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Where EAST meets the Northwest
WORKERS WATCHING. Laborers cheer at a fan festival at the Asian Town cricket
stadium in Doha, Qatar, on November 25, 2022. Far from the luxury hotels and
sprawling new stadiums emblematic of Doha during the World Cup, scores of
soccer-mad South Asian workers poured into a converted cricket stadium in the
city’s desert outskirts to enjoy the tournament they helped create. (AP
From The Asian Reporter, V32, #12 (December 5, 2022), page 12.
On outskirts of Doha, laborers watch World Cup they built
By Isabel Debre
The Associated Press
DOHA, Qatar — Far from Doha’s luxury hotels and sprawling new World Cup
stadiums, scores of South Asian workers poured into a cricket ground in the
city’s sandy outskirts to enjoy the tournament they helped create.
Unlike the official FIFA fan zone near Doha’s pristine corniche, this one has
no $14 beer or foreign tourists. There are few food options beyond deep-fried
Indian snacks, scant soccer jerseys in the crowd, and even fewer women.
Instead, the grassy pitch in Asian Town, a neighborhood of labor camps, is
packed with migrant workers from some of the world’s poorest countries. They
power Qatar, one of the world’s richest, and helped accomplish its
multi-billion-dollar stadium-building effort.
Their treatment has been the controversial backstory of the 2022 World Cup,
ever since Qatar won the bid to host the soccer championship. They can face low
wages, inhospitable housing, and long hours, often in the scorching heat.
But the evening that the Netherlands played Ecuador, the bleachers of the
cricket stadium heaved with workers revelling on their one day off of the week.
The lucky ones scored a small number of World Cup match tickets that went on
sale for just 40 riyals ($10) — a special cheaper ticket category for Qatar
residents. But for those who can’t afford to go to gleaming stadiums, the giant
screens in Asian Town have become a key glimpse into the tournament that has
reshaped the tiny emirate.
"Who can afford to go? I keep 400 riyals ($109) a month in my pocket," said
Anmol Singh, an electrician, who sends the rest of his $600 salary to his
parents and grandparents in Bihar, eastern India. "I work to give it all to
Even if meager by western standards, the salaries of migrant workers in Qatar
and across the oil-rich sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf often exceed what they
could make back home and serve as lifelines for their families in India, Nepal,
Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Workers in the fan zone who spoke to an Associated Press journalist last
month said they coveted their jobs in the country, which has strict laws on
speech. The yearslong boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations also stoked
nationalism among the migrant workforce that makes up some 85% of the country’s
Kaplana Pahadi, a 21-year-old cleaner from Nepal, strolled through the
crowded cricket stadium with three co-workers she called "my family."
Decked out in a maroon Qatar jersey, scarf, and cap, she said she moved to
the energy-rich emirate over four years ago to pay medical fees for her mother,
who developed heart problems after her father’s death. "She’s always sick," she
said. "I want to help her."
At halftime of the match, the floodlit stadium became a riot of music and
dance. A celebrity Indian emcee whipped up the crowds as Hindi pop blared.
Some men hoisted themselves up on the shoulders of their friends. Others
jumped up and down with excitement. Most wore jeans and t-shirts, or cream
shalwar kameez — a knee-length shirt with a pair of loose-fitting trousers
common in South Asia.
Hundreds took out their phones to film the reverie, smiles spreading as women
in LED-lit white dresses traipsed onstage.
It was a stark respite from the daily grind.
"These are people from companies doing hard work," said Imtiaz Malik, a
28-year-old IT worker from Pakistan, gesturing to the crowds of men. "But any
kind of work is good."
He said he misses his family back in Lahore, Pakistan, and wishes he could
hear their voices more often. Despite the difficulties, he said, Qatar has
become his home, too.
"This country is becoming better," he said.
The glaring spotlight of the World Cup has compelled Qatar to overhaul its
labor system. The country scrapped the kafala system that tied workers’ visas to
their jobs and set a minimum wage of 1,000 riyals ($275) a month, among other
changes. Still, rights groups argue more needs to be done. Workers can face
delayed wages and rack up debt paying exorbitant recruitment fees to land their
Imran Khan, 28, said many young men in his hometown of Kolkata, India, dream
of working in Qatar. He left his parents and brothers behind to search for work
in hospitality during the World Cup. But he has yet to find a job.
The competition is fierce and work is harder to come by now that the
tournament is underway, he said. In the meantime, he spends his days watching
matches on the big screens at the cricket stadium next to the mall.
The fan zone allows Khan and legions of other migrant workers to enjoy the
World Cup atmosphere just a short walk from their dormitories. It also means
they’re not taking the bus into downtown Doha, which is now filled with foreign
fans watching games and celebrating.
"I can’t explain the excitement," Khan said. "It’s unreal."
Read the current issue of The Asian Reporter in its entirety!
Go to <www.asianreporter.com/completepaper.htm>!
| 0.969477 | 1,323 |
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[Bookplate for Oeuvre des Bons Livres de Montreal]
Printed in black ink on cream paper, an intricate border evocative of a tabernacle and constructed of geometric repeating patterns.
[Bookplate for Thomas B. Greening]
Printed in black ink on cream paper. In the centre of the image, a heraldic shield is depicted. The shield is decorated by two thick intersecting lines with reversed scalloped edges, forming a cross shape. The lines are incised with a pattern of thin, close-set vertical lines and contrast against a solid background. Below the shield, a banner with chevron-ed edges contains the phrase ‘A TOUTE FORCE.’ Above the shield, the head and neck of a horse is shown in profile, facing left, with its mouth open and mane flowing.
[Bookplate for Max Hermann]
Printed in black ink on cream paper. The image shows an older man sitting, facing left. The man has long hair and wears a pillbox hat and a robe. He sits in a carved wooden chair, hunched over a large book that rests on a lectern and turns the pages with his left hand. His head is shown in profile, framed by a circular sun with lines radiating out in all directions.
[Bookplate for Claude Lamont Wheeler]
Printed in black ink on greenish gray paper, the bookplate consists of a two line border surrounding the name of the owner. In the lower left corner appears the word 'No.' followed by a dotted line for the addition of a hand-written number. The number '33' has been written in ink.
[Bookplate for G. L’Heureux]
Printed in black ink on orange-yellow paper with an adhesive backing. The image depicts a stylized scene of a laborer in a field. The figure stands with his face in profile and in shadow with the shoulders and torso turned toward the viewer. He wears a plaid shirt and a rounded black hat with a flat brim. In his left hand the figure holds the handle of a long scythe, which rests on his left shoulder with the blade extending behind. In his right hand he carries a bushel of wheat. The foreground contains stylized stalks of wheat while the background depicts rolling hills and rounded clouds. In the middle ground there are more fields with a house positioned to the right of the figure.
[Bookplate for Antony F. C. Tétrault]
Printed in black ink on white paper, the bookplate shows an open book in front of a lit, winged torch. Below the book appear the words 'EX LIBRIS' below which sits a black dividing line approximately 1.2 CM long. Below the line appears the word 'DATE:' below which appears a dotted line for the addition of a hand-written date. Below the dotted line appears the name of the owner, 'Antony F. C. Tétrault.'.
[Bookplate for Claude Lamont Wheeler by C. Collmen]
Printed in black on white or cream paper. In the upper left corner of the bookplate appear the words 'NULLA DIES SINE / LINEA' followed by four upward pointing arrows or crosses. To the right in the upper center of the bookplate appears a framed portrait of a horned figure (the devil?). The center of the bookplate shows the caricatured figure of a man sitting at a roll top desk. His tall wooden chair leaves his feet dangling above the ground. The man holds a lit cigar in his left hand and quill pen in his right hand. The desk, the wastepaper basket to the right of it, and the floor around it are littered with sheets of paper. Several books, as well as an owl and a human skull sit on the top of the desk. To the left, an over-sized pair of scissors leans against the man's chair. To the right of the desk appears the name of the illustrator, C. Collmen(?). Below the illustration appears a white bordered box with the words 'Ex Libris,' below which appears the name of the owner.
[Bookplate for Montreal Catholic School Commission]
The bookplate is surrounded by a stylized block border with a design within it. At the top, the school board crest is printed above the words 'Commission des Ecoles Catholiques de Montreal'. The body of the bookplate is comprised of a printed form with space for a student's name, reason for the award, grade, school, date and year to be filled in by hand.
[Bookplate for H. Curtis]
The owner's name is written in black ink, surrounded by an elaborate border in blank ink, on a thin, green faded paper.
[Bookplate for Les Religieuses de Sœurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et Marie]
The pre-formatted plate for awards is printed in black ink and multiple fonts, and filled in with a single hand. Above the text sits a cross entwined in daffodils with the motto of the religious order on scrolls above and below the cross, all encircled with a border. The text and insignia are enclosed in a thick, detailed decorative border.
[Bookplate for A. W. Robertson]
This bookplate consists of a pictorial image of men in a rowboat in the foreground with the image of a large sailboat in the background. Between the two primary images is the shape of a whale, the ocean, and three small rowboats. It is designed to replicate the style of stained glass, and is therefore divided into sections which are executed in varying colours such as blue, green, yellow, brown, and purple. Each section is delineated in black ink and is bordered in black ink. The bookplate is on white paper.
[Bookplate for A. W. Robertson]
This bookplate is executed in dark ink on white paper. It depicts a ship with a compass-rose in the lower left corner.
This bookplate is printed in black ink on cream paper, and consists of a decorative border with ivy leaves and trefoils attached to a thicker border, with a thin, multi-part border just inside. In the upper left is an ornate monogram and in the lower part are two dotted lines, the second of which is labeled.
[Bookplate for Harold Hampson]
This bookplate's design features a collared greyhound's head, erased, above a mural coronet. Below a banner waves containing the originator's Latin motto.
[Bookplate for London Public Library and Art Museum]
This bookplate’s design features a depiction of the façade of the London, Canada, Mechanics’ Institute framed by two large maple trees. A banner above, labels the print as an ex-libris and a separate compartment below the building displays several books and the originating institution’s name.
[Bookplate for F. H. Herrington by L. C. D.]
This bookplate's design features a learned Christian monk interrupted from his work, pausing, he looks outside of the frame at some unknown distraction. His desk is situated outside under a tree and the sun sets or rises behind him on the horizon. The brown tint to the monk's habit may indicate an affiliation with the Franciscan order or may merely be a design decision on the part of the artist.
[Bookplate for Ditton Park]
This heraldic bookplate consists of an escutcheon, argent (silver), divided per pale. The left armorial is charged with three fusils, gules (red). The right armorial has a chief, azure (blue), the charged with three mullets. The lower half is charged with a crowned heart, possibly a preperesentation of a Claddagh.
[Bookplate for Mary Katharine Black and F. Black]
This is a commercial, pictorial bookplate displaying, in vivid colours, an antiquated ship sailing over the horizon. The names of the originators have been hand written onto a banner above the ship.
[Bookplate for Frederick Starr]
Woodblock bookplate in four blocks: black, blue, orange and red. Image of a Japanese figure resembling a nesting doll.
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| 0.928088 | 1,781 |
The Nosferatu Adventures
page 183, chapter 183
Our heroine was trying to get the dog poop off her shoe without toppling over, when she spotted the beautiful dark haired man. He had been sitting a few feet away at a table, getting his palm read.
"That's bull!" he screamed pointing at the woman, standing up he flipped the table over grabbing up his jacket and book moving from her. Storming past our heroine, he didn't bother to look at her as he slammed his shoulder into her.
"Hey!" she turned about to follow him to demand an apology but stepped in the dog poop again. "Damn it!" she let out a huff as she found herself once again cleaning the mess off her shoe.
"You're really unlucky aren't you?" the voice seemed to slither around her on the hint of humour. She nodded as she swore again. "Here, let me help." he reached his arm out for her to take hold, to balance herself. "I'm not going to bite. Or steal your purse promise." The most gorgeous chocolate brown puppy dog eyes smiled at her from under a mess of dark hair. Our heroine found herself stunned for a long few seconds, unable to think straight. "I'm Reuben by the way." he nodded meekly at her.
"Uh...Nos...Nosferatu." she managed to stammer out her name on a near hush. "Thanks." It was her turn to smile, as she reached up to wipe a piece of candy floss from the corner of his beard. "Hit the snack bar I see." she dropped it to the ground, as Reuben cast his eyes down slightly embarrassed.
"You here with anyone?" he asked clearing his throat, pulling his hair back into a really clumsy ponytail. She shook her head at him, as a chunk of his hair, which was bleached out, fell out of the ponytail and into his eyes. Nodding again, Reuben pulled a pair of glasses out of the messenger's bag he had slung over his shoulder and pointed towards a small tent. "I was just on my way to the beer tent. You've got id right?" he said placing the glasses then on his face, the one arm being held on with what appeared to be a band-aid with fairies and pink stars on it.
"You really are blind without those aren't you?" she said gesturing towards the wired rimmed frames. "Hon, I haven't been carded since you were in diapers."
"I was being a gentleman." he blushed licking his lips. "Alright, I'm still going. Wanna come with me?" he undid the ponytail trying to fix it, only to have the one piece fall into his eyes again.
"What the hell. I've always been a sucker for a man with brown eyes." she found herself oddly unable to keep from wanting to fix his hair for him as they entered the beer tent. The scent of stale beer hit her nose in an assault that was quickly followed by hot dogs. Looking around the tented area, she noticed a small vendor near the back of it by the beer stall. A very tall muscular male with a curtain of dark curls and an armful of tattoos was standing by the entrance.
Reuben nodded at him, moving quickly towards the larger male, his hand firmly gripped onto our heroine's elbow. She had a difficult time keeping up with him, watching every step now for any indication of more dog crap.
"Rolf!" he slapped the other male on the shoulder. "Been awhile. You still working at Flippie's Pie Hut?" he asked digging into the messenger's bag again for his wallet.
"Na man." he shook his head, the mass of curls falling into his face forcing him to flick it out of the way. "I quit working there last spring. Pulling the night shift most nights now at the hospital." he made a duck bill with his lips as he tilted his head to the side, his hands at his belt. "Pays thirty-five an hour." the smile lit up his eyes, causing small laugh lines to crinkle around them, softening up his fierce appearance. "I'm a male nurse." he gestured his shoulder towards our heroine. "You going to introduce your friend there?"
"No, thought that I would just let her listen to us jabber on for awhile like the rude asses we are. This is Nos." he ran his fingers over the edges of his beard as he turned eyeing the place. "Anything good in here?"
"If you mean what are your chances of scoring? I'd say none all I've seen are old drunk guys and a few under aged teens. But if you're talking about the beer, it all tastes the same." Rolf shrugged flicking his hair again out of his face.
"I'm in the mood for a dog." Reuben replied heading then towards the back of the tent. Rolf said nothing as he gestured for our heroine to pick a table among the pockets of people. They ended up sitting at a picnic table near the far end of the tent, closest to the vendors. Reuben returned, his hot dog already half devoured as chopped onions and mustard covered the edge of his hand, a tray of beers and two more hot dogs in his other one. "They've got fries. Hang on. I couldn't carry it all." he announced as he put the tray on the table and went back for a large basket of fries.
"You're wasting your time you know that right?" Rolf said dropping his voice, leaning across the table to close the gap between them.
"What?" our heroine asked checking the time on a large digital clock over the beer stall.
"Reuben's a flaming hoop." Rolf sniffed as he adjusted himself on the wooden bench having spotted a large blob of gum stuck to the seat a few inches away. Looking at her from the corner of his eye, he saw the disappointment creep into her as her shoulders drooped.
"I had no idea." the female's voice seemed strained as she reached into her purse pulling out the flyer, double checking the time on it. She felt stupid and naive suddenly, thinking Reuben coming to her rescue was anything more then that.
"No idea about what?" Reuben asked as he plunked down beside her. He was so close our heroine could feel the heat of his skin through the material of the green sweater he was wearing as his shoulder brushed her's.
"That you are a sausage hound." Rolf stated flatly as he scratched his jaw. Reuben looked away from them both, his long lashes brushing against his cheek.
"I'm open to all possibilities." he replied opening his messenger's bag again, pulling out a large stack of comics. "Check those out, just came in." He turned a half inch towards our heroine his knee slamming into her's. "I run a comic book store." Patting her knee he jumped up once more from his seat. "Forgot the ketchup."
Our heroine sighed as she sat there, the thin cord of her earphones dangling around her neck, the third track having just ended and the intro for track four catching her attention.
Tune in again for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me (straight up story. This would be where you go back two parts and look again at the playlist)
| 0.99175 | 1,557 |
Dr. McFadden, world renowned archeologist and professor of archeology at Harvard University, has been reported missing.
Dr. McFadden is in fact the serpent man SsRuahh, who has adopted this form to research and locate the Nameless City of legend. However, his investigations into the mysterious and occult have attracted the attention of several government agencies; Majestic-12 NRO Delta agents, who have been overtly tailing him for weeks, hoping to scare him into changing his line of work, and Delta Green A-cell, who have been discretely monitoring his progress and assessing his potential use within the agency.
Dr. McFadden is sure that the government agents following him are on to his secret identity and has decided that the time has come to move on. He has fled to Oman, to locate the Nameless City. His plan is to resurrect the hibernating Reptile Men high priests, the foundation of his reptilian army.
Intelligence reports that Dr. McFadden purchased a one way ticket for Oman via Expedia.com. He left Logan International, to Muscat, Oman. Also purchased are a rental car from Muscat to Salalah and a guided day tour to Ubar from Salalah via LOST CITY TOURS.
Tracking the Doctor
Landing in Muscat, the agents can ask the car rental desk clerk in the airport for information regarding Dr McFadden. Successful fast talk rolls will reveal that the doctor rented a small sedan to be dropped off at the car rental office in Salalah.
Salalah is about 8 hours drive south west from Muscat. Flights from Muscat to Salalah take about 2 hours and are available via Oman Airlines, leaving every 5 hours.
The car rental clerk at the Salalah airport will report with a successful fast talk roll that Dr. McFadden dropped off the car and was picked up by a LOST CITY TOURS 4 wheel drive bus along with 3 other men.
The tour guide used is difficult to locate in this crowded desert town; the streets are small, crowded with crazy taxi cabs, merchants and winding, unnamed roads. Once located (a successful Party LUCK roll), the tour company will report, if shown a photo of the Doctor, that the tour bus was stolen by the doctor and 3 unknown men during the tour of the Lost City. While the group was taking the foot tour of Ubar, Dr. McFadden and 3 other men snuck back to the bus
and drove north into the open desert.
Directions to Ubar are easy enough as it is one of the primary tourist destinations in this city. Approximately 3 hours drive to the north to the village of Shisr, the location of the Ubar dig site is on the northern side of the town.
Any agents speaking Arabic at less than 20% suffer a -10% to fast talk rolls 20% to 59% suffer no penalty, with 60% or better, they have an additional +10% to fast talk when dealing with the locals here.
Timeline of Events
10DEC09 – 1820 hrs Dr. McFadden flies out of Logan International Airport
11DEC09 – 1220 hrs Dr. McFadden lands at Muscat international Airport and rents car for Salalah
11DEC09 – 2100 hrs Dr. McFadden checks in rental car at Salalah Airport and hails cab
12DEC09 – 2100 hrs A-cell contacts the Agents
12DEC09 – 0800 hrs Dr. McFadden boards tourist day trip by Landcruiser to Ubar
12DEC09 – 0500 hrs Agents leave for Ubar
12DEC09 – 1200 hrs Dr McFadden and Desert tour trip arrives in Ubar
12DEC09 – 1300 hrs Dr. McFadden and 3 other men steal bus and head north into the desert
12DEC09 – 2000 hrs Agents arrive in Salalah
The Majestic Option
If the party seems to be getting bored, moving to slow, or going in completely the wrong direction, the keeper may choose to add an extra problem to the mix, NRO Delta goons. Having followed the same clues as the agents, Majestic has sent 2d4 NRO Delta agents to tail the PCs. They can come in at any time, and at any level of aggression that the keeper sees fit. Possibilities include tailing the group quietly (spot hidden to notice) to storming in complete with black helicopter and heavy machine guns.
Searching the Desert
When the Agents land in Salalah, it is 1900hrs, Dr. McFadden and the 3 other men have been in the open desert since 1pm. A three hour drive to Ubar from Salalah in a Landcruiser puts the agents in Ubar at 2300hrs. Tracking the stolen bus in the sand, in the dark, will be impossible. Renting a single engine airplane (with pilot) at Salalah airport is the best option. After three hours of flying, the agents are able to spot the stolen bus with a party LUCK roll each subsequent 30 minutes of searching. Abandoned and stuck in the sand, the bus sits 100 miles north of Ubar and about 20 miles south of the Saudi border. Spot Hidden rolls will find the men walking through the sand somewhere near the Saudi Arabian border. The 3 Arabic men with the doctor will open fire on the agents and the airplane on sight, the Doctor will flee into the desert night and hide.
Providing the agents survive the plane crash (they were flying very low) and the subsequent gunfight, the Doctor will come out of hiding and frantically plead with them to spare his life. Once the agents identify themselves as being there to save him, he will repeatedly thank them for saving him from those terrorists.
He will explain that they had planned to hold him for ransom and were taking him to their camp and waiting compatriots.
The airplane is destroyed, and the agents and Doctor McFadden are at least 120 miles from the nearest village. Everywhere is sand and darkness. Camping near the plane wreckage is the safest bet, this is when the doctor will try to get the agents to drink his Dominate Serum and convince them to join him in the search for the nameless city.
Any agent who is not dominated by the serum, during daylight hours, may make a spot hidden role to notice that the doctor's shadow is not right. Confronted by this the doctor will attempt cloud memory, or if the doctor takes 1 point of damage for whatever reason, the Dr. McFadden likeness will be dropped and SsRuahh will reveal his true form (0/1d6 san). Dr. McFadden clutches a courier bag constantly. He will not discuss the contents, and will not let the bag out of his sight. The bag contains the alchemical equipment and artifacts needed to perform the ceremony to raise the hibernating reptile men.
FINDING THE NAMELESS CITY
Provided the doctor's true identity has not been revealed, the group will spend the entire day hiking through the desert, searching for help (and being steered in the wrong direction) or, if dominated by SsRuah, searching for the Nameless City. Either way, at nearly 2100hrs the group will come across the ruins of an ancient village. The doctor will be ecstatic, exclaiming that he has found it at last, the Nameless City of legend!
The doctor will begin frantically scouring the ruins searching for the entrance to the temple cavern.
RAISING THE DEAD
Once Dr. McFadden / SsRuahh locates the temple entrance, he will disappear into the cave. Following him down into the steeply winding, descending cave, flashlights or torches reveal intricate murals on the walls. The paintings depict the rise and fall of some kind of degenerate race of crocodile men.
Deeper still the group will come to the hall of the high priests. The walls are lined with 23 polished wooden coffins with glass lids. Inside each is the hibernating / mummified body of a reptile man high priest. Lose 1/1d6 san after seeing the murals and realizing the truth. SsRuahh will remove the glass covers on each of the coffins and begin chanting and mixing chemicals in his makeshift lab on the cavern floor, beginning the process of waking the reptile men. If they haven't noticed the shadow yet, they will now. In the flickering light of the small fire in front of Dr. McFadden, his shadow looms across the cavern wall like a dinosaur hovering above its prey.
If SsRuahh completes the process, He will abandon his disguise, if he hasn't already. The Reptile Men will begin to stir within the coffins and SsRuahh will stand triumphantly in front of them and command them to feast upon the agents and build their strength for the war to come. In the chaos that follows, there is a Spot Hidden -20% chance that the agents will notice 3 of the reptile men are not revived and appear to be missing an amulet that the other 20 seem to have.
All 20 of the revived reptile men will attack the agents and attempt to devour them. They will follow the agents out into the desert and will not stop until killed or satisfied.
STATS for "The Lizard Who Would Be King"
Imran Davi – Hired Gun
STR 11 DEX 10 INT 9 CON 12 APP 10 POW 9 SIZ 11 SAN 45 EDU 7 HP 12 MP 9
AK-47 45% dmg 2d6+1 Knife 63% 1d4 Grapple 68% English 22%
Farooq Gandapur – Local Muscle
STR 8 DEX 13 INT 11 CON 9 APP 11 POW 9 SIZ 11 SAN 45 EDU 9 HP 10 MP 9
AK-47 58% dmg 2d6+1 Knife 67% 1d4 Grapple 48% English 19%
Mahmood Rajput – Neighborhood Goon
STR 9 DEX 11 INT 12 CON 12 APP 12 POW 10 SIZ 9 SAN 50 EDU 8 HP 11 MP 10
AK-47 49% dmg 2d6+1 Knife 53% 1d4 Grapple 62% English 21%
Dr. McFadden / SsRuahh – Professor / Ancient Serpent / Would be King of the Reptile Men
STR 11 / 17 DEX 10 / 16 INT 18 / 22 CON 11 / 17 APP 12 / na POW 17 / 25 SIZ 11 /
14 EDU 21 / 30 HP 11 / 16 MP 17 / 25 DB 0 / +1d4
Domination Serum, Mesmerize, Mindblast, Power Drain, Bring Haboob, Cloud Memory, Dominate, Enchant Knife, Flesh Ward, Parting Sands, Consume Likeness, Contact Serpent Man, Contact Yig, Fang of Yig*, Find Serpent Folk*, Hibernate*, Quicken* and any other spells or skills the keeper feels appropriate.
Rifle 38% Bite 73% dmg 1d8 plus 17 POT poison
Armor 1 point scales
San Loss 0/1d6
20 Revived Reptile Men (average)
STR 14 DEX 11 INT 11 CON 11 APP 11 POW 11 SIZ 14 HP 13 MP 11 DB +1d4
Armor 2 point hide - Bite 50% dmg 1d6 + DB - San Loss 0/1d6
*NEW SPELLS from "WHERE A GOD SHALL TREAD" by Scott D. Aniolowski from "AT YOUR DOOR"
Fang Of Yig
This spell launches an appeal to mighty Yig which must be backed by the caster's sacrifice of 15 MP, and 1 POW. In return, if Yig favors the caster. the god accepts him or her as a fang for 1010 centuries, bestowing then 1d3+ 1 new points of POW as a sign of regard. To be accepted. the caster must be a serpent person or must have found merit In Yig's eyes. Once accepted by Yig, the supplicant becomes totally at the god's command. Sometimes Yig voices his wishes in dreams, which must be obeyed without question: at other times the god commandeers the target's body and does with it as he sees fit and for as long as he desires. The personality of the caster is simply along for a terrifying ride.
How the caster survives for 1d10 centuries to collect the additional POW is not a matter of interest to Yig. The Jealous Yig has POW 28; he never raises fangs above POW 27.
Find Serpent Folk
This spell tells the caster the direction and distance of the nearest serpent person. The maximum range of the spell is five miles. Each casting costs 3 magic points and 1 SAN. Repeat the spell as desired. Serpent mages know this spell, but no human does, nor has it ever been written down in any human language.
This spell slows the metabolism of any being which has a heart, and then sustains the target over great lengths of time. The target falls to the floor in deep slumber and dreams endlessly. For a single magic point, the sleep lasts for a year; for 2 MP, ten years; for 3 MP, 100 years, and so on. The target retains
a modicum of perception if clear danger presents itself, awakening if a luck roll succeeds, though the
spell is thereby broken. Hibernate can be cast only on willing targets.
This spell allows the target to be 2 movement points faster and two DEX ranks quicker for one hour, at a cost of 6 magic points and 1 SAN point. The procedure involves three hand gestures and a mental visualization, requiring about five seconds total. Quicken may be recast without limit.
| 0.933287 | 2,859 |
Reduce emissions and save energy with an unconventional flare gas recovery system
An unconventional flare gas recovery system (FGRS) can be designed without a gas compressor to collect the boiloff gas from the ethane tank to the boilers at the utility area. This innovative recovery system will provide significant capital and operating cost savings by eliminating the installation and operation of a gas compressor as part of the conventional FGRS. The FGRS scheme includes the use of a gas ejector with high-pressure motive gas to boost low-pressure ethane flare gas to the intermediate pressure, which is required to return the gas to the boilers at the utility area.
The case study included here explains how the unconventional FGRS was applied at Saudi Aramco’s Yanbu NGL fractionation plant to continuously recover approximately 1.1 MMsft3d of valuable C2+, which is equivalent to 1,961 MMBtu/d in fuel energy savings. The proposed FGRS scheme will also minimize greenhouse gas emissions and provide positive environmental benefits.
Project introduction. Flare systems are essential parts of any oil and gas processing plant. These systems, which essentially consist of flare headers and laterals, liquid knockout drums and flare stacks, serve as one of the last layers of protection for the plant to safely relieve pressure from plant equipment during an overpressure condition. As part of safety requirements, flare headers are normally provided with continuous purging to prevent vacuums within the system, keep air out of the system and prevent possible explosions.
The major component of any conventional FGRS is the gas compressor. It is required to compress the low-pressure flare boiloff gas to a pressure that can return the gas to the process. The recovery gas compressors have recurring maintenance, operating spare and reliability issues, similar to any other rotating equipment in a process plant. It would, therefore, be an attractive and economic venture if the use of a gas compressor can be eliminated from the FGRS without jeopardizing the performance and safety of the system. To this end, a scheme was evaluated using a gas ejector that can provide additional operating flexibility and reliability to the system.
At the Yanbu NGL fractionation plant, the purge gas used is ethane. To ensure no air ingress into the flare headers, a minimum flowrate of purge gas must be continuously maintained for each flare system at the plant. One 100% ethane tank flare system is in use. The system has a flare header of 12 in.–16-in. diameter; therefore, the maximum continuous load of ethane boiloff to flare system is 1.1 MMsft3d. The total flared gas is available to be continuously collected and routed back to the boiler utility area.
The study revealed that it is feasible to recover the continuous flared gas by connecting new piping from the flare system upstream of the flare knockout drum to the boiler utility area, to allow continuous boiloff and utilize it as fuel for the boilers. FIG. 1 shows a schematic of the ethane tank flare system arrangement at the Yanbu NGL processing facility.
FIG. 1. Schematic of ethane tank flare system at the Yanbu NGL processing plant. |
The unconventional FGRS scheme was established and carefully evaluated through hydraulic and process simulations, using both in-house programs and proprietary software,a as described in the following section.
Ejector-based FGRS. The scheme was developed by utilizing a suitable ejector to collect the 1.15 MMsft3d of continuous flare gas at 0.48 psig, using 0.95 MMsft3d of available high-pressure gas as motive gas. The process scheme was modeled, simulated and confirmed possible, using proprietary software.a To this end, a recovery system utilizing high-pressure gas at 380 psig as motive gas—in an ejector to transport the gas from the flare site to the boiler utility area—was established. FIG. 2 shows the calculated flowrates and pressures for the feeds and outlet streams of the ejector. FIG. 3 shows the flow scheme for the ejector-based FGRS.
FIG. 2. Calculated flowrates and pressures for the Yanbu FGRS ejector. |
FIG. 3. Flow scheme of ejector-based FGRS at the Yanbu facility. |
This flare gas recovery approach is possible based on the fact that there is enough room in the boiler utility area to accommodate the flared gas volume. Flare gas recovery at the plant requires only the means to transport the gas from the ethane tank flare system site to the boiler utility area at the gas plant (a total distance of approximately 1.7 km) within the limited differential pressure. Appropriate pipe sizes within the available differential pressures were determined by careful analysis of the hydraulic simulation results. The results show that 2.05 MMsft3d of mixed high-pressure fuel gas and ethane at 17.5 psig will arrive at 8 psig at the utility area, using 6-in. piping.
In the proposed recovery system, the pressure control valve already exists between the flare gas offtake points and the flare knockout drum. This design maintains a slight positive pressure in the flare header and prevents both an undesirable opening condition for the control valve and the release of ethane to the flare system. Whenever the amount of gas released into the flare system exceeds the capacity of the recovery system (1.1 MMsft3d), a pressure control valve on the flare recovery line will act to maintain the flow at 1.1 MMsft3d. The proposed recovery scheme is illustrated by the flow scheme shown in FIG. 3.
Simulation results. The ethane recovery system is designed to take ethane from the ethane storage tanks and compress it for firing at 1.5 psig–2 psig and for delivery at approximately 3.7 psig to the two boiler skids.
The ethane recovery system was simulated, using proprietary softwarea to perform the hydraulic analysis and predict the process conditions (FIG. 4). Actual pipe lengths for the existing and new pipes are taken from an isometric drawing, to account for the pressure losses from the ethane tank to the boilers at the utility unit. The design flow used to size the recovery system is 0.4 MMsft3d–1.1 MMsft3d, with an ethane composition of 98%.
FIG. 4. Ethane recovery system simulation. |
The results of the hydraulic analysis indicated that new and existing pipes are of adequate size to avoid backpressure on the ethane tank under normal operation, and they are able to deliver the mixed gas stream at a pressure of 3.7 psig to the boiler skids. A sensitivity analysis, including summer and winter conditions, was also run to calculate the system pressure drop. The calculated pressure drop for the 8-in. ethane line from the tank vapor line to the ejector skid inlet is 0.1 psig. The simulation results also validate the pressure drop calculation performed by a third party.
Takeaway. The established FGRS scheme has multiple economic benefits. First, it will recover approximately 1.1 MMsft3d of valuable C2+, which is equivalent to 1,961 MMBtu/d in fuel energy savings.
Second, the system will operate without any energy consumption or rotating equipment (all installations are static equipment—i.e., no moving parts). The system will utilize energy that would otherwise have been wasted or flared since plant startup.
Third, the flare gas recovery system will improve the reliability and life span of the flare tip, thereby reducing the recurring cost of flare tip replacements. The proposed system will minimize greenhouse gas emissions and provide a positive environmental impact.
Finally, operation of the established FGRS at the Yanbu NGL fractionation plant will provide an operating experience base within Saudi Aramco for other facilities to adopt. GP
ABDULAZIZ H. AL-TIJANI is an Engineering Specialist at Saudi Aramco’s Process and Control Systems Department in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and a MS degree in oil and gas surface facilities from KFUPM (in partnership with IFP). Mr. Al-Tijani supports company operations and project design, mainly in flare and relief systems and flare gas recovery applications. He supports Saudi Aramco and joint-venture oil and gas operational facilities, pipelines, process simulations and various phases of projects.
IRFAN ASHIQ is a Senior Operations Engineer for Saudi Aramco at the Yanbu NGL fractionation plant. He has more than 22 yr of professional experience in process design, operation and commissioning for upstream oil and gas, heavy oil and petrochemicals. Prior to joining Saudi Aramco, he was the Lead Process Engineer at SNC Lavalin in Canada and a Senior Process Engineer at Propak Systems Ltd. in Canada. He holds an MS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary in Canada and a professional certification from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).
| 0.939008 | 1,875 |
Class Notes: 3/26/2023
Celebration of the Lord's Table
Today we observe the Lord's Table that celebrates our eternal spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom is the predicate for personal and national freedom because truth is the predicate for all freedom because without truth there is no freedom. Heb 2:14-15; John 8:31-33; Luke 12:4-5;
Gal 4:3-5 So when we were children, we were held in bondage under the spiritual forces who rule the cosmic system.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.
John 3:16-17;"God had such unfailing integrity love for those who were enslaved to the spiritual rulers of the cosmic system, that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Because God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through Him.
Rom 8:3-4; God achieved what the Law could not do because of the inability of sinful flesh God did this by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and He was judged as our substitute so that the righteousness required by the law could be fulfilled in those who do not walk in accord with the flesh but walk in accord with the Spirit.
Gal 5:1;It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
1Peter 2:16; Be free but do not use your freedom as a cloak for evil, but rather use it to function as God's slaves.
When we observe the Lord's table we recall and commemorate our Lord Jesus Christ who is the personification of truth and therefore the source of all freedom, He is the greatest victor of all time and eternity in the invisible spiritual war that rages to this day.
During this ritual we remember our Lord Jesus Christ, the bright morning star Rev 22:16; who ultimately brings Lucifer, the star of the dawn to justice for his attempted coup against God. Isa 14:12; Matt 24:6-9; Rev 20:10;
The Eternal Word who was and is God (John 1:1,14;) invaded satan's world by becoming a member of the human race in the person of Our Lord Jesus Christ in order to recover what was lost when the first man, Adam, fell in the Garden of Eden and to destroy the works of the devil. Luke 19:10; 1John 3:8b;
His ingress into the human race that is enslaved in devil's world occurred at His physical birth (Gal 4:4; Heb 10:5;), egress from the devil's world occurs at physical death when the soul and spirit are transferred into heaven. Luke 23:46;
Jesus' objective was to fulfill the Father's plan to provide a way of salvation for the entire human race and simultaneously create an entirely new spiritual species by means of the spiritual victory that He won on the cross with His judgment and substitutionary forensic spiritual death, followed by His physical death and the burial of His lifeless physical body in the tomb for 3 days and nights.
Our celebration of the Lord's Table recalls our Lord's judgment for the sins of the entire human race and His substitutionary spiritual death that was God's answer to satan's accusation that God's righteous standards were unjust but in order to maintain his immutable perfection God has to judge and condemn all unrighteousness.
The Lord's Table celebrates God's solution to the problem of how to justify sinners without compromising His own perfection. He did on the basis of the imputations made possible by Jesus' work on the cross. God's strategic victory over satan in the angelic conflict was won through Jesus' work on the cross. Rom 4:5; 2Cor 5:19,21; Rom 8:1-3;
The cross is also where Jesus, the personification of God's Word of truth defeated satan who is the god of the cosmos along with his propaganda, disinformation, lies, and deceit that he deploys as the false narratives of the public lie to enslave, control and destroy the entire human race through the functions of arrogance and hatred in his cosmic systems. John 15:18-25;
This means that with this ritual we are celebrating how God broke us out of satan's slave market of sin freeing us from the power of sin and death that are the power of satan's tyranny that is maintained by our genetically formed old sin nature. Rom 6:23; 1Cor 15:22; 1Cor 15:54-57;
Jesus Christ, the pattern for humility and obedience from His dauntless unswerving relentless devotion to absolute truth (Heb 12:2) became the channel for the fulfillment of God the Father's plan by willingly submitting to and complying with God's grace policy even through death. Rom 5:19; Rom 5:8;
He set his face like flint, determined to fulfill His personal sense of destiny with the result that He glorified God through His deployment of the power of God's Word under the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit that provided the potential for every single person who is ever born to be saved. Luke 22:42; Isa 50:7; Rom 5:15b; Titus 2:11; John 14:6; John 11:25-26;
In sending Jesus Christ to receive the imputation and judgment for all personal sins and die as a substitute for the sins of the entire human race, God unilaterally demonstrated His unfailing love not just for those who believe in Him but for everyone, believer and unbeliever. Rom 5:8; 1John 2:2;
We respond to His unfailing love by complying with his mandates that adjust us to His perfect justice and make us compatible with the absolute truth of God's eternal Word of truth. John 6:40; 1John 5:2-5; Heb 11:6; Acts 16:31; 1John 4:19;
Our celebration of the Lord's Table is therefore the reciprocation of our personal love for God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of all mankind. We therefore focus on Him as we partake of the elements of the Lord's Table that remind us of what He did for us. Luke 22:19-20;
Paul goes on to tell us about the how and the why of Jesus' mission in. 2Cor 5:21; Jesus became sin in our place so that we can become the righteousness of God when we believe in Him.
He came to do God the Father's will Heb 10:5-7; He demonstrated obedience to the Father's unique plan for His unique life by maintaining impeccability while under maximum pressure from satan and his cosmic system and went on to endure the suffering and death of the cross Phil 2:8; because of His personal sense of destiny Heb 12:2;
He is presently seated in glory, honor and majesty at the right hand of God the Father because the Father has exalted Him above every created being and God will require that every created being bow down and acknowledge Him as Lord of all to the glory of God the Father. Phil 2:9-11;
He completely and perfectly fulfilled the directive will of the Father by submitting to God the Father thereby unilaterally providing a way of salvation for every human being who ever lives on the earth as the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" Rev 13:8; KJV John 1:29;
While we were God's enemies Rom 5:10a; God demonstrated his unfailing love for us by giving his uniquely born Son "monogenes" who invaded the devil's cosmic system through the miracle of the virgin birth. Matt 1:21-23; Luke 2:7; John 3:16;
On the cross Jesus allowed himself to be humbled under God's perfect justice when He accepted God's judgment for the personal sins of all of those who were enslaved in satan's cosmic system and imprisoned in his spiritual death camp.
Jesus became the substitute for their death sentence so that by simply believing in Him God was free to impute His eternal life and His righteousness to them forever. Luke 22:41-42; 1John 2:2; 2Cor 5:21;
God the Father forsook Him while he was being judged for the sins of mankind so that those who believe in Him would never ever be forsaken. Mark 15:34; Heb 13:5c;
God 's perfect holiness was satisfied with Jesus' substitutionary spiritual death on the cross with the result that God is free to extend grace, mercy and forgiveness to the entire human race and to rescue them from their fallen state of deception and depravity without compromising his perfect righteousness and justice because Jesus willingly laid down his life as their substitute. John 15:13; 1John 3:16;
This is why Jesus Christ is the only way to a relationship with God John 14:6, salvation Acts 4:12 and eternal life John 3:16;
This is also why the believer's salvation and eternal life are irrevocable. Rom 11:29; Believers are protected by God. 1Pet 1:3-5; John 10:26-29;
Anyone can appropriate God's Grace gift of salvation simply by believing God's Word of truth that reveals that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins, was buried and resurrected on the third day 1Cor 15:3-4;
This is what Paul and Silas told the Philippian Jailer to do when he asked, "what must I do to be saved?" Their answer in Acts 16:31; is that Anyone, anywhere, anytime, can be saved in a moment of time by simply believing in Jesus Christ.
Jesus left his friends, the members of The Royal Family of God, this one and only ritual in the church age The Lord's table that our Lord commanded us to observe in remembrance of Him.
The mandate is found in 1Cor 11:24; in the second person plural present active imperative of the Greek word " poieo" translated "do" where Paul references Jesus' instruction to His disciples in the upper room. Luke 22:19-20;
An expanded translation of 1Cor 11:24 taking into consideration the tense mood and voice of the Greek word "poieo" would be " Keep on doing this in remembrance of me"
This is the mandate that establishes the Lord's Table as the only ritual that God's Word specifies for Church Age believers.
The ritual of the Lord's Table is a test of our ability to concentrate on our Lord Jesus Christ by the recall of God's Word regarding His unique role in God's plan as we partake of the elements that represent what He did for us on the cross.
We have these instructions for partaking of the Lord's Table from the Apostle Paul starting in verse 26 of 1Cor 11.
1Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup; you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
We understand from this that we are to examine ourselves the imperative mood is a command to start doing something and stop doing another privately in our thinking.
We do this In the privacy of our priesthood, and when we find we are outside of the word, we apply rebound, first problem solving device, and simply acknowledge any sin we can recall as described in 1 John 1:9;
If/when (third class condition) we acknowledge any known sin he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. This is the believer's experiential forgiveness during their post salvation life in time.
Having examined ourselves, and acknowledged any known sin that we can recall to God alone with the result that we have been forgiven for every sin that we have ever committed to that point in our lives and been purified from all unrighteousness, we are then commanded to partake of the bread and the cup.
The bread represents the physical body in which Jesus bore the sins and received the judgment for every sin of every person who ever lives in a sin infused mortal body past present and future.
1Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Eat the bread
The cup represents Jesus' substitutionary spiritual death on the cross that paid the penalty for every sin ever committed with the result that Jesus purchased our freedom, redeemed us from the slave market of sin, spiritual death, and eternal condemnation in the lake of fire that is freely available to everyone who will simply believe in Jesus for a single moment.
1Cor 11:25 In the same way, He took the cup also after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my Blood do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
Drink the cup
© Copyright 2025, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.
| 0.960865 | 2,870 |
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an inspection will reveal problems, usually minor, which should be
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If the home is vacant, it is important that all utilities, such as electricity, gas, and water, are turned on. Otherwise the inspector cannot check some of the systems in the home.
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A written report will be provided within 12 hours of the inspection, and is usually e-mailed to designated parties. The report used is the latest TREC Standard Form 7-6.
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Understanding How A Diary-Free Lifestyle Can Affect Your Teeth
Are you experiencing more cavities and decay lately after switching over to a dairy-free diet? Experts have concluded that going dairy-free can have a negative impact on your teeth. In fact, it can ultimately lead to tooth loss and the need for dental implants. For many people, choosing to go to dairy-free can have some major health benefits for their bodies. Some choose this route to help relieve allergies, while others may choose a dairy-free lifestyle to help them lose weight or clear up health issues they have experienced.
Dealing with Glaucoma: What You Should Know
When you go to the eye doctor for a checkup and potentially to update the prescription for your corrective lenses, the last thing you want or expect is to be told you have glaucoma. However, a glaucoma diagnosis, while unpleasant to hear, is not the end of the world. There are treatments available and ways to manage your glaucoma so that it does not progress further and cause any additional vision loss.
Non-Surgical And Surgical Treatment Options For Sleep Apnea
According to the National Sleep Apnea Foundation, more than 18 million adults in America have sleep apnea. Due to the seriousness of the sleep disorder, it is imperative that you seek treatment if you have been diagnosed with it. There are non-surgical and surgical treatments options available.
One of the most commonly used means of treating the symptoms of sleep apnea is the use of continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, therapy.
Do You Have A Plan For Your Atheist Funeral?
Funerals are often associated with one's religious beliefs. However, if you are planning your funeral, and consider yourself an atheist, your loved ones may not know what your wishes would be during an event. While there are common rituals followed with major world religions, as an atheist, you can help your loved ones focus on the grieving process by clarifying what you would like to occur during your funeral.
Celebrating Your Life
Preparing Your Child For Their First Trip To The Dentist
If you are the parent of a toddler who has not been to a dentist yet, you will want to prepare them for their first teeth cleaning visit so it goes by without anxiety or fear. Here are a few tips you can use to prepare your child for their first dentists exam.
Have Them Watch
The best way to prepare your child for their first teeth cleaning appointment is to have them watch you as you get one done yourself.
Stair Lift Safety
A difficult part of aging and/or losing mobility is having to give up the family home because you are unable to access all parts of your house. Older people and people with disabilities are sometimes faced with having to make this decision since they can't go up and down stairs. One solution that many people choose instead of relocating is to install a stairlift so that they can safely access all parts of their family home.
Preparing For Your Total Ankle Joint Replacement
Your foot and ankle doctor has recommended an artificial joint replacement to resolve your ankle instability. This is a common procedure, but it is major surgery. It's worth your time to understand what will be done and what you can expect after the surgery.
Replacing Bone with Plastic and Metal
Your ankle is made up of the lower leg bone, called the tibia, fitting into a convex space in your first ankle bone, called the talus.
2 Eye Issues Addressed
Problems with your eyes can result in issues that are both extraordinarily painful and inconvenient. Fortunately, if you have had the bad luck of encountering these problems, ophthalmologists have the training needed to help you find a suitable solution or treatment for your eye issues. Below are answers to two questions you might have about common eye issues.
What Should You Do For Chemical Injuries?
One of the most painful issues that your eyes can encounter is a chemical burn.
How You Can Make Money And Help Advance Medications Through The Clinical Research Process
There are several stages in between the ideation stage and the final product stage for medications. Many of these stages involve clinical trials to prove that the medicines are not harmful and are, in fact, helpful. Even over-the-counter medicines require clinical trials before the FDA can approve them. If you are interested in how you can make a lot of money and help progress these medicines into the mainstream market to help others, you can sign up for one of these three clinical trial stages.
Wraparound Sunglasses and Their Benefits
If you wear prescription glasses or contact lenses, you may find that bright sunlight can be hard on your field of vision. You may find that wearing sunglasses can be hard when you have problems seeing where you are going while wearing them instead of your prescription lenses. Wraparound style prescription sunglasses can help you enjoy a sunny day without worrying about your vision being compromised.
What the Sun Can Do to Your Eyes
| 0.95999 | 1,028 |
The Academic Affairs Division of Genesee Community College supports the mission of the college by providing educational experiences that promote intellectual and social growth, professional success, and global citizenship. Further, we are committed to educational excellence and innovation through continual assessment of our work as facilitators of student learning.
Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Kathleen Landy joined GCC in 2024 and is honored to serve as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Kathleen came to GCC from Cornell University, where she served as the Associate Director for Assessment & Evaluation at Cornell’s Center for Teaching Innovation. Kathleen’s previous positions in higher education—at both Mercy University and Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York—have allowed her to build upon her extensive K–12 teaching experience and develop skill sets to support and lead the design and delivery of faculty development programs; online learning and academic technology; and assessment, accreditation, and institutional effectiveness efforts.
Throughout her career, Kathleen has remained a committed teacher, having taught classes in multiple modalities for Mercy University, Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education, Cornell University, and Fairleigh Dickenson University.
Kathleen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from SUNY Geneseo, as well as a Master of Science in Teaching and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy from Fordham University. In addition to serving as the co-chair of the SUNY Council on Assessment (SCoA), she is a peer evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a Core Committee member for the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network, and a former board member and past president of the Assessment Network of New York.
Dean of Math, Science and Career Education
Math, Science and Career Education
Dr. Rafael Alicea-Maldonado (Dr. RAM) was appointed Dean of MSCE on August 2011. He joined GCC in 2000 as a Chemistry faculty member. Dr. RAM received the SUNY at Buffalo, Department of Chemistry, Mattern-Tyler Excellence in Teaching Award in 1996. In addition, he received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005 and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Faculty Service in 2011.
Dr. RAM holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from SUNY at Buffalo. Dr. RAM enjoys traveling and has visited over 20 countries.
Dr. RAM oversees the following programs: Business and Commerce, Computers and Technology, Health Care, Health and Physical Education, Office Technology and Support, Science and Technology, Economic Crime Investigation, Paralegal Studies, and Liberal Arts and Science: Math & Science. In addition, he shares responsibility for Individualized Studies with Dean Tomczak.
Dean of Human Communication and Behavior
Human Communications and Behavior
Mr. Tomczak joined the faculty at Genesee Community College as an instructor of psychology in the fall semester of 1987, and was promoted to the rank of Professor effective fall 2007. He was appointed Director of Social Sciences in 2013 and Dean of HCB in 2019. Tim is a three-time SUNY Chancellor’s Award winner: Excellence in Teaching (1994); Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2007); and Excellence in Faculty Service (2018).
Tim holds a B.A. in Psychology from Mercyhurst University and an M.A. in General Experimental Psychology from the State University College of New York at Geneseo.
Dean Tomczak oversees the following academic programs: Creative Arts, Human Services, Criminal Justice, Liberal Arts (General Education Certificate, General Studies, and Humanities and Social Sciences), Teaching and Education, and Transitional Studies. In addition, he shares responsibility for the Individualized Studies program with Dr. RAM.
Dean of Distributed Learning
Office of Distributed Learning
Mr. Edward Levinstein joined Genesee Community College as a Program Specialist in the fall of 2002. He was promoted to Associate Dean of Accelerated College Enrollment Programs in 2007 and appointed as Dean of Distributed Learning in August, 2022. Throughout his twenty-year career in higher education, Ed has been active in the community through board, committee and volunteer work that includes the Business and Education Alliance of Genesee County, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Genesee County, Tonawanda Valley Federal Credit Union, and the New York Concurrent Enrollment Partnership. He currently serves as a member of the PTECH steering committee, Genesee Valley BOCES School Board and as Vice President of the Pembroke Central School Board.
Ed holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from the State University of New York at Oswego and an M.A. in Communication Studies from the State University of New York at Brockport.
Dean Levinstein oversees the Accelerated College Enrollment Programs, Online Learning, GCC Campus Centers, and the Upward Bound and Liberty Partnerships grant programs.
GCC Academic Affairs
One College Rd
Batavia NY 14020
P: 585-343-0055 x6529
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It is dưa leo truyệntime to look ahead to the new high school basketball player rankings for future classes. The evaluation period for college coaches will begin this weekend. In the months ahead, we will start to see and separate which prospects are ready to break out from the pack.
To be No. 1 in any class, a prospect must have the appropriate talent and character traits. One thing to keep in mind: An athlete's on- and off-court character can protect and enhance their giftedness.
From a basketball lens, the evaluation process is a combination of many factors, including dominating high school performances with efficiency, productivity with consistency; physical and mental markers for future college success; and projecting out as an NBA lottery pick in the future.
As with any rankings board, it will be ever changing as the seasons change. We will revisit each class in a few months.
Meet the No. 1 prospects in the 2024, 2025 and 2026 classes.
Wherever Johnson has played he has left his mark. He had an outstanding season, leading Lake Highlands to the Texas 6A state championship, scoring 29 points in the title game. Against some of the nation's top teams in the prestigious City of Palms tournament, Johnson averaged 23 points and eight rebounds over four games.
Johnson is one of the best, if not the best, long-range shot-makers in the class. His compact shot mechanics and shooting motion are repeatable, which leads to consistency. At 6-foot-6 with a 6-10 wingspan, the shooting guard owns strong positional size and shoots it with confidence both off the catch or from the rhythm dribble. He is a true scoring threat on every possession. Simply put, Johnson is wired to score both with the ball in his hands as driver or shot creator. He uses one or two dribbles to create vision and space while putting his defender off balance as he rises for his jumper.
This offseason, he said he is committed to keeping his scoring prowess while developing as a secondary ball handler and decision-maker without forfeiting what he does best, which is score with touch.
Johnson laid out his vision: "I will try and expand my game. I will be working on being a better playmaker, finisher and on-ball defender."
Landing a player of Johnson's impact can elevate a program's profile and win total. His recruiting is intense, as Baylor, Kentucky, Texas, Kansas, Auburn, Arkansas and LSU all are involved. He is heading down a path of being a one-and-done college player as well as being a top prospect for the NBA draft with continued development.
His path might be that of one-and-done, but Johnson will not skip any steps when it comes to improving and trying to win, which makes him even more attractive to college coaches.
Cameron Boozer stays on top in the class of 2025 and for good reason. At just 15, he is fresh off a state championship for Christopher Columbus High, where he averaged 21 points per game, grabbed 11 rebounds per game and had four assist per game. Boozer in March was named the Gatorade national player of the year, only the second sophomore to win it.
According to synergysports.com, he shot 69% around the rim and made 38% of his catch-and-shoot 3s this high school season. He scored 30% of his points from cuts and offensive rebound putbacks, while 25% came managing the ball in ball screens or isolation. His basketball IQ and well roundedness are staples of his game.
Boozer is looking for ways to improve.
"I need to take care of the ball more and be a better rim protector," he said. "On the help side, either take the charge or try and block the shot. Always stay hungry for more and find the smallest thing to work on."
A highly competitive prospect at 6-9 with a 7-1 wingspan, he has been impactful, and on most occasions, he is the best player in the game. Boozer has an advanced game, which includes reading the floor on both ends, scoring from behind the arc, midrange shooting and a low-post package. He is a smart cutter against zones, flashing from behind or the weak side, and battles for offensive rebounds. In ball screens, he is equally adept spacing out to shoot 3s or playing out of a short roll or dive for a finish at the rim.
It is not about playing a certain position, it is about having the ball skills, basketball IQ and physical ability to make a play that is warranted in a split second. Boozer's productivity level is most impressive, including on defense. Opponents will make him the focal point to try to stop as the main threat on each possession. How he responds will be the power forward's biggest challenge.
Recruiting is on the backburner, Boozer said, until this time next year. But he is building relationships with coaches and is consistently hearing from Duke, Michigan, Florida and Miami.
Dybantsa has been on the radar since eighth grade, when he grew from 5-10 to 6-4. This past season at St. Sebastian's, his team went 25-2, losing in the NEPSAC championship game to Milton Academy.
The No. 1 prospect in the class of 2026 has his priorities in order, and his work habits are strong.
"My parents have made academics a priority since I was young," said Dybantsa, who won his state's Gatorade player of the year honor as a freshman.
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When there was no organized spring or summer basketball because of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, Dybantsa and his dad, Anicet, still found a way to practice.
"I drove AJ to Middletown, Rhode Island, which was 65 minutes away from us," Anicet Dybantsa said. "We did it six days a week outdoors with his eighth-grade coach Joseph Saunders."
Dybantsa's physical measurables are impressive: He stands 6-7 with a 6-11 wingspan, which, combined with his offensive prowess, is unique. His strengths are that of a dynamic, multidimensional wing with next-level transition ability, advanced skill that demonstrates touch inside as well as facing up to the 3-point line.
His recruiting is nowhere close to the level it will be. The NCAA does not allow off-campus contact or phone conversations until June 15 of a prospect's sophomore year. Dybantsa, a small forward, can make unofficial visits and has been to Boston College.
"AJ has a tremendous work ethic and is resilient," said Todd Quarles, coach of Dybantsa's club team, Expressions. "That is why he improved and has gotten strong. He can both create his own shot and is a willing playmaker. Right now, he can play anywhere 1 through 4."
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The website plays an important role in the business world of the 21st century. You must have a proactive security strategy; otherwise, business, networks and other information will be risky. Web security is very important to prevent hackers and Internet thieves from accessing confidential information. Web security is becoming increasingly important due to the increasing number of website attacks and cyberattacks. Businesses should know that a spam filter and antivirus software are not enough to confront and protect the ever-evolving form of cybersecurity threats.
End-to-end website security is one of the best solutions that includes a complete set of tools to protect against website malware infections, service interruptions, and data breaches. Plus, it protects your network, server, and email system. Make sure you are knowledgeable about the prices of the pknic range and others as well. There are different website security systems available in Good Rice and various packages. The domain must be registered for the security and integrity of the site.
For website security, it doesn’t take a big budget to protect websites from security vulnerabilities that threaten the website. You need to take a proactive approach that includes taking security measures.
It’s simple, but making sure you keep all types of software up-to-date is vital to keeping your site secure. You need security updates for the operating system. The hosting company should take care of this. Make sure to keep your dependencies up to date. Use tools like a gym to automatically receive notifications when a vulnerability is announced.
Other site security can be done using SQL injection. When an attacker uses a web form field or interacts with a database or URL parameter to access it. It is easy to enter Transact-SQL in a query that can be used to switch tables, get information, and delete data.
When a hacker collects any type of data that a user submits to a website, they are using their own pills, known as interception. The data can take the form of contact information or confidential credit card information. Bad, cybercriminals sell or buy the data themselves. It is very important to protect the website with an SSL certificate to protect all confidential data.
Many hackers guess the password or use different software and dictionary tools to try a different password until they log in. Key records are another type used to access user accounts. Many websites may lack a strong password. This means that trying to log in is very easy. A strong and unique password is required. Change your password regularly and also require two-step authentication.
Explore sensitive data:
It is a major website security flaw that does not protect your confidential data. Credit card details, passwords, and other confidential information should never be transferred or stored unencrypted. The remote password must be hashed. Sensitive data such as session IDs and passwords should not be passed in URLs.
Websites are the backbone of a business. It has all the basic and sensitive information. Check spam and notifications. There are many programs available to protect your websites and keep your information safe.
Transforming Memories into Textual Masterpieces
The internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, share, and create. Among its myriad offerings, the ability to turn photographs into text-based images is a service that marries the visual with the verbal in a unique and personalized way. This service is not just about creating a picture; it’s about crafting a message that resonates on a deeper level.
The Simple Process of Creating Your Text Image
Creating a text-based image from your favorite photo is straightforward:
Visit a reputable photo-to-text website.
Upload the photo you wish to transform.
Customize the text, background, and other elements to your liking.
Make adjustments until you achieve the desired outcome.
Select your preferred format and complete your order.
The Emotional Impact of a Personalized Surprise
Surprises have a universal appeal, often eliciting joy and excitement. A custom text image can serve as a perfect surprise for loved ones on any day, not just special occasions. According to a study on gift-giving by the Journal of Consumer Research, personalized gifts can strengthen relationships and enhance the emotional connection between the giver and the recipient. By choosing a cherished photo and accompanying it with meaningful text, you can create a gift that is both unique and heartfelt.
Motivation Through Personalized Imagery
In the realm of motivation and inspiration, personalized text images can serve as powerful tokens of appreciation and encouragement. Recognizing someone’s efforts or achievements with a custom image can boost morale and foster a sense of belonging and purpose. A study by the Incentive Research Foundation highlights the effectiveness of non-monetary rewards, such as personalized gifts, in enhancing employee motivation and performance.
Expressing Love Through Customized Words
Expressing love and appreciation can be challenging for some, but a picture made of words can convey feelings in a way that transcends traditional gifts. The customization aspect allows you to tailor the message to reflect your emotions genuinely, making it a unique expression of love.
Enhancing Your Digital Space with Artistic Wallpapers
Custom text images can also serve as personalized wallpapers for phones, laptops, and other gadgets. A study by the University of Texas at Austin suggests that personalized environments, including digital spaces, can improve mood and cognitive function. By using a text image as a wallpaper, you can carry a piece of art that holds personal significance with you wherever you go.
Decorating Your Home with Textual Art
Beyond digital use, printed text images can adorn the walls of your home, adding a personal touch to your living space. The versatility of these images means they can be tailored to fit any decor style, making them a versatile choice for interior design.
In conclusion, the fusion of technology and creativity has given rise to a unique form of expression through text-based images. Whether as a gift, a source of inspiration, or a decorative element, these images offer a personalized touch that resonates on a deeper level. With the ease of creating these masterpieces online, the opportunity to transform words into visual art is just a few clicks away.
When it comes to choosing the technology for front-end development, a host of efficient options are available in the market. But amongst these, ReactJS Frontend development has come up as the most popular and performance-oriented option. Some of the most popular websites like Netflix, Paypal, Apple to name a few use React.JS due to the flexibility and vast amount of capabilities that it offers. Businesses exploring for such capabilities should consider working with a ReactJS App development Company or they can go for ReactJS developers who work as freelancers.
A Bit about ReactJS
Why ReactJS is Widely Used for Frontend Development?
Performance-centric and efficient: ReactJS is one of those frontend technologies which facilitate performance-based development. ReactJS provides server-side rendering and a virtual DOM program that facilitates fast, reliable, and robust performance. Also, the apps built in ReactJS are quite easier to maintain and update. DOM operations which are costly are avoided by ReactJS thereby making these operations efficient. One other factor that contributes to its efficiency is the JSX syntax that makes the process of writing components for websites much easier.
Outstanding Agility: ReactJS can make use of virtual DOM to make changes at the top layer without being worried about the crashing of the application. It is based on the concept of components that enables seamless functioning with other libraries and frameworks too.
Faster Development: ReactJS web apps can be developed at a faster rate due to various reasons.
Debugging process in ReactJS Development is very fast, thereby speeding up the process to build the app.
The component-based or Modular approach helps to focus on building individual components and then combining them to build the entire application.
ReactJS package is small and hence can be quickly downloaded and installed.
Code-splitting feature helps to load only the features which are required currently by the user thereby improving the loading time of web application.
Reusable components save the efforts of developing everything from scratch.
Captivating UI: This library accords the power of creating complicated yet attractive user interfaces to frontend web developers. Declarative components in ReactJS imparts a modern-day look and feel to the UI.
Customization: ReactJS uses JSX syntax which is an optional extension that allows writing of requisite components as per the specific requirements of the clients or end-users. These components accept HTML quoting and allow the ReactJS developers to render the subcomponents with ease.
High Stability: ReactJS uses a downward data flow making it a more stable framework. When any changes are made in the child structure, the parent structure is not affected. So when the developers want to make any modifications in an object, they can modify the state, make the changes and only then update it. This procedure makes the code and the apps stable.
Vibrant Community to Support: React.JS is blessed by the support of a powerful community of Facebook experts as well as other developers from all corners of the world. They often contribute to make it a better frontend technology. They deliver free-tutorials, blogs, articles, etc. to enrich it and provide crucial guidance to anyone facing technical issues while development.
SEO-friendly: SEO has become a crucial component in today’s era of online marketing. ReactJS supports this as it ensures faster rendering speeds and high responsiveness in the apps. This increases their chance of ranking higher in the search engines making it an SEO-friendly framework.
We hope this article has helped you gain important insights into why React.JS is a great library for frontend development. Owing to its enormous potential, React.JS has earned a significant place in the software world. Some Tech Leaders also claim that it has an extremely bright future. With this, we come to the end.
Are you looking for developing high-performing scalable ReactJS Apps for your business? Get in touch with Biz4Solutions, a well-established ReactJS app development services in Texas. We have provided our cutting-edge frontend development services to several clients using ReactJS. Contact Now!
A building digital twin or a digital replica of a building is a virtual model that collects real-world information about various building structures from wireless technologies like sensors, drones and many more. In construction projects, a digital twin is used to conducts design tests, gain valuable insights and record experiences without affecting the building structure. It can also be used to improve the building’s performance during its entire life cycle, while reducing ownership costs like construction, maintenance, renovations, etc.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a globally recognized green building certification system, which verifies that a building was designed and built by implementing strategies aiming at higher performance across metrics like energy savings, reduced emissions, indoor environmental quality, etc. LEED certification applies for all building types, commercial as well as residential.
Depending upon the different types of building projects, there are several rating systems provided under the LEED certification system. Building owners who seed LEED certification can use digital twins to simulate several design options for maximizing the credits earned under the LEED scoring system. Below are the LEED certification rating systems:
Building Design and Construction – BD+C
Interior Design and Construction – ID+C
Operations and Maintenance – O+M
Neighborhood Development – ND
Each rating system has a unique set of prerequisites and the corresponding credits based upon the building occupancy classification. A digital twin allows the building owners to compare all these design options in multiple scenarios.
LEED certification required accumulation of at least 40 points, including the prerequisites of the rating system with their corresponding credits. There are 3 main certification level awarded based on the minimum score limit:
Silver – 50 points
Gold – 60 points
Platinum – 80 points
LEED Credits with a Digital Twin
The LEED certification rating system offers the following 2 options along with technical requirements:
Prescriptive Requirement: They have very specific instructions, but the designed flexibility offered is very limited. Using only this approach, the building LEED certification can become highly expensive.
Performance-Based Approach: Since this approach doesn’t require the use of prescriptive features, it offers high design flexibility. However, a building simulation is required as proof when opting for LEED credits based on performance.
The following points are some of the simulation proofs required for the performance-based approach:
Sustainable Sites – Proof of reduced pollution reduction.
Energy and Atmosphere – Proof for validating minimum energy performance and possible optimization beyond the minimum.
Indoor Environment Quality – Simulation results for air pollutant levels for ventilation intake, construction material emission, illuminance levels of natural light.
A digital twin can also be used for improving the performance areas where LEED certification does not mention simulation modeling. Energy efficiency is one such areas where building owners can score points that contributes towards a LEED certification.
BD+C – 18 points
ID+C – 25 points
O+M – 20 points
Homes – 29 points
As mentioned above, the minimum score for LEED certification is 40 points. Thus, building owners can earn points from the energy efficiency feature alone. The combination of energy efficiency and building performance can allow owner to achieve higher certification levels (Silver, Gold or Platinum).
Design Comparison with a Digital Twin
Comparing several design options for a LEED certificate can be a time-consuming task with the conventional methods. However, a digital twin allows comparing multiple design options in a much faster and efficient way. For eg. A digital twin can simulate several configurations for HVAC systems and building envelopes to determine the configuration offering the highest energy efficiency. This in turn allows building owners to maximize the credits earned for a LEED certificate.
In most cases, building featured that improve the overall performance achieve synergy. However, in some cases, these features are mutually exclusive of each other. At design level, digital twin allows MEP engineers to eliminate the ineffective features and thus combine the features that collectively maximize the building performance. This greatly increases the chances of earning more certification credits.
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Mumbai, being one of the largest and most populous states in India, presents a prime opportunity for entrepreneurs to venture into the pharmaceutical industry. With over 120.84 million residents and a burgeoning healthcare sector, the demand for pharma medicines has surged in recent times. Against this backdrop,Rednirus Cardiocare emerges as the top choice for those seeking to establish a PCD Pharma Franchise in Mumbai.
The current market dynamics in Mumbai highlight several compelling reasons for investing in a pharmaceutical franchise:
Lower Investment Requirements: Rednirus Cardiocare offers franchise opportunities with minimal investment requirements, making it accessible to a wide range of aspiring entrepreneurs.
Transportation Network: The state has a well-developed transportation network, including road, rail, and air connectivity. Efficient logistics are crucial for the timely delivery of medications, ensuring that patients receive their prescriptions without delay.
Favorable Business Environment: Mumbai boasts conducive business conditions, including robust infrastructure, efficient logistics networks, and a supportive regulatory framework, facilitating smooth business operations.
High Demand for Pharma Medicines: With a large and growing population, coupled with increasing healthcare needs, there is a consistent and substantial demand for pharmaceutical products across Mumbai. This presents a lucrative market opportunity for franchise partners of Rednirus Cardiocare.
Accessible Business Resources: Mumbai provides easy access to essential business resources such as skilled manpower, raw materials, distribution networks, and market insights, enabling franchisees to effectively establish and expand their pharmaceutical business.
In essence, partnering with Rednirus Cardiocare for a PCD Pharma Franchise in Mumbai offers entrepreneurs a gateway to tap into the thriving pharmaceutical market of the state, leveraging favorable business conditions, high demand for medicines, and accessible resources to drive growth and success in the pharmaceutical sector.
Rednirus Cardiocare" is a pharmaceutical company specializing in Cardiac Diabetic products and offering PCD (Propaganda Cum Distribution) franchise opportunities in Mumbai. With a focus on delivering high-quality medications, Rednirus Cardiocare has earned recognition for its commitment to excellence and adherence to stringent industry standards.
Specialization in Cardiac Diabetic Products: Rednirus Cardiocare focuses on developing and manufacturing a wide range of pharmaceuticals catering specifically to cardiac and diabetic conditions. This specialization ensures that their products are tailored to meet the unique needs of patients suffering from these ailments.
PCD Franchise Opportunities: The company offers PCD franchise opportunities, allowing individuals and businesses in Mumbai to partner with them and distribute their Cardiac Diabetic products in the region. This franchise model provides entrepreneurs with a platform to leverage the company's established brand reputation and product portfolio.
Commitment to Quality: Rednirus Cardiocare prioritizes quality and efficacy in all aspects of its operations. Their products are manufactured in state-of-the-art facilities that adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards. Additionally, their medications are approved by regulatory authorities, ensuring compliance with industry regulations and standards.
Extensive Product Range: The company offers a diverse range of Cardiac Diabetic products, encompassing medications for various cardiovascular and diabetic conditions. This comprehensive product portfolio enables franchise partners to cater to a wide range of patient needs and preferences.
Marketing and Support: Rednirus Cardiocare provides comprehensive marketing support to its franchise partners, including promotional materials, advertising campaigns, and training programs. This assistance helps franchisees effectively promote and distribute the company's products in their respective territories.
Overall, Rednirus Cardiocare stands out as a reputable pharmaceutical company offering Cardiac Diabetic PCD franchise opportunities in Mumbai. With a focus on quality, innovation, and support, the company provides aspiring entrepreneurs with a compelling platform to venture into the pharmaceutical industry and contribute to improving healthcare outcomes for patients in the region.
Emerges as the foremost choice for individuals seeking to establish a PCD Pharma Franchise in Mumbai, offering an array of compelling advantages:
Transparent Arrangements: We prioritize integrity and clarity in all our business transactions, ensuring that our partners benefit from transparent and straightforward deals.
Export Opportunities: Chandigarh's strategic location also facilitates export opportunities to neighboring countries. Pharmaceutical franchises can explore international markets, expanding their reach and revenue potential.
Exclusive Market Rights: Our franchise associates are granted complete monopoly rights within their designated territories, granting them exclusive access to lucrative market opportunities.
Complimentary Promotional Resources: We equip our partners with a comprehensive suite of promotional resources and marketing assets at no extra charge, empowering them to effectively showcase our extensive range of pharmaceutical offerings.
Diverse Product Portfolio: With a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical products manufactured in cutting-edge laboratories using advanced technologies, we provide our partners with a diverse selection of high-quality medications to address various healthcare needs.
Monopoly Rights: Many pharmaceutical companies offer exclusive monopoly rights to their franchise partners, reducing competition and enabling businesses to capture a larger market share.
Competitive Pricing: We maintain competitive pricing for our products, ensuring accessibility to a wide customer base while upholding uncompromising standards of quality.
Prompt Product Dispatch: We prioritize timely and dependable product dispatch, ensuring that our partners receive their orders promptly to minimize downtime and optimize operational efficiency.
By collaborating with Rednirus Cardiocare for a PCD Pharma Franchise in Mumbai, entrepreneurs can embark on a journey towards success, leveraging our commitment to transparent dealings, exclusive market rights, complimentary promotional support, diverse product offerings, competitive pricing, and punctual product delivery to establish and expand their pharmaceutical ventures with confidence and efficacy.
The rising incidence of cardiac and diabetic diseases has significantly boosted the pharmaceutical industry, which is experiencing healthy growth at a consistent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). This growth creates a substantial opportunity for investing in a Cardiac Diabetic PCD Franchise in Mumbai. The demand for these specialized medicines is high among top doctors and consumers, driven by the increasing prevalence of heart and diabetic conditions. The business model is exceptionally profitable, offering numerous perks and benefits.
Low Investment Capital: The required investment is relatively low, minimizing the financial risk and making it accessible to many entrepreneurs.
Large Population Base: Mumbai's population of approximately 1.04 million provides a substantial market for establishing and growing a successful business.
Government Support and Business Guidance: Investors can benefit from government support and expert business guidance from our company, enhancing the profitability and sustainability of the business.
High Demand for Cardiac Diabetic Medicines: There is a persistent and increasing demand for cardiac diabetic medications throughout the city, ensuring higher profit margins and business growth. By leveraging these advantages, investing in a Cardiac Diabetic PCD Franchise in Mumbai offers a promising and profitable business opportunity.
Plot No. 201, 1st Floor , HSIIDC, Industrial Estate, Phase 1, Alipur, Barwala Panchkula (HR) 134118 India
Corporate Address :- Scf-245 2nd Floor Motor Market Post Office Manimajra, Chandigarh - 160101
Factory Address :- Plot No 250, HSIIDC, Industrial Estate Alipur Barwala, Haryana 134118
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Can I leave business cards in mailboxes? This seemingly simple question opens a Pandora’s Box of legal, ethical, and practical considerations. Leaving business cards in mailboxes, a seemingly low-cost marketing tactic, might land you in hot water with the law or damage your brand reputation. This guide explores the legality, effectiveness, ethics, and alternatives to this unconventional marketing strategy, helping you make an informed decision.
We’ll delve into the legal ramifications of distributing unsolicited materials, comparing mailbox distribution to other advertising methods. We’ll examine the potential reach and cost-effectiveness, analyzing response rates and comparing it to established marketing channels. Ethical concerns regarding property rights and community perception will also be addressed, along with exploring alternative, more effective, and ethically sound business card distribution methods. Ultimately, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of the risks and rewards associated with this often-overlooked marketing approach.
Legality of Leaving Business Cards in Mailboxes
Leaving unsolicited materials, including business cards, in mailboxes is a legally grey area, varying significantly depending on location and specific circumstances. While not explicitly illegal in all jurisdictions, it often falls into a regulatory space concerning trespassing, littering, and unsolicited advertising. Understanding these nuances is crucial for businesses to avoid potential legal repercussions.
Legal Ramifications of Distributing Unsolicited Materials via Mailboxes
The act of placing business cards in mailboxes could be construed as trespassing, depending on the mailbox’s location and ownership. Private property owners generally have the right to exclude others from their property, and a mailbox is often considered an extension of that property. Furthermore, many jurisdictions have ordinances against littering, and depending on the quantity of cards distributed, this could be a violation. Finally, some areas have regulations specifically targeting unsolicited advertising, which could encompass the distribution of business cards. The penalties for violating these regulations vary widely, ranging from fines to potential lawsuits.
Variations in Regulations Across Jurisdictions
Regulations regarding mailbox usage differ considerably between states, counties, and even municipalities. Some areas have strict ordinances prohibiting any unsolicited material in mailboxes, while others may have more lenient rules, focusing primarily on bulk mailings or overtly offensive content. For instance, a small town might have a local ordinance prohibiting any unaddressed materials in mailboxes, while a larger city might focus on regulations regarding bulk junk mail. Businesses must research the specific regulations of their target area before distributing business cards in this manner.
Legal Implications of Leaving Business Cards versus Other Forms of Advertising in Mailboxes
The legal implications of leaving business cards in mailboxes are generally similar to those of distributing other forms of unsolicited advertising, such as flyers or pamphlets. The key difference often lies in the perceived intrusiveness. A single business card might be viewed as less intrusive than a large flyer, but the cumulative effect of numerous cards distributed across multiple mailboxes could lead to more severe penalties. The volume and nature of the distributed material are crucial factors in determining the potential legal consequences.
Scenarios Leading to Legal Repercussions
Several scenarios could lead to legal repercussions for distributing business cards in mailboxes. For example, a business distributing thousands of cards in a residential neighborhood could face charges related to littering or unsolicited advertising. If a homeowner complains and provides evidence of the distribution, the business could be fined or even sued for trespassing. Similarly, distributing cards containing misleading or offensive information could lead to further legal complications, potentially involving consumer protection laws.
Hypothetical Legal Case: Business Card Distribution and Potential Outcomes, Can i leave business cards in mailboxes
Imagine a hypothetical case where “ABC Landscaping” distributes thousands of business cards in mailboxes across a suburban neighborhood. Several residents complain, citing littering and unsolicited advertising. The local municipality investigates and finds ABC Landscaping in violation of local ordinances. Potential outcomes include fines, a cease-and-desist order, and even a lawsuit from residents for trespassing or nuisance. The severity of the penalty would depend on factors such as the number of complaints, the local ordinances, and the evidence presented.
Effectiveness of Mailbox Business Card Distribution
Mailbox business card distribution, while seemingly a simple tactic, presents a complex picture of reach, effectiveness, and cost. Its success hinges on several factors, including target audience, geographic location, and the overall marketing strategy. Unlike digital marketing, its impact is less easily tracked, making a comprehensive assessment crucial before implementation.
The potential reach of mailbox distribution is geographically limited to the areas where cards are placed. Effectiveness depends heavily on the density of residential or commercial mailboxes in the target area and the receptiveness of the intended audience. While it lacks the broad reach of online advertising or social media campaigns, it offers a hyper-local approach, potentially reaching a highly concentrated segment of the population. This makes it ideal for businesses with a clearly defined, geographically limited target market.
Reach and Effectiveness Compared to Other Methods
Mailbox distribution’s reach is significantly smaller than digital marketing methods like social media or online advertising, which can potentially reach a global audience. However, compared to other direct marketing methods such as direct mail flyers or brochures, it offers a lower-cost entry point and potentially higher engagement due to the personal nature of a business card. The effectiveness also depends on the quality of the card itself – a well-designed card with a clear call to action will be more effective than a poorly designed one. Traditional methods like print advertising in newspapers or magazines, while having a wider potential reach, often result in lower engagement rates due to the passive nature of the medium.
Examples of Successful Mailbox Distribution Strategies
A local plumber focusing on residential clients might strategically distribute business cards in neighborhoods experiencing high rates of older home repairs. This targeted approach maximizes the likelihood of reaching potential customers actively seeking their services. A real estate agent could concentrate their efforts on neighborhoods with high property turnover, increasing the chance of contacting individuals looking to buy or sell. These strategies demonstrate how focusing on a specific, receptive audience significantly enhances the effectiveness of mailbox distribution. Quantifiable results, however, are difficult to obtain without sophisticated tracking methods, such as unique QR codes on each card linked to a specific campaign.
The cost-effectiveness of mailbox distribution is influenced by several factors. Printing costs are relatively low compared to other marketing channels, particularly digital advertising. Labor costs are also relatively low if the distribution is handled internally. However, potential fines for violating mailbox regulations must be factored in. Compared to direct mail campaigns, which require postage and often more elaborate design, mailbox distribution offers a significantly cheaper alternative, provided that legal regulations are adhered to. The return on investment (ROI) is challenging to accurately measure due to the difficulties in tracking responses, but a successful campaign can deliver a high ROI if the target audience is well-defined and the business cards are professionally designed and placed strategically.
Target Audience Receptive to Mailbox Distribution
The most receptive target audience for mailbox distribution is typically localized and comprised of individuals who frequently interact with their immediate surroundings. Homeowners, small business owners, and residents in densely populated areas are more likely to encounter and consider business cards left in their mailboxes. This contrasts with a broader, less geographically defined audience that might be reached through online advertising or social media. The key is to select a target audience whose daily routine and location increase their likelihood of encountering and engaging with the business card.
Comparative Analysis of Response Rates
Direct comparison of response rates for mailbox distribution versus other direct marketing strategies is difficult due to the lack of standardized tracking methods. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that response rates are generally lower than those of email marketing or targeted online advertising campaigns, which offer better tracking capabilities. Direct mail campaigns, while offering more trackable response rates through unique codes or URLs, often exhibit higher costs compared to mailbox distribution. The effectiveness of mailbox distribution hinges on the precise targeting of the desired customer base and the quality of the business card design and messaging.
Ethical Considerations of Mailbox Business Card Distribution
Leaving business cards in mailboxes, while potentially a cost-effective marketing strategy, raises significant ethical concerns. The practice treads a fine line between proactive marketing and unwanted intrusion, potentially damaging a business’s reputation and community standing. A thorough ethical analysis is crucial before employing this tactic.
Potential Ethical Concerns
The primary ethical concern revolves around implicit consent and respect for private property. Slipping a business card into a mailbox without the homeowner’s explicit permission constitutes an uninvited intrusion into their personal space. This action disregards the homeowner’s right to control what enters their property. Further ethical considerations include the potential for misinterpretation, especially if the business card is associated with a product or service that the recipient might find objectionable or irrelevant. The lack of targeted audience selection inherent in this method also raises ethical questions regarding resource waste and potential environmental impact.
Negative Impact on Community Relations
Negative community perception can significantly damage a business’s reputation. Residents may view unsolicited business cards as junk mail or even as a form of harassment. This perception can lead to complaints, negative word-of-mouth marketing, and a general distrust of the business. The perception of the business as inconsiderate or disrespectful can outweigh any potential benefits of increased brand awareness. This negative publicity can be particularly damaging for local businesses reliant on community goodwill.
Respecting Property Rights and Avoiding Trespassing
Mailboxes are considered private property. Leaving a business card in a mailbox, even if not technically illegal in some jurisdictions, constitutes a form of trespass. It is an unauthorized entry onto private property, however minor. Respecting property rights is paramount to maintaining positive community relations. Ignoring this aspect can lead to legal consequences, such as fines or lawsuits, and significant damage to the business’s reputation. The ethical principle of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is directly relevant here.
Comparison with Alternative Marketing Approaches
Ethical alternatives to mailbox distribution include targeted online advertising, direct mail campaigns (with permission), community event participation, and local newspaper advertising. These methods allow for more targeted outreach and respect individual preferences. Direct mail, while still requiring postage, allows for a more considered approach, ensuring the message reaches a receptive audience. Targeted online advertising allows for precise targeting based on demographics and interests. Community involvement builds relationships and fosters goodwill, enhancing a business’s reputation organically.
Hypothetical Scenario and Analysis
Imagine a new pizza restaurant distributing business cards in mailboxes in a quiet residential neighborhood. Some residents appreciate the information, while others find it intrusive. One resident, angered by the unsolicited card, posts a negative review online, leading to a wave of negative comments and impacting the restaurant’s opening. This scenario illustrates the potential for a small act to generate significant negative consequences. The restaurant could have avoided this by employing alternative, more ethical marketing strategies, such as sponsoring a local event or distributing flyers only to those who explicitly requested information. The negative outcome could have been mitigated or entirely avoided through thoughtful consideration of ethical implications.
Alternative Methods for Business Card Distribution
Distributing business cards effectively requires a multi-pronged approach. While leaving cards in mailboxes might seem convenient, its legality and effectiveness are questionable. Exploring alternative strategies is crucial for maximizing reach and return on investment. This section Artikels several effective alternatives, their associated costs and benefits, and how to integrate them into a comprehensive marketing plan.
A diverse strategy is key to reaching a wider audience and building brand awareness. The following table compares various methods, considering cost, effectiveness, and target audience suitability. Remember that effectiveness is highly dependent on factors like industry, target market, and execution.
Comparison of Business Card Distribution Methods
Method | Cost | Effectiveness | Target Audience |
Networking Events | Moderate (event fees, travel) | High (direct interaction) | Professionals, industry peers, potential clients |
Direct Mailing (with targeted lists) | High (printing, postage, list purchase) | Moderate (depends on list quality) | Specific demographics or customer segments |
Strategic Partnerships | Low to Moderate (collaboration agreements) | High (leveraging existing networks) | Customers of partner businesses |
Trade Shows and Conferences | High (booth fees, travel, materials) | High (large audience reach) | Industry professionals, potential clients |
Online Networking (LinkedIn, etc.) | Low (time investment) | Moderate (depends on engagement) | Professionals, potential clients |
In-Person Handouts (shops, community events) | Low (printing) | Moderate (depends on location and foot traffic) | Local community, potential clients |
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Distribution Strategies
Conducting a cost-benefit analysis involves comparing the expenses of each method against the potential return. This return isn’t always easily quantifiable (e.g., a new client from a networking event). However, you can estimate the value of potential leads or sales generated.
Cost-Benefit Analysis Formula: Net Benefit = Total Revenue – Total Costs
For example, consider a trade show costing $5,000. If the show generates 10 qualified leads, and each lead has a 10% chance of converting into a $10,000 sale, the potential revenue is $10,000 (10 leads * 0.1 conversion rate * $10,000). The net benefit would be $5,000 ($10,000 – $5,000). This is a simplified example; a more thorough analysis would involve more detailed forecasting.
Marketing Plan Incorporating Multiple Distribution Methods
A comprehensive marketing plan should leverage multiple methods for maximum reach. For instance, a local bakery could use in-person handouts at farmers’ markets, strategic partnerships with coffee shops (leaving cards on tables), and online networking via social media to reach diverse customer segments.
Examples of Successful Alternative Business Card Distribution Strategies
A tech startup might focus on online networking (LinkedIn, industry forums) and attending relevant conferences. A real estate agent could prioritize networking events and direct mailing to targeted neighborhoods. A consultant might rely heavily on strategic partnerships with complementary businesses. The key is tailoring the approach to the business and its target audience.
Tailoring Distribution Methods to Target Audience and Business Type
The ideal method depends on the target audience and business type. B2B businesses often benefit from networking events and strategic partnerships. B2C businesses might find success with direct mail, in-person handouts, or online marketing. Consider factors like the audience’s age, online behavior, and geographic location. For instance, an older demographic might be more receptive to direct mail, while a younger demographic might be more engaged with online networking.
Visual Representation of Mailbox Distribution Scenarios: Can I Leave Business Cards In Mailboxes
Visualizing the placement of business cards in mailboxes across different environments is crucial for understanding the potential effectiveness and impact of this distribution method. The visual impact, and thus the potential for positive or negative reactions, varies significantly depending on the density of mailboxes, the overall aesthetic of the area, and the design of the business card itself.
Mailbox Distribution in a High-Density Residential Area
Imagine a densely populated apartment complex or a row of closely packed townhouses. Business cards tucked into mailboxes here create a visually cluttered effect, especially if multiple businesses employ this strategy. The sheer number of cards could overwhelm residents, leading to a negative perception. A visually appealing, high-quality card might mitigate this somewhat, but the sheer volume could still lead to many cards being discarded without a second glance. The potential outcome is a low conversion rate due to the overwhelming nature of the visual presentation. Imagine a scene: dozens of slightly crumpled cards sticking out of nearly every mailbox, some falling to the ground, creating a litter problem. This would likely result in negative feedback from residents and building management.
Mailbox Distribution in a Business Park
In contrast, a business park presents a different visual landscape. Mailboxes are often more spaced out, and the overall environment is more professional. Placing business cards here might be more effective, provided the card design is sophisticated and aligns with the professional setting. A clean, minimalist design would integrate better than a flashy, cluttered one. The potential outcome here is higher than in a residential area, as the target audience is more likely to be receptive to networking opportunities. Imagine a well-maintained business park, with neatly placed mailboxes. A single, high-quality business card subtly placed within each mailbox might be viewed as a professional and considered gesture, potentially leading to more positive engagement.
Mailbox Distribution in a Rural Area
Rural areas present yet another visual contrast. Mailboxes are often widely dispersed and highly visible, sometimes at the end of long driveways. The visual impact of a business card in such a setting depends heavily on the surrounding environment. A business card that blends in with the natural aesthetic might be more successful than one that clashes. However, the sheer distance between mailboxes could make this method inefficient. The potential outcome here is unpredictable, with a lower likelihood of successful engagement due to the low density of targets and the risk of cards being damaged or lost by weather. Imagine a single, weather-resistant business card placed neatly in a mailbox situated at the end of a long country lane. Its visibility is high, but the low population density means that the overall effectiveness is likely to be low compared to a high-density area.
Visual Impact and Potential Reactions
The visual impact of a business card in a mailbox is heavily influenced by several factors: the card’s design (color scheme, font, imagery), its condition (clean and crisp versus crumpled or faded), and its placement (neat and unobtrusive versus haphazard and messy). A poorly designed or carelessly placed card can be perceived as unprofessional and even disrespectful, leading to negative reactions. Conversely, a well-designed and thoughtfully placed card can be seen as a professional gesture, potentially leading to positive engagement. A high-quality, minimalist card in a clean mailbox in a business park will likely elicit a more positive reaction than a cheap, brightly colored card crammed into a mailbox in a crowded residential area. The contrast between the sophistication of the card and the surrounding environment greatly influences the perception.
| 0.932572 | 3,790 |
I’ve been a road runner for almost 9 years now, and it has been a big part of my life. Through running, I’ve been able to have more energy, sleep better, and of course lose a lot of weight. These just scratch the surface of the many benefits that come from running. When I run, the entire world melts away and all I am concentrating on is breathing, moving my legs, and getting through that next step. It is the most peaceful way for me to relax I’ve found. Yes, it is very hard on your body, particularly your joints. I realize that I am very lucky to be able to run, though I’ve not been without my fair share of injury.
Early this year I started getting into a new type of running: trail running. The impetus behind this came from a group of friends of mine who decided to walk/run/crawl 100km through the mountains for a charity event, without sleep and without stopping longer than 10-20 minute breaks. Always up for a challenge and some physical pain, I didn’t hesitate to join. This started what would be many months of running on trails and participating in trail running events to train our bodies to make the 100km.
Before my first trail run, I was over confident. My friend and I planned to run about 12km over 600 meters or so of elevation. “Pfh,” I thought, “I run 12km on my daily runs easily, this will be nothing. Yeah sure, there’s some elevation, but nothing I can’t handle. I’ve been running on the road for years, after all!”
I don’t think those who know me would consider me the arrogant type, but I was never so humbled in any physical activity I’ve done following my first trail run. Just 2km in, that 12km started to look increasingly difficult. What I will never forget, as I tried to run up the first 300 meter summit without stopping, was that I was never so out of breath in my life. I just couldn’t catch my breath. My lungs and quads were burning. Believing that my body was up for this, I was both surprised and angry at myself.
Somehow I made it to the top, and as we ran along the ridge to the second peak, I started to realize what is so amazing about trail running. No cars. No crowds (for the most part). Softer ground that requires more technical skill and concentration to run through. Trees, wind, birds, and the sounds of the forest. Nature. I felt like this is what humans evolved for: running through the forest, chasing dinner or escaping becoming dinner. The feeling of being in nature, and running through it – no matter how fast or slow – is something that road running cannot compare to. At least for me.
We only made 10km that day, but I finished feeling ready for more. The next time I ran the same course, my body was more used to it, and I was able to run all the way to the top of the first 300 meter summit without stopping, and finishing over 15km in a much better time. Since then, I’ve been hooked. I get out to the mountains any chance I get, and have participated in a lot of trail races, from casual 5km runs up to the 100km charity event that my friends and I finished. Just last month I ran a 28km race, and while I was depleted due to no training for three months from a series of injuries, it was amazing.
I’ve talked to road runners who don’t trail run, and some have the same opinion that I did in the beginning: it’s easy because you are walking/climbing up sometimes and are not constantly running. Believe me, when you are walking, climbing, or slowly running up to the top of a 1,900 meter mountain, your body is working much harder than when you are simply running on a flat surface. Go try it for yourself and see.
Even though it’s hard, I also have found that trail running is a really accessible sport. While going up a mountain is challenging, I have family and friends who find it mentally more rewarding because, even if you are just walking up the mountain, you are still walking up a mountain and don’t have to feel bad like you let yourself down. This is opposed to road running, when if you take a break or start to walk it’s easy to get down on yourself. And when you are trail running, no matter your level, just about everyone can run down the mountain. This is where the real fun begins!
Finding trail running is something that has really enriched my life, and I’m thankful to my friends who got me into it and to my family and friends who continue to trail run with me, and put up with me when I get injured. So thanks, everyone, you know who you are!
Now go find a mountain!
| 0.97637 | 1,055 |
Candidates can apply through our website at https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/careers/professional-staff/current-opportunities/research-services/research-coordinator
The Research Services Department of Arnold & Porter has an opening for a Research Coordinator to join our energetic, creative, and global service team. This position may work 100% virtual/remote in a firm approved U.S. state working Pacific or Mountain Time hours.
Under the direction of the firmwide Research Services management team, the Research Coordinator performs on demand reference and document research services across a wide range of subject areas using a variety of print and electronic resources, including free and fee-based databases and web sites. In addition, the Research Coordinator supports the delivery of services to departments, including Conflicts, the Managing Attorney’s Office, and Marketing.
Essential responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Performing on demand reference and document research services across a wide range of subject areas using a variety of print and electronic resources, including free and fee-based databases and web sites.
- Serving as primary researcher in support of due diligence service for the Conflicts Department.
- Working with the Research Workflow Supervisor to design and implement new research services to the firm’s professional departments, including the Managing Attorney’s Office, Practice Support Services, and Marketing.
- Actively participating in department and other internal firm meetings.
- Bachelor’s degree required; enrollment in a Master’s in Library Science or equivalent degree from an ALA accredited school is a plus.
- A minimum of one year of experience providing on demand reference in a law library. Experience working in any professional department within a large law firm is a plus.
- Demonstrated ability to make cost-effective use of a wide range of print and online resources, including Westlaw, Lexis Advance, Law 360, Wolters Kluwer, and Bloomberg BNA.
- Comfortable using Microsoft Office applications, especially Word, Outlook, and Excel.
- Familiarity with the Quest ticketing system is a plus.
- Strong client service orientation.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team, prioritizing multiple projects and assignments.
- Ability to analyze, cull, and summarize search results.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
The anticipated base salary for this position is $60,000 to $72,000. The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.
Arnold & Porter is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy and childbirth (including breastfeeding and related medical conditions), age, marital or partnership status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family leave status, citizenship status, immigration status, ancestry, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations. Our Firm’s equal opportunity policy applies to all employment practices and terms and conditions, including, without limitation, recruitment, employment, assignment, training, compensation, benefits, promotions, disciplinary action and terminations. For purposes of the firm’s Anti-discrimination, Anti-harassment and Affirmative Action Policies, the term “race” includes, without limitation, traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks, and twists.
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP endeavors to make www.arnoldporter.com accessible to any and all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact Director of Support Staff Stephanie Denmark at +1 202.942.6068. This contact information is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP is an EO Employer – M/F/Veteran/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity.
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP uses E-Verify, which is a web-based system, to confirm the eligibility of our employees to work in the United States. As an E-Verify employer, we verify the identity and employment eligibility of newly hired employees by electronically matching information provided by employees on the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, against records available to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). We use E-Verify because we are a federal contractor containing the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause. Please see the posters for details regarding E-Verify or contact Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP’s Human Resources Department for more information. E-Verify Participation Poster and Right-to-work Poster.
| 0.906197 | 1,089 |
The Son of God speaks to His bride: "Answer for Me the four questions I ask. If someone gives his friend a fruitful vine but keeps it close to his own house so that he might have the pleasure of seeing and smelling it, what should the giver say if the new owner of the vine were to ask if he could transplant it to another place where it could bear more plentiful fruit?"
She answers: "If the friend gave him it out of love and was sensible and desired the good for his friend, then he would certainly allow him to do whatever he wanted with the vine, saying: 'My friend, though it makes me happy to have the vine close by, still it does not yield me much fruit, and so I am happy if you can transfer it, if you like, to a more fertile spot.'"
The Lord asked a second time: "If parents were to give their maiden daughter to a young man, and she consented to the youth, but if the boy, when asked by the parents whether he wanted to have her or not, does not give an answer, is the girl betrothed then or not?"
She answered: "It seems to me that, since the boy did not express his own wishes, the girl is not betrothed."
The Lord spoke a third time: "A noble youth in the company of three maidens proposed to them that whichever of them could express herself in a way that excited his love the most would obtain that which the youth loved the most.
"The first girl answered: 'I love this young man so much that I would rather die than disgrace myself with another man.'
"The second girl said: 'And I would rather suffer any kind of pain than utter a single word against his wishes.'
"The third answered: 'I would prefer to suffer any kind of bitter pain or condemnation rather than see his least little scorn or condemnation.'"
Then the Lord said: "Tell Me, which of these three maidens loved the youth most and should receive his preferential love?"
She answered: "It seems to me that they all loved him equally, since they were all of one accord in his respect, and all of them equally deserve to have his love."
The Lord spoke a fourth time: "A man once consulted his friend and said: 'I have very fertile wheat. If it is sown in the ground, it yields a great crop. However, I am very hungry, so what do you think is more advisable: to eat it or to sow it in the ground?'
"His friend answers: 'Your hunger can be stilled at another time. Now it is more useful for you to sow it in the ground.'"
Then the Lord added: "My daughter, do you not think the same - should not the person experiencing hunger endure it and plant the grain so that it will be good for many people?"
The Lord said again: "These four examples apply to you. Your daughter is like a vine that you have vowed and given to Me. Now, however, since I know a more suitable place for her, I want to transplant her where I please, and you should not be upset by this, since you gave your consent to the transplantation."
The Lord said again: "You gave Me your daughter, but I did not show you which would be more acceptable to Me, her virginity or her matrimony, or whether your sacrifice pleased Me or not. Therefore, the things that were done in uncertainty can be changed and corrected now that they are known with certainty."
The Lord said again: "Virginity is good and most excellent, for it resembles the angelic state, provided it is maintained with wisdom and virtue.
"But if the one is missing from the other, that is, if there is virginity of the flesh but not of the mind, then that virginity has been deformed. A devout and humble housewife is more acceptable to Me than a proud and immodest virgin.
"A God-fearing housewife, who is in control of herself and lives according to the rule of her state, can win equal merit as a humble and modest virgin. Although it is a great thing to stand the test of fire without burning, it is an equally great thing to remain outside the fire of the religious state but to be willing to be in the fire and to burn with greater ardor outside the fire than one does who is in the fire.
"I offer you the example of three women - Susanna, Judith, and Thecla the virgin. The first was married, the second a widow, the third a virgin. They had different ways of life and made different choices, but they gained a similar reward by their meritorious deeds.
"When Susanna was falsely molested by the priests, she preferred, out of love for God, death to disgracing her state in life. Because she feared Me as being everywhere present, she deserved to be saved and to be glorified for the sake of her salvation.
"When Judith saw the dishonor done to Me and her people being lost, she was so troubled that she not only exposed herself to blame and condemnation for the sake of her love for God, but was also prepared to suffer punishment for My sake.
"Finally, Thecla, who was a virgin, preferred to suffer bitter torments than to utter a single word against Me.
"These three women, although their actions were not one and the same, nevertheless were equal in merit. Therefore, whether virgin or widow, everyone is equally capable of pleasing Me, provided that all their desire is directed toward Me and that their life is virtuous."
The Lord said again: "It is equally acceptable to Me whether your daughter remains a virgin or marries, provided that it is done according to My will. What would it profit her if she perhaps were cloistered in body but remained outside the walls in her mind? Or, which would be more glorious: to live for herself or for the benefit of others? I know and foresee all things, and I do nothing without a reason. Therefore, she shall not arrive at her destination by the first fruit, for that would be out of fear, nor the second fruit, for that would be out of lukewarmness.
"She will, however, arrive in the middle state, for that has just the right warmth of love and fruit of virtue. However, the man who is to receive her should possess three things - housing, clothing, and food enough to receive her."
The Son speaks: "You are wondering why this virgin did not come to be married in the way you hoped. I answer by way of a parable. A certain nobleman arranged to give his daughter in marriage to a poor man. This man, who was to have been betrothed to the maiden, broke the laws of the city and was dishonorably expelled by the citizens and did not get the maiden whom he desired. I have acted in the same manner with the ruler of this country. I promised to do great things for him, but instead he joined My enemies and therefore did not obtain the things I promised him.
"But you might ask: Could I not foresee the future? Of course, I foresaw it, in the same way as can be read in the case of Moses and his people. I have revealed and do reveal many things so that people can prepare themselves for good things and know what to do and wait patiently. Know, however, that one woe has passed and another shall come upon the ungrateful people of this kingdom in order that My blessing may afterward come upon the humble persons who entreat My mercy. Know, too, that it would be better for this virgin to follow the advice of the wise and of Me."
This virgin is believed to have been Lady Cecilia, St. Bridget's daughter.
| 0.986382 | 1,621 |
Coral sports betting Reviewed
The formal Eurobet bookie is now called Coral, but to be honest with you it still so popular across the gambles and it is yet so hugely preferred by both – high punters and new beginners. For this purpose, we would like to present you our overall and complete Coral review. Read it and meet all of its special features, conditions for betting and of course – the promotions and the offers. So, let`s begin with our detailed Coral review now!
Overview of Coral sportsbook
Coral or Eurobet as a company was established back in 1926 year. As a bookie Coral began operating in 1999 year. In 2005, though, the company was acquired by the large betting group Gala and Coral entered the industry. Since then it has been increasing its customer number and advancing its betting options in order to provide the best opportunities for the audience. Coral sports betting website receives its license from Gibraltar and today its main back offices are there, as well as in UK and Alderney. The website offers al the odd types of the market – decimal and US. Comparatively, the odds in Coral bookie are high with several bet limits for the regular players. Mostly, the high odds are in horse racing and in the biggest football leagues. Save for these two sports disciplines, the bookmaker offers betting on golf, cricket, rugby, tennis, boxing, ice hockey and basketball. As to the special options that Coral offers to the clients, they are numerous. Here you will be introduced with live betting, full betting coverage, availability of major and minor leagues and great customer support at multiple languages and 24/7. All inquires and requests are accepted via phone numbers and e-mails. Last, but not least, Coral offers you live streaming of the news, statistics, coral radio and live scores to follow.
Coral Bonus System and Types
The Coral bonus system is really intriguing since it gives lots of special offers and promotions that all the customers can benefit of. Let`s list all of these bonuses, so you can easily consider whether to give it a try as a new customer on the Coral sports platform.
- Coral sign up bonus – make a registration and have an account for a new customer to receive up to 20 GBP as free bets. Use the Coral sing up bonus to test the platform and see if its environment suits your needs. The only condition is to be a new player on Coral sports websites and to make an initial deposit of 5 GBP.
- Consolation Cash back (Football) – place a bet on the To Win and Both Teams to Score accumulator for 4 events and if one result lets you down, you will get a free bet up to 25 GBP as refund.
- Premium League Late Loser Insurance – maximum refund is 25 GBP in case the team suddenly wins at the 85th minute and your team fails to win.
- Money back of 25 GBP in case your horse doesn’t win for all the UK jump races.
- ACCA insurance of 25 GBP money back for the American Football League
Coral sports betting site goes mobile, too!
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Titles for Auger Aliassime, Monfils, Keys and Kessler. Full report, plus all the ATP beef that's fit to post -- including Tommy Paul's flesh act -- BELOW.
Felix Auger-Aliassime’s confident start to the 2025 season picked up pace Saturday, when he claimed the Adelaide International title. The fifth seed held his nerve for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 triumph against Sebastian Korda to clinch his sixth ATP Tour title, and first outdoors. Auger-Aliassime is now on a five-match win streak which began last week with his victory over World No. 4 Taylor Fritz at the United Cup.
French veteran Gael Monfils has become the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title after beating Zizou Bergs 6-3, 6-4 in Auckland. Monfils claimed his 13th tour title 20 years after his first and at the age of 38 years, 132 days. He took over from Roger Federer, who was 38 years, 74 days old when he won the final tour title of his career, the Swiss Indoor title at Basel in 2019.
McCartney Kessler claimed her second WTA title by defeating Elise Mertens 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in the Hobart International final on Saturday.
Madison Keys won her ninth career WTA title on Saturday, taking out fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at the Adelaide International.
Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori served up some early-season revenge in dramatic fashion on Saturday at the Adelaide International. The Italian duo saved four match points late in the second set before securing a 4-6, 7-6(4), 11-9 championship-match triumph against Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz at the hard-court ATP 250. Bolleli and Vavassori held firm to triumph in their first meeting with Krawietz and Puetz since the German pair knocked them out of the 2024 Nitto ATP Finals with a decisive group-stage win.
Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic took home the crown in Auckland when the American duo of Christian Harrison and Rajeev Ram pulled out due to the latter's being injured.
Elsewhere around the net:
Tommy Paul got the length of his shorts right just in time for the Aussie Open
Borna Coric displays his streetwalker potential
David Vega Hernandez gives me what I want
Ass-tastic Jan-Lennard Struff
Corentin Moutet misspelled complaining
The good Zverev brother
Hady Habib makes history
Studly Karol Drzewiecki
All eyes on Albano Olivetti, far right
Try to guess if I'm hot for Patrick Rafter and his 22-year-old son, Joshua Rafter
French connection: Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia
Ken and Neal Skupski with Big Joe Salisbury & Co.
Thiago Seyboth Wild gets 'stached
Pedro Martinez leaves us thirsty
Ooh la la: Arthur Fils
Matteo Berrettini excites another one
Luciano Darderi found his Tarzan
Here's the beef: Marcos Fraiberger and Fede Gomez
Carlos Alcaraz knows how to get me not to look at his bad haircut
Speaking of flesh acts: Jordan Thompson
Big Jack Draper
Marton Fucsovics means business
Cutie Casper Ruud
Sign me up for whatever's happening here
Leg day with Nico Jarry
Czech mate Jakub Mensik
Quentin Halys shows some skin
Hot for Tomas Machac and Angus Roberts
Don't box Adrian Arcon in
Thanasi Kokkinakis's hot body and bad tattoos
Luca "Daddy" Pouille
Cam Norrie grooming camp
Me trying to work out with the pros
When your dad is every bit as hot as you are
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Miles Bugby just how I want him
Marcos Giron can't not look like a sex worker
Fun with the Berrettini boys
I was hoping to see Marcus Willis's other snake
Newly shorn Lorenzo Musetti
Grigor Dimitrov already hit a sour note Down Under
Andrea Pellegrino doesn't ever get any less attractive
Omar Jasika is all smiles
Tallon Griekspoor looking for his granola bar
Daniel Pohl didn't mean to turn you on?
Robert Cardenas in stripes
Holger Rune and his legs
Sun's out, guns out: Hendrik Jebens
I like this Jarry-Altmaier matchup
Leggy Karen and friends
Matteo is already transitioning into broadcasting
Illya Marchenko sighting
This Djokovic-Murray thing is really happening
Iva Majoli has a good eye: Duje Ajdukovic and Borna Coric
(With wire services)
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NAFPS Archives > Archive No. 1
NO LONGER A MATTER OF CONCERN: Harry Snowboy
This man is actually Native but he claims to be a medicine man, specifically a "healer". I come from the same neck of the woods that he does and the teachings he gives are not of our tribe. He wrote a book called "A Voice in the Wilderness" about his experience being "chosen" by Creator. He lives in Ottawa with his family and says that he is not accepted in his home community because of the Christians who demonize traditional spirituality. This description about my tribe as militant Christians is sadly pretty accurate, so I believed him at first. But, after talking with some respectable people who know him from way back, he isn't accepted because he's a fake, attention-seeker. With this knowledge in hindsight, I remember him becoming immediately distant and aloof during our introduction when I mentioned where I was from. I know that he does ceremonies, specifically the Sun Dance and naming ceremonies in a questionable way. From what I know, the Sun Dance is not part of our practices. Also, his "naming ceremonies" were advertised through a Native organization in Ottawa as if it was a drive through. Like anyone could come and receive their spirit name from him over the span of one afternoon. From what I've been told, these sorts of ceremonies are not supposed to be done in a haphazard way like that.
The main reason I think he is a fraud is simply the fact that he proclaims to be a healer. I've been told that anyone who advertises themselves as a shaman/medicine man/healer/etc. is probably a fraud.
He has written a book. I don't see him advertising otherwise online.
"A Voice from the Wilderness is by no means a how-to in becoming a shaman, rather it’s a story of what one person went through in becoming one."
In-house Corporation name: Chiikayabano Inc.
Responsible Officer Name: Harry Snowboy, President & CEO ?
Initial registration start date: 2008-04-12
Registration status: Inactive
Registration Number: 782777-16861
•Employment and Training
•Justice and Law Enforcement
Subject Matter Details
Policies or Program
•Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections as it relates to Continuum of Care model
• Written communication
• Oral communication
• Grass-roots communication
• Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC)
• Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)
• Finance Canada (FIN)
• Health Canada (HC)
• Prime Minister's Office (PMO)
• Public Safety Canada (PS)
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
• Treasury Board Of Canada Secretariat (TBS)
He's shown up at some seminars about traditional medicine integrated with western medicine.
The only thing questionable I found was this.
I received this account. What does everyone think? Should this be moved to Archives?
I am reading an old post from 2015 re:Harry Snowboy that is concerning me.
The information I am reading is inacurrate that Harry does not call himself a shaman for one.
I have worked with this person since 2005. My entire family has worked with Harry Snowboy and I do not trust just anyone with my children.
What I am in fact witnessing when I read this post is “Lateral Violence”. There is a magnitude of this happening in our communities as you must already be aware of. No longer is just the colonization happening from “settler individuals” however our own people oppressing each other. There’s a lot of jealousy and micro aggressions happening over social media.
Harry Snowboy has support from his community. I’ve personally fasted “vision quest” in his community of Quebec twice. I’ve been a Sundancer in his Family’s Sundance since it started in 2013. I’ve danced my 4 years and to this day I’ve been one of the female helpers. My Son has also danced with Harry’s Sundance.
I feel like when I first read this post: that the person is trying to dis-credit Harry from the get-go. What I’ve been taught is yes you check the background on the medicine people you approach you ask for their references who they’re teachers are, where did they learn these ceremonies. Harry will tell you honestly.
I work at the federal prison the only federal prison in Ontario with Elder Services and Corrections Service Canada. I am on the Elder’s Council to interview potential candidates. We as a council have to discern who is credible who is “walking their talk”, check their references so I understand the legitimacy and authenticity that we need to know as a community.
If you have any questions or concerns for me please contact me.
I’m asking if you can remove this post as it disheartens me to read. I know it’s a false accusation being made about an authentic person who is genuine.
If you need any more info please let me know.
Miigwech - Anushiik - Thank you,
Harry Snowboy is mentioned as "Harry Snowboy Sioux/Cree Bundle Keeper" in this thread:
[Traditional Elders' Statement on Social Media and Sacred Ceremonies]
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Li Tao, vice director of the management committee of the Jinan Innovation Zone, remembered when he brought the first group of prospective German clients to the site seven years ago.
“There was not even any level land,” Li said.
Before the company representatives arrived, they flattened out the land and paved it. However, their efforts were initially met with skepticism.
“The negotiations were tough. We could only convince them through our clearly positioned industrial plans and pledges of optimal policy support,” Li said.
Though starting from scratch, the zone was built according to international standards to accommodate major projects. Renowned planning companies were brought in to create an industrial map and design plants.
“We hoped to attract projects dedicated to practical industrial development that could stimulate local economic development instead of speculative real estate developers,” Li said.
BMTS Technology, a high-tech automotive components manufacturer based in Stuttgart, was the first to settle in the Jinan Innovation Zone in 2019 after rounds of tough negotiations. “It was big news at that time,” Li said.
Previously, Taicang was the top destination for German enterprises entering China thanks to its advantage in ports and geographical proximity to Shanghai. “We could only attract German enterprises by offering precise industrial planning, consistent efforts and good services,” Li said.
“Jinan boasts a comprehensive industrial system covering 41 industries and 31 manufacturing categories, which is rare even nationwide. It has the essentials for developing the real economy, with ample industrial facilities and talent,” Li added.
In 2011, Germany introduced Industrie 4.0, a concept that involves a comprehensive digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. “It aligns well with China’s ‘Made in China 2025’ national strategy for developing the manufacturing sector,” Li said.
The Jinan Innovation Zone stands out as an exceptional transportation hub, accessible through high-speed rail, freight rail and air, but also a river that provides a direct route to coastal ports.
European freight trains departing from Jinan have extended their reach to over 40 cities across 20 European and Asian countries. On December 28, 2023, Jinan celebrated the departure of its 1,000th China-Europe freight train. To accommodate the growing transportation demand, both the expressway and airport are undergoing expansion.
To better serve its companies, the Jinan Innovation Zone has continuously worked toward streamlining its services. A notable example occurred in 2018, when the zone established a “one-stop” process for business registration and industrial and commercial registration for foreign-funded enterprises. In 2020, the registration process was further simplified, allowing the establishment of foreign-funded enterprises to be completed solely through the industrial and commercial department.
The zone also provides customized, hands-on services for foreign investment projects. In 2019, it took nine months for BMTS Technology to go from signing to production, including establishing an Industrie 4.0-compliant factory. For Hengst, it only took three months.
What’s more, the local government has been actively working to build new housing, hotels and hospitals, aiming to offer enterprises within the zone first-class living accommodations and business services.
The Jinan Innovation Zone is also committed to elevating the standards of intellectual property creation, utilization, protection, management and services. It has been recognized as a national-level demonstration zone for building a robust intellectual property ecosystem. The zone’s overseas intellectual property service platform provides services to 65 countries and regions worldwide.
The Cooperation Zone has emerged as a paradigm for international manufacturing cooperation, housing four industrial parks. As of late 2023, the zone’s 1,300 enterprises generate 50,000 jobs. Renowned German industry leaders such as Bosch, Continental, VOSS and Hengst have all experienced remarkable success in their fields within the zone.
Between 2016 and 2023, fixed investment in the zone rose from 7.69 billion yuan (US$1.08b) to 21.3 billion yuan (US$2.98b), while the value of industrial output surged nearly five times from 4.1 billion yuan (US$574.1m) to 20 billion yuan (US$2.8b) in the past six years, according to data from the Jinan Innovation Zone management committee.
These successes boosted growth in the Jinan Innovation Zone and the city of Jinan. In 2022, the Jinan Innovation Zone’s total output value surpassed 160 billion yuan (US$22.4b), while its total import and export value accounted for over 50 percent of the city’s total and one-third of Jinan’s foreign investment.
By October 2023, 86 Fortune Global 500 companies had invested in Jinan. Between January and September 2023, 193 foreign companies settled in Jinan, a year-on-year increase of 14.2 percent. The city’s actual utilization of foreign investment reached US$2.2 billion, ranking second in Shandong in terms of total volume.
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Paxful is an ingenious peer-to-peer market that allows individuals to buy and sell Bitcoin utilizing greater than 300 payment approaches, such as mobile top up cards and store present cards. In addition, this platform likewise supports cash transactions.
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Paxful is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange which enables its users to deal bitcoins with no fees affixed, making it perfect for novices who do not trust intermediaries and giving competitive fiat to bitcoin conversion prices. Furthermore, this solution accepts multiple repayment techniques, both cash-based and digital.
The site includes an user-friendly individual experience, with an involved area that sustains each other. KYC/AML procedures ensure a safe trading atmosphere, while an extensive frequently asked question section and discussion forums assist users navigate the platform.
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Paxful Neoblaztaers Account
Paxful is an on the internet market where individuals can deal Bitcoins, Ethereum (ETH), and Tether (USDT) securely with an escrow-protected system. The web site utilizes 256-bit SSL from Comodo and PCI vulnerability requirements to guard customer funds; all settlements used the Paxful pocketbook connected to each individual account; any kind of disputes are then attended to by Paxful moderators.
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Paxful deals an escrow system developed to safeguard both purchasers and vendors alike, giving satisfaction to both. Individuals can even more safeguard their deals with PIN or password verification of pocketbook they send funds into.
Customers can acquire crypto on the system making use of different repayment approaches, including charge card, PayPal and Western Union. Charges on the platform vary based on each sort of settlement alternative utilized – as an example those allowing for chargebacks have greater currency exchange rate than refundable choices.
Paxful’s market is easy to use and purchasers can find a wide range of coins and currencies offered for purchase. Users need to make sure when choosing vendors to prevent being scammed; when acquiring cryptocurrency on Paxful it is important that customers inspect that the name they see suits their account name along with having positive feedback rankings; furthermore they need to never ever conduct deals outside the platform itself or get in touch with sellers outside. Any unusual behavior such as an uncommon vendor name or e-mail address must be reported instantly to Paxful.
Paxful is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange that allows purchasers to acquire digital coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum utilizing practically any repayment method, while giving additional solutions, such as sending and getting cryptocurrency. The platform’s instinctive style makes finding wonderful offers uncomplicated; there are also verification functions in position to safeguard customers from scammers.
It stands apart amongst many P2P crypto exchanges by not charging customers any type of transactional fees when buying cryptos, though vendors may bill added transactional fees depending on settlement approach used (ie getting crypto using PayPal will usually set you back more).
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Paxful stand apart from its competitors with its substantial range of settlement approaches and payment cpus supported. Buyers can acquire Bitcoin utilizing over 350 payment choices such as present cards for Starbucks and Amazon, high road stores like H & M and mobile top up cards; cash settlements are sustained via 17 methods like Wesern Cash Union and MoneyGram.
Paxful may not be perfect, nevertheless; some buyers have actually reported problems with shady vendors or being scammed altogether. A lot of issues can typically be stayed clear of with correct research and good sense.
The application stands out among P2P cryptocurrency exchanges for having one of the greatest online reputation systems and is an excellent beginning point for novices to the room. Buyers and vendors can check out comments ratings on each seller, as well as confirm their identity prior to trading with them – assisting stay clear of rip-offs while saving time in searching for deals swiftly. Moreover, its search and sort functions enable Paxful users to locate bargains promptly.
Paxful is an on the internet platform that links buyers and sellers of Bitcoin. Supplying numerous settlement techniques, individuals can buy crypto from numerous vendors; selecting their preferred one based on rate, payment method and comments rankings can also help them choose their perfect seller. With its hassle-free mobile application that makes account administration and trade administration simple – and with cost-free signup that consists of recognition confirmation as part of shielding customer privacy – Paxful makes buying cryptocurrency easy!
Individuals will certainly initially need to create a wallet before accessing Paxful. They after that search for Bitcoin sellers with preferred payment methods. Paxful will present all readily available offers; customers ought to evaluate each deal’s conditions prior to selecting one seller; choosing trusted vendors with high comments scores can aid stop rip-offs while ensuring they obtain their order.
Once a customer has picked their vendor, they can finish their deal making use of an escrow solution to finish the deal. This solution will certainly hold funds till their vendor has actually supplied cryptocurrency; after that it will certainly release it back to them. While this procedure can be taxing, it is well worth it for those who seek the very best possible price on their acquisitions.
Paxful offers over 350 settlement approaches to its users for purchases, from standard approaches like cord transfers and credit cards to a lot more modern-day alternatives like PayPal and Apple Pay. Customers must keep in mind that these may differ based upon region. Additionally, there might be restrictions for customers wishing to purchase certain cryptocurrencies via Paxful; customers from OFAC outlawed countries can not use it.
Though Paxful does not charge fees when acquiring cryptocurrency, some sellers do. These additional expenses are separate from typical Bitcoin network transfer charges which should be covered by the sender straight, not Paxful. Moreover, regular exchange costs still apply when moving funds in between Paxful accounts.
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Residenza la Bussola
viale Italia, 60
33054 Lignano Sabbiadoro (UD) Italia
Fiscal code GLSTTR68E24C817O
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According to the above mentioned law, the processing of your personal data will be carried out by respecting strictly the principles of fairness, lawfulness, openness and protection of your privacy rights. Therefore, in compliance with article 13 of the Italian law n.196 of the 30th June 2003, we are hereby communicating you the following information:
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Paper stored data will be kept for the shortest time required by law and later destroyed.
Italian Act of Government n.196/2003, Art. 7 - Right to access personal data and other rights
Information note under art. 13 and 122 Italian Act of Government n. 196/2003 (Safety and privacy in the processing of personal data), of General Measure of the Italian Data Protection Authority of the 8th May 2014.
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| 0.945911 | 1,100 |
Not the way you might think; not in a family pleasing way - in a more 'what's the best move for us both together, with the least amount of hassle now for us, or in the future, to us?'
It's a long story, in leaps and bounds, but it comes to mind this week as we watch a Nation decide if we truly care about individuals, their rights, and our 'exceptionalism', or if we will continue to live in the 21st Century while emulating the 17th. Big days, important hours, exciting times we are living in. No reason not to be bold, and to love.
But, I digress, so let me regress - Susannah and I were set up on a blind date. Truly. Neither one of us really wanted anything to do with it, but we had a then-frustrating and now-blessed friend who wouldn't let go of it. I had had about 5 of the same, shitty, dramatic relationships with some fabulous Goth chicks, but was DONE... as in, done.
Not interested in a relationship, invested in a great group of friends, having a blast, living alone and being fine. Susannah was in her world in the same place through her own experiences. We were done with drama, done with bullshit.
I never wanted to be married - ok, this is going to jump around, I'm just thinking aloud here. As a kid, I had dreams of having a really cool van, all decked out and plush (born in '65, so this is the 70s talking), and maybe a dog or two, but I never saw a spouse, or a house, or any of that. Even when I was an 'adult' and dating, while I was always 'auditioning' my girlfriends for the role of long-term companion, it wasn't about marriage. Just never an important thought for me. Actually, a little sickening.
And, definitely not on my mind when I was in the 'over the relationship thing'... But, after a few accidental meet-ups, and an invite to see one of their shows (they were both in a band, Susannah and her friend) and the audience was safe, so I checked it out.
We finally gave in, and were set up on kind of a pre-date. Really, I was hosting 'game night' at my house, happened every couple of weeks, and our friend told Susannah a lot of folks were coming, but really only she was coming, so that was that. We joked, and played the game of LIFE, and she chose the blue car and two blue pegs - I chose the pink car and two pink pegs. That was good.
We joked about going to see Molly Hatchet on their reunion tour - this was the era of every shitty 70s power band trying to make a comeback, mostly then in ATX at the Back Room - can I get a holla?! We didn't make it, but we went to a movie.
I won't get personal, more than this... suffice to say, we liked each other and kept hanging out.
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
Theodor Seuss Geisel
American writer, poet, and cartoonist Dr. Seuss.
So, these two folks, both coming from being over it, are into it, and ready to do something about it. She buys a house, I start paying with her. We go to WFM where we go upstairs and raise our right hands and tell the Shift Manager that we consider ourselves bound by the 'Common Law of the State of Texas' and therefore as a union, get her my discount at WFM. The first step.
UT's gonna be a bit harder. Therefore, we go to the Courthouse, and file for a Certificate of Informal Marriage - no Bible, no Justice of the Peace. But, this is Texas - we did have to raise our right hands and affirm, to the best of our knowledge, that we weren't first cousins. God Bless Tejas!
Like I said, that was 20 plus years ago. I've been married 4 times longer than my all of my brother's marriages combined (and if you want to be shocked, I used the apostrophe correctly). For a guy who never planned on it, I'm coming up on half of my life within it. And, it's the single greatest series of events to ever have involved me.
We never had a ceremony; we've never taken vows. We don't have pictures or a dress or a scrapbook... we have each other. We did have a party for our 5th anniversary, for friends and family - kinda like they just paused a long time between the ceremony they missed and the reception we finally had.
I love being in love, loving Susannah and being loved by her. It's the best yoga I've ever experienced.
It sickens me that there are those who only imagine one way to love - one path to union - one 'right way to be'. These are troubling times, when the prejudices of our friends, our families and our neighbors will come to light. When those who believe in "Liberty and Justice For All" will be called forth to overcome those who believe that only means White, Straight, Christian folks.
You see, we are also the anathema - we don't intend to procreate, we aren't going to pro-generate, we're going to be, by choice, childless. Therefore, by the logic, our union is evil since it does not honor that 'god's' plan of man and woman procreating and furthering the species. We're screwing that plan, so to speak.
This brings me a level of happiness, as I support and tribe with those sinners who defy 'traditional marriage values'; and in the long run, I favor expanding into love rather than contracting into fear.
I urge you, don't just change your profile pic on FB - do something real. Engage in a direct, but not aggressive conversation with folks who oppose equality. Find out what they are fearing and speak with love towards it.
Give your love, show your compassion, model the behavior you'd like to see - but always stand up to and confront (respectfully and non-violently) intolerance, hatred and ignorance. We must be the ones to lift them from darkness to light.
For my love, for my life, for the love of my life - I give thanks and praise!
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How one of the top 25 Independent firms went under in an epic failure of management; an unfortunate example of what can go wrong when business seems to be going right.
Aug 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By John Churchill
Stanley Brooks was living the dream. With a $16,000 investment in 1990, Brooks built Brookstreet Securities of Irvine, Calif., into a $150 million revenue firm — placing it among the top 25 independent broker/dealers. By 2007, the firm had amassed $8 billion in client assets and 680 registered reps. Along the way, Brooks picked up some black marks — nine regulatory “disclosures” on his U4, eight of which were related to supervisory failures. But Brookstreet continued to prosper anyway: “We never had a bad year,” Brooks recalls.
Nonetheless, Brookstreet couldn’t dodge the bullet this time. In what will most surely go down as a colossal failure to supervise (among other potential regulatory violations) and a series of actions motivated by greed, Brookstreet Securities is dead. Its assets were blown on multiple margin calls, its reps were suddenly forced to jump to other firms and perhaps dozens of retail clients were decimated by a risky, complicated investing strategy. As few as five to 10 reps may have been involved, according to one lawyer who is himself representing 30 to 40 disgruntled Brookstreet clients.
Indeed, Brookstreet will probably be remembered as a b/d that was too aggressive, too greedy, too stupid and perhaps even grossly negligent in the way it ran some of its clients’ money. The thing is, when a complicated trade works, and a handful of brokers and their clients are quite literally printing money, some brokers just go for it. The mastermind behind the trades at Brookstreet, a man with a checkered past (see sidebar pg. 34), was living so large that even otherwise clean and prudent reps decided to play the odds, says one observer with knowledge of the case.
In the month since the firm collapsed, regulators have been crawling over Brookstreet headquarters, collecting books, records and trying to find out which rules (if any) Brookstreet reps broke. Along with some individual brokers, Brooks, his reputation and any remaining assets he may have will soon be under attack from the dozen or so law firms trolling for injured Brookstreet clients, several of whom have been described as modest, risk-averse retirees and pre-retirees. The question becomes, how many other broker/dealers are sitting on significantly devalued (or even worthless) securities? Can an individual rep even know what risk other reps may be taking that may potentially damage his firm? One thing is certain, it’s not too often that a broker/dealer goes belly up on bad trades.
DEATH BY CMO
Brookstreet’s sudden change of fortune started on June 14 when an unknown number of institutional and individual customer accounts got hit with margin calls from Brookstreet’s clearing firm, National Financial Services, a unit of Fidelity Investments. The calls were related to investments in collateralized mortgage obligations, many of them in high-risk varieties called “inverse floaters” and “interest only strips,” which had suddenly been priced down, an inherent risk carried by the instruments. The re-pricings resulted in significant devaluations for many of the investors, some of whom had borrowed as much as 90 percent of their total investment from NFS.
Cliff Popper, Brookstreet firm’s top producer, the man who built the CMO program and managed those heavily leveraged portfolios, resigned earlier in June when, according to Brooks, he asked Popper to help him liquidate some customers’ CMO positions. By June 22, Brooks had spent his firm’s entire net capital of $12 million to meet a margin balance. In fact, after reducing margin exposure by 80 percent, “That still left a $70 million margin balance against $85 million of value,” Brooks said in a letter to brokers. Of course, that $85 million was being revalued downward even as he was writing the note, he indicated in the letter. He also warned: “I have told many of you that you are always in danger of not being paid on your last check when working for any broker/dealer… I will try to get enough money from our account at NFS to complete our upcoming payrolls.” Brooks, whose company motto was “press on and never give up,” was forced to close the firm. In the end, he says he still owed NFS $2.5 million; regulators, lawyers and investors are now left to clean up the mess.
What happened? “It’s pretty typical for a regional b/d trafficking in this stuff that’s over its head to lose its shirt,” says a trader at one of Wall Street’s large mortgage trading shops. He’s referring to 1994, the last time the CMO market collapsed, when firms like Piper Jaffray and Alex. Brown lost millions in CMOs and CMO derivative investments. “People see Triple A-rated and think, ‘Oh, how bad can it be?’” he says. (Because CMOs are agency backed, their various tranches, which have completely different risk profiles, retain their triple A rating.) But investing in this area is tricky and complicated. “It’s all about the timing of cash flows, which are dependent on mortgage prepayments, and there’s a very complex system of inputs to determine what those are,” he says. In other words, most reps don’t understand how the investment works — let alone the risk involved — and therefore neither will their clients. The sale of these products to Brookstreet’s retail clients was wrong, he says. “Is an inverse floater CMO a retail product? If I were a compliance guy, no way,” he says.
Collateralized mortgage obligations, first introduced in 1983, are not considered inherently risky investments, but CMO derivatives are. There were between 45 and 75 brokers selling “regular” CMOs to some portion of Brookstreet’s 88,000 customers, according to Stan Brooks. That represents roughly 10 percent of the reps at Brookstreet, most of whom “were insurance and mutual fund guys,” in the words of one rep. But all 680 of them suddenly lost their jobs on June 22. Beyond plain vanilla CMOs, an unknown number of those 75 brokers — some say as many as 10, including some of the firm’s top producers — were also selling “inverse floaters” and “interest only strips,” especially volatile classes of CMOs, which were made even more risky because they were sold on up to 90 percent margin. And yet, the securities were being sold to retail clients as Triple-A-rated instruments offering guaranteed returns with no risk to principal, says New York attorney Stuart Meissner who is representing several Brookstreet clients.
According to Brooks, the CMO business, which was little more than three years old, accounted for 10 percent of monthly firm-wide revenues, which were averaging $14 million to $16 million per month. It was good business — and not just for the firm, he says. Clients in the program were seeing returns in the seven to eight percent range, with up to 14 to 16 percent for some, primarily those who’d stuck it out and reinvested in the program, Brooks says.
What’s A CMO?
A CMO is a security made up of pools of home mortgages backed by U.S. government-sponsored agencies like Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae. Each pool generates two streams of income: one from the aggregate of the interest payments, the other from the aggregate of the principal payments made on the mortgages. These income streams are divided into “tranches,” which are the securities sold to investors.
In a “Compliance Alert” issued around the time Brookstreet was collapsing, FINRA warned members about improper CMO sales to retail customers. Citing “several examinations of broker/dealers,” the regulator said it found that the b/ds “had sold some of the most complex and riskiest classes of securities to their retail customers.” The alert also mentioned that investors had received misleading sales literature (or no disclosure at all) and unsuitable sales recommendations, and warned that adequate supervision of sales materials and sales practices was lacking.
One of the risks associated with CMO derivatives like inverse floaters and interest-only strips — both of which were sold to Brookstreet clients — is that their value fluctuates wildly with small moves in interest rates. They’re also illiquid. For these reasons, most independent b/ds don’t touch these securities.
But Brookstreet found out there’s another major risk with these types of investments: Pricing can be guesswork. Brooks blames the re-pricing of the bonds, an occurrence he says was monthly before June 14, when it became daily, for the collapse of his firm. “I still don’t know why the pricing model changed,” says Brooks who admits to not totally understanding the IDC pricing service NFS uses to price the CMOs. “Did the investment stop paying interest? Principal? No, it didn’t. There may be a lot of smart guys out there that may tell me I’m wrong about this one day, but to my understanding it’s the re-pricing that caused this,” he says.
But like any investment, of course, “pricing” risk, to use Brooks’ term, is always there, especially with derivatives amped with leverage. “With stuff like inverse floaters, guys only get them marked once a month and often by a pricing service, not by a real b/d,” says the same trader that called the CMO derivatives non-retail investments. “So it’s an extrapolated price. In a volatile market, the pricing service’s value may be very different from what you would realize if you needed to get out of a position right away,” he says.
NFS’ decision to re-price may have stemmed from general concern regarding mortgage-related investments. It was that same week in June that Bear Stearns suffered multi-billion dollar losses in two of its hedge funds: the aptly named “High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund,” and the “High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund.” Both funds’ losses were magnified by 90 percent margin leverage. Brooks says the market pressure created by the Bear Stearns news made Brookstreet’s losing positions in an illiquid market that much harder to offload. Asked why the firm re-priced the securities, NFS spokesman Adam Banker would not say anything further than “we are not responsible” for what happened at Brookstreet, and that client margin lending obligations are clearly laid out in their contracts.
WHO WILL GET SPANKED?
Whether the brokers who sold retail clients risky CMOs violated suitability requirements or misrepresented the investments, or whether inappropriate amounts of leverage were used will come out as regulators and plaintiffs’ lawyers begin to present their cases. Sam Edwards, a Houston attorney with Shephard Smith & Edwards, says his firm is representing 30 to 40 former Brookstreet clients that allege all kinds of wrongdoing on the part of between five and 10 Brookstreet brokers. That list of brokers includes Popper, the mastermind of the strategy (see sidebar) and Barry Kornfeld, a principal in a group of Brookstreet reps in Coral Gables, Fla., called The CMO Bond Group. Neither Popper nor Kornfeld returned calls for comment.
Meissner, who has fielded many calls from former Brookstreet clients, says his clients’ complaints relate to “three or four brokers.” He says most of his clients are reporting losses between $200,000 and $400,000. “None of these people were rich,” he says. Meissner says all of his clients have told him virtually the same thing: their broker sold them the CMO investments as triple-A rated bonds with no risk to principal, and a guaranteed 10 percent return. “That’s the story, no matter where the client is from,” says Meissner, who says fluctuations in price were explained to clients as temporary.
One client, who lost his entire initial investment of $200,000 — all of his liquid assets, according to Meissner — was invested in a portfolio of 14 CMO bond positions, half of which were “inverse floaters” or “interest only strips,” and on 80 percent margin. “This client says he told his broker he wanted an investment that was safe and secure,” says Meissner, who adds that the Brookstreet rep assured him it was. One of the seven inverse floaters his client owned showed a current face value of $3,117,610.92, as of April 30. But, the estimated current market value was only $108,991.68, according to the client’s statement.
Brokers at wirehouse firms contacted repeatedly told Registered Rep. that they stayed away from such investments with clients because the “risk wasn’t worth it.” A top Smith Barney broker that used his Bloomberg station to look up the CUSIP number of the bond mentioned above had this to say upon reading its description: “That’s a bond with a lot of hair on it. You’re in an area here that 98 percent of your readers don’t dabble in, thank God.” He quoted Warren Buffett for emphasis: “Derivatives are what you get when you combine MBAs and ignorance,” and “You never know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out.”
THE “GENIUS” BEHIND BROOKSTREET’S CMO BIZ
The man who built Brookstreet’s CMO business, managed the portfolios and basked in the glory of being Brookstreet’s top producer was Cliff Popper, a Boca Raton-based broker with a rather active U4. It shows 13 firms in the 15 years prior to joining Brookstreet in 2004. According to an old boss of Popper’s who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the 37-year old Popper had done very well for himself and clients by investing in CMOs and CMO derivatives like inverse floaters and interest-only strips. Besides driving a BMW Z8 and owning a skybox at Miami’s Dolphin Stadium, according to one source, Popper was also rumored to be producing $1 million a month in revenue while at Brookstreet. He was “clever,” says his old boss. Because interest rates were declining or stable for so many years, investors in CMO derivatives juiced with leverage made a lot of money, he says.
But Popper didn’t know when to walk away, says his former boss. It was Popper’s penchant for leverage that eventually made him unwelcome at his firm, as well as other firms Popper later joined, he says. When Popper was working for him, he says he asked him to reign in his leveraged positions in CMO derivatives and, when Popper resisted, he was asked to leave.
Despite working in the buttoned-up world of financial services, Popper’s private life appears to have been anything but. In fact, he is something of a ladies man — or was, on his MySpace page, anyway. The page, which he made private soon after it got the attention of regulators, attorneys and Registered Rep., included a “friends” page chock-full of bikini and thong-wearing women posing (mostly from behind), lying down, bent over or embracing other women. Scrolling down the page several half-naked cartoons danced around the page to a song laced with sexually-explicit lyrics. An SEC official who was asked if he’d seen the page laughed sheepishly, said yes, then said that the SEC is not interested in anything that doesn’t provide facts about Popper’s involvement in Brookstreet’s demise. But he did call the site an aspect of his “character.” Enough said
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