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Vellam () is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language biographical drama film written and directed by Prajesh Sen. It features Jayasurya and Samyuktha Menon in lead roles with Siddique, Sreelakshmi, Santhosh Keezhattoor, Johny Antony in other supporting roles.

The film is based on the life of a Kerala-born businessman Murali Kunnumpurath who turned his life from a full time alcoholic to a successful businessman. The film was released on 22 January 2021. The music was composed by Bijibal.

Plot
Murali Nambiar is an alcoholic who becomes a burden for his family and the society around him. His family life comes under strain and his wife and parents watch helpless his decline. He even takes money and valuables from his home and his friends to buy alcohol, upsetting those close to him. He is even shown selling the furniture from his home once. After getting drunk, he often ends up sleeping on sidewalks and shop fronts. Once he is accused of stealing a golden ring at an engagement but this proves to be wrong. He makes a scene at his friend's funeral because of some misunderstanding. Although he is often seen as a drunkard by his family and neighbors, a few people still talk about his cool demeanor and hardworking nature.

One day he talks about his addiction with one of his friends who takes him to a de-addiction center where Dr. Subhramaniyam is the chief doctor. Dr. Subhramaniyam takes Murali under his wing, offering to treat his addiction. But Murali slacks off and continues to drink. The doctor contacts Murali's wife who has left him earlier because of his excessive drinking and tells her that Murali needs love and care as part of the treatment.

After the treatment he returns to his homeplace where his friends continue to treat him as before, a drunkard. Murali gets back to his home and finds that his parents have sold their house and moved on. Seeing that no one is concerned about him, he jumps into a well to kill himself. But he is rescued and rushed to hospital. When Dr. Subhramaniyam learns of this, he convinces Murali's family that he requires love and support.

Murali then slowly becomes a successful entrepreneur and launches a product called "Waterman" tiles and even starts exporting them. The movie ends with Murali bringing another drunkard to Dr. Subhramaniyam for treatment, convinced that he too can reform, just like he has.

Cast

Production
In February 2019, Jayasurya announced that he and Prajesh Sen are collaborating again after Captain (2018). Announcing the title of the film, Jayasurya said that the character in Vellam is his toughest character in his career to date. Vellam was produced by Friendly Productions. Title carries the tagline "The Essential Drink". Production of the film started in November 2019.

Music
All the music tracks were composed by Bijibal and lyrics are penned by B.K Harinarayanan and Nidheesh Nadery.

Release
Vellam was going for a theatrical release but was postponed indefinitely due to closures of theatres. The producers were planning to go ahead for a direct-to-streaming release but held it. Then it was announced that the film would release on 22 January 2021. In April 2021 the film started streaming on Sun NXT.

Awards, nominations and recognitions

51st Kerala State film awards
Best Actor - Jayasurya
Best Male Playback Singer-Shahabaz Aman

Kerala Film Critics Association Awards
 Second Best Director-Prajesh Sen
2021 : The Vellam movie selected as the second best movie by the Kerala Film Critics Association Awards.
2021 : Samyuktha Menon bagged the Kerala Film Critics Association Awards's best actress award for her performance in Vellam movie.

10th South Indian International Movie Awards
 Best Music Director - Bijibal
 Best Debut Producer - Friendly Productions

Prem Nazir Awards
 Best Director-Prajesh Sen
 Best movie - Vellam

Critical response
Upon release the film garnered mostly positive responses. Manorama News'''s reviewer rated the movie 3 out of 5 and said; "Jayasurya's stellar performance is Vellam's highlight, but the film portrays a lofty message. The Times of India gave the film a 4 out of 5. Ashutosh Mohan of Film Companion wrote, "What keeps it watchable, apart from Jayasurya, is the film's take on alcoholism: it's a problem but it's not a vice. A character in the film even says that there's nothing wrong with alcohol as long as it doesn't run (and ruin) your life. " Mathrubhumi'' praised Jayasurya's performance. Sidique's dialogue to Jayasurya that "Insult aanu Murali ee lokathile ettavum valya investment, eth thottavaneyum jaippikkunna tuition. Insulted aayittullavane life-il rakshapettittullu" () became very popular among the youngsters and family audiences.

Box office
The movie was a box-office bomb as it could collect 2.85 crores on a budget of 6 Crores.

References

External links
 Murali: Real-life inspiration of the movie

2021 films
2020s Malayalam-language films
2020s survival films
2021 drama films

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It can be difficult to give or receive a massage. The circumstances will be different according to the kind of massage is involved. If you're new to massages, or if you're an expert at it, you've come to the best place. The tips that follow will certainly keep your interest in massage high.
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Your back works hard for you, and you need to give it a reward. Going to a massage parlor is the ideal way to help your achy back or other body parts. If that might be impossible, then a friend can try some of the tips to follow.


Anyway, a little bit into the conversation, one of the girls in the group asked me what I "did". For the first time, I hesitated.
"Well, I'm a stay-at-home mom now."
That's not good enough, Jen.
"But I used to teach, and I also am a photographer."
Better, but nobody is impressed.
Nobody had even said anything, and insecurities were popping up in my head. As a matter of fact, the girl who had asked me even went on to say, "Well my mom stayed at home with my sisters and I and I really have no idea how you guys do it. Her schedule was tighter than anyone's I know." So why did I feel inferior?
I think when it comes to women, there is such a push toward this feminist movement and women having equal rights as men. And I am all for that! If that's the kind of woman you are - climb that ladder, lady! But I am way more traditional, and I truly see the value in a woman being at home and raising her children. But society isn't leaning that way right now. Society is asking us to be the "power woman" that they are encouraging little girls to be. And there's nothing wrong with encouraging girls to be whatever they want to be... but it has to be just that. Who says that you have to be a doctor, or an astronaut, or an attorney to be successful? We need to teach little girls (and boys!) the value of every profession, occupation, and lifestyle choice, and allow them to follow their dreams - whether they dream of being a mom who raises her children or an attorney who slays in court.
And for me, the choice has been easy. I wouldn't trade what we are teaching our son for the world. We are teaching him that there is nothing more important in this world than family. Could I teach that if I were a working mom with a 9 to 5? Absolutely! But the fact of the matter is, the choice is mine to make.
And for the rest of you moms out there, struggling to feel like you are "enough" in society, because your worth can't be measured by a paycheck - your worth can't be measured at all. Because your worth, were it to be measured, would be in love, and dedication, and hugs and kisses and lessons your children can learn only from you.
And it is enough. As a matter of fact, it's more than enough.
At the Seaquarium with my little guy on a Wednesday.
Officially hooked. Let me know how to go about subscribing.
Thanks for reading, and for sharing!


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Adel Weir, née le  à Evander, est une joueuse professionnelle de squash représentant l'Afrique du Sud. Elle atteint en janvier 2011 la  place mondiale sur le circuit international, son meilleur classement.

Biographie
Elle est la fille de Gerty et Alwyn Weir. Son père est ingénieur, et sa mère enseignante. Elle est diplômée en gestion du sport de l'université de Johannesbourg en Afrique du Sud. Adel Weir épouse Douglas Sammons en 2010 et a une fille.

Après sa carrière de joueuse, elle entraîne à Guildford, au Royaume-Uni, après avoir obtenu son diplôme de l'université de Johannesbourg en 2005. Ensuite, elle entraîne à Doha, au Qatar, pendant 8 ans.

Notes et références

Voir aussi

Articles connexes
 Équipe d'Afrique du Sud féminine de squash

Liens externes

Naissance en octobre 1983
Naissance au Mpumalanga
Joueuse sud-africaine de squash


text:
YGD Top Dogg (rapper)
Y.G.D. Top Dogg (born Derrick Wade on February 17, 1979) is an African-American rapper from Compton, California. Y.G.D. signed to Death Row Records thru Marion "Suge" Knight, in the 1990s. Top Dogg was featured on "All Bout U" (music video) which is a single released by Tupac Shakur (2Pac), off his album All Eyez On Me.
Top Dogg grow up on the East Side of Compton, in the Ujima Village, and is affiliated with the Village Town Piru (126 Dark Side). In 1997, Y.G.D. Top Dogg released a promo single called "Going Back To Cali" (diss track),where he take shots at Diddy (formerly known as Puff Daddy) and Nortious B.I.G. as well as the whole Bad Boy Records camp.
in 1999, Top Dogg released a single "Top Dogg Cindafella" along with a music video. The song also appeared on Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 (compilation CD). However, by this time many artist's on Death Row, such as Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, left the label. Suge Knight were sent to prison and Tupac was killed in Nevada, Las Vagas.
Despite, being signed for over four years, he nevered released an album on Death Row Records. 2008, Top Dogg released Top Dogg Vol.1 (mixtape) thru his independent record label "Dark Side Music."
Abums/Mixtapes
2011: The Renegade
2000: Too Gangsta For Radio (Death Row compilation CD).
1999: Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 (Death Row compilation CD).
bluemustang31@gmail.Com says:
fuCC deriCC wade,and fuCC the village town pKirKu (126 dark side) fuCC all diru gangs,fuCC all "so Called" p. funk ridas y'@ll niCCas stink and smell like some fishy ass vagina. 5K and 5 point Crown breaker bitChes.fuCC deriCC wade he just looks like a gay ass half blaCC half Indian 4rum India SnoopK Dogg.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (2005-2007) #17
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (2005-2007)
There's a new student at Midtown High who has everyone freaked out. Rumor has it she's been kicked out of half a dozen other schools, and for half a million different reasons. The only thing anyone knows for sure? Felicia Hardy is NOT to be crossed!
David Hahn
Takeshi Miyazawa
Romance Superhero
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane
Vol. 4: Still Friends
The highly acclaimed drama featuring the life of a teenage Mary Jane Watson returns as an ongoing series! And this time, she's got some friendly neighborhood backup! With her circle of friends and recent relationship left in disrepair, MJ is on the market once again! But who will she choose to be the next object of her affections: Peter Parker, her bookish-but-sweet tutor and newly-minted friend;
Mary Jane (2004)
Whether she's going to school or hanging out with her friends at the Coffee Bean, Mary Jane Watson is always the life of the party. But what no one knows is that this gorgeous redhead's exuberant personality is a shell designed to make her forget about life's harsh realities. From her social life to her undying interest in becoming an actress to her crush on that costumed crime-fighter who swings
After some bumps in the road, it seems MJ is finally over Spider-Man and excited to go to Homecoming with her boyfriend, Harry Osborn. But unless Harry's dad sees an improvement in his son's slipping grades, Harry can forget about ever seeing Mary Jane again. Add to this the fact that Liz Allan thinks best friend MJ and boyfriend Flash Thompson are fooling around behind her back, and you've got a
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (2008)
At long, long, long, looooooooooooooooong last, SHE'S BACK! Mary Jane Watson, in her very own adventures! It's the beginning of a new high school year. MJ finally feels like she's got her life in order. Good friends, good classes, good relationship with a certain Wall-Crawler...but is there someone behind the scenes that's got it in for our rambunctious redhead?
Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane: The Real Thing
Collects Mary Jane #1-4, Mary Jane: Homecoming #1-4 And Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane (2005) #1-3. Everybody loves Mary Jane Watson — so why not Spider-Man? Whether she's in class, hanging out at the Coffee Bean or attending Homecoming, she's always the center of attention. But is everything about Mary Jane quite what it seems? Join MJ, her best friend Liz Allan, Liz's boyfriend Flash Thom


text:
Q: Size of integral in line I don't know what is happening. Currently, when I type $\int_a^b f$, the integral sign is always big, as if I'm typing $$\int_a^b f$$. I'm using \textstyle to correct this, but I wanted not to have to type this, and that the size of integral was text style normally.
Does some one know how to fix this?
Thanks!

A: Probably you have \everymath{\displaystyle} somewhere. You sometimes see this recommended on the internet, but it's almost always wrong, it destroys inline math setting, as you see.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Hacı Sabancı
Charter & Bylaws
Leadership of Sabancı Foundation (Since Establishment)
The third child of Mr. Hacı Ömer and Mrs. Sadıka Sabancı, Mr. Hacı Sabancı was born in Akçakaya, a village of Kayseri, in 1935.
Hacı Sabancı had his secondary education, and spent his youth and most of his life in Adana. His professional career started in a company of Sabancı Group in automotive marketing and cotton export business.
Mr. Hacı Sabancı was honored with doctor honoris causa by East Mediterranean University in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and by Cukurova University Senate. Mr. Hacı Sabancı was also rewarded by Turkish State Distinguished Service Medal by President of Turkey. Association of International Business and Businessmen also distinguished Mr. Hacı Sabancı as the "Best Leader of the Balkans".
Hacı Sabancı was the member of Board of Trustees of Cukurova University Foundation as well as the Board Chairman of Adana Chamber of Industry; in addition he served as the Vice Chairman of Hacı Sabancı Holding and the Chairman of Akcansa, Bossa, Carrefoursa, Cimsa, Danonesa, Exsa, Marsa, Sapeksa, Universal Trading and Yunsa, all Holding companies. He was also the President of Haci Omer Sabanci Foundation between 1974-1998.
Mr. Sabancı married Mrs. Özcan Sabancı in 1959 and he had three children, namely, Ömer, Demet and Mehmet.
Mr. Hacı Sabancı passed away on June 24, 1998.


text:
Board index EvaGeeks.org Forums Everything Else Evangelion Related Works & People
Studio Trigger project: Little Witch Academia
A forum for discussion of other Gainax works, people belonging or related to Gainax and the non-Eva projects they've worked on, media that reference or have distinct parallels to Eva, etc.
Moderator: Board Staff
jimmiel
Postby jimmiel » Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:10 am
Seele00TextOnly: Hold on, I lost track. How many of your children did Girls und Panzer rape and murder again, exactly?
Qui veut faire l'ange fait la bête.
Seele00TextOnly
Phospholipid Bilayer
Location: Wilmington, NC
Postby Seele00TextOnly » Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:50 pm
Oz wrote: EGF, I am disappoint. How come no one picked up the irony of my post? I even used the now-infamous picture that should have made it obvious what I was driving at.
I still don't get what you were driving at. Is this about the fact that we disparaged moe? As far as I'm concerned, LWA isn't moe, it has character and plot, things happen, it's interesting, it isn't pandering in anyway. Ever gonna explain yourself?
There's finally a thread about Aku no Hana so we can move that stuff there.
Check out my AMVs: Kaji/Misato in "18 Apostolos" & Kaworu and the Harpies in "The Beast That Shouted 'I' at the Heart of the World" w/ music by Esselfortium!!
Shinji embraces the otaku empowerment fantasy and dives headfirst into his mother's basement. -Chrad
Acts of man are better than acts of god. -Misato
cyharding
Our Man in Tokyo 3
Location: In Glorious Technicolor
Postby cyharding » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:31 am
Here is the completed work.
[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjyhka0lM5Y[/url]
Finding intelligent life on the web is not easy, we must all be glad we found EGF. - A.T. Fish
You Can Start Again. Chapter 22 now released. Now on FF.net
Oh, Eva, you never cease to amaze me. Your fans are analizing a calendar, for god's sake.- Alpha
Chuckman's Law: Any sufficiently advanced insanity is indistinguishable from enlightenment.
Postby jimmiel » Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:00 am
Video removed for some reason, here it is reuploaded. And yes, this is an officially-translated upload from Trigger themselves, so share it.
Postby cyharding » Fri Apr 19, 2013 10:57 pm
That's weird. It worked when I posted the link. They must have took it off not too long after I posted. Sorry about that.
Postby Dream » Fri Apr 26, 2013 8:17 am
Amazing, simply amazing.
Since it was apparently directed by Yoh Yoshinari (LWA seems to be his brainchild) I already imagined this was going to be a great, to put it mildly, but I honestly didn't expect it to be *that* amazing. The visuals were simply perfect and delicious, the art style, the painterly/watercolor-esque backgrounds (the greatest part of it IMO) and the incredibly slick character designs make the short one of the most beautiful things I've watched.
It's just as amazing that almost all the other aspects manage to keep up. The animation's fluidity and dynamism is quite honestly unlike anything I've ever seen before. The acting and demeanor of the characters was incredibly appealing and managed to make all of them rather interesting and unique (quite incredible given the short length of this) and while the story/plot wasn't anything outstanding, it is remarkable how much content they were capable of putting in 26 minutes without it feeling crammed in any manner. Even then, I do have to admit that they were able to make a few highlights with the story here and there (The MC's eye reflections bookends is probably the best example of that).
Simply amazing, with Inferno Cop and now this, I'm sure many people will be looking forward to anything Trigger makes next. I originally felt a bit iffy/distrustful of Trigger's quality when I saw the first episode of Inferno Cop, but now I think I'll be a fan of their future works.
Also, I really hope they decide to make a series out of this, it really has a lot of potential.
"Every line is a joy" -Kaworu Nagisa.
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson.
hui43210
Postby hui43210 » Mon May 06, 2013 4:06 pm
Just saw it and was great, really liked it! Whats so bad about k-on tho.....
Is the 3.0 spoiler policy gone?.... Cool, then I'm nominating myself as EvaGeeks 1# Sakura Suzuhara fan/nerd.
I mean, predictability is the central attraction and the narrative hook that we've all come to expect from the Evangelion franchise. How come Anno can't realize this? Twice? - FreakyFilmFan4ever
Postby jimmiel » Sun May 12, 2013 10:08 am
hui43210 wrote: Whats so bad about k-on tho.....
It's not that it's bad (well, I think it's only pretty good and is largely overrated, but whatever), just that by its popularity it's become the poster child for a type of show typically seen as unimaginative, uncreative and having characters which principally exist to look cute and be unthreatening, which is basically the opposite of LWA (its characters are charming in a much more legitimate way, in that they seem like real, fun people as opposed to bundles of clichés). It's a good show, but an example of a typically lousy type of show.
Xard
Sex God Bastard
Postby Xard » Sun May 12, 2013 2:40 pm
jimmiel wrote: its characters are charming in a much more legitimate way, in that they seem like real, fun people as opposed to bundles of clichés
Now I loved Little Witch Academia as much as the next guy (seen it, what, thrice?) and hope for full tv series and I also agree LWA's cast was charming and all but claiming the were anymore original or uncliched than K-ON's cast of lovable moeblobs is just silly. The character archetypes differ a bit from tropes of modern 4koma SoL manga but they aren't themselves anything new. The one girl that stand outs a bit is the potion mixer girl but that's because she's very much (Yoshinari's beloved) western animation character archetype. Of course characters of her type aren't that common in Japanese animation but overall she's hardly uncliched creation either.
Not that there's anything wrong with being cliched
ran1: Oh gosh this sentence gave me an internet boner. You're so tsundere.
Mugwump: Goddamn it, Xard! Take me in your arms, you magnificent sex god bastard! And don't forget to wear the Ran mask.
Eva Yojimbo: You really are the Otaku equivalent of a Catholic and Jew rolled up into one giant dakimakura of guilt.
Gob Hobblin: Sanctimonious, subtly racist, vaguely misogynist, somehow says something while at the same time saying...nothing, really, at all....
Nice, Xard. That's nice.
Postby jimmiel » Sun May 12, 2013 4:59 pm
Yeah, I like what Xard's posted. Although Diana is distinctive; you've got the aloof enemy/rival stereotype paired with the common ojou-sama characterisation, and then you've got a slow peeling of hubris to reveal an absolute bro, paired with the revelation that she's not quite as above it all as she'd like to pretend, which genuinely colours the understanding of her in a new way during a second watch. It's simple but dynamic and totally effective and I felt I had to rant about it. I agree with the Trigger guy behind the Inferno Cop account in saying she's the best witch.
I actually feel K-On!'s characters are less clichéd than many in its vein - more simplistically-drawn people than bundles of traits.
ehh, I don't know. I've seen Diana kind of she's-uptight-bitch-on-the-surface-but-really-a-tsundere* character before quite frequently. It's one of the most natural ways to develop a ojou-sama character of this type if she's supposed to come off antagonistic first but supposed to "really" be nice girl under the surface.
*not literally
Xard wrote: ehh, I don't know. I've seen Diana kind of she's-uptight-bitch-on-the-surface-but-really-a-tsundere* character before quite frequently.
So have I. Diana's wonderful. I dunno, something about the way these guys do characterisation makes it come across much more like "skilful use of archetypes" than "clichés".
Postby Dream » Tue May 14, 2013 2:23 am
I think that some people might find the characters more original than they are because pretty much everything in the short is so great/captivating you're not really in a "mood" to pick up on the small flaws of characterization and such.
Postby Xard » Tue May 14, 2013 9:05 am
jimmiel wrote: So have I. Diana's wonderful. I dunno, something about the way these guys do characterisation makes it come across much more like "skilful use of archetypes" than "clichés".
Well, there's no real difference. Originality in general is most of the time illusionary and at best skin deep. When I claimed characters are cliched I didn't use the word negatively though I'm well aware of the negative connotation it has. That's why I also used more respectable concept of "archetype" to speak of what is essentially one and same thing.
Really, it always comes down to execution. The reason why LWA's cast manages to be so charming in the short run time is that the characters are depicted with skill and authentic care. It's very rarely the elements of characters that differentiate bad from good ones.
On that note bringing up K-ON cast as kind of negative example in this context (though I know you didn't do this) similarly misses the point. I think it only starts to really show up in second season and film but KyoAni did terrific job with bringing the characters alive in that series. There's real affection and care in their portrayal from animation to telling little moments that puts the show way ahead its 4koma adaptation bulk competition - and as far as I'm concerned LWA's cast does good job in fulfilling the vague criterions of moe.
Dream wrote: I think that some people might find the characters more original than they are because pretty much everything in the short is so great/captivating you're not really in a "mood" to pick up on the small flaws of characterization and such.
I can't agree with this because it is implicitly committed to idea cliches in characterization are flaws.
Postby Dream » Wed May 15, 2013 11:42 pm
Xard wrote: I can't agree with this because it is implicitly committed to idea cliches in characterization are flaws.
That was poor wording on my part. Aside from small differences (namely, that i wouldn't be so sure if it all relies on execution) your post describes my viewpoints on the matter of characters and originality much better than i could. LWA's characters are not exactly anything revolutionary in either originality or execution, but they get the job done.
Jurrasic
Tunniel
Postby Jurrasic » Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:21 am
Damn, THANK YOU for posting this!
It dosen't look to be especially creative, being essentially as noted a Japanese take on Harry Potter, but the art style and direction look to be fresh and interesting, and looks to fill a gap in my heart where I have wished for an anime series in the style of the PS2 game Grim Grimoire.
That is of course if it -DOES- get picked up as a series, but the money people would be foolish not to green-light this: it has the potential to be a monster franchise of the Naruto/FMA/Death Note size, huge in Japan and North America both. :)
"Yes ladies and gentlemen, in France Asuka swears like a sailor and confirms that she's the butch of her apparent lesbian relationship with Mari, Mari insults people that ignore her, and Shinji Ikari tells to Sakura Suzuhara and Misato Katsuragi to go fuck themselves!" -ElMariachi
Postby jimmiel » Wed Jun 05, 2013 11:01 pm
Apart from the "school for wizards" angle, LWA not that similar to Harry Potter. I wouldn't be surprised if the overall concept was inspired by the most popular version of that idea, but it's more like the Worst Witch novels (Harry is a guy, an outsider and doesn't suck, the opposite of Akko and Mildred, and also Diana is more similar to Ethel than Draco, even outside of being a girl) or even fellow anime Quiz Magic Academy (the "save the school's dangerous power source" is very similar to the plot of the second OVA). Then there's the big good-versus-evil plot, social commentary, bad-guy-being-Hitler, people dying and there being a non-magical world at all elements, among many others, that are in Harry Potter - and, apart from the "old-fashioned English boarding school novel" angle, which is, again, not in LWA, most of what actually make the series "Harry Potter" - but not represented in the slightest in LWA.
... at any rate, calling it a clone of Harry Potter is kind of unfair.
Postby cyharding » Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:58 pm
The film is coming to blu-ray. Some of the features include a making of video (longer than the work itself) and a 112 page artbook. This sounds tempting to me.
xanderkh
Postby xanderkh » Mon Jun 24, 2013 4:44 am
Just to let you guys know, the video here: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RBlqxEIJ_Cg[/url]
It's going to be taken down at the end of June, so get it while you can. :)
"You're na�ve, Cecil. Even knowing betrayal and despair, you would depend on the whims of others?" - Golbez
Sephiroth: "Do you miss the Light?"
Golbez: "Hmph...I merely have duties to fulfill."
Sephiroth: "Too close to the brightness, and you may get scorched."
Golbz:.............
Golbez: Your loss can strengthen you.
"NGE Shinji is broken, Manga Shinji is an asshole, Rebuild Shinji is an idiot. Which is best? Uh, can I get some other options? All of these really suck." -Bagheera
NemZ
Token Misanthrope
Postby NemZ » Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:02 am
cool, I'll have to check this out soon.
Edit - Well, that's pretty great! Saucy is best witch, no contest.
Rest In Peace ~ 1978 - 2017
"I'd consider myself a realist, alright? but in philosophical terms I'm what's called a pessimist. It means I'm bad at parties." - Rust Cohle
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
"The internet: It's like a training camp for never amounting to anything." - Oglaf
"I think internet message boards and the like are dangerous." - Anno
Return to "Related Works & People"


text:
Q: Aggregate weeks and modify headers retrieved from column I am trying to aggregate data per weeks.
| Timestamp     |     District   |
|   --------    | -------------- |
| 2015-01-16    | Kreuzberg      |
| 2015-01-10    | Charlottenburg |
| 2015-02-09    | Mitte          |
| 2014-10-10    | Lichtenberg    |

Each Timestamp represents an ill person. What I am trying to achieve is to get the districts as headers and aggregate the timestamps to weeks. It is important to see how many persons catched an infection in each district during each week.
|     Week      | Kreuzberg | Charlottenburg | Mitte | Lichtenberg
|   --------    | ----------|   ----------   | ----- | ----------
| 2015-01-16    |     1     |         0      |    0  |     0
| 2015-01-10    |     0     |         1      |    0  |     0
| 2015-02-09    |     0     |         0      |    1  |     0
| 2014-10-10    |     0     |         0      |    0  |     1

So far I have the following the code, which doesn't give me the results that I need.
new_df <-
  df %>%
  drop_na(Timestamp) %>%
  mutate(week = floor_date(
    Timestamp,
    unit = "week")) %>%
  count(week, District)

Any suggestions?
Best,
Daniel

A: Based on your code, you could pipe a pivot_wider function:
library(dplyr)
library(tidyr)
library(lubridate)

df %>%
  drop_na(Timestamp) %>%
  mutate(week = floor_date(
    Timestamp,
    unit = "week")) %>%
  count(week, District) %>%
  pivot_wider(names_from = District, values_from = n, values_fill = 0)

This returns
# A tibble: 4 x 5
  week       Lichtenberg Charlottenburg Kreuzberg Mitte
  <date>           <int>          <int>     <int> <int>
1 2014-10-05           1              0         0     0
2 2015-01-04           0              1         0     0
3 2015-01-11           0              0         1     0
4 2015-02-08           0              0         0     1


Imagine you're on the beach and you gaze out to see a distant light. You feel at peace. Evoke those feelings with this gorgeous headwrap.
Bay Light is a gorgeous 100% authentic wax print. Hand wash in warm water. Line dry. Do not bleach. Warm iron if necessary. Will soften with use.


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See for yourself why this mighty fortress is known as 'the ship that never sailed' – with its pointed stem, square stern and tall mast.
Castle Campbell
Get up close to the Lowland stronghold of a powerful Highland clan – a forbidding fortress perched above Dollar Glen.
Step inside Edinburgh's 'other castle', once a rural retreat from Scotland's capital.
Dirleton Castle
Find out how the fortunes of this fortress – residence damaged by Cromwell were revived by its new owners.
Marvel at the near-complete castle of 'Scotland's uncrowned king', set in lovely Stirlingshire countryside.
Step inside one of Scotland's noblest medieval churches to find out how it has developed over the centuries.
Dunfermline Abbey and Palace
Walk among kings in Dunfermline Abbey, a royal mausoleum, and see the palace where the last monarch born in Scotland was delivered.
Iona Abbey and Nunnery
Step off the foot ferry into one of Scotland's most sacred sites, founded by St Columba in AD 563.
Explore the magnificent ruins of the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots and home to the Stewart kings of Scotland.


A prayer in preparation for worship. The part in bold type are the words of Charles Spurgeon. May God be praised and glorified in your worship this morning.
Oh that all the earth would ever reverence it.
lift us up with holy joy and with an unwavering confidence.
to express our entire confidence in You.
to express our obedience to You.
for the life we have in Jesus.
and may we be filled with Your Spirit.


text:
Music to some, Noise to others™
MUSIC BIOGRAPHY
PRODUCTON BIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY MAIN PAGE
Michael began his musical career at the tender age of 11 in California, USA.
Primarily a self-taught guitarist, Michael formed his first original music project "Rage" at age 14. Within the year Rage was performing live on the local Fresno California music scene. By the age 17 he and his band shared the stage with International Recording Artists with names like Uriah Heep, Axxe, Y&T, Eric Martin Band (Mr. Big Fame, members of Tesla) to name a few.
In 1986 Michael joined the Los Angeles based rock band Holy Soldier as lead guitarist. Holy Soldier was a major draw on the infamous Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in the late 1980's.
The band released four critically acclaimed multi award winning albums over the course of 10 years- receiving multiple Dove Awards and many other prestigious recognitions. Michael toured & performed around the world with Holy Soldier for over a decade.
He has performed extensively many in countries including United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Mexico and Brazil.
Michael is well versed in many styles of music, specializing in Rock, Blues and Pop. He also plays various stringed instruments - including Bass, Lap Steel and Mandolin.
He sites his main influences and foundation of his playing style range from the great Blues masters- the likes of Albert King, BB King, Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughn to Rock Legends such as Page, Gilmour and Michael Schenker.
With his own unique sound and style, Michael's approach to guitar playing is never to "overplay", but rather to "play for the song" applying his solid rhythms and his inventive, passionate, soulful lead lines to capture and convey the emotional intent of the music.
Michael lives and works between Brazil and the United States. He is currently is performing his own original music in several countries. He is also Guitarist/Vocalist for the four-man group -Pink Floyd Revival, Brazil.
Tradução em breve, obrigado


"We Cannot Be Silent About What We Know"
LOURDES, France, SEPT. 15, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a Vatican translation of the discourse Benedict XVI gave Sunday night at the conclusion of the Eucharistic procession in the prairie at the Marian shrine in Lourdes.
Lord Jesus, You are here!
You are here, with me, in his presence!
Lord, two thousand years ago, you willingly mounted the infamous Cross in order then to rise again and to remain for ever with us, your brothers and sisters.
And you, my brothers, my sisters, my friends, You willingly allow him to embrace you.
We love him. We seek to grow in love for him.
We contemplate him who, in the course of his Passover meal, gave his body and blood to his disciples, so as to be with them "always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20).
We adore him who is the origin and goal of our faith, him without whom we would not be here this evening, without whom we would not be at all, without whom there would be nothing, absolutely nothing! Him through whom "all things were made" (Jn 1:3), him in whom we were created, for all eternity, him who gave us his own body and blood -- he is here this evening, in our midst, for us to gaze upon.
We love, and we seek to grow in love for him who is here, in our presence, for us to gaze upon, for us perhaps to question, for us to love.
Whether we are walking or nailed to a bed of suffering; whether we are walking in joy or languishing in the wilderness of the soul (cf. Num 21:4): Lord, take us all into your Love; the infinite Love which is eternally the Love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father, the Love of the Father and the Son for the Spirit, and the Love of the Spirit for the Father and the Son. The sacred host exposed to our view speaks of this infinite power of Love manifested on the glorious Cross. The sacred host speaks to us of the incredible abasement of the One who made himself poor so as to make us rich in him, the One who accepted the loss of everything so as to win us for his Father. The sacred host is the living, efficacious and real sacrament of the eternal presence of the saviour of mankind to his Church.
Let us accept; may you accept to offer yourselves to him who has given us everything, who came not to judge the world, but to save it (cf. Jn 3:17), accept to recognize in your lives the presence of him who is present here, exposed to our view. Accept to offer him your very lives!
Mary, the holy Virgin, is with us this evening, in the presence of the Body of her Son, one hundred and fifty years after revealing herself to little Bernadette.
Holy Virgin, help us to contemplate, help us to adore, help us to love, to grow in love for him who loved us so much, so as to live eternally with him.
An immense crowd of witnesses is invisibly present beside us, very close to this blessed grotto and in front of this church that the Virgin Mary wanted to be built; the crowd of all those men and women who have contemplated, venerated, adored the real presence of him who gave himself to us even to the last drop of blood; the crowd of all those men and women who have spent hours in adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar.
This evening, we do not see them, but we hear them saying to us, to every man and to every woman among us: "Come, let the Master call you! He is here! He is calling you (cf. Jn 11:28)! He wants to take your life and join it to his.
The immense crowd of witnesses who have allowed themselves to be embraced by his Love, is the crowd of saints in heaven who never cease to intercede for us. They were sinners and they knew it, but they willingly ceased to gaze upon their own wounds and to gaze only upon the wounds of their Lord, so as to discover there the glory of the Cross, to discover there the victory of Life over death. Saint Pierre-Julien Eymard tells us everything when he cries out: "The holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ, past, present and future" ("Sermons and Parochial Instructions after 1856," 4-2.1, "On Meditation").
Jesus Christ, past, in the historical truth of the evening in the Upper Room, to which every celebration of holy Mass leads us back.
"This is", in the present, here and now, as in every here and now throughout human history. The real presence, the presence which surpasses our poor lips, our poor hearts, our poor thoughts. The presence offered for us to gaze upon as we do here, this evening, close to the grotto where Mary revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception.
The Eucharist is also Jesus Christ, future, Jesus Christ to come. When we contemplate the sacred host, his glorious transfigured and risen Body, we contemplate what we shall contemplate in eternity, where we shall discover that the whole world has been carried by its Creator during every second of its history. Each time we consume him, but also each time we contemplate him, we proclaim him until he comes again, "donec veniat". That is why we receive him with infinite respect.
Some of us cannot -- or cannot yet -- receive Him in the Sacrament, but we can contemplate Him with faith and love and express our desire finally to be united with Him. This desire has great value in God's presence: such people await his return more ardently; they await Jesus Christ who must come again.
Beloved brothers and sisters, day pilgrims and inhabitants of these valleys, brother Bishops, priests, deacons, men and women religious, all of you who see before you the infinite abasement of the Son of God and the infinite glory of the Resurrection, remain in silent adoration of your Lord, our Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Remain silent, then speak and tell the world: we cannot be silent about what we know. Go and tell the whole world the marvels of God, present at every moment of our lives, in every place on earth. May God bless us and keep us, may he lead us on the path of eternal life, he who is Life, for ever and ever. Amen.


Abu Dhabi Commercial Properties LLC (ADCP) was established by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC in January 2007, as their real estate subsidiary company. ADCP has grown exponentially since its inception and in 2014 was reselected as the preferred property manager for the commercial buildings project in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which is overseen by the Department of Finance of the Government of Abu Dhabi.
ADCP is recognized as one of the largest property management service providers in the Middle East, overseeing a property portfolio in excess of 55 million square feet of gross leasable floor space. The company manages multi-tenanted mixed use tower buildings comprising primarily of retail, office and residential units. Customers of ADCP are served through a buildings full life cycle, from a building's initial marketing and leasing phase, to generation of tenancy contract and other day to day functions. ADCP delivers a quality service to all their customers, with a strong emphasis on protecting owners' economic investment using best practices and management standards.
With a team of over 250 experienced real estate professionals, ADCP provides customers with a customized real estate solution.
To ensure long term value creation of our customer's assets, Tenant Management, Leasing, Facilities Management and Construction & Project Management are available within ADCP's scope of services.


text:
A welcome reversal on drilling
President Donald Trump's decision Tuesday to reverse course and reinstate the ban on oil and natural gas drilling off Florida's coasts was as correct as it was welcome.
Trump last week outlined a plan to open considerably more offshore areas to energy exploration. In essence, between 2019 and 2024 Big Oil would be free to pursue drilling licenses in 47 areas ringing the country from the Arctic Circle to the Florida Straits to the northern Atlantic Ocean.
No one should have been surprised. As a candidate, Trump plainly advocated greater mining of fossil fuels to make America more independent of foreign energy sources and to create jobs.
Nor should we have been surprised by the outcry from many members of Congress, governors and other assorted pols, Republican and Democrat alike, to include Florida Gov. Rick Scott. In a statement last week, Scott said he opposed the Trump administration's plan and added his "top priority" was to protect Florida's natural resources — which, considering Scott's environmental record over seven years in office, we can take with a sizable grain of salt.
Nonetheless, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told reporters that the White House granted Florida's exclusion because of Scott's lobbying.
Thus, governors of other coastal states are understandably upset, and that includes Republicans who might otherwise ally with Trump, such as Chris Christie of New Jersey, Larry Hogan of Maryland and Henry McMaster of South Carolina.
If there was a surprise last week, it was that the president initially chose not to exclude Florida, his part-time home. Perhaps Trump did not want to show favoritism, or couldn't legally exclude Florida. Now that he has set Florida apart, however, we can expect the governors of most, if not all, of America's coastal states to petition Zinke for a similar exemption — as many already are voicing — or to challenge the policy in court.
On its face, the about-face on Florida would seem to bolster those states' challenges to either grant exemptions or put Florida back in the drilling mix.
Yet Zinke has a point about Florida's beaches.
Under Scott, Florida is riding a tidal wave of tourism, with, once the 2017 numbers are tallied, seven consecutive years of record-breaking growth. That includes more than 100 million visitors in each of the last three years, and despite the recent hurricanes.
Stated differently, people simply don't visit, for example, New Jersey, or Washington state, or Virginia to play in the surf the way they do in Florida.
But perhaps the most intriguing reaction to Zinke's shift came from those like Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. They accuse the Trump administration of "playing politics" with oil drilling.
"I have spent my entire life fighting to keep oil rigs away from our coasts. This is a political stunt orchestrated by the Trump administration to help Rick Scott who has wanted to drill off Florida's coast his entire career. We shouldn't be playing politics with the future of FL," Nelson tweeted, suggesting the president reconsidered his position to help Scott firm up his environmental credentials for a U.S. Senate bid.
Perhaps.
But we should recognize that Floridians got the desired outcome: no drilling.
We would encourage Sen. Nelson to realize that, and consider the effect for the whole state, and not simply the impact on the continuation of his political career. Drilling alone won't decide the next election.


This 8.5×11 durable two-sided sheet covers blower door set up, testing, and evaluating of test results. Also covers analog and digital manometers, leakage values of building materials, can't reach 50 factors, building tightness limits, and simple house-pressure testing. It is designed as a quick reference to air-sealing technicians, sealing air leaks during blower door testing. Illustrations: 4 tables, 11 line drawings, 2 photographs.


text:
$25,000 paid out to man allegedly elbowed, beaten with baton by police
July 8, 2015 by Jayed Rahman
The city council settled a lawsuit in which a resident alleged he was elbowed and beaten with a baton by police officers during a summer 2011 incident. $25,000 was approved by the council to settle the lawsuit brought forth by Carlos Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was allegedly elbowed in the face after he was handcuffed. He was also struck in the back by a police baton, according to city records. Police officers responded to a shooting scene near Rodriguez's home on July 24th, 2011 after his son was shot.
At the time Rodriguez was celebrating his birthday with a party in his backyard. He heard a gunshot. He realized his son had disappeared from the party. He soon realized his son had been shot.
Rodriguez became "upset" and "inconsolable," according to city records. He was asked to stay back by police, but an intoxicated Rodriguez did not comply.
He allegedly became physical with the officers which escalated to the point officers handcuffed him. It was during this time he claimed police officers elbowed and beat him with a baton. He went to the emergency room and was treated for bruises, lesions, and contusions, according to city records.
Rodriguez did not require any invasive treatments.
Council members approved the settlement during Tuesday evening's special deliberation session without any public discussion.


Have recently been receiving quite a number of emails and also Facebook comments from photography enthusiasts asking me what sort of gear I use to shoot the pictures that are on this blogsite. Instead of repeating myself like a broken recorder ;p I decided to write up a quick blogpost to share what gear I'm currently on and answers to some FAQs.
I frequently carry two camera bodies during actual wedding days so that I don't have to waste time switching lenses and to capture 2 different perspective of (almost!) the same moment at once.
Having two bodies is also a back up, just incase one dies (touch wood!), at least I can continue shooting with the other one. As a wedding photographer, it's extremely important to have back up. Your clients' memories are in your hand and that in itself is such a huge responsibility that one shouldn't be joking when it comes to having enough gear on the big day!
24 – 70mm f2.8: Mainly used during actual wedding day when I want a wider range to play with. I use it mainly during wedding ceremonies, for group shots and also when I need wider shots of the venue.
85mm f1.8: Apparently an awesome lens for portraits BUT I use this mostly when I'm shooting wedding receptions and want to capture candids from a distance. Much lighter than carrying a 70-200mm which I had for a month. It was back breaking 0.o Distance is lengthened when used on a cropped camera so yay!
50mm f1.4: My absolute favourite lens (as of now that is ;D). I use it almost all the time – for portraits, during reception, details shots. On a full frame camera, this lens is absolutely orgasmic!
10 – 22mm f3.5: Fun wide angle lens, paired with a cropped camera, it gives you a reaaaaally wide scene but not to the point of fisheye. Distortion does occur on the sides but once you get used to the lens, you sorta know what angles to get to avoid really yucky distortion 😀 Usually used when I'm in a (literally!) tight spot or for wide angle shots of venues.
Why wear a belt pouch?
Errr….because I think that wearing the photographers vest is THE ultimate no-no. Ok, so this belt isn't exactly a fashion statement, but its uber comfortable and extremely convenient when I need to whip out lenses in a flash! No pun intended there by the way. With additional compartments, besides lenses, I also put my car keys, extra CF cards, camera batteries, AA batteries, phone, wallet, granola bar, my pet koala (kidding!) and lip balm inside. Best thing is, I feel like a cowboy whenever I wear this. Yeehaw!
What camera/lens/accessories would you recommend?
I'll be honest with you. I am not a technical photographer, ask me any technical details and I'll be stumped. I don't even know how many megapixels my camera has or what's the max shots it can take when its on sports mode. All I know is, I shoot from the heart. I know, I know, it sounds absolutely corny, but that's how I feel. Of course, having nifty gears help a lot too!
I'm a firm believer in constantly upgrading my gears whenever the budget allows for it. But what Ken Rockewell said is something I constantly remind myself of too, "No matter how advanced your camera you still need to be responsible for getting it to the right place at the right time and pointing it in the right direction to get the photo you want".
If you're ever in doubt about any technical information or gear, my best advice is – Google it (Fo' real! Google's like one of my best friends :D), wOOt!
Y'all have a super duper day ahead!
Yeehaw, Cowgirl! With that belt pouch you can have great hips like Shakira :)…. with this post may it answer all ppl's Q&A ….
Nice set of gear there 🙂 Do you have any assistant to help you carry all those gear?
ThinkTank belt looks good on u Anna..
I think your gears are just right. Reason? All of your gears are utilized and essential for your work. None of them goes to waste I believe….and that includes the Essence of Chicken and Granola's. =) I could not imagine myself moving around for 10hrs without food…gosh. I'd be grumpy as an old man!
i should get the belt…looks pretty cool..
Yo yo SuperAnna! For a minute i was wondering why you were carrying 2 flashes… Then after 2 minutes i 'realized' you carry two cameras. Damn fail! Lol!
Woman, you bums soooooooooooooo hawt!
I can't help but leave a comment about ya blog. I find it truely refreshing, straight-from-the-heart POV. Unlike some other really Pro Photographers out there. I've seen your works when you did for Emma and Azrie when they played a short Nikah Highlights during their ceremony in Singapore. Its awesome and someone had to point out to me to close my mouth or else flies will start infesting. Its amazing how fast you can deliver to them despite the hectic schedule.
Keep it up and stay healthy! Cheers!
Salam Anna.Like your honest write up and admire those tips given.
We have same camera body….I impressed with your photos, especially travelling. Love it.
Thank you so much! This a awesome online site!.


text:
Unicycle Bungee Jump
In March of 2004, I made bungee history. I became the first person to ride a unicycle off "The Ledge" in Queenstown, New Zealand. I had disembarked a Princess Cruise Line ship in Dunedin I'd been performing on, and had 3 days before flying to Hobart, Tasmania to pick up my next ship. So I rented a car and headed to Queenstown which was described to me as "The Vegas of the Southern Hemisphere but with adventure sports instead of gambling and casinos." What??
As I checked into my hostile, I heard some backpackers talking about "The Thrillogy" – a bungee package consisting of "The Bridge," "The Highwire," and "The Ledge." The Kawarau Bridge was famous for being the world's first commercial bungee site. The Nevis Highwire was known for it's height– the 3rd highest jump in the world at 440 ft. And The Ledge had a reputation for it's runway which thrust out 1200 ft over Queenstown below. The special harness at The Ledge allowed for leaving the runway however you wanted to– running, skateboarding, rollerblading, etc. When I showed up, I learned that people don't ride unicycles off The Ledge.. like, ever.
The Kiwis were all about it.. "Cool man!" They put an extra harness around the cycle, duct taped my feet to the pedals, and off I went. Check it out 🙂
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Related Expertise: Social Impact, Digital Ecosystems
When a Business Ecosystem Is the Answer to Sustainability Challenges
08 December 2021 By David Young, Ulrich Pidun, Balázs Zoletnik, and Simon Beck
Though often complex and difficult to manage, this type of collective action can help companies overcome six barriers that often inhibit their ability to address a sustainability challenge.
The success of ecosystems is a hot topic these days—and rightly so. Apple, for example, has built a powerful business ecosystem of app developers and software players around its iOS operating system. Amazon has similarly built a robust business ecosystem including brick-and-mortar and online retailers. And Visa has built a robust business ecosystem around its payment platform. But what if the power of business ecosystems could be taken a bit further? What if business ecosystems could be leveraged to help save the planet?
That's not as far-fetched as it may sound. As companies around the world remake their business models to advance their sustainability and boost their business advantage, many are finding that they need to drive change beyond the boundaries of their business. Creating changes in the wider system in which a company operates demands collective action. In some cases, that change is best driven through the creation of a business ecosystem—a specific form of business collective action wherein a dynamic group of independent businesses creates products or services that together constitute a coherent solution to a marketplace or consumer need.
Ecosystems for Ecosystems
Solving the Puzzle of Sustainable Resource Scarcity
Business ecosystems are complex and often more difficult to develop than alternative approaches to collective action, including partnerships or joint ventures, as well as broad-based corporate-led sustainability alliances. So how do companies determine when a business ecosystem is the best option for a specific sustainability challenge? On the basis of BCG Henderson Institute's continuing research into sustainable business model innovation (SBM-I) and business ecosystems, we have identified six barriers that often inhibit a company's ability to address a sustainability challenge, either in their own operations or for their customers, and where business ecosystems could provide a solution:
Fragmented demand
Fragmented supply
Matching challenge
Lack of trust
Insufficient co-innovation
Lack of close coordination across industries
Companies looking to tackle sustainability challenges that exhibit at least one of these barriers should consider creating a business ecosystem to drive collective action toward an ecosystem with enhanced sustainability performance.
The Sustainability Imperative
Our research on more than 115 sustainable business model innovations finds that companies on their own frequently run into constraints within the wider system. That, in turn, limits their ability to achieve greater environmental or societal benefits in a way that is economically or operationally feasible for the business.
Consider the challenge of reducing plastic waste, for example. Major consumer-facing brands are making significant commitments to reduce the use of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET), in part by using recycled PET (rPET). But companies looking to switch to rPET face yet another challenge: by 2025, according to BCG estimates, roughly 45% of demand for rPET will be unmet due to limited supply. Filling that gap will require a portfolio of ecosystem interventions that include R&D into such alternatives as biodegradables, the scaling of emerging solutions, and coordinated approaches to expand recycling infrastructure.
This is where collective action can be particularly helpful in removing the constraints that limit the adoption of more sustainable business practices. There are three primary methods for engaging in collective action to remove system sustainability constraints:
Sustainability Partnerships or Joint Ventures. These arrangements involve formalized agreements among organizations to advance a specific sustainability-related product, service, or initiative. Royal DSM, for example, has partnered with several public, private, and social-sector players—including the government of Rwanda, international development banks, and NGOs—to set up Africa Improved Foods, which will increase access to affordable and nutritious foods. Such partnerships tend to be built by and around a single core business and its own value chain to deliver an SBM-I.
Broad-Based, Corporate-Led Sustainability Alliances. These alliances are a form of collective action that involves more than two entities with a focus on establishing joint standards, policies, or approaches that advance sustainability. Corporate-led sustainability alliances operating today include One Planet Business for Biodiversity, which focuses on cultivating and restoring biodiversity; the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, which aims to make the natural rubber value chain fair, equitable, and environmentally sound; and the Consumer Goods Forum, which focuses on addressing such issues as environmental sustainability and the opportunity to develop products that contribute to global health and well-being.
Sustainability Business Ecosystems. This is a very specific type of collective action that is often highly focused on addressing a particular market need—and is more than just a kind of loose affiliation, which the word "ecosystem" often evokes. (See "Understanding Business Ecosystems.") And the approach has been gaining traction. Too Good To Go, for example, has built a business ecosystem to reduce food waste through a marketplace connecting customers with restaurants and stores that have surplus food.
Understanding Business Ecosystems
The term "ecosystem" is widely used in business but often carries a meaning that differs from the one we intend in this article. For example, some might describe London's financial center—with large investment banks, small financial players, and the network of companies and employees that support them—as an ecosystem. Silicon Valley—with its large network of established companies, startups, and leading research institutions—might also be labeled as such. But neither fits the bill of a business ecosystem under our definition.
That's because a true business ecosystem is not simply a means for connection or collaboration. Rather, it is a collection of independent businesses, orchestrated by a business at the center, that come together to address a specific need in the market. Most important, the solution that is developed by the business ecosystem creates value for every participant. And to make things a bit more complicated, business ecosystems can also incorporate the other two forms of collective action: partnerships and alliances.
Business ecosystems in general have grown more prevalent over the past decade, and they play an increasingly vital role in sustainability efforts. In our study of more than 115 SBM-Is, we found that roughly 30 of them built business ecosystems as a core part of their SBM-I. Notably, many were what we call sustainability front-runners: SBM-Is that most successfully push the boundaries of competition and reimagine their businesses in order to create more robust competitive advantage from sustainability.
In general, business ecosystems are the right choice to address a sustainability challenge that requires combining complementary solutions from different businesses in a highly coordinated fashion. To succeed, the business ecosystem must yield economic benefits for all players along with creating unique value to the end customer. While complex to build, business ecosystems offer the ability to easily access capabilities, scale fast, and achieve flexibility and resilience. In addition, business ecosystems can sometimes be a good interim solution to business sustainability challenges that stem from the absence of clear standards and universal regulation. For example, several players in the world of smart homes—including Samsung (SmartThings), Apple (HomeKit), and Amazon (Alexa)—are expanding their own connected ecosystems while, at the same time, setting up an alliance to work on establishing an industry-unifying, royalty-free connectivity standard called Matter.
Business ecosystems are the right choice to address a sustainability challenge that requires combining complementary solutions from different businesses in a highly coordinated fashion.
Our research has found that sustainability business ecosystems tend to focus on addressing a few specific sustainability challenges and currently tend to be concentrated in a few industries, including financial services, education, and health care. However, business ecosystems remain a relatively untapped opportunity in many other industries.
When Business Ecosystems Make Sense
To determine whether a business ecosystem model is the right solution to a sustainability challenge, companies should assess the nature of the problem they are trying to solve. We have identified six barriers to addressing sustainability challenges that indicate when a business ecosystem approach may offer a viable solution. These barriers are not mutually exclusive; in fact, most sustainability challenges where business ecosystems are successfully deployed exhibit several of them. (See the exhibit.)
Fragmented Demand. Some sustainability challenges are difficult to address because of an inability to aggregate demand so that an SBM-I reaches sufficient scale. This is critical in situations where demand is highly fragmented (often across many small-scale customers), making the economics of serving those customers unattractive. Expanding financial inclusion or access to health or education for rural populations and underserved communities often requires addressing challenges with disaggregated subscale demand.
Consider insurance startup BIMA, for example. The company uses mobile technology to bring vital health and insurance products to more than 35 million customers in ten countries: seven in Asia and three in Africa. BIMA's platform integrates offerings from various companies (telco providers, mobile money providers, and insurance underwriters) and provides a seamless, user-friendly experience from registration to claims processing with no paperwork involved. To aggregate demand, BIMA employs 3,000 agents to educate and build trust among customers, three-quarters of whom, typically, are accessing insurance services for the first time. Those agents then direct interested customers to BIMA's multiple channels—including an app, a call center, and social media—to make their purchase.
Fragmented Supply. Supply of certain inputs to a sustainable offering, typically some sort of commodity, can also be a constraint—particularly when supply is highly fragmented (often across many small-scale suppliers). In such instances, transaction costs for customers are prohibitively high. As a result, supply needs to be aggregated before customers can find sufficient market depth to meet their demand or sufficient liquidity in the market exists to enable consistent transactions.
The need for aggregated sustainably produced supply is often an issue for companies that are aiming to improve the practices of small-scale producers throughout their supply chain, particularly in sustainable agriculture. Supply aggregation is also likely to be valuable in the renewable energy sector where energy generation need not only be done at utility scale.
For example, Singapore energy company Sembcorp launched its renewable energy certificate (REC) aggregator platform in 2020 to enable companies to purchase certified renewable energy (from Sembcorp and other suppliers) in lieu of paying government carbon taxes. The platform creates liquidity and flexibility by aggregating sources of RECs and will allow more large energy users to manage their energy portfolios across different sources and geographies and to achieve their renewable energy targets.
Matching Challenge. Companies attempting to market new sustainable products or services can find that high search costs prevent them from transacting with potential customers. In such instances, the challenge is less about scaling supply or demand and more about creating transparency about the offering and consolidating distinct products or services to enable sufficient depth for matching to occur. Sustainability challenges with this barrier include those related to improving resource efficiency, such as increasing the utilization of shipping containers or car sharing, and to providing access to recruitment and job opportunities for underrepresented groups. This barrier can also often be found in challenges in the circular economy, where certain products—such as excess or imperfect foods and second-hand items—require little or no adaptation to make them valuable to other users.
Poshmark plays that market-making role in the fashion industry, facilitating circularity and shopping for second-hand goods. The company—which went public in 2021 and now has more than 80 million registered users in Australia, Canada, India, and the US—has developed a platform for buying and selling items, mainly clothing, in a variety of categories. The platform aims to combine the human connection of a physical shopping experience with the scale, reach, ease, and selection benefits of e-commerce, leveraging a variety of social tools and features designed to drive engagement, including sharing, liking, following, commenting, and real-time virtual-shopping events, such as "Posh Parties."
Lack of Trust. In some cases, a lack of trust among parties is the major barrier for successful SBM-I, and a business ecosystem can help address this challenge. Trust can be created through verification, certification, and tracing applications. This is particularly important when what matters most to a buyer is how a product was made and what materials went into its production—so, for example, a buyer may choose a sustainably made product over an identical one that was made in a less environmentally friendly way. This could involve certifying that a certain amount of sustainable content (for example, the amount of nonvirgin PET in a bottle) or a product (for example, cotton) has been produced in a sustainable manner. This is also critical in the carbon offset market, where concerns about the underlying quality of offsets have increased in recent years.
The sustainability action platform rePurpose Global, founded in 2016, takes aim at the trust challenge. The platform enables individuals and businesses to offset their plastic footprints through the purchase of so-called plastic credits. These credits are created through the verified removal of low-value plastics from the land and plastics from the ocean, along with investment in recycling facilities in underdeveloped areas and new innovations for plastic alternatives. The platform also provides advisory services to clients to address the root causes of plastic use. It removes roughly 11 million pounds of plastic waste each year and provides fair employment for more than 9,500 waste workers through partner organizations in Colombia, India, Indonesia, and Kenya.
Insufficient Co-Innovation. Frequently, distributed players, in tandem, need to innovate their products or services in order for a coherent solution set for a sustainability challenge to emerge.
Business ecosystems can drive co-innovation among fragmented players, including those in different industries or parts of the value chain, to create a solution to a specific problem. The need for coordination in sustainability often relates to the underlying common infrastructure for a product or service for which clear operational standards are required. Consider the heavy transportation industry, for example. Battery-powered electric vehicles that require a long time to recharge are ill-suited to an industry in which an idle truck is a drag on profitability. Innovations that rely on natural gas, particularly renewable natural gas or blue and green hydrogen, are being developed to decarbonize the heavy transportation industry. But without coordination, truck manufacturers, fuel distributors, and logistics companies are unlikely to adopt any kind of solution quickly.
Business ecosystems can also create the conditions for distributed innovation without a focus on a specific sustainability solution. Here, the business ecosystem provides the underlying platform that supports the exchange of ideas and data involving multiple players. Microsoft's AI for Good initiative, for example, offers an AI platform for innovation ecosystems that includes cloud computing services, AI tools, and technical support as well as cash awards to facilitate collaboration among key public and private stakeholders to address sustainability challenges.
We believe that there are several SBM-Is that could explore creating a sustainability business ecosystem to address the need for distributed innovation. Consider Salesforce's Sustainability Cloud platform, for example, which provides clients with data on their greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage. By opening its platform to external solution providers, Salesforce can offer them the opportunity to leverage the underlying data platform to create differentiated solutions for energy and emission management for Sustainability Cloud's clients across different industries.
Lack of Close Coordination Across Industries. Some sustainability challenges are difficult to address without continuous coordination among different types of stakeholders. Such coordination is especially required in situations where a coherent solution for customers is needed—such as, for example, in health care, where multiple care providers need to be coordinated for each patient. And coordination can be particularly important in circular economy solutions. That's because multiple players often have a role in a product's life cycle and therefore must make adaptations to their own products and processes to ensure that circularity can be achieved. Companies involved in the production, use, recycling, and second-life applications of plastic packaging, for example, must coordinate across the entire circular life cycle, including for the collection of waste products from often fragmented end users.
Cityblock Health, a 2017 spinout from Sidewalk Labs (an Alphabet company focused on urban innovation), has cultivated the development of a business ecosystem that addresses the need for close coordination in health care. Cityblock, working with ecosystem participants— including primary care providers, behavioral health specialists, social workers, and community partners that address social needs, such as transportation, housing, and food—provides health care to Medicaid and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries. Cityblock's proprietary care management platform, Commons, provides a 360-degree view of a patient's health, enabling care teams to make recommendations on the basis of a holistic understanding of the patient and support coordination among experts. This tech-enabled community care model has proven to be cost-effective, resulting in a 15% reduction in emergency room visits and a 20% reduction in inpatient hospital stays. Cityblock currently serves 90,000 members in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Washington, DC.
Business ecosystems are an emerging model for tackling sustainability issues confronting society. While such ecosystems add complexity, they also provide access to critical capabilities and resources and the ability to scale rapidly.
To understand if a business ecosystem is the right way to organize to address a sustainability issue, companies must start by identifying the core barrier limiting their progress. In instances where the sustainability challenge exhibits at least one of the barriers outlined above, the development of a business ecosystem may unlock critical constraints and help companies address daunting societal challenges while creating competitive advantage.
The BCG Henderson Institute is Boston Consulting Group's strategy think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration from the Institute, please visit our Latest Thinking page and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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text:
Man Who Beat on Jewish Man in NYC Calling Him 'Dirty Jew' Told Jailers 'If I could do it again, I would do it again'
Just as Asian Americans have been attacked by Woke Supremacists who can't stand that the Asian community is rejecting Critical Race Theory because they believe in a merit-based system, Jews are being attacked across America by Jew haters and pro-Palestinian thugs, which usually go hand in hand.
A Brooklyn man accused of beating up a Jewish man in midtown Manhattan last week where he called his victim a "dirty Jew" said from his jail cell that he would "do it again," according to prosecutors as reported by the New York Post.
Waseem Awadeh, 23, received a $10,000 bail in connection with the attack on Thursday where he was accused of kicking, punching, pepper-spraying, and beating 29-year-old Joseph Borgen with crutches. He really didn't like the guy. But an even bigger problem is the man didn't know Borgen at all.
"If I could do it again, I would do it again," Awawdeh said to a jailer, according to a prosecutor at the suspect's Saturday arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, the outlet reported. "I have no problem doing it again."
More from the Post:
"The attack was unprovoked, said prosecutors, who told Judge Kathryn Paek that Borgen was walking near Broadway and West 49th Street when Awawdeh 'jumped him and attacked him.'
"Awawdeh, who has at least one open case in Brooklyn for allegedly speeding and running a red light in March, was charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, menacing, aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon, police said."
The Manhattan assistant district attorney explained to the judge that the attack was a hate crime because Awawdeh called Borgen a "dirty Jew" and said, "F*ck Israel, Hamas is going to kill all of you," the Post said.
Some of Awawdeh's friends, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Awawdeh was attacked first.
"They picked somebody that was weak, that was on crutches," one of them told the Post.
Somehow I find it hard to believe that a Jewish guy is going to attack a man on crutches who happens to resemble a Palestinian and is wearing a shirt that said Palestine on it. If you just look at the guy you know right away he's not going to attack people. No one ever shouted, "LOOK OUT! There's a Jew over there!"
New York police released photos of four others who are wanted in connection with Thursday's attack.
Awawdeh's lawyer, from the New York County Defenders office, said his client is in college and isn't a flight risk.
"I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on," Borgen told the Post. "But it turned out I was getting Maced and pepper-sprayed. My face was on fire. That pain was worse than the concussion and all this other stuff that followed."
Borgen got his wrist X-rayed and though it isn't broken he said it's, "messed up. Every time I move it, it's in pain, probably sprained. I have bruises all over my body. I have a black eye. My face is banged up. I'm just sore all over my body. They were kicking me in my ribs, my stomach."
He also told the Post he's thinking about no longer wearing his yarmulke in public. Think about that. For the Jew-haters the yarmulke is a bullseye target. It's just sad that he is made to feel that way in America.
This is sick behavior. You don't get to attack people because they're of a specific race or religion. You expect this kind of garbage in the Middle East but not in New York City, USA.
In this article:Attacks on Jews, Manhattan, NY
We Predicted Sexual Harassment Accusations Against Andrew Cuomo Would Be Ignored, and We Were Right
We recently reported when New York City political appointee Lindsey Boylan took to social media on Sunday to claim that New York Governor Andrew...
Rich WelshDecember 15, 2020


Blog - Have You Ever Used Merge Shapes in PowerPoint?
Have You Ever Used Merge Shapes in PowerPoint?
There's a powerful tool in MS PowerPoint 2013 – and that's the Merge Shapes option. If you don't know Photoshop but you want to create complex custom shapes, the Merge Shapes function in PowerPoint is a nice alternative.
This great feature is already present in MS PowerPoint 2010 but is named as Combine Shapes. It was not available by default in the ribbons so in PowerPoint 2013 it was given its own space.
However, the option is not easily visible unless you are already working with shapes. It is located under the Drawing Tools Ribbon which is a contextual tab - it only opens when a shape is selected. The Merge Shapes option is also grayed out unless two or more shapes are selected.
There are 5 options: Union, Combine, Fragment, Intersect and Subtract.
Using these options you can easily create your own custom shapes that you can use in other MS Office applications.
1) Select the shapes you want to work on. A best practice is to select it in order. The first shape you select determines how the other shapes will look like in terms of formatting.
2) This will open the Drawing Tools Tab. Under Format, look for Merge Shapes.
3) You can hover over each option to see the effect. Once you are satisfied with the preview, just click the option to achieve your desired shape.
Now allow us to quickly demonstrate what each option can do for you!
When you use Union, the result is a single, unified shape. It combines all overlapping and non-overlapping areas of the shapes involved. Nothing is subtracted and the formatting of the first shape is retained.
Through Combine, all overlapping parts of the shape are removed. Only the non-overlapping areas are retained. In case there are no overlapping areas, it acts like the Group option in PowerPoint. However, there is no ungroup option. Once again, the formatting of the first shape selected is retained so when choosing the shapes, make sure to choose in the correct order.
Fragment is the new addition in PowerPoint 2013. It's not available in the Combine Shapes option in the 2010 version. With the Fragment option, overlapping areas of shapes and in-between empty spaces are turned into new, smaller shapes. However, the areas that do not overlap are retained as shapes. Nothing is subtracted and again, the formatting of the first selected shape is retained.
In preview, you may not notice anything new. In fact, even after you apply the option, it will appear as if nothing changed with the shape except for it to retain the formatting of the first selected shape. But when you try to select the shapes, you'll notice that they are now split into smaller shapes – like a puzzle version of the original one.
The Intersect option retains only overlapping areas of all shapes selected. Take note that ALL shapes selected must be overlapping each other. In case there is no common overlap in all the shapes selected, no shape is retained. All non-overlapping areas are not retained and only the formatting of the first shape is followed.
The Subtract option retains the first selected shape. Any overlapping area from other shapes are removed from the first selected shape resulting in a cut-out effect. When there are no overlaps between shapes, the original look of the first selected shape is retained while all other shapes are removed. Once again, the formatting of the first selected shape is followed.
There you have it. Now you know how the different options under the Merge Shapes menu work. You can use this knowledge to create your own complex custom shapes in PowerPoint 2013. It also works for texts and images so watch out when that next blog comes out!


text:
Arizona Lacrosse League
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See what's happening around the nation in the lacrosse world. Sign up for daily news if you like.
Lacrosse Magazine is the flagship publication of US Lacrosse. LM has the distinction as the first feature magazine dedicated to the fastest game on two feet, and is the most widely-read lacrosse publication in the world.
US Lacrosse provides a leadership role in virtually every aspect of the game throughout the United States, and offers a number of programs and information services to its national membership and more than one million lacrosse enthusiasts throughout the country.


text:
Q: HTML and CSS to PDF in JavaScript I know there are a bunch of libraries out there but none seem to exactly match my scenario. So I'm hoping to get some advice here...
technologies: I'm using Node.js on Express.js for the backend, and html/css/js for the front-end. Browser support is IE8 and up, chrome, FF, and other modern browsers.
What I need to do is: have a "to pdf" button for the user to click, which would then convert a chunk of the DOM to pdf. This chunk of DOM's html is generated dynamically when the back-end makes API calls to another app. The CSS is static.
Other than these, I have a lot of freedom to do whatever I want, as long as I don't have to send clear text data to third parties and etc.
Any recommended ways to do it?

Update: looking into wkhtmltopdf

A: Basically, this is what I ended up doing
console.log("before");
fs.writeFile(html_filename, html, function (err) {
  if (err) {res.writeHead(400); res.end("" + err); return;}

  console.log("wrote html fine; now converting");
  exec('wkhtmltopdf ' + html_filename + ' ' + pdf_filename, function (err, stdout, stderr) {
    if (err) {res.writeHead(400); res.end("" + err); return;}

    console.log("converted; now reading");
    fs.readFile(pdf_filename, function (err, data) {
      if (err) {res.writeHead(400); res.end("" + err); return;}

      console.log("read fine; now serving");
      res.writeHead(200, {"content-type" : "application/pdf"});
      res.end(data);
    });
  });
});

IMO it's a bit ugly as it requires making a file, then converting it, and then serving it, and finally delete the two. I suspect scalability problems here. Also wkhtmltopdf seems to not play nice with osx. There's no such problem on linux though.

A: Try wkhtmltopdf . You can easily look at the current implementation of the driver for Ruby on Rails and apply it to node and express. You basically call a command line app and it will be converted to a PDF using your print CSS.


Intended use: Road running in low light conditions and cold/wet weather.
Upper: Water repellent ripstop mesh, midfoot straos, reflective 3M panels.
Midsole: Injection molded EVA + Lunar Foam insert.
A winterized version of the impressive Lunarglide 3, great for urban visibility and inclement weather. Retains all the goodness of the Lunarglide 3, but avoid if you intend to run in warmer/dry weather. It can get warm pretty quickly.
When we reviewed the Nike Lunarglide 3 in Fall, the only negative we found was the complete lack of reflective bits on the upper. Two months later on, with the 'Shield' pack release, Nike has remedied that in more ways than one.
Nike introduced the 'Shield' collection in early October with five shoes in special winterized editions – the Zoom Structure Triax 15, the Air Max Moto 9, Lunarswift 3, Lunarfly 2, Lunarglide 3, Free Run and the Lunareclipse. We reckoned that seven reviews would be quite a handful to finish, so we asked Nike to send us a pair of the Lunarglide 3 in its Shield avatar for our review. We were particularly impressed by the Lunarglide 3, so we were eager to check out the Lunarglide 3 Shield and see what it brought to the party.
When the shoes arrived from Nike a few days later, we thought the review was going to be easy. Our initial impression was the Shield version was the original Lunarglide 3 with an updated material package so it should be the same shoe in all aspects, leave the cosmetics. At one point, we thought we'll just put some nice photographs with some text saying that the Lunarglide 3 Shield is same as the Lunarglide 3 with a lot of reflective bits and different materials.
But when we ran 5k in the Lunarglide 3 Shield, it was far from being the same shoe as its original version. For an accurate like to like comparo, we laced up the original black and volt Lunarglide 3 after wear testing the Shield version and ran for another 1k. And that's when we knew that the changes on the Nike Lunarglide Shield ran more than skin deep, and the Lunarglide 3 Shield was worthy of a full review.
Two design elements make the Shield pack what it is. First, use of tightly woven mesh repels water to a certain extent during damp weather. Second, the generous dose of 3M reflective panels produces the ultimate urban visibility, with vehicle lights illuminating the shoe from a distance. Grey is the common primary color across the Shield models, suggestive of the dark winters, with the bright orange midsole and midfoot straps tying in to the visibility theme. The reflective panels are all over the shoe; starting from the toe, it covers the midfoot area and then extending to the heel section. The tongue label chips in too, with reflective bars shining brightly through when you shine light at it. The panels are fused on the shoe upper instead of being stitched on, so it results in a clean and uncluttered look, with a touch of futuristic.
The reflectivity in the Nike Lunarglide 3 Shield works brilliantly. In ambient light, the shoe looks a regular Lunarglide in grey color, but throw a beam of light its way, and the shiny areas comes into its own. We did not see any photographs online which truly demonstrated how visible the Lunarglide 3 Shield is, so here are some 'before' and 'after' shots. It took us a whole weekend to get these photographs out, but we are pleased with the results!
The second notable design feature in the Lunarglide 3 Shield is its ability to repel water, which comes through the use of specific materials. Unlike the open sandwich mesh used in the original Lunarglide 3, the Shield upper uses a combination of materials to achieve its H20 repel goal. The primary mesh used on the upper is a rip-stop kind with a tight weave structure – this mesh is used in the toe and heel area, while the tongue and collar makes use of different fabrics.
We splashed water on the upper of the Nike Lunarglide 3 Shield, and sure enough, the water beads off the upper (see pictures below). We haven't had a chance to run in really wet weather, but we're not sure how long your foot is going to stay dry if you run for a few kilometers in rain. The Lunarglide 3 Shield is not to be confused with waterproof Gore-Tex lined running shoes. While the mesh will keep out moisture during a light drizzle, there is a limit to how long you can push it. So have the right expectations when buying the Lunarglide 3 Shield – this is NOT a waterproof shoe, only water repellent.
The tongue (below) uses a knit fabric resistant to absorbing water – the fused tongue(which is reflective) label calls out to the Lunarglide Shield's H2O repel feature.
We wear-tested the shoe over two consecutive days for this review. It confirmed that the shoe carries over all the goodness of the original Lunarglide+ 3, like the superb midfoot support, the responsive heel cushioning and a stable ride, but there are a few important things we'd like to call out. This should help you decide which version of the Lunarglide 3 you should be swiping your Visa on.
We began with a pre-conceived notion that the Lunarglide 3 Shield would feel exactly the same as the Lunarglide 3 in its stock form. Just a kilometer into the run, we found that perception change drastically. For starters, the winterized treatment of the Shield version significantly impacts the way the upper feels and behaves.The fused reflective panels are firmer than the softer panels used in the stock Lunarglide 3, and it tells on the overall fit and feel of the upper. We also felt that the material overlays on the shoe added to the thickness, resulting in a stiffer feel when running. After kilometer 3, we felt the insides heating up and that was no illusion.
The same mesh which keeps the water out is not breathable as regular mesh, and running in warm weather (26°C/80°F) accelerated the heating process. After the 5k run, we switched into the regular Lunarglide 3 and we could certainly tell the difference. The heating up business is a not a negative if you take into consideration the conditions the shoe is made for. I imagine running a 5k in rainy Oregon is a different deal than running in Asia or Down under, so can't really blame the shoe for that. The Lunarglide 3 Shield is a competent shoe which lives up to its promise, but make sure you know what you are buying.
If you are reading this from a place where the sun shines the whole day and a short run makes you burst into a sweat, we recommend that you stick to the original Lunarglide 3. On the other hand, if your idea of winter is a dreary sky and a drenched pavement, the Lunarglide+ 3 Shield's one's for you! Later this month, we will be testing the Lunarglide+ 3 Shield in SoCal and then in rainy Pacific Northwest (2°C/36°F), and we'll be back with an update(around mid November) on how the shoe performs in inclement weather and freezing temperatures.
There is a trade-off for all the new features found on the Lunarglide Shield. The use of the 3M Shield panels and the denser mesh contributes to additional weight – the Lunarglide 3 Shield is 40 grams heavier than the regular LG-3's – one half pair of LG3 Shield come in at 358 grams as against 324 for the OG version (for US 11). 40 grams is a rather larger bump, and brings the LG3 Shield to Pegasus 2008 levels. This seems to be the only real drawback of the Lunarglide+ 3 Shield.
The Lunarglide+ 3 Shield is a competent package, true to what its predecessor was. It checks all the right boxes, be it support, stability and cushioning, and useful extras like H2O repel and reflective 3M overlays driving a convincing bargain at a $10 up-charge over the stock Lunarglide 3. But like we said, you will bless the Lunarglide Shield if you are running in wet, cold weather. But if you soak up the miles indoors on a treadmill or outdoors in sunshine, we say that you pick the regular Lunarglide 3's and be happy. And if you just want to look cool in a pair of Shield's, it's your Amex, my friend, not mine!
We tested the Lunarglide 3 Shield for 6k in coastal SoCal earlier this month. This time the temperature was much lower at 6°C/43°F and the shoe did not heat up as it did in our first weartest. A few days ago, we tested the Lunarglide 3 Shield in Nike's backyard – Portland Oregon. It was cold and damp, perfect weather for the Lunarglide 3 Shield! Finally it was home.


text:
<?php
/**
 * Created by PhpStorm.
 * User: Иван
 * Date: 08.09.2017
 * Time: 14:56
 */
include_once ROOT.'/cabinet/new-farmer/models/DataBase.php';
include_once ROOT.'/cabinet/new-farmer/models/Material.php';
class MaterialController{
    public function actionGetMaterials(){

        $id_user=$_SESSION['id_user'];
        $date['material']=Material::getMaterial($id_user);
        $date['type_material']=DataBase::getTypeMaterial();
        $date['ppa_material']=DataBase::getTypePPA();
        $date['material_lib']=DataBase::getMaterial($id_user);
        SRC::template('new-farmer','new','material',$date);
        return true;
    }
    public function actionCreateMaterial(){
        $id_user=$_SESSION['id_user'];
        $name_material=SRC::validator($_POST['name_material']);
        $id_type_material=SRC::validator($_POST['type_material']);
        $key_material=SRC::validator($_POST['sub_type_material']);
        $id_lib_material=DataBase::saveLibMaterial($id_user,$name_material,$id_type_material,$key_material);
        $price_material=SRC::validator($_POST['price_material']);
        Material::createMaterial($id_user,$id_lib_material,$price_material);
        SRC::redirect();
        return true;
    }
    public function actionSaveEditMaterial(){
        $id_user=$_SESSION['id_user'];
        $id_material_price=SRC::validator($_POST['id_material_price']);
        $name_material=SRC::validator($_POST['name_material']);
        $id_type_material=SRC::validator($_POST['type_material']);
        $key_material=SRC::validator($_POST['sub_type_material']);
        $id_lib_material=DataBase::saveLibMaterial($id_user,$name_material,$id_type_material,$key_material);
        $price_material=SRC::validatorPrice($_POST['price_material']);
        Material::saveEditMaterial($id_user,$id_material_price,$id_lib_material,$price_material);
        SRC::redirect();
        return true;
    }
    public function actionRemoveMaterial($id_material_price){
        $id_material_price=SRC::validatorPrice($id_material_price);
        $id_user=$_SESSION['id_user'];
        Material::removeMaterial($id_user,$id_material_price);
        SRC::redirect();
        return true;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Lately, I've made sure to update my newsletter VIP people with all the latest, but I've been slacking on the blog front. May brings new goals and one of them is to maintain the blog a bit better.
To keep me accountable, watch out for a post next week detailing a little more about me. If I'm feeling really courageous then I'll also share a story about depression and how that relates to this brand.
I ran a giveaway on Instagram & @melissa.opie took the gold. The gold being a free month as a member of the awesome stock library!!!
There was the mid-month batch for April released + the first of the month batch for May released! See sneak peek photos below!
I'm participating in #the100dayproject which has been both a challenge and fun! Find the photos on my instagram!
I had my happy snappers pick the free VIP photo of the month!
We're out of launch phase and into a full swing! Which means prices have been raised. If you got in during launch, just maintain your membership and you can keep those low prices for life!
"May Flowers" definitely was my inspiration for this month's photo batch! Remember, if you're a member you can always request the type of photos you'd like to see! I love hearing from you.
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Bear in mind that without the 2003 invasion which he championed ISIS would not exist. Our reaction to 9/11 has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands who had nothing to with that atrocity. To expect anyone to have a coherent policy to the current situation given its complexity is ridiculous – see below. Its like quantum physics – anyone who purports to understanding it, doesn't! One thing is clear, Saudi Arabia was infinitely more culpable than Iraq in 9/11.
– ISIS beheads people and wants to impose Shariah law = enemy.
– The Nusra Front is an AQ affiliate, beheads people and wants to impose Shariah law. They are our quasi-ally through mutual friends in the Gulf.
– The Free Syrian "Army" beheads people (google it) and sells its US hostages to ISIS. They are our friend and ally.
– America should support Assad against the jihadists in Syria? US air power and Syrian ground forces could turn all the jihadist vermin into bug splat in a matter of months, sparing tens of thousands of Christians.
– But Assad is an Iranian stooge and therefore inherently more evil than any jihadist.