text:
Role: National Executive
Adam Hurley
I've worked in politics for almost a decade and have been involved in the Social Democrats from the very beginning; working on the party's launch in 2015, administrating the organisation in its first year, and later working for Róisín Shortall as her policy/communications advisor....
Cat O'Driscoll
Meeting a bunch of strangers for the first time on a dark rainy night in Dublin city was my first campaign experience with the SocDems in 2015. Since then I've made incredible friends, worked on inspiring campaigns and hopefully made a difference for others...
Conor Hoary
Hi, my name is Conor Hoary.I have been a SocDem since working on Niall O'Tuathail's campaign during the 2016 General Election as a deputy campaign manager. Following which I was involved in both the Repeal the 8th Campaign and the Michael D Election Campaign.
David Clancy
The next 12 months will be crucial to the development and evolution of the Social Democrats, and I believe I have the skills and experience to help this Party and the National Executive deliver the progressive politics that Ireland has done without for too...
Dermot Looney
National Executive Dublin South West Dermot is a 36-year old Social Democrats member from Greenhills in Dublin 12. He has served as a County Councillor on South Dublin County Council since 2009. He won re-election as an Independent in 2014, topping the poll, before...
Dylan Murphy
My name is Dylan Murphy and I've been endorsed by the Dublin Fingal Branch to run for the NEC. I have volunteered for the following campaigns: Volunteer Support for Bernie Sanders Texting 2020, Digital Coordinaton for Climate Case Ireland and Not here, Not Anywhere...
Evie Nevin
Evie founded and ran Disabled People Together for Yes during the successful 2018 campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment. She traveled all over Ireland addressing public meetings on how the Eighth disproportionately affected people with disabilities in accessing abortion services.
Fiona Lynam
Following the adventure that was the local election campaign, I considered that I had two choices. The first is to disappear, feel sorry for myself and treat the campaign as a bucket list task that I have now ticked off. The second is to...
In 1981 Frank qualified as a Marine Electronics Officer and spent the next 24 years working in the electronics industry. In 2005, he retrained as an Audiologist. He became a Fellow of the Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists in 2013. His political activism...
Geraldine Cunniffe
My name is Geraldine Cunniffe and I have been nominated by the Dublin NW Branch as a Candidate for the NE.I am from South Roscommon near Athlone but have lived in Dublin since the 1980's.I studied Law and Politics in College and work as...
I am chair of the Meath East branch of the Social Democrats and here are some reasons why you should elect me to the National Executive.The distribution of Alex White's 22,205 votes in the recent European elections where 6134 went to Fitzgerald (FG), 3509...
John Larrigan
National Executive Dublin Central John is a Network Engineer from the north side of Dublin.He has been an active and outspoken member of the party since 2016 and one of the founding members of the Dublin Central branch. He introduced and organised the...
Karl Picard
Party Colleagues,My name is Karl Picard and I am one of your candidates for the National Executive. I joined the Social Democrats shortly after the party's inception, helping to set up the Galway-West branch before building the Longford-Westmeath branch in my native Midlands.
Kieran Walsh
It has been an absolute honour to serve as a member of our National Executive this term. Working alongside some of the most diligent, professional & committed Social Democrats has given me great hope for the future of our party. At the start of...
Kodzo Selormey
Cork North Central I believe that the Social Democrats will be a force for progressive change in Ireland in the next decade. We have a built a strong foundation with our results in 2019 but we need to do more to ensure that after the...
Majo Rivas
My strong passion for equality and social justice brought me to the Social Democrats. I want to contribute to the development of our party by serving on the National Executive. I am committed to bringing my experience in policy formation and implementation to work...
Mark Khan
AmbitionMomentum is vital to boost party reach, member morale & public support. When on the NEC; I pushed a recruitment strategy, list of targets & helped double the no. of councillors. We just elected 19 Cllrs, but failed to contest elections in 15/26 counties. Let's recruit...
Mick Caul
I have been involved in the party since before it's launch, working with Anne-Marie and Catherine through the Right2Water Demos and helping out with social media. I stood in the room the day the party was formally launched and from that day on I...
Noel Dempsey
Outgoing National Executive (NE) MemberMember of the Candidate Strategy & Development Sub CommitteeChairperson of Kildare North BranchInaugural member of the Organisational and Constitution drafting Group A. native of Cork and a Trade Union and political activist since leaving education. I ran in Local Elections...
Rob Partridge
Hello. I'm Rob Partridge and I'm a Social Democrat from Galway East. I joined the Social Democrats because I believe they are the only party capable of effecting change and are certainly the only party who actively listen to its members.
Sabrina Ryan
Sabrina joined the Social Democrats following last year's referendum when she was a founding member of Dublin Bay North Together for Yes. Sabrina is a journalism graduate who works as a union organiser. Sabrina has extensive experience in community radio and currently is on...
Sally Aquilina
National Executive Meath West One of my mottos is "if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem". I got involved in Social Democrats because I realised it was no longer enough to yell at the telly about how things should...
Sean McGrath
I joined the SocDems during the 2016 GE because it was time for Ireland to change and our party is still the best way to do so. Polices such as Slaintecare and housing as a right are what our country needs, our party advocates...
Sharon Nolan
I'm an activist and campaigner based in Galway city, and was your candidate for Galway City Central in thelocal elections. I am running for the National Executive as I want to step up and offer my help to see the change I would like...
Síle Ní Dhubhghaill
I was the local election candidate for Macroom in Co. Cork, where I was previously a local area representative. I am a current member of the National Executive. I own a music school, where I teach piano and harp and conduct the choir. I...
Thomas Ryan here from the Social Democrats in Tipperary. At this stage I have decided to take on the role of area lead for the county and since we had our first meeting in February the working that we established to get the county...
Proudly powered by WordPress	| Theme: social-democrats by Victor Mendes.


I got familiam with the old trees on the streats near the Bendigo Hospital, and began communicating with the wild birds that nested in the trees' hollows.
Above is a pair of Grass Parots resting breafly from their efforts to satisfy the needs of their yong in the hollow.
Below is a Galah, cheking out a potential nesting site.
Ray: Australia has many spectacular birds, Frank...the Galah might be my favourite.
So wonderful - to commune with the animals, Ray! They can be great therapists, too! Beautiful shots BTW!
Ray: I certainly enjoyed chatting with these lovely critters as I walked to and from the hospital, Elizabeth.
Ray: A daily pleasure to chat with them as I walked, Chris.
BONJOUR , quelle chance d'avoir pu entrer en conversation avec les arbres mais aussi les animaux ..Ceux là sont très beaux !
They look like domestic birds Ray.
So glad you were able to capitalize on your hospital stay, Ray!
Ray: An outpatient, Ginnie...so I made a lot of long walks along these roads.
I've seen the Galah on my visits to Oz, but never the Grass Parrot.
Ray: Galaks are less shay that Grass Parrots, Tom.
It must be nice to walk along and see Parrots in the trees, we only get Sparrows etc.
Ray: Yes...there seems to be many in the trees in this City, Brian.
Good therapy, I should think. I expect that the birds responded with "Twit, twit...."
Ray: The birds seemed to enjoy the interplay, Alan.
Birds will remain an interesting as well as a challenging photographic subject.
Ray: I love birds, Louis, and envy them for their ability to fly.
I seem to recall one of the characters in an Australian soap referring to people who had done something stupid as a flaming Galah!
A common epithet for directing at someone who has done something stupid, Bill.
Galams are generally regarded as moisiy and not very cleaver...a view I do not share.
I liked the galahs very much and the sulfur-headed cockatoos. Both were so present everywhere.


Original head which made the performance of slipping off against the slide fall and the cover fairly compatible with high dimensions. Perfect round gapped gun tying dedicated hook with reinforced flat knitting. Somewhat brisk and slightly less brush guard supports the goodness of cover removal by its elasticity, and it also increased the hooking rate. "Gantasigu" series pursuing ease of use up to every detail has a convincing spec even in experienced anglers. # 4/0 Size Thick Axis Wide Gap Hook adopted bulky worm model "Gantage Flip" is a game ※ The image of the product is displaying representative image. Moreover, the color may look different from the real one. Please be forewarned.


text:
Q: Is it ok to just use instance variable and NOT property I have an instance variable apiEndpoint that I don't want to be set from anywhere except init and I only want it to be private to the class. Is it ok if I use an instance variable and NOT a property?
ApiWrapper.h
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface ApiWrapper : NSObject
{
    NSString *apiEndpoint;
}

- (void) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;

+ (NSString *)getApiEndpoint:(NSString *) storeUrl;
+ (NSString *)getApiEndpointWithoutIndexDotPHP:(NSString *) storeUrl;
@end

ApiWrapper.m
#import "ApiWrapper.h"

@implementation ApiWrapper
- (void) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;
{
    apiEndpoint = newApiEndpoint;
}
+ (NSString *)getApiEndpoint:(NSString *) storeUrl
{
    if (![storeUrl hasPrefix:@"http://"] && ![storeUrl hasPrefix:@"https://"])
    {
        NSLog(@"%@ missing http", storeUrl);
    }

    return nil;
}

+ (NSString *)getApiEndpointWithoutIndexDotPHP:(NSString *) storeUrl
{

}

@end

A: Yes, it's OK to use ivars. However, what is cool about properties is that they create your getter and setter for you, which are more than just reading or writing a variable value but can include things like object retain management, thread-safe read and writes, and more.
There is a way to make a "private property" by declaring it in an anonymous class extension in your class's .m file. Note you will still have to use the ivar backing the property in the init and dealloc method. Your code would look something like this:
#import "ApiWrapper.h"

@interface ApiWrapper ()
@property (strong,nonatomic) NSString* apiEndpoint;

@end

@implementation ApiWrapper

- (id) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;
{
    self = [super init]
    if ( self ) {
        _apiEndpoint = newApiEndpoint;
    }

    return self;
}

A: I agree with claireware's suggestion to use a private property in your private class extension. Another approach, if you want other classes to be able to see it, but not alter it, is to define it as a read only property:
In ApiWrapper.h:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface ApiWrapper : NSObject

@property (nonatomic, strong, readonly) NSString *apiEndpoint;

- (id) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;

+ (NSString *)getApiEndpoint:(NSString *) storeUrl;
+ (NSString *)getApiEndpointWithoutIndexDotPHP:(NSString *) storeUrl;

@end

And in ApiWrapper.m:
#import "ApiWrapper.h"

@interface ApiWrapper ()

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *apiEndpoint;

@end

@implementation ApiWrapper

- (id) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;
{
    self = [super alloc];
    if (self)
    {
        _apiEndpoint = newApiEndpoint;
    }

    return self;
}

@end

Two notes:

*

*The init... method should not have a void return type. init methods should always return an initialized object.

*If you use properties, remember to Don't Use Accessor Methods in Initializer Methods and dealloc.

Obviously, if you really wanted to use an ivar (and I agree with others that you can achieve what you want with a property), it would simply be:
ApiWrapper.h:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface ApiWrapper : NSObject

- (id) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;

+ (NSString *)getApiEndpoint:(NSString *) storeUrl;
+ (NSString *)getApiEndpointWithoutIndexDotPHP:(NSString *) storeUrl;

@end

And in ApiWrapper.m:
#import "ApiWrapper.h"

@interface ApiWrapper ()
{
    NSString *apiEndpoint;
}
@end

@implementation ApiWrapper

- (id) initWithApiEndpoint:(NSString *) newApiEndpoint;
{
    self = [super alloc];
    if (self)
    {
        apiEndpoint = newApiEndpoint;
    }

    return self;
}

@end

A: See my answer here:
Should I declare variables in interface or using property in objective-c arc?
The summary version:

*

*whenever possible, declare properties

*don't declare iVars separately

*don't @synthesize

*locate as few properties as possible in you .h file

*locate as many properties as possible in a class extension in your .m file

The only other point I would add - if for whatever reason you are going to use iVars, please use a clear convention like _leading _underscores so that we know what you are doing when we read your code.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Violent Crimes Compensation Board (VCCB) is dedicated to ensuring that crime victims receive relief from crime related expenses such as lost wages, medical expenses not covered by health insurance, therapy. In our experience, the VCCB staff is very responsive and will help you as best they can.
Read more detailed information on eligibility requirements.


text:
The Winners of the 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
The 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards have just concluded, and while there were a few minor surprises here and there, the big winners...
Nominations for the 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
Will we see several repeats this year? We'll just have to wait until the ceremony on September 12th to find out. Until then, you can find...
The Winners of the 74th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards
The Directors Guild of America has just finished handing out their awards for 2021, with the entirely expected result of Jane Campion...
The Winners of the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just finished announcing their winners for 2021 (on social media, as there was no...
The Winners of the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
The Television Academy has just finished presenting their annual awards, and, as expected, "Succession" has come out on top for Drama,...
Nominations for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards
Earlier this morning, the nominations for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced, where HBO's "Watchmen" surprisingly led...
The Winners of the 72nd Annual Writers Guild of America Awards
The Writers Guild of America has just finished handing out their awards for 2019, with a little bit of a surprise in one of the major...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


These performance groups dance in various venues around the area such as malls, nursing homes and Six Flags. Dance Company is for children who are dedicated to dancing and motivated to excel in their art. It is an extension of a child's initial dance training. Students are trained in multiple styles of dance, participle in rigorous rehearsals and perform in front of diverse audiences, allowing them many opportunities to grow as well-rounded dancers. Participation in Dance Company is by teacher recommendations and auditions only.
Mini Company members are required to take one other discipline of dance each week in addition to the 1 hour Company Dance Class.
Junior Company members are required to take two other disciplines of dance each week in addition to their Company Dance Class.


THE GLOBAL BEAUTIES "GRAND SLAM OF BEAUTY PAGEANTS™"
- MISS WORLD: The mother of all pageants, it´s the first and most popular contest in most nations. Created by Eric Morley in 1951 and ran by his wife Julia Morley after his death, in 2000, it is a unique competition which values charitable work and beauty inside and out more than any other. Beauty With a Purpose is its motto and the core of the Miss World winners´ activities. Its headquarters are located in London, UK. The pageant, held annually, reunites about 120 competitors each year.
- MISS UNIVERSE: Created in 1952, it´s the most popular beauty pageant in the US, Latin America and some countries in Asia. Today it is ran by the WME/IMG talent agency, in the United States, and telecast by FOX. The new ownership has brought a different strategy for this pageant, which now focuses on personal stories, empowerment and education.
- MISS SUPRANATIONAL: Born in 2009 in Poland (where its based now), Miss Supranational has quickly grown into one of the most impressive television productions in the business. It was created with the intention of becoming a model search, but in 2016 changed its concept to favor empowerment and personality.
- MISS GRAND INTERNATIONAL: The baby among the Grand Slam events, Miss Grand International was created by Thai businessman Nawat Itsaragrisil in 2013. Its annual telecast show is among the most entertaining in the business and already has a huge, million-number following among pageant fans.
- MISS INTERNATIONAL: Today a Tokyo-based international beauty pageant organized by The International Culture Association, it was born in the US in 1960 and held in Long Beach, California, until it was sold to the Japanese in 1968. It remains traditional and offers great cultural activities to its participants. Although with a very basic production on their final show, the competition still stands strong.
- MR WORLD: Mr World was launched in 1996 by the Miss World Organization. It is not yet an annual event, but it pays the highest cash prize to the winner: at least US$ 50,000.00. Among the 5 men´s competitions, it is the one with most international media coverage, but nothing close to its women´s competition (Miss World).
- MISTER INTERNATIONAL: Singaporean businessman Alan Sim brought Mister International to life in 2006. The pageant has happened every year ever seen. The quality of its production usually depends on the host country. Winners and results are often quite fair.
- MISTER SUPRANATIONAL: Created in 2016 by the Miss Supranational Organization, it managed to put together an impressive television show with many original elements. In its first year, it was seen on TV in more than 90 countries.
- MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL: If Miss World is the mother of women´s pageants, Manhunt International is the father of all men´s beauty contests. In the 1990´s, when it was born in Singapore, Manhunt International put together some great television productions. It was not held from 2012 to 2016, when it was finally back with a proper production, in China.
- MISTER GLOBAL: This Thai international contest has been quickly growing in credibility and quality year after year from 2013, when it was created. Results are usually within the expected and it happens every year with an excellent live webcast.


Image Title: Hickory Hardware Studio 3 In Center To Oil Rubbed Bronze Cup Throughout Pulls Plan 2. Post Title: Oil Rubbed Bronze Pulls. Filename: hickory-hardware-studio-3-in-center-to-oil-rubbed-bronze-cup-throughout-pulls-plan-2.jpg. Image Dimension: 1000 x 1000 pixels. Images Format: jpg/jpeg. Publisher/Author: Brody Ruecker. Uploaded Date: Sunday - February 10th. 2019 05:43:05 AM. Category: Architecture. Image Source: digsdigs.com. Lugarno Drawer Pulls Oil Rubbed Bronze Restoration Hardware Regarding Design 16. Amerock Mulholland Pull Oil Rubbed Bronze 3 4in 96mm Center To Inside Pulls Plan 19. 36570 Amerock Pull Oil Rubbed Bronze BP36570ORB For Less Regarding Pulls Idea 5. G 60 4 In CKP Brand Clear Glass Pull Oil Rubbed Bronze Base Cool With Pulls Remodel 17. Knobs4Less Com Offers Hafele HAF 69474 European Bar Pull Oil Rubbed In Bronze Pulls Remodel 9. Durable Service Cosmas 4392 192ORB Oil Rubbed Bronze Modern Cabinet Inside Pulls Plan 3. Amerock Bar Pulls 3 In 76 Mm Center To Oil Rubbed Bronze Within Idea 4. Sumner Street Home Hardware 3 1 2 In Center To Oil Rubbed Inside Bronze Pulls Prepare 6. Rusticware Traditional Center To Oil Rubbed Bronze Cabinet Inside Pulls Plan 12. Top Knobs Oil Rubbed Bronze Bar Pull With Pulls Ideas 1.


text:
"Tweet n Greet" or "Woof n Goof"?
Country's Night To Rock
It's All About Tonight
The Shape I'm In
Just Watching "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night To Rock" Isn't Enough
That's right. Gone are the days when you can just kick back, relax, maybe cuddle up with your dog and watch a good show like ABC's televised version of the CMA Music Festival this Wednesday night (September 1). Now you have to, to be cool, log on to ABC.com and see what artists like Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Lady Antebellum, Zac Brown and others are Tweeting about during the show. It's called a "Tweet n Greet". Be on the lookout for my new feature soon "Woof 'n Goof".
Don't You Wish Taylor Swift Was From Your Hometown?
Taylor Swift has donated $100,000 to help rebuild a playground in her hometown of Hendersonville, Tennessee (Nashville suburb) that was heavily damaged by flooding in middle Tennessee in May. Taylor has already donated $500,000 to flood relief efforts for the area, and earlier donated $250,000 to schools she'd attended. If Taylor was any more friendly she'd be a dog. Woof.
Joe Nichols Wants To Know The Shape You're In
Here's a nice creative way to promote a new song. Joe Nichols peeps have set up a web site where you can go and set up a postcard that tells the shape you're in and then have it posted. It can be serious, fun, etc. It's all to promote Joe's new single "The Shape I'm In". Participating is easy—just create your own 'postcard' with your message, and send it to theshapeimin.joenichols@gmail.com. The card will then be posted on http://theshapeiminjoenichols.tumblr.com. Personally, I'm doing pretty dog-gone good.
It's All About Blake
Blake Shelton's "It's All About Tonight" is number one again this week. On top of that (can you top #1?) GACTV will premiere Blake Shelton's live concert from Roberts Stadium in Evansville, Indiana on Wednesday September 8 at 8 Central. The 90-minute show includes most of Blake's big hits, including his best one ever – "Ol' Red". It's called "Blake Shelton Live: It's All About Tonight". I'll be they burned the midnight oil dreaming up that title. Woof.


text:
Your page - please add your comments about the website
You can search for articles on this blog page by selecting a month or a category - on the righthand side if you scroll down.
This page is for you to let us know your thoughts on anything else which is not a blog article (where you can comment directly), about:
- articles on the website
- what you think of the website (please keep it clean!)
- what else you would like to see on the website
- improvements - please suggest things which would make navigation of the site easier
- any aspects of Orpington we are missing
- more of some things
- less of some things
- offers of help in keeping this website active and interesting
"I ought to be in pictures" - FDS production exceptional
One always expects an entertaining evening at one of FDS's productions but, on Friday 26 October, the cast excelled itself beyond all previous plays seen by this reviewer.
All of the three cast members dominated the stage with equal conviction and confidence. Their American accents never faltered and the action, although limited to one setting, rolled along at a good pace.
The scene was the sitting room of the less than successful Hollywood script writer, Herb Tucker, played with humour and just the right amount of weary resignation by Chris Franks.
Holly Seijo played his daughter, Libby, with whom he had had no contact for 19 years. Now 22, she bounced into his life and sitting room, having hitch hiked from Brooklyn, claiming she wanted him to help her become a film actress. Holly delivered her asides and one-liners with aplomb, raising many a laugh from the audience.
Tania Todd played the long-suffering Herb's girlfriend, Steffy Blondel, putting up with his fear of commitment and lack of writing inspiration. She gave a heart-warming and endearing performance, offering advice to both parties, bringing them together to clear the air and understand the history of their situation.
The one and only flaw spotted by this viewer was the clock which never strayed from 9:20 - and none of the cast commented on this, even when the script called for a mention of 'it's noon'!
I cannot recommend highly enough this production. Congratulations to all the cast and stage hands - particularly whoever painted the bathroom door, following Libby's arrival and transformation of the gloomy bungalow. Finally a special commendation must go to the director, Nick Abbott, who certainly pulled out all the stops in getting his cast to provide such a wonderful performance.
Strictly Murder - another evening of entertainment from Farnborough Dramatic Society
Ably directed by Robin Walker, this production of Brian Clemens play was rather slow moving in the first half but managed to convey the developing mystery in a reasonably interesting way. The action took place in a cottage in the French countryside in 1939, with all the accompanying themes of what was to come. The first scene opened with Josef sneaking through the cottage door, into the kitchen/dining area. It later transpired that he was an unfortunate casualty of German torture. David Fewkes delivered a convincingly brain damaged persona with gusto and humour.
The occupants of the cottage were both English, in a relationship living together. Peter Meredith, played by Mark Hollidge, was a little wooden at times but suitably tentative and mysterious as the plot unfolded. Suzy Hinchcliffe, played by Nicola Hollow, occasionally lacked conviction but cried and appeared frightened very well. She was keen to get married but Peter was reluctant for reasons which were eventually revealed.
Newcomer, Christopher Franks, breathed fresh air into his character of Ross, having travelled from England to track down Peter. He showed excellent acting promise which should improve with more confidence. He played two parts, as twins, and was convincingly sinister in both roles. All the actors managed to keep the suspense alive whilst the audience tried to work out who were the 'goodies' and 'baddies'. All was not at all clear until the final curtain.
Miriam Miller, who appeared with Ross' twin, towards the end, was commandingly played by Barbara Jones, wearing a suit which looked very much like the one she wore as the prison warden in a previous production! She was appropriately polite, whilst conveying an undercurrent of menace.
Now living in Norfolk, Paul Minett continues to contribute. He provided a number of paintings, particularly of poppies (for reasons explained during the play), which adorned the walls of the set, as examples of Peter's artistic merit.
Although not one of their best productions, the evening gained pace in the second act and was another example of competent amateur dramatics well worth the time expended to view it. There were very few 'fluffs' and the action rolled along at a suitable pace most of the time.
Margot Rohan - 'Orpington Community'
Farnborough Dramatic Society - Double Bill a Comedy Triumph
Last Tango in Farnborough
This was an amusing pastiche on amdram at its worst.
Holly Seijo gave a convincing performance as Margaret, wannabe chairperson of the FDS. She was suitably upset when no one voted for her and Gordon (David Fewkes) was re-elected chairman. The group's finances were in dire straits and they needed to come up with £400 unpaid rent. It appeared that the next production would be their last. However, Gordon had written a farce which was to be promoted as a sex comedy to attract a large audience, so they could make a profit on their last performance.
Hilary Osman as Joyce gave a bubbling delivery of someone longing to burst into song, suggesting well known musicals requiring large casts, when the group had dwindled to just four members and Joyce's acting skills were somewhat lacking. Hilary's rendition of her playing an angry woman, in Gordon's play, appearing like a flapping ostrich pursuing Margaret's character across the stage, was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.
Bernard, the set designer forced to play a part in this supposed final production, was amusingly played by Nick Abbott. His role as the local butcher was delivered in a monotone, getting louder & louder when asked to act more convincingly by Gordon, the director. He rolled his eyes and stomped off set in disgust several times after Margaret made derogatory remarks but was persuaded back by Gordon.
'A pity your sets aren't as wooden as your acting' was one of Margaret's comments.
Gordon spent much of the time frustrated, with his face in his hands, desperate as his cast was still struggling with the script the evening before the opening night. David's execution was forceful and commanding, supported by strong performances from all the cast.
The play within the play was not actually shown but there was a twist arising from its 'successful run', to bring the plot to a humorous end.
Altogether a very enjoyable short comedy.
Brenton versus Brenton
Old jokes are still the best!
Deke Brenton (Robin Walker, with a harsh New York accent, well sustained throughout) is estranged from his young wife and relations between them come to a dramatic, although ridiculous, climax during the course of the play. He runs an advertising agency, founded by his grandfather, with one client (Friends Condoms - ripe for every obvious joke!) and one member of staff, copywriter Brett Howard (played with an hilarious American twang by Mark Hollidge).
Deke is enraged when he discovers his young English wife, Lana (Nicola Clift), has managed to purchase a majority holding in his company and starts divorce proceedings. From here onwards the plot becomes more farcical, involving his ex wife, Blanche de Ville (played with aplomb and superiority by Barbara Jones), their son lost as a baby, Deke & Lana's daughter, Foxglove (Holly Seijo delivering another excellent comic role, dragging her leg evermore dramatically from one side of the stage to the other) and Lana's lawyer brother, Matt (Stewart Marlowe - embroiled in finding a hit man for Deke)!
Of course by the end of the play all the issues had been neatly resolved, with an hilarious culmination and lots of obvious jokes, such as (Deke) 'You are not from New York are you? New Jersey?' - (Brett) 'No it's just one I feel comfortable in', plus the inevitable condom jokes.
In my experience, this was one of FDS's best performances and the audience agreed by laughing raucously at times and giggling most of the way through.
For more information about Farnborough Dramatic Society, visit their website.
Margot Rohan, Orpington Community
Farnborough Dramatic Society's 200th production another winner
Unfortunately Martin Dale had a family bereavement and was unable to play Reverend John Shillitoe on this evening. In his place, Robin Walker stepped up to the mark and was a splendid substitute, coping with the lines with only occasional help from notes. However his first entrance was noticeably minus his dog collar but this was corrected by his next appearance!
The story was woven around the inmates and officers of a women's prison somewhere in the UK. The action (the 'enquiry' of the title) took place entirely within the warden's office and revolved around an incident involving an assault on one inmate, Kate Walmer, serving a sentence for killing her severely disabled baby. She was played very sympathetically by Holly Seijo, dramatically threatening to jump out of a window and collapsing on cue, as the script demanded.
Tania Todd, as the deputy governor, Frances Treadgold, gave a very convincing performance as an ambitious authority figure but with misgivings about some disciplinary actions. The governor, Laura Fenn, firm but fair, with years of experience under her belt but looking towards retirement, was played by Sue Williams. She gave a strong performance, showing her concerns about whether Frances was ready to step into her shoes or if she would be too 'soft' in dealing with the prisoners.
Marcy was the prison trustee, who popped in and out of the governor's office, purportedly clearing away crockery and cleaning, whilst pocketing cigarettes! She was played hilariously by the diminutive Edna Walker, who overcame her one memory lapse by turning the tables and asking 'what did you say?' of Frances Treadgold, rather than looking blank and waiting for the prompter!
Louise Friend also gave a creditable performance as the prison doctor, Janet Graham MD, bantering with the Reverend and providing clinical evidence where required.
There was a surprise 'flashback' scene towards the end of the drama, in which Kate and her husband Tom, played by Mark Hollidge, reveal the truth of the death of their daughter. There was a forceful interaction between the pair and it was a very moving denouement leading up to the final resolution. However the play closed on a note of uncertainty, leaving the audience not knowing exactly how the new revelations would be resolved by the governor.
The other parts were ably filled by the remaining members of the Society. All members were involved in this 200th production and congratulations should go to them all. This was another entertaining evening which held this audience member's attention throughout.
Farnborough Dramatic Society - Over 70 years of entertainment
Farnborough Dramatic Society - visit their website
Playing to yet another packed house, Farnborough Dramatic Society excelled itself once again, apart from two misprints on the tickets - 'Dramatics' and 'Soceity'!
'The Murder Game' is a thriller by Constance Cox. The play opens with Brian, played by Mark Hollidge in a suitably confused and conflicted state, a cheating husband whose wealthy wife has left him, arriving home by car and nearly hitting a stranger in his driveway. He brings the young man into his home and they both have a drink. Brian has the first of a worryingly continuous stream of whiskies (at least a bottle during the evening of the performance) but Gerry drinks only coke.
Gerry is looking for somewhere to sleep for the night and wants nothing more than to stay in the gazebo in the front garden. Brian's estranged wife, Sheila, arrives and Gerry appears to leave by the back door (surprisingly he seems to know the way, despite never having been there before!). Sheila has come to tell Brian that she is filing for divorce but, when she leaves, it turns out that Gerry was listening.
From then on, the plot thickens, if somewhat unrealistically. Brian is drawn into an increasingly tightening web, which culminates in his realisation, too late, that Gerry has a plan which he had not foreseen.
Gerry was played with relish by Nick Abbott, in a convincingly pathological manner. Although Hilary Osman's Sheila was only on stage for a short time, her presence was dramatic in a number of ways, including a forceful and confident delivery and her predilection for neat gin. Further explanation would reveal too much of the plot.
The mistress, June, was ably played by the ubiquitous Nicola Clift, remembered from previous recent productions. The interplay between June and Gerry was quite gripping at times, as Gerry's nefarious plan rolled on.
The lines flowed well, with very few fluffs and little prompting. However one had to suspend belief with the unlikely plot. If this had been an episode of 'Death in Paradise', DI Humphrey Goodman would have solved the murder at the end, but there were no police on stage in this production!
It was an altogether enjoyable evening's entertainment, particularly when the characters went 'upstairs' which involved only a few steps up but then the actors went down again to go offstage, which was reversed when they reappeared from upstairs!
The director, Robin Walker, is to be congratulated. Not only for this production but also for the arrival of his granddaughter, Eadie, last July, who is already showing dramatic promise. It is hoped that she will become the fourth generation of the Walker acting dynasty to tread the FDS boards, her great grandmother, Edna Walker (stage manager), being the first and her mother the third.
Margot Rohan (Orpington Community)
P.S. For the next production, perhaps it will be possible to include some photos from rehearsals - I'll be in touch?
This production was directed by Holly Seijo, a stalwart performer in previous productions. The play opens with Mr and the second Mrs Condomine, as they prepare to receive guests for dinner. The scene was lifted considerably by the entrance of Madame Arcati, a medium, played vibrantly by Sue Williams, with panache and humour. She burst onto the stage and took command of all areas, as she created the atmosphere for the first séance, which ended dramatically with Madame Arcati passed out and strange emanations, including an hysterical table, following contact with the 'other side'.
In the second scene, Elvira (Tania Todd) was another high spot. Her expressions were varied and lively, diverting one's attention from the other actors, even before she spoke. She managed to move around the stage whilst the others acted convincingly in being oblivious to her ethereal appearance. The pace picked up from Scene 3, the following morning, with only Charles Condomine (Mark Hollidge) able to see the ghost of his first wife, Elvira, and his poor second wife, Ruth (Nicola Clift) becoming more upset and angry as she misinterpreted what was going on.
After a sojourn at The Woodman, the humourous landlord encouraged imbibers to drink up and return to the Village Hall for the second half, warning them to be careful to avoid big red buses which like to knock down FDS theatregoers!
The audience on Saturday 31 October
As the play hurtled towards its climax, poor Charles reached the end of his tether with Elvira's antics, culminating in a catastrophic outcome, contrary to her intentions. The final attempts of Madame Arcati to rid Charles of ghostly apparitions only he could see brought much audience laughter at the excellent overacting and expressiveness of her character. Her magnificent delivery was very well received, as was Elvira's forceful performance.
The diversions created in a 'Mrs Overall'* cameo by the maid, Edith (Wendy MacDonnell), in a role of few words, were also very funny.
The cast was also well supported by Robin Walker and Hilary Osman as Doctor and Mrs Bradman. This was another entertaining and enjoyable evening from the able Farnborough Dramatic Society players, although I must complain about the poor quality of the wallpapering in the Condomine's sitting room - I could not live with all those wrinkles!
(* Mrs Overall is a character in Acorn Antiques, played by Julie Walters)
This production had some very strong performances, particularly from Sue Williams as Rose, Wendy McDonnell as Mother and Tania Todd as Sally.
As Rose, Sue Williams commanded the stage on which she was never absent, only faltering in a couple of minor instances, which was impressive, bearing in mind the volume of the part she played. She was convincing, endearing, funny and moving in revealing her character's dilemmas and flaws. The most enjoyable and natural scenes were when Rose visited her friend Sally, a fast moving, lively and amusing interchange, and those with her mother, which revealed some of the generational misunderstandings we all encounter.
Another excellent scene was the 'meeting' between Rose and Jim Bean, the primary adviser (played by an appropriately reticent Mark Hollidge), where Sue showed her skill in becoming gradually more inebriated and effusive as Rose's nervousness was overtaken by her verbosity. A very funny but perceptively written encounter.
There were a few fluffed lines and pauses for a prompt here and there but these did not significantly detract from the general flow of the play. The story revealed the vagaries of life in general, the challenges in marriage and family issues and how everyone agonises over what has been and what might have been.
Rose was well supported by the rest of the cast, with Robin Walker playing her harassed, mid-life crisis husband, Geoffrey; Barbara Jones and Holly Seijo, her school colleagues; and Paul Minett as Sally's vague, hippy husband, Jake.
The play ended on a poignant note, leaving the audience wondering what decisions Rose was going to make about her marriage and her career.
'Party Piece' (2013)
'Entertaining Angels' (2013)
Farnborough Dramatic Society was founded about 70 years ago. They are looking for new ways to promote their productions, as one of the comments forwarded by an audience member recently was that she had thoroughly enjoyed their last play (Searching For Doctor Branovic) and would have liked more of her friends to have been there too but they simply didn't know it was happening!
Their next play is the classic Victorian thriller 'Gaslight' by Patrick Hamilton which will be staged at the Farnborough Village Hall on May 15th-17th. This will be the FDS entry in The Bromley Theatre Guild's Full-Length Play Festival 2014 (about 8 or 9 local groups get involved).
Tickets are £7 - for information on booking, visit their website.
'Searching for Dr Branovic' (2014)
Preparing a set
40th North vs South Film Competition at Farnborough Village Hall 7 December
Calling all Film Fans
Orpington Video & Film Makers are hosting the 40th Anniversary of this competition, so please go along and support them. It is taking place at Farnborough Village Hall, High Street, Farnborough, Kent BR6 7BB on Sunday 7th December.
It will be an ideal opportunity to view the best movies made by film making clubs from around the country. This year there are 25 entries, consisting of Documentaries, Dramas, Comedies, Animation and even One-Minute films to enjoy.
Having attended several OVFM film shows, I am sure this will be an excellent evening's entertainment.
Doors open 2.30pm for a 3.00pm start. Show will end approx 8.00pm.
Admission is £5.00 and refreshments will be available.
For further details, please call Mike Coad (Competition Officer) on 01424 220391 or email:mailto:mcoad@n-v-s.co.uk
OVFM website


Summary: One day, 30,000 players suddenly find themselves trapped in another world. There, eight-year veteran gamer Shiroe also gets left behind. The trapped players are still alive, but they remain in combat with the monsters. The players don't understand what has happened to them, and they flee to Akiba, where they are thrown into chaos.
First Impression: Boldly striding where bandwagons meekly tiptoe. Solid story and characters, and a well shaped plot so far.
First Opinion: You remember the big hit a little while ago, Sword Art Online? You do? Well forget about it. This shows nothing like SAO. SAO ended up being a very action'y Shounen'y show, it lost a good deal of depth in the second season. Grant, I still enjoyed the hell out of it, but if it had just ended with the first season, and maybe an epilogue, it would have left a deeper impact. The core of the second season was sound, it just felt a little sloppy, too many plot holes.
Meanwhile, over here in Log Horizon, they like their flashy skills and spells, which is good, but the show is more drama and plot than it is action. The story is shaping beautifully, and the characters are all of sound quality and interest. The show has just spun its major plot element, and I'm looking forward to how this one spins out. If I had to summarize the the core difference, at the time of writing, between Log Horizon and SAO, it would be 'Human Interest' versus 'Drama and Action'. To be honest, I'm feeling like the word 'Drama' is a bit too general recently. I think I'll start cooking up something more specific for my needs.
If you were writing this one off as just a bandwagon behind Sword Art Online, (like I originally was), then consider yourself soundly slapped, and go start watching it.


text:
Group C of the 2002 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I was one of four pools in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I of the 2002 Fed Cup. Four teams competed in a round robin competition, with the top two teams advancing to the play-offs and the bottom team being relegated down to Group II for 2003.

Bulgaria vs. Portugal

Estonia vs. Georgia

Bulgaria vs. Georgia

Estonia vs. Portugal

Bulgaria vs. Estonia

Georgia vs. Portugal

  failed to win any ties in the pool, and thus was relegated to Group II in 2003, where they placed equal third.

See also
Fed Cup structure

References

External links
 Fed Cup website

2002 Fed Cup Europe/Africa Zone

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
<?php

defined ( '_JEXEC' ) or die ();
JFactory::getDocument()->addScriptDeclaration("
function submitbutton(pressbutton)
{
	var form = document.adminForm;
	if (pressbutton == 'cancel') {
		submitform(pressbutton);
		return;
	}
	// do field validation
	if (typeof form.onsubmit == 'function') form.onsubmit();
	if (form.name.value == '') {
		alert('".JText::_('COM_KUNENA_ERROR1', true)."');
	} else {
		submitform(pressbutton);
	}
}
");

$paneOptions = array(
		'onActive' => 'function(title, description){
		description.setStyle("display", "block");
		title.addClass("open").removeClass("closed");
}',
		'onBackground' => 'function(title, description){
		description.setStyle("display", "none");
		title.addClass("closed").removeClass("open");
}',
		'startOffset' => 0,  // 0 starts on the first tab, 1 starts the second, etc...
		'useCookie' => true, // this must not be a string. Don't use quotes.
);
?>

<?php echo $this->header; ?>

		<form action="<?php echo KunenaRoute::_('index.php?option=com_kunena') ?>" method="post" id="adminForm" name="adminForm">
		<input type="hidden" name="view" value="category" />
		<input type="hidden" name="task" value="save" />
		<input type="hidden" name="catid" value="<?php echo intval($this->category->id); ?>" />
		<?php echo JHtml::_( 'form.token' ); ?>

			<button onclick="submitbutton('save')"><?php echo JText::_( 'Save' ); ?></button>
			<button onclick="submitbutton('cancel')"><?php echo JText::_( 'Cancel' ); ?></button>

		<?php
			echo JHtml::_('tabs.start', 'pane', $paneOptions);
			echo JHtml::_('tabs.panel', JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_INFO'), 'panel_catinfo');
		?>
		<fieldset>
				<legend><?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_BASICSFORUMINFO'); ?></legend>

						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_PARENT'); ?>
						<?php echo $this->options ['categories']; ?>

<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_PARENTDESC'); ?>

						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_NAMEADD'); ?>
						<input class="inputbox" type="text" name="name" size="80" value="<?php echo $this->escape ( $this->category->name ); ?>" />

						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_A_CATEGORY_ALIAS'); ?>
						<input class="inputbox" type="text" name="alias" size="80" value="<?php echo $this->escape ( $this->category->alias ); ?>" />

						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_DESCRIPTIONADD'); ?>

							<textarea class="inputbox" cols="50" rows="6" name="description" id="description" style="width: 500px"><?php echo $this->escape ( $this->category->description ); ?></textarea>

						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_HEADERADD'); ?>

							<textarea class="inputbox" cols="50" rows="6" name="headerdesc" id="headerdesc" style="width: 500px"><?php echo $this->escape ( $this->category->headerdesc ); ?></textarea>

			</fieldset>

			<fieldset>
				<legend><?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_ADVANCEDDISPINFO'); ?></legend>

						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CLASS_SFX'); ?>
						<input class="inputbox" type="text" name="class_sfx" size="20" maxlength="20" value="<?php echo $this->escape ( $this->category->class_sfx ); ?>" />
						<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CLASS_SFXDESC'); ?>

			</fieldset>

			<?php if ($this->me->isAdmin()) : ?>

			<?php echo JHtml::_('tabs.panel', JText::_('COM_KUNENA_PERMISSIONS'), 'panel_catperms'); ?>
				<fieldset>
					<legend><?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_PERMISSIONS'); ?></legend>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_A_ACCESSTYPE_TITLE'); ?>
							<?php echo $this->options ['accesstypes']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_A_ACCESSTYPE_DESC'); ?>

						<?php
						foreach ($this->options ['accesslists'] as $accesstype=>$accesslist) :
							foreach ($accesslist as $accessinput) :
						?>
						<tr class="kaccess kaccess-<?php echo $accesstype ?>" style="<?php echo $this->category->accesstype != $accesstype ? 'display:none' : '' ?>">
							<?php echo $accessinput['title'] ?>
							<?php echo $accessinput['input'] ?>
							<?php echo $accessinput['desc'] ?>

						<?php endforeach; endforeach ?>

				</fieldset>

			<?php endif ?>
			<?php echo JHtml::_('tabs.panel', JText::_('COM_KUNENA_ADVANCEDDESC'), 'panel_advanced'); ?>
				<fieldset>
					<legend><?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_ADVANCEDDESCINFO'); ?></legend>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_LOCKED1'); ?>
 							<?php echo $this->options ['forumLocked']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_LOCKEDDESC'); ?>

						<?php if (!$this->category->id || !$this->category->isSection()): ?>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_REV'); ?>
							<?php echo $this->options ['forumReview']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_REVDESC'); ?>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_ANONYMOUS_ALLOW'); ?>:
							<?php echo $this->options ['allow_anonymous']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_ANONYMOUS_ALLOW_DESC'); ?>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_ANONYMOUS_DEFAULT'); ?>:
							<?php echo $this->options ['post_anonymous']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_ANONYMOUS_DEFAULT_DESC'); ?>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_A_POLL_CATEGORIES_ALLOWED'); ?>:
							<?php echo $this->options ['allow_polls']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_A_POLL_CATEGORIES_ALLOWED_DESC'); ?>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_CHANNELS'); ?>:
							<?php echo $this->options ['channels']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_CHANNELS_DESC'); ?>

							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_TOPIC_ORDERING'); ?>:
							<?php echo $this->options ['topic_ordering']; ?>
							<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_CATEGORY_TOPIC_ORDERING_DESC'); ?>

						<?php endif; ?>

				</fieldset>

				<?php if (!$this->category->id || !$this->category->isSection()): ?>

				<?php echo JHtml::_('tabs.panel', JText::_('COM_KUNENA_MODNEWDESC'), 'panel_catmods'); ?>

				<fieldset>
					<legend><?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_MODHEADER'); ?></legend>

<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_MODSASSIGNED'); ?>

								#
								<input type="checkbox" name="toggle" value="" onclick="checkAll(<?php echo count ( $this->moderators ); ?>);" />
								<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_REALNAME'); ?>
								<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_USERNAME'); ?>
								<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_PUBLISHED'); ?>

						<?php if (count ( $this->moderators ) == 0) : ?>

								<?php echo JText::_('COM_KUNENA_NOMODS') ?>

						<?php else :
							$k = 1;
							$i = 0;
							foreach ( $this->moderators as $ml ) : $k = 1 - $k; ?>
							<tr class="row<?php echo $k; ?>">
								<?php echo $i + 1; ?>

									<input type="checkbox" id="cb<?php echo $i; ?>" name="cid[]" value="<?php echo intval($ml->userid); ?>" onclick="isChecked(this.checked);" />

								<?php echo $this->escape($ml->name); ?>
								<?php echo $this->escape($ml->username); ?>

							<?php 	$i ++;
							endforeach;
						endif;
						?>

				</fieldset>
				<?php endif; ?>

				<?php echo JHtml::_('tabs.end'); ?>
		</form>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Why Business Development Part 5 – Semper Valens Solutions, Inc.
Proposals are a product. The product is developed within a refined process that has proven successful, repeatedly. Through well-defined processes, we have implemented standards of quality just like we would implement in any engineering or IT project. In the management of a proposal and across the entire lifecycle of an opportunity, we follow a defined process that starts with the identification of an opportunity and ends with an award. Every time we go through the process we make it better. Lessons are learned, the team improves, and the process is refined. I enjoy business development because it provides an opportunity for continual improvement. Through each iteration through the process, we learn from both successes and struggles. In my team as a BD professional and since the beginning of SVS, we have seen innovation and gained efficiencies. Becoming better, taking on new challenges, and delivering tangible solutions make a BD Career exciting for me.


text:
Europa 2 Diary: A Great Private Champagne Tasting
Nov 16, 2017, 06:52pm EST
The Europa 2: How To Be Price-Wise About Choosing A Cabin
Luxury Cruising: Meet the Butlers Who Run Europa 2's Penthouse Deck
Nov 8, 2017, 05:33pm EST
SpaFinder: The Spa On The Europa 2--Large, Luxe, And Shared By Men And Women. A Guide To Modesty.
The Europa 2's Tempting Deal: Take The Kids And Get The Adult Luxe
Oct 30, 2017, 04:31pm EDT
The Europa 2 Cruise Diary: A Stop In The Azores
Luxury Cruising: Why The Europa 2 Is The Best Luxury Cruise Ship You've Never Heard Of
ForbesLifestyleTravel
Trans-Atlantic Cruising: You Can't Do Better Than The Europa 2.
Gary Walther
I solve the key hotel mystery: Which rooms are best?
Oct 30, 2017, 02:41pm EDT |
Is it the journey or the destination? The getting there or the being there that counts? This question has long been a litmus test of one's travel psyche, and for years the judgment has been that the person who journeys is the real traveler.
THD once counted himself among them, but over the past 35 years he has gone over to the other side, mainly because so often now the journey has become standardized. The Orient Express had romance; the TGV and its counterparts offer speed. Business and first class provide a shield from the travail of airports and the chaos of economy, and on international flights, the prospect of sleep. Is flying romantic today? Bottom line: THD will trade 10 journey anecdotes for the pleasure of getting to lunch in Paris or Rome in good shape.
With one exception: A blue-water cruise.
The world from THD's terrace on the Europa 2 trans-Atlantic crossing.
The Hotel Detective
Most cruises bring out the destination person in everyone, as the ship is a taxi from port to port. The cruising takes place mostly at night, which is part of the fun: You wake up in a new place. Life doesn't usually offer such curtain-raisers daily.
But a blue-water cruise, the industry term for a cruise that spends many or even most days at sea, is the opposite. The point is to be on the ocean, and the pleasure comes from the hours of time to dispose of as you please--especially when sailing east, as every other day or so, one gains an hour. These are Kindle cruises, you might say.
THD is on such a cruise as he writes, several hundred miles east of the Azores on the Europa 2 (500 passengers), the top-of-the-line liner of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, bound for Bermuda and then New York. (No, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises is not part of the container shipping company, but a subsidiary of TUI Group, one of the world's largest travel-and-tourism companies.) As always with longer cruises (this one is 15 days), the passenger demo skews older, but THD is surprised at how many families are on board--more on that in a subsequent post.
We left Lisbon two days ago, and our only stop before Bermuda is tomorrow at Sao Miguel, the main island of the Azores archipelago. The crossing to Bermuda will take four days, then the ship turns north to New York, another few days on the ocean. This cruise is a subset of a blue-water cruise, a repositioning cruise, necessary to get the ship to New York, the departure point for its next itinerary set, the Caribbean and Central and South America.
This morning, during his daily announcement, Captain Ulf Wolter said, "There are no ships near us, no whales, no schools of dolphins, not even sea birds." Out here, the horizon is round, not straight, as if we're sailing across a bowl. Of course, you're as connected as you want to be to the world, courtesy of the ship's satellite Internet, but still, there's something mentally cord-cutting about a cruise like this--especially when the ship sails out of satellite range and the Internet disappears (just for a day on this cruise). North Korea, wildfires, Harvey Weinstein, the surprise election in Austria, Brexit--out here they seem like trace radio signals from deep space. Duly noted and now, let's get a wind-tan on the pool deck and knock off a few more chapters of War and Peace. (No more excuses; you have the time and isn't it the greatest luxury?)
That's not just THD's subjective reaction. "The guests are more relaxed than on a port-to-port cruise," says Oliver Schulz, the ship's current Hotel Director, "because of all of the sea days."
In short, this is a fine place to play the cast-away for two weeks.
PS: The next blue-water cruise is Buenos Aires-Cape Town (Jan. 5-16, 2018).


The simplest way to get an answer is to ask a question. Give us a call and our resident experts will help you right away or return your call with speed that will surprise you. You can also email or drop by and visit us in person.
Huron Tractor's MyDealer is available to all of its clients, providing quick and easy online access to account information, tools and reports, shopping services, and more.
Our Service Plans & Warranties are designed for your security and peace of mind, giving long-term protection to your investments. The benefits include reduced downtime of equipment, genuine parts replacement, and minimized costs from unexpected repairs.


The Necronomicon organisers are still looking for some games for Necronomicon 2004. If you are interested in writing for the convention in April submit your proposed game now.
2. Fill in the Write for Necronomicon form with your game details.


Greetings: Hi!! My name is Theresa, and I would like to make friends from all over the world. If you want a pen pal, or just need a loyal and trusting friend... please write to me.
Greetings: Hey, I want some cool friends. Wanna be mine? If you are interested please write to me.
Signal is: I like this site is very good site and I want to be part of this site.
Greetings: I'm greeting you all.
Greetings: Hi, smile and we are friends.
Greetings: Nice to meet u all.
Greetings: I shall be glad to write you if you send me letter.
Greetings: U all are welcome to cantacting me by mail and by email. "The mind has thousands eyes and the heart but one".
Greetings: Hi luvly females - do you need me?
DEAR READERS - COMMON SENSE, PLEASE !
If you sent your listing yesterday or earlier this week, it can NOT be repeated today... The space is limited, you may advertise only after 1-2 weeks again.
Your PHONE NUMBERS are NOT accepted in the listings, pornographic or sexual ads are NOT accepted. If your email address or snailmail address seems to be faulty your ad will not be issued at all.


text:
Know Nothing
Human » People » Society » Organization » Non-Religious Organizations » Political Party » Know Nothing
"I am not a Know-Nothing—that is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equals, except negroes and foreigners and Catholics." When it comes to that I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty —- to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."
The Political Party commonly remembered as the Know Nothing Party went by a variety of other names over the years in the rough middle of the 19th Century: it started as a secret society called the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, and as it grew it cycled through names in rapid succession: the American Republican Watch Association,the American Republican Party, the Native American Party (which means something very different in today's parlance), and finally the American Party. Regardless of the name-of-the-week, they were in all incarnations, a hot mess.
The Know Nothings had a repugnant platform that discriminated based on both race and religion. They believed strongly that America belonged to white protestants whose grandparents were born on American soil. If you were a person of color, or a catholic, they were against you. If you white and protestant but also happened to be Irish, Italian, French, or even German, they were against you. If you or one of your parents were an immigrant, they were against you. Given that there were no white men on the American continent just a few hundred years prior to this political movement, it's hard to see them as any but hypocritical and bigoted. Despite being openly racist and hateful, the Know Nothings they were very influential from the 1830s to the 1860s, especially in New England. All of this was happening during the run-up to the American Civil War, and all the tension that came with that. Weirdly, a lot of these racist know-nothings were also anti-slavery. This contradiction apparently existed because they felt that slave labor undercut the wages of working white people.
The term "Know Nothings" came from their organization - the party was set up much like a secret society and if questioned about their activities, the stock response was "I know nothing". The first rule of being part of the racist secret society with plans to rule the country via political manipulation, was that you do not talk about said racist secret society with plans to rule the country via political manipulation. A fact which no doubt raised the difficulty level for their attempts to achieve their goals. Not having a public face to the political party, meant not having an official candidate. So they'd effectively infiltrate other political parties to run candidates with hidden agendas, and then quietly distribute information about those candidates at secret society meetings. It's also likely that they also secretly endorsed candidates whose politics came close to their own, possibly with those candidates knowing nothing about having been preferred or chosen by the Know Nothings. It's hard to be certain about that last point, since Knowing Nothing gave them a lot of cover for claiming ignorance. They publicly nominated former President Millard Fillmore to run against Lincoln, but did it possibly without Fillmore's knowledge (if you believe him), and either way they definitely made the announcement while he was out of the country.
That said, for being a bunch of folks sworn "not to talk about fight club", they sure talked about it a lot. "Know Nothing" quickly became the term they were mockingly called (and eventually that got shortened to Knism). People started calling brand names for them ("drink Know-Nothing Tea"), and at least one 700-ton ship got the "The Know Nothing" painted on the bow. This must have gotten real confusing for consumers, in the way that it's hard to distinguish excellent satire from the real thing. If I buy Know Nothing candy, am I making fun of them, or am I providing financial support? Despite all the secrecy and confusion, they actually got a lot of candidates in office, including a near-total capture of the state legislature of Massachusetts.
Once in power, they passed a confusing mix of strange laws: some extremely conservative and strict, others surprisingly progressive. Here's a few examples:
Temperance bill with such strict penalties (sell 1 beer: get 6 months in jail) that it fell victim to jury nullification.
Legally mandating that people with Chinese ancestry were not allowed to testify as witnesses.
A (failed) attempt to increase the length of the naturalization process for immigrants up to 21 years.
Increased the legal rights of women going through divorce proceedings.
Added additional regulation and oversight to workplaces and industry.
Funded libraries, provided free textbooks for public schools, and built a school for the blind.
Populism combined with xenophobia, a decentralized power structure and uneven secrecy about who your candidates were lead to a lot of contradictions and poor planning. Very few of their candidates had relevant experience, and their out of control spending threatened to bankrupt the local governments. They were tied to criminal activities of the Bowery Boys gang in New York. The Know-Nothings participated in a lot of riots in New York City, Baltimore, Maryland, Louisville, Kentucky and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and assorted acts of violence (assault and arson) in many more American cities. Once in power in Massachusetts they launched an investigation into the sexual impropriety of their opponents, which backfired when news broke that the supposed reformer who started it all was using state money to pay for prostitutes. Equal parts incompetence, corruption and hypocrisy.
After a couple decades of inconsistent success at the polls and disasters in office, the public had enough, and the Know-Nothing brand went belly-up.
1. Wikipedia
Could be the basis for a conspiracy or secret society, especially in a game set in the Old West, the American Civil War, or the Gilded Age.
Given the recent return of fairly thorny brands of populism to modern politics, you'd have lots of fuel and plot-ideas to pull from the headlines.
For a comedy game, you'd play up their incompetence and contradictions, casting them as ineffective conspiratorial buffoons. You could steal events, headlines, and quotes from whichever side of the political isle you and your players distrust, and put those words in the mouths of the Know Nothings. Riff a bit on Fight Club, and dial the hypocrisy up to a 11.
For a horror game, they might be more frighteningly effective. The incompetence could be a facade, or the GM might choose to ignore that aspect entirely. They're everywhere. No one in a position of authority can be trusted, but neither can anyone who's actively speaking out against the establishment, either.
While not as broadly murderous as the Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan, you can still make a pretty good case for Know Nothings being the sort generic evil that heroes get to kick the asses of without feeling the least bit bad for doing so. I'm sure it was more nuanced than that back in the day, but the passage of time means no one reasonable is on their side any more. So they'd make pretty good mooks.
And the Bowery Boys would be a pretty solid example of what the "elite forces" of the Know-Nothing conspiracy would be like. Bill the Butcher and Mose the Fireboy would make strong bosses to fight.
Another famous real-world Know Nothing who might make for a good boss-fight or big bad: John Wilkes Booth.
A store, ship, or company with "Know-Nothing" in the name can be a cute injection of flavor into your history game. As mentioned above, the players won't know if it's meant to mock or endorse the party, and there could be some fun to be had in that ambiguity.
The PCs also won't know whether the Know Nothings are (in the context of your campaign) irrelevant and incompetent, or a scheming group about to seize power. That could be a useful uncertainty for a campaign with lots of mystery and detective plotlines.
The general outline of the Know Nothing timeline and goals could be transplanted to another Era or world.
What if there was a "Know Nothing" computer virus that could infect Robots and Artificial Intelligence so that they'd unknowingly work towards some sinister conspiratorial goal. "My memory is not encoded with data about that subject" becomes the "no code" or "no data" party. If you try to read or download the affected memory, it wipes the entire personality and records for that robot.
conspiracypolitical_partyrng_historyrng_politicssecret_society


The page of pentacles appears when a new skill is being learned.
Recently I took up German. I've always wanted to learn this language and for some reason just never started, so I downloaded a few podcasts and Duolingo and have been practicing daily. I'd like to be fluent. Eventually.
Growing up in LA, I was surrounded by Spanish speakers. A lot of them being close friends. I would pick up words here and there, and I would use them as well.
While I was learning German on the train yesterday and mouthing the words, I got a clear as hell flashback to when I was playing handball with a friend. I was standing on the court with her and I said something in Spanish. She looked at me and laughed at my pronunciation. I remembered shrinking up and feeling really embarrassed. I wanted to crawl into a hole.
Was this it? Was this part of the reason why I haven't tried to learn or speak another language? Because I was afraid of an elementary school comment?! I have had opportunities to use my Spanish and simply just wouldn't because of embarrassment. I remember trying to learn Spanish in High School and would ditch on the days of oral exams. I could speak to the kitchen staff at my jobs in Spanish but relied only on English. Was this why?! This tiny little comment has apparently stayed with me in the weirdest way. This tiny fear bubble put a block on what I've wanted to do for quite some time. What a silly thing that ended up making a HUGE impact.
I always admired the girls that spoke multiple languages. I remember a great friend of mine in high school who was fluent in three. I thought she was so smart and glamorous. But it could never be that way for me.
I've noticed this with other things in my life as well. Some things that you take personally in childhood can follow you and frame who you are.
I made this comment mean that I couldn't speak another language, so I just didn't. I manifested this made-up narrative and it grew inside me to take a piece of control. That small instance made me lose my confidence.
Since I remembered, I've been embarrassed to say something incorrectly. This form of perfectionism has been a means for protection and control over my psyche.


Scarlett, the Black Widow, is the notorious pirate beauty of the Caribbean, who meets time traveler, Sebastian Graham, at the sharp end of her blade. There on the high seas Sebastian and Scarlett's adventure of deceit and thievery lead them to a passion they both had never imagined.
Will the Black Widow be able to ignore her doubts and go for what her heart wants?And can Sebastian find a way to get back to modern day without falling for this red haired, caramel skinned seductress, or worse, getting himself killed? Free on Kindle.
"The Black Widow's Temptation" was first posted on freebookpromotions.com on April 17th, 2019. Each day we feature new free and discounted Kindle books in the genre as well as all other genres.


text:
Q: What is the Golden Chest? I found a Golden Chest in Sanctuary. It says it costs one Golden Key to open it.
Should I open this chest? What's in it?

A: I've opened the golden chest at least a hundred times (hacked key numbers to experiment), and every single item from it has been either purple or e-tech (red-purple).
No legendaries, ever.

A: This chest holds extremely good loot for your level. If you haven't opened the chest yet, wait to open the chest for as long as possible. If you open the chest at max level you'll get great purple or magenta (e-tech) rarity weapons. If you open it too early, you'll have a very good weapon for maybe 5-10 levels, and then it will be useless.
When playing co op with friends new to the game, make sure to warn them of the chest. It's an extremely common problem that people open the chest with no idea that it's special. It does finally have a warning that it will consume your keys when you try and open it now though.
You get the keys by activating your preorder bonus or by entering Shift Codes from GearboxSoftware and Randy Pitchford (President of Gearbox) on Twitter. The promotional ECHOcasts account also posts them less often than the other two. They occasionally tweet Shift Codes which can be entered in game to get keys. They release a couple a week or so. Note that Randy and Gearbox don't post the same shift codes (though the occasionally retweet eachother) so you should follow all 3 accounts if you want all of them. Be quick, shift codes expire either based on time or by how many people redeem them.


text:
All Information (Except Text) for H.R.535 - Taiwan Travel Act115th Congress (2017-2018)
Back to this bill
Rep. Chabot, Steve [R-OH-1] (Introduced 01/13/2017)
House - Foreign Affairs | Senate - Foreign Relations
Committee Meetings:
10/12/17 9:30AM 06/15/17 2:30PM
03/16/2018 Became Public Law No: 115-135. (TXT | PDF) (All Actions)
Array ( [actionDate] => 2018-02-12 [displayText] => Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Corker without amendment. Without written report. [externalActionCode] => 14000 [description] => Introduced [chamberOfAction] => Senate )
Array ( [actionDate] => 2018-01-09 [displayText] => Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H57) [externalActionCode] => 8000 [description] => Passed House [chamberOfAction] => House )
Array ( [actionDate] => 2018-02-28 [displayText] => Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S1290-1291) [externalActionCode] => 17000 [description] => Passed Senate [chamberOfAction] => Senate )
There are 6 versions of this bill. View text
Click the check-box to add or remove the section, click the text link to scroll to that section.
TitlesTitles Actions OverviewActions Overview All ActionsAll Actions CosponsorsCosponsors CommitteesCommittees Related BillsRelated Bills SubjectsSubjects Latest SummaryLatest Summary All SummariesAll Summaries
Short Titles
Short Titles as Enacted
Taiwan Travel Act
Short Titles - House of Representatives
Short Titles as Passed House
Short Titles as Introduced
Short Titles - Senate
Short Titles as Passed Senate
Short Titles as Reported to Senate
Official Titles - House of Representatives
Official Title as Introduced
To encourage visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels, and for other purposes.
Actions Overview (7)
Actions Overview
03/16/2018 Became Public Law No: 115-135. (TXT | PDF)
03/16/2018 Signed by President.
03/05/2018 Presented to President.
02/28/2018 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S1290-1291)
02/12/2018 Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Corker without amendment. Without written report.
01/09/2018 Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H57)
03/16/2018 Became Public Law No: 115-135.
All Actions (21)
03/05/2018 House Presented to President.
03/01/2018 Senate Message on Senate action sent to the House.
02/28/2018 Senate Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S1290-1291)
02/12/2018 Senate Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 310.
02/12/2018 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Reported by Senator Corker without amendment. Without written report.
02/07/2018 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
01/10/2018 Senate Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
01/09/2018-3:32pm House Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
01/09/2018-3:32pm House On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H57)
01/09/2018-3:12pm House DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 535.
01/09/2018-3:12pm House Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H57-59)
01/09/2018-3:12pm House Mr. Royce (CA) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
10/12/2017 House Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote.
Action By: Committee on Foreign Affairs
10/12/2017 House Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
06/15/2017 House Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote .
Action By: House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
06/15/2017 House Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
02/16/2017 House Referred to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
01/13/2017 House Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
01/13/2017 House Introduced in House
03/01/2018 Message on Senate action sent to the House.
02/28/2018 Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S1290-1291)
02/12/2018 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 310.
02/07/2018 Committee on Foreign Relations. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
01/10/2018 Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
01/09/2018 Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
01/09/2018 On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H57)
01/09/2018 DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 535.
01/09/2018 Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H57-59)
01/09/2018 Mr. Royce (CA) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
10/12/2017 Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote.
10/12/2017 Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
06/15/2017 Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee by Voice Vote .
06/15/2017 Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
02/16/2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
01/13/2017 Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
* = Original cosponsor
Date Cosponsored
Rep. Royce, Edward R. [R-CA-39]* 01/13/2017
Rep. Sherman, Brad [D-CA-30]* 01/13/2017
Rep. Eshoo, Anna G. [D-CA-18] 04/20/2017
Rep. Wagner, Ann [R-MO-2] 04/27/2017
Rep. Yoho, Ted S. [R-FL-3] 05/11/2017
Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [R-FL-27] 05/22/2017
Rep. Biggs, Andy [R-AZ-5] 05/23/2017
Rep. Poe, Ted [R-TX-2] 05/24/2017
Rep. Diaz-Balart, Mario [R-FL-25] 06/08/2017
Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] 06/13/2017
Rep. Connolly, Gerald E. [D-VA-11] 06/16/2017
Rep. Harper, Gregg [R-MS-3] 06/16/2017
Rep. Sires, Albio [D-NJ-8] 06/16/2017
Rep. Brady, Robert A. [D-PA-1] 06/20/2017
Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1] 06/20/2017
Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-32] 06/20/2017
Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-8] 06/21/2017
Rep. Rouzer, David [R-NC-7] 06/22/2017
Rep. Bishop, Mike [R-MI-8] 06/22/2017
Rep. Fleischmann, Charles J. "Chuck" [R-TN-3] 06/22/2017
Rep. Walters, Mimi [R-CA-45] 06/27/2017
Rep. Farenthold, Blake [R-TX-27] 06/28/2017
Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12] 07/13/2017
Rep. MacArthur, Thomas [R-NJ-3] 07/13/2017
Rep. Boyle, Brendan F. [D-PA-13] 07/20/2017
Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-22] 07/27/2017
Rep. Shimkus, John [R-IL-15] 07/27/2017
Rep. Frankel, Lois [D-FL-21] 08/01/2017
Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [R-WI-5] 08/01/2017
Rep. Knight, Stephen [R-CA-25] 08/04/2017
Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-23] 08/04/2017
Rep. Mast, Brian J. [R-FL-18] 08/08/2017
Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. [D-MI-13] 09/06/2017
Rep. Yoder, Kevin [R-KS-3] 09/08/2017
Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6] 09/12/2017
Rep. Capuano, Michael E. [D-MA-7] 09/12/2017
Rep. Bishop, Rob [R-UT-1] 09/21/2017
Rep. Lance, Leonard [R-NJ-7] 09/21/2017
Rep. Weber, Randy K., Sr. [R-TX-14] 09/25/2017
Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12] 09/26/2017
Rep. Smith, Christopher H. [R-NJ-4] 09/26/2017
Rep. LoBiondo, Frank A. [R-NJ-2] 09/26/2017
Rep. Ross, Dennis A. [R-FL-15] 09/26/2017
Rep. Franks, Trent [R-AZ-8] 09/27/2017
Rep. Green, Gene [D-TX-29] 09/27/2017
Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] 10/02/2017
Rep. Moulton, Seth [D-MA-6] 10/03/2017
Rep. Marchant, Kenny [R-TX-24] 10/04/2017
Rep. Brat, Dave [R-VA-7] 10/04/2017
Rep. Zeldin, Lee M. [R-NY-1] 10/10/2017
Rep. Curbelo, Carlos [R-FL-26] 10/10/2017
Rep. Budd, Ted [R-NC-13] 10/11/2017
Rep. DeSantis, Ron [R-FL-6] 10/11/2017
Rep. Wilson, Joe [R-SC-2] 10/11/2017
Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-19] 10/12/2017
Rep. Clay, Wm. Lacy [D-MO-1] 10/12/2017
Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2] 10/12/2017
Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2] 10/12/2017
Rep. Tonko, Paul [D-NY-20] 10/19/2017
Rep. Pallone, Frank, Jr. [D-NJ-6] 10/19/2017
Rep. Rokita, Todd [R-IN-4] 10/19/2017
Rep. Maloney, Sean Patrick [D-NY-18] 10/23/2017
Rep. Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [D-GU-At Large] 10/25/2017
Rep. Pittenger, Robert [R-NC-9] 11/01/2017
Rep. Olson, Pete [R-TX-22] 11/01/2017
Rep. Johnson, Eddie Bernice [D-TX-30] 11/01/2017
Rep. Johnson, Sam [R-TX-3] 11/01/2017
Rep. Jackson Lee, Sheila [D-TX-18] 11/02/2017
Rep. Gohmert, Louie [R-TX-1] 11/07/2017
Rep. Polis, Jared [D-CO-2] 11/13/2017
Rep. Espaillat, Adriano [D-NY-13] 11/30/2017
Rep. King, Steve [R-IA-4] 12/06/2017
Rep. Stivers, Steve [R-OH-15] 12/12/2017
Rep. Mooney, Alexander X. [R-WV-2] 01/08/2018
Rep. Engel, Eliot L. [D-NY-16] 01/08/2018
Rep. Messer, Luke [R-IN-6] 01/08/2018
Rep. Cook, Paul [R-CA-8] 01/08/2018
Rep. Curtis, John R. [R-UT-3] 01/08/2018
Rep. Payne, Donald M., Jr. [D-NJ-10] 01/08/2018
Rep. Ferguson, A. Drew, IV [R-GA-3] 01/08/2018
Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] 01/09/2018
Committees, subcommittees and links to reports associated with this bill are listed here, as well as the nature and date of committee activity and Congressional report number.
Committee / Subcommittee
House Foreign Affairs
01/13/2017 Referred to
10/12/2017 Markup by
House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
06/15/2017 Reported by
Senate Foreign Relations
A related bill may be a companion measure, an identical bill, a procedurally-related measure, or one with text similarities. Bill relationships are identified by the House, the Senate, or CRS, and refer only to same-congress measures.
Latest Title
Relationships to H.R.535
Relationships Identified by
Alert: Scroll right to see more data
S.1051 Taiwan Travel Act Related bill CRS 05/04/2017 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Subjects (6)
One Policy Area term, which best describes an entire measure, is assigned to every public bill or resolution.
Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad
Latest Summary (5)
There are 5 summaries for H.R.535. View summaries
Public Law No: 115-135 (03/16/2018)
(Sec. 3) This bill expresses the sense of Congress that the U.S. government should encourage visits between U.S. and Taiwanese officials at all levels.
The bill states that it should be U.S. policy to: (1) allow U.S. officials at all levels to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts; (2) permit high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the United States under respectful conditions and to meet with U.S. officials, including officials from the Departments of State and Defense; and (3) encourage the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and any other instrumentality established by Taiwan to conduct business in the United States.
All Summaries (5)
There are 5 summaries for H.R.535. Public Law | Passed Senate without amendment | Reported to Senate without amendment | Passed House without amendment | Introduced in House
Public Law (03/16/2018)
Passed Senate without amendment (02/28/2018)
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House passed version is repeated here.)
Reported to Senate without amendment (02/12/2018)
Passed House without amendment (01/09/2018)
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Introduced in House (01/13/2017)
This bill states that it should be U.S. policy to: (1) allow officials at all levels of the U.S. government to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts; (2) permit high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the United States under respectful conditions and to meet with U.S. officials, including officials from the Department of State and the Department of Defense; and (3) encourage the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, and any other instrumentality established by Taiwan, to conduct business in the United States.


text:
Gil Meche Net Worth 2018: What is this baseball player worth?
Gil Meche is a pro baseball player who plays Pitcher. Meche was born on September 8, 1978, in Lafayette, Louisiana. This page will take a closer look at Gil Meche's net worth.
Gil Meche Career, Earnings
Meche bats Right and throws Right. Meche debuted in the MLB on July 6, 1999 for the Seattle Mariners. In all, Meche played for the Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals. Meche's career ended with the Kansas City Royals in 2010.
Some of Meche's most prominent statistics in the MLB included a Win-loss record (pitching) stat of 84-83, a Earned run average stat of 4.49, and a Strikeouts stat of 1,050.
Gil Meche Net Worth 2018
Gil Meche was last under contract in 2010, according to USA Today, with a 1 (2010) year package worth $12 million. Over the years, Meche earned $200,000 in 1999, $300,000 in 2000, $300,000 in 2001, $300,000 in 2003, $2 million in 2004, $3 million in 2005, $4 million in 2006, $7 million in 2007, $11 million in 2008, $11 million in 2009, and $12 million in 2010.
Baseball player compensation can range widely. In professional baseball, the average player earns approximately $3 million per year. Top MLB players can receive $25 million or more per annum, and less successful players make $1 million or less.
Gil Meche net worth: soccer/football salary distribution
In the minor leagues, most contracts are worth less than $10,000 a year. Interesting datapoints from Wikipedia about the contracts signed by Gil Meche include:
"After signing one year contracts with the Mariners for the and seasons, Meche signed a five-year contract with the Kansas City Royals on December 7, 2006 worth $55 million, matching Mike Sweeney's contract as the largest in club history until Alex Gordon agreed to a four-year $72 million deal in 2016."
So what is baseball player Gil Meche's net worth in 2018? Our estimate for Gil Meche's net worth as of 2018 is: $50 million
Want to see some related net worth articles? Check out these: Mark Mauldin, Fenton Mole, Al Gardella, Anthony Reyes, Steve Nagy, Del Baker, Moe Drabowsky, Greasy Neale, John Tudor, Derek Shelton, and Johnny Priest.


text:
Tobey Maguire Makes Rare Red Carpet Appearance With 16-Year-Old Daughter Ruby
By Andrew Roberts - December 17, 2022 11:24 pm EST
Tobey Maguire has been making some rare appearances since returning to the spotlight with Spider-Man: No Way Home. This continues with his role in Babylon, giving the actor a chance to share the spotlight with his daughter, Ruby.
The father and daughter hit the red carpet for a rare appearance to celebrate Babylon's premiere on Dec. 15. Maguire shared daughter Ruby, 16, and son Otis, 13, with ex-wife Jennifer Meyer.
(Photo: Emma McIntyre)
Maguire is both actor and executive producer on the film, so it's clearly a special little moment for the proud papa or whatever you want to call him. They color coordinated their look to top off the appearance, with Maguire wearing a black tuxedo in classic fashion while his daughter wore a black dress with a red coat and black boots.
Babylon represents Maguire's second screen appearance in around a year, including Spider-Man. His last major film role was in Pawn Sacrifice, playing controversial chess champion Bobby Fischer. Before his Spider-Man return, Maguire was staving off rumors he had retired, explaining his work philosophy as simply as possible to The Hollywood Reporter.
"I'll do what I feel called to do," Maguire told the outlet in 2019. "I suspect I'll be excited when I do it. Like, just whenever the calling appears, I guess."
The same attitude was shared when it came to his potential return to the superhero genre after Spider-Man: No Way Home. "I just don't really have an 'I would or wouldn't do' mindset," Maguire said. "I'll just do whatever. ... Whatever it is that comes that I feel called to, that may or may not fit in any kind of box."
Maguire's career has gone through several phases at this point, including his early career alongside Leonardo DiCaprio which sparked their friendship to this day. From there, he appeared in classic films like Pleasantville, The Cider House Rules, Wonder Boys, and eventually Spider-Man in 2002. He'd later star alongside DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby, portraying narrator Nick Carraway to DiCaprio's Gatsby.


text:
Tenaris may refer to:
 Tenaris, a global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipes
 Tenaris (plant), a plant genus in the Apocynaceae or dogbane family
 Tenaris, a genus of butterflies in the family Nymphalidae; synonym of Taenaris

See also
 Tenarus, a town of ancient Laconia


- Cypress CDM-830, customized, PAL + NTSC + proc amp, $775 - only 1 left!
- Cypress 1T-TBC P/N, PAL only + proc amp + PAL<>NTSC conversion, $800 - only 1 left!
- These all pass clean signals, well maintained, most appear new/unused.
- At this moment, I also have some full workflows available (TBC + JVC VCR + USB capture card).
When you work professionally in a field, you tend to have not just the equipment you need, but backups of everything. And when equipment tends to be scarce, hard to replace or repair, you may have backups of the backups! That's how I was with TBCs. But that studio career is over (some "employees" were contractors, hence owning the gear ourselves), and I need to get over that "must keep backups of backups" mindset. dFAQ has enough equipment, I have enough personal equipment, the excess can go. That's good news for you.
I'll also be letting two AG-1980P decks go in the near future. Same reason, extra backups.
PM sent for one of your Cypress AVT-8710.
Gosh.. that workflow looks nice.. just can't swing it right now though.
8710s and 1000s almost gone.
Is the AVT-8710 still available?
I've released a few more of my Cypress units.
Which Cypress units do you have left?
Could you give me a price on the DataVideo TBC-1000 including shipping to the UK?
I really appreciate your work here, I've just started out and this site has been a fantastic resource!
I have another pair available.
Sidegraded my personal DataVideo TBC gear, selling off these excellent extra units.
- TBC-1000 is like new, includes OEM power supply - gone!
Already had nibbles for both units, didn't think I'd need to even post them in the Marketplace, but no closed deals yet. So still up for grabs. First to PM me wins!
I bought a Panasonic 1980 fro Deter and I still need an external TBC for my conversion work. Do you have something that will work? Thanks!
Yes, I have something nice, PM'd you.
Updated. Who wants a TBC?
yes, looking for one of those :-) please!
Yes, I am looking for one. What do you have and what is the price please?
How much are you asking for the AVT 8710?
Im looking for a TBC, how much for the AVT-8710?


IT and boxing, boxing and IT. You probably won't find a match that would be less apparent. But we did it! We placed some IT guys in the ring, put the gloves on their hands (also hand wraps, headgears, and mouthguards) and told them to fight! And you know what? It was awesome!
SALESmanago recognized as a one of the 500 fastest developing companies in the EMEA region!
We Are Proud To Announce That APPmanago Integration With SALESmanago Is Now Available In Better, Expanded Edition!
Omnichannel: What Is It And Should You Be Interested? Our Answer To This Is YES.


text:
Q: PWM frequency and control system sampling frequency in dc-dc converters I am trying to control the output voltage of a simple dc-dc buck converter, which is digitally controlled. The output voltage is sampled, and the control algorithm is run, at every \$T_s\$ seconds, while the PWM frequency is \$ f_{sw} = \frac{1}{T_{sw}} \$, with \$ T_{sw}= 0.1\times T_{s}\$. In other words, the sampling frequency and the frequency at which the controller is run, is much lower than the PWM frequency. I.e. the controller is "undersampled" (please correct me if this expression is inappropriate here).
What does this difference in control sampling frequency and PWM switching frequency imply in terms of controller design? In the literature, the controller sampling/running frequency is most of the times chosen the same as the PWM switching frequency, and I could not find a source explaining what happens when the controller runs slower than the PWM.
Thank you


text:
Q: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] error I am currently trying to insert data from a CSV file into my mysql data base.  The form and all the functions work properly because I've tested to make sure It's reading file, etc.  When I prepare the PDO to insert into mysql I get no error in Chrome.  Now when I let it execute() that's when I get server error in Chrome(any browser) and I looked in my error log file that showed up where function is saying:
SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002]
   No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.

I'll paste my code on the function that I have made.
Code:
function returnBack(){

    header("Location:csvuploader/csvuploaderform.php?seterror=1");
    exit;

}

if (isset($_POST['submit'])){

    /*******************************CHECK TO MAKE SURE FORM IS PROPERLY FILLED AND GET NAME OF COLUMNS IN CSV FILE *********************************************************/
    if (empty($_FILES['file'] ) )
    {
        returnBack();

    }
    if (empty($_POST['firstname'])){
        echo "firstname is empty";

        returnBack();
    }
    if (empty($_POST['lastname'])){
        echo "lastname is empty";

        returnBack();
    }if (empty($_POST['email'])){
        echo "email is empty";

        returnBack();
    }
    if (empty($_POST['phone'])){

        returnBack();
    }

    $file = $_FILES['file']['tmp_name'];

    $handle = fopen($file , "r");

    $fileop = fgetcsv($handle,1000,",");

    $fileop=array_map("strtoupper",array_map("trim",$fileop));

    $firstname_index = array_search(strtoupper($_POST["firstname"]),$fileop);
    if ($firstname_index===false){
        returnBack();
    }
    $lastname_index = array_search(strtoupper($_POST['lastname']),$fileop);
    if ($lastname_index===false){

        returnBack();
    }
    $email_index = array_search(strtoupper($_POST['email']),$fileop);
    if ($email_index===false){

        returnBack();
    }
    $phone_index = array_search(strtoupper($_POST['phone']),$fileop);
    if ($phone_index===false){

        returnBack();
    }
    /***********************ASSIGN COLUMN VALUES TO ACCORDING VARIABLES AND INSERT THEM INTO CSV TABLE IN DB *************************************/
    try {
  # MySQL with PDO_MYSQL
  $DBH = new PDO("mysql:host=$hostname;dbname=$database", $username, $password);
  $DBH->setAttribute( PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION );

    }
    catch(PDOException $e) {
        echo "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't do that.";
        file_put_contents('PDOErrors.txt', $e->getMessage(), FILE_APPEND);
    }
    /*$fileop = fgetcsv($handle,1000,",")*/
    while (($fileop=fgetcsv($handle)) !== false)
    {

        $fileop=array_map("trim",$fileop);

        $firstname = $fileop[$firstname_index];

        $lastname = $fileop[$lastname_index];

        $email = $fileop[$email_index];

        $phone = $fileop[$phone_index];

        $insertdata = $DBH->prepare("INSERT INTO csvdata (firstname, lastname, email, phone) VALUES ('$firstname','$lastname','$email','$phone')");
        //var_dump($insertdata);

        $insertdata->execute();

    }

}

$DBH = null;

UPDATED ------------------------------------- Heres some info
PHP info - PHP Version 5.3.10, System  Windows NT W03 6.0 build 6002 (Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Service Pack 2) i586
UPDATED ------------------------------------
I am able to connect to MySQL server and browse it - insert data from other functions that I have made and they all work perfect. It is just this one will give me an error.
UPDATED -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figured it out guys thanks for all your help.  I actually needed to fill in all the data columns for it to work.  For instance I had (firstname,lastname,email,phone) I needed to fill in the username,password,status part.  Thanks for all your help guys!  Hope this will help anyone who falls in the same hole!

A: Not necessarily part of your issue but you are using prepared statmemnts incorrectly. PArt of the point of using prepared statments is so that the DB takes care of the db specific escaping. In order to do this you write the query with placeholders that then get replaced with the the values passed to the statement. So in this case:
$insertdata = $DBH->prepare("INSERT INTO csvdata (firstname, lastname, email, phone) VALUES (?,?,?,?)");
$insertdata->execute(array($firstname,$lastname,$email,$phone));

Or with named placeholders which is a bit more robust:
$insertdata = $DBH->prepare("INSERT INTO csvdata (firstname, lastname, email, phone) VALUES (:firstname, :lastname, :email, :phone)");
$insertdata->execute(array(
  ':firstname' => $firstname,
  ':lastname' => $lastname,
  ':email' => $email,
  ':phone' => $phone
));

Now as far as your error id be willing to bet you are using localhost as the hostname which can cause issues on windows - try using 127.0.0.1 instead. So for example:
$DBH = new PDO("mysql:host=127.0.0.1;dbname=the_db_name", $username, $password);

A: Figured it out guys thanks for all your help. I actually needed to fill in all the data columns for it to work. For instance I had (firstname,lastname,email,phone) I needed to fill in the username,password,status part. Thanks for all your help guys! Hope this will help anyone who falls in the same hole!
while (($fileop=fgetcsv($handle)) !== false)
{

    $fileop=array_map("trim",$fileop);

    $firstname = $fileop[$firstname_index];

    $lastname = $fileop[$lastname_index];

    $email = $fileop[$email_index];

    $phone = $fileop[$phone_index];

    $csvusername = $firstname . $lastname;

    $csvpasswordname = $lastname . $firstname;

    $status = "Open";

    $sth = $DBH->prepare("INSERT INTO csvdata (firstname, lastname, email, phone, username, password, status, memberview) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)");
    $sth->execute(array($firstname, $lastname, $email, $phone, $csvusername, $csvpasswordname, $status, $memberview));

}