I love ancient games. There are many games which are almost lost to antiquity, that are nonetheless a lot of fun. Hounds and Jackals from Egypt has always been my favorite as it is just so eye-catching and fun to play. It was even featured in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments". In this instructable, I will show you how I made my board. You can adjust the measurements as you wish. At the end is a pdf with the rules I use. I should add that the 2 pictures on the left above were found in a pharaoh's tomb, while the one on the right is my version.
Measure the 10 chopsticks to a 5" (13cm) length (from the top of the chopstick, not the point). It is best to use chopsticks that don't taper too quickly. Score around the stick deeply with a razor knife, then snap the stick and trim the ends.
Make the heads. I am far from being an artist. Very far. Like other side of the continent far. But I was able to produce some serviceable dog heads as shown. First I took a hazelnut-sized piece of Sculpy III. (the color doesn't matter as I am going to paint them anyway. Darker colors are softer and easier to use than lighter colors). I gently pinched half of it into a nose – blunt for a hound, long and pointed for a jackal. Then I took 2 small pea sized balls and made ears – flat oval for the hound and long flattened cones for the jackals. I attached the ears gently to the heads by gently pressing and blending the edges of the ear clay to the head. Next I gently inserted one of the pointed scrap ends of a chopstick into the underside of the head, and slowly worked in into a circle the diameter of the chopstick. (This step keeps the head from distorting as you shove a blunt end into the bottom. Make the hole deep enough to support the head securely, and make it just slightly bigger than the stick as Sculpy does shrink slightly when baked. Insert the cut end into the head. Place heads on their sticks on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake in a pre-heated 275 degree F oven for 20 minutes. Do not over-bake and do not bake them directly on a cookie sheet you also use for food. Sculpy is a petroleum based product and while safe and non-toxic when used correctly, if gives off noxious gases if baked too long or if burned, and it is extremely hard to clean all traces of it off of surfaces. A scrap of Aluminum foil is all you need to protect your cookie sheet, table, etc. Remove from oven and let cool well – they take a long time to cool!
Attach the heads permanently to the chopsticks using our old friend hot glue. I put the glue into the head and then inserted the stick, and gently wiped off the excess.
Paint the dogs. I like using nail polish for painting Sculpy as it doesn't peel like craft paints can, and it comes in a delightful range of colors from metallics to clear. I used black (always available at Halloween) for the jackals and gold for the hounds. Black was the traditional color used by the Egyptians for jackals even though in real life the critters are light to medium brown. I painted the entire thing, dog head and stick (except for the very end where I was holding it)) and stuck it in a scrap of Styrofoam to dry. I use 2-3 coats depending on the coverage. Once it is complete, I went back and painted the end that was stuck in the Styrofoam.
Draw the eyes. Here is a picture of a classic Egyptian "eye". Using the extra-fine Sharpies, I drew the eye in gold on the jackals and in black on the hounds.
Yea! Now the men are finished. Let's work on the board. I made a box for 2 reasons. First, it gave me a place to store the men, and second, it allows a deeper hole to hold the men upright.
Make a reproduction of the board to size on card stock using the template. Using a something pointed, poke a hole through the center of each dot.
Cut 2 plywood pieces for the top and bottom. Spray paint the top board with Krylon Make It Stone! spray paint. I used Travertine Tan as it looked like sand to me. Once dry, mark the holes on it by laying the paper game board carefully on top, and using a marker or pencil to mark the dots. Drill out these dots straight through the wood using a ¼" drill bit. I put a piece of insulation foam under it to protect the surface under the drill. When finished, test all of your men to make sure they fit through the holes. A couple of the chopsticks were bigger than the rest, and I had to widen the holes ever so slightly.
Cut the slats to form the sides of the box.
Assemble the sides of the box using wood glue and L-clamps. Once those are dry, glue them to the base and clamp with C-clamps. Give each of these a good 24 hours to dry..
Cut and insert the foam into the box. You want a snug fit. Do not glue down yet! Leave a little room to get it back out again.
Attach the game board to the box using the hinges. You will remove this again to paint the base and the top, but make sure it is attached for now.
Very gently, mark the holes on the Styrofoam with a marker or dab of paint.. Do not push down or make holes yet! Take out the Styrofoam, and cut a hole where the top of the olive tree is. It needs to be big enough to store the men, but mustn't cut into the holes. Paint the Styrofoam if you like with craft (acrylic) paint. Do not use spray paint! Spray paint (except for specialty Styrofoam spray paint) will melt the Styrofoam. Glue the finished Styrofoam into the base. (The second picture is the inside of my finished box to show how the men fit).
Decorate the board any way you like. I used Sharpie markers for the lines, the red around the special holes, and the ankhs, and craft paint for the snakes, the home bases, and the tree. On my very first board, I used dimensional (fabric) paints, and it looked stunning, but even when completely dry, it will stick to other things if it is stacked, so I chose not to use them here.
To paint the tree, print out the included stencil onto card stock to the size that will fit. Cut out the tree using a razor knife. Lay the stencil onto the board and paint through the stencil with a sponge or pouncer dipped in the paint. I used 2 overlapping greens (1 light and 1 dark) and 2 overlapping browns.
Re-attach the board to the box. Now you're going to make the holes in the Styrofoam to support the men. Carefully put a man in the hole and push straight down. Be careful not to wiggle the man. You want a clean hole.
That's it! The only thing I will personally change on the next board is to try and make the snakes look more like snakes and less like flat-worms. As I said, I am not an artist.
The attached pdf has my instructions on it.
A big thanks to bricabracwizard for reminding me to put in a picture of my dice! Here are 2 unusual 6-sided in that they have numbers instead of pips, 3 pair of 4-sided, and 2 8-sided dice. The 4-sided dice are read with the number at the top of the pyramid.
Thank you so much for suggesting nail polish. I now use it for all my crafts. It works so much better than any kind of paint.
I made one of these back in 1988. I used the wooden end of a fruit crate for the board, watered down with gas some kid's water colors (faded look), bamboo skewers with cheap beads for movement pieces, lamb bones for "dice". Got the idea from a Dover book on antique games. It was lost by my movers when I moved around the country, I just may make a new one.
Excellent, and congratulations for the mission of remake ancient forgotten games!
Gotta love "The Ten Commandments". Did you know there is an unwritten 11th Commandment? "Thou shalt not mock Charlton Heston."
I included a pdf with my rules right before step 10 - the dice. Other rules are available at a variety of sites on the internet.
This is great! Can you put in a picture of your di?
I put in another slide showing them. I can't believe I forgot that! Thanks for the reminder!
You are very welcome! I look forward to your next creation.
It appears to me that..... you are an artist!!
Oh, I love these type of games. I love the little animal heads. The one looks like my dogs face. He's an American dingo.
Nice work. As good a guess on the rules as I've seen.


To review the ideas of computer science, programming, and problem-solving.
To understand abstraction and the role it plays in the problem-solving process.
To understand and implement the notion of an abstract data type.
To review the Python programming language.


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Real Time Green Screen Technology Coming to iPhone
Photo by Silver Circle Movie / CC BY 2.0
A New Generation of Green Screen Users
News organizations have used "green screen" technology for decades. The most common example is the weather report. In television studios, reporters stand in front of a green (or blue) fabric screen. Good lighting and a computer combine to allow removal of the green background. The background is replaced by an image or video stream.
In the weather studio, digital trickery allows the reporter to appear anywhere in the world: on steps in front of the New York Stock Exchange, at the Statue of Liberty or any desired place on earth or in space.
Green Screen & Blockbuster Movies
More recently, Hollywood has used green screen to create special effects in blockbuster movies. The high quality of today's movies is due to green screens. Entire studios, thousands of square feet in size, are 100% covered with green screen material. Green screen makes dangerous scenes possible and safe for actors.
YouTube Driving New Video Technologies
The YouTube revolution has created millions of new content creators who are using green screen in creative ways. This week Apple announced the acquisition of Spektral, a Danish startup that uses machine learning, computer vision, and neural networks to create green screen video in real time. According to Spektral:
"Our pioneering and unique technology is based on state-of-the-art machine learning and computer vision techniques. Combining deep neural networks and spectral graph theory with the computing power of modern GPUs, our engine can process images and video from the camera in real-time (60 FPS) directly on the device."
Apple real-time green screen is expected to be an integral part of an iPhone users' experience. A billion iPhone owners will use green screen to be more creative.
No Need for Post Production
Creating a green screen video these days usually takes postproduction time and effort. But Apple's green screen technology will be real-time meaning no need for postproduction work. Green screens are now available on Amazon for less than $100 for those who would like to take advantage of this "new" technology!
The following video explains Spektral:
Check Out This POV Tour From the MS Renata Around the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands
Google Ready to Take On Uber With a New Company For Its Autonomous Car?
China's Foxconn Has Replaced 60,000 Factory Workers with Robots
Tesla Turns On World's Largest Lithium-Ion Battery
IndustryTap Megatrends – March 2013
Dead Phone? It's No Problem You Can Charge It In Just 1 Second

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


So that's why Red Barons doesn't hand out free pizza from their truck anymore.
For sponsoring the team in general, I would say when you're at any hockey arena, just look along the boards. Preferably the penalty box; they give the most money. Official titles of events and PA Announcer ads should also give you some clues.
Hockey is only played by 59 universities many of whom aren't D-1 in other sports. Factor in the narrow geographic range (New England, Michigan & Upper Mid-West).
I am not a COMMIE!!!


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BLED FEST | Hartland Performing Arts Center | Howell, MI
Written by Kayla Albee | Photos by Nick Zimmer
BLED FEST
Venue: Hartland Performing Arts Center
City: Howell, MI
BLED FEST has occurred annually in Michigan for the past 14 years, with the past 11 years taking place at the Hartland Performing Arts Center. This high school turned community center serves as the home for this day long festival that this year hosted a total of five stages spread throughout classrooms, a cafeteria, and even the buildings main lobby. Hello, rock and roll high school!
One important aspect of BLED FEST is the fact that it makes music accessible to the community. In addition to the venue itself being wheelchair accessible (something that not every venue can take pride in, unfortunately) there are a slew of various genres including indie rock, hardcore, rap, and spoken word. There's truly something for everyone, even if you aren't familiar with any of the artists on the line up and are just going to check it out or are tagging along with pals. Who knows...you might even discover your new favorite artist! Additionally, the bands themselves are generally manning their own merch table, so you have the opportunity to interact and connect with musicians that you enjoy throughout the day.
BLED FEST prides itself on being a substance free event, so seeing people ranging in age from late teens to early thirties checking out artists and having fun without alcohol was a nice change of pace from other festivals. BLED FEST's list of impressive sponsors this year included Triple Crown Records, Impact 89FM, TicketWeb, peta2, and DynamicX Drums. You can learn more about the formation of BLED FEST here on their official website.
Gatherers - Stage B *
We kicked off our BLED FEST experience this year with Gatherers who performed on Stage B (AKA in the lobby) shortly after doors opened. The band immediately set the tone for their set with a flood of red lights framing the stage. While this is every photographers nightmare, the lighting mixed with the melodic yet chaotic sounds of Gatherers music to create an abrasive ambiance that worked beautifully.
The band worked their way through new tracks off of their latest album WE ARE ALIVE BEYOND REPAIR. Gathers ripped through their set seamlessly with little talk in between tracks while preparing BLED FEST attendees for the long and exciting day ahead.
'68 // Stage B *
The fact that '68 played on a small stage was surprising, as they would easily pull a large crowd at the main stage. While this was in no way a poor decision, it was a bit odd not seeing front-man Josh Scogin throw their guitar all over the place.
If you have followed Scogin's journey from Norma Jean to The Chariot and now to '68, you're aware of the energy that is created not only within the bands that he's a part of, but with the entire crowd. '68 easily had the most chaotic set of the day, even though they didn't have a large amount of space to perform in.
Jetty Bones // Main Stage
While we've covered Jetty Bones in the past (they toured with The Wonder Years last year!) this was the first time seeing them play to such a large crowd. In previous years, the "main stage" at BLED FEST was actually two separate stages in the cafeteria of the Performing Arts Center. This year, however, the two stages had been done away with and one single stage took their place, meaning that the entire crowd was there for one artist, rather than two.
Jetty Bones' set included "Second Death in the Rabbit Hole" and "Lumos" which have both proven to be crowd favorites. Vocalist Kelc's vibrant energy can be felt through her rich vocals and lively stage presence as she often spends the duration of each song bouncing around the stage . Their career is surely taking off -- the number of people who showed up to see them perform speaks for itself. The crowd was captivated from the start, which an important aspect to note as they performed early on in the day.
Vagabonds // Stage C
The addition of musicians to an otherwise solo act invariably has the ability to portray lyrics in a different light, reveal a new angle, and sometimes just simply add to the original and intended ambiance.
Luke Dean, a solo artist who performs as Vagabonds, was joined by two friends for his BLED FEST performance who offered drum and cello accompaniments. Having performed the previous year to "half as many people," Luke expressed his appreciation and gratitude for everyone that came to watch him play. The highlight of his set was his latest single, "Honest," which had been released the day before BLED FEST. He explained that this was his first independent release and that he was happy to be working as an independent artist again.
The downside to this specific stage is the fact that it's incredibly close in proximity to Stage B, which generally always had a band playing at the same time. This caused there to be an overlap of heavier artists set crossing over into this small room, as there weren't any sound barriers between the two stages. That sort of took away from the over all experience, as solo artists sets are often meant to be an intimate performance. The same situation occurred when Bogues performed later on.
Hot Mulligan // Main Stage
Hot Mulligan are gaining momentum, and fast. They're a name that I've grown used to seeing daily across social media platforms, and for a good reason. They have a heavy nostalgic quality to their music that brings back memories of carefree summer days spent in the sun with no time constraints and no responsibilities-- just good times all around.
The main stage area was totally packed and the crowd was buzzing with excitement in anticipation of this Michigan based band taking the stage. If you arrived to their set after it started, you would be lucky to be able to get past the door. As soon as they started playing, one thing was made clear: their fans go hard. There was even a child who looked to be about five years old rocking out with his dad!
Their set included "How Do You Know It's Not Armadillo Shells?" and "I Fell In Love With Princess Peach" which drove the crowd wild-- crowd surfers, stage divers, and beach balls filled the room. They're a band that's set to go far-- the amount of recognition that they've gained over the last year alone is immense.
Astronautalis // Main Stage
Andy Bothwell, who performs under the name Astronautalis, was the self proclaimed (and accurately so) rapper of the day and took the main stage directly after Hot Mulligan finished their set. Less than half of the crowd remained, which was a disappointment due to Astronautalis' immense talent. However, the crowd that remained went wild when they found out that his music was about "breaking into buildings and fighting cops" as they erupted in cheers and applause.
The entirety of his set was essentially an energetic dance party -- he even got down into the crowd and danced with the audience. He's a true wordsmith and his energy is contagious. He acknowledged multiple times how much he was enjoying BLED FEST, and even referred to it as an "adorable" festival which really hits the nail on the head. At one point, Astronautalis joked that he was expecting a principle to kick him off of the stage at any moment. We caught Astronautalis in Nashville a while back which you can read about here.
Bogues // Stage C
Alternative emo artist Bogues opened his set with "Renting & Trashing a U-Haul Van" off of his 2016 release, Mulligan, which has maintained its status as a crowd favorite. Another popular track that he played was "Orchard to Bartnick" off of his latest release, Life, Slowly which came out this past March. This track entertains the question "Am I a bad person? / If I am, I hope you forget." The stark contrast between his passionate vocal delivery and lone guitar accompaniment, truly let you into an otherwise personal world.
He announced that he'll be back in Michigan in August of this year as part of nothing,nowhere.'s upcoming tour, which will prove to be an interesting combination of genres.
Our overall BLED FEST experience was fantastic, and we're looking forward to being able to do it again next year! As someone who grew up in an area that did not have a local music scene, it truly filled me with joy to see people of all ages enjoying this event. Let us know below what artist(s) you'd like to see perform at BLED FEST next year!
* Written by Nick Zimmer
Kayla Albee June 8, 2018 BLED FEST, Bled Fest, fest, festival, music festival, music fest, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Hartland Performing Arts Center, high school, community center, Triple Crown Records, Impact 89FM, TicketWeb, peta2, Dynamicx Drums, accessible, accessibility, indie, rock, alt rock, hardcore, metal, acoustic, solo, pop, punk, spoken word, experimental, musicians, music, community, Jetty Bones, Kelc, Second Death in the Rabbit Hole, Lumos, Vagabonds, Luke Dean, solo artist, Honest, independent artist, independent, Hot Mulligan, How Do You Know It's Not Armadillo Shells?, How Do You Know It's Not Armadillo Shells, I Fell In Love With Princess Peach, Princess Peach, crowd surf, stage dive, Astronautalis, Andy Bothwell, dance party, electronic, Bogues, AJ, Renting & Trashing a U-Haul Van, Mulligan, Orchard to Bartnick, Life Slowly, Am I a bad person If I am I hope you forget, substance free, fun, exciting, show review, concert photography, nikon, Nikon photo, Nick ZImmer Photography, Nick Zimmer, photographyComment
Warped Tour Preview
Kayla Albee June 17, 2018 Vans Warped Tour, Warped Tour, preview, alternative, rock, '95, punk, ska, underground, Echosmith, All Time Low, Every Time I Die, Underoath, Knocked Loose, Punk Rock Summer Camp, Katy Perry, Paramore, Green Day, Sum 41, Simple Plan, The Used, 3OH!3, magic, nostalgic, tickets, Nick Zimmer, Nick ZImmer Photography, Hanna Branch, Hanna Branch Photography, essentials, full lineup, lineup, Tsunami Bomb, My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, Fall Out Boy, War on Women, Masked Intruder, Counterparts, We Came As Romans, Set It Off, Pierce the Veil, PVRIS, Big Picture Media
Jimmy Eat World | The Ryman Auditorium | Nashville, TN
Nick Zimmer May 23, 2018 Jimmy Eat World, The Hotelier, Microwave, The Ryman Auditorium, The Ryman, Nashville, Tennessee, music city, music, show, review, photography, photo, photos, NIkon, Nick Zimmer, Nick Zimmer Photography, spotify, indie, alternative, emo, rock, FEST, Stovall, Much Love, love, Nathan Hardy, The End, Christian Holden, Goodness, Home Like Noplace Is There, Goodbye Sky Harbor, Sweetness, The Middle, RCA, RCA records, Tiny Engines, Tiny Engines Records


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Training of the Mens 1500m World Record Holder Hicham El Guerrouj
by Marco Velediaz, Mexico City
Over the last few months I have been putting together information about the training methods and systems from several countries and trying to find out the reasons behind the success of any group of athletes in the middle and distance events. After spending several nights trying to put the following article in a logical sequence, finally it is done. Please excuse me for the probable orthographic mistakes (my native language is the Spanish).
THE MOROCCAN TRAINING SYSTEM.
Whereas the Kenyans owe their astonishing success to living at altitude, the desire to escape poverty among other factors, the Moroccan secret is more scientific, they operate one of the most meticulous and scientifically advanced training programs in the world. Their athletic results are the product of a structure and a training system, this structure comes from an organization in their national athletics federation and new training concepts.
Technical Organization of the Moroccan Athletics Federation.
It is organized in "Compartments" or "Directions" that are complementary each other and are involved from the beginning until the end on the development of the athlete.
I. Direction of Talent Spotting (Detection).
"The success is due to a deliberate selection process" says Aziz Daouda, the technical director of the national federation. The talent-spotting system is done with young men and women between 12 and 16 years old. They use caravans that travel throughout Morocco with equipment for the tests application's and it has two phases, in the first phase the aspirants are put to 3 tests:
1. short run (they do not say the exact distance) with low start,
2. a middle distance race and,
3. standing long jump.
With these simple 3 tests they get a girl/boy's profile:1. reaction speed,2. endurance and 3.explosive strength. in the second phase when they have finished these 3 tests, they put them to another 3 medical tests like on treadmill and blood test. The more gifted athletes then are sent to what they call "Preparation Local Units" where they are attended by athletics coaches in their 1st phase of development (12-16 years) practicing a multilateral development. These sport centers are sponsored by a phosphate industry and the coaches are paid by the government and the national federation. In the 1995-1996 period, the 60% of the Moroccan territory was covered and inspected.
II. Youngsters Technical Direction.
After this first development phase the best ones are sent to what they call "Perfecting Local Unit" or "Training Development Center" which hosts about 60 youngsters between the ages of 16 and 19. The selection of the athletes for this center is done under a more complex criterion: tests results, biometrical parameters, physiological, etc. The ones who display the most potential are sent to Ifrane to the National Institute of Athletics, where their training is worked out, their running style scientifically analyzed and their diet checked. They know that Morocco does not have the depth of talent that Kenya can call upon, nor the tradition. That is why so much time and money is invested in the system. "for us, it is the training methods and the atmosphere created around the athletes that is important" Daouda says.
III. National Technical Direction.
At this level they work with the national and world class athletes, these athletes, of course are professionals, they do not have any other activity than preparing for the major competitions and live at the National Institute of Athletics. The institute thrives thanks to financial backing from government and the King Hassan II. The athletes are provided with food, housing and a salary to meet their basic needs. The provisions, while affording valuable security and stability, are not luxurious by any means. But financial incentives and public interest alone do not win races: the athletes themselves display an extraordinary level of commitment.
How did they conceive this System?
They realized that in the 70's there was a results' increase at world class level. A gap was opened between the rich countries and the less developed ones, specifically in the technical events: jumps and throws. Then they had to adopt a decision that was influenced mainly by the country's economical situation. They decided to focus on the middle and long distance events since the practice of this events require very little infrastructure, this choice gave result to what they call Athletes' Preparation National System. The system is influenced by the following factors:
Social and economical conditions.
Climatic and geographical environment.
Cultural traditions.
Physiological parameters.
Available means.
Competitions' goals.
Political objectives (country's sport strategy).
Over the last few years there has been an excessive proliferation of competitions at world class level, which has forced them to choose the major championships. For example: in Morocco's case they have 3 commitments: African, Arab and World. Their choice is certainly aimed to the world class level.
MOROCCAN TRAINING PRINCIPLES FOR MIDDLE AND LONG DISTANCE.
Maximal effort, intensive and continuous principle. Nowadays this principle is determined by the level of the competitions. "These days the major competitions have reached such level of intensity that we can not think we can prepare the athletes like they used to train in the 60's".
Individualization principle. "People sometimes confuse personalizing training with following an individual training program", says Daouda. "We do not have two athletes training the same way, but we have a method we adapt to each athlete. We are not creating anything new, but we are making improvements to something that already exists by utilizing scientific data". In Brussels in 1995, when Hissou broke Skah's Moroccan 10,000m record with 27:09.30, we thought he should have run much faster in the last two km, but he got tired, so we analyzed him thoroughly and now he runs with more economical style. The movement of his arms is different from a biomechanical perspective, and his stride is more efficient".
Systematic Principle. It comes from the need to prepare a training plan for the group (about 30 athletes), respecting each athlete's individualism . It is a compulsory behaviour line for the group. An example: They run by time, 20, 30 40 minutes., but Salah Hissou never runs more than one hour of continuous running, and Khalid Skah runs very often over 1h15min-1h20min, same event, same level of performance, different loads.
Multilateral Development Principle. It is included in the training program due the lack of proper Physical Education in their school system. This multilateral development is compulsory in all the chosen athletes.
Conscious Preparation Principle. In order to get the results the athlete must be aware of the program, must trust in their coach, the training environment and the system.
PREPARATION FOR THE ATHENS 1997 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 1996 - 1997 season was divided in 5 parts:
Preparatory Period. It is the most important. Lasted from October 15, 1996 to May 15, 1997. This period has been divided in 2 phases. (1) October 15, 1996 to February , 1997. They have done a multilateral preparation in all aspects. Objectives: development of aerobic endurance, strength and power. (2) February 21 to May 10, 1997. Objectives: development of aerobic endurance, strength and power, specific endurance and race pace.
Competition Direct Preparation. May 11- 30 ,1997. The objective is obtaining the athletic shape for the first minor competitions. They took part and the end of May and the beginning of June 1997. They worked on: race pace, specific speed and aerobic endurance
1st. Competition Period. May 31 to June 10.
2nd. Preparation Phase. June 11-30, 1997. Objectives: race pace, speed, aerobic endurance.
2nd. Competition Period. July and August.
Training organization.
The training base was distributed as follows:
6 weeks training at sea level in Rabat.
3 weeks training at altitude in Ifrane 200 km from Rabat. (1600m) and the cycle was repeated. They have been training at altitude at different places like Davos, Saint Moritz and here in Mexico City.
They train in groups, each group is leaded by one the great athletes that they have available:
Bidouane group
El Guerrouj group
Hissou group
Boulami group
Benhassi group
Steeplechase group
Each group is composed between 8-10 athletes, with one or two that are being used as "rabbits" sometimes, most are elite athletes but also have junior athletes.
The technical staff is composed by the technical director (Aziz Daouda), two head coaches, among them is Abdelkader Kada (Hicham El Guerrouj's coach) and 6 assistant coaches. They have a support team of three sport doctors, seven physiotherapists and complementary contracts with one cardiologist, one dentist and a laboratory for their different tests. Besides they have the help of another 30 people to provide all the necessary services to these athletes in order to focus only in their training. They train and compete during 11 months and spend only one month with their respective families.
"El País", Spanish newspaper, August 1997.
"El País" Semanal (magazine) December 1998.
Cuadernos de Atletismo (No. 36), Real Federación Española de Atletismo
MacKay, Dunkan, Runner's World Magazine
Personal conversations with Said Aouita (1987-1988) and Khalid Skah (1994).
Part 2 :
Hicham El Guerrouj's Training
Marco Veledíaz, Mexico City, Mexico
Hicham El Guerrouj training for the 1997 season.
On April 1994 I was in charge of the Mexican women's team that participated in the 2nd IAAF/ World Road Relay Championships held at the beautiful town of Litochoro, Greece. Upon arrival at Tessaloniki airport we got on the same bus with the Morocco mens team, the team manager then was Said Aouita, among other things he told me was that they were going to win the race and talked a lot about a young skinny and shy athlete named Hicham El Guerrouj. He said that this young man was going to become the best 1500 runner in history. I thought he was exaggerating a little. Two days later the Moroccan team beat Ethiopia (W. Bikila, F. Bayesa and H. Gebresilasie included) and Kenya. El Guerrouj covered the 3rd stage (5000m) in 13:43. Later, during the track season he appeared at world scene with a1500 mark of 3:33.61 at 19 years of age.
Hicham el Guerrouj was born on September 14, 1974 (1.78m/58 kg) in Berkane, a city located at sea level. He began to practice athletics in 1990 and in 1991 was chosen to train at the National Institute of Athletics in Rabat, joining from the beginning to coach Abdelkader Kada group. He made his debut at international level as member of the Moroccan Junior team for the 1992 World Cross Country Champs finishing 14th, in Junior race and later he got 3rd in 5000m (13:46.79) at the IV World Junior Champs in Seoul 1992.Taking part in cross country races is normal within the Moroccan training system, Said Aouita followed that path during his early days. Hicham El Guerrouj s later successes are well documented and known.
His characteristics are of a very disciplined and dedicated athlete, not in the sense of going early to bed or "don't do this", he is very professional in his job and always is focused in his training. When it is time to compete he respects and takes into account the tactical instructions in which he gives his opinion also. He's strong-willed, ambitious, and believes he can run the 1500 m under 3:24 [Note: when this was said in 1997 N. Morceli still had the 1500m WR].
Concrete examples are presented next of El Guerrouj's different training cycles. It can be observed that he does NOT work large volumes, but there is a predominant high level of quality. Besides he does not work too much on the track during the year.
He started to train in middle October 1996, the training means are shown in the next table and the details are explained below:
First preparation cycle (from October 18 to November 7, 1996)
Aerobic endurance
strength work
Physical preparation
Aerobic endurance.
He does four types of work:
30-45 min of continuous running
50-60 min of continuous running.
For this type of work there are not precise conditions, he is not asked any specific pace, however. he is demanded that he runs at his maximum at that moment, this varies from one day to another and has nothing to do with the season. So, this means that El Guerrouj can run one day between 3:00-3:10/km pace and sometimes at 2:50/km.
4 x 2000 m in 5:10 with 2 min recovery
The distances of the repetitions have been standardized because his coach considers important to set a "work rhythm" with high intensity (around 70% for him). For this reason, when El Guerrouj can not finish a certain training session, he repeats the workout the following day, instead of seeking a different solution.
Strength work.
He works on the main muscle groups, but the coach believes in work the small ones as well, those that have major influence in the posture, in a varied way, through the utilization of free weights and special gym apparatus. During this stage he has done the following exercises:
Half-squat 6 x 20 reps with 25 kg bar
Squat 4 x 16 reps with 20 kg bar
In machines/apparatus:
Hamstrings 4 x 16 reps
Quadriceps 4 x 16 reps
Abductors 4 x 16 reps
Adductors 4 x 16 reps
Lunges 4 x 20 reps with 25 kg bar
Step-up 1 x 20 reps with 30 kg bar with each leg
Abdominal 300-400 reps
Back 300-400 reps
He does once a week up-hills 10 x 300 m
besides horizontal jumps and vertical jumps over hurdles.
Physical preparation.
This type of work includes general exercises, drills, stretching and back and abdominal exercises. The stretching exercises are always present in all training sessions during the warm-up and the end of session.
After this first cycle he competed in some indoor races, which resulted in 2 world records:
1500 m 3:31.18 WR indoor Stuttgart, Germany, February 2, 1997.
1Mile 3:48.45 WR indoor Gent, Belgium, February 12, 1997.
1500m..1st_3:35.31 World Indoor Champs, Paris, March 8, 1997.
Second preparation cycle (March 30 to April 19, 1997)
This cycle started after the World Indoor Champs. During this stage high intensity parameters are added.
30-45 min of continuous running at 2:50-3:00 or 3:10/km
30 min of continuous running as recovery.
Fartlek: 6-5-4-3-2-min fast running.
Track session: 1 x 1600 - 1200 - 800 - 600 - 400 m with short recovery starting with 1 min going down to 30 seconds!
200-300 Multi-jumps.
Up-hill reps: 10 x 300m with jog back recovery.
Up-hill reps: 5 x 150 m
(Extra comment: He works with plyometric training doing jumps over low hurdles and several types of multijumps over grass, "about 300" but that is not an exact figure, but the main work is done the gym for leg development, with half squats, quadriceps, isquios with machines, the abdominal and back exercises they do them almost everyday several reps with medicine balls.)
The work is very similar to the previous cycle. The only difference is that the coach sets the total duration of the session:1h 30 min, but El Guerrouj chooses the exercises, using free weights and machines.
Third preparation cycle, May 11 - 31, 1997
"warming-up"
Adrian Paulen M.
1st_ 1500m 3:29.51
30 min of continuous running at 3:00-3:10/km
"Warming-up" (the original word is "échauffement").
Consists of 30 min easy running and 30 min of several general exercises. The aim is to get an active rest.
10 x 400m between 53-54 seconds with only 30 seconds recovery. He gets help from a "rabbit" the last 200 m in each repetition.
10 x 300 m in 35-36 seconds with surges and help from a "rabbit".
6 x 500 m with surges and help from a "rabbit" the first 300 m in each repetition.
From this moment the help from the "rabbit" becomes very important, because he is approaching to the competitive period. He likes this type of sessions, they make him feel like in a race: with unexpected changes of pace, he improves his reaction every time that the "rabbit" accelerates.
Results 1997 season.
He had an almost unbeaten season with the Athens World title in 1500 m_3:35.83. Among his best results were the 3:28.91 in Zürich (August 13, 1997) and Brussels (August 22, 1997) 3:28.92.
Progression at 1500 m
1994 3:33.61
Another PR
800m 1:47.18 (95) ; 1000m 2 :16.85 (95)
Some notes about:
Altitude training.
He trains several times a year at Ifrane,1650m altitude, at least 3 weeks in each period, although his coach does not consider an indispensable way of training, he always seeks for quality no matter the altitude. They don't believe in going to higher altitudes like Font Romeu (1800m) and Mexico City (2240m) although have been in these places in the past.
Ifrane.
According to British distance athlete Jon Wild who spent 3 weeks training in 1998 "Ifrane is a holiday town for Moroccans. It is quite lively in the summer with festivals and fairs. A very small place of 1500 (without tourists) and seems to attract people from all over. Gabriella Zabo was there in 1998, Julius Achon (Uganda) and the Qatar national team have been training there as well. There are several training places like
The Forest. This is a huge area 5 min jog from the downtown through the streets and up a very steep hill into the trees. The paths are of light fine sand and not too soft or too hard but rocky in places. There are many loops to run one called the "Skah loop".
The "Lake". It is in fact an old dry lake bed it seems, across a larger grassy area one can find this flat bed with a path beaten around it a stones to mark the way, it's completely clear of trees and 2 km around it has stones to measure the distances, so repetitions can be run here.
The Park. This is an area near the downtown which has some dirt paths, they run a loop through the park up the road and into the park again.
The track is a little exposed out on a plain and caught the wind. They had to pay off the army guards to let them run there with no hassle. "They did not like us to be there when it was the Moroccans sessions, but sometimes it just happened that we were there at the same time, most we had just finished.......
Marco Veledíaz
Mexico City,Mexico
Aouita, Said.(Morocco) Personal conversations (1994)
Daouda, Aziz. (Morocco).Lectures at National Coaching School, Caceres, Spain. October 31st, November 1,2, 1997.
Wild, Jon., (UK). Letter via e-mail (April 29, 1999)
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Customer service representatives held about 2.3 million jobs in 2008, ranking among the largest occupations.
Most companies require a high school diploma and will provide job training.
Employment is projected to grow faster than average, and job prospects should be good.


XENIA — Locally grown foods continue to gain the attention of consumers. Greene County Farm Forum will feature Jamie Arthur and Greene County OSU Ext. Educator Trevor Corboy for an update at this topic at their Oct. 22 meeting.
The two will focus on foods grown locally in Greene County, the role of the local Foods Council and the potential of growing specialty crops.
The program will start at 6:30 p.m. with a meal and will be held at Union United Methodist Church, 1145 Union Road. The meal cost is $12 per person and will be served prior to the program which starts around 7:15 p.m.
RSVP to Paul Ayres by Friday, Oct. 19 if you intend to have dinner. No reservations are necessary if you just wish to attend the meeting. For reservations contact Paul Ayres at 937-352-6379 or email him at payres1@woh.rr.com. The meeting is open to the public and is sponsored by Greene County Farm Forum.


MYOB is a leading provider of business management solutions in Australia and New Zealand. MYOB helps businesses of all kinds and sizes, delivering software and services that simplify accounting, payroll, client management, websites, and more. With a network of more than 25,000 accountants and other professional partners, MYOB provides the tools and support that help make business life easier.
MYOB had a contract with its traditional Australian data centre due for renewal in early 2016. This provided the organisations with an opportunity to innovate and seek out infrastructure improvements to provide delivery teams more control of their environments. The vision was to reduce the cycle time of "concepts to production" through gaining configuration traceability, repeatability through automation and self service to reduce dependency on third parties. This vision ultimately tied into one of MYOB's core business values to help businesses (their customers) be successful. "We needed a solution that would enable greater flexibility and visibility in terms of infrastructure configuration, automation and performance" says Grant Tibbey, Infrastructure Lead.
In its current state, MYOB Essentials was running in a third-party data center, utilising SQL Server and a Java front end. The company decided to move its infrastructure to AWS.
From the time MYOB decided it wanted more flexibility and more customer benefits from the Essentials infrastructure (until the existing contract expired), it had only approximately three months to complete the cutover.
MYOB formed a team using existing in house DevOps skills but didn't have enough capacity to meet the aggressive deadlines. MYOB utilises a wide range of technologies, and Cevo were able to offer skills and availability with minimal onboarding requirements. MYOB was looking for experience without having to bring additional people up to speed on tools and techniques that were being applied to automation.
The existing application had some automation around building and deploying to the application servers using Ansible and Gradle. There was however no automation around building MS SQL Server and no automation around building the network infrastructure. Given the time constraints, existing automation was re-used and augmented with additional tools. Chef was chosen because of its ability to configure Windows and Linux servers securely using Secure WinRM and SSH protocols. It also gave the team the ability to unit and integration test components of the server automation as isolated modules and provided rapid feedback to the development processes using KitchenCI (test-kitchen). Unlike other automation technologies code could be developed and tested with the physical server being stubbed. This reduced server development wait-times. CloudFormation was used for network automation and enhanced with complex logic for alarm calculations using ruby code. CloudFormation templates were generated using a ruby gem "cfndsl" to enhance its static nature.
Options for running MS SQL Server in AWS were considered and included RDS, Log Shipping and Always on Availability Groups to achieve High Availability. These options however were discarded due to cost, extended outage and data loss that would have occurred on failure or reconfiguration. Instead, Mirroring was chosen for HA with Log Shipping initially used to keep the data in AWS in sync with the traditional datacenter to within fifteen minutes so that the cutover would cause minimal impact to customers.
The entire process of building the SQL Cluster in AWS was scripted from scratch. This included formatting, moving, labeling disks, moving system databases and logs, creating users, backup jobs, installing certificates to establishing mirroring using partner and witness amongst many other things that would traditionally have been manually done. "If something didn't work, we can tear it down and build it again in hours," says Grant. "Practice also makes perfect. We practiced rebuilding servers, and cutting over the system constantly. Even weeks before the actual cut over took place". By the time cutover took place the entire system could be rebuilt with a couple of commands.
Moving forward, the company plans to re-engineer the application from statically deployed to dynamic auto-scaling servers that come and go, and will look at ways to achieve zero downtime deploys to deal with fault tolerance. Through the ongoing use of Chef scripts and development practices applied to Ops, MYOB's development team can rewrite the application in such a way that it can easily be deployed to AWS.
A safe, repeatable and easy means to release features to their customers as soon as they are capable of providing benefit.
The ability to rebuild servers at will or when they fail.
The ability to reconfigure or change the way the MYOB Essentials app is built; whether it's to increase performance, reliability or change how they run deployments, infrastructure architecture can be changed and new services added.
Cost optimisation – with the scalability offered by AWS, MYOB is able to have full visibility of what is running and can start reducing expenditure through ensuring they are not over or under provisioned.


text:
Pelosi Reveals Her January 6 Commission Is Investigating Political Opponents
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted on August 16 that the reason she rejected Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN) were targets of her select committee on the January 6 Capitol riots.
In an interview, Pelosi said that the two Republicans were outrageous nominations to her committee made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Pelosi used the veto power she gave herself when forming the committee to reject Jordan and Banks.
In stating that Jordan and Banks were never going to be on the committee, Pelosi said, "we'll see what the committee finds out about them." She said they would both have been clowns and not severe, adding that both Congressmen are still participating in the big lie.
Pelosi also touted the two Republicans she chose for the committee, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. She said that Cheney is as courageous as anyone she had ever seen in Congress and that she is informed, eloquent, and patriotic.
Cheney and Kinzinger are both longstanding opponents of President Donald Trump and voted in favor of the impeachment proceeding against him instituted by Pelosi after January 6.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MD) has previously said that nothing will be off-limits for the committee as it decides what to investigate and what subpoenas to issue. Kinzinger has said that he favors issuing subpoenas to leading Congressional Republicans to compel their testimony before the committee.
Rep. Banks responded by stating that he believes Pelosi uses the committee to target him and other political opponents, including Jordan. He said that she is engaging in an abuse of power and needs to be held accountable. Banks added that Pelosi is engaging in banana republic politics that do not belong in America. She has damaged Congressional unity and American democracy more than any single politician ever.


The Belgian national soccer team started their participation in the World Cup in Russia with two consecutive wins, one against Panama and one against Tunisia. To support their national team, many Belgians have put flags on their cars, windows, balconies, and clothes. However, the Belgian government does not seem happy with this waive of patriotism.
The Belgian police publicly announced that Belgians who put flags on their wing mirrors will be subject to a fine amounting to 58 euro. Fines are not the only way for preventing the Belgian supporters of the national team from raising the national flag. Flanders (one of the three Belgian regions) imposes a tax on billboards and, according to tax experts, Belgian flags displaying advertisements may be considered billboards. It is worth mentioning that many sellers of beer in Belgium give free national flags to their customers. Such flags usually display beer trademarks.
Instead of applauding the supporters of the Red Devils (the nickname of the Belgian national team) for publicly displaying the national flag and contributing to the unification of the highly divided country, the Belgian government attempts to tax innocent soccer supporters for demonstrating their national pride. The tax on Belgian flags is not the only weird tax in the Belgian tax arsenal. The Flemish city Aarschot imposed a tax on the transportation of death bodies with the aim to empty the pockets of the heirs of deceased people before the regional Flemish government put their nose in the same pockets and charge an inheritance tax of up to 65%.


Here at The Travel Directory our aim is to bring you a variety of Orlando villas and holiday homes for rent in the Orlando area of Central Florida.
Orlando holiday homes will vary in standards depending on the build specifications at the time of the build and any optional extras that may have been added.
Orlando villas that have a pool and a Spa may well be classed by the local management company as an executive home. Orlando holiday villas that have additional bathrooms, more than 1 master bedroom or an upgraded furnishing package may also be classed as an executive home.
Full descriptions of the Orlando Vacation Homes and Holiday Villas that are offered for rental are shown, along with pictures where they have been made available. Also, where building plans are available, these will be displayed to help give you an idea of the layout of the Orlando holiday villas on offer.
Resort information, where this has been made available, will help to give you an idea of the Orlando vacation community location and the surrounding area such as how far away the major attractions are like Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Sea World, Island of Adventures and remember that Busch Gardens is just a short drive away.
So, if you're looking for a budget or luxury private vacation home in Orlando, look no further. The Travel Directory will be happy to respond to all your questions and queries about holiday villa rental in Orlando.


text:
Nuno Espirito Santo
Every word Nuno said on Harry Kane, injured Lucas and Bergwijn and his message to Tottenham fans
Here's every single word Nuno Espirito Santo said ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's Carabao Cup match against Wolverhampton Wanderers
Alasdair GoldTottenham Hotspur correspondent
Spurs 0-3 Chelsea - Nuno reaction
Don't miss any of the latest and best Spurs news - sign up to the free Tottenham newsletter for updates straight to your inbox
What is the latest team news and how will you approach this game at Wolves in regards to the number of changes ahead of the north London derby?
Totally different [games]. The approach is the same. We cannot play the game on Sunday on the Wednesday. We play on Wednesday so let's focus on the game of tomorrow. That's the only focus we have. Regarding team news nothing has changed much. We still have players out. Some players with some issues from the previous game which we are trying to manage, but nothing has changed much. Same as was for
Are Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn still out?
Yes unfortunately they will not be with us.
Kane and his lack of goals, still affected by the summer?
What we are trying to do is improve. All of us have to improve and we have to be aware of the moment that we are, that we need to improve through the competition because we don't have too much time. We have to try things, try to improve our performances, in terms of goals, in terms of consistency, all these aspects of the game during the competition. And tomorrow is another chance to do it.
Are the lack of goals from open play a concern?
The same concern and the same worry that we have about the goals we are conceding. We started this season very consistent, very solid, clean sheets. Not scoring too much but... Suddenly things have changed. We are not able to score and we are conceding. So it's trying to find the balance between these two aspects which we have to look for.
Is Harry Kane trying to do too much?
We have to find the process inside of the team. It's all the players. All the players. We have to tell them and find solutions and find the best way. Previous game, Harry started on the left, really high and things went good. Unfortunately we were not able to score. We had chances to do so. The way we are working is to find solutions, try to reinvent, recreate situations which can improve our football and our game and Harry is part of the team. It's the partnerships, the complicity, the way we do things, everyone has to be involved.
Dele Alli opens up on Nuno Espirito Santo, his new role in the team and what he took for granted
Nuno Espirito Santo and the absence of time for the Tottenham Hotspur head coach
Is Kane frustrated because of summer?
That's the past. Nothing that we can say or do now or in the future will change the past. What we have to do with the past is put it behind our heads and focus in the present.
You've mentioned about problems, are they problems that are new or that were already here?
Problems that are public. Problems is the situation, the momentum we are in, problems is what we suffer during international break, problems is the absence of players, problems is levels of performance, problems is we concede goals from set-pieces, like we allowed first half so good and not able to sustain. So many problems that we have to solve.
How is Steven Bergwijn?
He has an injury on his foot, a sprain, he twisted his ankle. It's very, very painful and the decision was to protect his foot and at the same time keep doing upper body workouts and try to maintain as fit as possible. But the injury needs to settle down and prevent him from feeling pain. It's very painful now.
Will he be back for the north London derby?
I cannot answer that. All the injuries have a process. We hope the players improve. We don't enjoy it. It is painful to see them out. But at the same time we're hopeful they recover sooner or later and can re-join the group.
Nuno Espirito Santo watches on during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Some of the Spurs fans are concerned that the football on display at the moment isn't what the chairman promised them, can you send them a message about the attractive football you want to bring?
I wish I could, but I'm an honest person. An honest person. I think we have to look at what happened, and the message, I think this is not the right moment but I will do it, because I think I'll, you'll, try to explain.
We started the season with a lot of situations that players are away and we build a way. We built how we wanted to do things and we did quite well in the first matches of the season. I recall the atmosphere was huge.
Of course when things happen and we have problems and results don't appear and performances don't appear, the momentum goes. The good feeling goes away but this is what we have to realise and we have to find a way to go back again.
Our fans deserve much, much better than what we did on Sunday. I was really pleased and I think our fans were as well with the first half, there were a lot of positives but the second half was not good.
So we lost that chance to recover the good feeling among us, but what I can tell and my message is clear: we are working hard, we are working very hard and the players are committed to it.
We are positive. It's about trying to build during the competition, we don't have too much time on the training ground. It's during the matches. The players are committed. Things are going to gel and we are going to play better and things are going to improve because this is what we realise. Our reaction to our problems is hard work, it's helping each other. It's how I work, with everybody involved. This is the right path for us.
Tottenham player ratings: Reguilon, Lo Celso, Kane, Son & Co struggle against Chelsea
Every word Nuno said on Chelsea loss and the thing that will help Tottenham create more chances
But you can say that a Nuno Espirito Santo Tottenham will not only work hard but they will also score goals and show creativity?
We have to find the balance Alasdair. We have to find the balance in our game. If you want me to talk about the game against Chelsea, all the positives happened in the first half and we can share a lot of things that were ok and for sure the fans were happy.
In the second half we didn't do things. We opened ourselves. One concern we have is when we concede first we are not able to react. The team is not strong enough to go and give a good response.
A lot of things that we have to improve on, but what we saw is what is moving us forward in the first half, this attitude, this willingness to go and really nice football, really nice football.
With the talented and quality players we have when they start to gel I'm positive it's going to be good.
Gold and Guest Talk Tottenham
Football.london has a new podcast! We've brought together your two favourite Tottenham reporters in Alasdair Gold and Rob Guest to keep you up to date with everything happening at Hotspur Way.
From the latest transfer news to those glorious wins in north London and beyond! There might even be a laugh or two too.
Subscribe, download and listen to all of the episodes so far and those to come at: Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spreaker, Spotify, Acast or another provider.
When will you get to work with them on the training ground though with so many midweek matches and more international breaks?
We have to change. The pre-season starts with a lot of players out but what we had, we built on. We had a lot of hours training on the pitch, creating movements and lots of things. This has gone, that has gone so now we don't have time to train. We have to use the games to do it, and this is what we are doing.
Tomorrow is another chance to try things, to improve and play good. Playing good is always the balance between the two boxes.
Steven Bergwijn
Pedro PorroPedro Porro struggles, curious case of Matt Doherty and Tottenham transfers that didn't happenThe inside story of a transfer window when Tottenham Hotspur and the club's chairman Daniel Levy were under pressure to deliver
The FIFA rule that meant Tottenham had to cancel Matt Doherty's contract amid Atletico transfer
Matt Doherty
Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that they have mutually agreed to the termination of Matt Doherty's contract in order for the wingback to join La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid.
Tottenham transfer news: Every confirmed signing and outgoing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the January transfer window as Antonio Conte looks to bolster his squad for a top four push
Antonio Conte and Tottenham avoid Pedro Porro issue after late transfer deadline day decision
Tottenham will have to submit their squad for the knockout round of the Champions League by Thursday evening after bringing in Arnaut Danjuma and Pedro Porro in the January market
Matt DohertyHow the Tottenham dressing room reacted to shock exit of Matt Doherty amid Atletico transferTottenham transfer news: Matt Doherty was a surprising permanent departure on deadline day after Spurs completed a deal to sign Pedro Porro
Antonio Conte will undergo surgery to remove his gallbladder on Wednesday after recently feeling unwell
Tottenham transfer news: The closing of the January transfer window does not mean the end of business for Tottenham and Antonio Conte as the summer trading period looms
Hakim ZiyechPSG fuming with Chelsea over Hakim Ziyech failed transfer amid Enzo Fernandez last-ditch dealHakim Ziyech came really close to signing for Paris Saint-Germain on transfer deadline day but confusion over the documentation meant the deal collapsed for the Moroccan
Tottenham transfer news: Matt Doherty was a surprising permanent departure on deadline day after Spurs completed a deal to sign Pedro Porro
Arsenal Premier League squad registration deadline ahead of Jorginho debut vs Everton
Arsenal news: The Gunners will be able to call on their three new signings on Saturday but face a deadline first.


The general aim of this project is to share the practice of mindfulness suffused with Shambhala vision with educational communities in order to contribute to their general well-being and their community development.
It will be done through sharing and creating transformative educational methodologies that have arisen from the crossing of the Western science (philosophy of education, psychology) and the Eastern science of mind. This effort will promote these tools that could contribute for a general betterment of the Chilean and Latin America (Latam) education.


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Game 3: Cardinals Shut Down Yankees: Cardinals 3 Yankees 0 – Spring 2012
by David Grossman | Apr 3, 2012 | 2012 - Spring, 2012 Games, Game Summaries
Dateline: Crabtree Field 2
It was a pleasant morning as the Cardinals took the field. They finished their team picture and looked sharp during infield. Maxwell came to the mound for his first start of the year. He struck out the first two batters. The next two singled and there were runners on first and second and no out. Maxwell settled down and struck out the last batter to end the threat. Bottom of the first, two out, and Jamie at the plate. He smashed a long double to center, over-ran second and took off for third. Then he over-ran third and had to dive back just in time. It was an exciting play. Unfortunately, the Cards couldn't hit him in and the first inning ended with the score tied 0-0.
Top of the second, Maxwell went back to the mound and struck out the Yankees on only ten pitches. Unfortunately the Cardinals went down quickly as well and so the game moved to the third. Maxwell went back to the mound and struck out three more on twelve pitches. That closed the book on Maxwell with nine strikeouts on the day. Bottom of the third and Isaac reached on an infield single. Rei hit a sharp grounder to second but the Yankees played it nicely and got Isaac at second by a step. Zack grounded out back to the mound for out three. After three it remained a scoreless tie.
Michael came on for his first appearance of the year. He looked sharp as he struck out two batters and got the next one to ground out back to the mound where he threw to Carter for the out. Bottom of the fourth and the Cardinals offense came alive. With one out, Carter singled. Matthew hit a line drive to center and Carter went all the way to third and Matthew went to second on the throw to third. Third and second, two outs. Maxwell smashed a hard shot down the third base line to score Carter and Matthew. Kyle hit the ball hard, but the shortstop made a good play for out three.
Top of the fifth and Michael struck out three more while only giving up a single. Bottom of the fifth and the Cards picked up an insurance run as Isaac led off with single and he went to second on a bad throw to first. Isaac moved to third on a wild pitch and Rei came up with a big RBI to score Isaac. Jamie came on in the top of the sixth and looked sharp. He struck out three batters in ten pitches to end the game. Final Score: Cardinals 3 Yankees 0.
Coach Grossman said, "We definitely looked sharp in the field. I saw our players looking alert and I know it was getting hot so I appreciate their efforts. We put nine balls in play today while the Yankees were held to only three hits. Our pitching was excellent and our hitting is getting better each game. We'll keep our focus on hitting at practice next week as I still want to get all of our players more confident at the plate. I'm happy we got Michael some time on the mound as that means we've now used five pitchers in our first three games. I'm going to keep working with anyone else who wants to pitch as I always like to use plenty of pitchers. I can't thank our parents enough for dealing with an early game and providing a ton of help at practice last night. We were able to run six solid stations and thats fantastic." Coach Goldstein was available briefly and he said, "Our batters are coming along. Our catchers are improving each game and I'm looking forward to some great games next week." The Cardinals play the White Sox for an early game on Tuesday.


text:
package com.intellij.openapi.vcs.update;

import com.intellij.history.Label;
import com.intellij.icons.AllIcons;
import com.intellij.ide.DefaultTreeExpander;
import com.intellij.ide.TreeExpander;
import com.intellij.openapi.actionSystem.*;
import com.intellij.openapi.application.ApplicationManager;
import com.intellij.openapi.fileEditor.OpenFileDescriptor;
import com.intellij.openapi.project.DumbAware;
import com.intellij.openapi.project.Project;
import com.intellij.openapi.ui.PanelWithActionsAndCloseButton;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.Disposer;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.Pair;
import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.*;
import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.committed.CommittedChangesBrowserUseCase;
import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.committed.CommittedChangesCache;
import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.committed.CommittedChangesTreeBrowser;
import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.committed.RefreshIncomingChangesAction;
import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.versionBrowser.CommittedChangeList;
import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VfsUtil;
import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VirtualFile;
import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.pointers.VirtualFilePointer;
import com.intellij.psi.search.scope.packageSet.NamedScope;
import com.intellij.psi.search.scope.packageSet.NamedScopesHolder;
import com.intellij.psi.search.scope.packageSet.PackageSet;
import com.intellij.psi.search.scope.packageSet.PackageSetBase;
import com.intellij.ui.*;
import com.intellij.ui.content.ContentManager;
import com.intellij.ui.treeStructure.Tree;
import com.intellij.util.EditSourceOnDoubleClickHandler;
import com.intellij.util.EditSourceOnEnterKeyHandler;
import com.intellij.util.PlatformIcons;
import com.intellij.util.ui.StatusText;
import com.intellij.util.ui.tree.TreeUtil;
import com.intellij.vcsUtil.VcsUtil;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NonNls;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;

import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.TreeSelectionListener;
import javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeModel;
import javax.swing.tree.TreeNode;
import javax.swing.tree.TreePath;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.File;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.List;

public class UpdateInfoTree extends PanelWithActionsAndCloseButton {
  private VirtualFile mySelectedFile;
  private FilePath mySelectedUrl;
  private final Tree myTree = new Tree();
  @NotNull private final Project myProject;
  private final UpdatedFiles myUpdatedFiles;
  private UpdateRootNode myRoot;
  private DefaultTreeModel myTreeModel;
  private FileStatusListener myFileStatusListener;
  private final FileStatusManager myFileStatusManager;
  private final String myRootName;
  private final ActionInfo myActionInfo;
  private boolean myCanGroupByChangeList = false;
  private boolean myGroupByChangeList = false;
  private boolean myShowOnlyFilteredItems;
  private JLabel myLoadingChangeListsLabel;
  private List<CommittedChangeList> myCommittedChangeLists;
  private final JPanel myCenterPanel = new JPanel(new CardLayout());
  @NonNls private static final String CARD_STATUS = "Status";
  @NonNls private static final String CARD_CHANGES = "Changes";
  private CommittedChangesTreeBrowser myTreeBrowser;
  private final TreeExpander myTreeExpander;
  private final MyTreeIterable myTreeIterable;

  private Label myBefore;
  private Label myAfter;

  public UpdateInfoTree(@NotNull ContentManager contentManager,
                        @NotNull Project project,
                        UpdatedFiles updatedFiles,
                        String rootName,
                        ActionInfo actionInfo) {
    super(contentManager, "reference.versionControl.toolwindow.update");
    myActionInfo = actionInfo;

    myFileStatusListener = new FileStatusListener() {
      public void fileStatusesChanged() {
        myTree.repaint();
      }

      public void fileStatusChanged(@NotNull VirtualFile virtualFile) {
        myTree.repaint();
      }
    };

    myProject = project;
    myUpdatedFiles = updatedFiles;
    myRootName = rootName;

    myShowOnlyFilteredItems = VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_FILTER_BY_SCOPE;

    myFileStatusManager = FileStatusManager.getInstance(myProject);
    myFileStatusManager.addFileStatusListener(myFileStatusListener);
    createTree();
    init();
    myTreeExpander = new DefaultTreeExpander(myTree);
    myTreeIterable = new MyTreeIterable();
  }

  public void dispose() {
    Disposer.dispose(myRoot);
    if (myFileStatusListener != null) {
      myFileStatusManager.removeFileStatusListener(myFileStatusListener);
      myFileStatusListener = null;
    }
  }

  public void setCanGroupByChangeList(final boolean canGroupByChangeList) {
    myCanGroupByChangeList = canGroupByChangeList;
    if (myCanGroupByChangeList) {
      myLoadingChangeListsLabel = new JLabel(VcsBundle.message("update.info.loading.changelists"));
      add(myLoadingChangeListsLabel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
      myGroupByChangeList = VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_GROUP_BY_CHANGELIST;
      if (myGroupByChangeList) {
        final CardLayout cardLayout = (CardLayout)myCenterPanel.getLayout();
        cardLayout.show(myCenterPanel, CARD_CHANGES);
      }
    }
  }

  protected void addActionsTo(DefaultActionGroup group) {
    group.add(new MyGroupByPackagesAction());
    group.add(new GroupByChangeListAction());
    group.add(new FilterAction());
    group.add(ActionManager.getInstance().getAction(IdeActions.ACTION_EXPAND_ALL));
    group.add(ActionManager.getInstance().getAction(IdeActions.ACTION_COLLAPSE_ALL));
    group.add(ActionManager.getInstance().getAction("Diff.UpdatedFiles"));
  }

  protected JComponent createCenterPanel() {
    JScrollPane scrollPane = ScrollPaneFactory.createScrollPane(myTree);
    scrollPane.setBorder(IdeBorderFactory.createBorder(SideBorder.LEFT));
    myCenterPanel.add(CARD_STATUS, scrollPane);
    myTreeBrowser = new CommittedChangesTreeBrowser(myProject, Collections.emptyList());
    Disposer.register(this, myTreeBrowser);
    myTreeBrowser.setHelpId(getHelpId());
    myCenterPanel.add(CARD_CHANGES, myTreeBrowser);
    return myCenterPanel;
  }

  private void createTree() {
    SmartExpander.installOn(myTree);
    SelectionSaver.installOn(myTree);
    createTreeModel();

    myTree.addTreeSelectionListener(new TreeSelectionListener() {
      public void valueChanged(TreeSelectionEvent e) {
        AbstractTreeNode treeNode = (AbstractTreeNode)e.getPath().getLastPathComponent();
        VirtualFilePointer pointer = null;
        if (treeNode instanceof FileTreeNode) {
          pointer = ((FileTreeNode)treeNode).getFilePointer();
          if (!pointer.isValid()) pointer = null;
        }
        if (pointer != null) {
          mySelectedUrl = getFilePath(pointer);
          mySelectedFile = pointer.getFile();
        }
        else {
          mySelectedUrl = null;
          mySelectedFile = null;
        }
      }
    });
    myTree.setCellRenderer(new UpdateTreeCellRenderer());
    TreeUtil.installActions(myTree);
    new TreeSpeedSearch(myTree, path -> {
      Object last = path.getLastPathComponent();
      if (last instanceof AbstractTreeNode) {
        return ((AbstractTreeNode)last).getText();
      }
      return TreeSpeedSearch.NODE_DESCRIPTOR_TOSTRING.convert(path);
    }, true);

    myTree.addMouseListener(new PopupHandler() {
      public void invokePopup(Component comp, int x, int y) {
        final DefaultActionGroup group = (DefaultActionGroup)ActionManager.getInstance().getAction("UpdateActionGroup");
        if (group != null) { //if no UpdateActionGroup was configured
          ActionPopupMenu popupMenu = ActionManager.getInstance().createActionPopupMenu(ActionPlaces.UPDATE_POPUP,
                                                                                group);
          popupMenu.getComponent().show(comp, x, y);
        }
      }
    });
    EditSourceOnDoubleClickHandler.install(myTree);
    EditSourceOnEnterKeyHandler.install(myTree);

    myTree.setSelectionRow(0);
  }

  private void createTreeModel() {
    myRoot = new UpdateRootNode(myUpdatedFiles, myProject, myRootName, myActionInfo);
    updateTreeModel();
    myTreeModel = new DefaultTreeModel(myRoot);
    myRoot.setTreeModel(myTreeModel);
    myTree.setModel(myTreeModel);
    myRoot.setTree(myTree);
  }

  private void updateTreeModel() {
    myRoot.rebuild(VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_GROUP_BY_PACKAGES, getScopeFilter(), myShowOnlyFilteredItems);
    if (myTreeModel != null) {
      myTreeModel.reload();
    }
  }

  public Object getData(String dataId) {
    if (myTreeBrowser != null && myTreeBrowser.isVisible()) {
      return null;
    }
    if (CommonDataKeys.NAVIGATABLE.is(dataId)) {
      if (mySelectedFile == null || !mySelectedFile.isValid()) return null;
      return new OpenFileDescriptor(myProject, mySelectedFile);
    }
    else if (CommonDataKeys.VIRTUAL_FILE_ARRAY.is(dataId)) {
      return getVirtualFileArray();
    }
    else if (VcsDataKeys.IO_FILE_ARRAY.is(dataId)) {
      return getFileArray();
    } else if (PlatformDataKeys.TREE_EXPANDER.is(dataId)) {
      if (myGroupByChangeList) {
        return myTreeBrowser != null ? myTreeBrowser.getTreeExpander() : null;
      }
      else {
        return myTreeExpander;
      }
    } else if (VcsDataKeys.UPDATE_VIEW_SELECTED_PATH.is(dataId)) {
      return mySelectedUrl;
    } else if (VcsDataKeys.UPDATE_VIEW_FILES_ITERABLE.is(dataId)) {
      return myTreeIterable;
    } else if (VcsDataKeys.LABEL_BEFORE.is(dataId)) {
      return myBefore;
    }  else if (VcsDataKeys.LABEL_AFTER.is(dataId)) {
      return myAfter;
    }

    return super.getData(dataId);
  }

  private class MyTreeIterator implements Iterator<Pair<FilePath, FileStatus>> {
    private final Enumeration myEnum;
    private FilePath myNext;
    private FileStatus myStatus;

    private MyTreeIterator() {
      myEnum = myRoot.depthFirstEnumeration();
      step();
    }

    public boolean hasNext() {
      return myNext != null;
    }

    public Pair<FilePath, FileStatus> next() {
      final FilePath result = myNext;
      final FileStatus status = myStatus;
      step();
      return Pair.create(result, status);
    }

    private void step() {
      myNext = null;
      while (myEnum.hasMoreElements()) {
        final Object o = myEnum.nextElement();
        if (o instanceof FileTreeNode) {
          final FileTreeNode treeNode = (FileTreeNode)o;
          VirtualFilePointer filePointer = treeNode.getFilePointer();
          if (!filePointer.isValid()) continue;

          myNext = getFilePath(filePointer);
          myStatus = FileStatus.MODIFIED;

          final GroupTreeNode parent = findParentGroupTreeNode(treeNode.getParent());
          if (parent != null) {
            final String id = parent.getFileGroupId();
            if (FileGroup.CREATED_ID.equals(id)) {
              myStatus = FileStatus.ADDED;
            }
            else if (FileGroup.REMOVED_FROM_REPOSITORY_ID.equals(id)) {
              myStatus = FileStatus.DELETED;
            }
          }
          break;
        }
      }
    }

    @Nullable
    private GroupTreeNode findParentGroupTreeNode(@NotNull TreeNode treeNode) {
      TreeNode currentNode = treeNode;
      while (currentNode != null && !(currentNode instanceof GroupTreeNode)) {
        currentNode = currentNode.getParent();
      }
      return (GroupTreeNode)currentNode;
    }

    public void remove() {
      throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
  }

  private class MyTreeIterable implements Iterable<Pair<FilePath, FileStatus>> {
    public Iterator<Pair<FilePath, FileStatus>> iterator() {
      return new MyTreeIterator();
    }
  }

  private VirtualFile[] getVirtualFileArray() {
    ArrayList<VirtualFile> result = new ArrayList<>();
    TreePath[] selectionPaths = myTree.getSelectionPaths();
    if (selectionPaths != null) {
      for (TreePath selectionPath : selectionPaths) {
        AbstractTreeNode treeNode = (AbstractTreeNode)selectionPath.getLastPathComponent();
        result.addAll(treeNode.getVirtualFiles());
      }
    }
    return VfsUtil.toVirtualFileArray(result);
  }

  @Nullable
  private File[] getFileArray() {
    ArrayList<File> result = new ArrayList<>();
    TreePath[] selectionPaths = myTree.getSelectionPaths();
    if (selectionPaths != null) {
      for (TreePath selectionPath : selectionPaths) {
        AbstractTreeNode treeNode = (AbstractTreeNode)selectionPath.getLastPathComponent();
        result.addAll(treeNode.getFiles());
      }
    }
    if (result.isEmpty()) return null;
    return result.toArray(new File[result.size()]);
  }

  public void expandRootChildren() {
    TreeNode root = (TreeNode)myTreeModel.getRoot();

    if (root.getChildCount() == 1) {
      myTree.expandPath(new TreePath(new Object[]{root, root.getChildAt(0)}));
    }
  }

  public void setChangeLists(final List<CommittedChangeList> receivedChanges) {
    final boolean hasEmptyCaches = CommittedChangesCache.getInstance(myProject).hasEmptyCaches();

    ApplicationManager.getApplication().invokeLater(() -> {
      if (myLoadingChangeListsLabel != null) {
        remove(myLoadingChangeListsLabel);
        myLoadingChangeListsLabel = null;
      }
      myCommittedChangeLists = receivedChanges;
      myTreeBrowser.setItems(myCommittedChangeLists, CommittedChangesBrowserUseCase.UPDATE);
      if (hasEmptyCaches) {
        final StatusText statusText = myTreeBrowser.getEmptyText();
        statusText.clear();
        statusText.appendText("Click ")
          .appendText("Refresh", SimpleTextAttributes.LINK_ATTRIBUTES, new ActionListener() {
            public void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
              RefreshIncomingChangesAction.doRefresh(myProject);
            }
          })
          .appendText(" to initialize repository changes cache");
      }
    }, myProject.getDisposed());
  }

  private class MyGroupByPackagesAction extends ToggleAction implements DumbAware {
    public MyGroupByPackagesAction() {
      super(VcsBundle.message("action.name.group.by.packages"), null, PlatformIcons.GROUP_BY_PACKAGES);
    }

    public boolean isSelected(AnActionEvent e) {
      return !myProject.isDisposed() && VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_GROUP_BY_PACKAGES;
    }

    public void setSelected(AnActionEvent e, boolean state) {
      if (!myProject.isDisposed()) {
        VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_GROUP_BY_PACKAGES = state;
        updateTreeModel();
      }
    }

    public void update(final AnActionEvent e) {
      super.update(e);
      e.getPresentation().setEnabled(!myGroupByChangeList);
    }
  }

  private class GroupByChangeListAction extends ToggleAction implements DumbAware {
    public GroupByChangeListAction() {
      super(VcsBundle.message("update.info.group.by.changelist"), null, AllIcons.Actions.ShowAsTree);
    }

    public boolean isSelected(AnActionEvent e) {
      return myGroupByChangeList;
    }

    public void setSelected(AnActionEvent e, boolean state) {
      myGroupByChangeList = state;
      VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_GROUP_BY_CHANGELIST = myGroupByChangeList;
      final CardLayout cardLayout = (CardLayout)myCenterPanel.getLayout();
      if (!myGroupByChangeList) {
        cardLayout.show(myCenterPanel, CARD_STATUS);
      }
      else {
        cardLayout.show(myCenterPanel, CARD_CHANGES);
      }
    }

    public void update(final AnActionEvent e) {
      super.update(e);
      e.getPresentation().setVisible(myCanGroupByChangeList);
    }
  }

  public void setBefore(Label before) {
    myBefore = before;
  }

  public void setAfter(Label after) {
    myAfter = after;
  }

  @Nullable
  private Pair<PackageSetBase, NamedScopesHolder> getScopeFilter() {
    String scopeName = VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_FILTER_SCOPE_NAME;
    if (scopeName != null) {
      for (NamedScopesHolder holder : NamedScopesHolder.getAllNamedScopeHolders(myProject)) {
        NamedScope scope = holder.getScope(scopeName);
        if (scope != null) {
          PackageSet packageSet = scope.getValue();
          if (packageSet instanceof PackageSetBase) {
            return Pair.create((PackageSetBase)packageSet, holder);
          }
        }
      }
    }
    return null;
  }

  private class FilterAction extends ToggleAction implements DumbAware {
    public FilterAction() {
      super("Scope Filter", VcsBundle.getString("settings.filter.update.project.info.by.scope"), AllIcons.General.Filter);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isSelected(AnActionEvent e) {
      return myShowOnlyFilteredItems;
    }

    @Override
    public void setSelected(AnActionEvent e, boolean state) {
      myShowOnlyFilteredItems = state;
      VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_FILTER_BY_SCOPE = myShowOnlyFilteredItems;
      updateTreeModel();
    }

    public void update(AnActionEvent e) {
      super.update(e);
      e.getPresentation().setEnabled(!myGroupByChangeList && VcsConfiguration.getInstance(myProject).UPDATE_FILTER_SCOPE_NAME != null);
    }
  }

  @NotNull
  private static FilePath getFilePath(@NotNull VirtualFilePointer filePointer) {
    return VcsUtil.getFilePath(filePointer.getPresentableUrl(), false);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


It was a completely professional experience and we were very happy with the work than was done to get our refrigerator back up.he got the job done without trying to gouge us in our time of need. My neighbor referred me to Appliance-Science - Best ReferralTHANK YOU FOR YOUR FAST SERVICE.
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Welcome, We Are Mulhall's Repairs, We repair electrical appliances for the home & Business & have over 18 years' experience in repairing all makes & models of kitchen appliances from range cookers to washing machines and fridge freezers.We At Mulhalls Repairs also stock appliances parts from leading brands, such as LG and Bosch just to name a few. If you feel it's time to replace your appliance, take a look at our collection today.
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We provide top quality repair on all Domestic and Commercial appliances from washing machines and dishwashers to ovens and hobs. Laptops, Home Computers and PCB Chip Level repair we take care of it all and ensure that you are happy with the result before we finish the job. Our expert service engineers are always ready to do their jobs to the highest standard on any machine they are working on.
We cover a large number of brands from BEKO to Miele, Samsung to Triton you name it and we can fix it. We are the warrenty repair agents for a number of brands including Fagor, Glen Dimplex, Grundig, Dimplex and Red Ring. We are also authorised service engineers for Belling, Grundig, Leisure, range master, panasonic, dimplex, stoves, LEC, Valor, Faber,Galaxy, Burco, Creda, EWT, Glen, Carmen, Goblin, Murphy Richards, New world, NOBO, Roberts Radio, Xplair, Birtania Living Appliances. We fix 9 out of 10 machines and our service engineers will be as honest with you as they would their own mothers.
"We are authorised service engineers/warranty repair agents for Belling, Grundig, Leisure, range master, panasonic, dimplex, stoves, LEC, Valor, Faber, Galaxy, Burco, Creda, EWT, Glen, Carmen, Goblin, Murphy Richards, New world, NOBO, Roberts Radio, Xplair & Others.


text:
Media & Culture Television
Mama June's Ex 'Sugar Bear' Gets Botox, Dental Makeover: 'I Look A Lot Younger'
By Kristine Belonio
Pictured: Mama June, Alana Thompson, Lauryn Shannon and Joshua Efird attending "Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta" Season 2 premiere party at Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia on Ja. 9, 2018. Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson had a $67K makeover
He got a set of new teeth and Botox on his face
He also had a procedure for his receding hairline
Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson just had a dramatic makeover after "Mama June: Road to Redemption" ended its sixth season last month.
The 50-year-old did not just get a set of new teeth; he also had Botox and a hairline procedure to complete his "younger" look.
"I haven't stopped looking in the mirror. I don't recognize the man in the mirror," he said in a statement to Page Six Style.
Thompson was proud of his transformation and said the cosmetic and dental makeover was worth it because he now looks younger.
"I never thought I could have a smile I would be proud of, and I really love the Botox because I look a lot younger," he continued.
Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson's dad used to hide his receding hairline with a baseball cap and smiled with his mouth closed because of his teeth. But in the "after" photo obtained by the outlet, he proudly flaunted the result of his transformation.
Interestingly, Mama June's ex had to spend a fortune for his Hollywood makeover. According to his manager, Gina Rodriguez, the dental makeover, hair transplant and Botox cost a total of $66,800.
Rodriguez noted that the hairline procedure alone from Jacques Abrahamian at Pasadena's LA FUE Hair Clinic was worth $30,000.
It appears Sugar Bear has already moved on from what went down on their reality show in the recently concluded season. In the finale, he got emotional when asked to sign Alana's custody papers.
"[Alana's] the only thing I got," Mike said while wiping his tears in front of Pumpkin's husband, Josh Efird.
Meanwhile, aside from Sugar Bear, Honey Boo Boo is also gearing up for a physical transformation. She revealed last month that she was getting weight loss surgery after trying all sorts of diets and weight loss regimens.
Sugar Bear Says Alana's 'The Only Thing I Got' When Asked To Sign Custody Papers
Honey Boo Boo's Dad Sugar Bear Sheds Tears In 'Road To Redemption' Finale Teaser
Mama June Loses Custody Of Daughter Honey Boo Boo
"I know for a fact I could get in the gym, and I know for a fact I could diet, and I know for a fact I can do this to lose my weight. I've tried. I will say I've tried, but the one thing with me is I have no motivation. I have no motivation to just keep going to the gym every day," the reality star, who turned 17 on Sunday, told Entertainment Tonight.
Rodriguez, who also manages the teen star, said Honey Boo Boo would be heading to Queens, New York, in late August to have a suture sculpt endoscopic sleeve, so she could drop her weight from 275 pounds to 150.
Pictured: TV personality Mama June visits Build Series to discuss 'Mama June: From Not to Hot' at Build Studio on June 11, 2018 in New York City. Desiree Navarro/Getty Images
MOST READ IN Media & Culture
Australian Church Mourns Polarising Cardinal Despite Protests


text:
Home BTS Another exploit of BTS
Another exploit of BTS
K-pop superstar BTS/Courtesy of BigHit Entertainment
Boy band's single becomes million seller in Japan
K-pop megastar BTS, which dropped "Lights/Boy With Luv" on July 3, has shipped more than 1 million physical units in Japan in around 35 days, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
The association recently said that the seven-piece boy band had become the first non-Japanese male artist certified as a million seller in the country.
Along with Germany, Japan is one of the few remaining markets where physical albums still sell in substantial quantities, but it is quite a feat for foreign artists to sell more than 1 million copies there.
In fact, the number of pre-orders for the BTS album surpassed 1 million copies. The single also topped the Oricon daily chart upon its release.
The 10th Japanese album of BTS was also the bestselling Japanese single by a non-Japanese artist in terms of first-day sales and first-week sales.
"We are thankful that the album we worked hard on received so much love. We will continue to try our best to show you better sides of us," the Seoul-based group said.
Of note is that the septet chalked up the exploit at a time when Korea and Japan are mired in a series of diplomatic rows.
On July 4, just a day after BTS came up with the "Lights/Boy With Luv," Japan announced strict restrictions on exports of key high-tech materials, which Korean firms use to make memory chips and flat-panel displays.
Filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization, Korea instantly vowed to strike back, and its people started boycotting Japanese products and services ranging from automobiles to movies and beers.
The export curbs, which came due to a growing dispute over the wartime forced labor issue, affects the two neighbors across the board. But BTS continues to fare well in Japan as shown by its sell-out concerts over the past month there.
Korea-Japan conflict & BTS
BTS and Uniqlo
"Lights/Boy With Luv"
million seller


Kabiru Muhammad Sani is the National Coordinator, Peoples Democratic Party National Youth Empowerment Strategy (PDP-NYES).
The PDP is getting defectors, what value do you think they will add to the party? In politics numbers matter a lot, and when one is talking about the defectors into the People's Democracy Party (PDP), it is obvious that they are high profile politicians.
So if the likes of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Abdulfatih Ahmed of Sokoto, Gombe and Kwara states respectively, other States and National Assembly members are back, it is, of course, a good omen to the party.
It is means things are looking up for the PDP.
You call them defectors, but I see them as reverters, and they have great values that the party stands to gain from them.
Remember, we are talking about general elections, we are talking about getting rid of the APC governance, and they both played great roles in ousting our party in 2015.
It is speculated that most of the defectors are likely to jostle for the party's Presidential ticket for 2019 election, don't you think there will be crises after the presidential primaries? I don't think so, because from their lamentations, they had suffered persecutions in hands of the platform they are now reverting back from, I believe that even as ambitions and aspirations are human phenomenon, and as human beings with fundamental and constitutional rights to seek for positions, I think now they are after the progress of the party, and our democracy.
So I see their aspirations as just being second interest.
Notwithstanding, in as much as we are celebrating defections of bigwigs from the ruling APC, to our fold in our bid towards the reinvigoration of the party, we deems it fit to first and foremost, stressed that the party must be very careful when it comes to the issues of internal democracy and picking candidates that would flag the party's flag during elections.
And so we should also not be carried away by the celebration, so much so that we will lose sight of the real course of true internal democracy.
Therefore, we make bold to also say that in as much as members are at liberty to jostle for one elective position and another, prior consideration should be given to those non- defecting members.
Are you envisaging Lamido under PDP, ousting President Buhari and his APC led Government? We are seeing the victory coming and His Excellency Sule Lamido, will give President Buhari tough time.
Lamido's vast political and administrative experiences are glaring and strong enough to make him an easy goer ahead of incumbent President.
His landmark achievements in Jigawa Sate, among other experiences, are there for People to see and that has made him even more programmed and well acquainted with executive works.
The unfulfilled promises of the APC led government are also enough campaigning tools for Lamido and PDP to defeat the APC in 2019.
You are an ardent supporter of Lamido, don't you see the defectors seeking for presidential ticket also as obstacles to him? Now as far as political ideology and party loyalty is concern, I make bold to say that among all the aspirants I see none that is even equal to Alhaji Sule Lamido.
He stood firm when almost all of them chose to dump the PDP, and that is why we are saying such scarifies should not be easily forgotten.
Every serious minded member of the party knows that his resilient efforts are what have spurred some of the reverting politicians back to the party.
It is of importance to further stress that his firm stand for political ideology is what has helped the PDP to regain its grounds and as such he deserves to be congratulated for the feat as well as reward since it is an achievement.
We will continue to canvass support for Lamido, under the Advocacy Network Nigeria (ANN), until he becomes victorious.
But aren't the defectors political threats to your quest of not-tooyoung to run? Not at all, I said so because as youths in the PDP, we are now mapping out strategy which we will present to the Party executives, and in it we will be telling the patty to specifically reserves some positions for the youth to contest.
I think it is too earlier for us as youth to begin to think of vying for the position of President, but it will be all right to go for, the state and national assemblies, governorship and deputy governorship.
What roles will the PDP youth play to secure victory for the party in 2019? As National Coordinator, of the People's Democratic Party, National Youth Empowerment Strategy (PDP-NYES), we have since being working towards success and with the reinvigoration of the party's profile, more work will be done that will attract the youths to have confidence on the PDP.
Recently, I was appointed by the North Central Zonal youth leader of the party, Aruwa Ismail, as his special assistant general duties, and this is also part of the efforts, he has been putting in place recognising vibrant youths that will help bring the party back into its rightful place.