text:
Sales Tax has potential to increase prices of goods, services – CTPD
By Zondiwe Mbewe,
Finance minister Margaret Mwanakatwe addresses journalists during a signing ceremony of a grant agreement between the government of Zambia and KFW of the Federal Republic of Germany at her office in Lusaka on August 21, 2018 – Picture by Tenson Mkhala
Centre for Trade Policy and Development (CTPD) Researcher Bright Chizonde says the proposed sales tax has the potential to increase prices of goods and services in the country.
And Chizonde has observed that government could have revised the Value-Added Tax (VAT) policy on the mining sector alone as opposed to affecting other parts of the economy by switching to sales tax.
Meanwhile, Kantanshi Independent member of parliament Anthony Mumba hopes that there will be more communication on the sales tax transition so that Zambians can prepare themselves.
Speaking when the duo featured on Radio Phoenix 'Let The People Talk' program, Friday, Chizonde first described to listeners what 'Sales Tax' was.
"Sales Tax is the amount calculated as a percentage that is added to the cost of a product or a service when purchased by a consumer at the retail location. What it means is that Sales Tax is imposed at a final point of sale of a commodity or a service. The supplier or the producer of a product adds on top of the cost of production, the Sales Tax itself and adds it to the price. When the consumer buys the commodity it means that the seller will have to withhold that portion that he added on top of the cost and remit it to ZRA," he said.
Chizonde observed that Sales Tax had the potential to increase prices of goods and services, but added that the aspect depended on how the tax would be implemented.
"It is true that Sales Tax has the potential to increase the prices of goods and services, that is one of its disadvantages. It depends with the implementation. That is why a lot of stakeholders were asking for the guidelines of the implementation. Its important for government to give full information as people were saying, because they do not know how this Sales Tax will be implemented," he said.
"You are buying sugar at K25, it means the sugar will not be at K25. Let's say its 10 percent sales tax, it means that the K25, 10 percent will be about K2.50 [and] you add it on top of the K25. So it goes to K27.5, that is the price of the sugar now. It means that when you are coming as a consumer, you will see a higher price because the price that you are going to pay is now K27.5. When you pay the K27.5 the producer or the retailer who is selling the commodity is going to withhold the K2.5 and remit it to ZRA, that is how the sales tax works."
And Chizonde observed that government could have just revised the VAT policy for the mining sector alone as opposed to moving to Sales Tax across the board.
"The best alternative would have been to just revise the VAT policy for the mining sector instead of affecting all the other sectors in the economy that have not had a bigger issue with the input VAT refunds. So we would have just revised the mining sector policy alone, compared to changing the whole tax policy," he said.
Chizonde added that most stakeholders were shocked when the Minister of Finance Margaret Mwanakatwe announced that government was switching from VAT to Sales Tax, because they were mot consulted.
"Most stakeholders, even us CTPD, it was shocking to hear the minister saying that that they are going to switch from VAT to sales tax. This time around there was no hint to say government would switch from VAT to Sales Tax. In such a situation it means that they did not consult adequately, different stakeholders to ask them. There was need for different stakeholders to interrogate the issue before the minister comes up and says 'this is our decision'," he said.
Meanwhile, Chizonde said there was some significant mismanagement of finances on the part of government.
"This trend that we see now, government failing to pay salaries on time, removing meal allowances from students, these issues are indicators to say that in the future if we continue mismanaging our borrowing we will reach a level where we are in distress, failing completely to pay back our debts. So there is some significant mismanagement. If you look at the current situation that we are in as a country, we do not have the resources to just be spending and creating roads anywhere. We need to be very prudent in the way we use resources, especially the money that we are borrowing because we need to pay back," he said.
And Mumba observed that studies had revealed that VAT actually provided better value for resource mobilisation.
"In any case, studies have revealed that VAT actually provides better value for resource mobilisation. That's the argument that has been there. If the main reason has been the mining sector as the reason to move to sales tax which the Finance Minister says is simpler and straight forward, I think that for me, ZRA should have done their homework much better and looked at the challenge that has approached them because of the huge investment that is taking place in the sector. They should have gone deeper to try and analyse how best they can try and start collecting taxes from the mining sector. I believe that there could have been a way," Mumba said.
However, when he was asked whether government could be trusted to get the tax transition correct, the law maker said he didn't see the reason why not.
"Well I don't see the reason why not. They were voted for in government so people trust them. Where do they get these taxes from anyway? They get them from the people. Even as you have been asking this question 'why the new tax'? Its governments' aspiration that they will double the revenue collection," said Mumba.
» All articles by Zondiwe Mbewe
KPMG warns against Sales Tax implementation
ActionAid identifies snags in sales tax implementation
We may quarrel but we are still one – Lungu


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Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Antonio Williams has been arrested for allegedly attacking a pregnant woman and a policeman in a road rage incident in the Kollam district of Kerala.
According to Kollam West Police, Williams and his friends, driving under the influence of alcohol, hit a car of a family travelling with a pregnant woman.
On being questioned by the family, the group attacked them as well as their vehicle.
They also attacked a policeman who tried to rescue the family and continued to threaten the police officers even after they were brought to the police station.
Williams is a member of Neendakara Gram Panchayat in Kerala.


On Tuesday at 1:00 PM in front of SF City Hall there will be a press conference on why City Workers with organizations that are opposing both the Ed Lee Pension "reform" initiative as well as the Jeff Adachi initiative. The press conference is being called by Coalition To Protect Pensions and Healthcare Benefits, United Public Workers For Action www.upwa.info and SEIU 1021 West Bay Retiree's Chapter. Evidence will also be presented that shows that Mayor Ed Lee's Human Resources Director Micki Callahan has been violating San Francisco City rules and ethics guidelines by using San Francisco city resources to campaign for the Mayor's ballot initiative. She has been distributing a so called "Pension and Health Benefit Reform Fact Sheet" at community meetings pushing the anti-labor measure using San Francisco City Funds and resources. This violates the charter of San Francisco and the Coalition To Protect Pension and Healthcare Benefits is calling for an investigation and her immediate removal from her position as Director Of Human Resources. We also oppose an investigation by San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera who is also a candidate for mayor and supporter of the anti-labor public worker initiative initiative.
The SEIU 1021 West Bay Retiree's Chapter, a dues paying chapter, has voted to oppose both the Adachi and the Mayor's/PEC's charter amendments having to do with pension reform. This motion was passed after many meetings and much discussion.
Some of our reasons are that both amendments are demanding a funding mechanism that is geared toward saving the City a limited amount of money in terms of our supplemental COLA payouts but would negatively impact current retiree's pensions going forward, especially those retirees receiving pensions of $25,000 per year or under. For example there are currently approximately 4,500 current retirees receiving $20,000 or under who need the supplemental COLA to even survive as years go by.
The Mayor's/PEC's proposal creates a two tiered system for the newly hired that will eliminate the supplemental COLA as we know it - regressing it back to pre 2002 years where the COLA was given in a year where the investments reached a certain level and then that same amount taken off the gross the next year if the investments were below a certain level.
An important point for our chapter is that the Public Employee's Committee did not allow retirees from any group to attend sessions where our benefits were being discussed and used them as leverage in terms of the Labor/Mayoral amendment. We believe that this deliberate exclusion might even be illegal. It was certainly undemocratic and ageist.
Another important change in the Mayor's/PECs amendment is that it changes the Health Service System's Board's governance to favor the City. This is, on the surface, not a cost savings segment but is a power grab. The Health Service System Board sets the rates of our health plans in part, chooses the plans themselves and selects the Director of the Health Service System. There are also other changes in this amendment which would not play out to the benefit of the members themselves should the change in governance take place. One of these changes might result in ending City Plan I or decreasing the membership to the point that retiree's could not afford it.
As it stands now, the Health Service System Board is composed of four members who are elected by the members of the plan (us) and three who are appointed by the City. The amendment essentially changes the ratio to favor the City by removing one elected member and adding another City appointee - appointed by the Controller.
If you remember, when the Health Service System was under the governance of the City and County, it functioned badly. Members could not get through, were being sent checks meant for providers, the system lost a large amount of money which was never found and Dr.s' were quitting because they weren't being paid. This all changed when the governance was put in the hands of elected representatives and through them we could choose our own director.
KEEP THIS BOARD INDEPENDENT - CHANGING THE GOVERNANCE IS JUST A POWER GRAB BY THE CITY - THROWN INTO THE 251 PAGE OR MORE AMENDMENT IN HOPES THAT THE VOTERS WON'T UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF THIS CHANGE.
In general, we believe that labor should have rejected this amendment which was supposed to be a step up from Adachi's. As it turns out many members are saying it is no better than Adachi's and parts of it are more anti-labor than Adachi's ie the two tiered COLA changes and the changes to the Health Service System Board.


A tree of 120cm in height, decorated with 55 ornaments varying from 4cm to a whopping 15cm in diameter, all in warm Purple and Milka tones, with a dash of mocha and pink. Even a few ornaments are decorated with beautiful decorations in matching tones. For a truly sparkling Christmas!!
The tree has a natural shape, because of its layered structure. The branches fall out towards the bottom and looks like a real Christmas tree. The tree is made of PVC with a dark green color. The tree consists of three parts, which has branches that automatically fold open. The package even includes an extra125 cm long green garland to cover the metal base of the tree.
For that finishing touch, this package includes even a package of artificial snow and a package of purple-colored tinsels.
I'm very satisfied with the product. The helpdesk was also great and assisted me to clarify that my payment had been received.
Lots of information on the website with pictures. The colors on the pictures were slightly different from the colors upon delivery. The real colors are even nicer!


Lördagen den 3 november 2018 i Stockholms Stadshus.
Vänligen fyll i formuläret nedan för att lämna ditt svar.
In case of availability^, do wish to bring an additional guest to the ceremony?
^Please note that there are no guarantess that there will be availability. You will be informed at the same time as you receive the entrance cards for your other guests, approxiomately 2 weeks before the ceremony.
Graduation banquet in the Golden Hall, including after party at SSE.
Your registration to the banquet is completed when you've made the payment to: Handelshögskolans Studentkårs plusgiro, 852099-1. The payment should be marked with your name and student number. To check that your payment has been registered, please visit www.diplomand.sasse.se approxiomately a week after completing the payment.
The registration and payment is binding and repayment cannot be done for cancellations after November 2, 2017. Please note that no entrance cards will be sent out for the banquet.
I will bring a guest to the Graduation banquet. Price: 1700 SEK.
Payment for your guest at the banquet is made to the same account as above. Please also mark the payment with the name of your guest.


Trump has made a campaign issue of Hillary Clinton's stamina in the presidential race, raising questions of whether the leading Democratic candidate has the fortitude to do the job.
Ever since — and increasingly in recent days — the magnate has lobbed a barrage of insults at Clinton from onstage at his campaign rallies, on television and online. The former secretary of state is "low-energy," Trump says. She lacks stamina. She's physically weak.
…"She's even lower-energy than Jeb Bush," he told a South Carolina crowd on Wednesday.
An article published Monday by Politico reports on a recent podcast interview Solis Doyle gave to former adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod.
Politico noted Solis Doyles was an adviser on Clinton's two successful Senate campaigns and was her 2008 presidential campaign manager until she was replaced after Clinton finished third in Iowa. She then worked as a senior adviser to the Obama campaign and was Joe Biden's campaign chief of staff, added Politico.
While the Politico article leads with Solis Doyle's predictable denial of whether Hillary bears any responsibility for her husband former President Bill Clinton's affairs and if they should hurt his wife's candidacy, the real news is confirmation by an experienced Hillary campaign insider that Hillary has an energy problem campaigning and that Clinton disdains interacting with voters.


In January, 2018 the European Confederation of Medical Mycology (ECMM) designated the Division of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology and the Comprehensive Centre for Infection, Immunity and Transplantation of Medical University of Innsbruck & University Hospital Innsbruck, Austria as an ECMM Excellence Center with Diamond Status (Excellence in laboratory mycology and clinical mycology AND participation in ECMM endorsed clinical or epidemiological studies) following the recommendation of the ECMM EC committee. In line with the ECMM policy and strategy, an ECMM EC participates in the strengthening of country resources, in terms of information, services, research and training, in support of national health development.
This designation is a huge success for the Medical University of Innsbruck & University Hospital Innsbruck. Innsbruck is now one out of five evaluated Excellence centres with diamond status in Europa, displaying a high quality in diagnosing and treating patients suffering from fungal infections.


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De wenkbrauwgeelsnavelgors (Arremon dorbignii) is een zangvogel uit de familie Amerikaanse gorzen (Passerellidae). De soort werd in 1856 geldig als aparte soort beschreven door Philip Lutley Sclater en daarna lang beschouwd als ondersoort van de geelsnavelgors (A. flavirostris).

Verspreiding en leefgebied
De soort komt voor van Midden-Bolivia tot in noordwestelijk Argentinië.

Externe link
Avibase

Gorzen
IUCN-status niet bedreigd
Dier uit het Neotropisch gebied

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Scotland County R-I High School recently released the names of students placed on the district's 2nd Quarter Honor Roll for the 2018-19 School year.
Named to the 12th grade A honor roll were Breauna Altobelli, Kaylyn Anders, Jaycen Bair, Alicia Bishop, Abby Blessing, Madie Bondurant, Sydney Buckallew, Kyle Childress, Nova Cline, Austin Cochran, Haley Darcy, Kyle Davis, Jared Dunn, Brock Durflinger, Patrick Durham, Hunter Frederick, Will Fromm, Caleb Girardin, Khloe Hamlin, Conner Harrison, Jacob Kapfer, Mason Kliethermes, Julie Long, Slade McAfee, Jacob McDaniel, Kendra Middleton, Jace Morrow, Kaleb Parkins, Hannah Richardson, Patrick Shannan, Shalinda Shannan, Gabe Shultz, Adam Slayton, Katelyn Talbert, Luke Triplett, Joe Whaley, Anthony Whitaker, Conner Wiggins, Matthew Woods, and Gabrielle Zahn.
Earning B honor roll recognition were Kolby Armstrong, Rebekah Lourcey, Grant McRobert, Lacey Miller, Kenny Niffen, Jaydan Payne, Cliff Whitaker, and Troy Whitley.
The 11th grade A honor roll consisted of Brock Aylward, Jacob Buford, Katie Campbell, Micah Cooley, Katie Feeney, Maycee Ferrel, Jena Frederick, Eric Green, Claire Hite, Jaden McAfee, Kaitlyn McMinn, Jada Miller, Lane Parsons, Abigail Salmons, Tala Saulmon, Laura Shaffer, Reilly Shoemaker, Avery Shultz, Christian Siver, Kalissa Thomas, Parker Triplett, Shelby Troutman, and Erica Yarbrough.
The B honor roll featured Branton Andriesen, James Arnold, James Briggs, Emily Brown, Blake Coop, Devon Homer, Kamryn Mast, and Eric Yarbrough.
Making the A honor roll in 10th grade were Jansen Alexander, Kaden Anders, Jenna Blessing, Morgan Blessing, Christian Bliefert, Laney Campbell, Brady Curry, Bobbi Darcy, Sylvia Darland, Clara Davis, Shaylee Davis, Hailey Fox, Hailey Kraus, Preston Sanchez, Kylee Stott, Ethan Tinkle, Anna Triplett, and Kameron Wood.
The B honor roll included Kilee Bradley-Robinson, Ewan Carleton, Hunter Carter, Jacob Cochran, Ethan Durflinger, Alba Gomez, Carson Harrison, Kyra Justice, Dylan Mohr, Keely Parrish-Johnson, Kade Richmond, Brooke Smith, and Magnum Talbert.
The freshman A honor roll recipients were Zac Behrens, Trayton Buckallew, Jared Cerroni, Abigail Curry, Emiley Dial, Hannah Feeney, Brant Frederick, Sorrel Frederick, Taryn Hassell, Vikke Huber, Corbin Kirchner, Lydia Krouse, Alex Long, Hayden Long, Kara Mallett, Haylee McMinn, Baileigh Phillips, Shantel Small, Corbyn Spurgeon, Emily Terrill, Hailey Thompson, and Alaynna Whitaker.
Earning B honor roll status were Levi Briggs, Melody Burns, Rylea Camp, Hunter Cook, Kale Creek, Randi Green, Kabe Hamlin, Aayla Humphrey, Mary Kellum, Eli Kigar, Will Montgomery, Kayla Pflum, Zane See, Rose Whitley, and Zach Young.
In 8th grade, the A honor roll included Hanna Anders, Bryn Aylward, Danielle Bass, Kina Billings, Ethan Blessing, Penelope Cline, Lydia Davis, Abby Doster, Lucas Durflinger, Aiden Frederick, Gage Graham, Karli Hamilton, Tresa Huber, Elsie Kigar, Jewley Kraus, Jackson McKee, Iris Mishra, Eric Mohr, Caelin Robinson, Hunter Sapp, Lauren Triplett, Owen Triplett, Nancy Voitik, and Ian Wilson.
The B honor roll included Aden Aldridge, Paige Bishop, Layne Egenberger, Phillip Esser, Westin Homer, Keegan Justice, Brianna Kraus, Aaron McDaniel, Liz Sevier, Justin Swearingen, and Julian Valle.
Named to the A honor roll in 7th grade were Emma Anders, Kendal Anderson, Hugh Baker, Corbin Blessing, Brooke Campbell, Mazy Dodge, Madigan Frederick, Payton Frederick, Jadin Fuller, Kallen Hamlin, Hunter Holt, Makynlee Jack, Chloe Krise, Carson Miller, Breyonna Mitchell, Taydem Morton, Kennady Sapp, Emma Tinkle, Mariah Vaughn, and Alexis Wolfe.
Named to the B honor roll were Kyndra Cochran, Cynch Davis, Jericho Dugger, Amiah Durham, Tristen Fuller, Emma Harvey, Elias Hatfield, Tyson Hillyer, Kaylee Hobbs-Miller, Nicholas Holt, Lanayah Howe, Graydon Justice, Lathan McAfee, Charlotte McRobert, Janail Miller, Hattie Mumford, Tori Peterson, Hailey Small, Carlee Smith, Piper Thompson, Matison Tinkle, and Fawntana Wells.


text:
Tikun Olam תיקון עולם – Make The World A Better Place
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BREAKING: Israeli Kurd Fights for Peshmerga, Murders Unarmed Kurd, Story Censored
Tags: israeli kurd story censored murders unarmed kurd
MK Ayoob Kara posted this picture with Ilan Hassin, father of Israeli murder suspect, Adam Hassin.
Censored Jerusalem Post article
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חשיפה: אדם חסין (צעיר ישראלי שיצא להילחם בדאע"ש) עצור בכורדיסטן מאז קיץ 2015 ונאשם ברצח
Israeli media has been trying to report the case of a 20 year-old Israeli-Kurdish Jew who left Israel under false pretenses to visit his grandparents in the Kurdish region of Iraq. Instead, he enlisted with the Peshmerga to fight ISIS there. All went well until someone locally discovered he was an Israeli citizen. You can imagine that such news doesn't go over too well in much of the region. Not only does Israel's reputation for cruelty against the Arab states in the region go before it, but Israeli intelligence penetrates these movements as deeply as possible. One individual called him out for his deception and threatened to kill him (though the assailant was unarmed). The Israeli, who was armed, shot and murdered the Kurd.
The Israeli was arrested in 2015, charged with murder and faces the death penalty. He's been imprisoned for 18 months in Kurdistan. No one reported this story until far-right Druze MK Ayoob Kara, discovered it, visited the prisoner's father and posted it to Facebook. Kara had gone far off the reservation, since Israeli authorities hadn't wanted the story reported. It's unclear whether Israel was negotiating for his release and felt publicity would damage the possibility to free him; or whether the authorities didn't want egg on their faces for permitting an Israeli to enter a dangerous Islamist combat zone and wreak havoc there. In the past, I broke Israeli censorship reporting that Avera Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli had crossed the border into Gaza and been captured there. The Israeli government has permitted him to languish there for several years and refused Hamas offers to negotiate his release. Given that Kurdish Israelis are a minority within the discriminated Mizrahi community, it's entirely possible secrecy was intended to avoid pressure to negotiate his release.
It is illegal for Israelis to visit Iraq, though a significant portion of the Israeli Mizrahi population (among them IDF former generals,Binyamin Ben Eliezer and Dan Halutz) originates there.
It's no wonder that virtually all of the press coverage of this incident takes Kara to task for endangering Hassin's life. None of the media have asked why Israel permitted a citizen to leave the country to fight with the Kurds. I should note that a number of Israelis, both Jews and Palestinians, have fought on both sides of the conflict. One Palestinian even flew a glider from Israel-occupied Golan into ISIS controlled Syria to fight. An Israeli Jew left to fight with the Peshmerga. As far as I know, despite violating Israeli law in doing so, she was not prosecuted. Which attests to the racist double standards inherent in Israeli society and law. Jews can visit Lebanon, Iraq, etc and never be prosecuted. While Israeli Palestinian MKs can visit Lebanon or Syria and have their heads handed to them on a platter.
Kara posted to Facebook the prisoner's name, Adam Hassin. He visited with his father, Ilan, and posted a picture of the meeting. I've posted the censored Jerusalem Post article. There are also Hebrew language articles which also have been censored. H/t to Yanik who first alerted me to the story.
The post BREAKING: Israeli Kurd Fights for Peshmerga, Murders Unarmed Kurd, Story Censored appeared first on Tikun Olam תיקון עולם.
This post first appeared on Tikun Olam תיקון עולם – Make The World A Better Place, please read the originial post: here
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Alpine A110 Pure is the Lightest Yet, A110 Légende the Heaviest
February 28th, 2018 by Shane McGlaun
If you're a track day hound, and also happen to live in a country where you can buy the Alpine A110 mid-engine sports car, a new version is coming that you'll want to know about. The car is called the A110 Pure, and it's meant to be the purest and lightest version of the A110, which should mean the best performing – and maybe the most affordable.
The car will use the same 252 hp 1.8L turbo four and 7-speed dual clutch all versions use, but will have a stripped down interior to cut weight. Along with that minimalist A110 will also come in a luxurious new version called the A110 Légende. That model will get 6-way adjustable Sabelt seats, leather, and glossy carbon fiber elements. It's meant to be the most luxurious version of the car, which means it's also likely to be the heaviest.
Pricing and more details on both new trim levels will be announced at 2018 Geneva Motor Show next month.
Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept Previews New Supra
Jaguar F-Type SVR Gets Sporty Graphics Pack


commitment every day by giving 100 percent to every client.
Dell & Dean is not just a law firm; it's a family—a tight-knit, talented team that treats each client like one of its own. Clients truly are part of the Dell & Dean family, with 24-hour access to the firm's attorneys and staff. The entire firm is all in. Most of the firm's professionals have overcome obstacles of their own, making them particularly responsive to the needs of injured clients and their families.
Fighting for every client—and recovering outstanding awards on their behalf—Dell & Dean represents victims of construction site accidents, work-related accidents, automobile accidents, products liability cases, trip and fall cases, asbestos cases, employment discrimination cases, civil rights violations, and medical and nursing home malpractice.
Joseph G. Dell and Christopher R. Dean, each with nearly 25 years of trial experience, regularly obtain seven-figure verdicts and settlements for their clients. Widely recognized as a zealous trial lawyer, Dell also serves as the firm's president and managing member, overseeing the firm's day-to-day operations and maintaining close relationships with all its clients. Dean, a respected and formidable courtroom adversary, is also highly regarded throughout the personal injury community.


We have made it exceptionally easy for you to find a Scottish Widows mortgage, remortgage or buy to let!
We have access to specialist and exclusive mortgage deals and financial products that aren't available to the general public and we're proud to be able to advise you not only on a Scottish Widows mortgage, but also on the whole of the UK mortgage, remortgage and secured loan market.
We also have full access to specialist, industry mortgage and remortgage search software that will provide you with the information to help you make the best decision as to which mortgage lender you should use - Scottish Widows, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS or one of the many UK building societies?
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text:
Summary: The government's flagship welfare to work programme is failing tens of thousands of disabled and ill jobseekers, charities have said.
Ministers claimed latest official statistics showed the Work Programme was transforming the lives of many long-term unemployed jobseekers. But charities said the £5bn scheme was struggling to help people who had been on incapacity benefit to find work.
Companies delivering the Work Programme admitted it had been hard to find employment for many jobseekers in this category and more investment was needed to prepare them to move off benefits and into work.
The government has pledged to help a million more disabled people into work by 2020. A successful Work Programme, which has so far taken on 300,000 people on employment and support allowance (ESA, the successor to incapacity benefit) will be key to meeting this aspiration.
However, Mind, the mental health charity, said that just 9% of people with mental health problems currently claiming ESA had found a job after being attached to the Work Programme.
Tom Pollard, policy and campaigns manager at Mind, said: "It's high time the government faced up to the fact that their current approach just isn't working for people with mental health problems and needs a fundamental rethink.
"Mind is calling on employment minister Priti Patel to radically overhaul the benefits system, to one with less focus on pressurising people and greater investment in tailored, personalised support.
"We want everyone with a mental health problem who is currently on the Work Programme taken off this scheme and offered support which acknowledges and addresses the challenges they face in getting and keeping a job."
Paul Bivand, the associate director of statistics and analysis at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, said there had been little improvement in the programme's performance in getting people off ESA and into work.
For example, although Work Programme companies were expected by the government to get 41% of ESA claimants who had volunteered for the scheme into work, just 10% of these people had got jobs, said Bivand.
Even where there were low expectations, performance had been poor. Companies were expected to get jobs for just 8.6% of ESA claimants who had been previously on incapacity benefit and out of the job market for years. But just 4% had found work.
A performance briefing by the ERSA, the trade body for Work Programme provider companies and charities, said: "It should be remembered that many of the jobseekers in this group will never have received intensive employment support before and are a considerable distance from the labour market.
"Performance in this group is rising, but it is going to take far longer to help these jobseekers back into employment."
The Department for Work and Pensions said previous government back-to-work schemes had not done enough for disabled people or those with mental health problems. The Work Programme provided "flexible support so they have the right skills for when they are ready to rejoin the workforce", it said.
The ERSA said that overall 731,000 individual jobseekers had entered work through the Work Programme since it began in June 2011.
Elliot Dunster, the head of policy, research and public affairs for the disability charity Scope, said: "These figures show the Work Programme isn't working for disabled people who are pushing hard to find jobs and get on at work, but continue to face huge barriers."
Source The Guardian


For the 2017 Convention, the THSCA Professional Development Lecture Series added lectures specifically designed for our Athletic Administrators. This year's Athletic Administrators lectures focused on character program development, school law and the hiring process. All of these lectures and their workbook materials are included in the convention tuition price, and those in attendance recieved PDC credit hours and certificates of attendance.
You just booked "2017 Coach School Professional Development Lectures "


text:
package com.odoo.work.orm.models;

import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.Context;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.text.TextUtils;

import com.odoo.work.orm.ColumnType;
import com.odoo.work.orm.OColumn;
import com.odoo.work.orm.OModel;
import com.odoo.work.orm.data.ListRow;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class M2MModel extends OModel {

    private OModel baseModel;
    private OModel relModel;
    private String baseColumnName;
    private OColumn baseColumn = new OColumn("Base Column", ColumnType.INTEGER);
    private OColumn relColumn = new OColumn("Rel Column", ColumnType.INTEGER);

    public M2MModel(Context context, OModel baseModel, OColumn column) {
        super(context, column.getModelName(baseModel));
        this.baseModel = baseModel;
        this.relModel = baseModel.createModel(column.relModel);
        this.baseColumnName = column.name;
        baseColumn.name = column.base_column != null ? column.base_column :
                baseModel.getTableName() + "_id";
        relColumn.name = column.rel_column != null ? column.rel_column :
                column.relModel.replaceAll("\\.", "_") + "_id";
    }

    public String getBaseColumn() {
        return baseColumn.name;
    }

    public String getRelColumn() {
        return relColumn.name;
    }

    @Override
    public Uri getUri() {
        Uri.Builder builder = super.getUri().buildUpon();
        builder.appendQueryParameter("type", "many_to_many");
        builder.appendQueryParameter("base_model", baseModel.getModelName());
        builder.appendQueryParameter("base_column", baseColumnName);
        return builder.build();
    }

    public void insertIds(int base_id, List<Integer> relIds) {
        for (int id : relIds) {
            ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
            values.put(baseColumn.name, base_id);
            values.put(relColumn.name, id);
            create(values);
        }
    }

    public void replaceIds(int base_id, List<Integer> relIds) {
        delete(baseColumn.name + " =? ", base_id + "");
        insertIds(base_id, relIds);
    }

    public List<ListRow> browseRecords(int base_id) {
        List<Integer> ids = new ArrayList<>();
        ids.addAll(selectRowIds(getRelColumn(), getBaseColumn() + " = ? ", base_id + ""));
        return relModel.select("_id in (" + TextUtils.join(", ", ids) + ")", null);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Would it help to add index to BIGINT column in MySQL? I have a table that will have millions of entries, and a column that has BIGINT(20) values that are unique to each row.  They are not the primary key, but during certain operations, there are thousands of SELECTs using this column in the WHERE clause.
Q: Would adding an index to this column help when the amount of entries grows to the millions?  I know it would for a text value, but I'm unfamiliar with what an index would do for INT or BIGINT.
A sample SELECT that would happen thousands of times is similar to this:
`SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE my_big_number=19287319283784

A: If you have a very large table, then searching against values that aren't indexed can be extremely slow. In MySQL terms this kind of query ends up being a "table scan" which is a way of saying it must test against each row in the table sequentially. This is obviously not the best way to do it.
Adding an index will help with read speeds, but the price you pay is slightly slower write speeds. There's always a trade-off when making an optimization, but in your case the reduction in read time would be immense while the increase in write time would be marginal.
Keep in mind that adding an index to a large table can take a considerable amount of time so do test this against production data before applying it to your production system. The table will likely be locked for the duration of the ALTER TABLE statement.
As always, use EXPLAIN on your queries to determine their execution strategy. In your case it'd be something like:
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE my_big_number=19287319283784

A: It will improve your look up (SELECT) performance (based on your example queries), but it will also make your inserts/updates slower. Your DB size will also increase. You need to look at how often you make these SELECT calls vs. INSERT calls. If you make a lot of SELECT calls, then this should improve your overall performance.

A: I have a 22 million row table on amazon ec2 small instance. So it is not the fastest server environment by a long shot. I have this create:
CREATE TABLE huge
(
    myid int not null AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    version int not null,
    mykey char(40) not null,
    myvalue char(40) not null,
    productid int not null
);

CREATE INDEX prod_ver_index ON huge(productid,version);

This call runs finishes instantly:
select * from huge where productid=3333 and version=1988210878;

As for inserts, I can do 100/sec in PHP, but if i cram 1000 inserts into an  array use implode on this same table I get get 3400 inserts per second. Naturally your data is not coming in that way. Just saying the server is relatively snappy. But as tadman suggests, and he meant to say EXPLAIN not examine, in front of a typical statement to see if the key column is showing an index that will be used were you to run it.
General Comments
For slow query debugging, place the word EXPLAIN in front of the word select (no matter how complicated the select/join may be), and run it. Though the query will not be run in normal fashion with resolving the resultset, the db engine will produce (almost immediately) an execution plan it would attempt. This plan may be abandoned when the real query is run (the one prior to putting EXPLAIN in front of it), but it is a major clue-in to schema shortcomings.
The output of EXPLAIN appears cryptic for those first reading one. Not for long though. After reading a few articles about it, such as Using EXPLAIN to Write Better MySQL Queries, one will usually be able to determine which sections of the query are using which indexes, using none and doing slow tablescans, slower where clauses, derived and temp tables.
Using the output of EXPLAIN sized up against your schema, you can gain insight into strategies for index creation (such as composite and covering indexes) to gain substantial query performance.
Sharing
Sharing this EXPLAIN output and schema output with others (such as in stackoverflow questions) hastens better answers concerning performance. Schema output is rendered with such statements as show create table myTableName. Thank you for sharing.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


DANIEL SHAPIRO continues to gain recognition as a leading interpreter of Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven—whose thirty-two sonata cycle he has twice performed, and whose live performances of all the sonatas can be found on youtube.com—and as a teacher and coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has given critically acclaimed performances across the United States, in Brazil, Britain, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Korea, China, at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. His DVDs of all of Schubert's major piano sonatas and CD of Beethoven's "Diabelli" Variations have received enthusiastic reviews.
As a chamber musician, Shapiro has performed regularly with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras. He has also performed with the Cavani, Mirò, and Linden Quartets, and has released chamber music CDs on the Harmonia Mundi and ASV labels. Also to be found on youtube.com are Beethoven sonata collaborations with violinist Jaime Laredo.
His musical scope has also included the study of conducting: he studied with Daniel Lewis, Victor Yampolsky, Fritz Zweig, and Gustav Meier. He made his conducting debut at sixteen at Tanglewood, and has conducted Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Akron Lyric Opera.
His musicianship has also been enhanced and deepened by extensive collaboration with singers: listening to and working with them has been a source of tremendous inspiration. He studied art song with Gwendolyn Koldofsky and opera with Natalie Limonick, and was an opera and art song coach at UCLA.
A native of southern California, Shapiro began the study of piano at the age of six. His teachers have included Leon Fleisher, John Perry, Russell Sherman, Joanna Graudan, and Reginald Stewart. He studied at the University of Southern California and at the Peabody Conservatory, where he received his doctorate.
More information, including links to purchase the Schubert and Beethoven performances, can be found at www.danielshapiropianist.com.


text:
Banana Conservation Distribution
Distribution of banana genetic resources
Contributors to this page: Bioversity International, Belgium (Ines Van den Houwe); Bioversity International, France (Nicolas Roux); IIITA, Nigeria (Dominique Dumet, Badara Gueye); CIRAD, France (Jean-Pierre Horry).
Banana users (Photo: IITA)
An important role of in vitro genebanks is the distribution of germplasm to different users.
Click here to open a PDF document that shows how to disseminate general germplasm in detailed steps.
User related issues for distribution
Procedures for distribution
Recording information during distribution
Common policies on distribution and access to plant material
Follow the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) for in-trust germplasm using the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA).
For germplasm of crops listed in Annex 1 (click here for details), including cultivated Musa that will be used for breeding, research and training for agriculture, the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) should be used for all distribution, both from CGIAR genebanks and from Contracting Parties.
1) If the material meets the health status requirements for distribution (i.e. it is virus indexed negative for all viruses). If an accession is not available for distribution because of its health status, the requester will be informed and a suitable alternative accession should be proposed, if available.
2) The removal of samples for distribution should not reduce the stocks to below the accepted level for conservation. If only a limited number of replicates of the accessions is present in storage, the accession should be immediately reproduced and the requester will be informed that the request cannot be immediately or fully met.
An order form should be sent to the requester with the agreed list of accessions and the relevant Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) should be attached to it. The applicant should be asked to complete the order form and to acknowledge acceptance (signature/shrink-wrap mode) of the terms and conditions of the applicable MTAs. The requester should be asked to indicate the type of plant material and number of samples (if not standard) he/she wishes to receive.
National laws and regulations
It is essential to follow the terms and conditions in the host country agreements:
Export permits.
Phytosanitary certificate.
Certificate of origin.
International laws and regulations
The shipment of plant material should be sent with the Standard Material Transfer Agreement under the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
Phytosanitary regulations
See the Safe Transfer of Germplasm (STOG) section in this website for seed health movement (this is essential to avoid spread of pests and diseases).
Phytosanitary certificates are needed for most countries.
It is the responsibility of the requester to supply the genebank with all plant quarantine documents (plant importation permit/import permit labels) from the importing country required to enable the introduction of the requested germplasm into the importing country.
For germplasm requests outside the EU (in the case of ITC), shipments of germplasm always need to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate (PC).
Upon receipt of the completed order from, acceptance of the MTAs and (copy of) the necessary import documents, the genebank normally applies to its own country laws for a phytosanitary certificate, including the additional declarations exactly as required by the importing country. Only if the conditions of the phytosanitary certificate are in compliance with the conditions of the plant importation permit of the importing country, the introduction of the material into the importing country will be successful.
For requests of banana germplasm within the EU (in the case of ITC), a plant passport (PP) delivered by the Agency, is required. In some cases the importing country also requires a certificate of origin (CO), stating the exact (oldest traceable) origin of the germplasm. This document should be generally issued by the genebank hosted country.
When the plant material is ready for shipping, an inspection of the material to be exported should be arranged with the Agency, in order to ensure that additional requirements of the importing country are fulfilled.
Feedback to users
Factors that can influence the delivery of plant materials:
Respond to requests with lists of material, forms and conditions of access, SMTA as soon as possible after receipt of request (users may not know about the conditions so it is better to inform them before proceeding with the request).
Provide passport and germination data with requests.
Recommended procedures that ensure the material distributed matches the client request:
On specific requests, match accession numbers with specified request.
If accession numbers are not specified, match accessions to users' needs. These could include:
Plant habit to fit the crop system.
The most relevant information required to be received from the users is as follows:
Information on characterization and evaluation/use (information on performance in one area allows better selection of germplasm for similar areas).
Quantity of material recommended to be distributed
It must be sufficient to cover the diversity in the accession and produce material for future use (users should have access to the full diversity within the accession and sufficient plant material to multiply in order to obtain a genetically similar sample for future use. The provision of small quantities maintains the stocks and reduces the multiplication frequency.
In order to meet users requirements, three types of material can be made available:
Proliferating shoot tip cultures. Usually proliferating tissue cultures are supplied for further propagation or studies in vitro.
Individual rooted plantlets are supplied if the requester is not able to handle clusters of multiple shoot or bud cultures and they are suitable for immediate soil planting under controlled conditions (nursery).
Freeze dried leaf tissue suitable for molecular studies (DNA, RNA and protein research).
As a standard, five samples of living tissues (shoot tip cultures or rooted plants) should be provided per accession. For leaf tissue samples usually one packet containing 0.5 g tissue (fresh weight) should be supplied.
The applicant should be requested to give a short description of the intended research use of the requested material.
Availability of stock
Check availability of vegetative material in the field or laboratory.
Distribution of the requested material should not cause (i) the accession to fall below the minimum stock level or (ii) distribution of vegetative cuttings should not cause plant death.
Unhealthy accessions or those with little vegetative material should not be distributed.
Checking passport data
Passport data can be checked to ensure that the species is adapted to the requester's needs (this avoids waste of germplasm by sending material that the requester does not need or want).
Proliferation tissue for shipping
(photo: Bioversity)
Preparing vegetative materials for distribution
Proliferating shoot tip cultures
Propagules of the requested accession should be taken from the stock in MTS and re-propagated in 50 ml plastic culture vessels containing 10 ml proliferation medium and closed with a screw cap.
The culture vessels should be incubated under normal growth conditions (incubated at 28oC for 14 days at light intensity) for three weeks, before shipping.
Before propagules are transferred to the transport vessels, they should be indexed for bacterial contamination.
If the importing country requires that the material is free of specific bacterial diseases, the propagules should be tested on a selective medium for the pathogens concerned.
In vitro rooted plantlets
A few tissue culture samples of the requested accession should be retrieved from MTS and regenerated into unrooted shoots, planted on a regeneration medium with less cytokinins.
These should be aseptically transferred to Cultu saks®, gas-permeable plastic tissue culture bags which can be heat sealed watertight but allow gas exchange.
Cultu saks® are easy, economical, light and unbreakable and thus very suitable for transportation of plant tissue.
The bags must contain a semisolid root-inducing culture medium, containing half strength macronutrients of MS salts, MS vitamins, enriched with 15 gl-1 sucrose and 1 µM of the auxin IBA (indolebutyric acid) to promote root formation.
The roots usually appear within ten days.
Plants can be kept viable for several months in these cultu saks awaiting a convenient moment for planting at the recipients facilities.
Lyophilized leaf tissue
The required number of samples of each requested accession should be removed from the lyophilized leaf bank.
A standard of one sample bag per accession should be provided.
Dispatching of plant material
The plant material should be labelled with the accession ID and name. It should be packed in a cardboard box coated with shock absorbent plastic to avoid damage to the culture containers during transit. Inside the parcel the following documents should be enclosed:
A shipment notice or cover letter with a copy of the relevant MTAs, signed and dated by the Provider and User.
A packing list with the details of the parcel's content (the Provider and name of the accession enclosed, the type of cultures and the number of replicates).
A health statement with the results of the virus indexing tests undertaken on the shipped accession.
The accession passport data.
A receiving report: the recipient is requested to fill out and return a fax report sheet to acknowledge receipt and to inform the provider on the status of the plant material upon arrival.
An information sheet regarding the handling of in vitro propagules accompanies the shipped germplasm. For proliferating tissue cultures this includes the composition of the culture media to be used for the further propagation of the plants. Where in vitro rooted plants are shipped, post-flask handling instructions for the tissue culture plants are provided.
The consignment should be shipped by Express Mail in order to keep the journey as short as possible and minimize the risk of deterioration of the plant material.
System for tracking material/inventory system for distribution
Update related data tables in database management system (a database system allows easy and fast access to data and allows macros to be written for routine operations).
Use labels with good adhesive and clear printing (this avoids errors and mixing of material during shipping).
Tenkouano A, Swennen R. 2004. Progress in breeding and delivering improved plantain and banana to African farmers. Chronica Horticulturae 44(1):9-15.
Van den Houwe I, Jones DR. 1994. Musa germplasm distribution from the INIBAP Transit Center. Meeting: First Global Conference of the International Musa Testing Program, La Lima (HND), 27-30 April 1994. Publisher: INIBAP, Montpellier (France). Available here.
Van den Houwe I, Panis B. 2000. In vitro conservation of banana: medium term storage and prospects for cryopreservation. In: Razdan MK, Cocking E, editors. Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources in vitro. Vol. 2. M/S Science Publishers, USA. pp. 225-257.
You are here: Banana Conservation Distribution


WWE has revealed that its flagship WWE App has surpassed 10 million downloads in 220 countries since it launched in August 2012. WWE App will be a key component in the delivery of WWE Network, its 24/7 streaming service that launches on February 24th.
Through the WWE App, WWE delivers wrestling fans a second screen experience during its flagship TV programmes. The experience includes live match continuation during TV commercial breaks, backstage content, live polls, photos and exclusive information on WWE wrestlers. The WWE Network will offer fans a similar interactive fan experience for all original programming and live events via the WWE App.


OK, I admit it – 2016 was a year full of blogging and 2017 has been rubbish so far! I could hide behind a number of excuses but primarily it's been a lack of time both for writing and visible progress being pretty slow on projects.
One of two new armies I plan for 2017 (the other being Adeptus Mechanicus), my Death force is currently (rather oddly) being assembled at my Mum's house when I pop over. She's currently recovering from a pretty badly broken shoulder so I'm visiting more often than normally but sneakily took this project over there to work on. Currently I'm working on the core part of the army in the form of 50 Skeleton Warriors (a unit of 30 and two units of 10). With luck I'll be cracking into the next unit of Skeletons by the weekend.
Not long after Christmas I decided that it would be a really good idea to do a few tournaments in 2017, having enjoyed the one I played last year enough to give it another punt. After a few attempts to find a tournament that didn't collide with something else, I settled for Bristol Smash in June which I'm going to attend alongside a friend I play against relatively regularly. Now the slight hiccup is that I'm going to need a 2000 point army and currently I've only got 1180 points painted… It's also not what I'd class as a "competitive" build, mostly being down to units I fancied fielding.
So long story short, I need to bump my army up to the 2000 point mark in three months – which also includes a week away in St Lucia and a few weekends of commitments. Ideally it should also be a little more competitive than it currently is.
I have started on this with doing some more work on the two Slaughterpriests that I started last year and got them both to a state where they're just down to a few more details and the bases – this weekends task I think.
The biggest model that I've ever undertaken, has been what I've spent most of my 2017 hobby time on so far and have made some really significant inroads into it since I received it just before Christmas. The legs and torso are pretty much done bar a few details and some repair work on the missile pod that I managed to drop on the floor last Friday. The leg armour plates need gluing and pinning into place and then I've simply got the arms to complete.
Frustratingly I'm going to need to park him for a few months whilst I get my Bloodbound sorted, which is a bit of a shame as I would have liked to see him completed without a break, however they're more urgent at this point in time.
Needless to say I've got quite a lot of things to get done in the next couple of months. Most importantly is getting my Bloodbound up together, a second Bloodsecrator (conversion needed) and extra models are needed to give me a decent 2000 point force for the beginning of June. Once that's done I can then crack back into my Porphyrion and get his arms sorted out and then ultimately into my Adeptus Mechanicus force which I hope to have around 500 points done for September time (I've already done a couple hundred points so that's not horrendous).
My Death army is simply going to grow as I put them together. They're not for anything specific so don't need to rush and actually enjoy putting them together and painting them.


Tea tree oil is rich in antioxidants that help to reduce the inflammation of pilonidal cysts. So it prevents the cysts from developing. You make the cotton ball wet by water then pour some drops of tea tree oil into the cotton. After that, you apply it on the cysts for several hours. Do it about 2 times per day if you want the healing process faster. Tea tree oil is considered a good way for people who are suffering from pilonidal cysts. You should be patient with this method to get the best result.
You can use the mixture of baking soda with vinegar. You should mix ½ spoon of baking soda with ½ spoon of vinegar. Apply it on your cysts for about 15 minutes. Then you wash your cysts with water. Do it daily to treat pilonidal cysts effectively. As you know, baking soda is very good for your skin. Especially, it helps to reduce inflammation and makes your skin moisturized. So baking soda is a perfect choice for you.
You just need to use thin slices of onion to apply it on your cyst areas. Let it sit for several hours. Just by this simple way, you will be amazed with the results. You should do this method 2 times daily to treat pilonidal cysts.
You dip a cotton ball in apple cider vinegar then place this cotton ball in your cyst for 2 hours. You should do it 2 times per day. You notice that washing your cyst areas with water before changing other cotton ball. Because apple cider vinegar can reduce swelling and remove toxins that are caused by pilonidal cysts so it is one of the best home remedies for pilonidal cysts.
Hot compress is good idea for people who are suffering from pilonidal cysts. You use a clean cloth and dip it in hot water. After that, you make the cloth without any water. Then you place it on your cysts for more than 15 minutes. You should do it several times per day. You can replace hot compress with cold compress. This method brings to us many benefits such as reduce the blood circulation, swelling so it makes healing process of pilonidal cysts faster.
You mix the gel from aloe vera with castor oil. Then you apply this mixture on your cysts for 1 hour. Then you wash the cyst area by water. Do it 2 to 3 times daily. Aloe vera is top home remedy for pilonidal cysts.
You take some garlic with water to get a thick paste. You place it on your cyst area for 15 to 20 minutes. Do it at least twice per day to get the result as you expect. Garlic contains antioxidants that help to reduce the symptoms of pilonidal cysts. It is simple but very effective way to treat this disease completely. So why don't you try?
They are top home remedies for pilonidal cysts that I want to recommend to you. These home remedies are all easy to do without any expensive costs or medical equipments. More significantly, they are safe for your health and natural, effective in treating pilonidal cysts. You can do simply by yourself at home to help yourself as well as around people who are suffering this disease. You will get the amazing results as you expect. Good luck!
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text:
Home » New ballpark foods for 2017 include apple pie nachos and funnel cake sandwiches
New ballpark foods for 2017 include apple pie nachos and funnel cake sandwiches
By Rebekah Schouten
Fans are deciding the future of ballpark fare in America's baseball stadiums, and Mickey Graham, director of marketing for the West Michigan Whitecaps at Fifth Third Ballpark, says those fans seem to be becoming more and more like "foodies."
"More and more people are experimenting with stuff at home, and at restaurants, if they don't have a good diverse menu, they're not doing as well," Mr. Graham says. "I think people's expectation of the quality of food, wherever they go, has definitely gone up. They want high-quality stuff."
To accommodate the changing tastes of its fans, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Fifth Third Ballpark holds a contest each year called the Fan Food Vote, which allows fans to pitch new menu item concepts to the park. The ideas are whittled down to the final 10, and the public votes for the winner.
This year, the chosen champion was Beer Cheese Poutine, which features pulled pork, barbecue pork, beer cheese and green onions on a bed of waffle fries.
"The Beer Cheese Poutine won overwhelmingly against some of the other items," Mr. Graham says. "In Grand Rapids, beer is one of the things we're known for here, so I think the beer cheese really spoke to Grand Rapids fans."
The loaded fries concept won out over more outrageous options, such as deep-fried bubble gum, a fried Spam and macaroni and cheese sandwich and a deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich coated with Doritos.
"I think they're going more for something that they actually want to eat, not just something kitschy," Mr. Graham says. "They can take a Twitter picture of a two-foot-long hot dog or they can have something they really enjoy. They're going for quality."
The Apple Pie Nachos will be offered at Coors Field this year.
Other ballparks are catering to the crazy cuisine-seekers. Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, is serving the Pulled Pork Patty Melt, a skewered sandwich featuring barbecue pulled pork, fried onion, bacon, shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses between two funnel cakes and topped with a jalapeño popper.
Chase Field, where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, is also debuting an out-there offering. The park's new Funnel Cake Chicken Sandwich features a crispy chicken fillet topped with garlic black pepper cheddar, strawberry jam, powdered sugar and maple syrup all sandwiched between two funnel cakes.
The Whitecaps have their own frankfenfood sandwich, but it debuted eight years ago. Weighing in at 4,800 calories, the Fifth Third Burger is a 4-lb sandwich that features an 8-inch sesame seed bun, five 1/3-lb beef patties, a cup of chili, five slices of cheese, liberal doses of nacho cheese, Fritos, gobs of salsa and lettuce. The stadium still sells the sandwich, Mr. Graham said, but its sales have steadily declined over the years.
"See, we had big crazy sandwiches, too, but our fans just don't want that anymore," Mr. Graham says. "Not only do we give our fans the chance to vote on an item each year, but everybody votes with their wallet. Even when we have those bigger items – they're not buying them. We've been doing the Fan Food Vote for 8 years … 4 of the first 5 years it's been big, gross, nasty high-caloric items. But the last three years, the winners have shown people are going for taste. So it's not the shock value of an item. They come to the ballpark and they want something good to eat. A lot of fans want something that tastes good and that's not necessarily a high calorie item. Something they're not going to get at home … something that adds to the experience."
As the favor of fans turns toward more upscale and personalized offerings, Mr. Graham says the ballpark may become more of a food destination, shifting focus from high-calorie to high-quality.
"In 5 or 10 years, I can see chefs on the concourse," he says. "I see more customizable stuff. Maybe fans will tweet an item in to the chef's stand and 15 minutes later it's made for them. They just come up and get it; they don't have to wait in line. I can see those sorts of things happening. We're not there yet, but I can see it coming."
Click to view a slideshow of new 2017 ballpark menu items.
Personal definitions of health driving food choices for consumers
Panera Bread appoints new chief executive
Will cage-free become the new norm?


text:
Introduction to birational anabelian geometry
Fedor Bogomolov, Yuri Tschinkel
Current developments in algebraic geometry
Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Bogomolov, F., & Tschinkel, Y. (2012). Introduction to birational anabelian geometry. In Current developments in algebraic geometry (pp. 17-63). (Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences; Vol. 59). Cambridge University Press.
Introduction to birational anabelian geometry. / Bogomolov, Fedor; Tschinkel, Yuri.
Current developments in algebraic geometry. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012. p. 17-63 (Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences; Vol. 59).
Bogomolov, F & Tschinkel, Y 2012, Introduction to birational anabelian geometry. in Current developments in algebraic geometry. Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences, vol. 59, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 17-63.
Bogomolov F, Tschinkel Y. Introduction to birational anabelian geometry. In Current developments in algebraic geometry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012. p. 17-63. (Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences).
Bogomolov, Fedor ; Tschinkel, Yuri. / Introduction to birational anabelian geometry. Current developments in algebraic geometry. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012. pp. 17-63 (Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences).
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It was announced last year that a rating system was going to be introduced to implement a set of required standards among service providers involved in the tourism sector.
Speaking at a tourism press conference Tuesday, Beache said that a lot has been done since the idea was first proposed, and he hoped that later this year, the SVGTA would begin doing its checks of all involved in the tourism industry.
According to Beache, even though much has been done in the area of tourism, this country does not have in place, a basic standards system.
"But we need to get on stream especially with the coming of the Argyle International Airport," he explained.
The aim, he further explained, is to ensure that all the relevant stakeholders meet the minimum standards set out by the SVGTA.
Among the standards Beache outlined, are those that would guide taxi-operators, short term car rentals, tour guides and operators; and for hotels, apartments and guest houses to ensure that the basic requirements are adhered to, such as the wearing of hair nets by kitchen staff, hot running water etc.
A ratings system would prevent issues such as over rating, which Beache said has happened in other parts, where hotels are allowed to rate themselves, only for it to be discovered by guests that they are being made to pay four star prices, but receive two star service.
"We want to make sure that we get off on the right footing with that," the CEO said.
A lot has been done in the mean time Beache said, which included consultations and on Monday, members of the SVGTA met with the Attorney General, Judith Jones-Morgan where she was briefed on the types of minimum standards that will be looked at.
According to the SVGTA's CEO, this was not to shut the doors of any one establishment, but to get the small things right.
He further explained that once routine checks have started and establishments are lacking in certain areas, they will be given some time to right the wrongs.
It is also expected that the SVGTA would be the authoritative body making the necessary inspections.


During the summer of his "breakdown," all Jake knew was that he couldn't go backward, and apparently he wouldn't go forward. The experience of direct involvement with the present moment was just the place in which he had previously been unable to dwell. He was determined now to stay put. He knew that, paradoxically, some great success was buried within his failure. He sensed that he had had some kind of awakening. But what was it?
Samvega is a developmental state not mentioned in Western psychological texts. It brings with it a realization that objects of grasping (money, fine things, titles, fame, even people–when seen as objects) cannot supply any true satisfaction. It involves a radical realization that all objects are intrinsically empty of the capacity to feed us in the way we really want–orneed–to be fed.
One of the harbingers of the developmental imperative of samvega is that we–like Jake–begin to hear ourselves muttering about our Old Life and our New Life. Out of the blue, we begin to feel like captives in our lives–lives which may have fit comfortably for years. Our well-known world begins to feel stale and dead. Gradually we start hankering to leave for the New World. We begin to feel imbued with the spirit of our Seeker ancestors. We want nothing more than to leave the Old Country. This internal movement presages a profound reorganization of the psyche, a redirection of the energy of longing, and a completely new relationship with the world of people, places, and things.
Even though this developmental stage is as common in human life as adolescence, one will search Western psychology books in vain for a clear description of its causes and trajectory. We ordinarily attempt to fit the complexities of samvega into our old, usually pathological, categories. We trivialize it as "midlife crisis," or we wonder if it is not really just neurotic depression, or regression–as Susan Goldstein did when encountering Jake's version of samvega.
But contrary to the typical Western view, the kind of "breakdown" in which Jake found himself is not a regression into the past. It is not a pathological state. It is not a move backward at all. It is, rather, a step toward the possibility of a vastly expanded way of living in the world.
In yogic texts, the word samvega is often translated as "vehemence," because it brings with it an unshakeable resolve to develop into a fully alive human being. Patanjali introduces the term samvega in the first chapter of the Yoga-S¯utra–using the word to indicate a "wholehearted" (or "vehement") determination to find a way out of suffering.
Yogis found that even though this state of "vehemence" carries with it a tremendous amount of feeling and power, it does not disturb the mind–rather it calms the mind. (In the summer of his breakthrough, everyone noticed that Jake was not disturbed. He was calm and profoundly "resolved.") Samvega is a kind of passion that does not create suffering–but, rather, generates the happiness that comes with the sure knowledge of freedom. Because the state of samvega is so full of possibilities, it is often referred to as a state of "emergence." Through the practice of yoga, says Patanjali, we can emerge from the traps of ordinary suffering. How quickly this emergence takes place depends on the intensity and persistence of our practice.
What does this mean? In order to see clearly, to examine how things work, we will have to stop our lives, slow things down, look carefully–like the person who has suddenly discovered she has created the mother of all knots in the shoelace of her boot. We must stop. Slow down. Look. Examine. How did this happen? How does this work? How can I reverse this? We will have to deconstruct the very way we perceive and rebuild it again from the ground up.
Stop the world. The impulse toward stillness is the central movement of the contemplative life. Monastics through the ages have described it: One intuits some precious new interior self. One sneaks off into the woods like an animal, builds a nest for the birth. Guards it ferociously. And waits in silence.
Jake had an urgent need to stop the world. And he discovered, as all strivers do, that when the mind is still, our true nature begins to reveal itself. Out of stillness, like the early morning mist on the lake, emerges a thinking that is not thinking–a wisdom beyond thought. Out of stillness emerges, effortlessly, a subtle world of experience for which we had only longed until now. It is real. It rolls itself out in waves as we get still, quiet, concentrated, and settled.
The Sanskrit word nirodha, which Patanjali uses in the second sutra, means "stilling, cessation, or restriction." This stilling is both the path and the goal of yoga. Its appearance at the beginning of the treatise signals its centrality in Patanjali's technique.
"Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness." Yoga is to still the thought waves of the mind. Yoga is to bring a natural quiet to the mind and body–so that we can, for the first time, see clearly. And in this stillness–miraculously, outrageously–the knots undo themselves.
This teaching captures the essence of the yogic view: what we are searching for is also searching for us. The way is to stop. To let ourselves be found. Stand still.
In order to understand the path of the strivers, we will have to convince ourselves of the necessity, the magic, the absolute brilliance of stillness. Over and over again we will have to do this. We will forget. Farther down the path, tomorrow, or perhaps later today, we will forget about stillness. And when we do, we will have lost the thread. Without this central practice, none of it will make any sense.
During the summer of his breakdown, Jake sought true contemplative stillness for the first time in his life. His resolve astonished me. Some days he would sit on a bench behind the old colonial church on the hill in Lenox, gazing at the eighteenth century graveyard. For Jake, experiencing the state of samvega, the cemetery seemed just the place to be–an excellent vantage point from which to ponder the meaning of life.
Jake wandered among the stones sometimes for hours at a time, perhaps hoping to get a glimpse of his own death. Or a longer perspective on his life. And so, that summer, Jake sat and peered and wandered and prayed and listened–like a hunter who wasn't sure if he was hunting or being hunted. Looking to his left.


Sara Dahill-Brown is an associate professor of political science at Wake Forest University. Her research and teaching interests in American politics focus on public policy, education, state and local government, and democratic accountability. She also teaches courses in quantitative research methods. She earned a Masters and PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she was also an advanced fellow at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Her dissertation, The State of American School Governance: Who's in Charge and Does it Matter? investigates changing power relationships between state and local authorities, and the consequences of centralizing political authority. She grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and earned a BA in Political Science and Sociology from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to entering graduate school, she taught in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas with Teach for America.
POL 212: Making and enacting policy involves adjudicating among political, moral, and administrative imperatives. This course focuses on the substance and outcomes of policy as much as on the political processes of producing and contesting it at the national level. To understand the policy process in this broad context, the course casts a wide net. Part I defines politics, public policy, surveys the cultural and institutional contexts in which policy is made, and then moves on to discuss foundational theories of the policy process. Part II examines the practice of policy analysis; students will have the opportunity to apply these lessons to their final projects. Part III targets policy-making across several broad issues areas. In this last component of the course, students will be introduced to economic, health, environmental, educational, and/or welfare policy (depending on time and student interests).
POL 280: The amount of quantitative data available in the world is overwhelmingly large today. Political parties, governments, non-profits, and corporations increasingly rely on quantitative analyses to make important decisions, and regardless of career path, students need to be literate in basic statistics. Numbers enable us to know – and see patterns in – a world that might otherwise be too complex for us to grasp. In this course, students will be introduced to the range of available data and basic statistical techniques, including the statistical software, R. Students will learn to frame quantitative research questions and understand the processes that generate political and social data. Students will compute and interpret descriptive statistics, explore bivariate relationships, and estimate multivariate models.


Now that the latest attempt at forming a national government has failed, the Greeks will be voting again on 17 June. If surveys of voting intentions are anything to go by, the crisis is only just beginning to get really nasty.
The example of Greece is evidence of the need for reforms to be consolidated and socially fair, since – not least in order to secure greater popular support – it would have been better had the rigour been coupled with a more substantial helping of social justice. The discontent generated by the adoption of measures that have hit many of the people hard has fuelled the rise of opposition parties that are more critical of what the government is doing or are manifestly populist in nature. In seeking to get the public finances back on track (failing which, it needs to be said, the country as a whole will be plunged into the abyss) Europe has not given sufficient attention to the issue of social cohesion in a country that has been swindled by a corrupt and incompetent ruling class. As the squeeze takes hold, Greece is already playing a very dangerous game of blackmail and more or less credible threats. Greece's destiny is largely in the hands of its people. If the anti-bailout front win the day, the country's exit from the Euro will happen in a matter of weeks. The parties of the radical left overestimate the scope for renegotiation and have been pushing for an unacceptable modus operandi that has forced the rest of Europe into a more rigid stance.
If Alexis Tsipras' radically left-wing Syriza party does as the results of some polls suggest, it could be the biggest party, and, given the majority premium (50 seats), a government without its support will be unsustainable. Even in that case Syriza might not, however, be able to form a parliamentary majority opposed to the bailout. The latest surveys show a marked downturn in the performance of the Communist Party (KKE), whose seats could be vital in surpassing the 151-seat threshold. The next election, then, could bring in a highly fragmented parliament that would find it difficult to govern the country, and could exacerbate the crisis by potentially setting the status quo in stone and not offering Europe a partner with whom to engage in dialogue on reforms.
Whatever the new government turns out to be like, it will seek to renegotiate the terms of access to financial aid, but will find it impossible to change the direction of fiscal policy or reverse the progress made on many fronts as part of the country's reform process. Europe may well be able to give more attention to the structural imbalances by acknowledging the progress made over the cyclically adjusted targets, but will not accept outright abandonment of the policies adopted. The election of France's President Hollande and Italy's support for measures to sustain growth will not be sufficient to change the direction or nature of the financial constraints within which Europe has to manoeuvre. If Syriza becomes the glue in a majority coalition made up of Dimar and the KKE, then, given the radicalism of the approaches adopted by both these parties, it may well be that the future government will become even more confrontational and ignore the requirements of Europe and the IMF.
If that happens, then events in Greece are likely to take more or less the following course: 1) it is likely that the external financial support would be suspended, so the country would again default in the course of only a few weeks; 2) a long time before that happens, the prospect of the country leaving the Euro would prompt households and businesses to withdraw their deposits in massive amounts, and, without support from the ECB, the runs on banks would cause many of them to fail one after another; 3) the government, faced with this state of affairs, would be obliged to close off access to the credit system; 4) the economic recession would become even more severe and would eventually make the original situation even worse, with the state, in a matter of weeks, being unable to pay either salaries or pensions, and the crisis taking on the characteristics of a profound depression before the Greek central bank, having reassumed the power to print and mint the drachma, would flood the economy with liquidity; and 5) the drachma would immediately lose value, while inflation would simultaneously rise and adversely impact the purchasing power of salaries and pensions.
In the best-case scenario, the process of regaining equilibrium will take years and the social and economic costs be well in excess of what Europe and the IMF are asking to bear. Access to foreign financial markets will be made more difficult by reputational and legal issues, and the country will be obliged to finance much of its own deficit by monetisation, thus adding to the depreciation of the drachma while fuelling inflation and rising interest rates.
If the crisis were to spread wider within Europe, it could well have a considerable impact and would require even bigger buffers to defend the Euro than exist at present. The primary contagion channel would be the financial system. Greece accounts for a modest share of the Euro zone's GDP and carries negligible weight in terms of exports. The withdrawal of foreign capital from the countries undergoing macroeconomic rebalancing would cause significantly more disruption, the ongoing sale of securities would drive up the cost of financing for families and businesses, and the ECB would be obliged to counteract this by bringing in new quantitative easing measures. The recessionary effect would be likely to put the public accounts in an even worse state, to such an extent as to delay the achievement of financial equilibrium in many states. Spain is likely to ask the EFSF for help with the recapitalisation of banking system, while Italy, too, will probably find itself obliged to ask Europe to take preventive action to isolate the source of the crisis. The idea that the Greek crisis could affect only Ireland and Portugal on the grounds that those countries are under a financial assistance programme is somewhat feeble. Both Ireland and Portugal are starting to reap the first benefits of their fiscal consolidation efforts and their access to funding by the EU and the IMF has not been a matter for debate. In order to isolate the risk of contagion, the EFSF/ESM would have to commit something of the order of EUR 300 billion, yet to be raised, of which something slightly less than one-third could be used to recapitalise the banking system. According to the BIS' statistics, foreign banks (nearly all of them European) hold some EUR 70 billion worth of Greek assets, and considering also the extra funding need of the Spanish banking sector the EFSF/ESM could inject something not much less than EUR 100 billion into the system. The residual financial capacity could be used to extend the aid programme to Portugal and Ireland and in due course to prop up Spain as well. However, the most significant cost of contagion would be in terms of lack of growth, estimates of which depend on reactions from the markets and the likely loss of confidence on the part of consumers and European businesses.
Finally, it is also worth considering what will happen to Greek government debts with other states, the EFSF, the ECB and the IMF. Adding up the 53 billion from the first aid programme and the 108 billion already spent by the second, approximately 40 billion in government bond and 78 billion of the ECB net exposition to the banking system, the result is an official net exposure of the European institutions amounting to some EUR 280 billion. Taking it as read that Greece is not Zimbabwe (one of the few countries not to have repaid the loans made by the IMF), we assume that the emergency finance received by Greece will be repaid in full like the other obligations entered into through the Euro zone's monetary authority. Given that Greece's membership of the European Union itself would be an open question if the country were to decide not to pay its debts to its official creditors, we think it unlikely that it will not discharge its obligations in full. There is, however, doubt only as regards the government bonds held by the ECB under the SMP, which might not be redeemed at face value. Overall, the recovery rate for the governmental share of Greek public debt will probably be close to 100%. This makes the prospect of an exit from the Euro much less appealing to Greece in that the service of this debt would be extremely onerous if its new currency, the drachma, were to be seriously devalued.
By way of conclusion, the effects of the crisis on a Euro zone without Greece in it might well not be long-lasting, and so, after a period of greater volatility, investors could well start to become interested again. Once the initial panic was over, Greece's abandonment of the Euro might well be seen in a favourable light by the markets if it led to greater integration across Europe. If that turns out to be the case, then the Greek lesson will not have been in vain.


text:
To Miss Nelly Tremaine
Dear Sister—
What's this about you leaving your position with the Grenvilles? Word is they're a respectable family. I had hopes that their cook would train you up. Good cooks are scarce. You'd never want for work with that kind of skill.
I must confess, your new employers sound terrifying. I know you said they assist people who've been done wrong, but they used to be thieves. Even the women! I can't imagine why you'd leave a fine household to work for such a strange group. But then, you've always been one to leap before you looked.
I pray to God every night to keep you safe. Your loving sister, Bess
To Mrs. Thaddeus Wilton
Dear Bess—
I know you've been worried about me taking that new position with the Restitution League, but I couldn't be happier. Mrs. Crane and the rest are very kind, even if Mr. Edison does scare the daylights out of us with his experiments. The explosions do rattle one's nerves, I don't mind saying. Last week he built a brass automaton that pours tea! It wasn't long before the poor fellow knocked over an end table and broke a vase. Mrs. Crane was not pleased.
As you can see by this letter, I've learnt to use the typewriter quite well. I'm to start lessons on the telegraph machine next week. Learning Morse code seems impossibe, but Mr. Edison says I've got the brains for it. Time will tell. I'm so happy to be doing something besides sweeping and dusting.
I hope Thaddeus and the children are well. It looks as if I'll get a chance to see for myself soon. Mr. and Mrs. Crane are going on a delayed honeymoon trip next month. She says I'm to have a whole two weeks leave. The Grenvilles were never so generous.
I've already saved up for the train fare, so you can plan on having me at the first of the month. There's no need to fret. I'm happier than I could imagine. And wait until you see my new clothes! Office girls don't have to wear stupid old uniforms like maids do. I've got a smart new set of dresses to show you.
I can't wait to see you all. Your sister, the office girl
Yost Typewriter 1890
A woman who disdains love collides with a man who lives for passion. Explosions ensue.
Ada Templeton believes in science. She believes in chemical reactions and experimentation and old-fashioned common sense. She's far too clever to be seduced by a rake like Edison Sweet.
Over Ada's objections, Edison agrees to guard her latest invention from a mastermind willing to kill for it. He never expects to be intrigued by the lovely widow whose body he finds as exciting as her mind.
Seducing the Scientist and the other books in the Restitution League series are now available in Kindle Unlimited.
In the daylight, Ada's laboratory was nothing short of spectacular.
It was everything Edison's own workshop was not. Beakers, test tubes, and glass decanters, each in their proper place on mahogany workbenches, gleamed in the bright autumn light. All neat and tidy and pleasingly arranged, not unlike the scientist who worked there.
All the more so as he suspected the effect was completely accidental.
And then there was her scent. That light swirl of violets. Even in the midst of the acrid, metallic odors emanating from every beaker and box in the crowded room, it stirred him.
Delightful perfume aside, the woman's obstinance was beginning to grate. Badly.
Edison rubbed a hand over his eyes. "I can't keep your device safe if you don't tell me where it is."
She raised a beaker to eye level, frowning as she measured dry plaster of Paris to her liking. "It's well hidden. Have no worry about that."
"Have no worry? Are you addled?" He threw his hands up. "What do you think those men were looking for last night? What about the men before that? They weren't after your excessive hoard of plaster."
She continued with her measuring. "You'll have to trust me, Mr. Sweet…Edison. The device is secure. What I do need your assistance with—and I am fully willing to admit it—is protection for my family."
"Yes, yes. Of course. We'll keep you all safe. That's the easy part. I sent the stable boy to gather the rest of the League before I came down to breakfast. My reinforcements will be here before lunch, I'm sure. But I can't protect your device, unless—"
She slammed the jar of powder down onto the counter. "You're already taking a risk to protect us. I won't add to that. The device is safe. Even if it were not, I won't have you endanger yourself to save it."
Unlike most women, she didn't resort to coquetry. She met him head to head. Any other time, he would have found that profoundly appealing. Under the current conditions, however, it was unduly aggravating.
He closed his eyes, wishing he were contending with the sort of woman who liked to be cosseted and protected. He understood those women—how they thought, what they desired.
How to get what he wanted in return.
Habit made him lean close so his breath would caress her ear. He'd been told more than once it made women shiver delightfully. "I'll find it eventually, you know."
Instead of melting, softening, shivering, or sighing, she jerked away as if he reeked like a fishmonger.
"Search all you like." She measured chloride into the beakers. "You won't find it."
Edison ground his teeth. Dear God, he'd seen granite cliffs less stubborn. If charm had no effect, intimidation might.
He lifted the chloride from her hand and set it on the bench.
She glared fiercely. "I beg your pardon?"
He ignored her and closed in, backing her up against a filing cabinet. When she could go no farther, he spread his arms wide, his palms flat against the cabinet front, pinning her in.
He'd planned to frighten her, to scare her into letting him have the device. But that sweet scent wrapped around him again, obscuring his train of thought in a sensual mist. All he could think of were her lips, slightly parted and begging to be kissed.
She squinted up at him. "What are your intentions?"
The words did not match her tone, which was soft and sweet and—dare he hoped—welcoming.
He smiled. "What would you like them to be?"
Her mouth opened wider. Her chest rose and fell as her breath deepened and her eyes dilated. "I believe I should like you to kiss me," she said finally.
Riley Cole writes sexy, sassy historical romances set in the innovative, energetic Victorian Era.
If you enjoy high adventure with your historical romance, delve into Riley's version of late Victorian London. Thieves, rogues, and love await.
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What a terrific concept, Riley. Thank you very much for sharing this book with us. I know what my next read will be.


Professional boxer Leander Johnson discussed overcoming his past troubles, enduring homelessness, and his subsequent determination to lead a productive life Wednesday with students at Broadmoor Elementary School.
A native of Pine Bluff, Johnson, 23, asked students to raise their hands if they like to fight and be difficult with teachers. Many students raised their hands, prompting Johnson to warn the children to behave.
A 2013 Pine Bluff High School graduate, Johnson said he did not get along with his mother, and on 40 occasions from ages 12 to 18, the quarrels landed him in the juvenile justice center. He has also been homeless and arrested.
"I don't want to see y'all go down that path," Johnson told the group.
He also warned the children to stay away from gang members, even those who may be relatives.
He asked students to raise their hands if they have both parents at home. Many students raised their hands, while many others did not. He advised the students to do their school work, obey teachers, respect each other, avoid drugs, avoid fighting and avoid gangs.
Referencing his black skin, Johnson told the students they have opportunities to make a productive life.
Johnson advised the girls to avoid provocative dancing, equating them as queens worthy as respect. He advised the boys never to hit females. After his lecture, he took questions from students, posed and mingled with them. One child asked what his future dreams are.
Johnson grew up in the Christian church yet still became homeless and made reckless decisions. He used to sleep in a park, enter an out-of-service gas station to shower, and walk to a job. He used to wait outside restaurants to get discarded food. After a 2015 arrest, Johnson said he was alone in a jail cell and admonished himself for his foolish decisions. He looked himself in the mirror and asked why he was cheating himself out of success.
Even while he was homeless, he had won a national title as an amateur boxer, Johnson told students Wednesday. During that time, he saved his money and managed to rent an apartment unit in Little Rock. He warned kids against suggestive dancing, and morally bankrupt television programming. He said that he sees older women engaging in suggestive dancing, which reflects that they do not respect themselves.
Broadmoor Elementary School counselor Glenda Hayes introduced Johnson, imploring students to make wise choices and avoid trouble. After his lecture, she thanked him for his frank message.
"The older you get, the more peer pressure you will experience," Hayes said.
Johnson fights as a heavy weight in the USA Boxing Amateur League and recently signed with Elephant in the Room Boxing in New Haven, Connecticut, after being pursued by manager Devonne Canady. Johnson met recently with Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington to offer his story to her and ideas about ways to improve the city.
As recently as five weeks ago, Johnson tipped the scales at 408 pounds but has been working hard to lose weight. He has since dropped nearly 70 pounds through a grueling training regimen in Connecticut. He expects his next fight to be in late 2017, and he intends to drop to 240 pounds.
To continue his success, Johnson said he is keeping God first, being physically fit and mentally focused.
After his presentation, the children clapped for him.
Pine Bluff Commercial Managing Editor John Worthen contributed to this report.