This gorgeous wedding took me to Kauai where are all things lush and green make for the most beautiful back drop.
A friend of mine and Kauai wedding photographer had me join her to shoot this wedding. I had so much fun capturing these two. I could really feel the joy their family and friends had about there and really cherishing these two committing their love to each other. It was clear they also knew how to have a really good time.
As soon as the guests saw the waterfall in the valley behind the ceremony site, proper selfies were in order!
This monkey pod tree is a sculpture within itself. Earthy, elegant and simple enough to leave alone for the ceremony.
If I were a Kauai wedding photographer I would have so much fun shooting at all the fabulous beaches there. Love this one we went to, Anini, where Janee & Randy totally rocked these portraits. So classy, cool and full of romance.
Speaking of cool, the reception tent was to me just genius. A combination of couches, dinner tables and bistro tables. It was relaxed and elegant. I loved the green vines with the retro lightbulbs.
Two games were set up for cocktail hour, corn hole and giant sized Jenga. Both were such a hit and the guests were non stop playing with huge smiles on their faces.
Did I mention there was a hurricane on it's way the weekend of the wedding?! Yup, the next day it poured the ENTIRE day. We felt a few sprinkles this evening, but most of all I think Hurricane Ana showed up and made for an sweetly moody overcast day and creamy sunset.
More cool for this Kauai wedding photographer....did you see how the tulle skirt on her dress is removable?! Off it came and Janee was left with the cutest dancing dress!
Thanks for bringing a whole lot of LA cool over to beautiful Kauai! You two had such sweet family and friends there showing you so much support. I hope you feel that each and every day. May your love stay sweet and fresh.


Tarantool's DBMS server uses the storage engine concept, where different sets of algorithms and data structures can be used for different situations. Currently a single storage engine is built-in: an in-memory engine which has all the data and indexes in RAM (in a later version there will be two-level B-tree engine for data sets whose size is 10 to 1000 times the amount of available RAM). All storage engines in Tarantool will support transactions and replication by using a common write ahead log (WAL). This ensures consistency and crash safety of the persistent state. Changes are not considered complete until the WAL is written. The logging subsystem supports group commit.


The School Age Centers are designed to create a healthy, safe, and enriching environment for school aged children. The overall objective of the centers is to facilitate and enhance each child's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. It is our goal to promote each child's self-esteem and instill in each child the desire to reach his/her full potential. To sign up for care, visit MilitaryChildCare.com.
The Youth/Teen Centers are after-school facilities that offer programs to children ages 9-18. Some of our many programs include the Torch Club, Keystone, Triple Play, photography, and much more.


Sunny takes enchiladas to new heights with this tall, layered pie- well-seasoned beef gets stacked with red sauce, corn tortillas and two kinds of cheese. Put the baking dish on a baking sheet in the oven to catch any cheese drips-this pie's a bubbly one.
Preheat the oven to 350degrees F.
To assemble the casserole: Toss the shredded cheeses together to blend and set aside. Add 1/2 cup of the red sauce to a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish baking dish and spread to coat the bottom evenly. Top with 6 tortillas, overlapping to cover the bottom of the casserole dish. Layer the dish by next adding half of the beef mixture and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheeses, spreading evenly in the casserole. Next, dunk 6 tortillas, one by one, in the warm red sauce and layer over the cheese and beef, overlapping where needed. Top with the remaining beef, another 1/2 cup of the shredded cheeses and another layer of tortillas dunked in the red sauce. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top, spread evenly and finish with the remaining shredded cheese. Place dish on a baking sheet and bake until the cheese is melted and the sauce bubbles, 25 to 30 minutes. If baking the dish from the freezer, add 15 to 20 minutes to the cook time, or until it's bubbly. Cover loosely with foil if it's browning too quickly. Serve hot.
This recipe has been updated and may differ from what was originally published or broadcast.


The headline in my news feed grabbed my attention - as it was supposed to: Archaeologists Find Gruesome Coffin Birth. Both the woman and child had died, and were buried, before the so-called "birth." As we all know, bodies that are not prepared by a mortician bloat; they swell with gases caused by the decomposition of the body. This woman, buried more than 400 years ago, had undergone brain surgery, a trepanning, before her death while pregnant. She was, of course, buried with the child she carried still inside her womb. Once she was in her coffin and in her grave, the gases built up inside her abdominal cavity, and the dead child was expelled from her body. The archaeologists "found the bones of the child" between her femurs and within her pelvis. The term "coffin birth" really caught me off guard, however.
And since I had been looking at photos of old cemeteries, it made me wonder what would be found in the old Prague Jewish Cemetery. It is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and one of the most important Jewish historical monuments in Prague. It served its purpose from the first half of the 15th century up until 1786. It now covers 2 acres and contains over 100,000 bodies, some of which are buried 12 deep. It looks and seems incredible! How I would love to visit this place!


Q. Do you still allow for community users who've never been affiliated with UNO? Someone I work with is interested.
You must be a library friend to check out materials, but otherwise they would be free to use or facillites and access our databases and computers.


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Turkey's Erdogan Renews War of Words on Netherlands
Yasin Bulbul, Presidential Press Service, Pool photo via AP
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday directed fresh verbal attacks at the Netherlands amid their growing diplomatic spat, holding the country responsible for Europe's worst mass killing since World War II.
In a televised speech, Erdogan referred to the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, in 1995, and blamed a Dutch battalion of United Nations peacekeepers who failed to halt the slaughter by Bosnian Serb forces.
Erdogan said: "We know the Netherlands and the Dutch from the Srebrenica massacre. We know how rotten their character is from their massacre of 8,000 Bosnians there."
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte condemned Erdogan's comments, calling them a "disgusting distortion of history."
"We will not lower ourselves to this level. It is totally unacceptable," Rutte told Dutch broadcaster RTL Z.
It was the latest in Erdogan's war of words on the Netherlands, which prevented two Turkish ministers from holding campaign rallies in the country over the weekend. The two ministers had sought to campaign in an April 16 referendum on expanding Erdogan's powers, courting the votes of eligible Turks in the Netherlands. Around 400,000 people with ties to Turkey live in the Netherlands.
The Turkish leader previously called the Netherlands "Nazi remnants" and also accused it of "fascism."
Earlier, Turkey criticized the European Union for siding with the Netherlands in the row. In a statement Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the EU's stance on Turkey was "short-sighted" and "carried no value" for Turkey, as well as lending "credence" to extremists.
The ministry argued that the European bloc had "ignored the (Netherlands') violation of diplomatic conventions and the law" after Dutch authorities escorted the Turkish family affairs minister out of the country and denied the foreign minister permission to land.
The diplomatic spat between the two countries escalated swiftly with Erdogan making several Nazi comparisons with EU member states Germany and the Netherlands. The EU has called on Turkey to cease "excessive statements."
The spat has raised concerns that co-operation between the EU and Turkey on a number of issues, such as dealing with the flow of migrants from war-torn Syria, may start to fray.
On Monday, Turkey slapped a series of political sanctions against the Netherlands, including halting political discussions between the two countries and closing Turkish airspace to Dutch diplomats. Other sanctions bar the Dutch ambassador entry back into Turkey and advise parliament to withdraw from a Dutch-Turkish friendship group.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the sanctions would apply until the Netherlands takes steps "to redress" the actions that Ankara sees as a grave insult.
Erdogan said Tuesday there could be more sanctions but did not elaborate. Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Turkey Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci as saying economic sanctions "could come to the agenda in the period ahead."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also backed the Netherlands in its diplomatic fight with Turkey, pledging her full support and solidarity with the Dutch and saying the Nazi jibes were unacceptable.
Erdogan responded angrily to Merkel's support for the Netherlands, exclaiming "Shame on you!" during a television interview on Monday. On Tuesday, Erdogan described both Germany and the Netherlands as "bandit states" that were harming the European Union.
Merkel has refrained from reacting to Erdogan.
"The chancellor has no intention of participating in the race of provocations," Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said late Monday. "She won't play along. The accusations are recognizably absurd."
Responding to another charge by Erdogan – that Germany supported terror groups in Turkey – German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said his country did not need "extra tuition" from Ankara on fighting terrorism.
Also Monday, the German Foreign Ministry amended its travel advice for Turkey, noting that "elevated political tensions and protests that could also be directed against Germany" should be expected during the referendum campaign. It recommended that travelers stay away from political events and large gatherings of people.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Rotterdam said that specialized armed security forces he sent to a standoff with Turkish Family Affairs Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya on Saturday night had permission to open fire if necessary.
Speaking late Monday night on a television talk show, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said he sent the special armed intervention unit to the Turkish consulate amid fears that a 12-man security detail that had driven to the Netherlands from Germany with the minister could be armed.
Aboutaleb said show that it was important to "be sure that if it came to a confrontation that we would be the boss" and that the unit had been given "permission to shoot."
The Turkish minister was eventually escorted out of the Netherlands in the early hours of Sunday.
Earlier, the Dutch also had refused Turkey's foreign minister permission to visit. Both ministers wanted to address rallies about next month's constitutional reform referendum on giving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more power.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte repeated Tuesday – the last day of campaigning for Dutch elections that have been overshadowed by the diplomatic crisis – that Dutch authorities are working to de-escalate tensions with Ankara.
London / EuropeNational SecurityNetherlandsTurkey

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Former Newcastle United star says Mike Ashley influences team selection
Mike Ashley has always denied he has any interference in how things work at Newcastle United, apart from the setting of budgets and other normal things that clubs do.
Not that many (any?) Newcastle United fans will ever believe that.
Mike Ashley clearly responsible for forcing through the (according to Ashley) £43m signing of Joelinton.
Whilst of course the owner's orders to the club not to try in cup competitions, pretty much sums up his running of Newcastle United.
Only this week, we have seen reports stating that Mike Ashley has once again ordered his NUFC staff not to pay money for any players over a certain age, Ashley reported to have told his minions that only free transfers are allowed for any players over 27 years of age.
Another area of the club that has seen previous claims about the owner's behaviour is interference in team selection.
Newcastle fans more than ready to believe the reports of Steve Bruce having been ordered to keep playing Joelinton despite his woeful form. Whilst under the management / head coaching of both Alan Pardew and John Carver, the rumours were rife of Mike Ashley interfering with the picking of the team.
James Perch was a popular player when at Newcastle and became a bit of a cult hero for the fans, always 100% committed and never complained when asked to play any number of positions.
Now James Perch has given an interview backing up the belief / consensus about that Mike Ashley interference, Perch talking to Planet Football:
"I met Mike Ashley three times.
"When I signed and when he came to the training ground a couple of times.
"I know he had influence on team selection.
"I'd be playing on the Friday, then on the morning of the game, Pardew would ring and say I wasn't.
"I guess Ashley wanted his better assets to play, I wasn't a £10-15million player like [Cheick] Tiote or Cabaye, I was just a lad from the Championship, even though I was playing better than them."
Alan Pardew a disgrace:
"I saw Jonas [Gutierrez] for lunch in Nottingham and he showed me what Pardew had said about him [at the tribunal hearing, when Jonas accused Mike Ashley / Newcastle United of discrimination when he was fighting testicular cancer].
"He was one of the most professional players I ever played with and I love him to bits.
"I thought it was a disgrace and I will never speak to Pardew again. I've got no time for him.
"He was saying Jonas wasn't good enough to do this and that, to be in his first team. As I was reading it, I was thinking, 'Jonas played left-back because the gaffer needed him to, he played centre midfield because the gaffer needed him to.'
"It seemed like Jonas would do anything for Newcastle and anything for the manager. He played through injury and came back from injuries. All of it that I read, it was just wrong on so many levels."
Jonas Gutierrez of course won his case for discrimination against Mike Ashley and Newcastle United.
A big part of the case was that Mike Ashley had allegedly ordered John Carver not to play Jonas Gutierrez in matches, so that the cancer sufferer would not play the required number of games in the 2014/15 season needed to automatically trigger a contract extension.
The tribunal decided that Jonas Gutierrez had been disgracefully treated and dismissed the shameful evidence given by Alan Pardew, Lee Charnley and John Carver to the tribunal.
Alan Pardew broke promises…:
"I left in a bit of a storm…It wasn't nice because the two years before were when I enjoyed it most at Newcastle.
"I was promised things that never happened. It was sad, but I thought it was best to leave then.
"Alan Pardew said I'd get a new contract in January 2013, but by the time the window had closed he'd signed a couple of players like [Moussa] Sissoko and [Massadio] Haidara and said, 'We're not going to offer you one now.'
"He'd got my hopes up and then just pulled it off the table."
Things now even worse at Newcastle United:
"I was frustrated with the manager and owner at the time and, keeping tabs on it since, things only seem to have got worse so I can see where fans are coming from.
"They'll only grow more frustrated and I can understand. I saw how things worked first hand."
Interestingly, back in August (2020) James Perch selected the best ever 11 players he had played with and apologised to Jonas Gutierrez!
James Perch tells the official Scunthorpe United site the greatest 11 players he has played with – August 2020:
GK: Alex Smithies (QPR)
RB: Danny Simpson (Newcastle United)
"He was a top pro when I was at Newcastle, he worked hard in training and always turned up in games, a model professional really."
CB: Wes Morgan (Nottingham Forest)
CB: Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle United)
"He was a ball-playing centre-half that read the game very well. He had a great pass, and could've played in midfield if he wanted to. He's a good friend of mine, and worked very hard to learn English during his time with the Magpies."
LB: Jose Enrique (Newcastle United)
"He's another one from my time at Newcastle, he was quick and very good on the ball, no one could really get past him.
"He went on to play for Liverpool which was a great move for him."
DM: Cheick Tiote (Newcastle United)
"Sadly Cheick passed away a couple of years ago, he was an unbelievable player.
"His intensity on the pitch was great, he could do everything, a bit like Kante! He was a great lad, and that goal against Arsenal was probably his best ever."
CM: Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle United)
"I remember when he came over from Lille, he was pretty unknown, but when he played for (Newcastle) he flourished.
"He went on to to play for France and rightly so, he was so composed on the ball and his passing range was a joke!
"He scored goals and earned his big move to PSG."
CM: Ravel Morrison (QPR)
RW: Kris Commons (Nottingham Forest)
ST: Papiss Cisse (Newcastle United)
"I only played with him for 18 months or so, but when he came in from Germany, everything he hit went in!
"That season he played number nine for us at Newcastle he was unbelievable, scoring all kinds of goals. He was unorthodox, but he always found the back of the net which is what matters."
Issue 269 – 2 June 2012
LW: Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United)
"I've said many times how good he was.
"He could and should've been one of the top 10 players in the world, his speed, finishing and technique was world class.
"Much like Ravel, if his mentality was right he'd definitely have been up there.
"To witness some of his skills first-hand was a privilege."
One WHO MISSED OUT:
Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United)
"I feel bad for leaving him out. He gave Newcastle 100% and more.
"The fans loved him for his determination, work rate and application to games.
"To come through his battle with cancer and get back playing, shows exactly what kind of character he is."


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Florianopolis weather today
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Temperatures recorded today and over the last 24 hours for Florianopolis.
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Florianopolis weather conditions recorded in the last 24 hours
07:00 BRT - 18 Jan 2021
06:00 BRT
Weather at 07:00 BRT on 18 January 2021
Broken cloud
21 kph SSE wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 07:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 23°C temperature, broken cloud, light rain and a moderate breeze of 21 kph from the south-south-east.
Sunrise at 05:36 and Sunset at 19:14 BRT (Brazilia Time).
Recorded at 10:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) 18 January 2021 - 8 mins ago
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 06:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 24°C temperature with low heat & humidity, broken cloud, light rain and a light breeze of 11 kph from the south-south-east.
Recorded at 09:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) 18 January 2021 - 1 hours 8 mins ago
13 kph S wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 05:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 24°C temperature with low heat & humidity, broken cloud, light rain and a gentle breeze of 13 kph from the south.
5 kph SE wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 04:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 24°C temperature with low heat & humidity, broken cloud and little or no wind of 5 kph from the south-east.
Moderate heat & humidity
3 kph W wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 03:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud and little or no wind of 3 kph from the west.
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 02:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud and a light breeze of 8 kph from the west.
10 kph W wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 01:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud and a light breeze of 10 kph from the west.
2 kph ENE wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 00:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 18 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud and little or no wind of 2 kph from the east-north-east.
Scattered cloud
8 kph WNW wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 23:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, scattered cloud and a light breeze of 8 kph from the west-north-west.
Isolated cloud
5 kph NW wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 22:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, isolated cloud and little or no wind of 5 kph from the north-west.
3 kph VAR wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 21:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud, light rain and little or no wind of 3 kph.
Recorded at 00:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) 18 January 2021 - 10 hours 8 mins ago
10 kph NW wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 20:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 25°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud, light rain and a light breeze of 10 kph from the north-west.
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 19:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 26°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud, rain and a gentle breeze of 13 kph from the north-west.
Thunderstorms and rain
10 kph N wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 18:10 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 26°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud, thunderstorms and rain and a light breeze of 10 kph from the north.
Recorded at 21:10 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) 17 January 2021 - 12 hours 58 mins ago
Light thunderstorms and rain
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 17:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 26°C temperature with moderate heat & humidity, broken cloud, light thunderstorms and rain and a moderate breeze of 26 kph from the north.
High heat & humidity
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 16:20 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 29°C temperature with high heat & humidity, broken cloud, thunderstorms and a moderate breeze of 23 kph from the north.
Very high heat & humidity
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 15:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Hot 32°C temperature with very high heat & humidity, scattered cloud and a moderate breeze of 21 kph from the north.
19 kph NNE wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 14:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Hot 32°C temperature with very high heat & humidity, isolated cloud and a moderate breeze of 19 kph from the north-north-east.
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 13:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Hot 32°C temperature with very high heat & humidity, isolated cloud and a gentle breeze of 16 kph from the north.
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 11:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Hot 31°C temperature with very high heat & humidity, isolated cloud and a moderate breeze of 21 kph from the north.
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 10:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Hot 30°C temperature with high heat & humidity, scattered cloud and a moderate breeze of 19 kph from the north.
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 09:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 28°C temperature with high heat & humidity, isolated cloud and a gentle breeze of 16 kph from the north.
16 kph NNW wind
Weather conditions at Florianopolis, Brazil at 08:00 BRT (Brazilia Time) on the 17 January 2021 were as follows: Warm 27°C temperature with high heat & humidity, isolated cloud and a gentle breeze of 16 kph from the north-north-west.
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New Yorkers and tourists alike can't wait for the Boulevard of Dreams to kick off.
Crews and volunteers labored in the frigid Tuesday temps to turn a 13-block stretch of Broadway into Super Bowl Boulevard — a free public fan celebration that's expected to attract tens of thousands when it opens at noon on Wednesday.
A lucky few VIPs and workers even got to test drive what's sure to be the main attraction — a 60-foot toboggan ride.
The chosen few squealed and shouted as they shot down the gleaming ride, which will open to the public Wednesday at noon, along with the rest of Super Bowl Boulevard.
Native New Yorker Ivan Clark, 29, volunteered to work at the Times Square event because of all the amazing musical acts he'll get to see, including the iconic Blondie, who will sing for the crowds Saturday.
Although he was born in the Empire State, Clark is a die-hard Denver Broncos fan — and for good reason.
"My cousin is Knowshon Moreno, the running back for the Broncos," he said.
"I'm excited to see him play. I'm working on the Boulevard. It's gonna be crazy. I've heard we should expect 45,000 people here. There are so many free and affordable things to do. I still haven't been given a job yet, but I'm prepared to do it all. Have you seen the toboggan? People aren't going to be able to go down it just once," he noted.
Fans can mingle freely along the Times Square stretch from noon to 10 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Aside from a $5 fee to ride the toboggan, events are free, including a photo op with the Vince Lombardi trophy, autographs from NFL players, the chance to kick a field goal and visit the broadcast sets of the NFL Network, ESPN and FOX.
"I just wanted to come check it out, I work around here and people have been talking about it," said Jake Calderon, 21, from Long Island.
"I'll definitely come back Friday to ride it. I'm also excited about the Vince Lombardi trophy. I want to go see that. I'm a Jets fan but I think it's really cool that we're having the Super Bowl here. ... I want to see a Super Bowl played in the snow," he enthused.
Two women heading into a nearby Starbucks stopped to marvel at the huge structure.
"This is so cool!" one said.
"My office overlooks the slide," the other woman told the Daily News. "We want to get tickets."
Sara Pierce, 14, her mother Joann Pierce, 43, and her friend Amanda Khan, 14, were on a day trip into Manhattan from New Hyde Park but vowed to come back to make use of the attractions.
"We're only here for a day, but we'll be coming back this weekend," Joann Pierce said. "There's going to be music and I want to see what else is around."
Her daughter and her friend had slightly different plans.
"I want to meet Fall Out Boy," Sara said. "They're supposed to be here and I really want to meet them."
"I want to go on the slide!" Amanda said enthusiastically.


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Friday Morning Eye-Opener: Bugged
Have you ever had a moment where you saw a new product and immediately smacked your head because it seemed like such an obvious innovation that you've never seen before, and maybe never even thought about?
That happens to me all the time. (Probably because of a lack of imagination.) And it definitely happened to me last weekend when I went to the Global Market Development Center (GMDC) GM16 business session. I was scheduled to do a version of "The Innovation Conversation" there (with Tom Furphy participating via video because of a scheduling conflict), but I came in early because I wanted to check thing out. (Thanks to Patrick Spear and the entire GMDC membership and staff, by the way, for being terrific hosts ... there seems to be a genuine hunger there for change and innovation, and I think GMDC's size and focus will serve it well.)
What I found was a ton of energy and a desire for change at both the business meetings and the exhibit floor - and one product that made me smack my head.
The item - which to be fair, is not yet on the market, but will be shortly, and I can't wait - is a combination LED light bulb with a built-in bug zapper. You insert the bulb in any standard light fixture, and you can turn the bulb and zapper on together, or just the zapper. The company that makes this item is called Pic, which has been in the pest-fighting business for a long time, though I predict this will be the most successful item it ever has had.
Now, the only thing they have to do is come up with one that is part of an exterior floodlight, and they'll have the whole package. (I'm told that is in the works.)
I love companies that innovate, and unless I'm missing something, this strikes me as a terrific idea with natural consumer appeal.
It was an Eye-Opener, and I just wanted to share it.
Kroger Has Big Quarter, Looks To New Horizons
Kroger yesterday announced its fiftieth consecutive fiscal quarter of positive same-store sales growth, with Q1 sales that were up 4.7 percent to $34.6 billion from $33.1 billion during the same period a year ago; excluding fuel, sales were up 7.8 percent. Same-store sales were up 2.4 percent for the period, excluding fuel.
Q1 net income rose about 10 percent to $680 million.
In a statement, CEO Rodney McMullen said that the company is "very pleased with a solid quarter during which we continued to strengthen our connection with customers and expand our ClickList offering to more customers in more markets. Fifty consecutive quarters of positive identical supermarket sales growth, excluding fuel, is extraordinary. Our associates work tirelessly to produce these consistently remarkable results. We've been through all kinds of business cycles during the last 50 quarters, and we've demonstrated time and again that regardless of the environment, you can count on Kroger to continue executing our strategy, investing in growth and creating value for our customers and shareholders."
And, the Cincinnati Business Courier writes that Kroger "is looking at getting into the prepared foods business å la Blue Apron."
On an analyst conference call this week, the story says, McMullen left open the possibility that Kroger could launch such an effort on its own, or buy an existing business.
"Absolutely," McMullen said. "We would look at any and all approaches. The thing that's important is if we find somebody to make an investment in that would value the leverage that we bring to the party, as well. We would be very open to doing it on our own or doing it with somebody, and I think if you look at our track record, we've taken both approaches."
The Courier also reports that Kroger has expansion plans for Mariano's, the urban store chain that it acquired when it bought Roundy's last year; it has set a goal of opening four or five new stores a year, on a current base of about 30. McMullen described it as "a very aggressive capital plan."
As for remodeling of existing Roundy's units, Kroger execs say they are behind schedule, but not concerned.
"On remodeling stores and making some of those changes it took a little longer to get started than what we would have guessed," McMullen said. "Now why we thought we could have got it started so quickly I'm not sure, and we'll learn that for the next time we do something, because we're still doing it faster than what we could do it within one of our historical Kroger divisions."
I find myself wondering if one of the reasons that the Roundy's remodels are going more slowly than originally planned might have something to do with Kroger trying to figure out how far any of these stores can be pushed into new directions. It may be that these are mainstream stores that need more than a facelift, but figuring out where they fit into a company that is doing some very interesting things - ranging from ClickList to Main & Vine - may take some time. Better to go a little slowly in the beginning and get it right, than rush in and make mistakes. Speed, in this case, probably would look better to Wall Street than Main Street, and Kroger doesn't want to make that mistake.
Walmart Hopes To Increase Sales By Up To $60 Billion In Three Years
Reuters reports that Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has a goal of growing Walmart's sales by as much as $60 billion during the next three years.
At the annual Consumer Good Forum (CGF) conference in Cape Town, South Africa, this week, McMillon said, ""So sometimes people say Walmart is not really a growth company any more. I want to say: 'Well, if we layer on $50 to $60 billion, would that count, in three years?'"
It is good to get up in the morning like your hair is on fire. This seems awfully ambitious to me ... and I probably wouldn't bet my own money on Walmart's ability to grow sales to this extent. But they're a lot smarter than I am, and I would assume that to some degree, McMillon is putting his own leadership on the line by making such predictions.
City Of Brotherly Love Shows None For Sugary Beverages
As expected, the Philadelphia City Council yesterday passed legislation that will assess a tax on sweetened beverages - 1.5 cents an ounce on all sugary or artificially sweetened drinks sold by distributors in the city. The tax is expected to increase prices, but also raise more than $90 million a year for the city.
The debate about the efficacy of such a tax continues, with proponents saying that it will result in the reduction of sugary drinks that have been linked to obesity and diabetes, as well as raising money that can be used for things like public libraries and pre-K education. Opponents, on the other hand, say that the tax reflects a "nanny state" attitude that only will really impact lower-income residents who will be paying more for the drinks, and that there is no real evidence that such an approach to public policy has an impact on the public's health.
A lawsuit against the city is anticipated.
I'm skeptical about how the funds are going to be used; I always think that elected officials rarely live up to these kinds of commitments. And I do tend to believe that it is likely that this bill will be wrapped up in litigation for years to come, which will cost the city all sorts of money that might be better used elsewhere. (Like libraries and pre-K.)
Amazon To Launch New Food, Travel Series In September
Amazon announced yesterday that it will release a new food-related Prime Video series in September, "Eat The World with Emeril Lagasse," which will feature Lagasse and fellow chefs wandering the world in search of great food.
The six-episode series is described as a kind of combination cooking and travel show. For example, in one episode, Lagasse and Mario Batali "start off their journey with ravioli in New York City, and then head to China in search of the best soup dumpling in Shanghai."
The entire series is slated to be made available on Amazon Prime on September 2.
I suspect that binge watching will be healthier for me than binge eating ... so you can sign me up now.
• The Seattle Times reports that Amazon "wants to spread the knowledge of how it put together an ambitious employee-training program that prepares entry-level, mostly warehouse workers for better-paying careers outside the company."
The company reportedly is "open sourcing" the program, called Career Choice, making the "blueprint" available to other companies to customize and improve upon.
According to the story, "Career Choice is an Amazonian twist on the tuition-reimbursement programs common among many employers. The difference is that Amazon prepays 95 percent of the cost, and staffers aren't required to study something related to furthering their Amazon career. In fact, Amazon will pay for training only in high-demand fields that could lead to better-paying jobs, CEO Jeff Bezos said in a recent interview at a Recode conference in California. That means jobs in health care or, say, as an airplane mechanic. The program is 4 years old."
Study: Outlook Not Promising For Many Workers 50 And Older
NextAvenue.org has a story about a Global Benefits Attitudes survey indicating that "American workers aged 50 or older think there's nearly a 1 in 2 chance they'll still be working at 70 but many employees who expect to work longer are exactly the ones who'll likely be least able to do so."
The reason? According to the story, "The workers expecting to keep plugging away until 70 ... are often 'the most vulnerable' and 'showing higher levels of stress, lower levels of health and lower levels of engagement with their current jobs' ... And if these vulnerable workers find themselves out of work, but wanting to be employed, the psychological effects - not to mention the financial ones - could be devastating."
The study goes on to say that of those planning to retire after 70, "only 47% say they are in very good health" ... "40% feel they are stuck in their jobs (compared with 27% who plan to retire before 65)" ... "40% have high or above average stress (compared with 30% of those expecting to retire at 65) ... (and) "48% of workers earning below $35,000 expect to work to 70 or later (vs. 20% of those making $75,000 or more)."
It seems to me that established businesses have to take these kinds of studies very seriously, because the numbers suggest both a weakness in the workforce as well as in the consumer class. Neither weakness is good for business.
• The Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal reports that Target has hired Sam Parnell - described as "the former chief technology officer of sports news website Bleacher Report" - to be "vice president, innovation engineering. Based in Target's office in Sunnyvale, Calif., he'll focus on building an engineering team to support Target's innovation efforts."
The story notes that Parnell will be focused on Target's top-secret "Goldfish" project, details about which have not been released to this point. However, Target has been staffing up for the project, with hires of people who do not have retailing on their resumes.
""Sam is unique as a startup leader in that he also has experience working within large companies," Stringfellow tells the Business Journal. "His ability to gracefully straddle early-stage startups and massive corporate structures is exactly what we need to attract talent from all over the globe to accelerate Target's innovation efforts."
...will return.
OffBeat: Deep Stuff
Finding Dory, the long-awaited sequel to the classic Pixar film Finding Nemo is out today, and I am happy to report that it is a wonderfully entertaining piece of filmmaking that will appeal to, as they used to say, kids of all ages. It also is, as befits the film's locale, remarkably deep and perceptive in its view of the human condition.
Finding Nemo, you may remember, was about how a clownfish named Marlin searches the ocean for his son, Nemo, who has been abducted by scuba divers and taken to Sydney, Australia, where he lives in a dentist's aquarium. Marlin is accompanied in his quest by a blue tang named Dory, who suffers from short term memory loss but displays a consistent and persistent optimism. The movie was an instant classic, and the vocal interplay between Albert Brooks voicing Marlin and Ellen DeGeneres as Dory was wonderful.
It has taken more than a dozen years to come up with a sequel, but it was worth the wait. Dory is at the center of the action this time, and the movie starts with her beginnings, as her parents (voiced by Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy) try to help her get along despite her memory disability. But when she is separated from her parents, she ends up forgetting them, and she forges an entirely separate life in a different part of the ocean.
For reasons too complicated to explain, Dory starts to recover some of her memories, and she sets off in search of her parents, accompanied by Marlin and Nemo ... and the movie veers effortlessly from emotionally touching to outright slapstick, with tons of heart and lots of laughs. (The ongoing joke about Sigourney Weaver made me giggle every time it was used. And there is a subtle adult joke involving octopus ink that made me laugh out loud.)
If anything, Finding Dory may be even more visually arresting than its predecessor - the ocean has never looked so deep and vast and beautiful. And its message - which in the end, is about the acceptance of people who are different from us - is deep and vast as well. Nemo, you may remember, has a deformed fin ... but he is accepted as an equal by other fish. And while Dory clearly has special needs because of her memory issues, her way of looking at the world - seizing the moment without worrying about the legacy issues that hold so many of us back - eventually is seen as an advantage, not a handicap.
Finding Dory is a terrific movie, not just a wonderful animated film. Find a kid and take him or her to it. And if there is no kid available, go see it anyway.
That's it for this week.
Have a great weekend, and I'll see you Monday.


British Amateur Boxing Association - British Amateur Boxing Assotiation website of the governing body of UK amateur boxing association.
European Boxing Union (EBU) - The official website of the European boxing Union, the boxing council of Europe.
World Boxing Association WBA - The official website of the World Boxing Association WBA with Boxing News, rankings, results, events and champions.
Boxing News at Fightnews - Offer news on boxing and all its categories, including heavyweight, light, and welterweigth news around the world as it happens.
European Heavyweight Boxing News - Offers European heavyweight boxing news, also contains information on British, German, global and USA boxing.
Irish Amateur Boxing Association - The national body for this Olympic sport offers history, news, results, notes on Olympic participation and on its home, the National Stadium, as well as links and contact details.
Lennox Lewis - The official website of Lennox Lewis, website includes The Man, gallery, news, coomunity and current archive.
Retired Boxer Foundation - Aims to assist retired boxers, especially those suffering from alcohol and substance abuse problems, homelessness & other.
Women Boxing Archive Network - Offer information on latest and upcoming women boxing events, fight results, photo gallery, news, history and boxers profiles.


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Home / Internet of Things / MongoDB Throws Down Transaction Gauntlet
MongoDB Throws Down Transaction Gauntlet
By Michael Vizard | February 21, 2018 with 0 Comments
Leading open source document database software provider MongoDB is moving to eliminate the need for a separate database to process transactions.
Open source document databases have gained widespread popularity because they enable developers to build and deploy applications without waiting on database administrator (DBA) to build a schema. Most of the usage of open source document databases, however, have been confined to relatively lightweight Web and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. That often creates something of a management headache for IT organizations that still need to deploy relational databases or some other type of proprietary database to support transaction applications.
MongoDB, the leading provider of open source document database software, is now moving eliminate the need for a separate database to process transactions with the beta release of MongoDB 4.0, which for the first time adds support for a multi-document transaction that meets ACID requirements.
The goal is to make it simpler to combine analytics and transaction workloads in a simple to manage databases that eliminate the need for a relational database, says Seong Park, vice president of product strategy and marketing for MongoDB.
"This is a modern next-generation database platform," says Park.
See also: 3 ways streaming analytics could evolve in 2018
Naturally, this move by MongoDB also has significant implications for providers of proprietary document databases that have been up until the primary alternative to relational databases. Via an open source platform, MongoDB plans to make what had been an expensive capability to acquire essentially free.
That move essential counters efforts by relational database vendors to add support for Javascript Object Notation (JSON) formats that are the key enabling technology on which document databases are built.
MongoDB is obviously hoping this new capability will lead to more organizations signing support contracts or becoming customers of the managed services the company makes available via instances of MongoDB hosted in the cloud. Regardless of how MongoDB gets consumed, however, the economics of transaction applications could significantly change. Many of the transaction-oriented applications deployed on a database are nowhere near pushing the transaction limits of a relational database. A significant portion of those applications would equally be just as well served by a document database.
Powered by WiredTiger acquisition?
Park says MongoDB's ability to add this capability traces back to the acquisition of WiredTiger in late 2014 that gave the company access to a new storage engine. That engine, in turn, provides the scale required to support transaction applications. Overall, MongoDB, which went public last fall, has poured a half-billion dollars into the development of document databases, says Park.
At the very least the cost of building and deploying so-called translytical applications should substantially fall. It's not clear to what degree the impact MongoDB 4.0 might have on the need for DBAs just yet. Document databases are substantially easier to set up, which is one reason so many developers choose to end-run DBAs by deploying a document database on their own. However, once document databases begin to proliferate across the enterprise other management challenges associated with managing and database platform at scale in a distributed environment do start to manifest themselves.
Obviously, transaction processing mileage will vary when using the beta release of MongoDB 4.0. But it's already probable that a substantial number of workloads may soon be moving off of relational databases
translytical applications
WiredTiger
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Amazing Value! Beautifully Updated Bungalow located in the quaint town of Bala. Featuring 3 Bedrooms and 1 Bath on a mature treed lot. Open concept living room/dining room/kitchen with large windows allows for lots of natural light. Updated kitchen, bath, windows, doors, paint, etc. Plenty of living room space with separate dining area. Handscraped Engineered Hardwood flooring throughout with Brand New Energy Efficient Baseboard Heaters. Convenient Main floor laundry. New shingles, siding, soffit and fascia. Enjoy the private peaceful backyard or sit on the large front deck enjoying all that Bala has to offer. Ample parking with large brand new gravel driveway. Serviced by Municipal Water and Sewers while the beauty of Muskoka surrounds you! Walking distance to Shopping, Grocery, Moon River, Swimming and much more. Perfect for Families, Retirees, Investment, Etc. Nothing to do but Move In - A Must See!


OBJECTIVES: The extent to which clinical progression of HIV-positive patients leads to an increase in health care utilization, especially prior to their death, is unknown. Thus, we modelled trends in CD4 cell count and emergency department utilization and the likelihood of an emergency department visit leading to a transfer to an acute care-level facility prior to a patient's death from nonaccidental causes.
METHODS: Eligible patients initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in British Columbia between August 1996 and June 2006 (n = 457). Patients were followed until their death, which occurred on or before 30 June 2007 (period in which the emergency department visit data were available). Trends were modelled using generalized mixed effects.
RESULTS: Patients experienced a significantly steep decline in CD4 cell count and a corresponding increase in the number of emergency department visits and transfers to acute-level facilities in the 5 years prior to death. For every 6-month interval prior to death, the CD4 cell count decreased by 13.22 cells/μL, the risk of experiencing an emergency department visit increased by 9%, and among those ever admitted, the odds ratio of being transferred to an acute care-level facility increased by 3%.
CONCLUSIONS: We showed that patients experienced a steep decline in CD4 cell count, which was associated with an increase in health care utilization prior to their death. These findings highlight the substantial residual avoidable burden that unsuccessfully managed HIV disease poses, even in the HAART era. Further strategies to enhance sustained and successful engagement in care are urgently needed to mitigate high health care utilization.


A business, big or small, always needs an effective and trustworthy IT department. IT support helps a business to stay competitive and control IT costs. Businesses can be more flexible with IT support, this allows them to make higher profits.
For any business, data storage and management, are the most important aspect of your business. Data loss can and does happen in many different ways, it can be as common as losing your phone or wallet. The most common causes are an accidental error, theft or disasters like fire or flood, etc. There are a growing number of computer viruses are also a big risk to business information. Once they have infected your computer they can delete or corrupt your data. This is why having IT support will make sure you are protected and if anything does happen they can fix it.
IT support gives you an access to expert professionals to help your business. When things go wrong these professionals are fully trained to deal with nearly any IT issues. Normally small business IT responsibilities fall to someone who was hired to do a completely different job but happens to be good with computers. Managed IT will take care of all of the office's service issues, and allow your employees to focus on the jobs that they were hired to do. IT support staff ensure the installing and configuring of computer systems, diagnosing hardware and software faults and solve technical and applications problems, either over the phone or in person.
The software can sometimes give you annoying technical glitches and you should be prepared for it. Effective IT support helps you with quick solutions for solving your irritating issues. This allows you to become more effective in your job. It saves valuable hours from your important day that you would otherwise spend in fixing the issues. IT support knows how to prevent or stop the issue before it becomes a serious problem. One of the best parts of IT support is that it is cost-effective. You don't have to spend the money of software and technology to try to fix a problem because IT support is fully equipped to deal with the issues.
IT departments give you the security you need for your computer systems, including software to prevent you from different sorts of viruses and other threats. IT department can give out a standard antivirus management system to protect your devices. You can save time, money, and other resources. Anti-Virus protection is still vital to every business IT infrastructure. There are an increasing amount of new viruses and malicious software that can be added to the technological landscape daily.
It is very important to monitor the performance and status of your business at each and every stage. Especially, businesses serving online customers, they require monitoring at all stages in order to ensure efficiency. For example, if you have a shopping cart software on your website, it is imperative to have proper control. If the website goes down for a few hours, this could lead to huge financial losses due to reduced sales. With IT support, these situations can be avoided easily. You can recover your site within a few minutes, as IT support can back up your website or make sure it never goes down in the first place.
Businesses have sensitive data and crucial information, such as salary, financial, HR details, personal information etc. IT support keeps confidential information safe from hacking and other malicious attempts. The IT department is responsible for getting these elements correctly monitored and policed. They make sure that data leakage is prioritised and staff members don't disclose company's sensitive data to outside world.


Celebration time! 20 Posts about Inspirational Blogs - wow! Let's keep doing this.
Celebration time! 20 Posts about Inspirational Blogs – wow! Let's keep doing this.
We're at the big 2-0 baby! Let's serve up some appetizers – scallops! – and get this show on the road! It's the weekend, and there's some P!nk playing in the background as we toastto a series that brings inspiration your way.
Author and blogger Didi Oviatt shares an inspirational message about giving the next generation a boost in confidence in her article 5 Positive Affirmations To Say With Our Children. Now THIS is an amazing gift to bestow on your little boy or girl. Such a wonderful read on an aspect of parenting that may not get enough attention.
Ah yes, spinach. This blog post from Healthy Lifestyle delivers a comprehensive look at spinach, from its origins to Popeye to its ability to protect skin, maintain blood pressure, and more. There is even a recipe for sauteed spinach. Yes! Let's get excited about the foods we choose to put into our bodies.
When your heart is wide open, it can receive the love and other gifts that comes its way. Such is the inspiring message of Free Your Heart, a new blog post on The Utopia Universe. This is a short but meaningful post to give you a bit of a skip in your step!
Oh that mommy guilt. As Vanessa Day writes at Free to Be V, "There's hardly anything that compares to the amount of pressure mothers put on themselves every single day." The most common reasons behind the guilt many moms feel is discussed, along with the shame felt and emotional lashing at oneself. Vanessa talks candidly about addiction and her take on guilt. I applaud her for her bravery and strength.
Good Things Take Time is a new blog post from Alice of the inspirational Alice Wake Up blog. This post is helpful for refocusing on the good stuff in life and leaving behind those bad moments. There's encouragement to live in the present moment, accept what cannot be changed, and more.
Are you looking for a fun weekend project to do with the kids? This DIY Easy Canvas Art Project from the Posimagine blog may be the answer. There are a lot of cool ideas here for creating a handmade piece of art in almost no time at all!
To all of my American readers, I hope your Thanksgiving day was full of love and gratitude. This is a time for reflection, growth, and peace. Didi Oviatt sums it up well in her celebratory post Celebrations, Gratitude, Reflections, and Families. May your weekend be amazing!
A wonderful roundup, Christy. Thank you for the holiday wish. I'm grateful to know you. 🙂 Have a wonder-filled, hug-filled weekend!
Great round-up, Christy! I love spinach!
Congrats on the big 2-0, Christy, and this is a great post, as always! Have a wonderful Sunday! Cheers and hugs!


Mario Kreft, Care Forum Wales' chair, has said that Care Forum Wales members across the board have reported problems with staff morale and motivation.
He said: "What we are picking up from our members and others is a level of morale and motivation that is probably the lowest that it has ever been.
"We urgently need a whole sector solution, we need more nurses in Wales both in the NHS and in the independent sector."
Mr Kreft was speaking after it emerged that two homes in the Bridgend area, Abergarw Manor in Brynmenyn and Southmead Grange in South Cornelly, were to close.
The owner of the homes, HC-One, blamed "a national shortage of nursing staff" for the "very difficult decision" to close the homes.
Mr Kreft said: "Our strategy should be interlinked so that we can work in partnership with our colleagues in health boards, with Welsh Government, to ensure that we're attracting the right people into social care."
He continued: "The commissioning process has to to reflect the people that we need to employ and retain.
"We have to make working in domiciliary and residential care homes a profession with status, recognising its value to the community and that it underpins our National Health Service," he added.


When the Prevent early clock-in prevention feature is enabled, it will prevent employees from clocking into scheduled shifts early, which will help you save time and money. This feature is available on our Plus plan.
Go to the Settings tab on the top purple banner.
Select Schedule Enforcement on the settings page.
Enable the Prevent early clock-in feature.
In this section, you are also able to set an early and late limit for employees.
Early limit: if you have the Prevent early clock-in feature enabled, this will create a limit for when they are able to clock in. Ex. if the early limit is set at 5 minutes, employees will not be able to clock in until 5 minutes before their scheduled shift time.
Late limit: this will create a grace period where employees can clock in until it is considered late. Ex. if the late limit is set as 5 minutes, your employees will have until 5 minutes after their scheduled shift time to clock in before they are considered late.
Save changes in the top right corner of the screen and you should be good to go!


The competition includes the selection of an artist and related art work.
The art prize is open to all emerging artists and professionals.
Permitted use of all traditional and multimedia artistic techniques.
There are no age limits.


To ask the President whether his attention had been called to a statement made by the Minister for Finance in the Seanad on 22nd March last, that the Shannon Scheme, the Dairy Disposals Board, the Drumm Battery and the Beet Sugar Factory were as precious a collection of white elephants as drew their unfortunate owners to the verge of insolvency, and if in view of this statement he will indicate the policy of the Executive Council with regard to those projects.
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. With regard to the second part, large sums of public money have been sunk in these enterprises, and quite irrespective of any views that may be held of the wisdom or otherwise of their initiation and their management up to the present, it is the duty of the Government to safeguard the capital invested in them and, if possible, to secure their success. I need only add that the Government is resolved to carry out its duty in this respect.
I said at question time that that was not an answer to my question. I want to say now that not only was it not an answer to my question, but I submit it was an attempt to evade my question altogether. I asked the President if he would state whether he and the other members of the Executive Council agreed with this statement. This is a very important matter; it is a matter of great importance to the people of this country. The people of this country have, as the President quite rightly stated, sunk a lot of their money in those schemes, and we are entitled, as representatives of the people, to know exactly whether the statements made by the Minister for Finance in the Seanad represent the view of the Executive Council. I may say that when I read the statement in the Press I was amazed to believe that any Minister of this State would be so irresponsible as to make such a statement, and would have such little regard for national schemes, and for the national credit, as to make a statement of that kind. I decided to wait in case the Minister was misrepresented, or was not correctly reported, until I got the official report, and when I received the official report I found that the Minister was correctly reported. Now, I do not want to use very strong language in this matter, but, in my opinion, the language is not too strong when I say that that statement made by a responsible Minister of this House, speaking as a member of the Executive Council, with regard to four schemes of national importance, was nothing less than an outrage, and I want, and I think I am entitled to get, as a member of this House, from the President, a plain "yes" or "no" to my question. I am not going to put the President to the trouble of going into a long, detailed explanation of the matter. I gave in my question the statement made by the Minister, and I asked the President to state whether that was the view of the Executive Council or not. The President can answer me in one word, "yes" or "no," and I hope that the President will shorten the proceedings by giving me a plain and straight answer. I do not wish to say any more about it. It is not going to do any good to drag the matter out, but I do say I am entitled to, and I hope to get, a straight answer. Is the view expressed by the Minister for Finance, who is a member of the Executive Council, holding collective responsibility, the view of the Executive Council on these four national projects?
In 1927, the Minister said, the Cumann na nGaedheal Party went to the country with this as their programme—the hydro-electric development of the Shannon, the reconstitution of the Dairying industry of this country on a new basis, and the establishment of a Beet Sugar Factory. When they came into power they added to that list a new project—the development of the Drumm Battery. The success of that Government's practical policy is expressed by the four schemes— the Shannon Scheme, the Dairy Disposals Board, the Drumm Battery and the Beet Sugar Factory, as precious a collection of white elephants as ever drove their unfortunate owners to the verge of insolvency.
That statement was made when the Minister for Finance was replying in the Seanad, in concluding the debate on the Central Fund Bill. The Central Fund Bill included a vote on account of £8,000, out of a full estimate of £25,000, which had been put down for the development of the Drumm Battery, so that, speaking on the very Bill which included the £8,000 vote, taken by him for the development of one of these schemes, he thought fit to say to the House, and through them, to the people, that this was one of "as precious a collection of white elephants as ever drove their unfortunate owners to the verge of insolvency."
The Deputy is completely misrepresenting my speech.
That will be a matter for argument.
I did not say that there was no patentable device.
I say now that there has not been an American or German patent, the only ones that will guarantee that there is a patentable matter in that invention.
If it is possible to give the Minister a chance to go worse into the mire he will go into it. That is clear.
And the Deputy could refer me to the number of the German or American patent covering that battery.
This is all to be done under the supervision of the President and other members of the Executive Council. It is to be presumed that this represents the Government's policy.
It does not; it is a statement of fact.
At any rate, we had other statements. Senator Connolly told us in the Seanad in October last year that the Drumm Battery was a failure. Deputy Boland told us in this House a week previously that he knew the Drumm Battery was a failure. Is it the policy of the whole Party as well as the Government that this scheme has got to be derided and if it is their policy will they let us have, at any rate, this information: What expert advice had the Minister for Finance, because he is no expert in these matters himself, upon which to base that statement with regard to one of these schemes, the Drumm Battery, that it was a white elephant? If he believes it was a white elephant for what reason did he include £8,000 in the Vote on Account out of £25,000 that now stands in the Estimate for the coming year? I thought it would be a good thing when I saw the blunder that had been made by this statement of the Minister for Finance to have this matter discussed in a better way than by Parliamentary question and answer and I asked that we should have it taken at once, that we should have the Estimate put down on the first day that we met. The information I got from the Whips was that the Minister was so involved in Budget preparations that he could not attend. That was the official reason given. I find to-day an advertisement in the public Press that at some meeting with reference to the everyday uses of electricity the Minister for Finance proposes to display his form on the boards of the Gaiety Theatre. I wish they would keep him on for the evening performance. I see there is a play to be produced called "It's a Boy!" A more appropriate play for him to appear in could not be found.
Are we going to get a statement from the President as to the Government policy on any of these four schemes? As Deputy Morrissey says, if he had given a plain answer when asked about the matter, it could have been settled. But the country wants more than a mere answer of yes or no. The country wants more than a mere repudiation of this ludicrous folly on the part of the Minister. They want to find out had the Minister any expert information at his disposal which warranted his speaking on the matter at all, and if so, who were the experts and what was the expert advice he got? They want to know if he has put that expert advice, if it has been got, before the members of the Cabinet, and if they agreed with him, because there were two members of the Cabinet present in the Seanad when he spoke. They want to know, if that is not the case, having regard to the expert advice previously got, and which is on the files for the Minister and other members of the Cabinet to examine, will they make amends by giving us a detailed statement at the earliest possible opportunity of the prospects of any one of these four schemes and, in particular, I stress the scheme with regard to the development of the Drumm Battery? Are they going to get expert advice? Did they not consider the expert advice which had been got sufficient? Have they any appreciation of what that advice amounts to? Did they know what the proposals of the Great Southern and Western Railways Company are with regard to the particular electrification scheme that has been put before them? Did they believe them to be founded upon expert advice and good expert advice? What has the Minister for Finance discovered that made him expose himself to the ridicule of the populace by this type of statement?
Harm can be done to these schemes by irresponsible statements. Probably the Minister has such a record for irresponsible statements that the harm that might be done by his saying these things about any of these schemes is less than if these things were said by somebody else. I said there was a shock to the public. The shock to the public was not so much that the Minister could find it possible to say these things, but that it was possible for a man who could say these things to be made Minister for Finance. One begins to have doubts for the stability of the country in the matter of finance unless there is going to be something amounting to very close supervision of all that the Minister for Finance works at and announces with regard to what he is working at. I suggest to the President that if he can find no other way it would be a good plan, even at a further cost to the State, to get a second bed in Government Buildings and make him sleep there at night so that he will not be able to give out these fatuous statements to the public.
The first point I want to deal with is the suggestion that there was an evasion in the answer given here. I deny that. Anybody reading the question could only infer that Deputy Morrissey wanted information on one point: Whether we propose to safeguard the public money that was invested in these enterprises and whether we propose to do our best to ensure their success? That at any rate was what I understood was the intention of the question.
Then Deputy Morrissey ought to be able to express himself a little more clearly than he has done in the question. The Minister for Finance, in dealing with the extravagant boosting of certain enterprises initiated by the recent Government, in the Seanad, gave warning that from the financial point of view these require very careful consideration and had imposed upon any Government a very heavy and weighty responsibility.
Could we get a quotation about the extravagant statements?
Deputy McGilligan knows perfectly well that I cannot put my hand now on the quotations. There is no Deputy who was in the last Dáil who does not remember quite well extravagant statements such as that which sent up the stock of the Great Southern Railways Company several points.
Were they made in the Seanad?
They were made in this House. We were told that £80,000 was going to electrify the railway from Cork to Dublin. On coming into office and taking responsibility after extravagant statements like that we have to make the public really aware of the exact situation.
There is a very big difference between our attitude in these matters and the attitude of the late Government. There is a big change of policy, namely, that of honesty about it.
Everybody who is interested in these schemes was watching the amount of public money that was involved in them. Whether the epithet "white" was applicable or not that they were big schemes is certainly clear when you take the figures and see how much money was involved in them. There is involved already directly in the Shannon Scheme a sum of over £8,770,000; in the Drumm Battery up-to-date there has been paid £30,300, including £5,300 taken from the Contingency Fund; in the Beet Sugar Scheme there has already been given in direct subsidy the sum of £980,000 and in indirect subsidy a sum of £1,080,000, making a total of £2,060,000 in all. The sum of £870,000 has been spent in the enterprise of the Dairy Disposals Board. Now considering the resources of this country I think every Deputy will admit that, at any rate, the Minister was not far wrong when he said that we were given charge of certain elephants. There is no doubt that maintaining these enterprises is going to put a very heavy tax upon the community.
Is that an honest way of dealing with the scheme?
It is an honest way of dealing with it because the community were led to believe that we were being handed over, in accordance with the extravagant statements of the recent Ministry, enterprises which were going to be of tremendous immediate value. What was the position? Take the Drumm Battery that the Deputy has been speaking about. There is nobody in this House so anxious to assist research in this country as I am; nobody more anxious to see that public money, when it is necessary to help that research, will be given to it. Deputy McGilligan when he was Minister came along and said that they were acquiring a patent. He did not acquire a patent. He acquired an investigation. That was what he acquired, and he did his very best by extravagant statements made for political purposes, I hold, to injure the chances of that investigation becoming finally a great commercial success. He did everything in his power to injure that scheme himself.
I was in touch with the inventor the whole time.
Then why did the Minister make such statements as he made about the electrification of the railway from Cork to Dublin?
There is not a single statement I made that the inventor will not stand over.
They have been a long time maturing.
That may be. So were Edison's.
I suppose in 100 or 1,000 years hence it will be said that Deputy McGilligan had such wonderful foresight that he was able to see these developments. It is always easy to prophesy. Deputy McGilligan possibly will not be present in the House when it is possible to prove or disprove his prophecies. Let us not prophesy but keep to solid facts.
I am keeping to the question. I am telling the community definitely what is the situation and I am telling them that so far as this Government is concerned we intend to carry on the investigation and see that the public money is safeguarded to the best of our ability and that everything that it is possible to do to make these schemes a success will be done. That is the policy.
Even to keep the Minister for Finance from talking about them.
The Minister for Finance did not do anything like the damage against these schemes that was done by the extravagant statements from those on the benches opposite. It was absolutely necessary to bring people down to bedrock and to recognise what was involved. If the Minister erred, on the other side there was a balance that could be secured between the two.
Brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy.
I do not understand what Deputy O'Sullivan has said.
He is merely quoting from the Minister for Finance.
Deputy McGilligan talked about the mess. He was principally responsible for the making of the whole Shannon Scheme administration. He did not show that there was much hope as long as he had control of it.
We have taken it over, and, as I say, fully recognising our responsibility in connection with the money spent, we do hope that the original intention for which these schemes were started will be given real effect to by careful administration, by looking ahead and seeing where we are going, not by using these schemes merely as political propaganda. Everybody in the House agreed with the idea of using the water power of this country for providing power. It was a question how it should be done, and I still hold, with the extra knowledge I have got now, the original view I held, that from a commercial and economic point of view it would have been better to commence developing our water power otherwise.
May I ask the President in the few minutes left before he concludes this very entertaining speech will he answer my question as to whether the view stated by the Minister for Finance in the Seanad is the view of the Executive Council?
I am answering the question on the Paper, the unsatisfactory nature of the reply to which, I am told, was responsible for this debate. Of course, I am long enough in the House now to know that that is a mere excuse to have a debate on the adjournment.
I am entitled to ask a question.
Sit down, you are not entitled to make a second speech and you are not entitled to tell lies. You did not ask that question.
I submit it is a question for the Chair. Whether I am entitled to put the question is not for the Minister for Defence to decide.
Will the Deputy put the question?
This is my question: Is the Government standing over the statement made by the Minister for Finance in the Seanad? Does that represent the view of the Executive Council on this matter? I want an answer yes or no.
The question on the Paper is being dealt with by the President. That is what is before the House.
I would like to ask Deputy Morrissey to explain exactly himself what he thinks is in that statement.
I would not dream of doing that.
If I am asked to state whether I concur with a certain reading of a certain thing or not, I want to know what reading the Deputy takes out of it, and I shall answer very quickly. If he tells me what his reading of it is, I will tell him whether I agree.
I am quite satisfied with that.
The Dáil adjourned at 11 p.m.


We've long wanted to record Handel's wonderful sonatas for violin and basso continuo, and 2018 is the year we finally got around to it. We've been playing them together since 1995, so it seemed about the right time! The year started with 4 wonderful days of recording sessions in the Great Barn at Oxnead Hall in Norfolk. Editing took place in March, and we launched the disc on 4 and 5 June with two concerts.
The initial concert was back at Oxnead, in fact the first ever concert performance in the venue. What a superb concert venue it is, thanks to its acoustic, location and such wonderful hosts David and Beverley Aspinall. Then, the following day we performed in Handel's own music room at 25 Brook Street, on a warm night, in an intimate, historically-charged space, much as Handel would have done when he played harpsichord in these pieces himself, perhaps joined by his cook on cello, and an esteemed colleague on violin.
It was fantastic to be surrounded by so many loyal friends and supporters at both occasions, so a huge thank you to our BSB family.


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happy saturday night happy hour!
First course: Cab. Last course: cake.
Love this Cliff Lede – all the vineyards are named after rock songs. And I highly recommend chocolate cake with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups – but not with the wine. Not a of chocolate and wine, except for ruby port.
TIP: Dessert wine should always be sweeter than your dessert.
Tags: cabernet, cake, food & drink, wine. Bookmark the permalink.
Why is dessert wine supposed to be sweeter than dessert? Isn't that like a sugar overkill?


PogzLabs: Wondering What to Eat?
A batchmate of mine has this awesome collection of food reviews in his tumblr account. He's been reviewing a whole lot of restaurants, though most of the time he gets his food from the delivery services around the vicinity of Taft. Hats off to Gelo Reyes for compiling a very good review for those people wondering what and where to eat.
Come to think of it, its lunch and I haven't decided where to eat yet. If you have suggestions, drop him a line. He entertains your questions too, maybe you'd like to ask for a good date spot with good food.


Diamonds Direct is having their spring designer showcase! The showcase will include 20% savings on virtually everything in the showroom! Cocktail Hour will be Friday evening, from 5:30-7:30 with hors d'oeuvres provided by Ashley Mac's and live music! The showcase will be Friday, April 12th, from 10AM-8PM, Saturday, April 13th, from 10AM-8PM, and Sunday, April 14th, from 12:00PM-6:00pm. See you there!!


text:
Q: Некорректно работает GetPixel Нужно получить цвет пикселя в определенных координатах окна, использую для этого функцию GetPixel, но в выводе получаю 255 255 255, хотя по координатам явно не белый цвет.
HWND hwnd = FindWindowA(0, "Steam");
HDC DC = GetDC(hwnd);
COLORREF test1;
test1 = GetPixel(DC, 971, 174);
ReleaseDC(hwnd, DC);
cout << (int)GetRValue(test1) << "  " << (int)GetGValue(test1) << "  " << (int)GetBValue(test1) << endl;

Окно точно находит и возвращает верный hwnd. Это я проверял.
На других окнах тоже проверял, везде такая же проблема. Может возвращать не 255 255 255, а, например, 12 12 12, при том, что цвет по координатам совсем другой.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
O Tigre de Trinil (Panthera tigris trinilensis) é uma subespécie de tigre extinto datada de cerca de 1,2 milhões de anos atrás, que foi encontrada na localidade de Trinil, Java, Indonésia. Os restos dos fósseis estão armazenados na coleção de Eugène Dubois no Museu de História Natural de Leiden na Holanda. Embora esses fósseis foram encontrados em Java, o tigre de Trinil provavelmente não era um ancestral direto do tigre-de-java. Os tigres de Trinil provavelmente se extinguiram há 50 mil anos atrás. O tigre de Bali também não estava estreitamente relacionado com o Trinil por causa de suas diferenças de tempo.

Características
Os Tigres de Trinil possuíam de 2,20 a 2,35 metros de comprimento total e pesavam entre 110 e 150 kg.

Ver também
 Tigre de Ngandong
 Tigre-das-cavernas
 Smilodon

Tigres
Mamíferos do Pleistoceno
Felinos pré-históricos
!Esboços sobre felinos
Espécies fósseis descritas em 1908

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