text:
Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott Are Electric in a Riveting Two-Hander – The Hollywood Reporter
Zachary Wigon, director of 2014's involving but underseen The Heart Machine, offers another story of confused impulses and competing desires in Sanctuary, a two-hander set almost entirely in a single hotel suite. Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott make an exceptionally good team here, in a film that requires a deep sexual chemistry but keeps sex itself almost entirely out of the picture. Careening from one kind of intensity to another, the encounter excites without prurience and, like the transactions it depicts, is more concerned with psychology than sex in any case.
Abbott plays Hal, the heir to a vast hotel fortune who has spent a chunk of his pampered youth in an odd relationship. He regularly meets a dominatrix (Qualley's Rebecca) in his family's hotel, writing scripts with which she will goad and humiliate but never sleep with him. Preparing to take over the company now that his father has died, Hal knows it's time (as it once was for Shakespeare's Prince Hal) to give up potentially scandalous pleasures. As he awaits Rebecca's latest visit, he prepares a goodbye gift and anticipates a friendly farewell.
A twisty, surprisingly heartfelt battle of wills.
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Special Presentations)
Cast: Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley
Director: Zachary Wigon
Screenwriter: Micah Bloomberg
It grows harder each year to buy into fictions about rich people who, with all their physical and practical needs met, must invent new ways of being unhappy and stranger pleasures to pursue. (Succession and other hits suggest this isn't a problem for everyone.) But the conflict we're about to see would be very hard to envision without the unseen presence of vast sums of money, and it's more than worth enduring the film's Richie Rich stuff to get to it.
Rebecca arrives, pretending to be a stranger sent to conduct a business interview, and the two play out their usual narrative. When they're finished they sit down to a decadent room service meal, during which Hal announces (as if they both knew this day was nigh) that it's time to stop meeting. "I need to match up my insides with my outside," he explains, referring to his need to be seen by the business community as "a person who wins."
But after accepting this news and bidding him farewell, Rebecca pauses at the elevators. This businesslike kiss-off isn't right. She goes back to Hal's room to argue that, without her services, he would never have achieved the self-confidence necessary to run this company. Like a member of the proletariat with a rare bit of leverage, she announces, "I want what I'm worth, relative to what you have." A luxury retirement watch isn't going to do.
Tension, obviously, ensues. Films set in hotel rooms seem to require reversals, and this one offers plenty as the two argue, cajole, threaten and tease. Though their arrangement has always involved him pretending to be at her mercy, whenever he feels cornered in today's conversation, he's quick to acknowledge his wealth, assuming it gives him sole power to decide how things will end. But she's too intelligent and too crafty to accept that. At several points she finds ways, some honest and some not, to assert her own power and make Hal truly frightened.
Occasionally the film breaks to catch his breath, with punctuating interludes of abstract color washes. Early on, letting these remind one of Punch-Drunk Love feels like the wrong interpretation. But as the picture progresses, revealing some deep and tangled dependencies between the two, a distant kinship to that movie seems less impossible. Are we perhaps witnessing a love story that's simply been polluted by money? Is there a way through all this that doesn't end with a man ruined by scandal and/or a woman's corpse buried in the foundation of a new hotel?
Both actors ride this roller coaster with an emotional intelligence beyond their years, but the scenario ensures that Qualley owns the show. This is a sex worker whose imagination isn't limited by her job; watching her manipulate Hal, sometimes fueled by her own desperation and sometimes, seemingly, for sheer retributive pleasure, is an intense kind of fun. (Practically none of which has to do with arousal, although Rebecca does have an astounding "Happy Birthday, Mis-ter Pres-i-dent" moment reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, wringing eroticism from the mundane.) And while the smart money's on her, Micah Bloomberg's script makes it impossible to guess with confidence how things will be resolved.
Without getting into specifics, this battle of wits and wills is bitter one moment, darkly hilarious the next, with occasional threats of simple physical violence. Buried beneath this (sometimes far beneath) is the tenderness between two people who've shared unusually intimate moments and, at least for Hal, exposed secrets in an environment they'd agreed to keep safe. ("Sanctuary" is their safe word, which appears never to have been used.)
If the movie were less captivating on its surface, you could spend plenty of time finding metaphors in it for more ordinary forms of employment, in which bosses can fire at will regardless of how deeply they have relied on an employee in the past. But Sanctuary is too fun to turn into a socialist lesson plan. By the end, in fact, it's kind of a thrilling, if momentary, escape from such stuff.


Yoga Nidra is a practice that can take you to the next level; a relaxed body, fluid mind, and heightened intuition.
Yoga Nidra, translated as yogic sleep, is a five-stage process that begins with a body scan to engage one's physicality. It incorporates meditation on the breath, the balancing of emotional states, visualization, and self-healing. Setting a positive intention and this gives the participant a specific purpose to the session.
Join Jasmine our resident Yoga Instructor here at Riverdell for 60 minutes of pure bliss!
Laying on our backs in our savasana position, we let our awareness wander through the whole body. While doing so, we move through different stages of consciousness just as in sleep: We shift between the waking state, dream state, and finally to deep, dreamless sleep.
It creates deep relaxation for health, mental peace, and higher awareness. It calms the nervous system and balances out the prana within the body.
It's said that 45 minutes of Yoga Nidra is as restorative as 3 hours of sleep.
By allowing and receiving some rest, we enhance functioning of the immune and metabolic systems. In turn, this improves our overall physical health and leads to higher energy as well as fewer colds and infections of all types. Rest also improves mental health, eliminating brain fog, insomnia, anxiety attacks, PTSD, and depression.
The evening includes: A warm cup of Chai and a delicious RAW Dessert!
Please dress comfortable and bring a blankey! We have bolsters and cushions available.


Livestreaming is mostly associated with video sharing apps on mobile phones but there are many people who still prefer to use their computers and laptops. Perhaps keeping that in mind, Facebook has now started letting you livestream video right from your computer or laptop. Of course, you will need a web cam in order to do that.
Why livestreaming video is a mobile-first technology is perhaps because most of the mobile phones these days come with a facing camera which may not be there on majority of computers. But these days, almost all the laptops and PC monitors come with a camera so it is high time that video livestreaming services also started supporting PCs and laptops.
As mentioned in this Facebook blog post, Facebook might also be trying to target gamers who are a hit on YouTube. These gamers do live recordings of their gaming sessions and then upload them on YouTube. With this new livestreaming video feature they will be able to broadcast their gaming sessions through Facebook in real time.
Anyway, the camera attached to a laptop or a PC monitor is much more stable compared to the one attached to a mobile phone. While broadcasting a tutorial or a Q&A session it is much more convenient to sit in front of the monitor with both your hands free rather than fiddling with a mobile phone camera.
As mentioned in the above post, you can use any standard streaming software to livestream video on Facebook. Here is a step-by-step guide from Facebook on how to livestream video on Facebook using streaming software.


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The Art of Contemplation: The Cloisters
We all have places we go or things we do when we need a break, or we look up from our work and wonder how it became late-August. Art and museums have long been thought of as opportunities to escape from the everyday: I often think of the poem "Monet's 'Waterlilies' " (1965) by Robert Hayden, about his experience visiting Monet's paintings at MoMA. Hayden wrote about immersing himself in the paintings and the temporary haven he found there, which I find myself looking for in art as well.
Living in New York, whenever I think of going somewhere calm and quiet, away from the daily rush and noise that is the city, I think of the Cloisters. Perched at the tip of Manhattan, it is both near and wholly distant from the rest of New York. Although it is one of the Met's three institutions (with the main building on Fifth Avenue and the newly-opened Met Breuer), its character is very different from either of the other two. The Cloisters remind me of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in the way that you encounter them as a kind of step back in time. The museum's architecture is a key part of the experience: since its construction, the Cloisters has housed part of the Met's medieval art collection, but some of the architecture is itself medieval, brought over from Europe and rebuilt in the United States.
The Cloisters tower from the Cuxa Cloister. Photo: Author.
The Cloisters therefore might best be described as a complex: parts of medieval European buildings joined together by modern materials to create a whole. The seemingly labyrinthine layout of the galleries encourage you to wander freely, and there is always some new treasure to discover. The three medieval cloisters that give the museum its name each feature gardens planted with similar flowers and herbs as populated gardens in the Middle Ages. They are also open to the sky, allowing in light and giving the effect that nature is a seamless part of the museum as well.
The Cloisters were built in the 1930s, and reflect the art historical practice at the time. Many works of sculpture and architectural fragments in the collection were collected by George Grey Barnard. Working in France during World War I, Barnard collected and sold medieval architectural fragments from structures that had fallen to ruin or that had passed into the hands of local citizens after destruction in previous years or centuries. (Art of the Middle Ages endured long periods of censure in later centuries: the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch coined the term "Dark Ages" that characterized thinking about this period for a long time.) Barnard brought his collection back to the US, where he put it on display, and it was this collection that the Met purchased with funds from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1925. Many other works in the Cloisters collection came from Rockefeller, such as the Unicorn Tapestries, and the collection of J.P. Morgan. Rockefeller was also responsible for the purchase of land in upper Manhattan, which had previously been various estates: he gave it to the city of New York in what was to become Fort Tryon Park, and reserved several acres on which to build the Cloisters. The Cloisters buildings were designed by architect Charles Collens, who incorporated the medieval structures, transported and rebuilt in the United States, into his design. This is not a course that would be pursued now, but is it itself a reflection of an early 20th-century understanding of collection building, and it is important to understand that, much as we are able to enjoy the outcome. (For more on the history of the Cloisters, see here.)
Doorway from Moutiers-Saint-Jean, The Cloisters. Photo: Author.
Altogether the galleries of the Cloisters are tranquil and peaceful. The lighting is subdued. These are not spaces to rush through, or ones where you feel the need to compete with other visitors for a good vantage point of a work of art. And the Cloisters has truly stunning works of medieval art: the Unicorn Tapestries and the Merode Altarpiece are both famous examples, but also in their company are magnificent enamels and carved ivories, stained glass windows, and sculpture.
When I visit the Cloisters, I don't go for any one work of art, rather I go for the experience of walking through the space and taking it all in. One of my favorite things to do is to take a seat near the Cuxa Cloister for a while. This cloister (c. 1130-40) makes up the center of the museum, and came from the monastery of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa in the Pyrenees in France. (It is actually only part of the original; the rest remains at the monastery.) The cloister offers shade from the sun, but you can still feel the breeze. The columns are beautifully-carved pink marble, giving the space a warm feeling. It's a good place to sit and relax. Afterward, I like to walk through the garden itself and admire the flowers.
Flowers in the Cuxa Cloister. Photo: Author.
Another highlight of the Cloisters is the Treasury. Located on the lower level, it feels like stepping into a vault. And as soon as one does, one understands why. The gallery glitters with gold, silver, and enamel: many of the precious and more sensitive treasures of the Cloisters are displayed here. The Belle Heures of Jean of France, Duc de Berry (c. 1408/09), one of the most beautiful illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, is here. As someone interested in the history of the book, what always strikes me is how vivid the colors are after so many centuries, how the gold leaf still glows under the light. For me, this manuscript is one of those works of art that never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times I see it.
A folio from the Belle Heures, Saint Catherine in Her Study. Photo: The Collection Online, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Cloisters are great place to go when you need a break from the city without actually leaving it, and to see beautiful works of art and architecture besides. If you haven't had the opportunity to visit, I highly recommend making a pilgrimage there!
by Kathryn Griffith on August 21, 2016 August 21, 2016
Architecture, Art, Reflections Architecture, Art, history, museums, new york, personal, writing
« Dissecting A Scene- Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers I am an Artist–Am I an Artist? »
One comment on "The Art of Contemplation: The Cloisters"
findingnyc says:
I go to the Cloisters to recharge my batteries as well – my favorite spot is the Chapter House Gallery, the area with the beautiful ribbed vaulted ceilings. In the simmer the actual cloisters are so beautiful as well though.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This course is a 2 day train the trainer that covers handcuffing, baton, weapon retention, and pepper spray. The art of handcuffing is one of the most used tools in law enforcement, and being able to handcuff in a safe tactical manner is important to the safety of your officers. There are many different styles of handcuffing that are taught, but we believe we've taken the best of what is offered and placed it into one course. We also focus on use of force concepts as well as positions of advantage that allow you to have an increased chance of coming out on top.
The baton is seldom utilized in law enforcement, because officers are not familiar with when and where they should or should not use the tool. We not only focus on sound techniques and simple concepts with the baton, but we also teach you as an instructor how to legally articulate when a baton can be reasonably used within an encounter. This course emphasizes instructor interaction and concepts to make you a better instructor for your agency, which is one of the most important aspects of your job. The use of pepper spray is still a valid tool in law enforcement, since the taser does not meet every situation, which is why we've included this in our program. You're not required to be exposed to pepper spray during this training if you've been previously exposed. We guarantee this course will fill up fast! The certification is valid for three years.


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text:
Sigle
 Cassa Depositi e Prestiti – istituzione finanziaria italiana
 Census-designated place – frazione di una municipalità statunitense
 Certificato di Proprietà – rilasciato dal Pubblico Registro Automobilistico
 Coen Damaschi Petroli – società Umbra di prodotti petroliferi
 Corriere dei Piccoli – rivista di fumetti italiana
 Cisco Discovery Protocol – protocollo proprietario di livello 2 sviluppato da Cisco Systems
 Casa di produzione – casa di produzione di varia natura (ad esempio di spot televisivi)
 continuous data protection – protezione continua dei dati

Chimica
 CDP – Citidindifosfato

Codici
 CDP – codice aeroportuale IATA dell'aeroporto civile di Cuddapah (India)

Religione
 C.D.P. – suore carmelitane della Divina Provvidenza
 C.D.P. – suore della Divina Provvidenza di Magonza
 C.D.P. – suore della Divina Provvidenza di Saint-Jean-de-Bassel
 C.D.P. – Suore della Divina Provvidenza di San Antonio

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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var jsonSchemaTest = require('json-schema-test');
var Ajv = require('ajv');
var assert = require('assert');

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];

var remoteRefs = {
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};

instances.forEach(addRemoteRefs);

jsonSchemaTest(instances, {
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function assertStr(str) {
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function addRemoteRefs(ajv) {
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
UCSB Come Up Short Twice in Three Matches, Get One Win in Home Opener Doubleheader
February 5, 2018 at 10:30 pm by Andrew Bishop
Natalia Da Silveira returns a a serve with a forehand. Stephen Manga / Daily Nexus
It was a busy weekend for the UCSB women's tennis team, who competed in three strenuous matches in just two days. The Gauchos began their weekend with a match at No. 6 Pepperdine on Friday, and then faced off against the University of San Francisco and Kansas State in their home opener on Saturday.
Friday's match against Pepperdine ended very poorly for the now 3-4 Gauchos, who were dominated by the Wave 7-0. Things appeared to be unbalanced from the get-go on Friday, with the Wave shutting out the Gauchos in back-to-back games in doubles play.
The imbalance continued throughout the match, as the Gauchos struggled to keep up with Pepperdine's four nationally ranked singles players. Sophomore Amit Lev Ari came the closest to winning the Gauchos their only set victory of the day in her first set against Pepperdine junior, No. 44 Dzina Milovanovic; however, Lev Ari fell short 7-6, and lost her subsequent set, which brought the match to an end.
The Gauchos' home opener on Saturday would not prove to be much easier, with a challenging doubleheader against USF and Kansas State. Despite suffering a tough loss the day before, the Gauchos went into their home opener with confidence, and a burning desire to bounce back from their trip to Pepperdine.
The Gauchos made quick work of USF, routing the Dons 4-0, and losing only a single set on court one.
"We were not so happy with the way we competed at Pepperdine, we lost a bit of confidence with that match, but we were able to win against San Francisco. "We were just a little bit better there," Head Coach Simon Thibodeau said.
The match against the Dons helped the Gauchos regain some of their confidence, and prepare for a more difficult matchup against Kansas State.
The Wildcats and the Gauchos fought tooth and nail throughout the afternoon, but Kansas State came out on top with a score of 4-3. The Wildcats pulled ahead early in doubles play, after winning two games back-to-back against the Gauchos, leaving the third unfinished.
The Gauchos would soon tie things up in singles play, with the help of freshman Lise Sentenac, who dominated the Wildcats' senior Carolina Lewis with scores of 6-0 and 6-1 in both of her sets.
Both teams would trade blows in singles play, and the match would ultimately be decided by the game between UCSB senior Natalie Da Silveira and Kansas State freshman Rosanna Maffei. Da Silveira secured a 6-2 victory in the first set, but Maffei came back in the second set, defeating Da Silveira 6-1.
By the start of the third set, the match was tied 3-3, making it the set that would decide the outcome of the match. The pair fought hard, but in the end, Maffei would come out on top 7-6 at the end of the nail-biting final set.
It was an emotional loss for the Gauchos, who were hoping for a clean sweep in front of their home crowd. The hard-fought loss to Kansas State brought the Gauchos to a 3-4 record on the season.
Coach Thibodeau acknowledged the areas where his team struggled, but he applauded their effort throughout a restless weekend.
"I thought they fought really hard against Kansas State. We got a bit of a slow start in doubles, but in singles we gave ourselves a chance to win," Thibodeau said. "We left it on the courts, but its good experience to play these kinds of matches because it might happen in the future."
Coach Thibodeau and the Gauchos will have plenty of time to recover and prepare for future matches, with their next being against Saint Mary's on Saturday, Feb. 17 and No. 14 California on Sunday, Feb. 18. With two full weeks of rest, the Gauchos are likely to come back stronger for their trip to the Bay Area.


"What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Hazuki cried. She was devastated, they all were - everyone except Sogetsu that was, nothing seemed to move his cold heart anymore. How could this have happened? So many dead, in so little time… Only four of the original party of eighteen had made it back to the pre-assigned meeting spot in the forest clearing. Everyone else was presumed dead, dying, or captured…including Kazuki. They stood, the survivors, in a loose circle facing one another, bathed in moonlight and shadows from the trees.
"The Elders will be furious…" Rani, the only one of Razu's three sisters who had survived, moaned in terror, cradling her broken and bleeding arm, "How will we ever explain what happened to them?"
"It was a trap; it had to be. Somebody had it in for us, I say, and we walked right into it." Gatsu growled, punching a tree in frustration, "I didn't even see any stinking Kuei! Did any of you?"
"No." Hazuki shook her head. Rani indicated she hadn't either.
Sogetsu grinned a wicked smile, his white teeth sparkling as he withdrew something from within the folds of his shirt. He cast it down onto the blue grass for all to see.
It was the cowl and facemask of a Lin Kuei ninja.
"Oh, they were there all right." Sogetsu laughed, "You just had to know where to look, my brother and sisters."
Gatsu frowned, picking the artifact up and examining it. He turned the black and blue cloth over and over in his hands, convincing himself it was real. "Lin Kuei…" he muttered at last, handing it over to Rani.
"You got one, Sogetsu? You actually faced and killed one of them? Was it a tough battle?" Gatsu wondered.
"No, Gatsu. The Lin Kuei are truly pathetic. She died the cowardly death she deserved in one deft stroke."
"She?" Hazuki asked, her brown eyes meeting Sogetsu's azure ones.
"Hai. It was a woman, sister. Male, female, it doesn't matter, they're all snakes."
"Did you see any others, Sogetsu?" Rani asked, passing the dead woman's clothing to Hazuki.
"No, if I had, they'd have joined that one in death, I guarantee it."
"The Elders aren't going to like this at all." Gatsu fumed, "Not only do we lose most of our brothers and sisters to Tokugawa's samurai, but the blasted Kuei probably still aren't neutralized!"
"The samurai probably got them all again…" Rani winced, her shattered arm sending bolts of pain throughout her body. During the fight, a samurai's horse had trampled upon it, pulverizing bone and sinew alike with its hooves. Hazuki wondered if it would even heal correctly, perhaps it would need to be amputated.
Sogetsu snatched his trophy out of Hazuki's surprised hands and shook it in front of Rani's face in anger.
"No!!! We made that assumption before, and I'll not make it again! Rani, you're injured and useless to us now, so you can return home and inform the Elders of the massacre, but Gatsu, Hazuki and myself will continue the hunt for the Lin Kuei. I'm not returning till I'm absolutely sure all their bones will be bleaching in the sun come morning!"
Rani cowered before Sogetsu's anger.
"Of course, Sogetsu. You're right; forgive me."
"Shouldn't we try to recover some of the bodies of our fallen comrades as well, Sogetsu?" Gatsu interrupted.
"The samurai will probably have hacked them to pieces by now…" Hazuki shook her head. She didn't want to think about it. The dead, even those of the enemy, deserved better than that…especially poor Kazuki.
"It doesn't matter." Sogetsu commanded, turning to leave, "Our mission to eliminate the enemy takes priority above all else. The remains of our brothers and sisters will wait; the Lin Kuei will not. Rani, make all haste back to our lair. Gatsu, Hazuki, let's go."
With that said, Sogetsu vanished into the dark shadows, not turning to see if he was followed or not.
"How many dead?" Tanaka demanded.
"Seven of ours, fourteen of them, Commander Tanaka!" The soldier quickly recited, "And five of ours wounded, one critically. We lost quite a few horses as well."
"Not bad, eh Jubei?" Tanaka beamed, "Of course, I'd prefer less deaths on our side, but body counts usually run high when facing ninja directly."
Jubei snorted, "Save your praise; we didn't get any of them, Tanaka…especially the one that brings rotting death with but a touch of her hand."
"Eh?" The commander raised his eyebrows in disbelief at Jubei, "What the hell are you talking about, Yaggyu? Can't you see the bodies strewn before you? Or has your one remaining eye failed you at last?"
"Oh, there's plenty of dead ninja, Tanaka, but only one of the bodies belongs to the kidnappers, and your men didn't kill him." Jubei continued, dismounting his horse to inspect the body lying near the water's edge more closely. He turned the corpse over to show Tanaka the jagged gash that ran through his chest, and the lazy loll of the body's head was indicative of its snapped neck. "He was dead before the fighting began. My guess is that this one…" Jubei indicated the arrow-filled body of the other man that had been lying on top of him, "…killed him shortly before your soldiers used him for target practice."
"So they aren't all wearing black and blue pajamas, who cares? They're all ninja, and they're all dead, and that's what I'm going to put in my report! I'm not concerned with the latest shinobi fashions, Jubei!" Tanaka growled.
"The colors and uniform of a ninja clan are more than a fashion statement, Tanaka, as you know well. The ninja your men butchered belonged to the Kazama clan, not the clan the kidnappers hail from, and I'm sure the Kazama weren't here by accident either."
"A ninja blood-feud!" The soldier who had reported the death count to Tanaka suddenly exclaimed passionately.
Tanaka scowled at him, "Who the hell asked you? Get back out there and make sure you didn't miss any bodies, you lazy lout!"
"Yes, Commander Tanaka! A thousand apologies!" The young man cried as he hastily returned to his duties as Tanaka swung a badly aimed kick after him.
"He's almost certainly right, Tanaka. The Kazama were here to do the same thing we came here for. Unfortunately for them, they got caught in the middle of our attack and paid for it…dearly."
"Bah! The less ninja there are in the world, the better I say. Better to live and die like a man rather than skulk about in the shadows all your life!"
Jubei let the body fall again.
"Every man lives with shadows in his heart, Tanaka."
The two men suddenly found their discussion interrupted; they both turned to see who was bellowing their names.
"Agh! It's that damned, Yoshio and his fool friend, Bado!" Tanaka scowled, "What the hell do they want now?"
The two men, both astride one horse, came galloping up, and both hastily dismounted. Yoshio immediately began to accost Jubei, much to Tanaka's amusement.
"Yaggyu-san! What is the meaning of this? We are supposed to be on a mission to save my mother, not to see how many ninja heads Tanaka's samurai can collect! Please excuse me if I misunderstood, but I believe that was our intent, yes? What happened to paying the ransom?"
Jubei scowled at Yoshio, and Tanaka stifled a laugh.
"I said we'd get your mother back and I meant it. It's not your place to question my actions, Yoshio." The old, one-eyed samurai barked, "And now that I think of it, I'm sure Tanaka can loan you a samurai or two as escorts back to the city proper, we have no more need of you here."
Yoshio was going to say more, but Bado, with some difficulty, wisely silenced him before the young man's rash mouth could get him into trouble. After a short, heated argument, Bado convinced his friend to take Jubei's advice, and they both mounted the horse again.
"You'd better return with my mother, alive, or you'll be very, very sorry!" Yoshio called back over his shoulder as the horse trotted away.
"Oi, that one is becoming quite a bother, isn't he?" Tanaka grinned, "Eh, Jubei-san?"
"Hai, but I did promise him we'd find and return his mother safely, and I intend to keep my promise, Tanaka."
Tanaka chuckled, "Ha! And how are we going to do that when we haven't the slightest idea of where to find her? Tell me that, Yaggyu! These dead ninja certainly aren't going to rise from the dead and lead us to their hidey-hole, now are they?"
"No, but this one here…" Jubei indicated the man with the broken neck again, "…is going to show us where she is."
Intrigued, Tanaka, raised an eyebrow, "All right, Yaggyu, now I truly am curious, explain to me how that's going to work, this I must see."
The man whose name Jubei had just called came running.
The man soon returned with a large, bamboo cage. Jubei opened it and out tumbled a black and white bundle of fur that immediately began to race about and bark madly.
Tanaka spit in disgust, "Oh no, Jubei! That's not that filthy animal you got from that gai-jin with the piss-yellow hair, is it? Get it away from me, it's scaring the horse it's so ugly!"
Jubei just laughed, ignoring Tanaka's insults.
"Hai, Ryooshi! Come here! That's a good dog!" The animal obeyed its master; coming to rest at Jubei's feet, its tail wagging madly and its tongue hanging lazily out of its mouth as it took in everything and anything with its bright, black, inquisitive eyes. Jubei stooped down and ripped a fragment of the dead ninja's black and blue uniform away from the body and offered it to the young dog. "Hai, Ryooshi, smell that? Take a good whiff of it, eh? Where'd that come from now? Show, Jubei, Ryooshi! Show me where it came from!"
The animal barked loudly, stopped to bury its snout in the grass and clover, and then took off like a shot, back towards the crossroads. Jubei quickly mounted his white horse and gave chase.
Tanaka spit again, "That one-eyed bugger is really off his rocker this time! Gah! The things I have to put up with!" Tanaka signaled his men with a wave of his arm, "C'mon, you fools! Follow Yaggyu-san and that noisy abomination he dares to call a pet!"
"Hey…I need to stop...gotta clean this wound out before it goes bad."
Kusaru bristled, scowling at the man who clung to her for support. Any mention of rotting always roused her anger.
"There's no water here; we can't clean it." She retorted.
"I don't need water. That's my brother's thing, not mine."
"What are you babbling about?"
Sighing, Kusaru complied, lowering the Kazama onto a rotting log. She was glad to do so; he wasn't light. They had left the River Bani far enough behind them that she was fairly certain they were relatively safe, at least for now. They'd have to go into hiding soon anyway, daylight wasn't far away.
"Well, whatever you're going to do, be quick about it. The more distance we put between Tokugawa's samurai and your brethren, the better."
The man said nothing. He ripped his crimson pants apart, revealing the puncture wound in his well-muscled thigh that still oozed blood. He reached above his head and snapped off a branch that hung low and ripped all the leaves and twigs from it.
The Kazama ran his hands over the branch, straightening it, and then, his fists clenched, and the wood burst into flames.
Alarmed, Kusaru backed wearily away.
"What are you doing, Kazama? I warn you…"
Again, the young man said nothing, that is, until he buried the flaming stick inside his wound - then he had quite a bit to say, most of it quite colorful cursing. Kusaru's lips curled into a smile, her ears had never had the pleasure of hearing some of the obscenities he was spitting forth. Slowly and quite painfully, the Kazama pulled the smoking stick through his leg and out the other side.
Kusaru nodded her approval; the flames had cleansed the wound well. No infection would be able to take hold, and any that had started were now incinerated. A bit extreme perhaps, but she would have done the same in his place.
"That's a nice bit of ninja magic there, Kazama, how do you do it?"
"I'll tell you, Lin Kuei, if you tell me how to rot things with my fingertips."
She snarled and slammed him savagely up against the trunk of the tree he had ripped the branch from, so hard that his teeth chattered.
"Don't you ever say that again! Ever! Do you hear me, Kazama?"
"Y…yeah…yeah…I hear you!" He choked.
She dropped him, and he sunk heavily on his bad leg.
"I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it…" He gasped.
"There is no magic involved in what I do, Kazama." She whispered, absolutely furious, "It's a curse, a black curse, and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. You have no idea, none whatsoever, of what it means to be me."
"Give me your hand." She ordered, still angry. He did so, and she hauled him roughly to his feet again. They continued to push through the forest without speaking for a while, mosquitoes buzzing around their ears and twigs snapping underfoot.
"What's your name? I'm tired of calling you Kazama." She said at last, interrupting the near silence.
"Kazuki. What's yours?" He answered.
"My real name isn't for you, or anyone else, to know, but my given Lin Kuei name is Kusaru."
"Named you after what you do, huh?"
"Yes...yes, they did. That's usually how it works…at least for those born "gifted" amongst us anyway. That is, if you can laughingly call my talent a gift."
"You don't like that name, do you?"
"What I like or don't like is irrelevant, you take the name you are given without question, and Kusaru is what I am called."
"But you don't like it."
"No…I don't like it...I hate it."
"Then, what's your real name?"
"Hana. My real name is Hana. Now shut up…Kazuki."


text:
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Bus Rapid Transit Powers Ahead
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text:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<TITLE
>Making it better</TITLE
><META
NAME="GENERATOR"
CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK
REL="HOME"
TITLE="Building Synthetic Voices"
HREF="book1.html"><LINK
REL="UP"
TITLE="Limited domain synthesis"
HREF="c941.html"><LINK
REL="PREVIOUS"
TITLE="Telling the time"
HREF="x1003.html"><LINK
REL="NEXT"
TITLE="Text analysis"
HREF="c1189.html">

Building Synthetic Voices

<<< Previous	Limited domain synthesis	Next >>>

Making it better

The above walkthough is to give you a basic idea of the stages involved in
building a limited domain synthesizer. The quality of a limited domain
synthesizer will most likely be excellent in parts and very bad in
others which is typical of techniques like this. Each stage is, of
course, more complex than this and there are a number of things that can
be done to improve it.

For limited domain synthesize it should be possible to correct
the errors such that it is excellent always. To do so though requires
being able to diagnose where the problems are. The most
likely problems are listed here

Mis-labeling
Due to lipsmacks, and other reasons the labeling may not be correct.
The result may the wrong, extra or missing segments in the synthesized
utterance. Using <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>emulabel</TT
> you can check and hand correct the
labels.

Mis-spoken data
The speaker may have made a mistake in the content. This can often
happen even when the speaker is careful. Mistakes can be actual
content (it is easy to read a list of number wrongly), but also
hesitations and false starts can make the recording bad. Also note
that inconsistent prosodic variation can also affect the synthesis
quality. Re-recording can be considered for bad examples,
or you can delete them from the <TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>etc/LDOM.data</TT
> list, assuming
there is enough variation in the rest of the examples to ensure
proper coverage of the domain.

Bad pitchmarking
Automatic pitchmarking is not really automatic. It is very worthwhile
checking to see if it is correct and re-running the pitchmarking with
better parameters until it is better. (We need better documentation
here on how to know what "correct" is.)

Looking at the data
There is never a substitute for actually looking at the data. Use
<TT
CLASS="FILENAME"
>emulabel</TT
> to actually look at the recorded utterances and see what
the labeling is. Ensure these match and files haven't got out of
order. Look at a random selection not just the first example.

Improving the unit clustering The clustering techniques and the
features used here are pretty generic and by no means optimal. Even
for the simple example given here it is not very good. See the Chapter called Unit selection databases on unit selection for more discussion on
this. Adding new features for use in cluster may help a lot.

The line between limited domain synthesis and unit selection is fuzzy.
The more complex and varied the phrases you synthesize are, the more
difficult it is to produce reliable synthesis.

<<< Previous	Home	Next >>>

Telling the time	Up	Text analysis


text:
Q: How to edit hosts file via CMD? Hello I'd like to block some websites directly from the command prompt.
echo like this:
0.0.0.0 websitename.com

How can I do this? (OS: Windows 7)

A: echo 0.0.0.0 websitename.com >> %WINDIR%\System32\Drivers\Etc\Hosts
the >> appends the output of echo to the file.
Note that there are two reasons this might not work like you want it to. You may be aware of these, but I mention them just in case.
First, it won't affect a web browser, for example, that already has the current, "real" IP address resolved. So, it won't always take effect right away.
Second, it requires you to add an entry for every host name on a domain; just adding websitename.com will not block www.websitename.com, for example.

A: Use Hosts Commander. It's simple and powerful. You can download it here.
Examples of using
hosts add another.dev 192.168.1.1 # Remote host
hosts add test.local # 127.0.0.1 used by default
hosts set myhost.dev # new comment
hosts rem *.local
hosts enable local*
hosts disable localhost

...and many others...
Help
Usage:
    hosts - run hosts command interpreter
    hosts <command> <params> - execute hosts command

Commands:
    add  <host> <aliases> <addr> # <comment>   - add new host
    set  <host|mask> <addr> # <comment>        - set ip and comment for host
    rem  <host|mask>   - remove host
    on   <host|mask>   - enable host
    off  <host|mask>   - disable host
    view [all] <mask>  - display enabled and visible, or all hosts
    hide <host|mask>   - hide host from 'hosts view'
    show <host|mask>   - show host in 'hosts view'
    print      - display raw hosts file
    format     - format host rows
    clean      - format and remove all comments
    rollback   - rollback last operation
    backup     - backup hosts file
    restore    - restore hosts file from backup
    recreate   - empty hosts file
    open       - open hosts file in notepad

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Leverkusen-Rheindorf – przystanek kolejowy w Leverkusen, w kraju związkowym Nadrenia Północna-Westfalia, w Niemczech. Znajduje się tu 1 peron.

Stacje i przystanki kolejowe w Nadrenii Północnej-Westfalii
Leverkusen


text:
//
//  UITableViewCell+ZCNIB.m
//  ZCKit
//
//  Created by t_zc on 16/1/24.
//  Copyright © 2016年 t_zc. All rights reserved.
//

#import "UITableViewCell+ZCNIB.h"

@implementation UITableViewCell(ZCNIB)
/**
 *  @brief  加载同类名的nib
 *
 *  @return nib
 */
+(UINib*)nib{
    return  [UINib nibWithNibName:NSStringFromClass([self class]) bundle:nil];
}
@end


Day 4 on The Kiss Kruise: Today the Norwegian Pearl reached Grand Cayman. The guys checked out the island of course, again with King's X' Doug Pinnick in tow. The coolest part: Swimming with the stingrays! Just check out the photos!
At night, KISS played another blistering set honoring mainly their classic album "Creatures Of The Night". The Daisies show ran a little late, so that gave Doug an opportunity to take a shot with Doug, Evan Stanley (Paul's son, playing with The Dives) and Paul Stanley himself. And late hours don't stop this band from rocking! Of course, the guys did a signing afterwards until 3:45 am, but hey… the party was still raging anyway!
Click here for day 3 on the Kruise!


text:
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Alliance Homes Group
We are a community based social housing provider operating in the West of England. We currently own and manage around 6,500 homes and employ 500 staff, have an annual turnover of £43 million and work in partnership with local, regional and national agencies to deliver our services. As well as providing homes that are affordable in terms of rent and running costs, we also provide a range of care and support services to help individuals get the most out of life. Feel free to ask us any questions you may have on our Forum!
We believe that everyone, everywhere has a right to a Higher Education. It's a path that leads to both personal progress and enrichment. For some though, there are hurdles along the way – whether its geographical constraints, financial concerns, family commitments or just not quite believing you can do it. Our ambition is to make Higher Education more accessible, engaging and beneficial to people everywhere and our flexible online and full-time study programmes and supportive learning experience make us experts in online Higher Education. With Arden University you can study for Foundation, Degree, Master's and MBA programmes and when you study is up to you. We deliver Distance Learning programmes where all of your study is done online or face-to-face study in centres across the UK in London, Birmingham and Manchester, and also in Berlin, Germany. So whether you are looking for full-time or part-time study programmes, at Arden University we believe we can offer a course to suit you.
Avon and Somerset Police is a progressive and caring organisation of over 6,000 people. As the seventh largest police force in England and Wales, we serve a population of more than 1.65 million, across a large and diverse area. We police 1,855 square miles and service a diverse population of 1.65 million people and approximately 679,000 households across Bath and North East Somerset; Bristol; Mendip; North Somerset; Sedgemoor; Somerset West and Taunton; South Gloucestershire; and South Somerset Avon and Somerset Constabulary aim: - To reduce crime and make a real difference to the communities, - Provide support and reassurance to people as many will look to you for guidance and protection. - Play a vital role in the delivery of our police service and protecting the public.
Avon Wildlife Trust is the largest local charity working to protect wildlife and inspire people in the West of England. We work across the old county of Avon and cover the four local authority areas of Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset. We care for 30 nature reserves - from ancient bluebell woods to Iron Age forts, nationally important wetlands which are a haven for rare, wading birds, and wildflower meadows. Our educational and community programmes help people of all ages connect with and benefit from the natural world around them - and take action themselves to help nature's recovery. We work with landowners in the countryside across our region to reverse the decline in wildlife by creating connected living landscapes.
Babbasa
Babbasa is a youth empowerment organisation aimed at supporting young people from underrepresented backgrounds with their professional ambitions.
Bath College
Bath College is about… Developing skills Inspiring individuals Encouraging all We provide innovative training to develop skills, inspire individuals, enrich the wider community and encourage all to achieve and progress. More than 1400 courses available from entry to degree level. Providing education and training to 10,000 learners across two campuses in Bath & North East Somerset annually. The largest provider of apprenticeships in the area.
The Young Careers and Pathways team is based within the Employment, Skills and Learning department for Bristol City Council. We have the responsibility of the statutory duty for the council to ensure that all young people aged 16 - 18, and up to 25 with an EHCP. We are here to ensure that they are supported, tracked and encouraged to make positive decisions about post 16 progression routes into education, employment and training. We also have a bespoke pre 16 programme - Bristol WORKS that develops aspirational experiences of work for young people from Year 7 - 11 within school settings as part of the careers curriculum. We are active members of the good practice CEIAG network based in Bristol. For more info please contact [email protected] or check out the website on https://www.bristol.works/ We are keen to be linked with local Bristol provision as we work to ensure the future progression for Bristol's young people. If you are Bristol based and working with young people and would like to be part of our 'into learning network' that meets virtually to share opportunities for young people please contact the team on [email protected] to be added. You can find the post 16 directory for 2020 and 2021 within our resources on our profile.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is one of the most successful and well-respected conservatoire drama schools in the UK. We provide Higher Education courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students. We attract the very best talent in students and staff, and our courses are recognised nationally and internationally as a benchmark of quality in professional acting, technical, production and management training. We offer courses in Acting, Production Arts, Costume, Directing, Writing, Voice Studies, Scenic Art and Design.
Bristol Pound is currently in the process of transitioning to a new financial product, that will be called Bristol Pay. The Bristol Pound local currency was launched in 2012 and quickly became the UK's largest complementary currency. It focused on encouraging people to shop with local independent businesses, and on encouraging those businesses to localise their supply chains. We've learned a lot from running the currency for 8 years, and we feel that now is the time to address some of the wider issues we face, by operating at scale and encouraging people to engage with each other and the city's problems through a completely new sort of complementary currency or token. Bristol Pay will be an e-wallet platform for the whole city. We want to make a form of digital money that is truly accessible to everyone. We want to operate at scale so that we can channel surpluses from transaction charges back into funding social and environmental projects across the city. We want to experiment with tokens to encourage the development of the sharing economy, and to engage people with changing their lifestyles to address the issues in Bristol's One City Plan - like being a carbon neutral city by 2030. Together we can create a money system that is part of the solution in creating an economy that works for people and planet.
Bristol Rovers Community Trust
Bristol Rovers Community Trust works with a wide spectrum of the community offering social inclusion, health, education and sports participation projects to give people the opportunity of enhancing and improving their life choices. We aim to engage and inspire people of all ages as well as unite the communities in which they live. We are the charity linked to Bristol Rovers Football Club, we run and organise numerous projects across the city to engage people of all ages, backgrounds, abilities and up bringing's. We run a post 16 college courses for when students finish school. This involves enrolling onto a Level 3 BTEC in Sport whilst playing in a full time football programme representing Bristol Rovers in an EFL league against other clubs up and down the country. This course can lead onto a foundation degree with us, university in the UK or US and careers in coaching, teaching, physiotherapy and many more within the sporting industry.
The British Army protects the United Kingdom's interests at home and abroad, providing a safe and secure environment in which all British citizens can live and prosper. We offer over 76 different entry level jobs, and in each and every one of these positions are opportunities for gaining skills and qualifications. No matter what your background or experience, you can find where you belong in the British Army. We'll help you uncover strengths you didn't know you had, and you'll feel the benefits not just for your Army career but wherever your career leads afterwards.
We're here to tell you all about Early Careers at BT. But we don't want to just tell you about our programmes and application deadlines, we want to make sure you're getting a real insight into life at BT. We'll be sharing stuff from and about our trainees, apprentices, and graduates giving you a real insight into life at BT and what they're up to, and news from BT too. Here at BT, we do more than you might think. We're the UK's largest mobile network operator, as well as one of the leading Sport Pay TV broadcasters. We serve global multinational organisations with our security, cloud and networking services. We foster change and lead technology innovation. From delivering the Olympics, to supporting the emergency services, we take pride in everything we do - and in the people who work here. Guided by our core values of Personal, Simple and Brilliant our goal is to help customers, communities and businesses overcome barriers and release their potential. So, if you're interested in the power of potential, why not join us today and release yours? Find our more about us by visiting our website, or searching for BT Early Careers on Facebook and Twitter. We're also now on Instagram, @bt_careers
Building Plymouth
Building Plymouth is a council-led partnership with industry that connects local people with career opportunities in the varied world of construction and the built environment in Plymouth. With over 10,000 jobs needed in the city over the next five years, Building Plymouth aims to match employers with a highly skilled workforce to transform the city and beyond. Working with local secondary schools is one of our top priorities as we need to inspire young people to consider construction as a career of choice to fill our growing skills gap. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to working in construction. With over 180 job roles, from architects to quantity surveyors, engineers to bricklayers, demolition to landscaping, there really is a career for everyone. Regardless of whether you're thinking of an apprenticeship, training and qualifications, we can find a role where you can thrive.
Built Environment Skills in Schools
We believe in a better world. Environmentally better. Economically better. Socially better. And all those 'betters' come from the built environment - the world around us where we live, work, travel, shop and interact. Careers in the built environment have the power to change the world.
Burges Salmon
Burges Salmon is the independent UK Law Firm. Burges Salmon work across the UK and internationally. We have lawyers who are qualified to work in all three legal jurisdictions in the UK – England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Young people are the future of Burges Salmon. Its 'Working with Schools' Programme aims to break down barriers into the legal profession and improve social mobility by developing confidence, essential skills and the career aspirations of young people. We recognise that young people are the future of our business, client-base and community. The firms work experience programme, Bright Sparks is aimed at year 10 to year 12 students. Students will next be able to apply for a potential 2022 placement via the website in October/November 2021. https://www.burges-salmon.com/careers/work-experience/ Insight days - Legal and supporting Business Services Information Days – virtual events. During February half-term, on Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th February 2021, we will be hosting our two Information days to provide students who have an interest in law and the legal sector with insights into career opportunities in the profession and the supporting business services. The events will include various talks, for example from a legal trainee and both our legal and Business professionals apprentices as well as interactive group exercises and an optional advice clinic, facilitated by our HR team, on the application and recruitment process. We receive excellent feedback from students who attend these insight days and our events are always oversubscribed. Further information about these events can be found on our website https://www.burges-salmon.com/careers/school-students-information-days/
We are a world-class global practice of engineers, consultants and advisers. Through integrated thinking and a truly interdisciplinary, interconnected community of passionate experts, we create transformative outcomes for clients and communities alike. Our founder Sir Ted Happold believed that the quality of what we do really emerges out of the different skills and bodies of knowledge we have across our firm, This culture of collaboration and respect is as strong today as ever and drives us to deliver elegant solutions that leave a positive lasting legacy for the communities we work in and the environment. We value human wellbeing, embrace mutual responsibility and understand that a sustainable future is intrinsic to the economic and social impact of our work. Work with us to deliver a truly transformative future.
The Cabinet Office is the centre of government. Its Purpose is to: - Maintain the integrity of the Union - Co-ordinate the security of the realm and sustain a flourishing democracy - Support the design and implementation of HM Government's policies and the Prime Minister's priorities - Ensure the delivery of the finest public services by attracting and developing the best public servants - Improve the efficiency of government.
Cabot Learning Federation
Careerpilot
Careerpilot is a free to use website for all 11-19 year olds. Career Tools Register to get access to all of the career tools and record all of your ideas in one place. Take the skills quiz and the job quiz to find out where your strengths are and what kinds of careers might suit your interests, and values. Explore your Options Careerpilot has lots of useful information to help you explore all your options at 16 and 18 - including information about college courses, A levels, apprenticeships and university courses. Explore Jobs With 900 different job profiles on Careerpilot you can find out exactly what a job is like, the salary, working hours and what skills are involved in the job. You can also watch videos of people talking about their jobs too and look at the different routes you can take to get into the career. You can tag pages and save useful information into your tools for later. www.careerpilot.org.uk
Careers Hubs - Cornwall & Isles of
Our role is to link secondary schools and colleges in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly to local employers and help them deliver high quality careers support for students by: Building Networks: linking schools and colleges to a high calibre business volunteers (known as Enterprise Advisers) and other career providers through the Careers Hub. Supporting Careers Leaders: providing training and support for Careers Leaders in schools and colleges. Backing the Gatsby Benchmarks: supporting implementation of a best practice standard for careers support, the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks, by the end of 2020. Our team of Enterprise Coordinators work across Cornwall and Isles of Scilly to join the dots between business and education. The team match an Enterprise Adviser (EA) with one of our 40 secondary schools or colleges, to support a careers leader with the implementation of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks. The EA and Careers Leader work together to create a high quality careers plan, to increase employer engagement, embed careers into the curriculum and effectively informs students of their options.
CECA South West Foundations
The Civil Engineering Contractors' Association (CECA) is the representative organisation for the UK's civil engineering contractors. Through a nationwide network of eight operating regions and our national office in the heart of Westminster, we provide an authoritative voice for the companies who build, maintain and upgrade the nation's vital infrastructure in the key sectors of transport, energy, water, waste, and communications. With more than 300 members based across England, Scotland and Wales, we represent firms who collectively deliver 70-80% of all civil engineering construction activity in the UK. The newly-formed CECA South West Foundations Group aims to promote the civil engineering and construction industry to current and future generations and engage with other like-minded civil engineering and construction professionals, companies, organisations and groups who wish to attract young people into our industry. The CECA South West Foundations Group will advertise all its future events and activities via LikeToBe and LinkedIn.
CGI is one of the few end-to-end consulting firms with the scale, reach, capabilities and commitment to meet clients' enterprise digital transformation needs. Our 78,000 consultants and professionals work side-by-side with clients in 10 industries across more than 400 locations worldwide. We draw upon our global capabilities to help clients identify, develop, implement and operate effective strategies to meet evolving customer and citizen expectations. To help our clients succeed through outstanding quality, competence and objectivity, providing thought leadership and delivering the best services and solutions to fully satisfy client objectives in information technology, business processes and management. In all we do, we foster a culture of partnership, intrapreneurship, teamwork and integrity, building a global world class information technology and business process services company. Experience the commitment® Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest IT and business consulting services firms in the world. Operating in hundreds of locations across the globe, CGI delivers end-to-end services and solutions, including strategic IT and business consulting, systems integration, intellectual property, and managed IT and business process services.
Colas Rail
Colas Rail is one of Europe's leading suppliers of railway infrastructure services, we are award-winning specialists having constructed all forms of railways across Europe and the UK. We work on some of the continent's most high-profile projects, including the delivery of major enhancement and maintenance frameworks for Network Rail and are currently working on some incredibly exciting projects like our £400 million project to regenerate Waterloo Station. We are also delivering major schemes overseas in North Africa, Asia and North America. At Colas Rail we look outwards to our customers, seeing things from their point of view, responding to their suggestions and anticipating their needs, while being committed to delivering on our promise to them, our employees, the people we work with and our stakeholders. There are many exciting opportunities that lie ahead in creating tomorrow's railway. High-speed rail, light urban systems, high-output automated track maintenance and commercial rail freight are all areas that have become increasingly important to the UK transport industry. The continual maintenance and upgrading of the UK's rail network remains a task that we are fully committed to and one in which we are increasingly leading the field. Thinking, investing and operating at the forefront of the industry trends ensures we have the capabilities to meet the future demands of our customers. Our 100% commitment to safety and the environment is evident by the leadership from management and a behavioural safety culture that is integral to everything we do. We build open relationships with customers, suppliers and partners and communication is encouraged at all levels to generate new ideas and the unique Colas Rail team spirit. All this is achieved through our greatest asset, our people, so that together we will play a leading role in providing 21st century railway systems.


MLS # 1528477 | Listed by RE/MAX Executive Group, Inc.
500 Maryland Ct is a $199,999, 1,669 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2.0 bath home on a 0.33 acre lot located in Elizabethtown, KY.
Come and tour this very well maintained ranch on a large corner lot located in the Etown City School district!! This beautiful home features 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, eat-in-kitchen with appliances and pantry, large living room/dining room combo, beautiful hardwood flooring, ceiling fans, blinds, all bedrooms are good sized, master has walk-in-closet, amazing sunroom with fireplace and ceiling fan, covered front porch, 2 car garage, concrete drive, deck, wheelchair ramp, pristine landscaping, mature trees and more all just minutes to everything!! Take a tour of this wonderful home today!!
I am interested in 500 Maryland Ct, Elizabethtown, KY 42701.


Maltese Cross Decal with "Racing to the Scene"
Size 2"H Reflective 3"h Reflective 4"h Reflective 6"h Reflective 12"h Reflective 16"h Reflective 24"h Reflective 28"h Reflective 12"h "View Thru"
Only at Weston Signs Inc. can you find these original unique Firefighter decals. Reflective graphics for your helmet, vehicle, equipment or your trucks. These look great. Not only are they reflective but our special translucent outdoor reflective ink process allows each color to reflect when light hits them. We also have an option for this item for a 12" sized "View Thru" which can be installed on windows and will still allow you to see out. A great option for the back windows of your ambulance. For custom sizing just contact us. We can also do lettering to match as well as other graphics and stripes to complete the entire job and make your rig really stand out.


A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of returns to investors from funds contributed to the scheme by new investors. There is often little or no legitimate investing occurring or profits being made. Fraudsters often solicit new investors by promising high returns with little or no risk, a red flag that is often over looked by investors. Because it can be hard to say no to someone you trust when the opportunity sounds so promising.
With little or no legitimate earnings, Ponzi schemes require a constant influx of money from new investors to continue to operate the scam. This is way the Ponzi scheme always collapse at some point. This happens when it is difficult to recruit new investors or when a large number of investors request their principle investment back. At that point the investors usually become aware that something is wrong. Their return checks might start to bounce or they cannot get in touch with the Ponzi scheme promoter any longer.
With the rise of Ponzi schemes in recent history, the terms Ponzi scheme and Pyramid scheme are often used interchangeably. There is a difference between the two, however. In a classic Pyramid scheme you generally pay into an offer that claims you can make money for yourself by recruiting more people into the scheme. The people you recruit will then pay their portion to you and so on. In a Ponzi scheme, although the structure seems very similar, you aren't usually required to do any more work than just handing over your money to be invested. This is part of what makes the Ponzi scheme so effective. You usually aren't told of the need for the additional recruits to keep the scam rolling. The Ponzi schemer takes your money and promises to do all the work for you. And they're often long gone before you realize what's happening.
The securities fraud lawyers at Meyer Wilson devote their practice to representing investors who have claims against stockbrokers, financial advisors, and their brokerage firms. We have represented hundreds of individuals in cases where their broker recommended they invest in what turned out to be Ponzi schemes. Meyer Wilson encourages you to explore this website and learn more about securities fraud and the process of recovering investment losses. If you would like to learn more about how the firm may be able to help you recover your losses please call us directly at the toll free number or submit the online form.
David Meyer has published an article on the aftermath of a Ponzi scheme for the American Bar Association. You can read the article here.


The winter storm in the Eastern United States might make it difficult or inadvisable for many to leave their homes this weekend. But instead of viewing this as a snowtastrophe, let's think of it as an opportunity to finally catch up on movies and TV. Here's a list of some worthy streaming video options, organized into four categories. Consider watching any or all of these, preferably while nestled under a warm blanket with the heat cranked up to 11.
This year's Academy Award nominations have been criticized for ignoring black actors, films about minorities and the work of female directors. This documentary about the high priestess of soul, directed by Liz Garbus, is one of the few examples of the Oscars being neither too white nor male.
Through a combination of home videos and other archival footage, the director Asif Kapadia creates a moving portrait of Amy Winehouse that illuminates how talented she was before fame and addiction intervened.
In "The Act of Killing" (2012), some of the perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide are forced to revisit their crimes, resulting in reactions that range from the detached to the remorseful. In "The Look of Silence," the filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer enables the brother of one of the victims to confront the men who took his sibling's life; their reactions are, once again, difficult to unsee.
There are many reasons to fly through the first eight episodes of this CW comedy before its first season picks up again on Monday. One is its delightful star and co-creator, Rachel Bloom, who won a Golden Globe for her ability to make zany flakiness look so smart. Another reason is that it's the only show on TV that features musical numbers about eyebrow tweezing, Spanx and the injustice of living in a patriarchal society.
It's a little weird that asking how to get to Sesame Street now leads us to HBO. But the good news is that HBO Now and HBO Go provide access to the newest episodes of the educational favorite, as well as a treasure trove of older Cookie Monster munch-a-thons.
For some reason, relatively few people in the United States saw this utterly delightful (Academy Award nominated) stop-motion adventure when it was released in theaters last year. Use this snowy weekend to rectify that oversight, please.
This Cartoon Network series — which sets the middle-school shenanigans of the cartoon cat Gumball and his adopted brother, a fish named Darwin, against live-action backgrounds — is weird, occasionally trippy and so funny, you'll secretly watch even when the kids aren't around. Currently in its fourth season, the first three can be viewed in their entirety on Hulu.
Last winter, we were all talking about another gripping TV series — Andrew Jarecki's disturbing portrait of the wealthy, confounding and seemingly homicidal Robert Durst, who was arrested in connection with a first-degree murder hours before the final episode aired. That finale is unforgettable, both for its shocking confession and the way it forever links uncontrollable burping with repressed guilt.
Before "Making a Murderer" or the podcast Serial, there was this 2004 eight-part docuseries, recently resurrected on the Sundance Channel, about a crime novelist accused of murdering his own wife. Expect twists, turns and a nagging sense of ambiguity.


If you are encountering weird problems using your cell phone Sony Xperia M5, you have tried many thing but it is still unstable?
Then you shall try to change the default carrier mobile network type from default LTE to WCDMA.
This has fixed my issue, so maybe can solve yours too.
Sony Xperia M5 telefonunuzda garip kablosuz ağ veya mobil sinyal çekmeme problemleri yaşıyorsanız, varsayılan mobil ağınızı LTE den WCDMA ya değiştirmeyi denemelisiniz.
2-write down your windows 10 activation key using produkey freeware.
3.5- at this moment, ensure that you have backed up the files you need.
6-on bios screen select UEFI: USB option to load it up.
7-Install windows 10 by using special installation, delete and format the drives you want to install.
8-if you follow all the steps above installation will successfully end.
9-at asus support page download SOC drivers for windows 8.1 (!) and install it. Windows 10 driver don't have it, so touchscreen won't work! Then install other windows 10 drivers respectively.
10-It may ask you to activate your windows license. Use your activation key if it asks.
Make a Christmas & New Year E-Card with Santa Frame , free windows application.


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Perfect Daily Grind > Farming > The Reality of Producing Specialty Coffee on Tiny Farms
The Reality of Producing Specialty Coffee on Tiny Farms
Imagine owning a farm so small that you cannot receive practical help – even though, with the low profit margins and high costs of coffee production, you probably need it even more than bigger plantations.
For many producers around the world, this is their reality.
In fact, I'm one of those producers – I like to call us "microscopic coffee farmers." I'm a 60-year-old Canadian but I've lived almost half my life in Panama, where I now own a small farm. And I've been working with neighboring farmers to improve our situation through access to the specialty market. Read on to discover a microscopic farmer's perspective of our challenges, and how we're trying to overcome them.
Learn more! Read about The Main Challenges Faced by Coffee Producers
Ripe coffee cherries in a basket. Credit: Finca de Dios
The Two Faces of Panama Coffee
Panama may be famous for its exquisite Geisha coffee, but in the isolated region of Barreta, Coclé, things look very different.
Most exported specialty-grade coffee comes from Chiriquí, with its well-established farmlands, tall mountains, and cloud forests. It's here that you'll find the big names within Panama's coffee industry: Hacienda La Esmeralda, for example, which brought Geisha to the world's attention and just last year sold a lot for US $601/lb in auction.
Learn more! Read Panama Geisha – The Reality of a Fantasy Bean
In Chiriquí, many farms are thirty to fifty hectares in size but, of course, you will also find smallholder farmers. Farms usually start at around five hectares in size; even at ten hectares in size, they can be considered small.
Many of these small farms are family-owned, passed down from generation to generation. The coffee trees are often wonderful to look at; the producers are a credit to all coffee farmers. Some of them have been producing fantastic coffee for over 100 years.
Despite that, due to their small size, they may struggle to grow enough coffee to compete on their own, nationally or internationally.
Yet here in Barreta, it's even harder. Farms aren't small; they're microscopic. The average producer owns one to three hectares, and most of this land doesn't produce anything. The largest farms are no more than eight hectares, with perhaps just 50% of that used for growing coffee.
In my work here in Barreta, I partner with a Panamanian named Alvaro. At the time of our project's beginning, his average annual income was just US $400 – less than US $35 a month. And while I cannot find any official data on this, Alvaro tells me that many others didn't earn as much as him.
Coffee flowers. Credit: Bird Friendly Coffee
Poor Prices, Low Investment: A Spiralling Situation
Much of Barreta's coffee has historically gone to large national coffee companies who would combine lots from multiple farms and then sell them on. The result of this is extremely low coffee prices; before I arrived, I'm told it was only US $1/lb in the region.
And remember, the people in Barreta are not producing much coffee. They still have all the farm expenses, but without any hope of profiting. Many producers couldn't afford to maintain their farm, so had to let them go. The area produced less and less each year. And in turn, the farmers earned less and less, creating a downwards spiral.
Coffee leaf rust, a fungus that infects the leaves of coffee trees and slowly destroys them, became a huge problem. I would say that, in our area, it wiped out about 90% of the plants.
A farm slowly dies as a result of coffee leaf rust. Credit: Damian Reed
The people here live in extreme poverty. The area is isolated with poor infrastructure. The only road in and out has been badly neglected. It's been four years since a road grader last passed over it.
Read more! How Poor Roads Cause Problems for Papua New Guinea's Coffee
A medical team comes to the area once every two months. We've had babies die because their families couldn't get them to the hospital on time. I know one family whose ten-year-old boy was bitten by a poisonous viper and didn't get to the hospital until three days later. Fortunately, he recuperated well. My partner's wife gave birth to their son at the coffee mill, with no one present except for my partner and her. Happily, their son was a healthy bouncing baby boy who loves coffee.
Alvaro and his son Alex on the coffee farm. Credit: Damian Reed
The 7 Biggest Challenges Facing Microscopic Farmers
When Alvaro and I started working together, we realised that we had seven main challenges to overcome:
1. The Quality Challenge
Our goal, since 2008, has been to convert Barreta into a specialty coffee region. Not everyone believed it was possible. I reached out to other producers in other regions, including those from The Best of Panama auction and awards. Yet some of the people I spoke to felt that my goals weren't possible, not here in Barreta. Only Chiriquí, I heard again and again, could produce specialty-grade coffee. Fortunately, we were able to prove this myth wrong.
2. The Farmland Challenge
I would say that the average farm here produces coffee on approximately 50% of its land. Producers need to help their plants recuperate, both in terms of health and number. However, all this costs money. A farmer who has an average income of US $400 a year doesn't have much spare for farm investment. On top of that, it takes years for plants to produce at maximum yield.
A basket full of coffee cherries.
3. The Training Challenge
Although many local producers have worked their whole lives in coffee, they haven't been trained in the most up-to-date and recommended farming methods. Information has been hard to access. However, the US-run volunteer programme Peace Corps and government initiatives have helped local producers to learn about best practices.
In our case, we arranged for Alvaro, my partner, to receive training in Costa Rica. We also hired consultants to come and inspect the farms and impart instruction. Now, Alvaro passes on his training to everyone who is willing to learn. We strive to teach by example.
4. The Trust Challenge
There is little local trust in initiatives and companies. People feel that government initiatives have been too short-term and ineffective. The low prices offered by commodity buyers have left producers disillusioned.
5. The Marketing & Sales Challenge
This is perhaps the most difficult challenge of all. If the producer cannot sell their coffee at a sustainable price, everything else is for nothing. Yet many organizations and government agencies fail to mention marketing.
As for sales, when operating on such a small scale, we need to be creative. I do not believe that producers with land as tiny as ours can profit when selling green coffee or even roasted coffee in supermarkets. The most feasible method of making a sustainable income is to sell by the cup – but that takes serious planning and investment.
Coffee cherries ripen on the branch. Credit: Carmen Estate Coffee
6. The Infrastructure Challenge
Specialty-grade coffee requires proper procedures, especially during processing. When it comes to building a good mill, you need to find the right piece of land, construct the building, get the equipment, obtain the permits, and train employees. For microscopic farmers, these are hard to afford.
Similarly, there's the issue of good roads. Even once you have a mill, some farms can be as far as a two-hour walk away from it. Many farmers carry sacks of soaking wet coffee beans on their backs in the mud and rain across the mountains after harvesting coffee all day. This is not how you produce good-quality coffee and it's certainly not how you produce sustainable coffee or a good quality of life.
7. The Organizational Challenge
One of the first things we tried to do was create a cooperative. A good cooperative can solve a lot of problems: producers can band together to create mills, market their coffee, and negotiate prices. Unfortunately, our attempts didn't succeed. Like any team or group, running a cooperative is hard work and relies on the cooperation and shared goals of all members.
Washed coffee beans dry slowly on raised beds.
What Does The Future Hold for Barreta?
Microscopic farmers like myself can produce an exceptional product – but we often need support or the right resources to do so.
Barreta is proof of that. Alvaro and I have seen great progress: our coffee has been Q-graded at 85.5, 86, and 87 points for the past three years, respectively. Producing specialty-grade coffee on an extremely small farm is possible.
Q grader results on one of Damian and Alvaro's lots; the overall score was 86.
The only challenge is making it profitable. Our marketing strategies are varied. We sell our coffee in packages at fairs and through friends in different towns and in restaurants. We also sell it by the cup in vending machines. In this way, we're gaining recognition for our product.
We don't yet earn viable wages, but we are able to maintain our farms. As quality continues to grow, as we can invest more in infrastructure, and as we find new ways to market and sell our coffee, we hope to see this improve.
We constantly strive to find an opportunity to market our products effectively. And at the very least, we get to drink great coffee.
Many organizations do wonderful work helping smallholder farmers earn a better living. But we mustn't overlook the producers who are even smaller and whose challenges are even harder.
Liked this article? You might also enjoy The Complicated Role of Money in Specialty Coffee
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Damian Reed
Damian is a contributor based in Panama
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Looking for a fun alternative style to the traditional bookcase. Then check out my DIY Honeycomb Bookcase. Here is everything you need get started.
1. Measure the wood to the size you would like. The best way to measure is to start in the middle to see how deep you would like to go. We are starting with the middle section at 15″ deep. The sides are 12″ deep.
2. Measure twelve inches in the middle and 38 inches long.
3. From these measurements, make an arc and connected it with pencil.
4. Measure the middle of the 38″ to create the notches that will connect the pieces together.
5. Measure 6″ in, then cut out a notch for the 3/4″ other board.
6. Using a jigsaw, cut out the large form and the notches.
have some splintering that you need to sand down to make smooth.
another small piece of wood and apply it to the notches.
9. Put your structure together like a puzzle piece. Use a rubber mallet if it gets a bit tight.
it right away, put a few nails at the notches to hold them in place until the glue dries.