Another gap up move and continues to 14300 . In the last few weeks we have seen lot of gap ups and gap downs which are made and later filled up.
Sensex has gaps left at 14484-14608 while one of the gaps was filled today . The above gap is a level to watch. As we have seen in yesterdays post till Sensex sustains 13500 and doesnt break 15100 we can expect markets to stay in the narrow range and swing to different cues. Till we dont see a move out of this range traders will need to be cautious and dont go leveraged as it would be a small range in which markets could swing and would be better to take stock specific view then index view .
Sugar stocks Sakthi , Simbhaoli ran up as expected and still look good for more . of the breakout stocks KRBL moved up above 145 and got locked in upper freeze at 152 !.
ACC is firming up on charts for a bounce . Buy above 600-604 for a tgt of 630-650 .
LUPIN is the only chart which is making bullish oves and a close above 760 is the level to watch in next few weeks and if does so the pattern suggests a 150-200 rs upmove.
Kolte Patil , KRBL are ideal picks for high risk day traders for intra freeze .
We have seen CRR rates being hiked , inflation continues to sustain 11-12 % zone , Earnings projections are being downgraded etc etc and lot of data which continues to show a slowdown which was evident from the time of 17k on charts where in we were cautious/exit/book etc and the economical data seems a little late.
So what next from here , technically the expectation is the correction and bottoming out phase could continue till Sept or lil later and worst case Jan ( 8-13 mths theory ) . So accordingly the economic data could continue to worsen till Sept or lil later but markets generally tend to discount the things before economic data does !!! .
Although index will continue to remain under pressure or range bound there are loads of stocks , sectors which are still strong and some fallen much below fair values and seems attractive. Many of the stocks are available at an index level of 8000 ! or roundabouts and the ratios like p/e, eps , book value loook attractive in many of them . So investors need to do much more research as suddenly options have increased , coz many may seem attractive .
If u like the stuff put up on the blog pass it around and for suggestions , comments feel free to post it or mail to noorrock2002@gmail.com .


text:
The U.S. Government Is Tracking Migrant Girls' Periods And The Reason Why Is Even More Disturbing
BY Raquel Reichard | April 8, 2019 AT 11:44 am
By Raquel Reichard April 8, 2019 at 11:44 am
The US can't keep track of unaccompanied minors — in fact, there are at least 1,488 youth who are missing after being under federal government custody — but apparently they can, and are, monitoring the menstruation of migrant girls.
Harper's Bizarre reports that the Trump administration has been tracking the period, pregnancies and reason for gestation of teen girls in their custody. According to the magazine, it's likely that the data is being collected to prevent young pregnant migrants from receiving abortions, even if they need or want this lawful reproductive healthcare.
Anti-choice crusader Scott Lloyd, who is writing a book against the procedure, is behind the menstruation and pregnancy reports. When Lloyd headed the Office of Refugee Resettlement, he attempted to use a migrant girl as a way to test an "abortion reversal" method and often forced youth to carry their pregnancies to term. In one instance, he referred to a pregnant girl seeking abortion care who had considered suicide as "obnoxious" and said "the unborn child is in our care so the medical team should continue with standard prenatal care.'"
For migrant girls who are pressured to carry their pregnancies to term, it is also possible that the state will take their newborns away from them. Previously, many migrant children have been taken to Bethany Christian Services, a Betsy DeVos-supported adoption agency that doesn't place children with LGBTQ couples. Even more, even if parents are told the child would be in temporary foster care, there's still a possibility that they won't ever be reunited.
Earlier this year, Jonathan White, the head of the Health and Human Services Department, said removing children from 'sponsor' homes to rejoin their parents "would present grave child welfare concerns," making the argument that the government should focus on reuniting children currently in its custody and not those who have already been released to sponsor homes.
In short: the government is tracking the bodies of young migrant girls of color, taking away their autonomy and forcing them to carry out terms to then place the child with other, deemed more deserving, American families.
This isn't a scene out of a Lifetime movie about a corrupt foriegn government. This is life in the US under a Trump presidency.
Read: The 'Death Sentence' Abortion Bill Would Make Abortion Punishable By Up To 99 Years In Prison
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Guatemala's President Is Going To Have To Settle The Immigration Negotiation With Trump
By Javier Rojas January 16, 2020 at 4:22 pm
BY Javier Rojas | January 16, 2020 AT 4:22 pm
dr.giammattei / Instagram
Tuesday marked a new era of leadership in Guatemala as the Latin country swore in Alejandro Giammattei, a conservative doctor and former prison system director from the right-wing Vamos party. The 63-year-old won the presidency on his fourth attempt back in August with bold promises of changing a corrupt government and restoring the rule-of-law in city streets.
"Today, we are putting a full stop on corrupt practices so they disappear from the face of this country," Giammattei said at his swearing-in ceremony that had a five-hour delay.
His ceremony somewhat overshadowed by delays and protests against ex-President Jimmy Morales, who for four years dodged accusations of corruption. The scene of protestors throwing eggs and voicing anger at the outgoing administration was a reminder of the displeasure against the country's deep-seated political corruption. It's also a key reason why many are looking to Giammattei to bring change to the struggling country.
As Giammattei takes office, there are questions on what his presidency will mean to Guatemala in the short and long term as issues over the future of an asylum deal with the United States comes into focus.
"This is the moment to rescue #Guatemala from the absurd," Alejandro Giammattei said after he was sworn in as president tonight amid protests against outgoing leader Jimmy Morales and uncertainty over the future of an asylum deal with the US.
My latest: https://t.co/PVeZqcJ3dO
— Sandra Cuffe (@Sandra_Cuffe) January 15, 2020
One of the biggest issues confronting Guatemala and one that Giammattei will have to address early is the Asylum Cooperation Agreement (ACA) that was signed by Morales last July with the U.S. government. The agreement, which was highly opposed in Guatemala, lets U.S. immigration officials send Honduran and Salvadoran migrants that are requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexican border to apply for protection here instead. There is now increasing skepticism as reports say that the U.S. wants to expand the deal to include Mexican asylum seekers as well.
Last year, there were many Guatemalans that were part of a 3,000 migrant caravan that made its way up from Latin America to the U.S. The caravan consisted of people that were looking to claim asylum and became a symbol of the growing migration crisis at the southern border. President Trump frequently attacked the caravan and eventually threatened to impose tariffs on Guatemala if it didn't agree to the asylum deal.
According to the Guatemalan Migration Institute, "as of Friday, 128 Salvadoran and Honduran asylum seekers had been sent as part of the agreement," with only a limited number actually applying for asylum there and others returning home. Giammattei has previously said that he's willing to make changes to the agreement but on Tuesday said he would revisit details later.
The country, one of Latin America's poorest nations, is a key part of President Trump's plan to curb illegal immigration and asylum claims. mostly from those coming to the U.S. Southern border. The issue for many living in Guatemala is how to let those seeking asylum when itself has become a major source of U.S. bound migrants.
Poverty levels have only grown in the last 20 years and income inequality levels continue to be a big problem in the country.
Alejandro Giammattei Falla fue investido como presidente de Guatemala por un período de cuatro años, y en la ceremonia aseguró intentará enderezar el rumbo del país #15Ene https://t.co/JpdK96ULRY
— Analítica (@Analitica) January 15, 2020
One of the big platform issues that Giammattei ran his campaign on was helping the shorten income inequality gap and poverty levels that have only grown in the last 20 years. Fifty-nine percent of Guatemalan citizens live below the poverty line and almost 1 million children under the age of 5 are believed to live with chronic malnutrition, according to the AP.
There is also the rampant problem of street violence and cartel gangs that have had a major effect on the daily lives of many in the country. Giammattei plans to address this with reforms that include designating "street gangs as terrorist groups."
"This is the moment to rescue Guatemala from the absurd. It is the moment to combat corruption and malnutrition," Giammattei said on Tuesday in his first address to the country as president. "There is no peace without security, I will present a law that aims to declare street gangs for what they are – terrorist groups."
There is hope that Giammattei will turn a new page in Guatemala that will see change come to all in the country that has faced uncertainty for years. But only time will tell if this is indeed new leadership or business as usual.
"We will bring back the peace this country so dearly needs," Giammattei said. "We will govern with decency, with honourability, and with ethical values."
READ: In Efforts To Double Latino Representation In Hollywood, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti Unveils New Historic Initiative
President TrumpAlejandro GiammatteiGuatemalaimmigration
Mexican National Jumped To His Death Off A Bridge After He Was Denied Asylum
By Araceli Cruz January 13, 2020 at 1:39 pm
BY Araceli Cruz | January 13, 2020 AT 1:39 pm
El Mañana de Reynosa / Facebook
To understand why undocumented immigrants will do everything in their power to get to the United States is to fundamentally understand what is at the core of their fears. They are not all seeking the "American Dream" or to have a better life, many are seeking to have a life free of fear and violence. For many people seeking asylum, it's a matter of life or death. Remaining in their home countries means death, and there's no other way of saying it. People are dying at the hands of gangs and the cartels. So, when people risk their lives to enter the U.S. without documentation, it's because they have nothing to lose. The worst part of all is being turned away by the U.S. because some of these have nothing else to live for.
A Mexican national in his 30s or 40s cut his throat and jumped to his death off a bridge across the Rio Grande after he was denied by the U.S. border patrol.
Credit: @mlnangalama / Twitter
The man, who has yet to be identified, committed suicide on Wednesday, Jan. 8, and according to several news reports, was seeking asylum. Reports say that he jumped off the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, which is between the Mexican border city of Reynosa and Pharr, Texas.
We attempted to reach information about his death via the U.S. border patrol. However, because the death occurred on Mexican soil, American officials do not have to comment about the death or include it in any of their reports.
Mexican officials are investigating the death further.
Credit: El Mañana de Reynosa / Facebook
The prosecutor's office for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas did release more information about the man saying, "He was attempting to cross to the U.S. side to request asylum. When he was denied entry, he walked several meters (yards) toward the Mexican side and cut himself with a knife." The death occurred around 5 p.m. local time.
It's unclear why the man decided to take such extreme measures, but as we noted earlier, some of the undocumented people have said returning home is like facing death.
According to footage made available to the Spanish-language publication, El Mañana de Reynosa, a video shows the man pacing back and forth on the bridge while officials attempt to calm him down. The standoff lasted for about 15 minutes. Since the man was behaving dangerously, U.S. officials closed the gates to the border and stopped international entry. After the man jumped, the Red Cross arrived at the scene where he was pronounced dead.
Undocumented people are facing even more hardships when getting denied asylum. Aside from "remaining in Mexico" until it's time for their asylum hearing, some are now being transferred to Guatalama even if they're Mexican.
This week the Trump Administration announced that some Mexican nationals would be sent to Guatalama under near agreements between both country officials.
"Certain Mexicans seeking humanitarian protection in the United States may now be eligible to be transferred to Guatemala and given the opportunity to seek protection there, under the terms of the Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement," a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to NBC News.
To make matters worse, the outgoing Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said that agreement never became official. He said the U.S. would have to discuss the matter further with the new president.
"It's more than clear; in the agreement, it only lays out Salvadorans and Hondurans," Morales said, according to Time magazine. "The United States has talked about the possibility of including Mexican nationals, but that they have to discuss it with the next government. In the last visit we made to the White House with President Trump we were clear saying that that negotiation had to be done with the new government."
All of this disorganization by the part of the United States just complicates matters more for the vulnerable undocumented community. They seek to enter the United States, and getting turned away means more uncertainty than before.
This is not the first time a person has committed suicide soon after being deported.
Credit: @adv_project / Twitter
In 2017, 44-year-old Guadalupe Olivas Valencia also jumped to his death soon after he was deported to Mexico. He had been previously living in California, working as a gardener.
READ: Trump Administration Plans To Send Some Mexican Asylum-Seekers To Guatemala And Mexico Is Fighting Back
US / Mexico BorderImmigrant RightsAsylum SeekersimmigrationMexico
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A Latino Veteran Wins $190K Settlement After Being Detained By ICE While Carrying His US Passport BY danielli
Andrea Arruti, The Mexican Actress Who Lent Her Voice To 'Frozen' In Spanish, Died At 21 Years Of Age BY Alexis Barron
A Fan Asked Eva Mendes Why She Hasn't Acted In Years And She Says It's Because She Isn't Settling For Any Role BY Araceli Cruz
US Navy SEAL Convicted Of A War Crime For Taking A Selfie With The Head Of A Teenager He Stabbed To Death Gets A Clothing Line BY Leah Scott
Andrea Arruti, The Mexican Actress Who Lent Her Voice To 'Frozen' In Spanish, Died At 21 Years Of Age
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Registrant Michael Robeson is an adoptee looking for any of his birth family. The adoptee was born in Maine in 1975 on December 14th. He was born Unknown Unknown in Waterville in Kennebec County to birthmother Unknown Unknown (maiden name Unknown). Unknown handled the adoption. His adoptive name became Michael Robeson.
I was born in Waterville Osteopathic Hosptial in 1975. I have no information only that I was adopted twice, once with birth family then was giving up for an adoption again in 1979 in North Carolina. I am looking for birth family.


After the struggle, new fashion came with a whole new look, the designers from the early years like Chanel disliked the new look, it was the top of ladies following the Paris fashion. At the conclusion of the workshop, every of the finalists will have the ability to showcase their concepts at an awards present in Berlin. Our jury of higher-echelon representatives from the fields of fashion and know-how defines the themes and the choice standards for the Fashion Fusion Challenge.
Branded fashion sneakers will cost you more but will likely be higher made and will last more. Moreover, the winners will have access to the Fashion Fusion Network together with hub:raum, partners as well as tech and fashion professionals, they usually may additionally have the chance to develop their idea until it is prepared for market. The greatest solution to perceive the shoppers' wants and due to this fact predict fashion traits is thru market analysis There are two analysis methods: major and secondary. Understanding the patron is a vital part of the fashion world, without them products can't be bought. That's why the most progressive brands and pacemakers from the fashion and tech market be a part of us and enrich the problem. Be part of the Fashion Fusion Challenge by making use of together with your idea or idea – individually or as a workforce.
They consider functions and select up to ten of essentially the most promising ideas and ideas to participate within the Fashion Fusion Lab. The fashion trade is seeing how 3D printing technology has influenced designers equivalent to Iris Van Herpen and Kimberly Ovitz These designers have been heavily experimenting and developing 3D printed couture items. The classic fashion began having the brief skirts together with the introduction of the cars. At Coachella, fashion and music specific an power that belongs to the competition and music goers.
Since fakes are distinguishable by their poorer high quality, there may be still a demand for luxury items, and as only a trademark or brand will be copyrighted, many fashion manufacturers make this probably the most seen facets of the garment or accent.


mining and production of gold in south africa,Mining industry of South Africa - WikipediaGold. South Africa mined gold production, 1940-2011. South Africa accounted for 15% of the world's gold production in 2002 and 12% in 2005, though the nation had produced as much as 30% of world output as recently as 1993. Despite declining production, South Africa's gold exports were valued at.mining and production of gold in south africa,South Africa's gold industry, like its economy, is crumbling - The .Mar 7, 2016 . A dangerous "second gold rush" for South Africa's most desperate men. . Gold miner Andile Jeremiah illegally enters an abandoned — and deadly — mine in Roodepoort, South Africa. . South Africa was once the world's biggest gold producer, with more than 75 percent of all global reserves in 1970.
Feb 24, 2017 . Despite generous mineral reserves and high-grade orebodies, South Africa's gold mining industry continues to see the sparkle it once held as the best gold producer in the world, dimming, having seen steadily declining production figures in recent years, positioning it in sixth place in 2015, where it is likely.
The Witwatersrand Basin remains the world's largest gold resource; To date the Wits Basin has produced more than 2 billion ounces of gold; At the current gold price about half of the SA gold mining industry is marginal; Newly-mined SA gold only accounts for about 5% of worldwide supply; Gold producers paid R1.6 billion.
The decreasing importance of gold mining in South Africa | Statistics .
Mar 12, 2015 . Stats SA has published comparable mining production indices that go back as far as January 1980, for the industry as a whole as well as for various minerals, including gold, iron, platinum and coal. The indices provide an indication of the level of production, set against a particular base period. Currently.
Gold. South Africa mined gold production, 1940-2011. South Africa accounted for 15% of the world's gold production in 2002 and 12% in 2005, though the nation had produced as much as 30% of world output as recently as 1993. Despite declining production, South Africa's gold exports were valued at.
Mar 7, 2016 . A dangerous "second gold rush" for South Africa's most desperate men. . Gold miner Andile Jeremiah illegally enters an abandoned — and deadly — mine in Roodepoort, South Africa. . South Africa was once the world's biggest gold producer, with more than 75 percent of all global reserves in 1970.
INCLUDING MAJOR EVENTS. 1873: First large-scale production began when alluvial deposits were discovered at Pilgrim's Rest; 1884: Gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand which led to an influx of miners from around the world; 1886 - 1900: First large gold mining company established and the commencement of the.
South Africa is a top 10 producer globally of PGMs, gold, chromium and coal. Huge deposits remain untapped for most minerals including PGMs, gold, coal, chromium, and diamonds. However, large portions of these reserves are found several kilometres underground, which means innovative and state-of-the-art mining.
GOLD INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA & HISTORY OF GOLD .
Sep 2, 2016 . "Visions of Gold" is a short color film on "Gold! The thread from which we weave our dreams! The key to stability!" Produced by South African film maker Emil Nofal in the mid-1960s, the film opens with rows of gold bars as the narrator Joe Stewardson explains how (in1 885) itinerant prospectors George.
Oct 6, 2013 . South Africa. Historically the largest gold producing country, South Africa currently ranks as the fifth largest. The country's gold production in 2012 stood at 170t (6.3% of global production) compared to 190t in 2011. The decline in gold production was due to numerous gold mine strikes during the same year.
SA's share of global gold production expected to fall below 5% by .
May 23, 2017 . "Notably' in December 2016' SA-based Sibanye Gold announced plans to acquire US-based platinum group metals Stillwater Mining Company for $2.2bn. We forecast SA's gold output to account for approximately 4.6% of global gold production over this period compared to an average 5.6% over the.
The argument that mine production of gold needs to fall before the price will rise is by no means proven. But the narrow application of such a belief will do untold damage to the South African economy. Firstly, South Africa, as one of the world's higher cost gold producers, will bear the brunt of any production cut backs.
Friday marks a year since 34 miners were shot dead by police in the South African town of Marikana in a dispute over wages. Mine unions say there has been little improvement since then. South Africa's economy has long been driven by mining but production has dropped over the decades. Mark Lowen was given rare.
Gold Fields -7% as South Africa production falls - Gold Fields .
Feb 14, 2018 . Gold Fields (GFI) -7.3% premarket after reporting FY 2017 results, with profit falling 4% Y/Y and production from its South Deep mine in South Africa comin.
Also, output rebounded for coal (2.7 percent from -4.6 percent) and gold production fell at a softer pace (-7.7 percent from -12.5 percent). In contrast, output declined for . in March of 2016. This page provides - South Africa Mining Production- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
jltbeattie. uct. ac.za. ABSTRACT. The history of gold mining and gold trade in southern. Africa goes back nearly I 000 years. Given the number of early gold mines and the records oflively trade on the east coast, the scale of precolonial production was clearly extensive and of considerable importance in the economies.
Oct 13, 2017 . Mining production in South Africa continued its "exceptional" growth in August, as production figures increased year on year. Iron Ore, Gold and Diamond mining proved key, as mining production across the South African continent increased by 6.9% year on year, a 9% increase year on year from July.
One of the largest and most diverse mineral producers, South Africa was the largest producer and exporter of chromium and vanadium; the leading producer of gold, gem diamonds, ferrochromium, platinum (88% of world reserve base of platinum-group metals), manganese (80% of world reserve base of ore), and synthetic.
Mining of Gold and Uranium in South Africa 2017 - Research and .
Jan 3, 2018 . Although South Africa is no longer the world's largest gold producer and is now ranked sixth in the world, the gold and uranium mining sector is one of the largest components of the domestic mining industry on the basis of employment and export earnings. During 2016, South Africa produced 165.6t of gold,.
A critical examination of the full history of gold production from the Witwatersrand, based on figures from the Chamber of Mines of South Africa,2 can provide a fresh perspective, particularly if tools of analysis and forecasting, pioneered in the context of U.S. and global energy reserves by the distinguished American geologist.
SA gold mining will be dead by 2033 if it fails to adopt tech - industry .
Mar 24, 2017 . Experts speaking to Bloomberg say that South Africa's mining technology is generally antiquated while methods used to extract gold hark back to the 1950s. Greater automation and technology, though, can help boost production levels, especially as South Africa still has the third largest reserves in the.


text:
Woods Valley Ski Area packs snow, customers
REBECCA CRONISER
Dec 26, 2008 at 12:01 AM Dec 26, 2008 at 10:31 PM
With temperatures in the 30s and no rain in sight Friday morning, there was no doubt that the Wolff family of Camden would be out on the slopes at Woods Valley Ski Area.
"It's a good, fun, family sport to enjoy in Central New York," Michelle Wolff said. "And these are just amazing conditions for it today."
Michelle, Bill and their son Billy, 9, spend every Thursday on the slopes with Billy's ski club from Camden schools. Since they didn't get out on Christmas, they were itching for the slopes Friday.
"You can't pass up a day like today," Michelle said.
All three lifts were in action, and all 14 slopes were open as an estimated 1,500 skiers traveled to the destination Friday. The parking lot was full by 11 a.m.
"We're always open this time of year, but sometimes it's just manmade snow and not all of the trails are open," ski area co-owner Joe Olney said. "That storm last week dumped enough that we could open up the whole thing."
Two years ago when the Mohawk Valley had a dry and mild first half of winter, the area had just one slope open for 48 days. But this year, the region already has had about 40 inches of snow, compared to a season average total of about 98 inches.
"Usually at this time of year, we have 80 percent of the area open," he said.
Olney said Friday was the best day of this winter break so far.
Lauren Felice, 13, of Rome agreed.
"I try to get out here every day if it's not raining," Felice said. "But today is just perfect. It's not too cold, there's plenty of snow and it's a beautiful day," she said.
The weekend weather does not look that pleasant for skiers though - rain is expected today and possibly Sunday.
Olney said although that most likely will result in the slopes being less crowded, he said those who venture out in the rain still will enjoy the skiing.
"Snow conditions in the rain are beautiful," he said.
Olney said the good winter weather should hold up this season and said people should enjoy the outdoors.
"Obviously I recommend skiing, but people should get out and do something - like cross country skiing, or ice fishing, or bird watching," he said. "Just don't spend the winter cooped up inside."


text:
Ifor Williams Trailers
Horsebox that doubles as a milk vending machine
Dairy farmer creates UK's first mobile milk bar using a customised trailer from Ifor Williams
Andrew ForgraveRural Affairs Editor
11:43, 6 JUN 2019
Dairy farmer Ben Spence waits for customers in the car park of the George and Dragon Pub in Aysgarth, near Leyburn, north Yorkshire (Image: Chris Booth)
An Ifor Williams horsebox has been converted into the UK's first mobile milk vending machine.
The venture, known as The Home Farmer, offers customers the chance to self-serve whole milk into bottles at £1 per litre.
It's towed between villages in the Yorkshire Dales delivering fresh milk "with the cream still on the top".
The vending machine is supplied by a 150-litre tank concealed inside a HB506 horsebox manufactured on Deeside by Corwen -based Ifor Williams Trailers .
Ben Spence, 31, who runs the "mobile shop" alongside brother Adam, 29, and dad David, 65, chose the particular model as it lacks internal partitions, so could be easily converted.
He said: "We've been surprised at the demand for the new service. What started out as a side-line has now become a focal part of the business.
"Although we are by no means the first to create a milk vending machine, as far as I know we are the first to put it in a trailer and tow it around."
Inspiring horse coach becomes 'face' of Wales' disabled riders
Eight-year-old Caelan McCreadie from Askrigg fills up a litre bottle of milk (Image: Chris Booth)
Milk for the venture comes from the family's 80-cow herd at Thorngarth Home Farm in Aysgarth, north Yorkshire.
It is "gently pasteurised" to retain as much of the flavour of raw milk.
Ben said: "All the locals know where our milk comes from; it's fresh from the cows down the road and in the tank within 48 hours.
"It's about trying to distinguish our milk from supermarket milk."
Ifor Williams Trailers teams up with Lamborghini for horsebox launch
Customers can help themselves to one or two litre bottles – plastic or glass – by slotting in £1 coins for each litre.
Those with a pre-paid "loyalty key" get a 10p discount per litre.
As the farm already supplies milk to nearby Wensleydale Creamery, it's been working with company's cheesemakers on a new raw milk recipe.
Once perfected, the farm will be selling the cheese in its new vending trailer.
"We wanted to develop something new and they suggested a raw milk cheese which is completely different to their own brand," explained Ben.
The Spence family are hoping to expand the venture into a mobile shop that also sells their own brand of cheese (Image: Chris Booth)
Follow @northwaleslive
LlandudnoSudden closure of Llandudno store after several decades in businessGimberts has been closed since the start of the year but customers have been left in the dark


Fresh sparkling citrus, neroli and raspberry top notes lift and embrace the rich jasmin and commercial white floral heart. Elegant tenacious base notes blend white honey with warm patchouli woods and sensual musks.
Buy this Perfume online from Jumia Ghana at the best price and have it delivered right at your doorstep.
iTech Ghana is focused on providing Ghanaians with Information regarding Techn News, Gadget Reviews , Specs, and Tips (Gadgets) In the Market. We're here to guide you about which products to buy so as to make the right decision.


text:
import Helper, { states } from './_helper';
import { module, test } from 'qunit';

module('Integration | ORM | Has Many | Named | association #set', {
  beforeEach() {
    this.helper = new Helper();
  }
});

/*
  The model can update its association via parent, for all states
*/
states.forEach((state) => {

  test(`a ${state} can update its association to a list of saved children`, function(assert) {
    let [ user ] = this.helper[state]();
    let savedPost = this.helper.savedChild();

    user.blogPosts = [ savedPost ];

    assert.ok(user.blogPosts.models.indexOf(savedPost) > -1);
    assert.ok(user.blogPostIds.indexOf(savedPost.id) > -1);
  });

  test(`a ${state} can update its association to a new parent`, function(assert) {
    let [ user ] = this.helper[state]();
    let newPost = this.helper.newChild();

    user.blogPosts = [ newPost ];

    assert.deepEqual(user.blogPostIds, [ undefined ]);
    assert.deepEqual(user.blogPosts.models[0], newPost);
  });

  test(`a ${state} can clear its association via an empty list`, function(assert) {
    let [ user ] = this.helper[state]();

    user.blogPosts = [ ];

    assert.deepEqual(user.blogPostIds, [ ]);
    assert.equal(user.blogPosts.models.length, 0);
  });

  test(`a ${state} can clear its association via an empty list`, function(assert) {
    let [ user ] = this.helper[state]();

    user.blogPosts = null;

    assert.deepEqual(user.blogPostIds, [ ]);
    assert.equal(user.blogPosts.models.length, 0);
  });

});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


During the week, Stagecoach North East employees at the Newcastle depots in Slatyford and Walkergate took part in a series of activities aimed at highlighting the importance of continuing to deliver good customer service day in, day out for passengers, with the theme 'Rolling out the red carpet every day' and 'Everyday heroes'.
The local bus operator helped staff to celebrate the national campaign with a 'Red Carpet' morning at the Walkergate depot where refreshments and food were handed out to the depot team to reward them for their efforts.
To say thanks you to customers, breakfast events were held in Newcastle City Centre, where staff handed out healthy snacks to commuters on their way to work.
The most recent National Bus Satisfaction Survey by consumer watchdog Transport Focus showed that, across the North East, 9 out of 10 bus passengers were satisfied or very satisfied with their service. In addition, Stagecoach was one of the best rated bus companies in the country by people with disabilities.


hi my name is vampirella and it plays new. i hope that you can like these photos and if you dedicate me i promise to send even more her hard. thing you say of it? i accept any comment especially from women. you have comment more exciting i give my e-mail. a kiss to everybody.


I met Kathryn while photographing a wedding last year. She and two other ladies run a wedding and event planning business in Minneapolis called Paperwhite Weddings and Events. They have a strong love for eucalyptus, neutral tones, and greens just like myself so I knew we were going to get along just great. 😉 We decided that we had no choice but to work together on a styled event. While spending that time with them, I fell more in love with their work and how they all work together. You can see our styled event here.
Kathryn mentioned after our event that she would love for me to photograph her family this coming year. I was so excited to hear from her this spring and to finally meet her little boy Archer and her husband. Archer was way more interested in the trucks, dogs, and people passing by than hanging out with us for the afternoon. Luckily, a bag full of treats and snacks grabbed his attention back to us.
Be sure to connect with Paperwhite if you are planning a upcoming wedding or event! Kathryn and her team are a delight!


text:
Tim Brennan  is an American musician who is a lead guitarist, vocalist and one of the primary songwriters of the Boston Celtic punk group Dropkick Murphys.

Early life and career
Born in West Hartford, Connecticut, Brennan played drums for numerous punk, hardcore and rock bands in Connecticut where he graduated from Kingswood-Oxford preparatory high school in West Hartford CT in 2000 before moving to Worcester MA to attend Assumption College. While in High School Tim had a teacher who gave him a Pogues cassette tape. Tim learned how to play the tin whistle while listening to that tape. Later the same teacher gave Tim the Dropkick Murphys album "Do or Die" thus fully introducing Tim to Celtic Punk Music. In 2003, Brennan was asked to join the Dropkick Murphys on tour to sell merchandise on the Warped Tour. While on tour they had him play accordion on a few songs. When the Warped Tour ended Tim went back to college to finish his degree. A month after being back in school he got a call that the Dropkick mandolin player had left the band and they asked Tim to join full time. He joined the band full-time as the accordion/mandolin/tin whistle/banjo player. Brennan also played in the band Gimme Danger along with Marc Orrell, James Lynch, and Ben Karnavas. When Orrell left the Dropkick Murphys, Brennan became the band's lead guitarist, but also continued to play the accordion.  Tim continues to play the tin whistle on all Dropkick Murphys recordings despite having switched to lead guitar. Brennan also played drums in the band Double Nines with Dropkick Murphys' tech Kevin Rheault.

On September 10, 2014 Tim appeared on Ken Reid (comedian)'s TV Guidance Counselor Podcast. On February 17, 2017 Tim appeared on the Song Exploder podcast. On June 9, 2017 Tim appeared on the Mike Herrera Hour Podcast.

References

External links

Living people
American people of Irish descent
American male singers
American punk rock musicians
Singers from Massachusetts
Dropkick Murphys members
1983 births
Guitarists from Massachusetts
American mandolinists
American male guitarists
21st-century American singers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Smartwool Double Corbet 120 provides warmth, surprisingly good wind resistance, and sharp urban styling but lacks technical features common in competitors and doesn't stuff away well. The hybrid design allows for core warmth during winter running, Nordic skiing, and winter pub crawls. The non-insulated sections provide everyday comfort and contribute to its ability to be layered.
The "120" stands for 120 gram SmartLoft insulation throughout the core. That means a 1 meter x 1 meter piece of wool weighs 120 grams, the heaviest the company offers.
Lining the interior is Smartwool's namesake merino, which allowed me to wear only a lightweight merino base layer under the Double Corbet 120 and stay warm in temperatures well below 30 degrees Fahrenheit with no wind, during a moderately strenuous uphill snowshoe hike.
Smartwool's Double Corbet 120 is a slim-fit jacket ideal for those with slender builds, although Smartwool calls it a "regular-fit". It's comfortable and moves well with the body.
There's a lack of technical features in the Double Corbet 120 that may lead to it being seen more often at brunch than deep in the backcountry. Yet, its streamlined fit and inherent warmth certainly warrant its use in moderate wilderness climbs. The chest pocket can handle most size mobile devices and has a nicely stitched cable port.
The Smartwool Double Corbet 120 is an exceptionally well-built and durable jacket, the best made within the test—it feels "tough". Testing revealed no physical weaknesses, zipper issues, or exterior blemishes.
The Double Corbet 120 weighs 17 ounces. It doesn't pack particularly well. I managed to fold it down to about the size of a football. It will pack reasonably well into the lids of alpine packs in the 30-40 liter range, but don't expect much else to be in there with it.


text:
Open Innovation: Insights Provide a Roadmap from Ideation to Innovation
by nsdesign | Mar 6, 2017 | Insights, News, Vertical Innovation
Our Vertical Innovation™ process relies heavily on market and consumer research — not just at the outset, but throughout the project. Members of our in-house Insights team — Amanda Beacher, Stephanie Malafarina and Stacey Sullivan — have more than 60 years' experience between them, in all facets of user and market research. We asked them to talk about Open-Ended Innovation, our program for clients who want to reach outside their comfort zones.
As Stephanie puts it, "We help them get outside their own headspace and see beyond their thinking about who they are and where they have a right to play."
What is An "Open-Ended" Innovation?
Stacey: An Open-Ended Innovation program is for the client that comes to us and says, "We don't know what to make but we want to create something using our current technology."
Amanda: That process starts with us ramping up very quickly on the core competencies and assets of our client partner and how we can potentially leverage them. That's done through an in-depth kickoff meeting with all the key stakeholders from the client's side, and all the leads from the NS side. Within Insights, we emphasize the importance of conducting subject-matter expert interviews, sometimes up to 20, within the client/partner's organization.
Then we do high-level market assessments. We have subscriptions to standardized market reports. So for instance if we were doing an Open-Ended program for a client that works in aluminum, what are the upstream markets that feed into aluminum and where is the downstream? We start there to see where they could potentially go, and we look at the health of those markets. Some people get kind of cross-eyed when they look at it because we put together a full vetting matrix: Here are 40 different markets you could potentially go into, and then we rank those 40 markets by the characteristics or metrics that make sense. What's the future growth potential? Is it a mature market or an emerging market? What are the barriers to entry? And from that grid we can rank the potential markets.
Stacey: In one recent case, we identified at-home medical products as a growing market. At that point, we talked to people giving and receiving in-home care to find out their issues, and later, we showed them our concepts. We did usability research, where we had people sitting in bed, playing with the different pieces of the system, seeing how it moved and how they would utilize it.
All of this is done collaboratively with engineering and designing, our client relationship managers and our clients/partners. It's all iterative — it's a cross-discipline, cross-company team effort.
How long does this take?
Amanda: "Typical" doesn't exist here, but that's a benefit of how we work. On average, we find the disruptive opportunity in less than three months. We don't offer an off-the-shelf innovation program. I've done three Open-Ended programs here and they've all been very different, because they had different starting points. A client/partner might be wide open, they just want to find something new, and others might give us more direction.
Stephanie: Oftentimes, an Open-Ended program results in multiple products or a suite of products, and a road map for our client. On my last one, there were five to seven ideas that the organization was really excited about. They delegated some to task forces within their organization to explore further, while we moved forward with Option A.
That's typically one of our challenges in the beginning, really understanding the client's appetite for innovation. We start to discover as we work with them more closely just how far we can push them, where their comfort zone is and what level of risk they want to take.
Amanda: It's what we call the "mild to wild" spectrum. Some options are mild, meaning they're closely aligned to the core business, an adjacent innovation as opposed to disruptive, or wild, for which they may have to make capital investments or hire new talent. It's all about their corporate readiness to engage in the opportunity space.
Stephanie: We're working now with a company whose expertise is chemicals, and they came to us for help with a product to activate the chemical. And because they're not in the consumer product space, we've done a lot of coaching. But it's been a learning experience for us, too.
Stacey: We also have to assess how comfortable they are with Insights and Research, specifically. Some of our clients want a 100-page detailed report with very sophisticated analyses because that's what they're used to getting. Other clients, all they want is a one-pager that says "We recommend going with Product X." So we have to determine their preferences right at the beginning. I don't want to give them research they've already done. If I don't move the needle on their body of knowledge, then we haven't done our job.
Amanda: We don't have an ego about it. I want to see everything they've done prior to coming to us that's relevant, so if that means working with another researcher they have a relationship with, that's great. We don't want to waste anyone's time, so we like to build off of existing knowledge. We often have a counterpart on the client side, someone in an Insights or Research role, and I like to work with them closely. We're not trying to push that person aside. I've had the same experience, working in the client side, where I felt kept at arm's length by the big consulting firm. I make it a point not to make my client feel that way. That's why Nottingham Spirk hires people who are seasoned, because we've been there.
How do you manage the process of narrowing down the choices?
Stacey: I feel like we're the navigator. If we were on a ship together, we're the ones who say, "Go northwest." And if we go a little more north or a little more west, it's OK. There are pockets of opportunities, and what matters is that we choose a pocket and move forward. As Amanda has said, it's informed intuition.
Amanda: Right, it's intuition but based on more than just your gut. I've actually had that as a column in the decision matrix before: Does this opportunity space resonate with everything you know about your organization's capabilities and readiness? The matrices help. We're almost forcing the information into a quantifiable form. We take all the discussions and considerations and qualitative input and rate it. This allows us to deselect and focus in on the best options by documenting our rationale for making the decision. That's what builds the story that helps the organization feel comfortable about moving in a new direction. Within all those columns there's a narrative, and you can read across the row and understand everything about each opportunity. And it's not just dictated by Nottingham Spirk. It's very collaborative, we all arrive there together.
Stephanie: The matrix helps us focus. They see that it's all grounded in robust, comprehensive thought, and they're part of that process.
How do you settle on methodologies for your process?
Amanda: We're methodology agnostic. Lots of research companies like to be sexy: "We do eye-tracking in store aisles. We can read your mind from across the table because we put a sensor on your retina!" I read about this stuff and I think, That's cool, I like technology, but we're not driven by that. We just want to solve problems. If you're exploring and you want to to get the language of the consumer, that's a qualitative approach. If we want to validate an assumption, we might do a quantitative survey.
Stacey: If we're trying to figure out the target market, the size of the market, pricing analyses, all of that is quantitative research. You want big, statistically significant numbers. The qual is much more the why, the how, the what, and usability.
Amanda: And we do in-home ethnographic research. Immersion, as we call it. "OK, I need to understand how farmers use farm equipment" — that's a project I had two years ago. I'm more of a city and suburban girl, so I didn't even know these products existed. Then I find myself smack in the middle of cattle country in Texas, riding along with a cattle rancher, with my designer in tow and a client/partner, and we're out there looking for rattlesnakes to shoot. It was crazy. But we want to build a true understanding of the customer's world. I got to see how they use this vehicle and I came back with a ton of ideas about how we could make it better. The most valuable observations you can make are the work-arounds that users come up with. Some people were souping up their vehicles in really cool ways, some modifications were really small. But it's all gold to an insights person.
Stacey: I've done a lot of in-homes for medical products, and talk about stories. These people open their hearts and their homes and they always stick with us. I think about them constantly, even after the project is completed.
Amanda: It's sort of like politicians. Unless you're out there pressing the flesh, kissing the babies, visiting everyday people, you're operating at a distance with your assumptions. We're the grounding force for the designers and engineers. We bring the human element to everything.
Stacey: It's not a project that we're handing off to somebody. It's a process. When we do in-homes, the designers and engineers usually come along. I'm the mouth, I ask the questions. The designer is the eyes, they're sketching what they see and beginning to develop ideas. And the engineers are taking notes, they're the ears. And I have to give a shout-out to the prototype guys, they are unbelievable. They make these ideas come to life, and it's so much fun going into a focus group with a 3D prototype.
Stephanie: That makes our job so much easier. We don't have to say, "Please imagine that this is here, and this is there." People just can't make those leaps in their minds.
How do you find the right people for focus groups?
Amanda: Sometimes we collaborate with firms that do that. If we're really looking for a needle in a haystack we'll use our associates here, the "get out your Rolodex" kind of thing. I've done that quite a bit for the niche medical areas I was exploring. We leverage our contacts. John Nottingham and John Spirk are on the board at the Cleveland Clinic, and that helps. Case Western Reserve University, we have a great relationship with them. We can tap into them to learn about emerging technologies.
Stephanie: We also go the online bulletin board route.
Amanda: And magazines targeted to a certain lifestyle or interest. You can get access to people that way. You have to get creative.
Stacey: I've done a lot of blog searching. You can find a lot comments about existing products on blogs.
Amanda: Social media, Amazon reviews of similar products. And life hacks — again, it's the work-around. It creates a hypothesis that you can test.
Stacey: I've done online research to understand the lingo. What do they call themselves? What words are they using to describe the different features? Then we can use those words in our surveys. You need to use the right words or you might miss an important segment of the market.
Amanda: What makes us successful in our jobs, the common thread, is an innate curiosity about the world. We find almost everything fascinating. And that's something you can't teach. There's no class in curiosity, you either are or your aren't. When we're interviewing Insights people, I'm listening for that. I want to hear that desire to constantly be a student of the world.
Related: "Lessons Well Learned: Disruptive Product Innovation and Business Innovation Go Hand in Hand."
Contact Nottingham Spirk to discuss how your organization can take innovation to the next level.
About us: Nottingham Spirk is a business innovation and product design firm with an unrivaled record of delivering disruptive consumer goods, medical devices, and packaging design solutions to market. We collaborate with Fortune 1,000 companies, funded start-ups and non-profit organizations to discover, design and execute product programs and strategic business platforms that will wow customers, grow markets and generate new revenue streams. Learn more about what makes us different here.


text:
package com.siyeh.ig.memory;

import com.intellij.psi.PsiArrayInitializerExpression;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiExpression;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiNewExpression;
import com.siyeh.InspectionGadgetsBundle;
import com.siyeh.ig.BaseInspection;
import com.siyeh.ig.BaseInspectionVisitor;
import com.siyeh.ig.InspectionGadgetsFix;
import com.siyeh.ig.fixes.IntroduceConstantFix;
import com.siyeh.ig.psiutils.ConstructionUtils;
import com.siyeh.ig.psiutils.ExpressionUtils;
import org.intellij.lang.annotations.Pattern;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

public class ZeroLengthArrayInitializationInspection extends BaseInspection {

  @Override
  protected InspectionGadgetsFix buildFix(Object... infos) {
    return new IntroduceConstantFix();
  }

  @Pattern(VALID_ID_PATTERN)
  @Override
  @NotNull
  public String getID() {
    return "ZeroLengthArrayAllocation";
  }

  @Override
  @NotNull
  public String buildErrorString(Object... infos) {
    return InspectionGadgetsBundle.message(
      "array.allocation.zero.length.problem.descriptor");
  }

  @Override
  public BaseInspectionVisitor buildVisitor() {
    return new ZeroLengthArrayInitializationVisitor();
  }

  @Override
  protected boolean buildQuickFixesOnlyForOnTheFlyErrors() {
    return true;
  }

  private static class ZeroLengthArrayInitializationVisitor
    extends BaseInspectionVisitor {

    @Override
    public void visitNewExpression(
      @NotNull PsiNewExpression expression) {
      super.visitNewExpression(expression);
      if (!ConstructionUtils.isEmptyArrayInitializer(expression)) {
        return;
      }
      if (ExpressionUtils.isDeclaredConstant(expression)) {
        return;
      }
      registerError(expression);
    }

    @Override
    public void visitArrayInitializerExpression(
      PsiArrayInitializerExpression expression) {
      super.visitArrayInitializerExpression(expression);
      final PsiExpression[] initializers = expression.getInitializers();
      if (initializers.length > 0) {
        return;
      }
      if (expression.getParent() instanceof PsiNewExpression) {
        return;
      }
      if (ExpressionUtils.isDeclaredConstant(expression)) {
        return;
      }
      registerError(expression);
    }
  }
}


This book follows Malikai, a Deviant monster, as he prowls the streets of Phoenix, saving strangers from common criminals. That is until he stops a father who wasn't committing a crime but actually trying to get his daughter back from criminals who have a human trafficking operation. Malikai decides that it would be best to try and help the father since he felt it was his fault that the criminal got away.
Tom Leveen does a great job exploring an anti-hero who can't remember his past, is treated as a monster by humans, yet does all he can to help those he finds are in trouble. The character is very believable, well-developed, and makes me want to know what happens next.
Not only was the main character interesting, but Leveen also breathed life into the secondary characters and those who Malikai ran into. I know sometimes that people around the main character can feel like stick figures, with not much personality attached, but this author did not do that. Every person feels like an individual and I really appreciated that in Leveen's writing.
The setting was well described as well, both for Phoenix and when the character goes to California. I could picture it perfectly, but it was also not distracting and flowed with the story (as I know some authors who put a little too much description, making a reader want to just move on).
I won't give away the ending, but it did leave me wanting to know what will happen to Malikai, a little nervous, but happy that it didn't end on an entirely depressing note. Leveen also gives information about human trafficking at the end of the book, which I thought was really thoughtful as his story dealt with it and he wanted his readers to know the truth of what is going on and who to get in contact with if they need to.
I give this story a 5/5 as it was done very well, left me wanting more, and dealt with real world things. I will definitely be reading more from this author!


Dimensions: 4" x 4" x 4"
Michael Forbes is a 35 year old Haida artist who descends from the Stanley family of Masset on the Haida Gwaii Islands. He started his company Silver Lining Designs in 2010. He expresses his art through Sand blasted glassware. He has been inspired by Bill Reid and Robert Davidson.


text:
Weinstein Company Employees Say They Didn't Know About Harvey Weinstein's Behavior
Brendan Morrow
Nearly 30 employees support letter clarifying what they were aware of
There have been questions over the past few weeks about whether employees at The Weinstein Company were aware of Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual abuse. Now, over two dozen Weinstein Company employees are saying that they had no idea.
A statement was released to The New Yorker on Thursday and backed by nearly 30 Weinstein Company employees, although it is anonymous. These employees say that although they knew that Harvey Weinstein was a bully, they did not know that he was allegedly raping and sexually harassing actresses.
"We all knew that we were working for a man with an infamous temper," the letter reads. "We did not know we were working for a serial sexual predator. We knew that our boss could be manipulative. We did not know that he used his power to systematically assault and silence women. We had an idea that he was a womanizer who had extra-marital affairs. We did not know he was a violent aggressor and alleged rapist."
Harvey Weinstein in 2017 | Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
The letter goes on to say, however, that for them to say that they are shocked and surprised would only make them "part of the problem." Although Harvey Weinstein made an indelible impact on the entertainment industry, they now know that he is a "monster," the letter says.
"He created a toxic ecosystem where his abuse could flourish unchecked for decades," the statement concludes.
This letter comes from Weinstein Company employees who worked in the New York office, and the New Yorker piece also goes into detail about what it was like at that office on the day when The New York Times released its expose, detailing that Harvey Weinstein did not seem to understand the gravity of the situation and was remarking that he was glad the story came out on a day when no one reads the paper.
At another point in the article, an employee says that it was fairly well known that Harvey Weinstein was a womanizer and that he slept with actresses, but nobody knew that he was allegedly committing sexual assault.
Ever since the Harvey Weinstein allegations came to light, there has been a feeling that those within the Weinstein Company must have known what was going on, if not the average employees than at least the board members. Bob Weinstein, co-founder of the studio and brother of Harvey Weinstein, has maintained that he was not aware of the extent of his brother's behavior, although he did say that he knew he was abusive in some way.
"The members of the board, including myself, did not know the extent of my brother's actions," Bob Weinstein told The Hollywood Reporter. "I know him on a personal level better than anyone. It's hard to describe how I feel that he took out the emptiness inside of him in so many sick and depraved ways. It's a sickness but not a sickness that is excusable. It's a sickness that's inexcusable. And I, as a brother, understood and was aware as a family member that my brother needed help and that something was wrong."
Producer Bob Weinstein and his brother, former producer Harvey Weinstein, attend a premiere in November 200- in New York City. | Mark Von Holden/Getty Images for Dimension Films
As those in the entertainment industry have been discussing Harvey Weinstein over the past few weeks, most have agreed that it was well-known in Hollywood that Harvey Weinstein is a verbally abusive bully and that he was a bit of a philanderer, but most were not aware that the sex he was having was allegedly non-consensual. And even those who heard those rumors thought they were just that.
"We all hear these rumors," producer Judd Apatow recently said. "'Oh, he does this, he does that.' But we didn't see it. And so it's hard to say, 'Let's go get him!' Because we're not a part of it. And it's unfortunately up to the people that are truly aware of it…Someone was writing those checks. Somebody knew. And those people on the inside, when they're quiet also, it goes on for decades."


Hello! Thankyou for the opportunity to join your forum! I am a student in my final year of high school, and I am researching the changing nature and role of the Hajj in the Muslim life. I have been interested in Islam for some time and as part of my research I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to hear from Muslim people from around the world about their opinions and experiences of the Hajj. It doesn't matter whether you have performed the Hajj yet or not, it would be great to hear what you have to say about the following questions or the Hajj in general.
The questions below should take about 5 minutes to answer, depending on how detailed you want to be! Feel free to leave out any of the personal questions if you like- they will just help me to see whether the answers represent all the different types of people in the Muslim community (so please be honest!). Your answers will help me and those who read my final report to understand a little more of what Islam and the Hajj are all about.
If you would like to be involved with further research, can you also let me know? I would love to ask some more questions, particularly about how the Hajj has changed since the early centuries, and any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
You may find it useful to copy the questions to your reply and answer them that way.
5)Would you consider yourself to be either Sunni or Shi'ite? If yes, please specify which one; or any other school of thought to which you adhere.
6)Do you believe all Muslims should undergo the Hajj at some point? How important is it to perform the Hajj?
7)What do you consider to be the purpose of the Hajj? What would you hope/ intend to achieve by undergoing the Hajj?
a)What do you regard as the best experience of your Hajj journey, and why?
b)Was there anything about your Hajj journey that was different to what you were expecting?
c)Was there any aspect of your Hajj journey which you found to be disappointing, or you think should have been organised (by the relevant authorities or travel agents) in a different way?
d)Do you intend to go again?
9)If you have not yet performed the Hajj, what has prevented you from going? Do you intend to go at some later date?
10)Would you be able to help me with further research? (This would involve answering some more questions, probably by email. Of course I would not disclose your email address to anyone).
Thankyou very much for all your help!
6) I believe all muslims should try their utmost best to perform their Hajj at some point if they are physically and financially capable. :) In fact, I'm sure there is an islamic ruling on that. Ansar should know :p.
7.the purpose of performing hajj is coz ..erm..its a pilgrimage yh..our prophets pbuh had performed hajj..also the kaabah is there ...its a spiritual journey.....dnt kno how to reallli ansa this question...mayb som1 else might b able to ansa this question ..coz at the mo im struggling to put the things in words......nway..
I think the purpose of Hajj is to get closer to Allah SWT and increase a person's imaan, and basically leading one's life as a true Muslim should.
I think it was kinda easier then I expected... Although there were a few obstacles, it didn't feel like anything major.
I didn't find anything dissapointing. And if there is a lack of organized routines, its to be expected due to the millions of people that are there.
Sure, no problem. :) Let me know, and I'll try to help inshaAllah if I can.


text:
Porthcawl Comprehensive School / Ysgol Gyfun Porthcawl
Porthcawl Comprehensive
School Code of Conduct
Options and Careers
Useful Information eg Keeping Healthy
Letters Home & General Information
Parents Eve Dates
Online Safety & Anti-Bullying
Our School Nurse and Health Matters
Friends of PCS (PTA)
The Parent App
SSCE Cymru
Drama and Expressive Arts
Welsh BAC
Personal & Social Education (PSE)
Porthcawl Celebrates Outstanding A Level & GCSE Results
Sunday, 6 September 2015 Exams
This year 169 students sat a most remarkable 450 A level papers, the largest ever entry! The most remarkable fact is the quality of the results; the pass rate (A* to E) was a fantastic 99%. This outstanding performance underlines Porthcawl as a truly inclusive school. Students have reached, and in most cases exceeded, their predicted potential.
There were many outstanding performers, with 20 students gaining 3 As or better at A level. Most notably, Jack Way who achieved a remarkable 3 A*s and 1 A grade and will now go on to Imperial College in London to study Physics. Four pupils gained 3 A* grades; namely Jack Bridger, Owen Leary, Tom Parry and Alicia Cooke, who has secured her place at Emmanuel College Cambridge to study Geography.
Students at AS and A2 have had their endeavour rewarded with excellent results. There is a large debt of gratitude for teachers who have worked so hard once again this year and for parents who have supported their sons and daughters. Excellent results truly reflect the effective partnership between a school, its learners and the support from home.
Headteacher Mr Slade commented that this excellent series of results will ensure Porthcawl students have secured places at some of the best universities in the country. Mr Slade continued to congratulate staff and students who were praised for their hard work and steadfast dedication. Mr Slade concluded that the results were especially impressive given the large size of the entry; over 450 papers were sat at A level.
Not to be out done, Year 12 delivered some of the best AS results Porthcawl has seen. With such a strong performance at AS we have high hopes for next year at A level. The A to E pass rate was 87%, up 2% on last year.
The following departments performed exceptionally, with pass rates above 85% (A* to E): English, Maths, History, Art, Religious Studies, Music, Drama, Electronics, Media Studies and Textiles.
The following are lists of the exceptional student performances:
Year 12 - AS
Connor Abbott	3 A, 1 B
Ben Cannon	4 A
Joseph Conniff-Jenkins	3 A, 1 B
Matthew Dang	3 A, 2 B
Megan Fish	4 A
Grace Flower	3 A, 1 B
Ryan Haney	3 A, 1 D
Richard Lugg	3 A, 1 B
Georgina Morley	4 A, 1 C
Rebecca Page	3 A, 1 B
Anoushka Pill-Williams	4 A
Felicity Williamson-Sarll	4 A, 1 B
Year 13 - A2 (A Level)
Christopher Blake	A*, 2 A
Thomas (Matthew) Booth	A*, 2 A
Jack Bridger	3 A*
Georgia Budding	3 A
Tabitha Carrington	3 A
Alicia Cooke	3 A*
Maddy Dabernig	3 A
Alexandra Davies	3 A
Ben Kent	3 A
Imogen Kent	3 A
Tamara Lafferty	3 A
Owen Leary	3 A*
Catrin Masson	3 A
Rhys Mortimer 3 A, 1 C
Tom Parry	3 A*
Andrew Phillips	1 A*, 2 A
Sam Pryce	1 A*, 2 A
Nicholas Slade	3 A
Rebecca Wardman	3 A
Jack Way	3 A*, 1 A
GCSE EXAMINATION RESULTS 2015
The students, their families and the school are all celebrating an excellent set of GCSE results. This year saw a large cohort of 256 students and the high quality of results is across the ability range, in total 2711 papers were sat.
There has been a significant improvement in the Welsh Government key indicators. The performance in the core subjects was very strong. The Level 2 (grades A* - C) for English was 78.8%, Maths 74.9% and Science a remarkable 98.4%. Based upon these returns the percentage of pupils gaining 5 or more A* - C (including English and Mathematics) improved to 66.3%.The core subject indicator (English, Mathematics and Science) saw improvement to 67.1%. An outstanding feature was the percentage of A*/A grades awarded; English 23.4%, Maths 23.8% and Science 30.1%. Almost a quarter of the core entry resulted in the top grades being awarded.
On a broader scale the number of pupils who gained 5 or more A* to C was over 80%. This is especially strong given the traditional GCSE based curriculum the school offers. The school is delighted that the learners across the ability range have all done so well. For the fifth year, no student has left our school without a recognised qualification.
This year's results means the school's performance compares very favourably with the authority and national figures.
A very impressive 33 students gained 8 or more GCSE grades at A*/A, and within this group, 17 gained 10 or more A*/A grades. Special mention must go to:-
Katie Davies 10 A*, 1 A (Short Course) and a Distinction
Alexandra Hunt 11 A* and a Distinction
Hee-Chan Kang 11 A*, 1 A* (Short Course) 1A (Short Course) and a Distinction
Elin Morris 10 A*, 1 A* (Short Course) 1 A (Short Course) and a Distinction
Lauren Pugh 10 A*, 1 A, 1 A (Short Course) and a Distinction
Hannah Robertson 10 A* 1 A and a Distinction
Katie Williams 10 A*, 1 B, 1 A (Short Course) and a Merit
Headteacher Mr Andrew Slade commented;
''The whole of our school is delighted with these fantastic results. Governors, staff and students worked incredibly hard together and this success is justly deserved.
The school is at its strongest when all those involved with the school collaborate so well, with a common aim, each student reaching their potential.
This success will result in our learners being able to follow their chosen pathways, with the majority returning to Porthcawl to study in the Sixth Form. We wish all of year 11 the very best.''
Here are the 33 students with 8 or more A*/A grades at GCSE. Anna Arrieta	5A*, 4A, 1A (SC Welsh), 1C Luke Atherton	5A*, 3A, 2B (SC Welsh and RS), 1D, 1 Distinction Sultann Azam	8A*, 2A, 1A (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Jessica Bennett	1A*, 7A, 3B, 1B (SC Welsh) Lorcan Breheny	1A*, 8A, 1B, 1B (SC Welsh) Lik Kan Chung	5A*, 4A, 2B, 2B (SC Welsh and RS), 1 Merit Megan Cobb	4A*, 5A, 1B, 1C, 1A (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Katie Davies	10A*, 1A (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Jack Ellis	6A*, 4A, 1A (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh) 1 Pass Lauren Ellis-Stretch	3A*, 6A, 1B, 1B (SC Welsh) Callum Evans	1A*, 7A, 1B, 1D, 1A (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh) Lowri Howell	2A*, 8A, 1B, 1B (SC RS), 1 Pass Alexandra Hunt	11A* 1 Distinction Chloe Jenkins	5A*, 5A, 1A (SC RS) Cerian Jones	8A, 2B, 2B (SC RS and Welsh) Hee-Chan Kang	11A*, 1A* (SC RS), 1A (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Peter Kavanagh	2A*, 7A, 1B, 1A (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh) 1 Pass Charlotte Levey	6A*, 4A, 1B, 1A (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Claudia Milza-Wyatt	3A*, 5A, 3B, 1B (SC Welsh) Elle Morey	3A*, 6A, 1B, 1A (SC RS), 1 Pass Elin Morris	10A*, 1A* (SC RS), 1A (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Isobel Overton	6A*, 4A, 1B Megan Perrin	4A*, 5A, 1B, 1A (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh) Lydia Pickett	9A*, 2A, 1A* (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Lauren Pugh	10A*, 1A, 1A (SC RS), 1 Distinction Hannah Robertson	10A*, 1A, 1 Distinction Young Bin (Daniel) Song	4A*, 6A, 2A (SC RS and ICT), 1B (SC Welsh), 1 Distinction Sarah Spencer	2A*, 8A, 1A* (SC RS), 1B (SC Welsh), 1 Pass Samantha Timbrell	5A*, 4A, 1B, 2A (SC RS and Welsh), 1 Distinction Katie Williams	10A*, 1B, 1A (SC Welsh), 1 Merit Sophie Dalton	1A*, 8A, 1B Caitlin Whiteley	7A*, 3A, 1B (SC Welsh) Ben White	4A*, 4A, 1B, 1C, 1 Distinction *SC = Short Course
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First published in 2005, Sight-Singing 2 - A fresh approach is intended for Grades 6 to 8. It has 111 original tunes on 60 pages.
'Sight-Singing 2' is divided into two parts. Part 1 comprises 95 exercises in either single- or 2-part form. A section of 2-part exercises is also included using treble and bass clefs. Part 2 consists of 16 solo pieces which are presented in the treble clef and aim to develop the singer's ability to pitch independently from their accompaniment.


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Promise to Protect
Acts of Service
Spiritual Renewal
Development and Planned Giving
Hispanic Ministries
Ministry with Persons with Disabilities
Respect Life and Social Justice
Vietnamese Ministry
Clergy Policies & Resources
Archives and Chancellor
Respect Life & Social Justice
Spreading the word about Fr. Kapaun
October 29, 2020 // Diocese
Scott Carter won't have Fr. Emil Kapaun's cutout when he drives to Irondale, Alabama, next week. But Fr. Kapaun is always nearby in his office. (Advance photo)
Director of the diocesan Fr. Kapaun Guild to be a guest Nov. 11 on EWTN Live with Fr. Mitch Pacwa
Scott Carter probably won't take the cardboard cutout of Fr. Emil Kapaun with him next week when he travels to Birmingham, Alabama, to be a guest on EWTN Live. But he will spread the word about one of the Diocese of Wichita's favorite sons.
"EWTN reached out a few weeks ago on behalf of Fr. Mitch Pacwa to invite us to speak on Veterans Day, which is obviously a good day to talk about Fr. Kapaun and his life, both as a priest and as a chaplain," Carter said.
He will also talk about the Vatican's Congregation for Saints which is reviewing his life and the vote on the positio, a document, usually thousands of pages long, laying out Fr. Kapaun's case for sainthood.
"People always love hearing about the miracles, so we'll have to see – some of those are under investigation," he said. "It's hard to talk too specifically about those, but there are other ways that Father Kapaun has been at work and other miracles we can share."
Carter, coordinator of the Fr. Kapaun Guild for the Diocese of Wichita, will also talk about the many forms of devotion to Fr. Kapaun that have developed: the Guild, the annual pilgrimage to Pilsen, those in the military hoping for his cause, Kapaun's Men, a video series, and retreats and podcasts.
Fr. Kapaun's cause
Carter said he hasn't heard much recently from the Vatican about Fr. Kapaun's cause.
"We're still waiting for the Congregation for Saints to finish reviewing his life and to vote on the positio, hoping that the pope will give him the title 'venerable' and declare that he lived a life of heroic virtue, which is the step before, hopefully, beatification."
When a cause is officially begun, the candidate receives the title Servant of God. The second step toward canonization starts when all the evidence is studied by the Congregation for Causes of Saints in Rome. If the evidence reveals true holiness exercised by the Servant of God, the Pope then orders the Congregation to issue the decree either of Martyrdom or of Heroic Virtue, and the Servant of God is given the title "venerable."
If the Servant of God has been declared to have lived a life of heroic virtue, it must be proven that one miracle has been granted by God through the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God. Then, he or she is declared "Blessed."
To be canonized, one miracle is required. It must be proven that this event took place through the intercession of the Blessed and after the date of his or her Beatification. When this has been proven, the Pope proceeds to the ceremony of canonization.
DIOCESE OF WICHITA
© 2020 Catholic Diocese of Wichita
424 N. Broadway, Wichita, KS 67202 | (316) 269-3900


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Fort Lauderdale Gays Claim New Beach Spot & Name It Stonewall
July 27, 2020 July 11, 2020 by Devin Randall
Image via Facebook @Stonewall Beach, Pompano Beach, FL
Did Florida gain a new gay space?
During Pride month this year, some inhabitants of Pompano Beach, Florida took to the shoreline in order to honor the 51st anniversary of the Stonewall Uprisings on June 28, 1969. We all need to celebrate that historical day. But this group didn't just party on the beach. Instead, they decided to rename a spot of the beautiful Florida coast after Stonewall.
According to South Florida Gay News, this wonderful gathering of men, which has its own Facebook group, unofficially proclaimed the section Stonewall Beach. Despite there being no guarantee that this proclamation will become official or gain traction, the original group members remain hopeful.
"We no longer have to hide in the shadows or make up secret names for places to meet in public. This beach area is to honor the people who risked it all for us. The name Stonewall will always be synonymous with the gay movement. Stonewall Beach will be a place for all to come and celebrate our differences whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or straight." – event organizer Anthony Kulp
Post from Facebook
But according to Kulp, the group didn't decide on the spot and renaming just to honor the Stonewall Riots. Instead, he says that many feel the other gay beaches are becoming too populated. And as beaches become more popular, gay or straight, they lose more and more parking opportunities, like what is occurring at Sebastian Beach in Fort Lauderdale, the most popular gay beach in Broward County.
"A lot of gay people have moved up here to Pompano," said local realtor Kulp. "If you arrive at 11 a.m. [in Fort Lauderdale], no parking." And the city has just increased parking rates for the beach area. The only way you can get a discount at the parking that is close to the gay beach is if you have residency in Fort Lauderdale, not Wilton Manors or Oakland Park where much of the gay population of Greater Fort Lauderdale lives. Tax money apparently from Oakland Park and Wilton Manors does go to Fort Lauderdale, too, but that does not give residents a break on the parking fees like it does FTL residents.
With all these challenges in mind, Kulp and company decided to claim a new space for LGTBQ beachgoers. As for why he chose the specific spot in Pompano Beach, Kulp says it's because the area is close to parking, showers, bathrooms, and restaurants. Sounds like a good pick!
"I wanted to pick a spot close to everything," he said. "We don't need to hide at the end of the beach."
But again, will the spot stick? How will residents feel about having this piece of shoreline claimed for LGTBQ visitors? We'll see how things turn out in time.
And we should all look at this as a good thing. We're franchising! When one gay beach gets too full, we'll glady just make another.
For more of the top beaches in Greater Fort Lauderdale, where you'll most likely run into many friends of Dorothy, head over to sunny.org/beaches-and-beyond/beaches/
Image of Pompano Beach from sunny.org
As you continue your journey south, you'll come across Pompano Beach, a wonderland for diving enthusiasts. It's home to 18 shipwrecks, each as interesting and mysterious as the next. Pompano Beach is also known for its sport fishing, so charting a boat to head out into the open waters is another fun option.
The lifeguarded beach features a kid's playground, volleyball court, and interactive water fountain. If you want to take a break from the beach, check out Beach House Pompano, a stylish two-story restaurant and bar that has stadium-seating banquettes and serves fresh seafood.
♫ If you like it then put a ring on it! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
Tags #FloridaBeaches, #lgbt, #StonewallBeach, Florida, Stonewall
Life's A Beach, Even Now. Getting Our Feet Sandy Once Again In Fort Lauderdale.
Portions Of Gilbert Baker's Historic Rainbow Flag Will Be On Display Throughout Carnival
Travel Thursday: 120K+ Attended 42nd Pride Fort Lauderdale
Travel Thursday: Set Your Sights On Columbus As Historic LGBTQ Art Exhibition Finishes National Tour


Alongside several other announcements, BlackBerry has today announced new software to assist the developers of secure systems and applications.
BlackBerry's QNX OS for Safety 2.0 is aimed at developers of mission- and safety-critical systems, including automotive systems, rail transportation controls, healthcare machines and industrial automation systems.
Based on BlackBerry's most advanced and secure embedded QNX SDP 7.0 operating system, its is certified to the highest achievable levels of ISO 26262 and IEC 61508.
BlackBerry Analytics can already reveal how many people are using a Dynamics app, and at what times of day. It now supports drilling down to the feature level, for example to see how often users select 'calendar view by day' or 'calendar view by week.' This can help organisations determine the ROI of a custom app, and indicate where user training or user experience changes are required.
"The data is anonymous," BlackBerry senior vice-president for product management Frank Cotter told iTWire, but the use of pseudo-random IDs makes it possible to see how usage patterns change over time even if if administrators can't tell whose activity they are looking at.
The Workspaces Android SDK allows developers to quickly build secure file sharing (256-bit encryption) into Android applications that offer 256-bit file encryption.
BlackBerry Dynamics for iOS provides greater security and control for Dynamics apps through new features including support for Face ID and a mechanism to block screen recording and sharing.


This one may be a tie. If War Machine, who I like more than Cyborg, still had his ability to add any tech to his armor and body he'd be able to beat Cyborg. If Cyborg had the arsenal available to War Machine he'd definitely be able to win.
GOOD FN MATCH! I'D LOVE TO SEE THIS!
Unless it's a War Machine that can use a uni-beam, then I believe Cyborg's arm cannon would trump any of the weapons that War Machine has.
U people forget cyborg depending on the era has any number of weapons, the arm cannon is the one of the many weapons that he prefers to use. If we were going by # of weapons cy would win because his weapons can transform, while war machine can only use a set number of weapons. But on the other hand, id have to hand to war machine for probably having more fire power. I think his weapons would pack more of a punch. So its really power vs variety.


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Not to Say Richard Rodriguez's Major League Career Began Poorly, but over His First Four Appearances for the Orioles Last September, Rodriguez Allowed Four Home Runs and 12 Hits in 42/3 Innings [Derived Headline]
By Adamski, Chris | Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 12, 2018 | Go to article overview
Adamski, Chris, Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Not to say Richard Rodriguez's major league career began poorly, but over his first four appearances for the Orioles last September, Rodriguez allowed four home runs and 12 hits in 42⁄3 innings.
"Rough experience (for him) in Baltimore," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "Not many times you get called up in September and get sent down in September.
"There's an open roster!"
Indeed, getting cut in September — the Orioles designated Rodriguez for assignment on the 17th — is rare. Active rosters are expanded from the regular 25-man limit to anyone on the 40-man.
"I (can't tell you) why they sent me down in September," Rodriguez said through a translator Saturday. "I wish I could, because I have the same question."
But as bad as Rodriguez's first stint in the majors was, his second has been that good.
In 10 outings so far for the Pirates, Rodriguez has a 23-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio and allowed 15 baserunners and two runs in 131⁄3 innings.
"A huge difference in my confidence," Rodriguez said, "(comparing) last year and this year."
Picked up as a minor-league free agent and after beginning in season in Triple-A, Rodriguez's rise through the Pirates has been meteoric.
Now 28 years old and with parts of five seasons of Triple A ball on his résumé, is Rodriguez establishing himself as a quality major league reliever?
"We've wanted to give him every opportunity for it to be sustainable success," Hurdle said. "Not just six weeks, two months (of success). So we've worked with him, showing him his strengths. He's talked to us about his strengths and what we think he can do within the strike zone and how he can work the strike zone with a selection of pitches. He's off to a really good start — his confidence is probably at an all-time high."
After another scoreless inning Friday, of course it is. Rodriguez's ERA sits at 1.35, his strikeouts per nine innings (admittedly in a small sample) is 15. …
Publication information: Article title: Not to Say Richard Rodriguez's Major League Career Began Poorly, but over His First Four Appearances for the Orioles Last September, Rodriguez Allowed Four Home Runs and 12 Hits in 42/3 Innings [Derived Headline]. Contributors: Adamski, Chris - Author. Newspaper title: Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Publication date: May 12, 2018. Page number: Not available. © Tribune-Review Publishing Company. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.


Turn off the lights. Turn off the PC. Stop Blogging. Don't fly anywhere (if you do take Nasa's new plane below). And get out in the sunshine. Go on, at least for a day.
"Earth Day is celebrated in most countries on the vernal equinox to mark the precise moment that spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. At this global moment, night and day are equal length anywhere on Earth.
Walt Disney's bold move to let people download TV shows for free could spell trouble for cable and satellite providers, but it also throws into question the strategy of telephone companies spending billions to get into the paid TV business.
Fragmentation of media consumption and delivery could potentially undermine the business models of the very businesses who have touted 'convergence' for the last 20 years.
In much the same way that VoIP providers have been able to disrupt traditional telecos, due to the interoperability and open standards of web. Telecos and Cable companies find their own 'walled garden' distribution a thing of the past.
It is hard to see how a single Teleco can compete with an open, standards based platform (the internet) in which tens of thousand of developers push the boundaries of what is technically possible - giving us, the user, more flexibility over programming and better quality video.
The article cleverly concludes by hinting at the legal discussions over Net neutrality. This is the debate over whether Telecos should be able to charge providers (VoIP, Content Owners, IPTV Programming companies) a different, higher rate to compensate for their own loss in revenue in these areas.
So it seems the only solution for Telecos toward the disruptive nature of distributed media, is "the squeaze" to control the network.
Continuing the theme of the impact of Distributed Media, there's still a strong 'play' that the traditional media owners have, "brand".
It's my feeling that the signifcance of a strong brand in the digital space is under-played by most industry pundits and the wider media. A brand is what we understand a product or service to be, it's the sum of all parts and it's built from every single interaction we have and have had with a company.
Like an 'old friend', brands run deep in people's consciousness. People know instinctively from experience what to expect and what their getting in to. Easyjet and RyanAir are 'no-frills' airlines, Heinz baked-beans taste the same each time, Amazon get you the books on-time at good prices, New York Times gives us only news it is willing to vouch for, everyday.
Jeff Bezos rolled the Amazon dice heavily toward this all encompassing 'brand'. And they deserve to sit alongside other huge names. But they did so in a new, young emerging space. So at the time there was territory and time to establish such a fresh brand.
As time goes by there is less space in the big categories for fresh new players. When the 'old brands' play the ace-card in the digital they are carrying with them an unfair (unfair for pure plays) amount of history, heritage and positive (they hope) feeling from consumers.
So the question becomes, "In consumers minds, how much importance is there on the digital interface versus the actual content and brand behind it?"
MSN, Google and Yahoo! better believe we love their interface to content so much we're willing to drop the brand sites we visit.
Taking that thought into the real world context, when Walmart (hello USA) or Tesco push their own-label products do you stop buying the branded products? No, but maybe you substitute a couple of less important brand items in your shopping trolley for own-label.
The same will probably be true online. The brands still hold the Ace Card, if they can learn how and when to play it.
"We live in a world of 6 billion people, 3 billion living on less than two dollars a day. European cows get subsidised to the extent of $2.50 per day, so there's something disproportionate in terms of the way we're attending to the question of poverty."
Head of the World Bank, 2005.
Distributed Media: Where is the payback?
Guy Kawasaki in a recent interview said that he wouldn't invest in businesses reliant on Google Adwords revenues. Quite right. This prompted me to think about the NEW advertising market in general.
All this complexity presents challenges for established media brands to reshape and realign. So many bloggers are discussing how such brands that carry high cost structures can keep pace with changing consumer consumption? In many cases they don't have to, at least not yet. Because right now, the mass market isn't quite there. Reading news on mobiles, booking hotels from your car, ipTV in the centre of the home. They're all embryonic, for now.
So there is time for brands to realign. News Corporation, with its string of acquisitions this last 18 months, is making these bold steps. The steps to move from being a "flat", two-dimensional provider of (1)content and (2)advertising. To becoming a multi-dimension provider of (1)content, (3)advertising, (3)customised & personal & relevant on many devices.
Through these multi-dimensions comes problems for advertisers and media owners. What we know as advertising now (page, banners, text, sponsorship) may not be so easy to "pigeon hole" in years to come. Trying to force banner ads onto mobile devices is, frankly, low-impact, intrusive and not the best use of the medium. But advertorial (be that Video, Podcast, Text) may be a better answer. We're going to have to cope with a 'marketing mix' with complexity like never before.
In fact, the term "media owner" as we know it could be consigned to the history books, if distributed media consumption pushes the power to "interface owner" rather than content producers. At this point the advertising and control of the audience moves away from producers to interface owners (the new media owners). This happened a long-time ago on TV, where TV stations began buying content over producing their own. The TV station is the interface and the advertising owner.
Compare this to Newspapers/Magazines. They are both the interface, producers and advertising owners. Radio stations, on the whole, are both the interface, producers and advertising owners.
For TV, Radio, Newsprint - the interface has begun to move. In digital the interface can't be so easily controlled. In fact, the controllers are a new breed - mobile operators and pure play internet companies. But unlike early TV and Radio, instead of producing content, they're taking it free and paid for from producers.
The interface owner will continue to control the advertising model...unless we invent a new model.
Feeling like your spending too much time starring at the glowing LCD? Is your skin loosing its colour? Are you finding that you prefer the blinds shut in the day-time?
Under the new system, your online character becomes less and less effective. After three hours, the number of in-game "experience points" for, say, killing an opponent are reduced by half.
After five hours you do not get any at all. It is called the fatigue system.
But with the balance of Yin and Yang, China's leaders also announce £1.14bn investment in developing a home-grown gaming industry to compete internationally. So they own the whole value-chain; creating the drug through to weening you off it.
Who's interested in being an engineer or a scientist? All those white coats and hard-hats. Science based careers do suffer from a bad image in the UK and USA. When I was at school Design and Technology comprised mostly of various forms of destructive testing. I am sure there must be some educational benefit from melting coins under a gas powered torch.
In Asia, the engineers are economic heroes - designing multi-million dollar factories, crafting cityscapes and inventing new technology. It must be the most exciting profession. As an Asian engineer you are in demand and investors have huge sums of money for you to create the world's grandest schemes. China created 600,000 engineering graduates against the USA's 135,000 last year.
Ted Fishman, China Inc: "Just as China's abundant unskilled workers feed the world more shoes and more gadgets than it needs - China's newly skilled industrialists threatens to swamp the world's most highly prized high-tech markets."
In his book, Fishman talks of the industrial R&D spend in China being second only to the USA and Japan. Last year, the Peoples Daily reported China will be spend more of its GDP on R&D than the whole of the EU. Motorola, one of the first telcos to step into China, has 19 R&D centres in China.
Siemen's has forty-five companies in China, 30,000 people and sold $5billion of equipment to the country in 2003. Most of Siemen's equipment sales are high end machinery and technology needed for R&D and world-class production facilities.
UK industry appears to be 'the emperors new clothes' built almost entirely on light manufacturing and services. Certainly in our lifetime 'the UK emperor' might be embarrassed to find its new clothes are easily taken away.
It strikes me as time for technology and digital industry in the West to forge strong relationships with Eastern cousins.


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Ottawa, ON, March 18, 2015 – Advanced threat detection innovator Interset has closed a $10M round to expand the capabilities and accelerate adoption of its advanced threat detection platform, the company announced today. Interset's platform enables IP driven companies to deliver an effective defense against targeted attacks and data breaches in industries such as manufacturing, defense, technology, energy and pharmaceuticals. New investors include lead investor Toba Capital, and Informatica, (Nasdaq:INFA), the world's number one independent provider of data integration software. Continued support from existing investors Anthem Venture Partners and Telesystem Ltd. completed the round.
Interset addresses the most critical problem facing enterprises today: how to quickly and accurately detect real threats to intellectual property and other sensitive data and have enough information about the threats to stop them before data is stolen. Headlines are painful warnings of how unsuccessful companies are in detecting attacks. Most security teams struggle across the same two extremes – either they have no visibility to potential attacks or they are overwhelmed with thousands of security events, some important, but most just noise. In most cases, the attack is detected weeks or months later, after data is compromised.
The Interset Advanced Threat Detection Platform creates an actionable and prioritized view of the real threats facing organizations. It works by connecting big data feeds from previously siloed repositories and data sources including application and operating system logs, identity repositories, existing security tools and endpoints — the places where critical threat data resides. The Interset platform correlates millions of these events, connecting the interrelated activities of identities, machines and assets. The data is delivered to Interset's patent-pending behavioral analytics engine, which applies multiple mathematical frameworks to effectively identify and compute threats from either a single dataset, or corroborating events across multiple datasets, to rapidly identify threat actors and other high-risk entities.
The funding round will be used to expand the capabilities of Interset's platform, accelerate adoption among new customers and develop Interset OEM partnerships, such as the recently announced source code threat protection solution with Perforce Software.
Interset is the second monitoring and analytics software company led by president and CEO Dale Quayle, a 25-year veteran of enterprise software who was previously CEO of Integrien, sold to VMware in 2010. Integrien analytics software enabled IT managers to analyze the performance of their IT infrastructure and predict faults and failures.
Interset, a winner of the Security Innovation Network™ (SINET) 16 Innovators competition supported by the Department of Homeland Security, Science & Technology Directorate, is aggressively building out new threat visualizations to make it easier for security teams to understand how attacks are unfolding and how to defend against them. Central to this approach is a new multidimensional kill-chain view to be showcased at the RSA Conference 2015 April 20-24 in San Francisco.