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Draft constitution pushed into Iraqi parliament
A draft of Iraq's proposed constitution has entered parliament, despite warnings from Sunni Arabs that it could begin a civil war. The vote however, has been delayed three more days to try to win the support of the Sunni minority.
Signs indicate little chance of a resolution to the Sunni opposition, however. "If it passes, there will be an uprising in the streets," Saleh al-Mutlak, a Sunni negotiator working on the constitution said. Another negotiator, Soha Allawi, said, "We will campaign ... to tell both Sunnis and Shi'ites to reject the constitution, which has elements that will lead to the break-up of Iraq and civil war."
Sunnis are concerned over sections of the constitution that create large "federal" regions in the north and the south under Shi'ite and Kurdish control. Sunni negotiators are demanding that all "federalism" be left out. Kurds have pressed for the provisions on federalism, as Kurdish negotiators have sought to retain, largely, their current autonomy in the north.
Other concerns which prevent Sunni support of the draft constitution center on the emphasis given to Islam as a "main source of law" -- a compromise between Islamist and secular Shi'ites and Kurds.
Sister links
proposed Iraqi constitution
Georgy, Michael and Hammond, Andrew. "Iraq assembly gets charter draft but Sunnis fight" — Reuters, August 22, 2005
Abdul-Zahra, Qassim. "Iraqi Parliament Delays Constitution Vote" — Associated Press, August 22, 2005
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This instrument has been designed to meet the demand for a Drift Sight which can be easily operated by the pilot.
THE DIRECTION AND SPEED OF THE WIND CAN BE FOUND BY THIS SIGHT.
(A). A casting approximately 6.5 In by 6.5 In.
(B). A special negative lens, 6In. diameter, giving a wide, clear field of view.
(C). A rotatable grid ring, carrying seven parallel drift wires, and engraved at its forward end with a drift scale of 300 to Port and Starboard, In two-degree divisions. This scale Is read against an Index mark engraved in the casting "A" Three wind speed .scales are also engraved on the grid ring for air speeds of 80, 100 and 120 miles per hour.
(D). A remote control which can be fitted In any convenient position In the cockpit, giving powerful but sensitive control of the grid ring. Weight: 21 ozs.
(1). TO FIND DRIFT. The angle of drift on any course Is obtained by flying a straight course and operating the Remote Control until objects on the ground appear to run along, or parallel to, the drift wires on the grid ring.
(2). TO FIND THE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION. (a). Obtain the direction of the wind by flying into the wind until no drift is discernible, and noting the reading of the compass.
(b). Turn through 90°, fly at either 80,100 or 120 miles per hour airspeed, and obtain the drift as in(1) above. The speed of the wind can then he read against the index mark of the appropriate scale on the grid ring.
Telephone : " Welbeck 7916 (4 lines) 'Telegrams: Airspeed, Wesdo, London."


Watch out for these budding racing drivers!
Mr Lyddon visited Yellow class to talk to them about when he was a racing driver. The children had great fun trying on his overalls and helmet, and looking at his trophies. We designed our own race tracks and racing cars.


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Home Music Concert Reviews New Found Glory Knocks Out The Rave with a One-Two Punch
New Found Glory Knocks Out The Rave with a One-Two Punch
by Ethan Duran
Photo Credit: Brianna Griepentrog
The excitement couldn't be contained as mosh pits, crowd surfers and compulsive finger pointers took over during New Found Glory's performance at The Rave/Eagles Club on Saturday, June 22. Accompanying the pop-punk masterminds were Illinois pop-punk sensation Real Friends, post-hardcore act The Early November and punk-rock supergroup Doll Skin. Each of these bands delivered much-needed adrenaline and power to the Rave Hall as both old fans and young punks took over the dance floor.
New Found Glory's reputation for putting on excellent shows is well-deserved. While playing energetic punk with fast tempos and power chord shifts, their lyrics stayed bright and catchy. NFG played their early 2000s hits, songs from their 2017 album Makes Me Sick and a series of covers. In between songs, the crowd was pleased with the band's inside jokes and the bags of freshly popped popcorn that were prepared on (and thrown off) stage.
The theme of New Found Glory's set was a Hollywood-style movie theater, with signs, spotlights and a popcorn machine. Amps were covered in colorful floral patterns and the words "Milwaukee, WI" showed on a glowing marquee in the background. In their usual playful fashion, the band opened with a cover of "Eye of the Tiger" and then dipped into "Understatement" to get the crowd going. In between his energetic bouncing, frontman Jordan Pundik went through a series of costume changes, including a red-white-and-blue boxer's robe and shorts, a ringmaster's coat and an Elsa costume for a pop-punk cover of "Let It Go."
Though New Found Glory mastered in their showmanship, Real Friends had, in a sense, stolen the show before them with their captivation of the audience. This was marked by successfully putting on a "wall of death," where the mosh pit split up into two sides and charged each other at the height of a song. With some encouragement by Real Friends' frontman Dan Lambton, the pit after the wall of death turned into a flurry of pushing, pogoing and spins. Despite the initial chaos Real Friends started, they quelled the hall with some mellow songs towards the end of their set.
The Early November excited its circle of devout fans with songs like "Decoration" and "Tell Me Why." Arthur "Ace" Enders' vocal presence was huge, and his shout at the height of one song managed to reach the back of the room without the help of his microphone. Between songs, he reminisced about his previous shows with The Early November at the band and made the crowd laugh with some jokes.
Doll Skin, an all-female punk-rock band that echoed rebellion from decades of punk bands before them, started the anarchy by breaking the no moshing rule with a circle pit that went around the singer after she had climbed into the audience. Each of the bands that played that night complemented each other in some way, whether in sound or style, and each of them received a lot of love from the crowd there.
New Found Glory The Early November Doll Skin Live Music/Performance The Rave/Eagles Club

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Morley wins second straight Run Downtown 5K
ANN GREEN
Shaving five seconds off his time from his 2015 win, elementary school teacher Brett Morley breezed to his second straight victory in The Greenville News Run Downtown 5K on Saturday morning.
Morley ran the course in 15:28 while newcomer to Greenville Chelsi Woodruff, a personal trainer, was the first woman to cross the finish line. Woodruff's time of 17:41 was 10 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
Under overcast skies and with temperatures hovering at the nippy end of the 40s, the race drew more than a thousand competitors. The runners started near City Hall on South Main Street and finished on the same street between the newspaper's offices and the Peace Center.
Runners passed Falls Park and Fluor Field, then turned toward Perry Avenue and River and Richardson streets before heading for North Main to begin the final stretch of the route, which is just over 3 miles.
"The course was a little different this year. But I kind of knew what to expect, what the atmosphere was going to be like,'' said Morley, 23, a Landrum native who teaches at New Prospect Elementary in Spartanburg County.
"I like the atmosphere of this race. I had the lead pretty good until the last mile, then I started to gap a little bit more. When I turned on Main Street, I had a solid lead on the second-place guy,'' added the former North Greenville University athlete.
Morley runs for Greenville Running Company, where he works on some weekends.
The men's podium in Saturday's race also included Greenville's James Brooks (15:46) as runner-up and Simpsonville's Zach Girvin (16:20) in third place.
Woodruff, the women's winner, is a 24-year-old native of Orlando, Florida, and former Florida State University runner. She is a personal trainer at the Greenville Health System Family YMCA in Simpsonville and is part of the Greenville Track Club's ELITE team.
"That first mile is definitely tough. It's a gradual uphill, and it takes a lot out of you,'' she said.
Last year the winning time for the women was 16:32, more than a minute faster than Saturday.
"It wasn't as fast as I'd like to have run,'' Woodruff added, ``but I like road races. It's a nice win, and I'm happy with it.''
Woodruff said she mainly competes in the steeplechase in track season, but she sometimes enters 5K races as she preps for the upcoming season.
"I have some work to do to get ready for track season,'' she said.
Among the women, Greenville's Alison Parris (17:51) and Piedmont's Sunday Davis (18:29) finished second and third, respectively. The two finished in that same order last year.
The 37th annual Run Downtown was presented by The Greenville News and the Greenville Track Club. A Corporate Shield event, it's part of the Greenville Track Club racing series.


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Offered by J.R. Smith of 1st Strategis, Llc.


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All issues Volume 20 / No 6 (2019) Mechanics & Industry, 20 6 (2019) 629 Full HTML
2 Analytical approach
3 The finite elements method
4 Results and discussion
Analytical approach and numerical simulation to investigate the stress field and the dynamic stress intensity factors of a cracked tooth subjected to a periodic loading
Mohamed Boughazala*, Khemais Hamrouni, Abdessattar Aloui and Mohamed Haddar
Mechanics, Modelling and Manufacturing Laboratory (LA2MP), Mechanical Engineering Department, National Engineers School of Sfax, B.P. W3038, Sfax, Tunisia
* e-mail: medbougazala1983@gmail.com
A new analytical approach was developed in this paper to study the dynamic analysis of a cracked gear tooth subjected to a periodic loading. The finite elements method (FEM) based on the contour integral technique was used in order to validate the effectiveness and reliability of the analytical formulation. A three-dimensional (3D) model of a cracked tooth was designed where a refined mesh was applied in the crack region to better simulate the stress concentration. The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the crack depth and the external load on the variation of the stress intensity factors (SIF) KI and KII associated with the opening crack modes I and II, respectively, and on the stress field near the crack tip. The obtained results show a significant agreement between the analytical results and the FEM findings.
Key words: Cracked tooth / periodic loading / dynamic stress intensity factors / stress field / finite elements method
Gears, as the most important parts of rotating machinery, are power transmission elements frequently used in industries such as manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, aircraft engines, and so on. They often work in severe conditions and are therefore subject to progressive deterioration especially in the teeth such as wear, cracks, etc. These defects cause a failure in the operation of the mechanical system since they affect the reliability and security of the gear system. Consequently, the study of the dynamic behavior of a cracked gear tooth has been the subject of many investigations owing to its important role in fault detection analysis. Chaari et al. [1] presented an analytical modeling of tooth cracks to quantify the reduction of gear mesh stiffness when the crack is assumed as a straight line shape occurring in the tooth root circle. In order to validate this, a FEM is also computed incorporating the tooth crack. In the same context, Mohammed and Rantatalo [2] developed a dynamic model, including a gyroscopic effect of a one-stage spur gear system, to calculate the time varying mesh stiffness for different crack sizes. Remping et al. [3] investigated the influence of crack position and length on the dynamic characteristics of a cracked gear. Furthermore, the variation of the stress intensity factors related to changes of various parameters was analyzed using the fracture mechanics theory and the finite elements method by ANSYS software. Fakhfakh and Chaari [4] developed a one-stage geared transmission model with two degrees of freedom to study the dynamic response in both cases of healthy and defected teeth. Moreover, they presented a series of tests in the experimental setup to observe and analyze the dynamic behavior and signal responses of perfect and cracked teeth. Nicoletto [5] combined the weight function and the complex potential method in an approximate approach to determine the stress intensity factors of cracked gears taking into account the influence of different parameters such as, loading type, crack propagation direction and teeth number. The modes I and II SIFs were compared with the finite element analysis results reached by reference [6]. An experimental technique based on strain gauge was proposed by Naresh and Anand [7] to measure the gear mesh stiffness of healthy spur gear pair system. Likewise, they calculated the mesh stiffness of cracked spur gear with the help of the strain energy release and the SIF calculation. Thus, the mesh stiffness reduction due to crack have been observed. The experimental results have been validated by the analytical method of Wu et al. [8]. Pehan et al. [9] considered both two- and three-dimensional analysis to evaluate the stress intensity factors in a tooth root as a function of crack depth, and determine the crack propagation direction from the tip of the initial crack. Zouari et al. [10] presented a finite element method with a three-dimensional survey to study the influence of crack dimension and the direction of crack propagation on the mesh stiffness for spur gear with a crack in the tooth foot. The same computer software (FORTRAN program and ANSYS code) and the same gear geometrical parameters have been used in another work of Zouari et al. [11] in order to estimate the variation of the stress intensity factors according to crack depth and crack propagation angle and track the crack propagation in the tooth foot of a spur gear. Guagliano et al. [12] proposed a versatile approach that considers the contact pressure distribution to evaluate the stress intensity factors along the front of any subsurface cracks found in hypoid gear. Zhanewi et al. [13] established an analytical model based on the potential energy method to investigate the effects on the (TVMS) under three different gear crack types. A three-dimensional (3D) model of spatial cracked gear pair was adopted to verify the reliability of the analytical method. Meanwhile, the effect of these three types of cracks on the equivalent stress, the tooth displacement and contact pressure were analyzed by using the FE method. Recently, Yang et al. [14] proposed analytical formulations, validated by a finite element model, to investigate the influence of the tip fillet radius of rack-type tools and tooth addendum modification on gear mesh stiffness for a spur gear pair.
In light of the review above, the SIF and the stress field around the crack were not extensively studied when a tooth crack appeared and the stress concentration was observed. This needs to be deeply studied. To this end, this paper presented a new analytical approach, solved by applying the Newmark iterative schema in a MATLAB computer program. The proposed approach was validated through a comparison with the FE results provided by a numerical simulation using ABAQUS software. The effects of load and crack depth were discussed, and some conclusions were drawn in the conclusive section.
2.1 Gear tooth modeling
A cracked gear tooth, with a width (b) and a crack depth (a), was modeled by a variable section beam fixed at its end. The crack is located at a distance (xc) from the tooth root as shown in Figure 1.
The load F(t) applied on the tooth is a time varying parameter that reflects gear mesh conditions as the number of teeth in contact varies and as the line of contact of the engaged tooth varies consequently (see Fig. 2). Thus, the tooth is subjected to a periodic load spread over a period (T) and the loading cycle can be modeled by a trapezoidal force (Fig. 3). (1)
Gear tooth in the presence of a crack.
Teeth engaged during meshing [15].
Typical variation of the periodic load.
2.2 Dynamic study of a gear tooth without crack
The tooth was modeled by a recessed beam of a variable section S(x) and a quadratic moment I(x). The dynamic equation of the tooth without crack is written as follows: (2) p(x, t) is a distributed load per unit length, such that:
The kinetic energy T and potential strain energy U of the beam can be expressed, respectively, as, (3) (4)
The work achieved by this force F(t) is: (5)
The solution to the dynamic equation (2) can be written in the following form: (6)where,
is a function which checks the following boundary conditions: y(0, t) = 0,
Then, we obtain: (7) (8) (9)where,
Using the Lagrange equation: (10)we obtain the following equations system: (11)
This can be represented in a matrix form as follows, (12)
If we limit to i = 1,...., n and j = 1,..., n, we get:
Applying the time integration schema developed by the Newmark method, and adopting the notation: , we get: (13)
Using the approximation we can write: where and .
Or in the following form: (14) , , , , , .
The differential equation becomes:
It is an equation of the form: (15) where : the fictitious stiffness matrix. : the fictitious effort.
The Newmark's iterative schema is used with time increments (t = Δt, 2Δt, 3Δt,…NΔt) to determine the vector . Then, the function is determined using equation (6).
2.3 Dynamic analysis of the cracked tooth
In the presence of a crack located orthogonally to the tooth median line, the stress field near the tip of the crack can be expressed in the polar coordinates (r, φ) (Fig. 4) as: (16) K I (t) and K II (t) are the stress intensity factors associated, respectively, with the cracking modes I and II, which can be expressed according to reference [16] by the following relations: (17) (18)where Y I and Y II are factors that depend on the ratio between the crack depth and the height of the section. According to [17] we have: (19) (20)where σ x (t) and τ xy (t) are, respectively, the nominal and the tangential stresses, determined in the case of the healthy tooth and written as, (21) (22)
The stress field near the crack tip is given by [18] as shown in the following formulas: (23) (24)
Polar coordinates at a crack tip.
In order to numerically analyze the dynamic behavior of a cracked tooth and to study the influence of some parameters, namely, the crack depth and the applied load, a three-dimensional model was created and simulated by the ABAQUS software. The cracked tooth was modeled as a non uniform cantilever beam. Assuming that the crack position was set at a distance (xc) from the tooth root and that this crack extends along the whole tooth width with a uniform depth distribution, the tooth with this type of crack is still considered as a cantilever beam. The boundary conditions of the cracked tooth can be set so that the tooth root is fixed and the top is free. The external load is considered uniformly distributed along the entire tooth width and is located at a distance (xF) from the tooth root (Fig. 5).
The model, for which the geometrical parameters are listed in Table 1, is selected to check the validity of the analytical results.
The finite elements model consists of 17 501 nodes and 15 768 linear hexahedral elements of type C3D8R. To better simulate the stress singularity and obtain accurate results in this paper, the mesh of this model was designed using local mesh refinements around crack tip and the rest was designed so as not to be too dense and the elements are not too distorted. Figure 6 illustrates the tooth mesh and the refined mesh around crack.
The corresponding steps of the numerical method are illustrated in Figure 7.
Three-dimensional model with the boundary conditions.
Cracked tooth parameters.
Finite elements model of the cracked tooth.
Numerical method procedure.
The Contour Integral Method was used in the dynamic implicit simulation to extract the stress field and the stress intensity factors. This method was applied also to clearly show the stress concentration near the crack tip as shown in Figure 8.
The stress intensity factor is a failure criterion that depends on the geometry of the cracked tooth, the size of the crack, as well as the external loading. The dynamic SIF for both mode one and mode two was investigated according to changes in crack length and applied load.
Considering a contact ratio c = 1.6 and rotational speed N = 400 rpm of the pinion which has Z = 15 teeth, the gear mesh period (in second) is defined by [19]:
Assuming a crack depth (a = 0.5 mm), while the other parameters are fixed and only the magnitude of the load is varied, the SIFs variation depending on different force values are presented in Figures 9 and 10.
Figures 11 and 12 illustrate the SIFs variation for a constant load (F = 500 N), and for various crack depth values with respect to the position of the crack from the tooth root.
From Figures 9–12, it can be observed that the variation of the SIF's (KI and KII) according to time has a trapezoidal form. This is explained by the periodic force, exerted on the tooth, which varies with time depending on the conditions of the gear and the contact between the teeth.
For the case of low contact ratio (c < 2), a fluctuation of one pair-two pairs of teeth in contact is observed which yields to a time varying stress intensity factor. As it is presented in Figures 9–12, the maximum values of SIF are corresponding to one pair in contact and are observed during (2-c)ςT.
The mixed mode of the loading near the crack tip is illustrated with the dynamic SIFs associated with modes I and II. The evolution of stress intensity factors according to the applied load and the crack depth obtained by the numerical method is presented in Figures 13 and 14. It can be observed from these figures that the magnitudes of both SIFs KI and KII are enhanced with the increasing load and crack depth.
In Figure 14, different crack sizes are selected to study the effect of crack depth on the SIF. As well shown in this figure the SIF's values of both modes I and II were influenced by the growth of crack's size. It also showed that this effect becomes more pronounced when the crack depth exceeds 0.6 mm. Moreover, it can be observed that although KII value increases obviously, it seems always very negligible compared to KI value, and the variation (KI − KII) is still growing.
Furthermore, when a crack appears, it can be seen that the influence of the crack depth on the stress intensity factors is bigger than the effect of the applied load. This is because the cracked tooth loses much rigidity and becomes more and more flexible with the crack depth increase.
Figures 15 and 16 present, under five cases, the effect of crack depth on the stress field near the crack by numerical and analytical methods in order to clearly prove that the stress values will decrease when we are far from the crack. This explains that the trends of the nominal and tangential stresses are parabolic. From these figures, it is clear that the longer the crack is, the more severe the stress concentration becomes. Also, it can be seen that in case 5, which represents a deep crack (a = 1 mm), the levels of σxx and τxy increase significantly compared to that of case 1 which is a smaller crack depth (a = 0.2 mm).
In order to analyze the influence of applied load on the cracked tooth, by two methods, five cases were considered. Each of these cases is related to a different value of force for a constant crack depth (a = 0.5 mm) as shown in Figures 17 and 18.
Through Figures 15–18, it can be determined that the magnitudes of the nominal stress (σxx) and the tangential stress (τxy) rise with both the load and crack depth increase. Furthermore, the applied load plays a less important role than the crack depth in the growth of stress concentration near the crack. This clearly proves that the stress field changes according to the crack depth rather than to the applied load.
The results of the stress field at the crack tip presented in Figures 15–18 have shown significant agreement between the analytical approach and the numerical findings. These observations demonstrate that this analytical approach will be a major step to study the dynamic behavior for more realistic industrial systems.
Stress concentration near the crack tip.
KI variation with load.
KII variation with load.
KI variation with the crack depth.
KII variation with the crack depth.
Evolution of stress intensity factors according to the applied load for a = 0.5 mm.
Evolution of stress intensity factors according to the crack depth for F = 500 N.
Crack depth influence on σxx.
Crack depth influence on τxy.
Load influence on σxx.
Load influence on τxy.
Analytical approach and FEM were used to determine the dynamic stress intensity factors for mode I and mode II as well as the stress field in the vicinity of crack, taking into consideration the influence of the crack depth and the variation of applied load. Obviously, the results from the two methods have shown a good agreement and the following conclusions can be forwarded:
The SIF increases with the increase of both the applied load and the crack depth.
The influence of the applied load on the SIF appeared to be smaller than that of the crack depth.
The finite elements analysis, using ABAQUS software and based on the dynamic implicit method, is considered as an efficient and reliable tool to solve dynamic problems and validate the theoretical results.
This analytical approach plays an important role in connecting the fundamental research and the practical usage, and it may be extended in future research studies to describe three-dimensional dynamic problems arising in other types of gearing and defects.
This work is supported by the Mechanics, Modeling and Production Laboratory (LA2MP) of the National Engineering School of Sfax (Tunisia) within a research project entitled "Study and dynamic analysis of a shafts line in the presence of cracks".
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Cite this article as: M. Boughazala, K. Hamrouni, A. Aloui, M. Haddar, Analytical approach and numerical simulation to investigate the stress field and the dynamic stress intensity factors of a cracked tooth subjected to a periodic loading, Mechanics & Industry 20, 629 (2019)
Mesh stiffness modeling considering actual tooth profile geometry for a spur gear pair
An implicit algorithm for the dynamic study of nonlinear vibration of spur gear system with backlash
Effect of manufacturing defects on the dynamic behaviour for an helical two-stage gear system
Analysis of dynamic meshing characteristic of planetary gear transmission in wind power increasing gearbox
A torsional model of multi-stage gears – influence of external excitations and tooth shape modifications


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Princess Holy Aura: Chapter Nine
Last updated: Saturday, September 9, 2017 23:58 EDT
Steve looked around the huge furnished basement again, trying to distract himself from what he was about to do. "Dang, I still can't believe we're living in this place. Thousands of square feet, including this, what, cut-price Danger Room?"
"Call it a practice room or perhaps dojo," Silvertail, who was now in the shape of 'Trayne Owen' — a tall, slender, distinguished looking gentleman with black hair touched with pure silver at the temples, lightly tanned. His eyes were brilliant blue, a startling contrast to the hair, and his voice was not the tenor that Steve generally associated with the mahou shoujo spirit advisors but a deep, warm bass. "Neither your technology nor my limited magic is up to creating a 'danger room' as you envision it. But making a room that is secure and reinforced enough to survive some abuse, that can be done." He raised one dark eyebrow. "You seem particularly nervous, Steve. What is it today?"
"Kinda silly, I guess," Steve answered, feeling embarrassment trying to well up. "I mean, I know I'm committed to the course, but what I'm about to do . . . it's really sort of sealing it."
"I admit to not seeing it that way, but your perceptions are your own. However, is there any point in delaying?"
"No . . . guess not." He swallowed, grasped the Star Nebula Brooch, and focused on the need to protect people — his friends, family, those who could not defend themselves. "To avert the Apocalypse, and shield the innocent from evil, and stand against the powers of destruction, I offer myself as wielder and weapon, as symbol and sword! Mistress of the spirit, ruler of the stars beyond, Mystic Galaxy Defender, Princess Holy Aura!"
Once more the echoing words called forth argent luminance that erased him in a chime of victory and renewal, rebuilt that which had been and would ever be in tingling silver sunshine, formed into a girl slender and strong as steel. She opened her eyes, already in the battle pose that she knew was the ending of the transformation. "Wow," she said. "I mean . . . I did this before, but I was so scared, angry, confused . . . I couldn't see it, feel it like that. Was it so . . . beautiful before?"
"It is always beautiful, more beautiful each time than the last," Silvertail — Trayne — said, his voice rough with emotion. "I am glad you can see it that way . . . Holly?"
"Holy Aura right now . . . but yes, I guess you'd better just call me Holly." She stared in wonder at her arms and hands. "Well, that's one way to lose weight."
"Technically, of course, it is not lost, merely . . . displaced, turned to potential rather than actuality. Was your trepidation due to the simple fact of the transformation?"
She laughed, hearing the sound echo back like a golden bell. "No, that wasn't it. It's that I'm not changing back for a long time. Maybe not for a year."
Trayne Owen — since that's how I'd better think of him when he's human — frowned. "That is not at all necessary, Ste . . . Holly. I had assumed that you would spend a great deal of time as Stephen Russ, whenever possible."
"That was my first thought," she said, walking, feeling the shift in weight and motion that was at once completely wrong and . . . somehow . . . exactly right, and that was scary enough that she stopped and focused only on talking. "Umm . . . yeah. I thought that at first, but then I realized I'd be setting myself up for total disaster.
"I need to get used to being Holly Owen/Holy Aura, being her for a long time, because I'm going to be spending hours around teenagers every day when school starts, and if I'm going to have any chance of making contact with the right people, and making friends? I can't be clueless about how to live like this."
"Hm. You have a point. But I am still not clear as to why you would have to — as you implied — never turn back until the task is done."
"I might change back once in a while, for various reasons . . ." she conceded, and swallowed hard again, ". . . if for no other reason than to remind me who I really am, because you know, I still find the fact that I'm a girl and absolutely accepting that to be really creepy. Because the other part of me isn't accepting it at all, you know."
Holly could see real concern on Trayne's face. "Are you all right?"
"Of course I'm not! This is completely freaky! But I have to be all right with it by the time I actually meet the other Apocalypse Maidens. And I absolutely am not going to be that cliché, where the guy who gets his sex changed doesn't even learn the basics about being a girl, gets surprised by having her first period, walks into the boys' room without thinking about it, all those low-comedy tropes. Thanks, I'm going to be the lead in a serious Magical Girl show, not a joke."
Trayne rubbed his chin. "This could take considerable time, Holy Aura. We do not — "
"We are not going to rush this and screw it up," Holly said with as much finality as her soprano voice could manage. "School won't be in session for a couple months. If I practice living like . . . being Holly Owen for that long, I won't blow my role the first time someone startles me. I have enough female relatives and friends to know that I'd damn well better know if having my period's going to — do you know how weird it sounds to say that phrase? — having it's going to just annoy me, or lay me up for a day or three. I'm assuming that this is a real honest-to-God fourteen-year-old girl's body and that means it will have a monthly cycle, yes?"
"I am afraid so, yes. You are as real as any other young woman, including the annoyances that may incur."
"Right. So I have to learn how to deal with that. Have to figure out how to dress — I assume I can't just summon regular clothes out of nowhere to replace this useless-looking sparkly magical girl armor?"
"No. We can . . . tweak the transformation so that you switch between Holly Owen and Holy Aura rather than between Stephen and Holy Aura, and in that case changing back to Holly would also put her in whatever clothes Holly was wearing at the time, but Holly would still have had to dress herself beforehand."
"Man, I'll have to learn so much. How to dress right and wear the stuff right." Holly shook her head. "Freaks me out, really." She tried to make it come out light, but the trembling in her voice gave her away. Not nearly as relaxed about this as I want to make myself think.
She was seized by an almost irresistible urge to change back, become Stephen again. No, she told herself, this will not get any easier if I put it off. If I do . . . I might even hesitate the next time a monster comes calling, and that could get me — and a lot of other people — killed. I made this decision, I have to stick with it!
"It strikes me," Trayne said slowly, apparently unaware of the conflict within her, "that you are . . . oddly nonchalant about the whole idea of dressing in girls' clothing. Or is that an act?"
She seized the question like a lifeline, a focus of something to think about. "No, no, not really. I mean, my being all calm is sort of an act . . . actually, totally an act, I want to run around screaming or just change back right now . . . but the wearing girls' clothing? Well, I will be a girl, so it's not like Stephen-me walking around in women's clothing. And I've been in plays — tried out for Dr. Frank N. Furter in Rocky Horror one year, in fact . . . anyway, I can play the role. But I do have to get used to it, or I'll blow the role at the worst possible time."
"Well, I do have the simple outfits you asked me to pick up. Having seen many young women of your age, I believe I was able to do reasonably well in terms of size."
"Guess I'd better go change. How's this going to work with the armor outfit?"
"Let me think a moment." Trayne suddenly shrank back to the white rat. "I cannot perform much magic unless I am in this form; most of it is being used to hold the human shape otherwise," said Silvertail Heartseeker. "Now let me see . . ."
The little animal scurried around Holly's feet three times clockwise, three times counterclockwise, and then stopped before her, intoning something in what she had to assume was ancient Lemurian. "Aiylen ta vrayna, hai embreisan!" he finished, and a brilliant fountain of rainbow light enveloped her, sent a tingling electric shock through her body. "There. I believe that if you now simply will yourself to become Holly Owen the accoutrements of Holy Aura will vanish."
"Okay, I'll try it when I go to change." She picked up the bags Trayne had indicated. "Be right back."
Steve made it into the bathroom and collapsed to the floor, shaking. Part of me really thinks of itself as Holy Aura. I hear "Holy Aura" or even "Holly" and part of me's already saying "Oh, that's me." Jesus. Am I going to lose myself? She visualized herself as a man, and shuddered at the realization that it was almost as hard to do that as it had been before to visualize himself as a woman.
It really was too much. She knew she had to accept this, could not yield to the temptation to change back, not now, not so soon, but she . . . Steve . . . also felt she couldn't bear another second of this alien-yet-absolutely-right body. Tears began to stream down her face and she gave a scream of fear and frustration and slammed her arm against the tub.
The porcelain-coated cast iron shattered like candy glass, the impact a cannon shot that shook the house, showering her with debris, cracking the ceiling above. The shock snapped her out of her panic. "Holy moley, as the Captain used to say," she murmured, staring in disbelief at the slender arm and delicate, long-fingered hand which were not damaged — not even scraped — by that titanic impact.
"Holy Aura! Are you all right?" Silvertail's worried voice came through the door.
"Okay. Yeah, okay for now. Sorry about that. We'll have to replace the tub and get the room fixed."
"Are you certain you are all right?" Silvertail asked again. His concern was unmistakable. "I am not worried about repairs. I am worried about you. I have placed a nearly intolerable burden on you, Stephen, and — "
"It's done, Silvertail," she said, not without a touch of anger, but controlled this time, controlled, not running away. "I have to deal with it. I was freaking out, yes, but my superhuman tantrum snapped me out of it. I'll finish changing and then get out of here."
She brushed away the debris and opened up the bags carefully. Panties — nice simple ones, thank God . . . jeans . . . T-shirt . . . bra? Jesus, yes, I'm going to have to wear one. Don't want to think about that. But no avoiding it. Even without looking down, she could feel that she was . . . well developed for a fourteen-year-old girl. Not ridiculously so (thank GOD that part of the meme isn't applying) but more than enough to make a brassiere a normal part of her clothing in this here and now.
She concentrated on reversing the change, and in a flash of light the crystal boots, sparkling skirt, and other elements of Princess Holy Aura's mahou shoujo existence disappeared. Aaaaand now I'm naked. Does that make me automatically now a peeping tom? It's my body, but it's not. She tried to avoid looking down too much as she dressed, but the contours that were, once more, alien yet familiar tried to draw the eye . . . and the panic.
Finally she was dressed and stood, shakily, to leave. A movement caught her attention and for the first time she looked at the mirror . . . and froze.
A waterfall of shining deep purple, eyes that shimmered with the depths of the twilight sky, a face drawn from legends and a form from the dreams of angels, wearing a simple black T-shirt and jeans. Holly Owen stared back at her, eyes haunted with unnamed fears, yet with a face filled with utter determination and a strength Steve had not imagined.
Her mouth was dry and her eyes stung, and she realized she had been staring in utter disbelief for . . . minutes? "That's . . . me?" she whispered. "Oh, crap."
"What is it, Steve? You sound . . . worse."
"Just realizing that this is worse," she said, finally tearing her gaze from the impossibility in the mirror and yanking the door open.
Silvertail blinked in surprise. "I see nothing wrong."
"I don't look like 'a teenage girl,' Silvertail! I look like . . . like . . . like some idealized image of a teenage girl! I haven't TOUCHED a makeup case and I look like someone took four hours and Photoshop to make me look perfect! Half the girls are going to hate me just on looks alone, and the boys are all going to act like complete idiots around me, when they're not following me around!"
Silvertail sighed. "The meme of the magical girl — and for that matter, the superheroine — makes much of that rather inescapable. Your appearance is something of a trial for me as well, I must confess."
"Why? Do I look like some fantasy of yours?" As he said that, Steve-Holly knew that had gone too far. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean that."
"I should hope not. Holly . . . you look almost identical to my daughter, as I have remembered her throughout the centuries. Holy Aura always echoed Aureline, of course . . . but only you have ever duplicated her." The pain in the tiny voice was all too real, and it reached Holly through her self-absorbed conflict. "Now she stands before me again, reborn in you . . . and once more, I must send her — you — into the dangers that I cannot face."
"Oh. Jesus, I'm sorry, Silvertail." She felt the pain of the older man acutely, remembering her losses as Steve. Imagine seeing someone that looked like Mom, exactly like her, and knowing I had to send her into, well, what I am going into. "I . . . well, I guess there's not much I can do about that, but . . ."
"No, there is not," he said. "But perhaps . . . perhaps it is right that it be so. I must act like your father; seeing you like this, I realize that will be far easier than I had thought." A wan, tiny smile crossed the furry face. "And I do not think you will do less than honor to her memory."
"Thanks, Silvertail." As the other shimmered and turned back to the tall human form, she corrected herself: ". . . Dad."
He chuckled, though there was still a note of tears in his voice before he cleared his throat. "You are welcome, of course."
There was a pause of uncomfortable silence. Holly looked back, seeing the wreckage of the tub. "Ugh. That has to get cleaned up. I guess we could at least put all the pieces into what's left of the tub." She stepped back into the bathroom and reached down to pick up the largest chunk of cast iron — and nearly fell over. "What the heck . . . ?"
"Ah. Yes, that is an obvious consequence."
"What? I just broke this thing like it was made of saltine crackers a second ago –"
"Princess Holy Aura broke it. Holly Owen, like Stephen Russ, is a normal human being," Trayne Owen said. "I transposed, or rather added, the transformation to a female form, as you indicated, but the conversion to, well, mortality remains an integral part of the enchantment. And as a fourteen-year-old girl, even one in excellent physical condition, you have nothing even close to the physical strength that Stephen Russ possessed."
"Oh, I get it. Makes sense, I guess. And that does keep me from accidentally doing something that blows my cover. I won't have Clark Kent's problems."
"No. But I see now that your determination to take significant time to accustom yourself to this life was even wiser than I had thought; you have many assumptions in the way you conduct yourself that are predicated on your size and strength, as well as your sex. You will need to recognize and address all of them."
It was a little disconcerting to realize that she couldn't even lift things she-as-Stephen would have moved easily, but Silvertail was right. And the fact was that their conversation had stilled — at least for the moment — her panic and confusion. She straightened. "Fine, I'll leave it to you to clean up. For now, I guess I'd better get started on that practice!"


text:
Home|Artists | Artist Z| Zhou Tiehai
Title: Pure
Technique: Screen printing
Edition: No. 24 of 30 pieces
Title: Carolus Duran
Edition: 50 pieces
Years: –
Size: 140 x 92
Zhou Tiehai's conceptual projects are symptomatic of the artist's contempt for the egocentricity of the art market. The radiance of his works, which both amaze and provoke, is the result of a series of strategies that mix antagonism and authenticity. The appropriation of classical image widths, the generation of ironic projections, the conduct of laconic but serious discourses, the debilitation of artistic-craft quality – all these are the ingredients that determine Zhou Tiehai's disturbing but also humorous way of working. He plays both the role of the artist and the boss, as many of his airbrush images are performed by assistants under his guidance. He allows himself to play with the historical ballast of art, i.e. he produces images that are at the same time self-conscious and self-denying; Virtuosity and pop right next to each other on the same screen. For his purposes, he manipulates the front pages of prestigious magazines and redefines the term "artistic action" within the coordinates of the art world and the global economy. He self-marketing with images that undermine the conventional notions of how artists should look and behave. Irony is arguably one of the main features of Zhou Tiehai's art. But behind the irony lies a real commitment – and a subjective force.
In the placebo series, Zhou Tiehai replaces the faces of the people pictured with a camel head with fashionable sunglasses. As models, he chose classic portraits of Leonardo da Vinci, Goya or lngres and
enlarged them. In these pictures, too, the airbrush technique neutralizes or destroys the "inspired" brushstroke – the trademark of the European masters as well as Chinese ink drawings. Zhou Tiehai spares neither of the two traditions. A placebo is, as is commonly known, a substitute drug. It is an ineffective substance that is administered to a patient in order to achieve a healing effect only because of his belief in it. The placebo in Zhou's work is perhaps the constructed pictoriality that preserves its illogical power and fascination, even though it constantly testifies to its unreality. It is critical art, but not in the conventional sense of the term. Although narrative traces of contemporary themes and the mechanisms of art reception can be found, Zhou Tiehai avoids clear value judgments. Instead, he presents the viewer with a highly complex work.
Zhou Tiehai was born in Shanghai in 1966 and attended the art school of the university in Shanghai, where he still lives and works today. Zhou Tiehai has had extensive exhibitions at prestigious international institutions such as .B: the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, the Kunsthal Rotterdam, the Shanghai Art Museum and the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. He was also on the 48th. Venice Biennale, the 5th Biennial of Shanghai as well as the 4th Biennial of Gwangju in South Korea.


text:
Q: firebase messaging component is not present in android studio Getting error firebase messaging component is not present in android studio. I am using updated firebase messaging version
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-messaging:21.0.1'

A: So, I was facing this issue and even ended up setting a bounty for it.
My problem was that I had just shifted to Multi-Modular structure from a single app module and started facing this issue.
I tried a few solutions :-

*

*Registering the Firebase components explicitly

<service android:name="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentDiscoveryService" >
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.analytics.connector.internal.AnalyticsConnectorRegistrar"
        android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.firestore.FirestoreRegistrar"
        android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar"/>
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.iid.Registrar"
        android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.auth.FirebaseAuthRegistrar"
        android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
    <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseRegistrar"
        android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar"/>
</service>

*Downgrading the google-service plugin

*Switching between Firebase BOM and explicitly stating the version.
However, I finally resolved it by keeping all the Firebase dependencies in the App module and then inheriting it in the dynamic modules, by using "api .....", at the same time I also registered my dynamic modules in Firebase.

A: You need to extend ComponentDiscoveryService.
 <service android:name="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentDiscoveryService" >
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.analytics.connector.internal.AnalyticsConnectorRegistrar"
            android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.firestore.FirestoreRegistrar"
            android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar"/>
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.iid.Registrar"
            android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.auth.FirebaseAuthRegistrar"
            android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
        <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.database.DatabaseRegistrar"
            android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar"/>
    </service>

A: Just resolved for Firebase Messaging with
<service
android:name="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentDiscoveryService"
android:directBootAware="true" android:exported="false" >

<meta-data android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.messaging.FirebaseMessagingRegistrar"
android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />

<meta-data android:name="com.google.firebase.components:com.google.firebase.installations.FirebaseInstallationsRegistrar"
 android:value="com.google.firebase.components.ComponentRegistrar" />
</service>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Mr. Dobie was born at Vernon Jubilee Hospital on January 15, 1922. He graduated from Vernon Secondary High School, then chose auto mechanics as his vocation. When World War Two broke out, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, became an airframe mechanic and served in England, Holland and France.
age, he was active in community service as a volunteer and board member at the Schubert Center for Seniors, and Venture Training and an officer of the Knights of Pythias Coldstream Lodge No. 18.
held on Monday, Oct. 16 at 2:30 p.m.


text:
Sergi Bruguera became the 3-time tournament winner by defeating Guy Forget 3–6, 7–5, 6–2, 6–1 in the final.

Seeds

Draw

Finals

Top half

Bottom half

References

External links
 Official results archive (ATP)
 Official results archive (ITF)

Swiss Open (tennis)
Singles

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The most innovative and effective Mc Cormick tuning solution you can buy – the safe alternative to an engine remap or ECU power chip!
Choose the diesel engine tuning system with proven technology and a worldwide reputation – the tuning system specifically designed and calibrated for your vehicle. A CHIP Express™ plug-in diesel tuning box will boost your Mc Cormick's engine power, whilst reducing your fuel consumption. Buy a Mc Cormick diesel tuning chip that will safely transform your drive for the better!
George from Cupar with a Mc Cormick MTX 165 6.7 2010 said: I would like to thank you for the chip and the help with it. Lower end torque is much improved, tractor is also now holding a lot more on hills with a load and fuel economy is better on PTO work too, once again thanks!


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
Index Fungorum

#### Published in
Symbolae mycologicae 21: 109 (1887)

#### Original name
Ramularia cardui var. cardui

### Remarks
null

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Networking for the Cloud: 3 Vendor Views (Part 2, CloudSleuth)
Three vendors, three opinions on what drives their solutions. In this second of a series, Doug Barney talks with Lloyd Bloom, senior product manager of CloudSleuth at Compuware Corp.
By Doug Barney
We contacted three major networking vendors to talk about bandwidth and the cloud, and peppered each with essentially the same questions so as to gather an array of opinions.
In this second of a series, Doug Barney talks with Lloyd Bloom, senior product manager of CloudSleuth at Compuware Corp. CloudSleuth is a community for IT pros interested in the cloud and offers an array of software tools.
Redmond: What are the most important networking/WAN issues IT has to think about when considering the cloud?
Lloyd Bloom: The issue that most people think about right off the bat is bandwidth. The cloud provider certainly has to be able to provide sufficient bandwidth to the Internet to support the volume of users and associated traffic. But, there are other less obvious -- but equally important -- network considerations. In our work with cloud providers and CloudSleuth, we've learned that routing effects have a potentially serious impact on performance. [For] one, performance slowdown occurs when routes are excessively long. We saw one case where a Singapore provider's connection to users in Tokyo over NTT networks was routed through California -- ouch! We're working another case where a router that sits midway between our backbone node measurement points and a cloud provider is fragmenting packets from large images and causing many retransmissions. That's another performance killer.
How does one evaluate the network/WAN's readiness for the cloud?
Testing. For example, with CloudSleuth's Global Provider View [GPV], we monitor performance of two pages every 15 minutes from named cloud hosts. That's how we discovered the issues [I described earlier]. That's one dimension of test, which gets the routing perspective. The other dimension is load testing, a service available from [the] Compuware Gomez Performance Network, which will identify issues with bandwidth.
You're reading the second in a series. To read Part 1, click here.
How do these issues differ depending on application?
Aside from the volume of users hitting an application, application pages present different numbers of objects and the objects come in different sizes. For example, with our GPV monitoring, we measure performance of a two-page application that represents a catalog application to test these two cases. One page has 40 small objects, like a catalog selection page, to test the network's ability to handle many small objects. The second page has a moderate-sized object of 1.7MB to test [the] ability to download objects that exceed network window sizes.
How do these issues differ depending on the size of the enterprise?
Not so much the size of the enterprise, but the size of the user base hitting the application. If it's a cloud application serving the enterprise, then, yes, enterprise size impacts network sizing and performance considerations. If it's an e-tail site with external users [customers], for example, then enterprise size is less of a consideration as it's only indirectly related to traffic.
What are the basic steps you can take to get the network ready for the cloud?
Pre-size based on analysis of the application design and user loads. Test. Adjust network configuration and sizing. Re-test. Adjust. Re-test...
The up-front analysis is really critical to minimize the iterative cycle of testing and tuning. Once the network is ready and the application is deployed, it is essential to monitor 24x7 to detect performance impacts due to application and network changes, and changes in usage patterns.
Can cloud SLAs be as aggressive as on-premises apps?
Yes. Especially with the redundancies built into large cloud hosting centers, the SLAs should be at least as aggressive as for on-premises apps. The bigger question is, "Which SLAs?"Cloud and enterprise datacenter owners prefer to use infrastructure-based SLAs like server uptime and network availability. These are important from an internal management capability, but not as a measure of whether the infrastructure is capable of delivering satisfactory application performance. The only meaningful SLA is end-user experience. How fast does the application respond when the user hits Enter? These are difficult SLAs for cloud and network providers to support, because they don't own the application, but they are nonetheless the most important.
What are cloud providers doing to mitigate some of the network performance issues?
Hosting in well-provisioned datacenters with redundant connections. Offering multiple hosting locations. Virtualizing your application deployment among multiple locations (Google App Engine is a good example of this). Offering CDN services, such as Amazon's CloudFront, to bring content closer to users.
How much are bandwidth issues holding back cloud adoption?
Network performance, in general, is not at the top of the list, at least not directly. Anecdotally, availability and security are the most frequent concerns we hear about as top-tier concerns, and performance -- our specialty -- is rapidly gaining recognition as a key decision-making criterion. Performance depends upon both the compute side of the equation, as well as the network. So, indirectly, bandwidth and routing are key concerns.
Does the cost of additional bandwidth and the ever-lower cost of on-premises servers and storage still make the cloud an economic advantage?
It's not clear that the cloud has ever held a convincing direct-cost advantage. Instead, the cloud offers advantages with elastic provisioning and freeing of on-premises resources to focus on applications rather than infrastructure. Ultimately, it's more about how you run your IT operations and business, the type of applications you run, the sophistication of your existing facilities and the skill sets you have on staff.
Can the Internet and network providers keep pace with a possible explosion in cloud demand?
Do they have a choice?
Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.


Graham Young, area general manager of Johnson Controls Building Efficiency UK Ltd, officially retired on 31st December 2016.
He was president of the British Refrigeration Association (BRA) from 2004-2006, vice president for two years before that and past president for two years afterwards.
As chairman of the BRA Contractors Section he also worked on many task force led projects from when he was first involved with the BRA in the mid-1980s.
The association says it is very grateful to Graham for his contributions to the BRA over 30 years and wishes him a well-deserved and happy retirement.


A whopping 24 homes sold in North Santa Rosa Beach January 2017 compared to only 15 homes the year before. The price range was from $53,000 for a 2 bedroom trailer on 3rd Street all the way up to $497,400 for a 4 bedroom home in Carson Oaks.The average price of homes sold in North Santa Rosa Beach January 2017 The mid to upper 200,000s. The subdivision that saw the most home sales was Driftwood Estates with seven homes sold. We are still seeing Driftwood Estates As one of the best areas to structure dollar. One of the homes actually sold for $105 per square foot On E. Shipwreck Rd. The most expensive price per square foot at Driftwood Estates was $153 per square foot on Cocabolo Drive.
My opinion dictates the next up-and-coming hotspot in North Santa Rosa Beach is going to be Church Street Village. They have made improvements that HOA amenities with the newly added super playground for children. To my knowledge this is the nicest and largest playground at of any of our areas subdivisions. They also are working on new construction on their phase 3 off of Chapman Street. This new phase is bringing in some very updated and modern finishes and touches throughout the homes. In addition they also have added garages to be standard on all the homes.


Find a place to stay at Anini Beach on Kauai.
Anini Beach Hideaway is a separate cottage that sits 300' from the Pacific Ocean on the North shore of Kauai, Hawaii.
The north shore is known for it's lush tropical environment and is much less crowded than other parts of Hawaii.


San Francisco Heritage featured on SFGovTV!
Join Heritage for our 2015 Annual Membership Meeting!
Annual Meeting Saturday, June 6th, 10am UC San Francisco, Toland Hall 513 Parnassus Avenue Executive Director Mike Buhler will provide an overview of Heritage's latest activities; Robert Cherny, San Francisco State professor emeritus, will give a presentation.
By: Terri Le, on May 27th, 2015 - Posted in News, Past Events - Comments Off on Join Heritage for our 2015 Annual Membership Meeting!
Soirée 2015 is fully booked!


Hello, Linda. Thanks for stopping by the Disney Parks Moms Panel with your question.
'Ohana for dinner at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort is one of my very favorite dinners. Everything from the theming of the restaurant, the Cast Members that work there, the food and the spectacular view make this a 10/10 for me. You are in for a real treat. As for your food allergy, I reviewed the 'Ohana dinner menu and I didn't see anything that stood out to me as a red flag. As with any food allergy, however, it is best to err on the side of caution. If you haven't already done so, I'd call and make a note of your allergy on your reservation. Then, when you check in at 'Ohana be sure to mention it again to the Cast Member helping you. Before your meal begins, one of the Chefs will come to your table and discuss what you can and cannot have with you. Isn't that incredible service? If there is something you cannot have because of your allergy, the Chef will gladly make you something to replace it.
While you're visiting Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, I highly recommend stopping by Tambu Lounge before your dinner reservation. This is my favorite place to have a cocktail at Walt Disney World. These drinks have a tropical twist that will make you feel right on island time. While some of these beverages do contain juices from your list above, there are plenty of cocktails here that are safe for you. Just make sure you alert the bartender of your allergy as well.
I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, I'd love for you to come back and ask me.
On 3/31/2019 Krystal from TN Asked: I'm trying to make dining reservations. We are a family of 7, but we have 2 infants. Do I need to include them in my party size since they aren't eating?
On 3/30/2019 Jacqueline from TX Asked: Do we need to include a 9 month old infant in our guest count when making dining reservations?


For the 6th consecutive year, Fattoria Montecchio and our Association, is glad to invite you in the mansion, to spend good time in company.
Baccelli, Spalla and a good glass of Wine!
During the day, you can visit the underground cellars, the frantoio (oil mill), garden and the park surrounding the Villa.


Carl Corry, executive editor of GreaterMoriches.com and a journalism instructor at Suffolk County Community College, will join a Press Club of Long Island panel discussion on the demands of balancing work and family in journalism.
During the discussion, "A high-wire balancing act: Do journalism and family mix?," hear from some of Long Island's most respected journalists on how they have managed family life, including having kids, with the demands of a fast-paced profession.
Jeff Bessen, senior editor at Herald Community Newspapers, husband and father.
Kim Como, communications manager, Newsday Media Group, wife and mother.
Shawna VanNess, assistant managing editor for lifestyle and entertainment at Newsday, Hofstra professor, wife and mother.
Scott Brinton — Herald executive editor, Hofstra professor, husband and father — will moderate.
The event is open to journalists at all points in their careers, but is highly recommended for those in the early stages and for student journalists.
"I'm honored to be among this distinguished group and hope the conversation can help other journalists," said Corry, whose wife, Angela, shares the same title at GreaterMoriches. The couple has two girls in middle school.
Where: Newsday, 235 Pinelawn Road, Melville.
When: Thursday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m.
The Press Club of Long Island is a professional chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the largest and most broad-based journalism organization.


text:
Sacked professor settles out of court
A senior academic who helped the Charity Commission investigate mismanagement at the European Business School has won an out-of-court payment to settle his claim that he was victimised after raising the alarm.
Gerald Vinten, who was head of business at London education charity EBS, was due to allege at an employment tribunal later this year that he was victimised and to claim unfair dismissal under the law to protect whistleblowers.
But The Times Higher learnt this week that the case has been settled out of court. Professor Vinten is understood to have received a high five-figure sum from EBS, but he has signed a gagging clause as part of the deal and cannot discuss the case.
The Times Higher reported in February 2004 that the Charity Commission was investigating the payment, for services, of millions of pounds by EBS and its sister charity, Regent's College, to companies owned by its former president, Gillian Payne.
The Charity Commission opened a formal investigation into the two charities in October 2002. Although it has confirmed that it officially closed the inquiry in February 2004, it has still not made public its report on the case.
Charity Commission documents obtained by The Times Higher this week show that the commission deemed it "unacceptable" that Ms Payne, who had financial interests in contracts with the charities, had the power to remove and appoint trustees. It has also been examining other "very complicated" issues.
Professor Vinten, a specialist in internal audit, had been instrumental in assisting the Charity Commission's investigations. In his employment tribunal claim, he says that in January 2003 he was persuaded by Eric de la Croix, the chair of trustees, to "blow the whistle to the Charity Commission".
In April of that year, he was suspended on full pay for allegedly "revealing confidential information" at staff meetings, although this came to nothing. But he was subsequently selected for redundancy.
The official note from Professor Vinten's appeal against redundancy, obtained by The Times Higher , shows that his union representative, John Allen, had stated that the redundancy process appeared to have been inadequate and did not conform to legislative requirements.
A spokesman for the trustees said: "(ProfessorJVinten's) redundancy was not linked to theJcontact he had with the Charity Commission and resulted from aJgenuine restructuring of EBSET... Professor Vinten was not subject to any disciplinary process concerning his contact with the commission. The trustees of EBSET decided to offer Professor Vinten a settlement after considering... the likelihood of unrecoverable costs involved in defending the claim."
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text:
from PyQt4 import QtGui
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from PyQt4.QtCore import pyqtSlot,SIGNAL,SLOT
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    comboBox.addItem("Item 1")
    comboBox.addItem("Item 2")
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    window.setWindowTitle('PyQt QComboBox CurrentIndexChange Example')
    window.show()

    sys.exit(app.exec_())

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()


MyMalls Belize | The Magnificent MyMalls Tombola Is Here!
The Magnificent MyMalls Tombola Is Here!
At MyMalls, we're always looking for ways to show appreciation to our wonderful customers. This month, we're saying a huge THANK YOU by holding our biggest tombola ever, with a magnificent $2,000 worth of prizes to be won!
Entering the tombola couldn't be easier! For every package shipped in February, you'll receive a ticket with a unique number. On March 1st, we'll be holding a live draw at MyMalls HQ, where 36 lucky winners will score Amazon vouchers ranging in value from $25 up to a whopping $500!
We'll be adding a ticket to every package shipped this month, so the more you ship, the higher your chances of winning!
New to MyMalls? A very warm welcome to you! Learn more about our fast, reliable, and friendly service to Canada and the Caribbean by clicking here. Make your first shipment in February to have a chance of winning a fantastic prize!
If you have a question about the tombola or any aspect of the MyMalls experience, please feel free to reach out to our helpful customer service team.


text:
Saints' Discussion Forums | Forums | Saints' & Spiritual Life General Discussion | Topic: Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. « previous next »
Author Topic: Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2 (Read 503872 times)
odhiambo
Prayerful
Re: Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2
« Reply #1120 on: February 05, 2013, 12:20:36 AM »
Today we remember
Saint Indract
Among many other Saints
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Inspirational Quotes from the saints:
'If men but knew Thee, O my God!'
St. Ignatius of Loyola
"Late have I loved Thee,
O Beauty ever ancient, ever new,
late have I loved Thee!......"
Also known as Saint Indractus.
According to legend, Saint Indract was an Irishman, possibly the son of a chieftain. In 710, so the legend goes, he was returning home from a pilgrimage to Rome, when he was slain with his sister Dominica ( or Drusa) and several companions by Saxons near Glastonbury, England. His relics are said to be in Glastonbury.
Pray for us!
Today we will remember
Saint Vaast of Arras
Missionary among the Franks
He is also known as Vedast, Vedastus, Vaat, Foster and Gaston
He was born in 453 at Limoges, western France. He was ordained a priest at Toul. He worked with Saint Remigius to convert the Franks and was a catechist to King Clovis I when he was preparing for his baptism by Remigius.
In 499. Vaast was named bishop of Arras ( ? Rheims). Forty years later, by the time of his death, Saint Vaast had firmly established Christianity in his see. He was one of the most revered figure in the Church in this parts.
In liturgical art,Saint Vaast is depicted raising back to life a dead goose placed at his feet by a wolf.
Now that's a curious incident!
Quote from: Shin on February 06, 2013, 08:50:01 AM
Very!
I wanted to read more about it but cannot find anything more.
Let us remember today
Saint Richard
Among many other Saints.
Richard was reportedly a prince from Wessex, England. He was the father of Saint Willibald, Saint Winebald, and Saint Walburga.
According to legend, Richard was on a pilgrimage to Rome with his two sons when he became ill and died at Lucca, Italy.
Miracles were reported at his tomb which led to his being venerated by the local population which honored him as the " King of the English".
« Reply #1128 on: February 07, 2013, 12:20:59 PM »
I tried to find out some more and it seems it is believed that the wolf stole the goose from some poor people, but St. Vaast saved it for them.
Here's some more information about him from 'The Life and Legend of St. Vedast'
'St. Vedast was then consecrated Bishop of Arras, of which honour he proved himself worthy by his zeal and virtue. . . . Arras was a mess of ruins spiritual and temporal.
St. Vedast arrives at Arras entering the city by the Gate of the Vine, afterwards called Porte des Clarrises, near the convent of the nuns of St. Clare. here he foudn two men, a blind man and a lame, who asked in plaintive tones for alms.
The Holy Bishop replied to them, after the manner of the Apostles, "Silver and Gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee." And immediately he besought the Lord with tears to succour these afflicted people, as much for the sake of the bystanders as for their own. Then, he made over them the sign of the Cross, and both were immediately healed.
After this he entered the City, searching eagerly for some remains of the Church which St. Diogenes had erected. He found only ruins.
Attila had left there traces of his presence. He had overturned the temples, massacred the ministers of religion, and killed or dispersed their followers, and the few who had returned to their country were so poor, so destitute that none had been bold enough to rebuild the sacred structure.
While contemplating the ruins, the Saint uttered his lamentations: "These calamities," he cried, addressing himself to heaven, "have fallen upon us because we and our fathers have offended Thee. Our unrighteousness and our iniquity have drawn down upon us Thine anger. But now, O Lord, remember Thy mercy, and forget the sins of Thy poor servants."
Whilst, the Apostle, kneeling was praying for the city, still in heathen bondage, a bear came forth from the melancholy ruins. Vaast full of faith in God, was not afraid: he commanded the animal in the name of heaven to go back to the woods and never to recross the river Scarpe. . .
St. Vast discovered the ruins of several ancient oratories, open to the four winds, the resort of robbers: these sacred places he restored to their original use. He soon surrounded himself with fellow helpers; he founded schools, trained candidates for the ministry, ordained Deacons and Priests. He became the founder of Christianity in the northern provinces.'
Another incident from his life:
St. Vedast meant to meet King Clotair, who had just succeeded Clovis.
'St. Vedast on entering the apartment observed several cups filled with beer, which, having been offered to idols, were now to supply the wants of the guests. He made the sign of the Cross over the vessels, which immediately burst asunder in the presence of the King and his nobles. To his amazed audience, the Bishop explained that the devil, subtle in deceiving men, had been concealed within the vessels, and unable to bear the sacred sign had been compelled to flee. He also spoke of the vanity of heathen superstitions, and greatly impressed his audience by his appeal.'
Thank you Shin!
Can we always assume that misfortunes, natural calamities arise because we have angered the Lord?
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Jerome Emiliani
Jerome was born in 1481 in Venice, Italy, the son of Angelo and Eleanor Mauroceni Emiliani, a wealthy couple. His father died when he was young. At age 15, Jerome ran away from home. He led a carefree life before becoming a soldier and was commander of the League of Cambrai forces at Castelnuevo near Treviso. When Castelnuevo fell to the Venetians, he was captured and imprisoned. He escaped, reformed his ways and became mayor of Treviso. After some time, Jerome returned to Venice and was ordained a priest in 1518. He became dedicated to the poor and the sick.
While attending to plaque and famine victims, Jerome was especially touched by the plight of the orphans and decided to devote himself to helping orphans. Consequently, Jerome founded orphanages at Brescia, Bergamo and Como. He founded a hospital at Verona and a home for repentant prostitutes.
In 1532, Saint Jerome and two other priests founded a congregation that became known as Clerks Regular of Somascha named after the town in which they established their first house in northern Italy. The Order was devoted to caring for orphans and educating children and priests.
The congregation was papally approved in 1540.
Jerome died on 8 February 1537 at Somascha from a disease he contracted from one of his patients.
He was canonized on 16 July 1767 by Pope Clement XIII.
In 1928, he was named patron Saint of orphans and abandoned children.
Today is also the Memorial of Saint Josephine Bakhita.
She was a Canossian Sister and a Former Slave from Sudan.
Saint Josephine Bakhita,
Quote from: odhiambo on February 08, 2013, 09:35:24 AM
Check out the calendar odhiambo with a cup of coffee!
Quote from: Shin on February 08, 2013, 03:21:17 PM
Checked! Agog!
Saints' Discussion Forums | Forums | Saints' & Spiritual Life General Discussion | Topic: Saint of the day and Feast days - Part 2 « previous next »


text:
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text:
Asian Voice > Finance > UK > Jaguar Land Rover acquires Bowler
Jaguar Land Rover acquires Bowler
Indian conglomerate owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has acquired Bowler, the UK-based manufacturer of all-terrain performance cars, parts and rally raid vehicles. The Bowler business now fully-owned by Tata Motors will continue to operate from its premises in Belper.
Founded in 1985, Bowler pioneered the production of dedicated off-road competition cars in the UK and has achieved success in international rally raid events.
"At special vehicle operations, we are all eager to start working with our new colleagues at Bowler. Adding the Bowler team's skills and experience to those of SV, vehicle personalisation and classic is a key step in our strategy to create an exciting and diverse portfolio of products and businesses within special vehicle operations.
"Our immediate focus is on ensuring continuity of support for Bowler employees and customers during this transition to Jaguar Land Rover," said Michael Van Der Sande, managing director, JLR Special Vehicle Operations.
Since its inception, Bowler has had a close affiliation with Land Rover, which was formalised with a brand partnership in 2012 that led to the creation of the popular Defender Challenge rally series by Bowler in 2014-2016.


"Sometimes the simpler the celebration is, the better." The Grammy winner, who is set to release his next studio album about the best piece of advice he's ever received.
PHOTOS: Usher in concert "If you stay ready, you ain't gonna get ready," he said.
Following the end of his marriage to Foster, now 43, Usher retained custody of the couple's sons Usher V, 6, and Naviyd, 5.
The custody battle was lengthy and ugly, with Foster saying that her ex-husband's status allowed him to keep the children and months of drama unfolding within the family.
Tameka has worked as a personal stylist for Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Usher, Toni Braxton, Ciara, Patti La Belle, Nas and more.
Foster attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in 1994, followed by a Merchandising Marketing major in Los Angeles.
The marriage did not last, however, as Usher filed for divorce in 2009.
PHOTOS: Usher's life as a dad "Most people probably think I regret it because I ended up getting divorced, but it helped me learn that sometimes I think I know more than I actually do," he added in the latest installment of .
Foster (born January 1, 1971) is an American wardrobe stylist and the ex-wife of singer Usher.about his extended family, saying the reunions or "what I call red-cup celebrations" are his best family tradition.


text:
GNU Ch.18 Part 1 – Guests (I)
August 25, 2020 November 27, 2020 By koffeam
In the third month, old Madam Cheng's yard was full of people as usual. Qingfu was sitting at the small tea table, holding Cheng Enbao. Cheng Enbao was a four-year-old boy, but he was still being hugged all day long, too lazy to walk.
Ruan-shi was not as calm as Qingfu. She stood beside old Madam Cheng, constantly squeezing her handkerchief, and seemed to be a little uneasy. After a while, a servant boy finally ran in and kowtowed from beyond the threshold: "This small one pays respect to the old madam! To madams, to young master, to young miss."
Ruan-shi eyes lighted up suddenly. Even Qingfu also raised her head. Old Madam Cheng was the oldest and had the best disposition. Seemingly unstirred, she asked: "Does the ninth master's official notification come down? What did the announcing people say?"
"Great joy. The ninth master was granted the office at the Ministry of Public Work, as the Director of the Bureau of Forestry and Hunting."1
The womenfolk exclaimed, "Ah." But the thing Ruan-shi most concerned about wasn't this, since she didn't understand the long names of official positions. The only thing she knew was: "What rank is he?"
"Standard fifth rank." 2
"Standard fifth rank." Ruan-shi murmured, her mood was a bit complicated. On the one hand, she was happy seeing Cheng Yuanjing appointed only the standard fifth rank. He got an official's position, but his rank lowered. But on the other hand, she was a bit worried about the Cheng family. After all, Cheng Yuanjing was the man with the highest official position in the manor and also the one with the best future prospect. If he couldn't climb up, then Yichun marquis manor would only decline more and more.
No one else in the room had spoken, but undoubtedly, Ruan-shi's muttering had conveyed everyone's thought. Cheng Min persuaded old Madam Cheng to spend some money on Cheng Yuanjing's career. Both the old Madam and her eldest son was reluctant, but knew that Cheng Min was right. Old Madam Cheng planned to use this matter as a handle, to let this shu son knew his position: even after becoming an official, he couldn't get rid of his legal mother's control. As a result, old Madam Cheng still didn't have a chance to put on the air, but Cheng Yuanjing's official order had been issued.
Standard fifth rank, moreover it was only the Ministry of Public Work. This official position made Old Madam Cheng a little disappointed, but also secretly joyful. This position couldn't be said to be not high, but just as everyone imagined, it was far away from the orthodox path of entering the cabinet via the Hanlin Academy.
The road towards officialdom was very orderly. The really smooth career path was to become a jinshi, entered Hanlin, then endured a few years of hardship. After that, being sent outside the capital to become a prefectural magistrate. After two appointments, transferred back to the capital to enter the six ministries. Those who could enter the Ministry of Revenue and Ministry of Personnel were the default future cabinet members. After another seven or eight years in the six ministries, steadily getting promoted into assistant minister before finally, a head minister. If there were no major mistakes during the tenure, he could enter the cabinet and become a cabinet minister.
This was the most ideal career path for aspiring scholars in the country. If one couldn't even get the erjia3, they might as well not participate in the exam, since their career in the second half of life was destined to be mediocre at best. If the first assignment after getting the jinshi wasn't good and they didn't enter the Hanlin, their future promotion would also be limited.
Cheng Yuanjing was directly sent to an outside post right after passing the palace test. He was indeed starting high and walking low. No wonder Chang duke manor felt that the Cheng family couldn't manage their affair properly and delayed the future of their own descendants. Now it wasn't easy for Cheng Yuanjing to be transferred back to the capital, everyone was waiting for him to be admitted to such a prestigious place like the Official Historian. As a result, he went to the Ministry of Public Work.
The six ministries had their own hierarchy. Ministry of Personnel was the first, continued by Ministry of Revenue, then Ministry of War… and at last, Ministry of Public Work.
Old Madam Cheng didn't understand what 'Director of the Bureau of Forestry and Hunting' was. She only knew that Cheng Yuanjing had entered the Ministry of Public Work with the lowest standing and largest amount of work. According to her many years of life experience, after failing to enter the Hanlin and joining the Ministry of Public Work instead, Cheng Yuanjing's future promotion very likely had been cut off.
Old Madam Cheng's mind unconsciously calmed down. She secretly mused: what was a young fourth rank official, what was a jinshi. All of those sounded grand, but at the end, wasn't he merely a mediocre? Qingfu obviously thought the same thing. In her heart, she was secretly scorning, but didn't show it on the surface, and instead said with a smile: "It is a good thing for the ninth master to be granted an official position. How many people are idle in the capital for two or three years before finally getting a post? Come, give a reward."
The servant boy received his reward and went out with joy. Seeing the expressions of Qingfu and the others, Cheng Yujin shook her head secretly. In order to accurately find potential stocks, Cheng Yujin purposely studied the official positions of the court. Her knowledge was more extensive than this womenfolks, and she understood the knack of officialdom.
For example, this time, although the bureau director's standard fifth rank was lower than that ofCheng Yuanjing's original fourth rank, officials in the provinces couldn't be compared to the officials in the capital. Even if someone may hold a standard second rank official in the provinces, in terms of power and authority, they were still less than a fourth rank official with a real post in capital.
Therefore, Cheng Yuanjing transferred back to the capital and successfully received the official post, it was an upright promotion, even with the lower rank that entrailed. He even entered the six ministries. Although the Ministry of Public Work might be less prestigious, the Bureau of Forestry and Hunting managed the manufacturing process of the government shops in various regions, military spending, military supplies, arms manufacturing, and accounting in provinces, even smelting and casting money. The Director of such a bureau had real power, and still a vital one.
Although small and inconspicious, it was extremely important.
Cheng Yujin did not feel that Cheng Yuanjing's career path had been broken, but since old Madam Cheng and Qingfu were willing to think so, she didn't need to destroy their thoughts. Cheng Yujin smiled and did not comment.
However, it was still a happy event to be granted an official post. No one in Cheng family has entered the six ministries before. Cheng Yuanjing's achievement still far exceeded the average level of the other men in this family. Old Madam Cheng pretended to be regretful with her two daughters-in-law in law for a while, and then said: "It is common for officials to rise and fall. Tell the ninth master not to worry, don't let one failure to destroy him. After all, I'm his di mother. No matter what, I'll always do my duty as a mother. So, get one hundred silver taels from the public account to subsidy the ninth master and hold a celebratory promotion banquet. As for who to invite and how to do it, let him decide."
One hundred silver taels, Ruan-shi secretly stunned. Her monthly allowance was only thirty silver taels. She wasn't like Qingfu, who had a massive dowry as a source of income. She needed to be careful and meticulous simply to maintain a decent appearance. But now, with just one wave of her hand, the old Madam gave Cheng Yuanjing one hundred taels.
There was a vast difference between those who held an official post with those who didn't.
I have to thanks whoever put the searchable pdf of the dictionary of imperial china's official job on the internet. I literally only have to paste the raw term in the search bar, add 'english', click enter, and voila! The result is on the second or third rank. If only architecture and fashion items can also be searched this easy…..
Six Ministries and Twenty-Four Bureaus: Important central government agencies in imperial China. A head minister (尚书, Shangsu) led each ministry. These were, in hierarchical order, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Public Works. Beneath each Ministry were many Bureaus (司; sī), bodies responsible for grassroots administration.
Nine Rank System: Official ranks in imperial China divided into nine ranks, nine as the bottom. Some rank further divided into zheng(正; standard), cong (從; deputy), shang (上; upper) and xia (下; lower) grades.
Erjia : 2nd rank of candidates who passed the imperial examination (i.e., 4th place and up)
7 comments on "GNU Ch.18 Part 1 – Guests (I)"
Yinying
CYJ heals my heart!! She's smart but not OP although she goes with the current, she uses it to her advantage.
Many thanks for the chapter!!
Naturally, the crown prince should learn the economics and logistics of running a country, so it's a good post for Cheng Yuanjing. Besides, he won't be in the limelight (not yet, that is).
Thank you for the translation! <3
Sabruness
Am i the only one who thinks that perhaps the Emperor was able to scratch a little bit of influence under the nose of the Yangs to help him get the post?. After all, being involved with the minting of money, accounting in the provinces and involvement in the logistics of the military… that's a lot of potential hidden power though.
Being able to grasp the hidden lever of the army would be valuable by itself as no army can operate without money, weapons and supplies.
Vannie
These Madams are quite naive in their own ways xD
Don't they know that being in the Department of Public Works is the *cough* most profitable department at the current age.
Like imagine, you could *cough* increase prices of materials, labors, and set budget.
Ask those politicians what they like to do the most, that would probably build more project for the good of the people.
arichason
This is one of the most corrupt branch of the government. 😅
yueshimozuki
Holysht you are right. Public Work = economics. It kinda flew over my head since the name sounded a bit different compare to now.
avalance
I thought he was rank 4 or something at the 3 first chapters?
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