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9jaLand
FG, CBN move to divert N220bn MSMEs fund to finance Agriculture in 2017
Posted by Site admin December 06, 2016
Having recorded less than 36% performance and accessibility in the last three years of establishment, the Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria are making frantic moves to ditch Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises credit scheme and divert its allocation to finance Agriculture in 2017 and beyond.
It will be recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria with the directive of Federal Government established in 2013 Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises scheme with N220 billion set aside to provide much-needed capital for the sub-sector of the nation’s economy.
But, Federal Government and Central Bank of Nigeria seemed to have made a U-turn since the scheme is not fully serving the purpose for which it was launched and moves were being made channel the fund towards Agriculture, thereby, boosting investment in entire Agriculture value chain in 2017 and beyond.
Speaking during tours made to several farm settlements across Ogun state on Tuesday, Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed that the MSMEs fund...
Read complete news article
'The Art Of Marriage' by Wilferd A. Peterson (Used at weddings, speeches and toasts)
This popular poem, known throughout the world as "The Art of Marriage" written by Wilferd A. Peterson, has been used in wedding ceremonies, heartfelt speeches or wedding toasts, and as a poem in wedding programs.
Chris Akomas resigns as Abia Deputy Gov
Chris Akomas has resigned as the deputy governor of Abia State.
Addressing a press conference in Umuahia today (Saturday July 31) Akomas said his letter of resignation was dated July 27 and that he took the action after consulting with his people and other stakeholders in the state.
It is alleged however, that 21 members of the Abia State Houes of Assembly had levelled a six-count allegation of gross misconduct against Akomas.
It is said that a seven-man panel began sitting on the matter, on July 29 behind closed doors and concluded questioning of three witnesses on July 30.
The panel which continued sitting on Saturday, could not proceed as the deputy governor insisted that it was impossible for him to present his 25 witnesses within one day, as directed by the panel, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
NAN reports that the panel had insisted that Akomas should field all his witnesses on Saturday and conclude his presentation. This is said to have resulted in a walk-out by Akomas …
EXPOSED: The Secret Love Affair Between Bianca Ojukwu and Fani-Kayode
According to inside sources, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode and former beauty queen Ms Bianca Onoh, who later became Mrs Bianca Ojukwu were heading for the altar in the late 80’s, but the wheels of their love life was clogged by an unexpected event.
Jackie Chan's Daughter Openly Admits To Being A Lesbian
Etta Ng, the estranged daughter of Hollywood star, Jackie Chan, has come out openly to say that she is a lesbian.
4 Great Restaurants in Port-Harcourt City
Port Harcourt, referred to in Ikwerre as Ígúọ́cha and in Pidgin as Po-ta-kot, is the capital and largest city of Rivers State, in Nigeria; West Africa. The ever-bubbling city lies along the Bonny River and is located in the Niger Delta. As of 2016, the Port Harcourt urban area had an estimated population of 1,865,000 inhabitants, up from 1,382,592 as of 2006.
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©2018 by Abbey Group
Abbey Group Includes:
Abbey Ireland & UK
Abbey Conference & Events
Moloney & Kelly
Abbey Ireland & UK Offices
Dublin: 22 Bridge Street Lower, Dublin, D08 DW30, Ireland Tel: +353 1 648 6100
Edinburgh: 67 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh EH2 4SD, Scotland Tel: +44 131 656 5900
London: 1-3 Staple Inn, London WC1V 7QH, England Tel: +44 207 730 7182
Discover England: The South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is the longest National Trail in the UK, making up 630 miles of dramatic coastline on one side, and a diverse range of landscapes on the other. Craggy cliffs, steep valleys, lush fields, leafy woodland - the Path offers an always-changing and endlessly-interesting walking route through this region, showcasing its wild natural beauty at every turn.
You'll get to know the locals too, with plenty of opportunities for bird watching and seal spotting, as well as encounters with the region's smaller inhabitants, like the butterflies of the Chipman Valley.
The beauty of the Path is striking, but so is its richness in history. As you walk along the coast, you'll discover the remains of fortresses dating back to the Iron Age, former Roman settlements, and fortifications from the time of the Spanish Armada. As you walk through England's story, you'll also learn of some of the more colourful characters who have left their mark on this region; mermaids, giants, and, of course, King Arthur.
With your days spent walking, your evenings can be spent relaxing in any one of the quintessentially English fishing villages dotted along the coast. Weave through the delightfully narrow streets and sample the local cuisine, freshly fished that morning.
With six different themed walks - the Timeless Coast, the Wilderness Coast, the Wild West Coast, the Nautical Coast, the Seafood Coast, and the Coast of Legends - there really is a route to suit everyone. Dive in and take a look at some of the highlights of the South West Coast Path below, handpicked by the Abbey Ireland & UK team who recently enjoyed walking a part of the Path.
Home of Arthurian legend, Tintagel Castle is said to be the birthplace of Kind Arthur, and on its perch above the swirling Atlantic Ocean below, it certainly exudes a magical and mystical quality. Having been excavated in the 20th century, it was proposed that Tintagel had been a Celtic monastery and later a fortress with trading links due to the Mediterranean artifacts found during the excavation.
A gorgeous seaside town in Devon, Paignton is part of what's locally known as the English Riviera. Originally a Celtic settlement, Paignton grew into a fishing village that later became a favourite holiday destination, and boasts a traditional English pleasure pier dating from 1879.
A favourite of artists, St. Ives in Cornwall is an idyllic seaside resort famed for its breathtaking beauty. It boasts four beaches whose golden sands and rolling waves draw both holidaymakers and surfers, while its authentic old town, known locally as 'Downlong' offers a warren of winding cobbled streets to explore.
Mevagissey
Part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Mevagissey is a small and charming town built around a harbour which once thrived on fishing and smuggling. Now, its main industry is tourism, as visitors flock to admire the spectacular coastline, explore the sandy coves, and experience local attractions like the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
Plymouth Town
Plymouth is famous for being the city from where the Mayflower set sail for the New World in 1620, but its story goes as far back as the Bronze Age. This maritime city is brimming with history - its oldest district, the Barbican, has 100 listed buildings and the most cobbled streets in all of Britain! And you can't leave without trying the local Plymouth Gin, brewed since the 1700's.
We've put together an itinerary taking you through North Cornwall and North Devon, take a look here!
Welcome to the Abbey Ireland & UK Newsletter
Discover England: England's Great West Way®
Discover England: England's Great West Way® - Houses & Gardens
Discover England: England's Coast - The Regions
Discover England: England's Coast
Discover England: Manchester Gateway
Stratospheric success for Northern Ireland hotel industry
3 in a Row for Abbey Conference & Events
Darren Byrne, Finance Director of the Abbey Group appointed President of the Incoming Tour Operators Association (ITOA)
Abbey Group celebrates 40 years - ITIC talk to Brian McColgan and Jane Magnier
Discover England: Sightseeing Manchester
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Sam Clark
Sam Clark is a producer with the ABC's National Reporting Team.
Contact Sam Clark
Director of failed dairy company admits he was in control before collapse
By the National Reporting Team's Sam Clark
The former director of a failed Victorian dairy business admits he controlled the company prior to its collapse, despite earlier claiming he was only the company's seed funder and adviser.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, melbourne-3000, vic
Failed dairy company's former director says she had no industry experience
The former director of National Dairy Products, which collapsed in November last year owing millions to Victorian dairy farmers, says she did not understand her obligations and admits using company funds for her lavish lifestyle.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, food-and-beverage, dairy-production, vic
'Captain' of childcare centre spent $300,000 of charity's money on alcohol and lingerie
By the National Reporting Team's Sam Clark and Dan Oakes
A Melbourne pensioner and Order of Australia recipient who used hundreds of thousands of dollars from a charity he helped set up to buy alcohol, lingerie and cigarettes is ordered by a court to repay more than $1 million.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, lalor-3075, preston-3072, melbourne-3000, vic
'Without private health insurance, I probably wouldn't be alive'
By the National Reporting Team's Sam Clark and consumer affairs reporter Sarah Farnsworth
Amelia Morris says her family's private health insurance policy saved her at the worst point in her life. She hopes the Government move to make cover more affordable for young people will help others like her.
Topics: mental-health, health-insurance, federal-government, womens-health, youth, australia, vic, melbourne-3000
Melbourne offices of alleged tax-evasion mastermind raided by ATO
By the National Reporting Team's Dan Oakes and Sam Clark
Investigators from the Australian Tax Office raid the Melbourne offices of an alleged mastermind of a massive tax evasion scheme following a tip off from the ABC.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, tax, fraud-and-corporate-crime, windsor-3181, melbourne-3000, vic
Couple face 'losing everything' after falling victim to tax-evasion scam
An elderly Queensland couple who could lose their home and business after falling victim to the alleged mastermind of a massive tax-evasion scheme say their plight is "soul destroying" and "devastating".
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, fraud-and-corporate-crime, brisbane-4000, australia, vic
A baby grand piano and two pet dogs could cost a former migration lawyer millions
Exclusive by the National Reporting Team's Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, additional reporting by Attila Biro in Bucharest
Florin Burhala's companies received millions from the Government, but the ATO says he owes more than $4.5 million in unpaid taxes and fines. Now, it's seeking an order forcing him to turn over a substantial Romanian property portfolio to Australian authorities.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, tax, government-and-politics, courts-and-trials, melbourne-3000, australia, romania
SAS soldier cleared of war crimes after cutting the hands off dead enemies
An Australian SAS soldier who cut the hands off two dead suspected Taliban fighters so they could be identified via fingerprints is cleared of war crimes by a Federal Police investigation.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, defence-forces, army, unrest-conflict-and-war, australia, afghanistan
New laws to target dodgy company directors and 'phoenixing'
Directors of Australian companies will be given a unique ID number in a bid to crack down on "phoenixing", where companies are stripped of assets and liquidated, then restarted under a different name, leaving creditors out of pocket.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, federal-government, government-and-politics, regulation, australia
ADF inquiry probes claims SAS member planted gun on slain Afghan man's body
A secretive inquiry probing the activities of Australian special forces in Afghanistan is investigating allegations an SAS member gunned down an Afghan businessman and then planted a pistol on the body to make it look like self-defence.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, defence-forces, unrest-conflict-and-war, law-crime-and-justice, afghanistan, australia
British special forces allegedly murdered Afghan civilians and covered it up: reports
British special forces soldiers in Afghanistan allegedly murdered civilians and faked evidence to make the killings look justified, according to reports emerging from the United Kingdom.
Topics: defence-and-national-security, defence-forces, unrest-conflict-and-war, united-kingdom, afghanistan
What the documents reveal about killings of unarmed Afghans
Among the hundreds of pages in the Afghan Files are reports, many marked "Australian Eyes Only", detailing at least 10 incidents between 2009-2013 in which the special forces troops shot dead insurgents, but also unarmed men and children.
Topics: defence-industry, defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, afghanistan, australia
'What the f*** are you doing': Chaos over severed hands
It was one of the most notorious incidents in Australia's recent military history - the severing of hands of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and now secret defence documents obtained by the ABC reveal the full story of how and why the "chopped hands" controversy came about.
The spy and the SAS soldier with a loaded Glock
What started as a convivial dinner in covert premises in Kabul ended badly with an SAS trooper pulling his handgun on a female spy and holding it under her chin.
Relations between Australia's special forces units on 'a perilous knife edge'
Defence Department documents leaked to the ABC reveal that relations between the two of Australia's most elite special forces units - which also have a crucial role in domestic counter terrorism operations - have reached an all time low.
Who is the enemy? Australia's secretive rules of engagement
The Taliban did not wear uniforms and often did not carry weapons on them. They travelled on motorbikes and in utes. They shook your hand by day and laid improvised explosive devices by night. So what are the rules for troops trying to work out who their enemy is?
An interrogation, a shooting and no witnesses
Inside a hut, in the far east of Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province, an Australian soldier was left alone with a captured insurgent. But while others outside prepared for a helicopter transfer, the detainee was shot dead.
Afghan Files expose deadly secrets of Australia's special forces
Secret defence force documents obtained by the ABC give an unprecedented insight into the clandestine operations of Australia's elite special forces in Afghanistan, detailing incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children and concerns about a "warrior culture" among soldiers.
Afghan veteran raises disturbing allegations over the killing of civilians in Afghanistan Video
15min 27sec
A defence force insider tells 7.30 of a disturbing culture of recklessness and cover-up that he says emerged among an influential minority of Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan.
Topics: defence-forces, defence-and-national-security, unrest-conflict-and-war, australia, afghanistan
Australian soldiers accused of covering up killing of Afghan boy
A secretive inquiry is examining allegations that soldiers covered up the killing of an Afghan child during an operation in 2012. WARNING: This story contains graphic images that some people may find distressing.
People smuggling conviction quashed after Indonesian boy sent to adult jail
By Joanna Menagh and Sam Clark
Posted June 29, 2017 16:01:42 | Updated July 29, 2017 15:56:46
An Indonesian man who was a child when Australia jailed him in an adult prison for people smuggling was the victim of a miscarriage of justice, a West Australian court rules.
Topics: refugees, immigration, law-crime-and-justice, australia, indonesia
'Too many to count': Controversial finance adviser's alleged crimes laid bare
Exclusive by the National Reporting Team's Dan Oakes and Sam Clark
A Melbourne-based 'pre-insolvency adviser' and a network of his associates allegedly involved in a massive tax evasion scheme might also have committed countless other criminal offences, according to a report tendered in the Federal Court.
Topics: tax, fraud-and-corporate-crime, law-crime-and-justice, crime, australia
VicRoads worker who allegedly gave private data to gang-linked figures investigated
A VicRoads employee with access to the private details of millions of Victorians is being investigated by the state's powerful anti-corruption commission for allegedly providing confidential information to figures linked to organised crime.
Topics: corruption, law-crime-and-justice, vic, melbourne-3000
Tax-evasion scheme involved network of companies and dummy directors, court told
A former bankrupt masterminded a large and sophisticated tax-evasion scheme involving a complex web of companies in order to defraud the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Federal Court is told.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, melbourne-3000, australia
Who was Brighton siege gunman Yacqub Khayre? Explainer
Siege gunman Yacqub Khayre had previously been acquitted of terrorism offences but wasn't on the radar of counter-terror police despite a long history of violent crime, the ABC has learned.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, terrorism, brighton-3186, vic
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Flights to New Plymouth, Taranaki
From the snow-topped volcano of Egmont National Park to the black-sand beaches of Surf Highway 45, Taranaki is an awesome adventure playground.
Where to go and what to see in Taranaki
The Taranaki region, with New Plymouth as its main city, is an inspired holiday destination for those who love surf, art, music events and outdoor adventure. Overlooking everything is Mount Taranaki, a giant stratovolcano that's quietly sleeping beneath its snowy blanket. Spend time here and you'll quickly discover why Lonely Planet judged Taranaki the world's number two region to visit in its Best in Travel 2017 yearbook.
Choose a hike on Mount Taranaki
Wherever you go in Taranaki, you can feel the mountain watching, so give in to its magnetism and explore the Taranaki/Egmont National Park. There are easy half-hour tracks and there are epic adventures - like the Pouakai Circuit, which is a three-day loop route, or the shorter Pouakai Crossing, a half-full day journey to the famous Pouakai Tarns and the Instagram worthy image of Mt Taranaki reflected in the waters of the small tarn. If you decide to hike to the summit of Mount Taranaki, go in summer with an experienced guide - the mountain's weather can change quickly.
Many of the trails start near the North Egmont Visitor Centre at the top of Egmont Road. Here you can get expert advice on the best trail for the walk you have in mind. Local companies offer a wide range of safe and informative guided hiking tours, including transport to and from the mountain.
New Plymouth's East End beach
Surf, swim and soak up the sun
Fitzroy Beach, right in New Plymouth city, has a great surf break for all levels of experience. If the swells are big however, it's best left to the experts. The local surf lifesaving club patrols the beach in summer; swimming between the flags will keep you safe. Long and wide, like most Taranaki beaches, Fitzroy is ideal for seaside walks or relaxing in the sun.
Oakura Beach, 15 minutes south of New Plymouth, is another local favourite - especially with families and beginner surfers. It's patrolled by surf lifesavers in summer and has handy food and drink options on the beachfront. Local surf schools provide lessons and coaching at all levels, along with all the gear you'll need.
Taranaki's Surf Highway 45 runs south between New Plymouth to Hawera past 105km of beautiful black-sand beaches. They feature surf breaks ranging from perfect for beginners to deeply satisfying for seasoned experts. The highway is also a top driving route for scenery, serenity and excellent local food.
Enjoy art, food and festivals
New Plymouth is an arty city, so make sure you visit the Govett Brewster Art Gallery and the Len Lye Centre - New Zealand's only true museum of contemporary art. The Centre celebrates Len Lye, who pioneered kinetic sculpture and filmmaking in the 20th century. His iconic work is also found beyond the gallery walls, with the 48-metre high Wind Wand, that can be seen swooping and swaying in the breeze as you stroll along New Plymouth's coastal walkway.
Best time to visit Taranaki
Taranaki is among the sunniest places in New Zealand. Average daily highs range from 21°C in summer to 13°C in winter, with average daily lows about eight degrees less throughout the year. Monthly rainfall is reasonably even, with June being the wettest and January the driest month. The long New Zealand summer holiday season, from December to February, is the busiest time.
If you're visiting Taranaki from overseas you might need a visa to holiday in New Zealand, depending on where you're from and how long you're staying. See the visa-waiver list.
Cheap flights to New Plymouth
Auckland (AKL) to New Plymouth (NPL)
50m Non-stop M,T,W,T,F,S,S Find flights
Wellington (WLG) to New Plymouth (NPL)
Christchurch (CHC) to New Plymouth (NPL)
1h 30m Non-stop M,T,W,T,F,S,S Find flights
Flight time*: 50m
Flight time*: 1h 30m
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Toronto Argonauts defensive lineman Cleyon Laing (90) celebrates a quarterback sack against the Calgary Stampeders during first half CFL football action in the Grey Cup Sunday in Ottawa. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Argos earn stunning 27-24 Grey Cup win over Stampeders
Toronto coach Marc Trestman: ‘We got to the fourth quarter, that was our goal’
Lirim Hajrullahu dealt the Calgary Stampeders another stunning Grey Cup defeat.
Hajrullahu’s 32-yard field goal with 53 seconds remaining earned the Toronto Argonauts a stunning 27-24 win over Calgary on a snowy Sunday night. It marked the second straight year the Stampeders had posted a CFL-best record during the regular season, only to be upset in the biggest game of the year.
The hoist 🏆
📸: @johanyjutras #ArgosFootball #GreyCup pic.twitter.com/hOgQSt0BFq
— Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) November 27, 2017
Calgary, which registered a 15-2-1 record in 2016, dropped a stunning 39-33 overtime decision last year to an Ottawa Redblacks team that finished the regular season with an 8-9-1 mark. The Stampeders had a 13-4-1 record this year while Toronto finished atop the East Division at 9-9.
Toronto won its CFL-best 17th Grey Cup, and its first since beating Calgary 35-22 in 2012 at Rogers Centre.
“We got to the fourth quarter, that was our goal — to get to the fourth quarter and be in a competitive game against a really good football team,” Argonauts coach Marc Trestman said. “And not that we underestimated ourselves, we thought we could compete with them, but we knew that we needed to keep it close in the fourth.
“We had some luck along the way but we also had some bad luck. We were able to pick up a fumble and run with it and go on for a drive and get some points. Our sideline was business-like, so to speak. It was emotional but it was business-like.”
Calgary looked poised to at least force overtime before veteran Matt Black intercepted Bo Levi Mitchell in the end zone with eight seconds left before a TD Place Stadium sellout of 36,154.
“Couldn’t finish the deal,” Stampeders coach Dave Dickenson said. “It’s heartbreaking, it really is. There’s nothing I can do about it at this point for our guys. I love ‘em, but it’s a heartbreaker.”
Among those braving the elements were CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who sat together.
Toronto used the big play to earn its first Grey Cup win in five years, which ironically against Calgary at Rogers Centre. The Argos pulled even 24-24 at 10:25 on Cassius Vaughn’s 110-yard fumble recovery TD and Declan Cross’s two-point convert, stunning the TD Place Stadium sellout of 36,154.
In the first half, Ricky Ray hit DeVier Posey on a Cup-record 100-yard TD strike against a Calgary team that had beaten Toronto eight straight games. Ray set another record by winning his fourth Grey Cup as a starting quarterback.
“That sounds pretty good. Obviously that’s for myself to celebrate,” Ray said. “I’m just so happy with these guys on this team and what we’ve been through this year. Man, there’s no other way to finish it off than with a Grey Cup. I mean, these guys are such great guys.”
Posey, with 175 yards on seven receptions, was named the game’s most valuable player.
“That’s a great team with a lot of great players and hats off to them, they deserve to be here,” Posey said. “But our leader, coach Trestman, he told us that if we can get that team in the fourth quarter, he just believed … We made a nice backbone for ourselves. We have a lot of experience, we have Ricky Ray, who doesn’t want to drive with two minutes left with that guy?”
The white stuff start falling roughly two hours before kickoff, lightly at first before steadily increasing. Toronto running back James Wilder Jr., the CFL’s top rookie and a Tampa native, was undeterred as he did pre-game laps on the field shirtless as the game-time temperature was -3 C.
The weather forced the cancellation of the pre-game flyover of two CF-18 Hornets. During each play stoppage stadium employees shovelled the yard lines while two snow plows cleared the hash marks.
At halftime, two full-sized plows helped clear the field prior to country star Shania Twain’s performance. The multiple Grammy Award winner arrived on a dog sled before starting her snowy three-song set with “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” which could’ve easily been directed towards Toronto’s offence in the opening half.
The winter wonderland evoked memories of the ‘96 Snow Bowl in Hamilton, a game that saw Toronto beat Edmonton 43-37 in blizzard-like conditions. On the second play from scrimmage, Argos’ defensive tackle Cleyon Laing did a belly slide after sacking Mitchell.
A play later, Toronto’s Armanti Edwards fumbled a punt that teammate Marcus Ball recovered as Calgary handled the snowy conditions much better in surging to a 17-8 half-time lead.
The snow tailed off to start the second half and Toronto, reportedly changing its footwear, responded with an eight-play, 71-yard scoring march capped by Wilder’s two-yard TD run and another Cross two-point convert at 4:09 that cut Calgary’s lead to 17-16.
But the Stampeders countered with Mitchell’s six-yard TD pass to Jerome Messam at 8:56 — following a successful pass interference challenge — to go back ahead 24-16.
Messam, from Brampton, Ont., had two touchdowns and was named the game’s most valuable Canadian. Kamar Jorden had Calgary’s other touchdown. DaVaris Daniels added a two-point convert while Rene Paredes booted a field goal and convert.
The other Toronto points came on a safety.
Paredes’ 39-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter gave Calgary its 17-8 halftime lead. It came after Juwan Brescacin recovered his own fumble at the Toronto 50-yard line to keep the drive alive.
But Calgary’s lead came largely thanks to its CFL-best defence. The unit allowed 135 first-half yards, 100 coming on Ray’s Cup-record TD toss to Posey in the second.
Calgary’s offence fared better, rushing for 52 yards (5.8-yard average) and 212 offensive yards while holding the ball for 18 minutes.
Toronto pulled to within 14-8 at 9:41 when Calgary punter Rob Maver booted the ball through the end zone following a high snap. Messam’s six-yard TD run at 4:52 capped a smart seven-play, 67-yard drive that Daniels finished with a two-point convert, putting the Stampeders ahead 14-6.
Ray’s TD pass to Posey 26 seconds into the second tied the score 6-6. That broke the previous mark of ‘99 yards set by Montreal’s Anthony Calvillo and Pat Woodcock in ‘02. The convert was wide.
Calgary opened the scoring with Mitchell’s 33-yard TD strike to Jorden on a third-and-three gamble at 11:28 of the first. The two-point convert was unsuccessful.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
BCHL: Bulldogs outplayed on the road
Alberni Valley Bulldogs offer $1,000 guaranteed 50/50 jackpot
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Until The Storm Release 'Roads To The Lost' Video
K. Wiggins | 11-26-2019
Until The Storm have released a music video for their debut single, "Roads to the Lost." The track was released to digital retailers this past Friday.
The visual was direct by singer Sado Rabaudi features actor Alexander Ivanov (frontman for Russian punk band Naive). According to the announcement, the clip "showcases the technology of blending a series of ultra short throw projectors inside of a large, warehouse sized space to create a unique environment of visualizations and color patterns. "
The band had this to say about the song, "'Roads to the Lost' is about the search back to past identities, lost moments in time and the person that we used to be." Watch the video here.
More Until The Storm News
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Language English 简体中文
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Apex is proud to offer a wide selection of rental vehicles including small economy cars, mid-sized and full sized sedans, station wagons, 4WD's, people movers, and 12-seater vans. Whatever your needs, Apex New Zealand has the right vehicle for your holiday, sports team, or business trip.
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Same as Pick UpAuckland AirportAuckland CityBlenheim AirportChristchurch AirportChristchurch CityGreymouth Railway StationInvercargill AirportNapier AirportNelson AirportNelson CityPictonPicton FerryQueenstown AirportQueenstown CityTauranga AirportWellington AirportWellington City
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Mon 2 Mar 2015 12:21 PM
Dubai's Daman plans IPO in coming weeks
Sale planned despite recent poor performances
Daman Investments will push ahead with its planned IPO in the coming weeks, despite recent poor performing listings in Dubai.
Bloomberg reports that the Dubai-based fund manager is nearing approval from regulatory bodies for the sale of a 55 percent stake.
Daman chairman, Shehab Gargash, said in an interview that KPMG has completed the valuation and the sale will go ahead.
“This is a good time for a fund company to do an IPO as the money would go back to the market,” Gargash said at the Global Financial Markets Forum.
He told Bloomberg that Daman Investments will spend a third of the IPO proceeds on improving its brokerage and another third on real estate. The remainder would be used for seeding new funds, he added.
In the months that followed, two of the most recent IPOs in Dubai both performed poorly on the back of declining oil prices, which led to a sell-off in equity markets.
Since first trading late last year, Dubai-based healthcare start-up Amanat Holdings has dropped 18 percent, while theme park operator Dubai Parks and Resorts dropped about 27 percent.
Other planned IPOs by fleet manager Massar Solutions and Emaar Properties, who planned to sell shares in its hotels unit, were delayed owing to the oil prices and market conditions.
Shares in Dubai Parks and Resorts open well below IPO price
UAE's Amanat Holdings says $270m IPO oversubscribed
Egypt's Nassef Sawiris to list construction subsidiary in the UAE
Saudia hopes to raise $2.7bn with 3 IPOs
UAE’s Etisalat to issue $500m bond soon
Dubai's Emaar aims to float Egyptian unit in June 2015
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Follow my story
AMBER MASLEN
Love Food
Love to train, love to race
Sport can be about the outcome, or about your 'success'. The meaning of 'success' is dependant on the individual. Every single athlete wants to be the best, for part of their 'success' to be winning on a world stage. I'm starting to learn that the real challenge is making every session a success, that everything I do is towards being a more rounded, happier athlete. Make your worst level a good level, and your best can only be amazing. Learn to love everything about your sport, every bit of it.
Seriously damp scottish champs
Saturday morning at the Scottish Championships in Grandtully arrived, bringing with it horrified exclamations and whimpers from parents, paddlers and organisers. The river had risen about two metres overnight, responding as only the Tay can to a night of relentless rain. I came to the race slightly peeved that I'd managed to forget ALL of my kit outside and left it to be drenched overnight - and quickly realised that there was a very real possibility that the race might be cancelled.
No paddler ever wants to hear that a race they have been preparing for for days is at risk. But this was a pretty serious rise in height. All the gates set out the previous evening were half underwater, and the usually placid top fall was now a substantial wave. Amid throngs of pale-faced kids waiting to paddle, coaches, organisers, volunteers and paddlers worked hard from about 7am to get the course fixed and useable. Unbelievably, Davie Dickson managed to design a course that presented a sufficient challenge for the Scottish Championships, but also allowed some of the younger participants to compete safely.
I personally love Grandtully when its at spate height. It has a lot of bouncy standing waves and challenging eddy options, and it wasn't lost on me that navigating a 20 gate course on this kind of water would be incredibly physical. So setting off from the start gate, I knew that I had to suffer from the beginning, and keep suffering until I had sprinted between the entire 20 gates. My first run was going well - better than well actually, I was getting more and more confident as I got towards the final five gates, as every upstream had felt snappy and precise - until gate 16. Gates 16-17 consisted of a single gate in the flow, and a double gate slightly offset from this. I made the mistake of pulling out a foot too far into the current, allowing my tail to be caught by the flow and spinning me down past gate 17. After this ensued maybe a twenty to thirty second paddle back, most of which I spent in a blinding red rage. Everyone had TOLD me. I KNEW this would take a little more finesse than I had shown, and a lot less finesse than I know I can perform to. So with my first run basically as a write-off, I was feeling the pressure in my second run.
A lot of people can say 'only' the Scottish Championships. Its true - it isn't a premier race where you can get points. Its not a world cup where you can race international paddlers. It isn't selection, and many people enjoy it as a fun race to show up to, race friends and dance at the ceilidh in the evening. But I love to race, and I love to do well. The Scottish Championships is an incredibly important race to me, because it is a national competition that allows teammates to pitch themselves against each other and race on home water. And who wouldn't want the Scottish Champions prize?
So it was with all of this floating around in the back of my mind that I began the sprint into my second run of the day. Which, as plenty of athletes can confirm, isn't an ideal race mentality. To my horror, I touched the second upstream, a lazy slip of the paddle. I let myself stop thinking about the gates, and really let rip on the rest of the course. I was pleased with the time I was making up, until I got to the dreaded gate sequence. A sequence that I would have no trouble with in training, but for some reason was mentally blocking this weekend. I edged my way around the move, and sprinted to the finish. My boyfriend Euan came to the finish line, and I complained voraciously, convinced I had given up a perfectly good race weekend again.
But as it turns out, no matter how harshly you judge yourself, it is always the time that counts on paper. I had slipped into second place overall behind Fiona Pennie, and claimed the Word Gym U23 Scottish Womens trophy. It was a very up and down day of racing, and it was good to relax at the ceilidh in the evening with some of my team mates. Olympians Tim Baillie and Fiona Pennie gave us an hour of their time to answer any questions we cared to ask. I think one that will stick with me is how they replied to 'After the worst race of your life, what was it that brought you back to canoe slalom?'. Both of their answers were similar, that at the end of the day their love of the sport came first, closely followed by their competitiveness and love of racing.
Racing In The Night
I think that most paddlers would agree with me that the most disappointing kind of race isn't one where you paddled badly. For me, the most irritating scenario is one where you felt like it was a solid, satisfactory run - that turned out to be slower than your first one!Cardiff international whitewater centre is probably my favourite UK site. I know a lot of canoeists would agree with me, because there just aren't many other courses which offer the same variety of eddies and drops. I always love training there, as sessions offer endless gate combinations and moves. So I was really looking forward to having a blistering race!However, there's a trick to Cardiff. Paddlers will know what I mean by keeping run on the boat. It means to keep speed through all your movements, whether going downstream through a stopper, or upstream in a gate. On Cardiff, losing speed is the equivalent of tying a few traffic cones to your tail and paddling through a swimming pool of kids. No matter how much time you think you've gained, its incredibly difficult to make it back up after a mistake. I don't think I helped myself out much by hitting a few gates per run, but I ended up finishing 9th in premier. Looking back on the video, its suddenly very easy to see where I lost time and made some pretty cringey mistakes. But it doesn't really sugar coat the dissatisfaction of thinking you've had a reasonably solid run when actually it was pretty slow.Something that made me really proud at the weekend was how well some of my team mates performed. It seriously goes to show that it doesn't matter what squad you are picked for, or how many privileges are granted to you. Getting your head down and training hard ALWAYS comes out on top eventually. On a more positive note, my new boat is now in Scotland! Also the Scottish championships are this weekend, followed by a two week training camp in Nottingham then London for me! I'm really looking forward to spending two whole weeks training hard. I love my university course, but anyone else doing a degree and training full time will agree with me, it's hard not to sometimes feel like you have to put one before the other. And canoeing is due a good long stint in front! I have a lot to work on that I observed this weekend, and a new boat to get to know. Our sport is often described as one of the most complex disciplines, with hundreds of individual factors combining to make a slalom race. The skill possessed by the best paddlers in the world comes from being adaptable, not only to the water and the boat but also in their responses to mistakes. The massive way I still have to go doesn't really feel daunting, as I showed myself this weekend I can still learn from my mistakes and enjoy the race, even with a less than satisfactory result. I think its important to be competitive, but equally important to love the journey.
Teesside and Nottingham Premier races
So the second half of racing season kicked off with the premier race and Junior British Championships at Tees Barrage. Because the focus of the weekend was basically around the kids trying to get British titles, the pressure was pretty much off for the premier race on Sunday - until it came to the start line that is!
To start with, Saturday was a huge success for the Scottish Squad - it felt like virtually nobody went home without a prize! It was pretty amazing watching kids that I've coached come into their power, and race like they meant it. It was also pretty embarrassing to discover that I can no longer cruise down judges runs and get away with it - my ego took a sound beating when two of the girls that I coach got faster times than me! The junior British Championships was truly heartwarming, especially at the end of the day when the kids from CR Cats Canoe Club stood with their proud coach, Johnny Brown. He has a dedication to his athletes that makes me proud to race for the Scottish Performance Squad. The children he coaches will always be able to rely on his help and guidance, and I have no doubt whatsoever that in the Olympic games and world cups to come, he'll be right there on the bank giving them his support.
With Sunday came the premier race. I had it in my mind to start the second half of the season with a solid result, and I wasn't disappointed! I came in at second place, my best ever result in premier. I always feel powerful on Teesside, as the wide flat spaces between rapids give room to really open up and lay down some sprints - even if I did get a bit over excited and take it out on some poles on the way down! It felt so good to finally be racing again after a summer of hard training, and I was eager to get to Nottingham to race at the Paul McConkey Memorial race.
The Nottingham Premier was in championship format - that means on Saturday you get two chances to lay down a qualification run, and on Sunday there is a semi final run followed by a final. For women, only 7 paddlers get to qualify into the finals. After a very technical, punishing course on Saturday, I feel like myself and many other paddlers underestimated the technical aspect of the course set up on Sunday. I managed to qualify for the finals, with two touches - which should tell you something about the technicality of the upper section of the race! I came 6th overall in the premier race. It was hard not to be a bit disappointed with this result, because while it is up there with some of my best results in premier, I knew I had lost a substantial amount of time in the top section. I think I held it together much better than I would have done in the past - I put my head down and revved the engine! I remember hearing '...and she still has four seconds to make up!' coming from the commentary when I was in the last upstream gate, and managed to pull back two whole seconds on my lagging time. But overall it was an amazing race weekend, and I really enjoyed it as usual - possibly excepting the 3am arrival back home in time for a 10am lecture at uni!
The video below is a film made about the Junior British Championships at Teesside, I think it gives a beautiful depiction of what its like to be at a slalom race!
Amber is a whitewater slalom athlete specialising in K1. Her top events to date were:
U23 World Championships 2016
U23 European Championships 2016
Augsburg ICF World Cup 2018
Tacen ICF World Cup 2018
Bratislava ICF World Cup 2019
Tacen ICF World Cup 2019
Leipzig ICF World Cup 2019
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Vertical Bridge Mills
When you need a machine tool to process your mid to large size parts, look no further than Amera-Seiki. Our Vertical Bridge Mill line offers the strength and speed to make short work of your toughest jobs.
We start with massive Meehanite castings, annealed to eliminate deformation caused by internal warpage and stress. A quiet two-speed spindle, driven by a powerful Fanuc motor, offers a winning combination of high speed and torque.
Our fully sealed, immersion-type lubrication system with standard oil chiller circulates coolant and keeps the machine running cool at high RPM. The rigid ball screws and powerful servo drives assure smooth cutting.
View Specs Request a Quote
Top Quality Vertical Bridge Mills
48 Machine sizes to choose from! Our VB Series bridge mills can handle very large work pieces with X-Axis travels from 2.2 to 8.0 Meters and Y-Axis travels from 1.4 to 4.2 Meters!
Our base castings are 25% heavier than our competitors. This provides greater structural rigidity to reduce harmonics or chatter.
Need to change heads automatically? We offer Automatic Head Changers with up to 10 head capacity so we can accommodate right angle heads, swivel heads, extension heads and many, many more.
Doing a complex piece and need 5-Axis Simultaneous machining? We can do it with Fanuc, Siemens or Heidenhain controls, with up to 24,000 RPM utilizing HSK tooling!
Have a taller workpiece? We offer a W-Axis to extend the vertical travel!
“We poured a foundation, unloaded it (A-S LT-50 Lathe), anchored it down loosely and course leveled it. Their tech came in and set it all up, explained it and let me do the test cut. (3 years later) we had a bad wreck that knocked the turret and headstock out of alignment which their man corrected in a few hours. We have had no other problems.”
- Bill Awerkamp
Awerkamp Machine Co.
VB Series Specifications
VB-14 Series
Model VB- 1422 1427 1432 1822 1827 1832 1842 1852 2132 2142 2152 2432A 2442A 2452A 2832 2842 2852 2860 3232 3242 3252 3260 3642 3652 3660 4242 4252 4260
Distance between Columns (without splash guard) mm 1400 1850 2150 2450 2850 3250 3650 4250
Table Size Length mm 2000 2500 3000 2000 2500 3000 4000 5000 3000 4000 5000 3000 4000 5000 3000 4000 5000 6000 3000 4000 5000 6000 4000 5000 6000 4000 5000 6000
Width mm 1300 1500 1800 2000 2200 2600 3000
Maximum Table Load ton 8 9 10 12 13 15 18 20 15 18 20 15 18 20 18 18 20 22 18 18 20 22 20 22 24 20 22 24
T-slot Width x Pitch x No. mm 22 x 150 x 7 22 x 150 x 9 22 x 150 x 11 22 x 150 x 13 28 x 180 x 11 28 x 2000 x 13 28 x 2000 x 15
Travel X - axis mm 2200 2700 3200 2200 2700 3200 4200 5200 3200 4200 5200 3200 4200 5200 3200 4200 5200 6000 3200 4200 5200 6000 4200 5200 6000 4200 5200 6000
Y - axis mm 1300 1800 2100 2400 2800 3200 3600 4200
Z - axis mm 800 800 (Optional 1100) 800 (Optional 1100) 1100 (Optional 1400)
Spindle Nose to table mm 100 ~ 900 200 ~ 1000
(200 ~ 1300) 100 ~ 900
(100 ~ 1200) 200 ~ 1000
(300 ~ 1700)
Center to Column mm 380 430 430
Taper / Speed / Power RPM / kW BT50 / 6,000 - 18.5K / 22kW BT50 / 6,000 - 22K / 26kW
Feedrate Cutting mm/min 5 ~ 12,000 5 ~ 10,000
X - axis G00 m/min 24 22 22 24 22 20 18 15 20 18 15 20 18 15 15 12 10 10 15 12 10 10 12 10 10 12 10 10
Y / Z - axis G00 m/min 24/20 20/15 15/15 12/15
Accuracy (JIS 6338) mm Positioning ±0.015 / full travel; Repeatability ±0.003 Positioning ±0.015 / full travel; Repeatability ±0.003
ATC & Tool Magazine Capacity / Dia mm Cam type ATC 24pcs / Max. Dia. Ø110 (full tools); Ø200 (adjascent pocket empty) Cam type ATC 24pcs Chain type ATC 32pcs / Max. Dia. Ø125 (full tools); Ø220 (adjascent pocket empty)
Max tool weight / Length Kg/mm 18kg / 350mm 20kg / 400mm
Tool selection Take shortest direction / M24 P3.0 - 45° Take shortest direction / M24 P3.0 - 45°
Power / Pneumatic 40 ~ 50 KVA / 6.5 kg/cm² 50 ~ 60 KVA / 6.5 kg/cm²
Machine Size Length mm 6400 7400 8400 6400 7400 8400 11100 13100 8400 11100 13100 8400 11100 13100 9400 11400 13400 15400 9400 11400 13400 15400 11400 13400 15400 11400 13400 15400
Width mm 3450 4550 4850 5150 6000 6400 6800 7400
Height mm 4050 4570 (5470) 5500 (6400)
Machine Weight (app.) ton 20 22 25 25 28 32 38 43 33 38 43 35 42 45 47 52 57 62 50 55 60 65 58 63 68 63 68 73
Download PDF Request a Quote
VBW Series Specifications
VBW-24 Series
Model VBW- 2432 2442 2452 2460 2832 2842 2852 2860 3242 3252 3260 3642 3652 3660 4242 4252 4260
Distance between columns (without splash guard) mm 2450 2850 3250 3650 4250
Table Size Length mm 3000 4000 5000 6000 3000 4000 5000 6000 4000 5000 6000 4000 5000 6000 4000 5000 6000
Width mm 2000 2200 2600 3000
Maximum Table Load ton 18 18 20 22 18 18 20 22 18 20 22 20 22 24 20 22 24
T-slot Width x Pitch x NO mm 28 x 180 x 11 28 x 180 x 11 28 x 200 x 13 28 x 200 x 15
Travel X - axis mm 3200 4200 5200 6000 3200 4200 5200 6000 4200 5200 6000 4200 5200 6000 4200 5200 6000
Y - axis mm 2400 2800 3200 3600 4200
Z - axis mm 800 (100) 1100 (1400)
W - axis mm 1000 (1500)Every 250mm positioning 1000 (1500/2000) Every 250mm positioning
Spindle Nose to table mm 100 ~ 800 (2100) 100 ~ 2100 (2400)
Taper / Speed / Power RPM/kW BT50 / 6,000 - 22 / 26kW BT50 / 6,000 - 22 / 26kW
Feedrate Cutting mm/min 5 ~ 8000 5 ~ 8000
X / Y / Z / W axis G00 m/min 10 / 10 / 10 / 2 8 / 8 / 10 / 1
Accuracy (JIS 6338) mm Positioning ±0.015 / full travel; Repeatability ±0.003 Rail Level accuracy 0.01 / 1000
ATC & Tool Magazine Capacity / Dia mm 32 Pcs / Max. dia Ø125 (full tools); Ø220 (Adjascent pocket empty)
Tool selection Free position take shortest direction / M24 P3.0-45°
Power / Pneumatic 60 ~ 70KVA / 6.5kg/cm² 60 ~ 70KVA / 6.5kg/cm²
Machine Size Length mm 9400 11400 13400 15400 9400 11400 13400 15400 11400 13400 15400 11400 13400 15400 11400 13400 15400
Width mm 7300 7700 8100 8500 9100
Height mm 7500 (8400) 8400 (9300)
Machine Weight (appr.) ton 52 57 62 67 55 60 65 70 63 68 73 65 70 75 70 75 80
18511 Imperial Valley Drive, Houston, TX 77073 | (832) 234-5960
© 2016 | All Rights Reserved | Products & Specifications Subject to Change
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Are You a Digital Flake? 3 Etiquette Rules for Changing Times
Have you noticed more rudeness in this digital age? Business experts and sociologists confirm that manners in business are in decline.
Beate Chelette
You’re waiting by the phone for a scheduled business call or an exploratory communication about a new project. Fifteen, then 20 minutes pass, and no call—not even a text message explaining the delay. As a career coach who meets with people all the time, I consistently face the challenge of canceled appointments. Or some people RSVP for a seminar they’ve registered for, but then never show up. This kind of behavior seems to be occurring more and more in the business world. Have you noticed it too?
Business experts and sociologists confirm that manners in business are in decline, reflecting a general deterioration of etiquette that is a consequence of changing times, attitudes and the rise of social media. Smartphones make it easier to navigate our social and professional lives, and if you're like me, your gadgets rule your business and personal life too. Technology was supposed to make communication easier, but people hide behind email or text messages to cancel appointments last minute or after the fact, or do things that feel uncomfortable to do in person or on the phone. We have all done it. And the result? The standards of what is acceptable for being late and when and how to cancel have been lowered.
RELATED: 10 Ways to Be Gracious Every Day
There is even a new term for it called “digital flakiness.” And if you think that nobody notices you have fallen into this category, think again, because people you do business with will notice. Last week a potential client set up a free consultation with me and missed the first one. His excuse was that he thought the meeting was the following day. He contacted my executive assistant to confirm the second appointment, only to never show up! This is not someone I want to do business with. This person is not at my professional level. There are a lot of excuses out there, some genuine and others just ridiculous, and they can accumulate and end up hurting your professional reputation.
Sociologist Richard Ling, a professor of communication at the IT University of Copenhagen, calls these freewheeling interactions micro-coordination. Before cellphones, he told The New York Times, “people made plans based on prearranged times and places, whereas now we can micro-coordinate, or adjust plans according to realtime events, be it a traffic jam or a late night at the office.”
With so many tech changes, “we need to have new rules for interaction,” says Von Bakanic, a sociology professor at the College of Charleston, “and the definition of good etiquette is constantly evolving.”
Yes, we are developing new rules as we go along—we no longer have to send a handwritten thank-you note for every event or party we attend—but some things should never change. We still need to operate with the core value of showing respect and consideration to other people. Personally, I still send handwritten thank-you notes. Adding that personal touch makes a huge difference, because at the end of the day you do business with people, and when you make them feel special and important, it sets you apart in a significant way.
RELATED: How to Improve Customer Service Using These 5 Phrases
We have all been flaky at times in our lives, but when it becomes chronic or even occasional, that’s a problem. How do you know if you’re a chronic flake? Flaky people often forget to follow through on things. They make a note to call a prospective client back, or to check that a project is on track, or deliver the additional information that was promised, but then don’t. In other words, they drop the ball on multiple occasions.
Flakes often have problems with managing time. They routinely cancel or are late to meetings. In other words, they are unreliable.
Follow these three basic ideas and behaviors, and you will likely never be accused of being a flake:
Only make appointments and promises that you can—and will—keep. Of course, things like traffic or sudden illness can’t be helped. We’re human. But when you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you tell a client or colleague that you’ll call them next Tuesday at 10 a.m., make sure you do.
To get anywhere in life, you have to commit. First to yourself and second to the action(s) required getting there. Don’t over-promise and under-deliver. Do the opposite: Under-promise and over-deliver by setting smaller goals so you can continually exceed them.
Remember the golden rule. It’s not just business—it’s the people you do business with who matter. Follow the simple rule of behaving like you want others to behave toward you.
Read more leadership and management articles.
Photo: iStockphoto
Beate Chelette is a respected career coach, consummate entrepreneur and founder of The Women’s Code, a unique guide to personal and career success that she created after selling one of her companies to Bill Gates for millions of dollars. It offers a code of conduct for today’s business, private and digital world.
open cardmember
digital relationships
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Atrium Airport Car Rental
Highlight of his side’s 4 demolition _load_1731 alaves elsewhere
If you decide on a higher deductible, make sure you have that money set aside in case you ever need to file a claim.You hear things and you roll with it.I’m into new opportunities, Gronkowski said.But I’m pretty sure the Hawks don’t care about that.Riding a stationary bike is next on the list, then the tedious task of working to get his knee back to where it was, or even stronger.
I want to make sure my body’s responding the right way and we’ll go from there.I don’t know that.Adaptive units are available, and they were fitted to the diesel we drove, making it feel more lashed down with a firmer ride. Even in its base chassis tune, the Evoque offers a well-judged compromise: It’s pliant, well damped, yet capable of cornering without egregious levels of roll.Another shocker: Roberts is backing Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a long shot at 25 Food City 500 odds.
The 2017 first-rounder logged heavy minutes during that tournament, en route to logging four helpers in seven games.To search for players who were born on a certain date, for example all players born on December 25, choose the month, day and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Full Date Search’ option.If so, you should buy a direct replacement to ensure no change in sound.To find all players born within a certain month and year, for example all players born in December of 1985, choose the month and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Year Search’ option.Driving is also one of the most dangerous things a person does every day.His only knock is the Washington Capitals inability to get out of the second round in the playoffs.
He led Michigan State to a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl victory in 1986; the signature game a 56-carry, 292-yard effort against Indiana.Luton will be a welcome addition to the Championship.You or may terminate your Account at any time for any reason or no reason at all.Using a credit card to make a down payment is probably not the best financial decision because the interest rates are almost always higher than even those on subprime loans.He’s done this on a steady diet of targets from Eli Manning, who in particular was on the decline in 2018 while playing behind a bad offensive line for the first half of the year.
Tinkle scored in double figures for the 37th�straight game, tying him for fourth all-time for the longest streak of double figure-scoring in school history with Freddie Boyd.�?He now trails Mel Counts, who scored in double figures in all 89 college games he played, Gary Payton and Scott Haskin.And which value driver is a must-roster?I guess anything’s possible, but it’s not very likely.The interior and exterior are examined for visual flaws and are fully detailed.Police say officers were first called to South 6th and Penn Streets around 5 p.m.
If you would like to search for all players born on a certain day, for example all players born on December 25th in any year, choose the month and day with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Day Search’ option.With the Penguins, he had six goals and 36 points in 57 games and also played for the Sabres and Red Wings, helping the former reach the 1999 Stanley Cup Final.As we, the public, mourned the senseless murders of two beautiful little girls, their mother, and their unborn brother.The reasons for this are about as obvious as you can get.
Author adminPosted on April 30, 2019 Categories Jacksonville JaguarsLeave a comment on Highlight of his side’s 4 demolition _load_1731 alaves elsewhere
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Battery jump-starts: If your battery is dead, roadside assistance will jump-start your ride.Malkin centered the second line between left wing and right wing at practice.Clear cookies for Mozilla Firefox 3.x 1.And it’s not just interest rates.DePaul has rarely been kept down this year and is averaging 84 points over the past three games.
We’re all excited to get this process started.I’m blessed and lucky to be a part of this organization and can’t wait to get on the field, make a bunch of plays and earn a bunch of wins.In April 2016, the former two-division UFC champion tweeted I have decided to retire young.There is no.
Zizou always tells the truth.Officers began their investigation and found Aven’s granddaughter, 24-year-old Briar Aven, who said her grandmother was out of town and unavailable, police said.In mid-February, Virginia was 2nd in most of the margin-of-victory rankings, but everything has trended in the wrong direction with Justin Anderson out or limited.To find all players born within a certain month and year, for example all players born in December of 1985, choose the month and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Year Search’ option.
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To find all players born within a certain month and year, for example all players born in December of 1985, choose the month and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Year Search’ option.Fortunately, at times, I thought we did a good job of that.” Likewise, New Mexico held a 29 advantage on fast break points after forcing 17 Wyoming turnovers.
For the guys on the outside, that’s what they want �?they want to feel appreciated; they want to feel like they belong.More importantly, if the Steelers offered him $70 million over five years, did he really think that they didn’t want to see succeed?But when they let Nate go and I knew I’d be the guy stepping up, it tightened me up.
The easiest way for me to describe what all these numbers mean to you is to define it as point spread betting.Trifecta Betting Strategies Much like your typical sports betting, strategies and angles can only take you so far before whatever is going to happen in the race actually happens.
Skip to content The Chicago Blackhawks have been in the National Hockey League since 1926 and a team doesn’t last that long in a professional sports league without gaining some enemies.
But if Texas is lackadaisical and Georgia is motivated, then it could get ugly.
By the way, it’s always a good day in Bengaldom when Eifert is healthy, but he can’t answer if he’s due for a healthy one after finishing four seasons on injured reserve.Van Horn said he was told there was possible nerve http://www.footballdolphinsofficials.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_DAVON_GODCHAUX_JERSEY.html damage in his right hip.Titans outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen also coached Simon as a defensive assistant in 2016.
That really bothered me and annoyed me, recalls Rosberg, who vented his frustration over the radio to the Mercedes pit wall.Dave is a true teacher of that, and I’m lucky to have him as a coach.The complete set of authentic worn jerseys will be individually autographed by the respective players with select jerseys up for auction and all others available through raffle.Mary is a photographer, and Stella, of course, is an iconic fashion designer.
Jagr has played 161 of a possible 164 games the last two seasons for the Beau Allen Authentic Jersey Florida Panthers and still has been a solid contributor when he is on the ice.The difference between me and him is the way that he’s been guided to such a position, as he’s on the Davon Godchaux Youth Jersey verge of challenging for another heavyweight title.Anyone who backs these long shots could hit it big.Van Pelt finished with 256 tackles and 14 interceptions.
It wasn’t because they were overrated.Does the way we are calling something make sense, and is it easy for the players to process in the long term?If it’s not the Raiders, then we’ll make it work with the Eagles, or the Patriots, or the Titans, Rosenhaus says during the apparent trade discussion.LANCE MEDOW: Fact – Two other candidates would be the 1986 Divisional Round 49 victory over the Niners and the 1990 Divisional Round 31 win over the Bears, but against San Fran, Joe Montana was knocked out of the game, and not to take anything away from Giants, but the ’86 Bears were not the 1985 Bears.I don’t think there’s frustration at all.
”At the end of end of the day, we want to be a team,” New Mexico coach Paul Weir said.A woman wanted in connection with a 2017 fatal robbery and shooting was arrested over the weekend after Metro police said she entered a Nashville Waffle House naked with a gun.There’s no question Chicago will come into the contest trying http://www.officialsbuccaneersprostore.com/Beau_Allen_Jersey_Cheap to establish the run and make things easier for their rookie quarterback.
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Entering a Week 8 matchup against the New York Giants, the Redskins defensive line had been on quite a roll.The lease offer is for the front-wheel-drive, LX trim.Jaguar provides a full vehicle history report for each vehicle and also offers competitive financing rates on certain models.It should be a great game, with lots of fireworks between these two division rivals.But he also realizes he’s young and needs time to adjust.Manning did just about everything during his stay in Knoxville.
I run in intervals.Fortunately, the Evoque’s standard nine-speed ZF automatic is well behaved and snappy.He was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012 and into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame a year later.
EL PASO, Texas Evan Gilyard scored 20 points, largely on 6-of-9-point shooting, and UTEP defeated Wyoming 76 in the third-place game of the Sun Bowl Invitational on Saturday night.WatchESPN is available to subscribers across all major television providers in households nationwide.To find all players born within a certain month and year, for example all players born in December of 1985, choose the month and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Year Search’ option.Then be sure to check out our new car rankings to see how each one compares to their rivals.
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I went back, along with our offensive staff, and we looked at why the results were the way they were last year.My aggression.But his fun-loving side is rarely on display for public consumption.The Charlotte Hornets rookie was the first to receive a perfect score of 50 with his second round 360-slam, but it wouldn’t be enough to make it to the final round.He has more double-doubles than eight teams in the AAC and has four in the 2019 CBI.
If the 23-year-old slots into the lineup versus the Stars on Monday, it would likely come at the expense of Chris Wagner or Danton Heinen, although it’s more likely Blidh will watch from the press box.I answered him back, and we started swinging.Only Dirk Nowitzki and Brad Davis played in more games with the Mavericks than Harper .With Karson Kuhlman producing on the second line, Nordstrom may see time in the press box once Danton Heinen can return to the lineup.
Closing accounts reduces your available credit, and it raises what is called your credit utilization rate, or the ratio of credit card balances to credit limits.Before you buy a policy, check with your state department of insurance to find out if there are complaints against an insurer you’re considering.We know that there’s a lot of games coming, so hopefully sometime soon I’ll be out there and then stay out there.Louis Blues on March 16, Malkin had 34 points in his previous 29 games.2019 second round draft pick from Memphis Memphis’ 2019nd round pick to Chicago 2020 second round draft pick from Memphis Memphis’ 2020nd round pick to Chicago protected for selections 56 or to Houston protected for selections 31 2021 second round draft pick from New Orleans Chicago has the right to swap its 2021nd round pick for New Orleans’ 2021nd round pick 2022 second round draft pick from Detroit Chicago will receive the more favorable of its 2022nd round pick and Detroit’s 2022nd round pick and Memphis will receive the less favorable of these two picks 2019 second round draft pick to Philadelphia Chicago’s 2019nd round pick to Philadelphia 2020 second round draft pick to Oklahoma City Chicago’s 2020nd round pick to Oklahoma City protected for selections 31 2023 second round draft pick to Washington Chicago’s 2023nd round pick to Washington protected for selections 31.There are several places where you can get a financing offer, including large national banks, community banks, and credit unions.
25 Marcus Camby, Los Angeles ?But I really don’t concern myself too much Barry Sanders Authentic Jersey with that.But I’ve been working on it, and it was the perfect time for me to do that with the defender playing the way he was playing.But Mahomes should be drafted as the No.If you were to bet on the Dolphins who are +105 to win the game, you would profit that amount for every $100 you wagered.
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You are likely very aware of the fact that Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, and Rob are sisters and brother.And by the way, we’re a subsidiary of ABC, Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co.The Bruins offered Pastrnak a six- or seven-year deal worth $6 million a season earlier this offseason, but word is, Pastrnak deemed that too low after seeing the Leon Draisaitl deal out of Edmonton.
A credit score is a number between 300 and 850 that lenders use to predict your creditworthiness.There is so much work to do that it will be a very defense-heavy offseason.With two max contract spots and an attractive setting to offer, New York will have the chance to load up on star power in the offseason and restore relevance.
Malik Johnson had 10 points.Additionally, the dealership will thoroughly clean and detail the vehicle and complete all scheduled maintenance.Why should we be stuck with buying or leasing as our only means of procuring a car to drive?Both Rousey and the WWE have a lot on the line when she enters the ring in New Orleans.
It is important to note that both factors of the illegal check to the head rule are met on this hit.Ralph Vacchiano of Mike Muscala Jersey SNY reported Tuesday night that the Giants have discussed the possibility of trading for Rosen internally, but these talks were extremely preliminary and they aren’t sure right now if they’d prefer him to the quarterbacks in this year’s draft class.For New York, in terms of going out to do your road work, I genuinely did it on a treadmill, or for the Gennady Golovkin fight I used Riverside Park.Plus, what’s going on with David Pastrnak and the Boston Bruins who appeared to be low-balling the forward?
Compare rates from up to four lenders with myAutoloan to get the best deal.As with all of our programs, we hold men’s basketball to the highest standards.Since being drafted fifth overall in 1990 by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jagr has built a long and impressive resume.He recorded 44 receptions for 532 yards, career highs, and scored twice in 15 games.
The Rockies initially feared the possibility of Tommy John surgery, which would end Story’s season and possibly jeopardize his availability for 2019.Foley is well-known for his enthusiasm, and he has some go-to sayings he uses almost every game.Ben won a Super Bowl, but he won when he was younger.Dikembe Mutombo – One of the best shot blockers ever.1 in Athens, but No.
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He was swearing and bulls—, Mejri said.Man, I hated that team!You must have your 2017 USA Hockey number to register for the fall season of SSHL.You settle down.Robitaille as remained with the Kings after being hired as the team’s President of Business Operations on May 25.However, they know their shortfalling, where they’ve been unable to make as deep as a run as they hope to, despite a strong regular season record and a dominant team.
Nick Kypreos, Elliotte Friedman and Darren Millard spoke about the dramatic situation in Toronto and Kypreos suggested that if Lupul believes he has a legitimate beef, he should file a grievance with the NHL Player’s Association.Doncic finished with 19 points.To find all players born within a certain month and year, for example all players born in December of 1985, choose the month and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Year Search’ option.But it wasn’t so much Chiarelli’s inability to make the right moves that ended up costing him his job so much as it was his inability not to make the wrong ones, with his latest likely boondoggle coming in the very week of his dismissal.If Real Madrid are now in good hands, I do not have the answer to that.Or now-ish.
Most will overlook the injury concerns in favor of the consistency and potential.Call meanest mom on the planet, her ad read.You really do have to look at it on an individual basis.I was trying to keep it simple and play confident, Guentzel said.
For the two-year 50-mile CPO vehicles, Mini offers two years and unlimited miles of roadside assistance.Run game, Panthers: They are rightfully regarded as having a powerful ground game, led by Jonathan Stewart with QB Cam Newton adding to it.The punter is always a critical part of the game plan, but especially when you have a guy like Roberts returning.I think anytime anybody has that chip on their shoulder, it kind of elevates their game to the next level.
Van Horn said he was told there was possible nerve damage in his right hip.
The Redskins also doubled his salary to about $35 and inserted a no-trade clause in his contract.Mechanically identical to the 2020 AMG A35 sedan, the CLA35 is the midrange trim between the upcoming base CLA250 and the picante AMG CLA45.We are raised in every background imaginable and bring unique perspectives because of it.The starters will be on the sidelines, shoulder pads off and as relaxed as they will be all season.Carpe isn’t cheap, but neither are Jags and Land Rovers, so your basic will run £910 per month and range up to £2 for a Range Rover Sport HSE.
We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely.Check with your insurer to see their minimum grade requirements, and keep that glowing report card handy.
Author adminPosted on April 22, 2019 Categories Jacksonville JaguarsLeave a comment on Rundown anymore perhaps this rumor the case
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However, after walking no batters in his first start, Mahle struggled with his control.You can never have a conclusive, certain champion, and anyone who wants one is fooling themselves.After receivers like DeSean Jackson, Jamison Crowder and Devin Funchess found new homes, more agreed to terms with different addresses.As with a used car, you get a lower price.143 in a deal with San Francisco last year — they’re looking at facing life after Brown, who will be the highest-paid tackle in free agency…
Acura vehicles that are six years old or less and have less than 80 miles are eligible for the Acura Certified Pre-Owned program.Please check photo credit information and contact the appropriate company.Grambling hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff next Paul Richardson Jersey Saturday.This offer is valid until February http://www.ottawasenatorsofficialonline.com/Adidas-Paul-Carey-Jersey 4.If you would like to search for all players born on a certain day, for example all players born on December 25th in any year, choose the month and day with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Day Search’ option.
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PERSONAL: Weddle married his high school sweetheart, Chanel, in July 2005 and the couple has four children: Brooklyn, Silver, Gaige and Kamri…Chanel surprised Eric with the news that she was pregnant with Brooklyn on the day he was drafted…Chanel played soccer at Utah State…frequently plays basketball and golf and enjoys movie nights and bowling with his family…hit his first- ever hole-in-one in Jan.Big games in September help, and if the Rockies win the West, Story is going to get a lot of credit for his late-season heroics.This is often done through automakers’ in-house finance shops such as Toyota Financial Services.He joined the Patriots as an undrafted free agent out of Louisiana Tech.
And while the defense loses some big pieces, they certainly have depth and talent.2014 and has http://www.authenticnikeredskinshop.com/paul-richardson-jersey-for-sale-c-81.html a single-digit handicap…Barnes was sitting on the bench with the Mavericks when news of the trade broke.
— For more AP college basketball coverage: https: Collegebasketball and http: AP-Top25 — This was generated by Automated Insights, http: ap, using data from STATS LLC, https: Copyright 2019 by AP.No one knew he was undergoing major heart surgery.If you would like to search for all players born on a certain day, for example all players born on December 25th in any year, Paul Carey Youth Jersey choose the month and day with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Day Search’ option.We’ll see if the Chargers bring back Antonio Gates, who is a free agent, and the team lost Tyrell Williams this offseason.
As your role goes on, you’re not so much worried about that anymore; you’re worried about being the best you can possibly be with this team, because you know it’s your team.What most people don’t know is if a college finds out a year later or four years later that you lied on your application, they can withdraw the offer of admission, Sklarow said.Imagine that.This interior scheme isn’t the only recently added BMW Individual option that we noticed.
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Louis Blues currently sit in third place in the NHL’s Central Division, two points behind the Nashville Predators and three points ahead of the Dallas Stars.They said I should probably get some surgery and get it fixed up now.Asked whether she regrets not speaking to the family before announcing the death penalty would not be sought, Harris said, I did not ask for permission to make my decision.Best, Fitch, Kroll Bond Rating Agency and Moody’s.
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Linemakers generally have enough time to put out a solid number, as most lines are out well in advance of the games.Boise State, vs.He wouldn’t be able to keep up, they said, especially without any kind of training camp.
The 49ers biggest accomplishment was limiting Tarik Cohen to just 12 yards rushing and seven yards receiving.Source: NBA Would Have Blocked Kristaps Porzingis Trade If They Believed Case Was Strong Apr 3 1 PM The NBA would not have allowed the Dallas http://www.lionsofficialfootballauthentic.com/Eli_Harold_Jersey Mavericks’ trade for Kristaps Porzingis with the New York Knicks to be executed if they believed the sexual assault case again him appeared to be strong, according to a source briefed on the trade call.DePaul got it past midcourt but Cain’s shot didn’t hit the rim.Absolutely, but when you sign veterans on the open market, there’s much more substance and stock in that decision-making process given they already played a few seasons in the league.
If we look at Jeep’s financial calculator for Eli Harold Jersey a Wrangler priced at $29, a buyer will have a payment of $502 for five years .The Knicks exited into the tunnel to the locker room amid a chorus of boos from the Garden crowd.The Bulls have been tough to beat in Tampa, going 17 on their home court, including wins over Stony Brook , Utah Valley and Loyola Marymount in the CBI.They’ll figure you’re not worth the hassle of trying to negotiate with.
An investigation is ongoing.We’ll start early to where there will be a certain amount of reps we’ll use.Even if Gropp and Pitlick develop into productive NHL players, neither are likely to match Jagr’s impact on the Panthers.Rounding out the team’s 2018 draft class includes RB Kerryon Johnson , S Tracy Walker , DE Da’Shawn Hand , T Tyrell Crosby and FB Nick Bawden .In his five years with the Jaguars, the team cumulatively ranked third in the NFL in rushing yards and sixth in rushing average .
They allegedly received payments totaling nearly $350 sent to their private soccer club.How is WHIP Measured?Pelicans Considered Using Entire 2016 Cap Space On Harrison Barnes Dec 27 12 PM The New Orleans Pelicans have been limited on cap space during most of the tenure of Anthony Davis.To search for players who were born on a certain date, for example all players born on December 25, choose the month, day http://www.officialsunsproshop.com/authentic-9-dan-majerle-jersey.html and year with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Full Date Search’ option.Mayo’s team in the interim.
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Jimmy Murphy of is citing that Brooks story may not be entirely accurate and it was less about new coaching and more about a change of heart than anything else.Hathaway was assessed a match penalty and a game misconduct after driving Kunin into the dasher early in the second period of Calgary’s loss to Minnesota.That’s why Parker’s situation is emblematic of the contorted equation that drives subprime auto lending: an individual makes a mistakes or falls into financial trouble-say, they lose their job, get sick or go through an expensive divorce-and that trouble takes a hit on their credit rating.A 302-horsepower 3-liter V6 ensures the ES isn’t a slouch when the light turns green �?this is a Lexus that can zoom down the road whenever you want.
Obviously, I haven’t kicked in two years, but being out here in practice, working out with the team, everything like that, they’re all telling me how much they believe in me, Wadman said.The average loan term is about six years, so we’ll calculate the payment and total financing for a 72-month term using our auto loan calculator.Skip to content The St.And at my last piano lesson, I told my teacher that I also want to learn the Minuet in G Minor.Tennessee likely still has work to do on defense, with defending the middle of the field in the passing game standing out as a particular weakness last year.
He Calvin Pace Jersey just came through a serious operation.’ At one point, I said, ‘Do you want me to turn it off, boss?’ He said, ‘No, you never know what http://www.jetsofficialsfootballprostore.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_ROBBY_ANDERSON_JERSEY.html might happen.’ The owner’s words proved prophetic as Pisarcik’s attempted handoff to Larry Csonka fell to the artificial turf and took one sweet hop into the arms of Edwards, the Eagles’ cornerback, who carried it to the end zone for the touchdown.Williams agreed to a buyout this past offseason to sign with the Dallas Mavericks for a new start.Europeans have been at the pinnacle of success in recent seasons, winning five of the past 10 Hart, Art Ross, and For most hockey players, winning the Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal.But a couple of years ago, Mercedes was putting out 302 horsepower from a 3-liter V-6.
Should Irving leave the Boston Celtics in the offseason, Broussard believes the star point guard’s most likely destination is the Knicks, who then would be in good position to reel in KD should they sign Irving in free agency.For some NFL teams, the draft is a time for the general manager and scouts to make decisions, and then the coaches can do their jobs when those players report.When you purchase a non-certified used car, the only deal you will get on financing is what you can negotiate with your dealer, bank, or another lender.He also one the 2003 Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophies and was a three-time all-star.That’s been the doctrine largely followed by coach Joel Quenneville and his staff en route to three Stanley Cups since 2010 in this era of Chicago Blackhawks brilliance.Ram CPO vehicles can be purchased at almost every authorized dealership.
Baylor’s zone defense is unusually good this year, so picking against Scott Drew’s team seems like a mistake.
Baughan had one of the touchdowns on a 33-yard return and it was the only touchdown in his Eagles Hall of Fame 14-year career.The Bears, Cowboys and Seahawks have some of the best defenses in football.If you would like to search for all players born on a certain day, for example all players born on December 25th in any year, choose the month and day with the drop down boxes and then choose the ‘Month and Day Search’ option.1 http://www.jetsshopfootballonlines.com/calvin-pace-jersey_c-435.html in the history of college football.
This agreement was short-lived, though, as the 26-year-old backtracked on his initial decision and ended up signing a five-year deal to stay with the Minnesota Vikings.But at the same time, I don’t know what it’s like to be somewhere else.A senior selection committee elected Gray, who died in 2001 at Robby Anderson Jersey the age of 49.In just 17 snaps, Celek earned the 49ers top mark on offense with a 90 overall grade.
�?Was only player in NFL history with at least 150 sacks and 10 or more interceptions.
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The Dodgers as a unit have 758 base hits, including 166 doubles and 125 homers.The Action Pack are the alpha dogs of our arena, leading the charge on all of our promotional activities, including t-shirt tosses, parachute drops, dance cameras, prize giveaways and much more.His FG percentage is 62% and his free throw percentage is at 70%.How about the Komarov deal?
Goalie Ray Emery is out to start the playoffs, for example, but despite his outstanding season , he platoons with Corey Crawford , so the team won’t miss a beat.You can use this $60 credit any way you please for any handicapper and any sport on Doc’s Sports list of expert sports handicappers.The Tulane Green Wave have tried 10 field goals this year and made 8, which is 118th in college football.Now, there are times when things go stale and it’s nice to shake things up.They’re just baby steps, but for the first time in a long time Felicio appears to at least be heading in the right direction.
He has had 782 shots against him and has given up 56 goals.11 in Atlanta, where the Cowboys entered the day at 5 and the Falcons were 4.The over under was set at 7.Brooklyn averages 95 points per game this year which ranks them 29th in the league.
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The club has taken points in all three of its http://www.officialsfootballbillsstores.com/Russell-Bodine-Jersey.html matches this month , including a 4 win over Houston.The Spurs have now lost six out of their last seven games after the New Orleans Pelicans beat them 97 on the road on Friday night.Useful Team Statistics Western Kentucky averages 73 points per contest, which is 204th in D-1.5 at 8 PM, and Oct.Central Michigan dominated the first half, and it looked like UNLV would fall to 0.They have allowed 128 home runs this season, ranking them 3rd in the league.
They are throwing for 65 yards through the air per game thus far.He finished the game with an Womens Keith Magnuson Jersey average of 17 yards per reception.”We’ve http://www.blackhawkshockeyshop.com/adidas-keith-magnuson-jersey got guys that can play.2009 Los Angeles Clippers Predictions by Justin Johnson – 10 2009 There is legitimate cause for optimism for Los Angeles Clippers fans as the roster looks to have some of the best high-end talent as they have had in years.The bad news is they drew the tougher of the home teams in Baltimore, but they’ve shown they can already beat Kansas City on the road if they get that far.
But seriously, did the NHL not see this coming?
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Fast Sign up with Instant Access Click Here One E-mail A Week Is All You Need!The Derby horse, though, just isn’t good enough.He has 37 assists giving him a total of 64 points on the season.Are you boycotting Starbucks?
Instead, it seems to be keeping up appearances while waiting for the competition to blink first.Like I’ve said, I thought there are some things about him when he’s in the game.They currently are 1st in the Central Division.Last time out against Arizona he carried 10 times for 47 yards and two scores.The team sold high on Davis, who hit a team-best 27 homers last year.
Bring it on.NBA Handicapping: How To Handle Eliminated Teams Down the Stretch by Trevor Whenham – 02 2009 There are still 25 or so games left in the NBA season, but for at least nine teams the season is all but over.Ottawa Senators Betting Trends Ottawa Senators are Against the Spread Ottawa Senators are against the Over Under Philadelphia Flyers Betting Trends Philadelphia Flyers are Against the Spread Philadelphia Flyers are against the Over Under Injuries to Watch Ottawa Senators 12 14 D Mark Borowiecki Leg expected to miss 2 weeks 12 14 D Marc Methot Hip out indefinitely 12 14 C Zack Smith Wrist out indefinitely 12 14 RW Chris Neil Knee out indefinitely Philadelphia Flyers 11 14 C Ryan White Chest out indefinitely 10 14 D Chris Pronger Concussion out for season 10 14 D Kimmo Timonen Blood Clot out indefinitely 01 15 C Claude Giroux Leg ?In the offseason, the Browns got a lot of attention because of their quarterback selection of Johnny Manziel.
Rafael Nadal rematch in the third round, and it would take place if both players win on Thursday.NBA Handicapping: Hot or Cold Report by Nicholas Tolomeo – 11 2009 The easiest schedule in the NBA thus far has resulted in records of 3 straight up and 5 against the spread.MI has also lost by a head and had a respectable fourth-place finish in another run.
And Chase Elliott, who is on the verge of his first Cup win and badly needs it now that he too had trouble at Charlotte.Jibri Blount and Reggie Gardner Jr.Tortorella often voiced his displeasure with the Penguins when he was the head coach of the New York Rangers, and his feelings haven’t changed since joining the Blue Jackets in 2015.He was the Hurricanes captain for five seasons.North American Juniors.
Fortunately, with the current player compensation system that is in our collective bargaining agreement with a hard salary cap, players receiving a percentage of the revenue �?and revenue sharing among teams �?makes it almost impossible for teams to buy championships.But it was also short-lived.It was the first big problem Artest has presented this season after being suspended for a total of 12 games and fined $155 last season.Bulls at Knicks Betting Story Lines Clearly, Anthony will play now, but the Knicks might have another injury question: Amare Stoudemire.
Gordon pulled down three rebounds and had three assists, accumulating a plus-minus of -7 in his 38 of playing time.In this game, Kluber pitched seven shutout innings and only gave up five hits while striking out nine and walking two.
While most online books are yet to post any NBA season wins ‘over unders’ the Hilton’s numbers serve as a great baseline for what we can expect from the other sportsbooks.
Chapman Stadium in Tulsa On Saturday afternoon, the Oklahoma Sooners will have a tricky game on their hands when they face the pass-happy Tulsa Golden Hurricane.He busted two coverages late, and offensively, we didn’t do a good enough job with our opportunities to kind of put the game away.Who needs obsolete, last-gen hypercars when you’ve got a McLaren 720S?
Stars: 4 out of 5 | Reviews: 371 reviews Dlife card case wallet is made of premium aluminum and leather.Opponents average 29 rebounds a game which ranks 6th, and they allow 13 assists per game which puts them in 160th place in college basketball.It’s one game, but we spend two whole weeks obsessing over every possible detail and making sure that the players feel as much pressure and discomfort as possible.
That’s the difference between a solid and championship-caliber program.Cleveland, he totaled two solo tackles, two interceptions and four passes defensed.Wesley Sneijder had a wonder strike off a deflection from a corner to level play at 1 in the 88 th minute.He has a slugging percentage of .616 and an OPS+ of 133.
Author adminPosted on April 15, 2019 Categories Jacksonville JaguarsLeave a comment on November 17 consider opening line for this matchup
TBWA baltimore since the franchise moved icon
Questions answered spark send the team
Zealand in an olympic qualifying series bogut hoped
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Jacksonville jaguars 10 cleveland browns 11 new york
Aaron Dell Jersey
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Walking is a great way to experience the natural landscapes of an area and there is no shortage of walking trails in Australia's South West that pass through some of the region's most striking landscapes. Whether you are after a short stroll or a hiking adventure, there’s a trail to suit your interests and ability.
Below are some of the most popular walking trails in the region, however for a comprehensive list of walking trails in Australia’s South West, visit the TrailsWA website. To ensure you enjoy the region’s many walking trails without impacting on the natural environment, see Leave No Trace Australia for helpful hints and tips.
Bibbulmun Track
One of the most recognised walks in the region is the Bibbulmun Track, which stretches for nearly 1,000 kilometres between Kalamunda in Perth and Albany on the south coast. Opened on the 13th of September 1998 the award-winning Bibbulmun Track is one of the world's great long distance walk trails. The track runs through or near the towns of Collie, Balingup, Pemberton, Northcliffe, Walpole and Denmark before finishing in Albany. Along its path are areas of old growth forest, pretty farmland, rugged coastal cliffs and remote beaches. It even passes near some of the region’s most popular attractions like the Gloucester Tree in Pemberton and the Tree Top Walk near Walpole.
Cape to Cape Track
Spanning 135 kilometres between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin in the Margaret River region, the Cape to Cape Track offers beautiful coastal scenery, much of which is inaccessible by car. Between June and December, walkers can spot whales migrating off the coast, and wildflower season between August and November adds another attraction for walkers. Companies offer end-to-end services, transfers and everything in between. All guests to the region can access the track easily enough for a gentle walk or an afternoon of adventure.
Other walking trails in Australia's South West
Mangrove Cove, Bunbury
In the Leschenault Inlet, the southern-most mangroves in Western Australia are home to over 60 species of water bird. Follow the easy, 5km trail along the edge of the inlet, where you can read about the adventures and mishaps of early explorers.
Crooked Brook Forest Wildflower Walk near Dardanup
Short sealed walk trail that is wheelchair accessible and ideal for viewing wildflowers in spring.
Jabitj Trail, Wellington National Park near Collie
The 12km return walk trail begins at Wellington Dam and follows the Collie River to Honeymoon Pool, passing through old-growth jarrah forest and over steep granite outcrops, offering wonderful views of the rapids and the tranquil pools of the Collie River.
Kondil Park Wildflower Walk, Nannup
The wildflower walk in Kondil Park on the Blackwood River offers spectacular views in spring when the forest floor becomes a carpet of colour.
Greenbushes Loop Walk
A lovely 15km walk with a 5km walk through waterways, heritage, nature and rehabilitation sites, which joins the Bibbulmun Track for 5km finishing with a 5km return to Greenbushes.
Meelup Reserve Trail, near Dunsborough
Starting in Old Dunsborough, the 14.8km return trail takes you on an adventure past rustic beach shacks, rugged coastline and through shady peppermint forest before reaching what is arguably one of WA’s best beaches - Meelup Beach. The areas you pass are only accessible on foot.
Wadandi Track, Margaret River
A dual purpose, 23km trail from Margaret River takes you on a gentle, flat walk through forest, pines and farmland.
Great Forest Trees Walk, Shannon National Park near Pemberton
A medium 8 km return walk that follows old forestry track. The trail is steep in places, particularly where it crosses the Shannon River.
Point D'Entrecasteaux Cliff Top Walk, Windy Harbour
A 1.3km (one way) marked walking trail follows the cliff tops around Point D'Entrecasteaux, and has four lookouts with dramatic views over the ocean. Whales can be spotted from here in season.
Mount Frankland near Walpole
A 1.5km walk trail that meanders around the base of Mount Frankland and through karri forest. A steep one km trail branches off to the top of this granite peak.
Karri Walk, Denmark
A pleasant walk winding through a reserve of paperbark, yate and karri, to the inlet. It can be walked one way, or in conjunction with the Mokare Trail. Take your picnic basket and enjoy peace among the trees.
Monkey Rock Denmark
A walk that leads to Monkey Rock, a spectacular granite outcrop on the southern slope of Mt Hallowell. Offers 270 degree views over the surrounding karri forest, southern coastline and Wilson Inlet.
Ellen Cove to Albany Port
A medium 6km return walk. This walk trail includes Middleton Beach and is great for whale watching.
Bald Head Walk, Torndirrup National Park near Albany
A strenuous 12.5km return walk over Isthmus Hill and Limestone Head, finishing at Bald Head, the most eastern point of the park. Offers great coastal views and is a good place for spotting whales.
Castle Rock - Porongurup National Park
A 3-km return walk that takes two hours of medium difficulty and leads to the famous balancing rock and continues to stand on Castle Rock; a lookout platform attached to the side of a giant granite peak.
Bluff Knoll, Stirling Range
The climb to the top of Bluff Knoll, WA’s third highest peak, is a challenging 6km return walk. On a clear day, the views are well worth the climb. Always check weather conditions before commencing this walk.
Start planning your visit to Australia's South West Region today!
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Le Corsaire DVD
Le Corsaire (The Pirate) follows the escapades of a dashing pirate, Conrad, who journeys across the high seas to save his beautiful harem girl, Medora. It is a swashbuckling fantasy tale of captive maidens and cutthroats, love and betrayal.
Full of action, passion and romance, this classic story ballet has been reinvented by English National Ballet, the only UK company to perform the complete work.
This extravagant and exhilarating production enthralled audiences and received rave reviews when it premiered in 2013. Staged by Anna-Marie Holmes, with the breath-taking sets by Hollywood designer Bob Ringwood (Batman) Le Corsaire is an unmissable, entertaining adventure.
First-rate dancing by the company and its soloists – including Alina Cojocaru’s ‘radiant performance’ as Medora (Independent), Yonah Acosta’s ‘vividly drawn and villainous’ Birbanto (Financial Times) and Vadim Muntagirov’s ‘compelling’ (Daily Telegraph) portrayal of Conrad – underscores the ‘roaring, madcap success’ (Financial Times) of this production.
UK mainland postage £3.50, delivered first class for arrival within 2-4 working days.
Worldwide postage £5.99, delivered first class for arrival within 7-9 working days.
For further details, please see our terms and conditions.
Akram Khan's Giselle DVD
ENB Tote Bag
ENB Men's T-shirt
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Japanwildlife
A Japanese boar. Photo: iStock.
92-year-old man fights wild boar in Japan
Old farmer said he was forced to hit boar with his hoe, which killed it, after it bit his leg
A 92-year-old man in Japan fought a wild boar – and ended up killing the pig – after it attacked him in a field on the weekend.
Hisao Kaito was in his field on March 24 when he encountered the boar, WPXI reported. The boar first bit the old man on his legs but that proved to be a fatal mistake, as Kaito struck the boar with a hoe, killing it.
Kaito told his wife that he had to use the hoe as his cane broke. The man was taken to a hospital but is in a stable condition.
In a previous case in November last year, a man was attacked by a wild boar in Fukuoka when he was on his way to a train station. The boar was eventually shooed away by drivers when they honked loudly to scare it away.
Boars are widely seen as a reckless and fearsome animal in Japan. They have distinctive white whiskers, which distinguishes it from other wild pigs.
Read: Wild boar bites woman’s finger off in Japan
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Who’s Ask Deb?
Home / Health / What Are the Benefits of Wheatgrass?
What Are the Benefits of Wheatgrass?
Posted on May 20, 2019 by Deb in Health
The benefits of wheatgrass can be difficult to ascertain from a neutral perspective. Internet vendors of wheatgrass juice are quick to cough up a list of 40 wheatgrass benefits, some of which are harder to swallow than that notoriously odd-tasting drink. While there are some arguments over the best way to harvest wheat for drinking, and many more arguments about what the real benefits of wheatgrass are, clearly, the plant offers a boost to health and good reason for further study.
Wheatgrass evangelists tout the energizing properties of the plant, claiming that just two ounces of fresh wheatgrass juice has the energizing power of two cups of coffee, though it contains no caffeine. They also claim this drink has the nutritional equivalency to three pounds of organic vegetables.
No one can argue against the claim that Wheatgrass juice is nutritious. Clearly, it provides a multitude of vitamins and minerals. It has natural antioxidants, so it makes sense that wheatgrass juice is good for you. It is a good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, sulphur, cobalt, and zinc.
Some say wheatgrass juice can build red blood cells, primarily citing the large quantity of chlorophyll found in the plant and chlorophyll’s remarkable similarity to human hemoglobin. If it is true that wheatgrass rebuilds red blood cells, this would explain its reported energizing qualities. One might also point out that chlorophyll has been shown to reduce bad breath. While not exactly a vital life-saving property, this can be useful nonetheless.
There are also many claims that wheatgrass is a detoxifying agent, clearing the lymph system of mucous. Such claims are impossible to verify given the glaring lack of studies on the subject. Weight control is another claim that remains unverified. The logic is that wheatgrass juice is so nutritious that the body will not crave foods to fill nutritional gaps.
Questionable Claims
Some recommend topical application of wheatgrass juice as a skin treatment. It is said to sooth irritations and reduce swelling. Claims also assert anti-bacterial properties that may reduce the chance of infection. Other claims are just too hard to believe. These include the assertion that wheatgrass contains liquid oxygen, returns gray hair to its natural color, slows the aging process and tightens skin.
One area where wheatgrass juice has shown the most promise is cancer therapy. This alternative medicine is believed to have anti-mutagenic properties because of its high beta-carotene concentration. Personal stories of the curative properties of this plant abound. There are also some convincing case studies like this one. [add link: http://www.cancerlynx.com/peritonealcase.html] Here, an 89-year-old woman took wheatgrass, coenzyme Q-10 and bovine cartilage in lieu of chemotherapy after her cancer surgery. She beat the cancer, even a year after the surgery.
Of particular note is this portion of the study: “There are potential moderating factors and alternative clinical explanations for the results. It is possible that no cancer cells remained after the surgery. There have been reports of such outcomes. However, these outcomes are unusual.
Another possibility is that the cancer cells remain but are inactive at this time. The primary peritoneal cancer, or a metastic form, then could express itself at a later time. Given the mature nature of the patient’s cancer and its rapid development earlier, however, it seems improbable that a recurrence would be delayed beyond a year with no conventional treatment. Moreover, there seems no reason for the inactivity in the cancer.”
Problems with Wheatgrass
Now before you run out and buy yourself a wheatgrass juicing kit, you should understand a few things about it first. Many people report reactions such as nausea and headaches after drinking wheatgrass juice. Some have even reported hives. These reactions may be lessened by drinking the juice of wheatgrass that was grown outdoors.
Wheat grass can be grown indoors, but the plant is highly susceptible to mold. Indoor growers will go on about mold non-toxicity until they are as blue in the face as the mold on the wheat plant. It will be hard to convince many that there are no ill effects from that mold. Clearly, anyone sensitive to mold would have a problem consuming such a product.
The solution is to grow wheat outdoors. Some claim that winter wheat is best because the cold weather kills the mold. Perhaps fresh air may be enough to reduce levels of mold to a tolerable level, whether in winter or not. The problem with outdoor growing, however, is that the cycle takes 200 days, while the indoor plants grow in 7 to 10 days. However, many wheatgrass juicers will tell you that outdoor-grown wheat grass tastes much better and creates less stomach upset.
The Wheatgrass Experience
So what exactly does wheatgrass juice taste like? In the case of outdoor-grown wheatgrass, some say it tastes like ground snow pea shells. Others think of a fresh-cut lawn. Some of you are wrinkling your noses and others are taking in a deep breath, remembering that fresh fragrance. It is purely a matter of preference. Proponents of outdoor growing claim that wheatgrass juice from indoor plants tastes bitter, while outdoor plants create a sweeter juice.
Wheatgrass juice is made by taking fresh plants and grinding them in a juicer. The result is a deep green pulpy beverage. Raw food dieters seem to have a particular fondness for this juice. Those who can drink as much as three ounces are often quite proud of themselves. It is not something for the faint of heart.
With the high potency of this plant, perhaps those idyllic country images, lying back and chewing on a blade of wheat grass set the best example. Chewing on the grass seems like a good alternative for anyone who is unable to stomach the juice.
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bidwrite
Why our clients value the BidWrite way.
Tasmania Dept. of State Growth
Doval Constructions
NSM Major Defence Contract
In early 2018, Naval Ship Management (NSM) was establishing itself as a leading supplier of Navy maintenance and support services in the Australia. It had been integral in maintaining the ANZAC fleet of Royal Australian Navy frigates since 2012, and the team was looking to expand its role by pursuing a sustainment and asset management contract for two landing helicopter docks (LHD) and LHD landing crafts (LLCs) for up to 15 years.
While NSM had the technical expertise to deliver the $1.5 billion contract, they lacked the internal capabilities and processes to manage and deliver a large defence proposal. Having canvassed the marketplace, NSM chose to work with BidWrite given its deep experience in defence tendering, range of in-house bid support skills and practical approach to winning.
To assist NSM’s proposal, BidWrite was tasked to occupy all key bid roles during both the EOI and RFT stages of the tendering process. BidWrite implemented and lead a full tender response support team of nine including a Bid Director, Bid Manager and two Bid Consultants, as well as additional external resources including two Graphic Designers, two Technical Writers and a Bid Coordinator.
Our team provided executive management, developed the bid strategy and win themes, supported with persuasive writing and document co-ordination, and provided graphic and visual design content for the final product. We also provided oversight for compliance and quality of the proposal from end to end. Our dynamic staff worked closely with the NSM team to help tell their story and demonstrate how they were going to deliver the contract better than their competitors.
Naval Ship Management (Australia) Pty Ltd (NSM) provides planning, scheduling, management and execution of preventative and corrective maintenance for naval ships and their system support facilities on the East and West coast of Australia.
NSM offers complete maritime sustainment solutions for their customers’ critical assets, including engineering support services, maintenance support services, ship repair, refit and refurbishment, supply chain management, and procurement and logistics.
Following the submission of a compelling and compliant proposal, NSM was shortlisted into the Offer Definition and Improvement (ODIA) activity. BidWrite continued to assist the team by applying additional effort to ensure all communications with the Commonwealth reinforced NSM’s key messages and win themes.
NSM was awarded the maintenance and sustainment contract for two LHDs and 12 LLCs in December of 2018. This award was a major win for NSM, giving them revenue security for the next 15 years as well as further recognition as a major supplier of defence maritime sustainment services.
Since engaging BidWrite’s services, NSM has grown its business by winning a crucial contract that was strategically important for their future success. They have achieved an increased presence in the Australian defence industry and demonstrated the organisation’s technical capabilities as a dedicated major warship sustainment company.
In August 2019, NSM was announced a finalist in the Australian Defence Industry Awards, being shortlisted in two categories ‘Major Defence Contractor of the Year’ and ‘Naval Business of the Year.’
The proposal tender was highly competitive with a well-established incumbent and the BidWrite team were instrumental to our success by ensuring we delivered a compelling proposal to the Commonwealth. In addition to tendering best practice, their knowledge of the Defence sector as well as broader industry trends were particularly valuable in evolving key aspects of our solution. We also valued the professionalism, expertise and collaborative approach of everyone in the BidWrite Team.
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The Astrid Lyre Trio plays the Avalanche Bar & Grill in Courtenay Sept. 12. Photo supplied.
Astrid Lyre Trio to play Courtenay gig
The Georgia Straight Jazz Society presents Thursday night jazz at the Avalanche Bar at 9275 8th St. in Courtenay, featuring the electrifying Astrid Lyre Trio at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 12.
Sep. 10, 2019 12:00 a.m.
The fluid guitar lines of Astrid Lyre combine with the articulate, adventurous bass of Brock Meades and the dynamic drumming of James McRae to weave an intricate, improvised tapestry of close and playful interaction.
The Astrid Lyre Trio was a hit at last year’s Nanaimo International Jazz Festival, and has been refining and expanding the repertoire ever since. Along with Astrid originals such as Emery Board, they serve up swing on Charlie Parker’s Barbados and Sonny Rollins’s Oleo, and add intricate improvisations to the Beatles’ perennial, Eleanor Rigby.
A graduate of Capilano College’s jazz program on bass, Lyre honed her guitar skills with a two-and-a-half-year gig in the jazz club on Royal Caribbean’s flagship cruise liner, Allure of the Seas.
On her return to Nanaimo she added vocals to her guitar, composing and performing original tunes with jazz combos and her progressive rock group, Eleanore. Influenced by a wide array of players, from guitarist Julian Lage and saxophonist Lee Konitz to pianist Bill Evans, Astrid can soar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, and sing out her special version of All Shook Up. She comes to us direct from a stint in the band for the musical Mamma Mia! in Chemainus.
Last season, appearing in John Lee’s exciting Next Generation Jazz Collective, Meades on bass impressed GSJS members with his fresh sounds. Meades lays down a firm foundation for Astrid’s trio, adding complex and intricate solo lines to the mix.
McRae is a familiar face on the Avalanche stage, appearing with the Nico Rhodes and Marty Steele bands, and Jennifer Scott, among others. A teacher and a master of many genres, McRae toured this summer with boogie-woogie pianist Jerry Story and spent Labour Day performing at the Island Blues Bash in Victoria.
Admission is $10 for members, $12 for non-members.
Visit www.georgiastraight jazz.com and select the calendar tab to see the superb lineup of acts booked for the 2019-2020 season (September through May). Members enjoy warm, safe, friendly gatherings each week, with a wide array of live jazz genres, and the option of adding affordable, wonderful food off the pub menu or the jazz night dinner special.
Artist from Sorrento, B.C. inspired by trip to Sorrento, Italy in new exhibit
Comox Valley Art Gallery’s Fall Film Series opens with Wild Rose
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Forthcoming BCSA Events
Recent BCSA Events
British Czech and Slovak Review
2019 BCSA Writing Competition
2019 competition results
2019 winning entry
Join the BCSA
Sign-up for e-circulars
This section highlights initiatives that are in keeping with the aims of the BCSA. Send contributions to communication@bcsa.co.uk.
Susanna Roth Translators Award 2020 – call for entries
Czech Centres and the Czech Literary Centre, a section of the Moravian Library, announce the 6th year of the International Competition for Young Translators – The Susanna Roth Prize, named after the celebrated Swiss translator Susanna Roth (1950 – 1997) who made a significant contribution to the promotion of contemporary Czech literature abroad.
The competition is open to young translators up to the age of forty*. The task is to translate a significant extract (cca 20 pages) of as yet untranslated contemporary Czech prose published in the Czech Republic between November 2018 and November 2019. Previously published extracts are unacceptable. A jury in each country taking part will select one winner.
*excluding previous winners of the Susanna Roth Translation Competition
TEXT TO BE TRANSLATED
Vytěženej kraj by Veronika Bendová (FRA, 2019), pg. 22–39 (p. 22 from the second paragraph starting with Navigace stále čekala na signál, p. 39 ending with Libkovice posraný)
Veronika Bendová was born in Prague in 1974. She studied scriptwriting and dramaturgy at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). She made her debut in 2012 with her novella Nonstop Eufrat which has been translated into Spanish. Veronika occasionally publishes short stories in magazines.
A trip in July 2020 to the Czech Republic including specialist seminars.
ASSIGNMENT AND CONDITIONS
The translated text in English (pg. 22–39) from Veronika Bendová’s Vytěženej kraj (FRA, 2019) together with a short bio (up to 1,000 characters including spaces) in Czech, a current photograph with credits and a solemn declaration on the authorship of the translated text should be submitted via email to clarkova@czechcentre.org.uk. The deadline is 31st March 2020.
Click here to download text to be translated, full terms & conditions and version in Czech
Czech School Without Borders, London is looking for volunteers to fill the positions of Teaching Assistant who are available to work on Saturdays in Islington and/or Wednesdays in Harpenden. The candidates must be native speakers of Czech and are, ideally, graduates or students of a faculty of education or have a similar background in the humanities.
experience with teaching history or interest in Czech history
experience with teaching at primary, high school or planning free time activities
interesting experience with teaching bilingual children
opportunity to try something new
working in friendly environment
If interested, please send us your CV and cover letter to info@czechschool.org.uk
Draft law eases path to Czech citizenship for descendants of emigres
The Czech Senate passed a draft law in July 2019 that should make it easier for the children and grandchildren of emigres from communist Czechoslovakia to obtain Czech citizenship. The bill, which is expected to be signed by the president, relates to descendants of those stripped of their own citizenship prior to 1989.
Further background details can be found in this Radio Prague article.
Memorial Association for Free Czechoslovak Veterans (MAFCSV)
The aim of MAFCSV is ‘to honour and remember all Free Czechoslovak WW2 veterans and service personnel who fought with the Allies’. It organises regular commemorative events at Brookwood Military Cemetery at the Czechoslovak memorial where this year a new information panel was installed at its civilian plot.
MAFCSV is currently amalgamating with the Association of Czechoslovak Legionaries Abroad based in Cholmondeley to unify their aims. The combined project is to install a memorial to all Czechoslovak veterans in one place, the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
The total budget for this project is £30,000, of which a considerable amount is already in place, but they still need to raise about £20,000, to cover the cost of installation and maintenance and insurance.
Please make your donations by using reference “Memorial”
By Bank Transfer Account No 40953568 Sort Code 30 99 09
By Cheque made out to MAFCSV
and sent John Polak, Fir Trees, Cranbourne, Sutton Scotney, Winchester, Hants SO21 3NA
MORENA SLOVAK DANCE COMPANY
Your chance to learn from a professionally trained Slovak traditional dancer.
From 7-8.30pm at Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regents Park Road, London NW1 7AY
The class consists of warm up, stretching, learning Slovak steps and little routine. All levels are welcome and you are advised to bring a change of clothes.
Tickets £5 pay on the door
Contact Andrea for further information about session dates (mobile 07946 382303)
CZECH/SLOVAK CATHOLIC SERVICES IN LONDON
Visiting Czech priests will celebrate mass on the following Sundays at 2pm
2020 5 January, 2 February, 8 March, 5 April, 10 May, 7 June, 5 July
for more details see
http://www.velehrad.org.uk/
SLOVAK CATHOLIC MISSION
7.30pm Monday and first Friday of month (mass in Slovak)
1pm Sunday (Slovak and Czech)
7.30pm Sunday (Slovak) except July, August and September
EU CITIZENS’ RIGHTS IN THE UK
The UK government has reached an agreement with the European Union on citizens’ rights. This agreement will protect your rights after the UK leaves the EU and enable you to continue to live your life as you do now. It also covers your family members. In order to secure your rights, you will need to apply for settled status through the EU Settlement Scheme. Your rights will not change until 2021 so there is no need for you to apply for status as soon as the scheme opens.
For further details click on the link below.
A guide to the EU Settlement Scheme for EU citizens and their families
The Bouda Gallery Project
Initiated by the Czech Centre London, this project aims to provide a space for exhibitions, book readings and design pop-up shops as well as a base for the Czech School Without Borders in London. The vast majority of the cost will be covered by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However 10% of the remaining finance needs to be raised for purchasing and installing technical equipment and furniture.
For further details and to make a donation go to http://bouda.org.uk/
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Mr Beaufort's Guide to Rugby and the World Cup
“Rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentleman. Eighty minutes of herculean sized men chasing an egg around a muddy field with no skill involved at all.” This, was the controversial view aired by Mr’s Beaufort during the opening game of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. An unbalanced opinion based on her biased love for cricket, buoyed by our recent World Cup win here on home soil. An opinion I believe is based on the comfortable seat she has saved at the Pavilion End…
Sadly, she’s not the only one that feels this way about our nation’s most noble sport. Oscar Wilde once famously said that “Rugby is a good occasion for keeping thirty bullies far from the centre of the city.” But fear not reader, I’m not here to charge down your World Cup hysteria - this is a view I do not condone, nor share. Of course, rugby is different but by no means is it less skilled. So, to put her argument firmly into touch and blow the whistle on her evidently lacking knowledge, I’ve pulled together my guide to rugby and the World Cup.
The start of the rugby season signals means many things – Guinness officially regains its hydrating status, weekend plans are now staggered around World Cup or Six Nations games but most sadly it signals the end of summer. A time to pack away the linens and layer up for the colder months ahead. If you’re looking to avoid a style red card this winter then I’d suggest you’d keep it simple. Layer up a lambs-wool half knit with a quilted gilet, aka. ‘The Fulham Life Jacket’ – the perfect buoyancy aid to help you float home from Twickenham to Fulham after sinking a few too many.
Rugby has gone from a game played in dress shirts and bow ties to one played in skin-tight sausage cases that contain far from porky front rows. Off the pitch however, the sport of rugby has successfully held onto its traditional roots and produced the best outside-half your wardrobe will ever see – the rugby shirt. Pre-game, post-game or simply down the pub – the cotton shirt hits the sartorial sweet spot between smart and casual. See it as the polo shirt’s rugged cousin that could seriously improve your on and off-pitch conversion rate.
For this year’s World Cup, I’d recommend the Oakfield Oxford Stripe Rugby Shirt (because vertical stripes are for those football playing fairies).
If you’re anything like Mr’s Beaufort and suffer from a weak back line of Rugby knowledge, here’s my rugby jargon buster that will ensure you’re ahead of the pack:
Brave blossoms – nickname for the Japanese national rugby team
Hand-off – the use of a hand, when in possession of the ball, to fend off defenders.
Rucks and mauls – formed following a tackle, these melees either take place when the ball has gone to ground (a ruck) or if a tackle has remained on their feet with ball-in-hand (a maul).
Ball not released - tackled player holds onto the ball on the ground. No innuendos in this jargon buster thank you.
‘Going upstairs’ - when a referee asks the TMO (Television Match Official) or “video ref” to confirm whether a try, penalty goal or conversion has been scored. I told you, no innuendos.
Sin bin – the bench where players who have made serious fouls are sent after being shown a yellow card by the referee. Or, the bench I’ll be sitting on after a few too many World Cup related weekends in the pub.
Created in 1823 when William Webb Ellis first ran with a leather ball during a game of football, rugby has more tradition than you can shake a stick (or bat) at. The sport was born in the British public school system but has since grasped the hearts and minds of nations around the world. Over the year’s rugby has produced some of sports most iconic moments - Mandela and Pienaar in ‘95, Wilkinson in 2003 and Japan’s shock win in 2015. There’s no other sport that offers cutthroat creativity, colossal clashes and classroom camaraderie all within the confines of a 100m field. Name me another sport that allows some of the lesser-known nations, i.e. Scotland, to take on titans of the world?
MR BEAUFORT’S GUIDE TO: SUMMER SWIMWEAR
BEAUFORT & BLAKE MEETS: ED STAFFORD, BRITISH EXPLORER & ADVENTURER
MR BEAUFORT: 5 TIPS FOR SELECTING SUNGLASSES THIS SUMMER
MR BEAUFORT: 5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD GET INTO WHISKY IN 2017
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King Bedroom Sets - Everything You Need to Know
There's no better way to tie a bedroom together than with a full bedroom set. Whether you're buying a new house or you want to spruce up your existing bedroom, investing in a bedroom set is the best way to provide yourself with a comfortable sleeping environment that you'll treasure for years to come. King bedroom sets are the most luxurious types of bedroom sets available, and these furniture combinations avoid leaving style to chance by ensuring that every piece in your bedroom matches.
However, there are so many different types of king bedroom sets to choose from that a home decorating novice might become overwhelmed with decision anxiety. Not to worry; we're here to clear the air with a comprehensive guide that will tell you everything you'll need to know when it comes time to pick a king bedroom set for your very own bedroom.
Popular King Bedroom Set Styles
While each king bedroom set is unique, these sets come in a variety of easily-recognizable styles. Each of these styles is designed to evoke a certain aesthetic, and they vary from each other in significant ways. Here are a few of the most popular styles of king bedroom sets that you can choose from:
1. Coastal
Coastal bedroom sets borrow their aesthetics from the types of furniture that are commonly included in beachside bungalows. These sets include plenty of maritime-themed accessories, and they often incorporate components like weathered wood and seashells. It isn't uncommon to find pictures of seahorses and crustaceans in bedrooms that have been designed in coastal style, and coastal bedroom sets generally seek to complement this sea-life theme. Some coastal bedroom sets go so far as to include genuine-looking sea chests, and almost all of these sets incorporate light blues, whites, and sea-greens into their color schemes.
2. Cottage & Country
Cottage-style king bedroom sets draw their inspiration from the quaint cottages that dot the countryside of Britain and New England. These bedroom sets usually have open, breezy designs, and they make copious use of the color white. Cottage-style decor is usually relatively sparse, and whatever wall art you find in a bedroom decorated in this style will be unobsequious. Cottage and country bedroom sets may make use of antique furniture like hardwood vanities and weathered chests, and they also might include vintage rugs and wood-paneled walls. In terms of materials, these bedroom sets almost always use real wood instead of particle board, and metal furniture is nowhere to be seen in country bedroom sets.
3. Glam
Glamorous king bedroom sets seek to evoke the aesthetic of a presidential suite or a queen's bedroom. These bedroom sets spare no extravagance when it comes to crystal, silver, and faux gems, and glamorous beds might make use of intricate scrollwork on their headboards. Traditional footed furniture is also a must when it comes to glam king bedroom sets, and you might even come across a four-poster bed or two in your search for the set of your dreams. These bedroom sets make use of a lot of muted tones, and including at least one chandelier is practically mandatory.
4. Industrial
Industrial king bedroom sets are all about function over form. These simple sets borrow their style from industrial settings, and they may incorporate exposed wooden slats, metal slabs, or furniture constructed from metal. Industrial sets generally include beds without headboards, and these beds may be built on platforms that are designed to insulate them from cold, concrete floors. In some cases, recycled wooden pallets may be used to make industrial beds, and these king bedroom sets usually include fewer pieces of furniture than other set styles.
5. Comtemporary
Contemporary king bedroom sets observe the essence of postmodern style. Postmodernism is all about deconstructing archaic or traditional artifacts and mixing them with the cutting edge of cross-cultural aesthetics, and contemporary bedroom sets certainly don't disappoint. While these types of king bedroom sets may incorporate traditional four-poster beds, they also use simple, flowing lines and follow minimalist themes. All sorts of different colors are used in contemporary bedroom sets, and these sets usually include the full retinue of furniture pieces that generally accompany a king bed.
6. Rustic
Rustic king bedroom sets bring back the essence of days past. Some of these sets might be designed to mimic the lines and features of a hunting cabin in the woods, and others might cause their occupants to reminisce about farmhouses in the country. However, just because rustic bedroom sets mimic the decor of simpler times doesn't mean that these sets are overly simple. These traditional king bedroom sets can actually be quite ornate, and they frequently incorporate leather, hardwood, and even marble in their composition.
7. Traditional
The "traditional" in "traditional king bedroom set" can mean quite a few different things. To some decorators, this term might refer to the aesthetics of Victorian England, but others might consider a bedroom traditional if it mimics the appeal of an American upper-middle-class bedroom from the middle of the 20th century. Traditional bedroom sets are almost always ornate, and many of them incorporate wallpaper that complements the vintage, refurbished pieces that comprise these classy furniture collections.
Essential Components of King Bedroom Sets
Most king bedroom sets consist of six separate furniture pieces. Some sets can consist of as many as seven pieces while others only contain five pieces of furniture. Whichever type of bedroom set you choose, it's likely that it will contain at least the majority of the following furniture items:
Sleigh beds are beds that follow a traditional style that's seen in most king bedroom sets. These beds derive their name from their shape, which mimics the appearance of a sleigh used for travel in the snow. Sleigh beds have high headboards and low footboards, and they are usually made from hardwood or fiberboard. Some sleigh beds have ornate designs, but others are plainer in appearance.
Most king bedroom sets include two nightstands. These pieces of furniture are usually identical, and they are designed to be placed at either side of the bed. Nightstand styles vary immensely, but they usually include at least two drawers each. These drawers can be used to hold books, glasses, or other items, and some people even store small articles of clothing in their nightstands. These pieces of furniture have flat tops, and these tops are common places to put lamps, photo frames, or glasses of water. In general, nightstands are designed to match a particular king bedroom set, but audacious interior designers may pick a nightstand style that clashes with the rest of their bedroom furniture for dramatic effect.
Dressers are integral components of king bedroom sets. These furniture pieces are usually long and low, and many of them have feet that raise them up off the ground. The dressers that are contained in king bedroom sets have at least five drawers, and many of them have even more drawers. The drawers in some dressers are arranged in a single vertical line, but other dressers used in king bedroom sets have two sections of drawers that are parallel to each other. Since dressers have flat tops, they are commonly used as stands for picture frames, knickknacks, or toiletries. While the most common material used in the construction of dressers is solid wood with wood veneers, other materials such as medium-density fiberboard may also be used. In addition, some dressers have marble tops, and others have leather or faux leather fronts.
Vanities traditionally have tall, narrow mirrors that are used for applying makeup or other grooming tasks. Some dressers incorporate this aspect of vanities by including a mirror, but many king bedroom sets have both a dresser and a vanity. Like dressers, vanities usually have drawers, but the drawers in vanities are much smaller than those found in dressers, and they are usually used to hold toiletries, makeup, and brushes or combs. Some vanities also come with stools or small chairs that are designed to hold your face at an optimum height in front of the mirror. In addition, vanities may have multiple mirrors on hinges that can be moved to view your face from multiple angles.
Chests are probably the furniture item that is least commonly found in king bedroom sets, but many sets include chests nonetheless. Traditionally, these furniture pieces were designed to mimic the type of traveling chest that was used to store clothes in generations past. However, many chests that are incorporated into bedroom sets nowadays have been significantly stylized, and they may feature leather construction or even marble tops. In addition, some travel chests are made from polished or rustic solid wood, and they may include drawers.
Alluring Materials for King Bedroom Sets
Now that you understand the different types of furniture that are included in bedroom sets, you'll need to compare and contrast the different materials with which these pieces are made. Some king bedroom sets contain furniture pieces that are all made from the same material, but others may consist of pieces that are made from a variety of different materials. To help you better understand which materials are right for your bedroom, we've compiled a dossier on the available options:
Solid Wood with Wood Veneers
Solid wood is one of the materials that are most commonly used in king bedroom sets. While solid wood is a relatively expensive material, it is very durable, and it looks good and feels great to the touch when it is covered with a thick veneer. While light woods like pine are used in some bedroom components, other sets incorporate hardwoods like oak or mahogany.
Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF)
Fiberboard, which is somewhat more durable than particle board, consists of tiny fragments of wood that are pressed together and solidified with a solvent. This material is easy to make, and it is lightweight. However, it isn't as durable as solid wood, and it is generally only used in pieces of furniture that don't bear much weight.
Many modern bedroom sets incorporate some degree of metal. Some bed frames are made entirely of metal, and aluminum and stainless steel are the types of alloys that are most commonly used in bedroom furniture. Some bedroom sets don't incorporate any visible metal, but they instead use steel as a solid backing to shore up less-durable materials like MDF.
Marble or Faux Marble
Traditional and glamorous king bedroom sets often include marble. Whether this marble is real or fake, it is used to line the tops of vanities and dressers. In some cases, marble may even be incorporated into some aspects of a sleigh bed.
The place that you're most likely to encounter leather in a king bedroom set is in a chest. In some cases, leather or faux leather may also be used to line a sleigh bed. Some sleigh beds use leather in their headboards, and these headboards often incorporate buttons or other rivets that keep this soft material in place.
King Bedroom Sets: The Bottom Line
Now that you understand the rules of the game when it comes to picking out a king bedroom set that will fit both your existing interior decor and design dreams, you're one step closer to finding a set that will make you proud to go to sleep at night and excited to wake up in the morning. When it comes to choosing a new furniture combination for your bedroom, there are no right or wrong answers, but you can take pointers from people who have been down this path before. As you put together your perfect king bedroom set, don't be afraid to mix and match the various styles and components that give each style its unique and appealing flair.
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2019-11-07 2019-11-07 With such uncertainty between state and federal laws, new cannabis companies should find the right attorney... Best Lawyers
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Compliance Can Mean Sink or Swim for Cannabis Startups
Richard Lieberman November 7, 2019 2:00 PM
Business opportunities abound the cannabis industry, and many entrepreneurs have already established highly profitable companies. Before entering into or doing business with a cannabis company, however, note that many legal issues remain unsettled. How these issues are resolved might significantly impact whether these companies can continue in business and their potential success. This legal uncertainty makes this industry akin to the Wild West, where the answer to a legal issue might depend on which court is deciding the issue or what comes from laws yet to be created.
The reason for this uncertainty is due to the conflict between federal and state law. Many states have legalized the use of marijuana and cannabis, for either recreational or for medical purposes. In contrast, their production, possession, sale, and use are illegal for the most part under United States federal law. Under the U.S. Constitution, federal law is supreme to conflicting state laws. Accordingly, the legalization efforts by the various states would appear to conflict with existing federal law and therefore be void. Nevertheless, the cannabis industry is flourishing throughout much of the country, and it would appear that many businesses and their investors are counting on legalization in the near future and/or favorable discretion in federal prosecutions for businesses complying with state law.
Nevertheless, no one can predict whether federal laws will be relaxed or tightened nor when the changes, if any, will occur. Meanwhile, prosecutions under federal law may depend on the discretion of national and local law enforcement, which differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Moreover, discretionary practices may evolve over time, particularly with changes in administration. Thus, starting a business in a prohibited or regulated industry with the hope of future changes in the law creates risks that traditional companies need not face.
Choosing the Correct Counsel
Some of the key issues to consider when entering into this industry or doing business with a marijuana-related company include:
Financial Services: Federal and state banks are all subject to federal law, either directly or due to the existence of federal deposit insurance and regulation. Many banks and other financial institutions will not provide checking, deposit, savings or many other financial services to those engaged in the production or sale of marijuana products. Many credit cards are operated by banks, so their use in the industry may be restricted. This results in cannabis companies often having to deal with substantial amounts of cash with their attendant security risks. Marijuana Business Daily reports that there were 633 banks and credit unions providing banking services to the industry as of March 2019, out of thousands of banks nationwide. Developing a workable plan for handling cash flow will be an important consideration for these companies.
Taxes: Federal tax law may limit or disallow deductions for businesses conducting operations in “illegal” industries, including those involved in the drug trade. Understanding which items can be lawfully deducted will greatly impact the taxable net income of these companies.
Bankruptcy Protection: The ability of companies to use federal laws, like bankruptcy protections, remains unsettled. One court considering that issue declined to reach a definitive decision and instead ordered the debtor engaged in that industry to destroy all cannabis-related products and to cease operating in that industry. Another bankruptcy court recently dismissed a bankruptcy petition by a company leasing property to a marijuana-based company. Thus, even companies not directly engaged in the business may be adversely impacted by those who do so.
Other Federal Laws: The impact of other federal laws on this industry remains uncertain. For example, whether companies engaged in the cannabis business can protect their trade and service marks under United States trademark laws is uncertain. Experienced intellectual property counsel can assist in helping to avoid current restrictions when describing the fields their marks are being used. In contrast, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is allowing patents to protect goods in this industry, and strains of marijuana are recognized and protected under federal laws governing plant species.
Potential Litigation Claims: Companies doing business with those engaged in the industry might be included in lawsuits against the cannabis companies under various legal theories, including claims for conspiracy, racketeering and similar allegations. These claims might be premised on theories that the supporting companies were knowingly facilitating and aiding an illegal operation. It may be quite some time before it is known how the courts will treat those parties, but it could be quite expensive to defend regardless of the outcome.
Insurance Contracts: Companies engaged in this industry should carefully review their insurance contracts to be sure they do not exclude coverage for engaging in illegal activities.
Other Issues: The items noted above are only an example of the unique legal issues that might arise in this nascent industry. The interaction between existing state laws on marijuana with other existing and future laws will evolve over time, but leaving companies operating in the early years exposed to greater uncertainty or having to pave the way with establishing the future course through legislation, regulation, and litigation.
Be Ready to Adapt
Entrepreneurs and established companies entering into this industry or doing business with a cannabis-related company should consult with professional advisors with experience in this industry. Note that they may be restricted by their respective professions in those engagements. For example, Arizona requires that its attorneys make certain disclosures to prospective clients in this industry concerning the illegality of that conduct under federal law, among other requirements.
It is also helpful to select advisors who can counsel your company on this rapidly changing legal environment in a variety of fields. Advisors with experience in a broad range of legal issues can assist in dealing with the variety of issues that may arise, sometimes with little notice and rapid response times. Thus, it is helpful to find professionals who can assist you with issues throughout the business cycle, from before company inception and protection of its intellectual property, to the company organization, capital raises, financing, start-up operations, employment, third-party contracts, tax, litigation, and legal compliance. Experienced counsel can help your business navigate the many issues confronting a company in this uncharted legal landscape.
Richard Lieberman is the Chair of the Corporate, Securities & Finance Department of Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC. His firm represents a wide variety of businesses, from start-ups through established companies seeking an exit, in most areas of business law, from company formation, intellectual property, securities, mergers & acquisitions, financing, tax, employment, contracts, real estate, commercial litigation, and bankruptcy. He can be reached at 602-262-5935 or rlieberman@jsslaw.com.
This article is intended for general information only and does not constitute legal advice to the readers, as each situation differs. Readers are encouraged to discuss their specific circumstances with counsel of their choice.
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Joshua-Wilder Fight Probably Not Happening Anytime Soon
We’ve all been patiently waiting for the Joshua-Wilder fight. However, according to the latest statement from Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, that fight is further than it seems. Boxing fans had already had their say as well. Joshua asked his fans on social media who they’d prefer to see him fight – Wilder or Fury. 258,380 fans voted to see Joshua sharing the ring with Wilder. The American’s team hasn’t been too responsive lately, even though Hearn improved his offer. So, will the Joshua-Wilder bout happen anytime soon?
The negotiations for the clash between Joshua and Wilder began in April this year. At that time, the news reported Hearn offered Wilder a £8.8 million fee for the Joshua fight. The WBC title holder refused the offer, which Joshua’s team later improved. However, there have also been disagreements about the venue. Joshua wanted to fight on UK soil, whereas Wilder wanted the American soil for the bout.
We finally got a date for what we believe will be one of the biggest fights of the year. Joshua’s promoter, Hearn reserved Wembley for April 13th, 2019 in hopes of getting the Wilder fight. The American boxer didn’t seem to be all that interested in facing Joshua. Fury was a much more attractive target for Wilder, and the two boxers will meet in December.
Meanwhile, Joshua had to face a mandatory challenger, Alexander Povetkin. On September 22nd, the Briton knocked Povetkin out in the seventh round. According to the latest news from the boxing world, the Wilder fight might be out of the picture, and the UK betting apps’ favourite could fight Whyte or Miller next.
Eddie Hearn said that Wilder’s team didn’t want to meet with him. “We went back and made a much-improved offer from the first one – this one with a percentage split – a very attractive offer and then requested a meeting, but they turned around and said ‘no, we won’t meet you,” Hearn told reporters.
Hearn also believes that December 1st, when Wilder meets Fury, will be the deciding date for the Joshua-Wilder fight. We’ll see if the two sides will come to an agreement then.
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Medigene, SynCore expand deal for Veregen
20 March 2013 | News | By BioSpectrum Bureau
Medigene, SynCore expand deal for Veregen sale in Asia, Australia and New Zealand
As part of the agreement, Medigene will receive payment when specific milestones are reached
Singapore: Germany-headquartered Medigene and SynCore Biotechnology, a member of Sinphar Pharmaceutical Group, have expanded the existing exclusive licensing and supply contract into new regions for the supply and marketing of the Veregen ointment for the treatment of genital warts.
SynCore Biotechnology, a joint venture between Sinphar Pharmaceutical and the National Health Research Institute Taiwan, focuses on the development and pipeline management of new drugs. Currently, SynCore has five products under development in different stages of clinical trial.
Along with existing agreements in Taiwan, SynCore will now be responsible for the approval process and commercialization of the drug for the treatment of genital warts throughout Asia, excluding China and Korea, in Australia and New Zealand. In addition to income from the production and supply of the ointment and the active ingredient, Medigene will receive payment when specific milestones are reached. Medigene already has partnerships in Asia for the distribution of Veregen in China (GC Rise Pharmaceutials) and South Korea (Kolon Pharmaceuticals).
Dr Frank Mathias, CEO of Medigene AG, said: "We are delighted that we have intensified our partnership with SynCore further. Alongside the co-development and commercialization partnership for our drug candidate EndoTAG-1 which was entered into last year, we have now also been able to significantly expand our collaboration for the marketing of Veregen. Together with SynCore and our other Asian distribution partners, we will be able to tap into the markets with Veregen in Asia and the key region of Oceania as quickly as possible."
Veregen is already marketed in the USA (by Fougera), in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (by Abbott) and Spain (by Bial). Market authorization has been granted for other countries or is expected within the next few months. A number of partnerships are in place in Europe, Asia and America for the marketing of Veregen. Medigene intends to conclude further marketing partnerships in additional countries to fully exploit the market potential of Veregen.
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Wife Swap pairing inspired
THE pairing of the blowzy Vanessa Feltz with that desiccated little Paul Daniels in Channel Four's Wife Swap was brilliant.
Paul cringed at the sight of her huge and over-exposed breasts. "How can I dance with you with those in the way?" he bleated. "I'm not into boobs."
Then he added that he couldn't believe that 44-year-old Feltz could be happy with her DJ lover and future husband, 10 years her junior.
"She's working so hard at it," he said. "She's trying to keep up with her young man."
Paul's wife, the tiny Debbie McGee, meanwhile, was telling Feltz's squeeze, 33-year-old Ben, that she'd never heard of him and reckoned he was cashing in on Vanessa's celebrity.
Surprisingly, given Feltz's scorn of the stay-at-home Daniels, I was left feeling that Miss Feltz, determined to live as a clubber and party girl, made a poignant picture.
She's behaving like a 17-year-old, rising at dawn to work while her lazy lover snoozes on. The woman has no dignity. She doesn't understand how sad she appears.
And really, those breasts seem to have lives of their own as they struggle to escape from her lycra.
Put them away, dear, before they have an eye out.
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universal creditUniversal Credit could be replaced by giving £100 a week to everyone in this UK city Hull would become the first place in UK to introduce a Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme under proposals backed by councillors
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The Entrepreneurial Journey
Biz Brunei
Trash to cash: collecting Brunei’s waste to export abroad
Door to door, A Global Green Recycle collects more than 140 tonnes of old paper and boxes every month
Aaron Wong
When Kelvin Bong joined A Global Green Recycle two years ago to lead operations, the company was already 14-years-old.
The business was running smoothly and had an established workflow in place: collect different types of discarded paper and boxes from large retailers and ship them out in 40 foot containers to Singapore, China and Indonesia.
A Global would pay between five and seven cents for a kilogramme of used paper and boxes. Kelvin, an optometrist by trade, thought great, but maybe there’s a market we aren’t capturing?
If cupcakes, supplements and clothes were already being advertised by Bruneians online – then why not waste?
And so the 33-year-old Bruneian began advertising posts on buying and selling groups on Facebook mid-last year.
“Trash to cash,” it reads, accompanied by a picture of hundred dollar bills and stacks of used paper. “We do door-to-door pick-ups.”
The queries came pouring in – mostly from the districts of Tutong and Belait – and almost overnight, A Global had an entirely new source of supply.
“In the past year, we have gone from collecting 100 tonnes of paper a month to 140 tonnes,” said Kelvin. “That’s a 40 per cent increase at least. One month, we were able to ship out 10 containers – each carrying 28 tonnes of waste.”
A screenshot of a recent post by the assistant manager of A Global Green Recycle Kelvin Bong.
His phone would be buzzing with inquiries: schools, families and oil and gas companies all wanted in.
Traditionally, most recycling companies in Brunei prefer customers drop off trash at their sites, and when making pick-ups, selectively target large establishments where agreements have been formally made such as malls and supermarkets.
“What changed my mind was a cleaner who asked if he could recycle,” said Kelvin, who had first approached the cleaner’s employer and manager to see if the company would be willing to recycle.
“They weren’t interested,” said Kelvin. The cleaner was of a different opinion. He quietly segregated the waste, neatly piled and packed it and called Kelvin.
“Every month he would make hundreds of dollars from the discarded paper and boxes,” said Kelvin. “It had become equal to or more than his monthly pay. I realized then, there was a lot of potential that we weren’t tapping into. In the business of recycling, a little goes a long way.”
Today, Kelvin sends out three two-man teams, each with a truck and a minimum target 500 kilogrammes of waste paper and boxes to be collected by the day’s end. Anything extra, the team splits amongst themselves as commission.
A Global Green Recycle’s site at the Salambigar Industrial Estate.
The paper collected is separated into five types: newspaper, white or lined paper, magazine paper, cardboard and other post-consumer waste paper.
Now, A Global is looking to seek out collaborations to collect waste from schools and to expand beyond paper and boxes and into tin cans and plastic.
“A school called recently after seeing us post online,” he said. “When my men went to pick up there was 1,800 kilogrammes of paper. I had to ask the teachers: what normally do you do with the paper?”
The answer – whether from the school, homes or companies – is almost always the same: we just mix it in with the other trash.
If A Global is able to reach an arrangement with schools collectively, they may have enough supply to warrant doing the recycling itself in Brunei and export ready-to-use products, instead of just waste, overseas.
“Processing the tins and plastics into re-usable products can be done in the near future if we have the right supply and invest in the machinery,” said the 33-year-old. “Recycling the paper in-house is more difficult, but is not out of the question.”
A Global Green Recycle Sdn Bhd is located at Unit Number 19, Block B, Salambigar Industrial Estate in Brunei-Muara. For pick-ups or to learn more, contact Kelvin at 7196363.
a global green
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Your unfiltered news center. ®
The world you see depends upon the news you get. ®
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Black Farmers Leader Addresses Settlement Confusion
Washington - Despite President Obama's recent signature on landmark civil rights legislation, many black farmers seeking justice for decades of discrimination may miss their chance, according to John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association.
Invited to speak at the National Press Club, Boyd addressed confusion over the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, which was designed, in part, to remedy decades of discrimination by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture for farmers who did not have the opportunity to have their claims determined on their merit. Boyd and others are attempting to avoid a similar scenario by explaining the process, warning of potential con games, describing anti-fraud measures and clearing up misconceptions.
“Black farmers have come too far in their pursuit of justice to lose their chance now,” Boyd said. “But a rapidly developing crisis threatens to sabotage black farmers' last best hope. In some cases, farmers just have not had an opportunity to review the facts. In other cases, troublemakers have steered farmers wrong in an attempt to gain attention or grab quick cash.”
Boyd, who was present when President Obama signed the landmark Claims Resolution Act of 2010 in December, pointed to widespread confusion over who is eligible as well as to apparent con artists falsely telling farmers they need to pay a fee before filing a claim.
Those eligible for a claim under the current settlement are:
1) Farmers who filed late during Pigford 1, the first attempt to remedy the USDA's widely acknowledged record of discrimination. Tens of thousands of farmers and those who attempted to farm missed the deadline for various reasons, including inadequate communications about the process.
2) Farmers who did not receive a determination on their Pigford 1 claim.
All claimants must have:
farmed or attempted to farm between January 1, 1981 and December 31, 1996
owned, leased or attempted to own or lease farm land between the dates
applied for a farm loan or non-credit benefits at a USDA office between the dates. Examples include an operating loan, an emergency loan and a soil and water conservation loan.
Some farmers and observers have questioned the inclusion of those who “attempted to farm.” Boyd said the inclusion is important. “Farming is a time honored vocation for many African Americans,” he explained. “But through systematic discrimination, many were denied the kind of access and assistance afforded their white counterparts. Unfortunately, some farmers who did not have a positive experience in Pigford 1 don't like the inclusion of those who ‘attempted to farm.' I understand their disappointment, but this is not fraud.”
Anti-fraud barriers are strong throughout the process, Boyd pointed out:
Claims Process – For a claimant to receive an award, his/her claim must pass a review by impartial, Court-approved administrators.
Signature under Penalty of Perjury – Each claimant is required to sign his or her Claim Form under penalty of perjury attesting to his or her belief that the information on the Claim Form is true and correct. If a claim is found to be fraudulent, the claimant could be subjected to criminal penalties.
Representation by Class Counsel – The Agreement is designed with the expectation that most claimants will submit claims through Class Counsel, who are trained to identify meritorious claims and help identify fraudulent claims.
Admissibility Requirements – Evidence submitted in support of larger claims must meet the rigorous standards of the Federal Rules of Evidence.
Transparency – The Claims Administrator and Class Counsel are required to make regular and thorough reports to the Secretary and the Court about progress and payments in the claims process. These reports become public information.
STORY TAGS: BLACK NEWS, AFRICAN AMERICAN NEWS, MINORITY NEWS, CIVIL RIGHTS NEWS, DISCRIMINATION, RACISM, RACIAL EQUALITY, BIAS, EQUALITY, AFRO AMERICAN NEWS
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Bob Iger Meeting With Martin Scorsese, Because We Can’t Let This Die
Bob Iger is the most powerful man in Hollywood. This is not up for debate. He was recently named Time magazines Businessperson of the Year, and because the world is cruel, Iger was asked about the superhero film comments made by living legend Martin Scorsese. For those who don’t remember, or have been living under a rock, here is what the iconic director had to say about the superhero film boom:
Credit: G Holland / Shutterstock.com
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese told Empire. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
He later clarified that he mostly meant that film exhibition is harder than ever because of comic and franchise films:
“I looked at the theaters, and most of the theaters are playing superhero films. I said, ‘So what’s left? Do we have any theaters left for a movie? Those movies are fine, it’s not my thing, and I’ve tried over the years to watch some of the stuff. And I lost interest, a great deal of interest. But in any event, I thought it was time for us to think about, what constitutes cinema?”
Editorial credit: JStone / Shutterstock.com
Well Bob Iger seems super mad about all of it still. In the Time piece, he had this to say about Marty and his comments, first saying that they are “nasty” and adding that they are “not fair to the people making the movies”, adding:
“If Marty Scorsese wants to be in the business of taking artistic risk, all power to him,” he says. “It doesn’t mean that what we’re doing isn’t art.”
Get him Bob!
Honestly though, can we be done with all this now? It also says in the article that Bob Iger is planning to meet with Scorsese. While surely the pic of them together will get a bunch of likes on social media and they will release a joint statement that “we both regret what has been said publicly”, I doubt he will convince him to direct that hard-R Great Lakes Avengers film we have always wanted. Let’s hope after that, this all goes away forever and we can stop asking people what they think of superhero films. In the long run: who cares?
Posted in Disney, Movies | Tagged bob iger, bob iger disney, bob iger martin scorsese, bob iger time magazine, disney, martin scorsese, martin scorsese marvel, martin scorsese superhero films, Marvel Studios, mcu, superhero films, time businessperson of the year, time magazine, Walt Disney Studios
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Meet The Cast Of The ‘game Of Thrones’ Porn Pa
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Cartoon Network Is Building A Hotel In Pennsylvania Amish Country
Tags: cartoon network cartoon network
Cartoon Network is getting into the hospitality industry. The cable network famous for Adult Swim and a bevy of animated shows is sort of following Nickelodeon’s footsteps and is building a hotel. But what’s interesting here is where CN is deciding to build: in Amish Country.
Data’s of top-performing cryptocurren…
Content is King and a Multilingual Bl…
Pennsylvania Amish Country, specifically Lancaster, will be the location of Cartoon Network’s first hotel. And Amish Country might seem like a strange location for Cartoon Network’s first hotel, but the establishment will be near Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park, a park that gets a lot of tourists with little kids through its gates.
And of course, the network is including Jake the Dog’s bacon pancakes in the ad copy for the hotel.
Enjoy bacon pancakes made by Jake from Adventure Time. Let Ice Bear make you a latte.
Watch a cartoon before anyone else in the world sees it at the outdoor amphitheater and movie screen. Swim in the brand-new resort-style pool under the careful eye of Gunter the Penguin Lifeguard. Enjoy the lawn games and fire pits from Summercamp Island.
With an indoor arcade, kids play area, coffee lounge, wine bar and Cartoon Network store, the Cartoon Network Hotel is a vacation destination in itself.
No word on whether there will be a sandwich making station as well, but here’s hoping.
The hotel is more than just an Adventure Time fan’s paradise, as many of the network properties will be featured in the various rooms and parts of the establishment. Adventure Time, We Bare Bears, The Powerpuff Girls, and Ben 10 are all part of the experience, which features an indoor pool, play area, and a Cartoon Network gift shop.
“With just the right mix of technology, design, and animation, we’re aiming to bring our characters to life in a way that we haven’t seen done before,” said Christina Miller, president of Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Boomerang, said according to SyFy Wire. “We can’t wait to be part of many family vacations with the ultimate Cartoon Network experience.”
CN is partnering with Palace Entertainment for the nine-acre hotel, which doesn’t have an official release date just yet. But the two are promising “Easter Eggs” for kids from various Cartoon Network shows, so the only way to get the full experience is to book a room there for yourself and check it all out.
(via SyFy Wire)
This post first appeared on Meet The Cast Of The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Porn Pa, please read the originial post: here
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News: Cultural Heritage
The founder of the Pierre Gianadda Foundation was awarded for his ‟exemplary contribution″ to the heritage of Europe.
The Europa Nostra Prize to Leonard Gianadda from Switzerland
For his contribution to European heritage
It was announced by the European network that Leonard Gianadda from Switzerland, creator of the Pierre Gianadda Foundation in Martigny in the canton of Valais, was awarded the Europa Nostra Prize for his “exemplary contribution” to European heritage.
Committees of experts on heritage from across Europe examined 149 nominations proposed by organizations and individuals from 34 European countries. 27 nominations were awarded from 18 countries for work in the following areas of European heritage: protection, research, exemplary contribution, education, training, and awareness raising.
Among those awarded, in the category of exemplary contribution, is Leonard Gianadda who established this museum /foundation a year and a half after the death of his brother in an air crash.
The awards will be presented on October 29 in Paris , in a ceremony headed by the European Commissioner for Education and Culture the Hungarian Tibor Navracic and the President of Europa Nostra acclaimed tenor Placido Domingo, under the auspices of the French presidency.
This European federation of heritage organizations was founded in 1963 and is supported by a large network of public institutions and private companies.
The heritage prizes /Prix Europa Nostra were established by the European Committee in 2002. The Gianadda Foundation is one of the most popular in Switzerland for the quality of its exhibitions, primarily of modern and contemporary art.
Neolithic settlement remains discovered in Valais, Switzerland by Archaeology Newsroom
Archaeologists uncover alignment of six stelae standing stones by Archaeology Newsroom
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Chapter by Chapter
<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/18071414"><strong>Avenging Angel</strong></a> (31257 words) by <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/users/yaztheangel"><strong>yaztheangel</strong></a><br />Chapters: 9/?<br />Fandom: <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Split%20(2016)">Split (2016)</a>, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Glass%20(2019)">Glass (2019)</a><br />Rating: Mature<br />Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con<br />Relationships: Casey Cooke/Dennis, Casey Cooke/Kevin Wendell Crumb, Barry/Casey Cooke, Casey Cooke/Hedwig<br />Characters: Casey Cooke, Dennis (Split), John Cooke, Barry (Split), Hedwig (Split), Patricia (Split), Kevin Wendell Crumb, The Beast (Split)<br />Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Abuse, Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Unresolved Sexual Tension, First Time, Physical Abuse, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Rape/Non-con Elements, Developing Relationship, Canon Rewrite, Alternate Universe - Canon, Sexual Abuse, Jealousy, Romantic Friendship, Possessive Behavior, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Romance, Protectiveness, Awkward Romance, Love, Feelings, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Inspired by Music, Darkness, Flashbacks, Sickfic, Strangers to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, True Love, Angel Wings, Religion, Conflict<br />Summary: <p>A story of lust, desire, and pure agony between two lost souls. Surrounded by there never ending demons that cruel throughout there bodies.<br />A stranger moves in the old house next store. Finding his odd behaviors very peculiar, yet interesting at the same time filling her head with curiosity. Dennis will do anything he has to for him to stay pure of heart, and remain loyal to his Horde. His vile thoughts will consume him, with vibrant sexual feelings that many occur every now and then. The beast will come soon, but for who, many be tragic. The Horde must save and protect the man who they do not name in vain. Until meeting a young girl who might just change everything they ever worked for in the end.<br />Who knows, maybe this man could change her life forever, or maybe just make things worse. We never really do know whats going on behind other peoples closed doors.</p>
Fandoms:
Split (2016)
Casey Cooke/Hedwig
Rape/Non-con Elements
Developing Relationship
Alternate Universe - Canon
Romantic Friendship
Beauty and the Beast Elements
Inspired by Music
Sickfic
Strangers to Lovers
Avenging Angel
yaztheangel
A story of lust, desire, and pure agony between two lost souls. Surrounded by there never ending demons that cruel throughout there bodies.
A stranger moves in the old house next store. Finding his odd behaviors very peculiar, yet interesting at the same time filling her head with curiosity. Dennis will do anything he has to for him to stay pure of heart, and remain loyal to his Horde. His vile thoughts will consume him, with vibrant sexual feelings that many occur every now and then. The beast will come soon, but for who, many be tragic. The Horde must save and protect the man who they do not name in vain. Until meeting a young girl who might just change everything they ever worked for in the end.
Who knows, maybe this man could change her life forever, or maybe just make things worse. We never really do know whats going on behind other peoples closed doors.
New FanFic! This is a AU with all the Split characters the main two are Dennis and Casey. There are some eastereggs I put from other stories and movies because why not lol!
(feel free to comment below)
Chapter 1: Give Me A Sign
The bells rang causing all the doors in the front of the school to blast open with screams of excitement for their freedom. School was over, it was the last day of high school for the seniors they were all filled with joy. No more homework, no more teachers, no more shitty school lunches, just a taste of freedom. The day was bright, there were cars parked everywhere trying to pick up their kids, a few adults already cursing each other out for a decent spot in the front. The kids scattered everywhere jumping up and down with exciting thrill. The girls were hugging each other and crying making it seem like they’ll never see each other again. The boys were giving each other pushes and shoves in their weird playful way as they ran to there own vehicles in the parking lot. This is what every high school senior has been waiting for there entire lives, no more school. But for her, it was different.
She was sitting in the classroom starring down motionlessly at her open book. Everyone had escaped fast from this prison, including the teacher. She was the only living thing left in the room. Hearing the loud chanting through the windows, she tilted her head a little to see everyone running wildly outside. She rolled her eyes in annoyance making her way back down to her book. Placing her hand on the top corner of the page forming a small crease to remember where her place is in the reading. Closing the book slowly with her hand resting on top of the cover, she took a long sigh as she closed her eyes for a second in thought.
So, this was it, the end of school, the only place for her to get away during long hours of the day, now taken from her. She knew she couldn’t stay for long, the school wouldn’t be open all day, especially since it’s the last day. What was she going to do next? Her eyes shot opened with a bit a panic and worry. She couldn’t spend months again alone in that dreadful house with her uncle, without any school to keep her occupied, that was her only ticket to catch a break. If she goes back to the house she’d be in a prison, with no escape, and no way out.
She had to stop thinking about this nightmarish situation, it was only causing her more stress then what she intended to feel. She threw open her bag placing all her belonging in it. Sliding off her seat lazily forcing herself to stand, she threw on her strap bag moving it over her shoulder blade. Leaving the room with heavy footsteps, making her way to the front entrance of the school. All the doors were opened wide letting in all the suns shining bright light. She stayed in the shade as she leaned against the hard metal door with her arms crossed, along with one leg crossed over the other. Observing everyone who remained, watching the seniors drive away in their own cars with friends at their side laughing and having a fun time. Wishing she had that life style, not the friend’s part though, she knew she could survive without having to deal with friends, but the car. She needed a car to get away from it all, anything would do, maybe even a Harley she thought. But her aggravating uncle would never let her buy a car, let alone have a car in the first place, he knew her intentions too well.
She’s ran away from that house so many times that she’s even lost count. It wasn’t a home, it was misery.
~ring ring~
The ringer on her phone startled her, making her lose all thought. It was her uncle, oh boy, she thought what mood of his waits for me today. Her thumb hovered over the decline button, but it probably wouldn’t be the best idea. Rolling her eyes irritatingly, she quickly pressed the green button to hear death.
“Casey, where are you?” Her uncle sounded annoyed by the tone of his voice.
“In the school’s library.” She lied, it was closed sadly, but he didn’t have to know.
“Why are you ther- wait isn’t it the last day of school?” His dumb questions made Casey stick her tongue out at the phone like a child.
“Because there’s AC here, and that’s something you don’t have.” She was desperate for this conversation to end already.
“Hey, you better watch your tone with me missy.” He said in a stern voice. Casey didn’t even bother saying anything yet trying to conserve her energy.
“You better be home soon, or I’ll come get you in my car, that’s something you don’t have.” He sounded harsh, but what else was new. She didn’t answer to his cheap rude remark for about a good five seconds. She felt like someone had just punched her hard in the gut.
“Ok. I’ll be, home soon.” saying the word home made her want to puke up today’s nasty lunch.
“Good.” He said it as simple as that, before the line went dead.
Casey still had the phone to her ear as she starred into nothing, she was hurt emotionally and physically inside and out of her body. Soon she woke up from her coma placing her phone back into her sweaters front pocket. Proceeding her way down sluggishly the small set of stairs in front of the school. Each footstep back to the house was like stepping on rusty nails. Taking her sweet time with every step, there was no rush for the destination she was headed to. Soon passing by the old park, where people loved to spend most of their hours during the day. But Casey preferred to be out at night in this area, sitting on a giant rock starring up at the moon as it’s ghostly light takes over the park’s crystal blue lake. But when could she ever really go out alone without being questioned or stopped? Casey took out her phone once more and checked the time.
“3:35. Just great, you’ll be there before you even know it Casey. Perfect.” She sarcastically said to herself starting to feel a painful throbbing on the side of her temple.
Casey took a moment to stop and sit on the bench near by. The heat was a killer, she was all in black, with a long sleeve sweater along with a couple of layers underneath. Any person with a brain would strip it off fast, but she wouldn’t feel secure. She had too much to hide underneath, if anyone saw her beaten soul they would pity her, it wouldn’t be the best feeling in the world. The roads weren’t as busy like they usually are on Fridays. Casey couldn’t wait for fall, with the smell of crisp apples and spiced pumpkins. Seeing the trees leaves change to the harm colors of red, yellow, and orange, along with a cool breeze. Discarding her thoughts Casey soon stood up having to continue her path.
She was half way there, but she continued her long journey placing her headset in her ears drowning out her thoughts to the sound of heavenly music.
✧
Sadly, she made it to her block. It was now 4 o’clock, but the sun was still shining bright though the trees. Her neighborhood wasn’t the best, but it was tolerable. The houses were narrow, and close together, with metal fenced gates separating each property line. There wasn’t much room on the sides of each house, or much privacy, but she made do with whatever she could.
Almost making it to the house she looked up from staring at the pavement noticing a big moving truck near the front of her house and the old house next store. Seeing three big men hopping in and out of the back of the truck with giant boxes on the shoulders. Was someone moving in, no one has lived in that old dirty house for years now she thought to herself taking out her earpieces. She stopped in her tracks for a moment to put her music away in her bag, glancing up she saw that the men were almost done anyways. They took in the last item, soon heading back for their truck taking off fast, leaving only the thick black smoke trailing behind them.
Casey continue her walk to the front gate of the house unlatching it to make her way in then locking it again from behind. She turned slowly about to make her way to the front door, suddenly frozen in her tracks as the new next neighbor starred at her with the door slightly cracked opened. It was obviously a man, and he looked tall. She couldn’t make out his face at all though, it was a bit too far away to see any major detail, she’d have to get closer. But there was no way she wasn’t going to do that.
Casey thought of saying hello maybe to end this horrible awkwardness and feeling of being starred up and down at from afar. She never understood why people were always like this towards her, looking at her like she was a freak. On second thought, she might pass on the whole saying hello can I help you with something sir is there a reason why you keep staring me down. This man did not move from his spot, his hard glare towards her made him appear to be a crazy serial killer. For a second she pictured this man standing in the corner of her room ready to attack at any given moment, but she couldn’t see him completely which made it harder to have a complete image. This was so idiotic she thought to herself, she was just overthinking things as usual. Feeling a bit stupid standing there she quickly looked down trying to pretend she never spotted him. Casey retrieved her phone pretending to make a call to someone.
Then suddenly the door slammed shut fast startling her. It caused her body to shake a little out of place, she wasn’t expecting that at all.
“That was weird.” She whispered to herself causing one of her brows to curve up a little in confusion. Questions started to pile up overwhelming her brain.
Maybe he was shy, or just plain creepy. She didn’t want to judge a person she’s never met before, even though she did get a little glimpse of him, but not enough though. Turning around fully to head for the front door she inserted the key, taking in a deep breath before turning it completely she prayed everything goes smooth for her, for once. She entered, only to hear the soft click of the door fully closing behind her.
She was finally inside the house, taking a brisk look to her left. The bright light of the TV caught her eyes, the curtains weren’t fully open which made the room a bit dark. The hunting channel was on, playing at a normal volume. Noticing her uncle was in the recliner seat with a beer in his hand holding it with a loose grip. Thinking to herself, maybe he was asleep. She really hoped he was, so she wouldn’t have to be bothered by him too much for the rest of the day. Holding her bag with one hand tightly against her body trying not to make any noise. She carefully walked next to him with light footsteps just to make sure he was actually sleeping. She looked over carefully holding her breath desperately trying not to make a sound. Then a loud snore erupted from his mouth, making Casey jump back a little, he was asleep.
She was relieved, she turned around making her way up the stairs avoiding every creaky part on the wooden staircase as possible. Making her way to the top she turned the corner to the end of the hall where her door was. Turning the knob fast slipping her way inside checking behind her out of habit. He may be asleep, but she still had to lock the door every night.
Casey spun around leaning her back against her old rickety door, she stared at her room aimlessly. The color of her was violet, with a small desk against the wall to do her drawings, along with a nice sized bed and a dresser. The room was a decent size for someone her age of being seventeen, but she deserved better. She enjoyed having two nice big windows though, one to see the front yard, and the other one was on the side of the house. She was able to see more of the next store neighbor’s home completely. The houses were close together letting her see everything inside the house. But no one ever lived in the old house next door for years, until now.
Sliding her bag off her shoulders was a relief, placing it next to her bed. She crawled her way over the mattress lying flat as a starfish. Letting out a long painful sigh, then taking in a heavy breath as she closed her eyes. It was nice just to lay there and not do anything. The house was so quiet and peaceful, for now, she thought feeling a little worried.
Her eyes slowly opened from her little cat nap. Reaching for her phone on the wooden table next to the lamp to check the time. It was almost ten, making a short sigh knowing she definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight now. Suddenly her bladder started to hurt causing her a sharp pain, she had to use the bathroom. Damn, it was just down the hall, in order to get there she had to make it past her uncles’ room. Rolling off the bed walking sluggishly to her door and carefully unlocked it, she braced herself. Opening it with a slight crack trying to take a quick peek down hallway. Her uncle’s door was closed, he must of moved from the couch to the bed and pasted out again. The coast was clear.
“Thank goodness.” She whispered softly to herself at ease.
Opening her door a smidge wider she tip toed her way to the bathroom. She locked the door and headed for the toilet. What a feeling of relief, she thought she was going to explode. Finishing up her business she headed for the sink to wash up a bit, she might as well brush her teeth too while she was at it. Drying herself off with the towel she finally finished.
She looked in the mirror at her reflection, she wondered if she looked like her mother. She didn’t understand why this thought popped in her head, it mostly only seems to upset her making her feel numb. What a life she could’ve had if only her uncle had gotten the heart attack in the end and not her father, or even her mother. Life would have been too perfect, but nothing in this curl world is perfect. Why her, why did god choose this young woman to suffer, what did she do to deserves this madness, for what purpose? Remembering as a child late at night she would pray for an angel to come save her, but there never was an angel to ascent from heaven to take her to a better place. She believed that the best is yet to come. Instead she got the devil, Casey lost faith that day in god, her angel never came. It never answered her letters she left until her pillow as an infant, she wrote Dear God, but now all she could ever write was Dear Agony.
Casey looked away from her reflection in despair turning to the door, placing her hand on the knob, shutting the light off, and letting herself out into the hall. Her eyes shot up seeing her uncle come out of his room the same time as her. Shit.
“Hey Casey-Bear, why didn’t you wake me when you got home, we could’ve gotten something to eat.” He said in sweet-sounding voice as he rubbed his left eye. She knew right away something was off. He only acts in this certain manner when he wants something from her, and she didn’t want to know what.
“That’s ok, I’m not that hungry anyways.” She said putting on a little fake smile. She was starving, all she had was that shitty spaghetti and meatballs from the school’s cafeteria. You’d think they’d have something better to eat for the last day of school.
“Ah, so no more school you finally did it! Now you don’t have to work on boring papers anymore, and hey you can spend more time with me now.” His demeanor was starting to scare her a little, where was this going.
“Ye- yeah, um, I- I was actually thinking maybe- “before she could finish her sentence, her uncle took both his hands and rested them heavily on her shoulders. He towered over her starring deep in her eyes, this frighten her making a body shake a little out of place.
“You weren’t thinking about leaving me again Casey. Right?” He said in a lower tone eyeing her.
“No. I just- “she couldn’t finish her whispery sentence, she tilted her head down. John took his hand grabbing her jaw and lifting it up to meet eye contact again.
“No matter where you ever run off to again, believe me when I tell you this, I will hunt you down, and I will find you Casey.” His voice sounded evil and possessive. She tried her best to hold back her tears.
“Your mine.” He stated to her. Casey said nothing, just giving a simple slight nod. His thick brows were knitted together studying her intensely.
“Yes. I know.” She said in defeat.
“Ok.” He murmured letting go of her jaw. Finally, his repulsive hand was off her already. She took one small step back to have a little bit more space.
“Wanna sleep with me tonight Casey-Bear, like old times just like we use to?” His question made Casey want to scream for help.
“I, um, think it would better if I, slept in my own bed. I’m feeling a little sick and I wouldn’t want to give it to you.” She bit her tongue hoping he would just say ok and she could scramble back into her room.
He crossed his arms leering her down. He could’ve just pick her up and dragged her to his room, she weighed as much as nothing. Casey hoped that wasn’t going happen. John placed one of his giant hands on the side of her head feeling her silky soft hair. Casey didn’t move a muscle.
“Alright. Next time. I got work in the morning anyways, goodnight.” He said taking away his hand and just as that he went back into his room shutting the door behind him. She hurried to her room shutting it silently behind her locking it without a second thought. She got off easy.
Her cheeks became red as a chili pepper holding her hand over her mouth desperately trying to hold back her painful screams. Tears started to fall and swell up her face. Her knees fell to the floor making her head fall forward. She rocked back and forth moving her hands over her neck and hair. Was she really stuck here in this hell-hole for the rest of her life? She thought to herself madly wondering what was going to become of her the next day, or week, or even years. She had to come up with something, anything, but she didn’t have much money to go anywhere. Her uncle only gave her 10 bucks sometimes for school when he felt like it, she tried to save up as much as she could, it didn’t last long though. She didn’t have much left to run away again, she’d probably go hungry in the first couple of hours. It was hopeless she thought in anguish.
Casey frantically got up grabbing her phone and black sweater struggling to put it on as the tears still fell. She opened her front window as wide as possible and climbed her way out making it to the roof top.
This was where she went to just be alone with her thoughts and along with a little bit of freedom. Yes, it was dangerous, but it wasn’t as dangerous as what’s inside lurking the house. Pushing her butt to the top she finally sat leaning her back against the red bricked chimney. The roof top wasn’t too steep for her to go sliding off, it was just right. From there she would see everyone’s homes, backyards, and even the giant park she passed by walking home early she was able to see everything. It was nice to get away from her uncles’ foul stench of beer escaping from his mouth. Wiping away her tears she took deep breathes trying to calm down. She took out her phone it was now 11 o’clock, the crescent moon lingered over the houses shining its milky white bright light. What a beautiful night to be out in this cool breeze.
“I gotta get out of here. Gotta get out of Skid Row.” She said aloud, she knew it wasn’t anything like the real Skid Row but it sure as hell felt like it.
Tucking her knees together and holding them tightly in place. She made a short sigh looking up.
“Alright. I’m gonna give it one last shot with you.” She said shedding a single tear.
“Give me a sign. Don’t leave me to die here, find me a savior.” She whispered softly towards the night sky.
She continued to glared up at the clear skies soon connecting the stars, and escaping from reality.
He observed her features from afar as he gradually walked towards the window. Moving the curtain ever so slightly, he followed her gaze towards the night sky.
Chapter 2: Into The Morning
Casey's big day out on the town.
I'll try to post a new chapter every week or so. Many more to come. Enjoy!
~BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP~
“Shut up.” She grunted at the displeasing sound, facing down against her pillow. Casey forgot to shut off her alarm clock last night. Smacking the palm of her hand around on the table searching for the clock. It was now silent again, taking a quick glance at the time it was around 8 o’clock. It was now Saturday with another day of bright clear blue skies. She could hear water running from the shower in the bathroom down the hall. Her uncle was up. This is going to be a long day she thought.
Casey was getting dressed putting on once again her many layers of shirts. Topping it off with her ripped black jean jacket, and she placed her phone in her pocket. She then slid on her dark red burgundy Doc Martens. Her stomach started to rumble, she was hungry. Heading for the door she turned the knob and braced herself as she walked to the stair case. Holding onto the wooden railing slowly gliding her way down to the bottom of the staircase as swiftly as possible. She made her way to the old outdated kitchen starring it down feeling a little blue. Most families get to smell the morning goodness of bacon and eggs, along with the sweet aroma of freshly squeezed orange juice. What a treat she thought. She got nothing sadly, and there was nothing in this kitchen to make any type of decent meal. Taking quick paces to the fridge she opened it, there had to be something left. Just some old Chinese takeout, and a few ripped bananas. Mostly filled with beer bottles, and most of that was gone too. If anything, she leaned in forward grabbing one of the bananas from the back. Raising herself back up she closed the fridge, her shot up seeing her uncle emerge from around the corner. He looked at her in surprise.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were up.” He paused for a moment trying to fix his belt.
“Why are you up so early anyways?” He asked.
“My alarm clock woke me. I forgot to shut it off.” Casey said turning around to grab a napkin from the counter.
Her uncle continued to fix himself up and sat down on one of the chairs throwing on his work boots. Casey just stood there emotionlessly looking down at her food.
“Listen I was called in to work late, so I won’t be back until later on tonight.” He said as he walked with heavy footsteps towards the fridge.
Pushing Casey out the way with his big frame, she immediately backed up. He opened it fast taking one of the beers out from the side of the door. Instantly realizing it was empty, there was nothing left.
“Son of a bitch.” He shouted slamming shut the fridge.
Casey just continued to stare down at the tilde floor silently. She was just waiting for him to leave the house already so she could have the whole day to herself. Her uncle took at long sign in annoyance reaching in his pocket for something.
“I need you to go out today, and get more beer, and whatever else.” He said taking out his wallet as he walked towards her.
Casey immediately looked up and backed away a little to have a little more space. Handing her a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill. Casey was about to reach out and grab it until John flicked it back before she could even take it.
“Then come straight back.” His tone and aggressive expression were serious as he eyed her.
“But..., I’m only 17 remember?” She asked rolling her eyes slightly up by his stupidity.
“And? Go to Tony’s place on the corner he’ll know it’s for me and bring your backpack.” He said handing her the money finally.
Finishing himself up grabbing his keys and phone he headed for the door.
“I’ll be back. Don’t get any ideas.” Were his last words as he exited the house.
She could hear the old pickup truck screech as it drove away. Casey looked down at the money in her hands.
“So, you have money for beer. Hmph.” She said talking to herself making a scrunched-up face. She felt disgusted by him.
At least she had the whole day to herself though, what a relief. Casey quickly jogged up the stairs into her room retrieving her backpack. Snatching up her keys, wallet, and book as she threw it into the backpack then tossed it over her shoulders. Rushing back down the stairs to the front door as ate her banana. Unbolted the heavy wooden door to exit. Closing the door from behind, the cool air woke her up completely.
Making her way to the front gate with both her hands loosely gripping the straps on her shoulders. She turned the corner closing the gate which made a loud clanking sound. Moving forward she abruptly heard a hammer pounding next store. She instantly peered up to see a man on the roof top repairing whatever seemed to be damaged. There was a giant latter leaning against the house, along with a black tool box placed beside it on a napkin or some type of white fabric. She observed this as she continued her walk facing forward once again.
He took a deep breath as he sat up straight, and removed his dark green cap. Placing his hand in his pocket and retrieved his yellow cloth. He turned his neck slightly and wiped it along with his head. Glancing at the girl walking down the street, noticing she was all in long sleeves. He thought nothing much of it, throwing his cap back on and continued his work.
Casey sat at the bus stop waiting for the right bus to come. No one else was around at the moment, which was good for her she thought at ease. Hearing the loud rumbling noise from down the street she stood up instantly as she glanced down the road. The bus was approaching as it slowly merged its way next to the curb. The doors opened wide, making her way in as she paid the fee. There were some people starring at her every movement and some who just didn’t care. The bus wasn’t the cleanest, but what did she expect when she must take this type of transportation. Casey took the seat closes to the door making her escape easier. She kept to herself for the time being.
“Your destination has arrived. Please stand clear of the bus.”
Casey could feel the bus come to a complete hard stop as it lowered itself slightly. The doors reopened as she made her way out fast, noticing more people coming aboard. She was now at the shopping center, there were all types of stores. Clothing stores, salons, bookstores, restaurants, diners, even a GameStop. Cars were parked everywhere, there was never a day when it was empty. Casey looked around deciding where to go first, she could get the beer later she thought. But for now, she just wanted to see what else was in store, maybe even something on sale. Without any more delay she strolled her way around the shopping area.
After a good solid three and a half hours of walking into all the different types stores, she didn’t get much. She bought a new pair of headphones, with a new sketch book, along with two shirts and a black dress. She didn’t why she bought the dress, she knew she could never wear it, especially with her uncle always lingering around the house drunk. It was more like an impose buy she guessed. She just liked the sheer long sleeves on it and its dark velvety black bottom part. It would probably just sit in her closet forever collecting dust mites, and moths. She stopped to sit on a bench and shoved all her items at the bottom of the backpack trying to make as much room as possible for when she had to collect the beer.
Casey’s stomach starred to growl, and her throat started to feel a little parched. She needed food. Just remembering she didn’t eat anything today really, besides that old banana from this morning. She stood up to find some type of fast food eatery place.
“Pizza.” She whispered to herself as she quickly walked towards its front door.
Opening the door to hear a small bell ring above her head as she entered. Feeling a little awkward as she walked to the cashier, she hasn’t done this in years, being able to order something that she wanted to get for once. Her uncle always picked what food he wanted to eat and never bothered to ask her what she wanted to eat for once. Plus, he didn’t know how to cook for the life of him.
“What can I get ya?” The man said bringing Casey back to the reality.
She got stumbled for a second after being put on the spot for what type of pizza to order. There were too many options to choose from, so she just went basic.
“I’ll take two slices to go.” Casey said to the man over the counter.
“Plain?” He asks grabbing the wooden peel. Casey forgot to say what type.
“Um, one plain, and one chicken, and a water. That’s it.” She said pointing to the specific slices she wanted.
Watching the man slide the two slices over the peel and then being tossed into the oven. Casey looked towards the window, the sun was starting to set, but it was still bright out though. She didn’t want to pick up the beer, even though it was just down the street from the shopping center.
“That’ll be cash, or credit ma’am?” He said making his way back towards the cash register.
“Oh yes, um, cash.” She said shaking her head just remembering she had to pay.
“5.50 please.” He said turning to look at her once again waiting patiently.
“Here.” She said handing him the exact amount. Leaving a three-dollar tip in the plastic jar.
“Thanks, hun.” He said giving her smile. He turned around to fetch the pizza from the oven.
It must’ve been nice to work and get payed. Some people might say otherwise towards that remark. Casey’s never had a job, or any type of experience what so ever. But if she had the chance to ever try it out, she would take that offer in a heartbeat. Just to get her foot through the door a little. College wasn’t much of an option right now considering she didn’t have the money to pay for it, and her uncle definitely wouldn’t loan her anything. She was basically stuck with nothing; her life would be a waste if she didn’t do anything with it. School was the only place to get away from him, but now that’s over and done with unfortunately. At least work would replace the hours she’d had lost for when being in school.
“Have a nice day.” The man spoke a loudly handing her the small pizza box along with the water bottle.
Casey simply nodded at him leaving a small smile as she looked downward feeling meek. She exited the eatery. Opening the box taking out the first plain slice and devoured it. The crunchy flowery bread along with the creamy deliciousness of the sauce and the heat from the melt cheese was divine. She savored ever piece of that one measly pizza.
Finishing everything up fast she started to drink her water to wash it down. She was almost at Tony’s beer and liquor store on the corner. Gross men lingered outside the store doing absolutely nothing with their lives. Casey didn’t look at them once as she made her way in the front entrance. The man at the front counter was on a step stool, busy stocking up the whiskey on top shelf. It was probably the old aged whiskeys, that cast way too much money. Casey went to the back of the store and grabbed the case of beer. She walked her way back to the front register carefully setting the beer down. The man still didn’t turn around. She rolled her eyes at the man, she couldn’t stand him, he was just another fat drinking buddy for her uncle. Or maybe he just used him for the discount on the beer.
“Hello Tony.” She said emotionlessly. The man turned around to see who it was, making his way off the step stool.
“I’m assuming these aren’t for you right?” He asked placing the pen next to his hand over his ear.
“Nope. It’s just for my uncle, he sent me here to pick it up.” Casey said it simply. Hoping she can just buy it without any problems. If she didn’t bring this beer back to the house, he’d most likely lose it and go crazy on her, and she didn’t want that to happen.
“Well I’m not supposed to sell this to anyone underage, but...” he paused for a moment to think and took a long sigh.
“If it’s for my bud then I guess I could do it. You’re not a snitch are ya?” He asked eyeing her.
“No. How much?” She said pulling out her wallet. The man was pressing the bottoms on the old outdated cash register.
“16.49 is your total.” He said looking back at her. She handed him a twenty. The man shoved it in and gave her the change. He looked her up and down like a perv. Casey tried to ignore this. She didn’t bother to look or acknowledge his gross action.
“You know we except tips here.” He said with a smirk on his face.
“Ha, ha. Very funny.” She said sarcastically to him grabbing the black bag with the beer inside. She made her way to the exit. Then something caught her eye on the wooden board on the wall. It was a help wanted sign for the old diner near the city, it wasn’t that far from her. There was a number and all the information on the paper. Casey looked to see if the man was watching her, he was back on his step stool again. Casey bit her lower lip debating whether or not she should take the flyer. Screw it she thought, she ripped it off the rusty thumbtack, folding it into fours shoving it into her jackets pocket. She didn’t even understand why she ripped it off in the first place, something in the back of her mind just told her to. Casey looked outside the window, all those men were still out there. Then she got an idea.
“Hey Tony, you got a bunch of men hanging out in front of your place again.” She spoke loudly pointing her thumb to the direction of the men.
“Those bastards!” He shouted climbing down the step-stool, reaching under the counter for his metal bat. Casey tried not to smirk at this.
“I tell those fuckers every day to not hang out in front of the liquor store!” He yelled loudly with his cigarette barely hung onto him lips. He was waving the bat around like a crazy Italian man as he walked to the door. Casey took the liberty of holding open the door nice and wide for him.
“Aye aye get out of here before I beat all your dumb ass!” He was running after them like a mad man. The men scattered fast seeing his weapon. Casey walked out easily with another case of beer she placed in the bag. He had no camera system, plus serves him right for selling a teenage girl alcohol. She didn’t want to come back for more beer in a long time. She walked back to the bus station with a small smirk on her face.
Soon making a few more extra stops at the tiny food markets buying fruits, chips, anything to munch on. She was finally finished for the day. Casey was holding at least five bags of groceries as she walked back to the bus stop. Someone like her shouldn’t have to do things like this and struggle her way back home. Taking a seat on bus she kept her belonging close to her body. Her destination was approaching fast just up the street. Moving her hand to glance out the window seeing her block. The bus came to a complete stop letting Casey leave through the exit.
Catching her balance as she almost toppled over from getting off. The bus drove off, she was back where she started. The day went fast, she just realized she never even checked the time. The sun was setting leaving the skies colors orange and yellow. There was no sense in checking the time now, she was almost at the house.
Her feet and back started to ache a little from all the weight, she walked the rest of the way. Making it to the front, her expression was bland looking towards the house she desperately didn’t want to enter again. Reaching her full hand out with the plastic bags dangling getting in the way causing her to fight trying to open the latch on the gate. She grunted narrowing her eyes in frustration, and exhaustion.
“Here.” A man spoke softly next to her ear unlatching the gate for her.
Casey looked up in surprise her body shook out of place as she then glanced back down. She backed up an inch feeling awkward that someone stopped to actually help her. She must have looked so stupid trying to open a stupid gate she thought. Her eyes were immediately drawn to his yellowish cloth wrapped around his hand as he slightly pushed it open for her.
“Oh, um, thank you.” The corner of her mouth smiled rather sweetly looking down feeling a bit timid.
The man’s face was tilting downward, his cap was covering most of his features. She couldn’t see any type of expression on his face. The man merely nodded his head. She made her way in and turned around to say thank you one last time. He wasn’t there, she turned her head to see the man walking down the street with both his hands behind his back. Casey just shrugged, she kicked the gate completely closed.
Casey made it into the house and raced to the kitchen plopping all the bags down on the counter. Shaking her hands and arms out from the heavy loads she was carrying. Throwing the beer cases in the fridge and placing the fruits and vegetables in the bottom drawer.
Unexpectedly she heard a loud rattling and clanking sound that came from upstairs. Was someone in the house she thought? It couldn’t have been her uncle, unless he got back early. Damn, she thought annoyed. She walked up the stairs to investigate. The bathroom door was opened with the light on. Casey could hear the turning of some type of tool and someone was hitting on the metal pipes. Turning the corner cautiously walking to the bathroom door as she sneaked a peek. Her uncles back was laying on the floor with tools in his hands. He seemed to be trying to fix the pipes under the sink. He looked over his fat stomach seeing who was at the door.
“Did you get it?” He asked continuing his work.
“Yes. I thought you were working late.” She asked hoping maybe he would leave again.
“I am. I’m on break, came back because I forgot to fix this old piece of shit sink. It was having problems this morning.” He said as he wrestled to sit up.
Casey just watched by the corner of the door placing her face slightly against it.
“I might call this place in town that fixes problems like this.” He said taking out his phone as he stood back up. John was looking up the number to make an appointment, placing it on his ear he headed out the bathroom traveling back down to the kitchen.
Casey headed to her room throwing her backpack on the bed. She sat next to it as she crossed her legs. Unzipping the bag to see if she still had everything. Taking out her wallet and keys setting them down on the table next to her. Unexpectedly seeing a large presence opening the door and started to enter her room. She forgot to close her door all the way, most importantly she forgot to lock it.
“I called, and they got someone to come over tomorrow around three.” He said taking a sip from his beer bottle. Casey simply nodded at what he said.
“And I’m gonna need you to stay and answer the door. “
“Why can’t you do it?” She asked feeling annoyed.
“Cuz I’m not gonna be here tomorrow. So, you watch the man and make sure he does it right. I’m going out with the guys.” He said fiddling with the door knob.
It irks Casey to think that she must deal with this now. He should be doing this shit she thought.
“What do I even say the man?” She asked shaking her head looking puzzled.
“Just show him to the bathroom and say the sink isn’t working right. See not that hard stupid.” He said sarcastically waving his arms out as he headed out the door.
Casey’s blood started to boil, wanting to throw something at his head for making her feel dumb. She watched him leave completely out the door, hearing his footsteps leave through the front door. Casey shot up on her two-feet slamming the door shut and locking it. Her head started to hurt, she just felt tired and weak. Returning to sit in her bed she grabbed the backpack shaking everything out and tossed it across the room. Checking out all the stuff she bought, Casey took the shirts and hung them up on the hangers. Taking the dress to the closet as well, she neatly settled it in a box on the floor of the closet. Casey rather hide it away then hang it up with everything else, god forbid her uncle ever spotted it. Reaching towards the top of the window to unlock it, pushing it up leaving it a crack open. She took off her own jacket, tossing it on the chair feeling a relief of coolness. Closing the creaky closet door, she jumps on top of her bed grabbing the new headphones she got from GameStop. Tearing open the box she pulled them out along with her phone and plugged it in. Sliding it over her hears she leaned back to completely to lay flat on the bed. Taking her small blanket resting it over her torso. Pressing play on her music list she started to calm down feeling queasy and tired.
She shut her eyes. The cool breeze felt calming. Casey eased up for the next long day.
Chapter 3: Odd Man
The Downtown Plumber
Sorry about the wait my friends! Life and college got in the way.
I have many ideas for this story don't worry more is coming!
Comment and Follow This Story! ENJOY!!!!
Working on Chapter 4 NOW!
The old clock on her desk showed 3:26. The man was supposed to come at 3 o’clock, but these guys never come on time anyways. Why make an appointment if they never follow through on it, she thought? It’s like waiting in the doctor’s office just for a simple 15-minute checkup, but you wind up sitting there for two hours. Sitting at her desk against the wall resting her head on the palm on her hand. She had her sketchbook fully opened and laid out as she drew random faces of people she saw from yesterday’s trip. Her memory is all she had left; she has drawn her father’s face a few times before in her older sketchbooks trying to get the complete picture. It was difficult to remember someone who passed away just when she was so young.
Casey leaned back in her chair signing as she flicked her pencil over the book. It’s been such a long day sitting around the house doing absolutely nothing, but just waiting for this person to come and fix the stupid sink. At least her uncle was out and away from her for the whole day. She stood up pacing herself to the front window. Unlocking it as she pushed it all the way up to get some type of fresh air. Immediately hearing the birds and cars passing by. Casey crossed her arms as she leaned her body out forward on the window’s wooden ledge. Observing the neighborhood and the bright green trees rustling softly in the light breeze. She watched three little kids playing in the street on their little scooters and tiny bicycles. She could hear their laughter’s and shouts at one another all in good fun. A small smile appeared in the corner of her mouth as she watches the small children. They had no idea how good they had it she thought while slowly shaking her head.
~ Beep Beep ~
Casey instantly turned her head to the loud horn. The kids stopped and did the same. They ran back onto the sidewalk with all their gear, moving out of the way so the driver can pass through. It was a giant white van making his way near the front of her house. Along the side of the van was in big blue letters spelling “The Downtown Plumbers.” The van breaks screeched an ear-piercing sound that indicated they needed to be changed. The van was then put in park at the front. Casey already knew who it was, and they were finally here. She ducked her head back inside grabbing her jacket from her bed and throwing it on. She could already hear the vans back doors slamming shut. The plumber was emerging to the front porch with heavy footsteps.
~ Ding Dong ~
It only rang once she noticed. She descent down the stairs, grazing her hand lightly against the railing as she glided down. Reaching out to the lock on the door she unlatched it and turned the knob. Her eyes immediately shot up at the tall man with his big blue eyes making her lose all focus for a second.
“Hello. Someone called for a plumber?” His voice was deep. Hearing a bit of an accent escaping from his lips. It took Casey a moment to regain her consciousness.
“Oh, um, yeah. Come in.” She said shaking her head just remembering. Gesturing her arm out to invite him in. The man took his time making his way in, almost as if he was being cautious.
“Your..., late.” She said calmly. She promised herself she wasn’t going to say anything, but she couldn’t help herself.
“Yes. Um, sorry, busy day. Traffic.” He said turning around to face her as he grazed his hand over the small follicles of hair on the top of his head. He looked back down though quickly almost as if he was trying to avoid any more conversation, or maybe he just felt uncomfortable being in other people’s houses she thought. Observing the man’s clothing, he wore a navy-blue long sleeve shirt with the logo patched on the side of his chest. Along with just plain dark jeans and boots. A very heavy looking belt with tools and a walkie-talkie layer around his waist. Strange why would he have a walkie, it’s not like he’s a cop on patrol. In his hand held a giant toolbox. He waited for her to say something.
“The problem is the sink; it isn’t working right. It’s., I’m assuming, broken.” She said struggling to explain something she had no idea about as she shrugged her shoulders.
Gesturing her hands in a confusing circular motion trying to come up with the correct words. Casey didn’t know what else to say she didn’t know exactly what was wrong with it. Plus, if anyone broke it, the culprit would most definitely be her uncle.
“I honestly don’t even know why it stopped working in the first place. I’m pretty sure my uncle broke it.” Casey said.
The man narrowed his brows together at her as he listened, taking in a deep breath. Casey thought he looked annoyed for a second trying to process her wording.
“Ok. Lead the way.” He said simply.
Casey said nothing else at this point and headed towards the staircase. He stepped aside letting her pass as he followed her from behind. Each step he took was heavy and made the old wood creek loudly, making it sound like an old haunted house. Reaching to the top she took a quick glance behind her to see if he was following. She flicked the bathroom light switch on.
Casey stopped and turned around in front of the opened door. The man also stopped dead in his tracks as soon as she did. He looked in the bathroom and his body started to cringe a little out of place.
“Is.., there something wrong?” Casey asked as she slightly squinted her eyes and tilted her head to the side.
“Your bathroom, it’s...” he paused starring at it in discuss. Casey waited for him to finish his odd sentence. She knew the bathroom wasn’t the best, and it was old. But the house was built in the 1950s, so what would you expect it to look like? The Queen of England’s powder room, I think not. Casey mental laughed at her own stupid little joke.
“Yeah?” She said silently leaning against the wall across from the bathroom.
“Dirty.” He said in a serious tone.
His brows were still knitted together tightly. Casey rolled her eyes at his remark. She wasn’t paying him to tell her how dirty the bathroom is, and it wasn’t even that messy. He put his toolbox on the tiled floor. Taking out a pair of white gloves. He blew into the first one making it easier for his hand to slide in. Casey just watched out of curiosity, she’s never seen any plumber put on white gloves before, just to fix a broken pipe.
“You getting ready for surgery doctor?” She asked with a small smirk.
He said nothing. Not even a look or a giggle, or even a little snort, nothing. This man is like the terminator she thought, he’s on a top mission, to fix the sink. So serious. He got on one knee and started his work.
“OK. So, I’ll be in the next room.” She said trying to get some type of acknowledgement. He still didn’t pay any attention.
“Right here.” She said pointing her thumb down the hall. At this point she didn’t even bother trying to get his attention. Her arm dropped dead on her thigh.
“Call if you need anything.” She said with a tiresome voice as she walked to the end of the hall to her room.
“Thank you.” The man said softly. Casey looked back but kept walking to her room. She left the door open though. Taking a seat at her desk continuing her drawings.
Two Hours Later
Casey was on the floor leaning her back against the bed. She held her knees tightly together with her book resting on top of her legs. Wondering when the man was going to finish already. It was getting late now; she wasn’t sure when her uncle would exactly come home. He didn’t really say, but at least she had the house to herself. Casey closed her book, keeping it in her hands as she stood up. It’s been a long time now maybe I should go ask what’s happening she thought. It was so quiet, you would think no one else is here except for her. Strolling out of her room she headed towards the bathroom. The door was closed, that’s odd. Using her one finger knuckle to knock on the door. The door opened immediately.
“Yes?” He asked calmly.
“I.. uh.. just wanted to know how everything is going. I mean it’s almost been two hours.” Casey wondered how much longer it would take. Waiting for his response, he opened the door wider coming out more as his eyes kept making their way down to her hands.
“Your book. Is that Silence Of The Lambs?” He asked with a serious, and yet curious tone.
Casey’s eyes widen for a moment, then shot down at the book in her hands. She flipped it around to show the front cover.
“Oh, yeah. It’s one of my favorites. I mean everything about it- it’s just great.” Casey said slightly grinning and shaking her head a bit feeling dumb for liking such a book.
“Mine too.” He said taking off his glasses and cleaning them. Casey was a bit shocked to hear that, most people she met in her life had no idea or even heard of the story Silence Of The Lambs. Most people always thought she was a complete weirdo in high school, all because she kept to herself most days. She was different from the rest.
“A story of beauty, lust, religious sacrifices, slaughtering of the pure and innocent, all done by one intelligent man. Manipulative and yet charming to the people he encounters. Being conflicted and brutal, but in the end an alluring piece of art.” The man said putting his glasses back on.
Casey felt stumped for a second trying to come up with something to say. He obviously thought a lot more about this book and went even deeper than she ever would.
“Have you ever seen the movie?” She asked.
“No.” He said simply.
“Oh, well it’s really good. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn’t.” She said. There was silence for a moment in the air. The man started to scratch his scalp and move a little out of place.
“You, uh…, your shirt you got something on it.” He said pointing his finger then quickly dropping it to his thigh. He looked up trying to avoid any type of eye contact as he took a deep breath. Shoving his hand in his side pocket, with the other hand rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses.
“Oh, yeah, its fine though no worries.” She said casually brushing it off.
For a moment the man took another heavy breath. Exhaling, his face became a bit serious, snapping him back into his original focus mode. His whole demeanor changed instantly.
“My work is done.” He said heading into the bathroom gathering his tools frantically together tossing them back in all messy. He grabbed his rags shoving them in his back pockets. Casey just watched feeling a little awkward and turned off by the man’s odds behavior. She didn’t understand why this man’s mood just switch to off mode. Seeing him lock his metal case on the bathroom counter then finally picking it up.
“Your bill will be delivered to you, or your spouse during the following week.” He said brushing pass her out the bathroom door.
Casey backed up a bit trying not to get knocked over.
“Oh, well actually it’s just me and my uncle here.” She said correcting him feeling uncomfortable.
He ignored her and sped fast down the staircase.
“Yes, yes I know I’m leaving!” He whispered harshly through his teeth to himself.
Casey heard something from him but couldn’t make out what, as she turned the corner from the top of the stairs.
“Hey wait! Here!” She shouted as she started to jog down the staircase to meet up with him.
His hand was on the knob of the door with his yellow cloth laying over and around it. He slowly turned his head only to see her with his peripheral vision. Casey reached into her pocket trying to pull something out. He turned a little more to face her with his brows knitted together wondering what she was trying to do. Then noticing her take out some money from her what seems to be an endless pocket.
“No. Thank you.” He said shaking his free hand back-and-forth refusing to except it.
“No really, here I insist.” Casey extended her arm further out to him. She reached into her pocket once more. Then suddenly her help wanted paper felled out of her pocket, instantly dropping on the floor. The man quickly bent down to retrieve it for her as she was doing the same.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He said softly almost knocking into her small frame. There eyes made contact for a moment. Her eyes were dark, filled with black beauty. His eyes were light, with a intense strong feeling. It quickly disconnected as they both looked down.
“That’s ok.” She said shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. He looked at the paper for a moment with the big red words popping out. Then hands it back to her. They both stood back up.
“I’ve been there once.” He said.
Casey’s face looked confused for a moment wondering what he was talking about. Then it registered in her brain. She opened the flyer a little more to get the full picture.
“Oh, how is it there?” She asked.
“Food wise?” He asked with one brow raised from his glasses.
“Uh, yeah, sure why not.” She said.
“Greasy-” He paused for a moment thinking deeply about this.
“Oily.” Dennis shrugged, lost and out of words.
Casey smiled a bit seeing he looked stumbled. Seeing he had big words to say for Silence Of The Lambs but not for simple food at a dinner. She mentally laughed at that thought.
“Well I might, maybe, want to consider finding a job.” She felt slow in her word.
“Someone like you shouldn’t have to work.” He said softly. Casey didn’t say anything. Was that considered a good or a bad thing he just said she thought. His head looked back down, slowly leading up to the door.
“Have a nice day miss.” He said turning and opening the door.
“Casey. My name is Casey.” She said taking two small steps forward. He stopped in his tracks for a second with his body being halfway out the door.
“I never got yours.” She said curiously. The man’s head slightly turned, only seeing the tip of this dark glass.
“Dennis.” He said taking a moment to let it sink in. He continued to exit and shut the door behind him.
What an odd man she thought, but hey, who was she to judge anyone. She headed back up the stairs to her room. Walking past the bathroom she stopped in her path and backed up to the front of the door. Sticking her head in the bathroom catching the scent of a hint of bleach.
Did he clean the bathroom?
Chapter 4: Chapter 4 - The Unexpected
Things are starting to happen.
Sorry for the wait my friends! I had just design some NEW Split Pins of Dennis and Casey available soon! DM more for any questions on the item! ENJOY the story and COMMENT!!!
Finally finishing a long day of work, dropping off the van at the warehouse locking everything up for the night. Slamming the gates shut leaving only the loud sounds of clanking metal behind. Putting the keys on the boss’s desks, he finally escaped the building. Walking to his car parked down the street. He unlocked the trunk and threw his bags of tools and other belongings in the back, tying everything tightly together in place. Slamming his trunk making his way into his car getting ready to take off. He started to drive making his way back home. He thought it was funny, in an ironic way having his last drop off being to fix someone’s pipe, was that young girl. She lived right next story to him, what in the odds of that happening, he thought to himself. He didn’t want to go and think too much about it though, Dennis has an act for thinking many things.
Coming up his street he parked in his small driveway. It was only good for a decent sized car. Thankfully his car was small enough and could fit in tight places. Putting the car in park he opened the door to exit out and headed for his trunk.
Off in the distance he could hear an engine working really hard. Looking up for a moment to see an old rusty white pickup truck speeding down the street coming his way. He was drawn back to what he was doing, grabbing his leather strap on bag he placed it over his shoulders. The truck pulled in the driveway next to him, that must be the guardian he thought. Hearing the loud country music blast throughout the car, soon it shut off completely. He could hear the door squeak open and then slam shut.
Dennis closed his trunk as well not even bothering to look over once. Walking up onto his creaky porch removing the screen door and inserting the key inside. He was finally in the house, walking upstairs to his room to go change and take a shower. Laying his leather bag on the bed he opened it taking out his binder and a few labeled folders. Opening the folders was images he held in his hands, neatly placing them close together all over the bed. Each picture was in black and white, with absolutely no color on any of them. They consisted of writing on the back of each one with important information.
“Did you have any trouble?” someone came into the light.
“No.” He said in a daemonic tone.
“Just think, with this we will show the world who we truly are.”
“Will he come? “He asked feeling a bit uncertain.
“Do not lose faith Dennis. He will protect us, when we give him the impure to feast upon.” They both stared down at the photographs.
“Look at them, they have never suffered a day in their lives, they do not know the meaning of pain.”
Dennis said nothing, but stared at the images, studying each one deeply.
“No.” He said knowing he had to pick at least two by now.
“But I do think, I know who to choose.” He said narrowing his brows together tightly.
“You must be sure Dennis. But I have my faith in you of course.”
Dennis picked up two photos from the bed in each hand. He examined them both carefully taking in every detail. His thoughts started to wonder again, thinking of the unthinkable. He had to snap out of it, he was doing this for a reason.
“These two.” He said placing them back down.
“Claire and Marcia. These two have never suffered a day in their lives, and soon. They will.” His tone was low.
“Excellent work Dennis. What would we do without you?”
“Thank you, Patricia.” He said with a deep voice.
They both continued to stare at the photos of all the young girls spread out all over the bed.
She heard the car door lock from her window. He was home. She rolled her eyes at the thought of having to face him once again. Casey continued to draw and lean against her bed on the floor. The front door opened and closed quickly. His footsteps were loud and heavy. Hearing the refrigerator door open with the glass bottles against the door clunking an ear-piercing sound. He opened a beer and took a huge gulp. Grabbing the brown paper bag, he threw on the kitchen counter he made his way upstairs. Casey could hear his steps emerging down the end of the hall towards her room. She took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and braced herself.
“Knock, knock, Casey-bear.” He said hitting the door with the tip of his beer bottle. He pushed the door wide open. She continued her drawing.
“I uhh- got you somethin to eat. Thought you might be, you know, hungry.” He said walking in casually. He placed it on her small table next to her bed. Casey looked up slightly to see what he was placing down. In giant words spelled “McDonalds” across the small brown bag.
“Thanks.” She said simply trying to keep things short as possible. He walked back slowly but started to lean on one knee next to her. Casey started to cringe and feel very uncomfortable. She didn’t want to look at him, she tried to keep her focus on her book. Her uncle took the book from her lap and looked at it curiously flipping through the pages.
“Too bad this ain’t worth somethin. Make some money.” He said chuckling in a deep amusing tone.
“It’s just to pass the time.” She said quietly. He nodded his head as he flipped through a few more of the pages taking quick pauses. Soon stopping completely on one of them. Casey’s eyes widen a bit at the drawing he stopped at.
“Little brother.” He said in somewhat of a blue tone. The drawing looked just like him with each light and dark shading being absolutely perfect to his proportion.
“I- I miss him.” She said softly for a moment.
“Hm, I do too Casey-bear.” He said taking a sip from his beer.
“But I’ll always be here to take care of you. You know, that right?” He said looking at her. Casey’s face turned pale once again feeling completely sick to her stomach.
“I will be here until the very end.”
“Yes.” She said nodding her head slowly, hating the sound of that happening.
“Ok. I’ll be downstairs my shows on.” He said tossing her book back on her lap making her body jump a bit out of place. He placed a kiss on the top of her head making her shake and on edge. He left her room completely, and headed for the TV downstairs. Casey got up quickly and shut the door and locked it feeling a bit nervous and uneasy. He was so weird she thought, the man is like Jekyll and Hyde, one day he’s crazy and one day he’s fine. At one point she thought he was actually happy to see his little brother. But happy in what way though, leaving her behind with him and only him, thanking his little brother for this gift. The thought made her sick, she needed to figure out how to get out of here one day.
Casey was already starting to feel stressed out, she sat on her bed hunched over. Her eyes directing to the brown paper bag filled with who knows what. She took the greasy bag and opened it looking inside. Placing her hand in the bag she retrieved a quarter-pounder burger wrapped in its yellowish plastic. Opening it completely her eyes immediately lead to the giant bite that was taken out of it. The expression on Casey’s face was completely blank and dead to the world. She threw the burger back in its bag and rolled her eyes.
“I’m not that hungry.” She said quietly but still feeling a bit aggravated.
She threw the bag on the table and rolled her body onto her bed. Laying on her side she took her phone out of her pocket making it feel a bit uncomfortable. She put her phone next to her head. Casey closed her mournful eyes and waited for the next day to come.
*Bzzzz, Bzzzz, Bzzzz*
Casey gasped as her eyes shot open feeling startled. It was nighttime and completely dark outside. Spotting the time on her desk reading 1:50 AM. Casey rolled her eyes at this and flipped her phone over seeing unknown messages going off on her phone. Thankful it was on vibrate mode so her uncle couldn’t hear it from the next room over. Who would be texting her at this time, most importantly why is anyone texting her at all? She never gave anyone her phone number, or recall giving it willingly. She unlocked her phone and opened her messages reading:
Unknown: “Hey what’s up?”
Casey just starred at it debating whether or not to even text back at this. Soon noticing the three small dots popping up.
Unknown: “Casey I know your there, don’t ghost me.”
Casey’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion and felt like she was in high school again. She hated doing this, asking questions instead of the person just saying who they are in the first place.
Casey: “Who’s this?”
She waited for the response.
Unknown: “OMG hellO it’s Claire remember you gave me your number!”
Casey: “When was this?”
Unknown: “In Physics we had a dumb ass project remember.”
Casey definitely remembered now. Casey thought to herself, if her memory was correct she definitely remembered doing most of the work for that dumb ass project. Casey preferred working alone most of the time and not with people who would mooch off you for answers and a better grade. She remembered deleting her number the day the project was over.
Casey: “Ok. Well, why are you texting me this late?”
Unknown: “I’m OUT with friends. Anyways I’m having a birthday party this Saturday at the Smith Haven Mall sooooooooooo yeah.... your invited.”
Casey rolled her eyes at reading this. Why is she even inviting me she thought, we aren’t even friends, or for that matter even acquaintances? Casey would never think this way but, what’s her game? What’s she getting out of this anyways? Let me guess she feels bad for me because I don’t have any friends or that I would purposely want to go to detention during after school hours. Too many thoughts coming up at once made Casey want to go back to sleep.
Unknown: “Hellooooo??”
Casey: “Maybe, I mean I have to ask my uncle first.”
Unknown: “A 18-year-old girl has to ask her UNCLE if she can go out to a birthday party?! Seriously.”
Casey: “17 actually. And sadly yes.”
Unknown: “Whatever. You have my number sooo yeah..... byeee.”
Casey turned off her phone not even worth bothering texting back someone so annoyingly stupid. But on the other hand, I guess it was flattering to be invited to something for once she thought. It would just be a onetime thing, and then never again would she have to be bother with her and her friends again. It was something to do for sure, but she was still wondering why she was inviting her in the first place. Wondering who put her up to this. It could go one of two ways, she could actually be nice and invite her out of the kindness of her heart or doing this because she pities Casey and sees her as a weirdo who just belongs being alone in the corner. Casey made a small fart noise come out of her mouth at the thought as she positioned herself to get more comfortable. She squeezed her pillow in her arms tightly together.
Besides, what could go wrong at just a simple birthday party?
Chapter 5: Party Time
Will the plan fall into place?
Thank you everyone for reading my story! COMMENT let me know what you think so far! ;)
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Just ask him. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a stupid birthday party, your making too much of this now, this is ridiculous! Her mind was running a mile a minute. On one hand she didn’t want to go at all. But on the other something was calling her to go. What a strange feeling she thought. She leaned against the railing on the top of the staircase staring at the large TV screen. Her uncle sat in his recliner chair watching River Monsters. She waited for a commercial to come on so she could go ask. Casey dreaded going down to the living room, it was dark and the curtains were never pulled up not once. She made her way down and slowly eased her way over.
“What are you watching?” She asked already know what the show was.
“River Monsters, the bastard catches bigger fish than I ever did.” He said loudly taking a sip from his beer bottle.
Casey sat on the edge of the couch, she didn’t want to get too comfy in front of him that’s for sure.
“What are you doin down here anyways? Your always in your cave upstairs.” He said chuckling a bit at his own joke.
Casey held her jacket tightly together around her body.
“So..., I got this invite...., and-“
“Oh man! Did you see that?!” He shouted pointing his finger at the screen seeing the fisherman arm getting bitten by a shark.
Casey got startled from his obnoxious shouting over a stupid TV commercial.
“What an idiot.” He muttered to himself.
Casey just stared at him feeling annoyed as she tried to speak.
“To a birthday party and I think I might go-“
“What?” Casey squinted her eyes a bit and moved her head forward in confusion, at his quick response.
“I said. No.” He said again.
“But..., why? It’s just a birth-”
“Do you think I’m stupid?” He asked staring at her.
Casey stared back but said nothing in return still feeling confused.
“I can guarantee you that this “Party” is trouble. A turning 18 year old slut going out late at night, and hitting on everyone or anything she sees, and I will not allow you to go and be exposed to that type of behavior.” He said nonchalantly but in a passive aggressive tone.
“What are you talking about? It’s just a simple party with..., friends.”
“Who’s friends? Her friends you mean, cuz they ain’t yours. You don’t have any friends. And now all of the sudden you have an invitation to a fuck fest.”
Casey didn’t know how this conversation was going to end. Her uncle took a long sigh.
“Will there be boys there?” He asked sternly.
Casey wasn’t entirely sure on that, but she had to answer quick.
“Uh- I don’t think so.” She said looking down at her boots for a moment.
“You think, or do you know?” He continued to stare at the TV screen.
“What- NO! Uh- just forget it never mind!” Casey stormed up shaking her head feeling aggravated at this point and needed to get away.
“Now wait a minute, hold up.” He said struggling to get up from his seat.
Casey was halfway up the stairs but didn’t continue.
“You don’t get to be mad at me, I’m trying to protect you from people who just want to get into your pants.”
“This is psychotic! It’s just a stupid birthday party and it would just be this once! I never get to do anything with my life!” She yelled leaning over the railing.
“Your life?! Your life is here with me and to take care of me as I did for you all these years!” He shouted.
Her uncle just stared at her in a serious manner. This was not her dream to live here with him for the rest of her life. He’ll abuse her in many ways for the rest of her sad life. She never asked for anything from him and just this once was the biggest deal in history.
“I better not see you makin out with some boy now you hear me!” He said pointing a finger at her.
Casey said nothing but stared at him with dead hateful eyes.
“You never go out anyways, you’re so pale. Get a tan already maybe you could look better for me for once.” He said turning around going back to his seat as he crashed on it loudly.
Casey returned upstairs to her room and shut the door. For the first time in Casey Cooke’s life she actually got her way. This was a big shock for her.
But now she needed a gift.
September 12, 2:20pm
She was twenty minutes later but who was counting, it’s not like she would cry over it. She was on the bus on her way to the mall. With a present on her lap wrapped in gold wrapping paper with a plain white bow perched on top. It was in the attic crawlspace with all the old Christmas ornaments and decorations. Seeing that she didn’t have very much money for a new gift Casey just regifted the present she got from last years Christmas by her Uncles friends wife. Pretty weird right, someone she just met for the first time gave her a gift, but it was a nice gesture. It was a Macy’s box with perfume and two things of lotion inside. It was wrapped beautifully, but not her cup of tea. If Casey had to use any type of perfume it would be dark violet.
The bus came to a complete stop near the parking lot of the malls entrance. Most of the people were getting up from their seats and making their way to the exit. Casey held her gift tightly to her chest squeezing in-between all the clutters of people. She walked towards the entrance doors trying to search for the food court. This mall was indeed huge with crowds of people everywhere. That’s why Casey didn’t come here very much, it’s just too crowded and tight for her.
Finally coming across the cafeteria with many delectable choices of food. Casey needed to find a restaurant though, it was towards the end next to the malls other entrance. Reading the sign above saying “Gotham Bar & Grill” Casey walked inside.
Right away seeing everyone at the table sitting and walking around talking loudly to one another.
“Oh hello! Nice to see you Casey, come sit, my daughter is right over there.” The man said with a happy welcoming tone.
“Sorry I’m late, the bus was-“
“That’s ok hun, go join the rest of the group! I’ll be at the bar with the adults.” He said guiding her to the large table.
The man took off and Casey approached the large table. Everyone was laughing and talking and taking pictures of everyone together. Casey saw Claire at the end of the table and made her way around to approach her.
“Happy Birthday Claire.” Casey said putting a small smile on her.
All the girls around Claire looked up including her with shock.
“Oh hi, uh- I didn’t think you would show.” She said chuckling.
“Well why wouldn’t I, you invited me.” Casey said shrugging her shoulders feelings a bit unwelcome.
“Well we thought you wouldn’t come because you have strict parents.” One other girl said interjecting.
Casey just nodded her head not wanting to comment on that response.
“Well, I got you this so, here.” Casey said handing her the gift.
“Oh yeah! Guys let’s open presents!” Claire yelled out for everyone to hear.
Everyone shouted at once grabbing their gifts and cards throwing it towards Claire’s side of the table. The girls got up quickly surrounding the birthday girl pushing and shoving Casey out of the way like she wasn’t even there. The boys just sat in their seats close to her.
Casey still had the gift in her hands feeling a bit shut out from the group.
“Ok who’s first!?” Claire shouted with joy.
“Me! Me! Me! Me! Oh, pick me! Me! Me! Over here! Me!” Everyone shouted at the same time with their hands up towards the birthday girls’ directions begging to be picked.
Casey rolled her eyes and took a sigh as she sat at the end of the table. All the closer seats were taken, Casey placed her gift on the table in front of her.
“I pick Marcia!” Claire said pointing a finger at her.
She squealed with happy teen spirit as she handed her the birthday gift. Claire opened the gift without hesitation.
“OMG! You got me pink Beats!?” Claire hugged her friend with joy.
Beats Casey thought, aren’t those really expensive? That’s a crazy gift for someone, even for a friend. Meanwhile Casey buys her headphones at GameStop because it’s a little cheaper. She mentally laughed at that. It sucks not having money.
“Ok next!” She blurted out loud.
Everyone started yelling and talking again all at once.
“Sptt, hey why did you invite her?” One girl whispered to her while the rest were talking loudly.
“Who?” Claire whispered back leaning in towards her.
“The weird, helloooo, why did you invite her? She’s not even your friend.” The girl whispered with a girly attitude.
“Oh yeah why did you invite her!?” One guy yelled over Tammy’s head.
“Oh my god will you shut up David! She right there hello wake up!” The girl said silently through her teeth.
“Whatever.” David said pushing the back of her head with his finger. Tammy swatted him away with annoyance.
“It was a mercy invite Tams, my dad made me do it, she was in my contact list I forgot to delete it. My dad saw, what was I going to say.” Claire said.
“That’s she's insane, don’t you remember in high school. God I’m so glad we left.” Tammy said taking a sip from her glass.
“Oh, I remember and don’t remind me.” Claire said putting a hand up.
“Ew I wouldn’t even had both to be honest. Look at her, she's dressed like she’s going hiking on Mount Everest.” The girl laughed and Claire giggled as well.
“Omg ok, ok chill. Now where’s my present bitch!” Claire said joking.
After an hour and a half of opening presents Casey started to fall asleep on the present around her arms.
“Oh. My. God. You got me a dildo, you are such an ass David!” Claire whispered but loud enough for him to hear.
The boys started to laugh out loud at one another like a bunch of immature little boys.
“Boys. Am I right?” Claire said giggling with all the other girls.
“Well, I guessss that’s it. Well thank y-“
“Uhhh you got one more.” Tammy said pointing her finger at Casey’s directions smirking.
The other girls followed her finger and saw Casey eating some bread and butter. They laughed and whispered to each other.
“I think I saw her put bread in her pocket at one point.” One of the other girls said.
“OMG Nikki me too!” Tams said laughing.
“Would you guys just stop it already.” Marcia said.
“What we’re just having fun. It is a birthday party after all.” Tammy said rolling her eyes.
“Maybe we should throw more bread to get her attention.” Tammy said with a smug face.
“Here’s more bread for the red head!” David shouted throwing a basket of bread on Tammy’s plate.
“Oh my god not me David! You’re so stupid sometimes!” Tammy threw her head back in frustration.
“Fine, whatever. Don’t be mad cuz I forgot the butter.” David said throwing one of the breads in his mouth.
Claire and everyone else starting laughing.
“Ahem, back to what I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by David here! One more gift down the road.” Tammy took another sip of her drink.
“Hey Casey!” Claire shouted down the table trying to get her attention.
Casey looked over seeing everyone was staring at her. What an uncomfortable feeling being stared down at when eating.
“Yeah?” She asked quietly.
“I never got to see what you got me.” Claire said smiling widely.
Casey took the golden gift and passed it down to the girl next to her and so fourth until it reached Claire. Claire observed it with wide eyes, without hesitation she tore apart the wrapping paper. Taking the white bow and smacked it on David’s forehead. Casey made a small laugh at that action. Everyone leaned in to see the gift.
“Why is there designs of Christmas Trees all over the box?” Tammy asked giving her a dirty look.
Casey struggled to say something, anything.
“Well- I-“
“Hey, it’s the breakfast club! Just kidding, what’s goin on guys having fun?!” Mr. Benoit chimed cheerfully checking in on everyone.
“Awesome bread Mr. B! So good!” David shouted shoving bread in his mouth with his friends laughing childishly behind him. David was taller than Mr. Benoit but he wasn’t smarter that’s for sure.
“Oh my god David enough with the stupid bread already!” Tammy whipped around nagging towards him. David mimicked her face when she yelled at him making everyone laugh.
Casey was glad everyone forgot about her present. She took a deep breath of relief.
Soon being 4:45 the party was coming towards an end. The group was taking photos of each other one last time screaming and hollering Happy Birthday with delight. Casey stared aimlessly into nothing still feeling motionless, empty, even after all this she still wasn’t entirely satisfied. She was still filled with sadness deep down inside. Everyone started to leave. Casey went towards the giant windows of the restaurant retrieving her phone from her jacket pocket. She called her Uncle to pick her up.
“So, did you have fun sweetie?” Mr. Benoit asked his daughter smiling.
“Ya it was cool. The best part was the presents.” She laughed.
“Are you ready to go girls?” The father asked.
“What about Casey she hasn’t left yet?” Marcia asked looking towards Casey’s direction.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine; we can go now.” Claire said eagerly already to leave.
“Hold on there, we are not going until she gets picked up.” He said sternly.
Casey got off the phone feeling more annoyed than ever. She started walking towards the group that still remained behind.
“The uh car broke down. I’m just gonna take the bus.” Casey wasn’t surprised that it would break down once again.
“No, you’re not taking the bus, I’ll drive you home.” He said.
Casey didn’t argue with that; it could save her some cash.
“Alrighty then, let’s go girls!” The father leads the way to the exit.
He watched like a hawk waiting for his prey to come out. He had his cap on, keeping a low profile, until he spots his target. He stood still on corn of the street with his hands in his pockets. This was it; all his hard work had finally paid off. He will be free of this guilt, the pain within will cease to exist. She promised him he would do good, that he can control his fatal demons. It was all just a matter of patients now.
Turning his head slowly seeing the targets come out into the street. The two were acquired, soon noticing another one tagging along with them. They started to walk towards the giant parking lot, and he did the same. Keeping up with their pace, trying to get a good look of the new third target. This was not part of the plan; everything could go wrong in a second if he made an error.
She seemed to be walking slower than the rest, Dennis took advantage. Quickly without being seen he dashed ahead reaching behind a huge Ram truck. Taking a small peak around the corner of it to get a better look at this girl. His eyes widen a bit and his brows knitted tightly together. He knew this one, he could have sworn he’d seen her somewhere before. That long brunette hair, that curvy figure, all those layers.
He stopped breathing; it was her.
It has almost been two months since he’d seen this girl, she treated him nice, unlike others. He remembered taking off his jacket when he got home and the ten-dollar bill he refused to take from her fell out of his pocket. Till this day he still doesn’t understand how she got it in there without him feeling anything.
But the plan, the impure, the savior that was going to come to protect them all. She’s not supposed to be here. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He started to get angry and frustrated with himself. What if he did take her too, she would already know who he is though, that would destroy everything he worked for in the end. It’s just a matter of seconds he had to make a decision now. This was his time.
There all impure he thought, there all the same, none of them have truly suffered a day in their pathetic lives. Dennis reminded himself why he is doing this, why this needs to happen. To show the world who we truly are, who we will become.
They made their way to the car. Dennis was breathing heavy as he started walking again. The car doors unlocked noticing the girl made her way to the front seat of the car. Watching the father put the accessories in the truck.
This is it. He was doing this for a reason. The words repeated over and over and over.
“Can I help ya?”
Dennis froze once the man spoke to him, instantly forgetting everything all at once. He felt like he was going to collapse as he looked in the rear mirror on the side of the car where she sat. Staring at her soft face.
“Sir?” The man spoke again.
Dennis eyes shot up at him.
“Are you ok?” He asked feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Dennis started to breath heavy and looked to his left. The man did the same at this point taking a long look behind himself wondering what the man was staring at.
“Do you need me to call 911 or somethin-“he stopped mid-sentence seeing the man had completely disappeared as he turns back around.
He grabbed the rest of the food and placed it in the cars truck. Still looking around for the odd man but nowhere to be seen in plain sight. That was a good thing the man thought as he entered into the car door and locked it immediately.
“Ok girls I think I had enough of this place!” The father said chuckling nervously.
Casey looked out the window silently as he drove away. Watching everything that passes by.
He sat in his car with his hands holding the steering wheel tightly. His head was down, he failed.
“I was doing this for a reason.”
Chapter 6: Chapter 6 - Feed The Machine
Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
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What a day, she thought opening the front door. The sun was setting, leaving the sky with bright shades of orange, yellow, and reds. She closed it from behind, walking onto the porch throwing on her dark jean jacket. Casey crossed her arms and leaned against the wooden railing, taking a deep breath of the crisp clean air. She admired the fall weather, the trees dangled colorful leaves, making the block look even nicer than before. Light breezes came upon her face, moving her long dark brunette hair gracefully in the wind. Casey saw the mailbox flag was up, she got up from her spot to go retrieve the mail.
The door opened with a slight crack. The man made his way out sprinting down the short set of stairs turning the corner to his garage in the back. Unlocking it, he pushed up the giant garage door causing it to make a squeaky loud rattling sound. Casey shot her head up at this and turned. It was him, she hadn’t seen him in the longest time. At least a couple of weeks now, he disappeared, she wondered what had happened to him. Maybe it was family stuff, or maybe someone could have passed away, she thought. She hardly knew the man at all, but she still for some reason seemed interested in this odd, yet quiet man.
She pushed up the mailbox door shutting it closed. She only got two envelopes, and a hunting magazine. Making her way back to the porch she placed the mail on the small table next to the chair. Taking one of the tiny dead flower pots and placing it onto the letters making sure it wouldn’t try to get blown away. Suddenly hearing loud screeching noises that came from behind, almost startling her. She turned and saw the man pulling the metal trash cans out near the side street. She watched him do his thing, trying not to make it obvious. She made her way back to her seat on the wooden railing. She was small enough for her body to sit without falling over and making herself look foolish. She lifted one knee up, and letting the other leg dangle freely on the other side.
The man was removing the tops on the two trash cans, keeping them as far away from his body as he held them outward. He walked back down the driveway lowering his head watching where he stepped.
“Hey.” She said softly, but loud enough for him to hear.
His head shot up along with his eyes, making his body jolt in place. It took a moment for his brain to register when he saw her.
“Hey.” He said quickly, feeling a bit stumped, and unprepared.
It got silence for a moment.
“I haven’t seen you around.” She said.
He didn’t expect her to notice that he wasn’t around these past few weeks. Now remembering he was almost going to kidnap her by mistake. That plan had been shot, destroyed, tampered with in the end. He couldn’t bring himself to for fill his full purpose. He had to shut the horde out, he couldn’t bare explaining his pitiful wrong doings. Asking himself everyday why he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He felt irritated, and perplex be his actions. Dennis had to say something his mind was running a mile a minute.
“Well, I’ve been out of town.” He said continuing his walk again to the garage.
Casey's eyes followed him until she couldn’t seem him, she didn’t feel turning her head a million times. The giant garage door slammed shut. She could hear the rumbling of his keys fiddling in his hands. Casey tucked her one knee closer to her chest wrapping her arms lazily around it. He walked back removing his white gloves.
“What’s with you and gloves?” She asked curiously, remembering when he put the same type on when he was fixing her bathroom pipes.
“Dirty.” He answered quickly without looking at her direction.
Casey felt curious about this man. He was always so quiet every time she’d seen him around. Well he wasn’t around much actually. She didn’t dare ask where he went over the past few weeks, that was none of her concern.
“How are the pipes holding up?” He asked.
“Pretty good. Thanks again.” She answered fast, shocked that he actually asked her something.
She kept her eyes on him though, trying to cover half her face with her hair.
Dennis headed back up his porch to the door. Casey looked up slightly noticing he was going to head back inside. She felt the need to say something, anything.
“Do you, like it?” She asked hesitating for a moment.
Dennis stopped in his tracks with his fingertips grazing over the silver door knob.
“Like what?” He asked in a confused tone.
Dennis turned to face her fully with his brows knitted tightly together. He let go of the door knob placing his head in his front pockets.
“Here I mean. This town, this place.” She said shrugging her shoulders slightly upward.
“It’s alright. I suppose.”
“Do you?” He asked, wondering why she asked such an unusual question.
“Honestly. No, not in the slightest.” She said, with her head resting on her hand.
“Why?” He asked.
“Just.., too many unpleasant memories. Plus, it’s boring. Seeing the same people everyday.”
Dennis thought about it too, he did suppose it was quite small, and maybe as she so called it boring but he didn’t do much anyways besides cleaning and working everyday. She sees the same people everyday, did that include him he thought he knew he wasn’t around much during the day. But seeing her made him feel anxious, and quite nervous, which lead him to think. That’s something Dennis tried to avoid.
“Well I’m sure one day you’ll move out, and take control of your life.” He said slightly looking down at his shoes.
Casey put the bottom of her jaw on the top of her knees.
“Ya, that’ll be the day.” She muttered to herself.
It was silent again, she struggled to come up with a decent conversation. But she never was good at doing that, she mostly spent her long days in absolute isolation, which probably wasn’t the healthiest. But soon remembering the fun questions her father used to ask her on the spot when she was feeling down.
“Hey! Name your all time favorite food. Go!” She said throwing her body around to fully face him.
Dennis’s head shot up with surprise. All time favorite food he thought, he wasn’t much of a big heavy eater. This was throwing him off completely, no one ever asked him this before. He felt so unprepared for a simple question.
“Uh- well, I wouldn’t mind a nice broiled chicken soup.” He said instantly regretting it.
Caseys mouth dropped slightly at his bizarre answer. Out of all the food and all the delicious options in the world that's what he chose.
“Oh come on, that can’t be your favorite food. Please tell me your joking.” Casey said trying not to laugh at him.
Dennis didn’t know what to say he felt stumped. What was his favorite food?
“Come on, what’s something that you’ve always wanted to eat then?” She asked.
Remembering as a young kid he wanted to try certain things but growing up with a demented mother didn’t help. Dennis never had time to think about himself. He had too many responsibilities with his horde to even think about himself for once. He had to stay strong to keep them near the light to survive.
“If I had to choose. I’d say just plain vanilla ice cream. With that white stuff they put on top making it look fluffy.”
“You mean whipped cream?” She asked nearly letting out a snort.
“Yes, that.” He said stepping a bit closer to his railing.
“Interesting take.” She said smirking adjusting herself on the ledge.
“Well lets see. Probably a big bowl of fries will do, with a side of waffles.” She said simply.
Casey remembered the good days of when her father would let her get whatever her heart desired. No matter what it was he couldn’t say no to his precious daughter.
“Ok, all time favorite music?” She asked knowing he had to like some type of genre. That was at least decent to listen to without blowing your brains out.
“Why are you asking me these questions?” He didn’t understand why she needed to know these things.
“Why not, I just wanted to get to know you a little better.” She said shrugging her shoulders up and straightening her back leaning a bit forward.
Dennis noticed this and turned his head. He didn’t want to look at her anymore. His body started to feel a bit tense. The air was getting thicker by the minute.
“I should go, it’s getting late. I have things to do.” He said rubbing his head leading down to his neck. He headed to the front door slowly once again.
“Well, goodnight.” Her eyes dropped to the ground in disappointment. Maybe it was something she had said, people usually found her to be weird, she tried not to be for the first time. It didn’t seem to work though. Casey swung her legs back over to the porch’s side.
Casey stayed outside for a few more hours or so, dreading to come back inside. Her uncle still wasn’t home and it was almost ten. It was completely dark out now, there was no more of that lovely sunset to shine on her face. At least he wasn’t home yet she thought, and that was good, but it also scared her too at the same time. Never knowing what to expect from him.
Dennis was finishing up the three loads of laundry laid out on his bed, folding them all perfectly. Putting each pile of clothing in different rooms throughout the house. Reaching to one of the rooms at the end of the hallway, he opened the door almost tripping over a toy. He groaned in annoyance at the sight of all the crayons scattered all over the place, along with stuffed animals thrown everywhere. Picking up the small trains and other items tossing them all into a giant chest next to the yellow sheeted bed. Laying the clothing out neatly and left immediately, closing the door from behind. He walked back on the opposite side of the house reaching to his room again. He took the rest of the clothing making his way to his dresser.
A cool breeze came into the house. The window was open, he completely forgot, it wasn’t like him to forget most things. Maybe he was just tired, it has been a busy day. Dennis push aside the sheer thin white curtains reaching for the top to pull down on the window. He looked down for a moment, his head snapping twice seeing the girl was still sitting outside. Did she not want to go inside? It was pretty chilly outside tonight. He wondered if she was waiting for someone to come home. Should he go back out there? Ask her if she was alright? He thought, unsure of what to do. He decided to keep his window open, just in case. He went into his bathroom and closed the door.
Casey knew she couldn’t stay out here much longer anyways. She didn’t want to catch a cold. Her head whipped up at the sight of bright head-lights coming down the street fast. Speak of the devil. He pulled up into the driveway rapidly causing the truck to bounce every which way. She got up from her spot, seeing the car was still running and hadn’t been shut off yet. The car door was kicked wide open, with loud beer cans spilling all over onto the ground. Still holding another in his hand, trying to get his enormous body out of the car. Casey rolled her eyes at the sight, he must be really hammered this time if he can’t even get his fat ass out the car door. The head-lights still shined bright with the engine running. Casey walked over to the truck looking behind the door. His body slipped out of the car like a limp noodle, with his arms out wide trying to steady himself up.
“Hey shouldn’t you be in bed by now?” He tripped forward as Casey stepped aside letting him collapse.
She hopped up into the truck easily removing the keys out, and shutting down the car completely. She put the keys in her pocket as she rolled the windows up manually.
“Hey- you can’t.., drive.” He said getting up on his knees.
“Actually it’s you who shouldn’t be driving.” She said hopping down from the car seat.
Casey slammed the door shut.
“Whaaat I was.., not driving.” He said taking a sip from his beer can again.
Casey dragged him up the porch and inside. Trying to keep him steady with his arm over her shoulder blade. Going up the stairs with his fat ass was a bitch she thought. Most girls get to go out at night and have fun, instead she’s dragging a drunk man to his room like he’s a young hungover teenager.
She pushed his door open and made their way inside. Casey pushed him on his bed.
“Ahhh my word!” He yelped sinking into the bed.
Casey took the beer from his hand and placed it on the table next to her.
“You sure are pretty.” He said with his drunk sluggish tone.
Casey gave him a dirty look with her eyes opened wide showing disgust, and fear. She turned and was about to head for the door. Suddenly her wrist was being pulled back sharply.
“I gave you a compliment.” He said with seriousness.
She didn’t say a word.
“Get in bed.” He demanded.
“Let go.” She whispered through her teeth.
He only squeezed tighter around her small fragile wrist.
“I said let go!” She shouted, kicking his arm with her heavy boots.
“AHHhh!” He roared.
She was free running fast out of the room slamming his door, and dashing to her room. She shut her door quickly locking it.
“Casey! You come back here!” He screamed.
Casey put her hands on her head, she was running out of options at this point.
Dennis opened his bathroom door he could have sworn he heard loud shouts and screams nearby. He headed for the window but saw nothing, noticing the girl wasn’t even outside on her porch anymore. His one brow went up in suspicion. But in the end, he didn’t see anything, or hear anything now. How strange he thought, he was even thinking of going back down, but there was no point now. He tucked his body back inside, and slowly closed his window, dropping the blinds.
Caseys head was spinning rapidly along with her body looking for some type of answer. One day she was going to get sick, there will be a day where she won’t be able to handle this monstrosity.
“Casey! Open up! You disappeared my order!” He shouted.
Loud vicious sounds came from her door. Her breathing became heavy. She looked around quickly with her hair sticking to her face with sweat and nervousness. The window she thought opening it, I can fit and be able to esca-
“HEY! Get back here!” He screamed knocking down her door.
Her eyes widen at the sight, she was half way out. Suddenly her ankle was yanked harshly almost pulling her back in.
“No!” She said breathing through her teeth.
Trying to use all her might to flee from his sturdy grip.
“You know what happens when you disobey me girl!” He shouted, retrieving his sharp bladed knife.
Reaching for her lower stomach, he nicked her on the side. Casey yelp in pain, feeling the powerful rage consume her within. With her free foot she square kicked him right in the face. Immediately letting go of her and stumbled backwards holding his nose and mouth. Soon realizing Casey was still pulling herself back, she flew back rolling off the roof completely, and landed on the grass. She groaned still feeling the sharp pain from her side. Casey didn’t have time to check it though, she had to run she knew he’d come back out here and hunt her down. Desperately trying to pick herself back up, with her hand holding her wound. She had risen up, almost toppling over again catching herself on the gate. Hearing the loud thundering coming from above the dark skies. Casey swung the gate open rapidly and ran.
Ok that wasn’t his imagination this time he did hear something. He sped down the staircase without hesitation this time. He swung open the door walking fully out onto his porch, the rain started to make its way down fast suddenly. It was completely dark and gloomy out, only seeing dim-light coming from down on the corner of the street. Dennis immediately snapped his head to the opening of the door where Casey lived. Maybe that was her, he thought. He walked to his railing hoping to see her, than stopped fast seeing a grown man come out instead. He back up into his door again, almost trying not to be seen. Dennis was thankful he didn’t keep his front house light on today. He watched from the corner like a snake. The giant man came out with what seems to be a can of some sort in his hand, and he appeared to have a bloody nose. Dennis wasn’t entirely sure, but he couldn’t see very well from the distance. Another thunderstorm came down harshly, was Casey ok he thought? He knew he heard screams and shouts of some sort for sure this time. What happening, he thought.
Casey was under the bus stop. She was completely drenched with water, her hair lingered over her face as she looked down. The bloody had ceased, and it wasn’t deep enough to get stitches thank goodness, she thought. Why did this have to happen, out of all the people in the world, why was she going through all this dysfunction. She felt sick, tired, hungry, maybe she was dying she thought. At this point she’d except her fate, then maybe she’d be with the true person who actually loved her. All the good people she’d ever known were taken away, even in general, whether it’s cancer, disease, or mental illnesses. Murders happen everyday taking away the innocent without reason, letting the mad man still live even behind metal bars. Drunk drivers ruining and taking the lives of the pure, while we suffer to pick up the severed pieces of what’s left behind.
Casey put her head on her face. Tears started to come down gently like a river. She needed help, but where could she really go. Suddenly she heard a slight drop hit the ground. It almost sounded like paper dropping on its corner. She looked down next to her, it was a white folded up piece of paper. Moving her arms out realizing it had fallen out of her pocket. The heavy droplets of rain start to consume the paper. Casey bent over to pick it up before it got too soaked to even read. She opened it gently trying her best not to tear it apart. Remembering it instantly, she read the top in big black letters ‘HELP WANTED’, by the old Philly Diner near the zoo.
Her eyes shot up, with her head lifted high. She knew what she had to do at this point. She stood up fast, feeling frazzled searching for her phone. Reading the time saying, 10:46. She still had time. There were no more buses at this time, but you only live once, she thought. Casey ran into the rain without any equivocation. Soon spotting a bike on someone yawn, she grabbed it quickly and plopped herself on.
“Sorry, gonna have to borrow this.” She muttered, as she took off peddling.
Moving much faster, she past the town and headed to the next one over. She rode without any doubt in her mind. She didn’t live far from the city, as she crossed over the bridge. Bright lights still shined through out the city of Philly. Many cars on the streets, with lots of people walking up and down the sidewalks. She was almost near the Philadelphia Zoo, just passing by turning the next corner. There were less people now near this part of the city, she still heard the echoes of the city’s cars honking loudly, and the police sirens going off rapidly.
Casey eyes expanded at the sight on the corner. The old Philly Diner, it’s lights still glowed on the inside with life. The rain was still coming down but easing up little by little. Casey cautiously crosses the slick black street to the corner. She hopped off the bike quickly, directly in front of her showed in thick black letters reading ‘CLOSED’.
Casey sighed in annoyance at this, still put her hand on the window to see inside the back kitchen window. Maybe there was someone still back there cleaning up, after all the lights were still on, she thought. Casey raised her fist and knocked on the glass door, hoping someone would come from the back. She waited, feeling a bit anxious when the rain started up once again.
“Come on.” She muttered.
But she wasn’t going to take this, she wasn’t going to come here all the way for nothing. Casey knocked again, but with more force this time. Suddenly, she saw the kitchen door abruptly get shoved open. It was a tall man with dirty blonde hair up to his jaw, and seeing a dirty apron tied tightly around his thin waist. He walked heavily to the front door, with a cigarette barely hanging onto the edge of his lip. Casey backed up a bit unsure of what to suspect from his intense and annoyed body language. He unlocked the door opening it enough for half his body to stick out slightly. Using his free hand to take out his cigarette, and whipping the hair out of his face.
“What kid? Can’t you see it's rainin cats and dogs out here?” He said, in a southern accent.
Casey breathed heavy.
“I want the job.”
Chapter 8: Workin Hard or Hardly Workin
Sorry for the delay, back to college. Summer went too fast!
Anyways Enjoy! Comment let me know what you think so far!;)
“You crazy, or somethin?” The man said leaning his body against the cracked open door.
It was still raining heavily.
“Uh, no. Do you think maybe I could come in quickly?” She said shivering a bit.
The man eyed her carefully deciding whether or not to let her enter. She didn’t seem all that bad, but still who goes out on a rainy day in the middle of the night and starts banging on his door like a crazy person. The man took a raspy sigh.
“Fine. But don’t be gettin mud all over my floors.” He said opening the door wider.
She was thankful for being let in finally, she grabbed her bike and wheeled it in the diner by hand. The man's eyes shot open with confusion written all over his face.
“You rode a bike here?” He asked, shutting the door again.
Casey put the bike against the wall.
“There wasn’t anymore buses.” She said turning around pushing her hair back.
“Well damn, you could’ve taken the subway.” He said chuckling waiting behind the counter.
That was true, she thought. She should’ve taken the subway, that would have made more sense.
The man took out a pitcher, and a plastic cup and started pouring some water into it. He whipped his hair back again, and took a nice long spill. Making a satisfying ah sound when he finished.
“You want some water?” He said smiling with a smirk face looking her up and down.
“Ha, ha.” She said sarcastically, knowing she was completely drenched.
Casey perched herself on the red stool.
“Now, what can I do you for sweet cheeks?” He said with a sneer, as he leaned forward on his elbows.
“Well, like I said before, I want the job. Right here.” She said retrieving the paper, and tossing it on the counter.
The man got back up standing tall once again.
“Sweet baby jesus.” He muttered picking up the soaked paper.
“What’d ya do to it, eat it?” He said with a disgusted funny look on his face.
The man had a peculiar way of talking, she thought. This man said whatever was on his mine without any regrets.
“What experience have you?” He asked crossing his arms.
Casey mouth opened slightly but shut closed again.She never had a job before, so she technically never had any experience in the field.
“Can you cook?” He asked.
“No.” She said, shaking her head.
“Can you wait tables?”
“Um, I don’t-“
“Can you clean a toilet?” He said, interrupting her with a sly look on his face.
“No! But I certainly know a guy who would.” She said smirking back.
The man leaned his one elbow on the side towards her direction. Almost like he was laying down on the counter sideways. He picked up the paper again slapping it a couple of times with the other hand dramatically.
“Well, I ain’t seeing much here for you doll face.” He said grinning like a know it all.
“You know, I don’t even know your name sir.” She said sitting up straighter with more confidence.
“Oh, silly me. Where are my manners. The names, Sawyer.” He said proudly as he stood tall.
“Is that your first, or last name.” She asked curiously.
“Hey now, that’s strictly confidential information there.” He said, putting his hands and arms half way up like he was at gunpoint.
“Where are you from Mr. Sawyer?” She asked, leaning forward on her elbows.
“I’m sorry, am I on trial here, or somethin? I thought I was the one askin the questions here.” He said backing up against the wall.
“Hey you asked me if I clean toilets, I think I have the stage.” She said like a spitfire.
The man snickered at this, and let her continue her questions.
“I’m from Jasper Alabama.” He said turning his face the other way.
“Let me guess it’s the accent ain’t it, you like it? I’ve been workin on it.” He said grinning and giving her a boyish wink.
Caseys brow lifted up at his attention feeling flattered but also a bit creeped out.
“I’m only teasing ya.” He said with a low chuckle.
He made his way around the counter to the booth next to the giant window.
Casey turned and follow. She sat on the opposite side facing him.
“So, do I have the job?” She said shrugging her shoulders feeling unsure.
The man leaned back up against the booth crossing his arms.
“I don’t know. I don’t see why I should hire someone with zero experience.” He said emphasizing the word zero.
“So train me then.” She said.
“I ain’t got time for that, I’m in the back cookin, you think I can run back and forth like a jack rabbit.” He said seriously.
“Let me wait tables then, and take people’s orders, it can’t be that difficult.” She exclaimed.
“And what happens if you mess up there order? What if you were takin an order from an old man and he can’t hear today's specials.” He said amusing himself.
“Then I’ll speak up!” She shouted, proving she ain’t as stupid as he portrayed her.
“I rest my case.” He said smiling as he lit a smoke.
Casey looked up on the walk near the bathroom, reading a sign saying ‘NO SMOKING’.
“Does that apply to everyone, but you?” She asked pointing to the sigh.
The man didn’t even bother turning his head.
“Well I reckon my daddy ain’t around to tell me what to do.” He said, taking another puff.
Casey got a better look at his face now seeing him more clearly. He wasn’t all bad, she thought. He was actually quick attractive, almost like one of those pretty boys she’d seen in high school. With his straight dirty blonde hair, and a short scruffy goatee beard. Along with his big emerald eyes with a dark black outline around them trapping the colors tightly within the severe. He was definitely older than her, but he still looked young and built. Maybe if he stopped smoking he’d look and maybe even feel a little better, she thought.
“So we got a deal?” She asked bring her hand out waiting for his hand.
He looked at it and then looked back at her with no expression.
“Imma need your number though.” He said.
Casey took her hand back half-way feeling unsure.
“For work purposes ya pervert, so in case I need you.” He said rolling his eyes.
“Oh, yeah, of course.” She said extending her hand again towards him.
He took her small soft hand firmly in his rough one shaking it up and down.
“And I’ll call you for my girl problems too.” He said smirking.
Casey laughed softly at that, but hoped he didn’t call her for that type of reason.
“So when do I meet the boss?” She asked curiously.
“What makes you think you ain’t speakin to him now?” He said removing his cigarette from his lips.
“Oh, well I mean, you just don’t strike me as one that’s all.” She said honest.
“What’d ya think? That I’m the garage boy?” He laughed loudly.
“Well, yes actually.” She said slightly grinning.
“Hey now, you better watch it. I just hired you, I’d hate to terminate ya.”
“I’m only teasing.” She said winking.
“Ha ha I see you learn fast doll face.” He said chuckling.
It was now 5:55 in the morning. She was out all night, riding throughout the city getting to know the streets a little better. Now that she has a job she thought, she might as well learn a couple of new short cuts. This was definitely a new feeling for her. Casey felt in charge for the first time. But she knew it would come to an end sooner or later. She still had to go back, she’d be homeless if she didn’t return. She’s been doing this for years now, running. It gives you that thrill of a feeling of being free and open in the world, but drops down fast knowing this isn’t reality.
Casey road back to the house, she wasn’t that far now. Just up the block would she have to face more dysfunction. She had a new scar to add to the collection of sorrow written all over her body. Her many layers stuck hard to her frame, who knows if she could even get her last shirt off she thought, considering she was bleeding from the wound. Just up the street was her house, she crossed over making it to the other side.
Casey noticed her uncles truck wasn’t there. She rode the bike up the driveway and bounced off the uncomfortable seat. She just through the bike on the side of the house, causing it to hit the trash cans and falling hard onto the ground very loudly.
Suddenly the door next story opened quickly. Popping out was Dennis looking concerned but also anger in a way. She had trouble reading his unusual facial expressions towards her. He walked down his porch and came to the short fence dividing the two property lines. He stopped immediately seeing her, and her appearance.
“Your shirt. It’s all dirty, everything is dirty.” He said in a serious tone.
“Yes I know, had a long night out. A night on the town.” She said casually.
“Well, maybe you should clean it, with some bleach.” He said.
Casey just stood there and listened.
“I have some inside if you need any, at anytime. Maybe now you’d-“
“Dennis, I’m fine I just going to shower this all off.” She said pulling and swiping the dirty off her jacket.
“You don’t look fine. Did something happen?” He asked curiously.
Casey's eyes widen a bit but stopped herself as her heart pounded out of her chest.
“What do you mean?” She asked already knowing what he meant.
“I heard shouting. Late, last night. Coming from right here.” He said putting his hands behind his back.
“Oh, that, it was probably my Uncle. He usually watches the game and kinda goes a bit overboard.” She said chuckling trying to lighten the mood.
Dennis just stared at her, he knew when a child was lying, he should know.
“I just-“ He paused for a moment looking at her.
She may have looked dirty and inflicted, but he still saw those dark black eyes making his inside strive for something greater. He’d always admired her, she was different from the rest, he knew that the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her. But he knew better, he had to be good, after all Patricia said that he can control his inner beast.
“I’m here, if you ever need anything.” He said with niceness.
Casey stayed quiet for a moment, no one has ever said or offered something like that to her. Casey’s body eased up a bit at this, she felt somewhat a little better.
“Thank you.” She said softly closing her eyes and opening them again slowly like a cat.
Dennis just nodded his head slightly, backing up stilling feeling uncomfortable seeing her filthy clothing drape over her body. Dennis rubbed the back of his neck unsure of what to do next.
“Your shirt. Don’t forget.” He said seriously.
“Ok, I’ll see you later Dennis.” She said walking up the porch.
Dennis did the same feeling awkward. Casey headed inside and shut the door as she made a small smile. Dennis just continued to look over even though she wasn’t there anymore. He took a sigh as he entered his home.
*Buzz Buzz*
Her phone went off as it vibrated the whole bed. She picked it up fast seeing who it was.
Sawyer: ‘Don’t forget work starts Monday at 10:00. And try to look purty, not like last time just gettin out the Mississippi River!’
Great advice she thought sarcastically. She didn’t write back already knowing what she had to do tomorrow morning. She sat crisscrossed on her bed leaning against the wall. Inspecting her door before it still worked opening and closing it, but sadly the lock was broken. It frustrated Casey knowing her only protection was wrecked. Casey improvised by putting her chair under the door knob, wedging it under there tightly. So he wouldn’t be able to come in that easily.
Casey wore her big black sweater, keeping her extra harm underneath. Seeing that her uncle wouldn’t pay much to get heat, she stocked up on her old blankets and thick sweaters. But in the end she still wanted some cool air too. She opened up her front window, and walked around to the other side opening the other window. She looked down sticking her head out remembering the bike she took was still on the side of the house. She was so fired up and just didn’t care at that point she didn’t even realize she’d forgotten to give it back before she came home.
Hearing the cracking from the house next store the window opened as well. Casey's head shot up at the sound seeing strong hands lift up the giant window. The houses weren’t far apart, everything was very close together, but not close either to leap over onto the other side.
“Hey, didn’t I just see you?” She said teasing.
Dennis turned his head back, then faced her again in a confused stiff motion.
“Oh um..., I’ll leave you alone.” He said pulling his body back in.
“No, no! I didn’t mean it like that. I was just playing.” She said, reaching her hand out feeling bad.
She had to remember who she was talking to. It wasn’t like talking to Sawyer the easy sly talker, saying whatever came to his mind with no consideration. Dennis was the complete opposite type of man. Guessing the only thing they might have in common was they were both well built, and tough, she thought.
“You want me to stay?” He said knitting his brows together.
“I mean, yeah sure. If your comfortable hanging out a window.” She said crossing her arms together like a pillow for head on the ledge.
Dennis tried doing the same as her but failed. He tried to look casual maybe on one arm and his other hand holding his head up. His body didn’t want to work with him, knowing he’d never really hung out as she called it, of a window. He just felt really uncomfortable at this point.
Casey watched him struggle trying to position himself, she was guessing from his awkward body movements. The face that he made you would think that he was on his unbearable period, she thought. She hid her mouth behind her big sleeve covering her grin as she still rested her head.
“So you still never answered my question.” She said aloud.
Dennis looked up towards her and then dropped back to the ground. He remembered the question, having something to do with music.
“I don’t really listen to music, maybe the radio here, and there.” He said, being fixated on his curtains trying to straighten and clean them.
Never in Casey’s life has she ever heard or even met someone for that matter who doesn’t listen to music. That’s just weird, she thought, everyone listens to some type of genre of music.
“Wow.” She muttered to herself in complete and utter shock.
“Ok, well, moving on.” She said.
“Well what about you, what do you like?” He asked.
“I don’t know, I like alternative rock, metal, country, all in that order.” She said moving the hair out of her face.
Dennis shrugged at her answer not having much to say considering he’d never listen to that type of stuff anyways.
“Who’s bicycle is that?” He asked out of nowhere.
It caught Casey off guard for a moment remembering it was there. She should have just thrown it in the backyard.
“It’s mine.” She said casually.
“No it’s not.” He said quickly, still cleaning his drapes as he sat on the edge of the window.
Casey stayed quiet for a moment.
“Yeah it-“
“Who’s is it?” He asked, interrupting her.
“Ok look I just borrowed it because I needed to go somewhere.” She said, sitting up straight, leaning over the edge.
Dennis looked at her for a moment then went back to what he was doing.
“Aren’t you going to asked where I went?” Casey asked feeling confused.
“No.” He said straightforwardly.
Casey just took a sigh letting her one arm handle over the edge. She wished she knew how to talk to him a little better.
“I know I’m not much of a conversation.” He said softly.
Casey looked up at his words.
“Never have been.”
“Yeah, me either.” She said feeling down.
It got silent fast. Casey felt sad for a moment knowing she was never good at conversations either. Especially being isolated and cast out for all those years.
“But, I don’t mind talking to you.” He said looking at her directly.
Casey heart skipped a heart, feeling a zap of electricity rush through her. She actually felt happy for a moment, now knowing someone actually didn’t mind her company. She didn’t have much to offer, so she gave him a little smile.
“Would you ever want to do something?” She asked, even questioning herself.
“Do what?” He asked, as his eyes shot open.
“I mean, we could go for a walk sometime.” She said, even thinking to herself where would they go anyways.
“Um, a walk? I- I- uh-“
“It’s ok if your busy, maybe in the near future.” She said trying to lighten up his stiff tension.
He eased up a bit at that last part. A walk, he thought, going on a walk with a young lady like that would get him into trouble. Still feeling conflicted, and having difficulty controlling his thoughts and strength deep down. He had it good right now for the first time in years, he knew that, but he didn’t want to destroy everything he’d worked so hard for to get the horde here. Plus, he did almost kidnap her along with those two girls. It wouldn’t have ended well at all for anybody. Dennis knew Patricia was still disappointed in his decision that very day. She could have shut him out of the light at any given moment, but she knew better than to get rid of him so fast. If there savior wasn’t coming, then he’d have to take its place, for now.
He looked over again recovering from his deep thoughts only to see Casey yawning.
“You should get some rest Casey.” He said, almost ordering her.
“Yeah, your probably right.” She said, rubbing her eyes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said reassuringly.
Casey smiled a bit but looked downward shyly.
“Goodnight Dennis.” She said as she closed the window, along with the thin drapes.
Dennis got up as well, seeing she already closed it, he was closing his as well. Stopping half way as he looked at her now closed darken window. He inhaled a deep breath of cool air, as soft eyes appeared showing a weak spot.
“Goodnight, Casey.” He whispered gently.
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*
She slammed her hand on the alarm clock with a groan escaping from her mouth. Moving the strands of hair out of her face to see the time.
*9:45*
Casey paused for a moment as her brain began to register.
“Holy shit!” She yelped, as fear ran throughout her body.
Jumping up fast struggling to remove her pajamas. Work started in fifteen minutes and she wasn’t even at the bus station yet. Grabbing her bra as she tried getting it on, along with throwing on a pair of jeans and layers topping it off with a long black sleeve. Reading again seeing *9:47*.
“Damn it.” She said mumbling.
Tossing on her jacket and grabbing her strap over bag. Double checking she had all her belongings inside. Removing the chair barricading the door and rushed out immediately heading for the front door.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” The uncle said walking around the kitchen corner.
“Not now.” She said aloud opening and shutting the front door quickly.
Casey jogged to the bus stop just making it in time as she jumped aboard.
Patricia watched standing near the front window as the young girl ran from next store down the street. As she sipped her tea carefully with one eyebrow raised suspiciously.
*10:05*
She read getting off the bus.
“Come on.” She said whining.
Casey started running again to the corner finally where the diner had appeared.
Seeing her running from outside behind the glass, and entering the diner.
“And here she is ladies and gents on her first day! And late!” Sawyer shouted pensive aggressively with a smirk.
It was loud inside, pots and pans clanging together, along with lots of people talking loudly to one another. Everyone was getting breakfast and brunch. The place looked so different with more people in it, it seemed even more cramped then all the people outside on the streets.
Casey walked around the counter trying to stay out of the other waiters way.
“Did you get your beauty sleep?” He said joshing her.
“Sorry, bus was running late.” She said removing her jacket putting it on the wall.
“Hmm, yeah sure it was.” He said sarcastically rolling his eyes, as he headed back into the kitchen.
Casey put her hair up in a cute bun. Sawyer came back out shoving the door open as he walked towards her.
“Here put this on.” He said handing her a cherry red t-shirt.
Casey took it as she unfolded it.
“Just put it over your long sleeve, this ain’t beauty school.” He said handing her a name tag too.
Casey put on the T-shirt fast and attached the name tag placing it on the side of her chest.
“Now, this is going to be your best friend.” He said handing her a pen and a small paper pad to write down the orders.
“Ok now, you take an order. Write it down. Stick it up here by the kitchen window. We cook the food, then ring the bell when its good for munchin. Got it, any questions?” He said speaking quickly.
“Yeah I-“
“Ok we’re good to go! Now, time is money.” He said clapping his hands loudly once cutting her off.
He got up making his way around to the kitchen again.
“Oh yeah, and here’s the apron for your stuff.” He said throwing it through the kitchen window.
Casey tied it tightly around her tiny waist.
“Oh ya and about that old man-“
“I got it.” She said giving him a look as she cut him off.
Sawyer smirked at her, whipping his hair out of the way.
“Oh my lord! Don’t put that meat there ya stupid!“ He shouted trailing off as he faced the other works towards the back of the kitchen.
Casey laughed a bit hearing him yell like a crazy person. Well, here she was, and it was time to get to work.
It had been at least three hours now. She’d gotten the hang of taking orders and delivering them to the correct person. Casey was thankful for not messing up any of the orders. The tips she had received were ok, she thought, just getting a few dollars here and there by the end of her hard work.
Casey headed to the next table as she took out her pen and paper out again.
“Hi, may I take your order.” Casey said looking down at her pad turning over to a fresh page.
“You have got to be kidding.” The voice said with a girlish attitude.
Casey head lifted up hearing the familiar voice. Speak of the devil, she thought mentally rolling her eyes. It was Tammy, Claire, Marcia, and two other guys. She hoped to never see these people again. But now she might be seeing more people from her past sadly.
“Hey guys, can I start you all off with drinks?” She said trying to avoid any conversation.
“I’ll take a Pepsi.” Claire said cheerfully.
“Sorry we don’t have Pepsi.”
“What a surprise.” Tammy muttered sarcastically.
David laughed like a child covering his face with the menu.
“Is Coke fine?” Casey asked trying to give another option.
She didn’t know all the drinks very well, but she didn’t remember seeing any Pepsi’s. It was hard to find a restaurant that even served Pepsi.
“We’ll just have water all around.” Marcia chimed in.
“But I wanted a Sprite.” David said removing the menu from his face.
“What’re ya five? Just order what you want stupid.” Tammy said crossing her arms.
“Ok then. Water all around, coke, sprite, is that all for drinks?” Casey asked starting to feel a bit annoyed by their stupidity.
“A-hem, I would like a Corona.” Tammy said snobbishly towards Casey.
“We don’t serve beer to underage customers.” Casey said simply.
“Seriously. Can’t you just sneak me one?!” She said sounding disgusted.
“Hmm, no sorry I can’t.” Casey said.
“Tammy just let it go. It’s too early to be drinking anyways.” Claire said pulling her head out to see Tammy better.
“Yeah, I think we’re fine with those drinks for now.” Marcia said smiling trying to ease the awkward tension.
“Ok great.” Casey said turning around fast heading to the bar.
“Ha, Ha, Tammy can’t drink!” David teased pointing at her.
“Oh my god will you just shut up already.” Giving him a death stare.
He continued to laugh with his other friend next to him.
“Look guys, can’t we just have a good time.” Claire whined.
Tammy just rolled her eyes as she looked over at Casey doing the drinks.
“Can’t drink can I.” She whispered with a devious snear.
Casey continued to fill the drinks up in their narrow plastic red cups. She walked to the refrigerator retrieving the soda cans.
“Hey, how’s it goin?” Sawyer said nonchalantly, leaning his body on the door casually.
“Never better.” Casey said still feeling slightly annoyed
“Hmmm, then why the long face doll?” He said crossing his arms lazily.
“It’s.., it’s nothing, really. I mean, it seems no matter how hard we try to get away, people always manage to find you.” She said softly as she shrugged her shoulders.
Sawyer thought about it for a moment. He didn’t want to ask her anything on that or get into her girl business.
“Have you ever been found by someone who you’d hope to never see again.” Casey asked morally.
“Nope, that’s why I moved here.” He said smiling at her as he went back into the kitchen.
Casey slightly grinned at his answer. She could picture him packing his bags and leaving from his trailer park. Placing all the water on the giant black plate, she carefully picked it up and made her way to the booth.
Tammy turned her head slightly, on the corner of her eye seeing Casey emerge.
Casey held the plate with both hands tightly trying to stay focused. Only a few more steps she thought.
Sawyer was moving the boxes of fresh hamburger meat to the side. He whipped this hair out of his face as eyes got drawn the Casey bring drinks to the table. He smiled at her thoughtfully seeing her struggle with carrying drinks. At least she was making an effort, he thought. Most girls who start out don’t care or even value there customers with respect as they should.
The red headed girl stuck her foot out, causing Casey too stumbled forward. Unable to control her body from falling and spilling half the drinks. The drinks landed on the guys, leaving big splash marks hitting the table hard getting some on the girls as well.
“What in the hell.” Sawyer muttered turning his head with a confused look on his face.
Casey froze with embarrassment as it washed over her completely.
“I- I-...”
“What the fuck man!” The guy shouted as he stood up.
The whole restaurant turned to see the commotion.
“What’s your deal!” Said David grabbing the thin napkins.
“I’m sure it was an accident!” Marcia said putting her hands out trying to calm them.
“Watch where your going you stupid bitch!” Tammy shouted over Marcia.
“I-I’m sor-“
“WOW now! Just wait a damn minute!” Sawyer shouted from behind the kitchen, as he slammed the door wide open shaking the wall.
Casey knew this was it, she was going to get fired. All this work for nothing, she thought. Casey braced herself.
“Um, HELLO! Excuse me, your waitress just spilled water all over us!” Tammy complained.
“Zip it red I saw what you did.” Sawyer said with his brows knitted tightly together.
“What are you talking about!?” She yelped acting innocent.
“You can act dump with your jock friends here but you ain’t gonna fool me now.” He said pointing at finger at her.
“It was an accid-“
“And trippin somebody when there tryin to serve you. That’s the oldest trick in the book. For god sake I invented that!” Sawyer exclaimed in disbelief interrupting Casey.
“No way she tripped her! The freak is already unstable.” Said one of the guys.
“Well I don’t like what you're insinuating boy.” Sawyer said with a whispery dark southern tone as he leaned his body on the table closely facing them.
The group felt a bit of fear hearing the mans devilish tone.
“Not so tough now are ya?!” Sawyer said smirking in satisfaction.
“Now why don’t you do the right thing here. Apologize. Then leave.” He said tilting his head towards Casey.
The group got up from there seats looking down. The boys looked at Casey and said sorry as they headed for the door. Tammy went straight for the door without even bothering to apologize. Claire and Marcia hugged her apologizing for Tammy. Casey didn’t wrap her arms around the girls hugging her. Sawyer went to the front entrance opening it and leaning his body out.
“Ya’ll don’t come back now ya here!” He shouted giving them one of his famous devilish smirk as he tilted his head laughing a bit.
He headed back inside shutting the door to turn and face Casey. Suddenly stumped realizing she wasn’t in the room anymore. Everyone continued to starred at Sawyer.
“What'cha all lookin at shows overs folks.” He said bring his arms out, and then slapping them back down to his thighs.
His heavy footsteps lead back to his kitchen, just as everyone else went back to there food.
“Hey you see where doll face went?” He asked one of the cooks.
“Back there boss.” He said pointing his thumb to the back door outside.
Sawyer made his way to the back pushing the door open carefully. Poking half his body out to automatically see Casey sitting on the last step with head on her hands. He took a sigh, walking out the door fully and shutting it from behind. He put his hands in his pockets not knowing what to do next exactly.
“No crocodile tears now please.” He said jokingly as he laughed nervously.
Casey didn’t move once. Sawyer walked to the bottom of stairs as well and sat next to her. Her tiny frame looked so gentle, as his towered with strength.
“Uh, I- um...,” He felt perplexed on this sensitive matter.
He wasn’t one to help out someone who was sad. Remembering he was one of those teens at one point in his life. He wasn’t the nicest to the nerds as he recalled back in High School, if anything people actually wanted to be him. Getting the lady’s and showing off his Harley. Plus not having the best upbringing didn’t help with his naïve and selfish personality as a kid. Seeing now that he use to act that way to people just as they did to Casey made him feel like a giant shit head bastard child. Sawyer knew he was still immature in some ways, calling her doll face and all, but it was his personality he couldn’t change that. Its what made him that lovable dashing jokester.
“Ok look kid don’t let those assholes get to ya now. It ain’t worth it.” He exclaimed.
“I’m sorry it happened to ya.” He said padding her back trying to console her.
Casey slightly picked up her head, wiping her eyes with the end of her sleeves. It was soaked with tears.
“I thought you were going to fire me?” She asked nervously.
“Fire you!? And give that whole horrible old man pep talk again to some other dyngus!” He laughed aloud slapping his jean pants.
“Yeah.., I guess you're right.” She said sniffling lighting up a small smile.
“Ya there ya go, ya see now, I’m never wrong. Don’t be shreddin no tears on my watch!” He said chuckling.
“If anything your doin a damn good job!” He said with joy.
Casey smiled towards his thoughtful help, he wasn’t the best at it but he certainly did try.
“Thanks. I really appreciated it.” She said turning to face him.
“Oh stop ya makin me blush.” He joked.
They both smiled at one another.
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Sawyer opened the door for her.
“Who is she to you?”
“No one, I know not of her.”
She thought hard for a moment.
“I know you Dennis, don’t forget that.”
Dennis stayed silent for a moment facing towards the floor.
“Shes a pretty girl. Wouldn’t you say Dennis?”
Dennis didn’t want to answer such a question.
“She’s young.”
“I can see your making progress.” She said making two small hand claps.
“I’m trying to be good.”
Patricia worked with Dennis, shes known him for years now, protecting the Horde was the main focus of there very existence. She could have control over him if she desired to if he betrayed her ever again. One snap from her fingers is all it would take to shut him completely out of the precious light for good. But with her devious and relentless demeanor she had other plans in mind.
“What would you say if I told you I know a way to bring him back to us?” She asked pacing her body back and forth as she held her scarf tightly around her body.
Dennis knew Patrica well, well enough to say she believe in astonishing things. He wanted to believe too if he was real, but what if he wasn’t? Then what? Would we lose our faith, and all that we stand for? Dennis didn’t question her though, he knew better.
“If you believe he will come. Then I will follow.” He said standing tall.
“Good.” Patrica said nodding her head in satisfaction.
“But when?” He asked.
“Soon, but not yet. I must think for now, then we will discuss in further detail.” She said softly.
And just like that she left. Dennis folded the scarf neatly placing it in the drawer. He looked in the mirror with determined yet doughy eyes. He didn’t like being asked questions when it came to young girls. Dennis was like one big safe, he kept all his darkest secrets deep down inside, no one would even be able to open him. No one would ever be able to find the key.
He knew he shouldn’t be socializing with anyone outside the horde. He wasn’t very good at talking anyways. Dennis had to stop his thoughts, that part in the back of his head warned him to cease now before he does something he’ll regret. He didn’t know her very well, but he knew enough to say she was kind. His body still felt drawn to her. She was different from the rest, so he hoped. Admiring those dark mysterious eyes. Dennis began to clench his fists on the table. Her luxurious hair draping down her shoulders gracefully. His muscles began to grow thick. Envisioning her dancing under the moonlight as she turned her head seductively at him as she removed her clothi-
“NO!” He shouted loud enough for the whole town to hear.
Dennis slammed his fists hard on the table as he breathed heavy. The table rattled harshly against the wall. He looked away from his reflection feeling ashamed.
How could he think such thoughts on such a young girl, it was a sickness, something that he sadly had to cope with for the rest of his very existence.
“And where were you today?” He asked seeing Casey walk through the front door.
“Work.” She said holding out the flyer.
The uncle took it from her quickly with a look of disbelief and confusion. She didn’t work, he thought, she never did anything. He skimmed through the wrinkled damaged paper. He let out a big laugh.
“You?! Work here!?” He hollered pointing from her to the paper.
“Yes. What so funny about that?” She asked.
“Nothin I just didn’t believe you were the type. I found you more to be a stay at home cookin for the family type of girl.” He said chuckling.
Casey wanted to choke this man to death with her bare hands if she could. She headed towards the staircase making her way to her room.
“Bring me some food next time will ya!” He yelled loud enough for her to hear from downstairs.
Casey slammed her door shut moving the chair back in its place under the door knob. This day was pretty interesting, she thought. First she was late, second she spilled water on a bunch of brats, which was pretty satisfying. She met a nice yet crazy man who happened to be her boss. In the end it turned out ok she thought. Casey laid flat on her bed kicking off her boots.
She wondered how Dennis was doing today. She’d hoped to see him one last time before she went inside. Sadly he wasn’t outside on his porch, she wasn’t going to go to his front door just to say ‘hello’. Maybe she’d see him tomorrow, if she has the time hopefully.
Chapter 9: Sins
Hope, and Shame play an important part in this scenes.
I really enjoyed writing this one! I hope you do too!
I appreciate all the wonderful comments!
Don’t worry everyone I’m still here and I’m still writing! Working on new story in the near future! Thank you for your patients my loves!
COMMENT let me know what you think on these scenes between the two characters! ;)
“I don’t understand! Why do I have to stay in my room all day again!?” Casey hollered.
“Because I said so and my word goes in this house! I got my boys comin over and I don’t ya botherin me every second of the day cuz you need something!” He shouted back at her.
Casey was at the top of the stairs shouting towards the living room. Her uncle laid in his chair as he half wheeled it around to face her.
“I’m not a child, if I need to go out I should be able to!” She said gripping the railing tightly.
“Plus you know I have a job, right?”
“A job that you really don’t need missy, why do you think I work? I do it for you- for us!” He shouted extending his arms out dramatically.
Casey made a huff sound and stomped off back to her room.
“And just so you know! You are a child!” He yelled loud enough for her to hear.
Suddenly hearing a slam from the door. Casey felt like ripping her own hair out of her head. But if she did that she would probably be bald in a week....., like Dennis, she thought. Laughing a bit at that random thought, why did he cross her mind so often. Always wondering how he was doing, besides each other day was a new story. Even if he didn’t have much to say in his stories. She still enjoyed listening to him anyways to pass the time.
She wanted to learn a little more about him, where he came from, his likes and his dislikes, maybe even his relationship status. She laughed mentally at herself, maybe he was married, or not, she didn’t know for sure. She’d never seen anyone else come out of that house, but him. Must be lonely, but Casey already knew that dreadful feeling.
“I’m going out now! Cuz I can!” The uncle shouted from downstairs shutting the door in a huff.
Casey rolled her eyes as walked towards her front window opening it wide. Seeing him in her view made her sick to her stomach. Backing away from the window and heading to the other one on the side. She opened that one as well but kept the purple drapes over it still letting her see out side through its very thin fabric. She felt lost, unsure of what to do at this point. She took a sigh sitting on the edge of her bed retrieving her phone from her pocket. No messages, what a surprise, she thought, why do I even bother.
Casey threw herself back up onto her feet heading to her desk pulling out her sketch book. She turned the pages looking for a fresh new white sheet just waiting to be bedazzled. Unfortunately as she turned through all the pages, Casey has seem to of run out of space in her sketch book. It was completely filled up to the max. What a surprise, perfect timing, she thought sarcastically. Shutting her book dramatically as she flicked her wrist. Standing up once again she looked at her closet for a moment.
She walked over to it opening it slowly. All of her clothes were smooshed together, not having enough room for anything of hers. She took a hold of a giant mound of shirts on racks placing them on the bed. She continued to do this for some time now putting things in order. Taking out old boxes from above folding some of the old shirts she does not wear and puts them inside. Continuing her clean up, Casey takes the last shirts out of the closet. Suddenly, she eyed something in the corner at the very end. It was black as knight and as sleek as a cat, along with soft velvet laying upon it.
Her memory hit her fast like a bullet, remembering she had bought this piece when she was out on the town. Casey had completely forgotten about this dress, having to hide from her uncle. She didn’t want him to see her in something so nice and form fitting to her frame. But on second thought, he wasn’t home, was he now.
Casey removed the dress from its hanger taking it over onto the other side of her bed. She laid it flat and unzipped its back. She removed her many layers feeling the cool air run over her fair skin. She felt weird not wearing all her materials that she usually does. She had also removed her jeans trying not to fall over.
She took a glance at the mirror, getting a good look at her body for the first time. Scars that tell a sad story all throughout her childhood. They don’t hurt anymore, but at the same time they still do from within. She looked away in disgusted, not having enough strength to look at her fragile body anymore.
She took the dress and slipped inside it. Sliding in easily she struggle to zip it back up, but eventually exceeded. She walked towards the long mirror against the wall. The dress slid past her knees as it draped back slightly grazing the floor. It had long sleeves consisting of black roses designed on it to be see-through on her arms. It connected half up her neck tightly keeping it in place. The rest was pure pitch black velvet.
Casey took a really good, and long look at it. What a stunning piece, she thought. Too bad she could never wear it out, it’s not like there was any special occasion she had to go to anyways.
“All you need is a necklace.” A voice said.
Casey didn’t move as she heard the voice already knowing who it was. Through the mirror she saw her father approach next to her with a pleasant smile. He looked the same as when she last saw him. Young. Healthy. Beautiful.
“You look exactly like your mother did when we first met. You grow up too fast hunny.” He said chuckling.
Casey did the same.
“I wish I could be with you guys.” Casey said looking down.
“All in good time, but for now my love..., live your life.” He said softly putting a silver heart locket around her neck as he stood behind her.
Casey wanted to cry but held back, for she was happy at this moment. She closed her eyes, and opened them slowly. Sadly he had vanished through the looking glass. Along with the heart shaped locket that was laid around her neck. She never got to see what laid asleep inside. Live your life he said, she played the words over and over in her head. She smiled knowing someone that she loved could let her go and let her live to her full potential.
Casey took a twirl in her dress seeing it sway gracefully as she moved. Soon doing it again and again as she smiled cheerfully. Haven’t remembering the last time she was ever this happy. She started to laugh as she gently danced and twirled like a princess as she loved to see it shine in the mirror. Almost out of breath at one point she stopped for a moment still smiling as she giggled with her hand over her mouth. She wished she had thank him before he left her side. But who knows maybe she might see him again.
Dennis was finishing up his reading on his couch in the living room, he stood up without a second thought, slowly pacing himself to his bedroom. It was a slow day, he felt tired and a bit run down from these past few weeks. The more he tried to convince himself that he’s fine, just seems to make it worse then before. He approaches to his slender bookshelf and carefully places it back into its original place with steady fingers pushing it in.
Suddenly in the corny of his eye he saw something move from across his window, he took a quick glance but was still side tracked his book being properly placed in correctly. Dennis needed everything to be in order, making sure everything was neat and clean. That’s something that made him feel better at least. One wrong thing out of place and there would be chaos. He did a slight nod in satisfaction and reached in his pocket to retrieve his yellow cloth. Feeling annoyed as he patted himself down looking for him piece of fabric. He couldn’t have lost it he thought, he was always so careful not trying to lose any of his most important belongings. Soon feeling something soft deep within his side pocket, he retrieved it out revealing the yellow cloth. He yanked it out too fast causing it to fall on floor next to his shoe.
“Now it’s dirty. Nothing can go smoothly.” He muttered to himself, letting out a long irritated sigh as he knelt down on one knee.
Finally grabbing the cloth tightly in his hand making sure it wouldn’t get away from him this time. Just as he was about to rise on his feet once more he stopped halfway when he noticed something that made his eyes widen and became filled with astonishment. He saw through his window shades that were slightly cracked opened. He gentle ascended himself up making his way to the shades. Placing his hand on the long plastic stick carefully turning it to get a better view through the shaded window, but most importantly trying to be stealthy about it. His eyes widen even more for what he saw clear as day now. Dennis starred intensely at her. She was in her room.
“Dancing?” Dennis murmured feeling discombobulated.
Casey was dancing in her room across from his bedroom window. He was now staring with a more serious look on his face as she sways passionately around her room in circles. Observing every little move she perceived to make. He doesn’t know what caused her to do this little number but he didn’t care at the moment. He held the yellow cloth tightly in his hand causing his knuckles to turn white.
What was he doing he thought to himself, a grown adult man staring at a 17 year old girl in her own bedroom just minding her business. He started to breath heavier now triggering his eyes to role back a little in his head. He thought of her dancing for him under a full moon, slowly taking off her clothing with such uncontrollable lust for his devilish desire towards her natural beauty. Wondering what she might feel like under his skin, wanting to touch every curve that travel her delicate body.
Then suddenly he wakes up from his dream to reality again with sad widen eyes. Filled with distress for what he had just imagined. This is what he feared everyday, loosing control. That one day when he might do something he’ll regret in the future causing his demons to consume him completely. He growled making a low sound in the back of his throat, then without another sane thought he viciously hit the wall making the curtains move out of place.
He stormed off and ran into the bathroom shoving the door open with his strong body, with both his hands on his head pacing back and forth in the tiny space. Without a second thought he removed his glasses fast placing them on the sink along with his yellow cloth. He quickly removed his buttoned up shirt tossing it to the ground, leaving him shirtless at this point. Not wanting to care how dirty it would get just laying on the bathroom floor.
Dennis jumped into the shower almost falling forward loosing his balance trying to step in, turning on the cold water all the way on blast making the shower head run fast over this body. He still had half of his outfit on him not even bothering to remove them, it was too late for that now. The water quickly absorbed into his black pants making it feel heavy on his legs. He tried calming himself down by draining out his vile thoughts he had towards Casey. Seeing her dance made him loose control for a split second, it drew him over the edge. Someone so innocent, so soft, so easy to talk to shouldn’t be reciprocating to someone as disgusting as him.
He closed his eyes to this thought, making him feel depressed. He was ashamed of who he was. Placing a hand on the wall and the other holding the shower curtain with a tight fist desperately trying to hold himself up as his head slowly descended letting the water wash away his sins. He gritted his teeth making a low moan sound in frustration, he shook his head back and forth causing the water to flick everywhere in bathroom.
“No...no, no! You were doing so good!” Dennis yelled at himself in vexation trying to hold back more of his screams.
He slowly fell to his knees on the shower floor. The water was freezing cold but Dennis prayed it would get colder, he didn’t feel a thing. All he could feel was his soul breaking down leaving him only the darkest part.
“You were doing so good.” Dennis said once again to himself in defeat.
He thought he was stronger than this, that he could over come this sinful obsessions. Lowering himself even farther until he laid completely on his side in the ice cold tub. He held up one knee with a hand making himself feel secure.
Dennis thinks back for a second to when he had to hide from his daemonic mother. Curled up in a ball holding himself tightly to feel secure desperately trying to hide, to get away from it all. All he ever heard was the wretched yelling and the horrendous shouts of his name being called by his mother, echoed throughout his head. He knew god was punishing him for his shameful ways.
“I..., was doing so good.” Dennis whispered one last time to himself before closing his eyes making them completely shut. Letting the water take over him. He saw only darkness in the end. Escaping from the world just for a bit, before having to face reality once more.
Chapter 10: Chapter 10 - Desires
We desire things we cant have in life. We see and play things in our minds that we want without facing the consequences.
My apologies for taking so long to update. College has been a lot of hard work. I'm stilling squeezing in my writing for this story don't worry my friends. I'm trying to become better at writing and I want to go even darker and more sinister in this story for Dennis's character. Working on Chapter 10 now! Comment, and ENJOY!!!!
Split Chapter 9
The door opened slowly, but there was no wind. He made his way inside, as he stood there in a depressing room high from the main ground. The room was dark with dim lights swaying from above on rusty chains. He remembered this place, even if he tried not to, memories never really do seem to fade. We try and hide from our pasts, closing ourselves off from the rest of the world. Wrapping ourselves in layers of pure white, keeping us safe from our demise. The broken window left shards of glass on the floor; toys laid waste everywhere. The air was dense from the smell of old wood. He didn’t want to come back, not this time. The small bed soon began to vanish into thin dust. He stared at it until it completely disappeared along with everything else. Soon leaving him into empty black space, without any stars to guide his way. He closed his eyes only to hear the soft whispers, soon becoming more intense, to the point where it was unbearable. He did not move, as he shot his eyes open.
He floated deep within open waters. Darkness laid below the depths, as light tried to shine through. He was stuck in limbo as his body ceased. He felt lost, weak, tired, as he began to slowly descend. Just as his eyes began to close, a light of pure white shined from above.
The massive room was dark, as a girl laid on the giant wooden table in the middle of the room. Chains tighten around her tiny wrists, that contacted a pipe on the table. She was left bare letting her body breathe in the frosty air. The walls were cracked with rusty old pipes hanging from above. The long-broken windows let in dim strips of light from the night sky.
Hunger filled him completely as he slowly approached her. She laid there helpless as she waited for his presence. His deep breathes echoed loudly throughout the room, his presence was cold, sinister, as he came closer. His hands folded behind his back, with his brows furrowed down on his face. The glasses on his face shines from the splitting light hitting his face. He wanted this, he needed to see her, the way he wanted to. This was every sick man’s fantasy coming to reality in his mind. A beautiful young girl, right before his very eyes.
Reaching the end of the table he stared at her with no emotion shown on his face. Soon making his way around the table casually. He took his time, but the eyes never left hers. He reached the other side staring her down. Her skin as white as snow, her hair as dark as the night sky, her face was young and innocent. Carefully putting his hands near her cheeks, wanting to feel her delicate skin, but couldn’t. Instead he reached for her chains and unlatched them, still keeping them connected to her wrists. Taking ahold of the chains he yanked her up and she then stood up quickly on the table. Dennis then released the chains, as he walked to the end of the table once more and pulled a wooden chair out from underneath. He picked it up off the floor moving a few paces away from her.
Dennis pulled his black jeans slightly up as he took a seat. He let his legs stay spread and crossed his arms tightly. It was silent, she stood there in the middle of the table waiting for him to say something. Dennis just took the sight in for a moment before saying anything. His face was stern, his body was beginning tense from the scene.
“Dance for me.” His tone was very low.
Her body was still for a moment, but Dennis felt impatient.
“I said, dance for me.” He said in a sinister voice.
She suddenly moved her leg back slowly behind the other. Keeping her toes pointed, she twirled her body like a ballerina creating a full 360, as her arms extended out leisurely. Letting her body take over completely, she accepted this fate. She moved slowly but majestically on the table. Her firm breasts bounced from each graceful move she did. Her hair flicked from side to side. Her naked body did the rest for her as she arched her back hugging herself, feeling her own curves. Almost forgetting it was all for his eyes.
He felt even more strain then before, in his mind, and body. His clothes felt tight as his attention laid on her refine movements. He felt something start to grow inside himself. He needed more, he needed to feel his rough skin against her smooth creamy body. He felt like he was being tortured from this bewitching sight.
She soon seductively got off the table placing her feet gently on the freezing floor. She stood up fully walking towards him. She now circled him in his chair, hearing the chains clank together around her wrists. Dennis didn’t move his body nor his head to follow her movements. She came in front of him as she swayed her hips back and forth slowly. She then moved closer to him. Dennis then sat up straighter as he looked up at her face.
Casey then put her hand out on his broad shoulders, pulling her leg up and over onto his massive thigh. She then sat on his lap carefully, lifting herself up to where her breasts were close to his face. Leaving her arms dangle loosely around this neck. He continued to stare at her perfect features. His bugle began to harden from the sight he was seeing. She pressed herself harder against him. He groaned at the feeling she was giving him. The sensation was unbearable at this point. He wanted to touch her, more than anything a man could ever want. His lust for her was getting harder to control. This girl, what was happening to him. Still deep down he wanted to take her and do as he pleased. His face softened a bit as he closed his eyes taking a defeated sigh.
Small hands cupped his face as her thumb rubbed his cheek. He opened his eyes once more to see a pleasant smile on her face looking down at him. He didn’t smile back though; he just took in the image.
Suddenly he went cold as his devious side began to irrupt. Dennis took her face into his forcefully with such pain. He squeezed her neck tightly as he pulled her into him. The kiss was deepening harshly as he slipped his tongue into her sweet mouth, savoring every inch of her. Unexpectedly he jolted up making the chair fall back, ending the kiss by pushing her off him. Making her stumble back falling to the floor. He towered over her; his eyes were now glowing like an animal when it sees its prey. Taking her chains firmly into his strong hand, dragging her over to the table. Casey struggled to get up, but then was hoisted up by him quickly, throwing her on the table.
She was almost trying to cover herself now as she felt nervous. He jumped aboard the table crawling over her defenseless body. Dennis had no control, all that was left was the devious desire he had for her. His face was close to her neck as his hot breath cruelled throughout her skin. The hunger grew within him, he couldn’t think of anything else, his mind was clouded by her sweet scent.
“Dennis.” She whispered in his ear.
Her voice made him throb in his pants. Putting himself lower to her region as he began to bite the side of her neck. Almost sucking out her entire soul. Soon releasing with a heavy groan.
“Dennis.., stop, please.” She said softly in a fearful voice.
“No.” His tone was low.
Her body started to tense, as he threw her over on her stomach. Her hair laid messy on her face. Dennis’s strong hand rubbed the side of her back with such overpowering force it began to hurt. He buried his face into her neck smelling her signature scent.
But something that sweet he didn’t deserve as the smell went away. Into thin air it vanished from his sight. He laid with nothing in the end. He was still in the same dark room with no escape.
Dennis’s eyes widen at this moment feeling anger and emptiness inside once again. He reached his hand out to her, seeing her body fade away from afar. The room never ended he was stuck, he always wound up right back where we started from the very beginning.
“No.., please! Don’t go.” His voice echoed into a small child.
He was a child again, seeing the day his father left him behind. The day he boarded the train and never returned. It was raining, he wasn’t in the building anymore, just a lost child. He extended his arm out even further to the man that he saw, as he did for her as well. He fell to his knees on the ground becoming a man once more. He couldn’t reach them, either one of them. The rain came down hard on his body as he looked up at the cloudy skies. Lost, week, unloved as he felt defeated by his hidden deep emotions. Suddenly hearing the train. It came for him with exhilarating speed he tried to cover his face from the blinding light, before it came crashing into him.
His eyes shot open. The water was still running on high in shower. His body still laid there in the tub from earlier. He didn’t move though; he was almost stunned and couldn’t remember what had happened to him. He was soaked from head to toe beginning to look like an old prune. What time was it, he thought to himself, how long have I’ve been out cold? He started to feel a sharp pain in his head, but soon he heard a familiar voice.
‘Look at you, look at what you’ve become Dennis.’
Dennis knew who it was now, he had been so out of it.
“Patricia I-“
“Now don’t you say another word. Get yourself up.” She said sternly.
Dennis did as told, he struggles to raise from the heavy overflowing water. Grabbing the ledge of the tub he hoisted himself up, turning to his slide slightly to shut off the water completely. Then holding onto the showers curtains for support to make himself stand up fully tall. He put his hand on his head for a moment in affliction.
“Dennis, what has happened to you? You have been out like a light for hours now. I don’t understand why-“
Patricia paused mid-sentence with a confused look on her face. Suddenly changing her entire facial expression to a look of pity.
“I thought you were doing better, you said you were being good.” Patricia said in a confused manner.
Dennis didn’t say anything.
“How are we supposed to bring our savior into the light if your so focused on doing your dirty deeds with young..., impure girls!” Patricia said feeling annoyed.
“That’s not fair.” He whispered.
“Dennis you-“
“No, I have been here, I have been protecting the Horde. That, is my job. That is the purpose of my very existence. And I have been doing everything in my power to stay good. You don’t have to remind me of my...., sickness.” He said trying to catch his breath as he leaned on the sink.
Patricia didn’t say anything, she took a moment to think.
“Dennis, all of this fuss could have been avoided. If you would’ve just kidnapped those two impure girls, this whole mess could’ve been avoided. You wouldn’t have to suffer. He would have come to protect us...., Kevin.”
Dennis thought back to that day of the attempted plan to kidnap the girls, but Casey got in the way. Making his body ceased and completely shut down at the sight of her. He couldn’t let this girl get in his way any longer.
“I don’t need him, I can take care of the Horde. I can do this, I need to do this. I was the first to come into his life.” He said taking a hold of this yellow handkerchief.
“I doubt my faith in believing if he...., is even real.”
Patricia was shocked and appalled by what he had just said to her.
“Do not doubt your faith Dennis, he will come, we just have to prepare. And of course, plan accordingly.” Patricia said choosing her words carefully raising her hand slightly to calm him.
“Dennis listen to me, your just one man with a sickness that cannot be tame on your own, you need assistance. Now you’ve always trusted me, and I have not failed you yet now have I?” She said heartwarmingly.
Dennis listened to her words as he processes them. No, she’s right, she’s never lied, or betrayed him. He had a job to do, to show the world that they exist.
“Would you leave him alone already?!” Another voice came chiming in the mix.
Patricia rolled her eyes in aggravation at the familiar irritating voice passing through her ears.
“Hello Barry. And how did you get the light?” Patricia’s demeanor became cold once again.
“Hedwig, it’s very easy to persuade a child when you promise them an extra-large Twix bar.” Barry said smiling, enjoying the annoyed looked upon Patricia’s face.
“You shouldn’t trick children.” Dennis said in a weak voice.
“Hey, I’m on your side pal!” Barry took a sigh.
Barry didn’t like Dennis very much, but it wasn’t as bad as his detest towards Patricia.
“Ok everyone calm down.” Barry said putting his hands up as he took a deep breath.
He couldn’t remember the last time he was out, and in the light. It had been so long he had almost forgotten what it’s like to be on the outside. To be in the real world for a change.
“Look Patricia, cut Dennis some slack alright. He’s been working harder than any of us. I mean, he’s even got an interview for that job at the zoo. It’s too much now.”
Patricia wasn’t very fond of Barry in the slightest, but she had to agree on seeing Dennis’s loyalty remain strong to the Horde.
“Alright Barry, fine. I see your point.” She said taking one of the towels off the rack and placing it over her shoulders to cover herself.
“Dennis can rest and regain his strength for the rest of the day.” Patricia continued.
“But we’ll have much to discuss when he’s well rested.”
Barry eyed her through the mirror.
“Ok fine, I’ll do the rest of the chores, and the housework.” Barry said nonchalantly.
“Just make sure the house is neat, and clean. Not a mess Barry.” He said harshly.
“Ok, ok I get it germaphobe! I’m pretty sure I know the drill by now.” Barry said with a sassy attitude.
Dennis didn’t bother responding, it only would have irritated him more. He slowly started to fade away from the light. Heading back to his chair in the dark room. He took a seat and rested, as a deep sigh escape from his lips one last time. The only two who remained was now Patricia and Barry. Barry was now able to talk to Patricia on a more serious matter now that they were alone for the first time in a long time.
“You have kept me away from the light for too long.” Barry said with hatred in his voice.
Patricia said nothing but her face said it all. If someone didn’t follow her beliefs or was on her side, she didn’t care. So many have been locked away, forgotten what the world even looked like anymore.
“Still telling crazy stories, aren’t you? You haven’t changed I see. He’s not real you know.” Barry said staring daggers into the steamy mirror.
“Your believing in something that isn’t even there. It’s something that should never be created. Making Dennis kidnap young girls and for what exactly? Do you even know what’s going to happen in the end? Just because we exist and that we have suffered, doesn’t mean we should do the same to the innocent.” Barry said with such determination.
“Oh Barry. I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to.” Patricia said with a killing kindness of a smile.
“Don’t play dumb with me sister.” Barry said rolling his eyes.
“Yes. Of course, we exist, but it’s a matter of saying we are here, to those who have not suffered the taste of blood rain upon their ingenuous lips.”
Barry was disgusted by her words.
“But as far as that goes, I have nothing left to say. And that is, to you of course.” Patricia shrugged her shoulders slightly with a smile.
Barry wasn’t stupid, he knew she was up to something and it was never anything good.
“There’ll be a day when you won’t be able to come back into the light.” Barry warned as he lifted a finger.
Patricia said nothing but smiled like the devil himself.
“Now if you don’t mind, I will need full access to the light now thank you.” Barry said in a calming voice.
“Just make sure you acquire everything we need, and don’t draw attention to yourself. I know how you can be around others.” Patricia said.
“Ah-hem!” Barry said through his teeth.
Patricia finally left from the light completely. Barry was relieved to be in control of the light for many long boring months he’d been in the dark with the others. He looked around at the clothing he was in from Dennis’s mini breakdown. Barry even wondered what triggered Dennis, pushing him over the edge. He knew Dennis was strongest out of all of them and it certainly wasn’t like him to collapse. Maybe he’d ask Dennis what exactly happened once he gets the chance, or even remembers. Barry made his way out of the bathroom and up the stairs. He went into Dennis’s bedroom and headed straight for the closest. Opening the door and shutting on the light switch as he looked up and down at the many boxes. Each box had a name written on it, he searched for his name but didn’t see anything yet. Suddenly a great joy came over his body.
“Gotcha sucka!” He said cheerfully to himself.
Opening the box quickly he felt relief wash over his whole being at the sight of his belongings. His designer drawings still laid in its original large black folder. He picked it up gently with care as he opened it observing his drawings. It had been so long since he’d seen any of these wonderful pieces he’d created. Placing it back into the side of the box he retrieved a fresh pair of his own clothes. Along with his comfy soft hat he’d always wear.
Suddenly it caught his eye, at the very bottom of the box laid his leather black Doc Martens.
“Well hello my beautiful Doc’s!” Barry hollered with a chuckle.
He went back to the bed as he changed into his own clothing. Barry felt much more relaxed and lighter now since his pants weren’t soaked with water anymore. Lastly, he slides of his heavy boots like butter. He cherishes them deeply as he looked in the mirror feeling better than ever.
Soon heading back downstairs to the kitchen to see a list of supplies. He took it in his hand reading it over.
The list was sort, he thought to himself.
“Where’s the real food?” He asked himself feeling annoyed.
Looking towards the fridge he opened it fast seeing there was absolutely nothing green, or even anything worth eating for that matter. Barry shut the fridge door slowly and dramatic with a disgusted look on his face. He began to open the rest of the drawers fast and slamming them closed. Soon coming across an envelope laying slightly under a pad of paper. Without a second thought, he grabbed it quickly and opened it. Only to see a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills lay sound asleep.
“Hello!” Barry shouted with joy.
There had to at least be five grand in this thick little stack, he thought to himself.
“Well, I’m going to need some type of cash on me anyways. If we’re ever going to survive in this house, we need food.” He muttered to himself.
“Seven hundred should be good.” He said smiling.
Barry took the car keys spinning them on his finger and headed to the front door.
“Now I have to buy Hedwig a Twix bar.”
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ARM Acquires Geomerics
ARM® expands its position at the forefront of the graphics industry with acquisition of leader in lighting technology, Geomerics®.
13 December, 2013, CAMBRIDGE, UK - ARM today acquired Geomerics, the leader in lighting technology for the gaming and entertainment industries. The acquisition expands ARM's position at the forefront of the visual computing and graphics industries. Additionally, the agreement enables Geomerics to build on their existing partnerships as well as accelerate their development in mobile.
"The innovative technologies being developed by Geomerics are already revolutionizing the console gaming experience and are set to rapidly accelerate the transition to photo realistic graphics in mobile," said Pete Hutton, EVP and GM Media Processing Division, ARM. "Empowering Geomerics' portfolio with ARM's graphics capabilities and market reach will be transformative for the user experiences in future mobile and entertainment devices."
Geomerics' Enlighten is the worlds' first fully real-time global illumination technology. With a focus on timesaving workflow features and a lightweight runtime, Enlighten is the only solution proven to deliver fully dynamic lighting on todays' PCs, game consoles and mobile platforms. The technology has been the lighting solution of choice for some of todays most advanced and best-selling game titles, including Battlefield 3 and 4, Need for Speed Rivals, Eve Online, and Medal of Honor: Warfighter.
"With lighting technologies developed by Geomerics, graphics artists can achieve truly realistic global illumination and other advanced lighting features in real time across multiple platforms today. This combination of ARM and Geomerics accelerates the realization of our vision to bring next generation console graphics to mobile devices," said Dr. Chris Doran, COO, Geomerics. "Being part of ARM will allow us to accelerate our advanced developments for console and mobile platforms while also providing us with unmatched insights into the platforms and devices of tomorrow."
Global illumination is a term used to describe advanced, photorealistic lighting effects in 3D graphics. Typical graphics applications today are limited to simple, direct lighting effects only. With global illumination, effects such as compound reflections, refractions, shadows and other advanced effects are enabled, providing more life-like graphics quality.
"Enlighten has helped EA provide new levels of realism and gameplay experience in titles such as our highly popular Battlefield franchise," said Carl Almgren, Head of Development, Frostbite Game Engine. "We're delighted that ARM is committed to on-going development on all the key game console platforms and graphics architectures, as well as the on-going development of Geomerics' technologies."
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
ARM designs the technology that is at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM's comprehensive product offering includes RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company's broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies.
The ARM Connected Community is the place that makes it easier for developers to find information for ARM-based designs, applications and projects. It is an interactive platform for all end users, media and partners of the ARM ecosystem. Join the conversation at http://community.arm.com.
ARM website: http://www.arm.com
ARM Connected Community®: http://www.arm.com/community
ARM Blogs: http://blogs.arm.com
http://twitter.com/ARMPROffice
ARM, Artisan and AMBA and Cortex are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. CoreLink, big.LITTLE, Mali and POP are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM Inc.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Limited.; ARM Taiwan Limited; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Germany GmbH; ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; ARM Norway, AS and ARM Sweden AB.
ARM Press Contact
Email: phil.hughes@arm.com
Ben Haber
Email: bhaber@racepointgroup.com
Email: alice.jackson@racepointgroup.com
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Superyacht Market Reports Back
Brokerage market round-up: May 8 - 11, 2018
Mosaique was one of the week's biggest sales
Sovereign received this week's biggest price cut
Nanook was this week's most expensive new listing
10 yacht sales were announced during a busy week for the brokerage market. The total asking price was in excess of £23.2 million ($30.8 million), with the price of three yachts being withheld - all of which were new build projects.
years my father gave me some
advice that I've been turning over
in my mind ever since "Whenever you
feel like criticising any one," he
told me, "just remember that all
the people in this world haven't
had the advantages that you've had."
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Just two price drops were announced on yachts for sale this week for a total reduction of £999,700 ($1.3 million). One of these reductions was for $1m (£736,000).
Four yachts were listed for sale this week with a combined asking price in excess of £17.2 million ($22.9 million). The most expensive new listing was the 48.7 metre Codecasa motor yacht Nanook, which is offered for sale with Edmiston.
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Maxine Aston is a BACP accredited counsellor, a Relate-trained practitioner, and has an MSc in Health Psychology. She is qualified as a supervisor and trainer and teacher in adult education. Maxine runs her own Counselling Centre where she has specialised in working with individuals, couples and families affected by Asperger syndrome since 1998. Maxine also offers assessments for adults wishing to discover whether they affected by Asperger syndrome. Maxine has spoken at both National and International conferences.
Maxine is the author of four books, The Other half of Asperger syndrome (2001), the National Autistic Society’s Asperger’s in Love: Couple relationships and Family Affairs (2003), The Asperger Couples Workbook: Making Difference Work (2008), and What Men with Asperger’s want to know about Women, Dating and Relationships (2012), Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Maxine has also written the BACP Information Sheet on Aspergers, written journal articles on Aspergers and been featured in articles about couples managing Asperger’s within their relationship (Daily Mail feature).
Maxine runs workshops for professionals working with couples and individuals affected by Asperger syndrome. These include increasing awareness, couple relationships and sexual issues. Maxine also runs a two day workshop for the females in a relationship with a male or female affected by Asperger syndrome.
For more information visit www.maxineaston.co.uk
Past events with Maxine Aston
Raising Awareness of Asperger Syndrome
Testimonials for Maxine Aston’s training
“I have gained many insights to help me with my work with a client who as AS. Inspired, I feel that this has been an inspirational workshop, full of hope which has left me feeling excited about possibilities of working more in this area.”
“A wealth of knowledge easily understood”
“Maxine was excellent; responsive and open”
“Maxine was excellent, her experience and passion was evident throughout. The workshop was well organised and she paced it well”
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The Monarchy - Kings and Queens
Today’s Royal Family
Our Democratic Process
It’s All About Voting
Making Laws in Parliament
About British Political Parties
British Political History
How Political Thinking Shapes Britain
Advanced Level UK Government & Politics Guides
University Study Portal
HOME : ADVANCED GOVERNMENT & POLITICS | 16-18 YRS
What does ‘Government’ mean in British politics?
What are the different parts of the UK Central Government?
Who runs the UK Government?
What is the UK ‘Core Executive’?
Powers & Roles of the Prime Minister
What is the Royal Prerogative in the UK Constitution?
What are the roles of the British Prime Minister?
How does the Prime Minister form a government?
How does the Prime Minister control the UK Parliament?
How is the power of the Prime Minister changing?
What can influence the power of the British Prime Minister?
What has been the effect of the Fixed Term Parliament Act 2011
How does the British Cabinet work?
Do Cabinet Ministers have powers over the Prime Minister?
Are British Prime Ministers becoming more like American Presidents?
What is Cabinet Collective Responsibility
Who are UK Civil Servants?
What is the constitutional relationship between Ministers and Civil Servants?
What is the real relationship like between Minsters and Civil Servants?
Discover Central Government
Case Study: The Privy Council
The Privy Council goes back to the earliest days of the Monarchy, when it comprised those appointed by the King or Queen to advise on matters of state.
As the constitution developed into today’s constitutional monarchy, under which The Sovereign acts on the advice of Ministers, so the Privy Council adapted.
Its day-to-day business is transacted by those of Her Majesty’s Ministers who are Privy Counsellors, that is all Cabinet Ministers and a number of junior Ministers.
Membership of the Privy Council brings with it the right to be called “Right Honourable”.
Privy Council Meetings
The Privy Council still meets regularly, on average once a month, but, as with the Cabinet, most of its business is transacted in discussion and correspondence between its Ministerial members and the Government Departments that advise them.
The Privy Council Office provides a secretariat for these discussions, as the Cabinet Office does in relation to the business of Cabinet and Cabinet Committees.
Councils are held by The Queen and are attended by Ministers and the Clerk of the Council.
At each meeting the Council will seek Her Majesty’s formal approval to a number of Orders which have already been discussed and approved by Ministers, much as Acts of Parliament become law through the giving of the Royal Assent after having been debated in Parliament.
Are meetings secret?
Meetings are reported in the Court Circular, along with the names of Ministers attending (usually four in number).
The Orders made at each Council are in the public domain, and each bears the date and place of the Council at which it was made. There is therefore nothing at all “secret” about Privy Council meetings.
The myth that the Privy Council is a secretive body springs from the wording of the Privy Council Oath, which, in its current form, dates back to Tudor times. It requires those taking it to “keep secret all matters…treated of in Council”.
The Oath (or Solemn Affirmation for those who cannot take an Oath) is still administered, and is still binding; but it is only in very special circumstances nowadays that matters will come to a Privy Counsellor on “Privy Council terms”.
These will mostly concern matters of the national interest where it is important for senior members of Opposition parties to have access to Government information.
Lord President of the Council
The Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP was appointed Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons on 11 June 2017.
The previous appointment was Rt Hon David Lidington MP in July 2016.
He described the Privy Council as:
“the mechanism through which interdepartmental agreement is reached on those items of Government business which, for historical or other reasons, fall to Ministers as Privy Counsellors rather than as Departmental Ministers.”
www.privycouncil.independent.gov.uk
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Peanut Butter Blues
By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers '86 / March / April 2006
Dreamers Everywhere by Kathryn Mostow ’89 (www.butterflysound.com)
The opening track of Kathryn Mostow’s CD Dreamers Everywhere paraphrases the familiar quote, attributed to Margaret Mead, that a small group of committed people can change the world. Mostow’s soft finger-style guitar and honeyed vocals are straight out of the Joni Mitchell songbook, circa 1969; but in contrast to Mitchell’s poetic melancholy, Mostow looks on the sunny side. “I give thanks for all the good deeds unseen,” she sings, “and everyone who still dares to dream.”
With that song, called “I Give Thanks,” the Seattle-based singer-songwriter sets the tone for the CD, which follows her similarly warmhearted debut, Gratitude. In “Sun/Rain” Mostow reassures us that regardless of the weather, “we shine, we’re just fine.” “Hello World” and other songs make glancing references to the country being at war, but instead of expressing sadness or anger, Mostow vows to “raise up this hope for bluer skies.” Even when she lays aside altruistic concerns for a playful blues, Mostow remains chaste: she confesses a weakness not for the bottle or bad men but . . . peanut butter (“I even tried you twice,” she quips, “on organic long-grained rice”—a line that surely goes over well with the Seattle coffeehouse crowd).
In any case, Mostow’s gentle and soothing variety of contemporary folk banishes all hints of darkness. Her singing is consistently lovely, and several of her melodies—especially “I Give Thanks” and “Promise of Spring”—linger in memory. The CD’s production is sure-handed too, with sweet vocal harmonies and supple drum and percussion grooves behind the acoustic stringed instruments. In the gospel-style “All I,” the CD’s freshest-sounding track, Mostow and Alicia Healey (one of Mostow’s two coproducers) overdub voices into a Sweet Honey in the Rock–style chorus, accompanied only by finger snaps and bass.
The CD’s weaknesses lie in its lyrics—Mostow trades too often in platitudes (“Freedom begins at home”) and tired imagery (“The sun will shine, the rain will fall / As this world keeps spinnin’ round us all”). But these clichés may simply signal her relatively recent launch as a singer-songwriter; she spent a decade working in public health and only began to focus on guitar and song craft in the late ’90s.
A particularly hopeful sign is “Promise of Spring” in which Mostow envisions the muse as “a needle and thread” and “the green beneath the snow.” If she can ground her songs in more visual, visceral language and stronger storytelling—another lesson from the Joni Mitchell songbook—Mostow’s words could outshine her good intentions.
Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers (www.wordsandmusic.info) is a contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered and author of Rock Troubadours and The Complete Singer-Songwriter.
Reader Responses to Peanut Butter Blues
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Home Entertainment Kate Garraway forces herself to have sex every single day – and...
Kate Garraway forces herself to have sex every single day – and has a spreadsheet
Good Morning Britain star Kate Garraway organises her sex life with a spreadsheet to keep track of her intimate moments
Kate Garraway makes herself have sex every single day – and even has a spreadsheet so she can keep track.
The Good Morning Britain presenter confessed her saucy secrets after revealing in her book The Joy Of Big Knickers that she had tried a 14-day sex challenge with her husband, the former Labour spin doctor, Derek Draper.
“When you’ve been in a relationship for a long time, the physical side of things can be very unspontaneous,” she tells The Sun .
“So the idea is to schedule sex and force yourself to do it once a day and make it the focus of your diary.”
So organised, in fact, that she made a spreadsheet for it.
We got very organised,” she explains, “and we created this space for intimacy.”
Kate has never shied away from talking about her sex life and continues to boast how it has got much better as she ages.
“When you’re younger you want to be impressive, but when you get older, I think there’s a different kind of intimacy,” she explains.
“For women, sex only gets better as you get older I think.”
Kate even says she is looking forward to the menopause.
“The menopause used to signify the end but that’s because in the past, women didn’t live much longer afterwards,” she says.
“Now we’re in a whole new era and it’s an exciting time. there are actually lots of studies that show the menopause is a great thing and it rewires the brain in a positive way.”
There are rumours floating around that she maybe going in to the I’m A Celebrity jungle this year, which the presenter denies.
“They haven’t asked me,” she claims. “I hate spiders and heights and I’m not good when I’m hungry, so that means they will probably ask me.”
SOURCEwww.mirror.co.uk
sexaddicted
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Banquet of Books
YA Wednesday: Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst
(Amazon link)
Is this not an eye catching cover? It's like–Woah. And so is the story. It's fast and fun. There are vampires. A bunch of them. And they can do martial arts. And there are unicorns (were-unicorns to be exact). And high school. And prom. And a freckly faced kid who scoops ice cream (oh, Brad, how I was hoping things would turn out differently for you).
Drink, Slay, Love (parody of the title Eat, Pray, Love) is told from the perspective of the snarky teen vampire girl main character, and puts an interesting spin on vampire lore; delving into family dynamics, culture, psyche, foes, and more. Throw in a piercing reality (pun intended) and you've got quite the coming of age, burgeoning identity story. The unicorn aspect of the book, when explained, will have you going "Well, ding dong! Why didn't I think of that before! It makes perfect sense". And did I mention this book is fun? The ending is satisfying and, because of the implications of what happens in the story, leaves the world open for more, though at this point a sequel is not in the works (but Sarah has said that she misses the main character, Pearl).
I have Enna Isilee @ Squeaky Books to thank for this read. It's a book she loves so she featured it as part of her 2011 Birthday Bash–and I won it! Directly from Sarah Beth Durst herself (and it's signed! Yay!)!
I received Drink, Slay, Love last week actually and tried to put it aside and read other, more pressing things, but I just couldn't. Knowing it was there on my shelf with a bottle and straw, blood dripping onto the letter "R", I simply couldn't help myself. I had to read it. Right. Away. So I did. And now I can't wait to read Sarah's other books. (One of which, Enchanted Ivy, was given a cover by the awesomesauce illustrator Sam Weber whom I met a while back [I haven't posted all about it yet, but I did put it in "A Week in Review", here]. He used photos from his Enchanted Ivy cover image process in his powerpoint presentation and I was squirming in my seat thinking, "I know that book! I haven't read it, but I know it's by Sarah Beth Durst!" Anyway, it was an internal geek moment.)
Check out this little video interview below to learn more about Drink, Slay, Love and Sarah Beth Durst. Also, at the end of the Goodreads summary farther down, I've added the link to the first chapter of the book so you can get a TASTE of the story (no straw needed).
(From Goodreads) Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire... fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops. Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast -- as the entrees. The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends—especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache—to be slaughtered? Then again, she's definitely dead if she lets down her family. What's a sunlight-loving vamp to do?
READ THE FIRST CHAPTER
* See Sarah's Drink, Slay, Love intro through pictures on her blog.
*How about a Drink, Slay, Love playlist? Well, here you go (the link is in Sarah's blog post).
Sarah Beth Durst is the author of Drink, Slay, Love, Enchanted Ivy, Ice, Into the Wild, Out of the Wild, and the upcoming, September 2012 release, Vessel. Please visit her official website.
EDIT: Check out these two book trailers I made! (I couldn't choose between the two.)
So, what do you think, oh Lovely Reader?
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Excerpt from The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat, plus links to reviews, author biography & more
Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the Book | Readalikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
The Parking Lot Attendant
by Nafkote Tamirat
Readers' Opinion:
Mar 2018, 240 pages
Aug 2019, 240 pages
Ordinary People (Thrillers)
1st Books/1st Novels
Immigrants & Expatriates
Black Writers (including African-Americans)
Strong Female Leads
Debut Author
Book Reviewed by:
Lisa Butts Buy This Book
In my last-period study hall, lulled into drowsiness by the rhythmic snores of the monitor, I saw my father in a new light: perhaps he, too, was embarked upon this path of solitary intellect. We all knew the man could unclog drains and reanimate lifeless pieces of heavy-duty machinery with the best of them, but perhaps, concealed behind his curt responses and taciturn companionship, he was generating theories that he thought too mind-blowing for the world and the century into which he had been born. I wondered if he realized that I, his sole progeny, had inherited his burden, that it was I who would be compelled to carry on the mantle of brilliance once he had departed for other, lovelier shores.
I went straight to Ayale's lot after school, where I posited that Tess of the d'Urbervilles was less a novel, and more the pathetic swan song of an imbecilic weakling. He asked me if I had read a lot of Thomas Hardy. I was surprised that he knew who he was and then ashamed. Ayale noticed, I think, but didn't say anything.
"Did you tell your father that I'd like to really meet him?"
"What do you mean by 'really'? Have you met before? I thought you didn't know him at all."
Ayale patted me approvingly.
"I'm glad you caught that, good listening. Keep your ears open for inflection, tone shift, odd word usage. It will tell you everything you need to know about the person you're dealing with."
I was so delighted that I forgot to pursue my line of questioning. I watched as Ayale talked to customers, mostly older white women at that time of day, wives who no longer worked because they didn't need the money, who volunteered at urban youth centers in order to fill the otherwise idle hours between when their husbands left for their in-name-only directorships and when they returned with a bottle of something that Jean at the wine shop had promised was the best the Loire Valley had to offer. I've never understood how much money one must accrue in order to be certain that one no longer needs any more. Even after a windfall of frozen boiler systems, my father still had to save for when work would fall off around the school holidays. The difficulty with money wasn't earning it but controlling it.
Ayale had an enormous wad of cash that he kept in the back pocket of his pants. It was this lump that he added to and withdrew from as he accepted payment and doled out change. He barely looked down at what he was doing, laughing and gesturing with abandon, and yet, if you watched closely, his attention never strayed from the precious cargo he carried under the bulk of his fleece jacket. One of his favorite topics was his luck at having escaped the plague of office work and its accompanying tortures: the ties that choked, the bosses who hovered, the cigarettes that were forbidden, the buttons that constrained, unlike the twin blessings of zippers and drawstrings.
The location of the lot was ideal for escaping unwanted—i.e., unpaid—notice, surrounded as it was by an uneven ring of massive glass buildings, all starkly contrasting with the filthy square of the lot, whose lines demarcating parking spaces had become so faded that they barely counted. Because of their angles, many of these structures didn't reflect the lot, and later, when I couldn't bring myself to leave Ayale's side, I would sit in the attendant's booth and stare through its window at the building directly in front, unable to see myself or the people around me. I imagined scenarios where the lot was a magic box that no one could see into but from which we saw and judged everything. The accumulated dirt and cigarette ash of the parking area gave off a unique stink. If I could do it all again, I would.
It was five P.M. when Ayale went into the attendant's booth and closed the door. He emerged minutes later carrying two yellow manila envelopes with names and figures written across them in fine black pen. Ayale always bought the same brand of pen and could abide black ink alone. Blue drove him into a rage.
Excerpted from The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat. Copyright © 2018 by Nafkote Tamirat. Excerpted by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Beyond the Book:
Cults and Cult Leaders in Contemporary Literature
Genres & Themes
by Marie Benedict
An illuminating look at one of history's most unusual and extraordinary women, Clementine Churchill.
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Angebote zu "Hound" (33 Treffer)
Doyle, A: Hound of the Baskervilles/English Library Ed.
Erscheinungsdatum: 06.12.2012, Medium: Taschenbuch, Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert, Titel: The Hound of the Baskervilles. Penguin English Library Edition, Autor: Doyle, Arthur Conan, Verlag: Penguin Books Ltd (UK), Imprint: Penguin Classics, Sprache: Englisch, Originalsprache: Englisch, Schlagworte: Englische Belletristik // Kriminalroman // Englische Bücher // Belletristik // Thriller // Klassische Kriminalromane und Mystery, Rubrik: Belletristik // Kriminalromane, Seiten: 208, Reihe: Penguin English Library, Gewicht: 148 gr, Verkäufer: averdo
Thieme, Heike: From 'Cat-Hound' straight to 'Colorful Hutts'
Erscheinungsdatum: 21.08.2019, Medium: Taschenbuch, Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert, Titel: From 'Cat-Hound' straight to 'Colorful Hutts', Titelzusatz: English Novel, Autor: Thieme, Heike, Verlag: Books on Demand // BoD - Books on Demand, Sprache: Englisch, Rubrik: Belletristik // Romane, Erzählungen, Seiten: 128, Informationen: Paperback, Gewicht: 215 gr, Verkäufer: averdo
ISBN The Tain Buch Klassiker Taschenbuch Englisch 256 Seiten
'[A] brilliant and altogether engaging new translation' (Los Angeles Times) of the greatest epic in Irish literatureThe Tain Bo Cualinge, centrepiece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's great epic, on par with Beowulf and The Aeneid. The story of the emergence of a hero, a paean to the Irish landscape, and a bawdy and contentious marital farce, The Tain tells of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, Queen and King of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cualige. The hero of the tale is Cuchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists the invaders single-handed while Ulster's warriors lie sick. In its first translation in forty years, Ciaran Carson brings this seminal work of Irish literature fully to life, capturing all of its visceral power in what acclaimed poets Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon individually called one of the best books of the year.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
The Imperfectionists
From the author of The Italian Teacher, this acclaimed debut novel set in Rome follows the topsy-turvy lives of the denizens of an English language newspaper.NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYJanet Maslin, The New York Times - The Economist - NPR - Slate - The Christian Science Monitor - Financial Times - The Plain Dealer - Minneapolis Star Tribune - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Kansas City Star - The Globe and Mail - Publishers WeeklyLook in the back of the book for a conversation between Tom Rachman and Malcolm GladwellFifty years and many changes have ensued since the paper was founded by an enigmatic millionaire, and now, amid the stained carpeting and dingy office furniture, the staff's personal dramas seem far more important than the daily headlines. Kathleen, the imperious editor in chief, is smarting from a betrayal in her open marriage, Arthur, the lazy obituary writer, is transformed by a personal tragedy, Abby, the embattled financial officer, discovers that her job cuts and her love life are intertwined in a most unexpected way. Out in the field, a veteran Paris freelancer goes to desperate lengths for his next byline, while the new Cairo stringer is mercilessly manipulated by an outrageous war correspondent with an outsize ego. And in the shadows is the isolated young publisher who pays more attention to his prized basset hound, Schopenhauer, than to the fate of his family's quirky newspaper.As the era of print news gives way to the Internet age and this imperfect crew stumbles toward an uncertain future, the paper's rich history is revealed, including the surprising truth about its founder's intentions.Spirited, moving, and highly original, The Imperfectionists will establish Tom Rachman as one of our most perceptive, assured literary talents.
Toby Has a Dog and Other Books , Hörbuch, Digital, 1, 63min
In the mountains of Tennessee over a hundred years ago, lived a young, creative school teacher named May Justus. Her students begged to hear her beloved stories, and she wrote them down and later published them. This collection features three of her much-loved books for young listeners: Toby Has a Dog, Lester and His Hound, and The Right House for Rowdy.Experience mountain life in times past through these engaging and beautifully illustrated books. "May Justus (1898-1989) wrote over 60 children's books, almost all of which were set in her home state of Tennessee. I am grateful that this talented writer left us a treasury of such delightful literature, and I am grateful that we can bring her books back to children. It's not surprising that behind such admirable literature is such an admirable woman. Not only was May Justus an inspiring school teacher, but she also served children with special needs, maintained a children's library in her attic for 20 years, and was a committed supporter of racial equality, losing membership in her church for her bold efforts to end racism." (Jenny Phillips) 1. Language: English. Narrator: Maryanne Martin. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/153305/bk_acx0_153305_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.
Blue Chow Christmas: The Hart Family: Have a Hart, Book 4 , Hörbuch, Digital, 1, 355min
If you love sweet romances (PG-rating), look no further than Rachelle Ayala's Have a Hart series. The Harts are a family of San Francisco firefighters. Their family motto is: Heart comes first. Cait Hart has been married to Brian Wonder for 12 years, but does she really know him? The redheaded firefighter is dependable, loyal, and kind to others, but he's never let her probe his feelings. Brian's life is blown open when his former high school teacher and wife of a senator dies in a car crash. When a pair of blue chow dogs show up at his mountain cabin, he is forced to tell Cait his secret - the real owner of the dogs is a boy he believes is his son. Cait and Brian are tested on the true meaning of love when the boy goes missing and authorities suspect Brian of wrongdoing. Can two lost chow dogs save this fragile and vulnerable family? Blue Chow Christmas is book number four of the Have a Hart Romance series. It can be enjoyed as a standalone, although characters from the previous books appear here in supporting roles. Melisa and Rob, Christmas Lovebirds Jenna and Larry, Valentine Hound Dog Connor and Nadine, Spring Fling Kitty Cait and Brian, Blue Chow Christmas Jenna and Larry, Valentine Wedding Hound 1. Language: English. Narrator: Jennifer Groberg. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/acx0/112302/bk_acx0_112302_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.
The Permanent Tenant , Hörbuch, Digital, 1, 29min
Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and nonfiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the Victorian golden age of the short story. 'The Permanent Tenant' is the story of a loyal dog, Boris, whose master disappeared suddenly under mysterious circumstances three years earlier. The faithful hound sits day after day in the garden of a cottage, looking out at the sea. Every evening Boris wanders down to the seaside cove where his master vanished in search of him. Clearly the dog is convinced that his master will one day return. And then one day something astounding happens.... 1. Language: English. Narrator: Cathy Dobson. Audio sample: http://samples.audible.de/bk/redd/000956/bk_redd_000956_sample.mp3. Digital audiobook in aax.
Imperfectionists
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Gold Rally Online Slot
Dec 13, 2019 Oct 23, 2019 by Elliot
If you want to travel back in time and experience the gold rush of California in the 1800s then look no further than your desktop or mobile device.
When playing Gold Rally slots, you won’t need to arm yourself with a pick axe or wheelbarrow to experience the excitement of the gold rush. This is a fun and exciting slot game that is developed by Playtech, who is one of the best names in the industry.
There are lots of bonuses available for this slot game depending on the online casino you choose. If you want to try your hand at something new and be in with a chance of winning large jackpots, then you will want to try out Gold Rally.
Gold Rally Slot Game Details
To give you a good understanding of what this slot game has to offer, we need to take a brief look at some of the most important details.
Minimum Bet: 2
Minimum Bet Line: 0
Maximum Bet: 16
Maximum Bet Line: 2
You also need to be aware of some of the gameplay features that this slot game has on offer.
Autoplay Option: Yes
Progressive Jackpot: Yes
Multipliers: Yes
Wilds Symbols: No
Scatters: Yes
Random Jackpot: No
This online slot game does not use 3D graphics but it is still an attractive and exciting game to play.
Gold Rally Slot Review
Gold Rally is a fun online slot game that has been inspired by the California gold rush back in 1848. This is a unique theme for an online slot game and it is very appealing to a range of different players.
This is a slot game that will bring the excitement and joy of the gold rush into your home without your having to lift a finger or arm yourself with a pickaxe.
If you want to try something new in your online gambling, then Gold Rally is a great option.
About Gold Rally
Gold Rally seems to be a fairly standard three-reel slot machine on the surface, but it does have some golden surprises in store for players.
This is a game that has been developed by Playtech who is one of the best names in the business. With Gold Rally, this developer is really showing off their skills as the appearance of a basic three-wheel slot game is revealed as a clever façade once you make your first stake.
Underneath this façade, Gold Rally is actually a crafty nine-reeled game that can provide hours of fun and entertainment.
This slot game takes place deep underground in a mine trolley where you are joined by three goofy-looking miners. The graphics are bold and bright so the game looks great on a range of different sized screens.
The symbols that you need to match during Gold Rally include mining essentials like a pickaxe, dynamite, scales, and a lantern.
You can join in on the action of this slot game from as little as 0.25 per line and there is a maximum bet of 16 in total. You are also able to select the number of lines that you want to play, which goes from one to eight, easily using the Bet One button or the line numbers around the reels.
The Bet Max button features as a tool that you can use to set the reels rolling automatically by betting the maximum allowed.
This might not seem like a lot compared to some of the other slot games that are available, but that doesn’t mean that Gold Rally still isn’t a good option. This is a fun and vibrant game for you to play and there is a lot that you can win.
Players shouldn’t be put off by the fact that this slot game only has eight paylines because there are still a lot of bonuses on offer.
As well as the wilds, scatters, multipliers, and a maximum payout of 5,000 coins during the main game, players can also be rewarded with a progressive jackpot which will often top the one million mark.
Features And Symbols
Even though there are only eight paylines, they all work in different directions. The paylines of Gold Rally are set up horizontally, vertically, and diagonally.
If you manage to hit four sticks of dynamite in the corners of the slot game, then you will be taken to a bonus round where you will be able to literally dig for gold. During this bonus game, you are responsible for setting explosions in order to win real cash prizes.
You will know when this bonus round is over when an explosion reveals a sign that says ‘You Win!’.
The scatter symbol in this slot game appears as a scale and when you manage to get five of these on your screen you will be awarded a generous pay-out of five times your original stake. Six scales on your screen will award you a ten times multiplier and seven will give you a 50x multiplier. When you land on eight scatters as you will be awarded with an incredible 200x multiplier.
If you manage to strike it very lucky and land on nine scale symbols, then you have essentially won the whole game and will be awarded the progressive jackpot.
However, in order to be in for the winning of the progressive jackpot you need to bet the maximum allowed bet on all lines. If you have not done this, then you will still be able to win an impressive 5,000 coins when you land on nine scales.
Gold Rally certainly isn’t a slot game for the faint-hearted, but if you are willing to take some risks then you could be in with a chance of winning it big!
1 Gold Rally Slot Game Details
2 Gold Rally Slot Review
3 About Gold Rally
4 Features And Symbols
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Badminton | Division Descriptions
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Division Notes
Teams/Groups/Individuals are expected to read the division descriptions and place themselves in the most appropriate division. If players are unsure of which division to register for, they are welcome to contact the office for further clarification or advice.
The CSSC Division offerings are based on the experience and skill level of a team - not on a team's competitive behaviour. All CSSC players and teams are expected to play with a ‘fun-first, winning-second’ attitude regardless of their division.
The CSSC reserves the right to move any team up or down a division (regardless of where they registered) based on a team's past results. The CSSC gathers statistics on all registered teams each season, and strives to align the divisions as fairly as possible.
The CSSC reserves the right to move any team up or down a division (regardless of where they registered) based on total registration numbers. The CSSC rarely runs odd numbered divisions, or divisions with a low number of teams, so in these cases division realignment is necessary.
If the CSSC feels that a division has a clear skill discrepancy during the regular season, teams may be moved up or down a division mid-season, or in some cases a division will be split come playoff time to allow for multiple Championships.
For certain sports, when possible, the CSSC incorporates a seeding round as part of the regular season schedule. In these cases, divisions will be re-aligned and standings reset after the completion of the seeding round. For 16 Week Leagues that incorporate a seeding round, standings will not always be reset after the completion of the seeding round, but division realignment will still occur.
This division will feature teams that may have 1 skilled player, but also 1-2 inexperienced players. If both of the main players are quite skilled in Badminton and competitive in nature, then the team should move up to a higher level. Teams in this division must have a “fun first” approach to every game.
Recreational Plus
This division is for teams that have some experience playing badminton. Players can serve and return with accuracy, and the team is looking for more of a challenge than the Recreational level. Not all players need to be highly skilled; it is more about the average skill and competitiveness of the team as a whole.
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Islanders rally to top SHSU, advance to SLC Tourney finals
The Islanders rallied during the second half to top Southland Conference Tournament nemesis Sam Houston State on Friday advance to the championship game against Stephen F. Austin.
Islanders rally to top SHSU, advance to SLC Tourney finals The Islanders rallied during the second half to top Southland Conference Tournament nemesis Sam Houston State on Friday advance to the championship game against Stephen F. Austin. Check out this story on caller.com: http://www.caller.com/story/sports/college/texas-a-and-m-university-corpus-christi/2016/03/11/islanders-rally-to-top-shsu-advance-to-slc-tourney-finals/91477408/
Corpus Christi Caller-Times Published 8:32 p.m. CT March 11, 2016
BILL OLIVE/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES Texas A&M-CC's Bryce Douvier takes a shot during Friday's Southland Conference Tournament semifinal at the Merrell Center in Katy.(Photo: Bill Olive)
BILL OLIVE/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES Texas A&M-CC's Rashawn Thomas tries to hang onto the ball as Sam Houston State's Aurimas Majauskas, left, and Jamal Williams, right, try to get it during Friday's Southland Conference Tournament semifinal at the Merrell Center in Katy. (Photo: Bill Olive)
BILL OLIVE/SPECIAL TO THE CALLER-TIMES Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Brandon looks for a pass as Sam Houston State's Jovante' Sivey guards him during Friday night's Southland Conference semfiinal at the Merrell Center in Katy. (Photo: Bill Olive)
KATY — Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faced a tall task when Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year Rashawn Thomas fouled out with more than nine minutes remaining in Friday's semifinal against Sam Houston State.
The odds grew longer when Bryce Douvier joined him on the bench with under eight minutes left.
But senior point guard Hameed Ali made Thomas a promise when he went to the bench dejected, with the Islanders trailing by one.
"As soon as is I fouled out, I was real upset and Hameed came up and told me 'This is not the last game. I'm going to win this game for you.' I just trusted him," Thomas said.
Ali made good on his words when he hit a 3-pointer from straight on with seven seconds left, and then followed it up with a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds to play to give the Islanders an improbable 79-76 win over the Bearkats.
Playing the final eight minutes with a small lineup, featuring Jelani Currie, Joe Kilgore — who is 6-5 and the was the tallest Islander on the court at that time — at forward and Ehab Amin, Brandon Pye and Ali at guards, the Islanders hung with the Bearkats, bouncing the lead back and forth over the last six minutes.
Missed SHSU free throws (3 for 10 in final 3:30) kept A&M-Corpus Christi in the game along with Amin's multiple drives to the basket.
The sophomore scored half of the Islanders final 12 points, but his game-tying layup attempt was blocked with 13 seconds to play and in desperation Brandon Pye fouled Bearkats guard Jovante' Spivey.
Spivey had just missed two free throws but had a chance to effectively end the game with SHSU holding a 76-74 lead with 13 seconds remaining.
He missed both and Currie rebounded the ball and gave the ball to Ali, who spotted up and took his shot.
It went in and the Bearkats were faced with the same situation as a night prior, when Nicholls State hit a 3-pointer to take the lead with 5.8 to play.
But this time, the nation's third-leading team in steals created a turnover and Ali iced the game with 1.2 seconds remaining from the line as the Islanders finally broke through the conference semifinals ceiling.
SHSU eliminated A&M-Corpus Christi in each of the last two seasons in the semifinals.
"I was rooting for Sam Houston," Ali said. "They knocked us out the last two years. I wanted this game. To be in a spot like that, that is what you dream of as a player.
"To have the ball in my hands and have the trust of the coaching staff to allow me to take the shot I wanted to take."
The Bearkats looked well on their way to ousting the Islanders yet again, as they led 40-28 at half and 53-40 with 16:17 to go.
Then the Islanders forced the Bearkats to miss their next 12 field goals, going on a 16-2 run to take their first lead, coming seconds before Thomas fouled out and set the stage for the unlikely win.
"This whole year, when our back has been against the wall, we have played our best," Ali said. "We don't like to get in those situations, but our trust level goes up. It seems like we play our best basketball when we have to do it."
Ali led the Islanders with 18 points, Thomas scored 13 and Currie and Amin added 10 in the win.
For the first time since 2006-07, A&M-Corpus Christi will play for the Southland Conference Tournament title and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that comes with it. The Islanders will face top seed Stephen F. Austin, which cruised past Houston Baptist 104-68 in the other semifinal.
"It is a tough task," coach Willis Wilson said. "They played like a well-oiled machine tonight. A lot of guys made big plays. I know they are going to play their game. No tricks involved. They are going to play their game and we are going to play our game.
"We came here for this purpose and now the ball is in our court."
TEXAS A&M-CC 79, SAM HOUSTON STATE 76
SHSU (18-15) - Albert Almanza 5-10 3-4 17, Dakarai Henderson, 5-9 0-0 15, Jovante' Spivey 3-9 6-11 12, Aurimas Majauskas 3-7 5-8 11, Jamal Williams 3-5 1-1 7, Jalin Barnes 2-3 0-0 6, Torry Butler 2-7 0-0 4, Andre Sands 2-3 0-0 4, Josh Delaney 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-55 15-24 76.
A&M-CC (25-6) - Hameed Ali 5-14 5-6 18, Rashawn Thomas 4-9 5-5 13, Jelani Currie 3-8 3-4 10, Ehab Amin 2-3 6-8 10, Bryce Douvier 4-6 1-2 9, Brandon Pye 3-6 0-0 8, Joe Kilgore 3-6 0-2 6, Emmanuel Toney 1-1 0-0 3, Viktor Juricek 1-1 0-0 2, Dale Francis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 20-27 79.
Half - SHSU 40-28. 3-point goals - SHSU 11-24 (Henderson 5-7, Almanza 4-8, Barnes 2-3; Spivey 0-2, Williams 0-1, Butler 0-1, Delaney 0-2), A&M-CC 7-17 (Ali 3-6, Pye 2-4, Currie 1-2, Toney 1-1, Kilgore 0-2, Douvier 0-1, Francis 0-1). Fouled out - SHSU - Majauskas, A&M-CC - Douvier, Thomas. Rebounds - SHSU 36 (Butler 6), A&M-CC 32 (Douvier 8). Assists - SHSU 15 (Spivey 5), A&M-CC 10 (Ali 4). Total fouls - SHSU 24, A&M-CC 21. Technical fouls -- SHSU 0, A&M-CC 1. A-3,019
Twitter: @qmartinez
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How your school performed in NAPLAN over five years
An exclusive analysis of every Queensland school’s NAPLAN results from 2015 to 2019 reveals Rainworth State School and Indooroopilly State School were both among the top 5 performing schools for Year 5 results.
by Geoff Egan and Stephanie Bennett and Geoff Egan
Geoff Egan Journalist
Geoff has been working in regional news since 2010 when he started at the Chinchilla News. He since worked at Ipswich's Queensland Times and the central reporting team NewsRegional. He focuses on data journalim, politics and crime.
5th Dec 2019 7:23 PM | Updated: 6th Dec 2019 12:04 PM
PUBLIC schools have proved they can compete with the state's top privates when it comes to NAPLAN results, comprising of more than half of Queensland's 20 best performing primary schools for the past five years.
An exclusive Courier-Mail analysis of every Queensland school's NAPLAN results from 2015 to 2019 reveals Rainworth State School and Indooroopilly State School were both among the top 5 performing schools for Year 5 results.
NAPLAN 2019: RESULTS FOR EVERY SCHOOL
Their results had them rubbing shoulders with some of the state's most prestigious fee-paying schools including Brisbane Grammar School, St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School and Somerville House.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEARCH FOR YOUR SCHOOL IN THE INTERACTIVE TABLE
Public or private: A broad range of schools have figured in the top performers for NAPLAN.
Indooroopilly State School principal Keith Warwick said the school, which has about 1250 students from more than 50 countries, were one of about 480 Queensland schools to undertake the test online this year.
"NAPLAN isn't our driver - the work we do results in the good results we achieve," he said.
"We put a huge investment into our teachers and supporting them.
We're sorry but the NAPLAN Schools list doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
"We have deeply engaged and curious students, and we set very high expectations for them."
Mr Warwick said NAPLAN was "one more piece of the puzzle" regarding a child's learning, and that the school uses the test results combined with other data and information to get a complete picture.
"NAPLAN is just one part of what the school achieves," he said.
"The greater points of pride for me are the really kind, socially aware students that emerge from the school."
Overall 11 of the top 20 schools for Year 5 results since 2015 were public schools, with the remaining a mix of independent and Catholic schools.
Brisbane Grammar School is among the top-performers - students Hamish Moss, 15, Ned Boorer, 14, Alex Thakur, 14, Matthew Love, 14, and Carter Aitken, 15. (AAP Image/Claudia Baxter)
Other top 10 performers included Sunnybank Hills State School, Ironside State School, MacGregor State School, St Margaret's Anglican Girls School and St Joseph's College Gregory Terrace.
But it was Brisbane Grammar School who cemented their reputation as the Queensland school with consistently high NAPLAN scores across multiple year levels.
As well as coming in at No.1 for primary, they also landed at No.2 for secondary NAPLAN results (Year 9 students) over the past five years, only a few points behind neighbouring school Brisbane Girls' Grammar School.
Brisbane State High School students Harry Jenkins, Grace Kang, Aditya Anand, and Sam Meredith, are part of one of Queensland's best performing secondary schools in NAPLAN over the past 5 years. Photographer: Liam Kidston.
While private schools largely dominated senior school NAPLAN results, Brisbane State High School was the standout achiever for secondary state schools, coming in at No.4 in the state and the only public school to make the top 10.
Other major Brisbane schools to perform strongly were All Hallows' School, Somerset College, Somerville House and Ormiston College.
Since NAPLAN began more than a decade ago Queensland has been the only state to show substantial improvement, albeit from a low base.
This year, about 45,000 students at more than 480 schools completed NAPLAN online, with about 60 schools facing some connectivity issues.
Rainworth State School is a top performer - L to R: Students Annabelle 10yrs, Tess 11yrs, Lewis 11yrs and Sianna 10yrs. - Photo Steve Pohlner
NAPLAN had been due for a full online roll-out by 2020, but that has since been delayed.
"The State Government's ongoing investment in education means the Department can continue to give Queensland children a great start, wherever they live in our great state," a department spokeswoman said.
"Queensland state schools are provided with support for NAPLAN literacy and numeracy testing through a number of key departmental curriculum resources and initiatives.
"State school teachers are supported to effectively use and implement these resources through access to a range of professional learning."
School results were determined by combining every school's results across the five different NAPLAN subjects, and ranking them by their average yearly score in Year 5 and Year 9.
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HOME > Liking
Could Liquid Crystal Polymer Be the Next Evolution in Pack Cloth?
by Janis Lacey, September 18, 2019
Throughout the series of outdoor trade shows earlier this year the usual flood of new gear lists were published. One item that consistently got people talking was a new pack from Arc’teryx: the AR 20. An understated climbing pack that does a great job of hiding some very cool new technical features.
Top of that list of features is a new pack cloth woven with an exotic Liquid Crystal Polymer ripstop grid, dubbed N315R LCP. The AR 20 is the first pack to utilize LCP technology and the fiber has the team at Arc’teryx excited. And when the fabric developers at Arc’teryx are excited it’s worth paying attention. So far, details on LCP have been hard to come by. If you’ve been following the story you might have read that LCP is super lightweight, super tough and that it took the team years to develop.
As usual, we wanted to know more. Thankfully senior designer Gord Rose was able to make time between adventures to brief us on the new fiber and to share the story of what it took to develop it into a fabric.
It only takes a few minutes talking with Gord to realize that Arc’teryx has a laser-like understanding of their purpose. The brand is self-described obsessive about pursuing the ultimate in outdoor endeavours. And pushing the boundaries of human endurance has always been intertwined with pushing the boundaries of equipment. As packs grow lighter people can travel further, faster. Therefore the holy grail for pack cloth has always been a super light fabric that will hold up in extreme conditions. Whilst innovation in pack construction comes thick and fast, significant fabric evolution requires significant investment in time and resources that few can afford. That’s why it’s impressive when brands like Arc’teryx take on the mission to go further and find a better way. For Gord, that has meant spending at least the past 10 years trying to find how to do better than Nylon. “It’s really tough and stands up to abuse, the challenge is to stop catastrophic tears in it when you reduce the weight down to the 210 denier range”.
You might be thinking that there have been plenty of new fabrics to emerge in that time – such as X-Pac, Dyneema and Cuben Fiber. However, going through each of these with Gord illustrates how specific his requirements for the perfect cloth are. His process of elimination is summarised well by a quote from Anna Karenina that’s been used to describe natural evolution. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”. Essentially if a fabric has a deficiency in just one of an endless list of Gord’s requirements then it’s all over. The right fabric might not have anything special to offer – other than a lack of any deal-breaking traits.
Take for example ripstop, which was an early approach to reduce weight and maintain strength. Gord explains how a small issue with the finish quickly snowballed, “A typical approach in the ’90s was to double up the Nylon yarns to create a ripstop, that made the fabric bumpy and reduced the effective density of the weave. That made it harder to coat, which meant you needed more coating. It flexed more and created leaks. It was kind of a vicious circle”. An evolution of ripstop then emerged that used UHMWPE fibers of an equal denier to smooth out the bumpy issue. UHMWPE fibers like Dyneema or Spectra were common choices; however, these also had flaws for Gord. “Both these yarns have a low melt point and everything we were doing at Arc’teryx relied on heat. Hot gluing, laminating and all of our AC2 technology. It’s a common problem with climbing gear that you need to be careful about heat. These processes can all cause damage to the Spectra.”
Later, when a colleague of Gord’s joined Dimension-Polyant to work on their pack cloth offering, the next wave of super light materials began to hit the market. These were laminated sailcloth-style materials like X-Pac or Cuben Fiber. Here’s Gord’s take, “They all kind of missed what I was looking for. They gave really good dimensional stability and good overall tear strength, but they didn’t give very good toughness. They tend to crease on the corners which creates high wear points.”
It was during this era of development that Gord first encountered LCP fiber and saw the potential. The technology has actually been around since the 1970s; Kevlar is one early commercialized iteration of LCP. Through the small circle of people and companies who work at the leading edge of technical fabric innovation, Gord was introduced to the LCP fiber Vectran. It was being used in aerospace applications, and Gord was able to obtain yarn to test. The results were promising. LCPs are known to have great strength properties combined with better heat resistance than nylon. Plus it’s resistant to cold, weather and chemicals. But whilst it had potential there was still a deal breaker, this time it was logistics. “Vectran was not very common. There was only one supplier and it was really hard to get supply. Plus all of the people who could potentially weave it for us were affiliated with competitors. And it was staggeringly expensive.”
It was much later, well after moving on from the idea of using LCP fibers, that a breakthrough came. Gord was working on developing the balloon fabric for the Arc’teryx avalanche pack and had formed a relationship with an “extremely good” fabric weaver in Korea who was excellent at working with high tenacity yarns. At the end of the project, Gord says “they kinda just asked if we had anything else on our R&D wishlist. I brought up the LCP nylon blend but was also like – that’s unobtainable.” As it turned out, things had changed. The Korean mill not only had a really good supply chain for Liquid Crystal Polymer, they were also willing to go into partnership with Arc’teryx to commercialize it. Thus began two years or more of work, to turn Gord’s concept into the dream Arc’teryx fabric.
The reality was that LCP yarn is difficult to weave. The fibers are super fine and tend to get snagged in the machinery. The upside of which is a super soft hand feel. On top of that blending LCP with nylon opened up even more problems. The LCP has opposing characteristics to the nylon such as a much lower amount of stretch. But the team pushed on. “We worked with the mill for a couple of years just playing with different levels of twists in both the LCP and the Nylon yarns, and different rip patterns. Just trying to balance different deniers.” As a bonus, by going through the experimentation process Gord and the mill ended up creating a whole palette of LCP fabrics that they plan to utilize. So the N315R LCP used on the AR 20 is just the first of these we get to see. “We wanted this pack line to be just super, super tough. So instead of going with one of the really light weaves, we went with a 315D nylon 6.6 combined with a 400D LCP in a very tight grid.” According to Gord the result is “just ridiculously high resistance to wear and tear.” The fabric coats really well and the slightly raised surface acts as a buffer against abrasion. After field testing, the design team are thinking it has the potential to be used in applications that would normally need fabric twice the weight.
Mike Parsons’ book Invisible on Everest from 2003 was the first time I noticed the link between advances in equipment and advances in mountaineering. Hearing about the Arc’teryx LCP journey, it’s easy to see the uncanny similarities between the two endeavours. It’s not just that they share the same goal of climbing the highest. Both require a rock solid sense of purpose and perseverance when most people would doubt themselves. Right now it’s an exciting time for the guys, they’re at the top of the mountain and can see all sorts of possibilities. Gord’s already planning the next steps for LCP. “We want to build a new platform of fabrics that work across all the different categories, everything from lightweight running packs to crag packs. As well as AC2 and taped construction. The fundamentals of the fabric allow us to do all of those things.”
For Arc’teryx the next few years will be spent exploring all these new opportunities. If they’re successful we’ll probably see a few competitor LCP fabrics hit the market. Then there’s a possibility that if supply grows and cost drops, LCP might even become commonly available to the wider outdoor industry. For the rest of us, it’s exciting that Gord’s hard work could be the start of a new era of fabrics to play with. But I can’t help but think forward to the daunting reality of Arcteryx’s mission for evolution. And again it’s the same question that gets asked when mountaineers have just climbed Everest. What are they going to do after this?
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Celebrating 25 years of the CISI
Supporting financial professionals to progress to the highest standard of excellence with CISI qualifications and membership.
A message from the CEO History of the CISI Our members stories
We're proud of the impact we’ve had on our members’ lives through the strength of our qualifications, innovation, training, branch networks and volunteers.
For over 25 years, we have supported our members in standing tall throughout their professional journey, as they uphold the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. Our practitioner designed qualification pathways, CPD and networking events, publications and elearning tools ensure that our members possess the most up to date knowledge and skills they need to reach the very pinnacle of their profession. We connect members around the world, setting international standards for integrity and professional excellence. Our ambition is to inspire and equip a new generation of young people to take up the opportunities that a career in finance provides.
Today, we are proud to support over 40,000 members in 116 countries as they progress and excel throughout their career. As we mark this significant milestone of 25 years, we not only celebrate our history but look forward to the next twenty-five years supporting the financial services sector. We will continue to build on our strengths and set new standards for ourselves and the financial services sector.
Thank you for being part of our journey.
Explore key events in our history
View the full CISI timeline
The first regulated exchange comes into existence in London and the modern Stock Exchange is born.
Securities Institute formed as a “professional institute for the individual practitioner in the securities industry”. It initially has 4,800 members ‘grandfathered’ out of the Stock Exchange. Graham Ross Russell becomes Chairman and Tim Nicholson is Chief Executive. Institute develops 18 regional branches after canvassing members for their views.
The Institute becomes a registered charity in England and Wales.
Membership in UK regions increases by 26% to reach a total of over 5000 for the first time.
In the year to March, exam entries rise to a record 54,620.
Securities Institute celebrates 10th anniversary dinner at Guildhall, City of London.
Securities Institute changes its name to Securities & Investment Institute (SII).
The Institute launches offices in India and Singapore and launches its CPD scheme of 35 hours per year.
A year later an office is opened in Dubai and the institute launches its University Centres of Excellence programme.
After being granted Chartered Status, the SII changes its name to the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.
The CISI adopts its own coat of arms, an entitlement of being a Chartered body. My word is my bond becomes the CISI official motto.
New international office and operations centre opens in Sri Lanka.
The Institute recieves FSA accreditation for RDR and merges with the Compliance Institute.
The CISI celebrates its 20th anniversary.
In April 2013, the CISI became the first professional body to require UK candidates taking customer facing entry level examinations for wholesale/capital markets financial services activities to pass an integrity test. In February 2014 this requirement was extended to also include candidates in Ireland, Europe and North America.
The CISI signs an agreement with the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and CaixaBank to certify 7,000 of its employees using a CISI international wealth management qualification.
20,000 candidates complete the CISI IntegrityMatters test.
CISI Chairman, Alan Yarrow becomes 686th Lord Mayor of the City of London.
The CISI merges with the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) and becomes the UK licensing authority for the globally recognised CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation.
CISI opens an office in the Phillipines and the 'Speak Up' campaign is launched to support a speak up culture in financial services.
The CISI holds its first Financial Planning Annual Conference following the IFP merger and our branch network expands to 24.
CISI qualifications are recognised in 40 countries and mandates CPD and integrity requirements for all members.
The CISI celebrates its 25th anniversary with a celebration at the Guildhall.
The Institute’s symbol is a griffin. A mythological creature, the griffin represents a guardian of wealth whose role is to chastise avarice and greed. In 1993, the Institute invited entries from students at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London to design a statue of a griffin to display at its office. The winner was Tobias Apelgren, a Swedish student, and the statue was unveiled by the then Governor of the Bank of England, Eddie George.
It now stands in the reception area of the Institute’s home on Fenchurch street in the City of London.
Royal Charters are granted to bodies that work in the public interest and demonstrate pre-eminence, stability and permanence in their particular field. The award of a Royal Charter is an acknowledgement of the Institute’s work in bringing a greater measure of professionalism to the financial services sector, encompassing both skills and ethical behaviour.
For our members, the benefits of becoming chartered are two fold; members will benefit individually through enhanced standing in the professional circles and the wider community, together with the opportunity to become individually chartered.
We were granted a ‘patent of arms’ by the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England on 11 March 2010. Each of the elements, even the colours, have a particular heraldic meaning:
Silver or white represents sincerity and gold represents elevation of the mind. Green represents hope and has also been the colour associated with the Institute.
23 points on the wings represent the fact that the original resolution to form the SI was taken on the 23rd floor of the Stock Exchange.
Book represents learning. (If the book were open it would represent a university.)
Scales represents Justice and through that Integrity and Ethical Behaviour.
Motto ‘My Word is My Bond’ the English translation of the Stock Exchange’s motto ‘Dictum Meam Pactum’ – showing our shared history and some common values.
How have financial centres changed?
Skylines have changed radically over the last 25 years. From London to New York to Singapore, we look back at how the cities have changed and how technology has evolved in the financial centres around the world.
View our full gallery of interactive images
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Financial services: Then and now
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Our members’ stories
Having successfully completed the Diploma in Investment Operations I found the CISI have continued to add value to my development journey through its comprehensive CPD offering which in my opinion is second to none, allowing me to keep up to date in a continually changing profession whilst taking all of the hassle out of recording my CPD activities throughout the year. Read more...
Stewart Lancaster, Chartered FCSI
Operations Risk & Control Manager, Ruffer
Having sat my first CISI exams about 17 years ago, they first introduced me to fund analysis and portfolio performance measurement. Back then it was a young discipline and a steep learning curve, and the exams were invaluable with no colleagues to learn from. Back then it was still the Securities Investment Institute (SII). Those exams allowed me to progress into asset management as a fund analyst. Then after building my experience, in 2007-08 I started to become more involved in the Institute. Read more...
Jonathan Beckett, Chartered MCSI
Fund Gatekeeper and Responsible Investor, Scottish Widows
CISI membership has supported me whilst studying for the CISI wealth management qualifications but also in my wider career development. Membership of the CISI provides access to resources to build your knowledge, free events to grow you network, and opportunities to help you progress in your career. I look forward to progressing my career with the CISI. Read more...
Alexander Allen, Chartered MCSI
Assistant Investment Manager, Brewin Dolphin
Prior to joining Fidelity in 2014, I had no experience of working within financial services. The IOC exams are a superb introduction to the profession as a whole, and an invaluable tool in learning the key elements and regulation. Read more...
Lisa Fox
Technical Senior Associate, Fidelity
I chose CISI membership as it has provided me with a forum where I can enhance my knowledge about the world of finance as well as wealth management. Additionally, the many events held through the CISI have allowed me to network with different people from various walks of life that all have the subject of finance in common. Read more...
Aamir Tayeb ACSI
Analyst, Investment Counsellor, Royal Bank of Canada
I chose to enter the finance sector because of the professional training and development opportunities it presents. These provide you with invaluable skills, which can be transferred across multiple sectors and enable you to succeed in a variety of roles and professions. I also believe the dynamic nature and pace of the finance professional sphere is unparalleled. Read more...
Greg Smith ACSI
Associate, Bovill
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Stewart Lancaster - Chartered FCSI, Operations Risk & Control Manager, Ruffer
As a Chartered Manager with a passion for Investment Operations, I chose the CISI qualifications as they represent the professional benchmark qualifications that I feel has helped me to develop both myself and my career. The modular design of the IOC provides a practical theoretical framework that can be tailored to meet the development requirements for a broad range of roles including specialist subjects from operational risk and client money and assets (CASS). One of the attractions of the CISI IOC qualifications is the range of modules aimed at those in operations, risk and compliance that are in my opinion often under represented elsewhere. Having successfully completed the Diploma in Investment Operations I found the CISI have continued to add value to my development journey through its comprehensive CPD offering which in my opinion is second to none, allowing me to keep up to date in a continually changing profession whilst taking all of the hassle out of recording my CPD activities throughout the year. I now use the CISI exclusively to develop and support my team’s professional development and qualifications and expect to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Jonathan Beckett, Chartered MCSI - Fund Gatekeeper and Responsible Investor, Scottish Widows
Having sat my first CISI exams about 17 years ago, they first introduced me to fund analysis and portfolio performance measurement. Back then it was a young discipline and a steep learning curve, and the exams were invaluable with no colleagues to learn from. Back then it was still the Securities Investment Institute (SII). Those exams allowed me to progress into asset management as a fund analyst. Then after building my experience, in 2007-08 I started to become more involved in the Institute. It was a traumatic time for the sector. I approached this head on by sitting further exams and in 2009 becoming an external specialist for the CISI. Writing exam questions, sitting on committees and exam panels, reviewing workbooks and writing workbooks including more recently the NQ level 7 Applied Wealth Module for the Chartered Wealth Manager Qualification. In my time I have reviewed around a dozen different syllabuses and workbooks covering all different parts of our profession and is itself a great learning process. I am always proud to see exam winners at the annual awards in the knowledge that I have helped colleagues develop their careers. I have presented on fund governance at CISI events and a few years ago I also joined the CISI's disciplinary panel pool to further support our professionalism.
The CISI has helped me through two redundancies, when your qualifications, CPD and membership become your passports. Thanks to the CISI I have been introduced to a much larger community and I am now making a much larger contribution to this sector. Now in my 21st career year I am a fund gatekeeper for a £100bn+ platform, I consult smaller firms, I engage CEOs, regulators, trade bodies and action groups, writing columns, books, speaking globally on issues relating to fund selection and Fintech alike. Much of that has been thanks to the CISI. Throughout, being a Chartered member remains my compass of how I conduct myself, as the profession twists and turns, into a new fund order.
Greg Smith ACSI - Associate, Bovill
I chose to enter the finance sector because of the professional training and development opportunities it presents. These provide you with invaluable skills, which can be transferred across multiple sectors and enable you to succeed in a variety of roles and professional sectors. I also believe the dynamic nature and pace of this sector is unparalleled.
Aside from the wide range of qualifications offered by the CISI, I chose to become a member to demonstrate my commitment to professionalism, continuing development and integrity. It also provides an opportunity to network with peers and leading professional specialists, and is an excellent way to stay on top of developments within the sector.
I believe that becoming a member of the CISI has been immensely beneficial to my career. Completing qualifications has enhanced my existing knowledge and professional experience, helping me to excel in my career. Being a member provides me with on-going support in terms of continuing development, by providing access to resources such as seminars and articles, which help me to keep up to date with the sector.
I have successfully completed the CISI International Certificate in Advanced Wealth Management and the Investment Management Certificate. In my current consulting role, both qualifications have proved invaluable, providing me with a broad knowledge of financial markets and investment management. For me, this knowledge helps to bridge any potential jargon and culture barriers with clients operating in these professions, and is particularly useful when marketing our service offerings. I am currently completing the CISI diploma in Investment Compliance to further advance my knowledge. In my experience, being associated with the institute and undertaking its qualifications are highly regarded by both colleagues and employers. My qualifications certainly played a part in landing me my current role.
Alexander Allen, Chartered MCSI - Assistant Investment Manager, Brewin Dolphin
CISI membership has supported me whilst studying for the CISI wealth management qualifications but also in my wider career development. Membership of the CISI provides access to resources to build your knowledge, free events to grow you network, and opportunities to help you progress in your career. I look forward to progressing my career with the CISI.
I think that by being a Chartered member of the CISI people are often implicitly aware of your knowledge and professionalism. By completing the CISI Chartered Wealth Manager Qualification, it shows commitment and dedication to becoming the best in the profession which itself is my long-term career ambition.
Within my first two years at Brewin, I successfully completed the CISI’s Investment Advice Diploma and the Chartered Wealth Manager Qualification. I think the qualifications are essential. From the client’s perspective, if you are going to give someone a significant proportion of your money to look after, you need to have the utmost confidence that the individual has the right technical skills and is regulated by a trusted institution. The CISI provides both of these.
The exams have significantly improved my understanding of financial markets. They have provided me with confidence on a day-to-day basis, allowed me to become CF30 approved and they provide me with a competitive edge against my peers in the sector.
Lisa Fox - Technical Senior Associate, Fidelity
Prior to joining Fidelity in 2014, I had no experience of working within financial services. The IOC exams are a superb introduction to the profession as a whole, and an invaluable tool in learning the key elements and regulation.
The qualifications have provided a solid foundation on which I can build my knowledge of the financial services sector and progress within my career at Fidelity.
The IOC is a great way to achieve a firm grasp on the financial services profession as a whole. For anyone looking to work within the sector, or indeed progress, these exams a solid starting point and I would highly recommend them.
Aamir Tayeb ACSI - Analyst, Investment Counsellor, Royal Bank of Canada
I chose CISI membership as it has provided me with a forum where I can enhance my knowledge about the world of finance as well as Wealth Management. Additionally, the many events held through the CISI have allowed me to network with different people from various walks of life that all have the subject of finance in common. Read more
The CISI membership is one that offers many opportunities both from a learning and networking point of view. The many events held through the CISI have helped me network with like-minded individuals all with common interests in the world of finance and additionally the various courses online allow me to enhance my knowledge about the world of finance in general. More specifically, I find the articles in ‘The Review’ very interesting as they provide a different insight into the world of finance and present an alternate view to topics separate to what is presented in the media.
I have now successfully completed the CISI’s Investment Advice Diploma. Essentially, this was one the most interesting and helpful courses that I have ever done, as it provided me with the basic financial knowledge required for the different roles I have held within RBC Wealth Management. It has also given me the ability to speak, with confidence, to different clients about various financial products and securities. In terms of my career, it has provided with a benchmark in term of knowledge, however I hope to build on this over the next few months and take part in further qualifications in order to provide me with more detailed knowledge about different products and securities.
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Two charts for those already suggesting the value bounce is finished
Sunday 2 December 2018 1:29 pm
Ted Baker staff launch petition over boss’s unwanted ‘hugs’ and alleged harassment
Louis Ashworth
Staff at Ted Baker have launched a petition calling for an end to a culture of “forced hugs” and unwanted attention from the company’s founder and boss.
A employee-launched petition accuses chief executive Ray Kelvin of inappropriate behaviour and comments to staff.
“He'll want to brush this under the carpet,” the petition’s author wrote. “But staff won't be ignored if thousands of us stand with them.”
The company could not immediately be reached for comment, but said in a statement to the BBC that hugs are “part of Ted Baker’s culture, but are absolutely not insisted upon”, claiming Kelvin greets many people with hugs.
“While the claims made are entirely at odds with the values of our business and those of our chief executive officer, we take them very seriously,” the company said.
The petition, which has nearly 1,800 signatures, alleges that Kelvin, who launched the first Ted Baker store in 1988, regularly uses sexual innuendo, and has asked young female staff members to sit on his knee or let him massage their ears.
Hosted using the platform Organise, the petition claims to represent 200 Ted Baker staff, and alleges there are 50 recorded incidents of harassment at the company. It says the company’s human resources department (HR) has not acted on claims, saying: “Many of the staff have reported [Kelvin] to HR, but HR keep saying ‘that's just what he’s like’.”
It says Kelvin “tries to massage people around the office, insists on long hugs with staff members, touches them inappropriately and openly asks his staff for sex.”
FTSE-250-listed Ted Baker, which is due to issue a trading update on Thursday, is named after an alter-ego of Kelvin, an eccentric chief executive who as a quirk refuses to show his full face in photos. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Kelvin is worth £552m.
“The general feeling inside Ted Baker is that there’s no official way to address the issue of harassment,” the petition says. “That's why we're running this campaign.”
“There are a lot of really positive things about working at Ted Baker but they’re often overshadowed by this underlying awkwardness about the ‘hugging’ and inappropriate comments,” it adds.
The firm said it has “very clear and robust HR policies in place to provide all employees with a wide range of reporting options for any issues that they might encounter, including a completely confidential and anonymous, 24/7 helpline”.
Tags: Company Ted Baker
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Home » Hygiene Services » Sanitation » Everything about Waterless Urinals: Guide to selecting, installing and using waterless urinals successfully
Everything about Waterless Urinals: Guide to selecting, installing and using waterless urinals successfully
Posted by: Clean India Journal - Editor March 2, 2017 in Sanitation
When it comes to waterless urinals, there are a series of questions that cloud the mind of most facility professionals in India. Aishwarya Chaturvedi, an Engineer, Social Scientist, Businessman and Writer attempts to answer those questions and some more, and help you take a step further in associating with a concept which yet to catch up in India.
The definitive guide to selecting, installing and using waterless urinals successfully
I reached out to Clean India Journal last month, to understand the value that I could offer to the readers of India’s premier magazine on cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation. Mohana, the editor at Clean India Journal, and I discussed a series of questions on waterless urinals that are top of the mind of most facility professionals in India. I hope this post answers those questions and some more, and helps you take a step further in realizing the Clean India vision set forth by Prime Minister Modi!
Why are waterless urinals failing in India? Where are we going wrong?
Search for “waterless urinals India” and the first link that pops up tells you that they are a flop. Our experience in more than 200 workplaces around India, however, suggested otherwise. I could not resist diving in deeper and figuring out why the article declares waterless urinals as a flop. As they say, “the devil is in the detail”.
I discovered that the waterless urinals in question used cartridge-based technologies. Urinals installed in public places are used extremely often and need frequent replacement of cartridges. Also, cartridge-based waterless urinals are not your best bet in public places where people might use them to throw solid waste, like pan peeks and cigarette butts in the urinals itself.
It is no surprise that the agencies tasked with the maintenance of these urinals found their job extremely hard, and gave up after a while. What’s surprising though, is that these were not sanitation companies themselves. Both companies were “concessionaires”, ad agencies which entered into a barter with the government, to maintain these urinals in exchange of the ad revenues they’d make off of these facilities. It is very possible that the agencies lacked the technical knowledge to maintain the urinals in the first place.
While this is a singular case of public urinals, there are a few other reasons why waterless urinals haven’t gained popularity.
So, what can you do to make sure that waterless urinals work?
There are a handful of checks that you ought to run, before deciding to install waterless urinals in your facility.
Before that, I’d like to mention a few ground rules. These hold true whether you use conventional urinals, or waterless ones. One, much of the smell in the restroom is because of the urine splashed around the urinals. It’s important to maintain a regular housekeeping schedule. Second, ensure that you have a positive ventilation of about 8–10 air changes per hour for the rest room. What I mean by that is, for a restroom that is 10′ by 10′ by 10′ in size, you need exhaust fans with power rating of 150 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) or more.
The definitive guide to selecting, installing and using waterless urinals successfullyI reached out to Clean India Journal last month, to understand the value that I could offer to the readers of India’s premier magazine on cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation. Mohana, the…
Cleanliness drainpipe Hygiene Waterless Urinals 2017-03-02
Tagged with: Cleanliness drainpipe Hygiene Waterless Urinals
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Mrembo
Date of Birth: July 2019
Species: Vervet
Likes: Monkey dolls, Sleeping
Dislikes: Boxes
Mrembo means beautiful. Mrembo was rescued lonely, hungry and in pain. Mrembo was rescued in one of the local villages in Ukunda. She had been spotted moving around with a 1 meter long metallic chain-link hanging from the neck and limping.
Fortunately, she passed by a school and the security guard spotted her and called the team to come rescue her. When she was brought into the centre, she was in poor medical condition as she had a fractured arm, swollen leg and injured tail. She was also very emaciated and could not lie down and instead preferred to sit upright and tuck her little arms between her legs.
She was immediately given the much needed medical attention, and was put into quarantine. Later, she was introduced into the nursery where her new mum Tima takes care of her giving her lots of cuddles. Her health has since improved immensely and is now on the long road of rehabilitation for future release back into the wild.
Looey
Date of Birth: November 2018
Likes: Cuddling, cabbage
Dislikes: Noise
Looey was rescued when he was a three day old baby in Salama, Nairobi. His cries alerted his rescuers of an abandoned baby needy of love and care. He was rescued by a lovely family who spoiled him with love.
As he grew up, he became confident and as with monkeys, they always try to assert dominance and such was the case with Looey. Soon, he began showing the family he was the ‘boss’ and would throw a tantrum whenever he could not get what he wanted. The family realised this would potentially become a problem and got in touch with us for assistance.
As much as we do not condone the illegal act of keeping monkeys as pets, we had to help baby Looey. He then took the long journey from Nairobi to Diani.
At Colobus Conservation, he was introduced to his new monkey mom Tima who took in the scared Looey and has since warmed up and become friends with other monkeys in the nursery. He is now on the journey of rehabilitation for a future release back into the wild.
Adopt a Monkey - Leo
Date of Birth: March 2018
Likes: Watermelon
Dislikes: Tuk Tuks
Leo arrived at Colobus Conservation in May 2018 when he was 3 months old. He was found by Team Colobus, with his mother, after she had been killed by a Tuk Tuk crossing Diani Beach Road. For the first 24 hours he was only resting and sometimes uneasily calling. He also had a swelling around his eye from the collision. The next day he was more active and the swelling around the eye was going down.
Leo was then transferred to the nursery enclosure and gets to welcome the new infants and being a big brother to them giving hugs and cuddles whenever they are scared as well as playing with them.
He is now on the long road to release and living in the rehabilitation enclosure with the other Vervet monkeys learning wild monkey skills ready for his release.
Can you adopt Leo– THANK YOU!
Adopt a Monkey - Yatima (Tima)
Likes: Welcoming and taking care of babies
Dislikes: Green beans
Yatima commonly known as Tima, came into the center in November 2016 when she was just 2 days old, she was very small and sleepy as she was such a young orphan. She needed 24-hour care from the staff and after a four week quarantine period, Tima began integration with the other infants in the nursery enclosure and is now very much part of the troop.
Overtime, Tima developed motherly instincts and would be the one who rushed out to welcome new babies whenever they are brought into the center. This behavior makes her the perfect mommy monkey for the new monkeys that come in.
Tima is now forming her own troop where they are undergoing rehabilitation for release into the wild.
Can you adopt Yatima – THANK YOU!
Adopt a Monkey - Graham
Date of Birth: January 2019
Dislikes: Ropes
Graham arrived to Colobus Conservation in April 2019, having been kept as a pet. He had been condemned to a life of loneliness, and in addition was chained up to a bed post and locked up in a small room never to see the light of day or other monkeys. All this changed when one of his neighbor’s heard his cries of distress and informed Colobus Conservation who were able to successfully rescue him and bring him to the center. Graham was then introduced to the nursery where his new Mum Tima takes really good care of him giving cuddles and hugs whenever he feels lonely or scared. He has also become good friends with Leo whom he plays and runs around with. He is now on the long road to release and living in the rehabilitation enclosure with the other Vervet monkeys learning wild monkey skills ready for his release.
Can you adopt Graham – THANK YOU!
Adopt a Monkey - Loui
Date of Birth: Feb 2019
Likes: Eating
Dislikes: Going to bed in his box
Loui came to Colobus Conservation when he was three weeks old. Team Colobus were on their way to another welfare call out, when a member of the team spotted a man carrying an infant monkey in town together with a sack of scrap metal. The Colobus team promptly stopped the truck and approached the man, who hesitantly gave the little monkey to us.
Attempts to return Loui to his troop, according to the area described by the man, failed and Loui was admitted to Colobus Conservation orphan care. After a short while, he was introduced to Tima who took her as her own baby and gave him lots of hugs and cuddles. Loui being an adorable little guy with a lot of energy, he quickly became good friends with Leo and Graham whom they play together with Tima looking after them.
He is doing very well and already undergoing rehabilitation for future release back into the wild.
Can you adopt Loui– THANK YOU!
Adopt a Monkey - Tiny Tim
Date of Birth: June 2019
Likes: Cuddling and eating watermelon
Dislikes: Cabbage
Have you ever been on a plane? Tiny Tim is one of the monkeys that have had a wonderful experience of being in a plane ride. Having gotten lost from his mom and family while playing, Tiny Tim was scared, hungry and lonely. By good luck, he was rescued by a kind lady who took him home and looked after him.
Being in an isolated island in Lamu Kenya, the lady wanted the best for the little monkey full of energy and knew Colobus Conservation was the best place to bring him. Here he would get a new monkey mom, make new friends and learn how to be a monkey again! With minimum means of transport to bring Tiny Tim to Diani, he got a chance of a life time and boarded a plane and a taxi and finally got to Colobus.
He was well received by Amani and Tima took him in as her baby giving lots of hugs and grooms. Leo became his big brother and is often seen carrying him around. He is now on under rehabilitation awaiting future release back into the wild!
Can you adopt Tiny Tim– THANK YOU!
Support the Operational Costs
The Conservation incurs a lot of operational costs and your support is required to keep us running. Your support will go a long way.
Through education workshops Colobus Conservation promotes awareness of conservation and primate issues in the local community and to schools and students of all ages.
Colobridge Maintainance
Primate road traffic accidents are a common occurrence in Diani. Colobus Conservation have constructed aerial monkey bridges at strategic points across the road, and has thereby succeeded in bringing the number of monkey road casualties down significantly.
For $35, you can sponsor a bridge for one year, covering all maintenance expenses.
Diani forests are rapidly depleting due to continued development. Annually, during the long rains, Colobus Conservation strategically plant trees to stem this decline.
$10 will allow us to nurture and plant one sapling that will grow, thrive and reproduce into the future of our forests! These trees will enable the monkeys of Diani to keep living within the urban environment - the second largest population of colobus in Kenya.
Insulate Power Line
Help insulate power lines to prevent primate mortality due to electrocutions.
For $2 you can insulate 1 metre of power line.
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Editorial: Electricity deregulation can work; the question is how
We’re all about paying less for electricity, but we’re unconvinced that a bill pending in the Michigan House would le...
Editorial: Electricity deregulation can work; the question is how We’re all about paying less for electricity, but we’re unconvinced that a bill pending in the Michigan House would le... Check out this story on coloradoan.com: http://noconow.co/1oWo02w
BCE Published 4:50 p.m. MT March 24, 2014
We’re all about paying less for electricity, but we’re unconvinced that a bill pending in the Michigan House would lead to lower bills, and we’re satisfied to see this legislation on a slow track.
Energy deregulation is getting a lot of attention recently, this is in spite of the fact that a bill that would allow more utilities to sell electricity in Michigan seems unlikely to advance in the Legislature.
Gov. Rick Snyder has already indicated his skepticism, and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville calls the idea “a strategic mistake.”
“I don’t think I would give it a whole lot of time,” Richardville told MLive.
Even so, Michigan’s big utilities are making known their opposition, with Consumers Energy already bankrolling issue ads on television and radio opposing House Bill 5154.
Sponsored by Rep. Mike Shirkey, the bill would remove the current cap on electric choice. Michigan law allows customers to choose another electricity provider, but only up to 10 percent of a utility’s electric sales.
The bill also would deregulate rates for Detroit Edison Co. and Consumers, allowing rates to fluctuate with the market without Michigan Public Service Commission review.
The utilities’ opposition to deregulation will no doubt trigger skepticism among consumers and lawmakers understandably wary of monopolies and their impact on rates.
Michigan residents already pay more for electricity than consumers in neighboring Ohio and Illinois, both of which allow competition. And a recent poll found that 58 percent of likely Michigan voters would support lifting the cap, a majority that held up in both political parties.
Yet the allure of reducing rates through increased competition may be illusory. Among the 24 states that have enacted electricity deregulation plans, the results are mixed.
Utility executives hoping to reverse public opinion on the issue could point to Pennsylvania. Hundreds of thousands of consumers who signed up for variable-rate plans were surprised to find their monthly bills had tripled or quadrupled in January and February as the demand for power increased during unusually cold weather and the price of electricity went through the roof.
The lesson in Pennsylvania, however, isn’t that deregulation can’t work, but rather how deregulation is implemented requires careful attention to detail and regulatory oversight of how retail providers of electricity set rates. Transparency, of course, is essential.
It’s disheartening to see campaign-style ads used to, essentially, head off the legislative process. Given the public’s interest in electric choice, Shirkey’s bill deserves cautious study.
Now would be a good time to learn from the experiences of other states where electricity deregulation is already part of the landscape.
Read or Share this story: http://noconow.co/1oWo02w
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Vault Comics to Publish Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One
I discovered Brandon Sanderson just a year ago via a Humble Bundle that featured ebooks and audiobooks of both his Cosmere and non-Cosmere works. I very quickly fell in love with his story-telling and have slowly worked my way through his Cosmere novels. What separates
Jun 12, 2018 by Eric Mesa
Image Comics Creators Own Worlds Humble Bundle Live Today!
Long time readers of Comic POW! know that I am a fervent advocate of DRM-free comics (and this news story). If you’ve seen the site evolve you’ve also seen my tastes evolve. While Marvel and DC continue to tell great stories and explore new characters
In Case You Missed it: Image Expo Edition
Lots of news and press releases come out in the summer because of all the conventions. Sometimes it slips through the cracks. Here are some announcements from Image Expo in July: INVINCIBLE: REBOOT I haven’t read Invincible yet, but I keep hearing good things about
Sep 02, 2015 by Eric Mesa
Image Comics Wants All Your Money (July 2015)
Time once again to see what new comics or trades Image has coming out to take up our spending cash. First up is Self-Obsessed which is coming out 30 Sept. It’s by author Sina Grace and I’m pretty excited about this offering. He’s the writer
Jul 29, 2015 by Eric Mesa
More Baltimore Comic-Con 2015 News!
I can now confirm that, barring any family emergencies, I’ll be covering Baltimore Comic-Con 2015! Just like last year, my intention is to do a combination of live-blogging and posts during and after the show. There will be some video this year as well, but
Baltimore Comic-Con 2015 News
As always, I’m covering Baltimore Comic-Con! So here’s a roundup of the news so far! Some of the announced guests include: Steve Conley, who you may know from JLA-Z from DC Comics, Star Trek: Year Four from IDW, and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures of the
Image Comics Nominated For Lots of Eisners
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Image Comics. So I was elated to hear they’d received lots of Eisner nominations. In fact, in many categories, there are multiple Image Comics nominees against each other. What follows is a list of their nominations
Apr 29, 2015 by Eric Mesa
Baltimore Comic-Con 2014 Live Blog Day 1
I’ll be live-blogging from the show floor while I’m there today. This page will update as I add new posts. [liveblog]
Baltimore Comic-Con Blitz
There’s only one more Wednesday between now and Baltimore Comic-Con! (5-7 Sept) If you live nearby you REALLY should come. There are top talent creators coming, but without the over-crowding of New York Comic-Con. Here’s a blitz of Comic-Con updates to get you excited about
Comixology Now has DRM-Free Backups (With Caveats)
As I mentioned during the announcement of Top Shelf’s DRM-Free store, I really like Comixology’s patented Guided View way of viewing comics. It is the best way to view comics that weren’t made with the expectation of being digital (eg The Private Eye, Lil Gotham)
Comics on the Cheap
If you’re into digital comics and you’re on a budget, I’ve got two great pieces of news for you. The first is that comixology is doing a Summer Reading List giveaway. Each day, they’re giving away a different comic, completely free. Each free deal is
May 30, 2014 by Kari Woodrow
Image Comics Wants All Your Money Part 3
Time once again for a roundup of upcoming Images series so we can find out how Image Comics will get all our money. Wayward The subject-line for the press release for Wayward claimed, “The perfect new series for wayward Buffy fans.” I’m currently working my
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NASA is Dedicated to Making UAM a Reality by 2028
Juan Plaza
Commercial UAV Expo Americas opened to great fanfare thanks to an informative and entertaining presentation by NASA’s administrator, James Bridenstine. His personable style immediately captivated the audience as he shared stories that detailed less-than-perfect landings for naval jets on an aircraft carrier, but also included information about the status of NASA’s efforts to advance the cause of unmanned aviation.
As he detailed in a follow-up interview focused on his keynote, Bridenstine reminded the audience that the first “A” in NASA stands for “aeronautics”. He highlighted how and why the administration he leads is not only about space goals, but also about aviation, both manned and unmanned.
“UAV’s and urban air mobility (UAM) are the future, but before we reach that future we need to work hard in perfecting air traffic management systems and solve issues of infrastructure and certification,” Bridenstine told the crowd.
He also detailed how NASA is work with the drone industry and academia to develop aerodynamics and performance, but also detect and avoid (DAA) systems and new radar technology. All of the elements will enable the integration of our current air traffic control (ATC) with an unmanned traffic management (UTM) system that NASA has been working to enable for many years. That effort ties into a series of activities called the Grand Challenge that Bridenstine highlighted for the crowd.
“We at NASA are very excited about our various Grand Challenges that are about to launch and I invite everyone in this audience to participate and be part of the future with us,” Bridenstine declared. “We want to make UAM a reality by 2028 and this is only possible if everyone in this hall and everyone out there involved in unmanned systems joins forces with us through these Grand Challenges and brings ideas and innovation to the table to be combined and launched in a safe manner.”
Hearing an official at Bridenstine’s level declare that type of deadline was striking, but he talked about how getting there is going to be about innovation in hardware, software and airspace management. He challenged the audience by talking about how other countries and continents are making progress to this very same goal and wanted to make sure the United States will remain a prominent player in this space.
“Europe is investing heavily in becoming an all-electric aviation environment by 2050 and we don’t want to be left behind,” he said. “America was first in aviation and we need to continue to lead.”
With a few minutes left in his allotted time, he opened the floor for questions. The first one was related to the grand challenges and who at NASA will be in charge of the contracts.
“Joey Rios from my team at NASA will be working on the contract details and we are planning to launch these Grand Challenges by 2022, he said.
The second question one surprised everyone, including Bridenstine. It was about the Artemis program and the return to the moon.
“I like it!” he said with a laugh. “This audience wants to talk about space, so let’s talk about space. I told my boss, the President, that we can be back on the moon by 2028 and he said he wanted it by 2024, so that’s the mandate. We are going back to the moon in 2024 with project Artemis, the twin sister of Apollo with a man/woman mission or perhaps a two women mission. We’re still working on the details. One thing is for sure, our plans involve return by 2024 and a full-time presence on the surface of the moon by 2028.”
After a question about preemption when it comes to drone laws that state and local authorities are looking to establish which Bridenstine mentioned would be best to have someone from the FAA address, he took one last question about extraterrestrial life and NASA’s efforts to find it.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “This audience is full of surprises. Well, let me tell you, we have discovered all the chemical compounds necessary for life in the surfaces of Mars and Pluto, and we have found underground water in Mars, so who knows, perhaps at some point Mars had life. I’m not saying intelligent life, but microbial and basic life, yes it’s possible. We have discovered over 9,000 planets in our galaxy and continue to discover more all the time, so who knows. We at NASA have a mandate to explore space and that’s what are doing; the moon will be our proving ground to jump to Mars and beyond.”
That Administrator Bridenstine was willing to explore the possibilities of extraterrestrial life while also providing a timetable around when NASA wants to make UAM a reality underscores the scope of a presentation that should impact how the drone industry moves forward in the short and long term.
How Will New EU Drone Regulations Impact Commercial Operations Across Europe?
UPDATE: FAA Delays Remote ID NPRM, Again, and We Still Have Miles to Go
Juan received a degree in Geodesy and a master in digital photogrammetry from Universidad Central de Venezuela and a MBA in international Finance from Florida International University. He has over 750 hours of experience in photogrammetry navigation and camera operation in aircraft as varied as WWII B-25, Cessna 310, Lear Jet 25C and Piper Aztec. Juan holds a Commercial, Multi-engine Pilot certificate. Juan has been selling mapping UAV’s in Latin America for four years and is a frequent guest speaker in events where the safety of flying UAV’s and the fact that unmanned and manned aircraft inevitably will share the same airspace, is a relevant topic. He is the CEO of Juan B Plaza Consulting, a services’ firm specializing in UAV and general aviation issues.
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clients(at)lawyersserbia.com
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Serbian Legislation Related to Foreign Investments
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Updated on Saturday 28th December 2019
Serbia sustains the foreign investments in the country and foreigners interested in placing the activities in the flourishing and appreciated industries through all sorts of encouragements in compliance with the Commercial Code and the Companies Act. It is good to know that both nationals and foreigners have equal rights for investments. International players can benefit from huge business advantages when it comes to foreign direct investments. In order to ease the company formation process in Serbia, we invite you to talk to our specialists in company incorporation in Serbia who can offer complete assistance.
Provisions of the Foreign Investment Law in Serbia
The Serbian Investment Act was enforced in 2015 to help foreign entrepreneurs understand better the rules and regulations of the business environment. In this sense, it is good to know that the direct investments are seen as concrete assets of a company running in a wide range of industries. The foreign investments in Serbia can be placed by forming a company or buying shares in an already established business. Both ways involve nationals and foreigners interested in investments in Serbia. One should know that such investments are made through legal contracts in respect to the local legislation.
If you want to know more about how companies can be registered in Serbia, you may address your inquiries to our company incorporation agents in Serbia.
Types of investments in Serbia
Nationals and foreigners can place their investments with the help of varied tools, such as:
• securities;
• convertible foreign currencies;
• assets;
• property rights;
• non-monetary investments.
Entrepreneurs who want to invest in Serbia are protected by applicable legislation and have the same entitlements as nationals, meaning that they benefit from the same duties and conditions when opening a company or buying shares. From an accounting point of view, foreign companies in Serbia are obliged to keep the records of each financial operation and related matters. One should bear in mind that when opening an investment fund, the tax regime and the exemptions are the same as for the nationals who set up the same investment funds.
How do I open a company in Serbia?
Because the legislation related to foreign investments in Serbia is permissive, foreign investors can open varied types of companies in this country, among which, the limited liability company or the DOO might be the suitable one. This is the simplest business form that allows international investors to easily register for business in Serbia. The following aspects are a few of the important steps to consider when opening a company in Serbia:
The name verification must be made with the Business Registers Agency in Serbia.
RSD 100 or EUR 1 is the minimum share capital for opening a private DOO in Serbia.
A bank account needs to be established for the company’s future financial activities.
One must apply for special licenses and permits and verify the business activities classification in this sense.
The registration for tax purposes and social contributions must be observed at the time the company is registered.
The company seal can be obtained in approximately 3 days. Then, the business can start activities in Serbia.
As soon as you decide for opening a DOO in Serbia, we recommend you talk to one of our company formation representatives in Serbia and solicit in-depth assistance and support for all the formalities involved. This is a proper way to start a business in Serbia in a fast and reliable manner, by hiring one of our specialists.
Laws governing the business in Serbia
Companies in Serbia must follow varied rules and regulations applicable in this country. The Law on Energy, The Law on Customs, the Law on Foreign Exchange Operations, the Law on Public-Private Partnership and Concessions, the Law on Insurance, the Law on Capital Markets and the Law on Procedure of Registration before Business Registers Agency must be observed by both domestic and international investors in Serbia. It is important to have an idea about the business environment and general rules for starting a company in Serbia and skip any possible misunderstandings that might occur. Feel free to talk to one of our company formation agents in Serbia and ask for comprehensive assistance and help.
Repatriation of profits - Is it hard to transfer the money?
The assets and profits can be easily transferred from Serbia to the country of origin of the company. Once the imposed taxes are paid, the repatriation of profits can be easily made The legislation related to foreign investments in Serbia imposes no particular rules in this matter, however, it puts the accent on taxation and the preparation of profit repatriation in complete security. One of our consultants can give more details on this matter.
Serbia, a solid business destination
Serbia provides suitable business conditions for both local and foreign entrepreneurs interested in expanding or developing their operations in a safe and appreciated environment. The excellent and strategic geographic position of Serbia gives access to numerous investors from abroad as this country is a connection between the Western and the Eastern parts of Europe. The political stability, the great infrastructure by sea, land, and air, the appreciated economic indicators, the appealing tax structure, and the support provided by the authorities in matters of business encouragements make Serbia not only an attractive business destination but also a long-term partner for countries like Germany, Greece, Romania, France, Italy, Austria, Cyprus, Russia, UK, Spain, Poland, and many others. The numbers for 2018 are quite encouraging if we refer to the number of countries interested in investments in Serbia, that surpassed 100. The same positive business track registered this year as sectors like real estate, textiles, plastics, electronic industries have been in the attention of a large number of international investors. An important business project started this year between Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina where approximately EUR 250 million were invested in infrastructure and the first highway to connect the two important destinations. Below you can find some interesting facts, numbers, and details about the economy in Serbia:
• Chinese companies are interested in creating more than 1,000 jobs in Serbia in the years to come;
• incentives of around EUR 10,000 can be granted to international investors creating jobs in Serbia;
• according to the “2019 Doing Business” report, Serbia ranks 48th out of 190 economies in the world;
• the total FDI stock for 2018 sustained Serbia’s GPD in approximately 79% rate.
If you want to know complete information about the Serbian legislation related to foreign investments, please feel free to contact our team of company formation agents in Serbia at any time.
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Call us now at +381 62 330 664 to set up an appointment with our company formation specialists in Belgrade, Serbia. Alternatively you can incorporate your company without traveling to Serbia.
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The team from CompanyFormationSerbia.com is very qualified and benefits from extensive expertise in this area. I would definitely recommend them to any entrepreneur decided to start his own business here.
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www.romanianlawoffice.com
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T-Mobile will win the attention of business customers, if not sales
Sprint shows biggest gains in network performance in last half of 2014
T-Mobile CEO, Deutsche Telekom bicker over finances
Project Fi's winners and losers
Sprint hangs on to third-largest carrier position ahead of T-Mobile
Sprint CEO Claure cites network improvements, plans to attract Hispanic customers
By Matt Hamblen
Senior Editor, Computerworld |
Sprint held on -- barely -- as the nation's third-largest carrier in the first quarter of 2015, with T-Mobile continuing in fourth place.
Sprint said today it had 57.1 million total connections to its network, compared to 56.8 million for T-Mobile, as reported last week.
T-Mobile was expected to edge ahead of Sprint, given T-Mobile's aggressive growth in the past year.
[ Take this mobile device management course from PluralSight and learn how to secure devices in your company without degrading the user experience. ]
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a conference call that T-Mobile CEO John Legere had spoken "prematurely" in statements he made last week about T-Mobile's improvement compared to Sprint.
Claure called out Sprint's addition of 1.2 million net customer in the quarter, up from 967,000 in the prior quarter, and net losses of 383,000 in the same quarter in 2014. He said those additions were the highest in nearly three years, while churn (losses) among postpaid customers dropped to 1.84% and network performance improved, "all of which will position the company for profitable growth."
Claure noted "incredible network improvements" with LTE additions in dozens of cities. The gap between Sprint and other carriers in network performance is closing and "customers are very satisfied when they use our network," he said.
The battle for the third and fourth-largest carrier positions indicates the competitive nature of the wireless business, although it matters little to individual wireless customers, said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics.
[ Further reading: How AR and VR will change enterprise mobility ]
"It's symobolic. It's not important to customers. Nobody picks a carrier for being No. 3," Entner said. "But it is bragging rights for the carriers and shows the changing fortunes and dynamic nature of the wireless industry."
AT&T and Verizon are the nation's biggest carriers and both are much larger than either Sprint and T-Mobile in total customers and wireless connections from machine-to-machine devices. AT&T and Verizon report their total wireless connections and customer differently, but Entner said Verizon now has about 108 million retail customers compared to about 86 million for AT&T.
For the quarter, Sprint reported $8.2 billion in revenue, a decline from the same quarter in 2014 and the previous quarter. The company reported a net loss of $224 million for the quarter, or 6 cents per share, compared to a 4-cent loss per share one year ago.
Claure put a strong emphasis on reaching Hispanic customers, noting there are now 54 million Hispanics in the U.S., with 167% growth expected by 2050 — faster than any other group. Sprint recently appointed Roger Sole to head a new Hispanic business unit. Sole is new to Sprint, coming from TIM Brasil where he was the chief marketing officer. TIM is Telecom Italia’s mobile carrier in Brazil, with nearly 71 million customers.
Even though T-Mobile retained fourth place, it has offered a steady stream of "Un-Carrier" announcements over the past year to attack contracts and rates of its competitors.
Led by Legere, T-Mobile has garnered nearly all the new phone customers among the major carriers, Entner said. In 2014, there were 3.6 million net new phone customers for the four largest carriers. During that period, T-Mobile added 4 million new customers, while Sprint lost 2.1 million, while AT&T and Verizon were "an afterthought," Entner said.
"T-Mobile is dynamic, and they have monopolized the entire growth in customers in the industry," Entner said.
While Legere gets criticized for using explicit language in his tweets and public appearances, Entner said he is actually"very capable and charismatic…His foul language is his act, his schtick. He gets free advertising because everybody talks about him."
Eric Costa, an analyst at Technology Business Research, said T-Mobile trails Sprint in revenues, "but does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon with its Un-Carrier strategy and Simple Choice plans." Because T-Mobile is adding postpaid customers, including those with higher value accounts, he said T-Mobile has a "long-term advantage over Sprint, as those subscribers will increase service revenue growth." He said that T-Mobile "continues to outperform" Sprint in revenue and subscriber growth.
Matt Hamblen is a multi-media journalist covering mobile, networking and smart city tech. He previously was a senior editor at Computerworld.
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Honey for acute cough in children
Review question
Can honey reduce cough symptoms caused by bacteria and viruses in children?
Cough causes concern for parents and is a major reason for outpatient visits. Honey is believed to prevent growth of germs and reduce inflammation.
Search date
We searched databases to 8 February 2018 and trial registers to 12 February 2018.
Study characteristics
We included six small trials involving 899 children aged 12 months to 18 years conducted in Iran, Israel, the USA, Brazil, and Kenya. This update included three new trials conducted between 2007 and 2016 that involved 331 children.
Study funding sources
Two studies were supported by pharmaceutical manufacturers; one by a university research centre; one by the Honey Board of Israel and non-government agencies; and one by USA National Honey Board. One study did not report funding sources.
We compared honey to over-the-counter cough preparations, bromelin (a pineapple enzyme) mixed with honey, fake treatment (placebo), and no treatment.
Honey probably reduces cough symptoms more than placebo and salbutamol (a drug that opens lung airways) when given for up to three days. Honey is probably more effective at providing cough relief and reducing the impact of cough on children's sleep at night than no treatment.
There may be little or no difference between the effects of honey and dextromethorphan (an ingredient in over-the-counter cough remedies) or honey and bromelin with honey on all cough symptoms. Honey may be better than diphenhydramine (an antihistamine) at relieving and reducing children's cough.
The parents of seven children given honey and two given dextromethorphan reported side effects in their children, such as not falling asleep easily, restlessness, and becoming overexcited. The parents of three children in the diphenhydramine group reported that their children were often sleepy. The parents of nine children given salbutamol, seven given honey, and six given placebo reported diarrhoea. The parents of four children who received salbutamol and one child given honey reported rash.
We found no evidence for or against the use of honey to relieve cough in children. Using honey for infants aged up to 12 months is not advised because of poor immunity against bacteria that may be present, which can cause paralysis. Most of the children received honey for just one night, which is a limitation to the results of this review.
Quality of the evidence
Overall, evidence quality was low to moderate. Some studies did not blind participants.
Honey probably relieves cough symptoms to a greater extent than no treatment, diphenhydramine, and placebo, but may make little or no difference compared to dextromethorphan. Honey probably reduces cough duration better than placebo and salbutamol. There was no strong evidence for or against using honey. Most of the children received treatment for one night, which is a limitation to the results of this review. There was no difference in occurrence of adverse events between the honey and control arms.
Cough causes concern for parents and is a major cause of outpatient visits. Cough can impact quality of life, cause anxiety, and affect sleep in children and their parents. Honey has been used to alleviate cough symptoms. This is an update of reviews previously published in 2014, 2012, and 2010.
To evaluate the effectiveness of honey for acute cough in children in ambulatory settings.
We searched CENTRAL (2018, Issue 2), which includes the Cochrane Acute Respiratory Infections Group's Specialised Register, MEDLINE (2014 to 8 February 2018), Embase (2014 to 8 February 2018), CINAHL (2014 to 8 February 2018), EBSCO (2014 to 8 February 2018), Web of Science (2014 to 8 February 2018), and LILACS (2014 to 8 February 2018). We also searched ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) on 12 February 2018. The 2014 review included searches of AMED and CAB Abstracts, but these were not searched for this update due to lack of institutional access.
Randomised controlled trials comparing honey alone, or in combination with antibiotics, versus no treatment, placebo, honey-based cough syrup, or other over-the-counter cough medications for children aged 12 months to 18 years for acute cough in ambulatory settings.
We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane.
We included six randomised controlled trials involving 899 children; we added three studies (331 children) in this update.
We assessed two studies as at high risk of performance and detection bias; three studies as at unclear risk of attrition bias; and three studies as at unclear risk of other bias.
Studies compared honey with dextromethorphan, diphenhydramine, salbutamol, bromelin (an enzyme from the Bromeliaceae (pineapple) family), no treatment, and placebo. Five studies used 7-point Likert scales to measure symptomatic relief of cough; one used an unclear 5-point scale. In all studies, low score indicated better cough symptom relief.
Using a 7-point Likert scale, honey probably reduces cough frequency better than no treatment or placebo (no treatment: mean difference (MD) -1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.48 to -0.62; I² = 0%; 2 studies; 154 children; moderate-certainty evidence; placebo: MD -1.62, 95% CI -3.02 to -0.22; I² = 0%; 2 studies; 402 children; moderate-certainty evidence). Honey may have a similar effect as dextromethorphan in reducing cough frequency (MD -0.07, 95% CI -1.07 to 0.94; I² = 87%; 2 studies; 149 children; low-certainty evidence). Honey may be better than diphenhydramine in reducing cough frequency (MD -0.57, 95% CI -0.90 to -0.24; 1 study; 80 children; low-certainty evidence).
Giving honey for up to three days is probably more effective in relieving cough symptoms compared with placebo or salbutamol. Beyond three days honey probably had no advantage over salbutamol or placebo in reducing cough severity, bothersome cough, and impact of cough on sleep for parents and children (moderate-certainty evidence). With a 5-point cough scale, there was probably little or no difference between the effects of honey and bromelin mixed with honey in reducing cough frequency and severity.
Adverse events included nervousness, insomnia, and hyperactivity, experienced by seven children (9.3%) treated with honey and two children (2.7%) treated with dextromethorphan (risk ratio (RR) 2.94, 95% Cl 0.74 to 11.71; I² = 0%; 2 studies; 149 children; low-certainty evidence). Three children (7.5%) in the diphenhydramine group experienced somnolence (RR 0.14, 95% Cl 0.01 to 2.68; 1 study; 80 children; low-certainty evidence). When honey was compared with placebo, 34 children (12%) in the honey group and 13 (11%) in the placebo group complained of gastrointestinal symptoms (RR 1.91, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.24; I² = 0%; 2 studies; 402 children; moderate-certainty evidence). Four children who received salbutamol had rashes compared to one child in the honey group (RR 0.19, 95% CI 0.02 to 1.63; 1 study; 100 children; moderate-certainty evidence). No adverse events were reported in the no-treatment group.
Over-the-counter (OTC) medications for acute cough in children and adults in community settings
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold
Acetylcysteine and carbocysteine to treat acute upper and lower respiratory tract infections in children without chronic broncho-pulmonary disease
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the common cold
Do nasal decongestants used alone relieve cold symptoms?
Child health > Ear, nose, & throat > Nose & sinus
Child health > Infectious disease > Respiratory infections: common cold & cough
Child health > Lungs & airways > Respiratory infections: common cold & cough
Complementary & alternative medicine > Ear, nose & throat > Nose & sinus
Complementary & alternative medicine > Infectious disease > Respiratory infections
Complementary & alternative medicine > Lungs & airways > Respiratory infections
Ear, nose & throat > Nose & sinus > Common cold & cough
Infectious disease > Respiratory infections > Common cold & cough
Lungs & airways > Respiratory infections > Common cold & cough
Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, Meremikwu MM
Acute Respiratory Infections Group
Evidently Cochrane
Over-the-counter treatments: do we know what works?
Oduwole O, Udoh EE, Oyo-Ita A, Meremikwu MM. Honey for acute cough in children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD007094. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007094.pub5
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Allardyce Poole-ing Resources
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce is ready to reward
38-year-old goalkeeper Kevin Poole with the offer of a new contract.
Poole returns to the bench tomorrow against Ipswich as Jussi Jaaskelainen is free from suspension.
However, Allardyce was so delighted with the way the veteran played - not only in the victory against Aston Villa but in the defeat by Everton - he is set to extend his contract beyond the summer.
Asked whether Poole may have won himself a new deal, the Bolton boss said: "On those performances, yes.
"Kevin did an outstanding job for us in the two games. I thought he was excellent.
"He gave all the players in front of him a lot of confidence with the way he performed.
"It now puts a little bit of pressure on Jussi. He knows now there is somebody there capable of doing the job and that is very important."
Bolton will again be without injured pair, defender Gudni Bergsson (knee) and midfielder Stig Tofting (ankle).
BOLTON (from): Jaaskelainen, N'Gotty, Whitlow, Konstantinidis, Charlton, Warhurst, Frandsen, Nolan, Djorkaeff, Gardner, Bobic, Ricketts, Wallace, Holdsworth, Poole, Southall.
Ipswich will again be without £4.75 million Italian goalkeeper Matteo Sereni at the Reebok Stadium.
Sereni had a scan this week which revealed a torn thigh muscle which will keep the former Sampdoria player out for a fortnight.
Andy Marshall will continue in goal, having kept a clean sheet against Chelsea.
Ipswich will also be without ex-Sunderland right-back Chris Makin with an ankle injury.
Manager George Burley said: "Chris had a scan yesterday. There was no ligament damage but a lot of swelling and bruising around the joint.
"He is still in a bit of pain and it will be two or three weeks before he is fully fit." * Charlton'S build-up to tomorrow's London derby showdown at West Ham has been overshadowed by another crushing injury blow.
Midfielder Claus Jensen's World Cup dream is today hanging by a thread after he was struck down by the Addicks' season-long curse.
The 24-year-old was expected to be an integral part of Denmark's campaign.
He suffered a foot injury in January but was recovering until sustaining a groin problem in training which is likely to rule him out of his team's final five league games.
Sunderland AFC'Their players started arguing' - MK Dons boss Russell Martin's verdict on frustrating SunderlandMK Dons boss Russelll Martin believes it was small errors which cost his side against Sunderland
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The Ranch Church
in Solvang, CA 93463 is
Unclear: Non-Affirming
in their LGBTQ Policy
Email to request clarity
Tweet to request clarity
Unclear: Non-Egalitarian
in their Women in Leadership Policy
LGBTQ Policy
Hires:
Weddings:
Ordains:
Women in Leadership Polcy
Preaches:
Senior Pastor:
Updated on Nov 20, 2019
1693 Mission Drive
Rick Soto
Related Affiliations
Denomination:
Calvary Chapel (US)
What does this score mean?
Score Links and notes
Its Score is Unclear because this church's actively enforced policy is not located on website's primary pages, but in its denomination's website. The website does not state the church's denomination, but it was found in Calvary Chapel's database.
This church’s discernment process is scheduled to conclude:
Will you hire LGBTQ+ people for any ministry role?
Will your church's clergy officiate a wedding for LGBTQ+ people?
Will your church ordain LGBTQ+ people?
Are there any LGBTQ+ people on your leadership team?
Women in Leadership Policy
Can women preach in the primary church service?
Can women be ordained (or recommended for ordination)?
Can women serve as elders or in all governing bodies?
Can women serve as senior pastor/minister?
Who currently serves as senior pastor or equivalent of your church?
Do women and/or non-binary folks make up 50% or more of your church’s leadership team?
How often do women and/or non-binary folks preach?
appeal button
FAQ's About Our Appeal Process
What do you take or NOT take into account when scoring churches?
We take into account: public information available on church’s website, denomination’s website, and pastor’s statements (including social media).
We do not take into account: stories submitted by people, news articles, offline PDFs, etc.
That said, we do regularly link to the latter category of information (e.g. stories, news, PDF’s) in church entries, even if it doesn’t affect the church’s score. Feel free to email us with a story that you want to publish on our blog; we do not publish anonymous submissions.
What’s the difference between Clear and Unclear and Undisclosed?
Clear scores are given to churches whose policies can be easily found on their websites’ primary pages (e.g. About, Beliefs). The language in the policies is clear and contains all necessary information.
Unclear scores are given to churches whose policies are difficult to find on their websites (e.g. located in sermon archives, blogs). The language in the policies may also be unclear.
Undisclosed scores are given to churches whose websites provide inconclusive evidence as to the churches’ policies.
For more detail, see our Score Definitions page. Please note that we score Women in Leadership policy a bit differently than LGBTQ policy as we factor into account gender representation on leadership teams. Why? Because personnel is policy (H/T @BroderickGreer). Representation is essential.
What is the difference between Verified Clear and other scores? How does my church become Verified Clear?
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Please review the Score Links & Notes section for the rationale for this church's score.
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Our goal is to score churches for how clearly they communicate their actively enforced policies. It is a “communication” score above anything else. We cannot score based on the “reality of what happens in their congregations,” but rather based on their online presence. That is why we confine our scope purely to any online evidence available on a church’s website, on its denomination’s or network’s website, and any pastor statements.
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Do Reds, Indians deserve attendance shaming?
Reds and Indians fans get flak for empty seats. But measuring fan support is more complicated than it seems.
Do Reds, Indians deserve attendance shaming? Reds and Indians fans get flak for empty seats. But measuring fan support is more complicated than it seems. Check out this story on cincinnati.com: http://cin.ci/2yAjalN
Dan Horn, dhorn@enquirer.com Published 10:32 p.m. ET Sept. 30, 2017
Fans take their seats before the MLB Opening Day game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati on Monday, April 3, 2017.(Photo: Sam Greene, The Enquirer)
Back when the Cleveland Indians were so bad Hollywood made comedies about them, fans used to tell an old joke about all the empty seats at games.
It went something like this: A fan calls the ticket office and says, “What time does the game start?”
The ticket guy shrugs and says, “What time can you be here?”
Times have changed, of course. The Indians are good. Really good. And Progressive Field is starting to fill up. But to hear some folks tell it, Cleveland fans are weak because they haven’t packed the ballpark every day.
Whether it’s a snarky aside from broadcasters or a demeaning blurb on Twitter, attendance shaming is alive and well. And Cleveland isn’t the only target.
Reds fans heard it when the home team was winning but not drawing big crowds a few years ago, and fans of other clubs, primarily in small markets, routinely get flak for the same thing.
But is the criticism fair? A deeper dive into the numbers says probably not.
The measure most often used to gauge fan support is attendance, which is understandable, since the number of paying customers is generally a good indication of what people think of a product. If Ford sells more cars than GM, it’s reasonable to think more people like Fords.
Trouble is, all markets aren’t created equal. This is especially true in Major League Baseball, where big-market teams in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles have built-in economic advantages, as well as millions more potential ticket buyers.
New York’s metro area is home to more than 20 million people. Chicago has more than 9 million.
Cincinnati and Cleveland barely top 2 million each.
“Market size is of primary importance,” said Andrew Zimbalist, an author and sports economist at Smith College.
So when the struggling Reds draw an average of 22,600 fans per game, as they did this year, and the struggling White Sox draw 20,400, it’s not exactly fair to say those attendance figures are in the same ballpark, so to speak.
That’s why a per capita analysis can provide another perspective. When population is taken into account, the picture changes dramatically.
Small-market teams fare much better using this method instead of a straight-up comparison of average game attendance.
In The Enquirer’s per capita analysis, the smallest of the small-market teams – the Milwaukee Brewers – come out on top. The Brewers hit the per capita sweet spot because they combine a solid average game attendance of 31,100 with a small metro area of 1.6 million.
For every 1,000 people in Milwaukee, almost 20 show up on any given day to watch the Brewers play ball.
Eight of the top 10 teams measured by per capita are in small- or mid-sized markets. The Reds come in at No. 7, with 10.5 people per 1,000 showing up on average. The Indians are No. 6, with 12.3 per 1,000.
And what about those big market teams? The New York Mets finished dead last, even though they drew almost as many fans as the No. 1 Brewers. The difference is the market size: New York is a whole lot bigger than Milwaukee.
But just as per game attendance is biased against small-market teams, a per capita ranking is biased against large market teams.
The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs, for example, play to near sellouts almost every game, yet they can only rise so high in the rankings because their metro areas are large and their stadiums can only fit so many fans.
To be fair to big markets supporting two teams, such as New York and Chicago, The Enquirer only counted half the metro population when calculating per capita attendance for each team.
Still, some of those big-market teams have plenty of room to grow. The Yankees are playing good baseball this year and are drawing about 39,000 fans per game, but Yankee stadium, on average, is filled to only about 75 percent capacity.
The Indians, meanwhile, are playing even better baseball and are drawing about 25,000 fans per game. While that’s significantly fewer fans per game than the Yankees draw, it’s still about 72 percent capacity at Cleveland’s smaller stadium.
The big difference, though, is population. Cleveland wins the per capita comparison because it has a much smaller metro area than New York and, therefore, fewer potential fans to put in those empty seats.
That’s why criticizing small-market teams for attendance can be a little like criticizing small families for a low turnout at Thanksgiving dinner. They only have so many people to sit around that table.
And yet the attendance shamers shame on.
“Come on Cleveland, you gotta do better than that,” tweeted ESPN business reporter Darren Rovell on a night the Indians drew about 25,000 during the team’s 22-game win streak.
After White Sox broadcasters weighed in on Indians attendance several weeks ago, more critics joined in. “I’m officially attendance shaming #Indians fans,” wrote one. “And I’m a white sox fan.”
Reds fans know the feeling. When their team was contending in 2012 and 2013, fans and non-fans alike questioned crowd sizes that often ran below 25,000.
“Love the Reds obviously, but what does it take for the city of Cincinnati to support their team?” tweeted TV broadcaster and long-time fan Kirk Herbstreit in 2013, when the Reds were contending for the playoffs.
The per capita analysis isn’t the only challenge to the attendance shamers. Recent history, including a recession that hit towns like Cleveland and Pittsburgh harder than most, impacts attendance, too.
So does winning and losing. The Reds haven’t played playoff-level baseball consistently for years, and the Indians were terrible before hiring Terry Francona as manager and investing again in good players.
“In Cincinnati, they’ve had a year or two where they’ve been strong, but they haven’t had any sustained success,” said Zimbalist, the sports economist. “If you’re in New York or Los Angeles, you can get away with that. You can’t get away with that in a smaller market.”
He said small-market teams often take longer to win back big crowds because they have fewer fans and less margin for error. That doesn’t mean fans don’t care, it just means they’re reluctant to consistently spend money on their team until it proves it will be competitive.
TV ratings seem to back that up. Cleveland ranks second in the majors this year and Cincinnati ranks ninth, suggesting fans are watching from home even if they’re not investing in tickets.
In Cleveland, where fans are preparing for another playoff run, they are buying tickets again. Season ticket sales were up this year and crowds have been swelling in the homestretch of the season.
And if attendance shamers are watching those games, they might notice the sign hanging in the stands that reads “455 The Fans.”
It commemorates the Indians’ 455-game sellout streak from 1995 to 2001, which is still the third longest in major league history.
That’s longer, by the way, than any streak in New York or Los Angeles.
Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/2yAjalN
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Curbside Classic: 1971-76 Alpine A310 – Bittersweet Edge
For some the Alpine A310 is an acquired taste, for others it is ‘jolie laide’ and for others again it’s just plain ugly. But when I first laid eyes on images of this car I was hooked. More recently I have been lucky enough to encounter one in the wild, and my opinion has only been affirmed.
This extended CC looks at the origins of the idiosyncratic Alpine shape and the enduring existence of the A310. And with it comes a story touched by tragedy and still steeped in mystery.
That Jean Rédélé’s career would be intertwined with Renault seemed somehow inevitable. His father Emile had served as a mechanic for the Renault brothers’ first ‘factory’ racing efforts, and was subsequently granted a dealership in the seaside town of Dieppe.
In 1922 Jean was the firstborn to Emile and his wife Madeleine Prieur. After completing studies in business and economics in 1946, Jean found himself at Renault on a work placement program where he distinguished himself with his strategic input, catching the eye of CEO Pierre Dreyfus. As a result, he was appointed Renault’s official dealer in Dieppe.
At 24, he was France’s youngest new car dealer.
Jean took up competitive driving in a rear-engined Renault 4CV. After outright victory in the 1950 Dieppe Rally, he again caught the eye of Renault who put him in a race-prepped ‘1063’ 4CV for the Monte Carlo Rally where he finished fourth in class. From that point he became one of France’s most accomplished and celebrated drivers in rally and endurance events.
In 1952, along with fellow driver/dealer Louis Pons, Rédélé prepared his cars with a five speed gearbox licenced from André-Georges Claude. Despite the misgivings of many, this gearbox was better able to exploit the range of the small four cylinder engine and help preserve its relatively delicate crankshaft.
Rédélé also came to the conclusion that a lighter, more streamlined body would be an advantage. He travelled to Italy and engaged the emerging stylist Giovanni Michelotti. The result of this endeavour was the aluminium-bodied, moustachioed ‘Renault Special’ built by coachbuilder Allemano. It would win the first three competitions it entered and was apparently soon sold off, no doubt at a nice profit given its auspicious provenance.
Towards the end of 1953, Michelotti and Allemano had delivered another little coupe to Rédélé. It was very similar to the first, although it had lost its moustache and had gained a cleaner shoulder-line and tighter greenhouse. But before it could race, a business opportunity arose for Rédélé.
Renault had been approached by industrialist Zark Reed who wanted to build fibreglass 4CV-based cars for the US market. Rédélé was sounded out directly with regards a coupe, and unable to finance a share in the project, he instead licenced the shape of the second Michelotti body. The contract required a master form and so this second car itself was sent to the US, almost immediately after Rédélé had taken delivery.
In 1954 Jean visited the US to discover for himself that the venture was a disaster. ‘Plasticar Inc.’ had been unable to get a handle on the fibreglass process and not one ‘Marquis’ coupe had been built. Due to the onerous shipping costs Rédélé’s beautiful little aluminium coupe would remain stateside.
On his return to France, Rédélé had a third coupe made which he was intending to race and hopeful of another production opportunity.
Meanwhile, Rédélé’s father-in-law – wealthy Parisian Renault dealer Charles Escoffier – had commissioned his own coupe based on the 4CV. This body was the work of French coachbuilders Chappe et Gessalin. Though not nearly as pretty as the Michelotti efforts, the carrosserie had successfully built their little coupe in fibreglass.
Under familial pressure, Rédélé gave up on his little Michelotti and instead joined Escoffier in a venture formalised as ‘Société des Automobiles Alpine’ on 6 July 1955.
The origins of the Alpine name came from Rédélé’s own competition experiences. In 1954, he had earned an Alpine Cup by finishing the Alpine Rally without penalty. As he later recounted; ‘I thoroughly enjoyed crossing the Alps in my Renault 4CV, and that gave me the idea of calling my future cars ‘Alpines’. It was important to me that my customers experienced that same driving pleasure at the wheel of the car I wanted to build.’
Two years earlier, Sunbeam had also named one of their cars ‘Alpine’, a complication that would confound the French company as it came to expand its market internationally.
A few days after the joint venture was signed, and just before the July 14 Independence Day celebrations, the first three examples of the Alpine A106 were presented in the courtyard of Renault’s Boulogne Billancourt headquarters, proudly rendered in the French tricouleurs. Pierre Dreyfus was most impressed with the display. The A106 would not only prove itself in competition, this new company would go on to produce 251 examples of the model.
By the mid-1950s, plans were afoot for a new Renault model to be known as the Dauphine. This car was to be larger than the 4CV, in engine and in body. It was also intended for a two-door model to complement the four-door saloon in the Renault lineup.
This might have been taken as a direct competitor to the Alpine, but what would emerge was ultimately a small boulevardier rather than a performance car. Jean Rédélé was asked to help Renault as they developed this little coupe/cabriolet.
Some in-house ideas had been prepared before Renault looked to the Italian carrozzerie for suggestions. Ghia was the strong favourite, and their first effort built by Frua (bottom left) would eventually become the Renault Floride – though not without its own complications.
Michelotti had also been asked to submit a proposal (bottom right), but it was rejected for a number of reasons including that the brief had been changed to a four-seater.
Despite the fact that the Michelotti car was not favoured, Rédélé rather sneakily ordered a two-seater cabriolet prototype from Michelotti/Allemano based on the coupe as the Renault project progressed.
Coincidently (or not), Chappe et Gessalin had prepared an ungainly cabriolet for Alpine around the same time which was shown to the public.
In 1957 Rédélé asked Michelotti for another coupe which was delivered in 1958, though it’s not clear whether this was intended as a Renault or Alpine proposal.
It would be Jean Rédélé’s last commission for Giovanni Michelotti.
Rédélé had been chafing at his lack of independence within Alpine, and with the cabriolet project he was finally able to get his own way on the matter. Instead of the Chappe et Gessalin proposal, the Michelotti Renault prototype somehow found itself announced as the next new model in the Alpine range.
Though these images are not in strict chronological order, we can see how the shape of the Alpine two-seater cars moved towards their most iconic iteration as the A106 and Dauphine-based A108 models overlapped. Early coupes were very similar to the first Michelotti Dauphine proposal. Quite soon, the shape received faired headlights as had been seen on the 1958 Michelotti coupe. A fast-back shape then became greenhouse of the body now known as the Berlinette.
Rédélé would later insist that Michelotti was not involved with this emerging Berlinette shape, and he was technically correct. The faired headlights and new greenhouse were the efforts of in-house staffers Phillippe Charles and Marcel Hubert, and the final touch of revising the rear end late in the A108’s life was the work of Serge Zuliani.
It is probably disingenuous, however, to deny Michelotti’s influence on these shapes.
The development of these models was under the aegis of Rédélé’s cousin, Roger Prieur (left). Prieur was a significant member of the Alpine team and would be responsible for the manufacture of the production cars, built in a factory on the Avenue Pasteur in Dieppe behind the dealership of his brother Jacques Prieur (centre).
It was Roger Prieur who devised the masterstroke configuration of Alpines to be used for the next 35 years. In 1960, the donor Renault platform of the A108 was replaced with a backbone frame (seen here on the A110 1300S).
Hans Ledwinka had conceived the backbone frame nearly fifty years prior and first used it in his 1921 Tatra T11. It allowed for greater resistance to torsional twist, and for half axles to better maintain contact with uneven ground – an added bonus for Alpine’s rally applications. Though Prieur’s use of the backbone differed in that the central tube did not carry a driveshaft, it predated Colin Chapman’s efforts with the Lotus Elan by at least two years.
If Alpine had edged slightly ahead of the fibreglass-bodied Lotus, it was still lagging behind the rear-engined Porsche. Rédélé always had one eye on the German marque and he would constantly use it as a benchmark for his own models. Alongside the performance capabilities of the four-cylinder Porsche was the fact that the most popular models in the range were four-seaters – an element that played into greater sales volumes.
In 1963 Porsche upped the ante, announcing a new six-cylinder engine wrapped in an attractive new body.
Alpine had its own four-seaters running parallel with the two-seater Berlinette and cabriolet. The A108 2+2 (top) and A110 GT4 were Chappe et Gessalin shapes. They were not great sellers – only 100 of the GT4 were produced – due in no small part to their lacking in aesthetic virtues. However they did broaden Alpine’s range and would come to be directly replaced by the A310.
The 1962-launched Alpine A110 Berlinette is deserving of its own comprehensive CC. Its distinctive silhouette was like no other, and it also excelled as a performance vehicle. In competition, this model would score countless wins and a multitude of national and international championship titles over its lengthy production life.
Whereas the previous Alpine models had sold in the hundreds, over 7,500 examples of the A110 would be produced. Rédélé’s global ambitions resulted in thousands of licence-built A110 models from Interlagos in Brazil, FASA in Spain, Dinalpin in Mexico as well as 50 examples of the Bulgaralpine produced in Bulgaria.
By 1957 Jean Rédélé had hung up his own helmet, but competition was a still crucial facet of the Alpine experience. Emboldened by their burgeoning success, starting in 1963 Alpine entered the sports prototype field with the M63 (above), M64 and M65 in their respective years. These streamlined shapes were the work of aerodynamicist Marcel Hubert and the wind-tunnel, and were powered by engines developed by the legendary Amédée Gordini – whose breathed-upon Renault mills had also been optional for Alpine road cars since 1957.
1964 saw success in the single-seater field. With help from Brabham’s Ron Tauranac and shaping by Hubert, Alpine had entered the Formula 3 category and found their car carrying that year’s French Champion, a feat equalled in 1971 and 1972 and also surpassed in 1972 with the team’s European Championship.
In 1966, an A210 won the Index of Thermal Efficiency at Le Mans and four of the Alpine prototypes entered covered a combined distance of over 4,000 km – greater than any other French manufacturer had accomplished at Sarthe.
From 1967, Renault’s racing efforts were officially represented by Alpine. That same year the road cars were badged ‘Alpine Renault’ and were now available through the authorised Renault dealer network.
1967 also saw the introduction of the A211 sports prototype. It featured a new 3 litre V8 engine by Amédée Gordini and finished four of its five entries but earned no podiums. Further development as the A220 in 1968 (above) and 1969 fared no better, proving unreliable due to excessive vibration.
The 3 litre V8 was the combined effort of the Gordini (right), Rédélé and Renault to raise their collective game and compete at the ultimate levels including Formula One. In 1967, however, a much needed 6 million franc government loan was instead handed to Matra, leaving this trio to continue their efforts on their own. The engine’s 310 hp output was no match for the 400+ hp of the Cosworth engines, so instead this V8 was used in the ill-fated Le Mans prototypes.
It was also anticipated to put it in a completely new Alpine road car.
Backtracking a little to the mid 1960s, the RAG project (Renault Alpine Gordini) was to be another example of this strengthening of bonds between the three parties, though there’s not much information available on this two-seater, front-engined, steel-bodied (I think) car.
The little that is known about the RAG project is that it was to be based on the 1965-released Renault R16 and featured the four-cylinder engine used in that family car in Gordini-developed form. Though there are genuine questions over the Citroen origins of the R16 hatchback configuration, its distinctive Renault shape was the work of Gaston Juchet.
Juchet had joined Renault in 1958 as an aerodynamics engineer and by 1962 had established himself as one of their stylists. He was head of styling from 1965 to 1975, and continued with Renault when Robert Opron took the head job, perhaps relieved to cede the administrative tasks and focus on design. Nevertheless, he was again made head of styling at Renault from 1984 to 1987 upon Opron’s departure.
He appears to have been a self-effacing and modest figure in the ego-driven world of the automotive stylist.
The RAG coupe’s shape had sprung directly from Juchet’s hand, and a full size prototype was constructed before the project was abruptly cancelled in 1966.
Juchet was then tasked with a clean-sheet approach for what would become the Renault R15 and R17 – a two-door four-seat specification based on mechanicals from the incoming R12 saloon.
Meanwhile, Alpine redirected their focus to a road car using the 3 litre V8 Gordini engine.
Renault stylist Michel Béligond was seconded to Alpine in Dieppe to help with this new model. That’s him standing at left in this publicity still for Renault featuring R16 scale models. Interestingly, Juchet – who was overwhelmingly the primary stylist on the R16 – is not featured here, perhaps as a result of his own modesty, of Béligond’s photogenic presence, or of both.
Béligond had already indirectly made his way into the French psyche. After the tragic circumstances of the 1955 24 Heures du Mans when 83 spectators had been killed, Béligond was commissioned to apply a softer, less combative and more celebratory tone into their famed posters – a task he accomplished into the early 1960s.
He had started as a cartoonist at Simca and then made his way to Renault in the early 1960s. Beyond this, there’s not much information on his styling career, though his presence was definitely felt when one of his sketches for the 114 project (above) reached the full-size prototype stage at Renault.
Sometime around 1967, Michel Béligond joined Jean Rédélé and Roger Prieur in Dieppe, and they started working together on the new Alpine model at Rédélé’s kitchen table.
These sketches are taken from a French news piece on Béligond and the Alpine A310. Though they may not all be directly related to that project, I have arranged them as a demonstration of how the shape might have progressed.
By early 1968, the team had settled on a general styling configuration for this rear-engined car. It incorporated broad fully-volumed ‘c-pillars’ running cleanly and completely into the body as no automotive shape had applied them before.
However, Michel Béligond had multiple sclerosis.
When exactly it was diagnosed is not clear. Accounts describe his condition during the development of the new Alpine as one of increasing paralysis before he was to die in 1973.
How devastating it must have been for this man – whose delicacy of touch went to the very essence of his character – see his facility ebb away just as he was in the midst of perhaps the most exciting project of his career.
A young stylist, Yves Legal, was employed by Alpine to assist Béligond in the face of his declining condition.
Legal apparently took Béligond’s rounded shapes and made them sharper, with more crisply defined junctures and surfaces.
It was also around the time of this stylistic transition that the decision must have been made to exchange the problematic 3 litre V8 with a four-cylinder engine.
And with this tragedy comes mystery.
The form arrived at by Alpine in 1968 bore a marked resemblance to the 1970 Monteverdi Hai. This appears to be more than a coincidence.
Peter Monteverdi was a Swiss car dealer who had been selling Ferraris and dabbling in his own short-run productions of small racing and passenger cars.
In 1967, he expanded his ambitions with a large two-seater front-engined coupe powered by the 426 Hemi. He engaged Frua to style the car and ordered 50 bodies to be made. When he upped his order to 100 examples, Frua was unable to commit to the revised volume and Monteverdi instead contracted another carrozzeria, Fissore, to build the cars.
He had refused to pay Frua a design royalty for the examples being built by Fissore, and Frua took him to court. The court found in Frua’s favour and ordered Monteverdi to pay.
The mid-rear engined Monteverdi Hai 450 SS arrived in the wake of the Lamborghini Miura and was first shown in 1970. The prototype had been built by Fissore, but Monteverdi claimed that he himself had come up with the shape.
But by the early 1970s, another stylist had stepped up to claim the Hai’s shape – Trevor Fiore.
Until his death in 1998, Monteverdi would never acknowledge Fiore’s role, and had in fact originally registered himself as the designer of the Hai’s shape, probably mindful of the ‘issues’ that had arisen with Frua.
This is Fiore working on yet another similar shape – the Gilbern G11 – in the late 1960s with assistant Jim English. Fiore was an English-born stylist who changed his surname – ‘Frost’ – to that of his mother – the italianate ‘Fiore’. As time has progressed, Fiore has been credited with both the Monteverdi Hai and Alpine A310 shapes. Though there seems to be no conclusive proof of his authorship of the two continental models, the similarity across these three forms is marked.
Fiore’s place in the annals of automotive styling was firmed with his 1965-66 TVR Trident. This was one of the first origami wedge shapes to define a cohesive and balanced form. Though it would lead a troubled life due to chronic underfunding in its various production opportunities, the Trident influenced – amongst others – Colin Chapman to pursue this vernacular for his own cars. It had been based on his 1962 proposal for Lea Francis (bottom left), and his 1966 Bond Equipe 2 litre GT (with in-house detailing by Bond) was another example of this Fiore language.
Though the Trident was publicised as a Fissore creation, it appears that Fiore might not have actually been an employee of the carrozzeria, but rather a freelancer. From my understanding, he was preparing designs such as the Trident on his own initiative, then was trying to get an order from a manufacturer which could then be met by Fissore’s own production capacity. Of note is the use of Fiore’s own logo on the brown sketch, rather than that of Fissore.
To return to the Monteverdi Hai; it is said that on a visit to Fissore Peter Monteverdi had seen Fiore’s work on the Alpine and insisted on using that shape for his own car. His orders brought in substantial income for this small Italian carrozzeria, and it was likely this financial heft that allowed him to get his way on the matter. And to eventually ensnare for himself a share in ownership of Fissore.
But that still doesn’t answer how Trevor Fiore came to be working on the A310 in the first place. Carrozzeria Fissore appears to have had no commercial arrangement at all with Alpine or Renault, neither before nor after this time.
In fact it was another Italian carrozzeria, Coggiola, who was engaged by Renault to build the functioning prototype of the finalised A310 shape.
Here is the first verifiable instance of Fiore’s involvement with the Alpine. Peter Stevens – who would go on to shape the McLaren F1 – found himself as a young stylist with Fiore in the early 1970s. He relates things thus;
‘It was at this time that I became involved with Alpine whilst working with UK designer Trevor Fiore. The prototype A310 developed by Fiore, Jim English and Turin based design company Coggiola had louvres across the rear glass which at the time were considered very fashionable; these were not carried over to the production model.’
If Coggiola had been engaged by Renault or Alpine to help with styling during the ‘soft-form’ phase of the A310 in early 1968, it still takes us further away from the explanation as to how this soft form version came to be so close to the Monteverdi Hai.
Based on what little I can unearth, one possible explanation is that Fiore was directly and discretely engaged to work as an independent freelancer on the Alpine project once Béligond’s condition surfaced. It was during this period that he, Béligond, or the both of them together came to the early 1968 shape in Dieppe.
Using Fissore as a ‘home base’, Fiore might have returned now and again with some of the sketches, which were then left inadvertently lying around when Peter Monteverdi decided they would suit his own purposes.
Yves Legal was then hired by Alpine on a fulltime basis, and as the top image suggests (with A110s in the background), the refinement of the shape took place in Dieppe and not in Italy. Fiore continued to contribute right through to the preparation of the final prototype at Coggiola.
I must stress that these suggestions are at best tentative. However I can’t put any more logical explanation to events than this.
As the top image by ‘Manfred’ at Forum Alpine Renault shows, the car was to receive an underbody shroud.
Aerodynamicist Marcel Hubert (bottom right) had been hired by Rédélé in 1962 primarily to work on their racing efforts starting with the M63, and would continue with the marque until 1982 as a crucial member of the team. He was also involved in the development of the road cars, though it appears his influence on the A310 was one of refining rather than defining.
The final piece of the puzzle is the frontal treatment of the car.
This sketch from either 1970 or 1971 is signed ‘Gaston Juchet A310 Style Béligond’. It appears to be a general impression of the car once all elements of the shape had been finalised and before being committed to construction of the prototype.
Or it could be something else.
That distinctive front end had not appeared on any A310 drawings or models prior to the Juchet sketch. And when I consider these earlier Juchet pieces, the coupe at top rendered in 1969 and the van beneath in 1970, it appears that this crucial final addition to the Alpine was the direct contribution of Gaston Juchet himself.
A significant contribution made quietly in deference to the ailing Béligond, perhaps.
And so yet another French automotive spacecraft landed on planet earth.
The silver Alpine A310 prototype was first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1971. Before delivery commenced on production models that October, there was a final change to the body; the rear lights that sat above the bumper under flush plexiglas panels on the prototype were relocated and replaced with a cluster of blister units.
It was a masterful shape, drawing much from the prevailing origami language. But it also managed to temper the extreme nature of that language’s sharp creasing with an adroit use of curvature and faceting – sometimes flowing into each other and other times more punctuated. The rear really demonstrates this and is helped in no small measure by the lack of seams on the one piece body.
It was prismatic where the A110 was aquaceous, but was unmistakeably an Alpine.
As with the creations out of Stuttgart, its proportioning is not compromised by the rear engine location but actually enhanced by the successfully-met challenge it presented its authors. The c-pillars are admittedly a handicap for the driver’s field of vision, but the shape is not entirely impractical. Its unconventional handsomeness wins me over.
The A310 received the same backbone chassis as the A110, although it had wishbone and coilover suspension on all corners compared with the A110’s swing-arm rear. The front suspension towers were taller than those on the A110 as the coils were mounted to the top of the wishbone. Steering was rack and pinion (2.5 turns lock to lock) and braking was discs all round.
The fibreglass body was bolted to the chassis and the car’s dimensions were 164.5” (4,180mm) long and 63.8” (1,620mm) wide. The wheelbase was the same as outgoing GT4 (and recently lengthened Porsche 911) at 89.4” (2,270mm), although the Alpine was a whopping 9” lower than the Porsche in height. The car weighed 840 kgs distributed 40% front and 60% rear. Top speed was 131 mph (210 kmh) and 0-60mph time around 8 seconds.
The Alpine’s engine was derived from the R16’s 1,565cc I4, and was released in three variations.
From 1971-73, the 1,605cc VE series featured twin 45 DCOE Webers putting out 125 hp (93 kW) at 6,000 rpm.
April 1973 saw the introduction of the VF series, with the Webers being replaced with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection increasing power slightly to 127 hp (95 kW) at 6,450 rpm – a changeover made to meet tightening emissions standards. This same engine would make its way into the R17TS/Gordini from 1974.
In late 1975, a detuned VG version was released with a 1,647cc engine fed by a single 32 Weber for 95 hp (71 kW).
All were mated to a 5 speed manual gearbox except one VG fitted with an automatic.
(A note at this point: the 1972 World Cars Catalogue lists the VE version as having an SAE horsepower of 140. Other sources quote 125 DIN. Throughout this piece I have used the lower numbers quoted, but I’m not sure they are all to the same standards and are really only presented here for comparative purposes. If anyone can provide more exact and verified figures, I will amend the text accordingly)
Across the life of the A310, there would be very little change made to the body. In August 1973, the NACA ducts on the front wings were moved forward from their placement near the windscreen towards the leading edge of the car. This occurred in the midst of the 6 month period when the VE and VF versions were both in production, so this change does not actually denote either model specifically. Factory-supplied images suggest this coincides with the headlight mountings changing from body colour to black, but given the hand-assembled nature of these cars that may have been an option.
Under the skin, the front axle balljoint mountings were changed in 1974 to silent-bloc rubber/steel bushings. Though the steering rack was taken from the Peugeot 504 and the front turning signals from the Simca 1301, most of the components came from the Renault parts bins and would have been subject to any changes in specification or supply. I’ll leave it to the bien informés to point out any other modifications during the A310’s life.
The 2+2 cabin was a step-up in luxury for the marque, with electric windows, carpet and optional leather offered by Alpine for the first time. The massive rear transmission ‘pyramid’ intruded significantly on the +2 seating, though it was not as cramped as some competitors.
In March 1972, John Bolster of UK’s Autosport reported on an A310 test drive:
‘First impressions were good because the highly-tuned engine is phenomenally flexible, idling indefinitely in traffic blocks without overheating. The ride is also extremely comfortable, the new suspension absorbing the bumps while the car remains level. The cornering power is tremendously high with virtually no roll. One drives faster and faster through bends, never reaching the limit, even in the mountains, and the brakes do not fade. The sliding technique beloved of Berlinette drivers does not suit the new car, however, the characteristic handling remaining neutral in spite of the rear engine location. The new Alpine Renault A310 sets new standards for small-engined sports cars.’
Not everyone was impressed; German magazine Autorevue described it as ‘too underpowered for an enthusiast car and not luxurious enough for a luxury car.’
There was a 180+ hp version of the A310, but it wasn’t available to everyone. A dozen A310s were prepared for competition with front wheel arch flares and a widened rear flank that included most of the c-pillar to also allow for larger air intakes. Designated the VC model, it had a 1,798cc engine that was unfortunately never an option for the road cars.
But the A310 was not the competitive sibling in the family. It was over 200 kgs heavier than the A110, and with both using the same engine it was the two seater that continued to excel. Using A110s, the Alpine team won the World Rally Championship in 1971, and the car continued to notch up national titles for its various drivers through to 1975.
The French police, or more specifically, the Brigade Rapide d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie, continued with tradition and had a small fleet of A310s; numbers quoted vary between five and seven. Most were VF models, but I don’t think the engines received any further tuning. However the cars were required to handle pursuit tasks, and they earned spoilers front and rear.
Perhaps the most unique facet of the police-spec A310s was that the fibreglass body had metal flakes embedded in the resin to aid radio reception. These cars also had a metal plate inserted in the cabin roof for the same reason, as well as serving as a Faraday cage. Note the example lower right with the louvred rear window.
The louvres were available very early in the A310’s life but soon fell out of French regulatory compliance probably because of rear visibility issues, which makes their presence on the police cars even more interesting. They were apparently available for foreign market cars.
The A310 was sold in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Mexico and Portugal – which combined made up almost 50% of sales of the model. There was no RHD version, which meant the UK and far-flung Australia missed out.
Build quality on the A310 was not great. Rédélé had committed to a new Dieppe factory in Bréauté Street that became operational in 1969. The capital outlay was significant for this largely independent carmaker, and the A310 had been rushed into production to help offset costs. Adding to Alpine’s woes was a workers’ strike in 1972.
In 1973, Jean Rédélé sold a controlling interest in Alpine to Renault, though he remained involved with the marque. Whether this agreement was made before or after the October 1973 announcement of the OPEC oil embargo, Renault and Rédélé watched as sales of the A310 halved in 1974.
Production peaked in 1973 at 666 units, and never again breached the 350 figure. In all, only 2,340 A310s were produced.
The Alpine was not a cheap car. Its 1973 home market price – 46,800 Francs – was almost double that of the Renault R12 Gordini at 19,200 Fr, and was still substantially higher than the top-spec R17TS at 24,600 Fr and R15TS at 18,500 Fr.
At its sticker price, sales were probably impacted by the fact that some buyers were waiting for the V6 version.
In 1971, a joint venture was established between Peugeot, Renault and Volvo for a large (in European terms) engine built at Douvrin in Northern France to be used primarily in each manufacturer’s senior saloon. Originally planned to be a V8, ambitions were soon changed and what emerged was the PRV V6.
In 1972, only a year after they had delivered the factory prototype, Coggiola presented another A310 body to Alpine. Perhaps mindful of the larger engine on the horizon, or of criticisms regarding cabin space, this proposal was 3” taller, 6” wider and 8” inches longer than the standard A310. It had also gained 3” in wheelbase.
Trevor Fiore was still involved with Coggiola around this time. At top left is his 1973 Opel-based Sylvia prototype built by the carrozzeria. However, this shape looks to be the work of Aldo Sessano, of Bocanegra fame and who had also penned the Lancia Fulvia-based 1971 Coggiola Dunja seen at bottom left.
The proposal was only a plaster styling mockup, but it remained with Renault for a year as they considered whether to proceed with it.
There was another special-bodied Alpine that some had originally presumed to be based on the A310. It was the work of French stylist Denis Meyrignac and was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1977.
It was actually built over an A110 chassis and engine bought directly from the factory, and intended for small-volume production. However Meyrignac blanched at the costs of pollution compliance (despite the fact that the Alpine engine already complied) so the project was abandoned.
It’s not clear whether one or two examples were produced – the red Geneva Show car apparently housed a V6 – and this audacious shape ended up being test driven by a French motoring journalist anticipating the helmet-chic of Daft Punk before the Meyrignac Alpine found its way into long term storage.
With Renault now in control of Alpine, the task for shaping the A310 V6 fell to Robert Opron, seen here at right with his predecessor (now staffer) Gaston Juchet and Bertone’s Marcello Gandini.
There were a few prototype bodies built bearing much resemblance to the Citroen-controlled Maserati Bora and Merak in their flip-up headlights, flying buttresses and rear-end treatments.
Peter Stevens had been directly involved with the Alpine for the introduction of the V6 model, launched in late 1976.
‘In 1976 the A310 was restyled with input from myself, the project under the guidance of Renault Design Chief Robert Opron. The original 1971 car was never wind tunnel tested and suffered from both front end lift and rear instability and one of my jobs for the 1976 model was to counter these problems with small aerodynamic additions.’
The neat chin spoiler did not detract from the shape at all, and in fact looked a natural fit with its complementary angling and surfaces. The same can be said for the small window-width rear spoiler which gained ‘Alpine Renault’ lettering in 1978. The NACA ducts up front were gone and the rear lower panel was now blacked out, with new light units.
Most significantly, that distinctive front end was revised to a four-headlight arrangement, divided by body panelling which sported the Renault logo. The spotlights were now placed under the bumper beneath the turning signals.
Peter Stevens continues; ‘The other interesting job was to design an alloy wheel for the A110, Alpine Renault 5 and the A310. During the previous year’s Monte Carlo Rally all the works cars had retired with damaged rear suspension caused by heavy lumps of ice being frozen between the wheel spokes and so putting the wheels out of balance. The task was to design a wheel that was sufficienty smooth that the snow would not stick to it. I always preferred the three-slot version of the smooth wheel, the four-slot style tended to look static.’
1977 would be the last year of production for the venerable but glorious A110. A winner to the end, it bowed out with its head held high.
But the star of the show was the V6.
Production of the four-cylinder VF had ceased in April 1976, but the detuned VG (also known as the TX) was built for another three months. It’s listed in the 1977 World Cars catalogue alongside the V6 but when you compare the prices listed; 76,900 Francs for the 95 hp A310 TX, and 77,900 Francs for the 150 hp A310 V6, the senior model seems like a bargain.
It had a top speed of 137 mph (220 kmh) and could reach 60 mph in 7.5 seconds.
The 2,664cc V6 engine was fed by a single throat Solex 34 TBIA and a double-throat Solex 35 CEEI carburettor. Suspension was derived from the R30 saloon and the vehicle weighed-in at 980 kg (2,161 lbs).
The heavier engine altered the A310’s weight distribution, now at 33% front and 67% rear. Of course this affected handling and Renault found themselves sending updates to dealers explaining how to set rear tyre inflations for the first series of the A310 V6.
Motoring journalist Martin Buckley recently ran a comparo of the A310 V6 and its contemporaries for Drive magazine, and had this to say about the Alpine;
‘I was unprepared for how well this car went. Once the full length of the throttle travel was discovered, it seemed to have acceleration not that far behind the 911, delivered with a lusty, offbeat growl that was as inspiring as the similarly powered De Lorean’s was limp and unappealing. This V6 is not a sports car engine but its willingness to spin hard to its redline, pulling strongly and smoothly all the way, was as impressive as its ability to lug around in third and fourth from 1200rpm or cruise peacefully in top. Alpine sorted the handling on the 310 simply by putting huge tyres on the rear (they’re even bigger on this car) and it seems to have worked. It scuttles around curves in a flat, neat and nifty way that suggests something much smaller with light, quick steering. The gearchange does not reach the same standard – it felt vague and slightly rubbery at times – but I never failed to find the gear I wanted.’
In 1978, the ‘Group 4’ option was introduced, featuring the body kit from the Heuliez concept car of 1977, albeit with smoothed wheel arches rather than the bolt-ons and minus that fantastic spotlight binnacle. The engine was the same as the standard model, but it came with a five-speed box and wider wheels. 30 examples were produced.
If it was more power and even wider flares you wanted, then you needed to find yourself the 270+ hp Group 5 version.
With the A110 gone, the A310 was initially the steed of choice for Renault’s gravel track ambitions. A Group 4 A310 V6 putting out about 240 hp won the 1977 French Rally Championship in the hands of Guy Fréquelin, but Renault’s competitions focus would soon shift to the mid-rear engined turbocharged versions of the R5.
Series 2 was introduced in 1981. Upgrades on the exterior included wraparound bumpers and larger wheelarch flares. The 4 stud wheels and rear end suspension were now derived from the R5 Turbo – which significantly influenced its handling for the better. The same version of the V6 was carried over but was now mated to a 5 speed. The wording on the rear spoiler was flipped to read ‘Renault Alpine’.
The ‘Group 4’ option became the ‘Pack GT’ for Series 2, though it seems to have had different names for different markets; ‘S’ in Germany and ‘F-Pack’ in Japan (!) There was also a ‘Pack GT Boulogne’ featuring the 2,849cc version of the PRV breathing through 2 triple throat Weber 46 IDA carburettors and producing 193 hp (144kW). Only 27 Boulogne were built.
Towards the end of its life, the standard A310 V6’s price has risen considerably. In 1983 it was offered at 131,000 Fr and that rose to 140,880 Fr in 1984. But despite this, the A310 V6 was Alpine’s greatest sales success. Except for its first and last (half) years, annual production never dipped below 1,000 units.
When the last A310 V6 rolled off the production line in 1984, 9,276 examples had been built.
But what of its replacement?
In 1977, this A480 styling mockup was prepared as part of an attempt to create a ‘1980’ language for an Alpine in mid-rear engined configuration. This shape, possibly by Gandini, seems to have come to nothing. But it does indicate an expectation that the Alpine visual language might have to move on.
In 1981, Yves Legal produced this sketch. It was much closer to the A310, but bearing a new body particularly at the rear.
The A310 replacement was again an Opron-headed task. Heuliez was asked to help prepare the prototypes and the further the project progressed, the more it returned to the A310 shape. This was not necessarily a matter of economical panel sharing; whereas the A310 body had been cast as a single piece, the GTA was to comprise a multitude of small body panels in fibreglass and plastic bonded together and to the chassis making it effectively a monocoque.
The 1985 Renault GTA was 6” longer, 4” wider, 2” taller with a 3” longer wheelbase than its predecessor. The A310’s shape had translated well into the 1980’s and the narrow-bodied version of the GTA was able to boast a Cd of .28. The most significant visual difference was the see-though c-pillar treatment but detail changes were made everywhere. The backbone chassis arrangement was retained but this was a new car.
It was available with two versions of the PRV engine, the 2,849cc, 160 hp GTA and the 2,458 cc, 185 hp GTA Turbo.
In 1987 the GTA was prepared for the US market with unique flip-up headlights. However, because of Renault’s stake in Chrysler-owned American Motors, the GTA was quickly withdrawn due to competition with Chrysler’s TC by Maserati. Only 21 examples were made.
1990 saw the GTA Turbo Le Mans released in the home market, with a revised frontal treatment and flared wheelarches. Performance specialists Danielson developed aftermarket tweaks taking power up to 210 hp.
In 1991, the widenend body of the Le Mans model received flip-up lights for the 2,975cc, 250 hp version, renamed A610. The GTA/A610 range was considered a failure for Renault, it was a far more refined vehicle than the A310 but only sold around 6,500 models over its ten year lifespan against greater expectations. Though this was a veritable road rocket, it was also the A310 shape at its most anodyne.
The final A610 was built in April 1995.
For 1996, Renault would be referring further back into the Alpine heritage.
Though comparisons can be made with Porsche and Lotus, I find the most direct analogy for Jean Rédélé to be Carroll Shelby. Both started as successful drivers then went on to create exciting niche vehicles for road and track, and by dint of their accomplishments and their agreeable, charismatic personalities, their names strike an impassioned fervour amongst their compatriots.
In 1977, Rédélé sold his remaining stake in Alpine to Renault. He stepped away with a promise from Renault that they maintain production in Dieppe for the next fifteen years.
In 1976, Renault Sport was formed to take charge of Renault’s racing activities. It was based out of Alpine’s Val Druel facilities and they soon scored big, with outright victory at the 1978 24 Heures du Mans in an Alpine A442B, earning themselves a tow down the Champs Elysees.
1976 also saw the release of the Renault R5 Alpine. This performance variant of Renault’s bread and butter baby had been developed by the Alpine team and sold 53,000 units. In 1978, Renault Sport was moved out of Val Druel, and in its place Renault established Berex (Bureau d’Etudes et de Recherches Exploratoires) to develop sporting variants of Renault’s road cars. What soon emerged were increasingly lairier versions of the R5.
The Alpine nameplate has been used sparingly by Renault. Its application can be somewhat problematic. For one thing, it was not able to be used in the UK due to Rootes, then Chrysler, having their own claim on the name.
But it’s a bit more complex than that. Though the Alpine name is held in high esteem by aficionados, there is limited global understanding of what it stands for. Compounding the issue is another highly esteemed French brand owned by Renault – Gordini. Whereas ‘Gordini’ seems more appropriate for performance variants of standard models, ‘Alpine’ requires a slightly weird body as well to really make sense of its brand equity.
Thanks to its presence in the Gran Turismo computer games, Alpine has been able to stay relevant to a younger generation. And Renault has recently made efforts to revive it in the real world. So there’s still hope.
A couple of years ago, fellow carspotter AVL wanted to show me an exotic he had found in Melbourne’s backstreets. It was the weekend of the Grand Prix, so we jumped on our bikes to avoid the traffic and roadblocks, and when we arrived I couldn’t believe what he had led me to.
This example is one of only four in A310/4s in Australia. In 1991, it was apparently brought over from the French island colony of New Caledonia. Back then it was restored to its original gris metalise colour and was converted to RHD, but it had lost its original VF motor and gearbox.
At some point something must have been difficult to replace or fix, and it was left parked out in the street. By the time I caught it, the fibreglass body had withstood the ravages of its outdoor storage but it was looking most forlorn. It has since disappeared, hopefully still held in Australia and afforded the rejuvenation it deserves.
The argument can certainly be made that the first series V6 is the best-looking A310.
But for me it’s the four-cylinder body. As pure automotive sculpture, I prefer it over the down-force appendaged later models. The final clincher in its appeal, however, comes from those six lights behind that full-width plexiglas panelling. Like the bittersweet dissonance within “ polnareff’s ” or the astringent edge of pastis, that slightly jarring face is intrinsic to the authenticity of the A310 shape.
Renault literature credits only Michel Béligond and Yves Legal for the styling of the A310.
Trevor Fiore’s involvement has never been fully explained, though there is a recent book ‘Alpine La Passion Bleue’ by Bernard Sara that apparently addresses this. Unfortunately it has only been published in French and I have not been able to access a copy. If any of the CCommentariat have read this book, I would greatly appreciate their input.
As to Gaston Juchet’s contribution, that is only a guess on my part.
Whatever their roles in the creation of the Alpine A310, the shape that emerged was one for the ages.
CC Scoop: Unseen Alpine Mid-Engined Proposal by Peter Stevens
Mike Tippett’s Curbside Classic of a barnfind Alpine A106 located in the US
Most of the early history of Alpine in this piece was drawn from
alpine-passion.com – an exhaustive and exacting blog detailing the driving career
of Jean Rédélé and the Alpine years to the mid-1960s.
a310l4.com – A great French site focusing on the four-cylinder A310
juchet.fr – An enormous trove featuring the work of Gaston Juchet
A French television news piece on Michel Béligond and the A310
Professor Peter Stevens on his time contributing to the A310
and an appraisal of more recent ‘Alpine’ efforts
Martin Buckley’s Drive A310 V6 comparo
AteUpWithMotor on the R5 and its variants
Our feature CC discussed by those in the know at aussiefrogs.com
Posted June 25, 2016 at 1:44 AM
Cool cars I’m sure Ive seen a A 310 at a show in Aussie nothing else looks like that I saw a A110 in Havelock north here in Hawkes bay at the end of a Dunlop targa it had been competing beautiful car and very rare here, Vauxhall copied the faired in lights of the 310 for their Firenza droop snoot coupe, but awesome cars and a great write up Thanx Don.
Posted June 25, 2016 at 4:20 PM
Opel/Vauxhall payback for this Interlagos prototype?
excellent post thank you!
Great job, Don! Another masterwork…
The A110 rally cars are probably my second favorite race cars, behind the GT40, but I never knew that much about the company’s history. Additionally, I think I’ve always been biased against the A310 because of the ’80s version of it and the fact that it wasn’t an A110, but the four-cylinder is a beauty.
You made my day with all those A110 pictures, too. 🙂
Thanks Aaron. Looking forward to that A110 CC…
Excellent ! Or as the French say: Excellent ! Your comprehensive high-quality articles are like a work of art.
Don also mentioned Juchet’s R15 and R17. A few weeks ago I spotted this 1971 Renault R15 TL. Must have been a few decades ago since I saw one on the road.
Great find. Superclean which is how these need to look. I prefer the 15’s glasshouse, and thank goodness they both got the loop bumper.
Beautiful post with great pics. I was vaguely aware of the Alpine cars, but learned a lot this morning!
Great piece on a brand I did not know much about. It is ashamed that the Gordini V8 did not work out. It may be a case like the Lotus Espirit where you think you need the bigger V8 engine until you finally get one and then not so much. The later V6 being 90 degree brings it’s own compromise. You did a great job of explaining how Porsche introducing a 6 caused competitors to up their game.
The interior shot looks very inviting with that great 70s color matched euro velour. The leather looks boring in comparison.
Thanks John. It’s easy to take Porsche for granted these days, but back then they were just a smallish concern as well. They just managed to get almost everything right.
There was one very big difference: Porsche was very successful in the US. IIRC, Porsche was selling like 70% of its cars in the US in 50s and early 60s. Or at least half. The US was critical to Porsche’s success.
Alpine? A handful of A110s?
Porsche and Ferrari benefitted from Max Hoffman and Luigi Chinetti who both knew how to market to the US, just as Mr K. figured it out in the late 1960s with the Datsun 1600. But the cars were good anyway.
When you consider that the Dauphine was at one stage the biggest selling import into the states, the market was sort of ready for Alpine.
A bit off-topic, But the Dauphine’s sales surge in the US (1959) was quite short-lived. It really wasn’t ready for US conditions, and by 1960 its sales plummeted, unlike the VW’s. The Dauphine simply wasn’t up to US-style driving and (low) maintenance conditions. And they were terrible rusters.
I really can’t see the Alpine riding to any success in the US on the back of the Dauphine. Quite the opposite; the Dauphine quickly became an icon of a “lemon” in the US.
VW and Porsche both had relatively low-stressed and well-developed engines that were mostly bullet-proof, even in the hands of Americans. Also, the Porsche had a cabrio and Speedster, which were extremely popular in the important California market.
And the Porsches (except the Speedster) were eminently usable as a daily driver, with no compromises in comfort, ride, seating, etc..
I really can’t see the Alpine having anything other than quite limited success in the US in the best of circumstances. The mass-market sports car market was utterly dominated by rag-tops, which explains the failure of the TR7, as most Americans who had a sports car were either young or had a second car. The Alpine would have appealed only to hard-core racer-types, and that market was weakening throughout the 60s.
You’re right. Added to which is the fact that most of Alpine’s competitions success was in rally and rallycross, which I don’t think had as strong a following as amateur trackracing in the US.
Wow Don, very nice piece, very accurate and detailed, you even mention the R12 Gordini.
Today, if you enter “Álpine-city” Dieppe there is a mock up of an A110 body at a roundabout.
Renault Sport are now in the former Alpine factory where they make the fast production Renaults like the Megane RS
Here the roundabout in Dieppe
Paul Frantizek
Excellent history of an – at least stateside – underappreciated marque.
The A310 always struck me as a neat car, sort of a cross-pollenization between a Lotus Europa and TVR Tasmin and now, after reading the background on the design, I understand why. European auto design of that era really was quite incestuous, everyone seeming to work with everyone else for some limited period of time.
And I’ve always loved the A110, neat to see how the shape progressed, gradually getting longer and lower.
All in all, the best thing run here in a long while. Merci beaucoup!
Appreciate your compliments Paul.
Uncle Mellow
A really wonderful piece. I must have seen an A310 at some point. I’ve certainly seen the lovely A110s – French racing blue, of course – both on the road and in competition.
Brad F
Well done, sir! Very interesting post.
I always loved the four-cylinder Renault 16TS powered A 310’s.
An 110 is too cramped for me, and at the time the 310 was what the 928 was for Porsche: a logical step up the ladder.
The impressive front of the early A 310’s with their six headlights, the alloy wheels, the interior, it all made it a very desirable car.
You can see it suffered from its small engine displacement, like Lotus in those days.
When the V6 came on the market quite a few were sold here in the Netherlands, where you would never meet an A310 4 cylinder nor an A 110 in this country except a few that we used for competition only.
The A 310 V6 was an alternative for the 911 Porsche I guess.
The V6 even had quite a big following in Germany and thanks to the glassfibre body many an A310 has been modified to give it Group 4 looks.
But pour moi, the light version, the fragile one, the four cylinder.
Any of you guys want to take a Renault R8S in p/ex?
I’d say this kind of stuff is worthy of being published in the Christmas special of ANY quality car magazine, this is quality stuff I love to read during the holiday season, the pictures the back ground information, everything !
Coming from you, Rammstein, high praise indeed. I couldn’t fit this pic in the story, but any excuse…
Detlump
Great article! Nicely done. I always liked the looks of the Alpines, and at least bought a Tamiya A110 RC kit to add to my collection.
I found this pic during my research. I don’t think it’s doctored, I think it’s a genuine kiddyscale sports prototype.
It’s Christmas in June!
I have always had a soft spot for the Alpines, especially the A110, with the A130 close behind. But I’ve never really read a comprehensive history of the marque, and this was absolutely perfect. It’s as good as anything I’ve ever read back in Automobile Quarterly’s heyday. I savored every paragraph.
I was barely aware of the A106, and I find its rear quarters a foreshadowing of the A130’s. I do like the A130’s design for the most part, especially in profile, but I can’t reconcile myself with its rear end. It look bulbous and ungainly. The versions with slats and rear spoiler help, but the bare version is a problem for me.
The connection with the Hai is a revelation. I had seen the similarities, although the front ends are rather different. But I just assumed that “it was in the air”.
Thank you again for this superb addition to our pages.
That’s extremely flattering Paul. It helps having an editor who knows his stuff backwards. Thanks for the Ledwinka headsup.
Lee Wilcox
To me Renault has always brought visions of the 4cv or R5. AMC added to that with Le Car. No more. Now I will think of some of the pictures above.
Maynard's Dad
America didn’t get the GTA because of the Maserati version of the K-Car? That is depressing…
Posted June 27, 2016 at 11:40 AM
Extremely disappointing. While I agree that it’s not up to the visual level of the A310, the GTA is still quite an attractive car, and (especially with the turbo) quite a performer. To lose that for a LeBaron convertible in an ill-fitting Italian suit is just wrong.
I never realized that even a small run were actually sold here though. I’d love to run across one curbside one day–a man can dream, right?
Nice to see a picture of the Renault 5 Alpine. It was introduced just before the VW Golf GTI. Fast forward 40 years, the VW Golf Mk1 GTI evolved into the VW Golf Mk7 GTI while the Renault 5 Alpine evolved into the Renault Clio Mk4 RS 220 Trophy.
The Clio with a 220 hp engine below, although an even more powerful version is in the works.
No one can beat the French, that’s Renault and Peugeot, when it comes to B-segment hot hatches.
Joseph of Eldorado
Posted June 25, 2016 at 12:26 PM
I always had a soft spot for the A310, I thought it was a cool looking car. I’ll be honest, French cars have often left me cold, they just don’t look interesting and the ones that are more out there, tend to be a mish mash of design choices that fails to find a coherent shape. But, when the French get their out there styling just right, they hit it out of the damn park. The 310 is a very out there car, but it’s like the Citroen SM, there’s something about it that clicks together and the result manages to be unique as well as good looking and memorable. I like the A610 as well, I just thought it didn’t look as special as it’s predecessor.
cjiguy
Per the article text: “But the A310 was not the competitive sibling in the family. It was over 200 kgs heavier than the A110, and with both using the same engine it was the two seater that continued to excel. Using A110s, the Alpine team won the World Rally Championship in 1971, and the car continued to notch up national titles for its various drivers through to 1975.”
This is the most understated puzzle piece of this whole article. Alpine and Renault wanted the A310 to be equally successful on the rally circuit as the previous A110’s, naturally. This, however, was overshadowed by several factors. For one, the A110 was primarily conceived as a tarmac rally terror, with the gift of high traction via it’s rear engine layout. Yet it took nearly no time at all to find out, this same layout in combination with thicker, heavier fiberglass panels in calculated places, along with increased ride height made it nearly as effective on loose and/or rough surfaces. The A310 did not share in the benefit of this dual personality, due large in part to the greater heft it carried around to begin with.
Then there is the issue with how the FIA required a car to be properly homologated to compete within the International level; where as French events were lax in this regard, the majority of other sanctioned events were not. This problem was not unique to the A310, as the A110 faced similar hurdles over the years. The A110, however, had overcome most of these barriers via proper production runs by the time the A310 began competition within the rally circuit. Initial competion using the A310 proved it to be equally as fragile as the early A110 series cars, and a new predator was also lurking about in semi-homologated state at the same time; the Lancia Stratos.
Long story short, the 4-cylinder A310 works cars were miserable failures. Not only were they underdeveloped, they also now had to work around a Renault budget that was also attempting to win with R17 rally cars and Formula One ambitions. Outside of the 1st place finish on the 1975 Rhonde Crevenole, 3rd place was the next best thing these cars could muster (all on French events).
Renault thought the development of the V6 A310 in 1976 could possibly defeat the Stratos; Wrong. Faster at the expense of more rear weight bias, It took Group 5 homologation (which was not FIA WRC sanctioned) to slightly better the power of a Group 4 Stratos. Renault therefore was stuck targeting the French Rally Championship as a last resort, which it eventually won in 1977. Renault immediately halted further rally funding for the A310 at this point.
Renault has attempted to bury a lot of the rally competition development history of this car as a direct resultof it’s failure. I also find it quite interesting to note nobody in the rally world has claimed to even enjoy the A310 during their careers, yet Jean-Pierre Nicolas, Ove Andersson, and Michelle Mouton all claim one variation or another of the A110 to be their absolute favorite competition car, ever.
Great feedback cjiguy.
The nub of the problem seems to sit with the fact that this new Alpine car was originally planned around the 3 litre V8, which – to best of my knowledge – was cancelled during the development of the A310. From that point on, the car was compromised as a thoroughbred.
One interesting point about the Stratos and Renault. According to Aaron Severson’s piece, the mid-rear engined R5 turbo came about as a Stratos-beating suggestion from Bertone, who themselves had created the Stratos.
“the mid-rear engined R5 turbo came about as a Stratos-beating suggestion from Bertone, who themselves had created the Stratos.”
There is more to that story than meets the eye; if it weren’t for a very snowy 1978 Rallye de Monte-Carlo, we likely would have never seen such a beast. Second place was taken by Jean Ragnotti in a Group 2 Renault 5, ahead of several Stratos’ and Abarth 131’s. It got people thinking Small could be More. Walter Rohrl was even passed on the road by this 5 without him going off!
Renault, after dumping the A310 from their rally program unceremoniously, immediately switched their attention to these 5 Alpines. After such a spectacular showing on the Monte, it is not hard to see why they would delve further; these cars maybe shot out 150 horsepower max in rally tune. Also of significant note is that another of these “weakling” 5’s took second place in the 1979 Tour de Course, driven by Ragnotti once again.
Just as an aside, have you considered writing a piece for CC? Even if you don’t have any curbside classic pics (though there is the cohort), I’m sure you could put together a pretty good Automotive History on a subject of your choosing.
That’s very flattering. Maybe I should (clearly WRC related material is my forte)? I certainly love absorbing all I can get from everyone else here 🙂
Go for it. If you need any help, contact Paul through submissions and if he’s busy I’ll give you a hand. But it doesn’t sound like you really need it.
Wow Don, when I clicked the post I wasn’t prepared for how detailed and in-depth it would go into all of Alpine’s history, a fantastic read! I saw it yesterday and then held off reading it, today I happened to take pix of a Maserati Bora and when I got home saw the post again while thinking the A310 does look somewhat Bora-ish, interesting to see the same conclusion in the text.
I’ve always liked the A110, and was a huge fan of the GTA/610 styling and while I don’t dislike the A310 it never really did that much for me. Maybe it has to do with what I was exposed to when I started reading about cars, the mid-80’s are my “glory years” – I prefer the GTA/A610 over the A310, preferred the Countach LP5000 over the original LP400 and the Jalpa over the Urraco for example. On the other hand I get all googly-eyed over old Alfa Spiders and Lancia Fulvia’s so maybe I like the 60’s and the 80’s…Although 70’s VW and Ford of Europe styling does it for me as well so who knows…
Anyway, another brilliant and informative read, thanks for taking the time to do this one, that was one rare find well worthy of a write-up!
Thanks Jim. I go googly-eyed over the 1971 Buick Estate Wagon while the XKE is meh to me so there’s no real accounting for taste. hehehe
Phil b
I can`t possibly add anything new to the comments, so I`ll just give this article an A+. Thanks Don.
Wow! The facts, analysis and with pictures – all on a little known marque. Amazing how you did that. I’ll be rereading this in the near future.
OliverTwist
During the most of 1970s and early 1980s, many small manufacturers of exotic cars often sift through the components made by OEM suppliers to peruse on their cars, i.e. taillamps, BBS gold alloy wheels, Recaro seats, etc. That’s why some of design elements didn’t really harmonise with the entire design or some design compromises were made.
One item in the pictures above jumped out: Tornado mirrors. I had those mirrors installed on my 1971 Alfa Romeo due to the driving laws in Texas, requiring the deaf drivers to have both left and right external mirrors.
Photo source: http://www.talbotco.com/vitaloni_pics/baby_tornado_2.jpg
There’s a Feb 73 R&T review where John Dinkel is highly critical of the mirror;
‘Probably the biggest drawback to the keen shape of the A310 is outward vision. The sloping rear window, which lifts up for access to the engine, limits rear vision. Sighting past the rear quarters is also difficult. In addition, the outside mirror is almost useless as it mounts too close to the side of the car.’
I’m not sure where the early ones were sourced.
Probably a variation of Vitaloni Sebring mirrors…
Could be the Vitaloni Californian (top row), but I think you’re right on the Sebring
Robert Kim
What an incredibly detailed and insightful look into a significant series of sports cars that I knew only from sporadic coverage of the A110 in American car magazines. I have been fascinated by the A110 for a long time, as a sort of mini-Porsche 911, but the long Alpine lineage before and after the A110 is something that I knew nothing about, and I did not know even where to start looking. I think that you have answered all of the possible questions about it.
Only one question comes to mind: is the A310’s nose possibly the inspiration for the Vauxhall Firenza “droop snoot” introduced in 1973? There is a definite resemblance there, although not anywhere else on the two cars, and 1971 to 1973 is more than enough time for the A310’s styling to have been reviewed and re-used by GM’s stylists in the UK. It would have a sort of latter-day Dieppe Raid.
Thanks Robert. Bryce made the same observations re the Firenza. According to Vauxpedia, the droopsnoot first appeared in June 1972 within the styling studio. The ‘Black Knight’ (top) was the first attempt at a slant nose, and the ‘Daytona’ (based on stylist Wayne Cherry’s Ferrari Daytona) came soon after.
These appeared in studio after the A310, but the normally well-informed Vauxpedia site claims the Firenza influenced the A310, despite the A310 being seen as early as March 1971 and on the road by October that same year. So it seems possible the ‘suggestion’ came from France.
http://vauxpedianet.uk2sitebuilder.com/vauxhall-93000—hp-firenza
Don, c’est magnifique! Adn the car’s not bad either.
Like you,m Id go for the 4 cylinder, on thew basis of the front and presentation of the lights, and the GTA is now looking a bit too 90s for me. I learnt lot there, and your knowledge of style and stylists comes right through. Thanks!
I saw a Renault Sport Spyder, the 1996 aluminium car you show),recently, and you’ve reminded me to prepare a CC Outtake on it.
And how cool is a country that puts louvres on the rear windows of police cars?
Looking forward to the outtake on the Sport. The first examples came without windscreen, but by the time it reached the UK a windscreen had been added.
johnh875
Great find and a magnifique article Don! It is interesting to see those early Rédélé coupes and compare them to the contemporary 356. Also the A110-A310 transition is similar in many ways to ‘growing pains’ experienced by Lotus with the move from Elan/Europa to Elite/Eclat. It is interesting that Porsche were make the move to the 911 (with its completely unique engine) and grow significantly while Lotus and Alpine were not – as you said earlier the US market no doubt played a key part.
Jim Klein touched on it, but looking at the later & hairier versions of the A310 reminded me of the Countach that also grew scoops and bulges as it developed.
What a great piece Don. Writing like yours inspires me to make mine better – I really need to work on something longer than 250 word text panels and 50 word object captions aimed at 10 year old reading audiences…
I have a real soft spot for the Alpines, and A310s in particular. A good mate through high school was the son of the local Renault (And Peugeot/Daihatsu/Subaru) dealer, so I was brainwashed a little. Probably explains why I like 205 GTIs as well. I recall a couple of A310s that used to do the Dutton Grand Prix rally back in the late 80s/early 90s, among the multitudes of more usual suspects. Perhaps johnh875 may be able to back me up on this one.
But again, thanks for a great read!
Thanks Brad. Perhaps you could flex your writing muscles with something for CC around the collection you attend to.
Aha that would be where my grandfather got his Brumby utes from! Probably also sold the 1994 or so Renault 19 to a relative that my sister ended up trading in for $300 when it was 10 years old; it had had a hard life! Earlier French cars were popular, being designed with an eye on conditions in the African French colonies.
I don’t recall seeing too many Peugeot 205s in town though. I do remember occasionally seeing a couple of TVR’s (Grantura series 3 with the Cortina tail lights & Vixen) that would park out the front of Maddock’s garage in High St – if people have not seen them in person they really can’t understand how small they are!
Don, what an absolutely fantastic write-up. Not only the A310 but the whole history of Alpine–just brilliant!
The A310 is yet another example of a car that I read about as a child (in the UK-sourced “World of Automobiles” encyclopedia) and immediately fell in love with. The original six-lamp version is unquestionably the best–who else would design a look like that? Though I do also find the original V6 quite beautiful, and a better performer. But even the over-spoilered later versions are attractive, in a late 70’s sort of way. Plus the GTA/A610–I’m a fan of all of them.
I finally got the chance to see one in person at a car show back in ’07. Three, actually-one Series I and two Series II V6 cars. My favorite was the series I:
A South American Alpine:
safe as milk
Posted January 1, 2017 at 11:09 AM
does my butt look big? 🙂
when i saw the photos of the monteverdi above i was immediately reminded of the detomaso mangusta. which came first?
p.s. great article wonderfully researched and i loved all the photos.
Posted January 1, 2017 at 7:55 PM
Mangusta, I can see. Interesting parallels between the men behind the names too. Haven’t seen that example before, those widened ducts look serious.
Erik lund
Great articale, I attaché a picture of my 76 VG 😉
Beautiful car Erik. Thanks for sharing.
Chris In Australia
Posted November 8, 2017 at 12:02 AM
Thanks for the article Don. I spotted my first Alpine recently a Bathurst 1000 campsite, of all places.
Cheers Chris. Recently caught this one in the backstreets of one of the bayside suburbs.
Lotus Rebel
There were plans for the Renault GTA to be powered by the 175 hp 2-litre Turbo engine in the Renault 21 Turbo, whether it would have also introduced the non-turbo 140 hp 2-litre version of the engine as an entry-level Alpine GTA though is another matter.
Would have been fascinating seeing a version of the Alpine A310 powered by either a Gordini or PRV V8 as well as the 160 hp 1.4 Turbo from the rally focused Renault 5 Turbo.
The Renault 16 engines were said to be capable of further enlargement to around 1774-1862cc (and would have made for an interesting 114 Project since the latter was to use inline-6 versions of the Renault 16 engine), one of which IIRC was used for rally versions of the A110 or A310 yet fortunately those displacements were never fully productionized as they would have been quite useful for a number of Renault and Alpine models including the RAG Coupe.
Hi Don, I just spotted and read your great article. I was drawn to by a picture of a forlorn green A310 VF, which happens to be sitting in my shed right now. Its still due for a new coat of paint, but it revs cleanly to 7k once warmed up and gets out once a week on the unfortunately too short of a drive to work.
They are an amazing little car, under appreciated and understood.
Fantastic to hear its getting a refurb. Hope to see it around town.
Posted January 5, 2020 at 12:03 PM
Great article Don,
I came across it whilst looking for more information regarding the Solex carburettor setup of the A310V6.
It must have taken extensive research to write and to obtain all that photographic history.
I’ve owned an A110 for 29 years and in that time read many Alpine articles but some of the history and photos in your article were new information to me.
I also have an A310V6 which I acquired 8 years ago as a non-runner not having run since 1988. Fortunately I was able to bring it back to life 5 years ago and use it as often as possible.
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Wagner at 200
By Michael Hughes
In all of music history, there is no shortage of genius or interesting personalities. But there's still only been one Richard Wagner.
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the man who, by the sheer force of his will, single handedly changed opera forever. Born on May 22, 1813 in Leipzig, Germany, Wagner is still revered as one of the most pivotal and controversial figures in music history.
CPR Classical host David Rutherford tells the story of how Wagner altered the landscape of music with his operas.
Dazzle – Tribute to Black Classical Composers6:30pmDazzle at Baur’s
CU Presents – Faculty Tuesdays: The future of music7:30pmGrusin Music Hall
Front Range Chamber Players6:45pmPlymouth UCC Fort Collins
CPR Classical
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Christian Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Excerpts
Heroes at Home - Book Review
Whitney Hopler Crosswalk.com Contributing Writer
Author: Ellie Kay
Heroes at Home: Help and Hope for America’s Military Families turns a spotlight on a group of people often hidden in the background in our current war against terrorism--the families of military soldiers and officers serving our country. Spouses and children who support active duty military personnel on the home front make valuable contributions to our national defense because they encourage their loved ones in their work, says author Ellie Kay, the wife of an Air Force pilot and mom to five kids. They also make significant sacrifices, enduring frequent separations from those they love, moving often, etc.
How great it would be if Kay’s book truly delved into those issues in depth. Unfortunately, however, the book reads more like a hodgepodge of lists and stories that don’t really fit together than a focused, thorough exploration of America’s military families. Rather than doing real research it seems, Kay has relied on telling story after story about her own family and throwing in a few profiles of friends and even her own mom. In one chapter, she profiles a friend in basic Q&A format, essentially publishing her interview notes without even taking the time to write the profile in her own words. And a significant portion of the book is merely a rehash of the budgeting advice Kay has given in previous books. Perhaps Kay is too distracted by her brood of children to be devoting the proper amount of time to her writing.
Although Heroes at Home could have been a valuable book for civilian readers as well as military ones, as it is, the book is essentially a guidebook for military families looking for tidbits of wisdom and affirmation crammed together in one volume.
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Man’s solution to save breastaurants from killer millennials: Hooters, but make it therapy
The man who sold shares of himself on the internet
Matt Silverman— January 20
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TBH, tricking Hooters patrons into going to therapy isn’t that bad of an idea.
hooters/Facebook ericadamhovis/Twitter beehivesy/Twitter (Fair Use) Remix by Samantha Grasso
Samantha Grasso— 2018-08-21 02:47 pm | Last updated 2018-08-21 02:49 pm
The American institution of breastaurants are under attack—by murderous millennials, of course—and it’s a sign that we’re going to have to reinvent the wheel altogether.
So, should we go ahead and do away with sub-par sports bars where women’s bodies are the main attraction? Absolutely not. We just gotta keep the Hooters brand, but make it body positive, and maybe like an adult arcade, and also include therapy. Lots and lots of cheap professional therapy.
At least, that’s what Hooters should look like in 2018, according to Twitter user Eric Adam Hovis, who has high dreams and even higher expectations.
On Sunday, Twitter mourned (and celebrated) the announced decline of the Hooters dynasty. According to Business Insider, Hooters is being “forced” to close locations and change strategy, possibly because millennials are no longer bonkers for boobs per Pornhub’s findings.
Many weren’t too surprised that a restaurant with bad food that relies on the objectification of women wasn’t doing well.
Actually, we love boobs. I love my boobs and I enjoy other womens boobs. I dont enjoy being surrounded by shitty, lechy boomer men who are only sex positive when it comes to their own dicks, eating rancid food, and overpriced beer.
Tits are great. Hooters the restaurant isnt. https://t.co/KsWLMIwMnB
— PrairiePhlox (@PrairiePhlox) August 20, 2018
going to a subpar beer & wings restaurant to leer at/take pics with big-boobed waitresses is one of the most uniquely baby-boomer male concepts and I am laughing my ass off at the idea that it’s some sort of sacred cultural institution that millennials are shitting all over https://t.co/tGrR6W9rwV
— KT NELSON (@KrangTNelson) August 19, 2018
capitalism is wild because if your shitty business fails people will say its not because it sucked its because the entire human race stopped liking boobs https://t.co/ygLxcza7tR
— Estradiol Item Crash (@softtaur) August 20, 2018
Hovis, too, understood why Hooters was now out of touch with his peers. He himself isn’t a big fan of “the Barbie look” involving big boobs, bleach blonde hair, and deep tans, and isn’t into the “superficial novelty” of getting dinner at a place where he could stare at a woman’s breasts. But he did have a few ideas as to how Hooters could appeal to millennial customers such as himself.
No, Hooters hasn’t reached the end of its breastaurant run—it just needed an expansion. For him to be excited about the chain again, Hooters would need to make its staff more inclusive with diverse bodies (lol). And the restaurant wouldn’t need to advertise its staff to bring in clientele. Instead, patrons would be there to talk to the staff. Debate nights, game rooms, a “geisha place” (whatever that might mean), and a “specialized setup for the guys who just want to therapeutically vent their woes to women.”
“…For me as a millennial to be excited about Hooters it would need to be a fundamentally different experience that, instead of relying on a superficial novelty, instead cultivates meaningful human interactions in a world increasingly isolated by convenience and technology,” Hovis wrote. Very far from any Hooters restaurant I’ve driven by, indeed.
For me to be excited about Hooters, there would need to be changes. 1)I'm not a huge fan of the barbie look - bottle blonde, big boobs, scorching tans. 2) I wouldn't be there to LOOK at you, but to TALK with you. A place to eat and chat with good conversationalists? Sign me up.
— Eric Adam Hovis (@ericadamhovis) August 19, 2018
So it would be a place to have conversations and debates with smart/pretty women while eating food. There could be "debate nights" where wings are free or something. There could be activities rooms where people play pool or video games. I think I'm thinking of a geisha place.
It would also be important to have some specialized setup for the guys who just want to therapeutically vent their woes to women. Like specialized "problem listener" hostesses. This way these guys don't just dump their problems onto each and every woman they encounter.
Oh, and somehow Hooters would need to be SUPER CHEAP since us millennials are BROKE. I think of current Hooters as some weird, exotic, unique luxury experience, like going to a magician restaurant. But then again I think of Applebee's as a fancy, high-class restaurant, too.
So for me as a millennial to be excited about Hooters it would need to be a fundamentally different experience that, instead of relying on a superficial novelty, instead cultivates meaningful human interactions in a world increasingly isolated by convenience and technology.
Yes, Hovis proposed that Hooters become a Lincoln-Douglas-style Dave & Busters slash therapists office. Where staff would get paid at least the minimum wage, and more depending on their professional experience, but patrons would still be paying for cheap.
Scheming the kind of men who like breastaurants into going to therapy via chicken wings doesn’t sound like too bad of a plan, but the internet certainly didn’t hear it that way. Hovis might have intended for his “Hooters but for therapy” pitch to reflect upon what millennials want versus what corporations are giving them, but his tweets certainly came off otherwise, implying that it’s a waitresses’ role to engage in debates with patrons while also listening to their own personal traumas, for minimum wage.
“This is possibly the most incel sounding thing I’ve read ever… You know if this isn’t parody I think what [you’re] really searching for is friends,” one person countered Hovis.
“This is one [of] the cringiest, most embarrassing things I’ve ever read,” another tweeted. “What you are looking for is a therapist. A therapist and friends and also a date somehow.”
This is possibly the most incel sounding thing I've read ever...you know if this isn't parody I think what your really searching for is friends
— Nassergamez (@Nassergamez) August 20, 2018
Look out - we got a real Women Respecter™ over here!
— 2 skeletons hugging would be cute and not scary (@skeleton_hugs) August 20, 2018
So, like therapists but without the whole "adequately paying them" part.
— Rock And Roll Kikuchi Coo (@Notintheface1) August 20, 2018
Hooters but the girls let you talk at them about cryptocurrency
— Aidan Walsh (@AidanWalsh11) August 20, 2018
This is one on the cringiest, most embarrassing things I've ever read. What you are looking for is a therapist. A therapist and friends and also a date somehow.
Also, "I'm thinking of a Geisha place" literally made me throw up a little. Get help.
— 白小狼（マルク・バレンシア） (@cork13) August 20, 2018
One woman simply asked, “Are men OK?”
are men ........... . okay pic.twitter.com/UoAgrBw7LK
— critical thot (@beehivesy) August 20, 2018
this part really got to me bc can you imagine actually debating this dude
— snake mommy (@fatnudes) August 20, 2018
jesus, ok. meaningful interactions... therapeutic venting... talking and eating... i think this man is looking for “friends”
— queen of whims (@cezannesladder) August 20, 2018
In the day after Hovis’ very unfortunate Twitter roast, he bounced back to clarify that doesn’t think restaurant staff should be involuntary therapists, that everyone should receive a living wage, and that if the body objectification model is absolutely necessary (note: it’s not), Hooters should have “body-positive” hiring practices. His mistake, he tweeted, was having poorly written his Hooters retort.
Clarifying earlier post from great feedback I've received:
1) Waiters/waitresses/bartenders should NOT have to be involuntary therapists.
2) Everyone should receive a living wage equivalent to their job and skill set.
3) Hooters should have body-positive hiring practices.
The error I made in the original draft tweets was my brain jumping to different issues without explicitly stating so. The result is that a section that should have started "Let's address the problem of waiters being treated like therapists by drunk people" ended up coming...
..across as "something I want added that I'd love is waiters being forced to be therapists... and for free!!" None of that reflects my actual views, and I've clarified the blog post to separate "things I'd like" from "other issues needing addressing in these environments."
So, Hovis did his Hooters haters one further and wrote a post explaining these ideas in more depth, writing that he thinks we should hire real therapists for that whole in-house therapy idea, and he looked up the term geisha, and they’re not the same as prostitutes, so it’s OK to talk about them in the context of hospitality and entertainment.
“Rather than the simpler question of ‘What kind of restaurant should Hooters be?’ I’m addressing the question of ‘What kind of business would be worth my time and money?'” Hovis wrote.
So, perhaps, this is again another example of a miscommunication via Twitter gone wrong (or, right)? Regardless, if turning Hooters into an adult Chuck E. Cheese’s with mental health care professionals on site is the only way to save the company, we might as well quit the breastaurant industry while we’re ahead.
Hovis did not return the Daily Dot’s request for comment.
Samantha Grasso
Samantha Grasso is a former IRL staff writer for the Daily Dot with a reporting emphasis on immigration. Her work has appeared on Los Angeles Magazine, Death And Taxes, Revelist, Texts From Last Night, Austin Monthly, and she has previously contributed to Texas Monthly.
Are Men Ok Hooters Millennials
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BBCHere’s what time Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester concert will be shown on TV
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Two more huge names have been added to the One Love Manchester line-up
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Fans who missed out on tickets can watch the gig live on BBC One from 6.55pm on Sunday June 4
Manchester ArenaManchester charity gig everything you need to know
Ariana Grande One Love Manchester will see some of the world's biggest stars come together to raise funds for the victims of the Manchester bombing
BBCInspirational toddler lights 100,000 bulbs at Cheshire Oaks Christmas switch-onA TWO-year-old boy who has spent 90% of his life in hospital was cheered as he turned on the Christmas lights at Cheshire Oaks.
Katy PerryLocal rockers Fireroad destined for big timeWITH a support slot lined up with the Stereophonics, Valleys band Fireroad could already boast impeccable rock credentials.
Katy PerryLemmy rocks in BrazilLEMMY Kilmister of Motorhead has taken to the stage at the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
BBCRadio 1's Big Weekend - The main attractionsTHE questions at the forefront of every festival-goers’ mind for Saturday’s Big Weekend will be who to see and who to pass on.
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The Drinks Are Good, But the Brunch is Basic — Scout's Honor
Taylor Adams
With bowling, ping-pong and ample group seating, The Statler's Scout is popular with large groups — and the restaurant recently launched weekend brunch.
Beth Rankin
Taylor Adams | October 11, 2018 | 4:00am
With its shareable dishes and games like ping-pong and bowling, Scout is a great place to grab a cocktail and dinner, and it just expanded its menu to include brunch. But for now, it remains a great place to grab a cocktail and dinner.
Scout is a group-friendly cocktail bar and restaurant in the renovated Statler in downtown Dallas. While it’s worth making it a spot to meet up with someone for an after-work drink, it doesn’t go beyond ordinary when it comes to breakfast foods — unlike its neighbor Overeasy, a fantastic breakfast spot just across the hotel lobby.
The brunch menu is basic with five entrees: waffles ($9), chicken and waffles ($12), eggs benedict ($12), a brunch burger ($15) and a biscuit sandwich ($12).
Scout, the Statler's New 'Social Space,' Now Open With Bowling and Booze Downtown
The Statler's New Restaurant, R&B, Serves Fun Late-Night Ramen and Bao
At Street's Fine Chicken, Nobody Bats an Eye at Fried Chicken For Breakfast
Scout's chicken and waffles
The chicken and waffles are good enough: A light, fried batter covers tender chicken strips. The waffle has the right amount of sweetness, too. It comes with gravy and Valentina hot sauce. There’s a lot going on when combining all of these flavors, but it works. Who knew Valentina could possibly work with syrup?
The biscuit sandwich does include a fantastic biscuit — up until recently, Graham Dodds helmed the kitchen here, and he's known as a biscuit perfectionist. Even still, the egg and sausage lacked seasoning, but the gravy was a nice addition.
The brunch burger is made with 44 Farms beef, white cheddar, over-easy eggs and bacon, and served with fries. Sides (all $5) include house-made sausage, bacon, fruit and “hashbombs.”
Scout's biscuit sandwich
There’s nothing wrong with Scout’s brunch, it’s just not all that interesting — yet. It’s fine if you’re a hotel guest in need of a quick breakfast, but otherwise, it’s not yet worth dealing with harrowing downtown parking.
Scout, 1914 Commerce St. (Downtown). Brunch served 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
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Booking Lloyd Banks - book rap music artists - © P **
Book Lloyd Banks, Christopher Lloyd
Hardcore Rap, East Coast Rap, Gangsta Rap
Rap Music Roster | Music Menu
Fast Index | Home | Search
Lloyd Banks may be available for your next special event!
Lloyd Banks was born Christopher Lloyd and raised in Jamaica, Queens. "My mom is Puerto Rican, my pops is black," he says. "It was kinda like when I was with my mother's side of the family I was the bad seed. I was the one who was most unlikely to succeed. And then when I was with the black side of the family, I was the angel, because all my uncles are career felons."
His parents were young and never married. His father, who chose to pursue tax-free income on the streets, spent more time behind bars than he did with his son. That left his mother to raise a young man who was close to 6 feet tall by the 6th grade and who started sprouting facial hair in his early teens. "My mother showed me everything," Banks says. Like many kids in the inner city his age, Banks sought to escape the poverty and death of his environment.
Early on he took to writing various musings - ghetto poetry, loose narratives, nothing quite structured, though he was influenced by rap gods like Big Daddy Kane and Slick Rick. "I listened to Big Daddy Kane a lot, cause that's what my pops listened to," he says. Banks' favorite songs were Rick's "Young World" and Kane's "Smooth Operator" and "Ain't No Half-Steppin'."
High school didn't agree with Lloyd Banks, so he dropped out before his 16th birthday. The free-writing he had been doing had morphed into full-fledged rhymes, but that was a secret. "I never let nobody know I did it," he says. But he soon got his courage up. "I started rhyming outside and everybody started telling me, 'You should shop your material.' This is before I even got in the studio."
Lloyd Banks appeared on local mixtapes, becoming one of the neighborhood's best unsigned rappers. His only competition was a childhood friend named Tony Yayo. One day, Tony, along with another childhood friend who rapped under the name 50 Cent, approached Banks with the idea of becoming a group. If Banks wanted to be down, he could be part of the crew that they were calling G-Unit. Banks was down. "I always felt like if I was to get into doing rap professionally, I wanted to get into it with somebody who was from my neighborhood," he says. "Who better than people who I've known my whole life?"
Fronted by 50 Cent, G-Unit quickly redefined the urban music industry. They produced a series of street albums with original numbers and high-quality artwork, making the discs something more than a bootleg, but not quite an independent release. 50 Cent was soon signed to Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records and released the instantly classic, record-breaking "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'," on which Lloyd Banks was featured. Then came G-Unit's "Beg For Mercy," which was still riding high in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 after four months on the shelves.
Though these successes allowed Lloyd Banks to tour the world multiple times over, one accomplishment means a bit more than all the rest: Banks was anointed as 2003's Mixtape Artist Of The Year due to his appearance on G-Unit mixtapes as well as his own "Money In The Bank" series.
"I take pride in that, 'cause I'm not qualified for an MTV Award or a Vibe Award or a Grammys or any of that yet," says Banks. "I got my name through the mixtapes. That's why people know Lloyd Banks today. That's where it built from. I skipped what a lot of rappers have to go through to get put on. I skipped "Making The Band," I skipped [106 & Park's] 'Freestyle Fridays,' the Lyricist Lounge - I skipped all that. I made my name on the mixtapes, on the streets. And that's the hardest thing to get right there."
Despite so many things going his way, Lloyd Banks is not prepared to take it easy. "People will tell me all the time, 'Look at your setup. You're guaranteed to make it.' I get upset when I hear that. Ain't nobody guaranteed nothing. I feel like they're looking at the situation wrong, 'cause I don't take advantage of nobody. I don't work less because you're working harder. I work real, real hard even though I know 50's there. He's there, he supports me 110 percent, but I don't want to put no extra pressure on him when I can do it. At the end of the day, I find myself working twice as hard."
Working twice as hard and still hungry.
He says "I'm the hungry young nigga in the crew. So if anyone has something to say about g-unit as a group or 50 Cent as an artist, he's the one who will respond." He knows they are hot right now and only want to get hotter.
I'm So Fly
I Don't Deserve You
Beamer, Benz, or Bentley
Any Girl
Genre: Rap
.Hardcore Rap. / HardcoreRap
.East Coast Rap. / EastCoastRap
.Gangsta Rap. / GangstaRap
x00s, x10s
Born: ..in Maryland / born nMaryland
Born: ..in Baltimore / born BaltimoreMD
Born: Apr 30, 1982
Raised: ..in New York
Raised: ..in New York City
Raised: ..in Queens / QueensNY
Based: ..in US
Based: ..in New York / based nNewYork
Based: ..in New York City / based NewYorkNY
Booking Lloyd Banks:
Rap Music Roster | Music Menu | Search
booking entertainment, such as major name entertainers or celebrities, booking Lloyd Banks, booking information on Lloyd Banks, or hiring Lloyd Banks for your special event, or to book or hire Lloyd Banks, or if you are seeking the Lloyd Banks booking agent for corporate entertainment or for a private party.
Consider the opportunity to book Lloyd Banks or other entertainers for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, business meeting or convention.
If you are not a talent buyer, we are unable to provide Lloyd Banks manager or management contact information.
Consider this your official Lloyd Banks booking agency web site – The booking agent who works for you!
This company acts as an entertainment consultant or broker/producer and does not claim or represent itself as the exclusive agent, representative or management of Lloyd Banks.
Incorrect or alternate spelling: loyde banks, llody banks, christopher lloyd, chris lloyd, lloyd bands, lyodd banks, llyod banks, lyod banks, lyodd banks, llyodd banks, loyd banks, lody banks, loloyd banks, llo, lloy lloyd b, lloyd ba, lloyd ban, lloyd bank, chris lloyde, Llyod Banks, lloyd-banks, lloydbanks
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Lloyd Banks, rap music artist - booking agent. This artist may be available for your event. Book him if you can. You will have the time of your life!
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Des Moines approves catch-and-release program for wild cats
Animal control officers will capture the animals, spay or neuter them, and return them to neighborhoods.
Des Moines approves catch-and-release program for wild cats Animal control officers will capture the animals, spay or neuter them, and return them to neighborhoods. Check out this story on desmoinesregister.com: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/12/15/des-moines-city-council-considers-catch-and-release-program-wild-cats-animal-rescue-league/2317097002/
Austin Cannon, Des Moines Register Published 2:43 p.m. CT Dec. 15, 2018 | Updated 6:11 p.m. CT Dec. 17, 2018
Holly is an 8-month-old, social, easy going and sweet kitten.(Photo: Contributed photo)
The Animal Rescue League of Iowa will soon begin rounding up feral cats in your neighborhood.
But don’t worry — the organization will bring them back.
The Des Moines City Council on Monday approved a new approach to handling so-called “community cats” — the ownerless felines that live outdoors. Animal control officers will capture the animals, spay or neuter them, and return the animals to neighborhoods.
► Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Des Moines Register.
Supporters of the “trap, neuter, return” ordinance say it helps manage cat populations more humanely. It keeps the cats from reproducing and can improve their lives with vaccinations.
“It’s pretty simple, really,” said Tom Colvin, CEO of the Animal Rescue League, which provides Des Moines' animal-control services.
A rescued cat peers out from a kennel at Animal Lifeline of Des Moines. (Photo: MICHAEL ROLANDS/Herald-Index)
Colvin said community cats live all over the city, from neighborhoods to warehouse districts. Some Des Moines residents, he said, support wild cats “undercover,” feeding or caring for them covertly because they’re afraid the ARL might remove the animals permanently.
The ARL will set traps. Cats that are captured will first be checked for signs of ownership (tags or microchip). Then a veterinarian will decide if the cat is healthy enough to be returned.
Cats will be checked for rabies and other diseases, spayed or neutered, and marked for future identification before being returned.
Colvin said the policy should help reduce the number of cats kept at the ARL shelter, which numbered around 50 animals on Friday at its animal control location. Across all its locations, the ARL is housing more than 1,000 cats.
The ordinance will go into effect March 1, 2019.
Read or Share this story: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/12/15/des-moines-city-council-considers-catch-and-release-program-wild-cats-animal-rescue-league/2317097002/
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Return to work coordination
Wednesday, 05/Jun/2019:
Session Chair: Mette Jensen Stochkendahl
Session Chair: Maurizio Trippolini
Location: Room 96
The Challenging Day-To-Day Situation of Return to Work Coordinators
Ellen MacEachen, Elena Neiterman, Ekaterina McKnight, Cindy Malachowski, Meghan Crouch
University of Waterloo, Canada
Introduction: Return to Work (RTW) Coordinators sit at a complex interface of workers, employers, insurers, and health care providers. This study set out to understand the day-to-day work RTW coordinators, including their performance expectations and how they make decisions when faced with competing demands.
Methods: An interpretive qualitative approach was used to gain a situated understanding of the day-to-day work and strategies of experienced RTW coordinators. The purposive sample included coordinators based within insurance and workers’ compensation, embedded in large organisations, and third party consultants to businesses. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 coordinators across Canada. Verbatim transcriptions of interviews were dual-coded and analysed using a modified grounded theory approach that emphasizes constant comparison.
Findings: Although the coordinators enjoyed the stimulation and variety of their work, burnout was also a present issue. RTW coordinators faced different pressures depending on their own employment contracts. Achieving a minimal claim duration was a performance expectation for most coordinators and particularly for contracted third party providers. A particular point of tension for the coordinators was physician recommendations about duration of work absence as it often conflicted with coordinator’s own focus on worker ability and speedy RTW. The coordinators gained the trust and cooperation of workers by creating a partnership environment, but their role in claim denial and their obligation to adhere to employer “zero absence” policies sometimes challenged these worker relationships.
Conclusion: RTW coordinators appear to be a growing profession in the context of public and also private insurer work disability policies that emphasize expedient return to work after an illness or injury. This analysis reveals some day-to-day challenges of this coordinating role and identifies strategies for managing this mediating role.
Mental Health And Work Reintegration: Tapping Return-To-Work Coordinator Strategies
Introduction: Mental health (MH) disorders constitute a considerable time and expense component of a return to work (RTW) trajectory. This is a particularly challenging area for RTW management because of its episodic, chronic and invisible nature. Professional RTW coordination is increasingly seen as a solution to management of difficult work injury cases given the complexity of the RTW process, which requires goodwill and cooperation among different parties who can have diverse interests and needs. The objective of this study was to tap rich RTW Coordinator front line practice experience of supporting RTW for clients with MH disorders and to create a “strategies guide” to be used by stakeholders.
Findings: RTW coordinators faced difficulties with managing RTW for MH because, unlike for physical health conditions, few standardised benchmarks exist for setting expectations about the timing of RTW. As well, mental health absences were often intertwined with challenging workplace relationships and RTW coordinators had limited influence over the work environment. RTW coordinators described particular strategies for managing mental health absences, including creating a “partnership” environment with the worker and particular ways of communicating with healthcare and workplace parties.
Conclusions: Return to work is a complex arena, and mental health poses unique challenges. RTW coordinators had rich practical expedience that provided insight into ways that RTW can be managed in the context of varied workplace situations.
Within The Ring Or Crisscross? Integration Of RTW-Services In Norway
Lisebet Skeie Skarpaas1,2, Lise Aasen Haveraaen2, Milada Cvancarova Småstuen1, William S. Shaw3, Randi Wågø Aas1,2,4
1Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway; 2Presenter - Making Sense of Science, Norway; 3University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA; 4University of Stavanger, Norway
Introduction: In return to work (RTW) programs, a coordinator has often been provided in order to integrate services. However, models of coordinating services vary widely internationally, and across different programs, where one distinction is between vertical and horizontal integration. The aim of this study was therefore to explore and describe if and how a coordinator was provided in the Rapid-RTW-program, and whether the provision of a coordinator was associated with certain personal or intervention characteristics.
Methods: The study was designed as a cohort study following employees participating in a variety of Rapid-RTW-programs (n=39). Employees (n=494) answered a self-administered questionnaire, which was linked to register data on diagnoses. Employees who reported to be provided with a coordinator were included in this analysis. Associations for being provided with a coordinator were tested in adjusted logistic regression models.
Results: Sixty-nine percent of the employees reported having a coordinator. The coordinators were mainly responsible for coordinating treatment within own services (i.e. horizontal coordination, 68%). Occupational rehabilitation-programs more often provided a coordinator compared treatment included assessment and surgery (OR 3.87 95% CI 2.42-6.24). More professions were involved in the programs that provided coordinators. In addition, when provided with a coordinator, there was more contact with other stakeholders like leaders and social security services, and more often, the service provided adaptations at the workplace for the individual employee. However, this signs of vertical integration were only evident for a limited number of employees.
Conclusion: In this study, seven of ten had a coordinator, which was associated with more professions and stakeholder involvement in the RTW-process. Still, most of these coordinators did not coordinate vertically between all the levels and intervention arenas for sick listed employees (i.e. workplace, social security, and health care services), as recommended in earlier research.
Does Coordination Make A Difference? Time To RTW In RTW-Services In Norway
Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess if the reported provision of a coordinator was associated with time to first- and first full- return to work (RTW) amongst sick-listed employees who participated in different Rapid-RTW programs in Norway.
Methods: The sample included employees on full-time sick-leave who participated in Rapid-RTW-programs (n=326), who provided information about the coordination of the services they received. The median age was 46 years (min-max. 21-67), and 71% were female. The most common reported diagnoses were musculoskeletal- (57%) and mental health disorders (14%). The employees received different types of individually tailored RTW-programs all aimed at a rapid RTW; occupational rehabilitation (64%), treatment for medical or psychological issues, including assessment, and surgery (26%), and follow-up and work clarification services (10%). It was common to be provided with a coordinator (73%). Outcomes were measured as time to first-RTW (graded and 100%) and first full-RTW (100%).
Results: Employees provided with a coordinator returned to work later than employees who did not have a coordinator; a median (95% CI) of 128 (80-176) days versus 61 (43-79) days for first-RTW, respectively. This difference did not remain statistically significant in the adjusted regression analysis. For full-RTW, there was no statistically significant difference between employees provided with a coordinator versus those who was not.
Conclusion: The model of coordination provided in the Norwegian rapid-RTW-programs, did not contribute to a more rapid RTW for sick listed employees. Rethinking how return to work coordination should be organised could be wise in future program development.
Comparing Multidisciplinary And Brief Intervention In Employees With Different Job Relations On Sick Leave Due To Low Back Pain – One Year Follow-up
Vivian Langagergaard1, Claus Vinther Nielsen2,3, Ole Kudsk Jensen1, Merete Labriola2,3, Pernille Pedersen3, Vibeke Neergaard Sørensen1
1Spine Center, Diagnostic Center, Silkeborg Regional Hospital, Denmark; 2Section of Clinical Social Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.; 3DEFACTUM, Central Denmark Region, Aarhus, Denmark
Not all individuals on sickness absence due to low back pain (LBP) may profit from the same intervention and the effect of a given intervention on return to work (RTW) may depend on their work situation. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether employees on sick leave due to LBP and with poor job relations will benefit more from a multidisciplinary intervention, while patients with strong job relations will benefit more from a brief intervention.
The study was designed as a randomised controlled trial comparing brief intervention with brief intervention plus multidisciplinary intervention. Employees, aged 18-60 years, were included in the study from October 2010 to August 2016 if they had been on sick leave for 4-12 weeks due to LBP with or without radiculopathy. They were divided into two groups, a group with poor job relations and a group with strong job relations based on their answers in the baseline questionnaire. Each group was randomised 1:1 to receive the brief intervention or brief intervention plus multidisciplinary intervention. The brief intervention comprised a clinical examination and advice offered by a rheumatologist and a physiotherapist, whereas the supplementary multidisciplinary intervention comprised the assignment of a case manager who drew up a rehabilitation plan in collaboration with the participant and the multidisciplinary team.
One-year RTW was estimated by register data, while functional capacity was measured by questionnaire data.
Results are not available yet, but will be presented at the conference.
This trail will indicate whether work-related characteristics should be considered when providing treatment of LBP patients in the health care sector.
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Topic: Puffed Siadin
Author Topic: Puffed Siadin (Read 5430 times)
Fishfinger
Re: Puffed Siadin
^ thanks, that is kind.
Every year, at the exact same time, the phone in the village's last phone box will ring. Puffed Siadin forbids it most strictly, but children dare each other to answer. Whoever so does will hear a woman drowning, muffled and distant and desperate. Always the same. It is wise to hang up before she notices you.
Gregory Torso
See the night. See how it climbs. And such nights cluttered with grease and oil sweats and things, things that travelled the burning ribbons of fog like carriageways of disease, that rode them into the houses of both husbands and wives.
Puffed Siadin stood in such a night and listened to it move and sing with the strange machinery he had made.
Soon, his wife would return. He had received this. From one of the very awful fog messengers, as he had stood motionless in the woods around, whilst others waited too, hidden behind trees or moving carefully through the mist, to receive word from their own lost, loved ones.
His body, old and papery, longed for rest, acceptance, or illumination. Something that might make its way back from that hungry sea that had swallowed his love. And here, he was not a husband, but a tombstone, a scarecrow, and a signpost.
Mulled wine in Cherbourg, on an atmospheric autumnal eve. There is a rap at the chalet door. "Entrer, mon ami!" calls PS, merrily. And in steps Dirk Bogarde, with the Ambassador of Montenegro. "It shall be a fine evening of song, merriment, and reminiscence!" Indeed it shall, Puffs, and will be one of the highlights of your 1976.
spamwangler
fay bentos
Puffed saladin gets his kicked in the nob LOL
Puffed Siadin sighs, and pours another cup of Earl Grey for himself. Humphrey is dozing gently in his chair next to him, as the sounds of this afternoon's cricket match echo from off to the left. The sun, while none too strong, still proves itself a constant companion as it assists in the creation of dappled shadows that flit across he veranda.
"I say, Humphrey."
Humphrey snorts and awakes with a "What?!"
"I say, Humphrey... I've been reminiscing again."
"Oh," chuckles Humphrey, "It's going to one of those evenings!"
"I just can't help myself, old chap."
There is a cheer and a peal of applause from the cricket ground. Siadin ignores it and continues.
"I've been thinking about the good old days... when we were at Cambridge together, with Foxy and Spotter and Nutkin, and Beaver and Jhossup and Ferg... we had such high hopes. And, well, we fulfilled some of them. But not all. I just wish I had some of that old vim and vigour in me now, Humphrey."
"Don't we all, old thing. Now, where did I put my crossword?"
"We were the Young Turks... we were ready to take on the world, and no-one, just no-one was go'ng 'a stop us!"
"Steady on, Puffers!" laughs Humphrey, looking around for his readers.
Siadin sighs. These bouts of melancholy are sometimes just too hard to bear. Gratefully, his kindly old friend is ever on hand to cheer him up.
"I tell you what, Puffs, after lunch, why don't you and I go down to the river and skip a few stones? Just for old times' sake, hmmm?"
"Why, that's a marvellous idea, Humpers! I'll go and see if my waders are still in the shed."
There is a stillness to the day. A lostness. But it is a day, nonetheless, and opportunity ever awaits.
Replies From View
Rubbing linseed oil into the school cormorant.
Gargoyles have milk bags.
It is feeding time for Puffed Siadin's new wife.
He lifts her jar down from the shelf in his pantry, and rotates her around in his hands. He admires how her skin presses tightly against the jar's edges, and how she has no obvious form but the shape of the jar itself. He smiles lovingly. She is perfect. A perfect wife. Nothing but gelatinous flesh against glass, almost entirely unstirring but for one adorable feature that absolutely makes his wife who she is.
Desperately, her mouth blobs open and closed against the glass. There is not one part of her that does not feel the deep, scouring pain of deliberately engineered ulcers and tumours. Strains of diseases pulse and burn through her. But she can breathe - don't worry. Her jar has air holes.
Puffed Siadin is so proud of her. So proud of his wife.
He unscrews the lid of her jar. Feeding time.
Puffed Siadin.
Puffed Siadin is preparing what will be his wife's sustenance for the entire Christmas week. He begins with her standard meal for today.
Inside his wife's mouth a blackbird skull goes. As she lacks teeth, Puffed Siadin must help her to chew. He places her gelatinous head on its side, holds her mouth shut to minimise spurtage, and with a claw hammer bashes her cheek firmly. Eventually the skull cracks and begins to break down into smaller and smaller pieces.
She is of course unable to swallow, so Puffed Siadin squirts a little lubrication into her mouth, then uses his fingers to manipulate the skull fragments to where they can be digested. Back in her jar, her eyes bubble a little, so he squirts a little more lemon juice into the pocket of fluid suspending her face. Such a dedicated and loving carer of his wife is Puffed Siadin.
That's her food for today, but what about the rest of the week? He will be away from home and would rather leave his wife here, on the shelf and in her jar, than take her with him where she will only get in the way.
Puffed Siadin takes his wife-mix to an ancient font underneath the town hall for a full body baptism. He empties her carefully in. She slops and runs beneath the oily surface, and then just her face is visible, like an egg white in a black broth. He will remake her, as he stirs her with a salvaged umbrella spoke.
Later he will go to the Courthouse to record his intent to remarry and declare his first wife driftwood, although he will mysteriously scrawl "I Am The Wendigo" across several important oblongs in the documents.
I saw Puffed Siadin once. There was something so wrong I couldn't take my eyes off him. I found myself following him into the butcher's. He was wearing this dark hat and suit and... something else. There was a film over his skin, a jelly almost, that somehow never touched him. You could hardly see it, but it'd ripple, just barely. I think it was breathing. And I swear, I was standing right behind him, he never moved, and this second skin just turned and looked at me.
A gang of horse thieves were paid to cremate what was claimed to be his mortal remains. On a far hilltop, the fire burned green and greasy. Puffed Siadin.
There is an invasion of gelatinous worms. Hips are shattered on slippery driveways. Prayers are offered, many miles away. There is a whiff of cloy.
PlanktonSideburns
time takes its toll, but not on the eyes
Now here's a top thread for a day of dread!
Four pages to sate the King.
The islets of Langerhans are the very best islets
What is in this sandwich I have bought from Boots? It is pieces of Puffed Siadin, drenched in salad cream. It is disgusting. But I must eat it anyway.
Puffed Siadin's children - white as 70s dogshit - dangle from their nooses. The crows won't touch them. It may be respect or fear. It feels like an age ago. Last night you dreamed again of tossing bones into the sea. It's better than nothing.
Puffed Siadin's secret butcher's shop is discovered. He was obviously attempting to splice the rear end of a hamster with the front end of a horse.
The flayed horsehamster is elected Mayor for a second term. Everyone must dance for a week. Puffed Siadin.
In a Martian bunker you dream of a beach holiday where crabs steal your toes and genitals. There was a choice once. His wife seemed nice. It's all so long ago. A breakfast of dust.
Went to school with Puffed Siadin. Breathe on a ventilator now. Meter accepts 10p coins only. Can just about reach. Three left. It's good what he's doing.
In the hospital they suck the marrow from your bones with straws. "Thank you," they say. "You're helping." On a poster on the wall, Puffed Siadin has his back turned on a hillside.
Exquisite stuff, Fishfinger.
They say there was a final hospice, where a torso was farmed for screams. The perpetual agony machine. It kept the gutters running. Puffed Siadin.
The crimson comet scars the sky. In the last pond, a fish's eye swells so big it explodes. There is no-one to see it. The spatter bakes in the unforgiving sun. In the tunnels on Mars they breed cancer.
Screaming mucous plops out of the town tap. Just a piece of his wife. Pay it no mind. Safe to drink. Drink it. Drink it now.
A row of neatly ordered bikes reminds you of more joyful times. But the bikes are parked in the slit sides of rotting pigs. You can just make out that the pigs have been branded with 'PS®'. You might rest here, but an asphyxiating ash-cloud that has escaped from one of the nearby Crematorium-Greggs forces you onward.
You ride a human centipede to work. One of the components is your daughter. You don't react. It's good what he's doing.
An order goes out to 'reverse the sewers'. At 11am on Christmas Day, pipe bombs go off everywhere. The blood, shit and bog roll is as expected. However, the huge chunks of human brains convulsing in a chorus of Wonderwall does come as a surprise. You can't remember the last time you were surprised. Silently you offer up a Puffed prayer of thanks.
In 1957, his tailor was found hanged from a gantry beneath the smell of a gangrenous moon. To have the measurements of a man is to have power over the man, they share in whispers. Although he was a bit of a cunt.
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Crime commissioner Alison Hernandez survives third vote of no confidence
Devon County Council's cabinet meeting in Exeter heard calls from the Liberal Democrats for the Conservative commission to step down
Olivier VergnaultSenior Reporter
Devon and Cornwall crime boss Alison Hernandez has survived a third vote of no confidence.
Devon County Council's cabinet meeting in Exeter heard calls from the Liberal Democrats for the Conservative police and crime commission (PCC) to step down.
The move followed comments she made on a BBC radio phone-in about armed civilians and terrorists and claims that her plan to develop community policing was failing.
In July the original row came about after Ms Hernandez suggested that vigilantes with guns could be part of the "solution" to fight terrorists – but later insisted the interview had been misinterpreted.
It is the second time Devon County Council debated whether the home secretary should remove Ms Hernandez after its original decision was postponed until today's meeting.
Ms Hernandez has described the new motion by Devon County Council as "naked politicking".
Crime commissioner Alison Hernandez faces vote of no confidence for third time
The embattled Conservative commissioner has already endured two votes of no confidence - one which she lost at Plymouth City Council and another by the police scrutiny panel, which she won.
Councillors in Cornwall are expected to debate a similar motion in November, proposed by the Labour group.
The details of this have not yet been released but the plan was confirmed to Devon Live by Cabinet member Andrew Mitchell.
The commissioner, who stood for election on a platform of community policing, made an extra £24 million available to the chief constable.
He opted to cut the 350 PCSOs by half and boost the officer numbers by 100, as well as bringing in dozens of new civilian investigators and telephone statement takers.
Lib Dem Alistair Dewhirst told the meeting at County Hall in Exeter this morning that crime was rising steadily in parts of the county.
Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez
Councillor Dewhirst said Ms Hernandez was failing to hold the chief constable to account.
“If she were then officers would be visible and accessible locally now,” he added. “It is obvious she is not up to the job, she has not been listening and not urged the chief constable to meet the needs of our community.
“We should request the chief executive to write to the home secretary to remove the PCC from office.”
Councillor Roger Croad, a Cabinet member and chairman of the Police and Crime Panel, spoke against the motion, which he said had been dealt with by the panel overseeing the PCC’s role.
He defended the commissioner and made the point that Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer took the staffing decisions and it had been his choice to axe PCSOs in favour of sworn officers.
“I am no apologist but the commissioner has made £24 million available for the next three years and it is the chief constable who decides how to spend it,” he added. “He came to the panel to explain his decision to recruit more warranted officers, in part because PCSOs are unable to tackle cyber-crime and terrorism-related incidents – and this is not an exhaustive list.
Mr Croad said the issue about M Hernandez’s comments about armed civilians had been addressed and she had acknowledged her comments were “hasty”.
Row breaks out over £21,000 cost of running town's public toilets
“This issue has been thoroughly investigated the Police and Crime Panel, a cross-party group with independent representation – it is their job to scrutinise and they are largely satisfied,” he said.
The motion was rejected by the Cabinet.
The latest row comes after the policing panel refused to sanction her plan to install a Tory colleague as her second-in-command.
Ms Hernandez was forced to abandon plans to hire staunch Conservative Mark Kingscote, who is a councillor in Torbay, as her £30,000-a-year deputy after being accused of nepotism.
Devon and Cornwall police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez faced a third motion of no confidence to have her removed from her post (Image: Penny Cross)
The panel looking into the appointment concluded that Mr Kingscote did not meet minimum requirements of the post.
Mr Kingscote, a NHS support worker, who once chained himself to railings to protest about the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, was once embroiled in a controversy over a tweet referring to lesbians as "lesbos", had been Ms Hernandez's choice for the role.
However the crime commissioner decided to ditch the appointment, rounding off what was a bruising few weeks.
The full motion put forward to Devon County Council's Cabinet today read as follows: "There is a general concern that the Police and Crime Commissioner is unfit and unsuitable for her job after making tactless comments about being “really interested” in licensed firearm owners being allowed to act during terrorist incidents.
This is the shocking truth about homelessness in Cornwall
"This Council believes that the Police and Crime Commissioner is wrong to propose reductions in Neighbourhood Policing, that proposals to utilise domestically owned firearms is a crass and inadequate response to mounting concerns about police cuts.
"We therefore request the chief executive to contact the Home Secretary requesting she uses whatever powers may be available to remove Ms Hernandez from office allowing Devon and Cornwall Police to continue the fight against crime at all levels and that Members of Devon County Council show their lack of support for the Police and Crime Commissioner by voting 'No Confidence' in her office."
PerranporthMajor search involving RNLI and Coastguard helicopter to find people in the seaOne man was taken to hospital
HealthMystery fatal virus is spreading in China - UK hospitals warnedThe death toll has increased to three
NewquayLive updates as 500 homes are left without power in St Columb MajorThere are three power cuts in the county at the moment
WeatherTemperatures plummet to -4 tonight as cold snap continues in Cornwall Expect frosty starts but we should see plenty of sunshine this week
AnimalsFarmer told to stop nailing dead rooks to postsIt's upset the neighbours
CornwallInside the £1.5 million house Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson is selling in Falmouth
Ricky has been frontman of the Kaiser Chiefs since the band formed in 2003
Cornwall NewsToday is Blue Monday and Cornwall is looking awful
Truro Crown CourtWanted man who 'played the system' is finally brought to justice
Joshua Trescothick is now behind bars and will remain so for considerable time
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Music, theatre and comedy in Devon & Cornwall this summer
How to get tickets to see top comedians, theatre shows, dance extravaganzas, talks, gigs and concerts in Devon and Cornwall this summer
Ginette Davies
Updated 10:43, 31 JUL 2019
There are so many big names performing across the South West this summer - from 80s musicians and big bands to comedians and Strictly Come Dancing stars.
So whatever your interest and where ever you are, there are plenty of live performances to enjoy at a range of venues.
Here we bring you our top 30 picks -
Tunes in the Castle August 3-4, Powderham Castle
(Image: Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Organisers of the Tunes on The Dunes at Perranporth are bringing the event to Exeter with the line-up including James Morrison, Joss Stone, Hayseed Dixie, Pixie Lott, Scouting for Girls, the SugarHill Gang, and X Factor star Lucy Spraggan.
Martin Kemp: Back to the 80s DJ set - August 9, The Foundry
(Image: Evening Gazette)
Following a string of rapturously-received sold-out shows around the UK in 2018, the former Spandau Ballet band member and actor will be back on the decks to spin all the biggest and best hits from the seminal 1980s.
Tickets from £20.90. Buy them here
Rolex Fastnet Race 2019: dates, live music and family fun
Beautiful Days, August 15-18, Escot Park
The festival is the Levellers’ independent family music festival organised by DMF Music and has been running for 16 years.
The festival has several stages where you can see the likes of Skunk Anansie, Ziggy Marley, The Stranglers and The Black Seeds perform, site art installations, wild spa, craft areas, healing garden and folk sessions.
Bill Ryder-Jones September 29, Exeter Phoenix
Previously the lead guitarist of The Coral, and with a career spanning 15 years, the multi-instrumentalist, producer, string-arranger and composer is playing a tour in support of his solo album Yawn.
An Evening with Will Young and Friends - October 1, Princess Theatre, Torquay and October 2, Plymouth Pavilions
(Image: black arts pr)
Will Young has sold more then 8 million albums after bursting onto the scene in 2002. His expansive career has culminated in four No.1 and two No.2 chart-topping albums, two BRIT Awards and four UK No.1 singles and the evening will have some surprises.
Tickets from £41.50. Buy for Torquay here and for Plymouth here
Gyles Brandreth gets ready to Break A Leg in Devon
Showaddywaddy October 2, Exeter Corn Exchange
(Image: Runcorn Weekly News)
The British pop/rock group formed in the 70s and were known for their covers of 1950s and 1960s US pop songs as well as their own material while dressed at Teddy Boys.
The group has continued to tour and do around 100 dates a year in the UK and Europe. The band currently consists of one remaining original member, Romeo Challenge.
Alexander O'Neil October 12, Lemon Grove
The Criticize singer has been in the business for more than three decades and is still selling out shows, bringing his R&B vibe to his fans. He released his first studio album for 15 years in 2018 and he will be performing hits from across the years.
Two Door Cinema Club - October 13
Indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club will be on tour to support the release of their latest album False Alarm. This is their fourth album, but the first in three years and will feature singles including Talk and Satellite. It is due for release on June 14.
Tickets are £33 available here
Bastille in Torquay: how to get your tickets
Kathryn Williams October 13, Exeter Phoenix
The Mercury Prize nominee has released 11 albums over her career including Little Black Numbers, Dog Leaps Stairs and her Sylvia Plath tribute.
You may also be interested in tickets for.......
Love Island star
80s stars
One for the kids
The Drifters October 25, Exeter Corn Exchange
The Drifters are back with a brand-new show performing all their classic hits from the last six decades including Saturday Night at the Movies, Come On Over to My Place, Under the Boardwalk and Up on The Roof.
Dreadzone - October 26, The Foundry
One of the most energetic, exciting and powerful live bands to emerge from the post-rave scene, Dreadzone have steadily been releasing albums and progressively bettering, refining and perfecting their own unique and inimitable take on dub since their inception in 1993.
Ticket from £19.25. Buy them here
Sindhu Vee: Sandhog - September 15, Exeter Phoenix
(Image: unknown)
She was nominated for best newcomer of the Edinburgh Comedy Award last year and she will be bringing her highly anticipated debut show on tour.
She said: "Loving your children, spouse and ageing parents (in that order, please don’t tell my mother) is very hard work, very intense and a lot of the time it sucks. But who wants to live without love?"
Tickets are £16.60 available here
Dave Gorman: With great powerpoint comes great Responsibilitypoint - October 27, Princess Theatre
(Image: Avalon)
Dave Gorman, the man behind Dave TV's hit show Modern Life Is Goodish as well as Are You Dave Gorman? and Googlewhack Adventure, is back on the road. He’s bringing his laptop and projector screen with him so expect him to have more detailed analysis of those parts of life you’ve never stopped to think about before.
Strictly's Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell will perform at Plymouth as part of tour
Jonathan Pie September 25-26, Exeter Phoenix
Jonathan Pie is the comedy sensation who satirises the world of politics and the media. A frustrated news reporter known for venting his spleen in unguarded “off-camera” rants, his online videos have been viewed by millions worldwide.
The Lost Voice Guy: I'm Only It For the Parking, October 2, Exeter Corn Exchange
Lee Ridley (aka Lost Voice Guy) was the first comedian to win Britain’s Got Talent and is making a return to Exeter after a sell out tour earlier this year. He is the first stand-up comedian to use a communication aid and his material is cutting edge.
John Robins: Hot Shame, October 3, Exeter Corn Exchange
The 2017 Edinburgh Comedy award winner who has appeared on Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, Live at the BBC, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, this show follows his sell-out The Darkness of Robins.
He has gained a reputation for finding humour in our bleakest moment so expect soul-bearing, self-lacerating, piping-hot shame!
Al Murray adds new dates to his tour, including Exeter
Richard Herring: RHLSTP October 6, Exeter Corn Exchange
He usually records a podcast in London, but he going on the road chatting with hilarious star guests. Previous guests include Stephen Fry, Dawn French, Sarah Millican, Steve Coogan and Bob Mortimer but you won't know until the night.
You can listen to all the 200+ previous episodes on Acast and iTunes. But it’s much more fun to see it live and hear all the bits that are too libellous and controversial to podcast.
Paul Zerdins Puppet poetry October 9, Exeter Corn Exchange
(Image: Publicity Picture)
The American comedian and his dysfunctional puppet family are back with a brand-new UK tour, featuring favourites Sam, Albert and Baby as well as his new bodyguard, an urban fox, some hilarious audience participation – and a talking ice cream.
He brings a mixture of master puppeteering, state of the art animatronic wizardry and a unique blend of edgy comedy.
Primal Scream announce UK tour - how to get tickets
Laurence Clark, October 26, Exeter Phoenix
The star of the BBC1’s documentary We Won’t Drop the Baby, which followed his family’s journey as they welcomed their second child, will be discussing the reaction to the show and his role as a father with cerebral palsy. It is a brutally honest and charming account of what it’s really like to be a disabled parent.
Jimeoin: Ramble On, October 30, Exeter Corn Exchange
The Irishman from Australia is acclaimed worldwide as one of live comedy’s true masters and his shows often sell out. This is your chance to see the award-winning star of TV shows including Live at the Apollo, Conan, Royal Variety Performance, CH4’s O2 Gala and Sunday Night at the Palladium – Live!
Kevin Bloody Wilson - October 30
The Kevin Bloody Wilson show is not just a concert performance; for most, it's a full on event and an opportunity to tick from your bucket-list, a chance to see Australia's most unique international comedy legend.
Tickets start at £33.85 available here
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone with a live orchestra is coming
DANCE/THEATRE
Bodyguard, October 21-31,Plymouth Theatre Royal
(Image: Daily Record)
Alexandra Burke stars in stage musical The Bodyguard. She plays superstar Rachel Marron who hires bodyguard Frank Farmer to protect her from an unknown stalker.
Each expects to be in charge - but what they don’t expect is to fall in love...
Vienna Festival Ballet - The Nutcracker, October 20, Exeter Corn Exchange
Get in the Christmas spirit early and enjoy the classic story about Clara and the enchanted Nutcracker doll who go on a wonderful journey, complete with enchanting choreography and unforgettable music.
Wonder Stuff to play classic albums in full at Exeter show
Simon Weston My Life My Story - September 7, Exeter Corn Exchange
(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
The former British former soldier and veteran of the 1982 Falklands War, suffered severe burns in the conflict and turned his attentions to charity work.
He has since met and become friends with the Argentine pilot who dropped the bomb (on the ship Sir Galahad) which caused his injuries.
Shaun Ryder, October 5, The Factory Petroc, Barnstaple
Shaun Ryder is bringing the Happy Mondays to the Westcountry (Image: Birmingham Mail)
You can meet the former frontman of the Happy Mondays and Black Grape at the event when he will discuss his life, career and the music industry.
You can hear his take on the Manchester music scene and first-hand accounts of mad incidents and the rock and roll activities he was involved in.
Happy Mondays bring their Greatest Hits to the Westcountry
Buy your tickets here
David Gower: On the Front Foot, October 14, Exeter Corn Exchange
The legendary former England cricket captain, who is lead anchor on Sky Sports Cricket, will share his thoughts on this years Cricket World Cup and The Ashes. Expect tales from captaining his national team to victory in the Ashes as well as memories flying a Tiger Moth over Queensland.
Secret Garden August 26, Powerderham Castle
Join Mary Lennox on a journey of discovery as she is sent to her uncle’s house in the countryside, where mysteries and secrets lurk round every corner and she searches for the hidden key to enter the secret garden.
Chapterhouse Theatre Company are taking their tale to some of the UK and Irelands most beautiful outdoor locations. You can take your own rugs or low-backed seating.
Sam and Mark's Roadshow September 29, Exeter Corn Exchange
CBBC stars Sam & Mark are heading to Devon this summer (Image: Publicity Picture)
Children’s TV royalty Sam and Mark, as seen on CBBC’s Big Friday Wind-Up and Copycats, are taking to the road with a brand new live show this half term. Join the BAFTA award winning duo for an unmissable hour of entertainment jam packed with sketches, jokes and games in a show full of fun and laughs for all the family
Disney on Ice October 23-27, Westpoint Arena, Exeter
A cast of more than 50 unforgettable Disney characters will be skating on the stage, with Mouse-ter of Ceremonies Mickey Mouse joined by Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and many of the Disney Princesses including Jasmine, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Ariel, Snow White and Tiana.
Buy tickets to Disney on Ice in Exeter
Disney on Ice will be heading to to Exeter from October 23 to 26 to mark 100 years of magic.
It will be at the Westpoint Arena and feature a cast of more than 50 unforgettable Disney characters skating on the stage and performing 30 of the best loved songs.
Tickets for Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic will be priced from £18.
Buy them here
You will also be able to relive the magic of Frozen with Anna, Elsa and the hilarious snowman Olaf as they discover that true love is the greatest magic of all, along with The Lion King, Toy Story, Finding Dory, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
New tour pays tribute to Queen's greatest hits in a spectacular way
The Dreamboys, October 10, Exeter Corn Exchange
(Image: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
The UK’s most famous girl’s night out, are back with a brand-new show and UK tour for 2019. Their breath-taking show spectacular has been perfectly created for hen nights, birthday parties and girl’s nights out with all your friends.
TruroCornwall singles bar opening tomorrow says people in relationships should stay awayIt's due to open on Monday
EducationCornwall school to host Operating Theatre Live organ dissection summer campBut it isn't cheap
MorrisonsMorrisons announces huge baby and toddler sale with prices slashed on toys and nappiesIt starts on Monday, January 20
Cornwall Fire and Rescue ServiceHistoric Finnygook Inn reopens two years after devastating fire'The pub has been at the heart of our village for centuries and to see it in ruins was truly heartbreaking'
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Lancaster parking problems persist; first step solution planned
November 15, 2018 Editor News, South Glengarry 0
In this June 2018, file photo, a section of Military Road in Lancaster, Ont. including Walter McDougall International Logistics. South Glengarry is taking the first step at trying to curb Lancaster employees, particularly from the trucking company, from parking on the street all day, taking up spaces for potential paying customers. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston)
LANCASTER – South Glengarry is looking at a number of aesthetic ideas to curb the problem of employees parking along Military Road – sometimes the entire workday.
The township council has been reluctant to put a parking bylaw in place for the three kilometer stretch of road in the village, which has more than 20 businesses.
At the same time, it hasn’t minced words about its frustration over one particular business allowing employees to park on the street all day, taking up possible parking spots for potential shoppers.
“There was an issue with trucks in…Lancaster and since that time it seemed to have gone away with change of ownership to a certain building, but it hasn’t gone away. There’s trucks parked on South Terrace for multiple days at a time. But that’s not the only issue. There’s also…the trucking company having employees parking on main street all day,” Coun. Trevor Bougie said during a council meeting last month.
Bougie wanted something “creative” to deal with the issue because speaking with the trucking company hasn’t helped. “Talking to these certain individuals hasn’t got us very far.”
This is not the first problem with Walter McDougall International Logistics. In May, the township said it met several times with the company over “numerous complaints” about trucks parked in the municipal lot on Collin Street. Walter McDougall’s previous parking arrangement in the former Berrigan’s property came to an end when that property was sold. The company maintains the township has “created their problem,” according to a May 22 staff report.
The parking plan, unveiled last week, includes signs indicating “complementary parking” with local business highlighted or the entire downtown area, painting parking spots on the road and talking with business owners to make sure their employees are parking on side streets.
Economic Development Coordinator Shauna Baggs told council last week all the options wouldn’t cost a lot. Since Military Road is also a county road, the township is working with the county on the sign option, which would cost about $100 per sign.
“It’s a good presentation. I still don’t see a solution to the problem. If the employees of any of the businesses along there want to park there, what stops them from parking there? You can say be a good neighbour, you can put lines, you can put signs…but what’s stopping them? What’s the solution to that?” Coun. Bill McKenzie said.
Baggs conceded that there is nothing that can stop them because there’s no parking bylaw.
Deputy Mayor Frank Prevost and Coun. Trevor Bougie were in support of all three ideas.
The report on parking options was received for information by council but no action was taken last week (Nov. 5).
Thumbs Up (7)Thumbs Down (18)
Berrigan's Pub
Bill McKenzie
Collin Street
Frank Prevost
Shauna Baggs
Trevor Bougie
Walter McDougall International Logistics
Cornwall hiring deputy fire chief
Ton of tobacco; 60 days jail
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IKEA supports marginalised women in India with handmade homeware collection
Ali Morris | 30 March 2018 Leave a comment
Banana-fibre baskets and handwoven textiles feature in IKEA's seventh Innehållsrik collection, made in collaboration with small-scale producers in India.
The indigo-themed Innehållsrik collection is spearheaded by the Swedish brand's IKEA Social Entrepreneurs initiative – a programme set up in 2013 to establish long-term partnerships with social enterprises that help marginalised people all around the world.
For the latest edition of Innehållsrik – meaning "comprehensive" in Swedish – IKEA Social Entrepreneurs worked with two social enterprises in India, called Rangsutra and Industree.
Both Rangsutra and Industree work with artisans in India to nurture local handcraft traditions. Rangsutra employs over 3,000 skilled artisans, 500 of which are engaged in the production of the IKEA collections.
Meanwhile, Industree supports the livelihoods of around 600 artisans. Of these, 510 are engaged in the production of the IKEA collections and 80 per cent are women.
The production of the Innehållsrik collection provides work for the skilled female artisans, helping them to improve their everyday living standards and move from dependency to independence.
The collection was designed by product developer Stina Engler and designer Sarah Fager, and developed together with the artisans at Rangsutra and Industree.
As well as the banana fibre baskets, it includes handwoven and hand-embroidered blankets, towels and cushion covers.
"We'd already decided that we wanted Innehållsrik to have a beachy theme with a blue colour and natural materials, but it wasn't until we travelled to New Delhi that the collection really came alive," said Engler of the design process.
"We saw these amazing blue patterned textiles which just spoke to us straight away. And then meeting the artisans, we were able to bounce ideas off each other, decide on embroidery and what type of weaving to use."
Since 2013, the number of IKEA social enterprise partners has grown from four to 17. Today, IKEA says it contributes to the livelihoods of more than 10,500 people through its partnerships with social enterprises.
IKEA aims to take 200,000 people out of poverty in massive social sustainability drive
"To support the development of our social enterprise partners and to help them grow, we work closely together to share knowledge about design, production, environmental management, export and much more," said IKEA.
"Most importantly, the social enterprises gain access to a global marketplace – the IKEA stores and online platforms – providing a strong foundation for self-sufficiency and independence."
The Innehållsrik collection is made up of 18 products that will be sold at select IKEA stores.
The handmade items are priced in line with the rest of IKEA's affordable mass-produced items. An Innehållsrik throw costs £25, the bath towel is £12.50, while a set of textile-lined boxes with a lid are £7 each.
IKEA, which ranked at number one on Dezeen Hot List 2017, now has a whole host of philanthropic ventures under its belt.
The most high-profile of these are its refugee shelters, designed to offer an alternative to the unlockable tents that are more commonly used to house victims of displacement. Despite some setbacks, including concerns about the product's vulnerability to fire, the project won the Design of the Year prize in 2016.
Last year, the Swedish brand announced that it would employ refugees at production centres in Jordan as part of a long-term plan to create employment for 200,000 disadvantaged people around the world through social entrepreneurship programmes.
And, in 2016, the company worked with the Red Cross to build a replica of a real Syrian home inside its Norwegian flagship store. It was intended to give customers a realistic glimpse of what life is like in the war-torn country.
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Dayco Poland Merger Plan
By Enzo Rabante
December 30, 2019 – Managment Board of Dayco Poland spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością, with its registered office in Tychy (Poland), address: ul. Strefowa 27, 43-100 Tychy, entered into the Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register kept by the District Court for Katowice – Wschód in Katowice, VIII Commercial Division of the National Court Register, under KRS number 0000443289 pursuant to Article 500 § 21 CCC, hereby announces the merger plan with Dayco Aftermarket Poland spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością, with its registered office in Warsaw, address: ul. Towarowa 28, 00-839 Warsaw, entered into the Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register kept by the District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw in Warsaw, XII Commercial Division of the National Court Register, under KRS number 0000502243 agreed on December 11 2019.
Acquiring Company:
Form: Limited-liability company
Name: Dayco Poland spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością
Registered Office: Tychy, Poland
Registered Office Address: ul. Strefowa 27, 43-100 Tychy
Register Designation: The District Court for Katowice – Wschód in Katowice, VIII Commercial Division of the National Court Register
Register Entry Number: 0000443289
Share Capital: PLN 40,000,000
Acquired Company:
From: Limited-liability company
Name: Dayco Aftermarket Poland spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością
Registered Office: Warszawa, Poland
Registered Office Address: ul. Towarowa 28, 00-839 Warszawa
Register Designation: The District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw in Warsaw, XII Commercial Division of the National Court Register
Share Capital: PLN 100,000
The merger shall be effected pursuant to Article 492 § 1 (1) of the CCC by transferring to the Acquiring Company all of the assets and liabilities of the Acquired Company.
Bearing in mind that the Acquired Company is a single-member subsidiary of the Acquiring Company the merger shall be effected under the simplified merger procedure as referred to in Article 516 § 6 of the CCC.
In accordance with Article 493 § 1 of the CCC the Acquired Company shall be dissolved without going into liquidation, a of the day of its deletion by the court from the Register of Entrepreneurs of the National Court Register.
According to Article 494 § 1 of the CCC, as a result of the merger, the Acquiring Company will enter into all rights and obligations of the Acquired Company as at the merger date. In particular, on the merger date, all licenses, concessions and reductions granted to the Acquired Company, shall be transferred to the Acquiring Company unless the act or the decision on granting the license, concession or reduction provides otherwise.
On the merger date, in accordance with art. 93 § 2 of the Tax Ordinance, the Acquiring Company shall enter into all the rights and obligations of the Acquired Company, as provided for in the provisions of the tax law.
The merger plan is below:
上一篇文章Dayco Dave Back in Porsche Carrera Cup and the Supercar Enduros
下一篇文章Dayco Appoints Michael Weiss as President Powertrain Operations
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The Truth About Viking Funerals At The Movies
VIKING FUNERALS AT THE MOVIES
SETTING SAIL ON THE MOVIE MYTHS
By Gail Rubin
Some folks think a Viking funeral would be a great way to send off a loved one. This idealized grand gesture is mainly influenced by films churned out by Hollywood studios. The way the movies portray it, Vikings dispatched their honored dead by laying the body on a boat and setting the vessel on fire with flaming arrows. This isn't how they sent-off their deceased, so where did we first get this notion?
BEAU GESTE: THE FIRST APPEARANCE
Beau Geste (1939) stars Gary Cooper, Ray Milland and Robert Preston as three brothers who run off to join the French Foreign Legion. In a flashback to childhood, the brothers are playing with toy boats on a pond. Beau, the oldest (played by a very young Donald O'Connor), knights his younger brother John and promises him a Viking's funeral. They take one of the toy boats and lay a toy soldier on a box of matches. "Wait a minute! A Viking always has to be buried with a dog at his feet," says Beau. A toy dog is fetched from the study and added to the boat, the matches lit and the boat cast off. They stand at attention with hats removed while brother Digby blows his trumpet in last post salute as the boat sinks in flames. "That's what I want when my time comes," says Beau, creating the myth that Viking funerals take place at sea.
THE VIKINGS: GRAND VISION IDEALISED
Even 20 years later the apocryphal myth of Viking sea burial is evidenced in The Vikings (1958) starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis as two brawling Viking half-brothers. This grand costume drama ended with the Viking funeral that became idealized in popular culture. "Prepare a funeral for a Viking," Tony Curtis intones after the mano-a-mano fight that leaves Kirk Douglas dead. At sundown, the community assembles by the sea with flaming torches already lit. On a bier constructed of shields and spears, four Vikings in war gear bear his body to a boat at shore. The Vikings lay his body on the deck and leave. The massive striped sail drops into place. An archer dramatically shoots a flaming arrow onto the sail, and the boat is cast adrift. Other archers join in, shooting arrows at the departing boat as the music swells, the sun sets, and the vessel is fully engulfed in flames. An iconic movie image, but a poor facsimile of history. There are many examples of Norse cremation sites and cemeteries throughout Scandinavia. However when a Viking body was cremated in a boat, the vessel was always parked on land, often burned or buried with their personal belongings inside.
ROCKET GIBRALTAR: A LATER VERSION
Worthers Original junkies
Rocket Gibraltar (1988) stars Burt Lancaster as the patriarch of a large, dysfunctional family that comes together at his beachside home to celebrate his 70th birthday. His eight grandchildren ask him what he would like as a gift. He tells them 'no ties, no socks', he wants a 'Viking funeral!'. On the beach at night, he describes how the Vikings would send off their honored dead, (just as depicted in the 1958 film). The kids are inspired by Grandpa's vision. They find an abandoned rowboat, named Rocket Gibraltar, rig it up with a striped sail and embellish the bow with driftwood.
On his birthday, the kids find Grandpa has expired from a heart condition while taking a nap. As the big party gets underway, the kids smuggle Grandpa's body out of the house. They hijack the caterer's van to take the body to the beach and give him his Viking funeral. When the parents finally figure out what's up, there's a mad dash to the seashore. They arrive upon the scene to find Grandpa already up in flames. Remarkably, they don't discipline their children for what they have done. They just sit down and watch that sucker burn.
EULOGY AND THE LIVING WAKE: OTHER VISIONS
Eulogy (2004) is a comedy that brings another dysfunctional family together for the funeral of a wayward patriarch. In this ending, the family takes the body in a casket on a rowboat to a pond. Twin brothers drill holes in Grandpa's casket, pour gasoline inside, and shoot arrows at the boat from a distance. In this instance, there's a huge explosion that is most satisfying.
The Living Wake (2007) is a dark comedy that follows the last day in the life of K. Roth Binew (Mike O'Connell), a self-proclaimed artist and genius. After learning of his imminent demise, he's keen to have a Viking funeral for his send-off. He drops by the local funeral parlor to see if one could be arranged. The indignant funeral director tells him to take his business elsewhere. Binew expires on schedule at his living wake final performance. His best friend, Mills Joquin (Jesse Eisenberg), takes the body to a pond, transfers the coffin to a boat, sets it ablaze and gently pushes it away from the dock.
CARPET KINGDOM: EXPLODING AUTHENTICITY
Carpet Kingdom (2008) is a comedy short about living and dying authentically. It starts when Great Uncle Grover (Harry O'Toole) dies unexpectedly and is buried with a traditional funeral. At the visitation, his nephew Owen (Levi Holloway) spies one of Grover's war buddies placing a small pistol in the dead man's jacket. Unbeknownst to Owen, Grover's three war buddies had all pledged to each other that when their time came, they would give each other a Viking funeral. Once he finds this out, Owen finds a way to give his uncle that grand send-off.
Carpet Kingdom: Viking funeral that's completely lost at sea
The veterans and Owen get the casket to the shores of Lake Erie and into the water where it floats in the shallows. One of the veterans, who's on oxygen, asks, "How we gonna set it on fire?" Owen grabs the man's oxygen tank and puts it in the casket with his uncle. He retrieves the pistol, and in a final showdown witnessed by everyone who was at the funeral, he shoots the casket. It blows up in spectacular fashion.
The last line, from the veteran who now has no oxygen, is "I don't want a Viking funeral. I want to be blown to kingdom come!"
THE TRUTH ABOUT VIKING FUNERALS
Despite these Hollywood depictions, Viking funerals and cremations were held on land. The rituals, including burial and cremation, varied throughout the Viking Age of Scandinavian history, approximately 790 A.D. to 1066 A.D. For wealthy or important individuals, a boat, a cart or horses were buried with the body, as a means of transporting their spirit to the Great Beyond.
In some cases there was human sacrifice. A thrall, a woman kept in a drunken stupor, raped by the clan's men and put into the fire with the deceased, was a part of the funeral ritual. Think about that the next time you hear the word "enthralled."
So, whenever you see a movie with a flaming boat on the water, know that this depiction of a Viking funeral is out to sea.
And don't even get me started on the Viking helmets...
in deep: atomic age on film
in deep: from factual to fantastic
back to film articles
in focus: lifeboat
in focus: me & Orson Welles
back to film reviews
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Trip to Singapore
See the World's Tallest Indoor Waterfall at this New Airport
It's one of the world's top ten busiest airports, with a flight every 80 seconds. A hundred airlines transport over 60 million passengers yearly to and from Singapore's Changi airport. So millions of travelers are already familiar with the breathtaking Nature features in the airport that's the gateway to Asia's 'City in a Garden'.
But 2019's new Jewel Changi Airport brings the natural world into an airport environment in a whole new, spectacular way that makes Singapore's airport a destination itself.
The Rain Vortex was inspired by Singapore's tropical rains. It's a 7-story feat of design and engineering that astounds you the moment you walk in the door. At over 130 feet high, it's the tallest indoor waterfall in the world, cascading dramatically through an oculus in the glass and steel dome.
The experience of the Rain Vortex changes depending what time of day you are at Jewel Changi Airport. Every evening, the flowing water, along with mist and music, becomes the centerpiece of an hourly, magical Light & Sound show designed by the same company responsible for the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and hundreds of other water, fire, light, fog and music installations around the world.
Jewel's indoor waterfall is surrounded by 5 acres of lush gardens and greenery – 2000 trees and 100,000 shrubs from 120 species in different 'parks' that make Jewel Changi Airport a lifestyle destination for visitors and locals too.
Areas like Forest Valley and Canopy Park are shopping and dining neighborhoods in a whimsical green wonderland, with cobblestone walking trails, indoor clouds, play attractions like Sky Nets, Hedge Maze, Mirror Maze and Discovery Slides that flow through themed gardens - all in climate-controlled comfort. In a man-made environment, you can enjoy tropical gardens without tropical weather!
With all the world-class shopping, dining and entertainment, Jewel is still a functioning airport that anticipates travelers' needs and offers conveniences that are a breath of relief, even for travelers with only a brief stopover in Singapore.
Thoughtful airport facilities that have been added in Jewel include early check-in counters and kiosks, a baggage storage service and the Changi Lounge, a 150-seat lounge with shower facilities, offering seamless transfers for passengers connecting to and from cruise and ferry services
Jewel also has the first YOTELAIR in Asia. The tech-savvy, smart-design, space-efficient cabin hotel concept has 130 cabin-units in Jewel in three categories. The Premium, Accessible and Family cabins can be booked for as little as four hours. They are a game changer for travelers with short daytime layovers, a very early arrival in Singapore, even an extra half day to spend time exploring all that the airport has to offer before you fly out of Singapore - even overnight stays. Hotel check-in / check-out is seamless, with time-saving, airline-style self-check-in kiosks.
Jewel also adds capacity to accommodate increasing numbers of travelers at Changi Airport. Another 3 million passengers will now be able to be accommodated annually, bringing the airport's total capacity to 85 million. And it's going to be needed with an airport that's enough reason alone to visit Singapore.
The multi-faceted innovation at Jewel gives local residents a new destination where lush Nature meets Singapore's urban energy. And it gives a renewed sense of novelty and wonder at the experience of air transportation to everyone traveling to or from Singapore.
Photos: Jewel Changi Airport Devt.
The Return of a Legend: Singapore's Raffles Hotel Re-opens
It's one of a handful of heritage hotels around the world that defi...
© Distant Travel 2020
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TCEA 2019: 5 Ways to Improve Your E-Rate Process
EdTech Magazine
TCEA 2019: 5 Ways to Improve Your E-Rate Process. Sovereign and Martinez presented several best practices that can guide districts to E-rate success. Build an E-Rate Team in Your District. MORE FROM EDTECH : E-rate applications slow despite available funds. MORE
E-rate EdTech Twitter Outcomes 133
How A Deregulated Internet Could Hurt America’s Classrooms
Schools across the country are nervously watching to see if the Federal Communications Commission chooses to repeal Obama-era regulations that protect an open internet, often referred to as “net neutrality.” Companies can’t block access to any websites or apps, and can’t meddle with loading speeds. Studies have shown discrepancies in access to internet, especially with poor schools and in rural schools that lack high-speed internet. MORE
E-rate Libraries Broadband Accessibility 50
Getting started: Your E-rate cheat sheet
It’s that time of year again–the federal E-rate program is getting underway, and with program updates and refreshes in recent years, you might need a primer on this year’s program. Ancillary E-Rate News MORE
Hack Education Weekly News
Wheeler supported e-Rate reform and “ net neutrality.” The BBC reports that “ Cuba signs deal for faster internet access to Google content.” ” Meanwhile, “ Germany -wide consortium of research libraries announce boycott of Elsevier journals over open access,” according to BoingBoing. The Trump Administration. MORE
Elsevier Knewton Pearson Report 56
” “Modern E-Rate Puts Telephones On Hold in K–12,” Education Week reports , noting that schools are struggling to pay for phone service (still totally necessary) as well as expanded broadband. Via Education Week : “One million high school students from low-income families will receive free internet access under President Barack Obama’s ’ My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative for minority males, the White House announced.” MORE
lynda.com Knewton Khan Academy Broadband 67
8 Steps to Create a Successful Modern Learning Space
Only when access to technology is consistent and predictable will teachers be willing to incorporate digital tools into their planning. Many school districts fund essential networking upgrades through the federal Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund , more commonly referred to as E-rate. Often, vendors work with districts to identify products that are eligible for E-rate funding. 8 Steps to Create a Successful Modern Learning Space. MORE
E-rate EdTech Libraries STEM 117
E-rate Terminology for Educators
Education Superhighway
One of the barriers to entry for the E-rate program is the difficulty in understanding the technical terminology required to file for data services. For more detailed information, please refer to our terminology guidance in our upgrade toolkit. MORE
E-rate Accessibility Data Industry 52
Edtech in Rural Education
eSpark
This holds true for any school district, but in rural communities, where general access to technology is often limited, it is especially important. Piedmont students that lived outside the city limits were given access to mobile wi-fi hotspots for $15-$40 a month. MORE
EdTech E-rate Education iPad 60
Via CNET : “ Verizon to pay $17M to resolve FCC, Justice E-Rate probes.” Anyway, looks like we’re back to referring to SoFi as a “student loan provider” and not some other new-fangled fin-tech darling. “ Sprint Rolls Out Effort to Boost Student Connectivity, Tech Access,” says EdWeek’s Market Brief. (National) Education Politics. From the White House Press Office : “ President Donald J. MORE
Coursera MOOC Report Robotics 57
Why the FCC’s E-rate Makes Funding High-Speed Internet a Slow Crawl
For more than 20 years, the Federal Communications Commission has directed the multi-billion dollar E-rate program, which provides taxpayer-supported construction and service discounts that districts and libraries can use toward internet costs. In 2014, the FCC modernized the E-rate program, raising the overall funding cap to about $4 billion, making more money available for schools and libraries. Solix declined to comment, referring all questions back to USAC. MORE
E-rate Broadband Survey Analysis 99
3 tips for jumpstarting your district’s connectivity discussion
This year’s E-rate cycle may be over, but in order to be well prepared for the next one, now is the time to start the connectivity conversation with your school district. MORE
Broadband E-rate Accessibility Data 67
3 Questions To Start the Connectivity Conversation in Your School District
In today’s classrooms, basic Internet access is not enough. Having high-speed access in school networks is now a necessity in every child’s education. For school districts, preparation for the school year begins long before the first day of school. MORE
Broadband E-rate Digital Learning Accessibility 52
After Net Neutrality, Experts Expect Changes to FCC’s E-Rate
It’s no great overstatement to say that the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision to rollback net neutrality protections has shaken the education community’s faith in open and equitable internet access for all students. But the tea leaves for E-Rate are pretty positive actually. Rather, it's centered in the popular E-Rate program, which has provided billions of dollars in broadband discounts and infrastructure upgrades to schools and libraries. MORE
E-rate Broadband Digital Divide Libraries 101
In today’s classrooms, basic Internet access is not enough. Having high-speed access in school networks is now a necessity in every child’s education. Whether you’re inquiring for your own reference or to convince colleagues of the importance of a network upgrade, having an understanding of what your broadband costs could be is important. For school districts, preparation for the school year begins long before the first day of school. MORE
Network Essentials: Successful Procurement
Although the E-rate program provides substantial financial support, there is sometimes still a “gap” in funding that cannot be covered using the district’s existing budget. Reports from your WAN and Internet Access service providers. MORE
Broadband E-rate Company Accessibility 72
Schools in the poorest state become even poorer
The Hechinger Report
Access to technology is another funding-related struggle. “If If E-rate didn’t fund our technology, we didn’t get it,” he said, referring to a federal program that makes telecommunications and Internet access more affordable for schools and libraries. “We MORE
Elementary Advocacy E-rate Comparison 63
It’s that time of year again–the federal E-rate program is getting underway, and with program updates and refreshes in recent years, you might need a primer on this year’s program. MORE
E-rate Broadband Training Company 52
Major Telecom Sprint Pledges to Bring Web Connectivity to 1 Million Students
Marketplace K-12
Students participating in the program will receive either a free smartphone, tablet, laptop, or “hotspot” device that offers them access to the web. That term refers to students lacking internet connectivity away from school, which leaves them unable to complete assignments online that their peers from more privileged backgrounds routinely complete without a hitch. families with children in school do not have home broadband access. MORE
E-rate Smartphone Company Digital Divide 73
Technology and Casey Green on campus: Future Trends Forum #3, notes and full recording
Another persistent trend is challenges caused by growing user numbers and activites, including both generating and demanding more data, online behavior abuses, security threats, and challenges about accessibility. He references the plight of adjuncts, including Doonesbury’s take. MORE
Trends LMS VLE OER 62
Only 28% of Districts Have Enough Bandwidth to Use Digital Learning Every Day
As America’s classrooms become increasingly connected, the nation inches ever closer to reaching a major milestone: 100 percent of schools with high-speed internet access, defined as at least 100 kbps (or 100 thousand bits per second) per student. million students who lack internet access, the nonprofit is also looking ahead to the future, when 1 Mbps per student becomes the new broadband benchmark. Last year, when 94 percent of districts had access to high-speed broadband and 6.5 MORE
Broadband Digital Learning E-rate Accessibility 131
Accessibility E-rate Reference Related Topics
Broadband MOOC Digital Divide Libraries Digital Learning Online Learning Technology Education EdTech Learning More Related Topics >
TCEA 2019: 5 Ways to Improve Your E-Rate Process. Sovereign and Martinez presented several best practices that can guide districts to E-rate success. Build an E-Rate Team in Your District. MORE FROM EDTECH : E-rate applications slow despite available funds.
E-rate 133
It’s that time of year again–the federal E-rate program is getting underway, and with program updates and refreshes in recent years, you might need a primer on this year’s program.
E-rate 52
One of the barriers to entry for the E-rate program is the difficulty in understanding the technical terminology required to file for data services. For more detailed information, please refer to our terminology guidance in our upgrade toolkit.
It’s that time of year again–the federal E-rate program is getting underway, and with program updates and refreshes in recent years, you might need a primer on this year’s program. Ancillary E-Rate News
For more than 20 years, the Federal Communications Commission has directed the multi-billion dollar E-rate program, which provides taxpayer-supported construction and service discounts that districts and libraries can use toward internet costs. In 2014, the FCC modernized the E-rate program, raising the overall funding cap to about $4 billion, making more money available for schools and libraries. Solix declined to comment, referring all questions back to USAC.
It’s no great overstatement to say that the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision to rollback net neutrality protections has shaken the education community’s faith in open and equitable internet access for all students. But the tea leaves for E-Rate are pretty positive actually. Rather, it's centered in the popular E-Rate program, which has provided billions of dollars in broadband discounts and infrastructure upgrades to schools and libraries.
This year’s E-rate cycle may be over, but in order to be well prepared for the next one, now is the time to start the connectivity conversation with your school district.
Broadband 67
Students participating in the program will receive either a free smartphone, tablet, laptop, or “hotspot” device that offers them access to the web. That term refers to students lacking internet connectivity away from school, which leaves them unable to complete assignments online that their peers from more privileged backgrounds routinely complete without a hitch. families with children in school do not have home broadband access.
As America’s classrooms become increasingly connected, the nation inches ever closer to reaching a major milestone: 100 percent of schools with high-speed internet access, defined as at least 100 kbps (or 100 thousand bits per second) per student. million students who lack internet access, the nonprofit is also looking ahead to the future, when 1 Mbps per student becomes the new broadband benchmark. Last year, when 94 percent of districts had access to high-speed broadband and 6.5
Broadband 131
Only when access to technology is consistent and predictable will teachers be willing to incorporate digital tools into their planning. Many school districts fund essential networking upgrades through the federal Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund , more commonly referred to as E-rate. Often, vendors work with districts to identify products that are eligible for E-rate funding. 8 Steps to Create a Successful Modern Learning Space.
Schools across the country are nervously watching to see if the Federal Communications Commission chooses to repeal Obama-era regulations that protect an open internet, often referred to as “net neutrality.” Companies can’t block access to any websites or apps, and can’t meddle with loading speeds. Studies have shown discrepancies in access to internet, especially with poor schools and in rural schools that lack high-speed internet.
This holds true for any school district, but in rural communities, where general access to technology is often limited, it is especially important. Piedmont students that lived outside the city limits were given access to mobile wi-fi hotspots for $15-$40 a month.
EdTech 60
Although the E-rate program provides substantial financial support, there is sometimes still a “gap” in funding that cannot be covered using the district’s existing budget. Reports from your WAN and Internet Access service providers.
Another persistent trend is challenges caused by growing user numbers and activites, including both generating and demanding more data, online behavior abuses, security threats, and challenges about accessibility. He references the plight of adjuncts, including Doonesbury’s take.
In today’s classrooms, basic Internet access is not enough. Having high-speed access in school networks is now a necessity in every child’s education. For school districts, preparation for the school year begins long before the first day of school.
In today’s classrooms, basic Internet access is not enough. Having high-speed access in school networks is now a necessity in every child’s education. Whether you’re inquiring for your own reference or to convince colleagues of the importance of a network upgrade, having an understanding of what your broadband costs could be is important. For school districts, preparation for the school year begins long before the first day of school.
Access to technology is another funding-related struggle. “If If E-rate didn’t fund our technology, we didn’t get it,” he said, referring to a federal program that makes telecommunications and Internet access more affordable for schools and libraries. “We
Via CNET : “ Verizon to pay $17M to resolve FCC, Justice E-Rate probes.” Anyway, looks like we’re back to referring to SoFi as a “student loan provider” and not some other new-fangled fin-tech darling. “ Sprint Rolls Out Effort to Boost Student Connectivity, Tech Access,” says EdWeek’s Market Brief. (National) Education Politics. From the White House Press Office : “ President Donald J.
Coursera 57
Wheeler supported e-Rate reform and “ net neutrality.” The BBC reports that “ Cuba signs deal for faster internet access to Google content.” ” Meanwhile, “ Germany -wide consortium of research libraries announce boycott of Elsevier journals over open access,” according to BoingBoing. The Trump Administration.
Elsevier 56
” “Modern E-Rate Puts Telephones On Hold in K–12,” Education Week reports , noting that schools are struggling to pay for phone service (still totally necessary) as well as expanded broadband. Via Education Week : “One million high school students from low-income families will receive free internet access under President Barack Obama’s ’ My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative for minority males, the White House announced.”
lynda.com 67
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End Point’s New Tennessee Office — We’re Hiring!
By Benjamin Goldstein
End Point has opened a new office for our Liquid Galaxy business in Bluff City, Tennessee. Bluff City is in the Tri-Cities region in the eastern corner of Tennessee. Our new place is 3500+ square feet and has ample office and warehouse space for our growing Liquid Galaxy business.
From our start back in 1995, End Point has always been a “distributed company” with a modest headquarters in Manhattan. (The headquarters was especially modest in our early days.) The majority of End Point’s employees work from their home offices. Our work focusing on development with Open Source software and providing remote systems support requires relatively little space, so our distributed office arrangement has been a cost-effective and wonderful way to work.
However, over the last four years our work with Liquid Galaxy systems has presented us with some old-fashioned physical-world challenges. Our space requirements have steadily increased as we’ve tested more and more components and built several generations of Liquid Galaxies, and as we’ve prepped and packed increasing numbers of systems going out for permanent installations and events. We’ve well outstripped the space of our Manhattan headquarters, my garage, and a storage unit; hence, our new office in Bluff City.
We moved into our Tennessee facility in November and have been whipping it into shape since then. Our Liquid Galaxy team remains distributed, with a good number of staffers in our NYC office, plus elsewhere in the US and internationally, but we now have a core of talented personnel in our new office too: Matt Vollrath, Will Plaut, and Neil Elliott. And, we will be adding to our staff in the new office as well. At last we have lots of space! If you are interested in joining us in our Bluff City office developing and supporting Liquid Galaxy systems and have excellent Linux or Geospatial Information Systems skills then let us know through our contact form.
jobs liquid-galaxy company
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Republic of China (Taiwan)
Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)
East Srpska Republic was secured by Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the war versus Resistance Force of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Day 4,443, 02:52 (yesterday)
Day 4,439, 23:29 (4 days ago)
Brcko District was secured by Colombia in the war versus Resistance Force of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Federation of BiH was secured by Serbia in the war versus Resistance Force of Bosnia and Herzegovina
West Srpska Republic was secured by Serbia in the war versus Resistance Force of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Day 4,432, 21:47 (11 days ago)
Federation of BiH was secured by Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in the war versus Resistance Force of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Argentina as new Natural Enemy proposal has been rejected.
The proposal for declaring war against Turkey was rejected.
Subscribe to all articles from Bosnia-Herzegovina
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Serviços de engenharia >
OpenFOAM >
OpenFOAM FAQ
Consultoria em CFD
OpenFOAM
What is OpenFOAM
ESI's Value Proposition
Download OpenFOAM
Desenvolvimento de Metodologias
Automação de Processos
Vibro-acoustic consulting
Portal de Clientes do myESI
ESI Group acquired OpenCFD Ltd, the leader in Open Source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software in September 2012. ESI Group becomes the owner of the OpenFOAM® trademark, which is widely recognized and used in many industries, notably in automotive, energy, and aerospace as well as academic.
To find out more about ESI acquiring OpenCFD Ltd, please read the news release - Acquisition of OpenCFD Ltd.
What is OpenFOAM?
OpenFOAM (Open Source Field Operation And Manipulation) is a free, open source software package for CFD produced and distributed by OpenCFD Ltd. It has a large user base across most areas of engineering and science, from both commercial and academic organizations. OpenFOAM has an extensive range of features to solve anything from complex fluid flows involving chemical reactions, turbulence and heat transfer, to solid dynamics and electro-magnetics.
Why has ESI acquired OpenCFD?
The virtual engineering market continues to show an increase in the demand for open source software, specifically in CFD domain where the need for large scale parallel computing continues to increase. ESI Group already has OpenFOAM expertise via its earlier acquisition of Mindware Engineering, which will be a natural complement to the OpenCFD team and ensure a successful downstream integration. ESI believes in the openness of OpenFOAM and sees it as a key component of its strategy in providing users with an end to end virtual prototyping solution. ESI Group will be investing in OpenFOAM to scale it to reach more users and make it an integral part of its product portfolio.
What will happen to the existing ESI CFD software (ACE+ Suite)?
The OpenFOAM market and ACE+ market are complementary. The ACE+ Suite has a very large user community in a very unique multi-physics domain. ESI will continue to develop ACE+ Suite of the products and will grow and support this user community.
How do I get professional support to use OpenFOAM?
ESI-OpenCFD provides a range of support services to OpenFOAM users including:
Scheduled and on-site training courses at a range of locations worldwide
Support package including CFD assistance and code customization for OpenFOAM
Contracted code development projects for OpenFOAM
Large enterprise subscription including software support, platform services (tuning, benchmarking, porting), collaborative functionality integration and strategic planning
CFD consultancy and system integration
Why should I choose ESI-OpenCFD to support me with OpenFOAM?
OpenCFD are the producers of OpenFOAM. The benefits of receiving support from producers of the software are:
CFD assistance and support is backed up by years of experience in CFD with OpenFOAM
Developments are made by people with a proven background in programming OpenFOAM, in line with the entire development of OpenFOAM, for inclusion in the OpenFOAM distribution
Training is conducted by people who really know OpenFOAM and who regularly teach OpenFOAM on-site to customers as well as host scheduled courses
System integration can include changes to the OpenFOAM distribution itself, rather than introducing additional processes that are clumsy and create a maintenance burden
ESI, as an established enterprise software vendor, will further strengthen quality assurance and support to ensure a viable, trusted, and scalable solution for both large enterprises as well as SMEs (small to medium enterprise). Furthermore, ESI has a global team dedicated to providing support and services around OpenFOAM. This team has extensive experience in all aspects of OpenFOAM from installation to customization to engineering support and services.
Why should I consider OpenFOAM?
The open source nature of the software provides these benefits:
Full control and flexibility over the software
Rapid implementation of new technology
Substantial cost savings for large (parallel) simulations
Peace of mind due to access to source code, specifically for certain enterprises including government agencies
Flexibility in allocating CFD budgets according to business priorities
What is the license for OpenFOAM?
OpenFOAM is distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), the most widely used free software license. There are two main elements to the GPL, designed to prevent open source software being exploited by their inclusion within non-free, closed sourced software products:
Software that includes source code licensed under the GPL inherits the GPL license
If compiled binaries of software licensed under GPL are distributed, the source code must also be made available by the distributor
What are the capabilities provided by OpenFOAM?
The OpenFOAM software consists of the following components.
CFD solvers for a variety of flows including: incompressible, multiphase, heat transfer, natural convection, combustion, compressible (high speed), electro-magnetics, discrete particle
A suite of physical modeling libraries for turbulent simulation (Reynolds-averaged, large-eddy, detached-eddy, etc), transport and rheology, thermo-physics (gas, solid and liquid), reaction kinetics, chemistry, pyrolysis, thin films, particle tracking, porosity, and more
Mesh tools including: mesh generation for complex (CAD) geometries, using snappyHexMesh, and simple geometries using blockMesh; mesh conversion from a wide range of common commercial formats; and other tools to manipulate meshes, e.g. defining patches on the mesh boundary, checking mesh quality, resizing meshes, etc.
Post-processing capability including: visualization using ParaView (also open source); run-time post-processing including automatic generation of visualization files (cutting planes, iso-surfaces, streamlines, etc); data manipulation tools; converters to third-party formats for visualization
Core technology that includes: finite volume numerics on arbitrary unstructured polyhedral meshes; linear matrix solvers, and ordinary differential equation solvers; low-level parallelization that ensures almost everything, from meshing, pre-processing, through simulation, to post-processing, runs in parallel; dynamic mesh capability including arbitrary mesh interface (AMI, aka GGI), solid body motion, internal mesh motion, dynamic refinement and un-refinement
How can I obtain OpenFOAM?
You can download OpenFOAM from the OpenFOAM Foundation website at http://www.openfoam.org/download/
What do I need to do to get it running on my computer?
OpenFOAM is distributed for Linux operating systems. The source code can be compiled directly on any Linux system, but there are also source/binary packs available specifically for Ubuntu, SuSE and Fedora distributions. The open source license gives user freedom to install OpenFOAM on hardware and platforms of their choice. For example, it can be installed within a virtual machine on a Windows machine or on a public or private cloud computing service.
What guarantee do I have that OpenFOAM will be always be free and open source?
The OpenFOAM software is copyright to OpenFOAM Foundation, a non-profit, non-stock corporation which was established to distribute OpenFOAM exclusively under a no-cost open source license to the general public. The “Bylaws” of the Foundation ensures that OpenFOAM will only be distributed free and open source.
How can I customize OpenFOAM?
Since OpenFOAM is released under the GPL, you can customize OpenFOAM as required. You can change existing code or add new code to the OpenFOAM source code and build your own binaries. You just need to ensure that you comply with the GPL if you decide to redistribute OpenFOAM whether in modified form or not.
How often is OpenFOAM updated?
How many releases per year? OpenCFD continuously develops major new functionality and feeds those developments into each new major release of OpenFOAM, at least once a year. Through the website bug reporting system users submit bugs and feature enhancements for OpenFOAM. These fixes and any enhancements are fed into the OpenFOAM code base and, following a period with few reported bugs, a minor (stable) version of the software is released.
When was OpenFOAM developed?
Henry Weller began writing the OpenFOAM software, originally named FOAM, in 1989, following the creation of the C++ programming language. As Chief Scientist, Henry will continue to develop OpenFOAM at ESI-OpenCFD.
Who is in charge of developing OpenFOAM?
OpenCFD develops and maintains the OpenFOAM software and releases it through the OpenFOAM Foundation. Through the Foundation's bug reporting system, users can contribute changes to OpenFOAM, such as bug fixes and minor feature additions. The Foundation is also planning a contributions repository to allow larger contributions to be made available for download. Over time, prioritized contributions may be integrated by OpenCFD into the OpenFOAM distribution.
For more information, please visit www.openfoam.com.
OpenFOAM.Com
https://www.esi-group.com/servicos-de-engenharia/servicos-de-engenharia/openfoam/openfoam-faq
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FMP Zeleznik 59
Fortitudo Bologna 70
Local time: 18:00 KOSARKASKA DVORANA FMP - ZELEZNIK
With its Eurocup season in danger, Fortitudo shook off its winless tag in Group G with a huge 59-70 road win over BC FMP in Belgrade, Serbia on Tuesday. The victory left both teams with 1-2 records halfway through the regular season. Newly-acquired center Lazaros Papadopoulos paced Fortitudo with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Darryl Strawberry also had 13 points for the winners, including a string of late free throws, while Qyntel Woods had 11 and Jamont Gordon 10. For FMP, Dragan Labovic had 14 points and 8 rebounds while Predrag Samardziski tallied 11. A 0-15 run fueled Fortitudo's takeover of the scoreboard in the second quarter, when Woods poured in all of his 11 points without a miss off the bench. The visitors led by as many as 21 points, but FMP cut it to 13 entering the final quarter, when Fortitudo went to its veteran big men, Gregor Fucka and Papadopoulos, to end all doubts and take an all-important road win.
Fortitudo went right to its new big man, Papadopoulos, to start the game with a dunk and a layup, so that when Marcelinho Huertas hit a three-pointer, the guests were up 1-7. Dejan Musli and Guy Pnini settled FMP with a couple scores, but Huertas and Papadopoulos kept Fortitudo rolling to a 10-17 inside before Labovic nailed a triple from the corner at 14-17. Fucka and Samardziski traded inside shots. Filip Covic made 2 free throws at 18-19 as he and Huertas got whistles for a double technical foul, but Stefano Mancinelli got most of the difference back with a triple from up top as the first quarter ended 18-23. The second quarter started with a layup by Samardziski and went downhill quickly for FMP. A layup by Gordon and a dunk by Papadopoulos started a started a 0-15 take-over run for Fortutitudo that concluded, after an FMP timeout, with a layup by Mancinelli and a dunk by Woods. The score was 20-38 and Fortitudo had 10 steals to zero by FMP until then. Even after a hook shot by Labovic stopped the bleeding for FMP, Woods continued with a layup and three-pointer as Fortitudo coasted to a 30-50 halftime advantage.
Only short baskets by Zamardziski and Gordon were scored in the first 4 minutes after halftime, then Nemanja Protic took over with 4 points to get FMP within 38-54. Stevan Zivanovic hit from downtown for the hosts, but Matteo Malaventura and D.J. Strawberry kept Fortitudo comfortably ahead. Musli returned with a basket to trim the difference further, to 46-59, before the third quarter ended. Fortitudo came out in the final quarter looking and finding Papadopoulos and Fucka for early baskets that pushed the difference to 46-63. Fortitudo's defense and rebounding held FMP more than 3 minutes without a point, until Mladen Jeremic rifled in a triple, but Papadopoulos responded with a sky hook. Strawberry upped the difference to 49-68 at the free throw line while Fortitudo's defense continued frustrating FMP. Zivanovic's layup got the hosts within 52-68 with under 5 minutes lef, but the points came just as slowly after that, leaving FMP little chance to try for the win, even though it was able to limit the difference to with a dunk by Samardziski and free throws to 11 points at the finish.
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; KOLAR, ROMAN; LUCIS, OSKARS
FMP Zeleznik 18 12 16 13
Fortitudo Bologna 23 27 9 11
Fortitudo Bologna 23 50 59 70
FMP Zeleznik
4 COVIC, FILIP 32:55 4 0/4 0/3 4/4 1 4 5 4 3 2 2 5 4
5 ZIVANOVIC, STEFAN 19:40 8 2/3 1/2 1/2 3 2 5 1 3 12
8 LABOVIC, DRAGAN 27:03 14 1/6 2/5 6/8 1 7 8 1 2 1 2 4 12
9 MARKOVIC, NIKOLA 9:11 2 1/1 0/1 1
10 LAZIC, BRANKO 12:01 1 1 1 3 1 -2
11 ILIC, NIKOLA 10:01 0/1 0/1 1 2 -5
13 RADULJICA, MIROSLAV 3:54 0/1 1 1
14 PROTIC, NEMANJA 23:58 7 2/2 0/5 3/4 1 4 5 1 1 7 3 4 2
15 MUSLI, DEJAN 16:29 6 2/3 2/3 2 4 6 1 1 4 2 8
21 SAMARDZISKI, PREDRAG 19:37 11 5/7 1/6 1 2 3 1 1 3 3 7
22 PNINI, GUY 8:17 2 0/1 2/2 1 1 3 2 2 -1
24 JEREMIC, MLADEN 16:54 5 1/3 1/3 1 1 2 1 -1
Totals 200:00 59 14/32 4/20 19/29 13 26 39 5 3 21 1 3 24 24 39
Head coach: KLIPA, SLOBODAN
4 HUERTAS, MARCELINHO 19:51 7 2/5 1/1 1 1 2 1 2 3 2
5 GORDON, JAMONT 17:03 10 3/4 0/3 4/4 4 4 2 1 2 4 15
6 MANCINELLI, STEFANO 32:54 5 1/3 1/2 3 3 3 3 1 3 7
7 CITTADINI, ALESSANDRO 2:13 1 1/2 3 1 -2
8 MALAVENTURA, MATTEO 31:37 2 1/3 0/2 1 1 2 3 1 -1
10 SLOKAR, UROS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12 STRAWBERRY, DJ 24:39 13 2/7 0/3 9/11 3 3 2 2 3 1 3 6 9
14 PAPADOPOULOS, LAZAROS 35:00 13 6/13 1/2 2 6 8 1 1 1 1 3 5 17
15 FUCKA, GREGOR 19:14 8 3/4 2/2 1 1 2 3 1 1 3 3 13
19 SANGUINETTI, GIACOMO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20 ACHARA, KIERON 2:47 1 1 -2
24 WOODS, QYNTEL 14:42 11 2/3 1/1 4/4 2 2 1 2 1 3 13
47.6% 25% 84%
Head coach: SAKOTA, DRAGAN
KLIPA, SLOBODAN
"Congatulations to our guests from Bologna. When a team recieves 50 points in the first half it is all clear. We were that team. Even though we received only 20 points in second half we had 21 turnovers and that costed us a lot. After a disaster in the first half we did not manage to be back into the game."
SAKOTA, DRAGAN
"No matter the final result of tonight's game, but I admire a lot all that FMP is doing with young players. That was a very important victory to us because we re not playing well these last weeks and that win will help us all. We won thanks to our great first half play."
SAMARDZISKI, PREDRAG
"Fortitudo gave us a basketball lesson. We underestimated the Italian team and as a result, it punched us back in the face. Like a boomerang. We shouldn't have done that."
FUCKA, GREGOR
"We showed strength and we deserved that win. After two losses in Eurocup we reached an important road win."
REGULAR SEASON LAST 16 QUARTERFINALS SEMIFINALS FINALS
ASK Riga 84
Maroussi Costa Coffee 70
Barons Riga 88
Besiktas Cola Turka 69
Khimki 71
STB Le Havre 67
Bnei Hasharon 70
PGE Turow 69
Spirou Basket 64
Brose Baskets 62
Artland Dragons 67
iurbentia Bilbao 92
Buducnost 70
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IPSO Code of Practice
Mental Health Watch
Going Out in Norwich
Live car park spaces
End in sight to Norwich man's window nightmare
Peter Walsh
Justin Hunt with the window at his flat in Jewson Road, Norwich.; Photo: Bill Smith
Archant © 2011
A disabled man who has had to wait several months for work on his windows to be completed following Connaught's collapse could soon be about to have his nightmare brought to an end.
Justin Hunt, 33, was having the windows at his flat in Jewson Road, off Bullard Road, Norwich, being replaced when the firm, which carried out housing maintenance for Norwich City Council, went into administration.
The firm’s collapse in September meant that the work on Mr Hunt’s flat is yet to be completed. In the meantime, part of the building has had to be re-propped by an emergency contractor after brick work started to crack and drop during the initial installation work.
Mr Hunt, who suffers from ulcerated legs as a result of a hereditary condition, said damage to the property meant he has been unable to stay there for much of the winter as it has been too cold and too expensive to try to heat.
But Norwich City Council said a programme of works, being undertaken by Lovell as part of taking on a temporary contract, should start this month with Mr Hunt’s property being a priority.
A council spokesman said: “We have worked hard with temporary contractors to provide the best continuity of service that we can, despite the challenges we faced as a council when Connaught collapsed.
“If a tenant is experiencing any outstanding problems with works to their home, we urge them to get in touch straight away.” Mr Hunt, who will have to undergo an operation on his legs, said he was relieved to hear that work could be starting soon.
He said: “I’m pleased to hear about that. It’s been absolutely terrible. I couldn’t stay there as it’s been too cold and I’ve been staying with my dad. I just wanted it to be put right.”
Mr Hunt’s father, David, 63, who lives at Pyes Yard, close to the Wig and Pen pub, said: “There’s no way he could’ve lived there when it was really cold.
“If we could get a date, even if it’s in three months’ time, at least it’s something to look forward to.”
Have you got a story for the Evening News? Call reporter Peter Walsh on 01603 7772436 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk
Two schools near Norwich shut due to heating and flooding issues
Man in 40s dies after Mercedes crashes into tree
A47 ‘grid-locked’ following six vehicle crash
Well-known pub goes up for sale
Six things you might have missed following City’s crucial win over Bournemouth
Latest from the Norwich Evening News
Stunning aerial photographs show major city projects
Road to close at junction for five days for resurfacing works
Terri Westgate: How fan power played a small part in keeping the Canaries alive and kicking
Pink 'Un
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Chemical Engineering (General)
Biobased Products and Industries
Editors: Charis M. Galanakis
Paperback ISBN: 9780128184936
Imprint: Elsevier
Published Date: 1st February 2020
Print - Paperback
Expected Release date: February 1, 2020
Biobased Products and Industries fills the gap between academia and industry by covering all the important aspects of biobased products and their relevant industries in one single reference. Highlighting different perspectives of the bioeconomy, EU relevant projects, as well as the environmental impact of biobased materials and sustainability, the book covers biobased polymers, plastics, nanocomposites, packaging materials, electric devices, biofuels, textiles, consumer goods, and biocatalysis for the decarboxylation and decarboxylation of biobased molecules, including biobased products from alternative sources (algae) and the biobased production of chemicals through metabolic engineering.
Focusing on the most recent advances in the field, the book also analyzes the potentiality of already commercialized processes and products.
Highlights the important aspects of biobased products as well as their relevant industries in one single reference
Focuses on the most recent advances in the field, analyzing the potentiality of already commercialized processes and products
Provides an ideal resource for anyone dealing with bioresource technology, biomass valorization and new products development
Chemical engineers, bioresource technologists, agriculturalists, new product developers, environmental scientists, engineers and technologists, researchers and academics in the chemical, food and environmental industry
Overview of biobased industries
2. Development perspectives of the biobased economy
3. Production of biofuels
4. Biocatalysis for the decarboxylation and decarbonylation of biobased molecules
5. Biobased plastics and bionanocomposites
6. Algae for the production of biobased products
7. Biobased products from wood materials
8. Biobased packaging materials
9. Biobased electric devices
10. Biobased polymers
11. Biobased consumer goods
12. Biobased textiles
13. Biobased production of chemicals through metabolic engineering
14. Environmental impact of biobased materials
15. Sustainability of biobased industries & economy
© Elsevier 2020
Paperback ISBN:
Charis M. Galanakis
Dr. Galanakis is a dynamic and interdisciplinary scientist with a fast-expanding work in food and environmental science and technology, innovation and sustainability, industry, and academia. He is the research and innovation director of Galanakis Laboratories (Chania, Greece) and the coordinator of the Food Waste Recovery Group of the ISEKI-Food Association (Vienna, Austria). He serves as an expert evaluator and monitor of international and regional funded programs and proposals, whereas he is an editorial board member and subject editor of Food and Bioproducts Processing and Food Research International. He has edited nine books from Academic Press: Food Waste Recovery: Processing Technologies and Industrial Techniques (2015), Innovation Strategies in the Food Industry: Tools for Implementation (2016), Nutraceutical and Functional Food Components: Effects of Innovative Processing Techniques (2017), Olive Mill Waste: Recent Advances for Sustainable Management (2017), Handbook of Grape Processing By-Products: Sustainable Solutions (2017), Handbook of Coffee Processing By-Products: Sustainable Applications (2017), Sustainable Food Systems from Agriculture to Industry: Improving Production and Processing (2018), Sustainable Meat Production and Processing (2019), and Separation of Functional Molecules in Food by Membrane Technology (2019), and three books from Woodhead Publishing: Polyphenols: Properties, Recovery, and Applications (2018), Sustainable Recovery and Reutilization of Cereal Processing By-Products (2018), and Innovations in Traditional Foods (2019).
Galanakis Laboratories, Chania, Greece
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Tag Archive for: James Risen
The Government Prepares to Argue that Transmitting Information *To* WikiLeaks Makes the Vault 7 Leak Different
November 26, 2019 /19 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, emptywheel, Leak Investigations, WikiLeaks /by emptywheel
In a long motion in limine yesterday, the government suggested that if Joshua Schulte had just been given a “prestigious desk with a window,” he might not have leaked all of CIA’s hacking tools in retaliation and caused what the government calls “catastrophic” damage to national security.
Schulte grew angrier at what he perceived was his management’s indifference to his claim that Employee-1 had threatened him. Schulte also began to complain about what, according to him, amounted to favoritism toward Employee-1, claiming, for example, that while the investigation was ongoing, Schulte was moved to an “intern desk,” while Employee-1 had been moved to a “prestigious desk with a window.”
The Leaks are the largest illegal disclosure of CIA information in the agency’s history and, as noted above, caused catastrophic damage to national security.
Along the way, the motion provides the most detailed description to date about how the government believes Schulte stole the Vault 7 files from CIA. It portrays him as an arrogant racist at the beginning of this process, and describes how he got increasingly belligerent with this colleagues at CIA leading up to his alleged theft of the CIA’s hacking files, leading his supervisors to recognize the threat he might pose, only to bollox up their efforts to restrict his access to CIA’s servers.
The motion, along with several other submitted yesterday, suggests that the government would like to argue that leaking to WikiLeaks heightens the damage that might be expected to the United States.
Along with laying out that it intends to argue that the CIA charges (stealing the files and leaking them to WikiLeaks) are intertwined with the MCC charges (conducting “information war” against the government from a jail cell in the Metropolitan Correction Center; I explained why the government wants to do so here), the government makes the case that cybersecurity expert Paul Rosenzweig should testify as a witness about WikiLeaks.
Rosenzweig will testify about (i) WikiLeaks’s history, technical and organizational structure, goals, and objectives; (ii) in general terms, prior leaks through WikiLeaks, in order to explain WikiLeaks’s typical practices with regard to receiving leaked classified information, its practices or lack thereof regarding the review and redaction of sensitive information contained in classified leaks, and certain well-publicized harms to the United States that have occurred as a result of disclosures by WikiLeaks; and (iii) certain public statements by WikiLeaks regarding the Classified Information at issue in this case.
Rosenzweig’s testimony would come in addition to that of classification experts (probably for both sides) and forensic experts (again, for both sides; Steve Bellovin is Schulte’s expert).
The expert witnesses were allowed to testify as to the background of the organization Wikileaks; how the U.S. Government uses certain markings and designations to identify information that requires special protection in the interests of national security; the meaning of certain computer commands and what they would do; how various computers, servers, and networks work; how data is stored and transferred by various computer programs and commands; and the examination of data that is stored on computers and other electronics.
The only motion in limine Schulte submitted yesterday objected to Rosenzweig’s testimony. Schulte argues that the government’s expert notice neither provides sufficient explanation about Rosenzweig’s intended testimony nor proves he’s an expert on WikiLeaks. More interesting is Schulte’s argument that Rosenzweig’s testimony would be prejudicial. It insinuates that Rosenzweig’s testimony would serve to substitute for a lack of proof about how Schulte sent the CIA files to WikiLeaks (Schulte is alleged to have used Tor and Tails to transmit the files, which would leave no forensic trace).
In Mr. Schulte’s case, the government has no reliable evidence of how much information was taken from the CIA, how it was taken, or when it was provided to WikiLeaks. The government cannot overcome a lack of relevant evidence by introducing evidence from other cases about how much information was leaked or how information was leaked in unrelated contexts. The practices of WikiLeaks in other contexts and any testimony about alleged damage from other entirely unrelated leaks is completely irrelevant.
Schulte’s claimed lack of evidence regarding transfer notwithstanding, that’s not how the government says they want to use Rosenzweig’s testimony. They say they want to use his testimony to help prove that Schulte intended to injure the US.
The Government is entitled to argue that Schulte intended to harm the United States, by transmitting the stolen information to WikiLeaks, because he knew or had reason to know what WikiLeaks would do with the information. The fact that WikiLeaks’ prior conduct has harmed the United States and has been widely publicized is powerful evidence that Schulte intended or had reason to believe that “injury [to] the United States” was the likely result of his actions—particularly given that the Government will introduce evidence that demonstrates Schulte’s knowledge of earlier WikiLeaks disclosures, including his own statements.
It does so by invoking WikiLeaks’ past leaks and the damage those leaks have done.
Accordingly, proof that it was foreseeable to Schulte that disclosure of classified information to WikiLeaks could cause “injury [to] the United States” is a critical element in this case. Indeed, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has explicitly stated “that WikiLeaks and its senior leadership resemble a non-state hostile intelligence service.” S. Rep. 115-151 p. 10. In order to evaluate evidence related to this topic, the jury will need to understand what WikiLeaks is, how it operates, and the fact that WikiLeaks’ previous disclosures have caused injury to the United States. The Government is entitled to argue that Schulte intended to harm the United States, by transmitting the stolen information to WikiLeaks, because he knew or had reason to know what WikiLeaks would do with the information.
Notably, the government motion invokes the Senate’s recognition that WikiLeaks resembles “a non-state hostile intelligence service.” That may well backfire in spectacular fashion. That statement didn’t come until over a year after Schulte is alleged to have stolen the files. And the statement was a follow-up to Mike Pompeo’s similar claim, which was a direct response to Schulte’s leak. If I were Schulte, I’d be preparing a subpoena to call Pompeo to testify about why, after the date when Schulte allegedly stole the CIA files, on July 24, 2016, he was still hailing the purported value of WikiLeaks’ releases.
The thing is, showing that the specific nature of the intended recipient of a leak is an element of the offense has never been required in Espionage leak cases before. Indeed, the government’s proposed jury instructions are based off the instruction in the Jeffrey Sterling case. While the government flirted with naming James Risen an unindicted co-conspirator in that case, they did not make any case that leaking to Risen posed unique harm.
Moreover, even before getting into Schulte’s statements about WikiLeaks (most of which have not yet been made public, as far as I’m aware), by arguing the CIA and MCC charges together, the government will have significant evidence not just about Schulte’s understanding of WikiLeaks, but his belief and that they would lie to harm the US. The government also has evidence that Schulte knew that WikiLeaks’ pretense to minimizing harm with the Vault 7 files was false, and that instead WikiLeaks did selective harm in its releases, though it doesn’t want to introduce that evidence at trial.
In other words, this seems unnecessary, superfluous to what the government has done in past Espionage cases, and a dangerous precedent (particularly given the way the government suggested that leaking to The Intercept was especially suspect in the Terry Albury and Reality Winner cases).
That’s effectively what Schulte argues: that the government is trying to argue that leaking to WikiLeaks is particularly harmful, and that if such testimony goes in, it would be forced to call its own witnesses to testify about how past WikiLeaks releases have shown government malfeasance.
This testimony could also suggest that the mere fact that information was released by WikiLeaks necessarily means that it was intended to—and did—cause harm to the United States. These are not valid evidentiary objectives. Instead, this type of testimony would create confusion and force a trial within a trial on the morality of WikiLeaks and the extent of damage caused by prior leaks. If the government is allowed to introduce this evidence, the defense will necessarily have to respond with testimony about how WikiLeaks is a non-profit news organization, that it has previously released information from government whistle-blowers that was vital to the public understanding of government malfeasance, and that any assertion of damages in the press is not reliable evidence.
The government, in a show of reasonableness, anticipates Schulte’s argument about the prejudice this will cause by stating that it will limit its discussion of prior WikiLeaks releases to a select few.
The Government recognizes the need to avoid undue prejudice, and will therefore limit Mr. Rosenzweig’s testimony to prior WikiLeaks leaks that have a direct relationship with particular aspects of the conduct relevant to this case, for example by linking specific harms caused by WikiLeaks in the past to Schulte’s own statements of his intent to cause similar harms to the United States or conduct. Those leaks include (i) the 2010 disclosure of documents provided to WikiLeaks illegally by Chelsea Manning; (ii) the 2010 disclosure of U.S. diplomatic cables; (iii) the 2012 disclosure of files stolen from the intelligence firm Stratfor; and (iv) the 2016 disclosure of emails stolen from a server operated by the Democratic National Committee.
The selected cases are notable, as all of them (with Manning’s leaks seemingly listed twice) involve cases the government either certainly (with the EDVA grand jury seeking Manning and Jeremy Hammond’s testimony) or likely (with ongoing investigations into Roger Stone) currently has ongoing investigations into.
As a reminder: absent an unforeseen delay, this trial will start January 13, 2020 and presumably finish in the weeks leading up to the beginning of Julian Assange’s formal extradition process on February 25. The government has maintained it can add charges up until that point, and US prosecutors told British courts it won’t provide the evidence against Assange until two months before the hearing (so around Christmas).
Schulte’s trial, then, appears to be the opening act for that extradition, an opening act that will undermine the claims WikiLeaks supporters have been making about the journalistic integrity of the organization in an attempt to block Assange’s extradition. Rosenzweig’s testimony seems designed, in part, to heighten that effect.
Which may be why this instruction appears among the government’s proposed instructions.
Some of the people who may have been involved in the events leading to this trial are not on trial. This does not matter. There is no requirement that everyone involved in a crime be charged and prosecuted, or tried together, in the same proceeding.
You may not draw any inference, favorable or unfavorable, towards the Government or the defendant from the fact that certain persons, other than the defendant, were not named as defendants in the Indictment. Do not speculate as to the reasons why other persons were not named. Those matters are wholly outside your concern and have no bearing on your function as jurors.
Whether a person should be named as a co-conspirator, or indicted as a defendant in this case or another separate case, is a matter within the sole discretion of the United States Attorney and the Grand Jury.
As noted, a number of different WikiLeaks supporters have admitted to me that they’re grateful Assange has not (yet) been charged in conjunction with the Vault 7 case, because even before you get to his attempt to extort a pardon with the files, there’s little journalistic justification for what it did, and even more reason to criticize WikiLeaks’ actions as the case against Schulte proceeded.
Yet the obscure proceedings before the EDVA grand jury suggests the government may be pursuing a conspiracy case that starts in 2010 and continues through the Vault 7 releases, with the same variety of Espionage and CFAA charges continuing through that period.
By arguing the CIA and MCC charges in tandem, the government can pretty compellingly make the case that WikiLeaks’ activities went well beyond journalism in this case. But it seems to want to use Rosenzweig’s testimony to make the case more broadly.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Screen-Shot-2019-06-18-at-4.58.04-PM.png 890 640 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2019-11-26 11:01:092019-11-26 11:04:14The Government Prepares to Argue that Transmitting Information *To* WikiLeaks Makes the Vault 7 Leak Different
Journalist Records from the “Last Five Years”
July 25, 2018 /60 Comments/in Leak Investigations, Press and Media /by emptywheel
Some weeks ago, there was some concern raised by DOJ’s response to an October 10, 2017 letter from Ron Wyden, written in the wake of an August Jeff Sessions press conference asking how many times DOJ has seized journalists’ records.
For each of the past five years, how many times has DOJ used subpoenas, search warrants, national security letters, or any other form of legal process authorized by a court to target members of the news media in the United States and American journalists abroad to seek their (a) communications records, (b) geo-location information, or (c) the content of their communications? Please provide statistics for each form of legal process.
Has DOJ revised the 2015 regulations, or made any other changes to internal procedures governing investigations of journalists since January 20, 2017? If yes, please provide me with a copy.
In response, in a letter claiming to provide all the “requests for information from January 2012 to the present,” DOJ pointed to the 2013 collection of AP records and the 2014 subpoena of James Risen. It also claimed,
The Federal Bureau of Investigation does not currently use national security letters to advance media leak investigations.
DOJ’s letter was written after Ali Watkins received notice, on February 13, that her phone and email records had been seized in the investigation of James Wolfe. It also comes after DOJ subpoenaed the Twitter information of Dissent Doe and Popehat last spring in conjunction with DOJ’s dumb persecution of Justin Shafer, both of whom have websites providing original content.
Whether DOJ has gotten more aggressive about seizing reporters’ phone records or content is a question I’m unsurprisingly very interested in.
All that said, DOJ may simply be playing word games, at least thus far.
Note, first of all, that Wyden only asked for the “past five years.” While DOJ claimed to present records spanning into the present, had DOJ responded to the actual request, it might have only presented past requests. Additionally, if Watkins got 90 day notice of her records being seized, the request itself would have taken place after the Wyden request.
While more specious, the May 2017 Twitter subpoena may have been deemed to be the same year as Wyden’s request.
Note three other details. First, Wyden’s letter (though not DOJ’s response) describes “targeting” journalists. Obviously, that word has a specific meaning in the context of surveillance, and I could see DOJ claiming that the Shafer investigation, for example, targeted Shafer, not his Tweeps.
Additionally, Wyden only asks about US news media and US journalists overseas. That’s not going to include an obvious target (whether or not DOJ still considers him a publisher): Julian Assange, an Australian publisher living in what counts as Ecuadoran territory.
Finally, note that DOJ specifies they don’t use NSLs for “media leak investigations.” That, too, has a specific meaning, one that probably doesn’t include the Shafer investigation on trumped up cyberstalking charges.
The Watkins case, especially, demands explanation. But finding it might just require rewording the questions.
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Kashyap Patel Had Better Not Rely on the Bill Duhnke Precedent
May 12, 2018 /112 Comments/in Leak Investigations, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
Contrary to what a lot of people understand of the case, Jeffrey Sterling was not the CIA’s first suspect for the Merlin leaks to James Risen. Senate Intelligence Committee Staff Director Bill Duhnke was. As former CIA press person Bill Harlow testified, he told the FBI that James Risen had close ties to Duhnke when he first talked to them about Risen’s story.
Q. Okay. And you also told them that someone they should talk to about something like this would be Bill Duhnke, a person named Bill Duhnke, correct, up at the — that worked at the U.S. Senate?
BY MR. MAC MAHON: Q. Now, Mr. Harlow, in 2003, you told the FBI that you thought that Mr. Risen might reach out to the Staff Director of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee on Intelligence for confirmation, that Mr. Risen would, correct?
A. My recollection is what the FBI asked me is who are the kind of people that Risen might talk to on a story like this, and I told them that he had regular contact with the Congressional Oversight Committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, and so the kind of places he might go to ask about the story would be the Senate Oversight committees. That’s my recollection of it. You know, it’s a dozen years ago but —
Q. And one of the names you gave them was Bill Duhnke, right?
A. Right.
As FBI Agent Hunt explained, however, she was hampered from investigating whether Duhnke (who knew aspects about Merlin that Sterling did not which showed up in Risen’s reporting) was a source for Risen because Senator Pat Roberts refused to cooperate with the FBI, even after then FBI Director Robert Mueller requested himself.
Q. And do you also remember writing in 2006 that the FBI director contacted the SSCI Chairman and Senator Pat Roberts, right?
Q. And that Senator Roberts told Director Mueller that he wasn’t going to cooperate with the FBI at all in this investigation, correct?
Q. And that never changed, did it?
A. It did change.
Q. You then got some cooperation from SSCI, correct?
A. I did. Q. You never got an interview with Mr. Duhnke, right?
A. I did not interview Mr. Duhnke.
Thus it happened that Speech and Debate prevented the FBI from investigating whether a key Intelligence Committee staffer played a role in a leak the government claimed was one of the worst ever.
I thought of that precedent when I read this passage in the NYT’s latest story on DOJ’s belated realization that Devin Nunes was using purported oversight requests to discover details that might help Trump delegitimize the Mueller investigation.
In another meeting, Mr. Rosenstein felt he was outright misled by Mr. Nunes’s staff. Mr. Rosenstein wanted to know whether Kashyap Patel, an investigator working for Mr. Nunes who was the primary author of the disputed memo, had traveled to London the previous summer to interview a former British spy who had compiled a salacious dossier about Mr. Trump, according to a former federal law enforcement official familiar with the interaction.
Mr. Patel was not forthcoming during the contentious meeting, the official said, and the conversation helped solidify Mr. Rosenstein’s belief that Mr. Nunes and other allies in Congress were not operating in good faith.
And these passages in an earlier NYT piece on Patel.
Over the summer, Mr. Nunes dispatched Mr. Patel and another member of the committee’s Republican staff to London, where they showed up unannounced at the offices of Mr. Steele, a former British intelligence official.
Told Mr. Steele was not there, Mr. Patel and Douglas E. Presley, a professional staff member, managed to track him down at the offices of his lawyers. There, they said they were seeking only to establish contact with Mr. Steele, but were rebuffed and left without meeting him, according to two people with knowledge of the encounter.
A senior official for the Republican majority on the Intelligence Committee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter, said the purpose of the visit had been to make contact with Mr. Steele’s lawyers, not Mr. Steele. Still, the visit was highly unusual and appeared to violate protocol, because they were trying to meet with Mr. Steele outside official channels.
Ordinarily, such a visit would be coordinated through lawyers, conducted with knowledge of the House Democrats, who were not informed and the American Embassy.
Given Rosenstein’s concerns that Patel was lying, I find it particularly interesting that he didn’t inform the American Embassy when he was there. It’s as if he was looking for a back channel!
As NYCSouthpaw noted, Patel has been hanging around the White House since he’s started playing this role.
In the months since, Mr. Patel has apparently forged connections at the White House. In November, he posted a series of photos to Facebook of him and several friends wearing matching shirts at the White House bowling alley. “The Dons hit the lanes at 1600 Pennsylvania,” Mr. Patel wrote under the photos.
This would suggest that the Nunes designee who has had firsthand access to all this intelligence, has also gotten really comfortable with the White House, leaving the possibility that he has shared the information with those in charge of delegitimize the investigation.
I’ve long wondered why Nunes has refused to read the information he has fought so hard to get access to. But by giving Patel that access without reading the materials himself, Nunes ensures that someone with easy access to the White House sees the materials, without jeopardizing the power to refuse any cooperation with Mueller.
Nunes, like Roberts did in 2006, could simply refuse to cooperate under speech and debate.
And it might well work!
There is, however one problem with that. You see, one of the ways (admittedly one of the less offensive ways) the President has interfered in the operations of DOJ is by demanding that the department ratchet up the leak investigations. And at a time last summer where Trump was threatening to fire Sessions so he could hire someone who could interfere with the Mueller investigation, Sessions and Dan Coats rolled out a new war on leaks, speaking of new permissiveness for prosecutors. Both Sessions…
To prevent these leaks, every agency and Congress has to do better.
We are taking a stand. This culture of leaking must stop.
Finally, here is what I want to tell every American today: This nation must end the culture of leaks. We will investigate and seek to bring criminals to justice. We will not allow rogue anonymous sources with security clearances to sell out our country any longer.
These cases are never easy. But cases will be made, and leakers will be held accountable.
All of us in government and in every agency and in Congress must do better.
And Coats invoked Congress as a source of leaks specifically.
I would like to point out, however, that these national security breaches do not just originate in the Intelligence Community. They come from a wide range of sources within government, including the Executive Branch and including the Congress.
At the time, those mentions were deemed a warning that (in addition to changing the rules allowing them to pursue journalists), DOJ would also start pursuing Congress and its staffers more aggressively.
So while the available evidence suggests that Patel may be part of Nunes’ effort to funnel information to the White House, and while past history has shown that Nunes’ counterparts have been able to protect intelligence committee leakers, perhaps the witch hunt demanded by Trump will change that.
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Why I Left The Intercept: The Surveillance Story They Let Go Untold for 15 Months
January 3, 2018 /112 Comments/in CIA Leak Case, Cybersecurity, FISA, Leak Investigations, Press and Media /by emptywheel
The Intercept has a long, must-read story from James Risen about the government’s targeting of him for his reporting on the war on terror. It’s self-serving in many ways — there are parts of his telling of the Wen Ho Lee, the Valerie Plame, and the Jeffrey Sterling stories he leaves out, which I may return to. But it provides a critical narrative of DOJ’s pursuit of him. He describes how DOJ tracked even his financial transactions with his kids (which I wrote about here).
The government eventually disclosed that they had not subpoenaed my phone records, but had subpoenaed the records of people with whom I was in contact. The government obtained my credit reports, along with my credit card and bank records, and hotel and flight records from my travel. They also monitored my financial transactions with my children, including cash I wired to one of my sons while he was studying in Europe.
He also reveals that DOJ sent him a letter suggesting he might be a subject of the investigation into Stellar Wind.
But in August 2007, I found out that the government hadn’t forgotten about me. Penny called to tell me that a FedEx envelope had arrived from the Justice Department. It was a letter saying the DOJ was conducting a criminal investigation into “the unauthorized disclosure of classified information” in “State of War.” The letter was apparently sent to satisfy the requirements of the Justice Department’s internal guidelines that lay out how prosecutors should proceed before issuing subpoenas to journalists to testify in criminal cases.
When my lawyers called the Justice Department about the letter I had received, prosecutors refused to assure them that I was not a “subject” of their investigation. That was bad news. If I were considered a “subject,” rather than simply a witness, it meant the government hadn’t ruled out prosecuting me for publishing classified information or other alleged offenses.
But a key part of the story lays out the NYT’s refusals to report Risen’s Merlin story and its reluctance — until Risen threatened to scoop him with his book — to publish the Stellar Wind one.
Glenn Greenwald is rightly touting the piece, suggesting that the NYT was corrupt for acceding to the government’s wishes to hold the Stellar Wind story. But in doing so he suggests The Intercept would never do the same.
That’s not correct.
One of two reasons I left The Intercept is because John Cook did not want to publish a story I had written — it was drafted in the content management system — about how the government uses Section 702 to track cyberattacks. Given that The Intercept thinks such stories are newsworthy, I’m breaking my silence now to explain why I left The Intercept.
I was recruited to work with First Look before it was publicly announced. The initial discussions pertained to a full time job, with a generous salary. But along the way — after Glenn and Jeremy Scahill had already gotten a number of other people hired and as Pierre Omidyar started hearing from friends that the effort was out of control — the outlet decided that they were going to go in a different direction. They’d have journalists — Glenn and Jeremy counted as that. And they’d have bloggers, who would get paid less.
At that point, the discussion of hiring me turned into a discussion of a temporary part time hire. I should have balked at that point. What distinguishes my reporting from other journalists — that I’m document rather than source-focused (though by no means exclusively), to say nothing of the fact that I was the only journalist who had read both the released Snowden documents and the official government releases — should have been an asset to The Intercept. But I wanted to work on the Snowden documents, and so I agreed to those terms.
There were a lot of other reasons why, at that chaotic time, working at The Intercept was a pain in the ass. But nevertheless I set out to write stories I knew the Snowden documents would support. The most important one, I believed, was to document how the government was using upstream Section 702 for cybersecurity — something it had admitted in its very first releases, but something that it tried to hide as time went on. With Ryan Gallagher’s help, I soon had the proof of that.
The initial hook I wanted to use for the story was how, in testimony to PCLOB, government officials misleadingly suggested it only used upstream to collect on things like email addresses.
Bob Litt:
We then target selectors such as telephone numbers or email addresses that will produce foreign intelligence falling within the scope of the certifications.
It is targeted collection based on selectors such as telephone numbers or email addresses where there’s reason to believe that the selector is relevant to a foreign intelligence purpose.
It is also however selector-based, i.e. based on particular phone numbers or emails, things like phone numbers or emails.
Raj De:
Selectors are things like phone numbers and email addresses.
A term like selector is just an operational term to refer to something like an email or phone number, directive being the legal process by which that’s effectuated, and tasking being the sort of internal government term for how you start the collection on a particular selector.
So all collection under 702 is based on specific selectors, things like phone numbers or email addresses.
Brad Wiegmann:
A selector would typically be an email account or a phone number that you are targeting.
So that’s when we say selector it’s really an arcane term that people wouldn’t understand, but it’s really phone numbers, email addresses, things like that.
So putting those cases aside, in cases where we just kind of get it wrong, we think the email account or the phone is located overseas but it turns out that that’s wrong, or it turns out that we think it’s a non-U.S. person but it is a U.S. person, we do review every single one to see if that’s the case.
That PCLOB’s witnesses so carefully obscured the fact that 702 is used to collect cybersecurity and other IP-based or other code collection is important for several reasons. First, because collection on a chat room or an encryption key, rather than an email thread, has very different First Amendment implications than collecting on the email of a target. But particularly within the cybersecurity function, identifying foreignness is going to be far more difficult to do because cyberattacks virtually by definition obscure their location, and you risk collecting on victims (whether they are hijacked websites or emails, or actual theft victims) as well as the perpetrator.
Moreover, the distinction was particularly critical because most of the privacy community did not know — many still don’t — how NSA interpreted the word “facility,” and therefore was missing this entire privacy-impacting aspect of the program (though Jameel Jaffer did raise the collection on IP addresses in the hearing).
I had, before writing up the piece, done the same kind of iterative work (one, two, three) I always do; the last of these would have been a worthy story for The Intercept, and did get covered elsewhere. That meant I had put in close to 25 hours working on the hearing before I did other work tied to the story at The Intercept.
I wrote up the story and started talking to John Cook, who had only recently been brought in, about publishing it. He told me that the use of 702 with cyber sounded like a good application (it is!), so why would we want to expose it. I laid out why it would be questionably legal under the 2011 John Bates opinion, but in any case would have very different privacy implications than the terrorism function that the government liked to harp on.
In the end, Cook softened his stance against spiking the story. He told me to keep reporting on it. But in the same conversation, I told him I was no longer willing to work in a part time capacity for the outlet, because it meant The Intercept benefitted from the iterative work that was as much a part of my method as meetings with sources that reveal no big scoop. I told him I was no longer willing to work for The Intercept for free.
Cook’s response to that was to exclude me from the first meeting at which all Intercept reporters would be meeting. The two things together — the refusal to pay me for work and expertise that would be critical to Intercept stories, as well as the reluctance to report what was an important surveillance story, not to mention Cook’s apparent opinion I was not a worthy journalist — are why I left.
And so, in addition to losing the person who could report on both the substance and the policy of the spying that was so central to the Snowden archives, the story didn’t get told until 15 months later, by two journalists with whom I had previously discussed 702’s cybersecurity function specifically with regards to the Snowden archive. In the interim period, the government got approval for the Tor exception (which I remain the only reporter to have covered), an application that might have been scrutinized more closely had the privacy community been discussing the privacy implications of collecting location-obscured data in the interim.
As recently as November, The Intercept asked me questions about how 702 is actually implemented because I am, after all, the expert.
So by all means, read The Intercept’s story about how the NYT refused to report on certain stories. But know that The Intercept has not always been above such things itself. In 2014 it was reluctant to publish a story the NYT thought was newsworthy by the time they got around to publishing it 15 months later.
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DOJ Can’t Keep Its Spin Straight in the Sterling Case
March 4, 2015 /3 Comments/in Leak Investigations /by emptywheel
As I noted several weeks ago, Jeffrey Sterling challenged his conviction based on the absence of evidence actually implicating him in the crime. On Monday, the government responded. And while I expect the government will succeed in defeating Sterling’s challenge I am still struck by some very big problems with their story.
As they did at the trial (especially in closing arguments) they argued that Sterling had knowledge of what they claim was the leak, he had a motive to leak it, and he had the pre-existing relationship with James Risen that would explain that he would go to Risen to leak it. So far so good.
They also argued that because Sterling was the only one favorably treated in Risen’s chapter, Sterling must be a source for Risen, which logically doesn’t hold at all.
But in the filing, the government also returns to its efforts — played out in the indictment, rehearsed briefly as both sides tried to make narratological arguments neither was equipped to make, introduced at the opening, but largely dropped during the trial — to a claim that Sterling lied to both the Senate Intelligence Committee and Risen to get them to show interest in his story. Not just that, but they claim Sterling told the same lies to both. This is where their argument starts to fall apart, and fall apart in ways that identify more problems for their argument.
He not only possessed the facts about Classified Program No. 1, he had a motive to spin them in a way that would do maximum damage to the agency. That is exactly what the evidence reflects. Risen’s spin on the program—i.e., that it was botched and risked enabling the Iranian nuclear program—is the same spin the defendant used when he met with Vicki Divoll and Donald Stone from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) on March 5, 2003, GX 101, the day after he filed his second lawsuit, GX 99, and about a month after his last settlement offer expired. GX 96. Indeed, the only time anyone expressed the concerns Risen parroted in Chapter 9 was when Sterling went to SSCI.
This is wrong on two counts.
First, what Sterling told SSCI was not spin. Here’s what the SSCI report (Exhibit 101) — which Donald Stone claims he wrote on Bill Duhnke’s direction after he informed Stone of an investigation (in which Duhnke was then the prime suspect, for some unknown reason) — says Sterling said.
The operation entailed a CIA asset providing Iran with faulty plans for a Russian based nuclear fire set. Although the plans had been modified by the National Laboratories, Mr. Sterling feared they were insufficiently flawed to prevent a Russian scientist hired by the Iranians from identifying and correcting the mistakes. His concern was based on the fact that the CIA asset recognized the plan’s flaws almost immediately after being shown them. He would have preferred to string the operation out by giving pieces of the plan out over time. In the end, the entire plan was turned over to the Iranians without any means for further follow up. However, CIA supposedly deemed the operation a success. Mr. Sterling fears the CIA gave the Iranians too much information that they can either use themselves or sell to someone else.
And here’s what Stone told the FBI Sterling had told them, but which (in his memo written after he knew of the investigation) he didn’t include in the investigation.
Which is why the details Stone provided the FBI, which would have been captured in his notes but which didn’t show up in the report, are so interesting. First, Sterling said that “they did the equivalent of throwing it over a fence,” an admission of how shoddy the pass-off of the blueprints was. Then, that one of CIA’s two assets involved “got cold feet,” an admission that Merlin almost backed out just before the trip to Vienna. And that one asset (it actually sounds like Stone might have meant Human Asset 2, the other Russian, which the records actually support) “recognized the plans were faulty.”
Every single one of these details are true, not spin. Not only did Merlin immediately say the plans “would not work” (and in testimony said the real plan would have been “100 times more complicated than it was shown in drawing and the schematics”), but the other Russian involved — the guy who gave the plans to the CIA in the first place — apparently had problems with them as well. The National Lab got the plans to work in 3 months (not 5, as Walter C testified under oath), at least according to CIA’s own cables. And the entire operation was premised on the assumption that Iran had access to Russian engineers.
In addition, Merlin did get cold feet, as extensively documented by CIA cables, and confirmed — once he presented it as protecting his own family — by the Russian’s testimony.
But the most important evidence from Sterling’s report to the SSCI is that he complained that “the entire plan was turned over to the Iranians without any means for further follow up,” largely because “they did the equivalent of throwing it over a fence.” Not only are those claims absolutely true — as confirmed by both Bob S and Merlin’s sworn testimony at the trial — but they are one of the two key points of his whistleblower complaint to Congress. Not only did CIA give Iran a nuclear blueprint. But they did so, Sterling worried (according to the SSCI), in such a way as to make further follow-up and intelligence gathering almost impossible. He would have rather strung out the operation so as to collect intelligence.
And that’s important, because that complaint doesn’t show up in Risen’s book with the details that substantiate it, appearing only as “the CIA also gave the blueprints to the Iranians without any certain way of monitoring their use by Iranian scientists.”
Indeed, there are details in Risen’s book that are inconsistent with both the real basis of Sterling’s worry and the facts as presented by CIA cables, Bob S, and Merlin, though not with the instructions originally given to Merlin. The book repeats the instructions that Merlin was not supposed to hide that he lived in the US.
The Russian was also told not to try to hide the fact that he now lived in the United States.
And it includes the final line of the letter it claims Merlin left, indicating his contact information was on the next page.
My contact info on next page.
The thing is, probably because of Bob S’ suppression of the actual details of the operation as executed — Bob S’ false spin, not Sterling’s! — the CIA documents included these details, but they are inaccurate, per both Bob S and Merlin. Merlin did everything he could to ensure any tie with the US was hidden. “Nobody likes United States in the world,” Merlin testified, “I’m not stupid. I can put in danger my family.” And he had been doing so for almost a year by the time of the operation. And according to Merlin — and Bob S claims he knew this at the time — Merlin did not provide the contact information the Iranians would need to contact him.
In other words, a key part of Sterling’s concern, that as Merlin executed the operation, he had left the Iranians no way to contact him and therefore largely prevented any follow-up contact, doesn’t show up in Risen’s book. The “spin” is not the same, and in fact Risen’s version misstates a key concern Sterling shared with SSCI.
If Sterling had wanted to get Risen to publish the same story he told to SSCI, he surely would have foregrounded that Merlin refused to do as he told with respect to leaving his contact information.
And that’s important for two reasons.
First, as I noted, FBI proved unable ultimately to find the version of the letter Merlin left (or the letter that appears in Risen’s book, which is almost certainly a different thing). And FBI proved unbelievably incurious about why Risen was quoting from a report on Merlin’s trip that Bob S claims never existed, a report that included the details that Bob S suppressed in his own reporting of the operation.
Here’s how the government’s filing deals with their inability to produce the actual letter.
The evidence at trial established that over a period of months, the defendant, Robert S., and Merlin worked on drafting and editing a letter for Merlin to provide to the Iranians. See, e.g., DE 435 at 22-23. The document went through multiple drafts. On January 12, 2000, the defendant sent a cable containing the then-current version of the letter. GX 35. Two days later, on January 14, 2000, Robert S. responded in another cable, requesting certain changes, including that the letter make explicit that the schematics were being provided for “free.” GX 36 at 1. There were no additional changes reflected in any cable traffic. The version of the letter that appears in Chapter 9 is the January 12, 2000, formulation, with Robert S.’s suggested changes from January 14 incorporated into the document—i.e., the final version. Compare GX 35 at 2, and GX 36 at 102, with GX 132 at 13-14
This is false. As I laid out, not only did Bob S’ instructions include agreement that the letter should be stripped of “puffery” that it retains in the Risen version, but Bob S himself testified that the letter that appeared in the book was not the final letter either.
In response on January 14, 2000, Bob S wrote (Exhibit 36),
We agree with [Sterling’s] comments that the verbiage needs to be tightened up still further to make sure the Iranians understand what he has and on what terms. He should say explicitly that he is offering the schematic and associated parts list free to prove that he can provide further information, and acknowledge that what he is providing initially is incomplete. There should be a very clear message that he expects to be paid for the rest of the details they will need if they want to build the device.
Each iteration of his draft letter is better than the previous one, so [Sterling]‘s patience seems to be paying off. It is worth our while to take the extra time to make sure he finally gets it just right, since the letters will have to do much of the work for us with the target.
Now, given Merlin’s payment strike at the following two meetings, it is possible CIA never got around to making the changes Bob S wanted. The fact that Bob S, not Sterling, wrote the cables from those meetings means we would never know, because unlike Sterling, Bob S never included the text of correspondence in cables he wrote (as I laid out here). But Bob S — who ran both the remaining meetings before the Vienna trip with Merlin — clearly wanted changes. And while the letter appearing in Risen’s book retains what Sterling called Merlin’s “puffery” language, it does reflect two of the changes Bob S asked for: reiteration that this package was meant as an assessment package, and an indication Merlin had emailed IS2 to alert him to the package (though see my questions about whether he really did in the update to this post).
In his testimony, Bob S claimed that what appeared in the book was the “nearly final draft,” explaining that the reference to Merlin getting paid was “sharpened” still further after the version that appears in the book. If true, given the way the final meetings worked out, Bob S may have been the only one who would know that.
In spite of the abundant evidence that Bob S was more likely to have these late iteration letters than Sterling, the government goes further to argue — as they prevented Sterling from arguing at trial — that he probably didn’t do his job and that’s why there isn’t a final version of the letter.
It would be entirely reasonable for a jury to conclude that an individual, who was terminated for failure to perform his assigned duties, GX 62 at 1, might also fail to properly document all of his contacts with an asset.
This would require that Merlin and Sterling made changes Bob S knew about, did not document them verbatim as was Sterling’s (but not Bob S’) consistent practice, and Bob S never noticed. Indeed, Bob S insisted at trial that the CIA writes everything down (in contradiction to the evidence that, while Sterling did, he did not). It’s just not possible.
And, as I mentioned, the motion never deals with — as the entire trial didn’t either — the report which Merlin and Bob S say never existed but gets quoted extensively in Risen’s book, which included information which Bob S suppressed in official CIA communications but admits are factually correct.
But the mistranslation of Sterling’s concern is important for another reason: the errors in Risen’s book, errors which Sterling not only knew to be errors (per trial evidence), but errors that make no sense given FBI’s claimed spin. The big one — the one that pissed Merlin off the most — was the claim he was a defector (I’m less convinced that Risen’s claim that CIA helped Merlin get citizenship is entirely false, because there’s reason to believe they did accelerate his green card and treat it differently to allow him to do the Vienna trip).
That is, while there are details that (according to FBI) only Sterling, Bob S, and Merlin knew that weren’t documented (though the majority of those were in the report they didn’t look for), there are also a slew of details that show someone ill-informed, but not in a way that matches’ Sterling’s actual or purported concerns, was talking to Risen.
All this is probably moot. The government will succeed with this motion on evidentiary grounds and the interesting venue argument will be revisited in the Appeals Court.
But it is worth noting that the government’s narrative, even as laid out in a careful motion, continues to make no sense.
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Yes, Eric Holder Does Do the Intelligence Community’s Bidding in Leak Prosecutions
February 19, 2015 /6 Comments/in Leak Investigations /by emptywheel
The second-to-last witness in the government’s case against Jeffrey Sterling, FBI Special Agent Ashley Hunt, introduced a number of things she had collected over the course of her 7.5 year investigation into James Risen’s chapter on Operation Merlin. That included a few things — most notably two lines from Risen’s credit card records from 2004 — that in no conceivable way incriminated Sterling.
On November 17, 2004, Risen charged €158.00 at the Hotel Inter-Continental in Vienna, Austria on his credit card (the provider of which DOJ included in its exhibit). On November 21, 2004, Risen put another €215.30 in Inter-Continental charges on his credit card.
What Agent Hunt had proven by highlighting these two details was that James Risen traveled to Vienna as background for a book chapter set in Vienna, and even went to the hotel where Merlin had stayed. None of that did a thing to prove that Sterling leaked Merlin’s travel information — or anything else — to Risen. But the government decided to gratuitously enter into evidence that they had seized years of Risen’s credit card records, and in doing so obtained details of where Risen had traveled (and also, on what days his daughter sent something via FedEx). It wasn’t enough that we knew that already from court filings. DOJ still saw the need to introduce gratuitous notice that they had all of Risen’s credit card statements into the court record.
“We own you,” seemed to be the message to Risen from this flaunting of his credit card records.
But don’t worry, Eric Holder generously decided not to call Risen to testify against Sterling after having hounded him — in this and the warrantless wiretap investigation — for 6 years already, both Jack Goldsmith and Ben Wittes insist.
Both men seem to vastly underestimate how DOJ’s actions in the last decade impact journalism. And both men seem to misunderstand what just happened in the Jeffrey Sterling trial, where DOJ succeeded in exposing a man to 40 years in prison, based largely on metadata, without even having the key pieces of evidence at issue in the case (almost certainly because of CIA’s doing, not Sterling’s).
Uncharacteristically, Wittes’ post is less annoying that Goldsmith’s. Sure, as he did with Laura Poitras, Wittes appointed himself the arbiter of what the NYT should and shouldn’t tolerate from journalists it pays. I will remember that Wittes believes an employee’s intemperate rants on Twitter should get close scrutiny by their employers the next time Wittes makes factually flawed defenses of his torturer buddies on Twitter or complains when Chris Soghoian tweets about Keith Alexander’s operational security sloppiness when he rides on Amtrak.
But Goldsmith writes two paragraphs about leak prosecutions that — while they may bolster Goldsmith’s questionable claims about how journalism functions to rein in the Executive — entirely miss the point. I’ll take them in detail here:
Third, Holder could have called Risen to testify in the Sterling case – the law was clearly on his side, and DOJ attorneys wanted him to do it. But Holder directed his lawyers to let Risen off the hook. It is simply wrong to say (as Risen did) that Holder was doing the “bidding of the intelligence community” or sending “a message to dictators around the world that it is okay to crack down on the press and jail journalists.” Quite the contrary.
The notion that the trial Holder’s DOJ just staged in Eastern District of Virginia was not about “doing the bidding of the intelligence community” makes me tear up I’m laughing so hard. A very key part of the trial was putting Bob S on the stand so he could make claims about Operation Merlin — which turned out not to be backed up by the documentary evidence or his asset’s memory — so as to be able to claim, “We have demonstrated we did this very carefully.” This was a clusterfuck of an operation, but nevertheless DOJ gave Bob S a day and a half to try to claim it wasn’t. DOJ offered CIA this favor while playing their classification games (this was, after all, EDVA, an improper venue for almost all of the charges, but a very good place to get favorable treatment for security theater) so as to avoid explaining — except when it became handy for Condi to blurt something out — why this operation went from being a clandestine information collection operation to something far more sensitive, which is probably the real reason someone other than Sterling leaked the information as the government was trumping up war against Iraq, the next country that got the Merlin treatment.
It’s EDVA, Goldsmith!!! The same place Holder went to have John Durham pretend to investigate CIA’s obstruction of justice until the statute of limitations expired! The same place Holder went to keep investigating and investigating until DOJ could deliver a head, any head, to punish Gitmo defense attorneys’ crazy notion that they might have good reason to want to learn how and who anally raped their clients in the name of rehydration such that they’re still bleeding, 12 years later.
EDVA has become, under Holder, where DOJ goes to obtain arbitrary judgments that ensure CIA and other agencies will never be held accountable for crimes, but some low-level leaker will be delivered up anytime CIA’s crimes or incompetence get exposed.
Fourth, Risen’s complaints about Holder rest in part on the fact that Holder has presided over many more leak prosecutions than any prior Attorney General. I suspect that any Attorney General would have ramped up the leak prosecutions in light of the unprecedented cascade of deep secrets from the government in the last decade.
Here Goldsmith makes the same nonsensical claim that Steven Aftergood made for The Intercept’s profile of Stephen Kim. The investigation into James Risen’s stories has been going on for twelve years. The investigation into Risen’s reporting on Operation Merlin started over four years before Chelsea Manning even joined the Army, much less started the torrent of leaks Goldsmith claims justifies all these investigations.
And the ratio of leak prosecutions to leaks remains tiny.
This line comes right out of Holder’s defense of his leak prosecutions the other day. And it’s true. But it’s a big part of the problem. Thus far, after all, James Cartwright has not been indicted for allegedly leaking a far more sensitive counter-proliferation program targeting Iran than Sterling purportedly leaked. No one is even considering prosecuting Leon Panetta for leaking details of the Osama bin Laden raid (or classified details in his memoir). I doubt David Petraeus will be indicted either for letting his mistress have access to all his most intimate secrets.
The people who get prosecuted — Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou, Donald Sachtleben, Stephen Kim — they’re not the problem behind this system of leaking and in several cases it’s very clear they’re not even the key leakers: instead, they’re the human detritus the government can dispose of so others will see just how arbitrary the secrecy system really is, by design.
But in any event, it must be true that these prosecutions have had a chilling effect on leakers (i.e. sources) and in that sense made journalists’ jobs harder. Of course chilling criminal leaks is the whole point of the prosecutions. They do not “wreck” the First Amendment if they are consistent with the First Amendment, which they are, especially since the prosecutions have not had any noticeable macro effect on the steady flow of secrets out of the government.
I suspect Risen would say this is not the case. I suspect a number of the other journalists targeted by DOJ would say the same. That is, the point is not about stopping leaks (though I think the Insider Threat system will make it easier to pick and choose which human detritus will be the next sacrificed to feed this arbitrary system of control), but often as not burning certain journalists or others who don’t play the game.
We own you, investigative journalist, and know what you did in Vienna back in 2004.
Note also that Risen and other journalists tend not to talk about the countervailing norms that have moved dramatically in journalists’ favor in the last decade. (I have written about this extensively, here and here and here and here.) Not only has the government significantly raised the bar for going after journalists’ sources, but it has also made clear what was not clear a decade ago: it will not prosecute journalists for publishing classified information in clear violation of 18 USC 798.
I think here Goldsmith misses the novel theory the government used to convict Sterling, the one Holder has deemed the model to go after others.
Under this theory, journalists will be treated as empty vehicles, and the “cause to leak” language in the Espionage Act will be blown up, so that even completely unclassified conversations may be deemed the cause of an investigative journalist with sources throughout the CIA publishing a story. And the jurisdiction, too, will be blown up, so that so long as a single hairdresser buys a book in EDVA — or maybe MD, who cares, really?!?! — then DOJ can stage their witch hunt in EDVA with all its trappings of security theater.
There are some interesting theories behind the successful prosecution of Sterling for a bunch of metadata. And Goldsmith might at least familiarize himself with where Holder’s DOJ is taking the Espionage Act, because it deserves more scrutiny before the Sterling prosecution is deemed to have done no damage to the journalistic process.
Given this change in norms and the structural factors pushing secrets out (size of bureaucracy, digitalization of secrets, and the like), it is very hard to conclude that the advantage on secrecy versus transparency has shifted to the government under Holder.
Again, the underlying problem is the asymmetry involved. The government keeps hiding more and more stuff — the top officials behind its trust-building CVE program, even! — behind a veil of secrecy. That amid increasingly absurd claims of secrecy — and increasingly persistent evidence the secrecy often serves to hide law-breaking or incompetence, as it did with the Merlin caper — more secrets get out should be no great celebration. It’s the structure of it all — the paranoia, the arbitrariness, and the incompetence behind it all — that really sours any claim to democratic governance. Goldsmith may take solace we’re getting more secrets out, but until we reverse the slide into arbitrariness it heralds, I’m not so sanguine.
During the hearing just after the defense closed in the Sterling trial, there was a fascinating discussion, largely about how DOJ planned to blow up the “cause” language in the Espionage Act to further criminalize just talking to journalists, to criminalize publishing a book and deigning to distribute it in EDVA. The conversation kept coming back to how DOJ had gone from treating Risen as a criminal weeks earlier to treating him as an innocent naif who channeled Sterling’s spying to the unwitting citizens of EDVA. Judge Leonie Brinkema at one point said, “If Risen were not protected by the newsman’s privilege, I suspect he would have been named as a co-conspirator.” “There is no newsman’s privilege,” defense attorney Edward MacMahon pointed out, laughing at the absurdity of claiming there was after the 3 year battle over just that topic. But the exchange hung there, pregnantly, because ultimately branding Risen a criminal — or, barring that, branding having even unclassified conversations with Risen as criminal — was a big part of the point of this trial.
What this prosecution did — what, I believe, it was designed to do — was two-fold. First, burn Risen, burn Risen over 12 long years of investigation during which the counterpart investigation even reportedly seized his phone records. But also, to herald a new interpretation of the Espionage Act that will criminalize even having phone calls with a journalist who has reported on completely unclassified stories involving you in the past.
Update: Year on Risen’s credit card records corrected per Rich.
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Merlin Was Reading James Risen in 1999
February 6, 2015 /3 Comments/in Leak Investigations, WMD /by emptywheel
On March 16, 1999, Jeffrey Sterling met with Merlin, the Russian scientist Sterling was trying to get to establish ties with Iran so he could hand off a nuclear blueprint. (Exhibit 22) Merlin seemed to be getting impatient — and perhaps a little insulted — that the Iranians he was approaching weren’t showing more interest in his 20 year experience as a Russian nuclear engineer. So he made an utterly bizarre suggestion.
[M] then suggested that in some of his future messages, he may make mention of the recent revelation that another country had secured nuclear secrets from the U.S. [M]’s reasoning was that others now see that it is possible to obtain nuclear secrets which can advance their programs, and that the project can build upon that supposition to entice the Iranians. [Sterling] lauded [M] for his thinking but said some thought would need to be given to such a proposition prior to [M] implementing it.
Merlin has to be referring to the stories about Wen Ho Lee which started appearing on page one of the NYT starting on March 6, 1999. (Remember, too, that Merlin lived in the NY area, so if he read this in the dead tree version — as most people still read newspapers in 1999 — he most likely read it in the NYT.)
Those stories were written by James Risen.
Which is strong evidence that Merlin was reading Risen as far back as 1999.
Merlin’s suggestion — that he, a CIA asset, entice Iran to accept his Russian blueprint by pointing out that China had allegedly jump-started its own nuclear weapon program by stealing blueprints from the US — reveals just how unclear on the concept of the operation Merlin was. After all, it had to have been suspicious enough to Iran that a Russian who had moved to the US was seeking to deal blueprints (it’s unclear whether the blueprints were ultimately in English or Russian). Any suggestion that the Iranians would thereby be getting US, as opposed to Russian, technology should have alarmed them greatly.
It’s also, of course, a bizarre commentary on the arc of Risen’s career, that the main character in a future book of his would be monitoring nuclear developments by reading Risen. Risen, of course, managed to protect his sources in both cases, in a series that unfairly identified Wen Ho Lee as a Chinese spy and in a book that raised real questions about what our nuclear establishment was doing.
I’m still waiting for Merlin’s transcript on this point, but his wife was asked whether she and her husband knew of or knew Risen. “I start to know about Jim Risen after he wrote the book,” Mrs. Merlin testified on the stand in her imperfect English. She went further, asserting that her husband did not know (it’s unclear whether she meant “of,” or “personally”) before, either. Given how much of the Wen Ho Lee story was driven by Risen between March 6 and March 16, 1999, Merlin probably had known “of” Risen for years before Risen started reporting on the operation that we now refer to by Merlin’s codename.
And yet, I’m fairly certain, the fact that Merlin offered up Risen reporting to the man now convicted of having leaked to Risen, Jeffrey Sterling, 4 years before that leak began, never got mentioned at the trial.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png 0 0 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2015-02-06 19:52:282015-05-26 08:26:52Merlin Was Reading James Risen in 1999
Walter Pincus’ Great Intelligence Work
January 29, 2015 /10 Comments/in Leak Investigations, WMD /by emptywheel
Walter Pincus had a piece yesterday purporting to lay out the inaccuracies in the chapter of James Risen’s State of War. In it, he includes this passage.
In Vienna in late February 2000 to deliver the materials to an Iranian mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Russian, according to Risen’s book, “unsealed the envelope with the nuclear blueprints and included a personal letter of his own to the Iranians. No matter what the CIA told him, he was going to hedge his bets. There was obviously something wrong with these blueprints — so he decided to mention that fact to the Iranians in his letter.”
Risen’s book reprints the letter, saying the Russian later gave the CIA a copy.
The CIA trial witnesses and agency memos tell a different story.
The agency plan always was that the schematics and drawings would have some obvious flaws — and the Russian engineer was told about them. It also was part of the plan from the start that the design materials were to be accompanied by a letter from the Russian noting some errors. A Jan. 10, 2000, CIA memo carries a draft of what it describes as “the letter to be included in the package of material.”
It has elements almost word for word found in the letter as printed in the Risen book, but it was written cooperatively with CIA input and made part of the document package for the Iranians more than a month before the Russian arrived in Vienna.
Now, I think the trial did show that there were some inaccuracies in the book — the one the Merlins cared most about is that they weren’t defectors.
But I find it really curious that Pincus claims these were errors. I say it’s curious because unless I’m mistaken, the transcripts for all the CIA witnesses save Bill Harlow have not been loaded onto the docket and so probably aren’t yet done. And in the 5 of 6 days of testimony I attended (including all but a few minutes of Bob S’ testimony, whom Pincus cites by name), I didn’t see Pincus in the courtroom once. And with the exception of Merlin himself, the CIA witnesses I missed, for the most part, talked about issues other than the Merlin operation. So it’s unclear where Pincus got his understanding of CIA witness testimony, and what he got is inaccurate.
Indeed, in this limited example, Pincus makes two pretty significant errors: in suggesting Merlin was supposed to know about the flaws in (as opposed to the incompleteness of) the blueprints, and in suggesting the CIA is certain about what Merlin left at the IAEA in March 2000.
First, the flaws. Throughout discussions about this operation, there has been some confusion between the flaws and the incompleteness, which has allowed the CIA to push back on the story when in fact the CIA records show this may be a convenient way to claim Risen’s book was wrong when what the CIA thought is meaningless if the Russians still had concerns. While Merlin was told the blueprints were incomplete, he was not told about the flaws the nuclear lab (probably Sandia) put in the blueprints that were supposed to prevent the Iranians from using them (but only held back a national lab team 3 months in using the same blueprints). According to my notes, for example, Bob S said they “didn’t want to say [the blueprints] were intentionally flawed,” to Merlin. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that Merlin and (far more importantly) the other Russian asset involved in this operation saw what they believed were problems that would make the blueprints not serve the purpose the Russians believed they were supposed to serve, and there is reason to believe that those concerns were never adequately addressed.
In addition, as I noted in this Salon piece yesterday, CIA doesn’t actually have the final version of what Merlin left with the IAEA. They claim — with questionable credibility, which I’ll return to — not to know what was in the formal letter Merlin left. Bob S himself agreed in his testimony that Pincus supposedly reviewed that Merlin is the only person who knows what he put in the final version. At the very least the story the CIA tells is that Merlin took a copy of the letter drafted in conjunction with the CIA to Vienna but with the nuke references altered to make sure he could get through customs (Bob S called it “sanitized”), then changed them back on the hotel computer and printed a fresh copy (note, earlier in this process, Merlin at times sent stuff off to the Iranians before the CIA had a chance to review it, so he had a history of freelancing). He then destroyed the disk he used, meaning no one — according to what Merlin told CIA — has a copy (though the almost-final version without any last minute changes would reside on Merlin’s poorly secured home computer). Interestingly, Risen’s book says Merlin wrote a report back, but Bob S and Merlin (apparently) claim he did not.
But that printed letter is not all Merlin left with the blueprints. He also left a handwritten letter in his packet of newspaper-wrapped nuclear blueprints — what Bob S called a “cover note.” The current story — relying on an earlier idea floated during the drafting period but not formally adopted — is that the cover note would help alert the Iranian staffers to the ultimate intended recipient of the letter. But that letter was by all appearances ad-libbed by Merlin. So we only have Merlin’s word for what he wrote.
Now these are just two details — details in Risen’s book that Pincus claims were disproven by cables and Bob S’ testimony — but which were anything but.
I will have a much longer summary of all the other details that came out at trial that made it clear the operation was an even bigger shitshow than Risen’s report makes out. But for the moment, I’m just curious what Pincus is trying to accomplish. Perhaps he was in the back of the courtroom for a tiny part of Bob S’ testimony and neither I nor the several other journalists I asked noticed him. But (at least as far as testimony) it appears he’s working off second-hand claims about what the record says and claiming, falsely, that they specifically disprove Risen’s book.
Why would whoever provided Pincus this partial view of Bob S’ testimony be so desperate to claim that Risen’s book was proven wrong?
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png 0 0 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2015-01-29 13:45:522015-05-26 08:26:54Walter Pincus' Great Intelligence Work
How the Sterling Prosecution Threatens Even Unclassified Tips
January 28, 2015 /3 Comments/in Leak Investigations, Press and Media /by emptywheel
In a piece for Salon, I describe how the government managed to get Jeffrey Sterling convicted of 7 charges under the Espionage Act for one leak. More importantly, I show how the jury’s conviction of him for 2 of those charges — related to “causing” James Risen to write a 2003 NYT story on Merlin that got quashed — may well amount to convicting him for tipping Risen, without sharing any classified information, to the operation.
Here’s the key part of that discussion:
D.C. information brokers should be worried that Sterling faces 80 years in prison based off this circumstantial evidence. All the more so, given the evidence supporting the charge that Sterling leaked to Risen in time for and caused him to write the article Risen told CIA he had in completed draft on April 24, 2003. After all, the only pieces of evidence that the government submitted from before the time when Risen told CIA he had a completed article were the CNN email, phone calls reflecting Risen and Sterling spoke for four minutes and 11 seconds across seven phone calls, and Sterling’s entirely legal discussion with staffers from the Senate Intelligence Committee.
No matter what you think all the later phone calls between Sterling and Risen indicate, short of evidence of a face-to-face meeting in this earlier period, the evidence seems to suggest Sterling was doing something that people in DC do all the time: point an investigative reporter to where she might find classified scoops, without providing those scoops themselves. That’s especially true given the way the CIA’s own notations about Risen’s story seem to track the reporter fleshing out information, from initial outlines of the operation (that happen to map what Sterling told Senate staffers) to, weeks later, inclusion of that elusive document FBI never managed to find. That is, it appears Risen got a tip, possibly from Jeffrey Sterling, but that he spent weeks using his sources to flesh out that tip.
In both the indictment and discussions about jury instructions, the government interpreted the Espionage Act to cover what might be an unclassified tip through two means. First, they pointed to language in the Espionage Act that criminalizes someone “caus[ing secrets] to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted,” and from that argued Sterling was responsible not just for the leak to Risen but also for the journalist’s attempt to publish a newspaper article and his completion and his publisher’s delivery to Virginia of a book chapter. Then, for most counts, they argued that Sterling did not have to have handed Risen secret information directly, he could do so indirectly.
If the jury found Sterling indirectly got secrets into Risen’s hands and, from that, caused him to write an article and a book chapter on it (irrespective of the additional work Risen did, the work of his editors at the Times and the publishers at Simon and Schuster and the commercial freight company that carried those secrets in a bound book to Virginia), that was enough to send him to prison for most of the rest of his life.
While it’s all well and good that DOJ backed off plans to force James Risen to testify, I think few realize the implications of Sterling being held responsible for an entire NYT story based on four minutes and 11 seconds of phone conversations.
They may well criminalize providing unclassified tips to get reporters to chase down classified stories.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png 0 0 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2015-01-28 15:36:162015-05-26 08:26:54How the Sterling Prosecution Threatens Even Unclassified Tips
Jury Convicts Sterling on All Nine Counts
January 26, 2015 /16 Comments/in CIA Leak Case, Leak Investigations /by emptywheel
Courtroom sketch by Debra Van Poolen (http://www.debvanpoolen.com/)
After having deliberated for slightly over 2 days, the jury today found Jeffrey Sterling guilty of all nine counts today. (See a summary of the charges here.)
I’m not surprised the jury found Sterling guilty of some of the charges: of leaking Risen information on Merlin and the operation he was involved in, and of retaining and then leaking Risen a document involved in that. The government multiplied the charges for both the 2003 New York Times story (at which point, Sterling and Risen had only spoken for two minutes and 40 seconds) and the 2006 book (by which point they had had more lengthy discussions), such that each leak amounted to multiple charges. In addition, the jury convicted Sterling of passing government property worth over $1,000, and of obstruction of justice.
It’s the last charge that really raises questions about how the jury understood their instructions.
That’s because the government charged Sterling for obstructing the investigation by destroying a totally unclassified email he sent to James Risen in March 2003; he destroyed that email sometime between April and July 2006. The government made no allegation that Sterling ever entered Virginia during this period, much less destroyed the email there. In other words, there is no way Sterling should have been found guilty on that charge in Virginia (though it was easily the charge for which there was the most evidence to convict him of, had it been charged in Missouri). So that guilty verdict should make it easier to prove that the jury misunderstood the venue questions.
The other thing I think the defense might have grounds to appeal was Leonie Brinkema’s decision (which remains classified) that kept out details showing that several of the witnesses against Sterling — up to four of the people cleared into the Merlin operation — had, like Sterling, kept classified documents at home. One of the few concrete pieces of evidence against Sterling was that he had kept (probably retroactively) classified documents at home, which the government presented in big red printed SECRET folders. But, if (as seems highly likely) Bob S also did the same, it might raise questions about why FBI never investigated him as a potential source.
There’s much more that raises questions about the legitimacy (though not necessarily the outcome) of the trial, such as the things CIA managed to keep secret, including that the CIA had declared state secrets over some of the evidence submitted at trial to deprive Sterling of the ability to sue for discrimination.
And, finally, the verdict raises real questions about the economy of leaks in DC, in which people may point reporters to stories, only to have the reporters dig up damning evidence from other sources (which is what seems most likely to have happened here). Jeffrey Sterling just got found guilty for causing James Risen to publish a story to (the government claimed) avenge his crummy treatment by the CIA. Sterling’s guilty verdict allows no room for Risen to have decided to publish a story about CIA’s horrible record on WMD. This verdict will not only send Sterling to prison, but it turns journalists into agency-free vehicles of their sources.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png 0 0 emptywheel https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png emptywheel2015-01-26 16:41:402015-05-26 08:26:55Jury Convicts Sterling on All Nine Counts
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Musician Showcase: Peter Shonerd
Peter Shonerd has been a mainstay of my stage performances and studio recordings for over 40 years. Built on a solid foundation of creativity, professionalism, unique stylings, and a genuine love for his instruments, he has distinguished himself as a premier percussionist in our generation of players.
His part in our collaborations…in all of their diversity…brings an energy and atmosphere and fun that only his experience can provide. The fact that he is my long-time friend makes it all perfect.
It all started with sitting in with Cam and me. Over four decades…as the groups evolved into their own sounds…and came and went…Peter was always up for a new approach…adding new instruments to his arsenal of sounds...and expanding his expertise into new genres, arrangements, and associations.
He has been the percussionist for Tom Farley and Cam Head, The Tom Farley-Cam Head Band, The Tom Farley Band, The High Energy Acoustics Band, The Moondogs, Wall and Frye, One Hot Mess, Thom and Pete, Tom Farley and Friends, and has sat in on my solo gigs from time to time. He was with these groups when they opened for Poco and Firefall…jammed with Clarence Clemons with The Tom Farley-Cam Head Band, and opened for the TFAM Concert with Tom Farley and Friends. While his interpretations for cover tunes were always excellent, his work on my original music was exceptional; I can’t imagine another player serving those songs better than Peter. His studio and live performances on the “By the Fence in the Sun” album and “The High Energy Acoustics Band: First Take” live album were stellar…soft ballads to hard rockers…and co-anchoring two of the best rhythm sections I’ve ever known.
Peter lives and works in Northern Virginia with his wife, Lisa. His reputation and performance history there is substantial…respected by all those in his circle. My hope is that we will continue to explore music together as the years pass. If the past is any indication, it can only get better with age….
Here are some of the recordings from our studio sessions, and, links to the studio and live videos we were able to capture and archive. Below is a listing of the songs, contributions, and links that make up this “Musician Showcase”...with a full preview playlist for you to enjoy this wonderful body of studio and live performances.
Studio and Live Video Performances
Video Collage (2016-2017)
I’ll Remember (Live)
The High Energy Acoustics Band: First Take
Sixty-nine Pimpmobile (Live)
Fadeaway by The Bodeans (LIve)
Slow Drivers in the Left-Hand Lane (Live)
Baby Can I Hold You (Live)
Jody Lee Carroll (Live)
High School Heart (Live)
By the Fence in the Sum Album
I’ll Remember
Slow Drivers in the Left-Hand Lane
Tom Farley and Friends (Live - TFAM - 2013)
Sixty-nine Pimpmobile
Feelin’ Alright
The Tom Farley-Cam Head Band (Live - 1978)
Baby What Do You Want Me To Do
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Farleys Advise on DMACK Tyre Investment
Home » News » Farleys Advise on DMACK Tyre Investment
Farleys recently represented tyre manufacturer DMACK in a private equity deal worth £3.5 million. Carlisle-based tyre manufacturer DMACK secured the investment to help fund the next stage of its high growth business. Private equity managers Maven made the investment to support DMACK’s boost in manufacturing, allowing it to increase the range and production capacity for road and motorsport tyres.
DMACK was formed in 2006 by managing director Dick Cormack initially to design and produce high performance motorsport tyres. In 2011 it was one of just two tyre manufacturers, alongside Michelin, authorised to supply tyres to the FIA World Rally Championship.
This investment will allow DMACK to significantly increase its road range by investing in new tyre moulds and the firm aims to have 100 sizes of car and truck tyres on offer by the end of 2014. It also plans to move into other motorsport disciplines. Currently it has over 120 motorsport tyre products and a dealer network covering 72 countries, however, DMACK now plans to enter the rally raid, trackday and circuit racing markets with a range of exciting new products.
The global tyre market is currently valued at c$90bn per annum, and forecast to grow by a further 50% by 2017, leaving DMACK well-placed to achieve further significant growth in the coming years.
Advised by Corporate Partner Debbie King, the transaction was completed by Maven’s Glasgow-based investment team.
Dick Cormack, managing director at DMACK said:
“With a robust brand and unique range of products, DMACK has achieved enviable growth over the last three years. The investment by Maven will provide us with the support needed to boost our range of consumer and specialist motorsport tyres, delivering the platform to enter new markets during this significant stage of development. Maven took a keen interest from the start and their support will really help DMACK’s next stage of business and facilitate sustainable revenue and growth.”
Commenting on the legal advice provided by Farleys, Dick Cormack said:
“Farleys have handled all our legal requirements for the past 5 years, this year we sold 30% of the company and Farleys were able to handle the whole deal from start to finish, offering a great service and advice along the way, I would highly recommend Farleys to any of my business contacts”.
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ATHLETICS: Matique grabs silver at Northern Counties Championships
Scarborough AC reports
Mick Thompson
Three Scarborough Athletic Club Under-15 girls competed in the Northern Counties Indoor Track and Field Championships at the English Institute of Sport.
The most successful of the trio at the Sheffield-based event was Isabel Matique, who finished as the silver medallist in high jump final. She also equalled her best time for 60 metres in the heats.
Hannah Ellam and Emily Carroll both achieved personal best performances in the qualifying rounds.
Ellam improved her high jump best, and Carroll managed a best in the 60 metres.
Complete results: Isabel Matique - 2nd high jump 1.50, 3rd heats 200 metres 27.98.
Hannah Ellam - 4th heats 60 metres 8.92, 5th heats long jump 5.02.
Emily Carroll - 5th heats 60 metres 8.93, 5th heats long jump 4.16.
Warren and Emma Foster competed in the Holme Pierrepont six-hour Challenge, which was one of a It’s Grim Up North series of events, held on a multi-terrain course around the National Water Sports Centre.
The competitors had to complete as many three-mile laps as possible inside the six-hour cut off.
Markers were placed at the half and full marathon lap points so that competitors could record their times over these standard distances.
Emma completed her first ever half-marathon and was the first female in 2 hours 6 minutes.
Warren continued past both the half and full marathon marks, to complete a total of 42 miles in 5 hours 53 minutes.
His distance was the second highest total of all the competitors.
Former Harrogate and England No9 Martyn Wood takes over at Yorkshire Carnegie
Five club members competed in the latest event in the Hardmoor series of races, which were held at Saltburn.
Four took on the challenge of the half marathon which consisted of a 15-mile route with 2,500 feet of climb from Saltburn along the cliff paths to Skinningrove, and then back to Saltburn.
The weather conditions were near arctic with extremely strong winds, rain and sleet which made the going very tough and in addition there was plenty of thick mud.
The first home for the club was Danny Walls, who finished in 11th overall in 2 hours 14 minutes.
He was followed by 17th-placed Andy Messenger, who clocked 2 hours 25 minutes.
Serena Partridge and Sue Louth finished together in 2 hours 55 minutes. Dave Parke followed in 3 hours 15 minutes.
Juliette Pilgrim competed in the 10 kilometre event which was actually over 7.3 miles over parts of the same testing course, and was pleased to finish in 1 hour 20 minutes, and provisionally the eighth woman finisher.
Ten Scarborough AC members competed in the latest Dalby Forest Parkrun.
Glen Shelton was the first home for the club in 10th male.
Shelton was followed by Juliette Pilgrim, who warmed up for a tough multi-terrain race the following day with sixth female placing in a personal best time.
Simon Valente followed in 28th male and third Over-60. Sally Elwick also achieved a personal best when leading the club females in 10th.
Katie Webster was 21st, Paula Morris 22nd, Alison Hornsby 31st and second Over-50, while Jill Grinstead was 34th and third Over-55.
Jeremy Goodall was 31st male and ahead of Brian Rutt who was 33rd.
Five club members took part in the latest Sewerby Parkrun.
Emma and Warren Foster used the event as a warm up for a multi terrain race the following day.
Emma was the first club member home, finished 14th female overall and the second Over-40.
Warren Foster, who acted as a pacemaker with Sophie Warren, was officially 50th male, while Warren was 18th female.
Linda Hinchliffe closely followed in 19th female and Mike Padgham the 52nd male.
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Recommended Films >> Sin City
How successful can a film be after making very few changes from the source material?
Sin City revolves around the lives of Basin City’s unlikely heroes and through their own words the story unravels the shady word they live in. The story revolves around protagonists, Marv (Mickey Rourke), who is worried he may have finally turned into a psycho killer, Dwight (Clive Owen), a killer with a new face and Hartigan (Bruce Willis), a policeman aiming to save a young girl from being killed.
Directors Robert Rodriquez, Frank Miller and Quentin Tarantino separate the film from normal crime dramas by using visuals directly from the graphic novel and provide bold and highly stylised imagery that keeps the audience thoroughly entertained. Keeping the world as close to the source material as possible helps soften the effects of the extreme violence allowing it to go further than usual; one of the best example of this is Marv dragging someone alongside his car while pressing their face against the ground which is hugely violent and with naturalistic imagery that would be too much for a crime thriller and more fitting for gore filled horror.
Of the three protagonists it is Hartigan who is most identifiable as a traditional film hero as he is a good cop in a corrupt system trying to save a young girl from a child-molesting killer. Willis brings an endearing human side to this character through his frailty and willingness to continue after being shot and having a minor heart attack.
Although the cast is predominately made up of strong male characters it is The Girls of Old Town that dominate their area of the city. The leader, Gail, is brought to life wonderfully by Rosario Dawson who brings an excellent natural dominance to the warrior leader without losing the alluring sexuality expected of a silver screen prostitute. Gail’s joy at the slaughter of her enemies is a highlight of Dawson’s performance as it shows just how unhinged she can be putting her in a class of her own.
Sin City is a celebration of just what can be done with CGI when working with a look that is a mix of classic film noir and the graphic artistic beauty of Miller’s source material. It is cleverly written, has interesting characters and is an amazing visual feast.
Review by:
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Finnish lessons – Key takeaways from Beijing airport staff’s exchange programme in Finland
Article published
Employees from the world’s second largest airport visited Helsinki and Rovaniemi to learn from Finnish airport know-how.
The cooperation between Finavia and Chinese airports continued in 2017, as staff from Beijing Capital International Airport familiarised themselves with Helsinki and Rovaniemi airports.
The two-week exchange programme, which took place in early December 2017, is part of a multi-year cooperation agreement between Finavia and Capital Airports Holding Company, which operates over 40 airports in China. Helsinki Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport became sister airports in 2016.
In 2016, Finavia staff members spent two weeks in Beijing, learning about Chinese service culture. Last year, it was time for their counterparts from Beijing to pay a visit to Finland and gain insight into Finnish airport operations.
“During the two weeks, the visitors had the opportunity to learn about Helsinki and Rovaniemi airports from several different angles,” says Sami Laine, HR Partner at Finavia, who was in charge of the exchange programme in Finland.
These are some of the things the visitors from Beijing discovered in Finland:
Finnish winter maintenance and snow-how
One of the most interesting parts of the visit at both Helsinki and Rovaniemi airports involved winter maintenance and Finnish snow-how.
“The guests got to know our de-icing systems and snow removal vehicles. We offered them practical information and experiences from Helsinki Airport’s winter maintenance,” says Mika Järvinen, Apron Control Manager from Helsinki Airport.
The guests even got to ride on the brushblower vehicles on a snow removal run, and heard about the environmental aspects of the operations, such as how de-icing fluids are collected and treated.
“The guests seemed impressed with our winter maintenance, our fleets and the weather monitoring system we use to keep the runways in the right condition in any weather,” adds Johan Juujärvi, Head of Rovaniemi Airport “Our rescue service operations during the winter months were also interesting to the visitors.”
Simplicity in design and lifestyle
Beijing Capital Airport’s HR Assistant Lingling Dai was one of the staff members who visited Finland. She says one of the most memorable parts of her trip was the down-to-earth nature of Finnish design and the Finnish lifestyle.
”Simplicity is the ultimate luxury. Everywhere we went the furniture and décor were simple, beautiful and functional. Finns also seem to know how to enjoy life and find a balance between work and life,” Dai says.
“We visited Rovaniemi right before Christmas and the atmosphere and decorations were great. It almost seemed like Santa himself was running the airport.”
Efficiency in flight connections and customer service
Dai says she and the other guests from Beijing took note of the hard work Finavia and its partners do to make transferring as smooth as possible at Helsinki Airport.
“Collaboration is what makes travel smooth. Apart from Finavia staff from different departments, authorities and other stakeholders at the airport must also work together to keep the connecting times short and transfer processes smooth, from runway maintenance to border control and environmental issues,” says Dai.
She also pointed out Finavia’s customer service development, especially relating to Chinese passengers.
“It was nice to find that our colleagues from Finavia who visited Beijing for an exchange programme last year had brought back lots of service products customized for Chinese travellers, such as hot water suppliers and luxury brands in the commercial area.”
Collaboration between Finnish and Chinese airports continues
Though the two airports differ quite a lot in size – Helsinki Airport closed 2017 with 18.9 million passengers while Beijing Capital International Airport served over 95 million passengers – Dai believes that the cooperation can help both operators improve their services.
“We in Beijing can learn from how the different stakeholders in Finland stick firmly to one shared mission,” shares Dai. “On the other hand, Finavia staff can benefit from our in-depth knowledge of Chinese travellers and their needs.”
The exchange programme between Finavia and Capital Airports Holding Company continues in 2018, with a group of Finavia staff members visiting Beijing.
Read more about Finavia’s year 2017
Finavia airports had 26 million passengers in 2019 – a year of moderate growth in air traffic
Appointment at Finavia: Janne Simula as Director of Legal
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Casting Tidbits: Hall Pass and Criminal Empire for Dummys
I love the smell of Casting Tidbits in the morning! First up, Variety has another in a long stream of casting updates for the Farrelly Brothers comedy Hall Pass. This time it's Richard Jenkins (The Visitor, Step Brothers) and Bruce Thomas (Let Me In, "Kyle XY") who have both been added to an all-star cast which already includes Owen Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate and Alyssa Milano. In the story of two married couples whose wives give the husbands a "hall pass" to engage in extracurricular affairs, Jenkins will play Coakley, a man who never settled down and Thomas a baseball player. Read on!
The other update, also from Variety, announces that Gary Oldman (The Book of Eli, The Dark Knight), Malin Akerman (Watchmen), and Milo Ventimiglia ("Heroes") have joined an indie gangster flick titled Criminal Empire for Dummys. Also starring Michael Clarke Duncan and Harvey Keitel, the story marks the directorial debut of writer Cliff Dorfman (working from his own script) and follows a charismatic young man (Ventimiglia) who relates the do's and don'ts of running a criminal empire through a flashback to his own rise from a tragic childhood and life in the ghetto to eventual position as a multinational drug and criminal kingpin. We could all use a good education on how to become a successful criminal.
That's it for this edition of Casting Tidbits! Stay tuned for even more casting news coming down the line!
Find more posts: Casting Tidbits, Movie News
todays screens would do well to have more Oldman on them
Voice of Reason on Mar 11, 2010
@1 so very true, BUTT he needs be a main guy and not playing second fiddle. His is one of the best.
wm on Mar 11, 2010
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Amber Heard in First 'Syrup' Trailer Based on Max Barry's Novel
Source: The Playlist
"We take image very seriously." Magnolia Pictures has debuted a trailer for the indie film Syrup, based on Max Barry's "cult" business/marketing novel of the same name. It tells the story of a young marketing exec who comes up with a million-dollar idea, but "has to learn to trust his attractive corporate counterpart." The concept behind this isn't bad, but there's something extra cheesy about the cast and the marketing dialogue that makes everything feel a bit too fake. The cast includes Brittany Snow and Amber Heard as the sex sellers, plus Shiloh Fernandez, Kellan Lutz, Rachel Dratch and Josh Pais. Not great, but may be fun.
Here's the first official trailer for Aram Rappaport's adaptation Syrup, found on YouTube:
A slacker named Scat (Shiloh Fernandez) hatches a million-dollar idea. But, in order to see it through, he has to learn to trust his attractive corporate counterpart. Based on Max Barry's novel first released 1999.
Syrup is both written and directed by filmmaker Aram Michael Rappaport, of only the indie Innocent previously. The screenplay was co-written by Rappaport and Max Barry, author of the book the film is based on. The independent film hasn't premiered at any festivals yet, but did get acquired by Magnolia Pictures earlier this year. They'll be putting out Syrup in limited release at some point in the summer. Interested?
This looks entertaining enough...I am going on a limb here and compare to something like Thank You For Smoking or the french fantastic movie 99Francs
Mathieu Godin on Apr 10, 2013
Looks like a Netflix streaming watch to me, at best.
Fatal Error on Apr 10, 2013
*Sigh* Yet another great book that deserves a better big screen treatment.
Bill-C on Apr 11, 2013
sad thing is a lot of what was said in this trailer is true.
Eric Wilson on Apr 11, 2013
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Our fleet: Suzuki SX4 S-Cross SZ-T 1.6DDI Allgrip - July 2014
Operating efficiency is gaining ever more significance as tighter budget controls call on most company car drivers to think twice about the cost of their travel.
However, extracting the most from every gallon doesn’t necessarily result in accepting that compromises need to be made with regard to driving pleasure, comfort and practicality, the key considerations for people who need to spend a lot of time behind the wheel.
Thanks to technological expertise, that also goes for vehicles with off-road capability, allowing drivers with more ambitious motoring aspirations to find the car that best suits their needs is now on the choice lists.
Many of the latest four-wheel drive models tick all the ecological boxes, but few of them present a stronger proposition than the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross that has been with Fleet News for the past few months.
Packaged to score high ratings with the growing number of business motorists looking for cars more suited to outdoor leisure pursuits as well as providing all-season mobility, the SZ-T is particularly well equipped for its price, with lots of useful features such as satellite navigation, dual air conditioning, hill hold, a rear view camera and tyre pressure monitoring all included as standard.
Smoothly styled despite being chunky, it also works well as all-purpose transport with family-friendly packaging that comes with a good load capacity that can be boosted by a double boot floor and adjusting the rake of the rear seat backrests.
But two key features have made the SZ-T a big surprise in our hands – performance and economy. The lusty Fiat motor may be a little gruff on idle, but it punches above its weight in output by being as lively as a two-litre unit. And with that in mind, it's little short of remarkable that economy has never fallen below the mid 50s and has even reached 65mpg on three occasions.
Even allowing for the fact that the car has been used mostly out of town and on relatively open roads, an overall figure of more than 60mpg is good by any standard – and excellent for transport that feels as sturdy as it looks and offering the peace of mind that comes with the guarantee of transport in all weathers thanks to all-round traction..
Maurice Glover
More Suzuki Reviews
More MPV Reviews
Suzuki Vitara is primed to rival small SUVs, first drive
Suzuki Vitara's low P11D price means drivers’ BIK tax will be less than £70 a month
Our fleet: Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 e-HDi 115 Airdream Exclusive+ 5dr - Jan 2015
The Citroen Grand C4 Picasso was awarded the Fleet News title of people carrier of the year at the 2014 ceremony, seeing off the likes of former winners Ford S-Max, Seat Alhambra and Vauxhall Zafira Tourer.
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Moblie Phones
Fitbit Ionic™ Watch Review: A Motivating Timepiece
If you are looking for smartwatch equipped with features necessary regarding your fitness routine, Fitbit ionic could be a right choice for you. The newest device offers mobile wallet, music player, fitness tracker, GPS running, an impressive battery life, and swimming device – all in $300.
Apart from the features, the Fitbit smartwatch is comfortable to wear during workout sessions. The display has sharp edges that add a lot of style to it. Moreover, the well-structured smartwatch comes with a touchscreen and three buttons alike. You can control features or explore apps via the touchscreen.
The touch display response is quite impressive. You can quickly go through fitness stats or music apps – anything that you need during a workout. However, you won’t always find the display on but it will light up when exposed direct to the sun – that is ideal for outdoor physical activity.
Also, the device functions across Android and iOS, and can sync with Macs and Windows – just connect it to the Fitbit app. It will facilitate your fitness routine allowing you to stay in touch with your friends and colleagues. Fitbit ionic comes with pre-installed coach, exercise, music, Pandora, Starbucks and timer applications.
You will find a list of workouts in the coach app, which is fantastic for beginners who usually have no idea about how to or where to begin. The device will also motivate you in this regard by managing the hours you spent standing, it will provide information about how many steps you have taken and how many are left – that will surely encourage you to stay focused during your workout.
It is noteworthy here that Fitbit is water resistant up to 50-meters. This means you can go for a quick swim wearing your smartwatch. Also, you need to recharge the device once and it will work all week – this is no doubt another feature worth every penny!
Photo credit: Fitbit
Samsung Notebook 9 Pen Review
It wouldn’t be wrong to claim that the Samsung Notebook 9 Pen is the lightest machine on the market – it only weighs 2.2-lbs! Plus, it comes with the popular S Pen. The notebook functions well but its quality and design may confuse tech enthusiasts.
The hardware design could be a result of Samsung’s splendid metallurgical techniques and technology. You will pick up the notebook and it will feel as if you’re holding something made from plastic, but it is not. The company has used something known as magnesium-aluminum alloy – known as Metal 12 to make the device lighter and durable.
It is not a fancy looking notebook, and that means Samsung has put all emphasis on the performance of the device rather than its aesthetic appeal. However, the company could be more mindful regarding the ports on the device. The device just has single, full-size 3.0 USB port, a USB-C port, an HDMI out, and a small slot for your microSD card. Moreover, the 13-inch, 1080p panel screen comes with vibrant colors that are quite impressive as it will allow you to work outdoors.
Samsung notebook also features 8th generation Intel Core i7-8550U processor, a 256GB SSD, and 8GB RAM. The software is solid and it can handle working on multiple Chrome tabs, daily – prolonged Spotify sessions, and non-stop work on Photoshop without hindrance.
The machine can provide a pleasant gaming experience but don’t forget that it is not designed for gamers. Moreover, S Pen is a simple – silver pen with company’s logo but it works fine. You can use it on the screen to capture areas and can mold images into GIFs without any significant effort. You will get a smooth keyboard along with useful features for $1,399. Professionals or students can invest in the Samsung notebook as it is easy to carry and easily handles all your workload.
Photo by: Samsung
HTC U11+ Review: Pushing the Limits
HTC has launched a range of smartphones. And after U11, the company launched the U11+, which is basically the successor to the U11 and a powerfully upgraded version. The company has not revealed any plans to market it in the United States, but it will be available in the European and Asian markets. With a stunning, large display and enhanced features – U11+ is fit to compete with some of the most cutting-edge phones in the market. Moreover, the phone is also incorporated with pressure-sensitive sides.
Any smartphone with a large display attracts attention because it enables them to enjoy gaming or watching movies on a larger display. The company has worked on the display to provide better and wider visuals. The U11+, with 6” Super LCD display is all set to impress you at just the right price. You will also experience an 18:9 ratio, with a 2880×1440 resolution and HDR10 support in the display.
The fingerprint scanner has been designed at the back of the phone in order to accommodate and integrate a larger display unit. The setup of U11+ is quite similar to LG V30 and Pixel 2XL. The device is IP68 dust and water resistance. The HTC U11+ will be available in two models 64GB storage and 4GB RAM and 128GB storage and 6GB RAM.
The users have three color choices, Amazing Silver, Ceramic Black, and Translucent Black (which is not entirely black, but has a slight semi-see through impact).
U11+ Features
The U11+ runs on Android 8.0 Oreo. The device has 5.0 Bluetooth support. The company has enhanced the phone edges for a smooth one-handed usage experience. This way, on the home screen you can swipe anywhere to reach the notification drawer.
The pressure-sensitive sides are effective features for the users as now; they just need to squeeze the sides to reach to the apps. To your surprise, this gesture can be used to zoom in or out for applications like Google maps, turning pages on Kindle. Besides this, users can add more functions over time.
The newest HTC device has come out with an upgraded 835 snapdragon and has a 12MP UltraPixel 3 (f/1.7) camera with a wider view than U11. Also, with the U11+ you can experience HTC’s Acoustic Focus while video recording. Plus, for the people who are wondering about its battery life, you can avail a 3930mAh battery.
Photo by: HTC
Origin PC Evo15-S: Ultra Thin Gaming Laptop
Origin is joining the Max-Q race with the Evo15-S, a slim, lean notebook that’s great for gamers. The machine has an understated, low-key design, which adds to its visual appeal. The great thing about this notebook is its weight, as it is smaller and lighter as compared to a conventional 15-inch gaming laptop. The overall weight of the Evo15-S is less than 5 lbs, which is significantly lighter than the Alienware 15.
The notebook also features a number of ports that you can use for your USB connections, which include a USB 3.1 port, an HDMI port for VR, and a couple of mini DisplayPort connectors. The display of the notebook is decent, with 94% sRGB gamut coverage, which makes it ideal for gaming. However, you might face some issues with the display when viewing anything with excessive color use.
The best feature of this notebook is that it provides you the power you get with a gaming desktop but in a slim and light design. You don’t have to compromise on the connections you want to set up, and the laptop itself weighs less than 5 lbs.
The Drawbacks
You might find the keyboard of the Evo15-S slightly cramped, which can be difficult for your muscle memory. The laptop also tends to heat up if you use it for an extended period.
At over $1,600, you might find the Evo15-S a bit pricey, but the features and quality it offers make it worth purchasing. The only catch is that the keyboard might not be suitable for your gaming needs, and you probably have to play plugged. That said, the portability of the laptop make it a great device for people who want to play games on the go, but without having to lug around a hefty machine.
Acer Spin 5 Review: Versatile Convertability
Are you looking for an affordable, convertible notebook, the Acer Spin 5 can prove a worthwhile purchase. The 2-in-1 device offers you a wide range of features that you can expect from a high-end product. The Spin 5 comes with an HD touchscreen, a number of ports, a modern build, long-lasting battery, and a stylus pen. The best part is the price point this notebook is available for, i.e. starting at $700.
You can select between 13-inch and 15-inch versions. Regardless of the size you select, the body of the laptop comprises of all metal. Other features include a crisper, shaper screen, better support for the stylus, and the keyboard is an improvement on the previous model. The only catch is that the features don’t offer anything extraordinary. The standard set of features means you are unlikely to derive any inspiration from the notebook. Also, the design isn’t aesthetically appealing either.
The Spin 5 is a slightly heavy system, weighing over 3 pounds. This makes this notebook slightly heavier than other 13-inch models from HP and Samsung, which weigh less than 2.5 lbs today. There is no slot for storing the stylus on the laptop, though the stylus works perfectly if you want to draw or take notes.
The 13-inch version of the notebook is available for $700, which is slightly on the high side. But, you should consider the fact that you are getting a 2-in-1 device that offers you a wide range of applications. And although Acer doesn’t mention that this notebook is ideal for video viewing, you can use it as an alternative to watching TV.
The screen of the Spin 5 is decent, offering great color rendering and you enjoy multiple viewing angles. Moreover, the sound the speakers of the device offer is topnotch, which means you don’t have to connect external speakers, although the audio quality is not up to the mark.
UA Sport Wireless Flex: Bluetooth Headphones
With the increasing trend of headphones in the market, many companies today are introducing their latest products. Similarly, UA Sport has also introduced its newest Wireless Flex recently, although its predecessor was not successful. People did not love the design and performance. However, the company has gained its image again by introducing the UA Sport Wireless Flex. Mentioned below are some of the features that this gadget offers.
Features and Specifications of this Headphone
Easy four-button controls
11 Hours Battery with Speed Charge
Run-Safe LED
JBL Charged Sound
Magnetic Buds
Adjustable Flex Zones
The initial price is not too high, i.e., $130. You can easily afford these if you are a true headphone freak. Its design is quite similar to the others introduced in the past. It is packed up with a few amazing features for sporty people. This includes a “RunSafe” LED light with three flashing models. Secondly, you have the option to bend the neckband and adjust it according to your requirements and comfort.
The best part is that it has a battery that charges quickly and has amazing timing. You will be able to charge your device in only 60 minutes, and its usage is about 11 hours. One thing that is unique from others is that the ear-buds adhere to each other magnetically.
The managers of JBL believe that this product is packed up with a powerful and bold JBL Charged Sound. This means that the headphone has clarity and the bass is not bloated at all. After looking at all this, it is advised to buy this product. It is also asked to prefer this product over any other of the similar type.
Photo by: Under Armour
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BECOME THE WARRIOR OF DARKNESS TODAY IN FINAL FANTASY XIV: SHADOWBRINGERS
Third Expansion adds New Storyline, Jobs, Races, Trust System and More...
Apex Legends Recent Update Patch: What’s New?
If you haven't heard of it yet, recently, on July 16, Respawn has finally launched an update patch. It has dropped for all platforms that were reported to hold a whole bunch of issues. The main goal of the client patch was to address all those crashes, bugs, and exploits that players were complaining about.
by Ernest Hamilton
Another Terrible, Boring Episode : 'Fear The Walking Dead' Season 5, Episode 6 Review
At the end of Fear The Walking Dead's latest episode 'The Little Prince' Strand and Charlie show up to save their stranded counterparts in a hot air balloon shaped like a beer bottle.
Armored Mewtwo Is Coming To ‘Pokemon GO’ In New Raid Battles Soon
Sometimes I do a double-take when I hear Pokemon GO news, and today, that was certainly one of those times. Niantic has announced that Armored Mewtwo is going to be coming to the game in five-star raid battles that take place from July 10 to July 31.
The Psychology Of Fortnite's Battle Pass
Fortnite, published by Epic Games, can be a bit confusing to outside observers. Partially because it features giant banana people slapping together rickety, wooden towers and sniping opponents from three time zones away and then dancing about it.
'NBA 2K20': 2K Releases The First In-Gam Screenshot Of Anthony Davis In A Los Angeles Lakers Uniform
All of the major NBA trades and free-agent signings were made official on July 6. That gave 2K the license to start releasing screenshots of top players in their new uniforms, and it should also give the publisher the go-ahead to release more screenshots of the new game.
Game Stack Turns Microsoft's Data Centers Into Game Development Platforms
Stadia was introduced as both a game streaming service and a game development platform hosted in Google's data centers. In a previous article, I noted that this combination set Stadia apart from Microsoft's xCloud which is all about streaming games.
Mystic Pulls Ahead : Pokémon GO Fest Global Research Challenge Progress
We're coming into day two of the global research challenge for Pokémon Go Fest in Dortmund, and no real surprises so far. The basic setup for this one is the same as it was for the one in Chicago: each one of the teams has to complete 15,000,000 research tasks, alongside 1,000,000 for the people actually at the event.
Where To Get A Score Of Ten Or More On A Carnival Clown Board In 'Fornite'
It's Day 11 of the '14 Days Of Summer' which means you only have a few days left to finish up all the free challenges and rewards, earning some pretty sweet cosmetics in the process.
Will The Stranger Things Event Get An LTM : 'Fortnite'
Stranger Things Season 3 is out on Netflix, and we've got a Fortnite event to go with it. This isn't surprising: Epic's battle royale title has been hitting a good chunk of recent pop culture phenomenons from the Avengers to John Wick, the Super Bowl, and DJ Marshmello.
Extracting What Would Work From That Unreliable ‘GTA 6’ Leak
This week we've seen a lengthy GTA 6 'leak' passed around the internet that seems extremely unreliable at best and flat-out made up at worst. While we do know that Rockstar is no doubt working on GTA 6, the sheer level of detail in this leak and some of the conflicting reveals seem...wrong, and so I'm not putting any stock in it.
‘Apex Legends’ Season 2, Week 1 Challenges Revealed And How To Solve Them
Well, Respawn has finally introduced daily and weekly challenges into Apex Legends in order to help people chew through their newly upgraded battle pass faster. They said that they were going to make challenges that "wouldn't require a YouTube guide" to solve, which is a bummer for me because I have very much enjoyed writing Fortnite guides for the past year. It's interactive, Respawn, put some hidden things in there!
Here Are The Complete Quest Steps For The Lumina Exotic Hand Cannon: "Destiny 2"
Lumina is a new sort of hand cannon in Destiny 2: its exotic perk gives it the ability to heal and buff allies. To get it requires a long exotic quest of the kind that has become a Destiny 2 specialty in the era of the Forsaken, and it's a decent one.
Accessible With Bot Spray Inside A Robot Factory: "Fortnite"Fortbyte #52 Location
The 14 Days Of Fortnite are over halfway over, as Season 9 draws inexorably toward its conclusion. Week 9 starts tomorrow with a fresh batch of challenges.
Behind the 'Must-Have Expansions' of 'Terraforming Mars' and 'Xia
At the heart of a Reddit thread a few weeks ago discussing "must have" board expansions was the question, what if the core of a paricular game is just a shade of what the real product is?
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QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) Q1 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript
QCOM earnings call for the period ending December 31, 2017.
Motley Fool Staff
Feb 1, 2018 at 11:01PM
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM)
Q1 2018 Earnings Conference Call
Jan. 31, 2018, 4:45 p.m. ET
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Qualcomm First Quarter Fiscal 2018 Earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, press * then the number 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press #. If you are using a speaker phone, please pick up your handset before pressing the numbers. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded January 31, 2018. The playback number for today's call is 855-859-2056. International callers please dial 404-537-3406. The playback reservation number is 39466104.
I would now like to turn the call over to John Sinnott, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Sinnott, please go ahead.
John Sinnott -- Investor Relations
Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Today's call will include prepared remarks by Steve Mollenkopf and George Davis. In addition, Cristiano Amon, Alex Rogers, and Don Rosenberg will join the question-and-answer session. You can access our earnings release and a slide presentation that accompany this call on our Investor Relations website. In addition, this call is being webcast on qualcomm.com, and a replay will be available on our website later today.
During the call today, we will use non-GAAP financial measures, as defined in Regulation G, and you can find the related reconciliations to GAAP on our website. We will also make forward-looking statements including projections and estimates of future events, business or industry trends, or business or financial results. Actual events or results could differ materially from those projected in our forward-looking statements. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent 10-Q, which contain important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.
We have also recently provided a presentation detailing how we are creating substantial near- and long-term value for our shareholders, including our fiscal 2019 financial forecast. That presentation as well as additional materials, including videos from our management team, are available at qcomvalue.com.
And now, the comments from Qualcomm's Chief Executive Officer, Steve Mollenkopf.
Steve Mollenkopf -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, John and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased to report a strong set of results in our first fiscal quarter, with non-GAAP earnings per share above the high end of our prior guidance range, driven by better than expected ASPs and units reported by our Chinese licensees, and stronger than expected demand for MSMs. Our strong results reflect the actions we have taken to drive our strategic objectives and improve profitability. We are benefiting from our technology and product leadership in mobile, and leveraging that leadership into a growing set of opportunities across RF Front End, auto, IoT, mobile compute, and networking.
Our fiscal second quarter guidance reflects some higher than normal seasonality due to near-term inventory build in the handset market, consistent with what others are reporting, as well as the ongoing impact of our non-paying licensees. In QCT, we expect the strong year-over-year performance to continue in our fiscal second quarter, driven by favorable mix and product cost actions. Longer-term, our outlook for our business remains unchanged as we continue to see positive trends with higher than expected global smartphone ASPs in QTL and stronger share and product trends in QCT across multiple growth areas.
We made two very important announcements today that expand and strengthen our overall relationship with Samsung. In our licensing business, we announced that we have amended and expanded our long-term licensing agreement. The license remains at the device level and continues through 2023. It is important to note that the amended agreement reached with Samsung is fully consistent with brand licensing practices and is consistent with our long-term model. More importantly, it provides the foundation for a long-term stable licensing relationship with Samsung following the KFTC investigation. And importantly, as part of the agreement, Samsung is withdrawing its opposition to our appeal of the KFTC's order. We look forward to continuing our long and mutually beneficial relationship with Samsung for many years ahead.
In our product business, we also announced a multi-year strategic agreement with Samsung in various technology areas and across a range of mobile devices. This agreement expands the company's long-standing relationship as technology and business partners into 2018 and beyond as we transition to 5G.
QCT had another very successful Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, with important product and partner announcements across RF Front End, auto, networking, mobile compute and IoT. QCT and its partners were awarded 52 Best of CES Awards this year, up from 17 last year, clearly indicating execution in adjacent opportunities and the strength of our design pipeline.
In automotive, we now have more than $3 billion of order backlog, including more than $1 billion of order backlog in infotainment alone. At CES, we announced new auto designs with Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, and BYD in China, as well as a collaboration with Ford on cellular V2X. We also announced new flagship RF Front End design wins with Google, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony, as we expand our share position, including-filter rich modules and newly designed gallium arsenide power amplifiers.
We also introduced our unique 5G tunable front-end solution, which utilizes modem intelligence at a system level to dynamically tune multimode RF performance and power efficiency when sharing radio frequencies and components across 3G, 4G and 5G. We believe this disruptive technology will transition RF Front End design leadership from dedicated component suppliers back to the system solution provider in 5G, consistent with what happened with prior wireless generation transitions.
In networking, we announced solutions with expanded WiFi mesh capabilities as well as a new and upgraded mesh networking platform. We are the number one provider of retail and enterprise WiFi, and we are reshaping the carrier segment with our mesh solutions while gaining share from key incumbents. Our success in networking is a result of a deliberate investment several years ago to position our WiFi business with the structural changes we anticipated in the market.
Last week, we also made some significant announcements at our China Technology Summit in Beijing, further demonstrating our strong ecosystem partnerships and product leadership in China. Lenovo, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi joined us at the summit to announce that each had signed non-binding MOUs for the multi-year purchase of our RF Front End solutions, totaling at least $2 billion, which would represent a substantial increase in our RF Front End share at these accounts. The scope of our broad RF Front End platform includes gallium arsenide PAs, envelope trackers, LNAs, multimode PA and modules, RF switches, discrete filters, and filter rich modules, and antenna tuners across cellular and connectivity technologies.
We also announced collaboration agreements in China called the 5G Pioneer initiative with Lenovo, OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, ZTE, and Wingtech for the development of advanced 5G Mobile devices, targeting the 2019 timeframe. 5G represents a market discontinuity in the mobile ecosystem and it coincides with China-based OEMs' plans to expand globally in the premium tier.
In our dispute with Apple, we continue to move closer toward a number of key legal milestones later this year and early next year. In various jurisdictions around the world, in cases concerning Apple's infringement of Qualcomm's patents, there will be hearings and determinations on whether Qualcomm should be entitled to injunctive relief and exclusion orders. Also, Qualcomm's case against Apple's contract manufacturers for breach of their license agreements continues to move toward resolution in the same timeframe, as does Qualcomm's case against Apple for improperly interfering with those license agreements.
We value Apple as a customer and would like to continue that relationship into the future, but it is in our stockholders' best interest that we ensure that Apple pay a fair and reasonable royalty and operate on a level playing field with the other OEMs. While the litigation with Apple is necessary to protect our IP assets and our contract rights, we remain open to finding a path to resolution and collaboration with Apple as a partner.
Turning to demand trends for 3G/4G devices around the world -- consistent with what others have been reporting, we are forecasting some short-term end market softness, driven by larger than typical sequential correction in orders from a fin modem customer and near term smartphone trends in China. George will provide more details on our updated forecast, but we continue to see favorable long-term trends, including flagship handset launches later this year and the ramp of 5G device shipments beginning in early calendar 2019.
Turning to our pending acquisition of NXP, with recent approvals in both Europe and Korea, only Chinese regulatory approval remains, and we hope to receive that soon. We continue to see this as an attractive deal for both our stockholders and NXP's stockholders at $110 per share as the combination brings together a comprehensive set of capabilities to address next-generation auto and IoT devices and provides us with greater scale in auto, IoT, security, and networking with their highly complementary products and world-class sales channel.
On January 16, we released an investor presentation that outlined the near term and long-term value opportunity for our stockholders and our plan to deliver $6.75 to $7.50 in non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2019. We believe this appropriately frames the core earnings power of Qualcomm and the multiple levers we have within our control to achieve this, along with a significant value for our shareholders as we work through our outstanding licensing disputes. We took a conservative approach to modeling our fiscal year 2019 earnings target, and our management team is very committed to driving this result for our shareholders. We outlined a huge opportunity for growth and diversification through our expansion into new complementary adjacent opportunities. This growth is underpinned by the expansion of our service addressable market from $23 billion in 2015 to approximately $150 billion in 2020, or more than six times the size of Qualcomm's 2015 SAM.
Another important area of value creation is 5G, and Qualcomm is leading the industry. Whether you are a phone maker, an infrastructure company, or a network operator, Qualcomm is already identified as the key partner for accelerating your roadmap to 5G commercialization around the world. We are partnering with leaders across the globe as we work to bring 5G to market, including Verizon, AT&T, Nokia, Ericsson, China Mobile, SK Telecom, Telstra, Vodafone, Orange, NTT DoCoMo, T-Mobile, Sprint, and now Samsung. Our announced 5G Pioneer initiative further builds on this strong global momentum.
In closing, we reported a very strong set of results this quarter and our products and technologies are leading in their respective categories and are set to lead as we enter the 5G generation. These generation changes have always provided us with the opportunity to benefit from our significant technology lead and this will be true again to an even greater degree in 5G. Our technologies will expand into many industries as we enter the age of IoT, autonomous vehicles, always-on mobile computing, and ubiquitous networking.
I will now turn the call over to George.
George Davis -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Steve and good afternoon, everyone. Fiscal first quarter non-GAAP results were very strong. Non-GAAP revenues were $6 billion, just above the midpoint of our prior guidance range, and non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.98, $0.08 above the midpoint of our guidance range, reflecting strong performance in both QCT and QTL, In QCT, MSM shipments were 237 million, toward the high end of our guidance range. Overall performance in QCT was above expectations, driven primarily by the higher unit volume on a build-ahead for a customer's flagship launch. QCT's earning before tax in the first fiscal quarter was up 32% year-over-year, the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth, reflecting the strong MSM demand, improved product mix, and product cost initiatives. QCT EBT margin was 21% for the quarter, above our prior guidance on the higher MSM volume, and up more than 280 basis points over the same period last year.
In QTL, revenues were $1.3 billion, at the high end of our prior guidance range, driven primarily by stronger than expected 3G/4G device ASPs and units reported by OEMs in China for the September quarter. Recall that this excludes royalty revenues from Apple's products and the other licensee in dispute. QTL EBT margin was 68%, at the low end of our prior guidance. EBT margin would have been 72%, or at the high end of prior guidance, if not for bad debt expense recorded in the quarter related to a licensee that is facing significant financial difficulties. This charge also accounted for the modestly higher than forecasted OpEx expense in the quarter.
The GAAP loss this quarter reflected the impact of a $6 billion charge related to the enactment of US tax reform legislation, and the accrual of the European Commission's $1.2 billion fine announced last week. These two charges impacted fiscal first quarter GAAP EPS by $4.79 per share and were excluded from non-GAAP results. The $6 billion book charge largely relates to the one-time repatriation tax on our offshore deemed repatriated earnings and profits.
After application of applicable tax credits, we expect to pay $3.3 billion in cash taxes, back-end loaded over eight years, beginning in January 2019. In general, we expect US tax reform in the longer term to result in a modest positive improvement in our effective tax rate, as the increase in tax on offshore innings is more than offset by the benefit to onshore earnings. The European Commission fine relates to a decision on its investigation of a modem chip agreement that was in effect from 2011 through 2016. While we disagree with the decision and will immediately appeal it to the General Court of the European Union, it is important to note that the decision does not relate to our licensing business and has no impact on ongoing operations. We will post a bond in lieu of paying the fine during the appeal period. Turning to return of capital, we returned $1.1 billion to stockholders in the quarter in the form of dividends and buybacks.
Turning to our financial guidance for the fiscal second quarter, we estimate revenues to be in the range of approximately $4.8 billion to $5.6 billion, and non-GAAP earnings per share to be in the range of approximately $0.65 to $0.75 per share. These expectations are reflecting weaker than forecasted smartphone demand in the December quarter. As a reminder, the fiscal second quarter is normally the seasonally high quarter for QTL revenues, absent the two disputes, and the seasonally low quarter for QCT.
In QTL, we estimate revenues of $1.15 billion to $1.35 billion in the fiscal second quarter, down approximately 4% sequentially at the midpoint. We expect QTL EBT margin to be approximately 64% to 68%, down sequentially at the midpoint on lower revenues and increased litigation expenses. It is important to note the impact of Apple nonpayment is more pronounced in the fiscal second quarter as it is typically an outsized quarter for royalties related to Apple products relative to other licensees, given the timing of their product launch cycle. Our QTL revenue forecast for our second quarter is also being impacted by softer sell-through, as demand in China in the December quarter was down on a year-over-year basis. We will be closely watching Chinese New Year device sell-through results to assess the time period necessary for the supply and demand dynamics to rebalance.
Turning to the chip business, we expect MSM shipments of approximately 170 million to 190 million units. This outlook includes the normal seasonal effects of lower demand in the calendar first quarter; a larger than normal reduction in orders sequentially from a large modem customer; as well as near-term lower than expected orders from customers, particularly in China, on inventory concerns from the demand dynamics. This forecast is consistent with continued strong chip share in the quarter. We expect QCT revenue per MSM to be up on a sequential basis in the fiscal second quarter, driven by seasonal factors and favorable product mix.
We expect QCT's fiscal second quarter EBT margin to be approximately 13% to 15%, down sequentially on lower MSM volumes, offset by benefits from product cost initiatives, but up 100 basis points year-over-year at the midpoint. We anticipate fiscal second quarter non-GAAP combined R&D and SG&A expenses will be flat to down approximately 2% sequentially, as increased litigation expenses and the reset of Employee Benefit taxes are more than offset by the absence of the prior bad debt charge. We will be implementing the cost reduction initiatives in the quarter, and are in the process of determining the expected charges for severance and other related costs. We will provide that information once that estimate is finalized.
Non-GAAP interest expense, net of investment income, in the fiscal second quarter is expected to be roughly flat sequentially at approximately $60 million. Given the market dynamics we have described, we are updating our unit outlook for calendar year global 3G/4G devices for both 2017 and 2018. For calendar year 2017, we have adjusted the midpoint lower and narrowed our range. We now expect 3G/4G device shipments of approximately 1.75 billion to 1.8 billion units, up approximately 4% at the midpoint year-over-year. For calendar year 2018, we are bringing down our estimate modestly to reflect the lower 2017 base. We now estimate a range of 1.85 billion to 1.95 billion 3G/4G device shipments for calendar 2018 or up approximately 7% from the midpoint of our expectations for calendar 2017.
With respect to fiscal 2018 global 3G/4G device sales, we now expect global device ASPs will increase year-over-year, based on strength at the mid and premium tiers as opposed to our previous expectation of a low-single-digit percentage decline. We are not revising our estimate for fiscal 2018 device sales until we get a clear picture of whether the ASP pick up well more than offset the sell-through issues discussed earlier.
Turning to 2019, we continue to be highly confident in our outlook for fiscal 2019, as recently disclosed in our investor presentation, with base non-GAAP EPS of $5.25, growing to between $6.75 and $7.50 per share upon resolution of the licensing disputes.
That concludes my comments. I will now turn the call back to John.
Thank you, George. Operator, we are ready for questions.
To queue question, press * then the number 1. To withdraw your question, press #. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before pressing the numbers. One moment please for the first question.
Our first question is from the line of Tim Long with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead with your question.
Tim Long -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
Thank you. Just wanted a little more color on the Samsung arrangements here. It sounds like you extended with FRAND terms. If you could just talk to us a little bit, I know the prior deal had an upfront payment, it had some technology IPR transfers as well, so can you just talk a little bit about how those two and the new collaborations factor into the FRAND rate discussion for Samsung? And then I have a follow-up after that.
Alex Rogers - Executive Vice President
Tim, this is Alex. So, the amended and expanded agreement basically takes the prior deal and just adds some changes to it. So, a lot of what was in the prior deal remains in place. So for example, the upfront payment that you talked about.
The key things to keep in mind about this Samsung amended license agreement is that it's consistent with our FRAND licensing practices. It remains a license at the handset level. This is not a chipset level, royalty-bearing license. And so, it also -- one key element also is an expansion of rights back to Qualcomm to Samsung's patent portfolio. And one of the key factors to keep in mind is that as part of this amendment and this new arrangement with Samsung, Samsung is going to be withdrawing from its intervention in the KFTC appeal, adverse to Qualcomm. So they'll no longer participate in that matter adverse to Qualcomm.
And from a financial perspective, it supports the numbers that we put out for 2019 fiscal year and beyond and provides a strong foundation for Qualcomm and its relationship with Samsung through 2023.
Okay, thank you. And then just if I could just follow-up on the China business, it sounds like a lot of moving parts there. September was really strong for the device manufacturers, then weakening. Could you just talk a little bit about what you think is going on with the reasons for the change in demand there? And second, could you talk -- it's been a pretty good market share gain region for you. Can you talk about if you still think you're taking share in the Chinese end market? Thank you.
Cristiano Amon -- President
Hi, Tim. This is Cristiano. I think we talk about a near-term weakness in the domestic China market based on the sell-through data in the December quarter and that was contemplated in our guidance. I think you need to think about there was a super -- expect a super cycle and I think one of the flagships and you think that the Chinese OEMs didn't want to go ahead and most of the new products are going to launch in the Chinese New Year. So that's one thing on the demand sell-through in the December quarter. I think we will monitor the Chinese New Year data and whatever could be inventory into the quarter, we should rebalance in the first half of the year.
We also see that the forecast is consistent with two things happening for QCT; I think both a strong chip share with those OEMs as well as mix improvements. So, we can't really talk about the second half of the year, but the Chinese New Year launches is just ahead of us.
Our next question is from the line of Mike Walkley with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead with your question, sir.
Mike Walkley -- Canaccord Genuity -- Analyst
Cristiano, just talking about 5G, Qualcomm historically gains share with new wireless technologies. Can you just update us on how you see 5G ramping and why Qualcomm is ahead of the competition, maybe what technology areas you see the competitors might lack? And then also just on the China side, also a follow up question, just can you talk about some of these RF agreements and how you see your RF business ramping over the next two years?
Yes, Mike. So let me start with 5G. We have been pretty consistent talking about a 5G acceleration in the industry and we now probably have line of sight of a number of deployments that are going to happen of the network, of the 3GPP global 5G radio standard in the later part of this year, and we are working with a number of OEMs to have smartphone launches in the first half of 2019. And part of that, I think we also announced in China last week a 5G Pioneer I think program of a number of OEMs of the China market, they see 5G as a discontinuity to basically enable their expansion plans to become global players, leveraging their 5G transition. So, I think the motivation to have early launches in the first half of 2019 is high and we're marching toward that date.
So your second question is about competitiveness of 5G. 5G brings a number of complex technologies. One is you have the foundation, which is gigabit LTE, which is we've been investing in 4G continuous to evolve the 17 smartphones in the market today with that capabilities used in a Qualcomm modem. We also have the addition of two other frequencies, sub-6 and millimeter wave and we continue to see complexities in the RF. So, we're looking at our position as been a company that has been in a good position for the 4G, which continues to evolve, and being supporting multiple global activities with 5G. We have announced probably trials in over the year, I think test toward all of the infrastructure vendors across all of the operators launched. So, I think scale is going to be an advantage for us and we're optimistic about the prospect.
Your last question is RF Front End. We announce a total of $2 billion in RF Front End purchase across four OEMs. We're starting to ramp designs. I think, it's probably a second set of announcements. The first one was CES, when we announced a number of OEMs and then Chinese OEMs was in the second wave. We also feel good about the 5G story in front end. When 5G technology gets launched, I believe the baseband in the system platform, the reference design plays a stronger role in defining RF Front End configuration. As part of the same discussion, we saw support in China for our tunable front-end solution. Thank you.
Our next question is from the line of Amit Daryanani with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead with your question.
Amit Daryanani -- RBC Capital Markets -- Analyst
Yes, hi. Thanks for taking my questions, guy. A couple from me as well. Could you maybe help us understand how much of an impact are you seeing in your revenue line from the China inventories that you guys talked about, and do you think this is something that gets worked through the March quarter or could it persist through the June quarter as well?
Clearly, I think two major factors when we think about Q2 is, one is the China weakness really impacted customers that felt they were going to have a stronger sell-through at the end of December. And so as Cristiano said, we're going to be watching very closely the Chinese New Year sales to see how much of that gets absorbed in the second quarter. So we don't know yet. There may be some activity that carries on beyond that.
But for our revenue overall in the second quarter, there are some other factors that are also at play. One, in the licensing business, normally, obviously, this is the very strong quarter for licensing, but it also happens to have usually a very heavy weighting of Apple because their flagship launch tends to take place as you know in the fourth calendar quarter, which is the second fiscal quarter for our licensing business. The absence of that, we're not seeing as much of a seasonal pick up as we would normally see there, plus the licensing estimates reflect the lower sell-through that we ended up seeing in December that really didn't impact the chip business.
And I guess if I could follow up, the OpEx guide that you guys have for March quarter -- if my math is working correctly, the implication is OpEx as a percent of sales will be something north of 35%. And I realize there are some one-time variables there, but shouldn't we talk about what are these one-time variables, what's the right way to think about OpEx as a percentage of revenues, and when do you get to realize all the $1 billion cost takeout benefits you talked about?
Yes, I think the OpEx as a percent of revenue, it certainly had a little bit of a bounce, but that was more in Q1 relative to the bad debt charge. When I think about OpEx for the company, I think -- you've seen really since the strategic realignment plan, the major drivers of any pick up have either been our investment in pre-commercial 5G, or the increase that you've seen in SG&A to support the higher litigation and model defense spending that we have. We think, under the $1 billion plan, we can absorb the 5G costs that you've seen; we think as we move our focus further into these new sort of available markets we've talked about, we're going to be able to reprioritize our investment portfolio and take any additional costs out.
But really the biggest savings are going to come out of SG&A, which has been a big driver of our growth in OpEx over the last four or five years, in particular, in the licensing area and in this model defense. And we think we have a clear path to -- by 2019 to getting some of those costs taken back out. Of course, we'll have a real focus on overhead cost as well as part of the SG&A.
Our next question is from the line of Stacy Rasgon with Bernstein Research. Please go ahead with your question.
Stacy Rasgon -- Bernstein Research -- Analyst
Thanks for taking my questions. I had a question on the 2019 guidance. So, you're talking a lot about 5G ramping and everything else, which sounds great. But it seems like if I take a look at that guide, $5.25 without fixing licensing, $3.75 without the buyback -- if I take out the $1 billion cost cut that isn't really in numbers right now, it's more like $3.15, which seems to be quite a bit worse than where the Street is and I would say inconsistent with some of your commentary on some of the good things coming down the pipe. So I guess can we talk a little bit more about what's actually in that guide, what are you assuming is getting worse between now and then? You mentioned Samsung's new royalty payment as in line with your numbers, are those getting worse versus where they are now? What you assuming for Apple share and any color you can give us on that would be helpful? And then I have a follow up.
Sure, Stacy. This is George. I think your math is generally good, but what we -- I think what's missing is we've said we're going to put some conservative assumptions into the numbers that quite frankly if you did the math based on a run rate today, you would say would be a lower run rate than we're experiencing today and that is by taking out Apple, all Apple revenue related to new products, including both the modem and the front end and saying if for whatever reason, we're still litigating or pursuing an agreement with Apple and haven't reached it and they decide to take the decision to carve us out completely, what does that look like?
So again, the purpose of that estimate was really to provide stockholders with a high confidence base number before resolution of the licensing, so as they consider alternatives that they can understand what does the kind of core earnings look like on a conservative basis. But you're right, it would be below the run rate today and it was purposefully conservative. We also have some tax impact in the $5.25 number. Tax reform for us is a little higher tax on offshore earnings, lower earnings on onshore. Net-net, it's slightly positive, but when you break it out the way we did in that analysis, it's negative in the $5.25 and it's positive on the resolution basis.
Got it. thank you, that's helpful.
So my follow-up, you mentioned a lot of the $1 billion coming out of SG&A and obviously have a lot of accelerated litigation and other targets there. Is it imperative that you actually do sell out licensing in time for 2019 in order to realize that full $1 billion?
No. We think there's some contribution but that's not the primary driver. We'll be -- again, we've grown SG&A within the licensing business beyond that as part of the process of addressing the many other challenges leading up to this. We think we have some opportunities there. We certainly believe that as we look at our roadmap that we had to reduce overhead-related SG&A over time, that we'll take the steps necessary to accelerate that. So we're not highly dependent solely on a piece dividend to get this number. We think we'll be able to deliver the number.
Our next question is from the line of Romit Shah with Nomura Equity. Please go ahead with your question.
Romit Shah -- Nomura Equity -- Analyst
Yes, thanks, I had two. George, just on the tax rate. There's a lot there. Could you just tell us within the fiscal 2019 EPS guide, what's the tax rate that you're assuming? And then the other question I had was just on NXPI. It would seem that closing this deal in a timely manner would be an important part of your value creation story. And so, assuming you close, or you get regulatory approval from China, could you give us a feel for what the timeline would look like from there to the actual closure of the deal? Thank you.
So on tax, we've guided the tax rate this year for non-GAAP at 8%. Obviously with the impact of tax reform and the fine, which is not tax deductible, the GAAP number doesn't really hold a lot of information. For 2019, we would, as I said, long-term, we expect the tax rate to be somewhat accretive relative to our history. We have not guided, but we were in the mid-teens before in our tax rate and I would be closer to that number than I would to the guide for 2018.
And then on NXP, not a lot we can say at this time, other than we're very focused on working with MOFCOM to secure the final approval. Shortly after regulatory approval, the tender process will begin and then within -- depending on, there's two tender processes anticipated; depending on how that process goes, you could close within, say, three weeks of the approval of regulatory.
Our next question is from the line of Srini Pajjuri with Macquarie Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
Srini Pajjuri -- Macquarie Securities -- Analyst
Thank you for taking my question. Cristiano, just a question on the RF strategy. It looks like you're winning a lot of designs out there. If I look at the landscape out there, the margin profile in that business is quite strong, at least at the operating margin level. As you expand your footprint, how should we think about QCT margins? Do you see an expansion potential here, or are you being a little bit aggressive on the pricing side, given that you're starting very early?
Hi, thank you for the question. Look, we talk about in our 2019 projections, I think this could contribute $2 billion to $3 billion in revenue. And I think we're starting to, as we have the complete portfolio and particularly the ones that have higher value, such as the PA and the high filter content modules, we see as an opportunity for us to grow faster than the market because we attach an existing MSM and an expansion of margin contribution in the device. And I think that's consistent with the strategy we have pursued of diversifying and growing in other areas, leveraging our existing channel.
Great, thank you.
Our next question is from the line of James Faucette with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead with your question.
James Faucette -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Great, thank you very much. I had a couple of quick follow-up questions. I guess the first one for Cristiano, you talked about bringing to market a mobile device, 5G in 2019. At the same time, we've heard a range of comments from carriers on their own outlooks for 5G. So maybe you can help us understand kind of their circumstances and the geographies where 5G starts to make first -- makes sense first and then where we would sit it develop from there.
And then I guess my second follow-up question is just on the cost containment or reduction program, what are the things that would allow you to expand that further and further reduce expenses versus what are the competing elements that may limit it to that roughly $1 billion target? Thank you very much.
Thank you, James. So, I'll take the first one and I'll ask George to answer the second question.
So, on 5G -- I think 5G as it becomes a significant contributor of volumes, we are really looking at the fiscal 2020, but early launches in 2019 are very important. And particularly for our position in the chipset, I think early launches and an ability to cover that globally define your competitive position and the ability to have a mature product, so you can ramp volumes in premier devices through fiscal 2020.
As you think about the launches in geographies, we see activity across all the developed markets. We see activity in the United States with at least two of the four carriers that is consistent with the timeline of starting to have the devices launching in the first half of 2019. We see in Europe, at least three operators. You should expect in markets such as the UK and markets such as Germany, you're going to see a high degree activity. Many of those operators, we had announced trial activities and the timeline is the same as the first half of 2019.
Of course, you have Korea, with all of the operators driving to the timeframe. You do have a technology race there. You have Australia in the same timeframe and you have Japan toward the second half of 2019, beginning of 2020.
The most significant data point is the one that I'm providing last, which is China Mobile. At an event that we had in China last week, I think the executive management of China Mobile made a presentation together with Qualcomm talking about a very large-scale activity in the second half of 2019. The reason China is important because China, it's a very technology focus and harder focus market and as you look at the position that the Chinese OEMs have in the market, that enables an acceleration of the scale for the smartphone market. So, China is likely going to be a significant development in the second half of 2019. Thank you.
Again, on OpEx, I think the -- if you think about our R&D, we're always going to be focused on making the level of R&D investment that is necessary to keep us ahead in things like generation transistors and where you're seeing today. So, the ramp -- one of the ramps, the biggest part of the ramp and spending over the last couple years has really been tied to 5G. It's absolutely critical, not only to the ability of the chip business to come out very strong in a leadership position in the early phase of the generation, but it's also why the value of our licensing program remains strong throughout the ecosystem. So, you're going to see us take actions that are consistent with maintaining a strong level of R&D to preserve that position over time.
We do think that SG&A has been inflated by a number of the challenges that we've seen over time. We think we have the opportunity to take that down, something on the order of 200 to 300 basis points on a stabilized basis. And we will look very strong within the industry with SG&A at that level. It'll look like a very appropriate cost structure, but we'll always have a little more focus on R&D because quite frankly we have the channels to get a return on that R&D, not only from the chip business and the licensing business, but we're now seeing an even greater return on R&D as we expand in to automotive, IoT, networking, mobile compute -- all of these markets are looking to the technologies that we lead in mobile as part of their next roadmap. And so, we think that's ahead of us. We think that's part of the growth and we think anything we do on this billion-dollar OpEx action will be consistent with that outlook.
Our next question is from the line of Brett Simpson with Arete. Please go ahead with your question.
Brett Simpson -- Arete -- Analyst
Yes, thanks very much. I just had a question about the margin structure in QCT long term. I guess when you look at leadership franchises in semiconductor, you've seen margins structurally rise over the last few years; typically leadership franchises that are returning 40% or so operating margins. And if I look at your QCT PBT margins, they have been a little bit disappointing in the 4G era. So, I was just wondering when you look to 5G and you believe you have a competitive advantage, a structural competitive advantage in this market and you're going to be selling more platform into RF and baseband and RF has been a much higher returns business than QCT over the years, is it a path where you see the QCT margin starting to [reflect] and you can reflect the returns of a real leadership franchise long term? Thank you. And I've got a follow-up.
Sure, Brent. This is George. As we have said, we expect QCT margins to continue to improve over time and rise above the 20% level. But one of the things I would point out, we've said that the growth in adjacencies has been a positive in that respect and it's certainly growing. It is accretive to the margin profile and I think it is getting us into markets where the structure -- the margin structure is more attractive over time. And so, we'll continue to push hard on margin expansion and I should point out as the 2019 performance that we put out for the company doesn't include the margin benefit that we would expect to see as we enter the 5G era where we get both improvements in share and improvements in ASPs in the new devices and that's part of even in the core business where we're going to see expansion of margin.
Okay, thanks George. And maybe just a follow-up on the Samsung arrangement that you announced; does it have any bearing on how you think about foundry relationships long-term? I think in the last couple of years, you've been exclusively using Samsung LSI at 14-nanometer and I'm wondering whether that's something you think will continue as you move to 7 or particularly with this recent agreement with Samsung, or will you be multi-sourcing leading-edge going forward? Thank you.
Brett, it's Steve. In terms of sourcing agreements, I would say we make them on an individual basis depending on what node and the details of a node. So, it really just depends on the generation in terms of where we go. Now that being said, I think it is advantageous for us to have a broader set of assets in the company to be able to resolve issues with companies. And so, we view our wafer volume and the fact that we have wafer volume from RF to the leading node as being a strategic asset for us. It's actually proven to be that way over the last several years. So, I won't talk about where we're going, but I do think it is something that helps us strategically.
Our next question is from the line of Ross Seymore with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead with your question.
Ross Seymore -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Thank you for letting me ask a question. Two quick questions here. First, on the QTL side, when you put your fiscal 2019 earnings targets out there, it looks like you have a high level of confidence that the licensing issues will be resolved. So my first question is what gives you that confidence? And then the second question that's somewhat related is I wondered if we could get an update if any on the unnamed dispute that's going on? And I assume given the arrangements today and agreement that that second dispute is not with Samsung. So those are the two questions. Thanks.
Ross, well maybe I'll start, and I'll kick it to Don to provide some detail here. But on the disputes, a couple of things. I think there are a number of legal milestones that occurred this year that are helpful. Typically in a licensing dispute, legal milestones provide an opportunity and a forcing function for the parties to sit down and to finally work things out. We've seen that in the case of our past history, both recently and over the last decade, which I think is helpful. Don can, with any follow up, can answer that pretty well.
I'm sorry -- you had another question toward the end?
Don Rosenberg -- General Counsel
So, on the unnamed other licensee, our practice has been that while we still believe there is -- it's productive to continue with negotiations, that we don't name the licensee in a dispute. It's only when we get to the point where we feel like we've exhausted all practical activities there, and so you should take that as we're still negotiating to see if we can resolve the dispute.
And I would say also -- this is Steve again. I think that the significance of the agreements that we announced today with Samsung I think are -- I think they're pretty evident. But we're quite pleased with those agreements. They're consistent with what we have done in the past in our forward-looking plan, and I think they also provide a good benchmark or reference point for our general licensing program moving forward as well. So, I think those things to us provide good indicators that I think we're headed in the right direction as a business.
Our next question is from the line of John Pitzer with Credit Suisse. Please go ahead with your question.
John Pitzer -- Credit Suisse -- Analyst
Good afternoon guys; thanks for letting me ask a question. I guess my first question is for Cristiano. Cristiano, I just want to make sure I understand the RF market opportunity. To what extent can you guys drive revenue on the 4G node versus the 5G node? And I guess as you think about 5G and it sounds like your value proposition goes up significantly at 5G, how are you guys thinking about sort of the dollar capture potential per phone, or the incremental dollar capture?
Hi, John. Thank you for the question. In 4G, we have been in the process to complete our product portfolio. We have been players within the antenna tuner and the envelope tracker, and I think now we add into the portfolio, starting to have designs and get ready to ship with our GaAs PAs and filters, and actually going after the higher-value segment, which is the multimodal PA and the payment modules. And I think you're going to start that traction, starting to happen within the second half of the year.
That's the reason we talk about China in the China announcement with our OEMs. I think the China nature of the market, they look more of a system solution. I think as we establish our business there, we see a power for our MSM platform and be able to actually have a complete platform and so it's natural that you see that reaction coming from the China OEMs and that's how it's going to start building the business in 4G.
As you said, 5G changes the landscape significantly because it changes giving a little bit more voice to the system solution provider and the baseband provider about what is the technology and the RF design that goes in the technology launch configuration, as well as the opportunity for innovation with the tunable front end. And as we said earlier, I think we expect that to be an expansion of margins for QCT and allow us to grow faster than the market.
That's helpful. George, maybe as my follow-up -- in your comments around the chipset guidance being below seasonal for March, you called out both fin modems and China, I'm just kind of curious of the two which ones are the bigger driver of the below seasonal for the March quarter on the chipset business?
Yes. I would say from a below seasonal, China certainly is a factor, because the drop off at the end of December was more significant than expected. I would say sequentially, clearly, the big pullback by the modem customer is an important factor as I look sequentially for the chip business.
That concludes today's question-and-answer session. Mr. Mollenkopf, do you have anything further to add before adjourning the call?
Thank you. Yes. I just wanted to thank the employees for their hard work and for the good quarter, for the hard work in terms of not only delivering across the expectations, but also for the number of announcements that have gone out here over the last quarter or so. So keep up the good work. I really appreciate it. Thank you. We'll see you all next time.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.
Alex Rogers -- Executive Vice President
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Philadelphia (1-0) 0 3 7 8 18
N. Foles (PHI), 34-19-117, 1 INT, 0 TD
J. Ajayi (PHI), 15-62, 2 TD
N. Agholor (PHI), 8-33
Carolina (1-1) 3 7 0 14 24
T. Coleman (ATL), 16-107
C. McCaffrey (CAR), 14-102
A. Hooper (ATL), 5-59, 1 TD
New Orleans (2-1) 7 9 7 14 6 43
Atlanta (1-2) 7 7 7 16 0 37
A. Kamara (NO), 16-66
A. Kamara (NO), 15-124
C. Ridley (ATL), 7-146, 3 TD
Cincinnati (3-1) 14 14 0 9 37
A. Dalton (CIN), 41-29-337, 1 INT, 3 TD
G. Bernard (CIN), 15-69, 2 TD
T. Boyd (CIN), 11-100
Bengals/Falcons Box Score
Pittsburgh (2-2-1) 13 0 14 14 41
B. Roethlisberger (PIT), 29-19-250, 1 INT, 3 TD
J. Conner (PIT), 21-110, 2 TD
A. Hooper (ATL), 9-77
A. Brown (PIT), 6-101, 2 TD
Falcons/Steelers Box Score
C. Godwin (TB), 6-56, 1 TD
NY Giants (1-6) 0 3 3 14 20
E. Manning (NYG), 38-27-399, 0 INT, 1 TD
S. Barkley (NYG), 14-43, 1 TD
T. Coleman (ATL), 11-50, 1 TD
S. Barkley (NYG), 9-51
Giants/Falcons Box Score
A. Smith (WAS), 46-30-306, 1 INT, 1 TD
A. Smith (WAS), 1-22
M. Harris (WAS), 10-124
Falcons/Redskins Box Score
Cleveland (3-6-1) 7 7 14 0 28
B. Mayfield (CLE), 20-17-216, 0 INT, 3 TD
N. Chubb (CLE), 20-176, 1 TD
A. Hooper (ATL), 10-56, 1 TD
D. Johnson (CLE), 4-31, 1 TD
Dallas (5-5) 3 0 3 16 22
Atlanta (4-6) 0 6 3 10 19
D. Prescott (DAL), 32-22-208, 0 INT, 0 TD
E. Elliott (DAL), 23-122, 1 TD
E. Elliott (DAL), 7-79
Cowboys/Falcons Box Score
New Orleans (10-1) 7 10 7 7 31
M. Ryan (ATL), 2-16
D. Arnold (NO), 4-45, 1 TD
Baltimore (7-5) 7 3 6 10 26
L. Jackson (BAL), 21-12-125, 0 INT, 0 TD
G. Edwards (BAL), 21-82
I. Smith (ATL), 7-22
T. Montgomery (BAL), 5-42
Ravens/Falcons Box Score
Green Bay (5-7-1) 7 13 14 0 34
I. Smith (ATL), 11-60
A. Jones (GB), 17-78, 1 TD
D. Adams (GB), 7-81, 1 TD
Falcons/Packers Box Score
Arizona (3-11) 7 0 0 7 14
Atlanta (5-9) 10 16 7 7 40
J. Rosen (ARI), 22-13-132, 2 INT, 0 TD
D. Johnson (ARI), 11-33, 1 TD
T. Coleman (ATL), 11-145, 1 TD
L. Fitzgerald (ARI), 7-82
Carolina (6-9) 7 3 0 0 10
T. Heinicke (CAR), 53-33-274, 3 INT, 1 TD
B. Hill (ATL), 8-115
C. McCaffrey (CAR), 12-77
Atlanta (7-9) 0 7 17 10 34
Tampa Bay (5-11) 7 10 3 12 32
M. Evans (TB), 6-106, 2 TD
NY Jets (1-0) 7 10 0 0 17
Falcons/Jets Box Score
Kansas City (1-1) 0 10 7 11 28
Jacksonville (2-1) 0 10 0 7 17
Falcons/Jaguars Box Score
Miami (1-3) 21 3 7 3 34
Dolphins/Falcons Box Score
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Huawei Shock: Mate 30 Pro To Miss Gmail, Google Maps, Report Claims
David Phelan Senior Contributor
I write about lifestyle tech
The next Huawei flagship, the highly anticipated Mate 30 Pro, which looks gorgeous in renders which leaked recently, is to be unveiled in a matter of days. The date is set for Thursday, September 19. New evidence, picked up by the Nikkei Asian Review, suggests it will be unlike any other Android phone from the company.
Richard Yu reveals new colors of the Huawei P30 Pro. But what about the next flagship> photo credit:... [+] AFP/Getty Images
September is a big month for Huawei. As well as the Mate 30 Pro unveil, there’s the release to retail of the Mate X folding handset.
Huawei, as you’ll know, has run into issues with the U.S. Government and has been added to the Entity List which means it can’t trade with the States. This situation is changing all the time - Microsoft has just accused the U.S. Government of being un-American for blacklisting Huawei, as you can read in Forbes contributor Zak Doffman's post here.
Although a recent extension means its current trading arrangements are good until halfway through November, it has recently come to light that Google will not be allowed to supply Android to the upcoming Mate 30 Pro or, apparently, the Mate X.
That’s not quite true, as the Nikkei Asian Review reports. Google’s Android operating system is open-source, so anybody can use it. What isn’t open-source is the bit Google licenses, called Google Mobile Services (GMS). That’s the part that includes the super-popular Gmail, Google Mail, Play Store and more.
So, what is going to happen on September 19? Huawei has a few options.
Is this what the Huawei Mate 30 Pro will look like?
@OnLeaks, @Pricebaba
Bear in mind that Huawei may not opt for an immediate release after the reveal on the 19th, so the company may still keep us guessing about the software on board. The assembly lines in Huawei’s advanced factories are very sophisticated and the software that is applied to the phones as they are being built could be swapped from one software to another in a matter of hours, or a couple of days. Huawei, despite its size, is a very nimble company.
The invite for Huawei's upcoming launch.
Android as it is now
The next phone could have Android exactly as it appears on current phones. This would require a change of attitude from the U.S. Government which is currently eager to wean American companies off reliance on Huawei products, as it says. But this is a volatile situation and it’s entirely possible things may change, and quickly.
Huawei is one of few companies in the world with the size, money and muscle to build its own operating software. In fact, it’s done it. Harmony OS is an open-source platform which is being rolled out to different gadgets such as smart screens and wearables. And it’s entirely compatible with smartphones. Huawei has said it wants to continue to support Google and other U.S. companies so putting Harmony OS on a phone is very much plan B. But it has also said it could be ready with this in days.
A leaked image claiming to show four cameras in a circle on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
Ice Universe
Open-source Android only
I have no idea what’s going to happen but if I’m going to guess, I think this is the most likely. Despite comments from elsewhere predicting the next phone will be shipped without Android, I don’t believe that to be the case.
Open-source Android, correctly called the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is available and looks familiar to users. AOSP is what’s used by most Android phone makers, who then add their own skins and additions to customize the look and feel.
But it lacks key elements. As mentioned above, these are items like Chrome, YouTube, Google Search, Play Store and more which make up Google Mobile Services (GMS). These also include Application Program Interfaces (APIs) which make developing apps more straightforward. But none of that is what Huawei wants.
Its most recent phone, the frankly excellent Huawei P30 Pro, has been an outstanding seller, with over 16 million phones being sold in six months. Those handsets are safe purchases as software updates will continue to be available to them.
Let's hope this is the slim, gorgeous shape of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
To be clear, these GMS elements are unavailable in Huawei’s home territory of China, so domestic sales will be unaffected if basic Android is all that’s supplied. It has its own app store in China, for instance. Since sales in China are very, very big, the company can continue to thrive even if overseas sales are cut back. There are some who feel the result could be a stronger Huawei with an emerging operating system of its own that will eventually take on Android. But in the short term, it could mean a drop in sales of the order of 13 million handsets, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
One other thing: Android without GMS works very well indeed for Amazon, which puts a highly attractive look on top of AOSP. It works phenomenally well for Amazon on its Fire tablets, for instance. And it works just as well for customers – until they want an app that’s not in the Amazon version of Android.
This is the territory that could be rich for Huawei: currently, the company uses EMUI as its skin on Android. Mix in Harmony OS and put EMUI on top of both and you could have something really striking. Not least because Huawei says Harmony OS has much better performance than Android.
Since customers can technically add a Google account to their AOSP phone, there are greater benefits available than might be expected. But it’s not ideal to ask users to do all this when they’re used to it all being done automatically.
The various folds of the Huawei Mate X.
What does all this mean?
This is a volatile situation and fast-changing. I’m keeping my eye on it, so please check back to find out more. But essentially, it looks sure that the Mate 30 Pro won’t have access to GMS unless there’s a big change.
I believe Huawei will keep its options open until the last minute, so it won’t completely specify what OS will be on the Mate 30 Pro at the event on September 19 and may be vague about the release date.
The surprise is the Mate X. If this has AOSP only and no GMS, it could be difficult – though the folding phone screen already means it’s different from other Android handsets. Still, the joy of Google Maps on a large screen is a good thing, and the Mate X almost certainly won’t have that. Expect Samsung, with its rival Galaxy Fold, to make much of this.
The key date is September 19. We will know much, though not all, then.
Follow me on Instagram by clicking here: davidphelantech and Twitter: @davidphelan2009
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David Phelan
I’ve been writing about technology for two decades and am regularly struck by how the sector swings from startling innovation to persistent repetitiveness. My areas of
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How To Control Android Without Looking At It
Andrew Tarantola
It's getting dangerous just to walk and text at the same time much less do so behind the wheel of a car. But with Siri being just slightly less helpful than HAL, how are you supposed to surf the web and simultaneously travel safely? All you have to do is ask.
Become a Dictator: With touchscreen displays quickly becoming the norm for mobile devices, you have little choice but to look at what you're typing since you can't feel your way across the keyboard. But rather than try to split your attention between driving and typing, have your phone write it for you.
Send yourself a reminder note by tapping the mic icon and prefacing the message with, "Note to self". Gmail will deliver both the audio message and a transcription of it to your inbox. You can dictate outgoing emails as well, though it requires a few steps.
First tap the mic icon and say "send email". Next identify the recipient by saying "To [the contact name]", then state the subject of the email using "Subject: [whatever the email is about]" and finally input the message itself with the "Message" command and speaking the punctuation marks. Altogether it would sound something like this, "Send email to [email protected], subject a hot tip, message have I got a tip for you exclamation point." And for SMS texts, you only have to say "send text to" followed by the recipient and the message.
Get Directions: Whether you have someone riding shotgun or not, there's no reason for you to pull double duty as both driver and navigator. Instead, offload direction duties to Google Maps' navigation feature. Tap the microphone icon on the Google Search bar and say "Navigate to [your destination]" for turn-by-turn dictation, "Directions to [your destination]" for written instructions, or "Map of [your location]" for a basic map of the area. Unfortunately, "Take me to [Funkytown]" is not a valid command.
Get a Forecast: Sudden downpours are murder on a convertible's interior. Don't risk getting drenched waiting for the next radio weather report, simply ask your phone "What is the chance of rain today in [your location]." Google Search will read the current weather conditions aloud. You can also query it for a five-day forecast of any locale worldwide.
Refuel: The fuel warning light has been on for way too long now and unless you want to push your ride the rest of the way, you'd better find a service station — fast. Luckily, all you have to do is ask, "Where is the nearest service station?" and Google Search will pop a list of options with directions to each. They may not be the cheapest available (oh but to have that search feature) but any petrol is better than running on fumes.
Now that you've found fuel for your ride, it's time to do the same for yourself. Tap the mic icon and say, "nearby restaurants" for a list of local eateries. You can also specify by cuisine ("nearby diners") or chain ("where's the nearest Lord of the Fries?").
Discover: Can't quite remember what that catchy tune is that's playing over the gas station's PA system? If you don't have the Sound Search app handy, you can still access the function through the search bar. Tap the mic icon, ask "what's this song" and hold your phone up to a speaker.
Once it names that tune, Search will pop a purchase link as well. And it's not just Sound Search, you can also quickly access Goggles functions without opening the app itself by using verbal commands. Tell your phone to, "scan a barcode" to do just that. It works for both linear and QR codes.
While these commands are handy when you're behind the wheel, they're by no means a complete list. Check out more helpful verbal cues here.
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Pressure-treated
Eastern Hemlock
CSP & DFP Sheating
Sanded /G1S Fir
Engineered Wood & Gluelam Products
Fire-Retardant Treated
OSB Panels
MDO Signboard
Marine-Grade
Hardwood & Baltic Birch
Insulation‑Rigid & Semi‑Rigid
Alternative Decking Products
Sheet Stock-Hardboard & MDF
Siding, Decking and Panelling
Glue-Laminated Timber
Cements and Masonry Products
Hanford Lumber's History
Building Toronto for almost a century ...
Clair Hanford Price,founder of Hanford Lumber
In 1955, Clair Hanford Price founded a lumber company in Toronto called Hanford Lumber. Mr. Price’s passion for the lumber industry was rooted in his upbringing in New Brunswick, where his large family played an active role in the lumber business. They opened a yard in Montreal and then expanded in Ontario where they established six other lumber yards in Toronto, Hamilton, Whitby, Scarborough, London and Oshawa. The family also owned a logging mill in Haliburton, Ontario.
A few years later, Mr. Price opened a lumber yard at 45 Bethridge Road in Toronto, which he called Hanford Lumber. Most notably, his company supplied timber and lumber for the construction of Toronto’s very first subway system on Yonge street. Today, Mr. Price’s granddaughter Wendy Rigby runs the company according to the original vision of her grandfather: supplying timber, lumber, plywood, and other building materials to a diverse customer base across Southern Ontario and beyond.
Hanford Lumber is one of the last Canadian independent family owned lumber yards in Ontario. Our long history of supplying materials for many major construction projects across Ontario include: the ROM, the AGO, Toronto Pearson Airport, The Shangri-La Hotel, Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, Fallsview Casino, The National Holocaust Monument, Bell Lightbox, New Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, Humber River Hospital, Union Station, the Don Valley Parkway bridge, the City of Toronto Boardwalk, and the Enercare Center just to name a few.
For more than sixty years, Hanford has provided long-standing service to construction establishments across Ontario and to a variety of individual consumers as well. Our company has established its reputation for excellence by providing the highest quality products at a competitive price, while also ensuring reliable delivery and exceptional sales support. Our team many of whom have over 25 years of experience in the industry are able to provide our customers with a wealth of knowledge and expertise.
Contractor . Wholesale . Retail
Hanford Lumber is a leading independent supplier of lumber, plywood, timbers, decking and other building materials.
Order Desk. We Deliver!
Tel: 416.743.5384 Fax: 416.743.0114Toll Free: 1.877.463.5849
Hanford Lumber Limited
45 Bethridge Road, Toronto, Ontario M9W 1M9
©2019 Hanford Lumber Limited. Terms of Use Privacy Policy
Please note the lumber yard will close early up and until February 28th. The updated lumber yard hours until the end of February will be from 7 AM – 4 PM Monday to Friday. The office will be open as per the regular hours of operation. After February 28th the regular hours of operation for the lumber yard will resume. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
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