On Thursday 10th October we departed London St Pancras on the Eurostar bound for Brussels. The aim of this adventure is to travel from the UK to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam entirely by train. This was our first leg, heading to Poland.
We had three trains booked, Eurostar to Brussels, Brussels to Cologne then Cologne to Warsaw on the Jan Kiepura Sleeper. I did the bookings so that we had a few hours in Cologne as I thought it would be good to stretch our legs and see somewhere new. All the connections were easy and on time, we arrived into Cologne Hauptbahnhof mid-afternoon.
There were some magical luggage lockers at Cologne station, self-service: you put your bags into the machine, coins into the slot then a shutter closes and the luggage disappears into the ground in a secure box. We were very impressed! Free of our bags, we stepped out into the sunshine and the huge, awe-inspiring Cologne Cathedral. This gothic church towers over everything and was one of the few buildings in the city to survive WWII.
The ancient and the very new.
We took a meander along the river then up a cobbled street, through a few quiet squares until we reached the busy shopping street. The lure of the pastry vendors was too much and we succumbed to a treat.
We didn't have a map but the city was easy to navigate and there were plenty of signposts. After the pleasant afternoon we headed back to the station to retrieve our luggage. We camped out in a coffee shop in the station for an hour or so, it was warm, it had hot drinks and free wifi, what else could we need! There were lots of food options in the station too and we had our evening meal at a noodle bar, it was cheap, cheerful. and vegetarian friendly.
The sleeper train departed at 22.28 and, with a four berth cabin to ourselves, we made our beds and settled in for the night as the train sped on through the darkness to Poland…..
I booked all these trains myself, independently, using Eurostar.com, Rail Europe and www.bahn.com , I always compare train prices between these companies to find the best deals. I couldn't have done it without the wonderful advice of The Man in Seat Sixty-One, he is my invisible best friend on this adventure!
What a great place to start your adventure. Looking forward to following your journey and hopefully I'll be able to pick some tips up from you for someday when I do my trip!
Aw, thank you! Hope I inspire you for fabulous vacations!
So excited for the first miles of your journey! I love the train stations in Europe, they are like little villages in themselves with restaurants, etc. Wish we had that here in US. And I'm so envious that you got a sleeper train, that is really fun.
Very eager for your next posting!
Haha, yup little busy railway villages, I love that. Like little worlds of their own. Do the US ones really not have them, how strange! Seems an obvious place for some edible retail.
That was our first sleeper of this adventure, I love them, although I prefer private cabins, we are sharing pretty much all of this trip.
Next post is coming soon!


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I'm one of Utah's premier Draper uncontested divorce attorney firms that helps embattled husbands and wives end their tumultuous marriages legally and, in this case, without being contested.The aftereffects of an emotional breakup are devastating enough; the last thing you're wanting to deal with is whatever legal paperwork needs filed with Salt Lake County Clerk's office. Let me handle that.
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As your retained counsel, I will help file all necessary petitions. You simply tell me what property has been agreed upon, where the children will spend their time, who will assume responsibility for mortgage and car payments, and that's essentially it. From there, I'll represent you in court to put the finishing touches on your divorce's end.
Differences leading to a divorce petition are irreconcilable.
Some common grounds for a No-Fault divorce may include partner's impotency, incurable insanity, being considered a 'habitual drunkard', felony conviction, desertion lasting over one (1) year. No-Fault divorces are usually uncontested, or the courts may deem them as such.
Whatever led you to file an uncontested divorce in Utah, remember that petitions are rather lengthy, and get longer the more property and child needs you put into your petition. There's been countless petitions that have been denied or not properly served due to something being out of context, or an address was incorrect. Before I file your petition, I quality check my work to assure everything is accurate.
In Utah, there's a 90-day waiting period between filing and your final hearing.
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The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road China (Guangdong) International Communication Forum opened on Thursday in the coastal city of Zhuhai. Under the theme of "New Era, New Silk Road, New Image", the forum provides a chance to discuss more cooperation possibilities among countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
"Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Shares New Era Opportunities" is one of the sub forums. Covering nine cities in Guangdong Province, and Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, the "Great Bay Area" was first proposed in a policy paper on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) back in 2015.
The connection between the "Great Bay Area" and the Maritime Silk Road can be traced back to more than two millennia ago when goods from the Roman Empire arrived for the first time in Guangzhou by sea.
According to Han Hua, president of the Beijing Belt and Road Cooperative Community and a fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies under Renmin University of China, the modern "Maritime Silk Road" has new dimensions in the changing circumstances and the countries involved are much more spread out.
In this year's Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing summit, delegations from African countries expressed their strong willingness to join the Maritime Silk Road, together with the traditional maritime trade partners like Southeast Asian and European countries, new vitality will be instilled and new opportunities will be created.
The "Great Bay Area", as the "bridgehead" of the Maritime Silk Road, could play a bigger role.
Different regions in the "Great Bay Area" have different functions. Hong Kong, for example, is a financial center, and Guangdong is a tech hub.
According to Han, as different regions in the area have different functions, each can give full play to its own advantage when dovetailing with countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to launch more effective cooperation.
According to the report, "2018 Report on Guangdong Enterprises Going Global in Building the Belt and Road," Guangdong is becoming more competitive in terms of technology, brand, quality and service, thus bringing new opportunities to BRI countries.
In an interview with Xinhua, Liu Hua, assistant president and deputy chief engineer of Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai, said, "Thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, we went to Pakistan and set up factories there. While increasing our own profits, we have also helped with the local air conditioner manufacturing sector and consequently improved the livelihood of local residents."
"People-to-people exchanges are also important in building the Maritime Silk Road," said Han. She gave the example of cruise tourism. Cruise routes along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road will be an opportunity to explore and learn about the cultures of different countries and enhance the communication among various cultures.
According to the report, the 9+2 cities in the "Great Bay Area" are also seeking new ways to further strengthen the development of tourism. For example, measures have been rolled out to offer policies like 144-hour transit visa exemption and 15-day visa free for foreign travel groups who take cruises, among others.
The development of the Maritime Silk Road faces challenges including geopolitical risks, and rising protectionism in the world.
Despite challenges, we should always "build the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st Century with open mind and bold courage," as Li Zhaoxing, former foreign minister and chairman of China Public Diplomacy Association said when addressing the International Symposium on the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st Century in 2015.
The article is based on an interview with Han Hua, a research fellow of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies under Renmin University of China.


text:
A look ahead to the 2018 Inspiring Women Awards
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIRSTY THOMPSON
Menna Fitzpatrick, far right, with other 2017 winners, from left: Alison Loveday (Professional and Financial Services Award Winner), Dee Drake (Community Award Winner), Maggie Noone (Business Award Winner), Jacqueline Hughes-Lundy, Aisha Latif (Entrepreneur Award Winner)
The Inspiring Women Awards lunch will be packed with awesome females. But who will be the winners?
Cutting a cake last year to celebrate 25 years of Inspiring Women Awards was founder Jacqueline Hughes-Lundy and TV presenter Angela Powers
One of the reasons the Inspiring Women Awards have endured for 26 years is the ability of the judges to find role models with an inspiring story to tell; women like 2017 Community Award winner, Dee Drake, from Knutsford, who is the driving force behind the Lalley Toy Appeal.
Over five years, Dee - assisted by her husband, Chris, and a small army of helpers - has ensured that over 4,000 gift sacks have been distributed to needy children at Christmas time.
In 2017 the Awards also recognised a 19-year-old who, 10 months later, made Winter Paralympian history. Menna Fitzpatrick, who has less than 5% vision, became the seventh Inspiring Young Woman award winner for her fearless performance on the ski slopes. Her story was inspiring and courageous, an exceptional role model for a generation. But in March this year, she became even more inspiring. At the Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, Menna became the most decorated British Paralympian skier, winning four of the seven British medals, including gold in the slalom.
Scientist Aisha Latif and mother of three young children was recognised as the 2017 Entrepreneur Award winner. While working full-time in research, Aisha spent three years working on her cosmetics range which won best beauty product at the 2017 Fashion and Beauty Awards.
These stories epitomise the individuals recognised by the Inspiring Women Awards. This year's Awards lunch on Friday May 11th at The Midland Hotel, Manchester, will uncover more deserving women and the new winners will share their stories.
www.inspiringawards.co.uk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Docker is a great tool that automates the deployment of software across a Linux operating system. While the fundamental idea behind Docker is to stack specialized software together to form a complex system, there is no particular rule of how big or small the software for a container can or should be. Running the complete HDP stack in a single container can be achieved as well as running each service of HDP in it's own container.
Docker allows you to run applications inside containers. Running an application inside a container takes a single command: docker run. Containers are based off of images defining software packages and configurations. hkropp/hdp-basic is such an image in which the HDP services are running. The image was build using Ambari blueprint orchastrated by a Dockerfile. The hostname was specified to be n1.hdp throughout the build process and hence needs also to be specified when running it. The Dockerfile for this image is located here. This posts describes how to build HDP on top of Docker.
Before getting started a Docker environment needs to be installed. A quick way to get started is Boot2Docker. Boot2Docker is a VirtualBox image based on Tiny Core Linux with Docker installed. It can be used with Mac OS X or Windows. Other ways to install Docker can be found here.
Once installed Boot2Docker can be used via command line tool boot2docker. With it we can initialize the VM, boot it up, and prepare our shell for docker.
If not already installed locally this will fetch the image from Docker Hub. After that the image is run in daemon mode as the -d flag indicates. The -p flag lets Docker know to expose this port to the host VM. With this Ambari can be accessed using the $ boot2docker ip and port 8080 – http://$(boot2docker ip):8080 The hostname is set to be n1.hdp because the image was configured with this hostname. By executing the /start-server script at boot time the Ambari server is started together with all installed services.
The image is based from a centos:6.6 image. Throughout the build a consistent hostname is being used for the configuration and installation. Doing this with Docker builds is actually not very easy to achieve. By design Docker tries to make the context a container can run in as less restrictive as possible. Assigning a fixed host name to an image is restricting these context. In addition every build step creates a new image with a new host name. Setting the host name before each step requires root privileges which are not given. To work around this the ENV command was used to set the HOSTNAME and to make it resolvable before any command that required the hostname a script was executed to set it as part of the /etc/hosts file.
The Ambari agents support dynamic host configuration by defining a script.
start-server is the script that is executed during startup of the container. Here the Ambari server and agent are started. The Ambari Shell is again being used to start up the all installed HDP services.


This site is to help familiarize you with the kind of services and expertise I provide my clients.
Unique top floor corner 2 level 2 bedroom townhouse at Meccanica by Cressey. Spacious podium style, 1,047 sq.ft. home steps out to your private 82 sq.ft patio. Open concept space provides the perfect balance for living and entertaining from a full dining area to the award winning kitchen with high gloss integrated white soft-close cabinetry and has direct access to the beautiful common rooftop garden. Engineered hardwood floors throughout. Master bedroom with ensuite and walk in closet. Bathrooms with white tiles that wrap the soaker tub. Features include 9'5" ceilings, Grohe fixtures, hardwood floors throughout, air conditioning, 1 parking, 1 storage, roof top, meeting room & gym. Rentals and pets allowed.
Copyright © 2019. Dimitri Psihas. All rights reserved.


Of course, we Stewart Scholars and fans know well the power of that book. It's never been out of print, in 67 years, far outliving its author. The book is published in 20 languages. It still sells very well. At times, there's talk of filming it.
For those of us who's lives were so shaped by this book, it's good to see it getting its due.


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The Bluebirds fell to a home defeat against La Liga outfit Real Betis, who came from a goal behind to secure victory.
New signings Bobby Decordova-Reid and Josh Murphy made their first appearances at Cardiff City Stadium in front of 9,567 supporters. Sol Bamba lined up in midfield alongside Joe Ralls and Callum Paterson, with Sean Morrison and Bruno Ecuele Manga in the heart of the defence.
Neil Warnock's men made a blistering start to the match and opened the scoring after only five minutes. City skipper Morrison burst into midfield and found Murphy, who raced past his opponent and into the box. The winger fired a shot into the top left-hand corner, beating the unfortunate Pau Lopez at his near post.
However, Betis set their own tempo soon afterwards, and patiently worked towards an equaliser. Los Verdiblancos got their reward after twenty-three minutes, with Lorenzo Morón on target. In an attempt to dispossess Joaquín of the ball, Bobby Decordova-Reid inadvertently assisted Morón, who cut past Manga before slotting home.
The Europa League side turned the match on its head with half an hour played, courtesy of a solo effort from ex-Barcelona star Cristian Tello. The winger collected the ball inside the City half and burst forward, evading three defenders. Tello's attempt on goal was not powerful, but a stray boot cruelly diverted the ball past Neil Etheridge and into the net.
The game opened up towards the end of the first half; Junior Hoilett raced onto a long ball to feed Callum Paterson, who acrobatically flicked the ball just over the bar. At the other end, Betis captain Joaquín curled a fierce effort towards goal, which crashed against the crossbar before going out of play. Just before the break, an excellent goal-line block from Joe Bennett prevented a certain third – the left-back denied Japanese international Takashi Inui from a few yards out.
The second period began where the first half had left off, with chances for both teams. Murphy and Junior Hoilett both had penalty shouts waved away, before Hoilett tested Pau Lopez with a low drive. The pair combined after fifty-six minutes, with Hoilett setting Murphy up for a one-on-one, though the former Norwich man could only put his effort wide of the far post.
City continued their search for an equaliser and had the ball in the back of the net a few minutes later, though the referee had already signalled for a free-kick to Betis after a foul by Morrison. Soon afterwards, Joe Ralls tested the Lopez in the Betis goal with a stinging drive, before substitute Kenneth Zohore saw his shot safely deflect into the arms of the goalkeeper.
The pace of the match lowered in the final twenty minutes, as Betis regained control of the ball and began to see out their lead. Chances were few and far between, until the final kick of the match. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing crossed towards the back post, with Greg Cunningham on hand and unmarked. The left-back's half-volley brushed against the side netting, before the referee brought an end to proceedings.
The Bluebirds have now completed their pre-season schedule and will kick-off their Premier League season at AFC Bournemouth next week.
Cardiff City: Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison, Manga, Bennett (Cunningham 71'), Bamba, Ralls, Paterson, Hoilett (Damour 63'), J. Murphy (Mendez-Laing 71'), Decordova-Reid (Zohore 63').
Subs not used: B.Murphy, Connolly, Harris, Madine.
Real Betis: Lopez, Garcia (Gonzalez 83'), Bartra (Feddal 45'), Canales (Guardado 45'), Tello (Boudebouz 74'), Inui (Leon 45'), Moron (Firpo 74'), Joaquin (Tosca 74'), Mandi (Barragan 74'), Carvalho (Brasanac 66'), Guerro (Sanabria 74').
Subs not used: Robles, Camarasa.
Cardiff City's Under-23 squad complete their preparations for the new season by facing Wealdstone at Grosvenor Vale on Tuesday evening – 7:30pm K.O.
Greg Cunningham spoke following the Bluebirds' narrow pre-season defeat to Rotherham United on Wednesday evening.
Cardiff City continue their pre-season preparations as they face Rotherham United at AESSEAL New York Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The past week has seen Cardiff City's senior and U23 sides continue their pre-season preparations for the 2018/19 season with a successful and rewarding tour of Devon & Cornwall.


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text:
Inside GameFi: What It Is, How It Works, Why It's Popular
All about the technology that puts in-game items on the blockchain.
Written byEllen Glover
Ellen Glover
Senior Staff Reporter at Built In
Ellen Glover is a Built In senior staff reporter covering artificial intelligence and data science.
Chris Liquin
Director of Strategy at Vayner3
Chris Liquin | Aug 08, 2022
Imagine a world in which you can make money just by playing a video game. Not fake, in-game money, but the kind of money that helps pay the bills and keeps food on the table. And imagine all the assets in a game — the characters, the outfits, the weapons — could be bought and sold in the real world.
This, in a nutshell, is the promise of GameFi — one of the hottest sectors in Web3. And it's a reality that some of the space's most active players say isn't too far off.
What Is GameFi?
GameFi, a portmanteau of "game" and "finance," refers to blockchain games that offer economic incentives to the people that play them. Typically players earn in-game rewards like crypto tokens, virtual land, avatars and other NFTs by completing tasks, battling other players or progressing through various game levels. Unlike traditional video games, play-to-earn games let you buy and then transfer in-game assets to outside of the game's virtual world.
GameFi is one of the fastest growing segments in the video game industry, according to industry veteran Tracy Spaight. With more than 20 years of game design experience under his belt, Spaight now works as the head of gamification at Synesis One, reportedly the world's first decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, for data yield farming. While the space is still pretty new, he said what excites him most about GameFi is the "new type of ownership" enabled by the industry's structure.
Before now, video games were housed on centralized servers owned by a gaming company who had the implicit power to shut off the world whenever they felt like it. What's more, players had no actual ownership of the items they accumulated through their character — the clothes, the weapons, the prizes. It all existed solely within the confines of the game, and had no real value in the outside world.
That's not the case with GameFi products, thanks to its decentralized nature and reliance on blockchain technology.
The benefits of actually owning the digital assets in a game are beginning to be recognized as not just something cool, but something that gives you power as a player, Spaight explained.
"If they help create part of the value of the gaming universe, maybe they should have a piece of it," he said. "I think this is just a next chapter in what our relationship is with our digital lives and the digital items that we accumulate."
And many of Web3's key players are enthusiastically betting on that next chapter, including Telstra Ventures, a prolific investor in crypto companies. The VC firm has backed crypto exchange FTX, which recently launched its own gaming unit, and general partner Yash Patel said Telstra is actively looking at a GameFi token investment that, if it goes through, will be its first non-equity investment ever.
"The idea of giving true ownership of these assets so that these assets are not siloed to one game environment or one server, and actually have real liquidity and value and can be traded, allows these players to actually earn and buy their way to the top. It's pretty exciting," Patel said. "It's kind of incredible how big this market is already."
What Is GameFi and How Does It Work?
GameFi — a portmanteau of "game" and "finance" — involves blockchain games that offer economic incentives to play them, otherwise known as play-to-earn games.
Typically, players can earn in-game rewards by completing tasks, battling other players or progressing through various game levels. Many of the play-to-earn games on the scene right now rely heavily on what game designers call a grinding mechanic, in which players have to spend lots of time doing repetitive tasks within a game to advance or unlock prizes — or, in this case, crypto tokens.
Rewards also come by way of in-game assets like virtual land, avatars, weapons or costumes (also known as skins). In most cases, these assets are non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which essentially serve as a "virtual deed" conveying ownership of a piece of digital art or media file. Like cryptocurrency, NFTs exist on the blockchain, meaning they can be taken out of a game and traded or sold on a marketplace.
Each game has its own model and game economy. But, for the most part, these digital assets provide some sort of monetary benefit to its players — whether that be because they won a fight and earned crypto, sold an NFT they bought in-game or charged fellow players rent for staying on their virtual land. For instance, popular titles like Decentraland and The Sandbox focus on virtual land ownership, allowing players to purchase digital pieces of real estate, develop them, then charge other players to stay there.
Some play-to-earn games even let players generate passive income without playing the game at all through liquidity mining or lending their gaming assets to other players. Introducing abilities like these not only decentralizes the game even more, but it allows players to influence the development of the actual game via DAOs.
For example, Decentraland players get voting power on in-game organizational policies based on the total number of relevant assets they have in their wallet connected to the DAO. These include tokens, or MANA, "names" (which allow users to trade tokens), and parcels of virtual land. The idea is that, the more MANA, names and land a player has, the greater their personal stake is in the game, thus earning them more of an influence within the DAO.
Of course, the tokenomics — or supply and demand of a particular cryptocurrency — vary depending on the game. But most of the studios making these games are raising capital through token sales. How these tokens are allocated, how they're unlocked and whether they're finite or not varies. And many of these games are built on Ethereum, Solana and Polygon, which is a layer 2 chain on top of Ethereum that offers faster and cheaper token transactions.
"When you talk about the infrastructure here, it's really around the type of blockchain you're building upon," Patel said. "Many of these play-to-earn games are almost virtual economies in and of themselves."
More on CryptoartStoner Cats, KBots and CRYPTOSQUIDS: How Artists Are Adapting in the NFT Era
How to Get Started With GameFi
There are thousands of blockchain games, and they each follow their own economic model. Unlike traditional video games, play-to-earn games let players buy and then transfer the in-game assets they acquire to outside of the game's virtual world — they can sell their NFTs on a marketplace like OpenSea, or trade their crypto earnings for money on a crypto exchange like Coinbase. All of this is to say that, like every other facet of the burgeoning Web3 space, GameFi requires a crypto wallet. From there, it's all about finding games that are secure and managing your finances responsibly.
Here's a quick primer on how to get started:
1. Set Up a Crypto Wallet
Set up a crypto wallet that is compatible with whatever game you want to play. While they don't exactly store money the way a traditional wallet does, crypto wallets house encryption keys associated with digital assets, allowing you to retrieve, send and receive cryptocurrency. There are all kinds of wallets and currencies out there, but most games require specific wallets to work. You'll need to check the given game's official website to figure out which wallets they support.
2. Connect Your Crypto Wallet to the Game
This will be your means of logging into the game as well. Unlike traditional online games that make you set up a username and password or ask for your email address, blockchain games use your crypto wallet as an account. When you connect your wallet, make sure you are connecting to their official website and not a fake look-alike.
3. Familiarize Yourself With Specific Game Requirements
Many play-to-earn games require players to purchase their in-game cryptocurrency token or NFTs to get started. In general, it's good to weigh the earning potential against the overall risks of a given game, including how long it takes to earn your initial investment back and start making profits. If you don't have enough money to buy a token yourself, or don't want to take on the financial risk, consider looking for an in-game scholarship program, which allows you to borrow NFTs from other players to get started. Granted, if you go that route, you will have to share your earnings with the NFT owners.
Bear in mind that, like anything else on the internet, GameFi has its fair share of scams, so be on the lookout for fake sites. Also, a good rule of thumb is to create a new crypto wallet for each individual game you play, that way you're more likely to only lose funds that you can afford to lose.
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Axie Infinity: GameFi in Action
One of the most well-known play-to-earn titles out there right now is Axie Infinity, a two-dimensional game consisting of cute creatures, known as axies, battling each other Pokémon-style. It was founded in 2018 by Vietnamese game developer Sky Mavis, and has since become a massive hit. The company is now worth some $3 billion, and has garnered the support of major investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm.
To join the game, players must buy or rent three NFTs linked to axies, which each have their own associated stats and battle cards. Winning battles earns players tokens called "smooth love potion," or SLP for short. Axies can also be bred using SLP and another governance token called AXS to produce new NFTs, which can then be traded, sold or used.
Up until now, Axie's key selling point was that it gave players a chance to make real money by simply playing a game. Axies and SLP can be sold for cryptocurrency, and players can earn SLP by not only playing the game, but participating in a scholarship program in which they lend their axies to other players and receive a percentage of those players' winnings.
The game's model provided full-time job prospects to some people living in developing nations like the Philippines and Venezuela — presenting an opportunity for a "wonderful redistribution of income," said Edward Castronova, a game design professor at Indiana University who literally co-authored the book on virtual economies.
"With any kind of speculation-driven market," he said, "the first people make a lot of money. There's massive amounts of money lost by other people, but it's the people who come late."
At its peak, Axie Infinity fetched an entry price of $1,000, and players were earning thousands of dollars a month for just playing a few hours a day. And although it was never available on popular app stores, the game hit No. 1 in NFT collectibles last year, according to DappRadar. In a matter of months, Axie and its wildly successful capital market became living proof that the play-to-earn model could work.
"This space needs to mature so that we can move beyond it and do some real building. The promise is enormous, but so much plumbing has to be built."
But just as quickly as Axie ascended, it ran into problems — most notably a hack in March that caused the game to lose more than $600 million. Even before the hack, though, Sky Mavis was facing larger questions about sustainability. So far, its in-game economy has relied solely on constant growth to keep it going, with inflation built into it. The game produces SLP constantly, and players can earn it through player-versus-player battles and, until recently, by completing daily quests in single-player mode — essentially printing money. Axies can also be bred to produce new creatures, thus increasing the pool of NFTs and producing even more SLP. The game has no way to reduce the amount of SLP or NFTs, so the value of the in-game assets have been watered down.
In short: Axie's main goal was to generate currency that could create more NFTs, which only works if there are enough people who want to participate. By design, Axie acknowledged, its economy is "dependent on new entrants." This has led some thought leaders, including DAO operator M Goes, to wonder whether Axie is "the biggest Ponzi scheme in crypto." And it's a hurdle the larger GameFi space is facing right now.
"There are lots of Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, rug pulls, scams," Spaight said. "This space needs to mature so that we can move beyond it and do some real building. The promise is enormous, but so much plumbing has to be built." To build "something enduring," he added, there need to be regulatory frameworks in place. "That hard work is happening now."
Beyond its economic flaws, there's another key issue with Axie Infinity that's actually quite common among the play-to-earn games out there right now: It's not very fun. The battles are repetitive and there's very little creativity involved.
In general, blockchain games aren't particularly good at eliciting feelings of "epic meaning" or accomplishment, or presenting real challenges that force a player to really "test their mettle," Spaight said. But, he predicts this will start to change as more professionally trained game designers enter the fold.
"I think those skill sets are going to improve and we're going to end up with more fun titles. I think there'll be more financing that enables the quality level to rise. And I think it'll happen fairly quickly," Spaight said.
More on Web3Which Web3 Predictions Can We Believe?
GameFi Funding and Industry Overview
The GameFi industry is seeing massive amounts of funding right now, as venture capital firms shovel millions of dollars into crypto gaming companies. Investors poured $3.6 billion into these startups last year, according to Drake Star Partners, with heavy hitters like Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and Softbank leading the charge. In January of this year alone, around $1 billion was invested in blockchain games, according to a joint DappRadar and Blockchain Game Alliance report.
Game industry veterans are beginning to enter the fold as well, including Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott, who recently announced he is making a play-to-earn-style MMO (massively online multiplayer game). And blockchain gaming platform Gala Games announced it would be publishing an NFT battle royale game, Grit, on the Epic Games Store — the first NFT game to be released on Epic's storefront.
Other prominent game studios like Blizzard and Atari have also begun "tentatively dipping a toe" in the GameFi space, as Spaight put it. "They noticed that Decentraland, Sandbox, Axie Infinity all have market capitalizations in the billions of dollars. And that's insane," he said. "They're wondering what's going on and how do they get a piece of it."
Plus, there's the matter of ownership and the money-making potential tied to these games on the players' end. This is something that's been reiterated by some of GameFi's most prominent proponents as well. Amy Wu, the head of FTX's new gaming initiative, argued on a recent podcast that play-to-earn games simply formalizes an aspect of gaming economics that was "around anyway." It also stands to "deepen the gameplay experience" by promoting a sense of ownership and compensation among not only players, but creators and developers as well, thanks to the trackability of NFTs.
"Today," Wu said, "a lot of [game developers] stay at a company because if they leave they'll no longer get sort of a royalty from a game that they created, like, eight years ago. But what if they can do that in perpetuity? And you're tied to the NFTs in that game or tokens in that game, and now you're free to go make your next project without worrying that you're giving up financial upside."
"A game that is art should not have this sort of real-world commercial activity."
But at the same time, there's still quite a bit of "institutional conservatism," Spaight said. Indeed, many gamers and game developers view the emergence of in-game NFTs and the play-to-earn model as little more than a cash grab. A Game Developer Conference survey from January found that 70 percent of respondents said they were "not interested at all" in adding NFTs to their games, citing their "potential for scams," their "environmental impact" and general "monetization concerns."
As someone who's been studying game design for 20 years, and thinking about play-to-earn specifically for the better part of a decade, game design professor Castronova's concerns are more conceptual.
"I try to draw a big bright line between a game that is an artwork, and a game that is kind of a social utility platform. A game that is art should not have this sort of real-world commercial activity," he said. He doesn't believe the larger game industry will stray too far from its artistic core, therefore he doesn't see the play-to-earn model having a big impact on the game industry as a whole.
That being said, there are an estimated three billion gamers in the world today. Many of them would like the opportunity to own and benefit from their virtual items, Spaight said. If they are a loyal fan and play the game for a long time, all the while creating value for the game, then it stands to reason that they would want to cash in, too. So long as there is that demand, there will be companies that will cater to it.
"It will find its space. It may not become the dominant model of how people enjoy online games, but it will be one of them," Spaight said. "This will be another model out there that people enjoy and profit from and participate in. I don't think it's a blip, I think it's here to stay."


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Ralph Owen Slatyer AO FAA (16 April 1929 – 26 July 2012) was an Australian ecologist, and the first Chief Scientist of Australia from 1989 to 1992.
He was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1929, and was educated at Perth Modern School and Wesley College, Perth, then the University of Western Australia from which he graduated with Bachelor's (1951) Master's (1955) and Doctoral (1960) degrees in agricultural science.
In 1977, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser offered the position of Australia's Ambassador to UNESCO to Dr. Slatyer. Fraser had originally offered the post to Sir John Kerr, who as Governor-General had been responsible for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam's government in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, but considerable public pressure prompted Fraser to withdraw the offer to Kerr, and offer the post to Slatyer instead.
Slatyer returned to Australia in 1982, after four years in Paris, and resumed his professorship at ANU. Later that year, the Fraser government appointed him the chair of the Australian Science and Technology Council (ASTEC), a body set up in 1978 by Fraser as a government "think tank" on science and technology. In Slatyer's five years as chair, ASTEC was instrumental in lobbying for tax concessions for research and development in Australia, and conducting a review of the CSIRO. In 1989, Slatyer was made the first Chief Scientist of Australia, advising the Prime Minister of the day on matters relating to science and technology. He was also largely responsible during his tenure for the establishment of Cooperative Research Centres in Australia, a program designed to facilitate collaboration between business and researchers.
^ Downie, Graham (28 July 2012). "Nation's first chief scientist dies at 83". canberratimes.com.au. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
^ a b c Blythe, Max: Interviews with Australian scientists: Professor Ralph Slatyer Archived 19 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Academy of Science, 2003.
^ a b Papers of Ralph Slatyer (1929- ), National Library of Australia.
^ Slatyer, Ralph Owen (1929 - ), Bright Sparcs (University of Melbourne), 10 September 2004.
^ "Fellows". Royal Society. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
^ Cooperative Research Centres website Archived 18 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
This page was last edited on 1 May 2018, at 05:42 (UTC).


Philanthropy is always very near family businesses hearts. Some of us help local schools and charities, others give their time to a worthy cause helping people less fortunate than ourselves.
Each year the Practice has run a Charity Networking Bash raising funds for organisations such as Mary Stevens Hospice, The Black Country Museum and most recently the St Marys Youth Project – a local charity based in Cleobury Mortimer.
We also like to celebrate what our members are doing by making a noise in social media so below are details of what's been happening within the Practice as well as ourselves.
We all need a hand from time to time – it's just in the DNA of a family business and it's good to recognise the efforts of families, employees and organisations alike.
We are delighted to announce a long term Charity Partner relationship with Edwards Trust.
Edward's Trust was set up in 1989 by Peter and Hilary Dent in memory of their son Edward, who died aged 7 of cancer at Birmingham Children's Hospital. Over 25 years later the Trust still continues to provide much-needed support to bereaved families. Edward's Trust provides holistic family bereavement services supporting children, young people and parents across the West Midlands.
We provide support to parents bereaved, or about to bereaved, of their son or daughter – whatever the age of their child. We also provide support to children and young people of school age who are bereaved, or are about to be bereaved, of a parent, significant carer or sibling. A 'Wellbeing in Bereavement' service includes complementary therapies and respite bereavement care for bereaved parents and carers. Training and consultation for professionals working with bereaved families or families who are about to be bereaved.


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INDONESIA: International Union Steps into Sony Dispute
JAKARTA -- An international union has stepped into the dispute surrounding the dismissal of 928 workers from PT Sony Electronics Indonesia.
Representatives, including those from Singapore and Japan, of the Geneva- based International Metalworkers Federation (IMF), its Indonesian affiliate SPMI and Sony workers met with the company's management on Tuesday.
Sony's assistant manager Hanny Toreh declined to comment on the latest development to the conflict, which began in February.
A lawyer for the workers, Elza Syarief, said there was a possibility of going to the state administrative court to seek justice for the workers.
Elza said federation representatives had sent a letter to President Abdurrahman Wahid and Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu.
The letter, written by the federation's general secretary Marcello Malentacchi, said the decision to dismiss the 928 striking workers "appears to be based on laws adopted while president Soeharto was in power" and "in no way diminishes Indonesia's responsibility to uphold the international conventions it is a party to."
The federation said Indonesia had violated the convention guaranteeing the right to strike and providing protection against dismissal during disputes.
On June 29 the government's Central Committee for Labor Disputes decided to approve Sony's actions -- a decision which the workers' lawyers have said is not valid. However, the committee's decision can only be vetoed by the manpower minister.
The lawyers claimed that business interests in Indonesia and in Japan, where Sony's headquarters are, had influenced the committee's decision.
Most of the workers, the majority of whom are women, are now demanding their jobs back and to be paid backdated salaries, which they say they have not received since May.
The dispute began when Sony changed the working conditions for its 1,100 workers, who assemble audiovisual electronics parts, ordering them to stand up rather than sit down at the production line.
Sony management has said the method is not detrimental to workers' health. Suhana, a protesting worker, said some women would faint after a few hours at work.
However she said they were now willing to work standing up as long as they received more pay; more than 30 minutes of break a shift; and permission to drink and to go to the toilet during their eight-hour day.
IMF, which claims a membership of 23 million worldwide, threatened in a letter to the Sony corporation chairman in Japan a public campaign "to taint the image" of Sony for its "serious human and labor rights violations" in Indonesia.
AMP Section Name:Technology & Telecommunications
184 Labor
204 Manufacturing


The Orkambi row still isn't resolved. Who is to blame for this mess?
It's a long story. Friction between pharma and NICE and NHS England (NHSE) is par for the course, as one side will always aim to maximise expenditure and the other minimise it. But the Orkambi row does stand out. One key factor is that back in 2013, Vertex managed to get a very favourable pricing deal for its first CF drug, Kalydeco.
NHS England's Specialised commissioning head John Stewart says this was because NHSE was new then and just finding its feet. He says it has overpaid for Kalydeco by £400m over five years – not a 'fair and reasonable price'. This, along with a prolonged budget squeeze, are factors informing NHSE's 'hard ball' tactics on a portfolio deal for Kalydeco, Orkambi and subsequent CF therapies.
From Vertex's side, the company may have assumed Orkambi could get a deal similar to Kalydeco, which did not go through the NICE process. This means Vertex was unprepared for NICE's rejection and a price per QALY score ten times higher than NICE's acceptable threshold.
Vertex was also under pressure to maximise revenues, as England is one of the biggest global CF markets, and Vertex struggled to turn an overall profit until 2018.
How good is Orkambi compared to Vertex's other drugs?
This is a key point – Orkambi's data shows it is less effective than Kalydeco at improving lung function, but it is licensed to treat a larger proportion of the CF population – 40-50% compared to 5%. It is also slightly more expensive. That's a far less favourable proposition in health economic and budget impact terms; Vertex argues that Orkambi will help pave the way for more effective pipeline treatments for even more of the CF population – but that's not how NICE works.
Is Vertex really an 'extreme outlier' in terms of its behaviour?
NICE agrees with NHSE on this one. Its chief executive Sir Andrew Dillon – an 'iron hand in a velvet glove' sort of character – told the health select committee that Vertex was "unique in my 20-year experience of working at NICE in demonstrating so little flexibility in their expectations".
Is the UK an extreme outlier in terms of market access for Orkambi?
The long stalemate certainly puts the UK far behind many comparable countries regarding Orkambi access. Germany granted very rapid approval after launch, and Ireland – which has the highest per capita incidence of CF – agreed a portfolio deal in April 2017. That's not to say there haven't been major rows elsewhere in the world.
France agreed to a managed access programme that allowed rapid access tied to later value assessment, and also includes a budget cap of €30m with much lower payment rates beyond that.
But in February 2018 a disagreement on this deal led Vertex to threaten to deprive France of trials of its new triple therapy. An outcry against this threat led the company to back down. Canada also recently refused reimbursement and Spain is caught in a similar stand- off to the UK with Vertex over pricing.
What does Vertex's CEO Jeff Leiden say?
How influential have patient campaigners been?
They've played a huge role, led by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and also through individuals and groups on social media who are CF patients themselves or parents of children with CF. They've kept the pressure on two successive health secretaries, and have won the support of many backbench MPs to keep the issue in the spotlight.
Campaigners tend to apportion blame equally to the government and Vertex, although one group, Just Treatment, points the finger more firmly at the pharma company. It has called for a Crown Use compulsory licensing of Orkambi, but this always looked like an outside bet.
This is the million dollar question, so to speak. Vertex's UK list price for Orkambi is £104,000 ($136,000) for a year's treatment. If England were to pay this price for the approximately 2,834 people who are eligible, it would cost around £295m, which would make it one of the country's biggest drug expenditures.
In confidential talks, Vertex may well have settled for a 50% discount. But NHSE England's offer of 500m over five years represented a 90% discount, or around £10,000 for a year's supply of Orkambi.
Was it a mistake for NHS England to make its offer public?
NHS England had seemingly had enough of being blamed for the impasse, and decided to make its offer public last summer. As this was a break from the confidential talks that both sides have always agreed are useful and necessary, it certainly looks like a mistake – not least because Vertex could never accept such a public offer without exposing its price negotiations elsewhere in the world.
To what extent does the row reflect bigger industry/healthcare issues?
Orkambi does reflect wider concerns about rare disease drugs that are assessed via NICE's single technology appraisal (STA) system. NICE maintains, however, that making exceptions to its QALY system for one set of patients will inevitably mean that others will lose out.
How is this stalemate likely to be resolved?
Both sides need a chance in order to climb down – and the first prerequisite for this will be a return to a confidential pricing deal. Obvious solutions include Vertex producing improved outcomes data for Orkambi (not likely, as it's looking ahead to triple therapy) or a risk-sharing scheme, which it hasn't been keen on so far. That leaves a compromise price cut, as part of the larger portfolio deal, as the most likely outcome.
July 2012: Vertex's Kalydeco, the first medicine to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis, is approved in Europe.
January 2013: NHS England (NHSE) agrees to fund Kalydeco for all cystic fibrosis patients aged six who have the G551D gene mutation – around 270 people.
November 2015: EU approval for Vertex's Orkambi, the first medicine to treat the underlying cause of CF in people aged 12 + with two copies of the F508del mutation.
April 2016: NICE's initial rejection of Orkambi despite evidence of its efficacy, stating cost and lack of long-term evidence about benefits.
May 2016: Orkambi and Kalydeco rejected in Scotland.
June 2016: NICE gives final rejection of Orkambi in England – the Cystic Fibrosis Trust suggests a solution using the UK CF Registry to give people access while allowing data on its efficacy to be collected.
October 2016: Orkambi negotiations between Vertex, the UK government and the NHS get underway.
December 2016: NHSE approves expanded use of Kalydeco to two-to-five-year-olds in England, benefiting around 50 children.
April 2017: Ireland, which has the highest per capita incidence of CF in the world, agrees a 'portfolio' deal with Vertex after seven months of negotiation. This covers Kalydeco, Orkamabi and pipeline drug therapies.
June 2017: CF Trust chief executive David Ramsden writes to Vertex and the NHS in all four UK nations, appealing to them to reach an agreement on pricing for Orkambi.
January 2018: Orkambi approved in Europe for 6-11 year olds.
February 2018: Vertex submits portfolio proposal to NHSE, similar to that adopted in Ireland. NHSE responds to Vertex portfolio with a counterproposal and releases a statement. Vertex says it is "astonished and dismayed" by NHSE's initial response.
April 2018: Vertex meets with NHSE to discuss access to Orkambi and future treatments. This is followed by two more meetings in May and June, but yield no progress.
May 2018: 1,000 letters from children with CF and their families asking for access to Orkambi are handed in to Downing Street.
July 2018: Vertex brands NHSE's behaviour as "outrageous" and "unconscionable". The company says it has offered England the best value deal anywhere in the world, employing an independent barrister to verify the claim while still keeping the offer confidential.
July 2018: NHSE goes public with a 'final offer' of £500m over five years for Orkambi and Kalydeco, soon-to-be- approved Symdeco and a triple therapy in late-stage testing, without having to wait for NICE appraisals.
August 2018: Vertex is angered by NHSE making its price offer public. It refuses to file Symkevi with NICE, stating that it will only submit its data if NICE updates its appraisal process.
August 2018: Simon Bedson, Vertex's SVP and general manager, international commercial operations, steps down. Ludovic Fenaux, hired from BMS, is named as his successor.
September 2018: Vertex, NICE and NHSE resume talks after summer impasse.
November 2018: Symkevi approved in Europe (tezacaftor/ivacaftor) for people with CF aged 12 and older who have two copies of F508del or one copy of F508del and one of 14 other mutations.
November: Promising data released from phase 3 trials of pipeline cystic fibrosis triple therapy that could benefit more than 90% of people with CF.
January 2019: NHSE's John Stewart calls Vertex "extreme outliers in pricing and behaviour" ahead of the health select committee hearing.
European Commission approves a label extension for Orkambi for two-to-five year-old children with CF who have two copies of the F508del mutation, the most common form of the disease.
February 2019: Patient activist group Just Treatment says Vertex is holding children's lives to ransom. It urges the government to use Crown use compulsory licensing to gain access to cheaper versions of Orkambi.
March 2019: House of Commons health select committee inquiry into Okambi row hears evidence from Vertex, NHSE, NICE and patient and clinical representatives. Outside the meeting, over 200 CF campaigners are joined by MPs taking part in a demonstration calling for immediate access to Orkambi.
March 2019: Vertex, NHSE and NICE meet with Matt Hancock to recommence discussions on cystic fibrosis medicines.
March 2019: Second meeting between Vertex, NHSE and NICE, with hopes of a breakthrough round the corner.


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It is believed that the slippery elm tree has an interior bark that holds many medicinal powers. This bark is collected in the springtime and dried out for use. Slippery elm is sold in a powder form. Fine powder is available for dissolving into a drink, or a coarser powder is also available to mix up a poultice.
The herb is used for many purposes today. It is taken as a diuretic and an emollient. Slippery elm coats the mucous membranes and absorbs toxins in the body that would otherwise cause intestinal and digestion problems.
It is very soothing to the gastrointestinal area, and is therefore used to treat ulcers, diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome and heartburn. When you are experiencing intestinal discomfort the last thing you want to do is introduce a product into your body that might not agree with it. For this reason many consumers choose slippery elm, because these herbal supplements are based of a natural substance.


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A Cápák éjszakája (eredeti cím: Shark Night) 2011-ben bemutatott amerikai horrorfilm. Will Hayes és Jesse Studenberg forgatókönyvéből David R. Ellis rendezte, akinek ez volt legutolsó filmrendezése. A főszereplők Sara Paxton, Katharine McPhee, Alyssa Diaz, Dustin Milligan és Joel Moore.

A 3D formátumban is bemutatott film negatív kritikákat kapott az értékelőktől, a 25 millió dolláros költségvetésből készült horrorfilm világszerte 41,3 millió amerikai dolláros bevételt termelt. Magyarországon DVD-n adták ki.

Cselekmény

Hét egyetemi hallgató, Sara, Nick, Beth, Malik, Maya, Blake és Gordon elmennek nyaralni Sara családi pihenőházába, egy magántóhoz. Ott Sara találkozik exbarátjával, Dennisszel és az ő haverjával, Reddel.

Nick, Blake, Maya és Malik elmennek hajókázni, de Malikot vízisízés közben megtámadja egy cápa. Ki tud úszni a partra, de a jobb karját leharapta. Nick beugrik a vízbe, hogy megtalálja Malik karját, de észreveszi a tó fenekén a cápát, amely kis híján elkapja, amikor úszik ki a mólóra. Mivel nem sikerült Malik karját kihozni a vízből, a hallgatók próbálják elállítani a vérzést, majd a kórház felé indulnak. A cápa megtámadja a hajót is, és megöli a vízbe eső Mayát. A hajó kormánya és a gázpedál beragad, így mindannyian kénytelenek a vízbe ugrani, mielőtt a jármű belecsapódik a csónakházba. Nick és Sara partra teszik Malikot.

Nem sokkal később Dennis és Red megérkeznek, és megállapodnak abban, hogy segítenek Malikot kórházba juttatni, Beth és Gordon velük megy. A hajóúton kiderül Dennisről, hogy ő és Red tette a cápákat a tóba, hogy jól elszórakozzanak az egyetemistákon. Dennis a vízbe kényszeríti Gordont, hogy videót készítsen róla, miközben meghal, Gordon visszautasítja, majd Dennis meglövi őt, ettől a vízbe esik, majd egy bikacápa felfalja őt. Red és Dennis megfosztják ruhájától Beth-t, és megetetik a világítócápákkal. A félkarú Malik arra vállalkozik, hogy egy szigonnyal megöli azt a cápát, amelyik végzett a barátnőjével. A sebe egy pörölycápát vonz oda, amit megöl, de súlyosan megsebesül. Nick és Blake kihúzzák a cápát a partra, amikor Nick észrevesz egy kamerát a hasához csatolva. Blake úgy dönt, hogy jet-skivel elviszi a szárazföldre, mielőtt meghal Malik, de a nyomukban van a cápa, ekkor Malik feláldozza magát, majd nem sokkal később Blake-kel is végez egy nagy fehércápa.

Sabin seriff meglátogatja Sarát és Nicket, megkínálja őket levessel, amitől Nick és Sara kutyája (aki szintén evett a levesből) elájulnak. Sara meghallja Redet beszélni Sabin rádióján, és elmondja, hogy végeztek Beth-el. Sara egy nagy késsel próbálja meg leszúrni a seriffet, de váratlanul megjelenik a háta mögött Dennis, és megmenti, majd a hajóra vonszolja, míg Sabin Nicket fellógatja a tó fölé, ahol már várják a tigriscápák. Kiderül, hogy Sabin, Dennis és Red együtt találták ki azt, hogy videókat készítsenek arról, hogyan ölnek meg különböző cápafajok embereket, melyből meg akarnak gazdagodni. Megmutatja Nicknek az első videót, amint egy farkascápa végez egy fiatal lánnyal. Hamarosan Nick öngyújtóval elégeti a kötelet és kiszabadul, majd felgyújtja a kiöntött benzint, amitől lángolni kezd Sabin, aki a tóba ugrik, de végeznek vele a tigriscápák.

Nick, amikor odaúszott a hajóhoz, túszul ejti Redet, és arra kényszeríti Dennist, hogy húzza fel a ketrecet a vízből, ekkor Redbe dob egy kést, amitől meghal, és csak azért, hogy el tudja Nicket kapni, de Nick megüti és beleesik a vízbe, ám megpróbálja Sarát felhúzni, csakhogy Dennis megjelenik a háta mögött, majd lecsatolja a ketrecet a drótkötélről és a tó mélyére süllyednek. Nick utánuk ugrik és dulakodni kezdenek Dennisszel a tó fenekén, közben előttük megjelenik egy cápa, Nicknek sikerül egy pillanatra elmenekülni onnan, míg Dennisszel végez a cápa. Nick visszamegy, és végül sikerül végeznie a cápával egy szigonnyal, utána a felszínre viszi Sarát, és szájon át lélegezteti, majd magához tér. A film azzal ér véget, hogy Nick, Sara és a kutyája, miután túlélték, egy nagy fehér cápa ugrik rájuk a vízből egyenesen a kamera felé a hajóra, jelezve azt hogy még vannak cápák a vízben.

Szereplők

Fordítás

Jegyzetek

További információk

2011 filmjei
Amerikai horrorfilmek
Fórum Hungary-filmek

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Search engines are administered by a multifaceted problem-solving computer program and it is very hard to persuade it that a specific website or web page warrants the top positions or even the first page positions. There are particular methods you can use to optimize your website.
Using the exact page title to get low volume keywords will provide a viable advantage in the search results. Every page should have a unique title. The title should be short and descriptive and helps visitors know what the page is about.
The title of the home page can be the name of your website or your business. You can also add a tidbit of information about what the main focus of the page is.
1. Always give a distinctive description for all of your pages, posts and products on your website.
2. Don't use too many keywords in the page descriptions.
4. Do not use the page title in the description.
5. Keep the description to no more than 160 characters, but at least 150 characters.
1. Steer clear of using irrelevant information in a URL causing them to be lengthy.
2. Create URLs that are easy so that the search engines and visitors understand them.
3. Make sure you use hyphens to separate words in the URL.
Internal links are links that we use in a particular web page that points back to another web page within our own website. In the example below, if you click on the anchor words "What Affiliate Marketing Is" that has be made into a hyperlink, you will be redirected to another page that is within this website to find out more information about what affiliate marketing is. This is known as an "internal link".
Example: If you haven't already, check out my article about What Affiliate Marketing Is.
Even though internal links are extremely important to a site's search engine optimization, a lot of site owners do not use them accurately. Here are some suggested guidelines when using internal links.
1. Don't go link crazy. Four to five links per page adequate. Only use more if it is really necessary.
3. Don't use terms such as, "click here" or "[..]" when using internal links.
better. Do not use links for the sole purpose of SEO.
5. Ensure that the internal links are useful for the user and easily understood by search engines.
Another good idea for your site's SEO is to link new post and pages to older posts and pages. This is not necessarily an easy thing to accomplish especially if you have a lot of posts. Try to do this about every 2 to 3 weeks.
Always make sure you've done at least some basic formatting before you publish your content. If you fail to do this it will be a poor visitation for the user. Additionally, poor formatting or lack of formatting will definitely go against attempts for improving SEO. Keep these rules in mind when writing your content.
1. Use "bold" and italic to draw visitors attention.
3. Use a font size and style that is easy to read.
4. Use H1 headings for the title of your page or post.
Always make sure that visitors can always tell where the main sections of the page are at a glance. Don't forget to make sure you have taken action to create a site that can also be easy to read for those who may be using hand held devices such as Ipads, tablets and mobile phones.
Using imagery can only further improve visitors' experiences, but it can also deflate the experience. I say that because using images can also create other unwanted side effects. Sometimes adding images to your page can cause problems with page loading speed or slow response. To avoid problems with using images try these tips.
3. Use "Alt Text" to describe the image. You can also add keywords, but once again don't over stuff.
The areas covered here are some methods that can be implemented to improve the search engine optimization of your website, thus increasing the rankings of the website. It is a good idea to be vigilant of your site rankings because algorithms are forever changing and what works today may not work next month. So, after your site is up and running don't think you are finished. Maintaining frequent new content, current keywords and search engine optimization is an ongoing process to ensure good health of your website.
Awesome post! Still sort of new to SEO and all that jazz. Thanks for the help!
Thanks for taking a look at my article. Hope you were able to benefit from it. SEO can be confusing sometimes, but don't worry. It takes time. One day the light bulb will come on for you and everything will just fall into place.
Stop by anytime and if you have any questions, I will be glad to help. Best wishes for your success.
I didn't know using "click here" was a bad thing! Why is that?
Question about internal linking: What are you thoughts about pages opening in the same tab vs. opening in a new tab?
What's the optimal size for pics in a page/post? 100kb, 50kb?
Thank you for posting this. Now, I have to go to my website and make sure I didn't hyperlink any "click here" text, haha.
Google doesn't care much for generic anchor text such as click here because the anchor text should give some idea of what the page being linked to is all about. It's not just good for the search engines to know what you are linking to, but the users should also have some idea of what you want them to link to.
Internal linking — Sometimes I think it depends on whether you are asking a web designer or the technical developer. I think that internal links should be opened in the same browser tab that the person is already in rather than to open it in a new browser tab. The user has the navigation menu to navigate back and forth from one page to another within the same website.
External Links — Technology has made things easier for us since we now use browser tabs. If you use the same browser tab to open an external link visitors have to keep using the back button to get back to your website. Also, when you use the same browser tab to open an external link, Google analytic will show that the visitor has left your site completely when they really haven't. Because opening in the same browser tab will take a visitor completely off your site (as far as Google Analytic is concerned), this can cause an increase in bounce rate. If you open an external link in a new browser tab visitors can view other sites for as long as they like and all they have to do to get back to you site is to click on the browser tab that still has your site open. Also, opening in a new tab will keep the time running on your website that's in another open browser tab until the visitor manually leaves your site.
Images — Image dimensions is the width and height of an image in pixels (250 x 300). The image file size is in kilobytes (kb) or megabytes (mb). Different things can determine the size of the image you want to use. For instance the file size can dictate the amount of time it takes for the image to load on a page. The larger the file size, the longer it will take to load. High quality images should be kept between 60 (kb) and 100 (kb), with 100 (kb) being the maximum. For smaller images it should be closer to 30 (kb).
I hope I answered your questions satisfactory.
Thanks for checking out my article. Let me know if you have any further questions. Thanks again for stopping by.


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