Understanding a condition that results in low blood sugar could yield new treatment for type 2 diabetes

A potential new treatment for a condition that is essentially the opposite of diabetes could offer hope for those who suffer from type 2 diabetes, as findings from a team of British researchers suggest that it is possible to reverse defects in the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

Scientists from the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital reported in the journal Diabetes that they were able to successfully treat genetic defects that result in a disease known as congenital hyperinsulinism, a condition in which the pancreas produces too much insulin, resulting in chronically low blood sugar.

The condition is exactly the opposite of type 2 diabetes, in which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to keep up with the body's needs. The findings could have important implications for treating diabetes, as they help build a more complete picture of the processes that turn on and off insulin production.

The team identified a group of proteins in the pancreas that signal beta cells to either produce more insulin or to stop. Their findings also showed that a type of drug currently being tested for treating cystic fibrosis may help individuals who suffer from congenital hyperinsulinism.

While this treatment would be useless for individuals who suffer from type 2 diabetes, as it prompts beta cells to reduce insulin production, it does show that it is possible to address dysfunctions in these cells that are caused by genetic defects. By improving scientific understanding of the processes that underlie insulin production, other researchers may be able to develop new drugs that stimulate beta cells.

The scientists said that there is a lot of research that needs to be done before new medications can target this mechanism to treat either condition. However, the findings do offer new hope.


The Top 10 Secret Organizations In Games

by Brian Albert on Jul 19, 2013 at 12:00 PM

The mysteries surrounding secret groups can be difficult to resist. What are their plans? What sort of things are they aware of that we're not? Because many games offer players a power fantasy, we want to know and have everything.

And when joining a respected and powerful order often comes with new gifts, teachings, and prestige, who are we to refuse? That’s just rude.

From ancient assassin guilds to futuristic intelligence teams, the following are the top 10 secret organizations in games.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

10. The Lin Kuei from the Mortal Kombat series

To be a feared Lin Kuei assassin, you must be “more stealthful than the night, more deadly than the dawn.” That sounds a little silly, but the ancient order turned out Mortal Kombat favorites like Sub-Zero, Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke, so it must be doing something right.

Its warriors are selected at birth and trained to take life. The Lin Kuei demands total devotion; deserters are hunted and killed. Its leaders even chose to automate their warriors, including Sektor, who lost his soul in the process. Don’t feel too bad, though. He later went on to found and lead a cyborg ninja army.

9. The Hermetic Order from the Uncharted series

Katherine Marlowe, the antagonist of Uncharted 3, is the leader of the 400-year-old Hermetic Order. Its primary goal is to discover Ubar, a city of immense size and wealth, also known as the Atlantis of the Sands.

Queen Elizabeth I formed the order to combat Britain’s foes through deceit and espionage. Since its inception, the order has taken in historical figures like Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake, as well as contemporary members like Talbot, who uses hallucinogenic drugs against The Hermetic Order’s enemies.

8. The Monolith cult from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

No list of secret organizations would be complete without the inclusion of a xenophobic, sacrificial, hyper-religious cult. Monolith from the post-apocalyptic S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series fits the bill nicely.

Far inside a Chernobyl nuclear power plant is a device Monolith calls the “Wish Granter.” Members of the cult will fight to the death to protect the artifact, even if they are unarmed. If captured, they’ll commit suicide however they can. Most monolith members used to be regular stalkers before they were indoctrinated.

Up next: Spooks, Jedi-Sith hybrids, and ancient snakes...

7. The Office of Naval Intelligence from the Halo series

Not much is known about the operations of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which makes it perfect for this list. It’s technically an intelligence branch for the Navy, but its officers – known as “spooks” – operate independently (and with great autonomy) to gather information on the Covenant.

Though ONI usually fills a nebulous role, in Halo 3: ODST, ONI’s Veronica Dare takes command of your squad to fulfill a secret secondary mission. She wears the Recon armor that the Halo community has long obsessed over.

6. The Order of Revan from The Old Republic

In the binary world of Star Wars, members of the Order of Revan are content to stand in the space between light and dark.

Hundreds of years after Darth Revan, a former Sith Lord, disappeared, a cult of Revanites formed around his teachings. Unlike typical Sith, Revan believed that even the most intense of emotions should be reined in by peace and a clear mind. When you’ve earned the ire of the Sith Empire, you’ve definitely done something right.

5. The Darkwraiths from Dark Souls

Members of the Darkwraith covenant hunt for shards of humanity, take orders from an ancient snake, and seek to usher in the Age of Darkness. Sounds bad, right? But if you read into the lore of Dark Souls (please do, I’m lonely and need someone to talk to), you might come away with a different opinion.

Many Dark Souls players join the Darkwraiths for access to the Red Eye Orb, which allows for unlimited invasions into other players’ worlds. By the way, if you invade and grief others moments before the infamous Ornstein and Smough fight, I probably don’t like you.

4. The Special Tasks Group from the Mass Effect series

Salarians aren’t the most robust of races, especially in a galaxy where Krogan exist. To be effective in war, they formed the Special Tasks Group, an espionage organization specializing in assassination, sabotage, counterterrorism, and infiltration. Exceptional STG members may be drafted into the Spectre program.

As if that weren’t enough, STG alumni Professor Mordin Solus and Captain “Hold the Line” Kirrahe, are some of the bravest and most loyal allies you’ll meet in your fight against the Reapers.

Up next: Parkour masters, power armor, and our number one secret organization...

3. The Assassin Order from the Assassin’s Creed series

Not many organizations are powerful enough to wage an undercover war for centuries, but that’s exactly what the Assassin Order has done. Its sworn enemy, the Templar Order, wishes for the control of others in order to create a perfect New World Order. The Assassins fight to preserve free will.

If nothing else, the Assassins make the job look really, really cool. They wear stylish (and extremely conspicuous) clothing, leap from tall buildings, and skip across rooftops like a child at play

2. The Brotherhood of Steel from the Fallout series

The Brotherhood of Steel was founded by a U.S. Army deserter, and it has since spread to the Mojave Desert, the Capital Wasteland, and the Midwest. Its members are devoted to preserving pre-war technology and knowledge.

Whenever I start playing a new Fallout game, I can’t wait until I find the Brotherhood of Steel. In the first entry, the Brotherhood sends you on a mission deep into an irradiated research facility known as “The Glow” to retrieve a holodisk. It’s rough, but it’s worth it if you want to wear the series’ iconic power armor.

1. The Dark Brotherhood from The Elder Scrolls series

If you need someone killed in the land of Tamriel, contracting The Dark Brotherhood is probably your best bet. Its assassins have operated for centuries in accordance with The Five Tenants, though those rules were abandoned in Skyrim.

Some of The Elder Scrolls’ best quests are accessed through The Dark Brotherhood. In “Whodunit?”, for example, you posed as a doorman for a house party with several guests. If you were able to kill them all without raising suspicion, you received a powerful, permanent boost to your stats.

What’s missing? Would you rather see The Patriots from Metal Gear Solid or the Keepers from Thief instead of something we’ve chosen? Let us know in the comments!


Food waste is often the last thing we think about, no matter how conscientious we are. Unfortunately, it is no harmless thing when it comes to the environment. Food waste most often ends up in landfills, where anaerobic decomposition leads to the emission of methane gas. Methane is one of the more potent gas emissions that leads to global climate change. In fact, it is more detrimental than carbon dioxide, even if the latter tends to get more attention.

This is even before taking into consideration the ethical implications of food waste. Food production is a costly business, so the loss of food has implications beyond the wasted calories and nutrients that might have been used by others. In the western world, as much as a quarter of all food is thrown away. The United States, where as much as half of all produce is tossed, leads the world in food waste.

If you landed on this page and are still reading, I am sure that you want to do your part to cut back on your individual or family contribution to food waste. So here’s what you can do:

Get Creative with Your Food Waste

Today, we often throw out food that our ancestors - even just one generation ago - could not afford to lose. Much of the food that ends up in landfills would have been used 50 or 60 years ago. So before you go to toss something, think about how it might be used in another meal. Get creative. And remember, you have the benefit of a freezer, which has not always been the case throughout history.

Save the ‘jus’!

Reserving the cooking liquid and food scraps from a meal can be the key to flavoring a second amazing dish. For instance, if you make mussels, the broth, onions and other vegetables can be reserved to flavor a risotto dish. Simply store the leftover broth in the freezer - preferably in a glass container with plenty of room at the top - until you are ready to make the next meal. Another great example is slow-cooked meats. A tomato-braised short rib, for instance, leaves plenty of thick, meat-infused sauce, which can easily be repurposed and used as a pasta sauce.

Make broth.

Traditionally, our ancestors would have saved a lot of what we cast off in order to make nutritious broths. Save all animal bones in a large ziplock in the freezer. If you’d like, separate beef or pork bones from chicken bones. You can use these to make a delicious bone broth. Bone broths are extremely nutritious: they have high amounts of collagen, which support the body’s tissues, and tend to be rich in minerals. As an added bonus, having some fresh bone broth on hand will lend added flavor to meals that require it!

You can also save the rinds of cheese to make a ‘parmesan broth,’ which is typical of traditional Italian cooking. You can store the rinds in the freezer until you have enough to make your broth, and then use the broth to lend a rich and delicious flavor to soups, risotto and other dishes.

The great thing about both of these types of broths is that these materials typically cannot be used to make compost, which we will get into below. While the rinds and bones used to make the broth will ultimately be discarded, there will be as little tissue as possible available for degradation in landfills.

Repurpose the pulp from your juicer.

If you’re into health and wellness, and happen to own a juicer, then you’re aware that making juice creates a lot of produce waste. While the vegetable pulp can be composted, you can also get creative and repurpose it! Be creative and open to new recipes, like this one for juicer pulp crackers or this one for veggie juicer pulp ‘meatballs’.

How to Dispose of Food Waste in a Natural, Earth-friendly Way

Or, Just Compost It!

Composting is the go-to solution for food waste. If you cannot repurpose it, compost it. Composting is the process by which organic material is decomposed in order to provide nutrients and fuel to enrich soil. Note that in this case ‘organic’ means carbon-based, or a naturally occurring material, such as most food. The difference between food waste decomposing in compost and decomposing in a landfill, is that the greenhouse gas emission is much different.

The natural decomposition process, outside of landfills, produces small amounts of carbon dioxide as part of the natural carbon cycle of the earth. This is much less detrimental than the methane emissions produced by food waste in landfills. Compost further benefits the environment by reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers.

If you choose to compost, the process is quite simple. Even if you do not want to compost, you can collect food scraps in a container - you can even store it in your freezer to avoid any odor - and bring it to your local farmer’s market. Most will collect food scraps for compost free of charge.

Composting 101

You can compost: eggshells, nutshells, teabags, coffee grounds, fruits, vegetables and other plant matter.

You cannot compost: dairy products, grease, oils, bones, and meat scraps.

If you are composting at home:

  • Select a dry shady spot in your yard to keep your compost.
  • Mix food scraps with plant materials such as dead leaves or branches.
  • Add water to your compost pile as needed to encourage decomposition.
  • Turn over your compost pile regularly to mix the top additions into the base of the pile.

Remember, whether or not you are composting at home or bringing your food scraps elsewhere to be composted, you will be benefitting the environment with minimal to no added effort on your part. And, if you keep a home garden, you will be soon reap the benefits as your soil quality improves and your plants thank you!


Academic journal article English Language Teaching

Implementing Keyword and Question Generation Approaches in Teaching EFL Summary Writing

Academic journal article English Language Teaching

Implementing Keyword and Question Generation Approaches in Teaching EFL Summary Writing

Article excerpt

Summary writing has been considered an important aspect of academic writing. However, writing summaries can be a challenging task for the majority of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Research into teaching summary writing has focused on different processes to teach EFL learners. The present study adopted two methods - keyword and question generation - to guide Taiwanese university students in writing summaries in English. To decrease the students' apprehension resulting from the difficulties in writing summaries, portfolios were used as a vehicle to help the students collect and reflect on the articles they read and the summaries they wrote. This paper investigated how much keyword methods and question generation helped Taiwanese EFL university students improve their English summary writing. The data showed that, with the help of keywords and question generation, the two approaches helped the majority of the participants increase their English reading and summary writing abilities.

Keywords: keyword, question generation, writing, summary, portfolio

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview

In recent years, summary writing has become an essential type of writing in which students read articles and summarize main ideas in their own words. However, Johns (1998) argues that traditional approaches to summary writing often ignore the processes involved and frequently overestimate the abilities of the students, assuming they can easily do what their teachers have taught them. The impetus for conducting the research reported here came from my second-year university students' poor performance on summary writing in their compulsory English Reading and Writing course in Taiwan. The majority of the students had difficulties in grasping the main points in an English article and paraphrasing them in short summaries, even though summary skills had been taught for several hours in class.

To improve and strengthen the students' summary writing skills and enhance their motivation, portfolio collection was adopted. In the last two decades, there has been a proliferation of research concerned with the usage of portfolio collection in L1 primary and secondary schools (Anderson & Bachor, 1998; Koretz, 1998; Clemmons et al., 1993; De Fina, 1992), and the research focus has usually been on the quality of information portfolios provide, i.e., the reliability and validity of the information (Hamp-Lyons, 1996). Recently, there has been a shiftin attention to exploring students' perceptions and the benefits of using portfolios in English as a Second Language and EFL writing classrooms (Romova & Andrew, 2011; Aydin, 2010). Portfolios have proven beneficial to language learners' reading and writing abilities in L1 and EFL contexts. Therefore, in the present study, portfolios serve as a vehicle to help EFL learners in Taiwan collect and reflect upon their summary writing. It is hoped that the findings of the present study can provide teachers, researchers, or educators with evidence of the benefits of implementing the keyword method and question generation to enhance university students' summary writing ability in an EFL context.

1.2 Implementation of Keyword Method and Question Generation

Quality summary writing requires comprehendingthe text, selecting important information, combining ideas, and paraphrasing in one's own words. Additionally, writing a summary can be influenced by the genre students read. Campbell (1990), investigating how NS and NNS university students in the USA used information from reading texts in their own academic writing, suggests that process-oriented writing might develop students' awareness of academic texts and help them process summary writing. Chen and Su (2012) adopt a genre-based approach to teaching Taiwanese university students writing summaries of short novels, emphasizing the understanding of context in narrative essays. These two studies focus on the implementation of two different approaches to teaching students to address specific types of reading genres. …

Search by... Author
Show... All Results Primary Sources Peer-reviewed


• OECD: Global Recovery Is Stabilizing

    LONDON—The world's leading economies should continue to grow, but at a more stable pace with signs that growth across all of the major economies is steadying, according to a survey of leading indicators released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Monday.

    The figures point to "expansion" for developed economies as a whole, but the range of movement is limited with the majority of countries surveyed reporting a rise or fall of around 0.1 points, the survey shows.

    Popular on WSJ


How this Martian moon became the ‘Death Star’

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have demonstrated for the first time how an asteroid or comet could have caused the mega crater on Phobos without completely destroying the Martian moon.

October 12, 2016 – Mars’ largest moon Phobos has captured public imagination and been shrouded in mystery for decades. But numerical simulations recently conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have shed some light on the enigmatic satellite.

The dominant feature on the surface of Phobos (22-kilometers across) is Stickney crater (9-km across), a mega crater that spans nearly half the moon. The crater lends Phobos a physical resemblance to the planet-destroying Death Star in the film “Star Wars.” But over the decades, understanding the formation of such a massive crater has proven elusive for researchers.

For the first time, physicists at LLNL have demonstrated how an asteroid or comet impact could have created Stickney crater without destroying Phobos completely. The research, which also debunks a theory regarding the moon’s mysterious grooved terrain, was published in Geophysical Review Letters.

“We’ve demonstrated that you can create this crater without destroying the moon if you use the proper porosity and resolution in a 3D simulation,” said Megan Bruck Syal, an author on the paper and member of the LLNL planetary defense team. “There aren’t many places with the computational resources to accomplish the resolution study we conducted.”

The study showed that there is a range of possible solutions for the size and speed of the impactor, but Syal says one possible scenario is an impact object 250 meters across traveling close to 6 kps.

Previous studies used 2D simulations at lower resolutions, and they were ultimately unable to replicate Stickney crater successfully. Additionally, prior studies failed to account for the porosity of the Phobos’ crust in their calculations, critical given that Phobos is less dense than the Martian surface.

While the simulations show how a massive impact could have created Stickney crater, they also appear to disprove a related theory. Some have theorized that the hundreds of parallel grooves that appear to radiate from the crater were caused by the impact. However, the simulations in this study show that fracture patterns in the crust of Phobos would be nothing like the straight, long, parallel grooves. On the other hand, the simulations do support the possibility of slow-rolling boulders mobilized by the impact causing the grooves. But more study would be required to fully test that theory.

The research served as a benchmarking exercise for the LLNL planetary defense team in their use of an open source code developed at LLNL called Spheral. The team uses codes like Spheral to simulate various methods of deflecting potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids.

“Something as big and fast as what caused the Stickney crater would have a devastating effect on Earth,” Syal said. “If NASA sees a potentially hazardous asteroid coming our way, it will be essential to make sure we’re able to deflect it. We’ll only have one shot at it, and the consequences couldn’t be higher. We do this type of benchmarking research to make sure our codes are right when they will be needed most.”

The foundation this research is built upon is decades of investment in LLNL computational capabilities used to ensure the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear deterrent in the absence of nuclear testing – commonly known as stockpile stewardship. This research was also funded in part by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program at LLNL.

The study was spearheaded by Jared Rovny, a summer student visiting from Yale University. Other coauthors include LLNL computational physicist Mike Owen, who supported the research by mentoring Rovny and aligning the study to benchmark the Spheral code, and Paul Miller, who leads the planetary-defense team at LLNL.  Syal conducted follow-up modeling to confirm the findings and wrote the published paper. She will be giving a talk on the paper in Pasadena this month during the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Science.

Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( provides solutions to our nation’s most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

  1. LLNL’s “numerical simulation” is exactly and only that; a simulation, an exercise in mathematical imagination. They suppose a 250 meter object travelling at the supersonic speed of 6 kilometers per second can impact an object of roughly similar hardness without totally ablating that object? They have never shot a fist sized rock with a deer rifle. It does not leave the rock intact with a glassy crater at the impact site. The devastating bow shock of such a supersonic impact has been well demonstrated by NASA and others. A much clearer image of the Stickney Crater is available here

    which strongly suggests Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) caused by two bodies with different electrical charges coming into proximity and adjusting the voltage difference…Read the brief article accompanying the above referenced image and judge for yourself based on your own powers of observation.

Comments are closed.


Quito, Ecuador

Since the start of my senior year of college, I have become more and more grateful for my semester in Ecuador. It’s still surreal that I lived there for four months, fumbled through another language with my host family, learned to navigate public transportation, and drank papaya juice every morning. I owe so much to the Global Engagement Fellowship Program for giving me this opportunity.


Interview: Babel

Agricola de Cologne (AdC) interviews BABEL/Canada/UK
artist biography

Interview: 10 questions

You belong to an art scene using new technologies, you are an active representative of a genre dealing with Internet based art, called “netart”.
When those artists started who are active since a longer time, the education in New Media was not yet such advanced like nowadays, often they came form different disciplines and had an interdisciplinary approach, those young artists who start now have partially this more advanced education, but rather not much experience in other disciplines.

1. Tell me something about your educational background and what is influencing your work?

My education was in Economics and Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge University. I was never ‘officially’ trained in digital design or art, but this side of my education began at age 11 when I received my first computer, a ZX Spectrum 48k.

2. The term “netart” is widely used for anything posted on the net, there are dozens of definitions which mostly are even contradictory.
How do you define “netart” or if you like the description “Internet based art” better,
do you think your work belongs to this specific genre,
do you think “netart” is art, at all, if yes, what are the criteria?
Are there any aesthetic criteria for an Internet based artwork?

‘Netart’ can be used to mean simply art that resides on the internet, but for me the term is more useful when it means art that requires the internet to function. Most of my work matches the first definition, but only some of it matches the second.

Yes, I certainly believe Netart is an ‘art’, and so its aesthetic criteria are largely the same as for any other art. It might have additional criteria, such as how the art can exist in a ‘live’ form in multiple spaces simultaneously. But perhaps there shouldn’t be any criteria, just a simple definition as a way to frame our discussions… maybe we should ask who these aesthetic criteria serve – artists, audiences, academics, curators, critics, institutions?

3. What kind of meaning have the new technologies and the Internet to you,
are they just tools for expressing your artistic intentions, or have they rather an ideological character, as it can be found with many “netartists”, or what else do they mean to you?

For me, the Internet offers new ways to create and distribute artistic work. But it also acts in many other ways across a wide range of activities, so its meaning is very dependent on the specific ‘piece’ of the Internet we are talking about. I don’t think any technology has a single or predominant ideological character – they are much more schizophrenic than that.

4. Many “Internet based artists” work on “engaged” themes and subjects, for instance, in social, political, cultural etc concern.
Which contents are you particularly interested in, what are the subjects you are working on and what is your artistic message(s), if you have any, and what are your personal artistic visions for future artworking (if you have any).

Haha, well – I don’t intend to send any kind of general artistic ‘message’ through my work, but each piece could be said to have its own ‘message’, and these vary widely – for example Electrosensitivity (Inanimate Alice – ), racial/sexual identity (U, I, X, Y – ) or anti-capitalism (Protesters, Police, Politicians – ). But I suspect people will take their own messages from these and any other works. The area that I have most consistently worked within is early modernist aesthetics and practice, particularly of the Dada movement, through collaboration with other artists at

5. “Art on the net” has the advantage and the disadvantage to be located on the virtual space in Internet which defines also its right to exist.
Do you think, that “art based on the Internet”, can be called still like that, even if it is just used offline?

It can be useful to distinguish between art that can exist offline, and art that cannot. The term ‘Art on the net’ includes both these types, so may not always be a helpful phrase to use.

6. Dealing with this new, and interactive type of art demands an active viewer or user.
and needs the audience much more and in different ways than any other art discipline before. How do you stimulate the user to dive into this new world of art?
What do you think, represents an appropriate environment to present net based art to an audience, is it the context of the lonesome user sitting in front of his personal computer, is it any public context, or is it rather the context of art in general or media art in particular, or anything else.?
If you would be in the position to create an environment for presenting this type of art in physical space, how would you do it?

I think the main challenge with online ‘interactive’ artworks is that the common forms of interaction are still very limited – keyboard and mouse, clicks and drags… It will be exciting to see more work done with other forms of interaction – for example visual (eye-sensors, goggles etc.), sound (microphones etc.) and touch (‘data gloves’, touch-screens)

Everyone has different experiences of computers in their daily life, and different abilities and interests, so we need a wide variety of ways to encourage an audience! I don’t believe there is a single ‘best’ way to present net based art to an audience – some art benefits from being seen by an individual at home, in a dark room, and some is better experienced on a big screen at a festival or gallery with a live audience. The best physical space for presenting various types of internet works would be one that allowed both of these types of environment to be recreated, as best it can.

I think that people who have never experienced internet art before are not encouraged by work that requires a high level of reading/interacting ‘skill’ (for example to realise that there are hidden links, or that clicking and dragging is required). The problem is not necessarily the work, or the audience, but that the two are not well matched. This might sometimes be helped by better explanations by the artists or the insitutions that present their work, but over time, as people experience more interactive work, these kinds of issues should become less of a problem.

7. As Internet based art, as well as other art forms using new technologies are (globally seen) still not widely accepted, yet, as serious art forms, what do you think could be an appropriate
solution to change this situation?

Sadly the way that art is ‘measured’ globally seems to be by audience and/or by money. So to be accepted as a ‘serious’ art form (by the world that measures these things) Internet art would need to attract large audiences, or make a lot of money. The latter seems very unlikely, given one of the abilities of the internet is to distribute information (and in this case art) freely, and many artists feel this is a very good thing. But the number of festivals and exhibitions of internet art is growing, and this will help; Prizes are another good way of attracting publicity and audiences.

8. The Internet is called a kind of “democratic” environment, but the conventional art practice is anything else than that, but selective by using filters of different kind.
The audience is mostly only able to make up its mind on second hand. Art on the net might potentially be different. Do you think the current practice of dealing with Internet based art
is such different or rather the described conventional way through (also curatorial) filtering?
Do you think, that speaking in the terms of Joseph Beuys, anybody who publishes anything on the net would be also an artist?

Yes, I do believe that anybody who publishes their art, online or offline, is an ‘artist’. Actually I don’t believe they don’t even need to publish to be called an artist. But this says nothing about the subjective or objective qualities of the art they create. And practically speaking, there is not enough time for anyone to view all the art that is available in the world. So curators, critics, and other types of ‘filter’ can perform these and other useful functions.

9. Do you think, the curators dealing with net based art should have any technological knowledge in order to understand such an art work from its roots?

I don’t think it is essential to understand an art work from any particular perspective, but it is useful for curators of net based art to have a practical understanding of how these works function so that they can understand how best to present these pieces, individually and collectively.

10. It is planned, to re-launch
JavaMuseum – Forum for Internet Technology in Contemporary Art in 2007 in a new context, very likely even in physical space.
What would be your personal wishes and expectations connected to this re-launch ?

My hopes would be that such a space will encourage more people to experience – and create – net art. Good luck!


Religion and Technology in India: Spaces, Practices and Authorities

Knut A. Jacobsen og Kristina Myrvold, red.

This book explores intersections between religion and technology in India, at the present and in the colonial past, and how various forms of techno-religious intersections transform and open up for new religious practices, discourses, communities, and institutions. With focus on Indian contexts and religions, it discusses various empirical and theoretical aspects of how technological innovations create, alter, and negotiate religious spaces, practices and authorities. The book provides rich and multifaceted empirical examples of different ways in which technological practices relate to meanings, ideas, and practices of religions. The techno-religious intersections generate several questions about authority and power, the politics and poetics of identity, community and place, and how religious agency, information, and experience are mediated, commodified, and adjusted to new demands of societies. The chapters explore the Hindu, Jain, and Sikh traditions in relation to new technological developments and media, such as photography, new means of visualization, TV serials, mobile phones, and online communication.

The book will be of interest to academics studying modern and contemporary India and South Asia, and especially the role of religion and technology.


il Gusto Leekbuy gift vouchersKindred Spirits Management Ltd

the kindred club at il gusto

The Kindred Club @ il Gusto

We would love for you to join The Kindred Club, simply click the button below, fill in the form on the next page and leave the rest to us.

We'll send you a Monthly Newsletter, keeping you up to date with all our latest promotions and, periodically, you'll receive news of our latest products, special offers and events.
We ask you to provide your date of birth on the subscription form because some of the products we sell are for consumption by persons at least 18 years of age and so that we may send extra specific offers related to your birthday month.

The Newsletter is an important way for us to connect with our customers, we value that chance and occasionally reward our subscribers for their loyalty. One way we do this is by offering Newsletter Subscriber Only Deals, so it really is worth signing up!!

What we will do:
We will only send emails relevant to our business and our products.
Normally the frequency will be once per month unless we have anything special or important to inform you about.
We'll always provide an opt out link to enable you to unsubscribe quickly and easily.

What we won't do:
We respect your privacy and promise we will not SPAM you and certainly will not share your details with anyone outside il Gusto other than our own third party email service provider.

Confirm Subscription
Please tick the acceptance checkbox on the form.
This way we know you really want to receive our emails and you provide your consent to allow us to store your data, see below for more information.

sign up for our newsletter

Below is an important excerpt from our Privacy Policy. The full version is available here.

Your Data
We collect the following data from you when you subscribe to our newsletter:
Your name, email address and date of birth.
We keep this information for as long as you remain a newsletter subscriber and delete it if or when you unsubscribe.
Why do we need this information?
We personalise the emails we send to you, displaying your first name at the beginning of the email.
Occasionally we send specific subscriber offers to you to celebrate your birthday, for example. These offers are for newsletter subscribers only and redemption is required. To combat fraudulent claims we check your name, date of birth and email address against our records at the time of redemption.
Customer consent
When you subscribe to our newsletter you give your consent by ticking the acceptance checkbox. This allows us to store the aforementioned data, which is necessary for us to be able to provide the newsletter service. This data is stored securely by our third-party email service provider. We also have a back-up stored on a password protected external physical drive which is encrypted and kept locked in a secure location.
Redemption claim details are also stored on a secure cloud based server
We will always do our utmost to keep your data safe and compliant with GDPR requirements.
Who has access to your data?
il Gusto Management has access to your name, email address and date of birth.
il Gusto staff have access limited to customers in the process of redeeming an offer.
Third party service providers where our newsletter service information is stored and managed have access to your name, email address and date of birth.
These service providers are Google, Mailchimp, JotForm and Basehound Media. All four have been checked by il Gusto and found, to the best of our knowledge, to be GDPR compliant
You may unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time by clicking the 'unsubscribe' link at the bottom of each email we send or by requesting to be unsubscribed by sending an email to us. Your details will be deleted from all points of storage.
Rights of the subscriber under General Data Protection Regulations
You have:
1. The right to be informed: Organisations need to tell individuals what data is being collected, how it’s being used, how long it will be kept and whether it will be shared with any third parties. This information must be communicated concisely and in plain language.
2. The right to access: Individuals can submit subject access requests, which oblige organisations to provide a copy of any personal data concerning the individual. Organisations have one month to produce this information, although there are exceptions for requests that are manifestly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.
3. The right to rectification: If the individual discovers that the information an organisation holds on them is inaccurate or incomplete, they can request that it be updated. As with the right to access, organisations have one month to do this, and the same exceptions apply.
4. The right to erasure (also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’): Individuals can request that organisations erase their data in certain circumstances, such as when the data is no longer necessary, the data was unlawfully processed or it no longer meets the lawful ground for which it was collected. This includes instances where the individual withdraws consent.
5. The right to restrict processing: Individuals can request that organisations limit the way an organisation uses personal data. It’s an alternative to requesting the erasure of data, and might be used when the individual contests the accuracy of their personal data or when the individual no longer needs the information but the organisation requires it to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
6. The right to data portability: Individuals are permitted to obtain and reuse their personal data for their own purposes across different services. This right only applies to personal data that an individual has provided to data controllers by way of a contract or consent.
7. The right to object: Individuals can object to the processing of personal data that is collected on the grounds of legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the interest/exercise of official authority. Organisations must stop processing information unless they can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that overrides the interests, rights and freedoms of the individual or if the processing is for the establishment or exercise of defence of legal claims.
8. Rights related to automated decision making including profiling: The GDPR includes provisions for decisions made with no human involvement, such as profiling, which uses personal data to make calculated assumptions about individuals. There are strict rules about this kind of processing, and individuals are permitted to challenge and request a review of the processing if they believe the rules aren’t being followed.

Exercising your rights
When requesting by email, please include your full name, email address and date of birth. Initially we'll send a verification email to make sure it really is you before we act upon your request.

see in storesee the il gusto conceptsee the dream line rangeBuy products online

Please LIKE us on Facebook


COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The Copenhagen Zoo killed Marius, its 2-year-old giraffe, and fed its remains to lions on Sunday, ignoring a petition signed by thousands of people and offers from other zoos and a private individual to save the animal, officials said.

The zoo said it acted to avoid inbreeding among its giraffes in keeping with recommendations by a European association.

Marius, a healthy male, was put down using a bolt pistol, said zoo spokesman Tobias Stenbaek Bro. Visitors, including children, were invited to watch while the giraffe was then skinned and fed to the lions.


Lemon and oregano roast chicken with spinach

  • Preparation time: 5 minutes
  • Cooking time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 45 minutes 45 minutes

Serves: 4

8 essential Waitrose British chicken thighs
3 tsp olive oil
1 essential Waitrose lemon, juice
2 tsp oregano
½ tsp caraway seeds
1 garlic clove, crushed
250g essential Waitrose spinach
75g essential Waitrose greek feta, crumbled

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. Place the chicken in a roasting tin and drizzle with 2 tsp olive oil and half the lemon juice, then scatter with the oregano; season. Roast for 35-40 minutes, until cooked through with no signs of pink.

2. When the chicken is almost ready, heat the remaining olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the caraway seeds and garlic, then fry for a few seconds before tipping in the spinach and tossing until just wilted. Pour in the remaining lemon juice, season and fold through the feta. Serve with the chicken.


presented by
Taking the next step

Badstuber earns sixth cap, scores first goal

Doubtless due to weariness rather than politeness, the Azerbaijan defence kindly offered little resistance as Holger Badstuber rose unchallenged to head Germany into a 5-1 lead. It was almost as if Messrs Sadigov, Agdam and Co respectfully opted not to challenge the 1.89 metre Germany centre-back, who will seldom have enjoyed so much time and space in an opposing penalty area in all of his career so far.

For all the ease of execution, it was a significant goal for Badstuber, as it was his first for his country. The rising Bayern star earned only his sixth cap on Tuesday night. The 21-year-old Munich man was standing in for the injured Arne Friedrich - who in stark contrast required no fewer than 77 senior internationals before registering his first goal.

Goal and an assist for Holger

Badstuber contributed a goal and a superb assist to the home side’s 6-1 win, prompting coach Joachim Löw to sing his praises afterwards. “He made the most of the space he was offered and looked very good in attack,” the Germany boss declared. “I’ve never been in a game like that before, where I’ve played the ball so often and helped apply attacking pressure,” Badstuber confessed.

As he was generally not required to deal with the visitors’ limp attack, Badstuber instead delivered a string of intelligent passes to team-mates in forward positions. “If I’m given so much space, I have to take responsibility for initiating moves,” said the player, clearly more comfortable at centre-back than on the left side of defence. “I’ve always said I’m strongest in central defence. That's the right position for me.”


Shares of TVS MOTOR COMPANY LTD. (TVSMOTOR.BO) have seen the needle move 1.39% or 8.00 in the most recent session. The BSE listed company saw a recent bid of $584.40 on 34578 volume.

Tackling the stock market may involve many different aspects. Investors may at times feel like they are on a wild ride. Sometimes there are extreme highs, and sometimes there are extreme lows. Figuring out how to best deal with fluctuations can help the investor’s mindset. Investors who are able to keep their emotions in check might be one step ahead of the rest. Being able to identify emotional weaknesses can help the investor avoid tricky situations when things get hairy. Keeping the stock portfolio on the profitable side may involve making decisions that require emotional detachment. When emotions are running high, it may impair the rational decision making capability of the investor.

TVS MOTOR COMPANY LTD. (TVSMOTOR.BO) has a 14-day ATR of 20.21. The Average True Range is an investor tool used to measure stock volatility. The ATR is not used to figure out price direction, just to measure volatility. The ATR is an indicator developed by J. Welles Wilder. Wilder has developed multiple indicators that are still quite popular in today’s investing landscape. The general interpretation of the ATR is the higher the ATR value, the higher the volatility.

The RSI, or Relative Strength Index, is a widely used technical momentum indicator that compares price movement over time. The RSI was created by J. Welles Wilder who was striving to measure whether or not a stock was overbought or oversold. The RSI may be useful for spotting abnormal price activity and volatility. The RSI oscillates on a scale from 0 to 100. The normal reading of a stock will fall in the range of 30 to 70. A reading over 70 would indicate that the stock is overbought, and possibly overvalued. A reading under 30 may indicate that the stock is oversold, and possibly undervalued. After a recent check, the 14-day RSIfor TVS MOTOR COMPANY LTD. (TVSMOTOR.BO) is currently at 47.32, the 7-day stands at 53.76, and the 3-day is sitting at 66.08.

Looking further at additional technical indicators we can see that the 14-day Commodity Channel Index (CCI) for TVS MOTOR COMPANY LTD. (TVSMOTOR.BO) is sitting at -12.37. CCI is an indicator used in technical analysis that was designed by Donald Lambert. Although it was originally intended for commodity traders to help identify the start and finish of market trends, it is frequently used to analyze stocks as well. A CCI reading closer to +100 may indicate more buying (possibly overbought) and a reading closer to -100 may indicate more selling (possibly oversold).

Moving averages can help spot trends and price reversals. They may also be used to help find support or resistance levels. Moving averages are considered to be lagging indicators meaning that they confirm trends. A certain stock may be considered to be on an uptrend if trading above a moving average and the average is sloping upward. On the other side, a stock may be considered to be in a downtrend if trading below the moving average and sloping downward. Shares of TVS MOTOR COMPANY LTD. (TVSMOTOR.BO) have a 7-day moving average of 578.59. Taking a glance at the relative strength indictor, we note that the 14-day RSI is currently at 47.32, the 7-day stands at 53.76, and the 3-day is sitting at 66.08.

Investors are constantly on the lookout for that next great stock pick. Finding that particular stock that had been overlooked by the rest of the investing community can bring great satisfaction to the individual investor. Spotting these stocks may take a lot of time and effort, but the rewards may be well worth it. Knowledge is power, and this principle also translates over to the equity market. Investors who are able to dig a little bit deeper may be setting themselves up for much greater success in the long run. These days, investors have access to a wide range of information. Trying to filter out the important information can be a key factor in portfolio strength. Knowing what data to look for and how to trade that information is extremely important. Successful investors are typically able to focus their energy on the right information and then apply it to a trading strategy.


Saturday, February 10, 2018

Creation Destruction Creation

Sometimes I will complete a painting and am not happy with it. Maybe I like part of a painting but all together it doesn't work. I've been pondering what to do with some large paintings in the Café series.  I never liked the colors. I was painting an actual place, The Romper Room, and those were the actual colors.

What to do with art you're not happy with? Give it away, throw it away or paint over it.

After their last outing, I decided I would paint over some of them.

First on the destruction block, "Romper Room". So much dark red.

New room colors. Add a window.

Will this work out or will I regret the loss of the original? I'll have to keep painting to find out.


Humpback Whales Are Forming Mysterious 'Super-Groups' - Atlas Obscura
Unusual adventures and hidden discoveries. Explore our 2018 trips now »

Humpback Whales Are Forming Mysterious ‘Super-Groups’

Scientists aren’t quite sure what’s going on.

A humpback supergroup off the west coast of South Africa.
A humpback supergroup off the west coast of South Africa. Jean Tresfon/PLOSone

Over the past few years, humpback whales—normally solitary creatures—have been amassing in huge “super-groups,” surprised scientists report in a recently published article in PLOSone. At dozens of different times, crowds numbering from 20 to 200 whales have been spotted congregating off of the west coast of South Africa.

“It’s quite unusual to see them in such large groups,” whale researcher Gísli Vikingsson told New Scientist. South Africa is also much further north than the whales usually venture in the summer—normally, they’re way down south in the Antarctic.

If humpbacks usually like their privacy, why are they clubbing up like this? As New Scientist reports, experts are unsure—but they have a few ideas. Unlike many species, humpbacks have been doing pretty well over the past few decades, recovering from a severe whaling-age population dip. It might be that their increasing numbers are changing the availability of their prey. It could also be that they used to always have big parties like this, and now they finally can again.

A humpback says hey.
A humpback says hey. Robbie Shade/CC BY 2.0

The question of what they do when they get together is slightly easier to answer. While a human super-group brings together various talented musicians from different bands, a whale super-group is more for feeding, the researchers explain. They can tell the whales are chowing down because of “repetitive and consecutive diving behaviors… and the pungent, ‘fishy’ smell of whale blows,” they write.

But some harmonizing is likely involved, too—these are whales, after all. I’m naming three of them Crosby, Krills and Splash.


question 6 dollar 1 f-name road-left stationnement road-right fb ins voyage-badge type-of-trips road2 age tour wi-fi vert logo-f 6 camping-car city limit who-we-are arrow-right h-western-canada region full available road Promo free-cancellation tw yt tel permit 1 climate g food

4X4 8-passenger

FORD EXPEDITION 4X4 (or similar)

Available only for pickup in Montreal and Quebec City

Max. seating capacity: 8 adults

Luggage capacity: 4 pieces

Number of doors: 4

Engine: 8 cylinder

Fuel consumption: 16.4 litres / 100 km

Accessories: AM/FM radio, CD player, air conditioning.

NOTES: All rental cars in Canada have automatic transmission. Don't hesitate to ask the rental agent for driving instructions.


Customer Strategist Journal
article |
The Customer Intelligence Advantage

A Segmentation Framework That Works

Customer-centric companies have long understood the need to manage their customer portfolio, rather than just their portfolio of products or services. These firms know that the customer portfolio must be the fundamental factor guiding how a company is organized, what it manages, and what it measures.

A segmentation strategy provides companies with the insight they need to manage their businesses profitably and with a customer focus. Segmentation delivers that insight by subdividing a customer portfolio into multiple categories, based on such attributes as behaviors, value, and needs. Additionally, segmentation asks questions to identify such groups as the highest revenue-generating customers, value-destroyers, which consumers should be targeted for acquisition, and who should be earmarked for cross-selling. This, in turn, enables organizations to better address customers' needs and requirements, as well as predict customers' future behavior, including the likelihood of churn.

Companies benefit in many other ways from segmentation. On a strategic level, it gives them the knowledge to revise their core business direction. They can use segmentation, for example, to determine which markets to enter or exit. Segmentation also helps with decisions on such issues as the optimal organizational structure and what budget to allocate for a particular business initiative. At a more tactical level it can help fuel decisions on what campaigns to execute, what products to offer, which channels to innovate, and what services to introduce. Market segmentation, where the focus is on the total market rather than the company's consumer portfolio, provides customer acquisition–related insights.

Segmentation methodologies that focus on behavior, life stage, and needs help companies identify the characteristics of a product, service, or channel that appeal to specific customer groups. Moreover, looking at consumers' needs and behaviors without a specific product, service, or channel in mind can lead to innovative ideas that can help to meet those needs.

Ultimately, segmentation provides companies with insight into actionable consumer segments, along with the best ways to meet their needs and increase their value. However, to maximize the benefits of segmentation, companies need to understand their customers from multiple dimensions: demographics, life stage, financial contribution, potential value, profitability figures, behaviors, and needs. An ideal customer segmentation strategy should consider all these dimensions in order to provide a holistic view of the consumer.

But all these dimensions should not be embedded in the same segmentation model. We prefer a more compartmentalized method, with dimensions that provide related insight, for example combining financial contributions and potential value within one model. Thus, the same customer will be in various segments used for different models, all interrelated and complementing each other. A multidimensional segmentation strategy is far better than a single-dimensional approach as it gives the company the option of following customers' trends in different areas through different segmentation methodologies.

Implementing a segmentation strategy

The first step towards a successful segmentation strategy is to determine a company's expectations and objectives (see Figure 1). Different usage expectations require different segmentation methodologies. Strategic objectives, including revisions of core business direction, organizational structure changes, and financial planning initiatives, require more stable and strategic segmentation methodologies. On the other hand, more tactical objectives, including product and service developments and marketing actions, require more frequently revised and detailed segmentation methodologies.

Once the expectations and objectives are clarified, we suggest starting to plan the data environment for the segmentation methodology; each method requires a different set of information. Strategic segmentation requires a long history of financial consumer data, looking at what products or services the consumer purchased, how much was spent, and for how long. Marketing-focused segmentations—such as behavior, needs, and lifestyle—require a more detailed set of customer data, such as what products or services the customer uses, the motives behind this use, the customer's response to campaigns, complaint data, and customer's perception of the brand. Most of the time companies already have the required data, usually housed in siloed systems. So the next step is to complete this dataset by integrating information from the different sources and generating an analytical data mart to use for segmentation. Then use data mining tools to devise the segmentation model (see Figure 2).

We advise that companies use not only a segmentation framework, but also take specific actions to adopt it throughout the organization. Once companies show a willingness to apply segmentation across functional areas and put required procedures in place, the financial impacts are observable within a short period of time.

Additionally, organizations must keep their segments up to date. Segmentation is a continuous process that should be repeated periodically, allowing companies to keep track of segment trends and changes, identify which segments are likely to grow, and treat different segments differently based on their needs at a given time.

Added insight and growth potential

Once a segmentation framework is in place companies will gain new insight into their customers' value and potential value. For example, in every customer portfolio there is a group that does not generate financial value. It is critical to identify this group and then decide on the best strategy for handling these customers. Segmentation not only clearly identifies lower-value consumers, but also tracks their changes.

Our recommendation is to not ignore the lower-value segments, but rather to optimize the company's resources to match customer value and improve the bottom line. Using a multidimensional segmentation framework allows companies to decide on the optimum allocation of resources, including not wasting scarce and expensive resources on lower-value segments.

Furthermore, it helps companies to identify ways to improve the value-generation capacity of those lower-value segments. This is when multidimensional segmentation becomes critical because it provides companies with a deeper understanding of the behaviors, life stages, and needs of lower-value consumers and enables the development of new, less costly products, services, and channels that match these criteria. Thus, companies can increase the financial value generated from this segment.

A methodology that considers the potential value of the consumer, as well as the current and past financial value—like multidimensional segmentation does—will uncover customer segments that fall short of generating financial value today and in the future, as well as segments that have the most future potential.

Although the ultimate aim is to maximize profitability, segmentation does not need to be based solely on profitability. In fact, we don't directly use profitability as a metric in segmentation models we create. Instead, we base our segmentation and segments using a top-line perspective, while providing a close link to profitability. This approach gives companies the option of measuring, forecasting, and tracking profitability while maximizing the value of each customer through a multidimensional segmentation methodology.


Shark Older Than Shakespeare? Here Are The Oldest Animals In The World

So old they hit puberty at an age of 150 yrs!

We are all drawn towards things that outdo themselves, don't we?

People like record-breaking athletes, the fastest swimmer in the world, tallest roller-coaster in the world and so on. We want to know about them, see how they did it and be amazed.

Similarly, in recent times, news emerged about a shark which is said to be the oldest vertebrate in the world. I was very curious, and obviously, I pried further. I also got interested in some other animals which were the oldest ones in their species.

And hence, we present you a compilation of some of the longest living or oldest animals that lived more than their expectant age.

Take a look...


The Chateau Park

The large park, probably laid-out at the time of the chateau´s foundation already, adjoins the southern wing.

 The chateau park is situated in the hight of 500 meters above sea-level. At the beginning of the 19th century it was adapted to its present style of an English nature landscape park which spreads on the undulating terrain of the chateau grounds. There are many kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers in the park. Its area is about 10 hectars. There is a pond with a small island in the park too.

 The chateau with its park is a typical country seat in the Empire style, evoking the character and atmosphere of the first half of the 19th century.


American Flag around Chefornak AK 99561

The American Revolutionary War
How the American Flag came to be

The background of the United States is vast and complicated, but can be broken down into milestones as well as time periods that separated, combined, as well as altered the United States right into the nation it is now. The American flag did not appear like it does now. Other than that, it went through a great deal of modifications and also adjustments.

The American Revolutionary War

Enter the American Revolution. Occasionally described as the American War of Independence, or the Revolutionary War, it was a conflict which lasted from 1775-1783 and enabled the initial 13 colonies to continue to be independent from Great Britain. Starting in Great Britain in the late 1790s, the Industrial Revolution ultimately made its path to the United States and changed the emphasis of the nation’s economic climate as well as the method it produces products.

For greater than a decade prior to the outbreak of the revolution in 1775, tensions had been developing between colonists and the British authorities. These tensions arose from growing stress between locals of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies and the early american government (which represented the British crown). Efforts by the British government to raise earnings by collecting tax from the colonies (significantly the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767 and the Tea Act of 1773) consulted with violent demonstration among numerous colonists, that resented their lack of representation in Parliament and also required the exact same civil liberties as various other British people. Colonial resistance resulted in violence in 1770, when British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of colonists, eliminating five men in what was referred to as the Boston Massacre. After December 1773, when a band of Bostonians impersonated Mohawk Indians boarded British ships then disposed 342 containers of tea into Boston Harbor, an outraged Parliament passed a collection of steps (known as the Intolerable, or Coercive Acts) developed to reassert imperial authority in Massachusetts.

via Wikimedia Commons

George Washington was made its commander in chief. Congress hoped they might require the British to bargain but George III declined to compromise. Rather, in August 1775 he stated that all the American colonies were in a state of disobedience.

By June 1776, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, an expanding bulk of the colonists had pertained to favor self-reliance from Britain. That exact same year Richard Henry Lee of the Virginia Assembly presented Congress with resolutions declaring the freedom of the colonies, asking for a confederation as well as revealed the should locate foreign allies for a war against Britain. On July 4th, the Continental Congress elected to adopt the Declaration of Independence, prepared by a five-man board consisting of Franklin and John Adams however created mostly by Jefferson. By the fall of 1781, the American army had begun to require the enemy to retreat to Virginia’s Yorktown peninsula, near where the York River clears into Chesapeake Bay. Backed up by a French military commanded by General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau, Washington moved against Yorktown with a total of around 14,000 soldiers, while a fleet of 36 French warships offshore avoided British reinforcement or evacuation. Caught and also overpowered, the adversary was compelled to surrender their entire military. Claiming ailments, the British general sent his deputy, Charles O’Hara, to give up; after O’Hara approached Rochambeau to surrender his sword (the Frenchman deferred to Washington), Washington gave the nod to his own replacement, Benjamin Lincoln, that approved it. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British abandonment at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had properly won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783.

The movement for American freedom effectively won at Yorktown, contemporary historians did not see that as the decisive victory. British armies remained stationed around Charleston, and also the effective major army still resided in New York. The British exit of their soldiers from Charleston and also Savannah in late 1782 ultimately indicated completion of the conflict. British and also American arbitrators in Paris authorized preliminary peace terms in Paris late that November, and also on September 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized the freedom of the United States in the Treaty of Paris. At the same time, Britain authorized separate peace treaties with France and Spain (which had gone into the conflict in 1779), bringing the American Revolution to a close after 8 long years.

How the American Flag became

The American flag was made to stand for the new union of the thirteen original states: it would certainly have thirteen stripes, alternate red and also white, as well as thirteen stars, white on a blue area. One of the very first flags had actually the stars laid out in a circle, based upon the suggestion that all colonies were equal. The thirteen stripes, laid out side by side, represented the struggle for independence; red represented valor, white signified pureness and also blue stood for commitment.

In 1818, after a couple of style adjustments, the United States Congress chose to keep the flag’s initial thirteen stripes as well as add new stars to show each brand-new state that joined the union.

Washington asked if Betsy might make a flag from the style. Betsy responded: “I don’t know, yet I will certainly try.” This line was utilized in the sworn statements of many of Betsy’s family participants, suggesting that it is a direct quote from Betsy. As the story goes, Betsy recommended altering the stars to five points instead than 6.

Also so, nobody can be so sure that developed the American flag. The American flag is the sacred emblem of the nation. As you see the flag silhouetted against the serene skies of the nation, you are reminded that the American flag stands for what you are – no more, no less.

Best American Flags around Alaska state

As quoted from the Star Spangled Banner:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

ZIP codes in Chefornak we serve: 99561


American Flag around Chicken AK 99732

The American Revolutionary War
Just how the American Flag happened

The history of the United States is substantial and intricate, however can be broken down right into moments and periods that divided, linked, and changed the United States right into the country it is today. The American flag really did not resemble like it does currently. Besides that, it underwent a lot of modifications and also modifications.

The American Revolutionary War

Enter the American Revolution. Often referred to as the American War of Independence, or the Revolutionary War, it was a conflict which lasted from 1775-1783 and enabled the original 13 colonies to remain independent from Great Britain. Beginning in Great Britain in the late 1790s, the Industrial Revolution at some point made its path to the United States and also altered the emphasis of the country’s economy and also the means it manufactures items.

These problems occurred from growing stress between locals of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonies and the colonial government (which represented the British crown). Attempts by the British government to raise earnings by collectin tax from the colonies (especially the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767 and the Tea Act of 1773) met with heated demonstration among numerous colonists, that resented their lack of representation in Parliament as well as demanded the same legal rights as other British subjects.

via Wikimedia Commons

George Washington was made its leader. Congress hoped they can require the British to negotiate yet George III rejected to compromise. Rather, in August 1775 he proclaimed that all the American colonies were in a state of rebellion.

By June 1776, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, an expanding bulk of the colonists had actually pertained to favor freedom from Britain. That exact same year Richard Henry Lee of the Virginia Assembly presented Congress with resolutions declaring the freedom of the colonies, requiring a confederation as well as revealed the have to find international allies for a war versus Britain. On July 4th, the Continental Congress voted to take on the Declaration of Independence, composed by a five-man committee consisting of Franklin and also John Adams yet composed mainly by Jefferson. By the autumn of 1781, the American forces had actually managed to require the adversary to retreat to Virginia’s Yorktown peninsula, near where the York River clears into Chesapeake Bay. Supported by a French army led by General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau, Washington moved against Yorktown with an overall of around 14,000 soldiers, while a fleet of 36 French battleships offshore prevented British support or escape. Entrapped as well as overpowered, the opponent was forced to surrender their entire army. Stating illness, the British general sent his replacement, Charles O’Hara, to surrender; after O’Hara approached Rochambeau to surrender his sword (the Frenchman deferred to Washington), Washington gave the nod to his very own replacement, Benjamin Lincoln, who accepted it. After French assistance aided the Continental Army compel the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had efficiently won their self-reliance, though combatting would not officially finish til 1783.

The motion for American freedom efficiently won at Yorktown, modern historians did not see that as the crucial triumph. British and also American mediators in Paris authorized initial peace terms in Paris late that November, and also on September 3, 1783, Great Britain officially acknowledged the freedom of the United States in the Treaty of Paris.

Exactly how the American Flag happened

Washington asked if Betsy might make a flag from the layout. Betsy reacted: “I don’t know, yet I will certainly try.” This line was utilized in the vouched statements of a lot of Betsy’s family members, suggesting that it is a direct quote from Betsy. As the story goes, Betsy recommended changing the stars to five points instead of 6. She showed them the best ways to do it with simply one snip of her scissors. They all accepted to alter the design to have stars with 5 points.

However, some chroniclers believe that it was Francis Hopkisnon that brought to life the idea of the Stars and Stripes. Francis Hopkinson was a prominent patriot, an attorney, a Congressman from New Jersey, an endorser of the Declaration of Independence, poet, musician, as well as distinguished civil servant.

A publication in Hopkinson’s library at his home in Bordentown was taken by a Hessian soldier in December 1776, a dark year of the battle. The book, Discourses on Public Occasions in America (London, 1762) by William Smith, D.D., had been a gift to him by the writer. The soldier, one I. Ewald, created on the inside cover that he had actually seen the author near Philadelphia which he, Ewald, had actually taken the book from a great country seat near Philadelphia. The book was consequently provided to a person in Philadelphia who returned it to Hopkinson. The soldier had actually composed above as well as listed below Hopkinson’s bookplate, which had 3 six pointed stars as well as his family motto, “Semper Paratus”, or “Always Ready”. The safe return of the book may well have actually symbolized to Hopkinson the resurgence of the Americans’ hope.

Nevertheless, no one can be so certain that created the American flag. The American flag is the spiritual symbol of the country. It symbolizes the peoples’ birthright, their heritage of liberty bought with blood and also sorrow. The title deed of freedom, which is the country’s to enjoy as well as keep in trust for posterity. Infinite vigilance is the rate of freedom. As you see the flag silhouetted in front of the calm skies of the country, you are reminded that the American flag stands for exactly what you are – no more, no much less.

Best American Flags near Alaska state

As taken from the Star Spangled Banner:

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

ZIP codes in Chicken we serve: 99732


US Flags Sale Coaling AL 35449

American Flags around Coaling.

Made in the USA!

Folding up the American flag.

The United States flag is a solid sign of American identity and nationwide pride. Also called Old Glory, the United States flag has a vivid background as well as has gone through several modifications from the initial official flag of 1777.

Today the U.S. flag contains thirteen horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with 6 white stripes. The stripes represent the original 13 colonies; the stars represent the 50 states of the country. The shades of the flag are symbolic too: red represents hardiness as well as valor, white symbolizes pureness and virtue and also blue stands for vigilance, perseverance and justice. The factor the Continental Congress originally picked the red, white, and blue shades was not made clear in the resolution embracing the flag. Historians believe it was most likely a color option based upon the British Union Jack, which had formerly flown over the colonies.

Over time, some have associated a little various meanings to the 3 shades, for instance, the color red symbolizing the blood spilled to maintain our freedoms, but the significance of the original meaning has been relatively consistent since 1782.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

The American flag is a symbol not just of hardiness, valor, pureness, innocence, vigilance, willpower and also justice; it is a sign of freedom. Liberty that has been battled so hard for over the years. Freedom that has actually cost this country and the families within so much, but it is still a beacon to those wishing they had the liberty that the country has.

Folding up the American flag.

The flag isn’t folded up in this fashion since each of the folds has a unique symbolic meaning; the flag is folded in this manner due to the fact that it supplies a dignified ritualistic touch that identifies folding a flag from folding a normal thing such as a bed cover, and also due to the fact that it results an aesthetically pleasing, easy-to-handle form. This thirteen-fold treatment was a common technique long before the development of a ceremonial assignation of “implying” to every of the actions.

An intricate flag folding ceremony incorporating these meanings has actually from then on been created for special events such as Memorial Day as well as Veterans Day. These associations are “genuine” in the feeling that they imply something to the people who join the ceremony, however they are not the reason that a flag is folded in the standard thirteen-step fashion.

This is America and also its symbol is the American Flag. This honorable sign has actually been shot at, set fire to, spew upon as well as stepped on, but she rises again and again. Although many Americans in the state of Alabama proudly fly the flag outside their homes and businesses daily, it is fitting that we, as a nation, have actually reserved one certain day yearly to honor our flag and to keep in mind that it represents the ideals as well as values that we should aim to support. May God bless America and those who protect her.

Coaling ZIP codes we serve: 35449


A few weeks ago, the European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into the Most Favored Nation clauses (MFNs) included in the agreements that tech giant Amazon concluded with book publishers. Konstantina Bania, Researcher at Fundação Getulio Vargas and the European University Institute, explains the implications of these clauses for competition in content markets and argues that the Commission’s approach is inconsistent with older decisions.

The Commision’s press release is somewhat vague, but the clauses in question might be retail parity MFNs, that is, clauses that require publishers to guarantee that they will lower the retail price of their e-books in the Kindle store to match the lowest price offered by any other store, such as Apple’s iBookstore. This is not the first time MFNs have fallen under the EU antitrust microscope. Three years ago, in the e-books case, which concerned the joint decision (in antitrust parlance cartel or collusion) of five major publishing houses to switch to the agency model – whereby publishers set the retail prices of their e-books and distributors (such as Amazon and Apple) get a commission from the publishers for every book sold – the Commission imposed on the publishers the duty not to enter into new agreements that include retail parity MFNs for five years. But while the E-books commitments decision creates the impression that contracts with MFNs are acceptable from a competition law perspective so long as they are not ‘tainted’ with collusion (for otherwise why would the Commission limit the duration of the remedy to five years?), it can be inferred from the press release concerning the Amazon investigation that the Commission considers the inclusion of MFNs in contracts concluded by an undertaking with significant market power to be a breach of the EU competition rules.

Can MFNs, particularly retail parity MFNs, promote competition in media markets? This contribution will attempt to answer this question, thereby addressing to some extent the legal uncertainty that the Commission’s inconsistent approach towards MFNs has created. The issue at hand is becoming increasingly important: MFNs appear to be particularly attractive to online distributors, which explains why over the past three years national competition authorities have been called upon to decide whether MFNs constitute an antitrust violation (see here and here). From a consumer perspective, we should be aware of the fact that MFNs have a direct impact on the prices we are charged when we conclude transactions online (e.g. when we purchase an e-book, make a hotel reservation, etc.).

MFNs: The pros and cons

‘Typical’ MFNs establish the producer’s obligation not to offer lower prices to other distributors. Every time the producer (in our case the publisher) offers a distributor (in our case Amazon’s competitors) a discount, it is obliged to extend the same offer to all other distributors. In theory, typical MFNs may create both pro- and anti-competitive effects. As regards anticompetitive effects, MFNs may reduce or eliminate the incentive of the producers to offer potential distributors better deals, thereby discouraging entry in downstream markets. MFNs may further facilitate concentration downstream; a distributor with significant bargaining power, such as Amazon, does not benefit solely from the conditions that are the outcome of the negotiations it itself conducted with the producer, but also from any favorable conditions that any other distributor managed to obtain.

With respect to pro-competitive effects, it is usually argued that, in cases of perishable products (e.g. fruit), MFNs may address problems relating to transaction delays; instead of waiting for the quality of the product to worsen and hence the price to drop, an MFN clause eliminates the distributors’ incentive to delay the order. This in turn allows the producer to allocate its resources more efficiently. MFNs may also resolve the ‘hold up’ problem, which arises in cases where the distributor is deterred from entering the market because it fears that the producer will act opportunistically by engaging in rent-seeking behavior. An MFN clause encourages the distributor to make the contract-specific investment required to penetrate the downstream market because it provides it with some certainty that the producer will not free ride on its investment, offering subsequent entrants better deals. This may be a way to open up risky markets, thereby promoting innovation.

Do MFNs produce pro-competitive effects in media markets?

It is questionable whether the efficiencies put forward in favor of MFNs apply to media content. The ‘perishability’ argument is somewhat irrelevant due to the digital and durable nature of the content that is the contract service. Put simply, unlike fruit, media content does not ‘go bad’. Even if we were to limit this justification to certain types of media content that have a short life cycle, most notably news and sports competitions, the ‘perishability’ argument could be accepted in cases where the incentive of the media producer to sell the content is greater than that of the distributor because the last minute price drops from which the latter benefits outweigh any quality deterioration that may have resulted from delaying the transaction. However, in the case of ‘perishable’ media content, the incentives of producer and distributor are aligned because end-consumers are interested in immediate fruition (e.g. football matches may attract large audiences only if their result remains unknown, i.e. if the competition is broadcast live). As for the argument that an MFN clause is needed to assure the online distributor that it will recoup its investments, this is also weak in our case; creating a website is not expensive whereas in the case of already established retailers the relevant contract-specific investments (e.g. text editing, online advertising, etc.) are, as a rule, not particularly high. This issue was addressed in a decision adopted by the Bundeskartellamt concerning the MFN contained in an agreement between German hotels and an online booking portal. The Bundeskartellamt, arguably correctly, rejected the portal’s argument that room price differences across competing platforms would eliminate its incentives to improve service quality on the grounds that the investments made by the portal were fairly limited.

Even if one were more open to accepting that ‘typical’ MFNs may produce certain pro-competitive effects, it would seem difficult to find any objective efficiency rationale for retail parity MFNs. The peculiarity of these MFNs is comprehensively explained by the US Department of Justice in the antitrust action it brought against Apple and the five publishers involved in the E-books case. The relevant paragraph reads as follows:

That provision was not structured like a standard MFN in favor of a retailer, ensuring Apple that it would receive the best available wholesale price. […] Instead, the MFN here required each publisher to guarantee that it would lower the retail price of each e-book in Apple’s iBookstore to match the lowest price offered by any other retailer, even if the Publisher Defendant did not control that other retailer’s ultimate consumer price. That is, instead of an MFN designed to protect Apple’s ability to compete, this MFN was designed to protect Apple from having to compete on price at all’ [emphasis added].

Retail parity MFNs are fundamentally different from a typical MFN clause. As opposed to the latter, the former restrict the distributor’s freedom to offer the product at lower prices. Retail parity MFNs must also be distinguished from Resale Price Maintenance (RPM): RPM may be limited to one or a few retailers whereas a retail parity MFN is a disguised form of collective RPM. With that said, it is not surprising that the investigations opened by the OFT and the Bundeskartellamt into Amazon’s retail parity MFNs have led to the retailer removing the clause indefinitely (see here). It bears noting that the Commission opted for the same solution in an older case concerning the MFN clauses contained in agreements between the Hollywood majors and European pay-TV operators, which provided that any increase agreed with one studio automatically resulted in parallel increases in the prices of the other studios (see here).

In view of the unlikely scenario that MFNs in general and retail parity MFNs in particular will produce any positive effects on competition in media markets, the e-books decision, which suggests that after a five-year period publishers may include MFNs in the agreements they conclude with online retailers, is somewhat confusing. In moving forward with the Amazon investigation (and any future antitrust investigation into MFNs that affect media markets), the Commission should not hesitate to ask powerful distributors to remove these clauses from their arrangements with content producers.


 With Gujarat Model demolished BJP looks for new issues

With Gujarat Model demolished BJP looks for new issues

One of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) in the political sphere today are: “Whythe BJP led by PM NarendraModi and Amit Shah changed strategy to use political issues to win the most crucial Gujarat elections and pushed economic issues to the back burner?

The answer is simple: The political wizard and super craftsman that Modi is, who ruled Gujarat unchanged for 20 years, first won the nomination for leadership and Prime Minister-ship within the BJP against all odds and senior leaders such as LK Advani, thought to be the logical successor to Vajpayee, used economics more than politics to sweep the 2014 general elections on an anti-corruption drive and the noted Gujarat model of development.

But off late, there has been much criticism amongst economists about how successful the Gujarat model of development has actually been, both in the home state as well it’s so called replication at the National Level. All seemed well with Modi’s economic measures starting with his powerful anti-corruption drive, restoration of investor confidence in India, pushing up India’s sovereign ratings with the biggest of rating agencies globally, bringing India closer to the world with his aggressive foreign policy initiatives and successfully reuniting the SAARC which had seemingly been fragmented with an over ambitious neighbour China trying to woo them into its net.

November 08 2016 changed all that. Officially described as a measure to unearth black money, wipe out funding to terrorists, crush Pakistan’s ISI pumping fake currency of high denominations into the Indian market, the demonetisation action actually produced collateral damage. Besides making people run for scarce currency in essentially cash driven economy, crushing the small economy, demonetisation had been viewed with suspicion in political circles as a move that was meant to wipe out political rivals such as Mayawati of BSP and Mulayam family who held most of their political funds in cash. BJP successfully won the UP elections winning an overwhelming majority of seats against all odds and predictions that Mayawati was on the rise and Akilesh could retain most seats.

It was economics that won the elections and not the Ram Mandir issue. But in Gujarat BJP changed track…… because Modinomics with Demonetisation and GST seemed to produce much collateral damage hitting small businessmen, a bulk of large number of voters in the business dominated state.

GST came as a severe blow to merchants in Gujarat as the various slabs hit them hard making the government to do a rethink on reclassification of the five tier slab extending mostly from 5% to 28%. So political issues such as appeasing the patedhar community and protection to the Muslim community (the abolition of triple talaq found echo amongst Muslim women dividing the minority vote). The Gujarat model was not talked about even though opposition led by Congress made muted criticism of this being a failure as BJP had successfully diverted attention.

Economists present differing opinions on the Gujarat model of development with some of them saying that the PR man that Modi is, he successfully window dressed the model in the 2014 general elections but cleverly put it behind on the back burner in timefor the 2017 assembly elections.

Here’s why: Let’s look at the criticism as published in the media. In an article in a newspaper,  Jayati Ghosh , leading economist, Jawaharlal Nehru University, says: “ The myth of Gujarat’s economic growth was effectively punctured in 2014 by the impressive volume co-edited by Indira Hirway, Amita Shah and Ghanshyam Shah (Growth or Development: Which Way is Gujarat Going?, Oxford University Press, 2014). They showed that much of the high growth so effectively advertised by the Modi state government was really a continuation of past trends which in turn were largely due to Gujarat’s advantages in agriculture and manufacturing, aided by the easy availability of land and infrastructure facilities such as electricity – all of which predated chief minister Modi. “

But in addition, further economic growth under Modi’s tenure as chief minister was heavily reliant on attracting large corporate investment through large subsidies and incentives of various kinds. This meant that the income growth was very unequal, so that the benefits of the growth did not percolate to the people as propagated by the ‘trickle-down’ hypothesis, says Jayati Ghosh.

Given Prime Minister Modi’s famous invectives against corruption, the multiple favours given to large industry as part of the strategy of encouraging industrialisation also meant that Gujarat was one of the states where ‘crony capitalism’ flourished, Jayati Ghosh claims.

Certain industrial groups, she alleges, were particular beneficiaries of the economic policies of the Modi government in Gujarat, such that the rise of the groups like the Adanis was almost coterminous with that of the Modi-controlled government in the state. Meanwhile, the large incentives provided to large corporate players (but not to small and medium enterprises) in terms of cheap or free land, water and other infrastructure created both extremely distorted markets for these as well as adverse fiscal consequences, she further claims. The huge expenditure on incentives and subsidies left less public funds for social sectors, so that Gujarat had much lower per capita expenditure on social sectors compared to other states as similar levels of per capita income, and indeed performed quite poorly in this regard among the major states.

Another Economist Maitreesh Ghatak,claims the growing gap between income growth and conditions of life, including the fact that Gujarat’s social indicators are generally much worse than comparator states with similar per capita GDP, and are only middling among all states.

Electorate outside Gujarat was easily  influenced  by   ‘Modinomics’ and voted for him as they thought he alone could generate positive economic transformation and productive employment generation across the entire country, using the magic he had already produced in the state of Gujarat, opine economists . “But the hard reality of lack of development would presumably be hard to conceal from the people of Gujarat themselves. Despite that, they continued to vote for the BJP, which even experienced rising vote shares over successive state elections”, the economists observed.

Since the economy emerged as a major – even critical – aspect of political discussion in the state, it was put on the back burner because economic problems brewing for some time were becoming more pronounced within and outside the state, some economists argue. From the Patidar agitation for reservations to the counter protests, from the demands of Dalit communities, to the small traders and others claiming that their livelihood has been damaged – the story is about how economic processes are failing significant parts of the population, economists claim.

But the industry associations such as CII, ASSOCHAM and FICCI bank on Modinomics to restore the economy back to the rails as the government goes all out to kickback the manufacturing sector, woo investors and enhance public expenditure considerably on public private partnership projects in the infrastructure sector to bring back growth and generate employment, both of which are big issues before the elections. So there is a line dividing the rich and the poor, how BJP walks the tight rope to woo the electorate is to be seen.

(TN Ashok)


Why I’m Sick of The ‘Confidence is Sexy’ Movement

Don’t take this the wrong way. Don’t scan the title and think that I’m some sort of sick and twisted bully that gets off on people’s insecurities and inner turmoil. I applaud those that have fully embraced the idea of loving their flaws and good qualities alike. And I really do hope that everyone won’t let what others say about their outward or inward appearance diminish their self confidence. However, I think that society pushes on us all to make everyone feel as if we ought to always be on the verge of a group hug. It has gone to a point where it is now redundant and overdone. It has gone to the point that I am annoyed.

Telling women that confidence is beautiful and important isn’t wrong or bad on any spectrum, and by all means, is correct. However, telling women that having no confidence or being openly insecure or not being completely comfortable with who they are, is by all means, very wrong. It’s absurd to tell people that it’s unattractive when someone comes across as not confident or a little itchy in their own skin. That’s not only not true, but that’s also not fair.

Reminding people that their insecurity isn’t what people like or are attracted to is only fueling the lack of self esteem that’s already there. Telling teenage girls that boys are attracted to confidence will not make them love themselves anymore than telling them that hopefully one day they’ll lose their baby fat or grow into their forehead.

Telling people to love themselves or to magically gain confidence does nothing. It does not make them walk with their head held high, and it does not make them see themselves any different when falling short to their peers. Stop telling people that not having confidence isn’t sexy. Stop reminding me to love myself. Stop scolding others and suggesting that being insecure is unattractive. Their insecurity over their freckles or their hips or their laugh is not something that can be changed by celebrities with a make-up artist and personal trainer demanding that we ‘love ourselves’ or that ‘men love confidence’.

People will grow out of their insecurities; not because people find it more attractive, or they grow tired of groaning when they stare at their bare stomach. They’ll learn on their own time.


I agree, Mouse - there is no really good answer to staying dry in prolonged rain except to get out of it. I've also used all three (WP, WB, and GT) and never stayed completely dry.

I really was just trying to gather information about people's experience with Pertex, especially those who had used GoreTex and switched to Pertex. I'll re-write my original post, to make that a bit clearer.