against Opulous claiming that the NFT platform infringed on his trademark. The artist asserts that the company "did not have authorization" to utilize his name and likeness to make a profit.
According to Billboard, Lil Yachty is filing a lawsuit against NFT seller Opulous for trademark infringement for purportedly using his name and likeness without his express permission to raise over $6.5 million in venture capital funds.
The rapper whose real name is Miles Parks McCollum, filed the lawsuit last Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court. He stated in the suite that Opulous launched an advertising blitz last summer for promotion of a "Lil Yachty NFT Collection." The company claimed that it would give consumers access to new music from him as they featured photographs of him and conducted press interviews about his involvement in the project.
In the legal papers, his attorneys state, "Defendants knew that they did not have authorization to utilize plaintiff's name, trademark or image… yet did so anyways because [it] was beneficial to Defendants' commercial enterprise, in blatant and conscious disregard for plaintiff's exclusive legal rights."
Lil Yachty says that Opulous pitched the project to his management team and that he joined a second call to do "a general introductory meeting," but that there was no agreement signed between the two parties.
The suit also named founder Lee James Parsons and his Ditto Music as defendants. In the lawsuit, the company is being sued for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and a violation of Lil Yachty's so-called right of publicity – the right to control how your name and likeness are commercially exploited.
The lawsuit also said that due to Lil Yachty's supposed involvement, Opulous and founder Parsons were able to parlay that into a purported $6.5 million in venture capital "to fund the next stage of its growth," as detailed in an article that appeared on Music Business Worldwide.
In late 2020, Lil Yachty entered the cryptocurrency market with Fyooz, a Switzerland start-up cryptocurrency company. They had announced that Lil Yachty will have his own "YachtyCoin" that his fans and anyone else can invest in.
Tags: Lil Yachty
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My very first interview was with Biggie Smalls aka The Notorious B.I.G. In that interview, I asked him where did he see himself in 10 years. His response? 'Dead' He said he didn't imagine himself living past 25. He was killed 2 months before his 25th birthday.
BIG CEDContent Editorial DirectorThe Industry CosignNYC
Big Ced is an enigma within the Hip Hop culture! As soon as you think you've got him figured out…you find out you don't! His truthful and blunt personality is not a persona…it's the real deal Holyfield! So, if you can't hang with honesty or if you don't understand why people jump up around him shouting "facts only!"…then you probably need to stay out of the way! Because Ced pulls no punches and takes zero prisoners. Which is why he is one of my favorite people in this community! He doesn't deal in phony…and I appreciate him for that! If he says it…then it is so…period!
Skyy HookOn Air PersonalitySirius XM/Shade45's The World Famous "Wake Up Show"New York, NY
Big Ced is an entrepreneurial and social media aristocrat. But most importantly, he is a huge supporter who is always there when you need him, a wonderful friend and all around good guy!
Tamekia M. Flowers-BallOwnerEpiphany|Blue®New York, NY
Who is Big Ced? Behind his big ole head with ego to match, is a kind hearted, funny, hardworking and loyal friend. 🙂
Raychelle LeBlancCoachSheNotes WellnessAtlanta, GA
Big Ced is an industry trailblazer, one of the first to capture the Who's Who of the entertainment industry before the dawn of social media.
Tomika AndersonContent Creator, Branding Strategist, Editor and ProducerWashington, D.C.
The Best GUY Ever.
Janice I.TorresOwnerTHE BRAND PHOENIX, INC.New York, NY
Big Ced is the real deal and one of the best kept secrets in NYC.
Charlotte BurleyProducer | Creative Ideation & Branding Libra Baby Burley Productions, LLC, The T.O.S. NetworkLos Angeles, CA
WHO IS BIG DEAD?? Oh CED Hhmmmm this would be a ROASTING opportunity for all of his peers & friends to let him have it! LOL Seriously, there isnt one word to describe The Man, The Myth, and Legend.. Hell, we are still only seeing the surface of Big Ced. Its has truly been an honor to be able to call this guy, a Friend, and family. Personally, His loyalty, and compassion sets him apart from many.. Professionally his knowledge, and un-bias views on Music, Entertainment and its lifestyles are to be commended and respected. We greatly appreciate all you do CED! Nothing but Universal & Hip Hop Love!!
Ty MeekSuntoucher Entertainment LLC New York, NY
The 5Ws: Fred Tessier
Nas- Ultra Black
Homeboy Sandman – The Only Constant
CeeLo Green- 'Baby Don't You Go-Go' (w/ Rare Essence)
Elaquent 'Copacabana'
'King of Stage' Bobby Brown Relishes Recent Emergence as he and Wife Alicia Strive Toward Entrepreneurial Success


The first thing to do is become informed about our status categories that make up the verification results. You can read more about DeBounce's verification statuses here.
#1: How were the emails collected?
If they are all opt-in emails from people who signed up for your communications then they are likely to be good addresses. If the list was purchased or inherited from another source then the performance of Accept All or Unknown emails is likely going to be weak and your sender reputation may suffer.
#2: How old is the contact?
Most Accept All addresses are business domains (Read more about accept-alls here). They are people's work email. If someone gave you their work email 4 years ago, they may no longer be employed there. The email won't be opened or read by anyone. Even worse, it could bounce if the email address no longer exists.
ALSO READ How install and use DeBounce email validation WP plugin?


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Search and find articles and topics quickly and accurately! See different advanced ways to search for articles on this site.
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Hazrat Aishah Siddiqah's Age at Her Marriage:
[Proves that: The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Married Hazrat Aishah When She was 19 Years of Age and not When She Was 9.]
by Ghulam Nabi Muslim Sahib, M.A.
Translated by: Masud Akhtar, B.A., LL.B.
The Light (Sep 24, 1981, pp. 13-17).
[Note: Many anti-Islamic sites accuse our Beloved Holy Prophet, Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, of , God Forbid, marrying a minor. We present here an article that will clear our Beloved Holy Prophet (pbuh) off this blasphemous charge. May Allah guide the opponents of Islam aright, Aameen!]
Most narrations carry misstatements about the age of Hazrat 'Aishah Siddiqah at the time of her marriage to the Holy Prophet, (peach and blessings of Allah be upon him). They place this marriage in the tenth year of the Call and state that Hazrat 'Aishah was only 6 years old at that time. On proper sifting of the material facts, these statements turn out to be incorrect and it becomes evident that she, in fact, was about 19 or 20 years of age when she arrived in the house of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as his wife in 2 A.H.
It will be in the fitness of things to quote from the writings of two well-known Muslim scholars of the present century who are the main exponents of the view that Hazrat 'Aishah Siddiqah was 6 years old at her Nikah and 9 years old at the time of the consummation of her marriage. Both Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadvi and Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maududi are well-known Muslim authors of Seerat (biography).
Nadvi's View:
Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadvi writes on page 21 of his book 'Seerat-i-Aishah':
"Books of history and biography are generally silent about the birth date of Hazrat 'Aishah. The historian Ibn Sa'd, whom many later biographers have followed, has written that Hazrat 'Aishah was born in the fourth year of the Call, and was married at the age of 6 years in the tenth year of the Call. Apparently this cannot be correct, because if her birth in the fourth year of the Call be admitted as correct then her age at the time of her marriage in the tenth year of the Call works out to 7 and not 6 years. The fact remains that some matters about the age of Hazrat 'Aishah are admitted to be correct by most historians and biographers, and these are: She was married three years before Hijrah at the age of six years; the marriage was consummated in the month of Shawal in the year 1 A.H. when she was 9 years old, and she became a widow in Rabi-al-Awwal 11 A.H., at the age of 18 years. According to this account, the correct date of her birth works out to the end of the fifth year of the Call or 614 A.D. of the Christian calendar. For a proper comprehension of the events of history, one should bear in mind that out of a total period of 23 years of the Call, the first 13 years were passed in Mecca and the last 10 years in Madina. Thus, the fourth year of the Call had already been out before her birth and the fifth year was running."
Maududi's View:
In the article, "The Nikah Date of Sayedah 'Aishah," published in the 'Tarjuman al-Quran' of September 1976, Maulana Abul Ala Maududi wrote:
"It is apparent from the detailed reports of Imam Ahmad Tibrani, Ibn Jareer and Baihaqi that the Nikah of Sayedah 'Aishah was solemnised before the Nikah of Sayedah Saudah. It is also evident that her Nikah with the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was solemnised in the month of Shawal of the tenth year of the Call, three years before Hijrah, when she was 6 years old. Here a question arises, that if Sayedah 'Aishah was 6 years of age in the Shawal of the tenth year of the Call, then she should have been 9 years of age at the time of Hijrah and should have been of 11 years in 2 A.H. at the time of consummation. But all narrators agree that her Nikah was solemnised when she was 6 years old and the marriage was consummated when she was 9 years old. Some Ulema have tried to meet this discrepancy by saying that the marriage was consummated seven months after Hijrah. Hafiz Ibn Hajar has preferred this view. On the other hand, Imam Nauvi in his 'Tahzeeb al-Asma'a al-Lughat', Hafiz Ibn Katheer in his 'Al-Badaya' and Allama Qustalani in his 'Mawahib al-Deeniah' report consummation in 2 A.H. Hafiz Badr-ud-Din Aini has written in his Umdat al-Qari that the marriage of 'Aishah Siddiqah was consummated in Shawal 2 A.H. after the return of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) from the battle of Badr. Both Imam Nauvi and Allama Aini consider the above-quoted reports of consummation of marriage seven months after Hijrah as irresponsible and untrustworthy. Thus we are faced with a question that if the marriage was consummated at the age of 9 years in Shawal 2 A.H., then what should be the date of Nikah which should tally with her age of 6 years? An answer to this question is found in Bukhari wherein it is reported from Urwah ibn Zubair, "Sayedah Khadijah died three years before Hijrah; the Holy Prophet solemnised Nikah with Sayedah 'Aishah two years after that. Then it was consummated at the age of 9 years." This works out to be correct that Nikah was solemnised one year before Hijrah when she was 6 years old and consummation took place in 2 A.H. when she was 9 years."
The above quotations amply bear out that both Syed Nadvi and Syed Maududi agree to the correctness of reports stating the age of Sayedah 'Aishah at 6 years at Nikah and 9 years at the consummation. Their only worry seems to be the calculation of the correct year of the Call and the Hijrah for fixing these ages in those calendar years. Both of them start with a preconception that the age of 6 years for Nikah and 9 years for consummation are correct and true, and set out in search of the correct year of the Call and Hijrah in which these preconceived ages will fit in. This hardly can be called a scientific method of finding her correct age. This rather may be called an effort to find a correct date for a given age.
The Other View:
As far as my information goes the first voice against the common misconception about the age of Sayedah 'Aishah at her marriage was raised by Maulana Muhammad Ali, M.A., LL.B., in 1924 in his 'Muhammad the Prophet', wherein he wrote:
"The popular misconception as to Aishah's age may be removed here. That she had not attained majority is clear enough, but that she was not so young as six years of age is also true. In the first place, it is clear that she had reached an age when betrothal could take place in the ordinary course and must therefore have been approaching the age of majority. Again, the Isabah, speaking of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah, says that she was about five years older than 'Aishah. It is a well-established fact that Fatimah was born when the Ka'bah was being rebuilt, i.e., five years before the Call or a little before it, and so 'Aishah was certainly not below ten years at the time of her marriage with the Holy Prophet (pbuh) in the tenth year of the Call. This conclusion is borne out by the testimony of 'Aishah herself who is reported to have related that when the chapter entitled 'The Moon' (the 54th chapter) was revealed she was a girl playing about and that she remembered certain verses then revealed. Now the fifty-fourth chapter could not have been revealed later than the fifth year of the Call, and therefore the report which states her to have been six years old in the tenth year of the Call when her marriage ceremony was gone through cannot be correct, because this would show her to have born about the time of the revelation of the 54th chapter. All these considerations show her to have been not less than ten years old at the time of her marriage. And as the period between her marriage and its consummation was not less than five years, because the consummation took place in the second year of the Fight, it follows that she could not have been less than fifteen at that time. The popular account that she was six years at marriage and nine years at the time of consummation is decidedly not correct, because it supposes the period between the marriage and its consummation to be only three years, while this is historically wrong."
Sulaiman Nadvi took Maulana Muhammad Ali to task (for his above-quoted view) in note 2 on page 26 of the third edition of his 'Seerat-i-Aishah' in the following words:
"Some irresponsible persons who think that the marriage with a girl of tender age was not befitting for the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have tried to prove that the age of Hazrat 'Aishah Siddiqah at her marriage was 16 years instead of 6 years. All such efforts are useless and all such claims are illogical. Not a single word is the Hadith and history can be found in their support."
Nadvi Contradicts Himself:
In spite of this severe criticism of Muhammad Ali's view, Nadvi not only contradicts himself about the age of Hazrat 'Aishah, but provides supporting evidence to Muhammad Ali's views when, writing about the last days of the life of Hazrat 'Aishah, he writes at page 111 of the same 'Seerat-i-Aishah': "Hazrat 'Aishah was a widow and she passed 40 years of her life as a widow." Further, at page 153 he writes: "The last days of Khilafat (Caliphate) of Amir Muawiyya were the last days of the life of Hazrat 'Aishah and her age at that time was 67 years." Now if we deduct 40 years of her widowed life from 67 years then we find she was 27 years of age at the time of the passing away of the Holy Prophet in 11 A.H. and not 18 years as reported by Nadvi in the earlier pages of the same book. Since the total period of the Call is 23 years, therefore, according to this account she was born about four years before the Call and not in the fourth year of the Call as Nadvi tried to make us believe in his earlier pages quoted herein above. Consequently, her age at the time of the Nikah in the tenth year of the Call works out to 14-15 years and not 6 years, as Nadvi himself so assertively reported. According to this account, Hazrat 'Aishah's age at the time of consummation of her marriage in 2 A.H. works out to 19-20 years and not 9 years as stated in earlier pages of Seerat-i-Aishah. A further enquiry is most naturally necessitated to find out which of the reports of Nadvi should be given credence.
There are other important events recorded in history which provide definite evidence about the age of Hazrat 'Aishah.
1. The well-known historian Ibn Jareer al-Tabari writes at page 50 of volume 4 of his 'Book of History': "Abu Bakr married two ladies in the days of ignorance (pre-Call era). Fateelah daughter of Abd al-Aza was the first, from whom Abdullah and Asma were born. Umm-i-Rooman was the second, from whom Abd al-Rahman and 'Aishah were born. All the four children of Abu Bakr were born in the days of ignorance (Jahiliyyah, i.e., pre-Islamic days) from the above-named two ladies.
2. It is a well-known fact of history, that Abu Bakr's son Abd al-Rahman fought against the Muslims in the battle of Badr. His age at that time was 21-22 years, and although he was older than 'Aishah, there is no evidence to show that the difference between their ages was more than three or four years. This fact lends support to the view that Hazrat 'Aishah was born four or five years before the Call.
3. The well-known historian and scholar 'Allama 'Imad-ud-Deen Ibn Katheer writes in his 'Al-Badayah' about Sayedah Asma' daughter of Hazrat Abu Bakr' (Allah be pleased with him) (and we hope Maulana Syed Abul Ala Maududi must have seen it as he referred to 'Al-Badaya' in his article): Asma' died in 73 A.H. at the age of 100 years. She was ten years older than her sister 'Aishah. Now according to this report 'Asma' would have been 27-28 years old at the time of Hijrah and since she was ten years older than Sayedah 'Aishah, therefore the age of Sayedah 'Aishah would have been 17 or 18 years at the time of Hijrah. Accordingly, her birth falls about four or five years before the Call, and her age at the time of the consummation of marriage in 2 A.H. will work out to 19-20 years.
4. The author of the well-known collection of Hadith 'Mishkat al-Masabeeh', Sheikh Waheed-ud-Deen, writes in his well-known book 'Ahmal fi Asma' al-Rijjal':
"At the time of the consummation of her marriage Sayedah 'Aishah's age was not less than 18-19 years."
All the above quotations give ample refutation to the common misconception that Sayedah 'Aishah's age at the time of her Nikah was 6 years and at the time of consummation of marriage it was only 9 years. If Muslim scholars of the present era deem fit to make an objective research instead of beating the old track, they will find ample material in the pages of history to arrive at a correct age for Sayedah 'Aishah. This indeed would be a great service to the cause of Islam. – Islamic Review, December 1980, U.S.A.
Some Facts: [1]
1- The Bible's Prophets, and even Roman Emperors married girls as young as 8! [1]. See also many examples of child-brides from the Bible here: [2] [3 html].
2- Mary got pregnant between the ages of 11 and 14.
3- Joseph was as old as 99 when he married Mary when she was in the age range above.
4- The minimum age for marriage in the US-State of Delaware in year 1880 and up until 1920 was 7 (seven) [2]. See chart here: [1].
5- According to the Jewish Talmud, Prophet Moses and his followers had sex with girls as young as 3 years old [3]. Yes, THREE years old. You read it right.
For ample proofs, please visit this article.
Does the Bible allow for a slave women to be sold as a sex slaves?
What is the minimum age for marriage in the Holy Quran? The Noble Verse that talks about the children "reaching the age of marriage" حتى اذا بلغوا النكاح is elaborated on in great details using several other Noble Verses.
A picture and news paper article about a 9-year old girl from Thailand gave birth
A 12-year old Christian girl getting married in Romania
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Faith Ringgold: Quilting and the Art of Optimism
"Everybody's trying to tell me what to do. I say to hell with all of them. I'll do it my way." Artist, activist, educator and writer Faith Ringgold has maintained perseverance in the face of adversity for much of her seventy-year career. She's just had her first European solo show at Pippy Houldsworth gallery in London. Words by Elizabeth Fullerton
Portrait © Faith Ringgold. Courtesy Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London and ACA Galleries, New York
Faith Ringgold is a fighter. At eighty-eight, the African American artist, writer, educator and activist is hot property. Museums and collectors are queuing up to buy her work, but for years she struggled to find any takers; the Black Panthers even rejected her political posters. "I could not get over with the black people, couldn't get over with the white people. Couldn't get over with nobody," says the indomitable artist when we meet at her London gallery Pippy Houldsworth, where she has just had a show. "Everybody's trying to tell me what to do. I say to hell with all of them. I'll do it my way," and she breaks into a hearty chuckle, as does her daughter Michelle Wallace, a feminist author, who gave a talk with Ringgold at Tate Modern during their visit.
Astonishingly, Ringgold's show at Pippy Houldsworth was only her first solo exhibition in Europe in her seventy-year practice, although she has had myriad important shows in the US, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the New Museum in New York City, Pérez Art Museum in Miami and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington. For many in Britain, their first introduction to her work was at Tate Modern's powerful 2017 group show of African American artists, Soul of a Nation, which featured Ringgold's mural-size canvas American People Series #20: Die (1967) depicting blood-spattered black and white people caught in the turmoil of race riots. The show at Pippy Houldsworth expanded the story, presenting a selection of Ringgold's trenchant political paintings from the 1960s and vibrant narrative quilts from the 1980s to the present.
American People Series #9: The American Dream, 1964
Among the oil paintings was The American Dream (1964), a portrait of an elegant, coiffured woman who is painted as half black and half white and sports a huge diamond ring. It seems to point to a potential future of racial harmony and female success in a patriarchal, racist world. "It's the dream of freedom and happiness and the possibility of everything, even though it's hard," agrees Ringgold.
These early canvases evoke Picasso stylistically, although Ringgold's lush colours and subject matter are distinctively her own. She was particularly inspired by Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica (1937). "I used to go and look at that because it used to be at the Museum of Modern Art. It had its own room. Now my painting, Die, has its own room. They finally bought it as they should have years ago. I tried to give this painting to a lot of museums. No, they didn't want it. How do you like that?"
Coming to Jones Road Part II No 2 We Here Aunt Emmy Got Us Now, 2010
Perseverance in the face of rejection is Ringgold's mantra. On her website, above an image of a flying girl her motto reads: "If One Can Anyone Can, All You Gotta Do Is Try". "I was absolutely taught by my family as a tradition that nobody tells you what you can't do. You can do it. So it's impossible to turn me down. I've seen that all through my life," she says.
"It's the dream of freedom and happiness and the possibility of everything, even though it's hard"
Ringgold was born in 1930 in Harlem and came of age during an explosion of creativity in music and the arts in the neighbourhood. The artists Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, and musicians Sonny Rollins and Billie Holiday lived nearby. Ringgold studied fine art and education at the City College of New York and completed her masters in art there too. She has since been showered with honorary doctorates (twenty-three at the last count). When she graduated, her paintings of still lifes and landscapes in the European tradition reflected her college education "of which there was nothing about African American art or African art. Nothing. Nothing. No-thing. Not even the fact that Picasso was inspired by African art."
A pivotal moment occurred when she turned up at Ruth White's gallery on 57th street with her second husband Birdie, hauling her canvases around as they tended to do because she was determined not to be turned away with the excuse that her work couldn't be seen properly from photographs. White looked at her work and told her simply: "You can't do this." "So Birdie and I came out of there and it was a time when all hell was breaking out all during the civil rights movement. I said, 'What the hell did she mean?' He said, 'Did you notice the gallery was full of stuff like what you were doing? So that means you can't do this. You have another story to tell. Tell it dammit."
Ancestors Part II, 2017
That incident highlighted the need for Ringgold to draw on her own experience, transforming her approach to art. Where abstraction dominated the American scene, Ringgold launched into political figurative works and between 1963-67 created her celebrated American People Series, exploring in twenty canvases what it meant to be American at that time. "As an artist it was not acceptable for me to paint pictures that had any kind of political consciousness. But I'm sorry, I can do it because I'm a free person. I can paint what I want. And I will and I did," she chortles loudly. "And would I be upset today if I had not? Oh my God would I be."
Moreover, as a black woman, Ringgold faced the double blow of racism and sexism. In 1964 she wrote to Romare Bearden asking to join the Spiral group that he had formed with eleven other black artists, but instead he offered her technical advice. "Romy was not as accepting of me because I'm a woman and I do political art … The conception was that I was not educated," she says.
Later, exhilarated by the Black Panthers' struggle, she made a poster for them, but to her surprise they rejected it. "I said, 'Well what do you want? What is your eye on, what's going on? And they said: 'Kill Whitey'." Ringgold was more interested in freedom and equal rights for all but she made another poster of a family armed with rifles in self-defence and the Panthers still didn't like it. So she found other avenues to fight race and gender inequality, demonstrating against museums such as MoMA and the Whitney Museum of Art for their exclusion of black and female artists and cofounding the black women's art group Where We At. In 1970, she and others were arrested for desecrating the US Flag in a performance at the Judson Memorial Church in New York.
American People Series #16: Woman Looking in a Mirror, 1966
In the 1970s, as many artists embraced the clean, sparse lines of minimalism, Ringgold adopted the "feminine" tradition of textile craft, producing works on cloth inspired by Tibetan thangkas, which she created in collaboration with her mother Willi Posey, a fashion designer. But it was with her quilt paintings, executed in a faux-naive style, that she really came into her own in the 1980s. Combining her personal history with the quilt making heritage passed down by slaves, these works on canvas bordered by sewn patches of material and text pulsate with a jubilant energy in their depiction of African American life, whether in the graffiti-daubed subway or on a summer starlit rooftop. In these scenes, figures sometimes float across the sky, reminiscent of Chagall's dreamlike brand of magical realism. And subversion remains very much on the agenda, as seen in her 1991-94 French Collection series which wittily rewrites the canon, inserting African American characters into Picasso's studio and Monet's garden at Giverny to upend the predominantly white male modernist narrative.
Coming to Jones Road Part II No 7 Our Secret Wedding in the Woods, 2010
Of the six quilts shown at Pippy Houldsworth, two wonderfully lyrical examples from her Coming to Jones Road Part II (2010) series tell a multi-layered tale that weaves together references to a long racial dispute with neighbours seeking to block her move in 2004 to her current home in Englewood, New Jersey with the history of the Underground Railroad.
"As an artist it was not acceptable for me to paint pictures that had any kind of political consciousness"
Children as a symbol of hope threads through Ringgold's work. It links the 1966 painting (on display) American People Series #15: Hide Little Children, depicting Ringgold's daughters and three white children peeking out of the undergrowth, with her latest quilt Ancestors Part II (2017), which portrays children of all colours singing and dancing. Amid the dispiriting xenophobia and strife of current times it's an uplifting message and characteristic of Ringgold's attitude of inclusivity and harmony.
American People Series #15: Hide Little Children, 1966
Indeed, Ringgold herself remains an inspiration, her boundless creative energy and resolve undiminished by her age. Besides her paintings, sculptures, performances and quilts, Ringgold is an acclaimed author of children's fiction, has designed mosaics for the New York and Los Angeles subway systems and recently created a new app, Quiltuduko based on the game of Sudoku but using colourful images instead of the number system. She presses a card promoting her new invention enthusiastically into my hand at the end of our interview.
I wonder how she appraises her extraordinary trajectory? She looks thoughtful and for the first time I hear a note of self-doubt. "Looking back, I had no idea it would be such a struggle. And I'm glad I did not know that it would be that difficult because I don't know that I would have had the courage to do it."
All images © Faith Ringgold. Courtesy Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London and ACA Galleries, New York.
Faith Ringgold: Paintings and Story Quilts, 1964-2017
23 February 2018 until 28 April 2018 at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London
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Many Congratulations Gonks on your completion of the Snowdonia Marathon in 4hrs 6mins. A great achievement in poor weather conditions. Thank you for choosing Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife as your good cause to support. If anyone hasn't sponsored Gonks yet and wishes to do so you can donate here.
Once again Gonks Hughes, one of our volunteers, will be taking part in the Snowdonia Marathon on Saturday October 24th in aid of Bywyd Gwyllt Glaslyn Wildlife. If you would like to show your support for Gonks by sponsoring him in this event, please do so via the donate button on our website.
The Whooper Swans are on their way!


Nice picture from auntie Enid.
To bad you could not come by.
But l understand that hopefully next time.
Nice that the dogs have do it so well.
We wish you a safe journey back to France .tomorrow.
Thank you Annie & Jaap. Hopefully see you another time.


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Dysphania porphyroides är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Louis Beethoven Prout 1917. Dysphania porphyroides ingår i släktet Dysphania och familjen mätare. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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Arianne Phosphate's (TSX-V: DAN)(OTC: DRRSF) Lac à Paul Phosphate Project in Quebec is one of the most prized, undeveloped phosphate mines in the world.
Nick Hodge: Hi, this is Nick Hodge with the Outsider Club. Today I'm speaking with Brian Ostroff. He's the CEO of Arianne Phosphate (TSX-V: DAN)(OTC: DRRSF), which, as we'll get to in a moment, controls the Lac à Paul Phosphate Project in Quebec. It's one of the most prized, undeveloped phosphate mines in the world. This interview comes as the agriculture and fertilizer industries have seen a flurry of merger/acquisition activity, after a few years of rough times brought on by soft agricultural commodity prices. Phosphate, though, has been one of the few bright spots.
Brian, thanks for joining us today. I set the backdrop a little bit there, but can you talk a little bit more about where the fert industry is now, how we got here, and how phosphate fits into it?
Brian Ostroff: Sure. Certainly, as you say, it's been a pretty rough time the last few years for the fertilizer sector as a whole. What is interesting and certainly encouraging, I think, to investors in the space, we've had pretty extensive discussions with a lot of players in the industry and the general feeling has been that 2016 should be the bottom of the cycle. At the end of the day, that's just talk, but it is encouraging when I see all the deals that have started to occur in this space, and obviously with these companies now looking and putting billions of dollars back to work in this space, they must like what they're seeing.
To your point, phosphate as a whole has really held up. I think that most people make the mistake of assuming that because phosphate and potash and nitrogen are all used in the same thing, namely fertilizer, that their pricing and market dynamics are all the same, and that's just not the case, so where we've seen pretty significant declines in potash pricing and nitrogen, particularly of late, phosphate, phosphate rock prices have been pretty stable over the last two, three years. In fact, in 2015 phosphate rock prices were one of few commodities that were actually up for the year.
Nick Hodge: Why is that? Do you mind if we drill down into the market dynamics of phosphate a little bit? Why has it held up, where is it currently coming from, and maybe how much it costs and if we see supply deficits anywhere.
Brian Ostroff: Sure. Again, phosphate is a necessary component. You are going to require it, it's not one of those things where, potash prices have come down quite a bit, maybe I can use twice as much potash. You really have to look at the three commodities alone. In the case of phosphate, what's certainly interesting to us is that North America runs a deficit in phosphate, South America, Western Europe, Asia. Basically the whole world is in varying degrees of deficit, so this deficit is made up for by the Middle East and North Africa. Morocco, for example, is by far the largest player. They're about four times bigger in the phosphate export market than Saudi Arabia is in the oil market.
As you can understand, it's an area of the world that is historically been very unstable. Tunisia used to be the second largest supplier of phosphate rock, but since Arab Spring that production has dropped to somewhere in the neighborhood of about 80%, so when it comes to North America we run a deficit here. We're currently importing somewhere in the neighborhood of about four million tons and you're going to continue to see that deficit grow. We're probably going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of about eight million tons over the next five to six years.
We need phosphate, there is no substitute for it, and in terms of trying to get access to it, certainly security of supply is definitely a factor.
Nick Hodge: I think you hit the nail on the head. It's definitely an oil-like situation where we're dependent on a critical material, a critical resource input from places that may or may not be our friend or may or may not have the best human rights record, so it's certainly a jurisdictional advantage for Arianne to have such a large deposit here in North America, specifically in Canada.
Not only is not all phosphate rock located in the same place geographically, but not all phosphate rock is created equal when it comes to the type of rock itself. You want to hit on, Brian, a little bit on the difference in the types of phosphate rock that are available to market and the types that Arianne possesses?
Brian Ostroff: Sure, and that's a very good point. Gold, for example, if you dig it out of the ground in Argentina or Siberia or right here in Valdor, Quebec, it all trades for the same price. It's all basically the same thing. Not so for phosphate. Each deposit tends to have subtle differences, although there is one big difference. Most of the world's phosphate comes from a sedimentary deposit, and that would represent close to 95% of the world's phosphate. The issue with these types of deposits are unfortunately mixed in them are things like uranium and thorium and cadmium. It's a big deal, and it's a big deal because when you go through the process of turning it into fertilizer, you basically liberate some of these deleterious elements. I'm sure some of your listeners are aware, for example, of what's recently gone on at one of Mosaic's facilities in Florida where you now have a nasty situation of this radioactive byproduct getting into the groundwater.
There are a few deposits in the world called igneous. There's probably less than a dozen in the world, and these are capable of making a very high purity phosphate concentrate. It does not have these deleterious elements, it's not radioactive, and obviously I think that if the world had a choice it certainly would not be using sedimentary deposits, but at the end of the day we really don't, and it's "How do we manage?"
In the case of Arianne, we do possess an igneous deposit. It allows us to make a very pure concentrate, and more importantly it sells at premium prices. On average it'll sell at 50 to 60% higher than benchmark phosphate rock prices. Another thing that I should really mention about phosphate is although a lot of it is used in fertilizer, there is more and more taking its way into food. It's used as preservatives, its specialty application, if any of your listeners drink Coca Cola or Pepsi or what have you, they're drinking phosphate. If they eat deli meats, if they eat anything with preservatives, there's a good chance that they're having phosphate.
Of course, you need to be very careful, and the nature of the phosphate is very important. In the case of Arianne, it will be the production of this high purity phosphate, which is going to allow a much higher bottom line to the company. The other thing I actually would like to just mention about the phosphate business itself, it's interesting because we were talking about where everything, or most areas of the world are in deficit. 85% of the world's phosphate mines are actually owned by the fertilizer companies. It's a very integrated business, and what happens is for those who don't own their own phosphate rock, who aren't fully vertically integrated, their ability to make any type of reasonable profit is challenged, because if you have to buy someone else's phosphate rock and then turn it into the MAP and DAP yourself, and then look to sell it, there's a good chance you're competing against guys who are making their own MAP and DAP from their own phosphate.
These guys are going to continue to have a challenge, and I think that the world is actually going to get even more integrated. As you watch the mines that are starting to come on-stream, they are owned by the guys who are making the fertilizer themselves. It's just going to be more and more captive rock, which is going to continue to put a bigger and bigger squeeze on the guys who don't have enough of their own rock. Again, back to North America, Agrium, Potash Corp, Mosaic, they all import phosphate rock.
Nick Hodge: It just underscores the value of having a high purity phosphate rock deposit here in North America, the need not only to produce domestically to alleviate the deficit, but also for the majors to refill their coffers. Let's get into some specifics about your project, the Lac à Paul project. You have a feasibility study that was out in 2012, we know there's robust infrastructure, we know that it's going to create jobs, we know that it's fully permitted for production. Can you talk a little bit about that feasibility study and how numbers relate to it, like CAPEX and rates of return and things like that?
Brian Ostroff: Sure. To your point, Arianne did put out its feasibility study. Everything was compiled during 2012 with 2012 pricing, but the feasibility study itself was published towards the end of 2013, and it was a very successful feasibility report. What it really did was put this project on the global map when it comes to the fertilizer companies. From that point forward, I would say that just about every major global fertilizer company came to know of Arianne, and so a lot, as you would imagine, has changed since then, but just touching briefly on that, it was projected to be a 26 year mine at three million tons a year. It was projected to have a cost on the ship, ready to go, at about $94 a ton, produce at 38% concentrate, and it did have an NPV of roughly two billion dollars with a 1.2 billion dollar cap ex.
Again, the feasibility study was very well-received, but we right away said, "As good as this is, we can make it even better," and right off the bat the company went to drilling off more, showing just how large and robust this deposit was. Today, it is the world's single largest greenfield phosphate deposit. It has, including inferred, well over a billion tons, which just makes it huge. Also been able to streamline the process of making the concentrate and take significant cost out. Where it was $94 a ton in the feasibility study, today Arianne can produce that at $79 a ton.
I'll throw in one other thing, too. To keep it constant with that bankable feasibility study, we want to show it at the same currency rate, which at the time was a 95 cent dollar. Today we're looking at a dollar in and around 78 cents, so you would have significant currency savings as well, and that would put this project, particularly since they can produce such a high purity rock, cost competitive with, I would say, 80, 90% of the mines around the world. The infrastructure, as you say, has been fortunately all developed before this project came to be, it's in the province of Quebec, it's right beside a power dam. 30 kilometers away we've been able to contract with hydro for life of minepower supply. The oversize roads already exist, so I'd say we're sitting in pretty good position.
The last thing I would add is of course we all know that the mining industry has been pretty challenged over the last few years, and we've gone back out to some of the engineering firms, etc., to refresh our quotes, and we believe that today, ultimately you can build a mine for cheaper than you could have built it back in 2012, 2013, so we're assuming that that cap ex can come in under that 1.2 as well.
Nick Hodge: The input costs are lower, obviously, than the data sets used, the 2012 data sets used, in the feasibility study that was out in 2013. We can assume that the economics have improved as well as it relates to the internal rate of return, the IRR, and the net present value of $2 billion, and by the way, as it relates to that net present value of two billion dollars, I just want to put a fine point on the fact that the stock trades at less than $100 million Canadian market cap, so in my opinion, or from my perspective, there's some severe undervaluation going on there.
I want to start to wrap up, I want to talk about the path forward for the projects, but I want you to just say one more time what the cost is going to be of the mine. I think you said $94 a tonne, but can you let us know what the selling price of high quality phosphate rock is compared to $94 a tonne and then what the revenue projections are for the project?
Brian Ostroff: Sure. Actually, $94 was the old number. The company about a year ago had taken that number down to $79 a ton, and again, that's using a 95-cent dollar. At an 80-cent dollar you would have a considerably lower cost. If you look at this project, you now have something that should generate somewhere in the neighborhood of $550 million a year in revenue. This type of rock today trades in the neighborhood of about $180 a tonne, so at low $70s you're going to be making well over $100 a ton, that's over $300 million a year for many years.
Just in terms of the path forward, I'd come on as CEO a little less than six months ago. I've been very familiar with the story, I'm partner at Windermere Capital, and we'd made our first investment in the company about five and a half years ago and have watched this project move forward and move forward from what was at one point an interesting patch of dirt to today, again, the world's largest, the world's purest, the world's safest.
I came on board because as this company has gone from stage to stage, run by a geologist who found the deposit, run by an engineer who put together the feasibility and the mining plan, run by our COO who has got the project permitted, strong social acceptability, collaboration agreement with the First Nations, it basically came time to, "OK, now it's time to do a deal, and it's time to have a dealmaker in place." I've been pretty vocal. We've got three paths forward here that I am pursuing.
Number one is get this project fully financed, stick the shovel in the ground and move that forward. We certainly believe that even a fully-financed project, fully-diluted, as I said, you're going to be looking at EBITDA of well over $300 million US a year at seven times EBITDA, you're going to be looking at a project, a company that should be worth well over two billion dollars.
That's point number one. Point number two, what we are pursuing is, we've talked a little bit about, there have been a lot of deals in the space. The Chinese haven't bought, the Anglos, the South American assets, there are some rumors about a Mosaic-Vale tie up, again for some South American assets. Here in North America there might be a tie up between Agrium and Potash, and so a lot of assets are going to get spun out or shaken loose or no longer necessarily being core, so we think that that might provide an opportunity for us to deal on some of these assets and perhaps put together a company that is a little bit more than a rock deposit. We definitely see opportunities on the joint venture front.
The third path, of course, is there's always the possibility of an acquisition. Again, there are major players around the world that do not have enough of their own rock supply, and they've got to be scratching their heads and starting to think, "What can we do?" Arianne is one of the few very large mines that are going to be coming on stream that today are independent, that rock is not vertically integrated and certainly we believe that there are those out there that see the value of that and are attracted to it.
Nick Hodge: Lac à Paul's a massive project. It's a premium phosphate product that's going to fetch premium pricing in the market. It's fully permitted, you've put pen to paper with a potential project finance outfit. It's extremely attractive from a valuation perspective given the NPV and the IRR numbers that are even more robust in the present day. Can I ask you, what do you think the market is missing when it comes to the Arianne story in the market?
Brian Ostroff: That's a good question. It's one I get asked a lot. In general, I would say that over the last three plus years it's been a pretty rough time for the fertilizer sector, and as I've said, unfortunately people don't differentiate phosphate from potash or what have you. There's been a pretty strong headwind, and as Arianne has continued to advance its project, they've hit on every milestone but maybe that's been done into an environment where people don't necessarily care. Today, we're seeing a whole bunch of deals in the space. I think that that's going to help, and I think that that headwind is going to alleviate, and with that, I think we'll start to get a bit more traction. The one thing that this company has done consistently over the years is we've set milestones, and we've hit on those milestones.
Arianne can only control what Arianne does. I think that for investors today looking at this project, you've got a situation where all the heavy lifting has been done. The deposit has been found, the quality has been proven, it's an industry that's going to continue to grow, and you've got a management team that has consistently and effectively hit their milestones. I've set out what our next steps are going to be, and I think that as those occur in the coming months, shareholders will get a fair value. As you pointed out earlier, you've got a company that's trading at under 4% of its NPV for what is arguably the best deposit on the planet.
One last thing about phosphate: phosphate, the demand for it grows every single year. Today gold is $1300 or so an ounce, and next week it could be $1500, it could be $1100, we don't know, but next week I know we're all going to want to eat, so here is the single best deposit, proven track record, and months away from what I believe is going to be a significant event which should cause a large re-rating for investors.
Nick Hodge: That's exactly why I've been following this story. It's a recommendation in the paid newsletters I write, like Like Minded People and Early Advantage, and I'll continue to pay attention as you look to advance this project going forward. Ladies and gentlemen, we've been talking with Brian Ostroff, CEO of Arianne Resources. It trades on the TSXV under the ticker DAN or over the counter under the ticker DRRSF. Brian, is there anything else you'd like to add?
Brian Ostroff: No, thank you for your time and support and I think that, again, in the coming months as the backdrop for the fert space starts to change and Arianne gets a little bit more attention, this has a lot of potential for investors who look at it today.
Nick Hodge: Thanks so much for joining us today.


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EMMANUEL TOBEY/AFP or licensors
Liberians said "yes" to amendments by President George Weah to reduce the head of state's term and allow dual citizenship, according to partial results for a third of the country's regions announced Tuesday.
At the same time, voters inflicted a serious setback on the ruling party in the senatorial vote held on the same day.
The opposition has won 15 out of 30 senate seats, including the one for Montserrado County, the most populous county in the country, which includes the capital Monrovia.
About 2.5 million voters were asked to vote on December 8 on eight constitutional amendments, including one reducing the presidential term from six to five years.
The National Elections Commission (NEC) said "yes" to all eight questions won in the five counties where the count was completed, out of 15 in Liberia.
In the Senate, of the seven counties fully counted, the opposition won four, compared with two for George Weah's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and one for an independent candidate, according to the NEC.
In George Weah's historic electoral stronghold, one of his fiercest opponents, Senator Darius Dillon, was re-elected with 61% of the vote, according to the electoral commission.
The vote was also a referendum on President Weah, who had raised high hopes in 2018 by coming to power in this West African country still marked by the civil war of 1989-2003 and the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016.
He failed to turn the economy around and enthusiasm gave way to disenchantment. The main opposition parties had called for a boycott of the referendum.
Although Weah, 54, is still in his first term, his opponents fear he will take advantage of a constitutional amendment to argue that the law offers him a fresh start, as did his Guinean counterpart and neighbor Alpha Condé and Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara.
CAR: 10 Candidates Call for the Outright Cancellation of the Election
Ruling party candidate is projected winner of Niger presidential vote
Nigeriens patiently await presidential election results
Who is Nigerien Presidential Candidate Mohamed Bazoum?
Reaction to the exclusion of African players in the Ballon d'Or Dream 11 list


Whether you are in the Banking, Telecom, Retail, Broking, Government, Defense, or the Online Distance Learning sector, you can depend on Hughes Enterprise Services to provide cost-efficient and scalable enterprise-wide broadband networking solutions.
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About IPv6 and IPv6 activities.


NIV says that there was no Calvary!
Luke 23:33, And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.
What doth the NIV say?


Have a computer question? This is the place to get answers - in plain simple English. Software or hardware questions, we answer them all.
Here's the spot for you to unwind and discuss anything and everything under the sun. Well, maybe not anything. Talk about Warez, and other illegal activities is still not permitted. Also, since children visit this site, please keep your posts family-friendly. Other than that, feel free to talk about daily events, that new joke you just heard, or nearly anything else you can think of. Enjoy!


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Miss Southwest & Miss Sunset Coast
About Miss America
Previous Titleholders
Miss Southwest
Miss Sunset Coast
Outstanding Teen
Miss Become a Contestant
Miss Phases of Competition
OT Become a Contestant
OT Phases of Competition
Participating in the Miss America Organization is one of the most rewarding and beneficial experiences available to young women in the United States. Each year, more than 10,000 young women participate at the local, state, and national levels, culminating in the selection of 51 national finalists who compete for the title of Miss America.To become Miss America, a contestant must first enter and win a local competition, and then compete to represent her state — a process requiring hard work, talent, and personal commitment. As a state titleholder, a contestant may only compete once at the national Miss America Competition.
Benefits of the Program
Gain valuable experience and develop life skills that will benefit your everyday life (i.e. interview skills, public speaking, interpersonal communication, social interaction, etc.);
Earn quality scholarship funds for college and graduate school, regardless of whether a title is won;
Create awareness of your potential strengths and increase your self-confidence;
Find new interests and discover new opportunities;
Make lifelong friendships and relationships with your peers, as well as other generations;
Gain a sense of accomplishment by using your free time in a positive and constructive manner;
Learn to set goals, follow them through, and exceed your expectations;
Develop a sense of responsibility for helping others;
Foster a positive, self-motivated mindset to achieve your goals; and
Receive recognition for your efforts in bettering yourself and your community.
To become a contestant, you must:
Be between the ages of 17 and 25;
Be a United States citizen;
Meet residency requirements for competing in a certain city or state;
Meet character criteria as set forth by the Miss America Organization;
Be in reasonably good health to meet the job requirements; and
Be able to meet the time commitment and job responsibilities as set forth by the local, state, and national competition(s) in which you compete.


Riteway has established itself as the right choice for the marketplace with a dedication to putting the Client First! Riteway's team of highly experienced professionals with both CPG and retailer experience put its clients' success at the forefront of their business using a collaborative goal setting and measured outcomes approach.
Riteway was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Lakeland, Florida, with additional divisional offices in Jacksonville, Miami, and Atlanta. Riteway is led by Jim Hall, assisted by the management team of Bobby McQueen and Mike Rowan. The company covers the Southeastern U.S. markets and focuses on the Perishable, Non-Perishable and Non-Food divisions of its retail customers.
Mission – WE BUILD BRANDS!
The Riteway team strives to build our clients brands with aggressive customized programs that ensure the highest level of success specifically tailored for each customer.
Riteway's vision is to facilitate relationships that Drive Brands for our CPG clients. Using collaborative goal setting and measured outcomes we strive to provide: The Attention You Deserve, The Results You Expect!
The Attention You Deserve, The Results You Expect!


Full Green Foxtail Grass. This interesting item among the grasses certainly deserve your attention. Grass is characterized by dense and cascading gradation of different sized leaves. The grass is finished with three magnificent plumes. Looking more closely, you will find a precise attention to detail. Just as in natural conditions, the grass has a different coloration of leaves – from slightly dried by the sun, to the green of rush grass.
A very nice idea is to combine in flower arrangement a various heights of grass – amazing visual effect guaranteed.
The product is supplied in a plastic pot.
The product is available in various sizes.


Check in time for the Penobscot is 8:00 AM. Regular Penobscot trips eat on the river and return by 3 to 4:00pm with the day's activities complete by 6:00pm.
We will provide you with a paddle, life jacket, and helmet – helmets are required on the Penobscot. Wetsuits are required on some early and late season trips and other times based on weather conditions; our staff will recommend what is appropriate. If at the end of the day you feel that some or all of your wetsuit was not needed, we will refund the rental fee. This is Maine whitewater rafting after all, and conditions can be highly variable!
For personal clothing on the river we recommend a bathing suit or shorts, sneakers or river sandals. Wool socks and polypropylene long underwear or fleece add comfort on cool days. (Do not bring cotton to wear on the river as it does not dry and you will be cold.) NEOC has plenty of cool weather rental wet suits, booties and spray tops to make you more comfortable and will advise you when you need them. At the base, leave a towel, a warm, dry change of clothes including socks, shoes and underwear for post-trip showering and changing.
A detailed and entertaining safety orientation precedes all trips.
Our river lunch includes choice of chicken, fish, steak or a vegetarian option with your selection made at trip check-in. On Penobscot trips we serve lunch riverside after the morning run.
NEOC is a family resort and we welcome children. For their safety the minimum recommended ages are as follows:Penobscot River – 10 yrs on the lower half; 15 yrs for the Upper river (upper and lower). 10 yrs and up for the Penobscot Soft Adventure river trip and family float is 4 years young.
Our guides are professionals and work hard to give you an experience you won't soon forget. The price of all guided activities and instructional sessions does not include a gratuity; however, they are greatly appreciated and appropriate when exceptional service is provided.
Sunscreen. We recommend at least SPF 30 and make sure it's waterproof!
Sunglasses. While you might not want to bring your favorite and most expensive pair (in case they end up in the water), you will want protection for your eyes. The sun off the water can produce quite a glare. Attaching "Croakies" or a string to your sunglasses is also a good idea.
Water bottle. With the excitement and activity, you are bound to break a sweat, so be sure to stay hydrated during the trip.
Wet suit or paddling jacket. These items are suggested for when the weather begins to turn and it gets cold.
Water shoes. Your feet are going to get wet. Guests should enter the raft with shoes or sandals that can get wet and will stay on your feet. We recommend rubber soled water shoes or sandals with Velcro.
Camera. If you're interested in capturing the moments of your Maine whitewater rafting trip on camera, be sure you bring your waterproof camera.
A good attitude. Whitewater rafting takes a group effort from everyone in the raft and you will be an important part of a successful trip. Your attitude and willingness to be part of a team will be important to making sure everyone enjoys their experience.
If you have any questions about any of the items on the list or any questions about whitewater rafting in Maine, please give us a call. We are always ready to help. Call us at 1-800-634-7238 or e-mail [email protected].
New England Outdoor Center reserves the right to cancel trips, switch rivers, and change itineraries due to weather, water flow, and our professional discretion. Please know that we will communicate these changes to the best of our ability to ensure our customers can prepare appropriately. We have been rafting for 30 years and have rafted almost every single day as scheduled!
We require a deposit of 50% of the total reservation within 10 days of the date the reservation is made. We can either take a credit card payment at the time of the reservation or we will send you a copy of your reservation and expect payment within 10 days. We can also take deposit payments individually from more than one person in a group and apply and itemize that payment toward the reservation.
All reservations must be paid in full 45 days prior to the trip date. NOTICE: All reservations for which no deposit is received 45 days in advance may be automatically cancelled without further notice to you.
For reservations made within 45 days of the trip date we require full payment when the reservation is made. All reservations confirmed with a deposit will receive our full confirmation literature. Rafting, snowmobile rentals and our cabins are in high demand and we enforce a strict cancellation policy. If we receive cancellation 45 or more days prior to the trip date, a full refund will be granted.
Cancellations made within 45 days of the trip date are non-refundable.
Cancellation Fee: $25 per person of your deposit is non-refundable and non-assignable.
Security Deposits are required for each accommodation and will be collected at the time of check-in. If we discover any damage or missing items, we will prepare a written estimate which will be forwarded to you and your credit card on file will be charged the full amount of the repair or replacement costs. PLEASE note all accommodations are non-smoking. If we find that your accommodation(s) has been smoked in, an additional $200 per unit charge will be applied to your credit card on file.
ON RISK: Although we have an excellent safety record, our trips and activities are not without risk. It should be recognized that accidents can and do occur. All adventure participants must sign an Assumption of Risk and Agreement to Participate form, before participating in any activity with New England Outdoor Center. We reserve the right to switch rivers or rental locations if water, snow or weather conditions merit a change. All of our activities run rain, snow, or shine.
Finally, a few rules: Alcohol consumption is prohibited prior to and during trips, and quiet hours at 10PM are enforced to assure all our guests' satisfaction.
Must be on a leash at all times.
You must pick-up after your dog.
You may not leave your dog unattended unless in a kennel due to barking, damage and summer heat.
We may be able to arrange for dog sitting, just stop by the office at Twin Pines for details.
Please keep cabins picked up and clean if your dog swims etc.
No dogs allowed on beds and furniture.
You will be charged for any damage or extra cleaning.
NEOC reserves the right to change or update prices at anytime, without notice. Once you have booked, your booked price stands even if prices go up.


text:
OCT Thrust SSC1000 (chinesisch: 极速飞车) in Happy Valley (Wuhan, Hubei, Volksrepublik China) ist eine Stahlachterbahn des Herstellers S&S Worldwide, die am 8. März 2014 eröffnet wurde. Sie ist spiegelbildlich baugleich mit der Achterbahn Bullet Coaster im Schwesterpark Happy Valley in Shenzhen. Zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Eröffnung war sie zusammen mit Bullet Coaster und Extreme Rusher die schnellste Achterbahn Chinas, bis im Jahr 2016 Coaster Through the Clouds die Bahnen vom Platz 1 verdrängt haben.

Die Strecke erreicht eine Höhe von 60 m und verfügt über eine 67,4 m hohe Abfahrt. Die Züge werden pneumatisch auf eine Höchstgeschwindigkeit von 33,6 km/h beschleunigt.

Weblinks

Stahlachterbahn
Achterbahn hergestellt von S&S Worldwide
Achterbahn in der Volksrepublik China
Bauwerk in Shenzhen
Launched Coaster
Wuhan


Let's be honest, drinking water can be a tough thing to do. The amount of glasses the average person is actually supposed to have a day can be overwhelming (8 glasses of water is the basic amount.) When you start getting creative with how to drink water it can make things a whole lot easier. It might actually make drinking water fun! There are a few different ways to make this happen. Make it a contest.
Who doesn't love a little competition? Get a few of your friends together and get yourselves each an individual jug of water. You could even decorate them to make things pop a little more. Mark the jugs with times you should drink from them (i.e. 9:00 am, 10:00 am, etc…) The person that finishes their jug of water a set number of days in a row wins. Some friendly competition might be just what you need to get your H20 intake up.
Add fresh fruit or vegetables.
Fruits and veggies are full of antioxidants and key vitamins that you need to sustain your overall health. Try getting your favorite fruits or vegetables (like cucumbers) together, chop them up, and add them to your water. Give your water bottle a few shakes to get the flavor going and there you go. You now have instant zero calorie flavored water.
Buy a new water bottle.
Encourage yourself to drink more water by buying a new water bottle that isn't an eye sore. This can be a great motivator. If you're a visual learner it might help you adapt to drinking more water by looking for this new bottle every time you need to take a sip.
Maybe you're a little more stubborn and the other options won't work. Try setting an alarm every hour to hour and a half reminding you to drink more water. The alarm going off might startle you into taking a swig out of your new water bottle or jug.
Instead of competing, try having someone to hold you accountable. This person could be your significant other, your friend, or even a coworker. The beauty of this is that someone else besides you is looking out for your best interest and encouraging you through the day. Sometimes it's necessary to have another person looking over your should to make sure that jug of water is half empty by lunch break.


La Mirada, CA 906385753. The USPTO has given the ROCK SOLID trademark serial number of 76040711.
ROCK SOLID sells goods and services of ROTARY HAMMERS AND DEMOLITION HAMMERS. This logo and TradeMark was filed on May 04, 2000 and was first used on January 01, 1970.


text:
Amazon to get hearing that could overturn New York union vote, labor board official says
Amazon Labor Union organizers hold signs outside of the LDJ5 Amazon Sort Center on April 25, 2022 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Amazon's objections to a landmark union election at a company warehouse in New York City justify a hearing that could overturn the result, a U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) official said.
The online retailer has accused the NLRB's Brooklyn office of appearing to support the union drive and alleged that labor organizers intimidated workers to vote in their favor.
Citing the Brooklyn office's conduct, Amazon last month secured the case's transfer to the NLRB's Phoenix-based region. That office's director, Cornele Overstreet, said the evidence behind Amazon's claims "could be grounds for overturning the election," according to a filing on Friday.
Some 55% of employees who voted from Amazon's JFK8 warehouse in the borough of Staten Island opted to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which has argued for higher pay and job security. Turnout was about 58%.
The election marked the first time U.S. staff at Amazon had decided to unionize in the company's nearly 28-year history, a victory for organized labor that for years sought more worker protections at the country's second-largest private employer.
Overstreet did not specify which of Amazon's 25 objections had the potential to invalidate the election's outcome. He said the parties can present testimony starting May 23, after which an NLRB hearing officer will recommend whether to uphold the result. The process could take weeks.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, "We want our employees to have their voices heard, and in this case, that didn't happen – fewer than a third of the employees at the site voted for the union."
Representatives for the ALU and NLRB did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The ALU has said Amazon's objections have no merit, serve to stall the union's certification and that it was false that it ever coerced workers.
The NLRB has said its enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with its congressional mandate.
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About Hawthorn Primary School Hawthorn Primary School is in Hawthorn, Pontypridd in the Rhondda Cynon Taf local authority. There are 248 pupils on roll, including 23 full-time and four part-time nursery pupils. There are six single-year classes and two mixed-year classes. The average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals over the last three years is around 34%. This is well above the average for Wales, which is 18%. The school identifies 21% of pupils as having additional learning needs, which is in line with the national average. A very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs and a very few are in the care of the local authority. Nearly all pupils are of white British ethnicity and come from homes where English is the main language. No pupils speak Welsh at home. The headteacher took up her post in January 2010. The school's previous Estyn inspection was in January 2012.


I arrived in Schwäbish Hall two days ago, but I am already beginning to feel at home in this town. Schwäbisch Hall is small, and the people here both in the Goethe Institute and outside of it have been quite friendly. My classes have been challenging, but it is encouraging to see that I am already substantially more comfortable communicating in German after just a short period of time. Tomorrow, I plan to attend a daily Mass in town, something I hope to do most days. This will help me learn the Mass responses in German, but it will also be a good chance to interact with the local community outside of the Goethe Institute staff and students. In the meantime, I have a long list of irregular verbs to drill!
I am amazed at how much easier it is speaking in German today than a week ago! I have learned a good bit of grammar and vocabulary, but the most valuable part of this experience thus far has been being forced to regularly communicate in German, and only in German. My tongue has been freed. I am very glad at having chosen a small town to study in. I am terrible with directions, but I can find my way around town easily; more importantly, I feel relatively at home here, drinking coffee in the cafes, shopping in the markets, etc. I have now made my way to three German masses, and these are becoming more familiar as well, as I pick up on the differences from American masses (more singing, less air conditioning!) There is a fascinating variety among the students, with approximately 70 different nationalities represented among a relatively small number of students. One can go a whole day without hearing much if any English spoken (though Spanish is another matter, strangely enough). If my pace of improvement continues, I will be extremely happy with my stay here.
This past weekend was the annual trip to Berlin, and it was an enjoyable and educational, if somewhat tiring, experience. Our stay was relatively brief, but we took a bus tour that introduced us to the major points of interest, and in our free time we were able to further explore what interested us individually. There was unfortunately not a large enough block of time available to visit Berlin's famous ancient history museums, but I found myself repeatedly drawn to the Holocaust Memorial, which was only a couple of blocks from our hostel. As a city, Berlin seems to wake up about the time that I go to bed, but that meant that early in the morning I had the city almost to myself; at 7:30 am on Saturday, I was able to enjoy a cup of coffee almost in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate without a person in sight. Later in the day, I was almost trampled by a very enthusiastic parade of youthful supporters of pot legalization, some several thousand strong, making me glad to return to the smaller, sleepier town of Schwäbish Hall. The trip did offer several good opportunities for trying out my German (still a little shaky, it seems), as well as providing a broader experience of German culture.
My time is Schwäbisch Hall is drawing to an end. While I am extremely eager to return and see my family again, leaving will be a little bittersweet. My experience in Germany has been different than any other trip that I have taken to a foreign country; while I feel a tourist when I travel to other German cities, when I come back to Schwäbisch Hall it feels a little like returning home, something that I have not experienced overseas before. Going to mass here continues to be a good way of entering the local culture. On the feast of the Assumption of Mary, many of the congregants brought small bouquets of home-grown flowers and herbs. These were then blessed and sprinkled by the priest at the end of mass, and picked back up by those who brought them. This tradition is called "Kräuterweihe," and it is apparently over a thousand years old. My German learning efforts seem to have been successful; today my teacher recommended that I advance 3 levels for my next German class. I think he is overly optimistic, but I was happy to receive some external acknowledgement of progress. While I still feel somewhat slow and awkward in my speech, I am well removed from the tongue-tied state in which I first arrived.
It's the last day of my Goethe Institute course, and I would give the program a solid recommendation. The teaching methods and materials are similar to those that I have experienced in other German courses, but being constantly surrounded by German speakers and being forced to interact in German throughout the day are an invaluable help. I do have one 'heretical' piece of advice derived from my time here this past month. When I arrived in Germany, I was determined to only speak German, and I followed this strictly for the first half of the course. Unfortunately, when one's German is of an intermediate level like mine, there is only so deep in conversation that one can competently go. I found myself having lots of "small talk" style conversations, but little that went beyond. For me, this made for a very lonely experience. Halfway through, I modified my approach. I of course spoke only in German in class, and outside class at least half of my interactions with other students remained in German, but I allowed myself some English conversation when there was a mutual desire for deeper discussion. This improved my enjoyment of my time in Germany dramatically, and I don't think that it severely hampered my German development. Of course, if one is able to converse deeply in German, or if German is the best common language between certain students (and this was the case with some of my acquaintances), go for it. One certainly should avoid switching German off completely outside of class, but an adamant refusal to utter a word of English may not always be the best choice for everyone. Perhaps I'm wrong, but those are my two cents.