Your store may not have a physical "suggestion box," but there are many new ways to find helpful feedback that may not be so obvious. The more you know your audience, the better you can tailor your messaging to resonate with their interests and needs. Owning and/or operating an independent business is hard work, and sometimes it's easy to be too close to the project to see the bigger picture.
Send regular emails to customers about sales, new products and store updates to keep them involved. You can simply send out an email campaign that says, "Tell us what you think!" for an open-ended approach. Depending on your mailing list size, you can prompt your customers to reply back with feedback or an answer to your open-ended question. Another option is to provide a small survey for customers to fill out online using a free tool such as Survey Monkey. Asking for feedback through email gives customers the time to think through their answer rather than putting them on the spot.
When asking customers to give feedback, try to incorporate an incentive, "Please take the time to fill out this customer survey and automatically be entered to win 50% off of your next purchase." This way people who may not have thought about giving their feedback initially, may reconsider. You can give away prizes such as gift cards or a basket filled with some of your most popular products. These incentives can help boost online engagement and drive more customers into your store. Incentives can be used for more than just feedback. If you're gathering donations for a charity or hosting a contest; be creative!
More often than not, employees have great suggestions but aren't sure if it's their place to speak up. Encourage your employees to submit any ideas they might have to boost sales or improve business. Have a "brainstorming" meeting with your employees and encourage everyone to speak freely about their new ideas.
Facebook and Twitter are the perfect ways to reach a massive audience in one or two simple sentences. Update your social media sites with a status or tweet reading, "We want to hear from you! Comment below (or tweet us) your favorite product that we carry. Those who comment will be entered to win our latest giveaway!" Give a deadline to create a sense of urgency and encourage more people to participate. On a Facebook Page, there is an exclusive tab for customer reviews built into the profile. Customers can give your business a rating based on a five star scale as well as write a brief testimonial. First time visitors to your Facebook Page will see your business's average rating on the left-hand side of the page.
There is always a chance that there are great products out there that you have never even heard of. Have a "Stock Our Shelves!" event, where customers come and submit their ideas about products they believe would be a good fit for your store. Take these new products into serious consideration because it's a great way to keep customers coming back if you are the only store in the area that carries their favorite brand.
There are websites that serve the purpose of an online suggestion box. Add your business's information to websites such as Yelp, Google Places, Truelocal and more. Refer to our roundup below and update your listings.
Encourage customers to give your business a review. Include links to these sites in your monthly newsletter or in-store signage. The more reviews and traffic you receive, the more likely you are to appear in search results. This is a great way to gain new customers through the feedback and loyalty of existing ones.
Try out a few different ways to get customer feedback to figure out what works best for your store. Whether you host contests, develop email campaigns or build your presence on review platforms, you'll be sure to hear a lot of suggestions to implement into your marketing.


How can we help people save energy?
The Greenchoice app enables customers to organise their own energy preferences. The app gives them detailed insights into how they use their energy, and that, in turn, saves a lot of energy.
Qikker created this app together with Greenchoice for iOS as well as Android. The app has strategic worth and is the most important communication tool for Greenchoice's clients. After a successful Launch Project, we are continuously improving the app during our Continuous Improvements process.
Thanks to our cooperation we achieve our goals. Qikker is customer-focused and delivers the highest quality.
Greenchoice was looking for an easy and fun way to make clients more aware of their energy usage, and to help them to become energy neutral. We defined these questions keeping that in mind.
– How can we offer quick and easy insights into energy usage?
– How can we make saving energy fun?
Clients can see their energy usage and what they get back per year, month and day in the Greenchoice app. That gives them a clear insight into what they spend on their energy. These costs can be compared in the app to the rest of The Netherlands', or similar household's, costs. This way people can see if they're on the right track.
This app is for people who are continuously trying to save energy, but also for client who don't have a clue about how much they spend a month. The app makes complex energy numbers clear for every client.
Greenchoice also gives specific tips on how to save energy, which can lead to a quick reduction of energy usage. The client can see how their energy usage has changed because of the adjustments they made.
People with a 'smart' meter and a Greenchoice BOKS-meter, can get real time insights into their energy usage.
Throughout the past three years the app has been the most used touch point for Greenchoice and its clients. More than 10.000 clients use the app on a daily basis.
We developed the app with a Scrum team, and the key stakeholders were Greenchoice, Qikker Online and Greenchoice clients. The first release was developed as a Launch Project, and clients could compare their energy meters with those of other households.
After this it was developed into an app with an extensive dashboard, on which clients could even check their energy usage per 15 minutes. We've described how this process works on the Continuous Improvements page.
Call us if you'd like to know more about this case or to if you're curious how we could help you.


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Corporate Offices & Campuses
Universities & Education
How John Carroll University Switched From an In-House Crew to an Outside Commercial Landscaping Contractor
As a facility manager of a college or university landscape, you have a lot to worry about.
From interior building issues to working with different teams on your property, it's easy for landscape maintenance to drop to the absolute last on your to-do list.
A well-maintained college campus with attractive, usable outdoor areas; vibrant blooms throughout the year; and trimmed and tidy trees, shrubs, and turf can improve a university's student interest. This can work to raise enrollment numbers, while improving student attention spans and scores, enhancing safety and security, and projecting a higher quality brand and reputation.
In fact, a higher education learning environment becomes a second home for a period of time for college students. That's why research shows that students can decide in just 10 minutes visiting a campus whether that university is or isn't for them. The study says 62% of students base this immediate college decision solely on the outdoor appearance of campus buildings and landscapes.
For John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, the impending retirement of the majority of its in-house grounds crew forced the educational facility to look at outsourcing its commercial landscaping. They needed a dedicated landscape crew focused on quality so they could maintain a safe and presentable campus.
Commercial Landscaping Challenges
John Carroll University was founded in 1886. Since then, the college has inspired individuals to excel in learning, leadership, and service in the Northeast Ohio region and the world. This private, coeducational, Jesuit Catholic university provides programs of study in the liberal arts, sciences, and business at the undergraduate level and in selected areas at the master's level.
For decades, John Carroll University had an in-house grounds crew taking care of its exterior campus maintenance.
But this system that had worked for years for the college campus started to deteriorate a bit after the grounds foreman left. Three additional crew members were dedicated to their jobs but preparing to retire. As a result, the college grounds appearance wasn't up to the university's standards.
John Carroll invited Northeast Ohio-based commercial grounds management company Turfscape to take over the work in 2017.
John Carroll University Landscaping Solutions
The Turfscape crew spent the first month getting the John Carroll campus back into shape. This included edging flower beds, pruning trees and shrubs, removing overgrown weeds, mowing the turf, and fertilizing.
Then the Turfscape team created a three-year grounds maintenance plan, focused on high-quality maintenance and enhancements to keep the campus relevant and thriving.
1. A Weekly Grounds Maintenance Plan
Weekly attention on such a highly visible and well-trafficked college campus is crucial to maintaining consistent quality, a professional appearance, as well as securing a sound, solid reputation that matches its history.
Turfscape crew members provide this university with a full-service grounds maintenance program that includes lawn care, mowing/maintenance, trash patrol, and spring and fall cleanup.
Everyone in charge of facility management and on the Turfscape team is aware of the daily and weekly plan, so they all know what's going on and can work cohesively. This elevates quality on the job, as well as efficiency.
2. Additional Personnel for Special Events
John Carroll University holds many large, noteworthy events -- everything from graduations to alumni weekends to recruiting events. One can find several events happening throughout the year.
Turfscape knows that a college campus has to look presentable during these events even more than during an average day. Turfsacpe has the manpower necessary to send several landscape crews to the campus prior to these events so they can spruce up the grounds and get them ready for the additional traffic and attention, amplifying attractiveness as well as safety and security.
3. Landscape Design & Enhancement Plan
Over time, landscapes evolve and change. To keep campus grounds looking attractive and growing healthy, plans must be made to focus on areas of the 30-acre property to ensure they get the attention they need.
Turfscape's landscape designer creates enhancement plans for John Carroll that fit the university's budget and timeline.
These enhancements not only continue to elevate John Carroll's reputation and usable space, but they also show students that the campus cares about its appearance. For instance, the university added an outside study area with work tables that have solar panels and charging stations for its students to use. This helps the college adapt to today's necessities like Zoom or Google Classroom classes or study sessions.
4. Specialized Exterior Experts
Turfscape has many connections in the commercial landscaping industry in Northeast Ohio. As such, they can provide their clients with professionals who have expertise in areas they may need that extend beyond regular grounds maintenance work.
Some of these experts include irrigation technicians, sports field maintenance technicians, and arborists that are certified in proper tree planting and removal. These additional focus areas ensure John Carroll facility managers only have to reach out to one company to take care of all of their outdoor care needs.
5. Seasonal Color
Each season, Turfscape crew members dedicate time to developing an annual color display for the John Carroll campus that brings color and light to the space, brightening the university grounds with lively, brilliant blooms.
In fact, there is no time during the year when flowers can't be seen in landscape beds and containers on the campus. Since the college maintains high traffic year-round and is constantly recruiting and promoting its value to current and potential students, this addition helps them look presentable and showcase that they care about students' well-being and educational growth at their facility.
6. Comprehensive Snow & Ice Removal
In Northeast Ohio winters, a college campus with regular student activity throughout the year cannot survive without having a solid snow and ice management plan.
Having walkways, doorways, stairways, and parking lots clear ensures professors and students can get to and from their courses safely.
A Strong Commercial Landscaping Program for Colleges & Universities
A strong partnership between Turfscape and John Carroll has elevated the campus grounds so much that they have become a source of pride for all those that work and study at the university. The new maintenance and enhancement plans have positively impacted the overall health and appearance of the site.
And the relationship between the two companies has also deepened. Turfscape supports John Carroll University by donating materials at special events, employing John Carroll students seasonally, and volunteering time to share landscape knowledge with students in relevant courses. Turfscape crew members feel like they are part of the John Carroll University family.
Want to learn more about our commercial landscaping services in Northeast Ohio? Get started today with a free quote. We'll review your options together so you can make a great choice.
"When we first contracted with Turfscape, we didn't have a good handle on our inventory of trees on campus. Following a professional survey, we were able to set realistic and attainable goals for the total number of specimens and species. Under-represented and native species were identified along with appropriate locations for canopy enhancement. Turfscape has enhanced our annual Arbor Day observance through their friendly and engaging staff. We have achieved Tree Campus Higher Education recognition three years in a row and counting, as a result. George Hohman, and now Bob Ramser, have been personally involved on campus to ensure the highest standards of quality in greenscaping to keep our campus looking beautiful, inviting, and lush year after year. The entire Turfscape team has become an important element and driving force behind our campus sustainability efforts."
Jeff Your — Sustainability Committee Chair John Carroll University
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Home → About Washington Revels → Executive Director
Washington Revels is delighted to announce our new Executive Director, Tamara C. Williams!
Tamara comes to Washington Revels with a wealth of executive leadership and musical experience. She was the founder and Executive Director of Music Beyond Measure, an arts organization that, like Revels, relies heavily on the gifts and talents of dedicated volunteers. She has devised and led education programs and is a composer and performer. You can read more about Tamara in her biography below.
The Executive Search Committee was impressed by Tamara's combination of attributes – extensive professional experience in arts non-profit management, an external perspective, a willingness to listen, and the skills to build on what we already have in order to achieve the goals Revels has set. Colleagues praise her as a passionate and visionary leader, great communicator, strong community builder, and as self-aware, collaborative, and compassionate.
Tamara truly believes in the arts as an agent of transformation. She loves when performers and audiences come together to tell their own stories through the arts, whether they are personal, historical, or cultural. Her own story illustrates this well: As a young Air Force service member, Tamara was posted in Aviano, Italy and joined the base's Aviano Gospel Choir, which performed public concerts and festivals in small towns across the region. At the end of each performance, the choir sang "Oh Happy Day" and everyone in the audience sang along, despite language barriers, and then joined in feasting together afterward.
Tamara offers a compelling and energizing vision for Revels, along with the attributes and desire to bridge from the present to the future. Ultimately, she wants Revels to be known, not just for putting on great shows, but for also seeking to know what is important to the community and how to celebrate it together. We anticipate Tamara can amplify the voices of others in an amazing way, uniquely among the candidates we considered.
"I am so excited to join the Revels community and look forward to celebrating old and new cultural traditions! For nearly 40 years, the Washington Revels has created community through celebration in the DC area. My greatest hope for this new chapter is to ensure that the legacy of the Revels is built upon and honored, while also embracing and uplifting the rich and diverse cultural and historical heritage of Montgomery County and beyond."
In addition, Tamara has a 7-year-old daughter, Maya, whom she's excited to introduce to the experience of being a "Revels kid." They will be moving to the DC area in June 2022 and look forward to becoming part of the dynamic DC arts scene. Until then, Tamara will be working remotely, with periodic visits to Revels' spring events. Once she is settled, we'll host an opportunity for Revels community members and local arts and nonprofit leaders to meet her.
Tamara was selected through a nation-wide search. She will take up the Executive Director position on March 21st, following the retirement of Greg Lewis after 15 years as Executive Director, followed by an interim period of co-leadership by Ross Wixon, Administrating Director and Colin K. Bills, Producing Director. Colin will continue in his role as Producing Director, while Ross has chosen to seek new opportunities closer to his new home in central Maryland. Tamara will lead the office staff, day-to-day operations, and strategic visioning for Washington Revels as we enter a new phase of development, post-pandemic. She will collaborate closely with Artistic & Education Director Roberta Gasbarre, Music Director Betsy Fulford, and Associate Artistic Director Andrea Jones Blackford.
The Washington Revels Board is excited about the emerging partnership. Joan Burns, chair of the board, shares, "We are thrilled to welcome Tamara C. Williams as Executive Director. Her warmth, character, enthusiasm, and passion for the arts will be an inspiration to the Revels community, and we look forward to an exciting future with her as our leader."
Please join us in giving Tamara C. Williams a warm welcome to the Washington Revels community!
Tamara C. Williams is a jazz vocalist, composer, nonprofit founder, arts administrator, and veteran of the USAF (1999-2003) with a very personal mission: To always be in service to others in a way that uplifts. This mission is why she founded Music Beyond Measure (MBM) in 2013, to help trauma survivors use music, group songwriting, and performance to tell their stories. Although the organization was founded over 9 years ago, the origin of this work began in 2005 when Ms. Williams volunteered with domestic violence and sexual assault organizations in the greater St. Louis area, serving as an advocate for the prevention of violence against women. Using poetry and creative writing, she worked with survivors to help them use artistic expression as a healing tool, which was the beginning of what she would later describe as "arts recovery programming." This programming yielded the "Sing Your Story" Project, which partners professional musicians with trauma survivors to compose and perform their own songs; the Montclair Community Chorus, which performs original songs written by survivors in order to start community discussions about trauma; and the Mindful Music program, which merges quality music instruction with mindfulness techniques meant to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.
With an educational background in Music (B.A. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 2009) and Jazz Studies (Masters, Michigan State University, 2011), Ms. Williams has worked with numerous arts organizations (Jazz House Kids, Thurnauer School of Music) and universities (MSU Community Music School Detroit, William Paterson University) to teach, manage, and facilitate arts programming in Michigan, NJ and NY. During her brief role as Program Manager with the Young People's Chorus of New York City, Ms. Williams started the Young People's Chorus at Washington Heights, the organization's first neighborhood choral initiative for elementary youth living in Washington Heights.
Music Beyond Measure was 1 of 11 organizations selected as the inaugural class of artists and nonprofits to provide arts programs to youth probation clients and the community as part of NeON Arts, a partnership between Carnegie Hall and the NYC Department of Probation. Initially meant to be a 2-year program, NeON Arts still takes place today because of the foundational work presented by MBM and the other artists and arts organizations who were part of that class. Since then, Ms. Williams has created partnerships with organizations and government agencies across NY and NJ. Through MBM, she has worked with the NYC Administration for Children's Services, New York Presbyterian Hospital's D.O.V.E. Program, the Urban Resource Institute, Children's Village, Jersey City Medical Center, and many more.
In 2018, Ms. Williams was invited by Carnegie Hall to train their Lullaby Project teaching artists on how to better engage artistically with diverse populations. Carnegie Hall also invited her to be one of their teaching artist trainers/presenters for their yearly International Teaching Artist Conference 4 (ITAC4), which welcomes teaching artists from all over the world to learn new ways to better engage artistically with their target populations. In 2012, Ms. Williams was recognized for her work as the recipient of the "Trailblazer in Arts and Culture" award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Bergen/Passaic NJ Chapter. She is also an alumna of the Creative Community Fellowship with National Arts Strategies (2014) and Rutgers University Business School's Victoria Emerging Leadership Program (2019). In March 2022, she was selected as the first Black woman to serve as Executive Director of the Washington Revels.


At Prestige Decor service is our specialty! We value each and every client, and provide honest, expert advice on a variety of specialty services ranging from: custom window treatments, drapery installations, furniture upholstery, marine fabric, cushions, flooring, and more. If you don't have the time to come to Prestige Decor in Mississauga, we offer affordable and completely deductible shop at home services where our experts come to you anywhere in and around the greater Toronto area.
Our window treatment experts are some of the most experienced and creative in Canada. We work with you to make your dream curtains come to life.
Preserve your valuable furniture with our world-class upholstery service. Whether you are looking to match the original fabric or give it a person twist, residential or commercial, we can get it done.
With tons of experience, our drapery installers are some of the most saught after in the city. Professional, careful & on time, we'll have your drapes up in no time.
Our interior decorators and fabric specialists are available during business hours to offer invaluable advice for your unique needs.
Our friendly and experienced interior decorator will come to your location anywhere in the Greater Toronto Area and provide expert advice.
Find answers to frequently asked questions about our services. If you have a question we'll gladly answer it.
Do you service cities outside of the GTA?
Do you offer only services or do you sell products as well?
We offer both services and products! Our one-stop shopping experience allows you to get all the advice, expertise and products at one place. From window treatment consultations, to shop at home service, furniture upholstery, marine and specialty fabric, marine carpet, designer wallpaper, to intallations and much more. We are recognised for our expertise, large variety of specialty fabrics, and top-notch service.
Can you match current interior colours and style?
Yes, this is what we are all about! It is our goal to help bring your style and ideas to life. We work with you to make your home or office perfect for you and we are here to provide customized advice, solutions and products that will accommodate your current interiors and make your home or investment property that much more beautiful.
Can I do the window treatment installation by myself?
Yes, you are free to install the custom window treatments that you purchase from Prestige Decor by yourself. However, we cannot offer any guarantees if something goes wrong and fixing a problem may cost more than getting an installation service from us in the first place. Our blinds, shades and drapery installers are experts and provide professional installations everytime.


Lately my parents have been talking a lot about how to save money and how to move their money around to pay the bills that they have because my dad's job is getting cut back a little bit. So money is a little bit of a situation in our house. We have to think about how we can save.
ALMOST TWENTY YEARS AGO, WHEN he was running for president for the first time, Bill Clinton had a campaign strategist from Louisiana named James Carville. Carville, whose nickname was the Ragin' Cajun, gets a lot of credit for Clinton's victory because he focused the campaign on the economy. He even wrote the words "It's the economy, stupid" on a piece of paper and posted it in the campaign's war room, a sort of mission control, so that no one would forget what they should be emphasizing.
What did Carville mean? He understood that the early 1990s, much like the last few years, and of course the Great Depression, were a time of financial worry for many people. When the economy is chugging along nicely, there are plenty of jobs, businesses are growing, and prices on things that you need to buy every day, like gas and milk, aren't out of control, and as a result most people feel safe and secure. When it is not, people want change—and they vote for change. That's what ushered Barack Obama into the White House in 2008. By making sure that the Clinton team remembered, every day, that the economy was issue number one, Carville and company won the White House.
The economy has been issue number one in the last few years as well. Any time you turn on one of the twenty-four-hour news channels, you are likely to hear about it. But what is the economy? What is it really?
The economy, simply put, is the exchange of goods, services, and natural resources by people and companies. Goods are physical products. Guitar Hero is a product. So are AirHeads. Services are jobs or functions that people or companies perform for one another. Cooking dinner in a restaurant is a service, so is designing a website or fixing an air conditioner. And natural resources are non-man-made items that can also be exchanged. Coffee, natural gas, and water are all natural resources. When people talk about "the economy" on television, they are usually talking about the national economy of the United States. But your town, city, state, and region have smaller economies of their own. And the global economy includes all of the different goods and services being exchanged around the world.
I Asked: How is the economy doing?
Well, I know that we're in trillions of dollars of financial debt and that in this economy there's no room for spending.
We're in a recession. It's not a depression. It's a little before that.
You hear all this stuff about how the economy is bad.… I don't really get any of that.
As you can see, when I asked the question, the perception was that the economy was struggling. But there is—at any point in time—a real way to tell how the U.S. economy is doing. We have many ways to measure it, but the main measurement tool is called GDP, or gross domestic product. This is the value of all of the goods and services in the country. Essentially, it's the size of the economy, but you won't usually see GDP expressed as a dollar amount. Instead it's expressed as apercentage and used as a comparison from quarter to quarter or from year to year. For example, you might hear a reporter on a financial news station report that the U.S. GDP is up 2 percent year-over-year. That means the economy is 2 percent larger than it was last year. If GDP is up, the economy is growing, and that means good things, like more goods, more services, and more jobs.
GDP tells us what is happening in real time. Then there's the crystal-ball data—signals, or indicators, that tell economists if things are headed up or headed down. Some of these signals are called leading indicators. They move ahead of the economy. If a leading indicator is up, the economy as a whole will likely be growing. The stock market is a leading indicator. It goes up before the economy does. Other signals are lagging indicators; they move after the economy. Unemployment is a lagging indicator. It improves after the economy is already showing signs of getting better.
And then there is inflation. Inflation is a measure of the price increase in goods and services. You may think higher prices are always a bad thing, but they're not. If an economy is going to continue to grow, prices have to go up and wages need to rise. The key is that neither of those things goes up much more quickly than the other. For example, if prices rise too far too fast, but the amount of money you're earning lags behind, you likely won't have enough money to buy the things you need. And if you—and all the consumers like you—aren't spending, the economy will suffer as a result. Back in the 1970s the United States went through a period of double-digit inflation. The economy was struggling, the Vietnam War had just ended and energy prices were soaring (ask your parents to tell you about the lines at the gas pumps when Jimmy Carter was president and they were kids). Since then things have been much better. Recently, inflation has been averaging about 3 percent, which has no one worried.
On the front, in the top left corner, right under "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA," it says in smaller type: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." You'll find the same words on every bill, from twenties to hundreds, and they mean that the U.S. government will back up a dollar with a dollar. And because the government always has, everyone therefore believes a dollar is worth a dollar.
The next question, of course, is: What's a dollar worth? Your parents may chuckle and say something like, "Not as much as it used to be." That's because of inflation, which over time has eaten away at the purchasing power of the dollar. When I was your age, for example, I could buy a can of Mountain Dew (my favorite!) for twenty-five cents in the vending machine at my summer camp. Today the same can of Mountain Dew is likely to cost you seventy-five cents or even a dollar. That's inflation at work.
It actually affects the U.S. economy a great deal. For the last few decades 70 percent of our economy has been totally supported by consumer spending—on everything from food and housing to health care to stuff. The other 30 percent of GDP comes from government spending. Over the past few years your parents and other adults started saving more and spending less, which was good for them individually, but it wasn't all that good for the economy as a whole. Spending money rather than socking it away boosts the fortunes of companies and the economy overall.
CONSUMER CONFIDENCE: This is how positive consumers are feeling about how the economy is doing. It is measured by how much people are saving and spending.
THE DEFICIT: If you spend more money than you have, you have a debt. The amount of that debt is the amount you owe. When the federal government spends more than it takes in—from taxes and other sources—each year, that is called a deficit. If the government is able to spend only what it takes in, then its budget is balanced. One worry of a big deficit is that it can lead to inflation.
I wish it were as easy as that. Unfortunately, though, if you make more money without increasing the value of what's backing up that money, its value will drop.
You're probably wondering, What backs up our money? The answer is the strength of our economy and the amount of goods and services that we produce. If our economy gets bigger, our money will get stronger and remain strong. If we just print more money or pump more into the system, its value will drop. Inflation, or an increase in the prices of goods and services, would also occur.
UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: This is another indicator of how the economy is doing. If you're over the age of sixteen and have a job or are actively looking for a job, you are a part of our nation's labor force. If you are in the labor force and you don't have a job, you are unemployed. Every month the government conducts a survey to get an idea of how many people are working and how many people are unemployed. In July of 1999, 4.3 percent of the nation's labor force was unemployed. That's about where the unemployment rate should be. At that point few people are worried about it. Ten years later, in early 2010, the unemployment rate soared to 9.7 percent and many people were worried because it was yet another signal that the economy was suffering. When the unemployment rate is high, people have less money, they buy less, and fewer goods are produced.
In recent years more banks have failed than usual. In 2009, 92 banks failed, the largest number since 1992, when 181 banks failed. Your money is safe, though, because of something called the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC. The FDIC was established by the Banking Act of 1933. The FDIC was created after the Depression to restore people's confidence in banks. Until 2008, any individual account holder could put up to $100,000 in a bank and know that it was insured by the government. If the bank went under, the government would be responsible for giving you back your money up to that $100,000 amount. In 2008, however, we entered the period called the Great Recession.
Q: What's the difference between a recession and a depression?
A: A recession is when your neighbor loses his or her job. A depression is when you lose yours.
Not so funny, I know. During the Great Recession jobs were being lost. Banks and brokerage houses were going under. And the head of the FDIC, a woman named Sheila Bair, started to fear that we were going to have another period of panic and bank runs, and that that would make an already shaky economy even worse. So she worked to have the limits on FDIC insurance raised. Today, as a result, each individual can put up to $250,000 into any one bank and know that it is insured by the FDIC. What if you have more money than that? Then you need two names on the account—a husband and a wife, or a parent and a child—to double the protection. Or you need to open accounts at two or more different banks.
One more thing: Just because a bank fails does not mean you have to rush to pull your money out. Typically, a bank fails when it can't meet the needs of its depositors. Then the FDIC steps in. It may operate the bank itself as a federally owned bank or very quickly sell the bank to another bank that isn't having financial problems. Unless you read about it in the paper or online, you as a depositor may not even know what's happening. You can still use your debit card or write checks. You can still use your ATM card. You just may go to sleep thinking that your money is in the First National Bank and wake up to find that it's in the Second National Bank. Eventually you'll get a new ATM card or debit card or checks, but there's no need to panic, because you're not likely even to feel the change.
But what determines interest rates? Let's focus on one interest rate in particular. The fed funds rate is the interest rate at which the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the U.S. government) lends money to banks. It is controlled by the Federal Reserve itself. Eight times a year the Federal's Open Market Committee meets to decide whether it will raise the federal funds rate, lower it, or leave it unchanged. Many other interest rates—from the prime rate (the interest rate that banks charge their best customers), to the interest rate you earn from your bank on your savings, to the interest rates you pay to buy a house or a car—are affected by changes in the fed funds rate. But interest rates aren't the only things affected. The stock market tends to rally, or move higher, when interest rates are reduced, because businesses can borrow more money cheaply. When interest rates rise, the stock market generally has the opposite reaction.
The Federal Reserve's Chairman and its Board of Governors understand that if interest rates are high, people are likely to borrow (and spend) less and save more. And if rates are low, people are likely to borrow (and spend) more and save less. They use this knowledge to move the economy to a place where it is growing not too quickly, not too slowly, but just right. (This is called the Goldilocks economy.) Getting the economy to behave like the fairy tale, however, is far from easy. It takes a lot of understanding of how the economy works, and sometimes trial and error. And it's not a perfect science. Think of it this way: The Fed has tools that can help the economy along, but it can't control it completely.
Managing the nation's money is a big job… but it must be done. In the United States that job falls to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve—or the Fed, as it's commonly known—is our nation's central bank.
Created in 1913, the Federal Reserve System was designed to keep our country's monetary and financial system safe and stable. The Federal Reserve is made up of twelve banks across the country and a number of branches. These banks and branches are under the careful watch of a group known as the Board of Governors. The board is made up of seven members who are first chosen by the president and then approved by the Senate. The Fed regulates the United States' interest rates and money supplies; distributes money to the country's banks, credit unions, and savings and loans associations; provides financial services to the U.S. government; and educates the public about the economy.
Since 2006 the Federal Reserve chairman has been Ben Bernanke—Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2009 for avoiding another Great Depression. Before becoming chairman, Bernanke was the chairman for the president's Council of Economic Advisers. He also served in several other roles in the Federal Reserve System and for many years was an economics professor. How did Bernanke get so smart about the economy? He studied. A lot. Bernanke graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics and went on to get his PhD in the subject from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Time called him "the most powerful nerd on the planet." Sometimes being a nerd pays off big-time.
How often have you heard a parent exclaim, "My kids think that money grows on trees. They have no idea about the value of money. They just want, want, want." How do children learn about money? What is it we want them to know? Do we know enough to explain money management to them, and are we comfortable doing that?
Not Your Parents' Money Book is a step-by-step discussion of the important issues of personal finance and money management. The author, Jean Chatzky, spent three months meeting with groups of middle school and junior high school students from around the country. She discovered what these young people already know about money and what they wanted to find out. The results are highlighted in this very readable book that features fun facts, trivia, and real information about the students' pressing question of how one can make more money.
Parents, grandparents, and teachers can use this fact-filled handbook. It is a great resource for any adult who has a special relationship with a preteen or teenager.
Below are two guides: one for parents and another for teachers. The parents' guide provides an overall look at the book's content and offers suggestions suitable for home use in a one-on-one setting. The teachers' guide is a chapter-by-chapter list of discussion questions and activities for the classroom or reading group. Please use whichever information is most appropriate for your situation. And please enjoy the understandable way in which the author presents the details of a complex subject.
Not Your Parents' Money Book is a handbook about personal finance for middle school and junior high school students. While the content is written in language appropriate and interesting to young people of this age, its chapters are packed with important and useful information for folks of any age. Adults can use this book as a shared experience with their child in any or all of the following ways.
2. Share your own money experiences with your children. At whatever level you are comfortable, inform them of your household's mortgage costs, car expenses, and food costs.
3. Your child's allowance is a lesson in money management. If your child does not currently get an allowance, begin it now. Be sure to agree upon the expenses that the allowance will cover since that determines the amount you will provide each week.
4. Let your preteen/teenager help you balance your checkbook. If he or she is earning extra money, it might be a good time to open a checking account in his or her name. This is a good time to open a savings account too.
5. There are many exercises and quizzes in each chapter of Not Your Parents' Money Book. They complement and reinforce the ideas presented and they are fun to do with your child.
6. Enjoy this experience with your child. It will refresh your knowledge and open your child's eyes to the real world of money.
The following guide presents discussion questions and activities for each chapter or topic in this book. The content is written in language appropriate and interesting to ten- to fourteen-year-olds. There is much important and useful information packed into each chapter.
Use the discussion questions listed below to start the conversation about the subject matter before the actual book chapter is read. There are quick quizzes embedded throughout the book which should be used as the class learns the content of each chapter. Suggested activities can be conducted as individual or group projects.
Not Your Parents' Money Book is a "real world" math unit that holds student interest. Do not underestimate the sophistication of your students when it comes to this topic.
The goal of this book is to give young people a basic understanding of personal finance. Depending upon the age and academic level of the students, the teacher can modify the objectives listed below.
Not Your Parents' Money Book is progressive. Each chapter builds upon the information in the previous ones; this guide is written with that in mind.
Look through the book: chapter titles, appendices, glossary (note that each underlined word in the text is listed in the glossary). Pay particular attention to the list of online games that enhance the concepts presented in the book.
1. Why is money important?
2. How do you manage (handle) your money?
What do adults mean when they talk about "the economy"?
Are we presently in a bad or good economy?
Find out the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the United States for this quarter. Is it good or bad?
Design a flow chart describing the movement of money in the banking system.
Divide students into groups of five or six people. Each group has the assignment of finding out what happens to the country's overall economy when interest rates go down or interest rates go up. Each group gets one assignment so there will be more than one group looking at both situations. Did all the groups reporting on low or high interest rates draw the same conclusions?
How does one get enough money to live comfortably?
How much money do you think you need to live comfortably as an adult?
What have you learned from your parents about money?
What does "delayed gratification" mean?
How can you make money (and not just through babysitting)?
Generate a list of jobs for young teens. Compare it to the list found in Chapter 3.
Have students take the quick quiz in Chapter 3.
How much money does a young person need in a year for going out on weekends, clothes, school supplies, and snacks?
How much money do you believe your parents spend on you each year?
How much do you think the average adult in the United States earns each year?
What are the best paying jobs/professions in the United States? What do really famous people earn? Make a list and compare it to the salaries listed in the book.
Discuss the difference between "needs" and "wants." Use the worksheet in this chapter.
Have each student keep track of what they spend for a week or a month.
Group activity: Make a bar graph depicting age and allowance amount.
What do you need to save money for?
What do you want to save money for?
How much money should you save? What do your parents think? Do they agree with your estimate?
Find a picture or draw one of something you want to save for. Hang it above your desk or make it the background on your laptop or cell phone. It will be a reminder to help you save.
Complete the needs-and-wants worksheet in this chapter.
What is a bank? What is a credit union?
How does a checking account differ from a savings account?
Have students refer to the checklist included in this chapter. What information does it contain?
Practice balancing a checkbook. Search online for sample statements and checkbook illustrations to share with the class.
Does anyone have his or her own credit or debit card? How do you use it?
Do your parents allow you to use their credit cards?
Play "Let's Make a Deal." Use the list of items in this chapter or have the class create their own list. The students then guess how much they think each item on the list costs; compare guesses with the actual costs (which they can research online).
Conduct a survey with each student asking their parents what they prefer to use for their daily and recurring expenses: credit card, debit card, or cash/check? Why?
Have students take the quick quiz on good debt vs. bad debt.
What does "risk" mean when we are talking about investing?
Each student picks a company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It should be the stock of a company that they are familiar with (e.g., McDonald's, the Gap, Google, Amazon, etc.). Set a time frame in which the students follow the stock day by day or week by week in the newspaper or online. At end of the time period, each student prepares a visual graph of their stock's performance and a short summary of why they believe their stock performed the way it did.
What kinds of feelings do you personally have about money (e.g., guilty, happy, anxious, causes fights, etc.)?
Do you or your families ever donate money or material objects/belongings?
Divide the students into groups to discuss the situations concerning money and value judgments noted in the "Money and Right and Wrong" section of this chapter.
Those students interested in the information noted in this section can prepare reports of their findings to the class.
Use these as an integral part of your discussion and unit. It will hold your students' interest and reinforce the information presented in the book.
Jean Chatzky is the bestselling author of several books including Pay it Down!, You Don't Have to be Rich and Make Money, Not Excuses. She is the financial editor for The Today Show and has is appeared on Oprah as a money coach several times. She has two children and lives in Westchester County, New York.


Adam's price-computing scales are easy to operate, facilitating smooth and efficient transactions for users and customers. With large backlit displays that show weight, price per unit, and total cost, the scales speed the entire process by simultaneously showing information to customer and operator. Easy to maintain, the scales offer stainless steel pans that withstand frequent cleaning required in tasks such as weighing meat and cheese at the deli or measuring frozen yogurt at the shop.
Ideal for farmers' markets or roadside produce stands, they operate with AC adapter or battery, so they can operate where electricity isn't available. Rubber feet offer stability on desks, tables, countertops or unsteady surfaces, resulting in consistent, accurate readings. RS-232 interface is available on the scales, allowing information to be transmitted to a printer or computer.


Social Media platforms constantly, and frustratingly, change their image sizes often. So, to keep you updated we've created a 2016 Social Media Images Cheat Sheet.
Hopefully this helps make your job a bit easier as you're trying to size everything appropriately when setting up, or updating, your social media accounts.
The infographic below includes all major social media platforms and displays specific image dimensions. Enjoy!
How Much Do Social Media Jobs Pay?


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Kenya, Mozambique sign visa waiver agreement – VIDEO
Golf: Mugo, Muraya, Njuguna are Limuru Ladies Invitation 2022 winners : The standard Sports
By PSCU
Kenyans traveling to Mozambique will now not be required to acquire visas before visiting the Southern African nation, thanks to a visa waiver agreement signed between the two countries on Wednesday. Similar courtesies will be extended to Mozambicans coming to Kenya.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi, witnessed the signing of a bilateral agreement to abolish visa requirements for citizens of both countries in order to ease trade and travel between the two nations.
And, speaking while addressing a Kenya-Mozambique business forum in Nairobi, the two leaders challenged the private sector to exploit the huge trade potential that exists between the two countries.
President Kenyatta decried the slow pace of growth in trade between the two nations in spite of the large market and numerous investment opportunities.
In 2017, Kenya's imports from Mozambique were worth$31 million while exports were valued at $12 million.
He said the two nations have so far largely traded in manufactured goods, an encouraging sign that Africa's industrial sector is picking up.
"Kenya and Mozambique are similar because they both work with the private sector," said President Kenyatta as he encouraged the business community to take advantage of the bilateral agreements and favourable trade policies in the two countries.
President Kenyatta challenged Kenya's private sector to diversify its exports and to also tap into new investment opportunities in Mozambique, including in the lucrative mining, oil and gas sectors.
The President said Kenyan cement companies have now started importing coal from Mozambique, which also has vast deposits of natural gas, indicating that trade between the two countries is growing.
He also invited companies and traders from Mozambique to invest in Kenya's expanding economy which is open, safe and friendly for business.
The two leaders said improvement in infrastructure will boost Intra-Africa trade, which is still very low.
President Kenyatta said he will work closely with President Nyusi for the successful implementation of all agreements signed between the two nations.
On his part, President Nyusi said Kenya and Mozambique have strong bonds because they share a history stretching back to more than a millennium and that the people of the two nations are related.
President Nyusi urged the private sector in both nations to spearhead the expansion of economic partnerships between the two nations, especially in sectors such as agriculture, agribusiness, minerals, tourism among others.
"We should enhance partnership between our private sectors," said President Nyusi, who noted that his country can share its experience in fishing with Kenya.
He said Mozambique will participate in the upcoming Blue Economy Conference to be held in Nairobi from Monday next week. President Nyusi will lead the Mozambican delegation at the conference where 11 Heads of State and 8,000 delegates are expected to attend.
The Kenya-Mozambique business forum was also attended by Deputy President William Ruto and Cabinet Secretary for Trade and Industry Peter Munya among other government officials.
President Kenyatta and First Lady Margaret Kenyatta later hosted a State Banquet in honour of President Filipe and the Mozambican First Lady, Isaura Nyusi, at State House, Nairobi.
Speaking during the banquet, President Kenyatta said the cultural and language similarities that Kenya and Mozambique share make it easier for its people to interact.
"We are one people bound by a common history, one culture and love for one Africa," said President Kenyatta.
He said the similarities of culture, language and people is testament to the rich heritage.
The similarities in language was demonstrated by President Nyusi who, during his speeches at the various functions, would sometimes switch to Kiswahili, in which he is very fluent.
President Kenyatta said that Kenya and Mozambique will, beside their economic partnership, work together in fighting terrorism and other forms of organised crimes.
President Nyusi said he was impressed by the democratic space in Kenya and encouraged President Kenyatta to continue fostering the principle of separation of powers, which is the cornerstone of democracy.
He said that Mozambicans will always remain grateful for the role Kenya played in bringing the Mozambican civil war to an end.
"Kenya, to Mozambique, is not just another country. It is part of our history," he said.
He praised Kenya as a land of champions including the first African Woman Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai and legendary athletes like Kipchoge Keino.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga was also among the dignitaries who attended the dinner at State House.
President Nyusi is on Thursday scheduled to visit Mombasa and Kwale Counties.
In Kwale, he is expected to interact with members of the Makonde Community, who were officially given legal recognition as Kenya's 43rd ethnic group by President Kenyatta last year.
The Makonde came to Kenya from Mozambique in the 1950s.
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First Look: Lily Collins as the Colorful Snow White in Tarsem's Movie
Wow this is a colorful photo, and a colorful dress, and a color background. But of course I wouldn't expect anything less from the visionary Tarsem Singh. Instead of showing up at Comic-Con this year, Tarsem is staying back to keep shooting his new film, The Brothers Grimm: Snow White, which is just a tentative title. Entertainment Weekly has unveiled a first look at 22-year-old Lily Collins as Snow White and, well, this kind of reminds me of Tim Burton's Alice of Wonderland. "It's so epic. I was part of a costume ball today, so you can only imagine the outfits," Collins boasts to EW. Check out the full-size photo of her below.
In this version of Snow White, which will stay truer to the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Julia Roberts plays the Evil Queen, Sean Bean her husband, the King, and Armie Hammer as the prince. Collins goes on to explain: "She's a naive innocent young girl who turns into a woman and really finds herself," Collins says. In comparison to the dainty Snow White we all know, this won't be the same. "She's very much that fairy tale princess we've all read about in books. She's been modernized in a way that she becomes a fighter in the end." Read more on EW. Relativity will be bringing Tarsem's Snow White to theaters March 16th, 2012.
Find more posts: First Look, Hype, Opinions, Photos
actually i have been more interested in this one since the beginning
Jericho on Jul 21, 2011
She looks so doll like that it's scary
Miss on Jul 22, 2011
what the hell is up with her eyebrows? She looks like camilla belle
Pwomp on Jul 22, 2011
snow white and the hunstman will be 1000% better IMO - this is too disney
Mika on Jul 22, 2011
The dress is not disney. It's stunning. The Huntsman sounds like Red Riding Hood.
Tam on Jul 23, 2011
Yeah I think Hunstman will be way better.
Abby on Jul 24, 2011
She kind of looks like a cupcake.
I actually thought it was 3D animated and not a real picture to start with.
Christopher Goudos on Jul 25, 2011


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Ugo Monye can see England wing switch for centre Manu Tuilagi
Metro Sport ReporterThursday 15 May 2014 3:49 pm
Danger man: Tuilagi could shine as an England wing says Ugo Monye (Picture: Getty)
Former British Lion Ugo Monye insists Leicester centre would be well suited to a switch to the wing for next year's World Cup, writes Sacha Clayton.
Tuilagi has suffered an injury-plagued campaign for Leicester since returning from last summer's Lions tour to Australia, missing England's autumn internationals and the first four games of this year's Six Nations.
During his international absence Northampton's Luther Burrell and Gloucester's Billy Twelvetrees have formed a formidable centre pairing – and Harlequin wing Monye believes Tuilagi is now No.3 in England boss Stuart Lancaster's pecking order.
'If I were Stuart Lancaster I would have Manu on the wing now,' said former England star Monye.
'Just give him a roaming role and I think he could be exceptional on the wing. He is a dangerous player who attracts so much attention in defence.
'You're a year and a half out from the World Cup and you have a look at it.
'Billy and Luther seem so settled there and they work really well so I think it would be a tough call to drop one of those guys for Manu.
'But Manu is too big a character and too big a player not to have in your team. You have got to factor in to get all the best players on the pitch but also all in the right position.'
Although convinced Tuilagi has the raw ingredients to make a success of the wing positions, Monye has called on the Leicester powerhouse to make his mark on this summer's tour to New Zealand.
'When I look at the England back line I think the wing is the one position where Stuart Lancaster in not 100 per cent sure of his combination,' added Monye.
'A tour to New Zealand would be a great opportunity for Manu to make his mark and show he has the class to play on the wing for England – I'm not a coach and that's why he may never play there, but we'll see what happens – I know he would be a real success.'
Ugo Monye was speaking at the launch of the Aviva Premiership Rugby Policy. Sign up for exclusive access to interviews and competitions at premiershiprugby.com/avivarugbypolicy
HarlequinsLeicester Tigers


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Q: get location of row with median value in R data frame I am a bit stuck with this basic problem, but I cannot find a solution.
I have two data frames (dummies below):
x<- data.frame("Col1"=c(1,2,3,4), "Col2"=c(3,3,6,3))
y<- data.frame("ColA"=c(0,0,9,4), "ColB"=c(5,3,20,3))

I need to use the location of the median value of one column in df x to then retrieve a value from df y. For this, I am trying to get the row number of the median value in e.g. x$Col1 to then retrieve the value using something like y[,"ColB"][row.number]
is there an elegant way/function for doing this? Solutions might need to account for two cases - when the sample has an even number of values, and ehwn this is uneven (when numbers are even, the median value might be one that is not found in the sample as a result of calculating the mean of the two values in the middle)

A: The problem is a little underspecified.

*

*What should happen when the median isn't in the data?

*What should happen if the median appears in the data multiple times?

Here's a solution which takes the (absolute) difference between each value and the median, then returns the index of the first row for which that difference vector achieves its minimum.
with(x, which.min(abs(Col1 - median(Col1))))
# [1] 2

The quantile function with type = 1 (i.e. no averaging) may also be of interest, depending on your desired behavior. It returns the lower of the two "sides" of the median, while the which.min method above can depend on the ordering of your data.
quantile(x$Col1, .5, type = 1)
# 50%
#   2

An option using quantile is
with(x, which(Col1 == quantile(Col1, .5, type = 1)))
# [1] 2

This could possibly return multiple row-numbers.
Edit:
 If you want it to only return the first match, you could modify it as shown below
with(x, which.min(Col1 != quantile(Col1, .5, type = 1)))

A: Here, something like y$ColB[which(x$Col1 == round(median(x$Col1)))] would do the trick.
The problem is x has an even number of rows, so the median 2.5 is not an integer. In this case you have to choose between 2 or 3.
Note: The above works for your example, not for general cases (e.g. c(-2L,2L) or with rational numbers). For the more general case see @IceCreamToucan's solution.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: textgrid python open read spliten and write to file i have following textgrid :
 File type = "ooTextFile"
 Object class = "TextGrid"

 xmin = 0
 xmax = 3931.56874994773
 tiers? <exists>
 size = 4
item []:
  item [1]:
    class = "IntervalTier"
    name = "Phrases"
    xmin = 0
    xmax = 3931.56874994773
    intervals: size = 1938
    intervals [1]:
        xmin = 0
        xmax = 3.59246613841739
        text = "Good morning"
    intervals [2]:
        xmin = 3.59246613841739
       .
       .
     item [2]:
     class = "IntervalTier"
     name = "Phrases_2"
     xmin = 0

how to split this text with 4 items(item [1], item [2], item [3],item [4]) in 4 Files ( the name for each file is the name in the item)enter code here for example for Item[1] is Phrases.textgrid and for item[2] is Phrases_2.textgrid ect...

A: to read the file : the stranger - code :
import os
os.chdir('/python')
# c:\python is my work folder
import re
with open('1.Textgrid','r') as f:
# 1.textgrid is the file to read and split
data = f.read()
#print data #Use this to view how
#the code would look like after the       program has opened the files
txttext = ''
#informations needed begin on the 9th lines
for lines in data[9:]:
lines = re.sub('\n','',lines)

#as there's \n at the end of every sentence.
lines = re.sub ('^ *','',lines)
#To remove any special characters
linepair = lines.split('=')
if len(linepair) == 2:
if linepair[0] == 'xmin':
   xmin == linepair[1]
if linepair[0] == 'xmax':
   xmax == linepair[1]
if linepair[0] == 'text':
   if linepair[1].strip().startswith('"')
and linepair[1].strip().endswith('"'):
     text = linepair[1].strip()[1:-1]
     txttext += text + '\n'

how to break the text in each item and write them in a new file


If you happen to now live in your by using aesthetically displeasing type, Best Furniture Polish For Antiques image gellery will help you to decorate the idea. Quite a few appealing suggestions found in Best Furniture Polish For Antiques photograph stock are generally waiting for everyone. Merely reside visiting this Best Furniture Polish For Antiques post, you can expect to acquire wonderful ideas. You must take care around choosing the suitable concept for your property, for the reason that Best Furniture Polish For Antiques graphic stock will show, pick a idea that will complements the condition of your personal property. You must take into consideration just about every element from Best Furniture Polish For Antiques pic stock to adjust the plan to your home.
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text:
Perera fined for breaching ICC Code of Conduct
Sri Lanka all rounder Thisara Perera was fined while Australian Mitchell Starc reprimand by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their behaviour in two separate incidents during the second one-day international in Colombo. He has been fined 15 percent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct.
Perera was fined for his reaction after dismissing David Warner in the second over of the Australian innings. He used language and displayed actions which could have provoked a reaction from David Warner the ICC said in a statement on Thursday.
Fast bowler Starc was charged for throwing the ball in the direction of batsman Dinesh Chandimal, who was inside the crease at the striker's end and not attempting a run.
Both players accepted the sanctions and there was no need for a formal hearing.


As students of science, we often forget the importance of communicating scientific findings in a publicly accessible way. We get trapped in a cycle of esoteric detail that prevents us from connecting our work to the broader scientific community and considering the impact of our findings on society. The goal of this magazine is to break that cycle.
We hope to bring our readers insights into the future of science and medicine from tomorrow's leaders of the industry. These insights can range from worm genetics, to advances in understanding the immune system, to discussions of public policy and health care reform. Check back often to find the latest updates, analysis, and opinions, and drop us a mention on Twitter (@PhDish) or a like us on Facebook (facebook.com/thephdish) to learn more or suggest future topics for the magazine.
And we pronounce our name p-h-dish.


text:
Q: What is Magento PWA we should learn in 2021? I want to learn new skills like Magento PWA.
Can you advise me on some framework to make Magento PWA?
Please text some reason for using it.

A: A Progressive Web App is a hybrid of a website and a mobile application. PWAs focus on establishing a dynamic approach to engage with consumers in addition to outstanding user experiences. Users may browse eCommerce stores via mobile-optimized versions of the website rather than installing native applications on their mobile devices. Magento PWA services are totally game-changer for the eCommerce industry in 2021. It doesn't need installation which to save the customer time, has a fully responsive design, gives the opportunity to send real-time push notifications, has URLs, and can be crawled and indexed by search engines, they are served through HTTPS ensuring safety in content delivery and content interaction.

A: As an alternative to a PWA solution, you could also have a look at the Hyvä theme for Magento 2. Compared to Luma theme Hyvä provides a modern frontend-stack with TailwindCSS and AlpineJS.
If it has to be PWA, you could have a look at Magento PWA Studio or vuestorefront. The choice would then be React vs. vue.js depending on your personal preference.

A: Hi @Dylon Nago you can check this link.
https://magento.github.io/pwa-studio/?_ga=2.220583196.587258091.1632408133-2072401441.1625738549
https://onilab.com/blog/how-to-build-a-pwa-storefront-magento-2-a-detailed-guide/
This will help you to understand the basic concept of PWA and its advantages over website.
Thank YOu


Can we stay in Thailand if we buy property there? Undoubtedly, this is one of the most common questions we get asked. The short answer is no, there's no given right to stay in Thailand if you purchase a condo here as an overseas buyer.
The good news is, staying in the country short-term is relatively easy from almost anywhere in the world. Medium term stayers usually find minimal problems if they abide by the rules. Long-term is where it can get more complex, especially when you want to stay in Thailand on a permanent basis without leaving the country. In this article we will recap on the current main visa rules, as well as highlight some important changes that are happening into 2019 and others that are being considered.
As a short-term boost to tourism and the Thai economy in general there has been several changes to the Thailand visa system considered and / or instigated. If you are planning to visit Thailand soon, check with your local consular office if you are eligible for any of the below.
Citizens of Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore will be granted unlimited entries at land borders for the purpose of tourism. This is in addition to Malaysian tourists, which were already able to do so. For other nationals, the limit of two land border crossings per year will remain.
This change means that the visa fee on arrival (2,000thb approximately $60) will be waived. This will benefit all visits who are eligible by the Thailand Visa On Arrival. This isn't the first time this fee has been waived, and it has been used successfully in the past as a short-term catalyst to boost tourism.
Single entry visas will receive a free upgrade to a double-entry visa. The intention is to encourage travel back to Thailand if tourists want to visit other ASEAN countries on their holidays but use Thailand as a base. We have been told that the exact plans for this are not finalised, so it is worth further checks before you travel.
You will see mixed reports on Bangkok Expat Forums and in the news about tourists being refused re-entry but that is set to get easier. A re-entry permit will allow tourists to re-enter the Kingdom without losing their original entitlement. Before, the original entitlement was lost when leaving Thailand.
Why are the above changed being made? Towards the end of 2018 the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) announced a decrease in Chinese visitors in particular by 11.4% in July and August 2018, and a year on year decrease of 14.4% and 19.1% in September and October. These are big numbers, with a reported 9 million Chinese tourists visiting Thailand in 2017 alone. Approximately 30% of all tourists entering the Kingdom are Chinese. This leaves a hole to fill in terms of visitors and revenues. The above changes will hopefully act as a catalyst to boost numbers over what is a typically busy time of year (December, January and February).
Below is a list of the main types of visas available in Thailand. It is important to note that you cannot work in Thailand without a valid work permit, regardless of the type of visa you have. Even with a business visa, you will be issued a work permit and be required to renew your visa / report to immigration periodically.
The most common type of visa is the Thailand Tourist Visa. This is typically for up to 60 days in Thailand and can be extended up to 30 days by doing a 'visa run'. This is typically done via Penang, or Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia although other destinations are also popular.
As the name suggests, this visa is available to those married to a Thai national. Once you have obtained a non-immigrant visa you can convert it to a Thailand marriage visa. This allows the holder to stay in Thailand for the whole year (renewable) and means there is no requirement for visa runs at any point. You may still have to do some basic reporting to confirm address etc but that is typical of almost every type of Thailand Visa.
If you want to do business in Thailand, legally, then you'll have to apply for a Thailand Business Visa. It can also be referred to as a non-immigrant business visa. This is eligible for 90 days, and at this point you will still have to cross the border and do a visa run. You can get a work permit and usually open a bank account with little issue with this type of visa.
There are other eligible categories for Thailand Permanent residency listed below. It is a very broad subject and we recommend sharing your personal circumstances with a trusted lawyer in Thailand.
Each case for the Thailand Residency Visa will be dealt with on a case by case basis. You must first contact the Royal Thai Immigration Office. There are restrictions on number of applications per individuals / per country and other such things so if you are considering applying for the permanent residency visa we strongly recommend legal advice and planning as far ahead as possible.
With no age restrictions, this is a popular choice, anyone willing to invest 10 million Baht ($280,000 USD) into property, government bonds or an account in a thai bank – or any combination of the three. Holders of an investment visa are not allowed to work or volunteer in Thailand, but will be granted the right to stay as long as rules on reporting and renewing are followed.
This card allows overseas Thailand Real Estate Investors to stay in the Kingdom for an extended period of time. The Privileged Entry visa has a validity of five years, as long as it is renewed every 12 months and all other regulations are followed. The Elite membership is available by ordering in advance at the Thai Embassy of the country your passport originates from. Alternatively, you can try ordering it at the airport upon arrival. From then on, you can arrange the pick up of the card itself and any required checks at a local Thai immigration office.
There are different packages available for this visa, starting at the basic five years for a flat fee of 500,000 Baht ($14,000 USD) up to 2,000,000 Baht ($56,000 USD) for the Elite Ultimate Privilege. This visa option provides relatively easy access to a medium-long term stay in Thailand and you will receive support with visa renewal and other perks.
If you are the parent or guardian of a Thai or foreign child who is studying in Thailand and less than 20 years of age you are eligible to apply for a Thailand Guardian Visa , providing you meet the additional criteria listed below.
There is a wide variety of private schools in Thailand, especially in Bangkok but also in Pattaya and Phuket. Fees can be expensive, but facilities are often excellent with boarding also available at certain school sites. You are not permitted to work with this visa, like most Thai visas. However, this visa can suit individuals and families that work at a variety of locations or those running a business based elsewhere.
For a list of companies that may be able to assist with your Thailand Visa click here. Please note, we are not affiliated with any of these companies in any way.


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text:
Fight the Death
Penalty in USA
www.fdp.dk
Living conditions on Death Row
Brutality in Florida State Prisons
California, Times-Union, Wed, 28 Jul 1999
The ongoing investigation of possible brutality against inmates at Florida State Prison in Starke isn't the 1st time the state has investigated alleged abuses at the prison.
Nineteen years ago, a legislative committee headed by an outspoken Jacksonville lawmaker tried to uncover and correct the abuse of inmates, including beatings, sexual assaults and homicide.
"The circumstances now are mild compared to what they were before," said Arnett Girardeau, a Jacksonville dentist who spent 16 years as a member of the state House and Senate. "They had men then who hanged themselves while sitting down, and we all knew that was totally impossible."
Girardeau said yesterday the legislature must get involved in the inquiry into conditions at Florida State Prison if there is any hope of significant changes at the facility.
"Legislative oversight committees of both houses should get involved in this and aggressively pursue these issues," said Girardeau, a Democrat who once spent a night in jail to protect an inmate who gave him information. "If things are not going as they should, the legislature is the only branch of government that can forcibly change directions because it controls the finances."
The investigation headed by Girardeau, then chairman of the House Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation, began in similar fashion to the current inquiry now under way at the prison - with the beating death of an inmate.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and U.S. Justice Department began inquiries last week into the July 17 killing of death row inmate Frank Valdes.
One Northeast Florida lawmaker said it's too soon for the legislature to form any oversight committees.
"It's much too early," said Rep. George Crady, D-Yulee, who sits on the House Corrections Committee. "It's much better to wait and see what transpires through this investigation."
But state Sen. Walter Campbell, D-Fort Lauderdale, said he has written to the chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee asking that the committee conduct an investigation to see if any policy changes are needed in the prison system.
"The problem we've got with the Department of Corrections is that we never seem to get valid information," said Campbell, a committee member. "I haven't seen anything yet."
C.J. Drake, a spokesman for the corrections department, said the agency has tried to fulfill all requests for information regarding the ongoing investigation but is hampered because it is a criminal investigation.
Campbell added that it may be unwise for the legislature to quickly form an oversight committee that would only amount to another level of bureaucracy.
"The actual functioning of that department lies with the governor, and I don't think the legislature should go in and tell the governor what he should or should not do," he said.
Girardeau said he realizes it's unpopular for lawmakers to stand up for the rights of inmates. But he said it is an important element of any attempt to institute reforms in a prison system.
"A lot of people think these people in prison get what they deserve," said Girardeau, 70. "But this must be stopped now, because what's happening now was exactly like what was happening then."
In 1980, the inmate who spurred the investigation by Girardeau's committee was Vertis Graham, who died in the prison from a blow to the head.
Inmate Johnny Lee Fort sent a scribbled note to Girardeau informing the lawmaker he killed Graham with the blessing of prison guards, who he said used him as a henchman to keep other inmates in line.
The claims by Fort led to a report on the CBS-TV show 60 Minutes and a committee report that called for numerous changes in the Florida prison system. An investigation by prison officials ended with the indictment of another inmate in the slaying, but a jury acquitted him.
The committee investigation also uncovered beatings and sexual assaults and led to firings and suspensions of guards. One of the guards fired, Donald Sprow, said yesterday he later got his job back at Florida State Prison.
One proposal by Girardeau's committee called for the assignment of an agency to conduct independent investigations into allegations of violence against inmates. The FDLE is now conducting such an investigation into the death of Valdes.
Meanwhile, a Gainesville organization that represents death row inmates said yesterday it has received reports from several inmates which show the beating of inmate Valdes wasn't an isolated incident on the X-wing, used to house inmates with discipline problems.
The agency said its representatives recently interviewed Xwing inmate Willie Mathews, who had surgery last week to repair a jaw he said was broken by a correctional officer at Florida State Prison.
"They beat everybody on Xwing," the agency quoted Mathes as saying.
"They say: 'The Courts sent you here . . . for us to beat you.'"
Mathews later told the agency he heard guards beating Valdes the day Valdes died of "multiple blunt trauma," according to the state medical examiner. Mathews told the agency he could hear guards cleaning up Valdes' cell after the beating.
The body of slain death row inmate Frank Valdes is scheduled to be autopsied today by an independent medical examiner as a prelude to a lawsuit his family intends to file against the state.
The autopsy would be the 2nd performed on Valdes, who died July 17 after a violent struggle with guards in his cell on Florida State Prison's tough X-Wing.
The unit, which houses the prison's most disruptive inmates, is drawing intense scrutiny from investigators.
Attention was heightened on Tuesday after the release of accounts by 3 inmates who said they were beaten on X-Wing just days before Valdes died.
"We are appalled by the abuses that we have been hearing about," said Arlene Huszar, acting director of the Florida Institutional Legal Services of Gainesville, which interviewed the prisoners.
"Anyone who doubts the word of the inmates just needs to see their injuries to know they are not making this up," she said. "They are terrified of ending up beaten to death like Frank Valdes."
Valdes' 1st autopsy, performed by a state coroner, has not been made public and is part of an ongoing murder investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. But knowledgeable sources have said the autopsy shows that all of Valdes' ribs were broken, his testicles were swollen and his mouth was bloodied from a violent confrontation with an "extraction team" sent to remove him from his cell.
"It's going to take some time to put our lawsuit together," said Stuart "Skip" Goldenberg, a North Palm Beach attorney representing Valdes' wife, Wanda, of West Palm Beach, and his father, Mario, of Hialeah.
"But we want to make sure that every resource is available to us. That's why we need the new autopsy," he said.
Attorneys for the suspended guards say the team acted "by the book." According to incident reports by the officers, Valdes was treated by medical personnel and returned to his cell after the struggle. Later, Valdes deliberately fell three times in his cell and suddenly stopped breathing, the officers reported. Valdes was on death row for killing a correctional officer in West Palm Beach in 1987.
9 guards were suspended with pay immediately after Valdes' death. 2 more were suspended last week from the facility at Starke for failing to cooperate with state investigators.
Last week, the FBI joined a widening investigation of Florida's prison system amid a rising toll of inmate complaints about abuse by guards -- at Florida State Prison and elsewhere in the state's 65,000-inmate system.
On Tuesday, the Gainesville legal services organization released statements from inmates Willie Mathews, 26, Sirlathian Cross, 21, and Michael Lambrix, 39, who said they had been beaten and observed other inmates getting roughed up on X-Wing in recent weeks.
Mathews, who is doing time for aggravated assault, said he suffered a broken jaw and had to be hospitalized after a July 10 beating on X-Wing.
Mathews also said he heard Valdes getting a severe beating the day he died. During the beating, Mathews said the guards "kept saying something about, 'Where's the knife? Where's the knife? You like killing police?'"
Mathews said he heard "a lot of bumping going on. Then it got real quiet -- real still."
Mathews also said correctional officers cleaned Valdes' cell after the beating. But Gil Schaffnit, an attorney for the suspended correctional officers, dismissed the claim that guards sought to cover up the confrontation.
Schaffnit said he was called to Florida State Prison shortly after the incident and saw what appeared to be blood stains on the floor of Valdes' cell marked by FDLE crime-scene tape and pieces of a bloody mattress apparently removed by investigators as evidence.
(source: Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel)
Prisoner's letter to federal judge describes brutal conditions
By DAVID COX, Tallahassee Bureau, July 30, 1999
TALLAHASSEE -- Frank Valdes' accomplice in the murder of a state prison guard wrote a letter to a federal judge on the day Valdes died in which he accused corrections officers of severely beating inmates on Florida State Prison's X-wing for weeks.
"This prison is out of control, and they are going to kill someone (if Frank is not already dead)," William Van Poyck wrote to U.S. District Judge Harvey E. Schlesinger in Jacksonville after a confrontation between Valdes and prison guards on July 17. The Florida Department of Corrections released Van Poyck's letter on Friday.
Van Poyck told Schlesinger he saw officers drag Valdes' bloodied body from his cell to the prison's clinic. He described Valdes as "unconscious, his eyes rolled back -- and teeth kicked out."
An attorney for Valdes' family said an independent autopsy performed this week showed that Valdes died of a severe beating and suffered massive injuries and broken bones after the melee with guards in his cell.
Law enforcement sources said he suffered numerous injuries, including broken ribs, swollen testicles and multiple abrasions.
Department of Corrections spokesman C.J. Drake doubted Van Poyck's account of the incident, saying the inmate was in a cell at the time that would have prevented him from seeing Valdes' body being taken to the clinic.
"If he was where I think he was on X-wing, I'm very skeptical how he is able to make those statements," Drake said.
Van Poyck's letter was forwarded to Gov. Jeb Bush and no doubt will become part of the official investigation.
"For the past two-plus weeks these officers have been beating a group of inmates who came here from Hamilton Correctional Institute, every day, every shift (this, too, is happening on X-wing)," Van Poyck wrote. "They are not feeding these inmates, not showering them and beating them every day."
The FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement are conducting the criminal investigation into Valdes' death.
Nine officers have been suspended with pay over allegations they took part in the Valdes beating. Two other officers also were suspended for not cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
Valdes and Van Poyck were on death row for murdering a corrections officer in 1988 during a botched escape attempt. The X-wing is where the prisoners with the worst disciplinary problems are kept at Florida State Prison in Starke.
A prisoners' rights advocate believes inmates were regularly beaten by corrections officers on X-wing and in other areas of Florida State Prison.
Arlene Huszar, acting executive director at Florida Institutional Legal Services in Gainesville, said she was contacted by Phyllis Nealon of Orlando on Friday, who said her son, Brian, was beaten by guards at Starke. He was not on X-wing at the time.
Huszar said Nealon alleges he was beaten by one of the guards who took part in the Valdes incident.
"What I find is it all fits with the facts that are being circulated now. Maybe the horror of it is it could be so widespread," Huszar said.
An investigator for Legal Services was allowed into the North Florida Reception Center at Lake Butler to interview several inmates on Friday who may have information regarding inmate beatings at Florida State Prison.
Huszar said her investigator had not returned from the prison as of late Friday, and she could not say what information was learned.
Also on Friday, the Florida Department of Corrections reassigned two assistant wardens at Florida State Prison to other facilities and two administrators from other institutions were selected to fill their places.
State prisons spokesman Drake said the reshuffling is part of a reorganization of management in the state prison system, but admitted the moves likely were quickened because of the Valdes incident.
He could not say if the two assistant wardens assigned to Florida State Prison -- Wendel Whitehurst and George Sapp -- will bring in a philosophical change in the institution's administration. But neither of the men transferred out of the prison are subjects of the criminal investigation, he said.
"I think the best way to characterize what we're trying to achieve here is to give a fresh perspective on some of the management issues (at Starke)," Drake said.
The Associated Press reported that the warden of Florida State Prison has told his staff to "quit acting like a bunch of criminals" and cooperate fully in the Valdes investigation.
"We're going to cooperate. We want people to look at us," prison Warden James Crosby Jr. said. "We want that independent look because right now we have a cloud over us. And honestly, I think that's the only thing that can penetrate that cloud."
Crosby said some of his staffers at first were unwilling to cooperate with investigators. So he called an emergency meeting of prison shift captains and lieutenants last Saturday and told them to cooperate.
Officials for the union that represents correctional officers blamed state investigators for having "recklessly jeopardized the integrity of the investigation."
Jim Baiardi, president of the corrections officer chapter for the Florida Police Benevolent Association, accused FDLE Commissioner Tim Moore and Gainesville State Attorney Rod Smith of declaring "our officers guilty before any real investigation of the facts has occurred."
Baiardi and PBA president Ernie George faulted Moore from calling Valdes' death a "homicide" and for Smith saying the guard's story was "implausible, if not preposterous."
FDLE spokeswoman Liz Hirst said: "We certainly stand by what we believe at this point, and we're going to conduct our homicide investigation as we see fit."


Tonight I talked for several hours with one of my best friends on Earth, and one of my most reflective fellow teachers of mathematics, Griselda. (Tired of this and that, and longing to move closer to friends and family in the Northeast, Griselda recently left her job teaching at a public liberal arts college in a nearby state to teach at a boarding school in Pennsylvania.) As usual, our conversation was broad and far-reaching, and dealt with issues in every corner of education.
My most meaningful self-realization of the evening: the only reason I still give grades in my courses is because I have to; the school requires them from me at the end of the term. And the only reason I give grades throughout the semester is to provide substantive justification for those end-of-term grades.
Don't get me wrong: I love responding to my students' work. My responses make up my half of a conversation with the students about the discoveries they're making. It's an ongoing dialogue, and often an exciting one. They say something to me, I say something back, and after one or two iterations we might make some sense of what it is the other is trying to convey. Eventually we'll come to a consensus regarding the meaning of whatever matter we're faced with. I love these conversations. They're where learning takes place.
But grading? Uh uh. I'm over it. I'm tired of this competitive academic economy based on artificial and extrinsic rewards.
How can I break the cycle? Maybe if I rebel and refuse to assign grades...?
...Griselda always leaves me something to think about.
As you suggested before: portfolio grading seems to be a step in the right direction. Done right, it could at least minimize the amount of grading done during the semester (there would still be plenty of the feedback you mentioned, though).
Hear, hear, Bret! How's portfolio grading going for you?


I read this article and found it very interesting, thought it might be something for you. The article is called Health and Safety bosses release latest barmy excuses and is located at https://www.rocketlawyer.co.uk/blog/health-and-safety-bosses-release-latest-barmy-excuses/.
The Health and Safety Executive has released the latest examples of barmy 'elf n'safety' excuses which have no place within the legislation.
HSE's Myth Busters Challenge Panel was set up in 2012 to provide quick advice to people subject to ridiculous or disproportionate health and safety decisions by insurance companies, local authorities, employers and overzealous jobsworths.
The Panel has received over 200 cases since being launched in April last year with nearly all rulings finding a decision was made without having any basis in health and safety law.
• A notice declaring 'under three year olds are not allowed on the premises or in the restaurant' on the front door of a chip shop in Aldeburgh.
• A children's soft play centre in Oxfordshire with signs stating: "customers must not consume their own food or drink on the premises due to health and safety reasons".
• A Village Hall in Burford, Oxfordshire has told people using the hall for private parties, they must use a dishwasher. The Committee reckons putting your hands in soapy suds is a health and safety issue.
• A gym put up a notice stating that for 'health and safety reasons, members are requested to only use the hair dryers for hair on the head'.
• A hotel refused to provide toilet brushes in its bathrooms for patrons on the grounds of, you guessed it, health and safety.
• One diner who went to a department store in Perth for breakfast thought staff were yolking when he was told he couldn't have a fried egg for health and safety reasons.
• A Chinese restaurant in East Sussex refused to provide a customer with a finger bowl giving health and safety as the reason.


Through the eyes of a traditional direct marketer a self-proclaimed "Data Expert" the Response Expo was a great experience to get a feel for the different channels of direct marketing. In my 16+ years of selling direct marketing solutions I had never had the opportunity to see the front line of inventors and as seen on TV products.
It was a refreshing to meet and speak with experts from various industries. We were able to talk with data-driven marketers that are looking and willing to listen to other professionals offer insight on what works as well as what is the next big thing. The entire buzz at the show was refreshing and exciting! We enjoyed sharing our experiences with others and making new contacts that mutually benefit each business.
A couple of things I was able to get out of the show (and one of the reasons we'll be back) were the variety of marketing professionals we had the opportunity to speak with in the exhibit hall. The overall conference agenda was outstanding. The sessions that were provided offered a learning environment and allowed you to find a solution to your business and marketing challenges. There was also a significant focus on networking opportunities. Functions throughout the day and night allowed attendees to engage in great conversations with other professionals.
If you are a business or marketing professional that currently engages in Direct, Digital, and Data Driven Marketing this show is for you! CAS is a full-service Database Marketing provider in business for over 35 years and we look forward to many more opportunities to share our products and services with the Response Expo attendees. I want to extend a personal thank you to my longtime friend Dan Donati and publisher John Yarrington for putting on an excellent event. CAS will be back!