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Home/CEO Blog Nation/15 Entrepreneurs Explain How They Came Up With Their Business Name
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15 Entrepreneurs Explain How They Came Up With Their Business Name
The idea of exactly what your business is going to be usually comes first. Secondly, most often, is giving a title to your idea. What exactly is going to be the name of your business? Some people turn to their childhood for inspiration or a beloved family pet. It could be a made up word you dream of one night and feel it has the right ring to it. Even still there are some people who study foreign words for the perfect meaning behind their chosen business. Whatever the inspiration or relation may be, the naming of your business is one of the most important parts of becoming a CEO. Having a brand behind a strong title can make all the difference in the world.
#1 – Finding a Domain
Photo Credit: Aalap Shah
Our name came from very humble origins. About 5 years ago, my business partner and I were debating on whether to spend $2,250 for a branded domain from an online domain brokerage and had fallen in love with a techy name for our marketing firm. We thought it'd be really neat to have a techy name and something that was made-up vs. using our last names for our agency. As I was about to fill in the credit card information, my partner mentioned how we were working on social media and that it'd be interesting if we just took the so from social and the me from media to create our company. We both thought it was an awesome idea and it was free – but, of course, some.com was taken by aband in Australia. Because it was already taken we decided the next best option was to add connect in it –> as we would use social media to connect our brands and fans together. Thus, our company, SoMe Connect was born.
Thanks to Aalap Shah, SoMe Connect
#2 – Being Friendly
As an insurance agent, it's not imperative but crucial to understand that it's not the company you write for that attracts new business but it's you. The client buys you for whatever your value added proposition is. For me, I happen to write for an insurance company that is over 100+ years, however the brand is neither great or bad; it's just good. In fact, very few have heard of them. So since it's me that the client buys, who exactly is me? Since I was a kid, my friends always made fun of me because I spoke to everyone. Didn't matter who you were or how old you were, I always found a reason to strike up a conversation. I purchased my first home back in 1995 and it was obvious that most on our street were also first-time buyers. Not knowing anyone's name I naturally waved to everyone that walked or drove by. After a while people were asking who I was and at that point not knowing my name, people referred to me as The Friendly Guy. 21 years later, I needed to take a look at my brand. It was then I was reminded I have always been a friendly guy. June 2016 Friendly Guy Insurance was rolled out and it is now my logo and is used for all of my marketing campaigns.
Thanks to James Freeman, Friendly Guy Insurance
#3 – Finding Passion
Photo Credit: Sam Kerns
I chose to call my business RainMaker Press because it's my passion to teach people how to quit the rat race and build a life based on their dreams and passions. I've been in business for myself for more than twenty years, and now I write books that teach others to do the same. Anyone can become a rainmaker in their own life. All it takes is passion, knowledge and guidance. At the root of every success story is someone who decided to stop working for others, and instead begin building their own dreams. My business name represents my passion–to teach others how to become rainmakers in their own life.
Thanks to Sam Kerns, RainMaker Press
#4 – Not Emo
Photo Credit: Erin Morris
My original business name was Emo Studios, which was a disaster. I am not an emo designer. Emo was my nickname, I thought it was cute. When I decided to get serious about freelancing and turn that into a legit small business, I knew the first thing I needed to do was rebrand my business. I chose Evergreen Design Studio after a lot of brainstorming around what excited me, what type of people I wanted to work with, and what type of values my company represents. I did a lot of research into my target client's lifestyle, likes, dislikes, habits. I did a lot of soul searching about what inspired me. The one common thread throughout was nature. Evergreen represents that and also conveys the values of freshness, honesty, and quality – Evergreen's designs are strong and withstand the test of time.
Thanks to Erin Morris, Evergreen Design Studio
#5 – Making Up Words
Photo Credit: Shireen Jaffer
We wanted our name to reflect our mission, and we also wanted it to resonate with our young student audience. That meant it had to be cool! We made a list of all the words that resonated with our mission, and started experimenting by putting two words together and seeing if the made-up word resonated. Since we focus on skill-building, skills was a keyword. We also empower students to develop a variety of skills, and to develop skills outside of those learned at school, so diversify was also a word. We put the two together and came up with Skillify!
Thanks to Shireen Jaffer, Skillify
#6 – Horse Withers
Photo Credit: Andrea Hall
I started this new equine coaching business about a year ago and was on the quest for a business name that incorporated what I did and of course resonated with me. I finally settled on Withers Whisper, LLC. The withers on the horse is the first place a mother grabs and nuzzles the foul. It ensures safety and security. My business does both for the clients I am working with. My niche is lawyers, people who have been involved in the legal system and couples wanting to work on their relationships. Horses are so clairsentent, spiritual and energy healers that the whisper of the horse is magical and all knowing. The horses are the best lie detectors on earth. When people leave after a session they will forever be changed. The whisper of the horse echoes the spirit of the soul.
Thanks to Andrea Hall, Withers Whisper, LLC
#7 – Based on History
We chose our business name, Bavarian Clockworks, based on the history of our product. The original cuckoo clock was created in the 17th century in the Black Forest region of Bavaria, Germany. Craftsmen in the area used logs from the local forest to carve elaborate clocks. Our company name is designed to preserve this rich tradition and provide reference to the birthplace of our industry.
Thanks to Bob Ellis, Bavarian Clockworks
#8 – A Higher Standard
Photo Credit: Lynette Smith
In 2003 I selected and filed on the name All My Best for my copyediting business, a sole proprietorship, in order to hold myself to a higher standard and to imply a promise of high quality to my prospective clients. At that time, I selected, as my business subtitle, Business and Nonfiction Copyediting. Seven years later, I wrote and indie-published the comprehensive reference book, How to Write Heartfelt Letters to Treasure: For Special Occasions and Occasions Made Special, and I changed my business subtitle to Copyediting and Heartfelt Publishing. Happily, All My Best also implied the complimentary close for a personal or business letter, so the name adapted well. My tagline for this new iteration is Building Results, Respect, and Relationships, which also works well for both aspects of my business.
Thanks to Lynette Smith, All My Best
#9 – A Perfect Metaphor
Photo Credit: Heath Fradkoff
I've always thought the location a perfect metaphor. For more than two hundred years this been the place where goods come ashore and finally reach the consumers for whom they were created. That's also what effective marketing does: it helps creators find safe harbor and deliver their crafts to the waiting public. Ward 6 Marketing was developed to help makers in technology, media, and creative fields traverse a sea of competition and land solidly with target customers.
Thanks to Heath Fradkoff, Ward 6 Marketing
#10 – Norse Mythology
Photo Credit: Armando Gonzalez
At RavenPack, we scour the world for information to give our clients an advantage. We lead our clients to untapped sources of value. In Norse legend, the god Odin was attended by two ravens: Huginn and Muninn. Huginn represented thought and Muninn represented memory. The two ravens would scour the world for information each day, returning to tell Odin what they had learned. Hence Odin would possess superior levels of knowledge or information about the world. Hence the name RavenPack – a 'pack of ravens' scouring the world's leading information sources to give leading financial institutions an edge. Our logo too is meant to depict a pack of ravens in abstract form. But the symbology doesn't end with Norse mythology. Ravens are also widely thought to be the most intelligent of birds, often leading hunters to their prey in return for a share of the spoils. For example, in Yellowstone National Park, they have been observed leading wolves to prey. In turn the wolves don't object to the ravens having a share. To form this bond of trust they are seen playing with wolf cubs. In the Arctic, meanwhile, they are known to have led Inuit hunting parties to their prey. In return, the hunters offered some choice cuts for the birds.
Thanks to Armando Gonzalez, RavenPack
#11 – Wisdom and Learning
Photo Credit: Mari Anne Snow
When I first started as an entrepreneur in 2009, I was pretty scared. It was the depths of the recession and a tough time to get a business off the ground so I wanted a name that meant something to me personally yet represented us well to our clients. Sophia is the Greek word for wisdom. My first business, SophiaThink, is all about wise thinking and sound problem solving. Sophaya is a derivation of SophiaThink…it's the phonetic spelling of Sophia so we carried forward the wisdom and learning from my first business, SophiaThink, to my second, Sophaya. I'm very proud of both my businesses and I love, love, love the names and when people ask me about them, I love telling the story.
Thanks to Mari Anne Snow, Sophaya
#12 – Perfect Description
One of the most difficult and time consuming decisions we had to make as a startup was to select a company name that would reflect our product and brand. After many different possibilities, we decided on Lifestone since our device could be lifesaving, was small, pocket-sized, and looked like a small stone. It's also a very simple name to remember. In hindsight, I think we picked the perfect name to reflect our wellness product.
Thanks to Anlynn Liu, Lifestone
#13 – Power of Subconscious
Photo Credit: Daniel Lofaso
Before doing logical planning on availability of a business name and an associated domain, I actually would go to bed thinking of what a good digital marketing company business name would be. It's amazing the power of your subconscious when you let it flow. I knew I wanted something relevant to digital marketing, but not so generic that it would be really boring. I also wanted something that didn't have my name in it in the event I wanted to sell my company in the future. After I woke I up with some great ideas, I practiced what I preached to my marketing clients. First, I did my research to find out if my name was already taken by other businesses, researched domains, checked copyright documents, and perused social media to ensure I could get my brand name all across the digital web the way I wanted it to appear. Then, I Googled my potential business name to determine the context of it and to ensure it wasn't so generic that I could never rank for specific searches of it. The Digital Elevator was born from this process.
Thanks to Daniel Lofaso, The Digital Elevator
#14 – Regional History
Photo Credit: John Knolle
In the Wealth Management and Financial Planning world, it's easy to simply use your surname as the name of your company. However, when it comes time to sell the company it could be a detriment, since the namesake advisor will no longer be associated with the firm. This change can lead to an expensive and often times confusing rebranding. Aware of this concern, I steered clear of my own name as well as the boring top of the mountain names commonly found in this field like, Summit or Pinnacle. I chose my name for its uniqueness to the area, its history within the region, and the simplicity of its spelling. The name, Saranap dates back over 100 years when a commuter train cut across California, connecting Oakland to Sacramento. My practice is based in Walnut Creek where the local station, Saranap, was named for the railway developer's mother, Sara Napthaly. The station is no longer in existence as the railway was replaced by paved roads and automobiles but the geographic region still bears the name.
Thanks to John Knolle, Saranap Wealth Advisors, LLC
#15 – My First Red Shoes
Photo Credit: Lisa Cruz
As a small business startup back in 2008, we knew we needed a name that stood out, to differentiate ourselves. The name also had to represent confidence (because in 2008 there wasn't a lot of that going around). While we bantered around names for a few weeks, nothing felt right. Eventually we landed on Red Shoes PR. This name came from the first pair of red shoes I bought in 2006. I was heading to a wedding but didn't have shoes to wear with my dress. My cousin brought me shoe shopping and told me I needed to buy a pair of red, strappy shoes. Thereafter, anytime I wore these red shoes people commented on them. The name represents what we do for our clients, through PR, to get people talking about their brand. Eight and a half years later, the brand is stronger than ever. Every employee is required to wear red shoes every day. The first benefit we offered employees was a quarterly shoe allowance to purchase red shoes. People love the brand. It's not uncommon for job seekers, clients and colleagues to show up in red shoes. Today, red shoes represent even more than what we anticipated. It represents strong, confident women who lean in every single day, in many different ways, big and small.
Thanks to Lisa Cruz, Red Shoes PR
business name ideas inspiration storytelling
This is a post from a CEO Blog Nation writer. CEO Blog Nation is a community of blogs for entrepreneurs and business owners. Started in much the same way as most small businesses, CEO Blog Nation captures the essence of entrepreneurship by allowing entrepreneurs and business owners to have a voice. CEO Blog Nation provides news, information, events and even startup business tips for entrepreneurs, startups and business owners to succeed.
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"Throw the damn books out the window and tune into your children. You can fix it."
Social media, parenting books, and, well, Google — they're all at the modern day parent's disposal.
When a new parent has a question or they need advice, they turn to the Internet, full of other parents, experts and doctors, for help.
But this form of modern day parenting, one that sees blogs, books and Facebook leading the way in guiding new parents and offering endless advice, can be incredibly overwhelming. Mothers and fathers are left wondering what advice they should take or leave from all these resources.
In an interview with "Cityline," parenting expert Nanny Robina said today's parents are overparenting.
"First time mom who read[s] so many parenting books, she's doubting herself," Nanny Robina said. "They forget to follow their gut instinct. They automatically switch off when the help is coming from somewhere else."
And it's true. Today's parents are over-analyzing their personal techniques and asking if their parenting is good enough. From mommy groups to online forums, parents are often left feeling judged for what they take from and give to their child.
"Throw the damn books out the window and tune into your children," Nanny Robina says. Parents tend to Google everything today, and that isn't always the healthiest option.
"Learn to tune into your child and baby. Put down your device," Nanny Robina recommends, saying our parents were not dependent on using technology when raising us. In that respect, modern day parents can actually learn a lot from their parents. Look at the way you were raised and tweak it into a parenting style you feel most confident in pursuing. Instead of following steps, follow what is right for you and your child.
"If you are giving your baby the very best you can do, that is the very best parenting," Nanny Robina says. "You will learn from your mistakes. It's trial and error. Learning what works and what doesn't work will make you a great parent."


The Areco ERP meets the particular segment, from inventory control, with two units of measure until the billing process, in line with the weighing items.
1. Register specification alloys and dimensions, profiles and aluminum products and other metals with the possibility to insert drawings/sketches.
2. Dynamic business process, with the creation of new products demanded by customers, already automating the entire process chain.
3. Automatic correction of price / weight end products, appropriate invoices input and output.
4. Control stocks selected unit of measurement (unit alkyl or underground) and at the same time, the theoretical weight.
5. Facilitating triangular sale process with automatic generation client note and third.
Generate autonomy so that customers can reprint slips still open, capture XMLs and Danfes, recording date, time, IP connection and browser used in the operation.
Simplifies cash operations with the use of special keyboards, optical readers, fiscal coupon issuers and pin-pads. With all the data already registered in the ERP system, you can integrate processes and generate complete control reports.


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Dr. Eric Nelson
Dr. Eric Nelson has consulted to individuals, organizations, and the legal system for over 25 years. Recognizing the power of behavioral science to enhance personal and organizational effectiveness, Eric remains constantly committed to identifying and implementing cutting-edge strategies for assessment and intervention. He specializes in leadership development, succession planning, executive coaching, and mitigation of derailment risk. He motivates leaders to hone the strategic self-awareness, interpersonal skill, and courage that lead to peak performance.
Who Is Dr. Eric Nelson?
It is almost axiomatic that people drive success in the increasingly competitive global marketplace. Eric's corporate work is all about people. As a Senior International Consultant for Hogan Assessment Systems, he implemented highly respected measures of personality predictors of workplace success with corporate clients through North America and Europe. More recently, Eric joined a team of other organizational specialists to develop an empirically based talent management model for a major telecom company in Saudi Arabia. Carefully crafted assessment of personality, emotional intelligence, and personal values can help identify where in an organization a high-potential employee might be the most effective, which leaders or individual contributors might best be considered part of a company's succession plan, which of several external applicants for a high-level position fit within the company's organizational culture, and multiple similar questions.
For individuals struggling in their current position, assessment can also pinpoint sources of potential derailment and suggest directions for effective coaching toward enhanced performance. Eric offers considerable experience in helping both individual contributors and organizational leaders become more effective in their personal self-awareness, interpersonal and managerial skills, communication styles, and authenticity. Keenly aware of the multiple factors contributing to successful leadership—and scientifically sound strategies for effecting change—Eric assists managers and executives identify "blind spots" and engage their own capacity for more effective performance.
Derived from career experiences ranging from individual interventions for teenagers and adults to coaching leaders at the highest levels of organizations, Eric can identify and implement the most useful, scientifically sound strategies for resolving personal and organizational problems. He has been a licensed psychologist for over two decades and is a member of the American Psychological Association's Division of Consulting Psychology. In addition to his organizational work, Eric frequently consults to attorneys and the courts regarding issues related to behavioral science and the law, and he has been a frequent speaker on ethics and other professional issues. Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Eric enjoys travel, hiking near his mountain cabin in Colorado, skiing, and frequent "game nights" with family and friends. His son is currently completing his doctoral degree in composition in New York City and is considered to be on the cutting edge of contemporary electro-acoustic music.
Dr. Jay Ferraro
Dr. Carol Dillard
Dr. Debra Condren
Dr. Brian Epperson
Tamara Lebak
David Leifeste
Dr. Leslie Masters
Joe Schweitzer, MBA, US Navy
Copyright 2014 Mastery Technologies. All Rights Reserved.
by Hampton Creative

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Spider-Man 4 Would Have Featured These Two Classic Villains
Jun. 1. 2016 4:39 PM
Sam Raimi's run on the Spider-Man series that included Tobey Maguire in the title role largely is deemed a success – even though everyone considers Spider-Man 3 a disappointment. The mistakes of that final movie don't erase the goodwill that Raimi established with his first two Spider-Man films, and the director ALMOST got a chance to redeem himself with a Spider-Man 4 that, alas, was not meant to be. Want to know who Spidey would have fought in that movie? Get ready for Vulture and Mysterio.
Sam Raimi made it known over the course of his time on Sony's three Spider-Man movies that he preferred Web Head's classic rogue's gallery, which is why he leaned on villains such as The Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. For Spider-Man 3, the studio reportedly pushed Raimi to include Venom, even though he didn't care for the villain and didn't really want him included. Now, illustrator and writer Jeffrey Henderson is posting concept art for the planned Spider-Man 4, and showing off what Vulture and Mysterio might have looked like as villains in the piece. You can see Vulture here:
And Mysterio here:
Henderson defers to his friend and collaborator Sam Raimi, who he says hates to share storyboards from pictures. The two worked on Spider-Man 3, the unused 4, and Oz, the Great and Powerful. But of Spider-Man 4, Henderson states:
It would've been one absolutely kick ass movie. Seriously. We were working on some crazy- cool stuff, because everyone, from top to bottom, felt that Spidey 3 was a bit of a 'missed opportunity', and we all really wanted to help Sam take SM4 to another level so he could end the series on a high note.
But Spider-Man 3 killed off any momentum. And it wasn't just the inclusion of Venom (though casting Topher Grace as Eddie Brock was… a bad decision). Sandman wasn't handled well in Spider-Man 3. Making him Uncle Ben's killer rewrites Spider-Man's legacy, so the mishandling of key characters like Gwen, Eddie, Harry Osborn and more was just icing on a terrible-tasting cake.
We don't get to see much of Mysterio in action in the concept art. We see Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) bringing the master illusionist to justice, turning him over to the police as people cheer. The Vulture is prominent in more action set pieces, including one with a helicopter that might have been very cool.
There still might be hope for some of these designs to contribute to a great Spider-Man movie. Rumors now state that Vulture will be the main villain of Spider-Man: Homecoming, the first movie made by Marvel and Sony together. Could you see Michael Keaton in that role?
news Spider-Man 3: Here's When And Where Tom Holland's Movie Will Film
news Spider-Man Fans Think Morbius Is Leading To The Sinister Six
news Morbius Contains An Unexpected Spider-Man Easter Egg
news Wow, Morbius Has A Surprise Connection To Marvel's Spider-Man Movies
2020 Winter And Spring TV Schedule: Premiere Dates For Network, Cable And Streaming Shows television


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package org.apache.servicecomb.metrics.core.publish.model.invocation;

import java.util.HashMap;

import javax.ws.rs.core.Response.Status;

import org.apache.servicecomb.foundation.metrics.publish.spectator.MeasurementNode;
import org.apache.servicecomb.metrics.core.meter.invocation.MeterInvocationConst;
import org.apache.servicecomb.metrics.core.publish.PublishUtils;

import com.netflix.spectator.api.DefaultRegistry;
import com.netflix.spectator.api.Id;
import com.netflix.spectator.api.Measurement;
import com.netflix.spectator.api.Registry;
import com.netflix.spectator.api.Statistic;

public class Utils {
  static Registry registry = new DefaultRegistry();

  public static MeasurementNode totalStageNode = Utils.createStageNode(MeterInvocationConst.STAGE_TOTAL, 10, 10, 100);

  public static MeasurementNode executeStageNode =
      Utils.createStageNode(MeterInvocationConst.STAGE_EXECUTION, 10, 10, 100);

  public static MeasurementNode createStageNode(String stage,
      double count,
      double totalTime,
      double max) {
    Id id = registry.createId("id").withTag(Statistic.count);
    Measurement countMeasurement = new Measurement(id.withTag(Statistic.count), 0, count);
    Measurement totalTimeMeasurement = new Measurement(id.withTag(Statistic.totalTime), 0, totalTime);
    Measurement maxMeasurement = new Measurement(id.withTag(Statistic.max), 0, max);

    MeasurementNode stageNode = new MeasurementNode(stage, null);
    stageNode.addChild(Statistic.count.name(), countMeasurement);
    stageNode.addChild(Statistic.totalTime.name(), totalTimeMeasurement);
    stageNode.addChild(Statistic.max.name(), maxMeasurement);

    return stageNode;
  }

  public static MeasurementNode createStatusNode(String status, MeasurementNode... stageNodes) {
    MeasurementNode statusNode = new MeasurementNode(status, new HashMap<>());

    for (MeasurementNode stageNode : stageNodes) {
      statusNode.getChildren().put(stageNode.getName(), stageNode);
    }
    return statusNode;
  }

  public static OperationPerf createOperationPerf(String op) {
    MeasurementNode statusNode = createStatusNode(Status.OK.name(), totalStageNode, executeStageNode);
    return PublishUtils.createOperationPerf(op, statusNode);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Foreign Ministry Urges UN Response Following Spate of Suicide Bombings Across Syria
Wednesday September 7th, 2016 by Tishreen (pro-government newspaper)
Syria calls on UNSC to take punitive measures against countries that support terrorism following several deadly attacks on civilian areas
Syria's Foreign Ministry affirmed on Monday that the bombings which took place Monday in the cities of Tartous, Homs, the Damascus countryside and Hassakeh are a continuation of systematic terrorism targeting the country.
"A suicidal terrorist exploded his car bomb at Arzounah bridge at the entrance of Tartous city, then another terrorist detonated his explosive belt amid the citizens who have rushed to help the authorities rescue the wounded, claiming the lives of 30 citizens and injuring 43 others," the ministry said in a statement addressed to the UN.
The ministry added that another suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the entrance of Tadmur gate in Homs, killing four civilians and wounding 10 others, adding that two other bombers also blew themselves up in the Damascus countryside, killing one citizen and injuring three others.
A fourth explosion took place in Hassakeh when an explosives-laden motorbike was detonated in Marshou square, claiming the lives of five civilians and wounding many others.
"Those bloody terrorist explosions come as a continuation of the systemized terrorism perpetrated by terrorist organizations, like Fatah al-Sham, previously Nusra Font, Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), Ahrar al-Sham and many others, these organizations which some member states name as 'moderate armed groups' away from the spirit of the UN charter and rules," the ministry added.
"The Syrian government calls on the UN security Council to immediately condemn the bloody crimes perpetrated by the armed terrorist groups and to assume its responsibility in preserving international peace and security… the Syrian government also calls on the Security Council to take punitive and deterrent procedures against the countries which support terrorism, particularly Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and France."


text:
package org.nd4j.linalg.api.ops.impl.transforms.strict;

import org.nd4j.autodiff.samediff.SDVariable;
import org.nd4j.autodiff.samediff.SameDiff;
import org.nd4j.imports.NoOpNameFoundException;
import org.nd4j.linalg.api.ndarray.INDArray;
import org.nd4j.linalg.api.ops.BaseTransformStrictOp;

import java.util.List;

public class MishDerivative extends BaseTransformStrictOp {
    public MishDerivative(SameDiff sameDiff, SDVariable i_v1, SDVariable i_v2) {
        super(sameDiff, i_v1, i_v2);
    }

    public MishDerivative(SameDiff sameDiff, SDVariable i_v1, SDVariable i_v2, boolean inPlace) {
        super(sameDiff, i_v1, i_v2, inPlace);
    }

    public MishDerivative(SameDiff sameDiff, SDVariable i_v, boolean inPlace) {
        super(sameDiff, i_v, inPlace);
    }

    public MishDerivative() {}

    public MishDerivative(INDArray x, INDArray z) {
        super(x, z);
    }

    public MishDerivative(INDArray x) {
        super(x);
    }

    @Override
    public int opNum() {
        return 58;
    }

    @Override
    public String opName() {
        return "_mishderivative";
    }

    @Override
    public String onnxName() {
        throw new NoOpNameFoundException("No onnx op opName found for " +  opName());
    }

    @Override
    public String tensorflowName() {
        throw new NoOpNameFoundException("No tensorflow op opName found for " +  opName());
    }

       @Override
    public List<SDVariable> doDiff(List<SDVariable> f1) {
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
}


Community Cleanup Day in Habershon Park - We Can Help!
This coming Saturday, May 5th, the Neighborhood Associations, & Block Watches of Meriden is organizing a series of city-wide cleanup teams to get our community ready for a new season of outdoor activities. In our own part of Meriden, we have an opportunity to help clean up Habershon Park's fields, to get them ready to serve the people who live in our mission field. Please contact Pastor John at 203.293.8511, pastor@smtrinity.org, if you are interested in participating in this event. Safety orientation starts at 8.30AM that morning. Hope that you can help - or get people involved who can!


Taking a business from nothing to something – and something significant at that – is one of life's great professional challenges. It requires hard work, skill, patience, and a healthy slice of luck to grow a company from a one-man-band to a global enterprise.
But there are ways to make the whole process that little bit easier.
For example, you could build and tap into a local business network, accessing the experience and know-how of peers who've been there and done it all before. Or you could work closely with a trusted professional advisor to steer your right through the choppy waters.
And of course, you could perfect your processes with the right business management systems and platforms. One such platform is Xero, a cloud-based accounting software designed for small and medium-sized businesses.
In the early days of any business, the focus is typically placed on sustainable growth, and keeping costs to a minimum. This usually means doing just about everything yourself, manually entering financial data into a spreadsheet, and spending hours poring over invoices, purchase orders, and bills.
Yet, there will come a point when you realise that your time is better spent on other aspects of your business. That's when something like Xero comes into its own.
In short, it gives you the ability to run your business from anywhere with an internet connection. By securely connecting Xero to your business bank accounts, you'll enjoy a real-time view of your cash position on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
You can then make informed business decisions based on those numbers, rather than working from historic data or a gut feeling.
Collaborate with colleagues, bookkeepers, and accountants in real-time. You can provide each with the necessary levels of access to allow them to do their jobs.
Get paid faster by creating and sending invoices with the option for online payment. And for those debtors dragging their heels, you can send automated invoice reminders to speed up the process.
Protect sensitive business data, which is backed up and secured with multiple layers of protection.
ever managed without it. And once you're comfortable with it, and you're seeing the benefits on a day-to-day basis, you'll be ready to take full advantage of its diverse app ecosystem.
The Xero ecosystem is an online marketplace, home to over 500 apps, all of which interface with – and add value to – the Xero platform.
These apps encompass a wide range of business areas, including inventory; invoicing; point of sale; time tracking; CRM; reporting; and more. On the face of it, many of these apps might seem like a 'nice to have' rather than a business essential, but for a company with designs on growing to a global level, they can be crucial.
To successfully expand beyond your borders and enter a new market ready to compete and grow, you need to first implement the correct processes. With Xero as the central financial management solution for your business, you have the option to complement it with specialist applications, primed and ready to handle specific tasks and functions with ease.
For example, by integrating a CRM app with Xero, you can manage customer relationships, track bills, and create invoices from within the app itself, which will then be automatically sent to Xero. This should then become a process that grows as your business grows; one that you can eventually delegate to an employee or team to oversee on your behalf.
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The greatest majority of users are extremely happy with their choice. They all point out that Nasal-Aire II is the most comfortable mask they have found after repeated trial and error. The mask is incredibly light, which is another plus when patients need to get comfortable therapy even for 8+ hours during the night.
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Whilst the grown ups were drawn to the sea of blue, the children were drawn to the sea of brown. When your feet are clad in welly boots, a muddy puddle is just crying out to be jumped in. The woods echoed with squelches, splashes, and squeals of delight. By the time we returned to the car, the boys' faces were splattered with mud, their trousers were sopping wet, their boots were full of water, and their grins stretched from ear to ear.
I'd have been puddle jumping too!


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Rehabilitative Community
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"Creating a harmonious community active and aware on issues of justice and peace by value sharing and training among all conflicting communities" is what LEADS aims to do through this intervention.
It was Niemoller who said when I looked for someone "..to speak for me, there was none" . LEADS believes that the voice of the voiceless is the responsibility of those with a voice. Rather than cursing the darkness LEADS seeks to light a candle of hope. We understand that poverty alleviation does not simply stop at provision of services but also has to address the root causes of poverty that often lie with inadequate policy or rights denied. In the midst of many issues and rights denied to vulnerable communities LEADS picks issues of advocacy with care. Issues related to basic rights and cross cutting issues (ex HIV/Aids) are key areas we seek involvement. Given the results of 30 year long ethnic conflict that has further contributed to poverty and come as an obstacle to development, LEADS also engages in grass root level peace building initiatives and mid level interventions to facilitate this process.
Today, almost 22 years later, it still remains one of the few organizations wholly dedicated to working with and for children who have been traumatized through experiences.... + learn more
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This week is Spring Break and as such, the girls and I decided to take a short trip to see my parents. Growing up my family enjoyed our share of peanut butter. We put peanut butter on bread, bananas, pancakes, crackers–you name it. If it could have peanut butter on it and taste good, we tried it.
I suppose that is probably why I thought my mom invented today's recipe the first time we had it. It had peanut butter in it and tasted like a little bite of heaven. The closest thing I can relate it too? Peanut butter ice cream…but then, you'd probably haven't tried that either unless you grew up in my family where mixing vanilla ice cream and peanut butter was not so unusual!
Seeing as I was visiting my parents this week, and the fact that it is National Frozen Foods AND National Peanut Butter month, I decided it was high time to bring back a family classic. If you are not allergic to peanuts this one is definitely a keeper, and one others will be wanting the recipe to at potlucks (if they eat it before it melts)! For extra excitement you can always make it in an Oreo crust, top it with shredded chocolate, or dab on a little extra cool whip and graham cracker crumbs on top. The choice is up to you!
But above all, enjoy! Happy Peanut Butter Frozen Foods month!
Cream together cheese, sugar, peanut butter, and milk.
Pour into two crusts, cover, and freeze.
This sounds and looks delicious! I think my peanut butter lovers will enjoy this pie! Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you join us again next week!
Thanks. I hope they do too!


Tyler Lichter powered into the end zone from 11 yards out, giving Orange a 7-3 lead with 10:33 left in the second quarter, but the offense stalled after that as host Watterson rallied for a 13-7 non-league win Friday in Columbus.
The Eagles' Stephen Markos gave his team a 10-7 lead with a two-yard TD run just before the break, and Kevin Laming nailed a 40-yard field goal with 9:35 left to smooth out the scoring summary.
Pioneer quarterback J.D. Dayuff completed 12 of his 19 passes for 123 yards while Lichter carried the ball 16 times for 89 yards and his TD.
Hunter Shepherd led the Orange (0-2) receivers with one grab for 42 yards.
Markos completed nine of his 14 passes for just 51 yards, but did a bit more damage on the ground, rushing for 73.
The Pioneers' Blake Skuratowicz led what was a solid defensive effort despite the setback, recording 13.5 tackles, one for loss.


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Fire station on Government Street undergoing remodel
2 years 6 months 1 week ago Saturday, July 14 2018 Jul 14, 2018 July 14, 2018 10:45 PM July 14, 2018 in News
By: Johnston von Springer
BATON ROUGE - Decades after being built, a historic piece of property is getting all spruced up.
Supplies and construction materials have replaced the fire trucks at Baton Rouge Fire Station 12 on Government Street. It's been that way for several months, as firefighters have moved out to allow the 43-year-old station to get a facelift.
"Redoing the tile, redoing the cabinets, redoing the bathrooms in the station... More so modernizing the station, bringing it up to do," Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesperson Mark Miles said.
Better known as the "Big House," Fire Station 12 is BRFD's largest station within reach of downtown, north Baton Rouge, and Old South Baton Rouge in mere minutes.
"It pretty much stayed in its original state, and so right the now the much-needed upgrades are being done and the guys are real excited about it," Miles said. "They can't wait to get back. They are homesick for it. They missed the camaraderie that they once had all working together."
And while the doors have been closed to take care of some typical wear and tear, those that call station 12 home have been shifted to other stations across the city. BRFD says they were strategically placed so that response times didn't suffer.
But they didn't want some of the nostalgia of the building to suffer either.
"Station 12 is one of our only stations in the city to still have poles that we slide down, so when they make a run and they are up there they can still hit the poles. That's something we didn't want to change."
As summer creeps into its final stretch, so does Station 12's turnaround.
"This being the largest [station], it's a little more important."
In addition to work inside, the roof and doors have been upgraded. BRFD says Fire Station 12 expects to open in September.


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Tag Archives: Canongate Crime
My books of the year, 2017 – favourites from a year of reading
As I've been off the grid for most of last few months, I didn't get a chance to post a list of my favourite books from 2017. So, in the spirit of better late than never, here it is. Enjoy!
Like its predecessor, 2017 turned out to be another strong reading year for me. I read fewer books than usual this time (around 70 books, mostly older/blacklisted titles) but the majority were very good. Once again, it proved very difficult to finalise a shortlist for this post, so I've gone overboard with a top fifteen – that's two more than the baker's dozen I usually aim for. These are the books I loved, the books that have stayed with me, the ones I'm most likely to recommend to other readers. I've summarised each one in this post, but you can read the full reviews by clicking on the appropriate links.
Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym
It's getting to the point where I need to reserve a permanent spot for Barbara Pym, such is the quality of her writing. This year's slot goes to Crampton Hodnet, a delightful comedy of manners set in North Oxford in the late 1930s (Some Tame Gazelle came a very close second). What a joy it was to return to this author's territory, a familiar world of charming curates, mildly ridiculous academics, amorous students and gossipy women. Probably the funniest Pym I've read to date.
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
A series of six interlinked short stories/sketches inspired by Isherwood's time in the city during the early 1930s. I really loved this book with its striking cast of characters and wealth of engaging vignettes. As one might expect, the author's portrayal of a Berlin in flux is truly wonderful, capturing the atmosphere of everything from the seedy underground bars and nightlife to the magnificence and glory of the glamorous side of the city. A most evocative read.
The Soul of Kindness by Elizabeth Taylor
Here's another author worthy of a permanent place my end-of-year lists, Elizabeth Taylor – I just can't seem to get enough of her work. The storyline in this book revolves around Flora Quartermaine, a beautiful young woman who seems to have the perfect life. While Flora considers herself to be the very soul of kindness, in reality this is far from the truth, her best intentions often causing more harm than good. A novel full of little insights into various aspects of human behaviour – lovers of character-driven novels should enjoy this one.
Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates
My favourite of the collections of short stories I read in 2017 (Saki's Improper Stories came a close second). Yates' canvases may be small and intimate, but the emotions he explores are universal. Here are the frustrations and disappointments of day-to-day life, the loneliness that stems from rejection, uncertainty or a deep feeling of worthlessness. Once again, this will appeal to lovers of character-driven fiction. A superb set of stories, quite varied in style in spite of the overriding theme.
Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton
Set largely in the seedy bars and boarding houses of London's Earl's Court, Patrick Hamilton's 1941 novel Hangover Square centres on the tortured existence of George Harvey Bone, a thirty-four-year-old man who is obsessed with a beautiful yet vindictive young woman named Netta Longdon. It is an utterly brilliant portrait of a man on the edge, perfectly capturing the sudden changes in mood and mindset of a lonely and tormented soul, driven to distraction by the heartless woman he so deeply desires. This might just be my favourite book of the year.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
A beautiful and compelling portrayal of forbidden love, characterised by Wharton's trademark ability to expose the underhand workings of a repressive world. Set within the upper echelons of New York society in the 1870s, a culture that seems so refined on the surface, and yet so terribly brutal, hypocritical and intolerant underneath once the protective veneer of respectability is stripped away. There is a real sense of depth and subtlety in the characterisation here – classic literature doesn't get much better than this.
School for Love by Olivia Manning
A highly compelling coming-of-age story set in Jerusalem during the closing stages of the Second World War. It's a brilliant novel, one that features a most distinctive character quite unlike any other I've encountered either in literature or in life itself. In Miss Bohun, Manning has created a fascinating individual, one that is sure to generate strong opinions either way. Is she a manipulative hypocrite, determined to seize any opportunity and exploit it for her own personal gain? Or is she simply deluded, predominately acting on the belief that she is doing the morally upstanding thing in a changing and unstable world? You'll have to read the book yourself to take a view.
Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns
One of several reads featuring a highly distinctive female narrator – in this case, Sophia, a young woman who is looking back on her unhappy marriage to a rather feckless artist by the name of Charles. In writing this book, the British-born author Barbara Comyns has drawn heavily on her own life experience. It is, by all accounts, a lightly fictionalised version of her first marriage, a relationship characterised by tensions over money worries and various infidelities on her husband's part. Although it took me a couple of chapters to fall into line with Sophia's unassuming conversational style, I really warmed to her character, particularly as the true horror of her story became apparent. This is a wonderful book, by turns humorous, sad, shocking and heart-warming.
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
Enchanted indeed! What a delightful novel this turned out to be – telling, as it does, the story of four very different English women who come together to rent a medieval castle on the Italian Riviera for the month of April. Without wishing to give away too much about the ending, this utterly charming story has a touch of the fairy tale about it as the lives of these four women are altered in various ways by their time at San Salvatore. A truly magical read, guaranteed to lift the spirits.
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
In this beautifully written novel, we follow a day in the life of the Marshalls, an upper-middle-class family struggling to find a new way to live in an England irrevocably altered by the Second World War. Several threads and encounters come together to form a vivid picture of a nation, a country trying to come to terms with new ways of life and the accompanying changes to its social fabric. A little like a cross between Woolf's Mrs Dalloway and an Elizabeth Taylor novel, this was a wonderful discovery for me.
Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
This novel was published in 1957, two years after The Talented Mr Ripley with which it shares a focus on the psychological – in other words, the motives that drive certain individuals to behave in very sinister ways. Once again, Highsmith encourages us to side with an outwardly respectable man who secretly harbours psychopathic tendencies. The way she does this is so clever; she knows exactly how her readers will respond to each of her characters, thereby creating a situation where we feel sympathy for a murderer and contempt for the woman who has made his life so difficult. A thoroughly delicious read.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
I read this in advance of Halloween, and it proved to be a highly appropriate read for the season – atmospheric, unsettling and at times quite humorous in a darkly comic way. What really sets this book apart from so many others is its highly distinctive style, much of which stems from the curious nature of the narrator's voice, that of young Merricat Blackwood. A novella with much to say about our suspicions, our prejudices and, perhaps most importantly of all, our treatment of people who seem strange or different from ourselves. The sense of being an outsider – or society's mistreatment of the outsider – is a prominent theme.
The Artificial Silk Girl by Irmgard Keun (tr. Kathie von Ankum)
Several of the books in translation I chose to read in 2017 were disappointing, but this one really stood out for the distinctiveness of its central character, Doris. A striking young woman whose voice I found utterly engaging right from the very start, particularly in the way it reflected her complex personality – a glorious mix of the naïve and the streetwise, the vivacious and the vulnerable. Reputedly inspired by Anita Loos' Gentleman Prefer Blondes, Keun set out to write a response from the German perspective, one that ultimately shows us the darker side of life which lies beneath the glamour of the capital city, Berlin. Another very evocative read for me.
The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate
Set on an Oxfordshire country estate in the autumn of 1913, The Shooting Party provides a terrific insight into the dying days of the Edwardian era, the beginning of the end of a time-honoured way of life for the English upper classes. Essentially a tale of 'upstairs and downstairs', this is a wonderful ensemble piece with a sting in its tail. Fans of L. P Hartley's The Go-Between will likely enjoy this one.
Ride the Pink Horse by Dorothy B. Hughes
Dorothy B. Hughes made my 2016 highlights with her classic noir novel In a Lonely Place, the story of a damaged ex-Air Force pilot named Dix Steele. And here she is again in 2017, this time with the existential noir Ride the Pink Horse. Written in a tough, hardbitten style, Pink Horse is a slow burn tale of pursuit, the tough, streetwise guy who comes looking for a final payoff from his former boss before hightailing it to Mexico and the life he envisages there – only things don't quite go to plan. It's probably my favourite of the dozen or so crime novels I read last year.
So there we are – a pretty satisfying year of reading all told.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Books of the Year and tagged #ReadWomen, #TranslationThurs, Barbara Comyns, Barbara Pym, Book Review, Books of the Year, Canongate Crime, Christopher Isherwood, Crime, Dorothy B. Hughes, Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth von Arnim, Fiction, Highsmith, Irmgard Keun, Isabel Colegate, Kathie von Ankum, Literature in Translation, Manning, Mollie Panter-Downes, Noir, NYRB Classics, Other Press, Patrick Hamilton, Penguin Books, Penguin Modern Classics, Richard Yates, Shirley Jackson, Short Stories, Vintage Books, Virago, Virago Modern Classics on May 1, 2018 by JacquiWine.
Last year Dorothy B. Hughes made my end-of-year highlights with her classic noir novel In a Lonely Place, the story of a damaged ex-Air Force pilot named Dix Steele. There's a good chance she'll make the list again in 2017, this time with the existential noir Ride the Pink Horse. Written in a tough, hardbitten style, Pink Horse was published in 1946, the year before Lonely Place. It's a slow burn tale of pursuit, the tough, streetwise guy who comes looking for a final payoff from his former boss before hightailing it to Mexico and the life he envisages there. I think it's my favourite of the dozen or so crime novels I've read this year.
The novel focuses on Sailor, a former street kid turned city slicker who has travelled to a 'hick town' near the US border with Mexico in search of the main man, a corrupt state Senator referred to here as 'the Sen'. While the Sen believes he has finished with Sailor, our protagonist definitely hasn't finished with Sen. According to Sailor, the Sen owes him a sizeable bundle of money, the remaining payment for a murder that didn't quite go to plan – and if the Sen refuses to pay up, Sailor thinks he has enough knowledge of what really happened to pin the rap on the Sen. When he gets what's due to him, Sailor plans to cross the border into Mexico. Once there, he can set up a little business peddling liquor or suchlike, maybe even find a beautiful girl, a silvery blonde with clear, shimmering eyes. All he has to do is to find the Sen and shake him down.
The trouble is, it's Labor Day weekend, and the town is packed full of people, all there to celebrate the Fiesta. When he arrives on the bus from Chicago, dirty, sweaty and in need of a wash, Sailor is frustrated to discover that all the local hotels are full (even the crummiest ones), leaving him no other option but to bunk down on the ground for the night. Nevertheless, he soon discovers that the Sen is holed up in the smartest hotel in town, the swanky La Fonda complete with its plush bar and fancy restaurant. And so the quest begins, as Sailor confronts the Sen and pushes for his payoff. At first, the Sen is elusive, playing for time while he considers his options. But Sailor is determined; he knows what's due to him, and he's out to get it.
He wasn't going to give up that kind of money. He needed it; it belonged to him; he was going to have it. What was owed and what he deserved above it. Five thousand dollars. The most he'd ever had at one time. Peanuts. He should have asked ten. The dough wouldn't do the Sen any good where he was going. (p. 172)
To complicate matters further for Sailor, there's another significant player in the mix – McIntyre (aka 'Mac'), a Chicago-based cop and long-time acquaintance of Sailor's, who also happens to be in town, allegedly for the Fiesta. Mac is the wise, down-to-earth type, someone who watches and waits and plays his cards fairly close to his chest. At first, Sailor thinks Mac is trailing the Sen; but as the weekend unfolds, it becomes clear that Mac is keeping tabs on Sailor too, a dynamic that adds another layer of tension to the situation, certainly as far as Sailor is concerned.
If only he could only bust open McIntyre's head, see what was inside it. If he could only lay out those little squares, like lottery tickets, each one labeled with a name and a thought and a plan. Was his name on the winning ticket, the losing ticket; or was it the Sen's? He couldn't ask McIntyre; he could only sit tight and wait. And make talk. (p. 128)
Hughes makes good use of the animated backdrop of the Fiesta, complete with its mix of Spanish, Indian and gringo revellers, thereby conveying the frenetic atmosphere in the local bars and streets. (As one might expect, the novel's language and racial descriptors reflect the prevailing attitudes of the day.) There are times when Sailor feels caught in a labyrinth, an encircling trap from which there appears to be no escape – a feeling that is reflected in the rather circular nature of the chase as Sailor tries to get what he desires from the Sen.
The streets were whirling louder, faster; on the bandstand a fat black-haired singer blasted the microphones and the crowds screamed 'Hola! Hola!' as if it were good. A running child with remnants of pink ice cream glued on his dirty face bumped into Sailor's legs, wiped his sticky hands there. Sailor snarled, 'Get out of my way,' a balloon popped behind him and the kid who held the denuded stick squalled.
He had to get out of this. (pp. 116-117)
On the face of it, the Fiesta appears to be gay and jolly, a time for release and celebration; but below the surface glamour lurks a much darker undercurrent, a terrible note of death and destruction, a hangover from the days of previous crimes against humanity.
Fiesta. The time of celebration, of release from gloom, from the specter of evil. But under celebration was evil; the feast was rooted in blood, in the Spanish conquering of the Indian. It was a memory of death and destruction. (p. 24)
As the story unfolds, we learn more about Sailor and his troubled childhood – in particular, his abusive, alcoholic father, downtrodden mother and the impact of poverty on his formative years. There are echoes of the past here, sights that trigger memories of desperate times and circumstances, things that Sailor would much rather forget.
He knew then what was familiar in her; she was the hopeless face and sagging shoulders and defeated flesh of all poor women everywhere. He wanted to bolt. Even in this small way he did not want to be pushed back into the pit of the past. The pit he believed he had escaped forever. (p. 187)
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hughes also excels at capturing the inherent sense of loneliness and alienation that Sailor is experiencing. It's a quality that also underscores her portrait of Dix Steele, the lone wolf protagonist in her brilliant novel, In a Lonely Place.
What sucked into his pores for that moment was panic although he could not have put a name to it. The panic of loneness; of himself the stranger although he was himself unchanged, the creeping loss of identity. It sucked into his pores and oozed out again, clammy in the chill of night. (p. 57)
The Sen, on the other hand, emerges as a sly, shadowy figure, a somewhat elusive presence. He is the one who first spotted young Sailor's talents at the pool hall all those years ago and subsequently groomed him for a key role in his organisation.
As the weekend plays out, it becomes increasingly clear how hard it will be for Sailor to carve out a new life for himself given the nature of what he's attempting to pull off. There are various points in the story when he could choose to do the right thing, to set himself on a better track for the future – to find out if he decides to take any of these opportunities, you'll have to read the book. Mac, an honest and decent man at heart, is keen to help Sailor – if only Sailor would agree to talk to him about what really happened on the night of the murder. (In another life, Mac knows that he could have ended up like Sailor, and vice versa, the two men having grown up not far from one another in the same rugged neighbourhood.) Another possibility for redemption comes in the form of old Pancho, the kindly man in charge of the battered fairground carousel, who takes Sailor under his wing, offering him tequila and a blanket for the night while also trying to set him on a straighter path.
Ride the Pink Horse is an excellent noir, one that highlights the existential nature of our existence, how our lives and destinies are largely shaped by our own choices and actions. The title refers to the coloured wooden horses on Pancho's shabby merry-go-round. It could also be viewed as a metaphor for life itself, e.g. the ups and downs that we all experience as we make our way from the cradle to the grave or a few minutes of enjoyment in which we can forget all our troubles. Either way, it's an apt title. There's a film too, directed by and starring Robert Montgomery. I'm hoping to track it down fairly soon.
Ride the Pink Horse was published by Canongate Crime; personal copy.
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Hughes Dorothy B. and tagged #ReadWomen, Book Review, Canongate, Canongate Crime, Classics Club, Crime, Dorothy B. Hughes, Fiction, Hotels, Noir, US on December 5, 2017 by JacquiWine.


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Home » Temples of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham
Under the divine auspices of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham, there are presently four temples in Tamilnadu, South India that are administered by it. Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham not only serves the temples, but has also been committed to serve the conjoining living communities around them.
Apart from thousands of temples that form the very backbone of India's spiritual and cultural heritage, these 4 temples are part of a group of 275 temples that, by far, hold the well-kept secrets of the greatest legacies of delicately preserved, grand vedic tradition dating back to at least 1200 years in recorded time.
Shiva stalams, the Abodes of Paramasiva
These 4 temples which are power houses of the Cosmic energy along with 271 others form the group of temples that are the sacred abodes of Paramasiva, called "Shiva stalams". Paramasiva is eternally established here along with all of His divine energies, His Divine Consort Parvati and other energies (called Parivara Devatas meaning "deities of the divine beings of the entourage who assist the main deity Paramasiva at all times"). Paramasiva, is also known as Shiva, Parameshwara, Sadashiva, Mahadeva and so on.
Paramasiva is the manifestation of the highest Consciousness, Divinity, and the most ancient primeval God Paramasiva worshiped from unknown times. Being Paramasiva's own home, these 275 temples are enlightenment ecosystems that bedeck the skies with soaring towers, and fill the land with expansive architectural wonders, sheltering the cities, towns, and hamlets that evolved, spread, and flourished around these temples.
Being a Shiva stalam, each of the 4 temples is surcharged with healing, wish-fulfilling and bliss-granting presence of Paramasiva where he appeared to bless, protect, and shower his boons on His devotees, and remains there. The Lord casually played his "divine leelas" (causing divine historical incidents) here expressing his unique, different energies. So, each temple is bestowed with that specific energy, eternally.
Each deity has its own independent intelligence and specific energy for which it originated, and is invested with that boon-giving energy, and beautifully responds to us.
So, intensely connecting to these temples through prayers, offering puja (ritualistic worship), and making an ardent pilgrimage to these temples showers blessings on us.
The 275 temples are "Paadal Petra Sthalams"
"Paadal Petra Sthalam" refers to those temples or energy centers of Paramasiva that are revered by the chief Nayanmars (poet Saints and enlightened devotees of Paramasiva) – Tiru Jnanasambandar, Tirunavukkarasar (Appar) and Sundaramoorti Nayanar (Sundarar) from 7th – 9th century A.D. and other Nayanmars (devotees of Paramasiva), who are the apostles of Saiva Siddhanta (doctrine of Paramasiva).
The greatness of these temples was perfectly revealed by the "Thevaram", the devotional poetic hymns sung in complete love for Paramasiva by these four poet Saints who are part of the 63 Nayanmars, enlightened devotees of Paramasiva. No one can reveal the true Story of God, other than His own surrendered devotees. In the Thevaram, the Nayanmars sang in sets of 10 verses, known as the Pathikam, in which the sacredness of these temples are vividly glorified with the feats and compassion of Paramasiva.
The 275 energy fields are the fore bearers of the Saiva tradition with amazingly common worship practices across all the temples, even while they are scattered over wide landscapes traditionally termed such as Chola Nadu, Pandya Nadu, Eezha Nadu, and Malai Nadu territories mostly in the present Tamilnadu state. Madurai Meenakshi temple, Chidambaram, Tiruvannamalai, and Rameshwaram are some of the widely known temples that are "Paadal Petra Sthalams", also called Shiva stalams.
The temples belonging to the Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham are "Paadal Petra Sthalams" and have been immortalized by the devotional hymns sung by the Nayanmars. The first three temples received Thevara songs. The last received Thiruvisaipa songs (also part of the collection of songs sung by the Nayanmars).
The Greatness of Temples, Kshetras (enlightenment ecosystems)
The 293rd pontiff of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham, Srila Sri Guru Maha Sannidhanam Paramahamsa Nithyananda Sri Gnana Sambandha Desika Paramacharya Swamigal beautifully explains to us the need for temples (also called "kshetra" or pilgrimage spot), which are pure enlightenment ecosystems:
"The infrastructure which comes out of the ecstatic feeling which you are carrying without hurting yourself is what we call Kshetra. Kshetra is not a city. Kshetra means all the citizens are in ecstasy and working out of ecstasy. That is why those great temples that are built are still standing. They create a Kshetra.
Kshetra are the cities developed by the enlightened beings who were the Raja Gurus (Gurus of the Kings), where all policy decisions were taken under their guidance to the regent kings.
A temple is not just the home of God, it is the storehouse of divine energy. It is the place to drop one's troubles and relax into the deeper meaning of life. The space is like an air strip for one to take off and experience the higher dimensional energy of the Cosmos. Temples are the most important component of the enlightenment ecosystem that keeps the whole thing alive".
The temples of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham are such sacred kshetras (energy fields) marked by the Lord of Lords, Paramasiva having their own rare historical value, making them centers of spiritual heritage of the planet. Bearing witness to this, the kings and royal lineages of the South – the Pallavas, the imperial Cholas, the Pandyas, the Marathas, and the Nayak rulers of Tamilnadu extended their special patronage to the "Paadal Petra Sthalam" temples.
The temples radiate sculptural wonders, wall murals and sprawling complexes with inscriptions carved in stone that bear details of the endowments made to them by the royal patron kings and others.
Under the divine guidance of His Divine Holiness (HDH), now the whole kshetra (energy field), which is these temples and the living community adjoining the villages are witnessing the true revival of the authentic vedic tradition back to a "temple-based enlightened civilization". That the temples are a grand eternal celebration of Existence itself is coming true with a living incarnation (HDH) in all its glory, and vibrancy.
Following is a brief of the fours temples belonging to the Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham:
Sri Agnishwarar Temple, Kanjanoor
The Agnishwarar Temple is one of the 'Shiva stalams' in the village of Kanjanoor, 18 kms north-east of Kumbakonam. Kanjanoor is also considered to be the 36th in the series of the "Thevara Sthalams" ("Thevara sthalam" or "Paadal Petra Sthalam" refers to a group of 275 temples that are revered in the verses of the Saiva Nayanmars – enlightened poet Saints and devotees of Paramasiva – in the 6th-9th century CE and are amongst the greatest Shiva temples in India). It is also one of the nine Navagraha Sthalas i.e. temples where the main deity is linked to one of the 9 planets. It is located in the Thanjavur area in the Kaveri Delta region in South India. This temple is dedicated to planet Venus, called Sukra.Read More
Satchinatheswarar Temple
Satchinatheswarar Temple is also one of the ancient 'Shiva stalams' (adobe of Paramasiva) located in the Tiruppurambiyam. Dating back to the 5th century, the temple is revered in the hymns of "Thevaram" sung by the Nayanmars (poet Saints and devotees of Paramasiva) as the 46th 'Paadal Petra Sthalam'. The presiding deity of this temple is Paramasiva in his incarnation as Dakshinamurti, the first-ever Guru. The present name of the presiding deity is "Satchinathar" and His eternal consort, "Kuraivilla Azhagi" (literally meaning "beauty unsurpassed"). The temple is one of the rare 24 shrines special to Lord Dakshinamurti and is surrounded by Manniyaru, Kollidam and the Kaveri rivers.
Sri Kachaneshwarar Swami Temple, Kachanam
This temple is a "Shiva stalam", meaning a temple revered by the enlightened Saint Poets called Nayanmars in their original poetic compositions. This temple is the 122nd in the series of "Devara Sthalams" i.e. "Paadal Petra Sthalam" (meaning temples that have been sung about by the Nayanmars), which have received the hymns of glory from the Nayanmars. This temple is located at a place called Kaichinnam, also known as Kachanam in Tamilnadu. Over a 1000 years old, the presiding deity of the temple is Lord Paramasiva, in the form of a Svayambhu linga (naturally formed). There is a shrine dedicated to Rishabha Dakshinamurti here as in Tiruvaimur, a famous temple dedicated to Paramasiva. The utsavamoorti (celebration deity) here is Tyagarajar, because Lord Paramasiva once gave darshan (vision) to Lord Indra in the form of "Tyagarajar" and relieved him from his misdeeds. Performing puja (ritualistic worship) here, bestows the merciful blessings of "Lord Kachaneshwarar" (name of the presiding deity) of liberating us from negative acts, when sincerely prayed to.
Sri Pannagaparameshwara Swami Temple, Pannatheru, Thirumugathalai
Sri Pannagaparameshwara Swami Temple is located at a beautiful scenic spot in a small village called Pannatheru in the South Indian State of Tamilnadu. This temple also has the Samadhi or final resting place of the 290th pontiff of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham.
Tirupparankundram Murugan Temple
Tirupparankundram is a hilltop temple in Madurai and gains importance as it is one of the six places chosen by Lord Muruga, the celestial son of Paramasiva as his own abode. It is said that this was where Lord Muruga married His Consort Devasena. It is also considered as the place where sun and moon abide. This cave temple is dedicated to the element of earth among the five elements and various Tamil classical texts mention this hill as 'Southern Himalaya'.
(top) temple tower of Tirupparankundram temple in Madurai
(down) Lord Muruga about to wed Deivanai His Consort at this spot where the temple stands today
Koodal Azhagar Temple
(top) The Koodal Azhagar Temple (down) The deity of Lord Vishnu comes out in procession on a the horse vehicle
Koodal Azhagar temple in Madurai is considered one of the ancient temples in South India. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is situated 2 km away from the Madurai city's west. Madurai has a rich past and its contributions to language, art and culture are tremendous. Koodal Azhagar temple is one such proof of the architectural and painting excellence of the ancient period. The deity of Lord Vishnu.
Pazhamudhir Solai
Pazhamudhir Solai temple is yet another famous temple dedicated to Lord Muruga in Madurai and is located on hilltop. It is considered as one amongst the six abodes of Lord Muruga (the other five being Tirupparankundram, Tiruchendur, Palani, Swamimalai and Tirutani). The sculptures carved of marble and wood here are unique. The giant steps in front of the temple make for a great climb. It is one of the most beautiful temples in South India.


Jiri Duchek was born in Prague in 1970. After the former Czechoslovakia was liberated in 1989 he worked as a jigger-man (wheel operator) at a ceramic workshop in the capital and studied at a local school of Arts and Crafts. In 1995 he set up his first workshop in Prague and combined this with teaching at a College of Education but wanted to move out into the country in order to develop his pottery techniques. This he did in 1999 when he moved to a former farmhouse in the Czech Republic near to Mutejovice. He uses local materials in his clay bodies and glazes and wood to fire his work. Jiri produces a variety of functional wares, including plates, vases, mizusashis, and mugs.
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Producing eye-catching yet often remarkably subtle work in his wood kiln outside of Prague, Czech ceramic artist Jiri Duchek's work always fascinates. This Chawan (tea bowl) shows heavy white glazing with interesting drip formations and black accents. Dimensions, in inches: 4-1/2 wide x 3-1/2 tall.
Producing eye-catching yet often remarkably subtle work in his wood kiln outside of Prague, Czech ceramic artist Jiri Duchek's work always fascinates. This Chawan (tea bowl) is exquisitely subtle, showing Jiri's natural celadon glaze, a deep brown/black accented by areas of olive-green. Dimensions, in inches: 4-1/2 wide x 4 tall.
Producing eye-catching yet often remarkably subtle work in his wood kiln outside of Prague, Czech ceramic artist Jiri Duchek's work always fascinates. This Chawan (tea bowl) is exquisitely subtle, showing Jiri's natural celadon glaze, a deep brown/black accented by areas of olive-green and tan. Dimensions, in inches: 4-1/2 wide x 3-3/4 tall.
Producing eye-catching yet often remarkably subtle work in his wood kiln outside of Prague, Czech ceramic artist Jiri Duchek's work always fascinates. This Chawan (tea bowl) shows heavy black and white glazing. Dimensions, in inches: 3-3/4 wide x 3-1/4 tall.


text:
Delta State University/
Cleveland, Mississippi
What Outcomes Can You Expect With a Degree From Delta State University ?
How does Delta State University compare to other colleges with respect to real results?
Of the 373 students that were expected to graduate on-time in 2019 , 250 remained at the school past their freshman year, 73 graduated on-time (two or four years depending on the degree) and 145 within a reasonable time (three or six years or within 150% of the on-time duration).
20.0% undergraduates completed their degree "on-time" (within two or four years depending on the degree)
39.0% undergraduates completed their degree in a reasonable time (within three or six years depending on the degree)
Learn more about the graduation and retention rates at Delta State University
A total of 1,111 Delta State University students entered loan repayment in 2009. After three years, 10.3% of these students ( 115 out of 1,111 ) defaulted on their loans.
Learn more about student loan debt at Delta State University .
On average, graduates of Delta State University earn about $32,000 in their early career.
Learn more about salaries at the majors level at Delta State University .
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This is a practical approach to reconstruction for head and neck cancer patients, and is just as the title describes: a defect-oriented approach. The authors describe different management options and also provide excellent practical tips, such as patient selection and peri-operative care. The various advantages and disadvantages of each management option are presented in a coherent manner, and in relation to achieving the optimal functional outcome. The authors state their preferences for each reconstructive technique in a non-biased manner and in relation to established evidence-based surgical practice. There is a plethora of literature in the references index which can direct the reader towards more detailed reading. Certain techniques tend to be discussed in several chapters, as they can be used in the repair of more than one type of defect (e.g. radial forearm free flap for reconstruction of both glossectomy and laryngopharyngeal defects). The authors have however avoided dull repetition by presenting features of each technique in a specific way, for each defect.The relevant anatomy and biomechanical considerations for each area of defect are discussed in a concise and clinically relevant manner. The illustrations and clinical photographs are laid out alongside the description of the surgical technique, a very useful presentation style which makes it easy for the reader to follow the surgical process. A minor criticism would be that the authors could have added more pre-operative pictures alongside the intra-operative and post-operative clinical photographs.The front page is well designed, displaying an excellent colour illustration of a reconstructed defect. The book is certainly a high quality production throughout,with a solid hard back cover on the outside and fine glossy paper within. Overall, this is an excellent book which gives a concise and clinically relevant overview of different management options used in head and neck reconstruction.


My oldest was a newly fledged five year old. It was the year that we had to enroll him in a Kindergarten. We had been, for lack of a better word, "homeschooling" for preschool and loving it. What I didn't want, going forward, was to isolate ourselves from our community. I was worried that if we kept going, if we kept homeschooling, it would be for all the wrong reasons. I was also worried that if we sent him to public school, if we changed things because the financial burden was suddenly minimal, that it would be for more wrong reasons. I was worried we were going to be sending him off on some save the world mission. Something not fair of us to ask.
Basically, any way you looked at it I was worried.
We seemingly had two choices. To enroll him in the local school, the one that tipped above the poverty line, or to keep him home, in our nice little bubble. I couldn't decide. I'll never forget the day we sat in the car after touring a homeschool enrichment program. After more lengthy conversation, I told my husband I couldn't decide. I asked him, point blank, to tell me what to do.
So, we did. We continued to talk and work our way through what we were hoping and wanting.
We decided (together, I should add) that our goals as a family and our vision for his childhood included him staying at home with me. We would later figure out the curriculum and ideology but for now we just wanted more time at home. And time we had.
I'm increasingly grateful for it as the years go on. Our hearts have always had an inkling of aching for more and a little after this life decision we made another. Little by little, email by email, orientation after orientation, in what felt like eternity but now seems like a blink, we were certified Foster Parents. The dichotomy never really occurred to us. Taking our kids out of the system while at the same time opening our homes to the kids incredibly deep in a different one. It seemed to fit all those initial worries going into the educational system. About isolation and community and vision. It was too much to ask my five year old to save the world on his own but it was not too much of us to do it together.
I laugh at myself now. I never really quite realized the impact foster care would have on our schedule. Vision or no vision. The family visits and doctor appointments and home visits and therapy (both in and out of the home). The behavior curve and emotional needs of everyone. How changing any one thing can alter your rhythm incredibly. How important rhythm is for a homeschool.
I know you are curious as to how it works for us. We've been in the thick of it for three years now. Somedays I'm curious too. Especially on bad days.
Usually after an initial placement we tuck into our little home. Cancel classes and events. We work slowly through our books while we coordinate with the county. We do all the things any foster family does. We just do it together. You see, for us education is our life. It's not the math textbook or the penmanship. It's not history or civics. It's our life as a whole. And that life includes, on a daily basis, kids that need a home that loves them.
We have a saying in our home: "the baby is the lesson." And that applies to our foster care commitments too. "The system is the lesson." A lesson in patience. In hospitality. In sharing space and time and materials. It is a lesson in community. In homelessness. In the effects of drug use. In the prison system. It is a lesson in a family unit. A lesson in the pain that comes from a broken one.
A lesson in Grace. Overwhelming Grace. A lot of lessons for all of us.
While, at times, foster care feels more disruptive to our homeschool than conducive. It works for us because we've chosen, very intentionally, to do it as a unit. That means driving to visits together. That means the kids are home during home visits. Sometimes that means meetings in public with homeless bio parents. It means therapy waiting rooms together. It means making beds and laying out stuffies and showing the house to a new friend, together. It means tears on the stoop, together. It means welcoming their little brother home, in the middle of the week day, together.
The end of it is, the day to day is the simple stuff. Anyone can pick up a curriculum and give their kids an adequate education. Math will get done. Writing will happen. Books will be read. History will be memorized. The hard stuff is the life stuff. The overwhelming and confusing stuff. For that I'm beyond grateful that we get to do it all together, as a family, with bountiful time and curious hearts and open arms.


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Q: How do I best avoid possible mutluple enumerations, but also stay async at the same time? Consider the following method:
public async Task<IEnumerable<TORTDTransmissionOwner>> ReturnActiveTransmissionOwnersForUser(User inputUser)
{
    _logger.LogDebug("ReturnActiveTransmissionOwnersForUser executing with user: {0}", inputUser.Email);
    IEnumerable<TORTDTransmissionOwner> transmissionOwners;
    if (inputUser.IsAdmin || inputUser.IsApprover)
    {
        transmissionOwners = await _toStakeholderUploadDataService.GetTORTDTransmissionOwners();
        _logger.LogDebug("User isAdmin or isApprover, count of TOs: {0}", transmissionOwners.Count());
    }
    else
    {
        transmissionOwners = inputUser.TransmissionOwners.Where(to => to.IsImplemented)
            .OrderBy(to => to.TORTDTransmissionOwner.Dbaname).Select(to => to.TORTDTransmissionOwner);
        _logger.LogDebug("User is standard, count of TOs: {0}", transmissionOwners.Count());
    }
    return transmissionOwners;
}

Currently, ReSharper is giving me a warning that I will be causing multiple enumerations of the results from what is a database call.
But, if I change the database call to be like:
public Task<IEnumerable<TORTDTransmissionOwner>> ReturnActiveTransmissionOwnersForUser(User inputUser)
{
    _logger.LogDebug("ReturnActiveTransmissionOwnersForUser executing with user: {0}", inputUser.Email);
    IEnumerable<TORTDTransmissionOwner> transmissionOwners;
    if (inputUser.IsAdmin || inputUser.IsApprover)
    {
        transmissionOwners = _toStakeholderUploadDataService.GetTORTDTransmissionOwners().Result.ToList();
        _logger.LogDebug("User isAdmin or isApprover, count of TOs: {0}", transmissionOwners.Count());
    }
    else
    {
        transmissionOwners = inputUser.TransmissionOwners.Where(to => to.IsImplemented)
            .OrderBy(to => to.TORTDTransmissionOwner.Dbaname).Select(to => to.TORTDTransmissionOwner).ToList();
        _logger.LogDebug("User is standard, count of TOs: {0}", transmissionOwners.Count());
    }
    return transmissionOwners;
}

I've lost the need for Async and forced every database call to be syncronous. When I am not using debug logging, I would rather have async, right?
So my question is, how do I choose the right approach here? Or is there a way to write this method better so that I can have both async and my debug statements if and when I need?

A: You can also materialize after the async call returns:
transmissionOwners =
    (await _toStakeholderUploadDataService.GetTORTDTransmissionOwners()).ToList();

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Our adult class is designed with your spiritual growth in mind. Each class will help you grow in your understanding and application of God's Word. Our desire is that you will be better equipped to live life to the fullest and to serve Christ with passion.


1 To fill part of the image, select the desired area. Otherwise, the gradient fill is applied to the entire active layer.
2 Select the gradient tool _i.
• Click the triangle next to the gradient sample to pick a preset gradient fill.
• Linear gradient j to shade from the starting point to the ending point in a straight line.
• Radial gradient _l to shade from the starting point to the ending point in a circular pattern.
• Angle gradient lJ to shade in a counterclockwise sweep around the starting point.
• Reflected gradient _l to shade using symmetric linear gradients on either side of the starting point.
• Diamond gradient :: to shade from the starting point outward in a diamond pattern. The ending point defines one corner of the diamond.
• To reverse the order of colors in the gradient fill, select Reverse.
• To create a smoother blend with less banding, select Dither.
6 Position the pointer in the image where you want to set the starting point of the gradient, and drag to define the ending point. To constrain the line angle to a multiple of 45°, hold down Shift as you drag.


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The expanded Senior Berks & Bucks County Cup has become the third big non league knockout competition
Since a merge, the Berks & Bucks FA Senior Cup offers Hellenic League clubs the chance to face the likes of MK Dons and Maidenhead United
Bracknell Town celebrate with the Berks & Bucks County FA Senior Trophy. Photo: Neil Graham.
In the summer of 2017 the Berks & Bucks County FA overhauled it's cup competitions, namely combining its premier competition, the Senior Cup with its second tier Senior Trophy competition.
For as long as I'd been watching non league football, the County Cup was the bottom rung of all the cup competitions (and there are many – but more on that later) with the vast majority of teams and certainly supporters paying little attention to it.
It seems strange that a competition which offered a very real opportunity of a final place after only two or three matches could be passed by so easily, but that was almost precisely the problem. There was very little time to get enthusiastic about a competition as a supporter that was over so quickly and often shoe horned in to a fixture list.
As a young Bracknell Town fan the major issue was familiarity – by that I mean being knocked out in the opening round by Marlow pretty much every season in the 2000s. It really didn't get you excited about the competition – as decent a ground as Marlow's is.
Grounds for change
That started to change a little last season, the County FA wisely chose to host the Senior Trophy Final between Binfield and Bracknell Town at Windsor rather than a half empty Adams Park (Wycombe Wanderers home ground as I believe was mooted).
The relatively short distance to travel for both clubs supporters meant their were 100s in attendance and little space around the perimeter of Stag Meadow.
Compare that with the Reading Senior Cup Final between the same two sides a few weeks later and marvel at the non-atmosphere and 1000s and 1000s of empty blue seats at Reading's Madejski Stadium.
Undoubtedly, and I can't stress this enough, for the players it was a great opportunity to play at a professional ground on a professional grade pitch, but the contrast for anyone in the stands was there for all to see and hear.
What's changed and why?
For me, an interest in the competition was peaked in the summer when Chris Cole, the County FA's competitions co-ordinator suggested that they might combine the Senior Cup and Senior Trophy – the latter lifted by Bracknell a few months before.
That would mean the step 5 Hellenic clubs like Bracknell, Binfield, Ascot United and Woodley United (themselves recently crowned Intermediate Cup champions) potentially coming up against Football League side MK Dons, National League sides Maidenhead United and Hungerford Town as well as Southern League sides Slough Town and Chesham United.
Real proper tests against bigger teams, different teams and as it's the County Cup, relatively local teams.
It came to pass that Bracknell came up against Hungerford and won (2-1), and Slough and lost (3-2) – albeit a tight game with many of the Rebels FA Cup heroes in action, oh and 436 spectators.
I spoke to Bracknell player manager Carl Davies about whether the changes had been positive from the point of view of playing in the competition.
"Yeah definitely, you always want to play against better teams and see how you fare and overall I think we did very well having beaten Aylesbury comfortably and of course Hungerford away" he said.
"The only downside being it's a lot harder to go all the way of course!
"Overall I think it's great for 'smaller clubs' to come up against the bigger sides who they would perhaps otherwise never meet."
Ascot United had a 2-0 home defeat to MK Dons and the EFL League One side also travelled to Windsor where they won 5-0. They now face Slough in a semi final while Woodley will host Chesham United in the other last four tie after being reinstated following a quarter final defeat to Thatcham Town.
Why the change has been important
Put simply, there are so many cup competitions it's easy to see why it's important a competition remains relevant and worth challenging for.
Here's the list of competitions the majority of senior Hellenic League clubs first teams will enter in a season.
County Cup
Hellenic League Challenge Cup
Hellenic League Supplementary Challenge Cup (entered if a club exits the above competition in the early rounds)
Hellenic League Floodlit Cup
Reading/Aldershot Senior Cup – admittedly a number of senior sides didn't enter this season
While winning a league cup competition is no less prestigious, you are just as likely to be drawn against the team over the road as you are a midweek trip to Gloucestershire.
The new expanded County competition will at worst send you to Buckinghamshire or West Berkshire and at best a decent local derby.
How do the 'bigger clubs' feel?
Of course, so far all I've said is how good the competition has been for the Hellenic League clubs. What about those sides higher up the non league pyramid? I asked them.
MK Dons Under-23s Head Coach Eduardo Rubio said: "MK Dons is proud to have, once again, taken part in this season's competition. It has been enjoyable and has provided us with an opportunity to visit new teams and venues.
"We have been made to feel extremely welcome by all the clubs we have visited and the matches have always proven to be very competitive."
I also asked Slough joint boss Neil Baker how he felt, particularly after the well attended reunion with his and Jon Underwood's former club Bracknell.
The Rebels boss said: "To be honest from our point of view it has been fine! We have had two good games against Wantage and Bracknell with MK Dons to come! I think it is right that the Senior Cup goes down to step 5 in all honesty!"
What about the future though? Ultimately if the Senior Cup stays as it is – and for the avoidance of doubt I hope it does, for the Hellenic League Premier sides in my opinion it will quickly become the third cup competition in terms of importance after the FA Cup and Vase. Outranking the Hellenic competitions.
James Anderson, manager of semi finalists Woodley thinks there are too many cup competitions. He said: "To be honest I don't really know which cup is which. If I had one complaint this season it would be that there have been way to many cups. Feels like every other week is a cup game!
"Having said that, cups are great for the squad because you get the opportunity to rotate the squad and give fringe players opportunities without pressure. Also, be it a manager or a player you might remember the odd league you win but you always remember cup finals!
"Our County Cup win though against [step 4] Beaconsfield Town was one of our best performances of the season and whatever happens this season, if we stay in the Hellenic Premier or not, it will be something we'll remember."
It's a good point really, with the games again mounting up toward the end of the season in both the league and cups, the County Cup needs to ensure it's relevance and importance to all clubs – and if this seasons competition is anything to go by it's going the right way about it.
Now if both Reading and Wycombe could just be persuaded to put a side in..
Agree with Tom or not on the County Cup? Let us know in the comments below.
Berks & Bucks County FA, Berks & Bucks FA County Cup
Slough Town's Guy Hollis heads to Havant & Waterlooville
Ascot, Bracknell Forest, Maidenhead, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor, Wokingham