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SF school board member sues district, colleagues over response to her tweets
leeheidhues Uncategorized March 31, 2021 2 Minutes
The San Francisco School Board member who has been the subject of heavy criticism for her Tweets is pushing back. HARD.
Alison Collins just dropped a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit on her fellow Board members along with the School District itself. This tempest pitting a Black woman against the San Francisco power structure has now become a national, if not international, news event.
In brief. Ms Collins is strenuously, to say the least, disputing the allegations that her Tweets were anti-Asian and racist
In her Federal lawsuit a quote by the famous German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöeller is affixed to the Complaint.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 3.31.2021
A San Francisco school board member accused her colleagues and the school district in a suit Wednesday of retaliation, saying they violated her free speech rights by stripping her of her position as vice president and removing her from committees over tweets she posted in 2016 about Asian Americans.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, Alison Collins seeks $72 million in general damages from the school district and the five board members who supported a no-confidence vote against her, plus $3 million in punitive damages from each of those same board members.
Collins, who declined comment about the lawsuit Wednesday, also seeks an injunction restoring her as vice president and to her committee positions.
The lawsuit alleges that the vote to strip her of her leadership roles was an illegal act that violated Collins' due process and caused her to suffer losses in income, significant loss of reputation, severe mental and emotional distress, and humiliation.
"When Ms. Collins refused to resign her elected position as commissioner, defendants lit their torches, sprinting to judgment in twenty-four hours, with less due process than given to victims of Malleus Maleficarum," Bonner, wrote in the suit, referring to a manual for witch hunters.
The lawsuit claims Collins's tweets were related to her attempts to address bullying and anti-Black behavior at her daughter's school.
Bonner claims the board and its members violated Collins' freedom of speech by falsely labeling her a racist. The actual purpose of her tweets, he said in the suit, was protecting Black and brown children from racist bullying and harassment.
"The false narrative and assertion that Ms. Collins' comments imploring Asian Americans to resist oppression as 'racist' has generated this ongoing and intensifying hostility, (causing) threats and damage to Ms. Collins reputation and threatening her and her family's physical well-being," Bonner wrote.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/SF-school-board-member-Alison-Collins-sues-16068075.php
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Kimberly Maduro was picked by Starbucks Aruba to represent Aruba's three busy stores, at the Starbucks Annual Barista Championship, Latin American and Caribbean, in Bogota, Colombia recently. The bright and intelligent young lady, 24, has been working at the Seaport Marketplace cafe, for about three years.
Kimberly did not disappoint her colleagues in Colombia. She managed to beat most other competitors, coming into 2nd place for the finals, battling coffee masters from around the region, and career baristas, landing the coveted embroidered apron which will forever confirm her status, as a Champion Starbucks Barista.
She remembers applying for work at Starbucks, following her mother's suggestion, and when she was immediately accepted, she reciprocated with great enthusiasm, learning all procedures in just two week, and handling the coffee bar and its endless options and variations like a pro, from the get go.
The experience in Colombia, she says, as guest of Starbucks, was a life changing event. While she was passionate about coffee before, now that she has witnessed the berry's complex journey from a hillside bush to a delicious cup of coffee, she is more at awe and more appreciative of the effort and dedication that go into every one of the 400 craft beverages served at the café every day.
In Colombia, the fifteen invited baristas also spent some time in a Finca, a coffee growing plantation, where they participated in the life of the farmers, gaining insight into the intricacy of growing a superb bean that will deliver the coffee drinking experience Starbucks' guests deserves.
Kimberly explains she will never forget those humble, hard-working farmers she met, and the lessons they taught her about perseverance, and tenacity. Their story resonated in her, because as a single mother, who also goes to school, her third year of Mavo, she intends to continue into Havo, juggling motherhood, work and studies, with equal determination.
While she truly embraces the science of coffee, she marries it with the passion of a consummate barista. It's the attitude you invest in it, she says, it must always be perfect, hot or cold, fancy or plain, if made with love, it is immensely gratifying. As baristas, she states, it's the passion for coffee that unites us.


Recorded 1996 at Eastgate Studios, Vienna, by Edgar Froese & Jerome Froese. Composed by Edgar Froese & Jerome Froese. Produced by Edgar Froese.
Recorded 1996 at Eastgate Studios, Vienna, by Edgar Froese & Jerome Froese. Composed by Edgar Froese & Jerome Froese. Produced by Edgar Froese. First available during Tangerine Dream's 1997 Europe tour (first date 9 April in Vienna), released on TDs own TDI label.
Limited edition of 5000. First available during Tangerine Dream's 1997 Europe tour (first date 9 April in Vienna), released on TDs own TDI label. "This CD is a limited edition specifically designed and recorded in connection with the Tangerine Dream worldwide live performances during 1997. These tracks may appear on future Tangerine Dream albums."
Recorded live 23 April 1997 in Zabrze, Poland.
Recorded July 1997 at Eastgate Studios, Vienna, by Edgar Froese & Jerome Froese. First available on the UK tour 29 Oct - 6 Nov 1997.
First available on the UK tour 29 Oct - 6 Nov 1997.
Recorded live 6 Nov 1997 at Shepherds Bush Empire, London, by Edgar Froese, Jerome Froese, Emil Hachfeld, Zlatko Perica.
All CDs (except Ca Va - Ca Marche - Ca Ira Encore) became available individually soon after the release of this box in June.
Subtitled "Berlin - Potsdamer Platz - September 2nd 1998". Only available as bonus when pre-ordering the Millennium Booster 2-CD via mail order from TDI.
Recorded live 22 Feb 1982 at the Regent Theatre, Sydney. Remixed/reworked 1999.
Recorded January 1999 at Eastgate Studios Vienna and Mariner Studios California.
Same tracks as on the (mispressed) 1999 CD but in different order.
It lists the original tracklisting of the June 1999 10-track CD, but the actual track listing is the same as the 1999 mispressed CD (shown here).
Because the previous CD was misprinted, this CD contains the same tracks as the previous CD, only in different order.
Copyright (c) 2018-05-31 Jonas Wårstad.


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Pay attention to the MILF's tits!
Milan is an ass lover, but Joslyn James, who's 43 years old, plans to convert him to a tit man. She's going to do that by stuffing her mega-tits into his face and letting him suck and fuck them. He enjoys her ass for a while, too, but the focus in this scene is on 1.) Joslyn's tits; 2.) Joslyn's pussy. Can you guess where he shoots his load?
Joslyn is a former teacher. She was relatively flat-chested when she was younger, which, she says, "is why I bought these!" We always say big tits are an excellent investment. She wasn't nearly this busty when she was fucking golfer Tiger Woods back in the late 2000s.
Hobbies: cooking, hiking, doing the laundry, and taking naps between fucking.
What she wants to try that she's never done: fly fishing and crabbing.
Special talents: "I'm double-jointed."
Fetishes: "I'm down for the mommy play."
Is she sexually assertive or passive? "I'm always in charge."
Fine with us.
See More of Joslyn James at 40SOMETHINGMAG.COM!
Bess's Beautiful Bod
Bess grew up riding horses in the countryside but now resides in sunny Florida. That's a big change, but Bess likes aspects of both places. "Obviously, I miss working with horses and going for rides," she told us. "But living in a place where I can walk around wearing a bikini top all day is awesome." Yeah, that sounds awesome. We'd love to see Bess's 34DD-cup tits bouncing around in a bikini top.
Bess has a boyfriend. Her boyfriend is a horny guy. So Bess decided to take some nude photos of herself for him. It's a simple setup, but with an amateur beauty with a body like Bess's, you don't need anything else. When she slips her shorts off to reveal her thick booty, it's a revelation. And, when her bra comes off and her tits pop out, you might just bust. But, you should save your spunk for her shaved pink pussy and delicious-looking asshole.
See More of Bess at NAUGHTYMAG.COM!
Jessica Bunnington: Lingerie & Sex Toys
Jessica "Jessy Bunny" Bunnington is well on her way to realizing her dream of becoming the "ultimate Bimbo Doll" with giant boobs or "bewbs" as Jessy spells the word, dick-sucking lips and a bimbo booty. In this pictorial, Jessy masturbates with a big toy that has an anal bead attachment so she can vibrate her shaved pussy with the anal beads in her butt and double her pleasure.
The diminutive (4'11") blonde has all eyes on every inch of her when she leaves her home. How many marriages proposals does Jessy get each day?
"After I reached the legal age of 18, it was one of the first things for me to increase my bewbs, because big boobies are so much cooler than boring naturals," Jessy wrote on her Youtube channel, JessyBunny2000, that has over 14 million views and counting.
See More of Jessica Bunnington at SCORELAND.COM!
Explore Bianca's body
The woman you're looking at is 59 years old and will turn 60 on February 22. Amazing. The women at 50PlusMILFs.com are always very well-preserved, but Bianca, a mother of three and grandmother of three from Quebec, Canada, takes it to a different level. There are women less than half her age who would beg for her body. Of course, we're begging for her body too…to fuck it and have our way with it, like a lucky stud will on Thursday.
But today is all about our introduction to Bianca. This beautiful, sexy blonde is wearing a short and sexy sweater dress that shows off her long, shapely legs. She's wearing red high heels, too. And eyeglasses. Very nice.
"Just imagine your hands running over my body," Bianca said. "Start with my legs if you're a leg guy and then all the way here if you're a butt guy and then, of course, if you're a boob guy, I think you're gonna like that because they're pretty nice. I like them, and so far, no complaints."
Bianca takes off her dress and reveals that she's wearing matching black bra and panties. She has jewelry in her belly button, too, and you know a MILF is confident about her body when she gets her navel pierced. Before long, everything has come off except her heels, so Bianca fingers herself then fucks herself with one of her favorite toys. We get great views of those nice tits and her perfect ass.
"I was a police officer for 17 years," Bianca told us.
"I'm pretty open about what I like sexually. Just about anything."
Fucking guys half her age…getting her pussy eaten…sucking cock…eating cum. Bianca does it all, stay tuned.
See More of Bianca at 50PLUSMILFS.COM!
Joslyn James, bikini destroyer
When we asked 43-year-old Joslyn James if she gets a lot of attention because of her big tits, she said, "I get a lot of attention because I'm pretty." Well, that, too. And in 2009, Joslyn got a lot of attention worldwide because of her affair with golfer Tiger Woods. The New York Post even published the raunchy text messages Tiger had sent to Joslyn.
We have to give Tiger a lot of credit for good taste in women (and Joslyn wasn't nearly as busty then as she is now). But Tiger isn't the only interesting part of Joslyn's past. After graduating college, she became a teacher.
"A guy once said to me, 'You look like my fifth-grade teacher.' It turns out I was his fifth-grade teacher!" She got into adult entertainment in 2007 while dating a porn star. Since then, she has done over 200 movies and scenes, and in 2021, she ramped up her rack and came to the attention of The SCORE Group. We asked her if she dresses to emphasize her tits. She said, "They're big no matter what I wear."
Joslyn enjoys playing volleyball, tennis and basketball. Her hobbies are cooking and baking. Among her special talents: "I'm double-jointed." She has appeared on such television shows as Dr. 90210, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, The World Series of Poker and Inside Edition.
Today, Joslyn models a collection of micro-bikinis and uses a big toy on her pussy and clit. Later this week, she's going to fuck. No, not Tiger. Somehow, we think he'd no longer measure up.
Strange Cock
"It has always been one of my fantasies to have sex with a total stranger. I decided it's about time that I start turning these fantasies into reality. So I put on the shortest shorts I could find along with my fuck-me heels and went out looking for strange cock. I found it pretty easily and it was obvious the guy was down to fuck. And boy, could he fuck! His dick felt so big in my little hands, and it felt even bigger in my tight pussy. It was like I could feel every inch filling my little hole. I was so turned on that I even did a split over his cock. I usually never do that because it makes the dick go in too deep for me, but this time it just felt right."
See More of Jewel Styles at PICKINGUPPUSSY.COM!
Your Cock In Sirale's Mouth & Pussy
Sirale is a doe-eyed, busty brunette who can get you off with her mouth, big boobs and pussy. Any way you want it, she does it. She's a very talented girl with a hot rack and she enjoys a dirty ride.
This SCORE video is a virtual fuck. Shot in P.O.V., it's your cock banging Sirale. First Sirale will give you a boob show, flaunting her natural, very large tits. She squeezes and lifts them while staring straight at you. Then you give her cock and she sucks it, again staring at you wide-eyed with your dick in her mouth.
Totally nude, Sirale lays back on the bed and spreads her legs wide open. You rub the head of your prick against her cunt-lips and clit. She's ready, so shove your cock into her and start fucking while she screams in pleasure from her pussy getting filled to the brim.
Sirale's very open, in all ways, and is equally open about explaining what she likes to do with a guy.
"Cock size is important," says Sirale. "The size determines if I have an orgasm during sex or not. I like a fat top on a penis and no foreskin. I like to look into a mirror when I fuck but I'd prefer best of all to watch my partner and see how he reaches his orgasm. When I do not have a man friend over my apartment, I will have orgasms with my vibrators, vibe rings and Venus balls. I am asked if I watch porn videos at home. Occasionally, yes, but if I do, I like to be alone. Sometimes I talk dirty when I have sex, sometimes I don't. It depends on my mood."
See More of Sirale at SCOREVIDEOS.COM!
Joslyn James, Tiger's ex, comes to 40Something
Christmas Comes But Once A Year, But I Cum Every Day!
Lives: Brooklyn, New York; Occupation: Office worker; Age: 27; Born: August 23; Ht: 5'6″; Wt: 137 pounds; Bras: 34C; Panties: I like see-through; Anal: Sure; BJs: Swallow; Diddle: Love my toy.
"I sent in photos a couple of years ago, but I just got around to telling my new boyfriend about them a few weeks ago," said Catia. "He enjoyed checking them out–they made him horny–and, of course he had to screw me right then and there. Then he started pestering me about taking new photos to send in, so I posed by my Christmas tree which has been up since Thanksgiving. Perhaps you can use me on Christmas Day?" Done!
"I hope all the guys get what they want. The guys that want me can have me in their fantasies. I know they'd want more after doing me!"
See More of Catia at NAUGHTYMAG.COM!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Первая Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1830—1831)
 Вторая Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1805)
 Третья Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1823)
 Четвёртая Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1836)
 Пятая Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1845)
 Шестая Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1862)
 Седьмая Санкт-Петербургская гимназия (1879)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Newport Experience
An elegant, vintage-inspired winter wedding in Newport, Rhode Island.
When interviewed the bride said "I want the theme to feel like Queen Victoria goes to the Alps." We wanted a castle-like venue with a moodier color palette. A towering wedding cake was another must-have! In addition to the vintage feel, she also wanted a menu that reflected the couple's love of travel. On their wedding invitations, guests chose whether they wanted to dine in France, Italy or Seattle (the couple's hometown). The entrees that correlated with each location were dishes reflective of that style cuisine. An upbeat reception with a killer after party was also on the wish list. As a surprise to all of her guests, the bride brought in Saved by the 90's to keep the party going after the reception ended. Guests moved from the ballroom to the Safari Room and kept the fun going all evening.
Goat Island Marina Is A 2020 Boaters' Choice Marina!
Give the Gift of Sailing!
Regatta Place Named Winner of The Knot Best of Weddings 2021


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Former Man Utd & USMNT star Howard helps save Dagenham & Redbridge
Harry Sherlock
The veteran goalkeeper has stepped in to help the National League club, who were close to going out of business
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard has helped to save non-league club Dagenham and Redbridge.
Dagenham - who play in the National League - had appealed for help to raise over £100,000 to save the club after they fell into financial difficulties, and Howard, who currently plays for Colorado Rapids, is now leading the consortium, Victoria LLC, buying the club.
"We are very pleased to announce that Victoria Road Football, LLC, an American entity, have completed the purchase of the majority of the shares in the football club," read a statement.
"This deal sees Dagenham & Redbridge FC Ltd, which is the Full Members company limited by guarantee, retain their portion of Dagenham & Redbridge FC 2017 Ltd while Directors David Bennett and Stephen Thompson also retain their original holdings of the club.
"Whilst this process has been progressing, the club has been limited to what it was able to announce due to confidentiality, but it did ensure that the Full Members Director was kept advised at each stage.
"The new consortium, Victoria Road Football, LLC is a company led by Peter B. Freund, Craig Unger and former Premier League goalkeeper, Tim Howard. The group has already had a successful launch of professional soccer in Memphis, TN with the United Soccer League's Memphis 901 FC, a division II club.
"Peter and Craig's many years of operational experience, both owning and operating professional sports franchises throughout North America, and Tim Howard, with his expansive career in English football playing in the Premier League for 13 years with Everton and Manchester United, will seamlessly compliment the Dagenham & Redbridge management already in place."
Manager Peter Taylor has been assured that he will remain in place, as they bid to survive in the fifth tier of English football.
Dagenham have lost six of their opening 10 games, winning just two, and sit 21st out of 24 clubs.
Howard, meanwhile, has won 121 caps for the United States, and has also played for Everton.


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Home » Grads » Brian Estrada '09
Brian Estrada '09
Brian Estrada '09 (Mount Pleasant High School) graduated from Johnson & Wales University in 2013 with a B.S. in Business Information Systems Analysis and a Concentration in Graphic Design and Digital Media. "I chose my major because I enjoy technology and analytical thinking, and as a systems analyst that is what you do," he says. "As a systems analyst I have to detect problems, generate plans and solutions, recommend software and systems, and make sure to meet the business's budget and technical requirements. I also concentrated in graphic design because it was a way to express my love for art. Since I can't draw well, I make art through the Adobe Suite."
Brian currently works for The College Crusade as our Middle School Mobile Advisor, providing guidance and support to help Crusaders stay focused on their academic and personal achievement. "I enjoy working at The College Crusade because I have the opportunity to interact with a variety of children and become a bridge to their success," he says. Before joining us as an Advisor, Brian was employed at South Providence Neighborhood Ministries as a Youth Program Assistant.
Brian's career as a Crusader was filled with notable achievements, especially his experience as a participant in a Youth Leadership Summit in San Francisco that was sponsored by the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP). Brian represented Rhode Island as one of only 30 students selected nationwide to attend. "My experience as Crusader was great," he says. "The organization provided an extensive amount of college awareness, which helped me better prepare and know what I wanted in the future and what college/university fit my interest best. The staff is amazing, and they all work hard to make Crusaders feel engaged and enjoy all the programs that are offered."
Brian is also thankful for the Crusade Advisor he had in high school. "There was one Crusade staff member who made a major impact in my life and future, and who continues to, and that is Dwayne Clement," he says. "He has been there step-by-step, guiding my college process and watching me succeed. He helped me develop in areas that I didn't know I was interested in and helped me flourish. He was a great mentor and friend. I am always thankful for him believing in me and knowing that I was capable of achieving great things." Brian and Dwayne's friendship has entered a new phase, now that they are colleagues as Crusade Advisors.
Brian highlights two important elements of his college experience. "I would have to say that my professors offered insights that were and still are of great use to me," he says. "I also appreciated the opportunities that my school provided to gain work and/or volunteer experience, which helps prepare you for the real world." Brian's College Crusade scholarship also made a difference. "Trust me, it came in very helpful and made a major impact on what I owe back and on the extra resources I was able to acquire throughout the scholarship," he says.
Brian has a lot going on in his life. He donates time to his church, managing the Multimedia department and the Youth ministry. "I also enjoy reading books and comic books, and I play quarterback on Monday nights to keep active," he says. "But I dedicate most of my free time to my son, Jared. I enjoy every minute I am able to spend with him."
What would Brian recommend to Crusaders starting college in the fall? "The best advice I can provide to a high school student entering college is to FOCUS, GET INVOLVED, MAKE LASTING FREINDSHIPS, and NETWORK," he says. "College is an open door to endless opportunities."
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Price Discrimination at The New York Times
Are you a subscriber to the NY Times online? If you signed up recently, you might want to check your rate. You may be in for a better or worse deal depending on where you signed up. Take a look at my recent screenshots of their subscription landing page: https://www.nytimes.com/subscription
Here's what I see while browsing in…
NYC, $2/week:
Frankfurt, $1/week (plus buy 1 get 1 free bonus):
Hong Kong, $1/week (plus buy 1 get 1 free bonus):
The screenshots above show a clear example of price discrimination by the NY Times–a tactic that is possible when a seller is able to identify various market segments with differing price elasticities, and then they are able to build a system to carry out the price changes. Price discrimination in practice is also is frequently referred to as "dynamic pricing".
How is the NY Times able to identify different market segments?
One of the most significant factors affecting price elasticity, location, can be determined with first-party data, the visitor's IP address. From the location, businesses like the NY Times are then able to adjust their prices to align with factors such as median income, willingness to buy news products, frequency of visit, device, among others. The end result for the NY Times is more revenue (from higher-income segments) and more accessibility (from lower-income segments). Who can complain about that?
As publishers and businesses of all kinds seek to shift their revenue mix from advertising to subscription revenue, consumers should expect the application of price discrimination, dynamic pricing, to be a much more common occurrence in internet-based businesses.
Have you heard about MoviePass recently? There's a good chance you or someone you know has recently joined:
I've been thinking a lot about the growth of SaaS businesses in recent months, and as of late it has become increasingly hard to ignore MoviePass. Particularly, the service has grown from around 20k monthly subscribers in August 2017 to more than 3 million today — a mere 10 months later. This growth is almost entirely attributed to a price drop from $50/month in big cities to $9.95/month nationwide. According to an NY Times interview with the CEO of MoviePass' parent company, Helios and Matheson, they did not expect the phenomenon that has occurred:
"We set the expectation for MoviePass to achieve at least 150,000 subscribers 15 months down the road."
MoviePass signed up 150,000 new monthly subscribers within two days of announcing their price drop, and they've averaged roughly 10,000 new paying users every day since. Now that's what I call growth. But this growth leads to a variety of questions around the soundness of the business:
Are the new subscribers sticking around?
According to documents filed with the SEC last Fall, yes, they are. 4.2% month 1 and 2.4% month 2 churn, leading to a life expectancy of 47 months.
How often do subscribers use their subscription?
88 percent view 0-1 movies per month, 12 percent are heavy users.
Who's leading the product vision?
Mitch Lowe, formerly President of RedBox and founding team at Netflix
Who's running the show?
Theodore Farnsworth, CEO of Helios and Matheson
Why's the stock down more than 90% since it's high in October 2017?
Their cash in the bank has reached dangerously low cash levels in early May 2018 by Wall St standards — less than $15.5 million, with $27.9 million in accounts receivables. Keep in mind they also reported at this time that they run a deficit of about $21.7 million per month at the time, meaning they could very well run out of cash within weeks without significant changes.
Did changes occur in May 2018 to improve the cash emergency?
Yes, they introduced rules such as no-repeat visits to any single movie, one movie visit per day, and surge pricing of $2 per ticket depending on the movie and location.
Last week they also started bond sales in exchange for 20,500 shares of preferred stock, hoping to raise $164 million.
Theater chains such as AMC are already introducing their own subscription services– making MoviePass' strategy even more risky. But MoviePass indicates their product is superior because users can visit any theater instead of a select few, and they will be able to sway movie-goers to one theater over another with surge pricing. Finally, once a certain critical mass is reached, 5 million subscribers Farnsworth claims, profitable revenue channels such as digital advertising and high profile partnerships will open up.
Will the tables turn for MoviePass?
I'm optimistic there is a lot more to come with this story by the end of 2018. Stay tuned…
Handrails in the Tokyo Metro
I spent one week this month traveling in Tokyo, and while my experience was comparable in many ways to other big cities like New York or London, there were notable differences worth mentioning. Tokyo is clean, orderly, and extremely safe. The Japanese people who live there maintain high standards for everything that shapes the human experience, from fast and reliable transit to fresh and delicious food. It's truly a sight worth seeing — one that made me scratch my head and think "Why aren't things this way at home in New York City?". Here's one easy example:
In the photos above there is an unusual situation for an American: everyday people obediently holding a handrail on a busy escalator in a public metro station. Why is that? The handrail is germ-free. But where's the soap? As it turns out, the handrail is constantly churning through a UV light at the bottom of the escalator. This light kills 99.9% of germs through a process known as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI).
Here's a photo of the product from LG Innotek and ClearWin, which is one of the first to market:
Example installation in Seoul.
Full product specs from LG: http://www.lginnotek.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Escalator_Handrail_Sterilizer_eng.pdf
As you can tell, LG and ClearWin stick true to their respective names: their product improves health and safety at the same time. Now that's a public infrastructure improvement I can really get behind.
Rest in Peace Avicii
Earlier this month the surprise death of Swedish superstar DJ Avicii stunned the world. Longtime fans such as myself asked, "How could it be that one of most talented musical minds of this generation has passed away so soon?" His family, who knows him better by his full name Tim Bergling, released a statement alluding to suicide as the possible cause of death, including:
He could not go on any longer.
He wanted to find peace.
Tim was not made for the business machine he found himself in; he was a sensitive guy who loved his fans but shunned the spotlight.
I could go on about the endless great memories that his music has provided a backdrop to over the last seven years of my life, including incredible shows in NYC, SF, and Miami. However, I want to share one story that speaks to his kind and friendly spirit, and that has also revived my belief that it is possible to succeed at the top of your field while still being "genuinely nice":
Last July my family and I were traveling in Peru when we happened to bump into Tim and his childhood friends from Stockholm. An otherwise routine bus ride to an aircraft parking stand at the Lima airport turned into shock when I looked behind my right shoulder. I saw what I believed to be an incredibly familiar face. Next, I noticed a hoodie, Yeezy's, blonde hair, and a sleeve tattoo on the left arm. Tim and his crew did not exactly blend in with their LA attire.
While on the bus, I quickly whispered to my sister that I think Avicii is on our flight to Cuzco, and I asked her to check his Instagram to see if he's recently posted from Peru. Sure enough, he had been sharing photos from his South American trip, and as we boarded I was able to verify via Google that he did indeed have an intricate tattoo on his left arm.
So, by the time we landed in Cuzco and made our way to the baggage claim, I approached two of Tim's friends to verify it was him. Yes! They went on to disclose that, like my family, they were making their way to Cuzco as a launching point for their long trek to Machu Picchu, located deep in the Peruvian Andes. We asked Tim for a photo once he caught up with the rest of the group, and he replied, "of course", in a tone that communicated he was grateful we had even asked. He talked with us about his trip for a couple of minutes with his friends before shuttling off to their hotel.
While this moment was just a spec in the arc of his life, it was a telling one, filled with friendliness and warmth — to complete strangers who could offer nothing more than a smile and a hug in exchange for a few minutes of his time.
Tim, like your family at home in Sweden has remarked, your worldwide family of fans will forever love and sadly miss the person you were. Your music will forever be a tribute to and inspiration of your spirit.
The Underrated Component of Modern Email Marketing
Back in the Mad Men era of advertising, David Ogilvy once said:
On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.
The modern version of Ogilvy's statement applied to email marketing reads like this:
On the average, five times as many people read the subject line as read the body copy. When you have written your subject line, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.
When you consider that email open rates hover around 20% according to MailChimp, Ogilvy's adage applies perfectly in the digital age. But the fact that email subject lines disproportionately affect marketing success is no secret. However, what is new, is the increasing importance of using the space that iOS and Android make available for providing a preview of emails in push notifications.
As smartphone screens become larger, more space has been made available on phones to provide a second "hook" right after your subject line. Take a look at this example on my (now outdated) iPhone 6 Plus:
In this example I created at Codecademy, the subject line appeals to the recipients' curiosity due to the novelty of the new update released. Then right below, there is a call to action with "Come take a look!" and a short summary. This short paragraph below the subject line is not part of the human-readable text of the email but rather part of a machine-readable hidden div at the top of the email's content.
By creating a hidden div at the top of the email with an abbreviated message that is tailored to the context, this email announcement more effectively draws interest from its intended recipients. And when you're competing against dozens of others daily for attention on the push notifications screen, every advantage you can get counts. It's what I like to call a more "cohesive consumption experience".
Have you seen other examples where the email push notification text is utilized in an effective and tasteful manner? I'm curious to know.
Is Potcoin Dead?
If the boom of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies leaves you wondering how all of this new technology was seemingly created overnight, then you're not alone. Let me explain:
When the former NBA star Dennis Rodman pays a visit to his unusual friend, the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, he uses mutual interest in two activities to bond friendship with the infamous dictator: basketball and smoking.
Photo courtesy of The Times (2013)
While Kim Jon-un's love of smoking is no secret (according to Newsweek he started smoking as early as age 12), it is surprising that the typically ultra-conservative dictator tolerates weed usage, according to a report from Vice.* What's more, Rodman's most recent trip to North Korea in June 2017 was financed as a marketing stunt by the then little-known alternative ("alt") coin dedicated to providing financial services to the marijuana industry: Potcoin.
Like many others following the cryptocurrency industry last summer, I was intrigued by Potcoin's high profile sponsorship. So, I began researching more into what was bringing Potcoin to a new all-time-high.
Unfortunately, the most interesting feature of the Potcoin project is their unlikely alliance between a cryptocurrency upstart, NBA star, and North Korean dictator. While Potcoin's primary feature makes for an interesting script as a Hollywood comedy movie, it leaves much to be desired from its underlying blockchain technology.
In 2015, as an early adopter of Proof-of-Stake mining on top of a fork of Litecoin, Potcoin could've been considered ahead of its time. However, today, like many other altcoins, Potcoin hasn't seen any development activity on its core blockchain in years. Potcoin, for lack of a better word, is overbaked.
Don't take my word for it. Potheads on Reddit are asking, "Is this community dead?", and likewise for developers on GitHub, "Potcoin dead ?":
This contributor, ashr, put it nicely: "Looks like it ? I mean the network is still active and I see loads of people trading, but no developer activity since 2015 ?" That's right, trading volume is more than $100k/day in recent days, however, there has been literally zero developer activity on the core technology over the last 2.5 years.
It's safe to say Potcoin quickly lost my vote of confidence as a promising altcoin. But are there other similar stories out there? Of course. Next, I wondered how I could stay in the know.
Introducing Coin Changelog
Despite an abundance of resources for tracking the price movements of a variety of greenfield altcoins and overbaked coins alike, I found it frustrating that it was a cumbersome process to research and track the development updates of these new projects. Why has no one prioritized tracking the actual development activity on the blockchains themselves? After all, the overwhelming majority of blockchains are open-source.
So, I built Coin Changelog myself. The premise is simple: you follow the coins you find interesting, then you get an email once per day that discloses all of the development activity related to the coins that you follow. If you're curious how a particular commit, issue, pull request, or release is affecting price movement, then that information is also provided to you in the web user interface as well. Give it a hit, I'm curious to hear what you think:
https://coinchangelog.com/
*Note: a recent article in Business Insider raises questions on this claim.
When I began watching the Oscar-nominated documentary Icarus earlier this month, I did not expect what I would watch unfold over the next hours. Perhaps the same can be said for amateur bicyclist Bryan Fogel who is a primary subject and director of the film:
Fogel, who has an ambition of riding at Lance Armstrong-level speeds, originally intends to document steroid abuse in sports, specifically by using himself to participate in a rigorous steroid-filled training program leading up to the premiere amateur bicyclist race, the Haute Route, in 2015. While Fogel's training program proves to be an all-to revealing snapshot of just how easy it is to take steroids and test substance-free on race day, the Russian doctor who guides him along the way, Grigory Rodchenkov, quickly becomes the focus of attention.
In a sequence of candid tell-all interviews, Rodchenkov reveals how the doping strategy he prescribed for Fogel's amateur bike race is nearly identical to the strategy he prescribed for hundreds of Russian Olympic athletes during the Sochi Winter Olympics. These stories, which are eerily interwoven between Orwellian platitudes, describe the unethical behavior you've heard about, but a normal person would just hope for it to not be even remotely true. However, the caged bird must sing, and as you can imagine, a worldwide outrage ensues (which is captured in the film). Finally, Rodchenkov flees Russia in order to protect his life with the assistance of U.S. witness protection services.
With the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics about to be thrust into the international spotlight in just a few days, I found this documentary to be a visceral reminder of what some people believe to be just another part of the will to win: the world of cheating. By the end, however, it is clear that the will to win at all costs is rarely acceptable price to pay for any endeavor in life.
Give Icarus two hours of your attention. I think you will be shocked at what you see.
Navcoin: The Crypto Project to Watch for 2018
As the crypto wave moved into first gear during 2017, I kept coming back to one project that now has me thinking it will gain much wider appeal in the upcoming year due to its fundamental advantages: Navcoin.
The name of the game when it comes to the Navcoin project is efficiency. Over the last year, Bitcoin has achieved usage at scale, with great energy cost: It now takes upwards 215 kilowatt-hours to verify a single Bitcoin transaction, according to a report by Vice — enough energy to run an average American house for a week. By contrast, Navcoin's algorithm for verifying transactions, known as a "Proof of Stake", is orders of magnitude more efficient. Take a look at this graphic produced by the Navcoin community:
The benefits for transacting on the Nav network are astounding in terms of energy and time saved: The energy cost of a transaction on the Nav network is approximately 0.08 kilowatt-hours, just 0.037% of the energy required to verify a Bitcoin transaction. Likewise, the average time to verify a block of Nav transactions is about 30 seconds, which is much more speedy than Bitcoin's recent average times of 100+ minutes.
The beauty of the Nav network is that the coin supply is infinite, with a fixed inflation of 4% per year, and one string attached: A person who holds Navcoins is only entitled to receive the 4% bonus if they hold their coins in a full node wallet that is connected to the network. The full node wallet can be run on a conventional computer, or for maximum efficiency on a specially configured raspberry pi device. One Nav community member put it nicely:
This fundamental reward system is what encourages all Navcoin holders to keep their currency in a full node client which further ensures the network's integrity and speedy processing of transactions.
One counter-argument to the Nav network is that receiving the fixed inflation rewards requires a user to have a spare laptop running 24/7, or the time and knowledge to set up a raspberry pi. While valid in the short term, I expect over the long term that services offering access to a staking "pool" will pop up, providing easy access to the inflation rewards for a low fee. But don't take my word for it! Buy Nav on the exchange of your choice and try a transaction for yourself! I'm willing to bet you and many others will be pleasantly surprised in 2018.
Navcoin resources:
https://navcoin.org
https://www.reddit.com/r/navcoin
We're entering a new era of finance with blockchain technologies becoming widely known outside early-adopting tech circles, and Bitcoin surpassing the mark of $10,000 per coin. Along with this massive wave of new investment is, naturally, a new lexicon of words being introduced into everyday conversation.
There is of course, cryptocurrency, which is derived from the two words that lead to its meaning: cryptography and currency. Likewise, blockchain, is self-explanatory: a linked list of records, otherwise known as blocks of information. Then there are playful words, such as mooning, meaning that a coin has reached a new all-time-high. But most fun of all, the word HODL captures the spirit and optimism of the crypto wave. According to some reports, the term first appeared in the context of cryptocurrencies when a user named GameKyuubi in the BitcoinTalk forum declared, "I AM HOLDING" on Dec 18, 2013.
HODLING isn't tricky: it's just a play on the word "holding". In GameKyuubi's post written during the Bitcoin crash of Dec '13 (from an all-time-high of ~$1.1k to ~$650), he says he is better off hodling on to his assets, since "I KNOW I AM A BAD TRADER." and "…traders can only take your money if you sell". The HODL attitude has captured the spirit of thousands of early-adopting cryptocurrency advocates and speculators: They are aiming to both provide stable support to the total market cap for their coin of choice, and also see solid returns on their investment over time by simply buying and holding. Like GameKyuubi mentions, in zero-sum games like Bitcoin (due to the fixed number of coins), this strategy pays well, especially during massive bull runs such as the last year in Bitcoin's history.
So, if Warren Buffet is the Oracle of Omaha for being a grandmaster buy and hold trader, does that make GameKyuubi the Oracle of the Moon? I'll let you decide.
3P First
I was surfing the web one evening recently when I stumbled upon a tweet about Amazon by the investor Kanyi Maqubela (@km):
weird (and kind of cool) pic.twitter.com/IOeQBvMhyq
— Kanyi Maqubela (@km) October 29, 2017
The tweet is a screenshot of part of an email Maqubela had sent to a friend a couple of days after Amazon's massive Q3 2017 earnings call. Amazon's outlook has never been brighter. While he is correct that Amazon has done well at "venture investing", he is missing one key piece of information in that is central to Amazon's business strategy: When Amazon experiments in new markets, particularly in retail, they practice "3P First".
What is "3P First"?
3P First is when Amazon starts selling a new category of products in their marketplace, but all of the sales are priced, fulfilled, and managed by a third-party seller. By opening up new product categories exclusively to third-party sellers, Amazon gets a bird's-eye view of market testing at the expense of third-party sellers, thereby absolving themselves from significant upfront capital expenses. When demand proves to be solid for its third-party vendors, Amazon moves forward with its own first-party fulfillment, otherwise known as the friendly words: "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com". At this point, Amazon exerts maximum control over pricing and negotiates extensively with vendors to reduce their wholesale prices and provide additional sales incentives.
Take a look at the 3P First strategy in action: Amazon's next big retail play is rumored to be the pharmacy business. One year ago, Amazon announced they were testing the waters in Seattle by partnering with the local pharmacy chain, Bartell Drugs. If history has a way of telling the future, Amazon will more than likely partner with an existing pharmacy or pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), such as UnitedHealth's OptumRx, or the largest PBM in the U.S., Express Scripts. Finally, once Amazon is able to evaluate the third-party pharmacy sales, they will make the decision on whether or not to sell direct, which in this example includes navigating a complex federal and state by state regulatory process.
Know of other companies who practice 3P First? Let me know. I am curious to find other examples.


Photos are a tremendous asset in learning how to bonsai. These bonsai tree progression pictures will show shots from several different artists.
The before and after bonsai pictures on this page will show how a bonsai tree can change with help and a little time.
Some of the photos are style changes, others are bonsai that were in need of a trim. The first one is of what it looked like the plant looked like growing in the ground, and what it looks like today.
lives in California and when she moved to her current home she was quick to see a future bonsai in the hedges.
When bonsai becomes a passion, you begin to see them everywhere.
I'm not sure how many Cheryl saved, but this windswept is certainly a nice one.
Mauro Stemberger is a fine Italian bonsai artist.
As you can see above, his bonsai is still in its training pot. This is a good reminder ... style first, pot or re-pot later!
Keng Chung is shown here with what it sometimes takes to go from a large bush to a bonsai!
In today's bonsai world it is not unusual to see power tools during demonstrations - especially on large specimens. This plant was no doubt a Yamadori!
Candy Shirey lives in New Hampshire. When I saw these photos on Facebook, I knew they would be right for this page.
Candy purchased the Monterey pine from someone else and made it into a very nice bonsai, with her own signature.
In these two pictures we can again see Candy's talent with juniper bonsai.
Yes, they are the same tree.
This pine was off to a good start. It had a great trunk and the basic training. Michael Levin at Bonsai West In Massachusetts rewired the tree and within three years it looked like this 'after' bonsai picture.
David Chauvin has a great head start on this juniper!
Mark Fields' juniper is a good example of how to bonsai a plant starting with nursery stock.
In this bonsai progression picture he has not pruned the roots yet, but he has already given it a great start in styling.


Top Talent Ready for Hire - Business Continuity & IT Disaster Recovery Professional Based in the Middle East and Willing to Relocate - BC Management, Inc.
As an IT professional with over 13 years' experience, this individual has combined supervision/ managerial experience with extensive knowledge. He has built his career in a variety of roles and industries, working with major IT firms working as a Business Continuity Consultant, IT Disaster Recovery Consultant, Service Delivery Manager for delivering IT requirements to premium clients. In addition to being flexible and responsive, he is a fanatic for details – particularly when it comes to reports and presentation.
· Designing the Business Continuity Management (BCM) Project Plan and developing the BCM Policy.
· Conducting Threat / Risk Analysis and Site Risk Assessment for the organisation as per ISO31000.
· Alignment of the BCM Programme as per the country specific regulatory requirements or International industry standards (ISO22301) and BCI Good Practice Guidelines (GPG 2013).
This individual has served as a project manager for more than 8 BCM projects and implemented 5 full BCM lifecycle projects.


Tempted by a Chateau Wedding in France?
Have you ever dreamed of getting married in a typical Provencal Mas surrounded by lavender scented countryside? How about in a luxury Chateau in the South of France with enough bedrooms for all your guests? Or perhaps the thought of a ceremony in a contemporary villa overlooking the Mediterranean catches your imagination? After all, the stars have been at it – look Angelina and Brad! A wedding in France is not only incredibly romantic, it is also simpler than it might seem.
We have a few perfect venues from a top Chateau in the Cote d'Azur, to a large informal beachfront.
Do you need someone to talk to who knows the lay of the land? What are the legal facts about getting married in France? We will be delighted to help you with your enquiry and put you in touch with the owners who often double up as wedding planners and can guide you through the process and even for a fee arrange anything from caterers, to music and photographers!
The facts: There are two types of weddings in France, the Civil Ceremony and the Religious Ceremony. You are not required to have a religious wedding, but you cannot get married in a church without firstly having a civil wedding.
Here is a useful guide to the different types of weddings, and the documents that you need to provide to marry in France.
Only a Civil Ceremony is legally binding in France. They are conducted by the mayor, or his legally authorised representative in the Mairie (Town Hall). You will need two to four témoins (witnesses) for your civil marriage. They will have to be present at the wedding and sign the register. The ceremony will be performed in French, however, it can be possible to make arrangements with the mayor for a translator to be present.
What Documentation is Required for a Civil Wedding?
All documents must be the original copy and endorsed with an Apostille Stamp/Apostille Certificate. This is obtainable from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK. Also, any documents which are not in French must also have official translations, (translated by an agency verified by the French Consulate).
Valid Passports for both parties and also for the witnesses (les témoins), including photocopies of the front and back.
Proof of Address. You will need two documents showing proof of residence in the town/village where the ceremony will take place, for example; a gas bill and an electricity bill. Both parties must be resident in the town or village for at least 30 days prior to the civil ceremony.
Official copies of your Birth Certificates. They must be translated into French by a certified translator and issued within three months of your wedding date.
This is a certificate which does not exist in the UK. It states that you are not married already. It can be obtained from the Consulate.
A notarised statement of law by an attorney who is licenced both in France and in your home country. It certifies that both parties are free to marry and that your marriage will be recognised in your home country.
If you are planning to have a prenuptial agreement, this must be presented to the Mairie.
A religious wedding ceremony is not legally binding in France. In order to have a religious ceremony, you must first have a civil ceremony, and provide your religious official with your marriage certificate. It is a popular idea in France to have the civil ceremony the day before the religious ceremony, or have the civil ceremony in the country of residence prior to arriving in France.
Due to the residency requirements in France, it is a popular choice for foreigners to marry in their home country and have a blessing, such as a Humanist Ceremony in France. This opens up many possibilities of dream locations as the ceremony can be conducted almost anywhere.
If you marry in France you will receive a livret de famille. It is an official document which is used for all events concerning your new life together, your family.It will be a record of all births, deaths, divorce and name changes.
The date and place of your marriage.
Your full names (including maiden name).
Religious ceremony details, if applicable.
If you would like any further advice about rules and documentation required for getting married in France, you can contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK) or the French Consulate.
If you are visiting the South of France and would like to be able to cook the fresh local food yourself, why not rent one of our Holiday villas.


You can find the original declaration at its home, the EFF site.
In 1996, we stood against governments. Today we stand against the dying dinosaurs of a past age.
In the end, we'll win. But until then, these dinosaurs won't leave us alone.


During the winter months, I spend many weekends deep cleaning the house and purging unwanted items. I spent the weekend scrubbing tubs, sinks and yucky toilets, sad to say. But they are all gleaming clean. I also rearranged some furniture, pictures and just basically moved things to where they may look better. I haven't decided if that is where they are going to stay but I put things in new places for now.
Baseboards are my next mission. With three large dogs in the house, my baseboards get dirty fast and I vacuum every other day, sometimes every day… how do they get so dirty?
My bedroom project is on hold. It is just too cold and I am too busy with school, grand children, children and my business to get it finished in a reasonable amount of time and I don't want it hanging there for months. So I am going to try to start it when spring break comes… mid-March. We will see.
The fun thing for this week, don't we always need something fun to do with all the work we have? I am going antique and fabric shopping this week. The antique shopping is for fun, the fabric shopping is for the bedroom curtains. Possibly living room curtains too. We will see but at least I won't be working all week.
This week's menu is about flavor… I am a little heart sick for summer grilling so I wanted to make things that pack a punch.
You are going to have fun doing your bedroom. I did mine in the fall and I just let it stretch over a few weeks while I experimented and worked on ideas. It turned out to be one of the best rooms I have ever decorated and I think it's because I didn't rush myself.


Common sense can be misleading: what appears as obvious is always much more complex than it seems. The technology today is a constant here and now, always having to make a difference, a change, progress. But this change / difference / progress, usually called innovation, is much more political, it has a sense of opportunity, it requires strategy, lobbying, intelligence, like a well-played chess game.
Thousands (or even millions) are the new inventions happening on the web nowadays. Now more than ever, internet is a vault of new ideas. But do not be misguided: there is talent, but it is not enough to innovate. This premise is not limited to technology: history is full of artists, musicians, painters who have had the ability to create beauty beyond the parameters of their time, but time is effectively tyrant and these creators did not experience any recognition till after passing on, not even picturing how deep they would impact on culture.
Back to our point, technology is not exempt (nor ever will be) of good timing. Just look at this "spring of applications we are experiencing in which our phones , tablets and other devices try to integrate more and more in our daily lives , regulating business hours , sleep , finance , food , leisure , to name a few . But again, these ideas can barely settle in our household of a few grateful who could not find an "analog " solution.
By this point it may sound that the word innovation has a privileged place for certain historical figures, but this is far from true since no organization is exempt of taking a chance on it. On the contrary, in times of planned obsolescence, we cannot make changes only when our solutions' lifespan comes to an end. Furthermore, " innovation isn't perhaps the term to describe this situation, being more of an emergency update in order not to lose (more) time at work.
This debate showcases a key word: opportunity. It is quite common update your services and to hold yourself from innovation by only doing so. That is why we should ask ourselves how we can evaluate opportunity. First and foremost, we must analyze the pulse of the market in which we operate. Every industry has certain demands, patterned both by the customer and the competition. There are more viable and seemingly revolutionary ideas that every company should implement in certain industries but still are not taken into account. A clear example of this is telephone companies, recipients of thousands of daily inquires. There are management systems to supply their customers' demands more effectively, but they still insist on traditional call center systems with primitive processes, ignoring the remarkable potential of attention via social networks. The key guideline of this example insists on opportunity as the time of adoption. It is the market that determines it, and does so based on the product / service ratio – market. Thus, management systems and technology to sustain frequent contact with the client exist, but the market launch process is gradual, meticulous and, if one is not careful, can thwart a brilliant technological solution tailored for the customer, because of unsuspected (or unplanned) poor reception.
The complexity of innovation is critical, but the chance is always present. The production capacity of technological solutions for productivity that exists today is remarkable, but is a manager, CEO or director who has the power of decision. They can lead change, or hop on the bandwagon at the last minute, chasing an industry that innovates constantly, with or without us.


Almost 10 years ago I got injured while practicing for a bicycle race and became a quadriplegic. I had to teach myself how to walk again, feed myself, dress myself etcetera. I am now independent and I've gotten off of Social Security disability. I believe that Trump has mocked people with disabilities disrespects us and is not helping us. Keep Obamacare so I can keep working and not be dependent on the government is what I would tell Trump.
Jenny smiling at the camera, stands next to a large fireplace in a rustic looking room. She has medium length red hair and round glasses, a cowl-neck black top and black pants. Behind her, a man wearing a brown sweater and khakis smiles, with his hands on Jenny's shoulders.


Fully aluminium screens that have no exposed glass edges are very low maintenance and child friendly. Pivot doors are the most popular choice in showerscreens, with good reason. For a start they give you a wider opening than traditional sliding doors. The clean uninterrupted expanse of glass makes them less obtrusive, especially with the slim, modern frames.
Our Dimension series is ideal for the value-conscious builder or renovator. It embodies Pivotech quality in a flexible, long-lasting and affordable design. Dimension shower enclosures are versatile and adapt to just about any bathroom size or layout. These shower screens can be designed to your specific measurements.
The Phoenix sill-less is perfect where barrier free access is required, like assisted living facilities.
The Phoenix fully framed shower enclosures offer trusted and definitive design. Removing the sill allows for seamless, uninterrupted movement from the bathroom into the shower.
The headless/sill-less screen allows for unrestricted height access and a freely accessible shower.
Being side hinged means full width entry is available, making the Phoenix Sill-less perfect for hospitals, institutions and private homes where additional care is provided.


TOTTENHAM'S new signing Lewis Holtby has revealed he consulted with a "mind coach" before committing his future to White Hart Lane.
The German Under-21 agreed a five-year deal in Qatar while on a training camp with his current side, Schalke. It will see him move to the Premier League when his contract expires in the summer. But talks are ongoing between the clubs, with the Germans eager to pocket a small transfer fee in return for letting Andre Villas-Boas get his man for the run-in to the campaign.
Holtby, whose father is English, had been offered improved terms to stay on in the Bundesliga but, after seeking out specialist psychological help, he has decided to move to Spurs.
"Tottenham are a huge club both in England and worldwide," said Holtby. "They have great fans and a top manager and I want to fulfil my dreams.
"I would have opted to stay put with Schalke had I not received this offer from England. It was not an easy decision for me and not one I could make in a day. I spoke about it with my agent and also my mind coach. We went over everything, but they left the final decision to me.
"I had the offer of a great new deal from Schalke. I thought about it, but asked myself about what I had already experienced in the Bundesliga and what I still have in front of me. I have always made my own decisions, including whether to stay on at school or to concentrate on my football.
"Andre Villas-Boas convinced me about his club's philosophy of football and I play to make my dreams come true."
Holtby has a philosophical quote tattooed on his arm in German: "A warrior of light knows that in the silence of his heart he will hear an order that will show him the way." It was originally penned by Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho and Holtby got the design done in honour of a close friend who died in the Swiss mountains last year.
"It was his favourite quote," said Holtby. "It also has a deep meaning for me. Whenever I get off the track, this quotation leads me back in the right direction."
Another Spurs player facing an emotional dilemma this week has been Emmanuel Adebayor, who has had to choose between the honour of playing for his country and his fears over security after the Togo team bus came under fire three years ago at the African Nations Cup.
Initially, he said he would not take part in this year's competition but he flew out to his nation's training camp in Ghana yesterday to meet with Togo Football Federation president Ameyi Gabriel and will play in the tournament which starts on January 19.
It is undecided whether Adebayor will fly back for Saturday's match at QPR before leaving for the tournament.
Villas-Boas, who has given his players two days off, is resigned to Adebayor being absent when the squad report for duty again tomorrow.
However, Gabriel seemed oblivious to the agony of the choice Adebayor now has to make.
"Of course we're in the African Nations Cup with Adebayor, and we will be together in South Africa," Gabriel is reported to have told Radio Algeria International. "It is very important to have him there because he is our player and captain of the team."
If Togo make the final, Adebayor will miss four Tottenham matches, although he will return early if, as expected, the team fail to get through a group that contains Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Algeria.
Tottenham also discovered that their supporters are to be investigated by UEFA after reports of crowd disturbance during their Europa League match at Lazio.
A number of Spurs fans were stabbed on the eve of the game and there is also a separate charge against the Lazio supporters over alleged racist chanting.


text:
Tag: words with same pronunciation but different spelling list
Homophones, The Wonder of Words
Homophones are words that have the same sound but different meanings as well as different spellings.
Sometimes, people confuse these spellings. You may have come across grammar Nazis of the Internet complaining of the misuse of they're, their and there.
As I was thinking of the definitions of the three, I seemed to hear it to the tune of "Do Re Mi."
"They're, they are, a contraction,
Their, something belongs to them,
There, a place that is not here …"
Only, singing it and hearing it sung would not help much, would it? All the homophones sound the same. It would perhaps help if you could both hear it and visualize it simultaneously.
One blunder this "grammar Nazi" often comes across on the Internet is swapping of "it's" and "its." It's is again a contraction of "it" and "is," and "its" is the possessive of it.
It's raining.
Photo by Heidi Sandstrom. on Unsplash
It's raining. It is raining. By the way, isn't that a cool umbrella, book lovers?
Its reign
Image by 4924546 on Pixabay
"It's raining" and "Its reign." How is that for double homophones?
Its reign over the amphibious world was a kind of benevolent dictatorship. Now, if only he could find a girl to kiss.
Some homophones come in triplets.
Photo by Charles 🇵🇭 on Unsplash
Pair (of Boots)
Photo by Dakota Krupp on Unsplash
Photo by Caroline Attwood on Unsplash
To pare is to cut off the outer skin of something such as a fruit or vegetable.
Bear(s)
Photo by anthony renovato on Unsplash
Photo by Genessa Panainte on Unsplash
Just like there is "pear" and "pare," there is also "bear" and bare." Actually, I think the pretty lady above is wearing a bathing suit, but that is as bare as I dare go on this site.
I remember my older brothers telling me this rhyme when I was little.
"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
If Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
And Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Then Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?"
In that case, Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bare bear, don't you think?
Here are some other homophones that are a bit more tricky. Recently, I read two different online articles that, although otherwise well-written, had a misspelling of palate. In both cases, the writer meant to say, "palate," as in a person's taste or appreciation of flavors. In one case, the writer spelled it as "pallet" and, in the other case, as "palette."
Photo by Harishan Kobalasingam on Unsplash
A pallet is a platform on which goods can be moved, stored, or stacked, especially with a forklift.
Photo by Tim Arterbury on Unsplash
A palette is a slab on which an artist mixes colors.
Photo by Zachariah Hagy on Unsplash
Palate can refer to either the roof of the mouth or to a person's taste or appreciation of flavors. A wine critic may use the term in both senses.
How can you remember the differences?
I personally find it very easy to visualize words in their correct spellings, but I understand that not all brains are wired in a similar way.
Pallet — Perhaps, you can imagine the two Ls as stacking pallets turned vertical.
Palette — This word has a French origin and spelling, so you could imagine the stereotypical French artist painting "au plein air" with a beret on his head.
Palate — Perhaps, you could imagine the two As as something edible, like two sunny-side-up eggs with strips of bacon to the right of them, forming the stems of the As.
Sometimes, silly mnemonic devices are effective.
"Stationary" and "stationery" are another pair of homophones I often see confused. Something "stationary" is not moving. "Stationery" is writing paper.
Stationary (as in Stationary Bikes)
Photo by Trust Tru Katsande on Unsplash
Photo by Plush Design Studio on Unsplash
How do you remember the difference? How about this? While it's true that "stationary" can be used in other contexts besides "stationary bike," think of cyclist Lance Armstrong. The first two letters of his last name, AR, are the same two letters in the beginning of that syllable that has a different spelling than its homophone. Armstrong, Ary.
An infographic illustrating a triplet and pair of homophones: pallet, palate, palette and stationary and stationery.
Photo by Kony Xyzx on Unsplash
Photo by Rob Schreckhise on Unsplash
There's a big difference between "guerilla" and "gorilla," although both would be pretty intimidating if you came across one in the jungle.
If you have a background in French or Spanish, it might be easier for you to remember the difference in spelling. "Guerre" is French for war, and the Spanish word for war is "guerra."
Photo by Jamie Kern on Unsplash
So, here we have a little "cuteness overload." A fawn is a baby deer, but "fawn," with this spelling, can also have three other meanings. It can refer to a light, brown color or, as a verb, can mean to court favor in a flattering manner or to show affection, (used eespecially of dogs.)
Image from Pixabay
A faun is a mythological creature that is half-man and half-goat. The creature has the upper half of a man and the lower half of a goat. Usually, the head is drawn with some goat-like qualities as well. The Greek god, Pan, is a faun, and Mr. Tumnus, of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is a faun. Faun is synonymous with satyr. Satyr is from the Greek, and "faun" is Roman.
You don't want to confuse heroin with a heroine. Heroines need to stay clear of the other kind of heroin.
Photo by Evgeniy Gorbenko on Unsplash
The picture above is rather a pretty one to represent a harmful, addictive drug, but heroin is an opiate that comes from poppies.
A heroine is a female protagonist or hero of a story.
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Photo by Brad Stallcup on Unsplash
Image by Pixelkult on Pixabay
Remember the cymbals on a drum set and those icon symbols on your phone or computer have two different spellings, as do friar and fryer.
Image by pcdazero on PixabayI
Photo by Lucas Mellec on Unsplash
I suppose a friar may do some cooking, so it's possible he may do some frying? We call someone in that position a fry cook, and the appliance they use is a fryer.
Have any of these homophone pairs or triplets confused you in the past? Can you think of some other interesting homophones? Share in the comments.
If you like the study of interesting words and expressions, check out The Wonder of Words category of the blog.
March 8, 2019 March 8, 2019 fun with words, homophones, homophones list, mnemonic devices for homophones, spelling, word meanings, words that sound similar, words with same pronunciation but different spelling listLeave a comment


I try to stay organized to the best of my abilities. Unfortunately by about Wednesday mornings my desk looks like a tornado blew into the office and it takes awhile to get back on track to get ready for the next issue of the Ledger.
I always tell myself that I will be on top of it for next issue, but sadly that never happens. At least I'm consistent from week to week.
The other day Melissa was out of the office in Idaho and I had a rush of customers come through the door. She will deal with a lot of the advertising and circulation matters while I handle the news side of things, but I was wearing both hats last Friday.
A customer came into pay for a subscription and asked to use a pen. I started to look and couldn't find one near the front counter. I've been known for stealing pens around the office, and probably more than occasionally walking out of the bank with them, but wondered if I really lost so many. I thought for a moment it could be kind of like doing laundry and always missing socks. I'm not really sure how it happens and it is one of the more baffling things in life. No matter how many times I do laundry, I always end of with about two or three socks that don't have a partner. It baffles me every time.
I was finally able to find a couple and realized I had in two days already started to create a pile of mess.
I quickly cleaned up my desk and started to find all sorts of pens. How long some of them had been there I had no idea, but it certainly answered the questions of what happened to all the pens in the office.
I made sure to start to put the pens around the office so this situation won't happen anytime soon, but I'm sure it probably will. It seems like we buy pens every couple of months and they either get sucked into the black hole on my desk or end up with the socks.
I had to come in and add to this part of the column a few hours later. I found there was a huge box of pens sitting right on the front counter. I now understand how geniuses feel. I was looking for them and they were exactly where they should have been.
Last Friday was also certainly a change of pace because it was a classic example of when one person is out of office it turns into the busiest day of the year.
On Mondays and Tuesdays the phone is always ringing at the office, but it can be very quiet Wednesday through Friday.
This was not the case on Friday. Every time I started to write an article the phone would ring. I looked up and it was 10:30 and I had yet to get any writing done. I wondered why this couldn't happen the day before, but that would have been too convenient, and sometimes the way it happens.
I was finally able to get some writing done and the customers who came into the office in the afternoon had a variety of pens to choose from. Now if I could just find those socks all would be right with the world.


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Copyright © 2014 Shizuka Yamada et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cells, growth factors, and scaffold are the crucial factors for tissue engineering. Recently, scaffolds consisting of natural polymers, such as collagen and gelatin, bioabsorbable synthetic polymers, such as polylactic acid and polyglycolic acid, and inorganic materials, such as hydroxyapatite, as well as composite materials have been rapidly developed. In particular, collagen is the most promising material for tissue engineering due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Collagen contains specific cell adhesion domains, including the arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) motif. After the integrin receptor on the cell surface binds to the RGD motif on the collagen molecule, cell adhesion is actively induced. This interaction contributes to the promotion of cell growth and differentiation and the regulation of various cell functions. However, it is difficult to use a pure collagen scaffold as a tissue engineering material due to its low mechanical strength. In order to make up for this disadvantage, collagen scaffolds are often modified using a cross-linker, such as gamma irradiation and carbodiimide. Taking into account the possibility of zoonosis, a variety of recent reports have been documented using fish collagen scaffolds. We herein review the potency of fish collagen scaffolds as well as associated problems to be addressed for use in regenerative medicine.


As a freelance engineer I've found myself gaining further interest and passion in artist development, and had the good fortune of having tracks I have helped created gain traction on both national T.V. and radio (U.S.). I am proficient, fast, and organized with Pro Tools. Outside the box I have a working knowledge of large format consoles.
rania. indie guitarist/singer/songwriter. top line writer. vocals.
Ridley Studios, situated North West of Melbourne, is an independent recording establishment that provides modern music production. The complex provides all means to track, mix and master a variety of genres, ranging from pop, to rock, to indie/folk, to hiphop, all at an industry professional standard and affordable rate.
my name is Jose, im hoping i can meet some new people and network! i have done a bit of production and songwriting recently for Rose Lane/Damizza for a few projects, worked on a track with Rob Montes for the project of Helen Adamson and a few others! i recently started to reference my own songs as well to pitch.
A very passionate music producer, providing only the best of the!
Along my musical journey, I have produced, played and written for artists as diverse as Santana, EnVogue, War, Larry Carlton and Ozomatli, in every genre from electronic pop to Latin rock to roots/Americana. Each experience has taught me invaluable truths about what makes a piece of art unique and magical. Hopefully I can pass some of that to you!
I AM A JACK OF ALL TRADES WHEN IT COMES TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY BUT BEING AN ENGINEER IS MY PASSION! WITH THAT BEING SAID, BE APART OF MY JOURNEY TO MAKING GREAT SOUNDING MUSIC FOR OUR WORLD TO HEAR!
For the past 12 years I've been a self-employed sound designer/editor/score writer for audio plays. I wrote the theme tune for 'Bad Language' a BBC radio comedy quiz show. I'm a veteran of live bands & have played guitar/sung at Glastonbury Festival as well as lots of smaller events.


The Home Teaching program is a program set up within the Mormon Church. Those who participate are referred to as home teachers. Throughout the Mormon Church, the program is designed to have two priesthood holders visit 2-4 families in their ward. They are asked to visit the families on at least a monthly basis and share a message with them from the Church leaders. It is also their responsibility to watch out for the families, be friends with them, and offer assistance when needed.Home teachers are encouraged to set up a time that will work well for the family.
If any of the members of the families they teach are inactive, or if the entire family is inactive, the home teachers are encouraged to invite them to Church and provide them with information about events within the ward, as well as anything that has been handed out to the members of the ward throughout the month. When a member of the family is ill, or in need of a blessing, families can call on their home teachers to help give the blessing. This is especially true in homes where the father is absent or does not hold the priesthood.


This is so good, it's Spectacular! Welcome to Spectacular by Johnny Wong.
Johnny's latest and greatest gimmick is simple to use, but the transformations and transpositions it makes available look like pure eye candy! Your spectators won't know what hit them!
Comes with two unique coins, one being a US Quarter Dollar, and another bronze Chinese Coin.


Hi, we are thinking of hosting a murder mystery party with approximately 50-60 guests. We will be holding the party in a large clubhouse with one main room, and a few side rooms that may or may not have guests in them (hallway, library, kitchen). When a secondary murder takes place, the victim will lie on the floor with the card on top of them... But won't anyone in the room with them see them lie on the floor? And they would have seen the victim taking the card from the murderer. Or am I misunderstanding how these secondary murders take place?
If they are paying attention they would, which is why you will find your secondary murders tend to happen in other, more private places. That is not to say it cannot happen publicly. I was standing next to one once and didn't see a thing. I was talking to someone else and the murderer gave the victim the card and walked off. When the victim laid down, the murderer was long gone. I have myself been killed while everyone was distracted by something else. Where there is a will, there is a way!