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It’s one of my favourite times of year. It’s light till late, and it’s getting warmer. June is one of my favourite months. It’s perfect for a bike ride after work.
I’ve shaken off the sofa and regained my love of cycling this week. I’ve jumped on the bike on five of the last seven days. True, I’ve set no distance or speed records but I’ve felt better for the fresh air and exercise. My hill climbing is getting better (admittedly from a very low base) and the downhills have been as much fun as ever. I’m starting to dream about bigger cycling challenges – including the promised first century ride since 2005.
Technology has changed cycling. Strava is the runaway success, mapping your rides and performance and allowing you to compete against others on the same stretch, or segment, of road. It has changed the behaviour of many cyclists, as the Independent reported in 2013. I still like Garmin Connect, Garmin’s answer to Strava, although I wish Garmin would make it easier to upload ride information from my Garmin Edge 800. At present, I have to plug the device into my computer, then manually open Garmin’s separate Garmin Express app to upload data. (Newer devices can, I’m told, upload directly.) You can also share your Garmin data with Strava.
The map above shows one of my favourite rides, a switchback route to Beaconsfield and back. Living in the Chilterns, I’m lucky to have lots of scenic and hilly rides. This is a lovely 10 miler, with a few good but short hills. I couldn’t resist stopping last Wednesday evening to take a photo before tackling Clay Street hill towards Beaconsfield, followed by a delicious swoop down to Beaconsfield new town.
Today, Owen and I rode our new Thorn Raven Twin childback tandem to his cricket class in Gerrards Cross. We recorded our fastest ever ride on the way out: an average of 13.7mph. The tandem is so fast on the flat and downhill. Owen’s friend seven year old friend Freddie was delighted to get a test ride on the tandem. This is a lovely bike: Robin Thorn and Andy Blance have created something special. | 2019-04-20T10:16:45 | https://robskinner.net/tag/garmin/ |
Materials: Clark's O.N.T. or J. & P. Coats Mercerized Crochet, 1 ball, size 30.
Cover. Starting at center, ch 6, join with sl st to form ring. 1st rnd: Ch 4 (to count as d c and ch 1), * d c in ring, ch 1. Repeat from * 13 times. Join last ch-1 to 3rd st of ch-4 first made (15 ch-1 sp's). 2nd rnd: Ch 4, skip 1st ch-1, * d c in next ch-1, ch 1 d c in same ch-1 (1 sp increased), ch 1, d c in next ch 1, ch 1, d c in next ch 1, ch 1. Repeat from * around (thus increasing in every 3rd sp). Join. 3rd rnd: Repeat 2nd rnd, but increasing 1 sp in every 4th sp (instead of every 3rd). Join. 4th rnd: Same as 2nd rnd, but increasing in every 5th sp. Join. 5th rnd: Ch 3, * skip 1st ch-1 sp, s c in next sp, ch 3. Repeat from * around. Join. 6th rnd: Sl st to center of 1st ch-3 loop, ch 3, * s c in next loop, ch 3. Repeat from * around. Join. 7th rnd: Sl st to center of 1st ch-3 loop, ch 6, * d tr in next loop, ch 1. Repeat from * around. Ch 2, turn. Hereafter work is done in rows instead of rnds.
1st row: * S c in d tr, s c in sp. Repeat from * across. Ch 1, turn. 2nd to 8th rows incl: S c in each s c across. Ch 1, turn. 9th row: S c in each s c across, decreasing 5 s c at equal distances apart. Ch 1, turn. 10th row: Repeat 9th row, but making 6 decreases (instead of 5 decreases). Ch 1, turn. 11th and 12th rows: * Skip 1 s c, s c in next s c. Repeat from * across. Break off.
Slip cover over bulb and sew edges together securely. Make a chain 15 inches long, then double the chain and make a knot about one inch from both ends. Slip both ends of chain through the beads and sew ends to tip of bulb as in illustration. | 2019-04-26T16:48:02 | https://freevintagecrochet.com/spool116/954-shade-pull-pattern |
Mark Drury is the special guest on AO Radio.
Mike Stogsdill with some good tips on calling in turkeys and taxidermist Skip Sims, 2-time NWTF Grand National Champion, sharing how to prep that bird in the field to keep it for a lifetime.
Tracking the wily and elusive Morel Mushroom is revealed with guest Theresa Maybrier of http://www.teammorel.com Also from http://www.goshedhunting.com, Joe Shead talks about finding whitetail shed antlers in the spring. | 2019-04-24T00:04:06 | http://theamericanoutdoorsman.com/category/radio-show/ |
Room 9 (grade 4) is collecting new and gently used socks and mittens. They will be donated to the Salvation Army to help those less fortunate stay warm this winter. Grocery bags are also needed. Please send any donations in with your child and help spread joy this holiday season. | 2019-04-21T15:04:16 | https://msduemm.com/2011/11/25/sharing-the-warmth/ |
Buy Delicious Vegan Caviar in Line Lexington, Pennsylvania. We are proud to supply all of Pennsylvania with our large caviar selections and gourmet foods. We strive in making it simple for Pennsylvania customers not only to get the highest possible quality, but at affordable prices delivered right to their door. We provide FedEx Overnight shipping (including Same Day, Every Day caviar delivery Throughout Los Angeles, California.) Also providing Saturday delivery throughout Line Lexington, Pennsylvania and all of the United States. | 2019-04-22T00:48:13 | http://www.vegancaviar.com/vegancaviar/Line-Lexington-Pennsylvania-PA-vegancaviar.html |
Caregivers play a vital role in the rehabilitation of the individual with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Without family caregivers, many individuals are not able to return to the community. Caregivers should be provided with information, support, education and training to support them in this role. Information about TBI should be provided early and in a continued manner throughout the continuum of care. The caregiver should also be provided with information about resources to assist in their own coping and adjustment to the traumatic brain injury. The presence of social supports and broader family functioning has been shown to have important impacts on the coping ability of the caregiver. Details should be obtained from caregivers regarding the family context and their own needs, in order to understand how the individual with MSTBI can best be supported over time.
Rehabilitation programs should have access to written and online materials that inform and educate caregivers about TBI to provide to caregiver(s) in a progressive, sequenced manner based on a realistic assessment of their learning needs and readiness given the time post brain injury. Programs should educate and train caregivers on how to assist the person with MSTBI and how to manage potential behavioural and cognitive deficits. Rehabilitation staff should be trained to educate/train caregivers on how to best provide support to the person with MSTBI. Programs should have information about nearby or regionally appropriate resources that the caregiver can access for their own emotional support and counseling. This may need to be revisited and re-emphasized over time.
Proportion of patients for whom the rehabilitation program was developed in collaboration with the principal caregiver(s).
Calvete and de Arroyabe (2012) in an observational study reported that caregivers regarded health information support as a valuable source, particularly in the early stages of TBI care. Doyle et al. (2013) revealed that the majority of unmet needs for caregivers revolved around health information of the patient, and that their mental health suffered from not knowing this information with increased levels of anxiety and depression. However, education and information may not be enough and methods of actually implementing this knowledge may be needed in tandem in order for education to be effective. Rivera et al. (2008) conducted a study with two groups, a problem solving group and an education-only group, with the education-only group showing increases in depression and more health complaints. It is imperative that caregivers be educated and made aware of available services prior to their loved one being discharged; this has been shown to help caregivers feel more prepared for the future (Bowen et al., 2001).
The need for social relationships and support systems is also important. Several studies have found that caregivers who meet with friends less frequently and receive less social support typically feel more burdened and isolated (Coy et al., 2013; Davis et al., 2009; Manskow et al., 2015). The role of the family has also proven to be a vital source of support for caregivers. Perrin et al. (2013) reported that families scoring highly in cohesion, communication, and functioning resulted in lower caregiver burden and depression, and higher levels of satisfaction with life. Further, families whose members support each other, openly express their feelings, and are capable of being flexible to change demonstrate improved adjustment to the consequences of brain injury (Martin, 1988). Leibach et al. (2014) also emphasized the importance of family functioning in that all five family needs (household, informational, health, financial and social support) were significantly associated with satisfaction with life, burden, anxiety and self-esteem in caregivers.
Coy, A. E., Perrin, P. B., Stevens, L. F., Hubbard, R., Sosa, D. M. D., Jove, I. G. E., & Arango-Lasprilla, J. C. (2013). Moderated mediation path analysis of mexican traumatic brain injury patient social functioning, family functioning, and caregiver mental health. Arch Phys Med Rehabil, 94(2), 362-368.
Leibach, G. G., Trapp, S. K., Perrin, P. B., Everhart, R. S., Cabrera, T. V., Jimenez-Maldonado, M., & Arango-Lasprilla, J. C. (2014). Family needs and TBI caregiver mental health in Guadalajara, Mexico. NeuroRehabilitation, 34(1), 167-175.
Manskow, U. S., Sigurdardottir, S., Roe, C., Andelic, N., Skandsen, T., Damsgard, E., . . . Anke, A. (2015). Factors Affecting Caregiver Burden 1 Year After Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Prospective Nationwide Multicenter Study. J Head Trauma Rehabil, 30(6), 411-423.
Martin, D. A. (1988). Children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury: impact on the family. J Learn Disabil, 21(8), 464-470.
Perrin, P. B., Stevens, L. F., Sutter, M., Hubbard, R., Diaz Sosa, D. M., Espinosa Jove, I. G., & Arango-Lasprilla, J. C. (2013). Exploring the connections between traumatic brain injury caregiver mental health and family dynamics in Mexico City, Mexico. PM and R, 5(10), 839-849.
Rehabilitation programs for individuals with traumatic brain injury should be developed in collaboration with caregivers to ensure carryover into the community.
Individuals who assume a caregiver role (e.g., family members, spouse, non-professional paid caregivers) to a person with traumatic brain injury should be provided with information relevant to their role. This should include but not be limited to the need for support, training and education; and practical and emotional support regarding stress, mental health issues and their own quality of life, including the need to plan respite care when required.
Family and caregivers of individuals with traumatic brain injury should be provided with access to ongoing support. Supportive groups and therapies, e.g., associations / peer support / mentoring, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, yoga, art, pet or music therapy, etc., should be considered.
The rehabilitation team should assess and document the family’s capacity for and interest in taking on a caregiver role for the person with traumatic brain injury. | 2019-04-22T02:19:52 | https://braininjuryguidelines.org/modtosevere/guideline-system-pages/topic/?tx_onfdocs_onfdocuments%5Btopics%5D=12&tx_onfdocs_onfdocuments%5Baction%5D=show&tx_onfdocs_onfdocuments%5Bcontroller%5D=Topics&cHash=47c5174440686fe902f148535ce398e9 |
Jennie Paganetti is different. She is younger, more beautiful and innately more talented than most.....raised in the hilly farm country of Colchester, CT her life's dream was to become an artist and a graphic designer along side her idols; Brody, Carson, Glaser, Caslon, and Bodoni. Since moving to Newport Beach, CA for school, she has done many things in this high pursuit, interning for VOLCOM, the worlds largest action sports garment brand...and is steadily on her way to national recognition and fame. From here on out its champagne wishes and caviar dreams... When not saving lives in the water as the Baywatch babe of Newps, she can be found surfing, riding her bike, skateboarding or designing. Jennie has a trippy beachy style to her art which she attributes to her time in the coastal region of South America. She paints, draws, sculpts, and is admittedly addicted to illustrator. | 2019-04-18T15:09:21 | http://worshipskateboards.com/id199.html |
Early product failures and product recalls are very costly. They result in loss of revenue, litigation, and brand devaluation among others. Hardware recalls are often costlier than software recalls as software patches can be easily downloaded and installed once flaws come to light.
Recalls and early product failures tend to happen over and over again. Why?
The answer is because engineering teams are constantly under the gun to improve product performance, reduce form factors, and reduce time to market, all while cutting costs. In order to mitigate risk, engineers need to develop a deeper understanding of the product behavior under real operating conditions and quickly evaluate design trade-offs based on overall system behavior.
Physical tests provide an excellent means to understand product behavior. However, physical testing is expensive and time-consuming. Simulation provides a cheaper and faster alternative to physical tests. It is critical to strike the right balance between physical tests and simulation during product development. In order to get the maximum bang for your buck, simulations should be deployed starting early in the design cycle when physical prototypes are not available and the design is not fully developed. The earlier you find flaws, the earlier you can fix them.
Since the cost of fixing flaws grows exponentially through the design cycle, identifying and fixing design flaws early in the design cycle is super critical. Not all simulation tools are created equal. You don’t need any answer. You need the right answer. For that, you need simulation tools that most closely depict reality. And you need answers fast. Hence you need product testing and validation tools with industry leading physics and solver technology. Those will make you obtain accurate solutions faster in order to help you improve product design, ensure product reliability and reduce time to market. Accurate depiction of material behavior and physics of failure are essential to obtaining realistic results. Such capabilities are critical in predicting the behavior of materials such as glass, adhesives, and polymers that have a high propensity for damage.
Consumer electronic products, especially mobile and portable devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, are subjected to a variety of operating conditions. The devices need to be designed to protect them from damage. Engineers need to ensure that “portable” doesn’t mean “breakable.” The challenge is to design a light-weight product that can withstand not just the loading cycles associated with regular usage, but also abusive loading scenarios that are encountered less frequently (According to surveys and insurance claim statistics, drop and water damage constitute the two most frequent causes of damage for mobile devices).
Simulation should be employed at the ideation, product development, and failure analysis stages in order to improve product quality and reduce time to market. Refer to the case study is this e-book to learn how a leading manufacturer of consumer electronics used simulation to improve the keystroke feel and enhance frame rigidity while reducing weight.
While drop during daily usage is a concern for mobile devices, transportation drops are the main concern for office equipment. Engineers are faced with the challenge of identifying the structural members that are most susceptible to damage and then improve their damage resistance while reducing the overall weight of the structure. Here’s how a leading manufacturer of office equipment designed a low cost printer that can withstand a series of transportation drop tests. | 2019-04-26T05:15:27 | https://blogs.3ds.com/perspectives/improving-the-reliability-of-consumer-electronics-products-through-realistic-simulation/ |
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Recommended especially for today's wigs, the HairUWear styling comb will not damage fibers .. | 2019-04-21T02:34:02 | https://www.pinkeepromise.com/Wig-Care |
just purchased the Clake 2. Installed, played with the cams. I like it. Question. Those that have it, did you get the one that uses the rear brake? I did but cut my slave cylinder off using it as just a cover. But riding today, I kind of missed the foot brake in some situations. My mind not fully adapted to the LHRB. Until I get used to it, I wonder if any problems exist with the use of the rear brake at the same time.??? I would like to have both, temporarly. I can reorder the slave cylinder and I have the hose and fittings... in hopes that I can use both until my mind gets trained for the better LHRB. In knarly stuff I can almost get in trouble when my instincts forget I no longer have a foot rear brake. So, again, question, those that have it, does it work well, engage the same, have stopping power? | 2019-04-25T22:43:44 | https://thumpertalk.com/forums/topic/1224772-anybody-have-the-clake-2/ |
Thomas Eakins friend, Max Schmitt, won the single sculls competition on October 5, 1870. This painting (completed in 1871) celebrates his victory. The painting measures 32.5 by 46.25 inches and is currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Enjoy!
Thomas Eakins and his paintings The Gross Clinic along with Max Schmitt in a Single Scull will be covered in ARTK12′s American Art History, Volume II which will be published in early 2013. | 2019-04-25T18:16:06 | https://artk12.com/max-schmitt-in-a-single-scull-by-thomas-eakins/ |
Provided by Alexa ranking, sensetec.co.uk has ranked N/A in N/A and N/A on the world. sensetec.co.uk reaches roughly 0 users per day and delivers about 0 users each month. The domain sensetec.co.uk uses a Commercial suffix and it's server(s) are located in N/A with the IP number 217.199.187.199 and it is a .co.uk domain. | 2019-04-26T00:05:58 | http://www.5dollarsite.com/site/sensetec.co.uk |
The digital transformation is bringing the software everywhere: it “occupies” socioeconomic, physical, and infrastructure systems otherwise controlled mechanically or by people. This "invasion" takes the form of the factorial growth of distributed software applications and systems running and interacting without human intervention. The nonconformities - outcomes that are not the correct ones - and vulnerabilities - incorrect reactions to faulty inputs - of these applications, even the most ordinary ones, are unrecoverable in real time now that humans are not in the loop anymore, and have strongly adverse consequences at all levels: business, political, societal, environmental.
secondly, she must implement by coding, that is author a static text - the program - that generates the system behavior when running on a computer.
To address the first challenge, the software developer faces an arduous communication hurdle with her patron . To take the second, while drafting the program text, she must step through it one instruction at a time in her head, thinking the way the computer would, and keeping track of the intermediate computation results, including the interactions with the environment .
gray-box test of distributed applications, i.e., transmitting inputs to application components and observing and assessing the following exchanges between them and with the environment.
Note that code verification and white-box testing, performed in conjunction with software development, can help to improve code quality (e.g., finding uncovered program paths) and to find coding errors (e.g., infinite loops), but does not help at all to examine the compliance of the system implemented by the code with the requirements.
and strengthen the application trustworthiness. Software testing has come from a supporting function to one that is critical for business performance .
Unfortunately, software testing turns out to be a tough challenge. It is hard, expensive in labor and equipment (up to > 30% of IT spend ), and time-consuming. 85% of the test is done entirely manually, 15% with the support of partial test mechanization. The most critical test tasks - e.g., test input design, test oracle determination , test outcome evaluation, test run prioritization, test campaign planning - are human-based, knowledge-intensive, and burdensome. Manual testing is tedious, low-rewarding, inaccurate, ineffective, and inefficient. Only prominent bodies (large enterprises and big government organizations) can afford to implement ad hoc, custom-built, high-code, and complex test systems that mechanize just some routine test tasks for a particular application. These systems are unstable, brittle, and expensive to design, develop, and maintain - often more than the applications that they test - by rare highly-skilled professionals . On the other hand, about 50% of the actors with test obligations (Mid Caps, Startups, SMEs, freelancers, but also departments of large bodies) perform near-to-zero testing for lack of awareness, skills, budget, and tools .
The situation described above is at the origin of the emergence of a global test automation market . ‘Test automation’ names the process of using specialized software that performs various testing activities, and the global market for test automation is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.4 percent between 2017 and 2025, reaching $ 109.69 billion in 2025, from $ 30.45 billion in 2016 . This market is segmented into products and services, the latter being split into professional services and outsourcing services. The service segment accounts for the majority of market share and records maximum growth thanks to the preference of most mainstream customers for outsourcing services. Functional (conformance and vulnerability) test holds the most substantial portion of the test automation market.
An essential factor that fuels the development of the test automation market is the growth of the mobile app market. Note in this regard that the test of mobile applications only concerns the “last mile.” Thanks to the spread of cloud computing and to the unlimited possibilities of combining services via APIs , the global ecosystem of "back-office" services feeding the mobile applications is growing at a factorial pace, and is essential in domains like energy, transport & logistics, water, and waste, the vital infrastructures of the ecological transition . Analysts believe that in a few years the test of human-machine interfaces will ceil to 15% of the testing activity, the rest being devoted to the APIs of the background services. The crowdsourced testing approach that is emerging recently is utterly inadequate for API testing and will be stuck to the HMI testing market (Websites and mobile apps).
“the level of automation of test activities is still very low (between 14–18% for different activities). This low level of automation is the number-one bottleneck for maturing testing in enterprises” .
the model-driven generation of test input contents.
to integrate these tasks in the test process.
In summary, the accelerated digital transformation requires the adoption of Agile and DevOps but makes more stringent the primary business goal of the absence of failures and flaws in production. As a result, it engenders the conflicting injunction to obtain ‘quality at speed,' but Agile and DevOps without true test automation turn out to 'speed without quality.' Hence we come back to the question: What is test automation?
Somer, J. (2017, September). The Coming Software Apocalypse. The Atlantic.
The distinguished Dutch computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra wrote in 1988 that the software engineer “has to be able to think in terms of conceptual hierarchies that are much deeper than a single mind ever needed to face before.” [EDW 1036].
From the World Quality Report 2018-2019 (WQR 2018-19) - annual report on Testing and Quality Assurance, sponsored Capgemini, Sogeti et Microfocus, that is a reference for IT professionals. The tenth edition (2018-19) is based on a survey of 1700 executives from across ten different sectors and 32 countries.
The imprecise evaluation of the QA and test share of IT budgets is due to several causes. One significant cause is that with the widespread adoption of Agile and DevOps approaches, early test activities are usually counted as development activities (WQR 2018-19).
The term ‘oracle’ designates either a dynamic mechanism for evaluating a test run or a static representation of the expected outcome that can be compared with the actual outcome. The oracle problem is considered unanimously as the hardest testing problem.
In 2005, Microsoft introduced the SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test) acronym to qualify a software engineer that combines software testing and development to automate the testing itself. Apple and Amazon use the SDET job title, while Google prefers SET (Software Engineer in Test) for a similar role. Large platforms, faced with enormous complexity - Google 40000 developers handle 2 billion lines of code, that is an average of 50000 lines per developer - have the will and the ability to hire all these rare professionals, above all by the wages they propose.
Forrsights Developer Survey, Q1 2013.
Gartner review on test automation.
Bloom, N., and Pierri, N. (2018). Research: Cloud Computing Is Helping Smaller, Newer Firms Compete. Harvard Business Review.
Mazzucato, M. and McPherson, M. (2018). The green NewDeal: A bold mission-oriented approach. IIPP Policy Brief, UCL.
WQR 2018-19. This objective has been placed at the top by respondents in all the recent reports (WQR 2014, 15, 16, 17). | 2019-04-21T19:05:26 | http://blog.simplytestify.com/post/2019/01/14/The-Test-Automation-Challenge |
Welcome to 2019. However, let’s pause a moment to reflect on the previous year. 2018 was a pivotal year for the tech industry and surprisingly for me as well.
Starting in January 2018, technology began taking big PR hits for its misuse of data and privacy. We are witnessing the downside of a data-driven economy. Tech’s role in compromising consumer information has resulted in serious consequences, from undermining democracies to eroding trust in the media and ultimately, technology itself. Technology’s leadership has not done enough to actively address these issues. 2019 could bring a reckoning to the technology giants and the way we utilize personal data. We need to get the smart minds in tech thinking about how to resolve tech’s negative impact on society so we can continue its intent for good.
Reverend Jesse Jackson held up a mirror to the tech industry in 2014 on its lack of diversity. In 2017, Uber was called out for its hostile practices towards women, which eventually led to the firing of its CEO. But 2018 was the year I got it. Personally, I had to look at the benefits I’ve had as a member of the boy’s club and decide how I was going influence leadership teams going forward. In 2019, I’m pledging to take real steps towards valuing and demanding diversity in my investments. You can read more about my thoughts on diversity, which was posted on all of my social media accounts on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
In 2017, I blogged about Steve Case’s marvelous book, The Third Wave. I know he is looking for innovation from small towns, and he inspired me to do the same. I’ve been mentoring some Canadian start-ups from smaller towns like Saskatoon, and I’ve become involved in the Co.Labs incubator. It’s been rewarding to see big ideas come from small towns and watch Saskatoon grow its tech sector into a flourishing community. I hope to do more work like this in other parts of the world during 2019. In fact, if you live in a small town and have a burgeoning group of tech start-ups in need of a good mentor, let me know. I’m happy to work with cities and governments to help them build their own thriving tech community.
Overall, 2018 brought to light the changes needed in the world, and interestingly enough was fueled technology’s growing impact on society. As an industry, we must take our leadership role and influence on the world more seriously and disrupt our own short-comings so we can continue to improve lives. That starts with taking personal responsibility. Even this old dog has been enlightened when it comes to diversity and mentorship. I’m looking forward to new ideas from new people and places in 2019.
Look for the second installment on my new year blog next week.
« Diversity Wins and It Wins Big! | 2019-04-26T10:14:57 | https://nealdempsey.com/2019/02/01/the-new-year-trilogy-1-2018-made-an-impact-and-here-are-3-things-that-stood-out/ |
Managed Services allow you to shift the focus from IT to your business. With Cloud Computing you no longer have to manage a local server or backups. You can work collaboratively 24×7 Anywhere!
Learn how you can transform your business to be more productive and efficient.
Do you need a server or are tired of having to maintain a server in your office? Are you an Accountant, Lawyer, Small Business Owner, Bookkeeper, Tax Preparer, CPA or other services professional? Do you have multiple applications that you need access to and don’t want multiple ways of accessing?
Do you have clients that need to access as well?
This webinar is on the Cloud9 Virtual Server and Radical IT Managed Services solution. Learn how you can outsource your server and IT.
Virtual Servers are the wave of the future and are a value savings alternative to traditional office servers. Virtual servers allow you real time access anytime, anywhere – and you can even private label your office portal for clients to login to their files! | 2019-04-21T02:52:33 | https://www.cloudninerealtime.com/radical-it-managed-services-your-server-in-the-cloud/ |
We are happy to announce the latest addition to our Friday programme: Darryn Keiller. Darryn is CEO and a shareholder of New Zealand-based Autogrow - a global company committed to creating original ideas for agriculture – and making them a reality. Darryn’s passion for the industry is built on his drive for innovation and setting new standards of grower performance for indoor agriculture. | 2019-04-26T16:08:23 | https://smart-horticulture.asia/Home/PgrID/7237/PageID/2 |
Register a plugin that can be used when creating new core instances.
Register a plugin that can be used when creating new core instances. This only adds the plugin to oCanvas, but it doesn't run anything. The plugin is only executed when a core instance is created and the settings for that instance specifies the plugin name.
The name of the plugin. This name is used when creating new core instances that use this plugin.
A function that contains all the code for your plugin. This code will be executed when oCanvas.create() is called and this plugin is specified in the settings. Inside of this function, this refers to the current core instance.
We start by creating the plugin function. For simplicity we only let the plugin change the background color to yellow. Then we register the plugin, and finally create a new core instance where we specify the new plugin. When this runs we will get a yellow background instead of the gray background specified in the settings. | 2019-04-21T12:30:37 | http://ocanvas.org/docs/oCanvas-Object/registerPlugin |
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Elegant, classy and versatile handbag. Perfect to hold your daily essentials. Comes with a detachable sling strap. | 2019-04-23T04:41:28 | https://graciousaires.com/collections/block-leather/products/jace |
He was a pioneer trucker in postwar Australia - a time when outback roads were little more than corrugated dirt goat tracks. This is a story of vast distances, ill-equipped machines, heat and dust, humour and mateship.
Meet Ray Gilleland, pioneer trucker in postwar Australia. A time when trucks were viewed as an 'upstart industry' that threatened existing railway systems. Ray was part of the new breed, determined not to be chained to the old ways.
The Nullarbor Kid tells of the true adventures Ray and his mates had when the trucking industry was born, and the battlelines between government and truckers. Ray tells stories of trucks not suited for blistering Australian heat, long mountain climbs in low gear, and the vast distances that sapped the strength of driver and truck. Of tolls, inspectors and regulations set to strangle the new industry, and drivers who fought back with every trick in the book. Of incredible near misses that could have killed them. And through it all, the smell and noise and romance of long-haul driving.
In this world, when the chips were down, indeed at all times, humour loomed large and real life adventure abounded.
Ray Gilleland's formative years were moulded by the Depression and World War II. As a young man with dogged determination and some luck he pioneered the interstate road transport revolution in Australia, first between Melbourne and Sydney and then Sydney and Perth. The road across the Nullarbor in those days was a sandy track or, in parts when it rained, a yellow muddy canal. Ray was also one of the first to help build and operate a low-loader car carrier.
At 70 years of age he hired himself out as a car delivery driver in the United States, having a bit of fun and enjoying new adventures while traversing the entire country, then returning to Australia to concentrate on his writing. Ray passed away in 2012. | 2019-04-22T02:24:48 | http://ploughbooksales.com.au/016286.htm |
How Does Ryzen Stack Up in Gaming Performance?
Ryzen is AMD’s latest line of desktop processors, launching with a new motherboard socket and a dramatically different architecture. This architecture has made AMD a much better choice for gaming than they have been in some time, but is that enough to combat Intel’s market dominance?
Ignore the prices in the image above – at the time of release, these two processors were both competing to be the best gaming CPUs that either company had to offer and were priced much closer together.
Back then the 8350 was the pinnacle of AMD’S FX line, while the 3570K was Intel’s mid-range monster CPU. The 3570K’s sheer power, however, led Intel to market dominance, and that dominance has remained uncontested in the years since.
To understand why Ryzen is a big deal, it’s first important to understand a few basic truths about CPUs. Most important of these is that clock speed and core count alone do not determine a good processor. In fact, AMD’s last-gen FX lines were often up to eight cores but would fall behind Intel in gaming and productivity applications alike. This is also illustrated in the image below – despite having more cores and a higher clock speed, the 8350 simply could not compete with the 3570K.
Clock speed and core count are really only applicable for comparisons across the same architecture. For instance, all current generations of Kaby Lake Intel processors use the same architecture, and as you climb up from Pentium to an i7, clock speeds and core counts actually are a great way to compare CPUs to each other. The same thing applies to Ryzen processors.
For a long time Intel has dominated the market thanks to significantly stronger single-core performance. This is easier to optimize around for gaming, so Intel processors have been the top pick for PC gamers everywhere for quite some time. Fully utilizing quad (and octo) core systems is difficult, if not impossible, for most game engines. Because of this, strong Intel dual-core and quad-core processors have generally been the best options for gamers, but Ryzen is starting to change that.
Ryzen has much stronger single-core performance than previous AMD processors and still boasts incredible multi-core performance as well. Because of this, Ryzen processors across the board are giving Intel a run for their money in terms of streaming and rendering performance. Games that are better-equipped to handle multi-core processors will also see improvements with Ryzen. But is the single-core performance good enough to compete with Intel?
There’s a few Ryzen 3 processors out there, but the two most notable ones to speak of are the Ryzen 3 1200 and the Ryzen 3 1300X.
The Ryzen 3 1200 is a competitor for the Intel Pentium line, but most especially the Pentium G4620. In gaming performance the two processors are closely matched, with the two processors taking various games by up to a five-percent performance increase.
Meanwhile, the Ryzen 3 1300X is meant to compete with the Intel i3 line, but most especially the i3 7350K, a dual-core processor equipped with hyperthreading. The results here are similar: trading blows depending on the game but with Ryzen still having a respectable lead in rendering and streaming.
In the case of the Ryzen 3 1200, it’s a bit more expensive than competing Pentium processors for what’s mostly the same gaming performance. In the case of the Ryzen 3 1300X, however, it’s cheaper than the 7350K while still matching it in gaming performance.
If gaming is your top priority and all you care about are your frames, I recommend either the G4620 or the Ryzen 3 1300X if you want the best FPS per dollar.
If you want a more rendering-capable PC for cheaper than the 1300X, the 1200 is also a great option.
Ultimately, the story seen in the low-end repeats in the higher-end. In general, the Ryzen processors will compete on par with their corresponding Intel processors, trading blows depending on the game and occasionally having slightly lower overall performance. However, especially with Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7s, the higher core count and threads allows AMD to pull significantly ahead in heavy, non-gaming tasks like rendering video or streaming your gameplay live.
In general, Intel Core processors will be slightly better for gaming, while Ryzen processors will be great for gaming but better for more versatile use when compared to Core processors in the same price ranges. That’s pretty much all there is to say.
If you’re in the market for a new processor for a gaming PC build, I recommend going with Intel if it’s priced significantly lower than its competing Ryzen chip. Otherwise, just go Ryzen – not only will you enjoy basically the same gaming performance in most instances, you’ll also have a much more well-rounded system for doing other heavy tasks.
If you need help building a gaming PC, you can check out this ebook to get you started on buying PC hardware.
If you need help with anything else or have any other questions, comment below and let us know!
Will the Equifax Hack Change the Way You Protect Your Identity? | 2019-04-24T14:07:36 | https://www.maketecheasier.com/ryzen-gaming-performance/ |
15 days | EARLY BIRD PRICING – AU$7695* pp | Bookings closed. Contact us about 2019 tours.
Experience a winter wonderland in Japan!
From the world famous Sapporo Snow Festival, to unique wildlife including cheeky snow monkeys, elegant tancho cranes, the world’s largest eagles, and snow-covered landscapes, winter is an amazing time to experience Japan. Join us on our incredible 15-day Hokkaido Winter Tour, where you will experience these amazing winter highlights of Japan!
Led by Julius Pang, a Japan expert and multi-award-winning travel photographer, you’ll learn how to take better travel photos and visit the best spots in Hokkaido to take amazing photos of the winter landscapes and wildlife.
Starting in Sapporo with the Sapporo Snow Festival, visitors from all over the world come here to see the amazing grand snow and ice sculptures in the centre of Sapporo.
Highlights of this tour include the world-famous snow monkeys of Nagano, the most northern and coldest climate living monkey species in the world. The beautiful town of Biei, famed for its beautiful rolling landscapes and trees. The stunning night view of Hakodate.
Over in eastern Hokkaido, you’ll experience some of the most amazing winter wildlife in the world up close. In Kushiro, Japan’s national bird, the tancho cranes come every day to feed and are the picture of elegance as fly and dance. The town of Rausu is known as the eagle capital of the world with the winter migration of hundreds of Steller’s Sea Eagles and White Tail Eagles. There is also the Blakiston’s Fish Owl here, the world’s largest owl and an endangered species.
Our tour ends in Tokyo, Japan’s amazing capital and the world’s largest metropolis.
This is the tour that shows you the postcard shots, the nature, and the secret hot spots of winter Japan. Book now – all you need is your camera and passport!
Snow Monkeys – the Japanese macaques of Nagano prefecture are the world’s most northern-living monkeys and even have their own hot spring to enjoy!
Hakodate – port city in southern Hokkaido and featuring one of the best night views in Japan.
Biei – arguably the most photogenic town in Japan. Famed for its rolling hills and trees all year round.
Shirohige Falls – a stunning waterfall that drops into the Biei River, lined with snow-covered trees along its banks.
Tancho cranes – the national bird of Japan, these elegant cranes are endangered and live in eastern Hokkaido where they have protected breeding and feeding grounds.
Steller’s Sea Eagles – the world’s largest eagle, these birds flock to Rausu every winter as part of their migration.
White Tailed Eagles – another enormous eagle and they come to Rausu every winter together with the Steller’s Sea Eagles.
Blakiston’s Fish Owl – this is the world’s largest owl and critically endangered, with a regular viewing spot available only in Rausu.
Additional local transport and entry fees outside of itinerary. If you are flying out of Sapporo, you will need to organise a flight from Tokyo to Sapporo at the end of the tour. Please contact us for advice regarding this.
Limited places available for this Japan winter photography tour!
* All prices shown are based per person in Australian dollars and include all taxes, gratuities, land transport, and some meals as indicated. Accommodation provided is based on twin share. Single supplement available at additional cost of $1295. Airfares are not included and must be organised separately. Prices and itineraries at time of publishing but are subject to change. Payments online using Paypal attract a 3.6% service charge. No service charge applicable for direct deposit payments. International telegraphic transfer payments will incur send and receive charges. Please call or email us for more details. View our full terms & conditions here.
Places visited: Tokyo, Nagano, Hakodate, Sapporo, Asahikawa, Biei, Kushiro, Lake Kussharo, Rausu.
Transport: Bullet train, regular train, plane, private minivan, public bus, taxi.
Extra days: Pre and post-tour accommodation available. Book here.
Price: AU$7695 pp (twin share double room) – Early bird pricing until 10 September 2017!
Arrive at Sapporo Shin-Chitose Airport and make your way to our accommodation.
A welcome dinner will be held and we’ll discuss the photography and activities we will undertake in Sapporo over the next two days.
A whole day exploring Sapporo during the largest winter festival in Japan – the world-famous Sapporo Snow Festival! Featuring enormous snow sculptures all along Odori Park, ice sculptures in the Susukino entertainment district, and lots of delicious local festival food on offer.
Visit the Sapporo Beer Museum, and learn about the history of beer in Japan, followed by a cheap beer tasting! Or try a Hokkaido specialty, Genghis Khan Barbeque – a delicious lamb barbeque served with lots of vegetables that goes perfectly with beer!
In the afternoon, we visit the Okuriyama Ski Jump, used in the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics, and a beautiful vantage point overlooking Sapporo City.
In the evening, we make our way to the small port city of Otaru in the evening for their Snow Light Path Festival. During this festival, Otaru becomes decorated with lights and small snow sculptures, leading the way to the Otaru Canal, a historic and beautifully preserved part of the city.
A final morning in Sapporo to explore the Sapporo Snow Festival before heading into Asahikawa for the final day of the Asahikawa Winter Festival, featuring one of the world’s largest snow sculptures as the centrepiece.
We make our way to eastern Hokkaido to Kushiro, which will be our base for the next couple of days as we photograph the iconic tancho cranes (red crowned cranes), the national bird of Japan. This species is amongst the rarest cranes in the world and Kushiro is home to a resident population and breeding program for these beautiful birds.
In the afternoon, we’ll visit the Akan International Crane Center feeding ground for our first experience seeing the tancho cranes.
We spend all day today photographing the wonderful tancho cranes. A pre-dawn start as we head out to the famed Otowa Bridge from where we can see a resting spot for the cranes. During very cold weather, mist forms over the river creating a beautifully atmospheric scene as cranes fly in and dance about in the distance.
After some rest back at our hotel and lunch, we head north to Lake Kusharro and its resident population of whooper swans. The lake freezes over during winter except near the edge of the lake due to the persence of hot springs.
We say goodbye to the tancho cranes this morning as as make our way further east. During winter, 2000-odd Steller’s sea eagles – almost a third of the species’ population – migrate to Hokkaido, with most ending up around Rausu. Steller’s sea eagles are the largest species of eagle in the world, with a wingspan of up to 2m and weighing up to 9kg. Joining the Steller’s sea eagles are just as many white-tailed eagles, also amongst the largest eagle species.
In the evening, we visit a special viewing spot for a chance to see the endangered Blakiston’s fish owl, the largest owl species in the world.
A very special morning on this tour as we board a special morning boat cruise amongst the drift ice off Rausu port to photograph the sea eagles.
In the afternoon we’ll make our way to the Notsuke Peninsula to photograph some of the strangely withered trees of this area, and the chance to see Ezo deer.
We also have the option to return to Rausu for another night session of photographing the Blakiston’s fish owl.
We head back towards central Hokkaido today and return to Biei. We explore more of the amazing winter landscapes around Biei, including Shirohige Falls, a beautiful waterfall that falls into the Biei River with its snow-covered trees along its banks.
A full day of exploring picturesque Biei today. The beautiful trees and rolling hills of the area have features in numerous Japanese commercials over the years, and during winter they draw photographers from all over Japan and overseas looking to capture minimalist landscapes.
We make our way to the port city of Hakodate located in southern Hokkaido. Hakodate was one of Japan’s first port cities that was open to international trade and has had significant foreign influence, with several well-preserved heritage buildings in the Motomachi district.
In the evening we make our way up to the Hakodate Ropeway to see one of the most stunning night views in all of Japan.
We leave Hokkaido this morning with a ride on the Hokkaido Shinkansen, Japan’s newest and fastest bullet train. We pass through the Seikan Tunnel which connects Honshu island with Hokkaido island. Watch the beautiful snowy landscapes as we speed by at up to 320kph towards Tokyo.
After a short break in Tokyo, we head to Nagano prefecture, home to the world-famous snow monkeys.
An early morning start to visit the Snow Monkey Park in the Yudanaka Onsen area. Watch as the famous snow monkeys frolic and relax in their own hot spring!
In the afternoon we head to Matsumoto to visit the stunning Matsumoto Castle, one of only 12 original castles in Japan, and ranked among the best.
Our first day in Tokyo begins with a visit to vibrant Harajuku, famous for its crazy fashion and youthful vibe, and the spacious and peaceful grounds of Meiji Shrine.
The middle of the day is free time. In the evening we visit Shibuya, home to the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing.
An action-packed day exploring several of Tokyo’s most famous sights. We start off with a morning visit to Sensoji Temple, one of Tokyo’s most important and popular temples. Next is Tsukiji Market, the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. You can choose to have a delicious and amazing fresh sushi lunch after the visit.
The end of our tour and after checkout we will assist you with transfers to the airport for your flight home or continue with your travels in Japan.
Biei River near Shirohige Falls, Hokkaido. | 2019-04-26T10:36:42 | http://www.incrediblephototours.com/tours/hokkaido-winter-tour-reverse/ |
is there proof that the universe still exists there ?
what we perceive is remnants , the remains of the past.
what we see is proof that something happened there that exceeds the speed of light.
for we would not see it at all if it where not so. | 2019-04-25T02:54:23 | https://science.n-helix.com/2012/05/infinite-speed-infinite-energy.html |
Gave Lm19 a try... and it wants me very badly to set up system snapshots.
OK I get the reasoning... if an update breaks something etc... But I'm still in doubts about this feature..
1. You want me to enable daily snapshots and boot snapshots. Wow thats a lot of snapshots! With that many snapshots though, why not simply... make Mint a rolling distro? Stability is the reasoning behind allowing multiyear delays wrt shipping new versions of software to Mint. But that may snapshots...+ the recommendation to update everything seems to... as if the devs' current policy was that they're moving from the hard requirements of stability (that were not always being met in past tbh) and instead they say, "if anything breaks, just restore a snapshot". But with such a reasoning they could make Mint a rolling release as well. multiyear delays + lots of snapshot = something seems overkillish, something seems too much. Either strive to provide as much stability as possible to make snapshots unnecessary... or ship new software...?
2. Were to store the snapshots? Connected problem: Only snapshot system files or treat snapshots also as a backup facility to backup personal data?
2a) If only snapshot system files, then we can very well store snapshots on HDD... BUT then we have to have 2 backup facilities, one for system and one for personal data, which is too much again! Also: Windows has this annoying feature of randomly deciding it needs to use 100% of my HDD. The results are performance degradation and I wonder when will Windows finally kill my HDD? Is this coming to Mint as well?
2b) If personal files as well... Then we shouldn't store snapshots on HDD because one big reason to store backups of personal data is to protect them from dreaded HDD failures! So we should store them externally. Then again! - externally means where? My computer is a laptop. I refuse to have an USB disk connected to it all the time, thats just impractical. But then if I connect the USB disk manually then I wont set scheduled snapshots the system wants me to set! Also: I used to be using LuckyBackup to backup personal data onto external HDD. I dualboot windows; to make things easier (backup from one place) I was using lucky backup to backup personal files stored on windows as well. Can snapshots do this?
1. Up to you whether you need it. I have it enabled but I only run weekly snapshots. I've yet to need to restore one. Boot time snapshots sound like a terrible idea to me.
1b. Your rolling release argument is completely missing the point. LTS releases still receive bug fixes, that's the whole point ("long term support"). Nobody can help you if you don't want to install bug fixes, so I won't comment on that further.
2. Snapshots != backups. If you were to include personal data (your home folder is excluded by default) then restoring a snapshot to restore a previous system state would also restore that same previous state to your personal data. In almost all cases that's not what you'd want.
Your rolling release argument is completely missing the point.
Nobody can help you if you don't want to install bug fixes, so I won't comment on that further.
I did not say I didn't want to install bugfixes!!
I only said that the (valid!) argument against rolling is that with rolling the updates are likely to introduce regressions and break stuff. But THAT many snapshots provides such shielding against this...that both snapshots AND freezing software versions to avoid regressions seems quite overkillish.
Solution: While restoring a snapshot, give an option whether i want to (a) restore system files (b) home dir (c) both. If in a very similar way i can be protected against regressions AND HDD failures, then why not?
Still completely besides the point. Regressions are not specific to feature updates. And why are we discussing regressions again?
You asked me a question, I gave you the answer. I'm not the author of that software so arguing what if's with me won't get you anywhere, suggest the feature to the author and see what he says. But as you nicely laid out yourself in your OP, you'd store user data in a different place than a system snapshot, so you already made the case against your own suggestion.
Because you need to learn ore about how rolling releases and Linux works. You want the new versions of software of rolling releases and LTS stability and you can't have both. Snaps etc have potential but aren't the answer.
..something seems overkillish, something seems too much. Either strive to provide as much stability as possible to make snapshots unnecessary... or ship new software...?
Even if we use a 'stable' release, the system can crash. However, I agree that snapshots doesn't seem to be the answer. I and many others have had problems with timeshift (old snapshots not being removed and system thus filling disk and, ironically, crashing computer).
Snapshots best done on removable media (any problems and you can format the disk). But personally I just back up home (on large f2fs formatted SD card, so it is fast amd easy). I try not to tweak Mint too much, so if system crashes I can reinstall if necessary, without major changes. Part of the reason I use Mint is stability.
Snapshots are not so much backups as insurance against system corruption of whatever kind, something especially needed for noobs or less technical users. Followed less intelligent cli advice with just the wrong command removing important system folders? Changed the permissions or ownership recursively from the wrong directory? Testing a possibly conflicting meta package? Use a snapshot and everything is exactly the way it was before you either accidentally or stupidly screwed up your system.
In my case (in a VM but still) I installed a handful of DE's to see the actual differences in feel and RAM usage... saw what I needed to see and reverted with timeshift. And the whole process was painless and fast without having to even lift the hood nvm go under it. I know timeshift is still not faultless but it's still a good step in the right direction for many and WAY better than M$ system restore in many ways.
Weekly snapshots should be fine for most. What effort is it to make one just before doing something risky the way a system restore point gets made as general rule in windows?
Snapshots aren't just for restoring updates that come through and have been applied, but very useful for bringing back a system that was tweaked or the removal of an app by the user (rambo919 already alluded to that).
Plus, snapshots use rsync, which is very efficient in using space. After the first original snapshot is created, the subsequent snapshots only contain any changes done from the previous snapshot, thus using little space.
Not only that, a restoration is extremely fast. I needed to run one last week after an experiment with a new software version through a PPA didn't go as planned. I was back up and running in less than 3 minutes.
Not 100% convinced about Timeshift's space requirements, though. My / partition is currently sitting at 14.2 GB used. With 5 total snapshots taken, my /snapshots partition is sitting at 30.4 GB used. Why? I have know idea. One thing that I really wish Timeshift had was an easy way to tell exactly how much space each snapshot is actually taking up. Maybe it's high-time I start (re)learning my programming skills and figure this out.
echo "Finished updating timeshift backup"
You can delete the last part "| ~/timeshift_backup_log" if you want. I put it in just to have a log file to look at, but that file is often large (several hundred MB).
This takes a while to run (10-20 minutes or so, on my PC). It first does all the deletes from the target, then for several minutes there appears to be no activity except for the blinking light on my external HDD, then, finallly, it starts with the additions to the target. So don't panic when it appears to hang up for 10-15 minutes with nothing happening - just wait for it.
ETA: - I'm running LM 18.3.
sudo bash -c "du -shc /media/root/LM18_timeshift/timeshift/snapshots/*"
also works - just needed a root shell for filename expansion because /media/root directory has permissions of rwxr-x--- and globbing takes place before "sudo du"
I could see a use here if you dont need the hard drive space and it gets you back quicker.
In the past, I have simply reinstalled the OS, wiping out the system partition, I have home on a separate partition.
I suppose it can be restored, say if the system cant boot the desktop? Like a console window? Anyone have a link on the commands to do that? | 2019-04-25T03:22:30 | https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=278818&p=1534473 |
I don’t often have occasion to wear smart shoes and consequently I’ve managed to keep my last pair going for about 20 years (in fact they are my old school shoes). I’m not sure at what point in my school career I graduated to these shoes from my previous, smaller pairs, but I’m sure I had them for at least a year or two in which they got worn every day during term time. Since then they’ve had much more limited use, but have stood me well for events such as weddings and funerals (fortunately not too many of the latter) as well as gigs where I have to dress a bit smarter than usual (fortunately not too many of those, as it often involves having to iron a shirt too). They were also my stage footwear for my recent performance in Iolanthe.
Sadly, however, after the gig I was playing tonight (technically last night, as it’s now just about Sunday morning) the sole of one of my shoes decided to fall off. It possibly could be glued back on but since both the soles and uppers are wearing out somewhat, it’s probably time to lay these faithful old shoes to rest and invest in a new pair. Given that I’m unlikely to be giving them the daily wear that my school shoes got in their first couple of years, hopefully my new shoes will last at least 20 years too.
I have recently been enjoying the opportunity afforded by modern technology to play board games at a distance, in two ways.
The first, which I might write about sometime soon, is using a gaming website called yourturnmyturn.com to play a variety of games mostly against random people I don’t know (although one of the random people I play against is my friend Andy, who introduced me to the site).
The other, which I’m concentrating on in this post, is using a Java-based gaming engine called Vassal, which provides a virtual gameboard for a number of games (loaded as modules) and supports realtime play via a server or P2P network or play by email.
So far I’ve been using Vassal exclusively to play one game – Small World (I won’t go into the details of the game, as you can read all about it on Wikipedia). This is a game that my brother, Wulf, recently discovered IRL and thought would work for online play. While he was investigating how to make that happen, he came across Vassal and so invited me to join him in a game.
After our first 2-player game we recruited our friend Phil to join us for a 3-player game, as it seems to work better with at least 3 players (although the 2-player version is still quite enjoyable). We have now just completed our second game and are about to start on a third, as well as inviting a couple of other players (including the aforementioned Andy, who is Phil’s brother) to join us for another (as far as I can remember, 5 players is the maximum).
One of the things that makes the game enjoyable, and highly replayable, is the way that the different race/power combinations (which are selected randomly as the game progresses, although you do have the choice to skip over races in the queue (at a cost of some victory points) in order to get preferable combinations) have quite different strengths and weaknesses and invite quite different tactics to make them work at their best. The fact that the game is time limited (10 turns, at least in the 2 & 3 player versions) is also good, as it prevents individual games from dragging on for too long.
I anticipate many more good games of Small World, both using Vassal and (hopefully, one day) IRL.
PS in case you were wondering, Byd Bach is Welsh for Small World.
The other day I gave myself a treat and reread one of my favourite volumes of poetry: Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. I can’t remember when I first read this and I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read it (certainly well into double figures by now) but it always gives me great pleasure to return to it. As with all good poetry, I think it works best when read aloud so that you can enjoy the sounds of the language.
I would struggle to choose my absolute favourite from among these poems, but there are several I’m particularly fond of. One of these is “The Old Gumbie Cat”. I particularly like this one because of the masterful way that Eliot uses a mixture of two different meters to signal changes in pace within the poem.
She sits and sits and sits and sits – and that’s what makes a Gumbie Cat.
In these first two lines from stanza two, the very first syllable of the first line is unstressed as are the first two of the second line (which effectively complete the final dactyl from the previous line). The combination of shorter lines (roughly twelve syllables instead of 16) and the dactylic stress pattern give a much greater sense of movement which reinforces the description of the Gumbie Cat’s nocturnal busyness.
This is a dactyl and this is a spondee; here is another.
Apart from the final foot, which is always a spondee, there is more-or-less complete flexibility about which feet are dactyls and which are spondees, which allows for quite considerable variation of the rhythm within the confines of dactylic hexameter. I’m not sure whether it’s required to have at least one dactyl in the line or whether a line consisting solely of spondees would be allowed. So far the most spondees I’ve seen in a single line of Homer is 5 (which happens as early as Iliad 1:3).
One of my favourite things about my local supermarket is that they often have cheese on sale at reduced prices to clear when it is approaching its sell-by date (when they are no longer legally allowed to sell it at any price). This means that you can often pick up interesting cheeses substantially cheaper than they would normally be and when they are getting closer to the state of optimum readiness for eating (which is usually sometime after the sell-by date, at least for things like brie).
The most recent cheese I picked up in this manner is one that I’ve had before once or twice and which, despite my initial scepticism, is a cheese I very much enjoy. Bowland is a Lancashire cheese with added raisins, apple and cinnamon. It tastes remarkably (or perhaps not that remarkable, given the ingredients) like fruitcake and, since cheese and fruitcake is a well-established pairing, it works very well.
This is a cheese I usually enjoy on its own, in fairly small quantities (I’ve managed to make my existing piece last about a week, which is quite good going for me and cheese). I did try a small amount with some cider, on the assumption that the apples in the cheese would complement the apples in the cider (and given that cheese (of the Lancashire/Cheddar variety, at least) and apple is another well-established pairing) and ought to work quite well. Unfortunately I’d overlooked the fact that Bowland is quite a sweet cheese and my homebrew cider is very much at the scrumpy end of the cider spectrum, therefore this particular pairing was not a match made in heaven (my homebrew might work quite nicely with a good mature Cheddar, while Bowland could probably be washed down with a fairly sweet cider, but they certainly don’t go well together).
It occurred to me after my last bike-related posted that I hadn’t given any updates on the previous bike situation, in which my mountain bike was down for some fairly serious repairs and I was waiting to get my old road bike back.
It took a while to get all the parts I needed to fix my bike. Eventually I gave it a new bottom bracket, crankset and rear wheel (the latter obtained from Recycle Cycle Cymru for £10 and the others purchased new), as well as replacing the gear and brake cables, brake pads and chain and giving the rear derailleur a thorough clean.
Changing both the chainrings (as part of the crankset) and the rear cogs (with the wheel) meant getting a whole new set of gear ratios, as the new components were different sizes to the old ones. In general it seems that the gearing is slightly higher now than it was (although having changed my tyres at more or less the same time makes it hard to tell as the width of the tyres also made quite a big difference – in fact since changing to thinner tyres after first drafting this post, I’m inclined to suspect that the fatter tyres had a lot more to do with the increased cycling difficulty than any change in the gear ratios). At some point I should probably try to dig out (or reconstruct) the gearing chart I once prepared for the original chainring/cog combinations and do a similar one for the new gears.
While waiting to get these repairs completed, I got my old bike, a Motobecane touring bike probably dating from the late 1970s (as the company went bust in about 1980), back from the friend I’d given it to (in whose shed it was sitting unused much as it had in mine). When I first got it back my other bike was still in pieces, so I spent an evening working on this one to get it into working order so that I could avoid walking to work the next morning. Most of that work consisted in adjusting the mudguards so they didn’t rub on the wheels. I noticed that the tyres were looking a bit perished but decided they would do at least for a few weeks.
The bike performed reasonably well on my way into work, but when I was coming home I heard some ominous squeaking sounds from the rear wheel area. On stopping to investigate I discovered that the retaining nut for the rear brake assembly was missing. I’ve no idea whether it had fallen off while I was cycling or if it was already missing, as that’s one bit of the bike I didn’t check carefully (having ascertained that the brake itself was working). I rode very carefully the rest of the way home and then took a trip (on foot) to my local hardware shop to get a replacement bolt (fortunately it’s a standard metric size) before riding again.
My next ride on that bike was on a Sunday afternoon and was designed to be a short circular route along some country lanes near my house. I say “designed to be” because my front tyre (or at least the inner tube) exploded when I was about halfway round. On inspection, it appeared that the sidewall of the outer tyre had given way, causing the inner tube to get caught between the tyre and the rim and leading to its swift, explosive demise. I did have a spare tube on me, but with the outer tyre wall so broken I had to push the bike home (probably only about a mile or so, but still a lot harder work than cycling it) and then order a new pair of tyres.
By the time my new tyres, Schwalbe Marathons like I (later) put on my mountain bike, arrived I had got the other bike working again so there was less pressure to get the road bike back on the road. When I did get round to putting the tyres on I managed to cycle about 10 yards before the new front inner tube exploded. This time, I think it was because I didn’t take due care to ensure the inner tube wasn’t trapped under the edge of the outer tyre. Naturally, that had been my only spare inner tube of a suitable size, so I then had to wait several more days to get another one.
I fitted the new tube and got the tyres both pumped up a couple of weeks back, and have taken the bike out for a couple of tentative spins down the road (mostly to the postbox and back) without the tyres blowing up. This afternoon, I made another attempt at doing my previous circular ride and was pleased to be able to get home in one piece.
I think I’ll probably stick with using the mountain bike for most purposes, not least because I find it has a somewhat more comfortable riding position. However, it’s useful to know that I have another bike I can fall back on if I need to take that one off the road for a while for maintenance. I’ll probably try to use the road bike from time to time as well, to ensure that it stays in good working order and feels loved.
I’ve been continuing to use the last.fm radio facilities for a fairly high proportion of my listening recently and it continues to turn up occasional gems.
This morning I was listening to The Be Good Tanyas artist radio, which plays music from artists deemed to be similar to this band. I’m not sure how they go about determining similarity, but in this case the stuff that’s being played seemed to fit quite well together (unlike some artist radios I’ve tried, which come up with very random mixes of supposedly similar artists).
Anyway, one of the tracks that the radio played this morning was “Mad Tom of Bedlam” by Jolie Holland. She was, I gather, one of the founding members of the Tanyas and continues to appear as a guest with them on a fairly regular basis. This particular track is an old English folk ballad (though not an Old English one!) that I first heard on a Steeleye Span album in what sounds like a fairly traditional rendition (as far as I can remember it had a different name, though it was definitely the same song). Jolie Holland has given the song a jazz twist, treating the tune quite freely and giving it a swing rhythm with drum kit accompaniment. To my ear, this is an excellent fusion of folk and jazz.
The track is from her first studio album, Escondida (which sounds a bit like a medical condition, although it’s actually Spanish for “hidden”). I had previously listened to most of the album, which is available on Spotify, but I couldn’t remember it particularly well so I had another listen to it this morning. The whole album is slightly jazz-tinged, although “Mad Tom” appears to be the most jazzy arrangement on there. It’s definitely worth a listen if you get the chance.
The other day, while I was searching for a completely different Google Chrome extension, I came across an interesting one called Language Immersion for Chrome, which had the intriguing strapline “learn a new language while you browse the web”.
It describes itself as “an experimental extension that aims to simulate the experience of being immersed in a foreign language” and is powered by Google Translate. It works by translating certain words and phrases on any webpage into the target language of your choice (any of the 60 or so supported by Google Translate), substituting the translated phrase for the original on the page (it highlights the translated bits so you can spot them more easily) . For instance, if you had la langue set to French vous pouvez see something comme this. The context of the surrounding words in a language you can speak (I’m not sure if it only works for pages in English or for other source languages) enables you to grasp the meaning and the repeated exposure helps to cement the word in your head. I think it is supposed to mimic, to some extent, the way that children naturally acquire language more-or-less by osmosis rather than sitting down to memorise long vocabulary lists.
The tool offers a couple of extra features, which are selectable as options. One is the ability to click on a highlighted/translated phrase to revert it to the original language, enabling you to check your understanding; this feature is reversible, so you can click again to get the translated version back. The other facility is the ability to hover over the phrase and hear an audio clip of it being spoken, handy if you want to work on your pronunciation. Also, the tool enables you to specify your fluency level in the target language (on a sliding scale from “novice” to “fluent”), which alters the proportion of the page to be translated and possibly also the choice of the words translated (though I assume the words are selected pretty much at random and if it can’t find a translation for a particular word or phrase it picks another one nearby and tries again; I doubt it maintains lists of approved phrases to translate for each language and level).
So far that sounds like a pretty useful tool. Unfortunately there are a couple of reasons why it didn’t work altogether smoothly and why, in consequence, I’ve removed it from my browser at least for now. It takes a while to load the translations and the audio feature only seems to be available for certain languages and can be quite slow to kick in even with those ones. There is also, of course, the problem of the inherent inaccuracy of a machine translation in the first place. I spotted plenty of mistakes when I tried the tool using Welsh (which I speak quite fluently) and French (rusty but passable) so I’m sure there are also lots of mistranslations in the other languages.
To some extent those problems may get alleviated, although probably never solved entirely (especially the machine translation issue) as the software (both the extension and the GT backend) continues to be developed. However, I don’t know whether I will use it again in any case. I’m not sure of the pedagogic value of inserting random phrases from another language into a stream of text; it may be quite handy for reviewing and extending vocabulary but doesn’t necessarily offer any great benefits over more traditional tools like flashcards, and it doesn’t show you how to actually use the words idiomatically in the target language.
I think I’m more likely to get benefit from continuing to look at websites in the languages I’m trying to learn (when available – there aren’t that many written in ancient Greek!). Google Translate can be quite a handy tool for checking understanding of specific words and phrases with this approach, especially as there are several browser extensions available that let you select some text and get a translation immediately; however, I generally prefer to try and read to get a general idea of the gist of a passage without getting too bogged down in the details of individual words. As with the language immersion extension, the surrounding text often helps you to get an understanding of an unfamiliar word, but if the surrounding text is also in the target language that gives you a much better feel of how the word fits in context.
I suppose it may be interesting to start trying to learn a more-or-less completely unfamiliar language (for which trying to read a website entirely in that language may be too much) with the immersion tool and then switch to (or at least supplement with) websites in the target language once I begin to acquire sufficient vocabulary. This might be helpful as part of an attempt to learn a language but I suspect that it would work better in conjunction with other language-learning tools than trying to use it on its own. | 2019-04-21T20:34:21 | https://magnuscanis.wordpress.com/2012/05/ |
For those demanding the best, the Brown Pelican offers some of the finest accommodations in South Texas. Situated on the quiet bay shoreline of this famed island, the Inn boasts eight elegant and spotless guest rooms appointed with American and English antiques, each with a private bath. Several rooms have spectacular bay views, and the covered porch is a favorite vantage point to experience a Texas sunset like you have never before seen.
You settle onto a rocking chair on the porch and the gentle Gulf breeze begins to caress your cares away, as you watch the sun sink behind turquoise waters of the Laguna Madre bay. You are on island time now, at South Padre's premier Bed & Breakfast, the Brown Pelican Inn.
Area Activities : Boating, Golfing, Hiking, Shopping, Relaxation! | 2019-04-20T12:49:01 | http://resortbay.com/texas/bedandbreakfast/brown-pelican-inn/14017.html |
Seattle-based Copperworks Distilling Company has been named “2018 Distillery of the Year” by the American Distilling Institute (ADI).
The annual award, known in the spirits industry as the “Bubble Cap Award,” is given to the distillery the Institute believes has contributed to the distilling community and which demonstrates industry values such as collaboration, transparency, and industry education. The award was announced on March 27 at the ADI’s Annual Craft Spirits Conference in Portland, Oregon.
Copperworks also received a Silver Medal for Copperworks American Single Malt Whiskey, which is made from 100% malted barley primarily grown in Washington State. The whiskey is distilled and matured on the Seattle waterfront. See the full list of 2018 awards announced by the ADI.
The American Distilling Institute is the oldest and largest organization of small-batch, independently-owned distillers in the United States. Founded in 2003 by Bill Owens, the organization has grown from a few dozen distillers to more than 1,000 paid members.
Copperworks Distilling Company is a distillery, tasting room, and retail store located on the waterfront in downtown Seattle, Washington. The company produces American Single Malt Whiskey, a series of gins, and vodka, all from malted barley. Copperworks was founded in 2013 by Jason Parker and Micah Nutt—both experienced craft beer makers, who built Copperworks to explore the possibilities of malted barley by distilling high-quality, unhopped craft beer into fine distilled spirits. | 2019-04-24T22:47:26 | https://sipnorthwest.com/copperworks-named-2018-distillery-year/ |
Open Heaven: Committed To Unbroken Link?
3 Years Natural and Loving it!
Happy Birthday to my hair! Honestly I don't know if today is the exact date but I know I did my big chop a little before my 18th birthday in the month of April.
That's a picture of me a little after the big chop, it was quite a shock for my family but they got used to it eventually. I didn't let them know I was going natural, I just went ahead and did it. I just came home for summer one day with really short hair from the long relaxed hair they were used to seeing me with, the change was a little too drastic.
I did a little interview on my cousin's natural hair blog, you can check that out here.
And my fave from last time now has a video!
Finally got a chance to wear this gorgeous top I got from a vintage stall at Le Petite Marche, this monthly mini market that goes on in Lagos. I got quite a few compliments actually and I wasn't going to wear it, but honestly I thought it was time I gave those new shoes a rest, before all of you use it to tasi* me.
that is malicious, indirect/mental/psychological pride.
pride, pride related to shame and condemnation.
authority/titles/ self exaltation, arrogant pride and ignorance in pride, egotistical pride, competitive pride.
behaviour and characterisation/ , pride related to beauty/self appearance.
There is so much pride in this world that as Christians we may actual be oblivious or just plain ignorant towards the little shapes and forms it appears in. Pride isn’t just the character image of the tall, arrogant, muscular popular guy in American high school films that everyone LOVES to hates but wants to be friends with or pride isn’t just the basic ‘popular cheerleader’ girl who is rude and evil yet everyone envy’s. Nope. Pride is diverse.
This is the main reason most of us claim not to see the works of the Lord in our lives, and it all comes down to one question... "How committed are you to the Lord?"
Honestly I could live in these shoes, they are really comfy, definitely a good investment. Decided to go for a tomboy-ish look with the camo jacket today and the sun was out so it was perfect. I still had a jumper and a scarf for when I was leaving the library at night, but I'm so happy it's getting warmer!!!
Hope everyone's good! Have a great weekend!
Don't allow your disability to COMPLETELY disable you.
He will give you strengths in place of your weaknesses.
Your solution needs to come out of you, with the help of God.
you are unique and there is something about you that others don't have so don't focus on what you don't have.
This hunger for things that aren't yours can trigger greed and any other sins.
Whatever we concentrate or focus on becomes a giant in our lives ...like negativity... and it's an easy thing to do. But the Bible says seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will follow (Matthew 6:33), prioritize the kingdom and God will take care of the rest. The Bible also says, Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrew 11:6).
If the word of God is big enough in your life it'll cast out every doubt.
I listened to a sermon on the This Present House church website and these are just a few things I picked from it that I thought I'd share. His main Bible verse was John 5:1-6, the Pool of Bethesda story. Bethesda meaning House of Mercy, Pool of Grace. All I've written can genuinely help me personally and with that I'm sure it can help one or two people who read the blog, just a little motivation to give you that extra push that you need to get through something.
P.S: A lot of us spend time on the internet doing rubbish, yes! Rubbish! There are also a lot of beneficial things on this internet so please use it to your advantage as well and take some time out to look into a few bible verses, sermons and a lot of other good stuff.
I've always wanted to change up the blog a bit, it was getting a little too boring for me and sometimes I like change as I tend to get bored quite easily. So what do you guys think?
I have some other ideas up my sleeve but this is what's here right now. You like?
Happy Easter! Hope everyone enjoyed the extended weekend. I didn't, had way too much work on my hands and all nighters have become the usual, this is the disadvantage of procrastination.
Anyone that follows me on twitter will notice I only tweet #nowplaying this #nowplaying that so I've decided to update you lot here on what I'm loving at the moment. Be it new releases, oldies and throwbacks, Nigerian or not, I listen to them all lol.
So I'm currently loving Justin's 20/20 Experience album. Honestly I can't pick one song but Mirror is just something else, more like epic. A lot of people don't seem to like Suit & Tie but I think it only appeals to a certain ear if you get what I mean :/ (confused on how to explain better). It's really not a horrible song, I just think you have to have an ear for a certain sound to appreciate the song and all it's awesomeness. Strawberry Bubblegum, Pusher Love Girl, Tunnel Vision, Don't Hold The Wall... the list goes on. Some songs give me a little nostalgic feeling though, they remind me of his old stuff and honestly I don't mind but it I know some people that don't really like that. Timbaland... Forever a genius.
One song that would describe how I feel right now???
Because I dance around in bathing suits every weekend and make photocopies of my derriere.
I honestly don't know how often I'll do this but we'll see, I'm just in the library atm tryna take a short break and I thought I'd update you guys. | 2019-04-25T04:13:36 | http://www.thechameleonblogger.com/2013/04/ |
Koh Yao Yai Village is ideally situated in a peacefull of private beach of KohYao Island with majestic facing to Phang Nga Bay and the Phi Phi Islands. Resting along 400 meters of unspoilt white sandy beach, embraced by verdant hills and sparkling blue seawater. This resort is one of the most serene locations you will fall in love with.
A private retreat in where accommodation of spacious Deluxe Bungalow of with full amenities, infinity pool, Library, Gift shop and Activity Center to recall an ultimate beach holiday.
Gute Seite und unproblematische Buchung.
Stayed for 3 nights, a really nice resort! Nothing to do really bt relaxing, enjoying pool. Food ok but rather expensive. Service very good except from restaurant, that could have been better. Rooms fabulous!! Staff very friendly and serviceminded, cleaning and turndown service excellent. Will definitely recommend to friends!
Very nice hotel. The rooms are very nice and spacious, with the outside part and outdoor shower. Clean and well kept. I didn´t miss a thing. The poolarea are fantastic. The beach just beside the pool are nice but rocky. Just a few places you can walk out and bath. We never swom in the sea during our stay. The only negative about the resort is the restaurang. There´s no wrong with the food, but it takes very long. One lunch we waited one hour for our food and we were all alone. We learned to order lunch to the poolbar so that you can lay in your sunchair waiting. Then it´s great. In the evening the have, besides the a la carte menu, different buffes every night which were over expectation. Breakfast was good. And the spa, excellent experience but almost twice the price as in the other hotels we stayed during our Thailand trip. But then it was more exclusive than the other. Still worth the money. For example 1 hour back & neck massage 700 bath + VAT. The hotel is pricy when comparing to the mainland. The food and beverage prices are almost twice as expensive. But there is still way cheaper than home. Note that all prices at the hotel (bar, food, spa) are exclusive of VAT. They add about 18% to your final bill. The hotel staff are friendly, but not as helpful and kind as in many other hotels in Thailand. Over all the hotel is very nice, I wouldn´t go there again but I would recommend it to others.
Escape to a tropical island hideaway on Thailand's Andaman coast with breathtaking natural scenery reminiscent of a bygone era. Koh Yao Yai is one of a small cluster of islands nearby Phuket with landscapes of rice paddies, rubber plantations and untouched rain forests, a place where locals have retained many aspects of traditional rural life.
On this paradise island, our Koh Yao Yai resort presents a unique holiday experience where guests can escape the tourist crowds and feel at one with nature. The 32 acre beach front hotel faces the stunning Phang Nga Bay islands that majestically rise from the calm sea. It is only 30 minutes by speedboat from bustling Phuket and is accessible all-year-round due to its sheltered coastal position.
Our Koh Yao Yai hotel is operated with eco-friendly practices that respect the local community and environment without compromising our high standard luxury accommodation and professional services. Guests will feel refreshed and rejuvenated at this tranquil haven with nature inspired activities such as long tail boat trips to discover the nearby blue lagoon, snorkelling and bicycle tours.
Deluxe Villa are generously set apart within their own area in the gentle jungle hills of Koh Yao, allowing guests to enjoy the sights and smells of the wilderness where the air is sumptuously fresh. The villas are absolutely distinctive and spacious, each one is individual in style and finishing decorated with local Thai Folk Art crafted by the islanders. All bungalows feature an indoor and outdoor space offering the best of both worlds. Recline outside on a day bed and enjoy a long drink amidst the tropical atmosphere or cool offer under the gentle water of an external rain shower. Bedrooms come complete with a double bed, full air-conditioning and modern in-room amenities.
Picture the view, opening up your bungalow doors onto rice fields and coastal shores, a private terrace awaits for lazy days. The utterly private and quiet Seaview Villas are perfect for honeymoon couples offering an expansive 117sqm of open plan living. Tastefully designed the master bedroom features French doors which open onto a large outdoor balcony, an idyllic spot to enjoy panoramic landscape vistas and an evening glass of wine. The interior boasts high ceilings and louver windows allowing the cool sea air to flow freely throughout. En-suite bathrooms include double vanity wash basins and both indoor and outdoor showers. All 12 1 Bedroom Sea View Villas benefit from the use of a chic 400 sqm infinity-edge swimming pool.
Picture the view, opening up your bungalow doors onto rice fields and coastal shores, a private terrace awaits for lazy days. The utterly private and quiet Beachfront Villas are perfect for honeymoon couples offering an expansive 117sqm of open plan living. Tastefully designed the master bedroom features French doors which open onto a large outdoor balcony, an idyllic spot to enjoy panoramic landscape vistas and an evening glass of wine. The interior boasts high ceilings and louver windows allowing the cool sea air to flow freely throughout. En-suite bathrooms include double vanity wash basins and both indoor and outdoor showers.
For the ultimate family retreat, the very spacious 165 sqm 2 Bedroom Family Villas are designed with extensive outdoor and indoor living space in mind. Villas are ideally situated close to the infinity-edge swimming pool offering guests partial sea views and the very best of the tropical Thai environment. Enjoy wonderful natural surroundings from your very own large terrace which is also the perfect place to enjoy a family meal, with mangroves, rice paddies and the sea adding to the ambience. The sitting room is dominated by a stunning polished jade colour floor with complimenting earth tones setting the mood throughout the villa and blending in beautifully with the natural environment. Large glass sliding doors open out onto the terrace from the living room which is adorned with teak furnishings and a comfortable sofa-bed, great for day time relaxing. Air-conditioning and a flat screen television add to the luxury whilst bedrooms feature king sized beds, en-suite bathrooms complete with rain showers.
Enjoy panoramic views across the Andaman Sea with majestic islands jutting up out of the waters in the distance. Dining is a spectacular affair at Koh Yao Yai Village. Choose either a table at the edge of the sand or one perched up high overlooking the infinity pool and across the bay. The picturesque Krachang Bar & Grill is situated on a wooden pavilion with tables next to the beach whilst the larger Kayee Restaurant continues with the theme of local artwork providing a more formal yet still relaxed dining experience. A buffet style breakfast is served in high season with A la carte at other times of the year. Lunch and dinner are also A la carte.
Dine on the freshest seafood caught in local waters and delivered delicately to your table or select from a Thai or International favourite from the extensive menu. Our experienced Thai Chef has created a selection to take your taste buds on a journey across Thailand with fabulous dishes including a seafood basket containing grilled fish, squid, tiger prawns, crab and rock lobster, all caught daily in water surrounding the island. Western comfort food such as pasta, burgers, soups and salads are also on the menu. Additionally, many of the dishes contain vegetables and herbs grown on-site at Koh Yao Yai Village gardens which are completely free from pesticides and chemicals.
Private Dining Wherever you choose to dine, spectacular views of the Pah Koh group of islands in Phang Nga Bay and evening sea breezes are pretty much guaranteed leaving you feeling far away from urban life and the rest of the world. If you should require even more intimacy to celebrate a honeymoon, anniversary or for any special occasion, a private romantic dinner for two on the beach can be easily be arranged. In-room balcony dining can also be served which is best enjoyed on your terrace for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Casual poolside snacks are also available throughout the day.
The tranquil and casual setting of Jakrajan by the resort pool is ideal for ordering light meals and quick snacks. Offering a selection of sandwiches, pastries and other bakery treats the Jakrajan also specializes in healthy fresh fruit smoothies and shakes.
Wanna Spa offers an ultimate experience you haven't found anywhere. It is inspired by its location which is the rice field and the way of life on the island of Koh Yao Yai. We have crafted a unique spa experience to sooth your mind, body and soul. we promise to deliver an impeccable service in a unique, simple and intimate setting where your senses can be restored and relaxing along the journey with us. Natural aromatic essential oil and ancient spa traditions join together to lessen your stress and ease away your past hectic life while restoring your energy back and rejuvenating your skin for years. Plan your stay with us ahead and book your favorite treatments with us and experience the uniqueness of our Wanna Spa. | 2019-04-21T21:04:58 | http://thaihotel24.com.r24.asia/676568/Koh-Yao-Yai-Village |
Pan, Xiaowei, , . ; Effect of South Africa Reductants on Ferrochrome Production.
With a limited supply of electricity, and sharp increase of electricity tariffs, South Africa’s share of world ferrochrome production has declined to 38% in 2011. The situation is set to continue and could go from bad to worse in the near future.Consequently, all ferrochrome producers in South Africa are looking for any alternatives that can use less electricity. An investigation of the effect of various reductants on the electric energy consumption is under consideration. A group of reductants, consisting of 6 types of coke and 2 types of anthracite, is selected to investigate the effect on energy consumption of ferrochrome production in submerged arc furnace. An excel-based simulation is used to calculate all charges and energy usage with similar production conditions used by most ferrochrome producers in South Africa. | 2019-04-26T06:04:20 | https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/manager/Repository/uj:15645 |
Click to save at Three Dots. This store is offering 10% Off w/ Promo Code on Your Next Order at Three Dots (Site-Wide) – Expires Soon, redeemable at threedots.com. Open the promo code by clicking the blue button. The code will be copied to your clipboard so you can use it during checkout at threedots.com.
Three Dots has an offer code available for 10% Off Your Order at Three Dots (Site-wide). Click the blue button to copy this promo code to your clipboard. Then, place your items in your shopping cart at threedots.com. Finally, enter the code in the coupon code box during the checkout process, and your savings will be applied.
Click to save at Three Dots. This store is offering Up to $60 off for Each Item on Orders Over $210at Three Dots (Site-Wide), redeemable at threedots.com. Open the promo code by clicking the blue button. The code will be copied to your clipboard so you can use it during checkout at threedots.com.
Three Dots is running an offer code for Up to $30 off for Each Item on Orders Over $230 at Three Dots (Site-Wide), redeemable at their site. Click the blue button to reveal and copy this discount code. Enter this code in the promo code entry box during checkout at threedots.com. Your discount should be applied.
Save at Three Dots with the following offer: 15% Off Your First Purchase With Email Signup at Three Dots (Site-Wide). Click to open this deal. You'll be directed to threedots.com where you can complete your shopping and redeem your discount. No promo code is needed for this promotion.
Vineyard Vines has an offer code available for 10% Off w/ Promo Code on Your Next Order at Vineyard Vines. Click the blue button to copy this promo code to your clipboard. Then, place your items in your shopping cart at vineyardvines.com. Finally, enter the code in the coupon code box during the checkout process, and your savings will be applied.
Would you recommend Three Dots to friends & family?
Three Dots competes in the Mainstream Fashion Stores industry and offers promo codes and coupons for discounts on its website. The company last offered a coupon on April 23, 2019 and currently has 12 active promo codes and coupons on its website. Three Dots may offer additional promotional codes and discount offers on its Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages, or via its own homepage.
Three Dots offers free shipping all the time on their website. This means you can get a free shipping discount at threedots.com without a promo code. See their shipping policies page for more details on shipping rates and discounts.
You've come this far to get your Three Dots discount, but how do you actually redeem your code?
Step 1: First, locate your desired Three Dots promo code here on this page.
Step 2: You'll then click the blue button to get the code. This opens a new tab which will take you to Three Dots' e-commerce site. Best of all, BluePromoCode will automatically copy the offer code to your clipboard, so you don't need to remember it.
Step 4: Now comes the tricky part. As you go through the checkout process, look for a little text box that says "Discount Code" or "Promo Code." This box will usually appear in one of the checkout steps on Three Dots' site. Once you find the promo code box, simply press "CTRL + V" or "Command + V" on your keyboard to paste the discount code into the box, then click "Enter" or "Redeem."
Step 5: Look for a confirmation message from Three Dots saying your discount has been applied to your order. You should see the dollar amount saved in the area where your order is summarized.
Step 6: If the code did not work, it may be because certain items in your cart may be excluded from the discount code you entered. In this case, read the message from Three Dots and try to change your items to match the promo code's requirements. You can also return to this page and locate a different code. | 2019-04-24T19:56:51 | https://bluepromocode.com/shopthreedots-promo-code |
Who’s Gonna Get Me Over You?
Darryl Wade Worley (born October 31, 1964) is an American country music artist. Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 1999, Worley released four albums for the label: Hard Rain Don’t Last (2000), I Miss My Friend (2002), Have You Forgotten? (2003), and Darryl Worley in 2004. After the label closed in 2005, he moved to 903 Music, an independent label owned by Neal McCoy, releasing Here and Now in 2006, shortly before that label’s closure. His most recent studio release is 2009’s Sounds Like Life via Stroudavarious Records, owned by James Stroud.
Worley’s six albums have produced 18 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including three Number Ones: "I Miss My Friend", "Have You Forgotten?", and "Awful, Beautiful Life", from 2002, 2003 and 2004–2005, respectively. "Have You Forgotten?" spent seven weeks at Number One. Nine other singles have reached the Top 40. | 2019-04-25T05:03:19 | https://www.chordie.com/song.php/songartist/Darryl+Worley/index.html |
An emergency came up, and now you’re dreading looking up your bank statement online. What are you going to do if you don’t have enough money to cover it? With an auto title loan in Madera from LoanMart, you need not feel that anxiety anymore.
How may auto title loans help you? Auto title loans are based on the equity of your vehicle, your ability to pay back the loan on time each month, and several other factors. This type of loan is secured by your vehicle’s title as collateral. LoanMart will be listed on the vehicle’s title as the lienholder for the duration of the loan. Don’t worry, you’ll get to keep driving the vehicle while making payments on the auto title loan!
Apply for an Auto Title Loan in Madera from LoanMart!
Phone Call: Our responsive auto title loan agents can be reached at 888-578-5449.
Madera residents who need to take care of some emergency bills should consider getting an auto title loan from LoanMart. Depending on their qualifying vehicle’s equity and their ability to make their payments on time each month, Madera residents may be able to borrow from $2,510 up to $50,000 in as fast as one business day135. Apply for free today by calling 888-578-5449 or filling out and submitting our online information request form. | 2019-04-26T01:42:44 | https://www.titleloanscali.com/title-loans-in-madera-ca/ |
CytoTools AG, a biotechnology company, develops a pipeline of disease modifying therapies. The last earnings update was 206 days ago. More info.
CytoTools has significant price volatility in the past 3 months.
T5O outperformed the Biotechs industry which returned -10.2% over the past year.
T5O outperformed the Market in Germany which returned -6% over the past year.
Is CytoTools undervalued based on future cash flows and its price relative to the stock market?
Here we compare the current share price of CytoTools to its discounted cash flow analysis.value.
Below are the data sources, inputs and calculation used to determine the intrinsic value for CytoTools.
The calculations below outline how an intrinsic value for CytoTools is arrived at by discounting future cash flows to their present value using the 2 stage method. We try to start with analysts estimates of free cash flow, however if these are not available we use the most recent financial results. In the 1st stage we continue to grow the free cash flow over a 10 year period, with the growth rate trending towards the perpetual growth rate used in the 2nd stage. The 2nd stage assumes the company grows at a stable rate into perpetuity.
Amount off the current price CytoTools is available for.
For CytoTools to be considered undervalued it must be available for at least 20% below the current price. Less than 40% is even better.
CytoTools's share price is below the future cash flow value, and at a moderate discount (> 20%).
CytoTools's share price is below the future cash flow value, and at a substantial discount (> 40%).
The amount the stock market is willing to pay for CytoTools's earnings, growth and assets is considered below, and whether this is a fair price.
Are CytoTools's earnings available for a low price, and how does this compare to other companies in the same industry?
** Primary Listing of CytoTools.
CytoTools is loss making, we can't compare its value to the Europe Biotechs industry average.
CytoTools is loss making, we can't compare the value of its earnings to the Germany market.
Does CytoTools's expected growth come at a high price?
Unable to calculate PEG ratio for CytoTools, we can't assess if its growth is good value.
What value do investors place on CytoTools's assets?
* Primary Listing of CytoTools.
CytoTools is good value based on assets compared to the DE Biotechs industry average.
CytoTools has a total score of 3/6, see the detailed checks below.
How is CytoTools expected to perform in the next 1 to 3 years based on estimates from 1 analyst?
Is CytoTools expected to grow at an attractive rate?
Unable to compare CytoTools's earnings growth to the low risk savings rate as no estimate data is available.
Unable to compare CytoTools's earnings growth to the Germany market average as no estimate data is available.
CytoTools's revenue growth is expected to exceed the Germany market average.
Unable to determine if CytoTools is high growth as no earnings estimate data is available.
CytoTools's revenue is expected to grow significantly at over 20% yearly.
All data from CytoTools Company Filings, last reported 9 months ago, and in Trailing twelve months (TTM) annual period rather than quarterly.
Unable to establish if CytoTools will efficiently use shareholders’ funds in the future without estimates of Return on Equity.
CytoTools has a total score of 2/6, see the detailed checks below.
How has CytoTools performed over the past 5 years?
CytoTools's last earnings update was 206 days ago.
Below we compare CytoTools's growth in the last year to its industry (Biotechs).
CytoTools does not make a profit and their year on year earnings growth rate was negative over the past 5 years.
Unable to compare CytoTools's 1-year earnings growth to the 5-year average as it is not currently profitable.
Unable to compare CytoTools's 1-year growth to the Europe Biotechs industry average as it is not currently profitable.
CytoTools's revenue and profit over the past 5 years is shown below, any years where they have experienced a loss will show up in red.
It is difficult to establish if CytoTools has efficiently used shareholders’ funds last year (Return on Equity greater than 20%) as it is loss-making.
It is difficult to establish if CytoTools has efficiently used its assets last year compared to the Europe Biotechs industry average (Return on Assets) as it is loss-making.
It is difficult to establish if CytoTools improved its use of capital last year versus 3 years ago (Return on Capital Employed) as it is currently loss-making.
CytoTools has a total score of 0/6, see the detailed checks below.
How is CytoTools's financial health and their level of debt?
The boxes below represent the relative size of what makes up CytoTools's finances.
CytoTools's short term (1 year) commitments are greater than its holdings of cash and other short term assets.
CytoTools's cash and other short term assets cover its long term commitments.
This treemap shows a more detailed breakdown of CytoTools's finances. If any of them are yellow this indicates they may be out of proportion and red means they relate to one of the checks below.
All data from CytoTools Company Filings, last reported 9 months ago.
CytoTools's level of debt (25.7%) compared to net worth is satisfactory (less than 40%).
The level of debt compared to net worth has increased over the past 5 years (0% vs 25.7% today).
CytoTools has sufficient cash runway for 1.2 years based on current free cash flow.
CytoTools has sufficient cash runway for 1.3 years if free cash flow continues to reduce at historical rates of -26.6% each year.
CytoTools has a total score of 4/6, see the detailed checks below.
What is CytoTools's current dividend yield, its reliability and sustainability?
Current annual income from CytoTools dividends.
If you bought €2,000 of CytoTools shares you are expected to receive €0 in your first year as a dividend.
Unable to evaluate CytoTools's dividend yield against the bottom 25% of dividend payers as the company has not reported any payouts.
Unable to evaluate CytoTools's dividend against the top 25% market benchmark as the company has not reported any payouts.
Unable to perform a dividend volatility check as CytoTools has not reported any payouts.
Unable to verify if CytoTools's dividend has been increasing as the company has not reported any payouts.
What portion of CytoTools's earnings are paid to the shareholders as a dividend.
Unable to calculate sustainability of dividends as CytoTools has not reported any payouts.
What is the CEO of CytoTools's salary, the management and board of directors tenure and is there insider trading?
Dr. Mark-André Freyberg co-founded CytoTools AG in 2000 and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Management Board also served as its Managing Director. Dr. Freyberg served as the Head of Project, Cell Culture Technology at the Institute for Biochemistry at Darmstadt Technical University. In, 2000, he became a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CytoTools AG. There, he coordinated research activities and was responsible for the successful first round financing. Furthermore, support was obtained from BioChance, the largest German biotechnology funding program from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research. Under Dr. Freyberg's leadership, the results of the basic research reached the stage of proof of conception in three animal models. Parallel to this, working was extended to the indications wound healing and dermatology. The medical successes led to the foundation of DermaTools Biotech GmbH in 2004 and TemplaTech GmbH in 2005 where he is also Chief Executive Officer. He has special responsibility for the fields of marketing of active substances and financing at CytoTools AG. After completing his diploma studies in biology, focusing on microbiology, in 1995 , Dr. Freyberg completed a doctorate in the fields of biochemistry and biotechnology at Darmstadt Technical University. Concomitantly with his dissertation, he additionally studied business science at the Hagen Distance Learning University.
Insufficient data for Mark-André to compare compensation growth.
Insufficient data for Mark-André to establish whether their remuneration is reasonable compared to companies of similar size in Germany.
CytoTools has a total score of 0/6, this is not included on the snowflake, see the detailed checks below.
CytoTools AG, a biotechnology company, develops a pipeline of disease modifying therapies. The company’s therapies include proprietary small molecules and biologics to provide treatment options in dermatology, cardiology and angiology, urology, and oncology. Its lead clinical product is DermaPro that has completed Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers in India; is in Phase III clinical trials for diabetic foot ulcer treatment in Europe; and is in Phase II/III clinical studies for the treatment of venous leg ulcers in Germany, as well as is used as an anti-infective. The company also develops Utisept, an urological medical device for flushing the bladder in urinary tract infections; Derma MP for the treatment of venous leg ulcers in Europe; CardioClean that is in preclinical stage for the treatment of restenosis, diabetis, and carotis-stenosis; and Cancer T17-n for cancer treatment in Europe. CytoTools AG was founded in 2000 and is based in Darmstadt, Germany. | 2019-04-23T18:46:55 | https://simplywall.st/stocks/de/pharmaceuticals-biotech/fra-t5o/cytotools-shares |
ICO Website Owner of REDI?
A blockchain-based integrative data management system for the global renewable energy industry. The REDi Infranet will empower various renewable energy producers, consumers, and industry experts to consolidate, verify, and distribute data in the search for improved productivity and efficiency towards true sustainability.
Follow to receive updates from REDI. Easy to unsubscribe & no spam. | 2019-04-23T14:35:05 | https://en.coinjinja.com/ico/redi?targetAmountMin=,100000 |
Introducing the Official Ballistix Zip-Up Hoodie. Ballistix Hoodies are designed and manufactured in the United States. The Ballistix Zip-Up Hoodie features full coverage graphics on our premium, soft-to-touch fabric. Comprised of 100% Polyester, this hoodie provides the perfect blend of warmth and comfort. | 2019-04-19T00:35:30 | https://metathreads.com/collections/ballistix/products/ballistix-by-micron-zip-hoodie |
For more than an hour a day older adults with type 1 diabetes typically have low blood sugar, finds a new study. The results of this study are going to be presented at ENDO 2019, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, in New Orleans, La on Monday, March 25.
Those who are not aware their blood sugar is too low can spend more than 100 minutes a day in the hypoglycemic range, raising their risk of seizures, loss of consciousness and death.
Until now, there has been limited data on how much time older adults with type 1 diabetes spend in the hypoglycemic range, according to lead researcher Anders L. Carlson, M.D., Medical Director of the International Diabetes Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
"This study of older individuals shows these patients do indeed spend more than an hour per day in a range of hypoglycemia, which puts them at risk for the dangers of low blood glucose," Carlson said. "Those who do not sense when low blood glucose is occurring as strongly as others can are particularly at risk."
Low blood sugar can lead to blurred vision, difficulty concentrating, confused thinking, slurred speech, numbness and drowsiness.
If blood sugar falls below a healthy range and is not treated, it can be dangerous. Severe hypoglycemia is treated with an injection of the hormone glucagon. Severe untreated hypoglycemia can cause seizures, loss of consciousness and death.
Many people with type 1 diabetes have low blood sugar but experience no symptoms, a condition called hypoglycemia unawareness. Because they don't know when their blood sugar is low, they don't know they need to treat it. This puts them at risk for severe hypoglycemia events, which requires another person to help them recover. They also are less likely to be awakened from sleep.
The study reflects baseline data as part of a randomized clinical trial that included 203 adults age 60 and older with type 1 diabetes who used a continuous glucose monitor for up to 21 days. The monitor automatically tracks blood sugar levels throughout the day and night. A continuous glucose monitor uses alarms to alert patients when blood glucose levels are low or start to fall quickly.
"The findings underscore the need for interventions to help reduce the risk of severe hypoglycemia in this age group," Carlson said.
Novel biomarker might help create a diagnostic tool for hypoglycemia-associated autonomic failure (HAAF) which can prevent life-threatening episodes of low blood sugar in diabetics.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) associated autonomic failure, or HAAF can be prevented by creating a diagnostic tool with the help of new biomarker.
Nearly one in three infants is at risk for neonatal hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels), which raise a baby's risk of impaired nervous system development. | 2019-04-26T08:30:07 | https://www.medindia.net/news/one-hour-everyday-older-adults-with-type-1-diabetes-have-low-blood-sugar-186787-1.htm |
Although SilverStone says that this case sports many of the design features as its older sibling, the TJ04, I am hard pressed to find too many similarities. To get some of the basics out of the way… The TJ04-E ships in two flavors. The SST-TJ04-E and the SST-TJ04B-EW (with side panel window). The case is manufactured from steel and aluminum. Every surface of the case is painted in a beautiful black (except for the anodized brushed aluminum face) and the case weighs in at 9.6 kg. There is room for up to eight 3.5 inch hard drives, six 2.5 inch hard drives, four 5.25 inch hard drives, and a total of six 120mm cooling fans. All this is packed into a case that measures 214mm(W) x 489mm(H) x 489mm(D).
The outside of the TJ04-E is definitely something to look at. The thick (7mm) aluminum bezel gets the drool going and beveled edges gives it that extra rugged appearance. The TJ04-E has removed the external 3.5 inch drive bays in favor of some larger power and reset buttons. The 4 5.25 inch drive bays are ordained with thick aluminum bay covers. The logo has been moved to the forefront of the face and the front I/O ports have been moved to the top. The Power and Activity LEDs have been moved right between the Power and Reset buttons. | 2019-04-23T06:05:09 | https://computingondemand.com/silverstone-sst-tj04b-ew-evolution-chassis/ |
Devotees and Archakas worshipped on Thursday to pray for the quick recovery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who was undergoing treatment for a lung infection in New Delhi. Thousands of people performed one additional pradakshina for his speedy recovery, according to the local news report in Telangana Today.
The report added the prayer gathering consisted of Chief priests Dr M V Soundararajan and C S Gopalakrishna who urged for calm and urged Tibetans not to be alarmed at the news of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s treatment. The Chief priest had personally been enquiring the Dalai Lama’s personal physicians about his health.
Chilkur Balaji Temple has a special relationship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama because he was one of the very few Religious leaders who congratulated the Archaka when he lifted a Dalit for temple darshan last year. Dr. Soundararajan while saying that His Holiness is an irreplaceable spiritual leader, also urged China not interfere in the reincarnation of the Buddhist spiritual leader.
Besides the Hindu Temple, devotees from around the world, especially Tibetans offered their prayers and well wishes for the speedy recovery of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Many Tibetans have also urged for the providing more time to rest for His Holiness by extensively minimizing public engagements that he presently engaged with. On Friday morning, the 83 year old spiritual leader was discharged from the hospital and said that he is feeling almost normal while acknowledging the prayers offered by his devotees. | 2019-04-22T10:34:37 | http://www.tibetanjournal.com/hindu-temple-holds-prayers-for-dalai-lamas-quick-recovery/ |
Wine Ice Cream? Yes, please!
Why didn’t I know about this sooner?
Anyway, apparently this is not available everywhere, only in a few places. Yes, they do ship, but it’s a bit pricey then. However, I’m hopeful they’ll start selling this in more places very soon. Hopefully close to where I live; that’d be awesome.
Cherry Merlot: Mercer’s premium ice cream with Bordeaux cherries blended with a Merlot wine recognized for its plum and black cherry undertones.
Chocolate Cabernet: Mercer’s premium chocolate ice cream with bits of bittersweet chocolate blended with a Cabernet wine filled with dried cherry & cassis notes.
Peach White Zinfandel: Mercer’s premium ice cream with fresh peaches blended with a White Zinfandel wine distinguished for its fruity undertones and pleasant finish.
Port: Mercer’s premium ice cream blended with an award-winning Ruby Port wine appreciated for its rich, heavily-bodied flavor.
Red Raspberry Chardonnay: Mercer’s premium ice cream blended with raspberry sauce and a Chardonnay wine known for its delicate vanilla nose and buttery smooth taste.
Riesling: Mercer’s premium ice cream blended with a Riesling wine prized for its fruity, crisp refreshing quality.
I honestly can’t decide which one to try first. I just want to try them all. Have you tried them? Are they as delicious as they sound?
If you don’t know where to find them, you can use this map provided by Mercer’s.
And no, I don’t work for them, I’m not being paid to say any of this, I haven’t tried their ice cream (although I’d love to!) and had never even heard of them before (until today). | 2019-04-23T22:28:46 | https://redheadcarol.wordpress.com/tag/wine/ |
Do you know which fire safety laws you have to comply with as a landlord?
As a landlord, you are responsible for the fire safety of your tenants. As legislation is constantly changing, it is up to you to keep up with the latest laws and to comply with them. This guide will cover your basic duties as a landlord (or managing agent) when it comes to fire safety.
Which fire safety regulations apply to your property?
• For existing residential premises, the Housing Act 2004 applies. This act includes Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), licencing for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and management regulations for HMOs.
• With regards to fire safety, the key piece of legislation is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), which orders landlords to carry out regular fire risk assessments in the common areas of HMOs, flats, maisonettes and sheltered accommodation. In single-household-occupied premises, only the HHSRS applies.
A fire risk assessment involves taking a methodical look at the premises as well as the activities carried out in the building. The aim is to assess the probability of a fire breaking out and the harm this would cause to those in and around the premises. Little fire safety expertise is needed to carry out a fire risk assessment for a small residential property, but you may need to take advice if yours is a larger, more complex property.
If any risks are identified, the landlord or managing agent is responsible for reducing or eliminating these potential hazards. Fire risk assessments should be carefully documented and updated if the risks change or if any changes are made to the property. Fire risk assessments must be carried out for each property as even identical properties can present different risks.
It is vital that occupants are alerted immediately if a fire breaks out, and there should be a clear evacuation strategy in place. The most common systems used are Grade A: fire alarm systems with detectors and a central control panel, usually providing break glass units near exits and on each landing; and Grade D: mains-powered smoke or heat alarms with backup batteries.
It may be helpful to provide fire blankets and fire extinguishers, depending on the type of premises. In buildings containing flats, multi-purpose extinguishers are required on each floor in communal areas and should be maintained annually. Sprinklers should be used for larger and complex buildings. However, unless the fire is very small and easy to tackle, tenants should always be encouraged to evacuate the premises and call 999.
The aim of compartmentation is to stop or slow the spread of a fire and to enable safe evacuation to take place. Compartmentation can be achieved by specifying minimum wall and ceiling thicknesses and specifying fire doors. There is no requirement for formal compartmentation in single-household-occupancy or low-risk shared houses, provided the construction is sound. Larger properties will need to provide 30 minutes of fire protection and fire safety signs.
BWS Security Systems helps landlords and other building owners meet their fire safety requirements; protecting their tenants, personnel and assets in the process. We can design, install, commission and maintain your fire alarm system, ensuring that it operates at maximum efficiency at all times. If you are need advice on fire alarms in Gloucester, Bath or Swindon, give us a call today on 01225 8752 385. | 2019-04-20T04:57:22 | https://www.bwssecurity.co.uk/articles/landlords/fire-alarms_melksham.php |
The video has just been posted (6 June) so I have embedded it with captions. You can also view it at WordPress.tv if it does not play well from my site. Also, the audio corrects itself at about 3:25.
I believe these are generally positive, but I am not hip to the British way.
@aardrian Enjoyed your talk, one of the most engaging of the weekend. Factoring accessibility into user stories was the highlight for me.
Mostly because I am in the photos. Which is weird. | 2019-04-22T08:16:03 | http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2017/03/selfish-accessibility-slides-from-wordcamp-london-2017.html |
Whether this is your first experience with Combustion software or you're upgrading to take advantage of the many new features and tools, this guide will serve as your ultimate resource to this all-in-one professional compositing application. Much more than a point-and-click manual, this guide explains the principles behind the software, serving as an overview of the package and associated techniques. Written by certified Autodesk training specialists for motion graphic designers, animators, and visual effects artists, Combustion 4 Fundamentals Courseware provides expert advice for all skill levels.
Autodesk's Media and Entertainment division produces award-winning software tools designed for digital media creation, management and delivery across all disciplines: from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, web/interactive, and design visualization. Autodesk Media and Entertainment is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. | 2019-04-22T04:09:36 | https://www.crcpress.com/Autodesk-Combustion-4-Fundamentals-Courseware/utodesk/p/book/9780240807850 |
Ministering in a fallen world, we always have more to do than we have time and energy to actually accomplish. Some needs (and therefore some ministries) seem to be particularly demanding. How do those demands affect families? And how can we structure ministries in such a way that the families serving in those ministries can thrive and bless the ministry? | 2019-04-19T01:12:58 | https://thedockforlearning.org/audiovideo/raising-families-in-ministry/ |
Tasked with creating a mobile game that would help Japanese game publishing giant Namco Bandai better adapt to the North American videogame market, CDM's team Shirokuma were tasked with designing and developing a prototype iOS title targeting the North American social/casual game market. This project culminated with a presentation to Namco Bandai president Shukuo Ishikawa, and the heads of Namco Bandai Group for the grand opening of their GNWC Vancouver Studio.
Elastic Path charged CDM'S TeamEP with the development of an app designed to showcase the capabilities of their new API. Using agile methodologies, our team created a functional eCommerce app, wrapped in the context of an educational resource, and built it from conception to a deliverable prototype.
• Used XCode to style app, inserted visual elements, created segues, gestures, and buttons.
The Raptors initiated a rebranding campaign for its 20th anniversary. This was a concept that considered all of the elements of the Raptors identity, incorporating uniquely Canadian and Torontonian roots.
The English Pup series of English learning apps was developed as a fun and interactive way for kids to improve their vocabulary, reading and writing skills, as well as a comprehensive array of essential English language skills. The app is part of an English learning suite of products including activity books and flash cards.
Working with the challenging schedules and limited resources, a curriculum was developed to best meet the needs of design students aspiring for careers in digital media and production.
The procedures put in place were part of a four-year plan to ramp up educational outcomes using modular units adaptable for different instructors in varying situations and time frames.
Friesens publishing is Canada's largest publisher of hardcover books. MCI's yearbooks have received acclaim for the publisher with invitations to speak at their annual conference.
The MCI yearbooks are a yearlong endeavour, with thousands of photos, fonts, illustrations, and layouts. Images are treated in Illustrator and Photoshop, and laid out in InDesign. Friesens' Hiedelberg presses print the high-quality, debossed, hardcover books that have increased in sales and popularity every year.
Old Time Hockey is a retro-styled, ice hockey video game for PS4, Steam, and XBox One. It is the flagship game for V7 Entertainment and borrows inspiration from the movie Slap Shot. It is geared towards the smashmouth gamer and old school hockey enthusiast, nostalgic for the days when hockey was less refined.
Street photography is a candid glimpse into the stories of the individuals that make up a city and its culture. A collection of street photos can act as a powerful mood board for any designer, manager, or end user. It is at it's heart engaging and transformative.
Teachers for Tanzania is a University of Windsor venture that has set out to educate and provide a sustainable future for the vulnerable children of Tanzania. Every year University of Windsor teacher candidates campaign for necessities that they take on there trek abroad.
The team needed a digital media strategy, meaningful content, as well as, a plan to sustain these platforms year after year.
DreamRider Theatre is a group of youth engagement experts, who use theatre, music and multi-media to excite children to learn, grow and change. When they approached CDM for a way to inject digital media into their productions, the EMDM team pitched a transmedia strategy, culminating with online kids channel proof of concept.
The Kingston Prize is a biennial national competition for contemporary portraits of Canadians by Canadian artists.
To be eligible, an entry must be a painting or drawing of a specific Canadian person, produced within 24 months of the closing date, and must be based upon a meeting between artist and subject.
This is an underpainting for the image that was used for entry into the competition. | 2019-04-22T22:03:43 | http://designforplay.co/index |
For anyone who is a fan of the Back Country Discovery Routes, the latest version, CABDR South opened today. Will be riding it next week and will hopefully be putting several pics of another California Adventure here.
Are you starting in Yuma?
AllSeasonRider, BiggieFalls, RonSJC and 5 others like this.
keeping an eye on the SE gang....this is going to be good.
Also, we knew it’s going to be cold, but we're in a dire need to do one last ride in the desert for 2018, and so we did. The riding was a blast even though there were many sections that reminds me of Mengle Pass mixed with deep sand, steep downhill and uphill climb. It was a challenged and pushed me beyond my comfort level. Thankfully, we have a great team and very strong sweep.
Thanks Matt for connecting the rides we did in 2015 into a loop. I am impressed with your google magic and navigational skill.
Matt and I brought plenty of firewood which kept us warm. It ain't camping if no bs around the camp fire.
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Matt and Alan. Breakfast in camp, bacon and eggs, english muffins, orange juice and hot coffee.
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haha....even for someone with long legs, finding a rock to rest your foot is great.
what's this car doing here?
Bullseye, BiggieFalls, Todd157k and 5 others like this.
man, I missed all the good stuff on Friday!
work keeps getting in the way of my riding...so I only made it out for Saturday.
good temps, good crew (nice to meet Matt and the others), and a fun shake down day for me with new boots/shock re-valve. It was my first desert ride since march...before that it was mostly street/forest fire roads/pismo/snow/mx...so I paced myself to made sure I didn't burn out.
I had never been here, but cool spot since its inception in 1931. people have been upgrading and still using it to camp and keep warm. Still cool to continue discovering things I never knew existed in the desert...makes me wonder what else is out there.
Troy and I split off for a leisurely ride back.
^ find Troy in the pic!
then cruised back to the truck for some sandwiches and chill...surprisingly 45-48 degrees felt PERFECT. did not feel cold at all after a few hours of good riding...sore toes from the new boots, broken headlight straps, and I need to move the shift lever up one spline.
I keep looking at these pics wanting to go back out there. Any day we are riding in the desert in good health without a broken bike and good people, we are living a good life. Can't take that for granted.
Excellent way to round out 2018....can't wait for more rides in 2019!
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Well bummer! I’ve been wanting to ride there!
the hills don't disappoint and there are too many of them.
time to get the cobwebs off the 350!
I've noticed when the going gets tough the XR shows up?
HBSURFDAD and NSFW like this.
Anyone save some tracks to share?
HBSURFDAD, NSFW and Greedyg76 like this.
"Gone to charge battery" but no indication of when.
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I've been here (and other nearby sites) many times and always figured they were just natural hunting location.
Chuck told us there was much more to the area than that.
slidewayes, Bullseye, BiggieFalls and 3 others like this. | 2019-04-24T01:04:37 | https://advrider.com/f/threads/california-the-adventure-republic.811515/page-73 |
For each country in the world, Australia has a different classification regarding the documents and procedure to obtain a Visa. This is due many matters, including international relations, agreements, and also how the nationals of A or B country have in the past behaved when in Australia.
This classification is called "Assessment Level" by the Immigration Department and starts with "Level 1", which is the top level, or the one that requires fewer amount of documents to be presented to the Australian authorities. If your country being listed as "Level 1" , it will have easier to get the visa and even could to be granted online. By the other side, if listed in the "Level 4" , it is the one that requires more documents and proof of financial situation, besides many other requests. Nationals from countries "Level 1" are allowed to change the category of their Visas once in Australia without the need to leave the country.
Well, due the fact that the Australian Immigration Department changes very often the classification of the countries, we will leave you the Link to obtain further information directly from the Department. Link to Assessment Levels 2013 ( PDF). | 2019-04-20T04:11:03 | https://portaloceania.com/au-visas-level-ing.htm |
I’m not a spammer if that’s what you are thinking. We just have a lot of subscribers for webinars and newsletters, and for the past 3 years, I have constantly engaged them with email marketing. So, these have mostly been nurturing emails to opt-in lists. And yes, sending more than 2 million emails has definitely taught me a thing or two about email marketing best practices.
Now some of you may already know that we conduct webinars once every two weeks and not to brag, but they are quite popular 😀 It was the goal of increasing the registrations and attendees for the webinars that had me experimenting with emails, and I am delighted with the results.
Email Marketing Best Practices: My learnings from sending over 2 million emails!
I. Personalize – It helped us increase open rates by 327.75% and click rates by 543.75%!
I know you have heard this several times, but it’s important to reemphasize because this simple thing still goes ignored in many emails I get in my inbox.
When you meet someone, doesn’t it feel nicer if the person greets you by your name rather than just saying ‘Hi’ (there)? The same goes for emails.
Try to have the recipient’s name there, whenever it makes sense. Eg: Shibani, get answers to all your marketing queries!
As I mentioned earlier, I send webinar emails every two weeks. In this particular case, I sent 4 email invites for the same webinar (because I was testing something).
The content was the same in all four cases.
The subject line was different in one email – it was personalized, unlike the other ones.
So how did this impact the click rate?
The email with the personalized subject line (Shibani, get answers to all your marketing queries!)gave us an open rate of 59% as opposed to 5.9% and 9% and 17% (shown below). That’s a 327.75% increase in open rate!
Check out this report by MarketingSherpa on personalized subject lines if you still need some convincing.
However, I must add here that you shouldn’t overdo it. As digital marketing expert, Prateek Shah says, “Personalization in subject lines and content helps, but following the same pattern bores people.” So keep trying new things. Don’t stick to one pattern. But personalize whenever it makes sense.
For instance, say hi to the recipient by using their name in the body of the email. Instead of saying, ‘Hey there,’ say ‘Hey Shibani’.
My colleagues Sai and Vishnu, from the sales team, sent out cold outreach emails a few weeks ago. Both emails were sent to leads from the real estate industry. Both had personalized subject lines.
Email Campaign 1 had a personalized opening/greeting/salutation but no personalization in the body of the mail.
Email Campaign 2 had a personalized opening and personalization in the body of the mail (which was the respective lead’s company).
That’s a 543.75% increase in click rate!
Personalization in the second mail showed that the sales person had done his homework and had researched the respective lead’s business and what they do. This also meant that the sales person would perhaps have a better idea of the lead’s marketing and sales problems.
Now one might argue that the content differs in both and therefore, the click rate, in this case, is not a direct impact of personalization. But hey, both had personalized subject lines, both had personalized salutations, both had CTAs, both were cold mails and both went to an audience from the same industry. That would count for something, right?
II. Experiment – Change is the only constant.
Don’t you get bored if you keep getting or doing the same thing over and over again? Be it what you eat or the clothes that you wear, everyone wants something different after a point.
Now some of you may have read The Most Entertaining Google Adwords Guide on our blog. It about Bob’s adventure with Google Adwords.
The email has an open rate of 63.23% and a click rate of 8.08% (until now). That’s not a bad number to start with considering the campaign started running a few weeks ago.
This doesn’t always work but I’m sure it would be a pleasant change from the usual mails you get. Honestly, even I’m not much of a story teller but I have seen it work whenever I have tried it.
Be interactive in your mails. Ask questions. Add humor to it (wherever possible of course). Just be yourself and try to have a conversation.
I often make this mistake. But then I ask myself, would I read such a long mail?
It’s not really about the length actually. It’s more about the lack of time in my opinion. Have a chat with some of the senior members in your company. Ask them how many emails do they get in a day, and how many do they actually read, and you’ll have your answer.
Don’t use too many big words. Think about your target audience when you draft the content. In most cases, the target audience will vary. Not everyone’s language proficiency would be the same. Therefore, keep it simple.
Those of you who follow LeadSquared webinars would know that I share the webinar recording with all registrants once the webinar is over. In the mail, I share the deck (PPT) and the associated blog post (webinar Q&A) as well.
One day, I decided to change one word in the email.
Click here to download your copy of the webinar presentation.
You won’t believe what a difference it made to the click rates for that particular CTA. And here’s proof of that.
That means the change resulted in a 54% increase in click rate!
The searches for ‘webinar presentation’ are far more than ‘webinar deck’. That should tell you that ‘webinar presentation’ is more widely used and perhaps, more understandable.
‘Regards’ is probably one of the most used closing lines out there. I use it as well, a lot actually. But we need to think out of the box. I have been implementing this and so should you. Here’s a post to help you get started.
When you send an email, you want the user to take an action, right? If the CTA doesn’t stand out, the chances of that happening are low.
Of course, the copy has to be good. It must motivate action, but a good CTA is what seals the deal.
Let’s say you want your readers to schedule an appointment with your counselor or consultant. Why not use “Book Your Appointment” instead of “Book An Appointment” for the CTA.
You might find these examples useful as well.
You would have noticed that the content is exactly the same. The only difference is the way the CTA is presented – one in the form of a button and one without. Which according to you looks more click-worthy?
If you are not big on buttons, try underlining the CTA or making it bold? And if the CTA redirects to a form, use autofill. More about that here.
CTAs or hyperlinked texts always perform better if they are above the fold or in the top half of the page/email.
This is just a snippet of the mail (by Dave from Drift). But see how the language is really simple, sentences are short, storylike and it has an element of humor as well. It’s different from the webinar mails you might usually get and that makes it stand out.
I’m sure some of you might disagree, but in my experience, more links (more than 5) means more chances of the email landing in spam. Your readers would need to manually move it back to the Inbox a couple of times until it automatically lands there. I suggest you avoid using too many links unless the mail really needs them to put the point across.
I’m sure you have noticed that image heavy emails tend to land in your junk folder. Images affect deliverability. But then there are certain businesses that can’t do without them (like e-commerce). So this definitely is a debatable topic.
We tested this a few months ago. The test involved two cold emails requesting for a survey. Both campaigns were sent twice (in two batches).
See the difference? It’s a speculation really, but maybe the open rates were lower because the emails landed in spam. And it happened more than once, so that’s something. Therefore, if you must use images in your emails, use them wisely.
Also, with most email clients (Eg Outlook, Yahoo), you need to externally download images in the mail, in order to view them. That means the recipient has to take an additional action (which can be avoided) to view your email properly. Why would you want that?
Luckily, for those of us who like having images in the emails, Gmail has made that easier for us.
In Gmail, images in emails download by default. If you don’t want them to download automatically, you’ll need to manually change that from your ‘Settings’.
Naturally, unless images really annoy them, they won’t go and change the settings.
So the wise way to go about doing this (whether to use images or not) is to check how many of your email recipients use Gmail. I, for instance, know that around 60% of my email recipients use Gmail. But I mustn’t ignore the other 40. Therefore, I would not insert too many images in my mails.
If the food looks appetizing, people would be more likely to order it. If the color of the dress seems amazing, again, the chances of the clicks increase.
I think FreshMenu nailed it perfectly in this case. I know the timing played a huge role here. The mail was sent at the end of the month when ‘most’ people (I included) would have a money crunch. However, the use of appetizing pictures was very important as well.
So visuals are important when it comes to click rate. I found that out as well when I experimented with our monthly newsletter.
I sent out two variations of the same email. One campaign had an image. The other didn’t. The content remained the same. Surprisingly, there was no obvious difference in terms of deliverability (speculating based on open rates, again).
But as you can see (in the table above), the image made a difference to the click rate.
So If you want to use images in your campaigns, make sure they are relevant and make sense. One way to go about doing this is to ask others in your team. Ask them what they think of the image. A poor / irrelevant image might adversely affect your click rate.
At LeadSquared, we offer some of our customers a dedicated IP address. Having a dedicated IP address is good for businesses who have a high lead volume and largely depend on email marketing for conversion success.
So make your emails responsive.
Lately, I have been reading a lot about the best time to send emails. I found that most articles say different things. There is no one day or time that works for every business. It completely depends on the industry and your target audience.
Earlier, we used to send our webinar mails on Fridays at 4pm IST. Then we moved to Thursday (same time). This week I sent it on Monday at 11am IST. And it worked very well. Our webinar registrations increased substantially because the open and click rates were higher.
So figure out what works for your business. Since we are a B2B product company, I can tell you that 11am IST works.
If your mailing list has people from different time zones (like PST, EST, GMT etc), you should ideally send the mail at a time that works for them. For instance, 4pm IST will not work from someone in Canada now, will it? So segregate and send, and then you’ll automatically see a hike in email opens and clicks.
So, that’s it for now. These were some of my learnings after sending over 2,000,000 emails in the last three years. They definitely worked for me. And, they might work for you too. I think the key is to understand your target audience and give them what they want.
Did you try something that worked? I would love to know. Or do you have any questions? Post them in the comments section and I’ll definitely get back to you. | 2019-04-19T22:13:53 | https://www.leadsquared.com/email-marketing-best-practices/ |
Even Google (« Dear Uncle Google ») is unable to give a clear answer to this simple question.
The answer for me a few years ago was finally « So try it! ».
And here I am. I started practicing on myself in 2009 and teaching in 2015.
Reiki is a Japanese technique of healing by laying on of hands. But it has nothing to do with massage.
« Ki » of Reiki is similar to Chi in Chinese, Light for the Christians, the Hindus Prana and Bio-Energy of the scientists. We can see it as Universal Life Energy.
The Reiki practitioner is thus a channel that lets a concentrate of this Energy of Life flow through his hands.
So, he treats himself above all and provides care to any person making the request (animal kingdom likes Reiki too see here…) .
Reiki is a complementary care to traditional medicine, it does not replace it. It acts as a complement, relieves pain, restores the vitality and simply maintains in good health. Reiki is not a part of the medical, nor of the paramedical, no therapy, no psychotherapy, no magnetism. It is neither hypnosis, nor Sophrology, nor auto-suggestion. It does not replace any medical treatment. Reiki is neither a sect, nor a religion.
It is important to know where we come from, and who the teachers of our teachers were. I received my initiations and teachings (1st grade-SHODEN, 2d-OKUDEN, 3d-SHINPIDEN and 4th SHIHAN ) by the Master Teacher Etienne Saintelet, initiated and trained himself by Nita Mocanu. I also received from Etienne Saintelet the initiation and teachings of Reiki Karuna®.
The recipient is lying on the massage table. By laying hands on different parts of the body, Reiki will relax deeply and fill, if necessary, deficits in energy. Contact is not required. The practitioner is simply a channel for the energy, he does not practice any physical manipulation. The session lasts approximately one and a half hour. Plan a little more time, Reiki makes sometimes sleep!
We recommend to attend four sessions quite close to each other.
You are initiated to Reiki and want to share treatments with others? Teamwork is always more efficient. One time a month a (free) sharing evening is organized, in small group, 8 people maximum, around one or two massage tables.
Level 1: April 13-14, 2019.
And do not forget, to understand what Reiki REALLY feels like, give it a try!
It will never harm you, your body receives only the right amount of Reiki for your highest good. | 2019-04-19T20:33:16 | https://reikibruxelles.com/english/?shared=email&msg=fail |
It is insane to me that the most famous person today from the cast of this film is Marilyn Monroe. In a movie with Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and quite literally a generational talent in Bette Davis the most successful career 67 years later belongs to a woman who could barely play a bad actor well. The on screen partnership for Bette Davis that has gone down in the history books is her performance alongside Joan Crawford in the infamous What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (not for nothing Feud is a great watch). But her performance across Anne Baxter in All About Eve is definitely deserving of a mention in the conversation.
Released right at the height of the studio system era All About Eve is a textbook golden age success story. A screenplay by accomplished writer Joseph Mankiewicz, based on a short story by Mary Orr, “The Wisdom of Eve.” At this point Mankiewicz, who also directed the film, had cut his teeth on some decent scripts. But it was his success on All About Eve that would that really jump started his career, he would go on to write and direct Julius Caesar, The Barefoot Contessa, and Guys and Dolls. But as All About Eve tells us in its opening monologue, the golden age of Hollywood is built on stars and nothing else, and Bette Davis is nothing if not a star. Her performance as Margo Channing, a successful stage actress who alienates her friends and loved ones when she grows paranoid about the young ambitious actress. Davis plays the role perfectly, watching her descend slowly into a madness brought about by being the only one who sees the insidious ambition in Eve Harrington until it’s too late. Anne Baxter plays the innocent girl turned villain well also, the scene when she tries to seduce Bill after her performance is impossible to look away from in the best way.
Few films from 1950 can claim to have aged as well as All About Eve. The script is just as witty today as it was over a half decade ago. “Read my column the minutes will move like hours,” is an incredible piece of writing that surpasses many movies even today. Margo Channing’s character remains a great satire and comedic figure and at times is even a poignant commentary on the way that aging actresses are treated and how women in Hollywood are pitted against each other and abused by the men around them. Even if I had to bet that most of the social commentary is more an addition of hindsight than it was an intentional choice by Mankiewicz. The final scene between Eve and Addison has a much different significance in 2017 than it would have in 1950.
Witty, funny, and culturally significant, All About Eve is a classic that holds up to the label. An amazing cast given an expertly written script leads to some career performances across the board especially from Anne Baxter who gives Bette Davis a run for her money. Mankiewicz’s work behind the camera is nothing remarkable but it is competent enough to allow space for his stars to craft this movie into something special. | 2019-04-26T12:33:58 | https://nexttimeon.net/2017/12/22/31-days-31-movies-12-21-all-about-eve/ |
When you see the little man, oh when you see his face.
It is beatiful, ugly, magnificent, dull, cruel, compassionate, happy, sad.
It's inite it's fleeting, the good turns into bad. | 2019-04-24T06:35:51 | https://writetheworld.com/profiles/942/feed |
New Rent Rate and Two Months Free! Medical Condominium Office. Rare Opportunity to rent in an Exclusive Medical Building. This unit is very bright with lots of windows and consists of six rooms including three exam rooms, Doctor's consultation office, Nurse's station, Patient waiting room and two bathrooms. The unit has a brand new heating and air conditioning system. Deeded parking space in rear of building. The building's common areas also have a brand new HVAC system. Conveniently located between 3rd and 4th Avenues, the building is walking distance to the "R" train and buses. | 2019-04-24T05:49:26 | https://www.casandraproperties.com/listing/426802-355-ovington-brooklyn-new-york-11209/ |
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Mattel Inc. stock is up 6.5% in premarket trading after Stifel upgraded it to buy from hold based on the toy company's better-than-expected holiday results for its core brands, especially Barbie and Fisher-Price. Mattel reported fourth quarter 2015 earnings Monday night. The bank set a price target of $33 in a note published Tuesday. Mattel shares closed at $26.76 on Monday. Same-store sales for Mattel's core brands grew 2%, the first positive result since the fourth quarter of 2011. Stifel analysts also believe upcoming DC Entertainment licenses and the retention of Pixar licenses, including "Cars 3" in 2017, will be a boon for the company. Mattel management expects "Cars 3" licenses to generate $350 million in incremental sales. Mattel shares are up 7.2% for the past three months while the S&P is down 7.8% for the period. | 2019-04-24T12:38:10 | https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/mattel-upgraded-at-stifel-on-better-than-expected-holiday-results |
Sir Mark Oliphant, who died on 14 July, founded the Research School of Physical Sciences at the ANU and was one of those who pioneered the creation in Canberra of a national university dedicated to research at the highest international level. A tall, handsome man, with a shock of white hair, and a distinctive voice and laugh, he was well informed on a wide range of scientific matters and expressed firm views on their social consequences. He enjoyed wide respect throughout the nation as a great Australian scientist.
Mark Oliphant was born in Adelaide on 8 October 1901. Always good with his hands, he supported his studies at Adelaide University by working as a cadet in the Physics Department. After completing his Honours degree, he commenced his research career by working on surface tension with Dr Roy Burdon. Oliphant's interest in modern physics was greatly stimulated by the visit to Adelaide of Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born physicist who was, at that time, head of the famous Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Following Rutherford's visit Oliphant obtained an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship that took him to Cambridge.
When Oliphant joined the Cavendish, the laboratory contained a number of brilliant young physicists, most of them Fellows of the Royal Society in the sight of God, and several actual or potential Nobel Prize winners, including John Cockcroft, who became Oliphant's closest friend and a future Chancellor of the ANU. Oliphant worked directly with Rutherford, building a new accelerator and carrying out fundamental work on nuclear transmutations, for which he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1937. His work on nuclear reactions with the isotopes of hydrogen was particularly important and forms the basis for the production of nuclear fusion energy, still one of the Holy Grails of energy research.
Oliphant had done excellent work with Rutherford in Cambridge but wanted to run his own show and in 1937, despite Rutherford's strong objections, he accepted the Chair of Physics at Birmingham University, and began the construction of the largest cyclotron in Europe. But, as Britain prepared for war, Oliphant was one of a small number of mainly ex-Cavendish men who were informed of Britain's secret radar work. He and his group in Birmingham made an outstanding contribution to British radar research by developing the cavity magnetron, which provided a source of centimetre wavelength radiation for airborne radar.
Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls were physicists of German origin, working in Birmingham. Because of their status, Oliphant could not arrange for them to join in the secret radar program. But they could work on nuclear fission and the practicality of constructing an atomic bomb. Frisch and Peierls wrote a famous letter, in which they calculated that the critical mass of a fission bomb could be as little as a few pounds of separated fissile material. Oliphant recognised the importance of this conclusion and was able to introduce the Frisch-Peierls letter to senior defence science officials in Whitehall, and then in the United States. The British atomic energy group, including Oliphant's team, eventually transferred to the United States and Canada. Oliphant's skill and determination, and his friendship with the American cyclotron physicist Ernest Lawrence, were important factors in the establishment of the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb.
At the end of the war, Oliphant returned to the task of completing the Birmingham accelerators. There were also exciting opportunities offering in Canberra, where a new, national, research university was being planned. Oliphant accepted an invitation to join the group of senior academics in the UK that was providing academic advice on the new university. The advisers were eventually offered appointments as directors of planned research schools in the university. Only Oliphant accepted. He frequently repeated Howard Florey's comment at the time that all he could expect to find would be a "hole in the ground" and a mountain full of promises.
Oliphant was enthusiastic about developing a new accelerator in Canberra. He was always interested in the possibility of new designs and wanted to build machines that stretched technology to the limits. His ambition was to construct a novel machine that would operate at a higher energy than any other machine in the world but which, at the same time, could be built at a fraction of the cost. He did not like large teams and looked back nostalgically to the machines that he and research students had built in Cambridge. The Canberra machine went through a number of design changes and name changes, including the cyclo-synchrotron, the synchro-cyclotron and the proton synchrotron, but was not completed as an accelerator. An unfortunate accident, in which one person was blinded, occurred with the NaK (sodium/potassium) system of the homopolar generator, the power source for the accelerator. The generator was rebuilt using carbon brushes in place of NaK and completed as a stand-alone machine, which was used as a high-power source for a range of plasma and laser experiments.
In addition to leading the work of his own group in high-energy accelerator physics, Oliphant, as Director, expanded the work of the research school in astronomy, mathematics, geophysics, theoretical physics, atomic and molecular physics, nuclear physics and particle physics. The research school became a major centre for Australian research and postgraduate training in the physical sciences.
After he retired as Director, Oliphant returned to some of his earliest work on the interactions between positive ions and solids.
In 1971, Sir Mark Oliphant began a new career when he was appointed Governor of South Australia, a post he filled with dignity and distinction. He spoke very strongly in favour of environmental issues, especially in defence of the Adelaide Hills, and of the perils of nuclear armaments.
Sir Mark always had the loving support of his family, especially that of his gentle wife, Rosa, and his daughter, Vivian.
John Carver, 'Oliphant, Sir Marcus Laurence (Mark) (1901–2000)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/oliphant-sir-marcus-laurence-mark-782/text783, accessed 25 April 2019. | 2019-04-24T16:06:16 | http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/oliphant-sir-marcus-laurence-mark-782 |
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This list of services is not exhaustive, because of our individual approach to each specific clients’ request. Contact us to find out more about other services. | 2019-04-21T02:59:45 | https://ipstyle.net/en/services/other_services/ |
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Biomass boilers allow businesses, commercial premises such as factories, golf clubs, warehouses and schools, and domestic customers make savings of up to 80% on their energy costs. | 2019-04-24T20:07:32 | http://commercialbiomassuk.com/ |
They're the only two animals that have been at the zoo since it opened in 1969.
Louisville zookeepers mother an orphaned infant gorilla and fall madly in love. But Kindi must grow up among her own.
What's cuter than baby animals? Nothing. Nothing is cuter.
What's better than roaming the zoo kid-free with a beer in your hand? Nothing. Nothing is better than that. | 2019-04-22T08:30:21 | https://www.louisville.com/tags/louisville-zoo |
The Trout Unlimited Book of Fly-Fishing Tips covers every aspect of fly fishing. Learn how to select the rod, reel, and fly line that are best suited for your type of fishing. Perfect your casting techniques so you can place your dry fly, nymph, wet fly, or streamer exactly where you want it to be, then get a proper drift over likely holding areas. Want to learn how to tie your own flies? It's easy with the tips from TU's tiers. 224 pgs.
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Students violating dress code will be asked to change into loaner clothes for the day.
Oak Scholarship Club has partnered with the McKenna Claire Foundation to help raise money for pediatric brain cancer research by shining a light on your special someone! Your $20 donation gets your student’s special birthday wish on the school marquee and helps fund much needed research.
The 2018-19 school year will end on Thurs., May 30, 2019 - The new school year schedule will include 2 additional school breaks: the full week of Thanksgiving and Feb. 18-22 in addition to the 2 week winter break and the 1 week spring break.
Welcome to Oak Middle School, home of the lions, where everyone is part of the “Pride.” Oak offers a wide array of both rigorous and relevant courses. Students in grades 6-8 are given opportunities to develop their skills to be collaborative, creative, innovative, and extraordinary. Our academic programs explore literature, mathematics, science, history, world language, art, music, drama, physical education, engineering, and robotics. With over 26 clubs on campus, we encourage our students to become involved in activities that include leadership, the arts, sports, and scholarship. In addition, our ASB and sixth-grade leadership help to coordinate school-wide events like spirit days and school dances.
Lunch periods are designed to allow students to have time to socialize with new and old friends. Friday lunches are filled with activities that usually get many of our students up and dancing in our amphitheater. Sixth graders have a separate lunch period, while 7th and 8th grade lunches are joined together.
We invite Oak parents to become involved and connected to the school culture. Opportunities to volunteer are available each week. We invite our parents to join our PTA and School Site Council. Volunteers are also used to help facilitate some of our school activities such as our Veteran’s Day Celebration, Pi Day, Lion Pride Lunches, track meets, and community events. We would love to have you join us.
Watch for our weekly “Lion’s Roar” newsletter that is sent via email every Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. This is a great way to see what our students have learned during that week.
We are all excited to see familiar faces as well as meeting all our new students and families for the 2017-18 school year. If you have any questions, please feel free to phone our school office at 562-799 4740.
Gear up to show your school spirit on Fridays! Oak spirit wear is available for purchase. | 2019-04-25T00:28:04 | https://www.losal.org/site/default.aspx?domainid=368 |
Witnesses: Nathan Bostock, Head of Restructuring & Risk, RBS, Eric Daniels, Former Group Chief Executive, Lloyds Banking Group, Stephen Hester, Chief Executive, RBS, and Tim Tookey, Group Finance Director, Lloyds Banking Group, gave evidence.
Chair: -y ou hope, be for e a parliamentary select committee . I am going to start with a very general question. The Bank of England made this estimate of the cost of the subsidy to the UK taxpayer, so theoretical underpinning costs, and they came to £100 billion, across the banking system, as the 2009 cost to the taxpayer. From your point of view, as two leaders of two banks, what value for money has the taxpayer got for that £100 billion underpinning and some direct investment?
Q106 Chair: So you do not accept the Bank of England figure?
Stephen Hester: No, I do not accept the Bank of England figures. I am not an economist and I am obviously not an econometrician, but research that we have seen, which I think will be published in the coming weeks, and I will provide you with a copy if and when it is, comes up with dramatically smaller figures.
Stephen Hester: I have seen figures that are less than a 10th of that amount. But my point is not that one figure or another is accurate. I would accept that there has been an implicit subsidy. One can debate the size of it; I believe it is much smaller.
Q108 Stephen Barclay: Have you published those figures that suggest it is less than a 10th?
Chair: They are publishing on Friday.
Stephen Hester: I have seen work in progress, but as soon as there is something that is finished we can certainly make it available. But the second point that I would make is that all of these figures are backward looking, however you would calculate it, and clearly one of the most important things that is under way is the reform of the banking system, such that it no longer has any implicit subsidy from taxpayers in any country, whether here or otherwise, and if one forward-projects the dramatic increases in capital for banks in liquidity and the other reforms like living wills and resolution, I believe that we will get to the place that we should be at, where there is no longer an implicit public subsidy, and we are certainly very supportive of that being the case.
Q109 Chair: The job of this Committee is to follow the taxpayer pound and to assure the public that we have had value for money for the investment of that taxpayer pound. The figure that we have been working with is £100 billion-let’s not quarrel about the figure-but whatever it is, £10 billion is still, were that correct, a fantastically substantial amount. What value has the taxpayer had out of both the implicit and explicit investment that we have made since the financial crisis?
Stephen Hester: Again, I think that there are many different ways to attack that issue. Of course there are series of direct and ongoing receipts that the taxpayer has had through fees paid to the Bank of England and to the Treasury for explicit liquidity support: fees paid on the Asset Protection Scheme, and so on. Hopefully there will be handsome returns from ownership of the shares of RBS and Lloyds, but that is obviously to be seen in the future. Over and above that you then move into broader societal issues about whether the functioning of the financial markets has a benefit to all of society or not, and I think it does.
I want to be very clear: my point is not that you can do a mathematical calculation and say, "All is fine." My point is the contrary: all is not fine, such that reform is needed, such that these implicit subsidies disappear, however you might argue about the numbers.
Eric Daniels: On the methodology that I understand was behind the £100 billion number, I would somewhat agree with Nick Macpherson who said it depends on the day that you do it.
Q110 Chair: It is a 2009 figure. For 2008, the Bank of England said it was a £10 billion implicit and explicit subsidy, total subsidy. But 2009, it was £100 billion. So they looked at calendar years.
Eric Daniels: The way in which they approached it was to look at the difference between the standalone rating and the cost associated with funds as a standalone institution versus the support rating. They took that differential and used that as the basis for the calculation. What I would say is that no bank today, or during 2009, was able to raise money at the support rating. The actual cost of funds to the bank was at the standalone rating. I think the idea that using that differential to calculate the socalled subsidy is simply not correct. I challenge the assertion.
Q111 Chair: Accepting the challenge, nevertheless we all accept that there is a substantial investment by the taxpayer in supporting the banking system during the banking crisis. Did the taxpayer get value?
Eric Daniels: I think I can only repeat what Stephen said, that the explicit support that was given-whether it was liquidity support in the form of CGS or SLS-was, in fact, at very attractive rates for the taxpayer. The investment in the equity of the banks, as Stephen said, remains to be seen, but I think we all believe that the taxpayer will get a very handsome return for that investment.
Q112 Stephen Barclay: Just sticking with the Bank of England research, that also commented that the dominant influence in the lack of lending to companies was the reduction in the supply of credits by the banks. Do you accept that finding?
Stephen Hester: That would not be the data that we have. I think that the data that is pretty consistent all around the world is that post-recessions, what happens-in the generality, of course; there are individual cases that are different-is that people try to get their borrowing under control. Savings rates go up, deleveraging happens, borrowing goes down, and so in every industrialised country around the world you saw an increase in savings rate, a paying back of borrowing as people desire to be more conservative, and I think that is by far the dominant effect on the lending.
Q113 Stephen Barclay: Absolutely, the Bank of England cited a number of factors, but within those various factors they said the dominant one was the one I cited. Given that they have access to a wider data set than you do, and they can request your data, and they can request data from the regulator, why do you think, in your opinion, the Bank of England got it wrong?
Stephen Hester: I do not think my position here is to per se criticise the Bank of England, and indeed I do not have in front of me line by line, if you like, the report that you are citing, with all its context, but all I can say to you is I believe that the dominant influence-not the only influence, but the dominant influence-in the reduction of lending has been people’s desire to borrow less in the context of an uncertain economic outlook.
Q114 Ian Swales: On this topic, Mr Hester, you talked about the implicit subsidy, based on the Chair’s first question, and you seem to be suggesting in one of your remarks that you would see, in effect, that disappearing. Now, as I understand it, one of the main factors behind that is the Government standing behind deposits in the banks, and in effect standing behind international operations as well as UK operations. When you say you see that disappearing in the future, by what mechanism do you think that is going to happen?
Stephen Hester: The mechanisms, if you like, that are under way-well advanced, in fact-can possibly be divided into two categories. The first is banks holding huge amounts more capital and liquidity reserves, quite properly-obviously I am not here to defend the past, since I have only been in post two years-and that means that the likelihood of banks needing external support once those reforms have been fully worked through, the Basel III process, dramatically falls. Then secondly, there is a huge change in what happens in the less likely circumstance that a bank nevertheless fails in the future.
What the last crisis unveiled, and I have spoken about this a number of times in advocating reform, is that it was quite hard to pass on losses, pass the shareholder to creditors, which is normally what would happen in any other company, and the state found itself jumping into the middle. There are a whole series of parts of reform around things called CoCos and things called bailins-sorry to use technical terms-resolution mechanisms, changes in legislation, living wills. There are a series of things in this category that the world’s regulators are advancing, designing and changing, such that in a future crisis not only would a bank be less likely to go under because they had more strength to start with, but there then would then be a smoother recourse to creditors, as opposed to Governments, and not the need for Government intervention.
So the combination of those, plus banks managing themselves, learning from the crisis, getting out of risk position, should get us to the position where Government support of the capital variety, is not needed. There will always be a role for central Bank liquidity support, but there should not be a role for capital support, and that is why I have always advocated that these reforms take place. I think we are going in absolutely the right direction, and as they bite that will be the result.
Q115 Ian Swales: On a specific, then: retail depositors. Do you see the Government’s scheme to support retail depositors disappearing in this new world that you are describing?
Stephen Hester: Obviously retail depositors, or the retail deposit insurance, is funded by the banks through levies. That is true here, it is true in the United States, but I cannot speak for every country. So although the Government can offer an overdraft, in the end it is the banks that pay for that scheme. My guess is that scheme will stay; you could argue for its enhancement, but it has already been enhanced. You can clearly have a debate about its size, but quite properly it is paid for by the banks.
Q116 Chair: I want to get you back to this value to the taxpayer. I want to get you back to the value. You believe you have value in the sense that you are paying for the money that we, the taxpayer, are lending you. One of the aspects of the deal, and it would be good if you could both answer this, was that we wanted to keep lending going, both mortgage lending and business lending, and both of you abysmally failed in 2009. RBS was £22 billion short on the business lending and Lloyds £8 billion short, on the figures that we have in front of us. 2010 looks a bit better, but only because we have changed the goalposts, so instead of looking at net lending we are looking at gross lending. I would have hoped one of the ways we could measure value for money for the taxpayer would have been your role in securing growth in the economy, particularly through the SME sector. Why did you fail, and in that context how do you expect us to say you have given value for money?
Eric Daniels: I think I would characterise our performances somewhat differently. I am very happy with the performance of Lloyds. We extended over £30 billion of new mortgage lending during the past year. We have helped over 50,000 first-time buyers. We have lent approximately £44 billion, I believe, to corporations and small businesses-£11 billion specifically to small businesses. We in fact exceeded our commitments to Government during this past year.
Q117 Chair: Only because the goalposts have changed. I am sorry to interrupt you on that, but when the targets were first set they were net targets-that was 2009-and you both failed abysmally in 2009, which was a key year for growth. In 2010 you are doing better, I accept that, but only because we have changed, and presumably in your negotiations with the Treasury, you are now on gross targets, which I do not think are a terribly helpful measure, but I accept that they are the measure that has been set.
Eric Daniels: I think that I would give you two responses. In the first place, we increased our net lending to businesses during the year, so this is not something where it is simply chicanery.
Q118 Chair: What is your net lending to business in 2010? I have it down as a negative.
Eric Daniels: I believe it is positive. I do not have the number to hand.
Q119 Chair: What is it? Does Mr Tookey know?
Tim Tookey: It was positive overall.
Q120 Chair: What? A billion or something? I think our advice from our officials was it was still a negative.
Q121 Chair: Can officials help?
Tim Tookey: -for SMEs for year two.
Q122 Stephen Barclay: Just whilst they are helping, can I just clarify that gross lending to a company can go up, whilst the actual money the company gets , the net lending , goes down? In other words, if I have a first loan with you worth £1 million, and that is under an existing loan agreement and I pay that back, because of the fee structure in terms of that loan, and I take a second loan from you worth £1.5 million, probably with higher fees, charged with more security, you would present that as gross lending of £1.5 million, but the actual money that I as a company would have from you would be £500,000. Do you accept that going to gross lending, which is the target for 2010/11, can give quite a misleading position as to the amount of the bank’s money that has been placed with a company?
Eric Daniels: No, I do not believe it is misleading at all. I think it is a very accurate representation of the banks’ willingness to lend. The distortion that the net lending figure causes is, as Stephen pointed out earlier, in a recovery period, when you often see demand for lending go down a great deal, and so you see a lot of repayments. Companies want to get their balance sheets in order. What we see are two factors: one is lots of repayments among midsized companies, and among big companies not only repayments but also going to the capital markets directly. So increasing gross lending in that kind of environment I think speaks very well to the banks’ willingness to lend.
Q123 Stephen Barclay: Did you not make those points to the Treasury when they set the target?
Eric Daniels: There were lengthy discussions with the Treasury when we set the targets.
Q124 Stephen Barclay: So some of those criteria would have been factored into the original target that was set?
Q125 Stephen Barclay: So you signed up to them with very little thought having been put into them?
Eric Daniels: No-if you will let me finish please. This was after a very complex negotiation on GAPs. At the 11th hour we were asked to commit to lending targets, which we did, but we also caveated those, because we were not given enough time to negotiate thoroughly. We basically agreed that it would be subject to demand-the demand had to be there-it was subject to liquidity, subject to having capital, and subject to creditworthiness. Those were the four conditions, and that was the agreement that we struck. It was not a lengthy negotiation: again, there was no time.
Q126 Stephen Barclay: I t strikes me that there are relative priorities: on the one hand, the Government are saying they want you to lend more. On the other hand, every financial services party is saying they want you build your capital base up . The Bank of England is saying they want you to repay them more quickly, and your own remuneration is saying , "L et ’ s get the share price up, because that is what the bonuses will be paid on. " W hat is unclear to me is how you assess those relative priorities , or is it your argument that you can do all four at the same time?
Eric Daniels: Is there a question there?
Q127 Stephen Barclay: There are four different priorities there. One of those, which we are just looking at, is the lending priorities, which you have missed on the commercial lending. I am trying to understand how you prioritise the lending priorities vis-à-vis what strikes me as different priorities that have been set-your own internal remuneration priority for staff, compared with some of the Government’s other objectives and the regulatory objectives, which are pushing in other directions. How do you prioritise those different issues, or are you saying that it is your expectation you will deliver all four at the same time?
Eric Daniels: I think you need look no further than last year. Last year Lloyds repaid some £60 billion of Government funding, first, increased its gross and net lending, increased its share price, working for the shareholder, and what was your fourth?
Q129 Chair: Can I get an answer on that lending issue, because my note now tells me Lloyds did have a positive-apologies for that-but RBS had a negative on the net.
Stephen Hester: Let me take up your points. I think the first point is that we should be very clear that since I have taken the helm two years ago RBS has done everything it can and continues to do to support its customers in the UK, and is, as a consequence of those efforts, not only lending very large amounts of money but substantially in excess of our national market shares, as was shown on the Merlin figures that were published last month.
But if I could shed some light on an important apparent misunderstanding, the lending commitments were legally binding commitments, and if we had failed under them we would, could and should have been sued by the Treasury. My understanding is that the Treasury concluded there were not grounds to do that; i.e. there was no breach of them. I am not surprised that there was no breach of them, because I was heavily involved in the discussions at the time, when I had just arrived, with the last Government, which was obviously concerned to ensure that the recession was not exacerbated by a lack of confidence in financing markets.
Stephen Hester: I am trying to explain, so I hope it will be helpful to you. The key concern of the Treasury and Ministers at the time was that there would be a disappearance of foreign lenders in the UK market and an artificial credit crunch as a result of the disappearance of people who were previously lending a lot of money, and that artificial withdrawal of funds would make the recession worse. That was the concern. What the intervention with Lloyds and RBS was designed to do was to give reassurance that, if the foreign banks all disappeared and if credit demand continued at a very high level, there would be adequate capacity from the domestic banks to make it. The way that the targets-at least I can speak for RBS-were calculated was on a back of the envelope assessment, on short notice, by the Government and Treasury, of the kind of figures that foreign lenders represented, what the gap in the market might be if demand did not go down and foreign lenders disappeared, and therefore what increment might be required. Therefore, we said that we would lend up to this amount if there was a demand on creditworthy terms. Now, in fact what actually happened was two things: number one, demand, as it did in every other country and as it does in every other recession, in fact fell-it did not stay at the high levels; and secondly, foreign lenders did not leave the market in anything like the quantum that was feared. Those were good things, and as a result the lending commitment was met, but was met without the full amount being required, either by borrowers or through the complete flight of foreign lenders, so that is in fact what happened.
Chair: Nick wants to come in. We are going to have a vote in two minutes. Do you want to do it before the vote or after?
Q131 Nick Smith: Very quickly: in both of your introductory remarks, Mr Daniels and Mr Hester, you talked about a handsome return for the taxpayers owning RBS and Lloyds’ shares. What is your latest estimate on what that handsome return will be?
Q132 Nick Smith: I am sorry, I cannot hear you. Can you speak up?
Eric Daniels: I do not believe anyone can call the stock market in what will happen in the future. I think all the signs are very good: Lloyds share price increased quite dramatically last year as we returned the bank to profitability. I would hope that, as we continue to enhance profitability, the share price will continue to rise.
Q133 Chair: So you agree with John Varley that there is nothing-it sounds to me as we draw this bit to a close-for you to apologise for?
Eric Daniels: I beg your pardon?
Q134 Chair: You agree with John Varley, Barclays, that there is nothing to apologise for? It sounds to me, out of all this, that you are feeling fairly confident; you feel there is nothing to apologise for.
Eric Daniels: I am not sure I can draw the connective tissue from one statement to the other, but if you ask me in general, are we remorseful, or is there a cause for concern in what happened during the banking crisis, I would say absolutely yes. We had clearly a lot of shareholders who were dependent upon our dividends. We clearly have not paid a dividend, and that is disappointing.
Q135 Chair: Taxpayer? We are here representing the taxpayer.
Eric Daniels: Again, as I stated earlier, I believe for the liquidity support that was granted, the CGS and the SLS, the banks paid at or above commercial rates, so the taxpayer did very well. In terms of the GAPs, which I understood was the primary subject of discussion today, in the case of Lloyds, we never formally entered into the programme, yet we paid £2.5 billion to the taxpayer to get out of the agreement, so I think the taxpayer did very well indeed on that.
As for the shareholding, I think I answered that question. I believe that as our share price continues to go up, and the bank continues to become increasingly profitable, the taxpayer will do very well indeed.
Q136 Nick Smith: Mr Hester, can you answer my question please, as we seem to be going through the middle of the banker’s fight back here: have you got an estimate on what the taxpayer’s "handsome return"-your phrase-will be?
Stephen Hester: Obviously we have put out details of the fees we pay, but in terms of our future share price I am afraid I am actually legally not allowed to forecast it, nor is it prudent for me to do so, so I am afraid I cannot give you a share price for the future. Of course then it is not in our hands, not just what happens to the stock market, but whether, how, when and in what manner the Treasury, through UKFI, decides to dispose of the shares, so I cannot.
Q137 Stella Creasy: Mr Daniels, can we come back to what the taxpayer can expect? When you do expect Lloyds to be paying corporation tax?
Eric Daniels: That would be a profit forecast, which I certainly cannot give you. What I would say is that Lloyds is well on its way to absorbing the accumulated losses, and nothing would please me more than having Lloyds pay corporation taxes.
Q138 Stella Creasy: So when do you expect to be profitable?
Eric Daniels: We are in fact profitable.
Q139 Stella Creasy: And yet you are able to defer that liability for corporation tax.
Chair: We are going to go do a vote, and then we will come back and pick it up. I am really sorry that it gets interrupted in this way: it always provides a difficult session. But we will get into it when we come back.
Q140 Chair: A pologies for that . We had a couple of votes, which is very disruptive, but that is how the cookie crumbles. I just want to get back to this issue of value to the taxpayer, which is our remit, which is why we are focusing on it. You have both really justified that you believe there has been proper value to taxpayer s from the fees paid in the schemes in which you have participated. I hope you have had a chance to look at the Report that formed the basis for our inquiry. Have you had that? I am assuming that that has been distributed to you. We have taken evidence on that from Treasury officials: Tom Scholar, who presumably you have dealt with a lot. In his evidence and in the Report, if you have a copy of it, both the Report and his evidence state that the fees were well below commercial prices to get the stability and confidence back into the market. Quite proper good objectives, but nevertheless below commercial charges. Let me just see what he said; this was in evidence to us: "If you look at what subsequently happened to the commercial price of providing a similar guarantee, yes it is true, as the Report says, that the commercial price remained higher for longer than people were expecting." So the price that the Government was charging was lower. If you accept that, and I see that Eric Daniels is frowning, but if you accept that, how do you still come forward and say that you think that there is proper value to the taxpayer-that we have been properly rewarded out of the Credit Guarantee Scheme, for example?
Eric Daniels: If I may, Lloyds never entered into GAPs: we simply paid to leave the agreement that we had made in March, so I think the taxpayer got a very good deal.
Q141 Chair: And what about you? You are well into it.
Stephen Hester: Of course. Forgive me, because at different points, I thought we might have been talking about value to the taxpayer from different things: obviously the Bank of England numbers, the price at which shares were subscribed, or the Credit Guarantee Scheme, but as I understand you now, you are talking very specifically about the Asset Protection Scheme.
Q142 Chair: I am now focusing on that.
Stephen Hester: Got you. With respect to the Asset Protection Scheme fees, I think truthfully there was no-and indeed is no-private-sector equivalent insurance policy that was viable at the time that would allow you to say that the fee was high or low against something that was demonstrable. So by definition it is a matter of opinion. Clearly the board of RBS recommended entry into the scheme, and as a matter of legal duty could not have done so if it felt that the scheme in the round, in all of its terms, was wrong for its shareholders-82% of whom are of course, in the circular process, the Government-and so in that sense we did not feel that the fees were inappropriate.
But what I would say is that the Asset Protection Scheme, we believed at the time we entered it, and we said so publicly, was unlikely to cost the taxpayer anything. The taxpayer, we thought, would make a profit. At every stage of reforecast, that continues to be our view. I believe it is also the view of those concerned in the Government, and that is entirely appropriate; it was an insurance policy and I think the taxpayer should make a profit out of it. I have no complaints about that, but it continues to be the case, and as I say I think the taxpayer will make a profit out of that scheme, but I cannot tell you that there was a definite market price which the fees were higher than or lower than; there was not. So it was one entered into by both parties at the time.
Q143 Chair: And the Credit Guarantee Scheme, where, if I just read from the Report-I will try not to read the lot-"the fees charged to banks under the Credit Guarantee Scheme to guarantee new wholesale debts were designed to be on a commercial basis, but not so large as to prevent banks from using it, but sufficient to provide a reasonable return … However, we estimate the benefit"-I am skipping a bit, so apologies for that-"is substantially more than £1 billion."
Stephen Hester: If you mean the benefit to the taxpayer, I do not know, but I know the taxpayer has made a big profit on it.
Q144 Chair: I think it was to the banks. That is the benefit to the banks.
Q145 Chair: It provided you with cheaper money.
Stephen Hester: -was calculated in order to represent market prices. But it is also true that that guarantee was not otherwise available from someone else, and so one can have a debate about whether the market prices were theoretical or not.
Q146 Chair: But it allowed you access to wholesale funding at a cheaper rate. Or probably wholesale funding full stop , and then wholesale funding at a cheaper rate.
Stephen Hester: No, the cost of the wholesale funding plus the guarantee cost was calculated such that it was equivalent to the notional cost that you would have otherwise borrowed without that guarantee. However-and as a consequence the taxpayer has made a profit-what I am saying is that we are dealing in notional cost, and in fact that borrowing would not have been available in those amounts, and therefore it is impossible to know the counterfactual of what you would have borrowed at actually as opposed to theoretically.
Q147 Stella Creasy: So you disagree with the Treasury, who acknowledge this subsidy and are reviewing the fees?
Stephen Hester: -I do not know whether I am disagreeing with the Treasury or not.
Q148 Stella Creasy: The Treasury recognise that they have subsidised you to the tune of a billion pounds.
Stephen Hester: I am saying to you that the Treasury has made a profit, and the value of the guarantee was set in a way that was designed to be market priced. However, there was a degree of theory as opposed to practice to that because it was impossible to test, and indeed it is entirely probable, within the market conditions of the time, the theoretical prices would not have pertained, and so that is what I am saying to you.
Q149 Stella Creasy: So there was a subsidy, then, essentially of a billion pounds? You would accept that it was not value for money for the taxpayers?
Stephen Hester: Did the taxpayer make a profit? Yes. Was it calculated in a theoretically accurate way? Yes.
Q150 Stella Creasy: Did you get a good deal?
Stephen Hester: I think that the banks needed that support. The banking system needed that support.
Stephen Hester: I think just because one side thinks it was the right thing to do does not mean to say it was the wrong thing for the other side. It could be right for both sides, and I would submit to you in this circumstance it has been right for both sides.
Q152 Stella Creasy: So you think it is right for us to subsidise the banks to the tune of a billion pounds in the Credit Guarantee Scheme.
Stephen Hester: I do not recognise that figure; what I am saying to you is I think it is right that the taxpayer has made a substantial profit out of this scheme, because the taxpayer was giving something valuable to the banks. Theoretically that was priced on an arm’s length basis. Whether in reality, and by what amount, it was not, I do not know.
Q153 Chair: I have to say that I think you have to take a very narrow view of profit, because the wider impact of the banking crisis can hardly have been a profit. Can I move back to lending, because that was where we were? I just wanted to clear up that point. You both feel that you are lending well now. I have some quarrel with the way the target has been devised. Also, I did not want to intervene too much on you, Mr Hester, but I do have some quarrel to say you did not meet the target set in 2009. Okay, nobody took action against you, but you did not meet it. Recently we have had the Engineering Employers’ Federation report, which I assume you have seen and we have too, which accepts that cash is beginning to flow, but what they have said is that about a third of their companies are finding that the costs of borrowing have increased substantially, particularly-and this is the interesting thing-in the last couple of months. The impact will be more on SMEs than it will be on others, the larger FTSE companies, who can raise it through bonds and equities. Again, going back to our remit, the taxpayer’s interest, the deal is taxpayer puts money in, and what we hope to get out is better lending to businesses, and particularly the SME sector. What is your comment on the Engineering Employers’ Federation finding?
Eric Daniels: I do not really have much to comment on; I disagree with it. The cost of borrowing for SMEs has not been this low for many years, and what we are seeing is, in fact, some increase off very low levels, which reflects the higher cost of funding for the banks. As we all know, the markets, over the past year, whether it was last May, last September or more recently in February, got quite jittery when the possibility of contagion from Greece, Spain or Portugal and so on was looming. So the cost of funding for the banks has gone up, and that is reflected in some part-not across the board, but in some part-in new lines and facilities for our customers.
Q154 Chair: Do you want to add anything?
Stephen Hester: The average cost of SME loans that RBS made last year was 3.5%, and, as Eric says, that of course, by historic standards, is extremely low. What is true is that relative to base rate there have been some changes, but if I can draw an analogy perhaps apposite to the moment, it is a bit like petrol prices going up, and the reason petrol prices have gone up is because the cost of buying oil, out of which petrol is made, has gone up. Exactly the same thing has gone on for banks: the costs relative to base rate for banks to get money has gone up, and so consequently that is passed on, even though the absolute rates are historically low.
Mrs McGuire: O n this s ubject, I would quite like to just do a very quick follow up on what has just been said.
Chris Heaton-Harris: Mine is as well.
Q155 Chris Heaton-Harris: It might even be the same thing. First of all, thank you for coming, because it is not often a group of politicians meets someone less popular than themselves, so it is really kind of you to give us that sort of charitable feel. It is really a question to you, Mr Hester. I imagine most of us around this table have had constituents and companies write to us, small businesses especially, who are having problems securing loans, and in 2009 Peter Ibbetson, who is your Small Business Chairman, said that 93% of SMEs are currently able to roll over overdrafts at RBS at the same or lower rate. I was wondering, if he measured it then, what is that measure now?
Stephen Hester: I do not have the precise percentage. I do not think it has changed a lot, but I am very happy to write to you afterwards to confirm that. But our overdraft price promise, which I think is the primary component of what was put in, remains in place.
Chris Heaton-Harris: I am happy to pass over to Anne.
Q156 Mrs McGuire: I would just like to question the 3.5% average. Obviously Mr Daniels did not give us a figure for Lloyds’ average lending to small companies. Frankly, 3.5% lending to small businesses does not chime with what we are hearing out there, and I am wondering whether or not there are other costs that need to be taken into account when small and medium enterprises are trying to access finance. I do not have permission to reveal some of the details here, but certainly the small businesses in my area did not give the impression-and it has been verified with your bank by me, through questioning the bank-that 3.5% was anything like what they had been asked to pay. Are there fees, or have the fees gone up? Have the securities that have been asked for gone up?
Stephen Hester: Clearly the figure I gave you was an average, so there will be some above and some below. You are correct to say that for some kinds of borrowing, in addition to that there can be fees associated with taking out the loan, or whatever it might be.
Q157 Mrs McGuire: Have those fees increased?
Stephen Hester: And those fees, probably on average, have increased.
Q158 Mrs McGuire: Once, twice? 50%, 100%?
Stephen Hester: I think I can say with great certainty that, even when you take account of fees, the average cost of borrowing for SMEs is amongst the lowest it has been in decades. However, it is higher relative to base rate than it was, for the reasons that I have sketched out. Another way to think about it is, if you like, are the banks profiteering? In other words, are the banks taking, somehow, an inappropriate margin out of the middle between their cost of borrowing and the others?
What I can say, again, is we publish our figures every three months on this, and if we take our Corporate Lending division, our UK division that lends to businesses of all sizes, the return on equity of that division has obviously been loss making through the recession and very low, and so is not a good advertisement for our shareholders, but has now got back to below our target, but roughly to 12%, which we think is roughly our cost of capital. So you can see no evidence either on the bottom line of profiteering, or indeed on the average for businesses. But it is certainly the case that, in the same way that petrol prices have gone up, bank input prices have gone up, and that gets passed on through different means. It has to be.
Q159 Mrs McGuire: So if I say to you that a farmer in my constituency came to me who had previously had an arrangement fee to sustain his overdraft, or to maintain his overdraft, increased from £500, I think, if my memory serves me correctly, to almost £5,000, that would not be considered profiteering? I have to say to you, one of the arguments that is constantly put to Members of Parliament is that as a taxpayer I own 83% of this bank, and people feel that those dramatic increases in arrangement fees are perhaps hiding the true costs of borrowing.
Stephen Hester: As I said, I think our numbers are very transparent, and you could look at them every three months, we publish them as to what our profits are, and what that is in each of our business lines, so you can see the aggregate. Of course, that does not tell you the answer for any particular borrower, but you can see what the average is. And again, using my petrol price analogy, petrol prices have gone up fast and a lot, but that was because oil prices went up fast and a lot, and exactly the same has happened with the cost of borrowing for banks, which in turn is, if you like, our goods that we sell to customers in the form of lending.
Q160 Mrs McGuire: But they have not gone up 10 times. An arrangement fee from £500 to £5,000 sounds to me like a tenfold increase.
Q161 Chair: Mr Daniels, do you want to add to that at all on this exchange?
Eric Daniels: That is a very complete answer.
Q162 Mr Bacon: We have heard different Members from different parts of the country. In my own constituency, which is in East Anglia, in Norfolk, I met with the Federation of Small Business on Monday morning, and the predominant theme that I was told about-it was really for them to talk to me, rather than me give them a speech-was the difficulty in accessing bank lending.
Austin Mitchell: The same here.
Mr Bacon: When I was first elected in 2001 that was not the case. I did not get business people banging on my door about that, nor in 2002, nor in 2003, and so on until the banks between them crashed the whole world in 2007/08. Obviously there have been huge problems since then-we are all trying to get out of the mess, you are all trying to get out of the mess. I do appreciate that you are being told to do things that are contradictory. I think Mr Barclay alluded to this earlier: you are being told to lend more; you are also being told to conserve your capital-your natural instinct, I suppose, is to protect your capital if you are not sure about the quality or the value of your assets-and you are also being told to strengthen your capital and improve your balances sheets, and it is very difficult to do all of these things simultaneously. In fact, some of them are obviously completely contradictory. But nonetheless it is the case that you are saying that there is a lot of lending happening, and we are all getting the message from different parts of the country that it is very difficult for business owners to access the loans that they need.
I had one example of an individual who set up a business three or four years ago. He found it easier to access money then, when he was setting it up, than he does now when it is successful, cash generative, and he wants to invest in equipment because it will help him to get leading edge, blue-chip customers and help him to grow and possibly take on more staff. Why is there this disconnect between these two world views? Mr Daniels, do you want to start perhaps?
Eric Daniels: I think that we have a couple of things to look at. One is: what is the real demand for credit? I know there are a lot of anecdotal stories, and if there is a particular member of your constituency that has an issue with Lloyds, I would very much appreciate it if you would write to, in this case, Mr Tookey, but we would be very anxious to hear about that in Lloyds. But I think if you look at the evidence it says that the actual overdraft usage or line utilisation usage-so in other words, we extend the line of credit and you can draw it down any time you wish to-is actually falling. So this is already preagreed, there is a preagreed price for it, the facility is there, but customers are not drawing down; they are drawing down less than they did before. So that says something about demand.
The other thing that I would tell you is that, if we look at the market in 2006/07, which you alluded, to when your constituent was starting up, we had an awful lot of flaky lending in the marketplace. You need look no further than Ireland or Iceland or some of the continental banks that were very much in the SME market in the UK. They were in the mortgage market. It was a lending freeforall. So covenants came down, conditions were almost nonexistent, pricing was ridiculously low: that is not an appropriate way to bank. What was happening was we were seeing an awful lot of competitors-especially not the main competitors-changing conditions and changing the market, and an awful lot of people who probably were not really terribly creditworthy, and if we had been sensible as a society we probably would not have allowed them to get into debt. It was not good for them, it was not good for the economy and it certainly was not good for the banks. But that was the frenzy that we were in. Today we have hopefully all learned lessons. We have returned to some much more traditional practices and rules around prudence.
Q163 Joseph Johnson: A question to Mr Hester and Mr Daniels please. You have both, to a greater or a lesser degree, got the dead hand of the state gripping the entrails of your respective organisations. Mr Hester, you have been quite explicit in recent weeks in identifying a certain amount of talent flight from your organisation. I would be interested to know to what extent you feel that is due to the large Government shareholding in your organisation.
Stephen Hester: This is in some ways a difficult position, because I think we need to be crystal clear that RBS would not be here today were it not for support from the state, and so while some consequences go with that, I think it would be entirely unbalanced to not start with that recognition and say, if there are some consequences, the outcome is worth the consequences. So that would be my first answer.
The second point I think is that all businesses, whether or not they are owned or partly owned by Government or by the state, I think have a duty, and it is good business practice, to try to be sensitive to the environment in which they operate, the communities that they serve, and there are sometimes tradeoffs in doing that, and I would like to think that a number of those issues would be true of us whether or not we had compromises, if you like, and whether or not we had state ownership. But in a sense there is a time for everything, and I think what I would say to you is that the time, I believe, is fast approaching when the benefit to both the state and RBS of the state privatising increases. Clearly the state can use the money in terms of budget deficit, and in terms of the symbolism of economic recovery that a privatisation would represent. In the case of RBS, there is the worry that RBS is somehow subject to different, more conflicting and more complex requirements than all of its competitors. So I think the right answer to this is not to, in a sense, bemoan the past-far from it, we have to be grateful for the past-but more to say the right way going forward, the winwin, is to advance privatisation when that is possible.
Q164 Joseph Johnson: Can I put the same question to Mr Daniels, please?
Eric Daniels: I do not believe that we have lost significant numbers of people. We have a natural attrition in Lloyds of somewhere around 10% of our people per year. We are not seeing anything really remarkably different from that.
Q165 Joseph Johnson: Great . T he follow up question to both of you is what top rate of personal income tax do you think is consistent with London maintaining and perhaps enhancing its position as one of the world’s important financial centres?
Austin Mitchell: It is an optional question.
Eric Daniels: I would not begin to know how to answer that question.
Q166 Joseph Johnson: You do not have a view?
Eric Daniels: I could not begin to answer it.
Q167 Joseph Johnson: In what sense?
Eric Daniels: I have never studied it; I do not have a basis to offer an opinion. I think it is a complex subject, and if I were to give you an answer, it would superficial at best.
Q168 Mr Bacon: How much truth do you think there is in the point-made by a parliamentary colleague of mine who used to be a swaps trader for many years-that a lot of this bonus culture is nonsense in the sense that lots of people would not leave London because they like London too much. London has too much to offer compared with virtually everywhere else. If you are out in Geneva at eight o’clock in the evening it is dead; there is nothing to do. Whereas in London there is plenty to do, everything to do, and it is one of the world’s greatest cities, and that in itself has a centripetal force that is probably more important than bonuses, and the talk that somehow you have to keep up the bonuses at the right level, otherwise everyone will suddenly up sticks and get on a plane, is overstated.
Eric Daniels: Is there a question?
Q169 Mr Bacon: Yes, the question is do you think it is correct that that is overstated?
Eric Daniels: I think that that may not be the right measure. I might ask, "How does change happen?" It rarely happens with the bank: it happens over time and it happens on the margin. What we do know is that a particular bank hired more people in Singapore last year than they did in the UK. If you look at the rise of the Dubai financial centre, again, you are seeing more and more jobs going over there. It is not the middleaged derivatives trader who has two kids in school and so on: it is the young, up-and-coming 25-, 28-year-old who is looking to build a career, and they see that their prospects are brighter elsewhere.
Q170 Mr Bacon: So you m ight not see it other than almost imperceptibly, but if you look back on it several decades later, you might suddenly realise there had been a very big change.
Q171 Jackie Doyle-Price: I am just reflecting on what you particularly said, Mr Daniels, about the fact that risk had been in the price for many years in the run-up to the banking crisis, and that is what got us into this mess, and looking also at the targets and the caveats you have placed on it in respect of demand and creditworthiness. Where that takes me is, I am reassured from a taxpayer value-for-money point of view that the taxpayer is not just going to be standing in there supporting poor credit risks. But in that sense, to what extent are those targets having any meaning at all? For you, are they targets, are they aspirations, and how confident are you that you will meet those lending targets for businesses particularly?
Eric Daniels: I am absolutely confident I will not since I am no longer in the chair.
Q172 Jackie Doyle-Price: As a sector then, how confident, looking at it-can I then conclude that they are meaningless?
Eric Daniels: I think that question might be better asked of Mr Hester, who has something to do with it.
Stephen Hester: I think that the job of maximising support for customers in the UK is one that, in any event, the banks should be doing the most on because that is their business, and I believe the banks certainly-it is true of RBS-are doing even more than perhaps in any event they would be in response to the obvious needs of society, one manifestation of which is the political dialogue and the lending commitments that are associated with that. We can see that as an example in the context of RBS’s market share, but I see that every day in our internal workings.
What, however, is unfortunately the case for those who would like a neater world is that no one can tell you today what amount of borrowing UK business can usefully use in the coming year, and we do not have a centrally planned economy, and even if we did I do not think you could answer that question. It is of course the case that an element of what is being done is to build confidence. I think this is a crucially missing bit of the dialogue: crucial to economic growth-and the UK is in trouble if we do not get economic growth-is confidence. There are lots of bits of confidence: a piece that the banks can help with is the confidence that if people have a good proposition, a bankable proposition, that money is there and people are trying to help them now. Banks have many flaws, there are many individual cases where I am sure they can do better, but I do think that we take it very seriously that it is our job to first give people confidence and second to back that up with substance where it is bankable. What we cannot do is, in a centrally planned way say, "That will definitely be amount of money x or y, and here you can have it regardless of whether you have the right proposition or not."
But this issue of confidence should not be ignored, and I do think that one of the important changes in recent months is that people have realised that looking backwards all the time and recriminating all the time and, if you like, looking on the negative side of life, is not going to help us grow. It is very important to learn from the mistakes and put them right, but in the end what we need to be doing is looking forward, trying to get growth and wealth creation, and the banks have an important role to play in the business confidence to start with, and then in the provision of support when the right propositions come along behind that, and that is what we need to do. We are doing it imperfectly; we need to try to continually perfect that.
Q173 Jackie Doyle-Price: And the continued presence of the taxpayer in the banking system is enabling you to do that, let’s be frank. One of the things you said is that you are doing more than perhaps you wanted to. What we have seen is-and you have both made this point in different ways-that many businesses have been reducing their credit exposure and turning to other sources of finance. To what extent is the taxpayer being asked to prop up the riskier side of lending?
Stephen Hester: Although you could not often tell it from public debate on the subject, I do not believe, when you sweep aside the debating points, that Government is actually asking the banks to go back and do some more reckless lending. I do believe that most people think that the banks should try to lend responsibly and support their customers in that way. In that sense I think the banks are trying to both lend responsibly-as Eric has pointed out, in some instances that means differently than in the past-whilst at the same time trying within that envelope to support their customers. Certainly when I think of the people on the ground in RBS, and again I am sure there are many individual cases where we get it wrong so I am not in any way trying to say that we are perfect, they know that they have to try and find a way to support the customer. We do not always succeed. 85% of the time, if a small business asks us for a loan, we say yes. Sometimes with us that small business has to jump through more hoops than it might have done in the past: more covenants, more financial disclosure. Because the business may be weaker, it may be suffering with the recession; standards may have changed. One way or another we are trying to keep the same flow of money going as we did before, at least in terms of your likelihood of getting a loan.
Q174 Jackie Doyle-Price: Are you pricing that risk effectively or is the taxpayer supporting that?
Stephen Hester: Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing; the banks thought they were before and they were wrong. Right now the banks are trying to price risk effectively. Whether that is indeed what we will have done will take some years to find out, when you look in the rear-view mirror and find out what actually did happen to the economy and so on and so forth. That is certainly the intent.
Q175 Chair: Mervyn King said rather worryingly in the interview he gave recently in the Telegraph, which I assume you also saw, "The search for yield goes on. Imbalances are beginning to grow again." You paint this rather rosy picture, but the Governor of the Bank of England appears not to agree.
Stephen Hester: I do not know whether this was what he was meaning, because I was not present when he made the remark-I am always nervous about interpreting from newspaper articles-but I think the point is very important to understand, and I think we do all understand: what happened to the world was as a result of a series of unsustainable economic imbalances, many of which are still out there. The banking system had a big part in that but not a sole part in that. It is incumbent upon the whole world to keep working away at economic imbalances, whether it is, in the UK, our fiscal imbalance, our balance of payments imbalance, the imbalance of household saving versus borrowing, the imbalance that was in banks’ balance sheets. There are a whole series of these things which still have not been corrected and will probably take a lot of years to correct. That is why it is so important that all of us work together to do so.
Q176 Chair: Take his comment at face value, which is the only way we can do it; it was in quotation marks so I assume that he did say it. "The search for yield goes on. Imbalances are beginning to grow again". You would challenge that, would you?
Stephen Hester: I am not going to comment on remarks that I only read about in the newspaper. I think it is wrong to do that. All I can say to you is: the problem of imbalances in the world has not been fixed. To some extent the first steps of the cure made worse imbalances, because the first steps of the cure in some countries were to increase budget deficits and other kinds of imbalance which then subsequently need to be worked down.
Q177 Chair: I do not think he is talking about Government budget deficits, he is talking about banks. If you do not want to answer it, say you do not want to answer it.
Stephen Hester: I am doing my best to answer it.
Q178 Chair: It is pretty clear to me. Mr Daniels, do you want to comment on that?
Eric Daniels: I have nothing further to add.
Chair: What does that mean? Do you think he was right? He is wrong?
Q179 Stella Creasy: Let’s turn to something else he also mentioned in the article, which is a very big debate that is happening here in Parliament and something that I think all of us look at when we look at the value for money of the decisions that were made over the last couple of years to invest in the banks. We have not solved the "too big to fail" problem. In fact, let me quote from Mervyn King directly. He said, "We've not yet solved the ‘too big to fail’ or, as I prefer to call it, the ‘too important to fail’ problem. The concept of being too important to fail should have no place in a market economy". If your banks were to collapse, the Government would have to step in to protect your customers. As we have all talked about, many of our constituents are customers of yours and to prevent there being a contagion to other banks is something that we dealt with the first time. Implicitly you are still guaranteed by the taxpayer. What needs to be done to end the "too big to fail" culture? Is it to break you up into smaller banks? If not that, what else can be done?
Eric Daniels: Think about what has happened over the past couple of years in terms of the much stiffer capital requirements; Core Tier 1 did not exist as a concept in 2008, and today all banks run with very high levels of shareholder capital, much higher than there has ever been in the past. In the case of Lloyds, we now carry 10% of Core Tier 1 and 15% overall capital. Those levels were unheard of a few short years ago. In addition to that there has been an enormous amount of work done on liquidity regimes. We all know that banks do not go bankrupt because of capital but rather because of access to liquidity. Again, an enormous amount has been done. The amount of liquidity that any bank holds today is many multiples of what they carried in the past. I think those are two important changes that should not be overlooked.
In addition to that, I think there has been a tremendous amount of re-examination of the system of regulation, of understanding some of the risks that probably were not well understood before. That gives a better safeguard to society in terms of managing those risks. The final thing that I would point out is "too big to fail" is perhaps a misnomer, or perhaps does not aid understanding. What is probably more difficult is when a bank is enormously interconnected and complex. That is what makes a resolution regime very difficult. In the case of Lloyds, for example, we are a very straightforward business. The Bank of England has basically told us that they believe we are in fact straightforward; it is easy for us to be resolved, if you will. I do not think it is a bigness issue, it is a complexity issue.
Q180 Stella Creasy: Just so I am clear Mr Daniels, you dispute the analysis of Mervyn King. Can I also check, then, whether you think there should be any concerns to us as taxpayers about the size of market share that Lloyds now has as a result of the changes over the last couple of years, that, in terms of competition for consumers, the dominance that you play within the mortgage and savings industry is not a problem? You do not see that there is a problem for us as consumers, that you are too big for the British market now.
Eric Daniels: No. I think this is a very, very highly competitive market. It is a good deal less concentrated than many other markets, for example, Canada, Australia, and France. In fact it is less concentrated. I think that every study that I have seen has said that UK consumers get very, very good outcomes in terms of pricing. What really matters is not the size or concentration, it is the contestability. What you see in the UK is a lot of discounting. You see a lot of free offers, a lot of interest free periods and so on. That is because it is such a fiercely competitive market. A zero balance transfer on a credit card is a relatively common thing because the banks fight each other for market share. That leads to very good, top quartile consumer outcomes. I do not believe that the size of Lloyds or any other UK bank impedes competition. Indeed, the OFT is charged with looking and examining whether they think the consumers are getting a worse outcome because of the size or structure of the industry.
Q181 Stella Creasy: So the Governor of the Bank of England is wrong and a 30% market share is not a problem. Mr Hester, what is your view about what the Governor of the Bank of England said?
Stephen Hester: Again, I am not going to be tempted by your invitation into a slanging match with anyone as distinguished as the Governor of the Bank of England.
Q182 Stella Creasy: I am not tempting you to a slanging match at all; I am asking your opinion. Are the British banks too big to fail?
Stephen Hester: What I would say to you is as follows. Of course, coming in to RBS as I did at its point of near failure, it was of intense professional interest to me as to what caused failure; what to do about it; using RBS as a specific example, how to make banks safe again, in addition to what parallels there were in the rest of the banking industry. It was something I have spent a great deal of time on and thought on. RBS is, I hope, an exemplar of the things we needed to put right. I believe that I have been very clear that very substantial reform was needed in the banking system.
What I have also been clear about, though, is my belief that size and shape are complete red herrings in this debate. When you look at the banks that were weakened and failed, or nearly failed, there is no pattern of size and there is no pattern of shape. In fact, the majority by far were small and simple: Bradford & Bingley, Dunfermline Building Society, Northern Rock. Think of, today, banks that are relatively weak: the Spanish Caixa and so on. Regardless of size and shape, it has been my view that the banking industry needed very substantial reform that would apply whether you are big or small, simple or complicated. As I said earlier on, but just simply to reprise it for you, the two components of that were to make each bank safer with more capital and more liquidity-Eric has spoken about that-then to put in place mechanisms that, even if despite that extra safety there was failure, you did not go to the Government for capital support, but you went through Co-Cos, bailouts, your own creditors in a resolution regime. I believe that when the current banking reform process has been completed and the international Basel Committee, on which the UK is well represented, is mid-stream, that we will indeed have achieved those goals and made banking safer for society as we should have done. That would be true whether you are a big bank or a small bank, a simple one or a complicated one.
Q183 Stephen Barclay: Firstly can I say, I agree with Mr Hester’s comment that it is important that we learn from the mistakes and look forward. Could I just pick upon something that a senior executive at Lehman Brothers said to the Fed, or was quoted as saying. He said, "We do not know what the value of our derivatives liabilities are, and frankly neither do you". Just starting with Mr Daniels, what has changed in the way you managed your derivatives liabilities? Was it right to present those in terms of a net position and is that still the case in your approach; I am talking about how you manage your counterparty risk?
Eric Daniels: I am not quite sure I grasped the question. You are asking "Have we changed the way in which we manage derivatives?"
Q184 Stephen Barclay: What I am asking is: you as a senior executive have to understand what is on your balance sheets, the assets, what we as taxpayers have invested in and the risk that is posed to them. A lot of companies, in term of their derivatives trading, were presenting that in terms of net-you understand these issues very well-for example, in terms of the position between your trades with Barclays. There is a counterparty risk if Barclays goes down and there is a difficulty in terms of how that is quantified, how that is then studied. PRIN 3 and PRIN 4 and SYSC have certain requirements in terms of how you manage your liabilities there. What I am saying is there are clearly faults in the way it was happening two or three years ago. What has changed in your approach?
Eric Daniels: I think one of the things that I should clarify before answering is that Lloyds is a commercial and a retail bank. While we will use derivatives, for example, in investment banking products, we use them only really for flow. In other words, if a manufacturer in the Midlands wants to hedge their interest rate-in other words they have a floating rate loan, and they want to lock in the rate of interest-we will sell them a derivative. Once we sell to them we have an open position. We lay that off within an investment bank. So for a very short period, what we will do is in fact have a derivatives exposure. But really the use of derivatives for us is mostly flow to serve customers. We do not use it as a trading position, a proprietary position. Do we in fact have some exposure to it? Yes, of course we do. What we do is we manage our limits very carefully, as we always have.
Q185 Stephen Barclay: If you had been here three years ago you would have said you manage your limits. That was not my question. My question was, have you changed your approach? Do you still present that from a net position, or have you changed your approach in term of counterparty risk?
Eric Daniels: Tim, I don’t know whether you have anything to add.
Tim Tookey: We report this information gross. As Eric said, we manage it very tightly and we know what our positions are and how they are valued on a daily basis. On top of that we very carefully analyse the counterparty risk that you are referring to on the asset side of all exposures, whether that is the company in the Midlands that Eric was using in his example, or indeed the third party to whom the risk would have been laid off.
Q186 Stephen Barclay: Perhaps you can help. I am a generalist; I am not an expert as you are in these matters. I just had a scan this morning of your preliminary report from a couple of weeks ago, and on page 125 it says, "The Group reduces exposure to credit risk by using master netting agreements … These do not meet the criteria under IAS 32", whatever that is. What that suggested to me was that you are presenting these in a way that does not meet international accounting standards. As I say I am not an expert, but why are you not presenting them in a way that meets international standards? Are you presenting them in the same way you would have done three years ago?
Tim Tookey: I am very happy to confirm that we do present all of our financial information in accordance with international financial reporting standards. That is the basis upon which our accounts have been done since IFRS were introduced in 2005. Our auditors report publically on the basis of preparation of the accounts, and that is indeed what they have given us.
Stephen Barclay: Sure, you go through the various legal checks before one signs those off.
Tim Tookey: It is more than that. It is actually a certificate from the external auditors who obviously owe a duty of care to shareholders to ensure that we do indeed comply with international accounting standards.
Q187 Stephen Barclay: You bring me very nicely onto the auditors; I was going to come on Mr Hester’s auditors in a moment, but it is timely. After 10 months of intensive work by the Treasury, the Accounting Officer of the Treasury had to seek a letter of direction because-it was before your time I accept-they were unable to confirm the validity of what your firm was saying in terms of the assets of the company. What does that say about the quality of the external audit work that was done?
Stephen Hester: I think that the first thing I would say is that there were lots of things RBS did not do well. Our job is to improve on those things. One of the things that it did not do that well was to have perfect books and records, computer systems and so on and so forth. There are countless amounts of millions of pounds and man hours and management effort going in to improve that alongside the many other things that we are trying to improve. That would be the first point that I would make to you.
The second point that I would make to you, in relation to the specifics that you are referring to-to which my first point also refers-is that the Asset Protection Scheme I think covered something like 3.5 million individual loans in RBS. No bank in the world, RBS or any other, ever had designed its systems to aggregate information in the particular way that was called upon by the Asset Protection Scheme and the different safeguards that a Government agency was used to getting. If I can give you a parallel, it would be a little bit like someone suddenly coming along the top of the UK Government saying, "We want to get every patient record from the NHS, every record from Work and Pensions and bring them together".
Therefore there were imperfections in the systems but, simply, systems were not designed to gather information in that particular way. I believe that even though I think RBS needed to improve and has been improving, not for this reason but in general, it remains substantively the case that there have been no instances that threaten the taxpayer as it relates to APS. There is no prospect that the taxpayer is going to be on the hook for anything under this category or otherwise in APS, as we do not expect to claim. So I think as it relates to materiality, the Treasury were quite right to sign off and nothing has come out since that suggested that that was a misjudgment.
Q188 Stephen Barclay: That is a different issue you are moving onto. First of all, Mr Tookey’s whole argument a moment ago was this was looked at by the external auditors. What that case demonstrates is a serious failure by the external auditor in all of this.
Stephen Hester: Do you want me to finish or not?
Q189 Stephen Barclay: You are suggesting it was perhaps the unreasonable request of the Treasury asking for information in a particular form that was different. Look at what Tom Scholar said when he gave evidence: "Given what we discovered about the quality of risk management and the poor systems and controls within the business, we were concerned that there might be other problems that had not come to light." He was not suggesting we were asking for information in a particularly unique format. The point is there was a regulatory duty under SYSC for you to manage your controls. You had external auditors who also were under a duty. Yet after 10 months of intensive work by the Treasury they could not rely on it. What I am trying to drive at in my question to Mr Daniels in terms of how they present their information on derivatives is, what has actually changed? What has changed in the way these are being done and in the way that these risks are being presented?
Mrs McGuire: For example, do you still have 21 different IT systems, which was one of the issues raised by the Treasury?
Stephen Hester: We still have lots of different IT systems. It will take many years for us to reduce them, and the work is ongoing to do so. If I may, I am not saying that RBS’s systems were up to scratch; I said to the contrary. What I am saying, though, is that the shortcomings that were pointed out were not of a magnitude to have led to losses to the taxpayer. Since I have come into RBS I have tried to understand whether there were things hidden in cupboards that were unknown that represented big risks and loss. Perhaps sadly, what I can say to you is that from the inside of RBS, what I discovered was really just a Technicolor version of what one could have seen from the outside. Indeed, though there were many of them, the specific shortcomings in the systems area have not led to material losses for either the taxpayer or our shareholders. The material losses, and they have been huge, came from big things, big misjudgments, big areas of concentration that were on display.
Coming to your point on derivatives, I think the management of derivatives has substantially changed and continues to change across the industry but certainly in RBS. By the way, the overwhelming majority of losses that RBS will have suffered across the cycle-and it is true of other banks-comes from bog standard lending, not from derivatives. Derivatives was a tiny fraction of where the losses arose.
Q190 Stephen Barclay: The report suggests a £1 million deterioration in three months on junk bonds.
Stephen Hester: Junk bonds are not derivatives; they are loans, they are bonds. There has been a huge amount of work on derivatives to improve the ability, which was a problem in Lehman, to offset liabilities in a legal way if you like, netting agreements. There is a huge amount of ongoing reform to clear derivatives and trade them across exchanges and through central counterparty clearing. Then there has been a huge amount of work done by all banks, certainly by RBS, to refine valuation to make more conservative reserving and to improve the risk management overall. I can certainly say to you that there has been a great deal of work. It is ongoing. It is certainly true of RBS, and it is true of the industry as it relates to management of derivatives.
Q191 Austin Mitchell: I want to move on to bonuses, which are effectively part paid by the taxpayer. I see that RBS paid out £28 million in bonuses to nine executives. We are told that this was done after exhaustive consultation with our shareholders, one of which is me. How was I consulted? How was the public consulted? How was the Government consulted on this?
Stephen Hester: There are two forms in which that took place. Every year the remuneration policy and the remuneration decisions are up for vote and all the shareholders can vote as they chose on the remuneration report. Secondly, the objectives that are set both in the remuneration report and the objectives that are set for me have been reviewed each year by UKFI on your behalf. Thirdly, prior to the payment of bonuses at RBS, the Chairwoman of our remuneration committee conducted an extensive shareholder consultation, including UKFI and our major institutional shareholders, with a big fat presentation pack going through all the aspects of bonus policy and taking into account that feedback. That is the format in which the consultation has taken place. I think it is more extensive than was the case before.
Q192. Austin Mitchell: It was given effectively by UK Financial Investments.
Stephen Hester: I cannot speak for them as to what processes they go through to decide their vote, but obviously they are the holder of the shares in RBS and Lloyds. I think they undertake that task with great thoroughness.
Q193. Austin Mitchell: Just in passing, I see from Private Eye, which is an infallible source on banking matters, that the head of UK Financial Investments is Mr Robin Budenberg who was a great giver of bonuses at UBS. He had his bonuses at UBS channelled through Jersey so he did not pay tax. Did you do that?
Q194. Austin Mitchell: But the bank has lots of subsidiaries in tax havens like Jersey.
Q195. Austin Mitchell: The taxpayer now owns lots of banks in tax havens doesn’t it?
Stephen Hester: I think the population of the Isle of Man, where we happen to be one of the larger banks, would feel a little bit resentful if you were characterising them as all there because it is a tax haven. There are real economies in places that have got low tax rates, as well as high tax rates.
Q196. Austin Mitchell: So these are just for tax avoidance purposes then.
Stephen Hester: Do people live in the Isle of Man for tax avoidance purposes? You must draw your own opinion.
Q197. Austin Mitchell: Profits made in this country, channelled through the Isle of Man , are done for tax avoidance purposes.
Stephen Hester: As I was saying, I do not believe that RBS has been the subject of particular criticism as it relates to its aggressiveness on taxation. If you can show me contrary evidence, obviously I would be very pleased to look at it. We have signed up to the tax code and I think our affairs are completely in order.
Q198. Austin Mitchell: Let me ask you about your bonus of £7.7 million, which is well beyond the dreams of your average PPE graduate when he leaves Oxford. Is it that you had produced some outstanding enormous profit for the bank or was it just that you are a greedy banker? What have you done for the £7.7 million?
Stephen Hester: I think this is a subject that is perhaps inappropriate for me to go on about for long, because I do not set my own pay. That is set by my Board of Directors and in turn voted on by shareholders, including UKFI. As you well know it is at the low end of comparable jobs in the UK and globally, albeit at the high end of society if you want to put it in those terms. One can have a philosophical discussion about pay differential.
Q199. Austin Mitchell: The taxpayers wants to know why we are paying, we are contributing, to giving you £7.7 million.
Stephen Hester: Your job as a politician is to have that philosophical discussion. What I am charged with doing is to try to run a large bank, on which many customers depend, in which the taxpayer has a great deal of financial exposure, to the best of my own and my colleagues’ abilities. It is in the hands of others how they want to pay me for that. It is in my hands whether I want to do the job for that. I think by the standards of each profession, which is in the end how these things are measured, the governance process is gone through in a very thorough way. As I say, I am not going for a second to engage you in the philosophical discussion about pay levels in society. Fortunately that is not what I am charged with doing. I have to protect your investment.
Q200. Stella Creasy: You do not have to accept bonuses though do you?
Stephen Hester: No, you do not have to accept your salary either.
Q201. Stella Creasy: A bonus is a different thing. Mr Daniels, have you accepted your bonus?
Eric Daniels: No I did not.
Q202. Austin Mitchell: That is a feeble comeback: that we do not have to accept our salary. £7.7 million is huge and the taxpayer is contributing to it, effectively.
Stephen Hester: No one is forced to employ me.
Q203. Austin Mitchell: Do you see these bonuses as an incentive to take risks at different levels in the banking industry? The bigger the risk you take, the bigger the bonus you collect.
Stephen Hester: I think that it is extremely important that the incentives that go in any industry, but in this case in the bank industry, have been reformed. There has been very comprehensive reform. In fact, RBS has been amongst the leaders in doing that both in terms of alignment of incentives and their measurement, and the ability to claw them back if the incentives retrospectively are seen to go wrong. The UK today has, in those regards, the toughest regime in the world. I think RBS is at the forefront of that process. I do believe the issue of risk and misalignment of incentive has been very comprehensively addressed. What is clear is that there are parts of the banking industry which remain highly paid, and of course it is clear that that is a matter of controversy depending on where you look. Fortunately, that is not what I am charged with. What I am charged with is trying to run this bank as well as I can by the standards of its environment.
Chair: I am going to stop that conversation because it can go on. I think others will have probably said it to you Mr Hester and to you Mr Daniels, but it is just very difficult in the situation. We come in, again defending the taxpayer. Our interest is not as the Treasury Select Committee. We are just here saying: did we get value for money from the money that was put in? I think, in the same way as we as MPs have had to understand the impact out there of some abuses of the allowance system by some Members of Parliament, you have to understand that the people are suffering from a credit crunch, which they feel you in large part caused; to then see large bonuses is a bridge too far. I think a sensitivity to that in whether or not you accept your bonuses is all we ask for; especially when we are in a position where the taxpayer continues at this point to prop you up, hopefully not for too long, but we do. I think it would just be nice to get a feel from some of the people that have benefitted from the bonus system that they understand that and respond to it, in the same way that we have had to respond as MPs to criticism of us. I think it is a very simple issue.
Q204. Ian Swales: I would think it is very likely we will be voting down our own £1,000 pay rise on Monday as MPs. I do not know what people are doing around the table, but that is the discussion we will be having on Monday. My real question is, hopefully you have given us a lot of comfort in a way that things are secure and we are never going back to the days of two years ago. If we did, I think there is an element of saying: to what extent the UK taxpayer stood behind international operations of banks, to what extent that was justifiable and whether that should happen in the future. One of our colleagues who is not here was talking about breaking up the banks geographically which I think is clearly not the type of thing we should be asking industry to do. But the UK taxpayer, explicitly or implicitly, aids the banks, stands behind risk, possibly less so now and hopefully even less in the future. Should we get into that situation again, to what extent should the UK taxpayer be backing a huge international bank?
Stephen Hester: I think that firstly, hopefully the UK taxpayer will make a profit not a loss from its support; in the event, it looks like that is going to happen. Secondly, I think one of the very positive things that came out of the negative of the world financial crisis is that the world did not turn in on itself and that protectionism in all its forms did not take over. The world realised that the future still lies in a small world where we trade with each other and where we exchange all sorts of goods, services, cultures and so on. That is particularly true in Britain because we are one of the world’s most open economies with the most to lose, of any economy, from a world that turned on itself, became completely nationalistic and pulled up the drawbridges. I would say to you, in my own view, with financial services, which is a huge part of the UK economy anyway, as with the whole of the UK economy, that it behoves us to encourage a global system in which all of us play a role. I think that was what happened in the aftermath of the financial crisis on all levels and it was the right thing to do.
Q205. Ian Swales: If we had got it wrong and one of these large banks had actually crashed and burnt somehow after the taxpayer had stood behind it or rescued it-UK taxpayer money went in the direction of the Icelandic banks in effect for UK depositors. I know we have got corporate bails and so on, about foreign subsidiaries and we know some of the severe losses of some of your competitors over the Atlantic. I understand your point about global competition and the importance of financial services to the UK. But as the Chair keeps saying, we are here for the taxpayer. To what extent should their money be used for activities that take place overseas?
Stephen Hester: The taxpayer should not. The whole point of the reform of the banking system is to make sure the taxpayer here, or in any other country, does not. I am a fierce advocate of the reforms that are in process, not complete, to do that. To my mind, the right answer is to ensure that the global financial system is reformed such that this is not an issue. The wrong answer is for countries to draw up their own drawbridges and isolate themselves from the world, whether in financial services or any other form of global trade.
Q206. Ian Swales: That is one test we should be applying to the new banking world, that is the sort of area we have just been talking about then.
Q207. Chris Heaton-Harris: In a way I look at you and I see a bit of John Galt from Atlas Shrugged, except John Galt was never really supported by the taxpayer. Can you see the point in time when RBS is a huge success again in the future? Is it within grasp even though it may take a number of years? Secondly, and just going back to a previous question, you said that there was a risk of misalignment of incentive within the system. Do you think it is right that the shareholder dividends were cut by up to 90% but staff payouts have been barely changed?
Stephen Hester: Clearly we are putting in every effort that we can to make RBS a success again. We have set out a plan which we believe will do that. Two years into what I thought was roughly a five year process we are on or ahead of that plan by its different matrices. I believe that so far we have reason to be encouraged. That success needs to be measured in simple terms across three dimensions. As I see it, we have three simple roles although there is a great deal of complexity beneath them. Part of it is to make the bank safe for all constituencies; part of it is to continue to serve our 40 million customers; and part of it is to get some of the shareholder value back which of course is substantially about taxpayer value. Across those three matrices I think that we have made good progress in two years, but we have a few more years of hard work to go before we can say that the job is done, if you can ever say that the job is done. Nevertheless, I think so far so good is the right way to answer that question.
Q208. Chris Heaton-Harris: What about the shareholder dividends cut by 90% but staff payments remaining roughly the same?
Stephen Hester: We are not allowed to pay a dividend, even if we wanted to, by the European Union. That is a choice that is currently outside our control. Obviously we will review it once that has been lifted in the context of whether it is prudent to do so or not.
Q209. Nick Smith: You mentioned Project Merlin and your commitments there. Mr Hester, you have already talked about committing to HMRC’s new code of practice on taxation, not just complying with the letter but also the spirit of the law. Are you confident that all your highly paid directors are not getting paid overseas to avoid paying their tax to us?
Stephen Hester: I believe that to be the case, yes.
Q210. Nick Smith: Is that the same for Lloyds?
Q211. Stephen Barclay: Just on remuneration, again I think we are asking you to face both ways. We want you to retain your talent, we want you to return the company to profit and get the share price up so that we get our money back at the same time as we are asking you not to pay staff too much. There is an obvious inherent tension there. Can I just ask quickly, in terms of derivatives, does either bank sell derivatives to retail customers?
Eric Daniels: Not that I know of.
Stephen Hester: Not in a direct sense, although in an indirect sense I could give you an example.
Q212. Stephen Barclay: Perhaps you could write a note on it to clarify.
Stephen Hester: 25% of all farmers in the UK take out derivative products to hedge their farm payments in foreign exchange terms against Europe. A number of people take out investment products where returns are linked to the stock market, but have a protection if the stock market goes down.
Q213. Stephen Barclay: I was thinking of things like complex interest rate swaps, and whether retail customers understand interest rate swaps if you are selling those to retail customers.
Stephen Hester: I am happy to write to you about the answer that I have given.
Q214. Mrs McGuire: Over the last two years there has been a great deal of public and private anguish in relation to the banks both at a personal level and at a corporate level. The taxpayer has invested an enormous amount of money. Dare I say it, some politicians have invested a great deal of their own credibility in looking to how we can support the banks through this. Yet when I look at the wider market, I still see share prices for both Lloyds and RBS at a level way below what one would expect for banks that are appearing to be successful. Why has the market not responded in a more generous way to some of the efforts that you have made over the last two years and some of the massive investment, and indeed insurance policy, that the British taxpayer has given you?
Stephen Hester: I will have a little crack with RBS. I am afraid it is a glass half full/glass half empty answer. When we announced the situation that we faced after the financial crisis in January 2009, or in the middle of the financial crisis, our share price went to 9 pence per share. After the end of the first year, i.e. at the end of 2009, in round numbers it had gone to 30 pence, so it had tripled. At the end of this last year it had gone to about 40 pence, so it had gone up about another third. On the one hand I think the stock market has indeed measured progress back from the brink. On the other hand it is true that there are many issues still ahead of us. Going back to the answer that I gave earlier, RBS still has more risks in places than it should have. We are still an unfinished work of progress, and so I think the stock market is recognising that-which is specifically about RBS-as well as generally worrying about things that impact all banks like things happening in the Middle East, the eurozone, the path of the economy and the uncertainties over regulation. There is a combination of industrywide things that are a restraint on share prices and RBS specific things, which is why, while we have made very good progress from a starting point, we are still very much a work in progress.
Q215. Mrs McGuire: Do you have a comment about Lloyds’ position given again the taxpayers’ investment?
Eric Daniels: I thought that was a very complete answer.
Q216. Chair: One final question Mr Daniels. You retired a couple of weeks back and I would just be interested in any observations that you have got, from that position, to leave with us from your experience of living through the banking crisis that would benefit the taxpayer over time. This is the final thing.
Eric Daniels: I think so much has been written I am not sure I could really add to the body of knowledge. I think it was Stephen that said before that we saw huge global imbalances, whether it was in the US where we saw a huge increase in money supply, whether it was the lowering of credit standards and covenants in virtually every country. I think that the world wanted to see continued growth and we were willing to take more risk, consciously or unconsciously, to continue that growth. What happens of course is when you have those kind of imbalances you create asset bubbles. Throughout history you see asset bubbles, and when the bubbles burst it is very painful indeed.
Hopefully we will learn from that. We will have seen much different capital levels, much different liquidity levels with the Basel reforms. I think what is also terribly important is that we recognise that if we continue to run the macroeconomic imbalances we will inevitably have bubbles and we will inevitably have another crisis. It may not be a banking crisis. We saw property prices boom in the US in the early 1990s and then we saw the LBO, leveraged buyout, crises and so on. Booms can manifest themselves across a variety of assets; the dotcom boom would be another example. What we have to do is be very careful in terms of our macroeconomic policy, and we have to address the issues with very specific changes in regulations, which I think is well under way.
I do not think I can add too terribly much further than that. I am very hopeful that as a society we can have a very thorough debate about the role that banks play, we can have a very thorough examination of the causes for the banking crisis. Then at some point I think we need to move on and try and advance the economy, and try and advance society. I think that we do need to examine carefully what has happened over the past years, but at some point we should turn our attention to growing again and making this a more prosperous country.
Q217. Austin Mitchell: Do you regret that you were bullied into taking over the Halifax and the extra strain that that imposed on the bank?
Eric Daniels: I understand there is a wide range of opinion about it. I have always been steadfast in maintaining that I think this will be a very good deal for our shareholders. There has undoubtedly been short-term pain, but I believe if we look at the results of the past year, if we look at how quickly our impairments are coming down, and how quickly the Lloyds Banking Group has returned to health, this will be a very good deal for shareholders.
Chair: Thank you very much indeed. Thank you to both of you, and I am sorry that we kept you waiting in the middle with our voting. Thank you. | 2019-04-24T18:36:05 | https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmpubacc/c785-ii/c78501.htm |
I know Devs are probably busy getting the next version as functional as possible, but I see that most of the Group settings and tasks issues seem to be related to all clients not having the exact same settings. I was wondering if adding a way to delete all main settings from group clients(Snappins, Image, Kernel, Bios, EFI, Printers, AD) so that they can be set to the group as a whole would fix many of the issues?
Right now Group Snapping does seem to add snappins to each client, however it will not show it in the group management interface. What do you guys think?
The snapin issue is known about, it’s fixed in RC-9 already.
For now, hosts need images assigned in order to deploy snapins via groups.
And, you can clear host settings via groups already. It’s exactly the same as clearing them on the individual host - but with groups. | 2019-04-26T15:47:15 | https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/8437/group-clients-clear-settings |
"The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts—that is where the battle should be fought."
We at Solari are often asked why we are optimistic about our future. We are far from oblivious to the risks and pain in our environment. Yet, we believe that a peaceful world is possible, and that the path to our collective well-being begins with each of us transforming from the inside out—coming clean. With our prayers, actions, and transactions, we have the power to shift energy away from those who misuse power and move it to ourselves and to those who are worthy stewards of our planet’s wealth and our children’s future.
The current financial system is centralizing political and economic power in a manner that is draining or destroying living equity—people, plants, animals, and our natural resources—as well as the financial equity of many people worldwide. We liken these forces to a tapeworm, a parasite that grows stronger as we feed it. Like a tapeworm, these forces inject addictive substances into our system that we have allowed to incentivize us to participate in what makes the tapeworm strong. As we do, we are drained until we perish.
How do we stop a parasitic economy? We have come to understand that most instances of fighting or confronting centralized authority, or trying to reason with it, only add to its power and deplete our enthusiasm and resources. There is a better way—one that shifts the flow of energy back to us.
First we must each recognize our own individual role in supporting a centralizing financial and corporate system thrive, and understand how we are connected to it and how we feed it. With this understanding, we can detach and cleanse it from our lives. We can cleanse it from our thoughts, our habits, our home, and our family. We can cleanse it from our transactions—our bank deposits, media and consumer purchases, donations and investments. We can cleanse it through our participation in the governance of our local political, civic, spiritual and economic systems as well other private institutions in which we are involved.
By shifting our attention, actions and transactions away from a centralizing financial and corporate system, we increase our personal power, security, and wealth. We exercise our power to fashion a new unity between those who respect and encourage living equity and who understand the importance of financial equity to our individual and collective sustainability. Such an alliance can create new and greater wealth to transform and decentralize political power and economic markets, moving us into alignment to create a free and abundant world.
How exactly do we do this? We thought we would share some of what we do, in the hope that these ideas may be useful for you. In the column to the right, you will find three main areas of opportunity for coming clean. As we come clean, we live more joyously and profitably amidst spiritual and economic warfare. As we each come clean, we withdraw the energy that we give each day to the people and organizations destroying our world. As we each come clean, our energy grows, and we give new energy to each other and to the people and organizations leading the creation of this new world that is percolating. As we each come clean, the world we envision emerges.
The people who are the happiest operate on the basis of faith. That faith may be spiritual, philosophical, or simply a general state of optimism. Whether we pray, meditate, or use other methods, taking the time to resonate with the energy and the problem-solving skills of the universe is one of the “energizer bunnies” of a vital and productive day. Centuries of spiritual teachings regarding the power of our individual intelligence to cocreate our reality are now being corroborated by the latest discoveries of science, particularly quantum physics.
Our freedom comes to us through divine authority.
When we live through the divine, abundant love, intelligence, and energy are available to us.
We have a personal responsibility and the power to envision the world into alignment with nature and the divine.
Our collective visions invent our world.
Our collective prayers and meditations are a powerful force for positive intelligence and direction.
Pray and meditate or otherwise connect into divine love, intelligence, and energy.
Envision the world you want to invent and live in, and your role in creating it.
Create and practice affirmations to make it so.
Give praise and thanks for the blessings in your life.
Try this with family and friends.
—John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
After divine inspiration comes living inspiration. The more excellent people we have around us, the easier it is to maintain the values and standards we desire. Leadership can make a big difference—especially if we choose and support local leaders who inspire us. Learning from cultures schooled in managing the uncertainty and change that we are experiencing offers us invaluable insights and survival skills. In addition to great people, all living things inspire—animals and all of nature—as do theater, movies, music, poetry, and art.
We are inspired by the truth and beauty in our lives.
We are inspired by people who set excellent examples.
Inspiration gives energy to our vision.
People have accomplished amazing things against all odds—we can too.
Make a list of the people, animals, plants, art, music, decor, and other things that inspire you.
Learn more about, appreciate, and support these people and things.
Make a conscious effort to increase their presence in your lives and remove from your life that which does not inspire.
Appreciate and support the true leaders in your life.
The Popsicle Index (or Solari Index) is the percentage of people in a place who believe that a child is safe to leave their home, go to the nearest place to buy a popsicle or a snack, and come home alone safely. We like to practice an exercise in which we make a list of all the things that make our Solari Index go up and down—totally, 100%. We then look for actions that are under our control that would result in the greatest rise in our Solari Index. Numerous opportunities always emerge.
There is a simple indicator that measures living capital, and it can be created and maintained outside of institutional and corporate control.
Ask the children in your life to estimate their Popsicle Index.
Make a list of all the variables that cause your Popsicle Index to go up and those that make it go down.
Do the results offer any opportunities for you to improve your Popsicle Index?
What about the Popsicle Index in other places around the world? How are we making our Popsicle Index go up in a manner that makes others’ go down? Are there ways to realign our incentives so that we each other’s Popsicle Index go up together?
If you think the Popsicle Index can be improved upon, invent an Index that you and your neighbors could use to estimate the health and well-being of living equity in your place.
What Can A Woman Do to Help the Popsicle Index Rise?
Many people understand the value of doing a budget for their financial resources. It is relatively rare for people to do an annual budget that mathematically analyzes how we spend our time—or how we want to invest it going forward. One year, Catherine’s senior management team finished working on their company business plan, and all were satisfied that the plan was complete. At the last minute, however, a decision was made to estimate the individual, team, and collective time investment for the coming year. Lo and behold, the group discovered that they had allocated 700% of their time. Their annual goals were overly ambitious. As a result, they had made promises they woul not have been able to keep. They were saved by the time budget.
Your time can be valued more by you and those around you.
Study who and what you are investing your time in.
Identify who and what wastes your time.
Look for opportunities to achieve more energy for youself with your time.
Look for opportunities in collaboration with other members of your immediate family.
nor feed on the spectres in books.
Having accurate maps of how our world works gives us energy.
The more we support honest and competent mapmakers, the safer and happier we will be.
Cancel subscriptions to, and stop watching and reading, corporate media that do not tell us the information we need to know to understand what is going on and how to act in our own best interest.
Switch to media that provide accurate and useful information designed to ensure the safety and prosperity of its readers.
Ye are many—they are few."
—Percy Bysshe Shelley, "The Masque of Anarchy"
Many of us have lost touch with choosing and supporting local leadership, as well as the governance of the organizations in which we participate—such as universities, charities, foundations, churches, and other civic, social, and spiritual organizations. Investing time to understand your potential role in the governance of the systems that influence you often affords opportunities to improve your situation and better the world around you.
Are you a captive of the myth that to get anything done in the world, you need the support and “legitimacy” from media, politicians, government and business executives, foundati0ons, universities, and think tanks who have lied, deceived, and disappointed us in the past?
The quality of leadership in local and state government and judicial positions matters.
The quality of leadership in our schools, colleges, and universities matters.
The quality of the leadership in our charities, foundations, churches, and other civic, social, and spiritual organizations matters.
The quality of the people who manage money for all these institutions matters.
We have the power to influence the choices and behavior of these people.
As Catherine gives speeches and answers questions on radio talk shows, she is often asked if our world is run by one or more “conspiracies.” She often answers that in a world full of spiritual and economic warfare, if we are not in a conspiracy, then we need to start one. This is why Solari has developed Solari Circles. A Solari Circle is club that helps its members come clean together and shift their investments of time, attention, and money to protect themselves from corruption and market manipulation—while responding to expanding opportunities to build wealth for its members in financially intimate ways. Anyone who has the passion and need to start one can do so. A Solari Circle focuses on the opportunities to pool our time and resources to reverse the drains in our life. It does so in a manner that improves our personal well-being and shifts political and economic power in a positive and peaceful manner.
Read the Solari Circle materials at Solari website.
Talk with your most trusted allies about how you could use this information to increase your power and resources to create the world you dream of.
Start a Solari Circle to address intentions, education, actions and/or investments, when and if it gives you energy. Doing this together will save you time, lower your expenses, make you money, and help you feel safer and more joyous in this world. | 2019-04-23T14:10:35 | https://home.solari.com/coming-clean/ |
If they aren't spayed then yes they usually do.
No...animals go into heat. Does do bleed a little, but most animals do not....it is only during this time that they will allow sexual advances from males...and it only during this time that they will conceive. Humans have periods and are the only "animals" that do so.
Where can I find free "Stop Animal Abuse" type Avatars?
Dogs go into heat, which is basically a period but for dogs. I don't know of any other animal that goes into heat though.
Yep, Dogs do... and a lot of other things.
How...can a dog/mammal have a period???
How is this Cruel to animals???
only higher primates have menstrual cycles. Other mammals, such as dogs have whats known as an oestrus cycle.
When a girl dog is spayed will it still have its period?
how do i tell if my parakeet is a boy or a girl?
FunAdvice Trivia: Which animals is catgut made from? | 2019-04-21T18:36:45 | https://funadvice.com/q/girl_animals_kind_periods |
For greater than 50 years, Authorized Services of Central New York has fought to defend dignity, strengthen communities, and secure justice. A second notice was issued in 1997, adopted by national authorized help rules adopted in 2003, outlining the roles of the legal support centers, eligibility for legal support, and the applying procedure. 30. (1) Where authorized aid is to be offered by a solicitor in the employ of the fee, the realm director shall send the certificates to the solicitor to whom the case has been assigned and shall ship the suitable copy to the applicant.
Legal support centers might be punished for providing authorized assist to ineligible applicants, not providing it to eligible ones, receiving compensation for their work, participating in for-revenue authorized services, and misusing legal aid middle funds. As at all times, State Assist’s training offerings deal with civil legal matters and skills development targeted towards authorized providers employees and volunteers.
In addition they have attorneys readily available to give basic telephone legal advice if essential, and help with calls and enquiries to be sure you are steered in the correct course. The Authorized Support Society exists for one simple yet highly effective cause: to make sure that no New Yorker is denied their proper to equal justice due to poverty. Aside from Authorized Aid NSW, there are a selection of Neighborhood Legal Centres who can help with illustration and advice in a range of areas, including felony law.
10 The Advocates Law was important to legal support in Indonesia previous to the period of the brand new legal assist, and presently nonetheless offers a basis for the availability of legal aid which the new provisions add to or construct off of. The Jerusalem Bureau – which supplies authorized services for the realm of Jerusalem and the South (Ashdod and Eilat sic).
This prevents unregistered migrant staff, usually among the most in need of legal help, from receiving it. Applicants may be rejected if they do notmeet the above conditions. Victoria Legal Help also gives training to assist build information in the neighborhood about authorized rights and responsibilities. Our Vision: Leon County Group working together to ensure all people are conscious of and able to access their civil legal rights. | 2019-04-22T06:50:36 | http://legalhelptalk.com/harvard-authorized-aid-bureau-offering-free-legal-services-to-the-greater-boston-neighborhood-since-1913.html |
Amazing 5.5+ acre land currently being used as a horse farm. Plenty of opportunities! Do not access the property without an appointment! Owner occupied. Home is being sold as is. No Showings! | 2019-04-22T08:44:04 | https://www.thesarvergroup.com/homes/7001-Robinson-Church-Road/Charlotte/NC/28215/85543120/ |
This card can be ordered as a digital file you print yourself or printed and shipped.
Please send your personalized information to [email protected]. You will receive a proof within 24 hours of ordering. There is no charge for revisions and they are not printed until the proof is approved.
►► 6" JPG format file (perfect for photo lab printing or sending via email/online to your guests).
►► 8.5x11 PDF format file. The PDF will have 1 card per page (perfect for at home card stock printing or Kinkos, Staples, or Office Depot card stock printing).
► ► Cards are professionally printed in 6" format on 100 lb card stock, with rounded edges, and white envelopes are included. | 2019-04-26T11:45:46 | https://storybookdesignstudio.com/collections/holiday/products/holiday-cotton-wreath-greeting-card |
Latest living room paint colors trends is one images from get excited inspiring 24 of latest paint colour trends of Boren Homes photos gallery. This image has dimension 580x903 Pixel and File Size 78 KB, you can click the image above to see the large or full size photo. Previous photo in the gallery is interior color trends greenery. For next photo in the gallery is benjamin moore paint color trends photos. You are viewing image #19 of 24, you can see the complete gallery at the bottom below. | 2019-04-26T04:01:20 | https://davidboren.org/get-excited-inspiring-24-of-latest-paint-colour-trends/latest-living-room-paint-colors-trends-2/ |
Ah yes, the English teach. If only they encouraged and inspired more than they used their red pen. Thanks for sharing. | 2019-04-20T03:40:05 | https://katiehaighash.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/teacher-of-the-year/ |
Curious-city - Y2 - What could my classroom be made of?
Curious-city - Y2 - How do we live a healthy life?
Curious-city - Y2 - How can we help?
Curious-city - Y2 - What is home?
Curious-city - Y2 - What did Brunel do for Great Britain?
Curious-city - Y2 - How do plants grow in my city?
Curious-city - Y2 - What else lives in my city?
Curious-city - Y2 - How are schools the same? | 2019-04-19T10:17:27 | http://www.stannesinfants.co.uk/year-2-1/ |
Aren’t these lovely?!! This is a wonderful Natural History Print from an 1840’s book. I’m not sure if these are actually Butterflies or Moths, but either way I love the purple and red colors here. I’ve included a full size instant art Printable here, as well as the two images on their own.
These are some beautiful images.
Beautiful images … I love your blog Thanks so much for Sharing!!!
WOW! You’ve outdone yourself. Again. This is my new favorite! LOVE LOVE LOVE this one Karen!
Oh thank you so much! I know exactly what card I am going to make with these images. Just absolutely fabulous.
So pretty! Thank you for sharing these today. Have a beautiful weekend Karen!
These are beautiful and the color is so vibrant ! Thank you for such a gift.
Oooohhh, what SPECTACULAR butterflies, thank you thank you THANK YOU!!
OMGosh these are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
They’re moths. I looked up the description names, clifden nonpareil & red underwing. Both are very large moths from the UK.
WOW! Those are all gorgeous!!
You are the masta!! Do you know how much wonderful art gets created and sent out into the world with these images you curate and share? A beautiful thing. Thank you.
Thank you Jade! That makes me so happy to hear! | 2019-04-22T11:00:33 | https://thegraphicsfairy.com/instant-art-printable-colorful-butterflies-moths/ |
Peter is a Senior Technical Evangelist at Microdesk, who specializes in assisting design organizations with integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) into design processes and exploring innovative uses of non-traditional technologies. He works with national architecture firms to provide on-site assistance and strategic consultation, as well as custom training, content creation, and creating standards and workflows. He has expert knowledge of BIM tools such as Revit Architecture, BIM 360 Field and Glue, AutoCAD Architecture, Ecotect, Green Building Studio, Google SketchUp and e-SPECS. Peter’s work prior to Microdesk was with various design firms working on residential, institutional, liturgical and commercial projects.
Peter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from Drexel University. | 2019-04-19T06:23:16 | https://www.microdesk.com/consulting-team/peter-marchese/ |
Hi, I hope this is the right subforum to post in.
I've been building my own stripped back version of Linux using BuildRoot https://buildroot.org/, specifically based off of Erpiam https://github.com/gbevin/erpiam.
Everything is working great with the official Raspberry Pi touchscreen except the mouse cursor is not 1:1 with the physical position of my finger on the screen. It also seems that I need to plug in a mouse or something before the touchscreen responds. I'm not sure what the difference is between what I have and what the normal OS's do.
The config settings seem to be what is required 'CONFIG_TOUCHSCREEN_RPI_FT5406=m' etc. | 2019-04-20T13:38:02 | https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1435522& |
Give yourself time. When you start studying is entirely up to you. It’s been shown, time and time again, the sooner you start studying, the better you’ll do. It’s a self-evident truth, but it’s only further reinforced by studies that show the same thing.
Not only can you goose your score an extra 50 or 100 points by getting ready earlier, but the study itself will be easier as well. You see, while you will be spending more hours getting ready, the most powerful part of starting study early isn’t the extra time as much as the chance for your mind to process everything. In other words, you’ll remember more of what you cover, without the stress of cramming.
Practice. Nothing, absolutely nothing, will give you as big a leg up as practice tests. With practice, you’ll memorize the test instructions, so you won’t have to spend time figuring out what you’re being asked in each section. With practice, you’ll get a better feel for the questions you’ll see, and the types of thinking you’ll need to apply. And, of course, with practice, you’ll learn your weakest areas, and hence have an opportunity to focus your study where it will do the most good.
You won’t find this anywhere else in the college planning space. It’s an inside look at your college funding situation with an authorized college funding advisor-absolutely free.
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A Word a Day. Hopefully, you already know a good number of the SAT vocabulary words. That said, very few people know enough to feel confident without study, and, as mentioned earlier, cramming a bunch of words at a time isn’t the best way to retain them.
If you start early enough, though, you can add a word a day without too much trouble, and cover most of the gaps in your knowledge. With only a word a day, you can really focus on it, go over the definition, use it three times in everyday conversation, and review it again before you go to sleep. Easy and highly effective.
Relax. For many students, the hardest thing about the test is knowing you’re being tested. Studies have shown that most people feel less intelligent under test-like pressure, and they answer incorrectly to questions with answers they know.
The solution? Learn how to relax your mind.
Studying early and taking many practice tests help here, and the confidence you gain can make a big difference.
But there are plenty of other things you can do as well. Practice various breathing techniques, anything from counting to ten to full-on meditation. Calm yourself just before the test starts and between any sections, if you have the time. Learn to recognize when you mind is tensing and, as you notice it, do your best to sooth your mind.
Prep yourself right. This should go without saying, but before the test get a good night’s rest. After all, nothing dulls the brain like lack of sleep.
Try to make your night-before meal a light, healthy one. Salmon, for example, is rich in brain-assisting fatty acids.
Of course you should have a good idea what will help your body work best, the key is, don’t give it short shrift during the drama and tension that often precede an SAT sitting.
Treat yourself right and you’ll help yourself in the end. | 2019-04-25T11:57:19 | https://collegestarcounseling.com/5-crucial-tips-that-can-help-you-improve-your-sat-score/ |
Summary: People here form groups of 3 to 20 and work on fields. The group rarely changes and comprises of people who love to work with each other. These farmers belong to the Chakhesang tribe and sing the local folk form of Li. Their work music mostly comprises of a multi-part harmony of wails and grunts. In the evening when they sit down together for dinner and rice beer they sing group songs, which are again harmonised but have lyrics. Cutting the paddy, winnowing, thrashing, and carrying 70 kilo bags of it uphill have all got their own sounds. At one point while climbing up the hill with this group of farmers we looked around and saw many groups climbing up, each with their own music. | 2019-04-21T12:52:20 | https://pad.ma/CNE/info |
The global IT Services industry holds significant opportunities for industry players due to increasing IT spending in the healthcare, retail, and transportation sectors, among others. The market is forecast to reach an estimated US $1,147 billion in 2017 with a CAGR of more than 5 percent. Outsourcing locations such as India, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines are anticipated to be key drivers because of their low-cost labor and skilled talent pools. The APAC IT services industry is expected to register the highest growth rate among all regions during the forecast period and lead the industry. India is one of the fastest-growing IT services markets in the world. It is also the world's largest sourcing destination, accounting for approximately 52 percent of the US$ 124-130 billion market. The country's cost competitiveness in providing IT services continues to be its USP in the global sourcing market. The Indian IT and Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) sectors go hand-in-hand in every aspect. However, the number of IT Services providers has increased very rapidly and selecting one from them is like looking for a needle in a haystack. To help you select the most suitable IT Services provider, CIOReview presents to you the ’20 Most Promising IT Services providers’ in India. A distinguished panel comprising of successful and leading CEOs, CIOs, VCs and IT innovators along with CIOReview’s editorial board has decided on the top 20 promising companies. | 2019-04-26T00:25:33 | https://it-services.cioreviewindia.com/vendors/2014/ |
Embu West DCIO Joshua Cheptoo said police suspected arson and had arrested five students, who were being interrogated to establish the cause of the fire.
One of the rescuers, Titus Muriithi, said he heard an explosion and together with other villagers used buckets of water and sand to put it off since the Embu County fire engines didn’t work.
Embu businessman Johnstone Nyaga, a national chamber of commerce director, expressed disappointment at the manner in which the firefighters handled the incident.
Property worth millions of shillings went up in smoke after a fire gutted a dormitory, staffroom and two classrooms at Embu High School in a suspected arson attack on Sunday night.
The fire started at around 7pm, spread quickly and destroyed property at the private school.
Embu County firefighters battled the blaze and extinguished by midnight.
School Principal Linet Manyengo said the fire started shortly after the students went for their evening studies.
“I heard a loud explosion from the tuition area and suddenly the lights went off,” she said.
She said students had complained about the forthcoming mock examinations and others didn’t want to sit end-of-term exams.
Following the incident, students fled the school, leaving villagers and workers to battle the fire. | 2019-04-19T20:23:28 | https://mobile.nation.co.ke/counties/Night-inferno-razes-school-in-Embu/1950480-3299318-vhbn27z/index.html |
Everyone needs their vision, which is why it’s important that you find the resources that are right for you. There’s also a huge level of trust involved. After all, you only get one set of eyes! Finding a competent optometrist, ophthalmologist, or optician will help you develop a trusting relationship for the longevity of your vision and maintain healthy sight for the rest of your life.
Before heading straight to the vision clinic, we need to understand what is exactly the doctor can do for you. Let’s check out the difference in the “Big 3 O’s” in eye care below. | 2019-04-22T11:07:27 | http://drjscohen.com/project/woodland-hills-iranian-eye-doctor-optometry-dr-joseph-cohen/ |
Premium quality double sided plastic tackle box is specially made for storing squid jigs up to size 3.5.
This premium quality double sided plastic tackle box is specially made for storing up to 10 (small) or 14 (large) squid jigs up to size 3.5. The box has drainage holes for water to drain away allowing your jigs to dry, and specially designed curved bottoms so your jigs sit compact in the container from both sides. | 2019-04-25T02:55:24 | https://www.ottostackleworld.com.au/hookem-double-sided-squid-jig-fishing-case |
The cancer care team at Community Medical Centers compassionately cares for patients with all types of cancers. Whether it's at our Community Cancer Institute or elsewhere in our healthcare network, we're with you every step of your cancer journey.
Our team treats each patient as an individual, with respect and dignity from diagnosis through treatment. We believe it’s imperative you have all the tools you need before, during and after your cancer journey. That’s why we also offer education, treatment and support.
At Community you can take advantage of our advanced technologies, therapy options, and support services to help in your cancer fight. You can also see if you qualify for any of our latest clinical trials.
Rivaling centers in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, Community Cancer Institute is central California’s premier comprehensive cancer care center – and the only one in the area with many outpatient services in a single location. Donate Now.
Now you can stay close to home and get the best treatment available. You’ll find almost everything you need under one roof so you can focus on what matters most – getting well.
Oncology is the study of cancer. And our oncology program is one of the few in California with teaching-hospital level accreditation from the American College of Surgeons (ACOS) Commission on Cancer – making it one of the top programs in the country for patients with cancer and the highest ranking program between Sacramento and Bakersfield.
The CoC accreditation is nationally recognized by organizations such as the Joint Commission, American Cancer Society, Aetna, CMS, NQF and National Cancer Institute as having established performance measures for the provision of high quality cancer care. | 2019-04-26T06:09:47 | https://www.communitymedical.org/services/Cancer-Care |
The following command runs the vows tests.
Running the tests requires a one-time setup of the MySQL, MongoDB and Postgres databases.
mysql -u root -e "CREATE DATABASE db_migrate_test;"
You will also need to copy test/db.config.example.json to test/db.config.json and adjust appropriate to setup configuration for your database instances. | 2019-04-21T19:07:38 | https://db-migrate.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Developers/running%20tests/ |
Today I’m writing a new style of blog post for me. It’s called A Brew with Boo because I thought it would be a the type of thing you could read as you had a cup of tea. I’ve got mine, some chocolate and freshly painted nails. My feet are up and my slippers on so why don’t you join me and we can get comfy?
I don’t know about you but I’ve got quite a positive feeling bubbling at the moment. I seem to be enjoying life and I think a lot of that is down to family life. Heath is nearly one and he is at that really fun age. He’s speaking a lot and imitating sounds. So far he says XBox and it is SO funny. I’ve caught it on film too! His voice is the cutest thing. He has also said ‘Horm’ which means kiss in Thai and then he’ll give you a kiss. A string of words he has said is ‘Who is it?’ when there is someone on the other side of the door.
Andy and I love it now that the children are a bit older. I think we both find the newborn stage quite tough. Perhaps this is because of the sleepless nights, constant feeding and nappy changes but I also think that we love how interactive our babes are when they start to talk and play. Our happiest family moments always involve laughter and giggles. Andy and Annabelle seem to be the type of people who can make others laugh so effortlessly.
Annabelle is also delicious right now. Her vocabulary has shown dramatic improvement since she turned four last month. She says the most rib tickling things and is such an animated and happy character. | 2019-04-19T08:27:59 | https://bethdenny.co.uk/2015/10/15/a-brew-with-boo/ |
Infused with the label’s signature dark romanticism and urban styling, French fashion house Givenchy was originally founded in 1952 by acclaimed couturier Hubert de Givenchy. Under the creative direction of Clare Waight Keller, the cult label continues to celebrate the label’s house codes through sharp tailoring and expert craftsmanship. These black silk and wool blend tailored fitted trousers are a staple piece and feature a concealed fastening, a waistband with belt loops, a slim fit, a stripe detail to the side, side pockets and rear pockets. | 2019-04-25T16:21:48 | http://www.stepmotherdoom.com/givenchy-tailored-fitted-trousers-zqenpubb.html |
Are you looking for Table Arrangements? Want to send flowers to someone in , London, DE6?
Order Table Arrangements in Ashbourne DE6 and our team will arrange for flower delivery; we deliver fresh Table Arrangements at low prices.
Whether you need funeral flowers or want to surprise your beloved with romance flowers in Ashbourne DE6, we can help you. Send flowers online or get in touch with our friendly customer support team over the phone or via email and our team will get your flowers delivered with a smile. You can also order our Ashbourne DE6 flower delivery services by completing the contact form on our site. Share your individual requirements with our staff, confirm the date for flower delivery and our Table Arrangements experienced florists will get your flowers delivered at the address in Ashbourne DE6 you have given us. | 2019-04-24T04:39:05 | https://www.bemyflower.co.uk/table-arrangements_ashbourne.html |
2 See just how people change as a result of tony danza plastic surgery.
These words show what the tony danza plastic surgery are doing. Throughout the background of medicine there was no duration when operations to reconstruct the appearance of an individual would certainly not be practiced. To this particular day, papyri (1600 BC) have actually gotten to, in which it is said exactly how Egyptian surgeons performed plastic surgeries.
See just how people change as a result of tony danza plastic surgery.
The last fad in tony danza plastic surgery is non-surgical treatments making use of radio waves as well as a laser. In these cases, customers do not have scarring, joints as well as scars after operations.
Nonetheless, not all tony danza plastic surgery work marvels and end effectively. Often customers go too far in the need to be excellent, or the doctor can not manage the job, and we see not successful outcomes of plastics.
You can discover a checklist of not successful tony danza plastic surgery on the website. | 2019-04-25T15:50:56 | http://larkin-grp.com/tony-danza-plastic-surgery/ |
January 20, 2017, TALLAHASSEE – On behalf of Miami Waterkeeper and the St Johns Riverkeeper, Earthjustice is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reject a Florida Department of Environmental Protection rule that would allow more toxic chemicals in state waters, including the water that residents and visitors drink.
The groups, supported by technical expertise from longtime water expert JoAnne Burkholder, argue that the state failed procedurally and did not use proper science when it proposed more permissive limits for toxic chemicals.
The chemicals that could increase in Florida’s waterways include toxic substances like chloroform, benzene, beryllium, dry cleaning fluids, pesticides, wood preservatives, flame retardants and herbicides, which have serious neurological, endocrine, and cancer-causing effects. The state’s seven-member Environmental Regulation Commission, appointed by the Governor, voted 3-2 for the more permissive standards on July 26, 2016. Two seats on the commission, one that is supposed to represent environmental interests and one representing local government interests, were vacant at the time.
The groups argue that the state’s toxics rule doesn’t meet the legal requirement that Florida waters be clean enough for their designated uses, which include swimming, drinking, fishing, boating, and other forms of recreation. | 2019-04-22T23:02:16 | https://www.miamiwaterkeeper.org/earthjustice_urges_u_s_epa_to_reject_florida_rule_allowing_more_toxic_chemicals_in_public_s_water |
Croatia Manager Dalic: "Serie A Is On The Rise But Juve Have No Rivals"
Croatian national team manager Zlatko Dalic believes that after his side’s performance at the World Cup everyone will expect more of them but he is confident in his side’s ability.
“Right now, Luka Modric is the best player in the world. He was missing something before the tournament but he found it and is now again fundamental for us but I’d prefer to talk about the group as a whole, since that was our true strength.
Dalic was then asked if his side’s performances surprised him and if he believes he is a great motivator.
Dalic then spoke on Serie A where a number of his stars play, including Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic, Sime Vrsaljko and Ivan Perisic. | 2019-04-20T20:47:15 | https://sempreinter.com/2018/10/11/croatia-manager-dalic-serie-a-is-on-the-rise-but-juve-have-no-rivals/ |
William B. Parrack, Jr., of Lubbock, passed away on April 22, 2010 at the age of 87.
William was born in Estacado, Texas to W. B. and Eula (Eaves) Parrrack.
The survivors he leaves behind to cherish his memories are his wife, Sibyl, and son, Rick Parrack, of Lubbock, Texas; and numerous other family members and friends.
The graveside service for William will be 2 p.m., Monday, April 26, 2010 at Resthaven Memorial Park with John Ballard officiating.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers memorials be made to Meals on Wheels, or the First Baptist Church of Lubbock.
Condolences may be offered throughout today from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. for William, or celebrate the life of William at www.resthavenfuneralhome.com. | 2019-04-25T11:56:58 | https://www.lubbockonline.com/obituaries/2010-04-26/william-b-parrack-jr |
Are you a dynamic and passionate teacher of English? If so, we want to hear from you!
Teaching Personnel are currently seeking a teacher of English on behalf of a welcoming and inclusive secondary school in the eastern area of Northampton. The school is oversubscribed and very popular within the local community - something which the principal deems is due to their academic success. Last year the school was recognised as number one in Northampton for the government's progress 8 measure and the 2018 A level results ensured they were placed amongst the top post 16 providers in the country. Rated 'Good' by Ofsted in their most recent inspection, students and staff work collaboratively to ensure these outcomes continue, and that students leave as confident, ambitious and high achieving. In the most recent inspection Ofsted confirmed that teaching in English is consistently good and outstanding at times. GCSE results continue to be excellent in this subject. In 2016, students achieved 82% A*- C in English, a 13% increase from the 2015 results. All pupils begin the AQA syllabus in year 10 and study both English Language and English Literature. The successful applicant will be teaching English lessons primarily to key stage 3 and 4, with the potential to teach up to key stage 5. The role will be full time and there is the potential for either an Easter or September start.
NQT'S and unqualified teachers are welcome to apply for this role.
What can Teaching Personnel offer me?
In order to apply for this position please send an up to date copy of your CV or contact Megan on for more information. | 2019-04-25T12:24:01 | https://jobs.mumsnet.com/job/1794403/english-teacher-northampton/ |
Organised by the US, in conjunction with Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco and Oman, the event will be also attended by the Economic Development Board (EDB) Deputy CEO Dr. Zakaria Hejris, senior officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Central Bank of Bahrain, and EDB, and prominent business representatives, including American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain President Khalid Al-Zayani.
The purpose of the conference is to strengthen commercial links between the United States and Arab free trade agreement (FTA) partners, identify trade and investment opportunities in each of the participating countries, and highlight the benefits of free trade agreements.
Ambassador Monroe said: "The meet will offer an opportunity for those countries that have signed FTAs both to highlight the benefits of free trade and to develop new trade and investment opportunities. Coming shortly after the trade mission to Chicago and Houston organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain, and led by the Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Minister Dr. Hassan Abdulla Fakhro, and EDB CEO Shaikh Mohammed bin Issa Al-Khalifa, the London conference demonstrates the determination of the US and Bahrain to maximize the benefits of the FTA." | 2019-04-22T04:50:13 | http://bilaterals.org/?fakhro-monroe-to-lead-kingdom-at |
Overactive bladder is when the bladder muscle contracts unpredictably, causing frequent urination or the sudden, strong urge to urinate with or without leakage of urine. This medical condition affects more than 13 million men and women in the U.S., and can be considered “wet” or “dry”. Wet overactive bladder, also known as urge urinary incontinence, affects more than 9 percent of women and is defined as urinary urgency that leads to leakage of urine. Dry overactive bladder affects more than 7 percent of women and is defined as urinary urgency and frequency without leakage of urine.
The most common symptom of overactive bladder is urinary urgency, which is a sudden, intense desire to urinate. Urgency may occur with (wet overactive bladder) or without (dry overactive bladder) leakage of urine. The urgency can occur in specific situations like hearing or touching running water or getting close to a bathroom. With wet overactive bladder, a person may be unable to stop leakage before reaching the toilet. Urine loss is usually in large amounts.
Some other symptoms include urinary frequency, urinating more than eight times per day and nocturia, which is being awaken by the urge to urinate more than one time per night.
Overactive bladder is caused by involuntary bladder muscle contractions as the bladder fills, which is believed to be due to the bladder nerves malfunctioning. Risk factors include age, obesity, pelvic surgery and the presence of neurological conditions, such as diabetes, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. It is important to have a medical evaluation of the symptoms of overactive bladder because they can also be related to urinary tract infections, bladder stones or bladder tumors.
Both non-surgical and surgical treatment options are available for overactive bladder.
Click here to learn more about the treatment options available for overactive bladder. | 2019-04-25T18:21:10 | https://www.ascdenver.com/aguirre-specialty-care-services/urogynecology/overactive-bladder/ |
Express your L-O-V-E for fashion through this vintage lady propped on a antique vehicle in the 1900s. This piece has a large zippered interior pocket, a rear pocket for easy access, along with multiple pockets for your phone, wallet and more! The handbag also comes with a removable, adjustable shoulder strap. | 2019-04-22T06:56:12 | https://www.grapecat.com/products/trusti-bag |
IT Services provides many common resources from email and networking services to instructional and classroom support and support for common applications. In addition, many divisions and schools provide local support and services to their constituencies. IT Services maintains this list of divisional and departmental contacts and their services.
If you are in doubt about whom to contact, we welcome you to contact the IT Services Service Desk by phone at 2.5800 (773.702.5800), via email at [email protected], or get walk-in help at the TechBar on the first floor of Regenstein Library during reference desk hours. If your service is provided locally, we can refer you. | 2019-04-24T15:57:10 | https://its.uchicago.edu/contact-list-local-it-support-units-campus/ |
What is a Gateway Trailer Park, Florida chiropractor?
If you frequently deal with symptoms like joint pain, backaches or headaches, but are yet to ever visit a chiropractor for help, then you may be missing out on an effective and natural treatment option. Chiropractic in Gateway Trailer Park, Florida is a healthcare discipline that emphasizes the inherent recuperative power of the body to heal itself without the use of drugs or surgery. For someone else, it could be that sciatica (nerve pain down the back of their legs) is compromising their quality of life, or for another person, gastrointestinal discomfort. Active manipulations reduced the number of days patients experienced moderate or severe back pain and other sciatica symptoms, and also caused no reported adverse effects.
What are the benefits of Gateway Trailer Park, Florida chiropractic care?
Various studies have revealed that spinal manipulation is an effective chiropractic treatment for getting relief from tension headaches and headaches originating in the neck. Realignment of the spine and freeing up of the nervous system through chiropractic therapy causes a colicky infant to heal itself as the body’s immune system can function to its utmost limit to ward off any ear infections. Out of this number, 22 percent signified that the seizures dropped by 90 percent after chiropractic treatments and 49 percent had a pain reduction intensity. The progression of scoliosis, abnormal curvature of the spine, can be prevented with chiropractic adjustments in Gateway Trailer Park, Florida 32206 coupled with robust rehabilitation techniques.
How to choose the perfect chiropractor in Gateway Trailer Park, Florida? | 2019-04-22T13:57:21 | http://www.peroxisome.org/chiropractor-headache/fl/gateway-trailer-park/ |
19apr11:00 am- 1:00 pmLunch & Factory TourAxiom Electronics LLC.
Join the EMA for this opportunity to view the local engineering and manufacturing facility at Axiom Electronics in Beaverton Or. This local business opens its doors providing another opportunity to utilize our local resources.
Axiom Electronics is one of the leading electronics manufacturing services companies in the US for complex, mission critical, high reliability electronic assemblies. Axiom is AS9100 certified and is highly experienced in military, aerospace, and space applications as 70% of the business comes from such entities. They have received special recognition on various space programs and provide support to a wide variety of unmanned air and undersea vehicles.
This event is open individuals directly involved with electronics manufacturing only. | 2019-04-24T13:49:30 | http://www.ema-oregon.org/events/lunch-factory-tour/ |
Loss sends Swiss to Spisska to face U.S.
Slovakia rode the crest of a huge wave of fan support tonight to edge Switzerland, 2-1, to finish third in Group A standings.
The Slovaks now will play Russia in the quarter-finals in Poprad while the Swiss must play the U.S. in Spisska Nova Ves.
From the opening faceoff the game had a feeling of overtime to it. Both teams knew that to lose would mean a date with the United States on Thursday, not a favourable prospect.
To win, a date with Russia or the Czechs was daunting, to be sure, but preferable all the same.
"It was more about emotion tonight," said defenceman Marek Korencik, who set up the game-winning goal in the third, "but we won and that's about the character of the team."
Coach Norbert Javorcik agreed. "In the first three games, I thought we showed a lot of skill," he said. "Tonight, we showed a lot of fight--we played with our hearts. To play a world championship at home is the most incredible experience for a player."
Indeed, the Slovaks had an extra player on the ice all night long--the fans. "It's incredible," Korencik said. "They are so loud, but we understand what they are saying. This is something special. I love it! I thank them for this."
"We wanted to win this game," declared Swiss forward Nico Hischier. "We came out strong, but I thought in the end I think the team that wanted it more won--and that was Slovakia. You have to be 100 per cent ready all game."
Despite the pressure of the moment and some heavy hits after puck drop, tonight's game featured only two minor penalties, one to each team, and neither factored in the scoring.
It took more than half the game to see a puck cross the goal line, but then fans were treated to two superb goals in quick succession.
The first goal from the Slovaks was the result of an unbelievable series of checks by Adam Liska, who was on his stomach and on his knees as he outwitted not one, not two, but three Swiss players to keep the puck in the offensive zone.
Finally, he scooped the puck to Adam Ruzicka who fired a quick pass to Milos Fafrak at the crease. Fafrak made a quick little deke and flipped the puck in at 11:20.
But even as the sold-out arena was celebrating, the Swiss were creating a goal of their own. Coming in over the blue line on a three-on-three rush, Nico Hischier waited patiently and found Philipp Kurashev in front. He didn’t miss the wide open net.
"I think both teams were nervous at first," Hischier said. "No one wanted ot make a mistake. In the secnd, we got more pucks to the net, and we were able to tie the game."
The Slovaks struck for the next goal--the final goal--early in the third. Marek Korencik fired a long shot that was directed into the corner by goalie Akira Schmid, and Korencik chased after it. From the icing line he shot it at the net, and Jozef Balaz redirected the puck past a stunned goalie at 1:40.
"In the intermission, we talked about being patient," Javorcik said. "We talked about believing in themselves." | 2019-04-20T00:44:38 | http://u18worlds2017.iihf.com/en/news/sui-svk/ |
In Maori, New Zealand is known as Aotearoa—the land of the long white cloud, an apt name, considering the drizzle and fog hovering overhead for the last few days. But in a redemptive turn, it is at least a long white cloud from which emerge many birds.
The two anchorages we’ve visited, Roberton Island and Orokawa Bay, are lined with rocky, crushed shell beaches, impossibly green grasslands, and magnificent trees that house land and shorebirds of the region.
The tui is the most abundant. Recognized by its sing-song call and feathers—a white tuft below the throat, an entire body of metallic black that shine green, blue, and purple in the sunshine—tuis spend their days searching for nectar and honey, heads buried between flax petals and dusted with pollen, or inflating their profiles and battling with their cousins for ownership of the most vibrant flora.
Slightly more endearing are the New Zealand dotterel and oystercatchers.
Both nest on the beach, and both are endangered by invasive pests like rats, stoats, and summer merrymakers. They’ve developed convergent behaviors to defend themselves, clucking, dive bombing, or even faking a wing injury to distract those who might wander too close to their nest. Strong conservation efforts are underway, by humans who cordon off areas around their nests, and by the birds themselves—there are stories of dotterels tending to the eggs of oystercatchers while oystercatchers are out feeding.
And if that anecdote illustrating the power of love between species isn’t enough to keep us warm beneath the shadow of the long white cloud, I can’t imagine any amount of sunshine will. | 2019-04-22T10:02:56 | http://www.svhelios.com/blog/2015/11/29/land-of-the-long-white-cloud |
Reclaimed Ketel One vodka bottle candle with your choice of scent, which will have your senses tingling and your mind at ease. Hand-cut, sanded, and polished for smooth edges. Individually hand-poured with American grown, 100% natural soy wax. For yourself or others, this long-lasting candle makes an excellent & unique gift! | 2019-04-24T18:02:29 | https://thespotteddoor.com/collections/candles/products/ketel-one-liquor-bottle-candle |
And doing it really, really well.
I first met Liz on the set of a 2012 DC Comics fan film I co-wrote called “Little Man of Steel.” I could tell Liz was great then, but I had no idea how truly talented she is.
The photographer who never seems to stop smiling and laughing was born and raised in Joliet. She swears not the prison. Though it would explain her affinity for competitive fighting, but more on that later. After moving back from Montana seven years ago, Liz had aspirations of becoming a wedding photographer.
“There wasn’t a lot of opportunity to be a wedding photographer in Montana because the market was so oversaturated. And I was offered a position by my former employer to shoot weddings in the Chicago area,” Morris says.
Upon returning to Chicago, Morris met local actress Grace McPhillips and hit it off immediately. This soon led to independent and student film projects. It was her first time working on a film set as a still photographer and she immediately fell in love.
And then as it happens so many times in this industry, the perfect timing gave Morris a break. Well, it was really a broken leg, not hers, but Matt Dinerstein, who was booked to photograph the “Chicago Fire” pilot.
“I friended Matt on Facebook and followed his work. One day he posts that he broke both his legs, I thought he was joking so I messaged him, and he told me had to go into surgery. I thought this may be an opportunity for me to fill in for him while he heals. I immediately called Grace…” She advised Liz to call Cinespace Production office.
After a positive phone interview, Morris was booked for two trial days on the “Fire” set. When the show was picked up for a full season, Morris was also picked up, alternating at first with Dinerstein.
But make no mistake, Morris is not full of herself. In fact, she is her harshest critic.
“Sometimes I will look at my work and think it’s not that good. I find flaws all the time. And I compare myself to others’ work and wonder why is theirs’ so much better? But it does push me to get better. I’m not going to rely on a filter or re-toucher. I want to shoot right the first time straight out of the camera.
And she is. Two to three days a week. Sometimes 14 to 16 hours. | 2019-04-21T23:02:27 | https://reelchicago.com/article/200-m-liz-morris-chicago-fire/ |
I-Connect provides young adults in Cleveland with opportunities to experience Israel in whatever way you choose—programs that last 10 days, two months, or one year—deepening your connection to Israeli life and culture and changing your life forever, for the better.
is a free 10-day trip to explore Israel's most remarkable tourist destinations and beyond with fellow 22 - 26 year olds. Spend your time hiking the rugged sites of Masada, strolling Ben Yehuda Street, and dancing at Tel Aviv's hottest clubs. It's your Jewish birthright to hike, stroll, and dance your way around Israel. It's your Jewish birthright to connect to your Jewish roots.
Over 360,000 Jews from 64 countries have taken part in this life-changing experience.
“I want to continue building on the feeling of belonging that Israel has given me.” ―Ben K.
is an eight-week summer internship program that provides real-life work experience for juniors, seniors and recent college grads ready to live and learn like a local in the heart of Tel Aviv. You won’t hit the alarm clock twice during your four-day workweek.
Just imagine that every morning will be one of the most exciting of your life.
Applications for Summer 2019 now open.
“In Israel, pursuing a fulfilling life means leaving little room for regret.” ―Mark B.
Intrigued by the opportunity to spend a semester or year experiencing another culture, volunteering, interning, studying, developing your Jewish identity or having an adventure before you head off to college?
A gap year in Israel with Masa Israel Journey offers college-bound high school graduates the opportunity to acquire a global perspective and to gain a taste of independent living all while having an incredible Israel experience.
Many leading universities in North America encourage admitted students to defer entrance for a semester or a year to explore their interests before deciding what to study in college.
Volunteer, invest in a hobby, or prepare for college life before enrolling in formal education in the U.S.
“Israel is not just a vacation spot. Israel is my reality.” ―Jeremy G.
Hoping to immerse yourself in an exciting new culture? Looking for top-notch academics? Do you want to experience non-stop beach life or the rich history of Jerusalem? Take your study abroad experience further by exploring a range of programs in Israel’s diverse cities.
Earn credits in your specific field of study at one of Israel’s distinguished universities. With more than 300 programs available, it’s easy to find one right for you. Scholarships available!
“I was a different person when I returned to the United States. I had learned, I had grown, and I had strengthened my love for Israel.” ―Carly F.
Masa Israel’s post-college programs help recent college grads and young professionals earn a competitive edge against fellow job seekers. Boost your résumé while living and working in Israel, a country known for its global leadership in arts, science, and technology.
Be part of the innovation through an internship experience tailored to your timeline and talents.
There isn’t one perfect experience for everybody, but there is a perfect experience made just for you.
“This program became a deeply inspiring and life-changing part of my journey into adulthood.” ―Toby L. | 2019-04-20T03:08:48 | http://www.jewishcleveland.org/involved/i-connect/ |
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