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How the Bees You Know are Killing the Bees You Don't
Commercially managed bumblebees and honey bees may be contributing to wild pollinator decline.
The western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis) is one of several North American bumblebee species that has suffered sharp declines in recent years. The cause of their decline is thought to be disease spread by commercial bumblebees used to pollinate crops.
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Nala Rogers, Staff Writer
(Inside Science) -- Sam Droege slides a drawer from a tall white cabinet, releasing an odor of mothballs. Row after row of small bodies stand skewered on pins, fragile limbs frozen, furry backs as bright as sunflowers. They are all examples of Bombus affinis, most collected from meadows where this bumblebee species no longer flies. The surrounding drawers hold nearly 2,000 more.
"Affinis was a dirtball species. It was super common. That's why there's drawers and drawers of them," said Droege, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey whose job sometimes involves identifying bees here at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
Earlier this month, the insects in the open drawer, more commonly called rusty patched bumblebees, were listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973. The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that they have declined by more than 90 percent over the last decade. According to Rich Hatfield, a senior conservation biologist at the Xerces Society who helped assess the species for the IUCN, the leading suspect in their disappearance is disease spread by other bees -- commercial bumblebees raised by humans to pollinate crops.
Most people have heard that pollinators are in trouble, and with them agricultural products worth more than $200 billion annually. But public and policy concern largely revolves around western honey bees, a domesticated species whose population has actually risen worldwide over the past few decades, despite recent challenges faced by beekeepers. Their success stands in stark contrast to the more than 20,000 other distinct species of bees worldwide, many of which are thought to be declining or facing extinction.
Bees are the most important pollinators on earth, pollinating more plants than any other group of animals, said Hatfield. In appearance, they range from glimmering green gemstones the size of a gumball to brownish specks that could crawl through a cocktail straw. And while losing one bee species probably won't shatter ecosystems, losing enough of them will, said Droege. Diverse wild bee communities help buffer ecosystems, ensuring that something is left to pollinate plants even under the stress of climate change and other environmental challenges. They also help pollinate crops, sometimes more efficiently than the commercial bees farmers increasingly rely on.
Humans raise a small number of bee species commercially, and these managed bees are crucial for modern food production. But they don't always live in harmony with the natural world. Managed bees can spread diseases, compete with wild bees for food, invade new habitats and upset the balance of plant species.
Sam Droege examines a drawer full of rusty patched bumblebees, a species newly listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Nala Rogers
Copyright American Institute of Physics (reprinting information)
Bees as livestock
Humans first domesticated honey bees, a group that includes several similar species, around 9,000 years ago. Honey bees are native to Asia, Europe and Africa, but humans have carried them around the globe, allowing them to establish feral populations. In most cases, the invasions happened so long ago that native bees have either adapted or gone extinct.
"We basically have no idea what the native bee fauna looked like prior to the introduction of honey bees," said Dave Goulson, an entomologist at the University of Sussex in England. "It may have absolutely devastated the bee fauna of the Americas."
Fewer than 50 years ago, people also began raising other types of bees for crop pollination, including several species of bumblebees. Bumblebees are capable of shaking pollen loose from plants such as eggplants and tomatoes -- crops honey bees can't pollinate. While honey bees still dominate the beekeeping world, farmers now use bumblebees routinely, most often in greenhouses.
From a typical bumblebee colony of a few hundred, only the young queens survive the winter, hibernating until they can start their own colonies in spring. Farmers usually buy new colonies from breeders each year. Honey bees, in contrast, live in colonies of up to 60,000 bees, and these colonies can persist indefinitely.
Recently, problems such as varroa mites, inhospitable farmland and colony collapse disorder have made it harder for beekeepers to maintain colonies and meet the rising demand for bees in agriculture. In the United States, beekeepers now lose about 40 percent of their colonies each year, four times the fraction they consider acceptable. They can replace lost colonies by splitting surviving colonies in two, but this technique can become unsustainable.
Nevertheless, the total number of managed honey bees worldwide has risen by 45 percent over the last half century. Honey bees are in no danger of extinction, said Hatfield -- and our reliance on them may come at a cost.
More on wild bees from Inside Science:
Slideshow: The Dazzling Diversity of Bees
Video: Are Bees Becoming Extinct?
How bee disease spreads
A honey bee perches on a person's finger. Most modern farmland is inhospitable to wild pollinators, so agriculture has become heavily dependent on commercially managed honey bees to pollinate crops.
Maja Dumat via Flickr
Managed bees may transmit new diseases to wild bees, or they may allow existing diseases to multiply and "spill back" into wild populations. Commercial beekeeping often involves maintaining bees at high densities, making it easy for diseases to pass from bee to bee. And companies routinely feed bumblebees with pollen gathered by honey bees, helping diseases to spread between species, said Peter Graystock, a conservation biologist at the University of California, Riverside. Some companies have started irradiating the pollen to kill pathogens, but others still feed it to bees as is.
In a 2013 study, Graystock and his colleagues tested imported bumblebee colonies that had supposedly been screened for disease, and found that more than three-fourths of them contained disease-causing microbes. When the researchers experimentally fed pollen and waste from the infected bee shipments to healthy bumble and honey bees, many of the new bees got sick.
However, flowers are probably the hotspots of disease transmission to wild bees, said Graystock. With colleagues, he recently demonstrated that two commercial bee species, buff-tailed bumblebees and western honey bees, can rapidly spread five kinds of pathogens between flowers. Some of the pathogens could only infect one of the two bee species, but they often hitched a ride on the other one.
"Imagine flowers as a dinner plate that you're eating from, but everybody else is also eating from that dinner plate as well," said Graystock. "They could accumulate quite a lot of different microbes."
Two species of native bees, a halictus sweat bee (Halictus poeyi) and a metallic green bee (Agapostemon splendens), alight on the same flower.
© Clay Bolt / claybolt.com
This photo may only be republished in conjunction with this Inside Science story.
Evidence from the field supports the idea that wild bees can catch diseases from managed bees. In Canada, Ireland and England, researchers have found elevated disease rates in wild bees living near greenhouses that use commercial bumblebees.
The lack of data on most wild bee species makes it hard to judge the threat facing their populations. Some ailments, such as the varroa mites that infest managed honey bees, appear to be harmless to other kinds of insects, including wild bumblebees. But other diseases, such as deformed wing virus and the dysentery-causing fungus Nosema ceranae, are known to harm multiple species that aren't closely related. Researchers usually have no idea whether a given wild pollinator can catch a particular disease, or how sick it would get if it did.
Still, circumstantial evidence suggests that the impacts on wild pollinators can be devastating. In North America, a species called Franklin's bumblebee is thought to have recently gone extinct, and four other once-common species have suffered estimated declines of more than 70 percent.
Wiped out by plagues
An endangered rusty patched bumblebee gathers pollen from a flower in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the few areas where the species still lives.
While no one knows for sure what's killing wild American bumblebees, the dominant hypothesis is one or more diseases introduced by commercial bumblebees imported from Europe, said Sheila Colla, a conservation biologist at York University in Toronto. The timing matches up with the rise of commercial bumblebees for pollinating greenhouse crops. At least two of the declining species have high rates of a fungal disease called Nosema bombi, and the strain they carry is genetically similar to the one found in bees from Europe, suggesting it may have been recently introduced. And many researchers think that the wild bees have vanished too quickly, and over too wide an area, for the culprit to be anything except disease. For example, the rusty patched bumblebees that just received endangered species protections have disappeared from around three-fourths of their historic range, according to a study by Colla and her colleagues.
"You can't really chalk it up to something like pesticide use, because that wouldn't explain why it disappeared in the Smoky Mountains," she said.
The light gray of this map shows the rusty patched bumblebee's historic range, while the red and yellow marks show where the bees have been found in recent years.
Xerces Society/Rich Hatfield
In the United States, it's now illegal to import any kind of bumblebee from overseas. But non-native bumblebees are still pouring into Argentina, even though two species have already turned invasive there. The second invasive species, known as the buff-tailed bumblebee, was first introduced to South America to pollinate crops. Feral buff-tailed bumblebees were first spotted in Argentina in 2006, and since then, they have spread across the region, wiping out native Patagonian bumblebees as they go.
Patagonian bumblebees are the largest bumblebees in the world, and the only ones native to the southern part of South America. They used to be a familiar sight in Chilean and Argentinian gardens, where their deep buzz and fluffy orange bulk made them hard to miss.
"They look like little bears," said Marina Arbetman, a molecular ecologist at the National University of Río Negro and the National University of Comahue in Bariloche, Argentina.
Patagonian bumblebees have vanished so fast that they are almost certainly suffering from a disease epidemic, said Arbetman. She has an idea what that disease might be: Apicystis bombi, a parasite that attacks bees' fat stores. The parasite was absent in the region until buff-tailed bumblebees invaded, but now it is found in native Patagonian bumblebees and feral buff-tailed bumblebees, as well as another bumblebee species that invaded earlier. Genetically, the parasites look similar to A. bombi parasites from Europe, suggesting that, like N. bombi in North America, they too rode in recently on commercial bees.
The loss of Patagonian bumblebees could have ecosystem-wide impacts, said Arbetman's adviser Carolina Morales, an ecologist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council and the National University of Comahue. Patagonian bumblebees have longer tongues than the invasive species, enabling them to pollinate native plants with long, tube-shaped flowers. Invasive buff-tailed bumblebees can't reach into long flowers normally, so they tear holes in them instead, stealing nectar without ever touching the pollen. One native plant appears to already be suffering reproductive costs, producing less fruit in landscapes taken over by the invasive bees, according to unpublished research by Morales and her colleagues.
Now, a few Patagonian bumblebees are hanging on across their former range, but sightings in most areas are rare. Arbetman spotted one last fall, but before then, she hadn't seen any in two years. "And you know I'm looking at every flower," she said.
An endangered Patagonian bumblebee clings to a flower in Argentina in 2015.
Marina Arbetman
Fighting over flowers
Competition for food is another source of conflict between managed and wild bees. Wildflowers are growing scarcer around the world, and wild bee populations are often limited by how much pollen and nectar they can find. Commercial beekeepers need places to keep their bees when they're not on pollination jobs, and in the United States they sometimes use public land.
Resource competition between managed and wild bees is controversial, and in some cases, it appears not to be a problem. But in the majority of experimental studies where scientists have tested specifically for competition, they have found it, said Victoria Wojcik, research director for an international nonprofit called the Pollinator Partnership in San Francisco. Most such studies have focused on bumblebees, so there aren't enough data to make recommendations on preserving other types of bees. But if land managers have sensitive bumblebee habitat, they may want to think twice before allowing commercial honey bee hives on their land, said Wojcik. "There could be food-based competition, and the bumblebee loses in that situation," she said.
Bumblebees may be losing out to feral honey bees in a remote nature reserve in California, even though there are no managed hives around. The site had hardly any feral honey bees in the late 1990s, probably because of a mite infestation that swept through honey bee populations shortly beforehand. But since then, honey bees have recovered, and the native bumblebees have drastically declined. Diane Thomson, an ecologist and conservation biologist at the Claremont Colleges in California, monitored their populations over 15 years.
"I've been able to show, from looking at what plants they're using, that bumblebees appear to be getting squeezed off of certain floral resources that are important for them as the number of honey bees has gone up," she said.
These findings reinforce an earlier experiment Thomson conducted at the same site. In that study, she brought in honey and bumblebee colonies and placed them at various distances from each other. Bumblebees placed near honey bee hives had less reproductive success, producing fewer and smaller fertile bees capable of starting a new generation.
Now, Thomson's experimental hives are long gone, but native bumblebees are still being outcompeted. Their disappearance is especially striking because it happened in a protected area, far from pesticides, development and human disturbance.
"My site is really buffered from some of the potentially very harmful causes of bee declines in other places," said Thomson. "And yet, we're still seeing a decline in these native bumblebee populations."
What can be done to save the bees
People can reduce the risks to wild bees by not importing managed bees from other countries, by reducing the use of non-native species, and by thoroughly screening for diseases, policies that some countries already employ to varying degrees. Another simple strategy is to put screens on greenhouse vents before releasing bumblebees inside, a practice that Japan mandated after suffering its own bumblebee invasion, said UC Riverside's Graystock. But the most powerful way to help wild and managed bees coexist may be something beekeepers are already pushing for: creating more habitat where pollinators can find food.
Backyard Beekeeping Won't Save the Bees
Not all managed bees are part of commercial businesses. People also keep honey bees for fun, often in backyards or on rooftops. The hobby is soaring in popularity, with major cities such as Los Angeles and New York recently lifting restrictions on urban beekeeping. In the Washington, D.C. area, so many people want to be beekeepers that there isn't enough room for them in beginner classes run by local clubs, said Jan Day, an educational technology consultant who has raised bees in her backyard for three years.
Like many beekeepers, Day is fascinated by bee society. She uses her bees' honey to make a fermented drink called mead, and she values the connection her bees provide to the natural world.
"I'm much more aware of the changing seasons, and what's blooming at any given time. Now I pay attention to that stuff," she said. "It has been one of the most thoroughly engaging hobbies I've ever had."
While Day loves her bees, she doesn't view them as a way to help the wild pollinators she also cares about. But some hobbyist beekeepers may not understand the distinction, she said. People hear that bees are in trouble, and they want to help by getting their own colony. Day advises them to plant wildflowers instead.
The Xerces Society's Hatfield agrees. There are good reasons to raise bees, he said. Moreover, beekeepers are strong promoters of habitat restoration and pesticide reduction, policies that help managed and wild bees alike. But becoming a beekeeper is not a route to pollinator conservation. According to Hatfield, "That's kind of like keeping chickens for bird conservation."
tassilo111 vio Pixabay
Farmland used to have lots of rich pollinator habitat, with diverse plant species flowering at different times. Wild bees took care of most crop pollination, while honey bees were primarily used for honey, said Zac Browning, a fourth-generation commercial beekeeper based in Jamestown, North Dakota, who owns around 27,000 honey bee colonies. Browning said he has seen agriculture move toward giant, pesticide-soaked fields planted with a single type of crop -- a landscape hostile to wild and managed bees alike. Now, he said, farmland is "probably, in many ways, the most dangerous place to be, if you're a bee."
Since bees often can't survive in modern farmland, farmers now pay beekeepers to bring in bees just when their crop is flowering. The new system puts stress on both commercial and wild bees, forcing them to compete for scarce resources. This stress probably makes them more vulnerable to disease, said Graystock.
Modern crop pollination may also threaten food security. A growing body of research shows the crucial role wild insects still play in agriculture, ensuring stable production from year to year and boosting yields regardless of whether honey bees are present. And the more a crop relies on a single kind of bee, the more vulnerable it is to diseases and other crises that might strike that bee's population.
Project Apis, an agricultural nonprofit focused on honey bee health, is working to increase pollinator habitat on farmland by providing seeds for farmers to plant in unused patches of land. Its seed mixes include plants for native species as well as for honey bees, said Danielle Downey, the project's executive director.
"It would be great if there were not so much demand for every scrap of habitat that's left," she said.
Hatfield agrees. He works for the Xerces Society, a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon that focuses on protecting wild insects and other invertebrates. "Our take-home message always comes back to 'if you want to do something, the right thing to do is to plant habitat,'" he said. "Habitat is going to support our native bees, and it's also going to support the honey bees."
Policy makers are also starting to realize that bee-friendly landscapes are important. The U.S. farm bill has offered incentives for landowners to restore pollinator habitat since 2008, and several states are starting to plant pollinator habitat along highways. And while the federal Pollinator Health Action Plan released last year has been criticized for focusing too much on honey bees, it does list habitat for all pollinators as a top objective.
A hedgerow of pollinator-friendly plants grows beside an almond orchard in California, part of a larger habitat project coordinated by the Xerces Society.
Image credits: Xerces Society/Jessa Kay Cruz
Unknown populations
Patagonian bumblebees and rusty patched bumblebees are flashy species that were once very common, so people noticed when they vanished. But they are the exception. For the vast majority of wild bee species, no one knows whether they are in danger, because no one has data on their populations. Often, we don't even know they exist. According to one estimate, Earth holds another 20,000 bee species waiting to be discovered, on top of the 20,000 already described, said Sam Droege.
Droege has spent years trying to fill the knowledge gaps, amidst changing political landscapes that shuffled him between programs and agencies. He designed a nationwide monitoring program for U.S. bees, but the funding dried up before it could bear fruit. Now, he runs the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab in Beltsville, Maryland, which catalogs local bees, creates identification guides, and helps land managers across the country conduct their own, small-scale surveys. But despite his efforts, there is still no comprehensive monitoring effort for U.S. bees.
"There's no program," he said. "There are no real statistics other than 'can't find it anymore.'"
Back at the museum, Droege picks up a tiny black bee by the pin and holds it in the circle of light at the base of his microscope. He turns the bee until light glances sideways off of minute pits and hairs, shadows revealing their arrangement. It is a female Pseudopanurgus, a poorly described genus, and Droege can't tell whether this bee represents any named species. He has no idea whether she came from a thriving population, or one on the brink of extinction.
Editor's note (2/14/2017): This story has been updated to clarify the description of how buff-tailed bumblebees spread to Argentina.
Nala Rogers is a staff writer and editor at Inside Science, where she covers the Earth and Creature beats. She has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Utah and a graduate certificate in science communication from U.C. Santa Cruz. Before joining Inside Science, she wrote for diverse outlets including Science, Nature, the San Jose Mercury News, and Scientific American. In her spare time she likes to explore wilderness.
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Throgs Neck Bridge on-ramp may reopen on weekends
So guests of a local catering facility can more easily reach the Throgs Neck Bridge on weekend nights, plans are in the works to re-open an on-ramp to the Throgs Neck Expressway at Harding Avenue that is usually closed during the weekends and the rush hour.
Leaders of several civic associations have weighed in on opening the Harding Avenue entrance ramp on weekends between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on a three-month trial basis, in a proposal presented by Senator Jeff Klein to help the customers leaving Marina del Rey parties reach the bridge faster.
"For decades, Marina del Rey has hosted every prom, sweet 16 and wedding in our community, serving as a supportive, good neighbor," Klein said. "So, when the owner asked me to look into opening the expressway entrance only during nighttime, weekend hours when guests leave the hall, I told him I would get feedback from my community to see if it's feasible."
The on-ramp has been closed during rush hour and weekends for over 20 years to prevent motorists from using the Throgs Neck Expressway service road as a shortcut to the bridge's toll plaza. Before the entrance hours were modified, travellers would use the last expressway entrance before the bridge to avoid traffic backup at the toll plaza. This traffic, especially on holiday weekends, would exit the expressway at Randall Avenue and follow the service road to the entrance just before the toll plaza, according to former Throggs Neck Home Owners Association president Peggy Vega. Vega said this sometimes led to chaos on the service road when traffic clogged the residential streets, sometimes effectively shutting down access to Locust Point. Current TNHOA president Lynn Gerbino said the organization is reluctantly going along with the proposal, as long as its being tried on trial basis.
"I know what the community went through to get this closed," Gerbino said. "We are trying to be good neighbors, but we are doing this reluctantly. We are going to ask to have it closed again immediately if we see the service road being used by large trucks waiting to go over the bridge."
Jerry Landi, the president of the Locust Point Civic Association, said that he has polled the members of his group and found them to be amenable to keeping the entrance open on weekend nights. The on-ramp sits right beside the only roadway access to Locust Point.
"We are basically extending a hand to a local business that needs our help," Landi said. "I brought this before our board and at the general meeting and the members are fine with the proposal."
Landi said that the matter is still under discussion among different community groups.
When the entrance is closed, travellers access the bridge via the on-ramp near the Throggs Neck Houses, at Randall Avenue.
Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at (718) 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Veteran Media Executive Appointed VOA New York Bureau Chief
Bernard Shusman, a veteran of radio and television news, has been named chief of the VOA New York bureau
Washington, D.C., June 10, 2009 – Bernard Shusman, a veteran of radio and television news, has been named chief of the Voice of America (VOA) New York bureau, responsible for covering the northeastern United States.
"The New York bureau is one of VOA's most active beats, providing crucial information about the financial sector and the United Nations for our audiences overseas," said Steve Redisch, VOA's executive editor. "Bernie's wealth of knowledge of the major radio and TV markets in this region will be a great asset to VOA."
Shusman joined VOA a year ago, working with VOA's language services that produce television programming.
While at Newsweek, Shusman won the George Foster Peabody Award for developing an animated editorial cartoon series for broadcast by TV stations across the country. He spent eleven years at Newsweek as a Vice President and Executive Producer. He has also worked in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York City for NBC News/GE. As a corporate news director at General Electric Group, Shusman managed television and radio news operations in Denver, Nashville, and Schenectady. He established a Washington, D.C., news bureau to cover news in the nation's capital.
Shusman grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. He is a New York resident.
The Voice of America, which first went on the air in 1942, is a multimedia international broadcasting service funded by the U.S. Government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors. VOA broadcasts approximately 1,500 hours of news, information, educational, and cultural programming every week to an estimated worldwide audience of more than 134 million people. Programs are produced in 45 languages.
For more information, please call VOA Public Relations at (202) 203-4959, or e-mail askvoa@voanews.com.
Subscribe here to receive VOA news and information.


Emma creates original wood design wall hangings and decorative objects. Each piece is one of a kind, embracing the unique irregularities of new and reclaimed materials. Her designs tend toward two distinct styles: clean, minimalist, and architectural, or colorful, playful, and whimsical. Both styles are clearly driven by her varied sources of inspiration, including a juxtaposing passion for cities and nature, food, photography, literature, and an intense curiosity about the world.
Originally from California, Emma has been based in Bern since 2013. She often collaborates with her partner, artist and designer phist (you should check out his work too).
View my shop for currently available art objects and watch Instagram for new release announcements. Find past work in my portfolio.
Visit me at an upcoming event to pick up a piece in person.
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Meet Canada's Beauty Supply Mogul, Beverly Mascoll
0 Posted by Jae Jones - April 26, 2018 - BLACK BUSINESS, Black First, Black History, BLACK MEN, BLACK WOMEN, History, LATEST POSTS
Beverly Mascoll was a philanthropist, mentor, community builder, and the founder of Mascoll Beauty Supply Ltd.
Mascoll was born in 1942 in Nova Scotia. While in her teens, her family relocated to Toronto, Canada.
After completing high school, Mascoll found work as a receptionist at Toronto Barber and Beauty Supply. Within six months Mascoll was working as an assistant to the company's president. While at the company, Mascoll noticed a major gap in the beauty industry; Black hair-care and beauty products.
In 1970, she invested $700 into incorporating her own company, Mascoll Beauty Supply Ltd. She later took her ideas to U.S. manufacturer, Johnson Products to grant her the rights to be the company's first and only Canadian distributor. Mascoll Beauty Supply soon became one of the major players in the Canadian beauty supply industry. In addition to a chain of retail outlets, the company also manufactured and distributed products across the country. The retail outlets were a hub for many new Black-Canadian immigrants; the stores a validation of their identity in a new country.
Mascoll was a community activist and involved in several organizations including the Harry Jerome Scholarship Fund (awarding excellence to Black-Canadian achievers), Camp Jumoke (a camp for children with Sickle Cell Anemia) and the Ontario Black History Society.
She was also passionate about education. Mascoll was adamant about educating her customers, organizing trade events and seminars specific to her clientele. Not being able to afford to attend university after high school, at the age of 55, she enrolled full-time in the Women's Studies program at York University where she received her Bachelor of Arts in 2000.
Beverly Mascoll died in 2001 from complications due to breast cancer. She was 59.
Beverly Mascoll


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The Ultimate List of Social Media Acronyms and Abbreviations
Real talk: With all the social media acronyms being used right now, it can be hard to understand what's going on. For anyone not in the know, they're basically a different language.
But if your brand is using social media for business, properly using social media acronyms and social media abbreviations might be part of an effective social strategy. In fact, it's one of the many social media trends your brand will want to understand.
So don't worry if you thought YOLO was a frozen dessert. Or GOAT was literally, well, just a goat.
To help you crack the social media acronym code, we've collected the top social media acronyms, initialisms, and abbreviations every marketer should know. They're broken into five categories:
Network specific abbreviations Business specific social media acronyms and abbreviations Technical acronyms and abbreviations used on social media Gen Z social media acronyms and abbreviations Social media acronyms for emotions
Okay — it's time to level up your social vocabulary RN (right now).
Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.
Network specific abbreviations
FB: Facebook
G+: Google +
IG: Instagram
LI: LinkedIn
TW: Twitter
YT: YouTube
DM: Direct Message
This is a private form of communication, seen only between the sender and the recipient. On Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, users can "slide into" someone's DMs by sending a private message.
MT: Modified Tweet
Tweets that begin with MT indicate that the Tweeter has edited the content they're retweeting for brevity or other reasons. This is also called a Quote Tweet.
PM: Private Message
Private messages are the same as direct messages. If someone asks you to PM them, they're essentially asking to move a public conversation into the private realm.
PRT: Partial Retweet
This is very similar to a RT, but is used to show that you're only quoting part of what the other Twitter user said originally. Maybe you're condensing to save space for your own commentary, for example.
RT: Retweet
Instead of hitting the retweet button, or retweeting with a comment, some Twitter users repost a tweet and use "RT" plus the user's handle for attribution.
Popular social media acronyms and abbreviations
AFAIK: As Far As I Know
Used when sharing facts or stating something that you believe to be true, but typing AFAIK shows that you aren't completely sure. You're not certain and aren't an expert, after all.
AFAIK, people aren't introverts by birth. So, fellow introverts of reddit, what event/chain of events led you to become who you are right now? from AskReddit
AMA: Ask Me Anything
AMAs are social question-and-answer sessions. Companies, influencers and brand representatives might host AMAs on Twitter, Reddit, or in a Facebook or Instagram live stream.
BRB: Be Right Back
This is one of the original social media abbreviations, first used in the late 1980s or early 1990s. It's from the chat forum era, but finds its way back on social when the right occasion calls for it.
Brb just packing our bags 🤩https://t.co/b1xo3ErJfb
— Metro (@MetroUK) December 16, 2020
BTS: Behind the Scenes
Nope, not the Korean boy band named TIME's 2020 Entertainer of the Year. This abbreviation is used to offer followers a behind-the-scenes look at your brand.
BTW: By The Way
This social media acronym is used to add extra info, go on a tangent, or throw some shade.
CMV: Change My View
You're sharing an opinion, but are aware that your opinion might be flawed. You're open to having a civil conversation. In fact, there's an entire subreddit dedicated to CMV discussions.
DYK: Did You Know
Did you know the DYK abbreviation is a great way to share a fun fact with your social media audience? Write in your social media caption or include it as a hashtag.
ELI5: Explain It To Me Like I'm Five
This social media abbreviation is popular on Reddit, and is a way to introduce that you're explaining something complex in a simple way.
ELI5: Why does it feel colder inside in the winter even though the thermostat says the temperature is the same? from explainlikeimfive
FBF: Flashback Friday
A way to throw it back to the past on a Friday.
#fbf to whatever the hell was going on here pic.twitter.com/lM8FMxkwPb
— Topher Grace (@TopherGrace) December 11, 2020
FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out
If you haven't heard of FOMO, you've been missing out. This social-bred phobia expresses the anxiety of absence. For the homebodies there's the antonym acronym JOMO, which means Joy of Missing Out.
Cake FOMO is real, which is why we recommend ordering the whole cake. Check to see which whole cakes come in different sizes, perfect for any occasion. 😉
Posted by The Cheesecake Factory on Thursday, December 3, 2020
FTW: For The Win
A sometimes sincere, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes full-of-genuine-excitement acclamation. (And on the other side of the coin, FTL means for the loss.)
🚨 KYLE GUY FTW 🚨#NBAPreseason pic.twitter.com/nGtyl3suO0
— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 16, 2020
FWIW: For What It's Worth
This social media acronym is commonly used to express one's opinion, but in a way that isn't rude or overbearing. It shows you're not intentionally trying to call someone out if they share something you don't think is correct. You'll most often find this on Twitter or message boards.
FWIW, you shouldn't ever use "Facts don't care about your feelings" — even if you're a US Senator — if you can't answer the question "Who lost the 2020 presidential race?" without a lot of stammering, mumbling or "Squirrel!"
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) December 15, 2020
FYI: For Your Information
This social media acronym is an informative abbreviation, sometimes delivered with a hint of sass.
"I'm a big girl who did a smoothie detox. Every big girl should do whatever they want with their bodies." Lizzo responded to critics that say she's promoting "diet culture" with her smoothie cleanse. FYI, she's doing what SHE wants. https://t.co/mtFZpz6H0t
— InStyle (@InStyle) December 15, 2020
H/T: Hat Tip
Sometimes just HT, a hat tip is a virtual nod that credits an original source for intel or an image. It can also stand for heard through.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
A way to highlight content or news that might have been missed in the everlasting blitz that is social media.
IMO/IMHO: In My Opinion / In My Humble Opinion
A disclaimer that someone is sharing their opinion, not facts, about something. Opinions are divided on whether the H stands for humble or honest.
Tesla's stock price is too high IMO from wallstreetbets
IRL: In Real Life
IRL is used to distinguish when something happens in reality, not on social media, in games or anywhere else on the internet.
Are you watching the #SuperBlueBloodMoon #IRL or live online? It's happening now, so don't miss it! Earth will continue to block the Sun's light, casting a reddish hue onto the Moon until around 9:07am ET/6:07am PT. Take a look: https://t.co/r6X6SoMfLn pic.twitter.com/J9UfDz2NTF
— NASA (@NASA) January 31, 2018
LMK: Let Me Know
When someone uses this social media abbreviation, they're waiting for feedback or information.
Made my first house moc today! It's a beach house, lmk what you think from lego
NBD: No Big Deal
Often used as a humble brag for something that is actually a big deal for the writer of the social post.
NBD! just picked up a scott foil 20(2021). delayed due to the pandemic so the maiden ride will be on a trainer. from bicycling
NSFW: Not Safe For Work
This one is literally not safe for work. Think twice before using it — and sharing any NSFW content — on a corporate account.
OC: Original Content
Another way of showing that you are sharing your own content, not someone else's ideas or words. Basically the opposite of RT. For example, sharing a photo over Twitter that you took would be OC. Sharing someone else's photo wouldn't.
WFH: Working From Home
Probably the social media acronym of 2020. Often used in online chats with colleagues, but this can be useful for social media as well.
SMH: Shaking My Head
For the times when it's necessary people know that you're unimpressed or incredulous, and quite possibly, literally shaking your head behind that screen.
TBH: To Be Honest
Much like IMO, this social media abbreviation is used as a humble flex, to share an opinion or show you agree or disagree with something.
TBT: Throwback Thursday
Like FBF, this is another social media-designated day of nostalgia.
#tbt I am one lucky guy 😍
Posted by Joe Montana on Thursday, November 19, 2020
TFTF: Thanks For The Follow
Twitter slang. This social media abbreviation is a way to interact in a positive way with someone who recently started following you on social.
TFW: That Feeling When
Precedes an often relatable experience, and is usually accompanied by a meme.
TGIF: Thank God It's Friday
Because everybody's working for the weekend.
2021 is already a vast improvement over 2020, with TGIF favorite #Dinosaurs headed to @disneyplus: https://t.co/l1EETZeOLd
— Collider (@Collider) December 15, 2020
TL;DR: Too Long; Didn't Read
Usually used to offer a pithy summary on something too lengthy for Internet attention spans. Or it's the summary typed out before or after the long explanation, kind of like the Coles Notes version of a social media caption.
TLDR: I went out for a 100 miler and earned 65 TRAIL miles with a PR for time on my feet! 🏃🏼♀💪🏼 My motto for 2020…
Posted by Stephanie Stonebraker on Sunday, December 6, 2020
WBW: Wayback Wednesday
Wayback Wednesday takes a trip down memory lane on hump day.
WCW: Woman Crush Wednesday
A day of the week to celebrate a self-identifying woman, usually on Instagram, for whatever reason! (There's also MCM: Man Crush Monday.) WCW can be used in a caption or as a hashtag.
B2B: Business To Business
Shorthand for a company with business-facing priorities.
B2C: Business To Consumer
Describes a company that offers products or services directly to customers.
CMGR: Community Manager
Community managers cultivate a brand's relationships on social media. Not to be confused with social media managers, community managers engage and nurture the company's community.
CTA: Call To Action
A call-to-action is a verbal, written, or visual prompt. It offers people a directive on what to do next, whether that's "Sign up," "Subscribe," or "Call us today."
Resource: Here's how to write an effective CTA.
EOD: End Of Day
Usually to show a deadline. For example, "Please get this report back to me by EOD Monday."
EM – Email Me
There's no need to schedule another Zoom meeting. This can be figured out in writing.
ETA: Estimated Time Of Arrival
The abbreviation used when guessing when a deliverable is due. For example, "What's the ETA on that article we're waiting on?"
F2F: Face To Face
Not exactly used a lot during the pandemic, but this abbreviation is used when wanting to arrange an in-person meeting. For example, "Rather than another Zoom meeting, let's schedule something F2F."
IAM: In a Meeting
An abbreviation to show that now is not the ideal time for a phone call or an endless barrage of text messages. You're busy, and very probably with a client.
KPI: Key Performance Indicator
A key performance indicator is a broad measurement that tracks how effectively a company is accomplishing its goals.
Resource: These are the KPIs to track in order to measure your brand's success.
MoM: Month Over Month
Used to show growth or quantitative changes happening each four weeks. Commonly used for changes in revenue, active users, page views or sign ups. There's also YoY: Year over Year. This measures the same quantitative metrics, but comparing data over 12 months instead of 4 weeks.
Usually included in an automated email, scheduled to be sent when someone knows they will be away from the office on holiday, travelling for work, or in an extended workshop. For example, "I will try to get back to you by Monday as I will be OOO for the next three days on vacation."
P/E: Price to Earnings
A ratio or metric often used by investors and business analysts to determine the value of a company.
ROI: Return On Investment
ROI measures how much profit is delivered for given corporate initiatives. ROI is one of the most common ways businesses assess the success of campaigns and ventures.
Resource: Learn how to track and improve your social media ROI.
SEM: Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing is a method of advertising on the Internet. It involves purchasing ads on search engines to increase website traffic.
Search engine optimization aims to improve organic search engine results and increase the visibility of content on the web.
Resource: Does social media impact SEO? We let you know here.
SERP: Search Engine Results Page
These are the paid and organic page results that are displayed by a search engine after a user performs a search.
SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely
A common business acronym used in goal-setting. It reminds the person setting the goals to create ones that can be tracked and actually achieved.
Resource: Here's how to set SMART goals to set up your brand for social media success.
SMB: Small and Midsize Businesses
Small businesses are businesses with less than 50 employees. Midsize (or medium-sized) businesses typically have less than 250. They also are sometimes referred to as small and midsize enterprises (SMEs).
Resource: Is your brand a small business? Here are some tips to help you with your social media strategy.
SMP: Social Media Platform
A social media abbreviation that is sometimes used to refer to a particular social network.
SMM: Social Media Marketing
The practice of increasing brand awareness and consideration on social media, with the objective of building relationships and generating leads.
SMO: Social Media Optimization
Social media optimization ensures the use of the appropriate platforms for brand marketing. It's very similar to SMM.
SoLoMo: Social, Local, Mobile
Social, local, mobile describes the convergence of mobile and locally targeted social media marketing that's grown in popularity thanks to geo-location technology.
SRP: Social Relationship Platform
An SRP is a centralized platform that uses enterprise-grade technology to allow companies to publish on multiple social media sites, as well as monitor, moderate, and analyze.
Resource: If you're looking for an example of an SRP, look no further. Hootsuite is a social relationship platform and here's how to use it.
TOS: Terms Of Service
Terms of service are the legal rules users agree to follow to use a social platform.
UGC: User-Generated Content
User-generated content refers to any content, including posts, images, or videos, created by users of a platform rather than a brand.
WOM: Word Of Mouth
Word-of-mouth marketing refers to the viral passing of brand conversation online through the active encouragement of a company.
API: Application Programming Interface
An API is a set of tools, definitions, and protocols that allows software developers to backend one system with another. For instance, Google Maps has APIs available for web browser and app integration so that different companies can integrate map technology.
CMS: Content Management System
A content management system is a platform that hosts the creation and management of digital content. Popular content management systems include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.
CPC: Cost Per Click
Also known as pay per click (PPC), this abbreviation refers to the price an advertiser pays for each click earned on a campaign.
CR: Conversion Rate
The conversion rate measures the percentage of people who have taken an action on your campaign such as views, registrations, downloads, purchases. Conversions are a key metric when it comes to calculating ROI.
CRO: Conversion Rate Optimization
Measures taken to improve conversions.
CTR: Click-Through Rate
A click-through rate represents the percentage of people who click on a link after being presented with the option.
CX: Customer Experience
Customer experience refers to the relationship a customer has with a company through various interactions and touchpoints. Mapping out the customer journey is a good way to ensure a customer will have a good experience with your company.
ESP: Email Service Provider
In simple terms, an ESP is a third-party company that offers email services, such as newsletter deployment or marketing campaigns. Popular companies include MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Drip.
FTP: File Transport Protocol
A way of transferring files or copying files between computers. Often used for file transfer between a server on a network and a client's computer. This is one of the easiest ways of transferring files — and also the oldest, since it was taking place in the pre-internet era.
GA: Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an analytics platform for websites. It allows marketers to track website visitors, referrals, bounce rates, and more.
Resource: We tell you how to set up Google Analytics and use it to track your brand's social media success.
IM: Instant Messaging
Sending a typed message to someone else's computer immediately. For example, you can send an IM over Slack, Google's Hangout Conversations or Skype chat.
OS: Operating System
The software that runs a computer, tablet or smartphone. For example, when you get a notification on your iPhone to update to 14.3, you're updating the OS that runs your phone.
PV: Page Views
Page views is a tally of how many visitors have landed on a given web page. Overall page views stats often tracked alongside unique page views.
RSS: Rich Site Summary
RSS, sometimes known as Really Simple Syndication, is a format for syndicating web content. (That means content from one website is made available for another website.) Podcasts, blogs, and publishers rely on RSS feeds to share their content with a wide audience.
Resource: Check out the Hootsuite Syndicator.
Saas: Software As A Service
Software as a service refers to cloud-based applications that are available to customers over the Internet. It's sometimes also known as "on-demand software" or software plus services." Examples include email and calendar apps, and Hootsuite.
SOV: Share Of Voice
Share of voice measures the amount of exposure a company owns compared to its competitors. Social share of voice, on the other hand, measures brand exposure based on social conversation about a company.
UI: User Interface
The visual part of a system that's been designed for end users. Basically, it's where humans and machines meet.
URL: Uniform Resource Locator
A URL is the global web address of a website or page.
UV: Unique Views
Unique views is the number of individual viewers of a page, video, or image. For example, if a single user reads a story on a website 10 times, it will register as 10 page views and one unique view.
UX: User Experience
In digital design, user experience examines how effectively people interface with systems such as websites or applications. Good UX aims to understand users' values, needs, abilities, and barriers.
VPN: Virtual Private Network
A private network that gives the user anonymity when using the internet by offering an encrypted connection, as opposed to being on a public network. A VPN might be used to protect the user from hackers or spyware.
Being able to connect with Gen Zers on social media matters. This generation has a spending power of over $143 billion in the USA, value individualism, and put their money where their values are. So, how do you market to them?
Sometimes, to do that, you've got to speak their language. Here are the social media abbreviations Gen Z is using right now.
411: Information
If you've got the 411, you know what's up.
AF: As F–––
An addition for emphasis, i.e. I'm hungry AF.
AFK: Away From Keyboard
Used to let others know there might be a bit of a delay in replying to their message because, well, you aren't at your keyboard right now or are currently offline.
BAE: Before Anyone Else
Affectionate term for someone's boyfriend, girlfriend, or crush.
BC: Because
'Cause BC is just easier.
BFF: Best Friends Forever
An acronym that shows someone is a really, really close friend. Like, the best.
FFS: For F–––'s Sake
Just total exasperation.
FML: F––– My Life
Often used before or after an unfortunate anecdote.
A way to chip in one's two cents.
GOAT: Greatest Of All Time
This social media acronym recognizes the very best in their field. Not everyone gets to be a GOAT. For example, Simone Biles is the gymnastics GOAT.
HMU: Hit Me Up
Call me, get in touch, slide into my DMs, etc.
IDK: I Don't Know
If you don't know what this means, IDK how to help you.
ILY: I Love You
Sometimes also written as ILU. Also acceptable are hearts and blow-kiss emojis.
ISO: In Search Of
Often used in forums and groups where things are solicited, sold, or exchanged.
JK: Just Kidding
A helpful add-on for when the joke's not obvious.
Putting stories in the Wendy's app.
jk no one asked for that. pic.twitter.com/AqIA0o1C2V
— Wendy's (@Wendys) November 18, 2020
JTM: Just the Messenger
Shorthand to indicate that you're not the source of the info you're sharing. Often used in groups and message boards.
KK: Okay
A way of saying, "cool" or "all good" or "I got it." But when you type KK, you're showing that you're chill about that decision. You're casual.
LOL: Laughing Out Loud
Because we can't hear your laughter on the Internet.
LMAO: Laughing My A–– Off
For when laughing normally doesn't cut it. Or when something is really funny.
MRW: My Reaction When
A social media acronym that's most often paired with an image or GIF to show how you're feeling about something.
NVM: Nevermind
Just, forget about it.
NYT: Name Your Trade
Used in groups and forums where exchanges are made. Has misled many to assume The New York Times is in very high demand.
Obvs: Obviously
Obvs goes without saying.
OH: Overheard
Precedes a direct quote or paraphrase picked up from eavesdropping.
OMG: Oh My God
Or "Oh My Goodness" also works.
OMW: On My Way
Means someone is coming IRL.
Pls: Please
Please, sans vowels.
PSA: Public Service Announcement
A way to broadcast a message considered valuable to the general public.
You asked for a #PSA about the overuse of high-beam headlights.
Ask and receive; Enjoy!#RoadSafety pic.twitter.com/rdofyNsmIB
— Cst. Marc Taraso (@CstTaraso9345) December 6, 2020
RN: Right Now
A real-time mood, i.e. "So hungry RN." You can also ask someone WYD RN? (Translation: What are you doing right now?)
ROFL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing
A full degree above LMAO.
SRSLY: Seriously
For serious incredulity.
TIL: Today I Learned
An opening for sharing a new bit of knowledge, derived from a Reddit forum of the same name.
TIL: The critters most commonly referred to as daddy longlegs spiders are not spiders. They are Opiliones and also known as harvestmen. They are also arachnids, but are more closely related to scorpions . Hence, they don't produce venom or silk and don't have fangs either,and are completely harmless from todayilearned
TMI: Too Much Information
Used before providing too much information (i.e. "this may be TMI, but…"). Or to tell someone they have: "That's gross! TMI!"
TTKU: Try To Keep Up
Often used in a sassy way to call someone out when they're not quite fast enough to understand a joke or a fact.
TY: Thank You
Or thx.
WBU: What About You
"I'm doing great, WBU?"
WDYM: What Do You Mean
An abbreviation to show you don't totally get what's going on right now. You need someone to clarify for you.
WTF: What The F–––
Seriously, WTF.
YOLO: You Only Live Once
Only a few years ago, YOLO was used a lot to show that you're living your best life. Now, in true Gen Z style, it's mostly used in an ironic way.
YW: You're Welcome
Don't mention it, using only as many letters as necessary.
The social media managers out there know that social media acronyms is basically another language. (Especially when you add in all those social media definitions you need to know too!)
But it isn't one that's hard to master. In fact, you can consider this list your English-to-social media abbreviation cheat sheet. Bookmarked alongside our Social Media Dictionary, you'll be fluent in no time.
DYK Hootsuite makes SMM easier and quicker? Schedule, compose, and publish posts to FB, IG, LI, TW, and YT all from one dashboard. Srsly! Try it free rn.
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text:
How you can help Jeremy Corbyn become Labour leader
Why Jeremy Corbyn?
Regular AAV readers will know that I'm not a member of any political party and that I don't explicitly endorse particular parties either.
I consider myself a natural Labour voter because I believe in things like social justice, the NHS, social ownership of vital national infrastructure, the provision of welfare to people who are sick/disabled/elderly/down on their luck ... but unfortunately the Labour Party was usurped in the 1990s by the right-wing element of the party who restructured it to provide a Rupert Murdoch approved brand of Thatcherite economic policy disguised with a few dollops of pseudo-socialist window dressing.
These red Thatcherites have ruled the roost over the Labour Party for two decades now, and in my opinion their time is up. Blairism won three general elections in a row, but just think about the hopelessness of the opposition at the time. Tony Blair beat John Major's tired and sleaze ridden Tory government, then he beat William "Billy Fizz" Hague's Tories with a smaller majority in 2001, then his majority shrank again when the Tories inexplicably chose Michael "something of the night" Howard as their leader for the 2005 General election. It's now ten years since Blairism won a General Election, yet the Blairites keep insisting that Labour needs to move even further to the right, and even deeper into Tory territory in order to win again.
The Blairites are completely wrong. The Labour Party lost the last election because they abjectly failed to present a coherent anti-austerity counter narrative, not because they weren't quite similar enough to the Tories.
Anyone who thinks this is all wrong, and that there is no public appetite for anti-auaterity politics should have a think about what happened in Scotland (Labour and the Lib-Dems were all but wiped out by the SNP's clear anti-austerity message), and also what has been happening in other countries like Greece and Spain.
In my view Jeremy Corbyn is the only hope for the Labour Party because he's the only candidate in the leadership election to actually understand that the problem with the Labour Party is that it aligned itself too closely with the Tories, not that it needs to move even closer to them.
Corbyn is the best candidate of the four by such a distance it would be a travesty if he failed to win. I'm certainly not saying that I'd become a Labour Party supporter if he did win because I prefer to judge people on their actions, not their fine intentions, however I'm pretty sure that many thousands of natural Labour Party supporters would come back to the party were he to win and wrest control of the party off the Blairites,
The most important reason that I think Corbyn needs to win is because it is vital that there is some kind of clear and coherent opposition to the malice and incompetence of the Tory government, and none of the other three candidates will be able to offer this clear and coherent opposition by positioning themselves in on the centre-right, just slightly to the left of the Tories.
There are three different ways to register to vote in the Labour leadership election in order to vote for Jeremy Corbyn (or one of the other three if you must). I will detail these methods in the following sections, but before I do I'd like to say that if you are a member of another political party, you shouldn't interfere in the Labour leadership election. You may think it's a good idea to support Jeremy Corbyn because he's a good candidate, but if he wins and then it turns out that he was heavily supported by paid up members of other political parties, this would be powerful ammunition for the right-wing factions of the Labour Party to attack him with, or even attempt to depose him as leader. So unless you're prepared to cancel your membership of your other political party, it's definitely for the best that you don't vote in the Labour leadership election.
Join the Labour Party
The most obvious way to register yourself to vote in the Labour leadership election is to actually join the Labour Party. In my view this is not the best option because there's always the possibility that one of the three Blairite candidates could beat Jeremy Corbyn, meaning that you'll have boosted the membership numbers and made a financial contribution towards a centre-right political party. By all means feel free to join the party, but at least consider the other options first.
Register via an affiliated trade union/organisation
If you are a member of any of the following Labour Party affiliated trade unions, you are entitled to register to vote in the leadership election as a party supporter, which you can do here:
ASLEF, BECTU, BFAWU, Community, CWU, GMB, MU, NUM, TSSA, UCATT, UNISON, Unite, Unity, USDAW
It is also possible to vote in the Labour leadership election if you are a member of an affiliated political group, the full list of which can be found on the party supporter registration page.
Become a registered supporter
If you are not a member of a Labour Party affiliated organisation and you don't want to become a full member of the party, there is still the option of making a £3 donation to become a registered supporter so that you can vote in the leadership election.
Here is the link to do that.
Registration problems
As the Labour Party leadership election has progressed I've received ever more messages from people who have attempted to register to vote, but ended up getting declined by the Labour Party with claims that they are not listed on the electoral register (even though they assure me that they definitely are listed).
One of the common themes amongst these messages is that they have tried to register their vote via "support Jeremy Corbyn" type web pages. Now I'm not trying to claim "conspiracy" here, because there are a number of factors to consider. Firstly, the majority of new people registering to vote in the Labour leadership contest appear to be Corbyn supporters, meaning it's very much more likely that I'd hear about registration problems from them. Secondly, it's pretty damned unlikely that a supporter of centre-right candidates like Liz Kendall or Yvette Cooper would write to a "bloody leftie" like me to complain about their own registration problems. Thirdly, it think it's far more likely to be some kind of glitch in the Labour Party registration system than a deliberate systematic effort to "weed out" Corbyn supporters.
I think one of the most important things to say about this issue is that several people have told me that they were successful in registering at the second attempt when they did it directly through the Labour Party registration page, rather than attempting to register through their Labour affiliated trade union or whatever.
Other ways you can help the Corbyn campaign
If you are a member of another political party, or if you are disinclined to register yourself as any kind of Labour supporter until you're sure that it will be led by Jeremy Corbyn, there are still things you can do to help his campaign.
One of the most important things you can do is to help to undermine the utterly misleading narrative from the Blairites and the mainstream media that there is no public appetite for left-wing politics in the UK. One of the most compelling arguments against this toxic right-wing narrative is the fact that an overwhelming majority of people support the explicitly left-wing policy of running vital national infrastructure (the NHS, rail network, energy infrastructure and Royal Mail) as not-for-profit public services. Here's a link to evidence to support this assertion.
Another way you can help is by sharing Jeremy Corbyn articles and infographics that clearly explain his actual political views. This is important because very many people rote learn their political opinions from the mainstream media, so unless they're presented with counter evidence, they're likely to take the anti-Corbyn propaganda at face value and consider him some kind of dangerous Marxist bogeymen (without even knowing the proper definition of Marxism of course). The more people who are presented with Jeremy Corbyn's actual policies and opinions, the less effective the mainstream media anti-Corbyn demonisation tactics will be.
Austerity is a con
Who are the 48 genuine Labour MPs?
The Blairite attacks on Jeremy Corbyn
George Osborne has created more debt than every Labour government in history combined
How Ed Balls' austerity-lite agenda ruined Labour's election chances
How the Lib-Dems were just as compassionless as the Tories
Labels: 2015, Andy Burnham, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour, Liz Kendall, Media, Politics, Trade Unions, UK, Yvette Cooper
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text:
Feed the Future Global Food Security Act Passes House; Companion Legislation in Senate Bumped to 2015
By: NCBA CLUSA Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2015 Share: Print: Subscribe
With its approval late December 10 by the United States House of Representatives, U.S.-led global food security legislation is one step closer to becoming law.
The move came two days after NCBA CLUSA co-hosted a food security briefing with the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., meant to highlight NCBA CLUSA's sustainable, nutrition-led approach to development and how these efforts complement the larger global food security strategy proposed by the bill.
The 2014 Global Food Security Act (H.R. 5656) drew bipartisan support from co-sponsors Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of its Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organization Subcommittee; and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN).
The legislation seeks to codify the Obama administration's flagship initiative to maximize the impact and sustainability of U.S. government and taxpayer investments to end global hunger by addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty.
A hallmark of Feed the Future legislation is its commitment to the quality and nutrition content of food grown in intervention countries, not just its quantity. The bill is also noteworthy for its "numerous" mentions of cooperatives, said Alan Knapp, NCBA CLUSA vice president for Advocacy.
"As a lead implementer of Feed the Future, NCBA CLUSA has first-hand experience with the powerful impact this program has on communities around the world," said Michael Beall, president and CEO of NCBA CLUSA. "We're pleased with the momentum behind this bill, and we're confident that the Senate next year will consider the incredible success this program is having and progress it is making to reduce food insecurity and increase nutrition for the most vulnerable."
Since its launch in 2010, Feed the Future, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, has allocated $1 billion to fight hunger in 19 target countries in Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America.
According to the first demographic and health survey conducted in Ethiopia since the launch of Feed the Future interventions there, the country has seen a 10 percent reduction in stunting during the period of Feed the Future—almost double the normal rate—despite continued population growth. Richard Greene, Senior Deputy Assistant to the Administrator of USAID's Bureau for Food Security, called the results "landmark" at NCBA CLUSA's briefing earlier this week.
In Senegal, NCBA CLUSA is implementing one of Feed the Future's inaugural projects, a nutrition-led agriculture project called Yaajeende, which is addressing Vitamin A deficiencies in the country with orange-flesh sweet potatoes and other bio-fortified foods.
NCBA CLUSA and other food security advocates are applauding the comprehensive nature of the bill, its whole-of-government approach and its emphasis on crucial public-private partnerships and women's empowerment at the household level.
"To combat chronic hunger, food insecurity and regional instability, the Global Food Security legislation in part calls for improving the lives of smallholder farmers and producers, women's economic empowerment, better nutrition for women and children, increased resilience and capacity-building, and leveraging stakeholder involvement, including cooperatives, which is central to our organization," Knapp said.
NCBA CLUSA, he added, was "actively and directly" involved in negotiations with leaders on global food security legislation in both the House and Senate on bill language, and has collaborated with NGO Alliance InterAction and its members to rally support for the bill.
Companion legislation in the Senate (S. 2909) did not come up for a vote. The 114th Congress, which will convene in January 2015, is expected to consider the bill.
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text:
The Language of Love By Anne Harvey
Very GoodGood
Love poems for everyone and every occasion!
The Language of Love Summary
The Language of Love: poems chosen by by Anne Harvey
An anthology of beautiful, funny and quirky poems and songs from across centuries, continents and cultures, all celebrating love. All the various stages and moods of love are featured, such as first love, lost love, marriage and falling out of love. Includes poets such as Robert Burns, William Shakespeare, Wendy Cope, Adrian Henri, Dorothy Parker and Cole Porter.
Love is Like a Dizziness
O, love, love, love!
Love is like a dizziness;
It winna let a poor body
Gang about his biziness!
James Hogg (1770-1835)
About Anne Harvey
Anne Harvey is a freelance writer, reviewer, lecturer and broadcaster and regularly adjudicated at poetry and drama festivals. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and now combines her work as an actress and director with her work in the world of poetry and children's books. She is an active member of the Poetry Society. She lives and works in London.
Anne Harvey
Customer Reviews - The Language of Love


Fully responsive. A fixed Left hand side menu with an extended section for external links collapses to a hamburger for mobiles. Pages have titles and optional sub-titles/taglines. There is one page template. The Sidebar component is not used.
The Site Name is displayed at the top of the menu. If you want to change what is displayed there or just need to put line breaks in you can make a component and call it 'menu-heading'. Write what you want in the component and the template will display the contents in place of the Site Name, no need to edit the template.
There is a normal menu and an extended menu suitable for external links. Make a component and call it 'extended-menu' and write in it one or more anchor elements. Example: Google Cyberpress Save the component as an empty component if you don't want to use this feature, no need to edit the template.


Dr. Fred Ventura is a software developer who focuses on creating educational learning environments where students become engaged in active learning experiences. As an educator with experience at the elementary, secondary and college levels, Dr. Ventura brings a unique perspective to software design. He holds a doctorate in education from the University of California and continues to develop new iOS and tvOS apps that are used in schools throughout world. Some of his latest projects include the Hands-On Math Series of apps, Algebra Ace and Atomic Tiles.


text:
Sander van der Borch Photography / www.sandervanderborch.com
Scheidt day
As Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes take the lead in the 49er at the Delta Lloyd Regatta
Wednesday May 25th 2011, Author: Corinne Rolland-McKenzie, Location: Netherlands
After a windy opening day, the Delta Lloyd regatta provided sailors with challenging conditions with shifty winds on day two of the fifth ISAF Sailing World Cup event.
'Olympic couple' Robert and Gintare Scheidt, racing in the Star and the Laser Radial respectively, are leading their classes with top results including a win in today's last race. At the end of the day they Match-raced each others in the 'fun race' organised for the day winners. Robert took the win, but Gintare is aiming to take her revenge before the end of the week!
The Stars were last off the water last night, with their fourth race ending at 9.30pm! Beijing Silver medallists, Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) took the early lead with a third and a win, followed by another win in today's last race. They are continuing on their good form after winning the Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères with a day to spare. After a victory in their last event in Palma, Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) are in second position and in contention for the event title. Canadians Richard Clarke and Tyler Bjorn, and last year Sailing World Cup winners Eivind Melleby and Petter Moerland Pedersen (NOR) are only one point from second.
Beijing Silver medallist Gintare Scheidt (LTU) is climbing to first place in the Laser Radial after mastering the day's tricky conditions. "The wind was very shifty and the positions changed constantly throughout the races," she said. Tina Mihelic (CRO), who is still carrying a disqualification from the first day, won the first race and placed fourth in the second. She is in tenth overall. "It was a difficult day with big shifts but I sailed well. I look forward more races to discard my OCS and come up in the rankings."
Early leader Marit Bouwmeester (NED) lost seven places after a difficult day. She commented on her 39th place: "On the first race I got carried away, too eager, I went too far left and ended up with less wind." Bouwmeester compared today's conditions with the ones encountered in Weymouth when the northerly is blowing.
Milan Vujasinovic has conserved his lead in the Laser on equal points with Brazil's Bruno Fontes. "I am happy with today's results and to keep the lead." says the Croat, "Light winds are not my favoured conditions, and I found it really hard! I just had to be patient and wait to benefit from the situations that came my way."
Tom Slingsby is third: "It was a very tricky day today, we had one race called off and the other two could very easily have gone the same way with big wind shifts," said the reigning Laser World Champion. "First and second are equal on points after the first four races and we're expecting a bit more breeze from now on so scoring will even out and hopefully I'll knock a few points off them each day."
In the RS:X Men, Princess Sofia Trophy winner Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) has taken the lead from New Zealand's JP Tobin through consistent sailing. "I have not seen conditions so unstable, the wind went right and left and up and down. In the second race I ended up in a hole in the middle and rounded the top mark in 30th position. These conditions also gave me opportunities to catch up and finally finish fifth!" explains the Dutchman.
2010 Asian Games champion, Wang Aichen from China won the second race leaving him in sixth place overall.
In the RS:X Women's division, Israel's Mayaan Davidovich, who placed 9th in the Delta Lloyd Regatta last year, has taken the lead but Australia's Jessica Crisp is following her closely after winning today's first race. The Chinese sailors are once again proving their prowess in windsurfing and currently hold third, fourth and fifth places.
Olympic medallist Fernanda Oliveira with new crew Ana Luiza Barbachan (BRA) have taken the lead in the 470 Women after top three results in today's tricky conditions. Japan's Yuka Yoshisako and Noriko Okuma, 5th at the 470 Spring Cup, are up to second overall. After mixed results (19th and 1st), early leaders Martine Grael and Isabel Swan (BRA) hold third ahead of Dutch double World Champions Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout who have near perfect results with a first and a second.
In the Men's 470, Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) are conserving their lead, three points over World no1 Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page.
"The conditions were incredibly variable today and to come away from that being consistent was a good day's racing," said Belcher. "We had a better day than a lot of those around us and are up to second now so there's plenty to fight for tomorrow.
"The depth of the 470 class is so strong that if you have a good day you can move up but if not you will lose out very quickly, the fleet is close with numbers one, two and four in the world here, so we'll aim to put in another solid day tomorrow and see where we end up."
But the day went to the Japanese teams with Tetsuya Matsunaga/Kimihiko Imamura and Ichino Naoki/Ryouhei Froyliche enjoying the conditions with a second and a first each. "We like the light conditions so today was a day for us," explained Tetsuya, "We were in the lead at the top mark but got passed by Ichino and Ryouhei. We beat them again downwind."
The Japanese 470 squad is in Medemblik en masse. "We are five boats training together and progressing together as well." Tetsuya and Kimihiko, after finishing 18th in Medemblik in previous years, have an objective of a podium place in this event.
Finn World Champion Ed Wright is increasing his lead after winning a second race today. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) is second, ten points from former Laser Olympic medallist, Slovenian Vasilij Zbogar. The second race in the Finn saw eight boats penalised for being OCS. Among them, Dan Slater (NZL) who collected his second penalty.
In the 49er, yesterday leaders, the Australians Outteridge/Jensen and the Philips brothers, got disqualified by the jury for rounding the wrong mark. As a result Skandia Team GBR's Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes have taken the lead with Denmark's Peter Kruger Andersen and Nicolai Thorsell holding second and Outteridge/Jensen down to third.
"It was a bit up and down today and the 22nd hurt us as we only get to drop one race at this regatta and we were disqualified from the first race yesterday," said Jensen. "Saying that there's a lot of racing still to go this week, it's still early days and hopefully we can come through and win again."
This regatta is the pair's first together since the opening round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne last December. "It's good to be back in the boat," said Outteridge. "We've done a lot of training back home in Australia with our training partners but it's good to get back to Europe and go racing, this event is a great lead in to Sail for Gold in Weymouth next week."
The qualification stage in the Women Match racing is nearly completed. In Group A, Tamara Echegoyen and her Spanish team have continued their perfect scoreline with eight wins and will enter the Gold group undefeated. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) had a better day with four wins and are second in the Gold fleet. The second Spanish team, Roca, is in third place in also the Gold fleet from Group A. There are still some matches to be raced in Group B, when Groeneveld (NED) and Skudina (RUS) have both collected six victories. Racing will resume in the morning to decide the remaining three teams who will qualify in the Gold fleet.
"The matches have been really hard and a real contest so we are happy with our results. We are in the Gold group thanks to real team work. Yesterday, in the breeze every small mistake could cost a lot and we needed to be careful. Today the wind was hard to read and my crew did a great work with the strategies. We needed to be very attentive to the wind shifts," explained Echegoyen.
Thierry Schmitter (NED) and Megan Pascoe (GBR) are continuing with their series of first and second places and increase their margin over the rest of the fleet.
The forecast for Thursday is 15-20 knots in the morning gusting to more than 25 knots in the afternoon.
Hirsty 27/05/2011 - 11:52
Bet you enjoyed writing that headline!
Ana Luiza Barbachan
Anna Tunnicliffe
Bruno Fontes
Bruno Prada
Dorian van Rijsselberge
Ed Wright
Fernanda Oliveira
Gintare Scheidt
Iain Jensen
Igor Marenic
Jessica Crisp
JP Tobin
Malcolm Page
Marit Bouwmeester
Mat Belcher
Mayaan Davidovich
Milan Vujasinovic
Nathan Outteridge
Robert Scheidt
Sime Fantela
Stevie Morrison
Tina Mihelic
Wang Aichen
Sander van der Borch
The new HH42 IRC
Superb new IRC boat from Judel-Vrolijk and Hakes Marine. Contact joff@whitecapltd.com for more info.
David Branigan - Oceansport
Kos Pictures
Rick Tomlinson Photography
Categories include: Dinghy builders, Corporate entertainment, Sailing team, Holidays


Tillman, 29, is a reliever who was a second round draft pick of the Los Angeles Angels in 2010, but they let him go following an injury-riddled four seasons in their organization. He spent the next two years in the Dodgers farm system, and then went 3-0 with an 0.46 ERA and six saves in 14 appearances for the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate in 2016 before his year came to an end in June thanks to shoulder surgery that also shut him down for all of 2017.
He was the Wingnuts closer in 2018, going 1-4 with a 2.27 ERA and 27 saves in 40 appearances. He walked just 11 and struck out 54 in 39 2/3 innings pitched.
Tillman has not officially been signed to a contract, and you likely won't start seeing player announcements until January or February.
Posted in Uncategorized on November 3, 2018 by Mike Ashmore.


Healthcare staff treating you in Northern Ireland may look at your Emergency Care Summary Record. To improve patient safety and care, the record has details about your allergies and medications which medical staff can check on the Northern Ireland Electronic Care Record (NIECR).
Your detailed medical notes aren't included in this record.
Wherever and whenever healthcare staff treat you, they can check your allergies and medications held on GP practice computer systems with NIECR.
Only health and social care (HSC) staff treating you can access the NIECR for your Emergency Care Summary Record. They'll ask for your permission first. This information will allow the doctor or nurse treating you to give you the best possible care. The NIECR is only accessible on HSC's secure network.
If you don't want information about your allergies or medications made available to NIECR through the Emergency Care Summary Record, you should tell your GP practice.


text:
package org.spongepowered.api.data.manipulator.entity;

import org.spongepowered.api.data.manipulator.SingleValueData;
import org.spongepowered.api.entity.Entity;

/**
 * Signifies that an {@link Entity} is a "passenger" of another {@link Entity}.
 */
public interface PassengerData extends SingleValueData<Entity, PassengerData> {

    /**
     * Gets the vehicle that this entity is riding.
     *
     * @return The vehicle entity
     */
    Entity getVehicle();

    /**
     * Sets the vehicle entity(the entity that is ridden by this one).
     *
     * @param entity The entity vehicle
     * @return True if the set was successful
     */
    boolean setVehicle(Entity entity);

    /**
     * Gets the base vehicle this entity may indirectly be riding.
     *
     * @return The base vehicle
     */
    Entity getBaseVehicle();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Well received the product. Look small but surprisingly can put 5 tape. Quality is good.
Well packed in a box. Very useful to keep my frequently used tapes.
Fast delivery and good quality. Plastic material isnt flimsy.
Received. Thank for fast delivery.
Received item with 3 working days, in good condition.
Very fast , Will buy again very cute n good !
When will the stock for the washi tape dispenser be replenish?
Please drop us an email so that we can inform you once the stock arrives.
Hi when the stock will come again?
We have released the stock for your purchase.
The tape dispenser does not come with any tapes.


Product prices and availability are accurate as of 2019-04-15 06:34:38 BST and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on http://www.amazon.co.uk/ at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
This 15 year old Aberlour bottling is exclusive to France, where it is one of the best-selling individual malts. Called Marie d 'Ecosse, Queen of Scots, it is soft, fruity and creamy. Alcohol content: 43% vol. Bottle in excellent condition.


This record exists only in a few copies. Because Dorsey Burnette was under contract, the single was withdrawn. The song was re-sung by Johnny Faire. It was released again under the same catalogie number Surf SR-5019-45 in December 1957.


text:
Peter in Current Affairs, Politics, Religion April 6, 2011
On Burning Korans, etc
Quite frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn if someone wants to burn a book, any book. If a person's paid for a book, he can do what he likes with it.
I am not going to join the chorus proclaiming Pastor Terry Jones a try-hard loser. I don't know anything about the man. I suspect he is more sought by the media than seeking the media.
What I do think is that his burning of the Koran was a reasonable act of protest.
This is a book which inspires murder, torture, the mistreatment of women and minorities.
It is a book which, read through the lens of the example of Muhammed, a serial rapist, torturer, murderer and child molester, means misery for hundreds of millions of human beings.
It is the book of a religious group whose default emotional setting is inflamed.
It is the book of a group of people who thinking burning a book (their book – burning other books is OK) justifies burning and beheading people who look like, or may have once have been in the same country as, the people who burnt the book.
So go ahead and burn it. The trouble is not with the burning, but with the cringing.
General Petreaus described the Koran burning as "hateful, extremely disrespectful and enormously intolerant".
No it wasn't.
He then went on to say that the fury this had aroused was an understandable passion.
Burning a nasty, racist, violent book is a legitimate act of protest. Burning and beheading people who had nothing to do with it is murderous brutality.
Jones was right. The reaction to his little protest proves there is something to protest about.
Kow-towing to bullies does not work. They need to be told stop it and grow up.
Forgiving bullies does not work, unless they have first shown that they have changed and will bully no longer.
Otherwise making excuses for inexcusable behaviour merits the warning JP Donleavy gave about forgiveness in general (no link, but from the Unexpurgated Code):
"Forgiveness. Be careful, those getting this then do the unforgivable. Which is frequently a lot worse than the first lousy thing they did to you."
Now a couple of quotes from a woman who runs a small business in the rural US:
Ann – I am not a political activist. I am the owner of three small businesses who looked around two and a half years ago and said, "Oh, HELL no." Politicians make me ill. I can never and will never be a politician. For the last two to three years I have been focusing heavily on explaining and exposing Marxism, Islam and the fraud that is Obama. But that is triple-redundant, isn't it?
iOTW – What is your take on what is known as the Ground Zero Mosque?
Ann – They can build a mosque at Ground Zero when we can build a Catholic Cathedral Basilica over the top of the Kaaba in Mecca. You know what? Check that. They still couldn't build a mosque at Ground Zero, because Ground Zero is the sacred burial space of 3000 people that THEY MURDERED. No mosque at Ground Zero E.V.E.R.
iOTW – Islam uses the constitution to their advantage. How do we do battle with Islam without trampling the constitution?
Ann – Declare war against the Caliphate, just like we did against the Third Reich. Same bloody thing. And I'm not kidding.
iOTW- What do you think of General Petraeus and his assertion that inciting Islam puts our soldiers in harm's way?
Ann – I have an offer for General Petraeus. I'll GIVE him one of my balls. Then I'd still have two, and he would have one. He is a politicking coward who cares only about his pension and cashing in on his rank after he retires. The suicidal, defeatist Rules of Engagement he oversees are the unequivocal proof of that. He should resign in disgrace – yesterday, and then present himself to each and every family of our war dead and BEG their forgiveness for failing in his duty as their son or daughter's commanding officer.
Here's a bit more, complete with Koran with bacon bookmarks:
You may disagree with some of what she says, or the way she says it.
Freedom of speech, and safety to speak what we believe, is a great privilege. To lose it is to lose civilisation.
burning the koranburning the quranislamjoneskoran burningkroan burningquran burning


Located in the fascinating capital of Beijing, known as a cultural and historic center for over three millennia, The Red Wall Garden Hotel is a luxurious, boutique hotel that manages to encompass this essence within each section of the hotel. The Red Wall Garden Hotel with 40 gorgeous rooms, having the finest amenities known to date while decorated in a traditional Chinese way. Our boutique hotel Red Wall Garden is like taking a trip to the past as the traditional Hutong streets and alleys play a special role in the design of the Red Wall Garden Hotel. These Hutongs have been in the heart of Beijing since ancient times. The courtyard offers the possibility to enjoy the delightful, healthy and exquisite cuisine at the Red Wall Garden Hotel's fine restaurant. The luxury of having an ideal location, very close to the main sites of Beijing makes our boutique hotel Red Wall Garden a prime choice in leisure.
The Red Wall Garden Hotel with its fascinating 40 rooms, restaurant, courtyard and location make it a premier location in the ancient and defining capital of Beijing. There are many things that set our boutique hotel Red Wall Garden apart from other places, such as the unique delicacies featured in the menu, the unique butler services offered to make any stay worthwhile and easier to enjoy and relax. Most importantly, the Red Wall Garden Hotel takes pride in implementing the aspects of the traditional Hutongs which date back to ancient times. These streets and alleys form special neighborhoods which remain intact even to this day. The unique location of the Red Wall Garden Hotel makes visiting all the unique landmarks a breeze. There is nothing more to desire since everything is available at the Red Wall Garden Hotel.
Description: The Standard Rooms are 27 square meters in size (290 sq. feet) and are either a Double or Twin Room. All rooms have a modern and comforting, yet traditional design and are equipped with DUX Luxury Beds and Down Duvets for maximum sleep comfort. Large flat screen LCD-TV, Mini-Bar, Air-Conditioning/Heater, In-Room Safe, Complimentary WIFI, Writing Desk and Tea and Coffee Making Facilities. The Marble Bathrooms are complete with Rain Shower, Deluxe Bathroom Amenities and Cotton Bathrobes and Slippers.
Description: Deluxe Rooms are 40 square meters in size (430 sq. feet) and are either a Double or Twin Room with Luxury DUX Beds and Down Duvets. The rooms have a traditional design that meets modern amenities such as a Large flat screen LCD-TV, Mini-Bar, Air-Conditioning/Heater, In-Room Safe, Complimentary WIFI, Writing Desk, Comfort Chair and Tea and Coffee Making Facilities. The Marble Bathrooms are complete with Rain Shower, Deluxe Bathroom Amenities and Cotton Bathrobes and Slippers. The view from the rooms is to the Traditional Hutong Area outside the hotel. The Wooden Floors and Handmade Rugs give the room a warm and comfortable feeling.
Description: Premier Deluxe Rooms feature a modern, comforting and traditional design in 50 square meters (538 sq. feet) of living space. Some of the rooms have their own Private Balcony facing the Courtyard. Others offer a larger living space with a Traditional Hutong Area view. The Rooms feature Luxury DUX Beds and Down Duvets, a Large flat screen LCD-TV, Mini-Bar, Air-Conditioning/Heater, In-Room Safe, Complimentary WIFI, Writing Desk, Comfort Chair and Tea and Coffee Making Facilities. The Marble Bathrooms (some with a step-into wooden bathtub) are complete with Rain Shower, Deluxe Bathroom Amenities and Cotton Bathrobes and Slippers.
Description: The Duplex Suite is a 60 square meter (645 sq. feet) Loft-Style Room, with a downstairs Living Area and Bathroom. The upstairs loft-style bedroom features a floor to ceiling view of the Central Courtyard with a decorative balcony recess. The bedroom features a cozy DUX Luxury Double Bed with Down Duvet, while the living room features a relaxing Traditional Chinese Luohan Bed (Day Bed). Modern amenities such as Two Large flat screen LCD-TV's, Fully Stocked Private-Bar, Air-Conditioning/Heater, In-Room Safe, Complimentary WIFI, Two Writing Desks, Comfort Chairs and Tea and Coffee Making Facilities. The Marble Bathrooms (some with a step-into wooden bathtub) are complete with Rain Shower, Deluxe Bathroom Amenities and Cotton Bathrobes and Slippers.
Description: The Red Wall Suites are 70 square meters in size (753 sq. feet) and are situated on the 4th Floor Roof Garden Level of the Hotel. They offer elevated Traditional Hutong Area views. These Suites feature one living room and one bedroom, both with separate bathrooms. These combined Chinese and Western Style Suites are perfect for a family as they have one double bedroom and one twin bedroom each with separate bathrooms. The Suites feature modern amenities such as cozy DUX Luxury Beds with Down Duvets, Two Large flat screen LCD-TV's, Music System, Fully Stocked Private-Bar, Air-Conditioning/Heater, In-Room Safe, Complimentary WIFI, Two Writing Desks, Comfort Chairs and Tea and Coffee Making Facilities. The Marble Bathrooms, with a modern Western Style step-into whirlpool bathtub, are complete with Rain Showers, Deluxe Bathroom Amenities and Cotton Bathrobes and Slippers.
Meeting Room Facilities: Audio/Visual Equipment, Banquet, Business Center, Catering, Computer Available, Computer Rental, Copy Service, Equipment Rental, Exhibit Services, Fax Service.


The Tourism Ministry has created a campaign to attract backpackers or budget travelers with nomadic tourism, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said on Thursday as reported by tempo.co.
Speaking at the fourth ASEAN Marketing Summit in Jakarta, the minister said around 39.7 million backpackers traveled around the world every year, and with Indonesia's tourist destinations being so diverse and spread out across the vast archipelago, nomadic tourism has the potential to be a successful vacationing alternative.
The ministry hopes to offer this type of tourism as a hassle-free way for travelers to explore Indonesia's natural destinations.
In a press release issued last March, Arief said that building the necessary facilities was feasible by using temporary materials, making nomadic tourism easy and affordable.
Glamping, homepods and caravans are considered proper forms of accommodation for nomadic tourism, as opposed to building hotels on hard-to-reach islands. Furthermore, seaplanes or planes that can land on water are viewed as more feasible compared to building airports, which would take time.
The nomadic tourism campaign will be carried out in areas with minimal infrastructure and that do not meet the ministry's 3As: access, attraction and accommodation.
The minister said the campaign was part of the government's efforts to attract 17 million foreign tourists by 2018.
He stressed that nomadic tourism would rely heavily on backpackers.
"Hence, we must know our positioning, and that is by choosing the millennial market," he said.
The Tourism Ministry is currently targeting to build 100 digital markets in 34 provinces and 10 of these tourist spots in the country's favorite destinations.


1. That we value God – we come together from all sorts of backgrounds and situations and join together in the presence of God who gives us joy and hope as we unite in worship.
2. That we care about the world around us – Jesus said that when the world sees that we love one another they would know that we are his disciples.
Lord let our worship and our lives be attractive to people around us who don't know you.