text:
NFTC Applauds Effort by 70 Countries to Move WTO E-Commerce Agenda Forward
Buenos Aires, Argentina – National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) President Rufus Yerxa released the following statement with regard to developments in electronic commerce (e-commerce) following the conclusion of the World Trade Organization's 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina:
"The outcome of this Ministerial was the most promising result in years for the future of the digital economy and e-commerce work at the WTO. The fact that 70 countries, both developing and developed, are supporting a positive agenda to create a better environment for a digital trade framework is a tremendous boost for the e-commerce economy. It is an indication that countries around the globe are realizing how much new technologies drive entrepreneurship and benefit businesses of all sizes.
"This announcement signals that development is best enhanced by pursuing gold standard government policies and implementing programs that give local businesses, organizations and workers access to global customers, talent and partnerships.
"We are very pleased that the U.S. government is a part of this effort and thank Ambassador Lighthizer and his team for their support of the WTO's e-commerce agenda during this Ministerial.
"We also applaud the WTO decision today to extend its long-standing moratorium on e-commerce tariffs," added Yerxa. "E-commerce protectionism would be very harmful to consumers and will only serve to isolate countries from this fast-growing technological revolution, so this was a very sensible decision."
About the NFTC
Serving America's Global Businesses Since 1914– The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules- based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.


The 2015 British Independent Film Awards Nominations have been announced and it's not surprise Alicia received one for Best Actress for her work in The Danish Girl. Ex Machina has also been nominated as Best British Independent Film; Best Director and Best Screenplay for Alex Garland as well as Outstanding Achievement in Craft for MARK DIGBY Production Design and ANDREW WHITEHURST Visual Effects.
The Bifas will be held on December 6 in London.


Marketing Funnel Awareness Consideration Purchase | Does Your Small Business Need A Marketing Funnel?
Home Marketing Funnels	Marketing Funnel Awareness Consideration Purchase | Does Your Small Business Need A Marketing Funnel?
You need it to provide clarity and create your advertising strategy purposeful.
In the base, you wish to sift out those customers that will actually become paying customers.
A marketing funnel can help you more easily visualize your sales process, outlining all of your unique steps that result in the sales of your product or service.
You will be surprised at how much drawing your marketing funnel will help you imagine your promotion enterprise.
You also don't want them to linger at this degree –they need to either commit to the next level, or leave the funnel.
In the end, the customers that commit will usually buy one time for sure, then it's your task to turn them into repeat customers.
This procedure saves you time and money because it helps you focus in to the ideal customers.
This not only can help you demonstrate your expertise, but it reminds them regarding the demand for your goods and assists them together in their choice.
Step 5: Following the purchase, follow-up with your client, express admiration, and request reviews and referrals.
As soon as you've developed this particular funnel as a fantastic small business source, refine it to repair process issues you've noticed.
Thanks for taking the time to find out more about Marketing Funnel Awareness Consideration Purchase, hopefully you found what you were looking for.


text:
A Forest Petrifies: Diamond Feedback
Felicia Atkinson
A Forest Petrifies: Diamond Feedback by Félicia Atkinson, translated into English by Rachel Valinsky. It is a tiny paperback from Shelter Press in France (56 pages, 4-3/8 by 7 inches).
The book is hard to describe so here is what the publisher says:
A forest petrifies: Diamond Feedback is the first part of a larger novel in several episodes.
Inspired by the Petrified Forest in Arizona and its ability to change over time from an organic to a mineral state, the story was conceived by the musician and artist Félicia Atkinson over the past five years, while its on-going writing has been the starting point of many of Atkinson's music lyrics and recent records and exhibitions.
A part of the book takes place in the middle of the desert in an indistinct future. Two men are having a discussion by a fire in a modernist house. The music they are listening to is not emitted by a device but by themselves, it's a new kind of technology. They look at the embers of the fire and it reminds them of a painting by Bosch. They suddenly wonder if those embers could be a republic of some kind.
A Forest Petrifies is a novel about the perception of time and how some places mark people's minds.
I'm calling this "Book Club volume 1" but have no plan for volume 2. But each installment will highlight a pair of strange and under-the-radar works of fiction.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Removing ids from url I want to rewrite urls in cakephp. I have used the routes.php class for this purpose.I have used the following code:
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    array('controller' => 'Products', 'action' => 'product_listing'),
    array('pass' => array('id', 'slug'))
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      'slug' => Inflector::slug($sub['category_name'],'-'),
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  )
);?>

Everything is working fine but my client is saying that id should not view in the url. Please anyone help me to remove id from urls.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Yesterday, Edie had her ballet recital.
She wasn't nervous. In fact, she was giddy. And unlike last year when David and I had to be recital helpers so one of us could always stay near her, something she demanded, this year we sat in the audience. And Edie went with her class. She sat with them through the whole show. She went backstage with them and her teacher. She walked onto the stage without us nearby in the wings.
When we checked on her at intermission, she smiled, waved, and then turned back around to talk to the little girl sitting next to her in the same identical billowy dress. Not one bit of her needed us. She was so this other girl, one I'm just starting to know - confident at her core, sure of who she is, unafraid, comfortable in a path she chose for herself.
I thought when this day came, I'd be sad. Maybe I'd feel like I lost something. But I'm just so unimaginably proud of her. These pictures are of Edie before her show, just moments after she put on the dress, and pointed her toes, and turned from girl to ballerina.
Gorgeous! She and Mila would so get along.
You must be proud parents.
She looks absolutely precious Kim; I know you must have been so proud; of her performance, sure, but that burgeoning independence is evident too.
I have VCR tapes of my daughter Emily's recitals. She struggled a bit keeping up with the dancing part with the other girls but you could always hear her voice.
Fast forward many years...she became the top soprano in her college class, won an International competition at the Sydney Opera House and is now a choir director. Still can't dance worth a lick but I love how we can look back and see those signs of her future.
Beautiful Kim. She looks like a little Princess!!
*SOB!* So big! So lovely!
My daughter also had her ballet recital yesterday. It was adorable and the smaller the dancer (my daughter is six- but there were three year olds) the harder I smiled.
She is a natural beauty and I can imagine how your heart was bursting with pride with her at her recital. Beautiful post.
I love love LOVE this pictures! She is so beautiful, and what a sweet, confident girl you're raising!!!
She is beautiful and independent. A daughter to be proud of.
I had a similar moment today at the classroom door with V.


I've been looking for different things to furnish my new home – items that will make it have it's own personality. I was sent this lovely Umbra Hangit Photo Display from Red Candy. Red Candy has a whole range of items for your home that will help you inject that personality.
My plans for this frame were to hang it above my dining room table in my kitchen. However, like most things, getting the kitchen together has been put back a little. We have to wait for the walls to be plastered and painted until we can start driving screws into the walls.
I thought I'd show you the product and some of the prints and photos I'm planning to add to it once it's up. The frame itself looks really easy to put up, your provided with raw plugs and screws for your walls which the frame sits easily onto. You can also have it two different ways depending on your preference. The frame also comes with a pack of tiny little pegs for you to attach your photos to the line. My plans are to have a mixture of inspirational images mixed with pictures of my family and friends. Everyone says the kitchen is the heart of any home so I want to create a centre piece to be proud of.
"Event: Parklife – What to Wear to a Festival"


AKONEN has developed a wide range of key shells of more than 350 references, more than 400 applications for 35 brands. From mere buttons, to more complete key shells including key blade, open/close buttons, boot buttons etc.
The Nissan Jukeis a subcompact crossover SUV produced by the Japanese manufacturer Nissan since 2010. In Europe, it is Nissan's second best-selling car behind the Qashqai.
The name "juke" means to dance or change directions demonstrating agility.


text:
Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?
pure supercool
Re: Do you feel safe on Disney attractions?
Originally posted by sbk1234 View Post
What makes me feel unsafe at Disney has more to do with my own health restrictions rather than the safety of the attraction itself.
considering the huge amount of people who have ridden each ride, the number of fatalities at Disneyland is very small.
This. I feel relatively safe on most DL/DCA rides, but sometimes I worry that maybe I have some lingering tumor that would dislodge itself and cause me to have a stroke or something silly like that. I'm 28 years old, relatively healthy, had an MRI before not too long ago and they found nothing, so it's purely paranoia. Though I do have/get vertigo on rides that spin me around, I should have nothing to worry too much about. I know, however, that Disney has very strict safety regulations, and that in order to provide the park goers with safety and to keep lawsuits off their backs, they're going to do what's required of them in order to keep the park in working condition.
I've never felt truly "unsafe" on a ride, though. The only ones that REALLY get to me are rides I am terrified of, like roller coasters (Screamin'). That's really the only one I can genuinely say I hate to go on despite having gone on it twice already.
bjmort
The only thing that makes me feel unsafe is that you can take bags, cameras and coins on the screamin. In Australia you can't even have anything in your pockets in any coaster
Originally posted by Jj94 View Post
Yes, whoever, you are absolutely correct! ...However, when we consider the effects of air resistance in a real world environment, mass does affect acceleration. Here's why:
Warning: Physics below!
Example 1: Free-Falling Object
If we were to look at an object free-falling, only 2 forces act on the object: (1) gravity downwards and (2) drag upwards. Using Newton's Second Law of Motion, we get the following:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]37198[/ATTACH]
The equation for the force due to drag is:
where, rho is density, v is velocity, C is the drag coefficient, and A is the cross sectional area.
The equation for the force due to gravity is:
where m is the mass of the object and g is the acceleration due to gravity.
Therefore, when we plug them into our original equation, we get:
When we divide both sides of the equation by m, we get:
So, an object with more mass would accelerate faster than an object with less mass. We can also see that by setting a = 0, we can derive the equation for terminal velocity:
where an object with greater mass would have a higher terminal velocity than an object with less mass.
Example 2: Object Going Down A Slope
What if we were to consider an object going down a slope? There will now be 2 additional forces added to the mix! The relevant forces would be: (1) gravity downwards, (2) a force from the slope pushing up on the object (force normal), (3) drag force, and (4) friction.
I'm going to skip some steps here but the process is still the same as before when we apply Newton's Second Law of Motion.
In the end, we get the following equation for acceleration:
where mu = friction coefficient, theta = angle of the slope, and the rest I've already described above somewhere.
Again, we see that the mass of the object still matters in the determination of the acceleration.
If we really wanted to get technical, we could talk about the internal friction of the bearings, buoyancy of the log, and other forces, but even at the simplest levels, we can see the role that mass has in determining the acceleration...
TL;DR: In a vacuum, mass does not matter when determining the acceleration but in the real world, it does.
With most coasters and ESPECIALLY the logs however, the coefficient of drag is so nominal that weight of passenger makes so little of a difference as to be inconsequential to the "speed".
Originally posted by Liva148 View Post
The swinging gondolas on Mickey's Fun Wheel always make me think I'm going to fall out of my seat and suffer some sort of minor injury. It's not enough to keep me from ever going on it; but it's enough that I prefer the stationary ones significantly more.
The swinging gondolas are the only ride at any Disney park I am aware of which have barf bags.
lazyboy97O
враг народа
It's not like Disney is free of ever having a coaster derail. California has some rather strict regulations for fixed amusements and Disney coming up short played a role in those regulations being instituted.
They're available on Mission: SPACE.
Sarafina
New MiceChatter
The only time I feel kind of nervous is riding in the first car of Big Thunder. It's hard for me to feel 100% comfortable knowing the history. Other than that, I feel super safe.
Originally posted by Sarafina View Post
I have to admit I'm nervous to get on this as well myself when we go in August. Knowing what happened, there's always that thought in the back of my mind. I'm confident Disneyland has taken precaution after the accident, and I know their staff are hard at work making sure the rides are safe for all guests. The fear won't be enough to convince me not to go on it because I truly do want to ride BTMRR. It's literally been maybe 10+ years since I've been on it. Last time we were there, we couldn't go on because it was going through the big refurbishment, and before that we didn't go on it anyway. I just hate being paranoid! >_<
BTMRR has zero chance of the same accident happening again... they removed an extra part which while aesthetically pleasing, wasn't maintained properly. THey could have altered the desing during the refurb but chose to just half-donkey it and leave the part off all together.
This is why I will still go on it because I know they had no choice but to change something in order for that to never happen again. I know logically in my mind that the ride is incredibly safe aside from guest error or the very much off chance something else will happen, but it's the little voice inside my paranoid mind that says: "What if?" *shoo voice, shoo!*
Originally posted by pure supercool View Post
They had every opportunity to make it just as safe with the idler wheels as it is now. They chose not to. I don't pretend to understand why because I don't presently work for Disney (I'm always available... VP and up only, please) but they could have and didn't.
DreamsofColor
The only time I've ever felt uncomfortable/unsafe in a ride at Disney was when our rocket on Space Mountain came to a stop (in the dark) and you could still hear the other rockets going around the track. While I knew there was no real danger here, it was still an uneasy feeling imagining another rocket colliding with ours.
Other than that, I have always had the most trust in any Disney attraction. Carnival rides on the other hand...
"If you can dream it, you can do it" - Walt Disney
Originally posted by DreamsofColor View Post
They have linear brakes all over the place... in a complete power outtage, maybe I'd be concerned... in a random stop.. not so much.
Mom kissed Walt
And Dad was my hero.
If I really stop to think about it for too long then, no I cannot say perfectly safe, because there have been deaths and, you are never in life completely safe, anywhere.
But I certainly feel more safe being there than getting there
�You know, I have the strangest feeling I've seen that ship before... a long time ago, when I was very young.� ―George Darling
It seems to me that we have a lot of story yet to tell. ― Walt Disney
alphabassetgrrl
I feel safe pretty much everywhere. There are a few things and times which can make me a touch nervous, but not the rides at Disney.
I pledge allegiance to the Earth, one planet, many gods, and to the universe in which she spins.
No matter where I'm at, ferris wheels will always make me feel unsafe. I absolutely cringe whenever I go on the one at DCA. It's tall and it swings around, and absolutely makes me feel unsafe. Also, it's over water, which makes it worse.
ScottG
Done with MC.
I feel pretty safe anywhere in the park. But I also realize that just like air disasters, that safety has come at the cost of incidents where others have been hurt or killed.
I think it would be short sighted to ever think that Disney has covered every possible scenario with every ride. Failure modes will cascade in unpredictable ways to make rides dangerous - if only by some very small chance.
So I never let my guard down in as much as I don't do anything stupid or reckless to contribute to that potential.
Safer than WDW. Heck.. you can leave your handgun on WDW attractions for future riders to discover.
PhonyKingOfEngland
Pox-worthy since 1973
"The happy haunts have recieved a faldric nomdage." ~Paul Frees
Originally posted by SOTSreleaseplease
The more Paul Frees, the better I say.
PinocchioGuy
Pin Trader
I feel safe on Disney attractions. If there in fact was something obstructing a ride track Im sure a CM would stop the attraction because they have multiple people manning the cameras on each ride.
*Former Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online Player
*Long Live MuppetVison3D
Expedition Everest is the only one I feel nervous on -- mostly from fear of the backwards in the dark part, and the unstable Yeti.
Fear of the unknown.
They are afraid of new ideas.
They are loaded with prejudices, not based upon any reality, but based on� if something is new, I reject it immediately because it�s frightening to me. What they do instead is just stay with the familiar.
You know, to me, the most beautiful things in all the universe, are the most mysterious.


I'm going to miss this unfortunately but hoping for a long awaited win (don't see it happening though).
Ferguson will start tomorrow. Gillespie not fit.
Lafferty was our lucky charm for his last few games against us at Hearts. Every time he scored, we won.
No idea how this will turn out, but for the record, I hate 12:30pm kick-offs.
One day soon! One day soon!!
I'm just glad to be old enough to remember the last time it happened!
I've since caught up on the midweek football and it looks like it'll be Defoe rather than Lafferty starting.
Also no trains running to Motherwell/Airbles tomorrow, wonder how it will effect the attendance.
It won't affect attendance. Trains are running Catchcart Circle to Newton then via Hamilton Circle as the disruptive works are on the main line.
I am going to make you all jealous. I was there the night the boys in blue got beat 5-2 by the boys in claret and amber. I was only 10 but my dad took me along to Ibrox. It was school night but I will always be grateful to him for taking me.
Unfortunately he also took me to the next round when we lost 1-0 at home to Airdrie. I think this was the game that pissed off my hero Ian St John and he left soon after.
Gillespie fit, Rodriguez Gorrin back in. Jamie Semple on the bench.
Guys appear quite nervous, don't think the goal has helped it much either.
Could write the script. Start off the better team, give a way a soft goal in the first quarter.
Tests throwing lighters need to have a word with themselves.
We would be aswell just scoring the goals for them. Save them the hassle.


text:
Do and See
Hawker Centres
Lookout Points
Chapultepec Park
Eat (2)
►Do and See (5)
►Mexico City (18)
►Do and See (12)
Chapultepec Park (2)
►South East Asia (115)
Seminyak (5)
►Areas (13)
Marina Bay (10)
Lookout Points (4)
Hawker Centres (6)
▼United Kingdom (108)
Viewpoints (4)
Vantra
Vantra has moved and Vitao is now closed.
Vantra offers Organic, Vegan, Gluten-Free food, juices, lots of desserts, chillout music and a good vibe.
Lunch is now a buffet from 12:00 ~ 18:00, and dinner from 18:00 is a la carte. I have yet to visit the new branch but am very keen to!
On Oxford Street, near Tottenham Court Road.
Mon – Sat – 12:00 ~ 23:00
Sun – 12:00 ~ 21:00
cafe, eat, restaurant, soho, vantra, vegan, vegetarian, vitao
London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Heathrow Airport (LHR) is one of the busiest airports in the world. It is the main airport for long-haul flights in and out of the UK and is often a stopover route to/from Europe. Being the busiest and largest, it has the best facilities of the airports in London, and is the only one with direct access to the London Underground, making it the cheapest airport to get to.
First flights are around 05:30 and last flights around 22:30 as there is a midnight curfew, so unless things are running really behind its unlikely you will land or leave in the middle of the night. However, for a flight around 6am you may have to either take a taxi in the early hours, or the last tube the night before and simply hang around till check in.
I rarely buy food at the airport (pack your own!) and there aren't many good vegan options at Heathrow. M&S ready meals are a good bet and most you can even take on the plane.
Getting to and from Heathrow Airport:
By Tube:
London Underground is the cheapest option option for getting to and from Heathrow Airport. The Piccadilly line runs directly from Terminals 1-3, 4, 5 (3 separate stations) through Central London and up to North East London, and will cost you about £3-4 depending where you exit (Make sure you buy an Oyster Card first). It takes about 1hour to Piccadilly Circus, and trains run frequently from 05:00 ~ 23:30 Mon – Sat, and 06:00 – 22:30 Sun. In peak hour this could be a bit of a hassle for some, with packed trains and platforms should you need to change lines. But the line starts at Heathrow so you will have a seat, and you will probably need the tube to get to your final destination anyway.
By Heathrow Express:
This is the fastest, most comfortable, but more expensive, train service. Taking you between Paddington Station and Heathrow Terminals, trains run approx every 15min between 05:00 ~ 23:30 7days a week, and take just 15min non-stop. Paddington Station is on the Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City, Circle, and District lines so it is a great Tube interchange point. Tickets are £20 single or £34 return (valid 1 month). You can simply purchase at the station, or book online at heathrowexpress.com.
By Heathrow Connect:
This service lies somewhere between the above two options. Also between Heathrow and Paddington, taking approx. 28min and trains leaving every half-hour, 05:00 ~ 23:30, a one-way ticket will cost £9.50 (£19 return). Buy at the the station or heathrowconnect.com.
By Coach:
National Express Coaches run from Heathrow to various stops around London, approx 05:30 ~ 21:30, about £6 one way. A bus to Victoria Coach station will take around 45min if you're lucky.
Taxis are the most expensive option, but if you're in a group or family or simply prefer taxi, it may be worth it. Try going through a mini cab agent, or taking a Black Cab to avoid any dodgy drivers. A fully metered ride in a Black Cab to Central London should cost around £60. A mini cab might be able to do it for around £35-40. Do NOT listen to touts who approach you about "cheap taxis"!
By Bus:
Unless you are staying somewhere near Heathrow, I would not recommend trying to use local bus directly from the airport.
airport, bus, coach, england, heathrow, heathrow express, international, LHR, london, london underground, national express, tube, uk
London Weather
[forecast location="London" caption="Weather for London" measurement='C' todaylabel="Today" datelabel="date('m/d/Y')" highlow='%%high%%°/%%low%%°' numdays="5″ iconset="Incredible" class="css_table_class"]
London has a reputation for terrible weather, but is it really that bad? Unfortunately, yes.
While the number of rainy days are less than other cities like Rome, Vancouver or Singapore, it still rains about a third of the year, and the rain lasts for long periods at a time, often just an annoying drizzle. This, combined with grey skies, make the weather seem horrible throughout much of the year.
In winter, temperatures drop below zero, but rarely lower than -8C°, with snow falling just a few times between December and February. But there is a constant dampness that makes it bitingly cold, and it honestly feels colder than a Toronto winter of -16C°. Heating is crucial a this time of the year, so if you're looking for a place, make sure the radiators work.
It's not quite cold enough for consistent snow, so it rains instead. This means that previously fallen snow turns to slush, or worse, a thin layer of ice, creating havoc on the streets for both pedestrians and cars. London is seriously ill-equipped to deal with this type of weather. Buses and Trains shut down (even the underground which is baffling) and Airports cancel flights. There are days when people just don't go to work because they can't get in or out of the city area.
There is a layer of greyness that sits over London throughout most of the year, adding to the drudgery. It just makes people angry and miserable and depressed.
If you're lucky however, you may catch London on one of its few summery days, and watch the magic as it transforms the city. People are smiling, the parks are filled, shirts are off. People really do appreciate and make use of good weather when it comes. London is a much happier and friendlier place to be when the sun is out.
If only those days were more often.
london, weather
HMS Belfast – Imperial War Museum
Get a tour of the HMS Belfast and see what life is like living on board a ship during war.
London Bridge and Monument Stations are closest. Just walk along the Thames, you can't miss it!
£12.25 (£13.50 with donation).
1 March – 31 October – 10:00~18:00 (last admission 17:00)
1 November – 28 February – 10:00~17:00 (last admission 16:00)
Closed 24, 25 and 26 December
cruiser, do and see, hms belfast, imperial war museum, london, ship, south bank, thames
The Tower of London is actually a castle. Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress to be exact, and it's right next to Tower Bridge.
The structure itself is impressive, and its history makes it all the more so, being formerly the royal residence, armoury, menagerie, royal mint, prison & of course home to the Crown Jewels. It also is known for the several executions carried out in the tower. You can take a free guided tour by one of the Tower's Beefeaters (aka Yeoman Warders, the guards dressed in the iconic red uniform and black hat).
Tickets are £20.90 (including a voluntary donation of £1.90), Audio Guides £4. Note, tickets are valid for up to seven days from selected date, so know your dates if booking ahead.
Walk from Tower Hill Station.
Tues – Sat – 09:00 ~ 17:30
Sun – Mon – 10:00 ~ 17:30
(Last admission 17:00)
castle, crown jewels, her majesty's, london, royal palace, see, sights, tower hamlets, tower of london
The Tate Modern Gallery is one of the world's busiest modern art galleries, displaying the national collection as well as international works. It's housed in an old power station, offering huge space and a view of the Thames and St Paul's Cathedral from the restaurant, bar, and balcony. There are often large displays in the Turbine hall, making use of the huge open space not normally possible in galleries. These works are specially commissioned roughly from October to May each year. (Unfortunately the sponsor is Unilever, a terrible company).
There are free guided tours (daily, 11.00, 12.00, 14.00, 15.00 approx 45min), multimedia guides, and play areas for children. Temporary exhibitions are usually ticketed, at around £10. Current exhibitions here.
On the South Side of the Thames, opposite St. Paul's Cathedral, over the Millennium Bridge.
Sun – Thurs – 10:00 ~ 18:00
Fri – Saturday – 10:00 ~ 22:00
bankside, do, free, london, see, tate gallery, tate modern
Vx / SSOV Vegan Shop
Vx (Vee Cross) is a an all-vegan boutique shop in London! They sell cupcakes from Mrs. Cupcake and Cat & the Cream, groceries, sandwiches, shoes, clothing by SSOV (The Secret Society of Vegans), books, SSOV accessories etc.
Check them out for some great stuff and not having to check anything, its all vegan!
Mon – 11:00 ~ 19:30
Tues – Sun – 10:00 ~ 18:30
Clothes, Eat, Food
clothing, cupcakes, eat, food, kings cross, london, secret society of vegans, shop, ssov, vee cross, vegan cross, vegetarian, VX
De Hems
De Hems is a great Dutch Pub in Soho, selling a huge range of beers, including Strawberry Beer on Tap. The building is old and characteristic, upstairs has sofa chairs and tables. It gets pretty busy so arrive early for a seat.
The staff are very friendly, talkative, and will happily make drink suggestions. They also do cocktails!
However with the huge range of beers on offer you may need to check which ones are vegan, and bar staff may not know this. Luckily Dutch (and German) beers are more commonly vegan than those of other countries.
Walk from Leicester Square Station, just off Shaftesbury Avenue and Chinatown.
Mon – Thurs – 10:00 ~ 00:00
Fri – Sat – 10:00 ~ 00:30
alcohol, beer, de hems, drink, dutch, london, pub, soho
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text:
Ramón Darío Larrosa De los Santos (born 13 December 1971 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan footballer who played for Racing Club de Montevideo.

References

1971 births
Living people
Footballers from Montevideo
Uruguayan footballers
Racing Club de Montevideo players
C.S.D. Municipal players
C.D. Águila footballers
C.A. Progreso players
Expatriate footballers in El Salvador
Expatriate footballers in Guatemala
Association football midfielders

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The fact that you are putting on a show at all is not newsworthy. Theatre companies are constantly staging productions. Is it any surprise then that sending a press release to local media outlets with a plot synopsis and showtimes is not how to get press coverage?
Yet newspapers, morning radio shows, and the local TV news are churning out content every day. They need to get their story ideas from somewhere, and your show can be in the mix if you approach it with a little forethought. It's called "news" for a reason. What is new about your show?
One of the few things I did end up doing was give a short phone interview to a reporter that Doug had lined up from the local alternative newspaper. We got that story because of a press release, but it wasn't some vanilla announcement about the show. It took an angle on why the show matters to individuals and organizations in the community. I'll be asking Doug about that specifically in the upcoming podcast episode, but it did get me thinking about what it takes to get press coverage in more general terms.
Hopefully you've given some thought to the unique selling proposition of your show. To come up with that you were thinking about why someone would care about sitting in the audience. You'll be doing something similar here, but now instead of thinking of the ticket buyer who wants to be engaged and entertained, you're thinking of the journalist or critic who wants to produce their own piece that is engaging and entertaining.
It's a subtle – but critical – difference. I'm going to talk about two different types of coverage here: the feature and the review. The feature is a story about the production and can be written before the show opens. It will often include interviews with the cast or production team. The review is a critical analysis of the material and the execution; the reviewer sits in the audience and makes their assessment of the show based on that experience.
Start by thinking about the audience of any media source you're reaching out to. If it's a business journal, you'll want to think about how this production affects the businesses in the community – why did certain businesses sponsor the production, what restaurants might see extra business on the night of shows, etc.
If you are reaching out to the largest paper or the local news station, they need stories that either effect a large number of people or have a human interest angle that will appeal to a large number of people. If you are partnering with or have support from any local non-profits, that's an angle you can use. If the show deals with a cultural or political issue that is hot right now, that can also be a good angle.
It's important to note it doesn't matter if your actual 2 hour performance is interesting. I'll say that another way so it can really sink in: for the purposes of landing a feature story, it is not important that your production be good. Oh, there are many reasons that your production needs to be good, but getting a feature isn't one of them. The journalist is only concerned with making sure their story is good. I bring this up so you don't waste time trying to convince them of the quality of your production. Instead give them a solid hook to talk about the show, and you've taken them half the way to a good story of their own.
…and that's the tricky part. You must give them that hook. From everything I can tell the days are gone when a reporter had time to research tough stories for a few weeks and come up with unexpected perspectives on every piece they write. They can do a few of those, but most days they are racing to get their stories in under the deadline. A lot of the time that means out of necessity they are forced to go after the low hanging fruit. So you need to be one of those low hanging fruits, and the way to do that is to write a press release that spells out an interesting angle on writing about your show.
A professional journalist likely has a lot more training in this sort of thing, so once they start working on your story they may take it in a different direction if they see a more interesting viewpoint. I say that's great as long as you are getting press. The important thing is to send a press release with a hook that makes them stop for a few minutes and think about your show. Their honed journalistic instincts can take over from there.
Bonus tip for print: If you have a set, props, costumes, actors, or anything else that would make for a good photo, mention that in the release. Stories with strong photos get better placement in newspapers and magazines, which is something every writer wants for their pieces.
I can't mention the art of theatre critique and not include this extremely satisfying video of Alfred Molina as a children's theatre critic. Watching this might be the best 4 minutes you spend all day.
Now if you'd asked me a year ago which was tougher to get: a feature or a review, I would have said a feature hands down. Now I'm not so sure. It seems like most critics end up choosing the productions they are going to review based on the venue – or in rare cases the director or lead of the show. That's great if you are putting on a show in one of their preferred theatres, but for everyone else it's tough to get their attention. A critic with a good reputation and sizable readership is going to be getting requests from everyone to come see their production. That's a lot of noise to try to cut through.
I'm not trying to discourage you, though. Critics need to see shows so that they can review them. If there is a compelling reason why they should see your show, then you should try to bring that to their attention.
I do not recommend sending a cold press release to a critic. It's at best annoying, and at worst insulting. To reach out to a critic you are going to need to have a relationship. If someone involved in the show has a strong relationship with a critic, that's fantastic. It could also be a friend of someone in the production, and in some cases that may be even more powerful. Of course someone involved with the production thinks it's worth reviewing, but when a third-party is bending the critic's ear about a show that carries a little extra weight.
Relationships are still just a foot in the door, though. You need to have a compelling reason why any critic should review your production. What's unique about it? In this case you can think about some of the unique things your show brings to an audience because a reviewer is going to be in the house and more importantly that's who he or she is writing for. People read a review because they want to know what they will get out of sitting for two hours and watching your show. The critic will only come see your production if you convince them that by the time the curtain comes down, they'll have an interesting answer to that question.


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Does It Make Sense to Demo Audio Over the Internet?
There's much to love about YouTube (Rick Beato, Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing "I Say a Little Prayer"), but it's coming at a price: the dumbing down of the audio industry. I got some inkling of this future in 1990, the first year of my audio career, when an acquaintance asked me, "How are those Bose speakers? I heard them on a TV commercial, and they sounded pretty good." He was in the oil biz, not the audio biz, so I didn't blame him for failing to grasp that he was hearing not a Bose system, but recorded music played through his TV speakers. Yet thanks to the Internet's negligible barriers to entry, people who claim to be audio experts are now making the same mistake he did.
I've noticed an increasing desire among manufacturers, retailers, and reviewers to demo audio products over the Internet—streaming some representation of the sound of a headphone, a speaker, or even an amplifier through a webpage, YouTube, etc., with the idea that you can listen to it from home and judge the sound quality for yourself. In an era when it's nearly impossible to get a demo in person, the appeal of this method is obvious. However, the people who do it rarely consider the problems involved.
A good example is a YouTube video I saw the other day, where a reviewer described a high-end audio system and then said, "Let's give it a listen, shall we?"—and played a recording through the system. Any audio pundit worthy of respect would know that you're not hearing just that featured system—you're also hearing the acoustics of the room it's in, plus the response of whatever unidentified microphone was used for the recording, plus the artifacts of the audio codec used to stream the video, plus the characteristics of whatever audio gear and room you're using to listen to the YouTube video. It tells you nothing about the performance of the audio gear featured in the video. It's as absurd as trying to judge the quality of a wine by first mixing it with two or three other wines before you drink it.
In the desire to alert readers to the inherent flaws of these demos—and in the hope that they might someday be conducted with more thought and care—I thought I'd use this column to highlight the only laudable online demo effort I've seen, and explain where other attempts went wrong.
The one good effort
By far, the most serious attempt I've seen at doing audio demos on the Internet is the SpeakerCompare feature on the Crutchfield.com website, which lets you compare speakers online through headphones. SpeakerCompare attempts to eliminate any sonic changes your headphones make to the sound, using compensation curves based on Crutchfield's own measurements of numerous headphones. Before being streamed through the website, the music selections are processed using Crutchfield's measurements of the speakers, which were made in an anechoic chamber. Further processing simulates the effect that a typical room will have on the speakers' sounds.
The system is wonderfully simple to use: select your headphones, choose a music track from one of several genres, and then click the onscreen Play button under the speaker you want to hear. It's easy to switch between speakers and listen at whatever level is comfortable for you.
This effort couldn't have been more earnest. I'd guess it cost Crutchfield between half a million and a million dollars, including consultation by a couple of PhDs. Even so, I'd rank it as only modestly successful.
I happen to have Klipsch Reference R-51Ms, which are among the speakers included in SpeakerCompare, so I was able to compare the sound of the actual speakers in my listening room (playing the same tunes, but from Spotify) to the sound of the speakers simulated through Audeze LCD-X headphones. I'd say the simulation got the midrange about right—in both presentations, it had that "little bit bright" sound characteristic of Klipsches in this price range. But the bass was considerably elevated in the simulation, which made the treble sound subjectively softer, so I wasn't getting an accurate idea of what the speaker sounded like.
Comparing the simulated R-51M to a simulation of the Jamo S 801, I could tell that the Jamo sounded a little bassier and a little softer—no surprise, as it has a conventional dome tweeter versus the R-51M's horn-loaded tweeter. But because of the overall bass-heavy coloration of both presentations, I couldn't gauge which speaker I'd like best. My results were almost the same when I switched to the AKG N60 NC headphones, which are included as a listening option in SpeakerCompare. The differences between the simulation and my live, in-room listening should come as no surprise, as it's unlikely the acoustics of my room match the profile Crutchfield used to create the simulation. Perhaps I'd have gotten better results had I popped $25 to rent the SpeakerCompare Listening Kit, which includes a set of Sennheiser headphones that I assume were chosen to give optimum results.
Despite the considerable effort Crutchfield put into developing SpeakerCompare, the company doesn't claim it's a substitute for a live demo, and Crutchfield encourages customers to make their final speaker choice only after a free in-home trial. Sadly, none of the other people I've seen offering online audio demos are so dedicated . . . or anywhere near as wise.
The many bad ones
On the flip side, there's an unfortunate trend in YouTube reviews to simply record the sound coming from headphones or speakers in some convenient and inexpensive manner, and stream the result as a representation of that product's performance, with little or no regard for what changes the sound might go through between the product's transducers and the listener's ears.
In one example I recently saw, a reviewer on YouTube was attempting to demonstrate the sonic characteristics of headphones by playing music through them, recording the result through a miniDSP EARS headphone measurement rig, and streaming that out to his viewers. Presumably, the viewers would listen to the result on headphones, although I can't recall whether the reviewer made any particular suggestions in this area. So they could be listening on a $50,000 stereo system, through the speaker built into their phone, or anything in between.
To understand the problem here, remember that the actual experience in a real-world evaluation of a set of headphones has two fundamental components:
The characteristics of the headphones under test
The acoustical and psychoacoustical characteristics of your ears and brain
When you're listening to the video described above, you're hearing not just two components but four fundamental components:
The characteristics of the ear simulator used for the recording (in this case, the miniDSP EARS)
The characteristics of the headphones (or speakers) and electronics used for monitoring
Obviously, what you're hearing from the audio stream, through your headphones or speakers, will be very different from what you hear when you listen directly to the headphones being demonstrated. You may be able to hear a difference between two products demonstrated in this fashion, but you won't be able to put it in perspective. How can you tell if a headphone with a 6dB peak at 3kHz sounds better than a headphone with an 8dB peak at 2kHz if you're listening through an artificial ear that doesn't conform to any industry standards, and then through your headphones, which contribute their own peaks and dips?
To illustrate how much the sound of headphones can change in an online demo, I measured the frequency response of a set of AKG K371 headphones mounted on a GRAS Model 43AG ear/cheek simulator, using white noise. Then I mounted the K371s on a miniDSP EARS, ran that sound into a computer, and monitored it through Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd generation) headphones, which I then mounted on the 43AG.
You can see the result on the chart above. It's a huge difference, and it was unpleasant to listen to—yet this is actually better than what a typical listener will experience, because the audio hasn't gone through one of the various audio-compression codecs YouTube uses, and the T5s are a better monitoring system than probably 99% of YouTube users will have.
I've often seen people who do online audio demos (and who measure using the miniDSP EARS) admitting their system isn't perfect but saying, "I think it's pretty close." Yet this is just their gut feeling; I've never seen any of them present any sort of methodology they used to come to their "pretty close" judgment, and few, if any, have the equipment or the expertise to create such a methodology. Their gut feeling that their result is "pretty close"—without, of course, having the slightest clue what equipment their viewers are using to listen—may satisfy some YouTube viewers, but anyone with a grasp of audio engineering will reflexively roll their eyes.
I think it's possible to do halfway decent online audio demos, at least of headphones. One way you might actually get "pretty close" is to mount a popular set of headphones, such as Sony's MDR-7506, on the miniDSP EARS and measure the combined transfer function—i.e., the total change made in the frequency response by the EARS and the Sonys. Use an equalizer or an audio processing plug-in to create an inverted version of that transfer function, and use that curve to process the sound on the video. Now put whatever headphones you're testing on the EARS, and stream that audio, processed with the equalizer. When the listener puts on the MDR-7506 headphones (which many headphone enthusiasts and audio pros already own, and which typically cost only about $99), in theory, at least, they'll be hearing the frequency response of the headphones under test, minus the sonic effects of the EARS and the Sonys. Of course, it would work correctly only with the MDR-7506 headphones, and maybe tolerably well for a few headphones with a similar response. Ideally, you'd offer listening options for several popular headphones, as Crutchfield does, although that would be practical only on a dedicated website—on YouTube, you'd have to offer a separate video for each headphone model.
I did something similar to this for the demo videos accompanying my article "How Much Noise Do Your Headphones Really Block?" It was complicated, but it worked fairly well—although I was demoing noise levels, not the subtleties of an audio product's performance, so the frequency response of my viewers' audio systems didn't matter much.
I hope that if reviewers and retailers who do online demos consider how much effort and expense Crutchfield put into SpeakerCompare, they'll realize how amateurish it is for someone to just hook up a microphone or a cheap headphone measurement rig and hope for the best. And I hope they'll invest some time, money, and creative (but informed) thinking in making their online demos more useful. But in a subculture where an unsupported assertion that something's "pretty close" satisfies enough viewers for the presenter to turn a profit, I'm not optimistic that this will happen.
Allan · 9 months ago
I found SpeakerCompare to be a decent comparative tool. As a way to increase sales and decrease returns it was probably a good investment.
nat w · 10 months ago
I found the Crutchfield system pretty compelling when I first tried it about six months ago. No, it is not the same as hearing the speakers in ones own room. But it was possible to differentiate some aspects of tone.
Lately, their code is broken and one cannot switch between models; but to a lay person, it just seems like all the samples sound the same since the UI makes it look like you are switching between models! Sure hope they fix it! Otherwise, it is worse than half way working but undermines the idea itself.
And that would be a shame!
This is an idea that had been floating around for a while and none other than Genelec more than a decade ago has said that it works well for critical testing of their high end speakers and monitors (which are industry standards for a reason). https://assets.ctfassets.net/4zjnzn055a4v/4SO5nkzx17qwEUpnOG1gsN/c554ff26c49f0984b8493f79228e7c41/2008_hiekkanen_makivirta_karjalainen.pdf
And of course things like the REALISER from Smyth Research has for quite a while now given consumers access to something similar.
This is the paper from the research team associated with Genelec:
"Virtualized Listening Tests for Loudspeakers"
Audio Engineering Society Convention Paper 7367
Presented at the 124th Convention
2008 May 17–20 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nice scientific approach!
YouTube reviewers are usually good entertainers.. no one has a scientific background afaik as Tyll did (engineer) or as you have come to develop.
I think it just depends on the expectation of the viewer.
As you mention 'profit' and I would add visibility, they do have some advantages anyway.
In case of the main YouTube reviewers, they usually have a lot of headphones for comparison as Tyll did. And this I think it might be good, but not everyone is taking good advantage of it :?
So.. you might want to take a leap and jump into the YouTube world?! (happy)
Agreed. Too many of them lack basic knowledge of the sort you can get by reading a few books (although that's always been true of reviewers), but I think perhaps more important is that they lack the experience of working with a listening panel. Once you solicit the opinions of other listeners, especially with headphones, you realize your opinions are not reliable. So you invest in measurement gear, read AES papers, learn from as many people as you can, and your opinions evolve and become wiser as your knowledge grows. Tyll set the example, and I try to follow.
But I understand the appeal of personality -- I have watched a zillion Davie504 videos, even though I have learned nothing from them about music or playing bass. :)
That would be great: videos of Brent à la Davie504!
That would be the definitive headphone review format!!
Epic! (bomb)
SoundStage should hire Davide and make a format right now! :)
oluv · 10 months ago
It's actually more than "pretty close" when done right, talking bullshit is also "pretty easy":
https://youtu.be/gdShT_OPaBE
Dealux · 10 months ago
If you record it on your head it will take on the characteristics of your ears. The GRAS rig is an average of many people and likely closer to the truth.
Also, the Sonarworks target is not neutral (it's too warm).
Andres · 10 months ago
I have used Sonarworks with HD600, HD800, dt990, Focal Clear, MDR7506 etc. and for me it is quite neutral. Especially HD600, cause it does not have huge narrow peaks or dips.
I've made my case, and you've responded by saying I'm "talking BS." Oluv, you can say what you want about another reviewer, we're all fair game. But in your last video, you're suggesting Sean Olive has a hearing problem, and you seem to think you're smarter than the people who developed the IEC 60268-7 standard, all the people who have developed professional headphone measurement gear, and multiple past presidents of the AES. This would make you either the greatest audio genius alive, or today's best example of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. There are incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated people on YouTube (Erin's Audio Corner is the best example), but doing what he does takes a big investment in money and learning. I encourage you to follow suit.


Joel Madden wants success in its fullest meaning - wealth, power, and material comforts. He has an enormous ambition. Joel dreams of big projects, great undertakings, and rewards.
Madden is a visionary. He sees the horizon and the promise. In general, Joel Madden also sees the methods necessary to fulfill that promise. But he is not especially good with details; Joel needs others to help him deal with the smaller parts of the picture. His challenge is to make full use of the full spectrum of his abilities, as indicated by his other core numbers. In the same way, Madden must bring forth the best from others and orchestrate their talents toward the realization of his vision. In short, Joel Madden must lead by example, demonstrating the standard for commitment, determination, and excellence.
All of this requires effort on Joel Madden's part. He will meet with obstacles and difficulties. His determination and commitment will be tested. But Joel has the power to overcome every obstacle he faces and accomplish the goal he has set for himself.
Joel's task in life is to learn to use power in refined and elevated ways. The expression and use of power is directly related to One's personal evolution. The more primitive uses of power rest with violence and the threat of deprivation. The higher expressions depend upon Madden's capacity to care for and nourish the people and projects in his charge, giving each exactly what is needed at the appropriate time and in appropriate amounts.
Joel Madden has a creative mind and an unusual approach to business and problem-solving. He needs, however to cultivate his ability to evaluate others.
It is essential for Joel to be involved in a project that challenges him and offers the potential for rewards. When he is uninvolved or unoccupied with a worthwhile task, Madden can become deeply despondent, depressed, and frustrated. Joel Madden is the perfect example of the old cliche, "Idle hands are the devils workshop." Without a challenge, he can lose balance in life and become selfish, cruel, and even self-destructive. Disappointments become shattering, causing terrible consequences in self-image and self-love.
Perspective is everything for Joel Madden. He has a natural talent for balancing the spiritual and material planes.
Joel needs to cultivate courage and stamina. Courage is a choice. Joel Madden needs to decide to be brave in the face of fear. A balanced 8 is among the most powerful and satisfying of numbers. It is the spirit of the true survivor, able to bounce back and achieve a greater victory.
Joel Madden's Soul Urge number represents his inner self. The Soul Urge number, also called Heart's Desire, shows Joel's underlying urge - his true motivation.
It reveals the general intention behind many of Madden's actions. Consequently, it dramatically influences the choices Joel Madden makes in life.
Read more about our interpretation of Joel Madden's soul urge (heart's desire) number . . .


To accomplish its mission effectively, the French Battle Group has deployed platoon-size units across its area of responsibility. Living in small units is quite different from the life in Mostar-Ortijes.
Jablanica - After driving across sloping terrain, a French squad arrives at the top of a narrow valley where the tiny village of Meopotocje lies (Prozor municipality, some 50 kilometres west of Sarajevo). Villagers live in poor conditions and receive their visitors in a friendly manner. What sets these soldiers apart is that they are not strangers but neighbours.
They carry out the SFOR mission by patrolling and monitoring and staying in contact with locals. Bosniacs and Bosnian-Croats and also Displaced Persons inhabiting the area. "We show our presence and collect useful information. Locals are friendly," said Sgt. Alexandre Carpentier, patrol commander.
The first platoon, 3 Coy, "27th Bataillon de Chasseurs Alpins," based in Annecy (in the French Alps), is at this time detached in Jablanica, a city some 35 kilometres north of Mostar. A green-yellow triangular handkerchief on their left shoulder easily distinguishes these 26 soldiers from soldiers in the regiment's four other companies.
The third company, comprised of five platoons, is deployed in Prozor and Jablanica. Two platoons perform the mission in each place on a two-week rotation. The unit's motto, "Pige et galope," refers to the company's attitude towards life: as soon as you understand, run and accomplish your mission.
The members of the first platoon are the youngest of the Coy, with an average age of 20. For most of these soldiers it is their first tour in the theatre. They are well prepared and are highly motivated.
"The life in a small unit is quite different. We accomplish the mission directly and we can see the results. Also, we have a lot of initiative," commented 1st Lt. Louis-Marie Vallançon, platoon commander. They keep in close touch with locals and authorities whatever the religion or group.
Their post is the basement of a civilian home that used to be a restaurant. It is set close to Prozor's road. Nothing special distinguishes the site from the others, apart from the guard with a FAMAS 5.56 mm rifle at the gate, three VABs (French Armoured Personnel Carrier), a VBL (armoured scout vehicle, 4x4) and a military car in the parking lot.
To deal with daily duties, the platoon is divided into three groups with rotating roles. The first is in charge of logistical and security tasks. It involves providing security in the parking lot and at the gate, and doing housework such as cooking the meals or cleaning. Soldiers cook their own meals and they are really good cooks.
Pvt. Stephane Lannerey declared: "It's quite different from living in Mostar and it's great for a change." His companion, Pvt. Sebastien Pigny, added: "We are like a family that lives together and it makes the time fly." Also Pfc. Dominique Jeux commented: "Respect for others is the main point when living together."
The two other groups are in rotation patrolling and monitoring the area. In the evening a group patrols Jablanica's streets and the other does it in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, the other team doesn't waste time and tactical training is on course. There was a reconnaissance exercise that day.
Staff Sgt. Thierry Vayssiere, deputy commander, is in charge of logistic matters. "Once a week I go to Mostar and fetch supplies. It's necessary to be organised and that everybody knows his duties," he said. He also discloses the secret of daily life: "The platoon is like a gear. The main points are cohesion, union, professionalism and that everybody does their best to perform the mission."
Night falls and lights are switched off. The village is sleeping and in the small French detachment activity goes on. A night patrol through the streets guards the safe and secure environment.


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How will Young Labour's national committee elections work?
As agreed by Labour's national executive committee last week, elections for positions on Young Labour's national committee have kicked off. They will run alongside the NEC's own elections and end, eventually, in November.
Young Labour gives young members a voice at the top of the party, supports local Young Labour groups and mobilises young people at election time. It is made up of reps from various sections of the labour movement.
Each position is not elected in the same way, and this is the first time these elections have taken place since the democracy review, which changed the processes slightly. LabourList takes a look at how it all works below.
Which positions are up?
Chair of Young Labour. The chair determines the general direction of the youth section and chairs meetings of the national committee.
The current chair is Miriam Mirwitch, who was elected in 2018. She is ageing out of the role and therefore not able to restand. Jess Barnard and Eluned Anderson are standing for chair.
Regional Young Labour representatives. One regional rep is to be elected from each region of England and from the Scottish and Welsh parties, amounting to 12 in total with at least six women.
Young Labour trade union representatives. Ten places are reserved for reps from the trade union movement, and at least five of those elected must be women.
Young Labour student representatives. Three student representatives are set to be elected, with women taking at least two of the positions.
Young Labour socialist society representative. One member is to be elected by socialist societies affiliated to the Labour Party.
Young Labour under 18s representative. One position is being contested for the under 18s rep on the youth section's governing body.
Young Labour international representative. One seat on the committee is up for grabs for the international rep position.
The democracy review in 2018 changed the committee structure to remove the positions of 'ordinary representatives', which had been a general role for a rep to voice the views of young members.
Three other positions on the governing body – that of BAME officer, disability representative and the women's officer – are up for election at the next Young Labour equalities conference.
What is the timetable?
Monday 27th July – nominations opened
Sunday 27th September – nominations close
Monday 19th October – ballot dispatch begins
Thursday 12th November – ballot closes
Friday 13th November – results announced
How is each seat elected?
The trade union and socialist society representatives are elected by the affiliated organisations, weighted according to the number of members that the groups affiliated to the Labour Party last year.
For the others, each needs to gain the required nominations to secure a place on the ballot paper. Then it goes to a vote. The nomination requirements, voting systems and electorates vary between the different positions.
All candidates must be under the age of 27 on November 13th – except for the under 18s rep, who must be… under 18. They all need to have been a member for at least 12 months. A first-past-the-post voting system is used.
Candidates for chair need to be nominated by at least 50 young members and two affiliates. The chair is then elected by all eligible members under the age of 27 via a one-member-one-vote (OMOV) ballot.
The regional Young Labour reps must be nominated by 20 young members in their relevant region. They are then elected through an OMOV ballot of all eligible young members in their region.
Labour's rule book says the regional rep in each location across the country should be a woman at least every other term. It has therefore determined which seats are open and which are reserved by looking at the current post holder.
Yorkshire, the West Midlands, the South East, London, the East Midlands and the East are reserved for women, while the North, the North West, Scotland, the South West and Wales are open to all.
The student reps must be nominated by at least 20 verified student members. They will then be elected by OMOV of all verified student members of the Labour Party who are under the age of 27.
The under 18s rep must secure nominations from at least 20 members under the age of 18. They will then be elected through an OMOV ballot of all members aged under 18.
The international rep needs to receive nominations from at least 20 young members, and is then elected by a OMOV ballot of all eligible Labour members under the age of 27.
Tags: Labour / internal elections / Young Labour national committee / Young Labour /


This elegant and exclusive course was built on rolling landscape that features some extremely narrow fairways. Numerous mature trees can affect your shots, and water hazards come into play on a number of holes.
My wife and I have played the course a few times. We just played on June 9, 2015. It's in excellent condition and well maintained with very pleasing views. I played from the tips and it plays long. especially the 475 yard par four. Many trees to contend with, but they add the the esthetics. The only draw back is that they have very limited times for serving dinner.
The original side back 9 is interesting and tree lined. The newer front side is more like a corn field converted to a golf course. Played as an outing, so other factors could not be evaluated.


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Marex Spectron
Marex Spectron appoints Ram Vittal as Head of North America
Marex Spectron announces the appointment of Ram Vittal as Chief Executive Officer, Marex Spectron North America, reporting to Ian Lowitt, Group Chief Executive.
Marex Spectron today announced the appointment of Ram Vittal as Chief Executive Officer, Marex Spectron North America, reporting to Ian Lowitt, Group Chief Executive. Ram will be based in New York.
In his role, Ram will oversee Chicago-based Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG) and other Marex Spectron North America metals, energy and agricultural brokerage teams in New York, Houston, Connecticut and Calgary. Today, Marex Spectron North America accounts for approximately a third of the Group's gross revenues.
Ram joins from JPMorgan Chase, where he was Managing Director and Head of Treasury Services Franchise Client Management spearheading innovative client solutions leveraging data analytics and digital technologies. Previously, he was Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, holding several leadership roles in the Investment Management and Investment Banking divisions. Whilst at Goldman, he led the establishment of Goldman's asset management business in India.
Ram holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and serves as Chairman of the Board of Overseers for Columbia University's School of Professional Studies.
Ian Lowitt commented: "Ram is an impressive addition to our firm. His track record in investment banking, acquiring and growing businesses, coupled with his understanding of digital solutions and data analytics will be invaluable as we develop our North American business. This is our fastest growing region and our intention is to continue building our presence in the Americas to around half of our total revenues through organic expansion, new product development and acquiring businesses where we see growth opportunities."
Ram Vittal added: "I am excited to join Marex Spectron as it enters the next phase of its global growth story and look forward to working with the leadership team to build market share and expand the business further in the US."
Marex Spectron expands equity derivatives clearing offering
Marex Spectron today announced that it has become a trading privilege holder of Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) and a clearing member of The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).
Marex Spectron completes acquisition of XFA
Marex Spectron has today announced that it has completed the acquisition of X-Change Financial Access (XFA), a fast-growing exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) execution broker.
Marex Spectron to acquire XFA
Marex Spectron has today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire X-Change Financial Access (XFA), the fast-growing Chicago-based exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) execution broker.
Marex Spectron hires Head of Ferrous Metals Trading
Marex Spectron announces the appointment of Phillip Price as Head of Ferrous Metals Trading to build the Group's market making and trading infrastructure in ferrous metals derivatives.
Marex Spectron Reports Record First Half
Marex Spectron today announced record results during the first half year, with net revenues up 28% year on year at $219.9 million, while profit before tax increased 48% at $38.2 million (unaudited).
Marex Spectron adds the Matthews Group to Marex North America
Marex Spectron announces that veteran agricultural brokerage team, the Matthews Group, has joined the firm to bolster its capabilities in North America.
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An uninsured motorist or underinsured motorist insurance is something your insurance agent when you're first buying a plan ,might not even cover with you. Or, they might gloss over it as a way to offer you the least expensive plan possible. The problem is that NOT having this kind of coverage will come back to haunt you! If you are in a bad accident and the person responsible does not have insurance or doesn't have enough insurance coverage to cover all of your damages, then you will forever be limited in how much compensation you will be able to obtain for your injuries.
By law, drivers are required to carry only $25,000 minimum in policy limits. Many times, your agent may tell you that's all you need! But it's a trick, not a treat. Policy limits have not been increased for decades, so they do not account for inflation. If you have just $25,000 in policy limits, and you are sent to the ER following an accident, that visit alone may take up most of your policy. Any future medical expenses needed for your injuries will, therefore, have to come out of your own pocket, as your insurance will not cover it. Spending a little extra on your monthly insurance could save your financial stability in the future if you are ever injured in an accident.
The insurance company is counting on being able to get you on the record before you even have a chance to realize what's happened following a bad accident. By law, you have 15 days before you have to give a recorded statement to the at-fault insurance company. This will allow you time to seek a free consultation with an attorney to get advisement on your rights. It also gives you a chance to assess the extent of your injuries, the reality of whether you will be missing work due to the accident, and any other aftermath that might creep up on you following a crash. Preserve all of your rights, and be sure to seek counsel before you give a statement to any insurance adjuster.
The first thing McDivitt Law Firm tells our clients is to make sure they are seeking complete medical treatment for their injuries if your Doctor recommends it. This is not the same advice you will get from the insurance company. Your insurer does not want to be on the hook for your extensive medical bills following your injury, so they will not advise you to make sure to see a doctor or a specialist even though you might really need it. They hope you'll submit just the minimum medical bills and settle your case before the long-term effects set in. Don't let these injuries continue to sneak up on you without ensuring financial compensation for them. Be sure to take care of yourself, have all of your injuries assessed, and seek all of the medical treatment your Doctor recommends before settling with the insurance company. An experienced attorney will help guide you through this process to make sure your care is complete and your bills are covered.
5. Your insurance adjuster will disguise as your friend Insurance adjusters are trained to make it sound like they are on your side.
They will express sincere concern for you, but they are hiding their true motives. Your insurance company uses your adjuster to try to settle your claim as soon as possible for the least amount of money as possible. McDivitt Law Firm's legal team pulls the mask off of these tactics and represents our clients' best interests. Don't get deceived by the insurance company after an accident. Hire an experienced attorney to deal with them for you. McDivitt Law Firm scares away insurance companies and makes sure our clients are protected and taken care of.


text:
Home // Opening the door to graft and nepotism
Opening the door to graft and nepotism
Kuldip Nayar	| April, 2016 April, 2016 | Indian politics
In considering the two houses of India's Parliament, Kuldip Nayar casts doubt on the criteria by which certain members are selected for the Rajya Sabha.
This month some 80 members of state assemblies have entered the portals of the Rajya Sabha (or Council of States), the Indian Parliament's upper house. They represent the states since Parliament has two houses, the other being the Lok Sabha, which is elected directly.
I feel that some elected members do not qualify to sit in the house. According to the constitution, a Rajya Sabha member has to be 'ordinarily resident' in the state which returns him or her to the house. Keeping this in view, the Supreme Court should have thrown out this clause nearly ten years ago when it was first challenged, since it has so often not been followed. Instead, the court persisted with the mistake.
Subsequently, a confused bench sought to spell out the criteria for election. In its wisdom, it did away with the domicile qualification for candidates contesting seats in the Rajya Sabha. This qualification says that a member has to be living in the state in which he or she seeks election. The nub of the problem is that political parties wanted to do away with the domicile clause so that they could send their favourite candidate to the Rajya Sabha, even though he or she was neither from that state, nor lived there. Unfortunately, Parliament substituted the word 'India' for 'state'. This made little sense because no-one other than an Indian could be elected. The Supreme Court should have restored the domicile clause but instead, it removed this requirement.
The proceedings of the Constituent Assembly show clearly that the two houses are different in terms of purpose. On the query of R. Venkataraman, a member of the Constituent Assembly who subsequently became the country's president, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, piloting the constitution or bill, clarified that a candidate to the Council of States should be a resident of the state concerned, while a candidate to the House of People need only reside in any parliamentary constituency.
The Supreme Court saw no merit in the plea that the elected member should come from the state 'because the electorate that is electing him is required by law to do so'. This was a strange logic to justify the election of an outsider. The point at issue was not who could be elected but who could represent the state. A person who normally lived in the state was the obvious choice because he or she was familiar with the state's culture, language and problems.
Take as an example two warring states, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They have a running dispute over the division of water from the River Krishna. In the case of Karnataka, would a person who is a resident of that state represent its interests better, or one who belongs to Tamil Nadu but has been returned to the Rajya Sabha by the Karnataka assembly? This is the reason why the National Commission, appointed by the government to review the workings of the constitution, recommended that 'in order to maintain the basic federal character of the Rajya Sabha, the domiciliary requirement for eligibility to contest elections to the Rajya Sabhya from the states concerned is essential'. It is another matter that the government never implemented any of its recommendations.
The Rajya Sabha (or Council of States) is the Indian Parliament's upper house
The Supreme Court's argument that a federation was not a territory is untenable. A federation is a formation of separate states which retain control over their own affairs but ultimately defer to the federation that transcends them. The entire justification for a state disappears if it does not have in view the interests of its own people, sons of the soil. I agree that 'the residence is neither a constitutional factor nor a constitutional requirement', but who forms the state? Definitely not those who are not even ordinarily residents.
The Supreme Court was satisfied as long as the representatives to the Rajya Sabha were 'citizens of the country'. If there was no residential qualification, all 250 Rajya Sabha members, excluding the 12 nominated ones, could, in theory, be from only one state or even one city. Surely the Supreme Court would not want that. There is no alternative to the domicile requirement if a state's interests are to be looked after.
Unfortunately, the judgment gave a new title to the Rajya Sabha, that of 'revising house', not realising that this would bring down its status and stature. The Rajya Sabha is an independent house, with its own duties and obligations. The role is not secondary.
All bills, except those relating to money, can be introduced in the Rajya Sabha.
Does this mean that the Lok Sabha becomes the revising house if and when the bill is introduced in the Rajya Sabha? In fact, matters concerning the states originate in the Rajya Sabha, and all questions relating to central services and the like are also initiated there.
I express my inability to make out what the Supreme Court means when it says that the right to elect 'is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right, but pure and simple, a statutory right and not a constitutional right'. The two arguments are contradictory. How does a country stay democratic if the right to elect is not something basic or fundamental? In reality, this very right differentiates democracy from dictatorship.
It is sad that the Supreme Court judgment has opened wide the doors of the Rajya Sabha to the money bags, the Mafia or the like. The house has become a hunting ground for those who have clout or deep pockets. Political bosses can bring in their favourites, who may live in any nook and cranny of India. The constitution stipulates that only 12 members will be nominated to the Rajya Sabha, but now the whole house can be nominated by the political masters. This situation must be redressed.
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Surface curvature of pelvic joints from three laser scanners: separating anatomy from measurement error.
Recent studies have reported that quantifying symphyseal and auricular surfaces curvature changes on 3D models acquired by laser scanners have a potential for age estimation. However, no tests have been carried out to evaluate the repeatability of the results between different laser scanners. 3D models of the two pelvic joints were generated using three laser scanners (Custom, Faro, Minolta). The surface curvature, the surface area and the distance between co-registered meshes were investigated. Close results were found for surface areas (differences between 0.3% and 2.4%) and for distance deviations (average < 20 μm, SD < 200 μm). The curvature values were found to be systematically biased between different laser scanners, but still showing similar trends with increasing phases / scores. Applying a smoothing factor to the 3D models, it was possible to separate anatomy from the measurement error of each instrument, so that similar curvature values could be obtained (p < 0.05) independent of the specific laser scanner.
Villa C, Gaudio D, Cattaneo C, Buckberry J,Wilson AS and Lynnerup N (2015) Surface curvature of pelvic joints from three laser scanners: separating anatomy from measurement error. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 60 (2): 374–381.


text:
Q: Symfony unserialize error on a php 7.4 environment We have 2 applications on a different subdomain, sharing the same session. One application is Symfony 3.4 latest, the other one Symfony 4.4 latest. So far, no issues.
We upgraded or test environment from php 7.3.5 to php 7.4.11 and authenticated sessions got lost after passing the app with Symfony 4.4.
The Symfony 3.4 fails silently on unserialize and populates tokenStorage with an anonymous token.
Dump of the logged Symfony 3.4 exception:
{
    "message": "Failed to unserialize the security token from the session.",
    "context": {
        "key": "_security_secured_area",
        "received": "O:67:\"Symfony\\Component\\Security\\Guard\\Token\\PostAuthenticationGuardToken\":....}",
        "exception": {
            "class": "UnexpectedValueException",
            "message": "Erroneous data format for unserializing 'Symfony\\Component\\Security\\Guard\\Token\\PostAuthenticationGuardToken'",
            "code": 57873340,
            "file": "/var/www/.../vendor/symfony/symfony/src/Symfony/Component/Security/Http/Firewall/ContextListener.php:250"
        }
    },
    "level": 300,
    "level_name": "WARNING",
    "channel": "security",
}

We've never seen this exception before and we have no clue how to start debugging this.
Any suggestions?

A: I ended up by upgrading the Symfony 3.4 application to Symfony 4 latest.


text:
First rocket launch of 2023 brings the boom to Florida's Space Coast
WMFE | By Brendan Byrne
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral, the first launch of 2023 carrying 114 tiny satellites.
The first rocket launch of 2023 is bring the boom — a sonic boom, that is.
SpaceX kicked off the year with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket at 9:56 a.m. ET carrying more than 100 tiny small satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX's Transporter-6 mission lofted 114 payloads on this flight, including CubeSats, microsats, picosats, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.
About 8 minutes after launch, the first stage of the rocket returned to Landing Zone-1 at Cape Canaveral. It's return brought with it a sonic boom.
Falcon 9's first stage has landed on Landing Zone 1 pic.twitter.com/j6243ROlgY
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 3, 2023
It was the booster's 15th mission. SpaceX lands its rockets, on either a barge or back at Cape Canaveral, and reuses the boosters to lower the cost of launches.
Last year, SpaceX tallied 61 launches from Florida and California, a record for the company and nearly double the number of launches in 2021.
The company shows now signs of slowing down in 2023, which includes more human launches. SpaceX is set to launch another crew of four to the International Space Station in February. A private spaceflight mission called Polaris Dawn will take flight no earlier than March.
Space Central Florida News
Brendan Byrne
Brendan covers space news for WMFE, everything from rocket launches to the latest scientific discoveries in our universe. He hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration. Brendan is a native Floridian, born and raised in Broward County. He moved to Central Florida in 2005 to attend the University of Central Florida. He began working at WMFE as a college intern where he discovered his love for public radio.
See stories by Brendan Byrne
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Bipartisan bill targets anti-Semitic incidents by making them felonies
How NASA's Reliance On Commercial Companies Is Shaping Space Exploration
NASA is relying more and more on the private sector to help its exploration efforts -- from building the next moon lander to transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. So what does the future look like for this new dawn of commercial exploration?
Dozens of SpaceX's Starlink satellites won't make it to orbit. Space weather is to blame
Fourty of 49 SpaceX Starlink satellites launched last week were impacted by what's called a geomagnetic storm on their way to an orbit about 130 miles above Earth, preventing them from reaching their intended orbital altitude.
Sonic booms expected when SpaceX lands Falcon 9 booster back at Cape Canaveral
SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from Florida's Space Coast with a scheduled booster landing back at Cape Canaveral, which means there could be sonic booms heard in the area.
From Tesla to SpaceX, what Elon Musk touches turns to gold. Twitter may be different
Elon Musk brought a sink into Twitter headquarters on Wednesday, in anticipation of owning the social media company by the end of the week.


So my database is lost. I don't have backup of last month. Now I am trying to get all stuff posted in that timeline back on blog. It will be done tomorrow. I am happy that things are coming back to normal. Thanks to Google which saved a copy of all my post in it's cache.
I didn't get any reply from my webhost about backup. Looks like it was fraud. Leave that. No point in referring to those things again. It's better to forget and do a fresh start. One bad thing is that I lost my position in Google search. I have to regain it soon.


text:
UTC+8:30 (H+ – Hotel+) – dawna strefa czasowa, odpowiadająca czasowi słonecznemu południka 127°30'E.

Do 1910 roku strefa ta obowiązywała w Cesarstwie Koreańskim, a w latach 1954–1961 jako czas standardowy (zimowy) w Korei Południowej (w okresie letnim – UTC+9:30). W latach 2015–2018 obowiązywała przez cały rok w Korei Północnej.

UTC+8:30 była także jedną z pięciu stref czasowych Republiki Chińskiej w latach 1912–1949, obowiązującą na obszarze wschodniej Mandżurii (pozostałymi strefami w kraju były UTC+5:30, +6:00, +7:00 i +8:00).

Przypisy

Strefy czasowe


text:
Kurt Pomplun (* 29. Juli 1910 in Schöneberg; † 5. August 1977 in Berlin) war ein deutscher Heimatforscher. Er publizierte Werke zur Geschichte Berlins und Brandenburgs, seiner Mundart und mündlich überlieferten Märchen und Sagen.

Leben

Kurt Pomplun war einziger Sohn eines Postbeamten und wuchs in der damals noch eigenständigen Stadt Schöneberg auf. Er besuchte die Höhere Staatslehranstalt für das Vermessungswesen, die er als Ingenieur für Vermessungswesen abschloss. Er war seit den 1930er Jahren zunächst beim Landratsamt Teltow tätig, wo seine Beschäftigung mit der Denkmalpflege begann. Er sah sich als Schüler des Historikers Willy Hoppe.

Pomplun beantragte am 27. Dezember 1937 die Aufnahme in die NSDAP und wurde rückwirkend zum 1. Mai desselben Jahres aufgenommen (Mitgliedsnummer 5.585.940). Bereits 1933 war er der SS beigetreten, in der er es mindestens bis zum Hauptscharführer brachte.

Seit 1965 arbeitete er im Amt für Denkmalpflege in Berlin, bis 1973 als Regierungsamtmann, danach als Amtsrat. Er war ehrenamtlich Bezirksheimatpfleger. Bekannt wurde er durch Beiträge zu der von Horst Kintscher moderierten Rundfunksendung Kutte kennt sich aus (1967–1977) des RIAS. Neben der Erforschung Berlins bearbeitete er auch einige Baedeker-Reiseführer, u. a. den Bezirksband für Schöneberg von 1973, aber auch viele Städte wie etwa Braunschweig und Nürnberg.

Sein Buch Berlins alte Dorfkirchen entstand auf der Grundlage seines Artikels Der mittelalterliche Dorfkirchenbau auf dem Teltow. Es erlebte zwischen 1962 und 1984 insgesamt sechs Auflagen und gilt noch heute als populäres Standardwerk. Sein Kenntnisstand von 1960 ist allerdings inzwischen durch moderne Forschungsmethoden in mehreren Punkten überholt, siehe Pompluns Klassiker: Berlins alte Dorfkirchen.

Im Alter von 67 Jahren verstarb Kurt Pomplun am 5. August 1977 während einer Diskussion in der Schöneberger Buchhandlung Elwert und Meurer an Herzversagen.

Ehrungen

Er erhielt 1971 die Fontane-Plakette der Landesgeschichtlichen Vereinigung für die Mark Brandenburg und 1975 die Fidicin-Medaille des Vereins für die Geschichte Berlins. 1974 wurde ihm das Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande verliehen.

Auf Beschluss des Berliner Senats ist die letzte Ruhestätte von Kurt Pomplun auf dem Friedhof Wilmersdorf (Grablage: B1-UW-53) seit 1978 als Ehrengrab des Landes Berlin gewidmet. Die Widmung wurde zuletzt im Jahr 2021 um die übliche Frist von zwanzig Jahren verlängert.

Schriften
 Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreises Teltow. Bearbeitet von Hans Erich Kubach und Joachim Seeger. Mitarbeiter: Siegfried Harder, Karl Hohmann, Kurt Pomplun, Johannes Schultze. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 1941. (Die Kunstdenkmäler der Provinz Brandenburg. Hrsg. Brandenburgisches Provinzialverband unter der Schriftleitung von Heinrich Jerchel. Band IV.1: Kreis Teltow).
 Der mittelalterliche Dorfkirchenbau auf dem Teltow. In: Berliner Blätter für Vor- und Frühgeschichte. Festschrift für Karl Hohmann. 9, 1960, S. 1–32.
 Berlins alte Dorfkirchen. Haude & Spener, Berlin 1962 (6. Auflage 1984).
 Berlins alte Sagen. Hessling, Berlin 1964 (5. Auflage 1985).
 Kutte kennt sich aus. Berlin-Bummel mit Kurt Pomplun. Berlin 1970 (5. Auflage 1980).
 Weihnachten und Neujahr im alten Berlin. Ein Beitrag zur Völkerkunde der Großstadt. (= Berliner Forum 14/69), Berlin 1969.
 Die Dorfkirche in Berlin-Marienfelde. München und Berlin 1970.
 50 Jahre "Groß-Berlin". Ein Rückblick auf die Eingemeindungen seit 1861 mit dem Wortlaut des Berlin-Gesetzes von 1920. (= Berliner Forum 4/70), Berlin 1970.
 Berliner Häuser. Geschichte und Geschichten, Berlin 1971.
 Von Häusern und Menschen. Berliner Geschichten. Berlin 1972.
 Baedekers Berlin-Schöneberg. Freiburg/Br. 1973.
 Berliner Allerlei. Kreuz und quer durchs Häusermeer, Hessling, Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-7759-0177-9.
 Berlinisch' Kraut und märkische Rüben, Berlin 1976.
  Rathäuser in Berlin. Rat- und Amtshäuser oder Verwaltungsgebäude in West und Ost. Fotos von Liselotte und Armin Orgel-Köhne. (= Berliner Forum 8/76), Berlin 1976.
 Berlin – und kein Ende, Berlin 1977.
 Großes Berlin Buch, Berlin 1985 (Zusammenfassung von fünf Einzelbänden der Berlingeschichten).

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Heimatforscher (Brandenburg)
Neuzeithistoriker
Denkmalpfleger (Deutschland)
Sachbuchautor (Heimatkunde)
Person (RIAS)
Träger des Bundesverdienstkreuzes am Bande
Bestattet in einem Ehrengrab des Landes Berlin
Deutscher
NSDAP-Mitglied
SS-Mitglied
Geboren 1910
Gestorben 1977
Mann


On a remote island like Niue, getting to know the locals is as easy as stepping outside your guesthouse door. A cultural exchange with a local was bound to happen—we just had no idea when or how.
We met the Tongia family from nearby Tonga on our 3rd day in Niue. Palemia, a shuttle driver for Matavai resort, gave us a ride home from dinner. He then offered Jono a chance at free diving with a local spear-fisherman. As a thanks, we offered to help him and his wife, Louna, with their farm work.
We ended up planting potatoes through the middle of the night and enjoying other wonderful cultural exchanges with this delightful little Tongan family who live and work in Niue.
Fittingly, this story begins with a Niuean cultural dinner at Matavai Resort.
Entertainment included a 4 piece band drumming out an island beat all night with Niuean young people and children dancing along. At one point, one of the young dancers brought me up to the front where I learned their traditional dance. She was adorable!
The food was mostly all authentic Niuean dishes. These included ingredients like taro root, paw paw (papaya), and coconut cream.
My favorite dish was Takihi. Labeled as a traditional Niuean dish, it was made of thinly sliced layers of paw paw and white taro root, marinated in coconut cream. The dish is baked in an oven or, more traditionally, in an umu.
An umu is an "Earth oven" used in Polynesian traditional cooking. They burn firewood, coconut shells, and coconut husks in a hole, then layer big rocks on top, place the food over the heated rocks, then another layer of leaves on top of that. All natural. All yum!
Around 9:30, we got the Matavai shuttle back to Alofi for $5 per person.
Once loaded into the van, we immediately began chatting with the shuttle driver. His name is Palemia and he is from the nearby island country of Tonga. He moved to Niue from New Zealand about one year ago with his wife Louna and their children, Mele, Romeo, and Moni.
Jono told Palemia about his free-diving hobby and how he was hoping to go fishing at some point. This sparked some interest from Palemia. He asked Jono if he had brought a spear gun. Sure enough, Jono had it along with him but had been disappointed to find out the strict rules with fishing around Niue.
To spearfish in Niue, you either have to fork over $500 to a charter fisherman who will begrudgingly take you or you have to be lucky enough to befriend a local who will take you for free.
Jono was ecstatic and I was excited for him to have a chance at spearfishing with a local. Eventually we asked Palemia more questions which led us to the idea of offering to help out on his farm. Palemia told us he plants timala, a kind of sweet potato, and sells them to the locals.
He said they were in the middle of planting them now because they're best planted during the full moon. "Do you want a hand?" Jono asked him.
"Oh, you have headlamp? Okay! I come pick you up again at 10:30." And just like that, we were on our way to doing some midnight farming.
Timala is a purple sweet potato with white flesh—similar to what the Maori in New Zealand call "kumara." The Niueans pronounce it "tSee-MA-la," with an almost silent t.
We put woven baskets of timala plants into the back of Palemia's 4x4. Then we took a dirt road with him and Louna back into the jungle. Up and up we climbed the bumpy terrain to a plateau. We seemed to be at the center of the island.
The trees grew shorter here and a large field opened to the night sky. There were many stars out twinkling above us when we arrived. We walked into the middle of the field, careful not to step on their previously planted timala.
Palemia set up a standing light rigged to a battery. Now I could see we were standing on loose soil. Palemia had spent the days before churning up a layer of vines and grasses with a pitch fork to reveal a rich layer of soil underneath. It was nice dark soil, perfect for farming.
Palemia set Jono to work digging up another section of the field. Meanwhile, Palemia pushed the soil into small hills for me and Louna to place the plants.
Proper placement of the timala plants took a little time to learn but then it was easy. After Louna re-planted my first two timala, I'm proud to say I got nods of approval thereafter. Farming success!
Soon, the stars became sparse in the sky and a light drizzle fell. We kept working, but Palemia was worried it would rain harder.
We finished about 50 plants and Jono dug about 40 holes before we began packing up. It was past midnight by the time we arrived back to the Tongia family home.
When we got back to their home, we sat in plastic chairs and drank tea from stained mugs while Palemia entertained us.
He happily answered questions and told us stories as he strummed on his guitar.
He explained his daughter Mele would be traveling to Australia soon. We learned we would be on the same flight as her leaving Niue next week! Palemia is also a traveler, as he has been to Fiji and Tahiti in addition to Niue, Tonga, and New Zealand.
Looking around their home, it was clear to me they lived pretty simply. The main room of the house had a small bed in the corner, an internet router on the floor, and a picnic table dining area. Out the back door was an outdoor kitchen and some other rooms off a concrete walkway.
Religion is clearly important to the Tongia family, as I noted the walls were nearly bare except for a simple religious passage.
The following day, Jono met up with Shane. Shane is another local Tongan fella living on Niue. He took Jono out from the Makefu Sea Track and down the reef wall to spear fish.
I spent my time whale watching and snorkeling the reef flats after visiting a few caves nearby. As I was whale watching, I spotted the two of them through binoculars making their way along the wall.
When they returned from 5 hours of free diving, they had gotten lots of fish. Jono was hoping to spear a Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, or Yellow-Fin Tuna—but he had no such luck.
Instead they had speared a bunch of small reef fish. Apparently the locals will kill and eat just about anything regardless of size! Jono gave most of the fish away to the locals, but we kept one trevally to bring over to the Tongia family for dinner.
Back at the Tongia family's house, we met Romeo and also their youngest son, Moni.
Moni loved showing off his artwork to me.
Soon, dinner was prepared. Louna served the fish to us with some sides, including timala! Of course this was not the same timala we had planted the night before. Even still, I loved getting to eat a meal we had caught and planted ourselves, then cooked by a local.
Not only was this a fantastic cultural exchange—it was also a delicious one!
The best cultural exchanges I have experienced during my travels have happened spontaneously.
Spending some time with local Tongan immigrants while in Niue was a really unique experience. We learned how they plant their crops, how they spearfish, and then we got to have a home cooked meal.
You just can't plan these kinds of interactions! And all of this occurred simply because we chatted with our shuttle driver!
Rather than trying to find authentic, off-the-beaten path experiences or deviations, most of the time these experiences will find you. You just have to be open to them!