The surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday 10/11 so for now we're in a holding pattern.
I'll go back in for another echocardiogram on Monday to make sure nothing has changed. It was a bit of a controversy whether to do the surgery this week or next. The longer we wait, the worse off the heart could get. The way they explained it to us is that it's like when you're lifting weights and your muscles start to get tired, you start having that burning feeling (those of you who lift weights know what I'm talking about, even though I'm certainly not one of you). When you get tired, you stop and give your muscles a break.
Now imagine that you can't stop. You keep working the tired muscles, lifting the same weights over and over and over. After a while the muscle starts to stress. Then tear. Then die. That's what's going on inside Danger's heart. The blood is flowing into the left ventricle but has no release valve. The pressure just keeps building and building and the heart muscle tries to work harder to get it out. Eventually it will get so tired that, as much as it keeps trying and trying, there won't be any muscle left.
For obvious reasons the sooner we can fix, the less damage to the left ventricle.
On the other hand, we caught this early and the baby is small (354 grams). They want to wait to let him grow a little bit.
Caught early = good for heart.
Baby so small = bad for surgery.
This week I'm 19 weeks. The youngest successful surgery they've done is at 20 weeks. They decided to wait a week to let him grow. The size of the surgical target – the opening in the aortic valve – is 1.5 mm. Imagine an inch on a ruler. There are 2.54 cm per inch and there are 10 mm per cm (yay 4th grade math).
The target they are trying to reach is 1/10 of a cm or 1/25 of an inch. And they are trying to do this while the baby is floating in wahwah. Tough stuff.
Now we sit and wait and hope. Stay strong, little heart. Grow fat, little kid.
Vickie – I hope 10/11 becomes a lucky date for us as well!
October 11th is our wedding anniversary. The date has always been lucky for us in our 31 years of marriage. Seems like the perfect day for the surgery. Ours prayers and positive energy are with you and your entire family.
Prayers and blessing to all of you. Positive thoughts only.


A large statue of King Amenhotep III, the grandfather of the boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, has been unearthed in Egypt.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities says the latest find was made at the king's funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor.
The 44 feet tall statue is made of colored quartzite. It is composed of several large pieces that once put together will depict the king as standing.
The latest find comes after several other relics of the king were unearthed last year in his mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor.
Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt between 1390 and 1352BC, is the father of Akhenaten, the "heretic pharaoh" considered a precursor of monotheism because he tried to impose the exclusive worship of Aten.


In my life I've endured bullying, natural disasters, divorce, cancer in the family, accidents, surgeries, physical disability, and two near-death experiences. Still, I consider myself lucky. My life has never come to a standstill, and I have always picked myself up and moved forward. I've sometimes wondered, what is it that makes me resilient?
For one, I've had positive mentors. They have modeled for me the importance of having integrity, being respectful and fair, and making meaningful contributions to my community. Having come from a long line of hardworking and successful businesspeople in my family, I also learned that if I followed my passion, worked hard, treated others well, and sought meaningful experiences, I would thrive.
Second, I've learned from positive psychology that I have a secret weapon to wield in all the roles I play, including businesswoman, philanthropist, counselor, mom, and human: my strengths. According to the VIA Character Strengths survey (which you can take here for free) one of my five signature strengths is perspective, which www.viacharacter.org says includes the ability to see situations from multiple sides, think in meaningful ways about life and how to live it, and to share helpful advice.
Perspective is one strength that's given me the ability to bounce back from hardships. In a way, it also catalyzed the initiative called iThrive. Let me explain. I credit my strength of perspective for the fact that I have always played the role of therapist among my friends. I've also had close relationships with people struggling with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and bipolar disorders, and substance abuse. I became interested in studying counseling, thinking that if I was going to be the person my loved ones came to for guidance, then I wanted to be well informed. But life and work always gave me some reason not to do it, just yet.
Then, a few years ago, I was in a fluke accident that shattered my leg, requiring three surgeries that left me unable to walk without assistance for a year and a half. Not able to work, I finally decided to take this (quite literal) downtime to get that second master's degree in counseling.
Out in nature with my older son.
While I was enrolled in the counseling program, I stayed at home a lot with my two teenage sons, nursing my leg back to health while I studied. It was then that I began to notice how much time my boys were spending on the computer playing video games.
At first, like many parents, I nearly made myself hoarse pleading with them to "Pleeeeeease turn that computer OFF!!". I was worried they weren't doing more productive things. I wondered whether they'd be prepared to handle the "real world." Would they have the resilience they needed when hard times inevitably came?
Me with my oldest son – and puppies!
As I reflected on this, it made more and more sense to me why my sons, and teens in general, were increasingly drawn to video games. Teens are stressed, these days even more than adults. Sure, adolescence was tough and awkward for me too, but I saw my sons and their friends distressed over things my generation didn't face to the same degree. Among them: the increasingly competitive race to get into college, the constant barrage of photoshopped celebrities, and the potential for envy and public embarrassment made possible by a life lived on social media. Video games are worlds where teens can go on their own terms to experiment, be creative, assume different roles and identities, practice expressing themselves, get into the 'flow-zone', and forget about their problems for a while. What a cathartic way to take some of the pressure off! But, I wondered, could these games be doing double duty, teaching kids how to cope better?
Of course, I wasn't the first person to make the connection that video games could teach meaningful skills—research on games-based learning started to really take off around the mid-2000's. But I did see an opportunity to bring another of my passions—positive psychology—into the conversation. Instead of just addressing illness, stress, and disorder, positive psychology says we can foster well-being by looking through the lens of our strengths. I became motivated to make that insight actionable for teens in the virtual worlds where they already are and want to be.
My younger son and me, wheeling around town.
I founded iThrive to ensure that teens are finding in video games the positive, meaningful experiences they need to not only cope with stress but to find their strengths and thrive. Existing games have this potential, but we also could be designing for it more deliberately. And although research on the positive impact of video games is still in its early stages, I believe that under the right circumstances, gameplay can provide opportunities for teens to practice new skills, discover new perspectives (and new things about themselves), learn about others, exchange ideas, and collaborate.
I also witnessed how video games can provide a safe space for teens to practice coping strategies to deal with social challenges and failure. In online social worlds, just like in schools or any other place teens gather, bullying can and does happen. But, as my oldest son told me, he learned by being on the receiving end of aggressive behaviors in video games that reacting to bullies and taking their attacks personally never helped. Instead, he learned to disengage from them, mute them out, and remain focused on his own path.
With each day, video games, augmented reality, and virtual reality are becoming more realistic and engaging, making them even more enticing for teens (and adults too!). It makes sense to meet teens where they are already spending so much of their time and to take advantage of the appeal of these technologies to promote teens' positive growth. Because gaming technology is advancing so rapidly, there is almost unlimited potential to create simulated, safe environments, using compelling stories, creative challenges, and evocative dialogue, to help teens gain self-awareness and learn skills that empower them to take the driver's seat on their own path to thriving.
My new perspective: video games can empower teens to thrive. I founded iThrive to discover how.


text:
The Phaidon Folio
9 Wacky and Wonderful Found-Object Sculptures From Across Art History
By Artspace Editors
Salvador Dalí's Lobster Telephone, 1938
When Marcel Duchamp made his "Fountain" by elevating a men's room fixture to a plinth in a gallery, he encouraged artists to consider the selection of non-art goods as part of the creative act. The gesture may not look as radical a century on, but it continues to inspire; today, you might walk into a gallery and see Darren Bader's cats or tacos. The works below, excerpted from Phaidon's The Art Book, 30,000 Years of Art, and Body of Art, each exploit the arresting presence of the found object.
In his early work the painter, sculptor and writer Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) experimented with Post-Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism. He quickly grew impatient of styles and approaches he understood and sought more radical forms of art. In 1917 he became president of the Society of Independent Artists, an association that held annual exhibitions to offer progressive American and European artists the chance to show their work. In the same year Duchamp submitted Fountain, under the pseudonym R. Mutt. The work was a factory-made urinal that he displayed on its side and on a plinth. The piece was rejected by the jury and Duchamp resigned. (The original was soon lost, but Duchamp commissioned a number of reproductions years later; this version dates to 1964.) Fountain was one of many readymades that Duchamp took from everyday life and place in a gallery context in order to question not just the beauty and value of art, but also its entire concept. As such his art was known as anti-art, or Dada. Duchamp became a legend in his own lifetime, and countless contemporary artists have acknowledged a deep debt to him. His highly conceptual form of art inspired numerous twentieth-century movements, including Pop Art, Minimalism, Op Art and Conceptual Art. His work exists in a space between painting, sculpture and installation and asks the questions, "Who is an artist?" and "What is art?"
LOBSTER TELEPHONE
Salvador Dalí
A plaster lobster has been attached to the receiver of a telephone; a slight modification has turned an everyday object into something ludicrous. An incessant showman, and outspoken member of the Surrealist group, Dalí promoted the idea of absurdity and the role of the unconscious in art. He also drew close analogies between food and sex, and in the current example he intentionally positioned the genitalia of the lobster in line with the mouthpiece of the receiver. Whilst he made a variety of Surrealist objects, the artist is best known for his meticulously worked paintings in which dream-like scenarios become unnervingly vivid. Dalí was also involved in the production of a number of films, working on projects with Luis Buñuel, Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney. The artist produced several versions of the Lobster Telephone. The example below belonged to Dalí's important English patron, Edward James.
A frugal assortment of stamps, newspaper cuttings and other objects with no particular relevance to each other is placed in a wooden box. This container acts as a metaphor for the whole world, inhabited by these strange items. It is also a treasury of curiosities that is compelling to explore and evokes a mood of nostalgia. The fragments of once ornamental or beautiful objects come together in a magical and dream-like way. This is Cornell's genius, and why he has proved so popular over the years. The randomness of these "assemblages", as they are known, reflects Cornell's interest in the irrationality of Surrealism. Nevertheless, a sense of order and precision pervades pieces such as this. Of his own work Cornell once said, "Shadow boxes become poetic theatres or settings wherein are metamorphosed the elements of a childhood pastime."
Bed represents one of Robert Rauschenberg's (1925–2008) signature "combine" paintings – works that combine painting and three-dimensional found objects. This work started one day when, having no money left for canvas, Rauschenberg resorted to stretching a quilt in his New York loft. After painting on it for some time, it still read quite clearly as a quilt and, rather than continuing to fight against the character of this found object, he decided to capitalize on it and added a pillow and sheets to make up a whole bed. Although this bed is intended to hang on the wall, the painted and drawn areas appear precisely where one would expect to see the visible parts of a sleeping body: head on the lower half of the pillow, shoulders and torso on the sheets, arms resting on top of the quilt. The absence of this imagined body led one anonymous Newsweek reviewer in 1958 to compare the piece to a bed from a murder scene from which the corpse had been removed. But the bright colors and playful gestures can also elicit whimsy. Rauschenberg himself said: "I think of Bed as one of the friendliest pictures I've ever painted. My fear has always been that someone would want to crawl into it."
ELECTRIC DRESS
Atsuko Tanaka
A colorful array of fickering light bulbs and electrical wires are arranged to form a dress that when worn, covered the artist's body from head to foot, leaving only her hands and face visible. Atsuko Tanaka's (1932–2005) wearable sculpture, which combines modern industrial lighting with the traditional Japanese kimono, was frst devised for a performance in 1956. The work simultaneously drew attention to her body while concealing it in a dazzling display of light and color. Its fusion of technology and flesh made a powerful impact, and although many viewers were awed by Tanaka's creation, others were concerned that she might electrocute herself. As a young artist Tanaka joined the Gutai group, a collective of experimental artists who created large-scale multimedia events, performances and theatrical productions. They aimed to disassociate themselves from the horrifc events of Japan's wartime past by breaking traditional boundaries and developing new and radical approaches to making art. Drawing inspiration from modern Japanese advertising, Tanaka's Electic Dress was intended as a statement about the rapid post-war transformation of her native country. However, it inadvertently raised issues about women's bodies and the way in which fashion and the prevailing attitudes towards femininity in Japan constrained and subdued female expression and creativity.
ERODED LANDSCAPE
The artist has concocted an urban landscape out of a collection of containers of frosted glass. The group of objects has been arranged to evoke feelings of both familiarity and strangeness. The glass shelf could be found in any home. It too might be displaying objects that mean something to their owner, but not to the viewer. The two large vases at the bottom right and left support the structure and give the composition amazing symmetry and stability. The entire composition takes on the feel of a Greek temple, so stabilizing is their influence. Cragg has specialized in the arrangement of industrial objects. His works are an exploration of the space between reality and the imagination. His compositions frequently evoke the idea of consumer waste, yet they are often arranged with a delicate sense of poetry, and a sensitivity to the beauty of still life.
Sarah Lucas
Sarah Lucas (b.1962) rose to prominence as part of the generation of "Young British Artists", whose work often employed visual puns and witty one- liners more common to advertising and popular culture than fine art. Throughout her career, Lucas has repeatedly returned to the body as subject, in particular its visual representation outside of the realm of high art. Au Naturel is an assemblage of found objects arranged to suggest explicitly male and female bodies. The title is an expression used to describe nakedness in a positive light – as nature intended, without the constraints of clothing – yet here, bodies are reduced to their most basic functions, existing only as sexual parts. A number of Lucas's works have used food to represent the body – fried eggs as breasts, a kebab or raw chicken as female genitalia. Here, the use of melons, oranges and a cucumber reference a bawdy, direct humour that has existed across cultures for generations, but which is not usually seen in the context of a gallery. The mattress that holds the fruits in place points to the most common location for sex, and yet its slouched, stained appearance speaks of squalor and grime: revealing a disparity between mundane reality and romantic fantasy.
Doris Salcedo (b.1958) created this elaborate installation as her contribution to the Istanbul Biennial in 2003. The piece featured 1550 ordinary wooden chairs crammed into a space between two buildings in an area of the city containing numerous hardware shops and small businesses. Visually stunning, the work has no precise meaning, though it alludes to the way that war, and its devastation, can become embedded in everyday life, and has also been seen to represent the migrant workers who go unrecognized in society yet underpin our global economy. Salcedo's artworks often use architectural interventions, and domestic objects and materials, as a means to communicate political ideas. In 2002 she used chairs to represent human loss, slowly lowering 280 individual seats down the façade of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá to commemorate the lives of those killed in a failed coup 17 years before. The performance took place over a period of 53 hours, the same duration as the original siege. Salcedo created a permanent scar in the floor of the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern, London, in 2007 for the installation Shibboleth, which featured a dramatic crack running the length of the space and aimed to address the divisions of race and colonialism that exist in the modern world.
LINE OF CONTROL
Line of Control is an enormous installation artwork portraying a mushroom cloud formed by thousands of shiny pots and pans. Domestic objects feature regularly in Subodh Gupta's artworks, and he particularly uses items that are common to everyday Indian life, including the tiffin boxes that are used by workers to carry lunch, as well as thali pans, buckets and bicycles. The title of this work refers to the military border between Pakistan and India, and the installation expresses the fear of a nuclear war between the countries. Another recurring theme in Gupta's art is transport, and he has created sculptures of a taxi carrying an enormous load, which is portrayed half-submerged in the gallery floor (Everything Is Inside, 2004), and a traditional Keralan fishing boat, filled with silver utensils and electric fans (All in the Same Boat, 2013). Gupta (b.1964) was born in Khagaul, Bihar, India, a mostly rural area, though he now resides near New Delhi. His art examines themes that are pertinent to the country, including political questions about inequality and the divisions between rural and city life, but the striking imagery he uses in his work has a universal appeal and it has been exhibited in galleries and museums all over the world.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


agreed. fuller is the man.
jon has such a unique look to his work. i really like his masks.
Bitchin score! Nice to see new stuff.
thanks guys....the sculpt is uncanny. I once had a nypd morgue photo of some poor chap who was killed by a blunt trauma strike to the head and dumped in the Hudson River....he died while still making a "screaming" expreson. This mask looks JUST like that poor chap I remember. Its amazingly life-like.
Awesome!thanks guys....the sculpt is uncanny. I once had a nypd morgue photo of some poor chap who was killed by a blunt trauma strike to the head and dumped in the Hudson River....he died while still making a "screaming" expreson. This mask looks JUST like that poor chap I remember. Its amazingly life-like.
Looks brilliant. The detail is great, love the eyes!
Still getting caught up from being away...that looks amazing Evan. Congrats!!
Still getting caught up from being away...that looks amazing Evan. Congrats!!thanks Lee! Yeah I was really blown away by the craftsmanship on this piece!
Conrats on the amazing score.
That looks great ghoul Jonathan does awesome work.


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Launching a successful business demands dedication — no matter which sector you operate in.
But emerging firms in the science sector can face expensive hurdles in getting funding and permission to test prototypes as well as conquering the mountains of red tape required to license and distribute products.
Despite these hurdles, several innovative firms break through as solo players or come to the fore thanks to lucrative partnerships with larger organisations.
Here are three startups that have cut themselves a slice of the science sector.
Russian gas production experts RRT Global have sustained success over their first few years in a highly competitive sector.
The firm's innovative isomerisation process allows gasoline components to be extracted in one column instead of the standard six — enabling massive efficiency savings by reducing the energy required in the traditional technique.
60 per cent of the cost of gasoline is due to energy costs, so when this technology is applied at scale the potential savings are enormous.
The technology has been licensed in a number of international markets and RRT has a presence in India and the US as well as its native land.
But founders Oleg Parputs and Oleg Giiazov initially struggled to secure funding before Foresight Ventures stepped up to the plate with a $100,000 loan.
Their perseverance has paid off a few short years — the firm now has partnerships with several major refineries and state energy organisations.
Genomatica pioneered the creation of intermediate and basic chemicals through bio-based rather than petroleum-based processes.
The source materials are sugars from renewable feedstock — making the process cheaper and more environmentally-friendly.
The company has won awards since its arrival on the bioengineering scene a few years ago, and recently bagged a 2017 ICIS innovation award for bio-based butylene glycol — a chemical used in cosmetics.
They're also creating tires and nylon from sustainable material and license their technology to other firms who want to build their own plants creating everything from food packaging to car parts and carpets.
bio-bean was founded in 2013 and recycles waste coffee grounds into advanced biochemicals and biofuels.
The firm has partnerships with waste management firms — allowing it to collect the grounds from businesses who want to participate. Nationwide operators like Costa Coffee and Network Rail have signed up to the scheme, as has City law firm Eversheds Sutherland.
Their patented coffee logs and biomass pellets can be used in stoves, fires, and building heating systems as green alternatives to materials like wood.
CEO and founder Arthur Kay was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2017 BusinessGreen Leaders Awards and bio-bean was also named as one of TV presenter Kevin McCloud's 'Green Heroes' at his Grand Designs Live expo.
This is a great example of an eco-conscious startup that's both profitable and enables other businesses to go green.
Breaking through to success in the science sector requires determination, whether you've developed ph testing solutions , an ingenious fuel extraction process or an innovative biofuel.
But the brains behind these three startups never lost faith in their visions and are making their mark in specialised markets — their stories should encourage fellow entrepreneurs to keep believing.
What science startups do you admire? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
Poaching Employees – What it is and is it Ethical or Legal?


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El Mago – How Javy Baez Learned to Live and Let Die
July 18, 2018 Padraig Whelan Baseball, Pinch Hitting
"There's magic in the ivy and the old scoreboard."
That was the line once sang by Eddie Vedder in his ode to Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs, All The Way, and their longstanding quest to win it all.
He may need to release an updated version though. Not only because his beloved Cubs ended their long wait in 2016 but that magic he spoke about has extended to Wrigley's infield.
It is there that the most exciting player in baseball currently drops jaws on an almost nightly basis.
That man is versatile second baseman Javier Baez, nicknamed El Mago, meaning 'The Magician', and you don't have to watch much of him to understand why that's the case.
If he had gone to school at Hogwarts instead of in Jacksonville as his wizardry would suggest, you can bet he would have ended up in Gryffindor, given his daring, courage and nerve when on the diamond.
In a sport fuelled by stats, all of that goes out the window when you watch the Puerto Rican star either at the plate, running the bases or in the field defensively.
Wherever he is, he never fails to entertain and there is a serious case to be made he is baseball's most electrifying performer.
At the plate? He belted a bleachers blast in a 2017 elimination game at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers – while blowing a giant bubblegum bubble in an image that has since been immortalised in bobblehead form.
Running the bases? There are so many to choose from and some of his best moments in blue have been as a baserunner but one of his finest came last season against the Toronto Blue Jays when he beat the tag at home to walk off the win and popped back to his feet with the smoothest slide since Jimmy Page penned In My Time of Dying.
A defensive play? Again, you could list off so many but if there is anyone out there who hasn't seen his magnificent no-look tag in the World Baseball Classic when he congratulated catcher Yadier Molina's perfect throw before he had even applied the touch was just magnificent.
There are fewer players in MLB these days with as exhilarating a highlight reel as the one El Mago possesses.
Every single night he adds something new to it, as evidenced by his swim manoeuvre last week in stealing home and avoiding the tag in doing so (that, by the way, was his second steal of home this season).
That particular steal of a run was all the more daring and perhaps ill-advised given that there were no outs and no need for it but that is what endears 'Javy' to fans.
As liable as he is to come in for his team in the clutch and deliver in the big moments, he is also capable of swinging out of his helmet and shoes with an almighty hack, flailing at a pitch that wasn't even close to the strike zone.
Yet that's part of the appeal as he is fallible as anyone else. He's the owner of a more than respectable .327 OBP for the season so far, although he also possesses just 14 walks to his 87 strikeouts.
But Baez is a player who allows you to forget all of that. The number-crunching isn't something that needs to be factored in when watching someone who plays with such effervescent joy that it rubs off on those around him and allows you to simply revel in the spectacle.
You don't think about the wild swings at a ball in the dirt when you see him effortlessly catching line drives or swatting out runners who never stood a chance against his quick hands.
However, not all of his stats are as scary as his K rate in any case. He's fourth in the NL for RBI with 66, fourth for slugging percentage. and is also sixth on stolen bases for the year to date.
The good news is for those who may not yet be on board the Baez bandwagon or who haven't had the chance to truly watch the wizard work his magic, next week represents the perfect chance.
He has already done it on the biggest stage as his NLCS co-MVP award and crucial World Series Game 7 homer off Corey Kluber but this provides him with a new stage.
Baez was this week selected for his first All Star game and also participated in his maiden Home Run Derby, perfect showcases for him to strut his stuff to audiences who can catch a little of his stardust.
This is a special player who is worthy of the nickname bestowed upon him and it isn't just fans who are excited as his own teammates have even confessed to being blown away by the brilliant Baez.
"Everybody enjoys playing this game but not everyone is able to show that out there," is how fellow Cub David Bote put it, addressing it perfectly when speaking to reporters. "He can show it and that's something fans can relate to."
Fresh from their series in San Francisco, manager Joe Maddon likened him to a Beatle and perhaps the best thing to come from the comparison was the player's admission that he wasn't aware who they were!
So as this article started with lyrics from a rock legend, it shall end in a similar vein and Paul McCartney's line from Live and Let Die could easily be attributed to Baez and ignoring the detractors who may feel his enthusiasm isn't in the spirit of the game.
"When you've got a job to do, you've got to do it well," he sang. "You've got give the other fella hell."
Hell it may be trying to deal with his brilliance for opposing players but for the public, it has become a daily delight watching him do his job.
And doing it well. Magically well.
*Stats correct as of July 14
All Star GameChicago CubsCleveland IndiansCorey KluberDavid BoteHome Run DerbyJavier Baezjoe maddonLos Angeles DodgersMajor League BaseballMLBNational LeagueNLCSSan Francisco GiantsToronto Blue JaysWorld Series
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Watch Seven Samurai (1954) : Online Full Movie Free | 123MovieS A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food. A giant battle occurs when 40 bandits attack the village.You can conveniently watch Online Free Full movies on your desktop or laptop computer as long as your machine has a DVD-ROM drive or burner. Windows Media Player is a multimedia program included with Windows operating systems that allows you to play DVDs. The Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 8 / 10 Or System Operation Other Media Center Edition includes Windows Media Center, Download which is advanced home entertainment software. It plays Download Movie online free and provides full access to the Free DVD 1080PX Or 720PX Full HD. menu and features, it's time for you to sit back, relax, grab a can or cola or some snacks, and get the very feel of Hollywood, BollyWood, Boxffice or other in your own room. favorite Movies destination. The Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) is a source of industry information for insiders as well as film reviews, showtimes and movie trailers for the general public. Check their website for a list of current showings with descriptions. If you're feeling particularly daring, you can even use their little-known advanced search feature. There, you can search their complete catalog of past and present movies by plot, filming locations and even quotes. You can even find fun facts and trivia about your favorite actors, such as their zodiac sign, birthplace, birthday and awards and nominations.


Fans of challenging yet fun gravel/adventure/gnarmac/multi-terrain type rides rejoice, for there is another ride to add to the bulging gravel calendar… behold the Falling Leaves Rough Ride.
Held in and around the little known, yet very awesome Churnet Valley and sneaking into the Southern edges of the Peak District, the Falling Leaves Rough Ride will be dishing out oodles of great woodland trails, quite lanes, gravel tracks, disused railway lines and more along the way.
On Sunday 28th October 2018 riders will be starting pretty much at the bottom of the hill from Alton Towers and tackling one of two route options; 75km & 42km (don't be fooled by the distances, there's some sturdy terrain involved so even the short route could take a while to complete).
Thanks to the support of Spokes Bikeshop, Rourke Cycles, Vekta Velosport & Plant Cycleworks (all very fine local independent cycle retailers that you should check out) riders can expect two well stocked feed stops and supportive marshals on route, as well as an on-call mechanic to sort out any mechanical disasters.
Who doesn't love a cap?
But wait, there's more! Yes indeed there is… there are caps! Everyone will be getting a pretty sweet commemorative cycling cap for completing their ride. Oh, and there will be ride photos that will be free of charge…. And quality catering at the start/finish area from The Saddlerack who will also be handing out a complimentary finishers brew to the riders…. And probably some other free stuff too once we've worked that out. All for £23 (plus a small booking fee that we can't get away from). Yeah, that's value for ya.
And another video that takes less time to watch yet is probably more entertaining.
Well it will have to be the short route for me (SS 26″ rigid mtb) but as long as I can get a lift from Newcastle (the Staffs one) to the start, I'm up for it.


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NFL looking into high number of lower extremity injuries
PHOENIX (AP) — Next to torn ACLs, the most time lost for injured NFL players is due to hamstring and lower extremity problems, of which there are far more than the major knee issue.
So the NFL will place even more emphasis on examining hamstring, groin, foot, ankle and other such injuries, along with its heavy concentration on the knee.
While reducing concussions remains the most critical player safety initiative — they were down 29 percent in 2018 — Dr. Allen Sills, the league's chief medical officer, this week stressed the need to target the lower extremity injuries "the same was as with concussions."
"We are thinking about injury burden," Sills said. "Not only how many injuries but how long a player missed. We plan by the end of year in hopes of making substantial savings of time lost (for players) with those injuries," Sills said.
Some of those injuries occur because players push too hard when they aren't in the shape to do so, particularly those who report late to training camp — or not at all, and then come aboard during the season. That's particularly true of hamstrings; it's not unusual for observers to wonder how soon, not if, such players will struggle with such problems.
"It's how you train and when and how much intensity you bring to specific times you train," Sills explained.
The league will talk with team trainers and doctors, with exercise experts and researchers in a push to reduce what often are termed "nagging injuries."
Sills and Jeff Miller, the NFL's executive vice president of health and safety initiatives, spoke about a variety of injury and player safety topics at the owners meetings. They were most encouraged, not surprisingly, by the decrease in the number of concussions, with one exception: Things were static during preseason practices, when 45 occurred in 2017 and 45 happened against last year. Many of those were incurred by offensive linemen, Sills said, and were specific to blocking.
"We'll be meeting with position coaches to look at how linemen are training in camp," he said. "We will make all the teams aware of the data we collect."
Factors for the reduction in concussions include enhanced rules prohibiting lowering the helmet, fewer kickoff returns (also due to rules changes); players making adjustments to the new or stricter regulations; and players switching to the highest-rated helmets in a survey conducted by the league and the players union.
Miller noted that half of the league has changed helmets and 74 percent of the players now wear helmets in the highest-approved (green) region of the survey and accompanying poster that is hung in every team's facility. He credited training staffs, medical personnel, players, coaches and team owners.
"The posters certainly were able to change player behavior," he said.
Same thing, Miller added, regarding lowering the helmet; the number of concussions were down from that act.
Concussions on kickoffs were down 38 percent in 2018 compared to the previous three seasons' average. Indeed, Sills said all injuries on kickoffs went down, and his staff is now doing deep research into injuries on punts, which have been the second-most dangerous play. Ten percent of all major injuries, termed as eight days or more missed, came on punts.
The league banned blindside blocks on all plays on Tuesday, a short while after Miller and Sills made their presentation to the owners. There were as many as a dozen concussions annually due to that technique.
"As a former player and father of two that play ball, and having the opportunity to coach (youth football)," football operations chief Troy Vincent said, "this particular play, the blindside block, it ends careers, puts people on the shelf.
"That particular technique, I was taught that. To have that removed out of our game is significant."
The NFL's medical and research staffs aren't limiting their work to what happens within the league, either. They are looking at data from other organizations such as the new spring league, the Alliance of American Football, plus the Canadian Football League and college teams.
"With more opportunities to learn and collect data," Miller said, "it will yield a better outcome for everyone."
Chiefs vs. Eagles matchup: Who has the edge in Super Bowl LVII?
Sportsbooks win thanks to Chiefs; Huge wager on AFC Under cashes
With Kellen Moore headed to Chargers, what's next for Cowboys?
Super Bowl a happy reunion for Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, Chiefs coach Andy Reid
Bucs looking at four young NFL assistants for vacant OC role


text:
Мужская национальная сборная Турции по софтболу — представляет Турцию на международных софтбольных соревнованиях. Управляющей организацией является Федерация регби, бейсбола, софтбола и американского футбола Турции (, ).

Результаты выступлений

Чемпионаты мира

В чемпионатах Европы мужская сборная Турции до настоящего времени (2023 год) не участвовала.

Примечания

См. также
 Женская сборная Турции по софтболу

Ссылки
  (Федерация регби, бейсбола, софтбола и американского футбола Турции, официальный сайт)

Турция
Софтбол в Турции
Софтбол мужская

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Vancouver volunteer makes impact as long-term care advocate
Long Term Care Ombudsman Program helps residents in nursing homes, assisted living, adult homes
By Dylan Jefferies, Columbian staff writer
Published: August 10, 2022, 6:05am
Gwen Swenson, a resident at Bonaventure of Vancouver, left, chats with Bob Kyte, a volunteer for the Southwest Washington Regional Long Term Care Ombudsman Program. Since 2019, Kyte has assisted numerous residents in his two assigned assisted living homes, helping to mediate issues and settle complaints while improving the overall quality of care and life for the residents he serves. He typically averages 25 to 30 hours of donated time per month and has been a mentor and role model for new volunteers. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian) Photo Gallery
After Bob Kyte retired from his long career as a business executive, he wanted to volunteer somewhere where he could help people.
That was about three years ago. Now, the 68-year-old Vancouver resident volunteers some 25 hours a month for the Southwest Washington Regional Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, where he advocates on behalf of residents living in skilled nursing, assisted living and adult family homes in Clark County.
The role has changed his life, Kyte said.
"You get to visit a lot of really interesting people," he said. "This is really a unique program because you're really helping people who, because of their age and a lot of times their health conditions, just need some extra help."
As a volunteer ombudsman, Kyte assists residents in resolving issues related to resident rights, quality of life and quality of care.
Thanks to his commitment and dedication to the program, he has become a mentor and role model for the residents he serves and other volunteers, according to Southwest Washington Regional Long Term Care Ombudsman Neil Degerstedt.
"Kyte is a shining example of the impact one volunteer can have on the lives of numerous vulnerable adults," Degerstedt said.
Kyte mainly visits residents and gets to know them. But his purpose is to be an advocate if any of his residents feel that their rights are being violated. However, volunteers only act to resolve a complaint if a resident expressly asks them to do so.
When Kyte joined the program in 2019, he mostly assisted residents with complaints related to personal care, hygiene issues and dietary requirements. Those are still complaints he frequently encounters, but the COVID-19 pandemic created a whole new set of issues.
"COVID-19 has been a terrible time for residents in these facilities," he said. "It has really impacted residents' quality of life because there was such a shutdown of all socialization. The activities that are normally taking place where people would mingle with other residents all had to stop. Meals were served in their rooms rather than in a dining room.
"As volunteers, we spent a lot of our time on those kinds of issues and assisting residents, while at the same time safeguarding them from COVID-19," Kyte said.
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Despite the challenges the pandemic presented, Kyte and other volunteers worked to ensure residents' needs were being met. For example, Kyte pushed for visitation programs for residents in hospice so they could visit with their families and others.
"Visitation during COVID was very beneficial for the residents," he said.
The pandemic highlighted the importance of the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, Degerstedt said.
"The pandemic has taken its toll, with many residents losing their lives to (COVID-19), and numerous others losing their rights due to the many enacted restrictions," Degerstedt said. "Never has there been a greater need for long-term care advocates than now, and because of our 365-day-a-year access to residents, the ombudsman program is uniquely qualified to reach out to residents in need of advocacy assistance."
Kyte tries to visit with the residents he serves regularly, and he's developed deep relationships with many of them.
"You meet a whole bunch of different people, and they enjoy the opportunity mostly to visit with you," he said. "It's not like you're burdening them or vice versa. The visits are generally fairly brief, and I try to visit every resident on a regular basis."
Each volunteer is assigned to different facilities, and Kyte is responsible for two large, assisted living homes, including Bonaventure of Vancouver. Most volunteers spend about 15 hours a week meeting with residents, but Kyte averages about 25.
That's one reason he enjoys the role — flexibility.
"A lot of volunteer programs are pretty rigid," he said. "But by the nature of our program, it's better to have a flexible schedule. So, I may go in Tuesday afternoon one week, and I may go in Thursday morning the next week depending on my schedule."
Regional support and support from other volunteers is another reason Kyte enjoys the program. In fact, thanks to a robust training program, it's something anyone can do no matter their background.
"You're not out there on your own," he said.
The program serves more than 6,000 residents across Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties, and more volunteers are needed.
"If people are interested in helping other people and they want flexibility, then this is a great program," Kyte said. "Sometimes, you're working between the resident and the home they're in. Sometimes, you're assisting them with family situations that come up. You get into those areas a lot, and you get to be a good, helpful and neutral person who is looking out for the best interest of that resident."
Above all, the work is rewarding, Kyte said.
"This is people's quality of life that you're working with," he said. "You want to make sure that you're doing everything you can as a volunteer at the request of the resident to assist them, to get them what they need so that they have the quality of life that they deserve."
For more information about the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, or to sign up as a volunteer, visit www.helpingelders.org/long-term-care-ombudsman-program/.
If you have questions about the program, contact Neil Degerstedt at 360-992-4076 or Degernd@dshs.wa.gov.
Mullen-Polk Foundation opens Family Resource Center in Vancouver
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Columbian staff writer


In 1625 Canonized as Saint Isabel. She took the religious name of Saint Isabel in 1625.
Eleanora d'Anjou was born circa August 1289. She was the daughter of Charles II d'Anjou, King of Naples and Maria von Ungarn.1,2 She married Frederico II d'Aragona-Sicilia, Re di Sicilia, son of Pedro III, Rey de Aragón and Konstanze von Hohenstaufen, Regina di Sicilia, on 17 May 1302 at Messina, Italy.1,3 She died on 9 August 1341.


Beautiful Trans AM WS6 Collector Edition. Original owner, never driven in winter, non smoking, stored in heated garage with cover, Black leather interior, T-Top, Has 325 horse power, 6 speed, 5.7 Liter, V8. Only 17,000 km's. Asking price $31,500 / OBO, Contact JOHN at 1 (403) 560-2837.


Below is a list of some of Bristol's key places of worships – churches, chapels, synagogues, mosques, temples and more. Please note: this list is by no means a comprehensive guide to Bristol's sacred places, but it should give you a basic list of some key venues.
Please telephone venues for opening times before making arrangements to visit.
(St. John on the Wall Church), Broad Street, Bristol.


What an amazing girl.. will def return to her lots more!
She is such a nasty girl, I love her.
So so good! You are fantastic. Sorry I had to leave would like to get to know you. Love her curves and know what to do. Happy New Year lover.
These Virtual Gifts, available for you to purchase instantly, will be given to your Model as an earnings bonus. You can choose to tip Lucy93 or give a gift.


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Peckerwood Populism is About Political Strategy, Not Personal Belief
The controversy around President Donald Trump's recent tweets targeting "The Squad" — four Democratic members of Congress who are all women, all people "of color," and all of whom Trump seems to think aren't "from America" (one came from Somalia as a young woman and became a US citizen at 17; the rest are "natural born" US citizens) — largely centers around perceptions of his personal bigotry.
Is Trump a racist? A xenophobe? A misogynist? His public history, going back at least to the early 1970s, offers evidence for all three accusations. Some people find that evidence compelling, some don't.
But to focus on Trump's personal beliefs in any of those areas is to miss the point. He's not an individual actor living out his life in private. He's a public actor, leading a major political party, occupying the highest political office America has to offer, and campaigning for re-election to that office.
A decade ago, I began writing on a phenomenon I call "Peckerwood Populism" ("peckerwood," a regional version of "woodpecker," became first a slur used by poor southern black Americans to describe poor southern white Americans, then a self-descriptor and symbol proudly used by white racists). Here's my description of Peckerwood Populist politicians circa 2009:
"While the average Peckerwood Populist is probably not affiliated with overtly white separatist/supremacist groups, he buys into that stereotype of the voter he's pursuing. He's pitching his product to blue collar white voters. … I'm not saying that the average white, blue collar voter is a racist, a xenophobe, a homophobe or a neo-Confederate. For that matter, I'm not even necessarily saying that the Peckerwood Populist agitator is a racist, a xenophobe, a homophobe or a neo-Confederate. What I am saying is that the Peckerwood Populist agitator believes that … he can get his hooks into the voter by playing on those assumed sentiments."
At one time, overt Peckerwood Populism was the mainstream in southern politics, preached by segregationist Democrats and, as it lost popularity, "Dixiecrats." As it became even less popular and less overt and switched parties (with Nixon's "southern strategy"), its reach expanded outside the south and loomed large in American politics until at least as late as 1988 (remember the Willie Horton ads?).
Peckerwood Populism is enjoying a nasty resurgence in the Age of Trump (and Trump is far from its sole practitioner).
Why? Because the Republican Party has failed to expand its base. The core GOP voting demographic is still white, blue collar, and male. The party has failed to appeal to black, Latinx, and female voters to expand that base.
If you can't expand your base, you win by working harder to get more of that base out to the polls. You throw them lots and lots of red, racist, xenophobic, misogynist meat.
That's exactly what Trump is doing. Whether he really means the crazy things he says is (mostly) beside the point. He believes his base believes those crazy things. If he's right, that's a far bigger problem than Trump himself.


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Masahiro Tanaka Signing Doesn't Fill All Of New York Yankees' Holes
by Ricky Doyle on Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 3:50PM
The New York Yankees looked in the mirror and said, "Screw it." The Yankees have signed Japanese ace Masahiro Tanaka to a seven-year, $155 million contract, blowing past the $189 million luxury tax threshold in the process.
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner previously stated that staying under the $189 million threshold was a goal, as New York might have saved about $100 million over a three-year period if it dropped below the threshold in 2014. Steinbrenner decided that fielding a legitimate World Series contender was more important than pinching pennies, though, and the Yankees should keep their foot on the gas now that they've sped past the $189 million mark.
"I do think we now have a championship-caliber team," Steinbrenner said regarding the Tanaka deal, according to the New York Post. "I think we have a good starting rotation that I am comfortable with, and we have done a lot to improve the offense and add leadership, too. I think we have added clutch players who can play on the big stage."
The Yankees have improved. They've spent nearly a half a billion dollars on free agents this offseason, with Jacoby Ellsbury (seven years, $153 million), Brian McCann (five years, $85 million) and Carlos Beltran (three years, $45 million) joining Tanaka as the headliners. But the Yankees still have holes, and additional free-agent expenditures should be considered to ensure that Steinbrenner really does have a "championship-caliber team." Otherwise, this whole spending spree could be fruitless.
The Yankees' 2014 rotation is expected to be comprised of Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova, with Michael Pineda, David Phelps and Vidal Nuno vying for the fifth spot. It isn't the worst group that you'll find in the American League, especially if Tanaka lives up to the hype, but the unit certainly is riddled with question marks.
Sabathia was a shell of his former self in 2013, Kuroda will turn 39 before Opening Day, Nova was inconsistent last season despite a strong finish and no one really knows what to expect from any of the potential No. 5 starters. The Yankees could stand to add another starting pitcher, and Matt Garza, Ervin Santana and Bronson Arroyo remain on the open market. Perhaps they'll become considerations now that the Yankees appear willing to put all of their chips on the table for the upcoming season.
The Yankees' infield also looks shaky with spring training approaching. New York signed Brendan Ryan (two years, $5 million), Kelly Johnson (one year, $3 million) and Brian Roberts (one year, $2 million) to replace Robinson Cano and serve as protection for an aging Derek Jeter, but it's unreasonable to think that the trio suddenly will become a group of world beaters. The Yankees should consider a strong push for Stephen Drew, who — while not a world beater, either – would help stabilize New York's rickety infield corps. Plus, Jeter can't play forever, so signing Drew to a multiyear deal to eventually become the captain's successor at shortstop makes sense if money no longer is an issue.
Oh yeah, the Yankees have that whole closer thing to figure out, too. David Robertston has great late-inning stuff, but let's keep in mind that New York is trying to withstand the loss of the greatest closer of all time. Some late-inning insurance, perhaps in the form of Grant Balfour or Fernando Rodney, shouldn't be ruled out.
The Yankees' decision to sign Tanaka to a monster contract further shows the front office's commitment to winning in 2014. But adding Tanaka to a group of other risky free-agent signings hardly guarantees that New York will be playing well into October. It's time to keep the checkbooks open, if the Yankees truly are willing to live on the edge.
Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.
Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle.
Report: Yankees, Masahiro Tanaka Agree To Seven-Year, $155 Million Contract


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Filharmonia Dolnośląska – państwowa instytucja kulturalna działająca w Jeleniej Górze.

Historia
Została założona w 1976 roku przez przekształcenie powstałej w 1964 Społecznej Orkiestry Symfonicznej w Jeleniej Górze w Państwową Orkiestrę Symfoniczną. Inicjatorem powstania zespołu był Stefan Strahl (późniejszy wieloletni dyrektor FD), który współtworzył ją wraz z nauczycielami Państwowej Szkoły Muzycznej w Jeleniej Górze. Od 1989 orkiestra działała pod nazwą Filharmonia im. L. Różyckiego w Jeleniej Górze, a od 1999 jako Filharmonia Dolnośląska.

Zespół filharmoników pracował pod kierownictwem artystycznym: Stefana Strahla, Tadeusza Wicherka, Roberta Satanowskiego, Andrzeja Chorosińskiego. Obecnie funkcję dyrektora naczelnego sprawuje Tomasz Janczak.

Zobacz też
 Ośrodki kulturalne Jeleniej Góry

Linki zewnętrzne
 Filharmonia Dolnośląska w Jeleniej Górze

Dolnośląska
Kultura w Jeleniej Górze


Published 04/26/2019 10:02:52 am at 04/26/2019 10:02:52 am in Nice Wall Decorations.
nice wall decorations 916 nice wall christmas decorations.
nice wall decorations for family room,nice wall christmas decorations,nice wall decorations,good wall decorations,nice wall decor for living rooms,some nice wall decorations,best wall decor for living room,good wall decorations for bedrooms,nice wall decorations ideas,nice wall decor for living room, spacious scandinavian apartment filled with nice wall decor .


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FaithLands
FaithLands is a growing national movement to connect and inspire faith communities to use their land in new ways that promote ecological and human health, support local food and farming, enact reparative justice, and strengthen communities.
Eastern NC FaithLands
JOSIE WALKER
FaithLands Coordinator – Eastern North Carolina
Josie Walker is a native of Eastern North Carolina and has a passion for agriculture, self-sufficiency, and connecting people. She believes strongly that people should be able to have access to fresh, healthy food; growing it themselves should be a right, not a privilege. She also believes that God has given us stewardship over the land, and it's up to us to create sustainable spaces to grow food and act as wildlife habitats while building community and good soil.
Before finding her true passion in agriculture, Josie had what has been described as "wanderlust." Her travels included two years in southern Germany learning the language and teaching English as a foreign language. She has also been a high school math teacher, a coffee barista, and an arts and crafts instructor for a YMCA day camp. Josie graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and is an alumna of UNC-Charlotte, where she earned a degree in Mathematics and minored in Spanish, and North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, where she graduated with a degree in Agricultural and Environmental Systems, with a Concentration in Urban and Community Horticulture. While at NC A&T, Josie served as a the Local Food Ambassador, an NC 10% Campaign program for college students to promote local food and sustainability on their individual campuses and was named a 2016 Local Food Hero by the Center for Environmental Farming System and Farm to Fork. Josie also worked as the Farmer Research and Outreach Coordinator with UFoods, a two-year project designed to develop new market opportunities for farmers by building collaborative supply chains links from farms to university campuses in North Carolina.
Email Josie at josie [@] agrariantrust.org
FAITHLANDS Gathering
FaithLands is a growing national movement to connect and inspire faith communities to use their land in new ways that promote ecological and human health, support local food and farming, enact reparative justice, and strengthen communities. FaithLands is an initiative of Agrarian Trust, an independent 501(c)(3) organization operating nationally.


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'Trunk or Treat!' Tel Aviv Hops Aboard Halloween Tailgating Trend
Criticized in the U.S. as an overly sanitized version of Halloween by protective parents, 'Trunk or Treat' solves a practical problem in Israel.
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It could have been a scene from small-town America. It was October 31st and the children were in Halloween heaven - dressed as everything from fairies to monsters, they wandered about calling out 'Trick or treat!' and filling their bags with candy.
Ebola may be popular horror-theme for U.S. Halloween parties
But the costumed kids weren't strolling the sidewalks of an all-American neighborhood - they were walking around in a parking lot on a windswept cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
And instead of decorated houses, the adults, handing out the goodies were stationed next to their cars with trunks opened to reveal elaborately decorated Halloween displays.
The event was the first-ever Tel Aviv 'Trunk or Treat,' organized by parents at a bilingual Hebrew-English kindergarten who wanted to give their kids a taste of the spooky fun they grew up with. Most of the children participating were born in Israel and, while they may have seen Halloween on television or in the movies, this was the first time they'd ever been able to participate themselves.
Halloween has always been the holiday that American parents living overseas have found most difficult to export. While it is easy to recreate traditions like Fourth of July barbecues and Thanksgiving dinners anywhere around the world, inside homes or party venues - how do you manage to replicate the experience of dressing up in costumes and trick-or-treating from house to house, scoring bags of candy, when you are surrounded by foreign neighbors who have never heard of Halloween?
For this reason, generations of Israeli-American parents - like many other expats - have largely given up on Halloween traditions, putting them on the list of traditions they had no choice but to leave behind. Expatriate enclaves throw the occasional Halloween costume party - but trick or treating never seemed logistically possible.
That all changed this year when parents at the bilingual Hebrew-English kindergarten Gan Megid in Tel Aviv heard about the 'trunk-or-treating' trend in the United States.
The concept of gathering in a parking lot and having the kids go car-to-car has become popular in some communities, where geography makes getting from house-to-house difficult, and in places where safety concerns made parents embrace an approach to Halloween that didn't involve strange houses and taking candy from strangers. In the U.S,. the practice has come under some criticism as being an overly sanitized version of Halloween by excessively protective parents. But in Israel, it's the perfect solution to a practical problem.
One of the parents in the kindergarten saw a friend's 'Trunk or Treat' pictures from the U.S. and decided it would be a great way to bring Halloween to Israel.
A group of parents came together to organize the event and spread the word via Email and Facebook. Judith Veinstein, mother of four-and-a-half year old Lia, said that while her daughter had never gone trick-or-treating before, she "knows we're doing something special." With a witch's hat atop her blond curls, Judith stood next to their white car, festooned with orange and black crepe paper and miniature pumpkins, handing out candy, as Veinstein's husband, Bar, took Lia around the other cars to collect her loot.
The seaside spot chosen for the event was close to Tel Aviv's infamous Tel Baruch, a location that is also known for a different kind of evening activity involving parked cars and 'tricks.' But nobody was put off when the occasional car turning into the wrong parking lot gave them a brief glimpse of activity that wasn't completely family-friendly.
All told there were fewer than 20 candy-distributing cars in the lot, but judging from the ecstatic sugar-charged children and the pleased smiles on the faces of their parents - next year it seems very likely there will be many more.
'Trunk and Treaters' celebrating Halloween in Tel Aviv.Credit: Ami Ginsburg


At least this is a beginning to post some foto of Mrs. Nadina Abarth-Zerjav.
Above you see her sitting in a bar close to her appartment, the next foto shows her small telephone-desk at the entrance of her living-room, please notice the glasses that have the Abarth-logo.
Mrs. Nadina Abarth-Zerjav in the morning of 5.3.1996 at Parco Valentino.
The parents of Nadina Abarth-Zerjav, Milena and Gregor Zerjav.
Usually, when she went to Vienna, she went to her former husband tomb also.
Shortly after his funeral she went there to leave these flowers.
pardon me, but please do not sell cheap copies of these fotoes anywhere !
Racconto sulla 595 esse esse Competizione di B.


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COMMUNICATIONS NEWS: National Trust asks for more protection of landmark jewels
The National Trust is using an English Heritage survey revealing huge public interest in heritage issues to call on the Government to offer greater protection to England's historic landmarks.
The first annual Heritage Counts report, published last month with the help of 24 heritage organisations, showed that National Trust volunteers contribute 2.4 million hours of their time to the charity.
The trust wants the Government to develop a White Paper emphasising the importance of heritage sites as economic, social and environmental resources, and make a clear commitment to extend lottery funding beyond 2009.
"We know that by involving people in caring for their heritage, they take far more pride in their local area," said Fiona Reynolds, director-general of the trust.
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Pre-Medicine/
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Q: Method to return a DateTime-List of non booked appointments I'm making a site for customers to book appointments. So I'm trying to return a list of free bookable appointments, and the goal is, that you don't gonna be able to book a time if it is already been booked.
My first method (public List AllTimes) returns a list of ALL the bookabe appointment-times for a choosen day, even the ones that are alredy booked. So it returns a list so you can pick a time every 15 minutes i a table. Every table-cell starts off depending of witch type of appiontment you have choosen(int behandlingslangd). So the returned list can look something like this if the choosen appointment-lenght for example is 60minutes:
8.00 - 9.00
8.15 - 9.15
8.30 - 9.30
8.45 - 9.45
9.00 -10.00
9.15 - 10.15
9.30 -10.30
9.45 - 10.45
So far, everything is fine!
But with my second method (public List NonBookedTimes) I'm trying to return a list of just free appointments. You don't gonna be able to book an appointment that's alredy been booked. And my if-statement in my second method almost achieve what I'm trying to do. For example: if an appointment already been booked 9.15, that time in my table has been removed. But the 2 times just before, and the time just after witch is overlapping is still there in my table, so I can't figure out what else to add to my if-statment to fix that.
So my goal is that I want my table to look like this (if the choosen time is 60min):
8.00 - 9.00
8.15 - 9.15
10.15 -11.15
10.30 - 11.30
 public List<DateTime> AllTimes(int behandlingsLangd, List<Bokningstider> oppetTider, DateTime datum)
    {
        List<DateTime> _myList = new List<DateTime>();

        foreach (var item in oppetTider)
        {
            var startTid = new DateTime(datum.Year, datum.Month, datum.Day, item.StartTidTimme, item.StartTidMinut, 00);
            var SlutTid = new DateTime(datum.Year, datum.Month,datum.Day, item.SlutTidTimme, item.SlutTidMinut, 00);
            for (DateTime i = startTid; i.AddMinutes(behandlingsLangd) <= SlutTid; i = i.AddMinutes(15))
            {
                _myList.Add(i);
            }
        }
        return _myList;
    }

public List<DateTime> NonBookedTimes(List<DateTime> AllTimes, DateTime datum, int? behandlingsId)
    {
        ApplicationDbContext _db = new ApplicationDbContext();
        var query = from a in _db.AppointmentDiary
                    where a.DateTimeScheduled.Year == datum.Year
                    && a.DateTimeScheduled.Month == datum.Month
                    && a.DateTimeScheduled.Day == datum.Day
                    select a.DateTimeScheduled;

        var bokningsTider = _db.BokningsTider;

        AppointmentDiary rec = new AppointmentDiary();
        List<DateTime> tider = new List<DateTime>();

        foreach (var Tid in AllTimes)
        {
            tider.Add(Tid);
            foreach (var item in query)
            {
                if (item <= Tid) // ---------- Here I think I need to extend my if-statment
                {
                    tider.Remove(Tid);
                }
            }

        }
        return tider;
    }

A: Well I'm just thinking here but you could do the check like this.
List<Datetime> ledige_Timer =  AllTimes.Where(a=> !query.Contain(a)).toList();

You select all times that don't exist in query.
There is a lot different i would have done with the structure and planning of the code. but as a quick fix i think this would work.
What i would do is to create a appointment class and then have a list of appointment classes.
Keep in mind this is just a suggestion, to ease the load of future work. the class could be the DB table containing a bool, a userID, start-time and timespan it would work the same way.
class planner{
    List<Appointment> Appointments = new List<Appointment>();
    void initDay(){
    Datetime baseTime = new Datetime(8,0,0);//8 o'clock

        for(int a = 0; a<8; a++){
            Appointments.Add(new Appointment(new Datetime(H,M,0),new Timespan(1,0,0)));
            baseTime.Add(new timespan(0,15,0)); //Add 15 minutes
        }

        //Now you have a list of appointents where you can ask for all openings
        //of all appointments by simply asking

        var UnFilled = Appointments.Where(a=>!a.isFilled());
        var Filled = Appointments.Where(a=>a.isFilled());
    }
}
public class Appointment{

    User filled = null;
    Datetime start;
    Timespan time;// Makes for adjustable time span

    public Appointment(Datetime Start, Timespan Time){
         start = Start;
         time = Time;
    }
    public void fillAppointment(User Fill){
        filled = Fill;
    }
    public bool isFilled(){
        return filled != null? true:false;
    }
}

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Blog 766: The Reapers Are Coming
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019 Rao Dao Zao
I am constantly perplexed by villains.
As a fan of high-action fantasy and space opera, I demand villains that can operate on a grand scale — that can deliver conflict and challenge appropriate to my delusions of grandeur. However, as a slave to coherence and consistency, I demand villains whose motivations and actions can plausibly produce that level of challenge and conflict.
Now, I reject the notion that dumb action and plausible characters are mutually exclusive, as Hollywood and the AAA industry often seem to think. By all means, it's a balance that's hard to strike, but I think there's rarely been as glorious a failure than the monstrous, enigmatic Reapers of the Mass Effect trilogy.
The Reapers are Coming
Even when I first played Mass Effect, I wanted to call bullshit on the conversation you have with Sovereign on the planet Virmine — where you finally come face to face with Saren's dreadnought and discover that it is the true big bad. It has a gravelly Darth Vader-style voice and makes bold, prophetic assertions with absolute confidence.
You touch my tra la la.
Oof, am I right?
The problems arise when the game allows you to question Sovereign about its origins and motivations. It reveals a galactic cycle of harvesting, where every 50,000 years the Reapers trundle back in and hoover up everything that's capable of space flight. Naturally, you ask: why?
Its answer is where it all breaks. It says "you are incapable of comprehending our motives".
I hesistate to call it laziness, but it is definitely a cheap trick. If you haven't written a motivation yet, then don't give the player the chance to question it at all — don't draw attention to the hole in your plot outline! It's brought into sharp focus by how loquacious Sovereign is about what the Reapers do, before descending into meaningless bluster when you ask why…
But what reason would an immortal and (supposedly) superior machine have to bluster? Is it actually insecure and feeling threatened by the little organics? (Notwithstanding the fact that it could have nuked you from orbit at any time during this exchange.)
Ah yes, "bullshit".
Mass Effect 2 explores some of the why and things get worse. In the climax, you discover that all the abducted humans are being used to… build a new Reaper. I call bullshit on this because Sovereign said I couldn't comprehend their motives — but I can comprehend reproduction! Maybe I don't agree with their need to liquify billions of people to do it, or the precise mechanics of how billions of liquified humans turn into a robot, but I can get the concept.
I can even comprehend Harbinger's bold claim that being absorbed into a Reaper is in fact a form of ascension, as the essence of the absorbed race is immortalised and preserved for all eternity as part of that perfect mind and body. I don't agree with any chain of reasoning that leads to that point, but I can comprehend it. Sovereign's words definitely smell like bullshit now.
Fuck RIGHT off.
Okay, fine, so the Reapers are shit at shit-talking. Fine. Now let's look at how they behave, because, once you know that Reapers think they're preserving the species they absorb, their actions in the games start to look really interesting.
See, if each Reaper is completely unique, and is utterly irreplacable, and is perhaps part of some grand cosmic design beyond mere reproduction, then it stands to reason that the Reapers could never countenance one being destroyed. The loss would not just be of an individual, but the genetic catalogue of an entire species that was preserved in this single body. The disruption to the cosmic design of such a loss would be awful, so it's no wonder the Reapers are giant warships with insane shields, armour and ridiculous lasers. They are floating archives.
So when Sovereign attacks the Citadel at the end of Mass Effect, it is clearly hella desperate. This is a last ditch attempt to bring in the cavalry, to summon the rest of the Old Gods and pop out a baby. It fails in its gambit and is utterly destroyed, which should be a dreadful tragedy from the Reapers' perspective.
This Mini Reaper failing to land a single blow with its mega-laser is still silly, but at least giving you a target painter for orbital strikes instead of a gun fits the scale.
Except… In the Arrival DLC pack for Mass Effect 2, it is revealed that, since the Citadel could not be opened, the rest of the Reapers started walking — flying back to the galaxy the long, slow way. According to the games' timeline, when Sovereign attacked they were about 2 years away.
Which makes Sovereign's actions suddenly seem odd. Why would it put itself at such huge risk when it could simply wait two years? To an immortal machine that has a 50,000 year lifecycle, that's basically nothing. Sure, brainwash some servants and do your best to get them in the back door, but don't put yourself in the firing line. Sovereign's death isn't just a tragedy, it's a completely avoidable one.
Perhaps the climax could have left Sovereign in the shadows, deterred but not defeated, to let the sequels escalate more naturally — from killing servants Saren and the Geth, to finding and killing Sovereign, to killing all Reapers at last.
(The very first time I played Mass Effect, I expected the climactic decision to save the Council to enable Sovereign to escape — so obviously I sacrificed the Council, because Sovereign is a much bigger threat. When I later discovered that Sovereign dies in both eventualities, with nothing changing except that more of the Alliance fleet dies, I started saving the Council for political expediency in the sequels.)
If this Mini Reaper was sent to stop you getting into this important building… why didn't it… just destroy the building…
Okay, Mass Effects 1 and 2 play this fairly straight — both Sovereign and Harbinger act through intermediaries. It's Mass Effect 3 during the full invasion where this self-preservation instinct is thrown out the window, and things get squiffy.
Early in the game you're sent to rescue Garrus from a moon, and as you stumble around on foot you're treated to collossal Reapers striding around the horizon, utterly obliterating everythig in their path. Well, of course they would obliterate everything — they're nigh-invulnerable skyscrapers with impossibly powerful beams, an army of Space Godzillas.
Except… this level revolves around a base camp composed entirely of footsoldiers and one-person fightercraft. The game delivers intensity with constant husk attacks against this outpost, sending rivers of footsoldiers equivalent to you and your pals, but this makes no sense when the Reaper standing right over there could wipe out this little camp with a single laser blast. Yes, it's hella cool to have skyscraper-sized robots ripping worlds to shreds in the background, but you simply cannot have those ignoring command posts that their entire purpose here is to destroy.
However, if the Reapers were still reluctant to put themselves at risk, and therefore needed to rely on those more fallible servitors and footsoldiers that are manufactured on-scene… Suddenly this mission structure makes sense. Presumably the rate at which Reapers can convert or produce husks is faster than people can reproduce, and a full Reaper might still do an orbital strike every now and then, so the odds would still be massively against you — but they wouldn't be impossible odds which can only be subverted by your enemies ignoring obvious opportunities to strike.
Godzilla vs. Harbinger? It could work.
I get the feeling that the reproductive aspect of the Reapers' motivations wasn't the original intended angle, and was something swapped into Mass Effect 2 along with so many other hard-turn plot devices and tone-shifts. The hand-wavy bits of dialogue in the first game must have been left to keep their options open while the bigger narrative arcs were still undecided. It's just a shame that the end result came down on the wrong side of mysterious and grand and ended up dramatic-but-nonsensical instead.
To be fair, the balance between plausible motivation and epic scale is a balance I continue to struggle with in my own work, so I have little right to rag on more successful writers than myself for it. Even so, the villain of any conflict-driven game is the lynchpin upon which everything rests — without a viable antagonist, there's no reason for anything else and whatever you layer on top falls apart. Foundations are critical, and so often this is where the mega-budget blockbusters, which I do prize for their production values and quality of gameplay, fall apart.
… Okay, the Reapers are not the only narrative problem with Mass Effect 3, but plenty other people have written about those…
Tagged bioware, Krogan Testicles, ludonarrative dissonance, Mass Effect, Reaper
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NewsWarrior
A blog that primarily looks at the world of security, defence & strategic affairs with an open mind, eyes wide open, ear to the ground. Asia and the Indian sub-continent is of special interest. Also focuses on cinema, cricket and travel whenever possible!
So it's going to be 17 Mountain Corps?
Earlier this week Indian Army's top brass, comprising the Army Chief, the Vice Chief and the 7 Army Commanders, met to clear the promotion of nearly two dozen Major General rank officers to Lt. Generals. One of these to be promoted officers--the names of those approved for the next rank should become public in less than a month's time--will have the honour to raise and head India's 1st dedicated Mountain Strike Corps, to be most probably numbered 17, cleared by the government in July.
South Block, the British time building that houses among others the Army Headquarters, is right now in the middle of fine tuning the contours of the formation to be reportedly based at Ranchi in Jharkhand.
Top sources say while Panagarh in West Bengal will witness the raising of two new Mountain Divisions, the location for the third is in the final stages of discussion. All the three new divisions will eventually come under the new 17 Corps to be based in Ranchi. Significantly, Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh was in Ranchi over the last two days, ostensibly to pay a visit to the 23 Division based there. So what will it be called? 17 Corps? Or 17 Mountain Corps? I am yet to get a clarity on this though surely Army HQ has already thought about it or even finalised it.
India already has 13 full-fledged Corps. Three of them, the Bhopal-based 21 Corps, Mathura-headquartered 1 Corps and 2 Corps, located at Ambala, are designated as Strike Corps. But all of them are tasked for an offensive against Pakistan. The 17 Corps--as a dedicated Mountain Strike Corps--will specifically provide an offensive option against China if required.
The budget of Rs 64,000 crore for the new corps is to be spent over seven years –- which is just as well since raising new formations as large as a Corps is not an easy task. It is further difficult to make that formation capable of mountain warfare. For mountains gobble up troops; they take a heavy toll on man and machine.
The decision on 17 July was somewhat reminiscent of a similar choice exercised by the UPA government almost over four years ago.
The then outgoing UPA-I government's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) was meeting for the last time before the results of the 2009 general elections were to be announced. The sole item on the agenda: Enhancing India's military preparedness against China.
According to insiders present at that meeting, some of the members of the CCS wanted to leave the decision to the next government but better sense prevailed and days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first UPA government went ahead and sanctioned raising of two new Mountain Divisions for deployment in India's north eastern State of Arunachal Pradesh, an area claimed by China as South Tibet. In addition, the Indian Air Force was given the go ahead to reactivate half a dozen Advance Landing Grounds (ALGs) spread all along the Arunachal-Tibet portion of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between the two countries and base additional squadrons of Sukhoi-30 combat jets in Assam.
The goal was to plug existing gaps in India's preparedness along the Arunachal Pradesh-China frontier. The two new divisions were to include a squadron of India's armoured spearhead—Soviet-built T-90 tanks--and a regiment of artillery.
Now four years later, the two mountain divisions have completed their recruitment, equipping and orbatting in the North-east. One of them--the 56 Mountain Division--after being raised in Nagaland's Zakhama area has been placed at Lekhabali, north of the Brahmaputra adding teeth to Indian Army's presence in East and Central Arunachal Pradesh. The other new Division--71--headquartered at Missamari in the plains of Assam, will enhance troop deployment beyond Tawang in West Arunachal Pradesh in addition to the 5 Mountain Division already stationed at Tenga.
The new mountain corps will require light artillery which can be easily transported, even airlifted in the highest mountains. Given India's painfully-slow process of weapons acquisition, empowering the Mountain Strike Corps quickly will be a big challenge.
It is all the more necessary for the government to walk the talk in making the new formation a reality by adhering to timelines.
Thankfully, both in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh on the frontier with China, India's strategic planners have started to make amends for decades of lethargy and apathy.
China watchers will recall that it was in 2006 that the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS), which takes the final decision on India's security matters had decided to reverse the decades old policy of NOT building infrastructure in the border areas, lest the Chinese get easier access to Indian areas in the event of a skirmish!
The late realisation and start to improve infrastructure--both military and civil--in these remote areas however means that at least for decade, India's military preparedness there will remain tenuous.
Over the past one year, having travelled to both Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh, I am convinced that India has the right intention but somehow lacks the means to get its act together in building and improving infrastructure. There are multiple agencies involved in planning and giving clearances for border projects. Although the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is primarily responsible for road and bridge building in these areas, it is hampered by a number of shortcomings. Having told the BRO to construct 73 strategic Roads in 2006, it was expected that these roads will be ready by its original deadline of 2012. Unfortunately on a fraction of the work has been completed
As a quasi-military organization the BRO is entrusted with building and maintaining these strategic roads and come rain or winter, its labourers work to keep the only road link to Tawang in Arunachal Prdaesh open through the year but at the moment they are fighting a losing battle, as I saw during my travel there. The fault lies not with them but with people higher up who planned the widening of the only road without building an alternative.
Constant landslips, frequent blockades are a recurring challenge. But landslides apart , BRO officials told me that they are plagued by a shortage of labour in this sector. Earlier, large groups from Jharkhand and Bihar made their way to these parts. No longer, since now plenty of work is available in their home states. Excruciatingly slow environmental clearances both by the central and state governments add to the delays. In Arunachal Pradesh, nearly five months of Monsoon followed by a couple of months of intense cold and snowfall means, the working season is limited to less than six months.
In Ladakh too, the situation is no different. Snow and severe winter leaves the road and infrastructure builders just about six months of work time through the year. But as state government officials in a remote sub-division like Nyoma in south eastern Ladakh told me last fortnight the clearances have started flowing in faster than before. The road from Upshi to Demchok for instance is currently witnessing intense broadening and improvement work. Demchok is the place where maximum face offs have occurred between Indian Army and Chinese PLA patrols. The Indus also enters India at this extreme south-east corner of Ladakh.
India owes it to its own forces to put in place better infrastructurealong the China frontier and provide border guarding forces like the ITBP better facilities than the current ones. Although there is clamour to entrust the India-China border fully to the Army or bring the ITBP fully under the Army's control, so long as the ITBP is deployed on the front line, it deserves better treatment.
Similarly, the Centre and the State government must go the extra distance to support the nomadic tribes that live along the remote Ladakh frontier. The further these grazers keep going in search of pasteur for their cattle, the better it is for Indian authorities to lay a claim on the undemarcated borders. These nomads should get full material help in their quest for a better life and access to more grazing land in the border areas.
We all recognise that 2013 is not 1962.
India's military capability is far far better than it was then; And finally there is too much at stake for Beijing to launch any overt aggression.
But as I wrote earlier, what has not changed is the Chinese tendency of bullying weaker neighbours and its policy to keep redefining 'core' interests according to circumstances. Policy making in China is one continuous process. In India on the other hand, it varies according to personalities and political parties in power. While the military in India has overcome the trauma of the 1962 defeat, civilian policy makers appear to be still bogged down by the burdens of the past in dealing with China.
Policy makers in India must be mindful of the fact that military preparedness and trying to improve diplomatic relations are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Following is the list of India's Corps with their locations:
1 Corps--Mathura
2 Corps--Ambala
3 Corps--Rangapahar (Dimapur)
4 Corps--Tezpur
9 Corps-Yol
10 Corps--Bhatinda
11 Corps-Jalandhar
12 Corps--Jodhpur
14 Corps--Leh
15 Corps--Srinagar
16 Corps--Nagrota
21 Corps--Bhopal
33 Corps--Sukna (Siliguri)
Nitin A. Gokhale at 7:11 PM
Good thing is that after years of lethargy things are changing. .India along with talks should continue building infrastructure and military deterrence.It will deter China in getting very aggressive.China has border dispute with almost every neighbour in South East Asia (also Japan). India should use this to its advantage and try cosying up .with them We should escalate the cost for China to be aggressive. The only thing Chinese respect is power. We can negotiate only from a position of power (I mean a credible deterrence here).
Col Sarang November 17, 2013 at 4:26 PM
The Indian government has never understood the importance of a strong defence force. We have lost precious years in making up our minds to equip our forces. It has not only cost the nation dearly but we have lagged behind. Any two penny student of Military History will tell you that with one strike corps you stand No chance of posing a threat, given the length of the IB with China or LC with PAK,
How does this give us more than one option? How does this help us to tackle both Pak & China? We must feel proud that a new corps is being raised, but we must unerstand , since it is too late it is too little!
Nitin A. Gokhale
Multi-tasking as author, teacher, journalist, student of conflicts and wars; Reporter for 32 years. Despite three decades of experience across mediums--print, web and broadcast, the hunger for news hunting is still undiminished. Have reported from and on India's north-east between 1983 and 2006, based in Guwahati before shifting to Delhi. Have written four books, and continue to teach at various journalism institutes and Defence Institutions across the country. Have keen interest in India's immediate and extended neighbourhood.